The studio once known as 20th Century Fox is a younger entity than the other major Hollywood Studios. It was founded in 1935 out of the ashes of Fox Film, compared to Warner Bros (1923), Universal Pictures (1912), Paramount Pictures (1912), Columbia Pictures (1923), and Disney (1923) — the latter being the new parent company of 20th Century Studios.
Still, Fox waited only seven years to take home the top prize at the Oscars. At the 14th Academy Awards, held in 1942, Fox's film "How Green Was My Valley" won Best Picture, presented to Fox studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck. That wasn't the only prize "Valley" won that night: it also got Best Director (John Ford), Best Supporting Actor (Donald Crisp), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (Arthur Miller), and finally Best Art Direction -- Interior Decoration, Black-and-White.
One of the films that "Valley" beat that night was "Citizen Kane" (which got only Best Original Screenplay for director Orson Welles and his co-writer Herman J.
Still, Fox waited only seven years to take home the top prize at the Oscars. At the 14th Academy Awards, held in 1942, Fox's film "How Green Was My Valley" won Best Picture, presented to Fox studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck. That wasn't the only prize "Valley" won that night: it also got Best Director (John Ford), Best Supporting Actor (Donald Crisp), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (Arthur Miller), and finally Best Art Direction -- Interior Decoration, Black-and-White.
One of the films that "Valley" beat that night was "Citizen Kane" (which got only Best Original Screenplay for director Orson Welles and his co-writer Herman J.
- 5/7/2024
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
The 1950s are considered the “Golden Age” of science fiction cinema, and that’s not just hyperbole. By many accounts, more than 200 sci-fi movies were released during that decade. And while the film industry had sporadically produced quality sci-fi in the years before—ranging from Aelita (1924) to Metropolis (1927), to The Invisible Man (1933)—it wasn’t until the 1950s that classic after classic began to arrive like riches from a long-lost hidden treasure.
And when we say classic, we mean films that essentially created the template for all science fiction movies that followed. Just look at this list. The first half of the decade brought us The Thing from Another World, When Worlds Collide, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Godzilla, and Them!, while the second half ushered in This Island Earth, Forbidden Planet, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Incredible Shrinking Man, The Blob, The Fly,...
And when we say classic, we mean films that essentially created the template for all science fiction movies that followed. Just look at this list. The first half of the decade brought us The Thing from Another World, When Worlds Collide, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Godzilla, and Them!, while the second half ushered in This Island Earth, Forbidden Planet, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Incredible Shrinking Man, The Blob, The Fly,...
- 9/29/2023
- by Don Kaye
- Den of Geek
Beneath every placid surface and between each crashing wave, the movies’ most magical aquatic adventures portend the possibility of mermaids. Half-human, half-fish creatures swam onto the big screen at the turn of the 20th century, appearing in silent works such as Georges Méliès‘ 1904 short film “The Mermaid” and John G. Adolfi’s 1918 feature “Queen of the Sea” among others. The mythical archetype was subsequently reeled in as the effervescent love interest template for numerous ’30s and ’40s rom-coms, with the concept perfected in Irving Pichel’s well-loved talky “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid,” starring Ann Blyth.
The siren songs characteristic of these mysterious ocean-dwellers even resulted in a string of MGM aqua musicals. Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” brought the mermaid musical to the animation-loving masses in 1989, winning Best Original Score and Best Original Song for “Under the Sea” at the Oscars. Darryl Hannah appeared opposite Tom Hanks not much...
The siren songs characteristic of these mysterious ocean-dwellers even resulted in a string of MGM aqua musicals. Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” brought the mermaid musical to the animation-loving masses in 1989, winning Best Original Score and Best Original Song for “Under the Sea” at the Oscars. Darryl Hannah appeared opposite Tom Hanks not much...
- 5/22/2023
- by Alison Foreman
- Indiewire
Hollywood legend Natalie Wood had a dark prophecy hanging over her head long before her death. A movie star since childhood, Wood was in a series of classics before her life was cut short at 43. But despite a brilliant career, the West Side Story star had a troubling private life. Her mysterious 1981 drowning was even predicted by a psychic, creating a fear of water she never let go of.
Natalie Wood’s mother pushed her into show business
On the surface, Wood’s arrival on the 1940s scene was a triumph. Her first credited screen role (Tomorrow is Forever) put her opposite influential movie magnate Orson Welles. She was only seven at the time.
Following the success of Tomorrow is Forever, Wood landed the role that would cement her status as a child star. Miracle on 34th Street was one of the most popular movies of 1947. It remains one of Wood’s most famous roles.
Natalie Wood’s mother pushed her into show business
On the surface, Wood’s arrival on the 1940s scene was a triumph. Her first credited screen role (Tomorrow is Forever) put her opposite influential movie magnate Orson Welles. She was only seven at the time.
Following the success of Tomorrow is Forever, Wood landed the role that would cement her status as a child star. Miracle on 34th Street was one of the most popular movies of 1947. It remains one of Wood’s most famous roles.
- 3/19/2023
- by David James
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Kino reaches into the Universal Vault for vintage Paramount and Universal thrillers. This ‘noir’ collection surprises us — it contains one terrific example of the style, newly-hatched and looking very different for its year. The other two titles are in B&w (check), and revolve around murders (check). But if there were a TV quiz show called ‘Noir or Not Noir’ they’d shape up as third-tier also-rans. The talent on view is impressive, especially the leading ladies: Claire Trevor, Louise Platt, Merle Oberon, Ella Raines, and Gale Sondergaard. Kino appoints the film with good commentators: Jason A. Ney, Anthony Slide, Kelly Robinson.
Film Noir the Dark Side of Cinema VIII
Street of Chance, Enter Arsene Lupin, Temptation
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1942-1946 / 1:37 Academy / 266 minutes / Street Date July 19, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 49.95
Starring: Burgess Meredith, Claire Trevor; Charles Korvin, Ella Raines; Merle Oberon, George Brent.
Directed by Jack Hively, Ford Beebe,...
Film Noir the Dark Side of Cinema VIII
Street of Chance, Enter Arsene Lupin, Temptation
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1942-1946 / 1:37 Academy / 266 minutes / Street Date July 19, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 49.95
Starring: Burgess Meredith, Claire Trevor; Charles Korvin, Ella Raines; Merle Oberon, George Brent.
Directed by Jack Hively, Ford Beebe,...
- 7/19/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Orson Welles in fine form! This lavishly produced costume drama, beautifully cast and directed, was filmed on location in gorgeous Italian palazzos, churches and villas. Welles is cast to type as the literally mesmerizing mountebank Cagliostro, who aids Madame du Barry in a scheme to seize the throne of France. Welles almost certainly ‘helped’ the credited director; the highly theatrical goings-on look exactly like Orson’s style. Super performances from Nancy Guild, Akim Tamiroff, Valentina Cortese, Margot Grahame and Charles Goldner turn Alexandre Dumas’ tale into swashbuckling mind-control excitement; the disc tops it off with a sensationally good restoration.
Black Magic
Blu-ray
ClassicFlix
1949 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 105 min. / Street Date January 25, 2022 / Available from ClassicFlix / 19.99
Starring: Orson Welles, Nancy Guild, Akim Tamiroff, Charles Goldner, Stephen Bekassy, Valentina Cortese, Margot Grahame, Frank Latimore, Gregory Gaye, Berry Kroeger, Robert Atkins, Raymond Burr, Harriet White Medin, Silvana Mangano, Milly Vitale.
