When you think of the very best Alfred Hitchcock movies, you might think of, say, "Psycho" or "Vertigo." You might consider "The Birds" — controversial though it may be — as the director's finest moment, or "Rear Window" might spring to mind. But while these are all excellent examples of Hitch's undeniable directing talent, there's an impressive array of underrated Hitchcock movies worth watching.
Take "Strangers on a Train" for example. This 1951 thriller stars Farley Granger as Guy Haines and Robert Walker as Bruno Antony, who are, believe it or not, two strangers who meet on a train. The thing about Bruno, however, is that he's also a psychopath, and suggests to Guy that they "swap murders" so as to do away with Guy's estranged wife and Bruno's overbearing father. From Bruno's perspective, because both men will essentially be killing strangers, no one will suspect either of them. When Guy laughs off this nefarious plot,...
Take "Strangers on a Train" for example. This 1951 thriller stars Farley Granger as Guy Haines and Robert Walker as Bruno Antony, who are, believe it or not, two strangers who meet on a train. The thing about Bruno, however, is that he's also a psychopath, and suggests to Guy that they "swap murders" so as to do away with Guy's estranged wife and Bruno's overbearing father. From Bruno's perspective, because both men will essentially be killing strangers, no one will suspect either of them. When Guy laughs off this nefarious plot,...
- 5/19/2024
- by Joe Roberts
- Slash Film
John Wayne might've been an ornery cuss. He might've made the worst film of his career in support of the Vietnam War at a moment when it was clear to anyone with two eyes and a conscience that the conflict was a moral and logistical sinkhole. He was a racist.
But he never wrote a single movie he performed in, and, from everything I've read about him, tailored movies to fit his persona -- i.e. what he thought audiences expected from him as a movie star. "The Green Berets" is an outlier. For the most part, Wayne understood that he couldn't play infallible heroes. He had to bleed. He had to lose a fistfight or two, or at least take some serious lumps en route to a hard-won victory. On rare occasions, he had to die. Regardless of where the film was headed, when he stepped in front of a camera,...
But he never wrote a single movie he performed in, and, from everything I've read about him, tailored movies to fit his persona -- i.e. what he thought audiences expected from him as a movie star. "The Green Berets" is an outlier. For the most part, Wayne understood that he couldn't play infallible heroes. He had to bleed. He had to lose a fistfight or two, or at least take some serious lumps en route to a hard-won victory. On rare occasions, he had to die. Regardless of where the film was headed, when he stepped in front of a camera,...
- 1/5/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
“Male Egos On A Boat”
By Raymond Benson
The extremely popular 1955 movie Mister Roberts began as a 1946 novel by Thomas Heggen. It was then a Broadway play written by Heggen and Joshua Logan, directed by Logan, and produced by Leland Hayward. Henry Fonda played the title role of Lieutenant Doug Roberts on Broadway and won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance. It then made sense for Fonda to reprise the role in the motion picture, which was also produced by Hayward and co-scripted by Logan and Frank S. Nugent. Sounds like a Hollywood no-brainer in the making, right?
The direction of the film is where things got dicey. John Ford was hired to direct, but according to Hollywood scuttlebutt accounts, Ford and James Cagney did not get along. Then, during filming Ford and his old friend Henry Fonda got into a fight.
“Male Egos On A Boat”
By Raymond Benson
The extremely popular 1955 movie Mister Roberts began as a 1946 novel by Thomas Heggen. It was then a Broadway play written by Heggen and Joshua Logan, directed by Logan, and produced by Leland Hayward. Henry Fonda played the title role of Lieutenant Doug Roberts on Broadway and won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance. It then made sense for Fonda to reprise the role in the motion picture, which was also produced by Hayward and co-scripted by Logan and Frank S. Nugent. Sounds like a Hollywood no-brainer in the making, right?
The direction of the film is where things got dicey. John Ford was hired to direct, but according to Hollywood scuttlebutt accounts, Ford and James Cagney did not get along. Then, during filming Ford and his old friend Henry Fonda got into a fight.
- 12/21/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
This adapted Broadway play may be considered minor John Ford moviemaking, and some sources say he had to drop out before he could film very much of it. But what’s on the screen pleased audiences primed for the first wave of WW2 nostalgia. The story of cargo officer Henry Fonda’s one-man war against his Bligh-like Captain James Cagney had all of us ’50s kids asking dad if the war really was like that. James Cagney steals the show while stars William Powell, Betsy Palmer and Ward Bond make their marks. Young Jack Lemmon came out swinging with his bright personality and won an Oscar for his trouble.
