The red carpet will soon roll out for the 77th Festival de Cannes. The international film festival, playing out May 14-25, has a distinct American voice this year. “Barbie” filmmaker Greta Gerwig is the first U.S. female director name jury president. Many veteran American helmers are heading to the French Rivera resort town. George Lucas, who turns 80 on May 14, will receive an honorary Palme d’Or. Francis Ford Coppola’s much-anticipated “Megalopolis” is screening in competition, as is Paul Schrader’s “Oh Canada.” Kevin Costner’s new Western “Horizon, An American Saga” will premiere out of competition and Oliver Stone’s “Lula” is part of the special screening showcase.
Fifty years ago, Coppola was the toast of the 27th Cannes Film Festival. His brilliant psychological thriller “The Conversation” starring Gene Hackman won the Palme D’Or and well as a Special Mention from the Ecumenical Jury. The film would earn three Oscar nominations: picture,...
Fifty years ago, Coppola was the toast of the 27th Cannes Film Festival. His brilliant psychological thriller “The Conversation” starring Gene Hackman won the Palme D’Or and well as a Special Mention from the Ecumenical Jury. The film would earn three Oscar nominations: picture,...
- 4/25/2024
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.NEWSThe Truman Show.Joana Vicente has resigned from her post at the helm of the Sundance Film Festival after less than three years. Some industry sources have pointed to a contentious relationship with the board on fundraising matters as one possible explanation.This year’s Cannes Film Festival will open with Quentin Dupieux’s The Second Act, a surrealist backstage comedy starring Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel, and Raphaël Quenard.Concerns about copyright, continuity, tech business models, and the uncanny valley lead industry insiders to speculate that generative AI won’t soon be making its big-screen debut, though it will increasingly be a part of pre-production workflows.Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer (2023) has opened in Japan to mixed...
- 4/3/2024
- MUBI
Barbara Rush, who won a Golden Globe for most promising newcomer in “It Came From Outer Space” and went on to appear in “Peyton Place” and many other movies and TV shows, died Sunday. Her daughter, Fox News Channel correspondent Claudia Cowan, confirmed her death to Fox News Digital.
“My wonderful mother passed away peacefully at 5:28 this evening. I was with her this morning and know she was waiting for me to return home safely to transition,” Cowan told Fox. “It’s fitting she chose to leave on Easter as it was one of her favorite holidays and now, of course, Easter will have a deeper significance for me and my family.”
Rush appeared in soap operas including “All My Children” and on “7th Heaven,” and appeared in films such as “The Young Philadelphians,” “Robin and the 7 Hoods,” “Hombre” and “The Young Lions.” Her co-stars included Rock Hudson,...
“My wonderful mother passed away peacefully at 5:28 this evening. I was with her this morning and know she was waiting for me to return home safely to transition,” Cowan told Fox. “It’s fitting she chose to leave on Easter as it was one of her favorite holidays and now, of course, Easter will have a deeper significance for me and my family.”
Rush appeared in soap operas including “All My Children” and on “7th Heaven,” and appeared in films such as “The Young Philadelphians,” “Robin and the 7 Hoods,” “Hombre” and “The Young Lions.” Her co-stars included Rock Hudson,...
- 4/1/2024
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
Barbara Rush, the classy yet largely unheralded leading lady who sparkled in the 1950s melodramas Magnificent Obsession, Bigger Than Life and The Young Philadelphians, has died. She was 97.
Rush, a regular on the fifth and final season of ABC’s Peyton Place and a favorite of sci-fi fans thanks to her work in When Worlds Collide (1951) and It Came From Outer Space (1953), died Sunday in Westlake Village, her daughter, Fox News senior correspondent Claudia Cowan, announced.
“My wonderful mother passed away peacefully at 5:28 this evening. I was with her this morning and know she was waiting for me to return home safely to transition,” Cowan said. “It’s fitting she chose to leave on Easter as it was one of her favorite holidays and now, of course, Easter will have a deeper significance for me and my family.”
A starlet at Paramount, Universal and Fox whose career blossomed at...
Rush, a regular on the fifth and final season of ABC’s Peyton Place and a favorite of sci-fi fans thanks to her work in When Worlds Collide (1951) and It Came From Outer Space (1953), died Sunday in Westlake Village, her daughter, Fox News senior correspondent Claudia Cowan, announced.
“My wonderful mother passed away peacefully at 5:28 this evening. I was with her this morning and know she was waiting for me to return home safely to transition,” Cowan said. “It’s fitting she chose to leave on Easter as it was one of her favorite holidays and now, of course, Easter will have a deeper significance for me and my family.”
A starlet at Paramount, Universal and Fox whose career blossomed at...
- 4/1/2024
- by Mike Barnes and Duane Byrge
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
It's important not to mix up the 1959 John Wayne film "Rio Bravo" with the 1966 John Wayne film "El Dorado." As cinephile Chilli Palmer (John Travolta) points out in the 1995 film "Get Shorty," Dean Martin played the drunk in "Rio Bravo," while Robert Mitchum played the drunk in "El Dorado." Basically the same part. Chilli Palmer also points out that John Wayne played the same role in both films: he played John Wayne.
Dean Martin was no stranger to cinema by 1959, having already appeared in a dozen short films. The bulk of his output, however, was playing more or less himself opposite his comedy partner Jerry Lewis. His first feature film didn't come until 1957, in the Richard Thorpe rom-com "Ten Thousand Bedrooms," coming after splitting with Lewis. Immediately diversifying, Martin went on to star in the war film "The Young Lions" and Vincente Minnelli's "Some Came Running" before appearing in "Rio Bravo.
Dean Martin was no stranger to cinema by 1959, having already appeared in a dozen short films. The bulk of his output, however, was playing more or less himself opposite his comedy partner Jerry Lewis. His first feature film didn't come until 1957, in the Richard Thorpe rom-com "Ten Thousand Bedrooms," coming after splitting with Lewis. Immediately diversifying, Martin went on to star in the war film "The Young Lions" and Vincente Minnelli's "Some Came Running" before appearing in "Rio Bravo.
- 3/25/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Exclusive: Move over, Steve McQueen, there is a new “king of cool” in town. You might recall the excellent 1998 documentary titled Steve McQueen: The King of Cool. Well, now a similar name has been awarded to none other than Dean Martin, the subject of a comprehensive and compelling new docu premiering November 19 on Turner Classic Movies, preceded by its world premiere November 14 as part of the program for Doc NYC at the Sva Theatre in New York City. “Cool” defines Martin in every sense of the word.
TCM will not only be hosting the broadcast premiere of Dean Martin: King of Cool but also a film retrospective as a companion to this long-in-the-works look at the talent and mystery of the legendary entertainer, who died at age 78 on Christmas Day 1995 but has never really gone away thanks to an iconic career that covered uncanny success in movies, TV, music, nightclubs...
TCM will not only be hosting the broadcast premiere of Dean Martin: King of Cool but also a film retrospective as a companion to this long-in-the-works look at the talent and mystery of the legendary entertainer, who died at age 78 on Christmas Day 1995 but has never really gone away thanks to an iconic career that covered uncanny success in movies, TV, music, nightclubs...
- 11/2/2021
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
The great director discusses some of his favorite movies with host Josh Olson.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
The Alzheimer Case a.k.a. Memory of a Killer (2003)
Memory (Tbd)
The Protégé (2021)
You Only Live Twice (1967)
Cast A Deadly Spell (1991)
The Mask Of Zorro (1998)
GoldenEye (1995)
Casino Royale (2006)
Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)
Slap Shot (1977) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
Salt (2010)
Atomic Blonde (2017) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
The Manchurian Candidate (1962) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
Oliver Twist (1948)
Dr. No (1962) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary
The Guns Of Navarone (1962)
The Dirty Dozen (1967) – Ed Neumeier’s trailer commentary
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s 70mm reissue review
The Spy Who Loved Me...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
The Alzheimer Case a.k.a. Memory of a Killer (2003)
Memory (Tbd)
The Protégé (2021)
You Only Live Twice (1967)
Cast A Deadly Spell (1991)
The Mask Of Zorro (1998)
GoldenEye (1995)
Casino Royale (2006)
Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)
Slap Shot (1977) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
Salt (2010)
Atomic Blonde (2017) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
The Manchurian Candidate (1962) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
Oliver Twist (1948)
Dr. No (1962) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary
The Guns Of Navarone (1962)
The Dirty Dozen (1967) – Ed Neumeier’s trailer commentary
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s 70mm reissue review
The Spy Who Loved Me...
- 8/27/2021
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
John Gabriel, an actor and singer best known for his role as Dr. Seneca Beaulac on the ABC soap opera “Ryan’s Hope,” has died. He was 90.
“It is with an unspeakably heavy heart that I share the news of my father’s passing,” Gabriel’s daughter, actress Andrea Gabriel, announced in an Instagram post Sunday, which included a headshot of her father and a photo of him walking her own the aisle on her wedding day. “John Gabriel was my hero, my role model, and my champion, but above all, my daddy. … I will love you forever.”
Andrea Gabriel did not provide further details on her father’s death, including the cause of his passing.
Gabriel, played Dr. Seneca Beaulac, the chief of staff at New York’s Riverside Hospital, on ABC’s “Ryan’s Hope” for 10 years, from 1975-1985, and again at the end of its run, from 1988-1989. In...
“It is with an unspeakably heavy heart that I share the news of my father’s passing,” Gabriel’s daughter, actress Andrea Gabriel, announced in an Instagram post Sunday, which included a headshot of her father and a photo of him walking her own the aisle on her wedding day. “John Gabriel was my hero, my role model, and my champion, but above all, my daddy. … I will love you forever.”
