News

Mitchell Leisen’s great Christmas-time tale has a brilliant screenplay by Preston Sturges and letter-perfect performances by Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray, threading the needle between light cynicism and well-earned sentiment. Sturges’ celebration of ‘country values’ is sincere and heartfelt, as is his affection for the supporting cast. The presentation includes two radio broadcasts plus a star-studded Paramount short subject for war bonds.

Remember the Night

Region B Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator

1940 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 94 min. / / Street Date December 19, 2022 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £18.99

Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Beulah Bondi, Elizabeth Patterson, Sterling Holloway, Julius Tannen, Virginia Brissac, Fred ‘Snowflake’ Toones, Charles Arnt, Paul Guilfoyle.

Cinematography: Ted Tetzlaff

Art Directors: Hans Drier, Roland Anderson

Costumes: Edith Head

Film Editor: Doane Harrison

Original Music: Friedrich Hollander

Written by Preston Sturges

Produced by

Directed by Mitchell Leisen

The 1940 feature Remember the Night made its comeback a few years ago just as...

Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh, willy, silly, old bear is coming for you! One imagines that the filmmakers behind Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey would absolutely love to include lyrics like those above in their new Winnie the Pooh slasher movie. It’d be as if Disneyland’s Main Street intersected with Freddy Kreuger’s Elm! However, for much of the same reason that “Winnie-the-Pooh” is nigh unrecognizable in the Blood and Honey trailer, there’s a reason you’ll never hear the above riff on the iconic song in the new movie: the filmmakers behind Blood and Honey legally aren’t allowed to use it.

Indeed, the below Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey trailer hit the internet like a ton of bricks Wednesday morning when it revealed relatively modest (and formulaic) scares going down in the Hundred Acre Wood, with Winnie and his pal Piglet hunting and seemingly...

If you’re a new parent, you know that finding quality movies for your toddler can be a challenge. You want something to keep them entertained, but you also wish to be educational and age-appropriate. Luckily, Disney has a wide selection of great movies for toddlers that will please everyone in the family.

Everything You Need to Know About Disney’s “Baymax!” Series

Disney movies are a cherished part of childhood for many young kids. From classic tales like Cinderella and Snow White to modern-day hits like Frozen, these movies capture kids’ imaginations around the world.

For toddlers, many Disney films can be a fascinating way to learn about the world around them. The vibrant colors and catchy songs help to engage young minds, and the stories often teach kids valuable life lessons.

Whether your toddler is fascinated by animals or loves to dance along with the songs, there will...

A live-action adaptation of the classic animated film “The Aristocats” is in early development at Disney, Variety has confirmed.

“Peter Rabbit” director Will Gluck and “Onward” writer Keith Bunin are set to pen the script, with Gluck also producing via his Olive Bridge Entertainment banner.

The original 1970 film follows a family of aristocratic cats — mother Duchess and her three kittens Berlioz, Marie and Toulouse — living a luxurious life in Paris. But when their owner’s butler finds out that the cats are set to receive a massive fortune, he kidnaps them and abandons them in an unfamiliar land — the country. The aristocats then must befriend an alley cat, named Thomas O’Malley, to help them get home before the butler steals what is rightfully theirs.

Directed by core Disney animator Wolfgang Reitherman, the original voice cast included Phil Harris, Eva Gabor, Hermione Baddeley, Dean Clark, Sterling Holloway, Scatman Crothers and Roddy Maude-Roxby.

Lewis Milestone directed this poetic, optimistic ode to the American infantryman, a ‘lone patrol’ saga that emphasizes its soldiers’ hopes and fears. The lineup of fresh, eager acting talent is remarkable: Dana Andrews, Richard Conte, George Tyne, John Ireland, Lloyd Bridges, Sterling Holloway, Norman Lloyd, Herbert Rudley, Richard Benedict, Huntz Hall, James Cardwell, Steve Brodie. Voiceovers and ‘ballads’ give a six-mile beachhead incursion the tone of a spiritual rumination. A beautiful full film restoration brings the image back to prime quality. The controversial filmmakers and the unusual production circumstances are covered in Alan K. Rode’s commentary.

A Walk in the Sun

Blu-ray + DVD

Kit Parker Films / Mvd Visual

1945 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 117 min. / Street Date January 18, 2022 / The Definitive Restoration / Available from Amazon / 29.95

Starring: Dana Andrews, Richard Conte, George Tyne, John Ireland, Lloyd Bridges, Sterling Holloway, Norman Lloyd, Herbert Rudley, Richard Benedict, Huntz Hall, James Cardwell, Steve Brodie, Matt Willis,...

"Wtf Value"

By Raymond Benson

Only serious film history aficionados and perhaps viewers of Turner Classic Movies will be aware that there was once a live-action version of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland adapted by Hollywood in the early pre-code years. It was released in 1933 by Paramount and directed by Norman Z. McLeod, the guy who had helmed the Marx Brothers’ comedies Monkey Business (1931) and Horse Feathers (1932). McLeod would go on to make such titles as It’s a Gift (1934), Topper (1937), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), and The Paleface (1948).

The production of Alice in 1933 boasts a screenplay by none other than heavyweights Joseph L. Mankiewicz and William Cameron Menzies, the man behind Things to Come and a production designer whose hands were all over Hollywood and British productions over the next two decades. The script also borrows heavily from the popular and then-current stage production written by Eva La Gallienne and Florida Friebus,...

