Classic Movie Club – Details, episodes & analysis

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If you know classic movies, especially films from Paramount Pictures, there’s a good chance you’ve seen her name emblazoned on hundreds of opening titles. Considered one of film history’s great costume designers, Edith Head began working for Paramount in 1924. Head made history as the first female head of a major studio's costume department in 1938, when designer Travis Banton left Paramount. The establishment of the Academy Award for Costume Design in 1949 helped further introduce costume designers to the general public and led to a record-breaking run of nominations and wins for Head. In pop culture, she has been referenced in songs, film and television. She’s been a stamp and a Google doodle, but perhaps the biggest tribute is the character Edna Mode, the superhero costume designer in Pixar’s The Incredibles.

The exhibit Edith Head: Hollywood’s Costume Designer is organized by The Oklahoma City Museum of Art and presented by The Ann Lacy Foundation. The Head-focused retrospective features 70 costumes that capture Head’s expansive career. Worn by stars such as Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Veronica Lake, and Barbara Stanwyck, the costumes represent a broad look at the designs and silhouettes of one of the premiere designers of golden age Hollywood. The homegrown exhibition takes up the museum’s entire third floor, where costumes and sketches showcase Head’s life and work. OKCMOA curatorial assistant Kristen Pignuolo joins Film Review to shares insights about the exhibit and the career of a Hollywood icon.

Resources:

The Oklahoma City Museum of Art

The Collection of Motion Picture Costume Design

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Music: Hollywood Hop, Earl Hines and His New Sound Orchestra (LA, Jul, 1954)
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Devoted to keeping the spirit of cinema alive, London’s The Cinema Museum is the city’s only museum entirely dedicated to the experience of going to the cinema and tells the story behind the rich cultural heritage of moviegoing in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1984, The Cinema Museum is the result of a life-long fascination with cinemagoing by collectors Ronald Grant and Martin Humphries. Set in the historic surroundings of Kennington, The Cinema Museum is a veritable treasure trove of movie memorabilia. It’s a glimpse of another time and an important period of moviegoing history. On display in the museum is a unique collection of artifacts, memorabilia and equipment from decades of exhibition history. With a mission to preserve the history and grandeur of cinema from the 1890s all the way to the present day, the collection highlights that golden period of filmgoing between the 1920s-1960s. TheCinema Museum’s Co-Founder and DirectorMartin Humphries sits down with Film Review to discuss the origins of the museum and the building’s special link to cinema history.

Resources:

The Cinema Museum

Help The Cinema Museum maintain a permanent home

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Music: Hollywood Hop, Earl Hines and His New Sound Orchestra (LA, Jul, 1954)
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The desire to share films, whether through a tangible film collection or a collective experience, is a desire that resonates with many a movielover. It’s also a viable career path. Behind the programming at every local community arthouse and repertory cinema is a film programmer making the tough decisions of what movies to show and when. K.J. Relth-Miller, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ Director of Film Programs sits down with Film Review to discuss her origins as a film programmer and share insights into her work through the lens of her current program ​​Forever A Contender: A Centennial Tribute to Marlon Brando.

Resources:

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

​​Forever A Contender: A Centennial Tribute to Marlon Brando

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Music: Hollywood Hop, Earl Hines and His New Sound Orchestra (LA, Jul, 1954)
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Founded in 1928 by Eugene Joseff, Joseff of Hollywood has been providing jewellery rentals to movie studios since the Golden Age of Hollywood. Remarkably, Joseff of Hollywood has maintained over 200,000 pieces in their ‘Studio Collection’. A source once reported that up to 85% of the jewellery seen on the silver screen throughout the 1930’s and 1940’s was provided by Joseff of Hollywood. Today, the company lives on, still owned and operated by the Joseff family. A large part of the rental collection is still intact, and the family continues the work started by Eugene and Joan Joseff, renting jewels to productions, as well as continuing the brand’s retail line. 

Located in the historic Max Factor Building, The Hollywood Museum is a 501(c)(3) non-profit with an extensive collection of more than 10,000 treasures showcasing more than 100 years of film founded by philanthropist and history lover, Donelle Dadigan. The Hollywood Museum’s latest exhibit – Joseff of Hollywood Vintage Movie Costume Jewelry – highlights pieces from the Joseff collection vault, sharing them on public view for the first time. Guests are invited to view Marilyn Monroe’s intricate diamonte bracelet from How to Marry a Millionaire and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, the brooch accented with pearls that Billie Burke wore as Glinda in The Wizard of Oz, a necklace worn by Rita Hayworth in Gilda, Clark Gable’s Carnelian and gold watch fob from Gone with the Wind, and much more.

