Author Archives: Jnpickens

About Jnpickens

Classic film lover and reporter in North Carolina.

Musical Monday: The Emperor Jones (1933)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

emperorThis week’s musical:
The Emperor Jones (1933) – Musical #730

Studio:
United Artists

Director:
Dudley Murphy

Starring:
Paul Robeson, Dudley Digges, Frank H. Wilson, Fredi Washington, Ruby Elzy, George Haymid Stamper, Moms Mabley (uncredited), Rex Ingram (uncredited), Harold Nicholas (uncredited), Billie Holiday (uncredited)

Plot:
Brutus Jones (Robeson) leaves home after being hired as a Pullman porter on a train. Jones does well for himself, until he fights with his best friend (Wilson) and ends up killing him. Jailed for murder, Jones escapes from prison. Jones hops a freighter shoveling coal and jumps off the boat to swim to a remote island. On the island, Jones works himself up to being the emperor of the people.

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Watching 1939: Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (1939)

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In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.

nd hidden staircase1939 film:
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (1939)

Release date:
Sept. 9, 1939

Cast:
Bonita Granville, Frankie Thomas, John Litel, Frank Orth, Renie Riano, Vera Lewis, Louise Carter, William Gould, George Guhl, John Ridgley, William Hopper, Dick Elliott, Don Rowan

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
William Clemens

Plot:
After their father dies, the Turnbell sisters (Lewis, Carter) are set to inherit their family home. However, the stipulation is that the ladies must stay in the house every night for 20 years or they lose the home. Over the years, the women have affidavits from witnesses to prove they have been in the home every night, which lawyer Carson Drew (Litel) is handling. On the eve of their inheritance, someone tries to steal the affidavits and disprove the women, and their one witness is murdered. Teen sleuth Nancy Drew (Granville) and her pal Ted (Thomas) try to figure out who is trying to take a home away from the women.

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Musical Monday: Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Till the Clouds Roll By (1946) – Musical #166

till the couds

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Richard Whorf
Vincente Minnelli (Judy Garland’s numbers)

Starring:
Robert Walker, Van Heflin, Lucille Bremer, Dorothy Patrick, Harry Hayden, Mary Nash, Paul Langton, Paul Maxey, William ‘Bill’ Phillips
Specialty Performances from: June Allyson, Judy Garland, Lena Horne, Kathryn Grayson, Angela Lansbury, Van Johnson, Tony Martin, Cyd Charisse, Gower Champion, Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore, Ray Macdonald, Virginia O’Brien, Caleb Peterson, Karin Booth, Sally Forrest, Johnny Johnston, Matt Mattox, Lee Wilde, Lyn Wilde

Plot:
The musical biographical film on the life songwriter Jerome Kern (Walker) and his rise to fame, starting with his collaboration with song arranger James I. Hessler (Heflin).

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Watching 1939: Hotel for Women (1939)

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In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.

1939 film:
Hotel for Women (1939)

hotel for women

Release date:
Aug. 14, 1939

Cast:
Ann Sothern, Linda Darnell, Lynn Bari, James Ellison, Jean Rogers, June Gale, Joyce Compton, John Halliday, Kay Aldridge, Alan Dinehart, Sidney Blackmer, Ruth Terry, Amanda Duff, Gregory Gaye (uncredited), Mary Healy (uncredited), Kay Linaker (uncredited)
Themselves: Elsa Maxwell

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Gregory Ratoff

Plot:
Marcia Bromley (Darnell) travels from Syracuse, N.Y. to New York City to follow her boyfriend Jeff (Ellison), who has been working as an architect for a year. While Marcia has been carrying the torch for Jeff, he has moved on. Ready to head back home, the girls at the women’s hotel she’s staying at help Marcia get on her feet and into a career of modeling.

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Musical Monday: The Singing Nun (1966)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

singing nunThis week’s musical:
The Singing Nun (1966) – Musical #47

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Henry Koster

Starring:
Debbie Reynolds, Ricardo Montalbán, Greer Garson, Agnes Moorehead, Juanita Moore, Katharine Ross, Chad Everett, Tom Drake, Ricky Cordell, Michael Pate, Charles Robinson, Monique Montaigne, Joyce Vanderveen, Anne Wakefield, Pam Peterson, Marina Koshetz, Nancy Walters, Violet Rensing, Inez Pedroza, Jon Lormer (uncredited), Dorothy Patrick (uncredited)
Themselves: Ed Sullivan

Plot:
A nun, Sister Ann (Reynolds), loves music and enjoys singing. Father Clementi (Montalban) thinks Sister Ann should make a record, and she writes a song which becomes a hit. The record sells well and she even appears on the Ed Sullivan Show. As she rises to fame, Sister Ann realizes that the popularity may conflict with the vows she took. The film is a fictionalized biographical musical on the life and career of Jeannine Deckers (who served in the church as Sister Luc Gabriel and known professional as Soeur Sourire), a nun who rose to fame with her hit “Dominque.”

