More’s hopelessly vain out-of-work actor is joined by a blue chip cast in a zippy tale that does unfortunately rather show its age
Before Richard E Grant’s Withnail, there was Kenneth More’s Chick Byrd. In Alvin Rakoff’s 1964 British drama, Byrd is an out-of-work actor whose breezy, cynical exuberance masks increasing terror of permanent unemployment and, like Withnail, he is desperate for his agent to call, stunned by his flatmate booking a glamorous film job and stuck living in a scuzzy boarding house in Camden Town (although exteriors were shot in Paddington).
After being fired from his job in provincial rep, Chick has come back down to London to try his luck, meeting up with all the old faces, the familiar parade of ageing thespian losers hanging round West End pubs and cafes during the day and mooching desolately past theatres with huge hoardings showing rave reviews for successful actors.
Before Richard E Grant’s Withnail, there was Kenneth More’s Chick Byrd. In Alvin Rakoff’s 1964 British drama, Byrd is an out-of-work actor whose breezy, cynical exuberance masks increasing terror of permanent unemployment and, like Withnail, he is desperate for his agent to call, stunned by his flatmate booking a glamorous film job and stuck living in a scuzzy boarding house in Camden Town (although exteriors were shot in Paddington).
After being fired from his job in provincial rep, Chick has come back down to London to try his luck, meeting up with all the old faces, the familiar parade of ageing thespian losers hanging round West End pubs and cafes during the day and mooching desolately past theatres with huge hoardings showing rave reviews for successful actors.
- 3/12/2024
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
To celebrate the release of The Comedy Man, on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital from 18th March, we are giving away Blu-Rays to 2 lucky winners!
Boasting a career-best performance from Kenneth More and skilfully directed by Alvin Rakoff, this often-forgotten example of the late British New Wave features an outstanding supporting cast including Cecil Parker, Dennis Price, Edmund Purdom and Billie Whitelaw.
The Comedy Man depicts the life of a struggling actor in Swinging London. Fired from his job in repertory theatre after seducing the producer’s wife, Chick Byrd (Kenneth More) moves to London. At 40 years old, he realises this is his last chance to make it as an actor. After moving into digs in London with Julian (Edmund Purdom), a fellow actor, Julian’s career soars after a successful screen test, but Chick’s meets with continued failure.
After a tumultuous event, Chick finally gets a break and finds...
Boasting a career-best performance from Kenneth More and skilfully directed by Alvin Rakoff, this often-forgotten example of the late British New Wave features an outstanding supporting cast including Cecil Parker, Dennis Price, Edmund Purdom and Billie Whitelaw.
The Comedy Man depicts the life of a struggling actor in Swinging London. Fired from his job in repertory theatre after seducing the producer’s wife, Chick Byrd (Kenneth More) moves to London. At 40 years old, he realises this is his last chance to make it as an actor. After moving into digs in London with Julian (Edmund Purdom), a fellow actor, Julian’s career soars after a successful screen test, but Chick’s meets with continued failure.
After a tumultuous event, Chick finally gets a break and finds...
- 3/9/2024
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Shirley Anne Field, the British leading lady who starred alongside Laurence Olivier in The Entertainer, Albert Finney in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, and Kenneth More in Man in the Moon — all in 1960 — has died. She was 87.
“It is with great sadness that we are sharing the news that Shirley Anne Field passed away peacefully on Sunday, Dec. 10, surrounded by her family and friends,” a spokesperson announced.
“Shirley Anne will be greatly missed and remembered for her unbreakable spirit and her amazing legacy spanning more than five decades on stage and screen.”
For her first Hollywood film, Field passed up John Schlesinger’s A Kind of Loving to star opposite Steve McQueen and Robert Wagner in the World War II drama The War Lover (1962). It was a decision she would regret, she explained in a 2009 interview.
“I finally had a chance to go to Hollywood and become a worldwide name.
“It is with great sadness that we are sharing the news that Shirley Anne Field passed away peacefully on Sunday, Dec. 10, surrounded by her family and friends,” a spokesperson announced.
“Shirley Anne will be greatly missed and remembered for her unbreakable spirit and her amazing legacy spanning more than five decades on stage and screen.”
For her first Hollywood film, Field passed up John Schlesinger’s A Kind of Loving to star opposite Steve McQueen and Robert Wagner in the World War II drama The War Lover (1962). It was a decision she would regret, she explained in a 2009 interview.
“I finally had a chance to go to Hollywood and become a worldwide name.
- 12/12/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
To mark the release of the brand new 4K restorations of The Teckman Mystery and We Joined The Navy, out now, we’ve been given a bundle of both films to give away on Blu-ray.
The Teckman Mystery
The Teckman Mystery is a 1954 British crime mystery, directed by Wendy Toye and starring Margaret Leighton, John Justin, Roland Culver and Michael Medwin. Philip Chance is commissioned by his publisher to write the biography of Martin Teckman, a young airman who crashed and died whilst testing a new plane. But from the moment he arrives home, Philip Chance is beset by a series of ‘accidents’ which indicate strongly that there are people who do not want to see Teckman’s past investigated.
We Joined the Navy
We Joined The Navy is a 1962 British naval comedy starring British film icon Kenneth More, Lloyd Nolan, Joan O’Brien and Mischa Auer Directed by award-winning Wendy Toye.
The Teckman Mystery
The Teckman Mystery is a 1954 British crime mystery, directed by Wendy Toye and starring Margaret Leighton, John Justin, Roland Culver and Michael Medwin. Philip Chance is commissioned by his publisher to write the biography of Martin Teckman, a young airman who crashed and died whilst testing a new plane. But from the moment he arrives home, Philip Chance is beset by a series of ‘accidents’ which indicate strongly that there are people who do not want to see Teckman’s past investigated.
We Joined the Navy
We Joined The Navy is a 1962 British naval comedy starring British film icon Kenneth More, Lloyd Nolan, Joan O’Brien and Mischa Auer Directed by award-winning Wendy Toye.
- 12/5/2022
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
This meticulous docu-drama is still the best show about the Titanic, the awesome disaster that has never lost its grip on the imagination. Roy Ward Baker leads an enormous cast of Brit character actors through 2.5 hours of true-life terror in the icy Atlantic — Kenneth More, Honor Blackman, David McCallum, Laurence Naismith, Anthony Bushell. No stupid subplots and no insulting anachronisms, just an awful sinking death trap and 1600 passengers facing the freezing water. [Imprint] brings some new extras to the mix, too.
A Night to Remember
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] #135
1958 / B&w / 1:66 enhanced widescreen / 123 min. / Street Date June 29, 2022 / Available from / 39.95
Starring: Kenneth More, Honor Blackman, David McCallum, Laurence Naismith, Anthony Bushell, Alec McCowen, John Cairney, Michael Goodliffe, Ronald Allen, John Merivale, Jill Dixon, Kenneth Griffith, Frank Lawton, Tucker McGuire, Ralph Michael, George Rose, Joseph Tomelty, Jack Watling, Michael Bryant, Bee Duffel, Thomas Heathcote, Andrew Keir, Jeremy Bulloch, Desmond Llewelyn, Derren Nesbitt, Beth Rogan,...
A Night to Remember
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] #135
1958 / B&w / 1:66 enhanced widescreen / 123 min. / Street Date June 29, 2022 / Available from / 39.95
Starring: Kenneth More, Honor Blackman, David McCallum, Laurence Naismith, Anthony Bushell, Alec McCowen, John Cairney, Michael Goodliffe, Ronald Allen, John Merivale, Jill Dixon, Kenneth Griffith, Frank Lawton, Tucker McGuire, Ralph Michael, George Rose, Joseph Tomelty, Jack Watling, Michael Bryant, Bee Duffel, Thomas Heathcote, Andrew Keir, Jeremy Bulloch, Desmond Llewelyn, Derren Nesbitt, Beth Rogan,...
