f it was the summer of the megawatt blockbusters “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” September has turned into a month of sequelitis with “The Nun 2,” “Equalizer 3” and “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3.” Even Kenneth Branagh’s “A Hunting in Venice,” is the third installment in the actor/director’s Hercule Poirot mystery series. It’s all a bit of a snooze. That wasn’t the case 70 years ago this month.
There were some oddball films that were released September, 1953 including “Cat-Women of the Moon” with Sonny Tufts and Marie Windsor and “The Sins of Jezebel” starring Paulette Goddard. But 70 years ago, audiences were introduced to a new wide-screen format and young actress who would become one of the biggest stars of the 1950s and ‘60s and Clark Gable returning to a role he originated in 1932.
Twentieth Century Fox’s Darryl F. Zanuck unveiled the studio’s new widescreen process Cinemascope...
There were some oddball films that were released September, 1953 including “Cat-Women of the Moon” with Sonny Tufts and Marie Windsor and “The Sins of Jezebel” starring Paulette Goddard. But 70 years ago, audiences were introduced to a new wide-screen format and young actress who would become one of the biggest stars of the 1950s and ‘60s and Clark Gable returning to a role he originated in 1932.
Twentieth Century Fox’s Darryl F. Zanuck unveiled the studio’s new widescreen process Cinemascope...
- 9/19/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Dated but good-humoured, this 1967 adaptation includes all the era’s popular elements, from villain Terry-Thomas to penny-farthings in haystacks
There’s an serious outbreak of top hats and mutton chops in this amiable adaptation of Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon, originally released in 1967, when the real world was gearing up for the Apollo moonshot a couple of years later. Produced by the prolific Harry Towers, it adopted the rambling wacky-races format that had proved enduringly popular throughout the 1950s and 60s; most recently with the 1965 hit Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, which it shamelessly capitalised on with its US title (Those Fantastic Flying Fools) as well as redeplying the ubiquitous Terry-Thomas, who played yet another moustache-twirling cad.
Rocket to the Moon is watchable in a bored-Sunday-afternoon sort of way: it’s about whether an international consortium, led by Burl Ives (as Phineas T Barnum) and Dennis Price,...
There’s an serious outbreak of top hats and mutton chops in this amiable adaptation of Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon, originally released in 1967, when the real world was gearing up for the Apollo moonshot a couple of years later. Produced by the prolific Harry Towers, it adopted the rambling wacky-races format that had proved enduringly popular throughout the 1950s and 60s; most recently with the 1965 hit Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, which it shamelessly capitalised on with its US title (Those Fantastic Flying Fools) as well as redeplying the ubiquitous Terry-Thomas, who played yet another moustache-twirling cad.
Rocket to the Moon is watchable in a bored-Sunday-afternoon sort of way: it’s about whether an international consortium, led by Burl Ives (as Phineas T Barnum) and Dennis Price,...
- 4/7/2021
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
The idea that Audrey Wells‘ original script for the Netflix film “Over the Moon” was not written as a musical might seem unbelievable but Marjorie Duffield says that the way it was set up fit perfectly to turn it into one. “We were gifted with Audrey Wells’ beautiful script that, strangely, is almost like the perfect libretto to a musical without the songs. Audrey would build her moments to these places where the characters would just have to sing. They just had to move into song,” Duffield, along with co-songwriters Christopher Curtis and Helen Park, tells Gold Derby in our recent webchat (watch the exclusive video above).
Some restructuring of the script was required to make it work better in the mold of a musical but Duffield felt that there were moments in the script that were just begging to musicalized. “Structurally, Audrey almost had these moments just perfectly paced...
Some restructuring of the script was required to make it work better in the mold of a musical but Duffield felt that there were moments in the script that were just begging to musicalized. “Structurally, Audrey almost had these moments just perfectly paced...
- 2/8/2021
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
The Oscar race is already underway for categories devoted to below-the-line crafts — cinematography, costume design, editing, makeup and hairstyling, music, production design, sound and visual effects.
