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Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.News The Scarlet Drop.John Ford’s The Scarlet Drop (1918), presumed to be lost for over 100 years, has been found in a warehouse in Santiago, Chile, that was slated to be demolished. “I think there are some films that decide to live,” says Jaime Cordova, who rescued and digitized the film, which stars Harry Carey as a defector from the Union Army who joins a gang of marauders.The Berlin government’s decision to slash its cultural funding budget by 13 percent (€130 million) has prompted widespread backlash from the city’s arts community. Roughly 450 institutions rely upon state subsidies and Berlin cultural workers predict closures and mass layoffs will be the inevitable result of this budget reduction. Sinema Transtopia...

Film historians and fans of lost movies have reason to be extra thankful this holiday season. “The Scarlet Drop,” a 1918 silent film directed by John Ford and starring Harry Carey that was previously thought to be lost to history, could soon become available to watch.

A complete print of the film has reportedly been discovered in a warehouse set for demolition in Santiago, Chile (via The National). The day before the building was destroyed, workers unearthed a collection of film prints — including the most-complete known copy of “The Scarlet Drop” — that belonged to a deceased collector.

The Civil War-set Western stars Carey as Harry “Kaintuck” Ridge, a would-be Union soldier who joins a gang of marauders after being rejected by the Army. He eventually becomes a fugitive with a price on his head and falls in love with the daughter (Betty Schade) of the family who conspired to prevent him from joining the military.

A rare silent Western film by famed director John Ford was discovered just minutes before its destruction, saving a significant piece of early Hollywood history. “The Scarlet Drop,” a 1918 film starring Harry Carey, was discovered in a Santiago warehouse and is a remarkable preservation success.

Film preservation professionals learnt about the finding from Jaime Cordova, director of the Valparaiso Recovered Film Festival. Cordova was asked to evaluate an unnamed collector’s intact film collection due for demolition.

“The film was very damaged, which indicates that it was a very popular at the time,” Cordova told me. “I think there are films that decide to live.”

Only 30 minutes of the film remained in the Getty Archives prior to this discovery. The recently discovered copy is one of Ford’s 26 Westerns with actor Harry Carey, often regarded as his most significant early collaboration.

The recovery raises an important problem in film history.

Hey, at least there's still good news to be had in the world of cinema: a John Ford film, reportedly "lost" for more than 100 years, has reportedly been discovered in a Chilean warehouse, according to the Spanish language outlet Cinetransit. Only 32 minutes of the film had been preserved within the Getty Images Archives,...

Filmed in the freezing Nevada desert under studio pressure, Ford’s 1924 epic was a huge hit. It was the springboard for the director’s astounding career of westerns, idealism and high drama

Had the Oscars been around in 1924, when director John Ford’s epic western The Iron Horse was released, the critically lauded film would have swept up the lot. Though it might be largely forgotten now, this black and white silent movie, which turns 100 on 28 August, marked the point where Jack Ford – a former fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants props guy who also acted a bit, and was first hired as a director by virtue of being available – became master film-maker John Ford, the director many still herald as the greatest of all time. When The Iron Horse was inducted into the Library of Congress film archive in 2011, the official registry citation stated that it “established Ford’s reputation as one of Hollywood...

Actor John Wayne was an inspiration for many movie stars around the world seeking to achieve his level of success. Some critics attacked his performances, claiming that he couldn’t act. Nevertheless, he continued to build the on-screen persona that Western and war genre audiences came to love. Wayne once explained that there was one actor that was an “enormous” impact on his career.

John Wayne had a signature walk and talk John Wayne | Getty Images

Wayne initially provided inspiration for filmmakers, such as John Ford and Raoul Walsh, who saw something in him. He was working in the props department at Fox before he landed his first leading role in 1930’s The Big Trail. However, Wayne didn’t develop his acting chops overnight, as he initially had difficulty finding the rhythm that became unique to him.

Red River and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance demonstrated some of the...

