There are just a few hours left for the 96th Academy Awards to finally take place and honor the careers of people involved in the art of filmmaking. For years, acclaimed personalities like Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, and others, have etched their place in the entertainment industry by achieving several coveted awards.
Marlon Brando in The Godfather
However, Tinseltown has also witnessed few stars who dared to refuse to accept the envious accolade despite their deserving wins. Standing tall in line after Dudley Nichols is George C. Scott and Marlon Brando, who boycotted the award for their respective reasons. While Nichols and Brando had quite definite reasons, Scott’s refusal to attend the Oscars, came over a bizarre reason.
Dudley Nichols and Marlon Brando Boycotted the Oscars
As Tinseltown is currently preparing to host the most significant honor for the people involved in the art of filmmaking,...
Marlon Brando in The Godfather
However, Tinseltown has also witnessed few stars who dared to refuse to accept the envious accolade despite their deserving wins. Standing tall in line after Dudley Nichols is George C. Scott and Marlon Brando, who boycotted the award for their respective reasons. While Nichols and Brando had quite definite reasons, Scott’s refusal to attend the Oscars, came over a bizarre reason.
Dudley Nichols and Marlon Brando Boycotted the Oscars
As Tinseltown is currently preparing to host the most significant honor for the people involved in the art of filmmaking,...
- 3/10/2024
- by Krittika Mukherjee
- FandomWire
“Now I’m through with land and the land’s through with me,” says world-weary mariner Donkeyman (Arthur Shields) in The Long Voyage Home, succinctly expressing the dichotomy that runs through John Ford’s 1940 drama. Adapted by Dudley Nichols from four of Eugene O’Neill’s one-act plays, the film is deeply concerned with the threshold between land and sea.
Even when in port, the men working on the SS Glencairn are largely confined to the British cargo ship, and for logical reasons, such as police and military restrictions during wartime. Yet, through the aura of despondence and alienation so strongly established by Gregg Toland’s almost spectral cinematography, the men’s entrapment takes on a metaphysical significance not unlike that of the bourgeois individuals unable to exit the dining room in Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel.
For all the isolation and deprivation endured by the sailors, The Long Voyage Home is,...
Even when in port, the men working on the SS Glencairn are largely confined to the British cargo ship, and for logical reasons, such as police and military restrictions during wartime. Yet, through the aura of despondence and alienation so strongly established by Gregg Toland’s almost spectral cinematography, the men’s entrapment takes on a metaphysical significance not unlike that of the bourgeois individuals unable to exit the dining room in Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel.
For all the isolation and deprivation endured by the sailors, The Long Voyage Home is,...
- 7/11/2023
- by Derek Smith
- Slant Magazine
Actor John Wayne starred in Western and war movies that filled his filmography. However, he didn’t initially get his start in front of the camera. First, Wayne worked at Fox in the props department on several films before getting his first leading role in Raoul Walsh’s 1930 Western adventure called The Big Trail. Here are the eight movies Wayne worked on in the props department before he was famous.
John Wayne | ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images ‘The Great K & A Train Robbery’ (1926) L-r: Dorothy Dwan as Madge Cullen and Tom Mix as Tom Gordon | Fox
A detective poses as a bandit in an undercover mission to stop a streak of train robberies from continuing. Meanwhile, he falls in love with the railroad president’s daughter.
The Great K & A Train Robbery is a silent film directed by Lewis Seiler and written by John Stone from Paul Leicester Ford’s novel.
John Wayne | ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images ‘The Great K & A Train Robbery’ (1926) L-r: Dorothy Dwan as Madge Cullen and Tom Mix as Tom Gordon | Fox
A detective poses as a bandit in an undercover mission to stop a streak of train robberies from continuing. Meanwhile, he falls in love with the railroad president’s daughter.
The Great K & A Train Robbery is a silent film directed by Lewis Seiler and written by John Stone from Paul Leicester Ford’s novel.
- 3/1/2023
- by Jeff Nelson
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
The movie: "Bringing Up Baby"
Where you can watch it: HBO Max
The pitch: David Huxley is a fussy paleontologist doing his best to handle increasingly strange situations, all caused by a beautiful and eccentric young heiress named Susan Vance. Starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn as the ridiculous romantic pair, it was sadly a commercial flop, in large part due to Hepburn being declared "box office poison" by the Independent Theater Owners of America only a short time before its release. The movie has thankfully earned a reappraisal in the years since, as Howard Hawks' madcap direction and Grant and Hepburn's incredible onscreen chemistry makes this one of the funniest romantic comedies ever made. It's also absolutely filthy, with more sneaky dirty jokes packed in than anyone can really catch on a single viewing.
"Bringing Up Baby" is a mile-a-minute screwball romance where all of the characters are totally...
Where you can watch it: HBO Max
The pitch: David Huxley is a fussy paleontologist doing his best to handle increasingly strange situations, all caused by a beautiful and eccentric young heiress named Susan Vance. Starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn as the ridiculous romantic pair, it was sadly a commercial flop, in large part due to Hepburn being declared "box office poison" by the Independent Theater Owners of America only a short time before its release. The movie has thankfully earned a reappraisal in the years since, as Howard Hawks' madcap direction and Grant and Hepburn's incredible onscreen chemistry makes this one of the funniest romantic comedies ever made. It's also absolutely filthy, with more sneaky dirty jokes packed in than anyone can really catch on a single viewing.
"Bringing Up Baby" is a mile-a-minute screwball romance where all of the characters are totally...
- 1/18/2023
- by Danielle Ryan
- Slash Film
Writer/director Martin McDonagh and actors Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson have become the holy trinity of Irish films thanks to the critical and commercial success of 2008’s “In Bruges” for which Farrell won a Golden Globe, and their current collaboration “The Banshees of Inisherin,” which won best screenplay and actor for Farrell at Venice this past September. Since then, the Oscar buzz surrounding “Banshees” has become deafening.
