When "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" first premiered on CBS in October 1955, the episodic half-hour anthology series immediately gained immense popularity. Hosted by Hitchcock himself, every episode opened with the director's silhouette and Charles Gounod's "Funeral March of a Marionette" playing in the background, which became a cultural landmark in itself. As Hitchcock believed that the show's half-hour format did not do justice to the intricate anthology tales of suspense and terror, the episodic duration was subsequently extended when the show was revamped and retitled to "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour," which ran from 1962 to 1965.
Per John McCarty and Brian Kelleher's "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: An Illustrated Guide to the Ten-year Television Career of the Master of Suspense," NBC (where the show ended up airing alternatively), after witnessing the success of Hitchcock's show, started planning a brand new mystery/suspense anthology that was set to run from 1957 through 1958. This unofficial spin-off was titled "Suspicion,...
Per John McCarty and Brian Kelleher's "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: An Illustrated Guide to the Ten-year Television Career of the Master of Suspense," NBC (where the show ended up airing alternatively), after witnessing the success of Hitchcock's show, started planning a brand new mystery/suspense anthology that was set to run from 1957 through 1958. This unofficial spin-off was titled "Suspicion,...
- 2/11/2024
- by Debopriyaa Dutta
- Slash Film
Powerhouse Indicator’s first foray into the Universal library yields six noir thrillers, all crime-related and all different: the list introduces us to scheming businessmen, venal confidence crooks, black-market racketeers, a femme fatale, a gangster deportee and baby stealers. The B&w features are enriched with some of the best actors of the postwar years, and the titles themselves are a litany of vice and sin: The Web, Larceny, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, Abandoned, Deported and Naked Alibi.
Universal Noir #1
Region B Blu-ray
The Web, Larceny, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, Abandoned, Deported, Naked Alibi
Powerhouse Indicator
1948-1954 / B&w / Street Date November 14, 2022 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £49.99
Starring: Ella Raines, Edmond O’Brien, Vincent Price, William Bendix; John Payne, Joan Caulfield, Dan Duryea, Shelly Winters, Dorothy Hart; Joan Fontaine, Burt Lancaster, Robert Newton; Dennis O’Keefe, Gale Storm, Jeff Chandler, Raymond Burr; Marta Toren, Jeff Chandler, Marina Berti, Richard Rober; Sterling Hayden,...
Universal Noir #1
Region B Blu-ray
The Web, Larceny, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, Abandoned, Deported, Naked Alibi
Powerhouse Indicator
1948-1954 / B&w / Street Date November 14, 2022 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £49.99
Starring: Ella Raines, Edmond O’Brien, Vincent Price, William Bendix; John Payne, Joan Caulfield, Dan Duryea, Shelly Winters, Dorothy Hart; Joan Fontaine, Burt Lancaster, Robert Newton; Dennis O’Keefe, Gale Storm, Jeff Chandler, Raymond Burr; Marta Toren, Jeff Chandler, Marina Berti, Richard Rober; Sterling Hayden,...
- 11/5/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Yet another 3-D Blu-ray treat — the 3-D Film Archive restores a rare English production, an international crime tale in 3-D. Dennis O’Keefe’s T-Man helps Scotland Yard track down a gang of smugglers that kidnaps and murders to force an Atom scientist to perfect his manufacturing formula for synthetic diamonds. You know, just like the silicon chip business. The widescreen 3-D is excellent, especially in two action set pieces. Margaret Sheridan co-stars. It’s almost a premiere, as the movie was never publicly exhibited in 3-D. Kino also provides an anaglyphic encoding with a pair of red-cyan glasses as an alternate 3-D option. Plus good extras about the 3-D process.
The Diamond Wizard 3-D
3-D Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1954 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 83 min. / Street Date November 15, 2022 / Available at Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Dennis O’Keefe, Margaret Sheridan, Philip Friend, Alan Wheatley, Francis De Wolff, Eric Berry, Gudrun Ure, Paul Hardtmuth,...
The Diamond Wizard 3-D
3-D Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1954 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 83 min. / Street Date November 15, 2022 / Available at Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Dennis O’Keefe, Margaret Sheridan, Philip Friend, Alan Wheatley, Francis De Wolff, Eric Berry, Gudrun Ure, Paul Hardtmuth,...
