Film noir hits the tropics in John Huston’s 1948 thriller set in the midst of a Florida Hurricane. Edward G. Robinson, Lionel Barrymore, and Claire Trevor costar.
Category: adapted from the stage
The delightful live action ‘Peter Pan’ on Peacock
You may feel like you’ve stepped into the pages of a storybook illustrated by Maxfield Parrish when you fly off to Neverland in Peter Pan (2003), P.J. Hogan’s deft and delightful take on the oft-filmed J.M. Barrie classic. Rachel Hurd-Wood brings a tomboyish spirit to Wendy, a girl on the verge of being a young […]
Kirk Douglas in ‘Detective Story’ – the original precinct cop drama on Peacock
Detective Story (1951) is the godfather of the TV precinct show. Adapted from Sidney Kingsley’s Broadway play and directed by Hollywood master craftsman William Wyler, it plays out almost entirely in the detective squad room over the course of a long shift. Kirk Douglas stars as Det. James McLeod, a law and order zealot with […]
A ‘Picnic’ with William Holden and Kim Novak on Criterion Channel
The repressed desires and suppressed dreams of small town citizens bubble out of their confines in the late summer days of Picnic (1955). William Holden is the hunky drifter who rides the rails into a small Midwest town with dreams of landing a “respectable” job with his rich college buddy (Cliff Robertson). Kim Novak is […]
‘The Broken Circle Breakdown’ on Amazon Prime
The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium, 2012) is devastating. And I mean that in all the best ways. The story of a passionate love rocked by tragedy, it is both joyous and anguished, celebratory and sad. It’s set in a subculture of bluegrass aficionados in Belgium (who knew?), where it is practically love at first sight […]
‘Bell, Book and Candle’ – James Stewart, Kim Novak and a touch of witchcraft
Kim Novak glows in Bell, Book and Candle (1958) as the bewitching downstairs neighbor of staid, secure publisher James Stewart in this colorful romantic comedy adapted from the lighthearted Broadway comedy by John Van Druten. Novak is at her best as Gillian, a modern day witch in Greenwich Village, halfway between the worlds of magical […]
What to stream: ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ on Netflix, ‘The Expanse’ returns on Amazon, ‘Tenet’ comes to VOD
Here’s what’s new and ready to stream now on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO Now, video-on-demand, and other streaming services … Viola Davis plays Ma Rainey, the mother of the blues, and Chadwick Boseman (in his final screen performance) is the fiery trumpeter in her band in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (2020, R), a […]
‘The Little Foxes’ – Bette Davis reigns supreme on Amazon Prime and free on Kanopy
Bette Davis could freeze almost anyone with her icy stare, the practiced look of a woman who’s learned how to operate in the man’s world of business, in The Little Foxes (1941), director William Wyler’s film version of Lillian Hellman’s chilly play of greed and power in a Southern family on the edge of financial […]
What to stream: ‘Boys in the Band’ on Netflix, ‘Monsterland’ and ‘Wilderness of Error’ on Hulu
Here’s what’s new and ready to stream now on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO Now, video-on-demand, and other streaming services … Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, and Matt Bomer star in “The Boys in the Band” (2020, R), a new revival of the groundbreaking 1968 play about the lives of gay friends in the era […]
What to stream: Broadway phenomenon ‘Hamilton’ debuts on Disney+, ‘Anne Frank’ and ‘The Babysitter’s Club’ on Netflix
Here’s what’s new and ready to stream now on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO Now, video-on-demand, and other streaming services … Celebrate July 4 with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton” (2020, PG-13), a filmed version of the Tony- and Pulitzer-winning Broadway phenomenon. The film was shot in 2016 with the original cast in front of a […]