On a brisk April afternoon in the East Village, Griffin Dunne steps through a portal to his past. He has hustled up the stairs of an East Village tenement too old for elevators despite its gentrified gleam. The hallways are narrow but clean and the doors look modern, new — until we arrive at the apartment we’re seeking. Layers of chipped paint speak of the passage of decades. The threshold is uneven — an entry to an era of slanting wooden floors, fire escape patios and bathrooms the size of closets. Inside, hats of fantastic shapes and sizes dot the blue walls, and everywhere there are books and flyers about Blondie, the Pyramid Club, Candy Darling, David Wojnarowicz, etc. Here is the habitat of a performance artist, impeccably preserved for decades and in fact still very much in use.
Because he’s trying to help his daughter, the actor Hannah Dunne,...
Because he’s trying to help his daughter, the actor Hannah Dunne,...
- 6/11/2024
- by Evelyn McDonnell
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Bob Barker was a pillar of television’s greatest generation.
Barker, the enduring host of “The Price Is Right” who died Aug. 26 at the age of 99, was a World War II veteran who trained as a Navy fighter pilot. But his destiny was not to fly missions in the Pacific theater. Barker’s service to his country came in the years after the war, when he and an elite corps of seasoned radio announcers laid a large part of the foundation for commercial television as we know it today.
Barker was a born broadcaster. He had a resonant voice, and his 6-foot-1 frame didn’t hurt in making an impression on viewers in the early days of grainy TV pictures. But his biggest asset was the gift of being to speak extemporaneously on live television – and make it look and feel natural while doing so.
Bob Barker, Longtime Host of ‘The Price Is Right,...
Barker, the enduring host of “The Price Is Right” who died Aug. 26 at the age of 99, was a World War II veteran who trained as a Navy fighter pilot. But his destiny was not to fly missions in the Pacific theater. Barker’s service to his country came in the years after the war, when he and an elite corps of seasoned radio announcers laid a large part of the foundation for commercial television as we know it today.
Barker was a born broadcaster. He had a resonant voice, and his 6-foot-1 frame didn’t hurt in making an impression on viewers in the early days of grainy TV pictures. But his biggest asset was the gift of being to speak extemporaneously on live television – and make it look and feel natural while doing so.
Bob Barker, Longtime Host of ‘The Price Is Right,...
- 8/27/2023
- by Cynthia Littleton
- Variety Film + TV
Perry Cross, who served as Johnny Carson’s first producer on The Tonight Show before he exited to run an ABC program hosted by Jerry Lewis that came and went after 13 episodes, has died. He was 95.
Cross died March 9 of kidney cancer at a hospital in Los Angeles, his son, Larry Cross, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Cross started out producing Ernie Kovacs’ CBS weekday morning show in 1952 and also worked on The Red Skelton Hour, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, The Soupy Sales Show, Life With Linkletter, The Garry Moore Show and several Jonathan Winters live specials during his career.
Cross had been producing The Tonight Show in the immediate aftermath of host Jack Paar’s departure on March 30, 1962, guiding the NBC program in Hollywood and New York that featured guest hosts for six months until Carson took over.
NBC wanted Cross to be Carson’s producer,...
Cross died March 9 of kidney cancer at a hospital in Los Angeles, his son, Larry Cross, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Cross started out producing Ernie Kovacs’ CBS weekday morning show in 1952 and also worked on The Red Skelton Hour, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, The Soupy Sales Show, Life With Linkletter, The Garry Moore Show and several Jonathan Winters live specials during his career.
Cross had been producing The Tonight Show in the immediate aftermath of host Jack Paar’s departure on March 30, 1962, guiding the NBC program in Hollywood and New York that featured guest hosts for six months until Carson took over.
NBC wanted Cross to be Carson’s producer,...
- 4/4/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Of the many macabre quotes attributed to writer-poet and goth luminary Edgar Allan Poe, one of the most implemented in fiction is his insistence that the death of a gorgeous woman is the "most poetical topic in the world." It's the focal point of his celebrated 1841 short story, "The Murders of the Rue Morgue," concerning the procedural investigation into the brutal death of a mother and adult daughter. It's a detective story crafted before such a term existed, and one of its big-screen adaptations featured a completed scene so vicious that the powers-that-be kept it from seeing the light of day, no matter how "poetical."
The year is 1932. Audiences are reeling in the wake of two major horror game-changers; James Whale's "Frankenstein" and Tod Browning's "Dracula" were both fairly faithful adaptations of their respective novels the previous year and (no thanks to the restrictive Hays Code) pushed the...
The year is 1932. Audiences are reeling in the wake of two major horror game-changers; James Whale's "Frankenstein" and Tod Browning's "Dracula" were both fairly faithful adaptations of their respective novels the previous year and (no thanks to the restrictive Hays Code) pushed the...
