Remake Fun: Who Would You Cast In The Remake of "Baby Jane?"

It was announced at Comic-Con two weeks ago that action director Walter Hill would direct a remake of the iconic Robert Aldrich thriller Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

This is a bad, bad idea for many reasons.  First, the original is a masterpiece, with Bette Davis as the crazed ex-child star Baby Jane Hudson, who tortures her crippled sister Blanche (Joan Crawford).  The 1962 thriller was one of the few horror films to garner Oscar nominations—most notably Davis’s twelfth acting nod.  (She would have won if it wasn’t for Anne Bancroft and The Miracle Worker.)

Director Robert Aldrich was known for his macho action films, such as The Dirty Dozen and The Longest Yard.  But he was also a sensitive director of "women's films," and he brought out great performances in Baby Jane, Hush...Hush Sweet Charlotte, The Killing of Sister George, and others.  Director Walter Hill (48 Hrs., The Warriors) once said, "Every film I've made has been a western."  Walter Hill for Baby Jane?  I don't see it.

And what about the casting?  Even Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave couldn't erase the memory of Davis and Crawford in a lackluster 1991 TV remake.

Some films don't need to be remade.  Baby Jane is certainly one of them.  But as long as Warner's is going to do it, let's throw our two cents in and suggest some casting ideas:

Meryl Streep and Glenn Close:  Who better to play the demented Jane Hudson than our favorite psychopathic bunny boiler Glenn Close?  And wouldn't it be fun to see Streep get the stuffing knocked out of her?

Jessica Lange and Sigourney Weaver:  After her knockout Southern-dipped horror performance in American Horror Story, I could easily see Jessica Lange as Jane.  Weaver would be one of the few actresses who could hold her own with the two-time Oscar winner.

Angelica Huston and Barbara Hershey:  Huston has that classic Gothic look (see: The Addams Family) that would be perfect for this film.  The great Ms. Hershey (Beaches, Once Upon a Time) would be perfect to elicit our sympathy as the trapped Blanche.

So what do you think?  Anyone else pop into mind?  (If Elizabeth Taylor were still alive, I certainly would have put her on the list).  Give me your best ideas.

Comic-Con: Walter Hill Tackles Whatever Happened to Baby Jane Remake: http://www.deadline.com/2012/07/comic-con-walter-hill-tackles-whatever-happened-to-baby-jane-remake/

To purchase the original 1962 classic, click here:

Fox Enters The DVD-On-Demand Business With "Fox Cinema Archives"

DVD-On-Demand, where you order the title and the DVD is specifically made for you, has really taken off, thanks to the Warner Archives, MGM Limited Editions, and Sony Pictures Choice Collection.  Last week Fox entered the market, with 35 new titles available on demand as part of the "Fox Cinema Archives" series.

Unlike the Warner Archives, which are available on their own website, the Fox Cinema Archives will be available from a number of retailers, including Amazon.

The DVD-on-demand is an excellent way for a studio to release classic films that wouldn't ordinarily support a wide release. Fox has some excellent titles in this first set, including:

Mr. Belvedere Rings The Bell (1951)--Before the TV series, Clifton Webb added another memorable character to his resume. Webb won an Oscar nod for the first film he played Belvedere in, 1948's Sitting Pretty, which introduced the world to a 50-ish male au pair/babysitter who knew more than his employees.

Suez (1938)--The classic story of the building of the massive canal., starring Tyrone Power.

Claudia (1942)--Frank movie about a child bride forced to mature after marriage.  Dorothy McGuire and Robert Young star.

Diplomatic Courier (1952)--Tyrone Power and Patricia Neal star in this tale of international inrigue and Cold War spies.

Way of the Gaucho (1952)--After he inadvertently kills a man, a gaucho is forced to join the Argentine army as punishment.  Rory Calhoun star.

For the entire list of new Fox releases, click here:
http://www.homemediamagazine.com/fox/fox-cinema-archives-open-business-major-retailers-websites-27578

To order our favorite, Mr. Belvedere Rings The Bell:

Eight Things You Didn't Know About "Singin' In The Rain"

Singin' In The Rain celebrates it 60th anniversary this week with a special one-time-only showing in theaters across the country.  In honor of this occasion, here are eight little-known facts about one of the greatest films ever made:

1.  Jean Hagen was a smash as Lina Lamont, the silent film star trying to make the transition to talkies—but has a voice that could shatter cement. Screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green had worked with Judy Holliday in a Broadway revue.  She was their top choice for the role—but had just soared to fame in Born Yesterday.  Holliday recommended Hagen, who auditioned by performing a drop dead perfect impersonation of Holliday, and won the role.

