Every school has that certain teacher who is a bully, heartless and at times sadistic. Everyone must take their class, but no one finishes the course unscathed. Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) of Alexander Payne’s acclaimed comedy-drama “The Holdovers” is one such instructor. Set in 1970, “The Holdovers” revolves around the by-the-books classics professor teaching at the same New England boarding school he had attended. Hunham is hated by his students, as well as his fellow teachers. And he’s also in hot water, after he failed one of the school’s largest donor’s son in his class. During the Christmas break, he is forced to supervise the “holdovers — -the students who for various reasons must stay on campus. He ends up sharing the holidays with one troubled student (Dominic Sessa) whose mother recently remarried; and the cafeteria administrator (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) grieving her only son’s death in the Vietnam War.
- 12/15/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Actor Liam Neeson is set to portray the iconic character Philip Marlowe in the upcoming film, Marlowe. But he is hardly the first. Neeson has become known in recent decades for his leading roles in action movies like The Grey and Taken.
In Marlowe, he’ll go noir as he attempts to fill the shoes of one of the most storied private eyes in history: a character who’s been played by some of the biggest actors in Hollywood history.
Liam Neeson takes his penchant for action movies noir in ‘Marlowe’ Marlowe stars Diane Kruger and Liam Neeson | Jb Lacroix/WireImage
Set in Bay Cities, California, in the ’50s, Marlowe follows a “tough as nails private detective” as he investigates the disappearance of a beautiful heiress’ ex-lover. But the more he digs into the case, the more he realizes the spider’s web has spun far larger than he originally thought.
In Marlowe, he’ll go noir as he attempts to fill the shoes of one of the most storied private eyes in history: a character who’s been played by some of the biggest actors in Hollywood history.
Liam Neeson takes his penchant for action movies noir in ‘Marlowe’ Marlowe stars Diane Kruger and Liam Neeson | Jb Lacroix/WireImage
Set in Bay Cities, California, in the ’50s, Marlowe follows a “tough as nails private detective” as he investigates the disappearance of a beautiful heiress’ ex-lover. But the more he digs into the case, the more he realizes the spider’s web has spun far larger than he originally thought.
- 2/5/2023
- by Lindsay Kusiak
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
While the summer movie season will kick off shortly––and we’ll be sharing a comprehensive preview on the arthouse, foreign, indie, and (few) studio films worth checking out––on the streaming side, The Criterion Channel and Mubi have unveiled their May 2021 lineups and there’s a treasure trove of highlights to dive into.
Timed with Satyajit Ray’s centenary, The Criterion Channel will have a retrospective of the Indian master, along with series on Gena Rowlands, Robert Ryan, Mitchell Leisen, Michael Almereyda, Josephine Decker, and more. In terms of recent releases, they’ll also feature Fire Will Come, The Booksellers, and the new restoration of Tom Noonan’s directorial debut What Happened Was….
On Mubi, in anticipation of Undine, they’ll feature two essential early features by Christian Petzold, Jerichow and The State That I Am In, along with his 1990 short documentary Süden. Also amongst the lineup is Sophy Romvari’s Still Processing,...
Timed with Satyajit Ray’s centenary, The Criterion Channel will have a retrospective of the Indian master, along with series on Gena Rowlands, Robert Ryan, Mitchell Leisen, Michael Almereyda, Josephine Decker, and more. In terms of recent releases, they’ll also feature Fire Will Come, The Booksellers, and the new restoration of Tom Noonan’s directorial debut What Happened Was….
On Mubi, in anticipation of Undine, they’ll feature two essential early features by Christian Petzold, Jerichow and The State That I Am In, along with his 1990 short documentary Süden. Also amongst the lineup is Sophy Romvari’s Still Processing,...
