Phyllis Coates, the first actress to play Lois Lane on television, has died. She was 96.
Coates portrayed the “Daily Planet” reporter and Clark Kent’s love interest for just one season on “Adventures of Superman.”
Coates, who also appeared in Republic Pictures serial shows and in films like “I Was a Teenage Frankenstein,” died Wednesday of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills.
Her daughter Laura Press confirmed the news to The Hollywood Reporter.
Coates grew up in Wichita Falls, Texas. She first took on the role of Lois Lane alongside George Reeves as Superman in “Superman and the Mole Men” (1951), a dark science fiction film. The success of the Lippert Pictures film — the first full-length theatrical feature starring the Man of Steel — brought about the production of a syndicated television show.
The first season of “Adventures of Superman” contained 26 episodes. “The Mole...
Coates portrayed the “Daily Planet” reporter and Clark Kent’s love interest for just one season on “Adventures of Superman.”
Coates, who also appeared in Republic Pictures serial shows and in films like “I Was a Teenage Frankenstein,” died Wednesday of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills.
Her daughter Laura Press confirmed the news to The Hollywood Reporter.
Coates grew up in Wichita Falls, Texas. She first took on the role of Lois Lane alongside George Reeves as Superman in “Superman and the Mole Men” (1951), a dark science fiction film. The success of the Lippert Pictures film — the first full-length theatrical feature starring the Man of Steel — brought about the production of a syndicated television show.
The first season of “Adventures of Superman” contained 26 episodes. “The Mole...
- 10/12/2023
- by Dessi Gomez
- The Wrap
Phyllis Coates, the actress who first played the iconic Daily Planet Reporter Lois Lane on the small screen, has died.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the beloved actress died Wednesday of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills.
She was 96.
Coates first appeared in the superhero universe opposite George Reeves in the 1951 movie Superman and the Mole Men.
The movie was a roaring success and paved the way for the syndicated TV series The Adventures of Superman.
While the series lasted six seasons and had a devoted following, Coates stepped away following the first.
Noel Neill took over the role for the next five seasons, keeping Lois Lane a part of the franchise.
Neill had previously played the role on two occasions.
Coates' decision to leave was reportedly driven by her desire to work on a pilot for a series that would find...
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the beloved actress died Wednesday of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills.
She was 96.
Coates first appeared in the superhero universe opposite George Reeves in the 1951 movie Superman and the Mole Men.
The movie was a roaring success and paved the way for the syndicated TV series The Adventures of Superman.
While the series lasted six seasons and had a devoted following, Coates stepped away following the first.
Noel Neill took over the role for the next five seasons, keeping Lois Lane a part of the franchise.
Neill had previously played the role on two occasions.
Coates' decision to leave was reportedly driven by her desire to work on a pilot for a series that would find...
- 10/12/2023
- by Paul Dailly
- TVfanatic
Phyllis Coates, the first actress to play Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane on television, only to leave the Adventures of Superman after just one season, has died. She was 96.
Coates, who also appeared in Republic Pictures serials and in such films as I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, died Wednesday of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, her daughter Laura Press told The Hollywood Reporter.
A native of Wichita Falls, Texas, Coates first portrayed the headstrong Lois opposite George Reeves as the Man of Steel in the dark sci-fi movie Superman and the Mole Men (1951).
The success of that Lippert Pictures film — the first full-length theatrical feature starring the comic-book hero — led to the quick decision to start production on a syndicated show for television.
Coates segued to the series and got into jams as Lois in all 26 episodes of the first season...
Coates, who also appeared in Republic Pictures serials and in such films as I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, died Wednesday of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, her daughter Laura Press told The Hollywood Reporter.
A native of Wichita Falls, Texas, Coates first portrayed the headstrong Lois opposite George Reeves as the Man of Steel in the dark sci-fi movie Superman and the Mole Men (1951).
The success of that Lippert Pictures film — the first full-length theatrical feature starring the comic-book hero — led to the quick decision to start production on a syndicated show for television.
Coates segued to the series and got into jams as Lois in all 26 episodes of the first season...
- 10/12/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
It doesn't matter how popular a TV series is: If it costs money, the network is going to try to save money. Sometimes that means turning the second season finale of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" into a god awful clip show. Sometimes that means making the whole fourth season of the helicopter action/adventure series "Airwolf" without the original cast... or the helicopter.
In the case of the classic series "The Twilight Zone" — a critically acclaimed, Emmy-winning sci-fi/fantasy/horror anthology created by one of the most celebrated writers working in television, Rod Serling — there was no continuity, and therefore no clip show. There was no regular cast, so no regular cast to cut.
As a result, when the second season of "The Twilight Zone" turned out to be very, very expensive, the producers made a decision that barely saved any money, artistically hindered the program, and left us...
In the case of the classic series "The Twilight Zone" — a critically acclaimed, Emmy-winning sci-fi/fantasy/horror anthology created by one of the most celebrated writers working in television, Rod Serling — there was no continuity, and therefore no clip show. There was no regular cast, so no regular cast to cut.
As a result, when the second season of "The Twilight Zone" turned out to be very, very expensive, the producers made a decision that barely saved any money, artistically hindered the program, and left us...
- 8/29/2023
- by William Bibbiani
- Slash Film
Raymond Cavaleri, a former child actor who became a talent agent and founded Cavaleri & Associates in 1981, died July 19 in West Hills, CA. He was 74.
His son Damian Cavaleri announced his death to Deadline, noting that he died peacefully surrounded by family.
Born in Syracuse, NY, Cavaleri was 6 months old when he and his parents moved to California. As a child actor, he got roles on such 1960s TV series as Boris Karloff’s Thriller, Dennis the Menace, Going My Way, Combat and a memorable 1962 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents titled “The Children of Alda Nuova” in which actor Jack Carson played an American gangster hiding out in Rome who is menaced by a group of teenagers.
Cavaleri had several small roles in the 1970s, including in the TV series Bracken’s World and the 1975 Tony Curtis crime drama film Lepke, but by the early 1980s he’d become a talent agent.
His son Damian Cavaleri announced his death to Deadline, noting that he died peacefully surrounded by family.
Born in Syracuse, NY, Cavaleri was 6 months old when he and his parents moved to California. As a child actor, he got roles on such 1960s TV series as Boris Karloff’s Thriller, Dennis the Menace, Going My Way, Combat and a memorable 1962 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents titled “The Children of Alda Nuova” in which actor Jack Carson played an American gangster hiding out in Rome who is menaced by a group of teenagers.
Cavaleri had several small roles in the 1970s, including in the TV series Bracken’s World and the 1975 Tony Curtis crime drama film Lepke, but by the early 1980s he’d become a talent agent.