- 1/15/2023
- by Anya Stanley
- Slash Film
Click here to read the full article.
Canadian director Mary Harron’s Daliland opens with grainy footage from a 1957 appearance by the Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali on the popular American game show What’s My Line?
Dali is a mystery guest and blindfolded panelists pose yes-or-no questions to help identify his work as a famed artist. As the guessing game starts, a mischievous Dali answers “yes” to virtually every question.
“Are you a leading man?” panelist Arlene Francis asks at one point. “Yes,” Dali answers, causing confusion among the studio audience and forcing the show’s host, John Daly, to overrule the artist and answer no.
And when asked if Dali is involved in any way with sports, he answers, yet again, “yes,” forcing Daly to call that answer “misleading.” But what does it matter, in today’s world of fake news and digital avatars, that the King of Surrealism...
Canadian director Mary Harron’s Daliland opens with grainy footage from a 1957 appearance by the Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali on the popular American game show What’s My Line?
Dali is a mystery guest and blindfolded panelists pose yes-or-no questions to help identify his work as a famed artist. As the guessing game starts, a mischievous Dali answers “yes” to virtually every question.
“Are you a leading man?” panelist Arlene Francis asks at one point. “Yes,” Dali answers, causing confusion among the studio audience and forcing the show’s host, John Daly, to overrule the artist and answer no.
And when asked if Dali is involved in any way with sports, he answers, yet again, “yes,” forcing Daly to call that answer “misleading.” But what does it matter, in today’s world of fake news and digital avatars, that the King of Surrealism...
- 9/1/2022
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Burt Lancaster and Edward G. Robinson are excellent in this adaptation of Arthur Miller’s award-winning Broadway play, about a family torn apart by the denial of dark secrets from the WW2 homefront. Mady Christians is the mother who refuses to accept her son’s death, and Louisa Horton and Howard Duff the brother and sister trying to understand how their father could ship defective war materiel responsible for needless combat deaths. The show is powerful, even with Miller’s social message muted — and director Irving Reis gets it all on screen.
All My Sons
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 94 min. / Street Date January 4, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Burt Lancaster, Mady Christians, Louisa Horton, Howard Duff, Lloyd Gough, Harry Morgan, Arlene Francis, Elisabeth Fraser.
Cinematography: Russell Metty
Art Directors: Hilyard Brown, Bernard Herzbrun
Film Editor: Ralph Dawson
Original Music: Leith Stevens
Written for...
All My Sons
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 94 min. / Street Date January 4, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Burt Lancaster, Mady Christians, Louisa Horton, Howard Duff, Lloyd Gough, Harry Morgan, Arlene Francis, Elisabeth Fraser.
Cinematography: Russell Metty
Art Directors: Hilyard Brown, Bernard Herzbrun
Film Editor: Ralph Dawson
Original Music: Leith Stevens
Written for...
- 1/22/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
TV commercial casting director Merrill Jonas died Thursday at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills, Calif. after a long illness. She was 96.
Starting out as an actress, Jonas rose to head of the casting department at Ogilvy and Mather in New York, where she led a six-person team that cast more than 100 commercials. The celebrity talent included Patricia Neal, Karl Malden, Anna-Maria Alberghetti, Arthur Ashe, Sonny & Cher and Ravi Shankar.
While working as director of the commercial department at talent agency CMA in New York, she cast talent including Jackie Gleason, Rod Serling, Florence Henderson and Mel Brooks.
Her agency Celebrity Casting Associates made deals for NBC’s Frank Blair, Phyllis Newman, Peter Duchin, Pete Rose and Dan Pastorini.
As an actress and on-camera spokeswoman, Jonas appeared in commercials during the 1950s and 1960s for products including Anacin, M&Ms, Tide, Lipton Tea and many others.
She also appeared...
Starting out as an actress, Jonas rose to head of the casting department at Ogilvy and Mather in New York, where she led a six-person team that cast more than 100 commercials. The celebrity talent included Patricia Neal, Karl Malden, Anna-Maria Alberghetti, Arthur Ashe, Sonny & Cher and Ravi Shankar.
While working as director of the commercial department at talent agency CMA in New York, she cast talent including Jackie Gleason, Rod Serling, Florence Henderson and Mel Brooks.
Her agency Celebrity Casting Associates made deals for NBC’s Frank Blair, Phyllis Newman, Peter Duchin, Pete Rose and Dan Pastorini.
As an actress and on-camera spokeswoman, Jonas appeared in commercials during the 1950s and 1960s for products including Anacin, M&Ms, Tide, Lipton Tea and many others.
She also appeared...
- 3/6/2021
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
Hugh Downs, anchorman for the ABC news program “20/20” and, before that, NBC’s “The Today Show,” died Wednesday in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 99.
