News for
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) More at IMDbPro »

ad feedback

3 items from 2012

24 January 2012 3:12 AM, PST | Den of Geek | See recent Den of Geek news »

Zoe’s continues her journey through the turbulent history of one of Hollywood’s most influential studios, as we arrive at MGM's post-war golden era. Plus, a bit of 3D, too...

As the end of World War II approached, a new world dawned for MGM – a world which had changed dramatically. Attitudes and lifestyles had changed, but most importantly audiences had changed. Here was an opportunity: MGM’s chance to start afresh. And so in 1944, MGM embarked on what would become the most successful period in its history. After the war, the slate was wiped clean.

Gone were the tired, tried-and-tested formulas, and gone were the aging names and stars, as a new unit was established at MGM. It was up to this unit, anchored by an experienced producer and made up of bright young talent, to transform MGM’s signature high-production style into something new and modern in order »

8 January 2012 1:49 PM, PST | MUBI | See recent MUBI news »

"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, »

6 January 2012 7:03 PM, PST | Alt Film Guide | See recent Alt Film Guide news »

Screenwriter Frederica Sagor Dead at 111: Wrote Movies for Norma Shearer (photo), Clara Bow, Louise Brooks Now, whether Frederica Sagor's Hollywood Babylon-like tales bear any resemblance to what actually happened at studio parties and private soirees, I can't tell. But on the professional side, one problem with the information found in The Shocking Miss Pilgrim is that studios invariably used numerous writers, whether male or female, in their projects. Usually, in those pre-Writers Guild days, only two or three contributors received final credit, not because of the uncredited writer's gender but in large part because the final product oftentimes had little — if anything — in common with the original source. While doing research for my Ramon Novarro biography, I went through various drafts, written by various hands, of his movies. A Certain Young Man, for instance, went through so many changes (including director, cast, and title), that the final film »

- Andre Soares

3 items from 2012