More’s hopelessly vain out-of-work actor is joined by a blue chip cast in a zippy tale that does unfortunately rather show its age
Before Richard E Grant’s Withnail, there was Kenneth More’s Chick Byrd. In Alvin Rakoff’s 1964 British drama, Byrd is an out-of-work actor whose breezy, cynical exuberance masks increasing terror of permanent unemployment and, like Withnail, he is desperate for his agent to call, stunned by his flatmate booking a glamorous film job and stuck living in a scuzzy boarding house in Camden Town (although exteriors were shot in Paddington).
After being fired from his job in provincial rep, Chick has come back down to London to try his luck, meeting up with all the old faces, the familiar parade of ageing thespian losers hanging round West End pubs and cafes during the day and mooching desolately past theatres with huge hoardings showing rave reviews for successful actors.
Before Richard E Grant’s Withnail, there was Kenneth More’s Chick Byrd. In Alvin Rakoff’s 1964 British drama, Byrd is an out-of-work actor whose breezy, cynical exuberance masks increasing terror of permanent unemployment and, like Withnail, he is desperate for his agent to call, stunned by his flatmate booking a glamorous film job and stuck living in a scuzzy boarding house in Camden Town (although exteriors were shot in Paddington).
After being fired from his job in provincial rep, Chick has come back down to London to try his luck, meeting up with all the old faces, the familiar parade of ageing thespian losers hanging round West End pubs and cafes during the day and mooching desolately past theatres with huge hoardings showing rave reviews for successful actors.
- 3/12/2024
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
To celebrate the release of The Comedy Man, on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital from 18th March, we are giving away Blu-Rays to 2 lucky winners!
Boasting a career-best performance from Kenneth More and skilfully directed by Alvin Rakoff, this often-forgotten example of the late British New Wave features an outstanding supporting cast including Cecil Parker, Dennis Price, Edmund Purdom and Billie Whitelaw.
The Comedy Man depicts the life of a struggling actor in Swinging London. Fired from his job in repertory theatre after seducing the producer’s wife, Chick Byrd (Kenneth More) moves to London. At 40 years old, he realises this is his last chance to make it as an actor. After moving into digs in London with Julian (Edmund Purdom), a fellow actor, Julian’s career soars after a successful screen test, but Chick’s meets with continued failure.
After a tumultuous event, Chick finally gets a break and finds...
Boasting a career-best performance from Kenneth More and skilfully directed by Alvin Rakoff, this often-forgotten example of the late British New Wave features an outstanding supporting cast including Cecil Parker, Dennis Price, Edmund Purdom and Billie Whitelaw.
The Comedy Man depicts the life of a struggling actor in Swinging London. Fired from his job in repertory theatre after seducing the producer’s wife, Chick Byrd (Kenneth More) moves to London. At 40 years old, he realises this is his last chance to make it as an actor. After moving into digs in London with Julian (Edmund Purdom), a fellow actor, Julian’s career soars after a successful screen test, but Chick’s meets with continued failure.
After a tumultuous event, Chick finally gets a break and finds...
- 3/9/2024
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
It’s the ‘other’ version of Dickens’ terrific novel, an English film that few Americans have seen. This Australian DVD is in the Pal format and from a rather outdated transfer, yet I thoroughly enjoyed seeing a favorite story enacted by a great batch of UK talent. Dirk Bogarde stars and the many character roles go to familiar faces: Cecil Parker, Athene Seyler, Ian Bannen, Alfie Bass, Rosalie Crutchley, Freda Jackson, Christopher Lee, Leo McKern, Donald Pleasence, Eric Pohlmann, Danny Green and the lovely Marie Versini. It’s a regular actor-spotting quiz. Ralph Thomas directed and much of the film was shot in France … with excellent English diction.
A Tale of Two Cities
Region 2 Pal DVD
Viavision (Australia)
1958 / B&w / 1:33 adapted flat / 117 min. / Street Date January 5, 2022 / Available from Viavision / 19.95 au
Starring: Dirk Bogarde, Dorothy Tutin, Cecil Parker, Stephen Murray, Athene Seyler, Paul Guers, Marie Versini, Ian Bannen, Alfie Bass,...
A Tale of Two Cities
Region 2 Pal DVD
Viavision (Australia)
1958 / B&w / 1:33 adapted flat / 117 min. / Street Date January 5, 2022 / Available from Viavision / 19.95 au
Starring: Dirk Bogarde, Dorothy Tutin, Cecil Parker, Stephen Murray, Athene Seyler, Paul Guers, Marie Versini, Ian Bannen, Alfie Bass,...
- 1/25/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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“The Pellet With The Poison”
By Raymond Benson
Danny Kaye was not only a brilliant triple-threat (actor/singer/dancer), but he was a stand-up comic, an expert chef, a writer, a pilot, a baseball enthusiast, a notable philanthropist, a Unicef ambassador, and an honorary member of the American College of Surgeons and American Academy of Pediatrics (!). His decades-long career on stage, in film, and on television speaks for itself, but one of his most beloved screen vehicles was The Court Jester, a 1956 picture that was shockingly ignored at the Oscars that year.
