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In honour of Marlene Dietrich's 116th birthday, which was on Tuesday, this week on «Film Friday» — the last one of 2016 — I bring you one my favourite of her films so far. Directed by Josef von Sternberg, Morocco (1930) tells the story of Amy Jolly (Marlene Dietrich), a disillusioned cabaret singer who becomes attracted to a womanizing Foreign Légionnaire named Tom Brown (Gary Cooper). After one of her shows, Amy arranges a secret rendezvous with Tom in her apartment, but asks him to leave before anything serious happens. As he goes into the street, Tom meets Madame Caesar (Eve Southern), the wife of his adjunct officer (Ullrich Haupt), with whom he has been having an affair. Meanwhile, Amy changes her mind and follows Tom, interrupting his conversation with Madame Caesar, who then hires two street ruffians to attack the singer. Tom manages to seriously wound both, allowing him to flee with Amy.   Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper in publicity stills for Morocco . The following...

Last month, I wrote an article in which I proved that sisters Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine are direct descendants of King Edward I of England and, therefore, kin to several prominent figures — not only several members of the British royal family, but also a number of U.S. presidents, authors and actors, including Humphrey Bogart. Now, he may not strike you as the aristocratic type, but Bogie also happened to be a direct descendant of Edward I, who was, in technical terms, his 19th great-grandfather. How? Just keep on reading to find out.   Humphrey Bogart was a direct descendant of King Edward I of England. If you remember, Edward I (1239-1307) married firstly Eleanor of Castile (1241-1290) in 1254. Their daughter, Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (1282-1316), was the wife of Humphrey de Bohun , 4th Earl of Hereford, 3rd of Essex (c. 1276-1321/2). So far, Bogie has the exact same ancestry as Joan and Olivia. But while the de Havilland sisters descended from Elizabeth and Humph...

Esther Williams looking fabulous as always. Loretta Young is struggling to carry all of her presents. Christmas with Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. Ann Blyth looking lovely and festive. Colleen Moore singing Christmas carols. Jean Harlow putting up her Christmas garland. Little Shirley Temple dressed in a little Santa costume. Carole Lombard sitting next to her gorgeous Christmas tree. Your tree looks great too, Janet Gaynor. Christmas at the Stewarts. That's James Stewart's wife Gloria, with their twin baby daughters, Judy and Kelly, and sons, Ronald and Michael. Merry Christmas to you too, Janet Leigh. And Merry Christmas to all of you.

Since the Christmas weekend begins tomorrow, this week's «Film Friday» is going to be a little bit different than usual. Instead of telling you about only one Christmas film, which was my original plan, I thought I would compile all the Christmas-y films I have written about since starting this blog. Most of them are part of a « 12 Days of Christmas Films » feature I did last December. If you are looking for a film to watch with your family and friends over the holidays, I think these are some excellent choices. Let's begin with The Thin Man (1934), an excellent comedy-mystery starring the delightful duo William Powell and Myrna Loy. They play Nick and Nora Charles, a debonair detective and his sophisticated wife, who find themselves embroiled in a murder case during the holidays. While Christmas is not crucial to the central plot of the film, there is still a lovely scene between the Charleses on the morning of December 25. W. S. Van Dyke directed from a script by Albert ...