The Philadelphia Story actor Jimmy Stewart was known for his signature voice and his ability to portray the average man on the silver screen. He rightfully went down as one of the greatest performers to ever grace the Hollywood scene. However, the industry itself didn’t always pay him the utmost respect. The Oscar that Stewart won for The Philadelphia Story had a major flaw that was impossible to ignore.
Jimmy Stewart won an Oscar for ‘The Philadelphia Story’ L-r: Ginger Rogers and Jimmy Stewart | Getty Images
Stewart played nosy reporter Macaulay Connor in 1940’s The Philadelphia Story, a classic romantic comedy. A high-class woman named Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn) split from her husband (Cary Grant) as a result of his non-stop drinking and her high-maintenance personality. Next, she’s marrying the wealthy George Kittredge (John Howard), but she’s also hung up on Macaulay. Tracy must decide which man...
Jimmy Stewart won an Oscar for ‘The Philadelphia Story’ L-r: Ginger Rogers and Jimmy Stewart | Getty Images
Stewart played nosy reporter Macaulay Connor in 1940’s The Philadelphia Story, a classic romantic comedy. A high-class woman named Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn) split from her husband (Cary Grant) as a result of his non-stop drinking and her high-maintenance personality. Next, she’s marrying the wealthy George Kittredge (John Howard), but she’s also hung up on Macaulay. Tracy must decide which man...
- 3/12/2023
- by Jeff Nelson
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Director George Cukor's "The Philadelphia Story" may have been designed as a comeback vehicle for Katherine Hepburn, but it also served as delightful showcase for her two leading men, Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart. In "The Philadelphia Story," Hepburn is Tracy Lord, a spit-fire of a socialite that everyone is convinced is a haughty, spoiled brat. She's about to marry her new-money fiancée when her ex-husband, C.K. Dexter Haven (that's Grant), comes back into town. Once a yacht designer, now a correspondent for "Spy" magazine, he's there to help reporter Macaulay "Mike" Connor (that's Stewart) and his photographer Liz Imbrie (Ruth Hussey) cover the nuptials with little to no pushback.
Admittedly, there's a lot going on in the film. But at the end of the day, Hepburn, Grant and Stewart are the stars of the show — and for good reason. The role of Dexter was obviously a great one for Grant,...
Admittedly, there's a lot going on in the film. But at the end of the day, Hepburn, Grant and Stewart are the stars of the show — and for good reason. The role of Dexter was obviously a great one for Grant,...
- 1/12/2023
- by Lyvie Scott
- Slash Film
Van Heflin in Tennessee Johnson (1942) is currently available on Blu-ray from Warner Archive
Tennessee Johnson provided M-g-m an opportunity to showcase the impressive talents of studio newcomer Van Heflin, who had just earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar(r) for the 1941 crime hit Johnny Eager. The studio found an ideal role for Heflin in Andrew Johnson, the Tennessee tailor-turned-senator who broke with the South, rose to the vice presidency under Abraham Lincoln and soon became – after Lincoln’s assassination – the first U.S. president to face impeachment.
With inspired direction by William Dieterle, Heflin convinces as Johnson “by the sheer sincerity and strength of his performance” (The New York Times). Studio stalwart Lionel Barrymore portrays Johnson’s nemesis, Thaddeus Stevens, and Ruth Hussey plays Johnson’s devoted wife.
The post Van Heflin in Tennessee Johnson Available on Blu-ray From Warner Archive appeared first on We Are Movie Geeks.
Tennessee Johnson provided M-g-m an opportunity to showcase the impressive talents of studio newcomer Van Heflin, who had just earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar(r) for the 1941 crime hit Johnny Eager. The studio found an ideal role for Heflin in Andrew Johnson, the Tennessee tailor-turned-senator who broke with the South, rose to the vice presidency under Abraham Lincoln and soon became – after Lincoln’s assassination – the first U.S. president to face impeachment.
With inspired direction by William Dieterle, Heflin convinces as Johnson “by the sheer sincerity and strength of his performance” (The New York Times). Studio stalwart Lionel Barrymore portrays Johnson’s nemesis, Thaddeus Stevens, and Ruth Hussey plays Johnson’s devoted wife.
The post Van Heflin in Tennessee Johnson Available on Blu-ray From Warner Archive appeared first on We Are Movie Geeks.
- 10/14/2020
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
“Courtroom Hijinks”
By Raymond Benson
The 1948 courtroom drama, I, Jane Doe, directed by John H. Auer and starring the inimitable Ruth Hussey as a defense attorney who displays feminist tendencies before that word was in the public vernacular, is a well-acted, twisty-plotted, and entertaining B-movie flick from second-string studio Republic Pictures—except for one thing… the trial and all the aspects associated with it is absolute nonsense.
