“That movie was the President’s idea, not mine, but it was a demand, not a suggestion.”
The speaker was Jack Warner in a 1947 foreshadowing of his Donald Trumpian style. I recalled his remarks this week as I drove onto the Warner Bros lot, the fabled arena where Warner long reigned.
In his heyday, Warner was a Trump pre-clone in terms of temperament and rhetoric – a man who boasted about his mental acuity yet, to Hollywood’s power players, seemed occasionally unhinged.
I was visiting Warner Bros this week to spend some time with David Zaslav, a figure who, in temperament and politics, is the mirror opposite of Warner but whose empire is nonetheless a product of Warner’s erratic vision. Some believe that Zaslav’s studio – Hollywood in general – might still glean some insight from its founder’s idiosyncrasies.
A career maverick, Warner promoted gangster movies like Public Enemy...
The speaker was Jack Warner in a 1947 foreshadowing of his Donald Trumpian style. I recalled his remarks this week as I drove onto the Warner Bros lot, the fabled arena where Warner long reigned.
In his heyday, Warner was a Trump pre-clone in terms of temperament and rhetoric – a man who boasted about his mental acuity yet, to Hollywood’s power players, seemed occasionally unhinged.
I was visiting Warner Bros this week to spend some time with David Zaslav, a figure who, in temperament and politics, is the mirror opposite of Warner but whose empire is nonetheless a product of Warner’s erratic vision. Some believe that Zaslav’s studio – Hollywood in general – might still glean some insight from its founder’s idiosyncrasies.
A career maverick, Warner promoted gangster movies like Public Enemy...
- 3/7/2024
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
“It Happened One Night,” which premiered at Radio City Music Hall on Feb. 22, 1934, helped usher in the screwball romantic comedy, changed the careers of stars Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, director Frank Capra and screenwriter Robert Riskin and transformed the Poverty Row Columbia Pictures into a major player. And let’s not forget, “It Happened One Night” also made Oscar history winning five major Oscars: picture, director, adapted screenplay and both actor and actress. It would be 41 years before “One Flew of the Cuckoo’s Nest” would accomplish the same feat at the Academy Awards.
Based on the short story “Night Bus,” the smart, endearing road movie focuses on spoiled rotten Ellie Andrews (Colbert) who has gone against her wealthy father’s (Walter Connelly) wishes by marrying the gold-digging King Westley (Jameson Thomas). Before their wedding night, her father whisked her away to his yacht in Florida. She manages to...
Based on the short story “Night Bus,” the smart, endearing road movie focuses on spoiled rotten Ellie Andrews (Colbert) who has gone against her wealthy father’s (Walter Connelly) wishes by marrying the gold-digging King Westley (Jameson Thomas). Before their wedding night, her father whisked her away to his yacht in Florida. She manages to...
- 2/20/2024
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Columbia Pictures highest grossing movie franchises are one of Hollywood’s biggest Box Office earners. As a film production and distribution company, Columbia Pictures is a division of one of Hollywood’s Big Four studios, Sony Pictures (Sony Group Corporation). On January 20, 2024, Columbia Pictures turned 100, having been founded on January 20, 1924. The company was initially called Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales Corporation when it was founded on June 19, 1918, before it was renamed Columbia Pictures six years later. The Cohn brothers, Jack Cohn and Harry Cohn founded the film production company with Joe Brandt, a business partner. For...
- 2/7/2024
- by Onyinye Izundu
- TVovermind.com
Indie producer Harry Cohn, brother Jack and their associate Joe Brandt created the CBC Film Sales Company in 1918. And on Jan. 10, 1924, the trio formed the Poverty Row studio, Columbia Pictures. According to Enclyclopedia.com, by the mid-20s “Cohn had gained reputation as one of the industry’s toughest businessmen.” That’s putting it mildly.
Though “B” movies and series such as The Three Stooges, “Blondie” and “The Lone Wolf” were the bread and butter of the studio, Cohn slowly attracted top talent and directors and turned such newcomers as Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, William Holden and Kim Novak into stars.
Frank Capra changed the fortunes of the studio. Signing with Columbia in 1928, he made 25 films for Columbia. His optimistic, common man movies attracted critics and audiences alike during the Depression. His 1934 screwball comedy “It Happened One Night,” penned by Robert Riskin and starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, swept the Oscars winning five.
Though “B” movies and series such as The Three Stooges, “Blondie” and “The Lone Wolf” were the bread and butter of the studio, Cohn slowly attracted top talent and directors and turned such newcomers as Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, William Holden and Kim Novak into stars.
Frank Capra changed the fortunes of the studio. Signing with Columbia in 1928, he made 25 films for Columbia. His optimistic, common man movies attracted critics and audiences alike during the Depression. His 1934 screwball comedy “It Happened One Night,” penned by Robert Riskin and starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, swept the Oscars winning five.
- 1/8/2024
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Sony Pictures Entertainment is marking Columbia Pictures’ 100th anniversary with a new centennial logo inspired by the historic “Lady With the Torch” iconography.
Ahead of Columbia’s anniversary celebration on Jan. 10, 2024, the new logo has an enhanced glow to the torch to symbolize the vibrancy of the Hollywood studio’s history, Sony said in a statement.
“There is one thing that separates a major studio from all other content producers: history. At Columbia, that history is reflected in the countless cultural talismans created by thousands of people over now 100 years. All of us at Columbia are proud of that legacy and honored to celebrate it,” Tom Rothman, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures’ Motion Picture Group, said in a statement on Tuesday.
The studio behind classic Hollywood movies like It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and You Can’t Take it With You was founded by brothers...
Ahead of Columbia’s anniversary celebration on Jan. 10, 2024, the new logo has an enhanced glow to the torch to symbolize the vibrancy of the Hollywood studio’s history, Sony said in a statement.
“There is one thing that separates a major studio from all other content producers: history. At Columbia, that history is reflected in the countless cultural talismans created by thousands of people over now 100 years. All of us at Columbia are proud of that legacy and honored to celebrate it,” Tom Rothman, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures’ Motion Picture Group, said in a statement on Tuesday.
The studio behind classic Hollywood movies like It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and You Can’t Take it With You was founded by brothers...
- 11/14/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
She was the first American actress to marry a prince, the first actress to dance with both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, one of the first pin-up girls of the 1940s and the first celebrity to bring awareness to Alzheimer’s Disease. She was the “Love Goddess,” Rita Hayworth.
Hayworth was born on October 17, 1918, in Brooklyn as Margarita Carmen Cansino, into a family of Spanish dancers. Although she later claimed she didn’t care for it, Hayworth started dancing at a young age to please her father. They performed together as the Dancing Cansinos from the time she was 12-years-old. She began landing small film roles in her teens under the name Rita Cansino, eventually earning a contract with Columbia Pictures. There she was “Americanized” by changing her last name to her Irish mother’s maiden name of Hayworth, dying her dark hair red and having electrolysis to raise her hairline.
Hayworth was born on October 17, 1918, in Brooklyn as Margarita Carmen Cansino, into a family of Spanish dancers. Although she later claimed she didn’t care for it, Hayworth started dancing at a young age to please her father. They performed together as the Dancing Cansinos from the time she was 12-years-old. She began landing small film roles in her teens under the name Rita Cansino, eventually earning a contract with Columbia Pictures. There she was “Americanized” by changing her last name to her Irish mother’s maiden name of Hayworth, dying her dark hair red and having electrolysis to raise her hairline.
- 10/13/2023
- by Susan Pennington, Misty Holland and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
It's hard to believe it's been 70 years since Fred Zinneman's "From Here to Eternity" came out. Not that we were all there of course, but time has been really kind to the all-star, Best Picture-winning drama. Unlike many of the rah-rah war films emerging from America during and post-World War II, "From Here to Eternity" argues not that war is hell — since most of the movie takes place during peace time — but that men, even in the army, are subconsciously determined to make life hell whether there's a war on or not.
Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, and Frank Sinatra star as soldiers stationed in Hawaii immediately prior to World War II, whose stubborn pride and barely contained insecurities lead directly to many avoidable tragedies. Clift plays Private Prewitt, a formerly promising boxer who refuses to box again after accidentally blinding a fellow soldier, and endures criminal abuse just because...
Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, and Frank Sinatra star as soldiers stationed in Hawaii immediately prior to World War II, whose stubborn pride and barely contained insecurities lead directly to many avoidable tragedies. Clift plays Private Prewitt, a formerly promising boxer who refuses to box again after accidentally blinding a fellow soldier, and endures criminal abuse just because...
- 8/6/2023
- by William Bibbiani
- Slash Film
Character actor Michael Lerner, known for his Oscar-nominated role in Joel and Ethan Coen's "Barton Fink," has died at the age of 81. Lerner passed away on Saturday, April 8, 2023. His nephew, "The Goldbergs" star Sam Lerner, confirmed the news in an Instagram post the following day (via Variety).
Michael Lerner was born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 22, 1941. In the 1960s, he appeared on sitcoms like "The Brady Bunch" and "The Doris Day Show" and studied at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre before landing his first film role in "Alex in Wonderland" in 1970. In the decade that followed, Lerner would continue juggling movies, TV shows, and TV movies, making a number of guest appearances on shows like "Ironside," "The Bob Newhart Show," "M*A*S*H," "The Odd Couple," "Starsky and Hutch," "The Rockford Files," "Kojak," and "Wonder Woman."
In the 1980s, Lerner costarred in "The Postman Always Rings Twice...
Michael Lerner was born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 22, 1941. In the 1960s, he appeared on sitcoms like "The Brady Bunch" and "The Doris Day Show" and studied at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre before landing his first film role in "Alex in Wonderland" in 1970. In the decade that followed, Lerner would continue juggling movies, TV shows, and TV movies, making a number of guest appearances on shows like "Ironside," "The Bob Newhart Show," "M*A*S*H," "The Odd Couple," "Starsky and Hutch," "The Rockford Files," "Kojak," and "Wonder Woman."
In the 1980s, Lerner costarred in "The Postman Always Rings Twice...
- 4/10/2023
- by Joshua Meyer
- Slash Film
Auteurs and Hollywood don't always mix. Stanley Kubrick put some considerable distance between himself and the studio system after being required to stick closely to Dalton Trumbo's "Spartacus" script in 1960 — heading to England to secure funding and creative control on 1962's "Lolita." But he wasn't the first American filmmaker to flee his homeland in search of artistic freedom and funding.
Orson Welles is perhaps the ultimate example of a director clashing with a filmmaking industry unaligned with his sophisticated artistic ambitions. After his first film, "Citizen Kane," debuted in 1941 and proved a financial failure, Welles had to fight for financing and artistic control on future projects. Rko, which had funded "Citizen Kane," renegotiated Welles' contract to remove the unprecedented creative control he was initially afforded. And even though the film would eventually become regarded as one of, if not the finest movie ever made, the director would regularly find...
Orson Welles is perhaps the ultimate example of a director clashing with a filmmaking industry unaligned with his sophisticated artistic ambitions. After his first film, "Citizen Kane," debuted in 1941 and proved a financial failure, Welles had to fight for financing and artistic control on future projects. Rko, which had funded "Citizen Kane," renegotiated Welles' contract to remove the unprecedented creative control he was initially afforded. And even though the film would eventually become regarded as one of, if not the finest movie ever made, the director would regularly find...
- 3/4/2023
- by Joe Roberts
- Slash Film
Ted Donaldson, who starred as Bud Anderson on the original radio version of Father Knows Best and as Neely Nolan in the beloved family drama A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the first feature directed by Elia Kazan, has died. He was 89.
Donaldson died Wednesday of complications from a fall in his Echo Park apartment in January, his friend Thomas Bruno told The Hollywood Reporter.
In his big-screen debut, Donaldson portrayed a boy who gets his pet caterpillar Curly to dance when he plays “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby” on the harmonica in the comedy fantasy Once Upon a Time (1944), starring Cary Grant and Janet Blair.
He also starred as Danny Mitchell in eight B-movies from Columbia Pictures that revolved around a German shepherd named Rusty. The first one, Adventures of Rusty (1945), featured Ace the Wonder Dog.
An only child, Donaldson was born in Brooklyn on Aug. 20, 1933. His father was...
Donaldson died Wednesday of complications from a fall in his Echo Park apartment in January, his friend Thomas Bruno told The Hollywood Reporter.
In his big-screen debut, Donaldson portrayed a boy who gets his pet caterpillar Curly to dance when he plays “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby” on the harmonica in the comedy fantasy Once Upon a Time (1944), starring Cary Grant and Janet Blair.
He also starred as Danny Mitchell in eight B-movies from Columbia Pictures that revolved around a German shepherd named Rusty. The first one, Adventures of Rusty (1945), featured Ace the Wonder Dog.
An only child, Donaldson was born in Brooklyn on Aug. 20, 1933. His father was...
- 3/3/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In 1949, John Wayne was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Allan Dwan's war film "Sands of Iwo Jima." Despite several thoughtful antiwar films that preceded it -- specifically "All Quiet on the Western Front" and "The Best Years of Our Lives" -- "Iwo Jima" came at a time when patriotic, downright jingoistic movies about World War II were coming into vogue. In particular, 1949 saw the release of films like "Battleground" and "Twelve O'Clock High," both films about the nobility of war and the heroism of soldiers. Both those films were nominated for Best Picture, although they lost to the political corruption drama "All the King's Men." Wayne himself lost Best Actor to Broderick Crawford, the star of "King's Men."
In 1969, Wayne looked back on "Iwo Jima" in an interview with Roger Ebert, and posited that he lost his Oscar for political reasons. A...
In 1969, Wayne looked back on "Iwo Jima" in an interview with Roger Ebert, and posited that he lost his Oscar for political reasons. A...
- 2/28/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Actor John Wayne starred in over 165 movies over the course of his successful career. He starred in several legendary Western films, including Stagecoach and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, but there was one that he turned down. As a result, he lost the “top Western star of the year” award, which sent him into a frustrated spiral.
John Wayne had personal drama with Columbia studio head John Wayne | Archive Photos/Getty Images
Filmmaker Raoul Walsh gave Wayne his first opportunity to star in a leading role in 1930’s The Big Trail, which ultimately bombed at the box office. The actor moved to low-budget Western flicks, which offered him consistent work, but they didn’t give him the chance to grow in the way he wanted.
Wayne almost lost it all when he had a contract with Columbia studio head Harry Cohn. The actor acted politely toward a female actor on the studio lot,...
John Wayne had personal drama with Columbia studio head John Wayne | Archive Photos/Getty Images
Filmmaker Raoul Walsh gave Wayne his first opportunity to star in a leading role in 1930’s The Big Trail, which ultimately bombed at the box office. The actor moved to low-budget Western flicks, which offered him consistent work, but they didn’t give him the chance to grow in the way he wanted.
Wayne almost lost it all when he had a contract with Columbia studio head Harry Cohn. The actor acted politely toward a female actor on the studio lot,...
- 2/10/2023
- by Jeff Nelson
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Today marks the 75th anniversary of the Waldorf Declaration, which on November 25, 1947, officially launched the Hollywood Blacklist. On that day, the heads of the major studios, with a few notable exceptions, agreed after a contentious two-day conference at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City to ban the Hollywood Ten and to not “knowingly” employ Communists.
And so began one of the darkest chapters in Hollywood’s history.
Related Story Hollywood Blacklist: 75th Anniversary Of The Waldorf Declaration – Photo Gallery Related Story Donald Anthony St. Claire Dies: 'The Amazing Race' Oldest Competitor Was 87 Related Story Irene Cara Remembered By Colleagues, Friends And Fans
Just a few weeks earlier, the Hollywood Ten had denounced and refused to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee and later were sent to federal prison for contempt of Congress.
“We will forthwith discharge or suspend without compensation those in our employ,” the Waldorf Declaration stated,...
And so began one of the darkest chapters in Hollywood’s history.
Related Story Hollywood Blacklist: 75th Anniversary Of The Waldorf Declaration – Photo Gallery Related Story Donald Anthony St. Claire Dies: 'The Amazing Race' Oldest Competitor Was 87 Related Story Irene Cara Remembered By Colleagues, Friends And Fans
Just a few weeks earlier, the Hollywood Ten had denounced and refused to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee and later were sent to federal prison for contempt of Congress.