- 11/1/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Saucy pre-Code entertainment frequently served up risqué dialogue, with edgy content like promiscuity and drug use. Mitchell Leisen’s 1934 murder mystery goes straight for a supposed family-industry no-no: Broadway-revue near-nudity featuring Earl Carroll’s ‘Most Beautiful Girls In The World’. Victor McLaglen is an inept detective and Jack Oakie a wise-cracking impresario. Gertrude Michael and Kitty Carlisle carry the musical numbers, the most famous being an ode to the still-legal Sweet Marijuana. Showgirls like Lucille Ball possess the daring to don the skimpy costumes, even if they hadn’t yet learned what Marijuana was. Duke Ellington and his orchestra sit in for Ebony Rhapsody, a mixed-race musical number with room for ‘guest dancers from Harlem.’
Murder at the Vanities
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1934 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 89 min. / Street Date October 11, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Carl Brisson, Victor McLaglen, Jack Oakie, Kitty Carlisle, Dorothy Stickney, Gertrude Michael, Jessie Ralph,...
Murder at the Vanities
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1934 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 89 min. / Street Date October 11, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Carl Brisson, Victor McLaglen, Jack Oakie, Kitty Carlisle, Dorothy Stickney, Gertrude Michael, Jessie Ralph,...
- 10/1/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Click here to read the full article.
Marsha Hunt, the bright-eyed starlet who stood out in such films as These Glamour Girls, Pride and Prejudice and Raw Deal before her career came unraveled by the communist witch hunt that hit Hollywood, has died. She was 104.
She died Wednesday of natural causes at her Sherman Oaks home, where she had lived since 1946, Roger C. Memos — writer-director of the documentary Marsha Hunt’s Sweet Adversity — told The Hollywood Reporter.
Hunt also appeared opposite Mickey Rooney in the best picture Oscar nominee The Human Comedy (1943) during a period in which she was known as “Hollywood’s Youngest Character Actress.”
A former model who signed with Paramount Pictures at age 17, the Chicago native made her first big splash as a suicidal co-ed opposite Lana Turner in MGM’s These Glamour Girls (1939).
Playing Walter Brennan’s sweetheart in Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the...
Marsha Hunt, the bright-eyed starlet who stood out in such films as These Glamour Girls, Pride and Prejudice and Raw Deal before her career came unraveled by the communist witch hunt that hit Hollywood, has died. She was 104.
She died Wednesday of natural causes at her Sherman Oaks home, where she had lived since 1946, Roger C. Memos — writer-director of the documentary Marsha Hunt’s Sweet Adversity — told The Hollywood Reporter.
Hunt also appeared opposite Mickey Rooney in the best picture Oscar nominee The Human Comedy (1943) during a period in which she was known as “Hollywood’s Youngest Character Actress.”
A former model who signed with Paramount Pictures at age 17, the Chicago native made her first big splash as a suicidal co-ed opposite Lana Turner in MGM’s These Glamour Girls (1939).
Playing Walter Brennan’s sweetheart in Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the...
- 9/10/2022
- by Maureen Lee Lenker
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Powerhouse Indicator moves forward to their fourth fancy box of noirs from the studio of Harry Cohn, six pictures stretching from the postwar boom to the end of the original classic noir era. This time around we have some notable directors, and a nice selection of stars — Dennis O’Keefe, George Murphy, Fred MacMurray, Kim Novak, Jean Simmons, Rory Calhoun and Richard Conte. Kim Novak makes her starring debut as a femme fatale; noir icon Richard Conte shines in a movie that marks a turn into a new kind of existential, paranoid thriller. And speaking of paranoid, we again get to lighten up with another selection of theme-appropriate Three Stooges shorts.
Columbia Noir #4
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1948-1957 / B&w + Color / 1:85 widescreen, 1:37 Academy / Street Date September 27, 2021 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / 49.99
Starring: Louis Hayward, Dennis O’Keefe; George Murphy; Fred MacMurray, Kim Novak; Jean Simmons, Rory Calhoun; Dennis O’Keefe,...
Columbia Noir #4
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1948-1957 / B&w + Color / 1:85 widescreen, 1:37 Academy / Street Date September 27, 2021 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / 49.99
Starring: Louis Hayward, Dennis O’Keefe; George Murphy; Fred MacMurray, Kim Novak; Jean Simmons, Rory Calhoun; Dennis O’Keefe,...
