Julia Sirmons writes about film, media and performance. Her work has appeared in Bright Wall/Dark Room, CrimeReads, The Theatre Times and Another Gaze. She has a PhD in Theatre and Performance from Columbia University.
1930s screen goddess Kay Francis (whose films are now streaming on the Criterion Channel) embodied the Pre-Code era’s spirit of “sheer elegance and pure sex.”
Martha Coolidge's social satire, released 40 years ago and loosely based on Romeo and Juliet, is one of the rare frothy teen comedies that stands the test of time.
Claude Chabrol’s ‘La Cérémonie’ and Pedro Almodóvar’s ‘Live Flesh’ maintain the spirit of the British thriller novelist’s work, while adding their directors’ own personal touches.
When Rob Marshall’s adaptation of the 1975 Broadway show was released 20 years ago, it helped pave the way for a new generation of big-budget movie musicals.
Alan J. Pakula’s 1974 conspiracy thriller is that rarest of beasts: a film firmly rooted in its moment, yet increasingly relevant with the passage of time.
The British are particularly fixated on their class system – and equally obsessed with satirizing it. Peter Medak’s The Ruling Class, made 50 years ago in a time of social discontent not unlike our own, is a freewheeling but trenchant look at aristocratic privilege, and the cruelty its members...
Ernst Lubitsch’s comedy about a ménage à trois (now streaming on the Ccriterion Channel) is a Pre-Code treat – a sexy, free-spirited examination of attraction and affection.
With Kenneth Branagh’s new adaptation out this week, we look back at the star-studded 1978 take on Agatha Christie’s classic – and the landmines of adapting her work overall.