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The Beatles‘ The White Album is, to put it mildly, strange. A fictional hero from adventure stories, an American historical figure, and an event in India inspired one track from The White Album. Here’s how that all went down.

1 song from The Beatles’ ‘The White Album’ was social commentary and a joke

The White Album is one of the oddest ducks in popular music history. It careens wildly between styles, embracing folk, rock, pop, vaudeville, blues, children’s music, and the avant-garde. While the record includes a lot of experiments, listeners tend to remember some of its radio-friendly tracks like “Blackbird,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” and “Ob-la-Di, Ob-la-Da.”

Somewhere in between the commercial and the experimental is the unusual folk ditty “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill.” The track is about the title character killing a tiger. The tune goes back and forth between portraying the killing as tragic and heroic.

Armando Silvestre, a busy actor in the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema who appeared with Clint Eastwood and Shirley MacLaine in Two Mules for Sister Sara, with Yul Brynner in Kings of the Sun and with Burt Lancaster in The Scalphunters, has died. He was 98.

Silvestre died June 2 in Coronado, California, a representative from the Aztlan Mortuary in nearby La Mesa told The Hollywood Reporter.

The powerfully built Silvestre made scores of films in Mexico, among them Here Comes Martin Corona (1952), Rossana (1953), Story of a Mink Coat (1955) with Silvia Pinal, La Sombra Vengadora (1956), The Miracle Roses (1960), Neutrón Contra el Dr. Caronte (1963), La Choca (1974) and Faith, Hope and Charity (1974).

He excelled in Westerns and action adventure movies early in his career en route to compiling more than 200 credits on IMDb.

Armando Silvestre Carrascosa was born in San Diego on Jan. 28, 1926, and raised in Tijuana. His younger brother was Eduardo Silvestre, winner of the Mr.

The preview opening of the new exhibit Meet the Stars: 100 Years of MGM Studios and the Golden Age of Hollywood on Thursday night was a crowded, buzzing affair. Held at the Hollywood Heritage Museum in the historic Lasky DeMille Barn across from the Hollywood Bowl, the event showcased the items of over 20 movie collectors. Memorabilia hunters, dressed in fedoras and flirty ’40s dresses, gabbed about their latest finds with others who have a similar passion.

The highlight of the night was when the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to former MGM child star Cora Sue Collins (who played a little Greta Garbo in 1933’s Queen Christina), the last surviving MGM contract player from the 1930s. Sitting at a tableau that recreated a party thrown for her by MGM in 1935, Collins elegantly thanked everyone for their well wishes. Actor George Chakiris was also in attendance, and he posed next to a costume...

Tarzan, the iconic King of the Jungle, has been portrayed by various actors in movies and TV series over the years. The film adaptations of Edgar Burroughs' bestselling Tarzan series have had varying degrees of success in terms of critical and audience reception. From Johnny Weissmuller to Alexander Skarsgard, different actors brought unique interpretations to the legendary character of Tarzan.

Often labeled the King of the Jungle, Tarzan has become one of the most popular fictional characters ever created. Based on the bestselling series written by Edgar Burroughs, Tarzan depicts a feral orphan raised in the African jungle by apes, growing up to become a skilled adventurer. His life changes when a young woman and her father arrive in the jungle and Tarzan gets a taste of civilization and romance.

The Tarzan series became one of the most popular book series and is one of the most adapted series in history.

Johnny Weissmuller starred in 28 movies over 25 years, making a successful career out of just two iconic jungle hero characters. His talent as a swimmer and water polo player aided his transition to action films, showcasing his physical strength in Hollywood. Weissmuller's roles as Tarzan and Jungle Jim propelled him to international stardom, earning him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In Hollywood, there was one iconic action star who made a very successful career all while playing just 2 characters in 2 different franchises. Many well-known actors have made successful careers through their work portraying characters in different franchises. American actor Johnny Weissmuller worked in 2 different action franchises between the 1930s and 1950s, which led him to star in 28 movies across 25 years.

Before he became an actor, Johnny Weissmuller was widely recognized as a talented swimmer and water polo player. He won a total of 5 gold medals in freestyle swimming...

Porterville directed by David M. Parks and starring Mike Ferguson (Showdown at the Grand), Christopher Sky (Stay Out), Tammie Sellers (Paradies 2), David Josh Lawrence (Trauma Therapy), comes a modern western now available on Amazon. Written by Christopher Anthony Young In this clip Horror veteran Mike Ferguson (Big John) and David Josh Lawrence (Vince) make …

The post Exclusive Clip from Porterville starring Mike Ferguson appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.

Porterville directed by David M. Parks and starring Mike Ferguson (Showdown at the Grand), Christopher Sky (Stay Out), Tammie Sellers (Paradies 2), David Josh Lawrence (Trauma Therapy), comes a modern western now available on Amazon. Written by Christopher Anthony Young

In this clip Horror veteran Mike Ferguson (Big John) and David Josh Lawrence (Vince) make Tammie Sellers (Maria) an offer she can’t refuse.

Synopsis: NYPD detective Jake O’Conner is the taking-the-justice-in-his-own-hand type of cop. After taking revenge against the two men that killed his wife and daughter, he moves to a small town in the desert to get away from the big city. As the new Sheriff in town, Jake quickly finds himself entangled in a web of deception and in pursuit of a killer responsible for a spree of murders.

Porterville Now Playing on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Porterville-Christopher-Anthony-Young/dp/B0CKZXYR1V?nodl=1&dplnkId=80c81c...