- 7/12/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Original British quad poster
Retro-active: The Best From Cinema Retro's Archives
Singer Johnny Horton's Sink the Bismarck was a major hit when released in 1960. What many people don't realize is that the song was commissioned as the theme song for the film of the same name that was released the same year. It's pretty obvious why it wasn't used in the final cut of the movie: Horton specialized in catchy novelty songs with a country western theme. The film, directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Kenneth More, was notable for its ultra-realistic take on the British pursuit of the infamous German battleship. As good as Horton's theme was, it would have been completely out of place in the film. Interestingly, if you have the DVD of the movie, check out the bonus trailer - it features snippets of Horton's song, indicating that the decision to cut it was made at the last minute.
Retro-active: The Best From Cinema Retro's Archives
Singer Johnny Horton's Sink the Bismarck was a major hit when released in 1960. What many people don't realize is that the song was commissioned as the theme song for the film of the same name that was released the same year. It's pretty obvious why it wasn't used in the final cut of the movie: Horton specialized in catchy novelty songs with a country western theme. The film, directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Kenneth More, was notable for its ultra-realistic take on the British pursuit of the infamous German battleship. As good as Horton's theme was, it would have been completely out of place in the film. Interestingly, if you have the DVD of the movie, check out the bonus trailer - it features snippets of Horton's song, indicating that the decision to cut it was made at the last minute.
- 5/5/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
One of the most charming movies ever made, Lewis Gilbert’s bittersweet comedy is escapist entertainment at its best. Kenneth More plays the by-the-book butler to a household of insufferable snobs—the tables are turned, and how, when the whole crew is shipwrecked on a paradisiacal island. Sally Ann Howes is the prim aristocrat turned swinging Jane to More’s Tarzan.
The post Paradise Lagoon appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post Paradise Lagoon appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 8/31/2020
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
As Disney quietly disappears huge swathes of film history into its vaults, I'm going to spend 2020 celebrating Twentieth Century Fox and the Fox Film Corporation's films, what one might call their output if only someone were putting it out.And now they've quietly disappeared William Fox's name from the company: guilty by association with Rupert Murdoch, even though he never associated with him.***There are some films where, lacking access to one's own personal cinematheque, one has to speculate. For example, some of Fox's fifties films, shot in CinemaScope as all movies at that studio had to be, have never been made available in widescreen formats. Richard Fleischer was one the directors who adapted zestfully to that format, so it's a crying shame that Crack in the Mirror (1960) seems to exist only in blurry, 4:3 TV recordings. His other Orson Welles film, Compulsion (1959), is a cracker.Anatole Litvak's...
- 8/20/2020
- MUBI
The Admirable Crichton
Blu ray
Twilight Time
1957 / 1:85:1 / 94 Min. / Street Date – February 12, 2019
Starring Kenneth More, Sally Ann Howes
Cinematography by Wilkie Cooper
Directed by Lewis Gilbert
True love and the British Empire collide in 1957’s The Admirable Crichton, the riches to rags story of one hard-to-get butler and a boatload of love struck aristocrats.
Loam Manor is run with steely officiousness by the valet known simply as Crichton, a kindly martinet who views the class system as the crowning achievement of British society – a notion which not coincidentally coincides with Crichton’s dominance over the servant’s quarters.
The Loams themselves, three spoon-fed sisters and their dithering father are naturally spoiled rotten, viewing their stable of servants as an exotic species to be kept on invisible leashes – in such a fraught situation the tables are just begging to be turned. And so they are when the Lord’s ship sinks,...
Blu ray
Twilight Time
1957 / 1:85:1 / 94 Min. / Street Date – February 12, 2019
Starring Kenneth More, Sally Ann Howes
Cinematography by Wilkie Cooper
Directed by Lewis Gilbert
True love and the British Empire collide in 1957’s The Admirable Crichton, the riches to rags story of one hard-to-get butler and a boatload of love struck aristocrats.
Loam Manor is run with steely officiousness by the valet known simply as Crichton, a kindly martinet who views the class system as the crowning achievement of British society – a notion which not coincidentally coincides with Crichton’s dominance over the servant’s quarters.
The Loams themselves, three spoon-fed sisters and their dithering father are naturally spoiled rotten, viewing their stable of servants as an exotic species to be kept on invisible leashes – in such a fraught situation the tables are just begging to be turned. And so they are when the Lord’s ship sinks,...
- 3/2/2019
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Stage and screen actor who starred in Malta Story, Reach for the Sky and Doctor at Large
Although her father was a Russian émigré and her mother was Swiss-French, Muriel Pavlow, who has died aged 97, will be remembered as a quintessential British heroine on stage and screen. This meant being well spoken and standing by her man through thick and thin, particularly in the staid England of the 1950s. Not only did she fulfil these requirements admirably, but she established herself as a compelling presence.
As a J Arthur Rank contract player, Pavlow waited bravely for pilots Alec Guinness in Malta Story (1953) and Kenneth More in Reach for the Sky (1956) to return safely from missions during the second world war, and was the steadfast nurse who loves accident-prone Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde), the medical student in Doctor in the House (1954) – the first in the popular series – and Doctor at Large (1957). In the theatre,...
Although her father was a Russian émigré and her mother was Swiss-French, Muriel Pavlow, who has died aged 97, will be remembered as a quintessential British heroine on stage and screen. This meant being well spoken and standing by her man through thick and thin, particularly in the staid England of the 1950s. Not only did she fulfil these requirements admirably, but she established herself as a compelling presence.
As a J Arthur Rank contract player, Pavlow waited bravely for pilots Alec Guinness in Malta Story (1953) and Kenneth More in Reach for the Sky (1956) to return safely from missions during the second world war, and was the steadfast nurse who loves accident-prone Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde), the medical student in Doctor in the House (1954) – the first in the popular series – and Doctor at Large (1957). In the theatre,...
- 1/22/2019
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
It’s tendon-biting combat, with guns, trains, planes, chainsaws, and an indestructible all-terrain vehicle (that still couldn’t stand the potholes in the street of Los Angeles)! Rod Taylor, Jim Brown and Yvette Mimieux blast their way through one of the roughest of the ’60s action spectacles, as mercenaries on a mission of mercy that’s really a venal grab to ‘rescue’ a fortune in diamonds. Director Jack Cardiff pushed the limits of acceptability on this one — legends persist about longer, more egregiously violent cuts.
Dark of the Sun
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 100 min. / The Mercenaries / Street Date December 18, 2011 / available through the Warner Archive Collection / 19.95
Starring: Rod Taylor, Yvette Mimieux, Peter Carsten, Jim Brown, Kenneth More, André Morell, Olivier Despax, Guy Deghy, Bloke Modisane, Calvin Lockhart.
Cinematography: Edward Scaife.
Film Editor: Ernest Walter
Original Music: Jacques Loussier
Written by Quentin Werty (Ranald MacDougall), Adrian Spies from the...
Dark of the Sun
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 100 min. / The Mercenaries / Street Date December 18, 2011 / available through the Warner Archive Collection / 19.95
Starring: Rod Taylor, Yvette Mimieux, Peter Carsten, Jim Brown, Kenneth More, André Morell, Olivier Despax, Guy Deghy, Bloke Modisane, Calvin Lockhart.
Cinematography: Edward Scaife.
Film Editor: Ernest Walter
Original Music: Jacques Loussier
Written by Quentin Werty (Ranald MacDougall), Adrian Spies from the...
- 12/15/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The Collector
Blu ray – All Region
Indicator/Powerhouse
1965/ 1.85:1 / Street Date September 24, 2018
Starring Terence Stamp, Samantha Eggar
Cinematography by Robert Surtees, Robert Krasker
Directed by William Wyler
German-born William Wyler was a storyteller who asked the audience not to understand him too quickly. A notorious perfectionist, he was a masterful old-school director of enduring entertainments distinguished by thoughtfulness and, a rare trait for the times, ambiguity.
At their best, Wyler’s films were acutely observed slices of American life, particularly concerning its ongoing civil wars – Davis treading on Southern decorum in Jezebel, Dana Andrew’s bitter post-war abasement in The Best Years of Our Lives and the deal-breaking social gulf between the would-be lovers of Roman Holiday. In The Collector, those class conflicts get the horror movie treatment.
