(See previous post: Fourth of July Movies: Escapism During a Weird Year.) On the evening of the Fourth of July, besides fireworks, fire hazards, and Yankee Doodle Dandy, if you're watching TCM in the U.S. and Canada, there's the following: Peter H. Hunt's 1776 (1972), a largely forgotten film musical based on the Broadway hit with music by Sherman Edwards. William Daniels, who was recently on TCM talking about 1776 and a couple of other movies (A Thousand Clowns, Dodsworth), has one of the key roles as John Adams. Howard Da Silva, blacklisted for over a decade after being named a communist during the House Un-American Committee hearings of the early 1950s (Robert Taylor was one who mentioned him in his testimony), plays Benjamin Franklin. Ken Howard is Thomas Jefferson, a role he would reprise in John Huston's 1976 short Independence. (In the short, Pat Hingle was cast as John Adams; Eli Wallach was Benjamin Franklin.) Warner...
- 7/5/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The Red House
Written and directed by Delmer Daves
U.S.A., 1947
*It should be noted that in order to properly analyze the heart of the picture’s themes, certain important plot points are divulged in the review below.
Sequestered away from most of the town they live in, the Morgan’s operate a modest but efficient little farm. Patriarch Pete (Edward G. Robinson), slightly handicapped by a wooden leg resulting from an incident many years ago, remains hard at work but evidently could use some assistance. Enter young Nath Storm (Lon McCallister), a boy from school that Pete’s shy adopted daughter, Meg (Allene Roberts) befriends and fancies. Meg introduces Nath to Pete, the latter reluctantly agreeing to give the youth a job. Whilst the first day goes swimmingly, that evening proves the fire starter that complicates each of their lives. Nath insists on taking a short cut through the woods,...
Written and directed by Delmer Daves
U.S.A., 1947
*It should be noted that in order to properly analyze the heart of the picture’s themes, certain important plot points are divulged in the review below.
Sequestered away from most of the town they live in, the Morgan’s operate a modest but efficient little farm. Patriarch Pete (Edward G. Robinson), slightly handicapped by a wooden leg resulting from an incident many years ago, remains hard at work but evidently could use some assistance. Enter young Nath Storm (Lon McCallister), a boy from school that Pete’s shy adopted daughter, Meg (Allene Roberts) befriends and fancies. Meg introduces Nath to Pete, the latter reluctantly agreeing to give the youth a job. Whilst the first day goes swimmingly, that evening proves the fire starter that complicates each of their lives. Nath insists on taking a short cut through the woods,...
- 1/1/2016
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
Shirley Temple dead at 85: Was one of the biggest domestic box office draws of the ’30s (photo: Shirley Temple in the late ’40s) Shirley Temple, one of the biggest box office draws of the 1930s in the United States, died Monday night, February 10, 2014, at her home in Woodside, near San Francisco. The cause of death wasn’t made public. Shirley Temple (born in Santa Monica on April 23, 1928) was 85. Shirley Temple became a star in 1934, following the release of Paramount’s Alexander Hall-directed comedy-tearjerker Little Miss Marker, in which Temple had the title role as a little girl who, left in the care of bookies, almost loses her childlike ways before coming around to regenerate Adolphe Menjou and his gang. That same year, Temple became a Fox contract player, and is credited with saving the studio — 20th Century Fox from 1935 on — from bankruptcy. Whether or not that’s true is a different story,...
- 2/11/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Lon McCallister: Height, gay sexual orientation issues [See previous post: "Lon McCallister Bio."] Some have blamed Lon McCallister’s slight frame for his inability to switch from juvenile to leading-man roles, but that’s absurd. Had that been so, Alan Ladd and Charles Boyer, among others, would never have become top stars in the ’30s and ’40s. Others have blamed his professional downfall on the fact that Lon McCallister was gay. Though certainly a possibility (see below), barring the publication of unquestionable proof or strong circumstantial evidence [...]...
- 10/29/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Lon McCallister bio If remembered at all, Lon McCallister is associated with Boy-Next-Door roles in several “family” movies of the mid- and late ’40s. Born Herbert Alonzo McCallister Jr. in Los Angeles (on April 17, 1923), he grew up in L.A.’s West Adams District, where MGM star Ramon Novarro was a neighbor. (Photo: Lon McCallister publicity shot ca. 1945.) Lon McCallister movies McCallister began his film career in the mid-’30s, featured either as an extra or a bit player, often at MGM, in movies such [...]...
- 10/29/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Two friends explore an abandoned nexus of mystery and secrets in The Red House - restored and in HD for the first time ever - available in a special DVD/Blu-ray combo pack April 24 from Film Chest on the HD Cinema Classics label. Based on the popular 1943 novel once serialized in the Saturday Evening Post, The Red House stars Edward G. Robinson (Double Indemnity, The Stranger), Lon McCallister (The Big Cat, Winged Victory), Judith Anderson (Rebe…...
- 3/30/2012
- Horrorbid
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