MGM celebrated its centennial on April 17th. Marcus Lowe established the studio by merging Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Pictures. Boasting it had “more stars than there are in heaven,” MGM may have been the biggest studio during the Golden Age of Hollywood, it has gone through many owners and regimes over the years but seems to on terra firma since Amazon acquired MGM in 2021. In fact, Amazon MGM Studios won best screenplay Oscar for “American Fiction.” And speaking of Academy Awards, MGM has earned numerous statuettes over the years. Here’s a look at five Best Picture winners produced between 1929-1958.
“The Broadway Melody”
The 1929 musical made Oscar history by being the first talkie to win the top prize. Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed wrote the songs which include “The Broadway Melody,” “You Were Meant for Me” and “The Wedding of the Painted Doll” but...
“The Broadway Melody”
The 1929 musical made Oscar history by being the first talkie to win the top prize. Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed wrote the songs which include “The Broadway Melody,” “You Were Meant for Me” and “The Wedding of the Painted Doll” but...
- 4/22/2024
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
The Best Picture win at the Oscars is the highest prize in the film industry. However, some films manage to take home the top award, yet they still don’t manage to stand the test of time. There are some Best Picture winners that no one talks about, even though they’ll always be a part of Academy Award history.
‘The Broadway Melody’ (1929) L-r: Charles King as Eddie Kearns, Bessie Love as Harriet ‘Hank’ Mahoney, Mary Doran as Flo, Anita Page as Queen Mahoney, and Nacio Herb Brown as Pianist | John Springer Collection/Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
Harriet ‘Hank’ Mahoney (Bessie Love) and Queenie Mahoney (Anita Page) are vaudeville sister performers looking to break into the Broadway scene. However, romantic melodrama quickly overshadows their attempt to pursue fame as a duo.
The Broadway Melody is the second film to win the Best Picture Oscar, with only Wings coming before it.
‘The Broadway Melody’ (1929) L-r: Charles King as Eddie Kearns, Bessie Love as Harriet ‘Hank’ Mahoney, Mary Doran as Flo, Anita Page as Queen Mahoney, and Nacio Herb Brown as Pianist | John Springer Collection/Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
Harriet ‘Hank’ Mahoney (Bessie Love) and Queenie Mahoney (Anita Page) are vaudeville sister performers looking to break into the Broadway scene. However, romantic melodrama quickly overshadows their attempt to pursue fame as a duo.
The Broadway Melody is the second film to win the Best Picture Oscar, with only Wings coming before it.
- 2/28/2023
- by Jeff Nelson
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
In the 89 years that the Academy Awards have been held, over 40 musicals have either been nominated for or have won an Oscar for Best Picture, including this last December's La La Land. The first musical to ever win Best Picture was The Broadway Melody at the second Academy Awards in 1929. The film starred Charles King, Eddie Kane, Bessie Love and Anita Page...
- 2/23/2017
- by Rachel Crawford
- BroadwayWorld.com
Mildred Pierce
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 860
1945 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 111 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date , 2017 /
Starring Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden, Ann Blyth, Bruce Bennett, Lee Patrick, Moroni Olsen, Veda Ann Borg, Jo Ann Marlowe, Butterfly McQueen.
Cinematography: Ernest Haller
Art Direction: Anton Grot
Film Editor: David Weisbart
Original Music: Max Steiner
Written by: Ranald MacDougall from the novel by James M. Cain
Produced by: Jerry Wald, Jack L. Warner
Directed by Michael Curtiz
James M. Cain’s 1941 novel Mildred Pierce offers a venal and self-destructive view of America not with a story of respectable bourgeois society, not the criminal underworld. A de-classed, suburb-dwelling nobody fights her way onto the social register by using men and by hard work… and then watches as her obsessive goals blow up in her face In Cain’s worldview it’s every woman for herself. He drags in an odd personal theme,...
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 860
1945 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 111 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date , 2017 /
Starring Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden, Ann Blyth, Bruce Bennett, Lee Patrick, Moroni Olsen, Veda Ann Borg, Jo Ann Marlowe, Butterfly McQueen.
Cinematography: Ernest Haller
Art Direction: Anton Grot
Film Editor: David Weisbart
Original Music: Max Steiner
Written by: Ranald MacDougall from the novel by James M. Cain
Produced by: Jerry Wald, Jack L. Warner
Directed by Michael Curtiz
James M. Cain’s 1941 novel Mildred Pierce offers a venal and self-destructive view of America not with a story of respectable bourgeois society, not the criminal underworld. A de-classed, suburb-dwelling nobody fights her way onto the social register by using men and by hard work… and then watches as her obsessive goals blow up in her face In Cain’s worldview it’s every woman for herself. He drags in an odd personal theme,...
