When it comes to lone acting Oscar nominations, the category with the fewest examples is Best Supporting Actor. After two consecutive years of there being no new additions to that subgroup, Brian Tyree Henry (“Causeway”) became its 54th member in 2023 after having been largely ignored by other awards bodies over the preceding weeks. He directly followed Tom Hanks, who is the only other entrant from the last five years.
Within the last decade, this club has only grown by seven, with those who preceded Hanks and Henry being Robert Duvall, Sylvester Stallone, Michael Shannon, Willem Dafoe, and Christopher Plummer. 2018 marked the fifth instance of two men accomplishing the feat at once, thus tying the category’s record for most bids of this kind in a single year. Contextually, the corresponding Best Supporting Actress record is three, while that of both lead categories is four.
As it happens, the Best Supporting...
Within the last decade, this club has only grown by seven, with those who preceded Hanks and Henry being Robert Duvall, Sylvester Stallone, Michael Shannon, Willem Dafoe, and Christopher Plummer. 2018 marked the fifth instance of two men accomplishing the feat at once, thus tying the category’s record for most bids of this kind in a single year. Contextually, the corresponding Best Supporting Actress record is three, while that of both lead categories is four.
As it happens, the Best Supporting...
- 1/22/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Since the second Academy Awards ceremony in 1930, 73 people have received acting Oscar nominations for their debut film performances, yielding a total of 15 breakout wins. Conversely, the list of actors who have earned recognition for their final movie appearances is much smaller, featuring only 18 general and two successful examples. Those who belong to this club gained entry in a variety of ways, with some having voluntarily quit acting altogether, others having specifically stepped away from film performing, and a few having sadly not lived long enough to bask in the glory of their farewell nominations.
Since film acting retirement can never be absolutely permanent while a performer is still alive, only deceased individuals can correctly be counted as official members of this group. Although most currently living retired actors did not pick up Oscar nominations for their latest films anyway, the academy did smile upon one – Daniel Day-Lewis – on his declared way out.
Since film acting retirement can never be absolutely permanent while a performer is still alive, only deceased individuals can correctly be counted as official members of this group. Although most currently living retired actors did not pick up Oscar nominations for their latest films anyway, the academy did smile upon one – Daniel Day-Lewis – on his declared way out.
- 11/28/2023
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
The Film Noir Foundation puts across more impressive rescues in concert with the UCLA Film and Television Archive: a pair of independently-produced noirs released by Monogram in 1947, modest of budget but firmly rooted in the noir style. The Guilty is a Cornell Woolrich ‘ironic twist’ mini mystery involving troublemaking twins and a soldier suffering from Ptsd. High Tide is a hardboiled corruption tale starring the king of smart-talking newsmen, Lee Tracy. Especially rewarding disc extras give us long-form visual essays on Cornell Woolrich, actor Tracy, producer Jack Wrather and the ‘international’ director John Reinhardt.
The Guilty + High Tide
Blu-ray + DVD
Flicker Alley
1947 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 71 + 72 min. / Street Date June 10, 2022 / Available from Flicker Alley / 39.95
Starring: Bonita Granville, Don Castle, Regis Toomey, Wally Cassell; Lee Tracy, Don Castle, Julie Bishop, Anabel Shaw.
Shared Credits:
Cinematography: Henry Sharp
Original Music: Rudy Schrager
Screenplays by Robert Presnell Sr.
Produced by Jack Wrather
Directed...
The Guilty + High Tide
Blu-ray + DVD
Flicker Alley
1947 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 71 + 72 min. / Street Date June 10, 2022 / Available from Flicker Alley / 39.95
Starring: Bonita Granville, Don Castle, Regis Toomey, Wally Cassell; Lee Tracy, Don Castle, Julie Bishop, Anabel Shaw.
Shared Credits:
Cinematography: Henry Sharp
Original Music: Rudy Schrager
Screenplays by Robert Presnell Sr.
Produced by Jack Wrather
Directed...
