The shoulder pads, as if she’d mugged a linebacker. The thick eyebrows, which resembled two comatose caterpillars. The damning charges, in a memoir and a movie, accusing her of being an abusive mother, obsessed with wire hangers. Joan Crawford may have died 50 years ago, but her legend lives on in the minds of classic film fans. In the 1920s, she emerged from a Dickensian childhood to become a Charleston-dancing flapper. In the 1930s, she was one of MGM’s top female stars, sh

I am not easily shocked by movies, but the first time I saw Angel Face , I actually yelped out loud. There are two moments in the picture that I did not see coming, and they were the best kind of a screen surprise, right up there with “I see dead people” in The Sixth Sense or “the secret” twist in The Crying Game . Needless to say, I won’t spoil what happens in Angel Face, but I will recommend that you see for yourself. Considered a flop in 1952, this offbeat sleeper’s ren

From Jane Austen to J.K. Rowling, many famous writers have had their novels transformed into movie hits. But for a classic film noir fan...