“We will forthwith discharge or suspend without compensation those in our employ,” the Waldorf Declaration stated,...
- 11/25/2022
- by David Robb
- Deadline Film + TV
The first movie to directly confront McCarthyism! Or so said the editorials touting this ‘Long-Awaited Screen Event’ in which ‘Bette Davis Hits the Screen in a Cyclone of Dramatic Fury!’ The storm of the title was based on a real activist in Oklahoma who lost her job for promoting equal rights. Bette’s polite librarian is victimized by small-minded civic types; a subplot depicts the traumatic reaction of one of her patrons, a child expected to despise her as a traitor to the country. Daniel Taradash’s movie is an excellent starting point to discuss the thorny dramatic subgenre of liberal social issue movies.
Storm Center
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 155
1956 / B&w / 1:78 widescreen / 86 min. / Street Date September 30, 2022 / Available from / au 39.95
Starring:
Bette Davis, Brian Keith, Kim Hunter, Paul Kelly, Joe Mantell, Kevin Coughlin, Sallie Brophie, Howard Wierum, Curtis Cooksey, Michael Raffetto, Joseph Kearns, Edward Platt, Kathryn Grant, Howard Wendell, Malcolm Atterbury,...
Storm Center
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 155
1956 / B&w / 1:78 widescreen / 86 min. / Street Date September 30, 2022 / Available from / au 39.95
Starring:
Bette Davis, Brian Keith, Kim Hunter, Paul Kelly, Joe Mantell, Kevin Coughlin, Sallie Brophie, Howard Wierum, Curtis Cooksey, Michael Raffetto, Joseph Kearns, Edward Platt, Kathryn Grant, Howard Wendell, Malcolm Atterbury,...
- 11/12/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
If "From Here to Eternity" has one defining legacy, it would be the tapestry of characters and storylines it presents. Following three separate threads, which are all given a time in the spotlight, every actor in the core ensemble gets a complete arc. In fact, the broad attention to its characters would reflect in the career opportunities that opened for each of those actors following the movie's critical and box office success.
Like any movie about Pearl Harbor, "From Here to Eternity" is a tragedy. For 1953, and especially with the Hays Code restricting its use of violence and obscenity, its depiction of the Japanese attack in its last few minutes is brutal, with enemy planes shown gunning down soldiers point-blank. But even with these brief moments of carnage, the more prominently featured tragedies are in the characters' personal lives.
Private Angelo Maggio
When Columbia Pictures purchased the film rights for James Jones' 1951 novel,...
Like any movie about Pearl Harbor, "From Here to Eternity" is a tragedy. For 1953, and especially with the Hays Code restricting its use of violence and obscenity, its depiction of the Japanese attack in its last few minutes is brutal, with enemy planes shown gunning down soldiers point-blank. But even with these brief moments of carnage, the more prominently featured tragedies are in the characters' personal lives.
Private Angelo Maggio
When Columbia Pictures purchased the film rights for James Jones' 1951 novel,...
- 10/15/2022
- by Walter Roberts
- Slash Film
The rules of survival in Hollywood have always fascinated me. “Consistency is the key – always present yourself to studios as a total bitch,” Bette Davis once confided. “Never delude yourself into thinking that a star can become a loyal personal friend,” advised Billy Wilder. “Since studios always lie, a producer’s mandate is to come up with bigger lies,” said David O. Selznick.
As a collector of Hollywood war stories, I was pleased this week to discover a new book (741 pages) with the intimidating title Hollywood: The Oral History – one that has greatly expanded my inventory of intrigue.
Over the course of the last 50 years AFI (the American Film Institute) has semi-secretly recorded, and now published, interviews with accomplished stars and filmmakers, thus creating an intimate Hollywood history told in first person (HarperCollins is the publisher).
Approaching a book of this size as summer reading, I decided to focus not on thoughtful analysis,...
As a collector of Hollywood war stories, I was pleased this week to discover a new book (741 pages) with the intimidating title Hollywood: The Oral History – one that has greatly expanded my inventory of intrigue.
Over the course of the last 50 years AFI (the American Film Institute) has semi-secretly recorded, and now published, interviews with accomplished stars and filmmakers, thus creating an intimate Hollywood history told in first person (HarperCollins is the publisher).
Approaching a book of this size as summer reading, I decided to focus not on thoughtful analysis,...
- 9/8/2022
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
This grouping of Bogart’s Columbia output has one bona fide noir, a pair of exotic ‘romantic intrigue’ thrillers and three social issue pictures. It’s a good set, with films directed by John Cromwell, Nicholas Ray and Mark Robson, and with leading ladies Lizabeth Scott, Florence Marley, Marta Toren, Jody Lawrance and Jan Sterling. And the Powerhouse Indicator extras are especially well curated. Watch out — it’s Region B only.
Columbia Noir #5 Humphrey Bogart
Region B Blu-ray
Dead Reckoning, Knock on Any Door, Tokyo Joe,
Sirocco, The Family Secret, The Harder They Fall
Powerhouse Indicator
1947-1956 / B&w / 1:37 Academy & 1:85 widescreen
Street Date June 27, 2022 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £49.99
Starring or Executive Produced by Humphrey Bogart
For an established actor who really didn’t break through as a starring leading man until age 41, Humphrey Bogart sure gave us a legacy of prominent movies. As movie stars go he...
Columbia Noir #5 Humphrey Bogart
Region B Blu-ray
Dead Reckoning, Knock on Any Door, Tokyo Joe,
Sirocco, The Family Secret, The Harder They Fall
Powerhouse Indicator
1947-1956 / B&w / 1:37 Academy & 1:85 widescreen
Street Date June 27, 2022 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £49.99
Starring or Executive Produced by Humphrey Bogart
For an established actor who really didn’t break through as a starring leading man until age 41, Humphrey Bogart sure gave us a legacy of prominent movies. As movie stars go he...
- 6/21/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Powerhouse Indicator moves forward to their fourth fancy box of noirs from the studio of Harry Cohn, six pictures stretching from the postwar boom to the end of the original classic noir era. This time around we have some notable directors, and a nice selection of stars — Dennis O’Keefe, George Murphy, Fred MacMurray, Kim Novak, Jean Simmons, Rory Calhoun and Richard Conte. Kim Novak makes her starring debut as a femme fatale; noir icon Richard Conte shines in a movie that marks a turn into a new kind of existential, paranoid thriller. And speaking of paranoid, we again get to lighten up with another selection of theme-appropriate Three Stooges shorts.
Columbia Noir #4
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1948-1957 / B&w + Color / 1:85 widescreen, 1:37 Academy / Street Date September 27, 2021 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / 49.99
Starring: Louis Hayward, Dennis O’Keefe; George Murphy; Fred MacMurray, Kim Novak; Jean Simmons, Rory Calhoun; Dennis O’Keefe,...
Columbia Noir #4
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1948-1957 / B&w + Color / 1:85 widescreen, 1:37 Academy / Street Date September 27, 2021 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / 49.99
Starring: Louis Hayward, Dennis O’Keefe; George Murphy; Fred MacMurray, Kim Novak; Jean Simmons, Rory Calhoun; Dennis O’Keefe,...
- 9/14/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“It’s strange, but some movies present themselves almost entirely in your head.”—Joel Coen
“I’ll show you a life of the mind!”—Charlie Meadows, a.k.a. Karl Mundt, a.k.a. “Madman” Mundt
Everyone knows about the telegram. It’s an apocryphal Hollywood story, with the actual letter lost to time. But its recipient Ben Hecht quotes it in his memoir, A Child of the Century. The famed journalist, novelist and playwright was toiling away in New York when he received a missive straight from Babylon, courtesy...
“I’ll show you a life of the mind!”—Charlie Meadows, a.k.a. Karl Mundt, a.k.a. “Madman” Mundt
Everyone knows about the telegram. It’s an apocryphal Hollywood story, with the actual letter lost to time. But its recipient Ben Hecht quotes it in his memoir, A Child of the Century. The famed journalist, novelist and playwright was toiling away in New York when he received a missive straight from Babylon, courtesy...
