Francis Ford Coppola has made some of the most defining American films of all time, including The Godfather trilogy and Apocalypse Now. Although not every film in his oeuvre holds such a vaunted place in cinema history, Coppola’s over 60-year career deserves a titanic close. Megalopolis promises to be just such a proper ending with its ambitious self-funding and a massive cast led by Adam Driver. Coppola has been gathering ideas about the project for as long as he’s been making movies, but the kernel of the concept goes back even farther.
“The seeds for Megalopolis were planted when as a kid I saw H.G. Wells’ Things to Come,” Coppola wrote in a statement to Vanity Fair. “This 1930s [Alexander] Korda classic is about building the world of tomorrow, and has always been with me, first as the ‘boy scientist’ I was and later as a filmmaker.” Directed by William Cameron Menzies,...
“The seeds for Megalopolis were planted when as a kid I saw H.G. Wells’ Things to Come,” Coppola wrote in a statement to Vanity Fair. “This 1930s [Alexander] Korda classic is about building the world of tomorrow, and has always been with me, first as the ‘boy scientist’ I was and later as a filmmaker.” Directed by William Cameron Menzies,...
- 4/30/2024
- by Joe George
- Den of Geek
A reference point for Francis Ford Coppola’s $120m epic Megalopolis was the 1936 sci-fi classic, Things To Come, written by Hg Wells.
Given its title and city-of-the-future setting, our initial assumption was that Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis took some inspiration from Fritz Lang’s hugely influential 1927 film, Metropolis. It turns out, though, that Coppola is drawing on a slightly less celebrated speculative sci-fi film – 1936’s Things To Come, written by Hg Wells.
It’s a small yet intriguing detail which emerged in Vanity Fair’s new piece on Coppola’s upcoming opus – a famously risky project with a budget of around $120m.
Although Coppola has drawn on a rich stew of writers and filmmakers for Megalopolis, about a visionary architect’s ambition to rebuild a Manhattan-like city shattered by disaster, Things To Come is one the director singles out for praise.
“The seeds for Megalopolis were planted when as...
Given its title and city-of-the-future setting, our initial assumption was that Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis took some inspiration from Fritz Lang’s hugely influential 1927 film, Metropolis. It turns out, though, that Coppola is drawing on a slightly less celebrated speculative sci-fi film – 1936’s Things To Come, written by Hg Wells.
It’s a small yet intriguing detail which emerged in Vanity Fair’s new piece on Coppola’s upcoming opus – a famously risky project with a budget of around $120m.
Although Coppola has drawn on a rich stew of writers and filmmakers for Megalopolis, about a visionary architect’s ambition to rebuild a Manhattan-like city shattered by disaster, Things To Come is one the director singles out for praise.
“The seeds for Megalopolis were planted when as...
- 4/30/2024
- by Ryan Lambie
- Film Stories
Flying saucers and alien invasion movies were the trend in the 1950s. UFO sightings in Washington State in 1947 and the famous crash near Roswell, New Mexico in 1948 had ignited a fever for all things alien. The movies soon followed the public interest with films like The Thing from Another World (1951), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), War of the Worlds (1953), This Island Earth (1955), Earth vs. The Flying Saucers (1956), Invasion of the Saucer-Men (1957), and many more of varying levels of quality. Many of these science fiction/horror hybrids were aimed toward an audience of children and teenagers and often featured young people, but few placed the viewer so deeply in the child’s perspective as the 1953 classic Invaders from Mars.
In many ways, Invaders from Mars walked so that Invasion of the Body Snatchers could run just three years later. Much of this is due to its extremely low budget and independent production.
In many ways, Invaders from Mars walked so that Invasion of the Body Snatchers could run just three years later. Much of this is due to its extremely low budget and independent production.
- 5/30/2023
- by Brian Keiper
- bloody-disgusting.com
Invaders from Mars may have appeared at first glance to be just another cheesy, cheap sci-fi B-movie made during the 1950s. It was, after all, a time when the genre was booming and both major studios and independent film producers started churning out shockers about alien invasions and giant insects at an alarming rate. But thanks to a dedicated cult following and some dogged technical detective work, a brand new 4K Ultra HD restoration of 1953’s Invaders from Mars has finally surfaced to re-introduce us to a surreal classic that had a profound effect on a generation of filmmakers who later gave us little films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Gremlins, and Star Wars, among many others.
“It really turned my world around,” says Steven Spielberg in the booklet accompanying the new 4K Blu-ray release of the movie from Ignite Films. “It certainly touched a nerve in all...
“It really turned my world around,” says Steven Spielberg in the booklet accompanying the new 4K Blu-ray release of the movie from Ignite Films. “It certainly touched a nerve in all...
- 1/22/2023
- by Don Kaye
- Den of Geek
The disc of the year has finally arrived and it’s 1000 worth the wait. William Cameron Menzies’ flight into schoolboy paranoia now really looks like it ought to hang in the Louvre; the entire show is inspired Modern Art. When Martians conduct a brain-snatching takeover of Middle America little David MacLean must save the day, with an assist from an astronomer buddy and a sexy city nurse. The review is mostly concerned with how the new Ignite release looks and sounds. The rejuvenation of this fantasy masterpiece will turn fans of the 1950s sci-fi boom back into delighted ‘Gee Whiz’ kids.
Invaders from Mars
Blu-ray
Ignite Films
1953 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 81 min. / Street Date September 27, 2022 that was the plan … delivery expected . . . ? / Available from Ignite Films / 55.00
Starring: Helena Carter, Arthur Franz, Jimmy Hunt, Leif Erickson, Hillary Brooke, Morris Ankrum, Max Wagner, William Phipps, Milburn Stone, Janine Perreau, Barbara Billingsley, Peter Brocco, Richard Deacon,...
Invaders from Mars
Blu-ray
Ignite Films
1953 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 81 min. / Street Date September 27, 2022 that was the plan … delivery expected . . . ? / Available from Ignite Films / 55.00
Starring: Helena Carter, Arthur Franz, Jimmy Hunt, Leif Erickson, Hillary Brooke, Morris Ankrum, Max Wagner, William Phipps, Milburn Stone, Janine Perreau, Barbara Billingsley, Peter Brocco, Richard Deacon,...
- 12/17/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Remade by Tobe Hooper in 1986, the original sci-fi classic Invaders from Mars was released in 1953, and Ignite Films is celebrating the film’s 70th anniversary with a brand new release. Directed by William Cameron Menzies, Invaders from Mars has received a “sensational 4K restoration,” and Ignite Films is bringing it to Blu-ray & 4K […]
The post Original ‘Invaders from Mars’ Returns With New 4K Restoration This September! [Exclusive] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
The post Original ‘Invaders from Mars’ Returns With New 4K Restoration This September! [Exclusive] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
- 7/25/2022
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
Antonio Campos, creator of the new HBO Max miniseries The Staircase, walks hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante through his favorite films noir.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Afterschool (2008)
The Devil All The Time (2020)
Rashomon (1950) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
The Typewriter, the Rifle & the Movie Camera (1996)
Raw Deal (1948) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
T-Men (1947) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995)
House of Bamboo (1955) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary
Pickup On South Street (1953) – Sam Hamm’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
The Naked Kiss (1964)
Reign of Terror (1949)
Detour (1945) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Scarlet Street (1945)
The House on 92nd Street (1945) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Barry Lyndon (1975) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
The Killing (1956) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary
Kiss of Death (1947) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Kiss of Death...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Afterschool (2008)
The Devil All The Time (2020)
Rashomon (1950) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
The Typewriter, the Rifle & the Movie Camera (1996)
Raw Deal (1948) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
T-Men (1947) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995)
House of Bamboo (1955) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary
Pickup On South Street (1953) – Sam Hamm’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
The Naked Kiss (1964)
Reign of Terror (1949)
Detour (1945) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Scarlet Street (1945)
The House on 92nd Street (1945) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Barry Lyndon (1975) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
The Killing (1956) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary
Kiss of Death (1947) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Kiss of Death...
