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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]