Downs’ career in broadcasting spanned more than half a century. And despite his assertion “I am not a talent, I am a personality,” Downs proved a first-rate interviewer and journalist time and again. His personality was ingratiating and low-key; well into his 70s, his pleasant demeanor made him a welcome guest in the nation’s living rooms. With Barbara Walters, his co-host on both “Today” and “20/20,” he formed one of the most complementary partnerships in television news programming.
Prior to “Today,” Downs made a name for himself as emcee of the quizshow “Concentration” and as sage in residence on the Jack Paar “Tonight Show.”
After early work in radio and TV, Downs moved to New York in 1954 to join Arlene Francis on NBC’s “Home” show,...
Downs’ career in broadcasting spanned more than half a century. And despite his assertion “I am not a talent, I am a personality,” Downs proved a first-rate interviewer and journalist time and again. His personality was ingratiating and low-key; well into his 70s, his pleasant demeanor made him a welcome guest in the nation’s living rooms. With Barbara Walters, his co-host on both “Today” and “20/20,” he formed one of the most complementary partnerships in television news programming.
Prior to “Today,” Downs made a name for himself as emcee of the quizshow “Concentration” and as sage in residence on the Jack Paar “Tonight Show.”
After early work in radio and TV, Downs moved to New York in 1954 to join Arlene Francis on NBC’s “Home” show,...
- 7/2/2020
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
All the world is a game and we are merely players! The Bard will probably disagree with that assessment, but game shows and panel series have been a staple on both radio and television. And they are going strong today.
In fact, there is the Gsn cable network, as well as Buzzr which features such series as “Password,” “Family Feud,” “Tattletales” and “Classic Concentration.” “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” are still among the top syndicated series and CBS’ daytime “The Price is Right” is heading toward its fifth decade of people coming on down. And ABC is back for its summer of deja “view” with new versions of such series as “Match Game,” “To Tell the Truth,” “Press Your Luck” and “Family Feud.” The network also scored with a limited return of its 20-plus-year old “Who Wants to Be Millionaire” with host Jimmy Kimmel.
Back in the 1950s, contestants became stars like Dr.
In fact, there is the Gsn cable network, as well as Buzzr which features such series as “Password,” “Family Feud,” “Tattletales” and “Classic Concentration.” “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” are still among the top syndicated series and CBS’ daytime “The Price is Right” is heading toward its fifth decade of people coming on down. And ABC is back for its summer of deja “view” with new versions of such series as “Match Game,” “To Tell the Truth,” “Press Your Luck” and “Family Feud.” The network also scored with a limited return of its 20-plus-year old “Who Wants to Be Millionaire” with host Jimmy Kimmel.
Back in the 1950s, contestants became stars like Dr.
- 6/12/2020
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Robert Forster, an Academy Award nominee for his work as Max Cherry in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, died at his Los Angeles home today following a brief battle with brain cancer. His death was confirmed by his family and representatives.
Forster appeared in more than 100 films, including his latest, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, released today via Netflix.
Born in Rochester, New York, Forster, a member of Triple Nine Society, graduated from the University of Rochester and then moved to New York City, where he was quickly cast in the Broadway production Mrs. Dally Has a Lover, opposite Arlene Francis.
Forster’s performance caught the eye of director John Huston, who cast him in his first film, Reflections in a Golden Eye, with Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando. He then worked with renowned director Haskell Wexler on Medium Cool, which became a classic due to its filming during...
Forster appeared in more than 100 films, including his latest, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, released today via Netflix.
Born in Rochester, New York, Forster, a member of Triple Nine Society, graduated from the University of Rochester and then moved to New York City, where he was quickly cast in the Broadway production Mrs. Dally Has a Lover, opposite Arlene Francis.
Forster’s performance caught the eye of director John Huston, who cast him in his first film, Reflections in a Golden Eye, with Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando. He then worked with renowned director Haskell Wexler on Medium Cool, which became a classic due to its filming during...
- 10/12/2019
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Robert “Bob” Ullman, a longtime Broadway and Off Broadway press agent whose career spanned Ethel Merman, A Chorus Line, Curse of the Starving Class and many others, died of cardiac arrest on July 31 in Bayshore, Long Island, New York. He was 97.
His death was announced by longtime friend (and former Broadway press agent) Rev. Joshua Ellis.
Among the many Broadway productions on which Ullman worked were Ethel Merman and Mary Martin: Together on Broadway, A Chorus Line (from workshop to Public Theater to Broadway), Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in The Visit, Lauren Bacall in Cactus Flower, The Dining Room, Driving Miss Daisy, Sunday in the Park with George, and over 150 additional Broadway and off-Broadway plays and musicals.
Actors and theater greats with whom Ullman worked include Tallulah Bankhead, Luise Rainer, James Dean, Dame Edith Evans, Geraldine Page, Phil Silvers, Bert Lahr, Rosemary Harris, James Earl Jones, Sam Waterston, Colleen Dewhurst,...
