Tag: classic film

Classic Films · Dramas

Love Affair

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Image: Love Affair, 1939

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired. Now that the holiday hosting is nearly finished, all I want to do is lay on the sofa with a cocktail and a comfort watch. Even though Love Affair (Disc/Download) was a new-to-me pick in 2025, it’s a film that’s been retold so often, it feels like an old friend at this point. Or perhaps, an old lover.

Starring Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne as a pair of star-crossed paramours who meet aboard a cruise ship, Leo McCarey’s original film sparkles in a different way than his remake An Affair to Remember. The dialogue seems looser, more natural, with Dunne and Boyer sharing flirtatious banter as they enter a romance that seems impossible from the start. She’s a nightclub singer, he’s a playboy who dreams of painting, and as is the case for so many young creatives, two struggling artists put together do not equal one lavish champagne budget. But nevertheless, they decide to try. They shrug off the relationships of convenience like a mink stole on a warm summer day and agree to meet six months later at the top of the Empire State Building. I think you know where this goes, so I won’t rehash the ensuing melodrama, but boy, does it make my heart clench. I don’t know if men “get” this movie, but I definitely do.

While on the cruise, the lovers try in vain to stay away from serious topics, trying to keep everything “beautiful and bubbling like pink champagne”. Life, as they find out, doesn’t work that way. But in movies, we can wish for it anyway. While watching Love Affair, I recommend drinking this Pink French ’75.

Pink French ’75

1 oz pink gin

1 oz simple syrup

3/4 oz fresh lemon juice

Pink Champagne

Lemon twist (garnish)

Pour gin, simple syrup, and lemon juice into a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a champagne flute. Top with pink Champagne, and garnish with a lemon twist.

If wishes are the dreams we make when we’re awake, then my wish for 2026 is that we all carve out time for more pink champagne moments. Life can be heavy, hard, and full of disappointment, but that just makes it even more essential to celebrate the tiny wins and joys where we can. Reality may not be beautiful and bubbly all the time, but for the length of a classic comfort watch, it can be. Cheers!

Classic Films · Comedies

Arsenic and Old Lace

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Image: Arsenic and Old Lace, 1944

Before watching the beloved classic Arsenic and Old Lace (Disc/Download), I never would have believed any one movie could contain so many random topics such as serial killers, the Panama Canal, plastic surgery, Niagara Falls, etc. Frank Capra has made me a believer in the oddball, the screwball, and heck, even baseball! Let’s pour a drink and unpack this weird, wonderful film.

Cary Grant starts the movie at the NYC marriage license bureau, about to get hitched to the loveliest girl-next-door, Elaine. Ironically, he is also the author of a book about why men should never get married. Before Mortimer can leave town on his honeymoon, he first has to check in with his elderly aunts to share the good news. While at their home, he discovers the dead body they stashed in the window seat, still awaiting its proper burial in the basement. The aunts have been poisoning their lodgers for years, and Mortimer’s brother has been aiding and abetting, under the delusional persona of Teddy Roosevelt. He thinks all the victims died of Yellow Fever while digging the Panama Canal, which apparently runs through their Brooklyn basement. Things get weirder still when a Frankenstein look-alike shows up at the house, who turns out to be psychotic eldest brother Jonathan. He’s accompanied by plastic surgeon Dr. Einstein (the always-creepy Peter Lorre), and yet another dead body in the trunk of his car. Cary Grant is the glue that keeps this madcap story from going completely off the rails, and even though his performance is about as broad and hammy as I’ve ever seen from him, he’s the level-headed one in a family of lunatics.

My favorite part of the movie is every time Teddy makes a run up San Juan Hill, shouting, “CHARGE!!!” as he dashes up the staircase. Before he gets carted off to the Happy Dale mental asylum, let’s toast him with this appropriately named classic cocktail that’s probably a little safer than the aunts’ elderberry wine. While watching Arsenic & Old Lace, I recommend drinking a Roosevelt.

