For any film lovers who grew up on, generationally depending, the cinema of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, or the essential ’90s cinephile primer “A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies” — or both, as for this writer — “Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger” arrives as an unmitigated treat.
A straightforwardly constructed documentary trawl through the dizzy highs and sporadic lows of the most iridescently fabulous filmography in British cinema, David Hinton’s film would be plenty pleasurable as a mere feature-length clip reel. That it gets longtime Powell and Pressburger champion Martin Scorsese to narrate the proceedings, with the same blend of scholarly authority and avuncular enthusiasm he brought to “Personal Journey,” makes the doc more than the sum of its already attractive parts: a movingly sincere valentine from a filmmaker now due his own equivalent tributes, shortening the distance between youthful discovery and senior nostalgia.
A straightforwardly constructed documentary trawl through the dizzy highs and sporadic lows of the most iridescently fabulous filmography in British cinema, David Hinton’s film would be plenty pleasurable as a mere feature-length clip reel. That it gets longtime Powell and Pressburger champion Martin Scorsese to narrate the proceedings, with the same blend of scholarly authority and avuncular enthusiasm he brought to “Personal Journey,” makes the doc more than the sum of its already attractive parts: a movingly sincere valentine from a filmmaker now due his own equivalent tributes, shortening the distance between youthful discovery and senior nostalgia.
- 2/21/2024
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Genies, at least in pop culture, have long been comic foils. Way back in 1940, in “The Thief of Bagdad,” Rex Ingram played Djinn, the movie’s larger-than-life genie — 100 feet tall in his ponytail and red diaper — as a sly, laughing soul man of lighthearted effrontery. The surrealist ’60s sitcom “I Dream of Jeannie” featured Barbara Eden, in diaphanous harem silks, as a magical servant/housewife, blinking her eyes to teleport her clueless “master” out of trouble. And Robin Williams’ vocal performance as the Genie in “Aladdin” may have come closer than any of his other film performances to channeling Williams the free-associational joke geyser.
So in “Genie,” when Melissa McCarthy pops out of a jewel box and reveals herself to be an ancient granter of wishes named Flora, it’s hardly a surprise that 1) the character is a complete lark, and 2) the whole joke is that Flora, though she hasn...
So in “Genie,” when Melissa McCarthy pops out of a jewel box and reveals herself to be an ancient granter of wishes named Flora, it’s hardly a surprise that 1) the character is a complete lark, and 2) the whole joke is that Flora, though she hasn...
- 11/22/2023
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
The Bat
Blu-ray
The Film Detective
1959 / 1.85: 1 / 80 Min.
Starring Agnes Moorehead, Vincent Price
Written by Crane Wilbur
Directed by Crane Wilbur
Crane Wilbur’s The Bat is a murder mystery starring Agnes Moorehead and Vincent Price—but the real mystery is how Hollywood managed to pair these diabolically funny entertainers in only one film. They shared little to no screen time in 1951’s The Adventures of Captain Fabian and 1957’s The Story of Mankind, but in Wilbur’s mild-mannered horror show, Moorehead and Price are toe to toe—and generate enough chemistry for a dozen lovably corny crime thrillers just like The Bat.
Despite Price’s presence it’s Moorehead’s show; she plays Cornelia Van Gorder, a prolific mystery writer in the mode of Mary Roberts Rinehart—who, not coincidentally, wrote The Circular Staircase, the source material for the The Bat. As the no-nonsense Van Gorder, Moorehead’s steely...
Blu-ray
The Film Detective
1959 / 1.85: 1 / 80 Min.
Starring Agnes Moorehead, Vincent Price
Written by Crane Wilbur
Directed by Crane Wilbur
Crane Wilbur’s The Bat is a murder mystery starring Agnes Moorehead and Vincent Price—but the real mystery is how Hollywood managed to pair these diabolically funny entertainers in only one film. They shared little to no screen time in 1951’s The Adventures of Captain Fabian and 1957’s The Story of Mankind, but in Wilbur’s mild-mannered horror show, Moorehead and Price are toe to toe—and generate enough chemistry for a dozen lovably corny crime thrillers just like The Bat.