Not every movie can play on the nostalgia factor for every generation, but no matter how old you are, there’s a good chance that you grew up with Winnie the Pooh in some form. The character created by A.A. Milne has endured for over 90 years as a beloved figure of children’s literature and television. And in that time, that silly old bear has been through a lot. Here, we look at the history of Pooh Bear across his many books and cartoons, all the way up to the live action “Christopher Robin.”

The first Winnie the Pooh story written by Alan Alexander Milne first appeared in the London Evening News in 1925 on Christmas Eve. The story, “The Wrong Sort of Bees,” would be the first chapter in the first volume of stories, “Winnie-the-Pooh,” published on October 14, 1926. Milne named the boy in the story after his son, Christopher Robin Milne,...

Ever since Loggins and Messina tugged on our heartstrings with the wistful ‘70s ballad “House on Pooh Corner”, the notion of saying goodbye to childhood playmates has tinged A.A. Milne’s delightful Winnie the Pooh stories. It was seemingly inevitable that the song would be turned into a story, which more or less explains this summer’s Christopher Robin. The film, out now from Walt Disney Home Entertainment is incredibly predictable but still charming in its own way.

We have an adult Christopher (Ewan McGregor) who has married Evelyn (Hayley Atwell) and they have a daughter Madeline (Bronte Carmichael). However, the joy of childhood is gone in his life, replaced with drudgery, as he has become the London equivalent of the salaryman, working for a gray luggage company with inept management.

While the audience is shown that the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood gang – Winnie the Pooh (Jim Cummings), Owl (Toby Jones), Tigger,...

Burbank, Calif. — On Nov. 6, Disney’s Christopher Robin, the wondrous, live-action film in which Winnie the Pooh and friends venture into mid-century London to help grown-up Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor), arrives instantly on Digital and Movies Anywhere and on Blu-ray and DVD with captivating, behind-the-scenes extras. The fun-filled tale features A.A. Milne’s timeless characters from the Hundred Acre Wood — Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit and Owl — making their first appearance as three-dimensional characters who remind Christopher Robin, and viewers of all ages, to appreciate the simple pleasures in life.

This entirely new take on the Winnie the Pooh stories will transport parents back to the imaginative, carefree days of childhood and allow them to share their love of Pooh and friends with their own children. “When you are able to make people laugh and cry in the same movie and you are able to tell the story...

In just a few weeks you'll be able to bring Winnie the Pooh and all his friends from Hundred-acre Wood into your home when Christopher Robin arrives on blu-ray with plenty of bonus features. Come inside to learn more!

If you're looking to add the live-action Winnie the Pooh film to your shelves at home, and enjoy with the family, you'll get the chance pretty soon. Disney has revealed Christopher Robin will arrive digitally and on blu-ray November 6, 2018:

On Nov. 6, Disney’s “Christopher Robin,” the wondrous, live-action film in which Winnie the Pooh and friends venture into mid-century London to help grown-up Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor), arrives instantly on Digital and Movies Anywhere and on Blu-ray and DVD with captivating, behind-the-scenes extras. The fun-filled tale features A.A. Milne’s timeless characters from the Hundred Acre Wood — Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit and Owl — making their first appearance...

A.A. Milne’s silly old bear is back and looking ever so slightly — and altogether endearingly — scruffy in this new trailer for Disney’s live-action Christopher Robin. It’s the best glimpse we’ve had yet of director Marc Foster’s visually realistic, stitched-at-the-seams take on the Pooh bear, depressed donkey Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga, Roo and the rest of Milne’s menagerie.

The trailer, posted exclusively today on Ellen DeGeneres’ Ellentube, focuses more on the animals than previous teasers that set up the tale’s starting-point dilemma: An adult Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor) is an overworked London businessman who’s apparently not been spending nearly enough time with wife Evelyn (Hayley Atwell) and daughter Madeline (Bronte Carmichael). When he’s ordered to work yet another weekend, Christopher’s stuffed childhood pals arrive to set things right.

Judging from this trailer, Forster’s approach combines a bit of the familiar with the new. The clean, ’60s-modern look of Disney’s animated versions is replaced here with critters that really do look as if they’ve been pulled from an old toy chest in the attic. It’s an appealing blend.

Hitting theaters August 3, Forster’s Christopher Robin has a screenplay by Alex Ross Perry and Allison Schroeder and a story by Perry based on characters created by Milne and E.H. Shepard. The producers are Brigham Taylor and Kristin Burr with Renée Wolfe and Jeremy Johns serving as executive producers. In addition to McGregor, Atwell, Carmichael and Cummings (who also voices Tigger), the movies features Mark Gatiss as Christopher’s boss, and the voices of Brad Garrett (Eeyore), Toby Jones (Owl), Nick Mohammed (Piglet), Peter Capaldi (Rabbit), and Sophie Okonedo (Kanga).

Check out the trailer above, and the film’s poster art here:...

