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The Best Picture Oscar nominees of 1936 contained a few stone-cold classics and a large handful of duds. The Academy nominated 10 films for Best Picture that year, with the top honor going to Robert Z. Leonard's three-hour glitzy musical biopic "The Great Ziegfeld". "The Great Ziegfeld" is visually spectacular but kind of mushy as a melodrama, serving more as a fond farewell to its subject (who died in 1932) than a legitimately great film.

The legit bangers nominated that year included Frank Capra's "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town," one of the master director's more notable comedies. Also pretty good were William Dieterle's "The Story of Lois Pasteur" starring Paul Muni, and Jack Conway's delightful screwball film "Libeled Lady" with Powell and Myrna Loy. Conway also directed a serviceable adaptation of "A Tale of Two Cities," which many readers may have watched in their junior high school classrooms.

But...

September marks Marcello Mastroianni’s centennial, and the Criterion Channel pays respect with a retrospective that puts the expected alongside some lesser-knowns: Monicelli’s The Organizer, Jacques Demy’s A Slightly Pregnant Man, and two by Ettore Scola. There’s also the welcome return of “Adventures In Moviegoing” with Rachel Kushner’s formidable selections, among them Fassbinder’s Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven, Pialat’s L’enfance nue, and Jean Eustache’s Le cochon. In the lead-up to His Three Daughters, a four-film Azazel Jacobs program arrives.

Theme-wise, a set of courtroom dramas runs from 12 Angry Men and Anatomy of a Murder to My Cousin Vinny and Philadelphia; a look at ’30s female screenwriters includes Fritz Lang’s You and Me, McCarey’s Make Way for Tomorrow, and Cukor’s What Price Hollywood? There’s also a giallo series if you want to watch an Argento movie and ask yourself,...

On July 23, 1937, MGM unveiled in theaters Saratoga, a star vehicle for Jean Harlow, who had died suddenly weeks earlier. Additional shooting was needed to complete the film, which featured the actress alongside Clark Gable. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review, headlined “‘Saratoga’ Warmly Greeted … Jean Harlow’s Last Earns High Praise,” is below:

Jean Harlow’s last picture, Saratoga, cannot be reviewed unemotionally. It can only be reported.

Audience reception at a preview last evening in Glendale was unmistakably enthusiastic. Possibly surprised, but never shocked by the fact that the story is a riotous comedy, each time Miss Harlow’s name appeared on the screen and upon the occasion of her first entrance the house rocked with applause. It was more than cursory hand-clapping. The final hand was in honest appreciation of an honestly entertaining offering, splendidly performed, written and directed.

The production by Bernard H. Hyman, with John Emerson as associate producer,...

Catering directly to my interests, the Criterion Channel’s January lineup boasts two of my favorite things: James Gray and cats. In the former case it’s his first five features (itself a terrible reminder he only released five movies in 20 years); the latter shows felines the respect they deserve, from Kuroneko to The Long Goodbye, Tourneur’s Cat People and Mick Garris’ Sleepwalkers. Meanwhile, Ava Gardner, Bertrand Tavernier, Isabel Sandoval, Ken Russell, Juleen Compton, George Harrison’s HandMade Films, and the Sundance Film Festival get retrospectives.

Restorations of Soviet sci-fi trip Ikarie Xb 1, The Unknown, and The Music of Regret stream, as does the recent Plan 75. January’s Criterion Editions are Inside Llewyn Davis, Farewell Amor, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and (most intriguingly) the long-out-of-print The Man Who Fell to Earth, Blu-rays of which go for hundreds of dollars.

See the lineup below and learn more here.

Back By Popular Demand

The Graduate,...

Hedy Lamarr starred in Jack Conway’s Boom Town with Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert, Clark Gable, and Frank Morgan (in the exhibition) Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Hedy Lamarr: Actress. Inventor. Viennese is an impressive exhibition curated by Danielle Spera (director of the Jewish Museum Vienna from 2010 - 2022) and designed by Stefan Fuhrer (Fuhrer Vienna) at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York. You can watch scenes from Georg Jacoby”s Money on the Street with Heinz Rühmann, Carl Boese’s No Money is Needed, Gustav Machatý Ecstasy, John Cromwell’s Algiers (1938), Georg Misch’s Calling Hedy Lamarr (2004), and Hedy Lamarr – An Ingenious Mind (2022).

Danielle Spera with Anne-Katrin Titze on the KaDeWe Group Lamarr building, Rem Koolhaas and his Oma partners: “Ellen van Loon is the architect and she is great to work with …”

Hedy’s beauty was an inspiration for Walt Disney’s Snow White, Batman co-creator Bob Kane’s Catwoman,...

Look into the series Criterion Channel have programmed for August and this lineup is revealed as (in scientific terms) quite something. “Hollywood Chinese” proves an especially deep bench, spanning “cinema’s first hundred years to explore the ways in which the Chinese people have been imagined in American feature films” and bringing with it the likes of Cronenberg’s M. Butterfly, Cimino’s Year of the Dragon, Griffith’s Broken Blossoms, and Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet—among 20-or-so others. A three-film Marguerite Duras series brings one of the greatest films ever (India Song) and two lesser-screened experiments; films featuring Yaphet Kotto include Blue Collar, Across 110th Street, and Midnight Run; and lest we ignore a Myrna Loy retro that goes no later than 1949.