Andrea Gabriel did not provide further details on her father’s death, including the cause of his passing.
Gabriel, played Dr. Seneca Beaulac, the chief of staff at New York’s Riverside Hospital, on ABC’s “Ryan’s Hope” for 10 years, from 1975-1985, and again at the end of its run, from 1988-1989. In...
- 6/14/2021
- by Jennifer Maas
- The Wrap
by Cláudio Alves
For the first half of his career, Montgomery Clift typified an image of restless youth and tragic beauty onscreen. Many of his early films found Clift playing young traumatized soldiers or men embroiled in doomed romance, lively characters whose nervous energy electrified the frame. The second era of Monty films, starting with 1957's Raintree County, saw a transformation of his persona. Nathaniel previously explored some inklings of masochism in the narratives of From Here to Eternity and The Young Lions, but Clift's next few projects solidified him as a paragon of cinematic suffering.
Perhaps no project better encapsulates the idea of Montgomery Clift as a saint-like figure, a martyr, than the Vincent J. Donehue's 1958 film Lonelyhearts…...
For the first half of his career, Montgomery Clift typified an image of restless youth and tragic beauty onscreen. Many of his early films found Clift playing young traumatized soldiers or men embroiled in doomed romance, lively characters whose nervous energy electrified the frame. The second era of Monty films, starting with 1957's Raintree County, saw a transformation of his persona. Nathaniel previously explored some inklings of masochism in the narratives of From Here to Eternity and The Young Lions, but Clift's next few projects solidified him as a paragon of cinematic suffering.
Perhaps no project better encapsulates the idea of Montgomery Clift as a saint-like figure, a martyr, than the Vincent J. Donehue's 1958 film Lonelyhearts…...
- 10/12/2020
- by Cláudio Alves
- FilmExperience
Updated at 1 p.m.: A tweet was just posted on the account for the Angeles National Forest saying the raging Bobcat Fire is within 500 feet of the historic Mt. Wilson Observatory. Yesterday, a tweet from the Forest Service said fire crews were seeking to protect the observatory and the the infrastructure around it with “strategic firing operations.”
The #BobcatFire is within 500 ft of the Mt. Wilson Observatory & crews are in place ready to receive the fire. Strategic firing is taking place in the south where air operations are strengthening dozerlines. Crews are working a spot fire that crossed Hwy 2 near Buckhorn. pic.twitter.com/33rI3dNet2
— Angeles_NF (@Angeles_NF) September 15, 2020
Previously at 9:45 a.m.: “The Bobcat Fire is knocking on our door,” Mount Wilson Observatory tweeted about 9:25 p.m. Monday. “Fire officials predicted that the fire would approach Mt. Wilson from Echo Rock. It looks like they are correct.
The #BobcatFire is within 500 ft of the Mt. Wilson Observatory & crews are in place ready to receive the fire. Strategic firing is taking place in the south where air operations are strengthening dozerlines. Crews are working a spot fire that crossed Hwy 2 near Buckhorn. pic.twitter.com/33rI3dNet2
— Angeles_NF (@Angeles_NF) September 15, 2020
Previously at 9:45 a.m.: “The Bobcat Fire is knocking on our door,” Mount Wilson Observatory tweeted about 9:25 p.m. Monday. “Fire officials predicted that the fire would approach Mt. Wilson from Echo Rock. It looks like they are correct.
- 9/15/2020
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
In 1958, 34-year-old Marlon Brando got great notices for his complex and layered performance as Nazi officer Lt. Christian Diestl in Edward Dymtryk’s Oscar-nominated World War II drama, “The Young Lions.” Like Brando in “Lions,” 36-year-old Mexican actor Harold Torres’ turn as dirty soldier Sgt. Manuel Contreras in Amazon’s limited narcoworld series “ZeroZeroZero” has sent writers and critics scrambling to describe his impact. The dynamic actor has been racking up honors and significant credits in the world of Mexican film and television. In the past 10 years, Torres has been nominated for the lead actor Ariel award (the Mexican Film Academy’s Oscar equivalent) three times and won the actor prize at the Morelia Film Festival in 2013.
Variety recently caught up with Torres via Skype in coronavirus days self-isolation at his home in Mexico. In Torres’ own words, here are some of the pivotal moments in his career and the...
Variety recently caught up with Torres via Skype in coronavirus days self-isolation at his home in Mexico. In Torres’ own words, here are some of the pivotal moments in his career and the...
- 4/10/2020
- by Steven Gaydos
- Variety Film + TV
Chicago – Montgomery “Monty” Clift was an enigma as a “movie star” from the minute his image reflected from the silver screen. Dark and intense, he exhibited a inner ferocity that was unmatched from any other actor of his era, including Marlon Brando. Because of the enigma, his persona has often been mischaracterized, and he died young in his mid-forties. His nephew Robert Anderson Clift seeks to revitalize the authentic Monty in the new documentary “Making Montgomery Clift.”
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Essentially, before this film, Monty Clift’s life was defined by two very popular biographies that came out in the late 1970s… “Monty” by Robert Laguardia and “Montgomery Clift: A Biography” by Patricia Bosworth. The Bosworth bio has been praised as one of the must-read profiles of a major star, but both books advance the notion that Clift had one of the “slowest suicides” in Hollywood history. Robert Anderson Clift wanted to find something else,...
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Essentially, before this film, Monty Clift’s life was defined by two very popular biographies that came out in the late 1970s… “Monty” by Robert Laguardia and “Montgomery Clift: A Biography” by Patricia Bosworth. The Bosworth bio has been praised as one of the must-read profiles of a major star, but both books advance the notion that Clift had one of the “slowest suicides” in Hollywood history. Robert Anderson Clift wanted to find something else,...
- 11/4/2018
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
While we wait (impatiently) for the major Oscar contenders to show themselves to general audiences, why not check out an older Oscar nominees for kicks and to fill any gaps in your Oscar knowledge. Here are a few that iTunes is offering to rent for just 99¢... naturally I have to share the posters for the ones with exclamatory taglines.
• Sunrise (1927)/ Street Angel (1928) for Janet Gaynor, the very first Best Actress winner and the only Best Actress winner to win for multiple roles simultaneously (they changed the rule thereafter)
• In Old Chicago (1938) Tyrone Powers in a six-time nominated film which won Alice Brady supporting actress
• The Rains Came (1939) starring Myrna Loy and up for six Oscars
• Blood and Sand (1941) this torreador drama starring Tyrone Power won Best Cinematography
• This Above All (1942) a romantic drama starring Joan Fontaine and Tyrone Power received 4 nominations and a win for Art Direction
• The Snake Pit...
• Sunrise (1927)/ Street Angel (1928) for Janet Gaynor, the very first Best Actress winner and the only Best Actress winner to win for multiple roles simultaneously (they changed the rule thereafter)
• In Old Chicago (1938) Tyrone Powers in a six-time nominated film which won Alice Brady supporting actress
• The Rains Came (1939) starring Myrna Loy and up for six Oscars
• Blood and Sand (1941) this torreador drama starring Tyrone Power won Best Cinematography
• This Above All (1942) a romantic drama starring Joan Fontaine and Tyrone Power received 4 nominations and a win for Art Direction
• The Snake Pit...
- 10/15/2018
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo were teenagers when filming began on this superlative wartime thriller. Taking over eight years to complete, it imagines life in an England occupied by Nazi Germany and run by home-grown English collaborators. The film’s realism outdoes any big-studio picture — the period detail and military hardware are uncannily authentic. It also pushes the limit of the documentary form by using the ugly testimony of real English fascists in a fictional context. Mr. Brownlow opens up his behind-the-scenes film archive for this dual-format release.
It Happened Here
Region A+B Blu-ray + Pal DVD
Bfi (UK)
1964 / B&W / 1:33 flat full frame / 100 min. / Street Date July 23, 2018 / available through Amazon UK / £14.99
Starring: Pauline Murray, Sebastian Shaw, Bart Allison, Reginald Marsh, Frank Bennett, Derek Milburn, Nicolette Bernard, Nicholas Moore, Rex Collett, Michael Passmore, Peter Dyneley.
Cinematography: Kevin Brownlow, Peter Suschitzky
Film Editor: Kevin Brownlow
Costumes and Military Consultant: Andrew Mollo
Written,...
It Happened Here
Region A+B Blu-ray + Pal DVD
Bfi (UK)
1964 / B&W / 1:33 flat full frame / 100 min. / Street Date July 23, 2018 / available through Amazon UK / £14.99
Starring: Pauline Murray, Sebastian Shaw, Bart Allison, Reginald Marsh, Frank Bennett, Derek Milburn, Nicolette Bernard, Nicholas Moore, Rex Collett, Michael Passmore, Peter Dyneley.
Cinematography: Kevin Brownlow, Peter Suschitzky
Film Editor: Kevin Brownlow
Costumes and Military Consultant: Andrew Mollo
Written,...
- 8/7/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Move over James Jones — Leon Uris clobbers the big screen with a sprawling adaptation of his WW2 combat novel, loaded down with roles for promising young actors. This is the one where twice as much time is spent on love affairs than fighting. War may be hell, but if Mona Freeman, Nancy Olson, Dorothy Malone and Allyn McLerie are going to be there for comfort, sign me up.
Battle Cry
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 148 min. / Street Date , 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Van Heflin, Aldo Ray, Mona Freeman, Nancy Olson, James Whitmore, Raymond Massey, Tab Hunter, Dorothy Malone, Anne Francis, William Campbell, Fess Parker, Justus E. McQueen (L.Q. Jones), Perry Lopez, Jonas Applegarth, Tommy Cook, Felix Noriego, Susan Morrow, Carleton Young, Rhys Williams, Allyn Ann McLerie, Gregory Walcott, Frank Ferguson, Sarah Selby, Willis Bouchey, Victor Milian.
