Stagecoach: Introducing John Wayne
Photo: United Artists Today, we remember John Ford as a great director of Westerns. In 1939, that wasn’t really the case. Ford hadn’t made a Western since his days as…
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: Cleaning Up the Swamp
Claude Rains and James Stewart. Photo: Columbia No one finds Frank Capra’s best movie controversial today. But it certainly was back in 1939. Many politicians and reporters in Washington saw…
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.…
High Noon: Waiting for the Whistle
Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. Photo: United Artists In a notorious 1971 interview with Playboy, John Wayne talked about how proud he was to have helped make sure a communist…
It’s a Wonderful Life: Wing and a Prayer
Photo: RKO This Christmas I decided to catch Frank Capra's last masterpiece again. Having seen it several times before, I knew what to expect. It's a great story and I…
Lost Horizon: Journey to Eden
Ronald Colman and Jane Wyatt. Photo: Columbia A short while after the premiere of Lost Horizon in 1937, Columbia Pictures realized that spending over two and a half million dollars…