Like most of the cinema’s recurring images and sensations, there’s no precise “first movie” about the maladjusted, dissatisfied, wounded soul, but the floodgates about this most serious of fellows seemed to open just after World War II. The late 1940s and early ’50s witnessed the infiltration of the New York theater, Marlon Brando, Elia Kazan, Stanley Kramer, Robert Rossen, Abraham Polonsky, Nicholas Ray, and so on—directors, scribes, or actors whose meal tickets more often than not depended on their ability to write the counter-mythology to V-Day utopia. They asked, amid the fanfare and the ticker-tape parades, “Is this all there is?”
Deities such as Brando and James Dean were responsible for taking that particular ship into orbit, but John Garfield was a pioneer of sorts, as early as 1938’s Four Daughters, where his appearance in such a genteel trifle was no less jarring than a Martian invasion.
Deities such as Brando and James Dean were responsible for taking that particular ship into orbit, but John Garfield was a pioneer of sorts, as early as 1938’s Four Daughters, where his appearance in such a genteel trifle was no less jarring than a Martian invasion.
- 9/29/2024
- by Jaime N. Christley
- Slant Magazine
Just in time for Succession‘s end, let’s look at method acting. The Criterion Channel are highlighting the controversial practice in a 27-film series centered on Brando, Newman, Nicholson, and many other’s embodiment of “an intensely personal, internalized, and naturalistic approach to performance.” That series makes mention of Marilyn Monroe, who gets her own, 11-title highlight––the iconic commingling with deeper cuts.
Pride Month offers “Masc,” a consideration of “trans men, butch lesbians, and gender-nonconforming heroes” onscreen; the Michael Koresky-curated Queersighted returning with a study of the gay best friend; and the 20-film “LGBTQ+ Favorites.” Louis Garrel’s delightful The Innocent (about which I talked to him here), the director’s cut of Gregg Araki’s The Doom Generation, and Stanley Kwan’s hugely underseen Lan Yu make streaming premieres, while Araki’s Totally F***ed Up and Mysterious Skin also get a run. Criterion Editions include Five Easy Pieces,...
Pride Month offers “Masc,” a consideration of “trans men, butch lesbians, and gender-nonconforming heroes” onscreen; the Michael Koresky-curated Queersighted returning with a study of the gay best friend; and the 20-film “LGBTQ+ Favorites.” Louis Garrel’s delightful The Innocent (about which I talked to him here), the director’s cut of Gregg Araki’s The Doom Generation, and Stanley Kwan’s hugely underseen Lan Yu make streaming premieres, while Araki’s Totally F***ed Up and Mysterious Skin also get a run. Criterion Editions include Five Easy Pieces,...
- 5/22/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
If ever a play had good reason to front-load itself with exposition, Good Night, Oscar is it. Once among America’s premiere wits and raconteurs, Oscar Levant has gone the way of many another once-famous wits and raconteurs. Which is to say, he needs lots of exposition.
Good Night, Oscar, the new bio-play by Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife) starring Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) as Levant, goes a long way in introducing this long-ago talk-show staple to modern audiences. Whether it justifies the effort is considerably less certain.
A talented pianist and occasional second-banana movie actor, Levant is better known today for his frequent talk- and game-show appearances of the 1950s and ’60s, his aptitude for the improvised zinger and no-holds-barred confessional humor making him a sought-after, if controversial, Golden Age presence. Others would follow in his wake – the Gore Vidals and Truman Capotes and Phyllis Newmans, but Levant was first.
Good Night, Oscar, the new bio-play by Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife) starring Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) as Levant, goes a long way in introducing this long-ago talk-show staple to modern audiences. Whether it justifies the effort is considerably less certain.
A talented pianist and occasional second-banana movie actor, Levant is better known today for his frequent talk- and game-show appearances of the 1950s and ’60s, his aptitude for the improvised zinger and no-holds-barred confessional humor making him a sought-after, if controversial, Golden Age presence. Others would follow in his wake – the Gore Vidals and Truman Capotes and Phyllis Newmans, but Levant was first.
- 4/25/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Jack White took my phone and locked it in a bag. To be fair, it was actually Yondr, a company that specializes in phone-free experiences, like White’s homecoming concert on Tuesday night at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. But the no-technology, no-distractions edict was clearly the famously analog musician’s idea. And a good one, it turns out.