Cinematography: Ubaldo Arata, Anchise Brizzi
Art Directors: Jean d’Eaubonne,...
Black Magic
Blu-ray
ClassicFlix
1949 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 105 min. / Street Date January 25, 2022 / Available from ClassicFlix / 19.99
Starring: Orson Welles, Nancy Guild, Akim Tamiroff, Charles Goldner, Stephen Bekassy, Valentina Cortese, Margot Grahame, Frank Latimore, Gregory Gaye, Berry Kroeger, Robert Atkins, Raymond Burr, Harriet White Medin, Silvana Mangano, Milly Vitale.
Cinematography: Ubaldo Arata, Anchise Brizzi
Art Directors: Jean d’Eaubonne,...
- 2/1/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Hollywood acknowledges the existence of America’s proto- C.I.A. intelligence agency with this espionage tale of Yanks working with the resistance in occupied France. It’s basic cloak ‘n’ dagger action, with intrepid Alan Ladd and the daring Geraldine Fitzgerald risking life and limb to plant plastic explosive bombs. The details are fairly interesting: Ladd outwits the Gestapo by working with a turncoat inside their ranks. The outcome is grimly realistic, even if that old Paramount glamour is part of the package. The writer-producer is Richard Maibaum, who would later write almost thirty years’ worth of franchise James Bond 007 adventures.
O.S.S.
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1946 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 108 min. / Street Date August 10, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Alan Ladd, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Patric Knowles, John Hoyt, Gloria Saunders, Richard Webb, Richard Benedict, Harold Vermilyea, Don Beddoe, Onslow Stevens, Gavin Muir, Egon Brecher, Joseph Crehan, Bobby Driscoll, Julia Dean,...
O.S.S.
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1946 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 108 min. / Street Date August 10, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Alan Ladd, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Patric Knowles, John Hoyt, Gloria Saunders, Richard Webb, Richard Benedict, Harold Vermilyea, Don Beddoe, Onslow Stevens, Gavin Muir, Egon Brecher, Joseph Crehan, Bobby Driscoll, Julia Dean,...
- 7/13/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Vintage high-end Film Noir from the classic year 1947! Low Mileage too — this long cut hasn’t been seen since the early laserdisc days. I didn’t know it needed restoring until George Feltenstein talked about it a couple of years ago. It’s a domestic noir crossed with Double Indemnity with a little An American Tragedy thrown in for good measure. Normally squeaky-clean Robert Young throws his hat into the ring with the lowest of noir hero-villains: in this one he double-crosses three terrific noir leading ladies. We can now spell ‘Unspeakable Cad’ with the initial Ry. The most amazing thing about The Warner Film Archive’s new disc is that it restores a full fifteen minutes — Eddie Muller screened They Won’t on his Noir City show not long ago, with no mention that it was the short, edited version.
They Won’t Believe Me
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1947 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 95 min.
They Won’t Believe Me
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1947 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 95 min.
- 5/8/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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“A Likable Cad”
By Raymond Benson
Robert Young had a career of playing mostly trustworthy nice guys—after all, one could say he was born to play Marcus Welby, M.D. on television. But in 1947, he took the chance of portraying an all-around heel, a no-good philanderer who married for money and looks for every opportunity to score with someone new. And yet, Young’s admirable qualities are still there, making his character of Larry Ballentine in the film noir drama, They Won’t Believe Me, a likable cad. He pulls it off, too.
Audiences didn’t take to the change, though, and the picture was a box office dud. However, the lack of profits when a movie is released is never a true indication of its quality. They Won’t Believe Me is an artfully crafted, well-acted, twisty tale about lies, fate, and luck.
“A Likable Cad”
By Raymond Benson
Robert Young had a career of playing mostly trustworthy nice guys—after all, one could say he was born to play Marcus Welby, M.D. on television. But in 1947, he took the chance of portraying an all-around heel, a no-good philanderer who married for money and looks for every opportunity to score with someone new. And yet, Young’s admirable qualities are still there, making his character of Larry Ballentine in the film noir drama, They Won’t Believe Me, a likable cad. He pulls it off, too.
Audiences didn’t take to the change, though, and the picture was a box office dud. However, the lack of profits when a movie is released is never a true indication of its quality. They Won’t Believe Me is an artfully crafted, well-acted, twisty tale about lies, fate, and luck.
- 5/6/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Classic movie lovers, rejoice! Going virtual once again this year, the TCM Classic Film Festival will take place from May 6 to 9 and will be extended to HBO Max’s platform as well. The lineup has now been unveiled and there’s no shortage of both canonical classics and gems worth discovering.
Along with much-adored classics from Breathless to North by Northwest to Mean Streets, the lineup also features a Nichols and May documentary, a pair of Chantal Akerman films, Anthony Mann’s T-Men, Frank Borzage’s The Mortal Storm, Samuel Fuller’s Underworld U.S.A., Powell & Pressburger’s I Know Where I’m Going!, the world premieres of the new restorations of Irving Pichel’s noir gem They Won’t Believe Me, the French drama Princess Tam Tam, the Pre-Code film Her Man, and more.
There’s also a number of special events, including a star-studded Plan 9 From Outer Space table read,...
Along with much-adored classics from Breathless to North by Northwest to Mean Streets, the lineup also features a Nichols and May documentary, a pair of Chantal Akerman films, Anthony Mann’s T-Men, Frank Borzage’s The Mortal Storm, Samuel Fuller’s Underworld U.S.A., Powell & Pressburger’s I Know Where I’m Going!, the world premieres of the new restorations of Irving Pichel’s noir gem They Won’t Believe Me, the French drama Princess Tam Tam, the Pre-Code film Her Man, and more.
There’s also a number of special events, including a star-studded Plan 9 From Outer Space table read,...
- 4/15/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Kino Lorber has released three Barbara Stanwyck films in a boxed set collection. Here is the official announcement:
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This collection feature three classic films starring screen legend Barbara Stanwyck:
Internes Can’T Take Money (1937) – Young Dr. James Kildare, interning at a clinic, falls for his patient Janet Haley. The feeling is mutual, but Janet has a secret she will not divulge: She’s the widow of a bank robber who hid their daughter before he died and she is desperately trying to find the little girl. She will use anyone—including Dr. Kildare—to get her child back. The doctor’s association with gangster Hanlon, whose injuries Kildare secretly patched up, and Janet’s connection with gangster Innes (Stanley Ridges, Black Friday), who’s helping her find her daughter, bring it all to a rousing head filled with action, suspense and the unexpected!
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This collection feature three classic films starring screen legend Barbara Stanwyck:
Internes Can’T Take Money (1937) – Young Dr. James Kildare, interning at a clinic, falls for his patient Janet Haley. The feeling is mutual, but Janet has a secret she will not divulge: She’s the widow of a bank robber who hid their daughter before he died and she is desperately trying to find the little girl. She will use anyone—including Dr. Kildare—to get her child back. The doctor’s association with gangster Hanlon, whose injuries Kildare secretly patched up, and Janet’s connection with gangster Innes (Stanley Ridges, Black Friday), who’s helping her find her daughter, bring it all to a rousing head filled with action, suspense and the unexpected!
- 8/12/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
“The Hunt” may be new and controversial, but stories about humans hunting humans for sport have been around since, at the very least, Irving Pichel and Ernest B. Schoedsack’s “The Most Dangerous Game,” and they’ve pretty much always been used to explore the evils of one form of dehumanization or another.
