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Whether you're a James Bond purist who likes to see the secret agent take his missions seriously or someone who has a soft spot for the series' campier elements, there's a lot to talk about regarding the legacy of "Moonraker" It's a bizarre entry in the franchise's legacy and the only one in which 007 goes to space. The Lewis Gilbert-directed film also happens to be the only Bond adventure to feature a returning evil henchman in Richard Kiel's Jaws.

The mute baddie with a mouth full of metal made his screen debut in 1975's "The Spy Who Loved Me." Since then, he's been rightfully remembered as one of the best Bond adversaries. Kiel's towering 7ft stature and that quietly sinister smile made the character such an imposing figure without saying a single word. He's also one of the only henchmen to have a redemptive arc in another film.

UK composer Debbie Wiseman will be the guest of honour at the 25thWorld Soundtrack Awards (Wsa) in Belgium, which runs October 14-16, 2025.

Wiseman is best known for her film scores for Tom & Viv, To Olivia and Wilde, earning an Ivor Novello nomination for the latter.

On the television side, she has composed for series including Wolf Hall, Father Brown and Judge John. With over 200 credits to her name, Wiseman has collaborated with the likes of Stephen Fry and directors Peter Kosminsky, John Hay, Brian Gilbert, Simon Hunter and the late Lewis Gilbert.

As part of the honour, Wiseman’s work...

It has only been a few weeks since Amazon announced it had acquired full creative control of the James Bond franchise, but the rumor mill has been running nonstop ever since. The internet has been alight with speculation about which actor will take over for Daniel Craig as 007. While Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is fielding suggestions for the next Bond, though, the franchise’s future star is not the only role that needs to be filled for it to officially move forward.

Amazon also has to choose a director to helm its next Bond movie. The franchise’s previous directors include Sam Mendes, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Martin Campbell, Terence Young and Lewis Gilbert. Here are five filmmakers who could potentially join that list, and sooner rather than later.

Christopher Nolan speaks onstage during the 77th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards at The Beverly Hilton on February 08, 2025. (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images...

The old adage is that you can’t make a good film out of a bad script. Well, 1967’s “You Only Live Twice,” is one of the only films ever made to disprove that theory. Kind of. By his own admission, author Roald Dahl’s script is a regurgitation of the basic framework of the first Bond screenplay, “Dr No” with the toppling of American spacecraft being replaced with a spaceship eating another spaceship in an effort to kick start Wwiii – and written in mind with set parameters by the producers at EoN production – more beautiful girls, a blonde henchman, and that it be bigger and zanier than the previous four Bond films combined.

The success of “You Only Live Twice” rests almost solely on its filmmaking. The sets by Ken Adam, the direction by Lewis Gilbert, and the stylish and epic scope of the cinematography by “Lawrence of Arabia...

Quick LinksMichael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli Still Own 2/3 of James BondJames Bond Is a Big Franchise With a History of Quality IssuesJames Bond Fans Are Angry About Potential Spinoffs and TV ShowsFans Seem to Want Generational Franchises to Die Rather Than Grow

In July 1961, film producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman formed Eon Productions after securing the rights to adapt Ian Fleming's James Bond novels into films. Since then, the company has overseen the first modern franchise, complete with reboots and recasts of the central character. Over time, Albert's son, Michael G. Wilson, and daughter, Barbara Broccoli, also joined the company. These films have been distributed by MGM Studios, which was purchased by Amazon in 2022.

With the news that both Wilson and Broccoli are stepping back from active producing roles, Bond fans online erupted with outrage. It's fair to have skepticism about a corporation that's already facing...

Hailed by his many admirers and peers as "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century," celebrated British author Roald Dahl famously penned a slew of beloved novels and short stories, including James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, and The Bfg, with his immersive and spellbinding books having sold more than 300 million copies globally. Though Dahl is famous for being one of the literary world's most brilliant writers, some may not realize that he also dipped his toe in Hollywood and wrote the screenplay for the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice.

Dahl was actually a close friend of fellow writing great Ian Fleming (the genius behind the enduring Bond novels and their subsequent silver screen adaptations), and despite having no previous experience in filmmaking, delivered a fun and wildly entertaining adventure that Sean Connery embarked upon. Let's take a closer...

James Bond director Sam Mendes has spoken about his potential future with the franchise. Before joining the long-running spy series adapted from the works of novelist Ian Fleming, Mendes was best known as the Oscar-winning director of 1999's American Beauty, the feature that also won Best Picture at the 2000 Academy Awards ceremony. His first Bond feature was the 2012 Daniel Craig era outing Skyfall. He then returned to helm 2015's Spectre. However, the final Craig movie, 2021's No Time to Die, was helmed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, and the upcoming James Bond 26 has no attached director.

