Claude Rains on TCM: CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA, JUAREZ
Claude Rains, Gale Sondergaard in Anthony Adverse
Turner Classic Movies will be showing eight movies featuring Claude Rains, TCM’s Star of the Month of September, beginning at 5PM Pacific Time.
Of those, I’ve seen only three:
Juarez (1939) could have been a good historical biopic, but things go wrong from the start thanks to the miscasting of Paul Muni as Benito Juárez. Even Bette Davis, who plays the mad Empress Carlotta von Hapsburg, would have been more believable as Mexico’s first full-blooded American Indian to be elected president. William Dieterle was also the wrong man to direct Juarez, as Dieterle’s hand tended to be quite heavy when dealing with real-life subjects, e.g., The Life of Emile Zola, The Story of [...]
by Andre Soares | September 16, 2009
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Tags: Anthony Adverse, Caesar and Cleopatra, Claude Rains, Gale Sondergaard, Juarez, Passage to Marseille, Turner Classic Movies, Vivien Leigh, William Dieterle
Jack Cardiff
Cinematographer and director Jack Cardiff, one of the early masters of color cinematography, has died. He was 94.
Cardiff’s work as a cinematographer was quite eclectic, ranging from his partnership with Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger in the British-made Black Narcissus (1945) and The Red Shoes (1948) to prestigious international productions such as John Huston’s The African Queen (1951) and King Vidor’s War and Peace (1956), and to low-brow commercial fare such as Conan the Destroyer (1984) and Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985).
I’ve never watched Conan or Rambo, but I have watched more than 20 of Cardiff’s 60 or so features, and I can testify that whether working in art-house or commercial fare, Cardiff’s cinematography was invariably one [...]
by Andre Soares | April 22, 2009
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Tags: A Matter of Life and Death, Alfred Hitchcock, Annabella, Ava Gardner, Black Narcissus, Caesar and Cleopatra, Cinematographers, Classic Movies, Conan the Destroyer, Death on the Nile, Emeric Pressburger, Errol Flynn, Fanny, Girl on the Motorcycle, Harold D. Schuster, Henry Fonda, Jack Cardiff, John Huston, King Vidor, Laurence Olivier, Michael Powell, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Ray Rennahan, Robert Donat, Rod Taylor, Sean O'Casey, Sons and Lovers, The African Queen, The Barefoot Contessa, The Black Rose, The Dance of Shiva, The Long Ships, The Red Shoes, The Vikings, The Wicked Lady, Trevor Howard, Tyrone Power, Under Capricorn, Vivien Leigh, War and Peace, Wings of the Morning, Young Cassidy
Best Films – 1945
Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard in Brief Encounter
FILM
Blithe Spirit
d: David Lean; scr: Noel Coward
Boule de suif / Angel and Sinner
d: Christian-Jaque; scr: Henri Jeanson
Brief Encounter
d: David Lean; scr: Noel Coward, Anthony Havelock-Allan, David Lean, Ronald Neame
Dead of Night
d: Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, Robert Hamer; scr: John Baines, Angus MacPhail
Les Enfants du paradis / Children of Paradise
d: Marcel Carné; scr: Jacques Prévert
Leave Her to Heaven
d: John M. Stahl; scr: Jo Swerling
Love Letters
d: William Dieterle; scr: Ayn Rand
Mildred Pierce
d: Michael Curtiz; scr: Ranald McDougall, Catherine Turney
A Royal Scandal
d: Otto Preminger; scr: Edwin Justus Mayer
State Fair
d: Walter Lang; scr: Paul Green, Oscar Hammerstein II, Sonya Levien
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
d: Elia Kazan; scr: Tess Slesinger, Frank [...]
by Andre Soares | August 31, 2004
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Tags: A Royal Scandal, A Song to Remember, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Alberto Cavalcanti, Aldo Fabrizi, Alexis Smith, Along Came Jones, Angel and Sinner, Ann Blyth, Anna Magnani, Anthony Havelock-Allan, Ayn Rand, Basil Dearden, Best Films, Blithe Spirit, Boris Karloff, Boule de suif, Brief Encounter, Caesar and Cleopatra, Casey Robinson, Catherine Turney, Celia Johnson, Charles Coburn, Charles Crichton, Children of Paradise, Classic Movies, Claude Rains, Confidential Agent, Constance Cummings, Cyril Raymond, David Lean, Dead of Night, DeWitt Bodeen, Donna Reed, Dorothy McGuire, Douglas Slocombe, Edward Cronjager, Edward G. Robinson, Edwin Justus Mayer, Eleanor Parker, Elia Kazan, Ernest Haller, Eve Arden, Federico Fellini, Frank Davis, Franz Waxman, Gary Cooper, Gene Lockhart, Gene Tierney, Harry Stradling, Henri Jeanson, Herman J. Mankiewicz, Ivan the Terrible, Jacques Prevert, James Dunn, Jennifer Jones, Jo Swerling, Joan Blondell, Joan Crawford, Joan Lorring, John Cromwell, John M. Stahl, Kay Hammond, Leave Her to Heaven, Lee Garmes, Leon Shamroy, Les Enfants du Paradis, Love Letters, Marcel Carne, Margaret Rutherford, María Casarès, Max Steiner, Michael Curtiz, Michael Redgrave, Micheline Presle, Mildred Pierce, Nob Hill, Noel Coward, Open City, Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Preminger, Pavel Kadochnikov, Peggy Ann Garner, Pierre Brasseur, Pride of the Marines, Ranald McDougall, Rhapsody in Blue, Richard Rodgers, Robert Hamer, Robert Krasker, Roma citta aperta, Ronald Neame, Scarlet Street, Sergio Amidei, State Fair, Tallulah Bankhead, Ted Tetzlaff, Tess Slesinger, The Body Snatcher, The Corn Is Green, The Enchanted Cottage, The House on 92nd Street, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Southerner, The Woman in the Window, They Were Expendable, Tony Gaudio, Trevor Howard, Victor Young, Vincent Price, Walter Lang, William Dieterle, Zachary Scott