Mister Roberts
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 123 min. / Street Date December 8, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Henry Fonda, James Cagney, William Powell, Jack Lemmon, Betsy Palmer, Ward Bond, Philip Carey, Nick Adams, Perry Lopez, Ken Curtis, Robert Roark, Harry Carey Jr.,...
Mister Roberts
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 123 min. / Street Date December 8, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Henry Fonda, James Cagney, William Powell, Jack Lemmon, Betsy Palmer, Ward Bond, Philip Carey, Nick Adams, Perry Lopez, Ken Curtis, Robert Roark, Harry Carey Jr.,...
- 12/12/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
For producer-director John Ford Columbia Studios was apparently a calm port in a hostile movie climate. Away from the bankability guaranteed by John Wayne, Ford never quite regained the power of his earlier triumphs, from the silent era to his socially conscious classics at Fox. The four Columbia-controlled pictures presented on Powerhouse Indicator’s lavishly appointed disc set consist of two winners and (for this viewer) a pair of odd ducks. But the quality of his filmmaking remained consistent.
John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958
The Whole Town’s Talking, The Long Gray Line, Gideon’s Day, The Last Hurrah
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1935-1958 / Color & B&w / 1:37 Academy, 2:55 widescreen, 1:85 widescreen / / Street Date April 27, 2020 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £ 42.99
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Jean Arthur; Tyrone Power, Maureen O’Hara; Jack Hawkins, Anna Massey; Spencer Tracy, Jeffrey Hunter.
Cinematography: Joseph August; Charles Lawton Jr., Charles Lang; Frederick A.
John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958
The Whole Town’s Talking, The Long Gray Line, Gideon’s Day, The Last Hurrah
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1935-1958 / Color & B&w / 1:37 Academy, 2:55 widescreen, 1:85 widescreen / / Street Date April 27, 2020 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £ 42.99
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Jean Arthur; Tyrone Power, Maureen O’Hara; Jack Hawkins, Anna Massey; Spencer Tracy, Jeffrey Hunter.
Cinematography: Joseph August; Charles Lawton Jr., Charles Lang; Frederick A.
- 5/5/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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
John Ford puts a Technicolor sheen on Monument Valley in this second cavalry picture with John Wayne, who does some of his most professional acting work. Joanne Dru plays coy, while the real star is rodeo wizard Ben Johnson and the dazzling cinematography of Winton C. Hoch. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1949 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 103 min. / Street Date June 7, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring John Wayne, Joanne Dru, John Agar, Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr., Victor McLaglen, Mildred Natwick, George O'Brien, Chief John Big Tree. Cinematography Winton Hoch Art Direction James Basevi Film Editor Jack Murray Original Music Richard Hageman Written by Frank Nugent, Laurence Stallings from the stories War Party and The Big Hunt by James Warner Bellah Produced by Merian C. Cooper, John Ford Directed by John Ford
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Have you never seen real 3-Strip Technicolor used for terrific outdoor photography?...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Have you never seen real 3-Strip Technicolor used for terrific outdoor photography?...
- 6/4/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Germany's Explosive Media company has a serious itch for American westerns, and they have a trio of new releases. One is a minor Hollywood classic with major graces, from the late 1950s. A second sees an American producer based in England filming in Italy with a rising international star, and for the third an established American star goes European to stay in the game. The best thing for Yankee buyers? The discs are Region-free.
Gunman's Walk, Land Raiders, A Man Called Sledge Three Westerns from Explosive Media Blu-ray Separate Releases 1958-1970 / Color Starring Van Heflin, Tab Hunter; George Maharis, Telly Savalas; James Garner
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The majority of American studios now choose not to market their libraries for digital disc, and license them out instead. Collectors unwilling to settle for whatever's on Netflix or concerned about the permanence of Cloud Cinema, find themselves increasingly tempted by discs from Europe,...
Gunman's Walk, Land Raiders, A Man Called Sledge Three Westerns from Explosive Media Blu-ray Separate Releases 1958-1970 / Color Starring Van Heflin, Tab Hunter; George Maharis, Telly Savalas; James Garner
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The majority of American studios now choose not to market their libraries for digital disc, and license them out instead. Collectors unwilling to settle for whatever's on Netflix or concerned about the permanence of Cloud Cinema, find themselves increasingly tempted by discs from Europe,...
- 12/30/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Maureen O'Hara: Queen of Technicolor. Maureen O'Hara movies: TCM tribute Veteran actress and Honorary Oscar recipient Maureen O'Hara, who died at age 95 on Oct. 24, '15, in Boise, Idaho, will be remembered by Turner Classic Movies with a 24-hour film tribute on Friday, Nov. 20. At one point known as “The Queen of Technicolor” – alongside “Eastern” star Maria Montez – the red-headed O'Hara (born Maureen FitzSimons on Aug. 17, 1920, in Ranelagh, County Dublin) was featured in more than 50 movies from 1938 to 1971 – in addition to one brief 1991 comeback (Chris Columbus' Only the Lonely). Maureen O'Hara and John Wayne Setting any hint of modesty aside, Maureen O'Hara wrote in her 2004 autobiography (with John Nicoletti), 'Tis Herself, that “I was the only leading lady big enough and tough enough for John Wayne.” Wayne, for his part, once said (as quoted in 'Tis Herself): There's only one woman who has been my friend over the...