- 5/31/2022
- by Alex Kirschenbaum
- Trailers from Hell
This year’s TCM Classic Film Festival, which took place over the weekend in Hollywood, showcased more than 80 movies, including a particularly memorable classic that takes a child’s-eye view of the aftermath of a spaceship landing on Earth. And no, I’m not talking about the festival’s opening-night movie, Steven Spielberg’s “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.”
Sure, “E.T.” is probably the most famous movie in which aliens are shown through the eyes of children, and it was a kick to see its IMAX remaster screened at the huge Tcl Chinese Theatre as the opening attraction on Thursday.
(And it was a kick to hear Spielberg, who was supposed to have been joined by stars Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore until unspecified events prevented them from coming, talk about how he persuaded screenwriter Melissa Mathison to take on the film, and how the first 50 or so people to see the...
Sure, “E.T.” is probably the most famous movie in which aliens are shown through the eyes of children, and it was a kick to see its IMAX remaster screened at the huge Tcl Chinese Theatre as the opening attraction on Thursday.
(And it was a kick to hear Spielberg, who was supposed to have been joined by stars Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore until unspecified events prevented them from coming, talk about how he persuaded screenwriter Melissa Mathison to take on the film, and how the first 50 or so people to see the...
- 4/25/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
“Nightmare Alley,” “Dune” and “No Time to Die” have won the top feature-film prizes at the 26th annual Excellence in Production Design Awards, which were held by the Art Directors Guild on Saturday evening in Los Angeles.
“Nightmare Alley” won in the Period Feature Film category, where the other finalists included “The Tragedy of Macbeth” and “West Side Story,” both of which were nominated for the Oscar for Best Production Design.
“Dune” won in the Fantasy Feature Film category, where it was the only Oscar nominee in the running. And “No Time to Die” won in the Contemporary Feature Film category, in which none of the nominees had been recognized by Oscar voters.
“Encanto” took the award in the Animated Feature category.
In the 15 years since the current Adg categories were established, one of the Adg winners has gone on to take the Oscar for Best Production Design 12 times. In that stretch,...
“Nightmare Alley” won in the Period Feature Film category, where the other finalists included “The Tragedy of Macbeth” and “West Side Story,” both of which were nominated for the Oscar for Best Production Design.
“Dune” won in the Fantasy Feature Film category, where it was the only Oscar nominee in the running. And “No Time to Die” won in the Contemporary Feature Film category, in which none of the nominees had been recognized by Oscar voters.
“Encanto” took the award in the Animated Feature category.
In the 15 years since the current Adg categories were established, one of the Adg winners has gone on to take the Oscar for Best Production Design 12 times. In that stretch,...
- 3/6/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Lovers of vintage English crime thrillers will have a lot to chew over with this pair of escapist gangster pix, one pre-war and one post-. In each an innocent young couple suffers a run-in with a criminal gang. John Mills and Richard Attenborough are the ‘fresh’ new talent on display. The leading lady of Dancing with Crime is Sheila Sim, playing opposite her husband Attenborough. The co-feature The Green Cockatoo sports credits for William Cameron Menzies and Miklós Rózsa.
Dancing with Crime + The Green Cockatoo
Blu-ray
Cohen Film Collection / Kino Lorber
1937 & 1947 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 82 + 64 min. / Street Date January 25, 2022 / Available from Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Richard Attenborough, Sheila Sim, Barry Jones; John Mills, René Ray, Robert Newton.
Original Music: Benjamin Frankel, Miklós Rózsa
Directed by John Paddy Carstairs; William Cameron Menzies
The Blu-ray era has given home video devotees great opportunities to catch up with ‘exotic’ genre films from abroad. American TV...
Dancing with Crime + The Green Cockatoo
Blu-ray
Cohen Film Collection / Kino Lorber
1937 & 1947 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 82 + 64 min. / Street Date January 25, 2022 / Available from Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Richard Attenborough, Sheila Sim, Barry Jones; John Mills, René Ray, Robert Newton.
Original Music: Benjamin Frankel, Miklós Rózsa
Directed by John Paddy Carstairs; William Cameron Menzies
The Blu-ray era has given home video devotees great opportunities to catch up with ‘exotic’ genre films from abroad. American TV...
- 1/11/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Sorry, this is not for a new disc. From 23 years ago, this was the first article that convinced me that there might be a real audience for my review page, then called DVD Savant. It’s about time that the illustrated essay was brought up to date and moved to CineSavant. It probes the ‘primitive sophistication’ and weird appeal of William Cameron Menzies’ most accomplished job of direction: the paranoid nightmare that haunted our childhood dreams. It’s slightly rewritten and has improved images. There’s so much to talk about: Near-experimental visuals! Strange editing choices! The idea for the essay is the same as ever, to inspire somebody to properly remaster the show . . . it’s not like we’re going to live forever.
A two-part examination of a Sci-fi classic that, at least
in Savant’s opinion, should be showing in the Louvre.
Alas and alack! As of 12.16.21, there...
A two-part examination of a Sci-fi classic that, at least
in Savant’s opinion, should be showing in the Louvre.
Alas and alack! As of 12.16.21, there...
- 12/21/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Director Denis Villenueve will receive the 2022 William Cameron Menzies Award from the Art Directors Guild at the group’s 26th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards. After a virtual ceremony earlier this year, the 2022 event is set to take place on March 5 at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown.
“We are beyond thrilled to recognize the scale and scope of the cinematic vision of Director Denis Villeneuve with the 2022 William Cameron Menzies Award,” said Adg President Nelson Coates. “The seamless integration of design into all aspects of Villeneuve’s storytelling process, and the promotion of narrative design and designers in his work and in the industry, make him the perfect honoree. Fostering strong collaborations and working relationships between directors and designers is vital to the creation of strong and unique films. Villeneuve has proven extremely adept at this foundational collaboration.”
Villeneuve is, of course, known for creating unique worlds in his films,...
“We are beyond thrilled to recognize the scale and scope of the cinematic vision of Director Denis Villeneuve with the 2022 William Cameron Menzies Award,” said Adg President Nelson Coates. “The seamless integration of design into all aspects of Villeneuve’s storytelling process, and the promotion of narrative design and designers in his work and in the industry, make him the perfect honoree. Fostering strong collaborations and working relationships between directors and designers is vital to the creation of strong and unique films. Villeneuve has proven extremely adept at this foundational collaboration.”
