News

Jimmy Hunt, the freckle-faced youngster who appeared in Pitfall, Sorry, Wrong Number, Cheaper by the Dozen, Invaders From Mars and 31 other features before he retired from acting at age 14, has died. He was 85.

Hunt suffered a heart attack six weeks ago and died Friday in a hospital in Simi Valley, his daughter-in-law Alisa Hunt told The Hollywood Reporter.

Hunt played William Gilbreth, one of the 12 offspring of an efficiency expert (Clifton Webb) and a psychologist (Myrna Loy), in Cheaper by the Dozen (1950), then returned to play another son in the family, Fred, in the sequel, Belles on the Toes (1952).

As an orphan, his character fueled the plot in The Mating of Millie (1948), a charming romantic comedy starring Evelyn Keyes and Glenn Ford, who taught him how to shoot marbles on the set. And in The Lone Hand (1953), Hunt portrayed the son of a widowed farmer (Joel McCrea) and served as...

Midnight, Spine #1266, was released in the Criterion Collection on June 17, 2025.

Part of what makes the Criterion Collection so great is its ability to introduce collectors to films that they otherwise would never have seen. Midnight is a prime example of this. Released in 1939, the romantic comedy paved the way for decades of genre tropes and cliches that would follow.

The plot

Eve Peabody (Claudette Colbert), an out-of-work showgirl, arrives in Paris with no money and no place to stay. She soon finds herself living a life of luxury after posing as a wealthy Hungarian baroness, but keeping up the masquerade proves to be difficult work, especially with nosy taxi driver Tibor (Don Ameche) and pushy nobleman Georges (John Barrymore) on her tail.

Midnight review Claudette Colbert (left) and Don Ameche (right) Claudette Colbert (right) and Don Ameche (left) Claudette Colbert as Eve Peabody John Barrymore as Georges Flammarion

Released in the late 30s,...

When Mel Brooks made movie parodies, his inspirations were obvious. For Blazing Saddles, he borrowed from old Westerns like The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. For Young Frankenstein, the original Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein were the road maps. High Anxiety found its inspiration in pretty much everything Alfred Hitchcock ever made. So when Brooks decided to appease his son Max, a Star Wars nut, with sci-fi parody Spaceballs, the logical inspiration was Star Wars, right?

Nope. While Brooks parodied Star Wars characters like Yoda with his own Yogurt, he turned to an unlikely inspiration for the film’s plot. “The plot of Spaceballs was inspired by Frank Capra’s 1934 classic It Happened One Night,” Brooks revealed in his memoir, All About Me!: My Remarkable Life in Show Business.

On the one hand, it’s hard to argue with a film that was the first to sweep all the major Oscars: Best Picture,...

The title of Mitchell Leisen’s classic 1939 screwball comedy Midnight is a clear allusion to Cinderella, foreshadowing the penniless American showgirl Eve Peabody’s (Claudette Colbert) inevitable entry into high society. It’s within the opening 10 minutes that Eve will meet her prince—or rather, two of them. First, she’s whisked away by the cabbie Tibor Czerny (Don Ameche), with whom she shares an instant attraction as he takes her to some working-class hotspots around Paris before she accidentally finds herself being escorted into a socialite’s swanky party. It’s there, during a game of bridge, that she captures the attention of the wealthy playboy Jacques Picot (Francis Lederer), much to the chagrin of his lover, Helene (Mary Astor), and to the delight of her husband, Georges Flammarion (John Barrymore), who sees Eve, the charming imposter, as the means to breaking up his wife’s affair.

As with many a screwball comedy,...

DC Studios' Superman is approaching faster than a speeding bullet, and Fandango has shared a new look at the first Dcu movie. In this officially released image, David Corenswet's Man of Tomorrow stands tall in the Fortress of Solitude.

It's a surprisingly moody shot of the hero, and we can't help but wonder whether the hero is about to confront Lex Luthor and The Engineer after they invaded his arctic hideout.

We'll see, but is it fair to say now that filmmaker James Gunn made the right decision by giving Superman his trunks? They don't look out of place, and everything about this shot screams "classic Superman."

Earlier this year, the filmmaker said, "Superman is one of the most popular characters, famous characters, in the world. And everyone has their idea of what he should be like. What his costume should look like. What his morals should be. What his power set is.

Frank Capra was a three-time Oscar winner who dominated the box office throughout the 1930s with his populist fables, nicknamed "Capra-corn." Yet how many of these titles remain classics? Let's take a look back at 12 of Capra's greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1897 in Siciliy, Italy, Capra came to the United States with his family in 1903. His work often reflected an idealized vision of the American dream, perhaps spurned by his own experiences as an immigrant. Depression-era audiences lapped up his sweetly sentimental screwball comedies, which often centered on the plight of the common man.