- 10/29/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
'Cat People' 1942 actress Simone Simon Remembered: Starred in Jacques Tourneur's cult horror movie classic (photo: Simone Simon in 'Cat People') Pert, pouty, pretty Simone Simon is best remembered for her starring roles in Jacques Tourneur's cult horror movie Cat People (1942) and in Jean Renoir's French film noir La Bête Humaine (1938). Long before Brigitte Bardot, Mamie Van Doren, Ann-Margret, and (for a few years) Jane Fonda became known as cinema's Sex Kittens, Simone Simon exuded feline charm in a film career that spanned a quarter of a century. From the early '30s to the mid-'50s, she seduced men young and old on both sides of the Atlantic – at times, with fatal results. During that period, Simon was featured in nearly 40 movies in France, Italy, Germany, Britain, and Hollywood. Besides Jean Renoir, in her native country she worked for the likes of Jacqueline Audry...
- 2/6/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Born of the famously turbulent, yet ultimately fruitful collaboration between John Ford and James Stewart, Two Rode Together stands as compromised material. Ford took on the project strictly for cash shortly after the death of his friend and colleague Ward Bond passed away, sending the film into much darker territory than the director had ever or would ever normally work within. The picture was based on Will Cook’s novel “Comanche Captives”, material Ford apparently thought was less than intriguing western revisionism, even after bringing on his frequent collaborator Frank S. Nugent (The Searchers, The Quiet Man, Mister Roberts) to make something of the screenplay. Though certainly not as piercing as some of his work with his male muse John Wayne, the film remains a solid entry into the nihilistic anti-heroic take on the western.
As his most selfishly styled self, Stewart plays Marshal Guthrie McCabe, a public figure perfectly...
As his most selfishly styled self, Stewart plays Marshal Guthrie McCabe, a public figure perfectly...
- 6/3/2014
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Episode 14 of 52 from Anne Marie's series screening Katharine Hepburn's films in chronological order.
In which there is a leopard on your roof and it’s my leopard and I have to get it down and to get it down I have to sing!
Bringing Up Baby is a movie I’m honestly a little afraid to discuss. This golden Howard Hawks comedy about a befuddled professor (Cary Grant), a ditzy socialite (Kate) and a leopard (Baby), rightly occupies many “best of” lists. But while we all know the legend behind the film--troubled production, loses money, critically panned, “box office poison,” etc--the reality is a little less dramatic. Well, except the critically panned part:
“In Bringing Up Baby Miss Hepburn has a role which calls for her to be breathless, senseless, and terribly, terribly fatiguing. She succeeds, and we can be callous enough to hint it is not entirely a matter of performance.
In which there is a leopard on your roof and it’s my leopard and I have to get it down and to get it down I have to sing!
Bringing Up Baby is a movie I’m honestly a little afraid to discuss. This golden Howard Hawks comedy about a befuddled professor (Cary Grant), a ditzy socialite (Kate) and a leopard (Baby), rightly occupies many “best of” lists. But while we all know the legend behind the film--troubled production, loses money, critically panned, “box office poison,” etc--the reality is a little less dramatic. Well, except the critically panned part:
“In Bringing Up Baby Miss Hepburn has a role which calls for her to be breathless, senseless, and terribly, terribly fatiguing. She succeeds, and we can be callous enough to hint it is not entirely a matter of performance.
- 4/2/2014
- by Anne Marie
- FilmExperience
Fort Apache
Written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the story by James Warner Bellah
Directed by John Ford
U.S.A., 1948
It has been recognized that one of the greatest natural symbols of the United States that helped popularize the western genre is Monument Valley, located on the Utah-Arizona state line. Its rocky walls and pillars are instantly recognizable for their iconic, curious shapes and arresting beauty. John Ford, who is most known for his classic westerns films, made terrific use of the wondrous sight a number of times in his career, starting with Stagecoach in 1939. In 1948, he would return to Monument Valley yet again for another John Wayne collaboration, Fort Apache. Each of his films had distinct personalities and stories, though he always manged to enrich the experience with the famed vista.
In Fort Apache, Lt. Col. Owen Thursday (Henry Fonda) is commissioned with the task of...