- 8/21/2021
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
“Hey you guys!!!” And at the risk of either being non-inclusive or sexist, “you gals, too”! There’s a new feature-length documentary arriving in theatres this weekend that certainly breaks the preconceived notions of what many consider “film homework”. Yes, there are a considerable amount of “talking heads”, but the movie is far from “dull and dry”. Now, that’s due in large part to the doc’s subject matter (hence all those “talkers” on camera). This is a prime example of this film genre’s popular “subset”, the “show biz” documentary. Last year saw two great entertainment profiles on the Go-Go’s, the Bee Gees, and Natalie Wood. Now, this look at the life and career of one of the latter’s co-stars will no doubt earn similar accolades this year (along with another out today). Speaking of accolades, this lady’s amassed so many, even joining the elite group known as EGOTs.
- 6/16/2021
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Actor Gloria Henry, who advanced from B movies in the 1940s to an iconicTV mom on the CBS sitcom “Dennis the Menace,” died Saturday, one day after her 98th birthday.
Henry’s death was revealed Sunday in an Instagram post from her daughter, Erin Ellwood an interior designer and longtime production designer. “She was such an incredible woman in so many ways,” Ellwood wrote.
Henry played Alice Mitchell, the endlessly patient, shirtwaist dress-wearing mother of the mischievous title character created as a newspaper cartoon by Hank Ketcham. The TV series adaptation ran from 1959 to 1963 with Jay North in the title role. Henry’s co-star Herbert Anderson also became an iconic TV dad with his horn rim glasses, sharp-angled suits and V-neck sweaters.
Henry maintained a steady presence in TV through the mid-1960s. But there was a long gap in her resume while she took time out from acting to...
Henry’s death was revealed Sunday in an Instagram post from her daughter, Erin Ellwood an interior designer and longtime production designer. “She was such an incredible woman in so many ways,” Ellwood wrote.
Henry played Alice Mitchell, the endlessly patient, shirtwaist dress-wearing mother of the mischievous title character created as a newspaper cartoon by Hank Ketcham. The TV series adaptation ran from 1959 to 1963 with Jay North in the title role. Henry’s co-star Herbert Anderson also became an iconic TV dad with his horn rim glasses, sharp-angled suits and V-neck sweaters.
Henry maintained a steady presence in TV through the mid-1960s. But there was a long gap in her resume while she took time out from acting to...
- 4/5/2021
- by Cynthia Littleton
- Variety Film + TV
Howard Hawks’ early sound picture is a worthy prison drama — with top performances from Walter Huston and Boris Karloff, both just as their film careers began to take off. Huston shows the screen how a stage actor can take command: his Da-turned warden character is corrupt yet retains his air of authority. Karloff’s convict seethes with raw menace, and Hawks uses him better than anyone except James Whale. That ‘other’ Code, the Production Code, found this show to be unbearably tense — even though all the brutality happens off-screen, violence is soaked into every scene.
The Criminal Code
Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1930 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 97 min. / Street Date March 22, 2021 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99
Starring: Walter Huston, Phillips Holmes, Constance Cummings, Boris Karloff, DeWitt Jennings, Mary Doran, Ethel Wales, Clark Marshall, Arthur Hoyt, John St. Polis, Paul Porcasi, Andy Devine.
Cinematography: James Wong Howe, Ted Tetzlaff
Film Editor: Edward Curtis...
The Criminal Code
Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1930 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 97 min. / Street Date March 22, 2021 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99
Starring: Walter Huston, Phillips Holmes, Constance Cummings, Boris Karloff, DeWitt Jennings, Mary Doran, Ethel Wales, Clark Marshall, Arthur Hoyt, John St. Polis, Paul Porcasi, Andy Devine.
Cinematography: James Wong Howe, Ted Tetzlaff
Film Editor: Edward Curtis...
- 3/13/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“Since studios keep making remakes, why don’t they at least remake them better?” Billy Wilder had a right to ask me that question 20 years ago, since the many remakes of his movies never matched the originals.
The Wilder conundrum seems relevant today when the studios and streamers are announcing more and more remakes. Paramount says it’s developing Love Story, Flashdance and The Parallax View, among others. It is not remaking The Godfather, which went into production 50 years ago. But there are two projects in the works about the making of the movie, and there also is Francis Coppola’s refreshed Godfather III, made in 1990 and re-edited by Coppola now out under his preferred title Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone.
While I share Wilder’s skepticism about the remake business, a case could be made that the entire gangster genre deserves a revisit.
The Wilder conundrum seems relevant today when the studios and streamers are announcing more and more remakes. Paramount says it’s developing Love Story, Flashdance and The Parallax View, among others. It is not remaking The Godfather, which went into production 50 years ago. But there are two projects in the works about the making of the movie, and there also is Francis Coppola’s refreshed Godfather III, made in 1990 and re-edited by Coppola now out under his preferred title Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone.
While I share Wilder’s skepticism about the remake business, a case could be made that the entire gangster genre deserves a revisit.
- 3/4/2021
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
Rita Moreno’s most indelible screen moment, which had her and a “West Side Story” ensemble sizing up the pros and cons of their adopted U.S. homeland, remains an eternally clever musical argument over whether “America” is a dream or nightmare for immigrants, settling in at a 50/50 split. The balance is skewed more along the lines of 80/20, in favor of dream, for the star herself in “Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It.” Premiering at Sundance, the documentary from the theatrical wing of “American Masters” cheerfully jumps from one heartening career reinvention to the next, with sobering lulls to ponder what an even more prolific filmography she might have had without profligate racism and sexism standing in her path.
The list of executive producers includes longtime pal and partner-in-social-consciousness Norman Lear, as well as the man who’s followed in Moreno’s footsteps as the...
The list of executive producers includes longtime pal and partner-in-social-consciousness Norman Lear, as well as the man who’s followed in Moreno’s footsteps as the...
- 1/29/2021
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
Robert Aldrich promised no-holds barred rough-tough dramas, and his first two Associates & Aldrich productions certainly hit hard. This play adaptation shows its director’s strength (no-flinching full shock impact) and weakness (theatrical overplaying) in full measure, but the unrestrained performances of Jack Palance and Eddie Albert are unforgettable. The main event can’t have pleased the Pentagon: shooting one’s own officer in combat. Plus, Lee Marvin and Richard Jaeckel get in early innings for their future work in Aldrichs’s The Dirty Dozen.
Attack
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1956 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 107 min. / Street Date December 1, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Jack Palance, Eddie Albert, Lee Marvin, William Smithers, Buddy Ebsen, Robert Strauss, Richard Jaeckel, Jon Shepodd, Peter van Eyck, Jimmy Goodwin, Steven Geray, Strother Martin.
Cinematography: Joseph Biroc
Film Editor: Michael Luciano
Original Music: Frank Devol
Written by James Poe from the play Fragile Fox by Norman Brooks...
Attack
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1956 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 107 min. / Street Date December 1, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Jack Palance, Eddie Albert, Lee Marvin, William Smithers, Buddy Ebsen, Robert Strauss, Richard Jaeckel, Jon Shepodd, Peter van Eyck, Jimmy Goodwin, Steven Geray, Strother Martin.
Cinematography: Joseph Biroc
Film Editor: Michael Luciano
Original Music: Frank Devol
Written by James Poe from the play Fragile Fox by Norman Brooks...
- 12/15/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Exclusive: The hot movie package du jour is Scandalous! This is a drama that has Jeremy Pope — freshly minted Emmy nominee for the Netflix series Hollywood — to play Sammy Davis Jr and Janet Mock (Hollywood and Pose) to direct a drama about the interracial love affair between the entertainer and actress Kim Novak, who at the time was the top box office draw in Hollywood.
Pic will be produced by Jonathan Glickman, who is producing the upcoming Aretha Franklin film Respect, and Jon Levin. Glickman has an MGM deal and Mock one at Netflix, but they are shopping this one wide and the plan is to shoot this fall in Los Angeles and set it up with a distributor as they are locking an actress to play Novak. Mock, who is writer, director and EP on both Hollywood and Pose, will polish the script by Matthew Fantaci.
The drama is...
Pic will be produced by Jonathan Glickman, who is producing the upcoming Aretha Franklin film Respect, and Jon Levin. Glickman has an MGM deal and Mock one at Netflix, but they are shopping this one wide and the plan is to shoot this fall in Los Angeles and set it up with a distributor as they are locking an actress to play Novak. Mock, who is writer, director and EP on both Hollywood and Pose, will polish the script by Matthew Fantaci.
