Ewan McGregor will play a World War II prisoner of war who hatches a plan to use a cow to help him escape captivity and find his way across Germany to freedom. Marc Forster will direct “The Cow,” which is a remake of classic French comedy “The Cow and I,” with shooting set to begin in the fall.
WestEnd Films has boarded the picture and will introduce it to international buyers in Cannes. North American sales are being handled by Linda Lichter.
The original version, known in French as “La Vache et le Prisonnier,” was based on a novel by Jacques Antoine and directed by Henri Verneuil. Starring Fernandel, the film was a big hit locally in the late 1950s.
The English-language remake reunites McGregor with Forster after their recent collaboration on the upcoming Disney picture “Christopher Robin,” which will be released in the summer. The pair also worked together on 2005 movie “Stay.
WestEnd Films has boarded the picture and will introduce it to international buyers in Cannes. North American sales are being handled by Linda Lichter.
The original version, known in French as “La Vache et le Prisonnier,” was based on a novel by Jacques Antoine and directed by Henri Verneuil. Starring Fernandel, the film was a big hit locally in the late 1950s.
The English-language remake reunites McGregor with Forster after their recent collaboration on the upcoming Disney picture “Christopher Robin,” which will be released in the summer. The pair also worked together on 2005 movie “Stay.
- 5/7/2018
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
Containing multitudes is a time-honored cinematic tradition.
Sure, featuring a single actor as more than one character in your movie smells a bit like a gimmick—but at the end of the day, it’s an efficient and often effective means of showcasing the versatility of a performer. And that can hardly be faulted. We caught a whiff of it with Split this year, though McAvoy might be disqualified for being a Legion of One rather than a cast with a shared face. Personally, I had no idea the trend cast such a wide-reaching historical net — I’d stupidly assumed it was something made possible by the advent of modern makeup and digital tech. Again, stupidly.
Be it gimmick or something more nuanced (or both!) — it’s particularly fascinating that it has such a long standing history as a marketing device. Film quality aside, the main draw is often the performative tour-de-force itself. Some...
Sure, featuring a single actor as more than one character in your movie smells a bit like a gimmick—but at the end of the day, it’s an efficient and often effective means of showcasing the versatility of a performer. And that can hardly be faulted. We caught a whiff of it with Split this year, though McAvoy might be disqualified for being a Legion of One rather than a cast with a shared face. Personally, I had no idea the trend cast such a wide-reaching historical net — I’d stupidly assumed it was something made possible by the advent of modern makeup and digital tech. Again, stupidly.
Be it gimmick or something more nuanced (or both!) — it’s particularly fascinating that it has such a long standing history as a marketing device. Film quality aside, the main draw is often the performative tour-de-force itself. Some...
- 4/13/2017
- by Meg Shields
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
For forty years Fernandel, a.k.a. Fernand Joseph Désiré Contandin (1903–1971), was France’s top comic actor and an enormous and reliable box office draw, starring in over 130 features. When you look at French movie posters as often as I do, you see his caricatured long face and toothy grin popping up regularly—usually for films I have never heard of. But something about this beautiful grande for the 1951 comedy Boniface somnabule a.k.a. The Sleepwalker caught my eye. Maybe it’s the exquisitely rendered nightscape of Paris or those Paris rooftops which I remember fondly from having myself lived in a chambre de bonne garret for a year. Maybe it’s the details: that black cat with its arched back, or the tiny crowd of gawkers gathering in the bottom left of the poster, or the tactile folds of Fernandel’s voluminous green pajamas. Or maybe it’s...
- 11/29/2016
- MUBI
It's the time-honored tale of the cuckolded lover, his heartless woman and 'the other guy,' told in terms that Émile Zola would endorse. Jean Renoir's first full-length talkie is a little masterpiece of social observation and indifference to sentimental niceties. Michel Simon is terrific as the clerk who has a tough time with illicit love. La chienne Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 818 1931 / B&W / 1:19 flat full frame / 96 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date June 14, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Michel Simon, Janie Marèse, Georges Flamant, Magdeleine Bérubet, Roger Gaillard. Cinematography Theodore Sparkuhl Film Editor Marguerite Renoir Written by Jean Renoir, André Mouézy-Éon from the book by Georges de la Fouchardière Produced by Pierre Braunberger, Roger Richebé Directed by Jean Renoir
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
We American film students learned about Jean Renoir's La chienne only in the context of its remake. It's an earlier version of the book by Georges de la Fouchardière, that was also adapted for Fritz Lang's 1945 noir Scarlet Street. Renoir's film has never been readily available here in the States, an oversight now corrected with Criterion's new Blu-ray. The good news is that the French restoration of this tale of vice and virtue is beyond good -- the movie looks absolutely new. The even better news is that the movie is a revelation, the equal of Renoir's Boudu Saved from Drowning. This is the kind of movie that might suffer in a bad presentation -- the ability to soak up its atmosphere and detail makes all the difference. Yes, the title does translate as The Bitch, a straight-up vulgarism. The story parallels most of the same events of the Lang version. A puppet theater prologue tells us that story has no moral, no lesson to be learned. Company cashier clerk Maurice Legrand (Michel Simon) is a meek, henpecked husband and a Sunday painter. Maurice's wife Adèle (Magdaleine Bérubet) harangues him about her beloved first husband, to whom he'll never measure up; work colleagues make fun of the meek Maurice behind his back. Late at night Maurice meets Lucienne Pelletier (Janie Marèse), who he does not realize is the sometime-prostitute of Dédé (Georges Flamant), a vain, brutish punk who takes the money she squeezes from the men she meets and beds. He beats her for good measure, but she seems to enjoy it. Maurice has soon installed Lucienne in a love nest. He tells Adèle that he's thrown his paintings away, but instead puts them on the walls of Lucienne's apartment. She and Dédé have the mistaken impression that Maurice is rich, but he keeps her by stealing money from his wife, and eventually, the office safe. Then something unusual happens. Dédé tries to sell Maurice's paintings as the work of Lucienne, and has success. She is soon signing his paintings as a supposedly well-known American artist named Clara Wood. Critic Langelard (Alexandre Rignault of Eyes without a Face) promotes 'Clara's' art because she offers him sexual favors. Dédé makes much better money pimping Lucienne in the art world, than he did on the street. Far too naturalistic, 'earthy' and sordid for anything Hollywood might have produced in 1931, Renoir's La chienne turns a 'way of all flesh' tale into a sharp criticism of society. The milquetoast Maurice Legrand is too naïve to realize that he's being had by Lucienne, a femme fatale well versed in hooking wealthy, vulnerable clients. Lucienne herself is a romantic fool, hopelessly in love, or lust, with a man who treats her like dirt. The more abuse Dédé dishes out, she just comes back for more. When Maurice declares his desire to take Lucienne away, she laughs in his face without a shred of sympathy or basic respect. Stories like this do not have happy endings, and La chienne's main task is to imply that the art world is as big a racket as prostitution. 