Imagine, if you will, a sleepy small town. The people who live there are hard-working, stubborn, and most of all, suspicious of outsiders. Enter one Bob Majors, a newspaperman from New York. Majors is a man of progress and change, but he's about to come up against a social wall the likes of which he's never seen. It's the kind of obstacle that can only be found in ... well, not "The Twilight Zone."
You might have read that description in the voice of famed "Twilight Zone" creator-narrator Rod Serling, but it's actually the premise of a totally different show in which Serling appeared — reportedly in his first non-narrator acting role — for just one episode in the early 1960s. The series was "Ichabod and Me," a poorly-received and short-lived series whose history is chronicled in David C. Tucker's book "Lost Laughs of '50s and '60s Television." The sitcom...
You might have read that description in the voice of famed "Twilight Zone" creator-narrator Rod Serling, but it's actually the premise of a totally different show in which Serling appeared — reportedly in his first non-narrator acting role — for just one episode in the early 1960s. The series was "Ichabod and Me," a poorly-received and short-lived series whose history is chronicled in David C. Tucker's book "Lost Laughs of '50s and '60s Television." The sitcom...
- 1/20/2024
- by Valerie Ettenhofer
- Slash Film
Exclusive: Mark O’Brien (Your Honor) will exec produce and star in the coming-of-age drama Topper from 1A Motion Pictures and Bad Lad Productions, which has wrapped production in Detroit. Others set for major roles include Paul Johansson (God Is a Bullet), Amanda Clayton (City on a Hill), and actor-comedians Jimmy Shubert (Entourage), Bryan Callen (Warrior) and Erik Griffin (Workaholics).
The first feature written and directed by actor Kevin McNamara (Why Women Kill) follows Topper (O’Brien), a hard-drinking middling comedian with a seemingly endless capacity for self-sabotage. Topper receives news that his estranged father (Johansson) is terminally ill and begrudgingly returns to Detroit to sell the family home, which was never much of a home to him.
While back in Detroit, the friends he left behind — Lucas (Callen), Cooper (Griffin) and Ray (Shubert) — aren’t shy about pointing out how far he has drifted off course, despite showing early promise as a young comic.
The first feature written and directed by actor Kevin McNamara (Why Women Kill) follows Topper (O’Brien), a hard-drinking middling comedian with a seemingly endless capacity for self-sabotage. Topper receives news that his estranged father (Johansson) is terminally ill and begrudgingly returns to Detroit to sell the family home, which was never much of a home to him.
While back in Detroit, the friends he left behind — Lucas (Callen), Cooper (Griffin) and Ray (Shubert) — aren’t shy about pointing out how far he has drifted off course, despite showing early promise as a young comic.
- 1/26/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Back in 1953 CBS premiered “Topper,” a fun fantasy sitcom based on the 1937 film of the same name about a stuffy banker (Leo G. Carroll) who buys the former estate of a young couple (Robert Sterling and Anne Jeffreys). The two had died in an avalanche along with the St. Bernard who tried to save them. But no sooner does Carroll’s Topper move into the estate with his wife that he discovers the couple and the dog haunt the house and he happens to be the only one who can see and interact with the spirits. The series, which ran for two seasons (a young Stephen Sondheim wrote a few scripts) was Emmy nominated for Best Comedy Series in 1954. And “Topper” has lived on in syndication, DVD and now on streaming services ever since.
And nearly seven decades later, CBS returned to the paranormal last fall with another spirited fantasy comedy “Ghosts,...
And nearly seven decades later, CBS returned to the paranormal last fall with another spirited fantasy comedy “Ghosts,...
- 5/27/2022
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
To celebrate Variety’s 115th anniversary, we went to the archives to see how some of Hollywood’s biggest stars first landed in the pages of our magazine. Read more from the archives here.
In 1929, Variety hated the musical comedy “A Wonderful Night” at Broadway’s Majestic Theater (“remarkably dull … the outlook for this one is dreary”). However, there was praise for one of the stars, Archie Leach — who in a few years would change his name to Cary Grant and conquer Hollywood and the world. “Archie Leach makes a handsome leading man, but some of the lines of fearsome insipidity that he has to utter discounted most of his natural grace.”