- 1/28/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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
Adolphe Menjou movies today (This article is currently being revised.) Despite countless stories to the contrary, numerous silent film performers managed to survive the coming of sound. Adolphe Menjou, however, is a special case in that he not only remained a leading man in the early sound era, but smoothly made the transition to top supporting player in mid-decade, a position he would continue to hold for the quarter of a century. Menjou is Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Day today, Aug. 3, as part of TCM's "Summer Under the Stars" 2015 series. Right now, TCM is showing William A. Wellman's A Star Is Born, the "original" version of the story about a small-town girl (Janet Gaynor) who becomes a Hollywood star, while her husband (Fredric March) boozes his way into oblivion. In typical Hollywood originality (not that things are any different elsewhere), this 1937 version of the story – produced by...
- 8/4/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Robert Redford movies: TCM shows 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,' 'The Sting' They don't make movie stars like they used to, back in the days of Louis B. Mayer, Jack Warner, and Harry Cohn. That's what nostalgists have been bitching about for the last four or five decades; never mind the fact that movie stars have remained as big as ever despite the demise of the old studio system and the spectacular rise of television more than sixty years ago. This month of January 2015, Turner Classic Movies will be honoring one such post-studio era superstar: Robert Redford. Beginning this Monday evening, January 6, TCM will be presenting 15 Robert Redford movies. Tonight's entries include Redford's two biggest blockbusters, both directed by George Roy Hill and co-starring Paul Newman: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which turned Redford, already in his early 30s, into a major film star to rival Rudolph Valentino,...
- 1/7/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
First Best Actor Oscar winner Emil Jannings and first Best Actress Oscar winner Janet Gaynor on TCM (photo: Emil Jannings in 'The Last Command') First Best Actor Academy Award winner Emil Jannings in The Last Command, first Best Actress Academy Award winner Janet Gaynor in Sunrise, and sisters Norma Talmadge and Constance Talmadge are a few of the silent era performers featured this evening on Turner Classic Movies, as TCM continues with its Silent Monday presentations. Starting at 5 p.m. Pt / 8 p.m. Et on November 17, 2014, get ready to check out several of the biggest movie stars of the 1920s. Following the Jean Negulesco-directed 1943 musical short Hit Parade of the Gay Nineties -- believe me, even the most rabid anti-gay bigot will be able to enjoy this one -- TCM will be showing Josef von Sternberg's The Last Command (1928) one of the two movies that earned...
- 11/18/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Forgive me, I'm on a production designer kick at present.
According to Screen Deco by Edward Mandelbaum and Eric Myers, MGM's head of department Cedric Gibbons was an early exponent of the constructed set, back in the early teens when rooms were often nothing more than painted flats. He's "the man who put the glove on the mantelpiece," meaning that before that you couldn't put anything on a mantelpiece since it was nothing but a trompe l'oeil bunch of brushstrokes. You'd have to put ball-bearings in your glove and magnetize it from behind, or something. Messy.
In 1928, the year sound came, Gibbons staged another, quiet revolution with Our Dancing Daughters, an early Joan Crawford vehicle, and what's known as a "soundie"—there's sound effects and a recorded score, but no synch dialogue. (Odd moment: an offscreen voice calls for Joan to do her dance, and then her lips move soundlessly in reply,...
According to Screen Deco by Edward Mandelbaum and Eric Myers, MGM's head of department Cedric Gibbons was an early exponent of the constructed set, back in the early teens when rooms were often nothing more than painted flats. He's "the man who put the glove on the mantelpiece," meaning that before that you couldn't put anything on a mantelpiece since it was nothing but a trompe l'oeil bunch of brushstrokes. You'd have to put ball-bearings in your glove and magnetize it from behind, or something. Messy.
In 1928, the year sound came, Gibbons staged another, quiet revolution with Our Dancing Daughters, an early Joan Crawford vehicle, and what's known as a "soundie"—there's sound effects and a recorded score, but no synch dialogue. (Odd moment: an offscreen voice calls for Joan to do her dance, and then her lips move soundlessly in reply,...
- 3/6/2013
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) has unveiled additional programming and events for the 2012 edition of the TCM Classic Film Festival, including a celebration of the 100th anniversary of Paramount Pictures. Robert Evans, longtime producer and former head of production for Paramount, is set to take part in the tribute, which will focus on the studio’s 1970s renaissance. In addition, the TCM Classic Film Festival is slated to include a look at The Noir Style, a tribute to legendary costume designer Travis Banton, a look at art deco in the movies, a collection of early cinematic rarities and much more.
TCM.s own Robert Osborne will once again serve as official host for the four-day, star-studded event, which will take pace Thursday, April 12 . Sunday, April 15, 2012, in Hollywood. Passes are on sale now through the official festival website: http://www.tcm.com/festival.
The Paramount Renaissance
The TCM Classic Film Festival will...
TCM.s own Robert Osborne will once again serve as official host for the four-day, star-studded event, which will take pace Thursday, April 12 . Sunday, April 15, 2012, in Hollywood. Passes are on sale now through the official festival website: http://www.tcm.com/festival.
The Paramount Renaissance
The TCM Classic Film Festival will...