He earned his first Oscar nomination for directing "Lady for a Day" (1933), and his loss was infamously embarrassing: when presented Will Rogers opened the envelope, he said, "Come up and get it, Frank!" Capra bounded to the stage, only to learned that Frank Lloyd ("Cavalcade") has won instead.

No matter, because Capra came...

Cora Sue Collins, the charming child actress of the 1930s and ’40s who worked alongside such legends as Greta Garbo, Claudette Colbert, Bette Davis, Irene Dunne and Merle Oberon during her brief but sensational career, has died. She was 98.

Collins died Sunday at her home in Beverly Hills of complications from a stroke, her daughter, Susie Krieser, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Collins played younger versions of Colbert in Torch Singer (1933), Frances Dee in The Strange Case of Clara Deane (1932) and Keep ‘Em Rolling (1934), Loretta Young in Caravan (1934), Oberon in The Dark Angel (1935) and Lynn Bari in Blood and Sand (1941).

“I must have the most common face in the world,” she said in a 2019 interview. “I played either the most famous actresses of the ’30s as a child or their child. They made me up to look like everybody.”

The MGM contract player also was William Powell and Myrna Loy’s...

The Criterion Collection has unveiled their June 2025 releases, and it is an absolutely stacked one, with unnerving suspense, bureaucratic domination and whatever Sidney Lumet was going for with The Wiz.

One of the most anticipated releases in Criterion’s June slate is William Friedkin’s Sorcerer, a stellar remake of The Wages of Fear that flopped upon initial release but has since gone on to be considered one of the finest thrillers of the 1970s. Surprisingly, it is Friedkin’s first film ever in The Criterion Collection. The release, set as spine #1267, has a new 4K digital restoration, and has special features that include a feature-length documentary on Friedkin from 2018, numerous archival interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and more. Sorcerer arrives on June 24th.

Another new title coming from Criterion this June is The Wiz, an adaptation of the Broadway show which was a reimagining of The Wizard of Oz. Nominated for...

I’ve still never seen The Wages of Fear (life moves fast and there’s books to read in-between all those films) but within days of Criterion’s 4K arriving at my door comes news that its little brother is next in line. William Friedkin’s Sorcerer lands on 4K this June, a month that sees two of its biggest titles (and best-looking packages) get the much-desired upgrade: Paul Schrader’s Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters and Terry Gilliam’s Brazil should look and (in the case of Philip Glass’ score for the former) sound better than ever.

Sidney Lumet’s The Wiz and François Girard’s Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould also arrive on the format; both are complemented by a Blu-ray of Charlotte Zwerin’s Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser. Meanwhile, Mitchell Leisen’s Midnight (starring Claudette Colbert and John Barrymore) earns the honorable silver prize of a Blu-ray.

Much has been said about how Superman will tackle what it means to be a modern journalist. Lois Lane actor Rachel Brosnahan has already addressed how the intrepid Daily Planet reporter will handle fake news, but will we see her in more than just the newsroom?

Lois being an on-air reporter or even someone who uses social media to communicate with the citizens of Metropolis does make sense in today's world. However, it sounds like James Gunn is taking a classic approach to the print journalist.

"I spoke to a handful of really brilliant journalists to help me kind of get inside the mindset of folks who have both worked in a newsroom and on broadcast, which Lois obviously doesn't but...still helpful," Brosnahan confirms in the video below. "They were fantastic [and] very generous with their time."

The news that Lois won't be a broadcast journalist has been welcomed by...

Winning an Oscar is a dream for many filmmakers, actors, and writers. But most celebrated films and talented artists go their entire careers without being able to fulfill that dream. However, lucky are those who have managed to earn a place in the elite category of films that have achieved something truly extraordinary—the Big 5.

Well, this term refers to movies that win the five most prestigious Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay (either Original or Adapted). Throughout the long history of the Oscars, only three films have managed to pull off this rare feat. So today, we’re ranking these legendary movies based on their impact and lasting legacies.

3. It Happened One Night (1934) AwardWinner Best Picture It Happened One NightBest Director Frank CapraBest ActorClark Gable Best ActressClaudette ColbertBest Adapted ScreenplayRobert Riskin

Winning an Oscar is an extraordinary achievement, but winning five of...

Quick Links Joan Crawford Played a Witty Mistress in 1939’s The Women The Women Was Remade as a Musical in the 1950s The Last Adaptation of the Women Starred Meg Ryan in 2008

1939's The Women might not be a movie as well-remembered as other classic films, but it's managed to be re-introduced into the cultural zeitgeist time and time again. Its most recent iteration was produced in 2008, but it began as a stage play. Featuring an all-female cast, The Women was first presented in 1936 and was written by Clare Booth as a comedy of manners. It follows a Manhattan socialite who discovers her husband is having an affair and the way her inner circle of friends and acquaintances reacts to the situation. The original production ran for 657 performances from December 26, 1936, to July 9, 1938, before closing.

