Actor John Rhys-Davies is known for his role as Gimli, the dwarf warrior in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. The loud-mouthed elf hater is played to perfection by the Welsh actor in the fantasy-adventure films. Rhys-Davies was nominated along with the rest of the cast for the Screen Actors Guild Award and won for The Return of the King.
While the actor has played other roles in his career, he is also most well-known for playing Sallah, the Egyptian friend of Indiana Jones in Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones films. Rhys-Davies was reportedly not the first choice for the role and the description reportedly needed a much shorter person. However, Rhys-Davies’ remark reportedly led Spielberg to change the character to suit the actor.
John Rhys-Davies Was Not The First Choice To Play Sallah In Indiana Jones A still from Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones: Raiders of the...
While the actor has played other roles in his career, he is also most well-known for playing Sallah, the Egyptian friend of Indiana Jones in Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones films. Rhys-Davies was reportedly not the first choice for the role and the description reportedly needed a much shorter person. However, Rhys-Davies’ remark reportedly led Spielberg to change the character to suit the actor.
John Rhys-Davies Was Not The First Choice To Play Sallah In Indiana Jones A still from Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones: Raiders of the...
- 4/30/2024
- by Nishanth A
- FandomWire
When we talk about lost films, most people immediately think of silent movies, cinema on nitrate that either went up in flames or was in the hands of studios who didn't see the value in preserving it. Although we've come a long way in terms of film preservation since then, there are still plenty of films from the second half of the 20th century that may not be technically "lost," but are nearly impossible to track down and actually watch. They may have been put out on comparatively low-quality VHS back in the day, but not a peep since then -- these films never got a DVD or Blu-ray release, and aren't available on any of the streaming services.
If you're lucky, you might be able to find a grainy, unsanctioned VHS transfer on an unauthorized YouTube account, but even then, there's a lack of permanency, since they could be...
If you're lucky, you might be able to find a grainy, unsanctioned VHS transfer on an unauthorized YouTube account, but even then, there's a lack of permanency, since they could be...
- 4/14/2024
- by Audrey Fox
- Slash Film
Lawrence Turman, the principled Oscar-nominated producer of The Graduate who was behind other films including The Great White Hope, Pretty Poison, American History X and the last movie Judy Garland ever made, has died. He was 96.
Turman died Saturday at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, his family announced.
A former agent, he and producer David Foster began a 20-year partnership in 1974, and the first film to come out of the Turman Foster Co. was Stuart Rosenberg’s The Drowning Pool (1975), starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.
They went their separate ways in 1991 when Turman left to begin an association heading the esteemed Peter Stark Producing Program at USC that lasted until his retirement in 2021.
However, Turman wasn’t done producing, and in 1996 he and John Morrissey launched the Turman-Morrissey Co., which made the Jamie Foxx-starring Booty Call (1997); Tony Kaye’s American History X...
Turman died Saturday at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, his family announced.
A former agent, he and producer David Foster began a 20-year partnership in 1974, and the first film to come out of the Turman Foster Co. was Stuart Rosenberg’s The Drowning Pool (1975), starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.
They went their separate ways in 1991 when Turman left to begin an association heading the esteemed Peter Stark Producing Program at USC that lasted until his retirement in 2021.
However, Turman wasn’t done producing, and in 1996 he and John Morrissey launched the Turman-Morrissey Co., which made the Jamie Foxx-starring Booty Call (1997); Tony Kaye’s American History X...
- 7/3/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
After nearly 75 years of family ownership, Gersh Agency has sold a 45% stake in the company to private equity firm Crestview Partners.
Gersh Agency chiefs Bob Gersh and David Gersh said the investment from Crestview is designed to help the agency grow in new areas to better represent its core client base. The deal calls for the brothers to continue to stay at the helm. Leslie Siebert, Gersh Agency veteran who has long served as managing partner, has been promoted to co-president status alongside Bob and David Gersh.
Gersh Agency’s sale comes as all of its major talent agency competitors have brought in additional partners and investors to help provide much-needed resources and financial support for a notoriously volatile business. The brothers assert they will maintain control even as they bring in capital from Crestview. In 2019, Crestview Partners acquired a one-third stake in ICM Partners for about $150 million — a deal...
Gersh Agency chiefs Bob Gersh and David Gersh said the investment from Crestview is designed to help the agency grow in new areas to better represent its core client base. The deal calls for the brothers to continue to stay at the helm. Leslie Siebert, Gersh Agency veteran who has long served as managing partner, has been promoted to co-president status alongside Bob and David Gersh.
Gersh Agency’s sale comes as all of its major talent agency competitors have brought in additional partners and investors to help provide much-needed resources and financial support for a notoriously volatile business. The brothers assert they will maintain control even as they bring in capital from Crestview. In 2019, Crestview Partners acquired a one-third stake in ICM Partners for about $150 million — a deal...
- 5/1/2023
- by Cynthia Littleton
- Variety Film + TV
Arrow swings into 2023 with a disc of a horror thriller ‘with issues’ — but appointing it with intriguing extras. Sandra Dee gets her perky nose all tangled up in an inter-dimensional conspiracy run by sneaky occultist Dean Stockwell — and we know that it’s all going to lead to a sacrificial altar. Roger Corman designer Daniel Haller directed this cross between a Poe picture and a psychedelic epic, for good old American-International.
The Dunwich Horror
Blu-ray
Arrow Video
1970 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 97 min. / Street Date January 10, 2023 / Available from Arrow Video / 39.95
Starring: Sandra Dee, Dean Stockwell, Ed Begley, Lloyd Bochner, Sam Jaffe, Joanne Moore Jordan, Donna Baccala, Talia Shire, Barboura Morris, Beach Dickerson.
Cinematography: Richard C. Glouner
Art Director: Paul Sylos
Film Editor: Christopher Holmes
Original Music: Les Baxter
Written by Curtis Lee Hanson, Henry Rosenbaum, Ronald Silkowsky from the story by H.P. Lovecraft
Executive producer Roger Corman
Produced by James H. Nicholson,...
The Dunwich Horror
Blu-ray
Arrow Video
1970 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 97 min. / Street Date January 10, 2023 / Available from Arrow Video / 39.95
Starring: Sandra Dee, Dean Stockwell, Ed Begley, Lloyd Bochner, Sam Jaffe, Joanne Moore Jordan, Donna Baccala, Talia Shire, Barboura Morris, Beach Dickerson.
Cinematography: Richard C. Glouner
Art Director: Paul Sylos
Film Editor: Christopher Holmes
Original Music: Les Baxter
Written by Curtis Lee Hanson, Henry Rosenbaum, Ronald Silkowsky from the story by H.P. Lovecraft
Executive producer Roger Corman
Produced by James H. Nicholson,...
- 1/3/2023
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
It’s such fun flashing back to Emmy ceremonies of yesteryear, and it’s interesting to see how they have evolved over time, and reflect on how much TV has grown and changed. In the early years, the categories were much different, with no distinction between dramatic and comedic performances; instead, there was a category for “Outstanding Continued Performance” (which came from ongoing series) and a separate one for “Outstanding Single Performance”. Going back six decades, there were only three networks competing, but some of the biggest names in the history of the medium were on the ballot, and some legendary performers presented, when Johnny Carson, Bob Newhart and David Brinkley hosted the 14th Emmy Awards on NBC on May 22, 1962. Read on for our Emmys flashback 60 years ago to 1962.