During his four decade film career, John Ford made classic Westerns and dramas (“The Grapes of Wrath” and “How Green Was My Valley”; he won best director for both). But the no-nonsense filmmaker born John Feeney in Cape Elizabeth, Maine to Irish immigrant parents always revisited his Irish heritage.
The year 1924 saw the release of “The Shamrock Handicap” of which Variety noted “Ford loves everything Irish, and he made the most of the little human-interest touches.” His best-known Irish films, and for...
During his four decade film career, John Ford made classic Westerns and dramas (“The Grapes of Wrath” and “How Green Was My Valley”; he won best director for both). But the no-nonsense filmmaker born John Feeney in Cape Elizabeth, Maine to Irish immigrant parents always revisited his Irish heritage.
The year 1924 saw the release of “The Shamrock Handicap” of which Variety noted “Ford loves everything Irish, and he made the most of the little human-interest touches.” His best-known Irish films, and for...
- 11/7/2022
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
By Lee Pfeiffer
Retro movie lovers know that George C. Scott told the Academy in advance that he wouldn't be on hand to accept the Best Actor Oscar if he won for "Patton". When he did win, Scott was home sleeping, having expressed his distaste for the competitive nature of the awards.The film's producer, Frank McCarthy, accepted the award. Just two years later, Marlon Brando was a "no-show" when he won Best Actor for his career-reviving performance in "The Godfather". Instead, he sent a young Native American woman to express why he was declining the honor. Brando, who was actively involved in social justice causes for Native Americans, was protesting the way they had traditionally been treated in Hollywood films. Unlike Scott, however, Brando gave no advance notice, thus leaving presenters Roger Moore and Liv Ullman somewhat confused about what was going on. For the record, years later Scott...
Retro movie lovers know that George C. Scott told the Academy in advance that he wouldn't be on hand to accept the Best Actor Oscar if he won for "Patton". When he did win, Scott was home sleeping, having expressed his distaste for the competitive nature of the awards.The film's producer, Frank McCarthy, accepted the award. Just two years later, Marlon Brando was a "no-show" when he won Best Actor for his career-reviving performance in "The Godfather". Instead, he sent a young Native American woman to express why he was declining the honor. Brando, who was actively involved in social justice causes for Native Americans, was protesting the way they had traditionally been treated in Hollywood films. Unlike Scott, however, Brando gave no advance notice, thus leaving presenters Roger Moore and Liv Ullman somewhat confused about what was going on. For the record, years later Scott...
- 3/27/2022
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
“Tomorrow’S News Today!”
By Raymond Benson
One wonders if Bond villain Elliot Carver ever saw the 1944 comedy-fantasy, It Happened Tomorrow. Carver’s evil plot involved making bad news happen so that his newspapers could scoop the headlines before other media outlets even learned about the events. “Tomorrow’s News Today!” was his slogan.
In the fanciful and entertaining It Happened Tomorrow, a newspaper man receives tomorrow’s news today, allowing him to write the piece and get it ready to go to the presses before the incident occurs.
French filmmaker René Clair had come to Hollywood in the early 1940s after working for a time in the U.K. He made a handful of pictures for different studios, namely I Married a Witch (1942) and And Then There Were None (1945). In-between those notable titles came It Happened Tomorrow, which was based on an...
“Tomorrow’S News Today!”
By Raymond Benson
One wonders if Bond villain Elliot Carver ever saw the 1944 comedy-fantasy, It Happened Tomorrow. Carver’s evil plot involved making bad news happen so that his newspapers could scoop the headlines before other media outlets even learned about the events. “Tomorrow’s News Today!” was his slogan.
In the fanciful and entertaining It Happened Tomorrow, a newspaper man receives tomorrow’s news today, allowing him to write the piece and get it ready to go to the presses before the incident occurs.
French filmmaker René Clair had come to Hollywood in the early 1940s after working for a time in the U.K. He made a handful of pictures for different studios, namely I Married a Witch (1942) and And Then There Were None (1945). In-between those notable titles came It Happened Tomorrow, which was based on an...
- 6/4/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
It Happened Tomorrow
Blu ray
Kino Lorber
1944 / 1.33:1 / 85 min.
Starring Dick Powell, Linda Darnell, Jack Oakie
Cinematography by Archie Stout, Eugen Schüfftan
Directed by René Clair
René Clair takes a trip through The Twilight Zone in It Happened Tomorrow, the story of a reporter’s perilous adventure with a different kind of time machine. Like Clair’s I Married a Witch and The Ghost Goes West, this 1944 fantasy is lighter than air but its feet are planted firmly on the ground. Dick Powell plays Larry Stevens, a struggling journalist with a literal dead end job—he writes obituaries for The Evening News. Linda Darnell is Sylvia Smith, a stage performer who predicts fortunes with the help of Oscar Cigolini, né Smith, her showboating uncle played by Jack Oakie. Sylvia isn’t the only one with insight into the future, Larry gets in on the act when he’s handed a...
Blu ray
Kino Lorber
1944 / 1.33:1 / 85 min.
Starring Dick Powell, Linda Darnell, Jack Oakie
Cinematography by Archie Stout, Eugen Schüfftan
Directed by René Clair
René Clair takes a trip through The Twilight Zone in It Happened Tomorrow, the story of a reporter’s perilous adventure with a different kind of time machine. Like Clair’s I Married a Witch and The Ghost Goes West, this 1944 fantasy is lighter than air but its feet are planted firmly on the ground. Dick Powell plays Larry Stevens, a struggling journalist with a literal dead end job—he writes obituaries for The Evening News. Linda Darnell is Sylvia Smith, a stage performer who predicts fortunes with the help of Oscar Cigolini, né Smith, her showboating uncle played by Jack Oakie. Sylvia isn’t the only one with insight into the future, Larry gets in on the act when he’s handed a...
