CMBA Blog Profile: Once Upon a Screen

CMBA Blog Profile: Once Upon a Screen

Classic Film Classic Movie Blogger Once Upon a Screen

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The CMBA profiles two classic movie blogs per month, on the 1st and 15th of the month. Today we're featuring Aurora from Once Upon a Screen.

The site Once Upon a Screen is like an online film festival, organized and presented by writer and Movies and More co-host Aurora.

Aurora presents a stunning variety of films – plus celebrity bios and classic radio/television shows – with a wealth of knowledge and a delightful sense of humour. Like most people who organize film festivals, she clearly has a passion for movies and the stories behind them.

One example is her recent spotlight on the Billy Wilder and Jack Lemmon collaboration.

“The blog posts that are most memorable to me personally are the ones I had the most fun writing, such as ‘The Wilder-Lemmon Affair’,” says Aurora. “They are one of my favorite directors and one of my favorite actors. I enjoyed reading (again) how two people whose work I admire also admired and appreciated each other. Together these two men encompass what I love about film – when the heart and the intellect coalesce to form the perfect whole.”

You can read her post HERE.

CMBA: What sparked your interest in classic film?

Once Upon a Screen: It’s rather strange I think that I was drawn to classic movies on my own, naturally, as a matter of circumstance. I arrived in this country at age five. A relative gave us an old TV and I just gravitated to old movies. I credit them with teaching me the English language much more so than I do going to school. These movies – MGM musicals in particular – were a welcoming to my new home where for a time I thought people actually danced in the streets. It was after I’d discover each movie and actor that I realized my parents knew them also, having seen them in theaters in Cuba. I remember seeing Delmer Daves’ Dark Passage and running to my mother after it was over to ask, “Do you know an actor named Humphrey Bogart?” She replied as she would countless times thereafter with a shout out to my father, “Oh, for heaven’s sake. Did you hear what she asked me?” I had no idea at the time that my parents were slightly cool or that these were old movies. To me, they were of the moment and, in some ways, remain so.

  

CMBA: What makes a movie a “classic” in your opinion?

Once Upon a Screen: A classic is timeless. It is forever relatable in some way or possesses a level of entertainment that can be enjoyed by all people for all time. A classic is, in my mind, story and character-driven. And yes, there is a year stamp associated with classics although the year is not etched in stone. For me it is approximately 1968. Although I enjoy many movies made after that year, some of them timeless in their own right, “classics” for me are older, made during the studio system and/or its immediate remnants.

CMBA: What classic film(s) do you recommend to people who say they hate old movies?

Once Upon a Screen: Billy Wilder. Wilder's movies are universally-themed, fast-moving and compelling. From his impressive filmography I’d recommend Double Indemnity, because who doesn’t love getting caught up in the sexy mystery of it all? Straight down the line. It’s impossible not to be affected by all of it. Back-ups would be Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious and Joseph Mankiewicz’s All About Eve. Both of these "dreaded black and white movies" allow for quelling the initial curiosity of a newbie who wants to watch screenland’s biggest stars, while offering interesting stories that grab you from the get-go.

  

CMBA: Why should people care about classic film?

Once Upon a Screen: Film is our greatest, most influential art form. It has – throughout its history – held up a mirror to society in a way no other medium has done. As such, it must be preserved as carefully as all historical artifacts. More importantly, perhaps, is the medium’s ability to transport and entertain us, a value that will never go out of style. I’ll add one more thing: People should care to take a look at classic movies because so many things we see in movies today have already been done before. And they've already been done better.

  

CMBA: What is the most rewarding thing about blogging?

Once Upon a Screen: By far, the community it has introduced me to and the ever-present opportunities to learn more about movies and Hollywood history in general. Before I started blogging about classic movies, I had no idea so many others loved them as I much as I did. Being a classic movie fan had always been a rather lonesome endeavor until I realized that through my blog, and associated social media accounts, I had opportunities to “meet” like-minded people and learn from them. It’s turned out to be the gift that keeps on giving.

 

CMBA: What challenges do you face with your blog, and how do you overcome them?

Once Upon a Screen: There are two major challenges. I’d say the first is time. I wish I had more to spend on the blog, to offer something of value. The other is being unique; offering something other than your run-of-the-mill movie commentary, to stand out from the crowd. For instance, I’ve wanted to start a regular series for quite some time, but could only manage the Friday Foto Follies pictorials. While this series offers a means through which I get the images I love out of my system, it does little more than that.  Maybe someday I can do something along those lines of greater value.

