Classicmovieman

Bombshell (1933), a fast-paced pre-Code satirical comedy directed by Victor Fleming, stars Jean Harlow as Lola Burns, a glamorous but utterly exhausted Hollywood movie star. Lola is the top “blonde bombshell” at her studio, but her life is a relentless whirlwind of high-stress movie shoots, aggressive studio publicity stunts, and a chaotic home life. She is constantly ...

Gentleman’s Agreement (1947) is a groundbreaking social drama that follows Philip Schuyler Green (Gregory Peck), a distinguished, widowed journalist who relocates to New York City with his young son and mother after accepting a high-profile assignment from a prestigious magazine. The publication’s liberal editor tasks Green with writing an in-depth, undercover exposé o...

Directed by Edward Dmytryk, Crossfire (1947) opens in the shadows of a dimly lit Washington, D.C. apartment, where a Jewish civilian named Joseph Samuels is beaten to death. Police Captain Finlay (Robert Young) is assigned to investigate the seemingly motiveless crime and quickly zeroes in on a group of demobilized, world-weary U.S. Army soldiers who were seen drinking...

Another Turner Classic Film Festival (TCMFF) is in the books. This year’s festival was held from April 30 to May 3. The anticipation for the TCMFF is huge. Thinking about the film festival helps get me through the Chicago winters.

At this festival, I saw 11 movies. This total is the lowest of all my festivals, dating back to 2015. There were so many movies I wanted to...

Released in 1938 and directed by William Wyler, Jezebel is a classic Southern melodrama set in 1850s New Orleans. The story follows Julie Marsden (played by Bette Davis), a headstrong and defiant socialite whose fiery temperament often clashes with the rigid codes of the Antebellum South. The film’s central conflict is ignited when Julie, in an act of social rebellion ...