Over four-and-a-half hours, three distinct acts soundtracked a dark arena that, without the glow of mobile devices, was nearly impossible to date. White’s set, guitar-heavy, up-tempo and anthemic, could have been...
Over four-and-a-half hours, three distinct acts soundtracked a dark arena that, without the glow of mobile devices, was nearly impossible to date. White’s set, guitar-heavy, up-tempo and anthemic, could have been...
- 11/21/2018
- by Joseph Hudak
- Rollingstone.com
So you think a typical teen worries about getting into the right college. Get a load of Brad's Status, a high-anxiety satire from writer-director Mike White that focuses on a parent who thinks the process is far more traumatic for him. Enter Ben Stiller in one of his best and most acutely observed performances as Brad Sloan, a father taking his musical genius son, Troy (a standout Austin Abrams), on a tour of east-coast colleges. Mom Melanie (Jenna Fischer) had to work. Troy has the props to make the grade,...
- 9/14/2017
- Rollingstone.com
'The Magnificent Ambersons': Directed by Orson Welles, and starring Tim Holt (pictured), Dolores Costello (in the background), Joseph Cotten, Anne Baxter, and Agnes Moorehead, this Academy Award-nominated adaptation of Booth Tarkington's novel earned Ricardo Cortez's brother Stanley Cortez an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White. He lost to Joseph Ruttenberg for William Wyler's blockbuster 'Mrs. Miniver.' Two years later, Cortez – along with Lee Garmes – would win Oscar statuettes for their evocative black-and-white work on John Cromwell's homefront drama 'Since You Went Away,' starring Ricardo Cortez's 'Torch Singer' leading lady, Claudette Colbert. In all, Stanley Cortez would receive cinematography credit in more than 80 films, ranging from B fare such as 'The Lady in the Morgue' and the 1940 'Margie' to Fritz Lang's 'Secret Beyond the Door,' Charles Laughton's 'The Night of the Hunter,' and Nunnally Johnson's 'The Three Faces...
- 7/8/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Ricardo Cortez biography 'The Magnificent Heel: The Life and Films of Ricardo Cortez' – Paramount's 'Latin Lover' threat to a recalcitrant Rudolph Valentino, and a sly, seductive Sam Spade in the original film adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's 'The Maltese Falcon.' 'The Magnificent Heel: The Life and Films of Ricardo Cortez': Author Dan Van Neste remembers the silent era's 'Latin Lover' & the star of the original 'The Maltese Falcon' At odds with Famous Players-Lasky after the release of the 1922 critical and box office misfire The Young Rajah, Rudolph Valentino demands a fatter weekly paycheck and more control over his movie projects. The studio – a few years later to be reorganized under the name of its distribution arm, Paramount – balks. Valentino goes on a “one-man strike.” In 42nd Street-style, unknown 22-year-old Valentino look-alike contest winner Jacob Krantz of Manhattan steps in, shortly afterwards to become known worldwide as Latin Lover Ricardo Cortez of...
- 7/7/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
What? A movie where adults behave like adults? Otto Preminger showcases a quiet maturity in this story of an independent woman caught between two men, adulterous lover Dana Andrews and conflicted suitor Henry Fonda. The script is witty and the people believable -- this is one of Joan Crawford's best performances. Daisy Kenyon Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1947 / B&W / 1:37 flat full frame / 99 min. / Street Date Nov 15, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Joan Crawford, Dana Andrews, Henry Fonda, Ruth Warrick, Martha Stewart, Peggy Ann Garner Cinematography Leon Shamroy Art Direction George Davis, Lyle Wheeler Film Editor Louis Loffler Original Music David Raksin Written by David Hertz from the book by Elizabeth Janeway Produced and Directed by Otto Preminger
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Why is Daisy Kenyon one of Joan Crawford's best pictures? Crawford could be a fine actress, but too many of her pictures seem distorted by her star persona.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Why is Daisy Kenyon one of Joan Crawford's best pictures? Crawford could be a fine actress, but too many of her pictures seem distorted by her star persona.
- 11/7/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Nooooo. I almost forgot to share the National Film Registries new titles. Each year they add 25 pictures that are deemed historically, culturally or aesthetically important. Each year I suggest that we should watch all the titles together. Well, the ones we can find at least. Perhaps we'll actually do that for 2016 -- you never know! Getting a spot on the National Film Registry is more symbolic than active. It does not guarantee preservation or restorations but it does suggest that these films should all be preserved and/or restored.
