The Gang’s All Here (1943)
Direction: Busby Berkeley. Screenplay: Walter Bullock; from a story by Nancy Wintner, George Root Jr., and Tom Bridges. Cast: Alice Faye, Carmen Miranda, James Ellison, Phil Baker, Benny Goodman, Charlotte Greenwood, Edward Everett Horton, Sheila Ryan, Eugene Pallette, Tony De Marco, Bando da Lua
From the moment The Gang’s All Here opens [...]
CANNES CLASSICS 2008
Synopses/intros from the Cannes Film Festival press release.
Main event: LOLA MONTÈS by Max Ophüls
The Technicolor restoration of LOLA MONTÈS, directed by Max Ophüls in 1955, is to have its world premiere, presented by the Cinémathèque française, on Saturday May 17th.
Documentaries about cinema
NO SUBTITLES NECESSARY: LASZLO & VILMOS (2008,105′, USA) by James Chressanthis. [...]
The Kid (1921)
Direction and Screenplay: Charles Chaplin. Cast: Charles Chaplin, Jackie Coogan, Edna Purviance, Carl Miller
Although I have never been much of a Charles Chaplin fan, The Kid is one sweet picture. In fact, it is the only Chaplin vehicle I would want to see over again.
The story, also penned by Chaplin, is simple: a [...]
The Great Gabbo (1929)
Direction: James Cruze. Screenplay: Story by Ben Hecht; Continuity and Dialogue by Hugh Herbert. Cast: Erich von Stroheim, Betty Compson, Donald Douglas, Marjorie Kane
The Great Gabbo is one terrific early talkie. Sure, the film is old and creaky, while its technical aspects are cheap and primitive. But the story, the music, and [...]
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
Direction: Fred Niblo. Directorial Associates: Alfred L. Raboch and B. Reeves Eason (and Christy Cabanne, uncredited). Screenplay: Carey Wilson and Bess Meredyth, based on June Mathis’s adaptation of General Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel. Titles: Katherine Hilliker and H. H. Caldwell. Cast: Ramon Novarro, May McAvoy, Francis X. Bushman, Betty [...]
The Penalty (1920)
Direction: Wallace Worsley. Screenplay: Charles Kenyon and Philip Lonergan; from Gouverneur Morris’ novel. Cast: Lon Chaney, Kenneth Harlan, Ethel Grey Terry, Doris Pawn, Charles Clary, Jim Mason, Milton Ross, Claire Adams
Lon Chaney was more than just an actor. He was a magician. Like a chameleon, he could morph into a character.
In the gruesome [...]
Dan Callahan takes a look at Gloria Grahame’s life and career in a lengthy article at Brights Lights:
"Grahame lives on the edges of most of her films, too disturbing an image, too turbulent a consciousness to ever really play a lead role. She could look severe, even plain, when she wasn’t overly made up for [...]
My Little Chickadee (1940)
Direction: Edward Cline. Screenplay: Mae West, W. C. Fields. Cast: Mae West, W. C. Fields, Joseph Calleia, Dick Foran, Ruth Donnelly, Margaret Hamilton, Donald Meek, Jackie Searl
Mae West and W.C. Fields. The teaming of these two comedy titans in My Little Chickadee must not have been very easy, but director Edward [...]
Andrew Collins Remembers David Lean in a lengthy piece in the London Observer/Guardian:
"If it’s David Lean, we must start with a bold, widescreen establishing shot that sets out our stall. A vast expanse of grey tarmac, viewed dramatically from above, bordered by asymmetric shadows and a single motorcycle. A blonde figure in grey jacket carefully [...]
Although it gets off to a slow start, Go West Young Man is one of Mae West’s better Post-Code efforts for Paramount. Directed by Henry Hathaway and written by Mae West herself (from Lawrence Riley’s play), Go West Young Man stars West (get it?) as temperamental film star Mavis Arden, who is at odds with [...]
A Warner Bros. digital restoration of the 1938 rousing adventure classic The Adventures of Robin Hood will be screened on Sunday, June 1, at 7 p.m. at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences‘ Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. The program will also feature a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film.
Presented by [...]
Sparrows (1926)
Direction: William Beaudine. Screenplay: C. Gardner Sullivan (adaptation); George Marion Jr. (titles); from a story by Winifred Dunn. Cast: Mary Pickford, Roy Stewart, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Spec O’Donnell, Billy Butts
Molly is the role Mary Pickford was born to play. In Sparrows, Molly is the oldest among the ten orphans being kept as slaves [...]
Wednesday, May 8, highlights on Turner Classic Movies:
John Frankenheimer’s speed-racing epic, Grand Prix, boasts an all-star cast, split screens, lots of noise, and one excellent performance, courtesy of the always reliable Eva Marie Saint.