It’s as if screenwriter Lawrence Kimble made up a courtroom drama based on what he’d seen from other movies of that ilk without ever studying the law as it applies to a trial. In no way would our heroine, Eve Meredith Curtis (Hussey), be able to insist on a retrial of a convicted murderer on the basis that Ms. Doe had refused to reveal her real name or present a defense for herself in the first trial.
“Courtroom Hijinks”
By Raymond Benson
The 1948 courtroom drama, I, Jane Doe, directed by John H. Auer and starring the inimitable Ruth Hussey as a defense attorney who displays feminist tendencies before that word was in the public vernacular, is a well-acted, twisty-plotted, and entertaining B-movie flick from second-string studio Republic Pictures—except for one thing… the trial and all the aspects associated with it is absolute nonsense.
It’s as if screenwriter Lawrence Kimble made up a courtroom drama based on what he’d seen from other movies of that ilk without ever studying the law as it applies to a trial. In no way would our heroine, Eve Meredith Curtis (Hussey), be able to insist on a retrial of a convicted murderer on the basis that Ms. Doe had refused to reveal her real name or present a defense for herself in the first trial.
- 6/27/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
The Uninvited
Blu ray
Criterion
1944 / 1.33:1 / 99 min.
Starring Ray Milland, Gail Russell, Ruth Hussey
Cinematography by Charles Lang
Directed by Lewis Allen
The story of a lonely young woman and the ghosts in her life, Dorothy Macardle’s Uneasy Freehold was published in 1941 and brought to the screen in 1944 as The Uninvited. The film follows the same trajectory as the book: Rick Fitzgerald and his sister Pamela are two Londoners searching for more peaceful surroundings when they discover their dream home on a sea-swept cliff in Cornwall – a vacant estate called Windward House. The couple’s first swing through the place is full of promise – roomy if dusty chambers, a kitchen ripe for renovation and a sunny studio overlooking the ocean. Once they take up residence, things change. One room is inexplicably cold. And at night, in what would be a deal breaker for most new homeowners, a woman’s sobs echo through the hallways.
Blu ray
Criterion
1944 / 1.33:1 / 99 min.
Starring Ray Milland, Gail Russell, Ruth Hussey
Cinematography by Charles Lang
Directed by Lewis Allen
The story of a lonely young woman and the ghosts in her life, Dorothy Macardle’s Uneasy Freehold was published in 1941 and brought to the screen in 1944 as The Uninvited. The film follows the same trajectory as the book: Rick Fitzgerald and his sister Pamela are two Londoners searching for more peaceful surroundings when they discover their dream home on a sea-swept cliff in Cornwall – a vacant estate called Windward House. The couple’s first swing through the place is full of promise – roomy if dusty chambers, a kitchen ripe for renovation and a sunny studio overlooking the ocean. Once they take up residence, things change. One room is inexplicably cold. And at night, in what would be a deal breaker for most new homeowners, a woman’s sobs echo through the hallways.
- 4/4/2020
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
[This Halloween season, we're paying tribute to classic horror cinema by celebrating films released before 1970! Check back on Daily Dead this month for more retrospectives on classic horror films, and visit our online hub to catch up on all of our Halloween 2019 special features!]
The Uninvited is a supernatural film from 1944. Though it has garnered praise both then and now for its stunning cinematography, marvelous cast and effects work used to bring the story’s ghost to the screen, it is a film that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough, and would be very at home on anyone’s October viewing list.
Written by Dodie Smith and Frank Partos (based on a novel by Dorothy Macardle) and directed by Lewis Allen, the film follows siblings Rick (Ray Milland) and Pamela Fitzgerald (Ruth Hussey) on a seaside vacation where they happen upon an old abandoned house. They immediately fall in love with the property, and inquire about buying it. The owner, Commander Beech (Donald Crisp), is more than happy to sell and offers the house at a very low price. His granddaughter, Stella (Gail Russell), is less than thrilled about the sale. The house...
The Uninvited is a supernatural film from 1944. Though it has garnered praise both then and now for its stunning cinematography, marvelous cast and effects work used to bring the story’s ghost to the screen, it is a film that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough, and would be very at home on anyone’s October viewing list.
Written by Dodie Smith and Frank Partos (based on a novel by Dorothy Macardle) and directed by Lewis Allen, the film follows siblings Rick (Ray Milland) and Pamela Fitzgerald (Ruth Hussey) on a seaside vacation where they happen upon an old abandoned house. They immediately fall in love with the property, and inquire about buying it. The owner, Commander Beech (Donald Crisp), is more than happy to sell and offers the house at a very low price. His granddaughter, Stella (Gail Russell), is less than thrilled about the sale. The house...
- 10/22/2019
- by Emily von Seele
- DailyDead
Stars: Ruth Hussey, Ray Milland, Gail Russell, Donald Crisp, Barbara Everest | Written by Frank Partos, Dodie Smith | Directed by Lewis Allen
“Be afraid. Be afraid, for heaven’s sake.” This line may have inspired Geena Davis’s famous warning from David Cronenberg’s The Fly. Indeed, this 1944 groundbreaker provides a reference point for many a horror movie since. While The Uninvited may not chill you to the bone, it is a reminder that not everything in the horror genre prior to Jack Clayton’s The Innocents relied on spooky stageplay castles and camp.
