STAGECOACH Screening

Stagecoach is the next 1939 best picture Oscar nominee to be screened as part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ series “Hollywood’s Greatest Year: The Best Picture Nominees of 1939.” Directed by John Ford, and starring John Wayne and Claire Trevor, Stagecoach will be presented on Monday, June 1, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The film will be introduced by John Ford’s grandson, Dan Ford.
Beginning at 7 p.m., the evening will also feature the second and third chapters of the 1939 serial Buck Rogers, starring Buster Crabbe and Constance Moore, in addition to the animated short The Film Fan, [...]

Best Films – 1941

Orson Welles in Citizen Kane
FILM
Cheers for Miss Bishop
d: Tay Garnett; scr: Sheridan Gibney, Adelaide Heilbron
Citizen Kane
d: Orson Welles; scr: Herman J. Mankiewicz, Orson Welles
The Devil and Miss Jones
d: Sam Wood; scr: Norman Krasna
Dumbo
d: Ben Sharpsteen; scr: Joe Grant, Dick Huemer and others
The Great Lie
d: Edmund Goulding; scr: Lenore J. Coffee
Here Comes Mr. Jordan
d: Alexander Hall; scr: Seton I. Miller, Sidney Buchman
The Lady Eve
d, scr: Preston Sturges
The Little Foxes
d: William Wyler; scr: Lillian Hellman
Manpower
d: Raoul Walsh; scr: Richard Macauley, Jerry Wald
The Sea Wolf
d: Michael Curtiz; scr: Robert Rossen
 

Sara Allgood, Roddy McDowall in How Green Was My Valley
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La Fille du puisatier / The Well-Digger’s Daughter
d, scr: Marcel Pagnol
How Green Was My Valley
d: John Ford; scr: Philip Dunne
Meet John Doe
d: [...]

Best Films – 1938

Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Edward Arnold in You Can’t Take It with You
FILM
The Adventures of Robin Hood
d: Michael Curtiz, William Keighley; scr: Seton I. Miller, Norman Reilly Raine
Bringing Up Baby
d: Howard Hawks; scr: Dudley Nichols, Hagar Wilde
Dramatic School
d: Robert B. Sinclair; scr: Ernest Vajda, Mary McCall Jr.
L’Etrange Monsieur Victor
d: Jean Grémillon; scr: Albert Valentin, Charles Spaak, Marcel Achard
Four Daughters
d: Michael Curtiz; scr: Lenore J. Coffee, Julius J. Epstein
If I Were King
d: Frank Lloyd; scr: Preston Sturges
The Lady Vanishes
d: Alfred Hitchcock; scr: Sidney Gilliat, Frank Launder
Marie Antoinette
d: W. S. Van Dyke; scr: Claudine West, Donald Ogden Stewart, Ernest Vajda
Vivacious Lady
d: George Stevens; scr: P. J. Wolfson, Ernest Pagano
You Can’t Take It with You
d: Frank Capra; scr: Robert Riskin
 

[...]

Best Films – 1936

Sacha Guitry in The Story of a Cheat
FILM
Follow the Fleet
d: Mark Sandrich; scr: Dwight Taylor
Fury
d: Fritz Lang; scr: Bartlett Cormack, Fritz Lang
Libeled Lady
d: Jack Conway; scr: Maurine Watkins, Howard Emmett Rogers, George Oppenheimer
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
d: Frank Capra; scr: Robert Riskin
My Man Godfrey
d: Gregory La Cava; scr: Morrie Ryskind, Eric Hatch
Le Roman d’un tricheur / The Story of a Cheat
d, scr: Sacha Guitry
Show Boat
d: James Whale; scr: Oscar Hammerstein II
Theodora Goes Wild
d: Richard Boleslawsky; scr: Sidney Buchman
These Three
d: William Wyler; scr: Lillian Hellman
 

Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton in Dodsworth
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César
d, scr: Marcel Pagnol
Club de femmes
d, scr: Jacques Deval
Desire
d: Frank Borzage; scr: Edwin Justus Mayer, Waldemar Young, Samuel Hoffenstein
Dodsworth
d: William [...]

