This year’s races for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress were over before they started. Robert Downey Jr. in “Oppenheimer” and Da’Vine Joy Randolph in “The Holdovers” took leads in the Gold Derby odds in their respective categories early in the season. They both went on to pick up Golden Globe, Critics Choice, BAFTA and SAG Awards. By the time the Oscars rolled around, there was a “near zero” chance of either of them losing.
In contrast, the lead acting contests provided considerably more suspense. Bradley Cooper in “Maestro,” Paul Giamatti in “The Holdovers” and Cillian Murphy in “Oppenheimer” were all looking strong at different point in the derby, before Murphy really exploded and ultimately won the Best Actor Oscar. And Lily Gladstone in “Killers of the Flower Moon” and Emma Stone in “Poor Things” kept trading the top spot in the Best Actress odds. Gladstone finally reclaimed...
In contrast, the lead acting contests provided considerably more suspense. Bradley Cooper in “Maestro,” Paul Giamatti in “The Holdovers” and Cillian Murphy in “Oppenheimer” were all looking strong at different point in the derby, before Murphy really exploded and ultimately won the Best Actor Oscar. And Lily Gladstone in “Killers of the Flower Moon” and Emma Stone in “Poor Things” kept trading the top spot in the Best Actress odds. Gladstone finally reclaimed...
- 3/27/2024
- by Tariq Khan
- Gold Derby
At the inaugural Academy Awards in 1929, native Pennsylvanian Janet Gaynor made history as the first American-born performer to win an Oscar by taking the Best Actress prize for her body of work in “7th Heaven,” “Street Angel,” and “Sunrise.” Over the subsequent 95 years, 215 more thespians originating from the United States won the academy’s favor, meaning the country has now produced 68.1% of all individual acting Oscar recipients. Considering the last decade alone, the rate of such winners is even higher, at 70.3%.
At this point, 96.8% of American-born acting Oscar victors have hailed from one of 34 actual states. Of those constituting the remainder, three originated from the federal District of Columbia, while four were born in the territory of Puerto Rico. New York (home to 49 winners) is the most common birth state among the entire group, followed by California (34), Illinois (13), Massachusetts (11), and Pennsylvania (11).
Bearing in mind our specific birthplace focus, the 16 states...
At this point, 96.8% of American-born acting Oscar victors have hailed from one of 34 actual states. Of those constituting the remainder, three originated from the federal District of Columbia, while four were born in the territory of Puerto Rico. New York (home to 49 winners) is the most common birth state among the entire group, followed by California (34), Illinois (13), Massachusetts (11), and Pennsylvania (11).
Bearing in mind our specific birthplace focus, the 16 states...
- 3/18/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
George Cukor's "The Philadelphia Story" is a terrific film. It is as great a mainstream comedy as Hollywood has ever produced, and the three leads — James Stewart, Katharine Hepburn, and Cary Grant — are humming on every available cylinder. It was worthy of many accolades, but I'll never understand how Academy voters walked out of John Ford's "The Grapes of Wrath," and cast a vote for anyone other than Henry Fonda.
Ford's film was rushed into production by Twentieth Century Fox's Darryl Zanuck, who worried tremendously about the populist, anti-capitalist politics of John Steinbeck's novel. The book is explicitly critical of the banks' cruel treatment of tenant farmers and pulls no punches in its portrayal of Oklahomans desperate to find prosperity in the Western United States. At the center of the book is Tom Joad, an ex-con who joins his evicted family on their arduous trek to California.
Ford's film was rushed into production by Twentieth Century Fox's Darryl Zanuck, who worried tremendously about the populist, anti-capitalist politics of John Steinbeck's novel. The book is explicitly critical of the banks' cruel treatment of tenant farmers and pulls no punches in its portrayal of Oklahomans desperate to find prosperity in the Western United States. At the center of the book is Tom Joad, an ex-con who joins his evicted family on their arduous trek to California.
- 1/27/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
This year’s documentary nominees explore diverse subject matter as saving birds (“All that Breathes”) and an exploration of the life and career of photographer and activist Nan Goldin (“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”). But the documentary nominees, which took place at the 15th annual Oscars on March 4, 1943 at the Cocoanut Grove, primarly revolved around World War II.
There were 25 nominees — shorts and features competed against each other — and four winners. The US Navy was the producer of winner “The Battle of Midway,” directed by John Ford. The 18-minute film featured footage from the Battle of Midway which was a crucial victory in the Pacific in 1942. The film featured narration by Ford favorites Henry Fonda, Donald Crisp and Jane Darwell.
The Australian News and Information Bureau produced the full-length documentary winner “Kokoda Front Line!,” which was also the first film from Down Under to win an Oscar. The film...
There were 25 nominees — shorts and features competed against each other — and four winners. The US Navy was the producer of winner “The Battle of Midway,” directed by John Ford. The 18-minute film featured footage from the Battle of Midway which was a crucial victory in the Pacific in 1942. The film featured narration by Ford favorites Henry Fonda, Donald Crisp and Jane Darwell.
The Australian News and Information Bureau produced the full-length documentary winner “Kokoda Front Line!,” which was also the first film from Down Under to win an Oscar. The film...
- 1/25/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Oscar certainly loves mothers. All five of this year’s Best Actress nominees — Jessica Chastain (“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”), Olivia Colman (“The Lost Daughter”), Penelope Cruz (“Parallel Mothers”), Nicole Kidman (“Being the Ricardos”) and Kirsten Stewart (“Spencer”) — play mothers. Ditto four out of five supporting nominees: Jessie Buckley (“The Lost Daughter”), Judi Dench (“Belfast”), Kirsten Dunst (“The Power of the Dog”) and Aunjanue Ellis (“King Richard”); the fifth contender is Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story”).
Actresses love getting maternal sinking their teeth-and sometimes claws-into mother roles whether they be good, bad, ugly or downright evil. Here’s a look at some early memorable mother performances that made Oscars history.
The mother of all mothers was Ruth Chatterton. Though she is not as well-remembered as other actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood, she was extremely popular in the late 1920s and early ‘30s. Though no nominations were officially announced for the second annual Oscars,...
Actresses love getting maternal sinking their teeth-and sometimes claws-into mother roles whether they be good, bad, ugly or downright evil. Here’s a look at some early memorable mother performances that made Oscars history.
The mother of all mothers was Ruth Chatterton. Though she is not as well-remembered as other actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood, she was extremely popular in the late 1920s and early ‘30s. Though no nominations were officially announced for the second annual Oscars,...
- 2/18/2022
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Core pre-Code excellence! This movie delivers sexy situations while nailing small town intolerance and hypocrisy. When push comes to shove, the slighted and slandered Nancy Carroll makes daring, socially unacceptable choices that would never be allowed after the Production Code was enforced. Gorgeous Carroll is a vivacious blend of Clara Bow and Claudette Colbert. She must choose between slick playboy Cary Grant and hunky geologist Randolph Scott. What she really needs is a bus ticket out of her Town Without Pity. The picture is funny, well observed and well written. And it has Grady Sutton — ooh!
Hot Saturday
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1932 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 73 min. / Street Date October 26, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Cary Grant, Nancy Carroll, Randolph Scott, Edward Woods, Lilian Bond, William Collier Sr., Jane Darwell, Stanley Smith, Rita La Roy, Rose Coghlan, Oscar Apfel, Jessie Arnold, Grady Sutton, Marjorie Main, .
Cinematography: Arthur L. Todd
Original...
