As I leave the post, I look back on how cinema has changed since 2013 and, below, pick a favourite movie from each year of my tenure – as well as a turkey
This week, I filed my final column as chief film critic for the Observer. I’m stepping down after exactly 10 years in the role, making way for the brilliant Wendy Ide to take over the reins and put her own inimitable stamp on the paper. A longstanding colleague and friend, Wendy is an exceptional critic and I look forward to reading her insightful and elegant reviews in these pages for years to come. In the meantime, looking back at my own experiences over the past decade, I’m struck by how much the moviegoing landscape has changed.
When I took over from the great Philip French in September 2013, Kathryn Bigelow was still the only woman to have won the Oscar for best director,...
This week, I filed my final column as chief film critic for the Observer. I’m stepping down after exactly 10 years in the role, making way for the brilliant Wendy Ide to take over the reins and put her own inimitable stamp on the paper. A longstanding colleague and friend, Wendy is an exceptional critic and I look forward to reading her insightful and elegant reviews in these pages for years to come. In the meantime, looking back at my own experiences over the past decade, I’m struck by how much the moviegoing landscape has changed.
When I took over from the great Philip French in September 2013, Kathryn Bigelow was still the only woman to have won the Oscar for best director,...
- 9/17/2023
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
Ide will continue to write reviews for Screen International.
Wendy Ide, part of Screen International’s team of critics, is replacing Mark Kermode as chief critic at UK newspaper The Observer.
Ide will continue to write reviews for Screen International.
Screen’s executive editor, reviews and new talent, Fionnuala Halligan said: “We at Screen are absolutely delighted by Wendy’s appointment at The Observer. It’s so well deserved. She is, and remains, a key member of our reviews team on whose judgment, and elegant consideration, of independent cinema we rely.
”Wendy will continue to travel extensively for Screen, discovering...
Wendy Ide, part of Screen International’s team of critics, is replacing Mark Kermode as chief critic at UK newspaper The Observer.
Ide will continue to write reviews for Screen International.
Screen’s executive editor, reviews and new talent, Fionnuala Halligan said: “We at Screen are absolutely delighted by Wendy’s appointment at The Observer. It’s so well deserved. She is, and remains, a key member of our reviews team on whose judgment, and elegant consideration, of independent cinema we rely.
”Wendy will continue to travel extensively for Screen, discovering...
- 8/21/2023
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Wendy Ide, a regular contributor to the newspaper since 2017, says she is ‘beyond honoured’ to take over the role
All cinemas seats are not the same. Comfy or lumpy, there are some views of the screen that are more coveted than others. This weekend, Mark Kermode, the Observer’s chief film critic for 10 years, announces that he will vacate one of the best seats in the house and usher in Wendy Ide, who is to take up his place on the newspaper.
It is a post that was held for 35 years by the late Philip French, during whose tenure the film review pages became an esteemed place to set in context both popular and independent cinema; to praise its triumphs and to laugh at its cliches.
All cinemas seats are not the same. Comfy or lumpy, there are some views of the screen that are more coveted than others. This weekend, Mark Kermode, the Observer’s chief film critic for 10 years, announces that he will vacate one of the best seats in the house and usher in Wendy Ide, who is to take up his place on the newspaper.
It is a post that was held for 35 years by the late Philip French, during whose tenure the film review pages became an esteemed place to set in context both popular and independent cinema; to praise its triumphs and to laugh at its cliches.
- 8/19/2023
- by Vanessa Thorpe, Arts and Media Correspondent
- The Guardian - Film News
Click here to read the full article.
It was a typically sunny day when Woody Allen, Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell arrived at the 2007 Venice International Film Festival for the world premiere of Cassandra’s Dream, which screened as part of the fest’s Venice Masters sidebar. But the film itself proved to be one of Allen’s darkest efforts, the tale of two cockney brothers, down on their luck, who agree to commit a murder with tragic results.
Eschewing his usual laughs, Allen defended the grim drama, explaining at a press conference, “I have always felt that life itself is a tremendously tragic event, a real mess. It has comic moments in it. There are moments of pleasure and moments that are amusing, but basically it is tragic. I have always wanted to be a tragic writer — a writer of tragic material. It just so happened that my most obvious strengths have been comic.
It was a typically sunny day when Woody Allen, Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell arrived at the 2007 Venice International Film Festival for the world premiere of Cassandra’s Dream, which screened as part of the fest’s Venice Masters sidebar. But the film itself proved to be one of Allen’s darkest efforts, the tale of two cockney brothers, down on their luck, who agree to commit a murder with tragic results.
Eschewing his usual laughs, Allen defended the grim drama, explaining at a press conference, “I have always felt that life itself is a tremendously tragic event, a real mess. It has comic moments in it. There are moments of pleasure and moments that are amusing, but basically it is tragic. I have always wanted to be a tragic writer — a writer of tragic material. It just so happened that my most obvious strengths have been comic.
- 8/31/2022
- by Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
What happens the moment gunmen go South of the border in American westerns? Implied foreign policy, that’s what! Updating an old ‘MGM Video Savant’ article from 1999, CineSavant takes a look at a fistful of big Hollywood shoot-out epics that formed less-than-optimal public impressions of international relations. You know, the Friendly Neighbor Policy, only with guns. The essay rewrite was first reprinted at Lee Broughton’s Current Thinking on the Western page, ‘An Internet Resource for Scholars of the Western Worldwide.’
The Foreign Adventurism Western
CineSavant Article
Discussing the films
Vera Cruz (1954),
The Magnificent Seven (1960),
Major Dundee (1965),
The Professionals (1966),
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Directed by Robert Aldrich, John Sturges, Sam Peckinpah, Richard Brooks
While enjoying an escapist, ostensibly apolitical Hollywood western, did you ever get the feeling that the filmmakers were commenting on foreign policy?
Back in the early 1970s the best studies of American genre films seemed to emanate from English critics.
The Foreign Adventurism Western
CineSavant Article
Discussing the films
Vera Cruz (1954),
The Magnificent Seven (1960),
Major Dundee (1965),
The Professionals (1966),
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Directed by Robert Aldrich, John Sturges, Sam Peckinpah, Richard Brooks
While enjoying an escapist, ostensibly apolitical Hollywood western, did you ever get the feeling that the filmmakers were commenting on foreign policy?