Every once in a while a movie studio would ruin what might have been a masterpiece — and Preston Sturges’ last-released Paramount comedy suffered exactly that. “Triumph Over Pain” was supposed to be something new, a daring blend of comedy and tragedy. Studio politics intervened and tried to turn it into a straight comedy. Disc producer Constantine Nasr oversees two extras that explain what happened in full detail; it’s a fascinating story of a brillant and successful writer-director at odds with his studio bosses. Joel McCrea, Betty Field and William Demarest star — and the show is still entertaining despite its problems.

The Great Moment

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1944 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 83 min. / Great without Glory, Immortal Secret, Morton the Magnificent, Triumph over Pain / Street Date February 1, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Joel McCrea, Betty Field, Harry Carey, William Demarest, Louis Jean Heydt, Julius Tannen, Edwin Maxwell, Porter Hall, Franklin Pangborn,...

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” ended a 26-year drought in Best Supporting Actor, producing two nominees, Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell, from the same film for the first time since “Bugsy” (1991) stars Harvey Keitel and Ben Kingsley lost to Jack Palance (“City Slickers”). By all appearances, it’s smooth sailing for Rockwell for the win, which would be the sixth time a Best Supporting Actor winner defeated a co-star in 18 dual duels.

“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (1939) stars Harry Carey and Claude Rains were the first co-stars to be nominated against each other in Best Supporting Actor, but they lost to Thomas Mitchell for “Stagecoach.” It would be another 32 years — with seven pairs of double nominees in between — before a Best Supporting Actor champ, Ben Johnson, beat a co-star, Jeff Bridges, for 1971’s “The Last Picture Show.”

Three years later, Robert De Niro prevailed over fellow “The Godfather Part II...

Frances Dee movies: From 'An American Tragedy' to 'Four Faces West' Frances Dee began her film career at the dawn of the sound era, going from extra to leading lady within a matter of months. Her rapid ascencion came about thanks to Maurice Chevalier, who got her as his romantic interested in Ludwig Berger's 1930 romantic comedy Playboy of Paris. Despite her dark(-haired) good looks and pleasant personality, Dee's Hollywood career never quite progressed to major – or even moderate – stardom. But she was to remain a busy leading lady for about 15 years. Tonight, Turner Classic Movies is showing seven Frances Dee films, ranging from heavy dramas to Westerns. Unfortunately missing is one of Dee's most curious efforts, the raunchy pre-Coder Blood Money, which possibly features her most unusual – and most effective – performance. Having said that, William A. Wellman's Love Is a Racket is a worthwhile subsitute, though the...

The already-incredible line-up for the 2016 New York Film Festival just got even more promising. Ang Lee‘s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk will hold its world premiere at the festival on October 14th, the NY Times confirmed today. The adaptation of Ben Fountain‘s Iraq War novel, with a script by Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire), follows a teenage soldier who survives a battle in Iraq and then is brought home for a victory lap before returning.

Lee has shot the film at 120 frames per second in 4K and native 3D, giving it unprecedented clarity for a feature film, which also means the screening will be held in a relatively small 300-seat theater at AMC Lincoln Square, one of the few with the technology to present it that way. While it’s expected that this Lincoln Square theater will play the film when it arrives in theaters, it may be...

John Ford puts a Technicolor sheen on Monument Valley in this second cavalry picture with John Wayne, who does some of his most professional acting work. Joanne Dru plays coy, while the real star is rodeo wizard Ben Johnson and the dazzling cinematography of Winton C. Hoch. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1949 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 103 min. / Street Date June 7, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring John Wayne, Joanne Dru, John Agar, Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr., Victor McLaglen, Mildred Natwick, George O'Brien, Chief John Big Tree. Cinematography Winton Hoch Art Direction James Basevi Film Editor Jack Murray Original Music Richard Hageman Written by Frank Nugent, Laurence Stallings from the stories War Party and The Big Hunt by James Warner Bellah Produced by Merian C. Cooper, John Ford Directed by John Ford

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Have you never seen real 3-Strip Technicolor used for terrific outdoor photography?...