Roosevelt

1 ¾ oz dark rum

½ oz dry vermouth

¼ oz orange juice

1 barspoon simple syrup

Orange Twist

Combine dark rum, vermouth, orange juice, and simple syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a chilled coupe. Express the orange peel over the glass, then use as a garnish.

This is a perfect movie for Halloween because not only does it take place on October 31st, but there’s a delightfully spooky cemetery, a Boris Karloff look-a-like, and a lot of unexpected visitors knocking on the door. If you’re looking for more of a treat than a trick, give Arsenic and Old Lace a watch. Cheers!

Classic Films

Captain Blood

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image: Captain Blood, 1935

From the title alone, it may seem like this week’s film Captain Blood (Disc/Download) is a perfect Scary Movie watch. Turns out, this is not a tale of vampire seamen. Rather, it’s the swashbuckling adventure flick starring Errol Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland, and it’s the perfect way to celebrate the release of A Star is Scorned, the terrific Classic Hollywood-era romance from one of my favorite authors, Maureen Lee Lenker!

If you think classic film stars cosplaying the 1600s can’t be sexy, think again. Captain Blood enters the movie as Dr. Peter Blood, making him not just a Hot Pirate, but also a Hot Doctor. He gets sold into white slavery after being convicted of treason, all for the crime of treating an injured man who rebelled against the petulant, cruel King James II. As he explains so perfectly, his loyalty is to his fellow man, not his king.

Same, Dr. Capt. Blood, same.

Once his slave ship lands in the West Indies, he begins an enemies-to-lovers romance with Arabella (Olivia DeHavilland) that spans several islands and regime changes. Blood finally manages to escape his bondage when Spanish pirates attack and leave their boats unattended for a night a drunken revelry. After this, the doctor goes full-on buccaneer, amassing doubloons and flying the Jolly Roger. There are sword fights, cannon blasts, and even a peg leg or two, as his path leads him toward new enemies, and old loves.

I use blood orange cordial in a lot of drinks this time of year, and it’s a great option when fresh blood oranges are out of season. This cocktail uses rums from some of the places Capt. Blood sails to during the course of the movie, which really makes the settings come alive. While watching Captain Blood, I recommend drinking a Bloody Grog cocktail.

Bloody Grog

½ oz grenadine

½ oz blood orange cordial (I use Liber & Co.)

2 oz Jamaican pot-still rum

½ oz Overproof 151 rum

½ oz Allspice Dram

1 oz lime juice

1 dash Peychaud’s bitters

Garnish: blood orange wheel and fresh mint

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, and strain into a glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with a blood orange wheel and fresh mint.

In Lenker’s latest novel, the main character Flynn Banks is just as dreamy as Errol Flynn, and comes complete with a trained monkey named Rallo (if you were a Marcel fan during the heyday of Friends, then you’ll be as excited as I am about this detail!). The scenes of sword fighting are super fun, and Flynn’s California beach house is giving big Mildred Pierce vibes. If you watch Captain Blood and need more classic Hollywood romance and adventure in your life, definitely give this book a read. Cheers!

Classic Films · Uncategorized

The Night of the Hunter

LizLocke2 Comments
Image credit: The Night of the Hunter, 1955

Happy Scary Movie Season to all you brave cinemagoers! I like to do a month of spooky, supernatural, and chilling features every October, and this week, we’re starting with a truly nightmarish classic film. Pull the covers all the way up to your chin and leave a light on for this week’s pick, The Night of the Hunter (Disc/Download).

In Charles Laughton’s single, brilliant directorial outing, Robert Mitchum stars as a murderous preacher who targets women in rural communities. After getting locked up and hearing his cellmate talk about some stolen money, he makes his way to the death-row inmate’s family under the guise of spiritual counsel. Shelley Winters plays yet another gullible lady taken in by a handsome face (see also: A Place in the Sun), while her two kids remain more suspicious of the charismatic preacher.  They alone hold the knowledge of where their father hid the money, and after their new stepdad disposes of their mom with a knife to the throat, they must outrun this psycho before he kills them next. The children set off down the Ohio river in an old rowboat, barely eating or sleeping as they try to stay one step ahead of Mitchum. Finally, they wash up on Lillian Gish’s property, and she takes the orphans in, protecting them as only a feisty old woman with a shotgun can do. Mitchum’s tattooed hands spell the words “Love” and “Hate”, and the movie’s suspense builds as we wait to see which one will triumph. Will it be the monster in the basement, clawing at their ankles, or will it be the strong maternal figure who walks with them in the sunlight?

