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
London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2009: GHOSTED, THE AMERICAN SOLDIER
London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2009
Wednesday, April 1, highlights
Schedule and synopses from the LLGFF website
Before Stonewall
Directed by:
Greta Schiller, Robert Rosenberg
Distributor:
Peccadillo Pictures
Country:
USA
Year:
1984
Running time:
87min
25 years ago this film felt like a revelation of a hidden gay history. Conventional wisdom had defined the modern movement for gay liberation from the riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York, however, this film shows just how much activism and creativity haad been going on before 1969. A dazzling line-up of interviewees includes poets, writers, political organizers, dancers, actors who bear witness to a life before Stonewall, including Allen Ginsberg, Audre Lorde, Barbara Gittings, Harry Hay, Ann Bannon and many more.
The courage and bravery of those [...]
by Andre Soares | March 29, 2009
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Tags: Before Stonewall, Delphine Seyrig, Film Festivals, Gay Film Festivals, Gay Interest, Ghosted, London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, London Screenings, Monika Treut, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, The American Soldier, The Image of Dorian Gray in the Yellow Press, Ulrike Ottinger, Veruschka
