Proud and chuffed to have contributed a video essay to this beauty: dcairns.wordpress.com/2026/04/02/o...

PRE-CODE HOLLYWOOD A 25-year-old John Wayne has a supporting role as one of Barbara Stanwyck's lovers in the pre-code classic BABYFACE (1933).

A few pre-Codes on TCM for April, plus a famed commentary track comes to the Criterion Channel. #TCMParty #TCMFF pre-code.com/pre-code-mov...

Bette Davis by Elmer Fryer, 1934.

Starting my American Film class today, as always, with this banger. [Yes, those of us on the quarter system are starting a whole new 10-week term. Sigh.]

Mail call!

Richard Arlen (September 1, 1899 – March 28, 1976)

33 days until THE WORLD COMES TO HOLLYWOOD for #TCMFF

Love the look! #HavanaWidows #TCMParty

As someone who worked at videostores for a decade, I remember discovering this one back then and cherishing its weirdo vibes. Worth a nostalgia watch for sure.

Baffled by who the audience for AI-tainted classic films is. If you're into old movies, you're probably also into the mythology of old movies, which means that the ones left unfinished, studio-butchered, or lost are bittersweet warnings to you, not objects waiting for a saviour technology to arrive.

Doing Disney Paris this week for my kids’ spring break and I was tickled to see their Adventure Land Hollywood area having an homage to the elephants from INTOLERANCE that used to be at the Hollywood and Highland mall. They’re gone, but their legacy endures.

"I drank down this intoxicating account in avid gulps, my eyes bulging with revelation at every turn." — Guy Maddin on THE CURSE OF QUEEN KELLY by Pamela Hutchinson. The full, astonishing saga of silent cinema's most scandalous unfinished masterpiece out March 27th from SPB.

The fabulous Joan Blondell is on #TCM all day today. If that doesn’t make you want to call out sick from work I don’t know how to help you. #TCMParty

Lewis Milestone's ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930) screens today at Regal cinemas. A multiplex chain playing a powerful anti-war film during a stupid, unnecessary war is coincidental, but it sure feels prescient. Tix are $7.99. Catch this Oscar winner on the big screen if you can. #FilmSky

If you're in the mood for books that: 🔎 Don't glamorize the upheaval of the 1950s 🔎 Don't add to your existential dread 🔎 *Do* include a diverse cast of people solving crimes Check out the Girl Friday mystery series: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/GFM/a...

Merna Kennedy “pretends she’s the ‘gun moll’ just to demonstrate how attractive outlawry can be.” Photo by Ray Jones, 1930.

BUT HAVE YOU READ THE BOOK, VOL. 2 isn't out until July but the folks at @publisherswkly.bsky.social have read it and called it "energetic" and "entertaining!" So be sure to pre-order your copy now. www.publishersweekly.com/9798894142296

Missed his birthday yesterday. Photographer Edward Weston. James Cagney, 1933. ⬇️

Myrna Loy poses on the set of Stamboul Quest (1934). Photo by Ted Allan.

Tuesday movie:

OH MY GOD in his Big Picture interview steven spielberg says he would show Two For The Road to screen potential gfs…. the exact same kind of sicko i am this is so gratifying u have no idea

psst: criterion flash sale tomorrow

✨ A shimmering moment of beauty, courtesy of birthday star Joan Crawford, photographed by George Hurrell. ✨

Figured it was a good night to rewatch HIGH PRESSURE (32) on Criterion Channel. William Powell's Warners pre-Codes are always so interesting, always in stark contrast to his time at MGM. He's still charming and witty, but less debonair and more of a sly, quick-witted horndog.

Dixie Dugan: From Showgirl to Comics Icon announced louisebrookssociety.blogspot.com/2026/03/dixi...

Elliott Gould, James Brolin and Hal Holbrook in CAPRICORN ONE. New at Mr. Peel's Sardine Liqueur. mrpeelsardineliqueur.blogspot.com/2026/03/the-...

I’ve got a long one for you today! I had so much fun talking with author, critic and film historian @pamhutch.bsky.social about QUEEN KELLY, Louise Brooks, C. A. Lejeune, HÄXAN, and so much more! Read: oldfilmsflicker.substack.com/p/silent-fil...

Leonard "Chico" Marx was born on March 22, 1887 #botd #MarxBros

Poster for Strictly Dishonorable (1931). Illustration by pulp artist Alfred Skrenda. (Thread)

The Universal Monsters addressed the male loneliness epidemic way before it hit the mainstream media. #TheMummysHand #Svengoolie

Lobby card for the underappreciated pre-Code crime flick GUILTY HANDS (1931) Starring Kay Francis and Lionel Barrymore Directed by W.S. Van Dyke - BOTD in 1889

William Powell, Myrna Loy, and Skippy in a publicity still for THE THIN MAN (1934) The movie was directed by W.S. Van Dyke - BOTD in 1889

The Greeks Had a Word for Them (1932). Zippy Pre Code where three professional girlfriends fight over men who don't come close to separating the love affair between them. What it does for my well being to hear lines likes "Then her finance's wife showed up, and she was a very narrow minded woman."

My new crush. Well, both of them but I'm referring to Richard Arlen.

This PEANUTS comic strip was published #OTD on March 19, 1980.

Naughty, baudy view on #42ndStreet #tcmparty #BusbyBerkley

Songs of experience, songs of innocence. BABY FACE (1933), today at 6:30 PM followed by NATIONAL VELVET (1944) at 8:00 PM, both on #TCM. #classicmovies #precode #childrensmovie

Hard to believe this sweet young thing would eventually play Margo Channing and be the Queen of Warner Bros. #SoBig • #GeorgeBrent • #BetteDavis

come home from work...THE GEORGE BRENT FILMS CONTINUE!!! Looking forward to BABY FACE after FEMALE (airing now) #TCMParty

Mary Brian by Eugene Robert Richee, 1933.

The first 24 hours of #SOTM George Brent films begin tomorrow at 8pE and continue throughout the day on Wednesday. Here's the full line-up...warm up your DVRs! #TCMParty ^JW

Lilyan Tashman, 1931.

Exciting to hold a sample of my new book, published on 27 March. “I drank down this intoxicating account of Swanson, Stroheim and Kennedy in avid gulps, my eyes bulging with revelation at every turn of the page. Long live Queen Kelly!” - Guy Maddin stickingplacebooks.com/books/the-cu...

The Blu-ray Limited Edition of THE EMPEROR JONES is for sale on Amazon for less than $8. A steal! -- amzn.to/3N9mfW2

Me in 2017 watching a Boomer friend arguing at CNN for hours straight: That won’t do you any good. Cable news is fear mongering nonsense. What are you doing. Me in 2026 watching Al-Jazeera English TikTok for three hours after I should have gone to bed: fuck fxuxk fguck fuuuuck

New mural in my neighborhood celebrating the human-dog alliance.