2.  A very young Rita Moreno was cast as Zelda Sanders, the “Zip Girl.”  The role was based on Clara Bow.  She even had a number, “I’ve Got a Feeling You’re Fooling,” but when her role was trimmed, the song moved to the “Beautiful Girls” medley.

3.  The rain in the title number was composed of milk and water; plain water alone didn’t show up on film the way director Stanley Donen wanted it to.  The “rain” kept shrinking Gene Kelly’s wool suit after each take.  So the story that Kelly shot the number in one take is just that—a story.  It actually consumed over two full days of filming.

4.  For the female lead Kathy Selden, Judy Garland and June Allyson were considered, but Kelly was sold on Debbie Reynolds. She was a gymnast who'd been discovered in a beauty pageant and Kelly felt she had the athleticism to keep up with him.

5.  Just because she was chosen didn’t mean it was easy for Reynolds.  Reynolds later recalled that Kelly was a stern taskmaster, and they performed so many takes that sometimes her feet actually bled.  One day after a particularly hard rehearsal, Fred Astaire found Reynolds crying under a piano.  After that, he quietly coached her for the dance numbers.

6.  Mogul R.F. Simpson (played by Millard Mitchell) was modeled after producer Arthur Freed, but Freed never knew it and no one dared to tell him.  Freed didn't have much of a sense of humor about himself.  As screenwriter Betty Comden recalled, she and co-writer Adolph Green got a call one day from Freed. "Kids," he said, "you're going to write a movie called Singin' In The Rain.  Just put all of my songs in it."

7.  The movie features a bunch of classic songs, but only one original—Moses Supposes—with lyrics by the screenwriters Comden and Greene.

8.  The film received only two Oscar nominations—Best Supporting Actress for Hagen and Best Adapted Score.  Many felt it was inferior to 1951’s Best Picture: An American In Paris.  The film’s reputation has soared over the decades—it is #5 on AFI’s Top 100 Movies list as of 2007.  It has also been named twice in the prestigious Sight and Sound Poll of the best films of all time.  In 1982 it ranked #4; in the 2002 poll it was #10.

For more about the July 12th screening of Singin' In The Rain:  http://www.fathomevents.com/

Eight Cult Comedies Still Waiting For Their Audience

As years pass, film comedy reputations rise and fall. You can't call the 1968 version of The Producers a cult film anymore; its reputation rose during the '80s and '90s, and the success of the Broadway musical sealed it. The Rocky Horror Picture Show may have started out as a cult classic, but decades of midnight shows and its successful VHS release raised its profile years later. Now it's a legitimate part of film history.

But there are still films out there, under the radar, waiting to have the spotlight shine on them again. Sometimes there are odd reasons for their "anonymity." Some are considered minor works of their director ("1941," "Serial Mom"). Others have suffered due to the reputation of their remakes ("Unfaithfully Yours").

Whatever the reason, here are eight films that have stuck with me. Maybe they're not perfect; maybe they're not the best ever made. But they deserve another look. Here, in no particular order, are eight comedies that have a soft spot in my heart:

1.  The Twelve Chairs (1970)--Mel Brooks' followup to The Producers--and it also landed with a theatrical thud. This is a brilliant slapstick comedy about a diverse group of Russians looking for the twelfth chair in a matching set: one whose cushion is stuffed with a fortune in gems. An impoverished aristocrat, an Orthodox priest, and a con-artist will stop at nothing to get the jewels. Starring Ron Moody, Dom DeLuise, and in his film debut, Frank Langella;

2. Going In Style (1979)--Three aging geezers have nothing better to do than collect Social Security, sit around the park, and feed the pigeons. So to break the monotony of old age, they decide to rob a bank. The trio is perfectly played by Art Carney, George Burns, and Lee Strasberg--and if they look old in the film it's because director Martin Brest ordered the makeup artist NOT to make them look younger. This film plays so well on a number of levels, especially as a study on how we view senior citizens. Wait for the last line of the film: it's a classic.

3.  Lord Love A Duck (1966)--An absolutely manic, out-of-control '60s comedy that satirized '60s pop culture. Roddy McDowall was in his 40s when he played high school senior Alan Musgrave, who falls for innocent but manipulative Barbara Ann Greene (the underrated Tuesday Weld). To give her everything she wants, he'll even resort to murder. A very black comedy. Weld gives off sexual sparks and hints of the controlling character she later played in Pretty Poison.

