Peter Berkos, the Universal Pictures sound effects maestro and champion of sound editors everywhere who shared a special achievement Oscar for his work on the Robert Wise-directed disaster epic The Hindenburg, has died. He was 101.
Berkos died Tuesday in Rancho Bernardo, California, his friend Brae Wyckoff told The Hollywood Reporter.
While president of the Motion Picture Sound Editors from 1963-66, Berkos began a successful campaign for his colleagues to gain full membership into the film and television academies and to receive credit onscreen and off for their work.
Berkos himself was uncredited for the first 20 years of his career until Car Wash (1976), and the Oscars would eventually revive its dormant competitive sound effects category from 1983 onward.
Across four decades, he worked for Universal on such films as Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil (1958), four features directed by George Roy Hill — Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), the Oscar best picture winner The Sting...
Berkos died Tuesday in Rancho Bernardo, California, his friend Brae Wyckoff told The Hollywood Reporter.
While president of the Motion Picture Sound Editors from 1963-66, Berkos began a successful campaign for his colleagues to gain full membership into the film and television academies and to receive credit onscreen and off for their work.
Berkos himself was uncredited for the first 20 years of his career until Car Wash (1976), and the Oscars would eventually revive its dormant competitive sound effects category from 1983 onward.
Across four decades, he worked for Universal on such films as Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil (1958), four features directed by George Roy Hill — Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), the Oscar best picture winner The Sting...
- 1/3/2024
- by Rhett Bartlett
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Every school has that certain teacher who is a bully, heartless and at times sadistic. Everyone must take their class, but no one finishes the course unscathed. Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) of Alexander Payne’s acclaimed comedy-drama “The Holdovers” is one such instructor. Set in 1970, “The Holdovers” revolves around the by-the-books classics professor teaching at the same New England boarding school he had attended. Hunham is hated by his students, as well as his fellow teachers. And he’s also in hot water, after he failed one of the school’s largest donor’s son in his class. During the Christmas break, he is forced to supervise the “holdovers — -the students who for various reasons must stay on campus. He ends up sharing the holidays with one troubled student (Dominic Sessa) whose mother recently remarried; and the cafeteria administrator (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) grieving her only son’s death in the Vietnam War.
- 12/15/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Museum of the Moving Image
Reverse Shot celebrates its 20th anniversary with a months-long programming run, continuing this weekend with The Tree of Life, Everyone Else, and 35 Shots on Rum on 35mm, while A Hidden Life also screens; James and the Giant Peach plays in a Roald Dahl series with Matilda; a print of Bringing Up Baby shows on 35mm this Friday and Sunday.
Film Forum
“50 from the ’50s” continues with films by Welles, Kazan, Kubrick, and many more, while “Hitchcock’s ’50s” runs through arguably the director’s greatest decade.
Bam
“Cinema, Surrealism, Marxism” offers films from Buñuel, Glauber Rocha, Chris Marker, and more.
Anthology Film Archives
Yugoslav Black Wave icon Želimir Žilnik is subject of a new retrospective.
IFC Center
An extensive William Friedkin series continues, while The Holy Mountain, Gamer, and Exorcist III play late; Oldboy screens in a new restoration.
Museum of the Moving Image
Reverse Shot celebrates its 20th anniversary with a months-long programming run, continuing this weekend with The Tree of Life, Everyone Else, and 35 Shots on Rum on 35mm, while A Hidden Life also screens; James and the Giant Peach plays in a Roald Dahl series with Matilda; a print of Bringing Up Baby shows on 35mm this Friday and Sunday.
Film Forum
“50 from the ’50s” continues with films by Welles, Kazan, Kubrick, and many more, while “Hitchcock’s ’50s” runs through arguably the director’s greatest decade.
Bam
“Cinema, Surrealism, Marxism” offers films from Buñuel, Glauber Rocha, Chris Marker, and more.
Anthology Film Archives
Yugoslav Black Wave icon Želimir Žilnik is subject of a new retrospective.
IFC Center
An extensive William Friedkin series continues, while The Holy Mountain, Gamer, and Exorcist III play late; Oldboy screens in a new restoration.
- 11/9/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Priscilla is a biographical drama film produced, written, and directed by Sofia Coppola. Based on the 1985 memoir titled Elvis and Me by Priscilla Presley and Sandra Harmon, the romantic drama film revolves around the life of Priscilla Presley and her relationship with Elvis Presley. Priscilla stars Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi in the lead roles with Ari Cohen, Dagmara Dominczyk, and Tim Post in supporting roles. So, if you loved Priscilla, here are some similar movies you could watch next.
Walk the Line (Max & Prime Video Add-On) Credit – 20th Century Studios
Synopsis: Singer. Rebel. Outlaw. Hero. With his driving freight-train chords, steel-eyed intensity and a voice as dark as the night, the legendary “Man in Black” revolutionized music – and forged his legacy as a genuine American icon. Golden Globe winners Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon star (and sing) as Johnny Cash and June Carter in this inspiring true story of...
Walk the Line (Max & Prime Video Add-On) Credit – 20th Century Studios
Synopsis: Singer. Rebel. Outlaw. Hero. With his driving freight-train chords, steel-eyed intensity and a voice as dark as the night, the legendary “Man in Black” revolutionized music – and forged his legacy as a genuine American icon. Golden Globe winners Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon star (and sing) as Johnny Cash and June Carter in this inspiring true story of...