- 5/22/2021
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
One of America’s favorite holiday movies plays strangely today, and despite being one of the most popular pictures of its year, really should have disturbed people when it was new as well. Director Leo McCarey and his glowing stars Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman do remarkable work, and the show has its heart in the right place… but the values built into the story are painfully wrong-headed. We don’t expect ’40s films to adhere to today’s so-called enlightened PC values, but some of the attitudes in this one make us want to throw things at the screen. Taken from a beautifully remastered new restoration, Olive’s Signature Edition is flawless.
The Bells of St. Mary’s
Blu-ray
Olive Signature
1945 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 126 min. / Street Date November 26, 2019 / available through the Olive Signature website / 39.95
Starring: Bing Crosby, Ingrid Bergman, Henry Travers, William Gargan, Ruth Donnelly, Joan Carroll, Martha Sleeper,...
The Bells of St. Mary’s
Blu-ray
Olive Signature
1945 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 126 min. / Street Date November 26, 2019 / available through the Olive Signature website / 39.95
Starring: Bing Crosby, Ingrid Bergman, Henry Travers, William Gargan, Ruth Donnelly, Joan Carroll, Martha Sleeper,...
- 11/26/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Pop quiz: A science fiction landmark; a beloved classic rescued from obscurity by public television; two screwball comedies directed by the same Hollywood master 15 years apart; an almost ethereally beautiful western; an apocalyptic sociopolitical parable; a disemboweled silent epic; two gorgeous and epically scaled tales both taking place where politics, social upheaval and romance converge; a nearly unparalleled humanist drama; a hugely influential surrealist fantasy/romance; and two of the greatest horror films ever made– What do all of these films share in common?
Answer: They’re all inductees into the 2019 Muriel Awards Hall of Fame.
The Muriel Awards, a group of critics and writers gathered together by Mssrs. Paul Clark and Steve Carlson some 14 years ago (I have proudly been among their number since the beginning), have been voting on the year’s best since 2006, and since 2013 our august number has been compiling inductees for our own hall of fame.
Answer: They’re all inductees into the 2019 Muriel Awards Hall of Fame.
The Muriel Awards, a group of critics and writers gathered together by Mssrs. Paul Clark and Steve Carlson some 14 years ago (I have proudly been among their number since the beginning), have been voting on the year’s best since 2006, and since 2013 our august number has been compiling inductees for our own hall of fame.
- 8/18/2019
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
Twilight Time goes for a Blu-ray upgrade of the western remake with the all-star cast. Forget that there was ever a John Ford or a John Wayne and it’s a perfectly presentable wild west story, but the mileage may vary for classic western fans inclined to make comparisons to the 1939 classic. Top billing goes to an enthusiastic Ann-Margret… but we’re sorry to report that her hip-swinging rock number, ‘Viva Geronimo!’ was cut at the last minute.
Stagecoach
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1966 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 115 min. / Street Date April 16, 2019 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies / 29.95
Starring: Ann-Margret, Red Buttons, Michael Connors, Alex Cord, Bing Crosby, Bob Cummings, Van Heflin, Slim Pickens, Stefanie Powers, Keenan Wynn.
Cinematography: William H. Clothier
Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Written by Joseph Landon from the screenplay by Dudley Nichols from a story by Ernest Haycox
Produced by Martin Rackin
Directed by Gordon Douglas
The Hollywood western...
Stagecoach
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1966 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 115 min. / Street Date April 16, 2019 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies / 29.95
Starring: Ann-Margret, Red Buttons, Michael Connors, Alex Cord, Bing Crosby, Bob Cummings, Van Heflin, Slim Pickens, Stefanie Powers, Keenan Wynn.
Cinematography: William H. Clothier
Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Written by Joseph Landon from the screenplay by Dudley Nichols from a story by Ernest Haycox
Produced by Martin Rackin
Directed by Gordon Douglas
The Hollywood western...
- 5/18/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This is the first time the transcript of this interview has been made available in its entirety, although an edited version (entitled “The Lost Interview”) was published in Movie Maker Magazine in February 2004. At the time of the interview, Fritz Lang was recently home from hospital, recuperating from an operation. The interviewers, Lloyd Chesley and Michael Gould, were recent film graduates from York University in Toronto. Gould is the author of Surrealism and the Cinema: Open-eyed Screening 1972), one of the first English language books on this topic. One can access the complete audio of the Lang interview by buying an electronic version of the revised book at his website. Lloyd Chesley is the owner of Legends Comics and Books in Victoria, Canada. Fritz Lang: Danke schoen.Lloyd Chesley: Interviewing you here in the Hollywood Hills, and you started off in Austria, and you’ve been an expatriate it seems all your life,...
- 1/2/2019
- MUBI
Filmmakers and stars have often taken a political stance by choosing which projects to make. But when the Academy Awards ceremony began in 1929 to honor the best in film, this created a more public way to demonstrate opinions about the state of the world, the government or a cause.
Read More: Meryl Streep Fires Back at Donald Trump in Blistering Speech: ‘We Have the Right to Live Our Lives’
Not everyone has taken this opportunity though, except for maybe wearing the odd ribbon to support awareness or using their attendance (or lack thereof) to show solidarity. Those blessed by winning a coveted statuette, however, can use their actual acceptance speech as a platform to speak out. Although the awards started being televised in 1953, it took until the 1970s until winners began to really take advantage of having a massive audience for their views. And at times, even the Academy itself got political.
Read More: Meryl Streep Fires Back at Donald Trump in Blistering Speech: ‘We Have the Right to Live Our Lives’
Not everyone has taken this opportunity though, except for maybe wearing the odd ribbon to support awareness or using their attendance (or lack thereof) to show solidarity. Those blessed by winning a coveted statuette, however, can use their actual acceptance speech as a platform to speak out. Although the awards started being televised in 1953, it took until the 1970s until winners began to really take advantage of having a massive audience for their views. And at times, even the Academy itself got political.