Adapted from the novel by Dorothy Macardle and directed by feature debutant Lewis Allen, the narrative is for the most part a vehicle for exposition. In that way it’s more suited to the page or the radio play format; but the plot is intriguing enough, the performances are effective, and there are some creepy images and ideas.
“Be afraid. Be afraid, for heaven’s sake.” This line may have inspired Geena Davis’s famous warning from David Cronenberg’s The Fly. Indeed, this 1944 groundbreaker provides a reference point for many a horror movie since. While The Uninvited may not chill you to the bone, it is a reminder that not everything in the horror genre prior to Jack Clayton’s The Innocents relied on spooky stageplay castles and camp.
Adapted from the novel by Dorothy Macardle and directed by feature debutant Lewis Allen, the narrative is for the most part a vehicle for exposition. In that way it’s more suited to the page or the radio play format; but the plot is intriguing enough, the performances are effective, and there are some creepy images and ideas.
- 10/12/2018
- by Rupert Harvey
- Nerdly
When it comes to the perfect haunted house films, horror aficionados usually list a handful of reliable classics. There’s 1944’s “The Uninvited,” starring Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey; 1961’s “The Innocents,” where Deborah Kerr takes on Henry James’ iconic ghost story “The Turn of the Screw”; and there’s 1963’s “The Haunting,” a pitch-perfect adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s tale of a truly diabolical haunted house.
However, 1980’s “The Changeling” often gets left out of this conversation — but there’s a reason Martin Scorsese calls it one of his favorite horror films of all time. The film stars Oscar winner George C. Scott as John Russell, a composer struggling with his own family grief who gets caught up in a supernatural mystery involving his new home, where the ghost of a child seeks to bring the house’s dark hidden history to light.
Now 80 years old, “The Changeling” director...
However, 1980’s “The Changeling” often gets left out of this conversation — but there’s a reason Martin Scorsese calls it one of his favorite horror films of all time. The film stars Oscar winner George C. Scott as John Russell, a composer struggling with his own family grief who gets caught up in a supernatural mystery involving his new home, where the ghost of a child seeks to bring the house’s dark hidden history to light.
Now 80 years old, “The Changeling” director...
- 8/21/2018
- by Jamie Righetti
- Indiewire
A prime specimen of the classic Hollywood Golden Age studio system firing on all cylinders. A beloved romantic comedy presented in a definitive edition for the enjoyment of longtime fans that also sets it up for discovery by a new generation. The crucial hit that restored Katharine Hepburn’s faltering career and launched her into legendary status as one of the greatest movie stars of all time. A fascinating story that weaves themes of social class, gender roles, media sensationalism and relationship tensions with timeless wit and flawless delivery. There are many angles by which a viewer can approach The Philadelphia Story and come away with heartfelt appreciation of this new release by the Criterion Collection.
For those unfamiliar with the plot, as the title implies, The Philadelphia Story is set in a wealthy suburban enclave on the outskirts of that city. Tracy Lord, the oldest daughter of a high-society...
For those unfamiliar with the plot, as the title implies, The Philadelphia Story is set in a wealthy suburban enclave on the outskirts of that city. Tracy Lord, the oldest daughter of a high-society...
- 11/13/2017
- by David Blakeslee
- CriterionCast
Ghosts are famous for their flexibility, spiraling through keyholes and up from the floorboards in search of their next mark. But movies about ghosts can be flexible too. Three classics of the genre, The Uninvited, House on Haunted Hill and The Innocents, demonstrate that there’s more than one way haunt a house.
These films never appeared on any triple bill that I know of, but I’d like to think they did, somewhere in some small town with a theater manager that knew a good scare when he saw it. How could the programmer resist it? Each film is united by a beautiful black and white sheen, eerie locales and their ability to scare the bejeezus out of you. But they’re also alike in their differences, coming at their specters from distinctly different vantage points.
1944’s The Uninvited, a three-hankie haunted house tale with a dysfunctional family subplot,...
These films never appeared on any triple bill that I know of, but I’d like to think they did, somewhere in some small town with a theater manager that knew a good scare when he saw it. How could the programmer resist it? Each film is united by a beautiful black and white sheen, eerie locales and their ability to scare the bejeezus out of you. But they’re also alike in their differences, coming at their specters from distinctly different vantage points.
1944’s The Uninvited, a three-hankie haunted house tale with a dysfunctional family subplot,...
- 10/28/2017
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Rebecca Clough Oct 30, 2018
With Halloween upon us, we picked 25 appropriately spooky movies...
This article comes from Den of Geek UK.
