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Who wouldn’t want to live on the fifth floor of Los Angeles’ new Gower Court building, an architectural landmark with one of the best views in town? Looking over a vast swath of the city, with the Hollywood sign in the distance, it has the ideal vista for anyone who would like to be part of showbiz history. There’s just one thing — only the deceased can stake out a premium spot on the Sky Terrace of this mausoleum, where crypt prices start at a cool million.

This real estate, right next door to Paramount Studios, wasn’t always so desirable. Before Tyler Cassity and co-owner Yogu Kanthiah took over in 1998, Hollywood Forever Cemetery — the final resting place of legendary cinematic figures including Rudolph Valentino, Judy Garland and John Huston — had fallen into disrepair.

The new five-story Gower Mausoleum was designed by Lehrer Architects with a nod to the...

Long before Stanley Kubrick made waves with book adaptations like The Shining and A Clockwork Orange, he directed one of the most powerful anti-war stories of all time. Based on Humphry Cobb’s book, Paths of Glory is a powerful anti-war drama that explores the futility of battle. But, in true Kubrick style, the film condemns war by creatively dissecting the power structures that sustain it.

Paths of Glory is less about the battlefield and more about the forces pulling the strings behind the scenes: the generals who see soldiers as disposable, the bureaucratic system that turns life-and-death decisions into calculated operations, and the ethical compromises made in the name of victory. Kubrick shifts the spotlight from combat to corruption, making a war film where the real enemy is the system itself.

Paths of Glory Explores the Machinations Behind War

In 1916, during the First World War in Northern France, French...

Four years after launching United Artists with Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and D.W. Griffiths, Charlie Chaplin distributed his first film through the company. It was a dream project that defied expectations. After making over 50 comic shorts, all of which he starred in, Chaplin not only released a straight romantic drama with A Woman of Paris, but—as he only appeared in it in a brief cameo, and under heavy makeup—it was easy to miss him on screen.

This 1923 film delighted critics, and its narrative and visual sophistication and the highly natural performance style of the actors made it a watershed release during Hollywood’s silent era, influencing countless directors, most notably Ernst Lubitsch. But it was a commercial failure, as audiences only wanted more of the Little Tramp. Still, while neither that iconic character nor anyone like him appears in it, A Woman of Paris is distinctly Chaplinesque,...

The war movie genre has made for some of the best, most influential movies of all time. Ever since Georges Mlis made what is widely regarded as one of the first ever war films, Sea Fighting in Greece in 1897, the genre has evolved and produced a lot of iconic films. While cinema evolves, the quality of films from a certain era doesn't change, and some are still regarded as hugely important works of art that have stood the test of time.

Naturally, many war movies haven't aged well, but in some cases, impactful war movies can emotionally stick with you forever. Like any film genre, the war movie can take on many guises. Some may depict the brutality of combat with hard-hitting battle scenes regardless of their accuracy, while others may delve deeper into the psyches of the people involved in the conflict. However, for a war movie to be considered a classic,...

Warning: Article contains mentions of racism, anti-Semitism, and Nazism.War movies have left, and continue to leave, an endearing mark on filmmaking. Some of the best war movies are elevated by the presence of a squadron of soldiers within their narrative, ensembles of characters that continually captivate audiences with their intense and emotional portrayals of camaraderie, loyalty, and shared hardships. These war movie squads are the beating hearts of their films, and have become just as iconic as the war movies themselves.

Whether they endear themselves to audiences through their daring deeds, razor-sharp banter, or steadfast resilience, these squads often embody the persistence of the human spirit while fueling a compelling story, often about the horrors of war. Without these ensembles, it is likely that their own movies may not be so revered today. From the tale of a group of rebels in a galaxy far, far away, to a...

The lesser-known of Charlie Chaplin’s canon might still place among the finest films ever made, and his greatest scholars and acolytes will tell you A Woman of Paris has always deserved such label. It began the run of feature-length masterpieces that was The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator but remains semi-obscure––an oddity perhaps partly explained by Chaplin’s own classification as “the first serious drama written and directed by myself,” and one soon be amended by Janus Films’ U.S. release of a 4K restoration.

Ahead of its December 22 premiere at Film Forum, there’s a new trailer and poster. The former suggests a strong, faithful rendering from Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna and Timothy Brock, who has newly conducted Chaplin’s original score; the latter so strongly evokes a 1923 theatrical release that I assumed it was the original one-sheet with new titles attached.

At the conclusion of Apple TV +’s delightful 2021 musical comedy “Schmigadoon!,” Melissa (Cecily Strong) and Josh (Keegan-Michael Key) realized they loved each other and returned to the real world. The second season finds them blissfully married, but boredom soon sets in. And to add insult to injury, they can’t get pregnant. The two decide they need a boost, so they decide to return to the cotton-candy colored tuneful world of Schmigadoon.

But what they find this time around is Schmicago, a much darker town they can’t leave until they find their happy ending. Happy endings, though, are few and far between in the city that never sleeps. And it certainly looks like the two won’t find one anytime soon after Josh is soon arrested for murdering a showgirl.

Schmicago is Fosse-fied with more than a few jazz hands reflecting the adult musicals of the 1960s and 1970s including “Chicago,...