Frederick Clegg, the gaunt loner lurking at the edges of Wyler’s psycho-thriller, is the very model of the modern Incel. Emotionally...
Blu ray – All Region
Indicator/Powerhouse
1965/ 1.85:1 / Street Date September 24, 2018
Starring Terence Stamp, Samantha Eggar
Cinematography by Robert Surtees, Robert Krasker
Directed by William Wyler
German-born William Wyler was a storyteller who asked the audience not to understand him too quickly. A notorious perfectionist, he was a masterful old-school director of enduring entertainments distinguished by thoughtfulness and, a rare trait for the times, ambiguity.
At their best, Wyler’s films were acutely observed slices of American life, particularly concerning its ongoing civil wars – Davis treading on Southern decorum in Jezebel, Dana Andrew’s bitter post-war abasement in The Best Years of Our Lives and the deal-breaking social gulf between the would-be lovers of Roman Holiday. In The Collector, those class conflicts get the horror movie treatment.
Frederick Clegg, the gaunt loner lurking at the edges of Wyler’s psycho-thriller, is the very model of the modern Incel. Emotionally...
- 9/30/2018
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
No Highway in the Sky
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1951 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 99 min. / Street Date February 7, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring : James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Glynis Johns, Jack Hawkins, Janette Scott, Niall MacGinnis, Kenneth More, Ronald Squire, Elizabeth Allan, Jill Clifford, Felix Aylmer, Dora Bryan, Maurice Denham, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Bessie Love, Karel Stepanek.
Cinematography: Georges Périnal
Film Editor: Manuel del Campo
Original Music: Malcolm Arnold
Written by: R.C. Sherriff, Oscar Millard, Alec Coppel from the novel by Nevil Shute
Produced by: Louis D. Lighton
Directed by Henry Koster
A few years back, whenever a desired title came up on list for a Fox, Columbia or Warners’ Mod (made-on-demand) DVD, my first reaction was disappointment: we really want to see our favorites released in the better disc format, Blu-ray. But things have changed. As Mod announcements thin out, we have seen an explosion of library titles remastered in HD.
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1951 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 99 min. / Street Date February 7, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring : James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Glynis Johns, Jack Hawkins, Janette Scott, Niall MacGinnis, Kenneth More, Ronald Squire, Elizabeth Allan, Jill Clifford, Felix Aylmer, Dora Bryan, Maurice Denham, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Bessie Love, Karel Stepanek.
Cinematography: Georges Périnal
Film Editor: Manuel del Campo
Original Music: Malcolm Arnold
Written by: R.C. Sherriff, Oscar Millard, Alec Coppel from the novel by Nevil Shute
Produced by: Louis D. Lighton
Directed by Henry Koster
A few years back, whenever a desired title came up on list for a Fox, Columbia or Warners’ Mod (made-on-demand) DVD, my first reaction was disappointment: we really want to see our favorites released in the better disc format, Blu-ray. But things have changed. As Mod announcements thin out, we have seen an explosion of library titles remastered in HD.
- 1/21/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
By Adrian Smith
William Blood (Kenneth More) is a man with an incredible immune system and without worries. He spends most of his time working as a human guinea pig for government departments such as the Common Cold and Flu Research Agency. There he frustrates the men in white coats by stubbornly refusing to catch a cold. He never gets ill, and his secret is that he has no emotional attachments. “The minute you get into a relationship with a woman, your guard is down and the coughing will start!” News of this remarkable constitution gets to the scientists at N.A.A.R.S.T.I., the National Atomic Research Station and Technological Institute, who are preparing to send the first maned rocket to the moon. They have previously sent up dogs and monkeys, but owing to public complaints about cruelty to animals, they have decided it would be...
William Blood (Kenneth More) is a man with an incredible immune system and without worries. He spends most of his time working as a human guinea pig for government departments such as the Common Cold and Flu Research Agency. There he frustrates the men in white coats by stubbornly refusing to catch a cold. He never gets ill, and his secret is that he has no emotional attachments. “The minute you get into a relationship with a woman, your guard is down and the coughing will start!” News of this remarkable constitution gets to the scientists at N.A.A.R.S.T.I., the National Atomic Research Station and Technological Institute, who are preparing to send the first maned rocket to the moon. They have previously sent up dogs and monkeys, but owing to public complaints about cruelty to animals, they have decided it would be...
- 10/30/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
There's nothing more earnest than an English national epic, and this is a valiant expedition that becomes a low-key disaster. Told straight and clean, it's a primer on how to behave in the face of doom. Scott of the Antarctic Region B Blu-ray Studiocanal (UK) 1948 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 110 min. / Street Date June 6, 2016 / Available from Amazon UK £ 14.99 Starring John Mills, Derek Bond, Harold Warrender, James Robertson Justice, Kenneth More, Reginald Beckwith. Cinematography Osmond Borradaile, Jack Cardiff, Geoffrey Unsworth Editor Peter Tanner Original Music Vaughan Williams Written by Walter Meade, Ivor Montagu, Mary Hayley Bell Produced by Michael Balcon Directed by Charles Frend
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
English film companies fell on hard times during the postwar austerity period. But the relatively small Ealing Studios maintained its creative underdog brand even after it was taken over by Rank, and is still celebrated for wartime greats like Went the Day Well?, the singular masterpiece Dead of Night,...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
English film companies fell on hard times during the postwar austerity period. But the relatively small Ealing Studios maintained its creative underdog brand even after it was taken over by Rank, and is still celebrated for wartime greats like Went the Day Well?, the singular masterpiece Dead of Night,...
- 7/10/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
A pure-gold Savant favorite, Sir Richard Attenborough's first feature as director is a stylized pacifist epic of the insane tragedy of WW1, told through contemporary songs, with the irreverent lyrics given them by the soldiers themselves. And one will not want to miss a young Maggie Smith's music hall performance -- luring young conscripts to doom in the trenches. It's the strangest pacifist film ever, done in high style. Oh! What a Lovely War DVD The Warner Archive Collection 1969 / Color / 2:35 enhanced widescreen / 144 min. / Street Date September 22, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 16.99 Starring: Too many to name, see below. Cinematography Gerry Turpin Production Design Donald M. Ashton Art Direction Harry White Choreography Eleanor Fazan Film Editor Kevin Connor Original Music Alfred Ralston Written by Len Deighton from the musical play by Joan Littlewood from the radio play by Charles Chilton Produced by Richard Attenborough, Brian Duffy, Len Deighton Directed...
- 2/23/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Simply Media
To celebrate the release of The Englishman’s Castle, Chandler and Co., A Picture of Katherine Mansfield, The Locksmith and Lazarus & Dingwall on DVD, we are giving 1 lucky WhatCulture reader the chance to win a bundle containing all five!
Simply Media
An Englishman’s Castle (1978) starring Kenneth More (Father Brown), Isla Blair (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) and Anthony Bate (Tinker, Tailor, Solider Spy), is set in an alternate 1970s on an Earth where Germany won the Second World War and is now occupying England. Peter Ingram (More) is the lead writer of a popular soap opera set in Blitz-era London, and knowingly turns a blind eye to the local Nazi rule, opting for the easy life. But when faced with the stark reality of the situation Peter has a difficult decision to make.
Available to own on DVD from 5th October 2015.
Simply Media
Chandler and Co.
To celebrate the release of The Englishman’s Castle, Chandler and Co., A Picture of Katherine Mansfield, The Locksmith and Lazarus & Dingwall on DVD, we are giving 1 lucky WhatCulture reader the chance to win a bundle containing all five!
Simply Media
An Englishman’s Castle (1978) starring Kenneth More (Father Brown), Isla Blair (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) and Anthony Bate (Tinker, Tailor, Solider Spy), is set in an alternate 1970s on an Earth where Germany won the Second World War and is now occupying England. Peter Ingram (More) is the lead writer of a popular soap opera set in Blitz-era London, and knowingly turns a blind eye to the local Nazi rule, opting for the easy life. But when faced with the stark reality of the situation Peter has a difficult decision to make.
