Email Author Ellliott Stein

2010 Stories by Ellliott Stein

• 20 Million Miles to Earth

  published April 20, 2010

  Dir. Nathan Juran (1957). Nothing wrong with Juran's direction of actors, but the prime attraction of any of stop motion effects wizard Ray... More >>

• Night Mayor

  published April 20, 2010

  Dir. Ben Stoloff (1934). A flashy vehicle for machine gun mouth Lee Tracy whose character is based on New York's flamboyant and disgraced Jazz Age... More >>

• The Lemon Drop Kid

  published April 20, 2010

  Dir. Marshall Neilan (1934). Damon Runyon's guys and dolls are at the races in veteran Neilan's chuckle-inducing flick starring staccato Lee Tracy... More >>

• Meet John Doe

  published April 20, 2010

  Dir. Frank Capra (1941). Columnist Barbara Stanwyck invents a cynical stunt newspaper story about a tramp intent on killing himself to protest the... More >>

• Stranger on the Third Floor

  published April 20, 2010

  Dir. Boris Ingster (1940). Not to be missed! Often considered the first true noir, this remarkable B-picture is set in an urban nightworld of... More >>

• The Hoodlum

  published April 13, 2010

  Dir. Sidney Franklin (1919). Mary Pickford stars in this charming romantic comedy in which she plays the sort of high-spirited but innocent... More >>

• Marquise

  published April 13, 2010

  Dir. Vera Belmont (1997). An exuberant entertainment on a grand scale, this is the bawdy account of the career of Mademoiselle Duparc, the 17th... More >>

• Doctor X

  published April 13, 2010

  Dir. Michael Curtiz (1932). One of the major horror films of the early 1930s, directed with great visual style by Curtiz, this takes place largely... More >>

• The Strange Love of Molly Louvain

  published April 13, 2010

  Dir. Michael Curtiz (1932). In this "mature melodrama"—meaning there's lots of pre-Code activity—poor orphaned Ann Dvorak is a woman... More >>

• The Big Clock

  published April 13, 2010

  Dir. John Farrow (1948). Set mostly in the headquarters of a large publishing firm, this cleverly-plotted noir stars Charles Laughton, brilliant... More >>

• Big Business

  published March 24, 2010

  Dir. Jim Abrahams (1988). In this shrill, unappealing screwball comedy of errors, Bette Midler and Lili Tomlin play two sets of twins separated at... More >>

• The African

  published March 24, 2010

  Dir. Stefan Apelgren (2005). Police procedural fans should have a ball—this is one of the most intriguing of the fine Wallander Swedish... More >>

• Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

  published March 24, 2010

  Dir. F.W. Murnau (1927). One of the greatest American silent films, this is also, in terms of design, atmosphere and audacious visuals, the most... More >>

• Strange Days

  published March 24, 2010

  Dir. Kathryn Bigelow (1995). Now that Ms. Bigelow has made history by becoming the first woman to cop a Best Director Oscar for Hurt... More >>

• The Misfits

  published March 24, 2010

  Dir.John Huston (1961). Whatever its qualities, this last film of two screen greats, Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe, couldn't help but be of... More >>

• Sparrows

  published March 24, 2010

  Dir. William Beaudine (1926). This extraordinary silent film, unlike any other Mary Pickford vehicle, becomes something like a horror movie as we... More >>

• Batman Returns

  published March 24, 2010

  Dir. Tim Burton (1992), Excellent production design can't compensate for a meandering, incoherent screenplay in this dark, depressing, and... More >>

• The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

  published March 24, 2010

  Dir. Jack Kinney (1949). The combining of two classic stories in vintage Disney style—Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow... More >>

• Aliens

  published March 24, 2010

  Dir. James Cameron (1986). The sequel to "Alien" is a high-tech non-stop war movie, with marines battling creatures and action heroine hard-boiled... More >>

• It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

  published March 24, 2010

  Dir. Stanley Kramer (1963). This overblown comedy of excessive length is a throwback to the simple-minded slapstick silents of the Keystone Kops... More >>

• The Darkness

  published March 16, 2010

  Dir. Stephan Apelgren (2005). This is the first in the Wallander crime series written and directed by Apelgren, and it proves one of the most... More >>

• The General

  published March 16, 2010

  Dir. Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman (1927). In one of the great silent comedies, set during the Civil War, a railway engine takes the title role.... More >>

• Toto the Hero

  published March 16, 2010

  Dir. Jaco van Dormael (1991). The first film of Belgian director Dormael, a former circus clown, is a winning blend of kid's fantasy and adult... More >>

• Hula

  published March 16, 2010

  Dir. Victor Fleming (1927). Clara Bow is at her flamboyant best as the daughter of a pineapple planter in Hawaii. She skinnydips in a stream,... More >>

• Rapt

  published March 16, 2010

  Dir. Dimitri Kirsanov (1934). Russian emigre Kirsanov independently made a few silent films—one of them, Menilmontant, was a pure... More >>