I'll never look at a crooked vegetable the same way ever again... My previous Depression Lesson salutes Sterling Holloway, whose name mixes the silver standard and the way of the hollow sounding ones—with whom, if we stop identifying, we must be damned. "Hail the Misshapen!" bawl Talkies, with character actors like Vince Barnett. Each tooth getting into mischief, telling its own story. Lesson 13 commences a belated celebration of Barnett's underbite and baked beans grin, without which our comprehension of the 1930s would wander. Minus a set of handy metaphors. His dental problems spell penury, guile, moral imbecility, and "no respect for human life." He'd cut your face off for a nickel. Barnett went by endless sobriquets—"Windy,""Snitz," "Soupmeat," "Peppo"—in countless programmers that mimicked inglorious times with cheap bliss and penny-pinching delectation. While Sterling Holloway schlumps gentle into that good night, Vince Barnett's teeth refuse, somehow managing to abide.

He possessed the sexual allure of a vegetable grown in poor light. A cartoon version of Dust-Bowl produce, prematurely uprooted from the parched earth... Was this etiolated radish a batty answer to audiences in need—some unhinged nostrum for a nation suffering under otherwise incurable blues? Depression Lesson #12 argues Sterling Holloway (oh, yes!) delivered. And he did so mainly by playing a miracle of employability. No character actor embraced his inner schlump with such acquiescent sideways momentum, flung at a framed, highly realistic world of earnings by an invisible hand. His ample red pate and prodigious honker had more mass than his entire body, which resembled a crimped and wavering line, unsettled by the slightest vibration. The free enterprise system—holographic beyond the movie palace, tantalizingly real within it—gave Holloway's bellhops and cabbies the chance to mock our glimmering vision.He handed it back to us with a smile seesawing between sly and dopey.

Do rediscovered ‘lost’ movies always disappoint? This Depression-era pre-Code science fiction disaster thriller was unique in its day, and its outrageously ambitious special effects –New York City is tossed into a blender — were considered the state of the art. Sidney Blackmer and a fetching Peggy Shannon fight off rapacious gangs in what may be the first post-apocalyptic survival thriller.

Deluge

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1933 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 67 min. / Street Date February 21, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring Peggy Shannon, Lois Wilson, Sidney Blackmer, Lane Chandler, Samuel S. Hinds, Fred Kohler, Matt Moore, Edward Van Sloan .

Cinematography: Norbert Brodine

Film Editor: Martin G. Cohn, Rose Loewinger

Special Effects: Ned Mann, Williams Wiliams, Russell Lawson, Ernie Crockett, Victor Scheurich, Carl Wester

Original Music: Val Burton

Written by Warren Duff, John F. Goodrich from the novel by Sydney Fowler Wright

Produced by Samuel Bischoff, Burt Kelly, William Saal

Directed by Felix E. Feist...

Lewis Milestone’s poetic character study of an infantry landing in Italy gives us a full dozen non-cliché portraits of men in war, featuring a dramatic dream team of interesting character actors. Dana Andrews was the only big star in the cast, joined by hopefuls Richard Conte, Lloyd Bridges and John Ireland; the standout crew includes Sterling Holloway, Norman Lloyd, Steve Brodie and Huntz Hall.

A Walk in the Sun

DVD

The Sprocket Vault / Kit Parker Films

1945 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 117 min. / Restored Collector’s Edition / Street Date ?, 2017 / available through The Sprocket Vault / 14.99

Starring: Richard Conte, George Tyne, John Ireland, Lloyd Bridges, Sterling Holloway, Norman Lloyd Dana Andrews, Herbert Rudley, Richard Benedict, Huntz Hall, James Cardwell, Steve Brodie, Matt Willis, Chris Drake, John Kellogg, Robert Horton, Burgess Meredith.

Cinematography: Russell Harlan

Film Editor: Duncan Mansfield

Original Music: Fredric Efrem Rich; ‘The Ballads’ sung by : Kenneth Spencer

Written by: Robert...

A.A. Milne’s beloved children’s creation Winnie the Pooh is celebrated every year on Jan. 18, Milne’s birthday.

The children’s icon got its start via a black bear named Winnie (apparently the former mascot of the Winnipeg regiment of the Canadian army, hence the name, according to the New York Public Library) living at the London Zoo during World War I. Milne’s coincidentally named son, Christopher Robin, visited the animal often and named his own stuffed bear after the real Winnie — and, oddly enough, a swan named Pooh.

Milne, who served in the front lines of Wwi...

Chicago – The delightful new animated film “Trolls” takes the familiar doll to a new level of fun and heart. Behind this invention is the director team of Mike Mitchell and Walt Dohrn, who have worked together in various animation roles over the years before teaming up in their first collaboration for Dreamworks Studio.

“Trolls” has familiar voice talent – Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Zooey Deschanel, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Christine Baranski and Russell Brand among them, and adds a splash of colorful psychedelia and musical joy. Mitchell and Dohrn has also worked on familiar animated films like “Shrek Forever After,” “Mr. Peabody & Sherman,” “Alvin & the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked” and “Madagascar.”

The Animated Cast of ‘Trolls,’ Directed by Mike Mitchell & Walt Dohrn

Photo credit: 20th Century Fox

Mike Mitchell and Walt Dohrn – in his directorial debut – sat down with HollywoodChicago.com to talk the craft, energy and inspiration it took to create their wonderfully entertaining new film.