Cinematography: Sidney Hickox
Film Editor: William H. Zeigler
Original Music: Max Steiner...
Battle Cry
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 148 min. / Street Date , 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Van Heflin, Aldo Ray, Mona Freeman, Nancy Olson, James Whitmore, Raymond Massey, Tab Hunter, Dorothy Malone, Anne Francis, William Campbell, Fess Parker, Justus E. McQueen (L.Q. Jones), Perry Lopez, Jonas Applegarth, Tommy Cook, Felix Noriego, Susan Morrow, Carleton Young, Rhys Williams, Allyn Ann McLerie, Gregory Walcott, Frank Ferguson, Sarah Selby, Willis Bouchey, Victor Milian.
Cinematography: Sidney Hickox
Film Editor: William H. Zeigler
Original Music: Max Steiner...
- 11/7/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Jennifer Lopez’s dance reality competition World of Dance is set to premiere May 8, and People can exclusively reveal new footage of the show’s judges dishing on why they think their series will be the show of the summer.
The 47 elite dance acts will be divided into groups Junior Division, Upper Division and Team Division, and will compete for the title “Best in the World” judged by, well, some of the best performers in the world including Lopez, Dancing with the Stars pro Derek Hough, R&B singer Ne-Yo with actress-dancer Jenna Dewan Tatum hosting.
With an already impressive resume under their belt,...
The 47 elite dance acts will be divided into groups Junior Division, Upper Division and Team Division, and will compete for the title “Best in the World” judged by, well, some of the best performers in the world including Lopez, Dancing with the Stars pro Derek Hough, R&B singer Ne-Yo with actress-dancer Jenna Dewan Tatum hosting.
With an already impressive resume under their belt,...
- 3/20/2017
- by Nicole Sands and Patrick Gomez
- PEOPLE.com
Jennifer Lopez’s new dance reality competition World of Dance is set to premiere May 8, and People can exclusively reveal the list of contestants vying for the $1 million prize.
The 47 elite dance acts will be divided into groups Junior Division, Upper Division, and Team Division, and will compete for the title “Best in the World” judged by, well, some of the best performers in the world including Lopez, Dancing with the Stars pro Derek Hough, R&B singer Ne-Yo with actress-dancer Jenna Dewan Tatum hosting.
With an already-impressive resume under their belt, many of the groups have hit stardom level...
The 47 elite dance acts will be divided into groups Junior Division, Upper Division, and Team Division, and will compete for the title “Best in the World” judged by, well, some of the best performers in the world including Lopez, Dancing with the Stars pro Derek Hough, R&B singer Ne-Yo with actress-dancer Jenna Dewan Tatum hosting.
With an already-impressive resume under their belt, many of the groups have hit stardom level...
- 3/17/2017
- by Nicole Sands
- PEOPLE.com
Los Angeles, Calif. (October 2, 2015) – In 1915 William Fox founded Fox Film Corporation and forever changed the course of cinema. Over the next century the studio would develop some of the most innovative and ground-breaking advancements in the history of cinema; the introduction of Movietone, the implementation of color in partnership with Eastman Kodak, the development of the wide format in 70mm and many more. Now in honor of the 100th anniversary of the studio, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will celebrate by releasing some of their most iconic films that represent a decade of innovation.
Starting today, five classic films from the studio will be made available digitally for the first time ever – Sunrise (1927), Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), Man Hunt (1941), How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) and The Flight of the Phoenix (1965). Throughout the rest of the year a total of 100 digital releases will follow from Fox’s extensive catalog, including 10 films...
Starting today, five classic films from the studio will be made available digitally for the first time ever – Sunrise (1927), Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), Man Hunt (1941), How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) and The Flight of the Phoenix (1965). Throughout the rest of the year a total of 100 digital releases will follow from Fox’s extensive catalog, including 10 films...
- 10/3/2015
- by ComicMix Staff
- Comicmix.com
This week on Off The Shelf, Ryan is joined by Brian Saur to take a look at the new DVD and Blu-ray releases for the week of May 26th, 2015, and chat about some follow-up and home video news.
Subscribe in iTunes or RSS.
Episode Links & Notes
News
Masters Of Cinema & Eureka in August: Cruel Story Of Youth, Medium Cool, the Town That Dreaded Sundown
Screen Archives Entertainment have some new and exclusive Code Red Blu-ray titles, available now. Guy Magar’s Retribution, Tobe Hooper’s Spontaneous Combustion and Shakma.
Twilight Time new releases for June will go live for pre-order Wednesday, May 27the st 4 Pm Eastern: Absolute Beginners (1986), State Of Grace (1990) , Mississippi Mermaid (1969), The Young Lions (1958) , The Night Of The Generals (1967) the approximate street date is June 9th.
New Releases
Ballet 422 Cannibal Ferox The Confession Da Sweet Blood of Jesus Double Indemnity Empire Of The Ants / Jaws Of Satan...
Subscribe in iTunes or RSS.
Episode Links & Notes
News
Masters Of Cinema & Eureka in August: Cruel Story Of Youth, Medium Cool, the Town That Dreaded Sundown
Screen Archives Entertainment have some new and exclusive Code Red Blu-ray titles, available now. Guy Magar’s Retribution, Tobe Hooper’s Spontaneous Combustion and Shakma.
Twilight Time new releases for June will go live for pre-order Wednesday, May 27the st 4 Pm Eastern: Absolute Beginners (1986), State Of Grace (1990) , Mississippi Mermaid (1969), The Young Lions (1958) , The Night Of The Generals (1967) the approximate street date is June 9th.
New Releases
Ballet 422 Cannibal Ferox The Confession Da Sweet Blood of Jesus Double Indemnity Empire Of The Ants / Jaws Of Satan...
- 5/27/2015
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
Stevan Riley's look at Marlon Brando in Listen to Me Marlon: "Art was often paralleling his life. Guys and Dolls reflected his need for levity."
At the Sundance premiere, James Franco, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin attended screenings of Stevan Riley's Listen To Me Marlon. In New York, Stevan and I discussed Marlon Brando's self-hypnosis tapes, political involvement, lying for a living and his ability to be a mimic in films such as The Teahouse Of The August Moon, The Godfather, Mutiny On The Bounty, The Young Lions, Viva Zapata! and Sayonara.
A soft wind blows and Marlon hypnotises himself back to a time when he was very young, walking down the sidewalk in Omaha or sitting in the shade of an old oak tree. If only his mother hadn't been "the town drunk" and if only he didn't hate his father so much, this could have been paradise.
At the Sundance premiere, James Franco, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin attended screenings of Stevan Riley's Listen To Me Marlon. In New York, Stevan and I discussed Marlon Brando's self-hypnosis tapes, political involvement, lying for a living and his ability to be a mimic in films such as The Teahouse Of The August Moon, The Godfather, Mutiny On The Bounty, The Young Lions, Viva Zapata! and Sayonara.
A soft wind blows and Marlon hypnotises himself back to a time when he was very young, walking down the sidewalk in Omaha or sitting in the shade of an old oak tree. If only his mother hadn't been "the town drunk" and if only he didn't hate his father so much, this could have been paradise.
- 4/11/2015
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Marlon Brando
What do Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango In Paris, Elia Kazan's A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, and Viva Zapata!, Daniel Mann's The Teahouse Of The August Moon, Edward Dmytryk's The Young Lions, Gillo Pontecorvo's Burn!, Lewis Milestone's Mutiny On The Bounty, Guys And Dolls directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and One-Eyed Jacks have in common? Brando the movie star in Stevan Riley's documentary, Listen To Me Marlon, becomes Marlon, the man.
After a conversation with Parabellum director Lukas Valenta Rinner at New Directors/New Films, I met up with Stevan at Lincoln Center.
"Brando was himself fascinated by these same topics of truth and lies, of myth and fantasy and reality."
Hundreds of hours of Brando's audio recordings had gone unheard until Riley took his pick and put together this fascinating portrait.
What do Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango In Paris, Elia Kazan's A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, and Viva Zapata!, Daniel Mann's The Teahouse Of The August Moon, Edward Dmytryk's The Young Lions, Gillo Pontecorvo's Burn!, Lewis Milestone's Mutiny On The Bounty, Guys And Dolls directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and One-Eyed Jacks have in common? Brando the movie star in Stevan Riley's documentary, Listen To Me Marlon, becomes Marlon, the man.
After a conversation with Parabellum director Lukas Valenta Rinner at New Directors/New Films, I met up with Stevan at Lincoln Center.
"Brando was himself fascinated by these same topics of truth and lies, of myth and fantasy and reality."
Hundreds of hours of Brando's audio recordings had gone unheard until Riley took his pick and put together this fascinating portrait.
- 4/7/2015
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Matt Bomer's long-rumoured Montgomery Clift biopic has been picked up by HBO.
The movie will mark Bomer's latest collaboration with the pay channel following his Emmy-nominated performance in The Normal Heart.
Bomer had been attached to star as Hollywood legend Clift dating back to when the project started as a possible independent film.
Monty Clift will be directed by Larry Moss (The Syringa Tree) from a script by Christopher Lovick, reports Deadline.
Love Is Strange duo Ira Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias have been brought in to re-work Lovick's screenplay.
Clift became one of Hollywood's brightest stars in the 1950s through critically-lauded performances in A Place in the Sun, From Here to Eternity and The Young Lions.
The actor's career spiralled as his descent into substance abuse worsened in the wake of a 1956 car crash that caused partial facial paralysis.
Clift tragically died from a heart attack at the age...
The movie will mark Bomer's latest collaboration with the pay channel following his Emmy-nominated performance in The Normal Heart.
