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The Swimming Pool, or as the French version goes, La Piscine, things get heated pretty fast and its thanks to a combination of heightened drama and the French Riviera sun. The psychological thriller dives into the dynamics of an eerily seductive love triangle, taking things to a level thats equal parts tense and glamorous. At the start of the movie, Jean-Paul (Alain Delon) and Marianne (Romy Schneider) seem to have it all together, lounging around the pool of their borrowed villa at the height of summer in St.Tropez. But in a blink of an eye, their idyllic getaway turns into a nightmare when Mariannes old flame, the wealthy and borderline pompous Harry (Maurice Ronet), shows up out of the blue with his 18-year-old daughter, Penelope (Jane Birkin).

Tom Ripley is back and in a big way. First introduced in Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 psychological thriller novel, Ripley is a sociopath, murderer, and con artist. He’s also the character Highsmith identified with-no wonder she wrote four more novels featuring Ripley. A 2023 New York Times article stated, “her concepts are daring, her portrayals of men in the throes of personality disorder and psychopathic leanings are equally repulsive and propulsive…she was a lesbian who identified more with men; an ardent pursuer of pleasure, especially in her youth…a raging antisemite…she could never hold on to happiness.”

Andrew Scott, the “hot priest” of “Fleabag,” is the latest actor to play the character described as having “an elusive sexuality,” in Netflix’s “Ripley,” a handsome, black-and-white limited series from Oscar-winning screenwriter/director Steve Zaillian (“Schindler’s List”).

Ripley’s a small-time con man living in a seedy room in New York...

Josephine Chaplin, whose father was screen legend Charlie Chaplin, died July 13 in Paris, her family announced on Thursday. She was 74. A cause of death was not immediately given.

As a child, she appeared with her father in his 1952 film “Limelight” and 1967’s “A Countess From Hong Kong.” She went on to star in the 1972 films “L’odeur des fauves” with future partner Maurice Ronet, Menahem Golan’s “Escape to the Sun” opposite Laurence Harvey; and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s X-rated “The Canterbury Tales” as May, the adulterous wife of the elderly Sir January (Hugh Griffith).

Her later films include 1984’s “The Bay Boy” with Kiefer Sutherland and Liv Ullman. In 1998, she played Hadley Richardson to Stacy Keach’s Ernest Hemingway in the miniseries “Hemingway.”

For years she managed the Chaplin office in Paris and sponsored a statue of her father by sculptor Alan Ryan Hall as his Little Tramp character in Waterville,...

Josephine Chaplin, an actress and the sixth of 11 children fathered by screen legend Charlie Chaplin, died July 13 in Paris, her family announced. She was 74.

Chaplin starred with Laurence Harvey in Menahem Golan’s Escape to the Sun (1972), about a group of people attempting to leave the Soviet Union to escape antisemitism and political repression.

She also appeared with Vittorio De Sica and Maurice Ronet in L’odeur des fauves (1972), with Liv Ullmann and Kiefer Sutherland in Daniel Petrie’s The Bay Boy (1984), and with Klaus Kinski in a German-language version of Jack the Ripper (1976).

In 1988, she portrayed Hadley Richardson, the first wife of Ernest Hemingway, in a miniseries that starred Stacy Keach.

Josephine Chaplin with Laurence Harvey in 1972’s Escape to the Sun.

Josephine Hannah Chaplin was born in Santa Monica on March 28, 1949, the third of eight children of Charlie Chaplin and his fourth wife, Oona O’Neill, the British actress...

The limited series Ripley is changing platforms and will now release on Netflix. The series, from The Night Of creator Steven Zaillian, is a new adaptation of the classic 1955 Patricia Highsmith novel The Talented Mr. Ripley. It is set to star Andrew Scott, who played Moriarity in Sherlock and Hot Priest in Fleabag season 2.

Per Deadline, Ripley is being knocked off of Showtime's coming schedule. Now it is currently in the process of being picked up by Netflix as an original for the ever-popular streamer. The eight-episode series, which also stars Johnny Flynn and Dakota Fanning does not currently have a release date on either platform.

Related: Sherlock: How Andrew Scott's Moriarty Compares To The Books

The Talented Mr. Ripley's Onscreen History is Longer Than You Think

The most widely recognized adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley would be the 1999 film written and directed by Anthony Minghella. In that film,...

Welcome to a new edition of Pop Culture Imports for the month of October! Now granted, this month's column may not be quite as spooky themed as past October editions, but you could argue that it does give us a taste of different kinds of horror — from the erotic horrors of "Thirst" and "La Piscine," to the horrors of war in "All Quiet on the Western Front," to the horrors of having a chainsaw for a head. Don't say I don't give you variety.

Let's fire up those subtitles and get streaming.

All Quiet On The Western Front – Netflix

Country: Germany

Genre: War drama

Director: Edward Berger

Cast: Daniel Brühl, Albrecht Schuch, Sebastian Hülk, Felix Kammerer, Aaron Hilmer, Edin Hasanovic, Devid Striesow.

"All Quiet on the Western Front" opens with the aftermath of a massacre, as a young man is killed in the name of a war he doesn't understand,...

Jules Dassin’s powerful picture was a hit in Europe but remained mostly obscure here, despite featuring the great Melina Mercouri and a score of Continental stars. Adapted by two blacklistees in exile it doesn’t try to hide its revolutionary aims — Nikos Kazantzakis’s uncompromised storyline places The Church as a main obstruction to social progress, justice, and life & liberty. It’s no wonder it wasn’t ‘movie of the week’ in 1957. It’s been beautifully remastered at its original CinemaScope width, uncut.

He Who Must Die

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1957 / B&w / 2:35 widescreen / 128 122 min. / Street Date September 6, 2022 / Celui qui doit mourir / Available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Jean Servais, Carl Möhner, Grégoire Aslan, Gert Fröbe, René Lefèvre, Lucien Raimbourg, Melina Mercouri, Roger Hanin, Pierre Vaneck, Nicole Berger, Maurice Ronet, Fernand Ledoux.

