Alice Walker published her acclaimed novel “The Color Purple” in 1982. It sold five million copies; Walker became the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize and she also received the National Book Club Award. Three years later, Steven Spielberg directed the lauded film version which made stars out of Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. It earned 11 Oscar nominations. The story revolves around a young woman who suffers abuse from her father and husband for four decades until she finds her own identity. Not exactly the stuff of a Broadway musical.
But the 2005 tuner version received strong reviews, ran 910 performances and earned ten Tony nominations, winning best actress for Lachanze. The 2015 production picked up two Tonys for best revival and actress for Cynthia Erivo. The movie musical version opened strong Christmas Day with $18 million and is a strong contender in several Oscar categories especially for Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks.
But the 2005 tuner version received strong reviews, ran 910 performances and earned ten Tony nominations, winning best actress for Lachanze. The 2015 production picked up two Tonys for best revival and actress for Cynthia Erivo. The movie musical version opened strong Christmas Day with $18 million and is a strong contender in several Oscar categories especially for Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks.
- 1/2/2024
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
The first Oscar ceremony in 1928 took place at the famous Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, with tickets going for five dollars (about $70 in today’s money). The ceremony lasted only about 15 minutes, and was hosted by director William C. deMille and actor Douglas Fairbanks, who was also the first president of the motion picture academy. Winners in 12 categories were announced weeks prior to the event, which was the only Oscar ceremony in history to not be broadcast on radio.
Actor and comedian Bob Hope holds the record for the most frequent Oscar host with 19 appearances either solo or as co-host. For most of the 1990s and early 2000s, Billy Crystal was synonymous with the Oscars, hosting on nine occasions, always bringing out his now-classic medley of songs that interpolated the titles of the Best Picture nominees for that year. Crystal’s fellow “Comic Relief” host Whoopi Goldberg made history twice when she...
Actor and comedian Bob Hope holds the record for the most frequent Oscar host with 19 appearances either solo or as co-host. For most of the 1990s and early 2000s, Billy Crystal was synonymous with the Oscars, hosting on nine occasions, always bringing out his now-classic medley of songs that interpolated the titles of the Best Picture nominees for that year. Crystal’s fellow “Comic Relief” host Whoopi Goldberg made history twice when she...
- 11/15/2023
- by Tony Ruiz, Chris Beachum and Marcus James Dixon
- Gold Derby
Mark Goddard, known for playing Major Don West on the CBS series “Lost in Space,” died in Hingham, Mass. on Oct. 10 of pulmonary fibrosis. He was 87.
In statement posted to Facebook, Goddard’s wife, Evelyn Pezzulich, confirmed that the actor was hospitalized with pneumonia and then transferred to a rehabilitation center, where the doctors discovered he was in the final stages of pulmonary fibrosis.
Goddard’s “Lost in Space” costar Bill Mumy also confirmed his death in a Facebook statement: “R.I.P. to Mark Goddard. A truly beloved friend and brother to me for 59 years. I knew this was coming for the past few months. Shortly after a great phone chat he and I had on his 87th birthday in late July, I became aware that I would most likely never see or speak with him again. The last words we exchanged were ‘I love you.'”
“Lost in Space,...
In statement posted to Facebook, Goddard’s wife, Evelyn Pezzulich, confirmed that the actor was hospitalized with pneumonia and then transferred to a rehabilitation center, where the doctors discovered he was in the final stages of pulmonary fibrosis.
Goddard’s “Lost in Space” costar Bill Mumy also confirmed his death in a Facebook statement: “R.I.P. to Mark Goddard. A truly beloved friend and brother to me for 59 years. I knew this was coming for the past few months. Shortly after a great phone chat he and I had on his 87th birthday in late July, I became aware that I would most likely never see or speak with him again. The last words we exchanged were ‘I love you.'”
“Lost in Space,...
- 10/13/2023
- by Caroline Brew
- Variety Film + TV
Mark Goddard, the actor who made a lasting impression on young sci-fi fans as the daring, forever impatient Major Don West on CBS’ 1965-68 series Lost In Space, died of pulmonary fibrosis Tuesday in Hingham, Massachusetts. He was 87.
His death was announced by his wife Evelyn Pezzulich in a Facebook post.
“I’m so sorry to tell you that my wonderful husband passed away on October 10th,” Pezzulich wrote. “Several days after celebrating his 87th birthday, he was hospitalized with pneumonia. We were hopeful when he was transferred to a rehabilitation center, but then doctors discovered he was in the final stages of pulmonary fibrosis for which there is no cure.”
By the time he was cast in his breakthrough role as the headstrong Major West, Goddard had built a reputation as a rising young actor through supporting appearances in late-’50s fare such as Johnny Ringo and The Rebel.
His death was announced by his wife Evelyn Pezzulich in a Facebook post.
“I’m so sorry to tell you that my wonderful husband passed away on October 10th,” Pezzulich wrote. “Several days after celebrating his 87th birthday, he was hospitalized with pneumonia. We were hopeful when he was transferred to a rehabilitation center, but then doctors discovered he was in the final stages of pulmonary fibrosis for which there is no cure.”
By the time he was cast in his breakthrough role as the headstrong Major West, Goddard had built a reputation as a rising young actor through supporting appearances in late-’50s fare such as Johnny Ringo and The Rebel.
- 10/13/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Mark Goddard, who played Major Don West, the hot-tempered pilot of the Jupiter 2, on the 1960s CBS adventure series Lost in Space, has died. He was 87.
Goddard died Tuesday in Hingham, Massachusetts, his wife Evelyn Pezzulich told The Hollywood Reporter.
Goddard had worked as a regular on the Four Star Television series Johnny Ringo and The Detectives when he was approached by his agent about coming aboard the new Lost on Space, created and produced by Irwin Allen.
The sci-fi show revolved around the adventures of the Robinson family: Professor John Robinson (Guy Williams), his biochemist wife, Maureen (June Lockhart) and their children Judy, Penny and Will (Marta Kristen, Angela Cartwright and Billy Mumy).
Major West also was on board, as was a stowaway, Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris), and a robot (designed by Forbidden Planet‘s Robert Kinoshita, played by Bob May and voiced by Dick Tufeld). Their space colonization mission,...
Goddard died Tuesday in Hingham, Massachusetts, his wife Evelyn Pezzulich told The Hollywood Reporter.
Goddard had worked as a regular on the Four Star Television series Johnny Ringo and The Detectives when he was approached by his agent about coming aboard the new Lost on Space, created and produced by Irwin Allen.
The sci-fi show revolved around the adventures of the Robinson family: Professor John Robinson (Guy Williams), his biochemist wife, Maureen (June Lockhart) and their children Judy, Penny and Will (Marta Kristen, Angela Cartwright and Billy Mumy).
Major West also was on board, as was a stowaway, Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris), and a robot (designed by Forbidden Planet‘s Robert Kinoshita, played by Bob May and voiced by Dick Tufeld). Their space colonization mission,...
- 10/13/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Tl;Dr:
Roger Ebert said an Elvis Presley movie with Nancy Sinatra would become fodder for insomniacs. He compared it to the sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. The movie came out shortly before the ’68 Comeback Special.
Nancy Sinatra co-starred in one of Elvis Presley‘s movies. Superstar film critic Roger Ebert wasn’t impressed with either of their performances. Despite this, Elvis released two hit songs from the movie’s soundtrack.
Roger Ebert felt 1 of Elvis Presley’s movies captured none of his early charisma
In a 1988 interview published on RogerEbert.com, Ebert discussed Elvis’ movie Speedway. “Speedway is the late show of 20 years from now, I suppose,” he said. “What will it tell the insomniacs of 1988 about our society?
“For one thing, they will probably wonder why we considered Elvis a sex symbol,” he said.” He is as respectable on the screen as Dick Powell ever was,...
Roger Ebert said an Elvis Presley movie with Nancy Sinatra would become fodder for insomniacs. He compared it to the sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. The movie came out shortly before the ’68 Comeback Special.
Nancy Sinatra co-starred in one of Elvis Presley‘s movies. Superstar film critic Roger Ebert wasn’t impressed with either of their performances. Despite this, Elvis released two hit songs from the movie’s soundtrack.
