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
Veteran filmmakers Michael Relph and Basil Dearden try a hip ‘n’ flip costume comedy about an 1899 consortium that’s the equivalent of Murder Inc.: Killings for hire done with veddy proper civility and good taste. The charming Oliver Reed and Diana Rigg lead a notable cast — Telly Savalas, Curd Jürgens, Philippe Noiret, Beryl Reid, Clive Revill — through mayhem-filled chases in several European capitals. Tossed off in tongue-in-cheek style, it’s shallow but cute, and if you like the stars it can be a lark. Its saving grace is the spirited Ms. Rigg.
The Assassination Bureau
Region-Free Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 86
1969 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 110 min. / The Assassination Bureau Limited / Street Date October 29, 2021 / Available from [Imprint] or Amazon /
Starring: Oliver Reed, Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas, Curd Jürgens, Philippe Noiret, Warren Mitchell, Beryl Reid, Clive Revill, Kenneth Griffith, Vernon Dobtcheff, Annabella Incontrera, Jess Conrad, George Coulouris.
Cinematography: Geoffrey Unsworth
Art Director: Michael Relph
Film...
The Assassination Bureau
Region-Free Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 86
1969 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 110 min. / The Assassination Bureau Limited / Street Date October 29, 2021 / Available from [Imprint] or Amazon /
Starring: Oliver Reed, Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas, Curd Jürgens, Philippe Noiret, Warren Mitchell, Beryl Reid, Clive Revill, Kenneth Griffith, Vernon Dobtcheff, Annabella Incontrera, Jess Conrad, George Coulouris.
Cinematography: Geoffrey Unsworth
Art Director: Michael Relph
Film...
- 11/21/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Stephen Goldblatt, the cinematographer of John Patrick Shanley’s new romance “Wild Mountain Thyme,” did not have a particularly cordial relationship with Barbra Streisand when he shot her 1991 drama “The Prince of Tides.” But that didn’t stop him from coming to her defense when he found criticism of her work sexist and misguided, he recently told TheWrap.
The fuss began in the summer of 1991, Columbia Pictures held a test screening for “The Prince of Tides,” Streisand’s second film as a director after 1983’s “Yentl.” The family drama, based on a beloved novel by Pat Conroy, starred Nick Nolte as a South Carolina teacher struggling with dark memories of his childhood, and Streisand as a New York therapist. It was scheduled for release that fall and the test screening reactions would give the studio an indication of whether, as hoped, this was an awards contender.
The Los Angeles Times...
The fuss began in the summer of 1991, Columbia Pictures held a test screening for “The Prince of Tides,” Streisand’s second film as a director after 1983’s “Yentl.” The family drama, based on a beloved novel by Pat Conroy, starred Nick Nolte as a South Carolina teacher struggling with dark memories of his childhood, and Streisand as a New York therapist. It was scheduled for release that fall and the test screening reactions would give the studio an indication of whether, as hoped, this was an awards contender.
The Los Angeles Times...
- 1/20/2021
- by Joe McGovern
- The Wrap
“Fosse/Verdon” magnificently kicks off in Episode 1 (“Life is a Cabaret”) with Bob Fosse (Sam Rockwell) struggling to shoot his Oscar-winning “Cabaret” in Germany, with his wife and muse, Gwen Verdon (Michelle Williams), coming to the rescue to release his creative spirit. It reveals that tricky yet synergistic partnership that defined the uncompromising Fosse vision, with Liza Minnelli’s Sally Bowles (Kelli Barrett) and the dancers perfecting the iconic “Mein Herr” number in the dark and smoky Kit Kat Klub.
“The way the [‘Cabaret’] musical is constructed it’s unusual because the numbers are performed at the club,” said Alex Digerlando, the production designer who also worked on the visually inventive “Maniac.” “We looked at behind the scenes featurettes, and from what we could tell, even though it was shot on a soundstage, it didn’t seem that walls were pulled. From what we understood, Bob wanted it to be...
“The way the [‘Cabaret’] musical is constructed it’s unusual because the numbers are performed at the club,” said Alex Digerlando, the production designer who also worked on the visually inventive “Maniac.” “We looked at behind the scenes featurettes, and from what we could tell, even though it was shot on a soundstage, it didn’t seem that walls were pulled. From what we understood, Bob wanted it to be...
- 5/10/2019
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
In celebration of its 100th anniversary, the American Society of Cinematographers has released a list of the 100 best shot films of the 20th century.
This list was released to "showcase the best of cinematography as selected by professional cinematographers.” Here's how the list was put together:
The process of cultivating the 100 films began with Asc members each submitting 10 to 25 titles that were personally inspirational or perhaps changed the way they approached their craft. “I asked them — as cinematographers, members of the Asc, artists, filmmakers and people who love film and whose lives were shaped by films — to list the films that were most influential,” Fierberg explains. A master list was then complied, and members voted on what they considered to be the most essential 100 titles.
Here's a little sizzle reel that was cut together showcasing some of the films on the list:
It's hard to argue with the Top 10 films,...
This list was released to "showcase the best of cinematography as selected by professional cinematographers.” Here's how the list was put together:
The process of cultivating the 100 films began with Asc members each submitting 10 to 25 titles that were personally inspirational or perhaps changed the way they approached their craft. “I asked them — as cinematographers, members of the Asc, artists, filmmakers and people who love film and whose lives were shaped by films — to list the films that were most influential,” Fierberg explains. A master list was then complied, and members voted on what they considered to be the most essential 100 titles.
Here's a little sizzle reel that was cut together showcasing some of the films on the list:
It's hard to argue with the Top 10 films,...
- 1/9/2019
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the American Society of Cinematographers (Asc) this year, they’ve polled their members to determine 100 milestone films in the art and craft of cinematography of the 20th century. Topping the list is David Lean’s epic Lawrence of Arabia, shot by Freddie Young. Also in the top ten is Blade Runner (Jordan Cronenweth), The Conformist (Vittorio Storaro), Days of Heaven (Néstor Almendros), and more.
Organized by Steven Fierberg, he said “Asc members wanted to call attention to the most significant achievements of the cinematographer’s art but not refer to one achievement as ‘better’ than another. The selected films represent a range of styles, eras and visual artistry, but most importantly, it commemorates films that are inspirational or influential to Asc members and have exhibited enduring influence on generations of filmmakers.”
See the top 10 below, along with the full list.
1. Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Freddie Young,...
Organized by Steven Fierberg, he said “Asc members wanted to call attention to the most significant achievements of the cinematographer’s art but not refer to one achievement as ‘better’ than another. The selected films represent a range of styles, eras and visual artistry, but most importantly, it commemorates films that are inspirational or influential to Asc members and have exhibited enduring influence on generations of filmmakers.”
See the top 10 below, along with the full list.
1. Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Freddie Young,...
