News

Loni Anderson, whose beloved role as Jennifer Marlowe on “Wkrp in Cincinnati” was nominated for Emmy and Golden Globe awards, has died, her publicist confirmed Sunday. She was 79.

Anderson played the “sexy-yet-smartest-person-in-the-room receptionist” on the hit TV series about a mixed-format radio station from 1978 to 1982. She died Sunday in Los Angeles following an acute prolonged illness, surrounded by family, longtime publicist Cheryl Kagan told TheWrap.

“We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our dear wife, mother and grandmother,” the family said in a statement.

Anderson starred in six TV series, seven feature films, 19 TV movies and two min-series over the years. After her diagnosis, she continued working co-starring in Lifetime’s “Ladies Of The 80’s: A Divas Christmas” with Linda Gray, Donna Mills, Morgan Fairchild and Nicollette Sheridan. The TV movie aired in late December 2023.

“Loni was a class act. Beautiful. Talented. Witty. Always a joy to be around,...

Last year, Deadline reported that Oscar-winner Jamie Lee Curtis was prepping to fill the late legend Angela Lansbury’s shoes in a new version of “Murder, She Wrote,” the beloved ’80s and ’90s series that saw mystery novelist Jessica Fletcher (Lansbury) tracking down murderers in the sleepy Maine hamlet of Cabot Cove, as well as in her globe-trotting travels (courtesy of the Universal Studios backlot).

At the “Freakier Friday” premiere, Curtis confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that the project is still on the way, in a dramatic fashion: “Oh, it’s…,” employs pregnant pause and dramatic facial expressions, “happening.”

“We’re a minute away. But, yeah, very excited, very excited. But I’m, you know, tamping down my enthusiasm until we start shooting,” she added. “I have a couple other things to hustle and then, then I’ll get to enjoy that work.”

This isn’t the first attempt at remaking the long-running series.

Tommy Dix, who starred as a young military school cadet opposite Lucille Ball in the 1943 MGM musical comedy Best Foot Forward after appearing in the Broadway original, has died. He was 101.

Dix, of Williamsburg, Virginia, died Jan. 15, his family announced. “He was, for those who knew him well, a living link with some of the great American personalities of the 20th century. He will be missed,” they said.

Dix was a popular baritone on network radio and had just made his Broadway debut in The Corn Is Green, starring Ethel Barrymore, when he was hired to play cadet Chuck Green in Best Foot Forward, directed by George Abbott and choreographed by Gene Kelly.

The Broadway musical, which bowed in October 1940 and ran for 326 performances, starred Rosemary Lane as Hollywood star Gale Joy, who accepts an out-of-the-blue invitation from Winsocki Military Academy student Bud Hooper (Gil Stratton) in Philadelphia to be...

There was a time when TV guest stars were pure magic, popping up like hidden gems in your favorite shows.

Long before social media spoiled every surprise, guest appearances felt like little events that brought something extra to our screens.

You’d be watching a familiar show, and out of nowhere, a face you knew and loved would walk on, adding an unexpected thrill to the episode.

Mark Harmon on The Love Boat (ABC/Screenshot)

These weren’t ratings gimmicks or social media stunts; they were genuine surprises that made TV feel alive and unpredictable.

For me, The Love Boat and Fantasy Island were cozy weekend rituals, especially when I watched with my grandma.

It wasn’t about knowing every guest star — it was about the fun of seeing who would pop up next, making each episode feel like a surprise package.

You’d sit down, and suddenly there was...

Comedian, fashion critic and awkward party guest Joan Rivers was famously banned from The Tonight Show because she had the temerity to… take a job? Johnny Carson was absolutely furious that Rivers accepted an offer to host a competing talk show, and Jay Leno continued to enforce the ban because, well, Jay Leno sucks, I guess.

But Leno’s competition, The Late Show with David Letterman, was totally free to host Rivers. And one memorable Rivers segment ended with Letterman removing his jacket and storming off the set. But it was all in good fun.

Back in 2014, Rivers made headlines for a tense interview with CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield. After the host pressed Rivers on issues ranging from the boundaries of humor to the ethics of fur, Rivers complained about the “negative” tone of the interview. “You are not the one to interview a person who does humor, sorry,” Rivers...

Alice Walker published her acclaimed novel “The Color Purple” in 1982. It sold five million copies; Walker became the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize and she also received the National Book Club Award. Three years later, Steven Spielberg directed the lauded film version which made stars out of Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. It earned 11 Oscar nominations. The story revolves around a young woman who suffers abuse from her father and husband for four decades until she finds her own identity. Not exactly the stuff of a Broadway musical.

But the 2005 tuner version received strong reviews, ran 910 performances and earned ten Tony nominations, winning best actress for Lachanze. The 2015 production picked up two Tonys for best revival and actress for Cynthia Erivo. The movie musical version opened strong Christmas Day with $18 million and is a strong contender in several Oscar categories especially for Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks.