When Katharine Hepburn made her final big-screen appearance in Warren Beatty's 1994 romantic drama, "Love Affair," it marked the first time in her 62-year film career that she played a supporting role (aside from a cameo in 1943's "Stage Door Canteen") -- and this is all the more amazing when you consider how much she struggled at various junctures to maintain her leading lady status.

Hepburn's options were plentiful at birth. The Connecticut-born daughter of a wealthy urologist and a suffragette campaigner, Hepburn was raised in a permissive environment where societal limitations existed to be disregarded. She cut her hair short, excelled at sports like tennis and golf, wore pants, and smoked cigarettes. She pursued social justice causes at an early age, and received a liberal arts education at Bryn Mawr College (graduating with decidedly unladylike degrees in history and philosophy).

There was nothing performative about Hepburn's interests. She was appreciative of her good fortune,...

Showrunner Eric Kripke joins podcast hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante to discuss a few of his favorite films.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Howling (1981) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

Piranha (1978) – Jon Davison’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

Gremlins (1984) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Tfh’s Mogwai Madness

Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)

My Octopus Teacher (2020)

The Evil Dead (1983) – Fede Alvarez’s trailer commentary

Evil Dead II (1987) – Mike Mendez’s trailer commentary, Alex Kirschenbaum’s review

Meet The Feebles (1989) – Mike Mendez’s trailer commentary

Dead Alive a.k.a. Braindead (1992) – Mike Mendez’s trailer commentary

Bad Taste (1987) – Ti West’s trailer commentary

Infested (2002)

Super (2010)

Forrest Gump (1994)

The Hidden (1987) – Mike Mendez’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

Uhf (1989)

Fat Guy Goes Nutzoid (1986)

The Dead Pit (1989)

Batgirl (2022) – Unreleased film

The Fantastic Four (1994) – Unreleased film...

Francois Truffaut famously said, "There's no such thing as an anti-war film." But if there's a counter-argument, it's Stanley Kubrick's 1957 "Paths of Glory." Contrary to its title, the film depicts battle as anything but glorious.

Set in France during World War 1, the film stars Kirk Douglas as Colonel Dax. After infantrymen under Dax's command refuse to charge into a suicidal attack, three men, Paris, Ferol, and Arnaud, are chosen to be court-martialed for cowardice and made an example of via execution. The Colonel tries his best to get them acquitted but to no avail.

In another movie, the three men might be saved at the last minute by Dax's ingenuity, but in a Kubrick movie, they're slowly marched to the firing squad and executed. The movie underscores the meaninglessness of their deaths by ending with an acknowledgment that soon, their comrades will be thrown back into the meat grinder of combat.

Kino boosts the third United Artists Stanley Kubrick classic to 4K clarity, bringing out every nuance of the director’s fine B&w imagery. Kubrick’s major career achievement this time was forming a mutually positive relationship with a big star. Their show is an artful anti-militaristic shout that accuses the French officer corps of willful murder. Producer-star Kirk Douglas gets the best grandstanding soapbox of his career, while Kubrick proves he can shape a dozen fine performances into a mainstream movie masterpiece.

Paths of Glory 4K

4K Ultra HD

Kl Studio Classics

1957 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 88 min. / Street Date August 23, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 39.95

Starring: Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready, Wayne Morris, Richard Anderson, Joe Turkel, Timothy Carey, Suzanne Christian, Jerry Hausner, Emile Meyer, Bert Freed.

Cinematography: George Krause

Production Designer: Art Director: Ludwig Reiber

Film Editor: Eva Kroll

Original Music: Gerald Fried

Written by Stanley Kubrick,...

Let's be fair to Disney/Sony/Fox/whoever they think they are: there's been a DVD release of William Wellman's Roxie Hart (1942), but it's not currently streaming, which is a crying shame. It's a masterpiece, up there with The Public Enemy or Safe in Hell or Midnight Mary, Wellman's excoriating, criminous pre-Codes.The story may be a familiar one: former newspaperwoman Maurine Dallas Watkins' stage hit Chicago was filmed as a Cecil B. DeMille production in 1927, and more recently in musical form with Bob Fosse's choreography put through a blender by Rob Marshall, Harvey Weinstein, and Martin Walsh, who promptly won the Oscar for Most Editing.Our story, and its heroine, are laid in the great city of Chicago in the Roaring Twenties. An opening title solemnly dedicates the picture to all those women who have filled their husbands full of lead out of pique. George Montgomery plays an old newspaperman and then,...

Delirious silver-screen glamour never disappoints! Marlene Dietrich’s six Paramount pictures for Josef von Sternberg arrive in a beautifully annotated disc set. The most creative director-muse relationship of the 1930s created an all-conquering German siren-goddess, a screen icon vom kopf bis fuss.

Dietrich & von Sternberg in Hollywood

Blu-ray

Morocco, Dishonored, Shanghai Express, Blonde Venus, The Scarlet Empress, The Devil is a Woman

The Criterion Collection 930

1930-1035 / B&W / 1:19 Movietone (2), 1:37 flat Academy (3) / 542 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date July 3, 2018 / 124.95

Starring: Marlene Dietrich, Gary Cooper, Victor McLaglen, Clive Brook, Herbert Marshall, Cary Grant, Sam Jaffe, Lionel Atwill, Cesar Romero.

