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Purists will argue that film noir was born in 1941 with the release of John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon and died in 1958 with Marlene Dietrich traipsing down a long, dark, lonely road at the end of Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil. And while this period contains the quintessence of what Italian-born French film critic Nino Frank originally characterized as film noir, the genre has always been in a constant state of flux, adapting to the different times and cultures out of which these films emerged.

Noir came into its own alongside the ravages of World War II, with the gangster and detective films of the era drastically transforming into something altogether new as the aesthetics of German Expressionism took hold in America, and in large part due to the influx of German expatriates like Fritz Lang. These already dark, hardboiled films suddenly gained a newfound viciousness and sense of ambiguity,...

Disney does The Devil Wears Prada as a classic cartoon villainess gets an ultra hip, haute punk couture origin story. Emma Stone burns down the screen as the wickedly glamorous Cruella. The skunk-haired baddie from 101 Dalmatians earns her dastardly reputation going toe to toe with an equally formidable adversary. Co-star Emma Thompson gives Meryl Streep's impersonation of Vogue editor Anna Wintour an acerbic run for the money. The Oscar-winning actresses dazzle in a film that's short on plot, but looks and sounds amazing.

Cruella opens in mid-1960s rural England with a struggling single mother and fashion designer, Catherine (Emily Beecham), raising a mischievous daughter. Young Estella (Tipper Seifert-Cleveland) gets ridiculed at her snobby school for her odd black and white hair. She lashes out at her tormentors by creating a fierce new persona, Cruella. When Estella's antics force them to move, Catherine seeks help from her previous employer.

Paul Greengrass’ western drama “New of the World” starring Tom Hanks and Helena Zengel is gaining traction during this pandemic awards season despite the fact that sagebrush sagas often get short shrift at the Oscars. Only three traditional Westerns — 1931’s “Cimarron,” 1990’s “Dances with Wolves” and 1992’s “Unforgiven” — and one contemporary Western (2007’s “No Country for Old Men”) have won the Best Picture Oscar.

Among the oaters to be nominated for the top prize at the Academy Awards: John Ford’s 1939 “Stagecoach,” William A. Wellman’s 1943 “The Ox-Bow Incident,” Fred Zinnemann’s 1952’s “High Noon” (Gary Cooper won the Oscar for Best Actor), George Stevens’ 1953 “Shane”; 1960’s “The Alamo;” 1962’s “How the West Was Won”; and George Roy Hill’s 1969’s “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”

But some of the most acclaimed, treasure and influential Westerns have been all but ignored. Here’s a look at some of the...

It’s lurid, it’s soapy, it’s forbidden: where does the line form? Joseph E. Levine made hay from Harold Robbins’ best seller, with prose that The New York Times said belonged more properly “on the walls of a public lavatory.” So why is the picture so much fun? When the performances are good they’re very good, and when they’re bad they’re almost better. Plus there’s a who’s who game to be played: If George Peppard is Howard Hughes and Carroll Baker is Jean Harlow, who exactly is Robert Cummings? I think this is the first time on Blu for this title, and playback-wise it’s A-ok for Region A.

The Carpetbaggers

Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 9 (Australia)

1964 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 150 min. / Street Date August 26, 2020 / Available at [Imprint] 34.95

Starring: George Peppard, Alan Ladd, Robert Cummings, Martha Hyer, Elizabeth Ashley, Martin Balsam, Lew Ayres, Carroll Baker, Ralph Taeger, Archie Moore,...

The saga continues, featuring Adam Rifkin, Robert D. Krzykowski, John Sayles, Maggie Renzi, Mick Garris and Larry Wilmore with special guest star Blaire Bercy from the Hollywood Food Coalition.

Please support the Hollywood Food Coalition. Text “Give” to 323.402.5704 or visit https://hofoco.org/donate!