- 11/4/2023
- by Kulwant Singh
- Cinema Blind
The Untold Story Of A Lost Classic: What Ever Happened To Gram Parsons’ Sci-Fi Film ‘Saturation 70’?
In the late 1960s, Gram Parsons, fresh from leaving The Byrds and becoming close pals with the Rolling Stones, signed on to star in a sci-fi film, Saturation 70.
Directed by Anthony Foutz, who worked with the likes of Orson Welles and Richard Lyford and was the son of a very early Walt Disney exec, the film was shot across Joshua Tree and Los Angeles.
But Saturation 70, which also featured the work of Douglas Trumbull, the pioneering special effects wizard behind 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner, was never finished, and the footage subsequently vanished.
But a new book tells the wild story of a possible lost classic.
Chris Campion, who rediscovered the film while working on a book about The Mamas & The Papas, is putting together Saturation 70: A Vision Past of the Future Foretold, raising money via Kickstarter for the project with a view to publish next spring via Wolf+Salmon.
Directed by Anthony Foutz, who worked with the likes of Orson Welles and Richard Lyford and was the son of a very early Walt Disney exec, the film was shot across Joshua Tree and Los Angeles.
But Saturation 70, which also featured the work of Douglas Trumbull, the pioneering special effects wizard behind 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner, was never finished, and the footage subsequently vanished.
But a new book tells the wild story of a possible lost classic.
Chris Campion, who rediscovered the film while working on a book about The Mamas & The Papas, is putting together Saturation 70: A Vision Past of the Future Foretold, raising money via Kickstarter for the project with a view to publish next spring via Wolf+Salmon.
- 10/26/2023
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros.Industry nerves were jangling back in July when the ongoing strikes by the actors’ and writers’ guilds saw Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers pulled from its opening night slot at the 80th Venice Film Festival. The loss of a high-profile premiere with the film’s star Zendaya in attendance must have flustered red carpet reporters and festival bosses alike: those for whom newsworthiness and movie-star magic are inextricably linked. As the festival itself drew near, it began to look like the spotlight was turning towards the filmmakers—and perhaps even the films themselves.It was hard to keep track, in the weeks leading up to the festival, of which films had received the exemptions from their respective guilds that would allow talent to attend, but for my first full day on the Lido, it certainly looked like business as usual. Over there was Adam Driver, who, from the right vantage point,...
- 10/10/2023
- MUBI
“Moonlighting” lovers are a dedicated crew — it was the kind of wildly imaginative, smart, sophisticated series that inspired passionate loyalty over the course of its 66 episodes (the two-part pilot is shown as a single episode) and five seasons on the air. What’s even more remarkable about fans’ dedication is the relative rarity of the series; the Glenn Gordon Caron-created genre hybrid has rarely been in regular syndication and its DVD releases have been out of print since 2013.
Not that the DVD releases really satisfied the die-hard fans. Sure, they got to relive just what all the fuss was about when the show took the country by storm back in 1985, as former model Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) and wise guy detective David Addison (a pre-“Die Hard” Bruce Willis) investigated crimes, bickered, broke the fourth wall, and generally served as television trailblazers up to and including the “Moonlighting” curse...
Not that the DVD releases really satisfied the die-hard fans. Sure, they got to relive just what all the fuss was about when the show took the country by storm back in 1985, as former model Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) and wise guy detective David Addison (a pre-“Die Hard” Bruce Willis) investigated crimes, bickered, broke the fourth wall, and generally served as television trailblazers up to and including the “Moonlighting” curse...
- 10/10/2023
- by Mark Peikert
- Indiewire
A Haunting in Venice is both the best Kenneth Branagh film and the best Agatha Christie adaptation in decades. Adapted from the famed mystery writer’s 1969 novel Hallowe’en Party, Branagh returns as Hercule Poirot, the iconic Belgian detective with a penchant for sweets and the world’s most mustachioed mustache. This time the year is 1947 and we are in the Floating City. World War II has just ended and the melancholy of death and despair hangs over everything, despite the beautiful setting.
Recently retired, Poirot is lured back into the game via frenemy Ariadne Oliver, an avatar for Christie herself. The two attend a seance thrown by Rowena Drake (a striking Kelly Reilly), an opera singer who has run out of money and reasons to live. Her daughter Alicia (Rowan Robinson) drowned in the canal just the year before. Rowena empowers the infamous, “unholy” witch Mrs. Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh...
Recently retired, Poirot is lured back into the game via frenemy Ariadne Oliver, an avatar for Christie herself. The two attend a seance thrown by Rowena Drake (a striking Kelly Reilly), an opera singer who has run out of money and reasons to live. Her daughter Alicia (Rowan Robinson) drowned in the canal just the year before. Rowena empowers the infamous, “unholy” witch Mrs. Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh...
- 9/18/2023
- by Dan Mecca
- The Film Stage
Although plenty of spooky movies and shows would do a twist where the main character turns out to be dead the whole time, none of them handled it quite as gracefully as "The Twilight Zone" did back in 1960. The season 1 episode follows Nan (Inger Stevens), a young woman driving alone across the country who finds herself being stalked by a strange, unsettling stranger. The guy teleports from place to place, defying all known laws of physics, and it doesn't seem like his intentions are good.