- 6/7/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Hello again, everyone! We have a brand new assortment of horror and sci-fi Blu-ray & DVD releases coming out this week, and here’s the lowdown on what to expect. In terms of new films, Willy’s Wonderland is headed home on both Blu and DVD, the new William Friedkin doc, Leap of Faith, is being released on Blu-ray and one of my favorite films I saw last year, I Blame Society, is getting a DVD release as well.
As far as older titles go, the Warner Archive Collection is showing some love to Doctor X this week, Troma is resurrecting The Children with a brand new Blu, and Full Moon has remastered Shrunken Heads as well. Other releases for April 13th include Killer Pinata, Phobias, Virus Shark and The Slayers.
Doctor X
Is there a (mad) doctor in the house? Yes! shrieks Doctor X, filmed in rare two strip Technicolor®. An...
As far as older titles go, the Warner Archive Collection is showing some love to Doctor X this week, Troma is resurrecting The Children with a brand new Blu, and Full Moon has remastered Shrunken Heads as well. Other releases for April 13th include Killer Pinata, Phobias, Virus Shark and The Slayers.
Doctor X
Is there a (mad) doctor in the house? Yes! shrieks Doctor X, filmed in rare two strip Technicolor®. An...
- 4/13/2021
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
It’s the disc everyone wants right now — vintage Hollywood horror fully restored to its amazing original Technicolor luster. A scientific investigation into some grisly Full Moon Murders culminates in a bizarre experiment in the fantastic lab of five potential mad doctors. Fay Wray and Lionel Atwill became horror stars, Lee Tracy provides the sidebar laughs, and then the unknown killer divulges his horrifying, Cronenberg-like secret: Synthetic Flesh! The Warner Archive scores with a follow up to last year’s The Mystery of the Wax Museum.
Doctor X
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1932 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 76 min. / Street Date April 13, 2021 / 21.99
Starring: Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Lee Tracy, Preston Foster, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Leila Bennett, Rovbert Warwixk, Thomas E. Jackson, Mae Busch, Tom Dugan, Louise Beavers.
Cinematography: Ray Rennahan, Richard Towers
Film Editor: George Amy
Art Director: Anton Grot
Special Effects: Fred Jackman Jr.
Makeup (effects): Max Factor
Written by Robert Tasker,...
Doctor X
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1932 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 76 min. / Street Date April 13, 2021 / 21.99
Starring: Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Lee Tracy, Preston Foster, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Leila Bennett, Rovbert Warwixk, Thomas E. Jackson, Mae Busch, Tom Dugan, Louise Beavers.
Cinematography: Ray Rennahan, Richard Towers
Film Editor: George Amy
Art Director: Anton Grot
Special Effects: Fred Jackman Jr.
Makeup (effects): Max Factor
Written by Robert Tasker,...
- 4/6/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Fay Wray in Doctor X (1932) will be available on Blu-ray April 13th from Warner Archive
Is there a (mad) doctor in the house? “Yes!” shrieks Doctor X, filmed in rare two-strip Technicolor®. An eminent scientist aims to solve a murder spree by re-creating the crimes in a lab filled with all the dials, gizmos, bubbling beakers and crackling electrostatic charges essential to the genre. Lionel Atwill is Doctor Xavier, pre-King Kong scream queen Fay Wray is a distressed damsel and Lee Tracy snaps newshound patter, all under the direction of renowned Michael Curtiz. The new two-color Technicolor master was restored by UCLA Film and Television Archive and The Film Foundation in association with Warner Bros. Entertainment. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Foundation. Also includes the separately filmed B&w version (which has been restored and restored from its original nitrate camera negative) originally intended for small U.S. markets and International distribution,...
Is there a (mad) doctor in the house? “Yes!” shrieks Doctor X, filmed in rare two-strip Technicolor®. An eminent scientist aims to solve a murder spree by re-creating the crimes in a lab filled with all the dials, gizmos, bubbling beakers and crackling electrostatic charges essential to the genre. Lionel Atwill is Doctor Xavier, pre-King Kong scream queen Fay Wray is a distressed damsel and Lee Tracy snaps newshound patter, all under the direction of renowned Michael Curtiz. The new two-color Technicolor master was restored by UCLA Film and Television Archive and The Film Foundation in association with Warner Bros. Entertainment. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Foundation. Also includes the separately filmed B&w version (which has been restored and restored from its original nitrate camera negative) originally intended for small U.S. markets and International distribution,...