Criterion editions include The Asphalt Jungle, Husbands, Rouge, and Sweet Smell of Success; streaming premieres for Loznitsa’s Donbass, Béla Tarr’s watershed Damnation, and...

Director Vincente Minnelli and his leading lady Judy Garland created magic with their first collaboration, MGM’s enchanting 1944 Technicolor musical “Meet Me in St. Louis.” Though she was playing a teenager in the box office hit classic, there was a real maturity and assuredness to her performance under Minnelli’s loving guidance. And she never looked so beautiful on screen. No wonder the two became a couple during the production.

And she’s even better in their second project, “The Clock,” which was released five months after “Meet Me in St. Louis” and marked her first non-singing role. Over the years “The Clock” had fallen through the cracks when critics and audiences talked about Garland’s film roles. But thanks to TCM, DVD and Blu-ray-Warner Archive is releasing the Blu-Ray as part of its Garland centennial celebration. “The Clock” has developed a legion of devoted fans and historians who consider...

Next month’s Criterion Channel selection is here, and as 2021 winds down further cements their status as our single greatest streaming service. Off the top I took note of their eight-film Jia Zhangke retro as well as the streaming premieres of Center Stage and Malni. And, yes, Margaret has been on HBO Max for a while, but we can hope Criterion Channel’s addition—as part of the 63(!)-film “New York Stories”—opens doors to a more deserving home-video treatment.

Aki Kaurismäki’s Finland Trilogy, Bruno Dumont’s Joan of Arc duology, and Criterion’s editions of Irma Vep and Flowers of Shanghai also mark major inclusions—just a few years ago the thought of Hou’s masterpiece streaming in HD was absurd.

I could implore you not to sleep on The Hottest August and Point Blank and Variety and In the Cut or, look, so many Ernst Lubitsch movies,...

Next month’s lineup at The Criterion Channel has been unveiled, featuring no shortage of excellent offerings. Leading the pack is a massive, 20-film retrospective dedicated to John Huston, featuring a mix of greatest and lesser-appreciated works, including Fat City, The Dead, Wise Blood, The Man Who Would Be King, and Key Largo. (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre will join the series on October 1.)

Also in the lineup is series on the works of Budd Boetticher (specifically his Randolph Scott-starring Ranown westerns), Ephraim Asili, Josephine Baker, Nikos Papatakis, Jean Harlow, Lee Isaac Chung (pre-Minari), Mani Kaul, and Michelle Parkerson.

The sparkling new restoration of La Piscine will also debut, along with Amores perros, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s To the Ends of the Earth, Cate Shortland’s Lore, both Oxhide films, Moonstruck, and much more.

See the full list of August titles below and more on The Criterion Channel.

Abigail Harm,...

Few ’30s classics have held up as well as this MGM blockbuster, a costume thriller that in spirit is quite faithful to the great Charles Dickens novel. Heroes don’t come more sophisticated or noble than Ronald Colman’s Sydney Carton, nor as vile as Basil Rathbone’s Marquis St. Evrémonde. David O. Selznick’s impeccable production hits all the right notes and even downplays the ‘save the royals’ sentiments. This is the one where the Bastille gets stormed and a chortling hag cheers every drop of a guillotine blade. The show even has a connection to producer Val Lewton. Just remember that activities like capitol-storming and public executions need to stay back in the 18th century where they belong.

A Tale of Two Cities

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1935 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 126 min. / Street Date February 9, 2021 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Ronald Colman, Elizabeth Allan, Edna May Oliver, Donald Woods,...

Connoisseurs of classic detectives took notice when Netflix debuted the first five episodes of its new French series “Lupin” last month. And those familiar with the dynamic, charismatic actor Omar Sy — best known as the lead in the international smash-hit film “Intouchables” — imagined exciting possibilities.

The French actor has crossed over into studio films like “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and “Jurassic World.” He is a leading man, and his role as the title character in this contemporary, Paris-set series promised not only to spotlight that, but to serve as another successful instance of colorblind casting. Previous adaptations involving Sy’s character were typically written or cast with a white man in the main role.

But casting aside, viewers familiar with Arsene Lupin, an early 20th century master of disguise created by Maurice Leblanc, found to their surprise that the updated character bears, at best, a tangential relationship to the gentleman thief of lore.

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By Doug Oswald

A French soldier and spy is sent on a mission to discover the location of a secret German U-Boat base in “Assignment in Brittany,” released on DVD as part of the Warner Archive Collection. Jean-Pierre Aumont plays Captain Pierre Metard, a member of the Free French army serving in Great Britain. He has an uncanny resemblance to a French farmer and soldier, Corporal Bertrand Corlay, a man with Nazi ties who ends up in a British hospital. The British devise a scheme where Pierre impersonates Bertrand and returns home to search out the U-Boat base. He spends weeks studying and memorizing everything known about Bertrand before being flown to and dropped by parachute in to Brittany and makes his way on foot to Bertrand’s family farm.

He runs in to two British soldiers who escaped from a...

