Directors

Dec 15, 20242 min read

Sturges & Sullivan

Preston Sturges had one of the greatest winning streaks in screen history. Over a five-year period in the 1940s, he wrote and directed...

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Dec 1, 20243 min read

William Wyler

Haberdashery’s loss was Hollywood’s gain. Had William Wyler followed his father into the family business, Europeans might have looked...

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Sep 14, 20243 min read

Fred Zinnemann

I once got an email from an 88-year-old man named George, praising an essay I’d written for The Washington Post . Coincidentally, I had...

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Feb 1, 20242 min read

Oscar's "Maine" Man

Decades before Cambridge whiz kids Ben Affleck and Matt Damon went Hollywood, another New Englander trekked West to make a wicked big...

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Aug 1, 20233 min read

Films of 1948: Bogie-Huston Double Feature

Cinemagic happens when certain actors and directors join forces. John Wayne and John Ford made 14 gems, like Stagecoach, The Searchers...

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Mar 30, 20212 min read

Solid "Goldwyn"

“Include me out.” “A verbal agreement isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.” “You’ve got to take the bitter with the sour.” His...

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Feb 28, 20212 min read

Lights, Camera, Curtiz

If you don’t know his name, I bet you know his movies. Director Michael Curtiz was more “journeyman” than “auteur,” but his cinematic...

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