The drama is...
- 7/30/2020
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
For producer-director John Ford Columbia Studios was apparently a calm port in a hostile movie climate. Away from the bankability guaranteed by John Wayne, Ford never quite regained the power of his earlier triumphs, from the silent era to his socially conscious classics at Fox. The four Columbia-controlled pictures presented on Powerhouse Indicator’s lavishly appointed disc set consist of two winners and (for this viewer) a pair of odd ducks. But the quality of his filmmaking remained consistent.
John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958
The Whole Town’s Talking, The Long Gray Line, Gideon’s Day, The Last Hurrah
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1935-1958 / Color & B&w / 1:37 Academy, 2:55 widescreen, 1:85 widescreen / / Street Date April 27, 2020 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £ 42.99
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Jean Arthur; Tyrone Power, Maureen O’Hara; Jack Hawkins, Anna Massey; Spencer Tracy, Jeffrey Hunter.
Cinematography: Joseph August; Charles Lawton Jr., Charles Lang; Frederick A.
John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958
The Whole Town’s Talking, The Long Gray Line, Gideon’s Day, The Last Hurrah
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1935-1958 / Color & B&w / 1:37 Academy, 2:55 widescreen, 1:85 widescreen / / Street Date April 27, 2020 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £ 42.99
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Jean Arthur; Tyrone Power, Maureen O’Hara; Jack Hawkins, Anna Massey; Spencer Tracy, Jeffrey Hunter.
Cinematography: Joseph August; Charles Lawton Jr., Charles Lang; Frederick A.
- 5/5/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Countless Oscars parties, many scandals, and guests ranging from Howard Hughes through Led Zeppelin made Chateau Marmont a West Hollywood staple since its 1929 debut.
But the recent coronavirus shutdown has knocked out many hotels and restaurants around the world, and the Chateau Marmont is apparently not immune. Numerous reports and a statement from the labor union for the venue’s workers indicate the hotel has terminated nearly all of its staff, throwing many longtime employees out of work.
More from DeadlineCry, California! The Oscar Visitors And Their Glamour Myth Can't Come Too SoonJohn Krasinski & Aaron Sorkin Chateau Marmont Project Back In The WorksHotelier Andre Balazs Accused Of Groping Actress Amanda Anka At Event
Local 11, the union for Southern California hospitality workers, claimed hotel management notified employees on March 19 that they were being let go, effective the following day. Although no precise numbers were given, the union said nearly the entire workforce was terminated.
But the recent coronavirus shutdown has knocked out many hotels and restaurants around the world, and the Chateau Marmont is apparently not immune. Numerous reports and a statement from the labor union for the venue’s workers indicate the hotel has terminated nearly all of its staff, throwing many longtime employees out of work.
More from DeadlineCry, California! The Oscar Visitors And Their Glamour Myth Can't Come Too SoonJohn Krasinski & Aaron Sorkin Chateau Marmont Project Back In The WorksHotelier Andre Balazs Accused Of Groping Actress Amanda Anka At Event
Local 11, the union for Southern California hospitality workers, claimed hotel management notified employees on March 19 that they were being let go, effective the following day. Although no precise numbers were given, the union said nearly the entire workforce was terminated.
- 3/27/2020
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
She was the first American actress to marry a prince, the first actress to dance with both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, one of the first pin-up girls of the 1940s and the first celebrity to bring awareness to Alzheimer’s Disease. She was the “Love Goddess,” Rita Hayworth.
Hayworth was born on October 17, 1918, in Brooklyn as Margarita Carmen Cansino, into a family of Spanish dancers. Although she later claimed she didn’t care for it, Hayworth started dancing at a young age to please her father. They performed together as the Dancing Cansinos from the time she was 12-years-old. She began landing small film roles in her teens under the name Rita Cansino, eventually earning a contract with Columbia Pictures. There she was “Americanized” by changing her last name to her Irish mother’s maiden name of Hayworth, dying her dark hair red and having electrolysis to raise her hairline.
Hayworth was born on October 17, 1918, in Brooklyn as Margarita Carmen Cansino, into a family of Spanish dancers. Although she later claimed she didn’t care for it, Hayworth started dancing at a young age to please her father. They performed together as the Dancing Cansinos from the time she was 12-years-old. She began landing small film roles in her teens under the name Rita Cansino, eventually earning a contract with Columbia Pictures. There she was “Americanized” by changing her last name to her Irish mother’s maiden name of Hayworth, dying her dark hair red and having electrolysis to raise her hairline.
- 10/17/2019
- by Susan Pennington and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Exclusive: Lee Daniels and his Lee Daniels Entertainment have teamed with Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman’s Playtone to develop a miniseries about dancer-singer-actor-musician Sammy Davis Jr., I have learned.
The project, titled Sammy, is still in preliminary stages, but I hear the producers are circling the 2003 book In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr. by Wil Haygood as source material.
For Lee, bringing Davis’ story to the screen has been a longtime passion; in 2013 there were reports about him eyeing a movie about the former Rat Pack-er that was in the works at HBO.
Meanwhile, Playtone brings in a strong track record with a slew of Emmy-winning miniseries including Band Of Brothers, The Pacific, John Adams and Olive Kitteridge.
There have been multiple attempts at a Sammy Davis, Jr. biopic, most recently a project set at Paramount Pictures last year with producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Lionel Richie...
The project, titled Sammy, is still in preliminary stages, but I hear the producers are circling the 2003 book In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr. by Wil Haygood as source material.
For Lee, bringing Davis’ story to the screen has been a longtime passion; in 2013 there were reports about him eyeing a movie about the former Rat Pack-er that was in the works at HBO.
Meanwhile, Playtone brings in a strong track record with a slew of Emmy-winning miniseries including Band Of Brothers, The Pacific, John Adams and Olive Kitteridge.
There have been multiple attempts at a Sammy Davis, Jr. biopic, most recently a project set at Paramount Pictures last year with producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Lionel Richie...
- 6/5/2019
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s cold-blooded murder, I tell ya! Feisty Ruth Gordon goes undercover to find the evidence of homicide at Geraldine Page’s desert home, where companion-housekeepers keep disappearing. Robert Aldrich produced this marvelous, E-Ticket battle between celebrated actresses, and the result is a creative new solution for retirement finance problems!
What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1969 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 101 min. / Street Date January 8, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Geraldine Page, Ruth Gordon, Rosemary Forsyth, Robert Fuller, Mildred Dunnock, Joan Huntington, Peter Brandon, Michael Barbera, Peter Bonerz, Richard Angarola, Claire Kelly, Valerie Allen, Martin Garralaga.
Cinematography: Joseph Biroc
Film Editors: Frank J. Urioste, Michael Luciano
Original Music: Gerald Fried
Written by Theodore Apstein from a novel by Ursula Curtiss
Produced by Robert Aldrich
Directed by Lee H. Katzin (and Bernard Girard)
Few fans of Robert Aldrich’s The Dirty Dozen realize that he used the windfall profits...
What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1969 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 101 min. / Street Date January 8, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Geraldine Page, Ruth Gordon, Rosemary Forsyth, Robert Fuller, Mildred Dunnock, Joan Huntington, Peter Brandon, Michael Barbera, Peter Bonerz, Richard Angarola, Claire Kelly, Valerie Allen, Martin Garralaga.
Cinematography: Joseph Biroc
Film Editors: Frank J. Urioste, Michael Luciano
Original Music: Gerald Fried
Written by Theodore Apstein from a novel by Ursula Curtiss
Produced by Robert Aldrich
Directed by Lee H. Katzin (and Bernard Girard)
Few fans of Robert Aldrich’s The Dirty Dozen realize that he used the windfall profits...
- 2/19/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Billy Wilder once observed that the best way to cast a gangster movie was to tour executive offices at the studios. That may be one reason he avoided the genre. Despite Wilder’s apprehensions, the two most anticipated 2019 releases — from Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino, no less — harken back to that revered genre. As such, they may revive the question: Why did Hollywood all but abandon their mobsters?