Directed by Josef von Sternberg

Dietrich & von Sternberg in Hollywood assembles a package we’ve long desired, a quality set of the duo’s highly artistic Paramount pictures from the first half of the 1930s. The Scarlet Empress arrived in a sub-par Criterion disc early in 2001, and three more...

In a war film, what’s the difference between nasty exploitation and just plain honest reportage? André De Toth made tough-minded action films with the best of them, and this nail-biting commando mission with Michael Caine and Nigel Davenport is simply superb, one of those great action pictures that’s not widely screened. To its credit it’s not ‘feel good’ enough to be suitable for Memorial Day TV marathons.

Play Dirty

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 118 min. / Street Date October 17, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95

Starring: Michael Caine, Nigel Davenport, Nigel Green, Harry Andrews.

Cinematography: Edward Scaife

Film Editor: Jack Slade

Art Direction: Tom Morahan, Maurice Pelling

Original Music: Michel Legrand

Written by Lotte Colin, Melvyn Bragg, from a story by George Marton

Produced by Harry Saltzman

Directed by André De Toth

Some movies that were ignored when new now seem far more important, perhaps due to the tenor of times.

'The Doll' with Ossi Oswalda and Hermann Thimig: Early Ernst Lubitsch satirical fantasy starring 'the German Mary Pickford' has similar premise to that of the 1925 Buster Keaton comedy 'Seven Chances.' 'The Doll': San Francisco Silent Film Festival presented fast-paced Ernst Lubitsch comedy starring the German Mary Pickford – Ossi Oswalda Directed by Ernst Lubitsch (So This Is Paris, The Wedding March), the 2017 San Francisco Silent Film Festival presentation The Doll / Die Puppe (1919) has one of the most amusing mise-en-scènes ever recorded. The set is created by cut-out figures that gradually come to life; then even more cleverly, they commence the fast-paced action. It all begins when a shy, confirmed bachelor, Lancelot (Hermann Thimig), is ordered by his rich uncle (Max Kronert), the Baron von Chanterelle, to marry for a large sum of money. As to be expected, mayhem ensues. Lancelot is forced to flee from the hordes of eligible maidens, eventually...

A Mexican Affair Created and performed by Rafa Reyes Produced and directed by Jeremy Williams The Metropolitan Room, NYC Saturday, April 8, 2017

What keeps A Mexican Affair -- cabaret show headlined by Rafa Reyes and backed by a fine Latin group -- going? It is the immense personable charm and contagious self-delight of Rafa himself, coupled with the powerful support he receives from the quintet behind him. This young singer from Mexico, who came to the United States to attend New York’s American Musical and Dramatic Academy, certainly has “that something” and it bespeaks of the kind of presence that compels an audience to stay with him and see what will unfold. That’s no mean feat in the world of solo cabaret performing (or in solo performing of any kind). The seasoned New York cabaret audience knows immediately if the performer in front of them is up to something,...

1 March 1925: This is a remarkable film, an historic film, a film to see and consider

Mr. Charles Spenser Chaplin has been enjoying a holiday from his boots and his hat. It has been a holiday in the true sense, which implies, not idleness, but the doing of a thing long desired in the desired way. His new film A Woman of Paris is the fruit of many years’ consideration, the logical development of that other holiday The Kid, and the fulfilment of his dream.

Like all good comedians, pushing aside a delirious desire to play Hamlet, Chaplin has sought a medium of tragic expression, cast here and everywhere, for an outlet for his serious emotions. His later comedies are shot with the Hamlet quality. But he is bounded by the little hat, and the boots and the cane, and a servant to the public in whose mind these things stand for laughter.

The restoration of a newly rediscovered director’s cut of the 1931 The Front Page prompts this two-feature comedy disc — Lewis Milestone’s early talkie plus the sublime Howard Hawks remake, which plays a major gender switch on the main characters of Hecht & MacArthur’s original play.

His Girl Friday / The Front Page

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 849

Available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 10, 2017 / 39.96

His Girl Friday:

1940 / B&W /1:37 flat Academy / 92 min.

Starring Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart, Porter Hall, Ernest Truex, Cliff Edwards, Clarence Kolb, Roscoe Karns, Frank Jenks, Regis Toomey, Abner Biberman, Frank Orth, John Qualen, Helen Mack, Alma Kruger, Billy Gilbert, Marion Martin.

Cinematography Joseph Walker

Film Editor Gene Havelick

Original Music Sidney Cutner, Felix Mills

Written by Charles Lederer from the play The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur

Produced and Directed by Howard Hawks

The Front Page:...

“Oh, that’s silly. No woman could ever run for President. She’d have to admit she’s over 35!”

State Of The Union plays on the big screen at St. Louis’ fabulous Hi-Pointe Theater this weekend as part of their Classic Film Series. It’s Saturday, November 12th at 10:30am at the Hi-Pointe located at 1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, Mo 63117. Admission is only $5.

It’s election week so the Hi-Pointe is rolling out a vintage political film to screen for this month’s Classic Film Series. State Of The Union is a 1941 Frank Capra film that comes off fresh and timely. A plain speaking, likable man, Grant Matthews (Spencer Tracy) is convinced to run for President by the publisher of a newspaper, Kay Thorndyke (Angela Lansbury) who is also his mistress, and before he knows it, his words and intentions are no longer his own. Because he wants to win,...