4.  Unfaithfully Yours (1948)--Preston Sturges created a number of classics (Sullivan's Travels, The Lady Eve), but his career never recovered from the failure of this, one of his most ambitious films. A bitterly jealous conductor thinks his wife is cheating on him. He conducts three different musical pieces--and each one is accompanied in his mind by a different plan for revenge. A pitch-perfect slapstick comedy, with an unforgettable performance by Rex Harrison as the suspicious conductor.
5.  Serial Mom (1994)--Critics were divided on this John Waters' subversive comedy--not shocking enough, perhaps? But I thought Kathleen Turner gave a bravura performance as the title character, a tightly-wound woman who'd knock you off if you wore white after Labor Day.  Another inspired John Waters' film that casts an acerbic eye on America's fascination with true crime.

6. 1941 (1979)--Steven Spielberg's sprawling period film suffered from comparisons to his previous hits--but there's a lot to recommend in this riotous comedy about the panic in Los Angeles after Pearl Harbor was attacked in December, 1941. A grand ensemble cast--everyone from John Belushi, Christopher Lee, Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Robert Stack, and Ned Beatty.

7.  The Dinner Game (1998)--Compare it to the American remake, Dinner For Schmucks; you'll be surprised at the difference in comedic tone. French writer/director Frances Veber (La Cage aux Folles) scored an international hit with this comedy about a group of friends who meet every Wednesday in a competition to find who can bring the stupidest person to dinner with them. The title of the film is Le Diner de Cons, "cons" meaning dumbbell. Wickedly funnier than the U.S. version.

8.  Where's Poppa? (1970)--Carl Reiner has made a lot of hit comedies, but none quite as subversive or gasp-out-loud funny as this one. George Segal plays a hot shot lawyer whose budding relationships are always ruined because he has to care for his pain-in-the-butt mother (played to the hilt by Ruth Gordon). When mom chases away another girlfriend, maybe murder is the only way out? Shocking for 1970: Reiner took full advantage of the "let it all hang out" '70s attitude and made a film that didn't sound or look like anything he has done since.

I hope you'll be encouraged to check these films out. And feel free to comment: what underrated comedies do you think are ripe for rediscovery?
To purchase three of these comedies, click on the pics:

Eight Things You Didn't Know About The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine"

The Beatles' 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine has been released for the first time on Blu-Ray and i-Tunes. The trippy cartoon has The Fab Four battling The Blue Meanies in the magical, mythical world of Pepperland, with one of the best-selling soundtracks of all time accompanying them.

There are plenty of interesting stories behind the making of this animated classic--especially since The Beatles didn't want to make it in the first place. Here's some trivia about Yellow Submarine:

1. The Beatles had to participate in the film. It was part of their three-picture deal with United Artists. A Hard Day's Night (1964) was first, followed by Help! (1965). That's the reason the Fab Four make a non-animated appearance at the end;

2. The Beatles did sing all of the songs, but other actors portrayed their voices in the film;

3. Paul Batten provided the voice of George for the first half of the film. While recording his role one day, he was arrested for being a British army deserter. Another actor had to take over the role;

4. The look of the movie was wrongly attributed to psychedelic pop artist Peter Max. Max had nothing to do with the film; credit for the hip look goes to the film's art director, Heinz Edelman;

5. The villians were The Blue Meanies--deliberately meant as a sly reference to the police;

6. In 1969, the film was nominated for a Hugo--a prestigious science-fiction/fantasy award. Previous Hugo winners included Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and Ray Bradbury;

7.  A number of writers worked on the screenplay, including Erich Segal, who, two years later, wrote the smash hit Love Story;

8. In the film, The Beatles run up against a multi-headed Meanie dog, and sing "Hey Bulldog!" This sequence was cut from the American release, and has been restored on Blu-Ray and DVD.

To order Yellow Submarine on Blu-Ray, click here:

"Singin' In The Rain" Hits Theaters on July 12th For A One Time Screening

There aren't too many chances to see classic movies on the big screen anymore. So mark July 12th on your calendar: Turner Classic Movies will be sponsoring a one-time only showing of the classic musical Singin' In The Rain in select theaters across the country. The film will also be released on Blu-Ray in honor of its 60th anniversary.

