For too long, fans of the Pirates of the Caribbean series have been parched of thirst and unable to quench it. And while that’s a pretty complicated matter, one thing is for sure: Captain Hector Barbossa is no more. Unless, of course, Disney finds a way to bring him back…But what about Johnny Depp? Barbossa himself, Geoffrey Rush, has taken the helm to comment on both and the future of Pirates.
Speaking with Collider, Geoffrey Rush said that even though Barbossa sacrificed himself in 2017’s Dead Men Tell No Tales, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he returns if a sixth Pirates entry does in fact get made. “I did come up with a good idea, which is classically based. Hamlet’s father comes back as a ghost, and I just said, ‘I can come back…’” Considering the number of ghosts who show up,...
Speaking with Collider, Geoffrey Rush said that even though Barbossa sacrificed himself in 2017’s Dead Men Tell No Tales, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he returns if a sixth Pirates entry does in fact get made. “I did come up with a good idea, which is classically based. Hamlet’s father comes back as a ghost, and I just said, ‘I can come back…’” Considering the number of ghosts who show up,...
- 7/13/2024
- by Mathew Plale
- JoBlo.com
As Disney plans a reboot of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, there’s a big question – will Johnny Depp’s iconic Captain Jack Sparrow return? Geoffrey Rush, who played Captain Hector Barbossa, voiced skepticism in a recent interview.
Rush says whoever replaces Depp has huge shoes to fill. He compared Jack Sparrow’s impact to Robert Newton’s Long John Silver character, adding Depp’s performance left a huge cultural mark. Rush also shared how Depp drew from rock stars like Keith Richards to create Sparrow’s unique swagger.
The “Pirates” movies have made over $4.5 billion total since 2003. But the last one in 2017 didn’t do as well. Disney wants a new sixth film and a Margot Robbie spin-off too. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer even said he wants Depp involved if it was up to him.
But with Depp’s recent legal issues, his return is uncertain. Fans online are...
Rush says whoever replaces Depp has huge shoes to fill. He compared Jack Sparrow’s impact to Robert Newton’s Long John Silver character, adding Depp’s performance left a huge cultural mark. Rush also shared how Depp drew from rock stars like Keith Richards to create Sparrow’s unique swagger.
The “Pirates” movies have made over $4.5 billion total since 2003. But the last one in 2017 didn’t do as well. Disney wants a new sixth film and a Margot Robbie spin-off too. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer even said he wants Depp involved if it was up to him.
But with Depp’s recent legal issues, his return is uncertain. Fans online are...
- 7/13/2024
- by Naser Nahandian
- Gazettely
Social media is always posting clips of belligerent airline passengers having meltdowns even getting into fisticuffs with flight attendants and fellow travelers. But today’s outbursts look positively tame to compared to the ill-behavior of the passengers and even the crew on a plane bound to San Francisco from Honolulu in “The High and the Mighty,” which opened in L.A. on May 27, 1954. The film went into general release in July. They drink, they cry, they fight and even restrain a passenger who has a gun.Meanwhile, the young pilot nearly loses it, the veteran pilot is haunted with memories of a crash, the navigator is a nervous wreck. Smoking, even by the crew, is allowed.
Directed by William A. Wellman, who helmed another airplane classic 1927’s Oscar-winner “Wings,” adapted by Ernest Gann from his best seller and produced by star John Wayne and his partner Robert Fellows, “The High and the Mighty...
Directed by William A. Wellman, who helmed another airplane classic 1927’s Oscar-winner “Wings,” adapted by Ernest Gann from his best seller and produced by star John Wayne and his partner Robert Fellows, “The High and the Mighty...
- 5/28/2024
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Powerhouse Indicator’s first foray into the Universal library yields six noir thrillers, all crime-related and all different: the list introduces us to scheming businessmen, venal confidence crooks, black-market racketeers, a femme fatale, a gangster deportee and baby stealers. The B&w features are enriched with some of the best actors of the postwar years, and the titles themselves are a litany of vice and sin: The Web, Larceny, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, Abandoned, Deported and Naked Alibi.
Universal Noir #1
Region B Blu-ray
The Web, Larceny, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, Abandoned, Deported, Naked Alibi
Powerhouse Indicator
1948-1954 / B&w / Street Date November 14, 2022 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £49.99
Starring: Ella Raines, Edmond O’Brien, Vincent Price, William Bendix; John Payne, Joan Caulfield, Dan Duryea, Shelly Winters, Dorothy Hart; Joan Fontaine, Burt Lancaster, Robert Newton; Dennis O’Keefe, Gale Storm, Jeff Chandler, Raymond Burr; Marta Toren, Jeff Chandler, Marina Berti, Richard Rober; Sterling Hayden,...
Universal Noir #1
Region B Blu-ray
The Web, Larceny, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, Abandoned, Deported, Naked Alibi
Powerhouse Indicator
1948-1954 / B&w / Street Date November 14, 2022 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £49.99
Starring: Ella Raines, Edmond O’Brien, Vincent Price, William Bendix; John Payne, Joan Caulfield, Dan Duryea, Shelly Winters, Dorothy Hart; Joan Fontaine, Burt Lancaster, Robert Newton; Dennis O’Keefe, Gale Storm, Jeff Chandler, Raymond Burr; Marta Toren, Jeff Chandler, Marina Berti, Richard Rober; Sterling Hayden,...
- 11/5/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Lovers of vintage English crime thrillers will have a lot to chew over with this pair of escapist gangster pix, one pre-war and one post-. In each an innocent young couple suffers a run-in with a criminal gang. John Mills and Richard Attenborough are the ‘fresh’ new talent on display. The leading lady of Dancing with Crime is Sheila Sim, playing opposite her husband Attenborough. The co-feature The Green Cockatoo sports credits for William Cameron Menzies and Miklós Rózsa.
Dancing with Crime + The Green Cockatoo
Blu-ray
Cohen Film Collection / Kino Lorber
1937 & 1947 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 82 + 64 min. / Street Date January 25, 2022 / Available from Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Richard Attenborough, Sheila Sim, Barry Jones; John Mills, René Ray, Robert Newton.
Original Music: Benjamin Frankel, Miklós Rózsa
Directed by John Paddy Carstairs; William Cameron Menzies
The Blu-ray era has given home video devotees great opportunities to catch up with ‘exotic’ genre films from abroad. American TV...
Dancing with Crime + The Green Cockatoo
Blu-ray
Cohen Film Collection / Kino Lorber
1937 & 1947 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 82 + 64 min. / Street Date January 25, 2022 / Available from Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Richard Attenborough, Sheila Sim, Barry Jones; John Mills, René Ray, Robert Newton.
Original Music: Benjamin Frankel, Miklós Rózsa
Directed by John Paddy Carstairs; William Cameron Menzies
The Blu-ray era has given home video devotees great opportunities to catch up with ‘exotic’ genre films from abroad. American TV...
- 1/11/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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“Lurid Love And Noir”
By Raymond Benson
Film historian Jeremy Arnold, who provides the excellent audio commentary as a supplement for the terrific Blu-ray release of Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, says the movie’s title is remarkably “lurid.” The Production Code people obviously had a problem with the title and tried to get it changed, but an appeal from up and coming star Burt Lancaster, whose newly formed production company (co-founded with Harold Hecht) made the picture, resulted in the “lurid” title staying in place.
