Growing up, my parents never shielded me from the horrors of antisemitism. I suspect a lot of it was my dad's doing. He would often tell us about his childhood in New Jersey, where many of his fellow students (including his first girlfriend) were Jewish and a number of his teachers were actual Holocaust survivors (as you could tell from the numbers tattooed on their forearms). As such, my siblings and I wound up seeing "Schindler's List" pretty much as soon as it became available on VHS. Mind you, as young as we all were at the time, my parents didn't throw us in the deep end of the pool right away. We had seen the "Indiana Jones" movies many times by then and watched films like "An American Tail," so the concept of antisemitism had, in ways obviously more accessible to kids, already been drilled into our heads.
I...
I...
- 3/9/2023
- by Sandy Schaefer
- Slash Film
One of the more unlikely stage-and-screen box office smashes in musical history, “Fiddler on the Roof” — based on stories of shtetl life in Tsarist Russia by Yiddish author Sholem Aleichem, and turned by writer Joseph Stein, lyricist Sheldon Harnick, and composer Jerry Bock into a song-filled saga about a poor milkman with five unmarried daughters and an aversion to change — defied conventional wisdom about whose stories could be universal.
It helps, of course, when your score is a treasure trove: “Tradition,” “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Matchmaker, Matchmaker,” “To Life,” and “Sunrise, Sunset” are all-timers.
We’ve already gotten one adoring film about the original Broadway show’s legacy, 2019’s “Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles,” and now we have a second: Daniel Raim’s warm, engaging “Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen.” As its title makes clear, the documentary is about the beloved movie version directed by Norman Jewison,...
It helps, of course, when your score is a treasure trove: “Tradition,” “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Matchmaker, Matchmaker,” “To Life,” and “Sunrise, Sunset” are all-timers.
We’ve already gotten one adoring film about the original Broadway show’s legacy, 2019’s “Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles,” and now we have a second: Daniel Raim’s warm, engaging “Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen.” As its title makes clear, the documentary is about the beloved movie version directed by Norman Jewison,...
- 4/29/2022
- by Robert Abele
- The Wrap
John Huston’s 1952 bio-pic of tortured artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec avoids most of the “tortured-artist” cliches by surrounding star Jose Ferrer with beautiful recreations of Lautrec’s world and even more beautiful women including a (believe it or not) completely charming Zsa Zsa Gabor as the flighty but sweet can-can dancer Jane Avril. Plus a moving score from Georges Auric and ravishing Technicolor cinematography by Oswald Morris. Look for bit parts from Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.
The post Moulin Rouge appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post Moulin Rouge appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 7/31/2020
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Don’t do it Vittorio! The Italian master’s last neorealist project was done ‘in collaboration’ with American producer David O. Selznick, who proceeded to crowbar his way into every directorial decision. The resulting ‘creative differences’ spoiled Signor De Sica’s Italian version, but that wasn’t enough. Selznick put it through a sausage machine for the American release, which is almost half an hour shorter. Jennifer Jones and Montgomery Clift are excellent in both versions, but De Sica’s is far superior — and studying the differences tells why the first demand of powerful directors is to retain final cut. The presentation offers both full films, plus the short subject Selznick added to bring his version up to minimal feature length.
Terminal Station & Indiscretion of an American Wife
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1953 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 89 + 72 min. / Street Date March 31, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Jennifer Jones, Montgomery Clift,...
Terminal Station & Indiscretion of an American Wife
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1953 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 89 + 72 min. / Street Date March 31, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Jennifer Jones, Montgomery Clift,...
- 4/7/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This remake of Warners’ 1924 John Barrymore feature gives us Elizabeth Taylor in the Mary Astor role, Stewart Granger as the fashion dandy of the Restoration Period, and a scene-stealing Peter Ustinov as a lonely, needy Prince of Wales. The history is still weak, but it at least doesn’t turn Brummell into a typical swashbuckler. Compensating are English actors that can get any script up on its feet, and Liz Taylor’s blue-violet eyes. And the Oswald Morris cinematography improves greatly on the MGM house style.
Beau Brummell
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1954 / Color / 1:75 widescreen / 113 min. / Street Date March 10, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Stewart Granger, Elizabeth Taylor, Peter Ustinov, Robert Morley, James Donald, James Hayter, Rosemary Harris, Paul Rogers, Noel Willman, Peter Dyneley, Peter Bull, Finlay Currie, David Peel.
Cinematography: Oswald Morris
Film Editor: Frank Clarke
Art Direction: Alfred Junge
Original Music: Richard Addinsell
Written by Karl Tunberg from...
Beau Brummell
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1954 / Color / 1:75 widescreen / 113 min. / Street Date March 10, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Stewart Granger, Elizabeth Taylor, Peter Ustinov, Robert Morley, James Donald, James Hayter, Rosemary Harris, Paul Rogers, Noel Willman, Peter Dyneley, Peter Bull, Finlay Currie, David Peel.
Cinematography: Oswald Morris
Film Editor: Frank Clarke
Art Direction: Alfred Junge
Original Music: Richard Addinsell
Written by Karl Tunberg from...
- 3/7/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This remake of Warners’ 1924 John Barrymore feature gives us Elizabeth Taylor in the Mary Astor role, Stewart Granger as the fashion dandy of the Restoration Period, and a scene-stealing Peter Ustinov as a lonely, needy Prince of Wales. The history is still weak, but it at least doesn’t turn Brummell into a typical swashbuckler. Compensating are English actors that can get any script up on its feet, and Liz Taylor’s blue-violet eyes. And the Oswald Morris cinematography improves greatly on the MGM house style.
Beau Brummell
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1954 / Color / 1:75 widescreen / 113 min. / Street Date March 10, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Stewart Granger, Elizabeth Taylor, Peter Ustinov, Robert Morley, James Donald, James Hayter, Rosemary Harris, Paul Rogers, Noel Willman, Peter Dyneley, Peter Bull, Finlay Currie, David Peel.
Cinematography: Oswald Morris
Film Editor: Frank Clarke
Art Direction: Alfred Junge
Original Music: Richard Addinsell
Written by Karl Tunberg from...
Beau Brummell
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1954 / Color / 1:75 widescreen / 113 min. / Street Date March 10, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Stewart Granger, Elizabeth Taylor, Peter Ustinov, Robert Morley, James Donald, James Hayter, Rosemary Harris, Paul Rogers, Noel Willman, Peter Dyneley, Peter Bull, Finlay Currie, David Peel.
Cinematography: Oswald Morris
Film Editor: Frank Clarke
Art Direction: Alfred Junge
Original Music: Richard Addinsell
Written by Karl Tunberg from...
- 3/7/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In the fall of ‘64, while Hollywood was gently satirizing the battle of the sexes with Send Me No Flowers and What a Way to Go!, Europe was at work in the trenches, peppering art houses with piercing dramas like François Truffaut‘s The Soft Skin and André Cayatte’s dual release, Anatomy of a Marriage: My Nights With Francoise and My Days with Jean-Marc (“One Ticket Admits You to Both Theaters”). Perhaps most unforgiving of all was Jack Clayton’s The Pumpkin Eater starring Anne Bancroft, Peter Finch and James Mason.
Bancroft plays Jo Armitage, a fragile beauty who responds to her husband’s infidelities by getting pregnant. Finch is Jake, a screenwriter whose recent success has emboldened him to walk on the wild side thereby provoking Jo to over-crowd the nursery. Mason is, once again, the odd man out, the deceptively genial husband of one of Jake’s conquests.
Bancroft plays Jo Armitage, a fragile beauty who responds to her husband’s infidelities by getting pregnant. Finch is Jake, a screenwriter whose recent success has emboldened him to walk on the wild side thereby provoking Jo to over-crowd the nursery. Mason is, once again, the odd man out, the deceptively genial husband of one of Jake’s conquests.