Roger Ebert felt 1 of Elvis Presley’s movies captured none of his early charisma
In a 1988 interview published on RogerEbert.com, Ebert discussed Elvis’ movie Speedway. “Speedway is the late show of 20 years from now, I suppose,” he said. “What will it tell the insomniacs of 1988 about our society?
“For one thing, they will probably wonder why we considered Elvis a sex symbol,” he said.” He is as respectable on the screen as Dick Powell ever was,...
- 9/5/2023
- by Matthew Trzcinski
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Anyone who loved Mary Tyler Moore as Laurie Petrie on “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” as the thoroughly modern career woman Mary Richards on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and as the brittle, distant Beth in her Oscar-nominated turn in 1980’s ‘Ordinary People,” will love the new Max documentary “Being Mary Tyler Moore.” Moore, who died in 2017 at the age of 80, narrates the story of her life which had incredible triumphs but also great tragedy. But one aspect of her storied career it doesn’t really delve in as her work in telefilms, miniseries and even an “PBS Hollywood Presents” that reunited her with Dick Van Dyke.
Did you know that two years before she went to Broadway winning a special Tony for her performance in “Whose Life Is It Anyway?” and did “Ordinary People,” she unveiled her dramatic chops in the 1978 CBS TV movie “First, You Cry.” Based on...
Did you know that two years before she went to Broadway winning a special Tony for her performance in “Whose Life Is It Anyway?” and did “Ordinary People,” she unveiled her dramatic chops in the 1978 CBS TV movie “First, You Cry.” Based on...
- 6/2/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Here’s looking at Warner Bros. which is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Earlier this year, Turner Classic Movies, which is a member of the Warner Bros. Discovery family, celebrated the centennial with a monthlong tribute to the studio that gave the world such landmark films as 1927’s “The Jazz Singer,” the first feature with synchronized recorded singing and some dialogue; the ultimate gangster flick 1931’s “Public Enemy,: the glorious 1938 swashbuckler “The Adventures of Robin Hood”; and the beloved 1942 “Casablanca.
And during its Golden Age, its roster of stars included such legends as Rin-Tin-Tin, John Barrymore, Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Kay Francis, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Paul Muni, John Garfield and Sydney Greenstreet.
Max is currently streaming the four-part documentary series “100 Years of Warner Bros.” (the first two episodes premiered at Cannes). And also arriving this week is the lavish coffee table book “Warner Bros.
And during its Golden Age, its roster of stars included such legends as Rin-Tin-Tin, John Barrymore, Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Kay Francis, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Paul Muni, John Garfield and Sydney Greenstreet.
Max is currently streaming the four-part documentary series “100 Years of Warner Bros.” (the first two episodes premiered at Cannes). And also arriving this week is the lavish coffee table book “Warner Bros.
- 5/30/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Warner Bros. has already celebrated its centennial with a segment during the Academy Awards, the publication of a studio-supported book (Warner Bros.: 100 Years of Storytelling) and, most recently, a barrage of festivities emanating from Turner Classic Movies. TCM’s programming for all of April is being devoted to Warners films, and at the 14th annual TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, running April 13-16, many studio masterpieces, some recently restored and remastered, will be shown on big screens around town. Here are 10 that this THR Hollywood history buff highly recommends.
Footlight Parade (1933)
Ninety years ago, during the depths of the Great Depression, Americans sought escape from their troubles with light movies like this backstage musical. Directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler and highlighted by some of choreographer Busby Berkeley’s most kaleidoscopic dance numbers, it was a giant hit at the box office.
Footlight Parade (1933)
Ninety years ago, during the depths of the Great Depression, Americans sought escape from their troubles with light movies like this backstage musical. Directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler and highlighted by some of choreographer Busby Berkeley’s most kaleidoscopic dance numbers, it was a giant hit at the box office.
- 4/12/2023
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe has been played by some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. To many, Humphrey Bogart remains the definitive Marlowe, based on his performance in Howard Hawks’ The Big Sleep, but film noir afficianados will often cite Murder My Sweet’s Dick Powell, or later iterations, like Robert Mitchum in Farewell My Lovely or Elliot Gould in The Long Goodbye as the best. Indeed, Liam Neeson is stepping into some mighty big shoes with his new movie, Marlowe, but if anyone can go toe-to-toe with Mitchum or Bogart, it’s Neeson, right?
To help bring Marlowe to the big screen, Neeson recruited one of his most frequent directors, Neil Jordan. The two famously worked together on Michael Collins, as well as the earlier High Spirits and the more recent (underrated) Breakfast on Pluto, and are set to reteam again on a new prison break thriller filming this year.
To help bring Marlowe to the big screen, Neeson recruited one of his most frequent directors, Neil Jordan. The two famously worked together on Michael Collins, as well as the earlier High Spirits and the more recent (underrated) Breakfast on Pluto, and are set to reteam again on a new prison break thriller filming this year.
- 2/19/2023
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Stella Stevens, the screen siren of the 1960s who brought sweet sexiness to such films as The Nutty Professor, Too Late Blues and The Ballad of Cable Hogue, has died. She was 84.
Stevens died Friday in Los Angeles, her son, actor-producer-director Andrew Stevens, told The Hollywood Reporter. “She had been in hospice for quite some time with Stage 7 Alzheimer’s,” he said.
Shining brightest in light comedies, the blond, blue-eyed actress appeared as a shy beauty contestant from Montana in Vincente Minnelli’s The Courtship of Eddie’s Father (1963), portrayed a headstrong nun in Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows! (1968) opposite Rosalind Russell and frolicked with the fun-loving Dean Martin in two films: the Matt Helm spy spoof The Silencers (1966) and How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life (1968).
Stevens also starred opposite Elvis Presley in Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962), a movie she said she detested.
Her signature role, however, came in The Nutty Professor (1963), produced,...
Stevens died Friday in Los Angeles, her son, actor-producer-director Andrew Stevens, told The Hollywood Reporter. “She had been in hospice for quite some time with Stage 7 Alzheimer’s,” he said.
Shining brightest in light comedies, the blond, blue-eyed actress appeared as a shy beauty contestant from Montana in Vincente Minnelli’s The Courtship of Eddie’s Father (1963), portrayed a headstrong nun in Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows! (1968) opposite Rosalind Russell and frolicked with the fun-loving Dean Martin in two films: the Matt Helm spy spoof The Silencers (1966) and How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life (1968).
Stevens also starred opposite Elvis Presley in Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962), a movie she said she detested.
Her signature role, however, came in The Nutty Professor (1963), produced,...
- 2/17/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Plot: In 1939 Los Angeles, hard-boiled private detective Philip Marlowe (Liam Neeson) is hired by the daughter (Diane Kruger) of a legendary silent star (Jessica Lange) to find a prop man who went missing. Marlowe quickly finds himself embroiled in a case involving drugs, murder, and secrets that the powers-that-be in Hollywood would like kept secret.
Review: With Marlowe, Liam Neeson finds himself stepping into the shoes of perhaps the most iconic film noir hero of all time. Writer Raymond Chandler’s books were big favourites in Tinseltown in the forties, with Dick Powell (Murder My Sweet), Humphrey Bogart (The Big Sleep) and many more playing Philip Marlowe during the peak noir era. In the seventies neo-noir revival years, the character once again became hip, with Robert Mitchum playing an older Marlowe in Farewell My Lovely and a remake of The Big Sleep. In contrast, Elliot Gould played a hip, spaced-out...
Review: With Marlowe, Liam Neeson finds himself stepping into the shoes of perhaps the most iconic film noir hero of all time. Writer Raymond Chandler’s books were big favourites in Tinseltown in the forties, with Dick Powell (Murder My Sweet), Humphrey Bogart (The Big Sleep) and many more playing Philip Marlowe during the peak noir era. In the seventies neo-noir revival years, the character once again became hip, with Robert Mitchum playing an older Marlowe in Farewell My Lovely and a remake of The Big Sleep. In contrast, Elliot Gould played a hip, spaced-out...