- 1/9/2019
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The American Society of Cinematographers, in celebration of the organization’s 100th anniversary, has revealed its list of 100 milestone films in the art and craft of cinematography from the 20th century. The list culminates with a top 10, topped by Freddie Young’s lensing of David Lean’s Oscar-winning 1962 epic “Lawrence of Arabia.”
Jordan Cronenweth’s work on Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi standard “Blade Runner” came in at number two. Celebrated cinematographer Roger Deakins finally won an Oscar last year for the film’s sequel, “Blade Runner 2049.”
Vittorio Storaro rounded out the top three for Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam odyssey “Apocalypse Now.” He, Conrad Hall and Gordon Willis each appeared on the overall list five times, leading the pack. John Alcott, Caleb Deschanel and Haskell Wexler each lensed four.
Organized by Steven Fierberg, Asc (“The Affair”) and voted on by Asc members, the milestones list is the first of...
Jordan Cronenweth’s work on Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi standard “Blade Runner” came in at number two. Celebrated cinematographer Roger Deakins finally won an Oscar last year for the film’s sequel, “Blade Runner 2049.”
Vittorio Storaro rounded out the top three for Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam odyssey “Apocalypse Now.” He, Conrad Hall and Gordon Willis each appeared on the overall list five times, leading the pack. John Alcott, Caleb Deschanel and Haskell Wexler each lensed four.
Organized by Steven Fierberg, Asc (“The Affair”) and voted on by Asc members, the milestones list is the first of...
- 1/8/2019
- by Kristopher Tapley
- Variety Film + TV
The American Society of Cinematographers (Asc), an elite organization of cinematographers at the top of their field, is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding today. What better way to honor that milestone than to create a list of 100 milestone films known for the art and craft of cinematography in the 20th century, and they call it the Best Shot Films Of All Time.
Asc says this is the first time a list like this has been compiled, at least by a group of pros who should know what they are talking about. The list culminates in a Top 10 (the other 90 are unranked). The Top 10 Best Shot Films Of All Time are:
Lawrence of Arabia (1962), shot by Freddie Young, Bsc (Dir. David Lean) Blade Runner (1982), shot by Jordan Cronenweth, Asc (Dir. Ridley Scott) Apocalypse Now (1979), shot by Vittorio Storaro, Asc, Aic (Dir. Francis Ford Coppola) Citizen Kane (1941), shot by Gregg Toland,...
Asc says this is the first time a list like this has been compiled, at least by a group of pros who should know what they are talking about. The list culminates in a Top 10 (the other 90 are unranked). The Top 10 Best Shot Films Of All Time are:
Lawrence of Arabia (1962), shot by Freddie Young, Bsc (Dir. David Lean) Blade Runner (1982), shot by Jordan Cronenweth, Asc (Dir. Ridley Scott) Apocalypse Now (1979), shot by Vittorio Storaro, Asc, Aic (Dir. Francis Ford Coppola) Citizen Kane (1941), shot by Gregg Toland,...
- 1/8/2019
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
The American Society of Cinematographers (Asc) celebrates its 100th anniversary on Tuesday by unveiling two lists devoted to 20th century visual achievements: the 100 Milestone Films and the top 10 Best-Shot Films, led by “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962), shot by Oscar-winning cinematographer Freddie Young.
The rest of the Top 10 list includes sci-fi classics “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968), shot by Geoffrey Unsworth, and “Blade Runner” (1982), shot by Jordan Cronenweth; two from director Francis Ford Coppola: “The Godfather” (1972), shot by Gordon Willis, and “Apocalypse Now” (1979), shot by Oscar-winner Vittorio Storaro; two black-and-white entries: “Citizen Kane” (1941), shot by Gregg Toland, and “Raging Bull” (1980), shot by Michael Chapman; “Days of Heaven” (1978), shot by Oscar winner Néstor Almendros; and “The French Connection” (1971), shot by five-time Oscar nominee Owen Roizman.
Alas, there are no silent movies in the top 10. And there’s no representation of the ’30s; ‘the ’50s; or the ’90s.
The lists were voted on by...
The rest of the Top 10 list includes sci-fi classics “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968), shot by Geoffrey Unsworth, and “Blade Runner” (1982), shot by Jordan Cronenweth; two from director Francis Ford Coppola: “The Godfather” (1972), shot by Gordon Willis, and “Apocalypse Now” (1979), shot by Oscar-winner Vittorio Storaro; two black-and-white entries: “Citizen Kane” (1941), shot by Gregg Toland, and “Raging Bull” (1980), shot by Michael Chapman; “Days of Heaven” (1978), shot by Oscar winner Néstor Almendros; and “The French Connection” (1971), shot by five-time Oscar nominee Owen Roizman.
Alas, there are no silent movies in the top 10. And there’s no representation of the ’30s; ‘the ’50s; or the ’90s.
The lists were voted on by...
- 1/8/2019
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
There have been few films as edited, re-edited, and repackaged as Superman the Movie. It has been resurrected and represented to a few generations of fans for good reason. Prior to 1978, any attempt at a super-hero movie was usually done on the cheap and/or with tongue firmly in cheek.
The tag line, “You will believe a man can fly”, and the S-shield was all you needed to whet your appetite back then. The first pictures released to the media certainly got us interested but until you sat in the theater and heard John William’s opening march, you had no idea what you were getting.
And what we got was, arguably, the first super-hero film to treat the genre with dignity and respect. Visually, it was stunning, and you could not ask for a more pitch-perfect lead than Christopher Reeve. He was Curt Swan’s Man of Steel made...
The tag line, “You will believe a man can fly”, and the S-shield was all you needed to whet your appetite back then. The first pictures released to the media certainly got us interested but until you sat in the theater and heard John William’s opening march, you had no idea what you were getting.
And what we got was, arguably, the first super-hero film to treat the genre with dignity and respect. Visually, it was stunning, and you could not ask for a more pitch-perfect lead than Christopher Reeve. He was Curt Swan’s Man of Steel made...
- 11/12/2018
- by Robert Greenberger
- Comicmix.com
By Todd Garbarini
Richard Donner’s spectacular 1978 film, Superman: The Movie, arguably the greatest comic book movie of all-time (Imho), will be screened at Laemmle’s Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills in a 4K Digital Cinema Package (Dcp) presentation on Tuesday, October 9, 2018 at 7:30 pm. The 143-minute film, which stars Christopher Reeve in the title role, with Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, and Margot Kidder, made us all believe that a man could fly.
Please Note: At press time, several of the supporting performers in the film will be on hand to discuss their roles (please read the press release below for more info).
From the press release:
Superman (1978)
40th Anniversary Screening
Cast members joining for Q&A
New 4K Dcp
Tuesday, October 9, at 7:30 Pm
Ahyra Fine Arts Theatre
Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 40th anniversary screening of the film that launched the comic book movie craze,...