Voting began on Feb. 1 to determine a shortlist of possible nominees culled from all eligible contenders in the four craft categories that use a two-step process: score, original song, visual effects and makeup & hairstyling.
Voters have until Feb. 5 to narrow down all the contenders to a shortlist of semifinalists: 15 each in the Best Original Score and Best Original Song categories, 10 each in Best Makeup and Hairstyling and Best Visual Effects. (The shortlists will be announced on Feb. 9 ahead of the March 15 announcement of nominees.)
Here are our thoughts on what might advance in the four below-the-line categories that use shortlists.
“News of the World” (Universal Pictures)
Best Original Score
The Music Branch’s shortlists are typically short on surprises — and when those do happen,...
Voting began on Feb. 1 to determine a shortlist of possible nominees culled from all eligible contenders in the four craft categories that use a two-step process: score, original song, visual effects and makeup & hairstyling.
Voters have until Feb. 5 to narrow down all the contenders to a shortlist of semifinalists: 15 each in the Best Original Score and Best Original Song categories, 10 each in Best Makeup and Hairstyling and Best Visual Effects. (The shortlists will be announced on Feb. 9 ahead of the March 15 announcement of nominees.)
Here are our thoughts on what might advance in the four below-the-line categories that use shortlists.
“News of the World” (Universal Pictures)
Best Original Score
The Music Branch’s shortlists are typically short on surprises — and when those do happen,...
- 2/2/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
As voting opens for the Oscar shortlists on Feb. 1, the picture is slowly coming into focus: Academy composers and songwriters are faced with one of the most diverse batches of scores they’ve ever heard.
The approximately 350 members of the Academy music branch are sifting through dozens of films to try and single out 15 scores and 15 songs worthy of placement on its shortlists, which will be revealed Feb. 9. These preliminary choices will be narrowed down to five final nominees in each category, to be announced March 15.
Best Original Score
It’s a surprisingly competitive year, making predictions even more difficult. But the music branch likes to reward familiar names, so look for such past winners as Alexandre Desplat (“Grand Budapest Hotel”) for his alternately melancholy and hopeful score for “The Midnight Sky”; Ludwig Göransson (“Black Panther”) for his propulsive, synth-orchestra hybrid for the intense spy thriller “Tenet”; and Howard Shore...
The approximately 350 members of the Academy music branch are sifting through dozens of films to try and single out 15 scores and 15 songs worthy of placement on its shortlists, which will be revealed Feb. 9. These preliminary choices will be narrowed down to five final nominees in each category, to be announced March 15.
Best Original Score
It’s a surprisingly competitive year, making predictions even more difficult. But the music branch likes to reward familiar names, so look for such past winners as Alexandre Desplat (“Grand Budapest Hotel”) for his alternately melancholy and hopeful score for “The Midnight Sky”; Ludwig Göransson (“Black Panther”) for his propulsive, synth-orchestra hybrid for the intense spy thriller “Tenet”; and Howard Shore...
- 1/29/2021
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
Of course, 2020 was a year like no other when it came to screen entertainment. As the coronavirus pandemic shut down productions across the U.S., it allowed Netflix to continue churning out content from its deep arsenal of movies and series.
Last year, Netflix put forth no fewer than eight original song contenders, including contributions from Taylor Swift and John Legend. What are the chances the streamer will dominate, and ultimately win, in the category? Two words: Diane Warren.
The legendary songwriter has been nominated for original song 11 times, but never won. If the Academy feels she’s long overdue, “Io Si (Seen),” her contribution to Netflix’s “The Life Ahead,” the Sophia Loren starrer whose song is performed in Italian by Laura Pausini, is as deserving as they come. Warren wrote the lyrics in English before it was translated. As she explains of the film’s two main characters,...
Last year, Netflix put forth no fewer than eight original song contenders, including contributions from Taylor Swift and John Legend. What are the chances the streamer will dominate, and ultimately win, in the category? Two words: Diane Warren.