He still is stalling, but the bottom line is that Donald Trump is ankling his job. For the uninitiated, “ankling” is Variety “slanguage” for getting fired, as Trump knows well. Trump often has boasted that his rallies were “boffo,” called his speeches “blurbs” and demonstrated a keen attraction for “thesps.” Indeed, his presidency long has been a reality show, which suits his qualifications.

At a banquet some years ago, Trump even alluded to the legendary “sticks” headline (“Sticks Nix Hick Pix”). He had no idea what the headline meant (no one does), but I sensed he understood the importance of the “sticks” since he shaped his politics with them in mind. What he couldn’t know was that his presidential term would best be described by another Variety banner: ”Wall Street Lays An Egg.” In the end, so did Trump.

Trump felt free to cite Variety slanguage to me because...

The Criterion Channel’s stellar offerings are continuing next month with a selection of new releases, retrospective, series, and more. Leading the pack is, of course, a horror lineup perfectly timed for Halloween, featuring ’70s classics and underseen gems, including Abel Ferrara’s The Driller Killer (pictured above), Tobe Hopper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, early films by David Cronenberg, Wes Craven, and Brian De Palma, Bill Gunn’s Ganja & Hess, and more.

Also of note is a New Korean Cinema retrospective, featuring a new introduction by critic Grady Hendrix and a conversation between directors Bong Joon Ho and Park Chan-wook, whose Barking Dogs Never Bite, The Host, Mother, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and Lady Vengeance are part of the lineup, as well as Lee Myung-se’s Nowhere to Hide, and more titles to be announced. Bong’s short Influenza will also arrive, paired with Michael Haneke’s Caché.

Exclusive: Mark Feuerstein and Kelli Williams, are set for key recurring roles opposite Michael Chiklis in Coyote, Paramount Network’s one-hour scripted drama series from Emmy-winning executive producer and director Michelle MacLaren, Dark Horse Entertainment and Sony Pictures TV. Rounding out the recurring cast are Daniel Mora (Coco), Emy Mena (The Whisper of Silence), George Pullar (Playing for Keeps), Amy Forsyth, Ross Phillips (Heart of Dixie), Romina D’Ugo (12 Monkeys), Bobby Daniel Rodriguez (Seal Team), Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Jose Pablo Cantillo (The Walking Dead) and Drew Powell (Gotham). Production on the first season is underway with the series scheduled to premiere on Paramount Network in Summer 2020.

Written by David Graziano (American Gods), Michael Carnes and Josh Gilbert (Mr. Woodcock), Coyote is the story of Ben Clemens (Chiklis), who, after...

Generally regarded as the pinnacle of MGM’s Tarzan series, this pre-code entry is the second in the 12-picture Weissmuller series, spectacularly produced and unexpectedly violent considering the kid-friendly tone of later episodes. Though credited to veteran art director Cedric Gibbons, most of the film was directed by Jack Conway and James C. McKay.

The post Tarzan and His Mate appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

Above: Italian personality poster for Hedy Lamarr. Art by Sergio Gargiulo.Once promoted as “Hollywood’s No. 1 Glamour Girl,” Hedy Lamar (1914-2000) was much more than a pretty face, as the new documentary Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story gloriously attests. Born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Austria, Lamarr was catapulted to fame as the star of the scandalous 1933 Czech import Ecstasy, in which she appeared nude (and ecstatic). In America she became one of the biggest stars of the 1940s, often called the most beautiful woman in Hollywood, a designation she thought of as a curse. But she was also blessed with a curious and inventive mind. As an amateur inventor she pioneered what is known as “frequency hopping” during World War II to prevent the Nazis jamming Allied torpedoes, a technology which has become the basis of Bluetooth and Wi-fi. With that in mind, it might seem perverse to...

Ronald Colman: Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month in two major 1930s classics Updated: Turner Classic Movies' July 2017 Star of the Month is Ronald Colman, one of the finest performers of the studio era. On Thursday night, TCM presented five Colman star vehicles that should be popping up again in the not-too-distant future: A Tale of Two Cities, The Prisoner of Zenda, Kismet, Lucky Partners, and My Life with Caroline. The first two movies are among not only Colman's best, but also among Hollywood's best during its so-called Golden Age. Based on Charles Dickens' classic novel, Jack Conway's Academy Award-nominated A Tale of Two Cities (1936) is a rare Hollywood production indeed: it manages to effectively condense its sprawling source, it boasts first-rate production values, and it features a phenomenal central performance. Ah, it also shows its star without his trademark mustache – about as famous at the time as Clark Gable's. Perhaps...

Considering everything that's been happening on the planet in the last several months, you'd have thought we're already in November or December – of 2117. But no. It's only June. 2017. And in some parts of the world, that's the month of brides, fathers, graduates, gays, and climate change denial. Beginning this evening, Thursday, June 1, Turner Classic Movies will be focusing on one of these June groups: Lgbt people, specifically those in the American film industry. Following the presentation of about 10 movies featuring Frank Morgan, who would have turned 127 years old today, TCM will set its cinematic sights on the likes of William Haines, James Whale, George Cukor, Mitchell Leisen, Dorothy Arzner, Patsy Kelly, and Ramon Novarro. In addition to, whether or not intentionally, Claudette Colbert, Colin Clive, Katharine Hepburn, Douglass Montgomery (a.k.a. Kent Douglass), Marjorie Main, and Billie Burke, among others. But this is ridiculous! Why should TCM present a...