Back in the early 1970s the best studies of American genre films seemed to emanate from English critics.
- 6/11/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Director whose films ranged across genres from period drama to science fiction, and included the acclaimed evocation of the jazz world Round Midnight
The film-maker Bertrand Tavernier, who has died aged 79, invested his movies with a scrupulous and humane curiosity, no matter what the theme, genre or setting. He was catholic in his enthusiasms, moving easily from period drama to policier, swashbuckler to science-fiction, wide-ranging documentary to intimate musical elegy. The Observer critic Philip French said in 2002 that the director “combines a powerful intellect with a strong social conscience and has a greater knowledge of, and feeling for, the history of cinema than any moviemaker alive”.
Tavernier enjoyed international success with A Sunday in the Country (1984), his portrait of an ageing artist and his family at the dawn of the 20th century; it won him the best director prize at the Cannes film festival. Round Midnight (1986) starred the saxophonist Dexter Gordon,...
The film-maker Bertrand Tavernier, who has died aged 79, invested his movies with a scrupulous and humane curiosity, no matter what the theme, genre or setting. He was catholic in his enthusiasms, moving easily from period drama to policier, swashbuckler to science-fiction, wide-ranging documentary to intimate musical elegy. The Observer critic Philip French said in 2002 that the director “combines a powerful intellect with a strong social conscience and has a greater knowledge of, and feeling for, the history of cinema than any moviemaker alive”.
Tavernier enjoyed international success with A Sunday in the Country (1984), his portrait of an ageing artist and his family at the dawn of the 20th century; it won him the best director prize at the Cannes film festival. Round Midnight (1986) starred the saxophonist Dexter Gordon,...
- 3/28/2021
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
Dutch FilmWorks and EndemolShine Scripted collaborating on the production.
UK crime novel The Memory Game is to be adapted as a Dutch-language feature film and will subsequently be released as a three-part miniseries.
The psychological thriller will be produced by Dutch FilmWorks and EndemolShine Scripted and marks the first of several novels written by Nicci French that are set to be adapted for the screen. Dfw International will handle worldwide sales.
Nicci French is the pseudonym of husband-and-wife team Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, the son of late film critic Philip French; their books have sold more than 6 million copies in the Netherlands.
UK crime novel The Memory Game is to be adapted as a Dutch-language feature film and will subsequently be released as a three-part miniseries.
The psychological thriller will be produced by Dutch FilmWorks and EndemolShine Scripted and marks the first of several novels written by Nicci French that are set to be adapted for the screen. Dfw International will handle worldwide sales.
Nicci French is the pseudonym of husband-and-wife team Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, the son of late film critic Philip French; their books have sold more than 6 million copies in the Netherlands.
- 5/26/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
Though many are familiar with its namesake work, David Hockney’s famous 1967 painting of a splash rising up from a placid California swimming pool, fewer know Jack Hazan’s too-little-seen 1974 documentary of the same name. An early entry into the documentary/narrative hybrid genre, the film “A Bigger Splash” honors Hockney and his mesmerizing work with a portrait of the artist worthy of his creative genius.
A new 4K restoration of this masterpiece of queer cinema will play New York City’s Metrograph later this month, offering audiences a rare chance to catch this seminal work on the big screen. IndieWire is debuting the brand new trailer exclusively below.
Shot over three years in the early 1970s, the official synopsis calls “A Bigger Splash” “an improvisatory narrative-nonfiction hybrid featuring Hockney, a wary participant, as well his circle of friends, many subjects of his portraits, including British textile designer Celia Birtwell,...
A new 4K restoration of this masterpiece of queer cinema will play New York City’s Metrograph later this month, offering audiences a rare chance to catch this seminal work on the big screen. IndieWire is debuting the brand new trailer exclusively below.
Shot over three years in the early 1970s, the official synopsis calls “A Bigger Splash” “an improvisatory narrative-nonfiction hybrid featuring Hockney, a wary participant, as well his circle of friends, many subjects of his portraits, including British textile designer Celia Birtwell,...
- 6/10/2019
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
“ You’re a comical little geezer. You’ll look funny when you’re fifty.” James Fox as Chas to Mick Jagger as Turner in Performance.
Last weekend saw the loss of one of the UK’s finest and most admired filmmakers, Nicolas Roeg, who died at 90. 2018 also marks fifty years since the making of his first film as director, the BAFTA-nominated Performance, alongside co-director Donald Cammell starring James Fox, Mick Jagger and Anita Pallenberg.
To celebrate the anniversary a lavish 348 page book, Performance: The 50th Anniversary of the Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg Cinematic Classic, boasting over 500 images, many previously unseen by the public, will be published on 3rd December 2018, as James Kleinmann reports for HeyUGuys.
The book, by Jay Glennie, takes an in-depth look at the making of the hugely influential film, the reluctance of Warner Bros. to release it without substantial cuts, the initial critical reaction as well...
Last weekend saw the loss of one of the UK’s finest and most admired filmmakers, Nicolas Roeg, who died at 90. 2018 also marks fifty years since the making of his first film as director, the BAFTA-nominated Performance, alongside co-director Donald Cammell starring James Fox, Mick Jagger and Anita Pallenberg.
To celebrate the anniversary a lavish 348 page book, Performance: The 50th Anniversary of the Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg Cinematic Classic, boasting over 500 images, many previously unseen by the public, will be published on 3rd December 2018, as James Kleinmann reports for HeyUGuys.
The book, by Jay Glennie, takes an in-depth look at the making of the hugely influential film, the reluctance of Warner Bros. to release it without substantial cuts, the initial critical reaction as well...
- 11/28/2018
- by James Kleinmann
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Philip French’s screen legends: No 21
‘I am not a myth,’ she said - one of her least convincing statements. Born in Berlin, the daughter of a military family, she broke on to the international scene with the coming of sound as the nightclub performer Lola Lola, humiliating and destroying schoolteacher Emil Jannings in The Blue Angel (1930), a role on which she was to play variations for the rest of her life. The film was directed in Berlin by Joseph von Sternberg, the Hollywood aristocrat born into a working-class Jewish family in Vienna. Both self-creations, their conspiratorial Svengali-Trilby relationship continued back in the Us with six exotic, erotic melodramas at Paramount, in which exquisite decor accompanied the subversion of social decorum. Most of the films were produced before the Hollywood code was strictly enforced. Blonde Venus (1932), for instance, begins with Marlene and five other fräuleins bathing in the nude observed by six American hikers.