It's only at the very end, when Nan tries to call her mother, that we figure out what's going on: Nan actually died right before the start of the episode from the minor car accident we saw her brushing off. She was told in that first scene she was lucky she hadn't died in the incident; at the end when Nan hears about her mother...
It's only at the very end, when Nan tries to call her mother, that we figure out what's going on: Nan actually died right before the start of the episode from the minor car accident we saw her brushing off. She was told in that first scene she was lucky she hadn't died in the incident; at the end when Nan hears about her mother...
- 8/26/2023
- by Michael Boyle
- Slash Film
"Oppenheimer" marked a few significant firsts for the main creative team involved in the film. After largely focusing on original concepts, Christopher Nolan pivoted towards a biopic centered on one of the most controversial individuals in American history. Similarly, star Cillian Murphy was tasked with portraying a historical figure for the first time in his career, accepting the added burden of responsibility in ensuring that his depiction of J. Robert Oppenheimer felt that much more lived-in and true to life. When it came time to do his homework and find inspiration on how to bring to life the brilliant physicist behind the Manhattan Project, Murphy looked to some rather unexpected sources.
In a recent interview, the "Oppenheimer" star was asked about the challenges of channeling the distinctive voice he used for the role and the idea of trying to copy how the real-life Oppenheimer actually sounded. While an impersonation was...
In a recent interview, the "Oppenheimer" star was asked about the challenges of channeling the distinctive voice he used for the role and the idea of trying to copy how the real-life Oppenheimer actually sounded. While an impersonation was...
- 8/21/2023
- by Jeremy Mathai
- Slash Film
Michael Parkinson, the British chat show king who was confirmed dead on Thursday, will be remembered as one of the outstanding interviewers of his generation. During his show’s 36-year run across the BBC and ITV, Parkinson sat down with some of the biggest stars of our time, attracting acclaim and sometimes controversy. Scroll on for some of his most memorable moments.
Muhammad Ali
Parkinson had three significant encounters with the greatest boxer of all time, the first of which took place in 1971. The interview, in which Ali reflected on his skill in front of the camera and in the ring, was organized before a time when publicists heavily policed celebrity talk show appearances. On hearing Ali was in the UK to promote a soft drink, Parkinson’s producer snagged the boxer on a trip to a bottling factory for a “news interview.” In reality, Parkinson and a studio audience were eagerly waiting.
Muhammad Ali
Parkinson had three significant encounters with the greatest boxer of all time, the first of which took place in 1971. The interview, in which Ali reflected on his skill in front of the camera and in the ring, was organized before a time when publicists heavily policed celebrity talk show appearances. On hearing Ali was in the UK to promote a soft drink, Parkinson’s producer snagged the boxer on a trip to a bottling factory for a “news interview.” In reality, Parkinson and a studio audience were eagerly waiting.
- 8/17/2023
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSHam on Rye.Tyler Taormina, director of the idiosyncratic Ham on Rye (2019) and Happer's Comet (2022), has wrapped production on his next feature. Filmed on Long Island, Christmas Eve In Miller’s Point is a Christmas comedy that stars Michael Cera, Elsie Fisher, and Gregg Turkington, plus the progeny of two prominent filmmakers in Francesca Scorsese and Sawyer Spielberg.The Guardian reports that filmmaker Brian Rose is attempting to “recreate” the lost version of Orson Welles’s The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), which was altered significantly by Rko prior to its release. Using “the latest technology to reconstruct lost material and animate charcoal sketches,” Rose has reportedly spent four years recreating “around 30,000 frames” of Welles’s original rough cut in order that viewers can visualize what Welles intended in lieu of seeing the director’s original cut,...
- 6/21/2023
- MUBI
The studio ‘butchered’ the legendary director’s 1942 film. Now an ambitious project is under way to restore it
The idea of deleting scenes from a film by renowned actor-director Orson Welles would be sacrilege today. But just after he made his masterpiece Citizen Kane for Rko in 1941, studio executives butchered his next great movie, The Magnificent Ambersons, burning extensive footage without consulting him.
Welles was so devastated that he later lamented: “They destroyed Ambersons and it destroyed me.”...
The idea of deleting scenes from a film by renowned actor-director Orson Welles would be sacrilege today. But just after he made his masterpiece Citizen Kane for Rko in 1941, studio executives butchered his next great movie, The Magnificent Ambersons, burning extensive footage without consulting him.
Welles was so devastated that he later lamented: “They destroyed Ambersons and it destroyed me.”...
- 6/18/2023
- by Dalya Alberge
- The Guardian - Film News
In 1962 Orson Welles directed The Trial; in 1993 the music video for David Bowie’s “Jump They Say” paid tribute in a characteristically pop-art fashion; in 2022 Brett Morgen’s Moonage Daydream gave a small window into the video’s making; and in 2023 both films––by extension bits of “Jump They Say” to boot––arrive on 4K from Criterion. For Welles it’s all about the deep blacks and luminescent grain; in Morgan’s case (but also Bowie’s) it’s the wealth of archival material and DTS-hd.
Their September slate also boasts two 4K upgrades, one recent and one legacy: The Princess Bride jumps to 2,160 pixels just five years after its Blu-ray edition, while longtime favorite Walkabout ought to look flaberrgastingly sharp. Meanwhile, La Bamba arrives on Blu-ray.
Find artwork below and more at Criterion.
The post The Criterion Collection’s September Slate Brings Orson Welles, David Bowie, The Princess Bride,...
