Who could've imagined "Community" launching the careers of so many big-name artists? From the Russo Brothers to Donald Glover and Alison Brie, Dan Harmon's cult-favorite comedy series was a breeding ground for then-budding talents, perhaps none more so than composer Ludwig Göransson. Over the last 15 years, Göransson has cemented himself as one of the best music-making millennials in the business, along the way picking up an Oscar for the sick Afrofuturistic beats of his "Black Panther" soundtrack (although his Oscar-nominated score for "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" was just as impressive). He's now landed a well-deserved second Academy Award for his electrifying work on "Oppenheimer," placing him in some reputable company when it comes to the Oscars.
Specifically, this gives Göransson just as many Oscars as Hans Zimmer. It's actually kind of mind-boggling that the legendary composer doesn't have more than that, considering just how many iconic movie scores he's...
Specifically, this gives Göransson just as many Oscars as Hans Zimmer. It's actually kind of mind-boggling that the legendary composer doesn't have more than that, considering just how many iconic movie scores he's...
- 3/11/2024
- by Sandy Schaefer
- Slash Film
Remembering David Bordwell: A Film Scholar Who Did More Than Anyone to Advance Academic Film Studies
He simply may have watched more movies than anyone else alive. That’s the kind of legendary detail that followed film scholar David Bordwell, dead at 76 after a long struggle with a degenerative lung disease.
Was that true? Impossible to determine, and Bordwell’s cinephilia was never about bragging or the accumulation of knowledge to score points — but instead, to share with others and enrich our collective understanding of cinema. If you studied film on any level in academia, you almost certainly have heard his name.
For several generations of film students, you read Bordwell’s “Film Art: An Introduction” in your fall freshman Film 101 class. That was me in 2004, and I believe that book was already on its seventh edition by that point — it had first been published in 1979. If you went deeper into your studies, you’d undoubtedly encounter his “Film History” textbook as well. Both of these...
Was that true? Impossible to determine, and Bordwell’s cinephilia was never about bragging or the accumulation of knowledge to score points — but instead, to share with others and enrich our collective understanding of cinema. If you studied film on any level in academia, you almost certainly have heard his name.
For several generations of film students, you read Bordwell’s “Film Art: An Introduction” in your fall freshman Film 101 class. That was me in 2004, and I believe that book was already on its seventh edition by that point — it had first been published in 1979. If you went deeper into your studies, you’d undoubtedly encounter his “Film History” textbook as well. Both of these...
- 3/1/2024
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
Two songs from “Barbie” are Oscar-nominated, part of a diverse collection of songs and musical scores nominated for the 96th annual Academy Awards.
“What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell, and “I’m Just Ken,” by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, were chosen by the 390 voting members of the Academy music branch. Three “Barbie” songs were shortlisted (Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night” being the third) but only two can be nominated, per Academy rules.
The “Barbie” songs are already considered frontrunners, and if either number prevails on March 10, the Oscar will go to a pair of songwriters who already have one of those golden statues. Siblings Eilish and O’Connell won for 2021’s James Bond film “No Time to Die,” while Ronson and Wyatt were two of four 2018 winners for Lady Gaga’s song “Shallow” from “A Star Is Born.”
They will compete against Jon Batiste...
“What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell, and “I’m Just Ken,” by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, were chosen by the 390 voting members of the Academy music branch. Three “Barbie” songs were shortlisted (Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night” being the third) but only two can be nominated, per Academy rules.
The “Barbie” songs are already considered frontrunners, and if either number prevails on March 10, the Oscar will go to a pair of songwriters who already have one of those golden statues. Siblings Eilish and O’Connell won for 2021’s James Bond film “No Time to Die,” while Ronson and Wyatt were two of four 2018 winners for Lady Gaga’s song “Shallow” from “A Star Is Born.”
They will compete against Jon Batiste...
- 1/23/2024
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
Ryan Murphy’s upcoming FX series “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans” boasts one of the greatest casts of the TV season. But it has also broken new ground on the music side: a father-daughter team providing the musical score.
It’s believed to be a first for music in films and TV. Emmy winner and 15-time Oscar nominee Thomas Newman has written the theme, but his daughter Julia Newman, in her first major outing, has composed the score for the entire eight-hour miniseries.
Julia Newman, 29, earned a master’s degree from the University of Southern California’s screen scoring program in 2020 and has since worked on short films, documentaries, games and web series. But “Feud” was a massive new challenge, and, she says, “my dad and [executive producer] Alexis Martin Woodall allowed me the opportunity to spread my wings.”
The series (which debuts Jan. 31) takes place between 1955 and 1984 and depicts a literary...
It’s believed to be a first for music in films and TV. Emmy winner and 15-time Oscar nominee Thomas Newman has written the theme, but his daughter Julia Newman, in her first major outing, has composed the score for the entire eight-hour miniseries.
Julia Newman, 29, earned a master’s degree from the University of Southern California’s screen scoring program in 2020 and has since worked on short films, documentaries, games and web series. But “Feud” was a massive new challenge, and, she says, “my dad and [executive producer] Alexis Martin Woodall allowed me the opportunity to spread my wings.”
The series (which debuts Jan. 31) takes place between 1955 and 1984 and depicts a literary...
- 12/22/2023
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
Film Independent is currently in the middle of a Matching Campaign to raise support for the next 30 years of filmmaker support. All donations make before or on September 15 will be doubled—dollar-for-dollar up to $100,000. To kick off the campaign, we’re re-posting a few of our most popular blogs.
Regardless of its importance to the storytelling process, film music is too often an afterthought. There are a variety of theories that composers have as to why, and they’re mostly related to a lack of education. So I’ve decided to take an active stance in educating filmmakers about the role of music in film and the process of how a film score comes into being.
My hope is that by the end of this piece you’ll be more familiar with: A) the history of film music in general, and B) the key composers who have contributed to the...
Regardless of its importance to the storytelling process, film music is too often an afterthought. There are a variety of theories that composers have as to why, and they’re mostly related to a lack of education. So I’ve decided to take an active stance in educating filmmakers about the role of music in film and the process of how a film score comes into being.
My hope is that by the end of this piece you’ll be more familiar with: A) the history of film music in general, and B) the key composers who have contributed to the...
- 7/28/2023
- by Olajide Paris
- Film Independent News & More
The effort to restore neglected films doesn’t get more rewarding than this 4K rebirth of Lewis Milestone’s version of the acclaimed Somerset Maugham story. Loaned from MGM, Joan Crawford tries on the role of Sadie Thompson and holds her own opposite Walter Huston’s fire & brimstone preacher. It’s still a major achievement of the pre-Code era, an adult story that doesn’t water down its ‘dangerous’ themes: it’s exactly the kind of show that the censors didn’t want made.
Rain
Blu-ray
Mary Pickford Foundation / Vci
1932 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 94 + 76 min. / Street Date September 27, 2022 / Available from Mvd / 29.95
Starring: Joan Crawford, Walter Huston, Fred Howard, Ben Hendricks Jr., William Gargan, Mary Shaw, Guy Kibbee, Kendall Lee, Beulah Bondi, Matt Moore, Walter Catlett.
Cinematography: Oliver Marsh
Art Director: Richard Day
Film Editor: W. Duncan Mansfield
Original Music: Alfred Newman
Screen adaptation by Maxwell Anderson from the play by John Colton,...
Rain
Blu-ray
Mary Pickford Foundation / Vci
1932 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 94 + 76 min. / Street Date September 27, 2022 / Available from Mvd / 29.95
Starring: Joan Crawford, Walter Huston, Fred Howard, Ben Hendricks Jr., William Gargan, Mary Shaw, Guy Kibbee, Kendall Lee, Beulah Bondi, Matt Moore, Walter Catlett.
Cinematography: Oliver Marsh
Art Director: Richard Day
Film Editor: W. Duncan Mansfield
Original Music: Alfred Newman
Screen adaptation by Maxwell Anderson from the play by John Colton,...
