If you think you know a lot about Steve McQueen, The New York Times has an informative piece tied in to the Porsche he raced in and was later used to film Le Mans. It's a fascinating chronicle of the car and the men who drove it, tied in to the fact that the vehicle is now up for auction. To read click here

Author and film scholar Dr. Peter X. Feng talked with Cinema Retro Editor-in-Chief Lee Pfeiffer about Turner Classic Movies' series of movie presentations, Asian Images in Film which launches on June 3. The film festival explores the way Asians have been portrayed in Hollywood productions from the early days of the industry until the present time. Dr. Feng co-hosts the introduction to each movie with Robert Osborne.

CR: How did the idea for this film festival originate?

PF: Charlie Tabesh, the head of programming for TCM, initiated it. He specifically wanted to do Asian Images in Film. In the process of his research, he came across my work and contacted me.

CR: I recently helped host a film event at Pinewood Studios in London and interviewed Burt Kwouk. We chatted briefly about the fact that Burt was one of the first Asian actors hired to play an Asian part. Until that time, most of the major Asian roles were played by caucasians. Why was this the case?

PF: Not to put too fine a point on it, but I would say it was racism. It's understandable that from a studio standpoint, they'd want to use actors they were already familiar with. It's also understandable that they wouldn't want to invest money in developing actors if they weren't going to develop roles for them. The larger issue is not being interested in Asian themed stories except as a backdrop for American and British characters. Once you're not interested in developing those stories, then there's no incentive to develop an Asian American star. As a principal, I don't have a problem with a white actor playing an Asian character. But until there's equity in the sense that a studio would cast an Asian actor to play a white character, then it's not fair.

CR: It seems to me that it's more permissible to have actors play characters of different races in theater productions, but when you see absurdities like Rex Harrison playing the King of Siam in a film, you have to wonder if there weren't any qualified Asian actors to take that role.

PF: I think you're absolutely right and in theater they have cast people of color in white roles. In theater, there's more playing with illusion. Somebody's hand can be empty but you understand they're supposed to be holding something. You can get away with that in theater. I understand that the film industry is a business and as soon as it becomes profitable to develop actors, they will. Of course, we're starting to see that now.

CR: Who would you say were the first actors and actresses to beat the system by being cast in Asian roles?

PF: Way back in the silent era we have Sessue Hayakawa and then Anna May Wong, of course. Then it wasn't until James Shigeta and Nancy Kwan in the late 1950s and early 1960s, who were the first ones to really be developed and nurtured and given a variety of roles.

CR: Would you say Hayakawa was more a character actor than a leading man?

PF: No, not until later in his career with The Bridge on the River Kwai. He was a matinee idol before Rudolf Valentino. He had a big fan following and women were really interested in him.

CR: What is your opinion of the Charlie Chan films which were so successful, but which featured European actors in the title role?

PF: To me, that's the issue. On the one hand, Charlie Chan is certainly a hero and the lead in the seriesand that was a huge step forward in how Hollywood represented Asians. But I still find Charlie Chan to be a limited characterization. He may be the smartest man in the room, but it's still clear he has to know his place. For me the ironic thing about the casting of caucasian actors as Charlie Chan is that they always cast Asian actors as his kids. Number One Son and Number Two Son are really important in the series, so there's that strange disconnect.

CR: It was the same dilemma black actors faced to a certain degree -being subject to bizarre casting choices. I noticed that you unearthed this rare short film from the Spanish American War in which the Phillipinos are played by black actors. Since this was made in 1899, it shows that if blacks were subjected to prejudices in the industry, then Asians were below them.

PF: Well, they were probably cast simply because they were available. It was shot in New Jersey, which is where the early film industry was based and there weren't that many Asian Americans living on the east coast. The other thing that should be said about casting white actors in Asian roles is that Hollywood was always very interested in romance plots and was always interested in flirting with interracial romance. But the production code at the time forbade them from really developing these plots. The American public was kind of fascinated by it, but uptight about it also. One of the things that casting a white actor in an Asian role allowed you to do was have the characters be of different races but if they're kissing or something, then everyone knows they're really of the same race.

CR: In watching your intros with Robert Osborne, I was intrigued by your opinion that Japanese were placed on a higher level of respect in films than Chinese were. What do you attribute that to?

PF: I attribute it mostly to the political clout of Japan internationally. Japan was a powerful country, a relatively rich country compared to China which is obviously a big country, but was less developed industrially and technologically. It just wasn't a player on the world stage. I think that's the main reason.

CR: The outbreak of WWII set the cause of racial equality in films back for years, obviously. The first major film I recall seeing that was sympathetic to Japanese Americans was John Sturges' Bad Day at Black Rock in which Spencer Tracy plays a government agent who tries to bring to justice the racist killers of a Japanese American farmer. It was ironic, because the Asian character is never seen - he's already dead when the film starts.

PF: I think you're right- that was certainly a high point. We're showing another film, Go for Broke that's about the WWII regimental combat team made up of Japanese Americans that was made before Bad Day at Black Rock but it wasn't as a big a film.

CR: As a child, when you went to the movies, what Asian characterizations used to grind on you the most?

PF: That's a good question, because now I think a lot of them are silly- you know, Katharine Hepburn in Dragon Seed, for example. I would have to say it was the villains, because I wasn't thrilled with those characters anyway - Fu Manchu in particular, you know, Lon Chaney and Boris Karloff.

CR: Have you seen the Hammer films with Christopher Lee as Fu Manchu?

PF: I have. His daughter was played by Tsai Chin, a British actress who is also in The Joy Luck Club. She had also played Suzie Wong on the London stage. But we're talking now about the 1960s and I think there was a little bit of the camp aspect to it. Everyone knew that the idea of a megalomaniacal villain trying to conquer the world was kind of a joke, whereas originally, the character of Fu Manchu expressed a lot of anxiety about what it meant in London that there were so many Chinese there and the popular fear about the opium dens, which of course was unfounded.

CR: How do you feel about Samuel Bronston's 55 Days at Peking about the Boxer Rebellion? It at least attempted to present the Chinese frustration at having the European powers dominate their country in the early 1900s.

PF: I haven't seen it in many years and I agree with your assement. You're right in that it did portray the issues, but it was still a backdrop for the story involving Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner. That film came along in the 1960s during the Civil Rights Movement. The first time the phrase "Model Minority" was used was in a Time or Newsweek article in reference to the Japanese American community. It said that here was a community that was interned in WWII and they've risen in economic status and they've done it by being a model minority- by keeping their head down, by not complaining. It's clear they were supposed to be a model to other minorities. The message was: blacks are militant are asking for things and demanding things rather than just putting their head down and working hard. I would put 55 Days at Peking in that context. It may be a favorable representation of one group, but it's kind of a message to others that says, "We will help you. We will take care of you. Just stop complaining about whether you get to ride in the front of the bus."

CR: How were the films selected for the TCM festival?

PF: Charlie gave me a big list of all the films that were already in the Turner library. I also made a wish list of other films I hoped we could get the rights to. Of course, Charlie took care of the budgeting aspect and came up with the best way we could get the most bang for our buck. We got almost everything I wanted. There were a handful of films I would have loved to have gotten, but I'm really happy that we covered the topic with other films that were available.

CR: I see they're going against tradition by showing a couple of relatively recent films like Rush Hour II and The Joy Luck Club.

PF: Well, Charlie wanted to bring the stories as close to the present day as possible. I think that's really great. I thought we'd end the series around 1960.

CR: Do you think there has been sufficient progress in how Asians are portrayed on screen today?

PF: We still have a long way to go. There's still not many opportunities for Asian American actors. There's been an influx of actors from Hong Kong like Jet Li and Chow Yun-Fat but they're not Asian American roles. The stories are generally set in Asia or it's the hero comes to the United States to solve a problem and it's clear he's going to leave. So they don't deal with the kind of social issues such as the fact that we live in a multi-racial society. They still engage in this fantasy that Asian Americans are temporarily here.

CR: How do you feel about the emergence of the Asian cinema as a major force in the film industry?

PF: If all we see are action films and horror films, that's still a stereotype. When I was a kid on the playground, everyone called me "Bruce Lee", but people didn't see me in a more rounded way than that. It occurs to me now, with all these horror movies from Korea and Japan, they all seem to feature an Asian kid in a bowl haircut and I worry that people are going to freak out when they see an Asian kid because that's the only thing they ever see him as. (Laughs)

CR: Is there one film in particular you would recommend our readers tune in for during the TCM festival?

PF: Walk Like a Dragon isn't widely seen. It's not available on DVD. It's a film I put very high on my list because I hadn't seen this film, only excerpts. I'm really excited about it. It's set in California in the Old West and Jack Lord from Hawaii 5-0 finds out there's a slave auction of Chinese women and he intervenes and purchases a woman from the auction with the intent of setting her free. But it doesn't occur to him that setting her free isn't enough. Where is she going to go? She doesn't speak English and she's just going to be exploited by somebody else. It's a film about this problem and a character of good intentions who gets in over his head. James Shigeta plays a recently arrived Chinese immigrant who refuses to walk with a bowed head. He walks down the center of Main Street with his head held high and gets beaten up. It's a film that is really complex and rich. The character is not a saint. The answer to these depictions is not to create characters who are morally spotless, but to create real characters - and this is a character who is flawed. It's a really interesting film.

CONTINUE READING FOR THE TCM PRESS RELEASE AND SCHEDULE FOR ASIAN IMAGES IN FILM

Harvey Korman, one of the most acclaimed comic second bananas of the last half-century, has died at age 81. Korman shot to fame in the 1960s on the popular Carol Burnett Show where he he was a weekly regular, often playing in sketches with his friend Tim Conway. One of those sketches, in which Conway was a bumbling dentist operating on Korman, is considered a classic. Conway had the ability to crack Korman up and the audience relished seeing Korman desperately trying to keep a straight face. Korman also excelled in several Mel Brooks films. He was the smarmy frontier bureaucrat Hedley Lamarr in Blazing Saddles who hated being confused with Hedy Lamarr (even though she was born in the following century!). He also offered a hilarious performance in Brooks' High Anxiety playing a corrupt psychiatrist with a penchant for masochistic sex from Cloris Leachman's Nurse Diesel. Up until last December, Korman and Tim Conway were performing their comedy sketch act on stage across America. Conway said, "It's a 45-year friendship. It was a great ride; we worked together probably 30 years, plus the Burnett show, which was about as good as it gets."

For more click here

With the recent passing of Dick Martin, writer Danny Miller pays tribute to the influential Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. In addition to pointing out what made the series so influential, there are a number of great clips from the show and even a blooper reel. To view click here

Alexander Courage, whose theme for the original Star Trek, became a legendary part of TV history, died this week at age 88. Courage once said of the theme, “What I based the whole thing on in a way, was an old Hebredean tune from the outer islands of Scotland.Because I wanted something that had a long, long feel to it, and I wanted to put it over a fast-moving accompaniment to get the adventure and the speed and so forth, so there was an old song called ‘Beyond the Blue Horizon,’ and when I was a kid I would hear it on the radio and they used to play a double time accompaniment to it, while this thing was singing over the top, so that’s what I really wanted to do, I wanted to make all of the scales go way out, and I wanted the intervals to be long, and I wanted to have a kind of exotic feel to it.”

Courage also worked on other TV series such as Judd for the Defense, Lost in Space and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. For more click here

One of the film and television industry's most revered composers, Earl Hagen died this week. Hagen worked under contract as a composer as Fox during his early years, creating scores for feature films such as Kiss of Death and Cry of the City. He received an Oscar nomination for co-writing the musical score for Marilyn Monroe's Let's Make Love. However, it was on television that Hagen truly thrived. He created the legendary theme song for The Andy Griffith Show - and whistled it, too! He also composed the classic jazz theme song and score for I Spy. His acclaimed efforts for that series earned him an Emmy. Other TV themes include The Dukes of Hazard and The Mod Squad. Hagen was 88 years old.