- 3/18/2021
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Talk about a worthy title for restoration — somebody up there likes us. Digital tools and film preservation expertise have advanced far enough to revive this marvelous pre-Code comedy-shocker in a form that showcases its wild designs and stylized 2-color Technicolor sheen. Director Michael Curtiz’s adept direction highlights Glenda Farrell’s racy dialogue delivery as well as the spooky, expressionist horrors in Lionel Atwill’s haunted ‘waxitorium.’ To top it off we have fabulous Fay Wray, the talkies’ original scream queen, shrieking her way into the horror hall of fame in the tradition of The Phantom of the Opera. Plus — for once the Warner Archive adds some fine new added value extras.
Mystery of the Wax Museum
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1933 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 77 min. / Street Date May 12, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Glenda Farrell, Frank McHugh, Allen Vincent, Gavin Gordon, Arthur Edmund Carewe.
Cinematography: Ray Rennahan...
Mystery of the Wax Museum
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1933 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 77 min. / Street Date May 12, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Glenda Farrell, Frank McHugh, Allen Vincent, Gavin Gordon, Arthur Edmund Carewe.
Cinematography: Ray Rennahan...
- 5/9/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Michael Curtiz’ perversely entertaining pre-code thriller would have been a perfect fit for Weird Tales Magazine. Lee Tracy plays a pushy reporter tracking down the so-called “Moon Killer”, Fay Wray is the soon-to-be damsel in distress and Lionel Atwill plays her father, the titular Doctor Xavier. The eleventh hour unveiling of the killer, bathed in eerie two-strip Technicolor, is the stuff of nightmares.
The post Doctor X appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post Doctor X appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 10/29/2018
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Pat O'Brien movies on TCM: 'The Front Page,' 'Oil for the Lamps of China' Remember Pat O'Brien? In case you don't, you're not alone despite the fact that O'Brien was featured – in both large and small roles – in about 100 films, from the dawn of the sound era to 1981. That in addition to nearly 50 television appearances, from the early '50s to the early '80s. Never a top star or a critics' favorite, O'Brien was nevertheless one of the busiest Hollywood leading men – and second leads – of the 1930s. In that decade alone, mostly at Warner Bros., he was seen in nearly 60 films, from Bs (Hell's House, The Final Edition) to classics (American Madness, Angels with Dirty Faces). Turner Classic Movies is showing nine of those today, Nov. 11, '15, in honor of what would have been the Milwaukee-born O'Brien's 116th birthday. Pat O'Brien and James Cagney Spencer Tracy had Katharine Hepburn.
- 11/11/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Constance Cummings in 'Night After Night.' Constance Cummings: Working with Frank Capra and Mae West (See previous post: “Constance Cummings: Actress Went from Harold Lloyd to Eugene O'Neill.”) Back at Columbia, Harry Cohn didn't do a very good job at making Constance Cummings feel important. By the end of 1932, Columbia and its sweet ingenue found themselves in court, fighting bitterly over stipulations in her contract. According to the actress and lawyer's daughter, Columbia had failed to notify her that they were picking up her option. Therefore, she was a free agent, able to offer her services wherever she pleased. Harry Cohn felt otherwise, claiming that his contract player had waived such a notice. The battle would spill over into 1933. On the positive side, in addition to Movie Crazy 1932 provided Cummings with three other notable Hollywood movies: Washington Merry-Go-Round, American Madness, and Night After Night. 'Washington Merry-Go-Round...
- 11/5/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Allen Jenkins. Illustration by Tony Millionaire from the book The Depression Alphabet Primer, by Daniel Riccuito with illustrations by Tony Millionaire.
Utterly relaxed in his lumpen condition, character actor Allen Jenkins craves no self-improvement—external circumstances are a perennial cause of concern, but within his skin, everything is pronounced satisfactory. He and the world have agreed to disagree. Imagine a sad and slapdash identikit collaged from discards veering toward Neanderthal.