- 4/26/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Notebook Primer introduces readers to some of the most important figures, films, genres, and movements in film history. Above: Detour “The Americans made [film noir] and then the French invented it.”—Marc VernetIn a world of uncertainty, where the lines between good and bad are routinely blurred and peril lurks behind every hesitant corner, film noir had—and still has—a spellbinding way of cutting through the banalities of ordinary existence. Noir tarnishes the superficial sheen of domestic stability, peace and prosperity, and the naïve, sanguine euphoria of one’s best-laid plans. It revels in a realm of desperation, despair, and dread, leading audiences down long, lonely streets and engineering an entertaining and engaging descent into humanity’s dark side. While there remains some question about what defines film noir, and even more debate concerning whether or not the form is a genre or a movement (or something of the two...
- 8/27/2020
- MUBI
” Just don’t get too complicated, Eddie. When a man gets too complicated, he’s unhappy. And when he’s unhappy, his luck runs out.”
The Blue Dahlia (1946) starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake screens at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium(470 E Lockwood Ave) screens Tuesday February 18th. The film begins at 7:00pm. This is the final film in a 3-film ‘Lake and Ladd’ series . A Facebook invite can be found Here.
In the first original screenplay by master of the crime thriller Raymond Chandler—for which he received an Oscar nomination—The Blue Dahlia pairs Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake for the third time. Ladd plays Lt. Commander Johnny Morrison, who returns home from World War II only to find that his wife, Helen has been cheating on him. Helen soon after turns up dead, and Morrison enlists the help of a mysterious stranger (Lake) to clear his...
The Blue Dahlia (1946) starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake screens at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium(470 E Lockwood Ave) screens Tuesday February 18th. The film begins at 7:00pm. This is the final film in a 3-film ‘Lake and Ladd’ series . A Facebook invite can be found Here.
In the first original screenplay by master of the crime thriller Raymond Chandler—for which he received an Oscar nomination—The Blue Dahlia pairs Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake for the third time. Ladd plays Lt. Commander Johnny Morrison, who returns home from World War II only to find that his wife, Helen has been cheating on him. Helen soon after turns up dead, and Morrison enlists the help of a mysterious stranger (Lake) to clear his...
- 2/14/2020
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
” I just met the swellest dame… She smacked me in the kisser. “
The Glass Key starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake screens at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium(470 E Lockwood Ave) screens Tuesday February 11th. The film begins at 7:00pm. This is the second film in a 3-film ‘Lake and Ladd’ series that continues February 18th with The Blue Dahlia. A Facebook invite can be found Here.
Fast-tracked into production on account of Ladd’s rising stardom, The Glass Key is an adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s 1931 bestseller, previously adapted just seven years prior as a George Raft vehicle of the same name. Here we have Ladd playing Ed Beaumont, something of a fixer for corrupt politician Paul Madvig. Ed falls into a dangerous love triangle with Paul and Paul’s political rival’s daughter, Janet Henry (Lake). Things get even more complicated when Janet’s brother turns up dead,...
The Glass Key starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake screens at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium(470 E Lockwood Ave) screens Tuesday February 11th. The film begins at 7:00pm. This is the second film in a 3-film ‘Lake and Ladd’ series that continues February 18th with The Blue Dahlia. A Facebook invite can be found Here.
Fast-tracked into production on account of Ladd’s rising stardom, The Glass Key is an adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s 1931 bestseller, previously adapted just seven years prior as a George Raft vehicle of the same name. Here we have Ladd playing Ed Beaumont, something of a fixer for corrupt politician Paul Madvig. Ed falls into a dangerous love triangle with Paul and Paul’s political rival’s daughter, Janet Henry (Lake). Things get even more complicated when Janet’s brother turns up dead,...
- 2/6/2020
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
This Gun For Hire (1942) starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake screens at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium(470 E Lockwood Ave) screens Tuesday February 4th. The film begins at 7:00pm. This is the opening film in a 3-film ‘Lake and Ladd’ series that continues February 11th with The Glass Key and February 18th with The Blue Dahlia. A Facebook invite can be found Here.
The first pairing of Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake wasn’t meant to be so—Ms. Lake’s love interest in the film is played by Robert Preston (The Music Man)—and yet all of the chemistry is between her nightclub singer and Mr. Ladd’s hit man. Based on the Graham Greene novel A Gun for Sale, This Gun for Hire shot Ladd to instant stardom and immediately had audiences clamoring for more Lake/Ladd films.