‘I am not a myth,’ she said - one of her least convincing statements. Born in Berlin, the daughter of a military family, she broke on to the international scene with the coming of sound as the nightclub performer Lola Lola, humiliating and destroying schoolteacher Emil Jannings in The Blue Angel (1930), a role on which she was to play variations for the rest of her life. The film was directed in Berlin by Joseph von Sternberg, the Hollywood aristocrat born into a working-class Jewish family in Vienna. Both self-creations, their conspiratorial Svengali-Trilby relationship continued back in the Us with six exotic, erotic melodramas at Paramount, in which exquisite decor accompanied the subversion of social decorum. Most of the films were produced before the Hollywood code was strictly enforced. Blonde Venus (1932), for instance, begins with Marlene and five other fräuleins bathing in the nude observed by six American hikers.
- 12/27/2017
- by Guardian Staff
- The Guardian - Film News
Aooowww — Woo! Jack Nicholson summons his inner dog — and dons the makeup and scary contact lenses — to go the Larry Talbot route. Unfortunately, his moon-howling nighttime life isn’t as interesting as the dog-eat-dog infighting in the publishing house where he works – where feral instincts and sharp lupine senses are a major aid to ‘getting a leg up’ on the competition. I know, cheap metaphors are the ruin of promising writers.
Wolf
All-Region Blu-ray
Indicator
1994 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 125 min. / Street Date November 20, 2017 / £14.99
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer, James Spader, Kate Nelligan, Christopher Plummer, Richard Jenkins, Eileen Atkins, David Hyde Pierce, Om Puri, Ron Rifkin, Prunella Scales, David Schwimmer, Michael Raynor.
Cinematography: Giuseppe Rotunno
Film Editor: Sam O’Steen
Production Design: Bo Welch, Jim Dultz
Makeup Effects: Rick Baker
Original Music: Ennio Morricone
Written by Jim Harrison, Wesley Strick
Produced by Douglas Wick
Directed by Mike Nichols
I think my mother...
Wolf
All-Region Blu-ray
Indicator
1994 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 125 min. / Street Date November 20, 2017 / £14.99
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer, James Spader, Kate Nelligan, Christopher Plummer, Richard Jenkins, Eileen Atkins, David Hyde Pierce, Om Puri, Ron Rifkin, Prunella Scales, David Schwimmer, Michael Raynor.
Cinematography: Giuseppe Rotunno
Film Editor: Sam O’Steen
Production Design: Bo Welch, Jim Dultz
Makeup Effects: Rick Baker
Original Music: Ennio Morricone
Written by Jim Harrison, Wesley Strick
Produced by Douglas Wick
Directed by Mike Nichols
I think my mother...
- 11/28/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The Ninth Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — co-presented by Cinema St. Louis and the Webster University Film Series started last Friday and continues the next two weekends — The Classic French Film Festival celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1920s through the mid-1990s, offering a revealing overview of French cinema.
All films are screened at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood).
The fest is annually highlighted by significant restorations, which this year includes films by two New Wave masters: Jacques Rivette’s first feature, “Paris Belongs to Us,” and François Truffaut’s cinephilic love letter, “Day for Night.” The fest also provides one of the few opportunities available in St. Louis to see films projected the old-school, time-honored way, with both Alain Resnais’ “Last Year at Marienbad” and Robert Bresson’s “Au hasard Balthazar” screening from 35mm prints.
All films are screened at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood).
The fest is annually highlighted by significant restorations, which this year includes films by two New Wave masters: Jacques Rivette’s first feature, “Paris Belongs to Us,” and François Truffaut’s cinephilic love letter, “Day for Night.” The fest also provides one of the few opportunities available in St. Louis to see films projected the old-school, time-honored way, with both Alain Resnais’ “Last Year at Marienbad” and Robert Bresson’s “Au hasard Balthazar” screening from 35mm prints.
- 3/21/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The Ninth Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — co-presented by Cinema St. Louis and the Webster University Film Series — celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1920s through the mid-1990s, offering a revealing overview of French cinema.
The fest is annually highlighted by significant restorations, which this year includes films by two New Wave masters: Jacques Rivette’s first feature, “Paris Belongs to Us,” and François Truffaut’s cinephilic love letter, “Day for Night.” The fest also provides one of the few opportunities available in St. Louis to see films projected the old-school, time-honored way, with both Alain Resnais’ “Last Year at Marienbad” and Robert Bresson’s “Au hasard Balthazar” screening from 35mm prints. Even more traditional, we also offer a silent film with live music, and audiences are sure to delight in the Poor People of Paris...
The fest is annually highlighted by significant restorations, which this year includes films by two New Wave masters: Jacques Rivette’s first feature, “Paris Belongs to Us,” and François Truffaut’s cinephilic love letter, “Day for Night.” The fest also provides one of the few opportunities available in St. Louis to see films projected the old-school, time-honored way, with both Alain Resnais’ “Last Year at Marienbad” and Robert Bresson’s “Au hasard Balthazar” screening from 35mm prints. Even more traditional, we also offer a silent film with live music, and audiences are sure to delight in the Poor People of Paris...
- 1/31/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
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Should there be a 'ground zero' of knowledge for movie criticism? And what makes a critic effective at their job?
When I sat down to watch It Follows for the first time at the start of last year, I had no idea what I was getting. I'm increasingly an avoider of trailers, and try as much as possible to see films cold. It doesn't always work, but in the case of It Follows, it very much did.
As I’ve written before, the film had a very primal effect on me, in that it had me backing further and further into my seat, genuinely unnerved and more than a little scared by what was happening on screen. I hadn't felt like that watching a film for a long time, and my eventual write-up reflected that. Aside from the subtexts of the movie, which I, in truth, only came to later,...