Even more disturbing is the fact that it was allegedly the most expensive comedy film ever produced up to that time and was a box office failure (perhaps that’s the reason there was no Oscar love). Nevertheless, time has been extremely kind to the movie through revivals and television broadcasts.
“The Pellet With The Poison”
By Raymond Benson
Danny Kaye was not only a brilliant triple-threat (actor/singer/dancer), but he was a stand-up comic, an expert chef, a writer, a pilot, a baseball enthusiast, a notable philanthropist, a Unicef ambassador, and an honorary member of the American College of Surgeons and American Academy of Pediatrics (!). His decades-long career on stage, in film, and on television speaks for itself, but one of his most beloved screen vehicles was The Court Jester, a 1956 picture that was shockingly ignored at the Oscars that year.
Even more disturbing is the fact that it was allegedly the most expensive comedy film ever produced up to that time and was a box office failure (perhaps that’s the reason there was no Oscar love). Nevertheless, time has been extremely kind to the movie through revivals and television broadcasts.
- 1/24/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
To celebrate the 65th anniversary of Ealing Studios’ flawless The Ladykillers, Studiocanal is releasing the first ever 4k restoration of the 1955 black comedy from the original 3-strip Technicolor negative, showcasing director Alexander Mackendrick’s vision in its full glory.
Featuring all-star line-up of the finest comedy actors of the era: Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Danny Green, Frankie Howerd and Katie Johnson, The Ladykillers follows the hilarious capers of a group of small-time crooks, taking on more they can handle in the form of their sweet, but slightly dotty, elderly landlady Mrs Wilberforce. The gang pull off a robbery but none of them could have predicted that their greatest obstacle to escaping with the loot would be their tiny hostess.
Please note: This competition is open to UK residents only
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The Ladykillers is released as a 4K Uhd Blu-ray Collector’s Edition, Standard Blu-ray,...
Featuring all-star line-up of the finest comedy actors of the era: Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Danny Green, Frankie Howerd and Katie Johnson, The Ladykillers follows the hilarious capers of a group of small-time crooks, taking on more they can handle in the form of their sweet, but slightly dotty, elderly landlady Mrs Wilberforce. The gang pull off a robbery but none of them could have predicted that their greatest obstacle to escaping with the loot would be their tiny hostess.
Please note: This competition is open to UK residents only
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The Ladykillers is released as a 4K Uhd Blu-ray Collector’s Edition, Standard Blu-ray,...
- 11/8/2020
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
"Give the parrot his medicine." Studiocanal has unveiled a new trailer for the 4K restoration and re-release of The Ladykillers, celebrating the film's 65th anniversary. This "flawless" black comedy first opened in 1955 in London, and is considered one of the best British comedies ever made. A 35mm 3-strip Technicolor print was used as a reference for the colour grade to ensure the new Hdr Dolby Vision master stayed true to the films original 1950s "Colour by Technicolor" look. Five oddball criminals planning a bank robbery rent rooms on a cul-de-sac from an octogenarian widow under the pretext that they are classical musicians. The film features an all-star line-up of the finest comedy actors of the era: Alec Guinness plays mastermind "Professor Marcus"; Cecil Parker is Claude otherwise known as "Major Courtney"; Peter Sellers is Harry aka "Mr Robinson"; Herbert Lom is Louis aka "Mr Harvey" and Danny Green plays One-Round...
- 9/25/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
File this great comedy under social science fiction, subheading ‘H’ for hilarious. Alec Guinness’s comic boffin hero is both a bringer of miracles and one of the most dangerous men alive. The story of Sidney Stratton, brilliant chemist and inadvertent industrial terrorist, is a consistent laugh riot. Call the jokes droll, understated, dry, and reserved, but they certainly aren’t stupid — Ealing’s high-class comedy is slapstick heaven, yet hides a lesson about modern economics that most people still haven’t learned. And Guinness’s romantic foil is the woman with the velvet-gravel voice, Joan Greenwood.
The Man in the White Suit
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1951 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 85 min. / Street Date September 3, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Michael Gough, Ernest Thesiger, Howard Marion-Crawford, Henry Mollison, Vida Hope.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Art Direction: Jim Morahan
Film Editor: Bernard Gribble
Original Music:...
The Man in the White Suit
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1951 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 85 min. / Street Date September 3, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Michael Gough, Ernest Thesiger, Howard Marion-Crawford, Henry Mollison, Vida Hope.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Art Direction: Jim Morahan
Film Editor: Bernard Gribble
Original Music:...
- 8/24/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
To mark the release of Odette and I Was Monty’S Double on 11th June, we’ve been given 3 of copies of each to give away on Blu-ray.