Ironically, two newly published books that have nothing to do with the Scorsese and Tarantino movies remind us of the reasons: Gangster movies, it seems, began to hit too close to home. New nonfiction biographies of Johnny Rosselli and W.R. (Billy) Wilkerson provide vivid details of the scandalously close ties between the studio chiefs and organized crime from the 1930s through 1950s, and later. As such, they serve as intriguing context for the new entries.
Scorsese’s $200 million The Irishman, starring...
Ironically, two newly published books that have nothing to do with the Scorsese and Tarantino movies remind us of the reasons: Gangster movies, it seems, began to hit too close to home. New nonfiction biographies of Johnny Rosselli and W.R. (Billy) Wilkerson provide vivid details of the scandalously close ties between the studio chiefs and organized crime from the 1930s through 1950s, and later. As such, they serve as intriguing context for the new entries.
Scorsese’s $200 million The Irishman, starring...
- 1/3/2019
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
The Best of The Three Stooges
DVD
Time-Life
1934 – 1959 / 1.33:1 / Over 45 Hours (!)/ Street Date – June 6, 2018
Starring Moe Howard, Curly Howard, Larry Fine, Joe DeRita
Cinematography by Benjamin Kline, Gert Andersen, Ray Cory
Directed by Jules White
Garden variety slapstick has always been fraught with physical peril but The Three Stooges took the concept to medieval levels, their persona defined by equal parts vaudeville and the Spanish Inquisition.
With clothes seemingly hijacked from clotheslines and manners borrowed from feral raccoons, the scrappy trio were nothing if not street survivors – always on the dole or making do with hardscrabble day jobs. Their raw brand of comedy, all simmering anger and violent outbursts, was the embodiment of depression-era resentment.
Ticket buyers loved them, so much so that Columbia president Harry Cohn used them as a bargaining chip when striking deals with hungry theater owners – if exhibitors wanted The Three Stooges, they were stuck with Blondie Plays Cupid.
DVD
Time-Life
1934 – 1959 / 1.33:1 / Over 45 Hours (!)/ Street Date – June 6, 2018
Starring Moe Howard, Curly Howard, Larry Fine, Joe DeRita
Cinematography by Benjamin Kline, Gert Andersen, Ray Cory
Directed by Jules White
Garden variety slapstick has always been fraught with physical peril but The Three Stooges took the concept to medieval levels, their persona defined by equal parts vaudeville and the Spanish Inquisition.
With clothes seemingly hijacked from clotheslines and manners borrowed from feral raccoons, the scrappy trio were nothing if not street survivors – always on the dole or making do with hardscrabble day jobs. Their raw brand of comedy, all simmering anger and violent outbursts, was the embodiment of depression-era resentment.
Ticket buyers loved them, so much so that Columbia president Harry Cohn used them as a bargaining chip when striking deals with hungry theater owners – if exhibitors wanted The Three Stooges, they were stuck with Blondie Plays Cupid.
- 11/24/2018
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
These wartime docu-propaganda films are fascinating, but critic Joseph McBride’s critical accompaniment is even better, nailing the meaning of five groundbreaking works of ‘indoctrination’ and giving us a refreshing revisionist take on one of America’s more revered film directors.
Mr. Capra Goes to War: Frank Capra’s World War II Documentaries
Blu-ray
Prelude to War, The Battle of Russia (1&2), The Negro Soldier, Tunisian Victory, Your Job in Germany
Olive Films
1942-1945 / B&W / 2:35 1:85 widescreen / 1:37 flat Academy / 310 min. / Street Date November 6, 2018 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98
Starring: Walter Huston (frequent Narrator).
Introduction and lecture: Joseph McBride
Executive-produced by Frank Capra
I just realized that this is a big year for the film scholar, biographer and critic Joseph McBride. Not only has he an important new book on the shelves, he plays a significant role in front of and behind the scenes in the finally-finished Orson Welles...
Mr. Capra Goes to War: Frank Capra’s World War II Documentaries
Blu-ray
Prelude to War, The Battle of Russia (1&2), The Negro Soldier, Tunisian Victory, Your Job in Germany
Olive Films
1942-1945 / B&W / 2:35 1:85 widescreen / 1:37 flat Academy / 310 min. / Street Date November 6, 2018 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98
Starring: Walter Huston (frequent Narrator).
Introduction and lecture: Joseph McBride
Executive-produced by Frank Capra
I just realized that this is a big year for the film scholar, biographer and critic Joseph McBride. Not only has he an important new book on the shelves, he plays a significant role in front of and behind the scenes in the finally-finished Orson Welles...
- 11/6/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The rough, sometimes druggy genesis of the American independent movie business of the ‘60s and ‘70s was recalled by Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith of the Monkees during a sold-out 50th anniversary American Cinematheque screening of the band’s ill-fated feature film “Head.”
Looking out into the Egyptian Theatre before the film unspooled, Dolenz drolly asked one audience member, “You’ve seen it? Can you tell me what it’s about?”
The evening was hosted by the Monkees’ Boswell, producer Andrew Sandoval, who asked for a show of hands of how many in the crowd were returning “Head” cultists and how many were seeing it for the first time. The 60 percent or so making return trips were hugely enthusiastic, but Sandoval wasn’t making any promises to the 40 percent newbies, warning dryly, “We’ll see how many of you are here when we’re done.”
Relentlessly post-modern and lacking anything...
Looking out into the Egyptian Theatre before the film unspooled, Dolenz drolly asked one audience member, “You’ve seen it? Can you tell me what it’s about?”
The evening was hosted by the Monkees’ Boswell, producer Andrew Sandoval, who asked for a show of hands of how many in the crowd were returning “Head” cultists and how many were seeing it for the first time. The 60 percent or so making return trips were hugely enthusiastic, but Sandoval wasn’t making any promises to the 40 percent newbies, warning dryly, “We’ll see how many of you are here when we’re done.”
Relentlessly post-modern and lacking anything...
- 11/2/2018
- by Chris Morris
- Variety Film + TV
Long before Jennifer Lopez and Eva Longoria, there was Rita Hayworth. The dancer-actress, born Margarita Carmen Cansino, would have been 100 on Wednesday, and even fans of classic Hollywood may not realize how extraordinary her career was. She was the No. 1 box office star of Columbia Pictures in the 1940s, she was Fred Astaire’s favorite dancing partner, and U.S. G.I.s had pinups of her around the globe during WWII. These are especially impressive in an era when Latino-Hispanic children were still in segregated schools and only a decade after America’s “repatriation” program shipped 2 million Mexicans across the border, claiming they were “stealing” American jobs.
Work dried up for Hayworth in the 1960s, due to occasional slurred speech and memory problems. Hollywood assumed she was alcoholic, but in 1980 she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, bringing worldwide awareness to the little-known disease. Her greatest legacy may be the annual Rita Hayworth Galas,...
Work dried up for Hayworth in the 1960s, due to occasional slurred speech and memory problems. Hollywood assumed she was alcoholic, but in 1980 she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, bringing worldwide awareness to the little-known disease. Her greatest legacy may be the annual Rita Hayworth Galas,...
- 10/16/2018
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
Close-Up is a feature that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Fritz Lang's Human Desire (1954) is showing from June 28 - July 28, 2018 in the United Kingdom as part of Human Beasts: A Fritz Lang Double Bill.The ringmaster and the architect—in the history of cinema, before the New Hollywood, before the French New Wave, there may be no directors who complement each other as well as Jean Renoir and Fritz Lang. The surface parallels are evident enough: both began their careers in silent cinema, made their most canonical masterpiece in the 1930s, fled to Hollywood as fascism took over Europe, and returned to their homelands after the war to make their final films. Both have a somewhat totemic place in film history, and in neither case is the totem the whole story. As much as he signifies cinematic humanism, Renoir could be an unsentimental and deeply cynical storyteller. And for all the dark cities,...
- 7/9/2018
- MUBI
The Sammy David Jr. biopic is set up at Paramount Pictures and it will be produced by Transformers producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. According to Deadline, the project is on the fast track and they are in the process of hiring a writer and director to take on the life of the iconic entertainer who could do it all.
The movie will be based on the 1965 memoir Yes I Can: The Story of Sammy Davis, Jr. that he penned with Jane and Burt Boyar. Davis’ heirs are also joining a producing team, which will also include Lionel Richie.
