Joseph L. Mankiewicz Centennial
Four-time Academy Award winner screenwriter-director-producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz will be saluted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with a special 50th anniversary screening of a recently restored print of Suddenly, Last Summer, starring Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor (above, and right, with Mankiewicz), and Montgomery Clift. The screening will take place on Thursday, May 21, at 7:30 p.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
The evening will also celebrate the recent gift of the Joseph L. Mankiewicz Papers to the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library. Turner Classic Movies host and The Young Turks co-creator Ben Mankiewicz, Joseph L.’s great nephew and grandson of Citizen Kane co-screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, will host [...]
by Andre Soares | May 1, 2009
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Tags: 5 Fingers, A Letter to Three Wives, Academy Awards, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, All About Eve, All the King's Men, Ann Sothern, Anne Baxter, Ava Gardner, Ben Mankiewicz, Bette Davis, Cary Grant, Celeste Holm, Citizen Kane, Classic Movies, Claudette Colbert, Danielle Darrieux, Dragonwyck, Edmond O'Brien, Edward G. Robinson, Elizabeth Taylor, Finlay Currie, Fritz Lang, Fury, Gay Interest, Gene Tierney, George Sanders, Herman J. Mankiewicz, House of Strangers, James Mason, Jeanne Crain, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Julius Caesar, Katharine Hepburn, Linda Darnell, Los Angeles Screenings, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, No Way Out, People Will Talk, Rita Hayworth, Robert Rossen, Ronald Colman, Sidney Poitier, Spencer Tracy, Suddenly Last Summer, TCM, The Barefoot Contessa, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, The Late George Apley, The Philadelphia Story, The Young Turks, Thelma Ritter, Turner Classic Movies
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 – 1954
Considered by many one of Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s lesser films, The Barefoot Contessa is a classy, intelligently written, and generally well acted morality tale. Inspired by the life of Rita Hayworth (née Margarita Cansino), the film’s plot revolves around the tragic fate of Maria Vargas, a great, earthy beauty who becomes a Hollywood movie star. Besides Jack Cardiff’s beautiful cinematography and Mario Nascimbene’s melancholy score, The Barefoot Contessa offers Ava Gardner in top form — both as a star and as an actress. Humphrey Bogart offers solid support as a film director, while director-screenwriter Joseph L. Mankiewicz (All About Eve, 5 Fingers, Sleuth) handles the proceedings with his usual sophisticated flair.
FILM
The Barefoot Contessa
Hobson’s Choice
Johnny Guitar
The Long, Long Trailer [...]
by Andre Soares | August 31, 2004
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Tags: Ava Gardner, Barbara Stanwyck, Best Films, Brenda De Banzie, Classic Movies, Dorothy Dandridge, Edward Underdown, Eva Marie Saint, Executive Suite, Fredric March, Lenore J. Coffee, Magnificent Obsession, Mercedes McCambridge, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The Barefoot Contessa, Woman's World