The film does not live up to the implied sensationalism. While we do get a dark, at times brutal, and cynical piece of film noir, we also get an atypical love story at the picture’s heart.
Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, from 1948, is based on a novel by Gerald Butler, and was adapted by...
“Lurid Love And Noir”
By Raymond Benson
Film historian Jeremy Arnold, who provides the excellent audio commentary as a supplement for the terrific Blu-ray release of Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, says the movie’s title is remarkably “lurid.” The Production Code people obviously had a problem with the title and tried to get it changed, but an appeal from up and coming star Burt Lancaster, whose newly formed production company (co-founded with Harold Hecht) made the picture, resulted in the “lurid” title staying in place.
The film does not live up to the implied sensationalism. While we do get a dark, at times brutal, and cynical piece of film noir, we also get an atypical love story at the picture’s heart.
Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, from 1948, is based on a novel by Gerald Butler, and was adapted by...
- 8/21/2020
- by [email protected] (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Robert Egger‘s “The Lighthouse,” which screened as part of the BFI London Film Festival, was hailed by the critics. This black-and-white picture is an intense psychological study of two men — Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe — working as lighthouse keepers in the 1890s. Eggers, who wrote and directed the 2015 thriller “The Witch,” pulled double duty on this film as well, with his brother, Max Eggers, as co-writer. The film, which debuted in Cannes, will be released stateside by A24 on Oct. 18.
Owen Gleiberman (Variety) observes that the film “is made with extraordinary skill and says that “both actors are sensational (and they work together like one).” However, he notes “in terms of sheer showboating power it’s Dafoe’s movie.” As he explains, “Dafoe plays Thomas Wake, the aging ‘wickie,’ as a knowing piece of kitsch — a crusty, bearded, limping old seaman with his pipe held upside-down and a brogue marinated in gin.
Owen Gleiberman (Variety) observes that the film “is made with extraordinary skill and says that “both actors are sensational (and they work together like one).” However, he notes “in terms of sheer showboating power it’s Dafoe’s movie.” As he explains, “Dafoe plays Thomas Wake, the aging ‘wickie,’ as a knowing piece of kitsch — a crusty, bearded, limping old seaman with his pipe held upside-down and a brogue marinated in gin.
- 10/7/2019
- by Jacob Sarkisian
- Gold Derby
Universal Pictures is developing a new “Treasure Island” movie, an action-adventure inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel. Dean DeBlois will direct.
Evan Spiliotopoulos will write the script, collaborating with DeBlois on the story.
Robert Louis Stevenson first wrote “Treasure Island” back in 1881. The novel is set in the days of sailing ships and pirates and tells of the adventures of Jim Hawkins and his search for the buried treasure of an evil pirate, Captain Flint. The Robert Louis Stevenson adventure story has frequently been adapted for both the big and small screen over the years, perhaps most famously by Disney in 1950, with Robert Newton portraying a snarling Long John Silver. But the time could be ripe for a more modern take on the enduring novel.
Also Read: Evan Spiliotopoulos Tapped to Write 'GI Joe' for Paramount and AllSpark
Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman of Mandeville Films will produce alongside DeBlois.
Evan Spiliotopoulos will write the script, collaborating with DeBlois on the story.
Robert Louis Stevenson first wrote “Treasure Island” back in 1881. The novel is set in the days of sailing ships and pirates and tells of the adventures of Jim Hawkins and his search for the buried treasure of an evil pirate, Captain Flint. The Robert Louis Stevenson adventure story has frequently been adapted for both the big and small screen over the years, perhaps most famously by Disney in 1950, with Robert Newton portraying a snarling Long John Silver. But the time could be ripe for a more modern take on the enduring novel.
Also Read: Evan Spiliotopoulos Tapped to Write 'GI Joe' for Paramount and AllSpark
Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman of Mandeville Films will produce alongside DeBlois.
- 10/3/2019
- by Umberto Gonzalez
- The Wrap
‘Treasure Island’: Dean DeBlois Set To Direct Take On Classic Novel For Universal & Mandeville Films
Exclusive: Deadline has learned that Universal Pictures and Mandeville Films are bringing a new feature adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1883 novel Treasure Island to the big screen with two-time Oscar nominated How to Train Your Dragon filmmaker Dean DeBlois directing.
Beauty and the Beast scribe Evan Spiliotopoulos will write the script, collaborating with DeBlois on the story. Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman of Mandeville Films will produce via their Universal deal alongside DeBlois. It was recently announced that Paramount/Hasbro’s Micronauts would rep DeBlois’ first live-action feature directorial. With that pic dated for June 4, 2021, the thinking is that Micronauts will likely go first given that Treasure Island is in early development.
Treasure Island tells the story of young Jim Hawkins who is torn between his loyalty to his benefactors and his affection for Pirate Captain Long John Silver as they seek a buried pirate treasure. The three notable...
Beauty and the Beast scribe Evan Spiliotopoulos will write the script, collaborating with DeBlois on the story. Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman of Mandeville Films will produce via their Universal deal alongside DeBlois. It was recently announced that Paramount/Hasbro’s Micronauts would rep DeBlois’ first live-action feature directorial. With that pic dated for June 4, 2021, the thinking is that Micronauts will likely go first given that Treasure Island is in early development.
Treasure Island tells the story of young Jim Hawkins who is torn between his loyalty to his benefactors and his affection for Pirate Captain Long John Silver as they seek a buried pirate treasure. The three notable...
- 10/2/2019
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
“A Pint Of British Noir”
By Raymond Benson
Film noir wasn’t just relegated to American Hollywood films of the forties and fifties. It was something of an international movement, albeit an unconscious one, for it wasn’t until the late fifties that some critics in France looked back at the past two decades of crime pictures and proclaimed, “Oui! Film noir!”
Britain was doing it, too. Carol Reed’s 1947 Ira-thriller-that-isn’t-an-ira-thriller Odd Man Out is one of the best examples of the style. Robert Krasker’s black and white cinematography pulls in all the essential film noir elements—German expressionism, high contrasts between dark and light, and tons of shadows. Other noir trappings are present, such as stormy weather, night scenes, exterior locations, bars, shabby tenements, a lot of smoking, and a crime. And, for a movie to be “pure noir,” there must not be a happy ending. Odd...
By Raymond Benson
Film noir wasn’t just relegated to American Hollywood films of the forties and fifties. It was something of an international movement, albeit an unconscious one, for it wasn’t until the late fifties that some critics in France looked back at the past two decades of crime pictures and proclaimed, “Oui! Film noir!”
Britain was doing it, too. Carol Reed’s 1947 Ira-thriller-that-isn’t-an-ira-thriller Odd Man Out is one of the best examples of the style. Robert Krasker’s black and white cinematography pulls in all the essential film noir elements—German expressionism, high contrasts between dark and light, and tons of shadows. Other noir trappings are present, such as stormy weather, night scenes, exterior locations, bars, shabby tenements, a lot of smoking, and a crime. And, for a movie to be “pure noir,” there must not be a happy ending. Odd...
- 6/17/2019
- by [email protected] (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
For his follow-up to The Witch, Robert Eggers launches a salty story of two men trapped in a turret. Think Steptoe and Son at sea and in hell
Robert Eggers’s gripping nightmare shows two lighthouse-keepers in 19th-century Maine going melancholy mad together: a toxic marriage, a dance of death. It is explosively scary and captivatingly beautiful in cinematographer Jarin Blaschke’s fierce monochrome, like a daguerreotype of fear. And the performances from Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson have a sledgehammer punch – Pattinson, in particular, just gets better and better.