I guess Howard Hughes wanted to go easy on Minnesota Nazis. William Cameron Menzies directs a Cold War thriller about an insidious germ warfare conspiracy -- it's an early paranoid suspense tale with apocalyptic consequences. But the story behind the movie's making -- and then remaking -- is even more fantastic. The Whip Hand DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1951 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 82 min. / Street Date February 16, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 18.59 Starring Elliott Reid, Raymond Burr, Carla Balenda, Edgar Barrier, Otto Waldis, Michael Steele, Lurene Tuttle, Peter Brocco, Lewis Martin, Frank Darien, Olive Carey, George Chandler, Gregory Gaye. Cinematography Nicholas Musuraca Film Editor Robert Golden Original Music Music by Paul Sawtell Written by George Bricker, Frank L. Moss, Ray Hamilton Produced by Louis J. Rachmil Directed by William Cameron Menzies

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Film writers Bill Warren and Tom Weaver have reported extensively on the unusual production story...

I live in Los Angeles, and my residency here means that a lot of great film programming-- revival screenings, advance looks at upcoming releases and vital, fascinating glimpses at unheralded, unexpected cinema from around the world—is available to me on a week-by-week basis. But I’ve never been to Cannes. Toronto, Tribeca, New York, Venice, Berlin, Sundance, SXSW, these festivals are all events that I have yet to be lucky enough to attend, and I can reasonably expect that it’s probably going to stay that way for the foreseeable future. I never attended a film festival of any kind until I made my way to the outskirts of the Mojave Desert for the Lone Pine Film Festival in 2006, which was its own kind of grand adventure, even if it wasn’t exactly one for bumping shoulders with critics, stars and fanatics on the French Riviera.

But since 2010 there...

Crime, lust and vigilante lynchings in the wide-open city on the bay, back in the gold rush days. Miriam Hopkins, Edward G. Robinson and Joel McCrea form a spirited triangle as a sharp roulette dealer strings one man along and can't prevent another from throwing away a fortune. Sam Goldwyn's impressive production shows Howard Hawks developing strong characters, in a somewhat old-fashioned story. Barbary Coast DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1935 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 90 min. / Street Date June, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Miriam Hopkins, Edward G. Robinson, Joel Mccrea, Walter Brennan, Frank Craven, Brian Donlevy, Clyde Cook, Harry Carey, Matt McHugh, Donald Meek. Cinematography Ray June Original Music Alfred Newman Written by Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur Produced by Sam Goldwyn Directed by Howard Hawks

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

A Sam Goldywyn film through and through, Howard Hawks' Barbary Coast could almost be a template for a standard 'golden age' Hollywood movie.

I’m happy to host another evening of Walt Disney entertainment on Turner Classic Movies this Thursday night beginning at 8pm Est/5pm Pst and continuing into the wee hours. As always there is a mix of vintage cartoons shorts, TV shows, and feature films with a particular emphasis on Christmas and winter settings. We begin with one of Walt Disney’s loveliest yet least-known features, So Dear to My Heart (1949), starring Bobby Driscoll, Luana Patten, Beulah Bondi, Burl Ives, and Harry Carey, Sr. It’s a charming film that evokes Walt Disney’s youth in the early 20th century as seen through rose-colored glasses. In fact, one might say...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]...

Jean Arthur films on TCM include three Frank Capra classics Five Jean Arthur films will be shown this evening, Monday, January 5, 2015, on Turner Classic Movies, including three directed by Frank Capra, the man who helped to turn Arthur into a major Hollywood star. They are the following: Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, You Can't Take It with You, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; George Stevens' The More the Merrier; and Frank Borzage's History Is Made at Night. One the most effective performers of the studio era, Jean Arthur -- whose film career began inauspiciously in 1923 -- was Columbia Pictures' biggest female star from the mid-'30s to the mid-'40s, when Rita Hayworth came to prominence and, coincidentally, Arthur's Columbia contract expired. Today, she's best known for her trio of films directed by Frank Capra, Columbia's top director of the 1930s. Jean Arthur-Frank Capra...

This year's poster for the Vienna International Film Festival is of a flame, and while around the world in other cinema-loving cities and at other cinema-loving festivals one might that that as a cue for a celluloid immolation and a move forever to digital, here in Austria cinema and film as film aren't burning up but rather are burning brightly.

