It’s no surprise to those who know Lesley Manville, the London-based Olivier Award winner (Ibsen’s “Ghosts”) and 2018 Oscar nominee (Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Phantom Thread”), that she charmingly carries the title role in the third movie incarnation of “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” adapted by writer-director Anthony Fabian from Paul Gallico’s popular 1958 novel.
Cinephiles discovered Manville over her ten-year detour from her early musical theater career (when she was married to Gary Oldman; they raised a son) to collaborate with filmmaker Mike Leigh after 1980’s BBC movie “Grown-Ups.” After that, she helped him to create memorable characters in seven films, most notably the heartbreakingly annoying Mary in “Another Year” (2010).
Manville recently rejoined her “Vera Drake” costar Imelda Staunton in Peter Morgan’s “The Crown” Season 5 (which starts streaming this November on Netflix) as Princess Margaret to Staunton’s Queen Elizabeth, which recently wrapped in London, to be...
Cinephiles discovered Manville over her ten-year detour from her early musical theater career (when she was married to Gary Oldman; they raised a son) to collaborate with filmmaker Mike Leigh after 1980’s BBC movie “Grown-Ups.” After that, she helped him to create memorable characters in seven films, most notably the heartbreakingly annoying Mary in “Another Year” (2010).
Manville recently rejoined her “Vera Drake” costar Imelda Staunton in Peter Morgan’s “The Crown” Season 5 (which starts streaming this November on Netflix) as Princess Margaret to Staunton’s Queen Elizabeth, which recently wrapped in London, to be...
- 7/18/2022
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
“The Duke” is a very British heist movie, a true-crime caper with no guns, no car chases, toad in the hole for dinner, and Gracie Fields warbling a song called “A Nice Cup of Tea” on the soundtrack. It’s so British, in fact, that its central character is named Kempton Bunton, but at least he has the good grace to joke about it. The film’s director is Roger Michell, best known for “Notting Hill”, and who recently made the luvvie love-in documentary, “Tea With The Dames”. The cast boasts two of the UK’s national treasures, Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren. If you suspect “The Duke” is on the cosy and nostalgic side of the cinematic spectrum, you might be right. But it’s . This is the kind of British film with international appeal: the venerable cast, genial tone, inspirational story, and mischievous English eccentricity are all present and correct.
- 9/4/2020
- by Nicholas Barber
- Indiewire
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
Martha Stewart: Actress / Singer in Fox movies apparently not dead despite two-year-old reports to the contrary (Photo: Martha Stewart and Perry Como in 'Doll Face') According to various online reports, including Variety's, actress and singer Martha Stewart, a pretty blonde featured in supporting roles in a handful of 20th Century Fox movies of the '40s, died at age 89 of "natural causes" in Northeast Harbor, Maine, on February 25, 2012. Needless to say, that was not the same Martha Stewart hawking "delicious foods" and whatever else on American television. But quite possibly, the Martha Stewart who died in February 2012 -- if any -- was not the Martha Stewart of old Fox movies either. And that's why I'm republishing this (former) obit, originally posted more than two and a half years ago: March 11, 2012. Earlier today, a commenter wrote to Alt Film Guide, claiming that the Martha Stewart featured in Doll Face, I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now,...
- 11/11/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Singer, comic actor and stalwart of Coronation Street
Betty Driver, who has died aged 91, was a gutsy and durable comic actor who meant one thing to young audiences and quite another to those who could remember the second world war and the years immediately after it. To the youthful, she will be remembered as Betty Turpin (later Betty Williams), the barmaid, shoulder to cry on and wife of the policeman Cyril Turpin in Granada television's Coronation Street, whose cast she joined in 1969.
To a much older audience, she will also be remembered for her appearances in repertory theatres and in stage revues; as the child star who took over from the popular singer Gracie Fields on a stage tour, doing some of her best-known numbers; and as the principal singer for a year with the leading dance orchestra leader of the time, Henry Hall, on his BBC radio programme,...
Betty Driver, who has died aged 91, was a gutsy and durable comic actor who meant one thing to young audiences and quite another to those who could remember the second world war and the years immediately after it. To the youthful, she will be remembered as Betty Turpin (later Betty Williams), the barmaid, shoulder to cry on and wife of the policeman Cyril Turpin in Granada television's Coronation Street, whose cast she joined in 1969.