A few years ago the editors of Shadowlocked asked me to compile a list of what was initially to be, the ten greatest movie matte paintings of all time. A mere ten selections was too slim by a long shot, so my list stretched considerably to twenty, then thirty and finally a nice round fifty entries. Even with that number I found it wasn’t easy to narrow down a suitably wide ranging showcase of motion picture matte art that best represented the artform. So with that in mind, and due to the surprising popularity of that 2012 Shadowlocked list (which is well worth a visit, here Ed), I’ve assembled a further fifty wonderful examples of this vast, vital and more extensively utilised than you’d imagine – though now sadly ‘dead and buried’ – movie magic.

It would of course be so easy to simply concentrate on the well known, iconic,...

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...

Adolphe Menjou movies today (This article is currently being revised.) Despite countless stories to the contrary, numerous silent film performers managed to survive the coming of sound. Adolphe Menjou, however, is a special case in that he not only remained a leading man in the early sound era, but smoothly made the transition to top supporting player in mid-decade, a position he would continue to hold for the quarter of a century. Menjou is Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Day today, Aug. 3, as part of TCM's "Summer Under the Stars" 2015 series. Right now, TCM is showing William A. Wellman's A Star Is Born, the "original" version of the story about a small-town girl (Janet Gaynor) who becomes a Hollywood star, while her husband (Fredric March) boozes his way into oblivion. In typical Hollywood originality (not that things are any different elsewhere), this 1937 version of the story – produced by...

Marc Allégret: From André Gide lover to Simone Simon mentor (photo: Marc Allégret) (See previous post: "Simone Simon Remembered: Sex Kitten and Femme Fatale.") Simone Simon became a film star following the international critical and financial success of the 1934 romantic drama Lac aux Dames, directed by her self-appointed mentor – and alleged lover – Marc Allégret.[1] The son of an evangelical missionary, Marc Allégret (born on December 22, 1900, in Basel, Switzerland) was to have become a lawyer. At age 16, his life took a different path as a result of his romantic involvement – and elopement to London – with his mentor and later "adoptive uncle" André Gide (1947 Nobel Prize winner in Literature), more than 30 years his senior and married to Madeleine Rondeaux for more than two decades. In various forms – including a threesome with painter Théo Van Rysselberghe's daughter Elisabeth – the Allégret-Gide relationship remained steady until the late '20s and their trip to...

Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine' 1938: Jean Renoir's film noir (photo: Jean Gabin and Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine') (See previous post: "'Cat People' 1942 Actress Simone Simon Remembered.") In the late 1930s, with her Hollywood career stalled while facing competition at 20th Century-Fox from another French import, Annabella (later Tyrone Power's wife), Simone Simon returned to France. Once there, she reestablished herself as an actress to be reckoned with in Jean Renoir's La Bête Humaine. An updated version of Émile Zola's 1890 novel, La Bête Humaine is enveloped in a dark, brooding atmosphere not uncommon in pre-World War II French films. Known for their "poetic realism," examples from that era include Renoir's own The Lower Depths (1936), Julien Duvivier's La Belle Équipe (1936) and Pépé le Moko (1937), and particularly Marcel Carné's Port of Shadows (1938) and Daybreak (1939).[11] This thematic and...

Hedy Lamarr: 'Invention' and inventor on Turner Classic Movies (photo: Hedy Lamarr publicity shot ca. early '40s) Two Hedy Lamarr movies released during her heyday in the early '40s — Victor Fleming's Tortilla Flat (1942), co-starring Spencer Tracy and John Garfield, and King Vidor's H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941), co-starring Robert Young and Ruth Hussey — will be broadcast on Turner Classic Movies on Wednesday, November 12, 2014, at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Pt, respectively. Best known as a glamorous Hollywood star (Ziegfeld Girl, White Cargo, Samson and Delilah), the Viennese-born Lamarr (née Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler), who would have turned 100 on November 9, was also an inventor: she co-developed and patented with composer George Antheil the concept of frequency hopping, currently known as spread-spectrum communications (or "spread-spectrum broadcasting"), which ultimately led to the evolution of wireless technology. (More on the George Antheil and Hedy Lamarr invention further below.) Somewhat ironically,...

Claudette Colbert movies on Turner Classic Movies: From ‘The Smiling Lieutenant’ to TCM premiere ‘Skylark’ (photo: Claudette Colbert and Maurice Chevalier in ‘The Smiling Lieutenant’) Claudette Colbert, the studio era’s perky, independent-minded — and French-born — "all-American" girlfriend (and later all-American wife and mother), is Turner Classic Movies’ star of the day today, August 18, 2014, as TCM continues with its "Summer Under the Stars" film series. Colbert, a surprise Best Actress Academy Award winner for Frank Capra’s 1934 comedy It Happened One Night, was one Paramount’s biggest box office draws for more than decade and Hollywood’s top-paid female star of 1938, with reported earnings of $426,944 — or about $7.21 million in 2014 dollars. (See also: TCM’s Claudette Colbert day in 2011.) Right now, TCM is showing Ernst Lubitsch’s light (but ultimately bittersweet) romantic comedy-musical The Smiling Lieutenant (1931), a Best Picture Academy Award nominee starring Maurice Chevalier as a French-accented Central European lieutenant in...

