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3 items from 2011

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Denis Cannan obituary

18 October 2011 3:21 AM, PDT | The Guardian - TV News | See recent The Guardian - TV News news »

Playwright best known for his 1950 comedy Captain Carvallo

The playwright Denis Cannan, who has died aged 92, was best known for writing the comedy Captain Carvallo, which lit up the West End in 1950 and enabled him to give up his first career as a repertory actor. The story of a philandering young army officer, Captain Carvallo was a refreshing play of ideas, joyfully offbeat and absurd. Cannan contemplated the activities of his characters with a tolerant and not unfriendly disdain.

The play was first tried out in March 1950 at the Bristol Old Vic, where Cannan was acting at the time. A few months later, Laurence Olivier boldly restaged the play – billed as a "traditional comedy" – at the St James's theatre in London, with James Donald in the lead role, opposite Diana Wynyard. It was a great success, although Cannan preferred the Bristol production. "His play shimmers with ideas wittily juxtaposed, and »

- Michael Billington

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Paulette Goddard Movie Schedule: An Ideal Husband, The Women

2 August 2011 3:53 PM, PDT | Alt Film Guide | See recent Alt Film Guide news »

Paulette Goddard, Modern Times Paulette Goddard on TCM Part I: Modern Times, Reap The Wild Wind I've never watched Alexander Korda's British-made An Ideal Husband, a 1948 adaptation (by Lajos Biro) of Oscar Wilde's play, but it should be at least worth a look. The respectable cast includes Michael Wilding, Diana Wynyard, C. Aubrey Smith, Hugh Williams, Constance Collier, and Glynis Johns. George Cukor's film version of Clare Boothe Luce's hilarious The Women ("officially" adapted by Anita Loos and Jane Murfin) is definitely worth numerous looks; once or twice or even three times isn't/aren't enough to catch the machine-gun dialogue spewed forth by the likes of Goddard, Rosalind Russell, Joan Crawford, Mary Boland, Phyllis Povah, Lucile Watson, et al. A big hit at the time, The Women actually ended up in the red because of its high cost. Norma Shearer, aka The Widow Thalberg, was the nominal star; curiously, »

- Andre Soares

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Cavalcade Review – Clive Brook, Diana Wynyard d: Frank Lloyd

10 February 2011 11:52 PM, PST | Alt Film Guide | See recent Alt Film Guide news »

Cavalcade (1933) Direction: Frank Lloyd Cast: Clive Brook, Diana Wynyard, Herbert Mundin, Una O'Connor, Beryl Mercer, Irene Browne, Merle Tottenham, Frank Lawton, Ursula Jeans, Margaret Lindsay Screenplay: Reginald Berkeley, Sonya Levien; from Noel Coward's 1931 play Oscar Movies, Pre-Code Movies Herbert Mundin, Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, Una O'Connor, Cavalcade Synopsis: Upstairs, Robert and Jane Marryot (Clive Brook, Diana Wynyard), and downstairs, Alfred and Ellen Bridges (Herbert Mundin, Una O'Connor), in a British household, from 1900 to 1933. The Pros: Cavalcade won Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for the period 1932-33 (basically from Aug. '32-Dec. '33) and was reportedly the biggest box-office hit of 1933, grossing more than $3.5m (approx. $121m today*). That makes it a historical curiosity. Best Actress Oscar nominee Diana Wynyard has one remarkable moment, walking among armistice revelers but not feeling at all like celebrating after having lost a son to the Great War. Noel Coward, for his [...] »

- Andre Soares

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3 items from 2011

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