Nine decades ago this December, moviegoers were witnessing the beginning of one of the most successful movie teams, as well as the demise of one of the most dramatic.
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made box office magic during the Depression-era 1930s in nine Art Deco musical comedy delights from Rko including 1934’s “The Gay Divorcee” and 1936’s “Swing Time.” Their chemistry was unmatched, and they literally made beautiful musical together introducing countless standards including the Oscar-winning “The Continental” and “The Way You Look Tonight.” And their dancing was robust, romantic and heavenly-just check out the “Never Gonna Dance” routine from “Swing Time.”
It was 90 years ago this week, their first pairing “Flying Down to Rio” opened at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. One of the big surprises is that the duo aren’t the stars of the lightweight pre-Code musicals: Dolores Del Rio, Gene Raymond...
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made box office magic during the Depression-era 1930s in nine Art Deco musical comedy delights from Rko including 1934’s “The Gay Divorcee” and 1936’s “Swing Time.” Their chemistry was unmatched, and they literally made beautiful musical together introducing countless standards including the Oscar-winning “The Continental” and “The Way You Look Tonight.” And their dancing was robust, romantic and heavenly-just check out the “Never Gonna Dance” routine from “Swing Time.”
It was 90 years ago this week, their first pairing “Flying Down to Rio” opened at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. One of the big surprises is that the duo aren’t the stars of the lightweight pre-Code musicals: Dolores Del Rio, Gene Raymond...
- 12/28/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Emma Stone is returning to Saturday Night Live for the fifth time.
The Poor Things actress is set to make her way back to 30 Rock for the December 2 episode. Noah Kahan will be the musical guest.
SNL is certainly benefitting from the end of the SAG-Atra strike, which has opened up the sketch comedy show to a wider range of hosts now that top actors can promote their work. The show had been relying on touring comedians and musicians (Bad Bunny) as hosts during the work stoppage.
Timothée Chalamet was the first A-lister to take up the mantle for Season 49 on November 11. Lucky for Chalamet (and Warner Bros.), the strike came to an end on November 10, making it possible for him to promote his upcoming film, Wonka.
Stone made her SNL hosting debut in 2010, during Season 36. She then returned in 2011 and 2016. Most recently, she...
The Poor Things actress is set to make her way back to 30 Rock for the December 2 episode. Noah Kahan will be the musical guest.
SNL is certainly benefitting from the end of the SAG-Atra strike, which has opened up the sketch comedy show to a wider range of hosts now that top actors can promote their work. The show had been relying on touring comedians and musicians (Bad Bunny) as hosts during the work stoppage.
Timothée Chalamet was the first A-lister to take up the mantle for Season 49 on November 11. Lucky for Chalamet (and Warner Bros.), the strike came to an end on November 10, making it possible for him to promote his upcoming film, Wonka.
Stone made her SNL hosting debut in 2010, during Season 36. She then returned in 2011 and 2016. Most recently, she...
- 11/19/2023
- by Katie Campione
- Deadline Film + TV
Swedish-born Greta Garbo became a star with a string of hit films throughout the 1920s and 1930s before disappearing from screens in 1941 at the age of 36. Though she appeared in only a handful of titles, enough have remained classics to give her a special place in history. Let’s take a look back at 10 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.
Born in 1905, Garbo got her start in the silent era, acting in her native Sweden before coming to Hollywood at the behest of MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer. She soon became a popular presence on the silver screen as a romantic leading lady. Her performance in “Flesh and the Devil” (1926) as a seductress who tears two friends apart proved she was a woman to die for.
Since English was not her first language, Mayer was rightfully nervous that the emergence of sound would destroy one of his biggest stars.
Born in 1905, Garbo got her start in the silent era, acting in her native Sweden before coming to Hollywood at the behest of MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer. She soon became a popular presence on the silver screen as a romantic leading lady. Her performance in “Flesh and the Devil” (1926) as a seductress who tears two friends apart proved she was a woman to die for.
Since English was not her first language, Mayer was rightfully nervous that the emergence of sound would destroy one of his biggest stars.
- 9/14/2023
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Carl Davis, who composed the scores for The French Lieutenant’s Woman, the BBC miniseries Pride and Prejudice and perhaps most famously Abel Gance’s epic 1927 silent film Napoléon, has died. He was 86.
Davis died Thursday after suffering a brain hemorrhage, his family announced.
“We are so proud that Carl’s legacy will be his astonishing impact on music,” they wrote on Twitter. “A consummate all-round musician, he was the driving force behind the reinvention of the silent movie for this generation, and he wrote scores for some of the most-loved and remembered British television dramas.”
Born in Brooklyn but living in the U.K. since 1961, Davis was hired by documentarians Kevin Brownlow and David Gill to create music for the 13-hour 1980 miniseries Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film and for Napoléon.
“My first score for a silent movie was Napoleon,” he said in 2010. “Five hours of it! It...
Davis died Thursday after suffering a brain hemorrhage, his family announced.
“We are so proud that Carl’s legacy will be his astonishing impact on music,” they wrote on Twitter. “A consummate all-round musician, he was the driving force behind the reinvention of the silent movie for this generation, and he wrote scores for some of the most-loved and remembered British television dramas.”
Born in Brooklyn but living in the U.K. since 1961, Davis was hired by documentarians Kevin Brownlow and David Gill to create music for the 13-hour 1980 miniseries Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film and for Napoléon.
“My first score for a silent movie was Napoleon,” he said in 2010. “Five hours of it! It...
- 8/3/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
‘The Perfect Find’ Review: Gabrielle Union and Keith Powers Charm in Fashion-Forward Netflix Swooner
Fashionista Jenna Jones (Gabrielle Union) took quite the tumble from her position in New York’s world of style. In “The Perfect Find” — Netflix’s visually vibrant, cinema-loving, if not quite perfect, rom-com — her professional and romantic plummet is documented in opening credits that cleverly use an animated collage to relate her story.
So, when we meet Jenna in person ,she’s without a job, and her man (D.B. Woodside) of 10 years has moved on … or so it seems. The 40-year-old is sporting baggy sweats, and not because she’s headed to the gym. She’s been living in her parents’ home licking her wounds, for a year, when her mother calls her out on it. The scene between mother (Janet Hubert) and grown-ass daughter is amusing and promising. As are the musical and visual choices director Numa Perrier makes that evoke Old Hollywood in a film with characters decidedly not Old Hollywood.
