(Welcome to Did They Get It Right?, a series where we take a look at an Oscars category from yesteryear and examine whether the Academy's winner stands the test of time.)
Hollywood cinema of the 1950s was somewhat similar to today's film landscape. This decade was the first where movies truly had to compete with television, as they became incredibly prevalent in American households. What could the movies do to get people out of their houses and head to their local cinemas? Spectacle. You had sword and sandal epics, lavish Technicolor musicals, and the advent of CinemaScope showcasing a scope and scale that you weren't going to get on your small, black-and-white television.
The box office was burning up with the likes of "Samson and Delilah," "Quo Vadis," "The Ten Commandments," and "South Pacific." As opposed to today, these massive blockbuster successes didn't just rake in all the money. They received piles of Academy Awards.
Hollywood cinema of the 1950s was somewhat similar to today's film landscape. This decade was the first where movies truly had to compete with television, as they became incredibly prevalent in American households. What could the movies do to get people out of their houses and head to their local cinemas? Spectacle. You had sword and sandal epics, lavish Technicolor musicals, and the advent of CinemaScope showcasing a scope and scale that you weren't going to get on your small, black-and-white television.
The box office was burning up with the likes of "Samson and Delilah," "Quo Vadis," "The Ten Commandments," and "South Pacific." As opposed to today, these massive blockbuster successes didn't just rake in all the money. They received piles of Academy Awards.
- 12/1/2022
- by Mike Shutt
- Slash Film
Much has been made about the stunning decision by Warner Bros. Discovery to shelve the 90 million-dollar DC superhero film "Batgirl" ahead of its anticipated debut on HBO Max. As it stands, the newly-minted powers that be at the studio (including CEO David Zaslav) saw fit to use a "purchase accounting" maneuver to write off the movie and not carry the losses in a limited-timeframe tax loophole. While reports on whether the film tested well or not have been mixed, the move stands as a stain on the Warners reputation and will surely put talent off of working with the studio knowing their creative efforts might never see the light of day.
Dumping a film from release permanently is a rare move by major studios, although not unheard of. In 2007 director Beeban Kidron ("Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason") began shooting the British counterculture drama "Hippie Hippie Shake" starring Cillian Murphy...
Dumping a film from release permanently is a rare move by major studios, although not unheard of. In 2007 director Beeban Kidron ("Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason") began shooting the British counterculture drama "Hippie Hippie Shake" starring Cillian Murphy...
- 9/2/2022
- by Max Evry
- Slash Film
Humble Marty Piletti finally gets to home video in its proper widescreen format. Paddy Chayefsky’s TV play-turned theatrical feature really shines in Kino’s new 4K remaster. The performances of Betsy Blair and especially Ernest Borgnine provide the gentle magic, as non-glamorous Bronx-ites learn that two lonely people can find romance. It’s a winning formula and a thoughtful meditation on social reality in the pursuit of happiness. With a new audio commentary by Bryan Reesman and Max Evry.
Marty
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1955 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen + 1:37 flat open matte / 90 94 min. / Special Edition / Street Date July 19, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Ernest Borgnine, Betsy Blair, Joe Mantell, Esther Minciotti, August Ciolli, Karen Steele, Jerry Paris, Frank Sutton, James Bell, Jack Klugman.
Cinematography: Joseph Lashelle
Art Directors: Ted Haworth, Walter Simonds
Editing Supervisor: Alan Crosland Jr.
Original Music: Roy Webb
Written by Paddy Chayefsky from his teleplay
Produced by Harold Hecht,...
Marty
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1955 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen + 1:37 flat open matte / 90 94 min. / Special Edition / Street Date July 19, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Ernest Borgnine, Betsy Blair, Joe Mantell, Esther Minciotti, August Ciolli, Karen Steele, Jerry Paris, Frank Sutton, James Bell, Jack Klugman.
Cinematography: Joseph Lashelle
Art Directors: Ted Haworth, Walter Simonds
Editing Supervisor: Alan Crosland Jr.
Original Music: Roy Webb
Written by Paddy Chayefsky from his teleplay
Produced by Harold Hecht,...
- 7/12/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Hollywood’s most macho liberals pack this action western with cheating, double crosses, rampant greed, uncouth heroes and decadent sneering villains… and that’s not counting the wall-to-wall revolutionary carnage. Toothy Burt Lancaster and philosophical Gary Cooper double-deal with cannon-fodder Juaristas and Cesar Romero’s decadent Frenchman, to steal a fortune in gold. Francois Truffaut called it ‘the first cynical western.’ Robert Aldrich’s direction emphasizes wince-inducing violence. The ‘dirty dozen’- like supporting freebooters include Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jack Elam and Archie Savage. This eye-opening blockbuster strongly influenced Sergio Leone’s Italo westerns made ten years later.