Inverse recently interviewed Mendes while the filmmaker was promoting the HBO series The Franchise, on which he is an executive producer. When asked if he would consider returning for another James Bond movie, he referenced the 1983 Bond movie Never Say Never Again by saying "never say never," though he did express doubt about the prospect.

In a career reaching back to the 1960s, Steven Spielberg has made a string of classics, but the projects that didn't materialize are just as interesting. Ultimately, it's hard to look back on Spielberg's glittering career so far and suggest that he should have done anything differently. Still, it's a shame to see some of the exciting projects that fell through, and fans can only imagine how they would have looked.

Steven Spielberg's best movies include Jurassic Park, Jaws and the Indiana Jones franchise. Had things played out differently, he might have some other classics to his name. Spielberg has worked in a variety of genres, and he has always shown a willingness to experiment with new ideas. Some of the most interesting movies he almost made include sci-fi thrillers, animated video game adaptations, and biopics about historical figures.

Miscellaneous Movies That Spielberg Was Interested In Which Ended Up...

Our journey through Michael Caine’s 80s work reaches one of his best: Educating Rita, co-starring a powerhouse Julie Walters in the title role.

Michael Caine showed no sign of slowing down as he entered his third decade as a leading man. The 1980s would see him win his first Academy Award (Hannah And Her Sisters), tackle new genres such as horror (The Hand) and shark-based revenge movie (Jaws The Revenge) while continuing to work with interesting new auteurs like Brian De Palma (Dressed to Kill) as well as old friends from classic Hollywood such as John Huston (Escape To Victory).

Film by film, I’ll be taking a look at Caine’s 1980s filmography to see what hidden gems I can unearth alongside the more familiar classics…

Spoilers for Educating Rita ahead…

Directed by: Lewis Gilbert

Tagline: Frank Bryant is a professor of literature. And Rita is his newest student.

Raiders Of The Lost ArkImage: Lucasfilm (Other)

With Run The Series, The A.V. Club examines film franchises, studying how they change and evolve with each new installment.

Try to picture an American James Bond. It might seem like a redundant exercise today; Americans make plenty of movies about globetrotting superheroes and superspies—a surplus,...

While each actor who has portrayed James Bond has their share of defenders, Roger Moores tenure as the character tends to get the least amount of credibility among serious fans of the franchise. The films starring Sean Connery and Daniel Craig tended to reflect the more serious tone of Ian Flemings original source material, but Moores films were rather campy and silly; some of Moores later installments verged into downright comedic territory. The one exception to this trend is Moores role in the 1977 classic The Spy Who Loved Me, a film that merged action, romance, and espionage into one of the coolest spy movies ever made. While director Lewis Gilbert was a veteran of the franchise, The Spy Who Loved Me received some unexpected assistance from Stanley Kubrick.

Hollywood embraced space movies post-Star Wars, leading to Moonraker's absurd space adventure starring James Bond. Silly moments on Earth in Moonraker include a pigeon doing a double take at Bond in a hovercraft gondola in Venice. Director Lewis Gilbert cleverly achieved the pigeon's double take without CGI by using a looping editing technique.

Moonraker is notorious for being the most far-fetched James Bond movie, because it sends 007 into space, but the movie’s most absurd moment happens long before it leaves Earth’s atmosphere. The end credits for The Spy Who Loved Me declared, “James Bond will return in For Your Eyes Only.” But after the unexpected blockbuster success of Star Wars, space movies were in fashion, so the Bond producers delayed For Your Eyes Only and followed up The Spy Who Loved Me with Moonraker instead.

After Star Wars became the biggest movie of all time, Hollywood started setting everything in space.

Alec Mills, who served as a camera operator on five James Bond films before graduating to cinematographer on the Timothy Dalton-starring The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill, has died. He was 91.

Mills died Monday, his son, Simon Mills, announced. He battled dementia and was living in an assisted care home in Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, he said.

For 007 movies, Mills operated a camera on Peter Hunt’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), Lewis Gilbert’s The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979), and John Glen’s For Your Eyes Only (1981) and Octopussy (1983).

Glen then made him his director of photography on the only two Bond films to star Dalton, The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989), with the latter shooting mostly at Churubusco Studios in Mexico City.