The 2015 additions are:
Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze (1894) - watch it now. it's six seconds long... the earliest surviving copyrighted film Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906) -watch it now. (7 minutes) from a short Winsor McCay comic strip A Fool There Was (1915) -watch it now. (66 minutes) Theda Bara tempts a married man! It's always the woman's fault, don't you know Humoresque...
The 2015 additions are:
Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze (1894) - watch it now. it's six seconds long... the earliest surviving copyrighted film Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906) -watch it now. (7 minutes) from a short Winsor McCay comic strip A Fool There Was (1915) -watch it now. (66 minutes) Theda Bara tempts a married man! It's always the woman's fault, don't you know Humoresque...
- 12/21/2015
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Since 1989, the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress has been accomplishing the important task of preserving films that “represent important cultural, artistic and historic achievements in filmmaking.” From films way back in 1897 all the way up to 2004, they’ve now reached 675 films that celebrate our heritage and encapsulate our film history.
Today they’ve unveiled their 2015 list, which includes classics such as Douglas Sirk‘s melodrama Imitation of Life, Hal Ashby‘s Being There, and John Frankenheimer‘s Seconds. Perhaps the most popular picks, The Shawshank Redemption, Ghostbusters, Top Gun, and L.A. Confidential were also added. Check out the full list below.
Being There (1979)
Chance, a simple-minded gardener (Peter Sellers) whose only contact with the outside world is through television, becomes the toast of the town following a series of misunderstandings. Forced outside his protected environment by the death of his wealthy boss, Chance subsumes his late employer’s persona,...
Today they’ve unveiled their 2015 list, which includes classics such as Douglas Sirk‘s melodrama Imitation of Life, Hal Ashby‘s Being There, and John Frankenheimer‘s Seconds. Perhaps the most popular picks, The Shawshank Redemption, Ghostbusters, Top Gun, and L.A. Confidential were also added. Check out the full list below.
Being There (1979)
Chance, a simple-minded gardener (Peter Sellers) whose only contact with the outside world is through television, becomes the toast of the town following a series of misunderstandings. Forced outside his protected environment by the death of his wealthy boss, Chance subsumes his late employer’s persona,...
- 12/16/2015
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
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...
- 8/10/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
'Humoresque': Joan Crawford and John Garfield. 'Humoresque' 1946: Saved by Joan Crawford Directed by Jean Negulesco from a screenplay by Clifford Odets and Zachary Gold (loosely based on a Fannie Hurst short story), Humoresque always frustrates me because its first 25 minutes are excruciatingly boring – until Joan Crawford finally makes her appearance during a party scene. Crawford plays Helen Wright, a rich society lush in love with a tough-guy violin player, Paul Boray (John Garfield), who happens to be in love with his music. Fine support is offered by Paul's parents, played by Ruth Nelson and the fabulous chameleon-like J. Carroll Naish. Oscar Levant is the sarcastic, wisecracking piano player, who plays his part to the verge of annoyance. (Spoilers ahead.) Something wrong with that woman The Humoresque scenes between Paul and his mother are particularly intriguing, as the mother conveys her objections to Helen by lamenting, "There's something wrong with a woman like that!
- 7/27/2015
- by Danny Fortune
- Alt Film Guide
Warner Archive Instant's new app brings classic film and TV to the iPad!
Following the launch earlier this year of Warner Archive Instant, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment today announced that its subscription streaming service targeted to connoisseurs of classic film and TV will launch their highly-requested iPad™ app for iOS 6 and 7. Owners of iPads, iPad minis and the new iPad Air will now have instant access to rare classic films and TV shows, many of them streaming in 1080p HD, which have been curated from the largest entertainment library in the world. The Warner Archive Instant streaming service also has closed captioning, a highly requested feature.
A free two-week trial is currently being offered for Warner Archive Instant, after the trial period, monthly subscriptions are $9.99. Warner Archive Instant can also be found on the line up of channels available to the millions of consumers who own Roku players, one of...
Following the launch earlier this year of Warner Archive Instant, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment today announced that its subscription streaming service targeted to connoisseurs of classic film and TV will launch their highly-requested iPad™ app for iOS 6 and 7. Owners of iPads, iPad minis and the new iPad Air will now have instant access to rare classic films and TV shows, many of them streaming in 1080p HD, which have been curated from the largest entertainment library in the world. The Warner Archive Instant streaming service also has closed captioning, a highly requested feature.