Hot Saturday
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1932 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 73 min. / Street Date October 26, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Cary Grant, Nancy Carroll, Randolph Scott, Edward Woods, Lilian Bond, William Collier Sr., Jane Darwell, Stanley Smith, Rita La Roy, Rose Coghlan, Oscar Apfel, Jessie Arnold, Grady Sutton, Marjorie Main, .
Cinematography: Arthur L. Todd
Original...
- 9/28/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
It’s low-rent Noir A Go-Go: Angela Lansbury is a double-crossing femme fatale in this independent cheapie with modest charms. You can’t trust anyone these days, especially real estate developers with plans to collect Your life insurance. Lansbury is the seductive ‘motivator’ with a preference for late-night rendezvous in the high mountains, where everything is a long drop, nudge nudge wink wink. She makes with the hotcha come-ons but rugged Keith Andes is the one who goes around topless for an entire reel. One of the most obscure ’50s films noir, this one gives us a peek at an evocative Hollywood location or two.
A Life at Stake
Blu-ray
The Film Detective
1955 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 76 min. / Street Date September 7, 2021 / 24.95
Starring: Angela Lansbury, Keith Andes, Douglass Dumbrille, Claudia Barrett, Jane Darwell, Gavin Gordon, Charles Maxwell, William Henry.
Cinematography: Ted Allan
Set Designer: Robert Haver
Film Editor: Frank Sullivan
Original...
A Life at Stake
Blu-ray
The Film Detective
1955 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 76 min. / Street Date September 7, 2021 / 24.95
Starring: Angela Lansbury, Keith Andes, Douglass Dumbrille, Claudia Barrett, Jane Darwell, Gavin Gordon, Charles Maxwell, William Henry.
Cinematography: Ted Allan
Set Designer: Robert Haver
Film Editor: Frank Sullivan
Original...
- 9/4/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Paul Raci, 72, has already won several critics organization’s awards including from the National Society of Film Critics for his performance as Joe, a recovering alcoholic who lost his hearing in the Vietnam War. Joe runs a house for recovering deaf addicts that Ruben (Riz Ahmed), a drug addict who lost his hearing playing drums, goes to live. Raci ranks in the top five contenders for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars according to our exclusive odds.
And there’s a good reason wh: the actor gives such a natural, forceful performance as the no-nonsense Joe-his parents were deaf. He’s also fluent in American Sign Language and has appeared in some dozen productions of the Los Angeles-based Deaf West Theater and is lead performer of the Asl Black Sabbath tribute band Hands of Doom. And just as Joe, Raci is also a Vietnam Vet.
Character actors have won Oscars...
And there’s a good reason wh: the actor gives such a natural, forceful performance as the no-nonsense Joe-his parents were deaf. He’s also fluent in American Sign Language and has appeared in some dozen productions of the Los Angeles-based Deaf West Theater and is lead performer of the Asl Black Sabbath tribute band Hands of Doom. And just as Joe, Raci is also a Vietnam Vet.
Character actors have won Oscars...
- 1/21/2021
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
The Great Gildersleeve Movie Collection
DVD
Warner Archive
1942, ’43, ’44 / 1.33:1 / 62, 63, 64, 63 min.
Starring Harold Peary, Jane Darwell, Freddie Mercer, Nancy Gates
Cinematography by Frank Redman, Jack MacKenzie
Directed by Gordon Douglas, Tim Whelan
Like the transition from silent movies to the talkies, the progression from radio to film was a rocky road for some performers. Bud Collyer and Daniel Chodos, the actors who lent their musclebound vocals to Superman and Doc Savage, would have been unthinkable modeling skin-tight long Johns or shredded undershirts on the silver screen. But when audiences first caught sight of Harold Peary as the rotund popinjay Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve there was immediate recognition. Peary was built for the part – he looked like a bowling pin in a double-breasted suit but had the self-awareness to describe his character as “a small man who thinks he’s a big man.” Gildersleeve was a pompous fool but he was our pompous fool.
DVD
Warner Archive
1942, ’43, ’44 / 1.33:1 / 62, 63, 64, 63 min.
Starring Harold Peary, Jane Darwell, Freddie Mercer, Nancy Gates
Cinematography by Frank Redman, Jack MacKenzie
Directed by Gordon Douglas, Tim Whelan
Like the transition from silent movies to the talkies, the progression from radio to film was a rocky road for some performers. Bud Collyer and Daniel Chodos, the actors who lent their musclebound vocals to Superman and Doc Savage, would have been unthinkable modeling skin-tight long Johns or shredded undershirts on the silver screen. But when audiences first caught sight of Harold Peary as the rotund popinjay Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve there was immediate recognition. Peary was built for the part – he looked like a bowling pin in a double-breasted suit but had the self-awareness to describe his character as “a small man who thinks he’s a big man.” Gildersleeve was a pompous fool but he was our pompous fool.
- 4/14/2020
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
John Ford’s favorite western of his own work is a curiously gentle, endearingly simple hark-back to the verities of silent filmmaking. Mormons crossing the desert are encumbered by show people and beset by a nasty outlaw family — but don’t worry ’cause the Sons of the Pioneers will still be singing backup for ‘The Chuckawalla Swing.’ Ford rodeo discovery Ben Johnson returns with Harry Carey Jr. and every other Ford stock player not nailed down, and the marvelously direct cinematography is keyed to Ford’s idealized vision of life on the frontier.
Wagon Master
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1950 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 86 min. / Street Date August 13, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Ben Johnson, Joanne Dru, Harry Carey Jr., Ward Bond, Charles Kemper, Alan Mowbray, Jane Darwell, Ruth Clifford, Russell Simpson, Kathleen O’Malley, James Arness, Francis Ford, Hank Worden.
Cinematography: Bert Glennon
Film Editor: Jack Murray
Original Music:...
Wagon Master
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1950 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 86 min. / Street Date August 13, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Ben Johnson, Joanne Dru, Harry Carey Jr., Ward Bond, Charles Kemper, Alan Mowbray, Jane Darwell, Ruth Clifford, Russell Simpson, Kathleen O’Malley, James Arness, Francis Ford, Hank Worden.
Cinematography: Bert Glennon
Film Editor: Jack Murray
Original Music:...
- 8/31/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Happy Mother’s Day! What better way to spend time with your mom than a fantastic movie with an Oscar-winning performance. Tour our photo gallery above of the 18 greatest of these films, ranked worst to best. All of them feature winning roles by actresses who play mothers that were pivotal to the plot.
Though there are thousands of these types of films, these performances show a wide array of what it means to be a mother. There’s the courageous mother, the inspirational mom, the loving mother and even the monstrous mother. Lead and supporting actresses include Brie Larson, Shirley MacLaine, Frances McDormand, Brie Larson, Allison Janney, Sophia Loren, Julia Roberts, Joan Crawford and more.
SEEOscar Best Supporting Actress Gallery: Every Winner in Academy Award History
18. The Fighter (2010)
On her second Oscar nomination, Melissa Leo took home the Best Supporting Actress prize for her portrayal of the real-life Alice Eklund-Ward,...
Though there are thousands of these types of films, these performances show a wide array of what it means to be a mother. There’s the courageous mother, the inspirational mom, the loving mother and even the monstrous mother. Lead and supporting actresses include Brie Larson, Shirley MacLaine, Frances McDormand, Brie Larson, Allison Janney, Sophia Loren, Julia Roberts, Joan Crawford and more.
SEEOscar Best Supporting Actress Gallery: Every Winner in Academy Award History
18. The Fighter (2010)
On her second Oscar nomination, Melissa Leo took home the Best Supporting Actress prize for her portrayal of the real-life Alice Eklund-Ward,...
