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Academy Award-winning actor Humphrey Bogart’s life might have turned out a whole lot different had he taken to heart criticism his parents showered on him through his entire early life, calling him an “inadequate” actor and scholar, and an outright “failure.” But a distinctive, raspy voice, the character in his face that he once said had “taken an awful lot of late nights and drinking to put it there,” and that unparalleled talent for playing an emotionally complex tough guy — all fueled by an incredible drive — made him a Hollywood legend. And, as told in the new documentary streaming today, “Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes,” five women in his life defined the trajectory of his career.

“Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes” is chock full of never-before-seen photos and is told using Bogart’s own words from letters, diaries and historical interviews as the narrative backbone. But what makes the...

In the new documentary “Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes,” the late actor himself does most of the talking. “Acting is a nice racket,” he says. “The words ‘movie star’ are so misused they have no meaning. The studios can make anyone a star if they get behind them. That’s why I don’t kid myself, why I can’t take myself or the business seriously.”

Born 125 years ago this December, the “Casablanca” star remains one of the most recognizable icons of the silver screen. Those careworn features full of irony and pathos, that ever-present trenchcoat and fedora, are as familiar as Marilyn Monroe standing over a subway grate or Audrey Hepburn clutching a cigarette holder. But when director Kathryn Ferguson was approached to make a feature-length documentary about his life, she knew she wanted to get behind the actor’s movie star façade.

Made with the cooperation of the...

There are precious few cinematic romances that can hold a candle to Rick Blaine and Ilsa Lund in 1942's "Casablanca." It's a relationship that rekindles after heartbreak and is filled to the brim with complications far beyond the usual romantic drama scope. When Ilsa re-enters Rick's life, he's a bit bitter after being left flat with little more than a Dear John letter. He resents being hurt and has lived his life determined to wall off his emotions so that never happens again. 

To further complicate things, Ilsa happens to be traveling with her husband, a resistance leader named Victor Lazlo (Paul Henreid), who was believed to have been killed by the Nazis but is very much alive and still fighting the good fight. But Rick and Ilsa's love is deep and real and the two can't help but fall back to their old emotions around each other, even as...

Humphrey Bogart was the type of smooth leading man that made film noir great. I've said it before, I'll say it again: whenever you watch his movies, he always seems to ooze a kind of tough coolness. Maybe it's no surprise — the actor was allegedly just as nonchalant and quick-witted in real life. But there's one movie in particular that feels like a bit of a letdown from the good ol' Bogart routine: "Deadline — U.S.A."

Released in 1952, just a few years before Bogart's career would be tragically cut short, "Deadline — U.S.A." has all the makings of a great Bogart noir, at least on paper. As a newspaper committed to hard journalism suffered through its last days, editor-in-chief Ed Hutcheson (Bogart) tried to take down an untouchable mobster and save the paper. It's full of "Maltese Falcon"-style opportunities to banter with the bad guys, but somehow,...

Humphrey Bogart may have built himself a reputation as the perfect smoldering lead — the tough guy who could banter with the villain, save the day, then wash his cares away with a nightcap — but he was far from pretentious about it. Rather than always insisting upon playing the lead role, Bogart was excited by small parts. And despite his widespread success, he never saw minor characters as beneath him.

Bogart wasn't shy about his willingness to experiment, either. When actress and journalist Hedda Hopper asked him if he had ever turned down a role because it was too small, the mega-star replied:

"Somebody once asked my pal [character actor] George Tobias that same question ... and George said, 'There are no small parts, there are only small actors.' Well, that goes for me, too.'"

And experiment Bogart did. Though he primarily played serious, heavy characters (and dubbed them his favorites), Bogart...

When you think of suave and charismatic leading men of Old Hollywood, Humphrey Bogart is probably one of the first actors to come to mind. After all, how can he not? His roles in movies such as "The Maltese Falcon" and "Casablanca" established him as a smooth-talking ladies' man that can charm anyone. Given his illustrious love life with actresses like Mayo Methot and Lauren Bacall, that persona seemed to carry over into his personal life.

However, it might be surprising for many that Bogart wasn't huge on filming a particular type of scene with his female co-stars. According to the biography "Tough Without a...

The post Filming Hollywood Love Scenes Was Never Humphrey Bogart's Forte appeared first on /Film.

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.

Gary Cooper movies on TCM: Cooper at his best and at his weakest Gary Cooper is Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” star today, Aug. 30, '15. Unfortunately, TCM isn't showing any Cooper movie premiere – despite the fact that most of his Paramount movies of the '20s and '30s remain unavailable. This evening's features are Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Sergeant York (1941), and Love in the Afternoon (1957). Mr. Deeds Goes to Town solidified Gary Cooper's stardom and helped to make Jean Arthur Columbia's top female star. The film is a tad overlong and, like every Frank Capra movie, it's also highly sentimental. What saves it from the Hell of Good Intentions is the acting of the two leads – Cooper and Arthur are both excellent – and of several supporting players. Directed by Howard Hawks, the jingoistic, pro-war Sergeant York was a huge box office hit, eventually earning Academy Award nominations in several categories,...