'Clara Wood's' paintings become big sellers because Dédé pimps Lucienne to a critic willing to praise them for sex. The art dealer and the critic collude to tout 'Clara's' paintings to new clients, one of whom we see getting quality time with the artist as well. As director Renoir was of course the son of the famous painter Auguste Renoir, it's easy to see a personal connection in the critical view of Art as a business. Renoir used live location audio, adding greatly to the film's realism. As there was not as yet any audio mixing for French films, the tracks are beautifully miked to pick up ambient sounds. We even hear the clacking of Lucienne's shoes on the cobblestoned streets. Theodor Sparkuhl's night exteriors are every bit as sophisticated as later low-key, deep focus work in '30s poetic realism and '40s film noir. The rain we see in some scenes may be real as well. The film isn't about crime and retribution, but the grand ironies of 'the oldest story,' a foolish love that leads to murder. The tale turns comic when Maurice has to deal with a man from Adèle's past, who turns up unexpectedly and then figures in the even more ironic ending. The three main characters are just terrific. Michel Simon is a very different character than his bohemian Boudu from the following year. The actor is also far thinner than we're used to seeing him, in films made just a few years later. Janie Marèse is as dangerous a female as ever hooked a man. Lucienne's unreasoning, limitless love for Dédé makes her pure poison for a defenseless fellow like Maurice. Georges Flamant also demonstrates great skill as a thorough, unrepentant louse. Comparing La chienne with Lang's Scarlet Street sets the difference between the humanist and determinist filmmakers in strong relief. Both Renoir and Lang see the events as an unstoppable consequence of human nature, but Renoir's view is much warmer. Maurice lives in a full spectrum of human interaction, even if most people take him for a fool. But he's essentially a warm and accepting person, and his one moment of violent rage is fully understandable. When all is said and done, with his life ruined, Maurice can still laugh at the absurdity of it all. Life goes on, somehow. Lang's version is a chilly noir thesis that makes its innocent hero (Edward G. Robinson) a more innocent victim, not only of Joan Bennett's cheap tart, but of his employers and society itself. His rich boss doesn't even have to hide the fancy woman he keeps on the side, whereas Robinson's wife keeps him around mainly to wash dishes. As one expects from Lang, the plot twists are sharper, wickedly ironic and cruelly merciless. Lang doesn't believe in 'live and let live'.' Haunted by what he's done, his poor hero goes insane. Life does not go on. Renoir's film has a music theme under the titles but I believe the rest of its music is organic, always with a source in the scenes. The beautifully filmed murder takes place with a ballad singer entertaining in the street. Unable to protest when his wife compares him unfavorably to her first husband, the long-lost soldier, Maurice instead sings a mocking children's song about a soldier who went to war and didn't come back. [When we screened La chienne, my wife jumped up immediately at the sound of the song. It has a nearly identical Spanish counterpart, "Mambrú Se Fue A La Guerra." Mambrú went to war, and if he comes back it'll only be at Easter and Christmas. Most likely, it'll be never. To my mind it's a great children's song because it reflects the reality of war glory. There's the Sunday Savant culture lesson for you.] The Criterion Collection's Blu-ray of La chienne is simply terrific -- it looks much better than many expensively restored American movies from this year. The producer must have kept the picture and audio masters in perfect conditions. The rich images display a modulated granularity that heavy digital processing would surely have removed. Being from 1931 the sound does carry a light surface noise. The extras explain that a few lines recorded on location are weak, but I didn't notice as I of course was reading the English subtitles. It's a welcome disc indeed. Christopher Faulkner hosts the 25-minute overview featurette. He covers the love triangle that developed among the actors during filming, and the sad fate of the film's star Janie Marèse. Faulkner places the film in Jean Renoir's career, explaining that in the 1920s the director was often adjudged a dilettante. He had to prove himself before the producers would let him do a sound feature. Here in its entirety is Renoir's short (50 minute) film On purge bébé from the same year, a talkie Renoir was obliged to film to prove he could handle sound. The title translates as Baby's Laxative -- it's a comedy from a play by George Feydeau, about a manufacturer of chamber pots whose son is constipated! Michel Simon is a visitor to the house, where Baby's parents carry on a marriage squabble suitable for a music hall farce. Playing a small supporting part is a young Fernandel. On purge bébé must have been kept in the same magic film can as the main feature, for it is fully restored and just as perfect. Jean Renoir offers one of those introductions filmed for French TV in the early '60. Much rarer is a 90-minute 1967 TV show hosted by Jacques Rivette, in which both Jean Renoir and Michel Simon reminisce about their careers and La chienne. The precise, informative insert essay is by Ginette Vincendeau; and the attractive cover art is by 'Blutch.' Criterion's disc producer is Elizabeth Pauker. On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, La chienne Blu-ray rates: Movie: Excellent Video: Excellent very surprisingly so Sound: Excellent Supplements: Introduction to the film from 1961 by director Jean Renoir, New interview with Renoir scholar Christopher Faulkner, New restoration of On purge bébé (1931), Jean Renoir le patron: 'Michel Simon' a 95-minute 1967 French television program featuring a conversation between Renoir and Simon, directed by Jacques Rivette, Essay by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau. Deaf and Hearing-impaired Friendly? Yes; Subtitles: English Packaging: Keep case Reviewed: June 12, 2016 (5139chie)
Visit DVD Savant's Main Column Page Glenn Erickson answers most reader mail: dvdsavant@mindspring.com
Text © Copyright 2016 Glenn Erickson...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
We American film students learned about Jean Renoir's La chienne only in the context of its remake. It's an earlier version of the book by Georges de la Fouchardière, that was also adapted for Fritz Lang's 1945 noir Scarlet Street. Renoir's film has never been readily available here in the States, an oversight now corrected with Criterion's new Blu-ray. The good news is that the French restoration of this tale of vice and virtue is beyond good -- the movie looks absolutely new. The even better news is that the movie is a revelation, the equal of Renoir's Boudu Saved from Drowning. This is the kind of movie that might suffer in a bad presentation -- the ability to soak up its atmosphere and detail makes all the difference. Yes, the title does translate as The Bitch, a straight-up vulgarism. The story parallels most of the same events of the Lang version. A puppet theater prologue tells us that story has no moral, no lesson to be learned. Company cashier clerk Maurice Legrand (Michel Simon) is a meek, henpecked husband and a Sunday painter. Maurice's wife Adèle (Magdaleine Bérubet) harangues him about her beloved first husband, to whom he'll never measure up; work colleagues make fun of the meek Maurice behind his back. Late at night Maurice meets Lucienne Pelletier (Janie Marèse), who he does not realize is the sometime-prostitute of Dédé (Georges Flamant), a vain, brutish punk