Odette
A classic tale of bravery and courage during WWII, Odette tells the true story of female war hero Odette Hallowes. After volunteering her services to the Special Operations Executive, Odette is dispatched into Nazi occupied France and thrown into an intense world of espionage. Whilst on a deadly mission working for the French Resistance, her cover is blown and Odette is captured and interrogated by ruthless Gestapo officers. But, even after being brutally tortured and sentenced to death in a concentration camp, Odette still refuses to reveal any information concerning her original mission and her fellow spies.
I Was Monty’s Double
This classic movie directed by John Guillerman has been beautifully restored as part of the Vintage Classics Collection. It...
Odette
A classic tale of bravery and courage during WWII, Odette tells the true story of female war hero Odette Hallowes. After volunteering her services to the Special Operations Executive, Odette is dispatched into Nazi occupied France and thrown into an intense world of espionage. Whilst on a deadly mission working for the French Resistance, her cover is blown and Odette is captured and interrogated by ruthless Gestapo officers. But, even after being brutally tortured and sentenced to death in a concentration camp, Odette still refuses to reveal any information concerning her original mission and her fellow spies.
I Was Monty’s Double
This classic movie directed by John Guillerman has been beautifully restored as part of the Vintage Classics Collection. It...
- 6/3/2019
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The Admirable Crichton
Blu ray
Twilight Time
1957 / 1:85:1 / 94 Min. / Street Date – February 12, 2019
Starring Kenneth More, Sally Ann Howes
Cinematography by Wilkie Cooper
Directed by Lewis Gilbert
True love and the British Empire collide in 1957’s The Admirable Crichton, the riches to rags story of one hard-to-get butler and a boatload of love struck aristocrats.
Loam Manor is run with steely officiousness by the valet known simply as Crichton, a kindly martinet who views the class system as the crowning achievement of British society – a notion which not coincidentally coincides with Crichton’s dominance over the servant’s quarters.
The Loams themselves, three spoon-fed sisters and their dithering father are naturally spoiled rotten, viewing their stable of servants as an exotic species to be kept on invisible leashes – in such a fraught situation the tables are just begging to be turned. And so they are when the Lord’s ship sinks,...
Blu ray
Twilight Time
1957 / 1:85:1 / 94 Min. / Street Date – February 12, 2019
Starring Kenneth More, Sally Ann Howes
Cinematography by Wilkie Cooper
Directed by Lewis Gilbert
True love and the British Empire collide in 1957’s The Admirable Crichton, the riches to rags story of one hard-to-get butler and a boatload of love struck aristocrats.
Loam Manor is run with steely officiousness by the valet known simply as Crichton, a kindly martinet who views the class system as the crowning achievement of British society – a notion which not coincidentally coincides with Crichton’s dominance over the servant’s quarters.
The Loams themselves, three spoon-fed sisters and their dithering father are naturally spoiled rotten, viewing their stable of servants as an exotic species to be kept on invisible leashes – in such a fraught situation the tables are just begging to be turned. And so they are when the Lord’s ship sinks,...
- 3/2/2019
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
What could go wrong? Alfred Hitchcock directs Ingrid Bergman and Joseph Cotten in a mysterious tale of marital intrigues and social bigotry in a land populated by ex-convicts. Bergman is the long-suffering wife and Jack Cardiff is behind the Technicolor camera, which swoops through several amazing unbroken moving camera master shots, one fully five minutes long. What could go wrong?
Under Capricorn
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1949 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 117 min. / Street Date June 19, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, Michael Wilding, Margaret Leighton, Cecil Parker, Denis O’Dea.
Cinematography: Jack Cardiff
Film Editor: A.S. Bates
Original Music: Richard Addinsell
Written by James Bridie adapted by Hume Cronyn from a play by John Colton & Margaret Linden, from a novel by Helen Simpson
Produced by Sidney Bernstein, Alfred Hitchcock
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Under Capricorn is Alfred Hitchcock’s sophomore try with his own TransAtlantic pictures, after servitude...
Under Capricorn
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1949 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 117 min. / Street Date June 19, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, Michael Wilding, Margaret Leighton, Cecil Parker, Denis O’Dea.
Cinematography: Jack Cardiff
Film Editor: A.S. Bates
Original Music: Richard Addinsell
Written by James Bridie adapted by Hume Cronyn from a play by John Colton & Margaret Linden, from a novel by Helen Simpson
Produced by Sidney Bernstein, Alfred Hitchcock
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Under Capricorn is Alfred Hitchcock’s sophomore try with his own TransAtlantic pictures, after servitude...
- 7/7/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
April is kicking off with an eclectic assortment of genre-related home entertainment releases, with Adam Robitel’s Insidious: The Last Key leading the charge on both Blu-ray and DVD (there’s also a nifty Insidious 4-pack hitting DVD as well). Shout! Factory is putting out the stellar revenge thriller Sweet Virginia this week, and Severin Films is keeping busy with a double dose of Jess Franco with their Blu-rays for Sinfonia Erotica and The Sadist of Notre Dame.
Other notable releases for April 3rd include A Study in Terror, A Place in Hell, 4/20 Massacre, and 12 Feet Deep.
