adapted from the stage – Stream On Demand

‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’ – Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell on Criterion Channel

!Featured, adapted from the stage, based on a novel, Blu-ray, Classic Movie, Comedy, Criterion Channel, Cult Movies, DVD, Hollywood Classic, Musical, SVOD 06/27/2022 Sean Axmaker

Howard Hawks discovered one of the great female screen teams in this musical take on the jazz age tale of two girls from Little Rock in Paris.

Last chance: ‘Murder at the Vanities’ – a sexy showbiz musical mystery on Criterion Channel

!Featured, adapted from the stage, Classic Movie, Comedy, Criterion Channel, Cult Movies, DVD, Have You Seen...?, Musical, pre-code, SVOD 05/03/2022 Sean Axmaker

Mitchell Leisen directs this lively and sexy pre-code mix of backstage musical, showbiz comedy and murder mystery.

‘Bells Are Ringing’ for Judy Holliday and Dean Martin on HBO Max

!Featured, Academy Award nominee, adapted from the stage, Blu-ray, Classic Movie, Comedy, DVD, HBO Max, Hollywood Classic, Musical, SVOD 04/27/2022 Sean Axmaker

Vincente Minnelli directs this film version of the hit Broadway musical about an answering service operator who gets personally involved in the lives of her clients.

The 1936 ‘Show Boat’ with Irene Dunne and Paul Robeson on HBO Max

!Featured, adapted from the stage, Blu-ray, Classic Movie, Criterion, drama, DVD, HBO Max, Hollywood Classic, Musical, National Film Registry, SVOD 04/14/2022 Sean Axmaker

James Whale directs the second and best screen adaptation of the classic musical of a floating paddlewheel playhouse in the 19th century Deep South.

Kirk Douglas in ‘Detective Story’ – the original precinct drama on Peacock and Criterion Channel

!Featured, Academy Award nominee, adapted from the stage, Cannes winner, Classic Movie, Crime, Criterion Channel, drama, DVD, Free, Hollywood Classic, Kanopy, Peacock, SVOD 11/14/2021 Sean Axmaker

Eleanor Parker costars in the police drama set almost entirely in a detective squad room, directed by William Wyler.

‘Key Largo’ with Bogie and Bacall on HBO Max

!Featured, Academy Award, adapted from the stage, based on a play, Blu-ray, Classic Movie, DVD, film noir, gangsters, HBO Max, Hollywood Classic, SVOD 11/04/2021 Sean Axmaker

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.

The delightful live action ‘Peter Pan’ on Peacock

!Featured, adapted from the stage, adventure, based on a novel, based on a play, Blu-ray, childhood, DVD, family friendly, fantasy, Kid Stuff, literary adaptation, Peacock, Streaming Movies, SVOD 06/17/2021 Sean Axmaker

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 […]

A ‘Picnic’ with William Holden and Kim Novak on Criterion Channel

!Featured, Academy Award, adapted from the stage, based on a play, Blu-ray, Classic Movie, Criterion Channel, drama, DVD, Hollywood Classic, SVOD 04/22/2021 Sean Axmaker

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

!Featured, Academy Award nominee, adapted from the stage, Amazon Prime Video, based on a play, drama, DVD, International Cinema, music, SVOD 03/11/2021 Sean Axmaker

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

!Featured, Academy Award nominee, adapted from the stage, Blu-ray, Classic Movie, Comedy, DVD, Hollywood Classic, Romance, SVOD 02/20/2021 Sean Axmaker

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 […]