Handsome, natural grace: Those words offer a hint of Leach/Grant’s appeal. Three years later, in 1932, Variety ran a two-sentence item: “Cary Grant, new leading man on the Paramount contract list, hails from vaudeville where his monicker was Archie Leach.
In 1929, Variety hated the musical comedy “A Wonderful Night” at Broadway’s Majestic Theater (“remarkably dull … the outlook for this one is dreary”). However, there was praise for one of the stars, Archie Leach — who in a few years would change his name to Cary Grant and conquer Hollywood and the world. “Archie Leach makes a handsome leading man, but some of the lines of fearsome insipidity that he has to utter discounted most of his natural grace.”
Handsome, natural grace: Those words offer a hint of Leach/Grant’s appeal. Three years later, in 1932, Variety ran a two-sentence item: “Cary Grant, new leading man on the Paramount contract list, hails from vaudeville where his monicker was Archie Leach.
- 12/18/2020
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
The Notebook Primer introduces readers to some of the most important figures, films, genres, and movements in film history.It was often said that women wanted to be with Cary Grant and men wanted to be Cary Grant, but perhaps no one was more consumed by the perception of Cary Grant—the handsome, unremittingly suave and stylish movie star—than Grant himself. “Even I want to be Cary Grant,” the actor once mused. Indeed, Grant’s public and on-screen persona was a carefully crafted, meticulously honed, and ultimately triumphant development, as much to suit the needs of his ascending celebrity as it was to shroud an unhappy childhood, a series of romantic passions and disappointments, and a latent dark side fostered by uncertainty and doubt. It was, however, and in any and all cases, resoundingly successful. Grant was the epitome of the movie star, a Hollywood icon and one of its most entertaining,...
- 10/22/2020
- MUBI
"Wtf Value"
By Raymond Benson
Only serious film history aficionados and perhaps viewers of Turner Classic Movies will be aware that there was once a live-action version of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland adapted by Hollywood in the early pre-code years. It was released in 1933 by Paramount and directed by Norman Z. McLeod, the guy who had helmed the Marx Brothers’ comedies Monkey Business (1931) and Horse Feathers (1932). McLeod would go on to make such titles as It’s a Gift (1934), Topper (1937), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), and The Paleface (1948).
The production of Alice in 1933 boasts a screenplay by none other than heavyweights Joseph L. Mankiewicz and William Cameron Menzies, the man behind Things to Come and a production designer whose hands were all over Hollywood and British productions over the next two decades. The script also borrows heavily from the popular and then-current stage production written by Eva La Gallienne and Florida Friebus,...
By Raymond Benson
Only serious film history aficionados and perhaps viewers of Turner Classic Movies will be aware that there was once a live-action version of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland adapted by Hollywood in the early pre-code years. It was released in 1933 by Paramount and directed by Norman Z. McLeod, the guy who had helmed the Marx Brothers’ comedies Monkey Business (1931) and Horse Feathers (1932). McLeod would go on to make such titles as It’s a Gift (1934), Topper (1937), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), and The Paleface (1948).
The production of Alice in 1933 boasts a screenplay by none other than heavyweights Joseph L. Mankiewicz and William Cameron Menzies, the man behind Things to Come and a production designer whose hands were all over Hollywood and British productions over the next two decades. The script also borrows heavily from the popular and then-current stage production written by Eva La Gallienne and Florida Friebus,...
- 5/18/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Frank Tuttle, the man who made a star of Alan Ladd with the twisted film noir This Gun for Hire (1942), began as a comedy specialist, churning out three or more films a year as vehicles for Eddie Cantor, Edgar Bergen and his knee-pal Charlie McCarthy, Burns & Allen et cetera. Pleasure Cruise (1933) is a pre-Code farce centered on improbably couple Roland Young and Genevieve Tobin.Young plays a penniless author working as house-husband to the gainfully employed Tobin, while seething with jealousy at the thought of the young blades romancing her in the office. In one of many unusual stylistic touches, we see her portrait come to life and watch as she mingles with the staff, none of whom looks to be under sixty, and they're not exactly silver foxes. The stage is set for a film mocking male paranoia and jealousy and questioning notions of fidelity, virtue, and honesty.Young is his usual self,...