The screening begins with an original production featuring TCM host Robert Osborne in an exclusive specially produced interview with star Debbie Reynolds. Reynolds shares memories of working with the late Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor.

Considered one of the best musicals ever made, (and #5 on AFI's Top 100 film list), Singin' In The Rain is a sly satire about dashing Hollywood swashbuckler Don Lockwood(Gene Kelly) who tries to find love while adjusting to sound features. His current film may also be his last: it's being turned into a talkie, co-starring silent star Lina Lamont (Oscar-nominated Jean Hagen), who regretfully has a voice that could shatter cement.

Singin' In The Rain is the quintessential MGM musical: brightly shot, full of vigor, with a well crafted screenplay by (songwriters) Betty Comden and Adolph Greene, and sparkling performances. The musical numbers are now legendary: besides the title number there's also "Good Morning!" "Make 'Em Laugh," and "Beautiful Girl," among others.

Although overlooked at the Oscars, the film's reputation steadily grew over the years. Singin' is now considered by many the best musical ever made. Another MGM musical, about a washed-up film star trying to mount a Broadway comeback, is also in the same league. Check out The Bandwagon (1954), starring Fred Astaire, which features the iconic song "That's Entertainment."

If you've never experienced the joy of seeing a classic in a real theater, this is one show not to miss.

For more on the July12th screening, and locations, click here:
http://www.fathomevents.com/classics/event/singinintherain.aspx

To pre-order Singin' In The Rain on Blu-Ray (July 17th):

Ten Movies From The Year: 1944

America was still at war, so you'd expect 1944 to be a banner year for war and action films. But the great Hollywood studios kept releasing a variety of films; many of 1944's films have withstood the test of time and become true classics:

1. Double Indemnity--Billy Wilder's class film noir. Insurance salesman Fred MacMurray falls for femme fatale Barbara Stanwyck. They kill her husband for the money; his boss Edward G. Robinson smells a rat.

2. Laura--Another memorable film noir; Otto Preminger's first film. A hard boiled detective (Dana Andrews) falls for Laura, a classy dame who took a faceful of buckshot. Imagine his surprise when Laura turns up very much alive halfway through the movie. Cliftron Webb sealed his stardom in a flashy supporting role as acerbic critic Waldo Lydecker.

3. Meet Me In St. Louis--Not hyper and kinetic like the 1950s MGM musicals. This one showed the sentimentality and emotion of a family whose roots are about to get pulled up. Judy Garland sang "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas."

4. To Have and Have Not--Bogie meets Bacall. "You know how to whistle, don't you Steve? You just put your lips together and blow."

5. Gaslight--Evil Charles Boyer marries Ingrid Bergman, then attempts to drive her mad searching for a fortune. Atmospheric and creepy; Bergman won her first Oscar.

6. The Miracle of Morgan's Creek--Like many geniuses, director Preston Sturges ran hot for ten years and burnt out. But in those ten years, he changed film comedy for the better. An amazing comedy for what it got away with. Betty Hutton is wonderful as Trudy Kockenlocker (yes, it does sound dirty)--who has a soft spot for the GI's. So after a big party, she winds up married and pregnant...and can't remember who, when, how, or even why.

7. Between Two Worlds--The best movie on this list that you've never heard of. A group of people are killed in a London air raid. They wake up on a strange ship that will deliver them to either Heaven or Hell. One trip where you could leave your passport at home. A terrific cast, including John Garfield and Sydney Greenstreet.

8. Arsenic and Old Lace--How popular was this play? Frank Capra filmed this tale of dotty aunts killing their gentleman callers in 1941. The movie wasn't to be released until the Broadway play closed. It took three years. Cary Grant's most manic, physically demanding comedy performance--a tour de farce.

9. Lifeboat--You didn't think we'd leave Hitchcock out of this, did you? The Master of Mayhem loved a challenge, and this film certainly posed it: it takes place entirely on a lifeboat, as the survivors of a ship bombing try to figure out which one of them was on the U-boat that did it. Tallulah Bankhead's best film role; she won the New York Film Critics Award for Best Actress.

10. None But The Lonely Heart--Cary Grant shows up twice on our list, this time in a completely different performance. Grant showed amazing depth as a Cockney man trying to right his life by returning home to care for his mother. Unforgettably emotional; Ethel Barrymore (yes, those Barrymores) won a Supporting Oscar as his mum.