4/20 Massacre (Film Chest, DVD)
Over 4/20 weekend, five young women have decided to celebrate their friend's birthday by taking a camping trip to a secluded part of a nearby national park. However, their fun is quickly snubbed out when they stumble upon an illegal marijuana grow operation hidden in the greenery and protected by a bloodthirsty maniac.
Other notable releases for April 3rd include A Study in Terror, A Place in Hell, 4/20 Massacre, and 12 Feet Deep.
4/20 Massacre (Film Chest, DVD)
Over 4/20 weekend, five young women have decided to celebrate their friend's birthday by taking a camping trip to a secluded part of a nearby national park. However, their fun is quickly snubbed out when they stumble upon an illegal marijuana grow operation hidden in the greenery and protected by a bloodthirsty maniac.
- 4/3/2018
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
No, not a blind Sherlock Holmes, but a blind Van Johnson, who directs his butler, his girlfriend Vera Miles and the London police to thwart a crime based on something he overheard in a bar. Henry Hathaway directs a complicated murder mystery that plays like a combo of Rear Window and Wait Until Dark, with a cranky Van Johnson as the central character.
23 Paces to Baker Street
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1956 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date February 21, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Van Johnson, Vera Miles, Cecil Parker, Patricia Laffan, Maurice Denham, Estelle Winwood, Liam Redmond, Isobel Elsom, Martin Benson, Queenie Leonard.
Cinematography: Milton Krasner
Film Editor: James B. Clark
Original Music: Leigh Harline
Written by Nigel Balchin from the novel Warrant for X by Philip MacDonald
Produced by Henry Ephron
Directed by Henry Hathaway
In the 1950s the murder mystery thriller came of age, as creakier older formulas...
23 Paces to Baker Street
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1956 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date February 21, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Van Johnson, Vera Miles, Cecil Parker, Patricia Laffan, Maurice Denham, Estelle Winwood, Liam Redmond, Isobel Elsom, Martin Benson, Queenie Leonard.
Cinematography: Milton Krasner
Film Editor: James B. Clark
Original Music: Leigh Harline
Written by Nigel Balchin from the novel Warrant for X by Philip MacDonald
Produced by Henry Ephron
Directed by Henry Hathaway
In the 1950s the murder mystery thriller came of age, as creakier older formulas...
- 3/25/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The already-incredible line-up for the 2016 New York Film Festival just got even more promising. Ang Lee‘s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk will hold its world premiere at the festival on October 14th, the NY Times confirmed today. The adaptation of Ben Fountain‘s Iraq War novel, with a script by Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire), follows a teenage soldier who survives a battle in Iraq and then is brought home for a victory lap before returning.
Lee has shot the film at 120 frames per second in 4K and native 3D, giving it unprecedented clarity for a feature film, which also means the screening will be held in a relatively small 300-seat theater at AMC Lincoln Square, one of the few with the technology to present it that way. While it’s expected that this Lincoln Square theater will play the film when it arrives in theaters, it may be...
Lee has shot the film at 120 frames per second in 4K and native 3D, giving it unprecedented clarity for a feature film, which also means the screening will be held in a relatively small 300-seat theater at AMC Lincoln Square, one of the few with the technology to present it that way. While it’s expected that this Lincoln Square theater will play the film when it arrives in theaters, it may be...
- 8/22/2016
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
A pure-gold Savant favorite, Sir Richard Attenborough's first feature as director is a stylized pacifist epic of the insane tragedy of WW1, told through contemporary songs, with the irreverent lyrics given them by the soldiers themselves. And one will not want to miss a young Maggie Smith's music hall performance -- luring young conscripts to doom in the trenches. It's the strangest pacifist film ever, done in high style. Oh! What a Lovely War DVD The Warner Archive Collection 1969 / Color / 2:35 enhanced widescreen / 144 min. / Street Date September 22, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 16.99 Starring: Too many to name, see below. Cinematography Gerry Turpin Production Design Donald M. Ashton Art Direction Harry White Choreography Eleanor Fazan Film Editor Kevin Connor Original Music Alfred Ralston Written by Len Deighton from the musical play by Joan Littlewood from the radio play by Charles Chilton Produced by Richard Attenborough, Brian Duffy, Len Deighton Directed...
- 2/23/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
'Saint Joan': Constance Cummings as the George Bernard Shaw heroine. Constance Cummings on stage: From sex-change farce and Emma Bovary to Juliet and 'Saint Joan' (See previous post: “Constance Cummings: Frank Capra, Mae West and Columbia Lawsuit.”) In the mid-1930s, Constance Cummings landed the title roles in two of husband Benn W. Levy's stage adaptations: Levy and Hubert Griffith's Young Madame Conti (1936), starring Cummings as a demimondaine who falls in love with a villainous character. She ends up killing him – or does she? Adapted from Bruno Frank's German-language original, Young Madame Conti was presented on both sides of the Atlantic; on Broadway, it had a brief run in spring 1937 at the Music Box Theatre. Based on the Gustave Flaubert novel, the Theatre Guild-produced Madame Bovary (1937) was staged in late fall at Broadway's Broadhurst Theatre. Referring to the London production of Young Madame Conti, The...