Same-sex marriage is a hot topic in America this week following gay-rights wins in Arizona, Texas, and Kentucky. Over the past few years, the Us has seen a growing number of states where same-sex marriage is legal, and recent political moves signal more strides. On Wednesday, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed the controversial anti-lgbt bill that would've allowed businesses to refuse service to gays or others based on religious beliefs. She addressed all the buzz over the bill, saying, "I call them as I see them, despite the cheers or the boos from the crowd," adding, "I sincerely believe that Senate Bill 1062 has the potential to create more problems than it purports to solve. It could divide Arizona in ways we cannot even imagine, and no one would ever want." Meanwhile, a federal judge struck down the gay-marriage ban in Texas, marking a major political move in the conservative state.

Hattie McDaniel as Mammy in ‘Gone with the Wind’: TCM schedule on August 20, 2013 (photo: Vivien Leigh and Hattie McDaniel in ‘Gone with the Wind’) See previous post: “Hattie McDaniel: Oscar Winner Makes History.” 3:00 Am Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943). Director: David Butler. Cast: Joan Leslie, Dennis Morgan, Eddie Cantor, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Errol Flynn, John Garfield, Ida Lupino, Ann Sheridan, Dinah Shore, Alexis Smith, Jack Carson, Alan Hale, George Tobias, Edward Everett Horton, S.Z. Sakall, Hattie McDaniel, Ruth Donnelly, Don Wilson, Spike Jones, Henry Armetta, Leah Baird, Willie Best, Monte Blue, James Burke, David Butler, Stanley Clements, William Desmond, Ralph Dunn, Frank Faylen, James Flavin, Creighton Hale, Sam Harris, Paul Harvey, Mark Hellinger, Brandon Hurst, Charles Irwin, Noble Johnson, Mike Mazurki, Fred Kelsey, Frank Mayo, Joyce Reynolds, Mary Treen, Doodles Weaver. Bw-127 mins. 5:15 Am Janie (1944). Director: Michael Curtiz. Cast: Joyce Reynolds, Robert Hutton,...

Wallace Beery from Pancho Villa to Long John Silver: TCM schedule (Pt) on August 17, 2013 (photo: Fay Wray, Wallace Beery as Pancho Villa in ‘Viva Villa!’) See previous post: “Wallace Beery: Best Actor Oscar Winner — and Runner-Up.” 3:00 Am The Last Of The Mohicans (1920). Director: Maurice Tourneur. Cast: Barbara Bedford, Albert Roscoe, Wallace Beery, Lillian Hall, Henry Woodward, James Gordon, George Hackathorne, Nelson McDowell, Harry Lorraine, Theodore Lorch, Jack McDonald, Sydney Deane, Boris Karloff. Bw-76 mins. 4:30 Am The Big House (1930). Director: George W. Hill. Cast: Chester Morris, Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, Robert Montgomery, Leila Hyams, George F. Marion, J.C. Nugent, DeWitt Jennings, Matthew Betz, Claire McDowell, Robert Emmett O’Connor, Tom Wilson, Eddie Foyer, Roscoe Ates, Fletcher Norton, Noah Beery Jr, Chris-Pin Martin, Eddie Lambert, Harry Wilson. Bw-87 mins. 6:00 Am Bad Man Of Brimstone (1937). Director: J. Walter Ruben. Cast: Wallace Beery, Virginia Bruce, Dennis O’Keefe. Bw-89 mins.

Wallace Beery movies: TCM offers a glimpse into Beery’s extensive filmography (photo: Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery in ‘Min and Bill’) According to the IMDb, the Wallace Beery Filmography features nearly 240 movie titles, including shorts and features, spanning more than three decades, from 1913 to 1949 — the year of his death at age 64. You’ll be able to catch about a dozen of these Wallace Beery movies on Saturday, August 17, 2013, as Turner Classic Movies continues with its "Summer Under the Stars" series. (See “TCM movie schedule: Wallace Beery from Pancho Villa to Long John Silver.”) Wallace Beery, much like fellow veteran Marie Dressler, with whom he co-starred in Min and Bill and its sequel, Tugboat Annie, was a Hollywood anomaly. At age 45, the ugly, coarse-looking actor became a top box-office draw in the United States after languishing in supporting roles, usually playing villains, throughout most of the silent era. Beery and Dressler,...

Mary Boland movies: Scene-stealing actress has her ‘Summer Under the Stars’ day on TCM Turner Classic Movies will dedicate the next 24 hours, Sunday, August 4, 2013, not to Lana Turner, Lauren Bacall, Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Esther Williams, or Bette Davis — TCM’s frequent Warner Bros., MGM, and/or Rko stars — but to the marvelous scene-stealer Mary Boland. A stage actress who was featured in a handful of movies in the 1910s, Boland came into her own as a stellar film supporting player in the early ’30s, initially at Paramount and later at most other Hollywood studios. First, the bad news: TCM’s "Summer Under the Stars" Mary Boland Day will feature only two movies from Boland’s Paramount period: the 1935 Best Picture Academy Award nominee Ruggles of Red Gap, which TCM has shown before, and one TCM premiere. So, no rarities like Secrets of a Secretary, Mama Loves Papa, Melody in Spring,...

