Saucy pre-Code entertainment frequently served up risqué dialogue, with edgy content like promiscuity and drug use. Mitchell Leisen’s 1934 murder mystery goes straight for a supposed family-industry no-no: Broadway-revue near-nudity featuring Earl Carroll’s ‘Most Beautiful Girls In The World’. Victor McLaglen is an inept detective and Jack Oakie a wise-cracking impresario. Gertrude Michael and Kitty Carlisle carry the musical numbers, the most famous being an ode to the still-legal Sweet Marijuana. Showgirls like Lucille Ball possess the daring to don the skimpy costumes, even if they hadn’t yet learned what Marijuana was. Duke Ellington and his orchestra sit in for Ebony Rhapsody, a mixed-race musical number with room for ‘guest dancers from Harlem.’
Murder at the Vanities
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1934 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 89 min. / Street Date October 11, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Carl Brisson, Victor McLaglen, Jack Oakie, Kitty Carlisle, Dorothy Stickney, Gertrude Michael, Jessie Ralph,...
Murder at the Vanities
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1934 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 89 min. / Street Date October 11, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Carl Brisson, Victor McLaglen, Jack Oakie, Kitty Carlisle, Dorothy Stickney, Gertrude Michael, Jessie Ralph,...
- 10/1/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Alfred Hitchcock silent movies added to Unesco UK Memory of the World Register (photo: Ivor Novello in The Lodger) The nine Alfred Hitchcock-directed silent films recently restored by the British Film Institute have been added to the Unesco UK Memory of the World Register, "a list of documentary heritage which holds cultural significance specific to the UK." The nine Hitchcock movies are the following: The Pleasure Garden (1925), The Ring (1927), Downhill / When Boys Leave Home (1927), The Lodger (1927), Easy Virtue (1928), Champagne (1928), The Farmer’s Wife (1928), The Manxman (1929), and Blackmail (1929) — also released as a talkie, Britain’s first. Only one Hitchcock-directed silent remains lost, The Mountain Eagle / Fear o’ God (1926). Most of those movies have little in common with the suspense thrillers Hitchcock would crank out in Britain and later in Hollywood from the early ’30s on. But a handful of his silents already featured elements and themes that would recur in...
- 7/18/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
From a silent Hitchcock movie to the story of a boxer who dreams of being a great violinist, Danny Leigh explores cinema's enduring love of the fight game
Boxing was there at the very dawn of cinema. As early as 1894, film-makers were shooting prize fights: the fast and furious physical spectacle was perfect for the new medium of motion pictures. Soon, scores of directors had been drawn to boxing – not just for the violence but for the drama of fighters' lives. In 1927, Hitchcock made The Ring, a silent tale of a pugilistic love triangle that is his one and only original screenplay. While many boxing movies reached greatness, even the most ordinary could still thrill with a canny sprinkling of what became genre staples: wise old trainers, crooked promoters, fixes, comebacks, wives who can't bear to look. In fact, plenty of boxing films are really about the women behind the men.
Boxing was there at the very dawn of cinema. As early as 1894, film-makers were shooting prize fights: the fast and furious physical spectacle was perfect for the new medium of motion pictures. Soon, scores of directors had been drawn to boxing – not just for the violence but for the drama of fighters' lives. In 1927, Hitchcock made The Ring, a silent tale of a pugilistic love triangle that is his one and only original screenplay. While many boxing movies reached greatness, even the most ordinary could still thrill with a canny sprinkling of what became genre staples: wise old trainers, crooked promoters, fixes, comebacks, wives who can't bear to look. In fact, plenty of boxing films are really about the women behind the men.