- 12/17/2019
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
In the decades since Danny Huston made his feature directing debut with “Mr. North,” his 1988 film adaptation of the Thornton Wilder novel “Theophilus North,” he has kept busy in front of the cameras as one of film and television’s most versatile and sophisticated character players. In just the past year, small-screen viewers have been treated to his essential work on “Yellowstone” and “Succession,” and big-screen aficionados have watched him move deftly from intimate Guillermo Arriaga’s “No One Left Behind” to the blockbuster hit “Angel Has Fallen.” Perhaps closest to his heart is the recently released film “The Last Photograph,” which he directed and stars in.
You have something from the film to show us.
Yes, it’s “The Last Photograph” of the title. It’s the center of the story because it represents something that means something significant to one person unlike its meaning for anyone else. We all have something like that,...
You have something from the film to show us.
Yes, it’s “The Last Photograph” of the title. It’s the center of the story because it represents something that means something significant to one person unlike its meaning for anyone else. We all have something like that,...
- 11/15/2019
- by Steven Gaydos
- Variety Film + TV
The star lineup sparkles in this witty, lighthearted tale of a gang of international schemers and cutthroats trying to — well, what they’re trying to do is all but irrelevant. John Huston throws his picture together like a party, for a droll ‘thriller’ that yields off-kilter comic riches. It’s Bogart, Robert Morley, Peter Lorre and Gina Lollobrigida, plus Jennifer Jones as we’ve not seen her before or since. Truman Capote’s sly, unbeatably hip dialogue — reportedly written on the fly — celebrates the underhanded ambitions of greedy fools everywhere.
Beat the Devil
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1953 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 94 min. / Street Date January 22, 2019 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, Robert Morley, Peter Lorre, Edward Underdown, Ivor Barnard, Marco Tulli, Bernard Lee, Mario Perrone, Giulio Donnini, Saro Urzì, Manuel Serrano.
Cinematography: Oswald Morris
Film Editor: Ralph Kemplen
Continuity: Angela Allen
Dialogue Coach:...
Beat the Devil
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1953 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 94 min. / Street Date January 22, 2019 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, Robert Morley, Peter Lorre, Edward Underdown, Ivor Barnard, Marco Tulli, Bernard Lee, Mario Perrone, Giulio Donnini, Saro Urzì, Manuel Serrano.
Cinematography: Oswald Morris
Film Editor: Ralph Kemplen
Continuity: Angela Allen
Dialogue Coach:...
- 1/22/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Pearl S. Buck and Leo McCarey give it to ya straight: Red China is Bad. This strange mix of Cold War truth-telling and mawkish, ethics-challenged church sentiment may have meant well, but it overstates everything. A top-flight cast works hard to make it compelling: William Holden, France Nuyen and in his last film, Clifton Webb.
Satan Never Sleeps
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1962 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 125 min./ Street Date , 2019 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: William Holden, Clifton Webb, France Nuyen, Athene Seyler, Martin Benson, Weaver Lee, Burt Kwouk.
Cinematography: Oswald Morris
Film Editor: Gordon Pilkington
Original Music: Richard Rodney Bennett
Written by Claude Binyon from the novel The China Story by Pearl S. Buck
Produced and Directed by Leo McCarey
Leo McCarey’s film career followed quite a strange trajectory. A master of Laurel & Hardy classics, and an absolute king of sophisticated comedy in the 1930s, his cooperative method...
Satan Never Sleeps
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1962 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 125 min./ Street Date , 2019 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: William Holden, Clifton Webb, France Nuyen, Athene Seyler, Martin Benson, Weaver Lee, Burt Kwouk.
Cinematography: Oswald Morris
Film Editor: Gordon Pilkington
Original Music: Richard Rodney Bennett
Written by Claude Binyon from the novel The China Story by Pearl S. Buck
Produced and Directed by Leo McCarey
Leo McCarey’s film career followed quite a strange trajectory. A master of Laurel & Hardy classics, and an absolute king of sophisticated comedy in the 1930s, his cooperative method...
- 1/19/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Movie adaptations of classic texts can be disappointing. Transitioning from one form to the next is dangerous, particularly when nothing original arises from the outgoing medium. Sometimes it’s as if the filmmakers have left the camera pointed at a stage-play or between the pages of a book. But the 1958 film adaptation of Look Back in Anger is a masterful translation of John Osborne’s (now-)classic play – incorporating the essence of the newly-emerging British New Wave and continuing the legacy of the “angry young men” literary movement.
Set in the grey and wet city of Derby, sweet-seller Jimmy Porter (Richard Burton) lives with his wife Alison (Mary Ure) and best friend Cliff (Gary Raymond). He is a stern, explosive individual – consistently aggressive and searingly misogynistic, even by the standards of 1958. Alison feels tired and trapped by him, never finding the right opportunity to say she’s carrying his child.
Set in the grey and wet city of Derby, sweet-seller Jimmy Porter (Richard Burton) lives with his wife Alison (Mary Ure) and best friend Cliff (Gary Raymond). He is a stern, explosive individual – consistently aggressive and searingly misogynistic, even by the standards of 1958. Alison feels tired and trapped by him, never finding the right opportunity to say she’s carrying his child.
- 4/17/2018
- by Euan Franklin
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The curtain is falling on the MGM musical, and Gene Kelly’s final song and dance at the studio is for a Paris-set show biz tale about a dancing star and his trio of showgirls. Actually, the comedy and the actresses get more attention than does Kelly. The gimmick is a Rashomon– like clash of conflicting testimony, but we prefer to concentrate on the sexy dancing and Kay Kendall’s hilarious drunk act. Who thought a boozy beauty wailing opera songs would be funny?
Les Girls
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 114 min. / Cole Porter’s Les Girls / Street Date April 17, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.9
Starring: Gene Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor, Kay Kendall, Taina Elg, Jacques Bergerac, Leslie Phillips, Henry Daniell, Patrick Macnee.
Cinematography: Robert Surtees
Film Editor: Ferris Webster
Costumes: Orry-Kelly
Choreography: Jack Cole
Original Music: Cole Porter, arranged and orchestrated by Alexander Courage, Adolph Deutsch, Skip Martin
Written...
Les Girls
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 114 min. / Cole Porter’s Les Girls / Street Date April 17, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.9
Starring: Gene Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor, Kay Kendall, Taina Elg, Jacques Bergerac, Leslie Phillips, Henry Daniell, Patrick Macnee.
Cinematography: Robert Surtees
Film Editor: Ferris Webster
Costumes: Orry-Kelly
Choreography: Jack Cole
Original Music: Cole Porter, arranged and orchestrated by Alexander Courage, Adolph Deutsch, Skip Martin
Written...
- 4/14/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This remake of a pre-Code classic adds amazing European locations, glorious Technicolor and entire armies on the move, yet doesn’t improve on the original. Producer David O. Selznick secured Rock Hudson to play opposite Jennifer Jones, but the chemistry is lacking. Why did the man spend twenty years trying to top Gone With the Wind?
A Farewell to Arms
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 152 min. / Street Date April 18, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Jennifer Jones, Rock Hudson, Vittorio De Sica, Mercedes McCambridge, Elaine Stritch.
Cinematography: Oswald Morris, Piero Portalupi
Production Designer: Alfred Junge
Art Direction: Mario Garbuglia
Film Editors: John M. Foley, Gerard J. Wilson
Original Music: Mario Nascimbene
Written by Ben Hecht from a play by Laurence Stallings from a novel by Ernest Hemingway
Produced by David O. Selznick
Directed by Charles Vidor
What happens when a major Hollywood producer thinks he has all the answers?...
A Farewell to Arms
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 152 min. / Street Date April 18, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Jennifer Jones, Rock Hudson, Vittorio De Sica, Mercedes McCambridge, Elaine Stritch.
Cinematography: Oswald Morris, Piero Portalupi
Production Designer: Alfred Junge
Art Direction: Mario Garbuglia
Film Editors: John M. Foley, Gerard J. Wilson
Original Music: Mario Nascimbene
Written by Ben Hecht from a play by Laurence Stallings from a novel by Ernest Hemingway
Produced by David O. Selznick
Directed by Charles Vidor
What happens when a major Hollywood producer thinks he has all the answers?...
