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John Wayne was one of the biggest movie stars in the history of the medium, but because he reigned during the 1940s, 1950s, and some of the 1960s, he was not a beneficiary of franchise filmmaking. This was a blessing, as it allowed the star to entrust his coarse brand of heroism to great filmmakers like John Ford, Howard Hawks, and Don Siegel, all of whom were free to tweak his persona within reason while not being yoked to an ongoing narrative arc that forced them to color inside pre-determined lines. Look at it this way: instead of Wayne and Ford making a series of Ringo Kid movies after the success of 1939's "Stagecoach," they were able to re-team on original stories like "Fort Apache," "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," and "The Searchers," which challenged the Duke to play different kinds of hard men facing different kinds of dilemmas.

When...

Olivia Hussey, who dazzled moviegoers as the female lead in Franco Zeffirelli‘s noteworthy 1968 adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, died Friday at her Los Angeles home of breast cancer. She was 73.

The Argentina-born actress died “surrounded by her loved ones,” according to an announcement on her official Instagram account. “Olivia was a remarkable person whose warmth, wisdom, and pure kindness touched the lives of all who knew her,” the post reads.

She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008.

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Hussey was just 15 when she starred opposite British actor Leonard Whiting, 16, as Romeo in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Both were unknowns. The Paramount-distributed film, co-written by Zeffirelli, was nominated for the best picture Oscar and three other Academy Awards, and she received a David di Donatello prize and a Golden Globe for her efforts.

Hussey also...

The careers of old Hollywood greats still fascinate movie fans today, and if any actor typifies the classic Hollywood star, Humphry Bogart fits the mold. Born in 1899, Bogart was a late bloomer in the industry and diligently worked his way up the ladder by starring in a number of gangster films, including the notable Public Enemy in 1931. When he reached his 40s, he cemented his glittering place in cinema history by starring in such classics as The Maltese Falcon (1941), Casablanca (1943), and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948).

Even with Bogart's tough-guy image, sharp dialogue delivery, sad eyes, and emotionally complex characterizations, there's one film that hardly anyone would imagine he'd star in — 1939's The Return of Doctor X, directed by Vincent Sherman. The casting of Bogart in this sci-fi horror B-movie may feel a little puzzling, and it would become his only appearance in a horror film. Audiences can witness...

In 2006, Mel Gibson was just about the most controversial guy in Hollywood. But he was, let’s all admit it, still an icon of the screen. As such, some people still had a lot of faith in him. And that faith would be translated in Hacksaw Ridge. There was the faith of its central figure, Desmond Doss; that which the producers and studio put into Gibson; and that which Gibson himself had in the project, which would tell of a conscientious objector during World War II. A gamble? Absolutely. A success? Unprecedented. So pick up that weapon, soldier – or, better yet, be at ease – as we find out: What Happened to This Movie?!

Hacksaw Ridge centers around the real-life figure of Desmond Doss, who served as a medic during World War II and became famous for his refusal to carry a weapon. Even still, he is credited with saving 75 lives while in action.

Henry Hathaway's 1965 film The Sons of Katie Elder starring John Wayne is regarded as a classic by fans of Western movies. But it is also a movie Wayne has been on record admitting that he didn't care for, primarily due to the circumstances surrounding its production. The film was shot just months after Wayne had received life-saving surgery following his lung cancer diagnosis. In an interview with Roger Ebert, the legendary cowboy described how filming the movie, which also starred Dean Martin and Dennis Hopper, provided a challenging experience due to his role's physical demands. The film's producer, Hal Wallis, had, despite Wayne's cancer diagnosis just a month before filming, put his faith in him, even postponing the scheduled shoot to accommodate him despite mounting pressure for a replacement, both from advisors and even the studio, which fretted about insurance.

Shirley MacLaine is making a ghastly racket. It sounds like a combination of retching and the “aack” noise that the protagonist of that old “Cathy” comic strip used to make whenever she was nauseated, horrified, infuriated or you name it. We’re discussing an encounter that MacLaine had with Donald Trump in the ’80s, when she went to look at an apartment in one of his buildings. “In his head, I could see he was undressing himself and me, and I got out of there very fast,” MacLaine writes in her new book, “The Wall of Life: Pictures and Stories From This Marvelous Lifetime.”

MacLaine is even more animated when I ask her what she made of the real estate developer turned Maga leader. “Did you hear me shriek?” she asks. “I think that says it all.” She pauses for dramatic effect before delivering a final, emphatic: “Yuck!”

Even at 90, MacLaine,...

Gunfight at the O. K. Corral is a 1957 Western written by novelist Leon Uris, produced by Hal Wallis for Paramount, and directed by John Sturges, starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. It is based on the true event of the same name in 1881 in Tombstone, Arizona, and is the first of two films about the same story directed by John Sturges.

War movies are usually retrospective by nature. Even "Casablanca," the most famous World War 2 movie made during World War 2, was set in the recent past. The movie was released in November 1942, after the U.S. had joined the Allies, but it is set in December 1941, just before America entered the war.