- 9/20/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
George Seaton connected an ideal cast to this true-life WW2 story so good that a lazy script and slack direction can’t sink it. William Holden is the American-Swede who spies for the Allies, ruining his own reputation and schmoozing with Nazis that will kill him if he slips up. Wonderful Lilli Palmer is the patriot-agent who steals his heart. The locations are impressive but one inspired scene captures with perfection the utter depravity of fascist power. If ever a WW2 movie needed a remake, this one qualifies.
The Counterfeit Traitor
Region-free Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 118
1962 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 141 min. / Street Date April 27, 2022 / Available from /
Starring: William Holden, Lilli Palmer, Hugh Griffith, Carl Raddatz, Ernst Schröder, Charles Régnier, Ingrid van Bergen, Helo Gutschwager, Wolfgang Preiss, Werner Peters, Erica Beer, Stefan Schnabel, Klaus Kinski, Eva Dahlbeck.
Cinematography: Jean Bourgoin
Production Designer: Ellen Schmidt
Art Directors: Hal Pereira, Tambi Larsen, Mathias Matthies
Film Editors: Hans Ebel,...
The Counterfeit Traitor
Region-free Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 118
1962 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 141 min. / Street Date April 27, 2022 / Available from /
Starring: William Holden, Lilli Palmer, Hugh Griffith, Carl Raddatz, Ernst Schröder, Charles Régnier, Ingrid van Bergen, Helo Gutschwager, Wolfgang Preiss, Werner Peters, Erica Beer, Stefan Schnabel, Klaus Kinski, Eva Dahlbeck.
Cinematography: Jean Bourgoin
Production Designer: Ellen Schmidt
Art Directors: Hal Pereira, Tambi Larsen, Mathias Matthies
Film Editors: Hans Ebel,...
- 5/17/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Two years ago, siblings Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell shared in four Grammy wins for the album “When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” (Album of the Year; Best Pop Vocal Album) and its single “Bad Guy” (Record of the Year; Song of the Year). Now, they have concurrently earned their first Oscar nominations for co-writing the song “No Time to Die” for the James Bond film of the same name. If they prevail later this month, they will become the fourth brother-sister pair to both be honored by the academy and the first to win for the same film.
The first brother-sister Oscar champs and first sibling winners overall were Douglas Shearer and Norma Shearer. In 1930, he triumphed in the Best Sound category for “The Big House” while she took the Best Actress prize for “The Divorcee.” They were followed by Lionel Barrymore and Ethel Barrymore, who respectively...
The first brother-sister Oscar champs and first sibling winners overall were Douglas Shearer and Norma Shearer. In 1930, he triumphed in the Best Sound category for “The Big House” while she took the Best Actress prize for “The Divorcee.” They were followed by Lionel Barrymore and Ethel Barrymore, who respectively...
- 3/16/2022
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
John Williams turns 90 years old on Feb. 8. And the world’s most famous film composer shows no signs of slowing down.
The five-time Oscar winner, creator of many of the most well-known movie themes of all time — everything from “Jaws” and “Star Wars” to “E.T.” and “Harry Potter” — is finishing work on two new film scores and, Covid permitting, plans to conduct concerts with at least five orchestras between April and November.
Commemorating Williams’ nonagenarian status is the release of “John Williams: The Berlin Concert,” a two-disc Deutsche Grammophon set recorded during the composer’s Oct. 14-16 concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic.
The 93-minute collection includes many of Williams’ familiar signature tunes — “Star Wars,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Jurassic Park,” “Superman” — plus a few less familiar pieces, including his theme for “Solo: A Star Wars Story” and his moving, non-film “Elegy for Cello and Orchestra.”
The Berlin album might...
The five-time Oscar winner, creator of many of the most well-known movie themes of all time — everything from “Jaws” and “Star Wars” to “E.T.” and “Harry Potter” — is finishing work on two new film scores and, Covid permitting, plans to conduct concerts with at least five orchestras between April and November.
Commemorating Williams’ nonagenarian status is the release of “John Williams: The Berlin Concert,” a two-disc Deutsche Grammophon set recorded during the composer’s Oct. 14-16 concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic.
The 93-minute collection includes many of Williams’ familiar signature tunes — “Star Wars,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Jurassic Park,” “Superman” — plus a few less familiar pieces, including his theme for “Solo: A Star Wars Story” and his moving, non-film “Elegy for Cello and Orchestra.”
The Berlin album might...
- 2/7/2022
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
‘Unabashed, unfettered romanticism’ runs wild in Frank Borzage’s golden-age masterpiece of a runaway wife and the crazy Frenchman who pursues her. Long lost to awful, ragged 16mm prints, the newly restored gem will dazzle fans of delirious love stories, where the right people get together despite distance, time, and the interference of jealous husbands, misunderstandings, accusations of murder and natural disasters. All the above figure in this mini-epic, yet the movie never seems like a genre mash-up. Jean Arthur skips the squeaky line deliveries, Charles Boyer drops the gloom act, Colin Clive is more frightening than in his horror movies and Leo Carillo steals the show with one of the most endearing characters of the 1930s.
History is Made at Night
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1072
1937 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 97 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date April 13, 2021 / 39.95
Starring: Charles Boyer, Jean Arthur, Leo Carrillo, Colin Clive, Ivan Lebedeff,...
History is Made at Night
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1072
1937 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 97 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date April 13, 2021 / 39.95
Starring: Charles Boyer, Jean Arthur, Leo Carrillo, Colin Clive, Ivan Lebedeff,...
- 5/18/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
For his first re-teaming sans Ginger, Fred Astaire hot-foots it to MGM and the waiting tap & sweep partner Eleanor Powell, already a terrific box office draw in her own right. These were the days when the caliber of talent in Hollywood justified the exalted, glamorous aura of star status. The story is a backstage mixup with sidebar singing and joke acts, decent dialogue and not much else. But when these two alight on a dance floor — not just ‘a’ dance floor but an enormous expanse of glittering glass — Hollywood hits a too-glamorous-to-be-real peak. The music by Cole Porter includes Begin the Beguine. Just-okay George Murphy is the third wheel on this musical bicycle, with Frank Morgan serving as fuddy-duddy comic relief.
Broadway Melody of 1940
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1940 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 102 min. / Street Date April 13, 2021 / 21.99
Starring: Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, George Murphy, Frank Morgan, Ian Hunter, Florence Rice, Trixie Firschke,...
Broadway Melody of 1940
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1940 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 102 min. / Street Date April 13, 2021 / 21.99
Starring: Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, George Murphy, Frank Morgan, Ian Hunter, Florence Rice, Trixie Firschke,...
- 5/1/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The second dramatic film shot in three-panel Cinerama, this sprawling all-star western epic came too late to save the process which was being replaced by a simpler single-lens system. Many action sequences were shot normally and converted to three-panel. By the time the brand-new Cinerama Dome in Hollywood opened in 1963 its initial “Cinerama” attraction, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, had been made entirely without the three-panel process the theater was built to showcase. Great score by Alfred Newman.
The post How the West Was Won appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post How the West Was Won appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 4/21/2021
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
At the 2021 Academy Awards on April 25, “Nomadland” filmmaker Chloe Zhao could make history with the most individual Oscar wins since Walt Disney. With nominations in Best Picture (Zhao is a producer of her film), Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Editing, Zhao is already the most recognized female filmmaker in the history of the Academy Awards with four nominations. But if she manages a clean sweep of the categories, it would allow her to match Disney’s incredible 1954 performance, where he won a record four Oscars from a record six nominations.
But even if she’s able to match the legendary mogul, Disney will remain in the record books for his cumulative Oscars history. Ahead, a look at who has the most Academy Awards in history.
Who has the most Oscars?
The four Oscars that Disney won in 1954 represent only a fraction of his career total. Disney received 22 competitive...
But even if she’s able to match the legendary mogul, Disney will remain in the record books for his cumulative Oscars history. Ahead, a look at who has the most Academy Awards in history.
Who has the most Oscars?
The four Oscars that Disney won in 1954 represent only a fraction of his career total. Disney received 22 competitive...
- 3/25/2021
- by Christopher Rosen
- Gold Derby
When Oscar nominations were announced March 15, mainstream-media headlines focused on the usual topics: best picture, the four acting categories and Hollywood’s current obsession, inclusion. These are all worth talking about, but the Msm virtually ignores one key element every year: The artisans.