His death was announced by longtime friend (and former Broadway press agent) Rev. Joshua Ellis.
Among the many Broadway productions on which Ullman worked were Ethel Merman and Mary Martin: Together on Broadway, A Chorus Line (from workshop to Public Theater to Broadway), Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in The Visit, Lauren Bacall in Cactus Flower, The Dining Room, Driving Miss Daisy, Sunday in the Park with George, and over 150 additional Broadway and off-Broadway plays and musicals.
Actors and theater greats with whom Ullman worked include Tallulah Bankhead, Luise Rainer, James Dean, Dame Edith Evans, Geraldine Page, Phil Silvers, Bert Lahr, Rosemary Harris, James Earl Jones, Sam Waterston, Colleen Dewhurst,...
- 8/8/2019
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
1974: The first Daytime Emmys ceremony was held in New York.
1980: All My Children's Benny tried to get Estelle help.
1990: General Hospital's Shep Casey looked familiar to Anna.
2013: The Young and the Restless aired a special Jeanne Cooper tribute episode."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into d ifferent and unexpected images."
― Anselm Kiefer
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1968: On The Doctors, Liz (Pamela Toll) reassured Penny (Jami Fields) when they talked about feeling different.
1970: On Dark Shadows, Maggie Collins was trying to preserve her marriage to Quentin (David Selby) unaware his first wife, Angelique, had...
1980: All My Children's Benny tried to get Estelle help.
1990: General Hospital's Shep Casey looked familiar to Anna.
2013: The Young and the Restless aired a special Jeanne Cooper tribute episode."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into d ifferent and unexpected images."
― Anselm Kiefer
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1968: On The Doctors, Liz (Pamela Toll) reassured Penny (Jami Fields) when they talked about feeling different.
1970: On Dark Shadows, Maggie Collins was trying to preserve her marriage to Quentin (David Selby) unaware his first wife, Angelique, had...
- 5/28/2019
- by Roger Newcomb
- We Love Soaps
Tony Sokol Dec 2, 2018
F Troop's Commander of Fort Courage Ken Berry was given his first assignment by Mr. Spock when he was a lowly sergeant.
Ken Berry, best known for his role as Captain Wilton Parmenter on the TV comedy series F Troop, died Saturday at age 85, according to Variety.
“Dear friends. We are sad to let you know our beloved Captain, Mr Ken Berry passed away tonight,” Larry Storch, who played F Troop's Corporal Agarn, wrote to Facebook. “We just spoke with Jackie Joseph who confirmed the devastating news. We are at a true loss for words. Ken, we hope you know how much you were loved. Goodnight Captain. We miss you already.”
Berry could deliver lines, but his forte was physical comedy. Trained as a dancer since he joined the Horace Heidt Youth Opportunity Program traveling performance ensemble at age 15, Berry was often assigned long, seemingly impossible takes...
F Troop's Commander of Fort Courage Ken Berry was given his first assignment by Mr. Spock when he was a lowly sergeant.
Ken Berry, best known for his role as Captain Wilton Parmenter on the TV comedy series F Troop, died Saturday at age 85, according to Variety.
“Dear friends. We are sad to let you know our beloved Captain, Mr Ken Berry passed away tonight,” Larry Storch, who played F Troop's Corporal Agarn, wrote to Facebook. “We just spoke with Jackie Joseph who confirmed the devastating news. We are at a true loss for words. Ken, we hope you know how much you were loved. Goodnight Captain. We miss you already.”
Berry could deliver lines, but his forte was physical comedy. Trained as a dancer since he joined the Horace Heidt Youth Opportunity Program traveling performance ensemble at age 15, Berry was often assigned long, seemingly impossible takes...
- 12/2/2018
- Den of Geek
1974: The first Daytime Emmys ceremony was held in New York.
1980: All My Children's Benny tried to get Estelle help.
1990: General Hospital's Shep Casey looked familiar to Anna.
2013: The Young and the Restless aired a special Jeanne
Cooper episode."All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."
― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1968: On The Doctors, Liz (Pamela Toll) reassured Penny (Jami Fields) when they talked about feeling different.
1970: On Dark Shadows,...
1980: All My Children's Benny tried to get Estelle help.
1990: General Hospital's Shep Casey looked familiar to Anna.
2013: The Young and the Restless aired a special Jeanne
Cooper episode."All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."
― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1968: On The Doctors, Liz (Pamela Toll) reassured Penny (Jami Fields) when they talked about feeling different.
1970: On Dark Shadows,...
- 5/30/2018
- by Roger Newcomb
- We Love Soaps
Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post.)
This week’s question: In honor of “The Florida Project,” which has just started its platform release across the country, what is the greatest child performance in a film?