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Should there be a 'ground zero' of knowledge for movie criticism? And what makes a critic effective at their job?
When I sat down to watch It Follows for the first time at the start of last year, I had no idea what I was getting. I'm increasingly an avoider of trailers, and try as much as possible to see films cold. It doesn't always work, but in the case of It Follows, it very much did.
As I’ve written before, the film had a very primal effect on me, in that it had me backing further and further into my seat, genuinely unnerved and more than a little scared by what was happening on screen. I hadn't felt like that watching a film for a long time, and my eventual write-up reflected that. Aside from the subtexts of the movie, which I, in truth, only came to later,...
- 4/17/2016
- Den of Geek
Documentary shows Nichols discussing Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Graduate before a New York theater audience, shortly before his death in 2014
Anyone who ever spent any time alone with Mike Nichols will tell you he was one of the most charming men who ever lived. I had that experience once, long ago, over a four-hour lunch. Thanks to HBO’s Becoming Mike Nichols, a splendid new documentary debuting on Monday night, everyone can have their own tête-a-tête.
Related: Mike Nichols remembered by Philip French: ‘A pleasure to work with and a delight to talk to’
Continue reading...
Anyone who ever spent any time alone with Mike Nichols will tell you he was one of the most charming men who ever lived. I had that experience once, long ago, over a four-hour lunch. Thanks to HBO’s Becoming Mike Nichols, a splendid new documentary debuting on Monday night, everyone can have their own tête-a-tête.
Related: Mike Nichols remembered by Philip French: ‘A pleasure to work with and a delight to talk to’
Continue reading...
- 2/21/2016
- by Charles Kaiser
- The Guardian - Film News
The London Critics’ Circle have renamed one of their annual film awards after the late former Observer film critic
Philip French – the Observer’s much‑loved film critic of 37 years’ standing – died in October, and last Sunday night at the London Critics’ Circle’s prestigious annual film awards ceremony, his critical colleagues offered a public tribute before a starry audience including Kate Winslet, Judi Dench and Kenneth Branagh and French’s own family at the May Fair hotel in London.
The professional body of leading UK critics, of which French was a longtime member, renamed one of their 16 competitive award categories the Philip French award for breakthrough British/Irish film-maker. In an extended tribute prior to the award’s presentation, French’s friend and fellow Circle member David Gritten acknowledged his influential promotion of rising local talent over the years.
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Philip French – the Observer’s much‑loved film critic of 37 years’ standing – died in October, and last Sunday night at the London Critics’ Circle’s prestigious annual film awards ceremony, his critical colleagues offered a public tribute before a starry audience including Kate Winslet, Judi Dench and Kenneth Branagh and French’s own family at the May Fair hotel in London.
The professional body of leading UK critics, of which French was a longtime member, renamed one of their 16 competitive award categories the Philip French award for breakthrough British/Irish film-maker. In an extended tribute prior to the award’s presentation, French’s friend and fellow Circle member David Gritten acknowledged his influential promotion of rising local talent over the years.
Continue reading...
- 1/24/2016
- by Guy Lodge
- The Guardian - Film News
British actors, directors and films won most of the main awards.Scroll down for full list of winners
Mad Max: Fury Road took film of the year and best director for George Miller at the 36th London Critics’ Circle Film Awards ceremony at the May Fair Hotel on Sunday night.
45 Years took the Attenborough Award for best British/Irish film. Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay were also honoured as actress and actor of the year for their performances in Andrew Haigh’s film.
While Mad Max won in the top two categories, British actors, directors and films won nearly all of the other main awards. Alongside Rampling and Courtenay’s awards, Tom Hardy was named British/Irish actor of the year for his roles in several films, including Fury Road, The Revenant and Legend, while Saoirse Ronan took the British/Irish actress award for Brooklyn.
Kate Winslet won supporting actress for Steve Jobs, Mark Rylance supporting...
Mad Max: Fury Road took film of the year and best director for George Miller at the 36th London Critics’ Circle Film Awards ceremony at the May Fair Hotel on Sunday night.
45 Years took the Attenborough Award for best British/Irish film. Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay were also honoured as actress and actor of the year for their performances in Andrew Haigh’s film.
While Mad Max won in the top two categories, British actors, directors and films won nearly all of the other main awards. Alongside Rampling and Courtenay’s awards, Tom Hardy was named British/Irish actor of the year for his roles in several films, including Fury Road, The Revenant and Legend, while Saoirse Ronan took the British/Irish actress award for Brooklyn.
Kate Winslet won supporting actress for Steve Jobs, Mark Rylance supporting...
- 1/18/2016
- ScreenDaily
Actor’s friend claims she set up scheme to procure and distribute experimental HIV medication in the early 1990s
Elizabeth Taylor’s status as a heroine of activism for HIV/Aids is already well-known – she chaired the first-ever Us fundraiser for the disease, and famously persuaded President Ronald Reagan to take it seriously. But according to a close friend of the late actor, Taylor’s efforts went further still.
Related: Elizabeth Taylor remembered by Philip French | Feature
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Elizabeth Taylor’s status as a heroine of activism for HIV/Aids is already well-known – she chaired the first-ever Us fundraiser for the disease, and famously persuaded President Ronald Reagan to take it seriously. But according to a close friend of the late actor, Taylor’s efforts went further still.
Related: Elizabeth Taylor remembered by Philip French | Feature
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- 12/3/2015
- by Peter Walker
- The Guardian - Film News
Cinema is not like other art forms, and in Philip it found a writer who instinctively understood its intoxicating mix of history and immediacy
The point about movie-making, and film criticism, is that it is living history. You aren’t writing about Olivier’s first night at the National or Callas’s last night at Covent Garden. You see great nights on film fresh and perfect every time. Age doesn’t wither them. The past is always present.
Which is one reason why Philip French was such a remarkable critic. He knew so much and felt so much. He was the whole package. When, years ago, I was asked for a while to sit in his seat, I was amazed how, almost alone, he saw every film released that week. Three, five, ten … for good or bad, small or epic, he was always there. Because he loved what he did...
The point about movie-making, and film criticism, is that it is living history. You aren’t writing about Olivier’s first night at the National or Callas’s last night at Covent Garden. You see great nights on film fresh and perfect every time. Age doesn’t wither them. The past is always present.