- 7/23/2021
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
As Disney quietly disappears huge swathes of film history into its vaults, I'm going to spend 2020 celebrating Twentieth Century Fox and the Fox Film Corporation's films, what one might call their output if only someone were putting it out.And now they've quietly disappeared William Fox's name from the company: guilty by association with Rupert Murdoch, even though he never associated with him.***The mid-fifties were, it seems, a time for Georges Simenon adaptations. Of course, Hollywood had to make his glum procedurals a good deal more optimistic: generally, in his policiers, the only thing staving off total tragedy is the "successful" conclusion of the case. He's too concerned with human frailty and too little interested in law and order for this to ever seem triumphal.A Life in the Balance, directed by Harry Horner (Red Planet Mars), transfers the action of Simenon's just-published Sept petites croix dans un carne to Mexico,...
- 8/6/2020
- MUBI
A bigger and brighter film debut couldn’t be imagined … Doris Day became America’s sweetheart in Michael Curtiz’s peppy production, graced with a witty script and several catchy, radio-ready song hits. And the color is better than new in this impressive Blu-ray remastering job — Woody Bredell’s Technicolor hues are literally eye-popping. It’s great fun seeing Ms. Day invent her natural, fresh-faced screen persona right before our eyes.
Romance on the High Seas
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1948 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 99 min. / It’s Magic / Street Date June 16, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Doris Day, Jack Carson, Janis Paige, Don DeFore, Oscar Levant, S.Z. Sakall, Fortunio Bonanova, Eric Blore, Franklin Pangborn, Sir Lancelot, Barbara Bates, George N. Neise, Maila Nurmi, Grady Sutton.
Cinematography: Elwood Bredell
Film Editor: Rudi Fehr
Art Direction: Anton Grot
Special Effects: Robert Burks, Wilfrid M. Cline, David Curtiz
Original Music: Ray Heindorf, Oscar Levant
Written by Julius J. Epstein,...
Romance on the High Seas
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1948 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 99 min. / It’s Magic / Street Date June 16, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Doris Day, Jack Carson, Janis Paige, Don DeFore, Oscar Levant, S.Z. Sakall, Fortunio Bonanova, Eric Blore, Franklin Pangborn, Sir Lancelot, Barbara Bates, George N. Neise, Maila Nurmi, Grady Sutton.
Cinematography: Elwood Bredell
Film Editor: Rudi Fehr
Art Direction: Anton Grot
Special Effects: Robert Burks, Wilfrid M. Cline, David Curtiz
Original Music: Ray Heindorf, Oscar Levant
Written by Julius J. Epstein,...
- 7/21/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Doris Day in Romance On The High Seas is available on Blu-ray From Warner Archive. Ordering info can be found Here
Bon voyage! Georgia Garrett’s singing career may not be going anywhere, but she is. She’s on a cruise, sailing under the name Mrs. Elvira Kent while the real Elvira secretly stays home to spy on her presumably philandering hubby. Meanwhile, the husband hires a spy to snoop on his supposedly voyaging wife. Doris Day makes her maiden film voyage, debuting as Georgia in a colorful bauble afloat on romantic seas. The studio surrounds the sunny overnight screen sensation with top talent: Michael Curtiz directs, the Epstein brothers provide the script, Busby Berkeley guides musical numbers, Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn create the tunes, and costars include Oscar Levant and Jack Carson. “It’s Magic,” Day sings. Yes, it is.
Doris Day dazzles in her screen debut in this Michael Curtiz directed musical comedy.
Bon voyage! Georgia Garrett’s singing career may not be going anywhere, but she is. She’s on a cruise, sailing under the name Mrs. Elvira Kent while the real Elvira secretly stays home to spy on her presumably philandering hubby. Meanwhile, the husband hires a spy to snoop on his supposedly voyaging wife. Doris Day makes her maiden film voyage, debuting as Georgia in a colorful bauble afloat on romantic seas. The studio surrounds the sunny overnight screen sensation with top talent: Michael Curtiz directs, the Epstein brothers provide the script, Busby Berkeley guides musical numbers, Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn create the tunes, and costars include Oscar Levant and Jack Carson. “It’s Magic,” Day sings. Yes, it is.
Doris Day dazzles in her screen debut in this Michael Curtiz directed musical comedy.
- 6/21/2020
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Legendary animator Floyd Norman talks about his all time favorite movies.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Floyd Norman: An Animated Life (2016)
Vertigo (1958)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Rope (1948)
The Trouble With Harry (1955)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Song of the South (1946)
The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948)
The Third Man (1950)
The Jungle Book (1967)
The Jungle Book (2016)
The Lion King (2019)
Pinocchio (1940)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
The Old Mill (1937)
Casablanca (1942)
Cinderella (1950)
Singin’ In The Rain (1953)
Paths of Glory (1957)
1917 (2019)
The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
Star Wars (1977)
American Graffiti (1973)
Sorcerer (1977)
Other Notable Items
Michael Fiore
The Watts riots
The LAPD’s cruel mistreatment of Rodney King
The George Floyd protests
Move in Philadelphia
Walt Disney Pictures
Tfh Guru Roger Corman
Erik Sharkey
The Three Stooges
I Am the Greatest: The Adventures of Muhammad Ali TV series (1977)
Muhammad Ali
Fred Calvert
Alfred Hitchcock
Bernard Herrman’s Vertigo score
Robert Burks
The latest...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Floyd Norman: An Animated Life (2016)
Vertigo (1958)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Rope (1948)
The Trouble With Harry (1955)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Song of the South (1946)
The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948)
The Third Man (1950)
The Jungle Book (1967)
The Jungle Book (2016)
The Lion King (2019)
Pinocchio (1940)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
The Old Mill (1937)
Casablanca (1942)
Cinderella (1950)
Singin’ In The Rain (1953)
Paths of Glory (1957)
1917 (2019)
The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
Star Wars (1977)
American Graffiti (1973)
Sorcerer (1977)
Other Notable Items
Michael Fiore
The Watts riots
The LAPD’s cruel mistreatment of Rodney King
The George Floyd protests
Move in Philadelphia
Walt Disney Pictures
Tfh Guru Roger Corman
Erik Sharkey
The Three Stooges
I Am the Greatest: The Adventures of Muhammad Ali TV series (1977)
Muhammad Ali
Fred Calvert
Alfred Hitchcock
Bernard Herrman’s Vertigo score
Robert Burks
The latest...
- 6/9/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Perhaps Renee Zellweger will have better luck than Judy Garland did at the Academy Awards. Zellweger, who won supporting actress for 2003’s “Cold Mountain,” is the favorite to take home the Oscar next February for her haunting portrayal of the legendary star/singer in the acclaimed “Judy.”
Exactly 65 years ago, Garland was the front-runner to receive her first Academy Award for her powerhouse performance in “A Star is Born,” George Cukor‘s lavish musical version of the 1937 William Wellman classic tale of a matinee idol on the descent who marries an ingenue on the rise.
When the star-studded premiere at the Pantages Theatre aired live on TV on Sept. 29, 1954, star after star told host Jack Carson, who also appears in the film, that Garland was a shoo-in for Oscar gold. Dean Martin told the crowd Garland would probably take home every accolade and Lucille Ball echoed his sentiments.
Reviewers loved...
Exactly 65 years ago, Garland was the front-runner to receive her first Academy Award for her powerhouse performance in “A Star is Born,” George Cukor‘s lavish musical version of the 1937 William Wellman classic tale of a matinee idol on the descent who marries an ingenue on the rise.