In 1937, Max Gordon and Harry M. Goetz of Max Gordon Plays and Pictures Corporation planned a...

Clark Gable was the Oscar-winning matinee idol who starred in dozens of films before his untimely death in 1960. Let’s take a look back at 12 of Gable’s greatest movies, ranked worst to best.

After appearing in bit parts in a number of films, Gable shot to stardom with his performance in “A Free Soul” (1931) as a gangster who bewitches a young woman (Norma Shearer) whose attorney father (Lionel Barrymore) helped him beat a murder rap. From there forward, the actor’s persona as a raffish leading man who’s every guy’s best friend and every gal’s dream became cemented in a number of subsequent roles.

He won an Oscar just three years later for Frank Capra‘s screwball classic “It Happened One Night” (1934), in which he played a newspaper reporter traveling with a spoiled socialite (Claudette Colbert). The film became the first to sweep the five major Oscars,...

For the first time in 47 years, all five Best Actress Oscar nominees hail from Best Picture nominees.

The Best Actress lineup was the top five in the odds: Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez), Mikey Madison (Anora), Demi Moore (The Substance), and Fernanda Torres (I’m Still Here). Four of those films were widely predicted to score Best Picture nominations except for I’m Still Here, which was in 13th place in the odds; but in the biggest surprise of the day, the Brazilian feature made the cut on Thursday. The other Best Picture nominees are The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Dune: Part Two, and Nickel Boys.

The last time the Best Actress and Best Picture lineups aligned was during the 1977-78 season when Diane Keaton (Annie Hall) won Best Actress over Jane Fonda (Julia), Marsha Mason (The Goodbye Girl), and The Turning Point stars Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine.

I consider myself something like a student, autodidact or otherwise, of cinema and––even still, must confess––had not ever grasped the concept of Argentine noir. Credit to Criterion Channel, who’ll expand my horizons with February’s program (concisely titled “Argentine Noir”) that includes one known title––Pierre Chenal’s Native Son, an Argentine film from a French director adapting an American novel about the African-American experience in Chicago––and five I look forward to discovering. Retrospective-wise, their wide-reaching Claudette Colbert program could double as a lesson in Old Hollywood, between Capra, Stahl, DeMille, Lubitsch, Sirk, and Sturges. February, of course, brings Black History Month and Valentine’s Day: the former engenders a series featuring films such as Nothing but a Man, Portrait of Jason, and Losing Ground; the latter brings “New York Love Stories,” from Carol to Crossing Delancey to, curiously, Annie Hall, which likely would not have...

Meryl Streep is the best of the best.

Her performance in Sophie’s Choice (1982) has been voted the greatest Oscar Best Actress winner ever, according to a Gold Derby ballot cast by 21 of our film experts, critics, and editors, who ranked all 97 movie champs.

Diane Keaton ranked second for Annie Hall (1977), with Jodie Foster following in third for The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Liza Minnelli for Cabaret (1972) and Vivien Leigh for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) rounded out the top five.

At the bottom of the list of the Best Actress winners is Mary Pickford for Coquette (1929). Just above that film in the rankings are Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Helen Hayes for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1932), Loretta Young for The Farmer’s Daughter (1947), and Marie Dressler for Min and Bill (1931).

Another recent Gold Derby poll of cinema experts declared The Godfather (1972) as the greatest Best Picture Oscar winner of all...

The performance by Meryl Streep in Sophie’s Choice (1982) has been voted the greatest Oscar Best Actress winner ever. The results are from a recent Gold Derby ballot cast by 21 of our film experts and editors, who ranked all 97 movie champs.

Ranking in second place is Diane Keaton for Annie Hall (1977). Following in third place is Jodie Foster for The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Rounding out the top five are Liza Minnelli for Cabaret (1972), and Vivien Leigh for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).

At the bottom of the list of the Best Actress winners is Mary Pickford for Coquette (1929). Just above that film in the rankings are Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Helen Hayes for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1932), Loretta Young for The Farmer’s Daughter (1947), and Marie Dressler for Min and Bill (1931).

Another recent poll had The Godfather (1972) declared as the greatest Best Picture Oscar winner of all time (view...

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

In 1934, the inimitable Bette Davis appeared in a film adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's "Of Human Bondage," a semi-autobiographical novel about the unfortunate loves of one Philip Carey. The 1934 film was directed by the prolific John Cromwell and starred Leslie Howard as Philip. Davis played Mildred Rogers, a tearoom waitress that Philip falls in love with, but who treats him with the utmost cruelty. It was a great role for Davis, who was only 26 at the time. 

An article in Collider points out that Davis was under contract with Warner Bros. at the time, but really, really wanted to play the part of Mildred, knowing that it was a juicy role. "Of Human Bondage" was being produced by Rko, and Davis would need WB's Jack Warner to loan her talents to Rko to work on the project. Davis...

