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Film and television director and leading light of arts journalism in the 1960s and 70s

Gavin Millar, who has died aged 84 from a brain tumour, was a leading light of television arts journalism of the 1960s and 70s before going on to direct work by Alan Bennett, Dennis Potter and Victoria Wood.

His richest film was Dreamchild (1985), written by Potter, in which the elderly Alice Liddell (Coral Browne) reflects on her youthful relationship with Charles Dodgson, Aka Lewis Carroll, who used her as the inspiration for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. As well as shaping complex performances from Browne in her final screen appearance, and Ian Holm as the squirming, tormented Dodgson, Millar negotiated tonal shifts and moral ambiguities that might have foxed a less humane or sensitive film-maker.

Hello, everyone! We have a brand new assortment of horror and sci-fi headed home this week, and there are plenty of offerings that should undoubtedly make for great additions to your Halloween season viewing plans. Universal is showing some love to a trio of classics, as it is set to release John Carpenter’s The Thing as well as Rear Window and Vertigo from Alfred Hitchcock all on 4K Ultra HD today. Kino Lorber has put together new Blu-ray presentations for both The Tomb of Ligeia and Theatre of Blood, and if you’re looking to catch up with some newer horror, both Great White and Slaxx arrive today courtesy of Rlje Films.

Other Blu-ray and DVD releases for September 7th include Lawnmower Man 2: Jobe’s War, Hellbox, Witches of Blackwood, Skinwalker, and War of the God Monsters.

Great White

A blissful tourist trip turns into a nightmare for five...

Playwright and AIDS activist Larry Kramer, who died Wednesday at age 84, got his start in the film business — including director Ken Russell’s Oscar-winning 1969 film “Women in Love,” an adaptation of the D.H. Lawrence novel that broke barriers with its depiction of frontal male nudity. In an excerpt from his 2014 book “Sexplosion,” TheWrap theater critic Robert Hofler looks back at Kramer’s work on the project.

Long before he became the world’s most famous AIDS activist, Larry Kramer made movies. Thinking back to his days as a production chief at Columbia in the 1960s, Kramer claimed, “Because of me, Columbia Pictures released ‘Darling.’ I told Columbia that this was a fantastic movie, and they took my advice and picked it up.”

He and the film’s director, John Schlesinger, were more than friends. “I met him. We went to bed a bunch of times. He was more serious than I was,...

Join Cinema St. Louis Executive Director Cliff Froehlich in their new collaboration with Shakespeare Festival St. Louis to present Shakespeare & Chill. Every Wednesday at 8pm Cliff will moderate 20-30 minute panel discussion of a Shakespeare-related movie conversations between Shakespeare aficionados and industry professionals. Stay tuned to the Cinema St. Louis Facebook page for updates on the event!

A discussion of the 1973 classic Vincent Price film Theatre Of Blood will take place between Cliff and Shakespeare and Vincent Price enthusiasts Chris Limber, Ben Ritchie, Kevin Townley, and We Are Movie Geeks own Tom Stockman Facebook on Wednesday May 13th at 8Pm. The discussion will post on the Cinema St. Louis and Shakespeare Festival St. Louis Facebook pages.

In the early 1970’s Vincent Price’s career was at a high point. The Doctor Phibes films were unexpected hits. How would he capitalize on these? In 1973 he took on a role in a...

‘Harper Days Are Here Again,’ reads the advertising tag line for this worthy follow-up to Paul Newman’s first outing as Ross Macdonald’s jaded private eye. The movie is certainly worthy, but how did the producers let the terrific song Killing Me Softly with His Song get away?

The Drowning Pool

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1976 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 108 min. / Street Date February 27, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anthony Franciosa, Murray Hamilton, Gail Strickland, Melanie Griffith, Linda Haynes, Richard Jaeckel.

Cinematography: Gordon Willis

Film Editor: John C. Howard

Production Design: Paul Sylbert

Original Music: Michael Small

Written by Tracy Keenan Wynn, Lorenzo Semple Jr., Walter Hill from the novel by Ross Macdonald

Produced by David Foster, Lawrence Turman

Directed by Stuart Rosenberg

Looking to make lightning strike twice, Paul Newman returned to his Lew Harper character in another adaptation of a Ross Macdonald tale. The star handles it very well,...

