Courtesy of Studiocanal
by James Cameron-wilson
Two of the most famous characters Audrey Hepburn ever played were Eliza Dolittle and Maid Marion. In StudioCanal’s new 4K restoration home entertainment release of The Lavender Hill Mob, Audrey Hepburn shares her first film with Stanley Holloway, who played Eliza’s father in My Fair Lady, and Robert Shaw, who played the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin & Marion. Not that Audrey Hepburn actually shares the screen in The Lavender Hill Mob with either Stanley Holloway or Robert Shaw, but she does get the film off to a bright start with a nuzzle with Alec Guinness The Lavender Hill Mob arrived in the middle of the golden era of the Ealing Comedy cycle, two years after Kind Hearts and Coronets and just four years before The Ladykillers. And it remains a pure joy. Unlike heist movies of the future, it manages to be...
by James Cameron-wilson
Two of the most famous characters Audrey Hepburn ever played were Eliza Dolittle and Maid Marion. In StudioCanal’s new 4K restoration home entertainment release of The Lavender Hill Mob, Audrey Hepburn shares her first film with Stanley Holloway, who played Eliza’s father in My Fair Lady, and Robert Shaw, who played the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin & Marion. Not that Audrey Hepburn actually shares the screen in The Lavender Hill Mob with either Stanley Holloway or Robert Shaw, but she does get the film off to a bright start with a nuzzle with Alec Guinness The Lavender Hill Mob arrived in the middle of the golden era of the Ealing Comedy cycle, two years after Kind Hearts and Coronets and just four years before The Ladykillers. And it remains a pure joy. Unlike heist movies of the future, it manages to be...
- 5/1/2024
- by James Cameron-Wilson
- Film Review Daily
To celebrate the release of The Lavender Hill Mob out on 4K Uhd Collector’s Edition and on Digital from 22 April – we have a 4K Uhd Collector’s Edition to give away to one lucky winner!
Studiocanal are proud to announce the release of a spectacular 4K restoration of one of the most-loved British comedies from Ealing Studios, The Lavender Hill Mob, written by T.E.B. Clarke (winner of the Best Original Screenplay Oscar), directed by Charles Crichton (A Fish Called Wanda) and starring Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway (My Fair Lady), Sid James (Carry On films) and Alfie Bass (Alfie). The enduringly funny story of a nobody bank employee’s ingenious plan to rob the Bank of England and the motley crew that he assembles to carry out the raid, will be released in UK cinemas on 29 March and as a 4K Uhd Collector’s Edition and on Digital from 22 April.
Studiocanal are proud to announce the release of a spectacular 4K restoration of one of the most-loved British comedies from Ealing Studios, The Lavender Hill Mob, written by T.E.B. Clarke (winner of the Best Original Screenplay Oscar), directed by Charles Crichton (A Fish Called Wanda) and starring Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway (My Fair Lady), Sid James (Carry On films) and Alfie Bass (Alfie). The enduringly funny story of a nobody bank employee’s ingenious plan to rob the Bank of England and the motley crew that he assembles to carry out the raid, will be released in UK cinemas on 29 March and as a 4K Uhd Collector’s Edition and on Digital from 22 April.
- 4/19/2024
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The 2024 Oscar race is on, and one film has the potential to accomplish a feat that hasn’t happened in 64 years. “Oppenheimer” leads the nominations with 13, and it’s on track to win several of those categories. If Christopher Nolan‘s epic claims Best Picture, Best Actor (Cillian Murphy) and Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.), it will be the first time since 1960 that the same film (“Ben-Hur”) has won those three exact categories. And it would be only the fourth time it’s ever happened.
See Cillian Murphy interview: ‘Oppenheimer’
Since the Best Supporting Actor category was introduced in 1937, only three films have walked away with Best Picture as well as both male acting categories. In 1945, the inspirational musical comedy “Going My Way” not only became the highest-grossing film of 1944, but also won seven of its ten Oscar nominations, making it the big winner of the night. Beside the top prize,...
See Cillian Murphy interview: ‘Oppenheimer’
Since the Best Supporting Actor category was introduced in 1937, only three films have walked away with Best Picture as well as both male acting categories. In 1945, the inspirational musical comedy “Going My Way” not only became the highest-grossing film of 1944, but also won seven of its ten Oscar nominations, making it the big winner of the night. Beside the top prize,...
- 3/2/2024
- by Susan Pennington
- Gold Derby
Two Ealing classics – The Lavender Hill Mob and Kind Hearts & Coronets – are heading to 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray: more here.
Lovely, lovely news for fans of the wonderful Ealing Studios: a pair of its most-loved films have been given a 4K restoration, and are heading to the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format.
Charles Crichton’s The Lavender Hill Mob – which is also getting a cinema re-release in the UK this March – is arriving in a special Vintage Classics Collectors Edition set. That set includes a 64-page booklet, artcards, postcards, a Blu-ray and a 4K disc. Included too is an introduction from Martin Scorsese, and new extra features including a London Comedy Film Festival Q&a with Paul Merton.
The film is available for preorder now, and you can find more information – and get a copy – right here.
The release date for The Lavender Hill Mob on 4K disc is 22nd April,...
Lovely, lovely news for fans of the wonderful Ealing Studios: a pair of its most-loved films have been given a 4K restoration, and are heading to the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format.
Charles Crichton’s The Lavender Hill Mob – which is also getting a cinema re-release in the UK this March – is arriving in a special Vintage Classics Collectors Edition set. That set includes a 64-page booklet, artcards, postcards, a Blu-ray and a 4K disc. Included too is an introduction from Martin Scorsese, and new extra features including a London Comedy Film Festival Q&a with Paul Merton.
The film is available for preorder now, and you can find more information – and get a copy – right here.
The release date for The Lavender Hill Mob on 4K disc is 22nd April,...
- 2/21/2024
- by Simon Brew
- Film Stories
There are many songs that Paul McCartney based on things he read in literature. His parents instilled a love of knowledge and learning in him when he was a kid, and his English teacher at school fostered that love. Paul developed an admiration for writers like Lewis Carroll and Shakespeare. However, many authors and writers’ work ended up in Paul’s songs.
Paul McCartney and his family | Ron Galella/Getty Images 5. ‘The End’
In The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul spoke many times about his literary heroes, which included Dylan Thomas, Oscar Wilde, Allen Ginsberg, French symbolist writer Alfred Jarry, Eugene O’Neill, and Henrik Ibsen. However, a couple of his songs wouldn’t have shaped up the same way without the influence of Shakespeare.
Paul wrote that he’s “fascinated by the couplet as a form in poetry,” particularly how Shakespeare used the couplet to close out a scene or an entire play.
Paul McCartney and his family | Ron Galella/Getty Images 5. ‘The End’
In The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul spoke many times about his literary heroes, which included Dylan Thomas, Oscar Wilde, Allen Ginsberg, French symbolist writer Alfred Jarry, Eugene O’Neill, and Henrik Ibsen. However, a couple of his songs wouldn’t have shaped up the same way without the influence of Shakespeare.
Paul wrote that he’s “fascinated by the couplet as a form in poetry,” particularly how Shakespeare used the couplet to close out a scene or an entire play.
- 3/5/2023
- by Hannah Wigandt
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 and an Irish song tradition inspired Paul McCartney on The Beatles‘ “I Saw Her Standing There.” Paul used many of his literary and musical favorites in his songs.
The Beatles, who released ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ in 1963 | Mark and Colleen Hayward/Getty Images Paul McCartney said ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ had rough beginnings
In The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul wrote that he loves The Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing” and considers it one of the best songs he’s ever written. However, it had challenging beginnings. Paul played the song for John Lennon as they smoked tea in Paul’s father’s pipe.