Bomer had been attached to star as Hollywood legend Clift dating back to when the project started as a possible independent film.
Monty Clift will be directed by Larry Moss (The Syringa Tree) from a script by Christopher Lovick, reports Deadline.
Love Is Strange duo Ira Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias have been brought in to re-work Lovick's screenplay.
Clift became one of Hollywood's brightest stars in the 1950s through critically-lauded performances in A Place in the Sun, From Here to Eternity and The Young Lions.
The actor's career spiralled as his descent into substance abuse worsened in the wake of a 1956 car crash that caused partial facial paralysis.
Clift tragically died from a heart attack at the age...
- 1/8/2015
- Digital Spy
On Tuesday November 4th, we’ll be celebrating the career of one of Hollywood’s most respected stars at The Way Out Club with Super-8 Marlon Brando Movie Madness. The two-time Oscar winner will be honored with showings of condensed (average length: 15 minutes) versions of six of his very best films in the Super-8 Sound format. They are: The Wild One, The Young Lions, On The Waterfront, Viva Zapata, Desiree, and The Godfather.
The non-Marlon Brando films we’ll be showing that night are: Kurt Russell in Elvis The Movie, This Island Earth, Woody Allen in Take The Money And Run, Phantasm, Son Of Dr. Jekyll, Liz Taylor and Robert Taylor in Ivanhoe, and a Sleazy ‘50s Trailer Reel.
The cover charge is $3.00. The show begins at 8pm. We’ll have Marlon Brando trivia with prizes and, as usual, there will be lots of posters and T-Shirts and stuff given away.
The non-Marlon Brando films we’ll be showing that night are: Kurt Russell in Elvis The Movie, This Island Earth, Woody Allen in Take The Money And Run, Phantasm, Son Of Dr. Jekyll, Liz Taylor and Robert Taylor in Ivanhoe, and a Sleazy ‘50s Trailer Reel.
The cover charge is $3.00. The show begins at 8pm. We’ll have Marlon Brando trivia with prizes and, as usual, there will be lots of posters and T-Shirts and stuff given away.
- 10/31/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
There have been many TV bios of Elvis Presley but Elvis, The Movie, the once-elusive 1979 feature starring Kurt Russell, was the first and is still the best. An 18-minute condensed version of Elvis The Movie on Super-8 sound film will be screened at Super-8 Marlon Brando Movie Madness on November 4th at The Way Out Club – (yes, we’re aware that Elvis, The Movie has nothing to do with Marlon Brando, but it’s the variety that makes it the madness!)
When Elvis died August 16 1978 at age 42, it sent shock waves around the world, comparable to the deaths of Princess Diana or Michael Jackson in later decades. A carnival atmosphere developed in Memphis as thousands of mourners gathered around the gates of Graceland and sales of Elvis’ music skyrocketed. The 3-hour epic Elvis The Movie, produced by Dick Clark for the ABC network premiered 18 months later on February 11 1979 and, despite...
When Elvis died August 16 1978 at age 42, it sent shock waves around the world, comparable to the deaths of Princess Diana or Michael Jackson in later decades. A carnival atmosphere developed in Memphis as thousands of mourners gathered around the gates of Graceland and sales of Elvis’ music skyrocketed. The 3-hour epic Elvis The Movie, produced by Dick Clark for the ABC network premiered 18 months later on February 11 1979 and, despite...
- 10/24/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Woody Allen's Take the Money and Run was pivotal in launching his career as a credible actor and leading man. Although considered a comedy classic today, the 1969 film actually lost money at the time of its release.
By Brian Hannan
All you need is top stars and top directors and making movies is easy. Surely you couldn’t miss with a line-up that included Sean Connery, Steve McQueen, Michael Caine, Dustin Hoffman, Lee Marvin, Omar Sharif, and directors of the calibre of Robert Aldrich (hot after The Dirty Dozen), John Boorman (Point Blank) and Woody Allen. Or so ABC must have thought when it set up a movie division in the late 1960s. Delving into the archives recently, I discovered that Sam Peckinpah’s rodeo picture Junior Bonner (1972) starring Steve McQueen was a box office stinkeroo. The picture lost $2.8m (about $15m in today’s money). Not just on domestic release,...
By Brian Hannan
All you need is top stars and top directors and making movies is easy. Surely you couldn’t miss with a line-up that included Sean Connery, Steve McQueen, Michael Caine, Dustin Hoffman, Lee Marvin, Omar Sharif, and directors of the calibre of Robert Aldrich (hot after The Dirty Dozen), John Boorman (Point Blank) and Woody Allen. Or so ABC must have thought when it set up a movie division in the late 1960s. Delving into the archives recently, I discovered that Sam Peckinpah’s rodeo picture Junior Bonner (1972) starring Steve McQueen was a box office stinkeroo. The picture lost $2.8m (about $15m in today’s money). Not just on domestic release,...
- 7/21/2014
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Inside Movies Anna Kendrick talks the making of The Last Five Years
imgur Best Picture nominees as Legos
David Kawena has added Prince Hans from Frozen to his Nsfw 'Disney Heroes' series
Tfe ...and speaking of Frozen, I've updated that best "Let it Go" covers post with new entries
Movie Morlocks Montgomery Clift in The Young Lions and the second chance that never was
Gothamist John Henson, puppeteer and son of Jim Henson, dies at 48
Sad and Useless "famous women with Steve Buscemi eyes"
Variety reports on the Sci-Tech Awards. Goodbye to film, hello all digital
THR The Lego Movie blooper reel
And Happy Birthday to Me! Netflix will release the second season of Orange is the New Black on my birthday June 6th.
Such a thoughtful gift!
imgur Best Picture nominees as Legos
David Kawena has added Prince Hans from Frozen to his Nsfw 'Disney Heroes' series
Tfe ...and speaking of Frozen, I've updated that best "Let it Go" covers post with new entries
Movie Morlocks Montgomery Clift in The Young Lions and the second chance that never was
Gothamist John Henson, puppeteer and son of Jim Henson, dies at 48
Sad and Useless "famous women with Steve Buscemi eyes"
Variety reports on the Sci-Tech Awards. Goodbye to film, hello all digital
THR The Lego Movie blooper reel
And Happy Birthday to Me! Netflix will release the second season of Orange is the New Black on my birthday June 6th.
Such a thoughtful gift!
- 2/16/2014
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Actor and director who brought dark good looks and a commanding presence to his roles
Austrian by birth, Swiss by circumstance and international by reputation, Maximilian Schell, who has died aged 83, was a distinguished actor, director, writer and producer. However, he will be best remembered as an actor, especially for his Oscar-winning performance in Stanley Kramer's Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) – an early highlight among scores of television and movie appearances. He also directed opera, worked tirelessly in the theatre and made six feature films, including Marlene (1984) - a tantalising portrait of Dietrich, his co-star in Judgment, who is heard being interviewed but not seen, except in movie extracts.
Schell courted controversy and much of his work, including The Pedestrian (1973), dealt with the second world war, its attendant crimes and the notion of collective guilt. In 1990, when he was offered a special award for his contributions to German film, he refused to accept it.
Austrian by birth, Swiss by circumstance and international by reputation, Maximilian Schell, who has died aged 83, was a distinguished actor, director, writer and producer. However, he will be best remembered as an actor, especially for his Oscar-winning performance in Stanley Kramer's Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) – an early highlight among scores of television and movie appearances. He also directed opera, worked tirelessly in the theatre and made six feature films, including Marlene (1984) - a tantalising portrait of Dietrich, his co-star in Judgment, who is heard being interviewed but not seen, except in movie extracts.
Schell courted controversy and much of his work, including The Pedestrian (1973), dealt with the second world war, its attendant crimes and the notion of collective guilt. In 1990, when he was offered a special award for his contributions to German film, he refused to accept it.
- 2/3/2014
- by Brian Baxter
- The Guardian - Film News
Schell with Brando in The Young Lions.
Oscar-winning Austrian actor Maximillian Schell has passed away at the age of 83. Schell made his English language screen debut opposite Marlon Brando in the WWII film The Young Lions in 1958. Three years later he won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in Stanley Kramer's Judgment at Nuremberg. Schell played an attorney burdened with the thankless task of defending Nazi war criminals. The character, while repelled by the acts some individuals committed, offered a spirited defense that brought nuance to the circumstances in which National Socialism had arisen. The intelligent depiction of this sensitive subject- and Schell's impassioned performance- was praised internationally. Schell continued to be a leading man in high profile film productions including Tokapi, Counterpoint, Krakatoa: East of Java, The Odessa File, A Bridge Too Far, The Freshman, The Chosen and Deep Impact. He was nominated for Oscars two other...
- 2/2/2014
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Maximilian Schell dead at 83: Best Actor Oscar winner for ‘Judgment at Nuremberg’ (photo: Maximilian Schell ca. 1960) Actor and filmmaker Maximilian Schell, best known for his Oscar-winning performance as the defense attorney in Stanley Kramer’s 1961 political drama Judgment at Nuremberg died at a hospital in Innsbruck, Austria, on February 1, 2014. According to his agent, Patricia Baumbauer, Schell died overnight following a "sudden and serious illness." Maximilian Schell was 83. Born on December 8, 1930, in Vienna, Maximilian Schell was the younger brother of future actor Carl Schell and Maria Schell, who would become an international film star in the 1950s (The Last Bridge, Gervaise, The Hanging Tree). Immy Schell, who would be featured in several television and film productions from the mid-’50s to the early ’90s, was born in 1935. Following Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria in 1938, Schell’s parents, Swiss playwright Hermann Ferdinand Schell and Austrian stage actress Margarete Schell Noé,...