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Key Largo (1948)

I Don’t Want to Talk About It (1993)

Camila (1984)

I, the Worst of All (1990)

The Wages of Fear (1953)

Le Corbeau (1943)

Diabolique (1955)

Red Beard (1965)

Seven Samurai (1954)

Ikiru (1952)

General Della Rovere (1959)

The Gold of Naples (1959)

Bitter Rice (1949)

Pickup On South Street (1953)

My Darling Clementine (1946)

Viva Zapata! (1952)

Panic In The Streets (1950)

Yellow Sky (1948)

Ace In The Hole (1951)

Wall Street (1987)

Women’s Prison (1955)

True Love (1989)

Mean Streets (1973)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

The Abyss (1989)

The China Syndrome (1979)

Big (1988)

Splash (1984)

The ’Burbs (1989)

Long Strange Trip (2017)

Little Women (2019)

Learning To Skateboard In A War Zone (If You’re A Girl) (2019)

The Guns of Navarone...

With his exaggerated visuals, eye-popping color and frantic characterizations, Frank Tashlin has been promoted to a genuine ‘fifties icon. This freewheeling comedy hits on the Top Tashlin fetish subjects: Hollywood glitz, Madison Avenue neurosis, dynamic women, wimpy men and… and… bosoms, dammit. As the bubbly yet calculating sex symbol Rita Marlowe, Jayne Mansfield places career issues way ahead of anything to do with sex. Tony Randall receives his first leading film role as a Mad Man who’ll jump through hoops to keep an account. But the surprise is Betsy Drake, who more than anyone represents the conflicts facing the pre-feminist ’50s woman: she defines success her own way.

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 93 min. / Street Date Feb 19, 2019 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Tony Randall, Jayne Mansfield, Betsy Drake, Joan Blondell, John Williams, Henry Jones, Mickey Hargitay.

Cinematography: Joseph MacDonald

Film...

Call him strange, but CineSavant is fascinated by ‘women’s films’ that advance a consensus role template for American women. Then they ask questions like, “Is Hilda Crane a . . . Tramp?” Ladies attending these films may have sought to stir up fantasies with a racy romantic adventure — but not too racy. What a tough nut to crack within the Production Code: ace screenwriter Philip Dunne chose this as his third writing-directing assignment. Jean Simmons gives it her best shot, but the screen is stolen by everybody’s favorite harpy, Evelyn Varden.

Hilda Crane

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1956 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 87 min. / Street Date , 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Jean Simmons, Guy Madison, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Judith Evelyn, Evelyn Varden, Peggy Knudsen, Gregg Palmer.

Cinematography: Joseph MacDonald

Film Editor: David Bretherton

Original Music: David Rakson

From the play by Samson Raphaelson

Produced by Herbert B. Swope Jr.

Written and Directed by...

Samuel Fuller sure knows how to turn up the geopolitical tension, especially in a rip-roaring provocative atom threat adventure, that might have caused problems if anybody cared what movies said back when the Cold War was hot. Richard Widmark skippers a leaky sub to the arctic and discovers that the Chinese communists are going to start WW3 — and blame it on Uncle Sam. It’s an insane comic-book adventure about very serious issues — and we love it.

Hell and High Water

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1954 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date June 13, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95

Starring: Richard Widmark, Bella Darvi, Victor Francen, Richard Loo, Cameron Mitchell, Gene Evans, David Wayne.

Cinematography: Joseph MacDonald

Art Direction: Leland Fuller, Lyle R. Wheeler

Film Editor: James B. Clark

Original Music: Alfred Newman

Written by Samuel Fuller, Jesse L. Lasky Jr. story by David Hempstead

Produced by Raymond A. Klune

Directed...

The already-incredible line-up for the 2016 New York Film Festival just got even more promising. Ang Lee‘s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk will hold its world premiere at the festival on October 14th, the NY Times confirmed today. The adaptation of Ben Fountain‘s Iraq War novel, with a script by Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire), follows a teenage soldier who survives a battle in Iraq and then is brought home for a victory lap before returning.

Lee has shot the film at 120 frames per second in 4K and native 3D, giving it unprecedented clarity for a feature film, which also means the screening will be held in a relatively small 300-seat theater at AMC Lincoln Square, one of the few with the technology to present it that way. While it’s expected that this Lincoln Square theater will play the film when it arrives in theaters, it may be...