Their September slate also boasts two 4K upgrades, one recent and one legacy: The Princess Bride jumps to 2,160 pixels just five years after its Blu-ray edition, while longtime favorite Walkabout ought to look flaberrgastingly sharp. Meanwhile, La Bamba arrives on Blu-ray.
Find artwork below and more at Criterion.
The post The Criterion Collection’s September Slate Brings Orson Welles, David Bowie, The Princess Bride,...
- 6/15/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Icy rejection in Welles’s Chimes at Midnight, Chalamet stripped to the waist, a swaggering Chris Hemsworth – which will Charles channel on Saturday?
On the morning of Saturday 6 May, King Charles III will waken to the realisation that this is the day which he has anticipated, or perhaps dreaded, all his life. Yet there is no reason to suppose he will be nervous. He is a veteran of royal occasions by the thousand and, specifically, his own two weddings which he experienced at the ages of 32 and then 56; perhaps he once imagined his coronation would happen sometime between these two. Now he is 74 and, if anything will cloud the experience for him, it might be the memories of his parents’ recent (and comparably momentous) funerals.
But how do we imagine he will feel about his role in this sumptuous ritual which is in its way a survival from Britain’s pre-Reformation Catholic past?...
On the morning of Saturday 6 May, King Charles III will waken to the realisation that this is the day which he has anticipated, or perhaps dreaded, all his life. Yet there is no reason to suppose he will be nervous. He is a veteran of royal occasions by the thousand and, specifically, his own two weddings which he experienced at the ages of 32 and then 56; perhaps he once imagined his coronation would happen sometime between these two. Now he is 74 and, if anything will cloud the experience for him, it might be the memories of his parents’ recent (and comparably momentous) funerals.
But how do we imagine he will feel about his role in this sumptuous ritual which is in its way a survival from Britain’s pre-Reformation Catholic past?...
- 5/4/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Early in his career, Bob Dylan sang about peace, but he didn’t always practice it in his personal life, as indicated by his attitude toward director Woody Allen. Dylan was prone to aggression, according to those who knew him in the early 1960s. At a party, seemingly out of nowhere, the musician mentioned wanting to attack Allen if he was there. This might not have had to do with an actual dislike of the director, though.
Bob Dylan | Doug McKenzie/Getty Images Bob Dylan once aggressively spoke about his desire to fight Woody Allen
In the mid-1960s, The Rolling Stone’ Brian Jones was at a party with his friend Stash when Dylan approached them in the bathroom. He surprised them with his aggression toward Allen, who was, perhaps luckily for him, not in attendance.
“You know what I’d do if Woody Allen was here?” Dylan asked, per...
Bob Dylan | Doug McKenzie/Getty Images Bob Dylan once aggressively spoke about his desire to fight Woody Allen
In the mid-1960s, The Rolling Stone’ Brian Jones was at a party with his friend Stash when Dylan approached them in the bathroom. He surprised them with his aggression toward Allen, who was, perhaps luckily for him, not in attendance.
“You know what I’d do if Woody Allen was here?” Dylan asked, per...
- 5/1/2023
- by Emma McKee
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Exclusive: Nina Bloomgarden (The Resort), James Tupper (Big Little Lies), Theo Germaine (They/Them) and Paige Collins (Big House) have signed on to star alongside Mary Beth Barrone in the indie erotic thriller Good Girl, which Lauren Garroni is directing, in her feature debut. No details on their roles have been disclosed.
The film currently shooting in Los Angeles watches as an enterprising Sugar Baby, offered ten grand to move in with her Sugar Daddy, comes to discover the dark secrets trapped within his home. Pic is described as part biting dark comedy, part erotic thriller — but above all, a story about sex work through a feminist and queer lens.
Kelly Parker’s Mary Ellen Moffat is producing the film based on Bree Essirig and Garroni’s script. Exec producers include Barrone, Garroni, Essrig, Simon Brook and Brook Productions.
Bloomgarden was part of the core cast of Peacock’s darkly...
The film currently shooting in Los Angeles watches as an enterprising Sugar Baby, offered ten grand to move in with her Sugar Daddy, comes to discover the dark secrets trapped within his home. Pic is described as part biting dark comedy, part erotic thriller — but above all, a story about sex work through a feminist and queer lens.
Kelly Parker’s Mary Ellen Moffat is producing the film based on Bree Essirig and Garroni’s script. Exec producers include Barrone, Garroni, Essrig, Simon Brook and Brook Productions.
Bloomgarden was part of the core cast of Peacock’s darkly...
- 4/28/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Martin Scorsese sat down one-on-one at CinemaCon with Leonardo DiCaprio, the star of his new film “Killers of the Flower Moon” about the past and future of cinema.
The new film, which tells the story of the murder of Osage natives in the 1920s by oil tycoons looking to take over their resource-heavy land, is the first Scorsese film since 2016’s “Silence” to get a full theatrical release. It comes out at a time when escapist films have been making money as much as ever at the box office while smaller, independent films have largely struggled to find their way back.
Despite this, Scorsese expressed his hope to movie theater owners in attendance that they can find a way to bring back those smaller films to the biggest multiplexes around the world “for the good of all of us.”
“I know the big movies bring in the big audiences. I...