Despite Price’s presence it’s Moorehead’s show; she plays Cornelia Van Gorder, a prolific mystery writer in the mode of Mary Roberts Rinehart—who, not coincidentally, wrote The Circular Staircase, the source material for the The Bat. As the no-nonsense Van Gorder, Moorehead’s steely...
- 10/22/2022
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
220413_TTYOL_g011.0437853_RC Idris Elba stars as The Djinn and Tilda Swinton as Alithea Binnie in director George Miller’s film Three Thousand Years Of Longing A Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film Photo credit: Courtesy of Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures Inc. © 2022 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved
As the seasons march toward Fall, many begin to lapse into the doldrums, since the excitement of exotic getaways is set aside. Perhaps a bit of magic will perk them up, or as with this new film, a whole lot of magic. Well, one of its two central characters is a magical creature of myth, one that’s not unfamiliar to the movie audiences though really a touchstone of the fantasy sitcom “fad” of the 1960s. Now that really began in the “stars” with Ray Walston’s “Uncle Martin” Aka “My Favorite Martian”, followed by Elizabeth Montgomery’s spellcasting Samantha Stevens in “Bewitched”. And then there was Jeannie,...
As the seasons march toward Fall, many begin to lapse into the doldrums, since the excitement of exotic getaways is set aside. Perhaps a bit of magic will perk them up, or as with this new film, a whole lot of magic. Well, one of its two central characters is a magical creature of myth, one that’s not unfamiliar to the movie audiences though really a touchstone of the fantasy sitcom “fad” of the 1960s. Now that really began in the “stars” with Ray Walston’s “Uncle Martin” Aka “My Favorite Martian”, followed by Elizabeth Montgomery’s spellcasting Samantha Stevens in “Bewitched”. And then there was Jeannie,...
- 8/26/2022
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
IndieWire turns 25 this year. To mark the occasion, we’re running a series of essays about the future of everything we cover.
Quick: How many films can you find on Netflix from before 1980? Gems can be uncovered there — shout-out to Youssef Chahine’s 1958 Egyptian classic, “Cairo Station” — but the burden is on those cinephiles already interested enough to seek them out.
Lovers of film history aren’t born, they’re made. Discussions with other film fans, nights out at your university rep cinema, and serendipitous discoveries on Turner Classic Movies, certainly help. Many of us owe our parents for exposing us to classic film at an early age. Still, we’ve reached a point where movies from Hollywood’s Golden Age, as well as concurrent world cinema titles, are more accessible than ever, but risk falling further into obscurity.
There was a time when you couldn’t see even towering classics,...
Quick: How many films can you find on Netflix from before 1980? Gems can be uncovered there — shout-out to Youssef Chahine’s 1958 Egyptian classic, “Cairo Station” — but the burden is on those cinephiles already interested enough to seek them out.
Lovers of film history aren’t born, they’re made. Discussions with other film fans, nights out at your university rep cinema, and serendipitous discoveries on Turner Classic Movies, certainly help. Many of us owe our parents for exposing us to classic film at an early age. Still, we’ve reached a point where movies from Hollywood’s Golden Age, as well as concurrent world cinema titles, are more accessible than ever, but risk falling further into obscurity.
There was a time when you couldn’t see even towering classics,...
- 10/28/2021
- by Christian Blauvelt and Kristen Lopez
- Indiewire
It’s a guest article by author and long-time associate Stuart Galbraith IV, an interview with Arnold Leibovit, the man behind an impressive, on-going restoration of the animation legacy of George Pal. The beloved producer-director persists as a fan favorite. All know his famous sci-fi pictures but the revival of interest in his fantasy replacement-animation ‘Puppetoons’ is well underway.
CineSavant Guest Article by Stuart Galbraith IV
Sometimes it takes a one-man army to preserve and resurrect movies the big conglomerates have forsaken. Think Dave Strohmeier and his efforts to preserve and give new life to the original Cinerama films, or Bob Furmanek’s 3-D Film Archive. While they’d be first to insist they were fronting a team of restoration experts and myriad financial backers, without them would the films they champion ever have seen the light of day, or would they still be languishing in warehouses, slowly deteriorating into nothingness?...