- 5/12/2019
- by Chris Beachum and Tom O'Brien
- Gold Derby
So maybe Joan of Arc plays second fiddle to few saints in history, but on stage even she’s no match for Glenn Close. As the title character in Mother of the Maid, Jane Anderson’s eccentric and startlingly play opening tonight Off Broadway at the Public Theater, Close takes on history and wins.
Mother of the Maid reunites the actress, as good here as you’ve seen her, with Anderson (the two most recently collaborated on feature film The Wife) and Damages director Matthew Penn. The three play off one another to great effect – Close’s regal demeanor an ironic counterpoint to Penn’s stark staging and Anderson’s near-comic workaday dialogue.
How workaday? “What do I need fuggin’ nuns for?” asks, at one point, Joan of Arc – Joanie to her family. Played (and played very well) by Grace Van Patten (The Meyerowitz Stories), this young saint in the making has the swagger,...
Mother of the Maid reunites the actress, as good here as you’ve seen her, with Anderson (the two most recently collaborated on feature film The Wife) and Damages director Matthew Penn. The three play off one another to great effect – Close’s regal demeanor an ironic counterpoint to Penn’s stark staging and Anderson’s near-comic workaday dialogue.
How workaday? “What do I need fuggin’ nuns for?” asks, at one point, Joan of Arc – Joanie to her family. Played (and played very well) by Grace Van Patten (The Meyerowitz Stories), this young saint in the making has the swagger,...
- 10/18/2018
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
In the last decade of his career, John Ford produced and directed this ode to crony politics, with Spencer Tracy as an old-fashioned mayor who uses underhanded ploys to do right by his constituents. Tracy is backed by a veritable army of supporting actors, neatly orchestrated in Frank Nugent’s screenplay. We’re talking scores of John Ford stock company players; it’s like old home week, with Ford in firm control.
The Last Hurrah
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1958 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 121 min. / Street Date September 18, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Spencer Tracy, Jeffrey Hunter, Dianne Foster, Basil Rathbone, Pat O’Brien, Donald Crisp, James Gleason, Edward Brophy, John Carradine, Willis Bouchey, Basil Ruysdael, Ricardo Cortez, Wallace Ford, Frank McHugh, Carleton Young, Frank Albertson, Anna Lee, Ken Curtis, Jane Darwell, O.Z. Whitehead, Charles B. Fitzsimons, Arthur Walsh, Bob Sweeney, William Leslie, Danny Borzage, Richard Deacon, James Flavin,...
The Last Hurrah
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1958 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 121 min. / Street Date September 18, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Spencer Tracy, Jeffrey Hunter, Dianne Foster, Basil Rathbone, Pat O’Brien, Donald Crisp, James Gleason, Edward Brophy, John Carradine, Willis Bouchey, Basil Ruysdael, Ricardo Cortez, Wallace Ford, Frank McHugh, Carleton Young, Frank Albertson, Anna Lee, Ken Curtis, Jane Darwell, O.Z. Whitehead, Charles B. Fitzsimons, Arthur Walsh, Bob Sweeney, William Leslie, Danny Borzage, Richard Deacon, James Flavin,...
- 10/9/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The Scarlet Empress (1934), starring Marlene Dietrich, John Lodge, Sam Jaffe, Louise Dresser and “a supporting cast of 1,000 players,” is director Josef von Sternberg at his most grandiose and excessive, which is just another way of saying “at his best,” at the height of a state of expressive delirium no other director has ever really matched. (Though many have, either consciously or subconsciously, tried– I wonder if Ken Russell ever admitted envy for von Sternberg or this film.) Von Sternberg’s paints his pictures with gasp-and-giggle-inducingly broad strokes, but his approach is no joke. There’s an exhilarating strain of claustrophobia in the director’s films which is given its freest rein here. His frames are burdened with grandeur, luxury and horror closing in, and he achieves a genuine sense of epic sprawl and decadence, despite the orchestrated sense that the whole of Russia, royalty as well as the entirety of its oppressed,...
- 3/31/2018
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
“The Shape of Water” is one of two Best Picture Oscar nominees with three acting nominations — the other being “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” — but star Sally Hawkins and supporting players Octavia Spencer and Richard Jenkins are not predicted to win any of them. If they indeed go 0-3 on Sunday and “The Shape of Water” takes the top prize, the fantasy drama will join eight other Best Picture champs that did not convert any of its three-plus acting nominations into wins.
“Birdman” (2014) was the most recent Best Picture winner not to carry an acting award from at least three nominations, as Michael Keaton, Emma Stone and Edward Norton fell to Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”), Patricia Arquette (“Boyhood”) and J.K. Simmons (“Whiplash”), respectively. Arquette and Simmons were the supporting frontrunners all season, but Keaton was locked in a tight Best Actor race with Redmayne until the SAG Awards...
“Birdman” (2014) was the most recent Best Picture winner not to carry an acting award from at least three nominations, as Michael Keaton, Emma Stone and Edward Norton fell to Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”), Patricia Arquette (“Boyhood”) and J.K. Simmons (“Whiplash”), respectively. Arquette and Simmons were the supporting frontrunners all season, but Keaton was locked in a tight Best Actor race with Redmayne until the SAG Awards...
- 3/3/2018
- by Joyce Eng
- Gold Derby
'The Magnificent Ambersons': Directed by Orson Welles, and starring Tim Holt (pictured), Dolores Costello (in the background), Joseph Cotten, Anne Baxter, and Agnes Moorehead, this Academy Award-nominated adaptation of Booth Tarkington's novel earned Ricardo Cortez's brother Stanley Cortez an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White. He lost to Joseph Ruttenberg for William Wyler's blockbuster 'Mrs. Miniver.' Two years later, Cortez – along with Lee Garmes – would win Oscar statuettes for their evocative black-and-white work on John Cromwell's homefront drama 'Since You Went Away,' starring Ricardo Cortez's 'Torch Singer' leading lady, Claudette Colbert. In all, Stanley Cortez would receive cinematography credit in more than 80 films, ranging from B fare such as 'The Lady in the Morgue' and the 1940 'Margie' to Fritz Lang's 'Secret Beyond the Door,' Charles Laughton's 'The Night of the Hunter,' and Nunnally Johnson's 'The Three Faces...
- 7/8/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
“Sure don’t look none too prosperous.”
The Grapes Of Wrath (1940) screens Thursday March 16th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood). The movie starts at 7:30. The screeening is sponsored by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis *(experienceopera.org) who will be staging an opera version of The Grapes Of Wrath May 27th, 31st, June 9th, 15th, 17th, 21st, and 25th. Cliff Froehlich, Executive Director of Cinema St. Louis, will introduce and lead a discussion following the screening. This is a Free event!
John Ford directed so many classics, but The Grapes Of Wrath may be his best. Adapted from John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel, The Grapes Of Wrath tells of the hardships of the Great Depression on Oklahoma sharecroppers who are forced to migrate to Californian for menial work. The film paints a stark picture ofour country’s most bleak period. A time when unemployment was around 25%, dust was choking off normally reliable farmland,...
The Grapes Of Wrath (1940) screens Thursday March 16th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood). The movie starts at 7:30. The screeening is sponsored by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis *(experienceopera.org) who will be staging an opera version of The Grapes Of Wrath May 27th, 31st, June 9th, 15th, 17th, 21st, and 25th. Cliff Froehlich, Executive Director of Cinema St. Louis, will introduce and lead a discussion following the screening. This is a Free event!