By Todd Garbarini

The Royal Theatre in Los Angeles will be presenting a 45th anniversary DVD screening of Peter Medak’s 1972 film The Ruling Class. The 154-minute film, which stars Alastair Sim, Arthur Lowe, Caroline Seymour, Coral Browne, Harry Andrews, and Peter O'Toole, will be screened on DVD on Tuesday, April 25, 2017 at 7:00 pm.

Please Note: At press time, director Peter Medak is scheduled to appear in person for a discussion about the film following the screening.

From the press release:

Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.

The Ruling Class (1972)

45th Anniversary Screening

Tuesday, April 25, at 7 Pm at the Royal Theatre

Followed by Q & A with Director Peter Medak

Presented on DVD

This biting black comedy, in the tradition of such British classics as Kind Hearts and Coronets, focuses on a fierce battle for succession within an aristocratic family. Peter O’Toole plays a...

Chris here. It's been so long since we first heard about Tilda Swinton's plans to remake Auntie Mame that we'd assumed the project had died. But, as it turns out, Annie Mumolo and Tilda Swinton are giving us a banquet because we poor suckers are starving to death.

While being interviewed by Vanity Fair, Oscar-nominated screenwriter Annie Mumolo let slip that she's working on the screenplay for Auntie Mame, with Tilda Swinton taking over Rosalind Russell's fur coat. No, it won't be a musical version, because Tilda Swinton in a musical would be too much for our tender hearts.

This would be a huge star vehicle for the actress, putting her at the forefront of a big cast rather than her usual spot on the periphery of comedic ensembles. One thing Swinton doesn't get enough credit for is her incredible chemistry with a wide range of different kinds of performers,...

This summer, Vincent Price fans who live stateside are in for a treat, because Twilight Time will release 1973’s Theatre of Blood on Blu-ray for the first time in the Us.

According to Blu-ray.com, Twilight Time has slated their Theatre of Blood Blu-ray for an August 16th release. Special features and cover art have yet to be revealed, but based on Twilight Time’s previous releases, there will likely only be 3,000 Blu-ray copies released and they are apt to sell out quickly, so be sure to keep an eye on the Screen Archives Entertainment website for pre-order availability.

Theatre of Blood held a special place in Price’s heart for giving him a chance to perform monologues from some of Shakespeare’s most epic works. Its arrival on Blu-ray in the Us has been eagerly awaited by Price’s fans for quite some time, making August 16th one of...

Born in St. Louis on May 27, 1911, iconic actor Vincent Price retained a special fondness for his place of origin, and that love was reciprocated with Vincentennial, a celebration of his 100th birthday in his hometown back in May of 2011 (for summary of all the Vincentennial activities go Here). One of the guests of honor at Vincentennial was Vincent Price’s daughter Victoria Price. Because of their close relationship and her access to his unpublished memoirs and letters, Victoria Price was able to provide a remarkably vivid account of her father’s public and private life in her essential book, Vincent Price, a Daughter’s Biography, originally published in 1999. .In 2011, her biography of her father was out of print. but now it’s been re-issued and Victoria will be in St. Louis this weekend (October 9th – 10th) for three special events. In addition to the biography, she will also be signing...

“Do you still say my Shylock was inadequate?”

Theatre Of Blood starring St. Louis native Vincent Price will be screened Saturday October 10th, as part of Movies for Foodies, a regular film series put on by the chefs at Tenacious Eats. The event will take place at St. Louis Banquet Center located at 5700 Leona. In attendance will be special guest Victoria Price, author of Vincent Price, a Daughter’s Biography.

Tenacious Eats presents five courses and five cocktails themed to the Vincent Price masterpiece Theatre Of Blood with special guest of honor Victoria Price! Recipes will be featured from Victoria’s parents’ best-selling cookbook “A Treasury of Great Recipes” which is being re-issued for its 50th Anniversary. Cookbooks will be available for purchase that evening. This event will take place at St. Louis Banquet Center located at 5700 Leona. Get ready for a creepy good time! Live music and cash bar begin at 6:30pm.

Vivien Leigh ca. late 1940s. Vivien Leigh movies: now controversial 'Gone with the Wind,' little-seen '21 Days Together' on TCM Vivien Leigh is Turner Classic Movies' star today, Aug. 18, '15, as TCM's “Summer Under the Stars” series continues. Mostly a stage actress, Leigh was seen in only 19 films – in about 15 of which as a leading lady or star – in a movie career spanning three decades. Good for the relatively few who saw her on stage; bad for all those who have access to only a few performances of one of the most remarkable acting talents of the 20th century. This evening, TCM is showing three Vivien Leigh movies: Gone with the Wind (1939), 21 Days Together (1940), and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Leigh won Best Actress Academy Awards for the first and the third title. The little-remembered film in-between is a TCM premiere. 'Gone with the Wind' Seemingly all...