- 4/29/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
It’s Obi-Wan versus Fidel! Well, not really. The pre-Bond espionage genre lights up with cool intrigues and comic absurdities, as a Brit vacuum salesman in Havana is recruited to spy for Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The filmmakers and stars are all top caliber, and the location is legendary: Castro’s Cuba, immediately after the revolution.
Our Man in Havana
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1959 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 107 min. / Street Date March 14, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Alec Guinness, Burl Ives, Maureen O’Hara, Ernie Kovacs, Noël Coward, Ralph Richardson, Jo Morrow, Gregoire Aslan.
Cinematography: Oswald Morris
Music Score: Frank and Laurence Deniz
Art Direction: John Box
Film Editor: Bert Bates
Written by Graham Greene from his novel
Produced and Directed by Carol Reed
One of the best pre-James Bond spy pictures is this brilliant, yet lumpy adventure with an historically unique setting — it was filmed in Castro’s Cuba,...
Our Man in Havana
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1959 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 107 min. / Street Date March 14, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Alec Guinness, Burl Ives, Maureen O’Hara, Ernie Kovacs, Noël Coward, Ralph Richardson, Jo Morrow, Gregoire Aslan.
Cinematography: Oswald Morris
Music Score: Frank and Laurence Deniz
Art Direction: John Box
Film Editor: Bert Bates
Written by Graham Greene from his novel
Produced and Directed by Carol Reed
One of the best pre-James Bond spy pictures is this brilliant, yet lumpy adventure with an historically unique setting — it was filmed in Castro’s Cuba,...
- 3/18/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This past weekend, the American Society of Cinematographers awarded Greig Fraser for his contribution to Lion as last year’s greatest accomplishment in the field. Of course, his achievement was just a small sampling of the fantastic work from directors of photography, but it did give us a stronger hint at what may be the winner on Oscar night. Ahead of the ceremony, we have a new video compilation that honors all the past winners in the category at the Academy Awards
Created by Burger Fiction, it spans the stunning silent landmark Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans all the way up to the end of Emmanuel Lubezki‘s three-peat win for The Revenant. Aside from the advancements in color and aspect ration, it’s a thrill to see some of cinema’s most iconic shots side-by-side. However, the best way to experience the evolution of the craft is by...
Created by Burger Fiction, it spans the stunning silent landmark Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans all the way up to the end of Emmanuel Lubezki‘s three-peat win for The Revenant. Aside from the advancements in color and aspect ration, it’s a thrill to see some of cinema’s most iconic shots side-by-side. However, the best way to experience the evolution of the craft is by...
- 2/6/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
I have a back file of reader notes asking for a Blu-ray for John Huston’s Moby Dick, and more pointedly, wondering what will be done with its strange color scheme. I wasn’t expecting miracles, but this new Twilight Time disc should make the purists happy – it has approximated the film’s original, heavily muted color scheme.
Moby Dick
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1956 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 116 min. / Street Date November 15, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, Leo Genn, James Robertson Justice,
Harry Andrews, Orson Welles, Bernard Miles, Mervyn Johns, Noel Purcell, Frederick Ledebur
Cinematography Oswald Morris
Art Direction Ralph W. Brinton
Film Editor Russell Lloyd
Original Music Philip Sainton
Writing credits Ray Bradbury and John Huston
Produced and Directed by John Huston
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Talk about a picture with a renewed reputation… in its day John Huston’s Moby Dick was not considered a success,...
Moby Dick
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1956 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 116 min. / Street Date November 15, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, Leo Genn, James Robertson Justice,
Harry Andrews, Orson Welles, Bernard Miles, Mervyn Johns, Noel Purcell, Frederick Ledebur
Cinematography Oswald Morris
Art Direction Ralph W. Brinton
Film Editor Russell Lloyd
Original Music Philip Sainton
Writing credits Ray Bradbury and John Huston
Produced and Directed by John Huston
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Talk about a picture with a renewed reputation… in its day John Huston’s Moby Dick was not considered a success,...
- 11/26/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Dolores Hart, Pamela Tiffin and Lois Nettleton are flight attendants aiming to snag three attractive, wealthy husbands right out of the air -- Karl Boehm, Hugh O'Brien and Karl Malden. There's more social comment in this 'coffee, tea or me' romantic comedy than can be found in a graduate thesis about the sexual habits of liberated stewardesses. And Hey, Frankie Avalon warbles the classy title tune! Come Fly with Me DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1963 / Color / 2:35 enhanced widescreen / 109 min. / Street Date June 30, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 18.49 Starring Dolores Hart, Hugh O'Brian, Karlheinz Bohm, Pamela Tiffin, Lois Nettleton, Karl Malden, Dawn Addams, Richard Wattis, Andrew Cruickshank, James Dobson, Lois Maxwell, John Crawford, Robert Easton, Maurice Marsac, George Coulouris, Ferdy Mayne. Cinematography Oswald Morris Film Editor Frank Clarke Original Music Lyn Murray Written by William Roberts from a book by Bernard Glemser Produced by Anatole De Grunwald Directed by Henry Levin
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
What?...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
What?...
- 11/17/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Maureen O'Hara: Queen of Technicolor. Maureen O'Hara movies: TCM tribute Veteran actress and Honorary Oscar recipient Maureen O'Hara, who died at age 95 on Oct. 24, '15, in Boise, Idaho, will be remembered by Turner Classic Movies with a 24-hour film tribute on Friday, Nov. 20. At one point known as “The Queen of Technicolor” – alongside “Eastern” star Maria Montez – the red-headed O'Hara (born Maureen FitzSimons on Aug. 17, 1920, in Ranelagh, County Dublin) was featured in more than 50 movies from 1938 to 1971 – in addition to one brief 1991 comeback (Chris Columbus' Only the Lonely). Maureen O'Hara and John Wayne Setting any hint of modesty aside, Maureen O'Hara wrote in her 2004 autobiography (with John Nicoletti), 'Tis Herself, that “I was the only leading lady big enough and tough enough for John Wayne.” Wayne, for his part, once said (as quoted in 'Tis Herself): There's only one woman who has been my friend over the...
- 10/29/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
In a novel effort to stress that film noir wasn’t a film movement specifically an output solely produced for American audiences, Kino Lorber releases a five disc set of obscure noir examples released in the UK. Spanning a near ten year period from 1943 to 1952, the titles displayed here do seem to chart a progression in tone, at least resulting in parallels with American counterparts. Though a couple of the selections here aren’t very noteworthy, either as artifacts of British noir or items worthy of reappraisal, it does contain items of considerable interest, including rare titles from forgotten or underrated auteurs like Ronald Neame, Roy Ward Baker, and Ralph Thomas.
They Met in the Dark
The earliest title in this collection is a 1943 title from Karel Lamac, They Met in the Dark, a pseudo-comedy noir that barely meets the criteria. Based on a novel by Anthony Gilbert (whose novel...
They Met in the Dark
The earliest title in this collection is a 1943 title from Karel Lamac, They Met in the Dark, a pseudo-comedy noir that barely meets the criteria. Based on a novel by Anthony Gilbert (whose novel...
- 8/24/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Ron Moody as Fagin in 'Oliver!' based on Charles Dickens' 'Oliver Twist.' Ron Moody as Fagin in Dickens musical 'Oliver!': Box office and critical hit (See previous post: "Ron Moody: 'Oliver!' Actor, Academy Award Nominee Dead at 91.") Although British made, Oliver! turned out to be an elephantine release along the lines of – exclamation point or no – Gypsy, Star!, Hello Dolly!, and other Hollywood mega-musicals from the mid'-50s to the early '70s.[1] But however bloated and conventional the final result, and a cast whose best-known name was that of director Carol Reed's nephew, Oliver Reed, Oliver! found countless fans.[2] The mostly British production became a huge financial and critical success in the U.S. at a time when star-studded mega-musicals had become perilous – at times downright disastrous – ventures.[3] Upon the American release of Oliver! in Dec. 1968, frequently acerbic The...
