Last week, just before the President’s diagnosis consumed us, Hollywood leaders joined in asking that Congress send coronavirus relief funds to exhibitors. Those were described as a life-and-death issue for theaters. A mortal threat. And who can doubt it? If the White House isn’t safe, movie houses are certainly still a question mark.
But the dramatic language of the plea—“our country cannot afford to lose the social, economic, and cultural value that theaters provide” warned a joint letter—couldn’t help but recall a peculiar truth about the movie business. That is, it is usually dying of something.
Strikes. New technology. Piracy. Star salaries. Something.
In fact, morbidity is an old habit in Hollywood. The trick is to know what is really an existential threat—this one certainly seems real—and what is just another stage death in an industry that is forever deciding the show is finally over.
But the dramatic language of the plea—“our country cannot afford to lose the social, economic, and cultural value that theaters provide” warned a joint letter—couldn’t help but recall a peculiar truth about the movie business. That is, it is usually dying of something.
Strikes. New technology. Piracy. Star salaries. Something.
In fact, morbidity is an old habit in Hollywood. The trick is to know what is really an existential threat—this one certainly seems real—and what is just another stage death in an industry that is forever deciding the show is finally over.
- 10/4/2020
- by Michael Cieply
- Deadline Film + TV
Director Steve Sekely’s hardboiled film noir leans heavily on the talents of star-producer Paul Henreid and camera ace John Alton — the three of them whip up the best gimmick-driven noir thriller of the late ‘forties. Strained coincidences and unlikely events mean nothing when this much talent is concentrated in one movie. It’s also a terrific show for star Joan Bennett, who expresses all the disappointment, despair and angst of a noir femme who knows she’s in for more misery.
The Scar (Hollow Triumph)
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 83 min. / Street Date April 18, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Paul Henreid, Joan Bennett, Eduard Franz, Leslie Brooks, John Qualen, Mabel Paige, Herbert Rudley, George Chandler, Robert Bice, Henry Brandon, Franklyn Farnum, Thomas Browne Henry, Norma Varden, Jack Webb.
Cinematography: John Alton
Film Editor: Fred Allen
Original Music: Sol Kaplan
Written by Daniel Fuchs from a...
The Scar (Hollow Triumph)
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 83 min. / Street Date April 18, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Paul Henreid, Joan Bennett, Eduard Franz, Leslie Brooks, John Qualen, Mabel Paige, Herbert Rudley, George Chandler, Robert Bice, Henry Brandon, Franklyn Farnum, Thomas Browne Henry, Norma Varden, Jack Webb.
Cinematography: John Alton
Film Editor: Fred Allen
Original Music: Sol Kaplan
Written by Daniel Fuchs from a...
- 4/22/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
MGM's show is a surprising powerhouse musical bio about the personality clash between an ambitious singer and the powerful enabler who wants her in his bed. Doris Day and James Cagney are at their best in an only slightly compromised telling of the real-life showbiz relationship of 'twenties star Ruth Etting and the domineering mobster Martin Snyder. Love Me or Leave Me Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 122 min. / Street Date September 13, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Doris Day, James Cagney, Cameron Mitchell, Robert Keith, Tom Tully, Harry Bellaver, Richard Gaines, Peter Leeds, Claude Stroud, Audrey Wilder, John Harding. Cinematography Arthur E. Arling Art Direction Urie McCleary, Cedric Gibbons Film Editor Ralph Winters Original Music Nicholas Brodszky, Percy Faith, George E. Stoll Written by Daniel Fuchs and Isobel Lennart Produced by Joe Pasternak Directed by Charles Vidor
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
MGM's early CinemaScope musical bio holds up extremely well,...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
MGM's early CinemaScope musical bio holds up extremely well,...