who takes the money she squeezes from the men she meets and beds. He beats her for good measure, but she seems to enjoy it. Maurice has soon installed Lucienne in a love nest. He tells Adèle that he's thrown his paintings away, but instead puts them on the walls of Lucienne's apartment. She and Dédé have the mistaken impression that Maurice is rich, but he keeps her by stealing money from his wife, and eventually, the office safe. Then something unusual happens. Dédé tries to sell Maurice's paintings as the work of Lucienne, and has success. She is soon signing his paintings as a supposedly well-known American artist named Clara Wood. Critic Langelard (Alexandre Rignault of Eyes without a Face) promotes 'Clara's' art because she offers him sexual favors. Dédé makes much better money pimping Lucienne in the art world, than he did on the street. Far too naturalistic, 'earthy' and sordid for anything Hollywood might have produced in 1931, Renoir's La chienne turns a 'way of all flesh' tale into a sharp criticism of society. The milquetoast Maurice Legrand is too naïve to realize that he's being had by Lucienne, a femme fatale well versed in hooking wealthy, vulnerable clients. Lucienne herself is a romantic fool, hopelessly in love, or lust, with a man who treats her like dirt. The more abuse Dédé dishes out, she just comes back for more. When Maurice declares his desire to take Lucienne away, she laughs in his face without a shred of sympathy or basic respect. Stories like this do not have happy endings, and La chienne's main task is to imply that the art world is as big a racket as prostitution. 'Clara Wood's' paintings become big sellers because Dédé pimps Lucienne to a critic willing to praise them for sex. The art dealer and the critic collude to tout 'Clara's' paintings to new clients, one of whom we see getting quality time with the artist as well. As director Renoir was of course the son of the famous painter Auguste Renoir, it's easy to see a personal connection in the critical view of Art as a business. Renoir used live location audio, adding greatly to the film's realism. As there was not as yet any audio mixing for French films, the tracks are beautifully miked to pick up ambient sounds. We even hear the clacking of Lucienne's shoes on the cobblestoned streets. Theodor Sparkuhl's night exteriors are every bit as sophisticated as later low-key, deep focus work in '30s poetic realism and '40s film noir. The rain we see in some scenes may be real as well. The film isn't about crime and retribution, but the grand ironies of 'the oldest story,' a foolish love that leads to murder. The tale turns comic when Maurice has to deal with a man from Adèle's past, who turns up unexpectedly and then figures in the even more ironic ending. The three main characters are just terrific. Michel Simon is a very different character than his bohemian Boudu from the following year. The actor is also far thinner than we're used to seeing him, in films made just a few years later. Janie Marèse is as dangerous a female as ever hooked a man. Lucienne's unreasoning, limitless love for Dédé makes her pure poison for a defenseless fellow like Maurice. Georges Flamant also demonstrates great skill as a thorough, unrepentant louse. Comparing La chienne with Lang's Scarlet Street sets the difference between the humanist and determinist filmmakers in strong relief. Both Renoir and Lang see the events as an unstoppable consequence of human nature, but Renoir's view is much warmer. Maurice lives in a full spectrum of human interaction, even if most people take him for a fool. But he's essentially a warm and accepting person, and his one moment of violent rage is fully understandable. When all is said and done, with his life ruined, Maurice can still laugh at the absurdity of it all. Life goes on, somehow. Lang's version is a chilly noir thesis that makes its innocent hero (Edward G. Robinson) a more innocent victim, not only of Joan Bennett's cheap tart, but of his employers and society itself. His rich boss doesn't even have to hide the fancy woman he keeps on the side, whereas Robinson's wife keeps him around mainly to wash dishes. As one expects from Lang, the plot twists are sharper, wickedly ironic and cruelly merciless. Lang doesn't believe in 'live and let live'.' Haunted by what he's done, his poor hero goes insane. Life does not go on. Renoir's film has a music theme under the titles but I believe the rest of its music is organic, always with a source in the scenes. The beautifully filmed murder takes place with a ballad singer entertaining in the street. Unable to protest when his wife compares him unfavorably to her first husband, the long-lost soldier, Maurice instead sings a mocking children's song about a soldier who went to war and didn't come back. [When we screened La chienne, my wife jumped up immediately at the sound of the song. It has a nearly identical Spanish counterpart, "Mambrú Se Fue A La Guerra." Mambrú went to war, and if he comes back it'll only be at Easter and Christmas. Most likely, it'll be never. To my mind it's a great children's song because it reflects the reality of war glory. There's the Sunday Savant culture lesson for you.] The Criterion Collection's Blu-ray of La chienne is simply terrific -- it looks much better than many expensively restored American movies from this year. The producer must have kept the picture and audio masters in perfect conditions. The rich images display a modulated granularity that heavy digital processing would surely have removed. Being from 1931 the sound does carry a light surface noise. The extras explain that a few lines recorded on location are weak, but I didn't notice as I of course was reading the English subtitles. It's a welcome disc indeed. Christopher Faulkner hosts the 25-minute overview featurette. He covers the love triangle that developed among the actors during filming, and the sad fate of the film's star Janie Marèse. Faulkner places the film in Jean Renoir's career, explaining that in the 1920s the director was often adjudged a dilettante. He had to prove himself before the producers would let him do a sound feature. Here in its entirety is Renoir's short (50 minute) film On purge bébé from the same year, a talkie Renoir was obliged to film to prove he could handle sound. The title translates as Baby's Laxative -- it's a comedy from a play by George Feydeau, about a manufacturer of chamber pots whose son is constipated! Michel Simon is a visitor to the house, where Baby's parents carry on a marriage squabble suitable for a music hall farce. Playing a small supporting part is a young Fernandel. On purge bébé must have been kept in the same magic film can as the main feature, for it is fully restored and just as perfect. Jean Renoir offers one of those introductions filmed for French TV in the early '60. Much rarer is a 90-minute 1967 TV show hosted by Jacques Rivette, in which both Jean Renoir and Michel Simon reminisce about their careers and La chienne. The precise, informative insert essay is by Ginette Vincendeau; and the attractive cover art is by 'Blutch.' Criterion's disc producer is Elizabeth Pauker. On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, La chienne Blu-ray rates: Movie: Excellent Video: Excellent very surprisingly so Sound: Excellent Supplements: Introduction to the film from 1961 by director Jean Renoir, New interview with Renoir scholar Christopher Faulkner, New restoration of On purge bébé (1931), Jean Renoir le patron: 'Michel Simon' a 95-minute 1967 French television program featuring a conversation between Renoir and Simon, directed by Jacques Rivette, Essay by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau. Deaf and Hearing-impaired Friendly? Yes; Subtitles: English Packaging: Keep case Reviewed: June 12, 2016 (5139chie)
Visit DVD Savant's Main Column Page Glenn Erickson answers most reader mail: dvdsavant@mindspring.com
Text © Copyright 2016 Glenn Erickson...
