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It is my experience that one gets a far richer, stranger cinema education in pursuing the careers of actors, that group defined first by (assuming luck shines upon them) two or three era-defining films and then so much that dictates their industry—pet projects, contractual obligations, called-in favors alimony payments, auteur one-offs, and on and on. Few embody that deluge of circumstance better than Michelle Yeoh and Isabelle Huppert, both of whom are receiving spotlights in March. The former’s is a who’s-who of Hong Kong talent, new favorites (The Heroic Trio), items we can at least say are of interest (Trio‘s not-great sequel Executioners), etc.

Huppert’s series runs longer, and notwithstanding certain standards that have long sat on the channel it adds some heavy hitters: Hong’s In Another Country, Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, Breillat’s Abuse of Weakness, Hansen-Løve’s Things to Come. And, of course,...

Matt Reeves is swapping Batman for Buster Keaton.

The “Batman” director is set to helm a limited series based on the life of actor Buster Keaton, with Rami Malek transforming into the silent film star. Reeves will also produce the series through his 6th and Idaho Productions production banner under an overall deal at Warner Bros. TV.

Malek and David Weddle are confirmed to also produce; Ted Cohen is in talks to serve as executive producer and writer. The upcoming series is expected to use James Curtis’ biography “Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker’s Life” as source material as Warner Bros. is negotiating the rights for the 2022 book.

Vaudeville actor Keaton made his onscreen debut in silent comedy “The Butcher Boy” and went on to collaborate with Douglas Fairbanks, Joseph M. Schenck, and Edward F. Cline, among others. Keaton eventually formed an eponymous production company and began directing films like “Sherlock Jr.

Legendary silent film star Buster Keaton is getting a biographical limited series made on him and if everything goes well, Rami Malek will be seen essaying the role of Keaton, who revolutionised the use of real time stunts in filmmaking.

Warner Bros. Television is in talks to develop a limited series and ‘The Batman’ director Matt Reeves would direct the limited series and produce via his 6th and Idaho Productions banner, reports ‘Variety’.

Malek and David Weddle also produce, with Ted Cohen in talks to serve as executive producer and writer. James Curtis’ 2022 biography ‘Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker’s Life’ may serve as source material for the series, as the studio is negotiating the rights for the book.

As per ‘Variety’, Keaton, who lived from 1895 to 1966, is thought of as one of the most prominent stars of the silent film era aside from Charlie Chaplin. He got his start as...

Warner Bros. Television is in talks to develop a limited series based on the life of silent film star Buster Keaton. The project would star Rami Malek as Keaton.

“The Batman” director Matt Reeves would direct the limited series and produce via his 6th and Idaho Productions banner, which is under an overall deal at Warner Bros. TV. Malek and David Weddle also produce, with Ted Cohen in talks to serve as executive producer and writer. James Curtis’ 2022 biography “Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker’s Life” may serve as source material for the series, as the studio is negotiating the rights for the book.

Keaton, who lived from 1895 to 1966, is thought of as one of the most prominent stars of the silent film era aside from Charlie Chaplin. He got his start as a child in vaudevile acts alongside his parents, who were traveling performers, before transitioning into film in the late 1910s.

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“W. C. Fields And The Termite’S Flophouse”

By Raymond Benson

By 1939, comic superstar W. C. Fields (real name William Claude Dukenfield) had a love-hate relationship with Hollywood. While he was still something of a box office draw and enjoyed immense popularity, Fields’ relationship with the bottle was causing more problems for the actor, and he had lost his contract with Paramount, the home of his earlier talkies. After a resurgence in admiration due to radio broadcasts with ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, Fields signed a new contract with Universal. The first picture out of the gate was a team-up with Fields and Bergen/McCarthy.

You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man can’t be counted among Fields’ best pictures, but it’s entertaining and funny enough. It is arguable that Bergen and McCarthy steal the show based on Bergen’s charm and good looks,...