John Ford directed so many classics, but The Grapes Of Wrath may be his best. Adapted from John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel, The Grapes Of Wrath tells of the hardships of the Great Depression on Oklahoma sharecroppers who are forced to migrate to Californian for menial work. The film paints a stark picture ofour country’s most bleak period. A time when unemployment was around 25%, dust was choking off normally reliable farmland,...
- 3/14/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Ten years ago I attended the Lone Pine Film Festival for the first time. It was the 17th annual celebration in 2006 of a festival dedicated to the heritage of movies (mostly westerns, but plenty of other genres as well) shot in or near the town of Lone Pine, California, located on the outer edges of the Mojave Desert and nestled up against the Eastern Sierra Mountains in the shadow of the magnificent Mt. Whitney. The multitude of films that could and have been celebrated there were most often shot at least partially in the Alabama Hills just outside of town, a spectacular array of geological beauty that springs out of the landscape like some sort of extra-planetary exhibit, a visitation of natural and very unusual formations that have lent themselves to the imaginations of filmmakers here ever since near the dawn of the Hollywood filmmaking industry.
In writing about the...
In writing about the...
- 10/23/2016
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
Leave it to director William Wellman to direct the most compelling social justice movie of the 1940s. Taken from a bestselling novel, it's a wrenching examination of the workings of a natural American phenomenon, the Lynch Mob. The Ox-Bow Incident Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1942 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 75 min. / Street Date July 12, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Mary Beth Hughes, Anthony Quinn, William Eythe, Harry Morgan, Jane Darwell, Matt Briggs, Harry Davenport, Frank Conroy, Marc Lawrence Cinematography Arthur Miller Art Direction James Basevi, Richard Day Film Editor Allen McNeil Original Music Cyril J. Mockridge Written and Produced by Lamar Trotti from a novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark Directed by William A. Wellman
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
In the first scene of this grim feature, Henry Fonda stumbles out of a saloon street and throws up in the street. Apparently that was the reaction shared...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
In the first scene of this grim feature, Henry Fonda stumbles out of a saloon street and throws up in the street. Apparently that was the reaction shared...
- 8/22/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
We've already got a fine domestic disc with both versions of John Ford's fine Henry Fonda western. This Region B UK release duplicates that arrangement with different extras, and throws in a fine HD transfer of an earlier Allan Dwan version of the same story -- with strong similarities -- called Frontier Marshal. It stars Randolph Scott, Nancy Kelly, Cesar Romero and Binnie Barnes and it's very good. My Darling Clementine + Frontier Marshal Region B Blu-ray Arrow Academy (UK) 1946 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 97 + 103 min. (two versions) / Street Date August 17, 2015, 2014 / Amazon UK / £19.99 Starring Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell, Victor Mature, Cathy Downs, Walter Brennan, Tim Holt, Ward Bond, Alan Mowbray, John Ireland, Roy Roberts, Jane Darwell, Grant Withers, J. Farrell MacDonald, Russell Simpson. Cinematography Joe MacDonald Art Direction James Basevi, Lyle Wheeler Film Editor Dorothy Spencer Original Music Cyril Mockridge Written by Samuel G. Engel, Sam Hellman, Winston Miller Produced by Samuel G. Engel,...
- 10/27/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Debbie Reynolds ca. early 1950s. Debbie Reynolds movies: Oscar nominee for 'The Unsinkable Molly Brown,' sweetness and light in phony 'The Singing Nun' Debbie Reynolds is Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” star today, Aug. 23, '15. An MGM contract player from 1950 to 1959, Reynolds' movies can be seen just about every week on TCM. The only premiere on Debbie Reynolds Day is Jerry Paris' lively marital comedy How Sweet It Is (1968), costarring James Garner. This evening, TCM is showing Divorce American Style, The Catered Affair, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and The Singing Nun. 'Divorce American Style,' 'The Catered Affair' Directed by the recently deceased Bud Yorkin, Divorce American Style (1967) is notable for its cast – Reynolds, Dick Van Dyke, Jean Simmons, Jason Robards, Van Johnson, Lee Grant – and for the fact that it earned Norman Lear (screenplay) and Robert Kaufman (story) a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award nomination.
- 8/24/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Stars: Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell, Victor Mature, Cathy Downs, Walter Brennan, Tim Holt, Ward Bond, Alan Mowbray, John Ireland, Roy Roberts, Jane Darwell, Grant Withers | Written by Samuel G. Engel, Winston Miller | Directed by John Ford
It is agreed by many that John Ford directed some of the best Westerns of all time, starring some of the most iconic actors of the time. My Darling Clementine is his take on Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday’s friendship, and the Gunfight at the O.K Corral…
Wyatt Earp (Henry Ford) and his brothers Morgan and Virgin ride into Tombstone leaving their brother James in charge of their cattle. When they return to find the cattle stolen and James dead, Wyatt takes the job as marshal, with the aim of staying in Tombstone until he finds the people who killed his brother. Building a friendship with Doc Holliday (Victor Mature), when James...
It is agreed by many that John Ford directed some of the best Westerns of all time, starring some of the most iconic actors of the time. My Darling Clementine is his take on Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday’s friendship, and the Gunfight at the O.K Corral…
Wyatt Earp (Henry Ford) and his brothers Morgan and Virgin ride into Tombstone leaving their brother James in charge of their cattle. When they return to find the cattle stolen and James dead, Wyatt takes the job as marshal, with the aim of staying in Tombstone until he finds the people who killed his brother. Building a friendship with Doc Holliday (Victor Mature), when James...
- 8/20/2015
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
Vivien Leigh ca. late 1940s. Vivien Leigh movies: now controversial 'Gone with the Wind,' little-seen '21 Days Together' on TCM Vivien Leigh is Turner Classic Movies' star today, Aug. 18, '15, as TCM's “Summer Under the Stars” series continues. Mostly a stage actress, Leigh was seen in only 19 films – in about 15 of which as a leading lady or star – in a movie career spanning three decades. Good for the relatively few who saw her on stage; bad for all those who have access to only a few performances of one of the most remarkable acting talents of the 20th century. This evening, TCM is showing three Vivien Leigh movies: Gone with the Wind (1939), 21 Days Together (1940), and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Leigh won Best Actress Academy Awards for the first and the third title. The little-remembered film in-between is a TCM premiere. 'Gone with the Wind' Seemingly all...
- 8/19/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
'Jurassic World' velociraptor kicks Iron Man ass at worldwide box office. 'Jurassic World' officially surpasses 'The Avengers' at worldwide box office Directed by Colin Trevorrow; starring Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Vincent D'Onofrio; and co-executive-produced by Steven Spielberg, Jurassic World has officially become the third biggest worldwide box office hit in history. The Jurassic Park sequel – or reboot, as it's basically the same story with a slightly different twist – has surpassed Marvel's Joss Whedon-directed all-star superhero flick The Avengers, which broke box office records back in 2012. Of course, "officially" just ain't what it used to be – like, in the days before The Fall. So you wisely ask, "But which movie has actually sold the most tickets?" After all, that's the true measure of a film's popularity. Well, that's a tough one to answer without the studios providing accurate, precise numbers. And that's not about to happen. It always...