Newhart was already making a name for himself in these early days of television. His variety series “The Bob Newhart Show...
Newhart was already making a name for himself in these early days of television. His variety series “The Bob Newhart Show...
- 7/14/2022
- by Susan Pennington
- Gold Derby
Sam Adams, a literary agent whose career began in the postwar years at Warner Bros. and ended with the deal to bring The Handmaid’s Tale to the big screen, has died, according to multiple reports. He was 94.
Adams’ client list included Handmaid’s author Margaret Atwood, the recently-deceased Peter Bogdanovich, Saturday Night Fever director John Badham, TV giant Stephen J. Cannell, Oscar-winner Alvin Sargent, Casablanca star Paul Henreid and Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer.
Adams got his start in Hollywood delivering messages at Warner Bros. while he was still at Beverly Hills High School. At Warners, he met the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Errol Flynn, Bette Davis and Edgar G. Robinson. His stint at the studio was interrupted by 18 months of active duty in the army.
After the war he turned to journalism, serving stints at the William Randolph Hearst-owned Los Angeles Examiner, the Armed Forces Radio Services,...
Adams’ client list included Handmaid’s author Margaret Atwood, the recently-deceased Peter Bogdanovich, Saturday Night Fever director John Badham, TV giant Stephen J. Cannell, Oscar-winner Alvin Sargent, Casablanca star Paul Henreid and Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer.
Adams got his start in Hollywood delivering messages at Warner Bros. while he was still at Beverly Hills High School. At Warners, he met the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Errol Flynn, Bette Davis and Edgar G. Robinson. His stint at the studio was interrupted by 18 months of active duty in the army.
After the war he turned to journalism, serving stints at the William Randolph Hearst-owned Los Angeles Examiner, the Armed Forces Radio Services,...
- 1/14/2022
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
Review: "The Accused" (1949) Starring Loretta Young And Robert Cummings; Kino Lorber Blu-ray Release
“Murder Or Self Defense?”
By Raymond Benson
This compelling 1949 melodrama—it can’t quite be called film noir due to a lack of many of the traits associated with that cinematic movement—would have a field day in the era of #MeToo. It was made during 1948 (released in January ’49) while the Production Code was still in effect. While it was taboo to say that the protagonist, Dr. Wilma Tuttle (Loretta Young), is “sexually assaulted” by one of her students at the college where she teaches psychology (it’s obvious that this is what occurs in front of our eyes on the screen), it’s perfectly fine for the investigating homicide detective, Lt. Dorgan (Wendell Corey), to make harassing sexual innuendos and sexist remarks about the woman he suspects of murder, not only to her face but to all the other men in the room while she’s present. But it...
By Raymond Benson
This compelling 1949 melodrama—it can’t quite be called film noir due to a lack of many of the traits associated with that cinematic movement—would have a field day in the era of #MeToo. It was made during 1948 (released in January ’49) while the Production Code was still in effect. While it was taboo to say that the protagonist, Dr. Wilma Tuttle (Loretta Young), is “sexually assaulted” by one of her students at the college where she teaches psychology (it’s obvious that this is what occurs in front of our eyes on the screen), it’s perfectly fine for the investigating homicide detective, Lt. Dorgan (Wendell Corey), to make harassing sexual innuendos and sexist remarks about the woman he suspects of murder, not only to her face but to all the other men in the room while she’s present. But it...
- 11/12/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Soderbergh is no stranger to heist movies. Remember 1998’s “Out of Sight,” 2001’s “Ocean’s Eleven” and 2017’s “Logan Lucky”? And he’s returned to the popular genre with this latest film “No Sudden Move,” which landed on HBO Max July 1 after having premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Set in Detroit in 1954, “No Sudden Move” around a group of small-time hoods who are hired to steal a document. Though they consider it to be a straightforward job, it turns out to be anything but when the gig goes wrong. While the crooks try to figure out who hired them and way, they are lead down a rabbit hole of twists and turns involving racial prejudice, corporate greed in the auto industry and even the mob. “No Sudden Move,” which stars Don Cheadle, Benicio del Toro, David Harbour, Jon Hamm, Brendan Fraser, and Ray Liotta, is currently at...
Set in Detroit in 1954, “No Sudden Move” around a group of small-time hoods who are hired to steal a document. Though they consider it to be a straightforward job, it turns out to be anything but when the gig goes wrong. While the crooks try to figure out who hired them and way, they are lead down a rabbit hole of twists and turns involving racial prejudice, corporate greed in the auto industry and even the mob. “No Sudden Move,” which stars Don Cheadle, Benicio del Toro, David Harbour, Jon Hamm, Brendan Fraser, and Ray Liotta, is currently at...
- 7/2/2021
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
It’s a big international action epic, filmed in Mexico with a French director. Anthony Quinn is an 18th-century bandit who liberates a Mexican hamlet from marauding Yaqui Indians and a villainous Charles Bronson. Quinn is good, and all the necessary elements are present: fights, handsome scenery and a big battle… but it’s fairly tepid stuff, simplified and prettified. Leave it to Ennio Morricone’s epic music score to bind it all together. With Anjanette Comer, Sam Jaffe, Silvia Pinal and the same fifteen or so well-connected actors that cornered roles in all big Mexican films made with foreign money.
Guns for San Sebastian
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 111 min. / La bataille de San Sebastian / Available at Amazon.com / Street Date June 15, 2021 / 21.99
Starring: Anthony Quinn, Anjanette Comer, Charles Bronson, Sam Jaffe, Silvia Pinal, Jorge Martínez de Hoyos, Jaime Fernández, Rosa Furman, Leon Askin, Ivan Desny, Pedro Armendáriz Jr.,...
Guns for San Sebastian
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 111 min. / La bataille de San Sebastian / Available at Amazon.com / Street Date June 15, 2021 / 21.99
Starring: Anthony Quinn, Anjanette Comer, Charles Bronson, Sam Jaffe, Silvia Pinal, Jorge Martínez de Hoyos, Jaime Fernández, Rosa Furman, Leon Askin, Ivan Desny, Pedro Armendáriz Jr.,...
- 6/22/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
(Spoiler alert: Do not read on if you haven’t seen David Fincher’s “Mank.”)
In David Fincher’s “Mank,” Lily Collins’ character Rita Alexander hears that her boss, “Citizen Kane” screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, helped 100 people flee out of Nazi Germany. But is that true?
Somewhat. In Richard Meryman’s biography “Mank: The Wit, World and Life of Herman Mankiewicz,” Meryman wrote, “Herman became the official sponsor for hundreds of German refugees and took responsibility for total strangers fleeing to America. Sam Jaffe protested that he could not possibly fulfill these obligations. Herman continued to sign a stack of affidavits and said, ‘Yes, but the government doesn’t know that.'”
According to “Film History Vol. 1, No.4,” Mankiewicz was among others in Hollywood like Carl Laemmle and William Wyler who were involved in rescuing German refugees. Wyler, for example, was involved in trying to rescue 25 people, while Laemmle helped 300 people; for each case,...
In David Fincher’s “Mank,” Lily Collins’ character Rita Alexander hears that her boss, “Citizen Kane” screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, helped 100 people flee out of Nazi Germany. But is that true?