Clément Cogitore on Michelangelo Antonioni and Apichatpong Weerasethakul: "who are my masters" Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Nicholas Ray's Bitter Victory starring Richard Burton and Curd Jürgens to Stanley Kubrick's Paths Of Glory with Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker and Adolphe Menjou come to mind or the tension built with Kip (Naveen Andrews) checking for mines in Anthony Minghella's The English Patient, based on Michael Ondaatje's novel when reflecting on Neither Heaven Nor Earth (Ni Le Ciel Ni La Terre).

Jérémie Renier is Captain Antarès Bonassieu

Clément Cogitore's haunting debut feature stars Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne discovery Jérémie Renier with Kévin Azaïs (Thomas Cailley's Love At First Fight, Catherine Corsini's Summertime), Swann Arlaud (Axelle Ropert's The Apple Of My Eye), Finnegan Oldfield (Thomas Bidegain's Les Cowboys, Eva Husson's Bang Gang), Sâm Mirhosseini, Marc Robert, Hamid Reza Javdan (Atiq Rahimi's The Patience Stone), Edouard Court,...

Woody Allen narrates CAFÉ Society, his 47th film and at age 80, his voice is sounding sadly geezerish. Set in the mid-1930’s, CAFÉ Society has a cool period soundtrack, an older man courting a much younger woman, a Jewish family kibitzing around the dinner table, quotable dialog on love and life, and a neurotic Jewish hero channeling a much younger Woody. In other words, all the elements of a great Woody Allen film. It also has Vittorio Storaro’s rapturous cinematography (a Woody first) and a terrific and complex central performance from Jesse Eisenberg. CAFÉ Society is the most romantic Woody since Annie Hall and one of his best.

Leaving his (very) Jewish family back in the Bronx, young Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg) heads west to “learn the movie business” from his Uncle Phil (Steve Carell), a bigtime Hollywood talent agent. Phil assigns his captivating, but romantically unavailable, secretary Vonnie...

“The man you stabbed in the back is a soldier!”

Two anti-war Wwi films and one wild British propaganda piece made while WWII was still raging constitute the three-film series sponsored by The Mildred Kemper Art Museum next week at The Tivoli Theater (6350 Delmar in the University City Loop). This ties into the museum’s current exhibit World War I: War of Images, Images of War, which is on display through January (details on the exhibit can be found Here) http://www.kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu/Wwi

All three films start at 7pm and admission is Free!

All Quiet On The Western Front screens at 7pm Tuesday December 8th

The film series kicks off Tuesday December 8th with All Quiet On The Western Front (1930) — the first major anti-war film of the sound era, faithfully based upon the timeless, best-selling 1929 novel by Erich Maria Remarque, who had experienced the war first-hand as a young German soldier.

Pat O'Brien movies on TCM: 'The Front Page,' 'Oil for the Lamps of China' Remember Pat O'Brien? In case you don't, you're not alone despite the fact that O'Brien was featured – in both large and small roles – in about 100 films, from the dawn of the sound era to 1981. That in addition to nearly 50 television appearances, from the early '50s to the early '80s. Never a top star or a critics' favorite, O'Brien was nevertheless one of the busiest Hollywood leading men – and second leads – of the 1930s. In that decade alone, mostly at Warner Bros., he was seen in nearly 60 films, from Bs (Hell's House, The Final Edition) to classics (American Madness, Angels with Dirty Faces). Turner Classic Movies is showing nine of those today, Nov. 11, '15, in honor of what would have been the Milwaukee-born O'Brien's 116th birthday. Pat O'Brien and James Cagney Spencer Tracy had Katharine Hepburn.

Constance Cummings: Actress in minor Hollywood movies became major London stage star. Constance Cummings: Actress went from Harold Lloyd and Frank Capra to Noël Coward and Eugene O'Neill Actress Constance Cummings, whose career spanned more than six decades on stage, in films, and on television in both the U.S. and the U.K., died ten years ago on Nov. 23. Unlike other Broadway imports such as Ann Harding, Katharine Hepburn, Miriam Hopkins, and Claudette Colbert, the pretty, elegant Cummings – who could have been turned into a less edgy Constance Bennett had she landed at Rko or Paramount instead of Columbia – never became a Hollywood star. In fact, her most acclaimed work, whether in films or – more frequently – on stage, was almost invariably found in British productions. That's most likely why the name Constance Cummings – despite the DVD availability of several of her best-received performances – is all but forgotten.

Virginia Bruce: MGM actress ca. 1935. Virginia Bruce movies on TCM: Actress was the cherry on 'The Great Ziegfeld' wedding cake Unfortunately, Turner Classic Movies has chosen not to feature any non-Hollywood stars – or any out-and-out silent film stars – in its 2015 “Summer Under the Stars” series.* On the other hand, TCM has come up with several unusual inclusions, e.g., Lee J. Cobb, Warren Oates, Mae Clarke, and today, Aug. 25, Virginia Bruce. A second-rank MGM leading lady in the 1930s, the Minneapolis-born Virginia Bruce is little remembered today despite her more than 70 feature films in a career that spanned two decades, from the dawn of the talkie era to the dawn of the TV era, in addition to a handful of comebacks going all the way to 1981 – the dawn of the personal computer era. Career highlights were few and not all that bright. Examples range from playing the...