The legendary songwriter has been nominated for original song 11 times, but never won. If the Academy feels she’s long overdue, “Io Si (Seen),” her contribution to Netflix’s “The Life Ahead,” the Sophia Loren starrer whose song is performed in Italian by Laura Pausini, is as deserving as they come. Warren wrote the lyrics in English before it was translated. As she explains of the film’s two main characters,...
- 1/27/2021
- by Jazz Tangcay and Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
On today’s Crew Call, we speak to the songwriters of Netflix-Pearl Studio’s animated feature Over the Moon, Helen Park, Marjorie Duffield and Christopher Curtis, whose live-musical theater sensibilities were brought together for a story about a young Chinese girl, who after losing her mother, builds a rocket ship and blasts off to space, looking to meet a mythical moon goddess.
Curtis was an Outer Critics Circle nominee for Broadway’s Chaplin; Duffield, a Jonathan Larson Memorial Fellow for Sit-in at the Five and Dime, and Park a three-time Drama Desk Award nominee who had penned the off-Broadway musical Kpop. The trio bonded over chardonnay and fleshed out the feature’s songs during the spring of 2018 in an AirBnB. A key anthem in the feature is one song by its protagonist Fei Fei, “Rocket to the Moon”, in contention this awards season, in which she builds the...
Curtis was an Outer Critics Circle nominee for Broadway’s Chaplin; Duffield, a Jonathan Larson Memorial Fellow for Sit-in at the Five and Dime, and Park a three-time Drama Desk Award nominee who had penned the off-Broadway musical Kpop. The trio bonded over chardonnay and fleshed out the feature’s songs during the spring of 2018 in an AirBnB. A key anthem in the feature is one song by its protagonist Fei Fei, “Rocket to the Moon”, in contention this awards season, in which she builds the...
- 12/9/2020
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
A trio of songwriters — Christopher Curtis, Helen Park and Marjorie Duffield — created the tunes at the heart of animated musical “Over the Moon,” the story of a young girl with a passion for science who seeks to prove the existence of the legendary Moon Goddess in the tales her recently departed mom would tell her. The film’s anthemic central song, “Rocket to the Moon,” distributed by Milan Records and available Aug. 28, will be the first taste of the much-anticipated picture, coming to Netflix in the fall.
The movie marks the directing debut of longtime animator Glen Keane, who has worked on Disney classics including “Aladdin,” “Pocahontas” and “Beauty and the Beast.” It stars Cathy Ang as the voice of 12-year-old Fei Fei, who remembers her mother (Ruthie Ann Miles) regaling her with the Chinese folktale of Chang’e (Phillipa Soo of “Hamilton”), the goddess who holds the secret of immortality.
The movie marks the directing debut of longtime animator Glen Keane, who has worked on Disney classics including “Aladdin,” “Pocahontas” and “Beauty and the Beast.” It stars Cathy Ang as the voice of 12-year-old Fei Fei, who remembers her mother (Ruthie Ann Miles) regaling her with the Chinese folktale of Chang’e (Phillipa Soo of “Hamilton”), the goddess who holds the secret of immortality.
- 8/28/2020
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
“I hate her! I hate dat qveen!” Despite being one of the most maladroit sci-fiers of the ’50s, color and ‘scope and Zsa Za Gabor’s hilarious accent make this Allied Artists offering a must-see head scratcher. Bad taste! Tacky art direction! Infantile sexist humor! The word on the street is that the Me Too movement has this embarrassing howler on their kill list.
Queen of Outer Space
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1958 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 80 min. / Street Date September 25, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Zsa Zsa Gabor, Eric Fleming, Laurie Mitchell, Dave Willock, Paul Birch, Lisa Davis, Patrick Waltz, Barbara Darrow, Joi Lansing, Marilyn Buferd, Mary Ford, Marya Stevens, Laura Mason, Lynn Cartwright, Kathy Marlowe, Coleen Drake, Tania Velia, Norma Young, Marjorie Durant, Gerry Gaylor, Brandy Bryan, Ruth Lewis, June McCall.