- 8/20/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The new issues of both the Brooklyn Rail and Aniki feature special sections on art and cinema. Also in today's roundup: Woody Allen talks about Magic in the Moonlight, David Gordon Green presents an annotated list of ten filmmakers to know about, Richard Linklater recalls the night Dennis Hopper pulled off the Russian Dynamite Death Chair Act, an interview with novelist and Oscar-winning screenwriter Daniel Fuchs is rediscovered, word on a new film by Nina Menkes, two pieces on Fritz Lang and much more. » - David Hudson...
- 7/17/2014
- Keyframe
The new issues of both the Brooklyn Rail and Aniki feature special sections on art and cinema. Also in today's roundup: Woody Allen talks about Magic in the Moonlight, David Gordon Green presents an annotated list of ten filmmakers to know about, Richard Linklater recalls the night Dennis Hopper pulled off the Russian Dynamite Death Chair Act, an interview with novelist and Oscar-winning screenwriter Daniel Fuchs is rediscovered, word on a new film by Nina Menkes, two pieces on Fritz Lang and much more. » - David Hudson...
- 7/17/2014
- Fandor: Keyframe
The Scar
Written by Daniel Fuchs
Directed by Steve Sekely
USA, 1948
It can be quite strange how an original idea conjured up at the outset of a new project can go awry. A clever concept is one thing, but building a cohesive, interesting story around it is a much taller challenge. A good, imaginative story, when mishandled by creative team members not on the same page, can sour very quickly, the fate nearly suffered by the 1948 noir The Scar, also known as Hollow Triumph in the United Kingdom upon its theatrical release.
John Muller (Paul Henreid), a brilliant man who studied psychology and all ailments afflicting the mind, has been released from prison after serving a term for practicing without a license with a job opportunity at a medical supplies company. From the moment he walks out of the prison’s walls, John concocts a heist that will land himself...
Written by Daniel Fuchs
Directed by Steve Sekely
USA, 1948
It can be quite strange how an original idea conjured up at the outset of a new project can go awry. A clever concept is one thing, but building a cohesive, interesting story around it is a much taller challenge. A good, imaginative story, when mishandled by creative team members not on the same page, can sour very quickly, the fate nearly suffered by the 1948 noir The Scar, also known as Hollow Triumph in the United Kingdom upon its theatrical release.
John Muller (Paul Henreid), a brilliant man who studied psychology and all ailments afflicting the mind, has been released from prison after serving a term for practicing without a license with a job opportunity at a medical supplies company. From the moment he walks out of the prison’s walls, John concocts a heist that will land himself...
- 10/4/2013
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
Paul Henreid: Hollow Triumph aka The Scar tonight Turner Classic Movies’ Paul Henreid film series continues this Tuesday evening, July 16, 2013. Of tonight’s movies, the most interesting offering is Hollow Triumph / The Scar, a 1948 B thriller adapted by Daniel Fuchs (Panic in the Streets, Love Me or Leave Me) from Murray Forbes’ novel, and in which the gentlemanly Henreid was cast against type: a crook who, in an attempt to escape from other (and more dangerous) crooks, impersonates a psychiatrist with a scar on his chin. Joan Bennett, mostly wasted in a non-role, is Henreid’s leading lady. (See also: “One Paul Henreid, Two Cigarettes, Four Bette Davis-es.”) The thriller’s director is Hungarian import Steve Sekely, whose Hollywood career consisted chiefly of minor B fare. In fact, though hardly a great effort, Hollow Triumph was probably the apex of Sekely’s cinematic output in terms of prestige...
- 7/17/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Panic in the Streets
Written by Richard Murphy and Daniel Fuchs
Directed by Elia Kazan
U.S.A., 1950
-
Some directors make their careers by telling the sort of stories and using the cinematic techniques which best suit them. This lack of diversity is by no means sufficient grounds for criticism. In fact, it is often quite the contrary insofar as such directors are often (but not always) heralded as important voices for specific genres and styles. Harmony Korine explores the oft avoided subcultures of the United States, John Carpenter’s greater strengths lie in sharing thriller and horror tales and Elia Kazan’s most famous and respected projects were those which directly concentrated on critical social issues affecting the United States during this time, issues which far too many preferred to either shove under the rug or virulently disagreed to reach compromise on. Gentleman’s Agreement, Pinky and On the Waterfront come to mind.