Fred Astaire ca. 1935. Fred Astaire movies: Dancing in the dark, on the ceiling on TCM Aug. 5, '15, is Fred Astaire Day on Turner Classic Movies, as TCM continues with its “Summer Under the Stars” series. Just don't expect any rare Astaire movies, as the actor-singer-dancer's star vehicles – mostly Rko or MGM productions – have been TCM staples since the early days of the cable channel in the mid-'90s. True, Fred Astaire was also featured in smaller, lesser-known fare like Byron Chudnow's The Amazing Dobermans (1976) and Yves Boisset's The Purple Taxi / Un taxi mauve (1977), but neither one can be found on the TCM schedule. (See TCM's Fred Astaire movie schedule further below.) Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals Some fans never tire of watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing together. With these particular fans in mind, TCM is showing – for the nth time – nine Astaire-Rogers musicals of the '30s,...

Adolphe Menjou movies today (This article is currently being revised.) Despite countless stories to the contrary, numerous silent film performers managed to survive the coming of sound. Adolphe Menjou, however, is a special case in that he not only remained a leading man in the early sound era, but smoothly made the transition to top supporting player in mid-decade, a position he would continue to hold for the quarter of a century. Menjou is Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Day today, Aug. 3, as part of TCM's "Summer Under the Stars" 2015 series. Right now, TCM is showing William A. Wellman's A Star Is Born, the "original" version of the story about a small-town girl (Janet Gaynor) who becomes a Hollywood star, while her husband (Fredric March) boozes his way into oblivion. In typical Hollywood originality (not that things are any different elsewhere), this 1937 version of the story – produced by...

'Humoresque': Joan Crawford and John Garfield. 'Humoresque' 1946: Saved by Joan Crawford Directed by Jean Negulesco from a screenplay by Clifford Odets and Zachary Gold (loosely based on a Fannie Hurst short story), Humoresque always frustrates me because its first 25 minutes are excruciatingly boring – until Joan Crawford finally makes her appearance during a party scene. Crawford plays Helen Wright, a rich society lush in love with a tough-guy violin player, Paul Boray (John Garfield), who happens to be in love with his music. Fine support is offered by Paul's parents, played by Ruth Nelson and the fabulous chameleon-like J. Carroll Naish. Oscar Levant is the sarcastic, wisecracking piano player, who plays his part to the verge of annoyance. (Spoilers ahead.) Something wrong with that woman The Humoresque scenes between Paul and his mother are particularly intriguing, as the mother conveys her objections to Helen by lamenting, "There's something wrong with a woman like that!

Roughly forty-five minutes into William A. Wellman’s A Star is Born (1937), veteran press agent Matt Libby (Lionel Stander) is asked to fabricate a marketable biography for a certain Esther Victoria Blodgett (Janet Gaynor), his studio’s freshly signed ingenue. It all seems to be going quite smoothly—until Libby hears the new signee’s name. “Do you know," he asks his boss indignantly, “what her name is?” Oliver Niles (Adolphe Menjou), the studio’s head producer, is no less mortified. “We’ll have to do something about that right away," he concedes, and with that he launches into an impromptu brainstorm. Blodgett is out. Victoria is cut down to Vicki. And Esther? No: “Siesta, Besta, Sesta, Fester, Jester, Hester . . . Lester—Vicki Lester.” Niles chants the name like an incantation. He calls on his cronies for corroboration. The whole office starts crying it out: “Vicki Lester, Vicki Lester, Vicki Lester,...

Roughly forty-five minutes into William A. Wellman’s A Star is Born (1937), veteran press agent Matt Libby (Lionel Stander) is asked to fabricate a marketable biography for a certain Esther Victoria Blodgett (Janet Gaynor), his studio’s freshly signed ingenue. It all seems to be going quite smoothly—until Libby hears the new signee’s name. “Do you know," he asks his boss indignantly, “what her name is?” Oliver Niles (Adolphe Menjou), the studio’s head producer, is no less mortified. “We’ll have to do something about that right away," he concedes, and with that he launches into an impromptu brainstorm. Blodgett is out. Victoria is cut down to Vicki. And Esther? No: “Siesta, Besta, Sesta, Fester, Jester, Hester . . . Lester—Vicki Lester.” Niles chants the name like an incantation. He calls on his cronies for corroboration. The whole office starts crying it out: “Vicki Lester, Vicki Lester, Vicki Lester,...

Episode 25 of 52: In which Kate confronts Angela Lansbury onscreen and the Blacklist offscreen and manages to beat both.

Early on, I stated that sometimes Kate’s career seems charmed. I’d venture 1948 is one of those charmed years. As we saw last week, Song of Love failed--Kate’s first failure at MGM. Yet some strange circumstances and good luck landed Kate in State of the Union, based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning play. I say “good luck” because in the fall of 1947, the storm that would become the Hollywood Blacklist was brewing, and Kate nearly got caught in the center of it.

Though not as cloyingly obvious as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - no light from the Lincoln Memorial in this film - State of the Union nevertheless delivers the classic Capra Corn package: nostalgia, patriotism, and a happy ending snatched from the jaws of tragedy at the last second.