Available to own on DVD from 5th October 2015.
Simply Media
Chandler and Co.
- 10/5/2015
- by Laura Holmes
- Obsessed with Film
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
By rights I should hate the English. Seriously, my background is almost entirely Scots and Irish. I grew up hearing about the troubles the English gave to the Scots and Irish, both in school and from my parents.
Yet I do not, I love the English. How can I hate a country that gave us not only Monty Python but also Benny Hill and the Carry On Films? How can I bear any ill will to a country that gave us writers of the caliber of Ramsey Campbell, Brian Aldiss, Michael Moorcock and J. G Ballard? How can anyone hate a country that not only prizes eccentric behavior but encourages it? Take Mr. Kim Newman for instance, a brilliant writer whose work appears regularly in Video WatchDog and Videoscope Mr. Newman dresses himself, has his hair and mustache styled and speaks in the manner of someone from the 19th Century!
Yet I do not, I love the English. How can I hate a country that gave us not only Monty Python but also Benny Hill and the Carry On Films? How can I bear any ill will to a country that gave us writers of the caliber of Ramsey Campbell, Brian Aldiss, Michael Moorcock and J. G Ballard? How can anyone hate a country that not only prizes eccentric behavior but encourages it? Take Mr. Kim Newman for instance, a brilliant writer whose work appears regularly in Video WatchDog and Videoscope Mr. Newman dresses himself, has his hair and mustache styled and speaks in the manner of someone from the 19th Century!
- 5/26/2015
- by Sam Moffitt
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Commemorating Rod Taylor, we turn to Dark of the Sun, routinely dismissed as a nasty slice of thick-ear but admired by Scorsese for its unflinching brutality and lean, efficient technique: possibly the best film directed by great cinematographer Jack Cardiff, who otherwise could be said to have squandered years on dreck like Girl on a Motorcycle (lovely to look at, inane and obnoxious) and The Mutations (ugly to look at, inaner and obnoxiouser). It's always a bit of a crime when a great specialist becomes an undistinguished all-rounder, and Cardiff's belated return to cinematography was, on the whole, a happy day. His admired first film in the director's chair, Sons and Lovers, looks magnificent, but screenwriter Gavin Lambert felt Cardiff didn't really understand the material.
Well, in a sense the strength of Dark of the Sun, superficially an action/adventure yarn set in the Congo during revolution, is its simplicity:...
Well, in a sense the strength of Dark of the Sun, superficially an action/adventure yarn set in the Congo during revolution, is its simplicity:...
- 1/15/2015
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
After the marching bands and giants balloon characters parade by on TV… After all the college and NFL football games are played out… After the plates are cleaned of the last turkey drumstick and final piece of pumpkin pie… what better than to cuddle up with our loved ones and watch some good, wholesome family favorites on Thanksgiving!
In honor of the holiday and before you head out the door to catch all the Black Friday sales, check out Wamg’s list of some of our favorite family-friendly movies to watch on Thanksgiving Day.
Wizard Of Oz
For many years this 1939 masterpiece was truly event television. Before home video and cable TV, the only way to see this (outside of revival movie theatres and colleges), was once a year (usually on CBS). Families would gather around the tube for a chance to visit that magical enchanted land (just think of...
In honor of the holiday and before you head out the door to catch all the Black Friday sales, check out Wamg’s list of some of our favorite family-friendly movies to watch on Thanksgiving Day.
Wizard Of Oz
For many years this 1939 masterpiece was truly event television. Before home video and cable TV, the only way to see this (outside of revival movie theatres and colleges), was once a year (usually on CBS). Families would gather around the tube for a chance to visit that magical enchanted land (just think of...
- 11/26/2014
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Review by Sam Moffitt
With Memorial Day, Fourth of July and most importantly, another June 6th, (the 70th anniversary of the landing in Normandy called Operation Overlord but always referred to as D-Day) approaching, I thought it appropriate to shine a light on one of the greatest war movies ever made, if not the greatest, which details the invasion of Europe, step by step; Darryl F Zanuck’s super production The Longest Day.
Firstly I have to say, as I’ve said before, I am against war, being a practicing Nicheren Buddhist , a member of the Soka Gakkai International, I do not believe war is necessary. But even before taking up the practice of Buddhism I have questioned every war the United States has become involved in since Vietnam. Yet I also served four years in the Us Navy, in peacetime, true, but I did serve my time and was honorably discharged.
With Memorial Day, Fourth of July and most importantly, another June 6th, (the 70th anniversary of the landing in Normandy called Operation Overlord but always referred to as D-Day) approaching, I thought it appropriate to shine a light on one of the greatest war movies ever made, if not the greatest, which details the invasion of Europe, step by step; Darryl F Zanuck’s super production The Longest Day.
Firstly I have to say, as I’ve said before, I am against war, being a practicing Nicheren Buddhist , a member of the Soka Gakkai International, I do not believe war is necessary. But even before taking up the practice of Buddhism I have questioned every war the United States has become involved in since Vietnam. Yet I also served four years in the Us Navy, in peacetime, true, but I did serve my time and was honorably discharged.
- 5/26/2014
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Danielle Darrieux turns 97: Darrieux has probably enjoyed the longest film star career in history (photo: Danielle Darrieux in ‘La Ronde’) Screen legend Danielle Darrieux is turning 97 today, May 1, 2014. In all likelihood, the Bordeaux-born (1917) Darrieux has enjoyed the longest "movie star" career ever: eight decades, from Wilhelm Thiele’s Le Bal (1931) to Denys Granier-Deferre’s The Wedding Cake / Pièce montée (2010). (Mickey Rooney has had a longer film career — nearly nine decades — but mostly as a supporting player in minor roles.) Absurdly, despite a prestigious career consisting of more than 100 movie roles, Danielle Darrieux — delightful in Club de femmes, superb in The Earrings of Madame De…, alternately hilarious and heartbreaking in 8 Women — has never won an Honorary Oscar. But then again, very few women have. At least, the French Academy did award her an Honorary César back in 1985; additionally, in 2002 Darrieux and her fellow 8 Women / 8 femmes co-stars shared Best Actress honors...
- 5/1/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Vivien Leigh: Legendary ‘Gone with the Wind’ and ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ star would have turned 100 today Vivien Leigh was perhaps the greatest film star that hardly ever was. What I mean is that following her starring role in the 1939 Civil War blockbuster Gone with the Wind, Leigh was featured in a mere eight* movies over the course of the next 25 years. The theater world’s gain — she was kept busy on the London stage — was the film world’s loss. But even if Leigh had starred in only two movies — Gone with the Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire — that would have been enough to make her a screen legend; one who would have turned 100 years old today, November 5, 2013. (Photo: Vivien Leigh ca. 1940.) Vivien Leigh (born Vivian Mary Hartley to British parents in Darjeeling, India) began her film career in the mid-’30s, playing bit roles in British...
- 11/6/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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
Dirk Bogarde: ‘Victim’ star took no prisoners in his letters to Dilys Powell Letters exchanged between film critic Dilys Powell and actor Dirk Bogarde — one of the most popular and respected British performers of the twentieth century, and the star of seminal movies such as Victim, The Servant, Darling, and Death in Venice — reveals that Bogarde was considerably more caustic and opinionated in his letters than in his (quite bland) autobiographies. (Photo: Dirk Bogarde ca. 1970.) As found in Dirk Bogarde’s letters acquired a few years ago by the British Library, among the victims of the Victim star (sorry) were Academy Award winner Vanessa Redgrave (Julia), a "ninny" who was “so utterly beastly to [Steaming director Joseph Losey] that he finally threw his script at her face”; and veteran stage and screen actor — and Academy Award winner — John Gielgud (Arthur), who couldn’t "understand half of Shakespeare" despite being renowned for his stage roles in Macbeth,...
- 9/23/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Cinema Retro Issue #27, The Final Issue Of Season 9, Has Now Shipped To All Subscribers Worldwide.