The new film, which tells the story of the murder of Osage natives in the 1920s by oil tycoons looking to take over their resource-heavy land, is the first Scorsese film since 2016’s “Silence” to get a full theatrical release. It comes out at a time when escapist films have been making money as much as ever at the box office while smaller, independent films have largely struggled to find their way back.
Despite this, Scorsese expressed his hope to movie theater owners in attendance that they can find a way to bring back those smaller films to the biggest multiplexes around the world “for the good of all of us.”
“I know the big movies bring in the big audiences. I...
- 4/27/2023
- by Jeremy Fuster
- The Wrap
Harry Lime in "The Third Man" is one of cinema's greatest villains and certainly not the kind of person you'd want to spend much time with in real life. He's a sociopathic black marketeer whose cynical line in diluted penicillin causes untold suffering and death to his many child victims. Yet, played with typical charm and devilment by Orson Welles, he is simply irresistible. Even on repeat viewing with full knowledge of his heinous activities, it's impossible not to be captivated by him from the moment he first appears in a doorway with an incorrigible smirk spread across that big moon of a face.
Lime is onscreen for less than 10 minutes but he may be Welles' greatest performance as an actor, tapping into the elusive enigma of the multi-faceted artist and self-proclaimed charlatan. After leaving the U.S. for self-imposed exile in Europe in 1947, he took the role for money,...
Lime is onscreen for less than 10 minutes but he may be Welles' greatest performance as an actor, tapping into the elusive enigma of the multi-faceted artist and self-proclaimed charlatan. After leaving the U.S. for self-imposed exile in Europe in 1947, he took the role for money,...
- 2/12/2023
- by Lee Adams
- Slash Film
Orson Welles was just 26 when he wrote, produced, directed, and starred in "Citizen Kane." The 1941 film revolutionized the young industry. It boldly broke from the traditional linear storytelling pattern with a non-linear narrative told from several perspectives. Welles and cinematographer Gregg Toland introduced new cinematography techniques still used in modern filmmaking. Welles perfected the use of the montage, telling the complex life story of protagonist Charles Foster Kane in just under two hours. Welles broke established cinematic rules beginning with the film's opening moments.
The character Charles Foster Kane is loosely based on media magnate and yellow journalism originator William Randolph Hearst. But "Citizen Kane" might also have been a prophetic story of Orson Welles' own life. After multiple marriages, reclusive periods in his life, and struggles with weight as he aged left many to draw comparisons to his own creation, Charles Foster Kane.
The man that began his film...
The character Charles Foster Kane is loosely based on media magnate and yellow journalism originator William Randolph Hearst. But "Citizen Kane" might also have been a prophetic story of Orson Welles' own life. After multiple marriages, reclusive periods in his life, and struggles with weight as he aged left many to draw comparisons to his own creation, Charles Foster Kane.
The man that began his film...
- 2/9/2023
- by Travis Yates
- Slash Film
The Lady from Shanghai
Blu-ray
Kino Lorber
1946 / B&w / 1.33: 1
Starring Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth, Everett Sloane
Written by Orson Welles
Directed by Orson Welles
To those who know him, Michael O’Hara “… has got a lot of blarney in him.” That also applies to Orson Welles, the man who created that smooth-talking Irishman and plays him in The Lady from Shanghai, a labyrinthine guessing-game written and directed by Welles in 1946. Welles’s enigmatic co-stars include Everett Sloane as Arthur Bannister, “the world’s greatest lawyer or the world’s greatest criminal”, and Rita Hayworth as Bannister’s wife, an unknowable beauty hiding behind a plutonium hairdo.
Hayworth is not the only one wearing a disguise—like any noir, everyone has two or more personas, but Welles’s film is no ordinary noir, and for better and for worse, The Lady from Shanghai is no ordinary movie. The film, both haphazard...
Blu-ray
Kino Lorber
1946 / B&w / 1.33: 1
Starring Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth, Everett Sloane
Written by Orson Welles
Directed by Orson Welles
To those who know him, Michael O’Hara “… has got a lot of blarney in him.” That also applies to Orson Welles, the man who created that smooth-talking Irishman and plays him in The Lady from Shanghai, a labyrinthine guessing-game written and directed by Welles in 1946. Welles’s enigmatic co-stars include Everett Sloane as Arthur Bannister, “the world’s greatest lawyer or the world’s greatest criminal”, and Rita Hayworth as Bannister’s wife, an unknowable beauty hiding behind a plutonium hairdo.
Hayworth is not the only one wearing a disguise—like any noir, everyone has two or more personas, but Welles’s film is no ordinary noir, and for better and for worse, The Lady from Shanghai is no ordinary movie. The film, both haphazard...
- 2/4/2023
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Orson Welles had a knack for beautiful compositions. Sure, his career might've been filled with turbulence, but even a quick glance through the action-director's filmography illustrates just how skilled he was behind the camera. In fact, he even topped our list of the best filmmakers who never won an Academy Award for directing (though he did snag an Oscar for co-writing "Citizen Kane").
Welles was also famously in favor of shooting films in black-and-white rather than color. This surely led to much of his films' visual strength: The stylistic choice cut down on unnecessary color clashes, which in turn led to striking, visually unified images. That high-contrast look is also a big part of why black-and-white films are still made to this day.
Yet Welles' personal rationale for avoiding color film was relatively unusual, even if it undoubtedly showed respect for his fellow actors. As the multi-hyphenate explained to Peter Bogdanovich...