Villeneuve is, of course, known for creating unique worlds in his films,...
- 12/14/2021
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
Whether a viewer in 1896 or 2020, cinema has always been a dynamic and variable experience. Cinema as an event—as a manifestation of a meeting point between the art of moving images and an audience, big or small—has never fit any one definition, and this last year, so severely disrupted by a global pandemic, has deeply underscored the versatility and resilience of our great love.Our viewing this year, like that of so many, has been strange: compromised, confrontational, escapist, euphoric, painful, revelatory—encompassing all of the reactions one can have to film. How we encountered our favorite movies and most meaningful cinematic experiences of the year was hardly new: A by-now-normal mix of festivals, theatres, various subscription and transactional streaming services, as well as private screener links and gems buried on over-stuffed hard drives. But for most of the year, the communal experience shrunk to living rooms and glowing screens.
- 12/23/2020
- MUBI
A cobwebbed castle? Check. Damsel in distress? Uh huh. An icky, 200 year old secret? Why not! You are about to enter The Maze (1953), a low key flick that doles out the kind of smile-inducing simple pleasure unique to the era. I also think it was partly the inspiration for Burnt Offerings, one of my favorite films.
Released and distributed by Allied Artists Pictures in late July, The Maze was dismissed as gimmicky melodrama, thanks to the commercial go-round with 3-D that Hollywood to this day still thinks we want; but director William Cameron Menzies was as good (or better) a production designer as director, so The Maze is, at the very least, a slick entertainment with canny use of space. At its most, it tells a tale quite unlike anything I’ve seen before (but have since).
Enjoying his engagement to Kitty (Veronica Hurst – The Boy Cried Murder) on the French Riviera,...
Released and distributed by Allied Artists Pictures in late July, The Maze was dismissed as gimmicky melodrama, thanks to the commercial go-round with 3-D that Hollywood to this day still thinks we want; but director William Cameron Menzies was as good (or better) a production designer as director, so The Maze is, at the very least, a slick entertainment with canny use of space. At its most, it tells a tale quite unlike anything I’ve seen before (but have since).
Enjoying his engagement to Kitty (Veronica Hurst – The Boy Cried Murder) on the French Riviera,...
- 8/15/2020
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Alice in Wonderland
Blu ray
Kino Lorber
1933 / 1.33:1/ 76 min.
Starring Charlotte Henry, W.C. Fields, Gary Cooper
Cinematography by Bert Glennon, Henry Sharp
Directed by Norman Z. McLeod
Written by Harvey Kurtzman with art by Jack Davis, Mad‘s 1954 parody of Alice in Wonderland stands as a succinct critique of Paramount Pictures’s 1933 adaptation. The film stars crowd pleasing performers like Cary Grant and W.C. Fields yet manages to be one of the most uniquely disturbing studio pictures ever made.
Directed by Norman Z. McLeod and written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and William Cameron Menzies, the movie began production in 1932, the centennial of Lewis Carroll’s birth. Carroll’s classic was ripe for Paramount – the studio on Melrose was ground zero for absurdist humor in the early ’30s. McLeod had just wrapped the Marx Brothers’ sublime Horse Feathers while the Mankiewicz-scripted Million Dollar Legs was released the same year – both...
Blu ray
Kino Lorber
1933 / 1.33:1/ 76 min.
Starring Charlotte Henry, W.C. Fields, Gary Cooper
Cinematography by Bert Glennon, Henry Sharp
Directed by Norman Z. McLeod
Written by Harvey Kurtzman with art by Jack Davis, Mad‘s 1954 parody of Alice in Wonderland stands as a succinct critique of Paramount Pictures’s 1933 adaptation. The film stars crowd pleasing performers like Cary Grant and W.C. Fields yet manages to be one of the most uniquely disturbing studio pictures ever made.
Directed by Norman Z. McLeod and written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and William Cameron Menzies, the movie began production in 1932, the centennial of Lewis Carroll’s birth. Carroll’s classic was ripe for Paramount – the studio on Melrose was ground zero for absurdist humor in the early ’30s. McLeod had just wrapped the Marx Brothers’ sublime Horse Feathers while the Mankiewicz-scripted Million Dollar Legs was released the same year – both...
- 6/6/2020
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
"Wtf Value"
By Raymond Benson
Only serious film history aficionados and perhaps viewers of Turner Classic Movies will be aware that there was once a live-action version of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland adapted by Hollywood in the early pre-code years. It was released in 1933 by Paramount and directed by Norman Z. McLeod, the guy who had helmed the Marx Brothers’ comedies Monkey Business (1931) and Horse Feathers (1932). McLeod would go on to make such titles as It’s a Gift (1934), Topper (1937), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), and The Paleface (1948).
The production of Alice in 1933 boasts a screenplay by none other than heavyweights Joseph L. Mankiewicz and William Cameron Menzies, the man behind Things to Come and a production designer whose hands were all over Hollywood and British productions over the next two decades. The script also borrows heavily from the popular and then-current stage production written by Eva La Gallienne and Florida Friebus,...
By Raymond Benson
Only serious film history aficionados and perhaps viewers of Turner Classic Movies will be aware that there was once a live-action version of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland adapted by Hollywood in the early pre-code years. It was released in 1933 by Paramount and directed by Norman Z. McLeod, the guy who had helmed the Marx Brothers’ comedies Monkey Business (1931) and Horse Feathers (1932). McLeod would go on to make such titles as It’s a Gift (1934), Topper (1937), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), and The Paleface (1948).
The production of Alice in 1933 boasts a screenplay by none other than heavyweights Joseph L. Mankiewicz and William Cameron Menzies, the man behind Things to Come and a production designer whose hands were all over Hollywood and British productions over the next two decades. The script also borrows heavily from the popular and then-current stage production written by Eva La Gallienne and Florida Friebus,...
- 5/18/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Gee whiz, sci-fi sure was simple in the early ‘50s, wasn’t it? Slap a little Red Scare subtext here, a damsel in distress there, scientists, the military, and of course aliens rounding out the films that beamed from every drive-in on a Saturday night. One of the earliest (and best) of the bunch is Invaders from Mars (1953), which sets itself apart by employing a unique viewpoint and having spectacular and surreal production design. Don’t write this off as a cheap time waster, you whippersnappers.
Distributed by Twentieth Century Fox near the end of April, this independent production received some favorable notices and made a swift return on its $290,000 budget, for good reason – seen through a child’s eyes, it captures that imagination and runs with it for 78 minutes, shoddy getups and all. Invaders from Mars is told with the fervor of an excited youth playing catch up with an exploding imagination.
Distributed by Twentieth Century Fox near the end of April, this independent production received some favorable notices and made a swift return on its $290,000 budget, for good reason – seen through a child’s eyes, it captures that imagination and runs with it for 78 minutes, shoddy getups and all. Invaders from Mars is told with the fervor of an excited youth playing catch up with an exploding imagination.
- 10/12/2019
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Mill Creek and Kit Parker package nine mid-range Columbia features from the 1940s and 1950s, not all of them strictly noir but all with dark themes — crime, creepy politics, etc. None have been on Blu-ray, and all but one are in fine condition.