The tributes and special programs in artistic director Hans Hurch's 2014 edition make this position clear: John Ford, Harun Farocki and 16mm, with new films by Tariq Teguia, Jean-Luc Godard, and Jean-Marie Straub accompanying older ones by the same directors. These aren't just retrospectives, they are revitalizing redoubts, inexhaustible fountains of flame, of sensitivity, of consciousness, and of intervention. With such a profound retrospective program, I hope you'll forgive me telling you very little of anything new at the festival; unless, that is, you like me count cinema revived as something always new.

Howard Hawks’ first western was a huge hit and marked what John Wayne had feared might turn out to be his swan song, at the age of 41. He later said John Ford “never respected me as an actor until I made 'Red River.'” During the shoot Wayne came to greatly appreciate the talents of debuting co-star Montgomery Clift after initial skepticism. Despite its popularity Clift disliked his own performance. John Ireland’s part was reduced in editing due to his interest in co-star and Hawks protege Joanne Dru, who he later married. Oddly, Hawks had sought Cary Grant (!) for the same role. Final film appearance of veteran western star Harry Carey.

By Fred Blosser

Many books have been written about Hollywood Westerns. After 45 years, the late William K. Everson’s “A Pictorial History of the Western Film” (The Citadel Press, 1969) remains one of the best: a coffee-table book with substance. Everson appropriately tips his sombrero to John Ford, John Wayne, Henry Hathaway, and Howard Hawks (with measured praise for “Red River”), and his comments on films spanning the history of the genre up to the end of the 1960s, from “The Great Train Robbery” (1903) to “The Wild Bunch” (1969), are incisive and thought-provoking. As a film scholar and preservationist, Everson was particularly knowledgeable about older and often obscure movies from the silent and early sound eras. Three of the classic titles he highlights are worthy of his approval and deserve to be better known than they are.

King Vidor’s “Billy the Kid” (1930) is slow going at times, particularly if you’re...

Red River

Written by Borden Chase and Charles Schnee

Directed by Howard Hawks

USA, 1948

Howard Hawks’ Red River is supposedly the film that convinced John Ford of John Wayne’s talent (apparently opposed to his abilities to simply perform or suggest a powerful screen presence). Ford had, of course, worked with Wayne previously, and Wayne had appeared in dozens of other films prior to this point, but when Ford saw what Wayne did in the role of the aged, bitter, driven, and obsessive Thomas Dunson, it led him to comment to his friend Hawks, “I didn’t know the big son of a bitch could act.” If it were only for Wayne’s performance, which is excellent, Red River would be a vital entry into the Western genre. But there is more, much more to this extraordinary picture. That’s why it’s not only one of the greatest Westerns ever made,...

In case the Jonah Hill "Saturday Night Live" parody, the Philip Seymour Hoffman voiced spoof, the Hal 9000 mashup, the Harry Carey version and the parody sequel "Him" didn't fill your need for humorous takes on the trailer for Spike Jonze's "Her," here's another. The good news is, it's pretty solid. In fact, Tim Heidecker himself approves, as this one puts together Joaquin Phoenix's Theodore with Dr. Steve Brule. Yeah, kinda genius. And if you already have an affinity of John C. Reilly's damaged doctor, this will definitely make you laugh. Anyway, enough rambling, watch below.

Yeah, it's long-gone from theaters and already fading in the memory a bit, but it seems folks are still having fun tinkering and satirizing the trailer for Spike Jonze's "Her." Jonah Hill put his spin on it, the voice of Philip Seymour Hoffman stepped in for Samantha, so too did Hal 9000, and there was the parody sequel "Him." And now baseball fans get their unique version. The Mlb Fan Cave has cut together their own version of the trailer, and instead of the sultry Samantha, Joaquin Phoenix's Theodore is introduced to the excitable, legendary voice of famed baseball broadcaster Harry Carey. Holy cow, indeed. It's not quite as smooth as the other mashups out there but still amusing in its own right, and proof that "Her" is still inspiring people in curious ways. If you missed the movie in theaters, not to worry as it'll hit home video soon enough,...