If You Are A Subscriber, You Will Have Received A Renewal Notice In This Issue For Season #10 (Issues 28, 29 & 30) .
If You Wish To Renew Right Now, Simply Click The Button Below: ($36 For USA/Canada Or $56 For Everywhere Else In The World)
Season 10 Subscription USA/Canada/ United Kingdom $36.00 Usd Rest Of The World $56.00 Usd
Highlights Of Issue #27 Include: Don L. Stradley examines the dramatic life and career of Lolita star Sue Lyon John Exshaw's unpublished interview with screen legend Peter Cushing Adrian Smith interviews Hugh Hudson, director of Revolution and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes Dean Brierly looks at classic Japanese crime movies Stephen C. Jilks celebrates the British werewolf films. David Savage examines Liz Taylor's little-seen, late career bizarro cult movie The Driver's Seat Howard Hughes continues his history of Oakmont...
If You Are A Subscriber, You Will Have Received A Renewal Notice In This Issue For Season #10 (Issues 28, 29 & 30) .
If You Wish To Renew Right Now, Simply Click The Button Below: ($36 For USA/Canada Or $56 For Everywhere Else In The World)
Season 10 Subscription USA/Canada/ United Kingdom $36.00 Usd Rest Of The World $56.00 Usd
Highlights Of Issue #27 Include: Don L. Stradley examines the dramatic life and career of Lolita star Sue Lyon John Exshaw's unpublished interview with screen legend Peter Cushing Adrian Smith interviews Hugh Hudson, director of Revolution and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes Dean Brierly looks at classic Japanese crime movies Stephen C. Jilks celebrates the British werewolf films. David Savage examines Liz Taylor's little-seen, late career bizarro cult movie The Driver's Seat Howard Hughes continues his history of Oakmont...
- 9/20/2013
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
The First Churchills.
Kieran Kinsella
We’re all familiar with Winston but how many of us know much about The First Churchills? Well for those who don’t know, Britain’s war-time Pm traced his lineage back to the court of King Charles II, and the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough Aka The First Churchills. The cigar smoking nemesis of the Nazis wrote a biography of his aristocratic ancestors and in 1969 the BBC dramatized the story. The 12 part series was an instant success. Drama starved executives on the other side of the pond soon snapped it up and began airing it on PBS in a new time slot called Masterpiece Theatre. Yes British TV watchers, The First Churchills isn’t just about English history it is also a landmark series in the British invasion of American networks. On 4 June, Acorn Media are reviving this lost classic on DVD.
Three-time Emmy...
Kieran Kinsella
We’re all familiar with Winston but how many of us know much about The First Churchills? Well for those who don’t know, Britain’s war-time Pm traced his lineage back to the court of King Charles II, and the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough Aka The First Churchills. The cigar smoking nemesis of the Nazis wrote a biography of his aristocratic ancestors and in 1969 the BBC dramatized the story. The 12 part series was an instant success. Drama starved executives on the other side of the pond soon snapped it up and began airing it on PBS in a new time slot called Masterpiece Theatre. Yes British TV watchers, The First Churchills isn’t just about English history it is also a landmark series in the British invasion of American networks. On 4 June, Acorn Media are reviving this lost classic on DVD.
Three-time Emmy...
- 5/31/2013
- by Edited by K Kinsella
Sherlock Holmes might be sexier, but Gk Chesterton's atmospheric Father Brown stories are the best the genre has ever seen
If there is debate about who is the greatest literary detective, there can be no dispute as to who is the most recognisable. An IMDb search for adaptations of Gk Chesterton's Father Brown stories yields one 1950s film, two television series (one of which has just started on BBC1), a clutch of American Masterpiece Mystery shows, and an American TV movie. A similar hunt for Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes turns up an immediate 200 hits, with many more following: there's Young Sherlock, Robert Downey Jr, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jeremy Brett, Basil Rathbone and Billy Wilder, as well as the Baker Street Irregulars, all the spoofs, the debunkings, the modernisations, and so on and on. Even Tom and Jerry have met Holmes.
The reasons for Holmes's on-screen triumph over the diminutive...
If there is debate about who is the greatest literary detective, there can be no dispute as to who is the most recognisable. An IMDb search for adaptations of Gk Chesterton's Father Brown stories yields one 1950s film, two television series (one of which has just started on BBC1), a clutch of American Masterpiece Mystery shows, and an American TV movie. A similar hunt for Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes turns up an immediate 200 hits, with many more following: there's Young Sherlock, Robert Downey Jr, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jeremy Brett, Basil Rathbone and Billy Wilder, as well as the Baker Street Irregulars, all the spoofs, the debunkings, the modernisations, and so on and on. Even Tom and Jerry have met Holmes.
The reasons for Holmes's on-screen triumph over the diminutive...
- 1/19/2013
- by Michael Newton
- The Guardian - Film News
Vivacious star of Genevieve and The Railway Children
Though the actor Dinah Sheridan, who has died aged 92, was an "English rose" of the type still firmly in vogue in British theatre and films of the immediate postwar era, she had a vivacity and depth of talent that went further than the label suggested.
The 1953 film that would almost certainly have turned her into an international star – but for an ill-judged second marriage to the head of the company that made it – was Genevieve. Two rival couples taking part in the London to Brighton veteran car rally were the backbone of the film, and Kenneth More as the brasher of the two male drivers and Kay Kendall as his glamorous model girlfriend had the more extrovert roles. But Sheridan was quietly appealing as the woman who would rather stand by the man prepared to lose the race (John Gregson) than win...
Though the actor Dinah Sheridan, who has died aged 92, was an "English rose" of the type still firmly in vogue in British theatre and films of the immediate postwar era, she had a vivacity and depth of talent that went further than the label suggested.
The 1953 film that would almost certainly have turned her into an international star – but for an ill-judged second marriage to the head of the company that made it – was Genevieve. Two rival couples taking part in the London to Brighton veteran car rally were the backbone of the film, and Kenneth More as the brasher of the two male drivers and Kay Kendall as his glamorous model girlfriend had the more extrovert roles. But Sheridan was quietly appealing as the woman who would rather stand by the man prepared to lose the race (John Gregson) than win...
- 11/26/2012
- by Dennis Barker
- The Guardian - Film News
Actor was best known for her roles as the mother in The Railway Children and the 1953 comedy Genevieve
The film star Dinah Sheridan, who played the mother in The Railway Children, has died. Sheridan, 92, who also starred in the 1953 film comedy Genevieve, died peacefully at her home in Northwood, Middlesex on Sunday surrounded by her family, said her agent Gareth Owen.
Sheridan, the mother of actor Jenny Hanley and politician Sir Jeremy Hanley, was considered the quintessential English rose because of her elegance and understated beauty.
She was born Dinah Nadyejda Ginsburg in Hampstead, north London, in 1920 to a Russian father and German mother who were photographers to the royal family. Her first stage role came at the age of 12 and she subsequently went on tour as Wendy in Peter Pan which starred Charles Laughton as Captain Hook. Her film break came shortly and she appeared in such films as...
The film star Dinah Sheridan, who played the mother in The Railway Children, has died. Sheridan, 92, who also starred in the 1953 film comedy Genevieve, died peacefully at her home in Northwood, Middlesex on Sunday surrounded by her family, said her agent Gareth Owen.
Sheridan, the mother of actor Jenny Hanley and politician Sir Jeremy Hanley, was considered the quintessential English rose because of her elegance and understated beauty.
She was born Dinah Nadyejda Ginsburg in Hampstead, north London, in 1920 to a Russian father and German mother who were photographers to the royal family. Her first stage role came at the age of 12 and she subsequently went on tour as Wendy in Peter Pan which starred Charles Laughton as Captain Hook. Her film break came shortly and she appeared in such films as...