By Doug Oswald

James Cagney is Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., Usn in “The Gallant Hours,” available on Blu-ray for the first time by Kino Lorber. Affectionately known as “Bull” Halsey, the movie is a biography of Halsey told in a semi-documentary style with most of the narration provided by Robert Montgomery, who introduces people, locations and explains the action occurring off stage. Montgomery, a distinguished Us Naval officer in WWII, also happens to be the director of the movie and this is his final effort on film.

The movie opens at Halsey’s retirement ceremony, incorrectly stated as 22 November 1945 (Halsey retired from active duty in March 1947). Reflecting in his cabin with his steward, retiring Chief Petty Officer Manuel Salvador Jesus Maravilla (Leon Lontoc), the movie flashes back to the Battle of Guadalcanal as Halsey takes command of American forces in the South Pacific on 16 October 1942. Once he arrives on board his flag ship,...

Director Robert Montgomery's last is a war movie like no other, a study in leadership and command with no combat scenes. James Cagney uses none of his standard personality mannerisms; the result is something very affecting. And that music! You'll think the whole show is the memory of a soul in heaven. The Gallant Hours Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1960 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 115 min. / Street Date April 5, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring James Cagney, Dennis Weaver, Ward Costello, Vaughn Taylor, Richard Jaeckel, Les Tremayne, Walter Sande, Karl Swenson, Leon Lontoc, Robert Burton, Carleton Young, Raymond Bailey, Harry Landers, Richard Carlyle, James Yagi, James T. Goto, Carl Benton Reid, Selmer Jackson, Frank Latimore, Nelson Leigh, Herbert Lytton, Stuart Randall, William Schallert, Arthur Tovey, John Zaremba. Cinematography Joseph MacDonald Art Director Wiard Ihnen Original Music Roger Wagner Written by Beirne Lay Jr., Frank D. Gilroy Produced and Directed by Robert Montgomery...

Director Edward Dmytryk, one of the infamous Hollywood Ten blacklisted by McCarthy and his goons in 1947 Hollywood, debuted the most famous title in his filmography seven years later with war drama The Caine Mutiny. That very same year, in fact, only about a month later, he would premiere another title, a robust 1880s set Western starring Spencer Tracy, a title which would also win Oscar glory. Overshadowed by the popularity of Caine, however, the film seems to have disappeared from contemporary discussions of Dmytryk’s work (never able to divorce himself from his eventual testimony in front of Huac), a shame considering it’s a gripping, framed familial saga of intergenerational misunderstandings, racial hang-ups, and eventually even a court-room drama.

Young Joe Devereaux (Robert Wagner) is released from serving a three year prison sentence and immediately returns to his abandoned familial homestead to wreak vengeance on those who wronged him.

Edward Dmytryk's big-scale cattle empire saga sees paterfamilias Spencer Tracy drive away his sons and bull his way into a modern civil dispute that can't be resolved with force. Robert Wagner is the loyal son and Richard Widmark the resentful son impatient for Dad to cash in his chips. Fox's early CinemaScope and stereophonic sound western is a transposition of a film noir mystery thriller. Broken Lance Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1954 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 96 min. / Ship Date November 10, 2015 / available through Twilight Time Movies / 29.95 Starring Spencer Tracy, Robert Wagner, Jean Peters, Richard Widmark, Katy Jurado, Hugh O'Brian, Eduard Franz, Earl Holliman, E.G. Marshall, Carl Benton Reid, Philip Ober. Cinematography Joseph MacDonald Film Editor Dorothy Spencer Original Music Leigh Harline Written by Richard Murphy, Philip Yordan Produced by Sol C. Siegel Directed by Edward Dmytryk Reviewed by Glenn EricksonSome of the early 'big' westerns that aspire to epic status are...