Scarlett Johansson brings some much-needed female energy to The Jungle Book. In Walt Disney Pictures' live-action/CGI movie (on Digital HD Aug. 23 and on Blu-ray Aug. 30), Johansson voices Kaa, a deceptive and alluring python; Sterling Holloway first voiced the character in the studio's 1967 animated classic. When Jon Favreau agreed to direct this film, he saw it an "opportunity" to let someone as adept and talented as Johansson reimagine the role. E! News got an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Johansson and Favreau redeveloping Kaa in the recording studio. As she explains in the clip (part of the Blu-ray and digital bonus features), "It's a boy snake in the cartoon. And also, he's a...

Disney's latest live-action update of one of its classic animated features is "The Jungle Book." But don't expect just a shiny CG update of the 1967 cartoon that turned Rudyard Kipling's fierce beasts into mostly adorable, toy-ready critters. For one thing, if you've seen the trailers, you know this new version features some impressive-looking animals, speaking with the voices of some impressive stars. For another thing, its director is Jon Favreau, who helped launch the Marvel Cinematic Universe with "Iron Man."

Favreau and Disney clearly wanted to make something more than just a retread of the studio's 1967 cartoon -- or Disney's 1994 live-action version. Judging by the 100% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, they've pulled it off. Here are five things you need to know before entering the "Jungle."

1. Think 'Avatar,' Only Earthbound

The James Cameron epic is a movie Favreau has name-checked often in describing the exotic,...

It’s remake time again. Since there’s another remake coming out of the story we’re looking at today, it seemed like a perfect time to dissect this one. This week, Cinelinx looks at Jungle Book.

The novel “Jungle Book” was written by Rudyard Kipling (Author of Gunga Din and The Man Who Would Be King) in 1894. It was a series of short stories using anthropomorphic animals to tell tales reflecting the conflict between man and nature. Three of the stories featured Mowgli, a boy raised in the jungle by animals (Mowgli was partly the inspiration for Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan) and is torn between his two worlds. There have been several film interpretations of this story, with a new one coming out this week. The two most famous are the first adaptation from 1942, and the popular animated Disney musical version from 1967. (We’ll skip the 1994 version with Jason Scott Lee...

He's back and he's funnier than ever. The mischievous, cagey entertainer William Claude Dukenfield starred in some of the best comedies ever. This five-disc DVD set contains eighteen of his best, all the way from Million Dollar Legs in 1932 to Never Give a Sucker an Even Break in 1941. And we get to see all sides of W.C's talent -- he was a top-rank juggler, of just about anything. W.C. Fields Comedy Essentials Collection DVD Universal Studios Home Entertainment 1932-1941 / B&W / 1:37 Academy 1316 minutes (21 hours, 46 min) Street Date October 13, 2015 / 99.98 Starring Larson E. Whipsnade, T. Frothinghill Bellows, Egbert Sousé, Eustace P. McGargle, Harold Bissonette, Professor Quail, Augustus Winterbottom, Mr. Stubbins, Sam Bisbee, Ambrose Wolfinger, Cuthbert J. Twillie, Humpty-Dumpty. Written by Charles Bogle, Mahatma Kane Jeeves, Otis Criblecoblis

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

In the late 1960s there were these things called Head Shops, see, where various hippie consumer goods were sold.

© 2015 Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced its fall programming slate, beginning with “This Is Duplass: An Evening with Jay and Mark” and “In the Labyrinth: A Conversation with Guillermo del Toro” hosted by Academy Museum Director Kerry Brougher.

Other events to be presented from October through early December include a conversation with Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien, a screening of Fellini’s “Amarcord,” a look back at the first days of Disneyland with “Hollywood Home Movies,” a new restoration of 1943’s “Heaven Can Wait,” an Academy Film Scholars Lecture highlighting prolific director Lois Weber, and an anniversary screening of the holiday classic “Remember the Night.”

This Is Duplass: An Evening With Jay And Mark Tuesday, October 6, at 7:30 p.m. Samuel Goldwyn Theater, Beverly Hills Jay and Mark Duplass will take the stage to discuss their smart, off-center and comedic cinematic style,...

Gary Cooper movies on TCM: Cooper at his best and at his weakest Gary Cooper is Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” star today, Aug. 30, '15. Unfortunately, TCM isn't showing any Cooper movie premiere – despite the fact that most of his Paramount movies of the '20s and '30s remain unavailable. This evening's features are Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Sergeant York (1941), and Love in the Afternoon (1957). Mr. Deeds Goes to Town solidified Gary Cooper's stardom and helped to make Jean Arthur Columbia's top female star. The film is a tad overlong and, like every Frank Capra movie, it's also highly sentimental. What saves it from the Hell of Good Intentions is the acting of the two leads – Cooper and Arthur are both excellent – and of several supporting players. Directed by Howard Hawks, the jingoistic, pro-war Sergeant York was a huge box office hit, eventually earning Academy Award nominations in several categories,...

