Cinema Retro
Entries from May 2008
If you wonder why we at Cinema Retro seem stuck in the past when it comes to movies, just consider the following. In the year 1968, the following films were released: The Lion in Winter, The Producers, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Odd Couple, Faces, Rosemary's Baby, Romeo and Juliet, Oliver!, Bullitt, Planet of the Apes and Funny Girl, to name but a few. What year in recent memory spawned anything like this memorable selection of films? The Los Angeles Times has a photo gallery tribute to the great movies of 1968. Click here to view
Intrada has released a limited edition (1500) CD of composer Jerry Fielding's score for director Michael Winner's 1972 Gothic chiller The Nightcomers, a prequel to Henry James' classic ghost story The Turn of the Screw. Marlon Brando and Stephanie Beacham starred in the atmospheric film that raised eyebrows for its provocative sexual content. Here is the description of the CD from the Screen Archives Entertainment site: World premiere of complete original soundtrack from intense Michael
Winner prequel to Henry James' "Turn of the Screw", starring Marlon
Brando. Jerry Fielding makes rare foray into horror genre, spotlights
dynamic contrast between pastoral exterior of tale, violent interior.
Elegant brass & woodwinds assist in former, strings are heart of
latter. Fielding balances accessible harmonies for gentle scenes with
dark, cerebral ones for perverse behaviors, violence, then finally
turns score inside out with cold, atonal finish playing in total
opposition to prim & proper beginning. Brilliant! Intrada CD
presents entire score in sequence from original stereo session masters
in superb condition. Authoritative notes from Nick Redman, dramatic
graphics from Joe Sikoryak complete package. Jerry Fielding conducts.
Special Collection release limited to 1500 copies! - Douglass Fake,
Intrada producer
1. 1M1 Main Title 2:45
2. 1M2 The Smoking Frog 2:08
3. 2M2 Bedtime at Blye House 3:03
4. 3M1 New Clothes for Quint 0:36
5. 3M2 The Children’s Hour 1:22
6. 3M3 Pas De Deux 1:26
7. 3M4A Like a Chicken on a Spit 0:57
8. 4M1 All That Pain 0:59
9. 5M1/6M1 Summer Rowing 2:04
10. 6M2 Quint Has a Kite 1:01
11. 6M3 Act Two Prelude: Myles in the Air 0:55
12. 6M4 Upside Down Turtle 1:36
13. 7M1 An Arrow for Mrs. Grose 0:32
14. 7M2 Flora and Miss Jessel 1:12
15. 7M4 Tea in the Tree 1:02
16. 7M5 The Flower Bath 2:22
17. 8M1 Pig Sty 1:38
18. 9M1 Moving Day 0:55
19. 9M2 The Big Swim 3:32
20. 9M4/10M1 Through the Looking Glass 2:42
21. 10M2 Burning Dolls 2:07
22. 10M3/10M4 Exit Peter Quint, Enter the New Governess; Recapitulation and Postlude 2:01
Total Score Time = 37:53
BONUS TRACK
23. 6M5 Pub Piano 2:13 TO ORDER FROM SCREEN ARCHIVES CLICK HERE (For an extensive interview with director Michael Winner about the making of The Nightcomers, see Cinema Retro issue #2 in our back issues section.)
CINEMA RETRO CONTRIBUTOR MIKE THOMAS TAKES US INSIDE SOME EXCITING FILM-RELATED SCREENINGS AND SEMINARS SPONSORED BY A.M.P.A.S. SHOWTIME AT THE ACADEMY
by Mike Thomas When Gregory Peck was President of the Academy of Motion
Pictures Arts & Sciences he inaugurated a policy of public outreach
programs, apolicy that that continues to this day. The once-private
organization became a beacon of film education; awarding grants and
fellowships, and holding screenings for the public.
In the last week alone, the Academy has presented three
public programs that are equal to the best of their kind anywhere in the world.
On Friday, April 25th, the Academy saluted the 40th anniversary of “2001: A
Space Odyssey,†in glorious 70mm with stars Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood in
attendance, introduced by one of the film’s greatest admirers, a wonderfully
witty Tom Hanks.