There is rare excitement in seeing these two actors butt heads and trade difficult, complex period dialogue with such mastery and flair. And the screenplay by Robert and Max Eggers is a delicious and often outrageous homage to maritime speech and sea-dog lore, saltier than an underwater sodium chloride factory. Their script is barnacled with resemblances to Coleridge, Shakespeare, Melville...
Robert Eggers’s gripping nightmare shows two lighthouse-keepers in 19th-century Maine going melancholy mad together: a toxic marriage, a dance of death. It is explosively scary and captivatingly beautiful in cinematographer Jarin Blaschke’s fierce monochrome, like a daguerreotype of fear. And the performances from Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson have a sledgehammer punch – Pattinson, in particular, just gets better and better.
There is rare excitement in seeing these two actors butt heads and trade difficult, complex period dialogue with such mastery and flair. And the screenplay by Robert and Max Eggers is a delicious and often outrageous homage to maritime speech and sea-dog lore, saltier than an underwater sodium chloride factory. Their script is barnacled with resemblances to Coleridge, Shakespeare, Melville...
- 5/19/2019
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Though long embraced by parents as family-friendly safe zones, Disney’s live action films were just as often called out for their squeaky clean posturing and regressive world views.
Fair enough – but as Noah Cross growled, “Politicians, ugly buildings and whores all get respectable if they last long enough” – and a good number of those mild-mannered entertainments, while not exactly ready for the arthouse, are at least worthy of a second look.
Disney Movie Club has released some of those Baby Boomer perennials in sterling Blu ray transfers – unfortunately available to club members only. Here’s part one in a rundown of the more tantalizing items.
Treasure Island, Davy Crockett,
Old Yeller, Pollyanna
Blu ray
Disney Movie Club
1950, ‘55, ‘56, ‘57, ‘60 / 1. 33:1, 1.85:1 / 96, 93, 81, 83, 134 Min.
Starring Robert Newton, Dorothy McGuire, Hayley Mills, Fess Parker
Cinematography by Freddie Young, Charles P. Boyle, Russell Harlan
Directed by Byron Haskin, Robert Stevenson, David Swift
Treasure Island – 1950
Thanks...
Fair enough – but as Noah Cross growled, “Politicians, ugly buildings and whores all get respectable if they last long enough” – and a good number of those mild-mannered entertainments, while not exactly ready for the arthouse, are at least worthy of a second look.
Disney Movie Club has released some of those Baby Boomer perennials in sterling Blu ray transfers – unfortunately available to club members only. Here’s part one in a rundown of the more tantalizing items.
Treasure Island, Davy Crockett,
Old Yeller, Pollyanna
Blu ray
Disney Movie Club
1950, ‘55, ‘56, ‘57, ‘60 / 1. 33:1, 1.85:1 / 96, 93, 81, 83, 134 Min.
Starring Robert Newton, Dorothy McGuire, Hayley Mills, Fess Parker
Cinematography by Freddie Young, Charles P. Boyle, Russell Harlan
Directed by Byron Haskin, Robert Stevenson, David Swift
Treasure Island – 1950
Thanks...
- 12/25/2018
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Michael Anderson, the British director who was nominated for an Academy Award for his direction on “Around the World in 80 Days,” died in Vancouver Wednesday. He was 98.
Anderson’s career began in the ’40s as an assistant director before he joined the Royal Signal Corps during the war. After Anderson was discharged, he signed a contract with Associated British Picture Corporation, for whom he directed five films.
The third film, 1955’s “The Dam Busters,” starring Richard Todd, which was the biggest film of the year for Britain at the box office. The film will be presented at the Royal Albert Hall in London and simulcast into 400 theatres throughout the UK on May 17 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Royal Air Force’s most daring operation of World War II.
Anderson was asked to direct “Around the World in 80 Days” after the original director John Farrow had a falling out with producer Mike Todd.
Anderson’s career began in the ’40s as an assistant director before he joined the Royal Signal Corps during the war. After Anderson was discharged, he signed a contract with Associated British Picture Corporation, for whom he directed five films.
The third film, 1955’s “The Dam Busters,” starring Richard Todd, which was the biggest film of the year for Britain at the box office. The film will be presented at the Royal Albert Hall in London and simulcast into 400 theatres throughout the UK on May 17 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Royal Air Force’s most daring operation of World War II.
Anderson was asked to direct “Around the World in 80 Days” after the original director John Farrow had a falling out with producer Mike Todd.
- 4/28/2018
- by Erin Nyren
- Variety Film + TV
Director Michael Anderson, who was Oscar-nominated for his role in the epic film Around The World in 80 Days and later was behind the cameras for the sci-fi classic Logan’s Run, has died. He was 98 and passed away Wednesday in Vancouver of unspecified causes.
Anderson had a long film career, directing such war movies as The Dam Busters, The Yangtse Incident, Operation Crossbow, and also such staples as The Wreck of the Mary Deare, The Quiller Memorandum, Chase a Crooked Shadow, and The Shoes of the Fisherman.
But the defining film of his career was Around the World In 80 Days, a three-hour film based on the Jules Verne adventure novel. The film was as much about logistics as it was the narrative, setting records for camera set-ups, sets, costumes, participants and locations.
The storyline has Phileas Fogg (David Niven) and his valet, Passepartout (Cantinflas), as they try to win...
Anderson had a long film career, directing such war movies as The Dam Busters, The Yangtse Incident, Operation Crossbow, and also such staples as The Wreck of the Mary Deare, The Quiller Memorandum, Chase a Crooked Shadow, and The Shoes of the Fisherman.
But the defining film of his career was Around the World In 80 Days, a three-hour film based on the Jules Verne adventure novel. The film was as much about logistics as it was the narrative, setting records for camera set-ups, sets, costumes, participants and locations.
The storyline has Phileas Fogg (David Niven) and his valet, Passepartout (Cantinflas), as they try to win...
- 4/28/2018
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Another summer movie season and another Pirates of the Caribbean movie. What? You didn’t know there was yet another in the franchise that wore out its welcome a long time ago? Yes, Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Men Tell No Tales came and went awfully fast this summer, never a good sign. It played in St. Petersburg for about a week and then vanished. Did anybody see it? I didn’t and I’ve seen a lot of movies this summer. In a summer of Wonder Woman and Dunkirk, as well as Baby Driver, Logan Lucky and Detroit it would be very easy for another Pirates of the Caribbean movie to get lost in the shuffle.
So let’s talk about a real pirate movie, from 1952 Blackbeard the Pirate, directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Robert Newton, Linda Darnell, William Bendix, and Keith Andes. Newton is to pirate movies...
So let’s talk about a real pirate movie, from 1952 Blackbeard the Pirate, directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Robert Newton, Linda Darnell, William Bendix, and Keith Andes. Newton is to pirate movies...
- 9/11/2017
- by Sam Moffitt
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
By Tim Greaves
Not the most beloved entry in Alfred Hitchcock's cinematic oeuvre – by either audiences in general or the director himself – 1939's Jamaica Inn (based on a Daphne du Maurier novel first published three years earlier) is nevertheless a serviceable enough piece of drama, which perhaps finds its most ideal place nowadays as an undemanding rainy Sunday afternoon programmer.
