Radio Theater: Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson as Holmes and Watson (1955)

I'm on the eternal hunt for the ideal Holmes and Watson pairing. Oh, of course, many come close, like Jeremy Brett and David Burke in the celebrated BBC television series from the 1980s, or even Ian Richardson as Holmes, but alas, I can't recall his Watson, which is never a good sign. Sir John Gielgud But I believe I may have finally found the ideal paring in Gielgud and Richardson, both...

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Angela Lansbury and Raymond Burr in Please Murder Me! (1956)

Angela Lansbury has been synonymous with Disney and Jessica Fletcher for so long that it's hard to remember that she was an actress long before she ever jumped on the Disney bandwagon. It's even harder to realize that she played some pretty unpleasant characters. She was the "other" woman opposite Judy Garland and John Hodiak in Harvey Girls which I love and reviewed HERE. She was also absurdly...

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Radio Theater: Orson Welles in Noël Coward's Private Lives (4/21/1939)

I honestly don't know how I lived before finding Orson's radio theater performances! I mean, seriously! Private Lives is a crazy combination of hilarity and tragedy that appeals to my macabre sense of humor. Orson Welles plays Elyot and actress Gertrude Lawrence plays his ex-wife Amanda (Gertrude actually played opposite Noël in 1930 in this play on the stage!). Each of these individuals has...

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The Lovable Ruffian - James Cagney with Joan Blondell in Blonde Crazy (1931)

"Now the world owes me a living, and I'm gonna collect it, see." - James Cagney in Blonde Crazy Pre-code films are spectacularly vulgar and this one is a humdinger! I think until now the earliest Cagney film I'd ever watched was probably A Midsummer Night's Dream from 1935, which is brilliant, by the way. But I'd never ventured into any of his earlier films simply because they're a pain to track...

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