Cinematography: Gilbert Chain, Jacques Natteau

Production Designer: Max Douy

Film Editors: Roger Dwyre, Pierre Gillette

Original Music: Georges Auric

Written by Ben Barzman,...

Claude Chabrol’s ‘minor’ wartime drama is one of the best movies of its kind I’ve seen. A French town under German rule lies on a river straddling occupied and Vichy territories, and becomes a hotbed of intrigues. Yes, there’s resistance activity, but we also see that most people avoid involvement — and some find ways to profit from the desperation of refugees fleeing the Nazis. It’s a case of small town, everyday terror. The stellar cast is subordinated to the powerful, non-exploitative drama: Jean Seberg, Maurice Ronet, Daniel Gélin, Jacques Perrin & Stéphane Audran. Samm Deighan’s informative commentary is a big +Plus.

Line of Demarcation

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1966 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 121 min. / Street Date February 25, 2020 / La ligne de démarcation / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Jean Seberg, Maurice Ronet, Daniel Gélin, Jacques Perrin, Stéphane Audran, Reinhard Kolldehoff, Claude Léveillée, Roger Dumas, Jean Yanne, Jean-Louis Maury, Pierre Gualdi,...

It’s French! It’s hot! Jacques Deray’s most unusual film is an intimate, minimalist murder story that digs deep into the affairs of four very superficial people. Among the wealthy set are four pleasure seekers with a laissez faire take on relationships, that think they’re above basic drives — jealousy, possessiveness, resentment. The movie also makes book on the fame & notoriety of the off-on show biz couple Romy Schneider and Alain Delon — the film’s opening seems to celebrate their bigger-than-life glamour and beauty. A notable extra is a 2019 documentary with Delon and his co-star Jane Birkin, plus the film’s famous writers.

La piscine

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 1088

1969 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 122 min. / Available at The Criterion Collection / Street Date July 20, 2021 / 39.95

Starring: Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, Maurice Ronet, Jane Birkin, Paul Crauchet, Suzie Jaspard.

Cinematography: Jean-Jacques Tarbès

Production Designer: Paul Laffargue

Film Editor: Paul Cayatte

Original Music: Michel Legrand

Written by Jean-Claude Carriìre,...

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Criterion Collection has a slew of new releases coming your way to amp up your list of summer movie must-haves. Criterion specializes in restoring and distributing “important classic and contemporary” films from around the world. And with a catalog of over 1,400 ranging from avant-garde to Westerns, film noir to science fiction, their impressive selection has something for even the toughest movie critic. These specialized movies are complete with revamped rare finds, as well as exclusive in-depth commentary, and fascinating analysis.

Below, check out new Criterion Collection pre-orders for the month of July and August. Click here for more Criterion Collection movies to add to your film vault.

“La Piscine”

Release Date: July 20

Buy:...

Summer is coming, and what better way to languish away in the hot heat than poolside with Alain Delon and Romy Schneider? They star together with Maurice Ronet and Jane Birkin in Jacques Deray’s 1969 thriller “La Piscine,” a volley of sexual jealousies and resentments between four people vacationing in the Côte d’Azur, which provides the perfect backdrop to simmering psychosexual tensions. One of the biggest box office successes in France of all time, “La Piscine” is getting a re-release from Rialto Pictures this summer, kicking off with a two-week exclusive run at Film Forum in New York beginning May 14. Then, the restoration will begin a national rollout.

In “La Piscine,” Jean-Paul and Marianne (Delon and Schneider) are spending an idyllic holiday together at a luxurious villa near St. Tropez, loaned to them by a friend. Their sensual solitude is interrupted by the impromptu arrival of their mutual friend Harry,...

I normally try to avoid egregious spoilers, but only one thing really happens in Jacques Deray's La piscine, and it happens quite near the end. Up until then, this 1969 anti-thriller compels fascination and infuriation as events fail to unfold over its two-hour-plus runtime.There's an indefinable tension in the air, some of it erotic. Ad-man Alain Delon and his partner, journalist Romy Schneider, are vacationing at a friend's place in the south of France. They're joined by a friend, possibly her former lover, Maurice Ronet, and his teenage daughter, Jane Birkin. Delon suffers pangs of jealousy and suspicion. He decides to "retaliate" against Schneider's perceived unfaithfulness by seducing Birkin. That's it for the first ninety minutes, but it's less eventful than I'm making it sound.The film coasts along, a tanned flesh-scape augmented by rippling water and searing blue skies. It has the pace of a holiday, maybe one...

Noir City: Hollywood — The 21st Annual Los Angeles Festival of Film NoirBy Alex Divine DeleonThe Noir City Festival has now come of age and the 21st edition which opened at the venerable Hollywood landmark Egyptian Theatre on Friday, March 29, 2019, will this year display twenty uncut gems on ten consecutive nights running in strict chronological order from ‘Trapped’ (1949) to ‘Cry Tough’ (1959). In essence a cannily selected survey of the Hollywood decade of the fifties from an underbelly angle such as only the Film Noir Foundation has the guts and integrity to reveal. Many of these old pictures have been rescued from oblivion by the cutting edge preservation skills of the UCLA film department.

Think the 1950s were buttoned-down and conservative? Think again.

In the 2019 edition of Noir City: Hollywood you will experience the rush — through a lens, darkly — of a turbulent and transitional time in American history, culture, and cinema. Nothing would ever be the same.

The series Claude Chabrol, maître de suspense is showing on Mubi from October 6 – November 13, 2018 in the United States.The career of Claude Chabrol is as slippery as it is prolific. He started as a writer for Cahiers du cinéma alongside Jean-Luc Godard, Éric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette, and François Truffaut, which catalyzed his legacy as a director of over fifty films. Throughout those decades, his works frequently received lukewarm reception with unpredictable highs and lows: one recurring adjective that appears in appraisals of his filmography is “uneven”1. Because he seemingly “lacked the formal experimentation of Godard, and his chilly, precise style was easily overshadowed by Truffaut’s delirious romanticism,”2 Chabrol became, in the words of Jonathan Rosenbaum, the “most neglected filmmaker of the French New Wave.”3 Here, there are three domains of overlooking: There is the critical “neglect” of Claude Chabrol, shadowing his supply of rocky genre fare. Then, the thematic...