Which is one reason why Philip French was such a remarkable critic. He knew so much and felt so much. He was the whole package. When, years ago, I was asked for a while to sit in his seat, I was amazed how, almost alone, he saw every film released that week. Three, five, ten … for good or bad, small or epic, he was always there. Because he loved what he did...
- 11/1/2015
- by Peter Preston
- The Guardian - Film News
Catherine Shoard and Henry Barnes join Xan Brooks for our weekly round-up of the big cinema releases, including Jafar Panahi's vibrantly defiant Taxi Tehran and Charlotte Church in a wonky adaptation of Under Milk Wood
Catherine Shoard and Henry Barnes join Xan Brooks for our weekly round-up of the big cinema releases. In a week in which Spectre has scared off all but the bravest of indie releases the team take a joy ride with Jafar Panahi in the jubilantly defiant Taxi Tehran; watch Charlotte Church and Rhys Ifans chase the spirit of Dylan Thomas into the sea in Under Milk Wood; and pay their respects to a new family of Italian gangsters in the fearsome Black Souls. Plus, a tribute to the late, great Observer film critic Philip French
• Watch the video version of this week's show
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Catherine Shoard and Henry Barnes join Xan Brooks for our weekly round-up of the big cinema releases. In a week in which Spectre has scared off all but the bravest of indie releases the team take a joy ride with Jafar Panahi in the jubilantly defiant Taxi Tehran; watch Charlotte Church and Rhys Ifans chase the spirit of Dylan Thomas into the sea in Under Milk Wood; and pay their respects to a new family of Italian gangsters in the fearsome Black Souls. Plus, a tribute to the late, great Observer film critic Philip French
• Watch the video version of this week's show
Continue reading...
- 10/29/2015
- by Presented by Xan Brooks with Catherine Shoard and Henry Barnes. Produced by Rowan Slaney
- The Guardian - Film News
Catherine Shoard and Henry Barnes join Xan Brooks for our weekly round-up of the big cinema releases. In a week in which Spectre has scared off all but the bravest of indie releases the team take a joy ride with Jafar Panahi in the jubilantly defiant Taxi Tehran; watch Charlotte Church and Rhys Ifans chase the spirit of Dylan Thomas into the sea in Under Milk Wood; and pay their respects to a new family of Italian gangsters in the fearsome Black Souls. Plus, a tribute to the late, great Observer film critic Philip French
Continue reading...
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- 10/29/2015
- by Xan Brooks, Catherine Shoard, Henry Barnes, Phil Maynard, Richard Sprenger, Dan Susman and Andrea Salvatici
- The Guardian - Film News
I’d like to add to what Derek Malcolm and Peter Bradshaw have said about the kindness of Philip French. In 1965, I was a struggling young critic in London and Philip, as a BBC producer, gave me not only a vast amount of constructive advice but also vital commissions: he first asked me to review two short BBC Third Programme plays by a then totally unknown writer just out of Bristol called Tom Stoppard. For those of us who went on to work on The Critics and Critics’ Forum, Philip’s advice to “keep the first round short” is forever engraved on our hearts.
I also had wonderful evidence of Philip’s encyclopedic memory. Flattered to be included in the same batch of OBEs as Philip two years ago, I ended a congratulatory telephone call with the jokey line, “See you at the palace.” Quick as a flash, he replied,...
I also had wonderful evidence of Philip’s encyclopedic memory. Flattered to be included in the same batch of OBEs as Philip two years ago, I ended a congratulatory telephone call with the jokey line, “See you at the palace.” Quick as a flash, he replied,...
- 10/28/2015
- by Michael Billington
- The Guardian - Film News
The bracing humour and frankness of the long-time Sight & Sound editor, who has died aged 88, remains an inspiration
This has been a very sombre week, with the deaths of many greatly loved and admired critics and public intellectuals: the loss of Lisa Jardine and David Cesarani followed by that of Philip French. Now there is also the departure of film critic Penelope Houston, editor of Sight & Sound magazine from 1956 to 1990, whose mighty contributions had perhaps slipped under the radar, until they were revived recently by a BFI seminar on gendered criticism and women’s criticism.
Related: Penelope Houston, Sight & Sound editor for 35 years, dies aged 88
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This has been a very sombre week, with the deaths of many greatly loved and admired critics and public intellectuals: the loss of Lisa Jardine and David Cesarani followed by that of Philip French. Now there is also the departure of film critic Penelope Houston, editor of Sight & Sound magazine from 1956 to 1990, whose mighty contributions had perhaps slipped under the radar, until they were revived recently by a BFI seminar on gendered criticism and women’s criticism.
Related: Penelope Houston, Sight & Sound editor for 35 years, dies aged 88
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- 10/28/2015
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Eloquent and incisive chief film critic of the Observer for 35 years
Many years ago, Alexander Walker of the Evening Standard bet his fellow critics that they couldn’t guess the number of allusions to other art forms in Philip French’s next film column for the Observer. The nearest guess would get a prize. No one came close and the prize was withheld. The answer was 17.
Related: Philip French: the huge loss of a lovely man – as well as an astonishing critic | Peter Bradshaw
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Many years ago, Alexander Walker of the Evening Standard bet his fellow critics that they couldn’t guess the number of allusions to other art forms in Philip French’s next film column for the Observer. The nearest guess would get a prize. No one came close and the prize was withheld. The answer was 17.
Related: Philip French: the huge loss of a lovely man – as well as an astonishing critic | Peter Bradshaw
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- 10/27/2015
- by Derek Malcolm
- The Guardian - Film News
In today's roundup: Praise for Criterion's release of David Lynch's Mulholland Dr., revisiting Georges Franju's Eyes Without a Face and Spike Lee's Bamboozled, The Babadook and It Follows as harbingers of a new wave of horror, Arthur Freed as the true "author" of Meet Me in St. Louis, Terry Gilliam's memoir, the career of Geraldine Page, chats with Agnès Varda and Catherine Hardwicke, art work by The Wolfpack boys, remembering film critic Philip French—and Patricia Arquette has joined Robert Pattinson and Mia Goth in the cast of Claire Denis’s as-yet-untitled science fiction project, written by Zadie Smith her husband, Nick Laird. » - David Hudson...