For more on his career click here

For an informative Hagen fan sight complete with filmographies and interviews click here

Cinema Retro correspondent Gareth Owen was invited by Warner Brothers to join a select number of journalists to interview famed film critic and documentary producer/writer/director Richard Schickel for the official Cannes Film Festival press kick-off of his five hour history of Warner Brothers, You Must Remember This: The Warner Brothers Story. The documentary, for which Clint Eastwood is executive producer, will be broadcast this September on TV and a 550 page coffee table companion book will accompany its premiere. The following questions were compiled from those asked by Gareth and other journalists during the interview.

Q: When did you begin work on the documentary?

RS: We did our first interview for it in the fall of ’06. We started the cutting a year ago next month (June 2007).

Q: Was it a daunting assignment?

RS: Sure it was daunting! But it was also irresistible. I always wanted to do a studio portrait. I had come close once before but somebody else got the job. But patience is always rewarded because Warners has always been my favorite studio and the one that most interested me – the films they did, the stars they had, the directors they had. That goes back to when I was a little kid, ten years-old looking at Saturday matinees. Somehow at that time, I noticed there was something a little different about Warner Brothers that appealed to me. They were kind of tough and they took up subjects that somehow interested me as opposed to MGM which was glamour. There was an edge to them, a toughness about them.

Q: What films influenced you the most?

RS: Back then – the early 1940s? I would say Air Force was one. Casablanca, certainly. Yankee Doodle Dandy, certainly. Those were the big movies I remember from that time. I was born in 1933, so it was mid-War before I was allowed out of my house to go to whatever I wanted to see. So some of those war-time movies were the ones that kind of hooked me.

Q: What is the status of the Warner Brothers documentary, You Must Remember This?

RS: It’s a five-hour project. Two hours are finished and the third hour is just about finished. We’re starting on hours four and five now. Getting it finished on a deadline basis is fairly difficult. People think these things are easy, but they’re very difficult. Documentaries are one of the more difficult forms of filmmaking. If you’re making a fictional film, you can go back and reshoot the scene. I can’t reshoot the scene from Casablanca. It’s there. You have to live with it. It’s difficult to link the movies to star and director careers and to the studio’s general history. You know, Harry and Jack Warner fighting with each other all the time, for example. It’s a question of balancing. There are lots of things I’ve had to cut out of this film that I would have preferred to have in the film, but there are time constraints.

Q: Has Warners pressured you to present a rosy picture of the studio?

RS: Not in the least. That’s where Clint, as executive producer, has been very helpful. When we first talked about doing this, I said, “I want you to be in on this."... He said, “Yeah, I’d like to do it – but only if it’s not a puff piece.” We didn’t want to just say “Warner Brothers is a great studio. They never made any mistakes. Everything was just great. They never did anything stupid” So with that kind of understanding behind you, they really just left us alone and that’s been very pleasurable. I interview who I want, play the movies I want. It’s that kind of a deal. In the course of doing all the films I’ve done, I’ve never really been interfered with. Only one time, that I can think of, and that was a network I was making a picture for. A particular person got to be a real pest. But we stumbled through it and I don’t feel I compromised in any important way. I’ve had a lucky filmmaking life. I haven’t had a lot of contentiousness with studios.

Q: What were some of the most surprising and most disappointing things you found on this project?

RS: In terms of surprising, lots of little movies from the pre-code era like Heroes for Sale, a Bill Wellman movie about exploited veterans that’s a wonderful picture. I also found clips from a movie – I forget the title now- but Pat O’Brien is a telephone repair man and he has to go into people’s houses to fix the plugs and what have you. And it’s very sexy because he’s intruding on women and there’s a lot of funny cross-talk there. Then there’s Three on a Match, which I was aware of but wasn’t as aware of as I became, a wonderful movie about drug addiction, among other things. I wish I had a lot more of Warren William, who was wonderful and very amusing playing slimy characters. He had a picture I really wanted to get in but couldn’t, called Employee’s Entrance. It’s a terrific little movie but I couldn’t figure out a way to get it in. I would have liked to have done something about John Garfield. I would have liked to have done something about Ann Sheridan, who was a special favorite of mine when I was a kid, as was Garfield – a very interesting, New York-kind of actor. Joan Crawford surprised me. She’s pretty good. She’s not an actress I though that highly of at the time. But there’s something about the intensity of her work in those pictures as a young woman trying to rise in the world, particularly in Mildred Pierce. The surprises are always kind of nuanced. There’s another movie and, again I can’t remember the name of it, but it has Kay Francis in a really sophisticated movie about gambling addiction that was made around 1935. But these surprises haven’t made me change my mind about Cagney, Errol Flynn or Bette Davis – people I’ve always loved. I think the era from the beginning of sound through, roughly, White Heat (1949) was a great era and Warner Brothers was the greatest studio. It was very fractious. Everyone was always yelling at each other and going on suspension. Warners was kind of like a rat’s nest. Everybody hating Jack Warner and him trying to keep all these people working and doing what he wanted them to do, and they didn’t want to do it. But I think that out of that kind of foment came the qualities of the studio that I admire. Jack Warner was a really cheap guy. He wanted his pictures to be low-budget, to get done on time, to have the actors he wanted in them, and if they didn’t want to do it, he’d try to make them even if he couldn’t. It’s a wonderful story of that kind of activity at the studio. I think in some ways Warners was better than some of the more smoothly-running studios. I mean, MGM really was a factory that turned out that material without a lot of apparent difficulty with the personnel.

I’m not saying Warners made all terrific movies. They had their share of turkeys but the average was pretty good. There was an attempt to go being Warner Brothers in the fifties. They did make a few socially conscientious movies, but the pictures got bigger, they got slower, they got longer, and the sprightly energy the studio had in the thirties and forties started to disappear. They were fighting television, which was a huge challenge to that system. The studio, I think, revived itself in the seventies. There was a new management. Steve Ross had bought the studio and he had John Calley as head of production and they’d just do anything and everything they wanted to do. So, the studio was re-energized in that decade or decade-and-a-half after Ross bought it. It again became the most interesting studio in Hollywood during that period. That’s when Clint came there. That’s when Stanley Kubrick started his relationship with the studio. They were making All the President’s Men. They were making The Exorcist. I mean, these were kind of exciting movies. The studio was stirred again in that period.

The following press release was sent to Cinema Retro from Warner Brothers:

YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS: THE WARNER BROS. STORY

New Documentary is Centerpiece of Warner Home Video’s Year-Long Celebration of Studio’s 85th Anniversary

Directed by Richard Schickel, Narrated by Clint Eastwood and Produced in Partnership with PBS’ American Masters, Comprehensive Five-part Work Documents Studio’s Storied History from Rin Tin Tin to Harry Potter

MORE THAN 50 RESTORED WARNER BROS. CLASSICS TO MAKE DVD DEBUT THROUGHOUT ANNIVERSARY YEAR

On April 4, 1923, four brothers from Youngstown, Ohio (Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack L. Warner) officially incorporated their new motion picture company which to this day continues to entertain the world with great films.

Throughout 2008, Warner Home Video (WHV) will celebrate Warner Bros. (WB) Studios’ 85^th anniversary with an initiative that will debut more than 50 new-to-DVD feature films along with its centerpiece, You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story, an illuminating new documentary produced, written and directed by award-winning filmmaker and Time magazine Senior Film critic Richard Schickel. Clint Eastwood narrates.

As part of the partnership with American Masters, You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story will be broadcast nationally as a three-part special in September 2008.

Susan Lacy, the creator and executive producer of American Masters, which is produced by Thirteen/WNET New York, noted "Given our long co-producing relationship with Warner Bros. -- on such projects as George Cukor, Gene Kelly, Judy Garland and John Ford/John Wayne - it is thrilling and appropriate that American Masters can bring You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story to PBS."

“PBS’ American Masters is acclaimed for its exceptional documentaries illuminating our collective past, whether through individual achievements, or in this case, through the vision of a film studio,” said John F. Wilson, Sr. Vice President and Chief TV Programming Executive, PBS. “Exploring this impressive body of Warner Bros. films to more fully understand America’s unique place in history will be a wonderful and entertaining journey for our viewers.”

The DVD debuts in September. Simultaneously, a 550-page full-color companion book -- written by Schickel and George Perry, with an introduction by Eastwood -- will be published worldwide. George Perry is the former The Times of London film critic and is the author of many books on film.

In the documentary, Schickel chronicles the history of Warner Bros. in an unprecedented way, using excerpts from hundreds of Warner Bros.’ films to illustrate how many of the studio’s films have served as a mirror of the values, mores and attitudes of the eras in which they were produced.

“This documentary is definitely in Richard’s DNA. His fascination with Warner Bros. goes back to his boyhood in Milwaukee where the only theatre in town was owned by Warner,” said George Feltenstein, Senior Vice President, Theatrical Catalog Marketing, and Warner Home Video. “It’s a groundbreaking work that, rather than dealing with executive intrigue, contract disputes or casting couch adventures, focuses on the studio’s films as a microcosm of America’s cultural and social history. It’s a unique cinematic achievement which has never been attempted on this level ever before - for this or any studio.”

To help celebrate the 85^th anniversary year, from the vast WB library among the industry’s most celebrated movies, more than 50 are being restored for their DVD release this year including: All This And Heaven, Too, The Beast With Five Fingers, Black Legion, Brother Orchid, Deception, Flamingo Road, Gold Diggers Of 1937, Inside Daisy Clover, Kid Galahad, Lady Killer, The Mayor Of Hell, Night Nurse, None But The Brave, Pete Kelly’s Blues, San Antonio, Thank Your Lucky Stars, Three On A Match, Virginia City and Watch On The Rhine.

New special editions of Warner Bros. Pictures favorites including Bonnie and Clyde, Cool Hand Luke, Gypsy, Risky Business, and Splendor in the Grass are also set for the anniversary year celebration. A number of other new-to-DVD special editions and thematic box sets drawn from Warner’s classic MGM and RKO collections will also be part of this anniversary slate.

Each quarter of 2008 will be marked with the release of several timeless collections, such as Frank Sinatra, Dirty Harry, Gangsters, Super Heroes, Musicals, Westerns, Oscars and more.

On August 31, the Hollywood Bowl’s “Big Picture” night will honor the studio’s magnificent movie music legacy with a special Warner Bros. musical concert to be held at the famed 18,000 seat amphitheatre. The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, led by one of Hollywood’s foremost composers, David Newman, will perform music to accompany pivotal and well-known scenes from classic Warner Bros. films.

More about the Schickel Documentary

Clint Eastwood, who has worked with Richard Schickel on a number of projects, will narrate the documentary. The creative force behind many earlier works about Warner’s talented stars and directors, Schickel now takes on the task of telling the studio's entire history, with each sequence underscoring the crucial roles Warner Bros. and its films have played in portraying our society, a role the studio still plays today, some 85 years after its incorporation.

Through the use of rare archival interviews, some of which have not been seen for decades, as well as a great deal of newly photographed material, Schickel celebrates the colorful legacy of Warner Bros. throughout the decades, featuring cleverly assembled film clips from literally hundreds of films. Each of the documentary's hour-long sequences focus on a specific period in the studio's history, from the silent movie days and the development of sound, the depression, WWII, the advent of television, the onset of new technologies, and even the broadening and diversification of media companies in recent years.

Schickel engagingly retraces the legendary insights and demystifies the myths of some of Hollywood’s most magnificent productions such as The Jazz Singer, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy, To Have and Have Not, A Streetcar Named Desire, Giant, Bonnie and Clyde, The Exorcist, All The President’s Men and the Batman and Harry Potter films; and talent from the likes of legends such as Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Paul Newman, James Dean, Doris Day, James Cagney, Joan Crawford, Paul Newman, Warren Beatty, Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Robert DeNiro, Barbra Streisand and George Clooney. As the films from Warner Bros. studios have served as a roadmap and mirror of our social history, You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story is sure to be viewed as an entertaining and unique roadmap to the colorful history of Hollywood and filmed entertainment.

