Classic Movie Reviews – Details, episodes & analysis

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Classic Movie Reviews

Tv & Film

Frequency: 1 episode/19d. Total Eps: 228

A father and son watch old classic movies and then review them. Sometimes we even sound like we know what we're talking about.

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🇨🇦 Canada - filmReviews
22/08/2026
#96
🇨🇦 Canada - filmReviews
26/01/2026
#84
🇨🇦 Canada - filmReviews
25/01/2026
#59
🇺🇸 USA - filmReviews
19/01/2026
#97
🇨🇦 Canada - filmReviews
15/01/2026
#99
🇨🇦 Canada - filmReviews
14/01/2026
#72
🇨🇦 Canada - filmReviews
06/01/2026
#79
🇨🇦 Canada - filmReviews
05/01/2026
#49
🇺🇸 USA - filmReviews
17/12/2025
#80
🇨🇦 Canada - filmReviews
06/12/2025
#98

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http://www.patreon.com/classicmoviereviews
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https://www.patreon.com/classicmoviereviews
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http://www.patreon.com/classicmovierevews
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Score global : 49%

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Episode 229 - Only Angels Have Wings

Episode 229

Saturday, March 23, 2024 • Duration 45:23

“Only Angels Have Wings” 1939 takes place in the fictional South American town of Barranca. There is danger, romance, and drama surrounding Barranca Airways a struggling business with fatalistic pilots, money worries, unpredictable weather, few planes, and difficult human relationships. Director Howard Hawks creates excitement much as he did with “Red River” 1948 (Episode 71), “The Thing from Another World’ 1951 (Episode 59), and many other excellent films.

The cast includes Cary Grant as Geoff Carter the Manager and lead pilot, Jean Arthur as Bonnie Lee the piano player-entertainer, Richard Barthelmess is Bat MacPherson a hated pilot who redeems himself, Judy MacPherson played by Rita Hayworth in her first major role, Thomas Mitchell as “Kid” Dabb best friend of Carter, and many others. Fasten seat belts for this movie.

Here’s the IMDB page for “Only Angels Have Wing”

Watch the full movie for free on YouTube here.

And listen to the Lux Radio adaptation here on YouTube.

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Episode 228 - Bicycle Thieves

Episode 228

Sunday, March 10, 2024 • Duration 45:42

“Bicycle Thieves” also known as “Bicycle Thief” 1948 is an Italian drama that presents a Rome family struggling with unemployment, poverty, and the aftermath of World War II. Director Vittorio De Sica captures this subsistence life with exceptional use of black and white cinematography, melancholy music, on location street scenes, untrained actors, and devastating events. The movie won an Academy Award (Special Award) as did Mr. De Sica’s 1946 film “Shoeshine”.

Lamberto Maggiorani plays Antonio Ricci who is hired to hang outdoor wall posters in an assigned area, and he must have a bicycle for the work. Antonio’s supportive and strong-willed wife Maria is played by Lianella Carell. Enzo Staiola is masterful as Bruno, Antonio’s 8-year-old son. The large supportive cast enhances this drama of everyday life. This film is unforgettable.

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Episode 219 - Bombshell

Episode 219

Monday, January 2, 2023 • Duration 44:45

Thank you to one of our Patreon members for recommending “Bombshell” 1933 for this podcast. Director Victor Fleming has created a fast-paced comedy. Among Mr. Fleming’s many successes are “The Wizard of Oz” 1939 (Episode 144) and “Gone with the Wind” 1939.

The talented Jean Harlow plays Lola Burns. Lola is “fed up” with the never-ending stories orchestrated in the press by Publicist E. J. “Space” Hanlon played by Lee Tracy. Lola’s father played by Frank Morgan and her brother played by Ted Healy create chaotic situations made more unpredictable by those large shaggy dogs engulfing Lola and her entourage. Then mix in Franchot Tone as the wealthy and romantic Gifford Middleton to maybe carry Lola away from this wildness. All this adds to our enjoyment of the movie. Madcap fun indeed!