- 11/10/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Vivien Leigh ca. late 1940s. Vivien Leigh movies: now controversial 'Gone with the Wind,' little-seen '21 Days Together' on TCM Vivien Leigh is Turner Classic Movies' star today, Aug. 18, '15, as TCM's “Summer Under the Stars” series continues. Mostly a stage actress, Leigh was seen in only 19 films – in about 15 of which as a leading lady or star – in a movie career spanning three decades. Good for the relatively few who saw her on stage; bad for all those who have access to only a few performances of one of the most remarkable acting talents of the 20th century. This evening, TCM is showing three Vivien Leigh movies: Gone with the Wind (1939), 21 Days Together (1940), and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Leigh won Best Actress Academy Awards for the first and the third title. The little-remembered film in-between is a TCM premiere. 'Gone with the Wind' Seemingly all...
- 8/19/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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
Vivien Leigh: Legendary ‘Gone with the Wind’ and ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ star would have turned 100 today Vivien Leigh was perhaps the greatest film star that hardly ever was. What I mean is that following her starring role in the 1939 Civil War blockbuster Gone with the Wind, Leigh was featured in a mere eight* movies over the course of the next 25 years. The theater world’s gain — she was kept busy on the London stage — was the film world’s loss. But even if Leigh had starred in only two movies — Gone with the Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire — that would have been enough to make her a screen legend; one who would have turned 100 years old today, November 5, 2013. (Photo: Vivien Leigh ca. 1940.) Vivien Leigh (born Vivian Mary Hartley to British parents in Darjeeling, India) began her film career in the mid-’30s, playing bit roles in British...
- 11/6/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Dirk Bogarde: ‘Victim’ star took no prisoners in his letters to Dilys Powell Letters exchanged between film critic Dilys Powell and actor Dirk Bogarde — one of the most popular and respected British performers of the twentieth century, and the star of seminal movies such as Victim, The Servant, Darling, and Death in Venice — reveals that Bogarde was considerably more caustic and opinionated in his letters than in his (quite bland) autobiographies. (Photo: Dirk Bogarde ca. 1970.) As found in Dirk Bogarde’s letters acquired a few years ago by the British Library, among the victims of the Victim star (sorry) were Academy Award winner Vanessa Redgrave (Julia), a "ninny" who was “so utterly beastly to [Steaming director Joseph Losey] that he finally threw his script at her face”; and veteran stage and screen actor — and Academy Award winner — John Gielgud (Arthur), who couldn’t "understand half of Shakespeare" despite being renowned for his stage roles in Macbeth,...
- 9/23/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Rex Harrison hat on TCM: ‘My Fair Lady,’ ‘Anna and the King of Siam’ Rex Harrison is Turner Classic Movies’ final "Summer Under the Stars" star today, August 31, 2013. TCM is currently showing George Cukor’s lavish My Fair Lady (1964), an Academy Award-winning musical that has (in my humble opinion) unfairly lost quite a bit of its prestige in the last several decades. Rex Harrison, invariably a major ham whether playing Saladin, the King of Siam, Julius Caesar, the ghost of a dead sea captain, or Richard Burton’s lover, is for once flawlessly cast as Professor Henry Higgins, who on stage transformed Julie Andrews from cockney duckling to diction-master swan and who in the movie version does the same for Audrey Hepburn. Harrison, by the way, was the year’s Best Actor Oscar winner. (See also: "Audrey Hepburn vs. Julie Andrews: Biggest Oscar Snubs.") Following My Fair Lady, Rex Harrison...
- 8/31/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Charlton Heston movies: ‘A Man for All Seasons’ remake, ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’ (photo: Charlton Heston as Ben-Hur) (See previous post: “Charlton Heston: Moses Minus Staff Plus Chariot Equals Ben-Hur.”) I’ve yet to watch Irving Rapper’s melo Bad for Each Other (1954), co-starring the sultry Lizabeth Scott — always a good enough reason to check out any movie, regardless of plot or leading man. A major curiosity is the 1988 made-for-tv version of A Man for All Seasons, with Charlton Heston in the Oscar-winning Paul Scofield role (Sir Thomas More) and on Fred Zinnemann’s director’s chair. Vanessa Redgrave, who plays Thomas More’s wife in the TV movie (Wendy Hiller in the original) had a cameo as Anne Boleyn in the 1966 film. According to the IMDb, Robert Bolt, who wrote the Oscar-winning 1966 movie (and the original play), is credited for the 1988 version’s screenplay as well. Also of note,...