As documented by author Richard Osborne in "Casablanca Companion: The Movie Classic and Its Place in History," the filming of "Casablanca" took place on a Warner Bros. lot across 59 days, from May 25 to August 3, 1942. The cast and crew didn't think they were making anything remarkable, but the hand of fate intervened.

In "Casablanca," the titular city is shown as a waystation for refugees, albeit a dangerous one because it is controlled by the Vichy French government. France had ruled portions of Morocco as a colony since 1912, so when France fell to the Nazis in June 1940, they got Morocco in the package.

This piece was originally published in Issue 5 of Notebook magazine as part of a broader exploration of the instructional form. The magazine is available via direct subscription or in select stores around the world.On October 18, 1962, Twa flight 801 from Rome touched down at New York’s Idlewild Airport. Among the passengers was an actress by the name of Dolores Hart, and she was more anxious on the ground than she was in the air. Hart was the star of MGM’s forthcoming sex romp, Come Fly With Me, about three airline hostesses looking to score rich husbands. The film had wrapped in Vienna in August, and Hart was scheduled for a grueling cross-country promotional campaign. But that wasn’t what had her anxious. Just days before her 24th birthday, Hart was wrestling with the idea of ditching the film industry and—despite smooching Elvis Presley in Loving You, defending a...

Thanks to Baz Luhrmann's electrifying 2022 biopic "Elvis," fans new and old (some very old at this point) have enthusiastically delved into the cultural icon's past to get a more nuanced understanding of how this Tennessee-born mama's career took so many unexpected turns before he collapsed in a pharmaceutically-induced heap at the age of 42.

Every chapter of Presley's life is packed with decisions both brilliant and personally/professionally self-destructive. Indeed, his tragic arc might just be the definitive showbiz cautionary tale. His was an incandescent (if highly derivative) talent that attracted opportunists and admirers; he was treated as a product, and, thus, had an awful tendency to treat those who genuinely loved him with the respect and tenderness they deserved.

Speaking of tenderness, Presley's value as an entertainment commodity was, at its early peak, so dizzyingly high that he could work around his newly signed contract with Paramount Pictures...

The historical epic “Becket” is turning 60 this week. When it was released, “Becket” was considered Important. It was a huge and handsome production with sumptuous sets and costumes and a cast seemingly of thousands. And it featured two of the top and sexiest stars of the day – Peter O’Toole, fresh from his Oscar-nominated triumph in 1962’s “Lawrence of Arabia” and Richard Burton whose career had been overshadowed with his high-profile love affair with Elizabeth Taylor that began during the production of the infamous 1963 “Cleopatra.”

Set in the 12th century England, “Becket” revolves around the relationship between the hedonistic King Henry II (O’Toole), who never met a wench he didn’t bed, and Thomas Becket, his loyal friend and wingman for Henry’s sexual escapades. And because the Production Code was still in force, the film can only imply that Henry is in love with Becket. Henry makes Becket his...

Jack Warner had been shouldering in on credit from one of his studio’s top producers. At least that’s what Hal Wallis may have told you after the 1944 Academy Awards when Jack Warner accepted the Casablanca Oscar that some felt should have been palmed by Wallis, the Warner Bros. film’s producer. But who should accept the best picture award? Today it’s the producers, but during Hollywood’s Golden Age it was sometimes the producer, sometimes the studio chief.

Wallis had been with the company for many years, first joining the studio in 1923, their first year of incorporation. Soon, Wallis was managing essential Warner films such as Little Caesar (1931), The Petrified Forest (1936), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1937), Dark Victory (1939), Sergeant York (1941), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), and, of course, Casablanca (1942). Despite being released in late 1942, Casablanca didn’t go into wide release until early 1943 and wasn’t...

At its core, John Sturges’s Gunfight at the O.K. Corral is another retelling of the exploits of Wyatt Earp (Burt Lancaster) and Doc Holliday (Kirk Douglas) where the facts are buried under layers of myth. Doc is introduced as a surly card sharp and drunk, and he’s ultimately steered out of trouble by Wyatt. This is a different approach from John Ford’s My Darling Clementine, in which Doc doesn’t appear until well into the film and is a public nuisance to Wyatt and others. By initially focusing on Doc, who’s more receptive to Wyatt’s council here, the film winds up giving the men equal footing as protagonists, making this something closer to a buddy picture.

After a prologue set in Fort Griffin, Texas, the film’s story is neatly mapped out in a two-act structure, with the characters travelling from Dodge City to Tombstone,...

The moment Elvis Presley stepped in front of the camera for his second appearance on "The Milton Berle Show" in 1956, there was no doubt that this young man was destined for more than pop music superstardom. Much more.

Conversationally, he was downright adorable with his boyish good looks and aw-shucks Southern shyness, but once the music kicked in he was transformed into a hunk of burning lust. That gyrating pelvis and run-riot voice spurred sexual awakenings in living rooms across the country (in full view of outraged parents). To teenagers, Elvis belted out a call to rebellion. To parents, he was a pompadoured incubus. To Hollywood, he was singing, swaggering box-office gold.

