Clark Gable

Dancing Lady

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Patch and Janie laughing

Can a dancer also be a lady? 1933’s Dancing Lady is already asking the question in its title. It stars Joan Crawford – 1933 Joan Crawford, before the batshit stare developed – as a dancer in a risqué burlesque show who, in the film’s opening moments, is being arrested for indecency by the cops. And is then bailed out by a Park Avenue swell who thinks he sees something in young Janie Barlow. What Tod Newton (Franchot Tone) sees, in fact, is another notch on his bedpost, but ambitious Janie is determined she’s not going to help him carve it. Instead, holding on tight to her honour, she decides to ride what she … Read more

Gone with the Wind

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Vivien Leigh and Hattie McDaniel in Gone with the Wind

A movie for every day of the year – a good one 22 June David O Selznick dies, 1965 On this day in 1965, one of the great names of Hollywood’s golden era died. David O (the O meant nothing at all) had been born into a movie family in 1902 and arrived in Hollywood in time for the talkie era, in 1926. By 1931, having worked at MGM and Paramount, he was head of production at RKO, 1933’s King Kong being one of his big successes. He moved back to MGM where he oversaw a series of prestige productions, including Anna Karenina and A Tale of Two Cities. In 1936 he had … Read more

Mutiny on the Bounty

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Clark Gable and Charles Laughton in Mutiny on the Bounty

A movie for every day of the year – a good one 28 April The Mutiny on the Bounty, 1789 On this day in 1789, the year of revolution in France, some sailors on board the British ship HMS Bounty mutinied against their captain, William Bligh, and put him in a boat with 18 other members of his crew. The mutiny was led by Fletcher Christian, who had been promoted to sailing master by Bligh during the course of the ship’s ten-month journey from London to Tahiti. The ship’s mission was to take breadfruit from Tahiti to the West Indies, to see if they could be grown there and used to feed the … Read more