Thursday, January 30, 2014

Welcome back, Christian!


A week or so ago Silver Screen Modiste, the website of my dear blogger friend Christian Esquevin, was hi-jacked. When he discovered that he was no longer in possession of his site's domain name, Christian also discovered it would now cost him an arm and a leg to try to get it back. Instead, he has reconstituted it as Silver Screen Modes and, as of today, Christian is back online with more fascinating insights on classic film costume design.

Click here to visit Silver Screen Modes and enjoy Christian's assessment of the costume design nominees for the 2013 Academy Awards.

Zhang Ziyi in Wong Kar Wai's The Grandmaster, Oscar-nominated for Best Costume Design

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Now Playing in San Francisco: Noir City XII


San Francisco's annual Noir City film noir festival is in progress now at the city's iconic movie palace, the Castro Theatre.

This year the festival theme is international and features noir from Argentina, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Spain and - of course - Hollywood. Though the festival is at its mid-point, many great classics have yet to be screened:

Saturday, January 25, 2014

A Touch of Lubitsch - Tuesday on TCM


Loves of Pharaoh (1929) stars Emil Jannings
Beginning at 6:15 am Eastern/3:15 am Pacific on Tuesday, January 28, Turner Classic Movies will treat its viewers to thirteen hours of 'the Lubitsch Touch'.

Kicking off TCM's birthday tribute/Lubitsch-fest will be the spectacular The Loves of Pharaoh (1922), a grand silent historical epic. Made in Germany and financed by Paramount's European film Alliance (EFA), the film would be the last in the series of such epics Lubitsch directed during his reign as something of a 'German DeMille.' He was soon on his way to America, where his star would continue to rise.