60 MOVIES WORTH WATCHING – PT3.

60 MOVIES WORTH WATCHING – PT3.

November 13, 2021 Alan Royle 9

Here are my Top 20 films, the movies I enjoy watching more than once. I am the first to concede that a great many of my choices are not considered by the critics to be ‘worthy’. I accept that. But I know what I like and I know what I […]

GREAT MOVIE DIALOGUE – PT1.

GREAT MOVIE DIALOGUE – PT1.

November 23, 2020 Alan Royle 6

MEMORABLE MOVIE DIALOGUE Most genuine movie lovers will more than likely agree that the single most common ingredient that transforms a good movie into a most memorable one is the screenplay. Of course, strong acting performances are also vital, but even the best of actors and actresses cannot overcome a […]

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MOVIE TRIVIA – PT55.

September 13, 2018 Alan Royle 2

Per Oscarsson as the priest in The Last Valley I have never fully comprehended why The Last Valley (1971) bombed at the box office and suffered at the hands of the critics. Perhaps, its negative approach to religion (both Catholic and Protestant) and its pointed abhorrence of every aspect of war […]

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MOVIE TRIVIA – PT52.

September 5, 2018 Alan Royle 2

  Anne Heche in Six Days Seven Nights (1998)     In 2001, Anne Heche stated in a series of interviews that she had an alter-ego named Celestia who was an alien from another planet. She also insisted that she could speak to God and was the half-sister of Jesus Christ; adding […]

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MOVIE TRIVIA – PT50.

September 1, 2018 Alan Royle 6

Several scenes in the 1952 film The Sound Barrier required stars Nigel Patrick and Ann Todd to be seated in one of the new de Havilland Comets. They were blissfully unaware that in just two years’ time two de Havilland Comets would break up in mid-air, killing everyone on board […]

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MOVIE TRIVIA – PT49.

August 30, 2018 Alan Royle 0

  Many of the characters in Singin’ in the Rain (1952) are based on real people in Hollywood history. R.F. Simpson, the studio head, is a parody of L. B. Mayer; director Roscoe Dexter is a thinly disguised Erich von Stroheim; Dora Bailey is obviously a caricature of Louella Parsons; […]

When is an Indian not an Indian? (PT 1)

February 14, 2017 Alan Royle 4

  Until around about the eighties very few actual Native Americans were employed playing Indians in Hollywood movies. Thankfully, since then that has changed and there are numerous Native American actors making healthy livings in westerns and other genres. Over the next few days I shall examine some of those […]

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 top 50 favourite movies -Pt3

February 18, 2016 admin 4

    #10  Road to Perdition (2002) Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Daniel Craig, Jude Law, Tyler Hoechlin Is there anything Tom Hanks cannot do? This period piece set during the Great Depression is beautifully crafted and, despite its gangland theme, is not a bloodbath. Hanks is simply the best. #9  My […]

JOHN WAYNE – The man and the myth.

October 14, 2015 admin 8

  A lot has been written about John Wayne and his early days as an actor in ‘B’ westerns during the 1930s, although even he thought ‘B-Grade’ was rather over-generous description. ‘Hell, they were a lot farther down the alphabet than that’, he recalled. And they were, too. Rock bottom in […]