Despite accusations of plagiarism from What price Hollywood? (1932), the movie was a box office hit and led to three musically-oriented remakes, in 1954 (with Judy Garland), 1976 (with Barbra Streisand) and 2018 (with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper) – it’s tough not to feeel déjà-vu when watching this version, though it is historically the first one! Gaynor’s acting is a bit weak, but Fredric Marsh’s acting, witty dialogues, and well-played supporting characters more than make up for it.

A tell of innocence and greed, fame or forgetfulness, success and failure, glamour and creepy, private and public life, this one of the first movies by Hollywood about Hollywood, and it paved the way for many other self-introspections into Hollywood’s dream factory. This first portrait of behing-the-scene Hollywood moviemaking sheds a witty light on what it costs to become a celebrity, in opposition to the gloss and glamour of most Hollywood movies of the time. The contrasting destinies of the two main characters give a great basis for a social satire of the movies milieu, and the multiple remakes attest to the strength of this narrative.

Finally, the movie has kept most of its freshness even after 80 years and its small flaws disappear behind the efficient direction and Marsh’s charismatic acting.

The Oscar that lead actress Janet Gaynor receives in A Star Is Born is actually the same that she received in real life as Best Actress at the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1928. Two years after playing in A Star Is Born, she turned down the role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, as she wanted to retire from acting.

The post A Star Is Born first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

Chaplin’s second full-length movie (after thirty or so short movies), The Gold Rush doesn’t pretend to the social depth of later movies such as Modern Times or The Dictator, but it strikes just the right balance between poetry and fun, sadness and joy, tragedy and comedy. It features many themes that run through Chaplin’s movies: the contrast of wealth and poverty, of shyness and action, of loneliness and romance; love as a transcending power; an incredible mastering of the body…

The Gold Rush is full of cult scenes, from the potatoe-foot dancing (perhaps the movie’s most famous scene, which you can compare with its Johnny Depp revival) to the cartoon-like cabin teetering on the edge of a cliff, through the shoe-eating segment (which Chaplin had to shoot over 60 times!) and hallucinations of Chaplin as a human-sized chicken. Bear-lovers will also find it worth their time. Many of these scenes have made history and inspired generations of film-makers!

Chaplin’s supporting roles are also great: violent Black Larsen as the bad guy, not very bright Big Jim McKay as Chaplin’s friend, and the beautiful saloon-girl Georgia that toys with him.

It’s actually the first Chaplin movie I’ve watched as a teenager (possibly also the first silent movie); I was quite taken aback! I found it hilarious and I still do when I rewatch it.

If you like it, you can watch The Kid on My Kingdom for a Movie (I’ll upload more Chaplin movies!).

(As a footnote: the version above is the original 1928 version; as a personal view I find it much more enjoyable than the 1942 reissue with an additionnal running narration which kind of spoils the fun; I recommend starting with the original).

The post The Gold Rush first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

One of the French masters of suspense (The Wages of Fear, Le Corbeau…), Clouzot signs here one of his best psychological thrillers. Served by outstanding actors (a determined Simone SIgnoret, a sensitive Véro Clouzot and a sullen Paul Meurisse) and a perfect sense of photography and tempo, Les Diaboliques is on par with the best Hitchcock movies.

As Hitchcock himself was asked “Sir, After seeing ‘Les Diaboliques’, my daughter was afraid to take a bath. Now she has seen your ‘Psycho’ and is afraid to take a shower. What should I do with her?”, he reportedly replied: “Send her to the dry cleaners.”

Halfway between a thriller, a film noir, and a horror film, Les Diaboliques will scare you to death.

I haven’t been able to find subtitles for English; the above video is in French with Spanish subtitles; if you find a version with English subtitles let me know!

The post Les Diaboliques first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

Photography, as always with Tarkovsky, is perfect – if you can enjoy a slow-paced movie, you will be taken by its esthetics and formal beauty.

A reflexion on death and grief, on nature and human mind, Solaris is a hypnotic reflexion, a poetic psychological drama that happens to be set in space.

The post Solaris first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

Most last around 25 minutes and, though many of them involve a murder, they all have a deeper common point: perfect structure of the storytelling, attention to detail, and a taste for the unexpected, for reversals of situations, for the inattendu.

They deal with revenge, psychology, murder, suicide, accidents, women, men, death insurance, cheating, guns, social classes, alibis, young chicks, old bores, love, hate, surprise, and so much more.

If you like Hemingway novels, it’s like reading Hemingway’s short stories. Well, if you like Hitchcock movies your know what to do.

The post Hitchcock Presents first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

Arguably the last of the great silent movies, or the best of the last silent movies, Sunrise has several claims to fame:

• the first sequence shot / plan séquence of movie history (when the Man walks through a field to join the Woman From the City under the moonlight) and many other visual effects;
• possibly the first time a man cried on screen (before Gone with the Wind);
• an astronomous amount of work (and money) on the movie set, in particular to represent the city;
• “the most beautiful film in the word”, according to François Truffaut.

The post Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

For the snobs out there, it’s one of the best screwball comedies ever made, with Cary Grant and Rosaling Russell on an equal footing of wit and energy.

For those who like a good laugh, it’s a maelstrom of one-liners, a satire of love story, a witty and fast-paced battle of the sexes, a 90mph ping pong game between Russell and Grant.

For those versed in sociology, it’s an acid portrait of a newspaper in the 1940s, with politics, cynicism and manipulation aplenty.

Intense, theatrical, cruel and funny: all is fair in love and journalism!

The post His Girl Friday first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

A bewitching, slow, tense, weird movie, Stalker is difficult to define. Most striking is Tarkovsky’s full control of the atmosphere: a forest of sounds, a deeply beautiful photography, a very slow but very dense tempo, the music of the Russian language…

If the magic works, you will believe in the possibility of the Room.

The movie is in Russian but subtitles are available for many languages; don’t forget to turn them on and to select the language of your choice!

The post Stalker first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

The story of an abandoned child raised by the Tramp, The Kid is a mix of melodrama and fun, sadness and humor,

For some, it’s one of the most important movies in the history of cinema; but for many it’s also just a very, very, very funny movie.

The post The Kid first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.