Here’s the IMDB page for “Bombshell”

Up next is “King Solomon’s Mines”

Support us over on Patreon!

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Episode 124 - The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

Episode 124

Sunday, September 15, 2019 • Duration 01:12:00

“The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” is directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and stars Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison in the lead roles with Edna Best, George Sanders, Vanessa Brown and Natalie Wood providing excellent supporting characters. Charles Lang, the cinematographer deserves a special mention as well. And of course the moving music by Bernard Hermann.

This is a wonderful movie about loss and love, life and death, hopes and dreams, and ultimately about the strength to carry on when life is throwing one difficult challenge after another at you.

Bob and I dive into great detail and cover both the film and the music. This is after all the first movie of our Bernard Hermann film festival.

So with that I would leave you with two thoughts, the first is to be sure and watch the movie before listening to the podcast if you can, as we do talk about the ending. And secondly, give this article on the music by Bernard Hermann a read, either before, after or during the movie. It really helped me understand the music and the use of leitmotifs, a style of film scoring that apparently Bernard Hermann only used in this film.

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Episode 123 - Don't Look Now

Episode 123

Wednesday, August 14, 2019 • Duration 39:30

Described as a “psychic thriller” on some of the movie posters, “Don’t Look Now” is certainly weird, and whether or not you think there’s anything “psychic” going on, well, that’s part of the fun and mystery of watching the movie. Bob and I really enjoyed this one. And since the ending is so integral to the overall impact of the movie, we hold off on giving away any specifics about the final scenes. Many consider this to be Director Nicolas Roeg’s masterpiece. It stars Donald Sutherland and Julie Christy both of whom are perfectly cast as a grieving couple. The film stars off as a straight-forward tragedy. A married couple with two young children suffer the loss of their youngest in an accident that happens very near the home where they live. And what’s worse, for both of them, but particularly for Donald’s character, is that the accident was most likely avoidable.  Then the movie takes a turn into the weird. I am defining weird here as “unknowable or unexplainable in a way that gives you the impression of horror or of some force or power operating at a level that we as mere humans can’t comprehend”. That’s my definition. I think that’s a pretty accurate description of this movie as well. The clips from the making of videos in this episode feature the Director, the Editor, Graeme Clifford and the Cinematographer, Anthony Richmond as well as Donald Sutherland and Julie Christy. We hope you enjoy this one. I’m off on a three week vacation, so we’ll be back in mid-September with our next Episode.

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Episode 122 - Zatoichi Challenged

Episode 122

Friday, August 2, 2019 • Duration 50:57

We’re back revisiting feudal Japan, on the road with Zatoichi, the blind swordsman/masseur/gambler/savior of the downtrodden. This time we find Zatoichi saving the life of a young artist, while protecting his son, and in the end going up against a samurai of equal prowess to his own. It’s full of adventure, beautiful scenery, excellent set design, and even a musical number. And do we think the ending sword fight is one of the best in samurai films? We dive deeper in the origins of the character and the film makers that brought him to life over 26 films and 100 television episodes. His origins are to be found in a brief story by Kan Shimozawa, first published in 1948, most succinctly in only a few passages: “No one who saw him walking along with his shaved head and his long-handled sword at his side would ever have guessed he was blind. The man had an uncanny sixth sense . . . Blind though he was, Zatoichi was a master swordsman with a lightning draw: he had only to lay a hand on his sword for an opponent to shrivel in fear.” Those sentences encapsulate the narrative essence of the Zatoichi films, but they can hardly explain how Katsu and the filmmakers with whom he worked managed to turn Zatoichi into a personage of subtle and enduring power.[1] So settle in and get ready to enjoy “Zatoichi Challenged”.  And up next, we visit Venice of the early 1970’s for an incredibly spooky and weird film “Don’t Look Now” [1] https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2971-on-the-road-with-zatoichi