Welles was also famously in favor of shooting films in black-and-white rather than color. This surely led to much of his films' visual strength: The stylistic choice cut down on unnecessary color clashes, which in turn led to striking, visually unified images. That high-contrast look is also a big part of why black-and-white films are still made to this day.
Yet Welles' personal rationale for avoiding color film was relatively unusual, even if it undoubtedly showed respect for his fellow actors. As the multi-hyphenate explained to Peter Bogdanovich...
- 1/27/2023
- by Demetra Nikolakakis
- Slash Film
Pop quiz — what's the best movie that stars Orson Welles, but that he didn't direct? I'll bet that most of you answered "The Third Man," and rightfully so.
Released in 1949, "The Third Man" is set and filmed in post-World War 2 Vienna. Pulp author Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) arrives in the city to meet his old friend Harry Lime, only to find himself investigating Lime's death. As it turns out, Lime isn't so dead after all.
Who better to play this old friend than Cotten's old director? Across their long partnership, Welles had directed Cotten at the Mercury Theatre, on the radio, and in film. "Citizen Kane" was actually a smoother career launcher for Cotten than it was for Welles himself.
Now, who did direct "The Third Man"? That would be Carol Reed, a British director and pioneer of European film noir. He'd previously directed "Odd Man Out," about an injured...
Released in 1949, "The Third Man" is set and filmed in post-World War 2 Vienna. Pulp author Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) arrives in the city to meet his old friend Harry Lime, only to find himself investigating Lime's death. As it turns out, Lime isn't so dead after all.
Who better to play this old friend than Cotten's old director? Across their long partnership, Welles had directed Cotten at the Mercury Theatre, on the radio, and in film. "Citizen Kane" was actually a smoother career launcher for Cotten than it was for Welles himself.
Now, who did direct "The Third Man"? That would be Carol Reed, a British director and pioneer of European film noir. He'd previously directed "Odd Man Out," about an injured...
- 1/27/2023
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
William Shakespeare's "The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice," inspired by the Italian story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio (1504 - 1573), was likely first performed around 1603 at the Globe Theater just outside of London. The story follows the titular Venetian military commander and his relationship with Desdemona, the daughter of a senator. Othello and Desdemona are both mature adults, and speak their emotions clearly, unlike Shakespeare's other well-known Veronan youths. One of Othello's ensigns, Iago, announces to the audience that he secretly hates Othello, and aches for his undoing. The term "Moor" is an old English word used, insensitively, to refer to anyone with dark skin, and didn't necessarily refer to any country of origin. The word is fraught and deserves more context than I can provide here.
Because Othello's race is constantly mentioned in the text of the play, many critics see Iago's hate and jealousy of Othello...
Because Othello's race is constantly mentioned in the text of the play, many critics see Iago's hate and jealousy of Othello...
- 1/26/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
When cameras rolled on the Viennese location shoot of "The Third Man" in October 1948, director Carol Reed's villain wasn't even in the city. Orson Welles had signed on to play shady racketeer Harry Lime, but in a bid to raise his fee (via BBC Four), he wouldn't agree to arrive until absolutely necessary. With Welles' reputation as an unreliable troublemaker, Reed might have been forgiven for privately wondering if he was going to show up at all. In the meantime, he shot around him, using a body double and hiding the character in the film's celebrated shadows (via Financial Times). Would Reed's decision to fight powerful producer David O. Selznick on casting the maverick come back to haunt him?
Thankfully, Welles kept to his word and arrived by train in Vienna on the date agreed -- Reed said in an interview with journalist and author Charles Thomas Samuels for...
Thankfully, Welles kept to his word and arrived by train in Vienna on the date agreed -- Reed said in an interview with journalist and author Charles Thomas Samuels for...
- 1/25/2023
- by Lee Adams
- Slash Film
I have been breathlessly awaiting the release of Sight and Sound's once-a-decade poll on the 100 greatest films of all time. Even though the makeup of the list has absolutely no bearing on my own feelings about the films I love, I am always curious to get a lay of the land and see what kind of filmgoing consensus is out there, especially in a corner of the film community that isn't constantly obsessed with superheroes and the box office. This only comes around every 10 years, so it's important for us to treasure this celebration of Hollywood classics, art-house favorites, and international landmarks.
In this new 2022 update of the poll, 25 of the films that appeared on the previous list in 2012 are completely gone. This isn't a case of 25 films released in the last 10 years — or, actually, 24 new films, as the 2012 list featured 101 titles due to a tie — joining the list since it was last published.
In this new 2022 update of the poll, 25 of the films that appeared on the previous list in 2012 are completely gone. This isn't a case of 25 films released in the last 10 years — or, actually, 24 new films, as the 2012 list featured 101 titles due to a tie — joining the list since it was last published.
- 12/2/2022
- by Mike Shutt
- Slash Film
Every good fan of "Seinfeld" knows that Jason Alexander's character George is based closely on the show's head writer and co-creator, Larry David. It wasn't until several episodes into the series that Alexander would discover this fact for himself. As it turns out, the actor initially used Woody Allen as a guide for his character. His inspiration may have been a little off, but it still landed him the role and guided him through the beginning of the show.
Before landing his part in the popular sitcom, Alexander had a supporting role in the film "Pretty Woman" starring Julia Roberts. The movie was a huge success that launched both Roberts' and Alexander's careers. The production company behind "Seinfeld," Castle Rock Entertainment, was co-founded and run by the filmmaker Rob Reiner, who directed "The Princess Bride." Reiner's ex-wife was married to the director of "Pretty Woman," Garry Marshall. When...