Spencer Tracy Week! continues at Trailers from Hell with screenwriter Larry Karaszewski introducing Victor Fleming's 1937 tearjerker "Captains Courageous," starring Tracy as fisherman Manuel and young Freddie Bartholomew as the spoiled ward aboard a New England cod boat.Rudyard Kipling's 1897 novel gets the MGM treatment and becomes a parable of fatherly responsibility, full of director Victor Fleming's trademark Christian symbolism. Spencer Tracy gets his first solo shot at stardom as Portuguese fisherman Manuel, a minor character in the book. Jack Conway directed two weeks when Fleming fell ill. This is the kiddie matinee reissue trailer from the sixties.

Frankfort, Ky. — U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is gearing up for a tough re-election fight next year in Kentucky.

He wants to prevent one, too.

McConnell is trying to head off a Gop primary challenge by cozying up to the tea party. He's also trying to scare off potential Democratic contenders – actress Ashley Judd is one – by providing a glimpse of his no-holds-barred political tactics.

The strategy seems to be working, so far. No serious Republican opponent has emerged. Democrats haven't fielded a candidate yet, though Judd, a Kentucky native who lives in Tennessee, is considering a run. She would have to re-establish a residence in Kentucky before she could challenge McConnell.

The lack of an opponent hasn't kept McConnell from sounding an alarm over his potential vulnerability. It's a tactic rooted in reality and intended to help raise money.

"We know that President Obama's allies in...

Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) unpopularity in his home state might leave him susceptible to a 2014 challenge, including a potential Senate bid by actress Ashley Judd, according to a poll released Tuesday by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling.

Although Kentucky remains deeply Republican, McConnell's low approval ratings -- the worst of any senator nationally, according to Ppp -- could make him vulnerable. Just 37 percent of Kentucky voters approve of his performance, while 55 percent disapprove.

McConnell, who eked out a slim victory in 2008, has already begun preparing to fight for reelection. He hired former Ron Paul strategist Jesse Benton to run a "presidential-level campaign in Kentucky," McConnell said in a statement in September.

While some speculated the move was meant to ward off potential Tea Party rivals, Ppp found that half of Gop voters would like to see McConnell as their party's nominee, while just 35 percent would favor someone more conservative.

San Diego’s Comic-Con International is the biggest event in the world devoted to genre pop culture. While the big Hollywood movies get the most mainstream press, there’s also a large, lesser known and promoted Independent Film Festival devoted to genre short films tucked away within the overall convention.

The Cci-iff, as it’s acronymed, runs completely concurrently with the convention with programming running from morning to night that includes films devoted to comic book-inspired movies, horror movies, sci-fi flicks, comedies and documentaries. There are also several panels on filmmaking sandwiched in between the on-screen entertainment.

The fest also gives out awards. This year’s juror panel includes filmmakers Steven-Charles Jaffee and Kyle Newman, plus entertainment journalist Borys Kit.

Programming blocks are broken up by genre and the full film lineup below gives the exact starting time of each short film. There’s also one feature film screening this year,...

Sunday July 15th is the last day of Comic-Con 2012, and most of us will be completely worn out looking like Spider-Man in the image above. Chances are he's asleep under that mask. Sunday has always been a cool down day for us, we kind of just try to relax a little bit more and enjoy it. That doesn't mean their isn't anything to see or do though!

We've got a Fringe screening and Q&A, Doctor Who, Buffy the Vampire Slayer 20th Anniversary, Sons of Anarchy, the annual Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical screening, and more! I've always wanted to go the Buffy musical sing-a-long, but am usually trying to leave San Diego before it starts.

Just a little reminder, we will be having our annual GeekTyrant meet up this year to meet our readers, which is something we always enjoy doing! That will take place on Wednesday night, and...

The organizers of San Diego Comic-Con have released the official schedule of events for Sunday, July 15 which you can now view below.

San Diego Comic-Con – Sunday, July 15

10:00-11:00 Comic-Con How-to: Publishing Industry: From Manuscript to Industry — So you have the desire to write a book and get it published, but what does that really mean? Agents, editors, publishers, reviewers, self-publishing, traditional publishing, print on demand, ebooks, foreign language-the list goes on. What does it mean to “write for profit,” and what are the pitfalls to watch out for? Award-winning author Maxwell Alexander Drake gives you some insights into the real world that is the Publishing Industry. Warning: this seminar is not for the weak of spirit. Room 2

10:00-11:00 Spotlight on Jason Shiga — Comic-Con special guest Jason Shiga is best known for his interactive comics, including Meanwhile and Knock Knock. He will present a career retrospective detailing...

Another day, another Comic-Con schedule! Are you ready to plan out our Saturday at this years convention!? Once again there's a ton of great panels going on including Iron Man 3, Pacific Rim, Man of Steel, The Hobbit, Marvel TV, Django Unchained, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and more!