It was five decades ago long distance swimmer Diana Nyad became part of the cultural landscape with her feats including a recording-setting circling of Manhattan and a 102-mile swim from the Bahamas to Florida she accomplished that in 27 hours. In 1978, Nyad made her first attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida but ended the quest after 40 hours. After segueing to a successful career as a sports journalist on ABC’s “Wild World of Sports” for over two decades, she decided at 60 to try again. She made three attempts felled by asthma, muscle fatigue, jellyfish and a tropical storm.

Nyad’s attempts at the swim were the subject of the 2013 documentary “The Other Shore.” When I talked to her for the L.A. Times a decade ago the then 64-year-old was preparing for her final attempt. “When I first started this in my 20s and when I started again when I turned...

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Despite the writers and possible actors strike, from July 20 to 23, Comic-Con once again is set to take over San Diego with plenty of head-turning cosplay. As the city’s most anticipated event approaches, it has stepped up its culinary and hospitality offerings with a slate of unforgettable places to wine, dine and rest.

Near Comic-Con’s home at the San Diego Convention Center, Bun & Patti (2171 Kettner Blvd.) spotlights burgers like the Smoke Show, made with 14-day dry-aged beef and served with flourishes of smoke under a glass dome, while the jungle-themed Zama (467 Fifth Ave.) offers Latin American cuisine as well as sushi. Elsewhere, Paradisaea (5680 La Jolla Blvd.) in La Jolla offers dishes highlighting locally sourced ingredients and drinks such as the Keys Razor cocktail (with Producer mezcal,...

Sylvester Stallone's 1985 film "Rocky IV" is quite handily the silliest in its series. Tapping into the ultra-jingoistic rhetoric of the Ronald Reagan era, "Rocky IV" saw its American title character squaring off against a Soviet super-athlete in a symbolic attempt to prove which of the world powers was ultimately stronger. /Film already wrote about the film's extended central training montage, claiming it to be one of the best of all time because it provides a parallel between the way Rocky (Stallone) trains, and the way the evil Russian Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) trains. Rocky is out of his element in Russia, where his bout with Drago is to take place. Because of this, Rocky has to find clever, low-fi ways to build in strength, including hauling logs and pressing rickshaws full of locals. Drago, meanwhile, is locked into a high-tech, computer-run athletics facility where his muscles and strength are...

Ricou Browning, who took to the water as the menacing Gill-Man in the Creature From the Black Lagoon and as the creative force behind the original Flipper movie and TV show, has died. He was 93.

Browning died Monday of natural causes at his home in Southwest Ranches, Florida, his daughter Kim Browning told The Hollywood Reporter. “He had a fabulous career in the film industry, providing wonderful entertainment for past and future generations,” she said.

The Florida native also served as a stuntman on Richard Fleischer’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), doubled for Jerry Lewis in Don’t Give Up the Ship (1959) and “played all the bad guys in [TV’s] Sea Hunt,” he said in a 2013 interview.

Plus, Browning directed the harpoon-filled fight in Thunderball (1965), another underwater scene in Never Say Never Again (1983) and the hilarious Jaws-inspired candy bar-in-the-pool sequence in Caddyshack (1980).

Browning, who said he could routinely hold his...

Enter Santo: The First Adventures of the Silver-Masked Man

Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator

1961 / 72 Min., 76 Min. / B&w / 1.66: 1 / Region Free Blu ray

Starring Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta, Joaquín Cordero

Written by Enrique Zambrano, Fernando Osés

Directed by Joselito Rodríguez

To begin to understand the byzantine nature of Mexican culture, look no further than the town of Tulancingo, home to Mesoamerican pyramids built in 1000 B.C. and the statue of El Santo erected in 1985.

Born in 1917 in the Mexican state of Hidalgo, Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta was a folk hero whose mythological status was manufactured out of whole cloth, the cloth in question being a form-fitting mask that Huerta wore everywhere—at work or a night on the town. Huerta began his wrestling career in the late 30s but he didn’t don the silver mask of El Santo until 1942—ten years later his legendary status was confirmed in a series of low rent...

Rudy Pankow as JJ, Madelyn Cline as Sarah Cameron, Carlacia Grant as Cleo, Chase Stokes as John B, and Jonathan Daviss as Pope in ‘Outer Banks’ season 3 (Photo Cr. Jackson Lee Davis / Netflix © 2022)

Netflix has set a February 2023 premiere date for the third season of the popular drama Outer Banks. All 10 season three episodes will be available for binge-watching on Thursday, February 23rd.

The premiere date announcement was accompanied by the first batch of photos from the upcoming season.

Season three stars Chase Stokes as John B., Madelyn Cline as Sarah Cameron, Madison Bailey as Kiara, Jonathan Daviss as Pope, and Rudy Pankow as JJ. Austin North plays Topper, Drew Starkey is Rafe, Carlacia Grant is Cleo, and Charles Esten stars as Ward Cameron.

The cast also includes Cullen Moss as Shoupe, Julia Antonelli as Wheezie Cameron, Caroline Arapoglou as Rose Cameron, E. Roger Mitchell as Heyward, Charles Halford as Big John,...

The Pogues return to Netflix next month.

Outer Banks Season 3 finally has a premiere date, and it's soon.

Netflix revealed Tuesday that all ten episodes would be available to stream on February 23.

Outer Banks Season 2 wrapped with several big cliffhangers, but what's on tap for Season 3?

"After losing the gold and fleeing the Outer Banks, Season 3 finds the Pogues washed ashore on a desert island that, for a brief moment, seems like an idyllic home," Netflix teases.