Jordan Hoffman (@JHoffman), The Guardian, Vanity Fair
I can agonize over this question or I can go at this Malcolm Gladwell “Blink”-style. My answer is Tatum O’Neal in “Paper Moon.” She’s just so funny and tough, which of course makes the performance all the more heartbreaking. She won the freaking Oscar at age 10 for this and I’d really love to give a more deep cut response, but why screw around? Paper Moon is a perfect film and she is the lynchpin.
This week’s question: In honor of “The Florida Project,” which has just started its platform release across the country, what is the greatest child performance in a film?
Jordan Hoffman (@JHoffman), The Guardian, Vanity Fair
I can agonize over this question or I can go at this Malcolm Gladwell “Blink”-style. My answer is Tatum O’Neal in “Paper Moon.” She’s just so funny and tough, which of course makes the performance all the more heartbreaking. She won the freaking Oscar at age 10 for this and I’d really love to give a more deep cut response, but why screw around? Paper Moon is a perfect film and she is the lynchpin.
- 10/9/2017
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Some like their comedy hot and some like it cold. Billy Wilder opted to step on the joke accelerator to see what top speed looked like. One of the most finely tuned comedies ever made, this political satire crams five hours’ worth of wit and sight gags into 115 minutes. The retirement-age James Cagney practically blows a fuse rattling through Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond’s high-pressure speeches, without slurring so much as a single syllable.
One, Two, Three
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1961 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 115 min. / Street Date May 30, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring James Cagney, Horst Buchholz, Pamela Tiffin, Arlene Francis,
Howard St. John, Hanns Lothar, Lilo Pulver
Cinematography Daniel L. Fapp
Production Designers Robert Stratil, Heinrich Weidemann
Art Direction Alexander Trauner
Film Editor Daniel Mandell
Original Music André Previn
Written by Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond from the play by Ferenc Molnar
Produced and Directed by Billy Wilder
How...
One, Two, Three
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1961 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 115 min. / Street Date May 30, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring James Cagney, Horst Buchholz, Pamela Tiffin, Arlene Francis,
Howard St. John, Hanns Lothar, Lilo Pulver
Cinematography Daniel L. Fapp
Production Designers Robert Stratil, Heinrich Weidemann
Art Direction Alexander Trauner
Film Editor Daniel Mandell
Original Music André Previn
Written by Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond from the play by Ferenc Molnar
Produced and Directed by Billy Wilder
How...
- 5/27/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
I thought I'd be over Carol's Best Picture snub by now. The Best Actress nominations were so stunning that I figured I'd pile all my hopes there. But no. Carol, to me, is the rarest of treats: a queer movie by a queer director (Todd Haynes) that explores feminine inner-life and feminist personalities of another era while managing to be a stunning period piece sporting exquisitely accurate visual and aural detail. The story of a sophisticated New York housewife (Cate Blanchett) who courts a younger woman (Rooney Mara) while dealing with the dissolution of her marriage to husband Harge (Kyle Chandler) was visually gorgeous and, at least to me, radically real. Over the past few months I've heard certain movie biz types speculate about Carol, and I can't shake the memory of a few strange, yet eerily agreed-upon complaints in that conversation. I've counted up five of them here...
- 1/15/2016
- by Louis Virtel
- Hitfix
There are some issues with this morning's Oscar nominees. There isn't a single acting nominee of color (!), one of the worst Bond themes of all time earned a nomination (yep, "The Writing's on the Wall"), and Carol, the #1 rated movie of 2015 according to Metacritic, was spared an Oscar nomination. Fortunately, a few categories are incredibly exciting thanks to stiff competition. For my money, the greatest category in this year's running is Best Actress, which features five distinguished and varied performances from actresses at the peak of their craft. To torture ourselves, we've decided to rank them. 5. Jennifer Lawrence, Joy You can't blame Jennifer Lawrence for the majority of Joy's woes. Though it's a pleasant chronicle of Miracle Mop inventor Joy Mangano's rise to fame, that's also all it is. Lawrence plays Mangano as a plucky, slightly sarcastic, and consummately endearing character, which makes you think director David O. Russell simply told Lawrence,...
- 1/14/2016
- by Louis Virtel
- Hitfix
James Garner movies on TCM: ‘Grand Prix,’ ‘Victor Victoria’ among highlights (photo: James Garner ca. 1960) James Garner, whose film and television career spanned more than five decades, died of "natural causes" at age 86 on July 19, 2014, in the Los Angeles suburb of Brentwood. On Monday, July 28, Turner Classic Movies will present an all-day marathon of James Garner movies (see below) as a tribute to the Oscar-nominated star of Murphy’s Romance and Emmy-winning star of the television series The Rockford Files. Among the highlights in TCM’s James Garner film lineup is John Frankenheimer’s Monaco-set Grand Prix (1966), an all-star, race-car drama featuring Garner as a Formula One driver who has an affair with the wife (Jessica Walter) of his former teammate (Brian Bedford). Among the other Grand Prix drivers facing their own personal issues are Yves Montand and Antonio Sabato, while Akira Kurosawa’s (male) muse Toshiro Mifune plays a...