Best Films – 1931

Willi Fritsch and Lilian Harvey in Congress Dances
FILM
À nous la liberté / Liberty for Us
d, scr: René Clair
City Streets
d: Rouben Mamoulian; scr: Max Marcin, Oliver H. P. Garrett, Dashiell Hammett
Daybreak
d: Jacques Feyder; scr: Ruth Cummings, Cyril Hume, Zelda Sears
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
d: Rouben Mamoulian; scr: Samuel Hoffenstein, Percy Heath
Five Star Final
d: Mervyn LeRoy; scr: Robert Lord, Byron Morgan
Der Kongreß tanzt / Congress Dances
d: Erik Charell; scr: Norbert Falk, Robert Liebmann
The Maltese Falcon / Dangerous Female
d: Roy del Ruth; scr: Maude Fulton, Lucien Hubbard, Brown Holmes
The New Adventures of Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford
d: Sam Wood; scr: Charles MacArthur
The Public Enemy
d: William A. Wellman; scr: Kubec F. Glasmon, [...]

National Film Registry 2008: SERGEANT YORK, THE PERILS OF PAULINE

Gary Cooper in Sergeant York

National Film Registry 2008 Article
National Film Registry 2008 Line-Up: Part I
The March (1964)
George Stevens Jr., who headed the United States Information Agency (USIA) Motion Picture Service unit from 1962-67, brought in several young talented documentary filmmakers such as Charles Guggenheim, Carroll Ballard, Kent McKenzie, Leo Seltzer, Terry Sanders, Bruce Herschensohn, and James Blue, who directed "The March." This period ushered in the "Golden Era" of USIA films. Examining the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington from the ground-level and focusing on the idealistic passion, joy and synergy of the crowds, Blue’s documentary lets us see the event take shape from the planning stage — with sound checks [...]

National Film Registry 2008

This year, the Library of Congress has selected another 25 American films to be included in their National Film Registry, which under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act is supposed to preserve "for all time" short and feature films that are "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant. (See full list.)
Among the selected films are Howard Hawks‘ flag-waving 1941 war drama Sergeant York (right), which earned Gary Cooper his first best actor Oscar; John Boorman’s Oscar-nominated 1972 drama Deliverance; John Huston’s 1950 film noir The Asphalt Jungle, starring Sterling Hayden and featuring a pre-stardom Marilyn Monroe; and Nicholas Ray’s campy 1954 Western Johnny Guitar, which stars Hayden in the title role, plus Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge as a [...]

Meet the Oscars, New York 2008

The exhibition "Meet the Oscars, New York" will display 50 new Oscar statuettes, two inscribed Academy Awards, and one Oscar for the public to hold. The East Coast version of "Meet the Oscars" will take place at the Times Square Studios in New York City from Friday, February 15, through Saturday, February 23. The exhibition will be open daily from noon to 7 p.m. Admission is free.
The Oscar won by Gary Cooper for his performance as the title character in Sergeant York (1941, right) will be on display alongside Thelma Schoonmaker’s Academy Award for Film Editing for The Departed (2006).
Cooper and Schoonmaker each have won three Academy Awards.
Gary Cooper won his second Oscar for the 1952 Western High [...]

Fred Zinnemann: Top Oscar Directors for Actors

Fred Zinnemann began his career during the studio era, but kept on going, however sporadically, long after most of his contemporaries had retired. Even so, today his name means little for most audiences and critics alike. Why?
Quite possibly because, like William Wyler’s, Zinnemann’s relatively small oeuvre (21 narrative feature films) covers just about every film genre there is: Western (High Noon), romance (From Here to Eternity), socially conscious drama (The Search), historical drama (A Man for All Seasons), adventure (Five Days One Summer), thriller (The Day of the Jackal), crime (Act of Violence), comedy (My Brother Talks to Horses), and musical (Oklahoma).
Most film critics and historians are no different than most simpletons. They tend to value work that can be [...]