"Officially deemed Poguelandia, the island's newest residents spend their days fishing, swimming, and reveling in the carefree lifestyle of their temporary dwelling."

"But things quickly go south for John B, Sarah, Kiara, Pope, JJ, and Cleo when they find themselves once again caught up in a race for the treasure, quite literally running for their lives," the logline adds.

"They're broke and far from home, they can't trust anyone, Ward and Rafe are hungry for revenge,...

Netflix’s “Outer Banks” will return with its third season on February 23.

After losing the gold and fleeing the Outer Banks, Season 3 finds the Pogues washed ashore on a desert island that, for a brief moment, seems like an idyllic home. Officially deemed “Poguelandia,” the island’s newest residents spend their days fishing, swimming, and reveling in the carefree lifestyle of their temporary dwelling.

But things quickly go south for John B (Chase Stokes), Sarah (Madelyn Cline), Kiara (Madison Bailey), Pope (Jonathan Daviss), JJ (Rudy Pankow), and Cleo (Carlacia Grant) when they find themselves once again caught up in a race for the treasure, quite literally running for their lives. Ward (Charles Esten) and Rafe (Drew Starkey) are hungry for revenge, and there’s a ruthless Caribbean Don who will stop at nothing to find the bounty

Also Read:

‘1899’ Canceled by Netflix After One Season

“The stakes are ramping up,...

If you’re thinking about booking a trip to Poguelandia, we hear it’s lovely in February.

And — what a coincidence! — that’s when Outer Banks Season 3 will begin streaming on Netflix.

More from TVLineWednesday Dominates Nielsen Streaming Top 10 Again, Cancelled 1899 Slips Three SpotsGinny & Georgia Recap Video: What You Need to Remember Ahead of Season 21899 Cancelled at Netflix

All 10 episodes of the treasure drama’s third outing will drop on Thursday, Feb. 23, Netflix announced Tuesday.

Fans will recall that Season 2 ended with the Pogues — John B., Sarah, Kiara, Pope, JJ — and new friend Cleo washing up on an island they...

It looks like the kids of Obx made it back home — or at least off that deserted island. On Tuesday, Netflix announced that the 10-episode third season of “Outer Banks” will premiere on February 23, also unveiling multiple new photos and an official synopsis:

“After losing the gold and fleeing the Outer Banks, Season 3 finds the Pogues washed ashore on a desert island that, for a brief moment, seems like an idyllic home. Officially deemed ‘Poguelandia,’ the island’s newest residents spend their days fishing, swimming, and reveling in the carefree lifestyle of their temporary dwelling. But things quickly go south for John B, Sarah, Kiara, Pope, JJ, and Cleo when they find themselves once again caught up in a race for the treasure, quite literally running for their lives.”

As a recap, Season 2 ended with a big shocker. Not only was Ward (Charles Easten) alive after faking his death, he...

It’s pre-war Los Angeles and you’re a young and rather dashing British actor. You’re newly arrived in Hollywood and looking to make friends, and preferably ones who understand the importance of a properly made cup of tea. Look no further, then, than the Hollywood Cricket Club.

There you’ll find fellow famous Brits abroad such as David Niven, Boris Karloff and, thanks to the suspect nature of colonialism, an honorary Brit in the shape of Tasmanian-born Errol Flynn. Across the 1930s and 1940s, these stars (and more) could be counted on to drop by the club’s nets in their flawless whites. Cinema luminaries such as Cary Grant, Basil Rathbone, Ronald Colman and Leslie Howard would all also play for the team, while a young Elizabeth Taylor might be around to serve cream tea.

Like any sports team, each player brought their own distinct style to the game.

Sony Pictures has acquired film rights to Tarzan in a deal with the estate of original book author Edgar Rice Burroughs, Deadline has confirmed.

Plans are in the earliest of stages we hear, with no writer, director or producer attached to what would be a full reinvention of the popular character first created by Burroughs in 1912; the author continued to write Tarzan books into the 1940s.

Tarzan was the son of English nobility who was raised by apes in the African jungle after his parents were marooned there and died. He had no contact with Western culture until he was grown and “King of the Apes.”

Screen adaptations go back almost as far as Hollywood itself, with the first, Tarzan of the Apes, appearing in 1918. Since then, the franchise has seen long runs on the big and small screen with stars such as Olympian Jonny Weissmuller and Ron Ely, as...

As summer comes to a close, it’s been a while since we’ve heard from the Pogues and we miss the treasure hunt that extended from the Outer Banks to Nassau.

The first season of “Outer Banks” captured audiences’ attention with its Pogue v. Kook rivalry, illicit romances and bold treasure hunt. Introducing new characters in a new tropical setting, the second season expanded the mythology and history intertwined with the treasure hunt while deepening existing friendships and romances.

Here’s everything we know about “Outer Banks” Season 3:

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The 15 Best Action Movies on Netflix Right Now Has “Outer Banks” Season 3 been confirmed?

Yes, Netflix announced that “Outer Banks” would return for a third season in Dec. 2021.

When will Season 3 come out?

Sadly, the Pogues won’t be returning this summer as Netflix announced that production for season 3 had started Feb. 28, 2022.

There was just over a year...