Vivien Leigh was the two-time Oscar winner who made only a handful of films before her untimely death in 1967 at the age of 53. Yet several of those titles remain classics. Let’s take a look back at 10 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in British India, Leigh appeared in a number of roles on both the stage and screen in England, including a production of “Hamlet” opposite her husband, Laurence Olivier.

She came to international attention after landing the coveted role of Scarlet O’Hara in David O. Selznick’s massive adaptation of Margaret Mitchell‘s bestseller “Gone with the Wind” (1939). Leigh was far from the first choice to embody the headstrong Southern belle who pines after a married man (Leslie Howard) while wedding another (Clark Gable) against the backdrop of the Civil War. Yet the relatively unknown thespian beat out the likes of Bette Davis, Claudette Colbert,...

Anastasia.François Truffaut saved his most pointed barb for last. Ending a short review in 1957 with a kiss-off, the notoriously venomous critic urges: “Anatole Litvak despises you; despise him back.”1 He was writing about Anastasia (1956), “a most mediocre film which has for its theme a historical enigma, one of the stupidest and emptiest subjects in a category that never fails to fill the theaters.” Anastasia certainly filled the Jolly Cinema in Bologna this June, the opening night film in Il Cinema Ritrovato’s centerpiece retrospective on the Ukrainian filmmaker, himself something of a historical enigma.The selection made for a curious introduction to the first major showcase for a director billed in the festival’s program preview as “an unjustly overlooked master…[who] made some of the most riveting and innovative films in the history of cinema.” It’s on such approbative epistles that flights are hastily booked, festival passes acquired,...

One of cinema’s earliest pioneers, Oscar winner Cecil B. DeMille helmed 70 films throughout the silent and sound era. He made his mark in a number of genres, but was most famous for his spectacularly mounted biblical epics. Let’s take a look back at 20 of his greatest movies, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1881, DeMille made his directorial debut with “The Squaw Man” (1914), a story he remade in 1918 and 1931. He made dozens of silent films, including the ambitious biblical stories “The Ten Commandments” (1923) and “The King of Kings” (1927). He entered into the sound era with ease, earning his first Oscar nomination in Best Picture for the Claudette Colbert-headlined version of “Cleopatra” (1934).

After a series of box office smashes, he took home the Best Picture prize for his big top melodrama “The Greatest Show on Earth” (1952), which also brought him his only nomination in Best Director. Even at the time,...

Producer David O. Selznick was always looking for the next big thing. He had scored an enormous hit — it was a cultural phenom — with his 1939 Civil War drama “Gone with the Wind,’ which won eight Oscars including best picture, director, actress and supporting actress. And for those fashion-minded, “Gwtw” also caused an uptick in sales of the women’s headgear called the snood.

The following year, Selznick produced the best picture winner, Alfred Hitchcock’s romantic mystery “Rebecca.” Four years after ‘Rebecca” on July 20, 1944, Selznick released the sentimental, home-fires-burning drama “Since You Went Away,” which he hoped would the next “Gwtw” in terms of box office and Oscar love.

The world was war weary in 1944. In fact, World War II seemed never ending. The Allied troops launched its invasion of Europe on the beaches of Normandy on June 6th. But even with the success of D-day, the war wouldn’t...

“That’s not art. A striptease isn’t art. It’s too direct. It’s more direct than art.”

That line from Akira Kurosawa’s “Ikiru” sums up a lot of feelings people seem to have about nudity in film. The history of painting and sculpture is full of nude portraiture, which is regularly and comfortably classified as art. But the nude scene in movies is rarely discussed alongside a Canova marble statue or Manet’s “Olympia.” Movies blur the boundaries between “real life” and artistic indirection so thoroughly that people discuss nude scenes in movies as practically everything but art. It’s “content” that deserves an “advisory,” or something akin to “porn,” however the Supreme Court is classifying that these days.

As many have noted, the very nature of the actor’s job demands the audience look at them. So when nudity enters the (literal) picture, it complicates the relationship between viewer and viewed.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Columbia Pictures, the municipality of Cannes is presenting a free photographic exhibition titled “Lighting the Way: From the Torch Lady to Leading Ladies.” The exhibit was inaugurated Friday by Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group president Sanford Panitch, who was introduced by Cannes Deputy Mayor Thomas de Pariente on the newly refurbished Cours Félix Faure.

Also in attendance were Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire co-writer and producer Jason Reitman as well as Sony Pictures Classics chiefs Michael Barker and Tom Bernard.

Related: Sony’s Tom Rothman Fetes Columbia Pictures Centennial, Talks Quentin Tarantino, Streaming & How To Bring Young Audiences Back To Movie Theaters

Among the photos (scroll through our exclusive gallery below) are snaps highlighting legendary actresses from Hollywood’s Golden Age and beyond including Katherine Hepburn, Deborah Kerr, Claudette Colbert, Ann-Margret, Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, Julia Roberts, Michelle Yeoh and Rita Hayworth. A restored version of...