- 12/19/2011
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
In the 2008 TCM Remembers clip above, you’ll find a collection of film personalities, from Ingmar Bergman star Eva Dahlbeck to Jaws‘ Roy Scheider, from Rear Window screenwriter John Michael Hayes to Il Sorpasso director Dino Risi, from silent film actress Anita Page (seen with Joan Crawford) to Black Orpheus‘ Breno Mello and Marpessa Dawn, from Oscar winner Paul Scofield to schlock goddess Vampira. I dare you not to get choked up even if you don’t recognize most of them.
- 3/9/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Anita Page, Ramon Novarro in The Flying Fleet Ramon Novarro: Allan Ellenberger Interview II Ramon Novarro and Anita Page. Do you believe he actually asked her hand in marriage as she claimed later in life? I do, and the main reason is that I knew Anita Page and interviewed her extensively for over a year before her health really began to decline. At that point, she would have short-term memory loss due to a stroke, which made interviewing her more difficult. That, and the image that she presented to the world in some ways made her appear unreliable. All I know is that I was able to prove most of the stories she told me with secondary [...]...
- 10/27/2009
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
George Clooney has paid tribute to silent movie star Anita Page following her death at the weekend.
The veteran actress passed away in her sleep at her Los Angeles home on Saturday morning.
And the Ocean's Eleven star remembers the Hollywood legend as resembling a character from Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations and Norma Desmond from 1950 movie Sunset Boulevard.
He says, "She looked like a cross between Miss Havisham and Norma Desmond. She had the oomph of a star who believed herself to still be big.
"She could walk into any party and the whole room would spin round. She'd talk about old movies and stars like Rudolph Valentino and Greta Garbo and weekends with Randolph Hearst."...
The veteran actress passed away in her sleep at her Los Angeles home on Saturday morning.
And the Ocean's Eleven star remembers the Hollywood legend as resembling a character from Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations and Norma Desmond from 1950 movie Sunset Boulevard.
He says, "She looked like a cross between Miss Havisham and Norma Desmond. She had the oomph of a star who believed herself to still be big.
"She could walk into any party and the whole room would spin round. She'd talk about old movies and stars like Rudolph Valentino and Greta Garbo and weekends with Randolph Hearst."...
- 9/10/2008
- WENN
Channing Tatum got engaged to girlfriend Jenna Dewan in Maui over the weekend, surprising her by proposing with a Neil Lane ring in front of their close friends. — People Nicolas Cage's Bangkok Dangerous was top at this weekend's slow box office with $7.8 million, and Tropic Thunder came in a close second with $7.5 million. — BuzzSugar Tom Brady badly hurt his knee during Sunday's season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs; the severity of the injury has not been announced, but he may be out for the season. — Yahoo Sports Silent screen actress Anita Page passed away in her sleep at age 98 early Saturday morning in La. — AP KT Tunstall married her boyfriend and her band's drummer, Luke Bullen, on Scotland's Isle of Skye on Saturday. — Daily Mail Tommy Lee Jones is suing Paramount Pictures for over $10 million that he says the studio owes him from "box office bonuses" promised in...
- 9/8/2008
- by PopSugar
- Popsugar.com
Silent movie star Anita Page has died at the age of 98.
The veteran actress passed away in her sleep at her Los Angeles home on Saturday morning.
Page - real name Anita Pomares - broke into Hollywood in 1928, at the age of 18, when she landed a role alongside Joan Crawford in Our Dancing Daughters.
She went on to win a role in the musical The Broadway Melody in 1929, and the film became the first spoken word movie to win an Academy Award in 1930 for Best Picture.
Page wed her first husband, The Broadway Melody composer Nacio Herb Brown, in 1934, but the union was annulled the following year.
In 1936, she married second husband Herschel House, six weeks after they met, and took a near 30-year break from acting to became a doting housewife to the U.S. Navy officer.
But she returned to the limelight in 1994, three years after House's death, with a part in thriller Sunset After Dark.
Throughout her career, Page starred alongside the likes of Lon Chaney, Walter Huston, Clark Gable and silent film legend Buster Keaton, with whom she appeared in 1930's Free and Easy, and 1931's Sidewalks of New York.
Her last film appearance came in Frankenstein Rising, a horror due for release later this year.
The veteran actress passed away in her sleep at her Los Angeles home on Saturday morning.
Page - real name Anita Pomares - broke into Hollywood in 1928, at the age of 18, when she landed a role alongside Joan Crawford in Our Dancing Daughters.
She went on to win a role in the musical The Broadway Melody in 1929, and the film became the first spoken word movie to win an Academy Award in 1930 for Best Picture.
Page wed her first husband, The Broadway Melody composer Nacio Herb Brown, in 1934, but the union was annulled the following year.
In 1936, she married second husband Herschel House, six weeks after they met, and took a near 30-year break from acting to became a doting housewife to the U.S. Navy officer.
But she returned to the limelight in 1994, three years after House's death, with a part in thriller Sunset After Dark.
Throughout her career, Page starred alongside the likes of Lon Chaney, Walter Huston, Clark Gable and silent film legend Buster Keaton, with whom she appeared in 1930's Free and Easy, and 1931's Sidewalks of New York.
Her last film appearance came in Frankenstein Rising, a horror due for release later this year.
- 9/7/2008
- WENN
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