Bachelor Mother (right) was a minor disappointment, but Charles Coburn is outstanding as the patriarch who doesn’t care if his son (David [...]
The 1913 melodrama Ma l’amor mio non muore / Love Everlasting, starring super-diva Lyda Borelli, will be screened on Tuesday, May 13 at 7pm at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).
Why a silent movie screening at an academy of music, of all places?
Well, perhaps because Lyda Borelli (1884–1959) plays a singer in the [...]
Celebrating Bette Davis‘ centennial, the Film Department of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is presenting the series "Fasten Your Seat Belts: The Essential Bette Davis," which began on May 1, with the unveiling of a new US Postal Service stamp in the presence of Turner Classic Movies host Robert
Osborne and Davis’ personal [...]
Producer William Castle, Mia Farrow, Robert Evans on the set of Rosemary’s Baby.
"An Academy Salute to Robert Evans" will feature a 40th anniversary screening of (a brand new print of) Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby, and an onstage "conversation" with all-powerful Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone (he of the Tom Cruise spat), film director Brett Ratner, Velvet [...]
"2001 in 2008: A Cinematic Odyssey" is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences‘ next event dedicated to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Special effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull (right) and actor Tom Hanks will discuss the making of 2001 at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, May 21, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly [...]
The Naked Kiss (1964)
Direction and Screenplay: Samuel Fuller. Cast: Constance Towers, Anthony Eisley, Michael Dante, Virginia Grey, Patsy Kelly, Betty Bronson, Marie Devereux, Karen Conrad, Linda Francis
In the opening scene of Samuel Fuller’s The Naked Kiss, we see a bald-headed prostitute using her bare hands to beat the crap out of her pimp. It’s [...]
Sing and Like It (1934)
Direction: William A. Seiter. Screenplay: Marion Dix and Laird Doyle; from a story by Aben Kandel. Cast: Zasu Pitts, Nat Pendleton, Edward Everett Horton, Pert Kelton, Ned Sparks, Richard Carle, John Qualen
When a tough but simple-minded gangster — while in the middle of a bank heist — overhears an off-key singer [...]
Hello, Everybody! (1933)
Direction: William A. Seiter. Screenplay: Lawrence Hazard and Dorothy Yost; from a story by Fannie Hurst. Cast: Kate Smith, Randolph Scott, Sally Blane, Charley Grapewin, George Barbier, Julia Swayne Gordon
In 1933, radio and stage performer Kate Smith was a force to be reckoned with when Paramount tapped her talents for the absurd romantic [...]
The Belles of St. Trinian’s (1954)
Direction: Frank Launder. Screenplay: Frank Launder, Sidney Gilliat, and Val Valentine. Cast: Alastair Sim, Joyce Grenfell, Hermione Baddeley, George Cole, Betty Ann Davies, Renee Houston, Beryl Reid, Irene Handl, Mary Merrall, Joan Sims, Guy Middleton
From the first shot of The Belles of St. Trinian’s — which shows the sign of [...]
Night of the Quarter Moon / Flesh and Flame (1959)
Direction: Hugo Haas. Screenplay: Frank Davis and Franklin Coen. Cast: John Drew Barrymore, Julie London, Anna Kashfi, Dean Jones, Agnes Moorehead, Nat King Cole, Jackie Coogan, Charles Chaplin, Jr., Cathy Crosby, Billy Daniels, Ray Anthony, Edward Andrews, Arthur Shields, Robert Warwick
Julie London looks just like [...]
Screaming Mimi (1958)
Direction: Gerd Oswald. Screenplay: Robert Blees; from Fredric Brown’s novel. Cast: Anita Ekberg, Philip Carey, Gypsy Rose Lee, Harry Townes, Linda Cherney, Romney Brent, Red Norvo Trio
When a big, busty blonde is assaulted in an outdoor shower by an escaped lunatic, her life is spared just in time by her stepbrother. The [...]
La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc / The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
Direction: Carl Theodor Dreyer. Screenplay: Carl Theodor Dreyer and Joseph Delteil. Cast: Maria Falconetti, Eugene Silvain, André Berley, Maurice Schutz, Antonin Artaud, Michel Simon, Jean d’Yd
Carl Theodor Dreyer’s late silent film La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc / The Passion of Joan of Arc [...]
Disney’s Ink & Paint Department, 1957. Photo courtesy of Ann Guenther.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences‘ new exhibition "Ink & Paint: The Art of Hand-Drawn Animation" will showcase more than 125 hand-drawn artwork pieces from such classics as Alice in Wonderland, 101 Dalmatians, and The Lion King. The exhibition will open on [...]