Admission is:
$7 for the general public
$6 for seniors, Webster...
The first pairing of Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake wasn’t meant to be so—Ms. Lake’s love interest in the film is played by Robert Preston (The Music Man)—and yet all of the chemistry is between her nightclub singer and Mr. Ladd’s hit man. Based on the Graham Greene novel A Gun for Sale, This Gun for Hire shot Ladd to instant stardom and immediately had audiences clamoring for more Lake/Ladd films.
Admission is:
$7 for the general public
$6 for seniors, Webster...
- 1/31/2020
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Tony Sokol Jan 26, 2019
I Am the Night exposes Dr. George Hodel, who was accused by his own son and granddaughter for being the Black Dahlia murderer.
I Am the Night tells the story of the characters who surround one of Hollywood's most famous homicides, and certainly the city of Los Angeles' longest and most infamous cold case: the Black Dahlia murder. TNT's new miniseries, directed by Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman), gets some facts right, fudges others for dramatic continuity, and smashes a few to pulp. At one point in I Am the Night, investigative reporter Jay Singletary, played by Chris Pine, picks up a graphic compilation of tabloid news on the case to catch up on what's he's missed since covering it last. The grotesque unsolved homicide had grown to iconic status.
Actress Elizabeth Short was 22 years old when her body was found in a vacant lot on Norton...
I Am the Night exposes Dr. George Hodel, who was accused by his own son and granddaughter for being the Black Dahlia murderer.
I Am the Night tells the story of the characters who surround one of Hollywood's most famous homicides, and certainly the city of Los Angeles' longest and most infamous cold case: the Black Dahlia murder. TNT's new miniseries, directed by Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman), gets some facts right, fudges others for dramatic continuity, and smashes a few to pulp. At one point in I Am the Night, investigative reporter Jay Singletary, played by Chris Pine, picks up a graphic compilation of tabloid news on the case to catch up on what's he's missed since covering it last. The grotesque unsolved homicide had grown to iconic status.
Actress Elizabeth Short was 22 years old when her body was found in a vacant lot on Norton...
- 1/26/2019
- Den of Geek
I tell you it’s rough out there on Frisco Bay, especially when you say the word ‘Frisco’ within earshot of a proud San Francisco native. This Alan Ladd racketeering tale could have been written twenty years earlier, but it has Warner Color and the early, extra-wide iteration of the new movie attraction CinemaScope.
Hell on Frisco Bay
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen Academy / 98 min. / Street Date , 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Alan Ladd, Edward G. Robinson, Joanne Dru, William Demarest, Paul Stewart, Perry Lopez, Fay Wray, Nestor Paiva, Willis Bouchey, Anthony Caruso, Tina Carver, Rod(ney) Taylor, Jayne Mansfield, Mae Marsh, Tito Vuolo.
Cinematography: John F. Seitz
Film Editor: Folmar Blangsted
Stunts: Paul Baxley
Original Music: Max Steiner
Written by Martin Rackin, Sydney Boehm from a book by William P. McGivern
Produced by George C. Berttholon, Alan Ladd
Directed by Frank Tuttle
Alan Ladd had always been...
Hell on Frisco Bay
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen Academy / 98 min. / Street Date , 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Alan Ladd, Edward G. Robinson, Joanne Dru, William Demarest, Paul Stewart, Perry Lopez, Fay Wray, Nestor Paiva, Willis Bouchey, Anthony Caruso, Tina Carver, Rod(ney) Taylor, Jayne Mansfield, Mae Marsh, Tito Vuolo.
Cinematography: John F. Seitz
Film Editor: Folmar Blangsted
Stunts: Paul Baxley
Original Music: Max Steiner
Written by Martin Rackin, Sydney Boehm from a book by William P. McGivern
Produced by George C. Berttholon, Alan Ladd
Directed by Frank Tuttle
Alan Ladd had always been...
