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ckjarrett
Reviews
Sitting Bull (1954)
Last feature of W. R. Frank
TCM played this last night. It's cheap and shallow Saturday matinée stuff as the other comments suggest. I noticed two things: the day-for-night shots look good but the director(s) rarely used closeups. Most of the shots are long or waist shots, or two shots.This was an early CinemaScope production and perhaps they were limited by the lenses they had (the lenses were not plentiful at this time, especially to non- Fox producers). "Sitting Bull" was the first independent production to be shot in CinemaScope. This was W. R. Frank's last feature film production; he was a Minneapolis, MN theatre owner. The world premiere was held August 19, 1954 in Sioux Falls, SD. What did the Sioux Falls cinema-goers think of this picture being shot in Mexico?! It opened October 7, 1954 at the State Theatre in Minneapolis and Paramount in St. Paul. Both of the cities' film critics, Will Jones and Bill Diehl, hated the film. Comment cards were handed out at both theatres. A trade magazine item in April 1953 said that Frank had set May 20 as the production's start date, but decided to put it off until July when CinemaScope equipment was available. As early as 1950 actors such as Victor Jory were announced as being signed for this production. Later, names such as Boris Karloff and Dennis Morgan were mentioned in the trade press.
The Capture of Bigfoot (1979)
Film negative disappeared
From Box office magazine 6/18/79: "The Capture of Bigfoot", the Bill Rebane production from Studio Film Corp., will be delayed for an unknown amount of time, due to the recent disappearance of 400 feet of film negative. According to Rebane, the disappearance of the footage, out of which 200 feet was to be used in the actual movie, will delay the mid-July openings previously scheduled for Arkansas and Memphis . . .How long that delay will be depends on the results of laboratory tests currently taking place in Denver. Insurance adjustors have made a duplicate negative from the work print, and the results of the lab tests will determine whether it is commercially feasible to use it in place of the missing footage...
Outlaw Blues (1977)
Variations on release date
I wish IMDb would allow for some TEXT/COMMENTARY about release dates because it is not as clear-cut as they would like it to be sometimes. Many pictures from this era were released regionally, and it was not a matter of 1500 prints nationwide all at one time. 1500 prints in the late 1970s was a HUGE saturation. Nowadays 3500 prints is common! Big epics of the 1960s and blockbusters like GOLDFINGER were released with 400 prints or fewer! JAWS was about 450 prints.
Anyway, in the case of Outlaw Blues, the first dates were in the South and Southwest US, starting July 1, 1977; it opened in New York City on July 15; and in the midwest the release was July 22.
Scoring (1979)
World Premiere
World premiere was held January 26, 1979 at the Iowa Theatre in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, under the title "Dribble". Photos from the premiere were published in the February 12, 1979 edition of Box office Magazine.
Description read, "a comedy about women's professional basketball . . . hundreds attended the debut of the $1.3 million picture which was filmed in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids."
"We chose Iowa naturally because women's basketball is very big here and the picture was set in Des Moines from its very conception," said DeGaetano (the director).
(DeGaetano) says he thinks it will be a sensation, basing his opinion on reaction to screening held recently in Los Angeles.
The Timber Tramps (1973)
behind the scenes
An article in the Dec 19, 1977 issue of Box office magazine suggests that "The Timber Tramps" was not all that old at the time. There's no mention of Howco Intl. being a distributor, or former distributor. "Chuck D. Keen, founder of Alaska Films, has based his company in his hometown of Juneau, Alaska...the feature was made on a $500,000 budget....Keen already has another feature for release. 'Claws' also stars Leon Ames, who, Keen said, will be 'in all of my pictures until he decides to retire.'"
"All of the shooting on 'Claws' was done in Alaska. The film nows is in test runs in Montana. "The Timber Tramps" is scheduled for release in January and is due shortly for test runs in Little Rock, Ark. Both films are to be released by Arizona General, a relatively new distribution company formed three years ago. "
This issue of Box office has an ad for "Timber Tramps" on the cover, and the article confirms an association between Keen and John Wayne - they did a Vietnam
documentary together where Wayne served as a host/narrator. Did all those people want a vacation in Alaska? That's quite a cast in "The Timber Tramps."
Tutti i colori del buio (1972)
US release info
This was reviewed in the 3/28/77 issue of Box office magazine, under the title "They're Coming to Get You!"
"Just what is going on becomes confusing at times, but with tantalizing semi-nude views of Ms. Fenech and others, audiences may not pay much attention to such
matters."
It said that the initial test engagements in the US began in June 1976, and that in the spring of 77 there would be more of a release.
"In Technicolor with prints by Eastman" the review said.
Running time given was 88 minutes.
R rating
Four Girls in Town (1957)
corrections
Actor Judson Pratt IS credited.
Art Direction by Alexander Golitzen and "Haworth". It can be assumed this is Ted Haworth.
Music Supervision by Joseph Gershenson; "Rhapsody for Four Girls" composed by Alex North
Assistant Director: Dick Maybery (one "r")
CinemaScope/Technicolor.
Credits above are from the film print itself.
Also, I have tried MANY times to get this credit added - to no avail: Jose Ferrer appears UNCREDITED as a movie director in this film.