- 9/14/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
‘Unabashed, unfettered romanticism’ runs wild in Frank Borzage’s golden-age masterpiece of a runaway wife and the crazy Frenchman who pursues her. Long lost to awful, ragged 16mm prints, the newly restored gem will dazzle fans of delirious love stories, where the right people get together despite distance, time, and the interference of jealous husbands, misunderstandings, accusations of murder and natural disasters. All the above figure in this mini-epic, yet the movie never seems like a genre mash-up. Jean Arthur skips the squeaky line deliveries, Charles Boyer drops the gloom act, Colin Clive is more frightening than in his horror movies and Leo Carillo steals the show with one of the most endearing characters of the 1930s.
History is Made at Night
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1072
1937 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 97 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date April 13, 2021 / 39.95
Starring: Charles Boyer, Jean Arthur, Leo Carrillo, Colin Clive, Ivan Lebedeff,...
History is Made at Night
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1072
1937 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 97 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date April 13, 2021 / 39.95
Starring: Charles Boyer, Jean Arthur, Leo Carrillo, Colin Clive, Ivan Lebedeff,...
- 5/18/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Today’s noir forecast is vice, kidnapping, murder, suicide, narcotics and a sleazy stolen baby racket! Kino’s third volume of Universal-International pix contains two seldom-screened quality urban noirs. Expect genuine dark themes in these sizable-budget location noirs filmed before Universal pulled most production back onto its one-size-fits-all backlot sets. Barbara Stanwyck dominates one show, while noir stalwarts Richard Conte and Dennis O’Keefe anchor the other two dramas, with dynamic showings by Coleen Gray, Edith Barrett, Peggy Dow, Jeanette Nolan, Meg Randall and especially Gale Storm.
Film Noir the Dark Side of Cinema III
Abandoned, The Lady Gambles, The Sleeping City
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1949-50 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 79,99,86 min. / Street Date June 9, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 34.99
Starring: Dennis O’Keefe, Gale Storm, Jeff Chandler, Meg Randall, Raymond Burr, Marjorie Rambeau, Jeanette Nolan, Mike Mazurki, Will Kuluva, David Clarke; Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Preston, Stephen McNally, Edith Barrett, John Hoyt,...
Film Noir the Dark Side of Cinema III
Abandoned, The Lady Gambles, The Sleeping City
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1949-50 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 79,99,86 min. / Street Date June 9, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 34.99
Starring: Dennis O’Keefe, Gale Storm, Jeff Chandler, Meg Randall, Raymond Burr, Marjorie Rambeau, Jeanette Nolan, Mike Mazurki, Will Kuluva, David Clarke; Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Preston, Stephen McNally, Edith Barrett, John Hoyt,...
- 6/13/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Noir Nirvana isn’t found amid literary swells and hoity-toity art connoisseurs — but in the trenches of humble Eagle-Lion Films, where Richard Fleischer, Lloyd Bridges and a hotter-than-hot Barbara Payton steamed up the streets of Los Angeles circa 1949. The Film Noir Foundation experts give us an expertly curated slice of hardboiled crime — Eddie Muller dubs it ‘To Live and Die in L.A.,’ but in the year that the Reds took over mainland China, and the Ussr exploded its first Atom bomb.
Trapped
Blu-ray + DVD
Flicker Alley
1949 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 78 min. / Street Date December 17, 2019 / 39.98
Starring: Lloyd Bridges, Barbara Payton, John Hoyt, James Todd, Russ Conway, Robert Karnes, Stephen Chase, Tommy Noonan, Douglas Spencer.
Cinematography: Guy Roe
Film Editor: Alfred DeGaetano
Original Music: Sol Kaplan
Written by Earl Felton, George Zuckerman
Produced by Bryan Foy
Directed by Richard Fleischer
The Film Noir Foundation has done it again — the non-profit has...
Trapped
Blu-ray + DVD
Flicker Alley
1949 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 78 min. / Street Date December 17, 2019 / 39.98
Starring: Lloyd Bridges, Barbara Payton, John Hoyt, James Todd, Russ Conway, Robert Karnes, Stephen Chase, Tommy Noonan, Douglas Spencer.
Cinematography: Guy Roe
Film Editor: Alfred DeGaetano
Original Music: Sol Kaplan
Written by Earl Felton, George Zuckerman
Produced by Bryan Foy
Directed by Richard Fleischer
The Film Noir Foundation has done it again — the non-profit has...