- 8/5/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Alec Guinness: Before Obi-Wan Kenobi, there were the eight D’Ascoyne family members (photo: Alec Guiness, Dennis Price in ‘Kind Hearts and Coronets’) (See previous post: “Alec Guinness Movies: Pre-Star Wars Career.”) TCM won’t be showing The Bridge on the River Kwai on Alec Guinness day, though obviously not because the cable network programmers believe that one four-hour David Lean epic per day should be enough. After all, prior to Lawrence of Arabia TCM will be presenting the three-and-a-half-hour-long Doctor Zhivago (1965), a great-looking but never-ending romantic drama in which Guinness — quite poorly — plays a Kgb official. He’s slightly less miscast as a mere Englishman — one much too young for the then 32-year-old actor — in Lean’s Great Expectations (1946), a movie that fully belongs to boy-loving (in a chaste, fatherly manner) fugitive Finlay Currie. And finally, make sure to watch Robert Hamer’s dark comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets...
- 8/3/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival continues to expand, with newly added appearances by legendary stars at screenings of some of their most memorable films, including Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Marvin Kaplan, Barrie Chase, Polly Bergen,Coleen Gray, Theodore Bikel and Norman Lloyd, as well as producer Stanley Rubin, Clara Bow biographer David Stenn, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) film collections manager Katie Trainor and director Nicholas Ray’s widow, Susan Ray. In addition, TCM’s Essentials Jr. host and Saturday Night Live star Bill Hader will present screenings of Shane (1953) and The Ladykillers(1955).
And The Film Forum’s Bruce Goldstein will present a special screening of Frank Capra’s The Donovan Affair (1929), complete with live voice actors and sound effects to replace the film’s long-lost soundtrack.Mel Brooks is slated to talk about his comedy The Twelve Chairs (1970). Carl Reiner, Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Marvin Kaplan...
And The Film Forum’s Bruce Goldstein will present a special screening of Frank Capra’s The Donovan Affair (1929), complete with live voice actors and sound effects to replace the film’s long-lost soundtrack.Mel Brooks is slated to talk about his comedy The Twelve Chairs (1970). Carl Reiner, Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Marvin Kaplan...
- 3/13/2013
- by Melissa Thompson
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
(Alexander Mackendrick, 1951, Studiocanal, U)
Last September marked the centenary of the birth of Alexander Mackendrick (1912-93). Born in the States, raised in Scotland, he was, with Richard Hamer, one of the two truly great products of Ealing Studios. Their output was small (each made made five movies under Michael Balcon's aegis), but distinguished and distinctive and always digging beneath Ealing's cosy Little England ethos. Oscar-nominated for its screenplay (by Mackendrick, his brother-in-law the playwright Roger MacDougall and John Dighton, Hamer's collaborator on Kind Hearts and Coronets), The Man in the White Suit is arguably Mackendrick's most trenchant comedy.
It stars Alec Guinness as Sidney Stratton, a dreamily eccentric inventor who develops an artificial fibre that's indestructible and resistant to dirt. Apparently a boon to humanity, this fabric spreads alarm in a Lancashire mill town whose prosperity the invention threatens. Management and workers unite against the starry-eyed idealist Stratton, who...
Last September marked the centenary of the birth of Alexander Mackendrick (1912-93). Born in the States, raised in Scotland, he was, with Richard Hamer, one of the two truly great products of Ealing Studios. Their output was small (each made made five movies under Michael Balcon's aegis), but distinguished and distinctive and always digging beneath Ealing's cosy Little England ethos. Oscar-nominated for its screenplay (by Mackendrick, his brother-in-law the playwright Roger MacDougall and John Dighton, Hamer's collaborator on Kind Hearts and Coronets), The Man in the White Suit is arguably Mackendrick's most trenchant comedy.
It stars Alec Guinness as Sidney Stratton, a dreamily eccentric inventor who develops an artificial fibre that's indestructible and resistant to dirt. Apparently a boon to humanity, this fabric spreads alarm in a Lancashire mill town whose prosperity the invention threatens. Management and workers unite against the starry-eyed idealist Stratton, who...
- 12/16/2012
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness) bounces from job to job at a series of textile factories, where he tries to develop a new synthetic fabric that will never wear out or stain. He believes it will change the world for the better, but when he finally succeeds he finds the factory owners against him because they will no longer need to produce or sell clothes and the work force up in arms because they will become redundant, once everyone has bought the last set of clothes they will ever need.
*****
Ealing comedies are a very particular species of film. On the one hand they have a seemingly cosy, inoffensive familiarity about them – very British, very undemanding. Yet virtually to a film we find on closer inspection that they have real bite to them. The Lavender Hill Mob, Passport to Pimlico, The Ladykillers and Kind Hearts & Coronets – all feature dark, subversive elements and this film,...
*****
Ealing comedies are a very particular species of film. On the one hand they have a seemingly cosy, inoffensive familiarity about them – very British, very undemanding. Yet virtually to a film we find on closer inspection that they have real bite to them. The Lavender Hill Mob, Passport to Pimlico, The Ladykillers and Kind Hearts & Coronets – all feature dark, subversive elements and this film,...