To a much older audience, she will also be remembered for her appearances in repertory theatres and in stage revues; as the child star who took over from the popular singer Gracie Fields on a stage tour, doing some of her best-known numbers; and as the principal singer for a year with the leading dance orchestra leader of the time, Henry Hall, on his BBC radio programme,...
- 10/16/2011
- by Dennis Barker
- The Guardian - Film News
An ambitious attempt to write a 'personal' history of cinema is sometimes intelligent but rarely convincing
Maxim Gorky, the first major writer to record his impressions of the cinema, wrote in his local newspaper the day after seeing the first Lumière brothers show in Nizhny Novgorod in 1896: "Last night I was in the Kingdom of Shadows. If you only knew how strange it is to be there … I was at Aumont's and saw Lumière's cinématographe – moving photography. The extraordinary impression it creates is so unique and complex that I doubt my ability to describe it with all its nuances." A few years later Rudyard Kipling wrote Mrs Bathurst, the first significant work of fiction inspired by the movies, a mysteriously haunting tale of a sailor driven to his death by a brief newsreel he obsessively views in Cape Town. The new medium had the power to disturb, to fascinate,...
Maxim Gorky, the first major writer to record his impressions of the cinema, wrote in his local newspaper the day after seeing the first Lumière brothers show in Nizhny Novgorod in 1896: "Last night I was in the Kingdom of Shadows. If you only knew how strange it is to be there … I was at Aumont's and saw Lumière's cinématographe – moving photography. The extraordinary impression it creates is so unique and complex that I doubt my ability to describe it with all its nuances." A few years later Rudyard Kipling wrote Mrs Bathurst, the first significant work of fiction inspired by the movies, a mysteriously haunting tale of a sailor driven to his death by a brief newsreel he obsessively views in Cape Town. The new medium had the power to disturb, to fascinate,...
- 10/15/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
South African-born child movie star viewed as a rival to Shirley Temple
From 1935 to 1938, Shirley Temple was the world's biggest and smallest movie star. During this period, Warner Bros launched their answer to Temple in the cute, dark-haired, wide-eyed, button-nosed Sybil Jason, who has died aged 83. Jason made six feature films and four Technicolor two-reelers for the studio over these years. Unfortunately, most of her films and roles shamelessly resembled those of Temple's at 20th Century-Fox, and never equalled them in popularity. However, according to Time magazine in 1936: "Among child actresses, Sybil Jason is to Shirley Temple as Jean Harlow is to Ann Harding – less wholesome but more refreshing."
She was born Sybil Jacobson in Cape Town, South Africa, where her father ran a shoe business. As her mother was in fragile health, the girl was brought up mainly by her older sister Anita, who nurtured her precocious talent,...
From 1935 to 1938, Shirley Temple was the world's biggest and smallest movie star. During this period, Warner Bros launched their answer to Temple in the cute, dark-haired, wide-eyed, button-nosed Sybil Jason, who has died aged 83. Jason made six feature films and four Technicolor two-reelers for the studio over these years. Unfortunately, most of her films and roles shamelessly resembled those of Temple's at 20th Century-Fox, and never equalled them in popularity. However, according to Time magazine in 1936: "Among child actresses, Sybil Jason is to Shirley Temple as Jean Harlow is to Ann Harding – less wholesome but more refreshing."
She was born Sybil Jacobson in Cape Town, South Africa, where her father ran a shoe business. As her mother was in fragile health, the girl was brought up mainly by her older sister Anita, who nurtured her precocious talent,...
- 9/1/2011
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Sybil Jason, Warner Bros.' answer to Shirley Temple, died Tuesday, August 23, according to film researcher and author Scott O'Brien. She was 83. Born Sybil Jacobson on November 23, 1927, in Cape Town, South Africa, while still a small child she moved to Britain with her parents. Thanks to her uncle Harry Jacobson, reportedly a London orchestra leader and pianist to highly popular entertainer Gracie Fields, by the age of five Sybil was appearing in London nightclubs, where she sang, danced, and mimicked Maurice Chevalier. In 1935, Sybil caught the eye of Irving Asher, the head of Warner Bros. London studio, who had spotted her in a supporting role in the British feature Barnacle Bill. Following a successful film test, she was brought to Hollywood, where the now renamed Sybil Jason was to become Warners' answer to 20th Century Fox's box-office goldmine Shirley Temple. Jason, however, failed to catch on despite working with some...