For more information about Richard Schickel and his work, visit www.richardschickel.com

The Thunder Child website presents writer Steve Vertlieb's superb tribute to legendary film composer Miklos Rosza, an amazingly talented man who created film scores for Ivanhoe, Ben-Hur, Double Indemnity, Brute Force, El Cid, Time After Time, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, The Naked City, Lust for Life and many more. To read about the remarkable life of a remarkable man click here

This story from the past is news to us. According to Variety columnist Army Archerd, Yul Brynner and Kirk Douglas were both locked in a battle over the screen rights to Spartacus. Archerd's archival column from 1958 reports that Douglas lost an early round to Brynner, but was determined to get the rights even if he had to fight for it. Douglas did emerge victorious, of course, and broke the Hollywood blacklist in doing so by hiring Dalton Trumbo to write the screenplay for the Oscar-winning film. Archerd gives us an update to the story, pointing out that there were no hard feelings between Douglas and Brynner. In fact, Brynner would play a supporting role in Douglas' 1966 film Cast a Giant Shadow. For the story click here

Tributes are coming in from film industry royalty for director/producer/actor Sydney Pollack, who died yesterday of cancer at age 73. The L.A. Times features an extensive recap of his career and video interviews that also accentuate his often overlooked talents as an actor. To view click here

Minutes ago, Cinema Retro learned that Sydney Pollack, the Oscar-winning director of Out of Africa, The Way We Were, Tootsie and Three Days of the Condor died of cancer at his Hollywood home tonight at age 73. Pollack was one of the most prolific directors in the industry and continued to enjoy a successful career producing films such as last year's Oscar-nominated Michael Clayton and the recently released comedy Leatherheads. He was also acclaimed for his acting skills, making him a triple threat talent. Pollack appeared in such films as his own Tootsie (playing Dustin Hoffman's exasperated agent), Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut and the currently in release Made of Honor. He was producing the new movie The Reader with Ralph Finnes and Kate Winslet at the time of his death. Pollack's rich resume extends back to the the 1950s when he appeared as an actor in top level TV series. He made his feature film acting debut with the early Robert Redford starrer War Hunt in 1962. He would go on to work with Redford again over the years, directing such hits as Three Days of the Condor, The Electric Horseman,The Way We Were and Out of Africa, for which he won the Best Director Oscar. Pollack's other major films include The Scalphunters, Castle Keep, The Slender Thread, Jeremiah Johnson, They Shoot Horses Don't They?, The Yakuza and The Firm.

BBC Radio has dramatized Ian Fleming's Dr. No as a 90 minute radio play. Ironically, the role of James Bond is played by Toby Stephens, who played the villain who menaced 007 in Die Another Day.

To listen to the broadcast, click here. (Note: there is some news and promos that last about 2 1/2 minutes preceding the play. Thanks to Cinema Retro London staffer Adrian Smith for the alert regarding this broadcast.)

Huntington Hartford II, the eccentric one-time millionaire and toast of the high society set, has died at age 97. Hartford was a larger-than-life figure who was once considered to be one of the world's richest men. However, by the 1970s, much of his fortune had been squandered or lost in ill-fated business deals. He had inherited a fortune as heir to the A&P chain of American grocery stores, but Hartford had aspirations to move in high society with a glitzier crowd than the people involved in the running of grocery chains. He founded a major museum in New York City in 1964, but it was denounced by one critic as resembling “a die-cut Venetian palazzo on lollipops”. Hartford was the person credited with seeing the potential in developing Paradise Island in the Bahamas (when it was known as Hog Island). Ironically, he ended up losing a fortune in an area where seemingly everyone else made millions. Hartford was a resident of the island and during the filming of the James Bond movie Thunderball in 1965, he donated use of his mansion and land as key locations. Among the scenes shot for the film is the sequence in which James Bond emerges from the surf by a concrete jetty and disguises himself as a SPECTRE frogman. (Although Hartford's estate was demolished to make room for The Atlantis resort, this jetty still remains on the property.) In another sequence, the SPECTRE frogmen dive into a canal from a nearby wall. In reality, the canal led to a lagoon on Hartford's estate. (Hartford was not paid for his contributions, but his wife was given a role as an extra in the film.)

Hartford, a restless spirit who could never stay focused on any particular project, was married four times. He was a self-described "Horatio Alger in reverse" who lost several fortunes on dubious ventures such as his Broadway adapatation of Jane Eyre starring Errol Flynn near the end of his career. A critical and box-office disaster, Hartford continued to subsidize the play at great cost just to spite his critics.

For the New York Times obituary of Hartford, click here

Dick Martin, who made comedy history as half of the Rowan and Martin team, has died from respiratory problems at age 86. Martin had teamed with fellow comic Dan Rowan in 1952 but it wasn't until 1966 when their comedy variety show was a summer replacement for Dean Martin's popular weekly program, that they enjoyed widespread success. They reached the zenith of their careers with the January 1968 debut of their TV series Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In on NBC. The show's rapid fire, hip one-liners and off color sight gags made the series a hit with the counter culture, even if Rowan and Martin were unlikely role models for the flower power generation. (They inevitably wore tuxedos throughout the series). The show spawned many top comedy talents including Goldie Hawn, Judy Carne, Arte Johnson and many others.The show became so popular that it attracted an eclectic number of top talents who appeared in cameos ranging from John Wayne to Leo G. Carroll (who jokingly begged NBC to bring back his series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. which Laugh-In had replaced.). The show also made history with a 1968 cameo appearance by Richard M. Nixon, then running for president in the 1968 election. Nixon, who was not known for his rollicking sense of humor, delivered one of the show's signature lines - "Sock it to me???" - and immediately enjoyed positive press. When the series ended in 1973, Rowan and Martin continued their partnership until 1977 when they amicably split up. The pair had also appeared in the big screen spoof The Maltese Bippy.

Martin went on to become one of the most in-demand directors in television, working on such series as The Bob Newhart Show, In the Heat of the Night and Archie Bunker's Place. His film roles included co-starring in the 1966 Doris Day spy spoof The Glass Bottom Boat.

(Note: contrary to information reported by CNN, Dick Martin was the zany member of Rowan and Martin and Dan Rowan (who died in 1987) was the straight man. CNN information has confused the two).

For more click here- Lee Pfeiffer

Cinema Retro columnist Gareth Owen was in the audience last Thursday when Clint Eastwood showed up to introduce a screening of Dirty Harry on the beach in Cannes. The nightly screenings are sponsored by Warner Brothers, which has made available many of their classic films for the event. We had been tipped off by Warner Brothers that Eastwood would make a surprise appearance to introduce the film - and the audience was predictably delighted, sreaming "Cleent!!" Eastwood joked about the passage of time in the 37 years since the movie was released, quipping "If you have trouble recognizing me, I'm the one with the brown hair and lots of it. I feel the same, but my hair doesn't." Eastwood made his remarks brief, noting that the incoming tide might sweep everyone away. Indeed, by the end of the film, the ocean was lapping at the screen!

Click here to watch Eastwood's introduction

What does retired The Price is Right host Bob Barker, martial arts icon Chuck Norris and the severely over-hyped and under-performing Snakes on a Plane have in common? They've all been immortalized on people's bare skin through commemorative tattoos. A new book titled No Regrets: The Best, Worst & Most #$%*ing Ridiculous Tattoos Ever displays the evidence in living color. It's bad enough these saps had the "artwork" seared into their skin in the first place, but they now want to share their human canvases with the rest of the world. The Radar magazine web site has a hilarious article about how the tattoo craze has morped into the mainstream- with tragic results. There's also a photo gallery of the worst-of-the-worst. (Can you imagine trying to pick up a chick by showing your Snakes on a Plane tattoo? What could be worse: Yahoo Serious in Young Einstein?) For the article and photo gallery click here

TO ORDER THE BOOK FROM THE CINEMA RETRO AMAZON STORE CLICK HERE

If the new big screen version of Get Smart turns out to be a turkey, Mel Brooks can't pass the buck. In an interview with the L.A. Times, he says he has been consulted on every major aspect of the movie - unlike the previous ill-fated movie based on the series, The Nude Bomb (1980) which Brooks criticizes for not linking the name of the famous series to the title. For the interview click here

During a taping of Jonathan Ross's chat show on UK TV, actor Ray Winstone confirmed news that is sure to delight British movie fans: he will be reviving the legendary TV series The Sweeney as a feature film. The show, which ran in the 1970s, became "much-see TV" in England because it was the first crime drama that presented the London police force in a realistic manner. The heroes were flawed men who tried to cope with violent crime on a day-to-day basis. John Thaw starred as Inspector Jack Regan, the role to be taken on by Winstone. His fellow detective was played by Dennis Waterman. Although the series had not been imported to the USA, its popularity in Great Britain was such that it spawned two successful feature films. For more on the history of the series, click here.

(Poster image courtesy of www.Britposters.com)

7

Author Wes Britton, who runs the great spy movie web site www.spywise.net has a revealing interview with Whitey Mitchell, a prominent sit-com writer who worked on some of the best episodes of the Get Smart TV series. Among the "top secrets" revealed is why Don Adams didn't star in the show's take-off on Ice Station Zebra and why Bill Dana had to take over for him. To read the interview click here

The New York Post reports that a musical titled Bruce Lee: Journey to the West is to open on Broadway in 2010. The show will trace the iconic martial arts star's rise to fame and fortune and include Chinese pop and opera music. Lee might seem be an unlikely subject for a big budget musical, but the production has attracted some top talent. Personally, we're holding out for the Charles Bronson stage show which features the spectacular Death Wish singing and dancing production number!

For more click here

British writer and Elstree Studios historian Paul Welsh recounts meeting Lord Richard Attenborough at a recent tribute for director Bryan Forbes. To read click here

There may not be much class or style left in Hollywood (most of the glamorous movie premieres are relegated to Leicester Square in London), but happily these attributes are alive and well in the home video business. I'm often reminded of this when the daily shipments of review copies of videos from studios arrive. Every now and then, there is a title released that is packaged like a movie lover's dream. Last year, Fox released The Great War Movies video set accompanied by a companion hardcover coffee table book (which I'll humby note was written and designed by Cinema Retro). Now, Warner Brothers can take a bow for releasing some classic movies with the kind of innovative content and packaging that will make movie fans drool. Today I received an advanced set of the Dirty Harry Ultimate Collector's Edition DVD Set. Obviously, I haven't had the opportunity to review the films and features themselves, so consider this a general notice about the collection's release and contents, which is impressive on every level.

Here is a summary of what you'll find inside:

• Digitally remastered editions of Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact and The Dead Pool.
• Dirty Harry special features including commentary track by noted film critic and Clint Eastwood official biographer Richard Schickel, the featurettes The Long Shadow of Dirty Harry, Dirty Harry: The Original, and Dirty Harry's Way; interview gallery with Clint Eastwood, Hal Holbrook, John Milius, Ted Post, Andy Robinson, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Robert Urich; the TV special Clint Eastwood:The Man From Malpaso; trailer gallery for all five films.
• Magnum Force special features including commentary by writer John Milius; the featurettes A Moral Right: The Politics of Dirty Harry and Harry Callahan/Clint Eastwood: Something Special in Films
• The Enforcer special features including commentary by director James Fargo; featurette The Business End: Violence in Cinema
• Sudden Impact special features including commentary by Richard Schickel and the featurette The Evolution of Dirty Harry
• The Dead Pool special features including commentary by producer David Valdes and cinematographer Jack N. Green plus the featurette The Craft of Dirty Harry

(All of the DVDs include the trailer gallery and certain featurettes appear on multiple DVDs because they are also sold individually.)

If that isn't enough, try these juicy bonus extras on for size:

• 40 page DVD-size hardback book containing rare photos and production memos
• A 19"x27" poster detailing the San Francisco locations that Scorpio sends Harry to in his quest to rescue a kidnapped girl
• Bonus DVD of the PBS American Masters TV special, Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows
• A memo from Eastwood reflecting on his memories of the franchise
• A packet of 5x7 postcards featuring posters from each film plus Warner Brothers production memos
• A small wallet containing a replica of Harry's police ID card and his shield

The above is enough to make any punk feel lucky.