- 11/26/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
We’ve watched the marching bands and giants balloon characters parade by on TV, we’ve watched college football, we’ve had our fill of turkey and all the trimmings… now, what better than to cuddle up with our loved ones and watch some good, wholesome family favorites on Thanksgiving Day? After all, we need our rest so we can rise and shine before the sun comes up on Black Friday to catch all the sales. So, in honor of the holiday and as a way to give you a jump on your holiday viewing schedule, we’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite family-friendly movies to watch on Thanksgiving Day.
Wizard Of Oz
For many years this 1939 masterpiece was truly event television. Before home video and cable TV, the only way to see this (outside of revival movie theatres and colleges), was once a year (usually on...
Wizard Of Oz
For many years this 1939 masterpiece was truly event television. Before home video and cable TV, the only way to see this (outside of revival movie theatres and colleges), was once a year (usually on...
- 11/22/2012
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
On Saturday April 28th, the landmark Loew's Jersey City theater will celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Poseidon Adventure with a special screening of a Fox archival print. The evening will also include a panel discussion about the legacy of the film moderated by Stephen Whitty, the esteemed film critic for the Star Ledger newspaper. Participating in the discussion will be Cinema Retro columnists David Savage and Tom Lisanti, Poseidon historian Chris Poggiali, film critic Matt Forke and film studies professor and writer Andy Scahill. You'll also hear The Morning After played on the theater's magnificent Morton Wonder Organ. It should be a memorable evening, but that isn't all. On Friday April 27, the Loew's is presenting a Fox archive print of Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat and on Saturday April 28th at 6:00, there will be a screening of the classic Titanic epic A Night to Remember starring Kenneth More, Honor Blackman...
- 4/15/2012
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Titanic
Written and directed by James Cameron
USA, 1997
A Night to Remember
Written by Eric Ambler
Directed by Roy Ward Baker
UK, 1958
Marking the 100th anniversary of the disaster, the two most famous films about the Titanic sinking have received the restoration and re-release treatment, albeit one of them on a much grander scale. The 1958 British production A Night to Remember, from director Roy Ward Baker, has been given a new digital restoration, receiving blu-ray treatment in North America courtesy of The Criterion Collection and a limited theatrical run in select cities in the United Kingdom. James Cameron’s Titanic, meanwhile, has been converted into 3D for a worldwide re-release. This revival of the world’s previous highest grossing film allows for re-evaluation on the part of its critics, re-familiarisation for its fans, and a chance for those who missed it on the big screen the first time round, like this writer,...
Written and directed by James Cameron
USA, 1997
A Night to Remember
Written by Eric Ambler
Directed by Roy Ward Baker
UK, 1958
Marking the 100th anniversary of the disaster, the two most famous films about the Titanic sinking have received the restoration and re-release treatment, albeit one of them on a much grander scale. The 1958 British production A Night to Remember, from director Roy Ward Baker, has been given a new digital restoration, receiving blu-ray treatment in North America courtesy of The Criterion Collection and a limited theatrical run in select cities in the United Kingdom. James Cameron’s Titanic, meanwhile, has been converted into 3D for a worldwide re-release. This revival of the world’s previous highest grossing film allows for re-evaluation on the part of its critics, re-familiarisation for its fans, and a chance for those who missed it on the big screen the first time round, like this writer,...
- 4/14/2012
- by Josh Slater-Williams
- SoundOnSight
The Cabin In The Woods (15)
(Drew Goddard, 2011, Us) Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz. 95 mins
It's clear from the outset this Jj Abrams-produced genre offering isn't your standard slasher movie, as a traditional teen country break set-up is monitored by wisecracking officials in some mysterious bunker. But exactly what the twist is, it's better to discover for yourself. Let's just say it gives the horror formula an exhilarating jolt without destroying it, in a Lost-meets-Scooby-Doo sort of way – a meta-mystery tour signposted with spoiler alerts.
Battleship (12A)
(Peter Berg, 2012, Us) Taylor Kitsch, Liam Neeson, Alexander Skarsgård, Rihanna. 131 mins
After the triumph of Transformers, Hasbro spin off another of their products, resulting in an effects-driven alien invasion that looks a lot like, er, Transformers. Expect Michael Bay-scale destruction, lots of CG explosions and military heroism, with extra cheese.
A Night To Remember (PG)
(Roy Ward Baker,...
(Drew Goddard, 2011, Us) Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz. 95 mins
It's clear from the outset this Jj Abrams-produced genre offering isn't your standard slasher movie, as a traditional teen country break set-up is monitored by wisecracking officials in some mysterious bunker. But exactly what the twist is, it's better to discover for yourself. Let's just say it gives the horror formula an exhilarating jolt without destroying it, in a Lost-meets-Scooby-Doo sort of way – a meta-mystery tour signposted with spoiler alerts.
Battleship (12A)
(Peter Berg, 2012, Us) Taylor Kitsch, Liam Neeson, Alexander Skarsgård, Rihanna. 131 mins
After the triumph of Transformers, Hasbro spin off another of their products, resulting in an effects-driven alien invasion that looks a lot like, er, Transformers. Expect Michael Bay-scale destruction, lots of CG explosions and military heroism, with extra cheese.
A Night To Remember (PG)
(Roy Ward Baker,...
- 4/13/2012
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
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
This weekend, ABC premieres its four-part miniseries Titanic from Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes, who frames the tragedy in his upstairs-downstairs approach to storytelling to include every class of passenger and crew. The first three hours air Saturday (starting at 8 p.m. Et) and the final hour on Sunday (9 p.m. Et), marking the 100th anniversary of the sinking on April 15, 1912. We won’t spoil it and tell you whether first class passenger Hugh, Earl of Manton, played by Linus Roache (Law & Order: Svu, Batman Begins), lives or dies. But we can tell you that Roache wasn’t concerned about...
- 4/13/2012
- by Mandi Bierly
- EW - Inside TV
A Night to Remember Directed by Roy Ward Baker Written by Eric Ambler Starring: Kenneth More, Ronald Allen, Robert Ayres, Honor Blackman With the 100 year anniversary of the Titanic disaster coming up on April 15th, one can expect an onslaught of television specials, films, and books looking back at one of the world's worst nautical disasters. Criterion's blu ray release of Roy Ward Baker's 1958 docudrama A Night to Remember is a strategically timed reminder that before James Cameron's 'Romeo and Juliet on a boat', there was this detailed, cinematic account of the sinking of an otherwise unsinkable ship. I think synopsizing the events that took place during the Titanic's maiden voyage is pretty much pointless at this point. After James Cameron's romantic take on the story became one of the top grossing films of all time, everybody seems to be familiar with the basic chain of events.
- 4/9/2012
- by Jay C.
- FilmJunk
There's a foretaste of the Somme and a whole social order being upended in Roy Ward Baker's film
Ah, the many Proustian pleasures to be derived from a renewed acquaintance with Roy Ward Baker's 1958 Titanic melodrama A Night To Remember ... Last seen by me on some wintry Sunday afternoon in the prepubescent early 1970s, probably in the same post-prandial time-slot where I first encountered The Cockleshell Heroes, Carve Her Name With Pride and The Colditz Story – the dull roar of British postwar self-congratulation on film. It has lingered clearly in my head in a way none of those others ever did, and come back fresh as ever.
Certain pleasures derive from familiarity: any waterborne or storm-tossed movie made in Britain in those years fetched up sooner or later in what I've always thought of as "the Ealing tank", although here it's the equally ripple-free Pinewood tank, abetted, pricelessly,...
Ah, the many Proustian pleasures to be derived from a renewed acquaintance with Roy Ward Baker's 1958 Titanic melodrama A Night To Remember ... Last seen by me on some wintry Sunday afternoon in the prepubescent early 1970s, probably in the same post-prandial time-slot where I first encountered The Cockleshell Heroes, Carve Her Name With Pride and The Colditz Story – the dull roar of British postwar self-congratulation on film. It has lingered clearly in my head in a way none of those others ever did, and come back fresh as ever.
Certain pleasures derive from familiarity: any waterborne or storm-tossed movie made in Britain in those years fetched up sooner or later in what I've always thought of as "the Ealing tank", although here it's the equally ripple-free Pinewood tank, abetted, pricelessly,...