- 8/26/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Doctor Who star Karen Gillan is currently filming as glamorous Sixties star Jean Shrimpton in We’ll Take Manhattan for BBC4.
The film focuses on the iconic star’s four-year love affair with photographer David Bailey. The part is Karen's first leading role since her debut in the 2010 series of Doctor Who as the Time Lord’s companion Amy Pond.
David Bailey is played by 24-year-old Welsh actor Aneurin Barnard (represented by Ken McReddie Associates) who starred in the original London cast of musical Spring Awakening and last year filmed Ironclad and Hunky Dory. He recently wrapped on Elfie Hopkins and the Gammons and is to star in Iain Softley's Trap for Cinderella, also filming this year.
Although predominantly set in 1962 and exploring the story of how Bailey and Shrimpton first met the drama also reveals how a young, visionary photographer refused to conform. He insisted on using the...
The film focuses on the iconic star’s four-year love affair with photographer David Bailey. The part is Karen's first leading role since her debut in the 2010 series of Doctor Who as the Time Lord’s companion Amy Pond.
David Bailey is played by 24-year-old Welsh actor Aneurin Barnard (represented by Ken McReddie Associates) who starred in the original London cast of musical Spring Awakening and last year filmed Ironclad and Hunky Dory. He recently wrapped on Elfie Hopkins and the Gammons and is to star in Iain Softley's Trap for Cinderella, also filming this year.
Although predominantly set in 1962 and exploring the story of how Bailey and Shrimpton first met the drama also reveals how a young, visionary photographer refused to conform. He insisted on using the...
- 5/31/2011
- by noreply@blogger.com (ScreenTerrier)
- ScreenTerrier
Filed under: Movie News, Cinematical
Update: Either the Christie estate is listening to its disgruntled fans, or Disney spoke too soon. Deadline reports that the company that owns the rights has not settled a deal, while also referring to the author's initial complaints over Rutherford: "Why don't they just invent a new character? Then they can have their cheap fun and leave me and my creations alone." Imagine what she'd say to this news. It makes us wish celebrity mediums were real.
In the late 1920s, Agatha Christie introduced one of the most stellar older women we've ever seen -- Miss Marple. The iconic writer fashioned Marple, in part, on her own grandmother, crafting an old spinster sleuth living in St. Mary Mead. Jane Marple is an amateur gumshoe who always happened to come across some mysterious murder, and though her tweed-clad body and softened countenance might make her seem old and dotty,...
Update: Either the Christie estate is listening to its disgruntled fans, or Disney spoke too soon. Deadline reports that the company that owns the rights has not settled a deal, while also referring to the author's initial complaints over Rutherford: "Why don't they just invent a new character? Then they can have their cheap fun and leave me and my creations alone." Imagine what she'd say to this news. It makes us wish celebrity mediums were real.
In the late 1920s, Agatha Christie introduced one of the most stellar older women we've ever seen -- Miss Marple. The iconic writer fashioned Marple, in part, on her own grandmother, crafting an old spinster sleuth living in St. Mary Mead. Jane Marple is an amateur gumshoe who always happened to come across some mysterious murder, and though her tweed-clad body and softened countenance might make her seem old and dotty,...
- 3/29/2011
- by Monika Bartyzel
- Moviefone
Filed under: Movie News, Cinematical
Update: Either the Christie estate is listening to its disgruntled fans, or Disney spoke too soon. Deadline reports that the company that owns the rights has not settled a deal, while also referring to the author's initial complaints over Rutherford: "Why don't they just invent a new character? Then they can have their cheap fun and leave me and my creations alone." Imagine what she'd say to this news. It makes us wish celebrity mediums were real.
In the late 1920s, Agatha Christie introduced one of the most stellar older women we've ever seen -- Miss Marple. The iconic writer fashioned Marple, in part, on her own grandmother, crafting an old spinster sleuth living in St. Mary Mead. Jane Marple is an amateur gumshoe who always happened to come across some mysterious murder, and though her tweed-clad body and softened countenance might make her seem old and dotty,...
Update: Either the Christie estate is listening to its disgruntled fans, or Disney spoke too soon. Deadline reports that the company that owns the rights has not settled a deal, while also referring to the author's initial complaints over Rutherford: "Why don't they just invent a new character? Then they can have their cheap fun and leave me and my creations alone." Imagine what she'd say to this news. It makes us wish celebrity mediums were real.