CMBA: What advice would you give to a new blogger?

Once Upon a Screen: (1) Have fun. Blogging can become work all too easily, which can be overwhelming for those of us with full-time jobs, families, etc. If it’s not fun, it’s not worth it.

(2) Whatever you share, let it be your voice and no one else’s. 

  

Thank you for joining us, Aurora! You can visit her blog by clicking HERE.

CMBA Blog Profile: The Man on the Flying Trapeze

CMBA Blog Profile: The Man on the Flying Trapeze

Classic Film Classic Movie Blogger The Man on the Flying Trapeze

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The CMBA profiles two classic movie blogs per month, on the 1st and the 15th of the month. Today we're featuring David from The Man on the FlyingTrapeze.

If you remember the Spike Jones version of the song “The Man on the Flying Trapeze”, you’ll recall the mixture of admiration and humour in the lyrics. The song is kind of a reluctant love letter to a venerated trapeze artist who has stolen the songwriter’s girlfriend.

The blog, The Man on the Flying Trapeze, is an unabashed love letter to classic Hollywood film. David writes with admiration and wit about the films from the Golden Age, especially pre-code films. These he's chronicled in his "Pre-Code vs Post-Code" series.

“I love pre-code movies,” says David, “and I love to dig into how they were ‘cleaned up’ (and usually made worse) to meet a set of silly standards.”

One example compares Grand Hotel to Week-End at the Waldorf. You can read this post HERE.

CMBA: What sparked your interest in classic film?

The Man on the Flying Trapeze: When I was a kid, my cousins lived across the street and I was over there a lot. My uncle was a fan of Warner Brothers gangster movies, and in those days (late 1960s) a local TV station showed them every night at 6:00. So instead of playing with my cousins I’d find myself in front of the TV watching people shoot at each other with tommy guns in black and white, and to this day the experience remains magical to me. (Those Warner gunshots have a sound all their own!)    

CMBA: What makes a film a "classic" in your opinion?

The Man on the Flying Trapeze: A great script, classic dialogue, terrific performances, striking photography or an intangible something that captures the zeitgeist of the moment and yet still seems timeless. 

CMBA: What classic film(s) do you recommend to people who say they hate old movies?

The Man on the Flying Trapeze: I don't know if it's his cynical outlook or his contemporary storytelling style, but I've had good luck introducing people to Billy Wilder movies – Sunset Boulevard, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment and Double Indemnity.

CMBA: Why should people care about classic film?

The Man on the Flying Trapeze: Because it helps explain us as a people and it demonstrates where our storytelling traditions come from. As a culture we are too fascinated with newness for its own sake. New automatically equals cool/good. That people can be reluctant to look at anything considered "old" makes no more sense to me than someone refusing to look at something just because it's blue.   

CMBA: What is the most rewarding thing about blogging?

The Man on the Flying Trapeze: The illusion that everyone is paying attention to what you post – and the feedback that you get from a dedicated handful of people with the same obsessions as yours.

CMBA: What challenges do you face with your blog, and how do you overcome them?

The Man on the Flying Trapeze: I don't know why, but I always have a hard time figuring out what movie I'm going to write about next – sometimes to the degree that I just freeze up and don't write anything. I know this sounds weird, but I honestly think I'd be better off if there was someone standing over my shoulder telling me what movie to write about next. 

CMBA: What advice would you give to a new blogger?

The Man on the Flying Trapeze: Don't knock yourself out at first – this is a marathon, not a sprint. Try to post regularly, but not obsessively. And don’t beat yourself up if a few weeks go by between posts.

Thank you for joining us, David! You can visit his blog by clicking HERE.

CMBA Blog Profile: A Trip Down Memory Lane

CMBA Blog Profile: A Trip Down Memory Lane

A Trip Down Memory Lane Classic Film Classic Movie Blogger

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The CMBA profiles two classic movie blogs per month, on the 1st and the 15th of the month. Today we're featuring David from A Trip Down Memory Lane.

David’s experience with blogging likely sounds familiar to a lot of people. You might start a blog with a specific goal, only to have it morph into something else.

“I started my blog in March of 2010,” says David. “I started it so I could put all the information and tidbits of classic Hollywood in one place, but then it evolved into a blog showcasing memories of great entertainment and stars that I enjoyed. My blog was originally called The Great Entertainers Archive, but a year later I changed it to A Trip Down Memory Lane.”