Sick of Halloween films about axe-wielding maniacs and razorblade candy? Weary of vampires, werewolves and the odd zombie apocalypse? Sometimes we just need to get back to basics: A dark and stormy evening, a creaky old house, and things that go bump in the night.
It’s said that the veil between the worlds of the dead and the living is at its thinnest around Halloween, so how better to celebrate than to turn the lights off, ignore the trick or treaters and enjoy one of these awesomely spooky movies?
25. The Awakening (2011)
This BBC film is set in the 1920s and is an amalgam of several ghost stories (lifting certain scenes almost verbatim from Haunted). However, what it lacks in originality it makes up for in elegance; it’s worth...
With Halloween upon us, we picked 25 appropriately spooky movies...
This article comes from Den of Geek UK.
Sick of Halloween films about axe-wielding maniacs and razorblade candy? Weary of vampires, werewolves and the odd zombie apocalypse? Sometimes we just need to get back to basics: A dark and stormy evening, a creaky old house, and things that go bump in the night.
It’s said that the veil between the worlds of the dead and the living is at its thinnest around Halloween, so how better to celebrate than to turn the lights off, ignore the trick or treaters and enjoy one of these awesomely spooky movies?
25. The Awakening (2011)
This BBC film is set in the 1920s and is an amalgam of several ghost stories (lifting certain scenes almost verbatim from Haunted). However, what it lacks in originality it makes up for in elegance; it’s worth...
- 10/27/2016
- Den of Geek
Norma Shearer films Note: This article is being revised and expanded. Please check back later. Turner Classic Movies' Norma Shearer month comes to a close this evening, Nov. 24, '15, with the presentation of the last six films of Shearer's two-decade-plus career. Two of these are remarkably good; one is schizophrenic, a confused mix of high comedy and low drama; while the other three aren't the greatest. Yet all six are worth a look even if only because of Norma Shearer herself – though, really, they all have more to offer than just their top star. Directed by W.S. Van Dyke, the no-expense-spared Marie Antoinette (1938) – $2.9 million, making it one of the most expensive movies ever made up to that time – stars the Canadian-born Queen of MGM as the Austrian-born Queen of France. This was Shearer's first film in two years (following Romeo and Juliet) and her first release following husband Irving G.
- 11/25/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Norma Shearer films Note: This article is being revised and expanded. Please check back later. Turner Classic Movies' Norma Shearer month comes to a close this evening, Nov. 24, '15, with the presentation of the last six films of Shearer's two-decade-plus career. Two of these are remarkably good; one is schizophrenic, a confused mix of high comedy and low drama; while the other three aren't the greatest. Yet all six are worth a look even if only because of Norma Shearer herself – though, really, they all have more to offer than just their top star. Directed by W.S. Van Dyke, the no-expense-spared Marie Antoinette (1938) – $2.9 million, making it one of the most expensive movies ever made up to that time – stars the Canadian-born Queen of MGM as the Austrian-born Queen of France. This was Shearer's first film in two years (following Romeo and Juliet) and her first release following husband Irving G.
- 11/25/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Billy Wilder directed Sunset Blvd. with Gloria Swanson and William Holden. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett movies Below is a list of movies on which Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder worked together as screenwriters, including efforts for which they did not receive screen credit. The Wilder-Brackett screenwriting partnership lasted from 1938 to 1949. During that time, they shared two Academy Awards for their work on The Lost Weekend (1945) and, with D.M. Marshman Jr., Sunset Blvd. (1950). More detailed information further below. Post-split years Billy Wilder would later join forces with screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond in movies such as the classic comedy Some Like It Hot (1959), the Best Picture Oscar winner The Apartment (1960), and One Two Three (1961), notable as James Cagney's last film (until a brief comeback in Milos Forman's Ragtime two decades later). Although some of these movies were quite well received, Wilder's later efforts – which also included The Seven Year Itch...
- 9/16/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Joan Crawford Movie Star Joan Crawford movies on TCM: Underrated actress, top star in several of her greatest roles If there was ever a professional who was utterly, completely, wholeheartedly dedicated to her work, Joan Crawford was it. Ambitious, driven, talented, smart, obsessive, calculating, she had whatever it took – and more – to reach the top and stay there. Nearly four decades after her death, Crawford, the star to end all stars, remains one of the iconic performers of the 20th century. Deservedly so, once you choose to bypass the Mommie Dearest inanity and focus on her film work. From the get-go, she was a capable actress; look for the hard-to-find silents The Understanding Heart (1927) and The Taxi Dancer (1927), and check her out in the more easily accessible The Unknown (1927) and Our Dancing Daughters (1928). By the early '30s, Joan Crawford had become a first-rate film actress, far more naturalistic than...
- 8/10/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The rerelease of this utterly beguiling comedy reminds us how extraordinary Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and James Stewart really were
• From Tilda Swinton to Tina Fey: who channels their inner Katharine Hepburn?