In the late 1920s, Agatha Christie introduced one of the most stellar older women we've ever seen -- Miss Marple. The iconic writer fashioned Marple, in part, on her own grandmother, crafting an old spinster sleuth living in St. Mary Mead. Jane Marple is an amateur gumshoe who always happened to come across some mysterious murder, and though her tweed-clad body and softened countenance might make her seem old and dotty,...
- 3/29/2011
- by Monika Bartyzel
- Cinematical
Jennifer Garner will play sleuth Miss Marple in a new movie. The 'Alias' actress will take on the role - previously made famous by stars including Gracie Fields, Angela Lansbury and Joan Hickson - in a Disney version of the traditional Agatha Christie novels. Although traditionally played by an older woman, a new concept sees her re-invented for a younger generation, with 'Twin Peaks' screenwriter Mark Frost scripting the project. According to Deadline.com 38-year-old Jennifer will produce the movie with Juliana Janes, who has previously worked as her assistant on films including '13 Going...
- 3/29/2011
- Virgin Media - Movies
Jennifer Garner will play sleuth Miss Marple in a new movie. The 'Alias' actress will take on the role - previously made famous by stars including Gracie Fields, Angela Lansbury and Joan Hickson - in a Disney version of the traditional Agatha Christie novels. Although traditionally played by an older woman, a new concept sees her re-invented for a younger generation, with 'Twin Peaks' screenwriter Mark Frost scripting the project...
- 3/29/2011
- by Zoé Berger
- Bloginity
Years ago Edward Norton was asked what attracted him to making Frank Oz’s The Score. Turns out starring alongside Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando was the answer. He claimed he was doing it for the poster. Could Bradley Cooper be pulling a similar trick here? Limitless, which hits UK cinemas next month, sounds pretty corny and very silly but Cooper gets to star with the one and only Robert De Niro.
We put out the trailer earlier in the month and you can see it right here. Nothing’s yet convinced me this is a generic thriller but it’s got a great cast. Starring with Coop and Bobby D is the excellent Abbie Cornish and Rochdale’s most famous lass since Gracie Fields – Anna Friel.
Two new UK promo posters have been put online. Note how they both use bending buildings, garish lights and streaked imagery to...
We put out the trailer earlier in the month and you can see it right here. Nothing’s yet convinced me this is a generic thriller but it’s got a great cast. Starring with Coop and Bobby D is the excellent Abbie Cornish and Rochdale’s most famous lass since Gracie Fields – Anna Friel.
Two new UK promo posters have been put online. Note how they both use bending buildings, garish lights and streaked imagery to...
- 2/21/2011
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
Like his fellow Britons, George VI dreaded another war so soon after the slaughter of the trenches. But in 1939 this nervous, sickly, stammering man forced himself to confront the inevitable and became an unlikely symbol of national resistance
In the build-up to the coronation of George VI in May 1937, London's 26,000 busmen went on strike. They wanted shorter hours and better conditions, as well an inquiry into the dangers to their health of the new larger buses, which travelled at a dizzying 30mph instead of just 12mph. The general secretary of their union, future Labour minister Ernest Bevin, conscious of the nation's patriotic mood as the coronation loomed, urged them to think again, but they walked out anyway. With no buses, London's trams were packed to capacity, while the streets were full of illegally parked cars and the railway stations flooded with commuters.
Yet as the big day approached, short-term inconveniences were forgotten.
In the build-up to the coronation of George VI in May 1937, London's 26,000 busmen went on strike. They wanted shorter hours and better conditions, as well an inquiry into the dangers to their health of the new larger buses, which travelled at a dizzying 30mph instead of just 12mph. The general secretary of their union, future Labour minister Ernest Bevin, conscious of the nation's patriotic mood as the coronation loomed, urged them to think again, but they walked out anyway. With no buses, London's trams were packed to capacity, while the streets were full of illegally parked cars and the railway stations flooded with commuters.
Yet as the big day approached, short-term inconveniences were forgotten.
- 1/3/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
She is known in the pages of history as the woman who performed the first lesbian kiss on UK television. I’m not talking about Countess Elizabeth Bathory a.k.a Countess Dracula, I’m talking about Anna Friel! But worlds collide and the lurid past of the infamous butcher comes to live in Bathory starring Rochdale’s finest actress since Gracie Fields – yes, Anna Friel!