An iconic woman needs an apt setting.

So, to mark its 100th anniversary, Columbia Pictures has teamed with the Municipality of Cannes to put the studio’s instantly recognizable Torch Lady and roster of legendary actresses on full display as part of a free photographic exhibit in the historic city’s town square, just off the Croisette and with the Palais and Mediterranean Sea serving as a backdrop.

The exhibit, dubbed “Lighting the Way: From the Torch Lady to Leading Ladies,” includes outdoor installations emblazoned with Columbia’s longstanding symbol as well as more than 30 rare photographs from the studio’s archive spanning Hollywood’s Golden Age through present day, The photographs include ones of Katherine Hepburn, Deborah Kerr, Claudette Colbert, Ann-Margret, Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, Julia Roberts, Michelle Yeoh, and, naturally, “Gilda” star Rita Hayworth. A restored version of that film is screening this year as part of the festival’s Cannes Classics program.

Exclusive: To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Columbia Pictures, the municipality of Cannes will present a free photographic exhibition titled “Lighting the Way: From the Torch Lady to Leading Ladies.” The photos will be on display for the general public on Cours Félix Faure in Cannes from May 13 to June 10.

Led by Columbia Pictures’ iconic Lady with the Torch, the exhibition will consist of over 30 rare photographs from Columbia’s archive and highlighting legendary actresses from Hollywood’s Golden Age and beyond, including Katherine Hepburn, Deborah Kerr, Claudette Colbert, Ann-Margret, Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, Julia Roberts, Michelle Yeoh and Rita Hayworth. A restored version of Hayworth’s Gilda is screening as part of the Cannes Film Festival’s Cannes Classics program this year.

Said Tom Rothman, Chairman & CEO of Sony Pictures’ Motion Picture Group, “Columbia Pictures may have been founded by men, but women have always been vital to its growth and impact.

Terry Carter, who portrayed Pvt. Sugie Sugarman on The Phil Silvers Show, the sidekick of Dennis Weaver’s character on McCloud and Colonel Tigh on the original version of Battlestar Galactica, has died. He was 95.

Carter died Tuesday at his home in Manhattan, his son, Miguel Carter DeCoste, told The New York Times.

Carter appeared three times on Broadway early in his career and produced and directed a documentary on jazz legend Duke Ellington for PBS’ American Masters series in 1988.

The Brooklyn native appeared on all four seasons (1955-59) of CBS’ The Phil Silvers Show (also known as Sgt. Bilko) as Pvt. Sugarman. He then played Sgt. Joe Broadhurst alongside Weaver’s Deputy Marshal Sam McCloud on NBC’s McCloud from 1970-77 and Tigh in the 1978 Battlestar Galactica movie and 1978-79 ABC series.

An only child, John Everett DeCoste was born in Brooklyn on Dec. 16, 1928. He graduated from Stuyvesant High...

Bugs Bunny adopted carrots from iconic scene in It Happened One Night with Clark Gable in 1934. Bugs Bunny's Brooklyn accent and carefree demeanor based on Oscar-winning screwball comedy and appearance in 1938. Bugs became famous for eating carrots thanks to actor's playful on-screen antics, and iconic line "What's Up Doc?"

Few cartoon characters are as iconic as Bugs Bunny, Warner Bros.' official mascot, who has appeared in more than 160 shorts since his official debut in 1940. Best known for his carefree attitude and wise-cracking catchphrase, "Eh, What's Up Doc?", Bugs also fooled many viewers into believing that bunny rabbits eat carrots as a daily dietary staple. Despite the reality that rabbits do not often eat carrots in the wild due to their high sugar content, Bugs Bunny nibbled away on the root vegetables for decades as one of his most famous defining characteristics.

With Bugs Bunny poised to celebrate his 84th...

1934's It Happened One Night is inarguably one of Hollywood's most influential films. It is one of only three movies, and the first, to win all "Big Five" Oscars in its year of eligibility, including Best Actor for Clark Gable and Best Actress for Claudette Colbert. The romantic screwball comedy, directed by film-making legend Frank Capra, has a legacy that extends to this day. You can see its influence on When Harry Met Sally, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, and in WB's Looney Tunes cartoons. More specifically, that wascally wabbit himself, Bugs Bunny. Wait, is yours truly a doggone idgit galoot who shoulda taken that left turn at Albuquerque? Nope, it's true, and one of Bugs' most famed traits is a direct homage to Gable's character.

Since the inception of the Academy Awards, the U.S.-based organization behind them has always strived to honor worldwide film achievements. Their extensive roster of competitive acting winners alone consists of artists from 30 unique countries, three of which first gained representation during the 2020s. The last full decade’s worth of triumphant performers hail from eight countries, while 42.1% of the individual actors nominated during that time originate from outside of America.