- 10/27/2015
- Keyframe
In today's roundup: Praise for Criterion's release of David Lynch's Mulholland Dr., revisiting Georges Franju's Eyes Without a Face and Spike Lee's Bamboozled, The Babadook and It Follows as harbingers of a new wave of horror, Arthur Freed as the true "author" of Meet Me in St. Louis, Terry Gilliam's memoir, the career of Geraldine Page, chats with Agnès Varda and Catherine Hardwicke, art work by The Wolfpack boys, remembering film critic Philip French—and Patricia Arquette has joined Robert Pattinson and Mia Goth in the cast of Claire Denis’s as-yet-untitled science fiction project, written by Zadie Smith her husband, Nick Laird. » - David Hudson...
- 10/27/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
Whether in London’s screening rooms or the nightclubs of Cannes, the Observer’s veteran film reviewer was always gentle, elegant and inspiring company
A press photograph I cherish is the shot of Philip French talking to Clint Eastwood for an interview in 2010: Clint is relaxed on a couch, Philip perched on the side. They have clearly been asked to face the same way and smile for the camera — yet Philip has turned back to Clint, apparently unable to resist conversation, asking another question, venturing another comment, perhaps making a tremendously knowledgeable comparison or filmic reference. Clint himself looks momentarily off-balance, as if he can’t keep up with it all.
Related: Philip French, much-loved Observer film critic, dies at the age of 82
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A press photograph I cherish is the shot of Philip French talking to Clint Eastwood for an interview in 2010: Clint is relaxed on a couch, Philip perched on the side. They have clearly been asked to face the same way and smile for the camera — yet Philip has turned back to Clint, apparently unable to resist conversation, asking another question, venturing another comment, perhaps making a tremendously knowledgeable comparison or filmic reference. Clint himself looks momentarily off-balance, as if he can’t keep up with it all.
Related: Philip French, much-loved Observer film critic, dies at the age of 82
Continue reading...
- 10/27/2015
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
The award-winning reviewer, who wrote for The Observer for 52 years, has died, two years after retiring
Philip French, who was the Observer’s film critic for 35 years, has died. Following several years of ill health, French suffered a heart attack on Tuesday morning at the age of 82.
He is survived by his wife, Kersti, sons Sean, Patrick and Karl, and 10 grandchildren.
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Philip French, who was the Observer’s film critic for 35 years, has died. Following several years of ill health, French suffered a heart attack on Tuesday morning at the age of 82.
He is survived by his wife, Kersti, sons Sean, Patrick and Karl, and 10 grandchildren.
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- 10/27/2015
- by Catherine Shoard
- The Guardian - Film News
Film critic Philip French has died at the age of 82.
The writer, who worked at The Observer for half a century, suffered a heart attack this morning (October 27).
He is survived by his wife Kersti and his sons Sean, Patrick and Karl.
Sean told The Guardian: "He was extremely moral about his work. He didn't see it in any frivolous way.
"One of the most shocking things to him was the idea of leaving a screening before the credits had rolled. It was one of the worst signs of decadence."
Patrick added: "I think he'd be very happy to be remembered as a film critic. He thought it was useful. Right up to day he died he did what he loved."
V sad news: the Obs's peerless former film critic Philip French, who worked here for 50 years, has died, aged 82. pic.twitter.com/5OCZmw6Jjr
— Observer New Review (@ObsNewReview) October...
The writer, who worked at The Observer for half a century, suffered a heart attack this morning (October 27).
He is survived by his wife Kersti and his sons Sean, Patrick and Karl.
Sean told The Guardian: "He was extremely moral about his work. He didn't see it in any frivolous way.
"One of the most shocking things to him was the idea of leaving a screening before the credits had rolled. It was one of the worst signs of decadence."
Patrick added: "I think he'd be very happy to be remembered as a film critic. He thought it was useful. Right up to day he died he did what he loved."
V sad news: the Obs's peerless former film critic Philip French, who worked here for 50 years, has died, aged 82. pic.twitter.com/5OCZmw6Jjr
— Observer New Review (@ObsNewReview) October...
- 10/27/2015
- Digital Spy
We've already got a fine domestic disc with both versions of John Ford's fine Henry Fonda western. This Region B UK release duplicates that arrangement with different extras, and throws in a fine HD transfer of an earlier Allan Dwan version of the same story -- with strong similarities -- called Frontier Marshal. It stars Randolph Scott, Nancy Kelly, Cesar Romero and Binnie Barnes and it's very good. My Darling Clementine + Frontier Marshal Region B Blu-ray Arrow Academy (UK) 1946 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 97 + 103 min. (two versions) / Street Date August 17, 2015, 2014 / Amazon UK / £19.99 Starring Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell, Victor Mature, Cathy Downs, Walter Brennan, Tim Holt, Ward Bond, Alan Mowbray, John Ireland, Roy Roberts, Jane Darwell, Grant Withers, J. Farrell MacDonald, Russell Simpson. Cinematography Joe MacDonald Art Direction James Basevi, Lyle Wheeler Film Editor Dorothy Spencer Original Music Cyril Mockridge Written by Samuel G. Engel, Sam Hellman, Winston Miller Produced by Samuel G. Engel,...
- 10/27/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Anyone who follows me on Twitter knows that I bookmark and share a ton of links everyday. Over the past few years I’ve tried to get a regular link post series going here on the site, but inevitably I just fall back to sharing Criterion-related links directly on our Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr pages.
I’ve recently caught the “I should start a link post again” bug, and here we are. We’ll see how long I can keep this going again.
Feel free to email me, or tweet at me, if you have links that you think I should bookmark or include in my daily round-up here on the site.
Articles
Our friend Jamie S. Rich has been taking time out of his busy comic book editing schedule to start posting to his Criterion Confessions blog again lately. His latest entry looks at The X From Outer Space,...
I’ve recently caught the “I should start a link post again” bug, and here we are. We’ll see how long I can keep this going again.
Feel free to email me, or tweet at me, if you have links that you think I should bookmark or include in my daily round-up here on the site.