- 6/19/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
'Nicholas and Alexandra': Movie starred Michael Jayston and Janet Suzman 'Nicholas and Alexandra' movie review: Opulent 1971 spectacle lacks emotional core Nicholas and Alexandra is surely one of the most sumptuous film productions ever made. The elaborate sets and costumes, Richard Rodney Bennett's lush musical score, and frequent David Lean collaborator Freddie Young's richly textured cinematography provide the perfect period atmosphere for this historical epic. Missing, however, is a screenplay that offers dialogue instead of speeches, and a directorial hand that brings out emotional truth instead of soapy melodrama. Nicholas and Alexandra begins when, after several unsuccessful attempts, Tsar Nicholas II (Michael Jayston) finally becomes the father of a boy. Shortly thereafter, he and his wife, the German-born Empress Alexandra (Janet Suzman), have their happiness crushed when they discover that their infant son is a hemophiliac. In addition to his familial turmoil, the Tsar must also deal with popular...
- 5/7/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Part I. Anger, Suez and Archie Rice
“There they are,” George Devine told John Osborne, surveying The Entertainer‘s opening night audience. “All waiting for you…Same old pack of c***s, fashionable assholes. Just more of them than usual.” The Royal Court had arrived: no longer outcasts, they were London’s main attraction.
Look Back in Anger vindicated Devine’s model of a writer’s-based theater. Osborne’s success attracted a host of dramatists to Sloane Square. There’s Shelagh Delaney, whose A Taste of Honey featured a working-class girl pregnant from an interracial dalliance; Harold Pinter’s The Room, a bizarre “comedy of menace”; and John Arden’s Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance, which aimed a Gatling gun at its audience. Devine encouraged them, however bold or experimental. “You always knew he was on the writer’s side,” Osborne said.
Peter O’Toole called the Royal Court actors “an...
“There they are,” George Devine told John Osborne, surveying The Entertainer‘s opening night audience. “All waiting for you…Same old pack of c***s, fashionable assholes. Just more of them than usual.” The Royal Court had arrived: no longer outcasts, they were London’s main attraction.
Look Back in Anger vindicated Devine’s model of a writer’s-based theater. Osborne’s success attracted a host of dramatists to Sloane Square. There’s Shelagh Delaney, whose A Taste of Honey featured a working-class girl pregnant from an interracial dalliance; Harold Pinter’s The Room, a bizarre “comedy of menace”; and John Arden’s Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance, which aimed a Gatling gun at its audience. Devine encouraged them, however bold or experimental. “You always knew he was on the writer’s side,” Osborne said.
Peter O’Toole called the Royal Court actors “an...
- 3/13/2015
- by Christopher Saunders
- SoundOnSight
I. The Landmine
In August 1955, George Devine, director of London’s Royal Court Theatre, ventured to meet a promising writer, living on a Thames houseboat. “I had to borrow a dinghy… wade out to it and row myself to my new playwright,” he recalled. Thus began a partnership between Devine, who sought to rescue the English stage from stale commercialism, and the 26 year old tyro, John Osborne. Together, they’d revolutionize modern theater.
Born in London but raised in Stoneleigh, Surrey, Osborne lost his father at age 12, resented his low-born mother and was expelled from school for striking a headmaster. While acting for Anthony Creighton’s repertory company, his mercurial temper and violent language appeared. In 1951 he wed actress Pamela Lane, only to divorce six years later. Osborne soon immortalized their marriage: their cramped apartment, with invasive friends and intruding in-laws, John and Pamela’s pet names and verbal abuse,...
In August 1955, George Devine, director of London’s Royal Court Theatre, ventured to meet a promising writer, living on a Thames houseboat. “I had to borrow a dinghy… wade out to it and row myself to my new playwright,” he recalled. Thus began a partnership between Devine, who sought to rescue the English stage from stale commercialism, and the 26 year old tyro, John Osborne. Together, they’d revolutionize modern theater.
Born in London but raised in Stoneleigh, Surrey, Osborne lost his father at age 12, resented his low-born mother and was expelled from school for striking a headmaster. While acting for Anthony Creighton’s repertory company, his mercurial temper and violent language appeared. In 1951 he wed actress Pamela Lane, only to divorce six years later. Osborne soon immortalized their marriage: their cramped apartment, with invasive friends and intruding in-laws, John and Pamela’s pet names and verbal abuse,...
- 3/7/2015
- by Christopher Saunders
- SoundOnSight
All the winners from Sunday’s 87th Academy Awards.
Show host Harris signs off with a chirpy, “Buenos noches!”
Sean Penn walks on. It’s time for the big one. Best film. Will it be Birdman or Boyhood? It’s Birdman! The movie ends the night tied with The Grand Budapest Hotel on four Oscars. Inarritu, referring to his pal Alfonso Cuaron who enjoyed success with Gravity at last year’s show, says, “Two Mexicans in a row. That’s suspicious, I guess.” Slightly more seriously, Agi also calls on his fellow Mexicans to help build a strong future for his beloved country. Wow, a good night for Birdman and a surprisingly barren one for Boyhood. Pirates indeed, Ethan Hawke, but glorious pirates.
And now Matthew McConaughey saunters on stage to announce best actress. Julianne Moore, five times a nominee at the Oscars is the favourite. Will she get it this time for Still Alice? Yes she’s got...
Show host Harris signs off with a chirpy, “Buenos noches!”
Sean Penn walks on. It’s time for the big one. Best film. Will it be Birdman or Boyhood? It’s Birdman! The movie ends the night tied with The Grand Budapest Hotel on four Oscars. Inarritu, referring to his pal Alfonso Cuaron who enjoyed success with Gravity at last year’s show, says, “Two Mexicans in a row. That’s suspicious, I guess.” Slightly more seriously, Agi also calls on his fellow Mexicans to help build a strong future for his beloved country. Wow, a good night for Birdman and a surprisingly barren one for Boyhood. Pirates indeed, Ethan Hawke, but glorious pirates.
And now Matthew McConaughey saunters on stage to announce best actress. Julianne Moore, five times a nominee at the Oscars is the favourite. Will she get it this time for Still Alice? Yes she’s got...
- 2/22/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Utilizing Oswald Morris' work on Sidney Lumet's 1965 "The Hill" as a searing benchmark for World War II melodrama, Deakins achieves a classical look, packing the frame with intensity. From the ethereal opening of Zamp's B24 ascending the clouds to the bleached out claustrophobia of surviving 47 days in a raft in the Pacific, to the agonies of enduring Pow torture porn in the Omori and Naoetsu camps, Deakins creates a masterful dance of light and dark that serves as the primary metaphor of miraculous survival and spiritual transcendence. The contrast between the two camps, for instance, couldn't be more visually striking: the wooden Omori has a warm, dustiness while Naoetsu is draped in black coal and snow. "I liked doing hand-held work, which I did a lot of with Sam Mendes in the war film, 'Jarhead,' but the script, as I saw it, was not that kind of movie,...
- 12/12/2014
- by Bill Desowitz
- Thompson on Hollywood
Will Roger Deakins ("Unbroken") finally win his elusive Oscar after 11 nominations? Or will Emmanuel "Chivo" Lubezki ("Birdman") earn two in a row? Will Dick Pope ("Mr. Turner") grab his first Academy Award on the 10th film with Mike Leigh, or will Jeff Cronenweth ("Gone Girl") finally strike gold with David Fincher? Can the very hot Hoyte van Hoytema ("Interstellar") take home his first prize as the lone film practitioner (primarily using IMAX)? All of the work is extraordinary as cinematography once again signifies the most exciting of the craft races. 1. Deakins, the guru of naturalism, provides his most beautiful work for Angelina Jolie's powerful "Unbroken," the biopic about Olympic runner turned war hero Louis Zamperini (Jack O'Connell). Utilizing Oswald Morris' work on Sidney Lumet's 1965 "The Hill" as a searing benchmark for World War II melodrama, Deakins achieves a classical look, packing...