Over Hollywood's history, directors have done all sorts of quirky and morally questionable things in an effort to get a certain performance out of their actors. Francis Ford Coppola screamed abuse at Winona Ryder off-camera during the making of "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and encouraged the other actors to do the same. Then there's everything that William Friedkin did to the cast of "The Exorcist," from slapping them before shouting "action!" to firing live guns to get a shocked expression. 

By comparison, "Meet Me in St. Louis" director Vincente Minnelli telling six-year-old actress Margaret O'Brien that her dog had died in order to make her cry for the 1944 musical "Meet Me in St. Louis" seems almost tame. Especially since it probably didn't actually happen (more on that in a moment). But that's the subject of a sketch on this week's episode of "Saturday Night Live," with guest host Kate McKinnon playing...

Anyone who loved Mary Tyler Moore as Laurie Petrie on “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” as the thoroughly modern career woman Mary Richards on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and as the brittle, distant Beth in her Oscar-nominated turn in 1980’s ‘Ordinary People,” will love the new Max documentary “Being Mary Tyler Moore.” Moore, who died in 2017 at the age of 80, narrates the story of her life which had incredible triumphs but also great tragedy. But one aspect of her storied career it doesn’t really delve in as her work in telefilms, miniseries and even an “PBS Hollywood Presents” that reunited her with Dick Van Dyke.

Did you know that two years before she went to Broadway winning a special Tony for her performance in “Whose Life Is It Anyway?” and did “Ordinary People,” she unveiled her dramatic chops in the 1978 CBS TV movie “First, You Cry.” Based on...

Sharon Acker, the Canadian actress who portrayed Lee Marvin’s unfaithful wife in the 1967 neo-noir classic Point Blank and the right-hand woman Della Street opposite Monte Markham on a rebooted Perry Mason in the 1970s, has died. She was 87.

Acker died March 16 in a retirement home in her native Toronto, her daughter Kim Everest, a casting director, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Star Trek fans know Acker for her January 1969 turn as Odona, a desperate woman from an overpopulated planet, on the third-season episode “The Mark of Gideon.”

She also starred on a 1976-77 CBS adaptation of Executive Suite, playing the wife of Mitchell Ryan‘s Dan Walling. (Acker and Ryan assumed the parts performed by William Holden and June Allyson in the 1954 MGM film directed by Robert Wise.)

In John Boorman’s Point Blank, Acker’s character takes up with John Vernon’s Mal Reese after he shoots Walker (Marvin...

Only once in a generation do we behold a classic such as this! The ’embiggened’ adventures of Nancy Archer lack technical sophistication, but good direction and a very direct story — female revenge writ large — grab us every time. Let the absurdities pile up, because Allison Hayes cuts a mean fifty-foot figure in that white two-piece, and saucy Yvette Vickers really warms up the clientele down at Tony’s place. It’s a terrific piece of late ’50s exploitation anti-art. The fantastic Reynold Brown poster is a key expression of the monsterrific worldview.

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1958 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 65 min. / Available at Amazon.com / General site Wac-Amazon / Street Date December 6, 2022 / 21.99

Starring: Allison Hayes, William Hudson, Yvette Vickers, Roy Gordon, George Douglas, Ken Terrell, Otto Waldis, Eileene Stevens, Michael Ross, Frank Chase, Nelson Leigh, .

Cinematography: Jacques Marquette

Film Editor: Edward Mann

Original Music: Ronald Stein...

Culver City, Calif. – Continuing the fan-favorite and award-winning series, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is proud to debut six more acclaimed and iconic films from its library on 4K Ultra HD disc for the first time ever, exclusively within the Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection Volume 3, available October 25. This must-own set includes films that have resonated and endured, with stars and stories that have reverberated through cinema history: It Happened One Night, From Here To Eternity, To Sir, With Love, The Last Picture Show, Annie and As Good As It Gets. Each film is presented in 4K resolution with Dolby Vision High Dynamic Range, and four of the films have all-new Dolby Atmos mixes.

The six films in the Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection Volume 3 are only available on 4K Ultra HD disc within this special limited edition collector’s set. Included with the collection is a gorgeous hardbound 80-page book,...

Tim Considine, one of the most popular young Disney actors of the 1950s before originating the role of the eldest brother on the 1960s sitcom My Three Sons, died Thursday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 81.

His death was announced by his son Christopher, and shared on Facebook by My Three Sons co-star Stanley Livingston, who played Chip Douglas to Considine’s Mike. “Tim and I have been friends for more than 70 years,” Livingston wrote, adding “He will be missed by all those who knew him. I love you Bro.”

Considine was already known to television audiences — particularly youngsters — by the time he was cast for the 1960 debut on ABC of My Three Sons. He had played Spin Evans on the mid-’50s Mickey Mouse Club serial “The Adventures of Spin and Marty,” and, later in the decade, Frank Hardy (to Tommy Kirk’s Joe Hardy) on the...

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.

Arlene Dahl, the glamorous 1950s actress who later became a beauty writer and cosmetics executive, died on Monday in New York. She was 96.