Saturday has shaped up to be a hell of a great day for those of you attending Comic-Con. I've put *** next to all of the panels that we want to attend, but like every year, I'm sure we'll be covering a lot more stuff.

We'll be wearing our GeekTyrant shirts, so if you see us walking around San Diego and the convention center, please stop and and say hi! We'd love to meet our readers. We will also be holding our annual meet-up on Wednesday night before the crazy geek storm.

Check out the schedule below and let us know what panels you'll be attending,...

The Friday schedule for Comic-Con is here! Once again, it's packed full of some awesome panels! We've got Total Recall, Looper, Elysium, Wreck-it-Ralph, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Community, The Venture Bros, Firefly, Arrow, Robot Chicken, and a ton of other great stuff! Check out the full schedule below, which doesn't disappoint. I've put *** next to the panels we are looking to cover.

We will be at Comic-Con kicking all kinds of ass, so for all your Comic-Con coverage and needs make sure to keep checking back here at Geektyrant!

If you plan on attending Comic-Con we will be having our annual meet-up on Wednesday night before the madness begins! Details for the meet-up will be revealed soon, so stay tuned!

Check out the schedule and let us know what panels you'll be hitting up!

Friday July 13th:

9:30-10:20 ComicsPRO "Fresh Start"— Your day at Comic-Con gets...

Comic-Con 2012 is so close we can taste it! The epically badass geek convention is set to invade San Diego from July 11th to July 15th, and we can't wait to get over there and get crazy!

Comic-Con International has released the full schedules for Wednesday July 11th and Thursday July 12th, and there's a ton of stuff going on! It's going to kick off with a great first couple of days that will give you plenty of stuff to do! Wednesday looks like it's going to be an awesome day of pilot screens and Thursday has got stuff like Twilight... (fart) and Disney will be holding their big panel, along with a ton of other great stuff to check out!

I've gone through the schedule and put a *** next to all the event's we hope to be able to cover. If there's anything on the list you would like information on please let us know,...

Charles Boyer, Hedy Lamarr, Algiers Hedy Lamarr can be seen later this month on Turner Classic Movies: I Take This Woman (1940) will be shown on Saturday, April 28, and The Conspirators (1944) on Monday, April 30. I Take This Woman was a troubled production that took so long to make — W.S. Van Dyke replaced Frank Borzage who had replaced original director Josef von Sternberg — that punsters called it "I Retake This Woman." Spencer Tracy co-stars as a doctor who marries European refugee Lamarr. Jean Negulesco’s The Conspirators has several elements in common with Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca, including an "exotic" World War II setting (in this case, Lisbon), conflicting loyalties, male lead Paul Henreid, and supporting players Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. Curiously, at one point Lamarr had been considered for the Casablanca role that eventually went to Ingrid Bergman. Neither I Take This Woman nor The Conspirators did much for Hedy Lamarr’s Hollywood career.

Chief executive of Film London, Adrian Wootton will give one of his Illustrated Film Talks focusing on Charles Dickens in film. The talk is part of Melbourne Celebrates Dickens in association with the Melbourne International Film Festival, held on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 of August.

The announcement:

Former British Film Institute and London Film Festival Director Adrian Wootton returns to Melbourne for another series of his acclaimed Illustrated Film Talks, this year focusing on Charles Dickens and Film to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the author’s birthday.

The Illustrated Film Talks kick-off a wider Melbourne Celebrates Dickens season running from 17-26 August, as part of the global Dickens 2012 initiative, that combines events from the Melbourne International Film Festival, Miff 37ºSouth Market & Accelerator and The Wheeler Centre, as well as Australian Centre for the Moving Image (Acmi) and the Melbourne Writers Festival.

Presented exclusively in Melbourne by the Melbourne International Film...

Francis Xavier's new film Poe now has an official release date, and in a new turn of events, a sequel has already been announced. This film, whose synopsis reminds us of The Silence of the Lambs, will become available on May 8 via Maverick Entertainment Group.

Written and directed by Xavier, Poe stars Stelio Savante, David Fine, Gene Silvers and Sal Landi. The only info we have on the planned sequel is the title will be Poe II: The Return of Dr. Casey. More details to follow as we get them. For more info visit the official Poe website and give it a like on the Poe Facebook page.

Synopsis

Brilliant and wealthy Dr. Andrew Casey is a serial killer who goes by the name The Chef. One night 11 years ago his wife found out. He was arrested and imprisoned at Marathon County Asylum for the criminally insane. Eleven years pass and he is released,...

Myrna Loy biography: The Only Good Girl in Hollywood Many believe that Myrna Loy is the best American actress never to have been nominated for an Academy Award. Despite having played leads and supporting roles in more than 100 movies (in addition to a few dozen bit parts during the silent era), Loy was invariably bypassed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. But that's the Oscar and the Academy's loss. For starters, Loy was a delightful light comedienne in movies such as W.S. Van Dyke's The Thin Man and Jack Conway's Libeled Lady. One of the greatest — and most beautifully politically incorrect — dialogue exchanges in movies can be heard in Rouben Mamoulian's 1932 musical Love Me Tonight: Jeanette MacDonald: "Don't you think of anything but men, dear?" Myrna Loy: "Oh yes, schoolboys." Loy could be a remarkable dramatic actress as well, as can...