- 9/20/2018
- MUBI
They’re non-corporeal cut-ups, rich ghosts on the town with nothing better to do than spice up the love life of Roland Young’s harried, henpecked bank president. Hal Roach’s screwball hit did good things for everybody concerned, especially star Cary Grant and bit player Arthur Lake. But the show’s nostalgic heart is Billie Burke, of the tinkly-glass voice. Also starring platinum blonde Constance Bennett, Alan Mowbray and Eugene Pallette.
Topper
Blu-ray
Vci
1937 / B&W / 1:37 flat full frame / 97 min. / Street Date October, 2017 / 20.99
Starring: Constance Bennett, Cary Grant, Roland Young, Billie Burke, Alan Mowbray, Eugene Pallette, Arthur Lake, Hedda Hopper, Virginia Sale, Theodore von Eltz, J. Farrell MacDonald, Elaine Shepard, Ward Bond, Hoagy Carmichael, Lana Turner, Russell Wade, Claire Windsor.
Cinematography: Norbert Brodine
Film Editor: William Terhune
Art Director: William Stevens
Original Music: Marvin Hatley
Written by Jack Jevne, Eric Hatch, Eddie Moran from a novel by Thorne Smith...
Topper
Blu-ray
Vci
1937 / B&W / 1:37 flat full frame / 97 min. / Street Date October, 2017 / 20.99
Starring: Constance Bennett, Cary Grant, Roland Young, Billie Burke, Alan Mowbray, Eugene Pallette, Arthur Lake, Hedda Hopper, Virginia Sale, Theodore von Eltz, J. Farrell MacDonald, Elaine Shepard, Ward Bond, Hoagy Carmichael, Lana Turner, Russell Wade, Claire Windsor.
Cinematography: Norbert Brodine
Film Editor: William Terhune
Art Director: William Stevens
Original Music: Marvin Hatley
Written by Jack Jevne, Eric Hatch, Eddie Moran from a novel by Thorne Smith...
- 10/17/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Leapin’ Lizards! The original cavemen vs. dinosaurs saga is a winner — if viewer involvement trumps visual effects, it’s got a narrow lead over the Hammer/Harryhausen remake. Victor Mature, Carole Landis and Lon Chaney Jr. all made career hay out of their weeks spent running in loincloths, out in the desert. And Vci’s new disc is a terrific UCLA Archive restoration.
One Million B.C.
Blu-ray
Vci
1940 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 80 min. / Street Date September 12, 2017 /
Starring: Victor Mature, Carole Landis, Lon Chaney Jr., Conrad Nagel, John Hubbard, Nigel De Brulier, Mamo Clark, Jean Porter, Inez Palange, Edgar Edwards, Jacqueline Dalya, Mary Gale Fisher.
Cinematography: Norbert Brodine
Film Editor: Ray Snyder
Original Music: Werner R. Heymann
Visual Effects: Roy Seawright, Jack Shaw, Frank Young
Written by Mickell Novack, George Baker, Joseph Frickert
Produced and Directed by Hal Roach
In the late 1930s fantasy and science fiction movies were few and far between,...
One Million B.C.
Blu-ray
Vci
1940 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 80 min. / Street Date September 12, 2017 /
Starring: Victor Mature, Carole Landis, Lon Chaney Jr., Conrad Nagel, John Hubbard, Nigel De Brulier, Mamo Clark, Jean Porter, Inez Palange, Edgar Edwards, Jacqueline Dalya, Mary Gale Fisher.
Cinematography: Norbert Brodine
Film Editor: Ray Snyder
Original Music: Werner R. Heymann
Visual Effects: Roy Seawright, Jack Shaw, Frank Young
Written by Mickell Novack, George Baker, Joseph Frickert
Produced and Directed by Hal Roach
In the late 1930s fantasy and science fiction movies were few and far between,...
- 9/12/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Virginia Bruce: MGM actress ca. 1935. Virginia Bruce movies on TCM: Actress was the cherry on 'The Great Ziegfeld' wedding cake Unfortunately, Turner Classic Movies has chosen not to feature any non-Hollywood stars – or any out-and-out silent film stars – in its 2015 “Summer Under the Stars” series.* On the other hand, TCM has come up with several unusual inclusions, e.g., Lee J. Cobb, Warren Oates, Mae Clarke, and today, Aug. 25, Virginia Bruce. A second-rank MGM leading lady in the 1930s, the Minneapolis-born Virginia Bruce is little remembered today despite her more than 70 feature films in a career that spanned two decades, from the dawn of the talkie era to the dawn of the TV era, in addition to a handful of comebacks going all the way to 1981 – the dawn of the personal computer era. Career highlights were few and not all that bright. Examples range from playing the...