There was an issue with one of the lyrics. Paul wrote, “I said, ‘She was just seventeen. She’d never been a beauty queen.’ And John said, ‘I’m not sure about that.’ So our main task was to get rid of the beauty queen.
The Beatles, who released ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ in 1963 | Mark and Colleen Hayward/Getty Images Paul McCartney said ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ had rough beginnings
In The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul wrote that he loves The Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing” and considers it one of the best songs he’s ever written. However, it had challenging beginnings. Paul played the song for John Lennon as they smoked tea in Paul’s father’s pipe.
There was an issue with one of the lyrics. Paul wrote, “I said, ‘She was just seventeen. She’d never been a beauty queen.’ And John said, ‘I’m not sure about that.’ So our main task was to get rid of the beauty queen.
- 2/26/2023
- by Hannah Wigandt
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Paul McCartney thinks it’s interesting singing The Beatles‘ “I Saw Her Standing There” because it has a “naïveté” that you “can’t invent.” The singer-songwriter recognizes that he was a completely different person when he wrote the song.
Paul McCartney and The Beatles | Mirrorpix/Getty Images Paul McCartney loves ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ but it had tough beginnings
In The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul wrote that he’d include The Beates’ “I Saw Her Standing There” in the group of songs he considers his best work. He remembers playing the song for John Lennon for the first time. They smoked tea in Paul’s father’s pipe.
Despite his love for the tune, Paul explained that it had tough beginnings. There was an issue with one of the lyrics. Paul wrote, “I said, ‘She was just seventeen. She’d never been a beauty queen.’ And John said,...
Paul McCartney and The Beatles | Mirrorpix/Getty Images Paul McCartney loves ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ but it had tough beginnings
In The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul wrote that he’d include The Beates’ “I Saw Her Standing There” in the group of songs he considers his best work. He remembers playing the song for John Lennon for the first time. They smoked tea in Paul’s father’s pipe.
Despite his love for the tune, Paul explained that it had tough beginnings. There was an issue with one of the lyrics. Paul wrote, “I said, ‘She was just seventeen. She’d never been a beauty queen.’ And John said,...
- 2/20/2023
- by Hannah Wigandt
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
"My Fair Lady" is a 1964 movie musical based on the 1956 Lerner and Loewe stage musical of the same name, which is in turned based on the 1913 stage play "Pygmalion" which, in its own turn, is based on Greek mythology. Sure, that trail ends with Hollywood, but Broadway is up to exact same shenanigans when it comes to remakes and reboots. Although the story of "My Fair Lady" is significantly altered from the original mythos, the core relationship between creator and creation is unchanged. Well, it's now about British high society and not about a sculptor and a sculpture anymore. Close enough, right?
Anyway, the 1964 film stars the one and only Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle, the titular fair lady. Co-starring as professor Henry Higgins, the titular claimant of possessing a "fair lady," is Rex Harrison, who also played the role opposite Julie Andrews in the original Broadway production. Wilfrid Hyde-White,...
Anyway, the 1964 film stars the one and only Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle, the titular fair lady. Co-starring as professor Henry Higgins, the titular claimant of possessing a "fair lady," is Rex Harrison, who also played the role opposite Julie Andrews in the original Broadway production. Wilfrid Hyde-White,...
- 1/8/2023
- by Cameron Roy Hall
- Slash Film
Hollywood’s last big all-star war epic in Black & White? Otto Preminger took a happy film company to Hawaii for this enormous saga about the Naval push in the Pacific Theater of WW2, with none other than John Wayne as the competent commander leading the charge. Soap-opera scenes aside, it’s a thrilling epic directed with Preminger’s well-known reserve. The star-gazing isn’t bad either — Kirk Douglas! Patricia Neal! Henry Fonda! Paula Prentiss! The finish is a huge naval battle with impressive live-action special effects, and given a moody music score by Jerry Goldsmith.
In Harm’s Way
Blu-ray
Paramount Viacom CBS
1965 / B&w / 2:35 widescreen / 167 min. / Street Date June 29, 2021 / Available from Paramount Movies / 13.99
Starring: John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Patricia Neal, Tom Tryon, Paula Prentiss, Brandon De Wilde, Jill Haworth, Dana Andrews, Stanley Holloway, Burgess Meredith, Franchot Tone, Patrick O’Neal, Carroll O’Connor, Slim Pickens, George Kennedy, Barbara Bouchet.
Cinematography:...
In Harm’s Way
Blu-ray
Paramount Viacom CBS
1965 / B&w / 2:35 widescreen / 167 min. / Street Date June 29, 2021 / Available from Paramount Movies / 13.99
Starring: John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Patricia Neal, Tom Tryon, Paula Prentiss, Brandon De Wilde, Jill Haworth, Dana Andrews, Stanley Holloway, Burgess Meredith, Franchot Tone, Patrick O’Neal, Carroll O’Connor, Slim Pickens, George Kennedy, Barbara Bouchet.
Cinematography:...
- 7/10/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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“A Creepy Exploitation Double-bill”
By Raymond Benson
Here we go again! Another entry in the “Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Picture” series, this time it’s Volume 5. Presented by Kino Lorber in association with Something Weird Video, we have for your viewing pleasure the double-bill of Tomorrow’s Children, released in 1934 and directed by Crane Wilbur, who went on to do an impressive amount of writing and directing for (mostly) B-movies, and Child Bride, released in 1938 and directed by the notorious Harry J. Revier, a practitioner in cinema sensationalism dating back to the silent era. Note: Some online sources such as Wikipedia incorrectly state that the running time of Tomorrow’s Children is 70 minutes (here it’s 56 minutes and there doesn’t seem to be anything missing), and that Child Bride was released in 1943.
First up—Tomorrow’s Children, the...
“A Creepy Exploitation Double-bill”
By Raymond Benson
Here we go again! Another entry in the “Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Picture” series, this time it’s Volume 5. Presented by Kino Lorber in association with Something Weird Video, we have for your viewing pleasure the double-bill of Tomorrow’s Children, released in 1934 and directed by Crane Wilbur, who went on to do an impressive amount of writing and directing for (mostly) B-movies, and Child Bride, released in 1938 and directed by the notorious Harry J. Revier, a practitioner in cinema sensationalism dating back to the silent era. Note: Some online sources such as Wikipedia incorrectly state that the running time of Tomorrow’s Children is 70 minutes (here it’s 56 minutes and there doesn’t seem to be anything missing), and that Child Bride was released in 1943.
First up—Tomorrow’s Children, the...
- 6/16/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
“Ealing Goes Scottish”
By Raymond Benson
The famous British studio, Ealing, made many kinds of pictures and became a major force in the U.K.’s film industry, especially after producer Michael Balcon took it over. While the studio had already made a few comedies, for some reason in the late 1940s it started producing more of them. The natures of these comedies shifted and became more intelligent, dry, and focused on underdog characters who valiantly attempt to overcome a series of obstacles. Sometimes the protagonists are successful—and sometimes not. Along the way, though, a series of misadventures occur. They range from “amusing” to “riotously funny.” It all worked, and the Ealing Comedies became a sub-genre unto themselves, especially when they starred the likes of Alec Guinness, Alastair Sim, or Stanley Holloway.
The year 1949 is generally considered the beginning of the run,...
“Ealing Goes Scottish”
By Raymond Benson
The famous British studio, Ealing, made many kinds of pictures and became a major force in the U.K.’s film industry, especially after producer Michael Balcon took it over. While the studio had already made a few comedies, for some reason in the late 1940s it started producing more of them. The natures of these comedies shifted and became more intelligent, dry, and focused on underdog characters who valiantly attempt to overcome a series of obstacles. Sometimes the protagonists are successful—and sometimes not. Along the way, though, a series of misadventures occur. They range from “amusing” to “riotously funny.” It all worked, and the Ealing Comedies became a sub-genre unto themselves, especially when they starred the likes of Alec Guinness, Alastair Sim, or Stanley Holloway.