It’s not supposed to be thrilling to watch a rich psychopath kill poor people. It’s supposed to be a thrill to watch the hunted turn on the hunter. The hunter, in simple terms, is always the a-hole.
Craig Zobel’s “The Hunt” is a little more complex than that, but it’s still a raucous, funny, ultraviolent exploitation thriller about people trying to kill each other. Betty Gilpin, Ike Barinholtz and Emma Roberts star as conservatives who suddenly wake up in a forest with a box full of weapons awaiting them in the middle of a field.
It’s not supposed to be thrilling to watch a rich psychopath kill poor people. It’s supposed to be a thrill to watch the hunted turn on the hunter. The hunter, in simple terms, is always the a-hole.
Craig Zobel’s “The Hunt” is a little more complex than that, but it’s still a raucous, funny, ultraviolent exploitation thriller about people trying to kill each other. Betty Gilpin, Ike Barinholtz and Emma Roberts star as conservatives who suddenly wake up in a forest with a box full of weapons awaiting them in the middle of a field.
- 3/11/2020
- by William Bibbiani
- The Wrap
The most notorious pre-Code shocker comes to Criterion — and proves to be a superior drama with an entirely mature, sound outlook on the political issues around women’s sexuality and personal freedom. Taken from a raw novel by William Faulkner, this tale of rape and terror stars Miriam Hopkins in one of the bravest, best performances of its era. Truth-telling like this always comes at a price — Temple Drake was a prime target for the oppressive Production Code, with the result that Hopkins’ achievement was banned and unseen for over thirty-five years.
The Story of Temple Drake
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1006
1933 / B&w / 1:33 Academy / 71 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 3, 2019 / 39.95
Starring: Miriam Hopkins, William Gargan, Jack La Rue, Florence Eldridge, Guy Standing, Irving Pichel, Jobyna Howland, William Collier Jr., Elizabeth Patterson, James Eagles, Harlan Knight, Jim Mason, Louise Beavers, Grady Sutton, Kent Taylor, John Carradine.
Cinematography:...
The Story of Temple Drake
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1006
1933 / B&w / 1:33 Academy / 71 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 3, 2019 / 39.95
Starring: Miriam Hopkins, William Gargan, Jack La Rue, Florence Eldridge, Guy Standing, Irving Pichel, Jobyna Howland, William Collier Jr., Elizabeth Patterson, James Eagles, Harlan Knight, Jim Mason, Louise Beavers, Grady Sutton, Kent Taylor, John Carradine.
Cinematography:...
- 12/10/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Which Bette Davis movies qualify for greatness? Her flawed character in this costume picture doesn’t conquer all, and it’s historically more sensitive than Gone With the Wind. It’s also William Wyler at the top of his form, creating in just 104 minutes a rich image of a long-gone world. Southern Belle Julie Marsden is a contrary troublemaker, a flip coquette who shoots her whole life to hell with just a couple of social gaffes. The story is ‘bigger than Bette’ – the apocalyptic finale is just a side event in a fable about the nature of chivalry and honor in a flawed social structure.
Jezebel
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1938 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 104 min. / Street Date August 27, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, George Brent, Margaret Lindsay, Donald Crisp, Fay Bainter, Richard Cromwell, Henry O’Neill, Spring Byington, John Litel, Theresa Harris, Irving Pichel, Eddie Anderson,...
Jezebel
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1938 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 104 min. / Street Date August 27, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, George Brent, Margaret Lindsay, Donald Crisp, Fay Bainter, Richard Cromwell, Henry O’Neill, Spring Byington, John Litel, Theresa Harris, Irving Pichel, Eddie Anderson,...
- 9/21/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
David Crow Sep 20, 2019
The Most Dangerous Game is the original man-hunting-man film that's influenced everything that came afterward.
On a sleepy island in a desolate swath of the Pacific, the comforts of modernity remain strangely cold. Four people, three men and one lonely woman, are sharing cocktails by a grand piano. Yet even in this candlelit reverie, there is something amiss outside—a howl. Does that noise emanate from what the host of the evening, dear Count Zaroff, alludes to as “The Most Dangerous Game” known to man? No, the count insists, it is merely the baying of his hounds. Little can the three guests know, however, that the hounds’ cries trumpet each’s potential doom, and that this noise will still be ringing in our collective ears 87 years after the premiere of The Most Dangerous Game.
Despite what some shortsighted, historically ignorant politicians and Fox News personalities might say,...
The Most Dangerous Game is the original man-hunting-man film that's influenced everything that came afterward.
On a sleepy island in a desolate swath of the Pacific, the comforts of modernity remain strangely cold. Four people, three men and one lonely woman, are sharing cocktails by a grand piano. Yet even in this candlelit reverie, there is something amiss outside—a howl. Does that noise emanate from what the host of the evening, dear Count Zaroff, alludes to as “The Most Dangerous Game” known to man? No, the count insists, it is merely the baying of his hounds. Little can the three guests know, however, that the hounds’ cries trumpet each’s potential doom, and that this noise will still be ringing in our collective ears 87 years after the premiere of The Most Dangerous Game.
Despite what some shortsighted, historically ignorant politicians and Fox News personalities might say,...
- 9/20/2019
- Den of Geek
Natalie Wood was raped by a powerful Hollywood figure during an “interview” that went on “for hours” inside the famed Chateau Marmont Hotel, the tragic actress' sister claims in a shocking new interview. These never-before-heard details about one of the most infamous moments in Tinseltown history are only now revealed in the second chapter of a blockbuster new podcast series Fatal Voyage: The Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood. In a world exclusive, Natalie’s sister Lana breaks her long-held silence on what she recalled occurred on that terrible day when her beloved sibling was only 16 years old. “We drove her up to the Chateau Marmont and my mother and I sat in the cars for hours, to the point where I went to sleep, and that was the interview where Natalie was raped,” Lana told a team of investigative journalists lead by the podcast series’ host, Dylan Howard. “I was...
- 7/26/2018
- by Editorial Staff
- Life and Style
Actress Natalie Wood was raped by a powerful Hollywood figure during an “interview” that went on “for hours” inside the famed Chateau Marmont Hotel, the tragic actress' sister claims in a shocking new interview. These never-before-heard details about one of the most infamous moments in Tinseltown history are only now revealed in the second chapter of a blockbuster new podcast series Fatal Voyage: The Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood. In a world exclusive, Natalie’s sister Lana Wood breaks her long-held silence on what she recalled occurred on that terrible day when her beloved sibling was only 16 years old. “We drove her up to the Chateau Marmont and my mother and I sat in the cars for hours, to the point where I went to sleep, and that was the interview where Natalie was raped,” Lana told a team of investigative journalists lead by the podcast series’ host, Dylan Howard.
- 7/26/2018
- by Closer Staff
- Closer Weekly
Natalie Wood was raped by a powerful Hollywood figure during an “interview” that went on “for hours” inside the famed Chateau Marmont Hotel, the tragic actress' sister claims in a shocking new interview. These never-before-heard details about one of the most infamous moments in Tinseltown history are only now revealed in the second chapter of a blockbuster new podcast series Fatal Voyage: The Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood. In a world exclusive, Natalie’s sister Lana breaks her long-held silence on what she recalled occurred on that terrible day when her beloved sibling was only 16 years old. “We drove her up to the Chateau Marmont and my mother and I sat in the cars for hours, to the point where I went to sleep, and that was the interview where Natalie was raped,” Lana told a team of investigative journalists lead by the podcast series’ host, Dylan Howard. “I was...