- 12/17/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
James O'Keefe, the veteran sitcom producer and frequent Garry Marshall and Miller-Boyett collaborator who worked on Mork & Mindy, Perfect Strangers, Full House and Family Matters, has died. He was 76.
O'Keefe died Oct. 31 of heart disease at his home in Bel Air, his wife, former Sony Pictures Studios executive Jan Kelly, announced.
His father was Dennis O'Keefe, an actor in such movies as The Leopard Man (1943), Brewster's Millions (1945), Walk a Crooked Mile (1948) and Follow the Sun (1951), and his mother was Steffi Duna, an actress and dancer who appeared in ...
O'Keefe died Oct. 31 of heart disease at his home in Bel Air, his wife, former Sony Pictures Studios executive Jan Kelly, announced.
His father was Dennis O'Keefe, an actor in such movies as The Leopard Man (1943), Brewster's Millions (1945), Walk a Crooked Mile (1948) and Follow the Sun (1951), and his mother was Steffi Duna, an actress and dancer who appeared in ...
- 11/20/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
By Tim Greaves
(The following reviews pertain to the UK Region 2 releases)
When I'm in the right mood I adore bit of film noir. I admire the diversity of its storytelling, I love every facet, from the hardboiled private eyes, duplicitous dames and characters that seldom turn out to be what they first appear, to the alleyways bathed in inky shadows, ramshackle apartments and half-lit street corners they inhabit. How can you not get drawn in by the sheer delight of Edward G Robinson playing a second rate psychic trying to convince the authorities he can see the future in The Night Has a Thousand Eyes? Or amnesiac John Hodiak on a mission to discover his own identity, in the process getting embroiled in a 3-year-old murder case and the search for a missing $2 million in Somewhere in the Night? Yes, indeed, there's nothing quite like a hearty serving of...
(The following reviews pertain to the UK Region 2 releases)
When I'm in the right mood I adore bit of film noir. I admire the diversity of its storytelling, I love every facet, from the hardboiled private eyes, duplicitous dames and characters that seldom turn out to be what they first appear, to the alleyways bathed in inky shadows, ramshackle apartments and half-lit street corners they inhabit. How can you not get drawn in by the sheer delight of Edward G Robinson playing a second rate psychic trying to convince the authorities he can see the future in The Night Has a Thousand Eyes? Or amnesiac John Hodiak on a mission to discover his own identity, in the process getting embroiled in a 3-year-old murder case and the search for a missing $2 million in Somewhere in the Night? Yes, indeed, there's nothing quite like a hearty serving of...
- 7/10/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
What in the world -- an A + top-rank film noir gem hiding under the radar, and rescued (most literally) by the Film Noir Foundation. Ann Sheridan and Dennis O'Keefe trade dialogue as good as any in a film from 1950 -- it's a thriller with a cynical worldview yet a sentimental personal outlook. Woman on the Run Blu-ray + DVD Flicker Alley / FIlm Noir Foundation 1950 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 79 min. / Street Date May 17, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Ann Sheridan, Dennis O'Keefe, Robert Keith, John Qualen, Frank Jenks, Ross Elliott, Jane Liddell, Joan Fulton, J. Farrell MacDonald, Steven Geray, Victor Sen Yung, Reiko Sato. Cinematography Hal Mohr Art Direction Boris Leven Film Editor Otto Ludwig Original Music Arthur Lange, Emil Newman Written by Alan Campbell, Norman Foster, Sylvia Tate Produced by Howard Welsch, Ann Sheridan Directed by Norman Foster
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Amazing! Just when one thinks one won't see another top-rank film noir, the...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Amazing! Just when one thinks one won't see another top-rank film noir, the...
- 5/24/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Coleen Gray in 'The Sleeping City' with Richard Conte. Coleen Gray after Fox: B Westerns and films noirs (See previous post: “Coleen Gray Actress: From Red River to Film Noir 'Good Girls'.”) Regarding the demise of her Fox career (the year after her divorce from Rod Amateau), Coleen Gray would recall for Confessions of a Scream Queen author Matt Beckoff: I thought that was the end of the world and that I was a total failure. I was a mass of insecurity and depended on agents. … Whether it was an 'A' picture or a 'B' picture didn't bother me. It could be a Western movie, a sci-fi film. A job was a job. You did the best with the script that you had. Fox had dropped Gray at a time of dramatic upheavals in the American film industry: fast-dwindling box office receipts as a result of competition from television,...