The year 1949 is generally considered the beginning of the run,...
- 5/20/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Toot Toot! The Little Engine that Could becomes a tale of the little town that could, when their tiny rail service is discontinued. A crackerjack cast of Ealing regulars — Stanley Holloway, Naunton Wayne, John Gregson — band together to take over the little spur line and keep it running. We get to see a vintage locomotive from the early 1800s in action, but the appeal isn’t limited to lovers of trains — Ealing’s knack for inspired, understated comedy is all over this show. Plus, it’s the company’s first feature in Technicolor, and is beautifully remastered.
The Titfield Thunderbolt
Blu-ray
Film Movement Classics
1953 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 84 min. / Street Date , 2020 /
Starring: Stanley Holloway, George Relph, Naunton Wayne, John Gregson, Godfrey Tearle, Hugh Griffith, Gabrielle Brune, Sidney James, Reginald Beckwith, Edie Martin, Michael Trubshawe, Jack MacGowran, Ewan Roberts.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editor: Seth Holt
Original Music: Georges Auric
Written by...
The Titfield Thunderbolt
Blu-ray
Film Movement Classics
1953 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 84 min. / Street Date , 2020 /
Starring: Stanley Holloway, George Relph, Naunton Wayne, John Gregson, Godfrey Tearle, Hugh Griffith, Gabrielle Brune, Sidney James, Reginald Beckwith, Edie Martin, Michael Trubshawe, Jack MacGowran, Ewan Roberts.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editor: Seth Holt
Original Music: Georges Auric
Written by...
- 1/11/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Much of Ealing Studios’ core appeal begins right here, with T.E.B. Clarke’s astute look at the character of pragmatic, energetic Londoners, who in this fantasy face an outrageous situation with spirit, pluck, and a determination not to be cheated. What happens when a few square blocks of London discover that they’re no longer even part of the British Empire? A classic of wartime ‘adjustments,’ the ensemble comedy even begins with a Tex Avery- like ode to rationing.
Passport to Pimlico
Blu-ray
Film Movement Classics
1949 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 84 min. / Street Date December 20, 2019 / 29.95
Starring: Stanley Holloway, Hermione Baddeley, Margaret Rutherford, Sydney Tafler, Betty Warren, Barbara Murray, Paul Dupuis, John Slater, Jane Hylton, Raymond Huntley, Philip Stainton, Roy Carr, Nancy Gabrielle, Malcolm Knight, Roy Gladdish, Frederick Piper, Charles Hawtrey, Stuart Lindsell, Naunton Wayne, Basil Radford, Gilbert Davis, Michael Hordern, Arthur Howard, Bill Shine, Harry Locke, Sam Kydd.
Cinematography: Lionel...
Passport to Pimlico
Blu-ray
Film Movement Classics
1949 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 84 min. / Street Date December 20, 2019 / 29.95
Starring: Stanley Holloway, Hermione Baddeley, Margaret Rutherford, Sydney Tafler, Betty Warren, Barbara Murray, Paul Dupuis, John Slater, Jane Hylton, Raymond Huntley, Philip Stainton, Roy Carr, Nancy Gabrielle, Malcolm Knight, Roy Gladdish, Frederick Piper, Charles Hawtrey, Stuart Lindsell, Naunton Wayne, Basil Radford, Gilbert Davis, Michael Hordern, Arthur Howard, Bill Shine, Harry Locke, Sam Kydd.
Cinematography: Lionel...
- 12/31/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
They’re ‘The Men Who Broke the Bank and Lost the Cargo!’ Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway shine in one of the funniest crime comedies ever, Ealing Studios’ tale of a pair of nobodies who take the Bank of England for millions. Guinness’s bank clerk follows his dreams into a big time bullion heist, and the joke is that his ad-hoc mob is the most loyal, ethical band of brothers in the history of crime. This being a caper picture, the suspense is steep as well — just what is going to trip up these brilliantly gifted amateurs?
The Lavender Hill Mob
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1951 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 81 min. / Street Date September 3, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sidney James, Alfie Bass, Audrey Hepburn.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editor: Seth Holt
Original Music: Georges Auric
Written by T.E.B. Clarke
Produced by Michael Balcon
Directed by...
The Lavender Hill Mob
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1951 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 81 min. / Street Date September 3, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sidney James, Alfie Bass, Audrey Hepburn.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editor: Seth Holt
Original Music: Georges Auric
Written by T.E.B. Clarke
Produced by Michael Balcon
Directed by...
- 10/15/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“Ealing Exquisiteness”
By Raymond Benson
Ealing Studios has a long history of greatness and is one of the finest motion picture studios in Great Britain. While it is most well known for its post-war comedies, several of which starred the inimitable Alec Guinness, the studio site has been active since the silent era. When producer Michael Balcon took it over in the late 1930s and renamed it Ealing, many successful pictures—both dramas and comedies—were made under its banner. Ealing is still operating today and is also the home of the Met Film School London.
The Lavender Hill Mob, released in 1951, is one of Ealing’s jewels in the crown, often cited as the best of the bunch. Director Crighton helmed several of the Ealing pictures, and, at age 77, was finally nominated for a Best Director Oscar for his work on A Fish Called Wanda in 1988 (it was because...
By Raymond Benson
Ealing Studios has a long history of greatness and is one of the finest motion picture studios in Great Britain. While it is most well known for its post-war comedies, several of which starred the inimitable Alec Guinness, the studio site has been active since the silent era. When producer Michael Balcon took it over in the late 1930s and renamed it Ealing, many successful pictures—both dramas and comedies—were made under its banner. Ealing is still operating today and is also the home of the Met Film School London.
The Lavender Hill Mob, released in 1951, is one of Ealing’s jewels in the crown, often cited as the best of the bunch. Director Crighton helmed several of the Ealing pictures, and, at age 77, was finally nominated for a Best Director Oscar for his work on A Fish Called Wanda in 1988 (it was because...
- 9/15/2019
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Julie Andrews started singing at a very young age. So young in fact, that at age 13, she became the youngest performer ever to give a Royal Command Performance for then British monarch King George VI. After many appearances on the British stage, Andrews made her Broadway debut at age 19 in the musical “The Boy Friend.” That performance led to her being cast as the lead in one of the biggest hits and most acclaimed productions in Broadway history, “My Fair Lady.”
Her great success in “My Fair Lady” would later become one of her greatest disappointments when she was deemed too unfamiliar to film audiences to recreate her role on film (though her Broadway co-stars Rex Harrison and Stanley Holloway were both hired). In her place the studio hired Audrey Hepburn who gave a good performance but had to have her singing dubbed by another performer. Some studios felt Andrews...
Her great success in “My Fair Lady” would later become one of her greatest disappointments when she was deemed too unfamiliar to film audiences to recreate her role on film (though her Broadway co-stars Rex Harrison and Stanley Holloway were both hired). In her place the studio hired Audrey Hepburn who gave a good performance but had to have her singing dubbed by another performer. Some studios felt Andrews...
- 10/1/2018
- by Robert Pius and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Julie Andrews started singing at a very young age. So young in fact, that at age 13, she became the youngest performer ever to give a Royal Command Performance for then British monarch King George VI. After many appearances on the British stage, Andrews made her Broadway debut at age 19 in the musical “The Boy Friend.” That performance led to her being cast as the lead in one of the biggest hits and most acclaimed productions in Broadway history, “My Fair Lady.”