However stagily preposterous, George Cukor’s 1940 movie The Philadelphia Story, now rereleased, is also utterly beguiling, funny and romantic; it is based on the same stage play, by Philip Barry, as the 1956 musical High Society. This is the most famous example of the intriguing and now defunct prewar genre of “comedy of remarriage”, the subject of an equally interesting study by film theorist Stanley Cavell called Pursuits Of Happiness. It features three stars from the studio era who are the aristocrats, or deities, of the Hollywood golden age: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart. Part of the fascination in watching this movie again is savouring those three extraordinary voices, highly imitable but entirely unique. Hepburn is the statuesque heiress Tracy Lord,...
• From Tilda Swinton to Tina Fey: who channels their inner Katharine Hepburn?
However stagily preposterous, George Cukor’s 1940 movie The Philadelphia Story, now rereleased, is also utterly beguiling, funny and romantic; it is based on the same stage play, by Philip Barry, as the 1956 musical High Society. This is the most famous example of the intriguing and now defunct prewar genre of “comedy of remarriage”, the subject of an equally interesting study by film theorist Stanley Cavell called Pursuits Of Happiness. It features three stars from the studio era who are the aristocrats, or deities, of the Hollywood golden age: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart. Part of the fascination in watching this movie again is savouring those three extraordinary voices, highly imitable but entirely unique. Hepburn is the statuesque heiress Tracy Lord,...
- 2/12/2015
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Hedy Lamarr: 'Invention' and inventor on Turner Classic Movies (photo: Hedy Lamarr publicity shot ca. early '40s) Two Hedy Lamarr movies released during her heyday in the early '40s — Victor Fleming's Tortilla Flat (1942), co-starring Spencer Tracy and John Garfield, and King Vidor's H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941), co-starring Robert Young and Ruth Hussey — will be broadcast on Turner Classic Movies on Wednesday, November 12, 2014, at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Pt, respectively. Best known as a glamorous Hollywood star (Ziegfeld Girl, White Cargo, Samson and Delilah), the Viennese-born Lamarr (née Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler), who would have turned 100 on November 9, was also an inventor: she co-developed and patented with composer George Antheil the concept of frequency hopping, currently known as spread-spectrum communications (or "spread-spectrum broadcasting"), which ultimately led to the evolution of wireless technology. (More on the George Antheil and Hedy Lamarr invention further below.) Somewhat ironically,...
- 11/2/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Acclaimed American director favours classic black-and-white horror, such as The Haunting and Dead of Night – but The Shining gets a look-in
• Guardian and Observer critics' top 10 horror movies
• 'Here's Johnny!': The Shining scene is scariest in movie history, claims study
Martin Scorsese has named his top 11 scary movies – and surprise, surprise, there's not a Hostel or Saw to be seen.
Instead the professorial director of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Shutter Island has come down firmly in favour of old-school black-and-white chillers, with Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, the Barbara Hershey starrer The Entity, and the child-ghost shocker The Changeling being the most recently-made entries, all in the early 1980s.
Number one on Scorsese's list, compiled for the Daily Beast website, is The Haunting, the 1963 British-made spookfest about a group of ghosthunters staying overnight in a creepy mansion. Directed by Robert Wise, and starring Julie Harris and Claire Bloom,...
• Guardian and Observer critics' top 10 horror movies
• 'Here's Johnny!': The Shining scene is scariest in movie history, claims study
Martin Scorsese has named his top 11 scary movies – and surprise, surprise, there's not a Hostel or Saw to be seen.
Instead the professorial director of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Shutter Island has come down firmly in favour of old-school black-and-white chillers, with Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, the Barbara Hershey starrer The Entity, and the child-ghost shocker The Changeling being the most recently-made entries, all in the early 1980s.
Number one on Scorsese's list, compiled for the Daily Beast website, is The Haunting, the 1963 British-made spookfest about a group of ghosthunters staying overnight in a creepy mansion. Directed by Robert Wise, and starring Julie Harris and Claire Bloom,...
- 11/12/2013
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
By Raymond Benson
It’s not a title that readily pops into one’s head when recalling the great horror films throughout the decades. A British production released when Universal Pictures’ line of horror franchises had declined and Val Lewton’s minimalist Rko productions had reached their height, The Uninvited has remained fairly obscure, in the U.S. anyway, but has also consistently maintained a solid reputation as one of the great, classic haunted house pictures. In fact, The Uninvited could be the first film to treat ghosts seriously rather than as an instrument for humor.
Directed by Lewis Allen and starring Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey and gorgeous Gail Russell in her first film role, the motion picture was released by Paramount in early 1944. Milland was a minor star at the time who would shoot to super-status the following year by winning a Best Actor Oscar for The Lost Weekend.
It’s not a title that readily pops into one’s head when recalling the great horror films throughout the decades. A British production released when Universal Pictures’ line of horror franchises had declined and Val Lewton’s minimalist Rko productions had reached their height, The Uninvited has remained fairly obscure, in the U.S. anyway, but has also consistently maintained a solid reputation as one of the great, classic haunted house pictures. In fact, The Uninvited could be the first film to treat ghosts seriously rather than as an instrument for humor.