'Henry V' Movie Actress Renée Asherson dead at 99: Laurence Olivier leading lady in acclaimed 1944 film (image: Renée Asherson and Laurence Olivier in 'Henry V') Renée Asherson, a British stage actress featured in London productions of A Streetcar Named Desire and Three Sisters, but best known internationally as Laurence Olivier's leading lady in the 1944 film version of Henry V, died on October 30, 2014. Asherson was 99 years old. The exact cause of death hasn't been specified. She was born Dorothy Renée Ascherson (she would drop the "c" some time after becoming an actress) on May 19, 1915, in Kensington, London, to Jewish parents: businessman Charles Ascherson and his second wife, Dorothy Wiseman -- both of whom narrowly escaped spending their honeymoon aboard the Titanic. (Ascherson cancelled the voyage after suffering an attack of appendicitis.) According to Michael Coveney's The Guardian obit for the actress, Renée Asherson was "scantly...

We’ll be celebrating the 5th year anniversary of Super-8 Movie Madness at The Way Out Club in St. Louis on Tuesday October 7th with an encore performance of our most popular show. It’s Super-8 Vincent Price Movie Madness in 3D, the show that we took on the road to promote Vincentennial back in 2011. We’ll be honoring the hometown horror hero by showing condensed (average length: 15 minutes) versions of several of Price’s greatest films on Super-8 sound film projected on a big screen. They are: Master Of The World, War-gods Of The Deep, Pit And The Pendulum, The Raven, Witchfinder General, Tim Burton’s Vincent, Two Vincent Price Trailer Reels, Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein and The Mad Magician in 3D (We’ll have plenty of 3D Glasses for everyone)

The non-Price movies we’re showing October 7th are The Three Stooges in Pardon My Backfire...

Arrow Video is thrilled to announce the UK Blu-ray and Blu-ray Steelbook release of Theatre of Blood, the seminal 1973 British horror classic starring Vincent Price, Diana Rigg, Ian Hendry, Harry Andrews, Arthur Lowe, Robert Coote and Coral Browne. This newly restored feature will make its worldwide Blu-ray debut on 5th May 2014. Featuring a bumper crop of bonus features such as a newly recorded audio commentary with The League of Gentlemen (Jeremy Dyson, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith), interviews with the likes of Victoria Price, author and film historian David Del Valle, Theatre of Blood star Madeline Smith and composer Michael J. Lewis. The release also features a reversible sleeve featuring new artwork by Sam Smith and a collectors booklet with new writing on the film by critic Cleaver Patterson and a reproduction of the original press book material, illustrated with original archive stills. Synopsis: Vincent Price gives a...

As the undisputed king of American gothic, Vincent Price holds a unique position regarding his association with British horror. From the mid sixties, nearly all his films were made in the UK, and while not as distinguished as The House of Usher (1960), Tales of Terror (1962) and The Raven (1963), they are not without interest. As an actor perfectly suited to English gothic, Price’s output includes two career-defining performances. In a nutshell, he had the best of both worlds.

Masque of the Red Death (1964)

The British phase of his career began with a bang. After directing all of Price’s Poe chillers for American International Pictures, Roger Corman wanted to give the formula a fresh approach by making his next film in England. Aip’s Samuel Z Arkoff and James H Nicholson had already produced several European films, so the next step was to establish a London base with Louis M Heyward in charge.

By Harvey Chartrand

Frank Langella played an aging writer in Starting Out in the Evening (2007). Who would have figured this for typecasting?

In his superb memoir, Dropped Names: Famous Men and Women As I Knew Them (HarperCollins), Langella reveals that he is an incomparable memoirist and storyteller, recalling his encounters with scores of luminaries from the world of entertainment in a career spanning half a century. All of these luminaries are deceased and the cast of characters is listed “by order of disappearance”. Just as well, as many of the revelations are quite shocking.

Langella must be the most sociable and congenial actor on the planet, as the busyness of his social and professional lives and the breadth and depth of his friendships, romantic liaisons and acquaintances are very impressive indeed. He met Marilyn Monroe in 1953. She stepped out of a limousine and said “hi” to the adolescent from Bayonne,...