A free two-week trial is currently being offered for Warner Archive Instant, after the trial period, monthly subscriptions are $9.99. Warner Archive Instant can also be found on the line up of channels available to the millions of consumers who own Roku players, one of...
- 12/11/2013
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (Victor Medina)
- Cinelinx
Tony Awards 2013: Stage-Movie connection ranges from Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Kinky Boots to Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (photo: Emilia Clarke, Cory Michael Smith in Breakfast at Tiffany’s) [See previous post: "Tony Awards 2013 Nominations: Tom Hanks, Sigourney Weaver Among Potential Contenders."] Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, possibly up for a 2013 Tony Award in the Best Revival of a Play category, was made into an Academy Award-nominated movie in 1966. Mike Nichols directed Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, George Segal, and Sandy Dennis, from a screenplay by Ernest Lehman. Taylor and Dennis won Oscars as, respectively, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. In this latest Broadway revival of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the stars are Tracy Letts, Amy Morton, Madison Dirks and Carrie Coon. Peter Masterson’s 1985 film version of Horton Foote’s The Trip to Bountiful, another possible Best Revival nominee, earned Geraldine Page a Best Actress Academy...
- 4/30/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
There's nothing quite like the sustained pleasure of immersing one's self in a huge chunk of a top-notch artist's output for a significant period of time. This was easily accomplished in 2012, because lately it seems like the classical arms of the major labels are trying to get all their best material into budget-priced box sets (in Europe even more than in the U.S., so check the imports, especially for Sony). And anything they aren't doing that with, another label would be happy to license. In that sense, it's a great time to be a classical fan. Nonetheless, I'm keeping this list shorter than my new releases list, because, well, there's too much to listen to all of it! So to make my list, these items had to make me very, very happy in 2012.
1. Hilliard Ensemble: Franco-Flemish Masterworks (Virgin Classics)
This eight-cd box is a delight for fans of choral music,...
1. Hilliard Ensemble: Franco-Flemish Masterworks (Virgin Classics)
This eight-cd box is a delight for fans of choral music,...
- 1/3/2013
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Connie Wald, the elegant Beverly Hills hostess who served simple dinner fare like roast chicken and bread pudding to the legends of Hollywood for more than a half-century, has died, The New York Times reported Saturday. She was 96. Wald died Nov. 10 at her home in North Beverly Drive, where she lived for 70 years, her son Andrew told the newspaper. Wald was the widow of Jerry Wald, who earned Oscar nominations for producing the popular melodramas Peyton Place (1957) and Sons and Lovers (1960) as well as such classics as Mildred Pierce (1945), Humoresque (1946), Key Largo (1948)
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- 11/17/2012
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Aug. 7, 2012
Price: DVD $24.95, Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Olive Films
Joan Crawford stars in Nicholas Ray’s Johnny Guitar.
Director Nicholas Ray’s (Bigger Than Life) one-of-a-kind 1954 western Johnny Guitar makes its official U.S. DVD and Blu-ray debut nearly 60 years after its theatrical premiere.
The classic film stars Joan Crawford (Humoresque) as a saloon owner battling the local townspeople headed by Emma (Mercedes McCambridge, Suddenly, Last Summer), the local sexually repressed, lynch-happy female rancher out to frame her for a string of robberies. The title cowboy, played by Sterling Hayden (1900), is a guitar-strumming drifter with a dark past who was once in love with Crawford and has been offered a job in her saloon. Sparks and bullets and lots more eventually begin to fly…
Also starring Scott Brady, Ward Bond (Rio Bravo), Ernest Borgnine (Red) and John Carradine (The Ten Commandments), Ray’s strikingly colorful, intricately constructed film...
Price: DVD $24.95, Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Olive Films
Joan Crawford stars in Nicholas Ray’s Johnny Guitar.
Director Nicholas Ray’s (Bigger Than Life) one-of-a-kind 1954 western Johnny Guitar makes its official U.S. DVD and Blu-ray debut nearly 60 years after its theatrical premiere.
