1930s Film

Movie musings on the stars and pictures of 1930s film. Click your heels three times and repeat after us: “There’s no place like home…”

Inside Issue 10: A Sneak Preview

by Helen Cox 30 May 2013

Issue 10 is now available to order. As our magazines sell out within weeks of going on sale we recommend ordering to avoid disappointment. Our theme this issue is Time in Film and consequently you’ll be able to read up on how plausible film time travel techniques actually are, the role of stopped clocks [...]

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Issue 9: Now Available For Order

by Helen Cox 6 March 2013

What would happen if King Kong went on a dating show? Now you know thanks to our talented cover artist Dan Havardi.

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Films that time forgot: Trouble in Paradise (1932)

by Martyn Conterio 11 February 2013

What was the ‘Lubitsch touch’ exactly? It has been pondered ever since director and émigré, Ernst Lubitsch, ventured to the sunny climes and riches of Hollywood from acclaim at Ufa. His first American assignment was a Mary Pickford vehicle, Rosita (1923). The trail was blazed for other European filmmakers to follow.

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Issue 7: Our Horror Special – order yours today!

by Helen Cox 23 October 2012

What do Linnea Quigley, Bette Davis and killer telephones have in common? All three appear in our spooky horror special which is out at the very end of October. Other treats for readers include an exclusive interview with Richard Bates Jnr on his new psychological horror: Excision, an exposé on the role of distributors in [...]

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Issue 6.1 Is Here!

by Helen Cox 22 October 2012

The second digital edition of the year is here! Our front cover is illustrated by Rory Mitchell and inspired by the unforgettable body horror: Videodrome. New Empress Magazine’s Minema titles are a mini-digi-dose of film commentary, interviews and flashbacks. Inside this issue our writers have examined the way brands, TV, music and other elements of [...]

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The Granada Cinema Tooting, A Photo Tour

by Helen Cox 1 July 2012

From the outside the Granada picture palace in Tooting looks like just another bingo haunt. Inside however, perfectly preserved since 1931, is one of the most lavish cinema interiors ever designed featuring gothic trimmings and murals inspired by medieval paintings. Gala Bingo kindly allowed our photographer Phil Keevill to take a tour of the premises. [...]

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In Review: Traitor Spy

by Helen Cox 27 May 2012

Walter Summers’ Traitor Spy [sometimes referred to as The Torso Murder Mystery] is based on a T.C.H. Jacobs novel of the same name. The story follows Detective Inspector William Bernard [Edward Lexy playing one of Jacobs' most popular characters] and Beverley Blake [Romily Lunge] – a secret agent masquerading as an intrepid newspaper journalist – [...]

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Ride in the 1930s Pathe Saloon Car, virtually.

by Helen Cox 19 August 2011

By Helen Cox A document held at the National Archives in Kew (pictured left) has been used to virtually recreate the 1930s L.N.E.R. Pathe Saloon Car programme online. In the age of Art Deco, just before war was declared, North Eastern Railway trains offered passengers the opportunity to watch films on their journey. A kind [...]

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Hollywood and its world influence: How long will it last?

by Tim Oliver 10 August 2011

By Tim Oliver The turn of the 20th century saw the development of cinema as a technology. It was a technology that continued to develop and, along with it, a desire surfaced to sell and consume it as a means of entertainment. Enter stage left Hollywood with its classical studio system, its stars and its [...]

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Sheb Wooley: King of Screams

by Emma Hutchings 16 June 2011

By Emma Hutchings Fay Wray of King Kong (1933) fame may historically be known as the Scream Queen but the King of Screams is undoubtedly a less-talked-about star of the Western genre called Sheb Wooley; the man behind the voice of the Wilhelm scream. Not sure if you even know what the Wilhelm scream is? I promise you, [...]

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Paul Merton on Hitchcock and The 39 Steps

by Joe Walsh 29 May 2011

By Joe Walsh Last week the Barbican hosted a special screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps, on 35mm courtesy of the BFI for you fellow cine-philes out there, followed by a screening of Paul Merton’s brilliant 2009 documentary on Hitchcock. Merton also put in an appearance at the event for a lively Q&A and, of course, a [...]

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