Christopher Saunders

LATEST ARTICLES ( 667 )

• History: The State Department and the Madman, 1969-1970

  

  Richard Nixon took office with a bold strategy to end the Vietnam War. "I call it the Madman Theory, Bob," he explained to Bob Haldeman, his White House Chief o... Read more

  Posted on 27 January 2017 HISTORY

• The Omega Man

  

  Richard Matheson's I Am Legend has inspired three films, none of them a classic. Last Man on Earth (1964) has atmosphere and Vincent Price, but it's let down... Read more

  Posted on 11 January 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Amarcord

  

  Federico Fellini's last masterwork, Amarcord (1973) provides an elaborate slice of Italian life. Drawing from Fellini's own childhood, it's funny, crude and... Read more

  Posted on 08 January 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Broken Blossoms

  

  "The Yellow Man's youthful dreams come to wreck against the sordid realities of life." After two colossal epics, D.W. Griffith turned to a simpler melodrama. Read more

  Posted on 07 January 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

  

  History remembers The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) as a missed opportunity. Orson Welles' follow-up to Citizen Kane suffered from studio mangling and reshoots,... Read more

  Posted on 05 January 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Birth of a Nation (1915)

  

  "The former enemies of North and South are united again in common defense of their Aryan birthright." Modern cineastes regard The Birth of a Nation (1915) with... Read more

  Posted on 05 January 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Within Our Gates (1920)

  

  "I've sold my birthright. All for a miserable mess of pottage."The remarkable Oscar Micheaux went from Pullman porter, farmer and novelist to Hollywood's first... Read more

  Posted on 04 January 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Laura (1944)

  

  "When a dame gets killed, she doesn't worry about how she looks."Otto Preminger offers a high-class thriller with Laura (1944). Read more

  Posted on 02 January 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• It Happened One Night

  

  "I come from a long line of stubborn idiots."Frank Capra's It Happened One Night (1934) codified the modern romantic comedy, though it offers far more than... Read more

  Posted on 01 January 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Best and Worst Film Viewings of 2016

  

  2016: The Bubonic Plague of YearsUgh.Nobody needs reminding that 2016 has been monumentally awful - politically, culturally, socially and personally. Read more

  Posted on 29 December 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• RIP Carrie Fisher

  

  “People want me to say that I’m sick of playing Leia and that it ruined my life. If my life was that easy to ruin, it deserved to be ruined. Read more

  Posted on 28 December 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Best & Worst Books Read in 2016

  

  Vice President Agnew with his literary masterpieceI've only done a book list once. This year seemed a good time to revisit the idea, considering that I read a... Read more

  Posted on 27 December 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Remember the Night

  

  Several years before plotting murder in Double Indemnity, Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray teamed up on this sweet-natured Christmas comedy. Read more

  Posted on 26 December 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• History: The Know-Nothing Party's Rise, Fall and Legacy, 1856

  

  The Nativist movement's violence exploded exponentially at the same time it became most respectable. In the mid-1850s, decades of anti-Catholic nationalism,... Read more

  Posted on 24 December 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• History: New York Know-Nothings and Forrest Fanboys Riot Over Shakespeare, 1849

  

  Antebellum America's bloodiest riot wasn't caused by cloistered convents, school Bibles or papal nuncios. While inflamed and exploited by Nativist rowdies, the... Read more

  Posted on 21 December 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Umberto D.

  

  (1952) marked the neorealist movement's last hurrah. International critics better appreciated Vittorio De Sica's bleak masterwork than his countrymen; domestic... Read more

  Posted on 20 December 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• History: Immigration, The Cardinal's Visit and the Resurgence of American...

  

  The violence in Philadelphia inspired outrage rather than copycats. Besides the general disgust over Nativist extremism, other issues occupied America's... Read more

  Posted on 19 December 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Stranger (1946)

  

  "Killing is what led you here. It won't help you now."The Stranger (1946) gave Orson Welles his biggest hit, mating his signature style to a popular melodrama. Read more

  Posted on 18 December 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Two Mrs. Carrolls

  

  "It's my opinion that beauty is worth any sacrifice."Reviewers generally dismiss The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947) as a lesser effort for its stars, Humphrey Bogart... Read more

  Posted on 17 December 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice

  

  (2016) was that incredible thing: a blockbuster nobody liked. Critics torched it, most viewers seemed to despise it, yet it still made enough money to fund... Read more

  Posted on 16 December 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES