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Movies about Rome often bring to memory emperors, gladiators, Julius Caesar, and aristocrats. Many people also think of William Shakespeare, as the Bard himself wrote frequently on the subject in his plays. Outside of Shakespeare and adaptations of his work, Ancient Rome played a big role in massive studio movies since the early days of silent films. Some of the most renowned movies in cinema history have been set in Ancient Rome, including some of the world's earliest blockbusters with headline-grabbing budgets, such as Ben Hur's then-recording-breaking $15 million dollar production cost in 1959.

Movies set in the Roman Empire fall into the "sword and sandal" movie subgenre, though the movies set in this specific corner of the ancient world are renowned for their tendency to have massive sets and budgets to match. The increased budget brought with it big risks, but the best movies set in Ancient Rome often ended...

Let’s shout our approval of this foursome of vintage noirs, all of which have been scarce since Eddie Muller was old enough to rob candy stores. Three Paramounts and one Universal give us four notable directors and a gallery of attractive stars, including a swoon-worthy array of actresses: Marta Toren, Loretta Young, Susan Hayward, Gail Russell, Frances Farmer and Marina Berti. The selection includes one of the key ‘just prior to the official style’ titles, a thriller with supernatural overtones, a ‘woman in jeopardy’ story and a gangster tale reportedly inspired by Lucky Luciano.

Kino Noir Times Four

Blu-ray

Among the Living, Night Has a Thousand Eyes, The Accused, Deported

Kl Studio Classics

1941-1950 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / Street Date November 16, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / Separate Purchases / 24.95 each

Starring: Albert Dekker, Susan Hayward; Edward G. Robinson, Gail Russell; Loretta Young, Robert Cummings, Wendell Corey; Jeff Chandler, Marta Toren.

Directed by Stuart Heisler,...

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“Double Trouble”

By Raymond Benson

Crime stories about twins are usually compelling, despite the sameness (no pun intended) about them. Among the Living, a 1941 potboiler from Paramount, is a short (only 69 minutes!) thriller that, with a few cuts, might have been an episode of an Alfred Hitchcock Presents or similar anthology television program. It moves quickly, holds interest, and contains a reasonably dynamic performance from Albert Dekker as twins—one of them “normal,” and the other insane.

Dekker had an admirable career in Hollywood for three decades, usually working in supporting roles. He is perhaps best known as the titular character in Dr. Cyclops (1940). Landing a dual starring part in Among the Living was likely a result of his appearance in Cyclops.

The old Raden home is supposedly haunted, barely looked after by the elderly Black caretaker, Pompey (Ernest Whitman). Old man Raden,...

When not making tons of money collaborating with James Stewart, Anthony Mann directed some really grim westerns. This mini-epic spells out the ugly real-life Code of The West: seizing land and establishing private empires. Walter Huston’s T.C. Jeffords maintains his sprawling fiefdom through economic tyranny (he prints his own money and expects banks to accept it) — and by simple violence, murdering the people that have lived on ‘his’ land for generations. Barbara Stanwyck is the feisty heir who wages generational war on her piratical father. It’s the darkest and most subversive of Huac-era ‘noir’ westerns.

The Furies

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 435

1950 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 109 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date April 20, 2021 / 39.95

Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, Walter Huston, Judith Anderson, Gilbert Roland, Thomas Gomez, Beulah Bondi, Albert Dekker, John Bromfield, Wallace Ford, Blanche Yurka.

Cinematography: Victor Milner

Film Editor: Archie Marshek

Original Music:...

Never heard of Wake Island? Its fall terrified Americans at Christmas of 1941. The war’s just begun, we’re definitely not winning, and the assignment was to make a movie about a tragic defeat that might be the first of many tragic defeats for the U.S.A.. Paramount’s careful morale-builder doesn’t exaggerate or sentimentalize the brutal fall of a tiny atoll in the Pacific, and stands as an example of filmmaking reaching for hope in the face of disaster.

Wake Island

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1942 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 88 min. / Street Date August 18, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Brian Donlevy, Robert Preston, Macdonald Carey, William Bendix, Albert Dekker, Walter Abel, Mikhail Rasumny, Rod Cameron, Bill Goodwin, Damian O’Flynn, Frank Albertson, Hugh Beaumont, Barbara Britton, Hillary Brooke, Dane Clark, Frank Faylen, Mary Field, Alan Hale Jr., Richard Loo, James Millican, Jack Mulhall, Keith Richards, Phillip Terry, Mary Thomas,...

The war’s just begun, we’re definitely not winning, and your assignment is to make a movie about a tragic defeat that could be the first of many tragic defeats for the U.S.A.. Paramount’s careful morale-building war drama doesn’t exaggerate or over-sentimentalize the brutal fall of a tiny island in the Pacific. John Farrow directs a fine group of actors who knew the film ‘had to say the right things.’ It stands as a fine example of filmmaking reaching for hope in the face of disaster.

The first WW2 Hollywood combat film based on an actual battle is the beautifully made Wake Island. It’s even more beautifully conceived to achieve multiple public relations aims in a time of great crisis. Until 1941 Wake Island had been little more than a stop for Pacific-hopping Pan-American clipper ship airplanes; Japan bombed it a few hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

It’s a classic from the Golden Year of 1939, directed in fine style by Wild Bill Wellman and well cast with Paramount stars Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, and Robert Preston, and with Brian Donlevy as one of the movies’ most hissable villains. The popular story has been remade and spoofed innumerable times, yet this remains the indelible best version. A commentary with William Wellman Jr. and Frank Thompson points out many things we didn’t notice before, including where some excised scenes belong, and what originally happened in them.

Beau Geste

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1939 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 112 min. / Street Date April 7, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy, Susan Hayward, J. Carrol Naish, Albert Dekker, Broderick Crawford, Charles Barton, James Stephenson, Heather Thatcher, George P. Huntley, Donald O’Connor, Billy Cook, Martin Spellman, Ann Gillis, David Holt, Henry Brandon, Nestor Paiva, Francis McDonald.

The original hero in a half-shell returns! For the first time ever worldwide, all twelve tales of the adventures of everyone’s favourite titanic terrapin are collected together in one deluxe Blu-ray boxset.

This limited edition collectors’ set traces the decades-long evolution of Gamera, from the “friend of all children” in his more light-hearted earlier films to the Guardian of the Universe in the groundbreaking 1990s reboot series, often hailed as three of the best kaiju films ever made.

Limited Edition Contents

• Limited collectors’ edition packaging, housed in a large-format rigid box, fully illustrated by Matt Frank

• All twelve uncut original Japanese versions of the films in high definition, with lossless Japanese and English audio

• 4K restorations of the critically acclaimed Heisei trilogy

• Hours of new and archive bonus features, expert commentaries, interviews with cast and crew, and the worldwide Blu-ray premiere of Gammera The Invincible (the American theatrical version...

While 2019’s home media releases ended on a quiet note, taking off the week of Christmas and New Year’s, this first Tuesday of 2020 is more than making up for it with an array of titles that should delight horror and sci-fi fans of all tastes. In terms of recent films, both Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse, Travis Stevens’ Girl on the Third Floor are making their way to Blu-ray and DVD this week, Michael Beach Nichols' documentary Wrinkles the Clown is coming to DVD from Magnet Releasing, and Scream Factory is releasing Larry Fessenden’s take on Frankenstein—Depraved—as well.

Kino is showing some love to the sci-fi classic Doctor Cyclops, and Rlje Films is keeping busy with both The Shed and The Nightshifter this Tuesday. Other notable releases for January 7th include Trespassers, Cosmos, Dark Encounter, Mermaid Down, Savage Creatures, and Dark Light.

Depraved

The legend of Frankenstein...

It may be a little creaky, but Dr. Cyclops is a genuine classic of the imagination, from a time long before pulp fantasy dominated Hollywood filmmaking. For 1940 audiences this must have felt like a strange dream. Five humans are miniaturized and terrorized by Albert Dekker’s Dr. Thorkel, a card-carrying mad scientist. Held firm by a giant rubber hand, ‘Mr. Crabby’ Charles Halton keeps an unfortunate appointment with a horrifying fate. Who will survive, and how big will they be? Did Thorkel change his name to Soberin, move to California, and steal The Great Whatzit? Kino’s new HD transfer of this oddball gem is a wonderment — the Technicolor is outstanding, better than Paramount’s old nitrate studio print.

Dr. Cyclops

Blu-ray

Kino Lorber Kino Classics

1940 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 77 min. / Street Date January 7, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Albert Dekker, Thomas Coley, Janice Logan, Charles Halton, Victor Kilian, Frank Yaconelli,...

Nick Aldwinckle Sep 14, 2017

Our round up of horror and genre DVDs and Blu-rays returns, with some solid titles, and The Jerk sequel...

So, whilst Kim Jong-Un and Donald Trump are comparing the size of their nuclear weapons and super-storms are battering the world’s coastlines, the head of Nato is describing the present moment as the “most dangerous in a generation”. With any luck, the inevitable apocalypse may bring with it some fun real-life zombie larks to bring some light to the fast-approaching nuclear winter: what more prescient documentary-drama could there be, therefore, than Re-Animator cult hero Brian Yuzna’s Return Of The Living Dead 3?

Resurrected this month on Blu-ray as part of the gloriously tacky Vestron Video Collection, the second sequel to Dan O'Bannon’s classic eighties comedy horror adopts more of an angsty nineties tone as the monster-making Trioxin chemical returns to cause havoc all over again,...

On the day a U.S. appeals court lifted an injunction that blocked a Mississippi “religious freedom” law – i.e., giving Christian extremists the right to discriminate against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender people, etc. – not to mention the publication of a Republican-backed health care bill targeting the poor, the sick, the elderly, and those with “pre-existing conditions” – which would include HIV-infected people, a large chunk of whom are gay and bisexual men, so the wealthy in the U.S. can get a massive tax cut, Turner Classic Movies' 2017 Gay Pride or Lgbt Month celebration continues (into tomorrow morning, Thursday & Friday, June 22–23) with the presentation of movies by or featuring an eclectic – though seemingly all male – group: Montgomery Clift, Anthony Perkins, Tab Hunter, Dirk Bogarde, John Schlesinger, Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, Arthur Laurents, and Jerome Robbins. After all, one assumes that, rumors or no, the presence of Mercedes McCambridge in one...

Unsung actress Beverly Garland becomes TV’s first lady cop, in what’s claimed to be the first TV show filmed on the streets of New York City. This one-season wonder from 1957 has vintage locations, fairly tough-minded storylines and solid performances, from Bev and a vast gallery of stage and TV actors on the way up.

Decoy

(Policewoman Decoy)

TV Series

DVD

Film Chest Media

1957-’58 / B&W / 1:33 flat full frame (TV) / 39 x 30 min. / Street Date May 30, 2017 / 19.98

Starring: Beverly Garland

Art Direction (some episodes): Mel Bourne

Original Music: Wladimir Selinsky

Written by Lillian Andrews, Nicholas E. Baehr, Cy Chermak, Jerome Coopersmith, Don Ettlinger, Frances Frankel, Steven Gardner, Abram S. Ginnes, Mel Goldberg, Saul Levitt, Leon Tokatyan

Produced by Arthur H. Singer, David Alexander, Stuart Rosenberg, Everett Rosenthal

Directed by Teddy Sills, Stuart Rosenberg, David Alexander, Michael Gordon, Don Medford, Arthur H. Singer, Marc Daniels

How did I experience...

By Doug Oswald

Robert Mitchum is Martin Brady, an American hired gun living in exile in Mexico in “The Wonderful Country,” a Blu-ray release from Kino Lorber. While waiting on the Rio Grande for his contact for a gun smuggling job, Brady decides to escort the wagon north to Puerto, Texas, and pick up a cache of guns on behalf of his employers, the Castro brothers. Pancho Gil (Mike Kellin), another agent of the Castros, arrives to escort the guns they’re buying from a man named Sterner, but Brady insists on picking up the guns himself. When one of Brady’s associates reminds him that he’s a wanted man in America, Brady states, “I want to see the other side of the river.”

Arriving in Puerto, a tumble-weed startles Brady’s horse and he breaks a leg in the fall. He’s aided by Dr. Herbert J. Stovall...

Norma Shearer films Note: This article is being revised and expanded. Please check back later. Turner Classic Movies' Norma Shearer month comes to a close this evening, Nov. 24, '15, with the presentation of the last six films of Shearer's two-decade-plus career. Two of these are remarkably good; one is schizophrenic, a confused mix of high comedy and low drama; while the other three aren't the greatest. Yet all six are worth a look even if only because of Norma Shearer herself – though, really, they all have more to offer than just their top star. Directed by W.S. Van Dyke, the no-expense-spared Marie Antoinette (1938) – $2.9 million, making it one of the most expensive movies ever made up to that time – stars the Canadian-born Queen of MGM as the Austrian-born Queen of France. This was Shearer's first film in two years (following Romeo and Juliet) and her first release following husband Irving G.

Norma Shearer films Note: This article is being revised and expanded. Please check back later. Turner Classic Movies' Norma Shearer month comes to a close this evening, Nov. 24, '15, with the presentation of the last six films of Shearer's two-decade-plus career. Two of these are remarkably good; one is schizophrenic, a confused mix of high comedy and low drama; while the other three aren't the greatest. Yet all six are worth a look even if only because of Norma Shearer herself – though, really, they all have more to offer than just their top star. Directed by W.S. Van Dyke, the no-expense-spared Marie Antoinette (1938) – $2.9 million, making it one of the most expensive movies ever made up to that time – stars the Canadian-born Queen of MGM as the Austrian-born Queen of France. This was Shearer's first film in two years (following Romeo and Juliet) and her first release following husband Irving G.

Let's hear it for the great westerns -- not the Ford and Hawks classics, but the fascinating marginal gems that see The West in a different way. Do you like Sam Peckinpah? Robert Parrish's evocation of Texas and Mexico in the 1880s will be pleasantly familiar -- a testing ground of personal codes and shifting loyalties in a treacherous land. The Wonderful Country Savant Blu-ray Review Kl Studio Classics 1959 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 98 min. / Street Date September 29, 2015 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95  Starring Robert Mitchum, Julie London, Pedro Armendariz, Gary Merrill, Jack Oakie, Albert Dekker, Charles McGraw, Leroy "Satchel" Paige. Cinematography Floyd Crosby Film Editor Michael Luciano Production Design Harry Horner Original Music Alex North Written by Robert Ardrey from the book by Tom Lea Produced by Chester Erskine Directed by Robert Parrish

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

This gem is as individual a western as any made in the 1950s, and a...

Susan Hayward. Susan Hayward movies: TCM Star of the Month Fiery redhead Susan Hayward it Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month in Sept. 2015. The five-time Best Actress Oscar nominee – like Ida Lupino, a would-be Bette Davis that only sporadically landed roles to match the verve of her thespian prowess – was initially a minor Warner Bros. contract player who went on to become a Paramount second lead in the early '40s, a Universal leading lady in the late '40s, and a 20th Century Fox star in the early '50s. TCM will be presenting only three Susan Hayward premieres, all from her Fox era. Unfortunately, her Paramount and Universal work – e.g., Among the Living, Sis Hopkins, And Now Tomorrow, The Saxon Charm – which remains mostly unavailable (in quality prints), will remain unavailable this month. Highlights of the evening include: Adam Had Four Sons (1941), a sentimental but surprisingly...

'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' 2015: Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer. 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' movie is a domestic box office bomb: Will it be saved by international filmgoers? Directed by Sherlock Holmes' Guy Ritchie and toplining Man of Steel star Henry Cavill and The Lone Ranger costar Armie Hammer, the Warner Bros. release The Man from U.N.C.L.E. has been a domestic box office disaster, performing about 25 percent below – already quite modest – expectations. (See also: “'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' Movie: Bigger Box Office Flop Than Expected.”) This past weekend, the $80 million-budget The Man from U.N.C.L.E. collected a meager $13.42 million from 3,638 North American theaters, averaging $3,689 per site. After five days out, the big-screen reboot of the popular 1960s television series starring Robert Vaughn and David McCallum has taken in a mere $16.77 million. For comparison's sake:...

'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' with Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer. 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' box office: Bigger domestic flop than expected? Before I address the box office debacle of Warner Bros.' The Man from U.N.C.L.E., I'd like remark upon the fact that 2015 has been a notable year at the North American box office. That's when the dinosaurs of Jurassic World smashed Hulk and his fellow Halloween-costumed Marvel superheroes of Avengers: Age of Ultron. And smashed them good: $636.73 million vs. $457.52 million. (See also: 'Jurassic World' beating 'The Avengers' worldwide and domestically?) At least in part for sentimental (or just downright morbid) reasons – Paul Walker's death in a car accident in late 2013 – Furious 7 has become by far the highest-grossing The Fast and the Furious movie in the U.S. and Canada: $351.03 million. (Shades of Heath Ledger's unexpected death...

'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' with Henry Cavill. 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' box office: Hollywood's third domestic bomb in a row Right on the heels of Chris Columbus-Adam Sandler's Pixels and Josh Trank's Fantastic Four comes The Man from U.N.C.L.E., a big screen adaptation of the 1960s television series, directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Man of Steel hero Henry Cavill and The Lone Ranger costar Armie Hammer. (See updated follow-up post: “'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' Movie Box Office: Bigger Bomb Than Expected.”) Budgeted at a reported $88 million, to date Pixels has collected a mere $61.11 million in North America. Overseas things are a little better: an estimated $73.6 million as of Aug. 9, for a worldwide total of approx. $134.71 million. Sounds profitable? Well, not yet. First of all, let's not forget that distributor...

Joan Crawford Movie Star Joan Crawford movies on TCM: Underrated actress, top star in several of her greatest roles If there was ever a professional who was utterly, completely, wholeheartedly dedicated to her work, Joan Crawford was it. Ambitious, driven, talented, smart, obsessive, calculating, she had whatever it took – and more – to reach the top and stay there. Nearly four decades after her death, Crawford, the star to end all stars, remains one of the iconic performers of the 20th century. Deservedly so, once you choose to bypass the Mommie Dearest inanity and focus on her film work. From the get-go, she was a capable actress; look for the hard-to-find silents The Understanding Heart (1927) and The Taxi Dancer (1927), and check her out in the more easily accessible The Unknown (1927) and Our Dancing Daughters (1928). By the early '30s, Joan Crawford had become a first-rate film actress, far more naturalistic than...

Criterion digitally restores this earlier release, a combination offering of Robert Siodmak’s 1946 film noir masterpiece The Killers paired with Don Siegel’s retro 1964 remake. Famed adaptations of Ernest Hemingway’s short story, both filmmakers take liberties with the original material to create aggressively different products. Siodmak’s version is not only the German ex-pat’s enduring masterpiece, it’s a definite cornerstone of classic American film noir. Though Siegel’s 60s rehash is considered tacky pastiche of the era, it’s brutal, hard boiled B-grade pulp, notable for its own significant instances.

Siodmak’s version arrived during a golden era of noir, premiering a year after WWII officially ended, with cinematic masculine representation on the eve of an overhaul as method acting would soon reign supreme. Hemingway’s spare story gets a face life from Anthony Veiller (The Stranger; Night of the Iguana), using the murder as a jumping...

“We’Re Gonna Kill The Swede”

By Raymond Benson

The Criterion Collection gave us the DVD versions of these two excellent crime thrillers twelve years ago. The company has now seen fit to upgrade the release to Blu-ray.

Based loosely on a short story by Ernest Hemingway, both versions of The Killers begin with the author’s premise and then take off from there in very different directions. It’s interesting to see how the respective screenwriters adapted the story and then created two disparate feature-length tales out of it. In Hemingway’s piece, two hit men arrive in a small town looking for “the Swede.” They terrorize the owner, cook, and a customer in a diner in an attempt to find the guy. After the killers leave in frustration, the customer runs to the Swede’s boarding house and finds him in bed with his clothes on. He warns the Swede about the men,...

Pioneering woman director Lois Weber socially conscious drama 'Shoes' among Library of Congress' Packard Theater movies (photo: Mary MacLaren in 'Shoes') In February 2015, National Film Registry titles will be showcased at the Library of Congress' Packard Campus Theater – aka the Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation – in Culpeper, Virginia. These range from pioneering woman director Lois Weber's socially conscious 1916 drama Shoes to Robert Zemeckis' 1985 blockbuster Back to the Future. Another Packard Theater highlight next month is Sam Peckinpah's ultra-violent Western The Wild Bunch (1969), starring William Holden and Ernest Borgnine. Also, Howard Hawks' "anti-High Noon" Western Rio Bravo (1959), toplining John Wayne and Dean Martin. And George Cukor's costly remake of A Star Is Born (1954), featuring Academy Award nominees Judy Garland and James Mason in the old Janet Gaynor and Fredric March roles. There's more: Jeff Bridges delivers a colorful performance in...

With November Man out, excitement for Pierce Bosnan’s return to spying is at an all-time high for many James Bond fans. November Man, based on the seventh installment of Bill Granger’s book series called There Are No Spies, is about ex- CIA agent Peter Devereaux (Pierce Bosnan). While living a quiet life in Switzerland, Devereaux is ejected out of retirement for one last mission. Although the concept of the “one last mission/job” is not a new concept for Hollywood, it definitely has its place in cinema history, branching out to a wide range of reasons why our beloved characters are being pulled back into their past lives. From a retiree’s last gig, to the bad-boy-gone-good-and-then-bad-again mission, to the revenge premise, mythology of the ex-professional can surely delight and excite us to champion our heroes for one last fight. Here are scenes from ten incredible “one last job” films,...

Destination Murder

Written by Don Martin

Directed by Edward L. Cahn

U.S.A., 1950

One night during an intermission at a downtown movie theatre Jackie Wales (Stanley Clements), a lowly driver, leaves his girlfriend for a few minutes to run a quick errand. Not just any old chore however, but murder! Driven to the house of a notable businessman by an accomplice, Jackie rings the doorbell, inquires as to the name of the older man who answers the door to make sure he knows who the target is and shoots the gentleman dead. As Jackie flees the premise the victim’s daughter Laura (Joyce MacKenzie) catches a glimpse of the fiend, a clue she latches onto the following days when the police begin their inquiries. Rather than remain sidelined from the action, Laura takes matters into her own hands and pretends to befriend the cantankerous Jackie. Through Jackie the intrepid...

Martin Balsam: Oscar winner has ‘Summer Under the Stars’ Day on Turner Classic Movies Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winner Martin Balsam (A Thousand Clowns) is Turner Classic Movies’ unusual (and welcome) "Summer Under the Stars" featured player today, August 27, 2013. Right now, TCM is showing Sidney Lumet’s The Anderson Tapes (1971), a box-office flop starring Sean Connery in his (just about) post-James Bond, pre-movie legend days. (Photo: Martin Balsam ca. early ’60s.) Next, is Joseph Sargent’s thriller The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974). Written by Peter Stone (Father Goose, Arabesque) from John Godey’s novel, the film revolves around the hijacking of a subway car in New York City. Passengers are held for ransom while police lieutenant Walter Matthau tries to handle the situation. Now considered a classic (just about every pre-1999 movie is considered a "classic" these days), The Taking of Pelham One Two Three was...

William Holden movies: ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’ William Holden is Turner Classic Movies’ "Summer Under the Stars" featured actor today, August 21, 2013. Throughout the day, TCM has been showing several William Holden movies made at Columbia, though his work at Paramount (e.g., I Wanted Wings, Dear Ruth, Streets of Laredo, Dear Wife) remains mostly off-limits. Right now, TCM is presenting David Lean’s 1957 Best Picture Academy Award winner and all-around blockbuster The Bridge on the River Kwai, the Anglo-American production that turned Lean into filmdom’s brainier Cecil B. DeMille. Until then a director of mostly small-scale dramas, Lean (quite literally) widened the scope of his movies with the widescreen-formatted Southeast Asian-set World War II drama, which clocks in at 161 minutes. Even though William Holden was The Bridge on the River Kwai‘s big box-office draw, the film actually belongs to Alec Guinness’ Pow British commander and to...

The Killers

Written by Anthony Veiller, Richard Brooks and John Huston

Directed by Robert Siodmak

U.S.A., 1946

Without question, Robert Siodmak was one of the great stylistic directors working in Hollywood during the 1930s, 40s, 50s and even into the 60s. Arriving from Europe as so many of his continental colleagues did during the period when the indescribable of evil of Nazism, had begun to spread its tentacles across their homelands, Siodmak brought with him to the film industry a stunning ability to construct rich films which balanced sharp storytelling and brilliant German Impressionistic visual allure, the latter which helped pronounce the often dire, sad, paranoid tone the stories themselves championed. The excellent thriller The Spiral Staircase (1945) and the underseen noir Phantom Lady (1944) are but two examples of Siodmak working in remarkable harmony with strong scripts and his cinematographers to produce not merely gripping tales, but gripping cinematic experiences of the classic period.

10: Gentleman’s Agreement

Perhaps a bit tame by today’s standards, but Kazan’s message drama was an extremely important film in 1947, marking one of the first times that the word Jew was explicity used in a Hollywood picture. Kazan was known throughout his career as a champion of social causes, and Gentleman’s Agreement earned him the first of two Best Director wins (out of five such nominations). Agreement follows a respected gentile journalist (Gregory Peck) hired by a magazine publisher (Albert Dekker) to write a gutsy expose about anti-Semitism. In order to deliver a true, honest and powerful story, he decides to present himself as Jewish everywhere he goes. Gregory Peck gives unquestionably the second best performance of his career. His strong, steady portrayal earned him a Best Actor nomination (although not a win).

- Ricky D

9: Wild River

Set during the early 1930s when American...

Will Smith: The Wild Bunch remake (photo: Will Smith in After Earth) Will Smith has been mentioned in connection with Focus, the caper tale that was to have starred Ben Affleck and Kristen Stewart, and is to star in Edward Zwick’s Hurricane Katrina drama The American Can. But that’s not all. His producing company is working on a remake of the Broadway musical Annie — which got a less-than-satisfactory screen version back in 1982 — and apparently he wants to revive The Wild Bunch as well. Set during the Mexican Revolution of the 1910s, Sam Peckinpah’s ultra-violent 1969 classic Western features William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Edmond O’Brien, and other movie veterans as a group of outlaws fleeing from Robert Ryan while out to do one last job in war-torn northern Mexico. The Will Smith The Wild Bunch reboot, however, is to be set in the present, though the perilous...

Illegal

Directed by Lewis Allen

Screenplay by W. R. Burnett and James R. Webb

1955, U.S.A.

Few those familiar with the Hollywood of the 1930s, 40s and 50s, few names strike a chord like Edward G. Robinson. Shorter than most of his co-stars perhaps, what the actor lacked in physical stature he made up for with a lively personality and charm in bringing his roles to life, so much so that he made quite a name for himself playing especially tough characters in the early days of his career over at Warner Brothers in films the likes of Little Caesar (1931). Remembering Robinson purely as a tough thug paints an incomplete picture for his roles were far more diverse, as exemplified in Lewis Allen’s courtroom noir, Illegal.

Illegal takes the notion of starting off a movie with a bang in the most literal sense possible, as a young woman...

The forties got off to a cracking start with Paramount’s Technicolor production of Doctor Cyclops (1940) starring Albert Dekker as a crazed scientist who discovers the secret of miniaturisation deep in the South American jungles. The film contains superb special effects sequences which required the construction of gigantic sets and props of everyday articles, including books, chairs, pot-plants and scientific instruments. Universal Studios, while reluctant to invest their horror films with big budgets, also turned out some interesting films during the forties. Once again John P. Fulton worked his magic for The Invisible Man Returns (1940), the comedy The… More...

Joanne Woodward never became a major box-office draw. No matter. Woodward was one of the best film actresses of the 20th century, as can be attested by her work in The Three Faces of Eve; Rachel, Rachel (right); Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams; The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds; and Mr. and Mrs. Bridge. Woodward's absence from the big screen after a supporting role in Jonathan Demme's 1993 AIDS drama Philadelphia is indeed cinema's loss. On Tuesday, August 16, Turner Classic Movies will be presenting 13 Joanne Woodward movies as part of TCM's "Summer Under the Stars" film series. [Joanne Woodward Movie Schedule.] Four of those are TCM premieres: Leo McCarey's weak comedy Rally Round the Flag, Boys! (1958), with Paul Newman as Woodward's love interest, and Joan Collins sultrily stealing the show; Burt Reynolds' highly successful black comedy The End (1978), about a dying man's attempts at killing himself with the assistance of a...

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...

Chicago – Very few movies are as wonderfully weird as “Kiss Me Deadly,” a film that clearly influenced decades of work that would follow from “Blue Velvet” to “The Adjustment Bureau.” Recently released in a beautiful Criterion edition, “Kiss Me Deadly” is a film that history almost forgot but that found its way to the right people who recognized this unique gem as something worth cherishing. It’s a perfect choice for the most important collection of films released on Blu-ray and DVD as it’s a classic less-heralded than some that will now be brought to a wider, adoring audience.

Blu-Ray Rating: 5.0/5.0

Based on the book by Mickey Spillane, “Kiss Me Deadly” probably seemed like just another noir when it was released but history has re-appraised the film as a fascinating funhouse mirror of the Cold War fears so prevalent at the time of its release in 1955. Directed by Robert Aldrich...

Kiss Me Deadly Directed by: Robert Aldrich Written by: A.I. Bezzerides Starring: Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Cloris Leachman It doesn't take a film noir connoisseur -- of which I am not -- to realize that Kiss Me Deadly is one of the strangest, darkest, and most influential entries in the popular pulp sub-genre. Robert Aldrich's bleak tale of intrigue and cold war paranoia slowly burns in stark black and white, eventually exploding on screen in an unforgettable finale that left everybody asking 'what's in the box?' long before Brad Pitt or Quentin Tarantino. The film opens with a young Cloris Leachman (in her feature film debut), running through the streets wearing nothing but a trench coat. In a fit of desperation, she stands in the middle of the road in an attempt to flag down an oncoming car, sending it swerving into the dirt. The passenger...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

Bad Teacher – Cameron Diaz, Jason Segel, Justin Timberlake

A Better Life - Demián Bichir, José Julián, Eddie ‘Piolin’ Sotelo

Cars 2 – Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Michael Caine

Movie of the Week

Bad Teacher

The Stars: Cameron Diaz, Jason Segel, Justin Timberlake

The Plot: A comedy centered around a foul-mouthed, junior high teacher (Diaz) who, after being dumped by her sugar daddy, begins to woo a colleague — a move that pits her against a well-loved teacher.

The Buzz: Nope, no buzz. No competition here. Bad Teacher could (or should) be Diaz’ swan song as a sex symbol, she’s just not looking the part these days. Director Jake Kasdan does have some reputable directorial chops, most notably five episodes of Freaks and Geeks, but this looks to be just another lukewarm comedy. A weak cast and a weak premise will probably doom this film at the box office.

Above: Publicity still from John Parker's Dementia (1955).

Rep houses in San Francisco, like those in most American cities, are struggling to stay open. But for something like thirty nights a year, the clouds lift and big crowds materialize for films of the past: call it the noir exception. To be sure, one needn’t actually attend the Film Noir Foundation’s annual Noir City festival at the Castro or Elliot Lavine’s grittier programs at the Roxie to know that the generic fantasy of film noir (style, sex and violence washed together) still holds powerful allure. You could hardly miss the bus stop advert for Rockstar Games’ latest blockbuster, L.A. Noire, outside the Roxie during Lavine’s latest marathon, “I Wake Up Dreaming: The Legendary and the Lost”. For those of us still invested in the non-interactive cinema experience, however, the popularity of these series is a remarkable if curious thing.

Robert Siodmak’s The Killers (1946), the film noir that catapulted Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner (above) to stardom, will be screened as the next feature in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ series “Oscar Noir: 1940s Writing Nominees from Hollywood’s Dark Side.” The Killers will be shown on Monday, June 21, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Screenwriter Billy Ray (Shattered Glass, State of Play) will introduce the screening. (The Killers is sold out. More info below.) Screenwriter Anthony Veiller turned Ernest Hemingway’s classic short story into a classic film noir. The Killers, about a former boxer and the men out to get him, isn’t one of my favorites noirs, but it’s great to look at thanks to Ava Gardner and cinematographer Elwood Bredell. Also in the cast: Edmond O’Brien, Albert Dekker, Sam Levene, Virginia Christine,...

The 40th Anniversary of director Sam Peckinpah's 1969 western The Wild Bunch, will be celebrated at the 'Jules Verne Légendaire Award Charity Event', November 12 @ Los Angeles' 2,000 seat, downtown 'Million Dollar Theater', bringing the ground-breaking feature back up on the big screen. The film's surviving lead actors Ernest 'Dutch Engstrom' Borgnine, Bo 'Crazy Lee' Hopkins, L.Q. 'T.C.' Jones, Alfonso 'Lt. Hererra' Arau and others will be accepting awards on stage. In addition, Melissa Peckinpah will accept a special award on behalf of her father, director 'Bloody Sam' Peckinpah and Camille Fielding will accept a Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of her late father, composer Jerry Fielding. Celebrities confirmed to attend the event include Ali "The Getaway" MacGraw, composer Lalo "Dirty Harry" Schifrin, director Walter "The Warriors" Hill and actor Malcolm "A Clockwork Orange" McDowell. "It will be the last great ride of the movie," organizers said. Premise of the film,...

Warners continues to mine popular studio properties for possible origin stories including a rumoured prequel to director Sam Peckinpah's 1969 feature The Wild Bunch, featuring the early robbing, whoring gang years of western outlaws 'Pike Bishop', 'Deke Thornton' and 'Freddie Sykes', when they "did their fair share of killing and more..." in the Old West. Premise of the original film, set in 1913, during the height of the Mexican Revolution, placed the aging gang of "unchanged men in a changing land", in 'San Rafael', Texas for a planned bank robbery, led by 'Pike Bishop' (William Holden), with 'Dutch Engstrom' (Ernest Borgnine), 'Lyle Gorch' (Warren Oates), 'Tector Gorch' (Ben Johnson), 'Angel' (Jaime Sanchez), 'Buck' (Rayford Barnes) and 'Crazy Lee' (Luke Hopkins), dressed as Us Cavalry, while a gaggle of bounty hunters led by railroad detective 'Patrick Harrigan' (Albert Dekker), former Bishop gang member 'Deke Thornton' (Robert Ryan), 'Coffer' (Strother Martin), 'T.C.