Those individuals are key to a movie’s success, as everyone in the industry knows. The artisans are also important to Oscar: They constitute one-third of the 9,000-plus voters in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, which means their votes are crucial.
These nine categories also beef up a contender’s bragging rights. Netflix’s “Mank” was the nom leader with 10 — and six of those were in below-the-line races. Of the other seven best picture contenders, each had at least one Btl nomination.
Aside from “Mank’s” team, almost all of the artisans who worked on the year’s best-pic roster are first-time Oscar contenders, ranging...
Those individuals are key to a movie’s success, as everyone in the industry knows. The artisans are also important to Oscar: They constitute one-third of the 9,000-plus voters in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, which means their votes are crucial.
These nine categories also beef up a contender’s bragging rights. Netflix’s “Mank” was the nom leader with 10 — and six of those were in below-the-line races. Of the other seven best picture contenders, each had at least one Btl nomination.
Aside from “Mank’s” team, almost all of the artisans who worked on the year’s best-pic roster are first-time Oscar contenders, ranging...
- 3/24/2021
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
One of the gentle touches of “Pretend It’s a City” is that there are usually other people in the room where Fran Lebowitz and Martin Scorsese are chatting. Not just the crew members who worked on the Netflix doc series to record the conversation between two of New York City’s highest profile ambassadors, but — as shown when the camera pulls back at the beginning and end of a few episodes — a handful of other patrons standing by the bar or setting up shots at a nearby pool table.
That’s the “slice of New York life” element of “Pretend It’s a City” that gives this seven-episode season its best moments. Stitching together clips from public talks and b-roll of Lebowitz making her way across the streets of Manhattan, a majority of the series is centered in talks from opposite ends of a table. It’s the most elegant form of old friend catch-up,...
That’s the “slice of New York life” element of “Pretend It’s a City” that gives this seven-episode season its best moments. Stitching together clips from public talks and b-roll of Lebowitz making her way across the streets of Manhattan, a majority of the series is centered in talks from opposite ends of a table. It’s the most elegant form of old friend catch-up,...
- 1/8/2021
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
When Hollywood from time to time reinvented the western the results were sometimes sensationally good, as attested to by this superior neglected classic. We’d call it the first psychological western if the term weren’t so limiting. Gregory Peck once again proves how good he can be when well cast and he’s surrounded by fine characterizations, not typical oater walk-ons. The screenplay and direction are so pleasing that the downbeat finale isn’t a drawback — it doesn’t strain to enforce an irony, or to sell a deep-dish ‘author’s message.’ This one’s just a winner in all categories.
The Gunfighter
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1053
1950 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 84 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date , 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Gregory Peck, Helen Westcott, Millard Mitchell, Jean Parker, Karl Malden, Skip Homeier, Anthony Ross, Verna Felton, Ellen Corby, Richard Jaeckel, Alan Hale Jr., Mae Marsh, James Millican, Kim Spalding.
The Gunfighter
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1053
1950 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 84 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date , 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Gregory Peck, Helen Westcott, Millard Mitchell, Jean Parker, Karl Malden, Skip Homeier, Anthony Ross, Verna Felton, Ellen Corby, Richard Jaeckel, Alan Hale Jr., Mae Marsh, James Millican, Kim Spalding.
- 11/21/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Alan Menken and Glenn Slater just won Best Original Song for a Children’s, Young Adult or Animated Program at the 2020 Daytime Emmys for composing the tune “Waiting in the Wings” for “Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure” on the Disney Channel. That finally completes Menken’s Egot grand slam as he had previously won at the Grammys, Oscars and Tonys. Check out the complete list of Daytime Emmy winners here.
SEE2020 Daytime Emmy winners: Full list of nominees and winners in all categories
Menken received his Got awards a while ago. He has claimed a whopping eight Oscars, making him the second biggest winner ever at those kudos for music, behind nine-time champ Alfred Newman. The first of those was 30 years ago when he took home Best Original Song (“Under the Sea”) and Best Original Score for “The Little Mermaid” (1989). That Disney classic also won him the first of his 11 Grammys: Best...
SEE2020 Daytime Emmy winners: Full list of nominees and winners in all categories
Menken received his Got awards a while ago. He has claimed a whopping eight Oscars, making him the second biggest winner ever at those kudos for music, behind nine-time champ Alfred Newman. The first of those was 30 years ago when he took home Best Original Song (“Under the Sea”) and Best Original Score for “The Little Mermaid” (1989). That Disney classic also won him the first of his 11 Grammys: Best...
- 7/27/2020
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
Composer Alan Menken is nominated for Best Original Song for a Children’s, Young Adult or Animated Program at the 2020 Daytime Emmys for penning “Waiting in the Wings” from “Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure” on the Disney Channel. If he wins, he’ll finally complete his Egot grand slam as he has already won at the Grammys, Oscars and Tonys.
Menken got his Got a while ago. He has won a remarkable eight Oscars, which makes him the second most awarded person at those kudos for music, behind nine-time champ Alfred Newman. The first of those came 30 years ago when he won Best Original Song (“Under the Sea”) and Best Original Score for “The Little Mermaid” (1989). That animated film also won him the first of his 11 career Grammys: Best Recording for Children and Best Visual Media Song (also for “Under the Sea”) in 1991.
SEE2020 Daytime Emmy nominations list: Full list of 47th...
Menken got his Got a while ago. He has won a remarkable eight Oscars, which makes him the second most awarded person at those kudos for music, behind nine-time champ Alfred Newman. The first of those came 30 years ago when he won Best Original Song (“Under the Sea”) and Best Original Score for “The Little Mermaid” (1989). That animated film also won him the first of his 11 career Grammys: Best Recording for Children and Best Visual Media Song (also for “Under the Sea”) in 1991.
SEE2020 Daytime Emmy nominations list: Full list of 47th...
- 6/4/2020
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
It’s a classic from the Golden Year of 1939, directed in fine style by Wild Bill Wellman and well cast with Paramount stars Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, and Robert Preston, and with Brian Donlevy as one of the movies’ most hissable villains. The popular story has been remade and spoofed innumerable times, yet this remains the indelible best version. A commentary with William Wellman Jr. and Frank Thompson points out many things we didn’t notice before, including where some excised scenes belong, and what originally happened in them.
Beau Geste
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1939 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 112 min. / Street Date April 7, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy, Susan Hayward, J. Carrol Naish, Albert Dekker, Broderick Crawford, Charles Barton, James Stephenson, Heather Thatcher, George P. Huntley, Donald O’Connor, Billy Cook, Martin Spellman, Ann Gillis, David Holt, Henry Brandon, Nestor Paiva, Francis McDonald.
Beau Geste
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1939 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 112 min. / Street Date April 7, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy, Susan Hayward, J. Carrol Naish, Albert Dekker, Broderick Crawford, Charles Barton, James Stephenson, Heather Thatcher, George P. Huntley, Donald O’Connor, Billy Cook, Martin Spellman, Ann Gillis, David Holt, Henry Brandon, Nestor Paiva, Francis McDonald.
- 3/24/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
It’s ‘Marriage Story’ circa 1936. Talk about older shows that still pack a dramatic wallop… William Wyler’s most celebrated ’30s film is this Sinclair Lewis adaptation. The Production Code frowned on disrespecting the institution of marriage, but Wyler & writer Sidney Howard keep the divorce theme intact — their well-off couple learn more about each other and simply grow apart. Industrialist Walter Huston gets pushed a little too far. His social-climbing wife Ruth Chatterton doesn’t appreciate what she’s got, while luscious Mary Astor is the Depression equivalent of a Malibu Earth Mother.
Dodsworth
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1936 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 101 min. / Street Date March 24, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas, Mary Astor, David Niven, Gregory Gaye, Maria Ouspenskaya.
Cinematography: Rudolph Maté
Film Editor: Daniel Mandell
Original Music: Alfred Newman
Written by Sidney Howard from his play of the novel by Sinclair Lewis...
Dodsworth
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1936 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 101 min. / Street Date March 24, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas, Mary Astor, David Niven, Gregory Gaye, Maria Ouspenskaya.