The film, distributed by Metrodome and directed by Juraj Jakibisko, opens in UK cinemas from 3rd December. Here’s the trailer, posters and synopsis for you to feast upon.
Synopsis:
The tale of the notorious Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who has been recounted by historians, writers, poets, playwrights, musicians, painters, and moviemakers for many years. Tradition has it that Countess Bathory was the greatest murderess in the history of humankind – a fact documented by her entry in the Guinness Book of Records.
This historical epic...
The film, distributed by Metrodome and directed by Juraj Jakibisko, opens in UK cinemas from 3rd December. Here’s the trailer, posters and synopsis for you to feast upon.
Synopsis:
The tale of the notorious Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who has been recounted by historians, writers, poets, playwrights, musicians, painters, and moviemakers for many years. Tradition has it that Countess Bathory was the greatest murderess in the history of humankind – a fact documented by her entry in the Guinness Book of Records.
This historical epic...
- 12/1/2010
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
The strike by women at the Dagenham Ford factory in 1968 that led to the Equal Pay Act is given the Calendar Girls treatment
Andrzej Wajda's superb Man of Iron (1981) was shot in the Gdansk shipyards at the very heart of Solidarity's activities, gave Lech Walesa a brief role as himself, and became part of the political process it commented on. It was a rare case of a feature film based on a major episode in the history of organised labour made close to the actual events. More typically, Mario Monicelli's The Organizer (1963) was a bracing reconstruction of a strike in late 19th-century Turin. Bo Widerberg's Adalen 31 (1969) lyrically recreated the violent strike in northern Sweden that ushered in 40 years of Social Democratic government.
There was an even greater gap in the case of Comrades (1986), Bill Douglas's epic account of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, the Dorset labourers transported...
Andrzej Wajda's superb Man of Iron (1981) was shot in the Gdansk shipyards at the very heart of Solidarity's activities, gave Lech Walesa a brief role as himself, and became part of the political process it commented on. It was a rare case of a feature film based on a major episode in the history of organised labour made close to the actual events. More typically, Mario Monicelli's The Organizer (1963) was a bracing reconstruction of a strike in late 19th-century Turin. Bo Widerberg's Adalen 31 (1969) lyrically recreated the violent strike in northern Sweden that ushered in 40 years of Social Democratic government.
There was an even greater gap in the case of Comrades (1986), Bill Douglas's epic account of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, the Dorset labourers transported...
- 10/2/2010
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Tom Hollander's latest role as an inner-city vicar is earning him popular recognition – and the praise of fan Lily Allen. But he's been a hard-working actor ever since his student drama days with Nick Clegg
Even if Tom Hollander's latest performance doesn't win him awards, riches or the role of his dreams, he has a consolation: it might get his kitchen extension built. Earlier this week, Lily Allen tweeted her love of Rev, the gentle BBC2 comedy in which he stars as an inner-city vicar, adding: "Tom Hollander is my favourite British actor, very, very funny." Hollander looks quietly delighted. "Her boyfriend Sam is a very good builder and I've been trying to get him to do some work on my house. I hope they're still together. Perhaps he'll return my calls now."
Hollander's turn as Adam Smallbone, the embattled leader of a tiny, rackety congregation in grimy east London,...
Even if Tom Hollander's latest performance doesn't win him awards, riches or the role of his dreams, he has a consolation: it might get his kitchen extension built. Earlier this week, Lily Allen tweeted her love of Rev, the gentle BBC2 comedy in which he stars as an inner-city vicar, adding: "Tom Hollander is my favourite British actor, very, very funny." Hollander looks quietly delighted. "Her boyfriend Sam is a very good builder and I've been trying to get him to do some work on my house. I hope they're still together. Perhaps he'll return my calls now."
Hollander's turn as Adam Smallbone, the embattled leader of a tiny, rackety congregation in grimy east London,...
- 7/22/2010
- by Tim Lusher
- The Guardian - Film News
The BBC is producing three major one-off films about the careers of British icons Margot Fonteyn, Gracie Fields and Enid Blyton. The films will premiere this autumn on BBC Four as part of a special drama season. "These films are sympathetic but frank dramatisations of women in the spotlight and how their backstage lives play out," said BBC Four controller Richard Klein. "Once again, BBC Four is championing strong dramas that seek to give insight into some of Britain's most famous artists, reflecting complex (more)...
- 5/21/2009
- by By Dan French
- Digital Spy
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