Following the death of her mother, Mary Yellen (Maureen O'Hara) travels from Ireland to England intending to take up residence with her relatives at their Cornish hostelry the Jamaica Inn. After an unexpected detour, which on face value proves beneficial when she makes the acquaintance of local squire and magistrate Sir Humphrey Pengallan (Charles Laughton), Mary arrives at her destination to find her browbeaten Aunt Patience (Maria Ney) living in fear of a tyrannical husband, the brutish Joss Merlyn (Leslie Banks). It also transpires that the Inn is the...
Not the most beloved entry in Alfred Hitchcock's cinematic oeuvre – by either audiences in general or the director himself – 1939's Jamaica Inn (based on a Daphne du Maurier novel first published three years earlier) is nevertheless a serviceable enough piece of drama, which perhaps finds its most ideal place nowadays as an undemanding rainy Sunday afternoon programmer.
Following the death of her mother, Mary Yellen (Maureen O'Hara) travels from Ireland to England intending to take up residence with her relatives at their Cornish hostelry the Jamaica Inn. After an unexpected detour, which on face value proves beneficial when she makes the acquaintance of local squire and magistrate Sir Humphrey Pengallan (Charles Laughton), Mary arrives at her destination to find her browbeaten Aunt Patience (Maria Ney) living in fear of a tyrannical husband, the brutish Joss Merlyn (Leslie Banks). It also transpires that the Inn is the...
- 1/18/2017
- by [email protected] (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
William Cameron Menzies. William Cameron Menzies movies on TCM: Murderous Joan Fontaine, deadly Nazi Communists Best known as an art director/production designer, William Cameron Menzies was a jack-of-all-trades. It seems like the only things Menzies didn't do was act and tap dance in front of the camera. He designed and/or wrote, directed, produced, etc., dozens of films – titles ranged from The Thief of Bagdad to Invaders from Mars – from the late 1910s all the way to the mid-1950s. Among Menzies' most notable efforts as an art director/production designer are: Ernst Lubitsch's first Hollywood movie, the Mary Pickford star vehicle Rosita (1923). Herbert Brenon's British-set father-son drama Sorrell and Son (1927). David O. Selznick's mammoth production of Gone with the Wind, which earned Menzies an Honorary Oscar. The Sam Wood movies Our Town (1940), Kings Row (1942), and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943). H.C. Potter's Mr. Lucky...
- 1/28/2016
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
or, Savant picks The Most Impressive Discs of 2015
This is the actual view from Savant Central, looking due North.
What a year! I was able to take one very nice trip back East too see Washington D.C. for the first time, or at least as much as two days' walking in the hot sun and then cool rain would allow. Back home in Los Angeles, we've had a year of extreme drought -- my lawn is looking patriotically ratty -- and we're expecting something called El Niño, that's supposed to be just shy of Old-Testament build-me-an-ark intensity. We withstood heat waves like those in Day the Earth Caught Fire, and now we'll get the storms part. This has been a wild year for DVD Savant, which is still a little unsettled. DVDtalk has been very patient and generous, and so have Stuart Galbraith & Joe Dante; so far everything...
This is the actual view from Savant Central, looking due North.
What a year! I was able to take one very nice trip back East too see Washington D.C. for the first time, or at least as much as two days' walking in the hot sun and then cool rain would allow. Back home in Los Angeles, we've had a year of extreme drought -- my lawn is looking patriotically ratty -- and we're expecting something called El Niño, that's supposed to be just shy of Old-Testament build-me-an-ark intensity. We withstood heat waves like those in Day the Earth Caught Fire, and now we'll get the storms part. This has been a wild year for DVD Savant, which is still a little unsettled. DVDtalk has been very patient and generous, and so have Stuart Galbraith & Joe Dante; so far everything...
- 12/15/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“Make Way For Pengallan!”
By Raymond Benson
The general consensus among critics and fans alike is that Jamaica Inn, the last British film Alfred Hitchcock made before moving to America to work in Hollywood, is not one of the director’s best. It isn’t. It definitely belongs in the lower echelon of his canon. However, there is still much to savor in the picture, and the new Blu-ray restoration by the Cohen Film Collection is a worthwhile medium with which to revisit this odd action-adventure thriller.
Based on a novel by Daphne du Maurier (the first of three works by the author that Hitchcock adapted), Jamaica Inn is a story of pirates operating out of an English coastal village in the early 1800s, thus making it one of Hitch’s few period dramas. Charles Laughton was a co-producer on the film as well as the star, and accounts of...
By Raymond Benson
The general consensus among critics and fans alike is that Jamaica Inn, the last British film Alfred Hitchcock made before moving to America to work in Hollywood, is not one of the director’s best. It isn’t. It definitely belongs in the lower echelon of his canon. However, there is still much to savor in the picture, and the new Blu-ray restoration by the Cohen Film Collection is a worthwhile medium with which to revisit this odd action-adventure thriller.
Based on a novel by Daphne du Maurier (the first of three works by the author that Hitchcock adapted), Jamaica Inn is a story of pirates operating out of an English coastal village in the early 1800s, thus making it one of Hitch’s few period dramas. Charles Laughton was a co-producer on the film as well as the star, and accounts of...
- 11/14/2015
- by [email protected] (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
'Saint Joan': Constance Cummings as the George Bernard Shaw heroine. Constance Cummings on stage: From sex-change farce and Emma Bovary to Juliet and 'Saint Joan' (See previous post: “Constance Cummings: Frank Capra, Mae West and Columbia Lawsuit.”) In the mid-1930s, Constance Cummings landed the title roles in two of husband Benn W. Levy's stage adaptations: Levy and Hubert Griffith's Young Madame Conti (1936), starring Cummings as a demimondaine who falls in love with a villainous character. She ends up killing him – or does she? Adapted from Bruno Frank's German-language original, Young Madame Conti was presented on both sides of the Atlantic; on Broadway, it had a brief run in spring 1937 at the Music Box Theatre. Based on the Gustave Flaubert novel, the Theatre Guild-produced Madame Bovary (1937) was staged in late fall at Broadway's Broadhurst Theatre. Referring to the London production of Young Madame Conti, The...
- 11/10/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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
In a novel effort to stress that film noir wasn’t a film movement specifically an output solely produced for American audiences, Kino Lorber releases a five disc set of obscure noir examples released in the UK. Spanning a near ten year period from 1943 to 1952, the titles displayed here do seem to chart a progression in tone, at least resulting in parallels with American counterparts. Though a couple of the selections here aren’t very noteworthy, either as artifacts of British noir or items worthy of reappraisal, it does contain items of considerable interest, including rare titles from forgotten or underrated auteurs like Ronald Neame, Roy Ward Baker, and Ralph Thomas.
They Met in the Dark
The earliest title in this collection is a 1943 title from Karel Lamac, They Met in the Dark, a pseudo-comedy noir that barely meets the criteria. Based on a novel by Anthony Gilbert (whose novel...
They Met in the Dark
The earliest title in this collection is a 1943 title from Karel Lamac, They Met in the Dark, a pseudo-comedy noir that barely meets the criteria. Based on a novel by Anthony Gilbert (whose novel...