Written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the story by James Warner Bellah
Directed by John Ford
U.S.A., 1948
It has been recognized that one of the greatest natural symbols of the United States that helped popularize the western genre is Monument Valley, located on the Utah-Arizona state line. Its rocky walls and pillars are instantly recognizable for their iconic, curious shapes and arresting beauty. John Ford, who is most known for his classic westerns films, made terrific use of the wondrous sight a number of times in his career, starting with Stagecoach in 1939. In 1948, he would return to Monument Valley yet again for another John Wayne collaboration, Fort Apache. Each of his films had distinct personalities and stories, though he always manged to enrich the experience with the famed vista.
In Fort Apache, Lt. Col. Owen Thursday (Henry Fonda) is commissioned with the task of...
- 1/28/2013
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
Film reviewer and broadcaster with the common touch, she was feared by directors and dismissed by auteurist critics
Judith Crist, who has died aged 90, was, at one stage, probably the most widely read, listened to and watched film critic in the world. At least, due to her appearances on the early morning Us television show Today and her reviews in the weekly magazine TV Guide, which had a huge circulation of 17m in its heyday, she was the American film critic with the largest appeal to a mass audience.
Crist, who called herself a "journalistic reviewer", knew what the public wanted and catered to them. She had no truck with "cerebral" film theorists, nor auteurists such as Andrew Sarris, nor feminist critics such as Molly Haskell. Her idols were James Agee, Otis Ferguson and Frank Nugent, solid writers in the literary tradition. "If you're going to be a movie fan,...
Judith Crist, who has died aged 90, was, at one stage, probably the most widely read, listened to and watched film critic in the world. At least, due to her appearances on the early morning Us television show Today and her reviews in the weekly magazine TV Guide, which had a huge circulation of 17m in its heyday, she was the American film critic with the largest appeal to a mass audience.
Crist, who called herself a "journalistic reviewer", knew what the public wanted and catered to them. She had no truck with "cerebral" film theorists, nor auteurists such as Andrew Sarris, nor feminist critics such as Molly Haskell. Her idols were James Agee, Otis Ferguson and Frank Nugent, solid writers in the literary tradition. "If you're going to be a movie fan,...
- 8/10/2012
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
By Lee Pfeiffer
While most film historians consider She Wore a Yellow Ribbon to be the best of John Ford's fabled "Cavalry Trilogy", for my money Fort Apache was far and away the strongest of the films. Ribbon and Rio Grande are certainly excellent films but they are primarily compromised by Ford's penchant for overt sentimentality. Fort Apache, however, is a far more sinister look at the West, one that was decades ahead of its time in terms of presenting the case of the Native Americans in a sympathetic fashion. It's ironic that people like Marlon Brando, who extolled the cause of Native American rights, would cite Ford's films as having been detrimental to the Indian cause. In fact, Ford was so highly regarded by the Navajo that he was made an honorary member of the tribe, primarily because of his consistent efforts to improve their lives. Ford became...
While most film historians consider She Wore a Yellow Ribbon to be the best of John Ford's fabled "Cavalry Trilogy", for my money Fort Apache was far and away the strongest of the films. Ribbon and Rio Grande are certainly excellent films but they are primarily compromised by Ford's penchant for overt sentimentality. Fort Apache, however, is a far more sinister look at the West, one that was decades ahead of its time in terms of presenting the case of the Native Americans in a sympathetic fashion. It's ironic that people like Marlon Brando, who extolled the cause of Native American rights, would cite Ford's films as having been detrimental to the Indian cause. In fact, Ford was so highly regarded by the Navajo that he was made an honorary member of the tribe, primarily because of his consistent efforts to improve their lives. Ford became...
- 4/11/2012
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Feb 16, 2011
"By courtesy of the wizards of Hollywood The Wizard of Oz reached the screen yesterday as a delightful piece of wonderworking which had the youngsters' eyes shining and brought a quietly amused gleam to the wiser ones," begins Frank Nugent's review of The Wizard of Oz in The New York Times. Produced and distributed by MGM at a cost of $2.5 million, the film is a tribute to the Hollywood style and system of filmmaking. It was a bit of "wonderworking" indeed, as this fantasy film would forever alter the course of the Hollywood ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com...
"By courtesy of the wizards of Hollywood The Wizard of Oz reached the screen yesterday as a delightful piece of wonderworking which had the youngsters' eyes shining and brought a quietly amused gleam to the wiser ones," begins Frank Nugent's review of The Wizard of Oz in The New York Times. Produced and distributed by MGM at a cost of $2.5 million, the film is a tribute to the Hollywood style and system of filmmaking. It was a bit of "wonderworking" indeed, as this fantasy film would forever alter the course of the Hollywood ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com...
- 2/16/2011
- CinemaNerdz
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