Her great success in “My Fair Lady” would later become one of her greatest disappointments when she was deemed too unfamiliar to film audiences to recreate her role on film (though her Broadway co-stars Rex Harrison and Stanley Holloway were both hired). In her place the studio hired Audrey Hepburn who gave a good performance but had to have her singing dubbed by another performer. Some studios felt Andrews...
Her great success in “My Fair Lady” would later become one of her greatest disappointments when she was deemed too unfamiliar to film audiences to recreate her role on film (though her Broadway co-stars Rex Harrison and Stanley Holloway were both hired). In her place the studio hired Audrey Hepburn who gave a good performance but had to have her singing dubbed by another performer. Some studios felt Andrews...
- 10/1/2018
- by Misty Holland, Robert Pius and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
A True Original: Alberto Cavalcanti is showing from September 9 – October 12, 2018 in the United States.Champagne CharlieIf Dickensian fiction story of Nicholas Nickleby were to be filmed today, he’d be a young man incessantly searching Craigslist and wondering what college education is really good for. At least that’s the impression one gets watching Alberto Cavalcanti’s lively adaptation, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1947), which perfectly captures the angst of urban youth fitted with stellar education and plenty desire for work, but dire economic prospects—an apt topic both today and at a time when Cavalcanti made his British fiction films, during and immediately after the Second World War.In his native Brazil, Cavalcanti has been celebrated for his avant-garde modernist films, including his debut, Nothing But Time (1926), and his collaboration with Walter Ruttman on Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis (1927), which serves as an important reference in the...
- 9/18/2018
- MUBI
Updated: Following a couple of Julie London Westerns*, Turner Classic Movies will return to its July 2017 Star of the Month presentations. On July 27, Ronald Colman can be seen in five films from his later years: A Double Life, Random Harvest (1942), The Talk of the Town (1942), The Late George Apley (1947), and The Story of Mankind (1957). The first three titles are among the most important in Colman's long film career. George Cukor's A Double Life earned him his one and only Best Actor Oscar; Mervyn LeRoy's Random Harvest earned him his second Best Actor Oscar nomination; George Stevens' The Talk of the Town was shortlisted for seven Oscars, including Best Picture. All three feature Ronald Colman at his very best. The early 21st century motto of international trendsetters, from Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro and Turkey's Recep Erdogan to Russia's Vladimir Putin and the United States' Donald Trump, seems to be, The world is reality TV and reality TV...
- 7/28/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
'And Then There Were None' movie with Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, June Duprez, Louis Hayward and Roland Young. 'And Then There Were None' movie remake to be directed by Oscar nominee Morten Tyldum One of the best-known Agatha Christie novels, And Then There Were None will be getting another big-screen transfer. 20th Century Fox has acquired the movie rights to the literary suspense thriller first published in the U.K. (as Ten Little Niggers) in 1939. Morten Tyldum, this year's Best Director Academy Award nominee for The Imitation Game, is reportedly set to direct. The source for this story is Deadline.com, which adds that Tyldum himself “helped hone the pitch” for the acquisition while Eric Heisserer (A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010, The Thing 2011) will handle the screenplay adaptation. And Then There Were None is supposed to have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, thus holding the...
- 9/29/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Robert Mitchum ca. late 1940s. Robert Mitchum movies 'The Yakuza,' 'Ryan's Daughter' on TCM Today, Aug. 12, '15, Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” series is highlighting the career of Robert Mitchum. Two of the films being shown this evening are The Yakuza and Ryan's Daughter. The former is one of the disappointingly few TCM premieres this month. (See TCM's Robert Mitchum movie schedule further below.) Despite his film noir background, Robert Mitchum was a somewhat unusual choice to star in The Yakuza (1975), a crime thriller set in the Japanese underworld. Ryan's Daughter or no, Mitchum hadn't been a box office draw in quite some time; in the mid-'70s, one would have expected a Warner Bros. release directed by Sydney Pollack – who had recently handled the likes of Jane Fonda, Barbra Streisand, and Robert Redford – to star someone like Jack Nicholson or Al Pacino or Dustin Hoffman.
- 8/13/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Ron Moody as Fagin in 'Oliver!' based on Charles Dickens' 'Oliver Twist.' Ron Moody as Fagin in Dickens musical 'Oliver!': Box office and critical hit (See previous post: "Ron Moody: 'Oliver!' Actor, Academy Award Nominee Dead at 91.") Although British made, Oliver! turned out to be an elephantine release along the lines of – exclamation point or no – Gypsy, Star!, Hello Dolly!, and other Hollywood mega-musicals from the mid'-50s to the early '70s.[1] But however bloated and conventional the final result, and a cast whose best-known name was that of director Carol Reed's nephew, Oliver Reed, Oliver! found countless fans.[2] The mostly British production became a huge financial and critical success in the U.S. at a time when star-studded mega-musicals had become perilous – at times downright disastrous – ventures.[3] Upon the American release of Oliver! in Dec. 1968, frequently acerbic The...
- 6/19/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the release of "Crash" (on May 6, 2005), an all-star movie whose controversy came not from its provocative treatment of racial issues but from its Best Picture Oscar victory a few months later, against what many critics felt was a much more deserving movie, "Brokeback Mountain."
The "Crash" vs. "Brokeback" battle is one of those lingering disputes that makes the Academy Awards so fascinating, year after year. Moviegoers and critics who revisit older movies are constantly judging the Academy's judgment. Even decades of hindsight may not always be enough to tell whether the Oscar voters of a particular year got it right or wrong. Whether it's "Birdman" vs. "Boyhood," "The King's Speech" vs. "The Social Network," "Saving Private Ryan" vs. "Shakespeare in Love" or even "An American in Paris" vs. "A Streetcar Named Desire," we're still confirming the Academy's taste or dismissing it as hopelessly off-base years later.
The "Crash" vs. "Brokeback" battle is one of those lingering disputes that makes the Academy Awards so fascinating, year after year. Moviegoers and critics who revisit older movies are constantly judging the Academy's judgment. Even decades of hindsight may not always be enough to tell whether the Oscar voters of a particular year got it right or wrong. Whether it's "Birdman" vs. "Boyhood," "The King's Speech" vs. "The Social Network," "Saving Private Ryan" vs. "Shakespeare in Love" or even "An American in Paris" vs. "A Streetcar Named Desire," we're still confirming the Academy's taste or dismissing it as hopelessly off-base years later.
- 5/6/2015
- by Gary Susman
- Moviefone
Watch the Digital Spy team discuss their favourite Christmas movies above, then find out the best films on TV today for your festive entertainment.
Bridge to Terabithia - 11am, BBC One
The Hunger Games' Josh Hutcherson stars as an awkward preteen in this fantasy film. When Jesse (Hutcherson) befriends Leslie, the new girl in school (AnnaSophia Robb), they imagine a whole new world to escape reality.
The Simpsons Movie - 11am, Film4
Homer and the gang make the transition to the big screen in this 2007 family flick. When pollution in the town reaches crisis level, Springfield's residents are confined to life within a government-sanctioned dome.
Chicken Run - 1.45pm, BBC One
In this comedy escape drama, the chickens, hens and roosters decide to rebel against farm owners Mr and Ms Tweedy, before they end up in tomorrow's meat pie. Mel Gibson stars as newcomer Rocky the Rooster.
The Lavender Hill Mob - 2.35pm,...
Bridge to Terabithia - 11am, BBC One
The Hunger Games' Josh Hutcherson stars as an awkward preteen in this fantasy film. When Jesse (Hutcherson) befriends Leslie, the new girl in school (AnnaSophia Robb), they imagine a whole new world to escape reality.