Warner Brothers has done a superb job in designing the set, but I also want to take the unusual step of also recognizing The Lippin Group, the publicity firm that has also distinguished itself by creating the eye-opening bonus extra that was included in my review set: a full size, Dirty Harry .44 Magnum - in milk chocolate! (Don't send letters to your retailer complaining you didn't get yours- it's not part of the consumer set!) It's a brilliant gimmick- and was even thoughtfully packaged with a freeze pack to prevent it from melting. I only wish it had arrived in time for Valentine's Day. After all, nothing says "I love you" to that special someone in your life like a chocolate version of a gun that "could blow your head clean off!"- Lee Pfeiffer

CLICK HERE TO ORDER THE DIRTY HARRY ULTIMATE DVD COLLECTION (SAVE $23 AND GET FREE SHIPPING!)

CLICK HERE TO ORDER THE COLLECTION IN BLU-RAY FORMAT (SAVE $39 AND GET FREE SHIPPING!)

(THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN UPDATED)

CINEMA RETRO COLUMNIST GARETH OWEN WAS INVITED TO COVER THE SCREENING OF CLINT EASTWOOD'S NEW FILM. AMONG THE SURPRISES WAS AN APPARENT TITLE CHANGE. HERE IS HIS REPORT:

By Gareth Owen, In Cannes

Clint Eastwood's latest film Changeling, is apparently now to be known as The Exchange after the director took a shine to the French translation to the original title. It premiered in competition at Cannes, and is one of the front runners for the coveted Palm d'Or award.

The Exchange restored my faith in Hollywood film-making. Everything about it is exquisite from the script, to performances, direction, settings and camerawork to the sound, music and editing. It is film-making the old fashioned way without silly camera tricks, flash cutting or shaking hand-held shots.

Eastwood has crafted the story of a mother who's son is abducted with pace, suspense, tension, horror, emotion and with it carries a startling insight in to the corrupt 1930s LA police force. Angelina Jolie, in a career best performance, plays Christine Collins - a hard working single mother in late 1920s California - who returns home from work one day to find her son has disappeared. Only after 5 months is there a lead on the case, when her young son Walter is spotted in Illinois. He is reunited to his mother by police captain J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan) in front of a collection of press photographers, but she immediately says that the boy is not her son, despite him claiming to be. To save embarrassment, the police ask her to take the boy home. Days pass, and Collins' claims of the boy not being her son (confirmed by him being 3 inches shorter than Walter and also being circumcised when Walter was not) fall on dear ears in the LAPD; they are now keen to push ahead with a positive press and dismiss anyone questioning their professionalism. Collins fears that time is being wasted in not continuing the search for Walter, so she goes public. The police, keen to silence her, incarcerate her in a mental institution.

Only when community activist (John Malkovich) takes up her case do things start moving, and Collins is released. Meanwhile in the desert, another police detective - on a routine illegal child immigrant case - discovers an eerie truth that leads to a dramatic and highly engrossing conclusion.

Eastwood cements his reputation as being a master of the game with this film. It has 'Oscars' written all over it.

(Cinema Retro has been told by Universal that the title for the U.S. market officially remains Changeling, however it is still undecided whether the new title will be used when the film is released later this year.- Ed.)

FOR MORE PREMIERE COVERAGE AND PHOTOS CLICK HERE

CLINT EASTWOOD'S THE CHANGELING HAS SCREENED AT CANNES. THE ANGELINA JOLIE STARRER, SET IN THE 1920S AND BASED ON A REAL LIFE MYSTERY, HAS RECEIVED AN OUTSTANDING REVIEW FROM VARIETY. THE PAPER SAYS, "A thematic companion piece to Mystic River but more complex and far-reaching, Changeling impressively continues Clint Eastwood's great run of ambitious late-career pictures. Emotionally powerful and stylistically sure-handed, this true story-inspired drama begins small with the disappearance of a young boy, only to gradually fan out to become a comprehensive critique of the entire power structure of Los Angeles, circa 1928. Graced by a top-notch performance from Angelina Jolie, the Universal release looks poised to do some serious business upon tentatively scheduled opening late in the year." For complete review click here

Fox has released a special DVD edition of Sidney Lumet's gripping 1957 courtroom drama 12 Angry Men. The story revolves around an all-male jury eager to convict a young Hispanic boy of stabbing his father to death. Eleven of the jurors vote guilty immediately, driven in large part by personal prejudices and a desire to escape the intense heat of the jury room. However, one holdout refuses to budge. Played by Henry Fonda in one of the great, understated screen performances of all time, the juror painstakingly argues against a rush to judgment and uses patience and logic to appeal to the better natures of the other men. The film was Lumet's first theatrical motion picture and he had the challenge of making a visually absorbing story that is in a claustrophobic setting. (Virtually the entire movie stays within the confines of the jury room.) The DVD contains two featurettes: Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: Making 12 Angry Men and Inside the Jury Room. The first includes a recent interview with Lumet who reveals he was shocked when Fonda offered him the job. The iconic actor was taking a risk on this film, as he also produced it and helped finance the movie. Studios were unenthused about the project because it had already been presented as a television play several years before. However, United Artists ended up providing a distribution deal and Lumet managed to film the entire movie in just 19 days at a cost of $349,000. The featurette also has interviews with Jack Klugman, the one remaining cast member, who fondly recalls the honor of working with some of the great character actors of the time: Ed Begley, E.G. Marshall, Edward Binns, John Fiedler, Lee J. Cobb and Jack Warden among them. There are also interviews with legal experts and actors Richard Thomas and George Wendt who recently toured in a stage production of the story, that was the brainchild of writer Reginald Rose.

The second featurette examines the film from the viewpoint of prominent lawyers, though the inclusion of Robert Shapiro and Gloria Allred is more of a cliche than a coup: these media hams will appear in your home movies, if asked. Shapiro, who now appears in his own late night, cheesy TV commercials, actually says with a straight face that he tries to avoid approving any potential juror who might have overt prejudices. This from the man who was part of the O.J. Simpson legal team that turned a straight forward murder case into a racially charged circus by playing on the prejudices of the jury. Also ironic is the inclusion of the foreman on the Robert Blake murder case, which most people also consider a miscarriage of justice. Still, all of the participant's comments are relevant to the context of the movie and they come across as sober and informative. It is revealed that a dramatic highlight of the film - when the Fonda character introduces a switchblade that is identical to the murder weapon- is an action that would have seen him bounced from a real jury. Yet, the overall consensus is that the film remains a powerful and highly accurate drama, one that retains its impact over the decades. The DVD also contains an audio commentary track by Drew Casper, who, strangely enough, never introduces himself or identifies his credentials (though he is listed on the sleeve as "film historian".). Although a bit theatrical in his delivery, Casper is extemely well-informed and provides interesting insights into the movie.

Ironically, 12 Angry Men was a box-office flop upon its release in the United States, but Lumet reveals that it did extraordinary business in Europe. In any event, its legacy is that it remains as timely and thought-provoking today as it did in 1957 - and it provides a wonderful opportunity to see acting royalty at the peak of their careers. - Lee Pfeiffer

CLICK HERE TO ORDER THIS DVD DISCOUNTED FROM THE CINEMA RETRO AMAZON STORE

SERGE'S STIMULATING SLOGAN

As satisfying as any guilty pleasure, Slogan is known primarily as the film that brought together Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin between the sheets, both on and off the screen. Yet it’s also a comic and bittersweet examination of the darker side of desire. Cinema Retro takes a look at the Cult Epics DVD release of this overlooked classic.

By Dean Brierly

“There is a trilogy in my life,” Serge Gainsbourg once said. “An equilateral triangle, shall we say, of Gitanes, alcoholism and girls.”

Of course, Gainsbourg wasn’t the first artist to embrace such a decadent dolce vita, but few have done so with the style and commitment of the French singer-songwriter, poet and provocateur. Fewer still have exploited it to such evocative effect in their art. Gainsbourg wore his hedonism on his well-tailored sleeve, and liked nothing better than upsetting mainstream sensibilities through his outrageous lifestyle and his sexually charged, often-scandalous lyrics. The explicit description of an erotic encounter in his 1969 song “Je t’aime…moi non plus” even earned him a public rebuke from the Vatican, doubtless much to his delight. But Gainsbourg’s lyrics had depth as well as shock value. Shot through with equal parts cynicism and romanticism, they proclaimed him the 20th century’s Baudelaire.

Gainsbourg also indulged his creativity in visual terms. He made pioneering music videos, directed several movies, and acted in nearly 50 film and television productions. He first appeared in front of the camera in low-budget potboilers (including the sword and sandal epic Samson) that consistently failed to exploit his unique louche persona. In 1969, however, the phenomenon that was Serge Gainsbourg finally achieved appropriate celluloid representation in the film Slogan, a fascinating romantic drama-cum-advertising satire. Gainsbourg called it “the first film where a director finally had me act as myself, just as I am.”

It could hardly have been otherwise, as the film’s narrative prophetically mirrored events in the performer’s real life. Gainsbourg plays Serge Fabergé, a director of hip advertising films who, at 40 years of age, is in the grip of a midlife crisis. While attending an awards festival in Venice, he begins an adulterous affair with a free-spirited English girl named Evelyne (played by England’s free-spirited Jane Birkin) in a vain attempt to recapture his youth. Behind the scenes, Slogan was the vehicle through which Gainsbourg and Birkin met and embarked upon one of the most celebrated love affairs of the seventies. Birkin had already achieved her own measure of notoriety as a sixties wild child: She was one of the models who cavort naked with David Hemmings in the film Blow-Up, and was married to James Bond composer John Barry from 1965-68. She would remain Gainsbourg’s lover, muse and creative partner until leaving him in 1980.

Ironically, the two did not initially strike sparks, and Birkin was put off by Gainsbourg’s indifference and arrogance. An evening out in Paris to break the ice ended with the two in bed, but with Gainsbourg too drunk to consummate their new union. Nonetheless, the couple soon became inseparable. Their off-screen passion is almost palpably rendered in Slogan, in which they make a memorable, if unconventional, screen couple, with Birkin’s naive yet smoldering sexuality matched against Gainsbourg’s narcissistic, deadpan cool. Director Pierre Grimblat, who also wrote the screenplay, effectively captures the physical hunger of the lovers in a series of brief, evocative vignettes—a naked Evelyne striding seductively towards Fabergé, who lies expectantly in bed; Fabergé’s hand unzipping Evelyne’s top as she throws her head back in ecstasy; an amorous embrace in front of a roaring fire.

Yet the characters' smugness and self-absorption make it hard to empathize with them. Fabergé is entirely indifferent to the effect his philandering has upon his wife. His excuse—“I hate choosing because I hate making sacrifices”—sums up the selfishness at the core of his character. He also boasts a nice line in cruelty. After leaving his wife, he throws a party for their mutual friends at which he introduces Evelyne as “my little home-breaker,” taking delight in scandalizing his guests and embarrassing his inamorata. Evelyne is no saint, either. Fundamentally shallow and manipulative, she’s not above threatening suicide to exact greater commitment from Fabergé. She’s entirely a slave to her whims and desires, pursuing her pleasure with nary a thought for the lovers who trail despondently in her wake.

The film’s only sympathetic character is Fabergé’s long-suffering wife Françoise, played with brittle strength by Andréa Parisy. Françoise understands her man all too well: “You look young, but you’re not young. I remind you of that, so you get another opinion.” Accustomed to Serge’s infidelities, she patiently waits for him to become bored with his latest conquest and return to the safe harbor of marriage and family. Only when it’s apparent that he’s committed to chasing his sexual fantasy to the end of the licentious night does she reluctantly begin divorce proceedings.

Cinema Retro co-publisher Dave Worrall, contributor Paul Lawton and colmunist Gareth Owen have been invited to cover the Cannes Film Festival. However, because of the frantic pace - and our inability to get them out of cafes and bistros and off the beach - there is a lag time in some of their reports. Here is Dave's diary entry for Thursday, May 15.

Cannes 2008: Thursday Evening May 15th.