Her son, actor Lorenzo Lamas, posted on Facebook, saying, “She was the most positive influence on my life. I will remember her laughter, her joy, her dignity as she navigated the challenges that she faced. Never an ill word about anyone crossed her lips. Her ability to forgive left me speechless at times. She truly was a force of nature and as we got closer in my adult life, I leaned on her more and more as my life counselor and the person I knew that lived and loved to the fullest.”

Born in Minneapolis, Dahl started out as a model and worked in theater before coming to Hollywood in 1946. She was briefly under contract at Warner Bros., then signed with MGM.

Her first MGM film was “The Bride Goes Wild,...

Jane Powell, who starred as an angelically visaged young actress in a number of MGM musicals including “Royal Wedding” and “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” during the 1940s and 1950s, has died of natural causes. She was 92 years old.

The blonde, blue-eyed Powell usually played characters with a gentle mischievous streak in her musical comedies, but she would shatter the light-hearted atmosphere of her films when she sang: A surprisingly powerful coloratura would emerge from the diminutive (5-feet-1) thesp.

Her producer and mentor was MGM’s Joe Pasternak, who had earlier developed the talents of Deanna Durbin at Universal.

Auditioning for Louis B. Mayer and for David O. Selznick, she quickly drew a seven-year contract with MGM in 1943. Her first film, on loan-out, was 1944 musical “Song of the Open Road,” in which the actress played a child film star who runs away. She took her character’s name, Jane Powell,...

Jane Powell, who made her screen debut with W.C. Fields, danced with Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding, was one of seven brides for seven brothers in the classic 1954 film musical, sang “Buttons and Bows” at President Harry S. Truman’s Inaugural Ball and was a bridesmaid at the first of Elizabeth Taylor’s weddings, died of natural causes today at her home in Wilton, Connecticut. She was 92.

Susan Granger, a friend of the actress and spokesperson for her family, told Deadline that Powell died peacefully at the house she shared for many years with her husband, the actor and publicist Dick Moore, who died in 2015.

Powell, one of the last surviving stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, continued to appear on stage well into the 21st Century, making her career among her generation’s sturdiest.

Born Suzanne Lorraine Burce in Portland, Oregon, Powell was already a locally successful singer – she...

The 78th annual Golden Globes take place virtually Sunday night on NBC with Amy Poehler and Tina Fey returning as hosts. “Mank,” “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” “The Crown,” “The Flight Attendant” and “Ted Lasso” are among the top nominees in the feature film and TV categories.

Also in contention is a movie called “Music” that was shot in 2017 and marks the directorial debut of the singer Sia. While it merits a mere 11% at Rotten Tomatoes, it reaped nominations for Best Musical/Comedy and star Kate Hudson. These bids harken back to 1982 when Pia Zadora won New Star of the Year for the well-stuffed turkey “Butterfly.” She also won the Razzie Award for the film which also starred Orson Welles.

And just who was Zadora’s competition for New Star of the Year? Elizabeth McGovern and Howard Rollins Jr. for “Ragtime”; Kathleen Turner for “Body Heat” Rachel Ward for...

The Arthur Freed MGM musical unit gives this 1927 musical remake the old College Try! It’s a vehicle for the wartime sweetheart June Allyson, aided by Peter Lawford, who is quite good if not real musical material. The fun original tunes are joined by a couple of new ones, including an all-time terrific song & dance number staged by Robert Alton and performed by the incredible Joan McCracken. The new restoration does wonders with the 1947 Technicolor and the Wac adds hilarious, eye-opening musical excerpts from the crazy 1930 early talkie version with Penny Singleton. Good news indeed. With Patricia Marshall, Mel Tormé and Tommy Rall.

Good News

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1947 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 93 min. / Street Date January 26, 2021 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Joan McCracken, Patricia Marshall, Ray McDonald, Mel Tormé, Robert E. Strickland, Donald MacBride, Tom Dugan, Clinton Sundberg, Loren Tindall, Connie Gilchrist, Morris Ankrum, Tommy Rall,...

This CinemaScope musical remake of 1939’s The Women is highly watchable, especially in this flawless digital remaster. The actresses that bare their claws, compete for husbands and just plain cat-fight are a choice batch, with favorites from the ’50s the ’40s the ’30s — plus a few wildflowers that bloomed cinematically for only a few years (Dolores Gray) and one that somehow managed immortality (Joan Collins). It’s highly watchable despite, or maybe because of, its criminally outdated recipe for marital bliss. Did women really go for this fantasy — did anybody ever really live like this?

The Opposite Sex

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1956 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 116 min. / Street Date October 27, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: June Allyson, Joan Collins, Dolores Gray, Ann Sheridan, Ann Miller, Leslie Nielsen, Jeff Richards, Agnes Moorehead, Charlotte Greenwood, Joan Blondell, Sam Levene, Alice Pearce, Barbara Jo Allen, Sandy Descher, Carolyn Jones, Jerry Antes, Harry James, Art Mooney,...