As Disney quietly disappears huge swathes of film history into its vaults, I'm going to spend 2020 celebrating Twentieth Century Fox and the Fox Film Corporation's films, what one might call their output if only someone were putting it out.And now they've quietly disappeared William Fox's name from the company: guilty by association with Rupert Murdoch, even though he never associated with him.***"Would you recognize Milton Berle without his mother? No!" So says the man himself, Milton Berle, in Over My Dead Body (1942), a fairly shoddy reminder that Berle was, for now-inexplicable reasons, a movie star in the early forties. But while some talent from radio and vaudeville slid into cinema with the ease of the proverbial buttered eel, Berle somehow got lodged halfway down cinema's throat, for reasons which may tell us something about classical Hollywood filmmaking, and something about this particular clown.Fox tested Berle on...

CNN premiered the first episode in Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman’s six-part summer series “The Movies” Sunday night, 84 minutes devoted to the 1980s. Subsequent installments cover the 90s and post-2000 and then turn back to the 70s, 60s, and the bulk of core film history — 1930-1950 — crammed into the finale. Silent film, it seems, was not worth a mention.

First of all, this series is not targeted at erudite cinephiles who know their film history. Any self-respecting TCM watcher is too sophisticated for this breezy look at “The Movies.” Clearly the producers are trying to draw younger audiences who might be vaguely familiar with some of the movies here, from Steven Spielberg’s “E.T.” to Martin Scorsese’s “Raging Bull.” (Both directors are on hand to comment.) Snobby old Hollywood lovers sometimes forget that for today’s 18-year-old film fan devouring classic films made before they were born,...

The bombastic English title might sound like it describes some comic book sci-fi epic, but in “Shyrakshy: Guardian of the Light” our hero does not wear a cape but a weathered cap, and the light he guards is not an interstellar death ray but the flickering beam of a battered old movie projector. Prominent Kazakh writer-director Yermek Tursunov returns to the festival circuit with this Shanghai-competing delight: a film that in its way is as charmingly old-fashioned as the beloved Chaplin, Keaton and Johnny Weissmuller classics it celebrates.

Movies about the movies, and more specifically about kindly old men passing on their eccentric cinephilia to a younger generation despite the march of mass-produced progress, are not a new phenomenon. But this Kazakhstan-set itinerant “Cinema Paradiso” distinguishes itself by its earnest desire to satisfy the same naive hunger for story and spectacle that got us all addicted to the movies in the first place.

By John M. Whalen

If you’ve ever read one of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan novels, you know that there has always been a big difference between Tarzan as he is in the movies versus Tarzan in the books. For some reason Hollywood has never really been able to get the character exactly right. As much fun as the Johnny Weissmuller and Lex Barker Tarzan movies are, for example, they really didn’t get close to Burroughs’ concept of the ape man. The real Tarzan didn’t speak Pidgin English for one thing. He actually spoke fluent English and French. He was as at home in an English Tea Room as the son of a British Lord, as he was in the prehistoric land of Pal-ul-don. While the movies showed Tarzan as protector of the animals, and friends with cute chimpanzees, in the books Burroughs present a world where death usually came on four feet,...

Tarzan got a new lease on life when a film company finally went to Africa to pit the excellent ‘Lord of the Jungle’ Gordon Scott against a formidable phalanx of villains. Anthony Quayle, Sean Connery and Niall MacGinnis are perfect Dastards of the Darkest Continent. Also top-flight are the women in this jungle combat, wicked Scilla Gabel and naughty Sara Shane. Fun for adult kids of all ages!

Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1959 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 87 min. / Street Date November 13, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Gordon Scott, Anthony Quayle, Sara Shane, Niall MacGinnis, Sean Connery, Al Mulock, Scilla Gabel.

Cinematography: Edward Scaife

Film Editor: Bert Rule

Original Music: Douglas Gamley

Written by Les Crutchfield, Berne Giler, John Guillermin from the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Produced by Harvey Hayutin, Sy Weintraub

Directed by John Guillermin

Of all the big-screen Tarzans — Johnny Weissmuller, Lex Barker, Jock Mahoney,...

The actor has spent his career seeking out the weirdest roles possible. And his new portrayal of Tarzan is no exception – perhaps because Malkovich is playing Cheeta …

There’s freedom in being Julian Sands, an actor whose eclectic career has taken him from prestige romances to subversive indie movies and sinister TV shows – and to more than 50 countries. For proof, you could scan his résumé – or, if you are a thrill-seeker yourself, stake out his Los Angeles home where, over the rush of Sunset Strip traffic, you may hear Sands bellow his Tarzan call: “Aah-eeh-ah-eeh-aaaaaah-eeh-ah-eeh-aaaaah!”

“I’m not going to do it here, of course,” Sands announces in a coffee shop down the hill from his house – or, as he refers to it, his base camp. “But I tormented my wife practising, and it’s one of the things I’m most proud of in my life.” He learned the...

Pain & GainStanding at a towering 6'5" and dwarfing the proverbial brick shithouse, Dwayne Johnson seems to be the man to call in a crisis. If you need someone to save you from a cataclysmic earthquake, giant monsters, or a cursed board game, he’s the leading man of choice. The majority of his films are big-budget comedies or even bigger-budget action blockbusters; his central and ongoing role in The Fast and Furious franchise has made him as ubiquitous as he is wealthy. And if there’s any hint that audiences are still as in thrall to larger-than-life movie stars as they were a century ago, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s box-office figures seem to confirm that this is the case. What Johnson’s film work has in audience appeal it does tend to lose in subtlety; you might uncharitably call his persona slightly cartoonish. His masculinity is traditional—all chiseled...

Later this month, the mighty Kong returns to the big screen! To celebrate, we’re looking back at all the major primate appearances in film.