Mills also was a camera operator on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1969), Roman Polanski’s Tragedy of Macbeth (1971), Gulliver’s Travels (1973), John Guillermin’s...

Kenwright ran Bill Kenwright Films for over 30 years.

Bill Kenwright, the UK film producer who ran several popular stage shows, has died at the age of 78.

Kenwright had surgery to remove a cancerous tumour from his liver eight weeks ago. A statement from Everton Football Club, of which Kenwright was chairman from 2004 until his death, said Kenwright “passed away peacefully last night [Monday, October 23] surrounded by his family and loved ones.”

Kenwright founded Bill Kenwright Films in 1986, having already established a successful career as a theatre and musicals producer.

In the film sector, his credits as producer included Lewis Gilbert’s 1991 musical Stepping Out starring Liza Minnelli,...

For a long time, "Moonraker" was considered by many hardcore James Bond fans as the nadir of the franchise. Based on the third novel in Ian Fleming's 007 series, the film was rushed into production to take advantage of the blockbuster sci-fi craze kicked off by George Lucas' "Star Wars" and Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Like most adaptations of Fleming's work pre-2006's "Casino Royale," the film was a goofy, gadget-laden departure from Fleming's grittier, more grounded books. But for some, "Moonraker" went several steps too far. 

From the cheeky references to the aforementioned '70s smashes (particularly punching in a door code with the five-note "Close Encounters" theme) to the laser-gun battle on Hugo Drax's space station, "Moonraker" played like self-parody. And to a degree, it is. But now that we've seen the series successfully course-correct several times over the next four decades,...

For a long time, especially in the 1960s and 1970s, the James Bond film series was considered the crème de la crème of action and stunts. Back in the early years of Sean Connery and Roger Moore, there were very few competing franchises at all, let alone one that delivered the same kind of highly choreographed chases, jumps, fights, and explosive battles as the 007 movies.

What’s even more amazing is that there was no CG back then either, which meant that just about everything the Bond stunt and visual effects teams pulled off was practical—sure, there were things like rear projection and miniature work, but nothing was created out of bytes of data inside a computer. That’s all different today, of course. CG is the primary tool through which films now create and execute all kinds of action and visuals. Yet some filmmakers remain resolutely committed to practical effects,...

Picture if you will, a world in which someone would say no to Steven Spielberg. After all, the guy changed cinema with 1975’s Jaws, creating the summer blockbuster, earning tons of money, and getting a Best Director nomination. But that’s exactly what happened, several times when Spielberg begged producer Cubby Broccoli to let him make a movie about his childhood hero, James Bond. But after numerous rejections, Spielberg’s best bud George Lucas came to him with another idea: a movie about an adventurer called Indiana Jones.

Spielberg’s James Bond Mission

It’s no surprise that Spielberg loves James Bond. As anyone who saw The Fabelmans can tell you, the director developed his remarkable cinematic sense not by going to film school but by replicating the images of movies he saw at the local suburban theaters. And few movies of that formative era were bigger in the minds...

The iconic ski-jump scene from The Spy Who Loved Me still ranks among the most impressive stunts in the James Bond movie series - here's how it was filmed. Before The Spy Who Loved Me became the highest-grossing Bond movie of the time and long before the iconic stunt was filmed for the movie, the James Bond movie series was on the verge of reaching its conclusion because of The Man With The Golden Gun's underwhelming box office performance. With the pressure of reviving the franchise and making it significant again, the movie's filmmakers could have settled for the conventions and previously laid out rules of filming the franchise.

However, instead of treading the same path as his predecessors who created the previous few James Bond movies, The Spy Whole Loved Me's producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli took massive risks, with one of them being the inclusion of the ski-jump scene.

Burt Bacharach, who has passed away at 94, was one of the greatest pop songwriters of all time. Period. Point blank. Working with lyricist Hal David, they created some of the most indelible, hummable tunes of the 20th Century, songs you can't believe there was a time when they didn't exist. Some people are lucky to have one song hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Bacharach had six, not to mention 22 more that reached the top 10. In particular, he owned the 1960s. At a time where the idea of popular music was being completely revolutionized, his brand of deceptively simple jazzy pop still shined incredibly bright.

One person who understood the importance of Burt Bacharach to the 1960s was Mike Myers. So, when it came time to make his ode to James Bond and the decade from which he was cinematically birthed, Myers wanted to shine a spotlight on a man responsible...

Click here to read the full article.

Ian Whittaker, the British actor turned Oscar-winning set decorator known for his work on such films as Alien, Howards End, Tommy and Anna and the King, died Oct. 16 of prostate cancer, The Guardian reported. He was 94.