CineSavant Guest Article by Stuart Galbraith IV
Sometimes it takes a one-man army to preserve and resurrect movies the big conglomerates have forsaken. Think Dave Strohmeier and his efforts to preserve and give new life to the original Cinerama films, or Bob Furmanek’s 3-D Film Archive. While they’d be first to insist they were fronting a team of restoration experts and myriad financial backers, without them would the films they champion ever have seen the light of day, or would they still be languishing in warehouses, slowly deteriorating into nothingness?...
- 1/19/2021
- by Stuart Galbraith
- Trailers from Hell
“The Dark Knight,” “Shrek,” “Grease,” “The Blues Brothers,” “Lillies of the Field,” “The Hurt Locker,” “A Clockwork Orange,” “The Joy Luck Club” and “The Man With the Golden Arm” are among this year’s additions to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
“This is not only a great honor for all of us who worked on ‘The Dark Knight,’ this is also a tribute to all of the amazing artists and writers who have worked on the great mythology of Batman over the decades,” said Christopher Nolan, director of “The Dark Knight.”
“Lillies of the Field” star Sidney Poitier, who became the first Black person to win the Oscar for best actor, said, “‘Lilies of the Field’ stirs up such great remembrances in our family, from the littlest Poitiers watching a young and agile ‘Papa’ to the oldest – Papa Sidney himself!”
Janet Yang, producer of “The Joy Luck Club,...
“This is not only a great honor for all of us who worked on ‘The Dark Knight,’ this is also a tribute to all of the amazing artists and writers who have worked on the great mythology of Batman over the decades,” said Christopher Nolan, director of “The Dark Knight.”
“Lillies of the Field” star Sidney Poitier, who became the first Black person to win the Oscar for best actor, said, “‘Lilies of the Field’ stirs up such great remembrances in our family, from the littlest Poitiers watching a young and agile ‘Papa’ to the oldest – Papa Sidney himself!”
Janet Yang, producer of “The Joy Luck Club,...
- 12/14/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
The following essay is from Peter von Bagh’s book Cinefilia (2013). Drawing on his writings in Filmihullu (1996) and sketches for the catalogue of San Sebastian Film Festival (2007), it was entirely rewritten by von Bagh (1943–2014) for Cinefilia. It is presented here for the first time in English, translated and edited by Antti Alanen, for the occasion of a retrospective dedicated to Henry King at Il Cinema Ritrovato, June 22–30, 2019. Henry King."When direction shows, it's bad." —Henry KingWould I be able to sketch an overview of the film career of Henry King (1886–1982), which started already when D. W. Griffith’s was directing The Birth of a Nation (1915) and ended around the time when John Ford finished The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)? In the following I will try to define certain characteristics of Henry King’s signature, although his films are quite different from one another. What might be in common, for example,...
- 6/13/2019
- MUBI
Considering the esteemed level of curation at the New York Film Festival, which begins this Friday at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, a comprehensive preview could mostly consist of the entire schedule.
There’s the gala slots, Main Slate selections, two films from Film Twitter phenom Hong Sang-soo, and much more, as well as a delectable line-up of restorations.
So rather than single all of these out for our preview, we’re looking at a handful of under-the-radar highlights from across the festival. Check them out below and return for our coverage.
Asako I & II (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)
Best known for his five-hour drama Happy Hour, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi returned this year with the more palatable Asako I & II, clocking in at a mere 120 minutes. Following its bow in competition at Cannes Film Festival, the film will make its U.S. premiere at the New York Film Festival. Based on Tomoka Shibasaki’s novel,...
There’s the gala slots, Main Slate selections, two films from Film Twitter phenom Hong Sang-soo, and much more, as well as a delectable line-up of restorations.
So rather than single all of these out for our preview, we’re looking at a handful of under-the-radar highlights from across the festival. Check them out below and return for our coverage.
Asako I & II (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)
Best known for his five-hour drama Happy Hour, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi returned this year with the more palatable Asako I & II, clocking in at a mere 120 minutes. Following its bow in competition at Cannes Film Festival, the film will make its U.S. premiere at the New York Film Festival. Based on Tomoka Shibasaki’s novel,...
- 9/24/2018
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
2010: CBS aired the final episode of As the World Turns."The best prophet of the future is the past."
― Lord Byron
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1959: On The Right to Happiness, Carolyn Allen's (Claudia Morgan) husband Lee needed (Les Damon) to make a sudden business trip to New York, which fed into her insecurity that Lee's priority was his beautiful widowed client, Sharon (Claire Niesen).