- 8/26/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Harrison Ford injured in plane accident (image: Harrison Ford as Colonel Graff in 'Ender's Game') Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark actor Harrison Ford was supposed to be in critical condition – later reports have upgraded that to "fair" or "stable" condition – following an accident with a small airplane on Los Angeles' Westside. Earlier this afternoon (March 5, 2015), a vintage, one-engine two-seater crash landed at the Penmar Golf Course, located in the Los Angeles suburb of Venice, not far from the Pacific Ocean and just west of Santa Monica Airport. Its pilot, 72-year-old Harrison Ford, was found "seriously" injured. He was alone on the plane. There were no injuries on the ground. As explained in the Los Angeles Times, "fire officials would not identify the victim of the crash but said he was conscious and breathing when paramedics arrived." Ford was later transported to an unidentified hospital. Eleven...
- 3/6/2015
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
Cary Grant movies: 'An Affair to Remember' does justice to its title (photo: Cary Grant ca. late 1940s) Cary Grant excelled at playing Cary Grant. This evening, fans of the charming, sophisticated, debonair actor -- not to be confused with the Bristol-born Archibald Leach -- can rejoice, as no less than eight Cary Grant movies are being shown on Turner Classic Movies, including a handful of his most successful and best-remembered star vehicles from the late '30s to the late '50s. (See also: "Cary Grant Classic Movies" and "Cary Grant and Randolph Scott: Gay Lovers?") The evening begins with what may well be Cary Grant's best-known film, An Affair to Remember. This 1957 romantic comedy-melodrama is unusual in that it's an even more successful remake of a previous critical and box-office hit -- the Academy Award-nominated 1939 release Love Affair -- and that it was directed...
- 12/9/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
A Criterion Grab Bag! kicks off this week at Trailers from Hell, with director and Tfh creator Joe Dante introducing "I Married a Witch."A savvy satire of both political and sexual gamesmanship, I Married A Witch, based on an unfinished novel by Topper author Thorne Smith, would seem to be the perfect union between two brilliant moviemakers, Rene Clair and Preston Sturges (Clair directed, Sturges produced). It’s full of his stock company of character actors but Sturges left the production due to artistic differences. Despite having its concepts ripped off by lesser productions over the years, this remains a strikingly modern and hilarious movie that hopefully will find new audiences through Criterion’s stellar digital transfer.
- 3/17/2014
- by Trailers From Hell
- Thompson on Hollywood
A savvy satire of both political and sexual gamesmanship, I Married A Witch, based on an unfinished novel by Topper author Thorne Smith, would seem to be the perfect union between two brilliant moviemakers, Rene Clair and Preston Sturges (Clair directed, Sturges produced). It’s full of his stock company of character actors but Sturges left the production due to artistic differences. Despite having its concepts ripped off by lesser productions over the years, this remains a strikingly modern and hilarious movie that hopefully will find new audiences through Criterion’s stellar digital transfer.
The post I Married a Witch appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post I Married a Witch appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 3/17/2014
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
Miele is directed by Valeria Golino, best known to English-speaking audiences as Topper Harley’s sexy, exotic girlfriend in the popular Hot Shots duology. That description, however, might be a reductive summation of her talents, because two decades later, she demonstrates what must be a higher calling as a director of challenging, thought-provoking drama in a film that should surely have landed In Competition — instead appearing in the still-esteemed Un Certain Regard cachet — and is presently the film to beat of not just the festival but the entire year. Going by the pseudonym Miele, Irene (Jasmine Trinca) is an angel of death, helping to give the terminally ill a peaceful means to leave this world, usually with the assistance of a loved one. To perform these euthanisations, she typically travels from Italy to Mexico to procure a barbiturate used to put dogs down and then implores said patient to drink it with vodka. However...