Jean Arthur films on TCM include three Frank Capra classics Five Jean Arthur films will be shown this evening, Monday, January 5, 2015, on Turner Classic Movies, including three directed by Frank Capra, the man who helped to turn Arthur into a major Hollywood star. They are the following: Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, You Can't Take It with You, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; George Stevens' The More the Merrier; and Frank Borzage's History Is Made at Night. One the most effective performers of the studio era, Jean Arthur -- whose film career began inauspiciously in 1923 -- was Columbia Pictures' biggest female star from the mid-'30s to the mid-'40s, when Rita Hayworth came to prominence and, coincidentally, Arthur's Columbia contract expired. Today, she's best known for her trio of films directed by Frank Capra, Columbia's top director of the 1930s. Jean Arthur-Frank Capra...

Criterion Collection Pedro Almodóvar write about his experience making Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down (1990). I so love that one. So weirdly romantic in spite of its whole Stockholm Syndrome business

Natasha Vc Brad Pitt before and after makeup. Hee

In Contention Tapley wonders if Eastwood's American Sniper will have an impact on Oscar with its Christmas release

The Dissolve John Lithgow has revealed that Pixar's The Good Dinosaur (which he does voice work on) has been completely reimagined

Buzzfeed investigation into 80s arcana: who deserved credit for Flashdance and didn't get it?

 

 

The Hairpin the best friends of romcom heroines, in order

The Guardian on "my favorite city in film: Blade Runner's La

i09 Have you ever wondered how Replicants are made in Blade Runner?

Salon interesting piece on Lauren Bacall (and Bogey's) political activism which the obits have steered clear of mostly

Chiseler Bacall's recent death also...

With her sleepy, seductive eyes and patrician, pack-a-day voice, the actress enters the room of Humphrey Bogart’s world-weary fishing-boat captain, Harry Morgan. She calls him “Steve” even though that is not his name, and offers him money to help him get out of a fix—we get the impression that it’s merely the latest in a long line of fixes resulting from hard luck and muddled politics that Bogie’s character will have to get out of. He stubbornly refuses her offer. Pride and all that. She falls into his lap and plants a kiss on his unexpecting lips.

Part of a series by David Cairns on forgotten pre-Code films.

Edward L. Cahn—how shall I sing your praises? Perhaps before seeing this film I wouldn't have bothered, though It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) is a genuinely exciting sci-fi horror, and a clear precursor to Alien. Apart from that, Cahn seems to resemble W. Lee Wilder (Billy Wilder's idiot brother), in that he was capable of semi-decent Z-grade noirs, but concentrated much of his attention on science fiction, a genre he seemed to have no understanding of and nothing but contempt for. Cahn's Invisible Invaders (1959) may safely be recommended to anybody who likes really, really stupid movies. Movies so stupid they forget to breath.

Above: The chain gang chorus line—a surprisingly uncommon trope.

But decades earlier, things were different. Cahn was already churning out several quickies a year, with snap-brimmed titles like Homicide Squad (1931) and Radio Patrol (1932). The difference was,...

With love well and truly in the air recently with Prince William tying the knot with the rather lovely Kate Middleton a few days ago, it seems an appropriate time to take a look at some of the most legendary on/off screen couples that have fascinated us film lovers over the years. Chemistry sparks when a real romance lies behind the scenes and when a new relationship begins the tabloids go crazy!

So to celebrate the union of the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge – and to appease my wife’s (yes, we just beat the Royals by getting married on 24th April!) constant requests to chronicle the following – here are the top ten on/off screen lovers the past century has immortalised…

10. Kim Basinger & Alec Baldwin

Back in the early 90s, Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin were one of the more popular on and off screen couples in Hollywood. Meeting...

Philip French enjoys an account of Humphrey Bogart's journey from a troubled, wealthy family to movie royalty

Born in the last days of the Victorian era into a well-established New York family, Humphrey Bogart went from riches to even greater riches as he became one of Hollywood's highest-paid actors. His father was a wealthy, Yale-educated doctor addicted to alcohol and morphine, his mother a successful magazine illustrator and heavy drinker, and they were constantly at each other's throats. Emerging from this troubled household Humphrey became a rebellious figure at his exclusive prep school and then in the navy, where he acquired the famous scar on his upper lip, possibly when struck while escorting a fellow sailor to jail but, more likely, in a brawl – certainly not, as claimed, in battle. He was later to remark that he was "Democrat in politics, Episcopalian by upbringing, dissenter by disposition".

He sampled...

On the set of Howard Hawks’s To Have and Have Not, Humphrey Bogart, then married to mercurial actress Mayo Methot, fell madly in love with a beautiful 19-year-old who had not quite yet become Lauren Bacall. In an excerpt from their new biography, A. M. Sperber and Eric Lax recount the dazzling, tempestuous start of a legendary Hollywood romance.

In the new film "Breaking Upwards," struggling twentysomething couple Daryl and Zoe decide to address their relationship problems by planning and then executing their own breakup. Daryl is played by director/producer/editor/co-writer Daryl Wein, Zoe is played by producer/co-writer Zoe Lister-Jones, and the breakup in the film is based on the one the two went through in real life. In his director's statement, Wein says that the duo "thought it would make it more interesting to explore the nature of performance by casting ourselves in the roles. To be in the story, as opposed to having a fictional couple play us, gives the film a true sense of authenticity."

Actors act, and people who hate each other off-screen can spark with electricity on it and vice versa. But there is something innately fascinating, and extremely voyeuristic, about movies in which people who are or who were intimate...