A TALE OF TWO CITIES d: Jack Conway
A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
Direction: Jack Conway
Screenplay: W. P. Lipscomb and S. N. Behrman; from Charles Dickens’ novel
Cast: Ronald Colman, Elizabeth Allan, Edna May Oliver, Reginald Owen, Basil Rathbone, Blanche Yurka, Donald Woods, Lucille La Verne, Henry B. Walthall, H. B. Warner, Walter Catlett, Fritz Leiber, Isabel Jewell, Tully Marshall, Mitchell Lewis, Robert Warwick
Although not as widely known as other big Old Hollywood productions, David O. Selznick’s film adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, set during the time of the French Revolution, is far, far better than most of the other period dramas made during the studio era.
Starring former silent-screen heartthrob Ronald Colman; featuring respected supporting players such as Edna May Oliver, [...]
by Andre Soares | April 16, 2009
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Tags: A Tale of Two Cities, Basil Rathbone, Blanche Yurka, Cedric Gibbons, Charles Dickens, Classic Movies, Conrad A. Nervig, David O. Selznick, Donald Woods, Edna May Oliver, Elizabeth Allan, Five-Star Movies, Five-Star Oscar Nominees, French Revolution, Fritz Leiber, H. B. Warner, Henry B. Walthall, Herbert Stothart, Isabel Jewell, Jack Conway, Lucille La Verne, Mitchell Lewis, Oliver T. Marsh, Oscar 1935, Oscar Movies, Period Movies, Reginald Owen, Robert Warwick, Romantic Movies, Ronald Colman, S. N. Behrman, Tully Marshall, W. P. Lipscomb, Walter Catlett
THE MERRY WIDOW d: Ernst Lubitsch
The Merry Widow (1934)
Direction: Ernst Lubitsch
Screenplay: Ernest Vajda and Samson Raphaelson; from Franz Lehár’s operetta
Cast: Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Edward Everett Horton, Una Merkel, George Barbier, Minna Gombell, Sterling Holloway
The Merry Widow is not one of Ernst Lubitsch’s most discussed films. Critics generally tend to focus on his early Paramount talkies, such as One Hour with You (co-directed by George Cukor) and Trouble in Paradise, and his later comedies Ninotchka and To Be or Not to Be.
Yet, The Merry Widow is a superior musical, boasting sumptuous sets (production design by Cedric Gibbons), exquisite cinematography (courtesy of Oliver T. Marsh), a magnificently staged ballroom-dancing sequence, witty lines and situations (by Lubitsch collaborators Samson Raphaelson and Ernest Vajda, from Franz Lehár’s operetta), [...]
by Andre Soares | April 14, 2009
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Tags: Cedric Gibbons, Classic Movies, Comedies, Ernst Lubitsch, Five-Star Movies, Five-Star Oscar Nominees, Franz Lehar, Jeanette MacDonald, Maurice Chevalier, Musicals, Oscar 1934, Oscar Movies, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Romantic Movies, Samson Raphaelson, The Merry Widow, Una Merkel
QUEEN CHRISTINA – Greta Garbo, John Gilbert
Queen Christina (1933)
Direction: Rouben Mamoulian
Screenplay: H. M. Harwood and S. N. Behrman
Cast: Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Ian Keith, Lewis Stone, Elizabeth Young, C. Aubrey Smith, Reginald Owen, David Torrence
One of the most ambitious productions of the early 1930s, Queen Christina remains surprisingly modern in its execution thanks in large part to Rouben Mamoulian’s assured hand. Those looking for historical accuracy in the film, however, will be greatly disappointed, for credited screenwriters H. M. Harwood and S. N. Behrman kept themselves busy concocting a highly fictionalized version of the Swedish queen; one who experiences an all-consuming and ultimately tragic love affair with a Spanish envoy. (Garbo biographer Mark Vieira explains [see below] that credited screenwriter — and close Garbo friend [...]
by Andre Soares | April 14, 2009
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Tags: C. Aubrey Smith, Classic Movies, Crossdressing, David Torrence, Elizabeth Young, Film Reviews, Five-Star Movies, Gay Interest, Greta Garbo, H. M. Harwood, Historical Movies, Ian Keith, John Gilbert, Laurence Olivier, Lewis Stone, Mark Vieira, Queen Christina, Reginald Owen, Romantic Movies, Rouben Mamoulian, S. N. Behrman, Salka Viertel
MULHOLLAND DR. – Naomi Watts – d: David Lynch
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
Direction and screenplay: David Lynch
Cast: Naomi Watts, Justin Theroux, Laura Elena Harring, Dan Hedaya, Ann Miller, Robert Forster, Lee Grant, Chad Everett, Billy Ray Cyrus
Mulholland Dr., David Lynch’s nightmarish take on Hollywood and on the pursuit of the "American Dream," is impossible to pigeonhole as belonging to a particular genre. The film is part black comedy, part mystery thriller, part psychological drama, part horror movie — it boasts one of the most horrific endings ever filmed. The final result is a long, bizarre — and brilliant — journey through an ambitious actress’ psyche; the most haunting such journey since the one undertaken in Sunset Blvd. more than half a century earlier.
Curiously, Mulholland Dr. was to have become a [...]
by Andre Soares | October 17, 2004
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Tags: Angelo Badalamenti, David Lynch, Film Reviews, Films on Filmmaking, Five-Star Gay Movies, Five-Star Movies, Five-Star Oscar Nominees, Justin Theroux, Laura Elena Harring, Lesbian Interest, Mulholland Dr., Naomi Watts, Oscar 2001, Oscar Movies