- 2/14/2023
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Legendary characters don’t die. They keep getting reinvented. If they exist in fiction, new authors come along to create new adventures for them. And if they exist onscreen, you can bet that a remake or reboot will come along every generation or so in hopes of recatching that lightning in a bottle.
And often both happens, as is the case with Philip Marlowe, the iconic hard-boiled detective invented by Raymond Chandler and portrayed onscreen over the decades by actors including Dick Powell, Humphrey Bogart, Robert Montgomery, James Garner, Elliott Gould, Robert Mitchum and probably others I’ve forgotten.
The latest tough guy actor to don the fedora is Liam Neeson, in director Neil Jordan’s new film based on a 2014 novel by John Banville, writing under the name Benjamin Black. Suffice it to say that the results won’t erase anyone’s memories of The Big Sleep or The Long Goodbye.
And often both happens, as is the case with Philip Marlowe, the iconic hard-boiled detective invented by Raymond Chandler and portrayed onscreen over the decades by actors including Dick Powell, Humphrey Bogart, Robert Montgomery, James Garner, Elliott Gould, Robert Mitchum and probably others I’ve forgotten.
The latest tough guy actor to don the fedora is Liam Neeson, in director Neil Jordan’s new film based on a 2014 novel by John Banville, writing under the name Benjamin Black. Suffice it to say that the results won’t erase anyone’s memories of The Big Sleep or The Long Goodbye.
- 2/13/2023
- by Frank Scheck
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Actor Liam Neeson is set to portray the iconic character Philip Marlowe in the upcoming film, Marlowe. But he is hardly the first. Neeson has become known in recent decades for his leading roles in action movies like The Grey and Taken.
In Marlowe, he’ll go noir as he attempts to fill the shoes of one of the most storied private eyes in history: a character who’s been played by some of the biggest actors in Hollywood history.
Liam Neeson takes his penchant for action movies noir in ‘Marlowe’ Marlowe stars Diane Kruger and Liam Neeson | Jb Lacroix/WireImage
Set in Bay Cities, California, in the ’50s, Marlowe follows a “tough as nails private detective” as he investigates the disappearance of a beautiful heiress’ ex-lover. But the more he digs into the case, the more he realizes the spider’s web has spun far larger than he originally thought.
In Marlowe, he’ll go noir as he attempts to fill the shoes of one of the most storied private eyes in history: a character who’s been played by some of the biggest actors in Hollywood history.
Liam Neeson takes his penchant for action movies noir in ‘Marlowe’ Marlowe stars Diane Kruger and Liam Neeson | Jb Lacroix/WireImage
Set in Bay Cities, California, in the ’50s, Marlowe follows a “tough as nails private detective” as he investigates the disappearance of a beautiful heiress’ ex-lover. But the more he digs into the case, the more he realizes the spider’s web has spun far larger than he originally thought.
- 2/5/2023
- by Lindsay Kusiak
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
The period Los Angeles film noir makes a return courtesy of director Neil Jordan. Liam Neeson makes a turn as Raymond Chandler’s famous gumshoe detective, Philip Marlowe, in what initially looks like a slight departure from his second career as an action star. However, this detective can still scrap with the best of Neeson’s other characters with a particular set of skills. The trailer has just been unveiled via the production company Open Road. Neeson is joined by an all-star cast including Diane Kruger, Jessica Lange, Alan Cumming, Danny Huston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and Colm Meaney.
The official synopsis from Open Road reads,
Marlowe, a gripping noir crime thriller set in late 1930’s Los Angeles, centers around a street-wise, down on his luck detective; Philip Marlowe, played by Liam Neeson, who is hired to find the ex-lover of a glamorous heiress (Diane Kruger), daughter of a well-known movie star...
The official synopsis from Open Road reads,
Marlowe, a gripping noir crime thriller set in late 1930’s Los Angeles, centers around a street-wise, down on his luck detective; Philip Marlowe, played by Liam Neeson, who is hired to find the ex-lover of a glamorous heiress (Diane Kruger), daughter of a well-known movie star...
- 1/13/2023
- by EJ Tangonan
- JoBlo.com
Any film noir lover knows the names of novelist Raymond Chandler and his hardboiled detective, Philip Marlowe, go hand in hand with the film genre. And over the decades, there’s been several timeless renditions of Marlowe onscreen, from Humphrey Bogart and Dick Powell‘s seminal performances in “The Big Sleep” and “Murder, My Sweet” to Elliott Gould‘s off-beat take in 1973’s “The Long Goodbye.” Now Liam Neeson takes a crack at the character, in his 100th film role, in “Marlowe,” in theaters this Valentine’s Day weekend.
Continue reading ‘Marlowe’ Trailer: Liam Neeson Stars In His 100th Movie From ‘The Big Sleep’ Director Neil Jordan at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Marlowe’ Trailer: Liam Neeson Stars In His 100th Movie From ‘The Big Sleep’ Director Neil Jordan at The Playlist.
- 1/13/2023
- by Molly Cottee Tantum
- The Playlist
John Wayne only received credit for directing two films throughout his 50-year career, but his fingerprints are all over many of his star vehicles. Having cut his teeth during the silent era under the tutelage of masters like John Ford, King Vidor, and Michael Curtiz, Wayne became an expert in the manufacture of movies. He understood camera placement, framing, how long to hold onto a shot, and when to cut. Though it was Ford who made him a star with 1939's landmark Western "Stagecoach," Wayne is as responsible for burnishing his big-screen image as any of his behind-the-scenes collaborators.
In Scott Eyman's biography "John Wayne: The Life and Legend," the author reveals that The Duke's experience knocking out programmers for Republic Pictures taught him that the difference between a B movie and an A movie was the "difference ... between a quick punch to the jaw and the expression on a face.
In Scott Eyman's biography "John Wayne: The Life and Legend," the author reveals that The Duke's experience knocking out programmers for Republic Pictures taught him that the difference between a B movie and an A movie was the "difference ... between a quick punch to the jaw and the expression on a face.
- 10/15/2022
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Another pre-code musical from director Lloyd Bacon and more unforgettably wack-a-doo dance sequences from Busby Berkeley. This one features a powerhouse cast including Joan Blondell, Dick Powell and the incendiary James Cagney (whose galvanic tap dancing leaves the adorably klutzy Ruby Keeler in the dust). Fun-starved depression audiences made this another big hit for Warners, the film doubled its budget at the box-office.
The post Footlight Parade appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post Footlight Parade appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 10/7/2022
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Dick Powell's 1956 historical epic "The Conqueror" is one of the more notorious duds of the 1950s. It went famously over-budget, and while it did manage to make its money back, it was lambasted by critics at the time, mostly for its grievous miscasting of John Wayne as Genghis Khan. If you ever wanted to hear the Mongol leader Temujin with a Southern drawl, this film is a gift to you and you alone. The New York Times cited its bad script as a source of unintentional comedy, and John McCarten in The New Yorker mentioned that the many, many horses who fall down in the...
The post The Forgotten John Wayne Film That Left A Tragic Legacy appeared first on /Film.
The post The Forgotten John Wayne Film That Left A Tragic Legacy appeared first on /Film.
- 2/8/2022
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Busby Berkeley’s musical comedy extravaganza not only gets away with a social message, it makes one of the best cultural statements ever about the Great Depression. Social upheaval suddenly being a real thing these days, we understand. The story is a romantic backstage musical but The Wolf at the Door is present in the dialogue, the lyrics, everywhere. This might be the sexiest of Berkeley’s musicals, with even star Joan Blondell teasing the nudity; but audiences were floored when the gala curtain number ‘Remember My Forgotten Man’ shouted out a cry for social justice. Warren William, Aline MacMahon, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell & Guy Kibbee star; and this is Ned Sparks’ best role, with additional gold-digging by pert ‘n’ perky Ginger Rogers.
Gold Diggers of 1933
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1933 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 96 min. / Available at Amazon.com / Street Date February 8, 2022 / 21.99
Starring: Warren William, Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell,...
Gold Diggers of 1933
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1933 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 96 min. / Available at Amazon.com / Street Date February 8, 2022 / 21.99
Starring: Warren William, Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell,...
