Category Archives: Film

Marilyn’s ‘Mirror’ Review Goes to Print

23 Monday Dec 2019

Posted by in Books, Film, Marilyn Monroe, Non-Fiction, Periodicals, Updates, Writing

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My review of Amanda Konkle’s excellent book, Some Kind of Mirror: Creating Marilyn Monroe, is featured in the latest issue (#38) of UK fanzine Mad About Marilyn, alongside articles about Marilyn’s arduous promotional tour for the final Marx Brothers movie, Love Happy (1949); ‘A New Marilyn Comes Back’, first published by Movie Spotlight in 1956; and a profile of photographer Bruno Bernard, aka ‘Bernard of Hollywood’.

The delightful cover photo was taken at Richard Avedon‘s New York studio in July 1958, shortly before Marilyn flew to Los Angeles to shoot Some Like It Hot. If you’d like to subscribe to Mad About Marilyn, please email Emma: emmadowning@blueyonder.co.uk

2019: A Year in Books

19 Thursday Dec 2019

Posted by in Books, Fiction, Film, History, Marilyn Monroe, Non-Fiction, Politics, Profumo Affair

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First published in 2015 as Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes and now available in English, Zuleikha tells the story of a Tatar woman whose brutish husband and vindictive mother-in-law treat her as a slave. This all changes around 1930 when along with other peasants and Leningrad intellectuals – a motley crew of ‘enemies of the state’ – Zuleikha is transported to a gulag in Siberia. Beside the age-old themes of tyranny and suffering, Zuleikha offers a surprisingly hopeful vision of how ordinary people can keep their wits and capacity for love, even in the direst circumstances. Continue reading →

2019: A Year In Film and TV

17 Tuesday Dec 2019

Posted by in Books, Film, Non-Fiction, Television

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In 2019, we said goodbye to sixties icons Albert Finney and Sue Lyon, and remembered Sharon Tate… Continue reading →

Two-Faced Woman: Joan Crawford and ‘Rain’

09 Monday Dec 2019

Posted by in Film, Jeanne Eagels

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While it is generally agreed that no actress surpassed Jeanne Eagels’ performance as Sadie Thompson in Rain, many have tried. Among them was none other than Joan Crawford, in a 1932 talkie which was widely panned on release (and later, by Crawford herself.) While at first her Sadie may seem close to parody, a more striking portrayal soon emerges, as Imogen Sara Smith writes in ‘Two-Faced Woman’, an article for The Chiseler. Continue reading →

Marilyn: A Life in Biographics

15 Friday Nov 2019

Posted by in Art and Photography, Books, Film, Marilyn Monroe

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“When we can recognise an actor by a set of icons, we can also recognise how completely that actor and their work have entered our culture and our consciousness.” A snapper board, a ukulele, and a birthday cake; the imprint of red lipstick, a bottle of Chanel No. 5, and a white halter dress blowing in the wind above a subway grate. These are all visual signifiers of the ultimate Hollywood bombshell, Marilyn Monroe. Continue reading →