Vera Cruz
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1954 / Color / 1:2.0 widescreen (Superscope) / 94 min. / Street Date October 12, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Gary Cooper, Sarita Montiel, George Macready, Denise Darcel, Morris Ankrum, Charles Buchinsky (Bronson), Ernest Borgnine. Jack Elam, Henry Brandon, Archie Savage, Jack Lambert.
Cinematography: Ernest Laszlo
Production Designer: Alfred Ybarra...
Vera Cruz
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1954 / Color / 1:2.0 widescreen (Superscope) / 94 min. / Street Date October 12, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Gary Cooper, Sarita Montiel, George Macready, Denise Darcel, Morris Ankrum, Charles Buchinsky (Bronson), Ernest Borgnine. Jack Elam, Henry Brandon, Archie Savage, Jack Lambert.
Cinematography: Ernest Laszlo
Production Designer: Alfred Ybarra...
- 9/25/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The Academy has released a list of 366 feature films in contention for the upcoming 93rd Oscars. The number of eligible movies is up from the 344 submitted in 2019, although it’s not an AMPAS record. This is the highest total since the 1970 awards, which had 374 eligible entries.
All the expected awards contenders are among the “reminder list of productions eligible for the 93rd Academy Awards,” which include Florian Zeller’s “The Father,” Shaka King’s “Judas and the Black Messiah,” Lee Isaac Chung’s “Minari,” Paul Greengrass’ “News of the World,” Regina King’s “One Night in Miami,” Emerald Fennell’s “Promising Young Woman” Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland,” Pete Docter and Kemp Powers’ “Soul,” and Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”
Some of the more unconventional contenders are also on the list, including Robert Downey Jr.’s family pic “Dolittle,” the horror film “The Empty Man” from David Pryor,...
All the expected awards contenders are among the “reminder list of productions eligible for the 93rd Academy Awards,” which include Florian Zeller’s “The Father,” Shaka King’s “Judas and the Black Messiah,” Lee Isaac Chung’s “Minari,” Paul Greengrass’ “News of the World,” Regina King’s “One Night in Miami,” Emerald Fennell’s “Promising Young Woman” Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland,” Pete Docter and Kemp Powers’ “Soul,” and Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”
Some of the more unconventional contenders are also on the list, including Robert Downey Jr.’s family pic “Dolittle,” the horror film “The Empty Man” from David Pryor,...
- 2/25/2021
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
In 2001 I wrote, ‘Someday I’ll get to see a good copy of Robert Aldrich’s great movie Apache.’ Kino’s excellent new Blu-ray of a recent MGM remaster brings back the color and the correct screen shape, and even cleans up some wicked frame damage that’s been there for sixty years. The athletic Burt Lancaster will make every man and boy feel like running across whatever landscape is available, leaping like a gymnast from rock to rock. Properly restored, the tale of the rebellious Massai plays better than a dozen politically revisionist westerns, even with Burt as a blue-eyed Apache. The movie solidified Lancaster’s producing career and Robert Aldrich earned his first box office hit.
Apache
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1954 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 91 min. / Street Date December 1, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Jean Peters, Charles Bronson, John McIntire, John Dehner, Walter Sande, Paul Guilfoyle.
Cinematography:...
Apache
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1954 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 91 min. / Street Date December 1, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Jean Peters, Charles Bronson, John McIntire, John Dehner, Walter Sande, Paul Guilfoyle.
Cinematography:...
- 12/5/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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“Lurid Love And Noir”
By Raymond Benson
Film historian Jeremy Arnold, who provides the excellent audio commentary as a supplement for the terrific Blu-ray release of Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, says the movie’s title is remarkably “lurid.” The Production Code people obviously had a problem with the title and tried to get it changed, but an appeal from up and coming star Burt Lancaster, whose newly formed production company (co-founded with Harold Hecht) made the picture, resulted in the “lurid” title staying in place.
The film does not live up to the implied sensationalism. While we do get a dark, at times brutal, and cynical piece of film noir, we also get an atypical love story at the picture’s heart.
Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, from 1948, is based on a novel by Gerald Butler, and was adapted by...
“Lurid Love And Noir”
By Raymond Benson
Film historian Jeremy Arnold, who provides the excellent audio commentary as a supplement for the terrific Blu-ray release of Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, says the movie’s title is remarkably “lurid.” The Production Code people obviously had a problem with the title and tried to get it changed, but an appeal from up and coming star Burt Lancaster, whose newly formed production company (co-founded with Harold Hecht) made the picture, resulted in the “lurid” title staying in place.