Richard Donner’s spectacular 1978 film, Superman: The Movie, arguably the greatest comic book movie of all-time (Imho), will be screened at Laemmle’s Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills in a 4K Digital Cinema Package (Dcp) presentation on Tuesday, October 9, 2018 at 7:30 pm. The 143-minute film, which stars Christopher Reeve in the title role, with Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, and Margot Kidder, made us all believe that a man could fly.
Please Note: At press time, several of the supporting performers in the film will be on hand to discuss their roles (please read the press release below for more info).
From the press release:
Superman (1978)
40th Anniversary Screening
Cast members joining for Q&A
New 4K Dcp
Tuesday, October 9, at 7:30 Pm
Ahyra Fine Arts Theatre
Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 40th anniversary screening of the film that launched the comic book movie craze,...
- 10/3/2018
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Roger Deakins is still missing an Oscar from his resume, but he’s got plenty of BAFTA Awards — so many that if the “Blade Runner 2049” cinematographer prevails Sunday, he’ll join Emmanuel Lubezki with the second-most wins in the category at four behind Geoffrey Unsworth’s five.
In our latest predictions, Deakins has 8/15 odds to win over “Dunkirk” (3/1 odds), “The Shape of Water” (14/1 odds), “Darkest Hour” (66/1 odds) and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” (100/1 odds). An eight-time nominee, Deakins took home BAFTAs for lensing “The Man Who Wasn’t There” (2001), “No Country for Old Men” (2007) and “True Grit” (2010).
See ‘Blade Runner 2049’ could win Best Cinematography at the Oscars, but that Best Director snub really hurts
Deakins lost his most recent nomination, for 2015’s “Sicario,” to Lubezki — the first time the renowned cinematographers faced off at the BAFTAs — who won his third straight BAFTA for “The Revenant.” A previous winner...
In our latest predictions, Deakins has 8/15 odds to win over “Dunkirk” (3/1 odds), “The Shape of Water” (14/1 odds), “Darkest Hour” (66/1 odds) and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” (100/1 odds). An eight-time nominee, Deakins took home BAFTAs for lensing “The Man Who Wasn’t There” (2001), “No Country for Old Men” (2007) and “True Grit” (2010).
See ‘Blade Runner 2049’ could win Best Cinematography at the Oscars, but that Best Director snub really hurts
Deakins lost his most recent nomination, for 2015’s “Sicario,” to Lubezki — the first time the renowned cinematographers faced off at the BAFTAs — who won his third straight BAFTA for “The Revenant.” A previous winner...
- 2/15/2018
- by Joyce Eng
- Gold Derby
I guess there are plenty of adults now too young to remember when Christopher Reeve made his debut as The Man of Steel. It was a massive hit across the full spectrum of moviegoers. Warners is taking good care of everyone’s favorite undocumented visitor from Planet Krypton, and has assembled two separate cuts of his big-screen premiere.
Superman: The Movie
Blu-ray
2-Film Collection
Warner Bros.
1978 / Color / 2:40 widescreen / 188 min. Extended Cut + 151 min. Special Edition orig. 143 min. / Street Date October 10, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Ned Beatty, Jackie Cooper, Glenn Ford, Trevor Howard, Margot Kidder, Jack O’Halloran, Valerie Perrine, Maria Schell, Terence Stamp, Phyllis Thaxter, Susannah York, Jeff East, Marc McClure, Sarah Douglas, Harry Andrews, Diane Sherry, Randy Jurgensen, Larry Hagman, John Ratzenberger, Kirk Alyn, Noel Neill.
Cinematography: Geoffrey Unsworth
Film Editors: Stuart Baird, Michael Ellis
Production Design: John Barry
Assistant Director: Vincent Winter...
Superman: The Movie
Blu-ray
2-Film Collection
Warner Bros.
1978 / Color / 2:40 widescreen / 188 min. Extended Cut + 151 min. Special Edition orig. 143 min. / Street Date October 10, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Ned Beatty, Jackie Cooper, Glenn Ford, Trevor Howard, Margot Kidder, Jack O’Halloran, Valerie Perrine, Maria Schell, Terence Stamp, Phyllis Thaxter, Susannah York, Jeff East, Marc McClure, Sarah Douglas, Harry Andrews, Diane Sherry, Randy Jurgensen, Larry Hagman, John Ratzenberger, Kirk Alyn, Noel Neill.
Cinematography: Geoffrey Unsworth
Film Editors: Stuart Baird, Michael Ellis
Production Design: John Barry
Assistant Director: Vincent Winter...
- 10/10/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Dp of Kubrick’s most memorable productions.
For his first job in the industry, John Alcott started as a clapper boy; you know, the guy who holds the clapper and clicks it to mark the start of filming. But from this absolute bottom rung of the camera crew Alcott ascended to the ultimate peak, that of an Oscar winner for Best Cinematography, along the way contributing to some of the most important films of the 20th century.
Alcott got his big break while working on Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey as a lighting cameraman. When the film’s original cinematographer, Geoffrey Unsworth, had to leave the project after two years owing to other commitments, Alcott was promoted — though not credited — and helped Kubrick finish the film, including shooting the entire “Dawn of Man” sequence. Two years later it was Kubrick who gave Alcott his first official job as a cinematographer, and...
For his first job in the industry, John Alcott started as a clapper boy; you know, the guy who holds the clapper and clicks it to mark the start of filming. But from this absolute bottom rung of the camera crew Alcott ascended to the ultimate peak, that of an Oscar winner for Best Cinematography, along the way contributing to some of the most important films of the 20th century.
Alcott got his big break while working on Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey as a lighting cameraman. When the film’s original cinematographer, Geoffrey Unsworth, had to leave the project after two years owing to other commitments, Alcott was promoted — though not credited — and helped Kubrick finish the film, including shooting the entire “Dawn of Man” sequence. Two years later it was Kubrick who gave Alcott his first official job as a cinematographer, and...
- 4/18/2017
- by H. Perry Horton
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
A supercut of every eye image in Kubrick’s masterpiece.
Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is a film about understanding, both what it means to have that capacity and how that capacity can catapult a species further, both positively and negatively. It is a film about looking at the universe surrounding us with new eyes, eyes that don’t just look but that see, eyes that look through the surface of things into the core where understanding is waiting to be attained.
Narratively, this is a tough concept to get across, which is why plot-wise 2001 can feel lose, lightly-structured or even nonsensical in spots. But visually, Kubrick and his cinematographers Geoffrey Unsworth and John Alcott are enforcing this concept all throughout the film with the repetition of ocular images, that is, images that resemble or recreate eyes.
https://medium.com/media/d62f9ca70397e7133db35923684ace1e/href
Obviously there’s the glowing red...
Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is a film about understanding, both what it means to have that capacity and how that capacity can catapult a species further, both positively and negatively. It is a film about looking at the universe surrounding us with new eyes, eyes that don’t just look but that see, eyes that look through the surface of things into the core where understanding is waiting to be attained.