The academy’s history of recognizing acting talent on a global scale dates all the way back to the inaugural Oscars ceremony in 1929, when Swiss-born Emil Jannings (who was of German and American parentage) won Best Actor for his work in both “The Last Command” and “The Way of All Flesh.” Over the next three years, the Best Actress prize was exclusively awarded to Canadians: Mary Pickford (“Coquette”), Norma Shearer (“The Divorcee”), and Marie Dressler (“Min and Bill...

Just 30 minutes after final voting for the Screen Actors Guild Awards wrapped up, I made a last-minute switch in my best actress prediction — from Lily Gladstone in “Killers of the Flower Moon” to Emma Stone in “Poor Things.” Let this be a lesson: Second-guessing yourself is seldom a good idea.

Lily Gladstone made history as the first Native American and Indigenous person to clinch an individual SAG Award for her portrayal of Mollie Burkhart, an Osage woman, in Martin Scorsese’s gripping crime saga. With a lead actress (drama) Golden Globe and a SAG Award now under her belt, Gladstone’s award-season momentum continues to be formidable. Historically, only seven performers have failed to win the Oscar after winning the unique combination of Globe and SAG:

1995: Lauren Bacall (“The Mirror Has Two Faces”) lost to Juliette Binoche 2001: Russell Crowe (“A Beautiful Mind”) lost to Denzel Washington (“Training Day...

Frank Capra’s 1934 charmer helped to set the foundation for the genre with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert bickering and flirting their way into film history

“I was just wondering what makes dames like you so dizzy.” So queries Peter (Clark Gable), a crafty if unemployed newspaper writer, in It Happened One Night. He’s speaking to Ellie (Claudette Colbert), the missing heiress and potential story serving as his traveling companion, and he doesn’t get a definitive answer.

For that matter, Ellie isn’t particularly dizzy on the scale of screwball dames of the 1930s. She’s a little spoiled, sure, not especially wise to the ways of waiting in line with the common folk, and by her own admittance never before alone with a man. But within those parameters, she’s relatively levelheaded and frequently resourceful – she knows her way around hitchhiking, anyway – and Peter’s question seems especially rhetorical.

“It Happened One Night,” which premiered at Radio City Music Hall on Feb. 22, 1934, helped usher in the screwball romantic comedy, changed the careers of stars Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, director Frank Capra and screenwriter Robert Riskin and transformed the Poverty Row Columbia Pictures into a major player. And let’s not forget, “It Happened One Night” also made Oscar history winning five major Oscars: picture, director, adapted screenplay and both actor and actress. It would be 41 years before “One Flew of the Cuckoo’s Nest” would accomplish the same feat at the Academy Awards.

Based on the short story “Night Bus,” the smart, endearing road movie focuses on spoiled rotten Ellie Andrews (Colbert) who has gone against her wealthy father’s (Walter Connelly) wishes by marrying the gold-digging King Westley (Jameson Thomas). Before their wedding night, her father whisked her away to his yacht in Florida. She manages to...

Clockwise from top left: Notting Hill (Universal Pictures), Love & Basketball (New Line Cinema), Amelie (20th Century Fox),Say Anything (Ugc-Fox Distribution)Graphic: The A.V. Club

Running through the airport to stop a lover’s flight. Making a big speech in front of a crowd of strangers. Picking the perfect song for a serenade.

This weekend, Amazon introduced us to the world of Expats. The series featuring Nicole Kidman is about the intersecting lives of expatriates in Hong Kong. Along with Kidman, the six-part series stars Sarayu Blue, Ji-young Yoo, Brian Tee, and Jack Huston. It’s a bold work from the acclaimed novel “The Expatriates” by Janice Y.K. Lee, one that is impressively brought to life by filmmaker Lulu Wang. Wang, who directed the fantastic The Farewell, is a perfect fit to get Expats off the page.

Jack Huston and Brian Tee are both terrific in the series. And having interviewed Mr. Huston a few times before, it was delightful to chat with him again. The two talked about taking on this series, working with Lulu Wang, and their connection with the source material. Jack also discussed trusting the filmmaker to create a compelling and emotional role.

Happily, it didn’t end with the charming Huston and Tee.

The dust still hasn’t settled on the 96th annual Academy Award nominations due to the uproar over the “Barbie” snubs for Best Actress for Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig for Best Director. They still earned Oscar nominations for the cultural phenomena that was the No. 1 film of 2023 with an international box office of $1.4 billion. Robbie and Gerwig received noms as producer for the Best Picture nominee and Gerwig also was garnered a nomination for co-writing the adapted screenplay. But the film is about female empowerment, so it’s beyond ironic it was Ken (Ryan Gosling), not Barbie, who received Oscar recognition.

Gosling wasn’t happy: “Against all odds with nothing but a couple of soulless, scantily clad, and thankfully crotchless dolls, made us laugh, they broke our hearts, they pushed the culture and made history. Their work should be recognized along with the other very deserving nominees.”

America Ferrera,...

