From Patty Duke to Dustin Hoffman, Oscar appreciates actors who take on the challenge of playing disabled characters. But few have done so with such poignancy and effortless ease as Jane Wyman in her Oscar-winning role as the deaf mute Belinda in JOHNNY BELINDA (1948). Belinda lives in a small fishing...

You think your life sucks? Coke bottle glasses, out-of-date hairstyle and outfit, and oh those sensible shoes. Poor Charlotte Vale: unattractive, overweight, and a spinster on the verge of a nervous breakdown from the emotional and verbal abuse suffered under Mummy’s tyrannical thumb. Her blossoming...

Depending on who you ask, the CLICK TRACK was invented in the 1930’s by the “Father of Film Music” Max Steiner, or Carl Stalling or Scott Bradley to accompany their memorable animation scores. However, it is usually credited to Steiner. As George Burt explains in his book, The Art...

Mark Swed’s Los Angeles Times review of the opening concert of the Pacific Symphony’s American Composers Festival made for some angry comments left by film score fans. However, I found his opening remarks particularly vivid: Hollywood’s “Golden Age” was, of course, black...