Between 1956 and 1972, Elvis starred in 31 features and two concert films. There were lulls (particularly when his popularity faded prior to his 1968 comeback special), but for the most part Elvis reliably packed 'em in. According to producer Hal B. Wallis...

Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed “Oppenheimer,” which revolves around J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist considered the father of the atomic bomb, is one of the most highly anticipated films of the summer. Actually of the year. Over the decades there have been several films dealing with the Manhattan Project that culminated with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki thus ending World War II on Sept. 2, 1945.

Soon after the global conflict ended MGM, Paramount and Twentieth Century Fox were rushing to be the first studio to greenlight a movie dealing with the birth of the atomic bomb that ushered in the Cold War. MGM quickly put a project in motion hiring Robert Considine to write a story . The studio was circling the likes of its “A’ stars Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable and Van Johnson. Meanwhile over at Paramount, producer Hal Wallis was preparing a $1.5 million atomic bomb film called “Top Secret.

Here’s looking at Warner Bros. which is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Earlier this year, Turner Classic Movies, which is a member of the Warner Bros. Discovery family, celebrated the centennial with a monthlong tribute to the studio that gave the world such landmark films as 1927’s “The Jazz Singer,” the first feature with synchronized recorded singing and some dialogue; the ultimate gangster flick 1931’s “Public Enemy,: the glorious 1938 swashbuckler “The Adventures of Robin Hood”; and the beloved 1942 “Casablanca.

And during its Golden Age, its roster of stars included such legends as Rin-Tin-Tin, John Barrymore, Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Kay Francis, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Paul Muni, John Garfield and Sydney Greenstreet.

Max is currently streaming the four-part documentary series “100 Years of Warner Bros.” (the first two episodes premiered at Cannes). And also arriving this week is the lavish coffee table book “Warner Bros.

If the Hollywood studio system of its golden age had no virtues to its credit beyond producing Casablanca, that would still be an enormous credit. The movie is Exhibit A for demonstrating the alchemic nature of filmmaking under a major company in those days. With studio brass possessing something in the way of creative instincts, slotting the right contracted talent into appropriate roles, the lead of routine craftsmanship could produce cinematic gold – often on accident. There was nothing about Casablanca’s production to mark it as anything other than another Warner Bros. drama. Plenty of credit has been given out over the years for the film becoming one of America’s greatest wartime romances — Michael Curtiz for his crisp direction, Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman for leading a cast full of color and passion, the Epstein brothers and Howard Koch for so many memorable lines of dialogue and a sweeping narrative,...

For Kirk Douglas, "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" was a breath of fresh air amid military man roles in the likes of "Top Secret Affair" and Stanley Kubrick's "Paths of Glory." Opposite Burt Lancaster's mythical lawman Wyatt Earp, gunslinger Doc Holliday was resolute but ill, a former dentist with a telltale cough that followed him throughout the 122-minutes of runtime. In his autobiography "The Ragman's Son," Douglas makes it clear that he was into Leon Uris' script not so much as a loose historical account but as "an interesting relationship between two men."

Both men –- Lancaster and Douglas –- had some history with "Gunfight" producer Hal Wallis, whose Best Picture Academy Award for "Casablanca" had been on his mantle for over a decade by this time. The pair previously starred in Lizabeth Scott's '47 noir classic "I Walk Alone," backed by Wallis. Wallis eventually parted ways...

Look over the list of Best Picture winners over the years and you realise that almost every film selected is still in circulation.

William Wellman’s Wings, the very first winner in 1927, is readily available on DVD and Blu-Ray, as are such other early winners as Cimarron and Broadway Melody.

Most of the other Best Picture winners are titles that any film lover will recognise instantly. The blind spots are obvious. The Academy never chooses foreign language titles. In recent years, it has shunned comedies.

The Shape of Water may have won in 2018, but voters are generally wary about genre pictures. You don’t see many sci-fi or martial arts titles on the list.

There is a growing divide between what wins at the Oscars and what makes the money at the box office. Even so, the est Picture Oscar remains one of the most reliable bellwethers for films that will have an afterlife.

Look over the list of Best Picture winners over the years and you realise that almost every film selected is still in circulation.

William Wellman’s Wings, the very first winner in 1927, is readily available on DVD and Blu-Ray, as are such other early winners as Cimarron and Broadway Melody.

Most of the other Best Picture winners are titles that any film lover will recognise instantly. The blind spots are obvious. The Academy never chooses foreign language titles. In recent years, it has shunned comedies.

The Shape of Water may have won in 2018, but voters are generally wary about genre pictures. You don’t see many sci-fi or martial arts titles on the list.

There is a growing divide between what wins at the Oscars and what makes the money at the box office. Even so, the est Picture Oscar remains one of the most reliable bellwethers for films that will have an afterlife.

Humphrey Bogart is one of the great icons of classic Hollywood. His trademark snarl and surprising romantic heroism sealed his legendary status in pop culture at large. For how inescapable his impact was, it's hard to imagine a period in sound film before him. But his rise to stardom took time. He wasn't exactly gunning down Nazis in Casablanca in his first year on the Warner Bros. lot.