- 12/11/2014
- by Bill Desowitz
- Thompson on Hollywood
"The Shawshank Redemption," "Fargo," "Kundun," "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," "The Man Who Wasn't There," "No Country for Old Men," "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," "The Reader," "True Grit," "Skyfall," "Prisoners." Surely one of those films won the Oscar for Best Cinematography, right? Nope. Roger Deakins has 11 Oscar nominations but, to date, has not been granted access to the Dolby Theater stage (or the Kodak Theater…or the Shrine Auditorium…he's a veteran of multiple Oscar venues at this point). Could that change with Angelina Jolie's "Unbroken?" Possibly. Deakins pushed himself quite a bit on the film and played with a few aesthetic ideas he hadn't really dabbled in before. It's only the second time he's worked in the war genre (after 2005's "Jarhead"), but he paints Jolie's canvas with striking hues of contrast. For a film that could be a formidable prestige Oscar player,...
- 12/3/2014
- by Kristopher Tapley
- Hitfix
Fifty years ago today, Fiddler on the Roof opened on Broadway and was an instant success with audiences and also won 9 Tony Awards including the big kahuna Best Musical. It would become the longest running musical in Broadway history until it was surpassed by that crop of 80s mega-musicals from Britain. The musical has been performed countless times since in stage productions all over the world and four revivals on Broadway (76, 81, 90, 04).
Best Actor nominee Topol in "Fiddler on the Roof" (1971)
By 1971 there was a movie adaptation that was nominated for 8 Oscars including Best Picture and I don't believe we've ever discussed it. That ain't right. I've been thinking about 60s and 70s musicals a lot recently due to that book "Roadshow!" and while the movie studios were definitely overinvested in the genre after the gargantuan back-to-back mega hits that were Mary Poppins and Sound of Music occassionally a hit would...
Best Actor nominee Topol in "Fiddler on the Roof" (1971)
By 1971 there was a movie adaptation that was nominated for 8 Oscars including Best Picture and I don't believe we've ever discussed it. That ain't right. I've been thinking about 60s and 70s musicals a lot recently due to that book "Roadshow!" and while the movie studios were definitely overinvested in the genre after the gargantuan back-to-back mega hits that were Mary Poppins and Sound of Music occassionally a hit would...
- 9/23/2014
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Issue #30 of Cinema Retro is now shipping worldwide, as is our special issue "Foto Files #1: Spy Girls", an 80-page special tribute to the sexiest femme fatales of '60s and '70s cinema.
Highlights of issue #30 include:
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Beatles screen debut in "A Hard Day's Night" with exclusive insights from the film's director Richard Lester and David V. Picker, former head of production for United Artists. "Blood, Sweat and Togas": Hercules and the Italian sword and sandal epics of the 1960s. Exclusive! Oswald Morris: the final interview with the legendary cinematographer of such film classics as "The Guns of Navarone", "The Man Who Would Be King", "Moulin Rouge", "Oliver!", "Lolita", "Fiddler on the Roof" and "The Hill". "From Rio Bravo to El Dorado"- Part 2 of the in-depth comparison between two Howard Hawks film classics. "Francoise Dorleac: A Remembrance": a...
Highlights of issue #30 include:
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Beatles screen debut in "A Hard Day's Night" with exclusive insights from the film's director Richard Lester and David V. Picker, former head of production for United Artists. "Blood, Sweat and Togas": Hercules and the Italian sword and sandal epics of the 1960s. Exclusive! Oswald Morris: the final interview with the legendary cinematographer of such film classics as "The Guns of Navarone", "The Man Who Would Be King", "Moulin Rouge", "Oliver!", "Lolita", "Fiddler on the Roof" and "The Hill". "From Rio Bravo to El Dorado"- Part 2 of the in-depth comparison between two Howard Hawks film classics. "Francoise Dorleac: A Remembrance": a...
- 9/19/2014
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Completed just a few years after his lovingly revered wartime adventure melodrama The African Queen, John Huston’s second attempt at the deserted odd couple in paradise formula in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison doesn’t occupy the same esteemed position in film history as its Bogart and Hepburn starred predecessor. Allison stars a straight-laced Robert Mitchum as a marooned marine and Deborah Kerr seeming to reprise her role from Black Narcissus as a devout sister of the faith, the film sees them hiding out on a small island in the South Pacific occupied by Japanese forces near the end of World War II. While the former film humorously indulged in the risque repercussions of being alone with the opposite sex for an extended period of time, the latter settles into a rather prudish moral stance where the integrity of one’s chosen faith, whether military or religion, is of higher...
- 6/17/2014
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Blu-ray Release Date: June 10, 2014
Price: Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Twilight Time
Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison
The 1957 adventure-filled romantic drama Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison starring Robert Mitchum (Night of the Hunter) and Deborah Kerr (Black Narcissus) comes to Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
Featuring a clever script by director John Huston (The African Queen) and screenwriting veteran John Lee Mahin, the movie stars Mitchum as a no-nonsense Marine and Kerr as a dedicated nun: a decidedly odd couple stranded on a South Pacific island overrun by hostile Japanese forces during World War II. Their struggle to survive and their growing friendship are beautifully captured by the camera of superb cinematographer Oswald Morris, and given further support by composer Georges Auric’s lovely score.
The Blu-ray of Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison contains the following features:
-Isolated Music & Effects Track
-Fox MovieTone News
-Original Theatrical Trailer
-Liner notes by Julie Kirgo...
Price: Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Twilight Time
Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison
The 1957 adventure-filled romantic drama Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison starring Robert Mitchum (Night of the Hunter) and Deborah Kerr (Black Narcissus) comes to Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
Featuring a clever script by director John Huston (The African Queen) and screenwriting veteran John Lee Mahin, the movie stars Mitchum as a no-nonsense Marine and Kerr as a dedicated nun: a decidedly odd couple stranded on a South Pacific island overrun by hostile Japanese forces during World War II. Their struggle to survive and their growing friendship are beautifully captured by the camera of superb cinematographer Oswald Morris, and given further support by composer Georges Auric’s lovely score.
The Blu-ray of Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison contains the following features:
-Isolated Music & Effects Track
-Fox MovieTone News
-Original Theatrical Trailer
-Liner notes by Julie Kirgo...
- 6/3/2014
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Needing an anecdote or two for a paper I was due to deliver on the occasion of the director Peter Glenville's birth centenary in 2013, I rang up Ossie Morris (obituary, 20 March) late last year. He recalled, still with astonishing clarity, working with Glenville on Term of Trial (1962), a small black-and-white British film.
Interestingly, he hadn't bothered to give the credit even a mention beyond its title in his riveting 2006 autobiography, despite the fact it co-starred Laurence Olivier, Simone Signoret, Terence Stamp and the newcomer Sarah Miles. Ossie's fabulous memoir, devoting considerable space instead to his long collaboration with the Hollywood film-maker John Huston, was, rather fittingly and wittily, entitled Huston, We Have a Problem.
theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds...
Interestingly, he hadn't bothered to give the credit even a mention beyond its title in his riveting 2006 autobiography, despite the fact it co-starred Laurence Olivier, Simone Signoret, Terence Stamp and the newcomer Sarah Miles. Ossie's fabulous memoir, devoting considerable space instead to his long collaboration with the Hollywood film-maker John Huston, was, rather fittingly and wittily, entitled Huston, We Have a Problem.
theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds...
- 3/24/2014
- The Guardian - Film News
We just celebrated the career of cinematographer Oswald Morris this past November on his birthday with a visual tribute. I regret to inform that the fine Dp has passed away at 98 on St. Patrick's Day.
Director John Huston (left) and Oswald Morris (right) size up a scene
I first became a fan of his, without knowing I was (you know how that is at the beginning of cinephilia) when I saw the puppet classic The Dark Crystal (1982) which was his last film. That film was so technically ambitious at the time and a visual triumph in many ways. I've been meaning to watch it again just to feel the presence of actual objects with weight and shadow in the time of CGI.
In the obit at The Telegraph he tells a good story about one of his true breakthroughs: Moulin Rouge (1952):
In 1952, Morris “broke every rule in the book...
