Critic Roger Ebert called it “perfection.” I call it “The Gateway Drug to Film Noir.” Nobody knew Laura was destined for success when the cast reported for duty in the spring of 1944. The early signs weren’t promising. Two weeks into the shoot, producer Otto Preminger fired director Rouben Mamoulian, scrapped his footage, revised the screenplay, redesigned the sets and costumes, and hired a new director – himself. Against all odds, Laura went from hot mess to cool classic. G

Ever since MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer established the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927, fans and show biz...

The Best Years of Our Lives opened on November 21, 1946 and became an instant classic. Critics lavished praise. Moviegoers mobbed...

When Henry Fonda was 14 years old, he witnessed the lynching of a black man: “I watched an out-of-control mob of several hundred men...