- 5/18/2013
- by Shaun Munro
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
As the Academy celebrates 85 years of great films at the Oscars on February 24th, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is set to take movie fans on the ultimate studio tour with the 2013 edition of 31 Days Of Oscar®. Under the theme Oscar by Studio, the network will present a slate of more than 350 movies grouped according to the studios that produced or released them. And as always, every film presented during 31 Days Of Oscar is an Academy Award® nominee or winner, making this annual event one of the most anticipated on any movie lover’s calendar.
As part of the network’s month-long celebration, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has graciously provided the original Academy Awards® radio broadcasts from 1930-1952. Specially chosen clips from the radio archives will be featured throughout TCM’s 31 Days Of Oscar website.
Hollywood was built upon the studio system, which saw nearly ever aspect...
As part of the network’s month-long celebration, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has graciously provided the original Academy Awards® radio broadcasts from 1930-1952. Specially chosen clips from the radio archives will be featured throughout TCM’s 31 Days Of Oscar website.
Hollywood was built upon the studio system, which saw nearly ever aspect...
- 12/17/2012
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
From Japanese ghost stories such as Ringu (1998) and Ju-on (2002, remade as The Grudge) to modern revisionist ghost stories such as Brad Anderson’s Session 9 (2001) and Ti West’s The Innkeepers (2011), cinematic specters have nearly always been evil, or at the very least, malicious. Scary movies have long held the belief that ghosts should frighten us, and Hollywood had lined their pockets with that notion, but is it possible to make a good movie about “good” ghosts? We think so, and here’s our proof… our Top Ten Movies About Friendly Ghosts.
10. Heart And Souls (1993)
Anything starring Robert Downey, Jr. is worth checking out in my book, but this comedy was surprisingly enjoyable. Downey plays a guy used by four ghosts to reconcile their lives before moving on into the afterlife. The catch is, Downey is less than enthusiastic, but finds himself the catalyst for something bigger than himself and goes along for the ride.
10. Heart And Souls (1993)
Anything starring Robert Downey, Jr. is worth checking out in my book, but this comedy was surprisingly enjoyable. Downey plays a guy used by four ghosts to reconcile their lives before moving on into the afterlife. The catch is, Downey is less than enthusiastic, but finds himself the catalyst for something bigger than himself and goes along for the ride.
- 10/30/2012
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Don't be fooled by Madonna's chic spectre in pearls in W.E. Female ghosts are the most terrifying spooks on film
One of the daffiest aspects of W.E., Madonna's deeply daffy film about Wallis Simpson, is the way our heroine keeps popping up as a peculiarly soignée ghost. Clad in a little black dress and pearls, she dispenses fashion tips and lifestyle aperçus to her younger namesake, who's having a bit of a breakdown that coincides with her Simpson-fixation, in 1990s Manhattan. Murmured words of spectral wisdom include: "Attractive, my dear, is a polite way of saying a woman's made the most of what she's got," and, "The most important thing is your face. The other end you just sit on."
This is perhaps the battiest but also the most diverting element in the film, and one I wish Madonna had explored at more length, if only because the...
One of the daffiest aspects of W.E., Madonna's deeply daffy film about Wallis Simpson, is the way our heroine keeps popping up as a peculiarly soignée ghost. Clad in a little black dress and pearls, she dispenses fashion tips and lifestyle aperçus to her younger namesake, who's having a bit of a breakdown that coincides with her Simpson-fixation, in 1990s Manhattan. Murmured words of spectral wisdom include: "Attractive, my dear, is a polite way of saying a woman's made the most of what she's got," and, "The most important thing is your face. The other end you just sit on."
This is perhaps the battiest but also the most diverting element in the film, and one I wish Madonna had explored at more length, if only because the...
- 1/20/2012
- by Anne Billson
- The Guardian - Film News
Robert Osborne is aware, arguably more than almost anyone, of today's (Wednesday, Jan. 18) significance birthday-wise.
Cary Grant (1904-86) was born on this day, and Turner Classic Movies -- of which veteran Hollywood columnist and historian Osborne is principal host -- is expectedly marking the occasion by showing several Grant films. "Topper," "Holiday" and "My Favorite Wife" are among the titles, and Osborne doesn't deem it an overstatement that Grant is one of the prime actors TCM was designed to showcase.