Whilst Cinema Retro generally reports on classic and cult films, one does not turn down the opportunity to attend the Cannes Film Festival. As our magazine was granted the near-impossible to get press credentials for this year's event - the 61st to date - we now find ourselves comfortably embedded in the madness that is Cannes. If you are a cinephile, it's a great place to be.

Security is a major issue at the event - as it should be in this day and age - and, quite simply, if you are not a registered professional from within the film industry, there is no point you being here - as you won’t get in! So why am I here? Well, the festival not only premieres films in competition, features areas for filmmakers and
distributors to both buy and sell their new movies, it also pays homage to cinema of the past. This year,under the ‘Cannes Classics’ banner, there is an interesting mix of both European and English titles being
shown, including The Passionate Friends (David Lean), The Long Day’s Dying (Peter Collinson), Anna Karenina (de Alexandre Zarkhi), Peppermint Frappe (Carlos Saura) and The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-In-the-
Moon Marigolds (Paul Newman).

Although one associates Cannes with art house titles, the Hollywood marketing machine has jumped on board to use the festival as a window to the world for their more commercial product. This Saturday sees the first showing of Woody Allen’s new film Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and Sunday has the much-anticipated world premiere of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Both are red carpet events, with Allen,
Penelope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson already in town, and Spielberg, Lucas and the whole cast expected to show, too. Needless to say, tickets go to Hollywood hierarchy only, although we, the press, do get to see
them after.

Another film being given the big sell is Kung Fu Panda, with Jack Black meeting the press on the promenade yesterday (Wed 14th), and all the frontages of the major hotels on La Croisette displaying hoardings for upcoming commercial popcorn fare such as the new X-Files film and The Mummy 3.

However, Hollywood ‘royalty’ will be in town, as Clint Eastwood is expected here next week for the opening of his new film Changeling, which is in competition. His leading lady Angelina Jolie has already arrived with husband Brad Pitt in tow, and, as per the norm, the paparazzi are out in force and hounding them down (snore).

Being part of the ‘media crowd’, one does get invited to showings and get bombarded with press packs and goody bags. There’s enough printed material being handed out to save a rain forest. I was happy
to see that the American Pavilion, which I was lucky enough to be a member of, gave out tote bags made from ex coffee bean sacks, and made by an enterprising American company who employ stay at home moms and grandmothers! Called WeBe Bags, they can be found at sales:webebags.com. Not only are they unique, cool, rugged and lightweight, they are eco-friendly too. In the age of disposable packaging, I can see these
catching on big time. Well done, ladies!

Right, I’m off for a late night showing with author, and Retro columnist Gareth Owen. What are we going to see? It’s called Flash Back, and is a new short starring Sara Dee and directed by Martin Pavey,
friends of ours who are in town touting it in the short film corner of the festival. So you see, there’s something for everyone at the Cannes Film Festival regardless of status, style and bank balance!

I may be back before I leave. All depends on the red wine and the weather………

Dave Worrall

CONTINUE READING FOR MORE PHOTOS

NOTE: THIS ENTRY HAS BEEN UPDATED SINCE ORIGINALLY POSTED.

CINEMA RETRO EDITOR-IN-CHIEF LEE PFEIFFER WEIGHS IN WITH A REVIEW OF THE NEW INDIANA JONES FILM.

RETRO RATING: THREE STARS (OUT OF FOUR STARS)

Having just returned from a New York screening of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I had been of the opinion that whoever was in charge of security for Paramount's publicity team should have been hired to write the script for the film. The studio kept the location of the theater secret until days before the screening, and an E mail invitation I received included this admonishment:"Please do NOT pass this info on to anyone else- invites are strictly non-transferable and people will not be admitted if they weren't directly invited." Having arrived at the designated venue, I expected a full body cavity search, but instead was greeted by some amiable Paramount staffers who kindly offered a thoughtful perk: a coupon for a free popcorn and soda. That may not sound like much, but given prices in New York theaters, it amounts to the equivalent of the average monthly mortgage payment. I should say that although Cinema Retro has objectively reported on the mixed buzz about the film, I entered the theater with great expectations and uncompromised optimism. At the film's conclusion , my own views were decidedly mixed. The movie is worse than hoped-for, but better than feared. What follows are random observations about various aspects of the film (I've tried to avoid providing any overt spoilers, but it's impossible to present a thorough review without divulging some key plot points.)

• The main problem is David Koepp's weak script, though the fault may not be entirely his. Given the fact that Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas disagreed over various drafts from many writers over the years, Koepp may well have been made to include so many compromises to please all parties that the overall story was drastically impacted. The film starts out promisingly as an homage to 1950s sci-fi movies but at various points becomes a jungle adventure before transforming yet again into a fantasy with spiritual elements. This schizophrenic nature of the script deprives the movie of having an engrossing storyline. The Maguffin is that Indiana Jones has to travel to South America to locate an old colleague who has been kidnapped while searching for a fabled ancient city. However, there are so many plot elements tossed in ranging from F.B.I. investigations to space aliens that the story quickly becomes baffling and therefore unengrossing. At times, the script's "toss-in-the-kitchen sink" aspect is so confusing it makes the screenplay for The Big Sleep look as simplistic as an old Jerry Lewis movie. An hour into the film, I gave up searching for any semblance of what Indy was trying to achieve and just settled back to enjoy individual scenes such as those that call to mind the old Tarzan films and that great killer-ants-in-your pants Charlton Heston adventure The Naked Jungle.
  
• The film has opening credits...remember those? In an era in which studios believe the audience lacks the attention span to sit through this one-time mainstay of movies, it's refreshing to see a major release revert back to tradition.
• The much-anticipated first glimpse of Indy is a bit of a downer. Instead of a dramatic introduction, we first see him tossed out from the trunk of a car, a captive of Soviet agents. This matter-of-fact opener is obviously designed to imply that Indy hasn't really been out of our lives for very long, but there is no getting around his 19 year absence from the screen. Thus, hopes that he would be reintroduced in a dramatic or creative fashion are quickly doused.
• The first half hour of the film is the best. We're introduced to some intriguing characters, primarily Cate Blanchett, barely recognizable as a Soviet KGB mastermind who kidnaps Indy and forces him to locate a specific crate on a secured U.S. Army base. The box holds a secret with world-changing implications, but this plot device is quickly watered down by the introduction of many other story elements. Blanchett does make a terrific physical impression, thanks to her makeup and costuming design. She looks like a cross between 1950's dominatrix Betty Page and Cloris Leachman's Nurse Diesel. Picture Rosa Klebb without the sense of humor. Sadly, however, Blanchett's role never goes beyond the superficial and she pops in and out of the picture spouting uninventive dialogue that only B movie villain George Zucco could have done justice to.
• The movie boasts some impressive work by production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas, the best of which is seen early in the movie and doesn't involve elaborate set pieces. Rather, he manages to capture the flavor of the late 1950s with great detail, and combined with the addition of songs and styles from the era, successfully transfers the audience back in time. There are nice touches such as Elvis singing Hound Dog, drag racing teenagers, an homage to Marlon Brando as The Wild One and references to Eisenhower and McCarthyism. Sadly, most of this vanishes once Indy sets foot in the jungle and the wit that is displayed in the early scenes vaporizes as well.
• The introduction of much-touted young actor Shia LaBeouf as Indy's wise-guy fellow adventurer lives up to the hype. He has charisma to spare and acquits himself well. He should have a promising future in the industry, even if his name sounds like a sandwich choice on the menu of the Carnegie Deli. However, the character he plays still seems superfluous to the plot, despite a plot twist that is designed to make him more than a mere sidekick. However, when this device is introduced, it is so bland and predictable that I was angered at myself for not seeing it coming a half hour earlier.
• The movie has a fine supporting cast, all of whom labor in parts that are severely underwritten. It's wonderful to see Karen Allen back as Marion Ravenwood, though rumor has it that the concept of reintroducing the heroine of the first film in the series was actually the brainchild of Frank Darabont, whose script was rejected. In any event, she's as sexy and fiesty as ever and rumors that she would be relegated to a cameo are happily untrue. However, despite the fact that she and Indy still have the love/hate relationship that made their first pairing so enjoyable, this time around Marion is quickly relegated to driving speeding vehicles and screaming. You can just see the possiblities evaporate as character development and rich dialogue are shoved aside to make for the next action sequence. Similarly neglected are Ray Winstone, an old friend of Indy's, whose role is so badly written that at the end of the movie, I had no idea what side his allegiance rested with. The great John Hurt is also wasted in the role of an elderly explorer who does nothing but mumble incoherent gibberish about where the secret city is buried. The only supporting actor who registers in a major way is Jim Broadbent as Indy's dean at the university. Their all-too-brief sequences are touching and well-scripted, especially the sequence in which there is a moving tribute to characters from past films played by Denhold Elliott and Sean Connery.

• Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the film is the complete refutation of promises made by Spielberg and Ford that this movie would use CGI effects sparingly and rely on the traditional method of shooting action sequences. (i.e using stuntmen and special effects technicians instead of computer graphics.) Ford must have confused this movie with Working Girl because the film is absolutely loaded with superflulous CGI work. Virtually every action scene is marred by an over-reliance on this technology, which tends to insure that there is no suspense whatsoever. The action sequences keep building in number and frequency to the point where they become wearying. The over-the-top aspect of these scenes reaches absurd levels and they begin to make Road Runner cartoons look like the works of Ingmar Bergman. We all want a bit of fantasy in an Indiana Jones movie, but these sequences defy any credulity. Specifically, there is a seemingly endless car chase through the dense Amazon rain forest in which the vehicles appear to be speeding down The New Jersey Turnpike. I kept waiting for a toll booth and an exit sign for Newark Airport to show up in front of them. While all of this is going on, Shia LaBoeuf and Cate Blanchett stand atop speeding jeeps and engage in a fencing match that is spectacularly phony and decidely un-thrilling.
• The villains are all one-dimensional and keep appearing inexplicably out of nowhere to capture Indy and his team. I literally lost track of how many times Indy is taken prisoner by the same bad guys, only to make implausible escapes. At least in the early going, he uses his wits to get out of danger, as evidenced in one of the movie's best scenes in which he utilizes a refrigerator as a method of escaping a nuclear blast. (However, the script is so weak that it does not explain how he can watch the explosion from a short distance away without being terminally infected with radiation!)
• With so many shortcomings, the film is carried primarily by Harrison Ford's charisma. Fears that he might be on automatic pilot on this outing are unfounded. Ironically, he gives perhaps his best performance of the franchise in this entry and seems to be having a terrific time. He seems refreshingly ageless and it's a total joy to see a 65 year-old actor paired with a 56 year-old leading lady.
• John Williams is credited with the musical score, but he obviously did nothing but mail Spielberg a CD of the Raiders of the Lost Ark soundtrack. If there is new music here, it didn't resonate with me. However the thrill of hearing the familiar theme music adds immeasurably to the film's pleasures.
• Cinematographer Janusz Kaminski replaces the late Douglas Slocombe, who shot the first three Indy films, and does an admirable job of keeping in synch with the style of his predecessor. Likewise, editor Michael Kahn refrains from recent trends of cutting action scenes to resemble music videos. The editing style is straight-forward and refreshingly traditional.