On Monday night, April 28th as part of its ongoing “Great to
be Nominated†series, Quentin Tarantino and a dozen or so colleagues from
“Pulp Fiction,†discussed the making of the film and the world-wide phenomenon
it became following a screening of the film.
And on Thursday, May 1, TCM personality Robert Osborne reminisced
about his long-time friend, Bette Davis, on a 100th birthday tribute to the
immortal giant of the silver screen, highlighted by a surprise visit from
Warner Bros. colleague, the equally legendary Olivia De Havilland.
Now, taken individually, any one of these three events would
be the year’s highlight for any number of the world-wide motion picture
institutions, the fact that the Academy has three such events in a single week
conclusively demonstrates again, if any reminder is needed, that it is the
premiere film organization in the world, and its public programming is worthy
of an Oscar itself. And the $5 admission price to see the finest
available prints on one of the greatest screening rooms in the world, is a
tremendous bargain that cannot be matched anywhere.
The “2001†screening was a reminder of the staggering
achievement of Stanley Kubrick. After blowing up the world in his earlier film,
1964’s “Dr. Strangelove,†the usually cynical Kubrick, spent the next three
years giving us his most optimistic film: a meditation on the past, present and
future of the human race. The Academy pulled out all the stops for this event,
the evening’s program notes were a beautifully designed replica of the original
theatrical program book’s cover. A special video provided by NASA, shot aboard
the orbiting space station, featured the actual astronauts paying tribute to
the film. Tom Hanks provided a warm reminiscence of his initial encounter with
the film in 1968 and the panel discussion with the two stars, special effects
wizard Douglas Trumbull who pioneered many revolutionary SFX for the film, and
other members of the cast and crew provided fascinating insights into the
making of one of the most films groundbreaking studio films ever made.
Continue reading "SHOWTIME AT THE ACADEMY: MIKE THOMAS REPORTS ON SOME EXCITING HAPPENINGS AT A.M.P.A.S."
In a lengthy and extraordinarily personal essay, Sir Roger Moore recalls his friendship with Frank Sinatra. Sir Roger relates that he was astonished that, upon meeting Sinatra and then-wife Mia Farrow in the 1960s, they told him they were big fans of The Saint. From that point on, they became close friends. Sir Roger recalls Sinatra's penchant for charity work, though the iconic singer rarely took credit for his acts of kindness. Among the good deeds carried out by the Chairman of the Board: paying for the destitute Bela Lugosi's funeral and shouldering the extensive medical expenses of Lee J.Cobb, a man he had never even met. For the full essay from The Times of London, click here.
Cinema Retro columnist David Savage continues his coverage of the Tribeca Film Festival with a report on a surprise appearance by Dennis Hopper at a screening of one of his earliest films. The newly restored 35mm print of Night Tide (1961),
USA
Last year saw the passing of Curtis Harrington (1926-2007),
the director of a slew of delicious psycho-thrillers from the '60s and '70s,
including Who Slew Auntie Roo? (1971) and What's the Matter with
Helen? (1971), both with Shelly Winters, as well as the critical favorite
The Killing Kind (1973) with John Savage. So it was a fitting tribute to
the director that Tribeca Film Festival screened two newly restored prints of
Harrington's at Pace University last Sunday, April 29th -- his 1948
experimental short, Picnic, and his rarely seen, first feature film,
Night Tide (1961) with Dennis Hopper. Both prints were fresh out of the
Academy Film Archive labs in Los Angeles. Adding to the insider-thrill of the
occasion was a surprise visit by Hopper himself, who drove in from Queens where
he was on location shooting a new movie. Hopper said he hadn't seen the film --
his first, full-length starring role -- in several years, so it was interesting
to watch the 25-year-old actor on the screen, then steal furtive glances over at
him in his seat watching himself, some 47 years earlier.