Somewhat. In Richard Meryman’s biography “Mank: The Wit, World and Life of Herman Mankiewicz,” Meryman wrote, “Herman became the official sponsor for hundreds of German refugees and took responsibility for total strangers fleeing to America. Sam Jaffe protested that he could not possibly fulfill these obligations. Herman continued to sign a stack of affidavits and said, ‘Yes, but the government doesn’t know that.'”
According to “Film History Vol. 1, No.4,” Mankiewicz was among others in Hollywood like Carl Laemmle and William Wyler who were involved in rescuing German refugees. Wyler, for example, was involved in trying to rescue 25 people, while Laemmle helped 300 people; for each case,...
- 12/3/2020
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Wrap
Going from co-president of a major movie studio — otherwise known as the guy who holds the purse strings — to a film producer dependent on that person’s largess could be very discombobulating. But Matt Tolmach has turned his experience as a longtime Columbia Pictures executive into more than a billion dollars of box office as a producer.
Over the past decade, he’s produced megahit “Spider-Man” movies, the smash success of “Venom,” and “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” the latter of which grossed nearly a billion dollars on its own worldwide. His latest, “Jumanji: The Next Level,” arrives in theaters Dec. 13.
For “Jumanji” star Dwayne Johnson, Tolmach’s production talent stems from his boardroom experience.
“Matt comes with a unique and broad 30,000-foot perspective, having been the co-president of Columbia Pictures,” Johnson says. “He’s transitioned into a high-value producer who has the proven skills for delivering successful and highly...
Over the past decade, he’s produced megahit “Spider-Man” movies, the smash success of “Venom,” and “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” the latter of which grossed nearly a billion dollars on its own worldwide. His latest, “Jumanji: The Next Level,” arrives in theaters Dec. 13.
For “Jumanji” star Dwayne Johnson, Tolmach’s production talent stems from his boardroom experience.
“Matt comes with a unique and broad 30,000-foot perspective, having been the co-president of Columbia Pictures,” Johnson says. “He’s transitioned into a high-value producer who has the proven skills for delivering successful and highly...
- 12/13/2019
- by Akiva Gottlieb
- Variety Film + TV
Delirious silver-screen glamour never disappoints! Marlene Dietrich’s six Paramount pictures for Josef von Sternberg arrive in a beautifully annotated disc set. The most creative director-muse relationship of the 1930s created an all-conquering German siren-goddess, a screen icon vom kopf bis fuss.
Dietrich & von Sternberg in Hollywood
Blu-ray
Morocco, Dishonored, Shanghai Express, Blonde Venus, The Scarlet Empress, The Devil is a Woman
The Criterion Collection 930
1930-1035 / B&W / 1:19 Movietone (2), 1:37 flat Academy (3) / 542 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date July 3, 2018 / 124.95
Starring: Marlene Dietrich, Gary Cooper, Victor McLaglen, Clive Brook, Herbert Marshall, Cary Grant, Sam Jaffe, Lionel Atwill, Cesar Romero.
Directed by Josef von Sternberg
Dietrich & von Sternberg in Hollywood assembles a package we’ve long desired, a quality set of the duo’s highly artistic Paramount pictures from the first half of the 1930s. The Scarlet Empress arrived in a sub-par Criterion disc early in 2001, and three more...
Dietrich & von Sternberg in Hollywood
Blu-ray
Morocco, Dishonored, Shanghai Express, Blonde Venus, The Scarlet Empress, The Devil is a Woman
The Criterion Collection 930
1930-1035 / B&W / 1:19 Movietone (2), 1:37 flat Academy (3) / 542 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date July 3, 2018 / 124.95
Starring: Marlene Dietrich, Gary Cooper, Victor McLaglen, Clive Brook, Herbert Marshall, Cary Grant, Sam Jaffe, Lionel Atwill, Cesar Romero.
Directed by Josef von Sternberg
Dietrich & von Sternberg in Hollywood assembles a package we’ve long desired, a quality set of the duo’s highly artistic Paramount pictures from the first half of the 1930s. The Scarlet Empress arrived in a sub-par Criterion disc early in 2001, and three more...
- 6/30/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The Scarlet Empress (1934), starring Marlene Dietrich, John Lodge, Sam Jaffe, Louise Dresser and “a supporting cast of 1,000 players,” is director Josef von Sternberg at his most grandiose and excessive, which is just another way of saying “at his best,” at the height of a state of expressive delirium no other director has ever really matched. (Though many have, either consciously or subconsciously, tried– I wonder if Ken Russell ever admitted envy for von Sternberg or this film.) Von Sternberg’s paints his pictures with gasp-and-giggle-inducingly broad strokes, but his approach is no joke. There’s an exhilarating strain of claustrophobia in the director’s films which is given its freest rein here. His frames are burdened with grandeur, luxury and horror closing in, and he achieves a genuine sense of epic sprawl and decadence, despite the orchestrated sense that the whole of Russia, royalty as well as the entirety of its oppressed,...
- 3/31/2018
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
A cinematic puzzle and a filmic detective piece, Serge Bromberg’s examination of a world-class filmmaker’s catastrophic, never-finished production fascinates and dazzles. If the particulars of H.G. Clouzot’s experimental epic of internal torment remain clouded, the astonishing visuals he created are a total knockout. Working with hours of uncut dailies and precise collaborator memories, Bromberg gives us the most interesting filmic autopsy on record. Incredible stuff!
Inferno
(L’enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot)
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
2009 / Color & B&W / 1:78 widescreen / 100 min. / L’enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot / Street Date February 6, 2018 / Available from Arrow Video 34.95
Starring: Romy Schneider, Serge Reggiani, Bérénice Bejo, Jacques Gamblin, Dany Carrel, Jean-Claude Bercq, Mario David, Catherine Allégret, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Gilbert Amy, Jacques Douy, Jean-Louis Ducarme, Costa-Gavras, William Lubtchansky, Thi Lan Nguyen, Joël Stein, Bernard Stora, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Bernard Blier, Inès Clouzot, Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Lino Ventura, Burt Lancaster.
Cinematography: Jérôme Krumenacker, Irina Lubtchansky...
Inferno
(L’enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot)
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
2009 / Color & B&W / 1:78 widescreen / 100 min. / L’enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot / Street Date February 6, 2018 / Available from Arrow Video 34.95
Starring: Romy Schneider, Serge Reggiani, Bérénice Bejo, Jacques Gamblin, Dany Carrel, Jean-Claude Bercq, Mario David, Catherine Allégret, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Gilbert Amy, Jacques Douy, Jean-Louis Ducarme, Costa-Gavras, William Lubtchansky, Thi Lan Nguyen, Joël Stein, Bernard Stora, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Bernard Blier, Inès Clouzot, Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Lino Ventura, Burt Lancaster.
Cinematography: Jérôme Krumenacker, Irina Lubtchansky...
- 2/20/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
It’s a wonder movie from the 1930s, a political fantasy that imagines a Utopia of peace and kindness hidden away in a distant mountain range — or in our daydreams. Sony’s new restoration is indeed impressive. Ronald Colman is seduced by a vision of a non-sectarian Heaven on Earth, while Savant indulges his anti-Frank Capra grumblings in his admiring but hesitant review essay.