What he was doing for most of his '30s performances was playing the background gangster in the studio's many crime melodramas. In movies with titles like "Bullets or Ballots" and "Racket Busters," audiences could rely on him showing up, grimacing, and probably dying in a moral way by movie's end. If he wasn't in a gangster movie, he could be oddly miscast, such as his appearance as an Irish stable master in the Bette Davis weepie "Dark Victory." No role was...

Elvis Presley’s handlers found the formula that would keep his stardom solvent through the 1960s in this well-confected, calculatedly vacant star vehicle that Everybody liked and enjoyed in 1961. The coolest celeb in America ended up in some of the squarest, least-hip films of the era. Why do we like it so? Cutting through the fog of nostalgia reveals the appeal. The Hawaiian scenery is a knockout, plus there’s good support from Joan Blackman and especially Angela Lansbury, who humbles herself to play an idiot mother caricature for Mister ‘Rock-a-Hula.’

Blue Hawaii

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

Paramount Presents

1961 / Color/ 1:85 widescreen / 101 min. / Street Date November 15, 2022 / Available from / 39.99

Starring: Elvis Presley, Joan Blackman, Angela Lansbury, Nancy Walters, Roland Winters, John Archer, Howard McNear, Steve Brodie, Christian Kay, Iris Adrian, Hilo Hattie, Jenny Maxwell, Pamela Austin (Kirk), Darlene Tompkins, Jose De Vega, Frank Atienza, Ralph Hanalei, Gregory Gaye.

Cinematography: Charles Lang...

Elvis

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital HD

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

2022 / 2.39 : 1 / 159 Min.

Starring Austin Butler, Tom Hanks

Written by Baz Luhrmann, Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, Jeremy Doner

Directed by Baz Luhrmann

In 1960’s Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock dramatized a murder using 78 camera setups and 52 cuts. 62 years later the Australian director Baz Luhrmann employed the same techniques to tell the story of Elvis. Hitchcock’s harrowing shower scene lasts all of 45 seconds yet it still resonates—Luhrmann’s movie runs 159 minutes and for some in the audience, it may begin to fade before they hit the exit.

For better and for worse, Elvis moves like a bullet train. Thanks to the convulsive editing of Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond, the movie’s imagery—an onslaught of high energy jolts delivered in bite sized pieces—can dazzle the senses. And at nearly three hours it can dull them too. Still, the breakneck...

Burbank, Calif., September 13, 2022 – Celebrating the 80th anniversary of its 1942 release, the legendary Warner Bros. film Casablanca will be released on Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack and Digital on November 8, it was announced today by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Starring Academy Award winners Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, critic Leonard Maltin calls Casablanca “the best Hollywood movie of all time.”

The winner of three Academy Awards® including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, Casablanca was directed by Michael Curtiz from a screenplay by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch. The screenplay is based on “Everybody Comes to Rick’s”, an unproduced stage play by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison. The film was produced by Hal B. Wallis.

The cast also features Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Dooley Wilson.

Casablanca was voted the screen’s greatest love story and the #3 film of...

The third ‘Essential’ noir collection is easily [Imprint]’s best, with two genuine classics of the style plus two excellent and equally entertaining thrillers. The directors are first-rank: Lewis Milestone, Mitchell Leisen, William Dieterle and William Wyler. Top stars are present too: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lisabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas, William Holden, Alexis Smith, Edmond O’Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Fredric March. The high-quality suspense and jeopardy are uniquely noir: The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, No Man Of Her Own, The Turning Point and The Desperate Hours. [Imprint] taps bona fide experts for the xtras.

Essential Film Noir Collection 3

Blu-ray (Region-Free)

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, No Man Of Her Own, The Turning Point, The Desperate Hours

Viavision [Imprint] 148, 149, 150, 151

1946 – 1955 / B&w / 1:37 Academy (3), 1:78 widescreen (1) / 411 min. / Street Date August 31, 2022 / Available from Viavision [Imprint] / au 139.95 , Amazon / 136.64

Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lisabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas; Barbara Stanwyck, John Lund, Lyle Bettger; William Holden, Alexis Smith,...

Unlike many classic movies about World War 2, "Casablanca" was made during the war. The film was released in 1942, just under a year after America entered the conflict, and is set a year earlier in the eponymous Moroccan city. Club owner Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) discovers that his old flame Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) and her husband Victor Laszlo (Paul Heinrid), both Nazi resistance fighters, are in Casablanca and looking to escape to America.

The film shows Casablanca as a refugee hub, full of unique characters scattered to the winds by Nazi oppression of their homelands. Rick, the sole American in the cast, becomes an avatar of his country's role in the war; he's initially neutral but ultimately chooses the right side. Underlining this, the film is set mere days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which pushed America into the war.

"Casablanca" and its connection to contemporary events helped make it a hit.

With our nation increasingly divided, several media gurus over the July 4 break decreed that Hollywood owed filmgoers a “feel-good-about-America” movie. Something unifying and patriotic, like a contemporary Yankee Doodle Dandy.