To purchase Lifeboat on DVD, click here:

Debra Winger to Make Her Broadway Debut In David Mamet's "The Anarchist"

One of film's most elusive actresses, Debra Winger, will make her Broadway debut later this year opposite stage legend Patti Lupone, in David Mamet's play The Anarchist.

Winger will play a prison warden. The play is about a former political radical's plea for parole.

Winger has been noticeably missing from films the past decade, except for a showy role as the frosty matriarch in Rachel Getting Married. She made a spectacular film debut in Urban Cowboy, opposite John Travolta.

The actress has three Oscar nominations for Best Actress: Shadowlands, An Officer and a Gentleman, and the Best Picture Oscar winner Terms of Endearment.

For our money, she also made one of our favorite thrillers of all time, as a Federal agent determined to bring sociopathic killer Theresa Russell to justice in Black Widow.

For more info on one of our favorite movies, Terms of Endearment, click here:

Woody Allen Casts His New Movie: Andrew Dice Clay? Really?

Woody Allen, fresh off the critical reception of Midnight In Paris, his most popular film ever, has To Rome With Love coming out late June. And the Woodman just announced the casting of his next film, to be shot this summer in San Francisco.

If you're like me, you try to imagine what Allen has up his sleeve when he casts his films...because that's all we know about them until they open. (Notoriously secretive, Allen only gives cast members script pages that they need. No one ever sees a completed script.)

And Allen's casting is usually spot on. Diane Keaton, Dianne Weist, Michael Caine, Penelope Cruz, and Mira Sorvino have all won Oscars for their roles in his films.

The casting for this new film is a very eclectic mix.  Alec Baldwin, one of To Rome With Love's co-stars, again joins Allen. Also Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett, Lost star Michael Emerson, British actress Sally Hawkins, Green Lantern star Peter Sarsgaard, and two vastly different comedians--Louis C.K. and Andrew "Dice" Clay.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have come up with that combination of actors. Okay Woody, now we're interested.

To purchase Midnight in Paris on Blu-Ray, click here:

                                                                              

                                                         

Hope For the Summer Movie Season: "Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" is a Surprise Hit

At this blog we're fond of remembering when summertime meant interesting movies. Back in the p.b. days (pre-blockbuster) you could enter your local four-plex and see The Candidate, The Bad News Bears, Chinatown, and of course, the one that started it all--Jaws. Nowadays summer releases have explosions, superheroes, car chases, assassins...just about everything except plot and characterizaton. So imagine everyone's surprise when a film about British pensioners living in India becomes a smash hit.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has grossed over $100 million internationally. In the U.S., it has been in the top 10 releases for more than three weeks--playing in under 400 screens. It's per-screen average keeps picking up, and word-of-mouth is turning this little comedy into a juggernaut.

Of course, the film's pedigree is exceptional. Bill Nighy, Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton), and Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey)  star as a group of retired Brits who decide to stretch their pensions by moving to a newly-renovated hotel in India. Once they get there, they find that the travel brochures have stretched the truth: the hotel is closer to a hovel. But, stiff upper lips and all, they make a go of it, and discover love in the process.

Director John Madden previously helmed the Oscar-winner Shakespeare In Love, for which Dench won her supporting Oscar.  The film is garnering strong word-of-mouth: the perfect film for those of us over 40 looking for something besides Snow White, Ironman, and the rest of them.

In Appreciation: The Great Gatsby (1974)

With all of the attention focused on the first trailer for December's upcoming remake of The Great Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguirs stars), I thought it was time to re-evaluate the 1974 film version which starred Robert Redford and Mia Farrow.

The film itself has some legendary stories behind it. It is the third remake of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic tale of love between the flighty Daisy Buchanan and mysterious bootlegger Jay Gatsby. Producer Robert Evans bought the rights so that his wife Ali MacGraw could star; when they divorced, a worldwide casting effort was launched. Mia Farrow (Rosemary's Baby) won the role of Daisy. Among those considered were Cybill Shepherd, Candice Bergen, and Natalie Wood.

Francis Coppola was credited with the screenplay, which he was working on while simultaneously prepping The Godfather. He replaced Truman Capote, whose screenplay was considered a disappointment.

The film's beauty and 1920s authenticity resulted in two Oscar wins for Best Costume Design and Best Music. And although it grossed $26,000,000 on a budget of $6,500,000, the film was considered a disapoointment. Looking at it again, it is exceedingly well-acted, especially from Bruce Dern and Sam Waterston, but Redford and Farrow failed to generate any real romantic sparks. Still, it's a good version of a classic tale.