- 2/26/2017
- by Hanh Nguyen
- Indiewire
The eighteenth entry in an on-going series of audiovisual essays by Cristina Álvarez López and Adrian Martin. Mubi will be showing Fritz Lang's Scarlet Street (1945) from December 30, 2016 - January 28, 2017 in the United States. In Fritz Lang’s masterpiece Scarlet Street (1945) it is never simply a matter of characters seeing or not seeing something important—although that can furnish the first, basic level of the intrigue. It is also a matter of what people really understand of what they see—which, in turn, has much to do with what they, consciously or unconsciously, project onto what is before their eyes. So, while the film is full of moments where its central figure, the ‘poor sap’ Chris Cross (Edward G. Robinson), has his eyes averted, or doesn’t hear someone creeping behind his back, it also explores his willful blindness: he looks at Kitty (Joan Bennett) and sees an innocent angel where,...
- 1/13/2017
- MUBI
John Ford's enduring milestone (his first sound western) was the film that Orson Welles studied over and over before embarking on Citizen Kane. Dudley Nichols' adaptation of Ernest Haycox's Collier's magazine story "Stage to Lordsburg" was the first of many Ford films shot in Monument Valley, then one of the least accessible locations in the southwest. By 1970 the original negative had been lost but John Wayne, who played the star-making role of Ringo, donated his personal 35mm print which has become the basis of all subsequent releases including the Blu-ray from Criterion.
- 3/4/2016
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
Dalton Trumbo and Nathanael West contributed to the screenplay for John Farrow's suspense adventure about a plane crash in the Amazon jungle -- who will survive? Lucille Ball is the ranking castaway in a glossy Rko thriller that's been restored to a fine polish. Five Came Back DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1939 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 75 min. / Street Date June 30, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Chester Morris, Lucille Ball, Wendy Barrie, John Carradine, Allen Jenkins, Joseph Calleia, C. Aubrey Smith, Kent Taylor, Patric Knowles, Elisabeth Risdon, Casey Johnson, Frank Faylen. Cinematography Nicholas Musuraca Original Music Roy Webb Written by Jerome Cady, Dalton Trumbo, Nathanael West story by Richard Carroll Produced by Robert Sisk Directed by John Farrow
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
When they list the 'big' pictures of 1939, the ones that we're told made that year Hollywood's best ever, there are some winning titles that don't get mentioned.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
When they list the 'big' pictures of 1939, the ones that we're told made that year Hollywood's best ever, there are some winning titles that don't get mentioned.
- 12/5/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The Hurricane
Written by Dudley Nichols
Directed by John Ford
USA, 1937
“My name is John Ford and I make Westerns,” so the legendary filmmaker once declared. As has been pointed out (by Martin Scorsese among others) that statement in a sense discounts the great director’s non-genre works, like the four features for which he won Academy Awards: The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), and The Quiet Man (1952). But with more than 140 directing credits on his résumé, it also sidesteps many lesser known, though quality, Ford films, those that either fall into the middle of the road category or those that are very good, if not quite great. That’s where his 1937 romantic drama The Hurricane comes in.
Produced by Samuel Goldwyn, directed by Ford (two years after The Informer and two years before his groundbreaking Stagecoach [1939]), and written by Dudley Nichols, himself an Oscar-winner for his writing The Informer,...
Written by Dudley Nichols
Directed by John Ford
USA, 1937
“My name is John Ford and I make Westerns,” so the legendary filmmaker once declared. As has been pointed out (by Martin Scorsese among others) that statement in a sense discounts the great director’s non-genre works, like the four features for which he won Academy Awards: The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), and The Quiet Man (1952). But with more than 140 directing credits on his résumé, it also sidesteps many lesser known, though quality, Ford films, those that either fall into the middle of the road category or those that are very good, if not quite great. That’s where his 1937 romantic drama The Hurricane comes in.
Produced by Samuel Goldwyn, directed by Ford (two years after The Informer and two years before his groundbreaking Stagecoach [1939]), and written by Dudley Nichols, himself an Oscar-winner for his writing The Informer,...
- 11/30/2015
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
John Ford and Samuel Goldwyn's South Seas disaster picture can boast spectacular action and compelling romance. The unjustly imprisoned Jon Hall crosses half an ocean to rejoin his beloved Dorothy Lamour under The Moon of Manakoora, before an incredible (and incredibly expensive) hurricane blows the island to smithereens. Ford's direction is flawless, as are the screenplay by Dudley Nichols and the Hollywood-exotic music score by Alfred Newman. The Hurricane Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1937 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 110 min. / Street Date November 24, 2015 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Dorothy Lamour, Jon Hall, Mary Astor, C. Aubrey Smith, Thomas Mitchell, Raymond Massey, John Carradine, Jerome Cowan, Al Kikume, Kuulei De Clercq, Layne Tom Jr., Mamo Clark, Movita, Inez Courtney, Chris-Pin Martin. Cinematography Bert Glennon Film Editor Lloyd Nosler Special Effects James Basevi, Ray Binger, R.T. Layton, Lee Zavitz Original Music Alfred Newman Written by Dudley Nichols, Oliver H.P. Garrett from the...
- 11/24/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
We still love John Ford's bitter-sentimental look back at the lost Myth of the West. John Wayne and James Stewart are at least thirty years too old for their roles, but everything seems to be happening in a foggy reverie, so what's the difference, Pilgrim? Great comedy and Lee Marvin's marvelous villain, plus the assertive 'print the Legend' message that's been hotly debated ever since. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Blu-ray Warner Home Video / Paramount 1962 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 123 min. / Street Date October 13, 2015 / 14.98 Starring John Wayne, James Stewart, Vera Miles, Lee Marvin, Edmond O'Brien, Andy Devine, Ken Murray, John Carradine, Jeanette Nolan, John Qualen, Willis Bouchey, Carleton Young, Woody Strode, Denver Pyle, Strother Martin, Lee Van Cleef Cinematography William H. Clothier Production Designer Eddie Imazu & Hal Pereira Film Editor Otho Lovering Original Music Cyril J. Mockridge Writing credits James Warner Bellah & Willis Goldbeck from a story by...