There’s a strange phenomenon almost fanboy/girl-esque hysteria brewing with, of all things, director Luca Guadagnino‘s remake of Dario Argento’s 1977 horror film “Suspiria.” Hey, we’re all for it, but it’s almost disarmingly odd that some moviegoers seem more psyched for it than any other major blockbuster, superhero movie or big event movie this year. It’s heartening, really, but just maybe a little surprising.

Guadagnino, of course, directed the Oscar-nominated “Call Me By Your Name” and 2016’s “A Bigger Splash,” ironically another remake.

Continue reading ‘Suspiria’: New Look At Tilda Swinton As Madame Blanc Is Gloriously Witchy at The Playlist.

Louis Malle’s French thriller is cooler than cool — his first dramatic film is a slick suspense item with wicked twists of fate and images to die for: 1) Jeanne Moreau at the height of her beauty 2) walking through beautifully lit Parisian back streets 3) accompanied by a fantastic Miles Davis soundtrack. Murder in Paris doesn’t get any better.

Elevator to the Gallows

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 335

1957 / B&W / 1:66 anamorphic 16:9 / 88 min. / Ascenseur pour l’échafaud, Frantic / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date March 6, 2018 / 39.95

Starring: Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet, Georges Poujouly, Yori Bertin, Jean Wall, Iván Petrovich, Elga Andersen, Lino Ventura, Charles Denner.

Cinematography: Henri Decaë

Film Editor: Léonide Azar

Original Music: Miles Davis

Written by Louis Malle, Roger Nimier, Noël Calef from his novel

Produced by Jean Thuillier

Directed by Louis Malle

French director Louis Malle’s first fiction film is an assured and artistically adventurous suspense item. Unlike...

Martin Scorsese is no stranger to The Criterion Collection, but that doesn’t make the announcement that his period drama “The Age of Innocence” will be officially joining the club in March 2018 any less exciting. Scorsese’s 1993 adaptation of Edith Wharton’s seminal novel will join other Scorsese films like “The Last Temptation of Christ” in the Collection.

Read More:‘Silence of the Lambs,’ ‘Night of the Living Dead,’ and More Join Criterion Collection in February 2018

“Innocence” is one of six new movies coming to Criterion in March 2018. Other new additions include Carl Theodor Dreyer’s silent masterpiece “The Passion of Joan of Arc” and Volker Schlöndorff’s largely-unseen “Baal.” You can head over to The Criterion Collection website to pre-order the titles now. Check out all the new additions below. Synopses provided by Criterion.

“Elevator to the Gallows”

For his feature debut, twenty-four-year-old Louis Malle brought together a mesmerizing performance by Jeanne Moreau,...

The Criterion Collection will be paying its respects to the late Jonathan Demme and George A. Romero in February 2018 by finally making “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Night of the Living Dead” members of its prestigious library. The two horror classics are joining famous titles from Kon Ichikawa, Satyajit Ray, and Tony Richardson as February additions to the Criterion Collection.

Read More:The Criterion Collection Announces January 2018 Titles, Including ‘The Breakfast Club’ and ‘I, Daniel Blake’

Criterion will release a new 4K digital restoration of “The Silence of the Lambs,” which has been approved by the movie’s cinematographer Tak Fujimoto. Included on the DVD and Blu-ray sets are 35 minutes of deleted scenes and audio commentary from 1994 featuring Demme, Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, screenwriter Ted Tally, and former FBI agent John Douglas. “Night of the Living Dead” will also be released in 4K, with never-before-seen 16mm dailies included as a bonus feature.

Review by Roger Carpenter

Italian director Fernando Di Leo is best known for his violent poliziotteschi, or crime films, like Caliber 9, The Italian Connection, The Boss, and Kidnap Syndicate, to name a few. However, like the majority of working Italian directors in the 70’s and 80’s, he worked in many genres including WWII pictures (Code Name, Red Roses), horror (Slaughter Hotel; Madness), and erotic dramas (Burn, Boy, Burn; A Wrong Way to Love). Seduction falls into this latter category.

Maurice Ronet stars as Giuseppe Lagan, a European playboy come back from Paris to settle his dead father’s affairs. He arrives in Catania, Sicily, and immediately rekindles his old friendship with Alfredo (Pino Caruso), a schoolmate of Giuseppe’s who is now a prominent jeweler in town. As they reminisce about their old flames, Giuseppe asks about Caterina (Lisa Gastoni), an ex-lover he’s never forgotten. It seems Caterina...

On the Return to Montauk set with Volker Schlöndorff, Nina Hoss (his Barefoot Contessa), and Bronagh Gallagher at Lincoln Center Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Konrad Wolf’s I Was Nineteen (Ich War Neunzehn) co-written with Wolfgang Kohlhaase; Marlen Khutsiev’s It Was In May (Byl Mesyats May) starring Pyotr Todorovskiy; Louis Malle's The Fire Within (Le Feu Follet) based on the novel by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle with Maurice Ronet, Jeanne Moreau and Alexandra Stewart; Joseph Mankiewicz’s The Barefoot Contessa starring Ava Gardner and Humphrey Bogart; Jean-Pierre Melville's Les Enfants Terribles, adapted from Jean Cocteau’s novel with Nicole Stéphane and Édouard Dermit; and Fritz Lang's Spies (Spione) featuring Rudolf Klein-Rogge and Gerda Maurus, are the six films selected by Volker Schlöndorff as Guest Director of the 43rd Telluride Film Festival.

Michael Curtiz's The Breaking Point was one of Alexander Payne's picks in 2009 Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Alexander Payne,...