For as long as films were being made, humans have starred alongside primates. Unlike other animals, their human-like qualities can lend a sense of comedy or horror. Throughout the history of film, primates have been used to fulfill certain roles. In the early days, they were often a form of antagonist, carrying out dastardly deeds or causing mayhem. More common is the primate cast in a role of mischief, causing all sorts of comedic hijincks. While most primate roles were portrayed by live animals, it was not uncommon for men to dress up in ape suits for roles where the primates needed to carry out specific actions. Later, the advent of CGI has led to men mimicking primates in real time to create a motion-capture performance.

Lord Greystoke is back in Africa righting wrongs, freeing the enslaved, smiting the Belgians and rescuing his blonde damsel in distress. We've got more 3-D scenery, irate gorillas and special effects than we can shake a stick at... but do we really have Tarzan? The Legend of Tarzan 3-D Blu-ray Warner Home Video 2016 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 110 min. / Video title extension: A New Threat Awaits / Street Date October 11, 2016 / 24.99 Starring Alexander Skarsgård, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, Margot Robbie, Djimon Hounsou, Jim Broadbent, Ben Chaplin, . >Cinematography Henry Braham Film Editor Mark Day Original Music Rupert Gregson-Williams Written by Adam Cozad, Craig Brewer based on stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs Produced by David Barron, Tony Ludwig, Alan Riche, Jerry Weintraub Directed by David Yates

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Hollywood's love affair with comic book heroes and classic pulp adventure heroes is more than a little spotty. Yes, the Marvel Universe still has the...

By John Lemay

For many years Tarzan was a staple of cinema—in fact from its very onset. The first Tarzan feature, Tarzan of the Apes, came out in 1918 and was followed by close to 50 other adaptations in the last century. His star started to fade in the late 1960s and there were no Tarzan features in the 1970s save for one. The 1980s somewhat provided his last gasp on the big screen with movies like the Bo Derek vehicle Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981) and- more impressively- the well-received Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes. The 1990s saw only 1998’s Tarzan and the Lost City and the 1999 Disney animated version. In fact, for all many “youngsters” know Tarzan may as well have originated with the Disney cartoon. For the first time in many years, we finally have a new big-budget live-action iteration of one of the screen...

The casting gods are always tricky beasts and you'd be surprised by the way some actors seemingly made for certain roles were not only not the first choice, but essentially lucked out in scoring the part due to extentuating circumstances.

The casting of "True Blood" hunk Alexander Skarsgard in the title role in this month's "The Legend of Tarzan" seemed to make sense, especially considering the film is more of a sequel to the original novel than a direct adaptation.

However, at one time, the film's producer Jerry Weintraub had someone else in mind - Olympic champion Michael Phelps. In a new piece in Vanity Fair, Weintraub said he had his eye on Phelps for the part and thought the casting would be a coup for the project: "It's going to be like Johnny Weissmuller. the reporters are going to say, 'Weintraub found the new Johnny Weissmuller.'"

There was...

David Yates’ The Legend of Tarzan does an effective job bringing the iconic King of the Jungle back to the big screen in a way that stays true to the classic books. With beautiful cinematography and a surprisingly strong lead performance by Alexander Skarsgard, The Legend of Tarzan delivers an entertaining adaptation of literature’s first super hero. However, will this film resonate with modern audiences who are unfamiliar with the character?

The character of Tarzan was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs over 100 years ago (having debuted in All Stories Weekly magazine in 1912) and has been adapted over 100 times internationally, on film and TV. The majority of these projects have ranged from mediocre-to-poor, with only a few actual gems in the bunch. Only a small handful of them touched upon the spirit of the Burroughs books. It’s been a long while since there has been a live-action version of...

The Legend Of Tarzan brings back an old Hollywood hero for a summertime, popcorn-munching adventure in 19th century colonial Africa. The movie, which stars Alexander Skarsgard and a sterling supporting cast that includes Samuel L. Jackson, Christoph Waltz, Margot Robbie and Djimon Hounsou, provides a certain amount of fun and serviceable entertainment. It is likely to please Tarzan fans more than the 1984 Greystoke, as this movie has a less serious tone but a story closer to the original books than some movie Tarzans. Still, the fine cast is not quite enough to rescue the film entirely from its shortcomings, some inherent in the Tarzan story.

The character Tarzan debuted in Edgar Rice Burrough’s 1912 novel “Tarzan of the Apes,” and made to leap to films in the silent era, in a 1918 film of the same name. But many film fans know the character best from the early sound era Johnny Weissmuller movies.

Ben Mortimer Jul 5, 2016

The new big screen Tarzan on The Legend Of Tarzan, how living in Leeds turned his life around, and being Alexander Skarsgard...

Once he'd finished his military service in Sweden, Alexander Skarsgard - the new big screen Tarzan - decided to move to the north east of England. Specifically: Leeds. On the eve of The Legend Of Tarzan being released in the UK, we picked things up from there...

How was Leeds, did you like it?

I loved it.

Can you do a Leeds accent?

No, it’s not very good. We ended up there, a buddy and I. We wanted to go to England after high school, we just wanted to go to England to have some fun.

Leeds is a fun place.

The thing is, most of our friends were in London, a lot of people from Sweden in their twenties go to London and...

Certainly one of the most enduring characters in all of literature and definitely movies is Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan. In terms of cinema, beginning with Johnny Weissmuller’s immortal interpretation of the tree-swinging man brought up by apes in the jungles, there have been countless actors who have taken on the role. But as I say in my video review above, none was more iconic than former Olympic swim champ Weissmuller. Through the years, many different ripped actors…...

