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In the early days of film, nobody even considered the idea that the star of the movie wouldn't participate in all of the scenes even if the scenes were dangerous. The early movie stars ALL did their own stunts. There were, of course, a few stunt men in those early days of movie making. You [...]

Continue Reading Stunt Men and Women in the Movies

Tags: car, cars and trains, charles lindbergh, film, race car drivers, Stunt

War provides the perfect scenario for action films. The very situation of war calls for action scenes like air dogfights, submarine warfare, and hand-to-hand combat. In a war-based action movie, there are also relationship-based plots such as love, forced separation, deep friendship, sacrifice, and loyalty. Hate and inhumanity are also relationship-based plots that war movies [...]

Continue Reading Movies During War Years

Tags: Flag, hand to hand combat, norma talmadge, scenario, sinking of the lusitania, War

McCarthyism had a chilling effect on Hollywood and the entire movie industry. It was a black period in American history that should never be forgotten because we never want a repeat performance. There will be no encore for McCarthyism. Joe McCarthy was the senator from Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. McCarthy saw [...]

Continue Reading McCarthyism’s Effect on Movies

Tags: communist, communist sympathizer, communist sympathizers, deal, senator mccarthy, subcommittee

Ronald Reagan was the 40th president of the United States. He was a highly respected and much-loved president who consistently had the highest approval ratings of any president before or since. Ronald Reagan was also an actor. There are detractors who say (jokingly, we hope) that the presidency was the best acting gig that "Ronnie" [...]

Continue Reading Ronald Reagan: From Actor to President

Tags: Actors, gipp reagan, Grade, president ronald reagan, screen, taft hartley act

Many people mistakenly believe that Trigger (Roy Rogers's Palomino) was a Tennessee Walking horse, but he was not. Trigger's sire was a thoroughbred, and his dam was an unregistered mare. Oh, but what a horse he was! Trigger was billed as "the smartest horse in the movies," and it was a title that he absolutely [...]

Continue Reading Starring Trigger

Tags: Cloud, horse, olivia de havilland, Palomino, son of paleface, tennessee walking horse

The dog that played the original "Lassie" was a male dog by the name of Pal, and every dog that has played the part of Lassie since has been a male descendant of Pal. There are several reasons why male dogs have played Lassie, but the two most important are that a male dog's coat [...]

Continue Reading Lassie Movies

Tags: frank weatherwax, original lassie movie, saturday evening post

If the general population was fascinated with silent movies, they were mesmerized with "talkies." "The Jazz Singer" was the first full-length film. It was released in October 1927. There had been earlier attempts, but "The Jazz Singer" was the first full-length film that was originally released with sound. The IDEA of movies with sound wasn't [...]

Continue Reading The Movies Learn to Talk

Tags: eadweard muybridge, film, sound amplification, sound fidelity, technology, wasn

In the early days of the movie industry, the producer of a film had full control of the entire production process, including the creative process. Today, movie producers are still responsible for fund-raising, hiring key personnel, and arranging for distributors; but in the early days of film, the producer also had total creative control. Creative [...]

Continue Reading Movie Producers

Tags: control, film, hollywood studio system, mid 1950s, process, production supervisor

Adventure movies are very much akin to action movies. The lines between the two genres are becoming more blurred all the time. In the early days of movies, though, there was a distinct difference between action films and adventure films. Action films have never received much if any critical acclaim, but adventure films have always [...]

Continue Reading Adventure Movies

Tags: Adventure, adventures of robin hood, charlton heston, film, Man, robert downey jr

America loves to hate movie villains! Many of the great movie actors have opted to play villainous roles in movies for that very reason. And we have had some really villainous villains to love to hate over the years. Of course, like all movie buffs, I have my own personal list of my favorite villains. [...]

Continue Reading Great Movie Villains

Tags: all time great movie villains, darth vader, love, Movie, texas chainsaw massacre, Vader