- 2/2/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The AP is reporting that Austrian-born actor Maximilian Schell, a fugitive from Adolf Hitler who became a Hollywood favorite and won an Oscar for his role as a defense attorney in “Judgment at Nuremberg,” has died. He was 83.
Schell’s agent, Patricia Baumbauer, said Saturday he died overnight at a hospital in the Austrian city of Innsbruck following a “sudden illness.”
It was only his second Hollywood role, as defense attorney Hans Rolfe in Stanley Kramer’s classic “Judgment at Nuremberg,” that earned him wide international acclaim. Schell’s impassioned but unsuccessful defense of four Nazi judges on trial for sentencing innocent victims to death won him the 1961 Academy Award for best actor. Schell had first played Rolfe in a 1959 episode of the television program “Playhouse 90.”
Despite being type-cast for numerous Nazi-era films, Schell’s acting performances in the mid-1970s also won him renewed popular acclaim, earning him...
Schell’s agent, Patricia Baumbauer, said Saturday he died overnight at a hospital in the Austrian city of Innsbruck following a “sudden illness.”
It was only his second Hollywood role, as defense attorney Hans Rolfe in Stanley Kramer’s classic “Judgment at Nuremberg,” that earned him wide international acclaim. Schell’s impassioned but unsuccessful defense of four Nazi judges on trial for sentencing innocent victims to death won him the 1961 Academy Award for best actor. Schell had first played Rolfe in a 1959 episode of the television program “Playhouse 90.”
Despite being type-cast for numerous Nazi-era films, Schell’s acting performances in the mid-1970s also won him renewed popular acclaim, earning him...
- 2/1/2014
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Hollywood has lost a legend today, with Austrian-born actor Maximilian Schell passing away at 83 years old. While the actor's film debut came opposite Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift in "The Young Lions," it would be his performance in his second movie that would bring him worldwide attention. As the only actor brought over from the Playhouse 90 TV production of "Judgment At Nuremberg" to the feature film version directed by Stanley Kramer, Schell's turn in the iconic film as the defense attorney landed him an Oscar win (he would be nominated twice more for "The Man In The Glass Booth" in 1975 and "Julia" in 1977) and from there, he didn't look back. The actor's work, which spanned both feature films and television, found him appearing in a wide range of roles, including everything from "The Odessa File" and "Topkapi," to "John Carpenter's Vampires" and "Deep Impact," to working with newer auteurs...
- 2/1/2014
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Austrian-born actor Maximilian Schell, a fugitive from Adolf Hitler who became a Hollywood favorite and won an Oscar for his role as a defense attorney in Judgment at Nuremberg, has died. He was 83.
Schell’s agent, Patricia Baumbauer, said Saturday he died overnight at a hospital in Innsbruck following a “sudden and serious illness,” the Austria Press Agency reported.
It was only his second Hollywood role, as defense attorney Hans Rolfe in Stanley Kramer’s classic Judgment at Nuremberg, that earned him wide international acclaim. Schell’s impassioned but unsuccessful defense of four Nazi judges on trial for sentencing innocent...
Schell’s agent, Patricia Baumbauer, said Saturday he died overnight at a hospital in Innsbruck following a “sudden and serious illness,” the Austria Press Agency reported.
It was only his second Hollywood role, as defense attorney Hans Rolfe in Stanley Kramer’s classic Judgment at Nuremberg, that earned him wide international acclaim. Schell’s impassioned but unsuccessful defense of four Nazi judges on trial for sentencing innocent...
- 2/1/2014
- by Associated Press
- EW - Inside Movies
Austrian actor Maximilian Schell, who won the Academy Award for best actor in 1961 for his portrayal of a defense attorney in the drama Judgment at Nuremberg, has died. He was 83. He death was announced Saturday by his agent, Patricia Baumbauer, who said that Schell died overnight at a hospital in Innsbruck following a "sudden and serious illness," the Associated Press reported, citing the Austria Press Agency. The Vienna-born Schell was later honored with further Oscar nominations - in the best actor category for The Man in the Glass Booth in 1975, and for best supporting actor in Julia in 1977. Born to...
- 2/1/2014
- by Andrea Billups
- PEOPLE.com
Cameron Diaz's much ridiculed bid to sound Texan rodeo star is the latest in a resonant cinematic tradition of feeble phonemes
Gambit has attracted plenty of brickbats, but one complaint might have surprised yesteryear's filmgoers. Cameron Diaz plays an over-the-top rodeo queen, so she weighs in with a wacky Texan accent. What's wrong with that? Well, it isn't quite the way that Texans actually speak. Her effort is "insufferable" according to Guanabee.com; it had BuzzSugar "cringing".
Sadly, California–born Diaz has form when it comes to mangling the speech of the southern states. The moral dilemma film The Box was set in Richmond, Virginia. For this, Diaz laid on what a Brit might have thought an unobjectionable southern accent. The city guide Black Book heard things differently. "It's that generic cornpone drawl that Hollywood would usually have us believe everyone below the Mason-Dixon line speaks," the magazine fumed.
Gambit has attracted plenty of brickbats, but one complaint might have surprised yesteryear's filmgoers. Cameron Diaz plays an over-the-top rodeo queen, so she weighs in with a wacky Texan accent. What's wrong with that? Well, it isn't quite the way that Texans actually speak. Her effort is "insufferable" according to Guanabee.com; it had BuzzSugar "cringing".
Sadly, California–born Diaz has form when it comes to mangling the speech of the southern states. The moral dilemma film The Box was set in Richmond, Virginia. For this, Diaz laid on what a Brit might have thought an unobjectionable southern accent. The city guide Black Book heard things differently. "It's that generic cornpone drawl that Hollywood would usually have us believe everyone below the Mason-Dixon line speaks," the magazine fumed.
- 11/27/2012
- by David Cox
- The Guardian - Film News
Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper Mark Bunn has signed for Norwich City after the two clubs agreed an undisclosed fee for the switch.
The 27-year-old has put pen-to-paper on a two-year contract with the option to extend his stay at Carrow Road for a further year. He arrives to challenge fellow Englishman John Ruddy for the No.1 jersey, having made his last appearance for Rovers in the Fa Cup in January.
Speaking to the club’s website, Bunn made it clear he is pleased to have made it back into a Premier League squad:
“I’m delighted to be here to start a new challenge and I’m looking forward to it,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to seeing some familiar faces and getting to know the other lads. It’s a good time for Norwich – it will be a tough season and I think we’ll do well.”
His new boss at City,...
The 27-year-old has put pen-to-paper on a two-year contract with the option to extend his stay at Carrow Road for a further year. He arrives to challenge fellow Englishman John Ruddy for the No.1 jersey, having made his last appearance for Rovers in the Fa Cup in January.
Speaking to the club’s website, Bunn made it clear he is pleased to have made it back into a Premier League squad:
“I’m delighted to be here to start a new challenge and I’m looking forward to it,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to seeing some familiar faces and getting to know the other lads. It’s a good time for Norwich – it will be a tough season and I think we’ll do well.”
His new boss at City,...
- 8/30/2012
- by Chris Deacon
- Obsessed with Film
As a little girl I loved going to the Studio Drive In in Culver City where we lived.
My older sister and I would get into our pajamas, my little baby brother would be in the car seat for babies in the front seat between the driver and the passenger. We brought out own fried chicken ot eat for dinner. We'd go get popcorn or bonbons or a Holloway sucker (the best!) at the concessions stand ahead of the movies or at the intermission if we were still awake and we'd watch a double bill – usually a western and or a comedy.
When we got older and at the age of 16, we all got cars of our own. Mine was a 53 Ford convertible repainted royal blue. Groups of us would go to the Olympic Drive In and would sneak others in in the trunk.
When I was really little my father and mother would take my sister and me to the movies. I was always making my father take me to the bathroom. That started my habit of sitting on the aisle. As a film buyer it was known as the acquisitions seat, but to my mind, the quick getaway was to the Ladies Room. And as a three or four year old, I was always asking my mother and sister, "is this real?" I was so literal minded as a child I could never figure out why the song said “Let Freedom Ring”. How could Freedom Ring? A ring was jewelry. Ring like a bell…but Freedom is not a bell. Moving on…
We saw this Bob Hope film. He was a gambler. And he put a gun into his mouth. Instead of shooting his brains out, he took a bite and it was chocolate. That really threw my literal mind into a loop. What was real? How did that happen? The movie was called Sorrowful Jones. The joke was something I had a hard time understanding. The same with the silents which we saw at the Silent Movie Theater. Laurel and Hardy were always hitting each other and falling; Charlie Chase was always in trouble as was Charlie Chaplin. I never understood what was funny about all the accidents, falling down, hitting each other and would have terrible anxiety attacks at the silent movies. I liked movies like Francis the Talking Mule. That was funny to my childish mind.
For those wonderful Disney cartoons like Cinderella or Alice in Wonderland, Robin Hood or Peter Pan, my father would take us to Beverly Hills and we would stand in line for the Fine Arts Theater. At the corner was a shoe store which only sold sample sizes (4 ½). I would admire their high heeled shoes and couldn’t wait for the time that I would be older and could wear them. Fortunately, when my foot hit the 4 ½ size, I was in high school and so I could buy the shoes for all the formal dances we attended.
Fine Arts Theater
Every Saturday my sister and I, and later my brother would go to the ten-cent Saturday afternoon matinee at the Meralta with a newsreel, previews, cartoon, and a main feature. The Meralta introduced me to The Dream of Wild Horses.[1]"Meralta" was derived from owners' Pearl Merrill and Laura Peralta's surnames. They lived above the new plush theater. But the movies there were mostly horror and genre. My brother always went there for the latest horror film.
