August & September at the Movie Morlocks

The last couple of months have been extremely difficult. In between doctor's appointments while dealing with some eye problems I suffered a major shake up in the Napa earthquake, which did a lot of damage to my home & neighborhood. Naturally this impaired my writing but I still managed to compile a few articles for …

2013 at the Movie Morlocks

Jess Franco 1930-2013 What follows is a collection of links to some of my posts at TCM's Movie Morlocks from 2013. These are (in my estimation) the best and most interesting articles I wrote last year but you can read my entire output for 2013 at the Movie Morlocks if you peruse the archives. From …

HAIL CLEOPATRA! QUEEN OF THE NILE & QUEEN OF ’60S STYLE

This week the 50th Anniversary of CLEOPATRA (1963) is being celebrated at the Cannes Film Festival where a digitally restored print of the film is making its debut. This will be followed by a limited theatrical release and a new lavish double-disc Blu-ray set that’s arriving in stores on May 28th. The film has been marred in …

THE TABLOID TROUBLES OF TAYLOR & BURTON

By now you’ve probably heard about LIZ & DICK(2012), a heavily publicized made for television movie produced by the Lifetime Network that dramatically retold the story of how Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton met, fell in love and married not once, but twice. I’m extremely fond of both Taylorand Burton and I’ve written about them frequently but I had …

Movies in Comicolor

Last week I neglected to share a link to a recent Movie Morlocks post I wrote discussing Movie Love. This interesting '50s era romance comic was aimed at a female audience and featured romantic films adapted into comic books. It also contained background stories on particular actors and little tidbits of information that many classic …

GOODBYE GODDESS: ELIZABETH TAYLOR 1932-2011

Elizabeth Taylor has always been one of my favorite actresses. She was an incredible natural beauty. Arguably the most beautiful actress Hollywood ever produced but she was also a brilliant performer when she wanted to be. She dominated almost every film she ever appeared in even when that film wasn’t particularly worthy of her larger …

Happy Birthday Joseph Losey!

Two of my favorite people: Director Joseph Losey & actor Dirk Bogarde Today marks what would have been Joseph Losey's 102 birthday. Unfortunately very few of us live that long and Losey died in 1984 at age 75. Lately critics around the world seem to be rediscovering his work and rethinking their opinion of the …

The Glamorous World of Paul Hesse

Four of my favorite actresses photographed by Paul Hesse Top: Gene Tierney and Elizabeth Taylor Bottom: Bette Davis and Ava Gardner Like most film buffs, I absolutely love old Hollywood glamor photography. I'm an amateur photographer myself so I own a lot of photography books and some of my favorites are jam-packed with beautiful photos …

Ash Wednesday (1973)

Yesterday was Elizabeth Taylor's 77th birthday. Last year I wasn't able to properly complete my tribute to Taylor and I never finished writing about a few of her films that I want to cover here sooner or later, but today I thought I'd offer up a few brief thoughts about her 1973 film, Ash Wednesday. …

The Eyes Have It

My blogging buddy Peter Nellhaus over at Coffee, Coffee and more Coffee has asked me to contribute my own list of "20 Favorite Actresses" to a new film meme making the rounds of the blogosphere. Frankly I was just going to blow him off and ignore his request because these meme things tend to make …

My Top 20 Favorite Films of 1968

At the Britannica blog Raymond Benson has finished listing off his Top 10 Favorite Films of 1968 so if you're interested in the final results stop by and give them a look. I've mentioned on numerous occasions how much I dislike making lists of favorite films myself since they're limited by what I've seen and …

Burton’s First Encounter with Taylor

I recently stumbled across this fascinating description of Richard Burton's first meeting with Elizabeth Taylor written by Burton himself and borrowed from his book Meeting Mrs. Jenkins (1966). I enjoyed reading it so much that I just had to share it. Not only is it an amazing read but it's also a great showcase for …

Brian G. Hutton’s Night Watch (1973)

By 1973 Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton's nine year marriage was coming to an end and both actors wanted to focus on their individual careers. Night Watch (1973) features one of Elizabeth Taylor's few solo performances as an actress while she was married to Burton and it's one of my favorite Taylor films from the …

Joseph Losey’s Boom! (1968)

Joseph Losey's Boom! (1968) is one of the most famously criticized and misunderstood films from the late sixties. Its original $3.9 million dollar budget ballooned into 10 million by the time shooting stopped and that money was mainly used to pay the enormous salaries of the film's two stars (Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton) and …

Richard Burton’s Doctor Faustus (1967)

In 1967 Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were at the height of their shared fame following the success of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) and The Taming of the Shrew (1967). Both films had been well received by critics and audiences loved seeing the two actors on screen together in fictional marriages that many …