When the star-studded premiere at the Pantages Theatre aired live on TV on Sept. 29, 1954, star after star told host Jack Carson, who also appears in the film, that Garland was a shoo-in for Oscar gold. Dean Martin told the crowd Garland would probably take home every accolade and Lucille Ball echoed his sentiments.
Reviewers loved...
- 11/22/2019
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Arte Johnson, who won an Emmy for his memorable work on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and worked in TV and film for nearly half a century, died early Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, his family said announced. He was 90 and had battled bladder and prostate cancer for the past three years.
Johnson earned three consecutive Emmy noms for Laugh-In from 1969-71, winning the first year. He was part of the politically tinged NBC sketch series’ main cast from its launch in January 1968 until 1971, playing myriad characters in the show that launched the careers of such stars as Lily Tomlin, Goldie Hawn, Eileen Brennan, Henry Gibson, Jo Anne Worley and many others.
Among his most popular characters was Wolfgang, a cigarette-smoking German soldier who believed that World War II was still ongoing, as he scouted the show while hidden behind bushes. He would then invariably comment on the preceding sketch...
Johnson earned three consecutive Emmy noms for Laugh-In from 1969-71, winning the first year. He was part of the politically tinged NBC sketch series’ main cast from its launch in January 1968 until 1971, playing myriad characters in the show that launched the careers of such stars as Lily Tomlin, Goldie Hawn, Eileen Brennan, Henry Gibson, Jo Anne Worley and many others.
Among his most popular characters was Wolfgang, a cigarette-smoking German soldier who believed that World War II was still ongoing, as he scouted the show while hidden behind bushes. He would then invariably comment on the preceding sketch...
- 7/3/2019
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
For fans of Hollywood’s Golden Age, the news from California this Monday morning hit hard, like the sudden loss of a treasured longtime friend (or for many that “girlfriend next door”).
Here’s how E! Online reported her passing:
Hollywood has lost a beloved legend.
Doris Day, the actress and singer who personified classic Hollywood in the ’50s and ’60s, has died, the Doris Day Animal Foundation announced on Monday. According to the foundation, Day died at her Carmel Valley, Calif. home early Monday while surrounded by a few close friends.
“Day had been in excellent physical health for her age, until recently contracting a serious case of pneumonia, resulting in her death,” the foundation said in a public statement. Day was 97 years old, recently celebrating her birthday on April 3.
For 20 years, 1948 to 1968, Ms. Day was a staple of movie theatres. A few years ago I included her in...
Here’s how E! Online reported her passing:
Hollywood has lost a beloved legend.
Doris Day, the actress and singer who personified classic Hollywood in the ’50s and ’60s, has died, the Doris Day Animal Foundation announced on Monday. According to the foundation, Day died at her Carmel Valley, Calif. home early Monday while surrounded by a few close friends.
“Day had been in excellent physical health for her age, until recently contracting a serious case of pneumonia, resulting in her death,” the foundation said in a public statement. Day was 97 years old, recently celebrating her birthday on April 3.
For 20 years, 1948 to 1968, Ms. Day was a staple of movie theatres. A few years ago I included her in...
- 5/14/2019
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Douglas Sirk took our heads off with this intense, thematically adult tale of love and obsession in a Depression-Era flying circus that’s the open air equivalent of the marathon dance craze — pilots die to thrill the crowd. The terrific-looking show provides career-best roles for some deserving actors: Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone, Jack Carson and Robert Middleton … but the newly-minted star Rock Hudson seems miscast.
The Tarnished Angels
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1957 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 91 min. / Street Date March 26, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Rock Hudson, Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone, Jack Carson, Robert Middleton, Alan Reed, Alexander Lockwood, Chris Olsen, Robert J. Wilke, Troy Donahue.
Cinematography: Irving Glassberg
Film Editor: Russell F. Schoengarth
Original Music: Frank Skinner
Written by George Zuckerman from a novel by William Faulkner
Produced by Albert Zugsmith
Directed by Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk made his name with big, glossy soap operas starring Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson,...
The Tarnished Angels
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1957 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 91 min. / Street Date March 26, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Rock Hudson, Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone, Jack Carson, Robert Middleton, Alan Reed, Alexander Lockwood, Chris Olsen, Robert J. Wilke, Troy Donahue.
Cinematography: Irving Glassberg
Film Editor: Russell F. Schoengarth
Original Music: Frank Skinner
Written by George Zuckerman from a novel by William Faulkner
Produced by Albert Zugsmith
Directed by Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk made his name with big, glossy soap operas starring Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson,...
- 3/12/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Exciting news for fans of old WWII movies! Ann Sheridan and Dennis Morgan in Wings For The Eagle (1942) is now available on DVD from Warner Archives. Ordering information can be found Here
Draft dodger Corky Jones (Dennis Morgan) lands a job at the Lockheed aircraft plant in Burbank, California. Needing a place to stay, Corky moves in with his old pal Brad (Jack Carson) and his wife Roma (Ann Sheridan) to Brad’s delight and Roma’s chagrin. Things flare up between the pals when Roma’s chagrin turns to something more and Corky moves out of his now jealous pal’s place. Complications increase after Roma leaves Brad and all three end up working at the plant. Patriotism trumps passions when Pearl Harbor is attacked, and Corky learns a lesson in duty and sacrifice from an immigrant father (George Tobias) and son (Russell Arms) he works with. Dodging the draft no longer,...
Draft dodger Corky Jones (Dennis Morgan) lands a job at the Lockheed aircraft plant in Burbank, California. Needing a place to stay, Corky moves in with his old pal Brad (Jack Carson) and his wife Roma (Ann Sheridan) to Brad’s delight and Roma’s chagrin. Things flare up between the pals when Roma’s chagrin turns to something more and Corky moves out of his now jealous pal’s place. Complications increase after Roma leaves Brad and all three end up working at the plant. Patriotism trumps passions when Pearl Harbor is attacked, and Corky learns a lesson in duty and sacrifice from an immigrant father (George Tobias) and son (Russell Arms) he works with. Dodging the draft no longer,...
- 12/5/2018
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Ronald Colman: Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month in two major 1930s classics Updated: Turner Classic Movies' July 2017 Star of the Month is Ronald Colman, one of the finest performers of the studio era. On Thursday night, TCM presented five Colman star vehicles that should be popping up again in the not-too-distant future: A Tale of Two Cities, The Prisoner of Zenda, Kismet, Lucky Partners, and My Life with Caroline. The first two movies are among not only Colman's best, but also among Hollywood's best during its so-called Golden Age. Based on Charles Dickens' classic novel, Jack Conway's Academy Award-nominated A Tale of Two Cities (1936) is a rare Hollywood production indeed: it manages to effectively condense its sprawling source, it boasts first-rate production values, and it features a phenomenal central performance. Ah, it also shows its star without his trademark mustache – about as famous at the time as Clark Gable's. Perhaps...
- 7/21/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Sultry singer and actress Lola Albright, who starred in TV’s Peter Gunn and in Kirk Douglas’s classic film Champion, has died at 92.
