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“Goin’ To Town” (1935; Directed by Alexander Hall)

“Klondike Annie” (1936; Directed by Raoul Walsh)

“Go West, Young Man” (1936; Directed by Henry Hathaway)

“Every Day’S A Holiday” (1937; Directed by A. Edward Sutherland)

“My Little Chickadee” (1940; Directed by Edward F. Cline)

(Kino Lorber)

“Goodness Had Nothing To Do With It—The Mae West Films, Part Two”

By Raymond Benson

This is the continuation of reviews of the classic 1930s (and 1940) films of Mae West, which began here.

Kino Lorber has just released in gorgeously restored, high-definition presentations every Mae West film made between 1932-1940—the Paramount years, plus one with Universal. This review will cover the last five of nine titles.

What is not commonly appreciated among Hollywood enthusiasts is that Mae West held a unique position in the history of cinema. Until the modern era, she had the extraordinary fortune—for her time—of...

The recent box office success of The Boss firmly establishes Melissa McCarthy as the current queen of movie comedies (Amy Schumer could be a new contender after an impressive debut last Summer with Trainwreck), but let us think back about those other funny ladies of filmdom. So while we’re enjoying the female reboot/re-imagining of Ghostbusters and those Bad Moms, here’s a top ten list that will hopefully inspire lots of laughter and cause you to search out some classic comedies. It’s tough to narrow them down to ten, but we’ll do our best, beginning with… 10. Eve Arden The droll Ms. Arden represents the comic sidekicks who will attempt to puncture the pomposity of the leading ladies with a well-placed wisecrack (see also the great Thelma Ritter in Rear Window). Her career began in the early 1930’s with great bit roles in Stage Door and Dancing Lady.

Four cinematic gems from the 1930s that have been unavailable for years are coming to DVD this August in a unique collection from Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and Universal Studios Home Entertainment (Ushe). Released as part of the TCM Vault Collection, the Universal Rarities: Films of the 1930s set features some of the biggest stars of the era, including W.C. Fields inMillion Dollar Legs (1932), Mae West in Belle of the Nineties (1934), Jack Benny in Artists & Models (1937) and Gary Cooper and George Raft in Souls at Sea (1937).

The Universal Rarities: Films of the 1930s collection will be available exclusively through TCM.s online store at http://www.shop.tcm.com, beginning August 6. The set features extensive digital bonus materials, such as photos, posters, lobby cards and more. The following four films included in the Universal Rarities: Films of the 1930s collection:

Million Dollar Legs (1932) . In this hilarious Pre-Code musical-comedy, the legendary...

The art of the glass shot or matte painting is one which originated very much in the early ‘teens’ of the silent era. Pioneer film maker, director, cameraman and visual effects inventor Norman Dawn is generally acknowledged as the father of the painted matte composite, with other visionary film makers such as Ferdinand Pinney Earle, Walter Hall and Walter Percy Day being heralded as making vast contributions to the trick process in the early 1920’s.

Boiled down, the matte process is one whereby a limited film set may be extended to whatever, or wherever the director’s imagination dictates with the employment of a matte artist. In it’s most pure form, the artist would set up a large plate of clear glass in front of the motion picture camera upon which he would carefully paint in new scenery an ornate period ceiling, snow capped mountains, a Gothic castle or even an alien world.

The San Francisco International Film Festival unveiled the lineup and program for its 55th edition yesterday, 174 films in all, from 45 countries. Sfiff's not a festival that places much emphasis on premieres, but one that it is touting is The Fourth Dimension, a collection of three shorts by Harmony Korine, Alexsei Fedorchenko (Silent Souls) and Jan Kwiecinski, screening April 20 and four days later at the Tribeca Film Festival (Sfiff runs from April 19 through May 3, Tribeca from April 18 through 29).

The Hollywood Reporter debuted the trailer on Monday; and, for Sfiff, Cheryl Eddy fills us in: "Created under a 'manifesto' whose directives would make Lars von Trier shudder, this three-part film might look on paper like an exercise in forced hipness…. Working under orders tall, whimsical (according to the manifesto, a stuffed animal must make an appearance no matter what) and surreal, Korine's Lotus Community Workshop drops Val Kilmer in an alternate-universe existence...