So, when we meet Jenna in person ,she’s without a job, and her man (D.B. Woodside) of 10 years has moved on … or so it seems. The 40-year-old is sporting baggy sweats, and not because she’s headed to the gym. She’s been living in her parents’ home licking her wounds, for a year, when her mother calls her out on it. The scene between mother (Janet Hubert) and grown-ass daughter is amusing and promising. As are the musical and visual choices director Numa Perrier makes that evoke Old Hollywood in a film with characters decidedly not Old Hollywood.
- 6/20/2023
- by Lisa Kennedy
- Variety Film + TV
Greta Garbo would’ve celebrated her 113th birthday on September 18. Born in 1905, the Swedish-born actress became a star with a string of hit films throughout the 1920s and 1930s before disappearing from screens in 1941 at the age of 36. Though she appeared in only a handful of titles, enough have remained classics to give her a special place in history. In honor of her birthday, let’s take a look back at 10 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.
Garbo got her start in the silent era, acting in her native Sweden before coming to Hollywood at the behest of MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer. She soon became a popular presence on the silver screen as a romantic leading lady. Her performance in “Flesh and the Devil” (1926) as a seductress who tears two friends apart proved she was a woman to die for.
Since English was not her first language,...
Garbo got her start in the silent era, acting in her native Sweden before coming to Hollywood at the behest of MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer. She soon became a popular presence on the silver screen as a romantic leading lady. Her performance in “Flesh and the Devil” (1926) as a seductress who tears two friends apart proved she was a woman to die for.
Since English was not her first language,...
- 9/18/2018
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Do rediscovered ‘lost’ movies always disappoint? This Depression-era pre-Code science fiction disaster thriller was unique in its day, and its outrageously ambitious special effects –New York City is tossed into a blender — were considered the state of the art. Sidney Blackmer and a fetching Peggy Shannon fight off rapacious gangs in what may be the first post-apocalyptic survival thriller.
Deluge
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1933 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 67 min. / Street Date February 21, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring Peggy Shannon, Lois Wilson, Sidney Blackmer, Lane Chandler, Samuel S. Hinds, Fred Kohler, Matt Moore, Edward Van Sloan .
Cinematography: Norbert Brodine
Film Editor: Martin G. Cohn, Rose Loewinger
Special Effects: Ned Mann, Williams Wiliams, Russell Lawson, Ernie Crockett, Victor Scheurich, Carl Wester
Original Music: Val Burton
Written by Warren Duff, John F. Goodrich from the novel by Sydney Fowler Wright
Produced by Samuel Bischoff, Burt Kelly, William Saal
Directed by Felix E. Feist...
Deluge
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1933 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 67 min. / Street Date February 21, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring Peggy Shannon, Lois Wilson, Sidney Blackmer, Lane Chandler, Samuel S. Hinds, Fred Kohler, Matt Moore, Edward Van Sloan .
Cinematography: Norbert Brodine
Film Editor: Martin G. Cohn, Rose Loewinger
Special Effects: Ned Mann, Williams Wiliams, Russell Lawson, Ernie Crockett, Victor Scheurich, Carl Wester
Original Music: Val Burton
Written by Warren Duff, John F. Goodrich from the novel by Sydney Fowler Wright
Produced by Samuel Bischoff, Burt Kelly, William Saal
Directed by Felix E. Feist...
- 2/21/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
There, on the mountain and the sky,
On all the tragic scene they stare.
One asks for mournful melodies;
Accomplished fingers begin to play.
Their eyes mid many wrinkles, their eyes,
Their ancient, glittering eyes, are gay.
— William Butler Yeats • Lapis Lazuli
Here we are, having our last visit before the big hokey pokey on the Potomac and I am being reminded of post-apocalyptic fiction. If you can’t guess why I’m suffering this brain scratch, maybe you can be excused.
Now, for those of you still with me, hey gang – let’s talk end of the world!
Time was when apocalypses were rare, if not nonexistent, on theater screens and – I’m taking a flyer here – utterly absent from video. Today, though, IMDb’s entry lists 50 films that qualify as post-apocalyptic and surely there are more on the way. Why the deluge?
I can think of only four...
On all the tragic scene they stare.
One asks for mournful melodies;
Accomplished fingers begin to play.
Their eyes mid many wrinkles, their eyes,
Their ancient, glittering eyes, are gay.
— William Butler Yeats • Lapis Lazuli
Here we are, having our last visit before the big hokey pokey on the Potomac and I am being reminded of post-apocalyptic fiction. If you can’t guess why I’m suffering this brain scratch, maybe you can be excused.
Now, for those of you still with me, hey gang – let’s talk end of the world!
Time was when apocalypses were rare, if not nonexistent, on theater screens and – I’m taking a flyer here – utterly absent from video. Today, though, IMDb’s entry lists 50 films that qualify as post-apocalyptic and surely there are more on the way. Why the deluge?
I can think of only four...
- 1/19/2017
- by Dennis O'Neil
- Comicmix.com
Remember the warning to avoid ‘crossing the streams’ in Ghostbusters? Director Geoff Murphy enjoyed a world-wide release for this eerie sci-fi fantasy about a scientist who becomes unstuck in time-space, alone in an empty world.
The Quiet Earth
Blu-ray
Film Movement
1985 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 91 min. / Street Date December 6, 2016 / 39.95
Starring Bruno Lawrence, Alison Routledge, Pete Smith
Cinematography James Bartle
Production Designer Josephine Ford
Art Direction Rick Kofoed
Film Editor Michael Horton
Original Music John Charles
Written by Bill Baer, Bruno Lawrence, Sam Pillsbury from the novel by Craig Harrison
Produced by Sam Pillsbury, Don Reynolds
Directed by Geoff Murphy
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
New Zealand was indeed quiet on science fiction filmmaking before the massive production Lord of the Rings. When Geoff Murphy and Bruno Lawrence surfaced in 1985 with The Quiet Earth it was received as a pleasant surprise, a brainy alternative to the Australian Road Warrior series. Distinguished...
The Quiet Earth
Blu-ray
Film Movement
1985 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 91 min. / Street Date December 6, 2016 / 39.95
Starring Bruno Lawrence, Alison Routledge, Pete Smith
Cinematography James Bartle
Production Designer Josephine Ford
Art Direction Rick Kofoed
Film Editor Michael Horton
Original Music John Charles
Written by Bill Baer, Bruno Lawrence, Sam Pillsbury from the novel by Craig Harrison
Produced by Sam Pillsbury, Don Reynolds
Directed by Geoff Murphy
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
New Zealand was indeed quiet on science fiction filmmaking before the massive production Lord of the Rings. When Geoff Murphy and Bruno Lawrence surfaced in 1985 with The Quiet Earth it was received as a pleasant surprise, a brainy alternative to the Australian Road Warrior series. Distinguished...