Episode 13 of 52 wherein Anne Marie screens all of Katharine Hepburn's films in chronological order.

In which we've finally made it to the good stuff, so let's celebrate with Katharine Hepburn vs Ginger Rogers in a battle of the stars.

Hallelujah! Katharine Hepburn has arrived! From the ashes of Quality Street she rises, patrician and perfect. After 12 weeks of inconsistent performances, to suddenly be confronted with Kate in all her Mid-Atlantic, New England-born, iron spined, pants-wearing glory is a downright religious experience. And lo, Katharine Hepburn did star in a Kaufman and Ferber adaptation, and it was good.

Stage Door is the limelight dramedy of a gaggle of Broadway hopefuls living at the fictional Footlights Club in New York. The original play was an ensemble piece, but director Gregory La Cava and writer Morrie Ryskind remade the the movie in the image of its stars. Ginger Rogers, then between musical blockbusters,...

A little-known 1932 comedy gem starring Adolphe Menjou was the audience favorite at this year’s Cinefest in Syracuse, New York. Bachelor’s Affairs got good notices from Photoplay and The New York Times when it debuted, but it’s been forgotten in the decades since and was never released to television. There’s just one word to describe it: hilarious. UCLA Film and Television Archives provided this and other 16mm prints it happens to have in its vaults. Given the response it received, I suspect it will now be a candidate for full-fledged restoration in 35mm. As a successful businessman, Menjou (graying at the temples) is a prime patsy for fortune-hunting Minna Gombell, who forces her...

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Philip Seymour Hoffman, Shirley Temple, and Oscar movies: Library of Congress’ March 2014 screenings (photo: Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote in ‘Capote’) Tributes to the recently deceased Shirley Temple and Philip Seymour Hoffman, and several Academy Award-nominated and -winning films are among the March 2014 screenings at the Library of Congress’ Packard Campus Theater and, in collaboration with the Library’s National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, The State Theatre, both located in Culpeper, Virginia. The 1934 sentimental comedy-drama Little Miss Marker (March 6, Packard) is the movie that turned six-year-old Shirley Temple into a major film star. Temple would become the biggest domestic box-office draw of the mid-1930s, and, Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Sonja Henie, Don Ameche, Loretta Young, and Madeleine Carroll notwithstanding, would remain 20th Century Fox’s top star until later in the decade. Directed by Alexander Hall (Here Comes Mr. Jordan, My Sister Eileen), Little Miss Marker — actually, a Paramount...

Shirley Temple dead at 85: Was one of the biggest domestic box office draws of the ’30s (photo: Shirley Temple in the late ’40s) Shirley Temple, one of the biggest box office draws of the 1930s in the United States, died Monday night, February 10, 2014, at her home in Woodside, near San Francisco. The cause of death wasn’t made public. Shirley Temple (born in Santa Monica on April 23, 1928) was 85. Shirley Temple became a star in 1934, following the release of Paramount’s Alexander Hall-directed comedy-tearjerker Little Miss Marker, in which Temple had the title role as a little girl who, left in the care of bookies, almost loses her childlike ways before coming around to regenerate Adolphe Menjou and his gang. That same year, Temple became a Fox contract player, and is credited with saving the studio — 20th Century Fox from 1935 on — from bankruptcy. Whether or not that’s true is a different story,...

Shirley Temple Black, the pudgy-cheeked child movie star who was a fount of gumption and cheer throughout the Great Depression, died Monday at the age of 85, a family spokesperson said in a statement. “We salute her for a life of remarkable achievements as an actor, as a diplomat, and most importantly as our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and adored wife of fifty-five years,” the statement said.

Even during some of the roughest financial times this country has ever seen, little Shirley Temple was able to put smiles on moviegoers’ faces with her trademark head of of 56 curls and those silver-bullet dimples.

Shirley Temple Black, the pudgy-cheeked child movie star who was a fount of gumption and cheer throughout the Great Depression, died Monday at the age of 85, according to a family spokesperson said in a statement. “We salute her for a life of remarkable achievements as an actor, as a diplomat, and most importantly as our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and adored wife of fifty-five years,” the statement said.

Even during some of the roughest financial times this country has ever seen, little Shirley Temple was able to put smiles on moviegoers faces. Before every big scene, her mother would tell her,...

War is hell, for sure, but war can make for undeniably brilliant movie-making. Here, the Guardian and Observer's critics pick the ten best

• Top 10 action movies

• Top 10 comedy movies

• Top 10 horror movies

• Top 10 sci-fi movies

• Top 10 crime movies

• Top 10 arthouse movies

• Top 10 family movies

10. Where Eagles Dare

As the second world war thriller became bogged down during the mid-60s in plodding epics like Operation Crossbow and The Heroes of Telemark, someone was needed to reintroduce a little sang-froid, some post-Le Carré espionage, and for heaven's sake, some proper macho thrills into the genre. Alistair Maclean stepped up, writing the screenplay and the novel of Where Eagles Dare simultaneously, and Brian G Hutton summoned up a better than usual cast headed by Richard Burton (Major Jonathan Smith), a still fresh-faced Clint Eastwood (Lieutenant Morris Schaffer), and the late Mary Ure (Mary Elison).

Parachuted into the German Alps, they have one...