The sound of an electric pencil sharpener masks the crack of a shot that initiates what might have been the perfect murder in Louis Malle’s debut film, Elevator to the Gallows (1958), now touring theaters in a gorgeous 4K digital restoration courtesy of Rialto Pictures. Malle’s movie, distinct from the more naturalistic comedies and dramas that characterized his primary directorial focus, and certainly also from his later documentary work, is a fatalistic French film noir that exists tremulously in the space between a more classical, American-derived style and the first, faint signals of the French New Wave, which it seems to foreshadow with longing and a swoon of sustained anticipation.

The movie indicates the unusual silvery and shadowy visual pleasures of its brilliant cinematographer Henri Decae (Bob Le Flambeur, The 400 Blows, Purple Noon, Le Circle Rouge) right from the start: a masked close-up of the eyes of Florence...

A new restoration of Louis Malle's Elevator to the Gallows (1958) is screening at New York's Film Forum through Thursday. The New Yorker's Richard Brody: "The direction isn’t particularly inventive, the script isn’t very substantial, and even the excellent cast, headed by Jeanne Moreau and Maurice Ronet, isn’t given much to do. Its historical significance, however, is that it looked, for a moment, like what a New Wave film might be—and even offered crucial elements that burst into full flower when the real thing came along." More goings on in this entry include a Brian De Palma series in Nashville, Margaret Honda in Los Angeles, and a revival of Alex Cox's Sid and Nancy in the UK, where there's also a Pedro Almodóvar series on. » - David Hudson...

A new restoration of Louis Malle's Elevator to the Gallows (1958) is screening at New York's Film Forum through Thursday. The New Yorker's Richard Brody: "The direction isn’t particularly inventive, the script isn’t very substantial, and even the excellent cast, headed by Jeanne Moreau and Maurice Ronet, isn’t given much to do. Its historical significance, however, is that it looked, for a moment, like what a New Wave film might be—and even offered crucial elements that burst into full flower when the real thing came along." More goings on in this entry include a Brian De Palma series in Nashville, Margaret Honda in Los Angeles, and a revival of Alex Cox's Sid and Nancy in the UK, where there's also a Pedro Almodóvar series on. » - David Hudson...

Jason from Mnpp here with our Tuesday serial "Beauty vs Beast" - one of our most anticipated movies of the year is out this upcoming Friday with A Bigger Splash, director Luca Guadagnino's reunion with his I Am Love star Tilda Swinton. (I saw the two of them talk here in NYC recently and the love is real, people.) Coming along for the ride is the hottest cast this side of sex-dreams - Ralph Fiennes, Dakota Johnson, and my Belgian boyfriend Matthias Schoenaerts. (Back off, people - when you've done over 100 posts about him maybe we can talk.) The sweat's been palpable in every trailer we've seen, and we can't wait.

I imagine most of you know this film is a remake of Jacques Dera's equally perspirant La Piscine from 1969, which starred Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, Maurice Ronet and Jane Birkin as the equally (maybe even more, somehow???) photogenic foursome,...

Above: Danish poster for Maid for Murder a.k.a. She’ll Have to Go (Robert Asher, UK, 1962).Next week is a red letter week for New York cinephiles because Anna Karina is coming to town. Nouvelle vague icon, muse of Jean-Luc Godard, and one of the most alluring presences in cinema, Anna Karina, now aged 75 and still gorgeous, is gracing us with her presence at three of New York’s temples of cinema: at Bam on Tuesday, May 3, where she will talk to Melissa Anderson following a screening of A Woman is a Woman; at MoMI on Wednesday, May 4, where she will have a conversation with Molly Haskell following a screening of Pierrot le fou; and at Film Forum on Friday, May 6, where she will kick off a week long run of Band of Outsiders and the accompanying series Anna & Jean-Luc. It would be easy to fill this post...

New York Film Critics Awards: Best Film winner 'Carol' with Cate Blanchett. 2015 New York Film Critics Awards have enlivened Oscar race Catching up with previously announced awards season winners that will likely influence the 2016 Oscar nominations. Early this month, the New York Film Critics Circle announced their Best of 2015 picks, somewhat unexpectedly boosting the chances of Todd Haynes' lesbian romantic drama Carol, Clouds of Sils Maria actress Kristen Stewart, and László Nemes' Holocaust drama Son of Saul. Below is a brief commentary about each of these Nyfcc choices. 'Carol' Directed by Todd Haynes, starring two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett (The Aviator, Blue Jasmine) and Oscar nominee Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), and adapted by Phyllis Nagy from Patricia Highsmith's 1952 novel The Price of Salt,[1] Carol won a total of four New York Film Critics awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay,...

The latest film from I Am Love director Luca Guadagnino is a four-way study of sex and jealousy that boasts outstanding performances from its two British stars

This film has nothing specifically to do with David Hockney, aside from the presence of swimming pools glinting in full-beam sunlight and regular eruptions of water spray as divers plunge in. In fact, this is a remake/update of La Piscine, Jacques Deray’s hothouse psychosexual drama from 1969, featuring Alain Delon and his former girlfriend Romy Schneider, as well as Jane Birkin and Maurice Ronet. It is directed by Italian film-maker Luca Guadagnino, best known perhaps for I Am Love, continuing his unlikely collaboration with Tilda Swinton (who takes the Schneider role, opposite Belgian hunk-of-the-month Matthias Schoenaerts), and together they have concocted a film that is both deeply strange and undeniably funny.

The latter comes mostly by way of Ralph Fiennes, who plays...

The latest film from I Am Love director Luca Guadagnino is a four-way study of sex and jealousy that boasts outstanding performances from its two British stars

This film has nothing specifically to do with David Hockney, aside from the presence of swimming pools glinting in full-beam sunlight and regular eruptions of water spray as divers plunge in. In fact, this is a remake/update of La Piscine, Jacques Deray’s hothouse psychosexual drama from 1969, featuring Alain Delon and his former girlfriend Romy Schneider, as well as Jane Birkin and Maurice Ronet. It is directed by Italian film-maker Luca Guadagnino, best known perhaps for I Am Love, continuing his unlikely collaboration with Tilda Swinton (who takes the Schneider role, opposite Belgian hunk-of-the-month Matthias Schoenaerts), and together they have concocted a film that is both deeply strange and undeniably funny.