The actor and raconteur on June Allyson, Alexander the Great’s horse and why he doesn’t watch Star Trek

I live with my wife in Los Angeles overlooking the San Fernando Valley. I can see the sunrise one way, sunset the other. My wife is talented in many ways, and she’s also a great and healthy cook. I’m not eating bread and I’ve lost weight.

I’m able to get out to my horses. I’m working on a discipline called reining and rehearsing for when the horse shows open up again. I’m working with my two show dogs. I’m in better shape than I’ve been in years.

Jo March promised she wanted to create something "that won't be forgotten after I'm dead," and given the many onscreen adaptations of the book in which she stars, it appears the Little Women protagonist has succeeded.

In addition to at least 12 adaptations made for television, Little Women has inspired a 1918 silent film, the 1933 adaptation starring Katharine Hepburn, the 1949 June Allyson-starring version, the 1994 Winona Ryder version, the 2018 Pure Flix edition and, now, the Greta Gerwig-directed 2019 edition starring Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Laura Dern, Meryl Streep and others.

The Hollywood Reporter review says the latest ...

For a novel written in 1868, Louisa May Alcott's Little Women has had an exceptionally good run at the Oscars. George Cukor's 1933 version starring Katharine Hepburn was nominated for best picture and director and won for adapted screenplay.

Mervyn LeRoy's 1949 adaptation starring June Allyson won for best art director/set decoration and was nominated for color cinematography. And Gillian Armstrong's 1994 version received nominations for costume design and original score and brought Winona Ryder, then 23, a best actress nom for playing Jo March, the young woman who yearns to break away from family constraints and become ...

For a novel written in 1868, Louisa May Alcott's Little Women has had an exceptionally good run at the Oscars. George Cukor's 1933 version starring Katharine Hepburn was nominated for best picture and director and won for adapted screenplay.

Mervyn LeRoy's 1949 adaptation starring June Allyson won for best art director/set decoration and was nominated for color cinematography. And Gillian Armstrong's 1994 version received nominations for costume design and original score and brought Winona Ryder, then 23, a best actress nom for playing Jo March, the young woman who yearns to break away from family constraints and become ...

We have all, by this point in history, seen multiple adaptations of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women,” but we have never seen one quite like writer-director Greta Gerwig’s moving and meaningful 2019 version.

This isn’t a radical rethinking of the “Hamlet”-staged-on-Mars school, but Gerwig makes decisions throughout that enhance the story, from juggling the timeline and giving certain characters more presence in the spotlight to the thoughtful craftsmanship employed throughout. From the uniformly excellent performances of a talented ensemble to the just-right choices in scoring, art direction, costuming and editing, this is a stunning interpretation.

I still revere the 1994 adaptation (directed by Gillian Armstrong and starring Winona Ryder as Jo), and I have great fondness for the 1933 (George Cukor-Katharine Hepburn) and 1949 (Mervyn LeRoy-June Allyson) versions as well, but Gerwig takes a gamble here that pays off brilliantly.

Watch Video: Greta Gerwig's 'Little Women:' See Saoirse Ronan,...

Frontrunners are already forming in the Oscar race Best Actress race, according to early combined predictions at Gold Derby. Now that the three major fall film festivals — Telluride, Venice and Toronto — have unspooled many of the most anticipated titles, these predictions reflect the flux now that award journalists have passed judgment on early fall contenders. Two major shifts for female leads: Both Julianne Moore (“Gloria”) and Nicole Kidman (The Goldfinch”) have dropped out from the top 10, replaced by Jennifer Lopez in “Hustlers” and Helen Mirren in “The Good Liar.” We’ve confirmed category placements with studios or campaigners, but — as awards season veterans know — such labels can change later. For example, JLo may drop to the supporting race if that improves her chance to win. For now, Gold Derby ranks her in both categories.

Below: the current top 10 Best Actress rankings on the Gold Derby site, in order, as of Sept.

Yes, Saoirse Ronan is just 25-years-old. This Irish-American lass earned her first of three Oscar nominations so far for her supporting role as a spiteful adolescent in 2007’s “Atonement.” That was followed by lead noms for her homesick Emerald Isle transplant in ’50s New York and her high-spirited high-schooler in 2017’s “Lady Bird.”

Can you call her overdue? Why not if her nominations are spread across a decade. Considering that she is playing Jo March in Greta Gerwig‘s version of Louisa May Alcott’s much-filmed “Little Women” — one of American literature’s most iconic female characters, you just know that Ronan has the right amount of spunk to bring her headstrong character to vivid life. We will have to wait until Dec. 25 to see how she stacks up with Katharine Hepburn and June Allyson, who previously played Jo on the big screen.

SEESaoirse Ronan’s 10 greatest films ranked worst...