- 2/8/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“Every time you say ‘Cheap and Vulgar’ I’m going to kiss you.”
Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler in Gold Diggers Of 1933 (1933) will be available on Blu-ray February 8th from Warner Archive. It can be purchased at the Warner Archive Amazon Store Here
A Broadway producer has the talent, the tunes, the theater, and everything else he needs to put on a show – except the dough. Not to worry, say Ginger Rogers and the other leggy chorines decked out in giant coins. Everyone will soon be singing “We’re in the Money.” Soon after 42nd Street, the brothers Warner again kicked the Depression blues out the stage door and into a back alley. Mervyn Le Roy directs the snappy non-musical portions involving three wonderfully silly love matches (including Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler). And Busby Berkeley brings his peerless magic to the production numbers, his camera swooping and gliding...
Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler in Gold Diggers Of 1933 (1933) will be available on Blu-ray February 8th from Warner Archive. It can be purchased at the Warner Archive Amazon Store Here
A Broadway producer has the talent, the tunes, the theater, and everything else he needs to put on a show – except the dough. Not to worry, say Ginger Rogers and the other leggy chorines decked out in giant coins. Everyone will soon be singing “We’re in the Money.” Soon after 42nd Street, the brothers Warner again kicked the Depression blues out the stage door and into a back alley. Mervyn Le Roy directs the snappy non-musical portions involving three wonderfully silly love matches (including Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler). And Busby Berkeley brings his peerless magic to the production numbers, his camera swooping and gliding...
- 1/26/2022
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
Rip Van Marlowe
By Raymond Benson
(Note: Portions of this review appeared on Cinema Retro in 2014 for an earlier Kino Lorber edition.)
Robert Altman was a very quirky director, sometimes missing the mark, but oftentimes brilliant. His 1973 take on Raymond Chandler’s 1953 novel The Long Goodbye is a case in point. It might take a second viewing to appreciate what’s really going on in the film. Updating what is essentially a 1940s film noir character to the swinging 70s was a risky and challenging prospect—and Altman and his star, Elliott Gould as Philip Marlowe (!), pull it off.
It’s one of those pictures that critics hated when it was first released; and yet, by the end of the year, it was being named on several Top Ten lists. I admit that when I first saw it in 1973, I didn’t much care for it.
Rip Van Marlowe
By Raymond Benson
(Note: Portions of this review appeared on Cinema Retro in 2014 for an earlier Kino Lorber edition.)
Robert Altman was a very quirky director, sometimes missing the mark, but oftentimes brilliant. His 1973 take on Raymond Chandler’s 1953 novel The Long Goodbye is a case in point. It might take a second viewing to appreciate what’s really going on in the film. Updating what is essentially a 1940s film noir character to the swinging 70s was a risky and challenging prospect—and Altman and his star, Elliott Gould as Philip Marlowe (!), pull it off.
It’s one of those pictures that critics hated when it was first released; and yet, by the end of the year, it was being named on several Top Ten lists. I admit that when I first saw it in 1973, I didn’t much care for it.
- 12/14/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
As 2021 mercifully winds down, the Criterion Channel have a (November) lineup that marks one of their most diverse selections in some time—films by the new masters Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Garrett Bradley, Dan Sallitt’s Fourteen (one of 2020’s best films) couched in a fantastic retrospective, and Criterion editions of old favorites.
Fourteen is featured in “Between Us Girls: Bonds Between Women,” which also includes Céline and Julie, The Virgin Suicides, and Yvonne Rainer’s Privilege. Of equal note are Criterion editions for Ghost World, Night of the Hunter, and (just in time for del Toro’s spin) Nightmare Alley—all stacked releases in their own right.
See the full list of October titles below and more on the Criterion Channel.
300 Nassau, Marina Lameiro, 2015
5 Card Stud, Henry Hathaway, 1968
Alone, Garrett Bradley, 2017
Álvaro, Daniel Wilson, Elizabeth Warren, Alexandra Lazarowich, and Chloe Zimmerman, 2015
America, Garrett Bradley, 2019
Angel Face, Otto Preminger, 1953
Angels Wear White,...
Fourteen is featured in “Between Us Girls: Bonds Between Women,” which also includes Céline and Julie, The Virgin Suicides, and Yvonne Rainer’s Privilege. Of equal note are Criterion editions for Ghost World, Night of the Hunter, and (just in time for del Toro’s spin) Nightmare Alley—all stacked releases in their own right.
See the full list of October titles below and more on the Criterion Channel.
300 Nassau, Marina Lameiro, 2015
5 Card Stud, Henry Hathaway, 1968
Alone, Garrett Bradley, 2017
Álvaro, Daniel Wilson, Elizabeth Warren, Alexandra Lazarowich, and Chloe Zimmerman, 2015
America, Garrett Bradley, 2019
Angel Face, Otto Preminger, 1953
Angels Wear White,...
- 10/25/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
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What makes film noir so fascinating? There are a lot of components that come into play with noir films, but cynicism, suspenseful music, a mysterious plot, figures lurking in the shadows, femme fatales, and fedora-wearing detectives are some of the staples of the classics.
Film noir, or “dark cinema,” was first coined by a French film critic in 1946 to describe the downtrodden themes in American movies. Although the term wasn’t widely adopted by American directors until years later, the ’40s and ’50s are regarded as a classic era that produced pioneering noirs such as “The Maltese Falcon” and “Double Indemnity.”
With that in mind, we have curated a list of films that...
What makes film noir so fascinating? There are a lot of components that come into play with noir films, but cynicism, suspenseful music, a mysterious plot, figures lurking in the shadows, femme fatales, and fedora-wearing detectives are some of the staples of the classics.
Film noir, or “dark cinema,” was first coined by a French film critic in 1946 to describe the downtrodden themes in American movies. Although the term wasn’t widely adopted by American directors until years later, the ’40s and ’50s are regarded as a classic era that produced pioneering noirs such as “The Maltese Falcon” and “Double Indemnity.”
With that in mind, we have curated a list of films that...
- 8/11/2021
- by Latifah Muhammad
- Indiewire
“Ted Lasso,” “The Mandalorian,” “Hacks,” “The Flight Attendant,” “The Crown” and “The Queen’s Gambit” are among the top nominees for the 73rd annual Primetime Awards, which are set for Sept.19 on CBS with Cedric the Entertainer, who stars on the network’s sitcom “The Neighborhood,” set to host. But this is now, but what about the Emmys 60 years ago.
Dick Powell hosted the 13th Emmy Awards which took place at the famed Moulin Rouge Nightclub in Los Angeles on May 16, 1961. There were just three broadcast networks as well as local channels and National Education Television, now known as PBS.
History was made when The Flintstones” became the first animated series to be nominated in a main category: program achievement in the field of humor. It would be nearly 50 years before another animated series, “The Family Guy,” contended for a top award.
Veterans such as Jack Benny and Red Skelton were among the winners,...
Dick Powell hosted the 13th Emmy Awards which took place at the famed Moulin Rouge Nightclub in Los Angeles on May 16, 1961. There were just three broadcast networks as well as local channels and National Education Television, now known as PBS.
History was made when The Flintstones” became the first animated series to be nominated in a main category: program achievement in the field of humor. It would be nearly 50 years before another animated series, “The Family Guy,” contended for a top award.
Veterans such as Jack Benny and Red Skelton were among the winners,...
- 7/15/2021
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Sunshine and noir are antithetical, as probably anyone who knows even a word of French could tell you. Sunshine and film noir, nearly as much so. Yet summer’s here and the time is right for skulking in the murderously foggy streets, thanks to a three-day festival of vintage ’40s and ’50s crime dramas being presented this weekend at the newly reopened Hollywood Legion Theater by the Film Noir Foundation.
In a year that hadn’t started off with a pandemic in full force, or wasn’t continuing with Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre being closed for renovations, noir fans would have already something close to their fill with the annual Noir City festival that’s usually co-sponsored by the American Cinematheque every March or April. But with the absence of that 22-year-old standby leaving a doom-shaped hole in L.A. repertory moviegoers’ hearts, the Noir Foundation has stepped in with a shorter,...