To view the new trailer for The Great Gatsby:

To purchase the 1974 version of Gatsby on DVD, click here:

In Appreciation: The Big Heat (1953)

Recently released on DVD, and chosen by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2011, The Big Heat is a classic, tough-minded little film with a lot on its mind.  Written by a former crime reporter, and directed by Fritz Lang, The Big Heat sticks in your mind long after you've watched it.

Glenn Ford gave one of his best performances as honest cop Dave Bannion, who tries to take on his city's crime syndicate.  His higher-ups, however, are in the crooks' back pocket.  They attempt to dissuade Dave to drop his investigation.  When he doesn't, his car gets blown up, his wife gets killed in the explosion....and the case is closed.

Bannion goes crazy, and will stop at nothing to take down mob boss Mike Lagana, and if thats means using Lagana's girl (Gloria Grahame) to get closer, so be it.  The psychosis really begins to fly when Lagana gets a little too jealous.

Gloria Grahame won a well-deserved Oscar as Stone's girlfriend, Debby Marsh.  Stone's right-hand man (Lee Marvin, terrific in another villainous turn) punishes Debby for getting too close to the cops by throwing hot coffee in her face.  Scarred for life, Debby clings closer than ever to the hoenst cop.  In a wonderful twist, Bannion is shown to be no angel--he's simply using her to acheive his end.

Tough characters in a taut, relentless film.  The Big Heat is truly memorable.

For more on purchasing The Big Heat on Blu-Ray:

Amazon Debuts "Never Before on DVD" Store

Looking for the underrated Bless The Beasts and the Children?  Can't find a copy of the Hammer horror film Die! Die! My Darling?  Amazon is about to make things easier.  In collaboration with the major studios, the webtailer is going to stock over 2,000 specialty titles--that will only get made when you order them.

The store, entitled "Never Before on DVD" is new, but the idea, DVD-on-demand, has been around for a few years, most successfully with the Warner Archive series.

Disney, Sony, Warner Bros., Universal Fox, MGM and Lionsgate will participate.  "The Never Before on DVD store is a great place for fans to discover thousands of films and television series they've been waiting for on DVD," said Brad Beale, director of digital video content acquisition for Amazon.

To order Bless the Beasts and the Children on DVD, click here:

Lights! Camera! Post Office! Four Classic Film Directors Honored With Stamps

John Ford, Billy Wilder, John Huston, and Frank Capra will be honored with their own stamps featuring images from their classic films, the U.S. Postal Service announced this week.


The collection of four stamps is being billed as The Great Film Directors-First Class Forever stamps.

The background for the John Ford stamp is from the classic western The Searchers; Capra's stamp features a scene from It Happened One Night; Huston's stamp features the unforgettable The Maltese Falcon; and Wilder's stamp has classic images from Some Like It Hot.


The Great Film Director stamps are being issued as Forever stamps in self-adhesive strips of 20 (five stamps per design).


Classic Directors to Be Honored With Stamps:
http://news.yahoo.com/classic-directors-honored-stamps-021708056.html


For more information about The Maltese Falcon or Some Like It Hot on Blu-Ray:

Oscar Winner Colin Firth To Play Noel Coward in New Film Bio

Academy Award-winner Colin Firth will star as the legendary actor/singer/writer Noel Coward in an upcoming film titled Mad Dogs and Englishmen.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Firth will portray the often flamboyant entertainer in a film that follows Coward's two week-stint as a Las Vegas headliner in 1955. 

The Desert Inn, desperate after Liberace cancelled a booking, offered the job to the unlikely Coward.  Coward, who wrote the play "Private Lives," took the job because he owed taxes to the British government.   The show became an instant hit, a Vegas legend, and added more lustre to Coward's already legendary career.

Firth is coming off an Oscar for The King's Speech, as well as a nomination for A Single Man.  He appeared last year in the spy thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and is scheduled to star in a remake of the classic heist film Gambit later this year.

Here's a clip from the 1968 musical Star!, with Julie Andrews as Gertrude Lawrence and Oscar-nominated Daniel Massey portraying Coward:

For more on the film Star! on DVD:

Actress Lily Rabe Cast as Mary Pickford in Upcoming Film

Broadway actress Lily Rabe (The Merchant of Venice) has been cast as legendary screen star Mary Pickford in an upcoming film bio.  Shooting on the film begins in early 2013.  The film is based on Eileen Whitfield's biography "Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood."