Apparently, Richie was the key to getting all the right deals done to be able to bring Davis’ story to the big screen. In a statement, he said:
“I cannot tell you how excited I am about the signing of the Sammy Davis Jr. project with Paramount. I knew and loved Sammy dearly.
The movie will be based on the 1965 memoir Yes I Can: The Story of Sammy Davis, Jr. that he penned with Jane and Burt Boyar. Davis’ heirs are also joining a producing team, which will also include Lionel Richie.
Apparently, Richie was the key to getting all the right deals done to be able to bring Davis’ story to the big screen. In a statement, he said:
“I cannot tell you how excited I am about the signing of the Sammy Davis Jr. project with Paramount. I knew and loved Sammy dearly.
- 6/19/2018
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
Exclusive: The biopic about Sammy Davis, Jr. now has been set up at Paramount Pictures, where producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura has his overall deal. The project is on the development fast track, soon to be hiring a writer and a director to make the feature film about the dancer-singer-actor-musician to becoming a reality.
The movie will be based in large part on the 1965 memoir Yes I Can: The Story of Sammy Davis, Jr. that he penned with Jane and Burt Boyar.
Davis’ heirs are joining a producing team led by Lionel Richie, di Bonaventura and Mike Menchel. The latter two most recently joined forces for Only the Brave, the feature about the 19 firefighting heroes who died during the 2013 Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona.
Richie was the key to getting all the rights deals done to be able to bring Davis’ story to the masses. “I cannot tell you how excited...
The movie will be based in large part on the 1965 memoir Yes I Can: The Story of Sammy Davis, Jr. that he penned with Jane and Burt Boyar.
Davis’ heirs are joining a producing team led by Lionel Richie, di Bonaventura and Mike Menchel. The latter two most recently joined forces for Only the Brave, the feature about the 19 firefighting heroes who died during the 2013 Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona.
Richie was the key to getting all the rights deals done to be able to bring Davis’ story to the masses. “I cannot tell you how excited...
- 6/18/2018
- by Anita Busch
- Deadline Film + TV
With $403.7 million as of April 11, Sony declared “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” is its biggest-ever domestic hit, passing the figure “Spider-Man” achieved in its 2002 run. Of course, this is complete nonsense.
Assessing box office without adjustment is like the Labor Dept. calculating the consumer price index without correcting for inflation. Today’s average ticket price bears no resemblance to those of prior decades. And, unlike books and downloads, which track not the price tag but the units sold, North American movies sales are calculated solely by revenue. European cinemas track both admissions and ticket sales, presumably to avoid this problem. The North American system leads to a lot of skewed figures, and announcements like Sony’s.
None of this should diminish the unexpectedly strong response to the “Jumani” sequel. The reboot of the very strong 1995 Robin Williams-starrer doubled the most optimistic expectations with its Christmas release. The film had...
Assessing box office without adjustment is like the Labor Dept. calculating the consumer price index without correcting for inflation. Today’s average ticket price bears no resemblance to those of prior decades. And, unlike books and downloads, which track not the price tag but the units sold, North American movies sales are calculated solely by revenue. European cinemas track both admissions and ticket sales, presumably to avoid this problem. The North American system leads to a lot of skewed figures, and announcements like Sony’s.
None of this should diminish the unexpectedly strong response to the “Jumani” sequel. The reboot of the very strong 1995 Robin Williams-starrer doubled the most optimistic expectations with its Christmas release. The film had...
- 4/12/2018
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
In October 2009, Kater Gordon’s writing career came to a sudden end. In the space of a year, she went from Matt Weiner’s personal assistant on “Mad Men” to his Emmy-winning co-writer of the season finale. Then, less than a month after standing next to Weiner on the Nokia Theatre stage, she was fired. Or, as a show insider put it: “Matt has reluctantly decided that their relationship has reached its full potential.” That awkward rationale highlighted the “Mad Men” narrative: It was Weiner’s show, and his whims were law.
“Mad Men” continued for six more critically lauded seasons as Gordon faded from the news cycle and from the industry. Now imagine that story in 2017, with Gordon coming forward with her sexual harassment accusations against Weiner. Her story would have legs; he would be forced to deal with the charges, Peak TV be damned. All of which suggests...
“Mad Men” continued for six more critically lauded seasons as Gordon faded from the news cycle and from the industry. Now imagine that story in 2017, with Gordon coming forward with her sexual harassment accusations against Weiner. Her story would have legs; he would be forced to deal with the charges, Peak TV be damned. All of which suggests...
- 11/29/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
<!--[Cdata[
When it came to women, Columbia Pictures founder Harry Cohn was something of a Jekyll and Hyde — but mostly Hyde. On the one hand, he could be their champion: He appointed screenwriter Virginia Van Upp as an executive producer at the studio in 1946, the first woman with that title. But, just as with allegations about Harvey Weinstein — who is often compared to the fearsome Cohn — starlets in the mogul's orbit were viewed as sexual commodities. And no one had to fend off more unwanted advances than Rita Hayworth.
Cohn discovered the Brooklyn, New York, native...
When it came to women, Columbia Pictures founder Harry Cohn was something of a Jekyll and Hyde — but mostly Hyde. On the one hand, he could be their champion: He appointed screenwriter Virginia Van Upp as an executive producer at the studio in 1946, the first woman with that title. But, just as with allegations about Harvey Weinstein — who is often compared to the fearsome Cohn — starlets in the mogul's orbit were viewed as sexual commodities. And no one had to fend off more unwanted advances than Rita Hayworth.
Cohn discovered the Brooklyn, New York, native...
- 10/19/2017
- by Seth Abramovitch
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
What seemed too raw for 1955 still packs a punch, as Robert Aldrich takes a meat cleaver to the power politics of the old studio system. Monstrous studio head Rod Steiger has just the leverage he needs to blackmail frazzled star Jack Palance into signing the big contract. But will Hollywood corruption destroy them all?
The Big Knife
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1955 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 111 min. / Street Date September 5, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Wendell Corey, Jean Hagen,
Rod Steiger, Shelley Winters, Ilka Chase, Everett Sloane, Wesley Addy, Paul Langton, Nick Dennis.
Cinematography: Ernest Laszlo
Art Direction: William Glasgow
Film Editor: Michael Luciano
Original Music: Frank De Vol
Adapted by James Poe from the play by Clifford Odets
Produced and Directed by Robert Aldrich
Robert Aldrich’s 1940s film apprenticeship was largely spent as an assistant director for strong, creative filmmakers that wanted to do good personal work free of the constraints of the big studios.
The Big Knife
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1955 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 111 min. / Street Date September 5, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Wendell Corey, Jean Hagen,
Rod Steiger, Shelley Winters, Ilka Chase, Everett Sloane, Wesley Addy, Paul Langton, Nick Dennis.
Cinematography: Ernest Laszlo
Art Direction: William Glasgow
Film Editor: Michael Luciano
Original Music: Frank De Vol
Adapted by James Poe from the play by Clifford Odets
Produced and Directed by Robert Aldrich
Robert Aldrich’s 1940s film apprenticeship was largely spent as an assistant director for strong, creative filmmakers that wanted to do good personal work free of the constraints of the big studios.
- 9/26/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The retrospective Frank Capra, The American Dreamer is showing April 10 - May 31, 2017 in the United Kingdom.Frank CapraFrank Capra has fallen badly out of fashion in recent decades. While still well-known for the extraordinary Depression-era purple patch that produced It Happened One Night (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), the critics have rarely been kind. His work is routinely derided as “Capra-corn” for its perceived sentimentality and “fairy tale” idealism while the man himself is written off in favour of contemporaries Howard Hawks, Preston Sturges and Ernst Lubitsch.Elliot Stein, writing in Sight & Sound in 1972, attacked Capra’s “fantasies of good will, which at no point conflict with middle-class American status quo values”, arguing that his “shrewdly commercial manipulative tracts” consist of little more than “philistine-populist notions and greeting-card sentiments”. Pauline Kael found him “softheaded,” Derek Malcolm a huckster hawking “cosily absurd fables.” To an extent,...
- 4/4/2017
- MUBI
News of the first major studio departure of the year came on Friday as Sony’s corporate executive officer and CEO of Sony Entertainment announced his exit.