Night Tide tells the tale of a young sailor, Johnny
Drake (Hopper) on leave in the then-derelict area of Venice, California, who
becomes smitten with a mysterious, dark-haired girl, Mora (Linda Lawson) who
portrays a mermaid in a carnival sideshow on the pier. They meet in a beatnik
grotto-bar complete with jazz combo and snapping, turtlenecked patrons, and from
there embark on an enigmatic, moody love affair that spells trouble from the
get-go. Her handler and sideshow boss, Captain Murdock (Gavin Muir), warns
Johnny that her previous boyfriends were both found drowned, and hints broadly
that the fishtail she wears in the sideshow may not be a put-on. Other troubling
signs include her serving fish for breakfast, and on one date, she succumbs to
the incantatory rhythms of a beach bongo-duo and draws a crowd as she writhes
expressionistically to their performance. Johnny won't listen to locals who also
try to warn him off the mysterious Mona, until it's nearly too late.
Highly atmospheric and evocative of Los Angeles' beatnik art
scene in the late '50s-early '60s (of which Hopper was a member), Night
Tide is a odd delight, full of eccentric bit players, stilted dialogue and
the lurid backdrop of a seedy amusement pier. It also sets the tone for
Harrington's later pictures, most of which are campy thrillers involving a
mentally fragile woman in a setting of decayed glamour, in the same genre as
Aldrich's What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).
But digging a bit deeper, it hints at Harrington's
involvement in the occult. Harrington, according to Dennis Hopper, was a friend
of notorious occult filmmaker Kenneth Anger, with whom he went to school and
collaborated on Anger's and his own first experimental films -- many of which
deal in mythical and pagan topics. Their mutual friend was an artist in the L.A.
art scene of the time known simply as 'Cameron,' and who plays the role of The
Water Witch in Night Tide. In the film (credited as
Marjorie Cameron) she appears elusively as a witchy woman in black, usually
accompanied on the soundtrack by ringing bells. Her appearance throughout
Night Tide is never explained, but it casts doubt on the true provenance
of the character of Mona, and whether they are mother and daughter, or something
more sinister. Interestingly, Marjorie Cameron was married to Jack Parsons, a
pioneering genius in rocketry and occult enthusiast, and together they were
friends of L. Ron Hubbard and other science fiction writers. According to a
short bio on the Internet Movie Database, in 1946 she, Parsons and L. Ron
Hubbard undertook the famous "Babylon Working," a complex ritual spell
attempting to create a "magical child." In the early '50s she lived in a house
in Pasadena reputed to be a hive of occult and sexually transgressive behavior.
In 1954 she appeared in Kenneth Anger's Inauguration of the
Pleasure Dome (along with Harrington) and was a friend of Satanist Aleister
Crowley, Dennis Hopper and actor Dean Stockwell. How well Hopper knew Cameron
was unclear by his comments, but it was intriguing information, providing a
glimpse into his early days as an actor in L.A. and the cast of characters that
populated art galleries, living rooms and underground film sets of the time.
Hopper went on to comment that Night Tide was "one of
the first independent films," made for $28,000 and listed on Time
Magazine's 10 Best Films of that year, although it was never released in
theatres, owing to a dispute with labor unions. "Making independent films back
then was nearly impossible," he told the audience from the stage. "It was
virtually unheard of to work outside the studio system." Harrington, Hopper
revealed, was Twentieth Century Fox head Jerry Wald's assistant and got his
start in movies the old fashioned way – by serving as a gofer and working his
way up from there. Still flinty and ornery as hell at 72, Hopper makes a
compelling case for career longevity and still does not suffer fools easily, as
evidenced by his sarcastic answers to many questions posed from audience
members. When he mentioned his authorship of Easy Rider (1969),
vigorously disputed by Terry Southern and others, I was going to raise my hand.
Then I thought, hmm…better not go there. This dark man of indie cinema
just turned a shade more sinister.
To watch the original trailer of Night Tide, cut and
paste this URL into your browser: http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2275213593/
-David Savage
CLICK HERE TO BUY THE NIGHT TIDE DVD DISCOUNTED FROM AMAZON
Following up from my review of This Island
Earth / The Day of the Triffids in Cinema Retro # 11, I’d like to also
highlight some other CD releases from excellent Monstrous Movie Music label.
The Blob (and other creepy sounds) 1958
(MMM1955) marks the world premiere release of Ralph Carmichael’s classic
soundtrack. The film is rightly regarded today as a piece of great sci-fi
hokum, and is particularly memorable for starring the very young ‘Steven’ McQueen.