- 10/21/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Forget the proletarian messages, this Italian Neorealist classic is really an exploitation film about ogling brazen, buxom babes in short-shorts, up to their knees in a rice paddy. Hollywood actress Doris Dowling is the nominal star but new discovery Silvana Mangano became the knockout dream of every Italian male suffering from postwar shortages (cough). Giuseppe De Santis delivered the perfect combo -- an art film that pulled in every lonely guy nella cittá. Bitter Rice Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 792 1949 / B&W / 1:33 flat full frame / 109 min. / Riso amaro / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 12, 2016 / 29.95 Starring Vittorio Gassman, Doris Dowling, Silvana Mangano, Raf Vallone. Cinematography Otello Martelli Film Editor Gabriele Varriale Original Music Goffredo Petrassi Written by Corrado Alvaro, Giuseppe De Santis, Carlo Lizzani, Franco Monicelli, Carlo Musso, Ivo Perilli, Gianni Puccini Produced by Dino De Laurentiis Directed by Giuseppe De Santis
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Way back in...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Way back in...
- 1/12/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Teresa Wright-Samuel Goldwyn association comes to a nasty end (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright in 'Shadow of a Doubt': Alfred Hitchcock Heroine in His Favorite Film.") Whether or not because she was aware that Enchantment wasn't going to be the hit she needed – or perhaps some other disagreement with Samuel Goldwyn or personal issue with husband Niven Busch – Teresa Wright, claiming illness, refused to go to New York City to promote the film. (Top image: Teresa Wright in a publicity shot for The Men.) Goldwyn had previously announced that Wright, whose contract still had another four and half years to run, was to star in a film version of J.D. Salinger's 1948 short story "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut." Instead, he unceremoniously – and quite publicly – fired her.[1] The Goldwyn organization issued a statement, explaining that besides refusing the assignment to travel to New York to help generate pre-opening publicity for Enchantment,...
- 3/11/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The Blue Dahlia
Written by Raymond Chandler
Directed by George Marshall
USA, 1946
Three wartime veterans who served in the Navy return home to Los Angeles. They are Johnny Morrison (Alan Ladd) and his two faithful companions, Buzz (William Bendix) and George (Hugh Beaumont). After an early tussle at a diner in which Buzz shows some unfortunate signs of postwar anxiety, Johnny heads home to re-acquaint with his wife Helen (Doris Dowling), who is hosting a party. Much to Johnny’s chagrin, it is clear that one of the guests, Eddie Harwood (Howard Da Silva), owner of a luxurious club downtown called The Blue Dahlia, is having a fling with Helen. The wedded couple do not get along swimmingly, yet the revelation stings Johnny nonetheless. Shortly after Johnny walks out on her and meets a beautiful blonde named Joyce (Veronica Lake), Helen is found shot dead on her couch. Evidence points to Johnny as the culprit,...
Written by Raymond Chandler
Directed by George Marshall
USA, 1946
Three wartime veterans who served in the Navy return home to Los Angeles. They are Johnny Morrison (Alan Ladd) and his two faithful companions, Buzz (William Bendix) and George (Hugh Beaumont). After an early tussle at a diner in which Buzz shows some unfortunate signs of postwar anxiety, Johnny heads home to re-acquaint with his wife Helen (Doris Dowling), who is hosting a party. Much to Johnny’s chagrin, it is clear that one of the guests, Eddie Harwood (Howard Da Silva), owner of a luxurious club downtown called The Blue Dahlia, is having a fling with Helen. The wedded couple do not get along swimmingly, yet the revelation stings Johnny nonetheless. Shortly after Johnny walks out on her and meets a beautiful blonde named Joyce (Veronica Lake), Helen is found shot dead on her couch. Evidence points to Johnny as the culprit,...
- 12/20/2013
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
If there’s a name synonymous with femme fatale and scene-stealer, it’s Old Hollywood legend Veronica Lake.
She would have been 91 today. The film noir starlet was famous for her enchanting presence in films like Sullivan’s Travels, The Blue Dahlia, and The Glass Key.
