Reel Old Movies

The Margot Robbie-Ryan Gosling “Barbie” won over audiences at the box office with its fashionable icon’s journey from Barbieland to the human world – and from existential crisis to enlightenment. If you can’t get enough of absurdist comedy, identity crises, colorful scene design or stylish wardrobes, consider a few classic films from the Golden Age of Hollywood that scratch some of the same itches of 2023’s summer all-star “Barbie.” What else would you suggest? Share with @ReelOldMovies on Instagram ‘The Red Shoes’ (1948) Critics and audiences have lauded “Barbie” for its set design and innovative color palette. “The Red Shoes” is the height of a color-saturated screen experience . The plot also echoes some of the same themes of “Barbie.” A ballerina faces a world in which she is forced to choose between her passion for her art and her love for a composer. The 1948 drama has been celebrated since its release for its use of Technicolor, with director Martin Scorsese calling it one of th...

One of the original pair of iconic ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in "The Wizard of Oz" disappeared in 2005. The mystery had been the subject of numerous investigations, documentaries and even a podcast series.  The iconic shoes were recovered in 2018 in an FBI sting, but the mystery remained of who stole the ruby slippers from The Judy Garland Museum in Minnesota and how they got away with it.  Now, some of those answers may be imminent after a 76-year-old man was indicted this week, the first charges in the case. Terry J. Martin was indicted Tuesday with one count of theft of a major artwork, according to U.S. Justice Department officials. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that Martin is 76 and lives 12 miles south of the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.  The indictment and news release by the Justice Department do not give details about how the crime was allegedly committed and who and where the shoes were held before the 2018 recovery. They do...

[Updated February 2025] As movie studios ramp back up production in 2025, movie theaters aren't relying on classic movie re-releases as much. But a few national re-releases of classic movies are still to be found.  Making the case for re-releases: The Future of Film May Just be Old Movies Here's a list of classic movie re-releases coming soon to a theater hopefully near you. These are roughly pre-1980 movies being released nationally or at least broad regionally.  As always, check out your local independent movie theater: they are gems for classic movie screenings and I cannot track all of those! (My tiny town's old one-screen movie theater recently played a Hitchcock retrospective, for example. The audiences were mostly younger adults which spurred hope for the next generation of classic movie fans.) This list will continue to update throughout 2025 as new movies are announced. January Seven Samurai A Clockwork Orange February Gone with the Wind   |  Related...

Movie lovers know that old movies are priceless: the memories, the enjoyment, the emotion. But what to get that classic movie lover as a holiday gift that they don’t already have – and that isn’t a copy of a movie they already own?