Director John Huston (left) and Oswald Morris (right) size up a scene
I first became a fan of his, without knowing I was (you know how that is at the beginning of cinephilia) when I saw the puppet classic The Dark Crystal (1982) which was his last film. That film was so technically ambitious at the time and a visual triumph in many ways. I've been meaning to watch it again just to feel the presence of actual objects with weight and shadow in the time of CGI.
In the obit at The Telegraph he tells a good story about one of his true breakthroughs: Moulin Rouge (1952):
In 1952, Morris “broke every rule in the book...
- 3/21/2014
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Oscar-winning British cinematographer who worked on a wide range of film classics
The Oscar-winning British cinematographer Oswald Morris, who has died aged 98, will be remembered for many classics, including Moulin Rouge, Fiddler on the Roof, Moby Dick and Lolita. He worked with some of the great directors, John Huston, Sidney Lumet, Carol Reed, Stanley Kubrick and Franco Zeffirelli. Many of Morris's films are landmarks in the history of colour cinematography. For Moulin Rouge (1952) he used filters to create a style reminiscent of paintings by Toulouse-Lautrec. For Fiddler on the Roof (1971), which won him an Oscar, he filmed with a silk stocking over the lens to give a sepia effect.
Morris also shot popular favourites such as The Guns of Navarone (1961), Oliver! (1968), The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) and The Man Who Would Be King (1975), and photographed acting luminaries: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Gregory Peck and Humphrey Bogart.
The Oscar-winning British cinematographer Oswald Morris, who has died aged 98, will be remembered for many classics, including Moulin Rouge, Fiddler on the Roof, Moby Dick and Lolita. He worked with some of the great directors, John Huston, Sidney Lumet, Carol Reed, Stanley Kubrick and Franco Zeffirelli. Many of Morris's films are landmarks in the history of colour cinematography. For Moulin Rouge (1952) he used filters to create a style reminiscent of paintings by Toulouse-Lautrec. For Fiddler on the Roof (1971), which won him an Oscar, he filmed with a silk stocking over the lens to give a sepia effect.
Morris also shot popular favourites such as The Guns of Navarone (1961), Oliver! (1968), The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) and The Man Who Would Be King (1975), and photographed acting luminaries: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Gregory Peck and Humphrey Bogart.
- 3/20/2014
- by Brian Baxter
- The Guardian - Film News
800x600
Ossie Morris signs a copy of his 2006 autobiography 'Houston, We Have a Problem' for Matthew Field in February of this year.
Oscar-winning British cinematographer Oswald Morris passed away Monday evening at his home in Dorset, England. He was 98 years old.
A founding member and former president of the Bsc (the British Society of Cinematographers), 'Ossie', as he was known to all in the business, won an Academy Award in 1971 for the musical Fiddler on the Roof and four Baftas, including one for The Hill (1965) starring Sean Connery. His early career included working on David Lean's Oliver Twist and John Huston's Moulin Rouge. Ossie worked on over 40 major productions in his life, including Oliver!, The Wiz, The Guns of Navarone, Equus, The Man Who Would be King, and many, many more.
Retro's Matthew Field met the great man at his home just a few weeks ago, in what...
Ossie Morris signs a copy of his 2006 autobiography 'Houston, We Have a Problem' for Matthew Field in February of this year.
Oscar-winning British cinematographer Oswald Morris passed away Monday evening at his home in Dorset, England. He was 98 years old.
A founding member and former president of the Bsc (the British Society of Cinematographers), 'Ossie', as he was known to all in the business, won an Academy Award in 1971 for the musical Fiddler on the Roof and four Baftas, including one for The Hill (1965) starring Sean Connery. His early career included working on David Lean's Oliver Twist and John Huston's Moulin Rouge. Ossie worked on over 40 major productions in his life, including Oliver!, The Wiz, The Guns of Navarone, Equus, The Man Who Would be King, and many, many more.
Retro's Matthew Field met the great man at his home just a few weeks ago, in what...
- 3/19/2014
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Oswald Morris, the acclaimed British cinematographer who earned an Oscar for the 1971 musical Fiddler on the Roof and paired often with John Huston, has died. He was 98. "Ossie" Morris, whose incredible resume includes such wide-ranging films as Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962), Franco Zeffirelli's The Taming of the Shrew (1967) and Jim Henson's The Great Muppet Caper (1981), died Monday at his home in Dorset, England, the British Society of Cinematographers announced. He was one of the most outstanding directors of photography of the 20th century, perhaps best known for expanding the parameters of color cinematography, especially on
read more...
read more...
- 3/19/2014
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Oswald Morris, the acclaimed British cinematographer who earned an Oscar for the 1971 musical Fiddler on the Roof and paired often with John Huston, has died. He was 98.
"Ossie" Morris, whose incredible resume includes such wide-ranging films as Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962), Franco Zeffirelli's The Taming of the Shrew (1967) and Jim Henson's The Great Muppet Caper (1981), died Monday at his home in Dorset, England, the British Society of Cinematographers announced.
He was one of the most outstanding directors of photography of the 20th century, perhaps best known for expanding the parameters of color cinematography, especially on Huston's Moulin ...
"Ossie" Morris, whose incredible resume includes such wide-ranging films as Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962), Franco Zeffirelli's The Taming of the Shrew (1967) and Jim Henson's The Great Muppet Caper (1981), died Monday at his home in Dorset, England, the British Society of Cinematographers announced.
He was one of the most outstanding directors of photography of the 20th century, perhaps best known for expanding the parameters of color cinematography, especially on Huston's Moulin ...
- 3/19/2014
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Oswald Morris, the acclaimed British cinematographer who earned an Oscar for the 1971 musical Fiddler on the Roof and paired often with John Huston, has died. He was 98.
"Ossie" Morris, whose incredible resume includes such wide-ranging films as Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962), Franco Zeffirelli's The Taming of the Shrew (1967) and Jim Henson's The Great Muppet Caper (1981), died Monday at his home in Dorset, England, the British Society of Cinematographers announced.
He was one of the most outstanding directors of photography of the 20th century, perhaps best known for expanding the parameters of color cinematography, especially on Huston's Moulin ...
"Ossie" Morris, whose incredible resume includes such wide-ranging films as Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962), Franco Zeffirelli's The Taming of the Shrew (1967) and Jim Henson's The Great Muppet Caper (1981), died Monday at his home in Dorset, England, the British Society of Cinematographers announced.
He was one of the most outstanding directors of photography of the 20th century, perhaps best known for expanding the parameters of color cinematography, especially on Huston's Moulin ...
- 3/19/2014
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Let's sing a big raucous happy birthday to 98 years young Oscar winner Oswald Morris who is still with us! That's a lot of candles. And a lot of great movies.
The British born Morris only ever received Oscar nominations for big screen musicals (Oliver!, Fiddler on the Roof , and The Wiz) but that's hardly the full picture of his career. Though reknowned for his use of color -- his cinematography on Moulin Rouge (1952, recently discussed) was particularly innovative -- he also won prizes for his black and white work, most notably: Moby Dick, The Pumpkin Eater, The Hill, and The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. Other well known pictures include Equus, The Guns of Navarone, Stanley Kubrick's Lolita and a couple of Liz & Dick adventures (The Taming of the Shrew and Reflections in a Golden Eye). His awards haul includes 1 Oscar, 3 BAFTAs, 3 British Society of Cinematography wins and...
The British born Morris only ever received Oscar nominations for big screen musicals (Oliver!, Fiddler on the Roof , and The Wiz) but that's hardly the full picture of his career. Though reknowned for his use of color -- his cinematography on Moulin Rouge (1952, recently discussed) was particularly innovative -- he also won prizes for his black and white work, most notably: Moby Dick, The Pumpkin Eater, The Hill, and The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. Other well known pictures include Equus, The Guns of Navarone, Stanley Kubrick's Lolita and a couple of Liz & Dick adventures (The Taming of the Shrew and Reflections in a Golden Eye). His awards haul includes 1 Oscar, 3 BAFTAs, 3 British Society of Cinematography wins and...