Noir Archive 9-Film Collection
Address Unknown, Escape in the Fog, The Guilt of Janet Ames, The Black Book, Johnny Allegro, 711 Ocean Drive, The Killer That Stalked New York, Assignment: Paris, The Miami Story
Blu-ray
Mill Creek / Kit Parker
1944 -1954 / B&W / 8 x 1:37 Academy; 1 x 1:85 widescreen / 734 min. / Street Date April 23, 2019 / 49.95
Starring: Paul Lukas, Nina Foch, Rosalind Russell, Robert Cummings, George Raft, Edmond O’Brien, Evelyn Keyes, Dana Andrews, Barry Sullivan.
Cinematography: Rudolph Maté, George Meehan, Joseph Walker, John Alton, Joseph Biroc, Franz Planer, Joseph Biroc, Burnett Guffey, Henry Freulich.
Written by Herbert Dalmas, Aubrey Wisberg, Louella MacFarlane, Philip Yordan, Karen DeWolf, Richard English, Harry Essex, William Bowers,...
Noir Archive 9-Film Collection
Address Unknown, Escape in the Fog, The Guilt of Janet Ames, The Black Book, Johnny Allegro, 711 Ocean Drive, The Killer That Stalked New York, Assignment: Paris, The Miami Story
Blu-ray
Mill Creek / Kit Parker
1944 -1954 / B&W / 8 x 1:37 Academy; 1 x 1:85 widescreen / 734 min. / Street Date April 23, 2019 / 49.95
Starring: Paul Lukas, Nina Foch, Rosalind Russell, Robert Cummings, George Raft, Edmond O’Brien, Evelyn Keyes, Dana Andrews, Barry Sullivan.
Cinematography: Rudolph Maté, George Meehan, Joseph Walker, John Alton, Joseph Biroc, Franz Planer, Joseph Biroc, Burnett Guffey, Henry Freulich.
Written by Herbert Dalmas, Aubrey Wisberg, Louella MacFarlane, Philip Yordan, Karen DeWolf, Richard English, Harry Essex, William Bowers,...
- 4/9/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Above: Title lobby card for 3 Bad Men.The Museum of Modern Art in New York is in the middle of the second part of their essential series of films made by the Fox Film Corporation between 1920 and 1933. Born in Hungary in 1879 but raised in New York, William Fox (born Wilhelm Fuchs) bought his first Nickelodeon in 1904 and spent ten years as an exhibitor and distributor before setting up the Fox Film Corporation production company in 1915 in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The studio eventually moved to Hollywood and for twenty years—before merging with Twentieth Century Pictures to form 20th Century Fox in 1935—was, as MoMA says, “home to the most dazzling lineup of directorial talent in the studio era. As silent film transitioned into sound, Fox’s roster of directors included Frank Borzage, Allan Dwan, John Ford, Howard Hawks, William K. Howard, Henry King, William Cameron Menzies, F. W. Murnau,...
- 3/8/2019
- MUBI
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Blu ray
Kino Lorber Home Video
1938 / 1.33:1 / Street Date July 10, 2018
Starring Tommy Kelly, May Robson, Marcia Mae Jones
Cinematography by James Wong Howe
Directed by Norman Taurog
Though Hemingway suggested “all modern American literature” comes from Huckleberry Finn, a case could be made for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as the great American campfire tale.
David Selznick’s picaresque film version of Mark Twain’s bucolic farce plays out through the producer’s rose-colored glasses – an elegy to “the beautiful past, the dear and lamented past.” The brisk adaptation by screenwriter John Weaver (only 91 minutes) is a laundry list of Tom’s greatest hits – his graveyard vigil with Huck Finn, the pirate escapade, the hair-raising cavern finale – all are adventures ingrained in the collective unconscious of most sentient human beings – even those who never cracked a book.
Directed by Norman Taurog, a man who specialized...
Blu ray
Kino Lorber Home Video
1938 / 1.33:1 / Street Date July 10, 2018
Starring Tommy Kelly, May Robson, Marcia Mae Jones
Cinematography by James Wong Howe
Directed by Norman Taurog
Though Hemingway suggested “all modern American literature” comes from Huckleberry Finn, a case could be made for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as the great American campfire tale.
David Selznick’s picaresque film version of Mark Twain’s bucolic farce plays out through the producer’s rose-colored glasses – an elegy to “the beautiful past, the dear and lamented past.” The brisk adaptation by screenwriter John Weaver (only 91 minutes) is a laundry list of Tom’s greatest hits – his graveyard vigil with Huck Finn, the pirate escapade, the hair-raising cavern finale – all are adventures ingrained in the collective unconscious of most sentient human beings – even those who never cracked a book.
Directed by Norman Taurog, a man who specialized...
- 7/28/2018
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
It’s a promising project for Allied Artists: William Cameron Menzies does a spooky horror movie in 3-D! Something creepy’s going on in a mysterious Scottish castle, something to do with problems in the lineage to a Barony. It’s also a 3-c epic: Candles, Cobwebs and Corridors. Add a frightened, shivering heroine in a nightgown and the horror recipe is complete. It’s another restoration treat from the 3-D Film Archive.
The Maze
3-D Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1953 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 80 min. / Street Date April 24, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 34.95
Starring: Richard Carlson. Veronica Hurst, Katherine Emery, Michael Pate, John Dodsworth, Hillary Brooke, Stanley Fraser, Lillian Bond, Owen McGiveney, Robin Hughes.
Cinematography: Harry Neumann
Film Editor: John Fuller
Original Music: Marlin Skiles
Written by Daniel B. Ullman, from a novel by Maurice Sandoz
Produced by Richard V. Heermance, Walter Mirisch
Production Design and Directed by William Cameron...
The Maze
3-D Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1953 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 80 min. / Street Date April 24, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 34.95
Starring: Richard Carlson. Veronica Hurst, Katherine Emery, Michael Pate, John Dodsworth, Hillary Brooke, Stanley Fraser, Lillian Bond, Owen McGiveney, Robin Hughes.
Cinematography: Harry Neumann
Film Editor: John Fuller
Original Music: Marlin Skiles
Written by Daniel B. Ullman, from a novel by Maurice Sandoz
Produced by Richard V. Heermance, Walter Mirisch
Production Design and Directed by William Cameron...
- 4/10/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The Art Directors Guild said today that Oscar-nominated writer-directors Ron Clements and John Musker will receive its 2018 William Cameron Menzies Award. The award recognizes the filmmaking partners’ innovative artistic work on numerous Disney animated movies of the past 30 years including Moana, The Princess and the Frog, Treasure Island, Hercules, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid and The Great Mouse Detective. They will accept their hardware January 27 during the 22nd…...
- 12/19/2017
- Deadline
David O. Selznick’s absurdly over-cooked western epic is a great picture, even if much of it induces a kind of hypnotic, mouth-hanging-open disbelief. Is this monument to the sex appeal of Jennifer Jones, Kitsch in terrible taste, or have Selznick and his army of Hollywood talents found a new level of hyped melodramatic harmony? It certainly has the star-power, beginning with Gregory Peck as a cowboy rapist who learned his bedside manners from Popeye’s Bluto. It’s all hugely enjoyable.