A quintet of leading ladies listed on Gold Derby’s combined odds list of Academy Award predictions all qualify as being overdue for a Oscar statuette. Most have been nominated before while one former vampire lover has never been in the running. Here, in order of their current placement among lead actress contenders on the site, are those who might go on to give a speech at the ceremony on Feb. 9, 2020.

1. Saoirse Ronan, “Little Women”: The Irish actress follows in the bookish Civil War-era footsteps of Katharine Hepburn, June Allyson and Winona Ryder — the actresses who most notably played Jo, the headstrong and ambitious March sister — in the 1933, 1949 and 1994 big-screen adaptations of Louisa May Alcott’s novel “Little Women.” Ryder was nominated for Lead Actress and Ronan just might do the same. She has been nominated for a supporting Oscar as a spiteful teen in 2007’s “Atonement” followed by...

Frontrunners are already forming for the Oscar Best Actress race, according to early predictions at Gold Derby. While most films in contention have not yet been released, enough teaser trailers are out there, ranging from “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” and “The Irishman” to “Harriet” and “Ford v Ferrari,” to provide some sense of what at least feels like a worthy contender. We’ve confirmed category placements with studios or campaigners, but — as awards season veterans know — such labels can change later. And once the fall film fests commence, the standings will likely rapidly shift.

Here are the current top 10 lead actress picks on the Gold Derby site, in order, as of Aug. 15:

1. Saoirse Ronan — Filmmaker Greta Gerwig is one smart cookie, reuniting her “Lady Bird” leading lady Ronan as spunky March sister Jo as she pursues her literary ambitions, with the scrumptious Timothee Chalamet as Laurie, who...

Writer-director Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) has crafted a Little Women that draws on both the classic novel and the writings of Louisa May Alcott, and unfolds as the author’s alter ego, Jo March, reflects back and forth on her fictional life. In Gerwig’s take, the beloved story of the March sisters – four young women each determined to live life on her own terms — is both timeless and timely.

Portraying Jo, Meg, Amy, and Beth March, the film stars Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, with Timothée Chalamet as their neighbor Laurie, Laura Dern as Marmee, and Meryl Streep as Aunt March.

There have been other adaptations of the book. Most famously Little Women (1933) – Directed by George Cukor, stars Katharine Hepburn (Jo), Joan Bennett (Amy), Jean Parker (Beth), and Frances Dee (Meg). Little Women (1949) – Directed by Mervyn LeRoy, stars June Allyson (Jo), Elizabeth Taylor (Amy), Margaret O...

Patricia Marshall, a former actress and singer who was married to two-time Oscar-nominated screenwriter Larry Gelbart, died Tuesday at her home in Westwood, a family spokesperson said. She was 94.

A native of Minneapolis, Marshall starred in the MGM musical Good News (1947) alongside June Allyson and Peter Lawford and appeared in the original Broadway productions of The Pajama Game and Mr. Wonderful in the 1950s.

She later was one of the house singers on Steve Allen's The Tonight Show.  

She was married to Gelbart, her second husband, from 1956 until his death in September 2009 at age 81....

Patricia Marshall, a former actress and singer who was married to two-time Oscar-nominated screenwriter Larry Gelbart, died Tuesday at her home in Westwood, a family spokesperson said. She was 94.

A native of Minneapolis, Marshall starred in the MGM musical Good News (1947) alongside June Allyson and Peter Lawford and appeared in the original Broadway productions of The Pajama Game and Mr. Wonderful in the 1950s.

She later was one of the house singers on Steve Allen's The Tonight Show.  

She was married to Gelbart, her second husband, from 1956 until his death in September 2009 at age 81....

Emma Watson is taking a step back in time for her upcoming film Little Women.

The 28-year-old actress was photographed on the set of her latest film, an adaptation of the classic Louisa May Alcott novel of the same name.

Watson wore a long blue gown with a light pink cape and her hair in a low bun.

The film centers around the four March sisters who confront growing pains, financial woes, tragedies and romantic rivalries.

Here’s everything we know about the latest adaptation of the film.

It Has an A-List Cast

Watson isn’t the only big name...

The main title sequence for PBS’ “Little Women” is sublime in its simplicity. As a tune is plucked out on a banjo, soon joined by a fiddle and guitar, watercolor flower and bird sketches either bloom or fly thanks to stop-motion animation. It only lasts 30 seconds, but it’s modest, clear, heart-stirring, and utterly without guile. It’s the perfect encapsulation of why Louisa May Alcott’s 19th-century tale of the four March sisters continues to appeal to this day.

“Little Women” was part of many young girls’ childhoods, required reading from mothers who had also been inculcated in the March sisters’ lessons on how to be good and find meaning in domesticity and virtuous deeds. Incredibly moral and square by modern standards, this should feel dated but it doesn’t. The “Masterpiece” adaptation manages to do what previous versions didn’t execute nearly as well: transport the viewer back...

To prepare for her role in Little Women, Maya Hawke learned about the Jo Marches that have preceded her. The 19-year-old acknowledges that some actors avoid viewing other performers’ interpretations of famous roles, but she’s just “too curious” — so she watched the likes of Katharine Hepburn, June Allyson, and Winona Ryder take on Louisa May Alcott’s convention-defying budding author, who she now plays in a PBS limited series.