For the second time in six years, the Best Actress category looked to be on track to feature nominees from films nominated for Best Picture. But just like six years ago, it came up short — and it once again involved Margot Robbie.

Annette Bening (“Nyad”), Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Sandra Hüller (“Anatomy of a Fall”), Carey Mulligan (“Maestro”) and Emma Stone (“Poor Things”) made the Best Actress cut on Tuesday. Every film but “Nyad” is nominated for Best Picture. Gladstone, Hüller, Mulligan and Stone were all expected to get in, but Bening was in seventh place in the odds. Now a five-time nominee, she made it in over Robbie, who was in fifth place in the odds and headlines Best Picture nominee “Barbie” (Robbie is nominated as producer).

Six years ago, it was the reverse situation with Robbie. She earned her first career Oscar nomination for her...

Annette Bening, the guest on this episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, is one of the most talented and admired actresses of her generation. Vanity Fair has called her “a leading lady from the old school,” who “epitomizes the wit and glamour of modern Hollywood.” The Los Angeles Times has said she “brings to mind such Golden Age actresses as Bette Davis, Claudette Colbert and Barbara Stanwyck — sassy, ready-for-anything heroines a half-step ahead of their man.”

Over the course of some 35 years in the business, Bening has given standout performances in films like 1990’s The Grifters, 1991’s Bugsy, 1995’s The American President, 1999’s American Beauty, 2004’s Being Julia, 2010’s The Kids Are All Right, 2016’s 20th Century Women and 2017’s Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool. Most recently, she starred in 2023’s Nyad, in which she portrays Diana Nyad, a woman who spent years of her...

Claudette Colbert was a legend of the silver screen. Named the 12th greatest star from Classic Hollywood by the AFI, Colbert began her career on the stage before transitioning to the big screen upon the arrival of talkies. She starred in a series of successful films throughout the 1930s and 1940s, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1935 for her work in the seminal romantic comedy It Happened One Night.

Indie producer Harry Cohn, brother Jack and their associate Joe Brandt created the CBC Film Sales Company in 1918. And on Jan. 10, 1924, the trio formed the Poverty Row studio, Columbia Pictures. According to Enclyclopedia.com, by the mid-20s “Cohn had gained reputation as one of the industry’s toughest businessmen.” That’s putting it mildly.

Though “B” movies and series such as The Three Stooges, “Blondie” and “The Lone Wolf” were the bread and butter of the studio, Cohn slowly attracted top talent and directors and turned such newcomers as Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, William Holden and Kim Novak into stars.

Frank Capra changed the fortunes of the studio. Signing with Columbia in 1928, he made 25 films for Columbia. His optimistic, common man movies attracted critics and audiences alike during the Depression. His 1934 screwball comedy “It Happened One Night,” penned by Robert Riskin and starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, swept the Oscars winning five.

If Hollywood truly suffers from a leadership malaise, as some charge, would the return of Monroe Stahr resuscitate the system? Filmmakers respect his judgment, stars his panache and investors his discipline, so Stahr’s return may ignite a new Irving Thalberg-like era.

Whoops — he’s not available.

The manic and manipulative hero of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Last Tycoon ruled MGM in its ‘30s heyday, but Stahr’s fictional reign was short-lived. So was Fitzgerald’s brilliant but never completed 1939 novel, which modeled Stahr after Thalberg.

Having achieved literary stardom with The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald’s decision to write a Hollywood novel, while simultaneously working as a script doctor, plunged the novelist into alcoholic paralysis. He never managed to finish his book and even his screenplays were unrealized.

The Last Tycoon briefly flickered back to life as a movie thanks to the great Elia Kazan, who cast Robert De Niro,...

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.

The current Oscar frontrunners for Best Actor and Best Actress according to the combined predictions of Gold Derby users are Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”) and Emma Stone (“Poor Things”). However, they both face serious competition from the stars of “Maestro,” Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan. If the co-stars both win, “Maestro” would be the first film since “As Good As It Gets” to win both lead acting Oscars.

SEEBradley Cooper (‘Maestro’) makes Critics Choice Awards history

“Maestro” chronicles the decades-long relationship between conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein (Cooper) and actress Felicia Montealegre (Mulligan). Their love story spans over 30 years from the time they met at a party in 1946 and continuing through their quarter-century marriage. But winning matching Oscars isn’t easy. To date only seven films have won both lead acting awards. They are:

“It Happened One Night” (1934) – Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert

“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975) – Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher...

A convincing romantic and erotic attraction, we can all agree, is one of the keys to a good rom-com. Do you believe these two people love each other? Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell definitely have that in “Anyone but You.” It begins with the simple fact that both are such splendid camera objects. She, with her goldfish eyes and pout of self-possession, looks like a more wised-up, no-nonsense Brigitte Bardot, while he, with his squinty eyes and killer grin, resembles Tom Cruise with a weird touch of the young Dustin Hoffman’s geek glamour. These two have “mega movie stars of tomorrow” written all over them, though not merely because they look so good. Both are lightning-fast actors, delivering the spiked screwball banter and — important for this movie — the toxic insults with airy aplomb.

