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After spending time with Neil Jordan’s not-campy-enough stalker film Greta (listen) and Olivier Assayas’ Kristen Stewart starring 2016 thriller Personal Shopper (listen), it’s time to revisit Alfred Hitchcock with a look at his 1951 film, Strangers on a Train.

In the film, eccentric and unbalanced Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker) approaches successful tennis player Guy Haines (Rope‘s Farley Granger) on a train with a proposal: they should commit a murder for the other.

While Guy laughs it off, Bruno strangles Guy’s ex-wife Miriam (Kasey Rogers), then stalks the tennis player in an effort to force him to fulfill his end of the bargain.

As Guy struggles under the weight of the police’s scrutiny, he confides in his new girlfriend Anne (Ruth Roman) and her younger sister Babs (Pat Hitchcock) for help. Can Guy avoid arrest? Will Bruno ruin his political aspirations? And how does one of the...

In its own way, Sol Saks' 1963 sitcom "Bewitched" was a subversive work. Inspired by movies like "I Married a Witch" (1942) and "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" (1957), "Bewitched" followed the everyday, quotidian, brightly-lit travails of a typical white suburban couple named Darrin Stephens and Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery). 

The twist was that Samantha was a centuries-old witch, descended from a long line of magic-users. Endora (Agnes Moorehead), Samantha's colorful mother, would occasionally drop in, as would her father Maurice (Maurice Evans from "Planet of the Apes"), and uncle Arthur (legendary comedian Paul Lynde). The witches and warlocks on the show would often attempt to drive a wedge between Samantha and Darrin, but their love would prevail in the end. 

Beginning in the show's third season, the Stephens had their first child, Tabitha (Erin Murphy and Diane Murphy). In the sixth season, they were joined by baby Adam (David Lawrence and Greg Lawrence). 

Sadly,...

Hollywood’s postwar shift to social consciousness addressed familiar issues like bigotry and discrimination. On his way to making his gargantuan, serious epics, famed director George Stevens paused for this almost entirely forgotten contemplation of American anxiety in the business rat race, with a side order of alcoholism and potential adultery. Ray Milland is the troubled ad man who tries to help the drink-impaired actress, Joan Fontaine. Wife Teresa Wright waits patiently back home, but for how long? Is Stevens just dabbling in neorealistic doldrums, or did he feel the wave of dull existential despair as well? It’s one of his least-known films.

Something to Live For

All Region Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] #199

952 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 89 min. / Street Date February 22, 2023 / Available from [Imprint] / au 34.95

Starring: Joan Fontaine, Ray Milland, Teresa Wright, Richard Derr, Douglas Dick, Harry Bellaver, Paul Valentine, King Donovan, Kasey Rogers, Douglas Spencer, Mari Blanchard.

Cinematography: George Barnes

Production Designer: Hal Pereira,...

A bona fide film classic, George Stevens’ movie is less revered as an excellent adaptation of Theodore Dreiser than for its intense, almost hallucinatory romantic scenes between Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor. A guileless poor boy tries to succeed above his economic background and entangles himself between two very different women. I guess the Academy wasn’t ready to take the glamorous young MGM beauty seriously: both Clift and their co-star Shelley Winters received acting nominations, but not Liz. Stevens’ first ‘fifties picture is perhaps the most balanced of his ‘heavy’ and ‘important’ works, a tragedy that’s too deeply felt to be merely ponderous.

A Place in the Sun

Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 8

1951 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 122 min. / Street Date August, 2020 /

Starring: Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, Anne Revere, Keefe Brasselle, Fred Clark, Raymond Burr, Walter Sande, Ted de Corsia, Kathleen Freeman, Kasey Rogers, Douglas Spencer, Ian Wolfe.

Cinematography: William C. Mellor...

1968: Angelique's bat continued to spy on Dark Shdows' Barnabas.

1974: Y&R's Chris and Snapper were married.

1980: Atwt's Barbara remembered a past mystery man.

2005: Gh's Jason and Sam made love for the first time."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1966: On Peyton Place, Betty Anderson (Barbara Parkins) testified in court. After the hearing, Julie Anderson (Kasey Rogers) worried Elliot Carson (Tim O'Connor) would print articles in the newspaper which portrayed her in a negative way, but Constance Mackenzie assured her that would not happen.

1968: Angelique's bat continued to spy on Dark Shdows' Barnabas.

1974: Y&R's Chris and Snapper were married.

1980: Atwt's Barbara remembered a past mystery man.

2005: Gh's Jason and Sam made love for the first time."History is a vast early warning system."

― Norman Cousins

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1966: On Peyton Place, Betty Anderson (Barbara Parkins) testified in court. After the hearing, Julie Anderson (Kasey Rogers) worried Elliot Carson (Tim O'Connor) would print articles in the newspaper which portrayed her in a negative way, but Constance Mackenzie (Dorothy Malone, who returned to the show after a medical leave) assured her that would not happen.

1968: On Dark Shadows,...

Being a film geek is a damn difficult job but many of us take it on willingly. It’s not an easy life though, with so many films out there to discover, it’s a minefield as to what exactly to focus on. The purpose of this new series of articles is really rather selfish, indulging in First Time Watches of films I have always been meaning to get around to, well-regarded classics, cult entries I’ve always wanted to check out, things of that sort, and then I get to write about them. What I hope to add here though is a little more discussion around the films, how they hold up now, what they say about that point in a director’s career and so forth, hopefully giving more than just a straight review of the piece but more a look at just why I seek them out specifically for this column.

Bewitched star Kasey Rogers has died after suffering a stroke. She was 80. Rogers' companion Mark Wood said the actress passed away at USC University Hospital in Los Angeles last Thursday. Rogers, who also acted under the name Laura Elliott, played Louise Tate, the wife of Darrin's boss Larry Tate, in the 1960s TV series. One of her most memorable roles was playing Farley Granger's estranged wife Miriam, who is strangled in Alfred Hitchcock's classic Strangers On A Train. Wood tells the Los Angeles Times newspaper, "For decades, no one realized Laura Elliott and Kasey Rogers were the same woman. All of a sudden, Hitchcock fans were coming out of the woodwork. They wanted to know what happened to Laura Elliott." Rogers is survived by her brother, four children, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Her funeral will take place at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood tomorrow.