Meralta Theater, Culver City
If we didn’t go to the Meralta, we’d go to the Culver. When we were looking to meet other kids from other schools, we'd go to the much fancier Culver Theater.
The Culver had great films, like Little Women, Gone with the Wind, Gentlemen Prefer Blonds, How to Marry a Millionaire, River of No Return, There’s No Business Like Show Business, Easter Parade, A Date with Judy (My sister’s name!), The Three Musketeers, Words and Music, Force of Evil, Neptune’s Daughter, Adam’s Rib, Showboat, An American in Paris, Lili, Giant, Rebel Without a Cause. Looking at this list, except for the Marilyn Monroe movies which 20th Century Fox owned and the two James Dean films which Warner Bros. owned, all of the films were MGM films. That makes perfect sense because Culver City was a company town.
The Culver also had “loges”. These were fancier red velvet seats with ashtrays above the large aisle you would find on entering the theater and choosing your seat – below unless you went up to the loge. There teenagers would "make out" and bad girls and guys would smoke (Excuse my racism, but as a Jew growing up in a working class wasp neighborhood, I learned these kids were either Pachucos or white trash.) Not that we were such good Jewish kids...there weren’t any Jewish kids that I knew of who went to the movies. My friends were my school friends, and they were all white working class kids. If people weren’t working for Hughes Aircraft, they were in the crafts at MGM. We had one bit actor living down the street named Cameron Mitchell. And it was a pretty racist neighborhood…anti-Semitism was learned at home and in Sunday Schools where kids invited me (called a Christ Killer) to learn about bringing Jesus into my heart and there were no blacks that I ever saw. The Pachucos lived in another neighborhood and we’d see them in the movies, shopping or at the middle and high school next to my elementary school. Asians? There might have been a Chinese restaurant, but I don’t recall seeing Asians in school or at the theater or shopping.
Jewish kids made up my group of friends when I got to junior high and we had moved to Beverlywood from Culver City; 90% of the school was Jewish. Our parents would still drop us at the movies and we would go to Saturday matinees at the Picfair on Pico and Fairfax which eventually burned down around the time of the Watts Riots, or to the Lido on Pico.
The Picfair Theater burned down in 1965.
We’d see Academy Award winning films at the Pickfair. We'd cry at Carousel, Oklahoma, Midnight Lace, Peyton Place, Imitation of Life. Great films! Or we'd sometimes go to the other theater in Pico called Lido. It was just so boring. Maybe they showed Marty there or Country Girl and I wasn't up for slow drama.
For really fancy movies which held premieres, like Around the World in 80 Days, we would go to the Carthay Circle Theater. Of course I’d go in the days after the premiere itself. Rarely – though sometimes we’d go to the Hollywood palaces, Grauman’s Chinese, The Egyptian or Pantages Theaters on Hollywood Boulevard. The best thing about Grauman’s Chinese was the ladies room with a room filled with mirrors and little alcoves to sit and put on lipstick. They even had lipstick blotters, white heavy weight paper shaped like your lips to blot the lipstick.
In 1959 The Fine Arts Theatre 8556 Wilshire Boulevardin Beverly Hills showed Room at the Top, (‘The Most Daring Film in a Decade’), and it played there for over six months. I was in the 10th grade and went to see it. I liked it but am not sure how much I understood.
In high school we discovered Le Chein Andalou and the Coronet and Baronet theater where Charles Laughton had played in Brecht's premiere play Galileo produced by John Houseman. Sometimes they didn't have enough foreign films (like one about a woman who turned into a panther at night) and they'd show psychological teaching films like "Folie a Deux" when madness is shared by two, in this 20 minute short it was a mother and daughter. They'd show films on Schizophrenia, etc. and it made me want to study psychology. We saw all of Bergman, Renoir and saw La Strada and La Dolce Vida. When I moved back east and went to Brandeis then movie going got great! Truffaut, Godard, Chabrol, Wajda's Ashes and Diamonds. After that I saw every Wajda film and even knew how to pronounce his name. But after Man of Marble or Man of Steel I started to get disinterested. I have no idea what theaters we went to in Cambridge or New York except for the Bleecker Street Theater where we’d often go for the weekend.
For dates we’d go up the street (Beverwil) to Beverly Hills to the Beverly Theater or the Beverly Canon. There they had programs printed for the movies (The Young Lions). Afterward we’d go to Blum’s[2] for their crunchy cake or Wil Wrights Ice Cream Parlor for ice cream sundaes.
And a theater we would always forget except when some exceptional foreign film was showing there, was the Vagabond, way down on Wilshire Blvd. toward downtown.
[1]Wikipedia: The 1953 children's film Crin-Blanc, English title White Mane, portrayed the horses and the region. A short black-and-white film directed by Albert Lamorisse, director of Le ballon rouge (1956), Crin-blanc won the 1953 Prix Jean Vigo and the short film Grand Prix at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival, as well as awards at Warsaw and Rome.[10] In 1960 Denys Colomb Daunant, writer and actor for Crin-blanc, made the documentary Le Songe des Chevaux Sauvages, "Dream of the Wild Horses". It featured Camargue horses and slow motion photography, and won the Small Golden Berlin Bear at the 1960 Berlin International Film Festival.[11]
[2]Blum's was a pink spun sugar fantasy come to life. It had a gift shop. It had shocking pink banquettes. It had surly waitresses. And it had cake. Not those plastic looking, multi colored and tasteless layered cakes offered in cafes around Union Square. No. They had Blum's Famous Coffee Crunch cake. (This legendary cake is so memorable that Nancy Silverton has included a recipe for it in her latest cookbook.)
Blum's was partly a restaurant for the ladies who didn't work and spent their days going downtown to shop, meet friends and get home before the children came home from school. (http://www.culinarymuse.com/2005/10/blums_where_are.html)...
My older sister and I would get into our pajamas, my little baby brother would be in the car seat for babies in the front seat between the driver and the passenger. We brought out own fried chicken ot eat for dinner. We'd go get popcorn or bonbons or a Holloway sucker (the best!) at the concessions stand ahead of the movies or at the intermission if we were still awake and we'd watch a double bill – usually a western and or a comedy.
When we got older and at the age of 16, we all got cars of our own. Mine was a 53 Ford convertible repainted royal blue. Groups of us would go to the Olympic Drive In and would sneak others in in the trunk.
When I was really little my father and mother would take my sister and me to the movies. I was always making my father take me to the bathroom. That started my habit of sitting on the aisle. As a film buyer it was known as the acquisitions seat, but to my mind, the quick getaway was to the Ladies Room. And as a three or four year old, I was always asking my mother and sister, "is this real?" I was so literal minded as a child I could never figure out why the song said “Let Freedom Ring”. How could Freedom Ring? A ring was jewelry. Ring like a bell…but Freedom is not a bell. Moving on…
We saw this Bob Hope film. He was a gambler. And he put a gun into his mouth. Instead of shooting his brains out, he took a bite and it was chocolate. That really threw my literal mind into a loop. What was real? How did that happen? The movie was called Sorrowful Jones. The joke was something I had a hard time understanding. The same with the silents which we saw at the Silent Movie Theater. Laurel and Hardy were always hitting each other and falling; Charlie Chase was always in trouble as was Charlie Chaplin. I never understood what was funny about all the accidents, falling down, hitting each other and would have terrible anxiety attacks at the silent movies. I liked movies like Francis the Talking Mule. That was funny to my childish mind.
For those wonderful Disney cartoons like Cinderella or Alice in Wonderland, Robin Hood or Peter Pan, my father would take us to Beverly Hills and we would stand in line for the Fine Arts Theater. At the corner was a shoe store which only sold sample sizes (4 ½). I would admire their high heeled shoes and couldn’t wait for the time that I would be older and could wear them. Fortunately, when my foot hit the 4 ½ size, I was in high school and so I could buy the shoes for all the formal dances we attended.
Fine Arts Theater
Every Saturday my sister and I, and later my brother would go to the ten-cent Saturday afternoon matinee at the Meralta with a newsreel, previews, cartoon, and a main feature. The Meralta introduced me to The Dream of Wild Horses.[1]"Meralta" was derived from owners' Pearl Merrill and Laura Peralta's surnames. They lived above the new plush theater. But the movies there were mostly horror and genre. My brother always went there for the latest horror film.
Meralta Theater, Culver City
If we didn’t go to the Meralta, we’d go to the Culver. When we were looking to meet other kids from other schools, we'd go to the much fancier Culver Theater.
The Culver had great films, like Little Women, Gone with the Wind, Gentlemen Prefer Blonds, How to Marry a Millionaire, River of No Return, There’s No Business Like Show Business, Easter Parade, A Date with Judy (My sister’s name!), The Three Musketeers, Words and Music, Force of Evil, Neptune’s Daughter, Adam’s Rib, Showboat, An American in Paris, Lili, Giant, Rebel Without a Cause. Looking at this list, except for the Marilyn Monroe movies which 20th Century Fox owned and the two James Dean films which Warner Bros. owned, all of the films were MGM films. That makes perfect sense because Culver City was a company town.
The Culver also had “loges”. These were fancier red velvet seats with ashtrays above the large aisle you would find on entering the theater and choosing your seat – below unless you went up to the loge. There teenagers would "make out" and bad girls and guys would smoke (Excuse my racism, but as a Jew growing up in a working class wasp neighborhood, I learned these kids were either Pachucos or white trash.) Not that we were such good Jewish kids...there weren’t any Jewish kids that I knew of who went to the movies. My friends were my school friends, and they were all white working class kids. If people weren’t working for Hughes Aircraft, they were in the crafts at MGM. We had one bit actor living down the street named Cameron Mitchell. And it was a pretty racist neighborhood…anti-Semitism was learned at home and in Sunday Schools where kids invited me (called a Christ Killer) to learn about bringing Jesus into my heart and there were no blacks that I ever saw. The Pachucos lived in another neighborhood and we’d see them in the movies, shopping or at the middle and high school next to my elementary school. Asians? There might have been a Chinese restaurant, but I don’t recall seeing Asians in school or at the theater or shopping.