Before landing his part in the popular sitcom, Alexander had a supporting role in the film "Pretty Woman" starring Julia Roberts. The movie was a huge success that launched both Roberts' and Alexander's careers. The production company behind "Seinfeld," Castle Rock Entertainment, was co-founded and run by the filmmaker Rob Reiner, who directed "The Princess Bride." Reiner's ex-wife was married to the director of "Pretty Woman," Garry Marshall. When...
- 11/30/2022
- by Shae Sennett
- Slash Film
The Nordic screen industries are riding a tide of recent success, from Joachim Trier’s dual Oscar-nominated “The Worst Person in the World” (Norway), and Juho Kuosmanen’s Cannes prize winner “Compartment No. 6” (Finland), to Apple TV’s hit Norwegian crime drama “Exit.”
But the Nordics have a ways to go on diversity and inclusion and can do more to support emerging talents — including taking a more mindful approach toward how on-set practices can create an unhealthy work environment.
Those were the key takeaways of a panel discussion on Sept. 21 at the Finnish Film Affair, the industry arm of the Helsinki International Film Festival — Love & Anarchy. Moderated by Finnish TV presenter Andrea Reuter, the event brought together three up-and-coming film professionals from Nordic countries to discuss the hopes and challenges for the next generation of filmmakers from the region.
The event was a collaboration with Nordisk Film & TV Fond,...
But the Nordics have a ways to go on diversity and inclusion and can do more to support emerging talents — including taking a more mindful approach toward how on-set practices can create an unhealthy work environment.
Those were the key takeaways of a panel discussion on Sept. 21 at the Finnish Film Affair, the industry arm of the Helsinki International Film Festival — Love & Anarchy. Moderated by Finnish TV presenter Andrea Reuter, the event brought together three up-and-coming film professionals from Nordic countries to discuss the hopes and challenges for the next generation of filmmakers from the region.
The event was a collaboration with Nordisk Film & TV Fond,...
- 9/22/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Master Gardener. “Gardening,” Joel Edgerton muses early into Master Gardener, “is a belief in the future, that things will happen.” Every installment in Paul Schrader’s untitled contemporary trilogy, which this new film brings to a close, seems engineered to test that conviction, an unwavering optimism that amounts to an act of faith. As Ethan Hawke’s Reverend Toller in First Reformed (2017) and Oscar Isaac’s William Tell in The Card Counter (2021), Edgerton’s Narvel Roth is the latest addition to the director’s pantheon of “God’s lonely men,” solitary and spiritually broken drifters searching for a redemption that seems to lie forever beyond their reach. Anyone remotely familiar with Schrader’s work will find plenty of recurrent tropes and themes here, so much so that Master Gardener almost toys with self-parody. But these motifs do not register as facsimiles. Schrader, age 76, is now clearly making “late films,” and...
- 9/6/2022
- MUBI
"Citizen Kane" director Orson Welles was a highly prolific and influential filmmaker, to say the least. His obsession with exploring power through unconventional means has resulted in some of the most acclaimed films in the American movie canon. While some of his movies were not fully appreciated in their time, it's hard to overstate the influence Welles has had on filmmaking and filmmakers to this day.
However, for as many movies as he was able to make, there were just as many that he didn't couldn't to life. For a variety of reasons, many of Welles' projects wound up never seeing the light of day. These films have long been the subject of speculation and confusion, as there often isn't a lot of available details about them. However, that just makes these unfinished films that much more interesting to learn about. And you're looking for a guide to some of...
However, for as many movies as he was able to make, there were just as many that he didn't couldn't to life. For a variety of reasons, many of Welles' projects wound up never seeing the light of day. These films have long been the subject of speculation and confusion, as there often isn't a lot of available details about them. However, that just makes these unfinished films that much more interesting to learn about. And you're looking for a guide to some of...
- 8/15/2022
- by Erin Brady
- Slash Film
Exclusive: USC Originals has scored its first theatrical release, in association with Warner Bros., following Lightyear Entertainment’s acquisition of its film, Voodoo Macbeth. The company behind the Oscar-nominated Australian feature Tanna has slated the pic for release across the U.S. and Canada in October.
Based on a true story, Voodoo Macbeth follows a young Orson Welles (Jewell Wilson Bridges) and a group of committed artists as they set out to create what is now considered a landmark event in African-American theater history—the Negro Theatre Unit’s revolutionary 1936 production of Macbeth.
With Fdr’s New Deal providing funding for the Federal Theatre Project, director Rose McClendon (Inger Tudor) convinces co-director John Houseman (Daniel Kuhlman) to help her bring Shakespeare’s Macbeth to the Harlem community at the Lafayette Theater — with an all-Black cast. Well before Citizen Kane and War of the Worlds, they choose for their groundbreaking production...
Based on a true story, Voodoo Macbeth follows a young Orson Welles (Jewell Wilson Bridges) and a group of committed artists as they set out to create what is now considered a landmark event in African-American theater history—the Negro Theatre Unit’s revolutionary 1936 production of Macbeth.