Rarely one finds a friend on the Criterion Channel—discounting the parasitic relationship we form with filmmakers, I mean—but it’s great seeing their March lineup give light to Sophy Romvari, the <bias>exceptionally talented</bias> filmmaker and curator whose work has perhaps earned comparisons to Agnès Varda and Chantal Akerman but charts its own path of history and reflection. It’s a good way to lead into an exceptionally strong month, featuring as it does numerous films by Pier Paolo Pasolini, the great Japanese documentarian Kazuo Hara, newfound cult classic Arrebato, and a number of Criterion editions.

On the last front we have The Age of Innocence, Bull Durham, A Raisin in the Sun, The Celebration, Merrily We Go to Hell, and Design for Living. There’s always something lingering on the watchlist, but it might have to wait a second longer—March is an opened floodgate.

See the full...

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“Goin’ To Town” (1935; Directed by Alexander Hall)

“Klondike Annie” (1936; Directed by Raoul Walsh)

“Go West, Young Man” (1936; Directed by Henry Hathaway)

“Every Day’S A Holiday” (1937; Directed by A. Edward Sutherland)

“My Little Chickadee” (1940; Directed by Edward F. Cline)

(Kino Lorber)

“Goodness Had Nothing To Do With It—The Mae West Films, Part Two”

By Raymond Benson

This is the continuation of reviews of the classic 1930s (and 1940) films of Mae West, which began here.

Kino Lorber has just released in gorgeously restored, high-definition presentations every Mae West film made between 1932-1940—the Paramount years, plus one with Universal. This review will cover the last five of nine titles.

What is not commonly appreciated among Hollywood enthusiasts is that Mae West held a unique position in the history of cinema. Until the modern era, she had the extraordinary fortune—for her time—of...

Films by Charlie Chaplin, Cecil B. DeMille, and Buster Keaton are among the “hundreds of thousands” of books, musical scores, and motion pictures that will enter the public domain on January 1, according to The Atlantic. All of the works were first made available to audiences in 1923, four years before the introduction of talkies. Due to changed copyright laws, this will be the largest collection of material to lose its copyright protections since 1998.

Artists looking to incorporate black-and-white era throwbacks into their modern creations will have lots of new options. The Atlantic consulted unpublished research from Duke University School of Law’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain, which shared with IndieWire a list of 35 films that will soon become available to all.

“Our list is therefore only a partial one; many more works are entering the public domain as well, but the relevant information to confirm this may...

My Little Chickadee, White Heat, and Raging Bull constitute the three-film series sponsored by The Mildred Kemper Art Museum next week at The Tivoli Theater (6350 Delmar in the University City Loop). This ties into the museum’s current exhibit “Rosalyn Drexler: Who Does She Think She Is?” These are Free screenings!

A kiss. A punch. A body braced for impact. The paintings of Rosalyn Drexler exude uncanny stillness, anticipation and, frequently, the dread of imminent violence. Moments of intimacy and conflict are frozen, sliced and readied for examination — excerpts from narratives whose conclusions can only be guessed. From Feb. 10 to April 17, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis will present “Rosalyn Drexler: Who Does She Think She Is?”, the first full-career retrospective for the multi-talented artist. Surveying six decades of work, the exhibition features major paintings and collages alongside rarely seen early sculptures.

All hail Buster Keaton! The Great Stone Face's pre-feature output is a comedic treasure trove that allows us to watch a performing genius perfect his filmic persona. Lobster's all-new restorations debut some alternate scenes and fix a number of broken jump cuts. It's the whole shebang -- the earlier Fatty Arbuckle shorts and Buster's later solo efforts. Buster Keaton The Shorts Collection 1917-1923 Blu-ray Kino Classics 1917-1923 / B&W / 1:37 flat Silent Ap / 738 min. / Street Date May 24, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 59.95 Starring Buster Keaton, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. . Original Music Robert Israel, Donald Sosin, Stephen Horne, Timothy Brock, Neil Brand, The Mont Alto Orchestra, Sandra Wong, Günther Buchwald, Dennis Scott Directed by Roscoe Arbuckle & Buster Keaton

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

What's this, a full compilation of Buster Keaton Shorts? Kino has released sets of these before, including a 3-disc Blu-ray package from back in the summer of 2011 and overseen by Kino's Bret Wood.