The movie’s river journey is incredibly haunting, due to the scale of the woodland creatures in the foreground of the frame, and the melancholy song sung by the little girl, Pearl. This variation on a French Pearl cocktail evokes the American South through its inclusion of Herbsaint, an anise-flavored New Orleans liqueur popular in many spooky cocktails. While watching The Night of the Hunter, I recommend drinking a Pearl River.

Pearl River

2 oz Gin

¼ oz Herbsaint

¾ oz Lime Juice

¾ oz Simple Syrup

Fresh Mint

Lime and mint sprig (garnish)

Muddle a few leaves of mint with lime juice and simple syrup in the bottom of a shaker. Add Herbsaint, Gin, and ice to the shaker, and shake to chill and combine. Double strain into a coupe glass and garnish with a lime wheel and mint sprig.

The reason this film feels so powerful to me is that we all remember the feeling of being kid, and realizing the adults couldn’t always protect you. I’ve relived it again this year, as those I once turned to for comfort have fallen prey to the fearmongering, false prophecy, and grift of a dangerous charlatan. I want to scream, and cry, and ask:

“Why don’t you believe he’s hurting me?”

“Why won’t you protect me?”

“Why can’t you see through the lies?”

But the scary thing is (and this is really scary): I don’t think anyone is coming to save me. I don’t know if there’s a Lillian Gish out there, pure of heart and brave beyond measure, waiting at the end of the river. I’m starting to feel like the one of the kids in the rowboat, tired and afraid.

Classic Films · Dramas

The Sandpiper

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image: The Sandpiper, 1965

Summer is in full swing, which means I’m in the mood for for melodrama at the beach. Vincente Minnelli’s The Sandpiper (Disc/Download) is a perfect choice because it features two people who defined the word “drama” in the 1960s: Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

Having abandoned their spouses to hook up with one another during the filming of Cleopatra, Burton and Taylor were already a married couple by the time they made The Sandpiper. However, that didn’t stop them from capitalizing on their reputation as scandal-plagued adulterers. They were among the most photographed celebrities of the 1960s, so whether The Sandpiper was a good movie or a bad one was of no consequence; it was always going to make money. Thankfully, the film has a lot to offer, such as beautiful Big Sur scenery, Elizabeth Taylor’s enviable beach house, forbidden love, and even Charles Bronson playing a hippie sculptor. Taylor’s character of a single mom who is single by choice was a bold stance for the time period, and even though her son is included in a long list of movie children I loathe, I enjoy the film’s feminist leanings. Liz can be an artist or a mother or whatever the hell she wants to be; men are of no consequence to her ambitions.

For all you lovers of melodrama, rest assured there is a wonderfully taboo romance between this bohemian mom and the married Episcopalian priest in charge of her son’s new boarding school. Richard Burton was the quintessential “Hot Priest” before Fleabag coined the term, so let’s celebrate him with this spicy spritz perfect for summer on the California coast. While watching The Sandpiper, I recommend drinking a Hot Priest cocktail.

Hot Priest

1 Jalapeño pepper, sliced into rounds

4 oz Rosé wine

½ oz Lime juice

2 oz Sparkling Water

In the bottom of a wine glass, muddle 1 jalapeño slice (omit if you don’t want it extra-spicy). Add ice, then pour in the Rosé and lime juice. Top with sparkling water, and garnish with 2-3 jalapeno slices.

It’s hard to imagine any movie couple surpassing the unique chemistry of Liz and Dick in The Sandpiper, not only because of their physical attractiveness, but because the audience gets to feel like they’re witnessing something secret. We’re brought into their relationship for the length of two hours, and it’s gorgeous and complicated and doomed. But oh, when it was good, it was amazing. Cheers!