Gregory Peck from ‘Duel in the Sun’ to ‘How the West Was Won’: TCM schedule (Pt) on August 15 (photo: Gregory Peck in ‘Duel in the Sun’) See previous post: “Gregory Peck Movies: Memorable Miscasting Tonight on Turner Classic Movies.” 3:00 Am Days Of Glory (1944). Director: Jacques Tourneur. Cast: Gregory Peck, Lowell Gilmore, Maria Palmer. Bw-86 mins. 4:30 Am Pork Chop Hill (1959). Director: Lewis Milestone. Cast: Gregory Peck, Harry Guardino, Rip Torn. Bw-98 mins. Letterbox Format. 6:15 Am The Valley Of Decision (1945). Director: Tay Garnett. Cast: Greer Garson, Gregory Peck, Donald Crisp. Bw-119 mins. 8:15 Am Spellbound (1945). Director: Alfred Hitchcock. Cast: Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov, Leo G. Carroll, Rhonda Fleming, Bill Goodwin, Norman Lloyd, Steve Geray, John Emery, Donald Curtis, Art Baker, Wallace Ford, Regis Toomey, Paul Harvey, Jean Acker, Irving Bacon, Jacqueline deWit, Edward Fielding, Matt Moore, Addison Richards, Erskine Sanford, Constance Purdy. Bw-111 mins. 10:15 Am Designing Woman (1957). Director: Vincente Minnelli.

As Sound on Sight’s Western month reaches its conclusion, two of the hosts of your favorite Disney movie podcast, Mousterpiece Cinema, Josh Spiegel and Gabe Bucsko met in the show’s vaunted and secretive HQ to discuss and debate what many people would claim is the greatest Western of all time: the 1956 John Ford film The Searchers. One of your hosts considers that claim perfectly accurate, and the other one is Josh. Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Can this debate ever be settled? It’s up to Josh and Gabe to answer these hard questions, so read on for the answers!

Josh: I don’t remember much about my freshman year in college–thanks more to an unfailingly poor memory than to partying, I assure you–but one clear memory is that of my fall-semester film professor blowing his gasket when I told him I hated one of his favorite movies.

American character actor who appeared in seven westerns directed by John Ford, including The Searchers and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

The actor Harry Carey Jr, who has died aged 91, was the last surviving member of the director John Ford's stock company, which included John Wayne, Victor McLaglen, Ben Johnson, Anna Lee, Ward Bond, Andy Devine and Harry's own parents, Olive and Harry Carey Sr. They formed a cohesive group and contributed to the distinctive world of the Fordian western.

Carey Jr, nicknamed "Dobe" by his father because his red hair was the same colour as the adobe bricks of his ranch house, made seven westerns with Ford, typically in the role of a greenhorn soldier. The most characteristic of these was Lieutenant Ross Pennell in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), the callow rival of John Agar for the hand of Joanne Dru. After she opts for the more handsome Agar,...

Los Angeles -- Harry Carey Jr., a character actor who starred in such Westerns as "3 Godfathers" and "Wagon Master," has died. He was 91.

His daughter, Melinda Carey, said he died Thursday of natural causes surrounded by family at a hospice facility in Santa Barbara, Calif.

"He went out as gracefully as he came in," she said Friday.

Carey's career spanned more than 50 years and included such John Ford classics as "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," "The Searchers" and "The Long Gray Line." Later in life, he appeared in the movies "Gremlins" and "Back to the Future Part III."

His memoir, "Company of Heroes: My Life as an Actor in the John Ford Stock Company," was published in 1994.

While he lacked the leading-man stature of longtime friend and co-star John Wayne, Carey's boyish looks and horse-riding skills earned him roles in many of Ford's films.

He and fellow character Ben Johnson...

Harry Carey Jr., a character actor who starred in such Westerns as "3 Godfathers" and "Wagon Master," has died. He was 91.

His daughter, Melinda Carey, said he died Thursday of natural causes surrounded by family at a hospice facility in Santa Barbara, Calif.

"He went out as gracefully as he came in," she said Friday.

Carey's career spanned more than 50 years and included such John Ford classics as "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," "The Searchers" and "The Long Gray Line." Later in life, he appeared in the movies "Gremlins" and "Back to the Future Part III."

His memoir, "Company of Heroes: My Life as an Actor in the John Ford Stock Company," was published in 1994.

While he lacked the leading-man stature of longtime friend and co-star John Wayne, Carey's boyish looks and horse-riding skills earned him roles in many of Ford's films.