1962: Rex Ingram became the first African American featured on a daytime soap opera in a contract role when he appeared as an ordained minister named Victor Graham in The Brighter Day. Sadly, the soap aired its final episode 11 days later...
― Lord Byron
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1959: On The Right to Happiness, Carolyn Allen's (Claudia Morgan) husband Lee needed (Les Damon) to make a sudden business trip to New York, which fed into her insecurity that Lee's priority was his beautiful widowed client, Sharon (Claire Niesen).
1962: Rex Ingram became the first African American featured on a daytime soap opera in a contract role when he appeared as an ordained minister named Victor Graham in The Brighter Day. Sadly, the soap aired its final episode 11 days later...
- 9/17/2018
- by Roger Newcomb
- We Love Soaps
Morgan Neville's documentary on the making of Orson Welles's The Other Side Of The Wind is a 56th New York Film Festival Special Event Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced the 56th New York Film Festival Special Events program: Orson Welles's The Other Side Of The Wind with John Huston, Peter Bogdanovich, Oja Kodar, Edmund O’Brien, Susan Strasberg, Lilli Palmer, Paul Stewart, Mercedes McCambridge, Cameron Mitchell, Paul Mazursky, Henry Jaglom, Claude Chabrol, and Norman Foster plus Morgan Neville's They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead documentary on the making of The Other Side Of The Wind, and Rex Ingram's The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse, courtesy of Martin Scorsese, with a score written and performed by Matthew Nolan, Barry Adamson, Seán Mac Erlaine, Adrian Crowley, and Kevin Murphy.
Film Comment Presents: Nuri Bilge Ceylan's The Wild Pear Tree starring...
The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced the 56th New York Film Festival Special Events program: Orson Welles's The Other Side Of The Wind with John Huston, Peter Bogdanovich, Oja Kodar, Edmund O’Brien, Susan Strasberg, Lilli Palmer, Paul Stewart, Mercedes McCambridge, Cameron Mitchell, Paul Mazursky, Henry Jaglom, Claude Chabrol, and Norman Foster plus Morgan Neville's They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead documentary on the making of The Other Side Of The Wind, and Rex Ingram's The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse, courtesy of Martin Scorsese, with a score written and performed by Matthew Nolan, Barry Adamson, Seán Mac Erlaine, Adrian Crowley, and Kevin Murphy.
Film Comment Presents: Nuri Bilge Ceylan's The Wild Pear Tree starring...
- 8/23/2018
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
University Press of Kentucky
464 pages
Published 15 December 2017
Isdn: 978-0-8131-7425-9
Review By Adrian Smith
Born in 1896, as a teenager Barbara La Marr, then Reatha Watson, lead something of an adventurous life. Her father worked in the newspaper business, and the family moved home constantly, almost inevitably contributing towards the turbulence and seeming inability to settle down that plagued her life. At the age of sixteen, now living in California, her elder sister and her husband kidnapped Reatha, causing a minor scandal, with some accounts stating that Reatha had helped plot the kidnaping herself in a desire to flee her oppressive parents. Reatha was already an incredibly luminous and attractive young woman, and she was regularly spotted in the nightclubs of Los Angeles dancing, drinking, and generally behaving in such a way that soon brought the wrong kind of attention. For her own protection a court declared that she...
464 pages
Published 15 December 2017
Isdn: 978-0-8131-7425-9
Review By Adrian Smith
Born in 1896, as a teenager Barbara La Marr, then Reatha Watson, lead something of an adventurous life. Her father worked in the newspaper business, and the family moved home constantly, almost inevitably contributing towards the turbulence and seeming inability to settle down that plagued her life. At the age of sixteen, now living in California, her elder sister and her husband kidnapped Reatha, causing a minor scandal, with some accounts stating that Reatha had helped plot the kidnaping herself in a desire to flee her oppressive parents. Reatha was already an incredibly luminous and attractive young woman, and she was regularly spotted in the nightclubs of Los Angeles dancing, drinking, and generally behaving in such a way that soon brought the wrong kind of attention. For her own protection a court declared that she...