- 6/14/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
William Cameron Menzies. William Cameron Menzies movies on TCM: Murderous Joan Fontaine, deadly Nazi Communists Best known as an art director/production designer, William Cameron Menzies was a jack-of-all-trades. It seems like the only things Menzies didn't do was act and tap dance in front of the camera. He designed and/or wrote, directed, produced, etc., dozens of films – titles ranged from The Thief of Bagdad to Invaders from Mars – from the late 1910s all the way to the mid-1950s. Among Menzies' most notable efforts as an art director/production designer are: Ernst Lubitsch's first Hollywood movie, the Mary Pickford star vehicle Rosita (1923). Herbert Brenon's British-set father-son drama Sorrell and Son (1927). David O. Selznick's mammoth production of Gone with the Wind, which earned Menzies an Honorary Oscar. The Sam Wood movies Our Town (1940), Kings Row (1942), and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943). H.C. Potter's Mr. Lucky...
- 1/28/2016
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Message De Salutations: Prix Suisse / Remerciements / Mort Ou Vif by Jean-Luc Godard (world premiere 13.03.2015)[Message Of Greetings: Prix Suisse / My Thanks / Dead Or Alive] by Jean-Luc Godard (world premiere March 13th, 2015)On Friday, March 13th, 2015, in Geneva, Switzerland, Jean-Luc Godard was awarded the 2015 “Prix d’honneur du cinéma suisse” with its corresponding allotment of 30,000 Swiss francs (at present = €28189,46 Eur or $29,909.52 Usd), on the basis of being a “visionary filmmaker,” “a virtuoso of film-editing,” whose “avant-garde” works have done much to inspire the young. A remarkable laurel, given that Godard is, at 84, the greatest filmmaker in the history of the cinema since Renoir, and I can’t name another Swiss director besides Anne-Marie Miéville. Of course he didn’t attend, citing, for the ump-teenth time in so-many years, health reasons; regular right-hand-man / Dp / one-man technical wizard / Jlg-ambassador Fabrice Aragno appeared in Godard's stead to accept the award.Of course, the health reasons cited were only so evident as the 5-minute film* that Godard stars in,...
- 3/18/2015
- by Craig Keller
- MUBI
Marc Allégret: From André Gide lover to Simone Simon mentor (photo: Marc Allégret) (See previous post: "Simone Simon Remembered: Sex Kitten and Femme Fatale.") Simone Simon became a film star following the international critical and financial success of the 1934 romantic drama Lac aux Dames, directed by her self-appointed mentor – and alleged lover – Marc Allégret.[1] The son of an evangelical missionary, Marc Allégret (born on December 22, 1900, in Basel, Switzerland) was to have become a lawyer. At age 16, his life took a different path as a result of his romantic involvement – and elopement to London – with his mentor and later "adoptive uncle" André Gide (1947 Nobel Prize winner in Literature), more than 30 years his senior and married to Madeleine Rondeaux for more than two decades. In various forms – including a threesome with painter Théo Van Rysselberghe's daughter Elisabeth – the Allégret-Gide relationship remained steady until the late '20s and their trip to...
- 2/28/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Simone Simon: Remembering the 'Cat People' and 'La Bête Humaine' star (photo: Simone Simon 'Cat People' publicity) Pert, pretty, pouty, and fiery-tempered Simone Simon – who died at age 94 ten years ago, on Feb. 22, 2005 – is best known for her starring role in Jacques Tourneur's cult horror movie classic Cat People (1942). Those aware of the existence of film industries outside Hollywood will also remember Simon for her button-nosed femme fatale in Jean Renoir's French film noir La Bête Humaine (1938).[1] In fact, long before Brigitte Bardot, Annette Stroyberg, Mamie Van Doren, Tuesday Weld, Ann-Margret, and Barbarella's Jane Fonda became known as cinema's Sex Kittens, Simone Simon exuded feline charm – with a tad of puppy dog wistfulness – in a film career that spanned two continents and a quarter of a century. From the early '30s to the mid-'50s, she seduced men young and old on both...
- 2/20/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine' 1938: Jean Renoir's film noir (photo: Jean Gabin and Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine') (See previous post: "'Cat People' 1942 Actress Simone Simon Remembered.") In the late 1930s, with her Hollywood career stalled while facing competition at 20th Century-Fox from another French import, Annabella (later Tyrone Power's wife), Simone Simon returned to France. Once there, she reestablished herself as an actress to be reckoned with in Jean Renoir's La Bête Humaine. An updated version of Émile Zola's 1890 novel, La Bête Humaine is enveloped in a dark, brooding atmosphere not uncommon in pre-World War II French films. Known for their "poetic realism," examples from that era include Renoir's own The Lower Depths (1936), Julien Duvivier's La Belle Équipe (1936) and Pépé le Moko (1937), and particularly Marcel Carné's Port of Shadows (1938) and Daybreak (1939).[11] This thematic and...
- 2/6/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Although L'auberge rouge, directed by Claude Autant-Lara in 1951, is a well-loved classic in France, it's little enough known in the English-speaking world to rate discussion here. Besides, it's one of the best comedies I've seen this year.
The star is Fernandel, that long-faced clown. He has a philtrum you could ride a toboggan down. From certain angles, he resembles a melting wad of taffy in a tonsure. His simian features contort in ways unknown to the most experimental physiognomists: that unwieldy length of Neanderthal face looks incapable of the most standard expressions, but in fact it has more of them stashed away than the entire casts of lesser movies. When it splits open in a fearful chimp grin, great stretches of loose face-meat are abruptly hoiked skywards.
The movie serves as an excellent introduction to Fernandel's charms: playing a monk, he finds his buffoonery slightly constrained, which adds focus to it.
The star is Fernandel, that long-faced clown. He has a philtrum you could ride a toboggan down. From certain angles, he resembles a melting wad of taffy in a tonsure. His simian features contort in ways unknown to the most experimental physiognomists: that unwieldy length of Neanderthal face looks incapable of the most standard expressions, but in fact it has more of them stashed away than the entire casts of lesser movies. When it splits open in a fearful chimp grin, great stretches of loose face-meat are abruptly hoiked skywards.