Overall effect: the big toe.
Jenkins excels as stooges and losers when Hollywood is choked with them. His powerhouse harnessed to stock screen personas, as if to fulfill a collective need of the 1930s, every mother’s son compressed into one hyphenate—the titan-shlump. An American type, ideal for our man Jenkins, who could explode into three dimensions and collapse again; it would serve him well throughout a fairly long career, even as his habitual boozing persisted.
As a hit-man...
Utterly relaxed in his lumpen condition, character actor Allen Jenkins craves no self-improvement—external circumstances are a perennial cause of concern, but within his skin, everything is pronounced satisfactory. He and the world have agreed to disagree. Imagine a sad and slapdash identikit collaged from discards veering toward Neanderthal.
Overall effect: the big toe.
Jenkins excels as stooges and losers when Hollywood is choked with them. His powerhouse harnessed to stock screen personas, as if to fulfill a collective need of the 1930s, every mother’s son compressed into one hyphenate—the titan-shlump. An American type, ideal for our man Jenkins, who could explode into three dimensions and collapse again; it would serve him well throughout a fairly long career, even as his habitual boozing persisted.
As a hit-man...
- 12/29/2014
- by David Cairns & Daniel Riccuito
- MUBI
For a dyed-in-the-wool film buff, getting a chance to see movies that haven’t been in circulation for decades is always enticing. Beginning tonight, UCLA Film & Television Archive is presenting a series called Columbia in the 1930s: Recent Restorations. Alongside established titles like Frank Capra’s The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933) and Howard Hawks’ The Criminal Code (1931) you’ll find other films that are virtually unknown: Attorney for the Defense (1932), East of Fifth Avenue (1933), By Whose Hand? (1932), Men in Her Life (1931), and Lover Come Back (1931). Stars include Edmund Lowe, Constance Cummings, Pat O’Brien, Lee Tracy, and Charles Bickford. I can hardly wait! I...
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- 1/3/2014
- by Leonard Maltin
- Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy
Wallace Beery from Pancho Villa to Long John Silver: TCM schedule (Pt) on August 17, 2013 (photo: Fay Wray, Wallace Beery as Pancho Villa in ‘Viva Villa!’) See previous post: “Wallace Beery: Best Actor Oscar Winner — and Runner-Up.” 3:00 Am The Last Of The Mohicans (1920). Director: Maurice Tourneur. Cast: Barbara Bedford, Albert Roscoe, Wallace Beery, Lillian Hall, Henry Woodward, James Gordon, George Hackathorne, Nelson McDowell, Harry Lorraine, Theodore Lorch, Jack McDonald, Sydney Deane, Boris Karloff. Bw-76 mins. 4:30 Am The Big House (1930). Director: George W. Hill. Cast: Chester Morris, Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, Robert Montgomery, Leila Hyams, George F. Marion, J.C. Nugent, DeWitt Jennings, Matthew Betz, Claire McDowell, Robert Emmett O’Connor, Tom Wilson, Eddie Foyer, Roscoe Ates, Fletcher Norton, Noah Beery Jr, Chris-Pin Martin, Eddie Lambert, Harry Wilson. Bw-87 mins. 6:00 Am Bad Man Of Brimstone (1937). Director: J. Walter Ruben. Cast: Wallace Beery, Virginia Bruce, Dennis O’Keefe. Bw-89 mins.
- 8/17/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Wallace Beery: Best Actor Academy Award winner and Best Actor Academy Award runner-up in the same year (photo: Jackie Cooper and Wallace Beery in ‘The Champ’) (See previous post: “Wallace Beery Movies: Anomalous Hollywood Star.”) In the Academy’s 1931-32 season, Wallace Beery took home the Best Actor Academy Award — I mean, one of them. In the King Vidor-directed melodrama The Champ (1931), Beery plays a down-on-his-luck boxer and caring Dad to tearduct-challenged Jackie Cooper, while veteran Irene Rich is Beery’s cool former wife and Cooper’s mother. Will daddy and son remain together forever and ever? Audiences the world over were drowned in tears — theirs and Jackie Cooper’s. Now, regarding Wallace Beery’s Best Actor Academy Award, he was actually a runner-up: Fredric March, initially announced as the sole winner for his performance in Rouben Mamoulian’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, turned out to have...