- 11/29/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The shift from silent films to talkies was a huge deal for actors in the late 1920s. Many silent film stars found it difficult to “find their voice” and place in this new Hollywood medium, which completely changed the game of on-screen performance. But while the talkies ended a lot of careers, here are seven actors who succeeded—and prospered—in the transition. Greta GarboStarring in films such as “Flesh and the Devil” and “A Woman of Affairs,” the Swedish actor was loved by critics and audiences alike, making her one of the biggest box office draws of the silent era. As sound hit film, MGM was afraid that her accent would be the end of her career, but they were wrong. Her low, husky voice was the perfect match for her cool and mysterious personality. Garbo’s first talkie “Anna Christie”—(marketed to audiences as the film in which “Garbo speaks!
- 4/12/2016
- backstage.com
Hey, we're having a Nuclear family crisis, so load up your shotgun, grab the grenades and head for the hills, stealing what you need as you go. Ray Milland's tense tale of doomsday survival shook up a lot of folks with its endorsement of ruthless violence. Fortunately the worst never happened, allowing us to ask, "Where were you in '62?" Panic in Year Zero! Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1962 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 92 min. / Street Date April 19, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Ray Milland, Jean Hagen, Frankie Avalon, Mary Mitchel, Joan Freeman, Richard Bakalyan, Cinematography Gilbert Warrenton Production Designer Daniel Haller Film Editor William Austin Original Music Les Baxter Written by John Morton, Jay Simms Produced by Samuel Z. Arkoff, Arnold Houghland, James H. Nicholson, Lou Rusoff Directed by Ray Milland
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
There's nothing like good old atom-scare hysteria, which Hollywood dished out as early as 1952's Invasion,...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
There's nothing like good old atom-scare hysteria, which Hollywood dished out as early as 1952's Invasion,...
- 4/5/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Ah, the romantic, cinematic kiss — whether it’s a half-bent over, dramatic Hollywood smooch, or a tender, warmhearted peck, two (or more!) pairs of lips meeting in the middle is iconic in the film world. The cinematic kiss stems back to the Wizard of Menlo Park himself, Thomas Edison, who featured the affectation in his 1896 film aptly titled, “The Kiss.” Though considered controversial and later censored, Edison’s film was also the most popular from his studio that year. Now the film is historically relevant (how times change) and set a precedent for the acceptance of public displays of affection for the future. In BFI’s new video essay, they divulge into the amorous history of exchanging a buss, and explore how its evolved alongside the movies. After Edison, Charlie Chaplin had his hand at an on-screen smooch, and the first French kiss was featured in “Flesh and the Devil,...
- 12/22/2015
- by Samantha Vacca
- The Playlist
1985 was the year of Back To The Future, Rocky IV and Rambo II. But what about these 20 movies, that also deserve a fair share of love?
Thirty years ago, Marty McFly was riding high with the smash hit Back To The Future, while Sylvester Stallone enjoyed his most successful year yet with the one-two punch of Rambo: First Blood Part II and Rocky IV. It was an era of family sci-fi and teen comedies and bullet-spraying action, where The Breakfast Club and Teen Wolf rubbed shoulders with Death Wish 3 and Commando. Then there were low-key dramas like Out Of Africa and The Color Purple, which were both awards magnets at the Oscars.
Away from all those big hits, 1985 saw the release of a wealth of less successful movies, some of which found a second life on the then-huge home video circuit. Here's our pick of 20 underappreciated films from the year of Rambo,...
Thirty years ago, Marty McFly was riding high with the smash hit Back To The Future, while Sylvester Stallone enjoyed his most successful year yet with the one-two punch of Rambo: First Blood Part II and Rocky IV. It was an era of family sci-fi and teen comedies and bullet-spraying action, where The Breakfast Club and Teen Wolf rubbed shoulders with Death Wish 3 and Commando. Then there were low-key dramas like Out Of Africa and The Color Purple, which were both awards magnets at the Oscars.
Away from all those big hits, 1985 saw the release of a wealth of less successful movies, some of which found a second life on the then-huge home video circuit. Here's our pick of 20 underappreciated films from the year of Rambo,...
- 9/2/2015
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
As “Tomorrowland” attempted to remind us earlier this summer, our society has gotten so obsessed with contemplating our demise that we’ve stopped thinking optimistically about the future. That’s not entirely true, however: “Z for Zachariah,” for instance, takes place following a devastating apocalypse, but it’s far more concerned with what comes next than with how we got there in the first place. Adapted by Nissar Modi from the novel by Robert O’Brien — and borrowing at least the basic premise from the old Harry Belafonte movie “The World, The Flesh and The Devil” — “Zacharaiah” suggests that both the best.
- 8/27/2015
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
Greta Garbo movie 'The Kiss.' Greta Garbo movies on TCM Greta Garbo, a rarity among silent era movie stars, is Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” performer today, Aug. 26, '15. Now, why would Garbo be considered a silent era rarity? Well, certainly not because she easily made the transition to sound, remaining a major star for another decade. Think Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, William Powell, Fay Wray, Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, John Barrymore, Warner Baxter, Janet Gaynor, Constance Bennett, etc. And so much for all the stories about actors with foreign accents being unable to maintain their Hollywood stardom following the advent of sound motion pictures. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer star, Garbo was no major exception to the supposed rule. Mexican Ramon Novarro, another MGM star, also made an easy transition to sound, and so did fellow Mexicans Lupe Velez and Dolores del Rio, in addition to the very British...
- 8/27/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Virginia Bruce: MGM actress ca. 1935. Virginia Bruce movies on TCM: Actress was the cherry on 'The Great Ziegfeld' wedding cake Unfortunately, Turner Classic Movies has chosen not to feature any non-Hollywood stars – or any out-and-out silent film stars – in its 2015 “Summer Under the Stars” series.* On the other hand, TCM has come up with several unusual inclusions, e.g., Lee J. Cobb, Warren Oates, Mae Clarke, and today, Aug. 25, Virginia Bruce. A second-rank MGM leading lady in the 1930s, the Minneapolis-born Virginia Bruce is little remembered today despite her more than 70 feature films in a career that spanned two decades, from the dawn of the talkie era to the dawn of the TV era, in addition to a handful of comebacks going all the way to 1981 – the dawn of the personal computer era. Career highlights were few and not all that bright. Examples range from playing the...