- 10/20/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
'And Then There Were None' movie with Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, June Duprez, Louis Hayward and Roland Young. 'And Then There Were None' movie remake to be directed by Oscar nominee Morten Tyldum One of the best-known Agatha Christie novels, And Then There Were None will be getting another big-screen transfer. 20th Century Fox has acquired the movie rights to the literary suspense thriller first published in the U.K. (as Ten Little Niggers) in 1939. Morten Tyldum, this year's Best Director Academy Award nominee for The Imitation Game, is reportedly set to direct. The source for this story is Deadline.com, which adds that Tyldum himself “helped hone the pitch” for the acquisition while Eric Heisserer (A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010, The Thing 2011) will handle the screenplay adaptation. And Then There Were None is supposed to have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, thus holding the...
- 9/29/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Olivia de Havilland on Turner Classic Movies: Your chance to watch 'The Adventures of Robin Hood' for the 384th time Olivia de Havilland is Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” star today, Aug. 2, '15. The two-time Best Actress Oscar winner (To Each His Own, 1946; The Heiress, 1949) whose steely determination helped to change the way studios handled their contract players turned 99 last July 1. Unfortunately, TCM isn't showing any de Havilland movie rarities, e.g., Universal's cool thriller The Dark Mirror (1946), the Paramount comedy The Well-Groomed Bride (1947), or Terence Young's British-made That Lady (1955), with de Havilland as eye-patch-wearing Spanish princess Ana de Mendoza. On the other hand, you'll be able to catch for the 384th time a demure Olivia de Havilland being romanced by a dashing Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood, as TCM shows this 1938 period adventure classic just about every month. But who's complaining? One the...
- 8/3/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Olivia de Havilland picture U.S. labor history-making 'Gone with the Wind' star and two-time Best Actress winner Olivia de Havilland turns 99 (This Olivia de Havilland article is currently being revised and expanded.) Two-time Best Actress Academy Award winner Olivia de Havilland, the only surviving major Gone with the Wind cast member and oldest surviving Oscar winner, is turning 99 years old today, July 1.[1] Also known for her widely publicized feud with sister Joan Fontaine and for her eight movies with Errol Flynn, de Havilland should be remembered as well for having made Hollywood labor history. This particular history has nothing to do with de Havilland's films, her two Oscars, Gone with the Wind, Joan Fontaine, or Errol Flynn. Instead, history was made as a result of a legal fight: after winning a lawsuit against Warner Bros. in the mid-'40s, Olivia de Havilland put an end to treacherous...
- 7/2/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Loretta Young films as TCM celebrates her 102nd birthday (photo: Loretta Young ca. 1935) Loretta Young would have turned 102 years old today. Turner Classic Movies is celebrating the birthday of the Salt Lake City-born, Academy Award-winning actress today, January 6, 2015, with no less than ten Loretta Young films, most of them released by Warner Bros. in the early '30s. Young, who began her film career in a bit part in the 1927 Colleen Moore star vehicle Her Wild Oat, remained a Warners contract player from the late '20s up until 1933. (See also: "Loretta Young Movies.") Now, ten Loretta Young films on one day may sound like a lot, but one should remember that most Warner Bros. -- in fact, most Hollywood -- releases of the late '20s and early '30s were either B Movies or programmers. The latter were relatively short (usually 60 to 75 minutes) feature films starring A (or B+) performers,...
- 1/6/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Veterans Day movies on TCM: From 'The Sullivans' to 'Patton' (photo: George C. Scott in 'Patton') This evening, Turner Classic Movies is presenting five war or war-related films in celebration of Veterans Day. For those outside the United States, Veterans Day is not to be confused with Memorial Day, which takes place in late May. (Scroll down to check out TCM's Veterans Day movie schedule.) It's good to be aware that in the last century alone, the U.S. has been involved in more than a dozen armed conflicts, from World War I to the invasion of Iraq, not including direct or indirect military interventions in countries as disparate as Iran, Guatemala, and Chile. As to be expected in a society that reveres people in uniform, American war movies have almost invariably glorified American soldiers even in those rare instances when they have dared to criticize the military establishment.
- 11/12/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Scarlet Street
Written by Dudley Nichols
Directed by Fritz Lang
USA, 1945
In a private party set up by J. J. Hogarth (Russell Hicks), president of one of New York’s largest banks, honours are bestowed upon the company and its employees for their diligent service. Among those celebrated is Christopher Cross (Edward G. Robinson), faithful cashier for 25 years. Chris is a mild-mannered, milquetoast sort of chap. He lives with his wife Adele (Rosalind Ivan), who only married him out of convenience after the passing of her first husband; she actually loathes him. A hopeful painter, all Chris has to call his joy is amateur painting on Sundays. Fate has something far different in store for Chris once he leaves his employer’s party. He stumbles upon a man physically assaulting a woman on the sidewalk, prompting him to come to her aid. The young woman, Katherine (Joan Bennett), is thankful...
Written by Dudley Nichols
Directed by Fritz Lang
USA, 1945
In a private party set up by J. J. Hogarth (Russell Hicks), president of one of New York’s largest banks, honours are bestowed upon the company and its employees for their diligent service. Among those celebrated is Christopher Cross (Edward G. Robinson), faithful cashier for 25 years. Chris is a mild-mannered, milquetoast sort of chap. He lives with his wife Adele (Rosalind Ivan), who only married him out of convenience after the passing of her first husband; she actually loathes him. A hopeful painter, all Chris has to call his joy is amateur painting on Sundays. Fate has something far different in store for Chris once he leaves his employer’s party. He stumbles upon a man physically assaulting a woman on the sidewalk, prompting him to come to her aid. The young woman, Katherine (Joan Bennett), is thankful...