When I did some research, I concluded that they had a point. With the exception of those by-the-numbers World War II action movies, the industry has never been proficient at patriotism.

I therefore decided to bite the bullet and rerun the 80-year-old Warner Bros film. It was enlightening: As an old-fashioned song-and-dance extravaganza, Yankee Doodle Dandy turned out to be wicked fun. As an exercise in patriotism, however, its message was borderline anarchy.

Maybe the times back then (the early 1940s) were as disorienting as they are today. Why would Warner Bros and producer Hal Wallis cast its gangster superstar James Cagney (Public Enemy) as a family-loving patriot? Cagney had famously slammed a grapefruit into a co-star’s face. To further confuse things,...

Michael Curtiz’s flashy and splashy wartime morale booster began as a pre-Pearl Harbor show of support of our Canadian friends’ contribution to the war effort. A vehicle for James Cagney, its script is a trifle about bush pilots competing for a woman and then showing The Right Stuff when it comes time to join up to fight. Cagney’s ‘bad boy’ act is always good, but what slays us now are the stunning Technicolor images filmed in and over the vast Canadian forest country with its endless crystal clear lakes. The aerial work in 3-Strip Technicolor is breathtaking, especially in this full new digital restoration.

Captains of the Clouds

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1942 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 113 min. / Available at Amazon.com / Street Date March 22, 2022 / 21.99

Starring: James Cagney, Dennis Morgan, Brenda Marshall, Alan Hale, George Tobias, Reginald Gardiner, Air Marshal W.A. Bishop, Reginald Denny, Russell Arms, Paul Cavanagh, Clem Bevans,...

Long before the Coen Brothers brought Charles Portis' novel "True Grit" to the screen in 2010, its first film adaptation came in 1969, with Hal B. Wallis producing and Henry Hathaway directing. Recognizing that the book had strong cinematic potential, actor John Wayne encouraged the involvement of both men. To round out the decades-old talent behind the screen, he was cast as the protagonist, U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn, hired by Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) to find the man who killed her father. 

At the time, Darby was best known for a couple of roles in television westerns like "Gunsmoke" and "Bonanza." Darby's...

The post The John Wayne Classic Mia Farrow Thinks is Her Biggest Career Mistake appeared first on /Film.

One of the best yet least seen of John Sturges’ westerns couples a fine screenplay with strong star perfs and superb direction: the straightforward story builds tension throughout. Kirk Douglas is a sheriff out for both justice and revenge and Anthony Quinn is the he-bull rancher who stands in his way: the guilty party is Quinn’s son. It looks sensational in VistaVision, with a fine music score by Dimitri Tiomkin — it’s a pleasure all the way through, with strong support from Carolyn (swoon) Jones, Earl Holliman, Brian Hutton and Brad Dexter.

Last Train from Gun Hill

Region-free Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 101

1959 / Color / 1:78 widescreen (VistaVision) / 95 min. / Street Date December 29, 2021 / Available from Imprint and Amazon / 39.95

Starring: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Carolyn Jones, Earl Holliman, Brad Dexter, Brian G. Hutton, Ziva Rodann, Bing Russell, Val Avery, Walter Sande, John Anderson, Dabbs Greer, Ty Hardin, Glenn Strange, Julius Tannen, Sid Tomack.

Cinematography:...

Six years before his death in 1996, “Rent” composer Jonathan Larson began performing a solo semi-autobiographical musical “Tick, Tick…Boom!” about a young struggling composer named Jon who fears that he has made the wrong career choice. After his death, Larson’s show was expanded into a three-person piece by David Auburn that ran in London, off-Broadway, and as a national tour. Now it is an acclaimed new Netflix movie directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda (who appeared in a Encores production of the musical in 2014) and starring Andrew Garfield.

The composer bio movie genre has long been a favorite of Hollywood, especially during its Golden Age. But these bio-pics played fast and loose with the facts. The Production Code prevented these films from exploring the fact that Cole Porter and Lorenz Hart were gay. And some of these composers and/or their families were still alive and wanted a certain image presented on the big screen.

In 2020, the Covid pandemic caused the motion picture academy to cancel the Governors Awards, which has been a stand-alone event since 2009. Instead, it presented the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to both Tyler Perry and the Motion Picture & Television Fund during the Oscars. This morale booster was a bright spot in the ceremony.

The Governors Awards are set to return on January 15, 2022. Honorary Oscars will be presented to multi-hyphenate Elaine May as well as actors Samuel L. Jackson and Liv Ullmann. Another actor, Danny Glover, will be feted with the Hersholt for his work on behalf of Unicef.

There have been four honorees at the Governors Awards every year but two since 2009. As detailed below, all but one of the academy’s 17 branches — Visual Effects — are represented among the roster of 138 winners of honorary Oscars. In the case of Visual Effects, the academy has presented special achievement awards to a host...

“Murder Or Self Defense?”