“Lake brought to the screen an air of mystery, contained sensuality and quiet wit that lit up the screen. But, as she herself said, she just wasn’t cut out to be a movie star — at least not as Hollywood in the Forties envisioned that role — and her later life was marked by broken marriages,...
She would have been 91 today. The film noir starlet was famous for her enchanting presence in films like Sullivan’s Travels, The Blue Dahlia, and The Glass Key.
“Lake brought to the screen an air of mystery, contained sensuality and quiet wit that lit up the screen. But, as she herself said, she just wasn’t cut out to be a movie star — at least not as Hollywood in the Forties envisioned that role — and her later life was marked by broken marriages,...
- 11/14/2013
- by Jennifer Arellano
- EW.com - PopWatch
This Gun for Hire
Written by Albert Maltz and W.R. Burnett
Directed by Frank Tuttle
U.S.A, 1942
The great American actor Alan Ladd died at the unfairly young age of 50. With a series of leading roles in some timeless classics during the 1940s and 1950s he carved himself a firm place in Hollywood lore. His quality work in such films as The Blue Dahlia, Two Years Before the Mast and Shane earned him critical acclaim as well as a bevy of movie fans. He could play cool and he could play tough as nails, yet was also clearly capable of demonstrating a subtle humane side to even his most hardened characters. One of the early films of his career that helped pave his way into stardom was the 1942, Frank Tuttle directed This Gun for Hire, a multi-genre mashing of WWII, spy and noir themes.
An alarm clock wakes up...
Written by Albert Maltz and W.R. Burnett
Directed by Frank Tuttle
U.S.A, 1942
The great American actor Alan Ladd died at the unfairly young age of 50. With a series of leading roles in some timeless classics during the 1940s and 1950s he carved himself a firm place in Hollywood lore. His quality work in such films as The Blue Dahlia, Two Years Before the Mast and Shane earned him critical acclaim as well as a bevy of movie fans. He could play cool and he could play tough as nails, yet was also clearly capable of demonstrating a subtle humane side to even his most hardened characters. One of the early films of his career that helped pave his way into stardom was the 1942, Frank Tuttle directed This Gun for Hire, a multi-genre mashing of WWII, spy and noir themes.
An alarm clock wakes up...
- 7/19/2013
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
The Hairdressing Council of Great Britain and University Pictures conducted a poll of 1000 people about the most influential onscreen haircuts of all time. The winner? Anne Hathaway's close crop for "Les Miserables."
The runner-up was Jennifer Aniston's long, curly locks in "Along Came Polly," folloed by Audrey Hepburn's up-do in "Charade" and Veronica Lake's flowing waves in "The Blue Dahlia."
We have to wonder if the people polled really mean the cute pixie cut that she was sporting on red carpets -- because her actual cut in the movie was, frankly, kind of ugly. We also have to wonder if the poll gave multiple choices, instead of just letting the people freely answer -- because who on earth remembers "Along Came Polly"? We have a sneaking suspicion the poll only offered Universal Pictures movies to choose from.
The poll also found that one in 10 women have...
The runner-up was Jennifer Aniston's long, curly locks in "Along Came Polly," folloed by Audrey Hepburn's up-do in "Charade" and Veronica Lake's flowing waves in "The Blue Dahlia."
We have to wonder if the people polled really mean the cute pixie cut that she was sporting on red carpets -- because her actual cut in the movie was, frankly, kind of ugly. We also have to wonder if the poll gave multiple choices, instead of just letting the people freely answer -- because who on earth remembers "Along Came Polly"? We have a sneaking suspicion the poll only offered Universal Pictures movies to choose from.
The poll also found that one in 10 women have...
- 4/20/2013
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
On December 3, the TCM Vault Collection released a tantalizing box set of three film noirs, “The Glass Key,” “Phantom Lady” and “The Blue Dahlia,” all previously unavailable on Region 1 DVD. The connecting thread is crime fiction -- the first two films are based on novels by Dashiell Hammett and Cornell Woolrich, respectively, and the third is from an original screenplay by Raymond Chandler. “The Glass Key” was Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake’s second onscreen pairing, made the same year as the duo’s better-known noir “This Gun for Hire,” in 1942. Production on “The Glass Key” actually began before “This Gun for Hire” was released, showing the amount of confidence Paramount had in Ladd and Lake’s sizzling chemistry. The studio knew it had blonde, exquisitely fine-boned lightning in a bottle. In the film, which is a very good adaptation of Hammett’s novel of the same title, Ladd...