Narratively, this is a tough concept to get across, which is why plot-wise 2001 can feel lose, lightly-structured or even nonsensical in spots. But visually, Kubrick and his cinematographers Geoffrey Unsworth and John Alcott are enforcing this concept all throughout the film with the repetition of ocular images, that is, images that resemble or recreate eyes.
https://medium.com/media/d62f9ca70397e7133db35923684ace1e/href
Obviously there’s the glowing red...
- 3/24/2017
- by H. Perry Horton
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
A companion piece to the Shot by Shot podcast.
For the inaugural episode of our Shot by Shot podcast, Geoff Todd — One Perfect Shot founder — and myself decided to swing for the fences by tackling what we both consider to be a film that has some of the absolute best cinematography ever captured on film: 2001: A Space Odyssey, directed by Stanley Kubrick and shot by both Geoffrey Unsworth and John Alcott.
https://medium.com/media/d62f9ca70397e7133db35923684ace1e/href
In many ways, 2001 is the film that attracted popular attention to cinematography, so we thought it was the perfect place to start this new podcast, which each week will be looking at the perfect shots of a different film. Below you’ll find a link to the podcast and the six shots Geoff and I selected for discussion. Be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or...
For the inaugural episode of our Shot by Shot podcast, Geoff Todd — One Perfect Shot founder — and myself decided to swing for the fences by tackling what we both consider to be a film that has some of the absolute best cinematography ever captured on film: 2001: A Space Odyssey, directed by Stanley Kubrick and shot by both Geoffrey Unsworth and John Alcott.
https://medium.com/media/d62f9ca70397e7133db35923684ace1e/href
In many ways, 2001 is the film that attracted popular attention to cinematography, so we thought it was the perfect place to start this new podcast, which each week will be looking at the perfect shots of a different film. Below you’ll find a link to the podcast and the six shots Geoff and I selected for discussion. Be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or...
- 3/22/2017
- by H. Perry Horton
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Plus: A lot more ‘Alien,’ the first photo of Luke Skywalker, and the weekend’s best shots.
This week marks the start of a great new chapter in the history of Film School Rejects/One Perfect Shot, as we’re pleased to present the premiere episodes of our first three shows under the new One Perfect Podcast banner.
Up first and available today, After the Credits, a new kind of movie review show hosted by Fsr Columnist Matthew Monagle. Each week Matthew will be joined by a special guest to help him explore our expectations of certain films and how they impact the way we feel about what we ultimately see in theaters. This week the special guest is Fsr Chief Film Critic Rob Hunter, and the film in question is The Belko Experment.
Subscribe to One Perfect Pod: iTunes | Stitcher | RSS | Soundcloud
Then on Wednesday, March 22nd, the first episode of Shot by Shot drops. Hosted...
This week marks the start of a great new chapter in the history of Film School Rejects/One Perfect Shot, as we’re pleased to present the premiere episodes of our first three shows under the new One Perfect Podcast banner.
Up first and available today, After the Credits, a new kind of movie review show hosted by Fsr Columnist Matthew Monagle. Each week Matthew will be joined by a special guest to help him explore our expectations of certain films and how they impact the way we feel about what we ultimately see in theaters. This week the special guest is Fsr Chief Film Critic Rob Hunter, and the film in question is The Belko Experment.
Subscribe to One Perfect Pod: iTunes | Stitcher | RSS | Soundcloud
Then on Wednesday, March 22nd, the first episode of Shot by Shot drops. Hosted...
- 3/20/2017
- by H. Perry Horton
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
This past weekend, the American Society of Cinematographers awarded Greig Fraser for his contribution to Lion as last year’s greatest accomplishment in the field. Of course, his achievement was just a small sampling of the fantastic work from directors of photography, but it did give us a stronger hint at what may be the winner on Oscar night. Ahead of the ceremony, we have a new video compilation that honors all the past winners in the category at the Academy Awards
Created by Burger Fiction, it spans the stunning silent landmark Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans all the way up to the end of Emmanuel Lubezki‘s three-peat win for The Revenant. Aside from the advancements in color and aspect ration, it’s a thrill to see some of cinema’s most iconic shots side-by-side. However, the best way to experience the evolution of the craft is by...
Created by Burger Fiction, it spans the stunning silent landmark Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans all the way up to the end of Emmanuel Lubezki‘s three-peat win for The Revenant. Aside from the advancements in color and aspect ration, it’s a thrill to see some of cinema’s most iconic shots side-by-side. However, the best way to experience the evolution of the craft is by...
- 2/6/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Internecine Project
Blu-ray
Kino Lorber Classics
1974 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 89 min. / Street Date January 3, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: James Coburn, Lee Grant, Harry Andrews, Ian Hendry, Michael Jayston, Christiane Krüger, Keenan Wynn, Julian Glover.
Cinematography: Geoffrey Unsworth
Film Editor: John Shirley
Original Music: Roy Budd
Written by: Barry Levinson, Jonathan Lynn from a book by Mort W. Elkind
Produced by: Barry Levinson
Directed by Ken Hughes
Don’t let the ugly Italian poster art on the disc box throw you — The Internecine Project is a clever plot-driven murder tale in an espionage vein that gathers a string of B+ stars from the early 1970s for ninety minutes of suspense. It’s not the kind of suspense that makes you wonder what’s going to happen next, but the kind that points to a finish that we know will employ a big surprise, a killer-diller last-minute twist. Or three.
The...
Blu-ray
Kino Lorber Classics
1974 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 89 min. / Street Date January 3, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: James Coburn, Lee Grant, Harry Andrews, Ian Hendry, Michael Jayston, Christiane Krüger, Keenan Wynn, Julian Glover.
Cinematography: Geoffrey Unsworth
Film Editor: John Shirley
Original Music: Roy Budd
Written by: Barry Levinson, Jonathan Lynn from a book by Mort W. Elkind
Produced by: Barry Levinson
Directed by Ken Hughes
Don’t let the ugly Italian poster art on the disc box throw you — The Internecine Project is a clever plot-driven murder tale in an espionage vein that gathers a string of B+ stars from the early 1970s for ninety minutes of suspense. It’s not the kind of suspense that makes you wonder what’s going to happen next, but the kind that points to a finish that we know will employ a big surprise, a killer-diller last-minute twist. Or three.
The...
- 1/6/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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
On this day in history as it relates to the movies...
1828 Feral teenager Kaspar Hauser is discovered wandering Nuremberg, claiming to have been raised in total isolation. Theories abound and the story inspires many artists down the road including Werner Herzog in the film The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974).
1877 Influential dancer Isadora Duncan is born. Vanessa Redgrave gets an Oscar nomination playing her in Isadora! (1968)
1886 Al Jolson is born. Will later star in the first "talkie" The Jazz Singer (1927)
1894 Silent film star Norma Talmadge is born
1897 Bram Stoker's epistolary novel "Dracula" is published. Never stops being adapted for film and television but our hearts will always belong to Francis Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) despite the aggravating double possessive
1907 John Wayne was born. Did he always talk like that?
1913 Peter Cushing is born in England. Later stars in Hammer Horror films with his irl best friend Christopher Lee, the Dracula to his Van Helsing.