- 8/26/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
African-American film 'Bert Williams: Lime Kiln Club Field Day.' With Williams and Odessa Warren Grey.* Rare, early 20th-century African-American film among San Francisco Silent Film Festival highlights Directed by Edwin Middleton and T. Hayes Hunter, the Biograph Company's Lime Kiln Club Field Day (1913) was the film I most looked forward to at the 2015 edition of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. One hundred years old, unfinished, and destined to be scrapped and tossed into the dust bin, it rose from the ashes. Starring entertainer Bert Williams – whose film appearances have virtually disappeared, but whose legacy lives on – Lime Kiln Club Field Day has become a rare example of African-American life in the first years of the 20th century. In the introduction to the film, the audience was treated to a treasure trove of Black memorabilia: sheet music, stills, promotional material, and newspaper clippings that survive. Details of the...
- 6/16/2015
- by Danny Fortune
- Alt Film Guide
The 6th Annual Governors Awards took place on Saturday, November 8, 2014 in The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, CA.
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient Harry Belafonte, Honorary Award recipient Hayao Miyazaki, Honorary Award recipient Jean-Claude Carrière and Honorary Award recipient Maureen O’Hara were honored by their peers during the evening.
The Honorary Award, an Oscar statuette, is given “to honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy.”
The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, also an Oscar statuette, is given “to an individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.”
Pictured (left to right): Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient Harry Belafonte, Honorary Award recipient Hayao Miyazaki, Honorary Award recipient Jean-Claude Carrière and Honorary Award recipient Maureen O’Hara
Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs introduces the 2014 Governors Awards
Carrière,...
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient Harry Belafonte, Honorary Award recipient Hayao Miyazaki, Honorary Award recipient Jean-Claude Carrière and Honorary Award recipient Maureen O’Hara were honored by their peers during the evening.
The Honorary Award, an Oscar statuette, is given “to honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy.”
The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, also an Oscar statuette, is given “to an individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.”
Pictured (left to right): Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient Harry Belafonte, Honorary Award recipient Hayao Miyazaki, Honorary Award recipient Jean-Claude Carrière and Honorary Award recipient Maureen O’Hara
Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs introduces the 2014 Governors Awards
Carrière,...
- 11/10/2014
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Audrey Long, actress in B film noirs and Westerns, and widow of author Leslie Charteris, dead at 92 (photo: Audrey Long publicity shot ca. late '40s) Actress Audrey Long, a leading lady in mostly B crime dramas and Westerns of the '40s and early '50s, and the widow of The Saint creator Leslie Charteris, died "after a long illness" on September 19, 2014, in Virginia Water, Surrey, England. Long was 92. Her death was first reported by Ian Dickerson on the website LeslieCharteris.com. Born on April 14 (some sources claim April 12), 1922, in Orlando, Florida, Audrey Long was the daughter of an English-born Episcopal minister, who later became a U.S. Navy Chaplain. Her early years were spent moving about North America, in addition to some time in Honolulu. According to Dickerson's Audrey Long tribute on the Leslie Charteris site, following acting lessons with coach Dorothea Johnson, whose pupils had also included...
- 9/24/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted Tuesday night (August 26) to present Honorary Awards to Jean-Claude Carrière, Hayao Miyazaki and Maureen O’Hara, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Harry Belafonte.
All four awards will be presented at the Academy’s 6th Annual Governors Awards on Saturday, November 8, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center.
“The Governors Awards allow us to reflect upon not the year in film, but the achievements of a lifetime,” said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs. “We’re absolutely thrilled to honor these outstanding members of our global filmmaking community and look forward to celebrating with them in November.”
Carrière, who began his career as a novelist, was introduced to screenwriting by French comedian and filmmaker Pierre Étaix, with whom he shared an Oscar for the live action short subject “Heureux Anniversaire (Happy Anniversary)” in 1962. He...
All four awards will be presented at the Academy’s 6th Annual Governors Awards on Saturday, November 8, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center.
“The Governors Awards allow us to reflect upon not the year in film, but the achievements of a lifetime,” said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs. “We’re absolutely thrilled to honor these outstanding members of our global filmmaking community and look forward to celebrating with them in November.”
Carrière, who began his career as a novelist, was introduced to screenwriting by French comedian and filmmaker Pierre Étaix, with whom he shared an Oscar for the live action short subject “Heureux Anniversaire (Happy Anniversary)” in 1962. He...
- 8/28/2014
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will bestow actor/singer/producer Harry Belafonte with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at a stand-alone ceremony on Nov. 8 in Hollywood. French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere, Japanese animated filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, and actress Maureen O’Hara will also receive honorary Oscars for their lifetime contributions to film at the sixth annual ceremony to be held separately from the annual Oscar telecast.
“The Governors Awards allow us to reflect upon not the year in film, but the achievements of a lifetime,” said Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs. “We’re absolutely thrilled to honor these...
“The Governors Awards allow us to reflect upon not the year in film, but the achievements of a lifetime,” said Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs. “We’re absolutely thrilled to honor these...
- 8/28/2014
- by Nicole Sperling
- EW - Inside Movies
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced recipients of the 2014 Honorary Oscars, to be presented at the annual Governors Awards ceremony in November. Writer and actor Jean-Claude Carrière ("The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie," "The Unbearable Lightness of Being"), Japanese animation titan Hayao Miyazaki ("My Neighbor Totoro," "Spirited Away") and actress Maureen O'Hara ("The Parent Trap," "The Quiet Man") will receive Honorary Awards, while, singer/songwriter, actor and social activist Harry Belafonte will receive the organization's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Carrière, a frequent collaborator with Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel, has been nominated by the Academy as a screenwriter on three occasions. He won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short alongside comedian Pierre Étaix for 1963's "Happy Anniversary." He has also collaborated with filmmakers such as Andrzej Wajda ("Danton"), Jean-Luc Godard ("Every Man for Himself") and one of this year's Telluride tributees, Volker Schlöndorff ("The Tin Drum"). Miyazaki,...
- 8/28/2014
- by Kristopher Tapley
- Hitfix
Harry Belafonte will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and Jean-Claude Carrière, Hayao Miyazaki and Maureen O’Hara will receive Honorary Awards at the Academy’s 6th Annual Governors Awards November 8 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland. The Academy’s Board of Governors did not award the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, which is given out periodically. The last recipient was Francis Ford Coppola in 2010. Deadline’s Pete Hammond will give his take later today. The full release follows:
Los Angeles, CA —The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted Tuesday night (August 26) to present Honorary Awards to Jean-Claude Carrière, Hayao Miyazaki and Maureen O’Hara, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Harry Belafonte. All four awards will be presented at the Academy’s 6th Annual Governors Awards on Saturday, November 8, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center®.
“The...
Los Angeles, CA —The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted Tuesday night (August 26) to present Honorary Awards to Jean-Claude Carrière, Hayao Miyazaki and Maureen O’Hara, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Harry Belafonte. All four awards will be presented at the Academy’s 6th Annual Governors Awards on Saturday, November 8, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center®.