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Watching 1939: Let Us Live (1939)

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In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.

1939 film:
Let Us Live (1939)

Release date:
March 29, 1939

Cast:
Henry Fonda, Maureen O’Sullivan, Ralph Bellamy, Alan Baxter, George Lynn, Martin Spellman, Stanley Ridges, Henry Kolker, William V. Mong (uncredited), Dick Elliot (uncredited), Milton Kibbee (uncredited), Charles Lane (uncredited), Ann Doran (uncredited)

Studio:
Columbia Pictures

Director:
John Brahm

Plot:
Sweethearts Brick Tennant (Fonda) and Mary Roberts (O’Sullivan) are about to be married. Brick has just purchased his own taxi to start in business on his own and life looks promising. That is until Brick and his pal Joe Linden (Baxter) are accused of holding up a movie theater and killing someone in the process, the two find that even if you didn’t commit the crime, public opinion can still be stacked against you.

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Musical Monday: Gypsy (1962)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

gypsy 7This week’s musical:
Gypsy (1962) – Musical #164

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Mervyn LeRoy

Starring:
Rosalind Russell, Natalie Wood, Ann Jillian, Karl Malden, Paul Wallace, Morgan Brittany (billed as Suzanne Cupito), Diane Pace, Betty Bruce, Jean Willis, Parley Baer, Harry Shannon, Faith Dane, Roxanne Arlen, Jack Benny (uncredited), Harvey Korman (uncredited), Bert Michaels (uncredited), Cubby O’Brien (uncredited), Trudi Ames (uncredited), Dick Winslow (uncredited),

Plot:
A look at the lives of performers June Havoc (Brittany, Jillian) and Louise, who became Gypsy Rose Lee (Pace, Wood), and how they were thrust into show business by their stage mother Rose (Russell). The story starts when June and Louise are young and progresses as vaudeville declines.

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Watching 1939: Chicken Wagon Family (1939)

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In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.

chicken wagon21939 film:
Chicken Wagon Family (1939)

Release date:
Aug. 11, 1939

Cast:
Jane Withers, Leo Carrillo, Spring Byington, Marjorie Weaver, Kane Richmond, Hobart Cavanaugh, Inez Palange

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Herbert L. Leeds

Plot:
The Fippany family travels to towns, swapping goods for chickens. After living on the road, Mrs. Fippany (Byington) and their grown daughter Cecile (Weaver) have grown weary of life on the road, which Mr. Fippany (Carrillo) and their daughter Addie (Withers) thrive on. However, the family makes the decision to settle down and take their mule-driven wagon to New York City where they find a very different life and Mrs. Fippany’s old flame (Cavanaugh).

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Musical Monday: The Best Things in Life Are Free (1956)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Best Things in Life Are Free (1956) – Musical #729

best thing in life

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Michael Curtiz

Starring:
Gordon MacRae, Dan Dailey, Ernest Borgnine, Sheree North, Tommy Noonan, Murvyn Vye, Phyllis Avery, Larry Keating, Julie Van Zandt, Jacques d’Amboise, Roxanne Arlen, Harold Miller, Linda Brace, Patty Lou Hudson, Robert Banas (uncredited), Barrie Chase (uncredited), Ann B. Davis (uncredited), Juliet Prowse (uncredited), Marion Ross (uncredited)

Plot:
Musical biographical film on the songwriting trio Buddy DeSylva (MacRae), Ray Henderson (Dailey) and Lew Brown (Borgnine) and the music they wrote together during the 1920s. The film depicts how the trio worked together and how they grew apart when De Sylva went to Hollywood and wanted to produce pictures, leaving Henderson and Brown behind.

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Watching 1939: Blackwell’s Island (1939)

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In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.

blackwells island 31939 film:
Blackwell’s Island (1939)

Release date:
March 1, 1939

Cast:
John Garfield, Rosemary Lane, Dick Purcell, Victor Jory, Stanley Fields, Morgan Conway, Granville Bates, Anthony Averill, Peggy Shannon, Charley Foy, Leon Ames (uncredited), Vera Lewis (uncredited), Brenda Marshall (uncredited)

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
William C. McGann

Plot:
Newspaper reporter Tim Hayden (Garfield) is trying to uncover a crime ring led by Bull Bransom (Fields). When Bull and Tim both land in jail at the same time, Bull takes over the prison and Tim works to get to the bottom of the story while he’s close to Bull.

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