By Raymond Benson

This compelling 1949 melodrama—it can’t quite be called film noir due to a lack of many of the traits associated with that cinematic movement—would have a field day in the era of #MeToo. It was made during 1948 (released in January ’49) while the Production Code was still in effect. While it was taboo to say that the protagonist, Dr. Wilma Tuttle (Loretta Young), is “sexually assaulted” by one of her students at the college where she teaches psychology (it’s obvious that this is what occurs in front of our eyes on the screen), it’s perfectly fine for the investigating homicide detective, Lt. Dorgan (Wendell Corey), to make harassing sexual innuendos and sexist remarks about the woman he suspects of murder, not only to her face but to all the other men in the room while she’s present. But it...

An old favorite receives a quality restoration: Raoul Walsh, John Huston, W.R. Burnett and actress Ida Lupino launch Humphrey Bogart as an A-list star deemed strong enough to carry romantic leads. Bogart’s gangster Roy Earle is a classic anti-hero; audiences in 1941 surely thought the film’s play with wrongdoing and heroism was edgy material. Lupino’s loser-turned-lover is a dynamite asset for a man on the run, and the sentimental touches don’t mar the spectacular finale: this all-American bandit meets his end on a California peak, not a dirty urban gutter. A second disc carries the full feature Colorado Territory, a remake/transposition of the Bogie classic into an excellent western with Joel McCrea and Virginia Mayo.

High Sierra

+ Colorado Territory

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 1099

1941 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 100 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 12, 2021 / 39.95

Starring: Ida Lupino, Humphrey Bogart, Alan Curtis, Arthur Kennedy,

Joan Leslie,...

When not making tons of money collaborating with James Stewart, Anthony Mann directed some really grim westerns. This mini-epic spells out the ugly real-life Code of The West: seizing land and establishing private empires. Walter Huston’s T.C. Jeffords maintains his sprawling fiefdom through economic tyranny (he prints his own money and expects banks to accept it) — and by simple violence, murdering the people that have lived on ‘his’ land for generations. Barbara Stanwyck is the feisty heir who wages generational war on her piratical father. It’s the darkest and most subversive of Huac-era ‘noir’ westerns.

The Furies

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 435

1950 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 109 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date April 20, 2021 / 39.95

Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, Walter Huston, Judith Anderson, Gilbert Roland, Thomas Gomez, Beulah Bondi, Albert Dekker, John Bromfield, Wallace Ford, Blanche Yurka.

Cinematography: Victor Milner

Film Editor: Archie Marshek

Original Music:...

It’s the disc everyone wants right now — vintage Hollywood horror fully restored to its amazing original Technicolor luster. A scientific investigation into some grisly Full Moon Murders culminates in a bizarre experiment in the fantastic lab of five potential mad doctors. Fay Wray and Lionel Atwill became horror stars, Lee Tracy provides the sidebar laughs, and then the unknown killer divulges his horrifying, Cronenberg-like secret: Synthetic Flesh! The Warner Archive scores with a follow up to last year’s The Mystery of the Wax Museum.

Doctor X

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1932 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 76 min. / Street Date April 13, 2021 / 21.99

Starring: Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Lee Tracy, Preston Foster, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Leila Bennett, Rovbert Warwixk, Thomas E. Jackson, Mae Busch, Tom Dugan, Louise Beavers.

Cinematography: Ray Rennahan, Richard Towers

Film Editor: George Amy

Art Director: Anton Grot

Special Effects: Fred Jackman Jr.

Makeup (effects): Max Factor

Written by Robert Tasker,...

Pamela Tiffin, star of the 1962 remake of “State Fair” who enjoyed major success in the U.S. and Italy before retiring from acting in 1974, died Friday of natural causes. She was 78.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tiffin was hospitalized at the time of her death.

Born Pamela Tiffin Wonso in Oklahoma City but raised in Chicago, she began a public career as a teen model in the late 1950s. Her film career began during a trip to Los Angeles in 1961 when, while visiting the Paramount lot, she was spotted by powerhouse producer Hal B. Wallis and given a screen test.

She very quickly saw success as a burgeoning movie star, landing as her second film role one of the leads in Billy Wilder’s 1961 cold war comedy “One, Two, Three” starring James Cagney. She followed that up by landing the lead role of Margy Frake in the 1962 remake of the...

Ya like quality pro-intervention propaganda? Warners’ filmic call to arms inspired America’s reluctant warriors via a superhuman feat by a highly decorated WW1 veteran… and promptly got into hot water with the United States congress. Howard Hawks’ highly effective load of sentiment and sanctimony makes Tennesseans look like denizens of Dogpatch, U.S.A.. But America loved it, even favorite Gary Cooper’s cute ‘aw shucks’ mannerisms that compare shooting the enemy with shooting a turkey. That’s how we baby boomers learned about patriotism.

Sergeant York

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1941 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 134 min. / Street Date October 13, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Joan Leslie, George Tobias, Stanley Ridges, Margaret Wycherly, Ward Bond, Noah Beery Jr., June Lockhart.

Cinematography: Sol Polito

Second Unit Director: Don Siegel

Film Editor: William Holmes

Original Music: Max Steiner

Written by Abem Finkel, Harry Chandlee, Howard Koch, John Huston...