Lost Horizon (1937)
80th Anniversary Blu-ray + HD Digital
Sony
1937 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 133 min. / Street Date October 3, 2017 / 19.99
Starring: Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt, Edward Everett Horton, John Howard, Thomas Mitchell, Margo, Isabel Jewell, H.B. Warner, Sam Jaffe, Noble Johnson, Richard Loo.
Cinematography: Joseph Walker
Film Editors: Gene Havelick, Gene Milford
Art Direction: Stephen Goosson
Musical director: Max Steiner
Original Music: Dimitri Tiomkin
Written by Robert Riskin from the novel by James Hilton
Produced and Directed by Frank Capra
Frank Capra had a way with actors and comedy...
Lost Horizon (1937)
80th Anniversary Blu-ray + HD Digital
Sony
1937 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 133 min. / Street Date October 3, 2017 / 19.99
Starring: Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt, Edward Everett Horton, John Howard, Thomas Mitchell, Margo, Isabel Jewell, H.B. Warner, Sam Jaffe, Noble Johnson, Richard Loo.
Cinematography: Joseph Walker
Film Editors: Gene Havelick, Gene Milford
Art Direction: Stephen Goosson
Musical director: Max Steiner
Original Music: Dimitri Tiomkin
Written by Robert Riskin from the novel by James Hilton
Produced and Directed by Frank Capra
Frank Capra had a way with actors and comedy...
- 10/10/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This quintessential New World picture from producer Roger Corman features a jaw-dropping array of behind-the-scenes talent including a score from James Horner, a script from John Sayles and art direction from James Cameron. Starring Richard Thomas, the supporting cast is equally impressive, including turns from Sam Jaffe, George Peppard, John Saxon and Robert Vaughn. Directed by Jimmy T. Murakami who went on to helm animated classics like When the Wind Blows and The Snowman.
- 9/29/2017
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
Ronald Colman: Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month in two major 1930s classics Updated: Turner Classic Movies' July 2017 Star of the Month is Ronald Colman, one of the finest performers of the studio era. On Thursday night, TCM presented five Colman star vehicles that should be popping up again in the not-too-distant future: A Tale of Two Cities, The Prisoner of Zenda, Kismet, Lucky Partners, and My Life with Caroline. The first two movies are among not only Colman's best, but also among Hollywood's best during its so-called Golden Age. Based on Charles Dickens' classic novel, Jack Conway's Academy Award-nominated A Tale of Two Cities (1936) is a rare Hollywood production indeed: it manages to effectively condense its sprawling source, it boasts first-rate production values, and it features a phenomenal central performance. Ah, it also shows its star without his trademark mustache – about as famous at the time as Clark Gable's. Perhaps...
- 7/21/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
John Huston’s primal heist film is an almost perfect movie, with a score of unforgettable characterizations. A solid crime noir, it concerns itself with the human ironies in the ‘left handed form of human endeavor.’
The Asphalt Jungle
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 847
1950 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 112 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 13, 2016 /
Starring Sterling Hayden, Sam Jaffe, Louis Calhern, James Whitmore, Jean Hagen, John McIntire, Marc Lawrence, Barry Kelley, Anthony Caruso, Marilyn Monroe, Brad Dexter.
Cinematography Harold Rosson
Art Direction Randall Duell, Cedric Gibbons
Film Editor George Boemler
Original Music Miklos Rosza
Written by Ben Maddow and John Huston from the novel by W.R. Burnett
Produced by Arthur Hornblow, Jr.
Directed by John Huston
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Talk about a film that becomes only more enjoyable with each viewing… John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle is the Singin’ in the Rain of noir masterpieces.
The Asphalt Jungle
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 847
1950 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 112 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 13, 2016 /
Starring Sterling Hayden, Sam Jaffe, Louis Calhern, James Whitmore, Jean Hagen, John McIntire, Marc Lawrence, Barry Kelley, Anthony Caruso, Marilyn Monroe, Brad Dexter.
Cinematography Harold Rosson
Art Direction Randall Duell, Cedric Gibbons
Film Editor George Boemler
Original Music Miklos Rosza
Written by Ben Maddow and John Huston from the novel by W.R. Burnett
Produced by Arthur Hornblow, Jr.
Directed by John Huston
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Talk about a film that becomes only more enjoyable with each viewing… John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle is the Singin’ in the Rain of noir masterpieces.
- 11/29/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Ryan Lambie Oct 3, 2016
An animated superhero movie featuring Marlon Brando? A Bill Murray comedy? Just two of the strange, starry films we may never get to see.
Film history is littered with movies that have wound up on the shelf for some reason, either because of financial difficulties or, in the case of The Day The Clown Died, because its director and star decided it was too embarrassing to be released. We've written about all sorts of shelved or cancelled films before, from Roger Corman's infamous Fantastic Four to the unreleased John Goodman comedy, Spring Break '83.
Every so often, though, we'll hear about curious-sounding projects that generate a bit of news before vanishing again. An animated film featuring the voices of Marlon Brando and Brendan Fraser, perhaps, or a modern comedy about old Greek gods featuring Christopher Walken as Zeus.
Here, then, are five strange, star-laden movies that,...
An animated superhero movie featuring Marlon Brando? A Bill Murray comedy? Just two of the strange, starry films we may never get to see.
Film history is littered with movies that have wound up on the shelf for some reason, either because of financial difficulties or, in the case of The Day The Clown Died, because its director and star decided it was too embarrassing to be released. We've written about all sorts of shelved or cancelled films before, from Roger Corman's infamous Fantastic Four to the unreleased John Goodman comedy, Spring Break '83.
Every so often, though, we'll hear about curious-sounding projects that generate a bit of news before vanishing again. An animated film featuring the voices of Marlon Brando and Brendan Fraser, perhaps, or a modern comedy about old Greek gods featuring Christopher Walken as Zeus.
Here, then, are five strange, star-laden movies that,...
- 9/30/2016
- Den of Geek
'Ben-Hur' 2016 with Jack Huston: Chariot race to the death. 'Ben-Hur' 2016 trailer: 'Gladiator' meets 'Fast Seven' meets 'Star Wars' meets… Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer have released the trailer for their 2016 Ben-Hur remake (or reboot or readaptation) – a.k.a. Fast and Furious A.D., as one wag called it in an online comment. Instead of grandiose spectacle featuring at its core a “human” story with Christian overtones, this chariot-and-sandals epic is being sold as Gladiator meets Fast Seven meets Spartacus: Blood and Sand meets Star Wars – with Morgan Freeman's Sheik Ilderim as the Roman Empire's dreadlocked version of Alec Guinness' Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi. Say what you will, the trailer-makers sure know their target audience. And that's not the same crowd that would go check out what's usually referred to in the U.S. media as “faith” (i.e., Christian) movies. One assumes that particular audience segment will be getting...
