Lawrence of Arabia: A Second Look

The second of two movies that David Lean directed to the Best Picture Oscar, Lawrence of Arabia is often held up not only as Lean's best work but one of the greatest films of all time. I, er, put it #3 in my list of Lean's films. Still, it's just so great. Lean was a…

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The Apartment: A Second Look

I'm going to pay Billy Wilder the highest compliment I think he would accept: The Apartment could fit in with Ernst Lubitsch's mature period. Watching this alongside The Shop Around the Corner would be a fascinating look at how essentially the same sense of comedy, drama, and romance developed over about twenty years. It's still…

Ben-Hur (1959)

Another MOVIE, like Gone with the Wind. Another big, earnest, incredibly well made, really well acted, and often beautiful to look at film that the Academy decided to award with Best Picture. Ben-Hur is just one of those movies that makes sense for that. It's not just great, but it's a huge entertainment that uses…

Hell in the Pacific

#1 in my ranking of John Boorman's films. I love these sorts of tiny little films from accomplished filmmakers. This is two actors (literally no more than two at any point in the film) in a battle of wills and wits on a beach. It's the sort of thing that, just at the sound of…

The Bridge on the River Kwai: A Second Look

I'm still in amazement at how well The Bridge on the River Kwai comes together in the end. David Lean had been working up his way through the British film industry through a series of smaller films, and he entered the epic game with a serious bang. Taking Pierre Boulle's novel and pushing it into…