A Trip Down Memory Lane is a valuable resource for those looking for information on celebrities of classic Hollywood. David chronicles lesser-known personalities, too, such as Nedra Sanders Broccoli.

“She was the widow of singer Buddy Clark as well as the wife of James Bond producer Albert Broccoli,” explains David. “Nedra had a lifetime of heartache and disaster. There were no other stories on her anywhere, so I researched what I could find on her for months. I was proud of the reaction I got, and it was used on other websites and publications. I also got emails from her two children who were toddlers when she died thanking me for writing the article on her. Even though her story was a sad one, I felt happy that I had the opportunity to tell it.”

You can read David’s post on Nedra HERE.

CMBA: What sparked your interest in classic film?

A Trip Down Memory Lane: Growing up I was very close to my Grandfather, and he instilled in me a love of old music and movies. He has been gone for 13 years now, but the memories of my Grandfather and I crying as we watched the drama Penny Serenade (1940), or singing along to the musical Good News (1947), remains with me to this day as I raise my young children.

CMBA: What makes a film a "classic" in your opinion?

A Trip Down Memory Lane: I used to say that a classic film was one that was made before I was born (pre-1974). However, to me a classic film is a film that generations can enjoy and a film that is timeless.

CMBA: What classic film(s) do you recommend to people who say they hate old movies?

A Trip Down Memory Lane: It has taken me 11 years of marriage to convince my wife that not all old movies are truly “old”. I started off by showing my wife movies that did not really age such as Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) and White Heat (1949). Then I moved on to more obscure movies like The Face Behind The Mask (1941). I have watched every genre of movies with her now – except for silent movies. I need a few more years of marriage for that!

CMBA: Why should people care about classic film?

A Trip Down Memory Lane: I think people should care about classic films, because each film – whether a good movie or a bad movie – tell a person of what life was like in that time. Each film is a time capsule to a bygone era.

CMBA: What is the most rewarding thing about blogging?

A Trip Down Memory Lane: The most rewarding aspect about blogging is sharing a love of classic movies and entertainment with like-minded individuals. It is great to meet people who think Gigot (1962) is a great movie or who always wondered what happened to singer Dick Todd.

CMBA: What challenges do you face with your blog, and how do you overcome them?

A Trip Down Memory Lane: It gets discouraging sometimes when you put your whole heart into writing an article and no one comments or you have only a few views. To overcome it, I remind myself that I am writing this blog because I love talking about old movies, and I also remind myself that sometimes I can publish a story on my blog years ago and it just gets discovered. Whatever you publish on the internet never is truly forgotten or lost!

CMBA: What advice would you give to a new blogger?

A Trip Down Memory Lane: What advice I would have for a new blogger is to not get discouraged. Publish a blog for the right reasons, and also be patient. It takes awhile for your blog to be discovered and to build up a fan base.

Thank you for joining us, David! You can visit his blog by clicking HERE.

CMBA Blogger Profile: Movies Silently

CMBA Blogger Profile: Movies Silently

Classic Film Classic Movie Blog Association Movies Silently

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The CMBA profiles two classic movie blogs per month, on the 1st and 15th. Today we're celebrating Fritzi from Movies Silently. 

Reading the blog Movies Silently is like visiting an amusement park. If you plan to drop by, it's guaranteed you'll end up spending the day. Better bring a lunch.

Fritzi's site is an adventurous look at silent film, as explored through reviews, Top 10 (or Bottom 5) Lists, amusing silent film gifs, and even vintage recipes. It is a celebration of silent film in all its forms – the serious, the witty, the tragic.

It's also a groundbreaking site that isn't afraid to attack cherished misconceptions.

"My review of The Cossacks is an example of what I most want to accomplish on my blog," says Fritzi. "It represents six months of research culminating in an epic takedown of a reasonably beloved film and an expose of its shameless plagiarism. Looking below the surface was rewarding in this case because it allowed me to both dig deep into film history and expose an injustice that has been ignored for almost eighty years."

You can read Fritzi's review HERE.

CMBA: What sparked your interest in classic film?

Movies Silently: My parents were very anti-TV and we lived in a rather rural area because of my father's job so if we watched movies, they were VHS tapes from my parents' collection and they preferred the classics. Pretty much every movie I saw, except the original Star Wars trilogy, was at least three decades old so I don't really think of classic movies as odd. Modern movies are the weird ones, I tell you!

