Classism Rolls Through Classic Film ‘A Place in the Sun’ Like a Noirish Fog
A lyrical ode to Hollywood beauties Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor, the An American Tragedy-inspired A Place in the Sun casts a long noirish shadow.
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Ronald Brownstein Celebrates and Elegizes LA’s ’70s-Era Cultural Dominance
Ronald Brownstein’s ode to ’70s Los Angeles is, like so many California stories, less about a sustained moment than a bright and briefly thrilling mirage.
Celebrity Stylist Andrew Gelwicks Has a Queer Advantage
Andrew Gelwicks interviews celebrities and other “beautiful people” who have come out of the closet and benefited from it.
‘Odd Woman Out’ Is a Comedy Sketch-Like Memoir About What’s-Her-Name
We can never have too many Jewish Atheists from Brooklyn publishing essays about life as they see it. Actress Melanie Chartoff's 'Odd Woman Out' has me wanting more.
Audrey Hepburn + Rome = Grace, Class, and Beauty
William Wyler's Roman Holiday crosses the postcard genre with a hardy trope: Old World royalty seeks escape from stuffy, ritual-bound, lives for a fling with the modern world, especially with Americans.
‘The Cold Last Swim’ Plunges into Alternate Hollywood History
Junior Burke knocks James Dean's bad-boy-gone-too-soon off the iconic pedestal in his latest book, The Cold Last Swim.
8 Low-Budget Films That Delivered Big
Money isn't everything, although in filmmaking it counts for a lot. These eight films defied their minuscule budgets.
Sam Wasson’s ‘The Big Goodbye’ Puts Roman Polanski’s ‘Chinatown’ in Its Place
Social historian Sam Wasson's The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood, is a graceful and compelling elegy to both Roman Polanski's landmark film, and the end times of old Hollywood.
Elsa Lanchester Was Born to Defy Heteronormativity
The reissue of autobiography Elsa Lanchester, Herself, brings forth an engaging woman who helped to queer Hollywood well beyond her role in The Bride of Frankenstein.
Film History ‘Nobody’s Girl Friday’ Is a Wise Counterpoint to the “Great Man” Auteur Theory
We've always been aware that films are not immaculately created. Smyth's work is a meticulously researched history of how women entered, developed, sustained, and grew within the Hollywood dream factory.