Duel in the Sun
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1946 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 144 min. / Special Edition / Street Date August 15, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring Jennifer Jones, Gregory Peck, Joseph Cotten, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Walter Huston, Butterfly McQueen, Charles Bickford, Tilly Losch.
Cinematography Lee Garmes, Ray Rennahan and Harold Rosson
Production Designer J. McMillan Johnson
Film Editor Hal C. Kern, John Saure and William H. Ziegler
Original Music Dimitri Tiomkin
Written by Niven Busch,...
Duel in the Sun
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1946 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 144 min. / Special Edition / Street Date August 15, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring Jennifer Jones, Gregory Peck, Joseph Cotten, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Walter Huston, Butterfly McQueen, Charles Bickford, Tilly Losch.
Cinematography Lee Garmes, Ray Rennahan and Harold Rosson
Production Designer J. McMillan Johnson
Film Editor Hal C. Kern, John Saure and William H. Ziegler
Original Music Dimitri Tiomkin
Written by Niven Busch,...
- 8/15/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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A quick look at the slinky sleight-of-hand involved in making movies about magic.
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In 1932’s Chandu The Magician, Edmund Lowe plays the titular wizard. What famous boogie man plays his adversary?
Bela Lugosi Boris Karloff Peter Lorre Correct
Lugosi is a lot of fun but the real star of this movie is director William Cameron Menzies whose distinctive visual style graces every scene.
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1953’s Houdini...
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In 1932’s Chandu The Magician, Edmund Lowe plays the titular wizard. What famous boogie man plays his adversary?
Bela Lugosi Boris Karloff Peter Lorre Correct
Lugosi is a lot of fun but the real star of this movie is director William Cameron Menzies whose distinctive visual style graces every scene.
Incorrect
Question 2 of 10 2. Question
1953’s Houdini...
- 1/23/2017
- by TFH
- Trailers from Hell
Are you 3-D capable? This classic-era Sci-fi is one of the better '50s films ever designed for 3-D, and the restoration on this much-coveted new release is excellent. Meteors explode in your face! A rockslide in your lap! Bizarre superimpositions! Ray gun blasts! And don't forget Ray Bradbury's feel-good sense of wonder speeches, from wide-eyed Richard Carlson. It Came from Outer Space 3-D 3-D Blu-ray Universal Home Video 1953 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 82 min. / Street Date October 4, 2016 / at present a Best Buy exclusive Starring Richard Carlson, Barbara Rush, Charles Drake, Joe Sawyer, Russell Johnson, Kathleen Hughes Cinematography Clifford Stine Art Direction Robert Boyle Makeup and Special effects Jack Kevan, Bud Westmore, David S. Horsley, Milicent Patrick. Film Editor Paul Weatherwax Original Music Irving Gertz, Henry Mancini, Herman Stein Written by Harry Essex from a story by Ray Bradbury Produced by William Alland Directed by Jack Arnold
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson...
- 10/8/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Hope you guys made some extra room in your wallets for all the cash you’ll undoubtedly be shelling out this week (love me some “dad humor”), as August 23rd boasts an awesome selection of horror and sci-fi Blu-ray and DVD releases, all capped off by the home entertainment debuts of both season one of Ash vs Evil Dead and the sixth season of The Walking Dead.
Arrow Video is giving the cult classic The Bloodstained Butterfly an HD overhaul for their impressive-looking two-disc Special Edition release that arrives this Tuesday, and Scream Factory is doing the same for another cult classic, Psycho IV: The Beginning. Kino Lorber is releasing a Blu-ray for Chandu The Magician this week, and we’ve also got a DVD and Blu release for Jon Watts’ Clown to look forward to as well.
Other notable releases for August 23rd include Der Bunker, The Ultimate Vincent Price Collection,...
Arrow Video is giving the cult classic The Bloodstained Butterfly an HD overhaul for their impressive-looking two-disc Special Edition release that arrives this Tuesday, and Scream Factory is doing the same for another cult classic, Psycho IV: The Beginning. Kino Lorber is releasing a Blu-ray for Chandu The Magician this week, and we’ve also got a DVD and Blu release for Jon Watts’ Clown to look forward to as well.
Other notable releases for August 23rd include Der Bunker, The Ultimate Vincent Price Collection,...
- 8/23/2016
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Hissable villain Bela Lugosi is in denial --- no, it's actually star Edmund Lowe who is in the Nile, deep-sixed in a sunken sarcophagus. Lugosi's up top trying to get his art deco death ray in running order -- opposed only by some nubile babes and a Great White Hypnotist from the Swami school of mind control. Chandu the Magician Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1932 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 71 min. / Street Date August 23, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Edmund Lowe, Irene Ware, Bela Lugosi, Herbert Mundin, Henry B. Walthall, Weldon Heyburn, June Lang, Michael Stuart, Virginia Hammond. Cinematography James Wong Howe Art Direction Max Parker Written by Barry Conners, Philip Klein, Guy Bolton, Bradley King, Harry Segall from a radio drama by Harry A. Earnshaw, Vera M. Oldham, R.R. Morgan Directed by William Cameron Menzies, Marcel Varnel
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Around 2008 Fox Home Video made a last big push with genre releases on DVD,...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Around 2008 Fox Home Video made a last big push with genre releases on DVD,...
- 8/9/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Death doesn't take a holiday in this, the granddaddy of movies about the woeful duties of the Grim Reaper. Fritz Lang's heavy-duty Expressionist fable is as German as they get -- a morbid folk tale with an emotionally powerful finish. Destiny Blu-ray Kino Classics 1921 / B&W / 1:33 flat / 98 min. / Street Date August 30, 2016 / Der müde Tod / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Lil Dagover, Walter Janssen, Bernhard Goetzke, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Georg John. Cinematography Bruno Mondi, Erich Nitzschmann, Herrmann Saalfrank, Bruno Timm, Fritz Arno Wagner Film Editor Fritz Lang Written by Fritz Lang, Thea von Harbou Produced by Erich Pommer Directed by Fritz Lang
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari takes the prize for the most influential work of early German Expressionism, but coming in a close second is the film in which Fritz Lang first got his act (completely) together, 1921's Destiny (Der müde Tod). A wholly cinematic...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari takes the prize for the most influential work of early German Expressionism, but coming in a close second is the film in which Fritz Lang first got his act (completely) together, 1921's Destiny (Der müde Tod). A wholly cinematic...
- 8/6/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Ryan Lambie Aug 9, 2016
From 2001 and Metropolis, to The Wicker Man and Event Horizon: a look at nine films with scenes we may never see...
There are some movies whose images and ideas are so indelible, it's difficult to imagine a world without them. Yet films are by their nature delicate things; they're the end-product of months or even years of craftsmanship, and whether they're stored on celluloid or captured digitally, they're as vulnerable to the ravages of time or acts of god as any other artform.
Cinema history is littered with stories of lost and damaged movies. Back in the 1920s, eminent director Erich von Stroheim made Greed, an expensive, nine-and-a-half hour epic that was repeatedly cut until only 140 minutes of its original footage remained. Legend has it that a janitor accidentally threw out the removed footage and, just like that, years of work were gone - seemingly forever.
From 2001 and Metropolis, to The Wicker Man and Event Horizon: a look at nine films with scenes we may never see...
