Jerry Herman’s musical “Hello, Dolly!” dominated the 18th Tony Awards which took place at the New York Hilton on May 24, 1964. “Hello, Dolly!” entered the ceremony with 11 nominations and walked out with ten awards including best musical, best actress for Carol Channing, original score for Herman and for Gower Champion’s choreography and direction.
Other musicals in contention for multiple awards that year were “High Spirits,” based on Noel Coward’s classic comedy “Blithe Spirit,” “Funny Girl,” which transformed Barbra Streisand into a Broadway superstar, and “110 in the Shade,” based on the straight play “The Rainmaker.”
Bert Lahr, best known as the Cowardly Lion in the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz,” won lead actor in a musical for “Foxy,” based on Ben Jonson’s “Volpone.” The musical was not a hit closed after 72 performances. Also nominated in the category was Bob Fosse for a short-lived revival of Rodgers and Hart’s “Pal Joey.
Other musicals in contention for multiple awards that year were “High Spirits,” based on Noel Coward’s classic comedy “Blithe Spirit,” “Funny Girl,” which transformed Barbra Streisand into a Broadway superstar, and “110 in the Shade,” based on the straight play “The Rainmaker.”
Bert Lahr, best known as the Cowardly Lion in the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz,” won lead actor in a musical for “Foxy,” based on Ben Jonson’s “Volpone.” The musical was not a hit closed after 72 performances. Also nominated in the category was Bob Fosse for a short-lived revival of Rodgers and Hart’s “Pal Joey.
- 5/15/2024
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Near the end of Billy Wilder’s Witness for the Prosecution, after the central court case seems all but completely settled, senior barrister Sir Wilfrid Robarts (Charles Laughton) contemplates the surprising evidence that’s just been presented. “It’s a little too neat, too tidy, and altogether too symmetrical,” he remarks. It’s a comment that begs to be read through the lens of Wilder’s own wry approach to filmmaking, which often feels throughout his canon like an alchemic combination of effortless story execution, pinpoint humor, and acting masterclass.
Wilder effects an outward feeling of wily and out of control scenarios that are running like well-oiled machines within. The ending of Witness for the Prosecution exemplifies this by throwing its characters’ preceding buttoned-up decorum out of whack, as they race through a procession of sudden revelations that contain a clear logic and purpose. But per Wilder’s wont, the...
Wilder effects an outward feeling of wily and out of control scenarios that are running like well-oiled machines within. The ending of Witness for the Prosecution exemplifies this by throwing its characters’ preceding buttoned-up decorum out of whack, as they race through a procession of sudden revelations that contain a clear logic and purpose. But per Wilder’s wont, the...
- 2/13/2024
- by Clayton Dillard
- Slant Magazine
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
It’s smooth noir sailing with this polished noir from Universal-International and its choice cast of pros — Edmond O’Brien, Ella Raines and William Bendix, plus Vincent Price doing an excellent turn as a Machiavellian businessman, a ‘frame’ expert with a side specialty in double-dealing. Director Michael Gordon earns an early credit at Universal-International with a nice look: almost all exteriors are richly photographed nighttime scenes. Ella Raines is particularly good — despite the cover illustration, she’s not a femme fatale, just a cautious independent woman.
The Web
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1947 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 87 min. / Street Date July 13, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Edmond O’Brien, Ella Raines, William Bendix, Vincent Price, Maria Palmer, John Abbott, Fritz Leiber, Howland Chamberlain, Tito Vuolo.
Cinematography: Irving Glassberg
Production Designer Art Directors: Bernard Herzbrun, James Sullivan
Film Editor: Russel F. Schoengarth
Original Music: Hans J. Salter
Written by William Bowers, Bertram Millhauser...
The Web
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1947 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 87 min. / Street Date July 13, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Edmond O’Brien, Ella Raines, William Bendix, Vincent Price, Maria Palmer, John Abbott, Fritz Leiber, Howland Chamberlain, Tito Vuolo.
Cinematography: Irving Glassberg
Production Designer Art Directors: Bernard Herzbrun, James Sullivan
Film Editor: Russel F. Schoengarth
Original Music: Hans J. Salter
Written by William Bowers, Bertram Millhauser...