- 8/1/2018
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Guilt, gloom, weird nightmares of death and persecution — and romance? The wondrous Gail Russell brings a spark of life into Frank Borzage’s weird expressionist masterpiece produced at the seldom-artistic Republic Studio. The bitter, despairing Dane Clark has just committed what a jury will likely call first degree murder, but the night can offer atonement and forgiveness, if he’ll just listen to Russell’s good advice.
Moonrise
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 921
1948 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 90 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 8, 2018 / 39.95
Starring: Dane Clark, Gail Russell, Ethel Barrymore, Allyn Joslyn, Rex Ingram, Henry Morgan, Lloyd Bridges, Selena Royle.
Cinematography: John L. Russell
Film Editor: Harry Keller
Original Music: William Lava
From the book by Theodore Strauss
Written and Produced by Charles Haas
Directed by Frank Borzage
Frank Borzage’s 1948 Moonrise is a critic’s delight, especially among aficionados that like to point out the artistic margins of traditional Hollywood filmmaking.
Moonrise
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 921
1948 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 90 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 8, 2018 / 39.95
Starring: Dane Clark, Gail Russell, Ethel Barrymore, Allyn Joslyn, Rex Ingram, Henry Morgan, Lloyd Bridges, Selena Royle.
Cinematography: John L. Russell
Film Editor: Harry Keller
Original Music: William Lava
From the book by Theodore Strauss
Written and Produced by Charles Haas
Directed by Frank Borzage
Frank Borzage’s 1948 Moonrise is a critic’s delight, especially among aficionados that like to point out the artistic margins of traditional Hollywood filmmaking.
- 5/5/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Films by Charlie Chaplin, Cecil B. DeMille, and Buster Keaton are among the “hundreds of thousands” of books, musical scores, and motion pictures that will enter the public domain on January 1, according to The Atlantic. All of the works were first made available to audiences in 1923, four years before the introduction of talkies. Due to changed copyright laws, this will be the largest collection of material to lose its copyright protections since 1998.
Artists looking to incorporate black-and-white era throwbacks into their modern creations will have lots of new options. The Atlantic consulted unpublished research from Duke University School of Law’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain, which shared with IndieWire a list of 35 films that will soon become available to all.
“Our list is therefore only a partial one; many more works are entering the public domain as well, but the relevant information to confirm this may...
Artists looking to incorporate black-and-white era throwbacks into their modern creations will have lots of new options. The Atlantic consulted unpublished research from Duke University School of Law’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain, which shared with IndieWire a list of 35 films that will soon become available to all.
“Our list is therefore only a partial one; many more works are entering the public domain as well, but the relevant information to confirm this may...
- 4/9/2018
- by Jenna Marotta
- Indiewire
It's a big day for your Lord of the Rings fans, even if you don't know it. Read on.
On this day in history as it relates to the movies
1882 Bela Lugosi is born in what was then Hungary (and now Romania). He vants to suck your blood as the original big screen Dracula. A century later Martin Landau will win a justly deserved Oscar for playing him in Tim Burton's wonderful Ed Wood (1994).
1895 Rex Ingram, one of the earliest successful black actors in Hollywood was born. Credits include: The Thief of Baghdad (as the genie), Huckleberry Finn (as Jim), and Cabin in the Sky (as Lucifer Jr)...
1901 Frank Churchill is born in Maine. He wrote songs people still listen to today including "Baby Mine" from Dumbo and "Someday My Prince Will Come" from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Tragically he committed suicide at age 40 mere months after...
On this day in history as it relates to the movies
1882 Bela Lugosi is born in what was then Hungary (and now Romania). He vants to suck your blood as the original big screen Dracula. A century later Martin Landau will win a justly deserved Oscar for playing him in Tim Burton's wonderful Ed Wood (1994).
1895 Rex Ingram, one of the earliest successful black actors in Hollywood was born. Credits include: The Thief of Baghdad (as the genie), Huckleberry Finn (as Jim), and Cabin in the Sky (as Lucifer Jr)...
1901 Frank Churchill is born in Maine. He wrote songs people still listen to today including "Baby Mine" from Dumbo and "Someday My Prince Will Come" from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Tragically he committed suicide at age 40 mere months after...