We've already got a fine domestic disc with both versions of John Ford's fine Henry Fonda western. This Region B UK release duplicates that arrangement with different extras, and throws in a fine HD transfer of an earlier Allan Dwan version of the same story -- with strong similarities -- called Frontier Marshal. It stars Randolph Scott, Nancy Kelly, Cesar Romero and Binnie Barnes and it's very good. My Darling Clementine +  Frontier Marshal Region B Blu-ray Arrow Academy (UK) 1946 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 97 + 103 min. (two versions) / Street Date August 17, 2015, 2014 / Amazon UK / £19.99 Starring Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell, Victor Mature, Cathy Downs, Walter Brennan, Tim Holt, Ward Bond, Alan Mowbray, John Ireland, Roy Roberts, Jane Darwell, Grant Withers, J. Farrell MacDonald, Russell Simpson. Cinematography Joe MacDonald Art Direction James Basevi, Lyle Wheeler Film Editor Dorothy Spencer Original Music Cyril Mockridge Written by Samuel G. Engel, Sam Hellman, Winston Miller Produced by Samuel G. Engel,...

Who needs epics about Ancient Rome, Egypt, or Greek mythology when we have a thousand years of exotic Central and South American civilizations to exploit? Well, it's only been done a handful of times. This cinematic concatenation of nifty architecture, fruity multicolored headgear and athletic oiled warriors is, well, nifty, fruity and athletic!   Kings of the Sun Kl Studio Classics Savant Blu-ray Review 1963 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 108 min. / Street Date May 26, 2015 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95  Starring Yul Brynner, George Chakiris, Shirley Anne Field, Richard Basehart, Brad Dexter, Barry Morse, Armando Silvestre, Leo Gordon, Victoria Vettri, Rudy Solari, Ford Rainey, Chuck Hayward, James Coburn (narrator). Cinematography Joseph MacDonald Film Editor William Reynolds Original Music Elmer Bernstein Written by James R. Webb, Elliot Arnold  Produced by Lewis J. Rachmil Directed by J. Lee Thompson

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Epics don't get wilder than this. According to producer Walter Mirisch, 1963's Kings of the Sun...

Twilight Time brings Sam Fuller’s exotic 1955 color noir House of Bamboo to Blu-ray, a resplendently colorful film and the first major Us production to film in post-war Japan. While Fuller re-tooled Harry Kleiner’s script for the 1948 film The Street with No Name to meet his own offbeat needs, the film experienced a rather cool reception, garnering praise for Joseph MacDonald’s cinematography (and has since been hailed by sources as some of the best uses of widescreen photography in the history of cinema) but little else. Following on the heels of successful black and white titles like Hell and High Water (1954) and the acclaimed film noir Pickup on South Street (1953), it’s a harder title to classify, featuring Fuller’s usual signature of off-balance touches in a production that now seems ahead of its time (especially compared to something like 1964’s black and white provocation The Naked Kiss...

'A Hatful of Rain' with Lloyd Nolan, Anthony Franciosa and Don Murray 'A Hatful of Rain' script fails to find cinematic voice as most of the cast hams it up Based on a play by Michael V. Gazzo, A Hatful of Rain is an interesting attempt at injecting "adult" subject matters – in this case, the evils of drug addiction – into Hollywood movies. "Interesting," however, does not mean either successful or compelling. Despite real, unromantic New York City locations and Joseph MacDonald's beautifully realistic black-and-white camera work (and the pointless use of CinemaScope), this Fred Zinnemann-directed melodrama feels anachronistically stagy as a result of its artificial dialogue and the hammy theatricality of its performers – with Eva Marie Saint as the sole naturalistic exception. 'A Hatful of Rain' synopsis Somewhat revolutionary in its day (Otto Preminger's The Man with a Golden Arm,* also about drug addiction,...

December

The Revolutions in 16mm series at the Viennale culminated early in the festival with a night dedicated to American poet filmmaker Nathaniel Dorsky, who premiered two new works, February and Avraham, as well as showed Summer and December for the first time since their debut last spring in San Francisco's Crossroads series.

Those familiar with Dorsky's films since his notable shift in style in the mid to late 2000s (most emblematically with 2006's Song and Solitude) know that describing his films and indeed even differentiating them is a challenge so counter-intuitive that its very difficulty points at what makes these films as silent encounters in dark rooms so precious. No doubt like many, I can certainly enumerate the plenteous and beloved revelations and motifs across the films of the artist's last two decades, including these new ones: clouded suns, foliage verdant and crepuscular, a San Francisco made of dancing,...