- 8/17/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Wallace Beery movies: TCM offers a glimpse into Beery’s extensive filmography (photo: Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery in ‘Min and Bill’) According to the IMDb, the Wallace Beery Filmography features nearly 240 movie titles, including shorts and features, spanning more than three decades, from 1913 to 1949 — the year of his death at age 64. You’ll be able to catch about a dozen of these Wallace Beery movies on Saturday, August 17, 2013, as Turner Classic Movies continues with its "Summer Under the Stars" series. (See “TCM movie schedule: Wallace Beery from Pancho Villa to Long John Silver.”) Wallace Beery, much like fellow veteran Marie Dressler, with whom he co-starred in Min and Bill and its sequel, Tugboat Annie, was a Hollywood anomaly. At age 45, the ugly, coarse-looking actor became a top box-office draw in the United States after languishing in supporting roles, usually playing villains, throughout most of the silent era. Beery and Dressler,...
- 8/17/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Some acting careers are made by a single role. Think Brando’s Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Robert DeNiro’s Johnny Boy in Mean Streets (1973), Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jack in the box office behemoth Titanic (1997).
A similar connection can happen on a more personal basis. You watch a movie and an actor — for whatever magical, alchemical reason – clicks with you. You suddenly remember the other times you’ve seen him or her, you want to know more about what they’ve done, what they’re going to do. From that moment, their name in the credits means something to you.
And in that great, romantic way Hollywood dream-making works, they may not even be stars; never were, never will be. But they are somebody you respond to, somebody’s who work touches you.
For me, Charles Durning was one of those actors. At the news of his passing on Christmas Eve,...
A similar connection can happen on a more personal basis. You watch a movie and an actor — for whatever magical, alchemical reason – clicks with you. You suddenly remember the other times you’ve seen him or her, you want to know more about what they’ve done, what they’re going to do. From that moment, their name in the credits means something to you.
And in that great, romantic way Hollywood dream-making works, they may not even be stars; never were, never will be. But they are somebody you respond to, somebody’s who work touches you.
For me, Charles Durning was one of those actors. At the news of his passing on Christmas Eve,...
- 12/28/2012
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Cinema Circus is clearly a product of the great, yet under-reported MGM peyote-poisoning of 1937—how else to explain its baffling, surreal, Technicolor, grotesque yet undeniable existence? It is a chilling documentary record of some things that were performed in front of a camera, once upon a time.
A man in a gruesome Joe E. Brown mask is helped from his leering false-face, revealing another leering false face, that of Lee Tracy, who attempts to justify what we are about to see as the realisation of a long-cherished dream, although the exorcism of a recurring nightmare would be at least as plausible.
Big top performers will trot out their tricks in brief visual bits, watched by earnestly faking-it movie "stars," few now recalled in the contemporary pantheon: Olsen & Johnson, the Ritz Brothers, Leo Carillo...
Meanwhile, more hideous outsized masks are sported, embodying movie stars too authentically famous to be roped into...
A man in a gruesome Joe E. Brown mask is helped from his leering false-face, revealing another leering false face, that of Lee Tracy, who attempts to justify what we are about to see as the realisation of a long-cherished dream, although the exorcism of a recurring nightmare would be at least as plausible.
Big top performers will trot out their tricks in brief visual bits, watched by earnestly faking-it movie "stars," few now recalled in the contemporary pantheon: Olsen & Johnson, the Ritz Brothers, Leo Carillo...
Meanwhile, more hideous outsized masks are sported, embodying movie stars too authentically famous to be roped into...