- 10/20/2016
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Its remake time again. For this article, we’re tackling Disney! We’ll be dissecting a popular animated movie, whose cinematic predecessor is a fantasy classic. This week, Cinelinx looks at Disney’s Aladdin. (1992)
Disney has taken many famous old stories and made them into modern cinematic blockbusters. One of those was 1992’s Aladdin, which was based on the story “The Thief of Bagdad” from Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights. Of course, this was not the first time the story was translated to film. It was done previously in 1940 as The Thief of Bagdad, which has been described by Roger Ebert as “One of the greatest fantasy films ever made, on a level with The Wizard of Oz.” (There was actually a silent version released in 1924, but we’re going to save the old silent films for another time.) Was the Disney remake a worthy follow-up to the 1940 classic?...
Disney has taken many famous old stories and made them into modern cinematic blockbusters. One of those was 1992’s Aladdin, which was based on the story “The Thief of Bagdad” from Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights. Of course, this was not the first time the story was translated to film. It was done previously in 1940 as The Thief of Bagdad, which has been described by Roger Ebert as “One of the greatest fantasy films ever made, on a level with The Wizard of Oz.” (There was actually a silent version released in 1924, but we’re going to save the old silent films for another time.) Was the Disney remake a worthy follow-up to the 1940 classic?...
- 1/18/2016
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (Rob Young)
- Cinelinx
Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant, and Ingrid Bergman: The 'Notorious' British (Hitchcock, Grant) and Swedish (Bergman) talent. British actors and directors in Hollywood; Hollywood actors and directors in Britain: Anthony Slide's 'A Special Relationship.' 'A Special Relationship' Q&A: Britain in Hollywood and Hollywood in Britain First of all, what made you think of a book on “the special relationship” between the American and British film industries – particularly on the British side? I was aware of a couple of books on the British in Hollywood, but I wanted to move beyond that somewhat limited discussion and document the whole British/American relationship as it applied to filmmaking. Growing up in England, I had always been interested in the history of the British cinema, but generally my writing on film history has been concentrated on America. I suppose to a certain extent I wanted to go back into my archives,...
- 1/5/2016
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
God comes to Broadway this month in the form of Big Bang Theory star Jim Parsons, who will portray the Almighty in the new comedy An Act of God. But he’s not the first to portray the man upstairs. Here’s a history of Gods in movies, TV, and theater.Rex Ingram, The Green Pastures, 1936 Ingram starred as “De Lawd” in this adaptation of several Biblical stories, which featured an all-black cast. Charlton Heston (voice), The Ten Commandments, 1956 Heston wasn’t just Moses in Cecil B. DeMille’s classic. He also provided God’s booming voice. John Huston (voice), The Bible, 1966 Along with directing and playing Noah, Huston handled voice-over duties for the Almighty. Jeff Chandler, Elizabeth I, 1972This Broadway show told the story of Elizabethan performers trying to mount a play about their queen. Among other characters, Chandler played an actor playing God. Stephen Elliott, The Creation of...
- 5/22/2015
- by Adam K. Raymond
- Vulture
Cary Grant movies: 'An Affair to Remember' does justice to its title (photo: Cary Grant ca. late 1940s) Cary Grant excelled at playing Cary Grant. This evening, fans of the charming, sophisticated, debonair actor -- not to be confused with the Bristol-born Archibald Leach -- can rejoice, as no less than eight Cary Grant movies are being shown on Turner Classic Movies, including a handful of his most successful and best-remembered star vehicles from the late '30s to the late '50s. (See also: "Cary Grant Classic Movies" and "Cary Grant and Randolph Scott: Gay Lovers?") The evening begins with what may well be Cary Grant's best-known film, An Affair to Remember. This 1957 romantic comedy-melodrama is unusual in that it's an even more successful remake of a previous critical and box-office hit -- the Academy Award-nominated 1939 release Love Affair -- and that it was directed...
- 12/9/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
So once again I went down to the basement and searched my secret vault for those rare, forgotten or unknown black films or TV gems such as "Tamango," "Toxi," "Coonskin," "Roll Out" or the Grace Bumbry "Carmen" opera film, to see what can I bring out into the light. This time around it’s the 1959 United Artists film "Anna Lucasta" with Sammy Davis Jr, Eartha Kitt and Rex Ingram - a film I decided to discuss since it’s been mainly overlooked (especially strange as it was pretty unique at the time it came out, which I’ll get into later). Also because I found out four things about the film and the play that it’s based on, that I never knew before, which surprised me (I’ll get to...