For, of course, the history of romantic comedy is also powered by another dynamic, one nearly as important as love.

Billy Crystal credits Saturday Night Live with turning his career around. Crystal's 50-year friendship with Rob Reiner includes their unforgettable, life-altering collaboration on When Harry Met Sally. When Harry Met Sally is not only one of, if not the best rom-com ever made, but it's arguably the role Crystal is most recognized for.

It’s hard to deny that When Harry Met Sally embodies the gold standard when it comes to romantic comedies. However, the beloved rom-com absolutely owes a debt of gratitude to Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert’s Oscar-winning ways in 1934’s genre-defining motion picture, It Happened One Night. But when it comes to When Harry Met Sally star Billy Crystal, he feels indebted to both Saturday Night Live and his lifelong friendship with Rob Reiner for changing the trajectory of his career.

Crystal was supposed to be a part of the original group of performers on SNL,...

Iconic stars have become forever associated with the times in which they produced their best work, like Charlie Chaplin defining the 1920s. Actors like Humphrey Bogart and James Stewart left lasting impressions in the 1940s and 1950s, with standout films such as Casablanca and Vertigo. In recent decades, actors like Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix have made significant impacts on cinema with their transformative performances in films like The Dark Knight and Joker.

For more than 100 years of movie making, incredible actors have been leaving their mark on the world of cinema. While there are so many passionate and talented performers, there are only a select few who can claim the honor of defining an entire decade of movies. From the silent era, into the Hollywood studio system, throughout New Hollywood, and right up to modern times, one thing has been for certain, and that is that iconic stars have...

“We didn’t need dialogue. We had faces,” proclaimed former silent film queen Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) in Billy Wilder’s 1950 masterwork “Sunset Boulevard.” One of the greatest faces of the era belonged to French actor Albert Dieudonne who starred in Abel Gance’s breathtaking 1927 epic “Napoleon.” With this dark eyes, distinct nose and rock star style hair, Dieudonne channels the infamous French military leader and emperor who conquered most of Europe in the early 19th century until his disastrous 1812 invasion of Russia. Exiled to Elba in 1814, he emerged once again and suffered a massive defeat at Waterloo in 1815. He died in exile six years later at the age of 51.

Dieudonne commands the 5 ½ hour film restored by Kevin Brownlow which features the jaw-dropping triptych finale that is as exciting now as it was 96 years ago. BFI states that the film is “monumental and visionary, the story’s chapters play out...

Casablanca's legacy is significant, as it influenced the noir and political movie genres, paving the way for other renowned films. Algiers, The Conspirators, and It Happened One Night are movies similar to Casablanca that offer compelling characters and stories. Allied, set during the same time period as Casablanca, provides a love story influenced by war and is a great alternative for fans of the classic film.

People who love Casablanca have a myriad of other movie options that use the same cinematic elements, tones, and storylines. Set in the French-controlled eponymous city in the year 1941, the award-winning film Casablanca follows the expat nightclub owner Rick Blaine (Humphrey Boggart) who must decide between keeping his former lover Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) and helping her resistance-leader husband Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreig) escape so he can fight against the German Nazis. Between Casablanca's emotional ending and stellar actors, the movie is iconic.

Who can forget the delightful hitchhiking scene in It Happened One Night, or Clarence the angel earning his wings in It’s a Wonderful Life, or Mr. Smith collapsing in the midst of his epic filibuster in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington?

Those black and white moments and the films they’re a part of are deeply embedded in our collective cultural memory, all crafted by an unlikely cinematic author: Frank Capra, a diminutive immigrant from Sicily, born to uneducated parents, who appeared destined not for a life in the dream factory of Hollywood, but a faceless working stiff’s existence.

Frank Capra in 1937

Capra not only achieved great success as a director, winning three Academy Awards, but his films managed to capture a basic Americanness, bedrock qualities the mass of people wanted to believe about themselves in the 1930s and ‘40s – resilient, altruistic, and optimistic despite enormous hardships.

Frank Capra: Mr.

He is best remembered as the affable dad on the long-running television series “My Three Sons” and for his good-natured characters in a string in Disney films. But Fred MacMurray had a rich and varied career that spanned over half a century.

Frederick Martin MacMurray was born on August 30, 1908, in Kankakee, Il. His father was a concert violinist, and young Fred initially followed his father steps into the music business. He worked as a saxophonist and vocalist to pay his way through college, eventually moving to Los Angeles and joining the California Collegians vocal ensemble. This led him cross-country to Broadway, where he was discovered by a Paramount scout, who brought him back to L.A. and film stardom.

MacMurray is widely considered one of the most underrated actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood. He held his own against some of the industry’s most talented actresses, including four...