The Simpsons Movie - 11am, Film4
Homer and the gang make the transition to the big screen in this 2007 family flick. When pollution in the town reaches crisis level, Springfield's residents are confined to life within a government-sanctioned dome.
Chicken Run - 1.45pm, BBC One
In this comedy escape drama, the chickens, hens and roosters decide to rebel against farm owners Mr and Ms Tweedy, before they end up in tomorrow's meat pie. Mel Gibson stars as newcomer Rocky the Rooster.
The Lavender Hill Mob - 2.35pm,...
- 12/23/2014
- Digital Spy
'Henry V' Movie Actress Renée Asherson dead at 99: Laurence Olivier leading lady in acclaimed 1944 film (image: Renée Asherson and Laurence Olivier in 'Henry V') Renée Asherson, a British stage actress featured in London productions of A Streetcar Named Desire and Three Sisters, but best known internationally as Laurence Olivier's leading lady in the 1944 film version of Henry V, died on October 30, 2014. Asherson was 99 years old. The exact cause of death hasn't been specified. She was born Dorothy Renée Ascherson (she would drop the "c" some time after becoming an actress) on May 19, 1915, in Kensington, London, to Jewish parents: businessman Charles Ascherson and his second wife, Dorothy Wiseman -- both of whom narrowly escaped spending their honeymoon aboard the Titanic. (Ascherson cancelled the voyage after suffering an attack of appendicitis.) According to Michael Coveney's The Guardian obit for the actress, Renée Asherson was "scantly...
- 11/5/2014
- 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
Kurt Russell Teaches Us The Art Of The Steal
By Alex Simon
If you’re a guy of a certain age (think Gen X), Kurt Russell was that actor you discovered as a child who wasn’t just a familiar face on the big and small screen, he was your buddy you grew up with. Not a peer, necessarily, but the cool, slightly older kid who lived next door who you just knew, if you played your cards right, you might grow up to be: handsome, self-assured in sports, with girls and in your place on the planet. Especially if you could hang out with him on a regular basis and learn the tricks to his magic, and magic was something Kurt Russell had from the beginning.
The son of the late actor Bing Russell, best remembered as Deputy Sheriff Clem Foster on Bonanza, Kurt literally grew up on a soundstage,...
By Alex Simon
If you’re a guy of a certain age (think Gen X), Kurt Russell was that actor you discovered as a child who wasn’t just a familiar face on the big and small screen, he was your buddy you grew up with. Not a peer, necessarily, but the cool, slightly older kid who lived next door who you just knew, if you played your cards right, you might grow up to be: handsome, self-assured in sports, with girls and in your place on the planet. Especially if you could hang out with him on a regular basis and learn the tricks to his magic, and magic was something Kurt Russell had from the beginning.
The son of the late actor Bing Russell, best remembered as Deputy Sheriff Clem Foster on Bonanza, Kurt literally grew up on a soundstage,...
- 2/19/2014
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
‘Ryan’s Daughter’ actor Christopher Jones dead at 72: Quit acting following nervous breakdown after Sharon Tate murder, in later years turned down Quentin Tarantino movie offer Christopher Jones, who had a key role in David Lean’s 1970 romantic epic Ryan’s Daughter, died of complications from gallbladder cancer last Friday, January 31, 2014, at Los Alamitos Medical Center, approximately 35 km southwest of downtown Los Angeles. Christopher Jones (born William Franklin Jones on August 18, 1941, in Jackson, Tennessee) was 72. After growing up in a children’s home, joining the army at 16 and then going Awol, being handpicked by Tennessee Williams for a small role in the playwright’s The Night of the Iguana in 1961, and starring in the television series The Legend of Jesse James (1965-1966), Christopher Jones began getting film roles. His first was the title role in Allen H. Miner’s 1967 clash-of-generations drama Chubasco, in which Jones plays a misunderstood youth...
- 2/6/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Femme fatale Audrey Totter: Film noir actress and MGM leading lady dead at 95 (photo: Audrey Totter ca. 1947) Audrey Totter, film noir femme fatale and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player best remembered for the mystery crime drama Lady in the Lake and, at Rko, the hard-hitting boxing drama The Set-Up, died after suffering a stroke and congestive heart failure on Thursday, December 12, 2013, at West Hills Hospital in Los Angeles County. Reportedly a resident at the Motion Picture and Television Home in Woodland Hills, Audrey Totter would have turned 96 on Dec. 20. Born in Joliet, Illinois, Audrey Totter began her show business career on radio. She landed an MGM contract in the mid-’40s, playing bit roles in several of the studio’s productions, e.g., the Clark Gable-Greer Garson pairing Adventure (1945), the Hedy Lamarr-Robert Walker-June Allyson threesome Her Highness and the Bellboy (1945), and, as an adventurous hitchhiker riding with John Garfield,...
- 12/15/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Popular stalwart of film classics such as The Browning Version and Fanny By Gaslight
Jean Kent, the fiery, sexy, red-haired bad girl of British movies in the 1940s, who has died aged 92, was a fine actor, and clearly enjoyed life, her work and – while it lasted – her cinema fame. While never a top star, she gained a considerable following, and from the 1960s appeared regularly on television. Her film breakthrough came as a result of stage work: after the revue Apple Sauce, starring Vera Lynn and Max Miller, reached the London Palladium in 1941, she was offered a long-term contract, and the first of her Gainsborough Pictures appearances came in It's That Man Again (1943), with another wartime entertainer, the radio comic Tommy Handley.
It took another four films for her to make her first real mark as Lucy, the friend of Phyllis Calvert in the title role of the melodrama Fanny By Gaslight,...
Jean Kent, the fiery, sexy, red-haired bad girl of British movies in the 1940s, who has died aged 92, was a fine actor, and clearly enjoyed life, her work and – while it lasted – her cinema fame. While never a top star, she gained a considerable following, and from the 1960s appeared regularly on television. Her film breakthrough came as a result of stage work: after the revue Apple Sauce, starring Vera Lynn and Max Miller, reached the London Palladium in 1941, she was offered a long-term contract, and the first of her Gainsborough Pictures appearances came in It's That Man Again (1943), with another wartime entertainer, the radio comic Tommy Handley.
It took another four films for her to make her first real mark as Lucy, the friend of Phyllis Calvert in the title role of the melodrama Fanny By Gaslight,...
- 12/2/2013
- by Sheila Whitaker
- The Guardian - Film News
Review Aliya Whiteley 15 Oct 2013 - 06:26
Aliya finds that this selection of classic Ealing movies from the '30s and '40s provides a surprisingly solid few hours of entertainment
Ealing Studios has been around since 1902 and their Rarities Collection is proving to be a fascinating visit to their vaults. Sitting down to watch these DVDs has the feeling of stepping back in time: buying a cinema ticket for 1/ 6, planning to have an ice cream during the interval, looking for a bit of excitement or entertainment, and perhaps not expecting too much from the feature except to be transported away for a few hours. I’m probably seriously over-romanticising the whole experience, but I do recommend watching these films with the curtains drawn and a Lyons Maid lolly. I’m a big fan of the Strawberry Mivvi myself.
The first film in Volume Seven certainly does transport you. Eureka Stockade...
Aliya finds that this selection of classic Ealing movies from the '30s and '40s provides a surprisingly solid few hours of entertainment
Ealing Studios has been around since 1902 and their Rarities Collection is proving to be a fascinating visit to their vaults. Sitting down to watch these DVDs has the feeling of stepping back in time: buying a cinema ticket for 1/ 6, planning to have an ice cream during the interval, looking for a bit of excitement or entertainment, and perhaps not expecting too much from the feature except to be transported away for a few hours. I’m probably seriously over-romanticising the whole experience, but I do recommend watching these films with the curtains drawn and a Lyons Maid lolly. I’m a big fan of the Strawberry Mivvi myself.