Cinematography: William P. Whitley
Film Editor: William Austin
Sam Gordon and Ted Mossman: Props
Visual Effects: Jack Cosgrove...
Queen of Outer Space
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1958 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 80 min. / Street Date September 25, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Zsa Zsa Gabor, Eric Fleming, Laurie Mitchell, Dave Willock, Paul Birch, Lisa Davis, Patrick Waltz, Barbara Darrow, Joi Lansing, Marilyn Buferd, Mary Ford, Marya Stevens, Laura Mason, Lynn Cartwright, Kathy Marlowe, Coleen Drake, Tania Velia, Norma Young, Marjorie Durant, Gerry Gaylor, Brandy Bryan, Ruth Lewis, June McCall.
Cinematography: William P. Whitley
Film Editor: William Austin
Sam Gordon and Ted Mossman: Props
Visual Effects: Jack Cosgrove...
- 9/11/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Character actor William Phipps, who starred in sci fi films of the 1950s and voiced Prince Charming in 1950’s “Cinderella,” died Friday, June 1 at UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 96.
Phipps’ friend and entertainment industry author Tom Weaver announced the news, adding that Phipps had been battling lung cancer, which was complicated by pneumonia.
Phipps was born in Vincennes, Ind., on Feb. 4, 1922. In 1939, he enrolled at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Ill., where he studied accounting and planned to pursue it as a career while continuing what was then an acting hobby on the side.
In 1941, Phipps decided to forgo his Eiu studies and moved to California to pursue his acting dream. He later enlisted in the Navy after his brother Jack was shot down over the South Pacific, serving as a radioman aboard six ships between 1942 and 1945. After his discharge, he returned to Hollywood and used the G.
Phipps’ friend and entertainment industry author Tom Weaver announced the news, adding that Phipps had been battling lung cancer, which was complicated by pneumonia.
Phipps was born in Vincennes, Ind., on Feb. 4, 1922. In 1939, he enrolled at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Ill., where he studied accounting and planned to pursue it as a career while continuing what was then an acting hobby on the side.
In 1941, Phipps decided to forgo his Eiu studies and moved to California to pursue his acting dream. He later enlisted in the Navy after his brother Jack was shot down over the South Pacific, serving as a radioman aboard six ships between 1942 and 1945. After his discharge, he returned to Hollywood and used the G.
- 6/3/2018
- by Erin Nyren
- Variety Film + TV
Worlds where powerful women rule just to be dethroned.
In classic sci-fi from the 1950s and 60s, there’s a very specific subgenre that deals with alien planets or hidden worlds populated entirely by women. In the video store where I used to work in Portland, Or, Movie Madness, we called this subgenre “Male Chauvinist Fantasies/Nightmares,” because that’s usually how these flicks go: male astronauts/explorers discover a world where the only inhabitants are lovely alien ladies who’ve gone too long without the company of men. This works itself out in one of two ways: it’s a fantasy world of a commitment-less sex and blind idolatry on the part of the women, or it’s a nightmare, the women are alone for a reason, and that reason usually revolves around breeding men to death. Either way there’s a lot of sex implied, but the connotations fluctuate.
We...
In classic sci-fi from the 1950s and 60s, there’s a very specific subgenre that deals with alien planets or hidden worlds populated entirely by women. In the video store where I used to work in Portland, Or, Movie Madness, we called this subgenre “Male Chauvinist Fantasies/Nightmares,” because that’s usually how these flicks go: male astronauts/explorers discover a world where the only inhabitants are lovely alien ladies who’ve gone too long without the company of men. This works itself out in one of two ways: it’s a fantasy world of a commitment-less sex and blind idolatry on the part of the women, or it’s a nightmare, the women are alone for a reason, and that reason usually revolves around breeding men to death. Either way there’s a lot of sex implied, but the connotations fluctuate.
We...
- 3/30/2017
- by H. Perry Horton
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
I've got a pretty awesome fan-made trailer for Captain America: Civil War that you've gotta check out! It reimagines the film as if it had been directed by the legendary Ed Wood. The trailer was cut together by Darth Blender using footage from a variety of films from the '30s, '40s, and '50s. You will find a list of those films below the embed. The trailer is surprisingly entertaining, and I think you'll enjoy it.