In the aggregate, there was probably no way this long-in-development sequel could have lived up to expectations. Still, the nay-sayers who predicted it would be an embarrassment have been proven wrong. The movie has enough fun moments to merit a recommendation but if the response of the audience I saw the film with is any indication (i.e virtually no laughter at the wisecracks and lukewarm applause at the end), this will probably be regarded with the same mixed evaluations as the recent Star Wars movies. If I were to compare it to the James Bond franchise, I would have to equate with Sean Connery's comeback vehicles Diamonds Are Forever and Never Say Never Again - films that fell far short of their potential, but were still entertaining. Reviewing Indiana Jones movies is like lecturing people about the health risks of Dunkin' Donuts: no matter what you say, the public is gonna buy 'em anyway. I enjoyed the film enough to assess it in a charitable manner. I won't call Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull the worst entry in the franchise. Instead, I'll say it's the fourth best. - Lee Pfeiffer

THE FOLLOWING IS CINEMA RETRO CONTRIBUTING WRITER BILL DUELLY'S COMMENTS ON THE FILM:

RETRO RATING: THREE STARS (GOOD)

Well, it was always an on again off again project over the past 18 years. Lucas, Spielberg and Ford would say it would be fun to do another Indiana Jones film if the right property came along. Thankfully, that opportunity eventually came to pass and we now have a new film from the legendary franchise.
Before I go any further, I need to state that the anticipation for this film has fortunately not been quite as over-hyped as it had been for Star Wars- Episode 1 (a weak film whose over-the-top publicity campaign only accentuated the public's disappointment with the end result.) The latest Indy feature is not a similarly weak venture; rather, it is a serious attempt to chronicle another chapter in the series of adventures that chronicle the legendary hero's life. In the pantheon of those adventures, this one falls squarely in the middle in terms of excitement and satisfaction as cinematic entertainment.

Like the recent Rocky Balboa, we look in on Indy close to two decades since his last screen adventure. He has grayed and slowed down a bit, but is still able to rise to the challenge when the the world needs his peculiar talents. Just as the five year gap between The Temple of Doom and The Last Crusade allowed for a deeper sense of maturity to develop in the character and storyline, this extended passage of time until Kingdom of the Crystal Skull also reaps similar benefits without sacrificing the thrill content.

The film marks the return of some welcome alumni from previous entries, including Karen Allen as Indy's old flame Marion Ravenwood, who provides a return to a strong female role model in an era dominated by anorexic airheads as leading ladies. Other returning veterans include composer John Williams, who turns in a great score peppered with themes from previous films, and editor Michael Kahn, who consistently keeps the action flowing at a rapid pace. Some scenes are hampered by obvious CGI effects, but they don't compromise the overall look of the film. (Remember, that the first three Indy films had their share of a few shoddy special effects.) Among the acting highlights are the performances of Shia LaBeouf, who starts out quite stiff but quickly settles into the spirit of things, and Cate Blanchett who has a wonderful time playing a KGB agent who seeks the skull for nefarious purposes. In the aggregate, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is to be recommended, but see in on a big, wide screen in a movie theater, projected on film, not digitally - and don't wait for the DVD to experience the most welcome return of this great movie hero.

INDY SURVIVES THE WRATH OF CANNES; FILM BOWS TO GOOD RESPONSE. CLICK HERE FOR STORY

CLICK HERE FOR HOLLYWOOD REPORTER REVIEW

CLICK HERE FOR VARIETY REVIEW

CLICK HERE FOR CANNES PREMIERE PHOTOS

Kudos to Huffington Post critic Jack Donaldson who supports what Cinema Retro has been saying for years - that the overload of CGI effects has robbed movies of their heart and wonder. Yes, we'll grant special dispensation for the super hero flicks which look far better than the days when we used to see a string hanging from George Reeves' back. However, as Donaldson points out, there is literally no sense of awe left in the movie-going experience. What could you possibly see onscreen that could match the first glimpse of James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 or breathtaking thrill of seeing the space battles in Star Wars? Sure, some of the effects used in these films look crude by today's standards, but the fact is that fans return to these earlier efforts far more than the do the more recent entries in these series. When CGI was first introduced, it was used practically and sparingly. The first glimpse of the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park was thrilling, but by the time the first sequel was released, the effects were already yawn-inducing. It won't be long before stuntmen are as relevant today's film industry as Fatty Arbuckle. You'll just have the star of the movie waving his arms in front of a blue screen. It will look convincing, but it won't be the slightest bit thrilling. To read Jack Donaldson's column click here.

John Wayne didn't make too many mistakes in his career, but when he did, they were howlers. Remember when he played Ghengis Khan in The Conqueror, wooing Susan Hayward with "This tartar woman is for me and my blood says 'Take her' and "Yer Beeootiful in yer wrath!" Well, that performance would have undoubtedly been Oscar material compared to the film that almost happened: Steven Seagal in a 2002 big screen version of old Ghengis' life. That's right, the cigar store Indian of emotion playing the conqueror the world. Seagal is to charisma what Vladimir Putin is to slapstick humor. It's all recounted on the web site of Cracked magazine, along with many other Hollywood near-misses that Divine Providence seems to have spared us from. It's a hilarious article, even if writer Steve Clark indulges in the cliched penchant for peppering every sentence with needless obscenities - though none are quite as offensive as picturing Seagal as Ghengis Khan. To read click here

In this era of 12 producers per movie and studios run by committee, and driven by marketing analysts, it is well worth remembering a time, not that long ago, when studio heads relied on their own instincts and trusted their own taste in material instead of that of a research firm. There are two producer in town who can say they saved a studio. One is Richard Zanuck, a prince of Hollywood royalty, rescuing a nearly bankrupt 20th Century Fox with “The Sound of Music.” Dick Zanuck is still actively producing, his recent films include a long association with Tim Burton, including last year’s well-received musical, “Sweeney Todd.” FOR INFORMATION ON THE EVANS TRIBUTE CLICK HERE

Linda Carter as TV's Wonder Woman: it's a wonder a woman can get a quality role in today's film industry.

Huffington Post columnist Daniel Holloway, writing in response to a recent New York Times article bemoaning the dearth of quality roles for actresses in contemporary Hollywood, makes a compelling case for the return of the ultimate kick-ass female superhero.

To read click here.

Carrie Fisher has a case of True Confessions concerning her off-screen relationship with Star Wars co-star Harrison Ford. In a frank new interview, Fisher's comments reveal that she came onto the set determined to have an affair during production of the film. She then alludes rather naughtily that Harrison Ford's force might have been with her, though Fisher just stops short of telling all. Gives an all new context as to why her character was named Princess Leia. For more click here

Every time we get full of ourselves and think we're familiar with virtually every "B" movie of the 1960s, our friends at the superb retro site Cinebeats shame us. Now they've scooped us by providing a great essay on a "B" classic we never even heard of: director Ted V. Mikel's ode to the go-go scene of 1968, The Girl in the Gold Boots. The site provides some cool clips and frame-grabs from the movie as well as a link to the director's site where you can get an autographed DVD of the film for only $10.95. To read click here

Actor John Phillip Law passed away Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 70 years old. No cause of death has yet been announced. Law, who studied acting under Elia Kazan, gained instant fame in 1966 when director Norman Jewison cast him as a sexy but shy Soviet sailor in the Oscar-nominated comedy The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! Law went onto star in cult favorites such as Mario Bava's Danger: Diabolik! and opposite Jane Fonda in Barbarella. Law also starred in the controversial film The Sergeant in which he was the object of Rod Steiger's affections in one of the first films to directly deal with homosexuality in a realistic way. Other major films include  The Love Machine, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and The Cassandra Crossing.  Law was an avid reader of Cinema Retro and we mourn his passing. Columnist Raymond Benson conducted what is probably the last major interview with the star for Cinema Retro issue #7.

For more click here

The newly-released boxed set of Indiana Jones DVDs is a good news/bad news scenario. The good news is that the set features 12 new featurettes. The bad news is that these are the same transfers that appeared on the 2003 boxed set (which still look superb) and many of the bonus features from that edition are not included on this release. Are the new features worth investing in the set again? For hard-core Indy fans, it's a moot question as any new content will make this a "must-have". For the less discriminating viewer only interested in having the three films in question - Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - the old set will probably suffice. What's new in this set? It's a hodgepodge of featurettes spread throughout the three discs, now packaged in slimline cases that take up less shelf space. There are storyboards, still galleries, new introductions by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, featurettes on the creation of the melting face from Raiders, a panel discussion with Cate Capshaw, Karen Allen and Alison Doody discussing the contributions of the female characters in the first three films, a tour of worldwide locations where the films were made, a documentary about some of the ickier animals and creatures found in the films, a look at Indy's friends and enemies, and recent interviews with cast and crew of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. There are also trailers and a promotional video for an Indy Lego game. In the aggregate, we feel it's worth the plunge to add this set to your collection - however, be aware that it's only a matter of time before the collection is remarketed yet again for Blu-ray. - Lee Pfeiffer

Click here to order this DVD set discounted from the Cinema Retro Amazon movie store.

Battle for Bond Redux: Robert Sellers’s Thunderball Book Returns

By Wesley Britton

To put my proverbial cards on the table, since 1995, I didn’t think any book in print matched Andrew Lycett’s Ian Fleming: The Man Behind James Bond for providing authoritative history, biography, and background into how 007 came to be. Then, in 2007, Robert Sellers gave us The Battle for Bond: The Genesis of Cinema’s Greatest Hero. It became the second most important book in my Bond collection. Drawing from many previously unknown primary sources, most notably court records held by Sylvan Whittingham Mason, Sellers shared how the idea of bringing Bond to film began and the unexpected and complex sequence of events that followed. Not a perfect book by any means, but one belonging in every film lover’s library.

Perhaps it was appropriate that publishing a book dealing so much with legal twists and turns ended up mirroring its subject. Because anything associated with Ian Fleming is closely controlled by various heirs of the legacy, some publishers wanted nothing to do with Battle for Bond. Then small British publisher Tomahawk took up the challenge, and Battle for Bond enjoyed deserved critical praise for telling a story that had been clouded in myth and speculation for decades. Then the Ian Fleming Will Trust stepped in.

In an interview for James Bond Magazine (The Battle for Bond Rages On), Sellers noted, “Pretty quickly after the book was published the Ian Fleming Will Trust, through their London lawyers, took great exception to our publishing, in full, copies of a number of letters by Ian Fleming, to which the Trust owned copyright. They really were not best pleased, and notified us that we had infringed their copyright and were liable for damages.”

The letters in question were copies of court documents involved in the first lawsuits filed by Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham regarding ownership of Thunderball and the creation of the cinematic 007. “We, that’s the publisher and I,” Robert told 007 Magazine, “claimed that we had every right to reproduce these documents in the book without infringing copyright as they were used as part of the prosecution case in the 1963 Ian Fleming plagiarism trial. We also believed ourselves to be protected by law, since section 45, subsection 2 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act of 1988 states that it is not an infringement of copyright if the publication of documents occurs within the context of reporting legal proceedings, which clearly is the case with this book.”

Whatever the legal merits, historians and small-presses don’t have the resources to defend themselves against such suits, so in March 2008 Sellers and Tomahawk agreed to allow the Fleming Trust to pulp the remaining 300 copies of the book in England. This didn’t affect the first edition in the U.S. where copies quickly became something of a new 007 collector’s item. Just as quickly, Sellers announced a new edition would be coming out without the offending photographs in mid-June 2008.

CINEMA RETRO RECENTLY VIEWED AN ADVANCED SCREENER OF A SUPERB NEW DOCUMENTARY TRIBUTE TO ROBERT MCGINNIS, ONE OF THE GREATEST CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS. WE ASKED THE FILM'S PRODUCER, PAUL JILBERT, TO PROVIDE OUR READERS WITH THE BACKGROUND STORY.

Robert McGinnis: Painting the Last Rose of Summer

A new documentary on the life and work of one of the greatest contemporary artists - and a legend in the field of classic movie poster design.

By Paul Jilbert

As the 1980’s came to a close, I noticed something was missing in the glass movie poster display cases of my favorite movie houses: the illustrated movie poster. Suddenly, the explosive action scenes, handsome leading men and beautiful women were being reduced to drab, colorless photographic headshots. I found myself longing for the images of artists such as Bob Peak, Frank McCarthy, Howard Terpning and my favorite movie poster artist, Robert McGinnis. In the back of my mind I thought that some kind of program or video should be made about these artists. Several years later, I had just completed my first illustrator documentary on the work of James Bama ( In the 1960s Jimmy created those cool Doc Savage : Man Of Bronze paperback cover images).

It was through the encouragement of my friend, illustrator Barry Klugerman and my mentor, Jim Steranko (the brilliant writer-artist of the 1960’s Marvel comics Nick Fury: Agent Of Shield) that I decided to produce a documentary on Robert McGinnis. It was the perfect project for me.

