Preston Sturges

When Comedy Was Clean and Comediennes Were King

John Farr | Posted 05.20.2012

Read More: Preston Sturges, Don Ameche, Carole Lombard, Ben Hecht Charles MacArthur, Screwball Comedy, Mary Astor, Frank Capra, John Barrymore, Bob Hope, Claudette Colbert, Billy Wilder, Best Movies on DVD, Best Movies by Farr, Best Movies, Rosalind Russell, Cary Grant, Leo McCarey, Bridesmaids, Howard Hawks, Barbara Stanwyck, Ben Hecht, Kristen Wiig, Bill Cosby, Jean Arthur, Irene Dunne, Gary Cooper, Ralph Bellamy, Comedy, Jack Benny, Entertainment News
John Farr

For those wanting a respite from today's low, "in-your-face" brand of comedy, here are a few tried-and-true classics featuring these top screen comediennes. These special ladies made us laugh -- and feel smart -- at the same time.

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The Greatest Hollywood Director You May Never Have Heard Of

John Farr | Posted 09.10.2011

Read More: Preston Sturges, Kirk Douglas, Academy Awards, Mary Astor, Margaret Sullavan, Ralph Richardson, Fredric March, Best Movies on DVD, Olivia De Havilland, Walter Pidgeon, Greer Garson, Best Movies by Farr, Herbert Marshall, Eleanor Parker, Montgomery Clift, Walter Huston, John Ford, Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, Laurence Olivier, David Niven, William Wyler, George Cukor, Charlton Heston, Myrna Loy, Vivien Leigh, Dana Andrews, Gregory Peck, Bette Davis, Entertainment News
John Farr

Which Hollywood director actually made the most great movies? In the Alsace area of Germany, future director William Wyler was born. Here is a sampling of his best movies covering three full decades.

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Blackberries Off: Ten Essential Movies For Easily Distracted Twenty-Somethings

John Farr | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Literature, George C. Scott, Digital Media, Francois Truffaut, Bicycle Thieves, Academy Awards, Harper Lee, Eva Marie Saint, All About Eve, Rashomon, Thanksgiving, The 400 Blows, Best Movies by Farr, Akira Kurosawa, Rod Steiger, Brian Dennehy, Robert Duvall, Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, Modern Times, George Sanders, Theatre, Duck Soup, Gregory Peck, On the Waterfront, Elia Kazan, Vanessa Redgrave, Robert Mulligan, Preston Sturges, Matt Richtel, The New York Times, Veronica Lake, Best Movies on DVD, Lee J. Cobb, Henry Fonda, Vittorio De Sica, Sidney Lumet, Joel Mcrea, 12 Angry Men, Digital Age, The Marx Brothers, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Marlon Brando, To Kill a Mockingbird, Jean-Pierre Leaud, Bette Davis, Entertainment News
John Farr

What if we only had a month in which to force our young adult offspring to see ten essential movies before they succumbed entirely to short-form digital content? My own personal picks.

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The Alarming Decline Of Expressive Language, In Life and On Film

John Farr | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: George C. Scott, Fred MacMurray, Edward G. Robinson, William Holden, Instant Messaging, Sterling Hayden, All About Eve, Faye Dunaway, Ernest Lehman, Jamie Foxx, Peter Sellers, Best Movies by Farr, Burt Lancaster, Walter Huston, Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Jenkins, George Sanders, Janus Films, Stanley Kubrick, Clifford Odets, Technology, A.O. Scott, Sidney Lumet, Humphrey Bogart, Criterion Collection, Preston Sturges, The Academy Awards, Writing, Al Pacino, Billy Wilder, Best Movies on DVD, Double Indemnity, Tony Curtis, John Ford, Screenwriting, John Huston, Anne Baxter, Essential Art Films, Marcel Carne, Peter Finch, Paddy Chayefsky, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Walter Winchell, Bette Davis, Entertainment News
John Farr

Even as today's high school and college students are pushed harder in school, they cannot write an essay or use descriptive language nearly as fluently as their parents and grandparents could.

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Ten Films For The Coming Weeks

John Farr | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: The Graduate, Fred MacMurray, Woody Allen, Thanksgiving, Paul Simon, The Thin Man, The Apartment, Animal House, Diane Keaton, Peter Sellers, Spencer Tracy, Best Movies by Farr, Don Cheadle, Ben Affleck, Father of the Bride Movie, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Cary Grant, Burt Reynolds, Alfred Hitchcock, Barbara Stanwyck, Blake Edwards, Boogie Nights, Grace Kelly, Julianne Moore, Matthew McConaughey, Bonnie and Clyde, Jack Lemmon, Jeff Goldblum, Parker Posey, Preston Sturges, Dustin Hoffman, William H. Macy, Elizabeth Taylor, Holiday Shopping, Holiday Season, William Powell, John C. Reilly, It's a Wonderful Life, Holiday Season Commentary, To Catch a Thief, Billy Wilder, Mark Wahlberg, A Christmas Carol, Dazed and Confused, Jon Voight, Parties, Henry Fonda, Mad Men, Midnight Cowboy, Shirley MacLaine, P.T. Anderson, Annie Hall, Richard Linklater, Myrna Loy, Heather Graham, The Love Boat, Entertainment News
John Farr

Get ready, folks, for the coming blur of forced reunions, work-related functions, and cacophonous Christmas parties.

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The Best Train Movies by Farr

John Farr | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Robert Walker, Preston Sturges, Albert Finney, Carole Lombard, John Barrymore, Claudette Colbert, Julie Delpy, Travel, D.W. Griffith, Ethan Hawke, Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield Died, Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, Joel Mcrea, Hungarian Film, Ingrid Bergman, Trevor Howard, Trains, British Film, Best Sidney Lumet Movies, Glenn Ford, Sean Connery Book, Entertainment News
John Farr

In a host of movies, the train has served as a microcosm of modern society, and the individual's potential risk and conflict within it.

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A Lesser Class of Rogue

Allison Silver | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Roland Burris Senate, Blagojevich, Chicago Governor, Roland Burris, Roland Burris Senate Appointment, Illinois Governor, Gov. Blagojevich, Friends of Blagojevich, The Great Mcginty, Preston Sturges, Rod Blagojevich, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Blagojevich Obama, Blagojevich Complaint, Governor Arrested, Blagojevich Indictment, Blagojevich Arrested, Patrick Fitzgerald, Politics News
Allison Silver

Though Blagojevich is regularly described as the apotheosis of the shady Illinois politician, he does not come close to the finesse and style embodied by masterful machine politicians. He's no McGinty.

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Sarah Palin--The Next "Great McGinty"?

Roger Smith | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Preston Sturges, Election '08, Sarah Palin, Chauncey Gardiner, Harry Truman, American Idol, Politics News
Roger Smith

Sarah Palin--The Next "Great McGinty"? By Roger Smith Like most of America, I awoke this morning to read/hear the usual voices of the commentariat...

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Mike Leigh, Randy Pausch, Reader's Digest and an End to Miserablism

Margaret Heffernan | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Preston Sturges, Zeitgeist, Mike Leigh, Randy Pausch, Mood, Reader's Digest, Happiness, Media News
Margaret Heffernan

Mike Leigh, who more or less invented miserablism as an art form, has changed his tune. His new film, Happy-Go-Lucky is, as the title suggests, cheerful. What's he doing?

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