In a year that hadn’t started off with a pandemic in full force, or wasn’t continuing with Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre being closed for renovations, noir fans would have already something close to their fill with the annual Noir City festival that’s usually co-sponsored by the American Cinematheque every March or April. But with the absence of that 22-year-old standby leaving a doom-shaped hole in L.A. repertory moviegoers’ hearts, the Noir Foundation has stepped in with a shorter,...
- 7/8/2021
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
New York, New York is a helluva town. The Bronx is up. And the Battery is down. The people ride in a hole in the ground. New York, New York. It’s a helluva town. And it’s also a perfect backdrop for countless Broadway and movie musicals.
And for good reason. The metropolis is a melting pot of cultures and boroughs. Over the decades, the Great White Way has been home to burlesque, vaudeville, Broadway. The town always is brimming with the best writers and composers. Remember Tin Pan Alley?
There is also a romanticism of New York often depicted in these musicals: most of them were shot on sound stages and studio, so they offer an expressionistic, impressionistic, and even surreal look at NYC. Martin Scorsese tipped his out to these studio musicals with his classic 1977 “New York, New York,” starring Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro.
The...
And for good reason. The metropolis is a melting pot of cultures and boroughs. Over the decades, the Great White Way has been home to burlesque, vaudeville, Broadway. The town always is brimming with the best writers and composers. Remember Tin Pan Alley?
There is also a romanticism of New York often depicted in these musicals: most of them were shot on sound stages and studio, so they offer an expressionistic, impressionistic, and even surreal look at NYC. Martin Scorsese tipped his out to these studio musicals with his classic 1977 “New York, New York,” starring Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro.
The...
- 6/24/2021
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Norman S. Powell, the veteran Hollywood producer, director and network executive known for his award-winning documentary “Brothers at War,” has died. He was 86.
Powell’s career in television and film spanned six decades and included work on “24,” “The Big Valley,” “The New Dick Van Dyke Show” and “The Bob Crane Show.” He was the son of Hollywood Golden Age stars Joan Blondell and Dick Powell.
At the time of his death, Powell was writing a memoir and working on a sequel to his Iraq War-set documentary “Brothers at War” with partner Jake Rademacher and executive producers Gary Sinise and Phil Gurin.
After graduating from the Lawrenceville School and Cornell University, Powell started his career working on Westerns like “Wanted Dead or Alive” with Steve McQueen, “Gunsmoke” with James Arness and “The Rifleman” with Chuck Connors.
Powell earned Emmy nominations for producing Season 2 of “24” and “Washington: Behind Closed Doors,...
Powell’s career in television and film spanned six decades and included work on “24,” “The Big Valley,” “The New Dick Van Dyke Show” and “The Bob Crane Show.” He was the son of Hollywood Golden Age stars Joan Blondell and Dick Powell.
At the time of his death, Powell was writing a memoir and working on a sequel to his Iraq War-set documentary “Brothers at War” with partner Jake Rademacher and executive producers Gary Sinise and Phil Gurin.
After graduating from the Lawrenceville School and Cornell University, Powell started his career working on Westerns like “Wanted Dead or Alive” with Steve McQueen, “Gunsmoke” with James Arness and “The Rifleman” with Chuck Connors.
Powell earned Emmy nominations for producing Season 2 of “24” and “Washington: Behind Closed Doors,...
- 6/22/2021
- by Ethan Shanfeld
- Variety Film + TV
Norman S. Powell, the longtime CBS executive whose work as a producer of 24 and more brought him two Emmy nominations, died on June 16. He was 86.
Powell died of acute respiratory failure, a spokesperson for the family confirmed to Deadline.
Born as Norman Scott Barnes on November 2, 1934, Powell was the son of Oscar-nominated cinematographer George Barnes and actress Joan Blondell. Following his parents’ divorce in 1936, he was adopted by his mother’s second husband, actor Dick Powell.
Powell began his career in the 1950s as a production manager on TV Westerns including Wanted: Dead or Alive, Gunsmoke and The Rifleman.
His small-screen credits, as a producer, include CBS’ The New Dick Van Dyke Show; TNT’s The Lazarus Man; CBS’ Orleans; and AMC’s The Lot, as well as telefilms including 1978’s More Than Friends, starring Rob Reiner and Penny Marshall; 1995’s Convict Cowboy, starring Jon Voight; and 1995’s Black Fox,...
Powell died of acute respiratory failure, a spokesperson for the family confirmed to Deadline.
Born as Norman Scott Barnes on November 2, 1934, Powell was the son of Oscar-nominated cinematographer George Barnes and actress Joan Blondell. Following his parents’ divorce in 1936, he was adopted by his mother’s second husband, actor Dick Powell.
Powell began his career in the 1950s as a production manager on TV Westerns including Wanted: Dead or Alive, Gunsmoke and The Rifleman.
His small-screen credits, as a producer, include CBS’ The New Dick Van Dyke Show; TNT’s The Lazarus Man; CBS’ Orleans; and AMC’s The Lot, as well as telefilms including 1978’s More Than Friends, starring Rob Reiner and Penny Marshall; 1995’s Convict Cowboy, starring Jon Voight; and 1995’s Black Fox,...
- 6/22/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Norman S. Powell, the two-time Emmy-nominated producer who worked on such series as The New Dick Van Dyke Show and 24 and, as a longtime CBS executive, greenlighted a pilot for Cagney & Lacey, has died. He was 86.
Powell, the son of actors Joan Blondell and Dick Powell, died Wednesday of acute respiratory failure, a publicist announced.
Powell earned his Emmy nominations for producing the 1977 ABC miniseries Washington Behind Closed Doors and for guiding the second season (2002-03) of the Fox drama 24, starring Kiefer Sutherland.
During his 13-year tenure as an executive with CBS, Powell advanced to senior vp of the network’...
Powell, the son of actors Joan Blondell and Dick Powell, died Wednesday of acute respiratory failure, a publicist announced.
Powell earned his Emmy nominations for producing the 1977 ABC miniseries Washington Behind Closed Doors and for guiding the second season (2002-03) of the Fox drama 24, starring Kiefer Sutherland.
During his 13-year tenure as an executive with CBS, Powell advanced to senior vp of the network’...
- 6/21/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Norman S. Powell, the two-time Emmy-nominated producer who worked on such series as The New Dick Van Dyke Show and 24 and, as a longtime CBS executive, greenlighted a pilot for Cagney & Lacey, has died. He was 86.
Powell, the son of actors Joan Blondell and Dick Powell, died Wednesday of acute respiratory failure, a publicist announced.
Powell earned his Emmy nominations for producing the 1977 ABC miniseries Washington Behind Closed Doors and for guiding the second season (2002-03) of the Fox drama 24, starring Kiefer Sutherland.
During his 13-year tenure as an executive with CBS, Powell advanced to senior vp of the network’...
Powell, the son of actors Joan Blondell and Dick Powell, died Wednesday of acute respiratory failure, a publicist announced.
Powell earned his Emmy nominations for producing the 1977 ABC miniseries Washington Behind Closed Doors and for guiding the second season (2002-03) of the Fox drama 24, starring Kiefer Sutherland.
During his 13-year tenure as an executive with CBS, Powell advanced to senior vp of the network’...
- 6/21/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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“Tomorrow’S News Today!”
By Raymond Benson
One wonders if Bond villain Elliot Carver ever saw the 1944 comedy-fantasy, It Happened Tomorrow. Carver’s evil plot involved making bad news happen so that his newspapers could scoop the headlines before other media outlets even learned about the events. “Tomorrow’s News Today!” was his slogan.
In the fanciful and entertaining It Happened Tomorrow, a newspaper man receives tomorrow’s news today, allowing him to write the piece and get it ready to go to the presses before the incident occurs.
French filmmaker René Clair had come to Hollywood in the early 1940s after working for a time in the U.K. He made a handful of pictures for different studios, namely I Married a Witch (1942) and And Then There Were None (1945). In-between those notable titles came It Happened Tomorrow, which was based on an...
“Tomorrow’S News Today!”