- 4/19/2012
- MUBI
Writing about Emma Thompson possibly reprising her role as human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce made me remember comments I've read about the 1993 Academy Awards. In early 1994, Thompson was nominated for two Oscars: as Best Actress for James Ivory's social/psychological drama The Remains of the Day (photo) and as Best Supporting Actress for Jim Sheridan's family melodrama / political & prison drama In the Name of the Father. That same year, Holly Hunter was another double nominee — the first (and to date only) time two performers have been in the running in two acting categories in the same year. Hunter was up for the Best Actress Oscar for Jane Campion's The Piano (photo) and as Best Supporting Actress for Sydney Pollack's The Firm. She eventually won for The Piano; she and Thompson lost in the Best Supporting Actress category to The Piano's Anna Paquin. Some have claimed...
- 4/5/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Gregory Le Cava's Unfinished Business (1941) screens at Anthology Film Archives in New York on 27th - 29th January, along with the director's 1935 film She Married Her Boss in part of the on-going series, Stuck on the Second Tier: Underknown Auteurs.
The first distinguishing feature I noticed about Gregory La Cava's films, apart from his great ability with comedy, was the tension between humor and pain, which often seemed quite off-kilter, unpredictable, and liable to Whang you in the face. The happy ending of Stage Door (1937) is marred by our consciousness of the death of the most sympathetic and passionate character (some prints apparently include a quick shot of her grave at the end, not smoothing over the problem so much as highlighting it). When Lee Tracy prepares to beat up Lupe Velez at the end of The Half-Naked Truth (1932), and the soundtrack jauntily plays Mendelssohn's Wedding March, the modern sensibility rather shudders.
The first distinguishing feature I noticed about Gregory La Cava's films, apart from his great ability with comedy, was the tension between humor and pain, which often seemed quite off-kilter, unpredictable, and liable to Whang you in the face. The happy ending of Stage Door (1937) is marred by our consciousness of the death of the most sympathetic and passionate character (some prints apparently include a quick shot of her grave at the end, not smoothing over the problem so much as highlighting it). When Lee Tracy prepares to beat up Lupe Velez at the end of The Half-Naked Truth (1932), and the soundtrack jauntily plays Mendelssohn's Wedding March, the modern sensibility rather shudders.
- 1/26/2012
- MUBI
Claudette Colbert, Alla Nazimova, Marion Davies, Charles Boyer: Cinecon 2011 Thursday September 1 (photo: Alla Nazimova) 7:00 Hollywood Rhythm (1934) 7:10 Welcoming Remarks 7:15 Hollywood Story (1951) 77 min. Richard Conte, Julie Adams, Richard Egan. Dir: William Castle. 8:35 Q & A with Julie Adams 9:10 Blazing Days (1927) 60 min. Fred Humes. Dir: William Wyler. 10:20 In The Sweet Pie And Pie (1941) 18 min 10:40 She Had To Eat (1937) 75 min. Jack Haley, Rochelle Hudson, Eugene Pallette. Friday September 2 9:00 Signing Off (1936) 9:20 Moon Over Her Shoulder (1941) 68 min. Dan Dailey, Lynn Bari, John Sutton, Alan Mowbray. 10:40 The Active Life Of Dolly Of The Dailies (1914) 15 min. Mary Fuller. 10:55 Stronger Than Death (1920) 80 min. Alla Nazimova, Charles Bryant. Dir: Herbert Blaché, Charles Bryant, Robert Z. Leonard. 12:15 Lunch Break 1:45 Open Track (1916) 2:00 On The Night Stage (1915) 60 min. William S. Hart, Rhea Mitchell. Dir: Reginald Barker. 3:15 50 Miles From Broadway (1929) 23 min 3:45 Cinerama Adventure (2002). Dir: David Strohmaier. 5:18 Discussion...
- 9/2/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
"New Deal, huh? This fella' Roosevelt's just tryin' to get the banks out of a jam, that's all."
—Lee Tracy in Turn Back the Clock (Edgar Selwyn, 1933)
Early Talkies lift further out of the nostalgia bin like banshees proclaiming Reality! Even MGM, with its ethos of ermine bathmats during America's Great Depression, will occasionally astonish us. Swap out "Roosevelt" for "Obama" and we are there—and guess what? It's another here and now. Tracy plays a loudmouthed know-it-all who gets knocked flat by traffic and, dreaming himself back in time, marries a different girl and tries to get rich on future knowledge in this nifty little picture, but we don't know any of that yet. His cynical comment flies at us without context (it's the first thing we hear). Screenwriters Ben Hecht and Edgar Selwyn belonged to a political milieu that would floor today's "left"......