"I just think he was the best," Osborne tells Zap2it. "He was kind of the epitome of what it was all about. He had the talent, he had the glamor, he had the looks. He was there at the right time, working with all those great ladies, be it in the Katharine Hepburn era or the Grace Kelly era ... even Ingrid Bergman. I don't think there was anybody better.
Cary Grant (1904-86) was born on this day, and Turner Classic Movies -- of which veteran Hollywood columnist and historian Osborne is principal host -- is expectedly marking the occasion by showing several Grant films. "Topper," "Holiday" and "My Favorite Wife" are among the titles, and Osborne doesn't deem it an overstatement that Grant is one of the prime actors TCM was designed to showcase.
"I just think he was the best," Osborne tells Zap2it. "He was kind of the epitome of what it was all about. He had the talent, he had the glamor, he had the looks. He was there at the right time, working with all those great ladies, be it in the Katharine Hepburn era or the Grace Kelly era ... even Ingrid Bergman. I don't think there was anybody better.
- 1/18/2012
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
At one point in the early 1930s, Constance Bennett was the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. (In her early Warner Bros. movies, Bette Davis was clearly modeled after Bennett.) Following a series of risque — but generally dismal — tearjerkers, mostly at Rko, Bennett's stardom had all but fizzled out by 1935. Turner Classic Movies will be showing several of such Bennett vehicles on Friday early morning/afternoon, in addition to the comedies Topper, Merrily We Live, and Topper Takes a Trip, which revived the actress' career in the late '30s. Topper, which co-stars Cary Grant and Roland Young, is enjoyable, but it needed an Ernst Lubitsch to fully bring it to life. Topper Takes a Trip, though much inferior to the original, is harmless enough. What Price Hollywood? is the best one among the tearjerkers. Directed by George Cukor, this tale of a waitress who finds success and heartbreak in Hollywood was...
- 10/21/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
They can be harmful. They can be helpful. They can be annoying as all get-out. The film world has given us everything in the spectrum of ghost virtue from Bruce Willis to the creepy girl from Ringu. Today, in honor of The Lovely Bones, we salute the good guys, the friendly ghosts who ride high along with Casper in the act of moral solidarity.
10. Heart And Souls
Anything starring Robert Downey, Jr. is worth checking out in my book, but this comedy was surprisingly enjoyable. Downey plays a guy used by four ghosts to reconcile their lives before moving on into the afterlife. The catch is, Downey is less than enthusiastic, but finds himself the catalyst for something bigger than himself and goes along for the ride. The cast is comprised of several well-known actors making the film that much more enjoyable.
9. Truly, Madly, Deeply
The 1991 charming, English love story of a woman,...
10. Heart And Souls
Anything starring Robert Downey, Jr. is worth checking out in my book, but this comedy was surprisingly enjoyable. Downey plays a guy used by four ghosts to reconcile their lives before moving on into the afterlife. The catch is, Downey is less than enthusiastic, but finds himself the catalyst for something bigger than himself and goes along for the ride. The cast is comprised of several well-known actors making the film that much more enjoyable.
9. Truly, Madly, Deeply
The 1991 charming, English love story of a woman,...
- 12/9/2009
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The Birthday Boys and Girls of 11/11
1821 Fyodor Dostoevsky, legendary Russian author of Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov fame. So many movies inspired by his work. But he's not the legendary Russian author that'll be getting all the press this next couple of months. That'd be Leo Tolstoy, soon to be chattered about when The Last Station emerges as an Oscar contender.
1887 Roland Young, popular 30s and 40s character actor (Topper, The Philadelphia Story, Ruggles of Red Gap)
1898 René Clair, (pictured left), wonderful French writer/director. If you've never seen Le Million I urge you to rent it maintenant. His Oscar nominated films include The Gates of Paris (1957) and À nous la liberté (1931)
1899 Pat O'Brien --Ewwww, not that one people -- the actor! whose film career stretches alllllll the way from the 1931 classic The Front Page to 1981's Ragtime.
1901 Sam Spiegel, powerful producer. Boy was he on fire in...
1821 Fyodor Dostoevsky, legendary Russian author of Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov fame. So many movies inspired by his work. But he's not the legendary Russian author that'll be getting all the press this next couple of months. That'd be Leo Tolstoy, soon to be chattered about when The Last Station emerges as an Oscar contender.
