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Cooking with Count Yorga
Halloween is almost upon us once more! Time to try for at least one scary post. This year, the Siren thinks she has a pretty hot entry.It's Count Yorga's cookbook.Or rather, the cookbook of the late...
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Update
All are well chez Siren. She's lucky, and grateful. But her city is suffering.The banner is not a movie, but a shot of a workman on the George Washington Bridge, circa 1930. It seemed appropriate.The...
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For the Love of Film III: The Payoff (and Bonus)
We've had a few months for laurel-resting after the hard work and great results of our third "For the Love of Film" blogathon. Together with the dauntless Marilyn Ferdinand and Roderick Heath, we...
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A Bookish Cinephile Christmas
Over at Indiewire's Criticwire, the smart, fine and funny Matt Singer has been running a critics' survey for a while, and this week was the first time the Siren participated. The question was, "'Tis...
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Razzia sur la Chnouf (1955)
A somewhat disorganized look at Razzia sur la Chnouf, the Siren's favorite among the movies she watched and re-watched last month during a long week stuck (mostly) at home. The Siren has recently been...
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Christmas with George and Zsa Zsa
The Siren has had a busy holiday season that has included, in addition to the usual hoo-ha, many unexpected household tasks. She's kept up her spirits via activities like seeing Playtime in...
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What I Watched With My Mother: The Also-Ran Edition
After a long hard slog of a December, the Siren has emerged, ready for updates. And she has excellent news: Our hard work to put The White Shadow online for viewing has been recognized by the Online...
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The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), With Bonus Anecdote
The Siren is pleased to announce that the Criterion Collection edition of Alfred Hitchcock's 1934 The Man Who Knew Too Much has hit the street, and her essay on this marvelously compact tinker-toy of a...
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What I Watched With My Mother: The Good Ones Edition
The first movie listed here is the only stone-solid, mind-blowing masterpiece the Siren watched with her mother during this visit. But great as it is, the Siren's got a bit more to say about another,...
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What I Watched With My Mother (The Finale): Home Before Dark (1958)
Home Before Dark (New Year's Day night) (Note: Home Before Dark is showing tomorrow (Thurs. 1/31/13) at 1 pm EST, as part of TCM's all-day birthday tribute to Jean Simmons.)Of all the movies the Siren...
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Anecdote of the Week: Runaway Romance, Hollywood Style
From The Moon's a Balloon, by David Niven, the story of a cross-country trip that begins after a tryst in the St. Regis Hotel in New York. The Great Big Star was, as you probably know, Merle Oberon. By...
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Gentlemen, Mary Pickford Doesn't Need Your Advice
In 1912, Mary Pickford, age 20, was working at Biograph Studios. D.W. Griffith was casting a short movie called The Sands of Dee.Pickford wanted the lead and, since "abundant hair was a requisite," she...
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Anecdote of the Week: Buster Keaton Confronts Disaster (and Joe Schenck)
From an interview with Buster Keaton in Sight and Sound, Winter 1965/66:My original situation in [Steamboat Bill, Jr.] was a flood. But my so-called producer on that film was Joe Schenck...Schenck was...
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The SLIFR Poll: It's Not a Comeback, It's a Return
The Siren, as you may have guessed, is having a hard time trying to write about anything in depth at the moment. But here comes Dennis Cozzalio, our old friend from Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly...
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Rat Pack Rashomon
The Siren has not forgotten her more-patient-than-ever readers, truly she hasn't. It's just that lately her life resembles this:But she will never abandon her little corner of the Web. (Here the Siren...
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In Memoriam: Roger Ebert, 1942-2013
As certain critics age, they seem to drag around years of bad movies like ankle chains. They remind me of Gothic heros, betrayed lovers convinced virtue never existed at all. Once long ago these...
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In Memoriam: Annette Funicello, 1942-2013
"She's the perfect girl next door, she doesn't have a bad bone in her body. She's the sweetest girl I know, and nothing's ever changed."—Frankie Avalon"Even sitting in a wheelchair, life does not have...
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The Love Song of Samuel Hoffenstein
The Siren likes screenwriters; she's said that before. But there's one screenwriter she never knew had anything to do with the movies until the wonders of the Internet told her so some years back:...
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The Love Song of Samuel Hoffenstein: Coda
THIS, via the ever-obliging Yojimboen, is Samuel Hoffenstein. Pretty much exactly how one feels he should look. The response to the Siren's first piece on Hoffenstein was delightful. Particularly...
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In Memoriam: Deanna Durbin, 1921-2013
(This, the Siren's tribute to the admirable Deanna Durbin, combines, updates and elaborates on several previous pieces.)A curly-haired teen stands on a set, surrounded by adoring middle-aged men. She...
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