- 8/24/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
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
'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl': Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow. 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl' review: Mostly an enjoyable romp (Oscar Movie Series) Pirate movies were a Hollywood staple for about three decades, from the mid-'20s (The Sea Hawk, The Black Pirate) to the mid-to-late '50s (Moonfleet, The Buccaneer), when the genre, by then mostly relegated to B films, began to die down. Sporadic resurrections in the '80s and '90s turned out to be critical and commercial bombs (Pirates, Cutthroat Island), something that didn't bode well for the Walt Disney Company's $140 million-budgeted film "adaptation" of one of their theme-park rides. But Neptune's mood has apparently improved with the arrival of the new century. He smiled – grinned would be a more appropriate word – on the Gore Verbinski-directed Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,...
- 6/29/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Jamaica Inn
Written by Sidney Gilliat and Joan Harrison
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
UK, 1939
With 23 feature films to his credit, by 1939, Alfred Hitchcock was the most famous director in England. And with his celebrity and his reputation for quality motion pictures, he had attained a degree of creative control unmatched in the British film industry at the time. When it comes to Jamaica Inn, for more than three decades the last film he would fully shoot in his native land, this reputation and this independence would be thoroughly tested. Available now on a stunning new Blu-ray from Cohen Film Collection, which greatly improves the murky visuals and distorted sound marring all previous home video versions, Jamaica Inn had the renowned Charles Laughton as supervising star and producer. Predictably, he and Hitchcock did not always see eye to eye as they jockeyed for authority on set. The result is a contentious...
Written by Sidney Gilliat and Joan Harrison
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
UK, 1939
With 23 feature films to his credit, by 1939, Alfred Hitchcock was the most famous director in England. And with his celebrity and his reputation for quality motion pictures, he had attained a degree of creative control unmatched in the British film industry at the time. When it comes to Jamaica Inn, for more than three decades the last film he would fully shoot in his native land, this reputation and this independence would be thoroughly tested. Available now on a stunning new Blu-ray from Cohen Film Collection, which greatly improves the murky visuals and distorted sound marring all previous home video versions, Jamaica Inn had the renowned Charles Laughton as supervising star and producer. Predictably, he and Hitchcock did not always see eye to eye as they jockeyed for authority on set. The result is a contentious...
- 5/19/2015
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
Cohen Media Group beautifully restores Alfred Hitchcock’s 1939 title Jamaica Inn. A title worthy of reconsideration, considered by many to be an inferior work from the master of suspense, even from the director himself, it’s a definite gem, particularly for fans of Charles Laughton. The actor, whose production company basically commandeered the production, gives a swarthy, deliciously overwrought performance. It’s a standout in a career already filled with such distinction. The film also serves as the film debut of the beautiful Maureen O’Hara, here playing a glorified damsel in distress.
The narrative is relatively simple, set around 1800 as young Irish lass Mary (O’Hara) makes a surprise visit to the Cornish coast to visit her Aunt Patience (Marie Ney) following the death of her mother. Patience lives with Mary’s uncle Joss (Leslie Banks, who vies with Laughton for greatest scene chewer), a man that provides the...
The narrative is relatively simple, set around 1800 as young Irish lass Mary (O’Hara) makes a surprise visit to the Cornish coast to visit her Aunt Patience (Marie Ney) following the death of her mother. Patience lives with Mary’s uncle Joss (Leslie Banks, who vies with Laughton for greatest scene chewer), a man that provides the...
- 5/12/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Odd Man Out
Written by F.L. Green and R.C. Sherriff
Directed by Carol Reed
UK, 1947
Directed by Carol Reed and presented by the legendary J. Arthur Rank, both of whom were at the height of their careers with still more great films to come, Odd Man Out is one of the pinnacle achievements in post-war British cinema. And with James Mason in the lead, a major British star at the time, the film had everything going for it: superb direction, a solid screenplay, terrific performances, and stunning cinematography by Robert Krasker. The final result was named best film of the year by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and was chosen as one of the ten best films of 1947 by the National Board of Review. Certainly, Odd Man Out was widely seen and well regarded in its time. But now, with a newly released Criterion Blu-ray of the picture,...
Written by F.L. Green and R.C. Sherriff
Directed by Carol Reed
UK, 1947
Directed by Carol Reed and presented by the legendary J. Arthur Rank, both of whom were at the height of their careers with still more great films to come, Odd Man Out is one of the pinnacle achievements in post-war British cinema. And with James Mason in the lead, a major British star at the time, the film had everything going for it: superb direction, a solid screenplay, terrific performances, and stunning cinematography by Robert Krasker. The final result was named best film of the year by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and was chosen as one of the ten best films of 1947 by the National Board of Review. Certainly, Odd Man Out was widely seen and well regarded in its time. But now, with a newly released Criterion Blu-ray of the picture,...
- 4/22/2015
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine' 1938: Jean Renoir's film noir (photo: Jean Gabin and Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine') (See previous post: "'Cat People' 1942 Actress Simone Simon Remembered.") In the late 1930s, with her Hollywood career stalled while facing competition at 20th Century-Fox from another French import, Annabella (later Tyrone Power's wife), Simone Simon returned to France. Once there, she reestablished herself as an actress to be reckoned with in Jean Renoir's La Bête Humaine. An updated version of Émile Zola's 1890 novel, La Bête Humaine is enveloped in a dark, brooding atmosphere not uncommon in pre-World War II French films. Known for their "poetic realism," examples from that era include Renoir's own The Lower Depths (1936), Julien Duvivier's La Belle Équipe (1936) and Pépé le Moko (1937), and particularly Marcel Carné's Port of Shadows (1938) and Daybreak (1939).[11] This thematic and...
- 2/6/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Cary Grant films on TCM: Gender-bending 'I Was a Male War Bride' (photo: Cary Grant not gay at all in 'I Was a Male War Bride') More Cary Grant films will be shown tonight, as Turner Classic Movies continues with its Star of the Month presentations. On TCM right now is the World War II action-drama Destination Tokyo (1943), in which Grant finds himself aboard a U.S. submarine, alongside John Garfield, Dane Clark, Robert Hutton, and Tom Tully, among others. The directorial debut of screenwriter Delmer Daves (The Petrified Forest, Love Affair) -- who, in the following decade, would direct a series of classy Westerns, e.g., 3:10 to Yuma, The Hanging Tree -- Destination Tokyo is pure flag-waving propaganda, plodding its way through the dangerous waters of Hollywood war-movie stereotypes and speechifying banalities. The film's key point of interest, in fact, is Grant himself -- not because he's any good,...
- 12/16/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Best British movies of all time? (Image: a young Michael Caine in 'Get Carter') Ten years ago, Get Carter, starring Michael Caine as a dangerous-looking London gangster (see photo above), was selected as the United Kingdom's very best movie of all time according to 25 British film critics polled by Total Film magazine. To say that Mike Hodges' 1971 thriller was a surprising choice would be an understatement. I mean, not a David Lean epic or an early Alfred Hitchcock thriller? What a difference ten years make. On Total Film's 2014 list, published last May, Get Carter was no. 44 among the magazine's Top 50 best British movies of all time. How could that be? Well, first of all, people would be very naive if they took such lists seriously, whether we're talking Total Film, the British Film Institute, or, to keep things British, Sight & Sound magazine. Second, whereas Total Film's 2004 list was the result of a 25-critic consensus,...
