Some show had to be the first — back in 1935, this was the first movie to be produced entirely in full 3 strip Technicolor. Just like any revolutionary filmic development, it came from outside the studio system, which says something about how Hollywood works — studios will spend millions of dollars to take advantage of a striking innovation, but let somebody else do the painful R&D. Pioneer Pictures’ project began filming started with one director but then restarted with Rouben Mamoulian, who a little earlier had already shown the town a thing or two about the possibilities of sound. A stage play of the classic novel becomes almost a pageant of color, led by the reliable Miriam Hopkins. Is the movie any good? That’s debatable. But it needs to be seen, to fully appreciate the movie miracle created by chemists, not artists.
Becky Sharp
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1935 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 84 min.
Becky Sharp
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1935 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 84 min.
- 4/2/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Robert Siodmak’s first film noir is a visually expressive masterpiece in the lush romantic tradition that imposes a dreamlike mood on a nightmarish story. Ella Raines goes to extreme lengths to break the conspiracy that’s sending her boss to Death Row, aided by the Kafka-like indifference of modern Manhattanites. Franchot Tone is the man with the weird hands, but Woody Bredell’s chiaroscuro cinematography is what puts this proto-feminist tale in the top tier.
Phantom Lady
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1944 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 87 min. / Street Date March 5, 2019 / Available from Arrow Video / 39.95
Starring: Franchot Tone, Ella Raines, Alan Curtis, Aurora Miranda, Thomas Gomez, Fay Helm, Elisha Cook Jr., Andrew Tombes, Regis Toomey, Joseph Crehan, Doris Lloyd, Virginia Brissac, Milburn Stone.
Cinematography: Woody Bredell
Film Editor: Arthur Hilton
Written by Bernard C. Schoenfeld, based on the novel by William Irish (Cornell Woolrich)
Produced by Joan Harrison
Directed by Robert Siodmak
1944’s...
Phantom Lady
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1944 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 87 min. / Street Date March 5, 2019 / Available from Arrow Video / 39.95
Starring: Franchot Tone, Ella Raines, Alan Curtis, Aurora Miranda, Thomas Gomez, Fay Helm, Elisha Cook Jr., Andrew Tombes, Regis Toomey, Joseph Crehan, Doris Lloyd, Virginia Brissac, Milburn Stone.
Cinematography: Woody Bredell
Film Editor: Arthur Hilton
Written by Bernard C. Schoenfeld, based on the novel by William Irish (Cornell Woolrich)
Produced by Joan Harrison
Directed by Robert Siodmak
1944’s...
- 3/5/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Is this any way to treat a lady? Lovely Nina Foch just wanted a job, but she instead becomes the fall-gal in a psychologically perverse plan to deny her very identity. Cult director Joseph H. Lewis makes deft use of cinematic suspense techniques to compel our involvement in a bizarre conspiracy: not just convincing a woman that she’s insane, but that she’s literally not herself.
My Name is Julia Ross
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1945 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 65 min. / Street Date February 19, 2019 / Available from Arrow Films (UK) / 39.95
Starring: Nina Foch, Dame May Whitty, George Macready, Roland Varno, Leonard Mudie, Anita Bolster, Doris Lloyd, Queenie Leonard.
Cinematography: Burnett Guffey
Film Editor: Henry Batista
Visual Effects: Lawrence Butler, Donald Glouner
Musical director: Mischa Bakaleinikoff
Written by Muriel Roy Bolton, from the novel by Anthony Gilbert (Lucy Malleson)
Produced by Wallace MacDonald
Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
2019 is shaping up just fine for Blu-ray releases of small-scale,...
My Name is Julia Ross
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1945 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 65 min. / Street Date February 19, 2019 / Available from Arrow Films (UK) / 39.95
Starring: Nina Foch, Dame May Whitty, George Macready, Roland Varno, Leonard Mudie, Anita Bolster, Doris Lloyd, Queenie Leonard.
Cinematography: Burnett Guffey
Film Editor: Henry Batista
Visual Effects: Lawrence Butler, Donald Glouner
Musical director: Mischa Bakaleinikoff
Written by Muriel Roy Bolton, from the novel by Anthony Gilbert (Lucy Malleson)
Produced by Wallace MacDonald
Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
2019 is shaping up just fine for Blu-ray releases of small-scale,...