- 7/6/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Critics compare this sophisticated spy thriller to Carol Reed’s earlier Triumph set in Vienna with Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles — but it’s a different story altogether, not about black-market evil but the perils of moral compromise in a divided Berlin. James Mason and Claire Bloom are stunningly good together, in a moody suspense that’s completely serious — no comic relief or ‘fun’ jeopardy to distract from the fascinating, you-are-there setting, a Berlin trying to rebuild itself. With Hildegard Knef, and an extended, beautifully filmed nighttime chase that seals an unlikely romance.
The Man Between
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1953 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 102 min. / Street Date November 5, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: James Mason, Claire Bloom, Hildegard Knef, Geoffrey Toone, Aribert Wäscher, Ernst Schróder, Dieter Krause, Hilde Sessak, Karl John, Ljuba Welitsch, Reinhard Kolldehoff.
Cinematography: Desmond Dickinson
Film Editor: Bert Bates
Original Music: John Addison
Written by Harry Kurnitz,...
The Man Between
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1953 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 102 min. / Street Date November 5, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: James Mason, Claire Bloom, Hildegard Knef, Geoffrey Toone, Aribert Wäscher, Ernst Schróder, Dieter Krause, Hilde Sessak, Karl John, Ljuba Welitsch, Reinhard Kolldehoff.
Cinematography: Desmond Dickinson
Film Editor: Bert Bates
Original Music: John Addison
Written by Harry Kurnitz,...
- 11/9/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
William Wyler’s 1960s screwball heist comedy is a squeaky-clean high fashion vehicle for stars Audrey Hepburn and Peter O’Toole — who of course aren’t really crooks despite pulling off a major art theft. It’s lush, beautiful to look at and directed with verve by Wyler; with some funny jabs at the art world from screenwriter Harry Kurnitz.
How to Steal a Million
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1966 / Color / 1:35 widescreen / 123 min. / Street Date April 11, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Peter O’Toole, Charles Boyer, Eli Wallach, Hugh Griffith, Fernand Gravey, Marcel Dalio, Jacques Marin. .
Cinematography: Charles Lang
Film Editor: Robert Swink
Original Music: John Williams
Production design: Alexander Trauner
Written by Harry Kurnitz story by George Bradshaw
Produced by Fred Kohlmar
Directed by William Wyler
There’s no denying that Audrey Hepburn had a fairly incredible run of hits in the 1960s: The Nun’s Story,...
How to Steal a Million
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1966 / Color / 1:35 widescreen / 123 min. / Street Date April 11, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Peter O’Toole, Charles Boyer, Eli Wallach, Hugh Griffith, Fernand Gravey, Marcel Dalio, Jacques Marin. .
Cinematography: Charles Lang
Film Editor: Robert Swink
Original Music: John Williams
Production design: Alexander Trauner
Written by Harry Kurnitz story by George Bradshaw
Produced by Fred Kohlmar
Directed by William Wyler
There’s no denying that Audrey Hepburn had a fairly incredible run of hits in the 1960s: The Nun’s Story,...
- 5/5/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Tony Sokol Aug 22, 2016
Classic courtroom drama Witness For The Prosecution is getting the remake treatment, with Ben Affleck to direct and star...
Ben Affleck is negotiating with Fox to direct and star in an upcoming Witness For The Prosecution remake, the classic courtroom thriller directed by Billy Wilder.
The 1957 film noir courtroom drama Witness For The Prosecution was a film adaptation of a play by Agatha Christie, originally written in 1925. Witness For The Prosecution starred the legendary Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester and Tyrone Power. Adapted by Larry Marcus, Harry Kurnitz and Wilder, the movie got six Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor and Actress and Best Director - meaning that the remake has big shoes to fill both in terms of its acting pedigree as well as critical acclaim. Indeed, the movie (and play) has a great pay-off that still packs a punch today.
Christopher Keyser who...
Classic courtroom drama Witness For The Prosecution is getting the remake treatment, with Ben Affleck to direct and star...
Ben Affleck is negotiating with Fox to direct and star in an upcoming Witness For The Prosecution remake, the classic courtroom thriller directed by Billy Wilder.