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Episode 121 - Rififi

Episode 121

Monday, July 22, 2019 • Duration 51:51

“Rififi” loosely defined as “a rumble among men” or “trouble/violent conflict/show of force” is a 1955 French movie directed by Jules Dassin after he was black listed in Hollywood. The film is based on a portion of a novel by Auguste Le Brenton. Starring Jean Servais as the lead character “Tony” and the other members of the heist crew, Carl Möhner as “Jo”, Robert Manuel as “Mario” and the director himself in the role of “Cesar”, who apparently was paid the equivalent of $8,000 for the roles of Director, Writer, and Actor. The money was extremely well spent as this is considered by many one of the best crime/heist film noir films of all time. Mr. Dassin won the Best Director prize at Cannes in 1995. And the film was nominated for the National Board of Review for Best Foreign Film. The influence this film has on subsequent heist films is clear. Bob also recommends watching “The Asphalt Jungle” for another tightly directed and acted noir crime/heist film that may have had an influence on “Rififi”. We both really enjoyed the movie and would place it near the top of our list as one of the best films we’ve seen. Just a reminder that we discuss the ending of the films we review and we definitely would spoil the plot for anyone that hasn’t seen the film. So, if you want to watch the film spoiler free and haven’t seen the film we recommend watching it *before* listening to the podcasts. Up next “Zatoichi Challenged”

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Episode 120 (A) - Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare - Movie Commentary WITH FILM AUDIO

Episode 120

Tuesday, July 9, 2019 • Duration 01:26:04

“Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare” was released in 1968 as the first of a trilogy of films starring famous Japanese Yokai. Yokai are supernatural beings from Japanese folklore. Here’s a link to the Wikipedia page on Yokai. There are literally thousands of different Yokai. This film features many of the most popular ones. In addition, the film is extremely well shot and includes many music themes that add to the drama and action of the film. The tokusatsu special effects are very well done and shown in such as way as to add to the impact of the film rather than detracting or creating a “cheezy” image. This is a special episode as it’s our first movie commentary and Hailey joins the podcast to talk about it with Matt. It’s a father and daughter special episode! Bob is doing well and was unable to make the recording due to a busy travel schedule this last month. Watch the movie for free on YouTube: https://youtu.be/wPBgtuM0SRo This is also the first of a four film festival of films from countries other than the United States. COMMENTARY NOTE: There is a “B” version of this episode without the film audio in the background. This “A” version contains the film audio in the background. If you want to listen to our commentary while watching the film yourself, be sure to listen to the “B” episode.

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Episode 120 (B) - Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare - Movie Commentary NO FILM AUDIO

Episode 120

Tuesday, July 9, 2019 • Duration 01:26:04

COMMENTARY NOTE: This is the "B" version of the podcast. If you want to listen to our commentary while watching the film yourself, be sure to listen to this episode. The main pocast post is for the "A" version which contains the film audio in the background. Enjoy! This is a special episode as it’s our first movie commentary and Hailey joins the podcast to talk about it with Matt. It’s a father and daughter special episode! Bob is doing well and was unable to make the recording due to a busy travel schedule this last month. NOTE: This “A” version contains the film audio in the background. If you want to listen to our commentary while watching the film yourself, be sure to listen to the “B” version. Watch the movie for free on YouTube: https://youtu.be/wPBgtuM0SRo

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Episode 119 - Star Trek: The Motion Picture & Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan

Episode 119

Monday, June 24, 2019 • Duration 01:13:05

It’s a double sci-fi feature! “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” wraps up our series of films directed by Robert Wise. A movie that was mired in delays and controversy from the very beginning, we feel that Robert Wise’s signature touches are missing from the film and we both want to get our hands on the Director’s Cut to see what this film may have been intended to be in the director’s original vision. “Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan” on the other hand, wow! This is an explosive, action packed and surprisingly deep film directed by Nicolas Meyer. We go into the details, and probably miss a ton of interesting facts, but in the end we enjoyed both films.

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Classic Movie Reviews – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

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Apple Podcasts

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Classic Movie Reviews – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Patreon20

IMDb84

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Patreon20

IMDb84

Youtube37

Apple Podcasts

Spotify