Alexander Skarsgard is plenty shirtless in The Legend of Tarzan but admits that fans expecting to see a traditionally loincloth-clad Lord of the Jungle - including costar Samuel L. Jackson’s daughter - may be disappointed unless they keep an extra sharp eye out. It's not for lack of his own enthusiasm: "I was trying to get a little sexy loincloth [to wear]," Skarsgard revealed during a press conference promoting the film. "I was trying to convince [director] David Yates for weeks when we were doing prep." But Yates, who directed the final four Harry Potter films, had already conceived of story centering...

Alexander Skarsgard is plenty shirtless in The Legend of Tarzan but admits that fans expecting to see a traditionally loincloth-clad Lord of the Jungle - including costar Samuel L. Jackson’s daughter - may be disappointed unless they keep an extra sharp eye out. It's not for lack of his own enthusiasm: "I was trying to get a little sexy loincloth [to wear]," Skarsgard revealed during a press conference promoting the film. "I was trying to convince [director] David Yates for weeks when we were doing prep." But Yates, who directed the final four Harry Potter films, had already conceived of story centering...

When The Legend of Tarzan stars Alexander Skarsgard and Margot Robbie swung by Saturday for a live Twitter Q&A that was broadcast on Periscope, the results were as revealing as Skarsgard's shirtless wardrobe. Not only did the costars, who put a fresh spin on the legendary Lord of Jungle and his equally capable mate Jane, demonstrate their fun-loving chemistry together, their unfiltered answers to the Twitter questions posed by People's followers revealed plenty of fun facts about the heroic duo. Here are the 10 wildest things we learned about them on the film, which hits theaters July 1: Live on...

London – We are here at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, where the Harry Potter films were shot, among other works. Working at the studio today are a number of people who participated in that legendary franchise. There is the production designer for all eight films, Stuart Craig; producer of six of them, David Barron; and the director of four (five if you include the upcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which Craig has also worked on), David Yates. On this September 2014 day, however, Yates and company aren't telling some improbable tale of a boy wizard, no, they're telling the improbable tale of a boy who was raised by animals in the jungle and, as a man, finds himself back in that very same jungle to save the woman he loves. They are at work on The Legend of Tarzan featuring Alexander Skarsgard as the legendary vine-swinger. Also appearing in the movie are Margot Robbie as Jane; Christoph Waltz as the villainous Captain Rom; Djimon Hounsou as Chief Mbonga; and Samuel L. Jackson as George Washington Williams, who is working with our hero. This film has been a long time coming. Certainly not the first on board, Skarsgard started to talk to Yates about this project about two years before I met him on set in 2014. 18 months ago he started training, as the film was originally scheduled to shoot in the summer of 2013. "It was really devastating," Skarsgard explains about the delay and the potential the movie wasn't going to ever get made. That sadness though turned back to something more positive when, after going off the grid to ski at the South Pole, Skarsgard finally made it to a place where "they actually had internet there, like really slow dial-up" and received an email from Yates saying that things were looking good for Tarzan. While that may be Skarsgard's origin story for this role, the movie itself is not an origin tale. In fact, it isn't even based on an Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan tale. David Barron informs us, "None of it comes from Burroughs." It is, Barron says, "based on the character" Burroughs created but an original tale. Legend of Tarzan features its hero (John Clayton III, as he is known in England) returning to Africa as a trade emissary, Jane getting kidnapped by Rom, and Tarzan having to save her. Skarsgard promises us flashbacks to the character as a boy, but the bulk of the story is about his adult life and return to Africa, "The emotional journey isn't, you know, the man from the jungle trying to readjustment or adapt to life… in Victorian London. It's quite the opposite. When you first meet him, he's in England… he's Lord Greystoke and he's very civilized and a British lord and then he goes back to his home—his emotional home—the Congo, and it's that kind of dichotomy between man and beast. He's not really happy in England. He's got an amazing wife; a fantastic manor… a really good life on the surface, but he's not happy. He's not really himself there." As the movie progresses, Skarsgard says, there is, "more Tarzan and less John Clayton III." Sadly for those of us on set this day, they are filming a scene relatively early on in Tarzan's return to Africa. There is a train car set up on a stage and Tarzan is having a moderate disagreement with some Belgian soldiers, a disagreement mainly expressed through some violent physical acts. We can't get a good look at what's happening inside the train car—although we do see a soldier wearing a harness get lifted out of the car after being manhandled by Tarzan—but we get to see the movie magic of the car rocking back and forth along with the lights moving so as to simulate the motion of the train. What is impressive is not the fisticuffs on this stage, but the jungle that exists on another. Well, the jungle that exists on two other stages. Rearranging the trees and paths that run through these two stages, seven total looks have been made available to Yates when filming in the trees. Speaking of this jungle, Craig tells us that what we see on the set isn't quite the way it would be in the rain forest – the trees, for example, are grouped too close together. He describes them as "a piece of architectural sculpture." Try to tell the actual mushrooms growing on the set that things aren't real though. Yes, the jungle is in England. No principal photography for the movie is taking place in Africa—six weeks of shooting will take place in Gabon, mainly the aerial unit for visual effects background plates, says Barron—due to the difficulties of shooting there and the cost. Barron explains that it's "not a nice place to work. Fun place to go to, but not a nice place to spend several months shooting." He says that with the help of visual effects, "no one will ever know this is not Africa." One of the things that will add to this verisimilitude is the number of extras who portray the tribes. The film's makeup and hair designer, Fae Hammond, describes getting 160 people ready as "like a factory" with each individual going around to various sections (hair, scars, etc.). It takes as long, Hammond says, as three hours for a team of about 40 to 50 to get the makeup done for the tribes people. Many questions posed to the cast and crew this day are about other Tarzan films as the character does have such a long big screen legacy. How big? Well, this is not Craig's first experience with the character. He was also the production designer on 1984's Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes. While the two films may not be directed related, that film, he says, is "in a way, the kind of prequel to this." As Craig explains things, the former movie takes Tarzan from his birth out of the jungle and this one is "his return to Africa" and consequently "they kind of follow on, in narrative terms." He also notes though that they didn't have the use of computers for that movie. Having people in ape suits performing stunts limited production design in a way that this film does not have to worry about. As he puts it, "it compromised the set, the jungle set." While Craig's previous experience with Tarzan might lead into this movie, he also acknowledges that the way the worlds that are being portrayed are not the same. "I think there was an attempt to be deliberately different," he says after noting the use of a different look for the paddle steamer, tree house jungle home, and ancestral home for Tarzan's family (this time it's Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire, last time it was Floors Castle). Discussing an entirely different sort of "look" for the film, namely nature of the action, is stunt coordinator Buster Reeves who can delve into everything from vine-swinging, to the tight confines of the train fight being shot today, to the "CGI padded suit" worn by some members of his team. With this last one, Reeves describes how they took the measurements of gorillas for this suit so that it could be appropriately padded. They also, "designed a set of arms to make them elongated… [since] monkeys arms are longer than the legs and we're vice-versa." He adds, "it's a real interesting process that when you put that stuff on, how much you feel your body physically change" and just how different it is from way most people would act while doing a monkey impression. How, exactly, audiences respond to the world that Yates and his team have put together remains to be seen. Barron promises that this is "just a great, big, fun action-adventure romp." That is, of course, precisely what has made Tarzan so popular in both literature and on the screen. Perhaps, if they have gotten everything just right and those who go to the theaters love it, Skarsgard will supplant Johnny Weissmuller (whom Skarsgard himself lists as his favorite) as the classic depiction of the character. The Legend of Tarzan is swinging into theaters in just a few short weeks.