- 7/26/2018
- by Editorial Staff
- In Touch Weekly
The 2016 blu ray release of the Frankenstein and Wolf Man Legacy Collections was a moment of celebration for movie and monster lovers everywhere, bringing together all the golden age appearances of Frankenstein’s misbegotten creation and Larry Talbot’s hairy alter-ego. Universal Studios treated those dusty creature features to luminous restorations; from Bride of Frankenstein to She Wolf of London, these essential artifacts never looked less than impeccable and, at times, even ravishing. Colin Clive’s frenzied declaration, “It’s Alive!”, never felt more appropriate.
Now Universal has turned their attention to their other legendary franchise players, Dracula, the sharp-dressed but undead ladies’ man and Im-ho-tep, the cursed Egyptian priest who loved not wisely but too well.
Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection
Blu-ray
Universal Studios Home Entertainment
1931, ’36, ’43, ’44, ’45, ’48 / 449 min. / B&W / 1:33 / Street Date May 16, 2017
Starring: Actors: Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr. , Boris Karloff, Bud Abbott, Lou Costello
Cinematography: Karl Freund,...
Now Universal has turned their attention to their other legendary franchise players, Dracula, the sharp-dressed but undead ladies’ man and Im-ho-tep, the cursed Egyptian priest who loved not wisely but too well.
Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection
Blu-ray
Universal Studios Home Entertainment
1931, ’36, ’43, ’44, ’45, ’48 / 449 min. / B&W / 1:33 / Street Date May 16, 2017
Starring: Actors: Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr. , Boris Karloff, Bud Abbott, Lou Costello
Cinematography: Karl Freund,...
- 5/29/2017
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Frances Dee movies: From 'An American Tragedy' to 'Four Faces West' Frances Dee began her film career at the dawn of the sound era, going from extra to leading lady within a matter of months. Her rapid ascencion came about thanks to Maurice Chevalier, who got her as his romantic interested in Ludwig Berger's 1930 romantic comedy Playboy of Paris. Despite her dark(-haired) good looks and pleasant personality, Dee's Hollywood career never quite progressed to major – or even moderate – stardom. But she was to remain a busy leading lady for about 15 years. Tonight, Turner Classic Movies is showing seven Frances Dee films, ranging from heavy dramas to Westerns. Unfortunately missing is one of Dee's most curious efforts, the raunchy pre-Coder Blood Money, which possibly features her most unusual – and most effective – performance. Having said that, William A. Wellman's Love Is a Racket is a worthwhile subsitute, though the...
- 5/18/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Chamber of Horrors
Blu-ray
Kino Lorber
1940 / B&W / 1:33 / Street Date March 21, 2017
Starring: Lilli Palmer, Leslie Banks.
Cinematography: Alex Bryce, Ernest Palmer
Film Editor: Ted Richards
Written by Gilbert Gunn, Norman Lee
Produced by John Argyle
Directed by Norman Lee
Near the turn of the century a struggling war correspondent named Edgar Wallace began churning out detective stories for British monthlies like Detective Story Magazine to help make the rent. Creative to a fault, his preposterously prolific output (exacerbated by ongoing gambling debts) soon earned him a legion of fans along with a pointedly ambiguous sobriquet, “The Man Who Wrote Too Much.”
A reader new to Wallace’s work could be excused for thinking the busy writer was making it up as he went along… because that’s pretty much what he did. He dictated his narratives, unedited, into a dictaphone for transcription by his secretary where they would then...
Blu-ray
Kino Lorber
1940 / B&W / 1:33 / Street Date March 21, 2017
Starring: Lilli Palmer, Leslie Banks.
Cinematography: Alex Bryce, Ernest Palmer
Film Editor: Ted Richards
Written by Gilbert Gunn, Norman Lee
Produced by John Argyle
Directed by Norman Lee
Near the turn of the century a struggling war correspondent named Edgar Wallace began churning out detective stories for British monthlies like Detective Story Magazine to help make the rent. Creative to a fault, his preposterously prolific output (exacerbated by ongoing gambling debts) soon earned him a legion of fans along with a pointedly ambiguous sobriquet, “The Man Who Wrote Too Much.”
A reader new to Wallace’s work could be excused for thinking the busy writer was making it up as he went along… because that’s pretty much what he did. He dictated his narratives, unedited, into a dictaphone for transcription by his secretary where they would then...
- 4/17/2017
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Turner Classic Movies has released three Alan Ladd titles in a set titled "Alan Ladd: The 1940s Collection". Here is the official press release:
Handsome leading man Alan Ladd found success in the 1940s and ‘50s, first as the tough guy in several films noir co-starring Veronica Lake and then as the stoic hero in Westerns such as Shane (1953). Turner Classic Movies and Universal are proud to present this three-film collection that showcases Ladd’s talents in a range of genres from thriller to adventure, as well as the work of such directors as Irving Pichel and Frank Tuttle, and writers the likes of Richard Maibaum and Seton I. Miller. Lucky Jordan (1942) Directed by Frank Tuttle (who also directed Ladd’s breakthrough film This Gun for Hire the same year), Lucky Jordan stars Ladd as a racketeer who gets drafted into the Us Army and will do anything to...
Handsome leading man Alan Ladd found success in the 1940s and ‘50s, first as the tough guy in several films noir co-starring Veronica Lake and then as the stoic hero in Westerns such as Shane (1953). Turner Classic Movies and Universal are proud to present this three-film collection that showcases Ladd’s talents in a range of genres from thriller to adventure, as well as the work of such directors as Irving Pichel and Frank Tuttle, and writers the likes of Richard Maibaum and Seton I. Miller. Lucky Jordan (1942) Directed by Frank Tuttle (who also directed Ladd’s breakthrough film This Gun for Hire the same year), Lucky Jordan stars Ladd as a racketeer who gets drafted into the Us Army and will do anything to...
- 6/26/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
John Ford puts a Technicolor sheen on Monument Valley in this second cavalry picture with John Wayne, who does some of his most professional acting work. Joanne Dru plays coy, while the real star is rodeo wizard Ben Johnson and the dazzling cinematography of Winton C. Hoch. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1949 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 103 min. / Street Date June 7, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring John Wayne, Joanne Dru, John Agar, Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr., Victor McLaglen, Mildred Natwick, George O'Brien, Chief John Big Tree. Cinematography Winton Hoch Art Direction James Basevi Film Editor Jack Murray Original Music Richard Hageman Written by Frank Nugent, Laurence Stallings from the stories War Party and The Big Hunt by James Warner Bellah Produced by Merian C. Cooper, John Ford Directed by John Ford
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Have you never seen real 3-Strip Technicolor used for terrific outdoor photography?...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Have you never seen real 3-Strip Technicolor used for terrific outdoor photography?...
- 6/4/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
What's contemporary Europe got that we ain't got? Powerful, serious filmmaking like that by Christian Petzold, starring the impressive Nina Hoss. Their sixth collaboration is a loaded narrative that takes some pretty wild narrative themes -- plastic surgery, hidden identities -- and spins them in a suspenseful new direction. Phoenix Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 809 2014 / Color / 2:39 widescreen (Super 35) / 98 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date April 26, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Nina Kunzendorf, Imogen Kogge. Cinematography Hans Fromm Film Editor Bettina Böhler Original Music Stefan Will Written by Christian Petzold, Haroun Farocki from ideas in the book Le retour des cendres by Hubert Monteilhet Produced by Florian Koerner von Gustorf, Michael Weber Directed by Christian Petzold
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
I had seen only one Christian Petzold feature before this one. 2012's Barbara is an excellent Deutsche-Millennial thriller starring Barbara Hoss as an East German doctor trying to do...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
I had seen only one Christian Petzold feature before this one. 2012's Barbara is an excellent Deutsche-Millennial thriller starring Barbara Hoss as an East German doctor trying to do...