- 7/25/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will remember award-winning actor James Garner on Monday, July 28, with an all-day marathon featuring 12 of his films. The Oscar nominated actor passed away on Saturday in Los Angeles at age 86.
TCM’s lineup features Garner’s performances in such movies as Toward the Unknown (1956), which marked his film debut; the racing drama Grand Prix (1966); the popular romantic comedy The Thrill of It All (1963); the Paddy Cheyefsky-penned The Americanization of Emily (1964); the groundbreaking drama The Children’s Hour(1961); and the gender-bending Victor/Victoria (1982).
The following is the complete schedule for TCM’s tribute to James Garner.
TCM Remembers James Garner – Monday, July 28
6 a.m. – Toward the Unknown (1956) – starring William Holden, Lloyd Nolan, Virginia Leith and James Garner
8 a.m. – Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend (1957) – starring Randolph Scott, James Craig, Angie Dickinson and James Garner
9:30 a.m. – Grand Prix (1966) – starring James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Brian Bedford and Yves Montand
12:30 p.
TCM’s lineup features Garner’s performances in such movies as Toward the Unknown (1956), which marked his film debut; the racing drama Grand Prix (1966); the popular romantic comedy The Thrill of It All (1963); the Paddy Cheyefsky-penned The Americanization of Emily (1964); the groundbreaking drama The Children’s Hour(1961); and the gender-bending Victor/Victoria (1982).
The following is the complete schedule for TCM’s tribute to James Garner.
TCM Remembers James Garner – Monday, July 28
6 a.m. – Toward the Unknown (1956) – starring William Holden, Lloyd Nolan, Virginia Leith and James Garner
8 a.m. – Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend (1957) – starring Randolph Scott, James Craig, Angie Dickinson and James Garner
9:30 a.m. – Grand Prix (1966) – starring James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Brian Bedford and Yves Montand
12:30 p.
- 7/21/2014
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Orson Welles' Too Much Johnson, screened for the first time to a full house at Pordenone Festival of Silent Cinema, comes trailing clouds of mystery like so much else in the life and work of its maker.
We know Welles shot the film in 1938 with a newsreel cameraman, intending it as a series of insert sequence within a play he was producing with the Mercury Theater. For various reasons, the three sequences, intended to carry the exposition in William Gillette's 1894 farce, were not ready or could not be projected when the play opened, and as a result the show was not a success.
Now George Eastman House has restored what it describes as Welles' cutting copy, apparently discovered in a warehouse in Pordenone itself. It consists of several reels of loosely ordered material with multiple takes, and was presented without any alteration apart from the preservation necessary to make the material projectable.
We know Welles shot the film in 1938 with a newsreel cameraman, intending it as a series of insert sequence within a play he was producing with the Mercury Theater. For various reasons, the three sequences, intended to carry the exposition in William Gillette's 1894 farce, were not ready or could not be projected when the play opened, and as a result the show was not a success.
Now George Eastman House has restored what it describes as Welles' cutting copy, apparently discovered in a warehouse in Pordenone itself. It consists of several reels of loosely ordered material with multiple takes, and was presented without any alteration apart from the preservation necessary to make the material projectable.
- 10/30/2013
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
Praise be to the game show goddess Arlene Francis, because there’s a new game on primetime! If you know anything about me, this means it’s time to be terribly critical. Million Second Quiz has the look and name of a quiz sensation (To me it sounds like a game show where Regis Philbin throws egg timers at pedestrians), and with the violet-eyed Ryan Seacrest as emcee, clearly this is meant to be a Nielsen coup. But should it be one?
Even in title alone, Million Second Quiz is puzzling. How long is a million seconds exactly? Have a million seconds passed since this morning? Since yesterday? Since you started reading this? Turns out it’s about 11.5 days, and that’s how long Million Second Quiz runs — in a row. We catch the show live in primetime and watch contestants battle in head-to-head trivia duels, but the contest proceeds...
Even in title alone, Million Second Quiz is puzzling. How long is a million seconds exactly? Have a million seconds passed since this morning? Since yesterday? Since you started reading this? Turns out it’s about 11.5 days, and that’s how long Million Second Quiz runs — in a row. We catch the show live in primetime and watch contestants battle in head-to-head trivia duels, but the contest proceeds...
- 9/10/2013
- by Louis Virtel
- The Backlot
Too Much Johnson – which was intended for inclusion in a theatre show – forms an 'intellectual bridge' between the director's theatrical and cinematic careers, says its restorer
Reading this on mobile? Click to view
It's hugely exciting discovery – and a bizarre, unexpected one too. An early Orson Welles film, previously thought lost, has been found in a warehouse in northern Italy. Too Much Johnson, the second film Welles ever created, is a silent movie, a slapstick comedy that has never been shown and was thought to have been destroyed in a fire.