The classic film stars Joan Crawford (Humoresque) as a saloon owner battling the local townspeople headed by Emma (Mercedes McCambridge, Suddenly, Last Summer), the local sexually repressed, lynch-happy female rancher out to frame her for a string of robberies. The title cowboy, played by Sterling Hayden (1900), is a guitar-strumming drifter with a dark past who was once in love with Crawford and has been offered a job in her saloon. Sparks and bullets and lots more eventually begin to fly…
Also starring Scott Brady, Ward Bond (Rio Bravo), Ernest Borgnine (Red) and John Carradine (The Ten Commandments), Ray’s strikingly colorful, intricately constructed film...
- 5/18/2012
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Sunday's overcrowded with great TV, but what to watch the rest of the time? Each Monday, we bring you this guide to five worthy -- or at least noteworthy -- highlights from the other six days of the week. Directed by Jean Negulesco TCM, Monday, April 30th at 8pm Turner Classic Movies is showing a marathon of four early films from the Romanian-born Jean Negulesco, better known for his later, glossier work like "How to Marry a Millionaire," "Three Coins in the Fountain" and "Daddy Long Legs." This selection is from his stint directing for Warner Bros. in the 1940s, kicking off with the film noir "Nobody Lives Forever," with John Garfield as a racketeer home from World War II. It's followed by "Casablanca" reunion (sans Bogart and Bergman) "The Conspirators," Joan Crawford romance "Humoresque," and "The Mask of Dimitrios," Negulesco's...
- 4/30/2012
- by Alison Willmore
- Indiewire
John Garfield on TCM: Humoresque, Four Daughters, We Were Strangers Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 6:00 Am Four Daughters (1938) A small-town family's peaceful life is shattered when one daughter falls for a rebellious musician. Dir: Michael Curtiz. Cast: Priscilla Lane, Claude Rains, Jeffrey Lynn, John Garfield. Bw-90 mins. 7:45 Am Blackwell's Island (1939) A reporter gets himself sent to prison to expose a mobster. Dir: William McGann. Cast: John Garfield, Rosemary Lane, Dick Purcell. Bw-71 mins. 9:00 Am They Made Me A Criminal (1939) A young boxer flees to farming country when he thinks he's killed an opponent in the ring. Dir: Busby Berkeley. Cast: John Garfield, Claude Rains, Gloria Dickson. Bw-92 mins. 10:45 Am Dangerously They Live (1942) A doctor tries to rescue a young innocent from Nazi agents. Dir: Robert Florey. Cast: John Garfield, Nancy Coleman, Raymond Massey. Bw-77 mins. 12:15 Pm Pride Of The Marines (1945) A blinded...
- 8/4/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
John Garfield, Joan Crawford, Humoresque John Garfield is Turner Classic Movies' "Summer Under the Stars" star on Friday, August 5. TCM will be presenting twelve John Garfield movies, in addition to the 2003 documentary The John Garfield Story. There will be no TCM premieres — but don't blame TCM for that. Garfield was a Warner Bros. star and Warners' movies belong to the Time Warner library; in other words, his films are always available. In fact, I believe the only John Garfield movie that has never been shown on TCM is 20th Century Fox's 1950 drama Under My Skin. [John Garfield Movie Schedule.] Much like Warners' James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, and Errol Flynn, Garfield was a tough guy at a tough studio. Come to think of it, even Warners' women were tough: Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino, Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon, Glenda Farrell, and, off screen, Olivia de Havilland and Joan Leslie (both of...
- 8/4/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Humoresque (1946) Direction: Jean Negulesco Cast: Joan Crawford, John Garfield, Oscar Levant, J. Carrol Naish, Joan Chandler, Ruth Nelson, Tom D'Andrea, Craig Stevens, Paul Cavanagh Screenplay: Clifford Odets and Zachary Gold; from Fannie Hurst's short story Oscar Movies Craig Stevens, Joan Crawford, Paul Cavanagh, Humoresque Directed by Jean Negulesco from a screenplay by Clifford Odets and Zachary Gold (based on a Fannie Hurst short story), Humoresque always frustrates me because its first 25 minutes are excruciatingly boring — until Joan Crawford finally makes her appearance during a party scene. Crawford plays Helen Wright, a rich society lush in love with a tough-guy violin player, Paul Boray (John Garfield), who is in love with his music. Fine support is offered by Paul's parents, played by Ruth Nelson and the fabulous chameleon-like J. Carroll Naish. Oscar Levant is the sarcastic, wisecracking piano player, who plays his part to the verge of annoyance. [Note: Spoilers [...]...
- 2/16/2011
- by Danny Fortune
- Alt Film Guide
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