He and fellow character Ben Johnson...

Harry Carey Jr., who was a member of John Ford's stock company of actors and played in a number of Ford's classic Westerns, has died at the age of 91 of natural causes in Santa Barbara, Calif., the Associated Press reports.  The son of silent star Harry Carey and actress Olive Carey, he was one of moviedom's most familiar faces. In all, he performed in roughly 100 movies and on numerous TV shows. With his large frame and rough-hewn look, Carey was one of Hollywood's most familiar character actors. Carey played in many of Ford's greatest Westerns, which

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Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Aug. 21, 2012

Price: DVD $19.95, Blu-ray $29.95

Studio: Olive Films

Robert Mitchum stars in Pursued, Hollywood's first "Western Noir."

Directed by the legendary Raoul Walsh (White Heat) and written by Niven Busch (Duel in the Sun), 1947’s the drama-thriller film Pursued is considered to be Hollywood’s first “Western Noir.”

Robert Mitchum (Night of the Hunter) stars as Jeb, a man emotionally scarred by his tragic past and inner demons. Judith Anderson (Rebecca) plays Mrs. Callum, a widow who rescues Jeb when he was a child and raises him as her own with her two biological children. Making Jeb’s life even more complicated is the fact that he and his adopted sister, Thorley (Teresa Wright, Shadow of a Doubt) fall in love with each other, while his adopted brother, Adam (John Rodney) has come to hate him. A sticky and potentially dangerous situation..

Co-starring Dean Jagger, Alan Hale and Harry Carey,...

The first time I saw him, he was striding toward me out of the burning Georgia sun, as helicopters landed behind him. His face was tanned a deep brown. He was wearing a combat helmet, an ammo belt, carrying a rifle, had a canteen on his hip, stood six feet four inches. He stuck out his hand and said, "John Wayne." That was not necessary.

Wayne died on June 11, 1979. Stomach cancer. "The Big C," he called it. He had lived for quite a while on one lung, and then the Big C came back. He was near death and he knew it when he walked out on stage at the 1979 Academy Awards to present Best Picture to "The Deer Hunter," a film he wouldn't have made. He looked frail, but he planted himself there and sounded like John Wayne.

John Wayne. When I was a kid, we said it as one word: Johnwayne.

If you’ve hunted around for movie bargains, you’ve probably seen some of Mill Creek Entertainment’s 50-Movie Packs on DVD. Apart from other great releases by Mill Creek, these packs are phenomenal boons to cinephiles looking to collect older titles.

There are three new packs available, and I want to not only let you in on a discount code, but I have one of the packs available for you to win.

I know a lot of people may be quick to overlook these packs, and not every movie included stands out as a major value, but there are some great titles in each of them, and fans of the genres will be pleasantly surprised by what they get out of the deal. I have to admit that there is something about seeing a 50-movie pack, especially when it doesn’t cost a couple of hundred dollars, or more,...

Santa Monica, Calif. — A hungry Chris O'Donnell arrived straight from the set of "NCIS: Los Angeles" and polished off a piece of pizza. Joe Mantegna, Dennis Farina and Roger Ebert's wife were craving their favorite Chicago foods, too.

Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts felt right at home, with "Mr. Cub" Ernie Banks resting on a stool and Harry Carey's widow Dutchie standing at the bar.

There was a Midwest feeling in the air Monday night, even if everyone was almost 2,000 miles from the Second City. It was the 25th Windy City West bash, bringing together expatriate Chicagoans from film, television and sports for a taste of home on the West Coast.

"It's unlike any other Hollywood party. People are actually looking each other in the eye and talking," said O'Donnell, who grew up in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka. "There's nobody looking over anyone's shoulder. That's the difference.