Written by Richard Murphy and Daniel Fuchs
Directed by Elia Kazan
U.S.A., 1950
-
Some directors make their careers by telling the sort of stories and using the cinematic techniques which best suit them. This lack of diversity is by no means sufficient grounds for criticism. In fact, it is often quite the contrary insofar as such directors are often (but not always) heralded as important voices for specific genres and styles. Harmony Korine explores the oft avoided subcultures of the United States, John Carpenter’s greater strengths lie in sharing thriller and horror tales and Elia Kazan’s most famous and respected projects were those which directly concentrated on critical social issues affecting the United States during this time, issues which far too many preferred to either shove under the rug or virulently disagreed to reach compromise on. Gentleman’s Agreement, Pinky and On the Waterfront come to mind.
- 5/10/2013
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
Panic in the Streets
Written by Richard Murphy and Daniel Fuchs
Directed by Elia Kazan
U.S.A., 1950
-
Some directors make their careers by telling the sort of stories and using the cinematic techniques which best suit them. This lack of diversity is by no means sufficient grounds for criticism. In fact, it is often quite the contrary insofar as such directors are often (but not always) heralded as important voices for specific genres and styles. Harmony Korine explores the oft avoided subcultures of the United States, John Carpenter’s greater strengths lie in sharing thriller and horror tales and Elia Kazan’s most famous and respected projects were those which directly concentrated on critical social issues affecting the United States during this time, issues which far too many preferred to either shove under the rug or virulently disagreed to reach compromise on. Gentleman’s Agreement, Pinky and On the Waterfront come to mind.
Written by Richard Murphy and Daniel Fuchs
Directed by Elia Kazan
U.S.A., 1950
-
Some directors make their careers by telling the sort of stories and using the cinematic techniques which best suit them. This lack of diversity is by no means sufficient grounds for criticism. In fact, it is often quite the contrary insofar as such directors are often (but not always) heralded as important voices for specific genres and styles. Harmony Korine explores the oft avoided subcultures of the United States, John Carpenter’s greater strengths lie in sharing thriller and horror tales and Elia Kazan’s most famous and respected projects were those which directly concentrated on critical social issues affecting the United States during this time, issues which far too many preferred to either shove under the rug or virulently disagreed to reach compromise on. Gentleman’s Agreement, Pinky and On the Waterfront come to mind.
- 4/12/2013
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
American novelist best known for The Warriors, a tale of gangs and street violence in New York
The American novelist Sol Yurick, who has died aged 87, was too radical, too extreme and too violent for the respectable literary establishment of New York, yet no writer more fully embodied the city's anguished spirit in the 1960s. His novels The Warriors (1965), Fertig (1966) and The Bag (1968) constitute a trilogy of vibrant energy, biting satire and high, though irreverent, artistic seriousness.
The Warriors, a tale of gangs and street violence, was rejected by 27 publishers before it finally appeared. With its carefully crafted parallels with Xenophon's Anabasis, it was more literary than Hubert Selby Jr's Last Exit to Brooklyn (1964), but shared its gritty feel for the city's underclass. In 1979 it was made into a stylish film by Walter Hill. Vincent Canby in the New York Times considered the film "a mish-mash of romantic cliches, moods and visual effects".
Yurick,...
The American novelist Sol Yurick, who has died aged 87, was too radical, too extreme and too violent for the respectable literary establishment of New York, yet no writer more fully embodied the city's anguished spirit in the 1960s. His novels The Warriors (1965), Fertig (1966) and The Bag (1968) constitute a trilogy of vibrant energy, biting satire and high, though irreverent, artistic seriousness.