Curiosity seems to course through Hawke. She describes loving the classic novel about the evolution of four sisters as much for its empowering narrative as for its embrace of the transcendentalist movement. Before deciding to pursue acting she considered other professions that could utilize her love of poetry and language — perhaps illustrating children’s books or teaching English.

Still, it seems fated that Hawke would ended up on screen, her parents being Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman. Earlier this week,...

Turner Classic Movies continues with its Gay Hollywood presentations tonight and tomorrow morning, June 8–9. Seven movies will be shown about, featuring, directed, or produced by the following: Cole Porter, Lorenz Hart, Farley Granger, John Dall, Edmund Goulding, W. Somerset Maughan, Clifton Webb, Montgomery Clift, Raymond Burr, Charles Walters, DeWitt Bodeen, and Harriet Parsons. (One assumes that it's a mere coincidence that gay rumor subjects Cary Grant and Tyrone Power are also featured.) Night and Day (1946), which could also be considered part of TCM's homage to birthday girl Alexis Smith, who would have turned 96 today, is a Cole Porter biopic starring Cary Grant as a posh, heterosexualized version of Porter. As the warning goes, any similaries to real-life people and/or events found in Night and Day are a mere coincidence. The same goes for Words and Music (1948), a highly fictionalized version of the Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart musical partnership.

Broadway’s delightful — but wickedly accurate — satire of big business was brought to movie screens almost intact, with the story, the stars, the styles and dances kept as they were in the long-running show that won a Pulitzer Prize. This is the place to see Robert Morse and Michele Lee at their best — it’s one of the best, and least appreciated movie musicals of the 1960s.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1967 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 121 min. / Street Date March 14, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95

Starring: Robert Morse, Michele Lee, Rudy Vallee, Anthony Teague, Maureen Arthur, Sammy Smith, Robert Q. Lewis, Carol Worthington, Kathryn Reynolds, Ruth Kobart, George Fennemann, Tucker Smith, David Swift.

Cinematography: Burnett Guffey

Film Editor: Allan Jacobs, Ralph E. Winters

Original Music: Nelson Riddle

Art Direction: Robert Boyle

Visual Gags: Virgil Partch

From the play written by Frank Loesser, Abe Burrows,...

The biggest, most lavish hook-up between Hollywood and the Pentagon was this Anthony Mann-James Stewart collaboration, a morale & recruiting cheer for America's intercontinental bombing air force, the service that kept the peace by holding up our side of the balance of fear. Strategic Air Command Blu-ray Olive Films 1955 / Color / 1:66 widescreen (VistaVision) / 112 min. / Street Date October 16, 2016 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98 Starring James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Lovejoy, Barry Sullivan, Alex Nicol, Bruce Bennett, Jay C. Flippen, James Millican, James Bell, Rosemary DeCamp, Harry Morgan, William Hudson, Strother Martin, House Peters Jr. Cinematography William Daniels Film Editor Eda Warren Original Music Victor Young Written by Valentine Davies, Beirne Lay, Jr. Produced by Samuel J. Briskin Directed by Anthony Mann

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

In the 1950s America was spending its enormous military budget on a fantastic array of advanced weapons technology, the most expensive of which was...

by Nathaniel R

After looking at three popular musicals Anchors Aweigh (1945), Kiss Me Kate (1953), and Bye Bye Birdie (1963), in our mini George Sidney Centennial celebration, we're closing up with his other primary mode: the adventure flick. Curiously those films also feel like musicals even when they aren't. Case in point is The Three Musketeers (1948) and the subliminal feeling that at any moment a song and dance number might break out. That's not only because glorious Gene Kelly is the star. This feeling radiates outward from the ebullient movement of all of the swordsmen. It's also firmly embedded in the swooning romantic overtures that happen instantaneously between Gene Kelly and each of the women. Lana Turner is the devilish Lady de Winter and June Allyson is the saintly Constance and, in case you're wondering, no one will ever accuse this movie of subtlety or evolved gender politics. Still the love scenes...

A quarter-century ago, Disney gave book-lovers a leading lady they could really relate to. Belle became an immediate favorite for any girl who, like Belle, would rather have her nose stuck in a book than doing just about anything else. Beauty and the Beast is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year with a new home video release of the film. On that edition, there are over five hours of bonus materials from previous releases and a handful of new featurettes — including a couple that the folks who are bookworm Disney fans will particularly enjoy. One featurette spotlights Walt Disney’s two-month trip to Europe in 1935, where he bought 335 books; many of them are those tales as old as time: fairy tale collections that are still in Disney’s archives and that inspired later Disney films. In another featurette, called “Menken & Friends: 25 Years of Musical Inspiration,” Beauty and the Beast’s...