- 5/3/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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Want a quality action film, but you only have an hour and a half? Step this way...
Looking back over the genre, action films definitely haven’t suffered from the trend to make everything longer. They’ve always been pretty long, regularly clocking in at over two hours. Perhaps because of all the slo-mo? But while the sweet spot for action classics seems to be the 100-110 minute mark, there are those that have cut the genre right down to basics, and succeeded all the more for it.
Below is my pick of 25 great action films 90 minutes or under. Even more so than other genres, action crosses many other films - picking a pure ‘action’ flick is all but impossible. So below I’ve chosen films that retain action sequences as their main narrative device, and keep the action at the heart of the movie, rather than as a extra.
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Want a quality action film, but you only have an hour and a half? Step this way...
Looking back over the genre, action films definitely haven’t suffered from the trend to make everything longer. They’ve always been pretty long, regularly clocking in at over two hours. Perhaps because of all the slo-mo? But while the sweet spot for action classics seems to be the 100-110 minute mark, there are those that have cut the genre right down to basics, and succeeded all the more for it.
Below is my pick of 25 great action films 90 minutes or under. Even more so than other genres, action crosses many other films - picking a pure ‘action’ flick is all but impossible. So below I’ve chosen films that retain action sequences as their main narrative device, and keep the action at the heart of the movie, rather than as a extra.
- 3/10/2016
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
Constance Cummings: Actress in minor Hollywood movies became major London stage star. Constance Cummings: Actress went from Harold Lloyd and Frank Capra to Noël Coward and Eugene O'Neill Actress Constance Cummings, whose career spanned more than six decades on stage, in films, and on television in both the U.S. and the U.K., died ten years ago on Nov. 23. Unlike other Broadway imports such as Ann Harding, Katharine Hepburn, Miriam Hopkins, and Claudette Colbert, the pretty, elegant Cummings – who could have been turned into a less edgy Constance Bennett had she landed at Rko or Paramount instead of Columbia – never became a Hollywood star. In fact, her most acclaimed work, whether in films or – more frequently – on stage, was almost invariably found in British productions. That's most likely why the name Constance Cummings – despite the DVD availability of several of her best-received performances – is all but forgotten.
- 11/4/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Top Ten Scream Queens: Barbara Steele, who both emitted screams and made others do same, is in a category of her own. Top Ten Scream Queens Halloween is over until next year, but the equally bewitching Day of the Dead is just around the corner. So, dead or alive, here's my revised and expanded list of cinema's Top Ten Scream Queens. This highly personal compilation is based on how memorable – as opposed to how loud or how frequent – were the screams. That's the key reason you won't find listed below actresses featured in gory slasher films. After all, the screams – and just about everything else in such movies – are as meaningless as their plots. You also won't find any screaming guys (i.e., Scream Kings) on the list below even though I've got absolutely nothing against guys who scream in horror, whether in movies or in life. There are...
- 11/2/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Special Mention: The Most Dangerous Game
Directed by Irving Pichel and Ernest B. Schoedsack
Written by James Creelman
USA, 1932
Genre: Survival Horror
The first of many official and unofficial screen versions of Richard Connell’s short story of the same name, The Most Dangerous Game was made in 1932, in the era known as “Pre-Code Hollywood,” a time when filmmakers were able to get away with sexual innuendo, illegal drug use, adultery, abortion, intense violence, homosexuality, and much more. It was during this time that a film like The Most Dangerous Game was allowed to be made and shown to the general public without fear of censorship. The film was put together by producer Willis O’Brien while in pre-production on King Kong, and features several of the same cast and crew members, as well as props and sets from Kong. Despite these obvious cost-cutting measures, Dangerous Game never feels like a second-rate production,...
Directed by Irving Pichel and Ernest B. Schoedsack
Written by James Creelman
USA, 1932
Genre: Survival Horror
The first of many official and unofficial screen versions of Richard Connell’s short story of the same name, The Most Dangerous Game was made in 1932, in the era known as “Pre-Code Hollywood,” a time when filmmakers were able to get away with sexual innuendo, illegal drug use, adultery, abortion, intense violence, homosexuality, and much more. It was during this time that a film like The Most Dangerous Game was allowed to be made and shown to the general public without fear of censorship. The film was put together by producer Willis O’Brien while in pre-production on King Kong, and features several of the same cast and crew members, as well as props and sets from Kong. Despite these obvious cost-cutting measures, Dangerous Game never feels like a second-rate production,...
- 10/30/2015
- by Ricky Fernandes
- SoundOnSight
Susan Hayward. Susan Hayward movies: TCM Star of the Month Fiery redhead Susan Hayward it Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month in Sept. 2015. The five-time Best Actress Oscar nominee – like Ida Lupino, a would-be Bette Davis that only sporadically landed roles to match the verve of her thespian prowess – was initially a minor Warner Bros. contract player who went on to become a Paramount second lead in the early '40s, a Universal leading lady in the late '40s, and a 20th Century Fox star in the early '50s. TCM will be presenting only three Susan Hayward premieres, all from her Fox era. Unfortunately, her Paramount and Universal work – e.g., Among the Living, Sis Hopkins, And Now Tomorrow, The Saxon Charm – which remains mostly unavailable (in quality prints), will remain unavailable this month. Highlights of the evening include: Adam Had Four Sons (1941), a sentimental but surprisingly...
- 9/4/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Quicksand
Written by Robert Smith
Directed by Irving Pichel
U.S.A., 1950
Everyone is unfortunate enough to experience, at one point in their lifetime, an episode when it seems as though every single decision they make produces the worst results imaginable. Each successive attempt to ameliorate the predicament only worsens it. Call it Murphy’s Law, call it poor planning and judgment, but whatever it is, car mechanic Dan Brady (Mickey Rooney) is bitten by the terrible bug from the moment he meets a lovely girl, Vera Novak (Jeanne Cagney), working the cash register at a nearby deli. Sensing an opportunity to for a fun night out, Dan opts, despite his better judgment, to steal 20$ from his employer’s register, fully expecting to pay it back the next day seeing as an old friend owes him that very amount anyhow. When said friend fails to come up with the money off hand,...
Written by Robert Smith
Directed by Irving Pichel
U.S.A., 1950
Everyone is unfortunate enough to experience, at one point in their lifetime, an episode when it seems as though every single decision they make produces the worst results imaginable. Each successive attempt to ameliorate the predicament only worsens it. Call it Murphy’s Law, call it poor planning and judgment, but whatever it is, car mechanic Dan Brady (Mickey Rooney) is bitten by the terrible bug from the moment he meets a lovely girl, Vera Novak (Jeanne Cagney), working the cash register at a nearby deli. Sensing an opportunity to for a fun night out, Dan opts, despite his better judgment, to steal 20$ from his employer’s register, fully expecting to pay it back the next day seeing as an old friend owes him that very amount anyhow. When said friend fails to come up with the money off hand,...