The film does not live up to the implied sensationalism. While we do get a dark, at times brutal, and cynical piece of film noir, we also get an atypical love story at the picture’s heart.
Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, from 1948, is based on a novel by Gerald Butler, and was adapted by...
- 8/21/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Top stars Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis and Gina Lollobrigida earn their keep in Carol Reed’s powerful tale of ambition and excellence performing forty feet above a circus arena. The best circus movie ever is also among Reed’s most exciting, best directed movies, a solid show all around.
Trapeze
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1956 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date September 25, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Gina Lollobrigida, Katy Jurado, Thomas Gomez, Sidney James, Johnny Puleo.
Cinematography: Robert Krasker
Costume Design: Veniero Colasanti
Editorial Supervisor: Bert Batt
Production Design: Rino Mondelli
Dialogue Coach: Harriet White Medin
Original Music: Malcolm Arnold
Written by James R. Webb & Liam O’Brien from a novel by Max Catto
Produced by James Hill, Harold Hecht, Burt Lancaster
Directed by Carol Reed
For a long time it seemed that Carol Reed had been canonized for The Third Man, Odd Man Out and...
Trapeze
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1956 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date September 25, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Gina Lollobrigida, Katy Jurado, Thomas Gomez, Sidney James, Johnny Puleo.
Cinematography: Robert Krasker
Costume Design: Veniero Colasanti
Editorial Supervisor: Bert Batt
Production Design: Rino Mondelli
Dialogue Coach: Harriet White Medin
Original Music: Malcolm Arnold
Written by James R. Webb & Liam O’Brien from a novel by Max Catto
Produced by James Hill, Harold Hecht, Burt Lancaster
Directed by Carol Reed
For a long time it seemed that Carol Reed had been canonized for The Third Man, Odd Man Out and...
- 8/18/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
A periodic round up of interesting and notable books about film, including biographies, histories, critical assessments, and more.
I have to confess from the off that, apart from Daniel Day-Lewis’ typically spellbinding performance (if that’s even the right word for what he does) and the meticulous detail and cinematography that made the film a joy to look at, Stephen Spielberg’s Lincoln left me rather cold; perhaps if I had read Lincoln: A Cinematic and Historical Companion (Disney Editions, distributed in the UK by Turnaround www.turnarounduk.com) beforehand, my viewing experience would have been richer and more rewarding.
The book opens with earnest forewards by Spielberg and producer Kathleen Kennedy, and is thereafter divided into two sections, each in two parts. Part One, ‘Players on the Stage of History’, features full page colour photos of the film’s main players in the style of 19th century portraiture, which...
I have to confess from the off that, apart from Daniel Day-Lewis’ typically spellbinding performance (if that’s even the right word for what he does) and the meticulous detail and cinematography that made the film a joy to look at, Stephen Spielberg’s Lincoln left me rather cold; perhaps if I had read Lincoln: A Cinematic and Historical Companion (Disney Editions, distributed in the UK by Turnaround www.turnarounduk.com) beforehand, my viewing experience would have been richer and more rewarding.
The book opens with earnest forewards by Spielberg and producer Kathleen Kennedy, and is thereafter divided into two sections, each in two parts. Part One, ‘Players on the Stage of History’, features full page colour photos of the film’s main players in the style of 19th century portraiture, which...
- 6/3/2013
- by Ian Gilchrist
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Stocky supporting actor who won an Oscar when he was cast against type as a lonely butcher in Marty
With his coarsely podgy features, bug eyes, gap-toothed grin and stocky build, Ernest Borgnine, who has died aged 95 of renal failure, seemed destined to remain one of nature's supporting actors in a string of sadistic and menacing parts. Instead he won an Oscar for a role which was the antithesis of all his previous characters.
In 1955, the producer Harold Hecht wanted to transfer Paddy Chayefsky's teleplay Marty to the big screen, with Rod Steiger in the title role, which he had created. But Steiger was filming Oklahoma! so was unavailable. Borgnine was offered the role after a female guest at a Hollywood reception quite disinterestedly remarked to Hecht that, ugly as he was, Borgnine possessed an oddly tender quality which made her yearn to mother him. "That," Hecht said later,...
With his coarsely podgy features, bug eyes, gap-toothed grin and stocky build, Ernest Borgnine, who has died aged 95 of renal failure, seemed destined to remain one of nature's supporting actors in a string of sadistic and menacing parts. Instead he won an Oscar for a role which was the antithesis of all his previous characters.