Cinematography: Rudolph Maté
Film Editor: Daniel Mandell
Original Music: Alfred Newman
Written by Sidney Howard from his play of the novel by Sinclair Lewis...
- 3/17/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Freddie Mercury sang that Love Kills, and that’s apparently where Gene Tierney’s coming from in this bizarre domestic noir. Dream wife Tierney is cultured, rich, and drop-dead gorgeous, but hubby Cornell Wilde should have read the small print about her manic possessiveness. Beautiful people, beautiful scenery and Technicolor so bright that even Alfred Newman’s music score seems to be in color; John M. Stahl’s thriller stretches the definition of Film Noir.
Leave Her to Heaven
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1020
1945 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 110 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date March 24, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain, Vincent Price, Mary Philips, Ray Collins, Darryl Hickman.
Cinematography: Leon Shamroy
Film Editor: James B. Clark
Original Music: Alfred Newman
Written by Jo Swerling from the novel by Ben Ames Williams
Produced by William A. Bacher, Darryl F. Zanuck
Directed by John M. Stahl
How can a glossy...
Leave Her to Heaven
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1020
1945 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 110 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date March 24, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain, Vincent Price, Mary Philips, Ray Collins, Darryl Hickman.
Cinematography: Leon Shamroy
Film Editor: James B. Clark
Original Music: Alfred Newman
Written by Jo Swerling from the novel by Ben Ames Williams
Produced by William A. Bacher, Darryl F. Zanuck
Directed by John M. Stahl
How can a glossy...
- 3/14/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
‘Twenties’ Review: Lena Waithe Revisits Her Earlier, Messier Days as an Aspiring Writer in Hollywood
After scurrying between networks for a decade, Lena Waithe’s comedy series “Twenties” is finally getting its television debut on Bet. The half-hour comedy is the end result of a concept Waithe, now 35 years old, had been working on since her mid-20s. But at the time, no studio would touch a series with a black female lead who unapologetically eschews traditional gender norms. Times have certainly changed, and with “Twenties,” Waithe is able to prove there’s room in Hollywood for stories like this, which, for the first in primetime TV, centers the story of a masculine-of-center black woman, with a little help from the Bette Davis classic, “All About Eve.”
The opening scene of “Twenties” comprises of an inharmonious mishmash of atmosphere and style. A rapidly-edited montage of tangled limbs and ecstatic grins belonging to a pair of black women, thrashing underneath rose-colored sheets in a “bougiefied” Silver Lake apartment.
The opening scene of “Twenties” comprises of an inharmonious mishmash of atmosphere and style. A rapidly-edited montage of tangled limbs and ecstatic grins belonging to a pair of black women, thrashing underneath rose-colored sheets in a “bougiefied” Silver Lake apartment.
- 3/4/2020
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
There’s nothing like being honored for your 52nd Oscar nomination on your 88th birthday and finding yourself serenaded by 350 of the town’s top composers and songwriters. But that was Saturday afternoon for composer John Williams at the Society of Composers & Lyricists’ annual Oscar music reception, which was attended by nearly all of the original-score and original-song nominees on the day before the Academy Awards ceremony.
Williams — nominated this year for “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” — responded by pulling out the ceremonial baton he had just been awarded by Scl and conducting the last few bars of “Happy Birthday” being sung by the appreciative crowd.
The famous composer of “Jaws,” “Star Wars,” “E.T.” and many other classics said that receiving Oscar nominations “rather late in life, mean more all the time, the opposite of what you might think.” Williams’ 52 nominations are more than any other living individual...
Williams — nominated this year for “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” — responded by pulling out the ceremonial baton he had just been awarded by Scl and conducting the last few bars of “Happy Birthday” being sung by the appreciative crowd.
The famous composer of “Jaws,” “Star Wars,” “E.T.” and many other classics said that receiving Oscar nominations “rather late in life, mean more all the time, the opposite of what you might think.” Williams’ 52 nominations are more than any other living individual...
- 2/9/2020
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
A version of this story about Thomas Newman and the Newman family first appeared in the Down to the Wire issue of TheWrap’s Oscar magazine.
When you think of the first families of the Oscars, you might think of the Coppolas, with nominations for director Francis Ford Coppola, his father Carmine, his daughter Sofia, his son Roman, his nephew Nicolas Cage, his former son-in-law Spike Jonze and his brother-in-law David Shire; or the Hustons, with Walter, his son John and John’s daughter Angelica all nominated.
But no family has more Oscar nominations than the Newmans. This year, the Academy’s most honored family received its record-breaking 91st, 92nd and 93rd nominations: a pair in the Best Original Score category for Thomas Newman’s “1917” and his cousin Randy Newman’s “Marriage Story,” and an additional nomination for Randy’s song “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” from...
When you think of the first families of the Oscars, you might think of the Coppolas, with nominations for director Francis Ford Coppola, his father Carmine, his daughter Sofia, his son Roman, his nephew Nicolas Cage, his former son-in-law Spike Jonze and his brother-in-law David Shire; or the Hustons, with Walter, his son John and John’s daughter Angelica all nominated.
But no family has more Oscar nominations than the Newmans. This year, the Academy’s most honored family received its record-breaking 91st, 92nd and 93rd nominations: a pair in the Best Original Score category for Thomas Newman’s “1917” and his cousin Randy Newman’s “Marriage Story,” and an additional nomination for Randy’s song “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” from...
- 1/30/2020
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Just 15 days til Oscar. Here's Cláudio Alves on a 15 time nominee...
When we think of Hollywood royalty, our mind tends to go to those dynasties of movie stars or celebrity directors -- families like the Barrymores, the Hustons, the Fondas or the Coppolas. But not every tinsel town lineage is made up of those who sit on the director's chair or dazzle in front of the cameras.
The Newmans are a good example. With more than 90 collective nominations and many wins, they're the Academy Awards' most beloved family. Alfred Newman is the most Oscar-winning composer of all-time with a total of 43 nods and 9 victories. His son David Newman is a one time nominee and his brother, Lionel Newman, won the Oscar for adapting the score of Hello Dolly! and received 10 additional nominations. Emil Newman, another brother, was nominated for the score of 1941's Sun Valley Serenade. Their nephew, Randy Newman,...
When we think of Hollywood royalty, our mind tends to go to those dynasties of movie stars or celebrity directors -- families like the Barrymores, the Hustons, the Fondas or the Coppolas. But not every tinsel town lineage is made up of those who sit on the director's chair or dazzle in front of the cameras.
The Newmans are a good example. With more than 90 collective nominations and many wins, they're the Academy Awards' most beloved family. Alfred Newman is the most Oscar-winning composer of all-time with a total of 43 nods and 9 victories. His son David Newman is a one time nominee and his brother, Lionel Newman, won the Oscar for adapting the score of Hello Dolly! and received 10 additional nominations. Emil Newman, another brother, was nominated for the score of 1941's Sun Valley Serenade. Their nephew, Randy Newman,...
- 1/25/2020
- by Cláudio Alves
- FilmExperience
It’s official. As Walt Disney Studios ingests all Fox brands as part of the company after a major acquisition last year, Disney has just removed any mention of “Fox” from both the 20th Century and Searchlight Pictures logos, according to a new report from Deadline. From now on, you will see the Searchlight Pictures logo attached to specialty outings, and 20th Century Studios on upcoming wide-release titles.
The new Searchlight Pictures logo, for example, is already visible on TV spots for the upcoming “Force Majeure” remake “Downhill,” starring Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a couple in crisis while on vacation at a ski resort. The film, directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, will premiere at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival this month, followed by a national rollout beginning February 14. Meanwhile, the 20th Century Studios stamp will be visible on the upcoming feature film adaptation of Jack London...
The new Searchlight Pictures logo, for example, is already visible on TV spots for the upcoming “Force Majeure” remake “Downhill,” starring Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a couple in crisis while on vacation at a ski resort. The film, directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, will premiere at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival this month, followed by a national rollout beginning February 14. Meanwhile, the 20th Century Studios stamp will be visible on the upcoming feature film adaptation of Jack London...