Directed by Lewis Allen and starring Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey and gorgeous Gail Russell in her first film role, the motion picture was released by Paramount in early 1944. Milland was a minor star at the time who would shoot to super-status the following year by winning a Best Actor Oscar for The Lost Weekend.
- 10/31/2013
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
I enjoyed watching Lewis Allen's 1944 haunted house feature The Uninvited for the first time on Criterion Blu-ray as much as I raised my eyebrows. Considered one of the first supernatural films to take the idea of ghosts seriously rather than as a punchline, it undoubtedly has an effective level of atmosphere and while it successfully takes its ghost story seriously, it also knows to balance any tension with some humorous beats and moments of romance. That said, I wasn't really buying the romance angle and making this a tale of cohabitating siblings also seemed a little... weird to me. We're introduced to Rick Fitzgerald (Ray Milland) and his sister Pamela (Ruth Hussey) on holiday in Cornwall, England where they stumble upon a cliffside house. After their dog chases a squirrel through an open window, they ultimately barge in to fetch him, realizing the house has been empty for some time.
- 10/28/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Moviefone's Top DVD of the Week:
"The Conjuring"
What's It About? James Wan's "The Conjuring" follows the paranormal hauntings of a Rhode Island farmhouse, based on the real life events documented by investigators of Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga). When the Perron family moves into a new home they begin experiencing loud pounding noises and eerie occurrences that force them to contact the Warren's to help rid them of their home's evil essence.
Why We're In: "The Conjuring" wasn't just one of the best scary movies in years for its hefty amount of solid jumps and scares, but it also took full advantage of the horror genre. Wan's film paid homage to old-school scary movies by implementing the horror tactics we love, bringing a refreshing creativity to exhausted cliches.
Watch: Go behind-the-scenes on "The Conjuring" (Video)
Moviefone's Top Blu-ray of the Week:
"Bruce Lee:...
"The Conjuring"
What's It About? James Wan's "The Conjuring" follows the paranormal hauntings of a Rhode Island farmhouse, based on the real life events documented by investigators of Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga). When the Perron family moves into a new home they begin experiencing loud pounding noises and eerie occurrences that force them to contact the Warren's to help rid them of their home's evil essence.
Why We're In: "The Conjuring" wasn't just one of the best scary movies in years for its hefty amount of solid jumps and scares, but it also took full advantage of the horror genre. Wan's film paid homage to old-school scary movies by implementing the horror tactics we love, bringing a refreshing creativity to exhausted cliches.
Watch: Go behind-the-scenes on "The Conjuring" (Video)
Moviefone's Top Blu-ray of the Week:
"Bruce Lee:...
- 10/22/2013
- by Erin Whitney
- Moviefone
‘The Cat and the Canary’ 1939: Paulette Goddard / Bob Hope haunted house comedy among Halloween 2013 movies at Packard Theater There’s much to recommend among the Library of Congress’ Packard Campus and State Theater screenings in Culpeper, Virginia, in October 2013, including the until recently super-rare Bob Hope / Paulette Goddard haunted house comedy The Cat and the Canary (1939). And that’s one more reason to hope that the Republican Party’s foaming-at-the-mouth extremists (and their voters and supporters), ever bent on destroying the economic and sociopolitical fabric of the United States (and of the rest of the world), will not succeed in shutting down the federal government and thus potentially wreak havoc throughout the U.S. and beyond. (Photo: Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard in The Cat and the Canary.) Screening on Thursday, October 31, at the Packard Theater, Elliott Nugent’s The Cat and the Canary is a remake of Paul Leni...
- 9/29/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Lana Turner movies: Scandal and more scandal Lana Turner is Turner Classic Movies’ "Summer Under the Stars" star today, Saturday, August 10, 2013. I’m a little — or rather, a lot — late in the game posting this article, but there are still three Lana Turner movies left. You can see Turner get herself embroiled in scandal right now, in Douglas Sirk’s Imitation of Life (1959), both the director and the star’s biggest box-office hit. More scandal follows in Mark Robson’s Peyton Place (1957), the movie that earned Lana Turner her one and only Academy Award nomination. And wrapping things up is George Sidney’s lively The Three Musketeers (1948), with Turner as the ruthless, heartless, remorseless — but quite elegant — Lady de Winter. Based on Fannie Hurst’s novel and a remake of John M. Stahl’s 1934 melodrama about mother love, class disparities, racism, and good cooking, Imitation of Life was shown on...