The 1957 film noir courtroom drama Witness For The Prosecution was a film adaptation of a play by Agatha Christie, originally written in 1925. Witness For The Prosecution starred the legendary Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester and Tyrone Power. Adapted by Larry Marcus, Harry Kurnitz and Wilder, the movie got six Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor and Actress and Best Director - meaning that the remake has big shoes to fill both in terms of its acting pedigree as well as critical acclaim. Indeed, the movie (and play) has a great pay-off that still packs a punch today.
Christopher Keyser who...
- 8/19/2016
- Den of Geek
We recently saw the release of the trailer for 10 Cloverfield Lane, which started life as an independent film unrelated to Cloverfield but was rewritten as a sequel (of sorts). This got us thinking about other films that were conceived as original projects but were altered by studios to become sequels to existing franchises.
When 10 Cloverfield Lane started out, it was an independent film called The Cellar, about a young woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who wakes up injured and locked in the bunker-like cellar of a man (John Goodman) she’s never met before. The strange man tells her that he found after an accident and brought her there to minister to her wounds but then a cataclysmic disaster ravaged the surface world and she has to stay there. She doesn’t believe him and spends the rest of the film trying to escape, while her memories of the night of her accident slowly return.
When 10 Cloverfield Lane started out, it was an independent film called The Cellar, about a young woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who wakes up injured and locked in the bunker-like cellar of a man (John Goodman) she’s never met before. The strange man tells her that he found after an accident and brought her there to minister to her wounds but then a cataclysmic disaster ravaged the surface world and she has to stay there. She doesn’t believe him and spends the rest of the film trying to escape, while her memories of the night of her accident slowly return.
- 1/31/2016
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (Rob Young)
- Cinelinx
Robert Walker: Actor in MGM films of the '40s. Robert Walker: Actor who conveyed boy-next-door charms, psychoses At least on screen, I've always found the underrated actor Robert Walker to be everything his fellow – and more famous – MGM contract player James Stewart only pretended to be: shy, amiable, naive. The one thing that made Walker look less like an idealized “Average Joe” than Stewart was that the former did not have a vacuous look. Walker's intelligence shone clearly through his bright (in black and white) grey eyes. As part of its “Summer Under the Stars” programming, Turner Classic Movies is dedicating today, Aug. 9, '15, to Robert Walker, who was featured in 20 films between 1943 and his untimely death at age 32 in 1951. Time Warner (via Ted Turner) owns the pre-1986 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer library (and almost got to buy the studio outright in 2009), so most of Walker's movies have...
- 8/9/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: June 18, 2013
Price: DVD $19.95, Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Olive Films
Ava Gardner pulls the goddess routine on Robert Walker in One Touch of Venus.
Ava Gardner is at her most beautiful as the goddess Venus in the 1948 fantastical musical romantic comedy One Touch of Venus.
When a long-lost statue of Venus turns out to be the genuine goddess herself on an earthly assignment, a hapless department store clerk (Robert Walker) suddenly becomes the object of a furious employer, a jealous fiancée (Olga San Juan) and the lovesick Venus (Gardner) in this heavenly musical comedy of mistaken identity based on the successful Broadway musical.
Also starring Dick Haymes and Eve Arden, the much-loved movie is directed by comedy-musical veteran William A. Seiter (You Were Never Lovelier) with a screenplay by Harry Kurnitz (A Shot in the Dark) and Frank Tashlin (Rock-a-bye Baby).
Previously available on DVD from Lionsgate but out...
Price: DVD $19.95, Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Olive Films
Ava Gardner pulls the goddess routine on Robert Walker in One Touch of Venus.
Ava Gardner is at her most beautiful as the goddess Venus in the 1948 fantastical musical romantic comedy One Touch of Venus.
When a long-lost statue of Venus turns out to be the genuine goddess herself on an earthly assignment, a hapless department store clerk (Robert Walker) suddenly becomes the object of a furious employer, a jealous fiancée (Olga San Juan) and the lovesick Venus (Gardner) in this heavenly musical comedy of mistaken identity based on the successful Broadway musical.
Also starring Dick Haymes and Eve Arden, the much-loved movie is directed by comedy-musical veteran William A. Seiter (You Were Never Lovelier) with a screenplay by Harry Kurnitz (A Shot in the Dark) and Frank Tashlin (Rock-a-bye Baby).
Previously available on DVD from Lionsgate but out...
- 4/23/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
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