Classic Films · Comedies

The Girl Can’t Help It

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Image: The Girl Can’t Help It, 1956

If you haven’t watched My Mom Jayne yet, STOP what you’re doing and go watch Mariska Hargitay’s stunning documentary right now!!! Then, after you’ve finished crying a river, check out one of Jayne Mansfield’s best performances in Frank Tashlin’s The Girl Can’t Help It (Disc).

Taken as a whole, the movie feels like a parody of itself. The producers knew Jayne was constantly compared to Marilyn Monroe in the press, so they got The Seven Year Itch’s Tom Ewell to play yet another schlub who miraculously catches the eye of a woman waaaaaay out of his league. The movie uses Jayne’s physique and exaggerated costumes to hilarious effect, with big chunks of ice melting as she walks down the street, and milk boiling over in the milkman’s hands. She swings those hips like Jessica Rabbit, as though her upper and lower halves aren’t even connected to the same body. Mansfield’s mob girlfriend character Jerri Jordan is reluctantly trying to break into the music business, which gives Tashlin an excuse to feature a ton of R&B artists from the time period. Acts such as Little Richard, Fats Domino, The Platters, and Eddie Cochran pop up in nightclubs and on television, and it’s wild to see the real people behind the voices I’ve come to know so well in my vinyl collection. But the greatest treat of all is Julie London, who plays “the one who got away”, appearing like a ghost to Tom Ewell’s agent character. Having owned Julie is her Name for many years, losing it, then somehow gaining it back from my deceased uncle’s estate, I feel like Julie’s ghost won’t leave me alone either.

Because boobs (and milk) are such a running gag in this movie, I had to do a cream-based drink. The cherry flavor is sweet like Jerri, and it feels like a frothy confection in a glass—a cocktail version of Jayne’s final pastel evening gown. While watching The Girl Can’t Help It, I recommend drinking a Cherry Jordan.

Cherry Jordan

1 oz Vodka

1 oz Cherry Heering

½ oz White Crème de Cacao

1 oz Heavy Cream

Maraschino cherry

Combine vodka, Cherry Heering, crème de cacao, and cream in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a Nick & Nora glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Shot in glorious DeLuxe Color, The Girl Can’t Help It is a true feast for the eyes. The costumes and sets pop like a Powell & Pressburger picture, as if The Red Shoes had been directed by the guy who drew Looney Tunes. This movie is campy, fun, and surprisingly clever, and it’s the perfect way to celebrate a woman who was all these things, and more. Cheers!

Action/Adventure/Heist · Classic Films

Mutiny on the Bounty

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Image credit: Mutiny on the Bounty, 1935

For swashbuckling fun and a trip to Hollywood’s version of the South Seas, you can’t beat 1935’s Mutiny on the Bounty (Disc/Download). Pair it with a coconut-laced Tiki beverage and make believe you’re on the bow of a ship with the wind in your hair…or is that the hurricane gale of a revolution?

Starring Clark Gable as compassionate seaman Fletcher Christian, and Charles Laughton as corrupt bully Captain Bligh, this is a terrific adventure film full of high-stakes drama and ocean vistas. For me, the main selling point is Clark Gable in a low-cut blouse (the way it sets his shoulders off… oof), but it’s also super satisfying to watch a man with morals defeat someone rotten to the core. Christian’s mad as hell and he’s not going take it anymore!! The ultimate reward here is freedom from tyrannical dictators, and with any luck, this seaman and his blouses can retire in peace to a thatched hut and an endless supply of coconuts. Would that we all could.

Although this movie was made during the start of the Polynesian craze (both in Hollywood films as well as nearby Don the Beachcomber’s), this week’s drink hails from the 1970s. My version, while not 100% authentic, includes some of the flavors mentioned in the movie, such as Brandy and coconut, so I have to believe Donn Beach would approve. After all, it sells the fantasy! While watching Mutiny on the Bounty, I recommend drinking a classic Tradewinds cocktail.