Stanley Kubrick brings war criminals to justice in his unflinching portrayal of the war, but unfortunately history wasn't as kind

• More Reel history

Paths of Glory (1957)

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Entertainment grade: A–

History grade: C

Trench warfare in the first world war (1914-18) involved intense hardship for soldiers and a massive toll of casualties (400,000-800,000 at Passchendaele; between 600,000 and a million at Verdun; perhaps more than a million at the Somme.

Strategy

The film begins on the French front in 1916. (In a rare moment of historical authenticity, Hollywood has resisted making the heroes American. The fact this is set a year before the Us entered the war wouldn't necessarily stop them.) General Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) tells General Mireau (George Macready) that he must take a German position known as the Anthill. His reward will be a new star. "I'm responsible for the lives of 8,000 men," Mireau says. "What is my ambition against that?...

Kirk Douglas movies: The Theater of Larger Than Life Performances Kirk Douglas, a three-time Best Actor Academy Award nominee and one of the top Hollywood stars of the ’50s, is Turner Classic Movies’ "Summer Under the Stars" featured star today, August 30, 2013. Although an undeniably strong screen presence, no one could ever accuse Douglas of having been a subtle, believable actor. In fact, even if you were to place side by side all of the widescreen formats ever created, they couldn’t possibly be wide enough to contain his larger-than-life theatrical emoting. (Photo: Kirk Douglas ca. 1950.) Right now, TCM is showing Andrew V. McLaglen’s 1967 Western The Way West, a routine tale about settlers in the Old American Northwest that remains of interest solely due to its name cast. Besides Douglas, The Way West features Robert Mitchum, Richard Widmark, Lola Albright, and 21-year-old Sally Field in her The Flying Nun days.

Glenda Farrell: Actress has her ‘Summer Under the Stars’ day Scene-stealer Glenda Farrell is Turner Classic Movies’ "Summer Under the Stars" star today, August 29, 2013. A reliable — and very busy — Warner Bros. contract player in the ’30s, the sharp, energetic, fast-talking blonde actress was featured in more than fifty films at the studio from 1931 to 1939. Note: This particular Glenda Farrell has nothing in common with the One Tree Hill character played by Amber Wallace in the television series. The Glenda Farrell / One Tree Hill name connection seems to have been a mere coincidence. (Photo: Glenda Farrell as Torchy Blane in Smart Blonde.) Back to Warners’ Glenda Farrell: TCM is currently showing Torchy Runs for Mayor (1939), one of the seven B movies starring Farrell as intrepid reporter Torchy Blane. Major suspense: Will Torchy win the election? She should. No city would ever go bankrupt with Torchy at the helm. Glenda Farrell...

Joan Fontaine today: One of the best actresses of the studio era has her ‘Summer Under the Stars’ day Joan Fontaine, one of the few surviving stars of the 1930s, is Turner Classic Movies’ "Summer Under the Stars" star today, Tuesday, August 6, 2013. I’m posting this a little late in the game: TCM has already shown six Joan Fontaine movies, including the first-rate medieval adventure Ivanhoe and the curious marital drama The Bigamist, directed by and co-starring Ida Lupino, and written by Collier Young — husband of both Fontaine and Lupino (at different times). Anyhow, TCM has quite a few more Joan Fontaine movies in store. (Photo: Joan Fontaine publicity shot ca. 1950.) (TCM schedule: Joan Fontaine movies.) As far as I’m concerned, Joan Fontaine was one of the best actresses of the studio era. She didn’t star in nearly as many movies as sister Olivia de Havilland, perhaps because...

Doris Day movies: TCM’s ‘Summer Under the Stars 2013′ lineup continues (photo: Doris Day in ‘Calamity Jane’ publicity shot) Doris Day, who turned 89 last April 3, is Turner Classic Movies’ 2013 “Summer Under the Stars” star on Friday, August 2. (Doris Day, by the way, still looks great. Check out "Doris Day Today.") Doris Day movies, of course, are frequently shown on TCM. Why? Well, TCM is owned by the megaconglomerate Time Warner, which also happens to own (among myriad other things) the Warner Bros. film library, which includes not only the Doris Day movies made at Warners from 1948 to 1955, but also Day’s MGM films as well (and the overwhelming majority of MGM releases up to 1986). My point: Don’t expect any Doris Day movie rarity on Friday — in fact, I don’t think such a thing exists. Doris Day is ‘Calamity Jane’ If you haven’t watched David Butler’s musical...

Elia Kazan is one of my top five favourite American filmmakers of all time, and so I decided to ask our staff to rank his films. If you are not yet familiar with the filmmakers work, now would be a good time to start. Kazan was one of the most honoured and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history and introduced a new generation of unknown young actors to the world, including Marlon Brando, James Dean, Warren Beatty, Carroll Baker, Julie Harris, Andy Griffith, Lee Remick, Rip Torn, Eli Wallach, Eva Marie Saint, Martin Balsam, Fred Gwynne, and Pat Hingle. Noted for drawing out the best dramatic performances from his cast, he directed 21 actors to Oscar nominations, resulting in nine wins. The source for his inspired directing was the revolutionary acting technique known as the Method, and Kazan quickly rose to prominence as the preeminent proponent of the technique. During his career,...