Articles
Our friend Jamie S. Rich has been taking time out of his busy comic book editing schedule to start posting to his Criterion Confessions blog again lately. His latest entry looks at The X From Outer Space,...
- 10/5/2015
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
Doctor Who, Star Trek and more: what happened when sci-fi, horror & fantasy heroes have popped up on British daytime TV over the years…
Pre-YouTube, fandom was a hard-earned thing. It took research, dedication and enough patience to hover over the family video player’s ‘record’ button for an entire episode of TV-am in anticipation of six minutes with Sylvester McCoy. Six minutes in which the Seventh Doctor would be polled if he was a cat or dog person and then asked to taste a lemon roulade.
Scarcity bred desire in those days, so we took what we could get from our heroes of yore, even if that meant watching Hammer Horror legend Ingrid Pitt make a chocolate mousse, or the aforementioned McCoy attempt to answer fan questions above the hubbub of a Nottingham swimming pool complex. The collision of geek icons and UK daytime magazine shows was sometimes illuminating, sometimes excruciating,...
Pre-YouTube, fandom was a hard-earned thing. It took research, dedication and enough patience to hover over the family video player’s ‘record’ button for an entire episode of TV-am in anticipation of six minutes with Sylvester McCoy. Six minutes in which the Seventh Doctor would be polled if he was a cat or dog person and then asked to taste a lemon roulade.
Scarcity bred desire in those days, so we took what we could get from our heroes of yore, even if that meant watching Hammer Horror legend Ingrid Pitt make a chocolate mousse, or the aforementioned McCoy attempt to answer fan questions above the hubbub of a Nottingham swimming pool complex. The collision of geek icons and UK daytime magazine shows was sometimes illuminating, sometimes excruciating,...
- 3/10/2015
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Mark Kermode on modern film criticism, critics of his own work, Michael Bay, Jason Statham and male oil wrestling.
The last time we spoke to Mark Kermode, he'd just launched his book about the state of movie criticism, Hatchet Job. Since then, he's embarked on a nationwide tour with the book, and undertaken dozens of Q&As with audiences about it.
And that, as Hatchet Job continues to thrive in paperback, is where we started...
I spoke to you just as you launched Hatchet Job, and in your words, since then you've "toured the arse off it". You've done Q&As with the people who've read your book, and who you wrote it for.
So what have you learned about what audiences feel regarding film critics, and where they sit in the world?
I think the most important thing was when I started writing it, I was, as you know,...
The last time we spoke to Mark Kermode, he'd just launched his book about the state of movie criticism, Hatchet Job. Since then, he's embarked on a nationwide tour with the book, and undertaken dozens of Q&As with audiences about it.
And that, as Hatchet Job continues to thrive in paperback, is where we started...
I spoke to you just as you launched Hatchet Job, and in your words, since then you've "toured the arse off it". You've done Q&As with the people who've read your book, and who you wrote it for.
So what have you learned about what audiences feel regarding film critics, and where they sit in the world?
I think the most important thing was when I started writing it, I was, as you know,...
- 1/28/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
Mark Harris's study of the interwoven war careers of Ford, Wyler, Capra, Stevens and Huston impresses Philip French
The two most remarkable film books of last year were both about the ways – mostly craven and temporising – that the American cinema responded to the rise of Nazism: The Collaboration: Hollywood's Pact with Hitler by Ben Urwand and Hollywood and Hitler 1933-1939 by Thomas Doherty. By a useful coincidence, the first important movie history so far this year, and likely to prove one of the most memorable, is Mark Harris's Five Came Back. His complementary work picks up Urband's and Doherty's studies at that crucial point where the bombs fall on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and Hollywood rolls up its sleeves and swaps the diplomatic velvet glove for a patriotic steel fist. As in his impressive first book, Scenes from a Revolution, a long, detailed study of five 1967 movies that...
The two most remarkable film books of last year were both about the ways – mostly craven and temporising – that the American cinema responded to the rise of Nazism: The Collaboration: Hollywood's Pact with Hitler by Ben Urwand and Hollywood and Hitler 1933-1939 by Thomas Doherty. By a useful coincidence, the first important movie history so far this year, and likely to prove one of the most memorable, is Mark Harris's Five Came Back. His complementary work picks up Urband's and Doherty's studies at that crucial point where the bombs fall on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and Hollywood rolls up its sleeves and swaps the diplomatic velvet glove for a patriotic steel fist. As in his impressive first book, Scenes from a Revolution, a long, detailed study of five 1967 movies that...
- 3/17/2014
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Even the best football movies struggle to capture the sport's drama on film. The worst (and there are many) are truly abysmal
Why has cinema found football to be such a tricky customer? Football scenes in film and television are traditionally very awkward affairs, with the "defenders" tip-toeing nervously around the "attackers" as they advance, the goal finally coming via the sort of impractical flying volley you just never see on a real pitch. It's clearly very difficult to let someone score a script-dictated goal while pretending to try to stop them but, at the same time, trying not to look like you're pretending to try to stop them. Perhaps they teach it at Rada, who knows?
Furthermore, filmmakers have the challenge of adding a fictional big-screen gloss to what is already an overwhelmingly camera-friendly and consistently dramatic spectacle in its own right. Real-life football already has its own "script...
Why has cinema found football to be such a tricky customer? Football scenes in film and television are traditionally very awkward affairs, with the "defenders" tip-toeing nervously around the "attackers" as they advance, the goal finally coming via the sort of impractical flying volley you just never see on a real pitch. It's clearly very difficult to let someone score a script-dictated goal while pretending to try to stop them but, at the same time, trying not to look like you're pretending to try to stop them. Perhaps they teach it at Rada, who knows?
Furthermore, filmmakers have the challenge of adding a fictional big-screen gloss to what is already an overwhelmingly camera-friendly and consistently dramatic spectacle in its own right. Real-life football already has its own "script...