TRADEWINDS

1 oz Black Spiced Rum

1 oz Brandy

1 oz Apricot Liqueur

1 ½ oz Coconut Cream

1 oz Lemon Juice

2 cups Crushed Ice

Combine all ingredients into a blender. Blend for about 5-10 seconds, then pour entire contents into a Pilsner glass. Garnish with a lemon wheel and inside-out cocktail umbrella to signal a strong wind!

After filming on Catalina wrapped, the sets were turned into a Tiki bar named Christian’s Hut, bringing the magic of the movie to life, one drink at a time. I like to imagine Clark Gable would have enjoyed a highball or two, while wearing one of those low-cut blouses. Cheers!

Classic Films · Comedies

Paper Moon

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image credit: Paper Moon, 1973

If your summer plans include a road trip on a budget, then I’ve got just the movie for you. Paper Moon (Disc/Download) travels a long, hilarious path through the small towns of the American Midwest, fueled by hot dogs, whiskey, and get-rich-quick schemes. Forget baseball; grifting may as well be the national pastime of the good ole’ US-of-A.

Starring real-life father and daughter Ryan and Tatum O’Neal, Paper Moon is yet another Peter Bogdanovich classic that wouldn’t be nearly as special without the input of his ex-wife Polly Platt. Thanks to her, we have the precocious, stunningly good Tatum in the role of newly orphaned Addie, and it’s because of her performance the movie succeeds as well as it does. The way this little girl spars with her off-screen (and maybe onscreen??) dad is electric, and it’s a shame only Tatum won the Academy Award for this because Ryan turned in some amazing work too. If you like road movies set in 1930s rural America, such as O’ Brother Where Art Thou?, Sullivan’s Travels, and It Happened One Night, you’ll find a lot to love about Paper Moon. It’s a portrait of Americana, of people doing whatever they had to do to survive, yet not losing their heart along the way. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that Addie and Moses Pray (that name!!!) find their hearts, and it’s the big payoff neither of them expected.

Tatum O’Neal’s record of being the youngest competitive Oscar winner in history still stands, and if you haven’t seen pictures of this little girl in a mini tuxedo, I urge you to look it up. It’s even more remarkable that she was only eight years old when the movie began filming, especially considering she’d never acted before. She smokes cigarettes and spars with prostitutes like she’d been doing it her whole life (maybe she had… I still need to read her memoir). Anyway, let’s toast young Tatum with this Prohibition-era cocktail, the Ward 8.

Ward 8

2 oz Rye Whiskey

1/2 oz fresh-squeezed Orange Juice

1/2 oz fresh-squeezed Lemon Juice

2 tsp Grenadine

Maraschino cherries (garnish)

Shake whiskey, orange juice, lemon juice, and grenadine in a shaker with ice until chilled. Strain into a coupe or Nick & Nora glass. Garnish with cherries.

The production design, locations, and costumes of the film are all stunning, but of course they were with Polly Platt in charge. The movie is timeless because she made it so, placing it in a very specific era and place that would never show its age. To watch Paper Moon is to feel like you’re watching a movie made in the 1930s, when the scripts were sparkling, the stars were dazzling, and the road of cinema seemed to stretch on forever. Cheers!

Classic Films

Donovan’s Reef

LizLocke1 Comment
Image Credit: Donovan’s Reef, 1963

Perhaps the most pedigreed of my Tiki Month picks, this week’s film by legendary director John Ford will have you feeling like you just spent a weekend in The Enchanted Tiki Room.

At Christmas.

Does Disney do an overlay for this attraction at the holidays? If not, it’s a missed opportunity. Donovan’s Reef (Disc/Download) proves Tiki and Christmas go together like Dole Whip and rum.