The first film in Volume Seven certainly does transport you. Eureka Stockade...
- 10/14/2013
- by sarahd
- Den of Geek
In her new book Rachel Cooke re-examines the 1950s through 10 women who pioneered in their careers. In this extract she tells the stories of sisters-in-law Muriel and Betty Box, two prominent women in the British film industry
Until recently, anyone who wanted to see the film To Dorothy a Son had to lock themselves deep in the bowels of the British Film Institute off Tottenham Court Road, London, and watch it on an old Steenbeck editing machine. A little-known comedy from 1954, To Dorothy is no one's idea of a classic. It has an infuriating star in Shelley Winters, a creaky screenplay by Peter Rogers (later the producer of the Carry On series) and a set that looks as if it is on loan from a local amateur dramatics society.
We are in the home of Tony (John Gregson) and his baby-faced wife, Dorothy (Peggy Cummins). Dorothy is heavily pregnant, and confined to bed.
Until recently, anyone who wanted to see the film To Dorothy a Son had to lock themselves deep in the bowels of the British Film Institute off Tottenham Court Road, London, and watch it on an old Steenbeck editing machine. A little-known comedy from 1954, To Dorothy is no one's idea of a classic. It has an infuriating star in Shelley Winters, a creaky screenplay by Peter Rogers (later the producer of the Carry On series) and a set that looks as if it is on loan from a local amateur dramatics society.
We are in the home of Tony (John Gregson) and his baby-faced wife, Dorothy (Peggy Cummins). Dorothy is heavily pregnant, and confined to bed.
- 10/5/2013
- by Rachel Cooke
- The Guardian - Film News
The 1967 animated version of Kipling's story is crammed with marching Raj elephants, hypnotic snakes and toe-tapping songs, but the jazz-singing bear is best
• More on The Jungle Book
• More from Why I Love …
Reading on mobile? Click here to view video
"The jungle is Jumpin'!" posters for The Jungle Book declared in 1967. The streets of Maidstone became a jungle, too, as thousands jostled outside the Granada cinema in a queue that stretched round the block and up Gabriel's Hill. There was only one screen back then.
Disney had a lot riding on the film. Founder Walt Disney died a few months before it was released; would the studio survive his passing? Would the Brits bridle at the liberties the Americans had taken with Kipling? Could family cartoons sufficiently entertain a young generation excited by Beatlemania and the poptastic delights of Radio 1? They needn't have worried. The posters didn't lie.
It...
• More on The Jungle Book
• More from Why I Love …
Reading on mobile? Click here to view video
"The jungle is Jumpin'!" posters for The Jungle Book declared in 1967. The streets of Maidstone became a jungle, too, as thousands jostled outside the Granada cinema in a queue that stretched round the block and up Gabriel's Hill. There was only one screen back then.
Disney had a lot riding on the film. Founder Walt Disney died a few months before it was released; would the studio survive his passing? Would the Brits bridle at the liberties the Americans had taken with Kipling? Could family cartoons sufficiently entertain a young generation excited by Beatlemania and the poptastic delights of Radio 1? They needn't have worried. The posters didn't lie.
It...
- 10/4/2013
- by Paul Simon
- The Guardian - Film News
Rex Harrison hat on TCM: ‘My Fair Lady,’ ‘Anna and the King of Siam’ Rex Harrison is Turner Classic Movies’ final "Summer Under the Stars" star today, August 31, 2013. TCM is currently showing George Cukor’s lavish My Fair Lady (1964), an Academy Award-winning musical that has (in my humble opinion) unfairly lost quite a bit of its prestige in the last several decades. Rex Harrison, invariably a major ham whether playing Saladin, the King of Siam, Julius Caesar, the ghost of a dead sea captain, or Richard Burton’s lover, is for once flawlessly cast as Professor Henry Higgins, who on stage transformed Julie Andrews from cockney duckling to diction-master swan and who in the movie version does the same for Audrey Hepburn. Harrison, by the way, was the year’s Best Actor Oscar winner. (See also: "Audrey Hepburn vs. Julie Andrews: Biggest Oscar Snubs.") Following My Fair Lady, Rex Harrison...
- 8/31/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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
Another edition of May Flowers is blooming...
abstew here with a look at a film that's so enamored with flowers that beautiful blossoms show up on screen even before the title of the film:
But, the flowers aren't merely decorative... although they are loverly. They line the streets of Covent Garden where the rich come to take in the refined, artistic pleasures of the Opera. And the poor, including our film's heroine, Eliza Doolittle (played by Audrey Hepburn), try to make a decent day's wages by selling the flowers to the visiting elite. The whole series of events that changes Eliza's fate all happens because she tries to sell her violets to one Colonel Pickering (Stanley Holloway). Little does she know that her conversation with the gentleman is being phonetically transcribed by a linguist professor named Henry Higgins (or as Eliza would say, 'Enry 'Iggins and played by Rex Harrison...
abstew here with a look at a film that's so enamored with flowers that beautiful blossoms show up on screen even before the title of the film:
But, the flowers aren't merely decorative... although they are loverly. They line the streets of Covent Garden where the rich come to take in the refined, artistic pleasures of the Opera. And the poor, including our film's heroine, Eliza Doolittle (played by Audrey Hepburn), try to make a decent day's wages by selling the flowers to the visiting elite. The whole series of events that changes Eliza's fate all happens because she tries to sell her violets to one Colonel Pickering (Stanley Holloway). Little does she know that her conversation with the gentleman is being phonetically transcribed by a linguist professor named Henry Higgins (or as Eliza would say, 'Enry 'Iggins and played by Rex Harrison...
- 5/16/2013
- by abstew
- FilmExperience
Deanna Durbin: Highest-paid actress in the world [See previous post: "Deanna Durbin in the '40s: From Wholesome Musicals to Film Noir Sex Worker."] Despite several missteps in the handling of her career, David Shipman states that Deanna Durbin was Hollywood’s (and the world’s) highest-paid actress in both 1945 and 1947. In 1946, Durbin’s earnings of $323,477 trailed only Bette Davis’ $328,000 at Warner Bros. Those are impressive rankings (and wages), but ironically Durbin’s high earnings ultimately harmed her career. By the mid-’40s, her domestic box-office allure was beginning to fade, a situation surely worsened by World War II closing off most of Hollywood’s top international markets. As a result, Universal, since 1947 a new entity known as Universal-International, was unwilling to spend extra money in their star’s already costly vehicles. That’s a similar predicament to the one faced by silent-era superstar John Gilbert at MGM in the early ’30s: the studio had to pay Gilbert an exorbitant salary that made his movies much...
- 5/5/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Brief Encounter has beaten Casablanca to the title of 'Best Romantic Film' in a new list for Time Out London.
The list was compiled with input from 101 industry experts, including actor Richard Gere, directors Judd Apatow and Edgar Wright, and Miss Piggy of The Muppets.
> Read the full top 100 on the 'Time Out' website
Time Out London's film editor Dave Calhoun said: "What makes the Time Out list so exciting and unusual is that it's not just the opinion of three sun-starved film critics sitting in a darkened room and writing a list.
"Instead, we got off our sofas and asked 101 real experts in movies and romance for their personal take on the matter - and our top 100 romantic films reflects their very personal choices."
Topping the list was David Lean's 1946 drama Brief Encounter, written by Noël Coward and starring Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway and Joyce Carey.
The list was compiled with input from 101 industry experts, including actor Richard Gere, directors Judd Apatow and Edgar Wright, and Miss Piggy of The Muppets.