- 1/17/2020
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
A month ago when Fox Searchlight emails had dropped the Fox, there was a sense that the full integration of the former Rupert Murdoch-owned studio was in full effect at Disney. Well, it’s official today: in the wake of the 20th Century Fox film division updating their emails last night to @20thCenturyStudios, both labels are dropping Fox from their logos. Going forward, you’ll see the Searchlight Pictures logo on their specialty fare, and 20th Century Studios on the big, wide release titles.
Now, from what I understand, legally Disney can still use Fox if they want to in logos, however, the reason for dropping the big name is to avoid confusion with the consumer, especially as the Murdochs keep the Fox name in regards to their big broadcast network and cable and business news cable networks. The update of the Searchlight and 20th Century logos follows in...
Now, from what I understand, legally Disney can still use Fox if they want to in logos, however, the reason for dropping the big name is to avoid confusion with the consumer, especially as the Murdochs keep the Fox name in regards to their big broadcast network and cable and business news cable networks. The update of the Searchlight and 20th Century logos follows in...
- 1/17/2020
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
The original “Aladdin” (1992) brought Alan Menken two of his eight Oscars — for Best Original Score and Best Original Song for “A Whole New World”) — and now the 2019 version can help him break some longstanding records.
Menken, who returned to compose new music for the live-action remake, could add a ninth Oscar to his collection for the new Jasmine anthem “Speechless,” which he co-wrote with fellow Oscar winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. That would give him the solo record for the most victories for Best Original Song at five, tie him for the most Oscars in the music categories, and extend his own record for the most Oscars won by a living person.
Menken is in a four-way tie with four wins in Best Original Song with Sammy Cahn, Johnny Mercer and Jimmy Van Heusen. The prolific composer and songwriter garnered all of his awards during the Disney Renaissance for...
Menken, who returned to compose new music for the live-action remake, could add a ninth Oscar to his collection for the new Jasmine anthem “Speechless,” which he co-wrote with fellow Oscar winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. That would give him the solo record for the most victories for Best Original Song at five, tie him for the most Oscars in the music categories, and extend his own record for the most Oscars won by a living person.
Menken is in a four-way tie with four wins in Best Original Song with Sammy Cahn, Johnny Mercer and Jimmy Van Heusen. The prolific composer and songwriter garnered all of his awards during the Disney Renaissance for...
- 12/29/2019
- by Joyce Eng
- Gold Derby
The slate of awards hopefuls is new each year, but there is always a sense of continuity, of new contenders’ connections to the past.
For example, Alexandre Desplat, a strong Golden Globes and Oscar possibility this year for his score to Sony’s “Little Women,” can trace the influence of his predecessors on his work. Growing up in Paris, Desplat knew he wanted to be a film composer. “When I was very young, I was collecting soundtracks and it was an education. I learned to listen to music outside the film. When home video arrived, I would watch a movie over and over, to figure out when the music started and when it stopped and why.
“I listened to Nino Rota, Ennio Morricone, John Barry, Maurice Jarre. And my parents had earlier scores, by George Duning, Bernard Herrmann and many others. I was also very much into the earlier Hollywood composers: Max Steiner,...
For example, Alexandre Desplat, a strong Golden Globes and Oscar possibility this year for his score to Sony’s “Little Women,” can trace the influence of his predecessors on his work. Growing up in Paris, Desplat knew he wanted to be a film composer. “When I was very young, I was collecting soundtracks and it was an education. I learned to listen to music outside the film. When home video arrived, I would watch a movie over and over, to figure out when the music started and when it stopped and why.
“I listened to Nino Rota, Ennio Morricone, John Barry, Maurice Jarre. And my parents had earlier scores, by George Duning, Bernard Herrmann and many others. I was also very much into the earlier Hollywood composers: Max Steiner,...
- 11/20/2019
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
“What?! My god.”
This is Randy Newman’s reaction upon learning of the first time he ever appeared in the pages of Variety, back in May of 1965. That was three years before he released his first album as a singer-songwriter, at which point he began steadily accruing fans of his warped musical character sketches until he became a full-on cult sensation in the 1970s. And it was well before he really broke through as a film composer with 1981’s “Ragtime,” going on to rack up 20 Oscar nominations – and two wins – for both score and original song.
But in 1965, he was just another struggling L.A. musician – albeit one whose uncles, Alfred Newman and Lionel Newman, were Hollywood music royalty – writing songs and taking odd jobs composing music for TV. Epic Records liked his output of surf-rock instrumentals for the ABC soap “Peyton Place” – credited to the Randy Newman Orchestra – enough to release it on vinyl,...
This is Randy Newman’s reaction upon learning of the first time he ever appeared in the pages of Variety, back in May of 1965. That was three years before he released his first album as a singer-songwriter, at which point he began steadily accruing fans of his warped musical character sketches until he became a full-on cult sensation in the 1970s. And it was well before he really broke through as a film composer with 1981’s “Ragtime,” going on to rack up 20 Oscar nominations – and two wins – for both score and original song.
But in 1965, he was just another struggling L.A. musician – albeit one whose uncles, Alfred Newman and Lionel Newman, were Hollywood music royalty – writing songs and taking odd jobs composing music for TV. Epic Records liked his output of surf-rock instrumentals for the ABC soap “Peyton Place” – credited to the Randy Newman Orchestra – enough to release it on vinyl,...
- 11/14/2019
- by Andrew Barker
- Variety Film + TV
Earle Hagen, the Emmy-winning composer who wrote the iconic themes for “The Andy Griffith Show,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “I Spy” and many others, would have turned 100 years old on July 9.
He was one of the most influential composers in TV history, formally recognized for his landmark work when the Television Academy inducted him, posthumously, into its Hall of Fame in 2011. He was only the second musician to be so honored.
Hagen pioneered the creation of original music for television in the 1950s, when most TV music was cheaply recorded mood music licensed from pre-existing libraries. By the 1960s, he was composing, arranging and conducting for as many as five shows a week — “The Danny Thomas Show,” “That Girl” and “The Mod Squad” among them — and set a high standard that other TV composers would aspire to in years to come.
“Earle was a huge influence on us, and really good with the tunes,...
He was one of the most influential composers in TV history, formally recognized for his landmark work when the Television Academy inducted him, posthumously, into its Hall of Fame in 2011. He was only the second musician to be so honored.
Hagen pioneered the creation of original music for television in the 1950s, when most TV music was cheaply recorded mood music licensed from pre-existing libraries. By the 1960s, he was composing, arranging and conducting for as many as five shows a week — “The Danny Thomas Show,” “That Girl” and “The Mod Squad” among them — and set a high standard that other TV composers would aspire to in years to come.
“Earle was a huge influence on us, and really good with the tunes,...
- 7/9/2019
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
There aren’t many options to watch the 2019 “Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular,” which NBC will be broadcasting live on Thursday night.
The event will also be streaming on NBC.com or the NBC app, but you’ll need a TV provider login for the NBC.com and NBC app streams. Nontraditional TV viewers can use a streaming service like Sling and DirecTV Now to catch the festivities.
The two-hour live telecast, hosted by Derek Hough and Ciara, starts at 8 p.m. Et. Hough and Ciara will also perform at the event, as will Luke Bryan, Khalid, Maren Morris and Brad Paisley.
NBC “World of Dance” judge Hough will do a dance performance and Ciara will perform a musical medley. All of that stuff will happen before the 25-minute-long fireworks actually start.
Also Read: Ratings: 'Macy's 4th of July Fireworks' Blows Up on NBC
And don’t worry — if your BBQ runs long,...
The event will also be streaming on NBC.com or the NBC app, but you’ll need a TV provider login for the NBC.com and NBC app streams. Nontraditional TV viewers can use a streaming service like Sling and DirecTV Now to catch the festivities.
The two-hour live telecast, hosted by Derek Hough and Ciara, starts at 8 p.m. Et. Hough and Ciara will also perform at the event, as will Luke Bryan, Khalid, Maren Morris and Brad Paisley.
NBC “World of Dance” judge Hough will do a dance performance and Ciara will perform a musical medley. All of that stuff will happen before the 25-minute-long fireworks actually start.
Also Read: Ratings: 'Macy's 4th of July Fireworks' Blows Up on NBC
And don’t worry — if your BBQ runs long,...