Each piece contains a Hollywood history of its own. A white sapphire and amethyst necklace worn by Deanna Durbin in Up in Central Park was subsequently worn by numerous actresses, including Bette Davis, Elizabeth Taylor, and most recently on India Amarteifio in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. The Joseff exhibit is a true glimpse into the glamour of Hollywood’s Golden Era and the iconic brand that helped define it.

Donelle Dadigan, Founder/President of The Hollywood Museum, Tina Joseff, President & CEO of Joseff of Hollywood and Kristin Joseff, Managing Director of Joseff of Hollywood join Film Review to share insights about the height of Hollywood glamour.

Resources:

The Hollywood Museum

Joseff of Hollywood

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Music: Hollywood Hop, Earl Hines and His New Sound Orchestra (LA, Jul, 1954)
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In addition to our community for movie lovers via Patreon, we’ve also created a regular monthly podcast available to all, where we’ll be covering all things classic movies and interviewing folks about the classics. The podcast will focus on staying evergreen, with interviews and coverage that you can listen to at any time. To recieve a monthly movie in the mail and much more, we encourage you to join the club in earnest and support what we do by visiting us at patreon.com/FilmReview

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Music: Hollywood Hop, Earl Hines and His New Sound Orchestra (LA, Jul, 1954)
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In This Episode

The legendary 1939 film, and now, the stage and movie musical Wicked — based on Gregory Maguire’s novel — have added the legacy of Frank L. Baum’s magical American tale and inspired generations to dream. The making of The Wizard of Oz is legend in its own right. Over the years, the desire to know more about the behind-the-scenes magic has unleashed a mountain of myths and misconceptions, along with some remarkable truths. Randy Schmidt is the writer and producer of the new documentary Mysteries of Oz: 85 Questions Answered. In celebration of the 85th Anniversary of the 1939 film, this fast-paced documentary series counts down 85 questions tackling the lore and legacy of The Wizard of Oz.

Among the interviewees are Jane Lahr, daughter of actor Bert Lahr, Joey Luft, the son of Judy Garland, and Oz’s surviving cast members — former child actors Valerie Lee, Elaine Merk, and Priscilla Montgomery, who all portrayed munchkins in the film. The diverse list of contributors also includes Oz experts and insiders such as The Road to Oz authors Jay Scarfone and William Stillman, the aforementioned Maguire, journalist and The Ruby Slippers of Oz author Rhys Thomas, The Oz Vlog host Tori Calamito, @FollowTheYellowBrickGirl Tiffany Sutton, Tara Tagliaferro and Emily Kay Shrader of the Down the Yellow Brick Pod podcast, Hollywood Forever Cemetery tour guide Karie Bible, and many more. Whether you’re new to Oz or represent the lollipop guild, there’s something for everyone to enjoy in this enchanting look at the MGM classic. Mysteries of Oz: 85 Questions Answered is a journey down the yellow brick road to memory lane.

Resources

Mysteries of Oz - Official Site

Watch Mysteries of Oz: 85 Questions Answered

Heritage Auctions Hollywood/Entertainment Signature Auction Featuring the Ruby Slippers

Purchase The Ruby Slippers Of Oz: Thirty Years Later by Rhys ThomasUK| US

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Music: Hollywood Hop, Earl Hines and His New Sound Orchestra (LA, Jul, 1954)
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Christopher Lee may have become famous for his iconic performance as a young, suave, debonair Dracula, but his work went far beyond the Hammer Horror roles he is most often associated with. With a commanding voice, penetrating eyes and his imposing height (six feet, five inches), he often found himself cast as the villain, but like Vincent Price and his other horror contemporaries, the villains Lee played were often the most interesting and layered performance of the film.