I particularly loved cliffhanger serials from the 1930s and 1940s. Flash Gordon, G-Men vs. the Black Dragon, Nyoka and the Tigermen and Buck Rogers are still among my favorites. They resembled Star Wars and I was addicted to their kitschy style. I also loved Cary Grant, Errol Flynn, Katharine Hepburn, Our Gang, Charley Chase, the Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy.

As for silent film, I was in my teens when I realized that my movie knowledge pretty much ended at 1930. I decided to remedy that and got a few silent films, one of which was a Charlie Chaplin feature. I was hooked! My favorite discoveries in my first year of silent film were Mary Pickford, Harry Langdon and Cecil B. DeMille. I was familiar with DeMille's cheesy sound epics, of course, but his tight, fast-paced silent films were a revelation.

CMBA: What makes a film a "classic" in your opinion?

Movies Silently: That's open to interpretation but I consider the classic era to be from the birth of projected cinema (1895) to the fall of the Code with the introduction of the modern ratings system in 1968. As to whether or not an individual movie is a classic, I think it's a matter of how memorable it is, even if the film itself is obscure.

CMBA: What classic film(s) do you recommend to people who say they hate old movies?

Movies Silently: For silent films, I recommend shocking people with something like The Penalty or The Mystery of the Leaping Fish, which both contain rather extreme content. The latter film is a Sherlock Holmes spoof with a hero who powders his nose with cocaine. In 1916. I have also had good success with Ernst Lubitsch's quirky comedies, from The Oyster Princess to The Shop Around the Corner.

 

CMBA: Why should people care about classic film?

Movies Silently: For the same reason they should care about history, classical music and fine literature: it expands the mind while giving us a glimpse into the past. All modern movies owe something to the classics and it's always worth it to look and see what they have to offer.

CMBA: What is the most rewarding thing about blogging?

Movies Silently: First, it really opens my mind and makes me watch silent films that I might have otherwise ignored. I like to hold reader request events and I am always thrilled with the wide variety of selections that my readers come up with. Second, blogging about silent films has put me in touch with producers, accompanists, authors and other silent film professionals whose work I have admired for years. I consider it a huge privilege to get to know them.

CMBA: What challenges do you face with your blog, and how do you overcome them?

Movies Silently: The biggest challenge is that silent film scholarship tends to be a bit calcified. It is taken for granted that D.W. Griffith invented everything, all British silents are awful and that hardly any women were powerful behind the camera. All that is changing, of course, and I want to be part of the change. I consider it a duty to start smashing idols, questioning unimpeachable sources and generally raising hell. Of course, this can lead to a certain amount of resistance in some quarters but the tide is turning.

I always try to come up with a fresh perspective, a new angle for every film I review. I mean, what's the point of reviewing a film if I am just going to echo what everyone else says? If I can't find that angle, I put the film aside for a while and wait until I can think of one. This can take years but the wait is worth it. For example, I handled my review of the 1925 version of Ben-Hur by attempting to write the most comprehensive behind-the-scenes story possible.

CMBA: What advice would you give to a new blogger?

Movies Silently: 1. Look at your writing objectively and determine your strengths and weaknesses.

2. Have someone whose opinion you respect read your writing and tell you whether or not it is interesting and fun.

3. Write about what you love with passion, don't just pick a topic because it seems popular. If your writing is entertaining, people will come.

4. All my favorite bloggers have this thing in common: they write highly subjective, highly opinionated content and they clearly articulate what they do and do not like.

5. If you are planning to blog about films, read, read, read and read some more. Read what? Film criticism and theory from every era. Study the critics, find out what makes their writing smart or amusing.

6. Don't take shortcuts. Don't just parrot what other people write. Step off the beaten path and try to share obscure picks. It will give your blog texture and variety.

Thanks for joining us, Fritzi! You can visit her blog by clicking HERE.

CMBA Blogger Profile: Classic Movie Hub

CMBA Blogger Profile: Classic Movie Hub

Classic Film Classic Movie Blog Association Classic Movie Hub

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The CMBA profiles two classic movie blogs per month, on the 1st and 15th. Today we're toasting Annmarie from Classic Movie Hub.

The tagline for Classic Movie Hub is "The Classic Movie Cheerleader!"