- 3/18/2016
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Look out! Here come two A.I.P. horror pix from the soggy end of the Poe cycle: the first features Jason Robards, an impressive cast and a disorganized storyline. The second is an almost-good Lovecraft horror with interesting performances from Dean Stockwell and Sandra Dee. Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Dunwich Horror Blu-ray Color Scream Factory Street Date March 29, 2016 / 26.99
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Scream Factory's new double feature disc finishes off two different American-International horror series. The first picture is the last fright film made for the company by the directing and writing team of Gordon Hessler and Christopher Wicking. It's no gem, but it's a lot more interesting on a second viewing. The second is the company's final try to make that old joker H.P. Lovecraft into a filmic horror icon, like Edgar Allan Poe. It has a lot going for it, but also its own set of problems.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Scream Factory's new double feature disc finishes off two different American-International horror series. The first picture is the last fright film made for the company by the directing and writing team of Gordon Hessler and Christopher Wicking. It's no gem, but it's a lot more interesting on a second viewing. The second is the company's final try to make that old joker H.P. Lovecraft into a filmic horror icon, like Edgar Allan Poe. It has a lot going for it, but also its own set of problems.
- 3/8/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
'Ben-Hur' 1959 with Stephen Boyd and Charlton Heston: TCM's '31 Days of Oscar.' '31 Days of Oscar': 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Ben-Hur' are in, Paramount stars are out Today, Feb. 1, '16, Turner Classic Movies is kicking off the 21st edition of its “31 Days of Oscar.” While the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is being vociferously reviled for its “lack of diversity” – more on that appallingly myopic, self-serving, and double-standard-embracing furore in an upcoming post – TCM is celebrating nearly nine decades of the Academy Awards. That's the good news. The disappointing news is that if you're expecting to find rare Paramount, Universal, or Fox/20th Century Fox entries in the mix, you're out of luck. So, missing from the TCM schedule are, among others: Best Actress nominees Ruth Chatterton in Sarah and Son, Nancy Carroll in The Devil's Holiday, Claudette Colbert in Private Worlds. Unofficial Best Actor...
- 2/2/2016
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
This quintessential New World picture from producer Roger Corman features a jaw-dropping array of behind-the-scenes talent, including a score by James Horner, a script by John Sayles, and art direction by James Cameron. Starring Richard Thomas, the supporting cast is equally impressive, including turns from Sam Jaffe, George Peppard, John Saxon, and Robert Vaughn. Directed by Jimmy T. Murakami, who went on to helm animated classics like "When the Wind Blows" and "The Snowman."...
- 1/27/2016
- by Trailers From Hell
- Thompson on Hollywood
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. ca. 1935. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. was never as popular as his father, silent film superstar Douglas Fairbanks, who starred in one action-adventure blockbuster after another in the 1920s (The Mark of Zorro, Robin Hood, The Thief of Bagdad) and whose stardom dates back to the mid-1910s, when Fairbanks toplined a series of light, modern-day comedies in which he was cast as the embodiment of the enterprising, 20th century “all-American.” What this particular go-getter got was screen queen Mary Pickford as his wife and United Artists as his studio, which he co-founded with Pickford, D.W. Griffith, and Charles Chaplin. Now, although Jr. never had the following of Sr., he did enjoy a solid two-decade-plus movie career. In fact, he was one of the few children of major film stars – e.g., Jane Fonda, Liza Minnelli, Angelina Jolie, Michael Douglas, Jamie Lee Curtis – who had successful film careers of their own.
- 8/16/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Teresa Wright and Matt Damon in 'The Rainmaker' Teresa Wright: From Marlon Brando to Matt Damon (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright vs. Samuel Goldwyn: Nasty Falling Out.") "I'd rather have luck than brains!" Teresa Wright was quoted as saying in the early 1950s. That's understandable, considering her post-Samuel Goldwyn choice of movie roles, some of which may have seemed promising on paper.[1] Wright was Marlon Brando's first Hollywood leading lady, but that didn't help her to bounce back following the very public spat with her former boss. After all, The Men was released before Elia Kazan's film version of A Streetcar Named Desire turned Brando into a major international star. Chances are that good film offers were scarce. After Wright's brief 1950 comeback, for the third time in less than a decade she would be gone from the big screen for more than a year.
- 3/11/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Ben-hur is returning to the big screen!
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and Paramount Pictures announced today that principal photography has begun on Ben-hur starring Jack Huston (“American Hustle”) as Judah Ben-Hur, Morgan Freeman (“The Shawshank Redemption”) as Ilderim, Toby Kebbell (“Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes”) as Messala and Nazanin Boniadi (“Homeland”) as Esther.
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov (“Wanted”) and written by Keith Clarke (“The Way Back”) and John Ridley (“12 Years A Slave”), the film is based on Lew Wallace’s epic novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of The Christ.
The epic 1959 film was directed by William Wyler and starred Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd, Haya Harareet, Sam Jaffe and Hugh Griffith. It won 11 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor. The magnificent score is by composer Miklós Rózsa.
Watch the trailer Here.
The producers are Sean Daniel (“The Mummy” franchise), Mark Burnett (“Son Of God”), Joni Levin (“The Way Back...
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and Paramount Pictures announced today that principal photography has begun on Ben-hur starring Jack Huston (“American Hustle”) as Judah Ben-Hur, Morgan Freeman (“The Shawshank Redemption”) as Ilderim, Toby Kebbell (“Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes”) as Messala and Nazanin Boniadi (“Homeland”) as Esther.
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov (“Wanted”) and written by Keith Clarke (“The Way Back”) and John Ridley (“12 Years A Slave”), the film is based on Lew Wallace’s epic novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of The Christ.
The epic 1959 film was directed by William Wyler and starred Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd, Haya Harareet, Sam Jaffe and Hugh Griffith. It won 11 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor. The magnificent score is by composer Miklós Rózsa.
Watch the trailer Here.
The producers are Sean Daniel (“The Mummy” franchise), Mark Burnett (“Son Of God”), Joni Levin (“The Way Back...
- 2/2/2015
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Cary Grant films on TCM: Gender-bending 'I Was a Male War Bride' (photo: Cary Grant not gay at all in 'I Was a Male War Bride') More Cary Grant films will be shown tonight, as Turner Classic Movies continues with its Star of the Month presentations. On TCM right now is the World War II action-drama Destination Tokyo (1943), in which Grant finds himself aboard a U.S. submarine, alongside John Garfield, Dane Clark, Robert Hutton, and Tom Tully, among others. The directorial debut of screenwriter Delmer Daves (The Petrified Forest, Love Affair) -- who, in the following decade, would direct a series of classy Westerns, e.g., 3:10 to Yuma, The Hanging Tree -- Destination Tokyo is pure flag-waving propaganda, plodding its way through the dangerous waters of Hollywood war-movie stereotypes and speechifying banalities. The film's key point of interest, in fact, is Grant himself -- not because he's any good,...
- 12/16/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
We live in a world in which there are seven, soon to be eight, Planet of the Apes films. I love it. This series is one of my all-time favourites, I just can’t get enough of it. The stories, the spectacle, the endings, and the apes themselves; It all comes together to form something truly great. We have the original series of five films, each of which has its own charm and surprises. They also all link up to tell one complete story, something fairly impressive considering sequels weren’t looked upon as anything special at the time (boy has that tune sure changed). We have Tim Burton’s remake from 2001, which while it was critically panned upon release has won some supporters over the years. Finally we have the new reboot series which launched with Rise of the Planet of the Apes and has successfully exposed a whole...