- 12/4/2012
- by Beth Hanna
- Thompson on Hollywood
Second #3760, 62:40
Jeffrey, having arrived later than expected to pick up Sandy after school, has just been spotted by Sandy’s boyfriend Mike, who is doing a variation of jumping jack exercises with the football team (in full uniform, including helmets) on a tennis court across the street in a scene that oddly predicts the “Do the Locomotion” scene in Inland Empire. We are back in the sunlight now, the deeply coded normalcy of high school, the girls in their long skirts recalling the teenage rebel movies of the 1950s. The frame captures no one looking at anyone. Dead gazes. A frame filled with people and trees and grass and a building and a car. The end of spring. The beginning of summer.
Sandy. The fact of Sandy. In her classic 1974 book From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies, Molly Haskell wrote:
In the penumbral world of the detective story,...
Jeffrey, having arrived later than expected to pick up Sandy after school, has just been spotted by Sandy’s boyfriend Mike, who is doing a variation of jumping jack exercises with the football team (in full uniform, including helmets) on a tennis court across the street in a scene that oddly predicts the “Do the Locomotion” scene in Inland Empire. We are back in the sunlight now, the deeply coded normalcy of high school, the girls in their long skirts recalling the teenage rebel movies of the 1950s. The frame captures no one looking at anyone. Dead gazes. A frame filled with people and trees and grass and a building and a car. The end of spring. The beginning of summer.
Sandy. The fact of Sandy. In her classic 1974 book From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies, Molly Haskell wrote:
In the penumbral world of the detective story,...
- 2/15/2012
- by Nicholas Rombes
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Frank Capra, Luise Rainer, George Jessel Luise Rainer turns 102 today, January 12. She is the oldest living Academy Award winner in the acting categories, having won two consecutive Best Actress Oscars for The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and The Good Earth (1937). Because of both her longevity and the fact that Turner Classic Movies regularly shows nearly all of her films, the Dusseldorf-born (some sources say Vienna) Rainer is probably better known today than at any time since the 1940s, when she last starred in a Hollywood production: Frank Tuttle's now-forgotten Paramount resistance drama Hostages (1943). Before this ongoing revival, Rainer was best remembered as the two-time Oscar winner with a four-year film career (1935-1938), while her acting was generally dismissed as several notches below subpar. In fact, to many she served as one of the prime reminders of the unworthiness of the Academy Awards. As the oft-told story goes, when Raymond Chandler got...
- 1/12/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Clip joint comes right back at you with a snappy selection of cinema's wittiest ripostes and most scathing putdowns
Like a slam dunk smash in tennis, or a sudden knockout in boxing, the ability to come up with a scathingly witty riposte to a rhetorical attack – to conjure a killer comeback – results in an instant win. The old saying about sticks and stones is all wrong: an acerbic remark can do more damage than a right hook, and the sting from an incisive jibe can last a lifetime.
The French use the term 'L'esprit de l'escalier' ('staircase wit') to describe the agony of coming up with a comeback when it's just too late. Of course, ever since the dawn of the 'talkies', movie stars have relied on screenwriters to supply them with urbane repartee, and a film without snappy dialogue would be about as much fun as an alcohol-free martini.
Like a slam dunk smash in tennis, or a sudden knockout in boxing, the ability to come up with a scathingly witty riposte to a rhetorical attack – to conjure a killer comeback – results in an instant win. The old saying about sticks and stones is all wrong: an acerbic remark can do more damage than a right hook, and the sting from an incisive jibe can last a lifetime.
The French use the term 'L'esprit de l'escalier' ('staircase wit') to describe the agony of coming up with a comeback when it's just too late. Of course, ever since the dawn of the 'talkies', movie stars have relied on screenwriters to supply them with urbane repartee, and a film without snappy dialogue would be about as much fun as an alcohol-free martini.