Billed as "Saw meets The Silence of the Lambs", Poe has a its work cut out for itself to live up to that label. With a release date scheduled for May 2012, we've gotten our first look at the trailer for this cannibalistic treat.

Written and directed by Francis Xavier, Poe is part torture and torment, part dinner. Mostly torture and torment. The film, from Metropolis Pictures Entertainment, stars Stelio Savante, David Fine, Gene Silvers and Sal Landi.

Take a look at the trailer below, and then visit the official Poe website . Also be sure to give it a "like" on the Poe Facebook page .

About Poe

Coming soon! Brilliant and wealthy Dr. Andrew Casey is a serial killer who goes by the name The Chef. One night 11 years ago his wife found out. He was arrested and imprisoned at Marathon County Asylum for the criminally insane. Eleven years pass, and he is released,...

Ronald Reagan, Knute Rockne: All American Kay Francis, William Powell, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow: Packard Campus Movies Thursday, September 1 (7:30 p.m.) The Wanderers (Orion, 1979) Set against the urban jungle of 1963 New York's gangland subculture, this coming of age teenage movie is set around the Italian gang the Wanderers. Directed by Philip Kaufman. With Ken Wahl, John Friedrich and Karen Allen. Action drama. Rated R. Color, 117 min. Thursday, September 8 (7:30 p.m.) Mildred Pierce (Warner Bros., 1945) A housewife-turned-waitress finds success in business but loses control of her ungrateful teenaged daughter. Directed by Michael Curtiz. With Joan Crawford, Zachary Scott and Ann Blyth. Drama. Black & White, 111 min. Selected for the National Film Registry in 1996. Friday, September 9 (7:30 p.m.) Pre-code Drama Double Feature Jewel Robbery (Warner Bros., 1932) A wealthy, married woman becomes captivated by a debonair jewel thief. Directed by William Dieterle. With Kay Francis and William Powell. Comedy,...

William Powell, Kay Francis, Jewel Robbery Kay Francis, William Powell, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, John Barrymore, and Mary Astor are some of the stars featured in September at the Library of Congress' Packard Campus in Culpeper, Virg. [Packard Campus Movie Schedule.] Kay Francis and William Powell can be seen together in Jewel Robbery (1932), a charming pre-Code comedy directed by, of all people, William Dieterle. Dieterle would become closely associated with some of Warner Bros.' most tedious biopics, usually starring Paul Muni. The year of 1932 was a good one for the Francis-Powell combo, who also starred in Tay Garnett's highly successful — and quite moving — melodrama One Way Passage. William Powell can also be seen in another charming comedy, Libeled Lady (1936), co-starring Powell's frequent screen partner Myrna Loy, in addition to Spencer Tracy and future Powell fiancee Jean Harlow. Deftly directed by the underrated Jack Conway, Libeled Lady went on to receive a...

In The Hucksters, Jack Conway’s gloriously nasty 1947 adaptation of Frederic Wakeman’s ad-world exposé, Clark Gable stars as a man without a past. In that respect, he’d resemble the protagonist of Mad Men even if he weren’t an adman and World War II veteran played by Gable, the endlessly handsome, charming Don Draper of the ’30s and ’40s. Like Mad Men’s equally charming antihero, his existential identity is as a huckster. His gift is the art of the sale: He is one of the field’s uncontested masters. Gable returns from World War II with ...

Carole Lombard on TCM: My Man Godfrey, Nothing Sacred, The Racketeer Mitchell Leisen's Hands Across the Table (1935) would have been more enjoyable had Carole Lombard ended up with Ralph Bellamy instead of Fred MacMurray. In fact, MacMurray's obnoxious Average Joe portrayal — who comes across as the Average Jerk instead — all but destroys the film. His character should have gone to, once again, Melvyn Douglas, Herbert Marshall, Cary Grant, Brian Aherne, Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Edward G. Robinson, Bela Lugosi, Ginger Rogers, May Robson, or just about anyone else in Hollywood at that time. I haven't watched Vigil in the Night (1940), a melodrama about two sisters/nurses that isn't considered one of George Stevens' best. The cast, however, is good: in addition to Lombard, there are Brian Aherne and Anne Shirley. Vigil in the Night is also of interest in that it's one of Lombard's rare post-1935 non-comedic roles.

Lon Chaney on TCM: He Who Gets Slapped, The Unknown, Mr. Wu Get ready for more extreme perversity in West of Zanzibar (1928), as Chaney abuses both Warner Baxter and Mary Nolan, while the great-looking Mr. Wu (1927) offers Chaney as a Chinese creep about to destroy the life of lovely Renée Adorée — one of the best and prettiest actresses of the 1920s. Adorée — who was just as effective in her few early talkies — died of tuberculosis in 1933. Also worth mentioning, the great John Arnold was Mr. Wu's cinematographer. I'm no fan of Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), or The Phantom of the Opera (1925), but Chaney's work in them — especially in Hunchback — is quite remarkable. I mean, his performances aren't necessarily great, but they're certainly unforgettable. Chaney's leading ladies — all of whom are in love with younger, better-looking men — are Loretta Young (Laugh, Clown, Laugh), Patsy Ruth Miller...