I began collecting James Bond posters in the 1970’s, beginning with Diamonds Are Forever. I spent many summers teaching myself to draw comics and copying the style of McGinnis' famed female figures of the 1960s, who were noted for their bold sexuality. I must have re-drawn Bob’s Diamonds Are Forever poster over a dozen times. Years later, I contacted him and explained I had just completed the James Bama project - and asked if he would participate in a documentary dedicated to the McGinnis legacy. Bob wanted to see the Bama program. He called back to say he was very impressed and gave me the green light for a documentary about him.

Three months later, I arrived in Connecticut and met Bob in his studio. The walls were adorned with several original illustrations from his Carter Brown book covers, as well as his romance paperback paintings. I was, of course, speechless and it took all of my concentration to set up my Betacam and lights. This was a one-man production crew, so everything had to go right the first time - especially as this marked the only occasion that the publicty-shy Bob McGinnis had allowed anyone to film in his studio. The large, cumbersome black Betacam camera can be intimidating as hell, resembling a sort of Darth Vader transformer. I learned from shooting news and directing commercials that one must take on a very casual conversational mode and talk like neighbors on each side of the picket fence. Bob was very patient and very giving of information about his life and work ethic. Our conversations covered a wide variety of aspects pertaining to his career: Ohio landscapes, early technical artwork, story illustrations, editorial work for magazines such as Good Housekeeping, and a personal favorite Guideposts magazine. A good portion of time was spent discussing Bob's now famous Western images. We also discussed his paintings for movie posters and I was surprised to learn that Breakfast At Tiffany’s was Bob’s very first movie assignment. No one was more surprised than Bob when this poster became an icon of American pop culture. “They were just assignments and I never thought they would live on their own, so I wish I had done a better job” he said. Arabesque starring Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren is a McGinnis favorite. He requested from the studio that the tiger stripe dress that Loren wore in the film to be sent to him, as he wanted to have a local model pose in it to get just the right angles he was looking for. “She really was one of the great beauties of the time”, he recalled.

The year 1965 brought the world of James Bond to Bob’s studio. Chief of United Artists publicity Don Smolen commissioned McGinnis and fellow artist Frank McCarthy to create art images for Thunderball. Said Smolen “If you wanted beautiful women in Bond posters, there was only one man- Bob McGinnis.” McCarthy painted the action images and McGinnis painted the women. There is an interesting side story in the documentary about the “revision” that needed to be made by Smolen to McGinnis’s Diamonds Are Forever art long before the lifesaving pre-Photoshop days. Suffice it to say, the last minute revision was a nerve-wracking experience for all concerned.

McGinnis was flown to the Thunderball set at Pinewood Studios in England to take reference photos - a respect shown to a well-known artist that is virtually unheard of today. Years later, Don Smolen presented him with the challenge of creating a poster image for Cotton Comes to Harlem, one of the most prominent films of the Blaxploitation era - though this was a class production with top stars. Smolen, who wanted the film to appeal to all audiences across racial lines, said that McGinnis' work was "Bob's best poster art ever." Other iconic movie poster images created by McGinnins include the poster art for Barbarella, The Odd Couple, Sleeper and the 1967 spoof version of Casino Royale that boasted the now famous image of the psychadelic girl.

I consider it a rare privilege to have been given the opportunity to create this intimate portrait of Bob McGinnis. A highlight of my documentary is a segment that follows his entire creative process from black-and-white model reference photos to the completed painting. I filmed it over a three day period with my camera rather intrusively situated over Bob's shoulder!

I’d like to thank Bob and his wonderful wife Ferne for allowing me to record this man’s incredible work and artistry. You can view a trailer and reserve a DVD of the documentary at our website: www.theillustratorstv.com.

Paul Jilbert

Director/Photographer/Producer

CONTINUE READING FOR A MCGINNIS PHOTO GALLERY

MARC DAVIS ANIMATION LECTURE AT THE ACADEMY

by Mike Thomas

Forty one years after the Summer of Love, a love-in was held at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theatre on Friday night, May 9th. A group of contemporary Disney animators paid tributes to their mentors and heroes in a wonderfully entertaining and informative evening at the Academy, whose screenings and seminars have been on a roll as of late. A more love-filled evening would be hard to imagine.

The film industry is well known for its disregard of the past, the disposability of anyone it deems less than hip or contemporary and this built-in career obsolesce has become far more acute in recent years. However, there is one group that is not only free from this industry bias against its elder statesmen but actually reveres its pioneers and that is in the field of animation. The Academy event was proof positive that for animators, the pioneers are not only revered, but studied and continue to influence animation in all its forms, whether the standard 2-D pen and ink drawing or the 3-D computer wizardry of the Pixar CGI triumphs. The reverence that today’s top animators feel for Disney’s “Nine Old Men” (most of whom were in their Thirties when they were so dubbed), was a joy to behold.

The evening began appropriately enough, with a a clip of the Marc Davis-animated villainess, Cruella deVil from Disney’s 1961 beloved classic, “101 Dalmatians.” With its graphic, rough sketch look, “Dalmatians” was last of three mid-period Disney features that rivaled the best of the studios early period in the Thirties, “Snow White,” “Pinocchio,” and the still revolutionary “Fantasia.” With the widescreen “Lady and the Tramp,” followed by the 70mm epic, “Sleeping Beauty,” and then “Dalmatians” the mid-period Disney animators created a stylized look the took the art of animation to a different realm than Disney had previously explored. And nowhere is this radical departure from the past attempts at naturalism more pronounced than in the character of Cruella deVil.

With Cruella deVil, Marc Davis defied all the previous Disney rules of naturalism and clean lines. The lines are sketchy and sharp, they look like rough drafts were inked and colored. Yet the same Disney attention to characterization is evident in every frame and the scary Ms. deVil remains one of the transformative animated characters in film history. This was followed by a light-hearted introduction by Academy Executive Director Bruce Davis, whose puckish good humor set the celebratory tone for the evening and whose respect for the art of animation was readily apparent in his knowledgeable remarks.

Charles Solomon, the esteemed animation historian and author of the books, “Enchanted Drawings: the History of Animation,” and "The Disney That Never Was,” a study of unrealized animated Disney projects, introduced Polish-born animator, Andreas Deja, one of the star animators of today, and a member of the group dubbed the “Nine New Men.” He chose a scene from the 1959 Disney masterpiece, “Sleeping Beauty,” and the beautiful print revealed the visual splendors of the film, which may well be the very summit of the Disney animation studios during Walt’s lifetime.

The stylized design is midway between the naturalism of “Lady and the Tramp” and the graphic exaggeration of “101 Dalmatians;” the lines are more angular than before, yet have a finished polish to them, unlike the rough sketch look that made “Dalmatians” so groundbreaking. And the character of Maleficent still retains the classic Disney virtues of character revelation through animation. As Mr. Deja pointed out, Maleficent is one of those characters that is the hardest to animate. She doesn’t move, she just stands there and talks.” Yet because she does so magnificently (Maleficently?) another point was brought home - as Jean Kerr once once observed, “The snake gets all the lines,” - and in Disney films, it is the villains that seem to get the best animation.

Mr. Deja then showed one of his most famous animated characters - Jafar from “Aladdin.” (I never noticed before how much Jafar looks like Torin Thatcher, who was the evil magician practicing black arts in many a Ray Harryhausen film of the 50s & 60s). With so many of the characters in “Aladdin” bouncing around so maniacally - Robin Williams’ frenetic Genie, Iago the Parrot, Abu the Monkey - Deja decided that the evil Jafar should be like Malificent - stationary and unmoving, grounded in his villainy.

Then Pete Docter, whose business card reads, “world’s tallest animator,” ambled to the stage to show his influences on “Monsters, Inc.” When it came time to animate Sulley, the vast grotesque beast that befriends the tiny little Boo, Docter & fellow Pixarians went back and referenced “The Jungle Book,” sequence where the Phil Harris-voiced Baloo, a massive brown bear befriends the slight Mowgli. Docter used that same sense as a way of contrasting Sulley and Boo and by screening the poignant scene where Sulley says goodbye to Boo, he managed to outdo his influences in emotional impact.

James Baxter also showed “The Jungle Book,” but chose a different sequence, the scene where King Louie, voiced by the marvelous Louis Prima, decided to let Mowgli stay in the jungle. Though Mowgli is the film’s protagonist, it is King Louie who gets all the attention as he hurls bananas and bounces all around the central character. Mr. Baxter then illustrated how he adapted that concept for “The Lion King,” when Simba, is similarly overwhelmed by the manic baboon shaman, Rafiki.

And to complete the the links between, animator Eric Goldberg showed the wild title song sequence from “The Three Caballeros” that was the direct influence on the frenetic musical number, “You Never Had a Friend Like Me,” from “Aladdin,” which he helped animate. Mr. Goldberg was the highlight of the evening, a gifted mimic and born stand-up comic, he regaled the audience with every story and observation. Yet his love and reverence for the early masters was in evident in the awe in which he discussed the free-form style of a Ward Kimball sketch or the effortless brilliance of a Fred Moore drawing during the sequence that ended the evening.

And the evening’s finale, tribute was paid to the pioneers like Moore and “The Nine Old Men.” And as drawings from each of the pioneers was shown and examined, it was thrilling to hear these master animators of today analyze and praise the styles of their mentors. And it became apparent that in the world of animation, there still retains that sense of fraternity that seems to have been lost in the rest of the industry. These new giants still displayed the boyish reverence and enthusiasm for those who inspired them and taught them coming up. Animation is a craft, but it is art form as well, and never has received the critical acclaim it so richly deserves. For as these men so amply demonstrated of themselves and their mentors, they are not simply talented cartoonists, but understand the whole point is to reach the audience with their drawings, to create an emotional connection. As one of them said, discussing what he learned from his teachers, “What do you leave the audience with?” Precisely. And it is that understanding, far more than any rules of animation, that set Disney apart from its competitors.

And what these animators, old and new, have left the audience with, is a lifetime of treasured memories. Like many of my generation, my love of movies was stimulated by Walt Disney’s films - “Cinderella,” “Lady and the Tramp, “Sleeping Beauty,” “101 Dalmatians,” and they remain my earliest memories of a life spent in the movies. Though I have grown to appreciate the films of Antonioni and Godard, of Kubrick and Bergman, I am glad I can still look at the Disney animated films and marvel at their brilliance, their innovation, the pure joy of creation that they display in nearly every frame. I had even dreamed of becoming an animator myself one day, until I realized I didn’t have the patience to do the same drawing over and over, but you never forget your first love. And last Friday at the Academy, the flame was rekindled and the passion reborn anew. So here’s to Uncle Walt, and Winsor McKay and Pat Sullivan and Fred Moore and Ub Iwerks and to Frank and Ollie and Ward and Woolie and Marc Davis and all the rest of the Nine Old Men and to the Nine New Men who carry the flame and to anyone who has picked up a pencil and given us the Illusion of Life to illuminate our lives. We are in your debt.

And as I left the theatre I noticed everyone was smiling.

Writer Charles Taylor offers an insightful essay from Dissent magazine on the persona of John Wayne and how his work in Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo stands as arguably the best performance of his career. To read click here

Click here to read the review of the Rio Bravo special edition DVD.

Composer Lalo Schifrin's company Aleph Records has released his score for the 1983 Dirty Harry movie Sudden Impact starring Clint Eastwood. Here is the official press release:

FEATURING: Original score by Lalo Schifrin.
Entire original score never been released, only excerpts on LP.