Jon Spira, the writer/director behind the new documentary, The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee, has made some of the very best and most interesting films about British filmmaking and cinema. His feature work includes the excellent documentaries Elstree 1976, about the actors behind the masks in the original Star Wars, and Hollywood Bulldogs: The Rise and Falls of the Great British Stuntman. His docu-series Reel Brittannia explored the history of British cinema.Mixing traditional documentary filmmaking with animation and puppetry, The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee is brought to life with archival material and new, exclusive interviews with filmmakers such as Peter Jackson, John Landis and Joe Dante, as well as Lee’s niece Dame Harriet Walter, Hammer actress Caroline Munro, and film historian (and former Film Review contributor) Jonathan Rigby, who worked closely with Lee in writing Christopher Lee: The Authorised Screen History. In the course of making the well-researched film, Spira met and interviewed Lee’s closest friends and family. The result is an amusing, eclectic documentary revealing a complex, comprehensive portrait of a cinematic icon.

Resources:

Order The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee on Blu-Ray

Filmmaker Jon Spira

Children of the Wicker Man

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Music: Hollywood Hop, Earl Hines and His New Sound Orchestra (LA, Jul, 1954)
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In This Episode

Film Masters, a consortium of historians and enthusiasts focused on film preservation, celebrates the lost and orphaned films that once lined the public domain bargain bin by generating truly stunning restorations.

Launched in 2023 by industry veteran and film historian Phil Hopkins, Film Masters is a boutique home video label committed to reviving films that have been sitting dormant for decades. By scanning original elements – in some cases the original camera negative – in 2K and 4K, Film Masters presents Special Edition two-disc collections of cult classics, giving these oft-beloved, yet neglected, titles the full home video treatment with original and archival bonus materials, in-depth documentaries and audio commentaries on deluxe releases of definitive restorations.

Resources:

Film Masters

Shop Film Masters Special Edition Releases

Shop Film Masters Limited Edition Releases

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Music: Hollywood Hop, Earl Hines and His New Sound Orchestra (LA, Jul, 1954)
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In This Episode

Located at 106 Riverside Drive on the banks of the Ohio River in historical Augusta, Kentucky, the Rosemary Clooney House is a non-profit foundation focused on preserving the house that Rosemary called home for 20 years, as well as sharing Rosemary’s legacy with fans old and new through extensive memorabilia from her life and career. The home was a sanctuary and retreat between gigs for Rosemary, who was born in nearby Maysville, Kentucky. 

The museum's origins trace back to 1999 when today’s guest, Heather French Henry, was crowned Miss America 2000. She was the first Miss Kentucky to win the crown. Her second call that night was from another hometown Kentucky girl – Rosemary Clooney. Years later, following Clooney’s passing, Rosemary’s children approached Heather and her husband, former Kentucky Lt. Gov Dr. Steve Henry about purchasing the circa 1840 home.

The Rosemary Clooney House officially opened in 2005 and is now a museum showcasing Clooney's costumes, including pieces and memorabilia from all her major films – The Stars Are Singing, Here Come the Girls, and two of my personal favourites Red Garters, and White Christmas. It’s the home of the largest collection of White Christmas memorabilia in the world, with costumes worn by Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Vera-Ellen, Dean Jagger, Mary Wickes, and George Chakiris. In addition to the nearly 200 pieces in White Christmas collection, the museum houses collections dedicated to Rosemary’s film and music career.

Resources

The Rosemary Clooney House

Fathom Events

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Music: Hollywood Hop, Earl Hines and His New Sound Orchestra (LA, Jul, 1954)
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In This Episode

In Falling in Love at the Movies: Rom-Coms from the Screwball Era to Today, a new volume from Turner Classic Movies (TCM), author and entertainment journalist Esther Zuckerman explores how the beloved genre has shaped cultural narratives and captured hearts at the box-office. Zuckerman highlights the enduring charm of iconic films like Roman Holiday, which features on the cover.

From the golden age of 1930s screwball comedies like It Happened One Night to the romcom boom of the 80s and 90s, Zuckerman explores how these films have not only provided us with comfort and joy but also shaped our understanding of love, relationships and even fashion. The book delves into the work of key auteurs, uncovering how filmmakers both upheld and challenged traditional romantic comedy tropes.

Resources:

Falling in Love at the Movies: Rom-Coms from the Screwball Era to Today By Esther Zuckerman

Triplex Cinema

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Music: Hollywood Hop, Earl Hines and His New Sound Orchestra (LA, Jul, 1954)
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