Cast

Captain T. G. Culpeper Spencer Tracy J. Russell Finch Milton Berle Melville Crump Sid Caesar Benjy Benjamin Buddy Hackett Mrs. Marcus Ethel Merman Ding Bell Mickey Rooney Sylvester Marcus Dick Shawn Otto Meyer Phil Silvers J. Algernon Hawthorne Terry-Thomas Lennie Pike Jonathan Winters Monica Crump Edie Adams Emeline Finch Dorothy Provine Cabdriver Eddie “Rochester” Anderson Tyler Fitzgerald Jim Backus Man driving in the desert Jack Benny Union official Joe E. Brown Biplane pilot Ben Blue Police sergeant Alan Carney Detective Chick Chandler Mrs. Halliburton Barrie Chase Mayor Lloyd Corrigan Police chief William Demarest Sheriff of Crocket County Andy Devine Ginger Culpeper (voice) Selma Diamond Cabdriver Peter Falk Detective Normal Fell Colonel Wilberforce Paul Ford Deputy sheriff Stan Freberg Billie Sue Culpeper (voice) Louise Glenn Cabdriver Leo Gorcey Fire chief Sterling Holloway Mr. Dinckler Edward Everett Horton Irwin Marvin Kaplan Jimmy the Cook Buster Keaton Nervous motorist Don Knotts Airport...

Tim here. It’s Independence Day weekend here in the States, which means that most of you undoubtedly have something better to do than read about old cartoons. But if I promise to keep things short, hopefully you’ll indulge me in chatting up an odd little animated short perfectly timed to the holiday.

I have in mind Ben and Me, one of the oddest one-offs in the history of Walt Disney Productions. Released in November, 1953, it was the studio’s first two-reel animated short, and one of the initial releases under Disney’s own Buena Vista Distribution label, part of a package deal with the nature documentary The Living Desert. But more to the point, for our present purposes, it’s about how a mouse helps Benjamin Franklin write the preamble to the Declaration of Independence. We can wait a minute if you want to process all the ways...

Academy Award-winning actor Ben Kingsley has been cast as the voice of Bagheera in Disney’s upcoming The Jungle Book.

Directed by Jon Favreau from a script by Justin Marks, The Jungle Book combines live action and animated filmmaking.

The film arrives in theaters in 3D on October 9, 2015.

From Wikipedia:

Inspired by the Rudyard Kipling’s book of the same name, it is the 19th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, it was the last to be produced by Walt Disney, who died during its production. The plot follows Mowgli, a feral child raised in the Indian jungle by wolves, as his friends Bagheera the panther and Baloo the bear try to convince him into leaving the jungle before the evil tiger Shere Khan arrives.

The early versions of both the screenplay and the soundtrack followed Kipling’s work more closely, with a dramatic,...

Well, it was only a matter of time before Lupita Nyong'o, recent Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner for "12 Years a Slave," landed her first big post-Oscar Hollywood gig (and no, "Non-Stop" doesn't count). Well, that gig has just been landed, although it's probably not what you were expecting. It seems that Nyong'o will voice Rakcha, a mother wolf, in Disney's big-screen retelling of "The Jungle Book," at least according to the Hollywood Reporter.

But that's not all. The same report indicates that Scarlett Johansson, currently making waves with her provocative role in Jonathan Glazer's deeply brilliant and bizarre "Under the Skin" (not to mention storming the box office in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier"), has also been cast in the new film, as the villainous python Kaa. (In the original 1967 Disney animated classic, Kaa was very much a dude, essayed by legendary Disney voice actor Sterling Holloway.) Last year,...

The Turner Classic Movies (TCM) Film Festival wrapped up its 5th annual hoorah in Hollywood on Sunday and this year was chock full of joyful and exciting films and special guests. There were so many wonderful old movies that most people have seen, but for me the true thrill was the chance to see a beloved movie on the big screen, the way it was intended.

Throw in some amazing guests and it was absolute gold.

Walt Disney’s The Jungle Book (1967)

Screened at the beautiful El Capitan Theater, The Jungle Book was the last Disney animated feature that was overseen by Walt Disney himself. After the success of Mary Poppins and other Disney hits such as The Parent Trap, The Absent Minded Professor and The Sword in the Stone, Disney went back to the well and asked songwriters Bobby and Richard Sherman to take a swing at its animated...

The Jungle Book (1967) was Disney’s 19th animated feature and the last that Walt himself had a hand in, though it wasn’t released in theaters until nearly a year after his death.Sebastian Cabot, Phil Harris, George Sanders, J. Pat O’Malley, Sterling Holloway, and especially Louis Prima made animated characters come to brilliant life in The Jungle Book, well-adapted from Kipling’s collection of short stories. The story followed the man-cub Mowgli (voiced by Bruce Reitherman in an appealing performance) as he trekked from the jungle to the man-village. Along the way he encountered a strange parade of figures including the sniveling Kaa (Holloway), the evil Shere Khan (Sanders) and the rambunctious King Louie (Prima, who got the film’s best song – ‘Bear Necessities’). His two parental figures were Baloo the Bear and the sage Bagaheera. They were voiced by Harris and Cabot and their chemistry together really made the triangle of Mowgli,...

