Tag Archives: classic-film-review

Classic Film Review: Hitchcock “adapts” to Talkies — “East of Shanghai” (aka “Rich and Strange”) (1931)

Posted on January 1, 2026 by Roger Moore

It came as a surprise for me, and probably shouldn’t have, that Alfred Hitchcock’s transition to sound from silent cinema took more than a film or two and more than a year or two. Hitchcock was half a dozen films … Continue reading →

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Classic Film Review: Lost in the Lush Longueurs of “Paris, Texas”(1984)

Posted on December 17, 2025 by Roger Moore

One has learned to temper one’s expectations when settling in to watch any Palme d’Or winner from the Cannes Film Festival over the years. One has. A “best picture” honor selected by an ever-changing jury of filmmaking peers from all … Continue reading →

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Classic Film Review: A Theatrical Cold War Anecdote turned TV Bon Bon — “An Englishman Abroad”

Posted on December 8, 2025 by Roger Moore

An actress on tour with “Hamlet” is “recruited” by Britain’s most notorious spy in 1950s Moscow in “An Englishman Abroad,” a delightfully droll tragi-comedy from the writer who gave us “The Madness of King George,” “The Lady in the Van” … Continue reading →

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Classic Film Review: McDowell, Warner and Steenburgen Travel with H.G. Wells — “Time After Time” (1979)

Posted on November 27, 2025 by Roger Moore

The acid test for any beloved film from the past is “How does it hold up?” In the case of the sentimental crowd-pleasing “Time After Time” from 1979, the answer is “pretty well.” I remember being almost giddy leaving the … Continue reading →

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Classic Film Review: Lonsdale hunts Fox in Zimmerman’s “The Day of the Jackal” (1973)

Posted on November 6, 2025 by Roger Moore

Pristine, sleek and stylish, “The Day of the Jackal” is a period piece that’s aged into a period piece about a period piece. Director Fred Zinnemann’s film of Frederick Forsythe’s thriller novel recreates chic early ’60s Euro-travel, wining and dining … Continue reading →

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Classic Film Review: An Ealing Comedy of Capital and Labor and “The Man in the White Suit” (1951)

Posted on September 25, 2025 by Roger Moore

In the years after “The War,” Britons got back to indulging the quirkier aspects of a national character that “Keep Calm and Carry On” had superceded, at least as far as “Fritz” and his “Bloodthirsty Guttersnipe” gang were concerned. The … Continue reading →

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Classic Film Review: Godard, Bardot, Palance and “The Odyssey” — “Contempt” (1963)

Posted on August 5, 2025 by Roger Moore

Jean-Luc Godard, the most-analyzed, dissected and critiqued auteur of his generation makes his grand statement on the compromises and sell-outs required by salope déesse cinema with “Contempt,” his biggest-ever hit, a movie about making movies. The critic turned cinematic revolutionary … Continue reading →

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Classic Film Review: Anna May Wong is the “Lady from Chungking” (1942)

Posted on July 23, 2025 by Roger Moore

Anna May Wong, the first Chinese American movie star, was already famous — a Hollywood mainstay since the silent film era who first appeared on screen at 14 back in 1919 — when World War II broke out. With the … Continue reading →

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Classic Film Review: Weir, Ford and McGillis make The Greatest Romantic Thriller of the ’80s — “Witness” (1985)

Posted on July 17, 2025 by Roger Moore

The barn-raising scene in Peter Weir’s masterpiece, “Witness,” is one of the most perfect pieces of pure cinema the movies have ever produced. Beautifully conceived, shot (by future Oscar winner John Seale), edited (by Oscar winner Thom Noble) and scored … Continue reading →

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Classic Film Review: Coming of Age with a Kestrel — “Kes” (1970)

Posted on July 7, 2025 by Roger Moore

“Kes,” the break-out feature of Ken Loach, is an unblinking, unsentimental coming-of-age tale about a boy and his kestrel. It’s a Yorkshire “Yearling” from one of the greatest “kitchen sink realists” the British cinema produced, and one of the last. … Continue reading →

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