Whittaker also served as set dresser on Charlie Chaplin’s A Countess From Hong Kong (1967), James Clavell’s To Sir, With Love (1967), Tony Richardson’s The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) and Jim Sharman’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) and as art director on Michael Ritchie’s Downhill Racer (1969) and Derek Jarman’s The Tempest (1979).

He collaborated with director Ken Russell on nine features, from the 1971 releases The Music Lovers, The Boy Friend and The Devils to Tommy (1975), Lisztomania (1975) — both featuring The Who’s Roger Daltrey — and the Rudolf Nureyev-starring Valentino (1977).

Whittaker received his Oscar — shared with his production designer Luciana Arrighi, with whom he...

There is not a greater celebrity raconteur than Michael Caine. The 89-year-old movie star has lived the fullest of lives, appeared in a number of great films, and snatched up two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor -- and he loves to talk about it. The son of blue-collar parents seems perpetually tickled by his success. Ask him about a critically acclaimed classic like "The Man Who Would Be King" or a universally reviled bomb like "Jaws: The Revenge" and you'll get a good-humored story out of it. He is the platonic ideal of "affable."

If you were to pick an actor who resided on the opposite end of the "affable" scale, you couldn't find a more ornery cuss than John Wayne. Wayne was aloof. It took a cagey journalist like Joan Didion to humanize him, and, in retrospect, she seemed a little starstruck. Wayne seemed to have made all...

Haven’t yet seen all the best old-school vintage naval combat epics? This color & ‘scope thriller has a terrific cast of Brit stars and up-n-comers, can boast excellent visuals and is historically accurate. Alec Guinness captains a ship during the Napoleonic Wars, and finds his duty complicated by a psychopathic top officer (Dirk Bogarde) who usurps authority and sees the crew as fresh meat for his sadistic ideas about discipline. All the tech and art credits are top-tier, plus we get nice supporting perfs from the likes of Anthony Quayle, Nigel Stock, Maurice Denham, Victor Maddern, Tom Bell, and Murray Melvin.

Damn the Defiant!

Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 136

1962 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 101 min. / Street Date June 29, 2022 / H.M.S. Defiant / Available from Viavision / Australian 34.95 / and Amazon US / 34.95

Starring: Alec Guinness, Dirk Bogarde, Maurice Denham, Nigel Stock, Richard Carpenter, Peter Gill, David Robinson, Robin Stewart, Ray Brooks, Peter Greenspan, Anthony Quayle, Tom Bell,...

John Barry’s elegiac score and Freddie Young’s improbably beautiful photography combine to make Lewis Gilbert’s 1967 film the most glamorous of Sean Connery’s Bond outings. An action-packed travelogue set within neon-soaked Tokyo and the storybook environs of the Japanese countryside, 007 plays cat and mouse with Donald Pleasance’s Blofeld in a volcano that doubles as a launching pad. Godzilla fans will recognize Akiko Wakabayashi and Mie Hama while Krimi aficianados are treated to Karin Dor as a duplicitous femme fatale.

The post You Only Live Twice appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

Production Designer Ken Adam, Producer Albert R. Broccoli and Director Lewis Gilbert on the original "007 Stage" at Pinewood Studios.

It was the biggest James Bond film to date. Released in 1977, Roger Moore's third 007 film, "The Spy Who Loved Me", restored the series to its former grandeur, following the anemic reaction to the previous film "The Man with the Golden Gun". Producer Albert R. Broccoli was making his first Bond movie without his former partner, Harry Saltzman, who ended their partnership after "Golden Gun". Broccoli was determined to go all-out and backed his plans by getting United Artists to provide the biggest budget the franchise had ever enjoyed. Broccoli made sure every penny was on the screen and constructed the largest sound stage in the world at Pinewood Studios. American Cinematographer magazine has long provided detailed behind-the-scenes coverage of the making of the Bond films. They have reprinted their on-set visit...

It’s a Cold War thriller in the steamy tropics! The Reds are making their move in Malaya and four vibrant people are caught in the crosshairs: rich rubber planter William Holden, revolutionary strategist Tetsuro Tanba, peaceful teacher and activist Capucine, and adventurous Governor’s daughter Susannah York. Director Lewis Gilbert keeps a rickety script on its feet drama-wise and superb cinematography (Freddie Young) and impressive music (Riz Ortolani) do the rest. The show ended up being most noted for a nude swimming scene scooped in the pages of Playboy.