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Need a good laugh, but only got an hour and a half? Might we recommend this little lot...

I’m of the firm belief that films work most effectively when their runtime is 90 minutes or less. It forces an economy of story and dialogue which propels the film into its best self. No bloated middle, extended ending, or wasted stories here. This goes double for comedies. They should never outstay their welcome. But they seem to be getting longer, as we recently pointed out here.

So to refresh your movie comedy palette, here are 25 films that are 90 minutes or under. I’ve tried to avoid the more obvious ones, and shine a light on those comedies which might have gone a bit unappreciated over the years, but are well worth a hour and a half of your time. This lean runtime isn’t a guarantee of greatness of course,...

Marjorie Lord actress ca. early 1950s. Actress Marjorie Lord dead at 97: Best remembered for TV series 'Make Room for Daddy' Stage, film, and television actress Marjorie Lord, best remembered as Danny Thomas' second wife in Make Room for Daddy, died Nov. 28, '15, at her home in Beverly Hills. Lord (born Marjorie Wollenberg on July 26, 1918, in San Francisco) was 97. Marjorie Lord movies After moving with her family to New York, Marjorie Lord made her Broadway debut at age 17 in Zoe Akins' Pulitzer Prize-winning adaptation of Edith Wharton's novel The Old Maid (1935). Lord replaced Margaret Anderson in the role of Tina, played by Jane Bryan – as Bette Davis' out-of-wedlock daughter – in Warner Bros.' 1939 movie version directed by Edmund Goulding. Hollywood offers ensued, resulting in film appearances in a string of low-budget movies in the late 1930s and throughout much of the 1940s, initially (and...

First Best Actor Oscar winner Emil Jannings and first Best Actress Oscar winner Janet Gaynor on TCM (photo: Emil Jannings in 'The Last Command') First Best Actor Academy Award winner Emil Jannings in The Last Command, first Best Actress Academy Award winner Janet Gaynor in Sunrise, and sisters Norma Talmadge and Constance Talmadge are a few of the silent era performers featured this evening on Turner Classic Movies, as TCM continues with its Silent Monday presentations. Starting at 5 p.m. Pt / 8 p.m. Et on November 17, 2014, get ready to check out several of the biggest movie stars of the 1920s. Following the Jean Negulesco-directed 1943 musical short Hit Parade of the Gay Nineties -- believe me, even the most rabid anti-gay bigot will be able to enjoy this one -- TCM will be showing Josef von Sternberg's The Last Command (1928) one of the two movies that earned...

Have you seen Kubrick’s top 10?

In 1963, Stanley Kubrick created a list of the greatest films of all time. It has recently resurfaced, and is worth checking out:

I Vitelloni (dir. Federico Fellini, 1953) Wild Strawberries (dir. Ingmar Bergman, 1957) Citizen Kane (dir. Orson Welles, 1941) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (dir. John Huston, 1948) City Lights (dir. Charlie Chaplin, 1931) Henry V (dir. Laurence Olivier, 1944) La Notte (dir. Michelangelo Antonioni, 1961) The Bank Dick (dir. Edward F. Cline, 1940) Roxie Hart (dir. William A. Wellman, 1942) Hell’s Angels (dir. Howard Hughes, 1930)

Find details, and links to more of the greatest movies of all time here.

Any time a top ten list is made nowadays it is typically made by movie bloggers born in the late '70s / early '80s and therefore the span of time it covers is frequently limited to just a few years before their birth to modern day. As a result many great films are forgotten simply because it's damn near impossible to see everything. Thankfully, there are others out there to encourage us to see films before our time and expand our cinematic knowledge. Just yesterday I posted Spike Lee's list of 87 Essential Films (see that here) and I've always pointed out and referenced Roger Ebert's list of Great Movies, which you can see in its entirety right here. If you haven't seen these films, add them to a spreadsheet of your own and get to work as today I have ten more for you to consider. Born...