- 7/8/2014
- by Kevin Fraser
- City of Films
Destination Outer Space! continues over at Trailers from Hell, with director Neil Marshall introducing "Battle Beyond the Stars."This quintessential New World picture from producer Roger Corman features a jaw-dropping array of behind-the-scenes talent including a score from James Horner, a script from John Sayles and art direction from James Cameron. Starring Richard Thomas, the supporting cast is equally impressive, including turns from Sam Jaffe, George Peppard, John Saxon and Robert Vaughn. Directed by Jimmy T. Murakami and an uncredited Corman. Sadly, Murakami, director of animated classics like When the Wind Blows and The Snowman, passed away on February 16 at age 80. )...
- 3/12/2014
- by Trailers From Hell
- Thompson on Hollywood
This quintessential New World picture from producer Roger Corman features a jaw-dropping array of behind-the-scenes talent including a score from James Horner, a script from John Sayles and art direction from James Cameron. Starring Richard Thomas, the supporting cast is equally impressive, including turns from Sam Jaffe, George Peppard, John Saxon and Robert Vaughn. Directed by Jimmy T. Murakami and an uncredited Corman. Sadly, Murakami, director of animated classics like When the Wind Blows and The Snowman, passed away on February 16 at age 80.
The post Battle Beyond the Stars appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post Battle Beyond the Stars appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 3/12/2014
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
Joan Fontaine movies: ‘This Above All,’ ‘Letter from an Unknown Woman’ (photo: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine in ‘Suspicion’ publicity image) (See previous post: “Joan Fontaine Today.”) Also tonight on Turner Classic Movies, Joan Fontaine can be seen in today’s lone TCM premiere, the flag-waving 20th Century Fox release The Above All (1942), with Fontaine as an aristocratic (but socially conscious) English Rose named Prudence Cathaway (Fontaine was born to British parents in Japan) and Fox’s top male star, Tyrone Power, as her Awol romantic interest. This Above All was directed by Anatole Litvak, who would guide Olivia de Havilland in the major box-office hit The Snake Pit (1948), which earned her a Best Actress Oscar nod. In Max Ophüls’ darkly romantic Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), Fontaine delivers not only what is probably the greatest performance of her career, but also one of the greatest movie performances ever. Letter from an Unknown Woman...
- 8/6/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Joan Fontaine today: One of the best actresses of the studio era has her ‘Summer Under the Stars’ day Joan Fontaine, one of the few surviving stars of the 1930s, is Turner Classic Movies’ "Summer Under the Stars" star today, Tuesday, August 6, 2013. I’m posting this a little late in the game: TCM has already shown six Joan Fontaine movies, including the first-rate medieval adventure Ivanhoe and the curious marital drama The Bigamist, directed by and co-starring Ida Lupino, and written by Collier Young — husband of both Fontaine and Lupino (at different times). Anyhow, TCM has quite a few more Joan Fontaine movies in store. (Photo: Joan Fontaine publicity shot ca. 1950.) (TCM schedule: Joan Fontaine movies.) As far as I’m concerned, Joan Fontaine was one of the best actresses of the studio era. She didn’t star in nearly as many movies as sister Olivia de Havilland, perhaps because...
- 8/6/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Charlton Heston movies: ‘A Man for All Seasons’ remake, ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’ (photo: Charlton Heston as Ben-Hur) (See previous post: “Charlton Heston: Moses Minus Staff Plus Chariot Equals Ben-Hur.”) I’ve yet to watch Irving Rapper’s melo Bad for Each Other (1954), co-starring the sultry Lizabeth Scott — always a good enough reason to check out any movie, regardless of plot or leading man. A major curiosity is the 1988 made-for-tv version of A Man for All Seasons, with Charlton Heston in the Oscar-winning Paul Scofield role (Sir Thomas More) and on Fred Zinnemann’s director’s chair. Vanessa Redgrave, who plays Thomas More’s wife in the TV movie (Wendy Hiller in the original) had a cameo as Anne Boleyn in the 1966 film. According to the IMDb, Robert Bolt, who wrote the Oscar-winning 1966 movie (and the original play), is credited for the 1988 version’s screenplay as well. Also of note,...
- 8/5/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Written by Edmund H. North
Directed by Robert Wise
U.S.A., 1951
Whether rightly or wrongly, Man has been declared as the superior being on planet Earth. The scope of their cognitive skills, their ability to emote in countless ways, the complexity of their intellect, such factors have led humans to dominate, so to speak, other forms of life as well as organize itself in vast, regimented societies with hundreds of customs and rules. For all its demonstrations of intelligence and capacity for reason and love, Man has also proven time and time again to be an inherently violent and infuriatingly stubborn creature, incapable of finding common ground with neighbors and therefore resorting to battle and, sadly, killing in order to resolve differences. This fatal flaw in mankind’s psyche is the thrusting force that brings a potentially benevolent or deadly alien visitor to Earth in the 1951 science-fiction classic,...
Written by Edmund H. North
Directed by Robert Wise
U.S.A., 1951
Whether rightly or wrongly, Man has been declared as the superior being on planet Earth. The scope of their cognitive skills, their ability to emote in countless ways, the complexity of their intellect, such factors have led humans to dominate, so to speak, other forms of life as well as organize itself in vast, regimented societies with hundreds of customs and rules. For all its demonstrations of intelligence and capacity for reason and love, Man has also proven time and time again to be an inherently violent and infuriatingly stubborn creature, incapable of finding common ground with neighbors and therefore resorting to battle and, sadly, killing in order to resolve differences. This fatal flaw in mankind’s psyche is the thrusting force that brings a potentially benevolent or deadly alien visitor to Earth in the 1951 science-fiction classic,...
- 7/5/2013
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
Eleanor Parker: Palm Springs resident turns 91 today Eleanor Parker turns 91 today. The three-time Oscar nominee (Caged, 1950; Detective Story, 1951; Interrupted Melody, 1955) and Palm Springs resident is Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of June 2013. Earlier this month, TCM showed a few dozen Eleanor Parker movies, from her days at Warner Bros. in the ’40s to her later career as a top Hollywood supporting player. (Photo: Publicity shot of Eleanor Parker in An American Dream.) Missing from TCM’s movie series, however, was not only Eleanor Parker’s biggest box-office it — The Sound of Music, in which she steals the show from both Julie Andrews and the Alps — but also what according to several sources is her very first movie role: a bit part in Raoul Walsh’s They Died with Their Boots On, a 1941 Western starring Errol Flynn as a dashingly handsome and all-around-good-guy-ish General George Armstrong Custer. Olivia de Havilland...
- 6/26/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Marilyn Monroe Movies Turner Classic Movies, Saturday, August 5 6:00 Am The Asphalt Jungle (1950) A gang of small time crooks plots an elaborate jewel heist. Dir: John Huston. Cast: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, Sam Jaffe, Marilyn Monroe. Black and White-112 minutes. 8:00 Am Clash By Night (1952) An embittered woman seeks escape in marriage, only to fall for her husband’s best friend. Dir: Fritz Lang. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Paul Douglas, Robert Ryan, Keith Andes, Marilyn Monroe. Black and White-105 minutes. 10:00 Am Niagara (1952) Honeymooners get mixed up with an obsessive husband and his cheating wife. Dir: Henry Hathaway. Cast: Marilyn [...]...