- 10/12/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The Hidden Room (aka Obsession)
Written by Alec Coppel
Directed by Edward Dmytryk
U.S.A., 1949
On a quiet London night British upper class housewife Storm Riodan (Sally Gray) and secret American ex-pat lover Bill Kronin (Phil Brown) return the former’s lavish flat for a night of passion. Unbeknownst to them Storm’s husband, the brilliant if extremely sensitive Dr. Clive Riodan (Robert Newton) lingers behind the curtains, listening to their every word. He eventually makes his presence known, catching both completely off guard in the process. So intense is the doctor’s jealousy that he threatens to murder dear Bill point blank with a firearm. When Storm retires to her quarters out of embarrassment, the doctor forces Bill to accompany him outside when the film cuts to…a scene few days later as Clive Riodan attends to a patient in his private office. His wife is convinced his...
Written by Alec Coppel
Directed by Edward Dmytryk
U.S.A., 1949
On a quiet London night British upper class housewife Storm Riodan (Sally Gray) and secret American ex-pat lover Bill Kronin (Phil Brown) return the former’s lavish flat for a night of passion. Unbeknownst to them Storm’s husband, the brilliant if extremely sensitive Dr. Clive Riodan (Robert Newton) lingers behind the curtains, listening to their every word. He eventually makes his presence known, catching both completely off guard in the process. So intense is the doctor’s jealousy that he threatens to murder dear Bill point blank with a firearm. When Storm retires to her quarters out of embarrassment, the doctor forces Bill to accompany him outside when the film cuts to…a scene few days later as Clive Riodan attends to a patient in his private office. His wife is convinced his...
- 9/26/2014
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
Feature Alex Westthorp 9 Apr 2014 - 07:00
In the next part of his series, Alex talks us through the film careers of the second and fourth Doctors, Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker...
Read Alex's retrospective on the film careers of William Hartnell and Jon Pertwee, here.
Like their fellow Time Lord actors, William Hartnell and Jon Pertwee, Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker also shared certain genres of film. Both appeared, before and after their time as the Doctor, in horror movies and both worked on Ray Harryhausen Sinbad films.
Patrick George Troughton was born in Mill Hill, London on March 25th 1920. He made his film debut aged 28 in the 1948 B-Movie The Escape. Troughton's was a very minor role. Among the better known cast was William Hartnell, though even Hartnell's role was small and the two didn't share any scenes together. From the late Forties, Troughton found more success on the small screen,...
In the next part of his series, Alex talks us through the film careers of the second and fourth Doctors, Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker...
Read Alex's retrospective on the film careers of William Hartnell and Jon Pertwee, here.
Like their fellow Time Lord actors, William Hartnell and Jon Pertwee, Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker also shared certain genres of film. Both appeared, before and after their time as the Doctor, in horror movies and both worked on Ray Harryhausen Sinbad films.
Patrick George Troughton was born in Mill Hill, London on March 25th 1920. He made his film debut aged 28 in the 1948 B-Movie The Escape. Troughton's was a very minor role. Among the better known cast was William Hartnell, though even Hartnell's role was small and the two didn't share any scenes together. From the late Forties, Troughton found more success on the small screen,...
- 4/8/2014
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Bobby Driscoll played young Jim Hawkins, a cabin boy who finds himself up against Long John Silver (Robert Newton) in the hunt for a cache of treasure. With the help of Squire Trelawney (Walter Fitzgerald), Dr Livesey (Dennis O'Dea) and Captain Smollett (Basil Sydney) plucky Jim sets sail on the creaky tub Hispaniola. The movie marked Disney's first completely live-action film and the first screen version of Treasure Island made in colour.
- 3/5/2014
- Sky Movies
Miscasting in films has always been a problem. A producer hires an actor thinking that he or she is perfect for a movie role only to find the opposite is true. Other times a star is hired for his box office draw but ruins an otherwise good movie because he looks completely out of place.
There have been many humdinger miscastings. You only have to laugh at John Wayne’s Genghis Khan (with Mongol moustache and gun-belt) in The Conqueror (1956), giggle at Marlon Brando’s woeful upper class twang as Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) and cringe at Dick Van Dyke’s misbegotten cockney accent in Mary Poppins (1964). But as hilarious as these miscastings are, producers at the time didn’t think the same way, until after the event. At least they add a bit of camp value to a mediocre or downright awful movie.
In rare cases,...
There have been many humdinger miscastings. You only have to laugh at John Wayne’s Genghis Khan (with Mongol moustache and gun-belt) in The Conqueror (1956), giggle at Marlon Brando’s woeful upper class twang as Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) and cringe at Dick Van Dyke’s misbegotten cockney accent in Mary Poppins (1964). But as hilarious as these miscastings are, producers at the time didn’t think the same way, until after the event. At least they add a bit of camp value to a mediocre or downright awful movie.
In rare cases,...
- 1/24/2014
- Shadowlocked
Alec Guinness: Before Obi-Wan Kenobi, there were the eight D’Ascoyne family members (photo: Alec Guiness, Dennis Price in ‘Kind Hearts and Coronets’) (See previous post: “Alec Guinness Movies: Pre-Star Wars Career.”) TCM won’t be showing The Bridge on the River Kwai on Alec Guinness day, though obviously not because the cable network programmers believe that one four-hour David Lean epic per day should be enough. After all, prior to Lawrence of Arabia TCM will be presenting the three-and-a-half-hour-long Doctor Zhivago (1965), a great-looking but never-ending romantic drama in which Guinness — quite poorly — plays a Kgb official. He’s slightly less miscast as a mere Englishman — one much too young for the then 32-year-old actor — in Lean’s Great Expectations (1946), a movie that fully belongs to boy-loving (in a chaste, fatherly manner) fugitive Finlay Currie. And finally, make sure to watch Robert Hamer’s dark comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets...
- 8/3/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Pedro Almodóvar I’m So Excited trailer, with Miguel Ángel Silvestre Pedro Almodóvar’s upcoming movie, I’m So Excited / Los amantes pasajeros (literally, "passing lovers" and/or "passenger lovers") has a new and full trailer. That’s the good news. The not-so-good news (for non-Spanish speakers): it’s in Spanish, without subtitles. (Please scroll down to check out the I’m So Excited trailer.) [Photo: Miguel Ángel Silvestre in Pedro Almodóvar's I'm So Excited.] But don’t feel bad if you don’t speak Spanish. After all, even Spanish speakers will likely have to pay close attention to the one-gazillion-words-a-minute dialogue — which would put James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Una Merkel, et al. to shame. I’m So Excited plot I’m So Excited is set on an airplane flying from Spain to Mexico City. If the trailer is any indication, the plane in question has many more staff members than passengers. Perhaps not such a bad thing, considering...
- 2/1/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Interview conducted by Tom Stockman November 1st, 2012
This Saturday and Sunday (November 10th and 11th) will be Joe Dante Weekend at St. Louis’ fabulous Hi-Pointe Theater. It’s all part of Cinema St. Louis’ upcoming St. Louis International Film Festival (Sliff) where Dante will receive a lifetime achievement award from Cinema St. Louis. Directors who have previously been honored with a Sliff Lifetime Achievement Award include Paul Schrader, John Sayles, and Rob Nilsson. Joe Dante is the director of Piranha, The Howling, Gremlins, Innerspace, Matinee, and many more great films.
At 6:30pm on Saturday the 10th there will be a screening of Dante’s 2009 family friendly 3D horror film The Hole. This will be followed by an on-stage interview with Dante moderated by Video Watchdog editor Tim Lucas. Tim did a similar interview with director Roger Corman last year at the Hi-Pointe as part of Vincentennial, the Vincent Price...