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By Fred Blosser

Kino Lorber Studio Classics has released “Mary, Queen of Scots” (1971) in a new Blu-ray edition. A Hal B. Wallis production starring Vanessa Redgrave in the title role and Glenda Jackson as Queen Elizabeth I, the picture opened on a limited basis in Los Angeles on December 22, 1971, in order to qualify for the 1972 Academy Awards. General release in the U.S. followed on February 2, 1972. The filmmakers’ hopes were high, since a previous Wallis production about the 16th Century British monarchy, “Anne of the Thousand Days,” had been a critical and commercial success two years earlier, with the same screenwriter (John Hale) and director (Charles Jarrott). As if more cred were needed, a weighty biography by Antonia Fraser, “Mary Queen of Scots” (no comma), had been a best-seller in 1969. Since Mary was a historical figure in the public domain, the filmmakers...

The word rang out yesterday, vibrating through the canyons of Los Angeles, much like the echo of thousands of voices sixty years ago that proclaimed “I am Spartacus!”. Perhaps the last of the leading men of Hollywood’s pre-1950 Golden Age is now with his long-departed peers. Here’s how the town’s Hollywood Reporter broke the news:

” Kirk Douglas, the son of a ragman who channeled a deep, personal anger through a chiseled jaw and steely blue eyes to forge one of the most indelible and indefatigable careers in Hollywood history, died Wednesday in Los Angeles. He was 103.

“It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103,” son Michael Douglas wrote on his Instagram account. “To the world, he was a legend, an actor from the Golden Age of movies who lived well into his golden years,...

Martin Amis’ 1984 novel “Money,” inspired by his painful experiences as the screenwriter of the disastrous 1980 sci-fi movie “Saturn 3,” includes a character based on “Saturn 3” star Kirk Douglas: “Lorne Guyland,” an aging but still virile screen legend, “had, in his time, on stage or screen, interpreted the roles of Genghis Khan, Al Capone, Marco Polo, Huckleberry Finn, Charlemagne, Paul Revere, Erasmus, Wyatt Earp, Voltaire, Sky Masterson, Einstein, Jack Kennedy, Rembrandt, Babe Ruth, Oliver Cromwell, Amerigo Vespucci, Zorro, Darwin, Sitting Bull, Freud, Napoleon, Spider-Man, Macbeth, Melville, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Methuselah, Mozart, Merlin, Marx, Mars, Moses and Jesus Christ.”

And while “Money” is not, on the whole, particularly kind to Kirk Douglas, this list does reflect the breadth and scope of a screen career that started in 1946 and culminated in the early 21st century.

On screen, Douglas was the epitome of the square-jawed leading man, whether he was playing a Roman slave,...

This must be an official Bette Davis month… Criterion has two vintage Davis pictures on offer, and TCM is devoted to a roundup of the actress’s work as well. This one qualifies as the all-time champion Women’s Weepie, but one that holds up as a great picture on all levels. Director Irving Rapper guided this best-ever drama, in which a put-upon Ugly Duckling throws off oppressive familial chains and blossoms into a woman of the world. She then makes choices of personal nobility and selflessness, that will challenge anybody’s notions of saint-like deportment. It’s the kind of show normally gets discussed over coffee, not by film critics, so the extras on this one are especially interesting.

Now, Voyager

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 10004

1942 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 117 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date November 26, 2019 / 39.95

Starring: Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Gladys Cooper, Bonita Granville.

It’s the formidable Bette Davis once again, in yet another superior William Wyler picture. The Somerset Maugham play is a classy vehicle for a star performance — the nagging legal ‘difficulty’ of plantation wife Leslie Crosbie is intertwined with colonial politics but remains entirely personal. Leslie isn’t exactly a poster girl for the feminist movement. Is she the victim of social pressures or just a petty, selfish monster? Screenwriter Howard Koch had to invent a twisted new ‘yellow peril’ finish to appease the Production Code … you know, the Code that some people say made Hollywood movies better.

The Letter

Blu-ray

The Warner Archive Collection

1940 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 95 min. / Street Date September 24, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson, Frieda Inescort, Gale Sondergaard.

Cinematography: Tony Gaudio

Art Direction: Carl Jules Weyl

Film Editor: George Amy, Warren Low

Original Music: Max Steiner

Written by Howard...

The murky crimes of sordid characters come to the fore in the wide-open Nevada spaces… producer Hal Wallis’ Technicolor noir concentrates on the possessive and perverse competition for Lizabeth Scott’s luscious blonde — the mother that wants to corral her, the gangster who thinks she’s an escape and the local hunk who wears a badge. Robert Rossen’s edgy screenplay depicts its violent action on a psychological level.

Desert Fury

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1947 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 96 min. / Street Date Feb 26, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott, John Hodiak, Wendell Corey, Mary Astor, Kristine Miller, William Harrigan, James Flavin, Anna Camargo, Ray Teal.

