Category Archives: women

The Little Foxes

Posted on November 30, 2014 by cinemelo

An early scene in The Little Foxes (William Wyler, 1941) features Birdie Hubbard (Patricia Collinge) sitting in her house, alone at the table, after the husband and son she doesn’t love have left her for the bank they both work at. Framed … Continue reading →

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Ever in My Heart

Posted on January 10, 2014 by cinemelo

Like so many films of the early classical narrative era, Ever In My Heart (1933) uses newspapers to advance the plot along, to serve as major, and minor, narrations on setting and character. A short feature at 68 minutes, it introduces the … Continue reading →

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Breakfast For Two with Barbara Stanwyck

Posted on November 14, 2013 by cinemelo

Well, if Valentine Ransome isn’t the best name for a woman then I don’t know what is. It just sounds good, really. Of course we can go into things like, she’s a woman who holds her own and don’t take … Continue reading →

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Blonde Bombshell?

Posted on March 5, 2013 by cinemelo

A few weeks ago I wrote a column at Kill Your Darlings about being a redhead, and the representation of redheads through the cinema. Redheads get a bit of a hard time, both in and as a result of their … Continue reading →

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Mildred Pierce

Posted on August 17, 2012 by cinemelo

The worst thing about Todd Haynes’ Mildred Pierce (2011) is that it does not have Eve Arden in it. But not long after the miniseries begins, this absence can soon be forgotten. It is a marvellous reconstruction of James M Cain’s novel, … Continue reading →

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The Beaches of Agnes

Posted on June 25, 2012 by cinemelo

A film evoking the poetic. She is poetic, Agnes Varda, her cinema has always travailed the gentler parts of life. The landscape of Agnes’ mind is filled with beaches, she says, introducing us to this film in which she discusses … Continue reading →

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Louis Malle’s Elevator to the Gallows is stunning and seductive enough as any film, let along as the director’s first full length feature. Elevator to the Gallows is arguably the film in his oeuvre with the most quotable title, next to Au Revoir, … Continue reading →

Posted on June 14, 2012 by cinemelo | Leave a comment

Over the past few months I have been engaging myself in something of an Australian screen Renaissance, by which I mean I am revisiting some older films of my past Aussie exposure, and trying to view some new films. I … Continue reading →

Posted on April 12, 2012 by cinemelo | Leave a comment

There’s Always Time For Regret

Posted on March 21, 2012 by cinemelo

I have sometimes confronted the idea that not wanting to have children is selfish. And I can see where such reasoning comes from. But it is also very narrow minded, and critical of people who do not feel the desire … Continue reading →

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Joys of Lubitsch

Posted on March 1, 2012 by cinemelo

An enthusiastic fan of Ernst Lubitsch’s musicals after having seen only one – the divine, impeccable, hilarious One Hour With You (1932) – I recently watched The Smiling Lieutenant (1931). I was less impressed by the latter film, as many of its characters … Continue reading →

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