Lynton will officially step down on February 2 as he prepares to become chairman of Snap Inc, owner of Snapchat, the social media platform in which he has been an early investor.
The executive, who has served 13 years at Sony and oversaw the studio as it took a battering during the 2014 hacking scandal, will stay on at the studio for six months to ensure a smooth transition, serving as co-ceo of Sony Entertainment, overseeing the film and music businesses, and as CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Corporation of America.
Lynton will work with Sony Corporation president and CEO Kazuo Hirai to find a replacement as Hirai takes on the additional title of chairman and co-ceo of Sony Entertainment.
Hirai will take a second office at the studio’s Los Angeles...
Lynton will officially step down on February 2 as he prepares to become chairman of Snap Inc, owner of Snapchat, the social media platform in which he has been an early investor.
The executive, who has served 13 years at Sony and oversaw the studio as it took a battering during the 2014 hacking scandal, will stay on at the studio for six months to ensure a smooth transition, serving as co-ceo of Sony Entertainment, overseeing the film and music businesses, and as CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Corporation of America.
Lynton will work with Sony Corporation president and CEO Kazuo Hirai to find a replacement as Hirai takes on the additional title of chairman and co-ceo of Sony Entertainment.
Hirai will take a second office at the studio’s Los Angeles...
- 1/14/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
News of the first major studio departure of the year came on Friday as Sony’s corporate executive officer and CEO of Sony Entertainment announced his exit.
Lynton will officially step down on February 2 as he prepares to become chairman of Snap Inc, owner of Snapchat, the social media platform in which he has been an early investor.
The executive, who has served 13 years at Sony and oversaw the studio as it took a battering during the 2014 hacking scandal, will stay on at the studio for six months to ensure a smooth transition, serving as co-ceo of Sony Entertainment, overseeing the film and music businesses, and as CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Corporation of America.
Lynton will work with Sony Corporation president and CEO Kazuo Hirai to find a replacement as Hirai takes on the additional title of chairman and co-ceo of Sony Entertainment.
Hirai will take a second office at the studio’s Los Angeles...
Lynton will officially step down on February 2 as he prepares to become chairman of Snap Inc, owner of Snapchat, the social media platform in which he has been an early investor.
The executive, who has served 13 years at Sony and oversaw the studio as it took a battering during the 2014 hacking scandal, will stay on at the studio for six months to ensure a smooth transition, serving as co-ceo of Sony Entertainment, overseeing the film and music businesses, and as CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Corporation of America.
Lynton will work with Sony Corporation president and CEO Kazuo Hirai to find a replacement as Hirai takes on the additional title of chairman and co-ceo of Sony Entertainment.
Hirai will take a second office at the studio’s Los Angeles...
- 1/14/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The Mad Magician
3-D Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1954 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 72 min. / Street Date January 10, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Vincent Price, Mary Murphy, Eva Gabor, John Emery, Donald Randolph, Lenita Lane, Patrick O’Neal, Jay Novello, Corey Allen, Conrad Brooks, Tom Powers, Lyle Talbot.
Cinematography: Bert Glennon
Editor: Grant Whytock
Original Music: Arthur Lange, Emil Newman
Written by: Crane Wilbur
Produced by: Bryan Foy
Directed by John Brahm
Twilight Time, bless ’em, hands us another treat to go with their 3-D discs of Man in the Dark, Miss Sadie Thompson and Harlock Space Pirate 3-D — and this time it’s a fun bit of 1950s horror — with a hot pair of short subject extras.
There have been plenty of theories as to why horror films became scarce after WW2; it’s as if the U.S. film industry took a ten-year break from the supernatural, and partly...
3-D Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1954 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 72 min. / Street Date January 10, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Vincent Price, Mary Murphy, Eva Gabor, John Emery, Donald Randolph, Lenita Lane, Patrick O’Neal, Jay Novello, Corey Allen, Conrad Brooks, Tom Powers, Lyle Talbot.
Cinematography: Bert Glennon
Editor: Grant Whytock
Original Music: Arthur Lange, Emil Newman
Written by: Crane Wilbur
Produced by: Bryan Foy
Directed by John Brahm
Twilight Time, bless ’em, hands us another treat to go with their 3-D discs of Man in the Dark, Miss Sadie Thompson and Harlock Space Pirate 3-D — and this time it’s a fun bit of 1950s horror — with a hot pair of short subject extras.
There have been plenty of theories as to why horror films became scarce after WW2; it’s as if the U.S. film industry took a ten-year break from the supernatural, and partly...
- 1/13/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Something Wild
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 850
1961 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen 1:37 flat Academy / 113 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 17, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Carroll Baker, Ralph Meeker, Mildred Dunnock, Jean Stapleton, Martin Kosleck, Charles Watts, Clifton James, Doris Roberts, Anita Cooper, Tanya Lopert.
Cinematography: Eugen Schüfftan
Film Editor: Carl Lerner
Original Music: Aaron Copland
Written by Jack Garfein and Alex Karmel from his novel Mary Ann
Produced by George Justin
Directed by Jack Garfein
After writing up an earlier Mod disc release of the 1961 movie Something Wild, I received a brief but welcome email note from its director:
“Dear Glenn Erickson,
Thank you for your profound appreciation of Something Wild.
If possible, I would appreciate if you could send
me a copy of your review by email.
Sincerely yours, Jack Garfein”
Somewhere back East (or in London), the Actors Studio legend Jack Garfein had found favor with the review. Although...
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 850
1961 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen 1:37 flat Academy / 113 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 17, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Carroll Baker, Ralph Meeker, Mildred Dunnock, Jean Stapleton, Martin Kosleck, Charles Watts, Clifton James, Doris Roberts, Anita Cooper, Tanya Lopert.
Cinematography: Eugen Schüfftan
Film Editor: Carl Lerner
Original Music: Aaron Copland
Written by Jack Garfein and Alex Karmel from his novel Mary Ann
Produced by George Justin
Directed by Jack Garfein
After writing up an earlier Mod disc release of the 1961 movie Something Wild, I received a brief but welcome email note from its director:
“Dear Glenn Erickson,
Thank you for your profound appreciation of Something Wild.
If possible, I would appreciate if you could send
me a copy of your review by email.
Sincerely yours, Jack Garfein”
Somewhere back East (or in London), the Actors Studio legend Jack Garfein had found favor with the review. Although...
- 1/10/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Robert Mitchum all but snoozes through this promising war-espionage thriller that pits lazy Gestapo agents against clueless partisans in occupied Greece. It's got great locations and a good cast, but director Robert Aldrich seems off his feed -- there's not a lot of excitement to be had. The Angry Hills DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1959 / B&W / 2:35 enhanced widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date February 16, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Robert Mitchum, Stanley Baker, Elisabeth Mueller, Gia Scala, Theodore Bikel, Sebastian Cabot, Donald Wolfit, Marius Goring, Jocelyn Lane, Kieron Moore, George Pastell, Marita Constantinou, Alec Mango. Cinematography Stephen Dade Film Editor Peter Tanner Production Design Ken Adam Original Music Richard Rodney Bennett Written by A.I. Bezzerides from the novel by Leon Uris Produced by Raymond Stross Directed by Robert Aldrich
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Director Robert Aldrich had come through with successes for Burt Lancaster's production company (Apache, Vera Cruz...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Director Robert Aldrich had come through with successes for Burt Lancaster's production company (Apache, Vera Cruz...
- 5/31/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Constance Cummings in 'Night After Night.' Constance Cummings: Working with Frank Capra and Mae West (See previous post: “Constance Cummings: Actress Went from Harold Lloyd to Eugene O'Neill.”) Back at Columbia, Harry Cohn didn't do a very good job at making Constance Cummings feel important. By the end of 1932, Columbia and its sweet ingenue found themselves in court, fighting bitterly over stipulations in her contract. According to the actress and lawyer's daughter, Columbia had failed to notify her that they were picking up her option. Therefore, she was a free agent, able to offer her services wherever she pleased. Harry Cohn felt otherwise, claiming that his contract player had waived such a notice. The battle would spill over into 1933. On the positive side, in addition to Movie Crazy 1932 provided Cummings with three other notable Hollywood movies: Washington Merry-Go-Round, American Madness, and Night After Night. 'Washington Merry-Go-Round...
- 11/5/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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