- 7/4/2019
- by Tony Maglio
- The Wrap
Hollywood takes a hard look at the mundane horrors of mental asylums, and Olivia de Havilland scores another career high with her portrayal of a housewife experiencing a nervous breakdown. Some people found the show scary and a few felt it was tasteless, but Ms. de Havilland’s performance is riveting, 71 years later. Anatole Litvak’s intense direction makes good use of expressionistic visual devices, without veering into dippy Salvador Dalí psycho-surrealism.
The Snake Pit
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1948 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 108 min. / Street Date April 22, 2019 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99
Starring: Olivia de Havilland, Mark Stevens, Leo Genn, Celeste Holm, Glenn Langan, Helen Craig, Leif Erickson, Beulah Bondi, Lee Patrick, Natalie Schafer, Ruth Donnelly, Katherine Locke, Minna Gombell, Ann Doran, Jacqueline deWit, Betsy Blair, Queenie Smith, Virginia Brissac, Marie Blake, Isabel Jewell, Celia Lovsky, Mae Marsh, Doro Merande, Mary Newton, Inez Palange, Mary Treen, Minerva Urecal.
Cinematography:...
The Snake Pit
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1948 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 108 min. / Street Date April 22, 2019 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99
Starring: Olivia de Havilland, Mark Stevens, Leo Genn, Celeste Holm, Glenn Langan, Helen Craig, Leif Erickson, Beulah Bondi, Lee Patrick, Natalie Schafer, Ruth Donnelly, Katherine Locke, Minna Gombell, Ann Doran, Jacqueline deWit, Betsy Blair, Queenie Smith, Virginia Brissac, Marie Blake, Isabel Jewell, Celia Lovsky, Mae Marsh, Doro Merande, Mary Newton, Inez Palange, Mary Treen, Minerva Urecal.
Cinematography:...
- 6/1/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The city of Vienna will honor composer Gabriel Yared with the Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award as part of their Hollywood in Vienna gala Oct. 19, organizers of the annual event announced Sunday.
The night before receiving the award, the Oscar- and Grammy-winning Yared is slated to perform selections from his music on piano along with the Orf Vienna Radio Symphonic Orchestra at the Vienna Concert Hall.
Other recipients of the Steiner Award since the founding of Hollywood in Vienna in 2007 include Hans Zimmer, Randy Newman, Lalo Schifrin, Danny Elfman, Alan Silvestri, James Newton Howard and, before they passed away, the late James Horner and John Barry.
Yared’s most awarded score was for “The English Patient” — it won him an Oscar, Golden Globe, Grammy and BAFTA. His association with the late director Anthony Minghella also included the music for “Cold Mountain” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” He recently wrote...
The night before receiving the award, the Oscar- and Grammy-winning Yared is slated to perform selections from his music on piano along with the Orf Vienna Radio Symphonic Orchestra at the Vienna Concert Hall.
Other recipients of the Steiner Award since the founding of Hollywood in Vienna in 2007 include Hans Zimmer, Randy Newman, Lalo Schifrin, Danny Elfman, Alan Silvestri, James Newton Howard and, before they passed away, the late James Horner and John Barry.
Yared’s most awarded score was for “The English Patient” — it won him an Oscar, Golden Globe, Grammy and BAFTA. His association with the late director Anthony Minghella also included the music for “Cold Mountain” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” He recently wrote...
- 4/28/2019
- by Variety Staff
- Variety Film + TV
Hollywood classics don’t have to be stuffy — this 1940 swashbuckling adventure has style, great action, laughs and one of the most attractive screen couples of their day, Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell. And that’s not mentioning a superb fencing match, a great, quaint Spanish dance, and a smart cast directed by Rouben Mamoulian at his best. This German import is fully compatible with U.S. players.
The Mark of Zorro
Im Zeichen des Zorro
All-Region Blu-ray Special Edition
Explosive Media GmbH
1940 / B&W/colorized / 1:37 Academy / 94 min. / Im Zeichen des Zorro / Street Date September 27, 2018 / Available through Amazon.de / Eur 15,99
Starring: Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Basil Rathbone, Gale Sondergaard,
Eugene Pallette, J. Edward Bromberg, Montagu Love, Janet Beecher, George Regas, Chris-Pin Martin.
Cinematography: Arthur Miller
Film Editor: Robert Bischoff
Original Music: Alfred Newman
Written by John Taintor Foote, Garrett Fort
Produced by Raymond Griffith, Darryl F. Zanuck
Directed by Rouben Mamoulian
“I am off to California,...
The Mark of Zorro
Im Zeichen des Zorro
All-Region Blu-ray Special Edition
Explosive Media GmbH
1940 / B&W/colorized / 1:37 Academy / 94 min. / Im Zeichen des Zorro / Street Date September 27, 2018 / Available through Amazon.de / Eur 15,99
Starring: Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Basil Rathbone, Gale Sondergaard,
Eugene Pallette, J. Edward Bromberg, Montagu Love, Janet Beecher, George Regas, Chris-Pin Martin.
Cinematography: Arthur Miller
Film Editor: Robert Bischoff
Original Music: Alfred Newman
Written by John Taintor Foote, Garrett Fort
Produced by Raymond Griffith, Darryl F. Zanuck
Directed by Rouben Mamoulian
“I am off to California,...
- 3/2/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Nick Redman, Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker, award-winning soundtrack producer and co-founder of the Twilight Time video label, died Thursday afternoon, Jan. 17, at a Santa Monica Hospital, after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 63.
He was nominated for an Academy Award as producer of the 1996 documentary “The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage,” a look back at Sam Peckinpah’s controversial film. He also produced and directed the 1998 “A Turning of the Earth: John Ford, John Wayne and The Searchers,” about the making of the Western classic, a prizewinner at multiple film festivals.
In 2007 he produced and directed the feature documentary “Becoming John Ford,” which debuted at the Venice International Film Festival and detailed the long and complex relationship between the famous director and 20th Century-Fox studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck.
He made numerous other short films including profiles of actress Stella Stevens and film composers Basil Poledouris and Jerry Fielding.
He was nominated for an Academy Award as producer of the 1996 documentary “The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage,” a look back at Sam Peckinpah’s controversial film. He also produced and directed the 1998 “A Turning of the Earth: John Ford, John Wayne and The Searchers,” about the making of the Western classic, a prizewinner at multiple film festivals.
In 2007 he produced and directed the feature documentary “Becoming John Ford,” which debuted at the Venice International Film Festival and detailed the long and complex relationship between the famous director and 20th Century-Fox studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck.
He made numerous other short films including profiles of actress Stella Stevens and film composers Basil Poledouris and Jerry Fielding.
- 1/18/2019
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
“I can direct bicycles to fly, but music truly makes them airborne,” Steven Spielberg told the 17,000-plus in attendance at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday night. The revered director was on hand to applaud composer John Williams on his 40th anniversary of conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the last of three Labor Day concerts to take place at the venerable venue. The two have collaborated for 45 years, during which Williams has won five Academy Awards.
Introducing Williams as maestro to the entire 15-minute finale of “E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial” live to picture, Spielberg noted: “John’s music directs all the traffic of our emotions. So when a staggering performance fills our eyes with tears, the appropriate score can make them fall. That’s what fills us with wonder… and that’s where E.T. got his soul.”
The end-of-summer John Williams concerts are now a tradition at the Bowl and...
Introducing Williams as maestro to the entire 15-minute finale of “E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial” live to picture, Spielberg noted: “John’s music directs all the traffic of our emotions. So when a staggering performance fills our eyes with tears, the appropriate score can make them fall. That’s what fills us with wonder… and that’s where E.T. got his soul.”
The end-of-summer John Williams concerts are now a tradition at the Bowl and...
- 9/3/2018
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
This may be the year for new cinephile converts to the cult of appreciation for the great Ernst Lubitsch. One of his last pictures but his first in color is this Production Code-defying tale of a serial philanderer and his relationship with the woman of his dreams, his wife. It’s stylized as a series of birthdays, and our hero is judged not by St. Peter but at the gates of Hades, by the fallen angel himself.