> Read the full top 100 on the 'Time Out' website
Time Out London's film editor Dave Calhoun said: "What makes the Time Out list so exciting and unusual is that it's not just the opinion of three sun-starved film critics sitting in a darkened room and writing a list.
"Instead, we got off our sofas and asked 101 real experts in movies and romance for their personal take on the matter - and our top 100 romantic films reflects their very personal choices."
Topping the list was David Lean's 1946 drama Brief Encounter, written by Noël Coward and starring Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway and Joyce Carey.
- 4/24/2013
- Digital Spy
★★★★★ The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953), starring legends of British screen Stanley Holloway, Hugh Griffith and Sid James, is one of those rare things seldom found in cinema - a film which is virtually perfect in every respect. Made by the iconic Ealing Studios and directed by Charles Crichton (who'd been responsible for the studio's previous hits Dead of Night [1945] and 1951's The Lavender Hill Mob), this story of a group of villagers who fight to save their local railway line when it's threatened with closure, is as fresh now as when it was released sixty years ago - which makes this new StudioCanal rerelease all the more enjoyable and satisfying.
Read more »...
Read more »...
- 1/15/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Although Ealing Studios did not exclusively make comedies – actually, less than ten percent of their output was comic – it is the run of comedies from the late ’40s into the ’50s that the studio is best remembered for, and it’s not difficult to see why. Under the leadership of Michael Balcon, the legendary British producer who also founded Gainsborough Pictures, they produced incredibly sharp, witty and likeable comedies ranging from the whimsy of a film like Passport to Pimlico to the razor-sharp black comedy of Kind Hearts and Coronets, also released in 1949.
The movies were quintessentially British, and often got funnier as they got darker precisely because the characters had to uphold good British virtues while getting away with political upheaval (Passport to Pimlico), theft (The Lavender Hill Mob, one of their best) or murder (Kind Hearts and Coronets). This paradox is prevalent in Passport to Pimlico,...
Although Ealing Studios did not exclusively make comedies – actually, less than ten percent of their output was comic – it is the run of comedies from the late ’40s into the ’50s that the studio is best remembered for, and it’s not difficult to see why. Under the leadership of Michael Balcon, the legendary British producer who also founded Gainsborough Pictures, they produced incredibly sharp, witty and likeable comedies ranging from the whimsy of a film like Passport to Pimlico to the razor-sharp black comedy of Kind Hearts and Coronets, also released in 1949.
The movies were quintessentially British, and often got funnier as they got darker precisely because the characters had to uphold good British virtues while getting away with political upheaval (Passport to Pimlico), theft (The Lavender Hill Mob, one of their best) or murder (Kind Hearts and Coronets). This paradox is prevalent in Passport to Pimlico,...
- 6/12/2012
- by Adam Whyte
- Obsessed with Film
ill Manors (18)
(Ben Drew, 2012, UK) Riz Ahmed, Ed Skrein, Natalie Press, Anouska Mond. 121 mins
The coalition government has repeatedly denied his existence, but Plan B proves he's for real with this intense, provocative survey of British urban decay in all its forms. A few too many forms, perhaps, as this crams in so many tales of hardship, exploitation, drugs and violence, and seeks to render them in so many ways (hip-hop numbers, tricksy visuals, flashbacks), it gets a bit carried away. Still, top marks for at least trying to tell it like it is.
Red Tails (12A)
(Anthony Hemingway, 2012, Us) Cuba Gooding Jr, Terrence Howard. 125 mins
George Lucas co-produces this story of the African-American Tuskegee Airmen and their role in the second world war, fighting both Nazis and racism. There's more of an eye for aerial action than grown-up drama, though.
A Fantastic Fear Of Everything (15)
(Crispian Mills, Chris Hopewell,...
(Ben Drew, 2012, UK) Riz Ahmed, Ed Skrein, Natalie Press, Anouska Mond. 121 mins
The coalition government has repeatedly denied his existence, but Plan B proves he's for real with this intense, provocative survey of British urban decay in all its forms. A few too many forms, perhaps, as this crams in so many tales of hardship, exploitation, drugs and violence, and seeks to render them in so many ways (hip-hop numbers, tricksy visuals, flashbacks), it gets a bit carried away. Still, top marks for at least trying to tell it like it is.
Red Tails (12A)
(Anthony Hemingway, 2012, Us) Cuba Gooding Jr, Terrence Howard. 125 mins
George Lucas co-produces this story of the African-American Tuskegee Airmen and their role in the second world war, fighting both Nazis and racism. There's more of an eye for aerial action than grown-up drama, though.
A Fantastic Fear Of Everything (15)
(Crispian Mills, Chris Hopewell,...
- 6/8/2012
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
In 1966 the Hallmark Hall of Fame presented a television adaptation of Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidts Off Broadway musical The Fantasticks. Ricardo Montalban appeared as El Gallo and Bert Lahr and Stanley Holloway were the two fathers. The young lovers were played by Broadways favorite ingnue, Susan Watson, and a clean-cut young man named John Davidson who had made a strong impression on Broadway audiences as Lahrs son in the musical Foxy.
- 6/8/2012
- by Joseph F. Panarello
- BroadwayWorld.com
Andrei Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev Andrei Tarkovsky, Audrey Hepburn, Clara Bow Movies: Packard Campus May 2012 Schedule Friday, April 27 (7:30 p.m.) Solaris (Magna, 1972) An alien intelligence infiltrates a space mission. Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. With Natalya Bondarchuk and Donatas Banionis. Sci-fi psychological drama. Black & White and color, 167 min. In Russian and German with English subtitles. Saturday, April 28 (7:30 p.m.) To Kill A Mockingbird (Universal, 1962) A Southern lawyer defends a black man wrongly accused of rape, and tries to explain the proceedings to his children. Directed by Robert Mulligan. With Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Phillip Alford, Brock Peters and Robert Duvall. Drama. Black & white, 129 min. Selected for the National Film Registry in 1995. Thursday, May 3 (7:30 p.m.) The Little Giant (Warner Bros., 1933) A Chicago beer magnate about to lose his business with the repeal of Prohibition, moves to California and tries to join society's upper crust, but his gangster origins prove tough to shake.
- 4/21/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
DVD Playhouse—April 2012
By Allen Gardner
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Warner Bros.) An eleven year-old boy (newcomer Thomas Horn, in an incredible debut) discovers a mysterious key amongst the possessions of his late father (Tom Hanks) who perished in 9/11. Determined to find the lock it matches, the boy embarks on a Picaresque odyssey across New York City. Director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter Eric Roth have fashioned a film both grand and intimate, beautifully-adapted from Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, thought by most who read it to be unfilmable. Fine support from Jeffrey Wright, Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, Viola Davis and the great Max von Sydow. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.
Battle Royale: The Complete Collection (Anchor Bay) Adapted from Koushun Takami’s polarizing novel (compared by champions and detractors alike as a 21st century version of A Clockwork Orange) and set in a futuristic Japan,...
By Allen Gardner
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Warner Bros.) An eleven year-old boy (newcomer Thomas Horn, in an incredible debut) discovers a mysterious key amongst the possessions of his late father (Tom Hanks) who perished in 9/11. Determined to find the lock it matches, the boy embarks on a Picaresque odyssey across New York City. Director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter Eric Roth have fashioned a film both grand and intimate, beautifully-adapted from Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, thought by most who read it to be unfilmable. Fine support from Jeffrey Wright, Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, Viola Davis and the great Max von Sydow. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.
Battle Royale: The Complete Collection (Anchor Bay) Adapted from Koushun Takami’s polarizing novel (compared by champions and detractors alike as a 21st century version of A Clockwork Orange) and set in a futuristic Japan,...
