As the leading lady in two of Douglas Sirk’s finest and most enduring melodramas, Magnificent Obsession (1954) and All That Heaven Allows (1955), it wouldn’t be entirely accurate to say that Jane Wyman is an actress forgotten to time. Then again, given that those two films represent but a small part of her varied… Read more »
When Cary Scott (Jane Wyman) invites her gardener, Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson), to join her in a cup of coffee on a whim, it seems innocuous enough. She politely inquires about his work while he gives her laconic replies until their discussion turns to his new passion of growing trees and his eyes brighten. Despite… Read more »
Spoilers throughout for the 1944 film Laura. At a swanky cocktail party in New York City, glamorous advertising executive Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney) artfully rebuffs pretty playboy Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price) when he begins flirting with her the minute she catches his eye. You can hardly blame Shelby – with her impeccably coiffed curls, simple… Read more »
For many years, I was terrified of The Mummy. After seeing bits and pieces of it at my aunt and uncle’s house as a little girl, I was… well, traumatized. So much so that I couldn’t even bear to watch the film in its entirety until last year at the age of 26. Not only… Read more »
When I first discovered IU Cinema eight years ago, I was ecstatic that such a place existed. When I was hired to work here four years later, I couldn’t believe my luck (I still can’t!). When I was told two years ago that we would be releasing a book about the Cinema, I was… Read more »
For the past eight years, I have been trying to explain the sheer joy that is Esther Jane Williams. From the moment I first laid eyes on the champion swimmer-turned-actress in Thrill of a Romance (1945), I was transfixed. As I sighed over her delicious chemistry with Van Johnson and marveled at the film’s Technicolor… Read more »