- 7/26/2015
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
Ron Moody as Fagin in 'Oliver!' based on Charles Dickens' 'Oliver Twist.' Ron Moody as Fagin in Dickens musical 'Oliver!': Box office and critical hit (See previous post: "Ron Moody: 'Oliver!' Actor, Academy Award Nominee Dead at 91.") Although British made, Oliver! turned out to be an elephantine release along the lines of – exclamation point or no – Gypsy, Star!, Hello Dolly!, and other Hollywood mega-musicals from the mid'-50s to the early '70s.[1] But however bloated and conventional the final result, and a cast whose best-known name was that of director Carol Reed's nephew, Oliver Reed, Oliver! found countless fans.[2] The mostly British production became a huge financial and critical success in the U.S. at a time when star-studded mega-musicals had become perilous – at times downright disastrous – ventures.[3] Upon the American release of Oliver! in Dec. 1968, frequently acerbic The...
- 6/19/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The new year is almost here and that means it's time for one of Netflix's ceremonial killing sprees. The streaming service is taking out its big, streamy chainsaw and dicing up some of your favorite films. Come January 1, these classics will be gone. De-Netflixed. De-available from The Big Red Website. So snatch them up and at least pretend to watch them so that you don't look dumb when a bow-tied homosexual approaches you at a New Year's party with his quips about "Kramer Vs. Kramer." He needs validation and your genuine, informed laughter will appease him. Here are the 11 most important titles to stream before 2015. "Titanic" Kate Winslet at her most Alex Kingston. Leonardo DiCaprio at his most Jodie-Foster-at-age-14. Iceberg at its most January Jones. "12 Angry Men" Though Henry Fonda is a towering film icon, it is shocking how almost none of his films are discussed anymore. Maybe "The Grapes of Wrath...
- 12/30/2014
- by Louis Virtel
- Hitfix
My Darling Clementine
Directed by John Ford
Written by Samuel G. Engel and Winston Miller
USA, 1946
In John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), it is remarked that, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” This seems especially apt when it comes to the treatment of the Arizona city Tombstone and the historic western yarn of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, the renowned confrontation between the Clantons on one side and the Earps with John “Doc” Holliday on the other. This famous battle, lasting all of about 30 seconds, took place the afternoon of Oct. 26, 1881, and in recalling this skirmish, multiple variations and interpretations have resulted in a cinematic legend in the making, with repeated appearances of its setting, characters, and actions. When the dust settles, one of the greatest depictions of the event, its decisive individuals, and the surrounding area and occurrences (true or false...
Directed by John Ford
Written by Samuel G. Engel and Winston Miller
USA, 1946
In John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), it is remarked that, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” This seems especially apt when it comes to the treatment of the Arizona city Tombstone and the historic western yarn of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, the renowned confrontation between the Clantons on one side and the Earps with John “Doc” Holliday on the other. This famous battle, lasting all of about 30 seconds, took place the afternoon of Oct. 26, 1881, and in recalling this skirmish, multiple variations and interpretations have resulted in a cinematic legend in the making, with repeated appearances of its setting, characters, and actions. When the dust settles, one of the greatest depictions of the event, its decisive individuals, and the surrounding area and occurrences (true or false...
- 10/20/2014
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
John Malkovich photos: How to look like a model, from Marilyn Monroe to Albert Einstein (image: John Malkovich as Marilyn Monroe in Bert Stern's 1962 portrait 'Marilyn in Pink Roses') Whether you found Spike Jonze's 1999 mind-invading comedy Being John Malkovich a pretentious bore or the most innovative motion picture since Georges Méliès' The Man with the India-Rubber Head, you'll probably enjoy Sandro Miller's series of John Malkovich photos, in which the two-time Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nominee becomes the real-life characters in some of the most celebrated (and mostly pop, U.S.-made) photographs ever taken. Malkovich's various guises will be featured in the exhibit "Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to Photographic Masters," which runs from November 7, 2014, to January 31, 2015, at the Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago. In Being John Malkovich, the likes of John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, and Catherine Keener discover an escape from their drab lives...
- 9/25/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
She warmed the hearts of millions when she came onto the scene in the early 1930s, and Hollywood learned today (February 11) that it lost a legend in Shirley Temple Black. Coined "The Original Child Star," the 85-year-old actress starred in a plethora of memorable big screen creation in her younger years, using her bright eyes and dimples to cheer up the Depression Era.
In honor of the late "On the Good Ship Lollipop" darling, GossipCenter looks back on five of Shirley's most adorable movies. Check out the list below!
1. "The Little Princess" (1939)
Also starring Richard Greene and Anita Louise, “The Little Princess” saw Temple as a young lady who ends up living at a private school for girls after her father was shipped off to Africa to fulfill his responsibilities in the Army. However, when her dad was declared ‘mission in action’ she was forced to scrub floors perform various...
In honor of the late "On the Good Ship Lollipop" darling, GossipCenter looks back on five of Shirley's most adorable movies. Check out the list below!
1. "The Little Princess" (1939)
Also starring Richard Greene and Anita Louise, “The Little Princess” saw Temple as a young lady who ends up living at a private school for girls after her father was shipped off to Africa to fulfill his responsibilities in the Army. However, when her dad was declared ‘mission in action’ she was forced to scrub floors perform various...
- 2/11/2014
- GossipCenter
By Terence Johnson
Managing Editor
Of the acting races, Supporting Actress seems to be the only acting category that’s really up in the air. Much of the conversation has surrounded Jennifer Lawrence and Lupita Nyong’o, who both have won precursors, but June Squibb has also been nominated for each of this awards. With much of the talk of a split between the two, could Squibb step in and nab her first Oscar?
If Squibb were to win, she would be the oldest Supporting Actress winner, besting the previous oldest (Peggy Ashcroft) by nearly 7 years come Oscar night. No Supporting Actress Oscar winner has ever gotten the statue in their 80s, so Squibb would have her work cut out for her. However, it’s not nearly as bleak as those first two stats would have you believe. There have been several winners that fit the mold of Squibb (older,...
Managing Editor
Of the acting races, Supporting Actress seems to be the only acting category that’s really up in the air. Much of the conversation has surrounded Jennifer Lawrence and Lupita Nyong’o, who both have won precursors, but June Squibb has also been nominated for each of this awards. With much of the talk of a split between the two, could Squibb step in and nab her first Oscar?
If Squibb were to win, she would be the oldest Supporting Actress winner, besting the previous oldest (Peggy Ashcroft) by nearly 7 years come Oscar night. No Supporting Actress Oscar winner has ever gotten the statue in their 80s, so Squibb would have her work cut out for her. However, it’s not nearly as bleak as those first two stats would have you believe. There have been several winners that fit the mold of Squibb (older,...
- 2/3/2014
- by Terence Johnson
- Scott Feinberg
‘Gone with the Wind’ actress Alicia Rhett dead at 98; was oldest surviving credited Gwtw cast member Gone with the Wind actress Alicia Rhett, the oldest surviving credited cast member of the 1939 Oscar-winning blockbuster, died on January 3, 2014, at the Bishop Gadsden Episcopal Retirement Community in Charleston, South Carolina, where Rhett had been living since August 2002. Alicia Rhett, born on February 1, 1915, in Savannah, Georgia, was 98. (Photo: Alicia Rhett as India Wilkes in Gone with the Wind.) In Gone with the Wind, the David O. Selznick production made in conjunction with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM head Louis B. Mayer was Selznick’s father-in-law), the stage-trained Alicia Rhett played India Wilkes, the embittered sister of Ashley Wilkes, whom Scarlett O’Hara loves — though Ashley eventually marries Melanie Hamilton (Rhett had auditioned for the role), while Scarlett ends up with Rhett Butler. Based on Margaret Mitchell’s bestseller, Gone with the Wind was (mostly) directed by Victor Fleming...