Jewish kids made up my group of friends when I got to junior high and we had moved to Beverlywood from Culver City; 90% of the school was Jewish. Our parents would still drop us at the movies and we would go to Saturday matinees at the Picfair on Pico and Fairfax which eventually burned down around the time of the Watts Riots, or to the Lido on Pico.
The Picfair Theater burned down in 1965.
We’d see Academy Award winning films at the Pickfair. We'd cry at Carousel, Oklahoma, Midnight Lace, Peyton Place, Imitation of Life. Great films! Or we'd sometimes go to the other theater in Pico called Lido. It was just so boring. Maybe they showed Marty there or Country Girl and I wasn't up for slow drama.
For really fancy movies which held premieres, like Around the World in 80 Days, we would go to the Carthay Circle Theater. Of course I’d go in the days after the premiere itself. Rarely – though sometimes we’d go to the Hollywood palaces, Grauman’s Chinese, The Egyptian or Pantages Theaters on Hollywood Boulevard. The best thing about Grauman’s Chinese was the ladies room with a room filled with mirrors and little alcoves to sit and put on lipstick. They even had lipstick blotters, white heavy weight paper shaped like your lips to blot the lipstick.
In 1959 The Fine Arts Theatre 8556 Wilshire Boulevardin Beverly Hills showed Room at the Top, (‘The Most Daring Film in a Decade’), and it played there for over six months. I was in the 10th grade and went to see it. I liked it but am not sure how much I understood.
In high school we discovered Le Chein Andalou and the Coronet and Baronet theater where Charles Laughton had played in Brecht's premiere play Galileo produced by John Houseman. Sometimes they didn't have enough foreign films (like one about a woman who turned into a panther at night) and they'd show psychological teaching films like "Folie a Deux" when madness is shared by two, in this 20 minute short it was a mother and daughter. They'd show films on Schizophrenia, etc. and it made me want to study psychology. We saw all of Bergman, Renoir and saw La Strada and La Dolce Vida. When I moved back east and went to Brandeis then movie going got great! Truffaut, Godard, Chabrol, Wajda's Ashes and Diamonds. After that I saw every Wajda film and even knew how to pronounce his name. But after Man of Marble or Man of Steel I started to get disinterested. I have no idea what theaters we went to in Cambridge or New York except for the Bleecker Street Theater where we’d often go for the weekend.
For dates we’d go up the street (Beverwil) to Beverly Hills to the Beverly Theater or the Beverly Canon. There they had programs printed for the movies (The Young Lions). Afterward we’d go to Blum’s[2] for their crunchy cake or Wil Wrights Ice Cream Parlor for ice cream sundaes.
And a theater we would always forget except when some exceptional foreign film was showing there, was the Vagabond, way down on Wilshire Blvd. toward downtown.
[1]Wikipedia: The 1953 children's film Crin-Blanc, English title White Mane, portrayed the horses and the region. A short black-and-white film directed by Albert Lamorisse, director of Le ballon rouge (1956), Crin-blanc won the 1953 Prix Jean Vigo and the short film Grand Prix at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival, as well as awards at Warsaw and Rome.[10] In 1960 Denys Colomb Daunant, writer and actor for Crin-blanc, made the documentary Le Songe des Chevaux Sauvages, "Dream of the Wild Horses". It featured Camargue horses and slow motion photography, and won the Small Golden Berlin Bear at the 1960 Berlin International Film Festival.[11]
[2]Blum's was a pink spun sugar fantasy come to life. It had a gift shop. It had shocking pink banquettes. It had surly waitresses. And it had cake. Not those plastic looking, multi colored and tasteless layered cakes offered in cafes around Union Square. No. They had Blum's Famous Coffee Crunch cake. (This legendary cake is so memorable that Nancy Silverton has included a recipe for it in her latest cookbook.)
Blum's was partly a restaurant for the ladies who didn't work and spent their days going downtown to shop, meet friends and get home before the children came home from school. (http://www.culinarymuse.com/2005/10/blums_where_are.html)...
- 3/27/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Katharine Hepburn, Rossano Brazzi in Oscar nominee (but not DGA nominee) David Lean's Summertime DGA Awards vs. Academy Awards 1948-1952: Odd Men Out George Cukor, John Huston, Vincente Minnelli 1953 DGA (12) Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, Above and Beyond Walter Lang, Call Me Madam Daniel Mann, Come Back, Little Sheba Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Julius Caesar Henry Koster, The Robe Jean Negulesco, Titanic George Sidney, Young Bess DGA/AMPAS George Stevens, Shane Charles Walters, Lili Billy Wilder, Stalag 17 William Wyler, Roman Holiday Fred Zinnemann, From Here to Eternity 1954 DGA (16) Edward Dmytryk, The Caine Mutiny Alfred Hitchcock, Dial M for Murder Robert Wise, Executive Suite Anthony Mann, The Glenn Miller Story Samuel Fuller, Hell and High Water Henry King, King of Khyber Rifles Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, Knock on Wood Don Siegel, Riot in Cell Block 11 Stanley Donen, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers George Cukor, A Star Is Born Jean Negulesco,...
- 1/10/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The films that weren't even given a shot at winning best picture
• Charles Saatchi: my love affair with Orson Welles
Here, in no particular order, is Charles Saatchi's list of the post-1950 films that should have been nominated for a best film Oscar. Tell us your picks below.
North by Northwest
The African Queen
Paths of Glory
Spartacus
Hud
What's Up Doc?
The Manchurian Candidate
The Big Country
Scarface
Vertigo
Kill Bill
Parenthood
Reversal of Fortune
Harold and Maude
Being There
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
Lost in America
Minority Report
Jurassic Park
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Heat
Once Upon a Time in America
Seven
The Searchers
Psycho
Rear Window
The Producers
Toy Story
Some Like It Hot
2001: A Space Odyssey
Lolita
The Shining
Touch of Evil
Gran Torino
Beetlejuice
Edward Scissorhands
Raising Arizona
Advise and Consent
Mean Streets
King of Comedy
Reservoir Dogs
Manhattan
Crimes and Misdemeanors...
• Charles Saatchi: my love affair with Orson Welles
Here, in no particular order, is Charles Saatchi's list of the post-1950 films that should have been nominated for a best film Oscar. Tell us your picks below.
North by Northwest
The African Queen
Paths of Glory
Spartacus
Hud
What's Up Doc?
The Manchurian Candidate
The Big Country
Scarface
Vertigo
Kill Bill
Parenthood
Reversal of Fortune
Harold and Maude
Being There
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
Lost in America
Minority Report
Jurassic Park
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Heat
Once Upon a Time in America
Seven
The Searchers
Psycho
Rear Window
The Producers
Toy Story
Some Like It Hot
2001: A Space Odyssey
Lolita
The Shining
Touch of Evil
Gran Torino
Beetlejuice
Edward Scissorhands
Raising Arizona
Advise and Consent
Mean Streets
King of Comedy
Reservoir Dogs
Manhattan
Crimes and Misdemeanors...
- 12/29/2011
- by Charles Saatchi
- The Guardian - Film News
The American Film Institute famously updates a list of the 100 greatest films of all-time every 10 years or so, but can you trust anything determined by a committee? Wouldn’t you rather just know the films a true cinematic master reveres? What if, say, Steven Spielberg handed you a list of movies, and said, “Go now. Watch these films. Study them. Watch them with the sound off. Listen with your eyes closed. And you will be a filmmaker, my son.”
Just such a list created some buzz on the Internet recently. An interesting collection of 206 masterpieces and underrated gems, from Adam...
Just such a list created some buzz on the Internet recently. An interesting collection of 206 masterpieces and underrated gems, from Adam...
- 8/2/2011
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW.com - PopWatch
They shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
One nation shall not raise the sword against another,
neither shall they learn war any more.
Isaiah 2:4
War is a nation’s ultimate commitment of blood and treasure. As such, the stories a people tells about its wars – and don’t tell – and the ways it remembers its wars – or chooses to forget them – tells us much about the kind of people they consider themselves to be at different times in their history, as well as the kind of people they really were…and are.
For most of the 20th century, the war film was a Hollywood staple. From one era to the next, war movies documented the nation’s conflicts, reflected the national consciousness on particular combats as well as on thinking going far beyond any one, particular war. They’ve been propagandistic and revisionist,...
and their spears into pruning hooks;
One nation shall not raise the sword against another,
neither shall they learn war any more.
Isaiah 2:4
War is a nation’s ultimate commitment of blood and treasure. As such, the stories a people tells about its wars – and don’t tell – and the ways it remembers its wars – or chooses to forget them – tells us much about the kind of people they consider themselves to be at different times in their history, as well as the kind of people they really were…and are.
For most of the 20th century, the war film was a Hollywood staple. From one era to the next, war movies documented the nation’s conflicts, reflected the national consciousness on particular combats as well as on thinking going far beyond any one, particular war. They’ve been propagandistic and revisionist,...
- 5/22/2011
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Actress Carrie Fisher's mental health hit an all-time low when she no longer knew who she was after a six-day bout of insomnia 15 years ago.
The Star Wars icon was admitted to a psychiatric hospital after the breakdown, which was sparked by an allergic reaction to medication she was taking for depression, and she admits she signed in as 'Shame' with her left hand because she no longer realised she was right-handed.