For Lalo Schifrin, a decade had passed since his own last encounter with Harry Callahan. … Lalo reported for duty in 1983, fully aware that times—and musical tastes—had changed, and that he had to retain the spirit of Harry while making him a more modern invention: a product of a techno-age, where everything in movies seemed, bigger, louder, and generally larger than life. With BULLITT in 1968, and DIRTY HARRY in 1971, Lalo had defined the sound of San Francisco. The glittering canyons and raking tarmac hills had pulsated to hip grooves: a jazzy, snazzy, bass-fueled back beat that was so cool you couldn't believe you were hearing it, so much as dreaming it, living it, so deep into your consciousness did it penetrate. … Ten years on, Lalo figured, Harry was older, maybe wiser, maybe mellower. Maybe he was more studied, took his time, thought things through. In SUDDEN IMPACT the score doesn't push or propel, but supports, keeps Harry rooted, anchored, detached from the madness surrounding him. And additionally, in keeping with the subject matter, it's a tad gentler, and yes, even romantic at times. Perhaps this would be Harry's last go-round. Find love with Jennifer and hang up the big artillery. Sit back, take it easy, have a brew. – Nick Redman

Aleph Records, has also released the scores for the first three films of the series, DIRTY HARRY, MAGNUM FORCE, and THE ENFORCER. The complete soundtrack to SUDDEN IMPACT makes its debut for the first time to CD. With only excerpts released on the first DIRTY HARRY LP, this is the complete score plus additional bonus tracks that has been remixed from the original multi-track masters.

TRACK LISTINGS:
SUDDEN IMPACT
Sessions September 1983
At Warner Brothers, Burbank – Scoring Stage 1
Conductor: Lalo Schifrin

1 Main Title 3:20
2 Murder By The Sea 2:32
3 Too Much Sugar 1:36
4 Frisco Night 2:52
5 Target Practice 1:35
6 The Road To San Paolo 1:46
7 Remembering Terror 6:50
8 Cocktails Of Fire 2:20
9 Robbery Suspect 2:15
10 Ginley’s Bar 5:56
11 Another Victim 1:21
12 You’ve Come A Long Way 3:46
13 Darkness 4:12
14 Crazy 1:44
15 Hot Shot Cop 1:23
16 Alby And Lester Boy 2:03
17 The Automag 1:39
18 Unicorn’s Head 3:03
19 A Ray Of Light 1:02
20 Stairway To Hell 1:01
21 San Francisco After Dark
(End Titles) 3:24

Bonus Track
22 Main Title (Alternate) 2:49

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Cinema Retro's London photographer attends a rare London appearance by legendary filmmaker Roger Corman.

SEEING IS "B"ELIEVING

By Mark Mawston

With over 500 movie credits to his name, most of us will have seen a Roger Corman film at some point, perhaps during their original drive-in engagements or as a perennial on late night TV. However, a much rarer sight is that of the man himself, who makes very few appearances on “the circuit” even though he is so revered. It was therefore a rare treat to meet the maestro at a late night double bill screening of two of his finest films at the start of the English bank holiday weekend at the Curzon Soho as part of their Midnight Movies season.

Corman was in town to introduce what many (including myself) see as his masterpiece - Masque Of The Red Death, as well as the seldom-seen but highly regarded The Intruder, starring a young William Shatner. Corman, speaking before a packed and appreciative crowd, confirmed that The Intruder was his favourite among his own films and went on to say that it was the epitome of “Guerrilla film making,” as most scenes were shot when and where they could, often despite run-ins with hostile locals. The film’s stance against racial and religious prejudice led to some rather unpleasant moments for the crew as well as death threats to both its director and star. It became apparent that the crowd had come to primarily see The Intruder rather than the oft-screened Poe adaptation that boasts Nicholas Roeg’s beautiful cinematography. In fact, Roeg’s work on Masque has been hugely influential on other directors’ work, from David Lynch to Peter Greenway. Corman’s influence on American film is undisputed and the talent he nurtured has become known as “The Roger Corman School Of Filmmaking”. The noted alumni includes Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Peter Bogdanovich, Jonathan Demme, Donald G. Jackson, Gale Anne Hurd, Joe Dante, James Cameron, John Sayles, Monte Hellman and Jack Hill, all of whom started their careers with Corman. As an example, Corman confirmed that in the movie The Terror, directorial duties were shared by himself, Monte Hellman (Two Lane Blacktop) and Jack Nicholson! Supposedly the film was broken up into several shoots on free days but overall took less than a week to film. That’s an epic by Corman standards: The Little Shop Of Horrors took two days to shoot!

If you're tired of today's touch-feely action hero who is in touch with his sensitive side, you can count writer Kevin Williamson as a soul mate. The columnist for Canada's London Free Press gripes that he's sick of seeing watered down men of action and pines for the days when macho men were omnipresent forces on theater screens - and yes, he shares Cinema Retro's skepticism that pudgy Seth Rogen is the most qualified actor in the world to play The Green Hornet! To read the article click here

We've intercepted this Top Secret memo that divulges inside information about the recent VIP opening of For Your Eyes Only, the new Ian Fleming exhibition taking place at the Imperial War Museum, London. Read it, then forget you ever saw the memo....

To: M

From: Head of R, GCHQ

Subject: Former SMERSH sleeper agent, code-name Deep Sleep Six (Real name: Krassno Granitskiovich. Aliases: Red Grant, Jr., Captain Norwood Nash)

Documentation: E-mail intercept, sent to G, head of SMERSH Veterans’ Association

Greetings Comrade G,

Following instructions, attended opening of special exhibition, ‘For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond’, at Imperial War Museum, London, 16 April, 2008, having neutralised and taken the place of reporter of nostalgic-revisionist organ ‘Cinema Retro’, using silicone mask provided by Otdyel II. Met at museum (dedicated to past glories of British imperialist war-mongers) by the American, Pfeiffer, and the Briton, Worrall, capitalist running-dogs and editors of aforementioned ‘Cinema Retro’. Enemy failed to penetrate disguise.

Event began with Bollinger champagne reception (not Dom Pérignon, as favoured by British assassin and enemy of the Russian and former Soviet peoples, James Bond). Speech of welcome given by Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter Squire, GCB, DFC, AFC, DSc, FRAeS, Chairman of the Trustees of the Imperial War Museum. Follow-up speech by the Right Honourable Margaret Hodge, Minister of State for Culture, Media, and Sport. Official opening speech delivered by Miss Honor Blackman, actress responsible for impersonating Pussy Galore, former associate of deceased agent, Auric Goldfinger.

Exhibition dedicated to life of Ian Fleming, fascist hyena and biographer of the killer Bond, on pretext of centenary of birth (see conclusion below). Items of interest include: bourgeois dinner-jacket and bow tie belonging to the author; desk and Remington Remette typewriter from Goldeneye, the author’s colonial-imperialist home in Jamaica; copy of ‘Checklist of Birds of the West Indies’ (1947) by James Bond (a transparent attempt to confuse real-life assassin with local ornithologist); a recipe for scrambled eggs, headed “Scrambled Eggs Never Let You Down” (copy forwarded for deciphering); book entitled ‘Sea Fauna or The Finny Tribe of Golden Eye’, with notes and illustrations by Fleming; and manuscript of propaganda work, ‘Casino Royale’, detailing the regrettable failure of SMERSH operative, Le Chiffre.

These items followed by various family portraits and mementos, including letters from enemy of the Revolution, Winston Churchill; Christmas stockings large enough to clothe an entire village of peasants; various sporting trophies from Eton, the so-called public school (and breeding ground of reactionary imperialist swine); and various documents pertaining to the class enemy Fleming’s time spent as a “journalist” (a remarkably transparent cover) in Moscow, including a denied request for an interview signed by our late, Great and Glorious Leader, the much-loved Chairman Stalin himself! (Overcome with emotion, I found myself singing the Internationale – until I noticed the American Pfeiffer looking at me suspiciously. Strongly suspect this Pfeiffer may be none other than the Yankee pig-dog Felix Leiter, lackey of the CIA and cohort of Bond.)

The next exhibits are dedicated to the fantasist Fleming’s secret service in the Naval Intelligence Division during the Great Struggle against the forces of National Socialism. These include the coat worn by Fleming during his observation of the Dieppe Raid in 1942, a courier’s passport allowing him passage from Madrid to Gibraltar; various documents pertaining to his work with Rear Admiral Godfrey, the Director of Naval Intelligence, and the clandestine activities of 30 Assault Unit, overseen by Fleming, as well as information on the German V1 and V2 flying bombs, allegedly the forerunners of former Soviet agent Drax’s Moonraker rocket. A manuscript of fictional ‘Moonraker’, with original title, ‘Mondays Are Hell’, crossed out and replaced by the words “The Moonraker”, is also displayed.

The post-Struggle section of the exhibition includes a Mercury News map of the world showing the location of various journalists (and spies, as we well know) employed by the Sunday Times newspaper, of which Fleming was the foreign news manager, along with various souvenir items from the author’s effete and luxurious travels for a series of articles (and later book), ‘Thrilling Cities’. This is followed by a most interesting item – a portrait of the killer, Bond, commissioned by Fleming circa 1957, incontestable proof that the assassin known as 007 really exists and was not just a figment of the lap-dog Fleming’s decadent day-dreams (as the British establishment, with inexplicable perversity, would have the masses believe). After all, even a degenerate bourgeois like Fleming would not commission a portrait of a non-existent character! There is also a cup, in the shape of a chamber pot, presented by Fleming to the Old Etonian Golfing Society – a typical example of British public school humour. This is followed by a case containing first editions of Fleming’s glorification of the murderous functionary, Bond, and original art-work for the books by the illustrator, Richard Chopping.

Sir Roger Moore has confirmed he will be the guest of honor at a Pinewood Studios reunion of cast and crew of his favorite James Bond movie, The Spy Who Loved Me. The event will be organized by Cinema Retro's own Gareth Owen and his partner Andy Boyle, who run www.bondstars.com. Owen and Boyle recently staged the acclaimed Goldfinger reunion at Pinewood at which director Guy Hamilton was presented with The Retro Lifetime Achivement award on behalf of Cinema Retro by actress Honor Blackman. The Spy Who Loved Me event will take place on Sunday, October 19 and will be an all day affair with studio tours, panel discussions, interviews and a dinner honoring Sir Roger.

Please note: because this event is relegated to a relatively small number of attendees, Bondstars.com will be allocating tickets on a lottery basis. In order to be entered in the lottery, you must submit your registration form by June 7.

For the registration form and full details, click here.

RELATED STORIES

Click here for coverage of the Goldfinger reunion event

Click here for exclusive coverage of Sir Roger Moore's surprise birthday party in New York City

The Cinema of Terrence Malick—Poetic Visions of America. (Second Edition) Edited

by Hannah Patterson. (Wallflower Press, 2007.)

The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski—Variations on Destiny and Chance. Edited by

Marek Haltof. (Wallflower Press, 2004.)

Wallflower Press publishes several lines of film books. Represented here are two examples of their “Directors’ Cuts”—a series devoted to the works of individual directors. Both are similar in structure and degree of academic and scholarly study. These are not picture-books or “Films Of” books. They are intended for the serious student of film theory and history.

Perhaps no other filmmaker other than Stanley Kubrick has elicited more mystique than Terrence Malick. He made two critically-acclaimed poetic dramas in the seventies (Badlands and Days of Heaven) and then “disappeared” for twenty years before re-emerging on the Hollywood scene with The Thin Red Line in the late nineties. One more film (The New World) appeared in 2005. His work eschews traditional narrative, is visually beautiful, and emphasizes mood and emotions over character development. Editor Patterson has collected a number of essays written by film academicians and critics that dissect Malick’s four films. Dry stuff, but it’s a worthy companion for anyone wanting more out of the director’s pictures.

Polish director Kieslowski had been working behind the Iron Curtain for two decades and was relatively unknown in the West until the late eighties. With such penetrating examinations of “everyday life” as The Double Life of Veronique, The Decalogue, and the superb Three Colors Trilogy (Blue; White; Red), Kieslowski presented us with dramatic puzzles about fate and its effect on the human condition. Once again, editor Haltof has gathered a collection of essays by prominent international critics, authors, and academicians that attempt to make sense of films that are not instantly accessible. Of particular interest are the discussions of the director’s earlier, little-seen works such as The Scar and Blind Chance. Recommended.- Raymond Benson

Click here to order The Cinema of Terrence Malick

Click here to order The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski

Click here to visit www.raymondbenson.com