To mark the release of Go to Blazes on DVD this Monday, 6th February, Studio Canal have given us three copies of the class movie to give away. The movie was originally released in 1962, is directed by Michael Truman and stars Maggie Smith, Dave King, Robert Morley and Daniel Massey.

For anyone who loves British comedy, Go To Blazes features an all-star cast that includes Robert Morley (The African Queen, Topkapi), Daniel Massey (In Which We Serve, The Entertainer), Dennis Price (Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Rebel) and Coral Browne (Auntie Mame, Theatre of Blood).  Go To Blazes also features classic British character actors Norman Rossington (The Wrong Box, The Charge of the Light Brigade), Finlay Currie (Around The World in Eighty Days, Ben Hur) and Miles Malleson (The Importance of Being Earnest, The Man In The White Suit). And last but not least, Go To Blazes stars Dame Maggie Smith...

Andreas here. Today marks the centenary of horror icon Vincent Price, whose prolific seven-decade career also included forays into comedy, film noir, and historical drama. Price holds a special place in many a film fan's heart, whether for his spine-chilling voice— put to excellent legendary use by Quincy Jones for Michael Jackson's Thriller— or the aristocratic aura he brought to countless cheap William Castle and Roger Corman horror movies. Price could even elevate a project as inherently undignified as Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine with his camp greatness.

He could capably play science-minded everymen, as he did in The Tingler and The Last Man on Earth (taking on the mantle later carried by Will Smith in I Am Legend), but the really fun Price parts are his hammy madmen. He sought gruesome vengeance in the 3-D House of Wax, twice in the '70s as the scarred Dr. Phibes,...

Theatre Of Blood will play at the Vincentennial Vincent Price Film Festival in a 35mm print at 2:30pm on Saturday, May 21st at the Hi-Pointe Theatre. Ticket information can be found Here

In the early 1907′s Vincent Price’s career was at a high point. The Doctor Phibes films were unexpected hits. How would he capitalize on these? In 1973 he took on a role in a film with a similar plot structure. In fact, many fright film fans consider Theatre Of Blood an unofficial finale in a Phibes trilogy. Produced by United Artists rather then American International Blood differed from the Phibes film in that it was set in modern times and boasted one of the most prestigious casts that Price ever worked with. Price portrays Edward Lionheart , a stage actor thought to be dead , who returns to murder the critics that denied him a thespian award. Many of...

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman

Born in St. Louis on May 27, 1911, iconic actor Vincent Price retained a special fondness for his place of origin, and that love is now reciprocated with Vincentennial, a celebration of his 100th birthday in his hometown. Price was not only a notable St. Louisan but one of the 20th century.s most remarkable men. To do full justice to the range of his accomplishments, Vincentennial features not only a 10-day film festival but also a pair of exhibits, a stage production, two publications, and illuminating discussions by Price experts and film historians. We decided to do a special edition of Top Ten Tuesday here at We Are Movie Geeks in honor of the many great films that Vincent Price starred in, and after we had assembled the list we realized that all ten of these films will be showing at the...

Even if American television is going through a sort of renaissance at the moment, it still doesn’t operate with the sort of free form experimentation that’s allowed in other countries where programming is at least state-sponsored, which at least partially frees creative forces from having to make as many decisions based on the demands of reusable sets, actor contracts, and advertiser demands. This is especially true in Britain, where the active theater scene has taken at least partial root at the BBC, allowing playwrights to experiment with storylines that aren’t necessarily intended to go on to longer series. One of the more prolific and distinguished of these playwrights was Alan Bennett, the most notable of whose work is collected here in this set. Though the set is certain to intrigue those unfamiliar with the format, it is perhaps as unlikely to win over new fans to whom...

Though York couldn't maintain the Christie-like success of her 60s peak, her unusual choices made for an interesting career

There was a rage for Susannah York in the 60s like there was for Julie Christie and Vanessa Redgrave, so it seemed odd when it ended in the mid-70s. All of a sudden, the rush of good parts stopped. This seemed odd, after her Oscar nomination as best supporting actress in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969). But then, why did she let herself take such roles as that of the superfluous wife in The Battle of Britain in the same year?

In her early career, York had seemed a conventional English beauty: as Alec Guinness's daughter in 1960's Tunes of Glory (her actual debut) and a touching lead performance the following year in Lewis Gilbert's The Greengage Summer as a young woman in France coming to sexual maturity.