- 10/15/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Billy Wilder directed Sunset Blvd. with Gloria Swanson and William Holden. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett movies Below is a list of movies on which Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder worked together as screenwriters, including efforts for which they did not receive screen credit. The Wilder-Brackett screenwriting partnership lasted from 1938 to 1949. During that time, they shared two Academy Awards for their work on The Lost Weekend (1945) and, with D.M. Marshman Jr., Sunset Blvd. (1950). More detailed information further below. Post-split years Billy Wilder would later join forces with screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond in movies such as the classic comedy Some Like It Hot (1959), the Best Picture Oscar winner The Apartment (1960), and One Two Three (1961), notable as James Cagney's last film (until a brief comeback in Milos Forman's Ragtime two decades later). Although some of these movies were quite well received, Wilder's later efforts – which also included The Seven Year Itch...
- 9/16/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Gary Cooper movies on TCM: Cooper at his best and at his weakest Gary Cooper is Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” star today, Aug. 30, '15. Unfortunately, TCM isn't showing any Cooper movie premiere – despite the fact that most of his Paramount movies of the '20s and '30s remain unavailable. This evening's features are Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Sergeant York (1941), and Love in the Afternoon (1957). Mr. Deeds Goes to Town solidified Gary Cooper's stardom and helped to make Jean Arthur Columbia's top female star. The film is a tad overlong and, like every Frank Capra movie, it's also highly sentimental. What saves it from the Hell of Good Intentions is the acting of the two leads – Cooper and Arthur are both excellent – and of several supporting players. Directed by Howard Hawks, the jingoistic, pro-war Sergeant York was a huge box office hit, eventually earning Academy Award nominations in several categories,...
- 8/30/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Virginia Bruce: MGM actress ca. 1935. Virginia Bruce movies on TCM: Actress was the cherry on 'The Great Ziegfeld' wedding cake Unfortunately, Turner Classic Movies has chosen not to feature any non-Hollywood stars – or any out-and-out silent film stars – in its 2015 “Summer Under the Stars” series.* On the other hand, TCM has come up with several unusual inclusions, e.g., Lee J. Cobb, Warren Oates, Mae Clarke, and today, Aug. 25, Virginia Bruce. A second-rank MGM leading lady in the 1930s, the Minneapolis-born Virginia Bruce is little remembered today despite her more than 70 feature films in a career that spanned two decades, from the dawn of the talkie era to the dawn of the TV era, in addition to a handful of comebacks going all the way to 1981 – the dawn of the personal computer era. Career highlights were few and not all that bright. Examples range from playing the...
- 8/26/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Groucho Marx in 'Duck Soup.' Groucho Marx movies: 'Duck Soup,' 'The Story of Mankind' and romancing Margaret Dumont on TCM Grouch Marx, the bespectacled, (painted) mustached, cigar-chomping Marx brother, is Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” star today, Aug. 14, '15. Marx Brothers fans will be delighted, as TCM is presenting no less than 11 of their comedies, in addition to a brotherly reunion in the 1957 all-star fantasy The Story of Mankind. Non-Marx Brothers fans should be delighted as well – as long as they're fans of Kay Francis, Thelma Todd, Ann Miller, Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, Allan Jones, affectionate, long-tongued giraffes, and/or that great, scene-stealing dowager, Margaret Dumont. Right now, TCM is showing Robert Florey and Joseph Santley's The Cocoanuts (1929), an early talkie notable as the first movie featuring the four Marx Brothers – Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo. Based on their hit Broadway...
- 8/14/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Coleen Gray ca. 1950. Coleen Gray dead at 92: Leading lady in early Stanley Kubrick film noir classic Actress Coleen Gray, best known for Stanley Kubrick's crime drama The Killing, has died. Her death was announced by Classic Images contributor Laura Wagner on Facebook's “Film Noir” group. Wagner's source was David Schecter, who had been friends with the actress for quite some time. Via private message, he has confirmed Gray's death of natural causes earlier today, Aug. 3, '15, at her home in Bel Air, on the Los Angeles Westside. Gray (born on Oct. 23, 1922, in Staplehurst, Nebraska) was 92. Coleen Gray movies As found on the IMDb, Coleen Gray made her film debut as an extra in the 20th Century Fox musical State Fair (1945), starring Jeanne Crain and Dana Andrews. Her association with film noir began in 1947, with the release of Henry Hathaway's Kiss of Death (1947), notable for showing Richard Widmark...
