Mutiny on the Bounty: Battling Bligh
Clark Gable and Charles Laughton. Photo: MGM 1935 was a great year in Hollywood, so perhaps there’s no wonder that Mutiny on the Bounty only ended up winning one of…
Gone With the Wind: Fall of the Old South
Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh. Photo: MGM Last August, news came that a cinema in Memphis, Tennessee had decided not to screen Gone With the Wind because of numerous complaints.…
Shape of Water: How I Fell in Love with a Monster
Sally Hawkins. Photo: Fox Searchlight In 1954, a boy called Guillermo del Toro went to the movies and saw what is now a classic monster movie, Creature From the Black…
Sound of Music: Still Climbing Ev’ry Mountain
Julie Andrews. Photo: 20th Century Fox The movie is too good to be true. The real-life von Trapp family in Austria, whose adventures were chronicled by Maria von Trapp in…
My Fair Lady: A Loverly Musical
Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. Photo: Warner When George Bernard Shaw’s stage play ”Pygmalion” premiered in London in 1913, it was daring for its time. Making fun of the British…
Moonlight: Three Shades of Blue
Alex Hibbert and Mahershala Ali. Photo: A24 I love the poster for this film. The colors are deep shades of blue, purple and cyan and the three faces of the…
West Side Story: When Maria Met Tony
Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood. Photo: United Artists Stage director Jerome Robbins was a key reason why ”West Side Story” became a groundbreaking Broadway hit in 1957. When the time…
All About Eve: Blind Ambition
Bette Davis and Gary Merrill. Photo: 20th Century Fox I have no idea if the following is true, but it fits nicely into the mythology. Celeste Holm allegedly walked onto…
In the Heat of the Night: Virgil and the Rednecks
Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger. Photo: United Artists The 1960s are easily dismissed when we’re talking about which movies were recognized at the Oscars. In many cases, those that weren’t…
The Greatest Show on Earth
Often labeled one of the worst Best Picture Oscar winners ever, this look at all the drama behind the scenes of a big top circus still is a grand epic.…