Tips from Chip

The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum, sometimes translated incorrectly as The Story of the Late Chrysanthemum, is a Japanese film originall...

Daybreak (aka Le jour se leve) is the second French film I am reviewing as part of my A Great Year for Movies – 1939 category.  The other w...

As you can see from the poster to the right this film was marketed as “Garbo Laughs”.  Although popular with audiences she had a reputation...

In the crowded year that was 1939 Only Angels Have Wings still managed to get two Oscar nominations.  It didn’t win either of them, but thi...

Stagecoach was the first of many collaborations between director John Ford and actor John Wayne.  It was very influential both in presentat...

Gone with the Wind, based on the Margaret Mitchell novel of the same name, was the pop culture phenomenon of the late 1930s.  The book had...

Wuthering Heights is based on the 1857 novel of the same name by Emily Bronte.  I have not read the book, so I cannot compare the two.  ...

The Rules of the Game, despite being so acclaimed by critics, actually has a pretty simple premise that has been copied many times – show a...

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is based on the 1831 Victor Hugo novel of the same (translated) name.  I have not read it, but it’s my understa...

What can be written about The Wizard of Oz that hasn’t already been said in any of the many, many extras and stories and documentaries on t...

There have been several movie versions of the musical Show Boat, based on the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein stage musical, which was itself...

Unlike my prior review – Broken Blossoms – The Bitter Tea of General Yen shows actual passion between an Asian man and a white woman.  It’s...

After the triumph that was 1928’s The Last Command, which helped garner Emil Jannings the first Best Actor Oscar in history, he and directo...

When most people think of “monster movies” they have images of fun but dumb movies, standard characters, perhaps cheesy special effects, ba...

James Whale is probably best known for directing Frankenstein (1931) and The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), but he also brought to the scree...

Both the 1931 Frankenstein film and the book on which it was based – Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus – w...

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is famously the first feature length, fully animated motion picture that was ever made.   (The German film...

The movie Freaks was controversial even when it was released in 1932.   After negative reaction to the original version the studio cut almo...

Fritz Lang’s 1931 film M is a landmark in movie history.   While he directed other films that are classics (most notably 1927’s Metropolis)...

When Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was first released it generated a lot of hate from politicians because of the way some federal Senators ...