Starring John Wayne, Lee Marvin, and Jack Warden as a trio of US Navy veterans who’ve emigrated to an island in French Polynesia, Donovan’s Reef gets its name from the bar owned by Wayne’s character. While it contains some nonsensical barroom brawls and unfortunate stereotyping, there’s also a thread of melodrama woven in through the character of Miss Dedham, a proper Boston woman who’s come to the island looking for her long-lost father. She’s in the dark about his philanthropic medical practice and her three half-siblings, and the complicated feeling of knowing your dad didn’t want to be a dad to you, but he did want to be a dad to these other kids (and a whole community of islanders), is a relatable sting for many folks even today. There’s a weight I didn’t expect to this “hangout movie”, even though I’d ultimately still describe it as a fun romp.

Although Donovan’s Reef is set on the fictional island of Haleakaloha, it was actually filmed on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. This seems like a great excuse to mix a cocktail I found in The Home Bar Guide to Tropical Cocktails by Tom Morgan and Kelly Reilly, the Kauai Island Jungle Sling.

Kauai Island Jungle Sling

1 oz White Rum

1 oz 12yr old Rum

¼ oz Yellow Chartreuse

¼ oz Pomegranate Liqueur

¼ oz Cointreau

½ oz Cherry Syrup

1 ½ oz Pineapple Juice

½ oz Lime Juice

Dash of Angostura Bitters

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with crushed ice. Shake to chill and combine, then pour entire contents into a tiki mug or tall glass. Garnish with fresh orchids (optional).

I might revisit this movie again over the holidays with a different cocktail (there are some cinnamon-flavored grogs and punches I’m excited to try out!), but the Kauai Island Jungle Sling is a great way to celebrate a mix of flavors coming together, just like the mix of nationalities in this movie. The church service seems extra-inclusive, as though all are welcome, no matter where they came from. What a lovely idea. Cheers!

Classic Films · Dramas

Only Angels Have Wings

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image credit: Only Angles Have Wings, 1939

Those who follow the Cinema Sips Instagram account know I love spending Friday night with a cocktail, a pizza, and movie from my Uncle Len’s Criterion Closet. Several weeks ago, I posted about watching Only Angels Have Wings (Disc/Download) and was overwhelmed by the response I received from fans. After getting over my grievance that so many of y’all were holding out on me with your recommendation, I decided the best gift I could give to lovers of this Howard Hawks classic was a cocktail pairing.

Starring Cary Grant as the owner of an air mail service in the fictional South American port town of Barranca, Only Angels Have Wings is kind of like the TV show Wings, except you never really know if the pilots are coming back for episode 2.  The geography in this part of the world makes flying difficult, and planes are forced to travel blindly through thick banks of fog. Jean Arthur arrives on a banana boat (literally, a boat carrying bananas, not the bouncy, inflatable water activity for drunk spring breakers), and after charming a couple of the American pilots, this sunshine meets her grumpy match in the form of Cary Grant’s weathered airman Geoff. He’s got no time for flirting, and no interest in forming attachments when life is so precarious. Just ask his ex, played by a young Rita Hayworth. Of course Jean wears him down, and one bullet wound later, he’s ready to risk something even scarier than a dangerous flight: his heart.

The tropical setting of this movie lends itself nicely to a tiki-inspired cocktail, and lucky for us, Don the Beachcomber came up with an appropriately named one just a couple years after the film was made. While watching Only Angels Have Wings, I recommend drinking a Test Pilot.

Test Pilot

1 ½ oz Dark Rum

¾ oz Light Rum

½ oz Cointreau

½ oz Lime Juice

½ oz Falernum

1 dash Angostura Bitters

6 drops Pernod

Maraschino cherry (garnish)

Combine ingredients in a blender with a cup of ice. Blend for about five seconds, until the ice is crushed but not liquefied. Pour into rocks glass, add more crushed ice if needed, and garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Director Howard Hawks does a terrific job with the aerial sequences in this movie, but it’s the horrific bird strike that really had me on the edge of my seat. It’s easy to see why Only Angels Have Wings is so popular among classic film fans because not only is it great to look at, but it maintains a high level of suspense throughout. My friends in cinema, if you wanted me to fall in love with this movie, all you had to do was ask. Cheers!