- 8/4/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Back in 2009, it was reported that Warner Bros was moving forward with another version of "Brewster's Millions," which is based on a 1902 novel. And now comes word that the project is happening again. Variety is reporting that Robert Townsend (The Five Heartbeats, The Meteor Man, Baps) has signed on to direct. The book has been adapted for the big twice already, first in 1945 with Dennis O'Keefe starring and then in 1985 with Richard Pryor and John Candy. The story centers on a man who inherits $1 million from a rich grandfather. When a rich uncle who hated the grandfather also passes away, the will leaves the young man $7 million -- but under the condition he spends the grandfather's million within a year and not end up with any assets from the spending spree.
- 2/28/2015
- WorstPreviews.com
Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine' 1938: Jean Renoir's film noir (photo: Jean Gabin and Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine') (See previous post: "'Cat People' 1942 Actress Simone Simon Remembered.") In the late 1930s, with her Hollywood career stalled while facing competition at 20th Century-Fox from another French import, Annabella (later Tyrone Power's wife), Simone Simon returned to France. Once there, she reestablished herself as an actress to be reckoned with in Jean Renoir's La Bête Humaine. An updated version of Émile Zola's 1890 novel, La Bête Humaine is enveloped in a dark, brooding atmosphere not uncommon in pre-World War II French films. Known for their "poetic realism," examples from that era include Renoir's own The Lower Depths (1936), Julien Duvivier's La Belle Équipe (1936) and Pépé le Moko (1937), and particularly Marcel Carné's Port of Shadows (1938) and Daybreak (1939).[11] This thematic and...
- 2/6/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
'Cat People' 1942 actress Simone Simon Remembered: Starred in Jacques Tourneur's cult horror movie classic (photo: Simone Simon in 'Cat People') Pert, pouty, pretty Simone Simon is best remembered for her starring roles in Jacques Tourneur's cult horror movie Cat People (1942) and in Jean Renoir's French film noir La Bête Humaine (1938). Long before Brigitte Bardot, Mamie Van Doren, Ann-Margret, and (for a few years) Jane Fonda became known as cinema's Sex Kittens, Simone Simon exuded feline charm in a film career that spanned a quarter of a century. From the early '30s to the mid-'50s, she seduced men young and old on both sides of the Atlantic – at times, with fatal results. During that period, Simon was featured in nearly 40 movies in France, Italy, Germany, Britain, and Hollywood. Besides Jean Renoir, in her native country she worked for the likes of Jacqueline Audry...
- 2/6/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Jean Arthur films on TCM include three Frank Capra classics Five Jean Arthur films will be shown this evening, Monday, January 5, 2015, on Turner Classic Movies, including three directed by Frank Capra, the man who helped to turn Arthur into a major Hollywood star. They are the following: Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, You Can't Take It with You, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; George Stevens' The More the Merrier; and Frank Borzage's History Is Made at Night. One the most effective performers of the studio era, Jean Arthur -- whose film career began inauspiciously in 1923 -- was Columbia Pictures' biggest female star from the mid-'30s to the mid-'40s, when Rita Hayworth came to prominence and, coincidentally, Arthur's Columbia contract expired. Today, she's best known for her trio of films directed by Frank Capra, Columbia's top director of the 1930s. Jean Arthur-Frank Capra...
- 1/6/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Martha Stewart: Actress / Singer in Fox movies apparently not dead despite two-year-old reports to the contrary (Photo: Martha Stewart and Perry Como in 'Doll Face') According to various online reports, including Variety's, actress and singer Martha Stewart, a pretty blonde featured in supporting roles in a handful of 20th Century Fox movies of the '40s, died at age 89 of "natural causes" in Northeast Harbor, Maine, on February 25, 2012. Needless to say, that was not the same Martha Stewart hawking "delicious foods" and whatever else on American television. But quite possibly, the Martha Stewart who died in February 2012 -- if any -- was not the Martha Stewart of old Fox movies either. And that's why I'm republishing this (former) obit, originally posted more than two and a half years ago: March 11, 2012. Earlier today, a commenter wrote to Alt Film Guide, claiming that the Martha Stewart featured in Doll Face, I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now,...