My Darling Clementine

Directed by John Ford

Written by Samuel G. Engel and Winston Miller

USA, 1946

In John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), it is remarked that, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” This seems especially apt when it comes to the treatment of the Arizona city Tombstone and the historic western yarn of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, the renowned confrontation between the Clantons on one side and the Earps with John “Doc” Holliday on the other. This famous battle, lasting all of about 30 seconds, took place the afternoon of Oct. 26, 1881, and in recalling this skirmish, multiple variations and interpretations have resulted in a cinematic legend in the making, with repeated appearances of its setting, characters, and actions. When the dust settles, one of the greatest depictions of the event, its decisive individuals, and the surrounding area and occurrences (true or false...

John Ford’s My Darling Clementine is a prime example of the Great American Western, embodying all that is good and right and just about this once dominant cinematic genre. Now available in a beautiful new hi-def burn by Criterion, this 70 year old horse opera gleams with new life and luster, preserving in minute detail the sweep and grandeur of Ford’s bedrock moralist visions. My Darling Clementine stands as a testament to Ford’s unique ability to balance the mundane with the monumental in perfectly proportioned tension; his laconic cowpokes equally imperiled by a parched, unforgiving wilderness and the dark designs of its human intruders.

While most scripts strive for reduction, My Darling Clementine is a case study in art of narrative inflation. The film takes a relatively minor incident in American history – a violent misunderstanding between two shady factions popularly known as The Shoot Out at Ok Corral...

“Ghosts Of Monument Valley”

By Raymond Benson

The great John Ford made many outstanding westerns, and My Darling Clementine (1946) is certainly one of them. I would argue that not since Stagecoach (1939) had there been as good a picture in the genre, and it didn’t even star John Wayne.

Purportedly the story of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, the Clanton Gang, and the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, the film is hogwash as far as the truth is concerned. But as pure entertainment, it’s right up there with the best of the classic westerns that have given us stylistic and physical imagery that is today considered cliché. And in order to become cliché, whatever it is has to have been great to begin with. It must be a trend setter, a groundbreaker, an artistic decision that resulted in an iconic piece of celluloid. Much of what John Ford did accomplished just that.

Dark Corner

Written by Bernard C. Schoenfeld and Jay Dratler

Directed by Henry Hathaway

USA, 1946

Bradford Galt (Mark Stevens) is a private investigator with a modest office in Manhattan. His only help is in the shape of his trusty and charismatic receptionist Kathleen (Lucille Ball). One evening after a day’s work, Brad convinces Kathleen to spend the evening with him, not too difficult a feat given that she fancies her employer. When perusing the games at a carnival, it comes to their attention that a tough-looking man dressed in a shiny white suit (William Bendix) is tailing them. One thing leads to another (including an attempt on Brad’s life) until the private dick gets his tail to fess up his employer. It turns out Brad’s former partner and now lawyer Tony Jardine (Kurt Kreuger) is keeping tabs on him. What neither Brad nor Tony know, however, is...

Niagara

Written by Charles Brackett, Richard L. Breen and Walter Reisch

Directed by Henry Hathaway

USA, 1953

Marilyn Monroe’s legacy in popular culture and film varies greatly depending on whom one asks. For some, her photo shoots and the unforgettably attractive looks advertised through them meant she was, and for some, still is, the epitome of sex appeal. For others, her roles in films like Some Like It Hot or The Seven Year Itch painted her image as a great leading lady in romantic comedies and, in the case of the former, somewhat of a ditsy dame. Digging a little bit deeper will reveal another version of Monroe standing in stark contrast to these two. One of her earliest films was John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle from 1950, a riveting heist thriller, in which she played a wealthy middle-aged man’s plaything. Three years later, she was one of the...