Albright died Thursday in Toluca Lake, California, her friend, Eric Anderson, confirmed to Ohio’s Akron Beacon Journal.
“She went very peacefully,” friend Eric Anderson said. “She died at 7:20 a.m. of natural causes. We loved her so much.”
Albright’s breakout role came as Douglas’s spurned lover in the boxing classic Champion, which earned Douglas an Oscar nomination.
She’s perhaps best remembered for playing the smokey-voiced nightclub singer Edie Hart opposite Craig Stevens...
Albright died Thursday in Toluca Lake, California, her friend, Eric Anderson, confirmed to Ohio’s Akron Beacon Journal.
“She went very peacefully,” friend Eric Anderson said. “She died at 7:20 a.m. of natural causes. We loved her so much.”
Albright’s breakout role came as Douglas’s spurned lover in the boxing classic Champion, which earned Douglas an Oscar nomination.
She’s perhaps best remembered for playing the smokey-voiced nightclub singer Edie Hart opposite Craig Stevens...
- 3/25/2017
- by Mike Miller
- PEOPLE.com
“Cain, Curtiz, And Crawford”
By Raymond Benson
Mildred Pierce is one curious piece of cinema. As film critics Molly Haskell and Robert Polito point out in their fascinating conversation that is a supplement on this beautifully-presented Blu-ray release from The Criterion Collection, Pierce is a movie that almost doesn’t know what it wants to be. In many ways it is a woman’s picture, that is, a melodrama, but it’s disguised inside a manufactured film noir.
This reasoning is sound, for in spite of novelist James M. Cain being known for terrific pulp crime fiction (Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice), his 1941 novel Mildred Pierce is not a crime story, unless you want to say that a young woman having an affair with her stepfather is “criminal.” The book is indeed hardboiled and pulpy, but there is no murder in it.
On the other hand, Michael Curtiz...
By Raymond Benson
Mildred Pierce is one curious piece of cinema. As film critics Molly Haskell and Robert Polito point out in their fascinating conversation that is a supplement on this beautifully-presented Blu-ray release from The Criterion Collection, Pierce is a movie that almost doesn’t know what it wants to be. In many ways it is a woman’s picture, that is, a melodrama, but it’s disguised inside a manufactured film noir.
This reasoning is sound, for in spite of novelist James M. Cain being known for terrific pulp crime fiction (Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice), his 1941 novel Mildred Pierce is not a crime story, unless you want to say that a young woman having an affair with her stepfather is “criminal.” The book is indeed hardboiled and pulpy, but there is no murder in it.
On the other hand, Michael Curtiz...
- 2/17/2017
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Stars: Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Ann Blyth, Bruce Bennett, Butterfly McQueen | Written by Ranald MacDougall, Catherine Turney | Directed by Michael Curtiz
The shadow of Casablanca will always loom over Michael Curtiz’s bumper filmography, but time has been nearly as kind to Mildred Pierce, an adaptation of James M. Cain’s 1941 novel. A Joan Crawford vehicle made in 1945, the movie is a solid and relevant story that was remade recently for television by Todd Haynes for HBO – albeit minus the murder subplot, which wasn’t in the original text.
Crawford plays Mildred Pierce-Beragon, a woman hauled in by the police following the shooting of her husband, Monte (a slithery Zachary Scott). Mildred is the prime suspect, but then the film flicks to flashback as she starts telling the story of her rises and falls, and we begin to learn of the machinations that ended in murder.
We meet the younger Mildred,...
The shadow of Casablanca will always loom over Michael Curtiz’s bumper filmography, but time has been nearly as kind to Mildred Pierce, an adaptation of James M. Cain’s 1941 novel. A Joan Crawford vehicle made in 1945, the movie is a solid and relevant story that was remade recently for television by Todd Haynes for HBO – albeit minus the murder subplot, which wasn’t in the original text.
Crawford plays Mildred Pierce-Beragon, a woman hauled in by the police following the shooting of her husband, Monte (a slithery Zachary Scott). Mildred is the prime suspect, but then the film flicks to flashback as she starts telling the story of her rises and falls, and we begin to learn of the machinations that ended in murder.
We meet the younger Mildred,...
- 2/10/2017
- by Rupert Harvey
- Nerdly
Mildred Pierce
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 860
1945 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 111 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date , 2017 /
Starring Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden, Ann Blyth, Bruce Bennett, Lee Patrick, Moroni Olsen, Veda Ann Borg, Jo Ann Marlowe, Butterfly McQueen.
Cinematography: Ernest Haller
Art Direction: Anton Grot
Film Editor: David Weisbart
Original Music: Max Steiner
Written by: Ranald MacDougall from the novel by James M. Cain
Produced by: Jerry Wald, Jack L. Warner
Directed by Michael Curtiz
James M. Cain’s 1941 novel Mildred Pierce offers a venal and self-destructive view of America not with a story of respectable bourgeois society, not the criminal underworld. A de-classed, suburb-dwelling nobody fights her way onto the social register by using men and by hard work… and then watches as her obsessive goals blow up in her face In Cain’s worldview it’s every woman for herself. He drags in an odd personal theme,...
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 860
1945 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 111 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date , 2017 /
Starring Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden, Ann Blyth, Bruce Bennett, Lee Patrick, Moroni Olsen, Veda Ann Borg, Jo Ann Marlowe, Butterfly McQueen.
Cinematography: Ernest Haller
Art Direction: Anton Grot
Film Editor: David Weisbart
Original Music: Max Steiner
Written by: Ranald MacDougall from the novel by James M. Cain
Produced by: Jerry Wald, Jack L. Warner
Directed by Michael Curtiz
James M. Cain’s 1941 novel Mildred Pierce offers a venal and self-destructive view of America not with a story of respectable bourgeois society, not the criminal underworld. A de-classed, suburb-dwelling nobody fights her way onto the social register by using men and by hard work… and then watches as her obsessive goals blow up in her face In Cain’s worldview it’s every woman for herself. He drags in an odd personal theme,...
- 1/28/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The recent box office success of The Boss firmly establishes Melissa McCarthy as the current queen of movie comedies (Amy Schumer could be a new contender after an impressive debut last Summer with Trainwreck), but let us think back about those other funny ladies of filmdom. So while we’re enjoying the female reboot/re-imagining of Ghostbusters and those Bad Moms, here’s a top ten list that will hopefully inspire lots of laughter and cause you to search out some classic comedies. It’s tough to narrow them down to ten, but we’ll do our best, beginning with… 10. Eve Arden The droll Ms. Arden represents the comic sidekicks who will attempt to puncture the pomposity of the leading ladies with a well-placed wisecrack (see also the great Thelma Ritter in Rear Window). Her career began in the early 1930’s with great bit roles in Stage Door and Dancing Lady.
