Marion Davies, Ronald Colman, Constance Talmadge, Phyllis Haver: “Sound and Silents”
"Sound and Silents" is the title of a four-film series — part of the wider "Birds Eye View Film Festival" celebrating women filmmakers — to be held at London’s bfi Southbank and the Barbican from March 6-10.
The four screening silent films are: King Vidor’s The Patsy (1928), starring Marion Davies; Sidney Franklin’s Her Sister from Paris (1925), starring Constance Talmadge and Ronald Colman (right); Cecil B. DeMille’s Chicago (1927), with Phyllis Haver and Victor Varconi; and Lotte Reiniger’s animated The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926). All four films will feature live musical accompaniment.
The most enjoyable of the four is Sidney Franklin’s Lubitschesque Her Sister from Paris, which offers Constance Talmadge at her screwballish best — and this before screwball [...]
by Andre Soares | February 14, 2010
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Tags: Cecil B. DeMille, Chicago, Classic Movies, Constance Talmadge, Her Sister from Paris, King Vidor, London Screenings, Lotte Reiniger, Marion Davies, Phyllis Haver, Ronald Colman, Sidney Franklin, Silent Films, The Adventures of Prince Achmed, The Patsy, Victor Varconi
Martin Scorsese, the HFPA, and Film Preservation
When it came to the 2010 Golden Globe speeches, there wasn’t much for posterity. Unless, of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s remarks about half of Avatar’s revenues being used to alleviate California’s budget deficit will be remembered 1,000 years from now, along with The Aviator; New York, New York; Casino; GoodFellas; The Last Temptation of Christ; The Departed; and other movies directed by Martin Scorsese.
Or at least that’s what Leonardo DiCaprio claimed when paying homage to Scorsese’s career. DiCaprio, in fact, put Scorsese on the same plane as Pablo Picasso, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Francis Bacon, among a few others. When the camera focused on Scorsese’s face, I had the impression he was stifling a laugh. Or [...]
by Steve Montgomery | January 17, 2010
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Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cecil B. DeMille, Film Awards, Film Preservation, Golden Globes, Golden Globes 2010, Golden Globes Ceremony, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese, The Red Shoes
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS: Most Important Religion Films of All Time
A list of the 50 Most Important Religion Films of All Time is now online at Film Snobbery, which is paying tribute to "the union of the sacred and cinematic" in celebration of Epiphany (Jan. 6), the final day of the Christmas holiday season.
Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ is not the #1 film on the list. Instead, that position belongs to Cecil B. DeMille’s 1956 epic The Ten Commandments, in which Charlton Heston (above) turns down Anne Baxter so he can go flush the waters of the Red Sea.
Rounding out Film Snobbery’s top 10 religion movies are Pier Paolo Pasolini’s The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964), Norman Jewison’s Fiddler on the Roof (1971), [...]
by Andre Soares | January 7, 2010
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Tags: Cecil B. DeMille, Charlton Heston, Classic Movies, Dogma, Film Snobbery, Kevin Smith, Life of Brian, Monty Python, Religion, The Exorcist, The Passion of the Christ, The Ten Commandments, William Friedkin
Frank Lloyd: Q&A with Anthony Slide
Frank Lloyd, Henry King, John Ford, Frank Borzage
Among them, these four filmmakers share eight Oscar wins and four additional nominations
Frank Lloyd Intro II
First of all, why Frank Lloyd?
An obvious response might be "why not?" While large, trade publishers are suffering from diminishing sales, it seems that "small" publishers and similar entities, including the "vanity press" and the self-publishing brigade, are expanding their activities and concentrating on many obscure figures from Hollywood history. As a result, a number of prominent "names" have fallen by the wayside. With the relatively recent publication of Michael Sragow’s biography of Victor Fleming, the man responsible for Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz, it seems only appropriate to devote some space [...]
by Andre Soares | January 5, 2010
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Tags: Andrew Sarris, Anthony Slide, Cecil B. DeMille, Classic Movies, Frank Lloyd, Interviews
O MIMI SAN – Sessue Hayakawa, Mildred Harris
O Mimi San (1914)
Direction: Charles Miller
Screenplay: Thomas H. Ince (unconfirmed)
Cast: Sessue Hayakawa, Mildred Harris, Tsuru Aoki
O Mimi San is historically important as Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa’s first film. In it, Hayakawa plays a prince who goes to a retreat after an attempt on his life is made; once there he falls in love with a young woman (Mildred Harris, future wife of Charles Chaplin) but then finds himself torn between love and duty as a leader of his nation. Compounding matters, an arranged marriage (with Tsuru Aoki, Hayakawa’s own future wife) awaits him.
Directed by Charles Miller and allegedly written by Thomas H. Ince (a studio head best remembered for his "mysterious" death in 1924), O Mimi San [...]
by James Bazen | October 29, 2009
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Tags: Cecil B. DeMille, Charles Miller, Cinesation 2009, Classic Movies, Film Reviews, Mildred Harris, O Mimi San, Sessue Hayakawa, Silent Films, Thomas H. Ince, Tsuru Aoki