Heaven Can Wait
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 291
1943 / Color / 1:37 flat full frame / 112 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date August 21, 2018 / 39.95
Starring Gene Tierney, Don Ameche, Charles Coburn, Marjorie Main, Laird Cregar, Spring Byington, Allyn Joslyn, Eugene Pallette, Signe Hasso, Louis Calhern
Cinematography Edward Cronjager
Art Direction James Basevi, Leland Fuller
Film Editor Dorothy Spencer
Original Music Alfred Newman
Written by Samson Raphaelson from a play by Leslie Bush-Fekete
Produced and Directed by Ernst Lubitsch
Wait one second,...
Heaven Can Wait
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 291
1943 / Color / 1:37 flat full frame / 112 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date August 21, 2018 / 39.95
Starring Gene Tierney, Don Ameche, Charles Coburn, Marjorie Main, Laird Cregar, Spring Byington, Allyn Joslyn, Eugene Pallette, Signe Hasso, Louis Calhern
Cinematography Edward Cronjager
Art Direction James Basevi, Leland Fuller
Film Editor Dorothy Spencer
Original Music Alfred Newman
Written by Samson Raphaelson from a play by Leslie Bush-Fekete
Produced and Directed by Ernst Lubitsch
Wait one second,...
- 8/7/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
At this point, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ governors election looks more like a round-up than a race; more than 180 members have declared their interest in filling 17 contested spots on the 54-member Board of Governors.
Voting in the run-off round starts on Monday and ends May 18. That will narrow the present field to a maximum of four nominees per branch in the final round, which follows.
For now, there are on average about 11 candidates in the running for each slot. In the casting directors and costume design branches, only three members have declared for each slot. But not so in the actors branch, where 17 members — including Brie Larson, Jacki Weaver and Meg Ryan — are vying for the spot being vacated by termed-out Tom Hanks; or the producers, executives, and public relations branches, all of which have a bumper crop of candidates. Marvin Levy, currently a governor in the public relations branch,...
Voting in the run-off round starts on Monday and ends May 18. That will narrow the present field to a maximum of four nominees per branch in the final round, which follows.
For now, there are on average about 11 candidates in the running for each slot. In the casting directors and costume design branches, only three members have declared for each slot. But not so in the actors branch, where 17 members — including Brie Larson, Jacki Weaver and Meg Ryan — are vying for the spot being vacated by termed-out Tom Hanks; or the producers, executives, and public relations branches, all of which have a bumper crop of candidates. Marvin Levy, currently a governor in the public relations branch,...
- 5/11/2018
- by Michael Cieply
- Deadline Film + TV
Before Vincent Price haunted houses, he chalked up plenty of experience as a Broadway star and a versatile character actor. This superb Joseph L. Mankiewicz gothic romance assigns him major leading man duty as a ‘dark and troubled’ soul — the kind that intimidates cowering leading ladies. With typical good humor, Price called it the first of his ‘dead wife’ movies!
Dragonwyck
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1946 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 103 min. / Street Date , 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Gene Tierney, Walter Huston, Vincent Price, Glenn Langan, Anne Revere, Spring Byington, Connie Marshall, Harry Morgan, Vivienne Osborne, Jessica Tandy, Trudy Marshall, Reinhold Schünzel, Grady Sutton.
Cinematography: Arthur C. Miller
Film Editor: Dorothy Spencer
Original Music: Alfred Newman
From the novel by Anya Seton
Produced by Ernst Lubitsch, Darryl F. Zanuck
Written for the screen and Directed by Joseph H. Mankiewicz
You’d have to say that Vincent Price’s film...
Dragonwyck
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1946 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 103 min. / Street Date , 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Gene Tierney, Walter Huston, Vincent Price, Glenn Langan, Anne Revere, Spring Byington, Connie Marshall, Harry Morgan, Vivienne Osborne, Jessica Tandy, Trudy Marshall, Reinhold Schünzel, Grady Sutton.
Cinematography: Arthur C. Miller
Film Editor: Dorothy Spencer
Original Music: Alfred Newman
From the novel by Anya Seton
Produced by Ernst Lubitsch, Darryl F. Zanuck
Written for the screen and Directed by Joseph H. Mankiewicz
You’d have to say that Vincent Price’s film...
- 3/13/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Viewers looking (desperately) for American leaders to admire can’t do better than to reflect on John Ford’s folksy, at least partly authentic honorarium to one of the greats. Henry Fonda is 100% dead-on as a vision of Abe Lincoln to bring tears to our eyes. Imagine . . . there’s such a thing as political integrity, or simply a person that puts the public good ahead of personal advantage. Criterion’s older extras are augmented with a fine new feature commentary by John Ford authority Joseph McBride.
Young Mr. Lincoln
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 320
1939 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 100 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 9, 2018 / 39.95
Starring: Henry Fonda, Alice Brady, Marjorie Weaver, Arleen Whelan, Eddie Collins, Richard Cromwell, Eddie Quillan, Ward Bond, Milburn Stone, Francis Ford, Fred Kohler Jr..
Cinematography: Bert Glennon
Original Music: Alfred Newman
Written by Lamar Trotti
Produced by Kenneth Macgowan, Darryl F. Zanuck
Directed by John...
Young Mr. Lincoln
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 320
1939 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 100 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 9, 2018 / 39.95
Starring: Henry Fonda, Alice Brady, Marjorie Weaver, Arleen Whelan, Eddie Collins, Richard Cromwell, Eddie Quillan, Ward Bond, Milburn Stone, Francis Ford, Fred Kohler Jr..
Cinematography: Bert Glennon
Original Music: Alfred Newman
Written by Lamar Trotti
Produced by Kenneth Macgowan, Darryl F. Zanuck
Directed by John...
- 1/6/2018
- 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
One of the best Hollywood historical epics takes Technicolor to Mexico for a Production Code version of La conquista: the Inquisition is still bad, but the Church is exonerated. Likewise with the invasion — Cesar Romero embodies a marvelous Hernán Cortés, substantially less murderous than the one we now know from accurate history books. Tyrone Power is the heartthrob hero and newcomer Jean Peters the lowborn girl who loves him. The magnificent scenery is matched by the music score of Alfred Newman.
Captain from Castile
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1947 / Color / 137 Academy / 141 min. / Street Date October 17, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Tyrone Power, Jean Peters, Cesar Romero, Lee J. Cobb, John Sutton, Antonio Moreno, Thomas Gomez, Alan Mowbray, Barbara Lawrence, George Zucco, Roy Roberts, Marc Lawrence, Reed Hadley, Robert Karnes, Estela Inda, Chris-Pin Martin, Jay Silverheels, Gilberto González.
Cinematography: Arthur Arling, Charles G. Clarke, Joseph Lashelle
Film Editor: Barbara McLean...
Captain from Castile
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1947 / Color / 137 Academy / 141 min. / Street Date October 17, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Tyrone Power, Jean Peters, Cesar Romero, Lee J. Cobb, John Sutton, Antonio Moreno, Thomas Gomez, Alan Mowbray, Barbara Lawrence, George Zucco, Roy Roberts, Marc Lawrence, Reed Hadley, Robert Karnes, Estela Inda, Chris-Pin Martin, Jay Silverheels, Gilberto González.
Cinematography: Arthur Arling, Charles G. Clarke, Joseph Lashelle
Film Editor: Barbara McLean...
- 10/28/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
With this month’s one-two punch of “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and “War for the Planet of the Apes,” it’s clear why Michael Giacchino has become Hollywood’s go-to composer. He once again delivers both the loud and quiet musical passages with force and grace, making him the master of superhero and animated movies.
“You need the quiet time in order for the louder times to mean something,” Giacchino said. “This is good for the audience, too. It pulls them in.”
Indeed, ever since Pixar’s “The Incredibles,” the 49-year-old composer has moved freely between animation, sci-fi, and superhero movies, winning the Oscar for Pixar’s “Up.” Along the way, Giacchino has also conquered the Disney (“Zootopia”), Marvel (“Doctor Strange”), and “Star Wars” (“Rogue One”) universes, working four times with J.J. Abrams (“Star Trek”), Bird (“The Incredibles”), and “Apes” director Matt Reeves.
With “Homecoming” and “War,” however, Giacchino experimented outside the...
“You need the quiet time in order for the louder times to mean something,” Giacchino said. “This is good for the audience, too. It pulls them in.”