1828 Feral teenager Kaspar Hauser is discovered wandering Nuremberg, claiming to have been raised in total isolation. Theories abound and the story inspires many artists down the road including Werner Herzog in the film The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974).
1877 Influential dancer Isadora Duncan is born. Vanessa Redgrave gets an Oscar nomination playing her in Isadora! (1968)
1886 Al Jolson is born. Will later star in the first "talkie" The Jazz Singer (1927)
1894 Silent film star Norma Talmadge is born
1897 Bram Stoker's epistolary novel "Dracula" is published. Never stops being adapted for film and television but our hearts will always belong to Francis Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) despite the aggravating double possessive
1907 John Wayne was born. Did he always talk like that?
1913 Peter Cushing is born in England. Later stars in Hammer Horror films with his irl best friend Christopher Lee, the Dracula to his Van Helsing.
- 5/26/2016
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then there will never be a definitive list of the greatest cinematography, but for our money, one of the finest polls has been recently conducted on the matter. Our friend Scout Tafoya polled over 60 critics on Fandor, including some of us here, and the results can be found in a fantastic video essay below. Rather than the various wordless supercuts that crowd Vimeo, Tafoya wrestles with his thoughts on cinematography as we see the beautiful images overlaid from the top 12 choices.
“I’ve been thinking of the world cinematographically since high school,” Scout says. “Sometime around tenth grade I started looking out windows, at crowds of my peers, at the girls I had crushes on, and imagining the best way to film them. Lowlight, mini-dv or 35mm? Curious and washed out like the way Emmanuel Lubezki shot Y Tu Mamá También,...
“I’ve been thinking of the world cinematographically since high school,” Scout says. “Sometime around tenth grade I started looking out windows, at crowds of my peers, at the girls I had crushes on, and imagining the best way to film them. Lowlight, mini-dv or 35mm? Curious and washed out like the way Emmanuel Lubezki shot Y Tu Mamá También,...
- 4/28/2016
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Fans of this show know it as the It's a Wonderful Life of war movies, an intensely moving tale that restores feeling and tenderness to people crippled by loss and despair. The stellar pairing of top star Gregory Peck and Burmese unknown Win Min Than is unique in movies and not to be missed. The Purple Plain Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1955 / Color /1:66 widescreen / 100 min. / Street Date April 5, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Gregory Peck, Win Min Than, Brenda De Banzie, Bernard Lee, Maurice Denham, Lyndon Brook, Anthony Bushell, Josephine Griffin Cinematography Geoffrey Unsworth Art Direction Donald M. Ashton, Jack Maxsted Film Editor Clive Donner Original Music John Veale Written by Eric Ambler from a novel by H.E. Bates Produced by John Bryan, Earl St. John Directed by Robert Parrish
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
How can one convey the way a picture grows on one? I liked The Purple Plain...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
How can one convey the way a picture grows on one? I liked The Purple Plain...
- 3/29/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
By winning the Best Cinematography Oscar for a second year in a row, "Birdman" director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki has joined a truly elite club whose ranks haven't been breached in nearly two decades. Only four other cinematographers have won the prize in two consecutive years. The last time it happened was in 1994 and 1995, when John Toll won for Edward Zwick's "Legends of the Fall" and Mel Gibson's "Braveheart" respectively. Before that you have to go all the way back to the late '40s, when Winton Hoch won in 1948 (Victor Fleming's "Joan of Arc" with Ingrid Bergman) and 1949 (John Ford's western "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon"). Both victories came in the color category, as the Academy awarded prizes separately for black-and-white and color photography from 1939 to 1956. Leon Shamroy also won back-to-back color cinematography Oscars, for Henry King's 1944 Woodrow Wilson biopic "Wilson" and John M. Stahl...
- 2/23/2015
- by Kristopher Tapley
- Hitfix
The symbolism and spectacle of this 1968 masterpiece remain a thrill today
Stanley Kubrick’s epochal sci-fi epic returns to the big screen as part of the BFI’s Days of Fear and Wonder series, and after all these years it remains a trip well worth making. Expanding on Arthur C Clarke’s short story The Sentinel, this leaps from the dawn of mankind to the space-age (via one of cinema’s most striking editing juxtapositions) and beyond, transporting viewers from the world of science into a stargate full of symbolism and spectacle. Throughout, the human cast remain strangely faceless, playing second fiddle to the music of the cosmos (from Strauss to Ligeti) and the voice of Douglas Rain who brings depth and pathos (“Daisy, Daisy…”) to the role of the computer Hal 9000, the film’s most unexpectedly sympathetic character. It’s an overpowering experience, awe-inspiringly photographed by Geoffrey Unsworth, groundbreakingly enhanced by Douglas Trumbull.
Stanley Kubrick’s epochal sci-fi epic returns to the big screen as part of the BFI’s Days of Fear and Wonder series, and after all these years it remains a trip well worth making. Expanding on Arthur C Clarke’s short story The Sentinel, this leaps from the dawn of mankind to the space-age (via one of cinema’s most striking editing juxtapositions) and beyond, transporting viewers from the world of science into a stargate full of symbolism and spectacle. Throughout, the human cast remain strangely faceless, playing second fiddle to the music of the cosmos (from Strauss to Ligeti) and the voice of Douglas Rain who brings depth and pathos (“Daisy, Daisy…”) to the role of the computer Hal 9000, the film’s most unexpectedly sympathetic character. It’s an overpowering experience, awe-inspiringly photographed by Geoffrey Unsworth, groundbreakingly enhanced by Douglas Trumbull.
- 11/30/2014
- by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
Almost fifty years since it first wowed cinemagoers at the tail-end of the '60s, Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is back in the public consciousness thanks to a cinema re-release as part of the BFI's Days of Fear and Wonder sci-fi season and its place in the just-released Kubrick Blu-ray Masterpiece Collection. That's not to mention Christopher Nolan's outer space drama Interstellar, a film that very much hangs in the shadow of its illustrious predecessor.
After destroying mankind at the close of Dr Strangelove in 1964, Kubrick sought to tell a more progressive story about humanity with his follow-up. Teaming with heralded sci-fi author Arthur C Clarke, Kubrick fashioned a screenplay that tracked the evolution of man through encounters with giant black monoliths.
Eventually released in 1968, a year before Apollo 11 touched down on the moon, 2001 was hugely ambitious both in narrative and technical terms. Kubrick reached...
After destroying mankind at the close of Dr Strangelove in 1964, Kubrick sought to tell a more progressive story about humanity with his follow-up. Teaming with heralded sci-fi author Arthur C Clarke, Kubrick fashioned a screenplay that tracked the evolution of man through encounters with giant black monoliths.