- 11/11/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Feature Alex Westthorp 4 Feb 2014 - 07:00
From washer women to harlequins via milkmen, Alex looks back over the Doctor's penchant for disguise over the decades...
So, we've finally had our first glimpse of Peter Capaldi in his new Doctor Who costume. My personal opinion for the record: It's functional yet stylish and could be the basis of something more elaborate over time. Importantly though, it is a bold statement of exactly who this new Doctor is. Identity is important to the Doctor, whether developing his own or assuming that of another to defeat his opponents in his continuing quest to bring his own brand of humanity to the universe.
With that in mind, let's revisit our favourite Time Lord's ability to disguise himself in order to outwit his opponents. I should state at the outset this isn't a definitive list of every disguise the character has worn. Every Doctor has...
From washer women to harlequins via milkmen, Alex looks back over the Doctor's penchant for disguise over the decades...
So, we've finally had our first glimpse of Peter Capaldi in his new Doctor Who costume. My personal opinion for the record: It's functional yet stylish and could be the basis of something more elaborate over time. Importantly though, it is a bold statement of exactly who this new Doctor is. Identity is important to the Doctor, whether developing his own or assuming that of another to defeat his opponents in his continuing quest to bring his own brand of humanity to the universe.
With that in mind, let's revisit our favourite Time Lord's ability to disguise himself in order to outwit his opponents. I should state at the outset this isn't a definitive list of every disguise the character has worn. Every Doctor has...
- 2/3/2014
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Margaret Field, best remembered for the 1951 sci-fier The Man From Planet X, died at her Malibu home on Sunday, Nov. 6, the day her daughter Sally Field turned 65. Margaret Field, who had been diagnosed with cancer six years ago, was 89. Directed by cult B-movie director Edgar G. Ulmer, The Man From Planet X turned out to be the highlight of Field's film career. The story revolves around a mysterious journalist (Robert Clarke) who may or may not be an alien with ties to a spaceship that has landed near an observatory on a remote Scottish island. Most of Field's previous movie appearances had been uncredited bit parts, chiefly in Paramount productions such as The Perils of Pauline, Night Has a Thousand Eyes, and Samson and Delilah. Her parts got bigger following The Man from Planet X, but they remained subpar roles in mostly B movies. Among those were Philip Ford's...
- 11/8/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Jane Greer, Out of the Past Today is neither Jane Greer's birth nor death anniversary. Even so, Turner Classic Movies is devoting Saturday evening/night to the dangerously seductive star of a number of (mostly) Rko productions of the late '40s and early '50s. And who's complaining? Unfortunately, Out of the Past, perhaps Greer's best-known film and performance, is already in the past. It was shown earlier this evening. Right now, TCM is showing Don Siegel's Mexico-set crime drama The Big Steal, featuring Greer, her Out of the Past co-star Robert Mitchum, William Bendix, Patrick Knowles, and silent-film veterans Ramon Novarro and Don Alvarado. Next comes my favorite Jane Greer performance, as the good girl gone bad — or bad girl attempting to go good — in John Cromwell's The Company She Keeps. This all-but-forgotten little melodramatic gem is a must for another reason as well: Lizabeth Scott,...
- 6/26/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Warner Bros. is developing an adaptation of the George Barr McCutcheon novel Brewster's Millions, signing on writers Michael Diliberti and Matthew Sullivan to pen the screenplay. The story centers on a man who inherits $1 million from a rich grandfather. When a rich uncle who hated the grandfather also passes away, the will leaves the young man $7 million -- but under the condition he spends the grandfather's million within a year and not end up with any assets from the spending spree. The 1902 novel, which became a play in 1906, has proved to be a popular film subject, with this project being the eighth incarnation. Popular versions include the 1945 film starring Dennis O'Keefe, directed by Allan Dwan, and the 1985 comedy starring Richard Pryor and John Candy and directed by Walter Hill. Diliberti and Sullivan got the gig coming off the buzz generated by their spec Comic Con. That buddy comedy revolves around...
- 8/17/2009
- by James Cook
- TheMovingPicture.net
The life of "Brewster's Millions" keeps going on and on and on...