‘Gilda,’ ‘Pulp Fiction’: 2013 National Film Registry movies (photo: Rita Hayworth in ‘Gilda’) See previous post: “‘Mary Poppins’ in National Film Registry: Good Timing for Disney’s ‘Saving Mr. Banks.’” Billy Woodberry’s UCLA thesis film Bless Their Little Hearts (1984). Stanton Kaye’s Brandy in the Wilderness (1969). The Film Group’s Cicero March (1966), about a Civil Rights march in an all-white Chicago suburb. Norbert A. Myles’ Daughter of Dawn (1920), with Hunting Horse, Oscar Yellow Wolf, Esther Labarre. Bill Morrison’s Decasia (2002), featuring decomposing archival footage. Alfred E. Green’s Ella Cinders (1926), with Colleen Moore, Lloyd Hughes, Vera Lewis. Fred M. Wilcox’s Forbidden Planet (1956), with Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Warren Stevens, Jack Kelly, Robby the Robot. Charles Vidor’s Gilda (1946), with Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready. John and Faith Hubley’s Oscar-winning animated short The Hole (1962). Stanley Kramer’s Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), with Best Actor Oscar winner Maximilian Schell,...

On October 16, 1923, Walt Disney and brother Roy signed a contract with Margaret Winkler to make a series of animated cartoons called Alice Comedies. What was then known as The Disney Brothers Studio eventually became The Walt Disney Company, a multi-billion dollar creative force crossing movies, TV, video games and theme parks.

With Disney celebrating its 90th birthday today, we here at Digital Spy are marking this momentous anniversary by picking out our favourite Disney movies. Disney has produced and released an eclectic range of films crossing classic animation (see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), live-action blockbusters (Tron, Pirates of the Caribbean) and trail-blazing Pixar offerings (Toy Story, Wall-e).

Without further delay, here are 13 movies from the Disney back catalogue that we absolutely adore...

Tom Eames, Entertainment Reporter - Robin Hood

There have been many adaptations of Robin Hood over the decades, from Russell Crowe's multi-accented gruff take, to...

On October 16, 1923, Walt Disney and brother Roy signed a contract with Margaret Winkler to make a series of animated cartoons called Alice Comedies. What was then known as The Disney Brothers Studio eventually became The Walt Disney Company, a multi-billion dollar creative force crossing movies, TV, video games and theme parks.

With Disney celebrating its 90th birthday today, we here at Digital Spy are marking this momentous anniversary by picking out our favourite Disney movies. Disney has produced and released an eclectic range of films crossing classic animation (see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), live-action blockbusters (Tron, Pirates of the Caribbean) and trail-blazing Pixar offerings (Toy Story, Wall-e).

Without further delay, here are 13 movies from the Disney back catalogue that we absolutely adore...

Tom Eames, Entertainment Reporter - Robin Hood

There have been many adaptations of Robin Hood over the decades, from Russell Crowe's multi-accented gruff take, to...

Ramon Novarro and Greta Garbo in ‘Mata Hari’: The wrath of the censors (See previous post: "Ramon Novarro in One of the Best Silent Movies.") George Fitzmaurice’s romantic spy melodrama Mata Hari (1931) was well received by critics and enthusiastically embraced by moviegoers. The Greta Garbo / Ramon Novarro combo — the first time Novarro took second billing since becoming a star — turned Mata Hari into a major worldwide blockbuster, with $2.22 million in worldwide rentals. The film became Garbo’s biggest international success to date, and Novarro’s highest-grossing picture after Ben-Hur. (Photo: Ramon Novarro and Greta Garbo in Mata Hari.) Among MGM’s 1932 releases — Mata Hari opened on December 31, 1931 — only W.S. Van Dyke’s Tarzan, the Ape Man, featuring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan, and Edmund Goulding’s all-star Best Picture Academy Award winner Grand Hotel (also with Garbo, in addition to Joan Crawford, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, and...

Fred MacMurray movies: ‘Double Indemnity,’ ‘There’s Always Tomorrow’ Fred MacMurray is Turner Classic Movies’ "Summer Under the Stars" today, Thursday, August 7, 2013. Although perhaps best remembered as the insufferable All-American Dad on the long-running TV show My Three Sons and in several highly popular Disney movies from 1959 to 1967, e.g., The Absent-Minded Professor, Son of Flubber, Boy Voyage!, MacMurray was immeasurably more interesting as the All-American Jerk. (Photo: Fred MacMurray ca. 1940.) Someone once wrote that Fred MacMurray would have been an ideal choice to star in a biopic of disgraced Republican president Richard Nixon. Who knows, the (coincidentally Republican) MacMurray might have given Anthony Hopkins a run for his Best Actor Academy Award nomination. After all, MacMurray’s most admired movie performances are those in which he plays a scheming, conniving asshole: Billy Wilder’s classic film noir Double Indemnity (1944), in which he’s seduced by Barbara Stanwyck, and Wilder...

“Oh, oobee doo/ I wanna be like you…” This animation from 1967 benefits from featuring the most joyous two songs – “I Wanna Be Like You” and “The Bare Necessities” – in a Disney movie. Other moments to savour, in this loose adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli tales, are George Sanders's louche tiger, Shere Khan, and Sterling Holloway's snake, Kaa.

In this compendium of adventures featuring AA Milne's loveable bear, material from three previous outings - Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (Pooh's efforts to pinch a stash of honey from a buzzing beehive), the Oscar-winning Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (a dangerous storm and a subsequent flood threaten the chums' home) and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (Tigger gets to be too much for the other residents of the Hundred Acre Wood). is spliced together with additional content. Charming and sweet, it only goes to show that no-one can say "Oh bother" quite like the veteran Sterling Holloway's Pooh.