Eventually released in 1968, a year before Apollo 11 touched down on the moon, 2001 was hugely ambitious both in narrative and technical terms. Kubrick reached...
- 11/29/2014
- Digital Spy
Philosophically ambitious, technically innovative and visually stunning, Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi epic is frequently cited in polls as one of the finest films ever made. Co-written by the director and novelist Arthur C Clarke, the film charts the progress of ‘civilisation’ through the influence of mysterious black monoliths on prehistoric apes developing their skills and, later, on astronauts involved in a secret mission to Jupiter. Characteristic of Kubrick’s interest in evolution and artificial intelligence (most notably in the astronauts’ battle of wits with troublesome computer Hal 9000), the film also displays his desire for technical perfection: Geoffrey Unsworth’s camerawork, Douglas Trumbull’s pioneering effects and the production design remain enormously impressive to this day. But what’s perhaps most striking is the audacity of the measured, largely dialogue-free storytelling, with Kubrick allowing the judiciously chosen music (Ligeti, Khachaturian, the two Strausses) and the crisp, balletic beauty of the images to work their spell.
- 10/22/2014
- ComicBookMovie.com
Tess
Written by Gérard Brach, Roman Polanski, and John Brownjohn
Directed by Roman Polanski
France/UK, 1979
Roman Polanski revealed an exceptional eye for gripping visual design in his earliest films. In those works, like Knife in the Water, Cul-de-sac, Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby and, somewhat later, The Tenant, most of this pictorial construction was derivative of themes, and subsequent depictions of, confinement, claustrophobic paranoia, and severely taut antagonism. In terms of visual and narrative scope, Chinatown opened things up somewhat, but it was with Tess, his 1979 adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the d’Urbervilles,” that Polanski significantly broadened his canvas to encompass the sweeping tale of the Victorian era loves and conflicts of this eponymous peasant girl.
Polanski speaks to this distinction during an interview in the newly released Criterion Collection Blu-ray/DVD of Tess. In discussing the film for the French TV program Cine regards, the director...
Written by Gérard Brach, Roman Polanski, and John Brownjohn
Directed by Roman Polanski
France/UK, 1979
Roman Polanski revealed an exceptional eye for gripping visual design in his earliest films. In those works, like Knife in the Water, Cul-de-sac, Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby and, somewhat later, The Tenant, most of this pictorial construction was derivative of themes, and subsequent depictions of, confinement, claustrophobic paranoia, and severely taut antagonism. In terms of visual and narrative scope, Chinatown opened things up somewhat, but it was with Tess, his 1979 adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the d’Urbervilles,” that Polanski significantly broadened his canvas to encompass the sweeping tale of the Victorian era loves and conflicts of this eponymous peasant girl.
Polanski speaks to this distinction during an interview in the newly released Criterion Collection Blu-ray/DVD of Tess. In discussing the film for the French TV program Cine regards, the director...
- 2/28/2014
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
We have Frank Miller to thank for reminding us of the valiant tale of the Battle at Thermopylae as 300 Spartans fought off an invading force from Persia. His 300 graphic novel is a wonderful retelling of the tale and a pretty damn fine film from Zack Snyder. With the film sequel forthcoming any second now, 20th Century Home Entertainment has wisely issued the Blu-ray debut of the film that inspired Miller when he first saw it as a kid. The 300 Spartans may lack the visual panache of Snyder’s version but it makes for compelling viewing.
Oh, the script is nowhere near interesting although it does a nice job of sticking to the historic facts as Leonidas (Richard Egan) is asked by Themistocles of Athens (Ralph Richardson) to lead the army against King Xerxes (David Farrar). Not a single soldier is as ripped as Snyder’s army nor is Gorgo (Anna Synodinou), Leonidas’ wife,...
Oh, the script is nowhere near interesting although it does a nice job of sticking to the historic facts as Leonidas (Richard Egan) is asked by Themistocles of Athens (Ralph Richardson) to lead the army against King Xerxes (David Farrar). Not a single soldier is as ripped as Snyder’s army nor is Gorgo (Anna Synodinou), Leonidas’ wife,...
- 2/24/2014
- by Robert Greenberger
- Comicmix.com
(Sidney Lumet, John Guillermin, Guy Hamilton, 1974-82; StudioCanal, PG)
The production partnership of John Brabourne (the Eton-educated seventh Baron Brabourne) and Richard B Goodwin (who started out as a teenage tea boy with the Rank Organisation) is one of the most interesting in the British cinema. Its highlights include David Lean's A Passage to India and the two-part Little Dorrit, but its most popular works were the period Agatha Christie pictures that brought all-star casting and unfashionably high production values to the whodunit and set new standards for the string of TV productions that followed. Brabourne's father-in-law Lord Mountbatten helped secure the rights from Dame Agatha, and the three best are the Hercule Poirot mysteries in this Blu-ray set. Ustinov plays the Belgian sleuth both in John Guillermin's Death on the Nile (1978), scripted by Anthony Shaffer and superbly photographed by Jack Cardiff, and in Guy Hamilton's bland...
The production partnership of John Brabourne (the Eton-educated seventh Baron Brabourne) and Richard B Goodwin (who started out as a teenage tea boy with the Rank Organisation) is one of the most interesting in the British cinema. Its highlights include David Lean's A Passage to India and the two-part Little Dorrit, but its most popular works were the period Agatha Christie pictures that brought all-star casting and unfashionably high production values to the whodunit and set new standards for the string of TV productions that followed. Brabourne's father-in-law Lord Mountbatten helped secure the rights from Dame Agatha, and the three best are the Hercule Poirot mysteries in this Blu-ray set. Ustinov plays the Belgian sleuth both in John Guillermin's Death on the Nile (1978), scripted by Anthony Shaffer and superbly photographed by Jack Cardiff, and in Guy Hamilton's bland...
- 1/26/2014
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Feb. 25, 2014
Price: Blu-ray/DVD $39.95
Studio: Criterion
Nastassja Kinski is Tess
This multiple-Oscar-winning 1979 period film drama Tess by the great Roman Polanski (Carnage, The Ghost Writer) is an exquisite, richly layered adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles.
A strong-willed peasant girl (Cat People’s Nastassja Kinski, in a star-making breakthrough performance) is sent by her father to the estate of some local aristocrats to capitalize on a rumor that their families are from the same line. This fateful visit commences an epic narrative of sex, class, betrayal, and revenge, which Polanski unfolds with deliberation and finesse.
With its earthy visual textures, achieved by two world-class cinematographers—Geoffrey Unsworth (Cabaret) and Ghislain Cloquet (Au hasard Balthazar)—Tess is a work of great pastoral beauty and vivid storytelling.
Criterion’s Blu-ray/DVD Combo release of the film includes the following features:
• New 4K digital restoration,...