The movie serves as an excellent introduction to Fernandel's charms: playing a monk, he finds his buffoonery slightly constrained, which adds focus to it.
- 6/6/2013
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
The widow of accused Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsanraev insists that she had no knowledge of his deadly terrorist plot. After expressing her deep sympathy for the victims, Katherine is focused on raising her daughter out of the public eye.
After learning the devastating news that her husband Tamerlan Tsarnaev had been involved in the deadly Boston Marathon bombing, Katherine Russell, his widow, revealed she was shocked and saddened by her slain husband’s terrorist attack. The 24-year-old is now protecting her privacy — and focusing on raising their daughter Zahara, 3.
Katherine Russell Focused On Being A Mom
Katherine’s lawyer, Amato DeLuca, told CNN the young widow had no idea of her husband’s involvement in the terrorist plot and bombing — even when he took a six-month trip to Chechnya and Russia in February, 2012.
Amato says he understands why authorities would need to ask Katherine about that trip, in which feds...
After learning the devastating news that her husband Tamerlan Tsarnaev had been involved in the deadly Boston Marathon bombing, Katherine Russell, his widow, revealed she was shocked and saddened by her slain husband’s terrorist attack. The 24-year-old is now protecting her privacy — and focusing on raising their daughter Zahara, 3.
Katherine Russell Focused On Being A Mom
Katherine’s lawyer, Amato DeLuca, told CNN the young widow had no idea of her husband’s involvement in the terrorist plot and bombing — even when he took a six-month trip to Chechnya and Russia in February, 2012.
Amato says he understands why authorities would need to ask Katherine about that trip, in which feds...
- 4/23/2013
- by Christina Stiehl
- HollywoodLife
Federal authorities tried to question the wife of dead Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26 — but the 24-year-old mother still refuses to talk to police. Read on for more details.
The FBI is still waiting to talk to Katherine Russell, the widow of Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, for information surrounding the deadly April 15 attacks that killed three and injured 176. Authorities showed up to Katherine’s parents’ Rhode Island home on April 21, but she refused to talk to the feds.
Katherine Russell Questioned — What Does She Know About Boston Bombing?
Katherine’s lawyer, Amato DeLuca, told the Associated Press that she declined to speak to authorities when they arrived at her parents house. He told the Associated Press:
“I spoke to them, and that’s all I can say right now,” he said.
Amato also added that his client wasn’t aware of her husband’s alleged involvement in the deadly...
The FBI is still waiting to talk to Katherine Russell, the widow of Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, for information surrounding the deadly April 15 attacks that killed three and injured 176. Authorities showed up to Katherine’s parents’ Rhode Island home on April 21, but she refused to talk to the feds.
Katherine Russell Questioned — What Does She Know About Boston Bombing?
Katherine’s lawyer, Amato DeLuca, told the Associated Press that she declined to speak to authorities when they arrived at her parents house. He told the Associated Press:
“I spoke to them, and that’s all I can say right now,” he said.
Amato also added that his client wasn’t aware of her husband’s alleged involvement in the deadly...
- 4/23/2013
- by Christina Stiehl
- HollywoodLife
Along with the rest of the nation, Tamerlan’s widow discovered that her husband was a suspect in the terrorist attacks at the Boston Marathon while watching the news.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his young brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, are accused of planting two bombs at the Boston Marathon that injured more than 180 people and killed three on April 15. Tamerlan’s wife, Katherine Russell Tamerlan, had no idea her husband was involved in the terrorist attack, and learned he was a suspect while watching TV, according to her lawyer.
Tamerlan’s Wife Didn’t Suspect Anything
Amato DeLuca, Katherine’s lawyer, also added that Tamerlan was home when Katherine left for work the day he was killed in a shootout with police.
Federal officials have asked to question Katherine, but haven’t spoken with her yet. She’s been staying at her parent’s home in North Kingstown, Rhode Island since her husband’s death.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his young brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, are accused of planting two bombs at the Boston Marathon that injured more than 180 people and killed three on April 15. Tamerlan’s wife, Katherine Russell Tamerlan, had no idea her husband was involved in the terrorist attack, and learned he was a suspect while watching TV, according to her lawyer.
Tamerlan’s Wife Didn’t Suspect Anything
Amato DeLuca, Katherine’s lawyer, also added that Tamerlan was home when Katherine left for work the day he was killed in a shootout with police.
Federal officials have asked to question Katherine, but haven’t spoken with her yet. She’s been staying at her parent’s home in North Kingstown, Rhode Island since her husband’s death.
- 4/23/2013
- by HL Intern
- HollywoodLife
Above: Gustav Mezey three-sheet poster for Le Rosier de Madame Husson (Bernard Deschamps, France, 1932).
This stunning Austrian deco poster, which I came across on a Berlin antiquarian site, stands a magnificent 9 foot tall (110" x 49" to be precise) and comes in three sections. The poster is for a 1932 French film, whose German title, Der Tugendkönig, translates as “The Virtue King.” In the Us the film was titled He (or He - the Virgin Man), but the original title is Le Rosier de Madame Husson. Based on an 1887 Maupassant novella of the same name, the story concerns the titular Mme. Husson who seeks to promote chastity in her village by crowning a rosière, or a Rose Queen: a girl of unimpeachable virtue. But when none of the young women in town are equal to the title she selects the village idiot (played in the film by Fernandel) as her rosier.
Above: Roger...
This stunning Austrian deco poster, which I came across on a Berlin antiquarian site, stands a magnificent 9 foot tall (110" x 49" to be precise) and comes in three sections. The poster is for a 1932 French film, whose German title, Der Tugendkönig, translates as “The Virtue King.” In the Us the film was titled He (or He - the Virgin Man), but the original title is Le Rosier de Madame Husson. Based on an 1887 Maupassant novella of the same name, the story concerns the titular Mme. Husson who seeks to promote chastity in her village by crowning a rosière, or a Rose Queen: a girl of unimpeachable virtue. But when none of the young women in town are equal to the title she selects the village idiot (played in the film by Fernandel) as her rosier.
Above: Roger...
- 4/12/2013
- by Adrian Curry
- MUBI
Now that the full WonderCon 2013 schedule has been released, we know what other genre projects will be joining the already announced Evil Dead and "Under the Dome." It looks like a very busy weekend for horror fans!
Below you'll find a majority of the WonderCon 2013 horror highlights (and a few fringy panels that we thought might have crossover appeal). For all the latest updates visit the official WonderCon website.