The 7th Dawn

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1964 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 123 min. / Street Date January 4, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: William Holden, Susannah York, Capucine, Tetsuro Tanba, Michael Goodliffe, Allan Cuthbertson, Sydney Tafler, Maurice Denham.

Cinematography: Frederick Young

Production Designer: John Stoll

Art Director: Herbert Smith

Film Editor: John Shirley

Original Music: Riz Ortolani

Associate Producer: John Dark

Written for the...

The estate of the late director Lewis Gilbert has arranged for the British firm Bellman's Auctioneers to auction key pieces from his personal archive on 18 November in London. Gilbert directed such high profile films as "Sink the Bismarck!", "Alfie", the James Bond blockbusters "You Only Live Twice", "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "Moonraker", as well as the acclaimed comedy "Educating Rita". The collection will offer Gilbert's personal scripts, production photos, rare contact sheets and many other artifacts from his long career. For information about bidding, click here.

Not only is the 25th James Bond film “No Time to Die” the last 007 adventure thriller starring Daniel Craig, it’s also the first one directed by an American: Cary Joji Fukunaga. The 44-year-old filmmaker won the Sundance dramatic directing award in 2009 for “Sin Nombre,” was the first Asian-American director to win an Emmy for directing in 2014 for “True Detective” and earned a Peabody in 2015 for “Beasts of No Nation.”

He joins other cutting-edge filmmakers to direct Craig as Bond including Oscar-winning English director Sam Mendes (“American Beauty”) who helmed 2012’s “Skyfall” and 2015’s “Spectre” and indie German filmmaker Marc Forster (2008’s “Quantum of Solace”), who had directed Halle Berry to an Oscar for 2001’s “Monster’s Ball” and Johnny Depp to a nomination for 2004’s “Finding Neverland.”

These three are a far cry from the early Bond directors who were British and had worked their way up the ranks...

British director Lewis Gilbert is largely forgotten today, but in his heyday he helmed a number of classic films ranging from comedy and war films (Sink the Bismarck!) to franchise action. Though his later career was devoted mostly to character-driven dramedies like Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine, Gilbert’s penultimate effort Haunted (1995) is one of the smartest and eeriest horror flicks of its era. Executive produced by Francis Coppola and photographed by Merchant-Ivory stalwart Tony Pierce-Roberts, […]

The post Haunted, One Crazy Summer, Bugsy Malone and Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid: Jim Hemphill’s Home Video Recommendations first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

British director Lewis Gilbert is largely forgotten today, but in his heyday he helmed a number of classic films ranging from comedy and war films (Sink the Bismarck!) to franchise action. Though his later career was devoted mostly to character-driven dramedies like Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine, Gilbert’s penultimate effort Haunted (1995) is one of the smartest and eeriest horror flicks of its era. Executive produced by Francis Coppola and photographed by Merchant-Ivory stalwart Tony Pierce-Roberts, […]

The post Haunted, One Crazy Summer, Bugsy Malone and Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid: Jim Hemphill’s Home Video Recommendations first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Charles Cohen, the founder of the Cohen Film Collection, not only finances and distributes acclaimed independent films, but he also controls the rights to an impressive number of largely forgotten British films. Instead of letting them languish, Cohen has invested in bringing some of these titles to Blu-ray with stunning new transfers. The latest release is a Blu-ray double feature consisting of two modestly-budgeted murder-themed sagas. First- and most impressive- is "Cast a Dark Shadow", a 1955 noirish production with up-and-comer Dirk Bogarde in the lead role. He plays Edward Bare, a handsome and charismatic young man who, when we first meet him, is improbably newly wed to Monica (Mona Washbourne), an elderly woman with a sizable fortune who Edward dotes over and manipulates. Monica's lawyer Phillip Mortimer (Robert Flemyng) smells a rat but Monica is too delusional to believe Edward is manipulating her. When she turns up...

Original British quad poster

Retro-active: The Best From Cinema Retro's Archives

Singer Johnny Horton's Sink the Bismarck was a major hit when released in 1960. What many people don't realize is that the song was commissioned as the theme song for the film of the same name that was released the same year. It's pretty obvious why it wasn't used in the final cut of the movie: Horton specialized in catchy novelty songs with a country western theme. The film, directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Kenneth More, was notable for its ultra-realistic take on the British pursuit of the infamous German battleship. As good as Horton's theme was, it would have been completely out of place in the film. Interestingly, if you have the DVD of the movie, check out the bonus trailer - it features snippets of Horton's song, indicating that the decision to cut it was made at the last minute.