- 8/3/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
"A hidden message in a painting has led to the first evidence of a 'lost' Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece that has lain hidden for 400 years in a secret compartment behind another mural in Florence, scientists announced today.
An 'endoscopic' probe was inserted into the interior of the wall in the Palazzo Vechio, and obtained chemical samples of a dark pigment which Da Vinci also used in the Mona Lisa." —MailOnline
From Josef von Sternberg's The Scarlet Empress (1934); featuring Sam Jaffe and Marlene Dietrich; cinematography by Bert Blennon; art direction/department: Hans Dreier, Peter Ballbusch, and Richard Kollorsz.
An 'endoscopic' probe was inserted into the interior of the wall in the Palazzo Vechio, and obtained chemical samples of a dark pigment which Da Vinci also used in the Mona Lisa." —MailOnline
From Josef von Sternberg's The Scarlet Empress (1934); featuring Sam Jaffe and Marlene Dietrich; cinematography by Bert Blennon; art direction/department: Hans Dreier, Peter Ballbusch, and Richard Kollorsz.
- 7/9/2012
- MUBI
The 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival has unveiled another spectacular lineup of special guests and events for this year’s four-day gathering in Hollywood. Among the newly announced participants for this year’s festival are five-time Emmy® winner Dick Van Dyke, Oscar® winner Shirley Jones, two-time Golden Globe® winner Angie Dickinson, six-time Golden Globe nominee Robert Wagner, seven-time Oscar nominee Norman Jewison, longtime producer A.C. Lyles and three-time Oscar-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker. In addition, the festival will feature a special three-film tribute to director/choreographer Stanley Donen, who will be on-hand for the celebration.
As part of its overall Style and the Movies theme, the festival has added several films featuring the work of pioneering costume designer Travis Banton. Oscar-nominated costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis will introduce the six-movie slate, with actress and former Essentials co-host Rose McGowan joining her for one of the screenings.
Other festival additions include a screening...
As part of its overall Style and the Movies theme, the festival has added several films featuring the work of pioneering costume designer Travis Banton. Oscar-nominated costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis will introduce the six-movie slate, with actress and former Essentials co-host Rose McGowan joining her for one of the screenings.
Other festival additions include a screening...
- 3/9/2012
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Chicago – It may not even be Halloween yet, but Warner Brothers is in full holiday gift set mode, hoping that one of their lavish packages will make its way on to your wish list. Will it be the glorious seventh anniversary edition of “Citizen Kane”? Or perhaps the upcoming gift set of “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” with collectibles and a 144-page booklet? For many, the choice will be simple — a film with an iconic actor that set records at the 1959 Oscars as any in history — “Ben-Hur,” strikingly transferred in 1080p and available in a Limited Edition box set that will look fantastic on any hardcore movie fan’s shelf.
DVD Rating: 5.0/5.0
We were lucky enough to get our hands on the Ultimate Collector’s Edition of “Ben-Hur” and while some of these WB holiday releases often feel perfunctory (another release for “Christmas Vacation”?), this one seems perfectly in line...
DVD Rating: 5.0/5.0
We were lucky enough to get our hands on the Ultimate Collector’s Edition of “Ben-Hur” and while some of these WB holiday releases often feel perfunctory (another release for “Christmas Vacation”?), this one seems perfectly in line...
- 10/6/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Marlene Dietrich on TCM Pt.2: A Foreign Affair, The Blue Angel Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 6:00 Am The Monte Carlo Story (1957) Two compulsive gamblers fall in love on the French Riviera. Dir: Samuel A. Taylor. Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Vittorio De Sica, Arthur O'Connell. C-101 mins, Letterbox Format. 7:45 Am Knight Without Armour (1937) A British spy tries to get a countess out of the new Soviet Union. Dir: Jacques Feyder. Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Robert Donat, Irene Van Brugh. Bw-107 mins. 9:45 Am The Lady Is Willing (1942) A Broadway star has to find a husband so she can adopt an abandoned child. Dir: Mitchell Leisen. Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Fred MacMurray, Aline MacMahon. Bw-91 mins. 11:30 Am Kismet (1944) In the classic Arabian Nights tale king of the beggars enters high society to help his daughter marry a handsome prince. Dir: William Dieterle. Cast: Ronald Colman, Marlene Dietrich, James Craig.
- 9/1/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Marlene Dietrich is Turner Classic Movies last "Summer Under the Stars" star of 2011. Today, TCM is showing 12 Marlene Dietrich movies, in addition to J. David Riva's 2001 documentary Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Song. Riva, I should add, is the son of Maria Riva and Dietrich's grandson. [Marlene Dietrich Movie Schedule.] Unfortunately, TCM isn't presenting any Marlene Dietrich movie premieres today. In other words, no Dietrich opposite David Bowie in Just a Gigolo, or Dietrich next to Jean Gabin in Martin Roumagnac / The Room Upstairs, or any of Dietrich's little-known German-made silents, e.g., Ich küsse Ihre Hand, Madame / I Kiss Your Hand, Madame; Das Schiff der verlorenen Menschen / The Ship of Lost Men; and Gefahren der Brautzeit / Dangers of the Engagement. None of the silents are exactly what I'd call good movies — nor is Just a Gigolo — but they all are worth a look if only because Dietrich is in them. Another option for...
- 9/1/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Yesterday saw the release of The Town on Blu-Ray – a thriller that sees a group of Charlestown thieves rob a bank and take the manager hostage… a typical heist film that combines action and suspense in abundance. Films about robbers have been a staple of cinema for nearly 100 years, in fact the gangster film was an early success genre in Hollywood during the days of Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney.
Although the basic heist film narrative has proved to be popular worldwide, it has particularly flourished in the UK and France in particular, with a number of notable productions coming out of these countries. Below are ten heist films that combine the best elements of this sub genre, as we pit the U.S., U.K. and France against each other in a quest to find the best heist film out there!
10. The Day They Robbed The Bank Of England...
Although the basic heist film narrative has proved to be popular worldwide, it has particularly flourished in the UK and France in particular, with a number of notable productions coming out of these countries. Below are ten heist films that combine the best elements of this sub genre, as we pit the U.S., U.K. and France against each other in a quest to find the best heist film out there!
10. The Day They Robbed The Bank Of England...
- 2/1/2011
- by Stuart Cummins
- Obsessed with Film
Chicago – When it was announced that Disney would be releasing a new special edition of “Bedknobs and Broomsticks,” the little kid in me woke up and started pounding on my memory banks. I have such vivid memories of watching the film as a child, mouth agape, eyes wide, and falling in love with the blend of animation and live-action that looked so revolutionary to this future critic’s young mind. Pick up the DVD and inspire a child you know.
DVD Rating: 3.5/5.0 “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” is a film so ingrained in the memory of my childhood that I can’t really approach it critically. It’s difficult to separate the personal meaning the film has for me on rainy Sundays around the Vcr with my mother and sister and look at it without bias. But I bet I’m not alone. And if you remember “Bedknobs” with the same fondness,...
DVD Rating: 3.5/5.0 “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” is a film so ingrained in the memory of my childhood that I can’t really approach it critically. It’s difficult to separate the personal meaning the film has for me on rainy Sundays around the Vcr with my mother and sister and look at it without bias. But I bet I’m not alone. And if you remember “Bedknobs” with the same fondness,...