Friday, March 29
3:00pm - Exclusive Warner Bros. Television Screenings of "Revolution," "Arrow," and "The Following" (more info here) - Arena
6:30pm - Netflix's "Hemlock Grove" - Room 300De
From executive producer Eli Roth (Cabin Fever) and based on Brian McGreevy's novel of the same name, Netflix's Hemlock Grove is a riveting one-hour murder mystery series that revolves around the residents of a former Pennsylvania steel town. When 17-year-old Brooke Bluebell is brutally murdered, any of Hemlock's peculiar inhabitants-or killer creatures-could be suspects.
Below you'll find a majority of the WonderCon 2013 horror highlights (and a few fringy panels that we thought might have crossover appeal). For all the latest updates visit the official WonderCon website.
Friday, March 29
3:00pm - Exclusive Warner Bros. Television Screenings of "Revolution," "Arrow," and "The Following" (more info here) - Arena
6:30pm - Netflix's "Hemlock Grove" - Room 300De
From executive producer Eli Roth (Cabin Fever) and based on Brian McGreevy's novel of the same name, Netflix's Hemlock Grove is a riveting one-hour murder mystery series that revolves around the residents of a former Pennsylvania steel town. When 17-year-old Brooke Bluebell is brutally murdered, any of Hemlock's peculiar inhabitants-or killer creatures-could be suspects.
- 3/17/2013
- by The Woman In Black
- DreadCentral.com
Image via: ACGArt
A few of us here from GeekTyrant will be hitting up WonderCon 2013, which takes place from Friday, March 29th to Sunday, March 31th at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. We went for the first time last year, and we had a great time, so we're all excited to be going back for more geek goodness!
WonderCon has released the full three-day schedule! There's a ton of great stuff to check out this year! Enough cool stuff to keep you more than busy! Check out the schedule and start planning out your trip! If you're going and you see us around make sure to say hi! We can talk about geek stuff! See ya there!
March 29 • Friday
12:30Pm – 1:30Pm
1
35th Anniversary: BattlestarRoom 300De
Host Richard Hatch (Capt. Apollo, Tom Zarek), Kevin Grazier (science advisor, Battlestar, Caprica, Defiance),Michael Taylor (writer/producer, Battlestar, Defiance, Caprica...
A few of us here from GeekTyrant will be hitting up WonderCon 2013, which takes place from Friday, March 29th to Sunday, March 31th at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. We went for the first time last year, and we had a great time, so we're all excited to be going back for more geek goodness!
WonderCon has released the full three-day schedule! There's a ton of great stuff to check out this year! Enough cool stuff to keep you more than busy! Check out the schedule and start planning out your trip! If you're going and you see us around make sure to say hi! We can talk about geek stuff! See ya there!
March 29 • Friday
12:30Pm – 1:30Pm
1
35th Anniversary: BattlestarRoom 300De
Host Richard Hatch (Capt. Apollo, Tom Zarek), Kevin Grazier (science advisor, Battlestar, Caprica, Defiance),Michael Taylor (writer/producer, Battlestar, Defiance, Caprica...
- 3/16/2013
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
On Sunday night, when news hit of Mindy McCready's apparent suicide, Lisa D'Amato got a phone call from actress Mackenzie Phillips, a cast mate on season 3 of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. "We were just trying to put it all together, figure out what happened," D'Amato tells People. "Mackenzie doesn't know either. The one thing about Mindy is that she was very much seeming to be fine and perfect on the surface, but she was battling a lot." McCready, 37, became the third person from their season to die, joining musician Mike Starr and reality star Joey Kovar. "I'm just numb,...
- 2/19/2013
- by Mike Fleeman
- PEOPLE.com
The life of the gangster isn’t as glamorous in the movies as it once was. Sure the title characters of The Public Enemy, Little Caesar, and Scarface all met horrific deaths before the final fade-outs, but their lives of excess must have looked pretty great for depression audiences. And then the Hayes Office, the studios’ censorship board, cracked down. In James Cagney’s last great crime epic White Heat, his Cody Jarrett is a vicious psychopath. And later with the classic Goodfellas and TV’s “The Sopranos”, mob life was shown as dangerous, dirty work. The easy cash is never really easy. And so it is with Killing Them Softly which re-teams star Brad Pitt with his The Assassination Of Jesse James director Andrew Dominik. Few films have been as gritty as this “simple” score that goes bad in a big, big way.
The tale begins on the very...
The tale begins on the very...
- 11/30/2012
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Probably the biggest challenge Mob Doctor presents is the urge to make a bad medical joke in the title of any articles about it. As you can see, I’ve already failed in that minor task, but the way I rationalize it is that the show itself fails on so many levels, I can be given a pass on something like this.
Allow me to begin by trying to focus on the positive, in this case, Kevin Corrigan. Earlier this summer, I upgraded Mob Doctor from so-what to must-see on the basis of Corrigan being added to the cast alone, and I stand by that even now. So far he’s only been in one episode, as has Oz‘s Terry Kinney, but it’s hoped they will return soon in their supporting roles as the Amato brothers. So far, their characters don’t quite match up to early reports,...
Allow me to begin by trying to focus on the positive, in this case, Kevin Corrigan. Earlier this summer, I upgraded Mob Doctor from so-what to must-see on the basis of Corrigan being added to the cast alone, and I stand by that even now. So far he’s only been in one episode, as has Oz‘s Terry Kinney, but it’s hoped they will return soon in their supporting roles as the Amato brothers. So far, their characters don’t quite match up to early reports,...
- 10/8/2012
- by Jimmy Callaway
- Boomtron
Brad Pitt reunites again with writer-director Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) to adapt George V. Higgins’s novel, Cogan’s Trade for the big screen. It’s another successful outcome, retitled here as Killing Them Softly – referring to hits by strangers on strangers in the underworld. As Cogan, Pitt embodies his standard cool and articulate criminal stance once more, a character type that snugly fits him like a glove, trying to negotiate the present situation with an alluring presence of menace. He also has a highly impressive and engrossing ensemble cast to work opposite in James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins, Ray Liotta, Vincent Curatola and Scoot McNairy.
In hard economic times, even the criminal world is struggling to make decent money. Johnny Amato (Curatola) tasks petty criminal Frankie (McNairy) to find a partner to do over a high-stakes card game run by Markie Trattman (Liotta), protected by the Mob.
In hard economic times, even the criminal world is struggling to make decent money. Johnny Amato (Curatola) tasks petty criminal Frankie (McNairy) to find a partner to do over a high-stakes card game run by Markie Trattman (Liotta), protected by the Mob.
