Author: chicagofilmfestival

Don’t laugh: We genuinely like the Z-Grade film, Teenagers from Outer Space (1959). We immediately fell in love with it when our pal Debbi, from I Found it at the Movies, featured it as part of her Bad Film Series. What? You’ve never heard of this film? Well, you’re in for a Treat. Teenagers from […]

So Bad It’s Good: Teenagers from Outer Space — Silver Screenings

A real trick in filmmaking, we think, is to develop an utterly ridiculous premise and make a decent film of it. Take the 1951 film Rhubarb, a comedy about a baseball team owned by a cat. Yes, we know. There’s no way a baseball team would be owned by a cat. And what cat would […]

The Best Baseball Movie You’ve (maybe) Never Seen — Silver Screenings

Alfred Hitchcock‘s The Lady Vanishes (1938) is more “just” a mystery or thriller, in our opinion. The film centres on a train journey from a fictional European country to England. We first meet the train’s passengers while they are stranded in an alpine town due to an avalanche. This town shows little evidence of winter, […]

Alfred Hitchcock’s Letter to Pre-War Britain — Silver Screenings

“In early 1940s Hollywood,” writes Robert Guffey, “you had to go out of your way to descend any lower than Monogram Studios.”¹ Monogram was one of the small Hollywood studios – collectively known as Poverty Row – that produced low-budget “B” films. Monogram specialized in action and adventure; one of their stars in the early-to-mid 1930s […]

1940s B Horror Films and the 21st Century Mind — Silver Screenings

Spoilers start right here. At the end of the 1956 drama, Patterns, we see Fred Staples (Van Heflin) leave the office building where he works as an executive. Fred, recently promoted to the company’s Executive Office, thinks he’s just won a battle with his CEO, Mr. Ramsey (Everett Sloane). Naturally, he’s infused with adrenaline, and […]

Mr. Ramsey’s Pattern of Villainy — Silver Screenings

One of the more remarkable films from the 1950s, we think, is a gritty black-and-white indie thriller that clocks in at 77 minutes. The film, Suddenly (1954), is about an assassination attempt of an American president. Specifically, it centres on a house overlooking a train station where the president – for security reasons – will […]

Frank Sinatra’s Study of Psychopathy — Silver Screenings

Youth and beauty are lovely while they last, but, alas, they can become an obsession in life’s middle years. It’s not a battle easily won. Even in an era of Botox and Restylane, keeping up a youthful appearance is tough slogging. Except if you’re Dorian Gray. Dorian is the titular character of The Picture of […]

Youth, Beauty, and Getting Away With It All — Silver Screenings

Gentle Reader, you’re likely bearing this time of pandemic and isolation with more patience than we. Instead of being grateful that we – and everyone we know personally – remain virus-free, we tend to get a little grumpy about not being able to visit loved ones or go for a walk without feeling Guilty. You’ve […]

Why We Need Silly Movies — Silver Screenings

A big ego is insufferable at the best of times, but a person can tolerate it if there are Results. For example, if someone is all High And Mighty about their math powers, but displays superior multiplication skills, then one must accept the inevitable conceit. However. If a person has a big ego without skill […]

The Blind Spots of a Big Ego — Silver Screenings

This post is dedicated to Steve of Movie Movie Blog Blog II and his family. In many ways, the 1943 war drama, A Guy Named Joe, is a movie about loss. Spencer Tracy stars as a gutsy but somewhat belligerent American pilot killed while on a risky mission. However, his Tour of Duty ain’t finished; […]

A Guy Named Joe — Silver Screenings