By Raymond Benson
One wonders if Bond villain Elliot Carver ever saw the 1944 comedy-fantasy, It Happened Tomorrow. Carver’s evil plot involved making bad news happen so that his newspapers could scoop the headlines before other media outlets even learned about the events. “Tomorrow’s News Today!” was his slogan.
In the fanciful and entertaining It Happened Tomorrow, a newspaper man receives tomorrow’s news today, allowing him to write the piece and get it ready to go to the presses before the incident occurs.
French filmmaker René Clair had come to Hollywood in the early 1940s after working for a time in the U.K. He made a handful of pictures for different studios, namely I Married a Witch (1942) and And Then There Were None (1945). In-between those notable titles came It Happened Tomorrow, which was based on an...
- 6/4/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
It Happened Tomorrow
Blu ray
Kino Lorber
1944 / 1.33:1 / 85 min.
Starring Dick Powell, Linda Darnell, Jack Oakie
Cinematography by Archie Stout, Eugen Schüfftan
Directed by René Clair
René Clair takes a trip through The Twilight Zone in It Happened Tomorrow, the story of a reporter’s perilous adventure with a different kind of time machine. Like Clair’s I Married a Witch and The Ghost Goes West, this 1944 fantasy is lighter than air but its feet are planted firmly on the ground. Dick Powell plays Larry Stevens, a struggling journalist with a literal dead end job—he writes obituaries for The Evening News. Linda Darnell is Sylvia Smith, a stage performer who predicts fortunes with the help of Oscar Cigolini, né Smith, her showboating uncle played by Jack Oakie. Sylvia isn’t the only one with insight into the future, Larry gets in on the act when he’s handed a...
Blu ray
Kino Lorber
1944 / 1.33:1 / 85 min.
Starring Dick Powell, Linda Darnell, Jack Oakie
Cinematography by Archie Stout, Eugen Schüfftan
Directed by René Clair
René Clair takes a trip through The Twilight Zone in It Happened Tomorrow, the story of a reporter’s perilous adventure with a different kind of time machine. Like Clair’s I Married a Witch and The Ghost Goes West, this 1944 fantasy is lighter than air but its feet are planted firmly on the ground. Dick Powell plays Larry Stevens, a struggling journalist with a literal dead end job—he writes obituaries for The Evening News. Linda Darnell is Sylvia Smith, a stage performer who predicts fortunes with the help of Oscar Cigolini, né Smith, her showboating uncle played by Jack Oakie. Sylvia isn’t the only one with insight into the future, Larry gets in on the act when he’s handed a...
- 5/22/2021
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Witness six noir heroes, doing what noir heroes do: one crooked gambler, one psycho, another psycho with access to a gun, a dope railroaded into a prison sentence, and an even bigger dope who doesn’t realize he’s poisoning himself. That’s only five, but the sixth is a cop, and not a particularly compromised one, the way we like ’em in noir. This third Columbia Noir Collection can boast big stars and some name directors, beautiful HD transfers and some fascinating short subjects as extras.
Columbia Noir #3
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1947-57 / B&w / 1:37 Academy, 1:85 widescreen / Street Date May 17, 2021 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £49.99
Starring: Dick Powell, Lee J Cobb, Nina Foch, William Holden, Edmond O’Brien, Dorothy Malone, Glenn Ford, Broderick Crawford, Marie Windsor, and Vince Edwards.
Directed by Robert Rossen, Rudolph Maté, Henry Levin, Gordon Douglas, Edward Dmytryk, Irving Lerner
Powerhouse Indicator’s...
Columbia Noir #3
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1947-57 / B&w / 1:37 Academy, 1:85 widescreen / Street Date May 17, 2021 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £49.99
Starring: Dick Powell, Lee J Cobb, Nina Foch, William Holden, Edmond O’Brien, Dorothy Malone, Glenn Ford, Broderick Crawford, Marie Windsor, and Vince Edwards.
Directed by Robert Rossen, Rudolph Maté, Henry Levin, Gordon Douglas, Edward Dmytryk, Irving Lerner
Powerhouse Indicator’s...
- 5/4/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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“Danger, Darkness, And Dames In High Defintion”
By Raymond Benson
Ding ding ding! Attention all lovers of film noir! The Warner Archive has released an outstanding 4-film Blu-ray collection of some of the best titles in this cinematic movement that ran from (approximately) 1941 to 1958. While author James Ellroy states in the included supplemental documentary, Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light, that noir began in “1945,” this is obviously incorrect. It would leave out such classics as one of the titles in the collection, as well as Double Indemnity and Laura. Film noir is generally accepted by most film scholars as beginning in 1941 with High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon.
Much debate and discussion proliferate among film historians and scholars about what film noir is. Foremost, it is Not a genre! It is mostly a style, along with thematic elements that define a group of...
“Danger, Darkness, And Dames In High Defintion”
By Raymond Benson
Ding ding ding! Attention all lovers of film noir! The Warner Archive has released an outstanding 4-film Blu-ray collection of some of the best titles in this cinematic movement that ran from (approximately) 1941 to 1958. While author James Ellroy states in the included supplemental documentary, Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light, that noir began in “1945,” this is obviously incorrect. It would leave out such classics as one of the titles in the collection, as well as Double Indemnity and Laura. Film noir is generally accepted by most film scholars as beginning in 1941 with High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon.
Much debate and discussion proliferate among film historians and scholars about what film noir is. Foremost, it is Not a genre! It is mostly a style, along with thematic elements that define a group of...
- 10/3/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
As Disney quietly disappears huge swathes of film history into its vaults, I'm going to spend 2020 celebrating Twentieth Century Fox and the Fox Film Corporation's films, what one might call their output if only someone were putting it out.And now they've quietly disappeared William Fox's name from the company: guilty by association with Rupert Murdoch, even though he never associated with him.***Two of the 1940s Raymond Chandler adaptations, Howard Hawks' The Big Sleep (1946) and Edward Dmytryk's Murder, My Sweet (1944), are rightly considered classics. Hawks identified the key challenge of the first-person detective story: find a leading man interesting enough that the audience doesn't get bored of seeing him in every scene. Hawks hired Bogart.Dmytryk was lumbered with Dick Powell, but Powell stretched himself and Dmytryk did everything to make the surroundings interesting, even nightmarish.The third movie from the third major studio is Robert Montgomery...
- 6/17/2020
- MUBI
Watching television today offers you near-unlimited choices when it comes to movies, whether that’s through a streaming service or a specific premium channel. But in this era of peak content one unique feature still stands out: the pre-movie host. Whether it’s TCM’s Alicia Malone chatting about the history of Jane Russell or Joe Bob Brigg’s Southern drawl introducing “Halloween” on Shudder, hosts hold on and help to bridge the gap between movies and the history that created them.
Where hosts were once a matter of necessity, introducing a series and then expanding out to fill in for commercial breaks, or, as premium cable and streaming started, the absence of them, they remain a serious branding technique. You could identify a network by its hosts, whether that is the litany of horror hosts that peppered the airwaves of various local networks throughout the country, to AMC’s...
Where hosts were once a matter of necessity, introducing a series and then expanding out to fill in for commercial breaks, or, as premium cable and streaming started, the absence of them, they remain a serious branding technique. You could identify a network by its hosts, whether that is the litany of horror hosts that peppered the airwaves of various local networks throughout the country, to AMC’s...
- 5/11/2020
- by Kristen Lopez
- Indiewire
“It’S The Bunk!”
By Raymond Benson
In the year 1940, Hollywood screenwriter Preston Sturges elevated his career to become one of the first writer/director double threats since the silent days of Chaplin and Keaton. For a brief five years in the early 40s, his flame burned brightly as he churned out sophisticated screwball comedies that had great wit, intelligence, and a stock company of iconic supporting comic actors—the guys you always recognize but never know their names.
After winning an Oscar for writing The Great McGinty (1940), Sturges presented superb material through 1945. Short, smart, and hilarious, Christmas in July was his second directorial effort from a script based on his own unproduced stage play. Like most of Sturges’ works, the story concerns the Everyman who wants nothing more than to better himself—and if he must challenge authority and make some waves while he does it, then so be it.