- 11/13/2012
- by Dave Roper
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
★★★★☆ In 1951, Ealing Studios headed north with The Man in the White Suit, the story of a scientist, Sidney Stratton (played by Ealing stalwart Alec Guinness), who invents a super-resistant fibre that could revolutionise the textile industry and clothe the world for eternity. We meet our young hero as he slopes around the lab of Corland's textile mill, an anonymous figure working on a seemingly madcap experiment at the vast expense of the mill owner, Michael Corland (Michael Gough). Corland is courting Daphne Birnley (a husky-voiced Joan Greenwood), daughter of neighbouring mill mogul Alan Birnley (Cecil Parker), whose money Corland is also after.
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- 11/12/2012
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
On top of a mesmerising plot, perfect casting and the greatest comic duo in British cinema, this comedy thriller derives special urgency from the troubled times in which it was made
Hitchcock and railways go together like a locomotive and tender. He loved them, they figure significantly in his work and never more so than in The Lady Vanishes. Much of what happens could only take place on a railway line – passengers delayed together by an avalanche; classes compartmentalised; strangers trapped together as they're transported across a continent; an engine driver killed in crossfire; a carriage disconnected and shunted on to a branch line; an intrepid hero struggling from one carriage to another outside a fast-moving train as other locomotives rush by; clues in the form of a name traced in the steam on a window, and the label on a tea packet briefly adhering to another window; and above...
Hitchcock and railways go together like a locomotive and tender. He loved them, they figure significantly in his work and never more so than in The Lady Vanishes. Much of what happens could only take place on a railway line – passengers delayed together by an avalanche; classes compartmentalised; strangers trapped together as they're transported across a continent; an engine driver killed in crossfire; a carriage disconnected and shunted on to a branch line; an intrepid hero struggling from one carriage to another outside a fast-moving train as other locomotives rush by; clues in the form of a name traced in the steam on a window, and the label on a tea packet briefly adhering to another window; and above...
- 7/24/2012
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Chicago – Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Lady Vanishes” isn’t one of his most heralded films. You don’t hear it mentioned on most lists of the best works of arguably the most influential director who ever lived. And yet it was the third film chosen for The Criterion Collection and has now been given the upgrade and joined the esteemed Blu-ray ranks of the most important collection in the history of home entertainment. If you’re unfamiliar with this witty, delightful gem of a thriller, there’s no other way to experience it for the first time. And if you’re a fan of Hitchcock’s more famous films, do yourself a favor by checking out one of his earliest.
Blu-Ray Rating: 5.0/5.0
“The Lady Vanishes” had actually been in production with a different director when Alfred Hitchcock came on board mostly to satisfy his British contract before heading to the States.
Blu-Ray Rating: 5.0/5.0
“The Lady Vanishes” had actually been in production with a different director when Alfred Hitchcock came on board mostly to satisfy his British contract before heading to the States.
- 12/19/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
In the latest instalment of our writers' favourite film series, and ahead of the opening night of Graham Linehan's stage version, Catherine Shoard falls for the warm wit of Ealing Studios' 1955 comedy about dark deeds and a not-so-doddery old dear
Is this a miscarriage of justice? Write your own review here – or target your reforming zeal below the line
Three Christmases ago, the Guardian moved from Farringdon Road to a patch of regenerating edgeland north-east of Kings Cross. And, ever since, there's been an unbeatable new boon to working here: you're never more than a hop or a skip from where they shot The Ladykillers.
Alexander Mackendrick's 1955 comedy is Ealing's neatest, and its trippiest; the product of lurid new colour stock (including some alarming back-projection) and a hallucinatory premise. The plot – five faintly spivvy crims, headed up by a bafflingly dastardly Alec Guinness, get an old lady...
Is this a miscarriage of justice? Write your own review here – or target your reforming zeal below the line
Three Christmases ago, the Guardian moved from Farringdon Road to a patch of regenerating edgeland north-east of Kings Cross. And, ever since, there's been an unbeatable new boon to working here: you're never more than a hop or a skip from where they shot The Ladykillers.
Alexander Mackendrick's 1955 comedy is Ealing's neatest, and its trippiest; the product of lurid new colour stock (including some alarming back-projection) and a hallucinatory premise. The plot – five faintly spivvy crims, headed up by a bafflingly dastardly Alec Guinness, get an old lady...
- 12/8/2011
- by Catherine Shoard
- The Guardian - Film News
Now more than 50 years old, Ealing comedy The Ladykillers is one of Britain's best-loved films. So how will Graham Linehan, writer of The It Crowd and Father Ted, rework it for the theatre?
In the vaulting back room of a church off Islington's Upper Street in north London, five bad bogus men are plotting to bump off a little old lady. It is a hugely ambitious undertaking. Not only is The Ladykillers one of Britain's best-loved films, but the cast of the 1955 production – Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom and Danny Green – did include one or two actors that modern film programmes like to wrongly refer to as "legends", even if (pedantry aside) you know what they mean.
But this won't be a film; it's a stage version. And it's far from a knock-off of the film. The story's pretty much the same, of course – criminals posing as...
