There is a fine movie website I was introduced to in the last couple weeks and I hope it will strike your fancy as they did mine. I have no personal affiliation with the people behind the site so there is no favoritism, nepotism, kickbacks in Japanese Yen or Euros or anything dodgy like that. I just think this one is a cut above the lot for those like me who are into a bit of nostalgia now and again.
Greenbriar Picture Shows is a survey of motion picture history, focusing on the films and actors and directors of the "golden age of Hollywood", (roughly the 20's through the mid-sixties) with an emphasis on movie exhibition and the publicity hyped to sell the films when they were in competition with so many other features in the heyday of the major American film studios.
The photos are sharp and crisp and coverage of each major film is impressive. The commentary by the scholarly John McElwee and his fellow bloggers has all matter of interesting info and background on some very remarkable films (and the standard fare.) If you have a collection of older films on VHS or DVD, subscribe to Turner Classic films, or just want to revisit an old favorite you saw on television way back when, this is a fine site to satisfy your interest.
You can read the monthly entries or use the search engine for a favorite actor or actress and find interesting material. I am a huge fan of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall (pictured above, in case you thought that was Brad Pitt and Bangelina-What's-Her-Name up there in the photograph) Reading just a couple articles, I found out things about Bogart, for instance, that even I didn't know, which is saying something since I've been a fan a long time.
This month's entries range from separate entries on John Wayne and Kirk Douglas in "The War Wagon" (1967), to the Marx Bros's 1935 MGM entry "A Night at the Opera" with background on films with Gloria Swanson, Lillian Gish, W C Fields, Louise Brooks, et al, as well a thoughtful assesment of some of AIP head Roger Corman's horror films featuring Vincent Price.
I think the strongest feature of the site--other than the photographs and the newspaper archive material--is that each film covered in the blog is given its critical and box office reception at the time of its initial release so you get an idea of how a film was received with an audience and critics in its own time. So, if you've read this far, give it a look sometime and see if you agree.
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