In 1955, the producer Harold Hecht wanted to transfer Paddy Chayefsky's teleplay Marty to the big screen, with Rod Steiger in the title role, which he had created. But Steiger was filming Oklahoma! so was unavailable. Borgnine was offered the role after a female guest at a Hollywood reception quite disinterestedly remarked to Hecht that, ugly as he was, Borgnine possessed an oddly tender quality which made her yearn to mother him. "That," Hecht said later,...
- 7/9/2012
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
What makes a movie classic? Box office success is usually a big factor in elevating a film’s status, but even that’s no guarantee. The balance sheets on Avatar (2010) may have looked good but for all its technical brilliance, it lacked the special magic that immortalized Gone With the Wind (1939). It is very hard to believe that some of the best films ever made were commercial flops when they were first released. Were they too complex? Were the too arty? Or were they released at the wrong time? The reasons vary but there’s no denying these classics have survived better than many more successful movies of the day.
So what makes a movie classic? I think it has a lot to do with enduring appeal. Some have achieved cult status when released many years later while others were re-discovered after a lengthy period in obscurity. Art-house and underground...
So what makes a movie classic? I think it has a lot to do with enduring appeal. Some have achieved cult status when released many years later while others were re-discovered after a lengthy period in obscurity. Art-house and underground...
- 9/26/2011
- Shadowlocked
Generally, I have avoided trying to interview the personal heroes of my youth; it's too risky to one's cherished perceptions. But when faced with the opportunity to chat with Paul Darrow, the British actor who played the laconic and back-shooting anti-hero Avon of 'Blake's 7' (as well as the voice of Grand Moff Tarkin and other characters in 'Star Wars' videogames), I figured I'd take a chance. After all, if he shot me down in flames, at least he'd be in character...
I was, of course, delighted to find that Mr. Darrow retains all the charm and more of his most famous role without the accompanying barbs. Here we chat about Paul's excellent turn as Lord Rathen in the exceptional Sf/fantasy audio drama 'The Minister Of Chance', as well as how Avon came to shoot people in the back despite being the 'hero' of a major BBC sci-fi show,...
I was, of course, delighted to find that Mr. Darrow retains all the charm and more of his most famous role without the accompanying barbs. Here we chat about Paul's excellent turn as Lord Rathen in the exceptional Sf/fantasy audio drama 'The Minister Of Chance', as well as how Avon came to shoot people in the back despite being the 'hero' of a major BBC sci-fi show,...
- 7/5/2011
- Shadowlocked
Shrewd film publicist who later achieved success as a producer
A masochistic Hollywood decree insists that press agents must be depicted on screen as loathsome toadying creatures, and movie moguls as vulgar, mercenary despots. Walter Seltzer, who has died aged 96, was both a press agent and a producer, but he failed to conform to either of the self-perpetuating stereotypes. As a press agent he was persuasive rather than pushy; as a producer, he believed in consensus decision-making.
Undoubtedly his greatest achievement as a press agent was in his promotion of Marty (1955), a gentle, small-scale study of the mundane with no star names. Seltzer believed so much in the Harold Hecht/Burt Lancaster production that the promotional campaign for the film was more expensive than the film itself: $400,000 compared to $343,000. Among Seltzer's tactics was his sending prints of the film to members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,...
A masochistic Hollywood decree insists that press agents must be depicted on screen as loathsome toadying creatures, and movie moguls as vulgar, mercenary despots. Walter Seltzer, who has died aged 96, was both a press agent and a producer, but he failed to conform to either of the self-perpetuating stereotypes. As a press agent he was persuasive rather than pushy; as a producer, he believed in consensus decision-making.
Undoubtedly his greatest achievement as a press agent was in his promotion of Marty (1955), a gentle, small-scale study of the mundane with no star names. Seltzer believed so much in the Harold Hecht/Burt Lancaster production that the promotional campaign for the film was more expensive than the film itself: $400,000 compared to $343,000. Among Seltzer's tactics was his sending prints of the film to members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,...
- 4/5/2011
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
It’s unusually thrilling whenever a major motion picture takes on a living, influential public figure, the way Citizen Kane did with William Randolph Hearst, The Social Network with Mark Zuckerberg, or Sweet Smell Of Success with Walter Winchell. In the latter, Burt Lancaster—who also co-produced the film with James Hill, Harold Hecht, and co-star Tony Curtis—stars as a Winchell-like columnist who publishes political opinions, gossipy smears, and star-making “items” in The New York Globe under the heading “The Eyes Of Broadway.” The audience feels Lancaster’s presence long before we see him in the movie. We see ...
- 2/23/2011
- avclub.com
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