- 4/6/2012
- by John Patterson
- The Guardian - Film News
Latest Additions Include Star-Studded Appearances, Noted Film Historians,
An Opening-Night Poolside Screening of High Society (1956)
And a Vanity Fair Showcase of Architecture in Film
Complete Schedule for 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival
Now Available at http://www.tcm.com/festival
With just over two weeks left before opening day, the 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival continues to expand its already-packed slate with new events and live appearances:
On opening night of the festival, the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel will be the site of a poolside screening of the lavish Cole Porter musical High Society (1956), starring Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. Actresses Maud Adams and Eunice Gayson will attend a 50th Anniversary screening of the James Bond classic Dr. No (1962) and participate in a conversation about being “Bond Girls.” Filmmaker Mel Brooks will be on hand to introduce his brilliant parody Young Frankenstein (1974). Filmmaker John Carpenter will introduce his favorite film, the...
An Opening-Night Poolside Screening of High Society (1956)
And a Vanity Fair Showcase of Architecture in Film
Complete Schedule for 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival
Now Available at http://www.tcm.com/festival
With just over two weeks left before opening day, the 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival continues to expand its already-packed slate with new events and live appearances:
On opening night of the festival, the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel will be the site of a poolside screening of the lavish Cole Porter musical High Society (1956), starring Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. Actresses Maud Adams and Eunice Gayson will attend a 50th Anniversary screening of the James Bond classic Dr. No (1962) and participate in a conversation about being “Bond Girls.” Filmmaker Mel Brooks will be on hand to introduce his brilliant parody Young Frankenstein (1974). Filmmaker John Carpenter will introduce his favorite film, the...
- 3/28/2012
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
by Vadim Rizov
Terence Rattigan's 1952 play The Deep Blue Sea has been filmed before, but all director Terence Davies remembers of the 1955 incarnation (which he saw during childhood with his mother) is a shot of Kenneth More walking down a staircase. It makes sense that his version is less an adaptation than a hallucinatory recollection, a mostly wordless rendition of a wordy drama. Rachel Weisz is Hester Collyer, her most tightly coiled and miserable screen character since 2005's The Constant Gardener. The ostensible source of Hester's unhappiness is her adultery, which at the film's beginning has led to a suicide attempt. As she slips deeper into a death-spiral reverie, we see a compressed version of her affair with ex-raf pilot Freddie Page (Tom Hiddleston), until she's slapped awake, a brutal return to the real world after a failed escape.
In honor of her Scarlet Letter namesake, Hester's literally a woman in red,...
Terence Rattigan's 1952 play The Deep Blue Sea has been filmed before, but all director Terence Davies remembers of the 1955 incarnation (which he saw during childhood with his mother) is a shot of Kenneth More walking down a staircase. It makes sense that his version is less an adaptation than a hallucinatory recollection, a mostly wordless rendition of a wordy drama. Rachel Weisz is Hester Collyer, her most tightly coiled and miserable screen character since 2005's The Constant Gardener. The ostensible source of Hester's unhappiness is her adultery, which at the film's beginning has led to a suicide attempt. As she slips deeper into a death-spiral reverie, we see a compressed version of her affair with ex-raf pilot Freddie Page (Tom Hiddleston), until she's slapped awake, a brutal return to the real world after a failed escape.
In honor of her Scarlet Letter namesake, Hester's literally a woman in red,...
- 3/22/2012
- GreenCine Daily
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, ITV Studios Home entertainment has released the classic A Night To Remember on Blu-ray and we are giving you the chance to win one of three copies.
A Night To Remember is the original, Golden Globe winning Titanic masterpiece, digitally re-mastered for audiences to experienced again and again. The film retells the tragedy of the luxury liner Rms Titanic on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City from the standpoint of 2nd Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller (Kenneth More – Sink the Bismarck!, Scrooge). After colliding with an iceberg, a 300 feet hole is torn into the hull of the vessel giving the passengers and crew a mere three hours to escape. With only enough lifeboat places for 1178 people, A Night To Remember is the gripping account of the 2223 passengers’ desperation as the liner’s tranquillity turns to panic.
The...
A Night To Remember is the original, Golden Globe winning Titanic masterpiece, digitally re-mastered for audiences to experienced again and again. The film retells the tragedy of the luxury liner Rms Titanic on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City from the standpoint of 2nd Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller (Kenneth More – Sink the Bismarck!, Scrooge). After colliding with an iceberg, a 300 feet hole is torn into the hull of the vessel giving the passengers and crew a mere three hours to escape. With only enough lifeboat places for 1178 people, A Night To Remember is the gripping account of the 2223 passengers’ desperation as the liner’s tranquillity turns to panic.
The...
- 3/22/2012
- by Competitons
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Terence Davies’ newest film, “The Deep Blue Sea,” takes place, like much of his work, in post-World War II England. In it, Rachel Weisz plays Hester Collyer, a woman who abandons her passionless marriage to a wealthy barrister (Simon Russell Beale) for a torrid affair with a troubled former Royal Air Force pilot (Tom Hiddleston), the consequences of which plunge her into despair. When we got a chance to speak with the director, a natural storyteller with a mischievous sense of humor and infectious laugh, we would never have guessed he suffered from an acute case of homesickness for his native U.K., a fact he admitted toward the end of our time together.
We started by asking him about societal differences between England in the 1950’s versus 2012. “What I think people don't understand is how traumatic the war was for Britain. When the war was over, Britain didn't get...
We started by asking him about societal differences between England in the 1950’s versus 2012. “What I think people don't understand is how traumatic the war was for Britain. When the war was over, Britain didn't get...
- 3/22/2012
- by Thomas Dodson
- The Playlist
The 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival has unveiled another spectacular lineup of special guests and events for this year’s four-day gathering in Hollywood. Among the newly announced participants for this year’s festival are five-time Emmy® winner Dick Van Dyke, Oscar® winner Shirley Jones, two-time Golden Globe® winner Angie Dickinson, six-time Golden Globe nominee Robert Wagner, seven-time Oscar nominee Norman Jewison, longtime producer A.C. Lyles and three-time Oscar-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker. In addition, the festival will feature a special three-film tribute to director/choreographer Stanley Donen, who will be on-hand for the celebration.
As part of its overall Style and the Movies theme, the festival has added several films featuring the work of pioneering costume designer Travis Banton. Oscar-nominated costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis will introduce the six-movie slate, with actress and former Essentials co-host Rose McGowan joining her for one of the screenings.
Other festival additions include a screening...
As part of its overall Style and the Movies theme, the festival has added several films featuring the work of pioneering costume designer Travis Banton. Oscar-nominated costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis will introduce the six-movie slate, with actress and former Essentials co-host Rose McGowan joining her for one of the screenings.
Other festival additions include a screening...
- 3/9/2012
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
With the centenary of The Titanic's sinking taking place on April 15, it's fitting that the grand old lady will be hoving back onto our screens not once, but twice in the next couple of months. Titanic 3D you probably know about, but the restoration of Roy Ward Baker's A Night To Remember, an obvious touchpoint for that and other disaster movies, is well worth celebrating too. This sparkling new poster, designed by Jen Davies, does that job nicely.With a cast that includes Kenneth More, Ronald Allen, Honor Blackman and David McCallum, and pristine monochrome photography by Geoffrey Unsworth (Cabaret), it's well worth catching on the big screen. There's a five-star Empire view to back it up. But where, we hear you ask? Well, they are special screenings of the digitally restored print in the dock cities linked with the doomed ship - Belfast and Liverpool - before it...
- 1/30/2012
- EmpireOnline
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: March 27, 2012
Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $39.95
Studio: Criterion
British director Roy Ward’s unforgettable rendering of Walter Lord’s book A Night to Remember is arguably the finest dramatization of the sinking of the great ship ‘Titanic’ ever put on film. Yes, there are even many who feel that it’s more effective and memorable than James Cameron’s Titanic from 1997.
