MEMORABLE MOVIE DIALOGUE – PT8

MEMORABLE MOVIE DIALOGUE – PT8

June 20, 2022 Alan Royle 4

  Lauren Holly in Down Periscope (1996) [Lauren Holly as Lt. Emily Lake, Diving Officer aboard the diesel submarine USS Stingray, as she completes a tricky and highly dangerous manoeuvre in the 1996 comedy Down Periscope]: ‘Balls to the wall, boys!’ Gregory Peck in Twelve O’clock High (1949) [Gregory Peck as General Savage in […]

50 MOVIES TO WATCH – PT1

60 MOVIES TO WATCH – PT1

November 10, 2021 Alan Royle 2

60 MOVIES WORTH WATCHING MORE THAN ONCE (PART ONE)      Back in 2005, I wrote my first book – Hollywood Warts ‘n’ All (volume 1). At the end of it I listed my favourite movies, my Top 50 of all time. I was 15 years younger then and the list was […]

MEMORABLE SCREEN PAIRINGS – (PT2)

January 23, 2019 Alan Royle 0

  HOW TO STEAL A MILLION (1966)   Peter O’Toole & Audrey Hepburn in How to Steal a Million (1966) A most unusual screen pairing was that of Peter O’Toole and Audrey Hepburn in How to Steal a Million, just four years after O’Toole had taken the world by storm with […]

FIFTIES MOVIE TRIVIA – PT1.

March 13, 2018 Alan Royle 2

The Moon is Blue (1953) is a pretty tame picture, yet it was the first post-Hayes mainstream Hollywood movie to use the words ‘virgin’, ‘seduce’ and ‘mistress’ (in the sexual partner sense). The mere utterance of these three words was enough to get the picture banned from theatres in Boston, […]

Hollywood & the Catholic Legion of Decency (CLOD).

December 18, 2016 Alan Royle 6

  At the zenith of their power the ‘Seven Sisters’ (MGM, Warners, Paramount, Universal, Columbia, Fox and RKO) did much as they pleased. Few outsiders had any influence over their decisions or their conduct. Few, that is, with the exception of the Catholic Legion of Decency (CLOD). They were a […]

Past Oscars – Pt 4 (1955-60)

October 31, 2016 Alan Royle 4

  1955               Marty – Best Picture                         Ernest Borgnine – Best Actor for Marty   Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter Doris Day & Jimmy Cagney Well, at least Elia Kazan didn’t get Best Director for East of Eden despite being again nominated. […]

My favourite 50 movies of all time – Pt 1.

February 14, 2016 admin 4

  About ten years ago I published volume one of ‘Hollywood Warts ‘n’ All’, and in it I included my ‘Top 50 Movies’. I pointed out at the time that my choices were based entirely on which films gave me the most viewing pleasure; not on technical quality or directorial […]

Stolen Oscars? Pt. 3

September 24, 2015 admin 26

  Part 3 of ‘Stolen Oscars?’ looks at some of the individual Academy Award winners who, for want of a better word, purloined their statuettes. I shall start with the Best Actor category. 1930/1             Lionel Barrymore for A Free Soul I haven’t actually seen any of the other nominated performances […]

Marilyn Monroe – a gorgeous tramp?

February 24, 2015 admin 7

    Marilyn Monroe in the unfinished Something’s Got to Give ( 1962) Marilyn Monroe’s first appearance in a movie was in the 1948 picture Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!  She uttered just two words, ‘Hi, Rad’, as she walked down some church steps behind eight year-old Natalie Wood. Two years earlier she […]