The latter comes mostly by way of Ralph Fiennes, who plays...

Debbie Reynolds ca. early 1950s. Debbie Reynolds movies: Oscar nominee for 'The Unsinkable Molly Brown,' sweetness and light in phony 'The Singing Nun' Debbie Reynolds is Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” star today, Aug. 23, '15. An MGM contract player from 1950 to 1959, Reynolds' movies can be seen just about every week on TCM. The only premiere on Debbie Reynolds Day is Jerry Paris' lively marital comedy How Sweet It Is (1968), costarring James Garner. This evening, TCM is showing Divorce American Style, The Catered Affair, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and The Singing Nun. 'Divorce American Style,' 'The Catered Affair' Directed by the recently deceased Bud Yorkin, Divorce American Style (1967) is notable for its cast – Reynolds, Dick Van Dyke, Jean Simmons, Jason Robards, Van Johnson, Lee Grant – and for the fact that it earned Norman Lear (screenplay) and Robert Kaufman (story) a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award nomination.

Ron Moody as Fagin in 'Oliver!' based on Charles Dickens' 'Oliver Twist.' Ron Moody as Fagin in Dickens musical 'Oliver!': Box office and critical hit (See previous post: "Ron Moody: 'Oliver!' Actor, Academy Award Nominee Dead at 91.") Although British made, Oliver! turned out to be an elephantine release along the lines of – exclamation point or no – Gypsy, Star!, Hello Dolly!, and other Hollywood mega-musicals from the mid'-50s to the early '70s.[1] But however bloated and conventional the final result, and a cast whose best-known name was that of director Carol Reed's nephew, Oliver Reed, Oliver! found countless fans.[2] The mostly British production became a huge financial and critical success in the U.S. at a time when star-studded mega-musicals had become perilous – at times downright disastrous – ventures.[3] Upon the American release of Oliver! in Dec. 1968, frequently acerbic The...

Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson on the Oscars' Red Carpet Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson at the Academy Awards Eli Wallach and wife Anne Jackson are seen above arriving at the 2011 Academy Awards ceremony, held on Sunday, Feb. 27, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The 95-year-old Wallach had received an Honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards in November 2010. See also: "Doris Day Inexplicably Snubbed by Academy," "Maureen O'Hara Honorary Oscar," "Honorary Oscars: Mary Pickford, Greta Garbo Among Rare Women Recipients," and "Hayao Miyazaki Getting Honorary Oscar." Delayed film debut The Actors Studio-trained Eli Wallach was to have made his film debut in Fred Zinnemann's Academy Award-winning 1953 blockbuster From Here to Eternity. Ultimately, however, Frank Sinatra – then a has-been following a string of box office duds – was cast for a pittance, getting beaten to a pulp by a pre-stardom Ernest Borgnine. For his bloodied efforts, Sinatra went on...

Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine' 1938: Jean Renoir's film noir (photo: Jean Gabin and Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine') (See previous post: "'Cat People' 1942 Actress Simone Simon Remembered.") In the late 1930s, with her Hollywood career stalled while facing competition at 20th Century-Fox from another French import, Annabella (later Tyrone Power's wife), Simone Simon returned to France. Once there, she reestablished herself as an actress to be reckoned with in Jean Renoir's La Bête Humaine. An updated version of Émile Zola's 1890 novel, La Bête Humaine is enveloped in a dark, brooding atmosphere not uncommon in pre-World War II French films. Known for their "poetic realism," examples from that era include Renoir's own The Lower Depths (1936), Julien Duvivier's La Belle Équipe (1936) and Pépé le Moko (1937), and particularly Marcel Carné's Port of Shadows (1938) and Daybreak (1939).[11] This thematic and...

Marie Dubois, actress in French New Wave films, dead at 77 (image: Marie Dubois in the mammoth blockbuster 'La Grande Vadrouille') Actress Marie Dubois, a popular French New Wave personality of the '60s and the leading lady in one of France's biggest box-office hits in history, died Wednesday, October 15, 2014, at a nursing home in Lescar, a suburb of the southwestern French town of Pau, not far from the Spanish border. Dubois, who had been living in the Pau area since 2010, was 77. For decades she had been battling multiple sclerosis, which later in life had her confined to a wheelchair. Born Claudine Huzé (Claudine Lucie Pauline Huzé according to some online sources) on January 12, 1937, in Paris, the blue-eyed, blonde Marie Dubois began her show business career on stage, being featured in plays such as Molière's The Misanthrope and Arthur Miller's The Crucible. François Truffaut discovery: 'Shoot the...

Joanna Hogg's H in Exhibition, Liam Gillick, with Anne-Katrin Titze at Dolce & Gabbana: "Before the film happened, I've been thinking a lot about the problem of cinema. That's when the phone rang."

I met up for coffee with the man who plays H in Joanna Hogg's Exhibition, to talk about his work as a first time actor, Cary Grant improvising for Leo McCarey with Irene Dunne in The Awful Truth, Alain Delon with Maurice Ronet interpreting Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley in Purple Noon, and his newfound appreciation for the Grudge Match antics between Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone. Liam Gillick talked parallel lives, what cinema means to contemporary artists, and how it felt to become material. Robert Bresson and Hermann Hesse were assigned as homework by Hogg to prepare him for his role opposite Viv Albertine's D in Exhibition.

Liam had just arrived...

Indeed it is sad news to acknowledge the passing of Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated actor James Garner (1928-2014). The Hollywood icon Garner has endured a remarkable show business career during a five-plus decade stretch as he has entertained generations of TV and film audiences throughout the ages. Upon the death of this immensely likable leading man on both the small and big screen many are probably wondering about their mortality at this point. After all, you either grew up with James Garner as a peer or spent your childhood watching him in your living rooms on the boob tube or at the local movie theater.