Star of Tom Jones and They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, she defied typecasting

Susannah York, who has died aged 72, was a vibrant, energetic personality with a devouring passion for work, strong political opinions and great loyalty to old friends. Her international reputation as an actor depended heavily on the hit films she made in the 1960s, including Tom Jones (1963) and They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969, for which she received an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. But, even when her movie career waned, she worked ceaselessly in theatre, often appearing in pioneering fringe productions. It was typical of her that, although diagnosed with cancer late in 2010, she refused chemotherapy and fulfilled a contractual obligation to do a tour of Ronald Harwood's Quartet.

In her early years York was often cast as an archetypal English rose. But, although born in Chelsea, south-west London (as Susannah Yolande Fletcher), she was raised...

Tim Burton tampers with the children's classic to his cost in this lifeless reimagining of Lewis Carroll's book

Tim Burton is in love with the Victorian age. His childhood idol was Vincent Price, who started out playing Prince Albert on stage, specialised in Victorian morbidity and made one of his final screen appearances in Burton's Edward Scissorhands. Burton's last film, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, was a bracing excursion into Victorian melodrama, and it was inevitable that his interest in mythology and the adolescent imagination would eventually attract him to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Appropriately his London office was once the home of Arthur Rackham, who succeeded Sir John Tenniel as Alice's illustrator.

The characters, language, puzzles and predicaments of Carroll's 1865 novel and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, became and remain part of the texture of our lives, as embedded as ancient mythology and more endearing.

This outstanding four-disc box set contains much of Bennett's finest work, ranging in settings from Morecambe to Moscow and is testimony to his acute ear, sharp eye and generous mind and his belief in the old Yorkshire adage that "there's nowt so queer as folk". The dozen items include the first of his Talking Heads series (Patricia Routledge as A Woman of No Importance), and dramatic portraits of Kafka (Daniel Day-Lewis) and Proust (Alan Bates). Looking as good on the big screen as on the box, the films blur the line between TV and cinema and perhaps the best thing in this collection is the pair of films written nearly 20 years apart known as Single Spies: Alan Bates as the exiled Guy Burgess meeting Coral Browne in the Ussr in An Englishman Abroad and James Fox as Anthony Blunt discussing art with Hmq (Prunella Scales) in A Question of Attribution.

A Note: I will be returning to reviewing Streep movies soon but for now let's return to discussing Streep's competitive Oscar fields. I'll try to wrap up the 80s pictures very soon. I knew this month would be Streep heavy I had no idea how mired down in the 80s nostalgia we'd get. See also: Farrah & Michael Jackson.

1985

Six Oscar nominations is a lot for anyone but what is perhaps even more impressive / serendipitous about Meryl Streep's 1985 accomplishment is that Out of Africa, a big hit and Oscar champ, was her third Best Picture winner in seven years. That's quite rare. She would go on to lose Best Actress to Geraldine Page who was, at that time, the most nominated performer (8) never to have won the golden boy (Peter O'Toole now holds the record since he lost on his 8th nomination). Page died a scant 15 months later at 62 years of age.

Benjamin Button isn't the only fictional character that was aging in reverse last year. We first heard that Anne Hathaway was cast as The White Queen in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland in October. It exhibited the usual flurry of excitement (big star joins other stars in high profile project) but few mentioned that the elusive character just lopped off a few decades of living.

The White Queen is nearly aways portrayed as an old woman. Maureen Stapleton was 58 when she played her,Penelope Wilton 52, Carol Channing "jam tomorrow, jam yesterday" 64, Eva Le Gallienne was 56. Nanette Fabray and Louise Fazenda were the youngest I could find, at 46 and 38 respectively, when they donned the crown in 1966 and 1933. Anne Hathaway will only be 27 when the movie arrives.

Anne's incongruous youth for this role first occurred to me this week when Anne wore bridal white to the Oscars and was obviously the...

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The Killing of Sister George was the first “serious” film ever to earn an X rating - though many people erroneously believe that distinction was held by by Midnight Cowboy, which was released the following year.

A little-seen but oft-cited film in the queer canon, Sister George still packs a subversive punch 40 years after its release, not least for its still-unbested, two-minute lesbian sex scene. (Paradoxically I find it one of the least sexy “sex scenes” ever captured on film.)

Beryl Reid (who won a Tony for the role she originated on Broadway) plays an aging, gin-soaked actress, June Buckridge who, in turn, plays a kindly country nun on a popular BBC soap opera, Applehurst – but not for long. The producers of the show have decided to kill off her character. Meanwhile, June’s live-in, blond bombshell girlfriend “Childie” (Susannah York) is getting restless.