- 6/17/2014
- by Sergio
- ShadowAndAct
So once again I went down to the basement and searched my secret vault for those rare, forgotten or unknown black films or TV gems such as Tamango, Toxi, Coonskin, Roll Out or the Grace Bumbry Carmen opera film, to see what can I bring out into the light. This time around it’s the 1959 United Artists film Anna Lucasta with Sammy Davis Jr, Eartha Kitt and Rex Ingram - a film I decided to discuss since it’s been mainly overlooked (especially strange as it was pretty unique at the time it came out, which I’ll get into later). Also because I found out four things about the film and the play that it’s based on, that I never knew before, which surprised me (I’ll get to those too...
- 1/6/2014
- by Sergio
- ShadowAndAct
Glenda Farrell: Actress has her ‘Summer Under the Stars’ day Scene-stealer Glenda Farrell is Turner Classic Movies’ "Summer Under the Stars" star today, August 29, 2013. A reliable — and very busy — Warner Bros. contract player in the ’30s, the sharp, energetic, fast-talking blonde actress was featured in more than fifty films at the studio from 1931 to 1939. Note: This particular Glenda Farrell has nothing in common with the One Tree Hill character played by Amber Wallace in the television series. The Glenda Farrell / One Tree Hill name connection seems to have been a mere coincidence. (Photo: Glenda Farrell as Torchy Blane in Smart Blonde.) Back to Warners’ Glenda Farrell: TCM is currently showing Torchy Runs for Mayor (1939), one of the seven B movies starring Farrell as intrepid reporter Torchy Blane. Major suspense: Will Torchy win the election? She should. No city would ever go bankrupt with Torchy at the helm. Glenda Farrell...
- 8/30/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Shirley Jones Movies: Innocent virgins and sex workers galore (photo: Shirley Jones and Burt Lancaster in ‘Elmer Gantry’) (See previous post: “Shirley Jones: From Book to Movies.”) I haven’t watched The Cheyenne Social Club (1970), a comedy Western directed by Gene Kelly, and starring 62-year-old James Stewart as a cowpoke who inherits an establishment that turns out to be a popular house of prostitution. Henry Fonda plays Stewart’s partner. And I’m sure Shirley Jones, as one of the sex workers, looks lovely in the film. Hopefully, director Kelly gave this likable, talented actress the chance to do more than just stand around looking pretty. But then again … For all purposes, The Cheyenne Social Club ended Shirley Jones’ film stardom; that same year she turned to TV and The Partridge Family. Jones would return to films only nine years later, as one of several stars (among them Michael Caine,...
- 8/28/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
This week at Trailers from Hell, director John Landis takes a look at Vincente Minnelli's musical, "Cabin in the Sky," released in 1943. The hit 1940 Broadway musical version of the Faust legend made it to the screen three years later, with original stars Ethel Waters and Rex Ingram heading an all-star African-American cast and first-time director Vincente Minnelli behind the camera. Jack Benny foil Eddie Anderson replaced Casablanca pianist Dooley Wilson in the lead because "Rochester" was popular enough to allay objections from exhibitors in some of the race-averse Southern states. Released in "glorious Sepiatone."...
- 5/8/2013
- by Trailers From Hell
- Thompson on Hollywood
Clara Bow, Mantrap What do Andrei Tarkovsky, Edward G. Robinson, Clara Bow, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Audrey Hepburn have in common? Easy. They'll all be featured in some form or other at the Library of Congress' Packard Campus in Culpeper, Virginia, in May. [Packard Campus screening schedule.] Andrei Tarkovsky will be represented by the classic sci-fier Solaris (1971), billed as the Soviet Union's answer to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, and by the classic period drama Andrei Rublev (1969), a meditation on art, religion, spirituality, and human brutality and stupidity. A technicality: Solaris will actually be screened on April 27. Edward G. Robinson stars in The Little Giant (1933), a pre-Code crime comedy featuring Mary Astor. The (at the time) energetic Roy Del Ruth (The Maltese Falcon, Taxi!, Employees' Entrance) directed. Clara Bow is the star of Mantrap (1926), a fluffy romantic comedy of interest chiefly because of Bow and because neither of her two leading...
