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One of the most beloved television families of the 1980s is set to make a long awaited return in the world premiere of Family Ties, written by Daniel Goldstein The Song of Songs, Unknown Soldier and Row, based on the classic television series, directed by The Human Race's President amp Artistic Director Kevin Moore and produced by special arrangement by Araca Media amp Entertainment. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below...

One of the most beloved television families of the 1980s is set to make a long awaited return in the world premiere of Family Ties, written by Daniel Goldstein The Song of Songs, Unknown Soldier and Row, based on the classic television series, directed by The Human Race's President amp Artistic Director Kevin Moore and produced by special arrangement by Araca Media amp Entertainment.

The Human Race Theatre Company Hrtc announces the cast and creative team for its 30th anniversary season closer, the world premiere comedy Family Ties, written by Daniel Goldstein The Song of Songs, Unknown Soldier and Row, based on the classic television series, directed by Hrtc President amp Artistic Director Kevin Moore and produced by special arrangement by Araca Media amp Entertainment.

Although I saw it last year in Morelia's Arturo de Cordova retrospective, I find the opportunity to see "The Kneeling Goddess," starring María Félix as well as de Cordova, irresistible, at the Morelia International Film Festival. It's an amazing melodrama with noirish elements. Felix, something of a glorious amalgam of Rita Hayworth and Ava Gardner, is literally statuesque, in that a nude statue of her figures prominently in both the plot and many shots. Steven Jacobs and Lisa Colpaert, authors of "The Dark Galleries," about the paintings used in film noir and gothic melodramas, are working on another book about statues. I commend "The Kneeling Goddess" to their attention, along with Rouben Mamoulian's "The Song of Songs," with its statue of a nude Marlene Dietrich. I especially enjoy the sequences set in a fantasy sailor's dive bar in Panama, where Felix is the singing star of a lavish revue.

Entertaining President John F. Kennedy behind closed doors; entertaining an emotional audience at a concert in Israel. Each was a little-known 1960s “performance” by actress Marlene Dietrich. And both are recounted by biographer and playwright Charlotte Chandler in this audio excerpt from her latest book, Marlene: Marlene Dietrich, A Personal Biography (Simon & Schuster), in which Chandler draws upon interviews with the actress and those who knew her well—including composer Burt Bacharach—to shed new light on the public and private Dietrich. Vanity Fair offers this sometimes shocking account, timed to coincide with the release of a new two-film DVD set of “The Song of Songs” and “This Is Night.” Listen to the podcast after the jump.

Tuesday, DVD roundup day, is a fine day for taking a look at the new Summer 2011 issue of Cineaste, particularly since, among the online samplings this time around, DVD reviews outnumber all other types of articles combined.

To begin, Darragh O'Donoghue on Harun Farocki's Still Life (1997): "Five aphoristic essays on 17th-century Dutch still-life painting, of about three minutes each, bracket four documentary sequences of photographers creating modern still lifes for magazine advertisements. These two levels, though defined by opposites — stasis/motion, tell/show — are linked by visual motifs and rhymes, just as the modern products echo the subjects of the paintings. The documentary sequences have no commentary, mostly last ten to fifteen minutes, and take their cue from Farocki's earlier An Image (Ein bild, 1983). In that short, he recorded the shooting of a German Playboy centerfold spread, from the building of sets and the arrangement of props (including...

The Song of Songs (1933) Direction: Rouben Mamoulian Screenplay: Samuel Hoffenstein, Leo Birinsky; from Hermann Sudermann’s novel and Edward Sheldon’s play Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Brian Aherne, Lionel Atwill, Alison Skipworth, Hardie Albright, Helen Freeman In her first American film without the guidance of Joseph von Sternberg, Marlene Dietrich was definitely up to the acting challenge of Rouben Mamoulian‘s The Song of Songs. Not only are there some fine performances in this 1933 Mamoulian effort, but the screenplay by Leo Birinsky and Samuel Hoffenstein, taken from both Hermann Sudermann‘s novel and Edward Sheldon‘s play, is mature and compelling. In The Song of Songs, Dietrich plays Lily Czepanek, a naive country girl who goes to live in Berlin after her father dies. Once there, she works in her Aunt’s book store and discovers the world. The sculptor Waldow (played by Brian Aherne), lives upstairs and notices Lily’s unspoiled beauty.