- 1/5/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
‘Gilda,’ ‘Pulp Fiction’: 2013 National Film Registry movies (photo: Rita Hayworth in ‘Gilda’) See previous post: “‘Mary Poppins’ in National Film Registry: Good Timing for Disney’s ‘Saving Mr. Banks.’” Billy Woodberry’s UCLA thesis film Bless Their Little Hearts (1984). Stanton Kaye’s Brandy in the Wilderness (1969). The Film Group’s Cicero March (1966), about a Civil Rights march in an all-white Chicago suburb. Norbert A. Myles’ Daughter of Dawn (1920), with Hunting Horse, Oscar Yellow Wolf, Esther Labarre. Bill Morrison’s Decasia (2002), featuring decomposing archival footage. Alfred E. Green’s Ella Cinders (1926), with Colleen Moore, Lloyd Hughes, Vera Lewis. Fred M. Wilcox’s Forbidden Planet (1956), with Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Warren Stevens, Jack Kelly, Robby the Robot. Charles Vidor’s Gilda (1946), with Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready. John and Faith Hubley’s Oscar-winning animated short The Hole (1962). Stanley Kramer’s Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), with Best Actor Oscar winner Maximilian Schell,...
- 12/20/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Hattie McDaniel as Mammy in ‘Gone with the Wind’: TCM schedule on August 20, 2013 (photo: Vivien Leigh and Hattie McDaniel in ‘Gone with the Wind’) See previous post: “Hattie McDaniel: Oscar Winner Makes History.” 3:00 Am Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943). Director: David Butler. Cast: Joan Leslie, Dennis Morgan, Eddie Cantor, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Errol Flynn, John Garfield, Ida Lupino, Ann Sheridan, Dinah Shore, Alexis Smith, Jack Carson, Alan Hale, George Tobias, Edward Everett Horton, S.Z. Sakall, Hattie McDaniel, Ruth Donnelly, Don Wilson, Spike Jones, Henry Armetta, Leah Baird, Willie Best, Monte Blue, James Burke, David Butler, Stanley Clements, William Desmond, Ralph Dunn, Frank Faylen, James Flavin, Creighton Hale, Sam Harris, Paul Harvey, Mark Hellinger, Brandon Hurst, Charles Irwin, Noble Johnson, Mike Mazurki, Fred Kelsey, Frank Mayo, Joyce Reynolds, Mary Treen, Doodles Weaver. Bw-127 mins. 5:15 Am Janie (1944). Director: Michael Curtiz. Cast: Joyce Reynolds, Robert Hutton,...
- 8/21/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Fred MacMurray movies: ‘Double Indemnity,’ ‘There’s Always Tomorrow’ Fred MacMurray is Turner Classic Movies’ "Summer Under the Stars" today, Thursday, August 7, 2013. Although perhaps best remembered as the insufferable All-American Dad on the long-running TV show My Three Sons and in several highly popular Disney movies from 1959 to 1967, e.g., The Absent-Minded Professor, Son of Flubber, Boy Voyage!, MacMurray was immeasurably more interesting as the All-American Jerk. (Photo: Fred MacMurray ca. 1940.) Someone once wrote that Fred MacMurray would have been an ideal choice to star in a biopic of disgraced Republican president Richard Nixon. Who knows, the (coincidentally Republican) MacMurray might have given Anthony Hopkins a run for his Best Actor Academy Award nomination. After all, MacMurray’s most admired movie performances are those in which he plays a scheming, conniving asshole: Billy Wilder’s classic film noir Double Indemnity (1944), in which he’s seduced by Barbara Stanwyck, and Wilder...
- 8/8/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Joan Fontaine movies: ‘This Above All,’ ‘Letter from an Unknown Woman’ (photo: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine in ‘Suspicion’ publicity image) (See previous post: “Joan Fontaine Today.”) Also tonight on Turner Classic Movies, Joan Fontaine can be seen in today’s lone TCM premiere, the flag-waving 20th Century Fox release The Above All (1942), with Fontaine as an aristocratic (but socially conscious) English Rose named Prudence Cathaway (Fontaine was born to British parents in Japan) and Fox’s top male star, Tyrone Power, as her Awol romantic interest. This Above All was directed by Anatole Litvak, who would guide Olivia de Havilland in the major box-office hit The Snake Pit (1948), which earned her a Best Actress Oscar nod. In Max Ophüls’ darkly romantic Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), Fontaine delivers not only what is probably the greatest performance of her career, but also one of the greatest movie performances ever. Letter from an Unknown Woman...
- 8/6/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Douglas Sirk movies: ‘Imitation of Life,’ ‘Written on the Wind’ (photo: Lana Turner, Juanita Moore, Karin Dicker in ‘Imitation of Life’) Douglas Sirk is Turner Classic Movies’ Director of the Evening. The German-born (April 26, 1897, in Hamburg) filmmaker has developed a cult following in recent decades after his "women’s pictures" were reappraised by some critics as works of profound social criticism filled with auteuristic touches. Why it would take years (or decades) for people to realize the obvious is a little mind-boggling, until you remember that movies about women and their issues have been, for the most part, relegated to the sidelines. A stupid prejudice that continues to this very day. My statement, by the way, has nothing to do with yikesy political correctness; if you don’t believe me, just check out the Best Picture Academy Award winners or Palme d’Or winners or Golden Lion winners or Golden...
- 8/1/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Director poised to produce new film adaptation of John Steinbeck novel for DreamWorks, according to reports
Steven Spielberg is set to acquire the rights to John Steinbeck novel The Grapes of Wrath, with a view to producing a new film adaptation for DreamWorks, according to Deadline.
The Grapes of Wrath, first published in 1939, follows the impoverished Joad family as they are driven from their home by economic disaster to seek a better life elsewhere. The story deals with the effects of the Great Depression and droughts in Oklahoma in the 1930s. Since its release, it has remained popular, with the original cinematic adaptation coming out in 1940, just a year after the book.
The original film enjoyed widespread praise, including from Steinbeck himself, who was reportedly impressed by Henry Fonda's lead performance as Tom Joad. The film was nominated for seven Oscars, winning two. John Ford took home the award...
Steven Spielberg is set to acquire the rights to John Steinbeck novel The Grapes of Wrath, with a view to producing a new film adaptation for DreamWorks, according to Deadline.
The Grapes of Wrath, first published in 1939, follows the impoverished Joad family as they are driven from their home by economic disaster to seek a better life elsewhere. The story deals with the effects of the Great Depression and droughts in Oklahoma in the 1930s. Since its release, it has remained popular, with the original cinematic adaptation coming out in 1940, just a year after the book.
The original film enjoyed widespread praise, including from Steinbeck himself, who was reportedly impressed by Henry Fonda's lead performance as Tom Joad. The film was nominated for seven Oscars, winning two. John Ford took home the award...
- 7/5/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
Ah, the Joads. Those poor folks gave all-new meaning to the term down-trodden, did they not?
John Steinbeck's classic American novel "The Grapes of Wrath" — winner of the National Book Award, a Pulitzer Prize and permanent placement on pretty much any high school reading list in the country since its 1939 release — has already seen the cinematic light of day once before, but now it looks like this woeful tale might just be the next new project for Steven Spielberg.
Yep, per Deadline, he and DreamWorks are currently in talks with the estate of the long-passed novelist to secure the rights to re-adapt the book for the big screen.
Reportedly, Spielberg has exactly zero interest in directing the would-be project but does want involved in a producer capacity.
