Filed under: cinema, classic movies, culture, entertainment, film, history, hollywood, movies, vintage | Tags: Project 39; Humphrey Bogart; Kay Francis; gangter; crime drama;
Yesterday, January 14th, marked the 70th anniversary release of Lewis Seiler’s King of the Underworld, which makes it the subject of today’s Project 39. The film is a remake of the just-OK 1935 crime drama Dr. Socrates and no improvements to the original are really evident–except, of course, for one particular casting choice. The plot sounds good: man and wife save a gangster. Gangster exploits them, kills husband and leaves wife to take the wrap. Wife takes matter into her own hands when Gangster is poised to strike again. And with Humphrey Bogart as the gangster and the exquisite Kay Francis as the wife (who is also a female doctor), the recipe looks delicious. Only instead of a choice prime rib, King of the Underworld is more like a … well … a turkey with some serious plot holes and a woeful script for stuffing.
The big plus is Bogart’s performance–it’s proof that he can carry a film in spite of a dreary script because, in spite of its flaws, Underworld is still an enjoyable period gangster flick. Especially when Bogart snarls out “First time anybody ever told me to keep my mouth shut and got away with it.” He is definitely worth the price of admission here.
Filed under: arts, cinema, classic movies, culture, entertainment, fashion, film, history, hollywood, movies
Awards analyst and all-around cineaste Scott Feinberg is in the middle of a mah-velous series of blog posts that take a look at some of the most iconic dresses in the movies. It may sound rather frivolous, and perhaps in the hands of someone else it would be, but not so with Feinberg. The man is serious about the movies and definitely knows his stuff. And so to come up with this exclusive list, Feinberg performed an extensive survey with fashion experts and professors and combed through the silent celluloid right up to today to “identify the most iconic movie dresses in cinema history.” There’s plenty of cinema history here, folks, and I urge classic movie fans everywhere to check out his 28 winners.
So far, the list includes Cate Blanchett’s red dress from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Ginger Rogers feather dress from Top Hat and Jean Harlow’s white hot satin number from Dinner at Eight.