- 11/22/2013
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Moviefone's Top DVD of the Week
"Star Trek Into Darkness"
What's It About? J.J. Abrams' second "Star Trek" installment follows the Enterprise crew when they're called back home and find an unstoppable force of terror within their own organization. Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) leads the Enterprise against a one man weapon of mass destruction. Why We're In: This sequel is exhilarating from start to finish with tons of spectacle and a solid narrative. Abarams' film perfectly mixes classic references that will excite any "Star Trek" fan, but won't make newbies feel left out. "Star Trek Into Darkness" was one of Moviefone's Best Movies of 2013 (So Far).
Watch: Get a behind-the-scenes look at the special effects of "Star Trek Into Darkness" (Video)
Rt & Follow to win a @StarTrekMovie #IntoDarkness Blu-ray & movie poster autographed by Jj Abrams and cast! Rules: http://t.co/8i1T01cxD0
- moviefone (@moviefone) September 10, 2013
Moviefone's...
"Star Trek Into Darkness"
What's It About? J.J. Abrams' second "Star Trek" installment follows the Enterprise crew when they're called back home and find an unstoppable force of terror within their own organization. Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) leads the Enterprise against a one man weapon of mass destruction. Why We're In: This sequel is exhilarating from start to finish with tons of spectacle and a solid narrative. Abarams' film perfectly mixes classic references that will excite any "Star Trek" fan, but won't make newbies feel left out. "Star Trek Into Darkness" was one of Moviefone's Best Movies of 2013 (So Far).
Watch: Get a behind-the-scenes look at the special effects of "Star Trek Into Darkness" (Video)
Rt & Follow to win a @StarTrekMovie #IntoDarkness Blu-ray & movie poster autographed by Jj Abrams and cast! Rules: http://t.co/8i1T01cxD0
- moviefone (@moviefone) September 10, 2013
Moviefone's...
- 9/10/2013
- by Erin Whitney
- Moviefone
Blu-ray Release Date: Sept. 10, 2013
Price: Blu-ray $39.95
Studio: Criterion
Richard Burton (l.) warms up in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.
The 1965 drama-thriller film The Spy Who Came In From The Cold starring Richard Burton (Cleopatra) and Claire Bloom (The King’s Speech) is generally considered to be one of the finest adaptations of a John le Carré bestselling novel to the big screen.
Burton is British operative Alec Leamas, a Cold War spy on one final dangerous mission in East Germany, whose relationship with a beautiful librarian (Bloom) puts his assignment in jeopardy.
Directed by Martin Ritt (Hud, Norma Rae) into a film that’s every bit as precise and ruthless as the book, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is a hard-edged and tragic thriller that’s suffused with the political and social consciousness that defined Ritt’s career.
Criterion issued The Spy Who Came In From The Cold...
Price: Blu-ray $39.95
Studio: Criterion
Richard Burton (l.) warms up in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.
The 1965 drama-thriller film The Spy Who Came In From The Cold starring Richard Burton (Cleopatra) and Claire Bloom (The King’s Speech) is generally considered to be one of the finest adaptations of a John le Carré bestselling novel to the big screen.
Burton is British operative Alec Leamas, a Cold War spy on one final dangerous mission in East Germany, whose relationship with a beautiful librarian (Bloom) puts his assignment in jeopardy.
Directed by Martin Ritt (Hud, Norma Rae) into a film that’s every bit as precise and ruthless as the book, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is a hard-edged and tragic thriller that’s suffused with the political and social consciousness that defined Ritt’s career.
Criterion issued The Spy Who Came In From The Cold...
- 7/9/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Oscar-nominated director Mike Figgis argues that the defeatist attitude and outdated structure of Britain's movie industry is preventing film‑makers from flourishing on home soil
Way back in the 1980s, when I decided to try to move from the world of performance art into film-making, I wrote a treatment for a short film called The Side. The name comes from the spectacular street that leads down to the river Tyne. I submitted the treatment to the BFI and in due course got a letter from Peter Sainsbury (the then head of BFI) turning me down for assistance because the material was "visually interesting but lacked content".
Around this time I also applied to the National Film School to study cinema. After a fairly confrontational interview with Lord Puttnam and the great cinematographer Ossie Morris I was rejected. Undaunted, I carried on and eventually The Side became Stormy Monday, my first feature film.
Way back in the 1980s, when I decided to try to move from the world of performance art into film-making, I wrote a treatment for a short film called The Side. The name comes from the spectacular street that leads down to the river Tyne. I submitted the treatment to the BFI and in due course got a letter from Peter Sainsbury (the then head of BFI) turning me down for assistance because the material was "visually interesting but lacked content".
Around this time I also applied to the National Film School to study cinema. After a fairly confrontational interview with Lord Puttnam and the great cinematographer Ossie Morris I was rejected. Undaunted, I carried on and eventually The Side became Stormy Monday, my first feature film.
- 6/22/2013
- by Mike Figgis
- The Guardian - Film News
The double Oscar winner (The Great Ziegfeld and The Good Earth) turns 102 today! She's the oldest living Oscar nominee or winner! Her most recent appearance was just four short months ago when she showed up for her star ceremony in Berlin. They now have a "Boulevard des Stars" much like Hollywood's walk of fame and as the only German Best Actress winner (Hollywood and the media who nicknamed her "The Viennese Teardrop" promoted her as Austrian for obvious reasons in the 1930s), she was a natural for inclusion.
happy birthday to you
happy birthday dear Luise,
happy birthday to you
.......and many more ♫
Odets and Rainer in Hollywood. Odets also romanced actress Frances Farmer (as seen in the Jessica Lange picture "Frances")Luise is on record as saying that she doesn't believe in the Oscar curse and her short-lived Hollywood career was her own doing.
"The Oscar jinx! There is no Oscar jinx.
happy birthday to you
happy birthday dear Luise,
happy birthday to you
.......and many more ♫
Odets and Rainer in Hollywood. Odets also romanced actress Frances Farmer (as seen in the Jessica Lange picture "Frances")Luise is on record as saying that she doesn't believe in the Oscar curse and her short-lived Hollywood career was her own doing.
"The Oscar jinx! There is no Oscar jinx.
- 1/12/2012
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
BAFTA Fellowship: Few Women, Few Outside UK/Hollywood, Steven Spielberg Before Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Billy Wilder [Photo: Laurence Olivier] 1971 Alfred Hitchcock 1972 Freddie Young 1973 Grace Wyndham Goldie 1974 David Lean 1975 Jacques Cousteau 1976 Charles Chaplin, Laurence Olivier 1977 Denis Forman 1978 Fred Zinnemann 1979 Lew Grade, Huw Wheldon 1980 David Attenborough, John Huston 1981 Abel Gance, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger 1982 Andrzej Wajda 1983 Richard Attenborough 1984 Hugh Greene, Sam Spiegel 1985 Jeremy Isaacs 1986 Steven Spielberg 1987 Federico Fellini 1988 Ingmar Bergman 1989 Alec Guinness 1990 Paul Fox 1991 Louis Malle 1992 John Gielgud, David Plowright 1993 Sydney Samuelson, Colin Young 1994 Michael Grade 1995 Billy Wilder 1996 Jeanne Moreau, Ronald Neame, John Schlesinger, Maggie Smith 1997 Woody Allen, Steven Bochco, Julie Christie, Oswald Morris, Harold Pinter, David Rose 1998 Sean Connery, Bill Cotton 1999 Eric Morecambe & Ernie Wise, Elizabeth Taylor 2000 Michael Caine, Stanley Kubrick, Peter Bazalgette 2001 Albert Finney, John Thaw, Judi Dench 2002 Warren Beatty, Merchant Ivory Productions (James Ivory, Ismail Merchant) 2002 Andrew Davies, John Mills 2003 Saul Zaentz, David Jason 2004 John Boorman, Roger Graef 2005 John Barry, David Frost 2006 David Puttnam,...