This Saturday and Sunday (November 10th and 11th) will be Joe Dante Weekend at St. Louis’ fabulous Hi-Pointe Theater. It’s all part of Cinema St. Louis’ upcoming St. Louis International Film Festival (Sliff) where Dante will receive a lifetime achievement award from Cinema St. Louis. Directors who have previously been honored with a Sliff Lifetime Achievement Award include Paul Schrader, John Sayles, and Rob Nilsson. Joe Dante is the director of Piranha, The Howling, Gremlins, Innerspace, Matinee, and many more great films.
At 6:30pm on Saturday the 10th there will be a screening of Dante’s 2009 family friendly 3D horror film The Hole. This will be followed by an on-stage interview with Dante moderated by Video Watchdog editor Tim Lucas. Tim did a similar interview with director Roger Corman last year at the Hi-Pointe as part of Vincentennial, the Vincent Price...
- 11/6/2012
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Guy Ritchie may bring the same splashy touch to Long John Silver that he already applied to Sherlock Holmes. The "Snatch" director is attached to "Treasure Island," a Warner Bros. spokesperson told TheWrap. If the script by Alex Harakis comes to fruition, Ritchie would direct and produce the project. Lionel Wigram and Kevin McCormick are also attached as producers. The Robert Louis Stevenson adventure story has frequently been adapted for both the big and small screen over the years, perhaps most famously by Disney in 1950, with Robert Newton portraying a snarling Long John...
- 6/1/2012
- by Brent Lang
- The Wrap
On Blu-ray and DVD
4-Disk Box Set
By Raymond Benson
Any fan of British cinema must celebrate Criterion’s deluxe packaging of David Lean’s first four films as a director. These collaborations with writer, performer, and “personality” Noël Coward are exemplary examples of the fine work made by the Two Cities Unit production house, which was formed during the Second World War. In each case, the films are presented in beautiful new high-definition digital transfers from the 2008 BFI National Archive’s restorations. And, as this is a review for Cinema Retro, the readers of which include many 007 fans, it must be pointed out that there is indeed a connection between the films (three of them, anyway) and Bond. Actress Celia Johnson was Ian Fleming’s sister-in-law (her husband was Ian’s older brother, Peter Fleming), and her daughters Kate Grimond and Lucy Fleming are currently on the Board of...
4-Disk Box Set
By Raymond Benson
Any fan of British cinema must celebrate Criterion’s deluxe packaging of David Lean’s first four films as a director. These collaborations with writer, performer, and “personality” Noël Coward are exemplary examples of the fine work made by the Two Cities Unit production house, which was formed during the Second World War. In each case, the films are presented in beautiful new high-definition digital transfers from the 2008 BFI National Archive’s restorations. And, as this is a review for Cinema Retro, the readers of which include many 007 fans, it must be pointed out that there is indeed a connection between the films (three of them, anyway) and Bond. Actress Celia Johnson was Ian Fleming’s sister-in-law (her husband was Ian’s older brother, Peter Fleming), and her daughters Kate Grimond and Lucy Fleming are currently on the Board of...
- 3/25/2012
- by [email protected] (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Walt Disney and the word “simple” don’t go together. Disney and the concept of simplicity don’t go together, either. This isn’t to say that some attractions at the various Disney theme parks aren’t simple in their design or their impact, or that some classic Disney movies don’t have simple story structures or character development. No, this means that while Walt Disney was able to tap into the inner recesses of people’s psyches for maximum effect, something that may seem simple, he rarely created something that didn’t have some complex thought placed behind it. So there is–I hope–some complex idea behind the first fully live-action film from Walt Disney Productions, 1950′s Treasure Island. I just don’t know what it is.
Based on the classic tale by Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island is a boy’s adventure through and through. Though we...
Based on the classic tale by Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island is a boy’s adventure through and through. Though we...
- 1/6/2012
- by Josh Spiegel
- SoundOnSight
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: March 27, 2012
Price: DVD $79.95, Blu-ray $99.95
Studio: Criterion
Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson embark on a Brief Encounter.
In the 1940s, playwright Noël Coward (Design for Living) and filmmaker David Lean (Doctor Zhivago) worked together in one of cinema’s greatest writer-director collaborations, celebrated in the four-film Blu-ray and DVD collection David Lean Directs Noël Coward.
Beginning with the 1942 wartime military drama movie In Which We Serve, Coward and Lean embarked on a series of literate, socially engaged and undeniably entertaining movies that ranged from domestic epic (This Happy Breed) to whimsical comedy (Blithe Spirit) to poignant romance (Brief Encounter).
Here’s a brief run-down on each of the classic British films in the David Lean Directs Noël Coward DVD and Blu-ray collection, all of which created a lasting testament to Coward’s legacy and introduced Lean’s talents to the world:
In Which We Serve (1942)
This action...
Price: DVD $79.95, Blu-ray $99.95
Studio: Criterion
Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson embark on a Brief Encounter.
In the 1940s, playwright Noël Coward (Design for Living) and filmmaker David Lean (Doctor Zhivago) worked together in one of cinema’s greatest writer-director collaborations, celebrated in the four-film Blu-ray and DVD collection David Lean Directs Noël Coward.
Beginning with the 1942 wartime military drama movie In Which We Serve, Coward and Lean embarked on a series of literate, socially engaged and undeniably entertaining movies that ranged from domestic epic (This Happy Breed) to whimsical comedy (Blithe Spirit) to poignant romance (Brief Encounter).
Here’s a brief run-down on each of the classic British films in the David Lean Directs Noël Coward DVD and Blu-ray collection, all of which created a lasting testament to Coward’s legacy and introduced Lean’s talents to the world:
In Which We Serve (1942)
This action...
- 12/16/2011
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Ahoy, mateys. If you haven't heard, today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Aye, it's a real holiday – John Baur and Mark Summers began International Talk Like a Pirate Day (Itlapd) in 1996.
Needless to say, such an important holiday needs to be honored with more than just an eye patch and a few "argh"-punchlined puns. Thankfully, a vast array of pirate movies offers ample fodder to prepare you to impress your fellow scurvy-sufferers… and we've compiled their best hints.
Yo ho!
Make a First Impression
"Three shillings, forget the name."
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl" (2003)
Impress your mates right off the bat with this line. It's easily one of the most memorable scenes from any of the "Caribbean" films and Jack Sparrow's first line ever. He steals the guy's wallet after paying him off. We don't recommend you do that part.
Attire
"Put this...
Aye, it's a real holiday – John Baur and Mark Summers began International Talk Like a Pirate Day (Itlapd) in 1996.
Needless to say, such an important holiday needs to be honored with more than just an eye patch and a few "argh"-punchlined puns. Thankfully, a vast array of pirate movies offers ample fodder to prepare you to impress your fellow scurvy-sufferers… and we've compiled their best hints.
Yo ho!
Make a First Impression
"Three shillings, forget the name."
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl" (2003)
Impress your mates right off the bat with this line. It's easily one of the most memorable scenes from any of the "Caribbean" films and Jack Sparrow's first line ever. He steals the guy's wallet after paying him off. We don't recommend you do that part.
Attire
"Put this...
