Back to Golden Days

I started this blog six years ago as a way to share my passion for classic films and the Old Hollywood era. I used to watch dozens of classic films every month, and every time I discovered a new star I liked I would go and watch their entire filmography. But somewhere along the way, that passion dimmed down. For instance, I watched 73 classic films in 2016, and only 10 in 2020. The other day, I found this film with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. that I had never heard of, and for some reason it made me really excited about Old Hollywood again. It made me really miss the magic of that era and all the wonderful actors and actresses that graced the silver screen. And it also made me think of all the reasons why I fell in love with classic films in the first place. I came up with 80 reasons, which I thought would be fun to share with you. Most of them are just random little scenes or quirky little quotes, but put them together and they spell Old Hollywood to me. Yesterday I posted part one ; here i...

Since today is James Cagney's 116th birthday, this week on "Film Friday" I want to tel l you about what was, according to the man himself, his favorite of all the films he made. Original release poster by Bill Gold Directed by Michael Curtiz, Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) opens in the early days of World War II, when George M. Cohan (James Cagney) is called to meet President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House, after impersonating him in the Rodgers and Hart musical I'd Rather Be You . In response to Roosevelt's questions, Cohan begins narrating the story of his life, beginning with his birth on July 4, 1878 and then recalling his vaudeville days with his father Jerry (Walter Huston), mother Mary (Rosemary DeCamp) and sister Josie (Jeanne Cagney). Th e Four C ohans perform successfully across the country, but G eorge gets too cocky as he grows up and is blacklisted by theatr ical prod ucers for being troublesome. In the early 1900s, while the fam...