- 8/8/2016
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Liz Taylor scorches the screen (as least as much as it could be scorched in 1958) in a watered-down yet still potent Tennessee Williams adaptation. Paul Newman gets his Brando act together, and the rest of the show is stolen by 'Big Daddy' Burl Ives. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1958 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 105 min. / Street Date August 9, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives, Jack Carson. Judith Anderson, Madeleine Sherwood, Larry Gates, Vaughn Taylor. Cinematography William Daniels Film Editor Ferris Webster Written by Richard Brooks, James Poe from the play by Tennessee Williams Produced by Lawrence Weingarten Directed by Richard Brooks
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof might have been the big Oscar winner in 1959 if it were not for Gigi, another major MGM production. In other hands, with different stars in the lead roles, the show could...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof might have been the big Oscar winner in 1959 if it were not for Gigi, another major MGM production. In other hands, with different stars in the lead roles, the show could...
- 8/2/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
When Judy Garland and George Cukor made A Star Is Born for Warner Bros, both Judy and the industry were changing. The Paramount Case and The De Havilland ruling had weakened the paternalistic power of the studio system by forcing studios to sell their theaters and release their stars, while widescreen technology changed the shape of the movies. Similarly, Judy's previously squeaky-clean MGM image had transformed. In the early 1950s, she divorced Vincente Minnelli, married Sidney Luft, survived a suicide attempt and rehab and launched a successful concert series and an even more successful concert album. It was no coincidence that in the middle of this maelstrom Judy Garland's comeback vehicle was a remake of a 1937 Technicolor classic.
The Movie: A Star is Born (Warner Bros 1954)
The Songwriter: Harold Arlen (music), Ira Gershwin (lyrics)
The Players: Judy Garland, James Mason, Jack Carson, Charles Bickford, directed by George Cukor
I'm breaking with tradition slightly,...
The Movie: A Star is Born (Warner Bros 1954)
The Songwriter: Harold Arlen (music), Ira Gershwin (lyrics)
The Players: Judy Garland, James Mason, Jack Carson, Charles Bickford, directed by George Cukor
I'm breaking with tradition slightly,...
- 7/27/2016
- by Anne Marie
- FilmExperience
The marvelous season of Leo McCarey films at New York's Museum of Modern Art features a few real rarities and a whole passel of acknowledged classics: features like Duck Soup and Make Way for Tomorrow and hilarious shorts programs featuring Laurel & Hardy, Charley Chase and others. Perhaps the rarest item is Part Time Wife, a 1930 rehearsal for the greatness of The Awful Truth, complete with Airedale, but only slightly less obscure is late-career entry Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (1958), a strange quasi-satire which folds together several late-fifties concerns without actually addressing them or working out what it is, or what it's for.Whether it's actually true that right-wingers can't do satirical comedy, McCarey certainly lost the fire that made Duck Soup so truly anarchic during the years when he moved away from comedy to make beloved, sentimental and sincere dramas. Returning to broad comedy is something many of his fan probably wished he would do,...
- 7/21/2016
- MUBI
Joan Crawford in 'Mildred Pierce.' 'Mildred Pierce' review: Very entertaining soap opera Time has a way of making some films seem grander than they really are. A good example is Mildred Pierce, the 1945 black-and-white melodrama directed by Casablanca's Michael Curtiz, and that won star Joan Crawford a Best Actress Oscar. Mildred Pierce is in no way, shape, or form great art, even though it's certainly not a bad film. In fact, as a soap opera it's quite entertaining – no, make that very entertaining; and entertainment is a quality that can stand on its own. (The problem in recent decades is that cinema has become nothing but entertainment.) In the case of Mildred Pierce, the entertainment is formulaic and rather predictable – but in an enjoyable, campy sort of way. Unbridled Hollywood melodrama Now, what makes Mildred Pierce a melodrama is something known as the Dumbest Possible Action – Dpa for short.
- 12/12/2015
- by Dan Schneider
- Alt Film Guide
Patricia Neal ca. 1950. Patricia Neal movies: 'The Day the Earth Stood Still,' 'A Face in the Crowd' Back in 1949, few would have predicted that Gary Cooper's leading lady in King Vidor's The Fountainhead would go on to win a Best Actress Academy Award 15 years later. Patricia Neal was one of those performers – e.g., Jean Arthur, Anne Bancroft – whose film career didn't start out all that well, but who, by way of Broadway, managed to both revive and magnify their Hollywood stardom. As part of its “Summer Under the Stars” series, Turner Classic Movies is dedicating Sunday, Aug. 16, '15, to Patricia Neal. This evening, TCM is showing three of her best-known films, in addition to one TCM premiere and an unusual latter-day entry. 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' Robert Wise was hardly a genre director. A former editor (Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons...
- 8/16/2015
- 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
Adolphe Menjou movies today (This article is currently being revised.) Despite countless stories to the contrary, numerous silent film performers managed to survive the coming of sound. Adolphe Menjou, however, is a special case in that he not only remained a leading man in the early sound era, but smoothly made the transition to top supporting player in mid-decade, a position he would continue to hold for the quarter of a century. Menjou is Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Day today, Aug. 3, as part of TCM's "Summer Under the Stars" 2015 series. Right now, TCM is showing William A. Wellman's A Star Is Born, the "original" version of the story about a small-town girl (Janet Gaynor) who becomes a Hollywood star, while her husband (Fredric March) boozes his way into oblivion. In typical Hollywood originality (not that things are any different elsewhere), this 1937 version of the story – produced by...
- 8/4/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Olivia de Havilland on Turner Classic Movies: Your chance to watch 'The Adventures of Robin Hood' for the 384th time Olivia de Havilland is Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” star today, Aug. 2, '15. The two-time Best Actress Oscar winner (To Each His Own, 1946; The Heiress, 1949) whose steely determination helped to change the way studios handled their contract players turned 99 last July 1. Unfortunately, TCM isn't showing any de Havilland movie rarities, e.g., Universal's cool thriller The Dark Mirror (1946), the Paramount comedy The Well-Groomed Bride (1947), or Terence Young's British-made That Lady (1955), with de Havilland as eye-patch-wearing Spanish princess Ana de Mendoza. On the other hand, you'll be able to catch for the 384th time a demure Olivia de Havilland being romanced by a dashing Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood, as TCM shows this 1938 period adventure classic just about every month. But who's complaining? One the...
- 8/3/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Pioneering woman director Lois Weber socially conscious drama 'Shoes' among Library of Congress' Packard Theater movies (photo: Mary MacLaren in 'Shoes') In February 2015, National Film Registry titles will be showcased at the Library of Congress' Packard Campus Theater – aka the Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation – in Culpeper, Virginia. These range from pioneering woman director Lois Weber's socially conscious 1916 drama Shoes to Robert Zemeckis' 1985 blockbuster Back to the Future. Another Packard Theater highlight next month is Sam Peckinpah's ultra-violent Western The Wild Bunch (1969), starring William Holden and Ernest Borgnine. Also, Howard Hawks' "anti-High Noon" Western Rio Bravo (1959), toplining John Wayne and Dean Martin. And George Cukor's costly remake of A Star Is Born (1954), featuring Academy Award nominees Judy Garland and James Mason in the old Janet Gaynor and Fredric March roles. There's more: Jeff Bridges delivers a colorful performance in...