- 9/19/2011
- by Ryan McKee
- NextMovie
Linda Darnell Linda Darnell on TCM: A Letter To Three Wives, No Way Out Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 6:00 Am Zero Hour! (1957) When a flight crew falls ill only man who can land the plane is afraid of flying. Dir: Hall Bartlett. Cast: Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell, Sterling Hayden. Bw-81 mins, Letterbox Format. 7:30 Am Sweet And Low Down (1944) Dir: Archie Mayo. Cast: Benny Goodman, Linda Darnell, Jack Oakie. Bw-76 mins. 9:00 Am Rise And Shine (1941) The college president head cheerleader and a gambling gangster try to keep a flunking football star in the game. Dir: Allan Dwan. Cast: Jack Oakie, George Murphy, Linda Darnell. Bw-88 mins. 10:45 Am Brigham Young (1940) Two young Mormons struggle to survive their people's journey to a new home in the West. Dir: Henry Hathaway. Cast: Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Dean Jagger. Bw-113 mins. 12:45 Pm Two Flags West (1950) A bitter...
- 8/27/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Back in 2003, I thought Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl the best, indeed the only successful thing of its kind since the Burt Lancaster swashbuckler The Crimson Pirate a half-century earlier. The two laboured sequels, subtitled Dead Man's Chest and At World's End, took the franchise steadily downhill, a process only slightly halted by this new one. A poorly scripted film has its forked tongue sticking out of both cheeks. It features the series regulars, Johnny Depp's crafty old salt Captain Jack Sparrow and his arch rival, Geoffrey Rush's peg-legged Captain Hector Barbossa, and the two are joined by newcomers lady pirate Angelica (Penélope Cruz) and evil Captain Blackbeard (Ian McShane). They're all competing to discover the lost Fountain of Eternal Youth somewhere on the Spanish Main, and for this they first need to find a map, two silver chalices and a mermaid's tear.
- 5/21/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Tomorrow sees the release of the 4th instalment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, On Stranger Tides. The return of Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is sure to excite cinemagoers – particularly the loins of legions of devoted female fans! – with his distinct droll, ebullient personality and comic timing. He’s the quintessential pirate figure of our generation, glamorising the lifestyle on the high seas!
However, pirates have been a stock character within film industry for as long as cinema has been in existence. The first known pirate feature was a silent 1 reel, short film adaptation of Treasure Island in 1908. Unfortunately, the American Film Institute has deemed the film lost and a copy is extremely unlikely to be in existence any more. As film technology progressed, so did the pirate subgenre of action cinema, with every decade of the 20th and 21st century having at least one major production based...
However, pirates have been a stock character within film industry for as long as cinema has been in existence. The first known pirate feature was a silent 1 reel, short film adaptation of Treasure Island in 1908. Unfortunately, the American Film Institute has deemed the film lost and a copy is extremely unlikely to be in existence any more. As film technology progressed, so did the pirate subgenre of action cinema, with every decade of the 20th and 21st century having at least one major production based...
- 5/17/2011
- by Stuart Cummins
- Obsessed with Film
When Johnny Depp walked out onto the sea-blue carpet under the atrium of London’s Westfield, I wouldn’t have batted an eyelid if the ceiling of the shopping centre had blown off, so loud were the screams and chants.
Earlier in the day at the press conference, when iconic producer Jerry Bruckheimer was asked if this fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie would be followed by a fifth, he replied: ‘ I think it all depends on how the audience embraces this one. We’ve done the movie, we had a blast making it and if everyone enjoys it as much as we do then hopefully we’ll get the whole team back together and do another.’ Judging by the UK premiere reception received by Depp and his co-stars, Penelope Cruz, Ian McShane and Geoffrey Rush, no-one wants to enjoy this latest movie, On Stranger Tides, more than the fans of Captain Jack Sparrow.
Earlier in the day at the press conference, when iconic producer Jerry Bruckheimer was asked if this fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie would be followed by a fifth, he replied: ‘ I think it all depends on how the audience embraces this one. We’ve done the movie, we had a blast making it and if everyone enjoys it as much as we do then hopefully we’ll get the whole team back together and do another.’ Judging by the UK premiere reception received by Depp and his co-stars, Penelope Cruz, Ian McShane and Geoffrey Rush, no-one wants to enjoy this latest movie, On Stranger Tides, more than the fans of Captain Jack Sparrow.
- 5/15/2011
- by Phil
- Nerdly
Sherlock Holmes producer Lionel Wigram has started work on a Treasure Island remake for Warner Bros. The Treasure Island project is based on the classic Robert Louis Stevenson novel. Paul Greengrass was apparently being courted as director for the film, but has reportedly turned it down.
While there have been almost a dozen Treasure Island films produced over the years, the one that most people remember is the 1950 Disney film which starred Bobby Driscoll as Jim Hawkins, and Robert Newton as Long John Silver. It was Disney’s first completely live-action film, and the first screen version of Treasure Island made in color.
While there have been almost a dozen Treasure Island films produced over the years, the one that most people remember is the 1950 Disney film which starred Bobby Driscoll as Jim Hawkins, and Robert Newton as Long John Silver. It was Disney’s first completely live-action film, and the first screen version of Treasure Island made in color.
- 4/25/2010
- by Jason Moore
- ScifiMafia
Arrrr all film pirates really from Bristol? The secret of a good review; Can scratched glasses be repaired or must they be replaced?
What was the regional accent of the stereotypical 17th- and 18th-century pirate?
I think you mean, in films, why are all pirates from Bristol? Simply, because they arrrrr!
Steven Edgar, Bristol
For many people, myself included, the archetypal pirates' accent was that popularised by Robert Newton, who appeared in more than 50 films, most notably as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, a role he reprised on TV in the mid-1950s.
Newton was born in Shaftesbury, Dorset, and spoke with a distinctive West Country accent. Aboard most English/British ships, there were significant numbers of Scots (William "Captain" Kidd), Irish (Walter Kennedy), and Welsh (Admiral Sir Henry Morgan) sailors. It seems, however, that the largest group of sailors came from the south-west of England (Edward Teach, Aka...
What was the regional accent of the stereotypical 17th- and 18th-century pirate?
I think you mean, in films, why are all pirates from Bristol? Simply, because they arrrrr!
Steven Edgar, Bristol
For many people, myself included, the archetypal pirates' accent was that popularised by Robert Newton, who appeared in more than 50 films, most notably as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, a role he reprised on TV in the mid-1950s.
Newton was born in Shaftesbury, Dorset, and spoke with a distinctive West Country accent. Aboard most English/British ships, there were significant numbers of Scots (William "Captain" Kidd), Irish (Walter Kennedy), and Welsh (Admiral Sir Henry Morgan) sailors. It seems, however, that the largest group of sailors came from the south-west of England (Edward Teach, Aka...
- 3/10/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
The pirate craze has long since been replaced by vampire lust and, unless the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean somehow re-ignites it (unlikely), the following news feels like too little too late. Empire says a modern redo of Treasure Island is setting sail. It.s a story that.s been done a dozen times before on film. My favorite version is still the 1950 Disney version in which Robert Newton plays a rascally and almost sympathetic Long John Silver staging a mutiny and developing a fatherly a affection for cabin boy Jim Hawkins while sailing the seven seas in search of buried loot. It.s a fantastic pirate flick, but the Robert Louis Stevenson story on which it.s based is timeless, and one that.s worth retelling. Unless of course you have an idea this horrible for retelling it. See word is that the people at Ecosse Films plan to...
- 2/15/2010
- cinemablend.com
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