Jeanne Crain: From Pinky to Margie Jeanne Crain, one of the most charming Hollywood actresses of the ’40s and ’50s, is Turner Classic Movies’ "Summer Under the Stars" featured player on Monday, August 26, 2013. Since Jeanne Crain was a top 20th Century Fox star for about a decade — a favorite of Fox mogul Darryl F. Zanuck — TCM will be showing quite a few films from the Fox library. And that’s great news. (Photo: Jeanne Crain ca. 1950.) (See also: “Jeanne Crain Movies: TCM’s ‘Summer Under the Stars’ Schedule.”) Now, my first recommendation is actually an MGM release. That’s Russell Rouse’s 1956 psychological Western The Fastest Gun Alive, an unusual movie in that the hero turns out to be a "coward" at heart: quick-on-the-trigger gunslinger Glenn Ford is reluctant to face an evil challenger (Broderick Crawford) in a small Western town. But why? Jeanne Crain is his serious-minded wife...

With the release of Marilyn Monroe flicks Bus Stop and Niagara and the Elvis Presley Western Love Me Tender, Fox continues its roll-out of classic films remastered for HD and the result is something to behold. The merits of Elvis and Marilyn’s acting abilities aside, the films themselves look stunning on Blu-ray, with the beautiful cinematography of Niagara (courtesy of Joseph MacDonald) standing out above the rest. As for the films themselves, Love Me Tender and Niagara tie for the most appeal when it comes to story, with the former framing a love triangle with the fallout of a post-Civil War (by a matter of days) heist and a Hitchcockian murder tale where all Marilyn has to do most of the film is swoon or look beautiful.

Read more...

Panic in the Streets

Written by Richard Murphy and Daniel Fuchs

Directed by Elia Kazan

U.S.A., 1950

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Some directors make their careers by telling the sort of stories and using the cinematic techniques which best suit them. This lack of diversity is by no means sufficient grounds for criticism. In fact, it is often quite the contrary insofar as such directors are often (but not always) heralded as important voices for specific genres and styles. Harmony Korine explores the oft avoided subcultures of the United States, John Carpenter’s greater strengths lie in sharing thriller and horror tales and Elia Kazan’s most famous and respected projects were those which directly concentrated on critical social issues affecting the United States during this time, issues which far too many preferred to either shove under the rug or virulently disagreed to reach compromise on. Gentleman’s Agreement, Pinky and On the Waterfront come to mind.

Panic in the Streets

Written by Richard Murphy and Daniel Fuchs

Directed by Elia Kazan

U.S.A., 1950

-

Some directors make their careers by telling the sort of stories and using the cinematic techniques which best suit them. This lack of diversity is by no means sufficient grounds for criticism. In fact, it is often quite the contrary insofar as such directors are often (but not always) heralded as important voices for specific genres and styles. Harmony Korine explores the oft avoided subcultures of the United States, John Carpenter’s greater strengths lie in sharing thriller and horror tales and Elia Kazan’s most famous and respected projects were those which directly concentrated on critical social issues affecting the United States during this time, issues which far too many preferred to either shove under the rug or virulently disagreed to reach compromise on. Gentleman’s Agreement, Pinky and On the Waterfront come to mind.

Los Angeles -- There's a new breach in China's great cultural wall and Hollywood is cautiously moving in.

Disney's announcement Monday that it will make "Iron Man 3" in partnership with a Chinese company is the latest sign that movie studios are warming to China's new openness.

For decades, China has capped the number of foreign films it allows into the country. Until recently, the limit was 20, but in February Chinese officials announced that they are increasing the quota to 34.

China said it will also allow foreign studios to garner a greater share of box office revenue. Foreign companies can now expect to earn 25 percent of their movies' ticket sales in China, up from between 13.5 and 17.5 percent.

The changes are a significant move for a bureaucracy that is leery of outside cultural influences and competition from foreign films. The change could affect everyone from action movie fans in Guangzhou to Hollywood's most powerful filmmakers.

Similar images, similar dialog, similar actors and similar sets! Part of our on-going series, Similar Images.