- 1/4/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The comparison is inevitable between John Huston's Moulin Rouge (1952) and French Cancan (1954), Jean Renoir's first film to be shot in a French studio after 15 years of wartime and postwar exile, and it became the conventional wisdom to prefer Renoir's film for its supposedly authentic Frenchness. In fact the films are very different in tone and intent. Huston's movie is a dour well-considered biography of Toulouse-Lautrec, essentially a tragic story. It's marvellously lit by Oswald Morris, one of Britain's greatest cinematographers, and begins with an extended and breathtaking evocation of the Moulin Rouge at its most ravishing, one of the cinema's greatest sequences. French Cancan is a romantic, sentimental, largely fictionalised account of the creation of the Moulin Rouge, a show-business success story starring Jean Gabin, one of the greatest stars of European cinema, as a suave nightclub manager and talent spotter. It concludes with a magnificent 10-minute sequence when,...
- 8/6/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Chicago – Norman Jewison’s 1971 adaptation of the Broadway smash “Fiddler on the Roof” offers a textbook example of the best possible way to make a musical for the big screen. It came out at a time when movie musicals were quickly becoming a dying art form, and yet Jewison somehow managed to avoid all the mistakes that marred so many other filmmakers.
His first excellent decision was to avoid casting any big names. Topol was a 35-year-old actor who first played the main role of Tevye in a 1967 West End production. In the massive array of extras contained on this sensational 40th anniversary Blu-Ray edition, Jewison claims that he utilized clipped fragments of his own graying hair to age his preferred leading man. Yet the director’s efforts were obviously not in vain. Topol turned out to be such an indelible choice that it’s practically impossible to think of anyone else in the role.
His first excellent decision was to avoid casting any big names. Topol was a 35-year-old actor who first played the main role of Tevye in a 1967 West End production. In the massive array of extras contained on this sensational 40th anniversary Blu-Ray edition, Jewison claims that he utilized clipped fragments of his own graying hair to age his preferred leading man. Yet the director’s efforts were obviously not in vain. Topol turned out to be such an indelible choice that it’s practically impossible to think of anyone else in the role.
- 4/22/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Happy birthday to the oldest living Oscar winner, Luise Rainer
"The Good Earth" and "The Great Ziegfeld"May she live to be as old as she wants to!
Luise was the first actress to become a double Oscar winner (36/37) and the first thespian to do it back-to-back though Spencer Tracy repeated her trick immediately (37/38); Katharine Hepburn (67/68), Jason Robards (76/77) and Tom Hanks (93/94) followed suit.
Tonight
TCM is airing interviews with Luise
Oldest Living Oscar Nominees
Luise Rainer (two time Best Actress winner), now 101. Norman Corwin (nominee, wrote Lust for Life) is 100 1/2. Douglas Slocombe (3-time nominee, shot Raiders of the Lost Ark) is 98 next month. Elmo Williams (Oscar winner, editing High Noon) is 98 in April. Oswald Morris (Oscar winner, shot Fiddler on the Roof) recently turned 95. Olivia deHAVILLAND (two time Best Actress winner and featured in fav actresses gallery) is 94 Kirk Douglas (Michael Douglas pappy and 3 time nominee) just turned 94. Ernest Borgnine (Best Actor winner,...
"The Good Earth" and "The Great Ziegfeld"May she live to be as old as she wants to!
Luise was the first actress to become a double Oscar winner (36/37) and the first thespian to do it back-to-back though Spencer Tracy repeated her trick immediately (37/38); Katharine Hepburn (67/68), Jason Robards (76/77) and Tom Hanks (93/94) followed suit.
Tonight
TCM is airing interviews with Luise
Oldest Living Oscar Nominees
Luise Rainer (two time Best Actress winner), now 101. Norman Corwin (nominee, wrote Lust for Life) is 100 1/2. Douglas Slocombe (3-time nominee, shot Raiders of the Lost Ark) is 98 next month. Elmo Williams (Oscar winner, editing High Noon) is 98 in April. Oswald Morris (Oscar winner, shot Fiddler on the Roof) recently turned 95. Olivia deHAVILLAND (two time Best Actress winner and featured in fav actresses gallery) is 94 Kirk Douglas (Michael Douglas pappy and 3 time nominee) just turned 94. Ernest Borgnine (Best Actor winner,...
- 1/12/2011
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Happy birthday to Best Actress winner Joan Fontaine (Suspicion, 1941), also known as the second Mrs. DeWinter. She turns 93 years young today. What on earth was she thinking about when she won the Oscar. This photo to your left fascinates me on account of "who knows?" It seems so much more candid than many Oscar night photos.
I keep the following "still with us!" list, not from any morbid curiousity but from a genuine happiness that some legendary screen stars are still walking the earth even though most of them aren't walking the screens these days. This year has been rough with the losses so maybe I'm going to stop keep this list. My heart was in the right place! We want the following to know that their past accomplishments are acknowledged by new generations.
The Oldest Living Oscar Nominees
All of them were born before the movies even had sound!
I keep the following "still with us!" list, not from any morbid curiousity but from a genuine happiness that some legendary screen stars are still walking the earth even though most of them aren't walking the screens these days. This year has been rough with the losses so maybe I'm going to stop keep this list. My heart was in the right place! We want the following to know that their past accomplishments are acknowledged by new generations.
The Oldest Living Oscar Nominees
All of them were born before the movies even had sound!
- 10/23/2010
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Monsieur Ripois (1954), directed by René Clément, is a rather wonderful and sophisticated drama/character study which deposits scheming philanderer Gérard Philipe into the heart of austerity-era England, where he ruthlessly hoovers up all the stray birds who are hanging around waiting for London to start swinging. The story unfolds one evening as Ripois has lured his soon-to-be-ex-wife's attractive friend to his flat, and recounts the story of his amorous adventures to her in hopes of proving the sincerity of his affections. But since his story is nothing but a catalogue of lies, seduction, betrayal and headlong flight, it's hard to see whether his cause can be won...
One of the pleasures of this film, a decently budgeted affair nevertheless doused in an air of poverty and gloom endemic to the UK at that time, is that it's a French movie made in Britain. So we get to hear the dashing,...
One of the pleasures of this film, a decently budgeted affair nevertheless doused in an air of poverty and gloom endemic to the UK at that time, is that it's a French movie made in Britain. So we get to hear the dashing,...
- 5/27/2010
- MUBI
Screen Daily, June 9, 2009
British film producer Duncan Kenworthy OBE has donated $1 million to the National Film and Television School (Nfts) for its new teaching building. The building will be opened on June 11 by a group of British film directors including Terence Davies, Stephen Frears, Sir Alan Parker Cbe and Mike Figgis. At Kenworthy’s request, the building will be named after 93-year-old British cinematographer Oswald Morris OBE. Morris started in the industry in 1932 as an unpaid sixteen year old clapper boy for director Michael Powell, and went on to become an Academy Award- winning cinematographer.
The donation comes at a challenging time for the Nfts, as some of its broadcaster-funders have cut their support. The Chairman of the School, Michael Kuhn, said: “This magnificent one-off donation coincides with us urgently seeking to establish a more sustainable funding model with the government. The government has singled out the creative industries as...
British film producer Duncan Kenworthy OBE has donated $1 million to the National Film and Television School (Nfts) for its new teaching building. The building will be opened on June 11 by a group of British film directors including Terence Davies, Stephen Frears, Sir Alan Parker Cbe and Mike Figgis. At Kenworthy’s request, the building will be named after 93-year-old British cinematographer Oswald Morris OBE. Morris started in the industry in 1932 as an unpaid sixteen year old clapper boy for director Michael Powell, and went on to become an Academy Award- winning cinematographer.
The donation comes at a challenging time for the Nfts, as some of its broadcaster-funders have cut their support. The Chairman of the School, Michael Kuhn, said: “This magnificent one-off donation coincides with us urgently seeking to establish a more sustainable funding model with the government. The government has singled out the creative industries as...
- 6/9/2009
- by Sydney@SydneysBuzz.com (Sydney)
- Sydney's Buzz
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.