There are some movies whose images and ideas are so indelible, it's difficult to imagine a world without them. Yet films are by their nature delicate things; they're the end-product of months or even years of craftsmanship, and whether they're stored on celluloid or captured digitally, they're as vulnerable to the ravages of time or acts of god as any other artform.
Cinema history is littered with stories of lost and damaged movies. Back in the 1920s, eminent director Erich von Stroheim made Greed, an expensive, nine-and-a-half hour epic that was repeatedly cut until only 140 minutes of its original footage remained. Legend has it that a janitor accidentally threw out the removed footage and, just like that, years of work were gone - seemingly forever.
- 8/2/2016
- Den of Geek
I guess Howard Hughes wanted to go easy on Minnesota Nazis. William Cameron Menzies directs a Cold War thriller about an insidious germ warfare conspiracy -- it's an early paranoid suspense tale with apocalyptic consequences. But the story behind the movie's making -- and then remaking -- is even more fantastic. The Whip Hand DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1951 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 82 min. / Street Date February 16, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 18.59 Starring Elliott Reid, Raymond Burr, Carla Balenda, Edgar Barrier, Otto Waldis, Michael Steele, Lurene Tuttle, Peter Brocco, Lewis Martin, Frank Darien, Olive Carey, George Chandler, Gregory Gaye. Cinematography Nicholas Musuraca Film Editor Robert Golden Original Music Music by Paul Sawtell Written by George Bricker, Frank L. Moss, Ray Hamilton Produced by Louis J. Rachmil Directed by William Cameron Menzies
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Film writers Bill Warren and Tom Weaver have reported extensively on the unusual production story...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Film writers Bill Warren and Tom Weaver have reported extensively on the unusual production story...
- 6/4/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
William Cameron Menzies: The Shape of Films to Come by James Curtis (Pantheon) This is a book that demanded to be written. William Cameron Menzies has always been one of my heroes. He is the man who brought a unique gift for visualization to such films as Douglas Fairbanks’ The Thief of Bagdad, Gone With The Wind, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Foreign Correspondent, as well as minor films from the silent and sound era that deserve to be seen just for his sets and compositions. He is also celebrated for two of the (few) films he directed, Things to Come and Invaders from Mars. How fortunate for us that James Curtis took on the job of chronicling...
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]...
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]...
- 2/23/2016
- by Leonard Maltin
- Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy
With a new film entitled The Birth of a Nation in cinemas, we may expect to hear more about D.W. Griffith, whose 1915 version stands as both a crowning glory and a primal sin of the early American film. The period of Griffith's career least discussed is the late silent era, when he was falling from both independence and preeminence and was forced to take work he might otherwise have looked down on. Nevertheless, his restless creativity sometimes found expression in what he probably saw as potboilers.Battle of the Sexes starts as a Jazz Age comedy in which flapper-vamp Phyllis Haver and her "jazz hound" lover Don Alvarado conspire to seduce (her department) and fleece (his specialty) a wealthy businessman (Jean Hersholt). Griffith sets up the good bourgeoise's family home with all the sentimentality one might expect from his Victorian sensibility, but unexpectedly finds far more fun in the bad guys.
- 2/18/2016
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
Adam Stockhausen and Anna Pinnock with their Grand Budapest Hotel OscarsDavid here with a closer look at this year’s Oscar nominees for Production Design. Not too close, mind: this is all about the big picture. The Pd is responsible for the entire art department, and as such, the entire visual look and feel of a film. If it’s difficult to separate that idea from what cinematographers and costume designers do, well, that’s the difficulty in awarding all these disciplines as if they act independently of one another. Such is the nature of the awards season beast.
The origin of the title is an amusing, unsurprising fable: William Cameron Menzies, coined it to describe his own function on the set of Gone with the Wind (a mammoth task, to be sure) after David O. Selznick instructed everyone that "Menzies is the final word” on the set on every...
The origin of the title is an amusing, unsurprising fable: William Cameron Menzies, coined it to describe his own function on the set of Gone with the Wind (a mammoth task, to be sure) after David O. Selznick instructed everyone that "Menzies is the final word” on the set on every...
- 2/8/2016
- by Dave
- FilmExperience
William Cameron Menzies. William Cameron Menzies movies on TCM: Murderous Joan Fontaine, deadly Nazi Communists Best known as an art director/production designer, William Cameron Menzies was a jack-of-all-trades. It seems like the only things Menzies didn't do was act and tap dance in front of the camera. He designed and/or wrote, directed, produced, etc., dozens of films – titles ranged from The Thief of Bagdad to Invaders from Mars – from the late 1910s all the way to the mid-1950s. Among Menzies' most notable efforts as an art director/production designer are: Ernst Lubitsch's first Hollywood movie, the Mary Pickford star vehicle Rosita (1923). Herbert Brenon's British-set father-son drama Sorrell and Son (1927). David O. Selznick's mammoth production of Gone with the Wind, which earned Menzies an Honorary Oscar. The Sam Wood movies Our Town (1940), Kings Row (1942), and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943). H.C. Potter's Mr. Lucky...
- 1/28/2016
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Jim Knipfel Feb 4, 2019
You're still next! Over 60 years later, the pod population keeps growing as the Invasion of the Body Snatchers continues.
The Body Snatchers, Jack Finney’s novel about an insidious and silent alien invasion that threatens to turn the world’s population into a horde of emotionless, single-minded replicant drones, was published in 1955 after starting life as a magazine serial. Although inspired, at least in part, by Robert Heinlein’s 1951 novel The Puppetmasters and possibly William Cameron Menzies’ 1953 Invaders from Mars, Finney’s novel took a much darker tone and employed a handful of standard noirish elements, which left the story open to countless social and political interpretations.
It’s been held up as a shining example of Cold War paranoia, reflecting American fear of communist infiltration. On the flipside, it was also seen as a cautionary tale about creeping totalitarianism in the wake of the McCarthy Era.
You're still next! Over 60 years later, the pod population keeps growing as the Invasion of the Body Snatchers continues.
The Body Snatchers, Jack Finney’s novel about an insidious and silent alien invasion that threatens to turn the world’s population into a horde of emotionless, single-minded replicant drones, was published in 1955 after starting life as a magazine serial. Although inspired, at least in part, by Robert Heinlein’s 1951 novel The Puppetmasters and possibly William Cameron Menzies’ 1953 Invaders from Mars, Finney’s novel took a much darker tone and employed a handful of standard noirish elements, which left the story open to countless social and political interpretations.
It’s been held up as a shining example of Cold War paranoia, reflecting American fear of communist infiltration. On the flipside, it was also seen as a cautionary tale about creeping totalitarianism in the wake of the McCarthy Era.
- 1/22/2016
- Den of Geek
Bridge Of Spies
Nominees for the Art Directors Guild (Adg, Iatse Local 800) 20th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards in 11 categories of Production Design for theatrical motion pictures, television, commercials and music videos were announced by Adg Council Chair Marcia Hinds and Awards Producer Thomas Wilkins.
The 20th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards presented by Dxv by American Standard, will take place on Sunday, January 31, 2016 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel with comedian Owen Benjamin serving as host.