—Lee Tracy in Turn Back the Clock (Edgar Selwyn, 1933)
Early Talkies lift further out of the nostalgia bin like banshees proclaiming Reality! Even MGM, with its ethos of ermine bathmats during America's Great Depression, will occasionally astonish us. Swap out "Roosevelt" for "Obama" and we are there—and guess what? It's another here and now. Tracy plays a loudmouthed know-it-all who gets knocked flat by traffic and, dreaming himself back in time, marries a different girl and tries to get rich on future knowledge in this nifty little picture, but we don't know any of that yet. His cynical comment flies at us without context (it's the first thing we hear). Screenwriters Ben Hecht and Edgar Selwyn belonged to a political milieu that would floor today's "left"......
- 8/24/2011
- MUBI
Each year New York residents can look forward to two essential series programmed at the Film Forum, noirs and pre-Coders (that is, films made before the strict enforcing of the Motion Picture Production Code). These near-annual retrospective traditions are refreshed and re-varied and re-repeated for neophytes and cinephiles alike, giving all the chance to see and see again great film on film. Many titles in this year's Essential Pre-Codeseries, running an epic July 15 - August 11, are old favorites and some ache to be new discoveries; all in all there are far too many racy, slipshod, patter-filled celluloid splendors to be covered by one critic alone. Faced with such a bounty, I've enlisted the kind help of some friends and colleagues, asking them to sent in short pieces on their favorites in an incomplete but also in-progress survey and guide to one of the summer's most sought-after series. In this entry: what's playing Friday,...
- 8/4/2011
- MUBI
Jean Harlow, National Air Race director Cliff Henderson (top); Jean Harlow, Lee Tracy directed by Victor Fleming (Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz) on the set of Bombshell; cinematographer Harold Rosson, with whom Harlow was briefly married, is at the camera (middle); Jean Harlow by the pool of her Beverly Glen home (bottom) Jean Harlow-Mark Vieira Interview Part I What are your impressions of Jean Harlow as an actress? Do you have a favorite movie and/or performance? Harlow only became an actress under the expert tutelage of MGM drama coaches. I think she’s really great in both China Seas and Wife vs. Secretary. Jean Harlow and Paul Bern. What brought those two together? Harlow needed a father figure to guide her. Bern needed a rescue project. Neither person expected the consequences. What about Jean Harlow and William Powell? How did their relationship develop? Both...
- 4/12/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
James Earl Jones has already lined up his next Broadway gig while he is still packing them in with the revival of "Driving Miss Daisy." In next spring's second rialto remounting of Gore Vidal's 1960 political drama "The Best Man," Jones will take on the part of the former President who gets caught up in his party's contentious convention to select a nominee. The role's originator, Lee Tracy, contended for Best Actor at the Tony Awards for his performance. Jones, a two-time Best Actor winner ("The Great White Hope, 1969; " "Fences," 1987), is a strong contender this year for his work in the acclaimed production of "Driving Miss Daisy" opposite Best Actress Tony champ Vanessa Redgrave ("Long Day's Journey Into Night," 2003). The original run of "The Best Man" vied for six Tony Awards including Best Play. And, as one of the two rivals for the party's nomination, Melvyn Douglas won the...
- 2/24/2011
- Gold Derby
He’s currently co-starring in the successful Broadway debut of Driving Miss Daisy, alongside Vanessa Redgrave, but James Earl Jones already has his next gig lined up for when that show’s run ends.
It’ll be another Broadway play, a revival of Gore Vidal’s The Best Man. In it, Jones will next assume the role of Arthur Hockstader – a former United States president troubled with having to decide which 2 potential presidential nominees to endorse.