- 8/11/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Mary Boland movies: Scene-stealing actress has her ‘Summer Under the Stars’ day on TCM Turner Classic Movies will dedicate the next 24 hours, Sunday, August 4, 2013, not to Lana Turner, Lauren Bacall, Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Esther Williams, or Bette Davis — TCM’s frequent Warner Bros., MGM, and/or Rko stars — but to the marvelous scene-stealer Mary Boland. A stage actress who was featured in a handful of movies in the 1910s, Boland came into her own as a stellar film supporting player in the early ’30s, initially at Paramount and later at most other Hollywood studios. First, the bad news: TCM’s "Summer Under the Stars" Mary Boland Day will feature only two movies from Boland’s Paramount period: the 1935 Best Picture Academy Award nominee Ruggles of Red Gap, which TCM has shown before, and one TCM premiere. So, no rarities like Secrets of a Secretary, Mama Loves Papa, Melody in Spring,...
- 8/4/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Oct. 22, 2013
Price: DVD $19.95, Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Criterion
Ruth Hussey and Ray Milland investigate things that go bump in the night in The Uninvited.
The 1944 horror-mystery film The Uninvited, directed by Lewis Allen (Suddenly), was groundbreaking for the seriousness with which it treated the haunted-house genre.
A pair of siblings (Ministry of Fear’s Ray Milland and The Philadelphia Story’s Ruth Hussey) from London purchase a surprisingly affordable, lonely cliff-top house in Cornwall, only to discover that it actually carries a ghostly price. It doesn’t take too long before the two are caught up in a bizarre romantic triangle from beyond the grave.
Rich in atmosphere and such genre staples as a tragic family past, a mysteriously locked room, cold chills, and bumps in the night, the gothic-flavored Uninvited remains an elegant and eerie experience, featuring a classic score by Victor Young (Written on the Wind...
Price: DVD $19.95, Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Criterion
Ruth Hussey and Ray Milland investigate things that go bump in the night in The Uninvited.
The 1944 horror-mystery film The Uninvited, directed by Lewis Allen (Suddenly), was groundbreaking for the seriousness with which it treated the haunted-house genre.
A pair of siblings (Ministry of Fear’s Ray Milland and The Philadelphia Story’s Ruth Hussey) from London purchase a surprisingly affordable, lonely cliff-top house in Cornwall, only to discover that it actually carries a ghostly price. It doesn’t take too long before the two are caught up in a bizarre romantic triangle from beyond the grave.
Rich in atmosphere and such genre staples as a tragic family past, a mysteriously locked room, cold chills, and bumps in the night, the gothic-flavored Uninvited remains an elegant and eerie experience, featuring a classic score by Victor Young (Written on the Wind...
- 7/30/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
The Uninvited
Directed by Lewis Allen
Written by Dodie Smith and Frank Partos
Starring Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey, Donald Crisp & Gail Russell
USA , 99 min – 1944.
“If you listen to it long enough, all your senses are sharpened. You come by strange instincts. You get to recognize a peculiar cold that is the first warning. A cold which is no mere matter of degrees Fahrenheit, but a draining of warmth from the vital centers of the living.”
The Uninvited is a supernatural film that is more mysterious than it is horrific. Spirits are taken to be a real possibility in the film, which after the success of Hitchcock & Selznick’s haunting, Rebecca (1940), must have been a necessity. The people who laugh at the notion of the supernatural are quickly proved wrong (as the early voice over suggests) and the film introduces ghosts with both kind and malicious intentions. Ultimately, The Uninvited’s...
Directed by Lewis Allen
Written by Dodie Smith and Frank Partos
Starring Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey, Donald Crisp & Gail Russell
USA , 99 min – 1944.
“If you listen to it long enough, all your senses are sharpened. You come by strange instincts. You get to recognize a peculiar cold that is the first warning. A cold which is no mere matter of degrees Fahrenheit, but a draining of warmth from the vital centers of the living.”
The Uninvited is a supernatural film that is more mysterious than it is horrific. Spirits are taken to be a real possibility in the film, which after the success of Hitchcock & Selznick’s haunting, Rebecca (1940), must have been a necessity. The people who laugh at the notion of the supernatural are quickly proved wrong (as the early voice over suggests) and the film introduces ghosts with both kind and malicious intentions. Ultimately, The Uninvited’s...
- 2/5/2013
- by Karen Bacellar
- SoundOnSight
Van Heflin Movies Turner Classic Movies, Monday, August 6 6:00 Am The Outcasts Of Poker Flat (1937) A former lowlife adopts a child to help him go straight. Dir: Christy Cabanne. Cast: Preston Foster, Jean Muir, Van Heflin. Black and White-68 minutes. 7:15 Am H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941) A stuffy businessman livens things up by having a fling. Dir: King Vidor. Cast: Hedy Lamarr, Robert Young, Ruth Hussey, Van Heflin. Black and White-120 minutes. 9:15 Am Tennessee Johnson (1942) Biography of Andrew Johnson, who followed Abraham Lincoln into office and became the first U.S. president ever to be impeached. Dir: William Dieterle. Cast: Van [...]...