- 5/29/2015
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
Ahead of Interstellar's launch, here's a selection of 10 underappreciated sci-fi films about space travel...
Christopher Nolan's Interstellar wears many of its influences proudly. The director has openly said that his film is inspired by such acclaimed pieces of cinema as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Philip Kaufman's The Right Stuff, as well as the human warmth of Steven Spielberg's 80s output. Interstellar depicts a near future where life on Earth teeters on the brink of extinction. Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a former test pilot turned farmer, joins a last-ditch mission to enter a wormhole in space and find a new home for humanity; he realises that the only way to save his family is to leave it behind.
It's the latest film to tap into our fascination with the depths of space - a topic that has been explored many times since the earliest days of cinema.
Christopher Nolan's Interstellar wears many of its influences proudly. The director has openly said that his film is inspired by such acclaimed pieces of cinema as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Philip Kaufman's The Right Stuff, as well as the human warmth of Steven Spielberg's 80s output. Interstellar depicts a near future where life on Earth teeters on the brink of extinction. Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a former test pilot turned farmer, joins a last-ditch mission to enter a wormhole in space and find a new home for humanity; he realises that the only way to save his family is to leave it behind.
It's the latest film to tap into our fascination with the depths of space - a topic that has been explored many times since the earliest days of cinema.
- 11/3/2014
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Claudette Colbert movies on Turner Classic Movies: From ‘The Smiling Lieutenant’ to TCM premiere ‘Skylark’ (photo: Claudette Colbert and Maurice Chevalier in ‘The Smiling Lieutenant’) Claudette Colbert, the studio era’s perky, independent-minded — and French-born — "all-American" girlfriend (and later all-American wife and mother), is Turner Classic Movies’ star of the day today, August 18, 2014, as TCM continues with its "Summer Under the Stars" film series. Colbert, a surprise Best Actress Academy Award winner for Frank Capra’s 1934 comedy It Happened One Night, was one Paramount’s biggest box office draws for more than decade and Hollywood’s top-paid female star of 1938, with reported earnings of $426,944 — or about $7.21 million in 2014 dollars. (See also: TCM’s Claudette Colbert day in 2011.) Right now, TCM is showing Ernst Lubitsch’s light (but ultimately bittersweet) romantic comedy-musical The Smiling Lieutenant (1931), a Best Picture Academy Award nominee starring Maurice Chevalier as a French-accented Central European lieutenant in...
- 8/19/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Mickey Rooney was earliest surviving Best Actor Oscar nominee (photo: Mickey Rooney and Spencer Tracy in ‘Boys Town’) (See previous post: “Mickey Rooney Dead at 93: MGM’s Andy Hardy Series’ Hero and Judy Garland Frequent Co-Star Had Longest Film Career Ever?”) Mickey Rooney was the earliest surviving Best Actor Academy Award nominee — Babes in Arms, 1939; The Human Comedy, 1943 — and the last surviving male acting Oscar nominee of the 1930s. Rooney lost the Best Actor Oscar to two considerably more “prestigious” — albeit less popular — stars: Robert Donat for Sam Wood’s Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) and Paul Lukas for Herman Shumlin’s Watch on the Rhine (1943). Following Mickey Rooney’s death, there are only two acting Academy Award nominees from the ’30s still alive: two-time Best Actress winner Luise Rainer, 104 (for Robert Z. Leonard’s The Great Ziegfeld, 1936, and Sidney Franklin’s The Good Earth, 1937), and Best Supporting Actress nominee Olivia de Havilland,...
- 4/9/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
4. The Running Man
Directed by Paul Michael Glaser
Written by Steven E. de Souza
USA, 1987
Directed by former Starsky and Hutch star Paul Michael Glaser, this post-apocalyptic science fiction yarn starring Arnold Schwarzenegger is without a doubt the most mainstream film to appear on this list. Much like The Hunger Games, The Running Man satirizes American entertainment, deriding everything from professional wrestling to reality TV and game shows. The film, which is loosely based on a novel by Richard Bachman (a pen name for Stephen King), is set in the totalitarian America of 2019, wherein convicted criminals are forced to take part as bait in a hideous TV manhunt called, yes, The Running Man. Schwarzenegger stars as Ben Richards, a cop framed for massacring rioting civilians during a protest and later picked as a contestant for the show, where he must survive a gang of skillful assassins like Subzero (Prof. Toru Tanaka...
Directed by Paul Michael Glaser
Written by Steven E. de Souza
USA, 1987
Directed by former Starsky and Hutch star Paul Michael Glaser, this post-apocalyptic science fiction yarn starring Arnold Schwarzenegger is without a doubt the most mainstream film to appear on this list. Much like The Hunger Games, The Running Man satirizes American entertainment, deriding everything from professional wrestling to reality TV and game shows. The film, which is loosely based on a novel by Richard Bachman (a pen name for Stephen King), is set in the totalitarian America of 2019, wherein convicted criminals are forced to take part as bait in a hideous TV manhunt called, yes, The Running Man. Schwarzenegger stars as Ben Richards, a cop framed for massacring rioting civilians during a protest and later picked as a contestant for the show, where he must survive a gang of skillful assassins like Subzero (Prof. Toru Tanaka...
- 11/17/2013
- by Ricky da Conceição
- SoundOnSight
When Universal’s Dracula was released in 1931 vampires were a relatively underexplored creature of genre films. Sure you had Nosferatu, which was released a full nine years before, but Dracula was the first film to feature a blood sucking fiend that made a killing at the box office. Universal was quick to capitalize on the surprise success of Dracula and several sequels (some in name only) were made. There was Son of Dracula (‘Alucard’ is all I need to say about that one), Dracula’s Daughter, House of Dracula, House of Frankenstein (which featured all the Universal monsters) and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. While most of those films are disposable fodder, Dracula’s Daughter stands out from the pack as not only being entertaining, but also being the one sequel that had as much influence as its predecessor.
Released in 1936 and written by Garrett Ford and directed by Lambert Hillyer,...
Released in 1936 and written by Garrett Ford and directed by Lambert Hillyer,...
- 8/19/2013
- by Andrew Perez
- SoundOnSight
Bette Davis movies: TCM schedule on August 14 (photo: Bette Davis in ‘Dangerous,’ with Franchot Tone) See previous post: “Bette Davis Eyes: They’re Watching You Tonight.” 3:00 Am Parachute Jumper (1933). Director: Alfred E. Green. Cast: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Bette Davis, Frank McHugh, Claire Dodd, Harold Huber, Leo Carrillo, Thomas E. Jackson, Lyle Talbot, Leon Ames, Stanley Blystone, Reginald Barlow, George Chandler, Walter Brennan, Pat O’Malley, Paul Panzer, Nat Pendleton, Dewey Robinson, Tom Wilson, Sheila Terry. Bw-72 mins. 4:30 Am The Girl From 10th Avenue (1935). Director: Alfred E. Green. Cast: Bette Davis, Ian Hunter, Colin Clive, Alison Skipworth, John Eldredge, Phillip Reed, Katharine Alexander, Helen Jerome Eddy, Bill Elliott, Edward McWade, André Cheron, Wedgwood Nowell, John Quillan, Mary Treen. Bw-69 mins. 6:00 Am Dangerous (1935). Director: Alfred E. Green. Cast: Bette Davis, Franchot Tone, Margaret Lindsay, Alison Skipworth, John Eldredge, Dick Foran, Walter Walker, Richard Carle, George Irving, Pierre Watkin, Douglas Wood,...