Well, hello, 2012 — and a new issue of the multilingual film journal La Furia Umana. At its center are two substantial packages, one featuring Brazilian filmmaker Júlio Bressane (image above), the other, more or less introduced by Jonathan Rosenbaum, on Joe Dante. Interviews, essays by and about, the works. Also, from David Phelps, "Visions of the Blind. Raúl Ruiz: A Users Guide and Pedagogy." Ken Jacobs on Dziga Vertov. The Celluloid Liberation Front on "Science-Fictional Realism in the Virtual Age." Claudio Mazzatenta on Nicholas Ray's We Can't Go Home Again (1973). Steve Mayhew on John Ford and Harry Carey's Universal years (1917 - 1921). And Noel Lawrence: "The complicated friendship of Terry Southern of Jx Williams goes way back, back to the salt-and-pepper pompadour, the black briefcase, and beyond…"

Lists. "The most startling cut I saw in a movie last year occurred not in a high-tech action or horror film, but...

Allegorical War Drama Highlights TCM.s Dec. 14 Salute

to The George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is set to make movie history this December when it presents the world television premiere of Fear and Desire (1953), the rarely seen debut film by legendary director Stanley Kubrick. Premiering Wednesday, Dec. 14, at 8 p.m. (Et), the allegorical war drama from the director of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and The Shining (1980) will be the centerpiece of an extraordinary 24-hour marathon honoring the preservation efforts of the Motion Picture Department at George Eastman House. TCM host Robert Osborne will be joined by Jared Case, Head of Cataloguing and Access at George Eastman House, to present 15 cinematic rarities from one of the country.s leading moving-image archives.

TCM.s Dec. 14 salute to the Motion Picture Collection at George Eastman House will begin at 6:15 a.m. (Et) with The Blue Bird...

Chicago – Diabolical twins, obsessed journalists and jail-breaking thugs are heading their way to the Music Box Theatre. The Film Noir Foundation’s third installment of “Noir City: Chicago” features no less than sixteen restored 35mm prints of must-see cinematic rarities. Ten of these noir classics have yet to land a DVD release, thus making this festival all the more essential for local cinephiles.

The week-long festival kicks off Friday, Aug. 12, and includes criminally overlooked performances from Hollywood legends such as Humphrey Bogart, Anne Bancroft, Barbara Stanwyck, Olivia de Havilland, Ernest Borgnine, Shelley Winters and Burt Lancaster. Acclaimed noir historians Alan K. Rode (“Charles McGraw: Biography of a Film Noir Tough Guy”) and Foster Hirsch (“Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo-Noir”) will be presenting the pictures while offering their wealth of historical and filmic insight.

Among this year’s most priceless treasures is “Deadline USA,” starring Bogart as...

Ben Johnson isn't exactly what one would call a movie icon; Johnson isn't even a Western icon, despite his presence in numerous Old (and not-so-Old) West movies during his 50+-year career. Johnson's semi-obscurity today is a great reason to celebrate Turner Classic Movies' devoting one whole day to him as part of its "Summer Under the Stars" film series. [Ben Johnson Movie Schedule.] TCM will be presenting 12 Ben Johnson movies, including one premiere, the 1957 Western War Drums, directed by Viennese filmmaker Reginald Le Borg (Voodoo Island, Sins of Jezebel), and starring former Tarzan Lex Barker. The movie sounds like a hoot: Mexican gal Riva (Joan Taylor, actually from Geneva, Illinois) is wanted and desired by both a white trader (Johnson) and an Apache chief named Mangas Coloradas (Barker). Barker playing an Apache should be, ahem, interesting enough, but one named Mangas Coloradas? Here's wondering if that translates as "Colored Mangoes." Anyhow, War Drums sounds like a must-see.

At a time when movie stars were truly larger-than-life and iconic, few stood taller and were more memorable than John Wayne. The Duke more or less played himself, the tall, laconic keeper of the moral code regardless of era or genre. He’s best remembered for his work in Westerns, ultimately earning his one Oscar for True Grit, a tribute to a career spent along the dusty trails of a bygone America.

Bit by bit, Wayne’s oeuvre is being preserved on DVD and now Blu-ray, with The Comancheros being the most recent offering. In time for the perfect Father’s Day gift, the deluxe package from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment offers up one of Wayne’s last big Westerns just as interest in the genre was beginning to wane. The movie is well regarded by many Western fans and Elmer Bernstein’s score has lived on, well beyond the film itself,...