Rabe, a talented stage actress, has an impressive pedigree.  Her father is playwright David Rabe; her mother was the talented Jill Clayburgh.

The subject is tailor-made for a fascinating glimpse into the beginnings of Hollywood.  Nicknamed "America' s Sweetheart," Pickford became one of the biggest stars in the silent era.  She was even more interesting off-screen: together with Charlie Chaplin, director D.W. Griffith, and Douglas Fairbanks, she co-founded United Artists studio.

Think of the casting fun for this film.  Aside from Griffith, Chaplin, and Fairbanks, there are meaty roles for two other actresses: Charlotte Hennessy, Pickford's mother and manager, and her collaborator, legendary screenwriter Frances Marion.

For more info on the book Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood, click here:

In Appreciation: Written on the Wind (1956)

Between 1950 and 1959, Douglas Sirk made over 20 films for Universal.  Despite box-office successes (such as Imitation of Life, 1959), Sirk was ignored by critics and accused of cranking out "women's pictures." But Sirk's films became appreciated years later as sly satires and criticisms of American families, female sexuality, and turbulent relationships.  Written on the Wind (1956) might look like high camp, but it has plenty to say about sex, family, and power.  It foreshadowed Dallas and Dynasty by 20 years.

The Hadleys, an oil-rich Texas family whose wealth is so great that the town itself is named after them.  With great power comes great responsibility--but you won't find any of that in the Hadleys.  The family's patriarch (Robert Keith) is trying to hold everything together while his alcoholic playboy son (Robert Stack) and his nymphomaniac daughter (Dorothy Malone) run amuck like spoiled brats.

Happiness seems to appear in the form of Rock Hudson, a close family friend, who works for the Hadleys and bails Stack and Malone out of their many troubles. But when Lauren Bacall comes into Stack's life, and Malone's character gets the hots for Hudson, stability flies out the window.

Raging alcoholism?  Check.  Impotence?  Check?  Unchecked sexual behavior?  Check.  Star-crossed love?  Check and check again.  Written on the Wind packs more undiluted adult behavior than even Peyton Place. 

But Sirk took a lot of chances with this film. Sexual frustration fuels every character's motivations in the film.  And the characters we are supposed to love--Bacall and Hudson--come off as ignorant of other's needs.  The supporting characters--Malone and Stack--are what we're supposed to watch. 

In interviews, Robert Stack was always surprised that Hudson took what was essentially a supporting role.  But Hudson and Sirk worked eight times together; the actor trusted the director.  Their collaborations resulted in classics like Magnificent Obsession. 

Malone was stuck in a series of "B" movies when she found out she was up for the film.  She died her hair platinum blonde and walked into her audition in a short skirt, swaying her hips.  She looked at Douglas Sirk and perched herself on his desk, hiking her skirt up as far as convention allowed.  Malone wound up winning the Oscar for Supporting Actress for her powerhouse performance.

Written on the Wind was so successful that Sirk reunited Hudson, Stack, and Malone the following year for The Tarnished Angels.

For more on Written on the Wind on DVD, click on the following:

In Appreciation: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

With the New York City Center's Encores revival of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (starring Smash alumnus Megan Hilty) opening this week, I thought it was time to take a look at the hit 1953 musical, starring the one-and-only Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell as Lorelei and Dorothy, the two most beloved golddiggers in the world.


Set in the Roaring Twenties, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes follows the madcap adventures of  Lorelei Lee, as she sets sail for Europe with her best friend Dorothy Shaw. As Dorothy puts it, the gold-digging Lorelei is “the only girl in the world who can stand on a stage with a spotlight in her eye and still see a diamond inside a man’s pocket.”

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes made a star of Carol Channing on Broadway and later cemented Marilyn Monroe’s status as an American film icon and sex symbol.  Directed by Howard Hawks, the musical was such a hit that both Monroe and Russell were asked to put their handprints in cement at Grauman's Chnese Theater.  Hawks was a one-of-a-kind director: able to work in any genre.  Among his films are Bringing Up Baby, To Have And Have Not, Sergeant York, The Thing, and Rio Bravo--all of them classics.


 “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” is the crown jewel in the score that sparkles with songs like “Bye, Bye, Baby,” and “A Little Girl from Little Rock."  Jane Russell sings, "Anybody Here For Love" with a group of half-naked team Olympic team members performing their "workout."  The number still stands as one of the sexiest showstoppers ever filmed.