- 12/14/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
Chicago – Diabolical twins, obsessed journalists and jail-breaking thugs are heading their way to the Music Box Theatre. The Film Noir Foundation’s third installment of “Noir City: Chicago” features no less than sixteen restored 35mm prints of must-see cinematic rarities. Ten of these noir classics have yet to land a DVD release, thus making this festival all the more essential for local cinephiles.
The week-long festival kicks off Friday, Aug. 12, and includes criminally overlooked performances from Hollywood legends such as Humphrey Bogart, Anne Bancroft, Barbara Stanwyck, Olivia de Havilland, Ernest Borgnine, Shelley Winters and Burt Lancaster. Acclaimed noir historians Alan K. Rode (“Charles McGraw: Biography of a Film Noir Tough Guy”) and Foster Hirsch (“Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo-Noir”) will be presenting the pictures while offering their wealth of historical and filmic insight.
Among this year’s most priceless treasures is “Deadline USA,” starring Bogart as...
The week-long festival kicks off Friday, Aug. 12, and includes criminally overlooked performances from Hollywood legends such as Humphrey Bogart, Anne Bancroft, Barbara Stanwyck, Olivia de Havilland, Ernest Borgnine, Shelley Winters and Burt Lancaster. Acclaimed noir historians Alan K. Rode (“Charles McGraw: Biography of a Film Noir Tough Guy”) and Foster Hirsch (“Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo-Noir”) will be presenting the pictures while offering their wealth of historical and filmic insight.
Among this year’s most priceless treasures is “Deadline USA,” starring Bogart as...
- 8/11/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Above: Publicity still from John Parker's Dementia (1955).
Rep houses in San Francisco, like those in most American cities, are struggling to stay open. But for something like thirty nights a year, the clouds lift and big crowds materialize for films of the past: call it the noir exception. To be sure, one needn’t actually attend the Film Noir Foundation’s annual Noir City festival at the Castro or Elliot Lavine’s grittier programs at the Roxie to know that the generic fantasy of film noir (style, sex and violence washed together) still holds powerful allure. You could hardly miss the bus stop advert for Rockstar Games’ latest blockbuster, L.A. Noire, outside the Roxie during Lavine’s latest marathon, “I Wake Up Dreaming: The Legendary and the Lost”. For those of us still invested in the non-interactive cinema experience, however, the popularity of these series is a remarkable if curious thing.
Rep houses in San Francisco, like those in most American cities, are struggling to stay open. But for something like thirty nights a year, the clouds lift and big crowds materialize for films of the past: call it the noir exception. To be sure, one needn’t actually attend the Film Noir Foundation’s annual Noir City festival at the Castro or Elliot Lavine’s grittier programs at the Roxie to know that the generic fantasy of film noir (style, sex and violence washed together) still holds powerful allure. You could hardly miss the bus stop advert for Rockstar Games’ latest blockbuster, L.A. Noire, outside the Roxie during Lavine’s latest marathon, “I Wake Up Dreaming: The Legendary and the Lost”. For those of us still invested in the non-interactive cinema experience, however, the popularity of these series is a remarkable if curious thing.
- 6/13/2011
- MUBI
HollywoodNews.com: “The Blue Dahlia” (1946), starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake as a veteran accused of murder and the woman who comes to his aid, will be screened as the next feature in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ series “Oscar Noir: 1940s Writing Nominees from Hollywood’s Dark Side.”
The film will be introduced by screenwriter Wesley Strick (“True Believer,” “Cape Fear”). Raymond Chandler penned the film’s original screenplay, which earned him his second Academy Award® nomination.
At 7 p.m. noir cartoon short “Donald’s Crime” (1945), starring Donald Duck, and the episode “Boomerang” from the 1941 serial “Adventures of Captain Marvel” will be screened as part of the evening’s pre-feature program.
The screening will take place on Monday, July 19, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Tickets to individual evenings are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with a valid ID.