With Fdr’s New Deal providing funding for the Federal Theatre Project, director Rose McClendon (Inger Tudor) convinces co-director John Houseman (Daniel Kuhlman) to help her bring Shakespeare’s Macbeth to the Harlem community at the Lafayette Theater — with an all-Black cast. Well before Citizen Kane and War of the Worlds, they choose for their groundbreaking production...
- 8/9/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
What words could we possibly use to describe Orson Welles? Genius, revolutionary, artist, passionate, and many more might come to mind if you only know about his creative work. That is more than fine, but if you do know about the man in front of and behind the camera, one of the words that probably came to mind was "petty." Perhaps one of the reasons why Welles has been able to resonate so deeply with younger generations of film fans was his tendency to openly criticize and beef with other directors. You don't get that chaotic energy anymore!
He was pretty relentless when it came...
The post Orson Welles Couldn't Understand Why Alfred Hitchcock Was Popular appeared first on /Film.
He was pretty relentless when it came...
The post Orson Welles Couldn't Understand Why Alfred Hitchcock Was Popular appeared first on /Film.
- 8/1/2022
- by Erin Brady
- Slash Film
By the last decade of Orson Welles' life, the legendary actor and filmmaker had seen better days. The last film he directed to be released during his lifetime was "F For Fake," which came in 1973. Until his death in 1985, he tried, and failed, to get more projects off the ground; it took until 2018 for "The Other Side of the Wind" (shot in the 1970s) to see the light of day.
During this time, Welles loaned his magnificent voice to countless documentaries, trailers, and, commercials; he had a previous career on the radio, after all. His final role was a voice for animation, namely...
The post Orson Welles' Final Role Was Yet Another Under-appreciated Film appeared first on /Film.
During this time, Welles loaned his magnificent voice to countless documentaries, trailers, and, commercials; he had a previous career on the radio, after all. His final role was a voice for animation, namely...
The post Orson Welles' Final Role Was Yet Another Under-appreciated Film appeared first on /Film.
- 7/25/2022
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
When Orson Welles died on October 10, 1985, at the age of 70 he was, as ever, broke. As David Thomson noted in a lovely appreciation for The Guardian in 2009, the profound absence of money was Welles' "abiding condition." Welles had outsized appetites, but his most insatiable hunger was for filmmaking. From his medium-redefining debut, "Citizen Kane," to the posthumously released "The Other Side of the Wind," Welles was determined to maximize his time on this planet by setting in motion as...
The post Was Orson Welles A Failure? Why The Citizen Kane Director Died A Hollywood Outcast (& Legend) appeared first on /Film.
The post Was Orson Welles A Failure? Why The Citizen Kane Director Died A Hollywood Outcast (& Legend) appeared first on /Film.
- 7/19/2022
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
The multi-hyphenate’s follow-up to Citizen Kane was a nightmare production and a box office disappointment but remains a fascinating film about America
Meet Orson Welles. Director of Citizen Kane. Star of Citizen Kane. Writer, producer and hero behind, Citizen Kane. Twenty-six years old and fizzing with ideas and energy. Had I worked for the studio employing him in 1942, I would have tried very hard to keep him on-side. Rko Radio Pictures did not.
The Magnificent Ambersons, released 80 years today, is famously the film Orson Welles made after Citizen Kane. It’s also regarded as one of the great travesties in film history. Adapted from Booth Tarkington’s Pulitzer prize-winning novel from 1918, it charts the fading success and eventual misery of the upper-class midwestern Amberson family during an extended turn-of-the-century period. After being shown only twice in its original Welles cut, and being received terribly by preview audiences, Rko seized control of the picture,...
Meet Orson Welles. Director of Citizen Kane. Star of Citizen Kane. Writer, producer and hero behind, Citizen Kane. Twenty-six years old and fizzing with ideas and energy. Had I worked for the studio employing him in 1942, I would have tried very hard to keep him on-side. Rko Radio Pictures did not.
The Magnificent Ambersons, released 80 years today, is famously the film Orson Welles made after Citizen Kane. It’s also regarded as one of the great travesties in film history. Adapted from Booth Tarkington’s Pulitzer prize-winning novel from 1918, it charts the fading success and eventual misery of the upper-class midwestern Amberson family during an extended turn-of-the-century period. After being shown only twice in its original Welles cut, and being received terribly by preview audiences, Rko seized control of the picture,...
- 7/10/2022
- by David Alexander
- The Guardian - Film News
One of Orson Welles’ best has arrived in 4K! Kino Lorber has revived Universal’s 3-version study of the bordertown crime & corruption drama, that knocks us out with Welles’ colorful, weird characters, intricate scene blocking and infinitely creative camera work. Almost all of the extras from the earlier DVD and Blu-ray editions are here, with added expert commentary (the tally of tracks is now five). The performances are superb — Welles won’t lay off the candy bars, Janet Leigh wisely avoids the motel shower and Charlton Heston is actually fine as a ‘pretty unlikely’ Mexican. We’ve seen this show ten times — it’s so dense that each viewing brings new revelations.
Touch of Evil 4K
4K Ultra HD
Kl Studio Classics
1958-1998 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 96, 109, 111 min. / Street Date March 15, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Orson Welles, Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff, Ray Collins, Joanna Moore,...
Touch of Evil 4K
4K Ultra HD
Kl Studio Classics
1958-1998 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 96, 109, 111 min. / Street Date March 15, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Orson Welles, Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff, Ray Collins, Joanna Moore,...
- 6/28/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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