- 1/24/2015
- 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
(Douglas Sirk, 1957; Eureka!, U)
Initially derided by critics in the English-speaking world (though not in France), this version of William Faulkner's 1935 novel Pylon is now regarded as one of Douglas Sirk's masterworks. Shot in stark black-and-white CinemaScope, it's set in New Orleans and is about the desperate lives of itinerant barnstorming fairground aviators risking their lives as they eke out a living during the Depression. Rock Hudson, Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone co-star, as they did the previous year in Sirk's Written on the Wind.
Hudson plays an alcoholic journalist (unnamed in the novel but called Burke Devlin in the film) who becomes fascinated by the odd menage a trois of a former first world war ace pilot obsessed with flight (Stack), his loving but promiscuous wife (Malone) and his devoted mechanic (Jack Carson), who may possibly be the father of the couple's young son. Devlin becomes close...
Initially derided by critics in the English-speaking world (though not in France), this version of William Faulkner's 1935 novel Pylon is now regarded as one of Douglas Sirk's masterworks. Shot in stark black-and-white CinemaScope, it's set in New Orleans and is about the desperate lives of itinerant barnstorming fairground aviators risking their lives as they eke out a living during the Depression. Rock Hudson, Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone co-star, as they did the previous year in Sirk's Written on the Wind.
Hudson plays an alcoholic journalist (unnamed in the novel but called Burke Devlin in the film) who becomes fascinated by the odd menage a trois of a former first world war ace pilot obsessed with flight (Stack), his loving but promiscuous wife (Malone) and his devoted mechanic (Jack Carson), who may possibly be the father of the couple's young son. Devlin becomes close...
- 9/14/2013
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
★★★☆☆ An adaptation of William Faulkner's 1935 novel Pylon (and considered by Faulkner to be the finest of all screen adaptations of his work), Douglas Sirk's haunting and inherently sad The Tarnished Angels (1957) has been given the Blu-ray treatment by The Masters of Cinema, a label known for cherishing the more challenging and notable notches in cinema's lifespan. While Sirk didn't believe it to be his greatest work, it's perhaps best-known for being his most personal, ambitious and starkly cynical film; far removed from the more distinguishable, Technicolor-infused melodramas of that peppered his career.
Whilst visually dissimilar to the more intoxicating Written on the Wind (1956) - a spiralling and perversely glorified soap opera - Sirk (whilst collaborating again with screenwriter George Zuckerman) retains a large portion of that film's main cast and, indeed, its subversive themes regarding post-war infatuation and obsession. Set in, and effectively evoking, Depression-era New Orleans, the...
Whilst visually dissimilar to the more intoxicating Written on the Wind (1956) - a spiralling and perversely glorified soap opera - Sirk (whilst collaborating again with screenwriter George Zuckerman) retains a large portion of that film's main cast and, indeed, its subversive themes regarding post-war infatuation and obsession. Set in, and effectively evoking, Depression-era New Orleans, the...
- 8/27/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Hattie McDaniel as Mammy in ‘Gone with the Wind’: TCM schedule on August 20, 2013 (photo: Vivien Leigh and Hattie McDaniel in ‘Gone with the Wind’) See previous post: “Hattie McDaniel: Oscar Winner Makes History.” 3:00 Am Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943). Director: David Butler. Cast: Joan Leslie, Dennis Morgan, Eddie Cantor, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Errol Flynn, John Garfield, Ida Lupino, Ann Sheridan, Dinah Shore, Alexis Smith, Jack Carson, Alan Hale, George Tobias, Edward Everett Horton, S.Z. Sakall, Hattie McDaniel, Ruth Donnelly, Don Wilson, Spike Jones, Henry Armetta, Leah Baird, Willie Best, Monte Blue, James Burke, David Butler, Stanley Clements, William Desmond, Ralph Dunn, Frank Faylen, James Flavin, Creighton Hale, Sam Harris, Paul Harvey, Mark Hellinger, Brandon Hurst, Charles Irwin, Noble Johnson, Mike Mazurki, Fred Kelsey, Frank Mayo, Joyce Reynolds, Mary Treen, Doodles Weaver. Bw-127 mins. 5:15 Am Janie (1944). Director: Michael Curtiz. Cast: Joyce Reynolds, Robert Hutton,...
- 8/21/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Ann Blyth movies: TCM schedule on August 16, 2013 (photo: ‘Our Very Own’ stars Ann Blyth and Farley Granger) See previous post: "Ann Blyth Today: Light Singing and Heavy Drama on TCM." 3:00 Am One Minute To Zero (1952). Director: Tay Garnett. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Ann Blyth, William Talman. Bw-106 mins. 5:00 Am All The Brothers Were Valiant (1953). Director: Richard Thorpe. Cast: Robert Taylor, Stewart Granger, Ann Blyth. C-95 mins. 6:45 Am The King’S Thief (1955). Director: Robert Z. Leonard. Cast: Ann Blyth, Edmund Purdom, David Niven. C-79 mins. Letterbox Format. 8:15 Am Rose Marie (1954). Director: Mervyn LeRoy. Cast: Ann Blyth, Howard Keel, Fernando Lamas. C-104 mins. Letterbox Format. 10:00 Am The Great Caruso (1951). Director: Richard Thorpe. Cast: Mario Lanza, Ann Blyth, Dorothy Kirsten, Jarmila Novotna, Richard Hageman, Carl Benton Reid, Eduard Franz, Ludwig Donath, Alan Napier, Pál Jávor, Carl Milletaire, Shepard Menken, Vincent Renno, Nestor Paiva, Peter Price, Mario Siletti, Angela Clarke,...
- 8/16/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Joan Fontaine movies: ‘This Above All,’ ‘Letter from an Unknown Woman’ (photo: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine in ‘Suspicion’ publicity image) (See previous post: “Joan Fontaine Today.”) Also tonight on Turner Classic Movies, Joan Fontaine can be seen in today’s lone TCM premiere, the flag-waving 20th Century Fox release The Above All (1942), with Fontaine as an aristocratic (but socially conscious) English Rose named Prudence Cathaway (Fontaine was born to British parents in Japan) and Fox’s top male star, Tyrone Power, as her Awol romantic interest. This Above All was directed by Anatole Litvak, who would guide Olivia de Havilland in the major box-office hit The Snake Pit (1948), which earned her a Best Actress Oscar nod. In Max Ophüls’ darkly romantic Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), Fontaine delivers not only what is probably the greatest performance of her career, but also one of the greatest movie performances ever. Letter from an Unknown Woman...
- 8/6/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Top 10 Aliya Whiteley 6 Aug 2013 - 07:06
Hitchcock's Vertigo may have dominated 1958, but that year was full of other films about fear and loathing. Here's Aliya's top 10...
There are so many things to be scared of. Apart from the obvious perils, such as large spiders, venomous snakes, and dentists, there are less tangible things to panic about. Fear of growing old. Fear of falling into poverty. Fear of thermonuclear war.
In 1958, Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo was released. It’s very good at making the watcher feel very uncomfortable, through the camera angles and the great score by Bernard Herrmann. But it’s not just the audience who gets to feel scared; it’s there in the script too. Scottie (played by James Stewart) suffers from vertigo, but he’s also afraid of his past, and of the pain of loss. He’s been hurt so badly before that he’ll...