Although the majority of folks associate Garner with television from his first western series Maverick in the 1950′s to his landmark role as ex-con Pi Jim Rockford in the 1970′s The Rockford Files (some teens and young adults may recall his brief stint as grandfather Jim...

As a special surprise for this year's 18th edition the Colcoa Festival (City of Lights, City of Angels) "A Week of French Film Premieres in Hollywood" has added an unprecedented seven classic films to its popular roster. The festival runs from April 21-28 at the Directors Guild of America. For the first time, a daily matinee showing of a classic will complement the new films shown in competition.

Focus on a filmmaker : Cédric Klapisch

Colcoa will honor writer-director Cédric Klapisch on Thursday, April 24 with a special presentation of L'Auberge Espagnole (2002) as well as the Premiere of his new film Chinese Puzzle that will be released in May in the U.S. by Cohen Media Group. Chinese Puzzle completes a trilogy Klapisich began in 2002 with L'Auberge Espagnole,followed by Russian Dolls in 2005. The cast includes Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou and Cécile de France. Klapisch joins previously honored writer-directors Bertrand Blier, Costa Gavras, Florent Siri, Julie Delpy and Alain Resnais whose key body of work has been shown in past events.  This will be the third film by the writer-director to be presented at the festival, following Paris and My Piece of the Pie.  Cédric Klapisch will meet the audience for a Happy Hour Talk panel dedicated to his work. (Colcoa Classics + Panel +Premiere of Chinese Puzzle)

Homage to Patrice Chéreau

The late writer-director Patrice Chéreau (1944-2013), who attended Colcoa in 2003 for the world Premiere of Son frère (His Brother) will be remembered in the Colcoa Classics program, which includes a special presentation of digitally restored director's cut of Queen Margot (1994), based on a novel of Alexandre Dumas, co-written by Danièle Thompson & Patrice Chéreau, and directed by Chéreau. The cast includes Isabelle Adjani, Jean-Hugues Anglade and Daniel Auteuil. The film (celebrating its 20th anniversary) is presented in association with Cohen Media Group. The film will have will be released theatrically, as well as in digital format in the U.S.

Premiere of the Restored Version Beauty and the Beast Colcoa will present the digitally restored print of the remarkable Beauty and the Beast (1946), a romantic drama written and directed by Jean Cocteau and starring Josette Day and Jean Marais in partnership with the Franco-American Cultural Fund (Facf), Snd/M6, Janus Films and La Cinémathèque Française.

Premiere of the Restored Version Favorites of the Moon

A special 30th anniversary screening of Favourites of the Moon (1984), winner of the Special Jury Prize that year at the Venice International Film Festival, a comedy co-written by Gérard Brach and Otar Iosseliani and directed by Otar Iosseliani, starring Mathieu Amalric, Alix de Montaigu, Pascal Aubier, Jean-Pierre Beauviala, will be presented in association with the Cohen Media Group before its digital release in the U.S.

Premiere of the Restored Version Purple Noon

The film is also a special presentation of Purple Noon , a drama based on Patricia Highsmith's novel, co-written by Paul Gégauff and René Clément , directed by René Clément and starring Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet and Marie Laforêt and presented in association with the Franco-American Cultural Fund (Facf), StudioCanal, Janus Films and La Cinémathèque Française.

Premier of the Restored Version of L'assassin habite... au 21 New digitally restored version of L'assassin habite... au 21, (1942) a drama co-written by Stanislas-André Steeman and Henri-Georges Clouzot , directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Pierre Fresnay, Suzy Delair, Jean Tissier. The film is presented in association with Titra Tvs and Gaumont.

FRANÇOIS Truffaut: A Tribute

Citing the 30th anniversary of the passing of universally renowned François Truffaut in 1984, Colcoa will pay tribute to the writer-director with a special program.(To be announced soon)

From April 21 to April 28, 2014, filmgoers will celebrate the 18th edition of Colcoa  "A Week Of French Film Premieres In Hollywood" at the Directors Guild of America. The 18th line-up of films in competition for the Colcoa Awards will be announced April 1, 2014.

About ColcoaColcoa was created by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, a unique collaborative effort of the Directors Guild of America, the Motion Picture Association, the Writers Guild of America West, and France's Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music (Sacem). Colcoa is also supported by France's Society of Authors, Directors and Producers (L'arp), the Film and TV Office of the French Embassy in Los Angeles, the Cnc and Unifrance.

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Louis Malle's brash debut, now on rerelease, about a wealthy married woman who hatches a criminal plot is a brilliant, preposterous slice of noir suspense

Two years before Breathless, before Godard was talking about needing a girl and a gun, 26-year-old Louis Malle unveiled this brash debut: a brilliant, preposterous slice of noir-suspense realism and Highsmithian mistaken identity, imbued with the poetry of romantic despair, mostly voiced directly into the camera by Jeanne Moreau – a captivating kind of choric-fatale, with dark sensuous shadows under the eyes. She is a wealthy married woman, Mme Florence Cabala, who in this era when capital punishment (the "scaffold") was very much on France's statute book, hatches the imperfect crime with her lover, ex‑paratrooper Julien (Maurice Ronet). Chaotically, their paths cross with gamine florist's assistant, Véronique (Yori Bertin), and her teen boyfriend, Louis (Georges Poujouly). They are the younger generation, contemptuous of their...

Rereleased this week, Louis Malle’s Lift to the Scaffold remains an enduring example of the invigorating cinema produced in France during the late 1950’s. A sophisticated noir, punctuated by a vivacious score courtesy of jazz legend Miles Davis, Lift to the Scaffold is teeming with the type of aesthetic and narrative innovations that would contribute to the future development of French cinema.

Ex-paratrooper Julien Tavernier (Maurice Ronet) is seen leaving his office, not conventionally through the door, but instead out of the window. Dexterously clambering up the side of the building like a cat burglar, he breaks into the office of Carala (Jean Wall) his boss and the husband of his lover Florence (Jeanne Moreau). Julian kills him with little fuss and sets about making the incident look like a suicide. However, whilst clambering into his car he realizes he has left a rope dangling out of the window.