She says, "I'd stayed awake for six days and... it isn't possible. I was allergic to a medication so what they did was, to find out what medication it was, they took me off everything and I said to them, 'I won't sleep...' And they said, 'No one ever died from losing one night's sleep.'
"Six night's later, I'm still awake. I thought everything on TV was about me, which makes hard programming... and I also was getting secret messages from the movie The Young Lions... I was so gone.
"My shrink came at one point and I told her that I didn't know if I believed in reincarnation, but if there was such a thing I was hoping to come back as her shrink. I told her that I had light coming out of my head... I didn't know what was happening."
Fisher admits she was relieved when she eventually arrived at the mental hospital: "When you're in a mental hospital, it's kind of Ok - because it can't get any worse."
The actress made the confession during an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show on Tuesday.
The Star Wars icon was admitted to a psychiatric hospital after the breakdown, which was sparked by an allergic reaction to medication she was taking for depression, and she admits she signed in as 'Shame' with her left hand because she no longer realised she was right-handed.
She says, "I'd stayed awake for six days and... it isn't possible. I was allergic to a medication so what they did was, to find out what medication it was, they took me off everything and I said to them, 'I won't sleep...' And they said, 'No one ever died from losing one night's sleep.'
"Six night's later, I'm still awake. I thought everything on TV was about me, which makes hard programming... and I also was getting secret messages from the movie The Young Lions... I was so gone.
"My shrink came at one point and I told her that I didn't know if I believed in reincarnation, but if there was such a thing I was hoping to come back as her shrink. I told her that I had light coming out of my head... I didn't know what was happening."
Fisher admits she was relieved when she eventually arrived at the mental hospital: "When you're in a mental hospital, it's kind of Ok - because it can't get any worse."
The actress made the confession during an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show on Tuesday.
- 2/16/2011
- WENN
In an unnamed Eastern European country ravaged by civil war, zookeeper Ludovic (Sam Neill) along with a veterinarian (Om Puri) cares for the animals in a small zoo: a couple of tigers, lions, a panther, several primates (including a pregnant monkey), a couple of elephants and various zebras, llamas, goats, sheep and birds. The city is being bombed, and they’re hoping for a break in the fighting so that relief agencies can airlift the animals to safety.
As Ludovic trudges to and from his dreary job (light years away from the prestigious government job he had before the war), Neill gives an excellent browbeaten performance, his sullen demeanor conveying the shell-shocked, anguished, lowly zoo employee. All the other employees have fled so he is left with the enormous and emotional responsibility of taking care of the animals in the deserted zoo.
The sanctuary of the zoo doesn.t last...
As Ludovic trudges to and from his dreary job (light years away from the prestigious government job he had before the war), Neill gives an excellent browbeaten performance, his sullen demeanor conveying the shell-shocked, anguished, lowly zoo employee. All the other employees have fled so he is left with the enormous and emotional responsibility of taking care of the animals in the deserted zoo.
The sanctuary of the zoo doesn.t last...
- 12/2/2010
- by Melissa Thompson
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Now that he physically possesses the Oscar that has been his to lose since Inglourious Basterds first screened at Cannes, Christoph Waltz is unleashing his saucier side. Belying the clinical, dispassionate, deadly efficiency of his star-making role, S.S. Colonel Hans Landa, Waltz has, in the last few days, put his cheeky sexuality on display. First, he paid Penélope Cruz a totally justified compliment upon accepting his award last night: "Oscar and Penélope—that's an über bingo!" Second, he appeared in a joke segment on Jimmy Kimmel's show where he gingerly humped everything in sight, from lamps to phones to sheep, while warbling a happy tune. (See above video.) Third, the married father of three is very publicly being offered blow jobs, according to Page Six. Since American audiences know Waltz exclusively for playing Landa in Tarantino's film, and since he is, after all, Austrian, Waltz is doubly at...
- 3/8/2010
- Vanity Fair
Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon make a decent fist of South African accents in Invictus. But they are the latest in a long line of actors trying too hard
As someone who was born and brought up in South Africa, I was particularly interested to discover how Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon managed with the notoriously difficult South African accent in Clint Eastwood's Invictus. Actually, there are many South African accents, so a distinction has to be made between Nelson Mandela (Freeman), an English-speaking Xhosa, and François Pienaar (Damon), an English-speaking Afrikaner. The two Americans had a fairly good shot at it, despite sometimes betraying their origins, and Freeman slipping occasionally into Dalek mode. For most audiences, however, who don't have an ear especially attuned to the nuances of South African accents, Freeman and Damon will sound authentic enough.
This follows worthy but inconsistent efforts by Denzel Washington and...
As someone who was born and brought up in South Africa, I was particularly interested to discover how Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon managed with the notoriously difficult South African accent in Clint Eastwood's Invictus. Actually, there are many South African accents, so a distinction has to be made between Nelson Mandela (Freeman), an English-speaking Xhosa, and François Pienaar (Damon), an English-speaking Afrikaner. The two Americans had a fairly good shot at it, despite sometimes betraying their origins, and Freeman slipping occasionally into Dalek mode. For most audiences, however, who don't have an ear especially attuned to the nuances of South African accents, Freeman and Damon will sound authentic enough.
This follows worthy but inconsistent efforts by Denzel Washington and...
- 1/19/2010
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
No 79: Montgomery Clift 1920-66
Like Marlon Brando, his close friend, fellow maverick and chief rival for the title of greatest American actor of his generation, the tall, lean Clift was born in Omaha, Nebraska. His father was an overbearing, right-wing banker and stockbroker of considerably fluctuating fortunes; his ambitious mother, an illegitimate child adopted at birth, was obsessed with establishing her membership of a distinguished patrician family from the south. Along with his twin sister and elder brother, Clift was privately educated.
At the age of 15, Monty, as everyone called him, made his Broadway debut and for the next decade was constantly employed there, usually playing handsome, sensitive sons, though with the possible exception of Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth (directed in 1942 by Elia Kazan) none of the plays he appeared in entered the classic repertoire. For years, he rejected Hollywood offers until accepting the role...
Like Marlon Brando, his close friend, fellow maverick and chief rival for the title of greatest American actor of his generation, the tall, lean Clift was born in Omaha, Nebraska. His father was an overbearing, right-wing banker and stockbroker of considerably fluctuating fortunes; his ambitious mother, an illegitimate child adopted at birth, was obsessed with establishing her membership of a distinguished patrician family from the south. Along with his twin sister and elder brother, Clift was privately educated.
At the age of 15, Monty, as everyone called him, made his Broadway debut and for the next decade was constantly employed there, usually playing handsome, sensitive sons, though with the possible exception of Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth (directed in 1942 by Elia Kazan) none of the plays he appeared in entered the classic repertoire. For years, he rejected Hollywood offers until accepting the role...
- 1/17/2010
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Each day we're celebriting the birth of various cinematic persons. Can someone in Hollywood please give their Oscar to Ed Harris today? I mean, my god how long does he have to wait for that damn thing? The rest of today's Sagittarians are less easy to shop for. What could we give Jon Stewart, for example, that he doesn't already have?
Ed, Laura and Jon
1896 Lilia Skala, Oscar nominated actress (Lilies of the Field)
1923 Gloria Grahame, Oscar winner (The Bad the Beautiful)
933 Hope Lange, Oscar nominated actress (Peyton Place, The Young Lions, Death Wish)
1941 Laura Antonelli, Italian actress, sex symbol
1946 Joe Dante He'll always have Gremlins, such a great 80s picture.
1949 Alexander Godunov, like Baryshnikov, he was a Russian ballet star who defected to America and co-starred in movies. It didn't go quite as well. He never achieved anything close to Misha's level of fame though he made for a memorable screen presence (Witness,...
Ed, Laura and Jon
1896 Lilia Skala, Oscar nominated actress (Lilies of the Field)
1923 Gloria Grahame, Oscar winner (The Bad the Beautiful)
933 Hope Lange, Oscar nominated actress (Peyton Place, The Young Lions, Death Wish)
1941 Laura Antonelli, Italian actress, sex symbol
1946 Joe Dante He'll always have Gremlins, such a great 80s picture.
1949 Alexander Godunov, like Baryshnikov, he was a Russian ballet star who defected to America and co-starred in movies. It didn't go quite as well. He never achieved anything close to Misha's level of fame though he made for a memorable screen presence (Witness,...
- 11/28/2009
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Julian Burton, a character actor from film, television and the theater, died March 27 in Palm Springs. He was 72. Burton's film work included A Bucket of Blood, The Masque of the Red Death and The Last Tycoon as well as appearing with Montgomery Clift in The Young Lions.
Actress Hope Lange, who received an Oscar nomination for the 1957 film Peyton Place and won two Emmy awards for the sitcom The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, died Friday at a Santa Monica hospital; she was 72. According to her husband, Charles Hollerith, Lange died after suffering an infection caused by an intestinal inflammation known as ischemic colitis. A child actor who already had 12 years of Broadway experience before she moved to film, Lange quickly found fame with her first two big film roles in Bus Stop and Peyton Place. The latter film nabbed the actress an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress and launched her career as one of the more popular ingénues of the late 50s. Appearing in The Young Lions, The Best of Everything and A Pocketful of Miracles, she segued into television in the late 60s, where she starred opposite Edward Mulhare in the romantic sitcom The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, which ran only from 1968-1970 but garnered the actress two Emmys; Lange later appeared in The New Dick Van Dyke Show from 1971-1974. Her later roles included Blue Velvet and Clear and Present Danger, as well as innumerable guest television appearances. Married previously to actor Don Murray and director Alan J. Pakula, Lange is survived by Hollerith, her third husband, as well as two children from her marriage to Murray, actor Christopher Murray and daughter Patricia Murray. --Prepared by IMDb staff...
- 12/22/2003
- WENN
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