- 2/28/2014
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
It took me a while to watch something in tribute to the late Peter O'Toole—too upsetting—and I still haven't been able to face Joan Fontaine on the screen since her recent passing, though when I do perhaps I'll go for September Affair (1950) or Something to Live For (1952), neither of which I've ever seen.
With O'Toole, I eventually plumped for Rogue Male (1977): the title seemed to fit him to a tee. This is a television adaptation of Geoffrey Household's excellent thriller, previously filmed by Fritz Lang under the title Man Hunt, back in 1941 when the events were current.
A hunter (O'Toole) called Hunter takes aim at Hitler, but is apprehended before he can pull the trigger. Tortured by the Gestapo, he miraculously escapes and now Hunter becomes the hunted, pursued all the way back to England and run to earth in a self-made burrow, trapped like a rat.
With O'Toole, I eventually plumped for Rogue Male (1977): the title seemed to fit him to a tee. This is a television adaptation of Geoffrey Household's excellent thriller, previously filmed by Fritz Lang under the title Man Hunt, back in 1941 when the events were current.
A hunter (O'Toole) called Hunter takes aim at Hitler, but is apprehended before he can pull the trigger. Tortured by the Gestapo, he miraculously escapes and now Hunter becomes the hunted, pursued all the way back to England and run to earth in a self-made burrow, trapped like a rat.
- 1/9/2014
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
Jeanne Crain: From Pinky to Margie Jeanne Crain, one of the most charming Hollywood actresses of the ’40s and ’50s, is Turner Classic Movies’ "Summer Under the Stars" featured player on Monday, August 26, 2013. Since Jeanne Crain was a top 20th Century Fox star for about a decade — a favorite of Fox mogul Darryl F. Zanuck — TCM will be showing quite a few films from the Fox library. And that’s great news. (Photo: Jeanne Crain ca. 1950.) (See also: “Jeanne Crain Movies: TCM’s ‘Summer Under the Stars’ Schedule.”) Now, my first recommendation is actually an MGM release. That’s Russell Rouse’s 1956 psychological Western The Fastest Gun Alive, an unusual movie in that the hero turns out to be a "coward" at heart: quick-on-the-trigger gunslinger Glenn Ford is reluctant to face an evil challenger (Broderick Crawford) in a small Western town. But why? Jeanne Crain is his serious-minded wife...
- 8/26/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Criticizing the Academy Awards is becoming a tradition as solidified as the Awards ceremony itself. The ink spilled over anticipation of who will come out swinging during Awards season is typically followed by an anticipated – but, when well-argued, often necessary – critique of the pomp and circumstance of the ceremony itself. Now that we’re neck-deep in Presidential election season, the time dedicated to polling, statistics, and manufactured drama all in the service of something ultimately unpredictable resonates alongside the earliest Fall predictions of the Winter’s Awards competitors: no matter the race, we can become hopelessly invested in every detail in the process of competition. As Matt Taibbi stated bluntly in an editorial on the Presidential race, this is not what democratic participation should look or feel like. Nor, for that matter, is immersing oneself in the Kool-Aid of Oscar anticipation what a genuine investment in cinema should look like. While...
- 10/23/2012
- by Landon Palmer
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Well, the dog days of summer are fast approaching, and what better way to duck out of the heat than by spending a cool day inside, AC-blasting, with your Blu-ray player and an endless supply of chilled adult beverages. June sees the release of an Alfred Hitchcock classic (beautifully restored), a trio of Lina Wertmüller gems, a nearly lost Michael Curtiz effort, a movie about the sex lives of ghosts, and a plane crash survival tale sold on the, er, ample merits of its female lead.
“The 39 Steps” (Alfred Hitchcock, 1935)
Why You Should Care: Because “The 39 Steps,” a crackling (86 minutes!) spy thriller from Alfred Hitchcock, is one of the most beloved British movies of all time, coming in at fourth place in the British Film Institute’s poll of top British films, and more recently, named the 21st greatest British film of all time by movie magazine Total Film. The film,...
“The 39 Steps” (Alfred Hitchcock, 1935)
Why You Should Care: Because “The 39 Steps,” a crackling (86 minutes!) spy thriller from Alfred Hitchcock, is one of the most beloved British movies of all time, coming in at fourth place in the British Film Institute’s poll of top British films, and more recently, named the 21st greatest British film of all time by movie magazine Total Film. The film,...
- 6/7/2012
- by Drew Taylor
- The Playlist
Olivia de Havilland picture Olivia de Havilland made Hollywood history in the 1940s. That "history" has nothing to do with de Havilland’s films, her two Best Actress Oscars, or her much-publicized feud with sister Joan Fontaine. Instead, history was made as a result of a legal fight: in the mid-’40s, Olivia de Havilland radically altered labor practices between Hollywood studios and their contract players after she won a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Born on July 1, 1916, to English parents living in Japan, Olivia de Havilland became a Warners leading lady in 1935. That year, in addition to run-of-the-mill fare such as Alibi Ike and The Irish in Us, de Havilland was cast in two Best Picture Oscar nominees: Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Michael Curtiz’s Captain Blood, her first pairing with Errol Flynn. In the ensuing years, de Havilland and Flynn would...
- 6/6/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Made with veteran screenwriter and Stagecoach collaborator Dudley Nichols, John Ford’s The Fugitive took a number of liberties in adapting The Power And The Glory, Graham Greene’s 1940 novel about a priest on the run. In lesser hands, those liberties might have softened the material into mush. Where Greene’s novel featured a clay-footed hero with many failings, star Henry Fonda plays a virtuous man who falls short of his own demanding standards when placed in an impossible situation. And where Greene specifically set his novel in Mexico during the reign of Plutarco Elías Calles and an ...
