Tired old queen at the movies

Love the movies? Intrigued by, curious about, or otherwise in love with the pictures of yesteryear? Make sure you check in with the Tired Old Queen At The Movies. With a new episode every Thursday, actor and comedian Steve Hayes' (The Big Gay Musical, Trick) reviews are eye-opening, informative and laugh-out-loud funny.

These are fantastic movies many of us might never have looked at, were it not for Steve's hugely infectious enthusiasm, and his reviews - packed with juicy nuggets of behind the scenes gossip - make perfect sidebars to these wonderful pictures.

Hayes generally recommends features that are readily available (albeit, in the US) and your correspondent has already bought a dozen or so of Steve's picks. I've yet to be disappointed, and some of them have become bona fide personal favourites.

Make sure you hear his story about bumping into Gloria Grahame at a screening of The Greatest Show On Earth - it's brilliant. His story about Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor (right, in A Place In The Sun) is another fascinating insight that (as it did for me) might make you re-think everything you thought about Taylor. Both reviews are below.

Thanks to Steve (and sidekick Johnny!) for the name check on yesterday's episode - I love you Steve!

"Each week, gay comedian, actor and old movie lover STEVE HAYES comments on and dishes the classic movies he loves. From Film Noir to Screw Ball Comedies, Social Dramas to Camp Classics, nothing escapes his scrutiny. Using his vast knowledge of film and Hollywood history, he not only describes the various films, but provides the inside scoops on who got who to do what to whom in order to get what was made, made. With a new segment every week, each two to four minute segment is shot on location in Thornfield Manor, Steve's overly-opulent, nostalgia filled, sumptuously cluttered, Studio apartment and hosted by fellow actor John Bixler, Steve recommends what classics to see, what to avoid, what to take seriously, what not to and what to run out and rent as soon as the show is over."