In the vaulting back room of a church off Islington's Upper Street in north London, five bad bogus men are plotting to bump off a little old lady. It is a hugely ambitious undertaking. Not only is The Ladykillers one of Britain's best-loved films, but the cast of the 1955 production – Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom and Danny Green – did include one or two actors that modern film programmes like to wrongly refer to as "legends", even if (pedantry aside) you know what they mean.
But this won't be a film; it's a stage version. And it's far from a knock-off of the film. The story's pretty much the same, of course – criminals posing as...
- 10/31/2011
- by Euan Ferguson
- The Guardian - Film News
With the much anticipated release of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy in theatres today, WhatCulture! were challenged with coming up with our 10 best British ensemble casts. With Tinker’s all star British cast – including the likes of Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, John Hurt, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong and Benedict Cumberbatch – it was a bloody hard challenge to come up with ten that could even come close to rivalling such a solid cast!
Read on to discover what we came up with!
10. Gosford Park (2001)
The murder mystery genre is always one that employs a vast and impressive ensemble cast and Gosford Park is a prime example of how effective a film can be when this is done proficiently. A range of talented British stars fill the screen, disclosing the everyday workings of a 1930s mansion house from the privileged inhabitants and their wealthy guests, right down to the most invisible of servants.
Read on to discover what we came up with!
10. Gosford Park (2001)
The murder mystery genre is always one that employs a vast and impressive ensemble cast and Gosford Park is a prime example of how effective a film can be when this is done proficiently. A range of talented British stars fill the screen, disclosing the everyday workings of a 1930s mansion house from the privileged inhabitants and their wealthy guests, right down to the most invisible of servants.
- 9/16/2011
- by Stuart Cummins
- Obsessed with Film
Netflix has revolutionized the home movie experience for fans of film with its instant streaming technology. Netflix Nuggets is my way of spreading the word about independent, classic and foreign films made available by Netflix for instant streaming.
This Week’s New Instant Releases…
Promised Lands (1974)
Streaming Available: 04/19/2011
Cast: Documentary
Director: Susan Sontag
Synopsis: Set in Israel during the final days of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, this powerful documentary — initially barred by Israel authorities — from writer-director Susan Sontag examines divergent perceptions of the enduring Arab-Israeli clash. Weighing in on matters related to socialism, anti-Semitism, nation sovereignty and American materialism are The Last Jew writer Yoram Kaniuk and military physicist Yuval Ne’eman.
Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen (2009)
Streaming Available: 04/19/2011
Cast: Barbara Sukowa, Heino Ferch, Hannah Herzsprung, Gerald Alexander Held, Lena Stolze, Sunnyi Melles
Synopsis: Directed by longtime star of independent German cinema Margarethe von Trotta, this reverent...
This Week’s New Instant Releases…
Promised Lands (1974)
Streaming Available: 04/19/2011
Cast: Documentary
Director: Susan Sontag
Synopsis: Set in Israel during the final days of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, this powerful documentary — initially barred by Israel authorities — from writer-director Susan Sontag examines divergent perceptions of the enduring Arab-Israeli clash. Weighing in on matters related to socialism, anti-Semitism, nation sovereignty and American materialism are The Last Jew writer Yoram Kaniuk and military physicist Yuval Ne’eman.
Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen (2009)
Streaming Available: 04/19/2011
Cast: Barbara Sukowa, Heino Ferch, Hannah Herzsprung, Gerald Alexander Held, Lena Stolze, Sunnyi Melles
Synopsis: Directed by longtime star of independent German cinema Margarethe von Trotta, this reverent...
- 4/20/2011
- by Travis Keune
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Chicago – I have to admit to a bit of trepidation every time a studio outside of the widely acknowledged masters tries their hand at catalog releases but the Lionsgate/StudioCanal Blu-ray releases of “Contempt,” “The Ladykillers,” and “Ran” are spectacular. Not only do the films look amazing in HD but they’ve been given copious special features. Don’t miss them.
Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0
What do Jean-Luc Godard’s “Contempt,” Akira Kurosawa’s “Ran,” and Alexander Mackendrick’s “The Ladykillers” have in common? Basically nothing other than loyal followings and, apparently, the same production company that allows them to be released on Blu-ray on the same day. They’re all films well worth adding to any collection of classic titles, especially in packages this lavish and lovingly produced.
Contempt was released on Blu-ray on February 16th, 2010.
Photo credit: Lionsgate Home Video
Four words - “Brigitte Bardot in HD”. For movie lovers who know their classics,...
Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0
What do Jean-Luc Godard’s “Contempt,” Akira Kurosawa’s “Ran,” and Alexander Mackendrick’s “The Ladykillers” have in common? Basically nothing other than loyal followings and, apparently, the same production company that allows them to be released on Blu-ray on the same day. They’re all films well worth adding to any collection of classic titles, especially in packages this lavish and lovingly produced.
Contempt was released on Blu-ray on February 16th, 2010.
Photo credit: Lionsgate Home Video
Four words - “Brigitte Bardot in HD”. For movie lovers who know their classics,...
- 2/19/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
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