- 2/15/2012
- avclub.com
This sort of thing can rapidly turn into a vanity project, so I will have to watch my step a little. Laudable as it is to try to bring to people’s attention some splendid films which they may not have seen, it can swiftly deteriorate into, “oh gosh, you haven’t seen Cube: Zero, what kind of film fan do you call yourself?”.
So the criterion here is not obscurity, nor necessarily five-star classic status, rather this is an effort at a simple introduction to a handful of rarely seen and perhaps under-appreciated films that you might want to catch when and where you can. I’ve tried to mix up the genres a little and so hopefully everyone can find something they will like.
Page One (#1 #2) – Page Two (#3 #4) - Page Three (#5 #6)
1. A Better Tomorrow (1986) – Dir. John Woo
John Woo has been responsible for some of the most acclaimed...
So the criterion here is not obscurity, nor necessarily five-star classic status, rather this is an effort at a simple introduction to a handful of rarely seen and perhaps under-appreciated films that you might want to catch when and where you can. I’ve tried to mix up the genres a little and so hopefully everyone can find something they will like.
Page One (#1 #2) – Page Two (#3 #4) - Page Three (#5 #6)
1. A Better Tomorrow (1986) – Dir. John Woo
John Woo has been responsible for some of the most acclaimed...
- 1/12/2012
- by Dave Roper
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Pyshka, 1934, directed by Mikhail Romm. Romm was an intermittently successful Soviet filmmaker who toed the line, making two biopics of Lenin. The fact that Pyshka was sonorized in 1955, with a voice-over, score and sound effects added, suggests that he was still well-regarded then. Romm had a fantastic eye for composition, light, and character. I don't know too much or have too much to say about him, but I think these images speak for themselves, and it's probable that his own Wwi experience informs the shots of dead soldiers that begin the story, by far the movie's most vivid sequence.
Pyshka is adapted from Guy de Maupassant's story Boule de Suif, which has an interesting cinematic history. One of Maupassant's semi-propagandist works dealing with the Franco-Prussian war, it's been bent to the purposes of a number of different filmmakers, nations, and era.
Basically, the story tells of a party...
Pyshka is adapted from Guy de Maupassant's story Boule de Suif, which has an interesting cinematic history. One of Maupassant's semi-propagandist works dealing with the Franco-Prussian war, it's been bent to the purposes of a number of different filmmakers, nations, and era.
Basically, the story tells of a party...
- 9/15/2011
- MUBI
Kirk Douglas on TCM: A Letter To Three Wives, Mourning Becomes Electra Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 8:00 Pm The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers (1946). Years after a murder drove them apart heiress tries to win back her lost love. Dir: Lewis Milestone. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas, Judith Anderson. Bw-116 mins. 10:00 Pm Out Of The Past (1947). A private eye becomes the dupe of a homicidal moll. Dir: Jacques Tourneur. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming. Bw-97 mins. 11:45 Pm I Walk Alone (1948). An ex-convict discovers the world of crime has changed drastically since he went up the river. Dir: Byron Haskin. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas, Wendell Corey. Bw-97 mins. 1:30 Am A Letter To Three Wives (1949). A small-town seductress notifies her three best friends that she has run off with one of their husbands. Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
- 9/7/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Kirk Douglas is Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month of September. Though hardly a great film actor — or even a good one — Douglas has had one of the longest and most prestigious film careers anywhere in the world. That's probably because enough audience members loved how Douglas ferociously attacked his characters — instead of merely bringing them to life. [Kirk Douglas Movie Schedule.] The 94-year-old actor (who'll be turning 95 next December 9) starred or was featured in numerous major classics — and a number of minor ones — from the mid-'40s to the mid'-60s, nabbing three Best Actor Oscar nominations along the way. He has continued working since then, but for the most part his projects have been low-quality fare. The list of Kirk Douglas' movie classics, however, is quite long. It includes Jacques Tourneur's film noir Out of the Past (1947); Mark Robson's boxing melodrama Champion (1949), for which Douglas received his first...
- 9/7/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Jan 07, 2011
A pet project of Darryl Zanuck's, The Grapes of Wrath exercised the packaging talents of Fox's studio head for a large part of 1939 as he put together a team appropriate to a book with the stature of Steinbeck's novel. John Ford was an obvious choice to direct, Dudley Nichols to write the script, and Henry Fonda to star as Tom Joad, the uneducated ex-convict "Oakie" who becomes the personification of flinty Midwestern integrity and moral worth. Knowing Fonda's wish to play Joad, Zanuck lured him into signing an eight-picture contract by advertising his ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com...
A pet project of Darryl Zanuck's, The Grapes of Wrath exercised the packaging talents of Fox's studio head for a large part of 1939 as he put together a team appropriate to a book with the stature of Steinbeck's novel. John Ford was an obvious choice to direct, Dudley Nichols to write the script, and Henry Fonda to star as Tom Joad, the uneducated ex-convict "Oakie" who becomes the personification of flinty Midwestern integrity and moral worth. Knowing Fonda's wish to play Joad, Zanuck lured him into signing an eight-picture contract by advertising his ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com...
- 1/7/2011
- CinemaNerdz
(1951, PG, Optimum)
Optimum's latest valuable tranche of six western classics ranges in time from The Return of Frank James (1940, Fritz Lang's first western and first colour movie) to Butch & Sundance: The Early Years (1979), Dick Lester's witty prequel to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The major release, however, is Rawhide, an intense, monochrome, chamber western set on a remote stagecoach station where an outlaw gang holds the residents captive to steal a consignment of gold bullion. The whole cast are 20th Century Fox performers, the crooks led by Hugh Marlowe, customarily a solid citizen, backed by wall-eyed Jack Elam in one of his first notable roles. Opposing them are Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward. They're directed by veteran Henry Hathaway, here bringing together his command of the western and the noir thriller. The script is by one of Hollywood's most distinguished writers, Dudley Nichols, whose credits include Bringing up Baby,...