The music stands up amazingly well, considering the tight budget aligned to the
picture was mostly devoured by the cost of color
cinematography. Carmichael certainly squeezed
every ounce of life from his relatively modest 27 piece orchestra and the resulting score remains a
real testament to the composer's talent. To capitalize on the film's intended teenage audience, producer Jack H. Harris insisted upon a pop theme song to
open the film. What emerged was the campy, if somewhat memorable, The Blob (written, believe it or not, by Burt Bacharach and Hal David!), recorded by ‘The
Five Blobs’. They were, in
truth, a simple gathering of session musicians lead by vocalist Bernie Nee. Nevertheless,
the song worked and helped contribute to the film’s general success, but not entirely
without negative consequences. The cheesy song negated some of the more effective technical aspects of the movie and put it firmly in the "guilty pleasure" category for all time. Fortunately, Carmichael’s
unused original main title ‘Violence’ is also included on the disc. With the inclusion of some Blob bonus material, the entire score for the
main feature runs for some 37 minutes and is undoubtedly a thoroughly enjoyable
listen. There is, of course, so much more to this CD than first meets the eye. With
almost 40 mins more devoted to such horror and B movie classics as The
Green Slime, Terror from the year 5000 and The Brain that Wouldn’t Die, there’s
certainly enough here to keep the most ardent of horror fan satisfied.
Incorporating works of such legendary composers as Roger Roger, Angelo
Francesco Lavagnino and Mario Nascimbene this is a must-have for any Blob-ophiles and other sci-fi and horror fans. CLICK HERE TO REVISIT CINEMA RETRO'S COVERAGE OF THE 2007 ANNUAL BLOBFEST!
The Intruder
You’d be forgiven if the early William
Shatner / Roger Corman collaboration The Intruder (1961) (MMM1956) had passed you
by unnoticed. It’s a film that is rarely seen these days, perhaps due to its politically incorrect theme centering on racism. Nevertheless, Shatner’s performance as the bigot Adam Cramer is regarded today as one of his finest. An unusual and
somewhat rare ‘serious’ film from Corman, it received critical acclaim upon its
release only to be handled like a disease when it came to the film’s distribution.
It’s a great shame in many ways, as this probably contributed to Corman giving
up on the idea of serious storytelling and returning to the relatively safe
surroundings of the his highly profitable exploitation movies.
Thus, it's a real treat be able to enjoy Herman Stein's score to the film. Best known for his scores for Universal horror films such as The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Incredible
Shrinking Man, It Came from Outer Space, The Land Unknown, Revenge of the
Creature and Tarantula, his work outside of the genre has until now been sadly
overlooked. Stein’s score opens dramatically alongside the introduction of the
film’s central character - a cue that immediately suggests a sense of menace. Yet Stein’s score
is as rich as it is diverse, and the composer makes clever use of woodwind to
illustrate Cramer’s disturbed state of mind. Stein utilizes
strings and a weary clarinet to draw on the tension between Cramer and
his subsequent relationships. The result is a refreshingly unpredicatable element to the score that evokes comparisons to Bernard Hermann's chilling work on Psycho and Cape Fear.
Cramer’s introduction is particularly chilling, and while it lacks the intensity of a Hermannn score, it succeeds on its own merits. (I confess to conjuring up images of Robert Mitchum's Max Cady from Cape Fear as this track played.) Bonus material on this well-produced
disc includes the composer’s complete score for Career for Two (1951) and an
additional selection of unused main titles and underscores. Considering Stein’s almost exclusive association with horror and sci fi scores, Monstrous Movie Music deserves credit for releasing this forgotten gem that amply showcases the composer's diverse talents.- Darren Allison CLICK HERE TO HEAR AUDIO TRACK SAMPLES AND ORDER FROM MONSTROUS MOVIE MUSIC'S SITE
For our money, American Graffiti remains the best movie George Lucas ever made. Probably no other movie spawned so many major careers for it's largely unknown cast. Click here to catch up on what the talent has been up to for the last thirty-five years.
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