- 8/15/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Mickey Rooney movie schedule (Pt): TCM on August 13 See previous post: “Mickey Rooney Movies: Music and Murder.” Photo: Mickey Rooney ca. 1940. 3:00 Am Death On The Diamond (1934). Director: Edward Sedgwick. Cast: Robert Young, Madge Evans, Nat Pendleton, Mickey Rooney. Bw-71 mins. 4:15 Am A Midsummer Night’S Dream (1935). Director: Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle. Cast: James Cagney, Dick Powell, Olivia de Havilland, Ross Alexander, Anita Louise, Mickey Rooney, Joe E. Brown, Victor Jory, Ian Hunter, Verree Teasdale, Jean Muir, Frank McHugh, Grant Mitchell, Hobart Cavanaugh, Dewey Robinson, Hugh Herbert, Arthur Treacher, Otis Harlan, Helen Westcott, Fred Sale, Billy Barty, Rags Ragland. Bw-143 mins. 6:45 Am A Family Affair (1936). Director: George B. Seitz. Cast: Mickey Rooney, Lionel Barrymore, Cecilia Parker, Eric Linden. Bw-69 mins. 8:00 Am Boys Town (1938). Director: Norman Taurog. Cast: Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Henry Hull, Leslie Fenton, Gene Reynolds, Edward Norris, Addison Richards, Minor Watson, Jonathan Hale,...
- 8/13/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Following the announcement that came earlier this week, launching yet another hugely impressive line-up at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, the respective line-up has now been announced for what is in some ways its European counterpart, the 2013 Venice Film Festival.
The announcement shows that the two will continue to have a number of films overlapping, including Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity (the Opening Night Film in Venice), Peter Landesman’s Parkland, Stephen Frears’ Philomena, and more. But it also brings with its news of where a number of films will be making their debut, including Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem; the latest film from Hayao Miyazaki, The Wind Rises; James Franco’s Child of God; Lee Sang-il’s Yurusarezaru Mono, the Japanese remake of Unforgiven; and Steven Knight’s Locke, led by Tom Hardy, and shot in one take.
In Competition
Es-Stouh – Merzak Alloucache (Algeria, France, 94’) L’Intrepido – Gianni Amelio (Italy,...
The announcement shows that the two will continue to have a number of films overlapping, including Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity (the Opening Night Film in Venice), Peter Landesman’s Parkland, Stephen Frears’ Philomena, and more. But it also brings with its news of where a number of films will be making their debut, including Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem; the latest film from Hayao Miyazaki, The Wind Rises; James Franco’s Child of God; Lee Sang-il’s Yurusarezaru Mono, the Japanese remake of Unforgiven; and Steven Knight’s Locke, led by Tom Hardy, and shot in one take.
In Competition
Es-Stouh – Merzak Alloucache (Algeria, France, 94’) L’Intrepido – Gianni Amelio (Italy,...
- 7/26/2013
- by Kenji Lloyd
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
On the one hand, the idea of seeing a classic like The Most Dangerous Game remade is enough to make me queasy. On the other hand, the concept of a man hunting down humans for sport is loose enough to have been tackled more than a few times, and, for as wonderful as it is, Ernest Schoedsack and Irving Pichel’s 8-decade-old thriller is most certainly a product of its time. Plus, Fay Wray’s “other” 1932 film has been remade twice, so how’s that for karma? Creating a new spin will be a challenge as director Steven Lamorte shoots Dangerous Games this August from a script by J. Amanda Sabater. According to the production, the villainous Count Zaroff is now modern-day Colonel Zaroff (who still has a sweet man-hunting lease on a private island), and the protagonist is the host of an outdoorsman reality show. Zaroff will be played by Eric Etebari (The Lincoln Lawyer), the...
- 7/17/2013
- by Scott Beggs
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Italian actress Claudia Cardinale to be guest host for the section at the 70th Venice International Film Festival where William Friedkin will receive a lifetime achievement honour.
Claudia Cardinale, best known for roles in Once Upon a Time in the West and Fellini’s 8 ½, is to be the guest host of Venezia Classici, the section devoted to restored films and to documentaries about cinema of the 70th Venice International Film Festival (August 28 – September 7.
The section, introduced last year, features a selection of classic film restorations completed over the past year by film libraries, cultural institutions or production companies around the world.
Cardinale will attend the screening of Vaghe stelle dell’Orsa, Luchino Visconti’s 1965 film in which she starred that won the Golden Lion at the 30th Viff and has been restored by Sony Pictures Entertainment.
It is is one of the four classics restored this year that has been conserved at the Historic Archives of the...
Claudia Cardinale, best known for roles in Once Upon a Time in the West and Fellini’s 8 ½, is to be the guest host of Venezia Classici, the section devoted to restored films and to documentaries about cinema of the 70th Venice International Film Festival (August 28 – September 7.
The section, introduced last year, features a selection of classic film restorations completed over the past year by film libraries, cultural institutions or production companies around the world.
Cardinale will attend the screening of Vaghe stelle dell’Orsa, Luchino Visconti’s 1965 film in which she starred that won the Golden Lion at the 30th Viff and has been restored by Sony Pictures Entertainment.
It is is one of the four classics restored this year that has been conserved at the Historic Archives of the...
- 7/15/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Deanna Durbin: Highest-paid actress in the world [See previous post: "Deanna Durbin in the '40s: From Wholesome Musicals to Film Noir Sex Worker."] Despite several missteps in the handling of her career, David Shipman states that Deanna Durbin was Hollywood’s (and the world’s) highest-paid actress in both 1945 and 1947. In 1946, Durbin’s earnings of $323,477 trailed only Bette Davis’ $328,000 at Warner Bros. Those are impressive rankings (and wages), but ironically Durbin’s high earnings ultimately harmed her career. By the mid-’40s, her domestic box-office allure was beginning to fade, a situation surely worsened by World War II closing off most of Hollywood’s top international markets. As a result, Universal, since 1947 a new entity known as Universal-International, was unwilling to spend extra money in their star’s already costly vehicles. That’s a similar predicament to the one faced by silent-era superstar John Gilbert at MGM in the early ’30s: the studio had to pay Gilbert an exorbitant salary that made his movies much...
- 5/5/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Fay Wray bio and movies Fay Wray, best remembered for the 1933 interspecies romance classic King Kong, would have turned 105 on September 15. Besides Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack’s 1933 iconic horror tale and mammoth box-office hit, the Canadian-born Vina Fay Wray (in 1907, in Cardston, Alberta) also screamed and/or fainted in a number of other movies of the ’30s. (Photo: Fay Wray in a publicity shot ca. late ’20s / early ’30s.) Among those were Ernest B. Schoedsack and Irving Pichel’s first-rate thriller The Most Dangerous Game / The Hounds of Zaroff (1932), in which Wray and Joel McCrea are [...]...
- 9/17/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
1948 was a good year for mermaids.
In Britain, producer Betty E. Box presented Miranda, starring Glynis Johns as a Cornish water-nymph who goes on dry land disguised as an invalid, making merry with the menfolk. Six years later, a sequel, Mad About Men, continued the character's amorous adventures in Technicolor.
Meanwhile in America, William Powell romanced mute mermaid Ann Blyth, an apparent manifestation of his mid-life crisis, in Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid. (Tarzan and the Mermaids, the same year, did not supply any true amphbious ladies.)