Deanna Durbin: Ephemeral fame (photo: Deanna Durbin in 1981) [See previous post: "Deanna Durbin: 'Sweet Monster.'"] Unlike Greta Garbo, whose mystique remained basically intact following her retirement in 1941, Deanna Durbin’s popularity faded away much like that of the vast majority of celebrities who were removed — or who chose to remove themselves — from public view. Despite the advent of home video and classic-movie cable channels, Durbin remains virtually unknown to the vast majority of those who weren’t around in her heyday in the ’30s and ’40s. Yet, although relatively few in number, she continues to have her ardent fans. There are a handful of websites devoted to Deanna Durbin and her film and recording careers, chiefly among them the appropriately titled "Deanna Durbin Devotees." Fade Out Charles David, Deanna Durbin’s husband of 48 years, died in March 1999, at the age of 92; Institut Pasteur medical researcher Peter H. David is their only son. Durbin also had a daughter,...

Deanna Durbin ‘saves’ Universal (photo: Deanna Durbin in Three Smart Girls) [See previous post: "Deanna Durbin: Remembering One of Hollywood's Top Stars."] During the Great Depression most Hollywood studios were in dire financial straits, until, as the story goes, one (or more) lucky star(s) made them once again solvent. Mae West is credited for "saving" Paramount; Shirley Temple "saved" Fox; the Busby Berkeley, Ruby Keeler, and Dick Powell combo "saved" Warner Bros.; and the curious mix of King Kong, Fred Astaire, and Ginger Rogers "saved" Rko. So, did Deanna Durbin truly save Universal from bankruptcy? Well, Charles Rogers’ investment company came to the financial rescue of Universal in 1936, but the success of Durbin’s movies surely helped the new management get the studio back on its feet. For instance, according to author David Shipman, Three Smart Girls cost $300,000 — its budget doubled after studio bosses realized they had a hit in their hands — and earned Universal a hefty $2m. (An unspecified...

Deanna Durbin dies at 91: One of the top stars of Hollywood’s studio era (photo: Deanna Durbin in I’ll Be Yours) According to Hollywood lore, teen star Deanna Durbin saved Universal Pictures from bankruptcy in the mid-’30s, when her movies earned the Great Depression-hit studio some much-needed millions. The story may seem like an exaggeration, but in fact future Universal players such as Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, Maria Montez, Rock Hudson, Doris Day, and even Jaws‘ Bruce the Shark and the assorted dinosaurs found in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park partly owe their film careers to the pretty, bubbly, full-faced, soprano-voiced Deanna Durbin, the star of immensely successful Universal releases such as Three Smart Girls, One Hundred Men and a Girl, and That Certain Age. Universal should be in mourning this week. Late this past Tuesday, April 30, it was announced that Deanna Durbin had died a...

Tony Awards 2013: Stage-Movie connection ranges from Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Kinky Boots to Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (photo: Emilia Clarke, Cory Michael Smith in Breakfast at Tiffany’s) [See previous post: "Tony Awards 2013 Nominations: Tom Hanks, Sigourney Weaver Among Potential Contenders."] Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, possibly up for a 2013 Tony Award in the Best Revival of a Play category, was made into an Academy Award-nominated movie in 1966. Mike Nichols directed Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, George Segal, and Sandy Dennis, from a screenplay by Ernest Lehman. Taylor and Dennis won Oscars as, respectively, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. In this latest Broadway revival of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the stars are Tracy Letts, Amy Morton, Madison Dirks and Carrie Coon. Peter Masterson’s 1985 film version of Horton Foote’s The Trip to Bountiful, another possible Best Revival nominee, earned Geraldine Page a Best Actress Academy...

Author Slide to discuss the history of Hollywood extras at historical Lasky-DeMille Barn Film historian Anthony Slide, author of dozens of books on Hollywood history, will be discussing his most recent work, Hollywood Unknowns: A History of Extras, Bit Players and Stand-Ins, at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 10, at the Hollywood Heritage Museum, located at a Hollywood historical landmark: the Lasky-DeMille Barn, right across the street from the Hollywood Bowl. (Check out: "The History of Hollywood Extras, Bit Players and Stand-Ins: Interview with Author and Film Historian Anthony Slide.") Pictured Above are Olivia de Havilland and her The Charge of the Light Brigade stand-in, Ann Robinson, circa 1936. As per the Barn's press release, "Mr. Slide will discuss the lives and work of extras, including the harsh conditions, sexual harassment, scandals and tragedies." Besides, he'll also talk about Central Casting and the Hollywood Studio Club, the residence of a number of up-and-coming actresses,...

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Retro-active: The Best From Cinema Retro's Archives (This article originally ran in October 2010)

By Raymond Benson

Often called one of the best, if not the best, anti-war movie ever made, Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory solidified the director’s standing in Hollywood as a talent to be reckoned with. The second film in Kubrick’s collaboration with producer James B. Harris (the first was the excellent The Killing), and released in 1957, the picture demonstrated Kubrick’s flair for camerawork, composition, and controversial subject matter. Certainly Paths of Glory stands out among his early works as a monumental achievement.

Based on true events during World War I, the story concerns how three innocent French privates are court-martialed for “cowardice” simply to set an example after a devastating defeat on the battlefield. Their commander (Kirk Douglas, in one of his best performances) must defend them.