You might not recognize the name Elsa Lanchester, but you’ll definitely recognize her in her most famous role: as the Bride of Frankenstein. Actually that film title always annoyed me, since Frankenstein was the scientist, not the monster, but anyhoo… Here she is looking spectacular: Born in 1902 Lanchester worked in theater and film for(…)
A shocking 90% of American films made before 1929 have been lost forever. Why? There seem to be two main reasons: A huge number of films were destroyed intentionally, especially silent movies as they were perceived to have no value once talkies became popular. As well as this frustrating destruction many movies were filmed on(…)
1930 bridged the gap between the decadent 1920s and the introduction and enforcement of the Hayes Motion Picture Code which cracked down on immorality, nudity and general fun at the movies*. Here are some of the films released in this year. They range from the sublime to the ridiculous and from racy to glamorous not(…)
Well, this is definitely the oldest movie I’ve watched, and it’s truly fabulous! It’s quite incredible that it was made way back in 1902. Only fifteen minutes long, Le Voyage dans la Lune was the first sci-fi film ever made and tackles the idea of a trip to the moon they way they thought it(…)
Rubye De Remer was a particuarly pretty silent movie actress during the 1920s. She landed a spot in the Ziegfeld Follies after being spotted after winning a New York beauty contest, and was dubbed “the most beautiful blonde since Venus” by Florenz Ziegfeld. Like many Ziegfeld Girls she went on to work in the movies,(…)
I treated myself to a 1950s Hammer B-movie yesterday: X… the Unknown. It kills… but cannot be killed! It rises from 2000 miles beneath the earth to melt everything in its path.. machine gun bullets, flame throwers… nothing can stop it! Sounds fabulously terrifying eh? Happily I can report that it wasn’t very terrifying at(…)
My favourite movie of all time – if you haven’t ever seen it please do! It really is the most stylish, witty, romantic movie and this scene always makes me cry (in a good way!) If you haven’t seen the movie, the basic plot until this point is: Charming boy (Cary Grant) meets impossibly stylish(…)
I just love this beautiful dress! Clip from Shall We Dance. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing to “They All Laughed.”
What can I say about this video except that the 70s were a strange and wonderful place…
Ziegfeld Follies girl Drucilla Strain photographed by Alfred Cheney Johnston Source and copyright: This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1923.
I’ve moved this photo into a Pinterest gallery showing Marilyn Monroe’s impressive scar here. As you can see it’s quite an impressive (not to mention crude) scar on her stomach. It was from when she had her gallbladder removed. See the gallery here.
Photo of Mary Pickford kneeling in front of a full length mirror. Photo by Alfred Cheney Johnston.