Indeed, ever since Pixar’s “The Incredibles,” the 49-year-old composer has moved freely between animation, sci-fi, and superhero movies, winning the Oscar for Pixar’s “Up.” Along the way, Giacchino has also conquered the Disney (“Zootopia”), Marvel (“Doctor Strange”), and “Star Wars” (“Rogue One”) universes, working four times with J.J. Abrams (“Star Trek”), Bird (“The Incredibles”), and “Apes” director Matt Reeves.
With “Homecoming” and “War,” however, Giacchino experimented outside the...
- 7/11/2017
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Samuel Fuller sure knows how to turn up the geopolitical tension, especially in a rip-roaring provocative atom threat adventure, that might have caused problems if anybody cared what movies said back when the Cold War was hot. Richard Widmark skippers a leaky sub to the arctic and discovers that the Chinese communists are going to start WW3 — and blame it on Uncle Sam. It’s an insane comic-book adventure about very serious issues — and we love it.
Hell and High Water
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1954 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date June 13, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Richard Widmark, Bella Darvi, Victor Francen, Richard Loo, Cameron Mitchell, Gene Evans, David Wayne.
Cinematography: Joseph MacDonald
Art Direction: Leland Fuller, Lyle R. Wheeler
Film Editor: James B. Clark
Original Music: Alfred Newman
Written by Samuel Fuller, Jesse L. Lasky Jr. story by David Hempstead
Produced by Raymond A. Klune
Directed...
Hell and High Water
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1954 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date June 13, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Richard Widmark, Bella Darvi, Victor Francen, Richard Loo, Cameron Mitchell, Gene Evans, David Wayne.
Cinematography: Joseph MacDonald
Art Direction: Leland Fuller, Lyle R. Wheeler
Film Editor: James B. Clark
Original Music: Alfred Newman
Written by Samuel Fuller, Jesse L. Lasky Jr. story by David Hempstead
Produced by Raymond A. Klune
Directed...
- 6/27/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The second dramatic film shot in three-panel Cinerama, this sprawling all-star western epic came too late to save the process which was being replaced by a simpler single-lens system. Many action sequences were shot normally and converted to three-panel. By the time the brand-new Cinerama Dome in Hollywood opened in 1963 its initial “Cinerama” attraction, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, had been made entirely without the three-panel process the theater was built to showcase. Great score by Alfred Newman.
- 3/3/2017
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
David and Bathsheba
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1951 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 116 min. / Street Date January 10, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, Raymond Massey, Kieron Moore, James Robertson Justice, Jayne Meadows, George Zucco, Francis X. Bushman, Gwen Verdon
Cinematography: Leon Shamroy
Art Direction: George Davis, Lyle Wheeler
Film Editor: Barbara McLean
Original Music: Alfred Newman
Written by: Philip Dunne
Produced by: Darryl F. Zanuck
Directed by Henry King
Right in the middle of WW2, 20th Fox struck religious pay dirt with two respectful religion-themed movies, one about a miracle and another about the hard life of a priest. Each created a new Hollywood star. Five years later there began a regular Hollywood Bible War. In 1949 Cecil B. DeMille released his first Biblical epic in Technicolor, Samson and Delilah, throwing violence, sex and hammy acting at the screen in even measure. MGM bounced back with a tremendous production of...
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1951 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 116 min. / Street Date January 10, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, Raymond Massey, Kieron Moore, James Robertson Justice, Jayne Meadows, George Zucco, Francis X. Bushman, Gwen Verdon
Cinematography: Leon Shamroy
Art Direction: George Davis, Lyle Wheeler
Film Editor: Barbara McLean
Original Music: Alfred Newman
Written by: Philip Dunne
Produced by: Darryl F. Zanuck
Directed by Henry King
Right in the middle of WW2, 20th Fox struck religious pay dirt with two respectful religion-themed movies, one about a miracle and another about the hard life of a priest. Each created a new Hollywood star. Five years later there began a regular Hollywood Bible War. In 1949 Cecil B. DeMille released his first Biblical epic in Technicolor, Samson and Delilah, throwing violence, sex and hammy acting at the screen in even measure. MGM bounced back with a tremendous production of...
- 1/13/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The Keys of the Kingdom
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1944 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 137 min. / Street Date December 13, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Gregory Peck, Thomas Mitchell, Vincent Price, Rose Stradner, Roddy McDowall, Edmund Gwenn, Cedric Hardwicke, Peggy Ann Garner, Jane Ball, James Gleason, Anne Revere
Cinematography: Arthur Miller
Art Direction: James Basevi, William Darling
Film Editor: James B. Clark
Original Music: Alfred Newman
Written by: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Nunnally Johnson from a novel by A.J. Cronin
Produced by: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Directed by John M. Stahl
The Twilight Time label has access to much of the Fox library, and draws from the vault what’s been fully restored and what’s not already claimed elsewhere. Accompanying their UA- sourced disc of Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s The Barefoot Contessa is a 1944 Fox release from the writer-director-producer, a big studio production directed in this case by John M. Stahl. The Keys of the Kingdom...
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1944 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 137 min. / Street Date December 13, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Gregory Peck, Thomas Mitchell, Vincent Price, Rose Stradner, Roddy McDowall, Edmund Gwenn, Cedric Hardwicke, Peggy Ann Garner, Jane Ball, James Gleason, Anne Revere
Cinematography: Arthur Miller
Art Direction: James Basevi, William Darling
Film Editor: James B. Clark
Original Music: Alfred Newman
Written by: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Nunnally Johnson from a novel by A.J. Cronin
Produced by: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Directed by John M. Stahl
The Twilight Time label has access to much of the Fox library, and draws from the vault what’s been fully restored and what’s not already claimed elsewhere. Accompanying their UA- sourced disc of Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s The Barefoot Contessa is a 1944 Fox release from the writer-director-producer, a big studio production directed in this case by John M. Stahl. The Keys of the Kingdom...
- 1/10/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Robert Siodmak’s superb noir classic pits two graduates of Little Italy against one other: a crook who can deceive relatives and seduce strangers into helping him, and the cop who wants to put him out of business. Starring the great Richard Conte, with Victor Mature in what might be his best role.
Cry of the City
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 95 min. / Street Date November 15, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring Victor Mature, Richard Conte, Fred Clark, Shelley Winters, Betty Garde, Berry Kroeger, Tommy Cook, Debra Paget, Hope Emerson, Roland Winters, Walter Baldwin, Mimi Aguglia, Kathleen Howard, Konstantin Shayne, Tito Vuolo.
Cinematography Lloyd Ahern
Original Music Alfred Newman
Written by Richard Murphy from the novel The Chair for Martin Rome by Henry Edward Helseth
Produced by Sol C. Siegel
Directed by Robert Siodmak
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Perhaps because of a legal or rights issue, Robert Siodmak...
Cry of the City
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 95 min. / Street Date November 15, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring Victor Mature, Richard Conte, Fred Clark, Shelley Winters, Betty Garde, Berry Kroeger, Tommy Cook, Debra Paget, Hope Emerson, Roland Winters, Walter Baldwin, Mimi Aguglia, Kathleen Howard, Konstantin Shayne, Tito Vuolo.
Cinematography Lloyd Ahern
Original Music Alfred Newman
Written by Richard Murphy from the novel The Chair for Martin Rome by Henry Edward Helseth
Produced by Sol C. Siegel
Directed by Robert Siodmak
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Perhaps because of a legal or rights issue, Robert Siodmak...
- 12/3/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Hollywood dynasties aren't news even in the world of film scoring; the Newman family boasts everyone from legendary Alfred Newman to contemporary composers Thomas, David and Randy. And this year, two sets of brothers are well positioned for Oscar consideration. Rupert Gregson-Williams scored Mel Gibson's harrowing, uplifting war movie Hacksaw Ridge, and his older brother Harry Gregson-Williams worked on Ben Affleck's upcoming period gangster epic, Live by Night. For Rupert's first collaboration with Gibson, the director contacted him after being impressed by his work on The Legend of Tarzan. "We tended not to talk in terms of music, it was more...
- 11/22/2016
- by Jeff Bond
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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