Maximus (Claude Rains) performs in music halls, where he pretends to be able to read people’s minds and takes their money for it. He calls himself “King of Mind Readers,” and he’s made a decent living off of exploiting people this way. But Maximus won’t keep faking his clairvoyance for long. He begins to have unpredictable premonitions that actually come true. He soon realizes that … Continue reading HORROR HALF-WEEK, Day 3: The Clairvoyant (1934)
A note from Lindsey: This film was viewed as part of TMP’s Barbara Stanwyck filmography project.This is the 34th film (and 36th role, if we’re including television) I’ve viewed from Stanwyck’s filmography. Dove (Laurence Harvey) and Kitty (Jane Fonda) meet in the dusty 1930s, while they’re both in Texas and wanting to get out of the state. They leave for New Orleans, where Dove is … Continue reading Walk on the Wild Side (1962)
Sam Tucker (Zachary Scott) is working as a cotton picker when he decides that he wants to make a better future for his family by buying up a bit of land and growing his own crop. Sam, his wife Nona (Betty Field), their two children and Granny Tucker (Beulah Bondi) pack up the jalopy and head to their new home. Upon arrival they find a … Continue reading The Southerner (1945)
The favorite film: The Grapes of Wrath, a 1940 drama based on the novel by John Steinbeck (adapted for the screen by Nunnally Johnson) and directed by John Ford The synopsis: Tom Joad is fresh off of a prison sentence for homicide when he returns to his family’s home to find that they’ve been kicked off of their land. Like many Oklahoma sharecroppers, they’ve been … Continue reading Favorite things about… The Grapes of Wrath
In 2002, Sue Monk Kidd published her Orange Broadband Prize-winning New York Times best-seller The Secret Life of Bees. Though set in the pivotal year of 1964, The Secret Life of Bees is not your average “South in the 1960s” period piece. The civil rights movement is one of the novel’s underlying themes, but the real focus is the coming of age story of 14-year-old … Continue reading Book vs. film: The Secret Life of Bees
The favorite film: Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, a 1948 comedy released by RKO and directed by H. C. Potter. The synopsis: Jim and Muriel Blandings are a Manhattan couple attempting to build their dream house. Fed up with apartment living and the hectic pace of the big city, the Blandings family wants to make a quieter life for themselves and their two daughters … Continue reading Favorite things about… Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
Stephen Byrne (Louis Hayward) is a writer who has had very little success. He lives in a beautiful House by the River with his wife Marjorie (Jane Wyatt) and their maid, Emily Gaunt (Dorothy Patrick). All is quite calm in his life, despite his lack of success. He spends his days outside in the garden, working on his next piece. But one day, things take … Continue reading House by the River (1950)
There is no quicker way to win me over than to begin a film with a beautiful montage of Italy and the equally beautiful voice of Frank Sinatra. And that is exactly how it all starts for 1954’s romantic drama Three Coins in the Fountain. After the lovely opening, the film follows three American roommates who are working in Italy as secretaries. They live in … Continue reading Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