The Art Directors Guild (Iatse Local 800) represents 2,300 members who work throughout the United States, Canada and the rest of the world in film, television and theater as Production Designers, Art Directors, Assistant Art Directors; Scenic, Title and Graphic Artists; Illustrators and Matte Artists; Set Designers and Model Makers; and Previs Artists.
The Nominees For Excellence In Production Design For A Feature Film In 2015 Are:
1. Period Film
Bridge Of Spies
Production Designer: Adam Stockhausen...
Nominees for the Art Directors Guild (Adg, Iatse Local 800) 20th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards in 11 categories of Production Design for theatrical motion pictures, television, commercials and music videos were announced by Adg Council Chair Marcia Hinds and Awards Producer Thomas Wilkins.
The 20th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards presented by Dxv by American Standard, will take place on Sunday, January 31, 2016 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel with comedian Owen Benjamin serving as host.
The Art Directors Guild (Iatse Local 800) represents 2,300 members who work throughout the United States, Canada and the rest of the world in film, television and theater as Production Designers, Art Directors, Assistant Art Directors; Scenic, Title and Graphic Artists; Illustrators and Matte Artists; Set Designers and Model Makers; and Previs Artists.
The Nominees For Excellence In Production Design For A Feature Film In 2015 Are:
1. Period Film
Bridge Of Spies
Production Designer: Adam Stockhausen...
- 1/6/2016
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
I must emphasize once again that what follows is not a roster of reviews, as I have not had time to read these books, but they all pique my interest. That’s why I’m happy to spread the word about them. William Cameron Menzies: The Shape Of Films To Come by James Curtis (Pantheon) This is the book I am most eager to read cover-to-cover. First, it deals with one of my cinematic heroes, production designer (and occasional director) William Cameron Menzies, the man responsible for the look of such varied films as Douglas Fairbanks’ The Thief of Bagdad, his own Things to Come, and Gone With...
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]...
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]...
- 12/18/2015
- by Leonard Maltin
- Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy
or, Savant picks The Most Impressive Discs of 2015
This is the actual view from Savant Central, looking due North.
What a year! I was able to take one very nice trip back East too see Washington D.C. for the first time, or at least as much as two days' walking in the hot sun and then cool rain would allow. Back home in Los Angeles, we've had a year of extreme drought -- my lawn is looking patriotically ratty -- and we're expecting something called El Niño, that's supposed to be just shy of Old-Testament build-me-an-ark intensity. We withstood heat waves like those in Day the Earth Caught Fire, and now we'll get the storms part. This has been a wild year for DVD Savant, which is still a little unsettled. DVDtalk has been very patient and generous, and so have Stuart Galbraith & Joe Dante; so far everything...
This is the actual view from Savant Central, looking due North.
What a year! I was able to take one very nice trip back East too see Washington D.C. for the first time, or at least as much as two days' walking in the hot sun and then cool rain would allow. Back home in Los Angeles, we've had a year of extreme drought -- my lawn is looking patriotically ratty -- and we're expecting something called El Niño, that's supposed to be just shy of Old-Testament build-me-an-ark intensity. We withstood heat waves like those in Day the Earth Caught Fire, and now we'll get the storms part. This has been a wild year for DVD Savant, which is still a little unsettled. DVDtalk has been very patient and generous, and so have Stuart Galbraith & Joe Dante; so far everything...
- 12/15/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Since any New York cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Museum of the Moving Image
Thanks to “Lonely Places: Film Noir and the American Landscape,” you can see Tomorrow Is Another Day and Frank Borzage‘s Moonrise this Saturday.
Sunset Boulevard, The Godfather, and The Godfather Part II screen this weekend.
Film Forum
Several titles will play in a retrospective celebrating production designer William Cameron Menzies,...
Museum of the Moving Image
Thanks to “Lonely Places: Film Noir and the American Landscape,” you can see Tomorrow Is Another Day and Frank Borzage‘s Moonrise this Saturday.
Sunset Boulevard, The Godfather, and The Godfather Part II screen this weekend.
Film Forum
Several titles will play in a retrospective celebrating production designer William Cameron Menzies,...
- 12/4/2015
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
This time on the podcast, Scott is joined by David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett to discuss William Cameron Menzies’ H.G. Wells’ Things to Come.
About the film:
A landmark collaboration between writer H. G. Wells, producer Alexander Korda, and designer and director William Cameron Menzies, Things to Come is a science fiction film like no other, a prescient political work that predicts a century of turmoil and progress. Skipping through time, Things to Come bears witness to world war, disease, dictatorship, and, finally, utopia. Conceived, written, and overseen by Wells himself as an adaptation of his own work, this megabudget production, the most ambitious ever from Korda’s London Films, is a triumph of imagination and technical audacity.
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS or in iTunes
Buy The Film On Amazon:
Watch the trailer:
Episode Links:
Things to Come (1936) – The Criterion Collection Things to Come: Whither Mankind? – The...
About the film:
A landmark collaboration between writer H. G. Wells, producer Alexander Korda, and designer and director William Cameron Menzies, Things to Come is a science fiction film like no other, a prescient political work that predicts a century of turmoil and progress. Skipping through time, Things to Come bears witness to world war, disease, dictatorship, and, finally, utopia. Conceived, written, and overseen by Wells himself as an adaptation of his own work, this megabudget production, the most ambitious ever from Korda’s London Films, is a triumph of imagination and technical audacity.
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS or in iTunes
Buy The Film On Amazon:
Watch the trailer:
Episode Links:
Things to Come (1936) – The Criterion Collection Things to Come: Whither Mankind? – The...
- 11/26/2015
- by Scott Nye
- CriterionCast
In today's roundup: A book-length roundtable on Buster Keaton, remembering Sight & Sound editor Penelope Houston, Jonathan Rosenbaum's 90s top ten, the "101 Funniest Screenplays" (#1: Woody Allen's Annie Hall), the art of David Lynch, Michael Haneke's Code Unknown, Fellipe Barbosa’s Casa Grande, new books on William Cameron Menzies, Mad Men and Richard Pryor, interviews with Mathieu Amalric, John Sayles, Rick Alverson, Sean Baker, Catherine Hardwicke, Gaspar Noé and Paul Bettany, Judd Apatow and Lena Dunham in conversation, plus news of forthcoming films by Richard Linklater, Xavier Dolan, Ben Wheatley and more. » - David Hudson...
- 11/13/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
In today's roundup: A book-length roundtable on Buster Keaton, remembering Sight & Sound editor Penelope Houston, Jonathan Rosenbaum's 90s top ten, the "101 Funniest Screenplays" (#1: Woody Allen's Annie Hall), the art of David Lynch, Michael Haneke's Code Unknown, Fellipe Barbosa’s Casa Grande, new books on William Cameron Menzies, Mad Men and Richard Pryor, interviews with Mathieu Amalric, John Sayles, Rick Alverson, Sean Baker, Catherine Hardwicke, Gaspar Noé and Paul Bettany, Judd Apatow and Lena Dunham in conversation, plus news of forthcoming films by Richard Linklater, Xavier Dolan, Ben Wheatley and more. » - David Hudson...