Seeing as the book approaches its 75th anniversary in 2014, suspicion has it that said timing will be capitalized upon with this potential remake,...
John Steinbeck's classic American novel "The Grapes of Wrath" — winner of the National Book Award, a Pulitzer Prize and permanent placement on pretty much any high school reading list in the country since its 1939 release — has already seen the cinematic light of day once before, but now it looks like this woeful tale might just be the next new project for Steven Spielberg.
Yep, per Deadline, he and DreamWorks are currently in talks with the estate of the long-passed novelist to secure the rights to re-adapt the book for the big screen.
Reportedly, Spielberg has exactly zero interest in directing the would-be project but does want involved in a producer capacity.
Seeing as the book approaches its 75th anniversary in 2014, suspicion has it that said timing will be capitalized upon with this potential remake,...
- 7/3/2013
- by Amanda Bell
- NextMovie
You can take the student out of grad school, but you can't take grad school out of the student. James Franco is hoping to flex his classical literature chops yet again with a movie adaptation of William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury." Franco has already written the screenplay with fellow writer Matt Rager, and plans to direct and star.
It will be interesting to see how Franco and Rager have modified Faulkner's work for the big screen, considering "The Sound and the Fury" has a complicated structure that hops between narrators and voices, in a stream-of-consciousness style.
Although Franco's role hasn't been revealed, he has said he's hoping to snag his "Howl" co-star Jon Hamm for the role of the Compson family patriarch. He'd also like to cast his brother Dave Franco as one of the narrators, Quentin Compson -- a recurring Faulkner character.
Franco also has his...
It will be interesting to see how Franco and Rager have modified Faulkner's work for the big screen, considering "The Sound and the Fury" has a complicated structure that hops between narrators and voices, in a stream-of-consciousness style.
Although Franco's role hasn't been revealed, he has said he's hoping to snag his "Howl" co-star Jon Hamm for the role of the Compson family patriarch. He'd also like to cast his brother Dave Franco as one of the narrators, Quentin Compson -- a recurring Faulkner character.
Franco also has his...
- 7/3/2013
- by Jenni Miller
- Moviefone
A remake of the Joads?
DreamWorks and director Steven Spielberg are in negotiations with the John Steinbeck estate about recreating the novel adaptation “The Grapes of Wrath.”
The original 1940 film starred Henry Fonda and directed by John Ford. That year, Ford won an Oscar for Best Director and Jane Darwell won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
The brilliant Steinbeck novel is about the Joad family relocating from Oklahoma to Central California to escape poverty of the Great Depression. However, these Okies found more hopelessness with labor numbers, wages and lack of farm laborer rights.
It is not known if Spielberg plans to direct or just produce the project. Next year will be the 75th anniversary of Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
According to Deadline, Robert Redford with Sundance was also in talks to develop it as a miniseries at FX. And Twentieth Century Fox, which distributed the original movie,...
DreamWorks and director Steven Spielberg are in negotiations with the John Steinbeck estate about recreating the novel adaptation “The Grapes of Wrath.”
The original 1940 film starred Henry Fonda and directed by John Ford. That year, Ford won an Oscar for Best Director and Jane Darwell won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
The brilliant Steinbeck novel is about the Joad family relocating from Oklahoma to Central California to escape poverty of the Great Depression. However, these Okies found more hopelessness with labor numbers, wages and lack of farm laborer rights.
It is not known if Spielberg plans to direct or just produce the project. Next year will be the 75th anniversary of Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
According to Deadline, Robert Redford with Sundance was also in talks to develop it as a miniseries at FX. And Twentieth Century Fox, which distributed the original movie,...
- 7/3/2013
- by Gig Patta
- LRMonline.com
Eleanor Parker: Palm Springs resident turns 91 today Eleanor Parker turns 91 today. The three-time Oscar nominee (Caged, 1950; Detective Story, 1951; Interrupted Melody, 1955) and Palm Springs resident is Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of June 2013. Earlier this month, TCM showed a few dozen Eleanor Parker movies, from her days at Warner Bros. in the ’40s to her later career as a top Hollywood supporting player. (Photo: Publicity shot of Eleanor Parker in An American Dream.) Missing from TCM’s movie series, however, was not only Eleanor Parker’s biggest box-office it — The Sound of Music, in which she steals the show from both Julie Andrews and the Alps — but also what according to several sources is her very first movie role: a bit part in Raoul Walsh’s They Died with Their Boots On, a 1941 Western starring Errol Flynn as a dashingly handsome and all-around-good-guy-ish General George Armstrong Custer. Olivia de Havilland...
- 6/26/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Our forum posters have run down the least deserving performers to take home Oscars in debates over Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Actress and Best Actor. And they have named the worst of the Best Picture winners. Now, they have turned their attention to the best of the best. They have already dished director, leading lady and leading man to determine who was the most deserving of an Academy Award. Below, read just a sample of their thoughts on the ultimate supporting actress champ. Join in with your opinion as to which featured actress stood out the most. Marcelo My top five: 1. Linda Hunt, "The Year of Living Dangerously" 2. Jane Darwell, "The Grapes of Wrath" 3. Ruth Gordon, "Rosemary´s Baby" 4. Kim Hunter, "A Streetcar Named Desire" 5. Dianne Wiest, "Hannah and Her Sisters Carol Channing My top three: 1. Mo'Niq...
- 7/5/2012
- Gold Derby
Gone With The Wind Actress Ann Rutherford Dies. [Photo: Ann Rutherford as Carreen O'Hara, Evelyn Keyes as Suellen O'Hara in Gone with the Wind.]
Ann Rutherford‘s most notable screen roles were in films made away from both MGM and Wallace Beery. She was a young woman who falls for trumpeter George Montgomery in Archie Mayo’s 20th Century Fox musical Orchestra Wives (1942), and became enmeshed with (possibly) amnesiac Tom Conway in Anthony Mann’s Rko thriller Two O’Clock Courage (1945).
Following a couple of minor supporting roles — in the Danny Kaye comedy The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) at Goldwyn and the Errol Flynn costumer The Adventures of Don Juan (1948) at Warner Bros. — and the female lead in the independently made cattle drama Operation Haylift (1950), opposite Bill Williams, Ann Rutherford retired from the screen. (Rutherford would later say that her Operation Haylift experience was anything but pleasant.)
She then turned to television, making regular television appearances in the ’50s (The Donna Reed Show, Playhouse 90,...
Ann Rutherford‘s most notable screen roles were in films made away from both MGM and Wallace Beery. She was a young woman who falls for trumpeter George Montgomery in Archie Mayo’s 20th Century Fox musical Orchestra Wives (1942), and became enmeshed with (possibly) amnesiac Tom Conway in Anthony Mann’s Rko thriller Two O’Clock Courage (1945).
Following a couple of minor supporting roles — in the Danny Kaye comedy The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) at Goldwyn and the Errol Flynn costumer The Adventures of Don Juan (1948) at Warner Bros. — and the female lead in the independently made cattle drama Operation Haylift (1950), opposite Bill Williams, Ann Rutherford retired from the screen. (Rutherford would later say that her Operation Haylift experience was anything but pleasant.)
She then turned to television, making regular television appearances in the ’50s (The Donna Reed Show, Playhouse 90,...