- 9/24/2012
- by Lisa Giles-Keddie
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
This black comedy about unhappy assassins who have hit hard times is a compelling comment on economic bloodletting in the real world
Movies about assassins generally show them as ascetic samurai loners, broodingly dismantling and reconstructing their weapons as they wait for the hit in monkish seclusion, chain-smoking, keeping small talk to a minimum with their employers, who are in a similar laconic state, and who, in any case, may be secretly awed by their hitman's icy professionalism. Killing Them Softly is different. This killer, Cogan – played by Brad Pitt – is relaxed and talkative; he is craggy, leonine, casual and imperious; absolutely on top of his game, but with a flaw. He cannot kill anyone he's met, and hates to kill up close, squeamish about them begging for mercy. So he has to murder at a distance; it's what he calls "killing them softly", though without acknowledging Roberta Flack.
Cogan is part antihero,...
Movies about assassins generally show them as ascetic samurai loners, broodingly dismantling and reconstructing their weapons as they wait for the hit in monkish seclusion, chain-smoking, keeping small talk to a minimum with their employers, who are in a similar laconic state, and who, in any case, may be secretly awed by their hitman's icy professionalism. Killing Them Softly is different. This killer, Cogan – played by Brad Pitt – is relaxed and talkative; he is craggy, leonine, casual and imperious; absolutely on top of his game, but with a flaw. He cannot kill anyone he's met, and hates to kill up close, squeamish about them begging for mercy. So he has to murder at a distance; it's what he calls "killing them softly", though without acknowledging Roberta Flack.
Cogan is part antihero,...
- 9/21/2012
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Anyone who has watched MTV’s latest comedy The Inbetweeners – a remake of a British show about high school guys just trying to fit in – knows that Alex Frnka’s Carly D’Amato is the subject of Simon’s (undying) affection. But there’s much more to Carly than what meets the eye.
Alex recently spoke with Ology about tonight’s episode "The Masters," what it’s like being the sole female lead in a male-dominated cast, and what’s in store for Carly this season!
Ology: How do you relate to your character Carly?
Alex Frnka: Well, I think that she’s always trying to be a good person in a tricky atmosphere. High school isn’t easy for everyone, and sometimes you’re faced with having to decide between doing what’s right and what’s cool, and I think that she’s just trying to keep that balance.
Alex recently spoke with Ology about tonight’s episode "The Masters," what it’s like being the sole female lead in a male-dominated cast, and what’s in store for Carly this season!
Ology: How do you relate to your character Carly?
Alex Frnka: Well, I think that she’s always trying to be a good person in a tricky atmosphere. High school isn’t easy for everyone, and sometimes you’re faced with having to decide between doing what’s right and what’s cool, and I think that she’s just trying to keep that balance.
- 9/18/2012
- by Michelle McGahan
- TVology
The fans are in the seats, the fields have been lined in white and the players are ready for some football action. Can’t you smell it in the air? The early days of Fall are here and we’re in the thick of the hallowed football time of year – high school, college and NFL. Wamg is counting down our 35 favorite football films you need to see before the kickoff of pigskin season. It’s never too early or too late to talk the sport loved by fans everywhere. Many of these true stories can be found on DVD, Blu-ray and Video On Demand. Let us know in the comments section below how you would have ranked your favorite football movies or if we left any on the sidelines.
1. Rudy
“You’re 5 foot nothin’, 100 and nothin’, and you have barely a speck of athletic ability. And you hung in there...
1. Rudy
“You’re 5 foot nothin’, 100 and nothin’, and you have barely a speck of athletic ability. And you hung in there...
- 9/10/2012
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
"The Inbetweeners" is one of the most beloved British comedies of the past decade, managing to garner enough international appeal to amass a sizeable cult following in the Us during its three-season run. So naturally, when MTV announced it was planning to adapt the series for American audiences, outrage ensued. (Especially after the "Skins" debacle.)
Luckily, the show has retained much of the charm of its predecessor without wholly retreading its steps. Similar to the way Showtime's "Shameless" utilized plots from the UK version before forging its own path, the Us "Inbetweeners" will use certain stories as springboards before heading in an original direction, usually riffing on the most embarrassing elements of the high school experience in a similar way to MTV's other charming teen comedy, "Awkward."
"I think that the first season, out of 12 episodes, six borrow ... skewed versions of their plots," executive producer Brad Copeland told reporters at...
Luckily, the show has retained much of the charm of its predecessor without wholly retreading its steps. Similar to the way Showtime's "Shameless" utilized plots from the UK version before forging its own path, the Us "Inbetweeners" will use certain stories as springboards before heading in an original direction, usually riffing on the most embarrassing elements of the high school experience in a similar way to MTV's other charming teen comedy, "Awkward."
"I think that the first season, out of 12 episodes, six borrow ... skewed versions of their plots," executive producer Brad Copeland told reporters at...
- 8/16/2012
- by The Huffington Post
- Huffington Post
One-man show gets off to a surprisingly good start before going off the rails when Tyson tries to talk about women he's known
Mike Tyson's one-man show, Undisputed Truth – or Undisputed Troof, in his lisping, snuffling delivery – is a very weird production. Written by Tyson's third wife Kiki and directed by Spike Lee, it opened Thursday night on Broadway after transferring from Las Vegas. Donald Trump was in the audience, and the baseball star Derek Jeter, and an odd combination of big men with thick necks and skinny hipsters unsure of what to do when Tyson starts throwing the word "faggot" around. To give you an idea: two of the biggest cheers of the night go up for "I didn't rape this woman" and "I lost 150lbs."
Firstly, the show's inbuilt drama – can Tyson carry almost two hours of wordy monologue without a prompter, and the answer is yes.
Mike Tyson's one-man show, Undisputed Truth – or Undisputed Troof, in his lisping, snuffling delivery – is a very weird production. Written by Tyson's third wife Kiki and directed by Spike Lee, it opened Thursday night on Broadway after transferring from Las Vegas. Donald Trump was in the audience, and the baseball star Derek Jeter, and an odd combination of big men with thick necks and skinny hipsters unsure of what to do when Tyson starts throwing the word "faggot" around. To give you an idea: two of the biggest cheers of the night go up for "I didn't rape this woman" and "I lost 150lbs."
Firstly, the show's inbuilt drama – can Tyson carry almost two hours of wordy monologue without a prompter, and the answer is yes.
- 8/3/2012
- by Emma Brockes
- The Guardian - Film News
One of the pleasures of digging around for movie posters is coming across great designs for films that have otherwise been forgotten, that have not become part of the pantheon—or even any of its foothills—but which nevertheless are fascinating reminders of areas of cinema history that are usually ignored. The other day I posted a lovely Russian poster on Movie Poster of the Day for an adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s White Nights that I wasn’t familiar with but which, I then discovered, was directed by a man described as “the high priest of Stalinist Cinema.” You can read more about that here.