Price: Blu-ray/DVD $39.95
Studio: Criterion
Nastassja Kinski is Tess
This multiple-Oscar-winning 1979 period film drama Tess by the great Roman Polanski (Carnage, The Ghost Writer) is an exquisite, richly layered adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles.
A strong-willed peasant girl (Cat People’s Nastassja Kinski, in a star-making breakthrough performance) is sent by her father to the estate of some local aristocrats to capitalize on a rumor that their families are from the same line. This fateful visit commences an epic narrative of sex, class, betrayal, and revenge, which Polanski unfolds with deliberation and finesse.
With its earthy visual textures, achieved by two world-class cinematographers—Geoffrey Unsworth (Cabaret) and Ghislain Cloquet (Au hasard Balthazar)—Tess is a work of great pastoral beauty and vivid storytelling.
Criterion’s Blu-ray/DVD Combo release of the film includes the following features:
• New 4K digital restoration,...
- 11/21/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Superman
Directed by Richard Donner
Written by Mario Puzo, David Newman, Leslie Newman and Robert Benton
1978, USA
High school pals and cartoonists Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster sold the character of Superman to Detective Comics, Inc. (later DC Comics) in 1938. Ever since, the history of the widely considered national cultural icon continues to be awe-inspiring. Superman premiered in Action Comics #1 of the same year, a time when Americans were in desperate need a hero; and ever since, Superman has appeared in a variety of animated and live action movies and television series. The Man of Steel has also appeared in various radio serials, newspaper strips, and even video games throughout the years, and with the success of his adventures, Superman helped to shape the superhero genre and establish its command within American pop culture. An animated cartoon of Superman appeared in 1941, and in 1942, a Superman novel was published. A Columbia...
Directed by Richard Donner
Written by Mario Puzo, David Newman, Leslie Newman and Robert Benton
1978, USA
High school pals and cartoonists Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster sold the character of Superman to Detective Comics, Inc. (later DC Comics) in 1938. Ever since, the history of the widely considered national cultural icon continues to be awe-inspiring. Superman premiered in Action Comics #1 of the same year, a time when Americans were in desperate need a hero; and ever since, Superman has appeared in a variety of animated and live action movies and television series. The Man of Steel has also appeared in various radio serials, newspaper strips, and even video games throughout the years, and with the success of his adventures, Superman helped to shape the superhero genre and establish its command within American pop culture. An animated cartoon of Superman appeared in 1941, and in 1942, a Superman novel was published. A Columbia...
- 6/18/2013
- by Ricky da Conceição
- SoundOnSight
(Roman Polanski, 1979, BFI, 12)
This adaptation of Thomas Hardy's tragic novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles, completed in 1891, was Roman Polanski's first movie after jumping bail in the Us in 1978, having pleaded guilty to the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl. This prevented him ever working in the States or Britain again and may have introduced a note of caution into his handling of a story about an innocent young woman. It certainly made it impossible to shoot the picture in Hardy's Wessex. In the event the film (originally thought of as a vehicle for his late wife, Sharon Tate, to whom it's dedicated) is an outstanding piece of work.
Sensitively staged on well-chosen locations in Normandy and Brittany, it revolves around a deeply moving performance by Polanski's former lover and protege, the German actress Nastassja Kinski, as the country girl Tess. She was the victim, as Hardy saw it,...
This adaptation of Thomas Hardy's tragic novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles, completed in 1891, was Roman Polanski's first movie after jumping bail in the Us in 1978, having pleaded guilty to the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl. This prevented him ever working in the States or Britain again and may have introduced a note of caution into his handling of a story about an innocent young woman. It certainly made it impossible to shoot the picture in Hardy's Wessex. In the event the film (originally thought of as a vehicle for his late wife, Sharon Tate, to whom it's dedicated) is an outstanding piece of work.
Sensitively staged on well-chosen locations in Normandy and Brittany, it revolves around a deeply moving performance by Polanski's former lover and protege, the German actress Nastassja Kinski, as the country girl Tess. She was the victim, as Hardy saw it,...
- 3/24/2013
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
75th Annual Oscars ~ 10th Anniversary Special
On this very day 10 years ago, one of only two posthumous Oscars for the past decade in film was handed out. It went to Conrad Hall for his lensing of Road to Perdition (the other was Heath Ledger's). So here's one from the vaults since we did a Hit Me With Your Best Shot on it just last year. If you click on these shots, deemed best by our 'hit me' club and arranged here in narrative order, you can read more about them and why they were chosen.
It's a strange symmetry that a film as funereal as Road to Perdition would be a member of the Posthumous Oscar wins club. Here's a list of all 13 of them:
Sidney Howard, Adapted Screenplay - Gone With the Wind (1939) William A Horning, Art Direction - Gigi (1958) William A Horning, Art Direction - Ben Hurt (1959) Sam Zimbalist,...
On this very day 10 years ago, one of only two posthumous Oscars for the past decade in film was handed out. It went to Conrad Hall for his lensing of Road to Perdition (the other was Heath Ledger's). So here's one from the vaults since we did a Hit Me With Your Best Shot on it just last year. If you click on these shots, deemed best by our 'hit me' club and arranged here in narrative order, you can read more about them and why they were chosen.
It's a strange symmetry that a film as funereal as Road to Perdition would be a member of the Posthumous Oscar wins club. Here's a list of all 13 of them:
Sidney Howard, Adapted Screenplay - Gone With the Wind (1939) William A Horning, Art Direction - Gigi (1958) William A Horning, Art Direction - Ben Hurt (1959) Sam Zimbalist,...
- 3/23/2013
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Timothy Bottoms Gets His Pound Of Flesh
By
Alex Simon
Timothy Bottoms became an overnight sensation at the height of the so-called “Easy Riders and Raging Bulls” era, after landing the leading role in The Last Picture Show (1971), Peter Bogdanovich’s film about the social and sexual rites of small town Texans in the early 1950s. Internationally acclaimed for his portrait of Sonny, a sensitive kid struggling to find his way in the harsh landscape of post-war America, the then-twenty year-old Bottoms suddenly found himself not only in-demand as a rising young star, but a major celebrity, as well, with younger brothers Sam (who co-starred in The Last Picture Show), Joseph and Ben following in their older brother’s footsteps, making names for themselves on stage and screen. Bottoms reprised the role of Sonny for Picture Show's 1990 sequel, Texasville.
After another triumphant turn with the lead in James Bridges’ The Paper Chase...
By
Alex Simon
Timothy Bottoms became an overnight sensation at the height of the so-called “Easy Riders and Raging Bulls” era, after landing the leading role in The Last Picture Show (1971), Peter Bogdanovich’s film about the social and sexual rites of small town Texans in the early 1950s. Internationally acclaimed for his portrait of Sonny, a sensitive kid struggling to find his way in the harsh landscape of post-war America, the then-twenty year-old Bottoms suddenly found himself not only in-demand as a rising young star, but a major celebrity, as well, with younger brothers Sam (who co-starred in The Last Picture Show), Joseph and Ben following in their older brother’s footsteps, making names for themselves on stage and screen. Bottoms reprised the role of Sonny for Picture Show's 1990 sequel, Texasville.