Is this Rod Serling's best teleplay ever? Van Heflin, Everett Sloane and Ed Begley are at the center of a business power squeeze. Is it all about staying competitive, or is it corporate murder? With terrific early performances from Elizabeth Wilson and Beatrice Straight. Patterns Blu-ray The Film Detective 1956 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 83 min. / Street Date September 27, 2016 / 14.99 Starring Van Heflin, Everett Sloane, Ed Begley, Beatrice Straight, Elizabeth Wilson, Joanna Roos, Valerie Cossart, Eleni Kiamos, Ronnie Welsh, Shirley Standlee, Andrew Duggan, Jack Livesy, John Seymour, James Kelly, John Shelly, Victor Harrison, Sally Gracie, Sally Chamberlin, Edward Binns, Lauren Bacall, Ethel Britton, Michael Dreyfuss, Elaine Kaye, Adrienne Moore. Cinematography Boris Kaufman Film Editors Dave Kummis, Carl Lerner Art Direction Richard Sylbert Assistant Director Charles Maguire Written by Rod Serling Produced by Michael Myerberg Directed by Fielder Cook

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Let me roll off the titles of some 'fifties 'organization...

Anne Marie is tracking Judy Garland's career through musical numbers...

Believe it or not, 1946 actually represented a change of pace in Judy Garland's career. Judy only had three credits to her name that year: one starring role (The Harvey Girls), one cameo delayed by reshoots (Ziegfeld Follies), and one appearance in a biopic (Till The Clouds Roll By). In fact, this change of pace was a conscious choice on the part of Mr. & Mrs. Minnelli. If Judy looks like she's glowing a bit more than usual under those arclights, that's because Judy Garland was pregnant.

 

 

The Movie: Till The Clouds Roll By (1946)

The Songwriter: Jerome Kern (music), Buddy G. DeSylva (lyrics)

The Players: Judy Garland, Robert Walker, Van Heflin, June Allyson, Lucille Bremer, directed by Richard Whorf & Vincente Minnelli 

The Story: Till The Clouds Roll By is a Jerome Kern biopic, which (in the true MGM style) fabricates...

Anne Marie is tracking Judy Garland's career through musical numbers...

Our time travelling comes to an end this week with a movie that was filmed before The Harvey Girls but, due to expensive reshoots, wasn't released until months later. Ziegfeld Follies (not to be confused with Ziegfeld Girl) is a plotless series of excuses for MGM to throw its considerable stable of talent into a series of comic and musical sketches tailor made to show off the stars - and the studio - at their finest.

 

The Movie: Ziegfeld Follies (1946)

The Songwriters: Kay Thompson (lyrics), Roger Edens (music)

The Players: Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, William Powell, Esther Williams, directed by Vincente Minnelli 

The Story: According to rumor, originally this enjoyable little slip of a number was designed for Greer Garson. However, when Garson backed out, it became a number about Garson, lampooning her accent, image, and Oscar-bait dramatic roles.

Anne Marie is tracking Judy Garland's career through musical numbers...

Throughout the 1930s, Mickey and Judy had been one of America's favorite musical duos. With Mickey in the lead and Judy providing musical support, the two young teenagers - with the help of the Freed Unit - dominated the box office, regularly grossing $1 million even during the Depression. However, by the beginning of the 1940s, both 21-year-old Judy and 23-year-old Mickey had grown past the simple comedies in which they'd made their names. While both continued to pull in the same amount at the box office, Mickey was moving into more serious roles - though he still had a few more Andy Hardy movies in his contract - and Judy was dropping her hems and trading in her hair ribbons for hats. So, at the end of 1943, Mickey and Judy starred in their last musical together.

The Movie: Girl Crazy...

That scarlet woman Ingrid is back from exile, and hypocritical Hollywood is not complaining -- Anatole Litvak and Arthur Laurents make an intriguing romantic-psychological mystery of a bogus Romanoff Duchess who surfaces in 1928 Paris to claim the crown fortune. Good roles for Yul Brynner and Helen Hayes as well. It's a strange intersection of scandal, history and swindlers that may have found the real item... and maybe not. Anastasia Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1956 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 105 min. / Ship Date March 15, 2016 / available through Twilight Time Movies / 29.95 Starring Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brynner, Helen Hayes, Akim Tamiroff, Martita Hunt, Felix Aylmer, Sacha Pitoeff, Ivan Desny, Natalie Schafer, Karel Stepanek Cinematography Jack Hildyard Art Direction Andrej Andrejew, Bill Andrews Film Editor Bert Bates Original Music Alfred Newman Written by Arthur Laurents from a play by Marcelle Maurette Produced by Buddy Adler Directed by Anatole Litvak

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The cleverly written and...