"We may never fully understand the mystery of why it was abandoned. What matters now is that it is safe, and that it will be seen," says Dr Paolo Cherchi Usai, senior curator of motion pictures at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York, which restored the footage.
The film, says Cherchi Usai, is the "intellectual bridge" between Welles's theatrical and cinematic careers.
Reading this on mobile? Click to view
It's hugely exciting discovery – and a bizarre, unexpected one too. An early Orson Welles film, previously thought lost, has been found in a warehouse in northern Italy. Too Much Johnson, the second film Welles ever created, is a silent movie, a slapstick comedy that has never been shown and was thought to have been destroyed in a fire.
"We may never fully understand the mystery of why it was abandoned. What matters now is that it is safe, and that it will be seen," says Dr Paolo Cherchi Usai, senior curator of motion pictures at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York, which restored the footage.
The film, says Cherchi Usai, is the "intellectual bridge" between Welles's theatrical and cinematic careers.
- 8/8/2013
- by Pamela Hutchinson
- The Guardian - Film News
Silent short Too Much Johnson features Joseph Cotton and Orson Welles.
A 1938 Orson Welles film has been discovered in a warehouse in Italy.
Silent film Too Much Johnson, starring Joseph Cotten in the lead role, was found in a warehouse by the staff of Cinemazero, an art house in Pordenone, Italy.
The silent film was originally intended to be used in conjunction with Welles’ stage adaptation of an 1894 play by William Gillette. The Mercury Theatre planned to show the three short films as prologues to each act of the play.
The nitrate print of the film - left unfinished by the Mercury Theatre and never shown in public - was given by Cinemazero to one of Italy’s major film archives, the Cineteca del Friuli in nearby Gemona, and transferred from there to George Eastman House in order to be preserved.
According to published sources, until now the only known print of Too Much Johnson had burnt...
A 1938 Orson Welles film has been discovered in a warehouse in Italy.
Silent film Too Much Johnson, starring Joseph Cotten in the lead role, was found in a warehouse by the staff of Cinemazero, an art house in Pordenone, Italy.
The silent film was originally intended to be used in conjunction with Welles’ stage adaptation of an 1894 play by William Gillette. The Mercury Theatre planned to show the three short films as prologues to each act of the play.
The nitrate print of the film - left unfinished by the Mercury Theatre and never shown in public - was given by Cinemazero to one of Italy’s major film archives, the Cineteca del Friuli in nearby Gemona, and transferred from there to George Eastman House in order to be preserved.
According to published sources, until now the only known print of Too Much Johnson had burnt...
- 8/8/2013
- by [email protected] (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
A long lost, never-before-seen film that was written and directed by 20-year-old wunderkind Orson Welles three years before the premiere of Citizen Kane has been unearthed in Italy and restored for a premiere in October. Too Much Johnson (1938), a screwball marital farce that starred Joseph Cotten, Arlene Francis and Ruth Ford, was done by Welles’ famed Mercury Theatre as a companion piece for a planned multimedia stage adaptation of the 19th century play by William Gillette. The silent work, filmed in three acts and about an hour in length, was never finished or seen publicly,
read more...
read more...
- 8/7/2013
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Orson Welles made his feature film debut as a director with Citizen Kane and before that he directed the eight-minute short film Hearts of Age, which you can watch at the bottom of this post. However, Welles worked on another film between those two efforts, which was believed lost forever... until now. Dave Kehr at the New York Times has posted a feature article on Welles' Too Much Johnson, a 1938 film he wrote, directed and never finished based on the play by William Gillette, which has recently resurfaced "in the warehouse of a shipping company in the northern Italian port city of Pordenone, where the footage had apparently been abandoned sometime in the 1970s." Classic film organization Cinemazero is working with George Eastman House and the National Film Preservation Foundation to preserve and transfer the nitrate film to safety stock, after which the 40 minutes of surviving footage will be screened...
- 8/7/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Every year I find myself searching for ways to cope with awful January grimness, and luckily I've found us a kickass anniversary to celebrate: Password debuted in primetime 50 years ago this week, and it remains one of the definitive entertainments in the wide, mysteriously under-respected world of game shows. Like with most great game shows including To Tell the Truth, The Price is Right, and Pyramid, gaming genius Bob Stewart (who passed away this year at age 91) was a critical part of Password's inception. It's a parlor activity of hints and responses, but somehow the suspense of coming up with just the right clue is telegenic enough to endure decades of relevance.
Let's take a look back at multiple versions of this fine show and mutter in our best monotone narration, "The password is... fabulous."
Forget George Burns and Gracie Allen: I prefer the team of Allen Ludden and Betty White!
