In Praise of the Artifice in George Cukor's 'Sylvia Scarlett'

George Cukor's gender-bending Sylvia Scarlett proposes a heroine who learns nothing from her cross-gendered ordeal.

                                      
Film
    
        32 Films That Begin With Leaving a Mental Institution
    
A. Loudermilk

        13 Mar 2020
    
Film
    
        'What Price Hollywood?' and the Birth of the 'Star Is Born' Films
    
Carley Hildebrand

        05 Oct 2018
    
Film
    
        For a Comedy of Manners, 'The Philadelphia Story' Is Awfully Screwball
    
James Plath

        14 Dec 2017

Recent

Books

'George Cukor: A Double Life' Is Essential Reading on Queer Cinema and Hollywood History

Everyone in Hollywood knew George Cukor’s secret, but it was never spoken freely until the arrival of Patrick McGilligan’s thoroughly researched book.

Film

100 Essential Directors - George Cukor

100 Essential Directors celebrates directors of distinct vision, who have honed their respective crafts, who have brought something new and exciting to the medium, and who continue to push the boundaries of the form.

Michael Abernethy

Film

The 100 Essential Directors Part 3: George Cukor - John Ford

Spiritual possession, screwball comedy, German kinks, and the quintessential American Western genre are among the disparate characters we shine a light on today as PopMatters counts down the 100 Essential Film Directors. Today we look at George Cukor through John Ford. Who falls in the middle might surprise you...

Film

All the Faith in the World: Holiday

Holiday is the sort of movie that gives those who do know it the satisfyingly superior glow of being in on something really good.

Kerrie Mills

Film

Women Without Men

Diane English’s version of The Women barely nudges from its Martha Stewart interiors, exchanging insights for platitudes. It’s a cup of lukewarm tea, without even a biscuit on the side.

Reviews

Essential Classics - Romances

This set highlights the existential crisis about the validity and permanence of love, in a time when Americans were reminded of the absolute ephemeral nature of life and stripped of ideals by the War.

Erik Hinton

Reviews

Holiday (1938)

Boasting a script packed full of acerbic gems, Holiday also has a tremendous visual energy.

Emma Simmonds

Reviews

The Marrying Kind (1952)

Hollywood did not allow Holliday to display the full range of her talent and intelligence; most of her roles were variants of the 'dumb blonde'.

David Sanjek

Features

MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of December 2020

Collapse Expand Features

BROWSE ALL ALBUM REVIEWS

Reviews

Collapse Expand Reviews

PM Picks

Collapse Expand Pm Picks

In Praise of the Artifice in George Cukor's 'Sylvia Scarlett'

George Cukor's gender-bending Sylvia Scarlett proposes a heroine who learns nothing from her cross-gendered ordeal.

'What Price Hollywood?' and the Birth of the 'Star Is Born' Films

For a Comedy of Manners, 'The Philadelphia Story' Is Awfully Screwball

'George Cukor: A Double Life' Is Essential Reading on Queer Cinema and Hollywood History

Everyone in Hollywood knew George Cukor’s secret, but it was never spoken freely until the arrival of Patrick McGilligan’s thoroughly researched book.

100 Essential Directors - George Cukor

100 Essential Directors celebrates directors of distinct vision, who have honed their respective crafts, who have brought something new and exciting to the medium, and who continue to push the boundaries of the form.

The 100 Essential Directors Part 3: George Cukor - John Ford

It's All Greek Tragedy to Me - Gone with the Wind: 70th Anniversary Edition (1939)

All the Faith in the World: Holiday

Holiday is the sort of movie that gives those who do know it the satisfyingly superior glow of being in on something really good.

Women Without Men

Diane English’s version of The Women barely nudges from its Martha Stewart interiors, exchanging insights for platitudes. It’s a cup of lukewarm tea, without even a biscuit on the side.

Essential Classics - Romances

This set highlights the existential crisis about the validity and permanence of love, in a time when Americans were reminded of the absolute ephemeral nature of life and stripped of ideals by the War.

Holiday (1938)

Boasting a script packed full of acerbic gems, Holiday also has a tremendous visual energy.

The Marrying Kind (1952)

Hollywood did not allow Holliday to display the full range of her talent and intelligence; most of her roles were variants of the 'dumb blonde'.

Popular Culture Is Eating Its History and OMD Are Not Complaining

Filmmaker Diane Paragas on 'Yellow Rose' and the Heartbreak Behind Anti-Immigration Policies

The Mandalorian's Political Allegory: Diversity Is the Way

COVID-19 and Our Purgatory of Consumerism

'Queer Legacies: Stories from Chicago's LGBTQ Archives'

How Leeds Led the Goth Scene

Is Christian Petzold's 'Undine' Myth or Therapeutic Dialogue?

MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of December 2020

BTS Master the Art of Timeless, Universal Songwriting with 'BE'

On Finnish Film 'Open Up to Me' and Trans Portrayal in Film

LOG ET3RNAL Is a Dubbed-out Beauty of Soft, Skeletal Ambience

Nicki and Patrick Adams Offer an Engaging Classical/Jazz Hybrid on 'Lynx'

Landing Instructions for Derrida

Elvis Costello Gets Dark and Brooding on 'Hey Clockface'

Shanghai Restoration Project Offer Innovative Alternate Reality on 'Brave New World Symphony'

George Cukor's gender-bending Sylvia Scarlett proposes a heroine who learns nothing from her cross-gendered ordeal.

With Paramount announcing Roberto Orci's replacement as director of the upcoming Star Trek 3, we look back at ten other times when studios and suits played musical chairs with their filmmakers.

Everyone in Hollywood knew George Cukor’s secret, but it was never spoken freely until the arrival of Patrick McGilligan’s thoroughly researched book.

100 Essential Directors celebrates directors of distinct vision, who have honed their respective crafts, who have brought something new and exciting to the medium, and who continue to push the boundaries of the form.

Holiday is the sort of movie that gives those who do know it the satisfyingly superior glow of being in on something really good.

Diane English’s version of The Women barely nudges from its Martha Stewart interiors, exchanging insights for platitudes. It’s a cup of lukewarm tea, without even a biscuit on the side.

This set highlights the existential crisis about the validity and permanence of love, in a time when Americans were reminded of the absolute ephemeral nature of life and stripped of ideals by the War.

Boasting a script packed full of acerbic gems, Holiday also has a tremendous visual energy.

Hollywood did not allow Holliday to display the full range of her talent and intelligence; most of her roles were variants of the 'dumb blonde'.