“The...
- 8/28/2014
- by The Deadline Team
- Deadline
I really enjoy watching 1950s sci-fi and horror films. When I was growing up I went through a phase where I watched every movie from that era that I could get my hands on. There are a ton of classic movies from that time such as War of the Worlds, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Them!, and more. There are still so many other sci-fi movies out there that have been made that I know a lot of people haven't seen or even heard of. To remedy that I came up with a list of ten flicks that I've seen over the years that a lot of you probably haven't heard of. These are all films worth watching if you can find the time. They are best viewed with groups of fiends because even though they are good, they still have plenty of laughable moments.
- 5/20/2014
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
Mickey Rooney dead at 93: Four-time Oscar nominee, frequent Judy Garland co-star may have had the longest film career ever (photo: Mickey Rooney ca. 1940) Mickey Rooney, four-time Academy Award nominee and one of the biggest domestic box-office draws during the studio era, died of "natural causes" on Sunday, April 6, 2014, at his home in the Los Angeles suburb of North Hollywood. The Brooklyn-born Rooney (as Joseph Yule Jr., on September 23, 1920) had reportedly been in ill health for some time. He was 93. Besides his countless movies, and numerous television and stage appearances, Mickey Rooney was also known for his stormy private life, which featured boozing and gambling, some widely publicized family infighting (including his testifying in Congress in 2011 about elder abuse), his filing for bankruptcy in 1962 after having earned a reported $12 million (and then going bankrupt again in 1996), his eight marriages — including those to actresses Ava Gardner, Martha Vickers, and Barbara Ann Thomason...
- 4/9/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Press Release From the Warner Archive
Since the beginning of the month, Warner Archive Instant has added over 100 feature films to our new streaming service, many in 1080p HD for the first time anywhere! Classic Comedy like Bachelor Mother (1939) with Ginger Rogers and The Wheeler Dealers (1963) with James Garner. Monster Movies like Son of Kong (1933) and Mighty Joe Young (1949). Musicals like Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936) and Les Girls (1957) with Gene Kelly. End of the World Sci-Fi like The Omega Man (1971) with Charlton Heston and The World, The Flesh and the Devil (1959) with Harry Belafonte. So much new amazing stuff available to stream on your iPad, Roku or PC/Mac. Try it Free for 2 weeks.
Since the beginning of the month, Warner Archive Instant has added over 100 feature films to our new streaming service, many in 1080p HD for the first time anywhere! Classic Comedy like Bachelor Mother (1939) with Ginger Rogers and The Wheeler Dealers (1963) with James Garner. Monster Movies like Son of Kong (1933) and Mighty Joe Young (1949). Musicals like Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936) and Les Girls (1957) with Gene Kelly. End of the World Sci-Fi like The Omega Man (1971) with Charlton Heston and The World, The Flesh and the Devil (1959) with Harry Belafonte. So much new amazing stuff available to stream on your iPad, Roku or PC/Mac. Try it Free for 2 weeks.
- 1/27/2014
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
By Mark Pinkert
Contributor
* * *
This is the third article in a three-part series.
Though many Academy Award Best Picture nominees contain—or are predominantly about—sex and relationships, very few have been about sex issues in law and politics. In recent years there has been Milk (2008), the biopic of Harvey Milk, a California politician and gay rights activist, and otherwise not much else. Even in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the AIDS epidemic was a hot button issue, few films of this genre made it to the Best Picture ticket (remember, Philadelphia was snubbed from the category in 1993). Sexual issues topics, though, have been more popular within the documentary medium: there was Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989), which won for Best Documentary, and which was the first AIDS-related film to win an Oscar, the The Times of Harvey Milk (1984), which also won Best Documentary, and How to Survive a Plague...
Contributor
* * *
This is the third article in a three-part series.
Though many Academy Award Best Picture nominees contain—or are predominantly about—sex and relationships, very few have been about sex issues in law and politics. In recent years there has been Milk (2008), the biopic of Harvey Milk, a California politician and gay rights activist, and otherwise not much else. Even in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the AIDS epidemic was a hot button issue, few films of this genre made it to the Best Picture ticket (remember, Philadelphia was snubbed from the category in 1993). Sexual issues topics, though, have been more popular within the documentary medium: there was Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989), which won for Best Documentary, and which was the first AIDS-related film to win an Oscar, the The Times of Harvey Milk (1984), which also won Best Documentary, and How to Survive a Plague...
- 12/11/2013
- by Mark Pinkert
- Scott Feinberg
Intrigued by The Artist but don't know where to start exploring the silent film archives? Try these five classics, which lead to plenty more…
It doesn't take long for a novelty to be hailed as a trend. Internet film rental service Lovefilm reports that the buzz around The Artist has sparked a boom in curiosity about early cinema, with a 40% rise in the number of people streaming silent films on its site in the week leading up to the Oscars.
The top 10 most-streamed silents include a clutch of Buster Keaton's ingenious comedies, some heady Hollywood melodrama (A Fool There Was, starring Theda Bara, and The Son of the Sheikh, with Rudolph Valentino) and creepy Swedish horror The Phantom Carriage. There are only two films on the list that seem to bear any relation to Michel Hazanavicius's surprise hit: Frank Borzage's mournful romance Seventh Heaven (which inspired the...
It doesn't take long for a novelty to be hailed as a trend. Internet film rental service Lovefilm reports that the buzz around The Artist has sparked a boom in curiosity about early cinema, with a 40% rise in the number of people streaming silent films on its site in the week leading up to the Oscars.
The top 10 most-streamed silents include a clutch of Buster Keaton's ingenious comedies, some heady Hollywood melodrama (A Fool There Was, starring Theda Bara, and The Son of the Sheikh, with Rudolph Valentino) and creepy Swedish horror The Phantom Carriage. There are only two films on the list that seem to bear any relation to Michel Hazanavicius's surprise hit: Frank Borzage's mournful romance Seventh Heaven (which inspired the...
- 3/2/2012
- by Pamela Hutchinson
- The Guardian - Film News
Silent film screenwriter Frederica Sagor Maas has passed away at the age of 111.
She died of natural causes in La Mesa, California on Thursday.
Maas contributed to over 15 movies between 1925 and 1928, among them The Plastic Age, Rolled Stockings, The First Night, Flesh and the Devil and It, which starred Clara Bow.
She was born in New York City to Russian immigrants in 1900 and later attended Columbia University before landing a job with Universal Pictures as an assistant story writer.
She married fellow screenwriter Ernest Maas in 1927 and, at the time of her death, she was the 44th oldest verified person in the world.