Cinematography: Edward Cronjager, Charles Lang

Film Editor: Warren Low

Original Music: Miklos Rosza

Written by Robert Rossen from the novel by Ramona Stewart

Produced by Hal B. Wallis

Directed by Lewis Allen

As he was under contract to Hal Wallis, Burt Lancaster...

Grand action entertainment bursts forth on the high seas, showing us how much production value Golden Hollywood could lavish on an exciting, artful swashbuckler. Errol Flynn is at his glorious best, backed by greats like Flora Robson, Henry Daniell and Claude Rains in fine form. The special effects and full-sized ship sets impress in ways that computer generated images never will. And the rousing music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold seals the deal — the term ‘Timeless Classic’ was invented for marvels like this.

The Sea Hawk

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1940 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 127 min. / Street Date December 18, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Errol Flynn, Brenda Marshall, Claude Rains, Donald Crisp, Flora Robson, Alan Hale, Henry Daniell, Una O’Connor, James Stephenson, Gilbert Roland, William Lundigan, Julien Mitchell, Montagu Love, J.M. Kerrigan, David Bruce, Fritz Leiber, Francis McDonald, Pedro de Cordoba, Ian Keith, Jack La Rue, Halliwell Hobbes, Victor Varconi,...

Before James Dean was a screen legend, he was a personal handyman.

Dean lived in the downstairs suite in the home of Hal B. Wallis—the former head of Warner Brothers—according to a representative for real estate firm The Agency, which is listing the historic property. According to the rep, the home used to be one of the “entertainment hubs” of the Hollywood Hills, and during a party there, a casting director saw Dean and “liked his look.” Less than a month later, he was cast in Rebel Without a Cause.

Now, the 4,000 square-foot-home where he was discovered is for sale,...

One of a number of Paramount noirs seemingly forever Mia on disc, Hal Wallis’ show reunites Burt Lancaster and Lizabeth Scott with promising newcomers Kirk Douglas and Wendell Corey. It’s light on action but strong on character — and it contains a key scene in the development of both the noir style and the gangster genre.

I Walk Alone

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1947 / B&W / flat Academy / 97 min. / Street Date July 24, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas, Wendell Corey, Kristine Miller, George Rigaud, Marc Lawrence, Mike Mazurki, Mickey Knox, Gino Corrado.

Cinematography: Leo Tover

Film Editor: Arthur Schmidt

Original Music: Victor Young

Written by Charles Schnee, Robert Smith, John Bright from a play by Theodore Reeves

Produced by Hal B. Wallis

Directed by Byron Haskin

One reason we keep going to theatrical Noir festivals is that a substantial number of interesting classic-era features still haven’t surfaced on disc.

Is this the filmic birth of both the wartime Oss and the SuperSpy genre? State department diplomat trainee Joel McCrea weds refugee Brenda Marshall, not realizing that she has gained her freedom by volunteering to become a Nazi spy. Released just as WW2 broke out but filmed and produced earlier, Warners’ production faced stiff political pressure from an isolationist Washington. Ever heard the phrase ‘premature anti-Nazi?’ Here there be patriots.

Espionage Agent

DVD

The Warner Archive Collection

1939 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 83 min. / Street Date May 1, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Joel McCrea, Brenda Marshall, Jeffrey Lynn, George Bancroft, Stanley Ridges, James Stephenson, Martin Kosleck, Rudolph Anders, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski, Egon Brecher, Nana Bryant, William Hopper, Glenn Langan, Chris-Pin Martin, George Reeves.

Cinematography: Charles Rosher

Film Editor: Ralph Dawson

Original Music: Adolph Deutsch

Written by Warren Duff, Michael Fessier, Frank Donoghue, James Hilton, story by Robert Henry Buckner

Produced by Louis B.

If Agnes Varda wins the Best Documentary Feature Oscar for “Faces Places” on Sunday night, she will become just the 13th person, and the first woman, to take home a competitive Oscar and an honorary award in the same year. This would be in addition to setting the record, at age 89, as the oldest person to win a competitive Oscar.

The French/Belgian filmmaker is already the 31st person to receive an Oscar nomination and an honorary award in the same year. If she wins, she would join a list that includes some of the titans of the film industry. While she would be the 13th person to accomplish this, it would actually be the 15th time that this has occurred, since Walt Disney did it three times. Listed below are the other instances where a person claimed competitive and honorary wins within the same year.

See: Predictions in all...

In this edition of Canon Of Film, we look back on Michael Curtiz’s seminal classic, ‘Casablanca‘. For the story behind the genesis of the Canon, you can click here.

Casablanca (1942)

Director: Michael Curtiz

Producer: Hal B. Wallis

Screenplay: Julian J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch based on the play “Everybody Comes to Rick’s,” by Murray Burnett & Joan Alison

I have spent literal weeks of my life where I did nothing but watch ‘Casablanca’. I’ve probably seen it more than any other film, and there’s almost nothing I don’t know about it, and yet, it never fails to enthrall me. It was made as an anti-Nazi propaganda film, and for a while, the film seems like a movie about people on the run, and the underground that’s trying to get them out, and those trying to take advantage of them. Of course,...