On this day in history as it relates to the movies...

Dr Duran Duran and the Orgasmatron

1835 P.T. Barnum and his circus begin their first tour of the Us. Wasn't Hugh Jackman supposed to play him in an original movie musical? Is that still on or did the endless Wolverine show derail it? (sigh)

1840 Novelist Thomas Hardy is born. Movies adapted from his work include multiple versions of Jude, Tess,  and Far From the Madding Crowd

1904 Johnny Weissmuller is born. We just wrote about Tarzan and His Mate (1934) which you should definitely see

1926 Character actor Milo O'Shea, aka Dr Duran Duran who tried to kill Jane Fonda by excessive pleasure in Barbarella, is born.

1937 Sally Kellerman, the original " 'Hot Lips' O'Houlihan" is born

1944 Egot composing legend Marvin Hamlisch (of "A Chorus Line") fame is born...or as Cher calls him "Marvin Hamilsmisch". Classic songs include the Oscar winning "The Way We Were...

As we approach the release of The Legend of Tarzan (2016) we're ogling past screen incarnations of the Lord of the Apes...

After Buster Crabbe filled a loincloth beautifully and Johnny Weissmuller & Maureen O'Sullivan gave us the deservedly definitive Golden Age Tarzan and Jane, the franchise had to recast or close shop. O'Sullivan left first and by the late 40s Weissmuller was feeling too old for the role and also called it quits. The producer Sol Lesser wasn't about to let the profitable franchise go, though, and led a search for a replacement. The winner was Lex Barker, a then little known blue blood actor from New York who had been disowned by his family for choosing an acting career (!) and he took up the loincloth in 1949 for Tarzan's Magic Fountain.

I opted to watch Barker's third go at the character in Tarzan's Peril (sometimes called Tarzan and the Jungle Queen...

one of many erotic moments in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)New Miniseries! As we approach the release of The Legend of Tarzan (2016) we'll be ogling past screen incarnations of the Lord of the Apes each weekend like we're going to an old timey matinee.

We began by staring hard at Buster Crabbe's loincloth so as to avoid the acting and plotting. For chapter 2 we're moving to the main event: Johnny Weissmuller. He's the actor most often associated with the the Lord of the Apes since he played it 12 times and because he played it so well. There's a genuine guileness and in the moment feeling to his work that lets the ape man read more simple and pure than stupid, despite all the broken English. A few seasons ago on a weakly attended episode of 'Hit Me With Your Best Shot' we marvelled at how erotic the pre-code Tarzan the Ape Man...

As long as we've had big studio movies, we've had gorgeous male movie stars. Your grandmother (or great-grandmother) clutched her heart and the nearest banister when Rudolph Valentino, Errol Flynn, or Tyrone Power visited the silver screen. In fact, anybody with a working circulatory system lit up at those foxes. They are timelessly stunning. That's why it's a little disappointing to remember that male movie stars' bodies were never properly objectified in Hollywood's Golden Age. You had your brawny Johnny Weissmuller types, but they were deviations from the norm: slick, dashing, winking leading men. It wasn't until Biblical epics and gladiator pictures that we were gifted with regular doses of thigh sinew.  But now, finally, a heaven-sent Tumblr user internet is rectifying this historical slight with a tribute to one of the most under-appreciated bodies and derrieres in cinema. Behold, a Tumblr devoted to Gene Kelly's butt.  http://genekellysbutt.

