Darwin Porter – Can we believe what he writes?

September 28, 2017 Alan Royle 15

  Darwin Porter (1937 – ) I doubt if there are many more controversial contemporary writers than Darwin Porter. His supporters believe he is telling the real story of Hollywood in its so-called Golden Age; his detractors consider him to be little more than a peddler of sleazy gossip. I […]

Why the studio system collapsed.

September 26, 2017 Alan Royle 0

  The fall of the studio system in Hollywood did not happen overnight. It took from the late forties until the late sixties, but although it happened over a couple of decades, it was always going to happen sooner or later. Indeed, if World War Two had not interceded it […]

B-LIST BEAUTIES – PT 3.

September 22, 2017 Alan Royle 0

            PEGGIE CASTLE (1927 – 73)                  The Yellow Tomahawk (1954) opposite Rory Calhoun                                   Audie Murphy                […]

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THE BOND GIRLS – PT1.

September 20, 2017 Alan Royle 0

DR NO (1962)                     URSULA ANDRESS (1936 – )                  as Honey Rider                                   Ursula at 78             Swiss-born Ursula Andress […]

Did O J Simpson’s son Jason do it?

September 18, 2017 Alan Royle 2

  O. J. Simpson Former football champion and actor O J Simpson was granted parole in July 2017 and shall be released from Nevada’s Lovelock Correctional Facility in October. Back in 2008 he had been sentenced to 33 years in prison for armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and […]

DUSTIN HOFFMAN – An acquired taste.

September 16, 2017 Alan Royle 0

DUSTIN HOFFMAN                                                Maybe he has mellowed as he has aged, but I doubt it. Dustin Hoffman’s contemporaries, actors, directors and producers alike, have always found him a […]

ROBERT RYAN – A class act.

September 14, 2017 Alan Royle 2

RYAN, Robert (1909 – 73) I recently had the pleasure of watching a terrific western named The Proud Ones (1956). It has gone completely unheralded, yet it is clearly a couple of cuts above the average western fare. I watched it for one simple reason, because Robert Ryan was its […]

SNAPSHOTS Vol 2

September 12, 2017 Alan Royle 0

CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS (1937)                                   I have watched Captains Courageous only twice because, frankly, I cannot abide Spencer Tracy’s portrayal of the Portuguese fisherman Manuel. In fact, I only watched it the second time because of Freddie Bartholomew’s superb performance and to see Lionel Barrymore ‘box his ears’ better than anyone has ever done […]