Let's take a look back at multiple versions of this fine show and mutter in our best monotone narration, "The password is... fabulous."
Forget George Burns and Gracie Allen: I prefer the team of Allen Ludden and Betty White!
- 1/3/2013
- by virtel
- The Backlot
It's time for November sweeps, which means one thing: Television execs want to make money off your time! Hooray! And what better way to celebrate the money-grubbing, callous-as-hell world of television than with one of the most damning films about the industry, Quiz Show? This week's Best Movie Ever? selection has everything: Mean TV execs, hot TV stars, annoying TV stars, Rob Morrow's mushmouthed New England accent, Martin Scorsese in an acting role, and enough '50s-style morals to drive the Drapers crazy. I also happen to love it, which means it qualifies to be Best Movie Ever. So there.
Quiz Show, the 1994 Best Picture nominee by director Robert Redford (who also helmed our beloved Ordinary People), takes a close look at the game show scandals of the 1950s when contestants like Herb Stempel (John Turturro) and Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes) answered trivia questions for extraordinary sums of money.
Quiz Show, the 1994 Best Picture nominee by director Robert Redford (who also helmed our beloved Ordinary People), takes a close look at the game show scandals of the 1950s when contestants like Herb Stempel (John Turturro) and Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes) answered trivia questions for extraordinary sums of money.
- 11/12/2012
- by virtel
- The Backlot
Last Friday I threw my back out when I bent over to pick up my tooth.
I think that sentence bears repeating.
I threw my back out when I bent over to pick up my tooth.
No, this piece is not about the horrors of the advancing age or eroding health this event implies. I'll leave it to others to share tales of how their bodies, despite all dietary and aerobic regiments, are grinding to an inevitable halt. All I know is that while I was down there on our kitchen floor, now eye level with the $3,000 implant that decided it would rather spend time against the molding under the pantry door than embedded in the upper left quadrant of my mouth, the first thought that entered my mind was that I'll just get up and continue with my day. I had a lot to do. There was a script I had to finish.
I think that sentence bears repeating.
I threw my back out when I bent over to pick up my tooth.
No, this piece is not about the horrors of the advancing age or eroding health this event implies. I'll leave it to others to share tales of how their bodies, despite all dietary and aerobic regiments, are grinding to an inevitable halt. All I know is that while I was down there on our kitchen floor, now eye level with the $3,000 implant that decided it would rather spend time against the molding under the pantry door than embedded in the upper left quadrant of my mouth, the first thought that entered my mind was that I'll just get up and continue with my day. I had a lot to do. There was a script I had to finish.
- 12/22/2011
- by Alan Zweibel
- Aol TV.
Model and actress Doe Avedon Siegel, best known for her marriages to photographer Richard Avedon and to Dirty Harry movie director Don Siegel, died Sunday in Los Angeles. She was 86. Born Dorcas Nowell (on April 7, 1928) in Westbury, New York, she was discovered by Avedon, who married her in 1944. (Avedon herself told journalists she began her acting career while working as a waitress.) A highly romanticized version of their courtship was turned into a would-be play by Leonard Gershe, Funny Face, which finally was produced as a Paramount musical in 1957, starring Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn under the direction of Stanley Donen. By then, the Avedons had been divorced for six years. Doe Avedon's stage debut took place in 1948, in the Broadway production of N. Richard Nash's The Young and Fair, which also featured Julie Harris, Rita Gam, and future Oscar winner Mercedes McCambridge. For her efforts, Avedon was...
- 12/21/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
I was saddened to learn this morning that Betty Garrett, the great star of stage, screen, and TV, passed away yesterday at the age of 94 after suffering an aortic aneurysm.
Garrett was one of those rare people — like, say, Jack Valenti — who happened to be a witness to and/or participant in a remarkably high number of historic events of the 20th century. She was a member of Orson Welles’s famed Mercury Theatre company, and was with him on the night that he shook up America with his infamous radio broadcast of “The War of the Worlds” (1938); she was Frank Sinatra’s leading lady in two of the earliest great M-g-m musical-comedies, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” (1949) and “On the Town” (1949); her career was greatly hurt by the Hollywood Red Scare after her husband, the Oscar nominated actor Larry Parks, refused to name names before the House Committee...
Garrett was one of those rare people — like, say, Jack Valenti — who happened to be a witness to and/or participant in a remarkably high number of historic events of the 20th century. She was a member of Orson Welles’s famed Mercury Theatre company, and was with him on the night that he shook up America with his infamous radio broadcast of “The War of the Worlds” (1938); she was Frank Sinatra’s leading lady in two of the earliest great M-g-m musical-comedies, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” (1949) and “On the Town” (1949); her career was greatly hurt by the Hollywood Red Scare after her husband, the Oscar nominated actor Larry Parks, refused to name names before the House Committee...
- 2/13/2011
- by Scott Feinberg
- Scott Feinberg
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.