The film will be introduced by screenwriter Wesley Strick (“True Believer,” “Cape Fear”). Raymond Chandler penned the film’s original screenplay, which earned him his second Academy Award® nomination.
At 7 p.m. noir cartoon short “Donald’s Crime” (1945), starring Donald Duck, and the episode “Boomerang” from the 1941 serial “Adventures of Captain Marvel” will be screened as part of the evening’s pre-feature program.
The screening will take place on Monday, July 19, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Tickets to individual evenings are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with a valid ID.
- 7/13/2010
- by HollywoodNews.com
- Hollywoodnews.com
Good news for La-based film noirs fans: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will kick off a summer screening series, "Oscar Noir: 1940s Writing Nominees from Hollywood’s Dark Side," on Monday, May 10, with a big-screen presentation of John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon, starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, and Sydney Greenstreet. The 15-film series, which will run through August 30, will showcase 1940s noir classics that received Oscar nominations in the writing categories. Among them are The Blue Dahlia, with the great Alan Ladd-Veronica Lake duo; The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, with Barbara Stanwyck and the underrated Lizabeth Scott; and White Heat, which offers what’s probably the best performance of James Cagney’s career [...]...
- 4/5/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
No 84 Alan Ladd 1913-64
He had a hard early life and a long apprenticeship. Born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, he was four when his accountant father died and, still a child, he moved to North Hollywood, California with his mother (who would become an alcoholic and commit suicide) and stepfather, a painter and decorator.
He was a high-school athletic star, principally as a swimmer, and developed the fine physique he was often to expose on screen, including two scenes of public flogging. Living so close to the movie business, he had certain acting aspirations but was constantly told he was too short (5ft 6in) and unfashionably fair-haired for stardom.
But after leaving school in the Depression, briefly running his own burger joint (disarmingly called Tiny's Patio) and working as a studio carpenter, he spent nearly a decade freelancing in radio and taking minor movie parts. Many of the latter were without dialogue,...
He had a hard early life and a long apprenticeship. Born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, he was four when his accountant father died and, still a child, he moved to North Hollywood, California with his mother (who would become an alcoholic and commit suicide) and stepfather, a painter and decorator.
He was a high-school athletic star, principally as a swimmer, and developed the fine physique he was often to expose on screen, including two scenes of public flogging. Living so close to the movie business, he had certain acting aspirations but was constantly told he was too short (5ft 6in) and unfashionably fair-haired for stardom.
But after leaving school in the Depression, briefly running his own burger joint (disarmingly called Tiny's Patio) and working as a studio carpenter, he spent nearly a decade freelancing in radio and taking minor movie parts. Many of the latter were without dialogue,...
- 3/7/2010
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
LONDON -- Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep and other classic titles could be headed for remakes after British rights owner Chorion announced on Thursday that it had acquired all film, television and multimedia rights to the writer's acclaimed output of detective fiction. In a deal aimed at repeating Chorion's successful relaunch of the Agatha Christie franchise three years ago, the British company said it had acquired 75% of the Chandler estate for an undisclosed sum. The balance of shares will remain with the estate holders, represented by literary agent Ed Victor. The library comprises seven completed novels by Chandler, who died in 1959, including The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely and The Long Goodbye, as well as 24 short stories. It also numbers seven Chandler-penned screenplays, including Double Indemnity, The Blue Dahlia and the Oscar-nominated script for Strangers on a Train.
- 2/11/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Tragic film legend Veronica Lake's ashes have been discovered in a New York antique store, 30 years after her death. The Blue Dahlia actress died penniless on July 7, 1973 from hepatitis. Her ashes were thought to have been scattered off the Florida coastline, but it has emerged some of them have remained on dry land. Laura Levine, who owns Homer and Langley's Mystery Spot in the Catskills, upstate New York, was amazed with the find and is planning a 16 October homage to the late star with Lake lookalikes. Levine says, "It's a strange little footnote to a fascinating legacy. I'm a huge fan of Veronica Lake. I just think she's brilliant, gorgeous, incredibly talented and underappreciated."...
- 10/4/2004
- WENN
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