The opening of William A. Wellman's The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), screenplay by Lamar Trotti from Walter Van Tilburg Clark's novel; cinematography by Arthur C. Miller; art direction by James Basevi and Richard Day:

The second scene of William A. Wellman's Yellow Sky (1948), screenplay by Lamar Trotti from a story by W.R. Burnett; cinematography by Joe MacDonald; art diretion by Albert Hogsett and Lyle Wheeler:...

I have quite the variety of films I watched this week from the random early '90s sports flick, to the small Gus Van Sant flick, to the late '40s near-noir. In short, it was a good week of movie watching. Let's get to it...

Paranoid Park (2007) Quick Thoughts: This had been in my Instant Queue for about a year or so based on a lot of good things I'd heard about it. The less-than-90-minute runtime was the reason I finally decided to watch it as I wanted something that wasn't too long to watch one night before calling it a day. If I wanted to simplify it down to a sentence, I'd say Paranoid Park proves Gus Van Sant is a true storyteller.

The film deals with Alex (Gabe Nevins), a skateboarder that finds himself working out just what he should do following the accidental death of a security guard.

A Hatful Of Rain (1957) Direction: Fred Zinnemann Cast: Eva Marie Saint, Don Murray, Anthony Franciosa, Lloyd Nolan, Henry Silva Screenplay: Michael V. Gazzo, Alfred Hayes, Carl Foreman (originally uncredited); from Gazzo's play Oscar Movies Don Murray, Eva Marie Saint, A Hatful of Rain Based on a play by Michael V. Gazzo, A Hatful of Rain is an interesting attempt at injecting "adult" subject matters — in this case, the evils of drug addiction — into Hollywood movies. "Interesting," however, does not mean either successful or compelling. Despite real, unromantic New York locations and Joseph MacDonald's beautifully realistic black-and-white camera work, this Fred Zinnemann-directed melodrama feels anachronistically stagy as a result of its artificial dialogue and the hammy theatricality of its performers — with Eva Marie Saint as the sole naturalistic exception. Somewhat revolutionary in its day (Otto Preminger's The Man with a Golden Arm, also about drug addiction, had come...

Back in grade four my class staged a production of "A Charlie Brown Christmas." It was democracy in action, I guess, as everybody who wanted the lead had to audition in front of the student body, who then voted to determine who landed the lead role of Charlie Brown.

I burned to be the star.

My unconventional delivery of "Good Grief!" would bring the house down and I'd wear that iconic sweater like the superstar I knew myself to be. However, in spite of my best efforts, I lost in a landslide to Joe Macdonald, who won because all the girls thought he was cute, like a tiny Jonas brother.

Or so I told myself.

And so I was assigned the role of being a shepherd in the play, standing amidst Esl students, inveterate nose-pickers and those who were bad at sports. From the moment my teacher glued some toxic,...

Updated/Corrected

Do you remember the old Peanuts strips in which Linus would skitter about in anxiety, complaining to Lucy that he'd suddenly become "aware of [his] tongue?" And that he was in agony because once the awareness had come upon him, he was unable to let it go, or, worse, to think of anything else? And how enraged Lucy became—"You blockhead!"—once Linus's ravings resulted in she herself becoming aware of her own tongue? That was pretty funny stuff, no? Funny because it was true. I bring it up because now that I am aware of the more-or-less exact nature of the cyan record in three-strip Technicolor (cyan being the complementary color to red, which thus in the complicated process controls red), I see its result in all the Technicolor material in which its characteristic reveals itself, and cannot not see it.

This was something I first really heard...

Release Date: Available Now Director: Nicholas Ray Writers: Cyril Hume, Richard Maibaum Cinematographer: Joe MacDonald Starring: James Mason, Barbara Rush Studio/Run Time: Criterion Collection, 95 min. Life-sized and all too prescient It’s little wonder that Nicholas Ray—Hollywood’s most trenchant observer of 1950s American society, who splashed caustic critiques across the silver screen—was almost blacklisted. What could parry the unanswerable questions raised by films like Rebel Without a Cause and Bitter Victory better than silencing the man doing the asking? Bigger Than Life, like those two other films, deals with a barely sustained middle-class family. It stars the eloquent James...