Marlene Dietrich, Carole Lombard, Mae West, Cecil B. DeMille DVD Sets

Universal (owner of the Paramount films of the studio era) has announced the release of the following box sets:
On April 4, three "Glamour Collection" sets:
The Carole Lombard Glamour Collection:
Man of the World (1931), We’re Not Dressing (1934), Hands Across the Table (1935), The Princess Comes Across (1936), Love Before Breakfast (1936), and True Confession (1937).
The Mae West Glamour Collection:
Night After Night (1932), I’m No Angel (1933), Goin’ to Town (1935), Go West Young Man (1936), and My Little Chickadee (1940, above).
The Marlene Dietrich Glamour Collection:
Morocco (1930), Blonde Venus (1932), The Devil Is a Woman (1935), The Flame of New Orleans (1941), and Golden Earrings (1947).
On May 23:
The Cecil B. DeMille Collection:
The Sign of the [...]

Best Films – 1946

Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford in Gilda
FILM
Anna and the King of Siam
d: John Cromwell; scr: Talbot Jennings, Sally Benson
The Best Years of Our Lives
d: William Wyler; scr: Robert E. Sherwood
Cloak and Dagger
d: Fritz Lang; scr: Albert Maltz, Ring Lardner Jr.
From This Day Forward
d: John Berry; scr: Hugo Butler, Garson Kanin
Gilda
d: Charles Vidor; scr: Marion Parsonnet
Margie
d: Henry King; scr: F. Hugh Herbert
A Night in Casablanca
d: Archie Mayo; scr: Joseph Fields, Roland Kibbee, Frank Tashlin
Le Père tranquille / Mr. Orchid
d: René Clément; scr: Noël-Noël
Sciuscià / Shoeshine
d: Vittorio De Sica; scr: Cesare Zavattini, Sergio Amidei, Adolfo Franci, Cesare Giulio Viola
The Spiral Staircase
d: Robert Siodmak; scr: Mel Dinelli
 
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My Darling Clementine
d: John Ford; scr: [...]

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 [...]

Best Films – 1944

John Hodiak, Tallulah Bankhead in Lifeboat

FILM
I Bambini ci guardano / The Children Are Watching Us
d: Vittorio De Sica; scr: Cesare Zavattini, Vittorio De Sica, Cesare Giulio Viola, Adolfo Franci, Margherita Maglione, Gherardo Gherardi
Crime by Night
d: William Clemens; scr: Joel Malone, Richard Weil
Dragon Seed
d: Harold S. Bucquet, Jack Conway; scr: Jane Murfin, Marguerite Roberts
Laura
d: Otto Preminger; scr: Jay Dratter, Samuel Hoffenstein, Betty Reinhardt
Lifeboat
d: Alfred Hitchcock; scr: Jo Swerling
Mr. Skeffington
d: Vincent Sherman; scr: Julius J. Epstein, Phillip G. Epstein
This Happy Breed
d: David Lean; scr: Anthony Havelock-Allan, David Lean, Ronald Neame
The Uninvited
d: Lewis Allen; scr: Dodie Smith
 

Jennifer Jones, Robert Walker, Joseph Cotten in Since You Went Away
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Arsenic and Old Lace
d: Frank Capra; scr: Julius J. Epstein, Phillip G. Epstein
Home in [...]

Best Films – 1943

Set in a 17th-century Danish village, Carl Theodor Dreyer’s masterful Vredens dag / Day of Wrath is a stark, but deeply felt indictment against religious fanaticism and intolerance. Moving performances by ingénue Lisbeth Modin and accused witch Anna Svierkier add a touch of humanity to the horrors shown on screen. It is not a coincidence that Vredens Dag was made in 1943, a time when Denmark was under Nazi occupation. The parallels — and the interconnectedness — between political and religious control are made quite clear in this harrowing masterwork.
 
FILM
Northern Pursuit
d: Raoul Walsh; scr: Frank Gruber, Alvah Bessie
This Land Is Mine
d: Jean Renoir; scr: Dudley Nichols
Vredens dag / Day of Wrath
d: Carl Theodor Dreyer; scr: Carl Dreyer, [...]