Warner Archive Collection 4th anniversary DVD / Blu-ray releases The Warner Archive Collection (aka Wac), which currently has a DVD / Blu-ray library consisting of approximately 1,500 titles, has just turned four. In celebration of its fourth anniversary, Wac is releasing with movies featuring the likes of Jane Powell, Eleanor Parker, and many more stars and filmmakers of yesteryear. (Pictured above: Greer Garson, Debbie Reynolds, Ricardo Montalban in the sentimental 1966 comedy / drama with music The Singing Nun.) For starters, Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds play siblings in Richard Thorpe's Athena (1954), whose supporting cast includes Edmund Purdom, Vic Damone, frequent Jerry Lewis foil Kathleen Freeman, Citizen Kane's Ray Collins, Tyrone Power's then-wife Linda Christian, former Mr. Universe and future Hercules Steve Reeves, veteran Louis Calhern, not to mention numerology, astrology, and vegetarianism. As per Wac's newsletter, the score by Hugh Martin and Martin Blane "gets a first ever Stereophonic Sound remix for this disc,...

Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none

By Harvey F. Chartrand

Peter Gunn: The Complete Series is now available for the first time ever as a 12-dvd box set from Timeless Media Group… all 114 episodes, with a running time of over 58 hours.

Peter Gunn – created and produced by Blake Edwards – ran for three seasons – from 1958 to 1961. This classic detective show was a delightful blend of film noir and fifties cool, featuring a modern jazz score by Henry Mancini (a bonus CD of the soundtrack is included in the set), outbreaks of the old ultra-violence, a gallery of eccentric and sleazy characters (usually informants, gangsters and Beat Generation bohemians), and great acting by series leads Craig Stevens (as Gunn), Lola Albright (as his squeeze, sultry nightclub singer Edie Hart) and Herschel Bernardi (as Gunn’s friend and competitor Lieutenant Jacoby, who seems to work all by himself 24 hours a day...

The Jungle Book

Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman

Written by Larry Clemmons, Ralph Wright, Ken Anderson, and Vance Gerry

Starring Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, George Sanders, Louis Prima, Sterling Holloway

Why are so many Disney movies incapable of creating indelible lead characters? I wonder if that question is tantamount to heresy for many Disney buffs, but it’s worth asking. Don’t get me wrong: there are a number of Disney movies that work so well thanks in no small part to the lead character, from Belle in Beauty and the Beast to Tiana in The Princess and the Frog. (And, for the purposes of this argument, I’m leaving aside any Pixar movies.) But a whole host of Disney movies, ones that we consider classics, have a great, big, gaping hole at their center, counterbalanced by colorful supporting characters.

Take, for instance, Aladdin. Though we’ll talk about this 1992 animated...

Bambi

Directed by David Hand

Written by Perce Pearce, Larry Morey, Vernon Stallings, Melvin Shaw, Carl Fallberg, Chuck Couch, Ralph Wright

Starring Bobby Stewart, Donny Dunagan, Paula Winslowe, Sterling Holloway

Bambi is a film that touches greatness often, but only just. So much of the 1942 film is justifiably memorable, rightfully iconic, but it slips up in a few notable spots that it’s not quite as perfect as some (such as my co-host Gabe) say it is, nor is it as sublime an experience as the 1940 animated film Pinocchio is. More than the four films that preceded it from Walt Disney Pictures, Bambi is arguably the most exquisite and beautifully animated film from the company. The attention to detail and commitment to reality that the animators strove for throughout the production process is often truly impressive in how it pays off, but there are a few places where they lose the thread,...

Despite the title, Brad Pitt does not appear in this episode. Instead, "the box" refers to a TV that unexpectedly adds a new broadcast channel. The Twilight Zone, Episode #144: "What's in the Box" (original air date March 13, 1964) The Plot: Taxi driver Joe Britt (William Demarest) is a grouchy sort of man, barking at his long-suffering wife Phyllis (Joan Blondell) over dinner; she responds in kind. He retreats to the living room, where a repairman (Sterling Holloway) is laboring to fix the television, and proceeds to express his suspicions, in general, about repairmen. With a twinkle in his eye, the repairman declares that the set is fixed, and leaves, but not before twinkling his eye again. Rod Serling then provides his introduction,...

.I saw a peanut stand, heard a rubber band, I saw a needle that winked its eye, but I think I will have seen everything when I see an elephant fly.. Well, Dumbo certainly soars onto Blu-ray in a fantastic print that will reduce other editions to pink elephants. Dumbo is the tale of a big eared circus elephant. Mrs. Jumbo is expecting a delivery; it.s not from the U.S. Postal service, but the stork. She.s disappointed when her package doesn.t arrive and the circus pulls up stakes from their headquarters and heads for another performance. Mrs. Dumbo.s stork (voiced by Sterling Holloway) is late because a baby elephant can be heavy to carry. He finally...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

Abduction - Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins, Alfred Molina

Dolphin Tale 3D - Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Harry Connick Jr.

Killer Elite - Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert De Niro

Moneyball - Brad Pitt, Robin Wright, Jonah Hill

Movie of the Week

Moneyball

The Stars: Brad Pitt, Robin Wright, Jonah Hill

The Plot: The story of Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane’s successful attempt to put together a baseball club on a budget by employing computer-generated analysis to draft his players.