Indeed it is. The site includes contests, classic celebrity birthdays and Top 100 movie lists – truly a hub of classic movie information. (Psst! It's also a great place to advertise your classic film blogathon.)

Classic Movie Hub features an intriguing blog that delves into a number of eclectic topics. Annmarie, the site founder, is a dedicated researcher who delights in the "odd things you can discover when you're blogging."

For example, Annmarie found buried treasure while working on a post about Kathleen Howard for the 2013 Funny Lady Blogathon.

"I chose Howard as my subject simply because I adored her in It's a Gift," says Annmarie. "Imagine my surprise when I started my research and learned that she was successful in three distinctly tough and impressive careers: opera singer, fashion editor, and actress. It was like hitting pay dirt -- finding mp3s of her voice, newspaper articles about her career moves, and a book she had written about singing. Such wonderful discoveries about an actress that I only knew as W.C. Fields shrewish wife!" 

You can read Annmarie's post HERE. 

CMBA: What sparked your interest in classic film?

Classic Movie Hub: Well, to tell you the truth, it all had to do with my parents. I was very lucky in that both of my parents loved classic movies, and each shared their favorite films and stars with me. I can distinctly remember watching It Happened One Night and Wuthering Heightswith my mother when I was a little girl, while she explained the overall stories to me, and told me about the actors. Of course I was too young to understand some of the implications, i.e. the 'Walls of Jericho,' but I loved the films just the same. My dad, on the other hand, introduced me to the Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields and Charlie Chaplin. I can still remember laughing at the 'porch scene' from It's a Gift with him, as well as the hilarious 'cabin hanging on the edge of the cliff scene' from The Gold Rush(incidentally, my very first Charlie Chaplin film). As far as the Marx Brothers go, they were a staple for us, so I grew up with a deep appreciation for their slapstick, witty dialog and impressive musicianship. My love of classic films grew from there, but those early memories are still very special to me...and were the foundation for what was to follow.

CMBA: What makes a film a "classic" in your opinion?

Classic Movie Hub: For me personally, the film must stand the test of time, whether that means through message, plot, performance, innovation, craft or art -- and it must also somehow emotionally resonate with me (smile, laugh, cry, scare, anger, feel compassion, think, astound, etc). However, I also abide by the classic film definition as films belonging to the classic-era of film-making (up through the mid-to-late 1960s) although I can certainly understand why many fans would consider some later films 'classic' as well.

CMBA: What classic film(s) do you recommend to people who say they hate old movies?

Classic Movie Hub: That's a tough question. I think it would have to depend on the person and their interests, as well as their open-mindedness. But some of my recommendations would be Casablanca, Some Like It Hot, It's a Wonderful Life, City Lights, How Green Was My Valley, Double Indemnity, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Wizard of Oz, The Sound of Music, North by Northwest and The Bridge on the River Kwai. 

CMBA: Why should people care about classic film?

Classic Movie Hub: Well, because everything comes from something -- whether it's film, music, art, science, math, you name it... So, when you take the time to understand context and evolution, it makes everything much more exciting and interesting! How wonderful to be able to learn about the pioneers of film and their innovations, the studio system and its evolution, and all of the technical and artistic advances throughout the years -- and how they ultimately impacted contemporary films and film-makers.  I can't help but think of this in the context of George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life, and how his seemingly 'small' and 'uneventful' life impacted so many others; in the same way, a seemingly 'small' or 'uneventful' film or innovation (at the time) could have contributed to a chain of events that shifted or advanced the course of filmmaking in some small (or great) way. 

 

 

CMBA: What is the most rewarding thing about blogging?

Classic Movie Hub: For me, it's two things... First, I always learn something new when I'm doing research for a post, and that immerses me even more into the classic movie world, which is always fun. Secondly (but not less important), I've met so many wonderful film-fan-friends during my years of blogging, and I am fortunate to count some of them as true friends now.  And, of course, it's always great to have a support group that really understands your passion and what you're trying to accomplish. 

CMBA: What challenges do you face with your blog, and how do you overcome them?

Classic Movie Hub: Honestly, it's tough to find the time.  But, once I get started...well, I just can't stop.

CMBA: What advice would you give to a new blogger?

Classic Movie Hub: Don't be too critical of yourself and don't wait for the right time to write. I think it's more important that you just start writing, do your best with what you've got, and learn as you go. Over time you will find your style and your sweet spot...

Thank you for joining us, Annmarie! You can visit her blog by clicking HERE.