She died of natural causes in La Mesa, California on Thursday.
Maas contributed to over 15 movies between 1925 and 1928, among them The Plastic Age, Rolled Stockings, The First Night, Flesh and the Devil and It, which starred Clara Bow.
She was born in New York City to Russian immigrants in 1900 and later attended Columbia University before landing a job with Universal Pictures as an assistant story writer.
She married fellow screenwriter Ernest Maas in 1927 and, at the time of her death, she was the 44th oldest verified person in the world.
- 1/16/2012
- WENN
There’s something almost quaintly Cold War–ish about the setup of “The Divide,” which traps a dozen or so residents of a Manhattan high-rise in a cellar bunker after the city has been nuked by parties unknown. It’s the sort of post-apocalyptic scenario that popped up throughout the ’50s and ’60s in films like “The World, the Flesh and the Devil,” “The Bed-Sitting Room” and “On the Beach.” Of course, those movies didn’t have raping and corpse-dismemberment and box-cutter torture, so it’s not like “The Divide” isn’t making an effort to keep...
- 1/13/2012
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
"Frederica Sagor Maas, a pioneering female screenwriter who scored her first big success with The Plastic Age, a smash hit for 'It Girl' Clara Bow in 1925, died Jan 5." She was 111. Mike Barnes in the Hollywood Reporter: "Because she was a woman, Maas was typically assigned work on flapper comedies and light dramas. Her efforts includes such other Bow films as Dance Madness (1926), Hula (1927) and Red Hair (1928); two films featuring Norma Shearer, His Secretary (1925) and The Waning Sex (1926); the Greta Garbo drama Flesh and the Devil (1926); and the Louise Brooks film Rolled Stockings (1927)…. In 1927, she married Ernest Maas, a producer at Fox, and they wrote as a team but struggled to sell scripts…. The pair, interrogated by the FBI for allegedly Communist activities, were out of the business by the early 1950s. Ernest Mass died in 1986 at age 94. In 1999, at the urging of film historian Kevin Brownlow, Maas published her autobiography,...
- 1/8/2012
- MUBI
Frederica Sagor Maas, who wrote screenplays for silent era stars including Clara Bow, has died. She was 111.
The pioneering screenwriter passed away of natural causes on Thursday. She was the third oldest person in California.
She began her Hollywood career aged 23 and racked up credits for silent films including Flesh and the Devil with Greta Garbo, Dance Madness, His Secretary and The Waning Sex.
Maas also penned the screenplay for 1925's The Plastic Age, acknowledged as the movie which launched Bow's career.
She married Ernest Maas, her writing partner, in the late 1920s but they struggled to sell their scripts in Hollywood after they were wrongly branded communists and blacklisted by industry executives. Ernest died in 1986.
The pioneering screenwriter passed away of natural causes on Thursday. She was the third oldest person in California.
She began her Hollywood career aged 23 and racked up credits for silent films including Flesh and the Devil with Greta Garbo, Dance Madness, His Secretary and The Waning Sex.
Maas also penned the screenplay for 1925's The Plastic Age, acknowledged as the movie which launched Bow's career.
She married Ernest Maas, her writing partner, in the late 1920s but they struggled to sell their scripts in Hollywood after they were wrongly branded communists and blacklisted by industry executives. Ernest died in 1986.
- 1/8/2012
- WENN
Frederica Sagor Maas, a Hollywood screenwriter in the 1920s, died January 5 at the Country Villa nursing facility in La Mesa, in the San Diego metropolitan area. She was 111. The daughter of Jewish Russian immigrants, she was born Frederica Alexandrina Sagor on July 6, 1900, in New York City. According to her autobiography, The Shocking Miss Pilgrim: A Writer in Early Hollywood, she studied journalism at Columbia University, but quit before graduation to work as an assistant story editor at Universal Pictures' New York office. While at Universal, she kept herself busy going to star-studded premieres and parties, and — as found in her book — having the studio buy the rights to Rex Beach's novel The Goose Woman, thus giving a solid boost to the careers of actresses Louise Dresser and Constance Bennett, and of future five-time Oscar-nominated director Clarence Brown. Sagor left Universal when film executive Al Lichtman and future...
- 1/7/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Elizabeth Taylor, Farley Granger, Jane Russell, Peter Falk, Sidney Lumet: TCM Remembers 2011 Pt. 1
Also: child actor John Howard Davies (David Lean's Oliver Twist), Charles Chaplin discovery Marilyn Nash (Monsieur Verdoux), director and Oscar ceremony producer Gilbert Cates (Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams, I Never Sang for My Father), veteran Japanese actress Hideko Takamine (House of Many Pleasures), Jeff Conaway of Grease and the television series Taxi, and Tura Satana of the cult classic Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.
More: Neva Patterson, who loses Cary Grant to Deborah Kerr in An Affair to Remember; Ingmar Bergman cinematographer Gunnar Fischer (Smiles of a Summer Night, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries); Marlon Brando's The Wild One leading lady Mary Murphy; and two actresses featured in controversial, epoch-making films: Lena Nyman, the star of the Swedish drama I Am Curious (Yellow), labeled as pornography by prudish American authorities back in the late '60s,...
Also: child actor John Howard Davies (David Lean's Oliver Twist), Charles Chaplin discovery Marilyn Nash (Monsieur Verdoux), director and Oscar ceremony producer Gilbert Cates (Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams, I Never Sang for My Father), veteran Japanese actress Hideko Takamine (House of Many Pleasures), Jeff Conaway of Grease and the television series Taxi, and Tura Satana of the cult classic Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.
More: Neva Patterson, who loses Cary Grant to Deborah Kerr in An Affair to Remember; Ingmar Bergman cinematographer Gunnar Fischer (Smiles of a Summer Night, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries); Marlon Brando's The Wild One leading lady Mary Murphy; and two actresses featured in controversial, epoch-making films: Lena Nyman, the star of the Swedish drama I Am Curious (Yellow), labeled as pornography by prudish American authorities back in the late '60s,...
- 12/14/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
"The movies in The Silent Roar, Film Forum's ongoing Monday-night series of silent masterpieces from MGM studios, all date from 1924 to 1929, the glorious last half-decade before the coming of sound," writes Imogen Smith for Alt Screen. "While the series includes some director-dominated films, like Erich von Stroheim's Greed and The Merry Widow, the line-up consists mainly of star vehicles constructed around singular personalities: Greta Garbo, Buster Keaton, Lon Chaney, and Lillian Gish. Each of these icons presents a case study in silent acting, and taken together, The Silent Roar makes for an excellent primer in this lost art." The series runs through February 6.