What do these fish stories reveal about their respective countries of origin? None of the films' directors have much in the way of auteur credentials—Ken Annakin directed the first Miranda film, staying true to the tradition of innocuous entertainment which was the defining quality of his career, and Ralph Thomas directed the second: though his son Jeremy has produced major films for Bertolucci and Cronenberg,...
In Britain, producer Betty E. Box presented Miranda, starring Glynis Johns as a Cornish water-nymph who goes on dry land disguised as an invalid, making merry with the menfolk. Six years later, a sequel, Mad About Men, continued the character's amorous adventures in Technicolor.
Meanwhile in America, William Powell romanced mute mermaid Ann Blyth, an apparent manifestation of his mid-life crisis, in Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid. (Tarzan and the Mermaids, the same year, did not supply any true amphbious ladies.)
What do these fish stories reveal about their respective countries of origin? None of the films' directors have much in the way of auteur credentials—Ken Annakin directed the first Miranda film, staying true to the tradition of innocuous entertainment which was the defining quality of his career, and Ralph Thomas directed the second: though his son Jeremy has produced major films for Bertolucci and Cronenberg,...
- 5/31/2012
- MUBI
Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games series has often been compared with Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight novels primarily because both centre on a young female protagonist and somehow both became phenomenons for their shared young-adult demo. Personally, I think this is both an insult to the novel and the latest big screen adaptation, since The Hunger Games is leagues above Twilight in artistic credibility. The sense of familiarity of The Hunger Games in fact goes much further back, recalling everything from William Golding to Phillip K. Dick and even Stephen King. Here are several films which may or may not have inspired Gary Ross’s big screen adaptation – eleven films which come highly recommended and should be essential viewing for any fan of the soon-to-be billion dollar franchise.
1- Battle Royale
Directed by Kinji Fukasaku
Written by Kinji Fukasaku
2000, Japan
The concept of The Hunger Games owes much to Japanese author...
1- Battle Royale
Directed by Kinji Fukasaku
Written by Kinji Fukasaku
2000, Japan
The concept of The Hunger Games owes much to Japanese author...
- 3/26/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Hollywood Before the Code: Nasty-Ass Films for a Nasty-Ass World! runs from today through Thursday at the Roxie in San Francisco and Dennis Harvey has a fun preview in the Bay Guardian. A snippet: "March 4 offers a shocking double dose of pure white femininity finding themselves in, ahem, 'Yellow Peril' — miscegenation being something Hollywood could only begin to embrace a few decades later. Frank Capra's atypically erotic The Bitter Tea of General Yen, with Barbara Stanwyck alllllmost surrendering the white flag to a 'charismatic Chinese warlord' (Swede Nils Asther, eyes narrowed), has become a minor classic since flopping in 1933. No such luck for The Cheat (1931), a remake of Cecil B DeMille's 1915 shocker that was part of Paramount's brief, failed attempt to make stage sensation Tallulah Bankhead a movie star. Her gambling-addicted socialite gets branded (literally) in lieu of repayment not by the original's Far East businessman (dashing Sessue Hayakawa...
- 3/2/2012
- MUBI
Ralph Fiennes in Oscar nominee (but not DGA nominee) Stephen Daldry's The Reader In 1948, the 12-year-old Directors Guild of America (DGA), then known as the Screen Directors Guild (Sdg), began handing out annual achievement awards. Three Best Director Oscar winners — Frank Capra, John Ford, and Norman Taurog — alongside George Sidney, Delmer Daves, H. Bruce Humberstone, Irving Pichel, and, ex-officio, Guild president George Marshall took part in the initial Awards Committee in the selection of the Directors Guild Award honorees. The DGA Awards' first winner was Joseph L. Mankiewicz for A Letter to Three Wives, a critically acclaimed comedy-drama that would earn Mankiewicz a Best Director Academy Award the following year. Before 1970 (awards handed out in 1971), the Guild's list of finalists consisted of a variable number of directors, almost always more than five. From 1970 on, when the Directors Guild began restricting its list of motion picture nominees to five directors per year,...
- 1/9/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Orson Welles, Ruth Warrick, Citizen Kane Orson Welles on TCM: The Third Man, The Lady From Shanghai Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 6:00 Am The Tartars (1961) A barbarian army attacks Viking settlements along the Russian steppes. Dir: Richard Thorpe. Cast: Victor Mature, Orson Welles, Folco Lulli. C-83 mins, Letterbox Format 7:30 Am Tomorrow Is Forever (1946) A scarred veteran presumed dead returns home to find his wife remarried. Dir: Irving Pichel. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Orson Welles, George Brent. Bw-104 mins. 9:30 Am Moby Dick (1956) Epic adaptation of Herman Melville's classic about a vengeful sea captain out to catch the whale that maimed him. Dir: John Huston. Cast: Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, Leo Genn. C-115 mins, Letterbox Format 11:30 Am The V.I.P.S (1963) Wealthy passengers fogged in at London's Heathrow Airport fight to survive a variety of personal trials. Dir: Anthony Asquith. Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Louis Jourdan.
- 8/8/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth, The Lady from Shanghai Orson Welles' career as an actor was both fruitful and frustrating. From Citizen Kane (1941) to Someone to Love (1987), Welles appeared — mostly in supporting roles — in about 70 features made in various parts of the world. There was one brilliant performance in one brilliant film, Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane, but the rest of what I've seen has been either forgettable or memorable for the wrong reasons. Subtlety is a quality with which Welles the Actor was totally unfamiliar. Whether or not you admire Orson Welles' work in front of the camera, Welles fans are being treated to 13 films featuring Welles as both leading man and supporting player, all day Monday, August 8, on Turner Classic Movies. The only TCM premiere in this "Summer Under the Stars" Orson Welles Day is the 1952 British-made crime drama Trent's Last Case, directed by veteran Herbert Wilcox,...
- 8/8/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Jane Greer, Out of the Past Today is neither Jane Greer's birth nor death anniversary. Even so, Turner Classic Movies is devoting Saturday evening/night to the dangerously seductive star of a number of (mostly) Rko productions of the late '40s and early '50s. And who's complaining? Unfortunately, Out of the Past, perhaps Greer's best-known film and performance, is already in the past. It was shown earlier this evening. Right now, TCM is showing Don Siegel's Mexico-set crime drama The Big Steal, featuring Greer, her Out of the Past co-star Robert Mitchum, William Bendix, Patrick Knowles, and silent-film veterans Ramon Novarro and Don Alvarado. Next comes my favorite Jane Greer performance, as the good girl gone bad — or bad girl attempting to go good — in John Cromwell's The Company She Keeps. This all-but-forgotten little melodramatic gem is a must for another reason as well: Lizabeth Scott,...
- 6/26/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
No doubt this comes as four-year-old news to many Ray Harryhausen fans, but in the whirl and rush of so many DVD and Blu-ray releases of interest, I’d completely missed out on (or perhaps simply forgotten about) the fact that special effects genius Harryhausen had very recently given us the results of his ambitious efforts to colorize—yes, colorize—three movies dear to his heart: She, Things to Come, and The Most Dangerous Game. I came upon this information intending first to offer simply a look back at Game, Rko Pictures’ 1932 jungle-action-horror movie, a compact and entertaining thriller adapted from the Richard Connell story. I knew there was a Criterion release of the film (that I’d seen ages ago but don’t own), but the existence of this re-issue came as a genuine surprise. After all, there are some word pairings that appear pretty unnatural at first. Harryhausen-colorization...
- 1/10/2011
- by Movies Unlimited
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
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