After six successful seasons, the producers of Tales from the Crypt decided to try something not many other shows would dare do—relocate to another country.

This was long before the big money, multi-location productions like Game of Thrones. The horror anthology series was looking to take the Crypt Keeper, and the tales he told, to England.

Up until this point Tales from the Crypt had been filmed predominantly in L.A. Filming there was also one of the draws for Hollywood stars—they didn’t need to travel far to be on set, and for a show that prized itself on having star power, this was a crucial advantage. However, this would no longer be the case when production relocated halfway around the world.

The final season of Tales of the Crypt was set and filmed entirely on the other side of the Atlantic. Now, 25 years after the English...

The Criterion Channel has unveiled their March 2021 lineup, which includes no shortage of remarkable programming. Highlights from the slate include eight gems from Preston Sturges, Elaine May’s brilliant A New Leaf, a series featuring Black Westerns, Ann Hui’s Boat People, the new restoration of Ousmane Sembène’s Mandabi.

They will also add films from their Essential Fellini boxset, series on Dirk Bogarde and Nelly Kaplan, and Luchino Visconti’s The Damned and Death in Venice, and more. In terms of recent releases, there’s also Matthew Rankin’s The Twentieth Century and Claire Denis’ Let the Sunshine In.

Check out the lineup below, along with the teaser for the Black Westerns series. For weekly streaming updates across all services, bookmark this page.

The Adventurer, Charles Chaplin, 1917

Bandini, Bimal Roy, 1963

Behind the Screen, Charles Chaplin, 1916

Black Jack, Ken Loach, 1979

Black Rodeo, Jeff Kanew, 1972

Blood Simple, Joel and Ethan Coen,...

During a three-hour discussion on a recent episode of “The Empire Film Podcast,” Edgar Wright and Quentin Tarantino revealed the existence of their makeshift quarantine movie club over the last 9 months. As Wright explained, “It’s nice. We’ve kept in touch in a sort of way that cinephiles do. It’s been one of the very few blessings of this [pandemic], the chance to disappear down a rabbit hole with the hours indoors that we have.” Tarantino added, “Edgar is more social than I am. It’s a big deal that I’ve been talking to him these past 9 months.”

A bulk of the film club was curated by none other than Martin Scorsese, who sent Wright a recommendation list of nearly 50 British films that Scorsese considers personal favorites. In the five months Wright spent in lockdown before resuming production on “Last Night in Soho” — and before he received the...

Photo: Sean Connery/United Artists The James Bond films are enjoyable for many reasons, some specific ones are their sex appeal and sense of fun, but in a larger part due to their First leading man, Sean Connery. The one consistent positive attribute to these films is that whenever Connery is on-screen, he is magnetic regardless of the overall quality of the film. He brought a charm, calm, and cheekiness to the role that was effortless, and the one-liners were always best delivered by him. Join me as I remember his work by ranking his outings as Bond from worst to best. Sean Connery 007 Movies Ranked: #6 You Only Live Twice (1967), Lewis Gilbert In You Only Live Twice James Bond works with the Japanese Secret Service to prevent a war between Russia and the United States. Many of the Bond films suffer from a repetitive formula, yet You Only Live Twice does so especially.

With her latest film, The Secret Garden, arriving in August, here’s a look at Walters’ greatest big-screen roles – from Educating Rita to Paddington

Lewis Gilbert directed Walters in her seminal movie debut, Educating Rita, and although this stagey and subdued film (Gilbert’s last) doesn’t have anything like the fizz of that, Walters gives it her considerable best. She is the eldest of three sisters uneasily reunited for their mother’s funeral (the other two are Joanne Whalley and Victoria Hamilton). Walters is Teresa, a housewife devoted to her mother’s memory and very domineering when it comes to her husband, played by Tom Wilkinson. A strong character performance.

Actor and filmmaker to receive honour at the 2020 Baftas.

Actor and filmmaker Andy Serkis is to receive the outstanding British contribution to cinema award at the 2020 Bafta film awards.

Serkis is best known for his pioneering performance capture work, portraying Gollum in The Lord Of The Rings and Hobbit films as well as the lead role of Caesar in the Planet of the Apes franchise.

But he has more recently moved into directing with Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle and Breathe. He is currently directing Venom 2, starring Tom Hardy.

In 2011, Serkis founded performance capture company The Imaginarium, with producer Jonathan Cavendish,...