By Raymond Benson
In the year 1940, Hollywood screenwriter Preston Sturges elevated his career to become one of the first writer/director double threats since the silent days of Chaplin and Keaton. For a brief five years in the early 40s, his flame burned brightly as he churned out sophisticated screwball comedies that had great wit, intelligence, and a stock company of iconic supporting comic actors—the guys you always recognize but never know their names.
After winning an Oscar for writing The Great McGinty (1940), Sturges presented superb material through 1945. Short, smart, and hilarious, Christmas in July was his second directorial effort from a script based on his own unproduced stage play. Like most of Sturges’ works, the story concerns the Everyman who wants nothing more than to better himself—and if he must challenge authority and make some waves while he does it, then so be it.
- 1/6/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
At least the title Sounds Christmas-themed! Preston Sturges’ sweet trifle is as simple as a sit-com mix-up, but the charm is in the lovable characters (the core of Sturges’ formidable stock company) and the sincerity of all concerned. Ellen Drew is the most deserving fiancé ever to pine for a wedding ring, and Dick Powell an oh-so-earnest Dagwood Bumstead type who banks his future on a goofball coffee slogan contest — just try and figure out the meaning of his winning slogan. In his second film Sturges confirmed himself as Hollywood’s newest comedy genius writer-director — although William Demarest’s perpetually flustered character is so well written and played, we’d think that the actor was simply living the part.
Christmas in July
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1940 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 67 min. / Street Date November 26, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Dick Powell, Ellen Drew, Raymond Walburn, Alexander Carr, William Demarest,...
Christmas in July
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1940 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 67 min. / Street Date November 26, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Dick Powell, Ellen Drew, Raymond Walburn, Alexander Carr, William Demarest,...
- 12/10/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“Don’t worry. Some of the best movies are made by people working together who hate each other’s guts.”
Lana Turner and Kirk Douglas in The Bad And The Beautiful (1952) is available on Blu-ray from Warner Archives. It can be ordered Here
Appearances are everything in Hollywood. So when conniving moviemaker Jonathan Shields realizes few mourners will show up for the funeral of his equally conniving father, he knows what to do: hire extras. Kirk Douglas gives a magnetic, Oscar®-nominated performance as Shields, who turns talent, charisma and ruthlessness into film success, stomping on careers and creating enemies along the way. Vincente Minnelli directs this winner of five Academy Awards® that’s more than a compelling insider’s look at Tinseltown: It’s an opportunity for buffs to guess which real-life stars and moguls inspired the roles played by Douglas, Lana Turner, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Best Supporting Actress Gloria Grahame and more.
Lana Turner and Kirk Douglas in The Bad And The Beautiful (1952) is available on Blu-ray from Warner Archives. It can be ordered Here
Appearances are everything in Hollywood. So when conniving moviemaker Jonathan Shields realizes few mourners will show up for the funeral of his equally conniving father, he knows what to do: hire extras. Kirk Douglas gives a magnetic, Oscar®-nominated performance as Shields, who turns talent, charisma and ruthlessness into film success, stomping on careers and creating enemies along the way. Vincente Minnelli directs this winner of five Academy Awards® that’s more than a compelling insider’s look at Tinseltown: It’s an opportunity for buffs to guess which real-life stars and moguls inspired the roles played by Douglas, Lana Turner, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Best Supporting Actress Gloria Grahame and more.
- 11/27/2019
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
One of Vincente Minnelli’s best is this glamorous ‘Hollywood Looks At Hollywood’ exposé of sin and conniving among the actors, directors and producers that make Quality Entertainment for us unglamorous nobodies. It’s overstated and often grossly overacted but still carries a grandiose charm. Lana Turner gets to play an idealized version of herself. Gloria Grahame generates additional heat, and for her trouble walked away with an Oscar. And composer David Raksin contributes one of his most melodic music scores — the main theme is a winner, right up there with his Laura. CineSavant runs amuck critiquing the way MGM’s movie slams Hollywood creatives, while pretending that the studio bigwigs are infallible Gods.
The Bad and the Beautiful
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1952 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 118 min. / Street Date November 19, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Barry Sullivan, Gloria Grahame, Gilbert Roland,...
The Bad and the Beautiful
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1952 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 118 min. / Street Date November 19, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Barry Sullivan, Gloria Grahame, Gilbert Roland,...
- 11/19/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Blake Edwards. Courtesy of Paramount.“[Blake] Edwards has become a stylistic influence in the cinema,” Andrew Sarris would write of the filmmaker in 1968, “And his personality and script dominate Ralph Nelson’s Soldier in the Rain the way Lubitsch’s personality once dominated Cukor’s One Hour With You.” Sarris would dub himself an “Edwardian”in his support of the film director and the inclusion of Edwards in his foundational book, The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929–1968, still remains the most serious scholarship on him. Edwards’ distinction in the book included him in “The Far Side of Paradise,” the category that “falls short of Pantheon,” the highest distinction. Edwards would be categorized alongside the likes of Capra, Cukor, Minnelli, Preminger, and Fuller—strong company, but characterized as such for Sarris because there is fragmentation or disruption within their careers. This high distinction by Sarris would have the great film critic come...
- 10/18/2019
- MUBI
Great news for fans of old musicals! James Cagney in Footlight Parade (1932) is now available on Blu-ray from Warner Archives
Footlight Parade is sheer cinematic joy. In this Depression-era romp, a timid stenographer (Ruby Keeler) removes her glasses and – wow! – she’s a star. A gee-whiz tenor (Dick Powell) asserts his independence. Plucky chorines tap, greedy hangers-on get their comeuppances, and an indefatigable producer/dancer (James Cagney) and his Girl Friday (Joan Blondell) work showbiz miracles to stage live prologues for talkie houses to keep their company afloat during hard times. Honeymoon Hotel, By a Waterfall and Shanghai Lil are the shows, directed by Busby Berkeley and filled with imagination-bending sets, startling camera angles, kaleidoscopic pageantry and a 20,000-gallon-per-minute waterfall. Curtain up!
James Cagney demonstrates his Big Apple hoofer bonafides while adding his one-of-a-kind fiery grit to this Busby Berkeley musical packed with the usual sensational suspects. Chester Kent (Cagney...
Footlight Parade is sheer cinematic joy. In this Depression-era romp, a timid stenographer (Ruby Keeler) removes her glasses and – wow! – she’s a star. A gee-whiz tenor (Dick Powell) asserts his independence. Plucky chorines tap, greedy hangers-on get their comeuppances, and an indefatigable producer/dancer (James Cagney) and his Girl Friday (Joan Blondell) work showbiz miracles to stage live prologues for talkie houses to keep their company afloat during hard times. Honeymoon Hotel, By a Waterfall and Shanghai Lil are the shows, directed by Busby Berkeley and filled with imagination-bending sets, startling camera angles, kaleidoscopic pageantry and a 20,000-gallon-per-minute waterfall. Curtain up!
James Cagney demonstrates his Big Apple hoofer bonafides while adding his one-of-a-kind fiery grit to this Busby Berkeley musical packed with the usual sensational suspects. Chester Kent (Cagney...
- 7/22/2019
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
This amazing Busby Berkeley extravaganza is the best choice to impress newbies to pre-Code musical madness: it is absolutely irresistible. James Cagney’s nervy, terminally excitable stage producer makes the tale of Chester Kent accessible to viewers otherwise allergic to musicals — he’s as electric here as he is in his gangster movies. Remastered in HD, the fantastic, kaleidoscopic visuals will wow anybody — we really expect Porky Pig to pop up and stutter, “N-n-n-o CGI, Folks!”
Footlight Parade
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1933 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 104 min. / Street Date July 16, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Frank McHugh, Ruth Donnelly, Guy Kibbee, Hugh Herbert.
Cinematography: George Barnes
Art Directors: Anton Grot, Jack Okey Film Editor: George Amy
Original Music: Sammy Fain, Irving Kahal Harry Warren, Al Dubin
Written by Manuel Seff, James Seymour
Produced by Robert Lord
Directed by Lloyd Bacon
Our...
Footlight Parade
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1933 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 104 min. / Street Date July 16, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Frank McHugh, Ruth Donnelly, Guy Kibbee, Hugh Herbert.
