Ernst Lubitsch: A Retrospective

There are directors who were huge in their day but just end up falling out of the collective consciousness over time. I have a theory that those that tend to last the longest in the minds of film fans over decades after their death are the ones most influenced by German Expressionism (Fritz Lang, Alfred…

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The First Quarter Century of the Best Picture Oscar

In May of 1927, in an effort to head off unionization efforts in Hollywood, MGM executive Louis B. Mayer set up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Within a year, the organization was arranging its first annual award presentation to honor the talent in front of and behind the camera. As Mayer later…

Ralph Bakshi: A Retrospective

Ugh...am I really going to do this? I guess I'm really going to do this. I did not enjoy the feature film work of Ralph Bakshi. From Fritz the Cat to Cool and the Crazy, his Showtime movie in 1994, Bakshi showed little command of any filmmaking, storytelling, or animation tools. His best films were written by other people…

Erich von Stroheim: A Retrospective

Erich von Stroheim has one of those faces that people tend to recognize from the silent era. Helped in no small part by roles he had in two films by Billy Wilder (Five Graves to Cairo and Sunset Blvd.) as well as Jean Renoir's Le Grand Illusion, Erich von Stroheim's look as the stereotypical Teutonic officer was part of…

Clint Eastwood: A Retrospective

When Clint Eastwood's star was rising, in particular when he was working with Don Siegel on films like The Beguiled, he suddenly got it in his craw the idea that he could direct feature films, so, in 1971 he took a small thriller script by Jo Heims and Dean Riesner, cast himself in the lead as well…