He’s mean, he’s nasty, he carries a razor and he’s dating your sister! Cosh Boy was front & center in 1953 debates about ‘what’s wrong with the British cinema.’ It holds up well, if not as PC social comment, then as solid exploitation fare, with our verminous hero putting the moves on tough-but-vulnerable local girl Joan Collins. The entire cast will want to stand in line to get revenge against Roy Walsh, the punk who steals from his own mum and lets his criminal gang do the dirty work. Take it from me, he’s a dirty rat.

The Slasher (Cosh Boy)

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1953 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 75 min. / Street Date January 7, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 19.95

Starring: James Kenney, Joan Collins, Betty Ann Davies, Robert Ayres, Hermione Baddeley, Hermione Gingold, Nancy Roberts, Laurence Naismith, Ian Whittaker, Stanley Escane, Michael McKeag, Sean Lynch, Johnny Briggs, Nosher Powell.

The Admirable Crichton

Blu ray

Twilight Time

1957 / 1:85:1 / 94 Min. / Street Date – February 12, 2019

Starring Kenneth More, Sally Ann Howes

Cinematography by Wilkie Cooper

Directed by Lewis Gilbert

True love and the British Empire collide in 1957’s The Admirable Crichton, the riches to rags story of one hard-to-get butler and a boatload of love struck aristocrats.

Loam Manor is run with steely officiousness by the valet known simply as Crichton, a kindly martinet who views the class system as the crowning achievement of British society – a notion which not coincidentally coincides with Crichton’s dominance over the servant’s quarters.

The Loams themselves, three spoon-fed sisters and their dithering father are naturally spoiled rotten, viewing their stable of servants as an exotic species to be kept on invisible leashes – in such a fraught situation the tables are just begging to be turned. And so they are when the Lord’s ship sinks,...

The movie world is abuzz now that Bond 25 reportedly has a working title: “Shatterhand.” The title was first spotted by The Guardian in the industry publication Production Weekly, which also reports the movie will begin production at Britain’s legendary Pinewood studios on April 6. While film journalists are already starting to drag how foolish “Shatterhand” sounds, the title is not as random as it appears.

In Ian Fleming’s 12th Bond novel “You Only Live Twice,” released in 1964, Dr. Guntram Shatterhand is the alias used by the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld. The novel culminates in a duel between Bond and Blofeld that ends with an enraged 007 strangling the villain to death with his bare hands. “You Only Live Twice” was already adapted into a James Bond movie, the 1967 Sean Connery entry directed by Lewis Gilbert, so it’s unlikely Bond 25 will use the source material — though Roald Dahl...

The producers of Carol and Colette will receive the honour at the 2019 Bafta film awards.

Producers Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley, co-founders of Number 9 Films, will receive the outstanding British contribution to cinema award at the 2019 Bafta film awards (February 10).

The husband-and-wife producing duo founded independent powerhouse Number 9 in 2002. Known as makers of taste-driven, quality UK cinema, Karlsen and Woolley’s films include Todd Haynes’ Carol, which was nominated for six Oscars in 2016, On Chesil Beach, Their Finest, Made In Dagenham and Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth (as co-producers).

Upcoming Number 9 projects include So Much Love starring Gemma Arterton as Dusty Springfield,...

Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley, the powerhouse production duo behind Number 9 Films, are set to receive the outstanding British contribution to cinema award at the BAFTA awards ceremony on 10 February.

Previous recipients of the award – presented annual in honor of British producer Michael Balcon – include Mike Leigh, Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jarman, Mary Selway, Ridley and Tony Scott, Working Title Films, Lewis Gilbert, the Harry Potter series of films, John Hurt, Peter Greenaway, Tessa Ross, BBC Films, Angels Costumes and Curzon. The National Film and Television School was the recipient at 2018’s Film Awards.

Woolley began ...

Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley, the powerhouse production duo behind Number 9 Films, are set to receive the outstanding British contribution to cinema award at the BAFTA awards ceremony on 10 February.

Previous recipients of the award – presented annual in honor of British producer Michael Balcon – include Mike Leigh, Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jarman, Mary Selway, Ridley and Tony Scott, Working Title Films, Lewis Gilbert, the Harry Potter series of films, John Hurt, Peter Greenaway, Tessa Ross, BBC Films, Angels Costumes and Curzon. The National Film and Television School was the recipient at 2018’s Film Awards.

Woolley began ...

Lyon, France – Attending the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon for the first time this week, Charles S. Cohen, chairman and CEO of Cohen Media Group, praised the event and its International Classic Film Market (Mifc).