- 4/13/2012
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
To mark the release of classic movie based on the Charles Dickens novel The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby on DVD 14th May, we’ve been given three copies to give away. It’s directed by Alberto Cavalcanti and stars Derek Bond, Cedric Hardwicke & Stanley Holloway.
Derek Bond plays the title character, a resourceful young Britisher forced to protect his family against the demonic machinations of his wicked Uncle Ralph (Cedric Hardwicke). Cast out into the cold cruel world, Nicholas Nickleby deals adroitly with friend and foe alike, eventually coming full circle to mete out just desserts to his unspeakable uncle.
Special Features:
New Interview with BFI Dickens Season Curators Adrian Wootton & Michael Eaton New Interview with Dickens biographer Michael Slater Nicholas Nickleby, a silent film from 1912 directed by George O. Nichols Behind the scenes stills gallery
To be in with a chance of winning this great prize, simply...
Derek Bond plays the title character, a resourceful young Britisher forced to protect his family against the demonic machinations of his wicked Uncle Ralph (Cedric Hardwicke). Cast out into the cold cruel world, Nicholas Nickleby deals adroitly with friend and foe alike, eventually coming full circle to mete out just desserts to his unspeakable uncle.
Special Features:
New Interview with BFI Dickens Season Curators Adrian Wootton & Michael Eaton New Interview with Dickens biographer Michael Slater Nicholas Nickleby, a silent film from 1912 directed by George O. Nichols Behind the scenes stills gallery
To be in with a chance of winning this great prize, simply...
- 4/13/2012
- by Competitons
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Chicago – One of the clear observations in re-connecting with the 1964 Oscar-winning Best Picture “My Fair Lady,” is that essentially it’s a timeless musical. It lives in a universe of George Bernard Shaw, adapted from his original play “Pygmalion,” and comes to life through the music and lyrics of Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner.
Blu-ray Rating: 4.5/5.0
Audrey Hepburn stars as Eliza Doolittle, a controversial choice at the time, since Eliza was brought to the stage by the legendary Julie Andrews, but she creates a captivating, sprightly character that handles all the complex emotions of the character’s transition. Rex Harrison revives from the stage the role he is best known for, that of Professor Henry Higgins. Hepburn and Harrison have fine chemistry, and carry the glorious rendering of the film by iconic director George Cukor with heart and bearing.
Eliza is a street urchin, barely making ends meet as...
Blu-ray Rating: 4.5/5.0
Audrey Hepburn stars as Eliza Doolittle, a controversial choice at the time, since Eliza was brought to the stage by the legendary Julie Andrews, but she creates a captivating, sprightly character that handles all the complex emotions of the character’s transition. Rex Harrison revives from the stage the role he is best known for, that of Professor Henry Higgins. Hepburn and Harrison have fine chemistry, and carry the glorious rendering of the film by iconic director George Cukor with heart and bearing.
Eliza is a street urchin, barely making ends meet as...
- 12/14/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Hitting movie theaters this weekend:
Happy Feet Two - Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Pink
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 - Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
Movie of the Week
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1
The Stars: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
The Plot: The Quileute and the Volturi close in on expecting parents Edward and Bella, whose unborn child poses different threats to the wolf pack and vampire coven.
The Buzz: The only drawback to having to choose a movie of the week becomes apparent on weeks such as this one, wherein I have absolutely zero interest in any of the new releases. First of all, I hated what I saw of the first Happy Feet, and the trailer for Happy Feet Two advertises a film which looks to be about as bearable as swallowing a glass full of shards of glass. And so, the...
Happy Feet Two - Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Pink
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 - Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
Movie of the Week
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1
The Stars: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
The Plot: The Quileute and the Volturi close in on expecting parents Edward and Bella, whose unborn child poses different threats to the wolf pack and vampire coven.
The Buzz: The only drawback to having to choose a movie of the week becomes apparent on weeks such as this one, wherein I have absolutely zero interest in any of the new releases. First of all, I hated what I saw of the first Happy Feet, and the trailer for Happy Feet Two advertises a film which looks to be about as bearable as swallowing a glass full of shards of glass. And so, the...
- 11/16/2011
- by Aaron Ruffcorn
- The Scorecard Review
This week, Syfy’s Being Human: The Complete First Season takes center stage in New DVD & Blu-ray releases. There are also several hits for nostalgic fans looking to make the upgrade from DVD to Blu-ray. Classics like My Fair Lady, West Side Story and Looney Tunes all get a Blu-ray release. Gaming and Anime fans will want to check out Assassins Creed: Lineage and Bleach the Movie: Fade to Black respectively. What blu-rays and dvds are you watching this week? Being Human: The Complete First Season [Blu-ray] Starring Sam Huntington, Sam Witwer West Side Story: 50th Anniversary Edition [Blu-ray] Starring Natalie Wood, George Chakiris, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno My Fair Lady [Blu-ray] Starring Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Gladys Cooper Evil Dead 2 [Blu-ray] Starring Bruce Campbell, Dan Hicks, Ted Raimi Larry Crowne [Blu-ray] Starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Sarah Mahoney, Roxana Ortega, Randall...
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- 11/15/2011
- by Bags H.
- BuzzFocus.com
Release Date: Nov. 15, 2011
Price: Blu-ray $32.99
Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
The classic musical My Fair Lady, starring the stunning and irrepressible Audrey Hepburn (Breakfast at Tiffany’s), got a restoration so it would be spick and span for its high-definition Blu-ray debut.
Based on George Bernard Shaw‘s play Pygmalion, the movie stars Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle, a cockney flower girl who becomes the subject of a wager of a snobbish phonetics professor (Rex Harrison, The Ghost of Mrs. Muir) that he can transform her into the toast of English high society. Along the way, the free-spirited Eliza starts to rub off on her stuffy teacher.
Directed by George Cukor (A Star Is Born), the romance film won eight Academy Awards when it was released in theaters in 1964, including Best Picture. The other categories it took home a statue for were Best Actor (Harrison), Best Director, art direction, cinematography, costume design,...
Price: Blu-ray $32.99
Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
The classic musical My Fair Lady, starring the stunning and irrepressible Audrey Hepburn (Breakfast at Tiffany’s), got a restoration so it would be spick and span for its high-definition Blu-ray debut.
Based on George Bernard Shaw‘s play Pygmalion, the movie stars Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle, a cockney flower girl who becomes the subject of a wager of a snobbish phonetics professor (Rex Harrison, The Ghost of Mrs. Muir) that he can transform her into the toast of English high society. Along the way, the free-spirited Eliza starts to rub off on her stuffy teacher.
Directed by George Cukor (A Star Is Born), the romance film won eight Academy Awards when it was released in theaters in 1964, including Best Picture. The other categories it took home a statue for were Best Actor (Harrison), Best Director, art direction, cinematography, costume design,...
- 10/21/2011
- by Sam
- Disc Dish
There have been plenty of creepy songs over the last thousand or so years. (Mozart‘s Requiem anybody? Well everybody, eventually.) We’ve decided to compile The 88 Creepiest Song Titles Of All Time. To be fair, we left out pretty much every death metal title because, frankly, they’re all pretty creepy. Click on the names of each artist to hear the selection. And feel free to weigh in on any song titles we may have left out in the comments. 88. “My Ding-a-Ling” Chuck Berry A no-brainer. It’s a song about a little boy discovering his penis, and it’s sung by a man well into his 40s. Perverted Justice’s favorite tune. 87. “Two Lovely Black Eyes” Charles Coborn What’s lovelier than a woman who was beaten in the face twice? According to Charles Coborn, nothing! 86. “With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm” Stanley Holloway A song about Anne Boleyn,...
- 9/30/2011
- by Michelle Collins
- BestWeekEver
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