Louis Malle's 1958 crime thriller stars Jeanne Moreau and Maurice Ronet as Florence and Julien, murderous lovers who plan to kill a wealthy businessman who just happens to be Florence's husband and Julien's boss. Often credited with being one of the earliest examples of the French New Wave and with a soundtrack by Miles Davis, it was known as Ascenseur pour l'échafaud in France and Elevator to the Gallows in the Us. Lift to the Scaffold is re-released in UK cinemas on 7 February Continue reading...

★★★☆☆ Long before Matt Damon and Jude Law drenched their golden locks in the sun of southern Italy in the late Anthony Minghella's superb The Talented Mr Ripley (1999), René Clément - who can be placed at the forefront of the French New Wave - tackled Patricia Highsmith's famous novel with the elegant Plein Soleil (1960). From the off, we're provided with little prologue and thrown into the heady delights of Rome, where best buddies Tom Ripley (the blue-eyed Alain Delon, for whom this was his breakthrough film before going on to work with Antonioni) and Phillip Greenleaf (Maurice Ronet) gallivant around the city picking up floozies.

Before long, their friendship sours and Tom, spurned by Phillip's affections, grows envious of his friend's wealth. This culminates in a plot by Tom to kill and assume the identity of his affluent former amie. Whilst Clément was the first to adapt Highsmith's inaugural...

Based on a novel by crime scribe Patricia Highsmith - who also wrote Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train - René Clément's striking study of a glamorous and complex psychopath, Plein Soleil (1960), features a career-defining turn from a young, beautiful and ultra-cool Alain Delon. To celebrate the DVD and Blu-ray release of the restored version of Plein Soleil this coming Monday (9 September), we have Three Blu-ray copies of the film to give away to our readers, courtesy of our friends at StudioCanal. This is an exclusive competition for our Facebook and Twitter fans, so if you haven't already, 'Like' us at facebook.com/CineVueUK or follow us @CineVue before answering the question below.

Delon stars in his debut leading role as Tom Ripley, a young American who's paid by the wealthy Greenleaf family to travel to Europe to persuade his friend, errant playboy Philip Greenleaf (Maurice Ronet), to return to...

In his final column for the Observer, our film critic welcomes the re-release of two influential classics from the late 1950s

What goes around comes around. Or "This is where we came in!", the words we'd whisper back in the days of continuous movie performances, before heading for the exit when we reached the point at which we'd entered the cinema. Appropriately in the week I write my final film column, two classic movies, Bonjour Tristesse (1958) and Plein Soleil (aka Purple Noon, 1959), are re-released from that period at the end of the 1950s when I was embarking on a career as a professional writer. Both appear in beautiful new prints that do full justice to the Mediterranean sun which dictates their mood of dangerous eroticism, and both are closely associated with what was popularly known as the French Nouvelle Vague. In the first of them an English-speaking cast play French...

Upstream Colour | One Direction: This Is Us 3D | The Way Way Back | Pain & Gain | You're Next | Bonjour Tristesse | Plein Soleil | Hammer Of The Gods | Satyagraha

Upstream Colour (12A)

(Shane Carruth, 2013, Us) Amy Seimetz, Shane Carruth, Andrew Sensenig. 96 mins

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The Primer director delivers another Us indie brainteaser that will leave minds blown and chins comprehensively scratched. A young woman who has been kidnapped, exposed to a parasite and robbed meets a man who seems to have endured the same horror. What any of that has to do with the maggots that possess psychedelic properties, or the sound recordist and his obsession with pigs, is anyone's guess. The mysteries endure long after the credits roll, and Carruth's direction is spellbinding enough to keep you puzzling over them – just about.

One Direction: This Is Us 3D (PG)

(Morgan Spurlock, 2013, Us) 92 mins

From third place in...

René Clément's 1960 adaptation of The Talented Mr Ripley feels dated, but Alain Delon puts in a terrifically good performance

Tom Ripley – sociopath, parasite, killer – is the famous creation of Patricia Highsmith, and René Clément's 1960 film Plein Soleil, or Purple Noon is re-released in cinemas, his adaptation of Highsmith's The Talented Mr Ripley, the first in a sequence of five Ripley novels. This approaches the book very differently from Anthony Minghella's 1999 version, plunging us straight into the envious, unwholesome intimacy of Ripley (an eerily beautiful Alain Delon) with rich pal Greenleaf (Maurice Ronet) on vacation on his luxury motoryacht; Clément fills in the backstory details later. As a thriller, it has to be said that this story has dated a good deal. In the late 1950s and 60s, what Ripley was able to get away with in terms of violence and impersonation in far-flung Europe was just about...

Most recent film appearances, plus concert and television work Please check out our previous post: "Montiel La Violetera and Pedro Almodóvar Icon." Her last star vehicle of note was Juan Antonio Bardem's Varietés (1971), a melodrama about an aging actress who continues to dream of becoming a bona fide star. [Please scroll down to listen to Montiel's husky rendition of "Amado mío."] The forty-something hopeful eventually gets her chance at stardom, but it all turns out to be a flash in the pan. By then, following a whole array of formulaic romantic musical melodramas, Montiel's box-office allure had waned rather radically. She turned down roles in Spain's cine del destape -- post-Franco softcore comedies -- which eventually meant the demise of her movie career. Her last official star vehicle was Pedro Lazaga's comedy Cinco almohadas para una noche ("Five Cushions for One Night," 1974) -- though she would be seen in Eduardo Manzanos Brochero's That's Entertainment-like compilation feature Canciones de nuestra...

Montiel movies: From the blockbuster La Violetera to new versions of Carmen and Camille (Please check out the previous post: "Legendary Spanish Star Dead at 85."] Next in line for the sensual, husky-voice performer was a second tear-jerking hit: Luis César Amadori's La Violetera ("The Violet Peddler," 1958), for which Montiel is supposed to have earned $1 million dollars. In this romantic musical melodrama, she plays Soledad Moreno, a flower seller in the Madrid of the early 1900s, who falls in passionately love with an aristocrat played by Italian star Raf Vallone. As to be expected, class issues arise. Soledad flees for France, where she becomes (surprise!) a singing sensation. What follows includes tears, despair, a deadly iceberg (heard of the Titanic?), psychological and physiological trauma, and, finally, eternal love. Pictured above: A very sexy Montiel in a risque Gina Lollobrigida-like pose. “La violetera was even bigger than El último cuplé,...