- 2/9/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Considering everything that's been happening on the planet in the last several months, you'd have thought we're already in November or December – of 2117. But no. It's only June. 2017. And in some parts of the world, that's the month of brides, fathers, graduates, gays, and climate change denial. Beginning this evening, Thursday, June 1, Turner Classic Movies will be focusing on one of these June groups: Lgbt people, specifically those in the American film industry. Following the presentation of about 10 movies featuring Frank Morgan, who would have turned 127 years old today, TCM will set its cinematic sights on the likes of William Haines, James Whale, George Cukor, Mitchell Leisen, Dorothy Arzner, Patsy Kelly, and Ramon Novarro. In addition to, whether or not intentionally, Claudette Colbert, Colin Clive, Katharine Hepburn, Douglass Montgomery (a.k.a. Kent Douglass), Marjorie Main, and Billie Burke, among others. But this is ridiculous! Why should TCM present a...
- 6/2/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Ray Harryhausen eases up for his second color Dynamation feature, restricting the stop-motion and instead utilizing traveling mattes to make a more juvenile adventure movie for smaller kiddies. The big draw is the beautiful music score by fantasy favorite Bernard Herrmann.
The 3 Worlds of Gulliver
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1960 / Color / 1:66 & 1:78 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date December 13, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring Kerwin Matthews, Jo Morrow, June Thorburn, Sherry Alberoni, Lee Patterson, Gregoire Aslan, Basil Sydney, Peter Bull, Charles Lloyd Pack, Martin Benson, Alec Mango, Doris Lloyd, Joan Hickson, Noel Purcell.
Cinematography Wilkie Cooper
Original Music Bernard Herrmann
Creator of Special Visual Effects Ray Harryhausen
Written by Arthur Ross, Jack Sher based on the book by Jonathan Swift
Produced by Charles H. Schneer
Directed by Jack Sher
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
In The 3 Worlds of Gulliver Ray Harryhausen, Charles H. Schneer and Dynamation go tame — unlike...
The 3 Worlds of Gulliver
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1960 / Color / 1:66 & 1:78 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date December 13, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring Kerwin Matthews, Jo Morrow, June Thorburn, Sherry Alberoni, Lee Patterson, Gregoire Aslan, Basil Sydney, Peter Bull, Charles Lloyd Pack, Martin Benson, Alec Mango, Doris Lloyd, Joan Hickson, Noel Purcell.
Cinematography Wilkie Cooper
Original Music Bernard Herrmann
Creator of Special Visual Effects Ray Harryhausen
Written by Arthur Ross, Jack Sher based on the book by Jonathan Swift
Produced by Charles H. Schneer
Directed by Jack Sher
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
In The 3 Worlds of Gulliver Ray Harryhausen, Charles H. Schneer and Dynamation go tame — unlike...
- 12/19/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Merle Oberon movies: Mysterious star of British and American cinema. Merle Oberon on TCM: Donning men's clothes in 'A Song to Remember,' fighting hiccups in 'That Uncertain Feeling' Merle Oberon is Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month of March 2016. The good news: the exquisite (and mysterious) Oberon, whose ancestry has been a matter of conjecture for decades, makes any movie worth a look. The bad news: TCM isn't offering any Oberon premieres despite the fact that a number of the actress' films – e.g., Temptation, Night in Paradise, Pardon My French, Interval – can be tough to find. This evening, March 18, TCM will be showing six Merle Oberon movies released during the first half of the 1940s. Never a top box office draw in the United States, Oberon was an important international star all the same, having worked with many of the top actors and filmmakers of the studio era.
