When a British secret agent carrying confidential documents is abducted from a train traveling between New York City and Washington, DC, His Majesty’s government calls on Sherlock Holmes to travel across the Atlantic to locate the missing agent and retrieve the documents. Bringing along Dr. Watson, Holmes quickly unravels the mystery behind this disappearance while exposing a Fifth Column spy operation in the nation’s capital.
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One of the most misunderstood (and, subsequently, controversial) characters in animation history is the amply proportioned Black woman who appeared in 19 of the Tom and Jerry shorts. Contemporary sources refer to as “Mammy Two Shoes,” but that name was never used on-screen or in the screenplays – that moniker was first applied incorrectly in a 1975 Film Comment article and stuck ever since. Not only did she not have a name, but viewers never saw her face (outside of a split-second gag in the 1950 “Saturday Evening Puss”) and never truly understood her relationship to the troublesome cat and mouse duo. It is widely assumed she is a maid or housekeeper because she wears an apron, but if that is the case her (presumably white) employers are never shown or even mentioned. In “Saturday Evening Puss,” she refers to the residence as “my house,” suggesting homeownership rather than domestic servitude.
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Long before Brett Ratner pointed his cameras at Melania Trump, another First Lady was given the big screen treatment. And while the resulting film may not have been a cinematic classic, at the time it proved to be an invaluable marketing tool for the administration of that First Lady’s husband.
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The roots of the Three Stooges filmography can be traced to this creaky 1930 feature for the Fox Film Corporation, which has received more attention lately than it deserves thanks to the expiration of its copyright and its new status as a public domain work.
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The other day, someone on social media posted this challenge: Name something that most people consider to be a masterpiece but you don’t like. Upon reading that, I immediately blurted out: “Journey to Italy.”
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Most Americans have probably never heard of this movie, which is considered a classic of Canadian cinema. If you’re among those who know nothing of this work, please seek it out – it might be one of the best films you’ve never seen.
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Notable as the first Three Stooges short with Joe Besser as part of the zany trio, “Hoofs and Goofs” is one of the most delightfully bizarre things ever captured on camera.
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