Beginning as a 1902 novel, then a play in 1906, the project has seen many film incarnations, including the popular 1945 movie starring Dennis O'Keefe, and the 1985 version starring Richard Pryor and John Candy.
Now, Warner Bros. has set Michael Diliberti and Matthew Sullivan to write the script for yet another film version of "Brewster's Millions."
The film tells the tale of a man who inherits $1 million from a rich grandfather. But when a rich uncle who hates the grandfather also dies, the man gets $7 million more but...he must spend the grandfather's million within a year! Ah...fairytale in this dire economy of ours.
Beginning as a 1902 novel, then a play in 1906, the project has seen many film incarnations, including the popular 1945 movie starring Dennis O'Keefe, and the 1985 version starring Richard Pryor and John Candy.
Now, Warner Bros. has set Michael Diliberti and Matthew Sullivan to write the script for yet another film version of "Brewster's Millions."
The film tells the tale of a man who inherits $1 million from a rich grandfather. But when a rich uncle who hates the grandfather also dies, the man gets $7 million more but...he must spend the grandfather's million within a year! Ah...fairytale in this dire economy of ours.
- 8/17/2009
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
Warner Bros has signed up two writers for a new take on George Barr McCutcheon's 1902 novel Brewster's Millions. The movie will be the eighth big screen outing for the book, with a 1945 version starring Dennis O'Keefe and 1985's Richard Pryor and John Candy comedy proving the most popular. McCutcheon's story follows a man who is given $$1 million from a rich grandfather and $$7 million from a rich uncle. (more)...
- 8/17/2009
- by By Alex Fletcher
- Digital Spy
Michael Diliberti and Matthew Sullivan have been tapped to pen "Brewster's Millions," the latest take on the George Barr McCutcheon novel set up at Warner Bros. The 1902 novel, which became a play in 1906, has proved to be a popular film subject, with this project being the eighth incarnation. Popular versions include the 1945 film starring Dennis O'Keefe, and the 1985 comedy starring Richard Pryor and John Candy. The story centers on a man who inherits $1 million from a rich grandfather. When a rich uncle who hated the grandfather also passes away, the will leaves the young man $7 million -- but under the condition he spends the grandfather's million within a year and not end up with any assets from the spending spree.
- 8/17/2009
- WorstPreviews.com
Michael Diliberti and Matthew Sullivan have been hired to write Brewster's Millions , the latest take on the George Barr McCutcheon novel set up at Warner Bros. The 1902 novel, which became a play in 1906, was adapted into a 1945 film starring Dennis O'Keefe, directed by Allan Dwan, and into the 1985 comedy starring Richard Pryor and John Candy and directed by Walter Hill. The story centers on a man who inherits $1 million from a rich grandfather. When a rich uncle who hated the grandfather also passes away, the will leaves the young man $7 million -- but under the condition he spends the grandfather's million within a year and not end up with any assets from the spending spree.
- 8/17/2009
- Comingsoon.net
Michael Diliberti and Matthew Sullivan have been tapped to pen "Brewster's Millions," the latest take on the George Barr McCutcheon novel set up at Warner Bros.
The 1902 novel, which became a play in 1906, has proved to be a popular film subject, with this project being the eighth incarnation. Popular versions include the 1945 film starring Dennis O'Keefe, directed by Allan Dwan, and the 1985 comedy starring Richard Pryor and John Candy and directed by Walter Hill.
The story centers on a man who inherits $1 million from a rich grandfather. When a rich uncle who hated the grandfather also passes away, the will leaves the young man $7 million -- but under the condition he spends the grandfather's million within a year and not end up with any assets from the spending spree.
Diliberti and Sullivan got the gig coming off the buzz generated by their spec "Comic Con." That buddy comedy revolves around...
The 1902 novel, which became a play in 1906, has proved to be a popular film subject, with this project being the eighth incarnation. Popular versions include the 1945 film starring Dennis O'Keefe, directed by Allan Dwan, and the 1985 comedy starring Richard Pryor and John Candy and directed by Walter Hill.
The story centers on a man who inherits $1 million from a rich grandfather. When a rich uncle who hated the grandfather also passes away, the will leaves the young man $7 million -- but under the condition he spends the grandfather's million within a year and not end up with any assets from the spending spree.
Diliberti and Sullivan got the gig coming off the buzz generated by their spec "Comic Con." That buddy comedy revolves around...
- 8/16/2009
- by By Borys Kit
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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