The Buzz: Correct me if I’m wrong, but has there ever been a really great baseball movie? Yes, there have been a few, like Major League, Bull Durham, and A League of Their Own. Those are comedies though, so let me rephrase the question: has there ever been a really great baseball drama? Hmm, The Natural was decent, albeit dated and a consequently a bit cheesy.

Looking at Christopher Robin’s room at the start of Winnie the Pooh, we see that the boy has not been tainted by modernity. His abode remains as it always was; chock full of books, stuffed animals, old-fashioned toys and an assortment of collections. It is doubtful any child’s room looks like this anymore, signifying that this is a film that will be a return to what once was. Recent animated features like Rango and Toy Story 3 are more accomplished fare with their complex and/or exquisitely executed themes balanced with wondrous storytelling, but sometimes it is nice to return to something as gentle and pure as A.A. Milne’s world of “Winnie the Pooh”. The new film may not stick with viewers amidst everything else out there, but it is a joy through and through.

A.A Milne’s “Winnie the Pooh” stories are episodic in that each...

We all know the beloved characters, but what about the voices behind the animation? Movie Fanatic got a chance to catch up with the talent behind Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and Rabbit.

Winnie the Pooh hits theaters Friday, July 15, 2011.

Jim Cummings has been doing the iconic voice of Pooh since 1987 and Tigger since 2000, taking over from Sterling Holloway and Paul Winchell. Those are both very big shoes to fill and Cummings knows how important it is to get the voices just right. But can he do it? Listen below and decide for yourself!

Many Pooh fans know and love the original Pooh from the infamous shorts - all voiced by Sterling Holloway. But can people notice any difference? Well he's been doing it since the '80s and many of the Pooh voices you hear is actually him anyway.

So how did Cummings get such a coveted gig?

"It was...

Everett / Disney A scene from “Winne the Pooh”

Even on the phone, Jim Cummings’s voice has a distinctive, rumbling familiarity. As he talks about his family, his film work and the development of the latest feature film version of “Winnie the Pooh,” out today, it’s hard to not imagine a stuffy old bear on the other end of the line.

Cummings, 58, has voiced A.A. Milne’s beloved bear in films, TV and video games since 1983, when he took...

Hand-drawn animation, lovable characters, and a timeless story all make Winnie The Pooh a must see in the theaters!

All is well in the Hundred Acre Wood. Winnie the Pooh is in search of honey. There is no honey left in his house and his tummy will not stop grumbling at him until Pooh finds some. While on his quest he finds Eeyore, who seems more down than normal. Turns out that his tail has gone missing. They gather up the gang and hold a contest to see who can find Eeyore a new tail. While out and about, searching for tails and such, Pooh finds a note from Christopher Robin that says “Gone out. Busy. Back soon.” and brings it to Owl to read. See, there isn’t a lot of reading going on in the Hundred Acre Wood, and Owl is the smartest of them all. Of course,...

Winnie the Pooh is one of those characters so ingrained in a child's imagination, it's hard to imagine anything about the beloved cartoon changing. But that's just what Disney has done with its brand new feature length movie. It's the first time classic Pooh has ever been turned into a feature length film - up until now, the stories have consisted of short films, sometimes amalgamated to create longer film, but still shorts nonetheless.

Now, Pooh's off on a brand new adventure in the Hundred Acre Woods and all his friends have come out to play.

We talked to Winnie the Pooh directors Don Hall and Stephen Anderson about making the updated film, but staying true to audience expectations.

"We were very reverent to the material. It was sort of Burny (story artist), he was sort of our secret weapon because he worked on the original Winnie the Pooh, so...

The Merry Widow (1934) Direction: Ernst Lubitsch Cast: Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Edward Everett Horton, Una Merkel, George Barbier, Minna Gombell, Sterling Holloway Screenplay: Ernest Vajda and Samson Raphaelson; from Franz Lehár's operetta Oscar Movies Highly Recommended Jeanette MacDonald, Maurice Chevalier, The Merry Widow The Merry Widow is neither one of Ernst Lubitsch's most discussed nor best-liked films. Film critics and historians generally tend to focus on a couple of his early, pre-Code Paramount talkies, One Hour with You (co-directed with George Cukor) and Trouble in Paradise, and his later comedies Ninotchka and To Be or Not to Be. But that's the critics' and historians' fault. For the visually and aurally arresting The Merry Widow is a superlative musical, boasting sumptuous sets (production design by Cedric Gibbons), exquisite black-and-white cinematography (Oliver T. Marsh), and a magnificently staged ballroom-dancing sequence that should impress even those who couldn't care less about...

Most formats take a while to come into their own. Who can remember the first horrible DVDs? The first discs were defined by a paucity of special features, with most blurbs proudly boasting “Scene Access” and “Interactive Menus” as the carrot for you to give us those old VHS tapes. Then there was the packaging itself which came, depending on the studio, in a variety of horrible designs (the cardboard ones proffered by Warner Brothers stand out as especially awful in my memory). Disney were likewise slow to live up to recognise the potential of the new format, with the studio’s first releases – which, as it happens, included Alice in Wonderland – resolutely vanilla. Though you always sensed the marketing wing was holding back the good stuff for the fourth or fifth re-issue a couple of years down the line.

It came as a pleasant surprise then that Disney entered...