Described as a “political play” – one that I’m not familiar with - The Best Man centers on the behind-the-scenes goings-on during a presidential nomination campaign. Originally on Broadway in 1960, the play was adapted into a feature film in 1964, starring Henry Fonda, Cliff Robertson, and Lee Tracy, who played the part now given to James Earl Jones, and who was nominated for an Academy Award for supporting performance. Should be a plump role for Jones then?...
It’ll be another Broadway play, a revival of Gore Vidal’s The Best Man. In it, Jones will next assume the role of Arthur Hockstader – a former United States president troubled with having to decide which 2 potential presidential nominees to endorse.
Described as a “political play” – one that I’m not familiar with - The Best Man centers on the behind-the-scenes goings-on during a presidential nomination campaign. Originally on Broadway in 1960, the play was adapted into a feature film in 1964, starring Henry Fonda, Cliff Robertson, and Lee Tracy, who played the part now given to James Earl Jones, and who was nominated for an Academy Award for supporting performance. Should be a plump role for Jones then?...
- 2/24/2011
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
It's Election Day, and U.S. citizens are heading to the polls! In celebration of our blessed freedom, "Extra" has put together a list of some of the best political movie quotes. Check em' out! And get out there and vote!
Top 20 Political Movie Quotes'Man of the Year' (2004)
"Politicians are a lot like diapers. They should be changed frequently, and for the same reasons." —Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams)
'Swing Vote' (2008)
"All the world's...
Top 20 Political Movie Quotes'Man of the Year' (2004)
"Politicians are a lot like diapers. They should be changed frequently, and for the same reasons." —Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams)
'Swing Vote' (2008)
"All the world's...
- 11/2/2010
- Extra
Marlon Brando, Jean Peters in Elia Kazan's Viva Zapata! Ramon Novarro in Scaramouche on TCM Following Scaramouche, Turner Classic Movies will show a Mexican feature set during the Revolution, Roberto Rodríguez's La Bandida (1963), starring Mexican legend María Félix, Pedro Armendáriz, Katy Jurado, actor-filmmaker Emilio Fernández, and Lola Beltrán. And prior to Scaramouche, TCM is showing two Mexican Revolution films made in Hollywood: Elia Kazan's Viva Zapata! (1952), with Marlon Brando (wasn't Katy Jurado or perhaps Sarita Montiel available?) as revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, and Jack Conway's Viva Villa! (1934), with a surprisingly effective Wallace Beery as Pancho Villa. The beautifully shot Viva Villa! (cinematography by Charles G. Clarke and James Wong Howe) is perhaps best known for what's not seen on screen: Lee Tracy, one of the stars of MGM's Dinner at 8, getting drunk and pissing on a military parade passing below his Mexico City hotel balcony, being arrested...
- 9/27/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Repertory theaters on the coasts are truly offering a window onto the world this spring, with Jia Zhangke and Bong Joon-ho retrospectives, as well as New French Cinema in New York, "Freebie and the Bean," "Killer Klowns from Outer Space" and Jason Reitman's favorite films invade Los Angeles, and the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin is offering a fond farewell to the video cassette. But consider this a hello to seeing classics, oddities and rarities on the big screen over the next few months.
Cities: [New York] [Los Angeles] [Austin] More Spring Preview: [Theatrical Calendar]
[Anywhere But a Movie Theater]
New York
92YTribeca
Is there a more energetic way to start the spring than with a screening of Russ Meyer's "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" (Feb. 20, with editors Rumsey Taylor, Leo Goldsmith and Jenny Jediny in attendance)? Perhaps not, but it's only the start of an exciting spring season at the 92YTribeca Screening Room, which will present several special events over the next few months.
Cities: [New York] [Los Angeles] [Austin] More Spring Preview: [Theatrical Calendar]
[Anywhere But a Movie Theater]
New York
92YTribeca
Is there a more energetic way to start the spring than with a screening of Russ Meyer's "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" (Feb. 20, with editors Rumsey Taylor, Leo Goldsmith and Jenny Jediny in attendance)? Perhaps not, but it's only the start of an exciting spring season at the 92YTribeca Screening Room, which will present several special events over the next few months.
- 2/20/2010
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
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