Starring such familiar British actors as Kenneth More, Ronald Allen, Robert Ayres and Honor Blackman, the classic 1958 action-drama A Night to Remember offers a sensitive and subtle but nonetheless grand depiction of the ship’s final hours.
Criterion released a DVD edition of A Night to Remember back in 1998. This latest DVD version, released alongside the film’s Blu-ray debut to acknowledge the 100-year memorial of the sinking , will include a bunch of bonus features not seen on the original DVD.
Here’s a list of features...
Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $39.95
Studio: Criterion
British director Roy Ward’s unforgettable rendering of Walter Lord’s book A Night to Remember is arguably the finest dramatization of the sinking of the great ship ‘Titanic’ ever put on film. Yes, there are even many who feel that it’s more effective and memorable than James Cameron’s Titanic from 1997.
Starring such familiar British actors as Kenneth More, Ronald Allen, Robert Ayres and Honor Blackman, the classic 1958 action-drama A Night to Remember offers a sensitive and subtle but nonetheless grand depiction of the ship’s final hours.
Criterion released a DVD edition of A Night to Remember back in 1998. This latest DVD version, released alongside the film’s Blu-ray debut to acknowledge the 100-year memorial of the sinking , will include a bunch of bonus features not seen on the original DVD.
Here’s a list of features...
- 12/27/2011
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Terence Rattigan's romantic drama set in a repressive postwar Britain is brought to the big screen superbly by Terence Davies
If we count his first three short films made on shoestring budgets between 1976 and 1983 as a trilogy, and his next, Distant Voices, Still Lives, as a diptych (they were actually made separately), Terence Davies has directed a mere seven films in 35 years. This puts him in the same exclusive league for low output and high quality as his contemporary, Terrence Malick. Davies's last film, Of Time and the City (2008), was a withering documentary about the sad decline of his hometown, Liverpool, and it followed two feature pictures adapted from American novels set at different times and in different American milieux, John Kennedy Toole's The Neon Bible and Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth.
His outstanding new movie, The Deep Blue Sea, is a version of a play by Terence Rattigan,...
If we count his first three short films made on shoestring budgets between 1976 and 1983 as a trilogy, and his next, Distant Voices, Still Lives, as a diptych (they were actually made separately), Terence Davies has directed a mere seven films in 35 years. This puts him in the same exclusive league for low output and high quality as his contemporary, Terrence Malick. Davies's last film, Of Time and the City (2008), was a withering documentary about the sad decline of his hometown, Liverpool, and it followed two feature pictures adapted from American novels set at different times and in different American milieux, John Kennedy Toole's The Neon Bible and Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth.
His outstanding new movie, The Deep Blue Sea, is a version of a play by Terence Rattigan,...
- 11/27/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Rank the week of October 14th’s Blu-ray and DVD new releases against the best films of all-time: New Releases Green Lantern
(Blu-ray & DVD | PG13 | 2011)
Flickchart Ranking: #2480
Win Percentage: 43%
Times Ranked: 6760
Top-20 Rankings: 25
Directed By: Martin Campbell
Starring: Ryan Reynolds • Blake Lively • Peter Sarsgaard • Mark Strong • Temuera Morrison
Genres: Action • Action Thriller • Based-on-Comics • Comic-Book Superhero Film • Crime • Crime Thriller • Science Fiction • Sci-Fi Action • Thriller
Rank This Movie
Horrible Bosses
(Blu-ray & DVD | Nr | 2011)
Flickchart Ranking: #750
Win Percentage: 54%
Times Ranked: 6278
Top-20 Rankings: 23
Directed By: Seth Gordon
Starring: Jason Bateman • Jason Sudeikis • Jennifer Aniston • Kevin Spacey • Jamie Foxx
Genres: Black Comedy • Comedy • Workplace Comedy
Rank This Movie
Zookeeper
(Blu-ray & DVD | PG | 2011)
Flickchart Ranking: #10259
Win Percentage: 37%
Times Ranked: 470
Top-20 Rankings: 9
Directed By: Frank Coraci
Starring: Kevin James • Rosario Dawson • Leslie Bibb • Ken Jeong • Donnie Wahlberg
Genres: Animal Picture • Comedy • Family-Oriented Comedy
Rank This Movie
Judy Moody And The Not Bummer Summer
(Blu-ray & DVD | PG...
(Blu-ray & DVD | PG13 | 2011)
Flickchart Ranking: #2480
Win Percentage: 43%
Times Ranked: 6760
Top-20 Rankings: 25
Directed By: Martin Campbell
Starring: Ryan Reynolds • Blake Lively • Peter Sarsgaard • Mark Strong • Temuera Morrison
Genres: Action • Action Thriller • Based-on-Comics • Comic-Book Superhero Film • Crime • Crime Thriller • Science Fiction • Sci-Fi Action • Thriller
Rank This Movie
Horrible Bosses
(Blu-ray & DVD | Nr | 2011)
Flickchart Ranking: #750
Win Percentage: 54%
Times Ranked: 6278
Top-20 Rankings: 23
Directed By: Seth Gordon
Starring: Jason Bateman • Jason Sudeikis • Jennifer Aniston • Kevin Spacey • Jamie Foxx
Genres: Black Comedy • Comedy • Workplace Comedy
Rank This Movie
Zookeeper
(Blu-ray & DVD | PG | 2011)
Flickchart Ranking: #10259
Win Percentage: 37%
Times Ranked: 470
Top-20 Rankings: 9
Directed By: Frank Coraci
Starring: Kevin James • Rosario Dawson • Leslie Bibb • Ken Jeong • Donnie Wahlberg
Genres: Animal Picture • Comedy • Family-Oriented Comedy
Rank This Movie
Judy Moody And The Not Bummer Summer
(Blu-ray & DVD | PG...
- 10/11/2011
- by Jonathan Hardesty
- Flickchart
Alluring Australian actor best known for her role in The Wicker Man
Such is the superficial nature of fame that the Australian-born actor Diane Cilento, who has died of cancer aged 78, was best remembered as the wife of Sean Connery from 1962 to 1973, during the height of his fame as James Bond. The attractive, blonde, husky-voiced Cilento would be more fittingly recalled for her roles in a dozen or so British films in the 1950s and 60s, to which she brought a dose of much-needed sexuality. However, her best-known part was in the cultish The Wicker Man (1973), her last British picture before returning to her homeland.
Born in Brisbane, she was the daughter of Sir Raphael and Lady Phyllis Cilento, both physicians. Much to their initial disappointment, Diane decided against following them into the medical profession. After winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London, at the age...
Such is the superficial nature of fame that the Australian-born actor Diane Cilento, who has died of cancer aged 78, was best remembered as the wife of Sean Connery from 1962 to 1973, during the height of his fame as James Bond. The attractive, blonde, husky-voiced Cilento would be more fittingly recalled for her roles in a dozen or so British films in the 1950s and 60s, to which she brought a dose of much-needed sexuality. However, her best-known part was in the cultish The Wicker Man (1973), her last British picture before returning to her homeland.
Born in Brisbane, she was the daughter of Sir Raphael and Lady Phyllis Cilento, both physicians. Much to their initial disappointment, Diane decided against following them into the medical profession. After winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London, at the age...
- 10/7/2011
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
[1] 2011's been pretty hit or miss with regard to dramatic romances. The year got off to a pretty strong start with Jane Eyre in the first quarter, but the more recent Water for Elephants and One Day both fell flat. I'm waiting to be swept off my feet by something beautiful and tragic, and I've got hopes that Terence Davies' The Deep Blue Sea will be just the film to do that. Based on a 1952 play by Terence Rattigan, the story revoles around Hester Collyer (Rachel Weisz), wife of judge Sir William Collyer (Simon Russell Beale). When she strikes up a passionate affair with alcoholic former Royal Air Force pilot Freddie Page (Tom Hiddleston), she starts down a path that may lead to her ultimate destruction. Watch the trailer after the jump. [via First Showing [2]] I can't say I care for the trailer. I don't know whether it's the swelling music or...
- 9/23/2011
- by Angie Han
- Slash Film
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