Optimum's latest valuable tranche of six western classics ranges in time from The Return of Frank James (1940, Fritz Lang's first western and first colour movie) to Butch & Sundance: The Early Years (1979), Dick Lester's witty prequel to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The major release, however, is Rawhide, an intense, monochrome, chamber western set on a remote stagecoach station where an outlaw gang holds the residents captive to steal a consignment of gold bullion. The whole cast are 20th Century Fox performers, the crooks led by Hugh Marlowe, customarily a solid citizen, backed by wall-eyed Jack Elam in one of his first notable roles. Opposing them are Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward. They're directed by veteran Henry Hathaway, here bringing together his command of the western and the noir thriller. The script is by one of Hollywood's most distinguished writers, Dudley Nichols, whose credits include Bringing up Baby,...
- 9/4/2010
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Director: John Ford Writers: Ernest Haycox, Dudley Nichols Cinematographer: Bert Glennon Starring: Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell Studio: Criterion / Walter Wanger Productions The legendary western that begat more legend By the time director John Ford had cast the role of the Ringo Kid for Stagecoach—loosely based on a short story by Guy de Maupassant—both the genre he was working in (the Western) and the actor he snagged (a towering Iowan named John Wayne) were entrenched in the backwaters of B-movie-dom. But when Ford’s camera zooms in on the Ringo Kid, saddle in one hand and Winchester rifle in...
- 6/23/2010
- Pastemagazine.com
Stagecoach Directed by: John Ford Written by: Dudley Nichols Starring: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, John Carradine, Andy Devine With comic book movies and fantasy films ruling the box office, it's safe to say that the 'B movie' is now 'the A movie'. While the idea of the blockbuster is nothing new, there seems to have been a shift in the quality of talent that have attached themselves to films that years ago might have been considered substandard (actually, most of it still is substandard). Similarly, the western was once considered pure pulp filmmaking until John Ford's Stagecoach set a standard that legitimized the American western and turned a B movie actor (John Wayne) into a legend. While the plot of Stagecoach is pretty straightforward, the characterizations are fairly subversive considering this was Ford's first 'talkie' western. The first act of the film takes its time setting up the multitude...
- 5/27/2010
- by Jay C.
- FilmJunk
Sunday evening sees the biggest movie awards event of the year. The 82nd Academy Award ceremony is taking place at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Billions will be watching with bated breath as a variety of stars smugly congratulate each other. Oh, come on, you know it’s just the greatest promotional event ever created!
What do awards mean anyway? Haven’t they always been a little bit pointless and strange? Two-time Oscar winner William Friedkin has lambasted them the day since he got hold of one, make that, two. Of course, he was a supreme egotist in the 1970s, but he has a good point. He’s not the only creative talent to stick two fingers up at Oscar. Marlon Brando famously sent a Native American to collect his award for The Godfather and George C. Scott, who won for Patton in 1970, called the event “a meat parade”.
Anyway,...
What do awards mean anyway? Haven’t they always been a little bit pointless and strange? Two-time Oscar winner William Friedkin has lambasted them the day since he got hold of one, make that, two. Of course, he was a supreme egotist in the 1970s, but he has a good point. He’s not the only creative talent to stick two fingers up at Oscar. Marlon Brando famously sent a Native American to collect his award for The Godfather and George C. Scott, who won for Patton in 1970, called the event “a meat parade”.
Anyway,...
- 3/6/2010
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
The great Fritz Lang takes on Der Fuehrer in 1941‘s Man Hunt, a neglected 1941 gem of film noir and ballsy left-wing thriller, scripted by John Ford‘s liberal conscience, Dudley Nichols. Lang’s source novel is Geoffrey Household’s Rogue Male, a furiously topical pre-WW2 bestseller about a British big game hunter (played by Walter Pidgeon), who goes after Adolf Hitler (played by the actual Schickelgruber in documentary footage) , and then finds himself the target of Nazis, killers and fifth columnists in a very foggy London of shadowy houses and rain-slickened streets, where chills, betrayal and murder are always in the air.
- 6/2/2009
- Movie City News
Release year: 1938
The players: Director: Howard Hawks, Writers: Dudley Nichols, Hagar Wilde, Cast: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Charles Ruggles, May Robson
The plot: Dr. David Huxley’s life is turned upside down when he meets the eccentric Susan Vance, who recruits him to help her move a leopard from her New York apartment to her aunt’s home in Connecticut.
Modern thoughts on a classic movie: Although the film was a commercial bomb upon its initial release, “Bringing Up Baby” has managed to sneak its way onto not only best comedy lists, but best film lists too. Personally though, I think the people of 1938 had the right idea in rejecting this utterly boring screw-ball classic.
Cary Grant’s Huxley is both foolish and spineless. On his wedding day, he lets a woman he barely knows talk him into taking a leopard from New York to Connecticut.
The players: Director: Howard Hawks, Writers: Dudley Nichols, Hagar Wilde, Cast: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Charles Ruggles, May Robson
The plot: Dr. David Huxley’s life is turned upside down when he meets the eccentric Susan Vance, who recruits him to help her move a leopard from her New York apartment to her aunt’s home in Connecticut.
Modern thoughts on a classic movie: Although the film was a commercial bomb upon its initial release, “Bringing Up Baby” has managed to sneak its way onto not only best comedy lists, but best film lists too. Personally though, I think the people of 1938 had the right idea in rejecting this utterly boring screw-ball classic.
Cary Grant’s Huxley is both foolish and spineless. On his wedding day, he lets a woman he barely knows talk him into taking a leopard from New York to Connecticut.
- 7/12/2008
- by Rachel Thuro
- screeninglog.com
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