- 11/13/2015
- Keyframe
Vivien Leigh ca. late 1940s. Vivien Leigh movies: now controversial 'Gone with the Wind,' little-seen '21 Days Together' on TCM Vivien Leigh is Turner Classic Movies' star today, Aug. 18, '15, as TCM's “Summer Under the Stars” series continues. Mostly a stage actress, Leigh was seen in only 19 films – in about 15 of which as a leading lady or star – in a movie career spanning three decades. Good for the relatively few who saw her on stage; bad for all those who have access to only a few performances of one of the most remarkable acting talents of the 20th century. This evening, TCM is showing three Vivien Leigh movies: Gone with the Wind (1939), 21 Days Together (1940), and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Leigh won Best Actress Academy Awards for the first and the third title. The little-remembered film in-between is a TCM premiere. 'Gone with the Wind' Seemingly all...
- 8/19/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Raymond Massey ca. 1940. Raymond Massey movies: From Lincoln to Boris Karloff Though hardly remembered today, the Toronto-born Raymond Massey was a top supporting player – and sometime lead – in both British and American movies from the early '30s all the way to the early '60s. During that period, Massey was featured in nearly 50 films. Turner Classic Movies generally selects the same old MGM / Rko / Warner Bros. stars for its annual “Summer Under the Stars” series. For that reason, it's great to see someone like Raymond Massey – who was with Warners in the '40s – be the focus of a whole day: Sat., Aug. 8, '15. (See TCM's Raymond Massey movie schedule further below.) Admittedly, despite his prestige – his stage credits included the title role in the short-lived 1931 Broadway production of Hamlet – the quality of Massey's performances varied wildly. Sometimes he could be quite effective; most of the time, however, he was an unabashed scenery chewer,...
- 8/8/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
As anyone who reads this site probably knows, there's something infectious about seeing one's love of film. It's a little hard to explain, but simply watching one talking affectionately about how various strips of celluloid affected them over the years is a fantastic way to get the blood flowing and your fingers itching to type in Netflix in the next browser tab. So if you haven't already, I highly recommend you check out the Criterion Collection's closet visit series. Whether it's Robert Downey Sr. reminiscing about past conversations with Jack Nicholson, Rudy Wurlitzer and Robert Downey Jr. while looking at copies of Two-Lane Blacktop and Easy Rider, Guillermo Del Toro gushing over their various Blu-Rays, Nicolas Winding Refn getting his day made with a copy of William Cameron Menzies' Things to Come or Bill Hader deep admiration of Nobuhiko Obayashi's House, each of these videos are fun little...
- 6/24/2015
- by Will Ashton
- Rope of Silicon
Women presidents at the Academy: Cheryl Boone Isaacs is only the third one (photo: Angelina Jolie, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Brad Pitt) (See previous post: "Honorary Award Non-Winners: Too Late for Gloria Swanson, Rita Hayworth, Marlene Dietrich.") Wrapping up this four-part "Honorary Oscars Bypass Women" article, let it be noted that in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 85-year history there have been only two women presidents: two-time Oscar-winning actress Bette Davis (for two months in 1941, before the Dangerous and Jezebel star was forced to resign) and screenwriter Fay Kanin (1979-1983), whose best-known screen credit is the 1958 Doris Day-Clark Gable comedy Teacher's Pet. Additionally, following some top-level restructuring in April 2011, the Academy created the positions of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer, with the CEO post currently held by a woman, former Film Independent executive director and sometime actress Dawn Hudson. The COO post is held...
- 9/4/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Three new USC School of Cinematic Arts endowed chairs have been established with the contribution of George Lucas through the George Lucas Family Foundation. At a dedication on Thursday evening, professors Bruce A. Block, Michael L. Fink and Alex B. McDowell were installed as the first chair holders -- Block, in the Sergei Einstein endowed chair in cinematic design; Fink, the George Melies endowed chair in visual effects; and McDowell, the William Cameron Menzies endowed chair in production design. Story: President Obama on 'Between Two Ferns': Zach Galifianakis 'Was Pretty Nervous' Chair holder of the Sergei Einstein endowed chair, named after the
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- 3/14/2014
- by Carolyn Giardina
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"This Island Earth" & "It Came From Outer Space" Screenings, New Beverly Cinema, L.A., January 12-13
If you live in the Los Angeles area, the New Beverly Cinema is presenting a sci-fi double feature of This Island Earth (1955) and It Came From Outer Space (1953) on Saturday, January 12, 2014 and Sunday, January 13, 2014. Both films are widely considered to be classic science fiction films of the 1950s and were made during a time in which artists made up beautiful, colorful and spectacular posters first, and then the films were based on the imagery seen in the poster. Sometimes this method worked and sometimes it didn’t.
This Island Earth was directed by Joseph M. Newman, who was fairly prolific during the 1940’s and 1950’s both on the large and small screens, directing episodes of The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents for the latter. Jeff Morrow, Faith Domergue, Rex Reason, Lance Fuller and Russell Johnson star.
Jack Arnold made a career of directing some of the best known science...
This Island Earth was directed by Joseph M. Newman, who was fairly prolific during the 1940’s and 1950’s both on the large and small screens, directing episodes of The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents for the latter. Jeff Morrow, Faith Domergue, Rex Reason, Lance Fuller and Russell Johnson star.
Jack Arnold made a career of directing some of the best known science...
- 1/5/2014
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Gregory Peck movies: Memorable miscasting in David O. Selznick’s Western Gregory Peck is Turner Classic Movies’ "Summer Under the Stars" star today, August 15, 2013. TCM is currently showing Raoul Walsh’s good-looking but not too exciting Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951), with Peck in the title role and Virginia Mayo as his leading lady. (See “Gregory Peck in ‘Duel in the Sun’: TCM movie schedule.”) (Photo: Gregory Peck ca. 1950.) Next in line is Zoltan Korda’s crime melodrama The Macomber Affair (1947), based on a story by Ernest Hemingway about a troubled married couple and their safari guide. This is another good-looking film — black-and-white cinematography by veteran Karl Struss, whose credits ranged from the 1920 Gloria Swanson melo Something to Think About to Charles Chaplin’s The Great Dictator. Unfortunately, the psychology, the romance, and some of the acting found in The Macomber Affair is — at best — superficial. Joan Bennett and Gregory Peck look great,...
- 8/16/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Chicago – 1936’s “Things to Come” was a landmark of science fiction design. While the film itself may bear a few too many marks of its era to truly satisfy modern fans, it is a must-see simply for the stunning fact that it was produced almost 80 years ago. The visuals here are breathtaking, unlike anything else from the period. And it makes perfect sense that such an essential film would be included in the most essential Blu-ray collection in history, Criterion.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Decades after writing “The Time Machine,” the legendary H.G. Wells was still looking to the future, collaborating with producer Alexander Korda and director William Cameron Menzies for one of the most ambitious films of its era. With a story that takes place over the next hundred years, “Things to Come” is stuffed with ideas about society, economics, and warfare. It’s nearly disconcerting to realize that the film was...
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Decades after writing “The Time Machine,” the legendary H.G. Wells was still looking to the future, collaborating with producer Alexander Korda and director William Cameron Menzies for one of the most ambitious films of its era. With a story that takes place over the next hundred years, “Things to Come” is stuffed with ideas about society, economics, and warfare. It’s nearly disconcerting to realize that the film was...
- 7/2/2013
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
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