When [Robert Taylor’s] agents committed him to the 1965 film The Night Walker costarring his ex-wife [Barbara Stanwyck], he exploded, but could do nothing about the commitment. He told reporters, “Who could pass up the opportunity of working with such a wonderful talented woman?” He could. The only truthful word Read more…
When I mentioned I was writing a book about Barbara Stanwyck to people around my age (mid-twenties to mid-thirties), they usually didn’t quite know who she was, unfortunately. If they asked me what movies she had been in, I always rushed right to Double Indemnity first, thinking they might have Read more…
This minor clash between old and new would have been one of many, as traditional ways of showmanship gave way to modern, more impersonal exhibition of filmed entertainment. What we come to celebrate, then, are the long-gone years when movies we now call classic were sold at both nationwide and Read more…
Pre-Code.Com Site News for July 2016 Hey everyone! My June was completely nuts– I had friends visit, summer semester started, I went to Alaska for two weeks (with no internet), and my beloved dog, Chico, passed away. My plans for July are school and possibly faking my own death so Read more…
So why go back to the movies of the pre-Code era? What’s the point of discovering and watching these films all these years later? The questions are valid. After all, we’re talking about a brief period that ended almost seventy years ago and counting. Most of the films are unknown Read more…
Pre-Code.Com Site News for June 2016 If I’d planned ahead, I would have written some reviews for the TCM’s June Star of the Month, Marie Dressler. However, I did not plan ahead. In fact, I won’t be around the last two weeks of June (yes, yet another vacation), so I Read more…
The fifth issue of The Pre-Code Companion is now available at Amazon. It runs 57 pages and costs $2.99, with all profits being donated to the ASPCA. Click on the image above to check it out. I know it’s a bit late, but between all my traveling and a baby… Read more…
Before we begin, you can read all of my previous daily entries for this year’s festival here. These include breakdowns of what I saw and amusing bon mots that I have the delusional thought that you’ll enjoy. Day -1 & 0 Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 The Read more…
“With the buttons, it was like, hey, look at my chest. Now with the ribbons, it’s like, hey, now check out my crotch!” The good news is that today I woke up and realized that I wasn’t hungover Saturday—it was jetlag! That’s because I was jetlagged today too. Boo. Oh Read more…
“It’s like Harold Lloyd without his glasses—no one would recognize Elvira in a turtleneck.” I woke up hungover. Hell, I still am hungover and it’s six something in the evening. It’s my own damn fault, but the consequence was that I missed the History of Vitaphone presentation that had been Read more…