Hitchcock's Vertigo may have dominated 1958, but that year was full of other films about fear and loathing. Here's Aliya's top 10...
There are so many things to be scared of. Apart from the obvious perils, such as large spiders, venomous snakes, and dentists, there are less tangible things to panic about. Fear of growing old. Fear of falling into poverty. Fear of thermonuclear war.
In 1958, Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo was released. It’s very good at making the watcher feel very uncomfortable, through the camera angles and the great score by Bernard Herrmann. But it’s not just the audience who gets to feel scared; it’s there in the script too. Scottie (played by James Stewart) suffers from vertigo, but he’s also afraid of his past, and of the pain of loss. He’s been hurt so badly before that he’ll...
- 8/5/2013
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Doris Day movies: TCM’s ‘Summer Under the Stars 2013′ lineup continues (photo: Doris Day in ‘Calamity Jane’ publicity shot) Doris Day, who turned 89 last April 3, is Turner Classic Movies’ 2013 “Summer Under the Stars” star on Friday, August 2. (Doris Day, by the way, still looks great. Check out "Doris Day Today.") Doris Day movies, of course, are frequently shown on TCM. Why? Well, TCM is owned by the megaconglomerate Time Warner, which also happens to own (among myriad other things) the Warner Bros. film library, which includes not only the Doris Day movies made at Warners from 1948 to 1955, but also Day’s MGM films as well (and the overwhelming majority of MGM releases up to 1986). My point: Don’t expect any Doris Day movie rarity on Friday — in fact, I don’t think such a thing exists. Doris Day is ‘Calamity Jane’ If you haven’t watched David Butler’s musical...
- 8/1/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Paul Henreid: From Eleanor Parker to ‘The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’ (photo: Paul Henreid and Eleanor Parker in ‘Between Two Worlds’) Paul Henreid returns this evening, as Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of July 2013. In Of Human Bondage (1946), he stars in the old Leslie Howard role: a clubfooted medical student who falls for a ruthless waitress (Eleanor Parker, in the old Bette Davis role). Next on TCM, Henreid and Eleanor Parker are reunited in Between Two Worlds (1944), in which passengers aboard an ocean liner wonder where they are and where the hell (or heaven or purgatory) they’re going. Hollywood Canteen (1944) is a near-plotless, all-star showcase for Warner Bros.’ talent, a World War II morale-boosting follow-up to that studio’s Thank Your Lucky Stars, released the previous year. Last of the Buccaneers (1950) and Pirates of Tripoli (1955) are B pirate movies. The former is an uninspired affair,...
- 7/24/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Doris Day today Doris Day, who turned 89 last April 24, was a special guest at the Nancy for Frank show — that’s Nancy Sinatra for Frank Sinatra — on SiriusXM Radio channel 71. The Doris Day photo above was posted on Nancy for Frank‘s Facebook page and on the Frank Sinatra Family Forum. (See also: Doris Day photo, with furry friend.) The Doris Day special was aired in two parts in late June 2013. The radio show consisted of Nancy Sinatra chatting with Day, in addition to musical interludes featuring Doris Day songs such as "I’ll String You Along with Me," "But Not for Me," "I’ll See You in My Dreams," and "Hooray for Hollywood," plus two versions of "I Didn’t Know What Time It Was" — one sang by Day, another sang by Frank Sinatra. Doris Day and Frank Sinatra made only movie together, Gordon Douglas’ 1954 musical drama Young at Heart,...
- 7/8/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Eleanor Parker Now on TCM Palms Springs area resident Eleanor Parker, who turns 91 next June 26, is Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of June. One of the best actresses of Hollywood’s studio era, Parker isn’t nearly as well-remembered today as she should be despite three Best Actress Academy Award nominations (Caged, 1950; Detective Story, 1951; Interrupted Melody, 1955), a number of box-office and/or critical hits, and a key role in one of the biggest blockbusters of all time (The Sound of Music). Hopefully, the 34 Eleanor Parker movies TCM will be showing each Monday this month — beginning tonight — will help to introduce the actress to a broader 21st-century audience. Eleanor Parker movies "When I am spotted somewhere it means that my characterizations haven’t covered up Eleanor Parker the person. I prefer it the other way around," Parker once said. In fact, the title of Doug McClelland’s 1989 Eleanor Parker bio,...
- 6/4/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The holy grail of customer satisfaction as well as an artistic taboo, the happy ending can be played out in many ways. Which films would you add to this list?
This week Clip joint is from John Carvill, who previously wrote on subjects as varied as taking the train and 'meet cutes'. If you've got an idea for a future clip joint, email adam.boult@guardian.co.uk.
During a key scene in The Player, Robert Altman's shrewdly meta-fictional Hollywood movie about how Hollywood makes movies, studio executive Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) languidly enumerates to June Gudmundsdottir (Greta Scacchi), the elements a script needs if it is to become one of the dozen or so per year that Griffin's studio can green light for production: "Suspense, laughter, violence … hope, heart … nudity, sex … happy endings." Griffin pauses, then concludes: "Mainly happy endings."
Happy endings, being both a holy grail of...
This week Clip joint is from John Carvill, who previously wrote on subjects as varied as taking the train and 'meet cutes'. If you've got an idea for a future clip joint, email adam.boult@guardian.co.uk.
During a key scene in The Player, Robert Altman's shrewdly meta-fictional Hollywood movie about how Hollywood makes movies, studio executive Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) languidly enumerates to June Gudmundsdottir (Greta Scacchi), the elements a script needs if it is to become one of the dozen or so per year that Griffin's studio can green light for production: "Suspense, laughter, violence … hope, heart … nudity, sex … happy endings." Griffin pauses, then concludes: "Mainly happy endings."
Happy endings, being both a holy grail of...
- 3/6/2013
- by Guardian readers
- The Guardian - Film News
Doris Day is Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month of April 2012. TCM's Doris Day homage begins this evening with eight movies released at the start of Day's career at Warner Bros. In addition to Day's presence, what those movies have in common is the following: little plot, lots of music, and Old Hollywood's fluff-producing machinery at work. If that's your thing, don't miss them! Of those, the better one is probably Roy Del Ruth's On Moonlight Bay (1951, photo). Though nothing at all like Del Ruth's crackling Warner Bros. movies of the early '30s — e.g., The Maltese Falcon, Beauty and the Boss, Blessed Event — this musical comedy set in a small American town prior to World War I offers some genuine nostalgia, great songs, and charming performances, including those of the two good-looking leads, Day and Gordon MacRae. On Moonlight Bay was popular enough to merit a sequel,...
- 4/3/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Turner Classic Movies (TCM), Sony Masterworks and Warner Home Video (Whv) are teaming up on a multi-tiered celebration of one of Hollywood’s most beloved stars: Doris Day. The celebration includes a new four-movie DVD package of memorable Day performance from Whv (in stores now); a brand new double CD set from Sony Masterworks (releasing April 3), with a collection of 31 songs curated by Day herself; and a five-night salute on TCM (April 2-6) This multi-pronged Doris Day tribute is timed to coincide with her birthday on April 3.