The Day Ferris Bueller Ruined My Life…Well, My Lunch Anyway

By Abe Froman

I am the Sausage King of Chicago. People have been known to brawl for my bratwurst, kick for my kielbasa and rock-n-sock for my knackwurst. And in this great city of Chicago, I am essentially the Ryne Sandberg of salami.

My reputation and fame allows me plenty of opportunities. From throwing out the first pitch at a Little League game, to hitting the “start” button on the Ferris wheel at Navy Pier, I am adored everywhere I go.

So needless to say, when arriving one afternoon at the Chez Quis restaurant, I was offended beyond belief to be told not only was my reservation already fulfilled, but that I was nothing more than an imposter who smelled like chorizo. I won’t lie; it hurt.

I had anxiously been waiting to eat at Chez Quis for...

The first time I saw him, he was striding toward me out of the burning Georgia sun, as helicopters landed behind him. His face was tanned a deep brown. He was wearing a combat helmet, an ammo belt, carrying a rifle, had a canteen on his hip, stood six feet four inches. He stuck out his hand and said, "John Wayne." That was not necessary.

John Wayne died 30 years ago on June 11. Stomach cancer. "The Big C," he called it. He had lived for quite a while on one lung, and then the Big C came back. He was near death and he knew it when he walked out on stage at the 1979 Academy Awards to present Best Picture to "The Deer Hunter," a film he wouldn't have made. He looked frail, but he planted himself there and sounded like John Wayne.

John Wayne. When I was a kid, we...

NEW YORK -- Late announcer Harry Carey might have put it this way: "Cubs win! And so does Fox." The decision to air the Chicago Cubs-Atlanta Braves game in primetime Wednesday rather than the New York Yankees contest turned out to be the right one as Fox drew a record audience for the first game of a divisional playoff with an average 10.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. The 7.5 rating/12 share tied Fox's best number for Game 1 (with 1998 and 1999) and earned the network a 15% increase from last year, when the New York Yankees-Anaheim Angeles game drew a 6.5/11. It also showed the potential ratings strength of the Cubs if they get to the World Series.

A silent cowboy film made by legendary director John Ford has been discovered in France - 70 years after it went missing. The western, Bucking Broadway, stars Ford's favorite silent film cowboy, Harry Carey, who had the lead role in 26 of the director's films. Patrick Brion, program director at the France 3 channel, who will screen the film, said the find was an exceptional event, comparable to the discovery of a lost painting by Cezanne. Bucking Broadway is dated 1917, making it one of Ford's earliest films. He made 140 films in total, including shorts, from 1917 until he retired in 1966. He died in 1973 aged 81. Only eight of his 70 silent films are known to still exist, although the discovery of Bucking Broadway has raised hopes that more are stored on the miles of shelves in film warehouses in the Parisian suburbs.

France's Centre National de la Cinematographie has unearthed and restored one of the many silent movies directed by John Ford of which no surviving copies were thought to exist. Bucking Broadway was filmed in 1917 and released in France the following year. The picture stars Harry Carey as Cheyenne Harry, a cowboy who leaves the countryside to go to New York City to rescue his true love from an undeserving suitor. The CNC's film archive department digitally restored the feature film, complete with English intertitles, with the technical help of French company Centrimages. Working from a single, badly damaged copy, the restoration removed scratches and fixed the image stability. Ford directed some 70 silent movies. Until now, copies of only eight were thought to have survived. The restored movie was scheduled to premiere Sunday at the Gramercy Theatre in New York as part of the Film Preservation Festival organized by the Museum of Modern Art. It will screen again Friday.

“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” is typically Capra, punchy, human and absorbing-a drama that combines timeliness with current topical interest and a patriotic flavor blended masterfully into the composite whole to provide one of the finest and consistently interesting dramas of the season. Picture is a cinch for top grosses in the key runs, with hold­overs the rule rather than exception. It’s meaty and attention arresting for the subsequent run houses, and a topflight attraction for general audiences.

Capra goes to Washington in unwinding the story, and in so doing provides a graphic picture of just how the national lawmakers operate. His one-man campaign against crooked politics will catch attention in the largest cities and smallest hamlets. In unfolding his narrative, Capra never attempts to expose political skullduggery on a wide scale within our governmental system. He selects one state political machine, and after displaying its power and ruthlessness,...