1887 Roland Young, popular 30s and 40s character actor (Topper, The Philadelphia Story, Ruggles of Red Gap)
1898 René Clair, (pictured left), wonderful French writer/director. If you've never seen Le Million I urge you to rent it maintenant. His Oscar nominated films include The Gates of Paris (1957) and À nous la liberté (1931)
1899 Pat O'Brien --Ewwww, not that one people -- the actor! whose film career stretches alllllll the way from the 1931 classic The Front Page to 1981's Ragtime.
1901 Sam Spiegel, powerful producer. Boy was he on fire in...
- 11/11/2009
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Some months ago, Starlog contributor Gregory William Mank (along with Charles Heard & Bill Nelson) issued Hollywood’S Hellfire Club: The Misadventures Of John Barrymore, W.C. Fields, Errol Flynn & “The Bundy Drive Boys” (Feral House, tpb, $22.95). We’ve now bought and read it—and beyond its charming, dissolute Drew Friedman cover, it’s a joyful, wild party of a book, examining the alcohol-soaked misadventures of a coterie of hard-living actors and others in Hollywood’s 1930s and ’40s glory days.
In addition to those famed constant drinkers Barrymore, Fields and Flynn, the loose-knit Hellfire group included genre great John Carradine, Topper’s Roland Young, character actor star Thomas Mitchell (Stagecoach, Gone With The Wind), British thespian Alan Mowbray (the touring Shakespearean of My Darling Clementine), young Anthony Quinn, eccentric artist Sadakichi Hartmann and writers Ben Hecht and Gene Fowler. Near the tail end of the group’s existence, Vincent Price was also an ad hoc member.
In addition to those famed constant drinkers Barrymore, Fields and Flynn, the loose-knit Hellfire group included genre great John Carradine, Topper’s Roland Young, character actor star Thomas Mitchell (Stagecoach, Gone With The Wind), British thespian Alan Mowbray (the touring Shakespearean of My Darling Clementine), young Anthony Quinn, eccentric artist Sadakichi Hartmann and writers Ben Hecht and Gene Fowler. Near the tail end of the group’s existence, Vincent Price was also an ad hoc member.
- 8/28/2009
- by no-reply@starlog.com (David McDonnell)
- Starlog
'Everybody wants to be Cary Grant," the iconic actor is supposed to have once joked. "Even I want to be Cary Grant."
The suave Grant (1904-1986), born Archibald Leach in England, is the subject of a rare retrospective opening tonight at the Bam Rose Cinemas with one of his earliest leading-man assignments.
He's a playboy dallying with married woman Marlene Dietrich in Josef von Sternberg's outrageous pre-code gem "Blonde Venus" (1932), which is best remembered for her appearance in a...
The suave Grant (1904-1986), born Archibald Leach in England, is the subject of a rare retrospective opening tonight at the Bam Rose Cinemas with one of his earliest leading-man assignments.
He's a playboy dallying with married woman Marlene Dietrich in Josef von Sternberg's outrageous pre-code gem "Blonde Venus" (1932), which is best remembered for her appearance in a...
- 8/3/2009
- by By LOU LUMENICK
- NYPost.com
Blade Runner star Sean Young is urging George Clooney to help revive her stalled career - by remaking classic film Topper with her. The actress admits she has been attempting to get in touch with the movie hunk because she thinks he's the perfect choice to revive Cary Grant's role in a reworking of the cult 1937 comedy. Young is keen to remake the film, one of her favorites, with her in the role Constance Bennett played. She says, "I think our chemistry would match very well and I'd give him a run for his money... If he would just return my call and give me a shot, that could be really great."...
- 9/24/2007
- WENN
Variety reports that Disney has acquired the rights to the 1937 comedy Topper with an eye on turning the remake into a vehicle for Steve Martin. The original starred Cary Grant and Constance Bennett as a deceased couple who are determined to shake up the life of their friend Topper (Roland Young), a stuffy banker. Martin's Bringing Down the House director, Adam Shankman, is slated to produce; no word on if he will direct as well. Martin will shoot another remake, Cheaper By the Dozen, before moving onto Topper.
- 3/11/2003
- IMDbPro News
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