After another triumphant turn with the lead in James Bridges’ The Paper Chase...
- 5/22/2012
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
A little over a year from now, the most iconic comic character in history will be back on screens, courtesy of Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel." Seven years on from Bryan Singer's oft-derided "Superman Returns," it'll see "The Dark Knight" mastermind Christopher Nolan producing a new, seemingly darker take on the character, to be played by Henry Cavill with Michael Shannon as his Kryptonian nemesis, General Zod.
But Shannon will have big shoes to fill: the last time the character was on the big screen it was played by Terence Stamp in 1981's "Superman II," still seen by many fans as not only the best take on that character, but the best screen version of Superman to date. Which was impressive, considering it had about as troubled a production history as you could ask for, with two directors, production stretched over two years, and a recent, wildly different reissue of the film.
But Shannon will have big shoes to fill: the last time the character was on the big screen it was played by Terence Stamp in 1981's "Superman II," still seen by many fans as not only the best take on that character, but the best screen version of Superman to date. Which was impressive, considering it had about as troubled a production history as you could ask for, with two directors, production stretched over two years, and a recent, wildly different reissue of the film.
- 4/19/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
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
The Film of Memory is a much better title than "A Matter of Time", isn't it? Especially with those prissy quotation marks. The former is the title of the novel by Maurice Druon which became the latter, Vincente Minnelli's last film.
Samuel Z. Arkoff's American International Pictures is a long way down from the Freed Unit at MGM, and however you cut it, this is a movie you have to make allowances for. A film out of time, a film about nostalgia which is itself a product of that impulse: set in a supremely unconvincing 1949 (location shots of 70s Rome feature copious non-period extras and automobiles), its heroine harkens back to a pre-wwi, prelapsarian paradise, while Minnelli himself is harking back to, well, 1949 or thereabouts, the period of his cinematic heyday.
Minnelli populates his movie with one great 40s star, Ingrid Bergman (as senile countess recalling her glorious...
Samuel Z. Arkoff's American International Pictures is a long way down from the Freed Unit at MGM, and however you cut it, this is a movie you have to make allowances for. A film out of time, a film about nostalgia which is itself a product of that impulse: set in a supremely unconvincing 1949 (location shots of 70s Rome feature copious non-period extras and automobiles), its heroine harkens back to a pre-wwi, prelapsarian paradise, while Minnelli himself is harking back to, well, 1949 or thereabouts, the period of his cinematic heyday.
Minnelli populates his movie with one great 40s star, Ingrid Bergman (as senile countess recalling her glorious...
- 9/29/2011
- MUBI
Actually, it’s a still we don’t love– but we do love the movie!
Just look:
This rather fuzzy, poorly printed still is typical of the shabby treatment accorded (in the Us at least) to producer Josef Shaftel’s 1972 attempt to make the definitive Alice movie to mark the centeniary of Lewis Carroll’s completion of both Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Although it premiered at Hollywood’s Grauman’s Chinese Theater, none of the major studios were interested in picking it up and this Veddy British film went out play largely at kiddie matinees courtesy of American National Pictures, which specialized in “family” nature films. It’s been on Us tv but over the years has become increasingly obscure despite entering the public domain.
2001: A Space Odyssey d.p. Geoffrey Unsworth’s precise Todd Ao 35 compositions (with some brilliant use of the...
Just look:
This rather fuzzy, poorly printed still is typical of the shabby treatment accorded (in the Us at least) to producer Josef Shaftel’s 1972 attempt to make the definitive Alice movie to mark the centeniary of Lewis Carroll’s completion of both Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Although it premiered at Hollywood’s Grauman’s Chinese Theater, none of the major studios were interested in picking it up and this Veddy British film went out play largely at kiddie matinees courtesy of American National Pictures, which specialized in “family” nature films. It’s been on Us tv but over the years has become increasingly obscure despite entering the public domain.
2001: A Space Odyssey d.p. Geoffrey Unsworth’s precise Todd Ao 35 compositions (with some brilliant use of the...
- 9/6/2011
- by Danny
- Trailers from Hell
It was a time of sex, cynicism and Star Wars - and endless lampoons of the old Batman TV shows. Almost inconceivably, given the era that we live in, there had never been a superhero movie that wasn't cheap, laughable, aimed at kids - or all three. So when Superman producers the Salkind brothers decided to follow up their success of the Musketeers movies with another ambitious two-part movie project, they knew they'd need to throw high-level talent at the first ever serious cinematic account of the Man Of Steel.
Enter Richard Donner, riding a high wave of interest from The Omen; enter Marlon Brando, superstar Gene Hackman, Godfather screenwriter Mario Puzo...enter years of hard-working hell inventing entirely new cinematic processes to make us all believe a man can fly. And enter unknown actor Christopher Reeve, ready to take on the dual role of Clark Kent and Kal-El in what remains a definitive interpretation.
Enter Richard Donner, riding a high wave of interest from The Omen; enter Marlon Brando, superstar Gene Hackman, Godfather screenwriter Mario Puzo...enter years of hard-working hell inventing entirely new cinematic processes to make us all believe a man can fly. And enter unknown actor Christopher Reeve, ready to take on the dual role of Clark Kent and Kal-El in what remains a definitive interpretation.
- 6/16/2011
- Shadowlocked
British Council films explaining cricket, fair play and democracy to the world are released online
Films commissioned more than 50 years ago by the British Council to showcase the best of Britain to the rest of the world – whether that was a sense of fair play, cricket or the joys of congregated drinking in places "called 'public' houses" – have been digitised and are being released online for the first time.
The films were made for about 20 years, between the 1930s and 1950s, and give fascinating snapshots of largely cheery lives being lived in the UK.
They would have been shown across the world in embassies and consulates, promoting democratic values and the benefits of good relations with Britain as fascism spread across Europe.
The films, kept in the BFI archive, have been largely unseen for 30 years. Martin Davidson, the British Council's chief executive, said the films were from a time when propaganda was far more important.
Films commissioned more than 50 years ago by the British Council to showcase the best of Britain to the rest of the world – whether that was a sense of fair play, cricket or the joys of congregated drinking in places "called 'public' houses" – have been digitised and are being released online for the first time.
The films were made for about 20 years, between the 1930s and 1950s, and give fascinating snapshots of largely cheery lives being lived in the UK.
They would have been shown across the world in embassies and consulates, promoting democratic values and the benefits of good relations with Britain as fascism spread across Europe.
The films, kept in the BFI archive, have been largely unseen for 30 years. Martin Davidson, the British Council's chief executive, said the films were from a time when propaganda was far more important.
- 12/14/2010
- by Mark Brown
- The Guardian - Film News
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