When this terrific poster for Le passe-muraille caught my eye I knew absolutely nothing about the film, and, with the exception of English actress Joan Greenwood (Kind Hearts and Coronets), nearly every name on the poster, from star Bourvil to director Jean Boyer to author Marcel Aymé,...
When this terrific poster for Le passe-muraille caught my eye I knew absolutely nothing about the film, and, with the exception of English actress Joan Greenwood (Kind Hearts and Coronets), nearly every name on the poster, from star Bourvil to director Jean Boyer to author Marcel Aymé,...
- 3/17/2012
- MUBI
Italy's sad-faced charmer Gianni Di Gregorio is back as a henpecked son, now in search of a suitable mistress in this warm, witty comedy
Three years ago, after a lifetime of acting in the theatre and working as an assistant director and screenwriter in the cinema, the 60-year-old Gianni Di Gregorio won major national and international fame as co-author of Matteo Garrone's expansive Italian crime movie Gomorrah, a complex exposé of the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia. He immediately followed this up with an even greater personal success as the writer, director and star of the low-budget, multi-prizewinning Mid‑August Lunch. In that gem-like chamber comedy he played a retired middle-aged bachelor caring for his ancient mother in the bustling central Roman district of Trastevere and being persuaded to take care of three other old women over a bank holiday weekend.
His new film, The Salt of Life, is quite as good.
Three years ago, after a lifetime of acting in the theatre and working as an assistant director and screenwriter in the cinema, the 60-year-old Gianni Di Gregorio won major national and international fame as co-author of Matteo Garrone's expansive Italian crime movie Gomorrah, a complex exposé of the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia. He immediately followed this up with an even greater personal success as the writer, director and star of the low-budget, multi-prizewinning Mid‑August Lunch. In that gem-like chamber comedy he played a retired middle-aged bachelor caring for his ancient mother in the bustling central Roman district of Trastevere and being persuaded to take care of three other old women over a bank holiday weekend.
His new film, The Salt of Life, is quite as good.
- 8/13/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Long Shadows: The Late Work of Satyajit Ray opens this evening and runs through April 26 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center: "Of special interest is Home and the World [1984; image above], his final, wonderful adaptation of a work by his mentor, Rabindranath Tagore (whose 150th anniversary we celebrate this year), as well as his final, luminous work, The Stranger, an extraordinary summing up of so much of Ray's worldview graced with a sensational lead performance by Utpal Dutt." Plus, "we asked some friends of the Film Society: what film would you recommend seeing, and why?" Meantime, Paul Brunick posts a roundup on Distant Thunder (1973) at Alt Screen. Update, 4/20: Salman Rushdie for the Fslc on The Golden Fortress (1974): "The film is a true delight and the moment when the Golden Fortress is discovered — when it is revealed not to be a child's fantasy but a real place, shimmering on...
- 4/20/2011
- MUBI
One of Italy's leading screenwriters, he worked on 140 films
One of Italy's most respected and prolific screenwriters, Furio Scarpelli, who has died aged 90, worked on the scripts of about 140 films, sometimes without a credit, and received three shared Oscar nominations, for I Compagni (The Organiser, 1963), Casanova '70 (1965) and Il Postino (1994). Scarpelli enjoyed a lengthy writing partnership, from 1949 until 1985, with Agenore Incrocci, also known as Age. The pair collaborated on the 1958 film I Soliti Ignoti (Big Deal on Madonna Street), about a team of makeshift thieves, which owed much of its success to the brilliant comic characterisations. The film, starring Vittorio Gassman and Marcello Mastroianni, helped to launch the genre of commedia all'italiana ("comedy Italian-style").
Scarpelli was born in Rome. His Neapolitan father, Filiberto, was a satirical writer who founded a humorous magazine, Il Travaso delle Idee. Furio began his own career as a cartoonist. It was after the second world war,...
One of Italy's most respected and prolific screenwriters, Furio Scarpelli, who has died aged 90, worked on the scripts of about 140 films, sometimes without a credit, and received three shared Oscar nominations, for I Compagni (The Organiser, 1963), Casanova '70 (1965) and Il Postino (1994). Scarpelli enjoyed a lengthy writing partnership, from 1949 until 1985, with Agenore Incrocci, also known as Age. The pair collaborated on the 1958 film I Soliti Ignoti (Big Deal on Madonna Street), about a team of makeshift thieves, which owed much of its success to the brilliant comic characterisations. The film, starring Vittorio Gassman and Marcello Mastroianni, helped to launch the genre of commedia all'italiana ("comedy Italian-style").
Scarpelli was born in Rome. His Neapolitan father, Filiberto, was a satirical writer who founded a humorous magazine, Il Travaso delle Idee. Furio began his own career as a cartoonist. It was after the second world war,...
- 5/17/2010
- by John Francis Lane
- The Guardian - Film News
By Michael Atkinson
We've been trained nowadays to believe that if a mainstream movie is not a monstrous, definitive, top-heavy, eye-blasting, eardrum-bruising mega-event, it's not worth seeing. Gone are the cultural aesthetics of the double bill (in which no one film was so commanding that it couldn't stand to be immediately followed by another), the moviegoing habit (when diversion, charm and story were all moviegoers wanted, every weekend) and the notion of a film's nature, like a person's, being valued for modesty, lightweight pulpiness, empathic thrills in the moment and the pleasant company of beautiful and confident movie stars. Stuck in the summertime hell of superhero crapola and CGI migraines, it's not hard from where I stand (which is, frankly, still a state of bedevilment about how the typically abbreviated and overwrought non-storyness of "The Dark Knight" has so many educated viewers bamboozled) to find relief in the forgotten matinee...
We've been trained nowadays to believe that if a mainstream movie is not a monstrous, definitive, top-heavy, eye-blasting, eardrum-bruising mega-event, it's not worth seeing. Gone are the cultural aesthetics of the double bill (in which no one film was so commanding that it couldn't stand to be immediately followed by another), the moviegoing habit (when diversion, charm and story were all moviegoers wanted, every weekend) and the notion of a film's nature, like a person's, being valued for modesty, lightweight pulpiness, empathic thrills in the moment and the pleasant company of beautiful and confident movie stars. Stuck in the summertime hell of superhero crapola and CGI migraines, it's not hard from where I stand (which is, frankly, still a state of bedevilment about how the typically abbreviated and overwrought non-storyness of "The Dark Knight" has so many educated viewers bamboozled) to find relief in the forgotten matinee...
- 8/12/2008
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
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