- 8/5/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
George Cukor-directed movies at the Oscars. (See previous post: George Cukor Oscar Actor’s Director. Photo: Judy Holliday, William Holden, Born Yesterday.) George Cukor-directed movies earned twenty-one Academy Award nominations in the acting categories, including five wins. (s) supporting category; (*) Academy Award winner 1930-31 Fredric March, The Royal Family of Broadway (co-directed with Cyril Gardner) 1936 Norma Shearer, Romeo and Juliet Basil Rathbone (s), Romeo and Juliet 1937 Greta Garbo, Camille 1940 * James Stewart, The Philadelphia Story Katharine Hepburn, The Philadelphia Story Ruth Hussey (s), The Philadelphia Story 1944 Charles Boyer, Gaslight * Ingrid Bergman, Gaslight Angela Lansbury (s), Gaslight 1947 * Ronald [...]...
- 7/8/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, The Great Gatsby The first official The Great Gatsby pictures became available online a few days ago. Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, Jason Clarke, and Isla Fisher star in this latest big-screen version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's most famous novel. Moulin Rouge's Baz Luhrmann, who became major world news after injuring his head a week or so ago, directs. Set shortly after the end of World War I, The Great Gatsby is told through the eyes of Nick Carraway (Maguire), a returning war veteran who becomes part of the upper-class universe of Jay Gatsby (DiCaprio). There have been (at least) three previous The Great Gatsby adaptations for the big screen. A 1926 silent version is now lost. Only the trailer remains. Directed by future Oscar nominee Herbert Brenon, the silent starred future Oscar winner Warner Baxter as Jay Gatsby and Lois Wilson...
- 12/31/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Walter Pidgeon on TCM: Forbidden Planet, Executive Suite Schedule (Pt) and synopses from the TCM website: 3:00 Am Sweet Kitty Bellairs (1930) An 18th-century English flirt wins the heart of a notorious highwayman. Cast: Claudia Dell, Ernest Torrence, Walter Pidgeon. Dir: Alfred E. Green. C-63 mins. 4:15 Am Hot Heiress, The (1931) When a society woman falls for a riveter, she tries to pass him off as an architect. Cast: Ben Lyon, Ona Munson, Walter Pidgeon. Dir: Clarence Badger. Bw-79 mins. 5:45 Am Shopworn Angel, The (1938) A showgirl gives up life in the fast lane for a young soldier on his way to fight World War I. Cast: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Walter Pidgeon. Dir: H.C. Potter. Bw-85 mins. 7:15 Am Flight Command (1940) A cocky cadet tries to prove himself during flight training. Cast: Robert Taylor, Ruth Hussey, Walter Pidgeon. Dir: Frank Borzage. Bw-116 mins. 9:15 Am Design For [...]...
- 8/19/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
A couple of months ago, the Loews Jersey City Theatre, the landmark restored movie palace, announced it was showing Universal's classic 1944 ghost movie The Uninvited starring Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey. When the print arrived, the theater discovered they had been sent the recent horror film bearing the same title. An investigation revealed that Universal had no prints of the 1944 in their archive. The Loews used the debacle to lobby the studio to strike a new print for posterity's sake and, full credit to Universal, they have done just that. The new print will make its premiere at the Loews this Saturday, May 30 at 6:00 Pm followed by a showing of Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca. Talk about a double feature! The Loews is only minutes from midtown Manhattan and draws hundreds of classic movie lovers to the magnificent theater to revel in great movies and great conversation with fellow fans.
- 5/29/2009
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Peter Wyngarde and Deborah Kerr in The Innocents.
Remember when ghost stories were created through use of imaginative techniques instead of the blood-soaked CGI special effects employed by today's filmmakers? The Loews Jersey City Theatre, a restored movie palace just minutes from Manhattan, will be presenting three classic ghost movies rarely seen on the big screen. On Friday, the festival kicks off with The Uninvited, a 1944 chiller with Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey as a brother and sister who move into an opulent British mansion - only to learn there are some unexpected and unwelcome spirits on the premises. On Saturday, a lighter view of the spiritual world is on display in the delightful comedy The Ghost and Mrs. Muir starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison. The hightlight of the festival is the presentation of a new Fox archival print of Jack Clayton's superb 1963 film The Innocents, which ranks...
Remember when ghost stories were created through use of imaginative techniques instead of the blood-soaked CGI special effects employed by today's filmmakers? The Loews Jersey City Theatre, a restored movie palace just minutes from Manhattan, will be presenting three classic ghost movies rarely seen on the big screen. On Friday, the festival kicks off with The Uninvited, a 1944 chiller with Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey as a brother and sister who move into an opulent British mansion - only to learn there are some unexpected and unwelcome spirits on the premises. On Saturday, a lighter view of the spiritual world is on display in the delightful comedy The Ghost and Mrs. Muir starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison. The hightlight of the festival is the presentation of a new Fox archival print of Jack Clayton's superb 1963 film The Innocents, which ranks...
- 3/25/2009
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
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