- 9/15/2009
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
It's the first line of the last trailer for Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds": "I'm putting together a special team," Brad Pitt's Lt. Aldo Raine says. Most of Tarantino's movies pay homage to particular strains of genre cinema, from kung fu flicks to heist thrillers to grindhouse slashers, and with that pronouncement, Tarantino puts "Inglourious Basterds" in that cinematic tradition of pictures about the recruitment and implementation of a specialized squad of badasses.
"Putting a Team Together" is more a structural motif that crosses into different genres than a genre unto itself. There are musicals -- "The Blues Brothers," for instance, where Jake and Elwood Blues reassemble their former band in order to fulfill a "mission from God." There are superhero films like "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," the adaptation of Alan Moore's graphic novel in which one famous literary figure drafts several other famous literary figures...
"Putting a Team Together" is more a structural motif that crosses into different genres than a genre unto itself. There are musicals -- "The Blues Brothers," for instance, where Jake and Elwood Blues reassemble their former band in order to fulfill a "mission from God." There are superhero films like "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," the adaptation of Alan Moore's graphic novel in which one famous literary figure drafts several other famous literary figures...
- 8/18/2009
- by Matt Singer
- ifc.com
Hollywood screenwriter Budd Schulberg, best known for his Oscar-winning screenplay for On The Waterfront, has died at his home on Long Island. He was 96.Born in 1914 in New York into a movie family - his father was Paramount production head B.P. Schulberg and his mother was sister of movie powerbroker Sam Jaffe - Schulberg wrote his first screenplay aged only 19. His entree into Hollywood came in 1937 with an uncredited contribution to David O. Selznick's A Star Is Born. He received his first credit on Little Orphan Annie a year later.During the war Schulberg served in the Oss, the fledgling espionage agency. Fittingly, his war years had a distinctly cinematic flavour: he was assigned to John Ford's documentary unit, helping record Us combat operations from D-Day to the liberation of the concentration camps and Nuremberg trials, and was involved in the arrest of German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl in Austria.
- 8/6/2009
- EmpireOnline
Won 1954 Oscar for "On the Waterfront"; also wrote anti-Hollywood novel, "What Makes Sammy Run."
By Wrap Staff
Writer Budd Schulberg, who won an Academy Award for "On the Waterfront," died on Wednesday at 95.
The son of B.P. Schulberg, head of Paramount Pictures, and Adeline Jafee-Schulberg, sister to agent/film producer Sam Jaffe, Schulberg was hardly a Hollywood insider. Aside from his 1954 Oscar, he’s best known for his iconic anti-Hollywood novel, “What Makes Sammy Run.”
The book made him almost as unpopular in the industry town as his appearance in 19...
By Wrap Staff
Writer Budd Schulberg, who won an Academy Award for "On the Waterfront," died on Wednesday at 95.
The son of B.P. Schulberg, head of Paramount Pictures, and Adeline Jafee-Schulberg, sister to agent/film producer Sam Jaffe, Schulberg was hardly a Hollywood insider. Aside from his 1954 Oscar, he’s best known for his iconic anti-Hollywood novel, “What Makes Sammy Run.”
The book made him almost as unpopular in the industry town as his appearance in 19...
- 8/6/2009
- by Lew Harris
- The Wrap
Industry remembers Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite, who earned the accolade “the most trusted man in America” for his earnest and stalwart style as the anchorman of the “CBS Evening News” for nearly two decades, died Friday. He was 92.
CBS vice president Linda Mason says Cronkite died at 7:42 p.m. Et after a long illness with his family by his side.
Cronkite, recruited by Edward R. Murrow from the United Press wire service, joined CBS News in 1950. He served as “Evening News” anchor and managing editor of CBS News from April 16, 1962, to March 6, 1981. Beginning in 1937, his career spanned more than six decades in radio, print and TV.
During a period of great national stress -- like the one brought on by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963 -- Cronkite’s demeanor soothed a nation whose sense of reality had been threatened. With his pipe in...
Walter Cronkite, who earned the accolade “the most trusted man in America” for his earnest and stalwart style as the anchorman of the “CBS Evening News” for nearly two decades, died Friday. He was 92.
CBS vice president Linda Mason says Cronkite died at 7:42 p.m. Et after a long illness with his family by his side.
Cronkite, recruited by Edward R. Murrow from the United Press wire service, joined CBS News in 1950. He served as “Evening News” anchor and managing editor of CBS News from April 16, 1962, to March 6, 1981. Beginning in 1937, his career spanned more than six decades in radio, print and TV.
During a period of great national stress -- like the one brought on by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963 -- Cronkite’s demeanor soothed a nation whose sense of reality had been threatened. With his pipe in...
- 7/17/2009
- by By Duane Byrge
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Every year, the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry names 25 films for historic preservation. This year’s list was announced yesterday and we applaud the inclusion of several genre offerings including The Invisible Man and the first Terminator film. The Perils of Pauline, the first movie serial, makes the list and is seminal for the way it influenced moviemakers and storytellers, notably comic book writers, ever since.
Here’s a look at this year’s list:
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
John Huston’s brilliant crime drama contains the recipe for a meticulously planned robbery, but the cast of criminal characters features one too many bad apples. Sam Jaffe, as the twisted mastermind, uses cash from corrupt attorney Emmerich (Louis Calhern) to assemble a group of skilled thugs to pull off a jewel heist. All goes as planned — until an alert night watchman and a corrupt cop enter the picture. Marilyn Monroe...
Here’s a look at this year’s list:
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
John Huston’s brilliant crime drama contains the recipe for a meticulously planned robbery, but the cast of criminal characters features one too many bad apples. Sam Jaffe, as the twisted mastermind, uses cash from corrupt attorney Emmerich (Louis Calhern) to assemble a group of skilled thugs to pull off a jewel heist. All goes as planned — until an alert night watchman and a corrupt cop enter the picture. Marilyn Monroe...
- 1/1/2009
- by Robert Greenberger
- Comicmix.com
Arnold Schwarzenegger has earned a spot in the halls of Washington, but not because of his political career.
Instead, the former actor's turn as a robot from the future was enshrined in the Library of Congress as the National Film Registry announced Tuesday that "The Terminator" is among the 25 films that have been selected for preservation in the Registry in 2008.
Under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act, each year the Librarian of Congress names 25 films to the Registry that are "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant. The choices aren't necessarily considered the best American films; they are chosen by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington on the advice of the Film Preservation Board and the library's motion picture staff because the selections possess "enduring significance to American culture."
James Cameron's 1984 "Terminator," in which the future governor of California's cyborg utters the classic line, "I'll be back," was cited for "blending an ingenious,...
Instead, the former actor's turn as a robot from the future was enshrined in the Library of Congress as the National Film Registry announced Tuesday that "The Terminator" is among the 25 films that have been selected for preservation in the Registry in 2008.
Under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act, each year the Librarian of Congress names 25 films to the Registry that are "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant. The choices aren't necessarily considered the best American films; they are chosen by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington on the advice of the Film Preservation Board and the library's motion picture staff because the selections possess "enduring significance to American culture."
James Cameron's 1984 "Terminator," in which the future governor of California's cyborg utters the classic line, "I'll be back," was cited for "blending an ingenious,...
- 12/30/2008
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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