Cinematography: George Barnes
Art Directors: Anton Grot, Jack Okey Film Editor: George Amy
Original Music: Sammy Fain, Irving Kahal Harry Warren, Al Dubin
Written by Manuel Seff, James Seymour
Produced by Robert Lord
Directed by Lloyd Bacon
Our...
- 7/13/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Lou Weiss, chairman emeritus of the William Morris Agency and one of the last vestiges of the old guard of a bygone era in the entertainment business, passed away at 9:30 Am on April 8, due to complications from an appendectomy. He was 101.
Weiss retired in 2007 after 70 years at Wma. During his tenure, which tracked the rise of the television medium, Weiss became one of the most powerful agents in the TV industry.
Born on March 22, 1918 in New York City’s lower east side, Weiss started in the mailroom at the New York William Morris agency in 1937, with the help of his comedian/actor uncle and Wma client, George Burns.
With the advent of World War II, Weiss was drafted into the Us Army and became a 2nd lieutenant with the 10th Mountain Division serving in Italy. Upon returning from the war to his job, Weiss reported to the legendary Abe Lastfogel (“Mr.
Weiss retired in 2007 after 70 years at Wma. During his tenure, which tracked the rise of the television medium, Weiss became one of the most powerful agents in the TV industry.
Born on March 22, 1918 in New York City’s lower east side, Weiss started in the mailroom at the New York William Morris agency in 1937, with the help of his comedian/actor uncle and Wma client, George Burns.
With the advent of World War II, Weiss was drafted into the Us Army and became a 2nd lieutenant with the 10th Mountain Division serving in Italy. Upon returning from the war to his job, Weiss reported to the legendary Abe Lastfogel (“Mr.
- 4/8/2019
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Christopher Knopf, the prolific screenwriter behind Emperor of the North, 20 Million Miles to Earth and a host of TV Westerns in the 1950s and '60s, has died. He was 91.
Knopf died Wednesday of congestive heart failure at his home in Santa Monica, a family member told The Hollywood Reporter.
Knopf wrote for the CBS Western Zane Grey Theater, starring Dick Powell, and its spinoff, Trackdown, starring Robert Culp; penned the pilot episode for ABC's The Big Valley; and created CBS' Cimarron Strip, starring Stuart Whitman.
His much-admired television work also included 1977's Scott Joplin: King of Ragtime (for which he won a Writers ...
Knopf died Wednesday of congestive heart failure at his home in Santa Monica, a family member told The Hollywood Reporter.
Knopf wrote for the CBS Western Zane Grey Theater, starring Dick Powell, and its spinoff, Trackdown, starring Robert Culp; penned the pilot episode for ABC's The Big Valley; and created CBS' Cimarron Strip, starring Stuart Whitman.
His much-admired television work also included 1977's Scott Joplin: King of Ragtime (for which he won a Writers ...
- 2/16/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Christopher Knopf, the prolific screenwriter behind Emperor of the North, 20 Million Miles to Earth and a host of TV Westerns in the 1950s and '60s, has died. He was 91.
Knopf died Wednesday of congestive heart failure at his home in Santa Monica, his wife of 44 years, Lorraine, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Knopf wrote for the CBS Western Zane Grey Theater, starring Dick Powell, and its spinoff, Trackdown, starring Robert Culp; penned the pilot episode for ABC's The Big Valley; and created CBS' Cimarron Strip, starring Stuart Whitman.
His much-admired television work also included 1977's Scott Joplin: King of Ragtime (for which he ...
Knopf died Wednesday of congestive heart failure at his home in Santa Monica, his wife of 44 years, Lorraine, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Knopf wrote for the CBS Western Zane Grey Theater, starring Dick Powell, and its spinoff, Trackdown, starring Robert Culp; penned the pilot episode for ABC's The Big Valley; and created CBS' Cimarron Strip, starring Stuart Whitman.
His much-admired television work also included 1977's Scott Joplin: King of Ragtime (for which he ...
- 2/16/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is purportedly the most-produced of all the Bard’s plays, but neither that nugget nor its cinematically friendly fantasy elements has done it many favors on film. Hollywood’s most famous stab was a notorious flop — stage titan Max Reinhardt’s garish 1935 Warner Bros. extravaganza featuring such unlikely (and highly variable) Shakespearean actors as Dick Powell, James Cagney, Mickey Rooney and Joe E. Brown. An almost equally starry 1999 effort, shot in Italy with Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Calista Flockhart and Christian Bale, wasn’t much better.
Since then there’s been the lamentably self-explanatory “A Midsummer Night’s Rave,” and the inexplicable “Strange Magic,” one Disney cartoon that children of all ages found easy to resist. That’s 80 years of evidence suggesting “Dream” might best be left sleeping by American filmmakers.
All the more surprising, then, that director-adapter Casey Wilder Mott’s debut feature proves...
Since then there’s been the lamentably self-explanatory “A Midsummer Night’s Rave,” and the inexplicable “Strange Magic,” one Disney cartoon that children of all ages found easy to resist. That’s 80 years of evidence suggesting “Dream” might best be left sleeping by American filmmakers.
All the more surprising, then, that director-adapter Casey Wilder Mott’s debut feature proves...
- 7/13/2018
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
The Awful Truth
Blu ray
Criterion
1937 / 1:33 / 91 Min. / Street Date April 17, 2018
Starring Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Ralph Bellamy
Cinematography by Joseph Walker
Written by Viña Delmar
Edited by Al Clark
Produced and directed by Leo McCarey
Thanks to Louis Armstrong and his fellow geniuses, the Jazz Age transformed a generation and dominated pop culture for close to two decades; Vanity Fair and Life recorded the nightlife of hot-to-trot sophisticates while early risers followed the seesaw romance of a willowy flapper named Blondie Boopadoop and her paramour Dagwood Bumstead, a lovesick Dick Powell wannabe.
It was Powell who helped popularize the uptempo rhythms pervading the fast and loose musicals of the era, in particular Paramount’s raucous output which flaunted hot jazz on the soundtrack whether it starred Crosby as a college crooner or W.C. Fields as a double-dealing misanthrope. Even Norman McLeod’s Alice In Wonderland began with a bouncy...
Blu ray
Criterion
1937 / 1:33 / 91 Min. / Street Date April 17, 2018
Starring Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Ralph Bellamy
Cinematography by Joseph Walker
Written by Viña Delmar
Edited by Al Clark
Produced and directed by Leo McCarey
Thanks to Louis Armstrong and his fellow geniuses, the Jazz Age transformed a generation and dominated pop culture for close to two decades; Vanity Fair and Life recorded the nightlife of hot-to-trot sophisticates while early risers followed the seesaw romance of a willowy flapper named Blondie Boopadoop and her paramour Dagwood Bumstead, a lovesick Dick Powell wannabe.
It was Powell who helped popularize the uptempo rhythms pervading the fast and loose musicals of the era, in particular Paramount’s raucous output which flaunted hot jazz on the soundtrack whether it starred Crosby as a college crooner or W.C. Fields as a double-dealing misanthrope. Even Norman McLeod’s Alice In Wonderland began with a bouncy...
- 4/7/2018
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Trouble Is My Business with Brittney Powell. Co-written by actor/voice actor Tom Konkle, who also directed, and Xena: Warrior Princess actress Brittney Powell, Trouble Is My Business is a humorous homage to film noirs of the 1940s and 1950s, among them John Huston's The Maltese Falcon and Orson Welles' Touch of Evil. Konkle stars in the sort of role that back in the '40s and '50s belonged to the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, Dick Powell, and Alan Ladd. As the femme fatale, Brittney Powell is supposed to evoke memories of Jane Greer, Lizabeth Scott, Lauren Bacall, and Claire Trevor. 'Trouble Is My Business': Humorous film noir homage evokes memories of 'The Maltese Falcon' & 'Touch of Evil' A crunchy, witty, and often just plain funny mash-up of classic noir tropes, from hard-boiled private dicks to the easy-on-the-eyes femme fatales – in addition to dialogue worthy of Dashiell Hammett and, occasionally...
- 10/21/2017
- by Tim Cogshell
- Alt Film Guide
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