- 2/27/2014
- by Adam Hurrey
- The Guardian - Film News
Segways at the ready! The shopping centre comedy that's all about prats and pratfalls is on Channel 5 at 5pm
"Remember me? I set you on fire at the pancake festival" - Commander Kent
Now, look, I know you probably have your assumptions about Paul Blart: Mall Cop. It stars Kevin James, who is generally to tasteful film-making what Donald Trump is to tasteful hairdressing. It's a knockabout, low-stakes comedy primarily about how funny fat people are when they fall over. It's called Paul Blart: Mall Cop, for crying out loud. It's impossible to say that out loud without sounding like an especially concussed caveman. And, hand on heart, it's going to take a lot of convincing to persuade me that the word "Blart" isn't a deliberate compound of "blood" and "fart".
And yet I'm here today to tell you that Paul Blart: Mall Cop is a sorely underrated film. Sure,...
"Remember me? I set you on fire at the pancake festival" - Commander Kent
Now, look, I know you probably have your assumptions about Paul Blart: Mall Cop. It stars Kevin James, who is generally to tasteful film-making what Donald Trump is to tasteful hairdressing. It's a knockabout, low-stakes comedy primarily about how funny fat people are when they fall over. It's called Paul Blart: Mall Cop, for crying out loud. It's impossible to say that out loud without sounding like an especially concussed caveman. And, hand on heart, it's going to take a lot of convincing to persuade me that the word "Blart" isn't a deliberate compound of "blood" and "fart".
And yet I'm here today to tell you that Paul Blart: Mall Cop is a sorely underrated film. Sure,...
- 2/16/2014
- by Stuart Heritage
- The Guardian - Film News
Actor, who became one of the most famous child stars of all time, has died at the age of 85
• Shirley Temple obituary
• Philip French on Shirley Temple
• Shirley Temple: a career in clips
Whoopi Goldberg, James Franco and Mia Farrow have paid tribute to the actor, singer, dancer and politician Shirley Temple, who has died aged 85.
Farrow credited Temple, still held as the most famous child stars of all time, for "rais[ing] the spirits of a nation during the Great Depression", while Goldberg identified her as "one of a kind". Temple began her singular career aged three, finding early success with chirpy hits such as Curly Top, Heidi and Bright Eyes. That film featured one of Temple's best known performances, a rendition of Richard A Whiting and Sidney Clare's On the Good Ship Lollipop.
Temple left the film business in 1950. She returned for a brief stint in television,...
• Shirley Temple obituary
• Philip French on Shirley Temple
• Shirley Temple: a career in clips
Whoopi Goldberg, James Franco and Mia Farrow have paid tribute to the actor, singer, dancer and politician Shirley Temple, who has died aged 85.
Farrow credited Temple, still held as the most famous child stars of all time, for "rais[ing] the spirits of a nation during the Great Depression", while Goldberg identified her as "one of a kind". Temple began her singular career aged three, finding early success with chirpy hits such as Curly Top, Heidi and Bright Eyes. That film featured one of Temple's best known performances, a rendition of Richard A Whiting and Sidney Clare's On the Good Ship Lollipop.
Temple left the film business in 1950. She returned for a brief stint in television,...
- 2/11/2014
- by Henry Barnes
- The Guardian - Film News
An Oscar-winning film and theatre director, Danny Boyle is best known for his acclaimed 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire and more recently for helming the 2012 London Olympic Games opening ceremony. Philip French championed Boyle's career from the outset, describing his debut feature film, Shallow Grave, as "a good piece of storytelling... Hitchcock would have admired its ruthlessness and cruel humour."
A brilliantly learned man with a pitiless mind and a kind eye. How can a critic maintain this balance over such a long time? I've read critics for the best part of 40 years and no one has achieved this balance as exquisitely as Philip French. Of course, some never wanted to and that's fair enough. Except that his approach produces the perfect critic, serving public and artist both.
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A brilliantly learned man with a pitiless mind and a kind eye. How can a critic maintain this balance over such a long time? I've read critics for the best part of 40 years and no one has achieved this balance as exquisitely as Philip French. Of course, some never wanted to and that's fair enough. Except that his approach produces the perfect critic, serving public and artist both.
Continue reading...
- 8/24/2013
- by Danny Boyle
- The Guardian - Film News
The Imposter Indomina Releasing Director: Bart Layton Cast: Frédéric Bourdin, Carey Gibson, Beverly Dollarhide, Charlie Parker, Nancy Fisher, Bryan Gibson, Bruce Perry, Philip French, Adam O’Brian, Anna Ruben, Cathy Dresbach, Alan Teichman, Ivan Villanueva, Maria Jesus Hoyos Screened at: A&E, NYC, 7/3/12 Opens: July 13, 2012 Admit it: You’ve sometimes imagined what it would seem to be like someone else; to have Bill Gates’s money, President Obama’s prestige, Tom Cruise’s popularity, Brad Pitt’s looks, Angelina Jolie’s lips. But how often have you wished to actually Be someone else? There are precedents. in Daniel Vigne’s movie “The Return of Martin Guerre,” a man leaves his family and friends for the war [ Read More ]...
- 7/13/2012
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Philip French remembers the child star turned Oscar-winning actress, who was as celebrated as much for her tempestuous relationships as her movies
For people like myself, born in Britain in the inter-war years and growing up during the second world war, Elizabeth Taylor will always be thought of as the youngest of four British evacuees who brought their immaculate English accents to Hollywood and became an essential part of a corner of Tinseltown that was forever England. She and Peter Lawford were transported across the Atlantic by their parents as war clouds gathered over Europe and were put under contract by MGM in the early 1940s. Roddy McDowall followed when bombs began to fall on Britain, as did Angela Lansbury who was also signed by MGM. McDowall was the first to attain stardom, playing the Welsh miner's son in How Green Was My Valley and then appearing in MGM's children's classic,...
For people like myself, born in Britain in the inter-war years and growing up during the second world war, Elizabeth Taylor will always be thought of as the youngest of four British evacuees who brought their immaculate English accents to Hollywood and became an essential part of a corner of Tinseltown that was forever England. She and Peter Lawford were transported across the Atlantic by their parents as war clouds gathered over Europe and were put under contract by MGM in the early 1940s. Roddy McDowall followed when bombs began to fall on Britain, as did Angela Lansbury who was also signed by MGM. McDowall was the first to attain stardom, playing the Welsh miner's son in How Green Was My Valley and then appearing in MGM's children's classic,...
- 3/27/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
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