- 2/28/2013
- by Danny Leigh
- The Guardian - Film News
Psycho. The Birds. Rear Window. North By Northwest. Every film geek knows the major works of Alfred Hitchcock, but have you ever seen 1927's The Ring? It's Hitchcock's fourth film, and while it's never quite been considered a classic, the silent film was an influence on Martin Scorsese when he directed Raging Bull awhile back. The Ring stars Carl Brisson and Ian Hunter as two boxers who battle for the love of the same woman, played by Lillian Hall Davis. For those not heading to Comic-Con this year, you can check this out for free since the film is getting the online live-stream treatment on Saturday, July 14th. More below! Here are a few stills from Alfred Hitchcock's influential film The Ring: A website called The Space is hosting the live-stream, and you can bookmark the page right now to prepare for the upcoming show. But here's the catch.
- 7/9/2012
- by Ben Pearson
- firstshowing.net
Everyone knows the classic Hitchcocks: Psycho, The Birds, The Lady Vanishes. But the summer-long retrospective also includes wonderful films you may not have heard much about; here's 10 often-overlooked Hitchcocks you won't want to miss
Born in Leytonstone, east London, but destined to be the toast of Hollywood, Alfred Hitchcock learned the business of film-making in London, not La. The business at that time was silent cinema, and the young Hitchcock had a full apprenticeship.
He spent years at Gainsborough Pictures in Islington, north London (or Famous Players-Lasky as it was when he arrived) crafting caption cards, editing scripts and designing sets before he was given the chance to direct his own films. His early features are far more accomplished, and more personal, than many a director's debut. And if you're familiar with his famous sound movies, you'll find much in them that prefigures his most celebrated suspense-filled sequences.
The British...
Born in Leytonstone, east London, but destined to be the toast of Hollywood, Alfred Hitchcock learned the business of film-making in London, not La. The business at that time was silent cinema, and the young Hitchcock had a full apprenticeship.
He spent years at Gainsborough Pictures in Islington, north London (or Famous Players-Lasky as it was when he arrived) crafting caption cards, editing scripts and designing sets before he was given the chance to direct his own films. His early features are far more accomplished, and more personal, than many a director's debut. And if you're familiar with his famous sound movies, you'll find much in them that prefigures his most celebrated suspense-filled sequences.
The British...
- 7/4/2012
- by Tony Paley, Pamela Hutchinson
- The Guardian - Film News
Netflix has revolutionized the home movie experience for fans of film with its instant streaming technology. Netflix Nuggets is my way of spreading the word about independent, classic and foreign films made available by Netflix for instant streaming.
This Week’s New Instant Releases…
Promised Lands (1974)
Streaming Available: 04/19/2011
Cast: Documentary
Director: Susan Sontag
Synopsis: Set in Israel during the final days of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, this powerful documentary — initially barred by Israel authorities — from writer-director Susan Sontag examines divergent perceptions of the enduring Arab-Israeli clash. Weighing in on matters related to socialism, anti-Semitism, nation sovereignty and American materialism are The Last Jew writer Yoram Kaniuk and military physicist Yuval Ne’eman.
Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen (2009)
Streaming Available: 04/19/2011
Cast: Barbara Sukowa, Heino Ferch, Hannah Herzsprung, Gerald Alexander Held, Lena Stolze, Sunnyi Melles
Synopsis: Directed by longtime star of independent German cinema Margarethe von Trotta, this reverent...
This Week’s New Instant Releases…
Promised Lands (1974)
Streaming Available: 04/19/2011
Cast: Documentary
Director: Susan Sontag
Synopsis: Set in Israel during the final days of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, this powerful documentary — initially barred by Israel authorities — from writer-director Susan Sontag examines divergent perceptions of the enduring Arab-Israeli clash. Weighing in on matters related to socialism, anti-Semitism, nation sovereignty and American materialism are The Last Jew writer Yoram Kaniuk and military physicist Yuval Ne’eman.
Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen (2009)
Streaming Available: 04/19/2011
Cast: Barbara Sukowa, Heino Ferch, Hannah Herzsprung, Gerald Alexander Held, Lena Stolze, Sunnyi Melles
Synopsis: Directed by longtime star of independent German cinema Margarethe von Trotta, this reverent...
- 4/20/2011
- by Travis Keune
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
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