The Horn Blows at Midnight

Although Jack Benny's film career takes a back seat to his radio and later TV success, he did quite well in the medium...until 1945's THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT. That film was SO bad that Jack bemoaned it to a thousand more laughs on his radio show than the film itself ever achieved. Or was it? The first time I caught it on television in the early 1970s, having heard little to nothing of its reputation as perpetuated by its star, I loved it! I've loved it every time I've seen it since, in fact! And here, in this contemporary magazine review, we see that, in fact, it was NOT wildly reviled at all! If you get a chance, see it! I highly recommend it!

Klute

I really didn't have the slightest interest in seeing 1971's KLUTE. I wasn't familiar with the stars and, at the age of 12, didn't even know what a "call girl" was. It was re-released around 1973-74, however, on a double-bill with Clint Eastwood's DIRTY HARRY, a film I DID want to see. So I watched KLUTE! A little slow, a little too "grown-up" for me even at 15, but creepy as all get out! And I fell in love not just with Jane Fonda but also with Donald Sutherland...and even the name "Bree" which I would nickname my friend, muse and unofficial goddaughter many years later. 

Diana Dors

Able to combine a sultry sexiness with a genuine likability, Diana Dors was known, for obvious reasons, as Britain's answer to Marilyn Monroe. She was, in fact, a better actress. Her US career was a bit of a fizzle but she was a UK institution, married at one point to Richard Dawson. She put on weight in later years and was sadly exploited as a parody of her former self far too often. But when she chose the right vehicles, she demonstrated that she had, in fact, matured into an exceptional character actress.

 

R.I.P. Lauren Bacall

She was Bogey's Baby. She aged quickly and not all that well some would say but for a relatively brief period in the 1940s, the word sultry should have had her picture next to it in the dictionary. 

Rest in Peace.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

One of the screen's most beautiful actresses ever, one of the best snow scenes in the history of movies, a great ending and an incredibly skillful usage of color make for a true classic!