The film was a huge critical and commercial success, ending up as the sixth top moneymaker of 1953. The fifth was another Monroe hit, How To Marry A Millionaire. Together, both films cemented Monroe's image as a sex symbol for generations to come.


For more info on Gentlemen Prefer Blondes on DVD, click on the pic:

Ten Movies From The Year: 1963

So many choices: 1963 was an important year in cinema. It was the beginning of the end of the studio regimes, yet the blockbusters were bigger than ever.  Foreign films once again rose to prominence. And new stars emerged (Albert Finney, Richard Harris) while old-timers like Spencer Tracy still burned brightly:


1.  It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World--The top grossing film of the year. Every known comic was packed into this laugh riot, about the greedy chase for a satchel of stolen cash.  Loosely remade years later as Rat Race.


2. The Birds--Another unsettling Hitchcock masterpiece. One of the films I saw as a kid that still gives me the creeps. The unassuming town of Bodego Bay is under siege from birds of all kinds.  Hitchcock hinted that the birds' rampage were punishment for the failings of the main characters. Absolutely terrifying special effects.

3. 8 1/2--Frederico Fellini's masterpiece about a director (Marcello Mastroianni, as the director's alter ego) suffering from "director's block" and the women ini his life who are leaving him equally conflicted.  Later remade as the musical Nine.


4.  From Russia With Love--The second James Bond film is probably the one most rooted in Cold War reality. Look for Robert Shaw as a vicious blonde killer.

5.  Hud--A modern American masterpiece. Paul Newman played the title role, an amoral man who ruins everything he touches. Oscars to Patricia Neal as the middle-aged housekeeper who is demoralized by Hud's brutishness, and to Melvyn Douglas as Hud's dispproving father.


6.  The Pink Panther--The first in the series, and maybe still the best. Clumsy Inpsector Clouseau (Peter Sellers)  is after a notorious jewel thief. Robert Wagner and David Niven add to the fun.


7.  The Leopard--A prince tries to preserve his family and class status during the tumultuous social upheavals of Sicily in the 1860s. Luchino Visconti's Italian film is noteworthy for its use of a true star: Burt Lancaster.


8.  Tom Jones--The lusty, bawdy main character launched Albert Finney to stardom. Oscar for Best Picture.


9.  Shock Corridor--The best "B" film of the year. Hellbent on winning a Pulitzer Prize, a journalist goes undercover and checks himself into a mental institution.

10.  Charade--Stanley Donen directed two radiant stars, Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant, in this light-hearted thriller set in Paris.




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Reel Facts: The Answers to Film Quiz #1

Skip this post if you don't want to know, but here are the questions and the solutions to our first quiz:

1. Who was the first actress to win three Oscars in three different decades?
     You might have answered Katherine Hepburn or Meryl Streep, but Ingrid Bergman did it first: Gaslight (1944); her comeback in Anastasia (1956); and a crowning Oscar for Supporting Actress in Murder on the Orient Express (1974).

2. In the classic comedy Bringing Up Baby, both Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn are looking for Baby. Who is Baby?
     Baby is Hepburn's pet leopard.

3. “A scavenger hunt is just like a treasure hunt, except in a treasure hunt you find something of value, and in a scavenger hunt, you find things you don't want and the one who wins gets a prize, only there really isn't any prize. It's just the honor of winning because all the money goes to charity, if there's any money left over, but there never is.” Who said it, and from what 1930s film does it come from?
     A classic line, spoken by a classic dame: Carole Lombard said it in My Man Godfrey.

4. Frank Sinatra, John Wayne, and Paul Newman all rejected the same famous detective role. Which one?
     Believe it or not, they were all in the running to play Dirty Harry.

5. “A love caught in the fire of revolution”was the tagline for what epic 1960s movie?
     Doctor Zhivago

6. What two actors have won Oscars for playing the same character?
     Marlon Brando won the Oscar for playing Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather. Two years later, Robert DeNiro won a Supporting Oscar for playing a young Vito Corleone, in flashbacks, in The Godfather Part II.

7. In what film does Elizabeth Taylor admit the following: “Oh Mama, face it. I was the slut of all time.”
    Butterfield 8

8. What 1960s film has Barbara Stanwyck playing a lesbian madam in love with one of the new girls?
    The very racy (at the time) A Walk on the Wild Side.