"2011 has been a good year for silent cinema on DVD," writes Kristin Thompson, presenting "an overview of some of the highlights."
Fandor's Keyframe is dedicated this week to "The Silent Artists."
Listening (18'49"). Kevin Brownlow talks about restoring Abel Gance's Napoleon (1927) on the Leonard Lopate Show.
"2011 has been a good year for silent cinema on DVD," writes Kristin Thompson, presenting "an overview of some of the highlights."
Fandor's Keyframe is dedicated this week to "The Silent Artists."
Listening (18'49"). Kevin Brownlow talks about restoring Abel Gance's Napoleon (1927) on the Leonard Lopate Show.
- 11/29/2011
- MUBI
From Farran Nehme comes word of the passing of Barbara Kent at the age of 103. Farran's "seen only two pictures starring Barbara Kent," one being "the 1933 shoestring Oliver Twist, with Kent as Rose. The other is Flesh and the Devil, in which Kent had the unenviable task of the being the forsaken lover to Garbo's lascivious temptress. Still, it's the silent Flesh and the Devil that left a far stronger impression. Sound seemed to diminish this diminutive actress, as it did so many others. In pantomime, her tiny body made her even sweeter and more fragile, and it added poignance to her hurt over John Gilbert's betrayal…. The Siren always knew she would most likely live to see every silent-film artist depart the planet before she did. But the Siren still wishes she'd gotten the chance to tell Kent, or any of the other artists that Kevin Brownlow has spent a lifetime celebrating,...
- 10/21/2011
- MUBI
One of the last stars of the silent movie era
It is in the nature of cinema that an actor who made her last film appearance more than seven decades ago, and who retreated from public view in the late 1940s, refusing photographs and interviews ever since, can still be appreciated on screen as young, as lovely and as fresh as ever. Barbara Kent, who has died aged 103, was one of the last surviving stars of the silent era. She appeared in the last great silent American film, Lonesome (1928), Paul Fejos's masterpiece of urban poetry. Kent played Mary, a switchboard operator, who meets Jim (Glenn Tryon), a factory worker, in Coney Island. They spend the day together, fall in love, and then lose each other in the crowd. The simple tale of "little people" is raised by the sincerity of the performances and by the director's expressive use of location,...
It is in the nature of cinema that an actor who made her last film appearance more than seven decades ago, and who retreated from public view in the late 1940s, refusing photographs and interviews ever since, can still be appreciated on screen as young, as lovely and as fresh as ever. Barbara Kent, who has died aged 103, was one of the last surviving stars of the silent era. She appeared in the last great silent American film, Lonesome (1928), Paul Fejos's masterpiece of urban poetry. Kent played Mary, a switchboard operator, who meets Jim (Glenn Tryon), a factory worker, in Coney Island. They spend the day together, fall in love, and then lose each other in the crowd. The simple tale of "little people" is raised by the sincerity of the performances and by the director's expressive use of location,...
- 10/21/2011
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Barbara Kent, a minor leading lady during the transition from silent to sound films, died October 13 in Palm Desert, in Southern California. A resident of the local Marrakesh Country Club, Kent was either 103 or 104. No cause of death was given. Barbara Kent was never a star. Not even close. In fact, most of her 35 movies were probably forgotten the week after their release. Paradoxically, Kent has become one of the most important performers of the silent era. No, not because she was Harold Lloyd's leading lady in his first talkie, Welcome Danger (1929). Or because of her career highlight: romancing Glen Tryon in Paul Fejos' naturalistic drama Lonesome (1928), frequently compared to F. W. Murnau's Sunrise. Barbara Kent has taken an importance incommensurate to her actual movie career because she was the very last individual to have had notable adult leads in American silent films. Everybody else, from Lillian Gish to Joan Crawford,...
- 10/21/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Silent screen star Barbara Kent has died at the age of 103.
She was one of the first silver screen stars to transition into Hollywood 'talkies' in the 1920s and starred opposite funnyman Harold Lloyd in the comedies Welcome Danger and Feet First.
Born Barbara Cloutman in Gadsby, Canada, in 1907, she was a teenager when she signed a contract with Universal Pictures and adopted the stage name Kent.
She starred opposite Greta Garbo in 1926's Flesh and the Devil and appeared in William Wyler's The Shakedown - one of the first silent movies to feature spoken word sound.
In 1929, she was cast opposite Lloyd in his first talkie, Welcome Danger.
Kent also appeared onscreen with Edward G. Robinson in Night Ride and Gloria Swanson.
She was one of the first silver screen stars to transition into Hollywood 'talkies' in the 1920s and starred opposite funnyman Harold Lloyd in the comedies Welcome Danger and Feet First.
Born Barbara Cloutman in Gadsby, Canada, in 1907, she was a teenager when she signed a contract with Universal Pictures and adopted the stage name Kent.
She starred opposite Greta Garbo in 1926's Flesh and the Devil and appeared in William Wyler's The Shakedown - one of the first silent movies to feature spoken word sound.
In 1929, she was cast opposite Lloyd in his first talkie, Welcome Danger.
Kent also appeared onscreen with Edward G. Robinson in Night Ride and Gloria Swanson.
- 10/20/2011
- WENN
A trio of Bakersfield TV reporters snickered at Harry Belafonte's expense on the air, as their segment producer failed to prep the waiting icon and allowed him to be seen on camera collecting his thoughts quietly, not sleeping as was previously reported by several news outlets. Belafonte is an activist, musician, actor, writer and agent of change. His life's work includes the 1956 album .Calypso,. which produced the smash single .Banana Boat (Day-o).). He gained international stardom in concert, on TV and film in such movies as .Carmen Jones. (1954), .The World, the Flesh and the Devil. and .Buck and the Preacher.. He won a Tony Award in 1954 for his featured role in John Murray Anderson's Almanac..
- 10/18/2011
- by April MacIntyre
- Monsters and Critics
With love well and truly in the air recently with Prince William tying the knot with the rather lovely Kate Middleton a few days ago, it seems an appropriate time to take a look at some of the most legendary on/off screen couples that have fascinated us film lovers over the years. Chemistry sparks when a real romance lies behind the scenes and when a new relationship begins the tabloids go crazy!
So to celebrate the union of the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge – and to appease my wife’s (yes, we just beat the Royals by getting married on 24th April!) constant requests to chronicle the following – here are the top ten on/off screen lovers the past century has immortalised…
10. Kim Basinger & Alec Baldwin
Back in the early 90s, Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin were one of the more popular on and off screen couples in Hollywood. Meeting...