.I am so thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Sony Music on this collection of my recordings. I sang hundreds of songs, but because I was so busy singing, I rarely had the time to be involved in the compilation of the albums. So in this collection are some of my favorites, ones that I loved singing, and I hope you like them too,...
.I am so thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Sony Music on this collection of my recordings. I sang hundreds of songs, but because I was so busy singing, I rarely had the time to be involved in the compilation of the albums. So in this collection are some of my favorites, ones that I loved singing, and I hope you like them too,...
- 3/14/2012
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Doris Day may have been — once again — absurdly bypassed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Board of Governors, but at least she'll be getting some much deserved recognition from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (Lafca). Day, 87, has been named the recipient of the L.A. Critics' Career Achievement Award of 2011 — or 2012, as the ceremony will take place early next year. (This year's winners will be announced on December 11.) The first Lafca award winners were announced in 1975. The annual Career Achievement Award was instituted the following year. Since then, a mere four women have been recognized for their contributions to the motion picture industry: actresses Barbara Stanwyck (1981) and Myrna Loy (1983), editor Dede Allen (1999), and now Doris Day. Male recipients — sometimes two per year — range from auteur John Cassavetes to comedian/auteur Jerry Lewis, from producer John Calley to silent-era pioneer Allan Dwan, from animator Chuck Jones to filmmaker Akira Kurosawa.
- 10/30/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Ann Blyth on TCM: Kismet, Rose Marie, Our Very Own 8:00 Pm Mildred Pierce (1945). A woman turns herself into a business tycoon to win her selfish daughter a place in society. Dir: Michael Curtiz. Cast: Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Ann Blyth, Eve Arden, Bruce Bennett. Bw-111 mins. 10:00 Pm Kismet (1955). In this Arabian Nights musical, the "king of the beggars" infiltrates high society when his daughter is wooed by a handsome prince. Dir: Vincente Minnelli. Cast: Howard Keel, Ann Blyth, Dolores Gray. C-113 mins. Letterbox Format. 12:00 Am All The Brothers Were Valiant (1953). Brothers on a whaling schooner become romantic rivals. Dir: Richard Thorpe. Cast: Robert Taylor, Stewart Granger, Ann Blyth. C-95 mins. 2:00 Am Our Very Own (1950). The discovery that she's adopted shakes a young girl's sense of security. Dir: Dave Miller. Cast: Ann Blyth, Farley Granger, Joan Evans, Jane Wyatt. Bw-93 mins. 4:00 Am Rose Marie...
- 9/18/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Robert Montgomery, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Forsaking All Others Joan Crawford on TCM: Mildred Pierce, Flamingo Road, When Ladies Meet Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 6:00 Am Forsaking All Others (1934) A woman pursues the wrong man for almost twenty years. Dir: W. S. Van Dyke. Cast: Robert Montgomery, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable. Bw-83 mins. 7:30 Am I Live My Life (1935) A flighty society girl tries to make a go of her marriage to an archaeologist. Dir: W. S. Van Dyke. Cast: Joan Crawford, Brian Aherne, Frank Morgan. Bw-97 mins. 9:15 Am Love On The Run (1936) Rival newsmen get mixed up with a runaway heiress and a ring of spies. Dir: W. S. Van Dyke. Cast: Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone. Bw-80 mins. 10:45 Am When Ladies Meet (1941) A female novelist doesn't realize her new friend is the wife whose husband she's trying to steal. Dir: Robert Z. Leonard.
- 8/22/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
With the entire original run of The Twilight Zone available to watch instantly, we’re partnering with Twitch Film to cover half of the show’s 156 episodes. Are you brave enough to watch them all with us? The Twilight Zone (Episode #50): “The Whole Truth” (airdate 1/20/61) The Plot: A shifty used car salesman (redundant I know) scams an old man out of his car, but he soon discovers the vehicle comes with an unexpected feature… whoever owns it is forced to tell the truth at all times. The Goods: Harvey Hunnicut (Jack Carson) is a douche. Well, this is the early sixties so let’s just say he’s a morally bankrupt used car salesman. The story opens with him trying to sweet talk a young couple into buying a real lemon of a car, but he pauses his verbal scam to check in on an old man hoping to sell his car for some cash. Harvey...
- 8/13/2011
- by Rob Hunter
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt, Lost Horizon Ronald Colman on TCM: Random Harvest, Kiki, A Tale Of Two Cities Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 6:00 Am Lucky Partners (1940) Two strangers who share a sweepstakes ticket take it on the lam. Dir: Lewis Milestone. Cast: Ronald Colman, Ginger Rogers, Jack Carson. Bw-99 mins. 7:45 Am My Life With Caroline (1941) A man thinks his high-spirited wife is cheating on him. Dir: Lewis Milestone. Cast: Ronald Colman, Anna Lee, Charles Winninger. Bw-81 mins. 9:15 Am The White Sister (1923) Thinking her lover was killed in the war, a young woman becomes a nun. Dir: Henry King. Cast: Lillian Gish, Ronald Colman, Gail Kane. Bw-135 mins. 11:30 Am Kiki (1926) A Parisian dancer vies with a glamorous actress for a producer's heart. Dir: Clarence Brown. Cast: Norma Talmadge, Ronald Colman, Gertrude Astor. Bw-97 mins. 1:30 Pm Raffles (1930) A distinguished British gentleman hides his true...
- 8/4/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" of the silver screen is a neutered one. The characters, scenario, and rough plot of this 1958 film are all identical to the 1955 Tennessee Williams play it is based on, but many of the finer details have been smudged, obscured, or removed altogether because of the restrictions of the Motion Picture Production Code of the time. Thus, the "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" we can watch today (it's currently available on Netflix Watch Instantly) starring Paul Newman, Burl Ives, and Elizabeth Taylor at the absolute apex of her beauty, is certainly not the one Williams' would have preferred we watch. But while the omissions and changes make "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" a less authentic reflection of the author's vision, they also make it a more authentic reflection of the author's times and that, in turn, gives the film a kind of an unusual power.
- 3/28/2011
- by Matt Singer
- ifc.com
Olivia de Havilland on TCM: The Heiress, The Snake Pit Schedule (Pt) and synopses from the TCM website: 3:00 Am Charge Of The Light Brigade, The (1936) Two brothers love the same woman at a perilous Indian outpost. Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, David Niven. Dir: Michael Curtiz. Bw-116 mins. 5:00 Am Dodge City (1939) A soldier of fortune takes on the corrupt boss of a Western town. Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Ann Sheridan. Dir: Michael Curtiz. C-104 mins. 7:00 Am Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, The (1939) Elizabeth I’s love for the Earl of Essex threatens to destroy her kingdom. Cast: Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland. Dir: Michael Curtiz. Bw-106 mins. 9:00 Am Male Animal, The (1942) A college professor fights censorship and an amorous football player who’s after his wife. Cast: Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland, Jack Carson. Dir: Elliott Nugent. Bw-101 mins. 11:...
- 8/26/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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