The Warriors, a tale of gangs and street violence, was rejected by 27 publishers before it finally appeared. With its carefully crafted parallels with Xenophon's Anabasis, it was more literary than Hubert Selby Jr's Last Exit to Brooklyn (1964), but shared its gritty feel for the city's underclass. In 1979 it was made into a stylish film by Walter Hill. Vincent Canby in the New York Times considered the film "a mish-mash of romantic cliches, moods and visual effects".
Yurick,...
- 1/8/2013
- by Eric Homberger
- The Guardian - Film News
The second edition of the N1FR, n+1's film review, "is very late," begins editor As Hamrah, but there's no need to apologize. The timing is perfect, arriving just many of us will be desperate for distraction from what promises to be a very noisy weekend. As Hamrah notes, there's not one piece in the entire issue on "even one film nominated for an Oscar this year."
Instead, we have Chris Fujiwara setting Vincent Gallo and George Clooney next to each other and riffing on the juxtaposition, Christine Smallwood on Apichatpong Weerasethakul and on Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Jeanette Samyn and Jonathan Kyle Sturgeon on Pedro Costa, Dmitry Martov on Serge Bozon and his circle, Emily Gould on Badmaash Company, a Bollywood movie that screams out to be compared and contrasted with The Social Network, Jennifer Krasinski on the rise of the polymath, Ben Maraniss on Mel Gibson,...
Instead, we have Chris Fujiwara setting Vincent Gallo and George Clooney next to each other and riffing on the juxtaposition, Christine Smallwood on Apichatpong Weerasethakul and on Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Jeanette Samyn and Jonathan Kyle Sturgeon on Pedro Costa, Dmitry Martov on Serge Bozon and his circle, Emily Gould on Badmaash Company, a Bollywood movie that screams out to be compared and contrasted with The Social Network, Jennifer Krasinski on the rise of the polymath, Ben Maraniss on Mel Gibson,...
- 2/25/2012
- MUBI
"Death disports with writers more cruelly than with the rest of humankind," Cynthia Ozick wrote in a recent issue of The New Republic.
"The grave can hardly make more mute those who were voiceless when alive--dust to dust, muteness to muteness. But the silence that dogs the established writer's noisy obituary, with its boisterous shock and busy regret, is more profound than any other.
"Oblivion comes more cuttingly to the writer whose presence has been felt, argued over, championed, disparaged--the writer who is seen to be what Lionel Trilling calls a Figure. Lionel Trilling?
"Consider: who at this hour (apart from some professorial specialist currying his "field") is reading Mary McCarthy, James T. Farrell, John Berryman, Allan Bloom, Irving Howe, Alfred Kazin, Edmund Wilson, Anne Sexton, Alice Adams, Robert Lowell, Grace Paley, Owen Barfield, Stanley Elkin, Robert Penn Warren, Norman Mailer, Leslie Fiedler, R.P. Blackmur, Paul Goodman, Susan Sontag,...
"The grave can hardly make more mute those who were voiceless when alive--dust to dust, muteness to muteness. But the silence that dogs the established writer's noisy obituary, with its boisterous shock and busy regret, is more profound than any other.
"Oblivion comes more cuttingly to the writer whose presence has been felt, argued over, championed, disparaged--the writer who is seen to be what Lionel Trilling calls a Figure. Lionel Trilling?
"Consider: who at this hour (apart from some professorial specialist currying his "field") is reading Mary McCarthy, James T. Farrell, John Berryman, Allan Bloom, Irving Howe, Alfred Kazin, Edmund Wilson, Anne Sexton, Alice Adams, Robert Lowell, Grace Paley, Owen Barfield, Stanley Elkin, Robert Penn Warren, Norman Mailer, Leslie Fiedler, R.P. Blackmur, Paul Goodman, Susan Sontag,...
- 4/24/2011
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
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