Army investigator John Haven is out to catch some crooks using stealth, his wits and a limitless supply of marvelous hardboiled dialogue. Dick Powell trades a trench coat for a cowboy hat, while luscious Jane Greer swaps a .38 snubnose for a dance hall dress. A great cast, a witty script and Burl Ives' singing voice make this a delightfully different noir-inflected oater. Station West DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1948 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 80 min. / Street Date January 12, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Dick Powell, Jane Greer, Agnes Moorehead, Burl Ives,Tom Powers, Gordon Oliver, Steve Brodie, Guinn Williams, Raymond Burr, Regis Toomey, Olin Howlin, John Kellogg, Charles Middleton, John Doucette . Cinematography Harry J. Wild Film Editor Frederic Knudtson Original Music Heinz Roemheld Written by Frank Fenton, Winston Miller Produced by Robert Sparks Directed by Sidney Lanfield

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Want to discover a 'different,' fun '40s western with clever plotting?...

Constance Cummings: Stage and film actress ca. early 1940s. Constance Cummings on stage: From Sacha Guitry to Clifford Odets (See previous post: “Constance Cummings: Flawless 'Blithe Spirit,' Supporter of Political Refugees.”) In the post-World War II years, Constance Cummings' stage reputation continued to grow on the English stage, in plays as diverse as: Stephen Powys (pseudonym for P.G. Wodehouse) and Guy Bolton's English-language adaptation of Sacha Guitry's Don't Listen, Ladies! (1948), with Cummings as one of shop clerk Denholm Elliott's mistresses (the other one was Betty Marsden). “Miss Cummings and Miss Marsden act as fetchingly as they look,” commented The Spectator. Rodney Ackland's Before the Party (1949), delivering “a superb performance of controlled hysteria” according to theater director and Michael Redgrave biographer Alan Strachan, writing for The Independent at the time of Cummings' death. Clifford Odets' Winter Journey / The Country Girl (1952), as...

Joan Collins in 'The Bitch': Sex tale based on younger sister Jackie Collins' novel. Author Jackie Collins dead at 77: Surprisingly few film and TV adaptations of her bestselling novels Jackie Collins, best known for a series of bestsellers about the dysfunctional sex lives of the rich and famous and for being the younger sister of film and TV star Joan Collins, died of breast cancer on Sept. 19, '15, in Los Angeles. The London-born (Oct. 4, 1937) Collins was 77. Collins' tawdry, female-centered novels – much like those of Danielle Steel and Judith Krantz – were/are immensely popular. According to her website, they have sold more than 500 million copies in 40 countries. And if the increasingly tabloidy BBC is to be believed (nowadays, Wikipedia has become a key source, apparently), every single one of them – 32 in all – appeared on the New York Times' bestseller list. (Collins' own site claims that a mere 30 were included.) Sex...

Billy Wilder directed Sunset Blvd. with Gloria Swanson and William Holden. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett movies Below is a list of movies on which Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder worked together as screenwriters, including efforts for which they did not receive screen credit. The Wilder-Brackett screenwriting partnership lasted from 1938 to 1949. During that time, they shared two Academy Awards for their work on The Lost Weekend (1945) and, with D.M. Marshman Jr., Sunset Blvd. (1950). More detailed information further below. Post-split years Billy Wilder would later join forces with screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond in movies such as the classic comedy Some Like It Hot (1959), the Best Picture Oscar winner The Apartment (1960), and One Two Three (1961), notable as James Cagney's last film (until a brief comeback in Milos Forman's Ragtime two decades later). Although some of these movies were quite well received, Wilder's later efforts – which also included The Seven Year Itch...

Dean Jones: Actor in Disney movies. Dean Jones dead at 84: Actor in Disney movies 'The Love Bug,' 'That Darn Cat!' Dean Jones, best known for playing befuddled heroes in 1960s Walt Disney movies such as That Darn Cat! and The Love Bug, died of complications from Parkinson's disease on Tue., Sept. 1, '15, in Los Angeles. Jones (born on Jan. 25, 1931, in Decatur, Alabama) was 84. Dean Jones movies Dean Jones began his Hollywood career in the mid-'50s, when he was featured in bit parts – at times uncredited – in a handful of films at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer In 2009 interview for Christianity Today, Jones recalled playing his first scene (in These Wilder Years) with veteran James Cagney, who told him “Walk to your mark and remember your lines” – supposedly a lesson he would take to heart. At MGM, bit player Jones would also be featured in Robert Wise's...

Joan Crawford Movie Star Joan Crawford movies on TCM: Underrated actress, top star in several of her greatest roles If there was ever a professional who was utterly, completely, wholeheartedly dedicated to her work, Joan Crawford was it. Ambitious, driven, talented, smart, obsessive, calculating, she had whatever it took – and more – to reach the top and stay there. Nearly four decades after her death, Crawford, the star to end all stars, remains one of the iconic performers of the 20th century. Deservedly so, once you choose to bypass the Mommie Dearest inanity and focus on her film work. From the get-go, she was a capable actress; look for the hard-to-find silents The Understanding Heart (1927) and The Taxi Dancer (1927), and check her out in the more easily accessible The Unknown (1927) and Our Dancing Daughters (1928). By the early '30s, Joan Crawford had become a first-rate film actress, far more naturalistic than...