- 4/21/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Lock up your daughters' valuables! It seems film people can't help being seduced by that bloke pilfering the family silver
It's not wise to fall in love with a person who sneaks into your house in the dead of night and steals your valuables. And yet the charming thief has light-footed his way into any number of films, finding romance as well as loot. What is it about these smooth-talking characters that make them so irresistible? Is it their position outside of society, which gives them a sense of aloofness and danger? Is it because romance with a thief is fleeting, existing only in the brief moment before they're off on the run or captured by police? Perhaps film-makers hope we'll forget they're picking our pockets at £10 a ticket if we're seduced by a suave fellow in a tuxedo or a femme fatale in a catsuit. Whatever the reason, film...
It's not wise to fall in love with a person who sneaks into your house in the dead of night and steals your valuables. And yet the charming thief has light-footed his way into any number of films, finding romance as well as loot. What is it about these smooth-talking characters that make them so irresistible? Is it their position outside of society, which gives them a sense of aloofness and danger? Is it because romance with a thief is fleeting, existing only in the brief moment before they're off on the run or captured by police? Perhaps film-makers hope we'll forget they're picking our pockets at £10 a ticket if we're seduced by a suave fellow in a tuxedo or a femme fatale in a catsuit. Whatever the reason, film...
- 10/6/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
Conrad Veidt is Turner Classic Movies' "Summer Under the Stars" performer of the day. An international star since the 1920s, Veidt worked in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Hollywood — twice. [Conrad Veidt Movie Schedule.] In the late '20s, Veidt was the star of unusual Hollywood fare such as Paul Leni's The Man Who Laughs (1928), in the title role as a man with a grin-like scar where his mouth should be, and Paul Fejos' The Last Performance (1929), as a magician in love with pretty Mary Philbin — a Universal star who also happened to be Veidt's leading lady in The Man Who Laughs. With the arrival of talking pictures, Veidt returned to Germany, but with the ascent of the Nazis he fled first to England and later to the United States. In the Hollywood of the early '40s, Veidt became everybody's favorite Nazi in movies such as Nazi Agent, Escape, and Casablanca.
- 8/24/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Well we all knew this would happen. Back in February, when Criterion announced their epic digital streaming partnership with Hulu, they also quietly revealed that their streaming options on Netflix would be coming to an end over the course of the next year. While I haven’t been paying close attention to the Criterion Collection films that have been expiring since that announcement was made, I thought it would be helpful to all of you loyal Netflix subscribers to know that in about twelve days, 26 titles will be expiring on the 26th of May, 2011.
I’ve gone and linked to all of the titles below, so you can click on the cover art or the text, and be taken to their corresponding Netflix pages. While this isn’t everything that Criterion has to offer on Netflix, it is a nice chunk of really important films. If you don’t currently have a Netflix subscription,...
I’ve gone and linked to all of the titles below, so you can click on the cover art or the text, and be taken to their corresponding Netflix pages. While this isn’t everything that Criterion has to offer on Netflix, it is a nice chunk of really important films. If you don’t currently have a Netflix subscription,...
- 5/15/2011
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
I've just been watching "The Thief of Bagdad" (1940), which has probably the most influential special effects of all pre-cgi films. It's going into the Great Movies Collection, not for the effects, of course, but because it is a sublime entertainment on a level with "The Wizard of Oz" or the first "Star Wars." But there are few effects in "Star Wars" (1977) that were not invented for, experimented with, or perfected in "The Thief of Bagdad." And some of them had their genesis in Raoul Walsh's magnificent 1924 silent film of the same name starring Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.
Left: Rex Ingram, as the genie, towers over Sabu, as the thief, in "The Thief of Bagdad." The shot was made by combining real footage of Ingram, close to the camera, and Sabu, several hundred feet away.
Details will await my Great Movies article. But in a more general way, I'd like to...
Left: Rex Ingram, as the genie, towers over Sabu, as the thief, in "The Thief of Bagdad." The shot was made by combining real footage of Ingram, close to the camera, and Sabu, several hundred feet away.
Details will await my Great Movies article. But in a more general way, I'd like to...
- 8/3/2008
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
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