black and white movies

Although the great Burt Lancaster has been dead for over twenty six years his movies hold a special place in my heart as one of the true film legends of the screen, an iconic presence, cheeky smile and steely eyes that could melt or pierce a heart at a thousand paces : starting his career back in the late 40s in Robert Siodmak’s fantastic noir film The Killers Burt Lancaster went on to have a glorious movie career acting with Hollywood legends such as Kirk Douglas, Gary Cooper, Deborah Kerr, Lee Marvin, Claudia Cardinale and so many more : my absolute top four is a small sample in the excellence of his work and in truth I could name so many more movie gems that I consider bonafide classics, films such as The Professionals with the great Lee Marvin, 1968’s The Swimmer, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral alongside Kirk Douglas, Sweet Smell of Success with Tony Curtis, Sydney Pollack’s wonderful Castle Keep and John Frankenheimer’s The Train : my absolute favorite and it’s a Burt Lancaster film I’ve watched more than any other is 1960’s Elmer Gantry directed by Richard Brooks, the film went on to win 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Burt taking home the Best Actor that year : so if you’ve not seen many of his movies and fancy a trip back to time when acting legends were truly that then take a peek at some of the films mentioned : Hope you enjoyed another of my Absolute Top Four till the next one….

known as the “Woman of a Thousand Faces” Eleanor Parker has died aged 91 at her home in Palm Springs, California – although most remember Ms Parker for her superb portrayal of The Baroness in 1965’s The Sound of Music, it was earlier in her career at the start of the 50’s that she really made a name for herself, playing a teenager in Cromwell’s prison drama Caged, starring alongside Kirk Douglas in Detective Story and playing opera singer Marjorie Lawrence in 1955’s Interrupted Melody all three performances delivering Ms Parker an Academy Award Nomination – another couple of personal favorite’s was the John Sturges western Escape from Fort Bravo showing great chemistry alongside William Holden and Otto Preminger’s 1955 Frank Sinatra led movie The Man with the Golden Arm – she was one of the true greats of the silver screen, a fabulous actress with the looks of a Princess – she will be sadly missed….