So to celebrate the union of the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge – and to appease my wife’s (yes, we just beat the Royals by getting married on 24th April!) constant requests to chronicle the following – here are the top ten on/off screen lovers the past century has immortalised…
10. Kim Basinger & Alec Baldwin
Back in the early 90s, Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin were one of the more popular on and off screen couples in Hollywood. Meeting...
- 5/4/2011
- by Stuart Cummins
- Obsessed with Film
The DVD-on-demand specialty label Warner Archive just released, this week, the unusual 1959 MGM drama The World, The Flesh and The Devil starring Harry Belafonte, along with Inger Stevens and Mel Ferrer, which you can order directly through the Warner Archive website.
Made during the era of the Cold war when everyone’s nerves were on edge from the threat of a real nuclear war was only a breath away, the visually striking film deals with the last three survivors of a nuclear wipeout, who find themselves all alone in a deserted New York City. (Belafonte survives because he’s a coal miner trapped in a cave in.) Eventually it comes down to the two guys fighting over the white woman and I’m not going to spoil it by telling you who wins. But it doesn’t end exactly the way you think. You’ll just have to see the film for yourself.
Made during the era of the Cold war when everyone’s nerves were on edge from the threat of a real nuclear war was only a breath away, the visually striking film deals with the last three survivors of a nuclear wipeout, who find themselves all alone in a deserted New York City. (Belafonte survives because he’s a coal miner trapped in a cave in.) Eventually it comes down to the two guys fighting over the white woman and I’m not going to spoil it by telling you who wins. But it doesn’t end exactly the way you think. You’ll just have to see the film for yourself.
- 12/20/2010
- by Sergio
- ShadowAndAct
Eleanor Boardman, John Gilbert in King Vidor‘s Bardelys the Magnificent John Gilbert on TCM: The Big Parade, Flesh And The Devil Schedule (Pt) and synopses from the TCM website: 3:00 Am Busher, The (1919) In this silent film, a minor-league baseball player gets his shot at the big leagues. Cast: Charles Ray, Colleen Moore, John Gilbert. Dir: Jerome Storm. Bw-55 mins. 4:00 Am He Who Gets Slapped (1924) In this silent film, a scientist flees his tragic past to become a circus clown. Cast: Lon Chaney, Norma Shearer, John Gilbert. Dir: Victor Seastrom. Bw-72 mins. 5:30 Am Merry Widow, The (1925) In this silent film, a European nobleman courts the wealthy American widow he once loved to save his bankrupt homeland, Cast: Mae Murray, John Gilbert, Tully Marshall. Dir: Erich von Stroheim. Bw-137 mins. 8:00 Am Show, The (1927) In this silent film, a sideshow dancer secretly loves the show’s amoral barker.
- 8/24/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Renée Adorée, John Gilbert in King Vidor‘s The Big Parade (top); John Gilbert, Greta Garbo in Clarence Brown‘s Flesh and the Devil (bottom) John Gilbert on TCM: Queen Christina, Downstairs Here are my top recommendations for John Gilbert Day (in addition to Queen Christina, mentioned in the previous post): Victor Sjöström‘s touching, poetic He Who Gets Slapped (1924), which features my favorite Lon Chaney performance as a clown with a past — no, Chaney doesn’t play a politician; he’s a real circus clown. Both Gilbert and Norma Shearer are flawless in less demanding but just as memorable roles. Erich von Stroheim‘s The Merry Widow (1925), a megablockbuster that solidified Gilbert’s superstardom along with King Vidor‘s The Big Parade, released that same year. Mae Murray shines in the title role, while von Stroheim adds some welcome kinky touches. (C’mon, TCM, I know you have...
- 8/24/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
His eminence Harry Belafonte is 83 today! Harry hasn’t been doing much acting nor singing in the last several years, nor does he have any projects in the works, opting to focus more of his time and energy on humanitarian efforts, and just plain old living. After all, he’s 83. He was last seen in 2006’s Bobby, the ensemble piece directed by Emilio Estevez. 50 years before Will Smith took on post-apocalyptic heroism in I Am Legend, or Denzel Washington did in this year’s Book of Eli, or even 10 years before Duane Jones earned zombie apocalyptic glory with a white woman in tow, Harry flirted with the end of the world in The World, The Flesh And The Devil.
And lastly, the man whose book of essays, titled Shadow And Act, inspired the name of this blog, Ralph Waldo Ellison, was born today in 1914 (he died in 1994). He would have been a virile 96 years old,...
And lastly, the man whose book of essays, titled Shadow And Act, inspired the name of this blog, Ralph Waldo Ellison, was born today in 1914 (he died in 1994). He would have been a virile 96 years old,...
- 3/1/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
In any fairytale land, there is good and bad. But, what makes the whimsical world of Alice in Wonderland so special is that everything is slightly off, even the good people.
MoviesOnline sat down with Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway and Michael Sheen to talk about their new movie, Alice in Wonderland. Directed by Tim Burton, the epic 3D fantasy adventure is based on Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” originally published in 1865 which changed forever the course of children’s literature.
Helena Bonham Carter plays Iracebeth, The Red Queen and tyrannical monarch of Underland, an amalgam of the Queen of Hearts from “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and the Red Queen from “Through the Looking-Glass.” With her oversized head, fiery temper and propensity to scream for people’s heads to be chopped off, she rules her subjects through fear. “She’s got emotional problems,” says Bonham Carter.
MoviesOnline sat down with Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway and Michael Sheen to talk about their new movie, Alice in Wonderland. Directed by Tim Burton, the epic 3D fantasy adventure is based on Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” originally published in 1865 which changed forever the course of children’s literature.
Helena Bonham Carter plays Iracebeth, The Red Queen and tyrannical monarch of Underland, an amalgam of the Queen of Hearts from “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and the Red Queen from “Through the Looking-Glass.” With her oversized head, fiery temper and propensity to scream for people’s heads to be chopped off, she rules her subjects through fear. “She’s got emotional problems,” says Bonham Carter.
- 2/23/2010
- MoviesOnline.ca
Here it is! The film we’ve been waiting for. That is that guys have been waiting for. I can’t tell you how long it’s been since I’ve seen a hardcore, violent, macho action film with a black hero directed by a black director. No chicks allowed. Now that I’ve got that out of my way let me say that there’s no need to worry. The Book of Eli is just terrific! A solidly made, intriguing, apocalyptic sci-fi action movie with some serious religious and spiritual undertones, with a real twist that comes near the end that either will surprise you, or you might think is too far fetched (I bought it). Denzel Washington is pretty convincing playing a mean, lean (well maybe not so lean since I didn’t see any real evidence of that 50 pounds he claimed he lost for the film, unless...
- 1/15/2010
- by Sergio
- ShadowAndAct
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