There have been many, many film and TV adaptations of Tarzan since the character first debuted in 1912. Some have been good, but most have been rather weak. Few have been truly accurate to the original Edgar Rice Burroughs novels. What does next year’s The Legend of Tarzan need to do to make Tarzan entertaining, relevant and marketable in the 21st Century?

Erb (Burroughs) created Tarzan in a literary serial for All Stories Magazine in 1912, which was so popular it was rereleased as a novel in 1914, spawning a whole series of books, stretching through till 1947. Tarzan has spawned a multi media empire consisting of radio shows, stage plays, newspaper strips, comic books, video games, toys, TV shows and movies. There’s a museum devoted strictly to Tarzan in California and there’s even a town named after the character; Tarzana, CA. This week we saw the first trailer for the...

Today we get our first look at Margot Robbie as Jane and Alexander Skarsgård as Tarzan in Warner Bros. live action film The Legend of Tarzan. Harry Potter director David Yates is helming the movie, and thanks to USA Today, we also have some new details on the story. Here's their breakdown:

Legend takes a different approach to Tarzan than [Edgar Rice] Burroughs’ 1910s writings, the 1930s Johnny Weissmuller movies and other pop-culture adaptations that focused on the man being raised by simians and becoming lord of the jungle. Instead, the movie finds John Clayton III, Lord Greystoke, a decade removed from his home in the Congo and fully entrenched as a British gentleman in 1880s Victorian London, with his beloved wife Jane (Margot Robbie) by his side.He’s left his African home behind — his early days are seen in flashbacks — but is constantly reminded of his earlier exploits and gets...

There was a time when a train pulling into a station was a groundbreaking, edge-of-your-seat kind of moment in cinema. The Lumière Brothers 1896 film “Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat” created the earliest known action sequence. A few years later, after some other films like “The Great Train Robbery,” it was clear that despite these hair-raising feats, something was missing: the action star. How spoiled we’ve been with our “Mission: Impossible” films and our “Spider-Man” franchises — the Tom Cruises and Tobey Maguires (and, yes, the Andrew Garfields too) without taking the time to think of where they originated. Ethan Hunt would not be clutching onto planes and exploding fish tanks with bubblegum if it weren’t for the diseased, swashbuckling lothario Erroll Flynn or ex-Olympian Johnny Weissmuller. The action hero, though intentionally and oftentimes overtly masculine, has been affected by complicated worldviews and given us little guys a ray of hope for decades.

'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' 2015: Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer. 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' movie is a domestic box office bomb: Will it be saved by international filmgoers? Directed by Sherlock Holmes' Guy Ritchie and toplining Man of Steel star Henry Cavill and The Lone Ranger costar Armie Hammer, the Warner Bros. release The Man from U.N.C.L.E. has been a domestic box office disaster, performing about 25 percent below – already quite modest – expectations. (See also: “'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' Movie: Bigger Box Office Flop Than Expected.”) This past weekend, the $80 million-budget The Man from U.N.C.L.E. collected a meager $13.42 million from 3,638 North American theaters, averaging $3,689 per site. After five days out, the big-screen reboot of the popular 1960s television series starring Robert Vaughn and David McCallum has taken in a mere $16.77 million. For comparison's sake:...

Marc Allégret: From André Gide lover to Simone Simon mentor (photo: Marc Allégret) (See previous post: "Simone Simon Remembered: Sex Kitten and Femme Fatale.") Simone Simon became a film star following the international critical and financial success of the 1934 romantic drama Lac aux Dames, directed by her self-appointed mentor – and alleged lover – Marc Allégret.[1] The son of an evangelical missionary, Marc Allégret (born on December 22, 1900, in Basel, Switzerland) was to have become a lawyer. At age 16, his life took a different path as a result of his romantic involvement – and elopement to London – with his mentor and later "adoptive uncle" André Gide (1947 Nobel Prize winner in Literature), more than 30 years his senior and married to Madeleine Rondeaux for more than two decades. In various forms – including a threesome with painter Théo Van Rysselberghe's daughter Elisabeth – the Allégret-Gide relationship remained steady until the late '20s and their trip to...

Tarzan, the Ape Man star Denny Miller has died, aged 80.

Miller passed away in Las Vegas on Wednesday (September 10) after a long battle with Lou Gehrig's disease, his agent told The Hollywood Reporter.

He famously played the iconic jungle warrior Tarzan in a 1959 remake of Johnny Weissmuller's Tarzan, the Ape Man.

The actor later starred as Duke Shannon in the classic television series Wagon Train from 1961 to 1964.

Miller also had memorable television guest appearances in Have Gun, Will Travel, Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch.

He appeared for more than a decade in Gorton's seafood commercials as the yellow-jacketed Gorton's Fisherman as well.

Miller spent his later years in Las Vegas with his second wife Nancy.

The James Clayton column: James explores the path to Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, and where we might be heading next...

Feature

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes is a film about apes. The title isn't misleading or a metaphor or anything. This is a movie about primates and though there are human protagonists sharing screentime and functioning as significant pieces in the plot, it's very much an ape affair. Key characters - Caesar, Cornelia, Koba - are all chimpanzees.

Actually, that's not completely true. In fact it's a damn dirty ape lie for Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes is a work of great deception. This fresh bestial blockbuster employs the most state-of-art moviemaking technology to achieve its trickery, ironically bringing the primitive world to visceral life on screen by using the most advanced techniques available.

The truth about those convincing, hyper-real chimpanzees? Caesar is played by Andy Serkis,...