A producer and distributor of independent and arthouse films and the biggest distributor of French films in the U.S., Cohen Media Group also releases restored and re-mastered editions of classic films through its Cohen Film Collection, which includes the Merchant Ivory library and the Buster Keaton catalog.

In town for the Festival premiere of his documentary, “The Great Buster,” directed by Peter Bogdanovich, Cohen described the market as “specialized and highly focused, which is really appealing to me because it allows me to focus on what we take great pride in, acquiring and licensing these wonderful film assets that are really the DNA of Cohen Media.”

The company partnered with the Festival this year...

Paul Bradshaw Sep 24, 2018

Now that a director has been confirmed for Bond 25, we take a look back at the men who made 007.

This article comes from Den of Geek UK.

Directing a James Bond movie is pretty big deal. Bond 25 was thrown into chaos when Danny Boyle dropped out, and the news that Cary Fukunaga signed on to replace him has made headlines around the world. But it’s only recently that anyone actually cared who was behind the camera on a 007 film.

Partly because big name “auteurs” don’t often make franchise movies, partly because the Bond producers have always aimed for a kind of stylistic consistency to stop anyone putting a particularly big stamp on it, and mostly because 007 has always been more about a dozen other things that don’t have anything to do with the camerawork – most of the men (and they are all...

Paul Bradshaw Sep 23, 2018

Now a director has been confirmed for Bond 25, we take a look back at the men who made 007

Directing a James Bond movie is pretty big deal. Bond 25 was thrown into chaos when Danny Boyle dropped out, and the news that Cary Fukunaga signed-on to replace him has made headlines around the world. But it’s only recently that anyone actually cared who was behind the camera on a 007 film.

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Partly because big name “auteurs” don’t often make action movies, partly because the Bond producers have always aimed for a kind of stylistic consistency to stop anyone putting a particularly big stamp on it, and mostly because 007 has always been more about a dozen other things...

Lewis Gilbert’s 1956 film about a World War II flying ace is one of the great stiff-upper-lip docudramas. Kenneth More stars as real-life hero Douglas Bader who flew numerous missions during the Battle of Britain and survived years in a Pow camp. All of this on prosthetic legs. Gilbert’s crew is ace too, including Hammer Studio’s superb cinematographer, Jack Asher.

With recent rumors swirling that Danny Boyle could be coming on board to direct the newest James Bond film, what better time is there to look at the directorial history of the franchise? The prospect of Boyle in the world of Bond is enticing, if slightly unexpected and not a match that makes sense on paper. Still, much of the 007 history in terms of directors has been avoiding the A-listers. Maybe in this new era, there’s a different sort of focus? If nothing else, it’s something very interesting to contemplate. The last choice was a big name, so perhaps this is the new normal for the world’s most popular secret agent. To catch you up, the 25th Bond outing has been looking for a new director after Sam Mendes helmed the last two. The initial final three shortlist was Yann Demange, David Mackenzie, and Denis Villeneuve. There...

Gilbert, who has died aged 97, may have been best known for his three 007 films, but it’s the films he made about working class life that are his great achievement

Lewis Gilbert was the brilliant master-craftsman of the postwar cinema, whose staggeringly prolific career epitomised the technique, professionalism and dash that made British moviemaking tradecraft respected everywhere. He started in wartime film units and the British studio system, making war movies with tremendous elan and punch, like Reach for the Sky and Sink the Bismarck!, and also comedies and character dramas like The Admirable Crichton and The Greengage Summer, which were robustly confident and terrifically watchable. He also famously took the helm of three very successful Bond movies, one with Connery, two with Moore: You Only Live Twice, The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, maintaining that uniquely British brand with wit and clout.

Related: Lewis Gilbert obituary

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Gilbert on the set of the 1977 James Bond blockbuster The Spy Who Loved Me with production designer Ken Adam and producer Albert R. Broccoli at Pinewood Studios, London.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Cinema Retro mourns the news of director/producer Lewis Gilbert's death in London at age 97. Gilbert was a good friend to our magazine and gave what is probably his last interview to our correspondent Matthew Field several years ago. It ran in three consecutive issues of Cinema Retro (#'s18, 19 and 20). 

Gilbert had a remarkable career that began early in life as a music hall performer and an actor in small roles in British films. During WWII he served in the Raf, producing and directing documentaries for the military. His first feature film as director was "The Little Ballerina", released in 1947. Gilbert toiled through directing low-budget, often undistinguished films, honing his craft along the way. He earned praise for...