Sliff/Kids opens tonight! I’m planning on attending tonight’s show and tomorrow night’s as well. This should be a great, Free, event and hopefully will turn into an annual fest.

Did we mention everything is free!!!

Cinema St. Louis introduces Sliff/Kids, the First Annual St. Louis International Children’s Film Festival, presented by Pnc Arts Alive. With a half-dozen presenting partners, Csl will offer film programs, camps, and a workshop as part of Sliff/Kids, which is held from July 26-Aug. 4, 2013. A total of 14 film programs will be screened on the fest’s two weekends (July 26-28 and Aug. 2-4) at Webster University, the St. Louis Public Library, the Missouri History Museum, Washington University, Lindenwood University, and the Wildey Theatre. With the participation of both Lindenwood and Webster universities, filmmaking camps on live action and animation will be held at the St. Louis Public Library’s...

There’s nothing better than silent films accompanied by live music and I’d go as far as saying there’s nothing better than silent films accompanied by the Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra. I’ve seen them do this several times, and it’s alwways a stunning good time at the movies. You’ll have the opportunity this weekend, and it’s Free, with the kick-off of Cinema St. Louis’ first annual Sliff/Kids, the St. Louis International Children’s Film Festival, presented by Pnc Arts Alive.

Buster Keaton in One Week

Friday night’s opening program is a trio of silent film shorts starring silent film legends – Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Laurel & Hardy (The Chaplin film will not be accompanied by live music but will play with its original Chaplin-composed score)

The event starts at 7pm.

The venue is Webster University’s Winifred Moore Auditorium: Webster Hall,...

1.) Albert Brooks is returning to voice Nemo's father, Marlin, in Finding Nemo 2. Ellen DeGeneres is also expected to return as the forgetful Dory with Andrew Stanton set to direct. At this point there are no plot details, though a 2016 release date is expected. Deadline 2.) Safe House director Daniel Espinosa is attached to direct an adaptation of John Grisham's "The Racketeer" for Fox and New Regency. The book sees a federal judge murdered at a lakeside cabin and the contents of his safe emptied. The only man who knows the whos and whys is a former attorney serving time in federal prison who hopes to parlay that into getting revenge on the people who put him there. THR 3.) More Twilight fan fiction is targeting a big screen adaptation while Universal tries to figure out what they're going to do with Fifty Shades of Grey. Constantin Film has acquired movie...

Patty Andrews: Last Surviving member of The Andrews Sisters dead at 94 Patty Andrews, the lead vocalist and last surviving member of the Andrews Sisters musical trio, died of "natural causes" earlier today at her home in the Los Angeles suburb of Northridge, in the San Fernando Valley. Andrews, who was also the youngest sister, was 94. (Photo: The Andrews Sisters: Laverne Andrews, Patty Andrews, Maxene Andrews.) Born in Minnesota into a Greek-Norwegian family, the Andrews Sisters began their show business career in the early ’30s, while both Maxene and Patty were still teenagers. Their first big hit came out in 1938: the English version of the Yiddish song "Bei Mir Bistu Shein" (aka "Bei mir bist du schön"), with lyrics — "To me, you’re grand" — by Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin. (The song made into the movies that same year, but Warner Bros. star Priscilla Lane is the one singing it in Love,...

Myrna Loy Movies Turner Classic Movies, Thursday, August 2 6:00 Am The Great Divide (1929) A businessman masquerades as a bandit to kidnap a flapper and end her reckless days. Dir: Reginald Barker. Cast: Dorothy Mackaill, Ian Keith, Myrna Loy. Black and White-73 minutes. 7:15 Am The Naughty Flirt (1931) A flighty heiress goes to work as a secretary to win the straitlaced man she loves. Dir: Edward Cline. Cast: Alice White, Paul Page, Myrna Loy. Black and White-56 minutes. 8:15 Am The Barbarian (1933) An Arab prince masquerades as a tour guide to court a beautiful American. Dir: Sam Wood. Cast: Ramon Novarro, [...]...