Films used to create this trailer include:
- Adventures Of Captain Marvel (1941).
- Captain America (1944).
- Cat-Women Of The Moon (1953).
- King Of the Rocket Man (1949).
- Mysterious Doctor Satan (1940).
- Spy Smasher (1942).
- The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957).
- The Green Archer (1940).
- The Fighting Devil Dogs (1938).
- The Avengers (1961).
Films used to create this trailer include:
- Adventures Of Captain Marvel (1941).
- Captain America (1944).
- Cat-Women Of The Moon (1953).
- King Of the Rocket Man (1949).
- Mysterious Doctor Satan (1940).
- Spy Smasher (1942).
- The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957).
- The Green Archer (1940).
- The Fighting Devil Dogs (1938).
- The Avengers (1961).
- 4/29/2016
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
Shall we sing the praises of actress Marie Windsor? A self--assessed Queen of the Cheapies, she was anything but cheap, gracing some of the better films noirs and delivering some of the most deliciously acidic dialogue ever heard on screen. The woman doesn't just have bedroom eyes, she has bedroom everything, and a wicked smile to go with it.
No Man's Woman Blu-ray Olive Films 1955 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 70 min. / Street Date October 27, 2015 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98 Starring Marie Windsor, John Archer, Patric Knowles, Nancy Gates, Jil Jarmyn, Richard Crane, Louis Jean Heydt, Percy Helton, Morris Ankrum. Cinematography Bud Thackery Film Editor Howard A. Smith Original Music R. Dale Butts Written by John K. Butler story by Don Martin Produced by Rudy Ralston Directed by Franklin Adreon
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Marie Windsor is really something in Abraham Polonsky's Force of Evil, lounging around in an effort to seduce John Garfield.
No Man's Woman Blu-ray Olive Films 1955 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 70 min. / Street Date October 27, 2015 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98 Starring Marie Windsor, John Archer, Patric Knowles, Nancy Gates, Jil Jarmyn, Richard Crane, Louis Jean Heydt, Percy Helton, Morris Ankrum. Cinematography Bud Thackery Film Editor Howard A. Smith Original Music R. Dale Butts Written by John K. Butler story by Don Martin Produced by Rudy Ralston Directed by Franklin Adreon
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Marie Windsor is really something in Abraham Polonsky's Force of Evil, lounging around in an effort to seduce John Garfield.
- 11/21/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
More than 30 movies shot in 3D will be released this year. And they are all starting to look the same to Stuart Heritage
There's a lot riding on Tangled. Disney's musical revamp of the Rapunzel tale – its 50th animated movie – cost a reported $260m, which makes it the second most expensive movie ever. But can we expect Tangled to be much different from the 30-plus other 3D movies due this year? We may even get a 3D Great Gatsby. The more 3D movies there are, though, the more the genre emerges as one boasting some rigid conventions. Here's a ticklist of 10 . . .
1 The over-the-top trailer
When a 3D film is advertised before the screening of a 2D one, it will go to great lengths to make sure everyone understands exactly what a rollercoaster ride 3D is. In the case of Saw 3D, this meant releasing a trailer that showed audience members...
There's a lot riding on Tangled. Disney's musical revamp of the Rapunzel tale – its 50th animated movie – cost a reported $260m, which makes it the second most expensive movie ever. But can we expect Tangled to be much different from the 30-plus other 3D movies due this year? We may even get a 3D Great Gatsby. The more 3D movies there are, though, the more the genre emerges as one boasting some rigid conventions. Here's a ticklist of 10 . . .
1 The over-the-top trailer
When a 3D film is advertised before the screening of a 2D one, it will go to great lengths to make sure everyone understands exactly what a rollercoaster ride 3D is. In the case of Saw 3D, this meant releasing a trailer that showed audience members...
- 1/24/2011
- by Stuart Heritage
- The Guardian - Film News
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