“Alas, why must I be plagued by yammering magpies on the eve of battle?”

If you’re as big a fan of the cult classic His Kind of Woman (1951) as I am, you’ll no doubt recognize the title of this post as a line of dialogue spoken by ham actor Mark Cardigan, an over-the-top screen thesp who comes to the aid of Dan Milner (Robert Mitchum) when Milner is snatched by…

Do we know how to party or what?*

Yesterday afternoon, the ‘rents and I made the 6-8 blocks (my Dad’s not 100% certain on the actual distance) journey from our current House of Yesteryear environs to the Double K Ranch (sister Kat’s house) to celebrate the second natal anniversary of the fun-loving youngster pictured in the photo above, my nephew Davis.  (His birthday is…

CMBA Movies of 1939 Blogathon – Charlie Chan at Treasure Island

(The following is Thrilling Days of Yesteryear’s contribution to the Classic Movies Blog Association’s Classic Films of 1939 Blogathon, currently underway from May 15-17 and supervised by ClassicBecky of ClassicBecky’s Brain Food and Page of My Love of Old Hollywood.  For a list of the participants and the movies to be reviewed, the CMBA has a list available here.) 1939 is considered by…

Doofus of the Year Award and a few other items of importance…

I was boasting Saturday—boasting, mind you—of my astounding technological prowess because I managed to put together the new Rancho Yesteryear entertainment system (TV, cable box, DVD/VCR recorder and spare DVD player) in a New York minute…but as I have often said (both on and off the blog) cocky will bite you in the ass every…

“Gladaseeya!”

One hundred years ago on this date in New York, NY—the town so nice they named it twice—Philip Silver was born to Saul and Sarah Silver, making him the eighth and youngest of their brood.  Later on in his career, he’d add an “s” to the end of his surname and shorten the first part of his…

A Life in Movies

Over at Fandango Groovers Movie Blog, a meme has sprouted up that asks interested bloggers to name their favorite films starting from the year they were born to (what I can only guess) last year, 2010.  I decided to take a crack at this one even though I’d have to struggle with two handicaps: a) I don’t watch…

Grey Market Cinema: Whom the Gods Destroy (1934)

(Ivan’s note: This post will reveal the end of this film, for an important reason that will be apparent in the final paragraph…so if you don’t want it spoiled, stop at the warning…) Theatrical impresario John Forrester (Walter Connolly) is on a boat trip to London to personally oversee a production when a Titanic-like shipwreck occurs en route,…

“Fish don’t fry in the kitchen/Beans don’t burn on the grill…”

I’m pleased to announce that this is the very first post composed at the new Rancho Yesteryear, into which the ‘rents and I officially moved this afternoon (though this time they were ahead of me; they brought their stuff in last night).  There will be a gradual phasing out of the old House of Yesteryear…

Guest Review: The Racket (1951)

By Philip Schweier The Racket (1951) also features Robert Ryan, but this time he’s on the other side of the law, starring as Nick Scanlon, public enemy #1 in an unnamed city where Robert Mitchum, as honest police captain Tom McQuigg, holds the line between decent folk and the forces of evil. The film opens as…

Guest Review: On Dangerous Ground (1952)

By Philip Schweier On Dangerous Ground (1952) is a rare case in which I can’t wait for a movie to end. It is part of a film noir collection I received for Christmas, but it represents the low end of the five films in the collection, in my opinion. Jim Wilson (Robert Ryan) is a reasonably…