This is one of my favorite L.A. Events!! The 17th annual City of Lights, City of Angels (4/15-22) will feature a bevy of homages, classics, restorations and retrospectives of renowned French filmmakers. The festival is also inaugurating its first producer focus, highlighting two films of the honoree during festival week.

Carte Blanche To An American Filmmaker: Wes Anderson

Col•Coa has given director Wes Anderson carte blanche to program one of his favorite French films in the 2013 Classics series. He chose The Fire Within (1963), directed by Louis Malle and starring Maurice Ronet & Jeanne Moreau (Col•Coa Classics presented in Association with Janus Films and L’Institut Francais). Anderson is the writer-director of Moonrise Kingdom, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Royal Tenenbaums, and Rushmore.

- Focus On A Producer: Anne-dominique Toussaint (New)

The Producer Anne-Dominique Toussaint will inaugurate a new rendez vous at Col•Coa entitled Focus On A Producer. On April 20, following the presentation of two recent films produced by Les Films des Tournelles , a discussion with the audience will shed light on the producer’s role in French cinema and France’s financing system.

- Focus On A Filmmaker : Alain Resnais

Col•Coa will honor director Alain Resnais with a special presentation of Stavisky (1974) starring Jean-Paul Belondo, in association with L’Institut FRANÇAIS, as well as a premiere of his new film You Ain’T Seen Nothin’ Yet which will be released in May in the Us.

A panel will revisit the work of the French master, widely regarded as one of the greats of world cinema. (Col•Coa Classics + West Coast Premiere of You Ain’T Seen Nothin’ Yet).

- Homage To Maurice Pialat

Col•Coa will honor writer-director Maurice Pialat on the 10th anniversary of his death, with the screening of To Our Loves (1983) starring Sandrine Bonnaire, in association with L’Institut Francais (Colcoa Classics)

- North American Premiere Of The Restored Version Of Bay Of Angels (50thAnniversary)

Col•Coa will present the digitally restored Bay Of Angels (1963) in partnership of the Franco-American Cultural Fund (Facf). Written and directed by Jacques Demy and starring Jeanne Moreau and Claude Mann, this seldom-seen classic will be presented in association with Ciné-Tamaris and Janus Films to celebrate its 50th anniversary (Col•Coa Classics).

- 35th Anniversary Of The Bronte Sisters

Special 35th anniversary presentation of The Bronte Sisters written and directed by Andre Techiné and starring Isabelle Huppert, Isabelle Adjani & Marie-France Pisier, in association with the Cohen Media Group before its numeric release in the Us (Col•Coa Classics).

The 17th line-up of films in competition for the Col·Coa Awards, will be announced on March 26, 2013.

Col•Coa was created by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, a unique collaborative effort of the Directors Guild of America, the Motion Picture Association, the Writers Guils of America West, and France’s Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music (Sacem). Col•Coa is also supported by France’s Society of Authors, Directors and Producers (L’Arp), the Film and TV Office of the French Embassy in Los Angeles, the Cnc and Unifrance.

For more information, please contact:

In Paris, Vanessa Jerrom (vanessajerrom@wanadoo.fr)

In Los Angeles, Cathy Mouton (camouton@pacbell.net)...

La's 17th annual City of Lights, City of Angels French film festival (Col*Coa) has given director Wes Anderson carte-blanche to program one of his favorite French films. No surprise here, Anderson's taste is impeccable: He has selected Louis Malle's 1963 lyrical depression drama "The Fire Within." The film is based on the novel by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, source material that also inspired last year's festival favorite "Oslo, August 31." It stars Maurice Ronet (also in Malle's "Elevator to the Gallows") and French New Wave legend Jeanne Moreau. (For more evidence of Anderson's cinephile leanings, check out his Top 10 for Criterion here.) Moreau is highlighted in another Col*Coa repertory pick for the upcoming 2013 fest, Jacques Demy's resplendent "Bay of Angels," about a duo of star-crossed lovers caught in the glittery world of Mediterranean casinos. It will screen in a restored 35mm print. The fest runs April 15-22. Info on screening dates,...

By Allen Gardner

Killer Joe (Lionsgate) William Friedkin’s film of Tracy Letts’ off-Broadway hit about a family of Texas trailer park cretins (Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple, Thomas Haden Church, Gina Gershon) who hire a cop-cum-hitman (Matthew McConaughey) to take out their troublesome mother, then foolishly cross him, is a stinging satire, given double-barreled audacity by Friedkin’s sure, and fearless, directorial hand. Earning its Nc-17 rating in spades, “Killer Joe” reminds us that daring, frank material like this is why movies exist in the first place. McConaughey gives the performance of his career, hopefully redefined after this. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes; Commentary by Friendkin; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.

The Dark Knight Rises (Warner Bros.) Christopher Nolan’s coda to his “Batman” trilogy finds Christian Bale returning as a brooding Bruce Wayne/Caped Crusader, this time faced with a hulking villain (Tom Hardy) with respiratory...

Chicago – When I think of Rene Clement’s “Purple Noon,” an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” which was also made into a hit film a few decades later with Matt Damon & Jude Law, I think of beautiful style. It is a tale of beautiful people in beautiful places doing very non-beautiful things. The movie made Alain Delon an international star and has now been inducted in the Criterion Collection, one of the last entries for 2012.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

Watching “Purple Noon” again in perfectly-restored high-definition I’m struck most by the daring approach of the filmmaking given the time in which it was released. Knowing nothing about the movie, I would easily have put it as a ’70s film given its approach to sex, style, and the dangerous things that even the most handsome men can do to each other. The fact that it came out in 1960 is stunning.