- 6/12/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Classic films Zorba the Greek and The Grapes of Wrath are getting the Blu-ray upgrade on June 5th from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. Cinefiles and collectors can pre-order both films exclusively through Screen Archives to receive the Blu-ray in advance on April 3rd. Featuring unforgettable Oscar-nominated performances by Henry Fonda and Anthony Quinn, these stunning masterpieces are a must-have for any film-lover.s library. The Grapes of Wrath: Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel .The Grapes of Wrath. by author John Steinbeck, the eponymous film is directed by four-time Academy Award winner John Ford and stars Henry Fonda, John Carradine, and Jane Darwell. The film won two Academy Awards including Best Director (John Ford)...
- 3/22/2012
- by Patrick Luce
- Monsters and Critics
While accepting the award for Best Comedy for Bridesmaids at the 2012 Critics Choice Awards ceremony, Judd Apatow ended his speech with the following: "Jerry Lewis [photo] once said that he didn’t think women were funny. So I’d just like to say, with all respect, fuck you." Jerry Lewis' negative comment about female comedians was made at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen in 1998. During a Q&A session with Martin Short, Lewis said "I don't like any female comedians." What about Lucille Ball, Short asked? "No. A woman doing comedy doesn't offend me but sets me back a bit. I, as a viewer, have trouble with it. I think of her as a producing machine that brings babies in the world." This from the guy who grew up at a time when Carole Lombard, Irene Dunne, Katharine Hepburn, Jean Arthur, Claudette Colbert, Myrna Loy, Marie Dressler,...
- 1/13/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
"Mothers of America, let your kids go to the movies! ...It's true that fresh air is good for the body but what about the soul that grows in darkness, embossed by silvery images?"—Frank O'Hara, "Ave Maria" (from Lunch Poems, 1964)
During one of my conversations with San Franciscan film historian Matthew Kennedy, I realized that both of us had acquired our love for movies through our mothers, which led me to wonder how many other cinephiles—filmmakers and audience alike—shared a similar experience? In the past year, I have asked several individuals: "Did your mother have any influence on your cinephilia? Did she influence the movies you watched or—in the case of filmmakers—the movies you've made?" Here are some of the generous responses. And I would be delighted to hear any responses from the Mubi community.
Chris Fujiwara, Critic
My mother was a normal moviegoer of her generation,...
During one of my conversations with San Franciscan film historian Matthew Kennedy, I realized that both of us had acquired our love for movies through our mothers, which led me to wonder how many other cinephiles—filmmakers and audience alike—shared a similar experience? In the past year, I have asked several individuals: "Did your mother have any influence on your cinephilia? Did she influence the movies you watched or—in the case of filmmakers—the movies you've made?" Here are some of the generous responses. And I would be delighted to hear any responses from the Mubi community.
Chris Fujiwara, Critic
My mother was a normal moviegoer of her generation,...
- 5/9/2011
- MUBI
Modern presidential campaigns and Oscar campaigns share several things in common: both have become months-long affairs; both cost sums of money that would have been unimaginable just a generation ago; and above all, both are now shaped tremendously by publicity strategists.
Because most Academy members do not follow the annual Oscar race nearly as regularly or closely as the pundits who cover it, it has become imperative for studios to hire publicity strategists to try to corral their attention — and to make the “case” for their clients in the most succinct and digestible manner possible when they have it.
From conversations with strategists in both the political and cinematic arenas, I learned that two of the oldest and most effective ways to do so are to…
1. Create and hammer home short, general, and easy-to-remember narratives describing their client. For example…
Obama: “the candidate who has shown good judgment in the...
Because most Academy members do not follow the annual Oscar race nearly as regularly or closely as the pundits who cover it, it has become imperative for studios to hire publicity strategists to try to corral their attention — and to make the “case” for their clients in the most succinct and digestible manner possible when they have it.
From conversations with strategists in both the political and cinematic arenas, I learned that two of the oldest and most effective ways to do so are to…
1. Create and hammer home short, general, and easy-to-remember narratives describing their client. For example…
Obama: “the candidate who has shown good judgment in the...
- 2/24/2011
- by Scott Feinberg
- Scott Feinberg
DVD Playhouse September 2010
By
Allen Gardner
The Girl Who Played With Fire (Music Box Films) Follow up to the hit The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo finds Lisabeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) and Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) joining forces once again as Blomkvist is about to break a story on Sweden’s sex trade, which leads unexpectedly to a dark secret from Elizabeth’s past. Starts off well, then quickly nose-dives into sensationalism and downright silliness, with a pair of villains who are straight out of a Roger Moore-era James Bond film. A real letdown for those of us who felt Dragon Tattoo had finally breathed life into the cinema’s long-stagnant genre of the thriller. Bonuses: English language track; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
The Killer Inside Me (IFC Films) Michael Winterbottom’s adaptation of Jim Thompson’s classic, and notorious, novel about the psychotic mind of a small town sheriff (Casey Affleck,...
By
Allen Gardner
The Girl Who Played With Fire (Music Box Films) Follow up to the hit The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo finds Lisabeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) and Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) joining forces once again as Blomkvist is about to break a story on Sweden’s sex trade, which leads unexpectedly to a dark secret from Elizabeth’s past. Starts off well, then quickly nose-dives into sensationalism and downright silliness, with a pair of villains who are straight out of a Roger Moore-era James Bond film. A real letdown for those of us who felt Dragon Tattoo had finally breathed life into the cinema’s long-stagnant genre of the thriller. Bonuses: English language track; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
The Killer Inside Me (IFC Films) Michael Winterbottom’s adaptation of Jim Thompson’s classic, and notorious, novel about the psychotic mind of a small town sheriff (Casey Affleck,...
- 9/25/2010
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Rs 399.00 Shipping Region: India Shipping Cost: Rs.35 Colour/B&W: B&W Censor Certification: V/U Dearcinema Recommends
Oklahoma in the Thirties is a dustbowl and dispossessed farmers migrate westward to California. After terrible trials en route they become little more than slave labor. Among the throng are the Joads who refuse to knuckle under.
Academy Awards wins (1941)
* Best Supporting Actress, Jane Darwell as Ma Joad.
* Academy Award for Directing, John Ford.
Academy Awards nominations (1941)
* Best Actor in a Leading Role, Henry Fonda as Tom Joad.
* Best Film Editing, Robert L. Simpson.
* Best Picture, Darryl F. Zanuck and Nunnally Johnson.
* Best Sound Recording, Edmund H. Hansen.
* Best Writing Adapted Screenplay, Nunnally Johnson.
Other wins
* National Board of Review of Motion Pictures: Nbr Award; Best Picture- 1940.
* New York Film Critics: Nyfcc Award; Best Director, John Ford; Best Film- 1940.
* Blue Ribbon Awards, Japan: Blue Ribbon Award Best Foreign Language Film, John Ford...
Oklahoma in the Thirties is a dustbowl and dispossessed farmers migrate westward to California. After terrible trials en route they become little more than slave labor. Among the throng are the Joads who refuse to knuckle under.
Academy Awards wins (1941)
* Best Supporting Actress, Jane Darwell as Ma Joad.
* Academy Award for Directing, John Ford.
Academy Awards nominations (1941)
* Best Actor in a Leading Role, Henry Fonda as Tom Joad.
* Best Film Editing, Robert L. Simpson.
* Best Picture, Darryl F. Zanuck and Nunnally Johnson.
* Best Sound Recording, Edmund H. Hansen.
* Best Writing Adapted Screenplay, Nunnally Johnson.
Other wins
* National Board of Review of Motion Pictures: Nbr Award; Best Picture- 1940.
* New York Film Critics: Nyfcc Award; Best Director, John Ford; Best Film- 1940.
* Blue Ribbon Awards, Japan: Blue Ribbon Award Best Foreign Language Film, John Ford...
- 12/14/2009
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
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