- 3/19/2016
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
'The Letter' 1940, with Bette Davis 'The Letter' 1940 movie: Bette Davis superb in masterful studio era production Directed by William Wyler and adapted by Howard Koch from W. Somerset Maugham's 1927 play, The Letter is one of the very best films made during the Golden Age of the Hollywood studios. Wyler's unsparing, tough-as-nails handling of the potentially melodramatic proceedings; Bette Davis' complex portrayal of a passionate woman who also happens to be a self-absorbed, calculating murderess; and Tony Gaudio's atmospheric black-and-white cinematography are only a few of the flawless elements found in this classic tale of deceit. 'The Letter': 'U' for 'Unfaithful' The Letter begins in the dark of night, as a series of gunshots are heard in a Malayan rubber plantation. Leslie Crosbie (Bette Davis) walks out the door of her house firing shots at (barely seen on camera) local playboy Jeff Hammond, who falls dead on the ground.
- 5/8/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
'To Each His Own' movie with Olivia de Havilland and John Lund 'To Each His Own' movie review: Best Actress Oscar winner Olivia de Havilland stars in Mother Love tearjerker Olivia de Havilland, who had starred in the 1941 melodrama Hold Back the Dawn, returns to the wartime milieu in To Each His Own (1946), once again under the direction of Mitchell Leisen, who guides the proceedings with his characteristic sincerity while cleverly skirting the Production Code's restrictive guidelines. In To Each His Own, de Havilland plays Jody Norris, a small-town woman who falls quickly in love – much like her character in Hold Back the Dawn – but this time during World War I, when Jody's brief liaison with daredevil flying ace Captain Cosgrove (John Lund) results in an out-of-wedlock child. When Cosgrove is killed in battle, the young mother anonymously gives up her baby to a childless couple in her hometown, remaining...
- 5/7/2015
- by Doug Johnson
- Alt Film Guide
Lana Turner movies: Scandal and more scandal Lana Turner is Turner Classic Movies’ "Summer Under the Stars" star today, Saturday, August 10, 2013. I’m a little — or rather, a lot — late in the game posting this article, but there are still three Lana Turner movies left. You can see Turner get herself embroiled in scandal right now, in Douglas Sirk’s Imitation of Life (1959), both the director and the star’s biggest box-office hit. More scandal follows in Mark Robson’s Peyton Place (1957), the movie that earned Lana Turner her one and only Academy Award nomination. And wrapping things up is George Sidney’s lively The Three Musketeers (1948), with Turner as the ruthless, heartless, remorseless — but quite elegant — Lady de Winter. Based on Fannie Hurst’s novel and a remake of John M. Stahl’s 1934 melodrama about mother love, class disparities, racism, and good cooking, Imitation of Life was shown on...
- 8/11/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Joan Fontaine movies: ‘This Above All,’ ‘Letter from an Unknown Woman’ (photo: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine in ‘Suspicion’ publicity image) (See previous post: “Joan Fontaine Today.”) Also tonight on Turner Classic Movies, Joan Fontaine can be seen in today’s lone TCM premiere, the flag-waving 20th Century Fox release The Above All (1942), with Fontaine as an aristocratic (but socially conscious) English Rose named Prudence Cathaway (Fontaine was born to British parents in Japan) and Fox’s top male star, Tyrone Power, as her Awol romantic interest. This Above All was directed by Anatole Litvak, who would guide Olivia de Havilland in the major box-office hit The Snake Pit (1948), which earned her a Best Actress Oscar nod. In Max Ophüls’ darkly romantic Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), Fontaine delivers not only what is probably the greatest performance of her career, but also one of the greatest movie performances ever. Letter from an Unknown Woman...
- 8/6/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Paul Henreid: Actor was ‘dependable’ leading man to Hollywood actresses Paul Henreid, best known as the man who wins Ingrid Bergman’s body but not her heart in Casablanca, is Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of July 2013. TCM will be showing a couple of dozen movies featuring Henreid, who, though never a top star, was a "dependable" — i.e., unexciting but available — leading man to a number of top Hollywood actresses of the ’40s, among them Bette Davis, Ida Lupino, Olivia de Havilland, Eleanor Parker, Joan Bennett, and Katharine Hepburn. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of Paul Henreid movies to be shown on Turner Classic Movies in July consists of Warner Bros. productions that are frequently broadcast all year long, no matter who is TCM’s Star of the Month. Just as unfortunately, TCM will not present any of Henreid’s little-seen supporting performances of the ’30s, e.
- 7/3/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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