Hi Lee,

Great review on Gran Torino. I appreciate your good work. I will make it a point to see the film over the holidays. In an earlier piece, you mentioned Baz Luhrmann remaking The Great Gatsby. His might actually be the 'fourth' movie version of that story. It was originally done in the 1920's as a silent film. Only the trailer for that version survives, but it's very striking. I understand the Alan Ladd version from the 1940's can be found in some bootleg videos, but a solid fine-grain 35mm print is unavailable. That leaves the 1970's Robert Redford version as the only available version by default. Not a bad movie, but kind of a backwards compliment, I suppose. Thanks again and Merry Christmas,

Bill Shaffer 

Retro Responds: Thanks, Bill - you're right - I had forgotten about the "lost" version of Gatsby that starred Warner Baxter. A pity it's been lost to the ages with only a one minute trailer preserved. As for the Alan Ladd version, it's never been released on home video supposedly because of legal issues, though the lack of of a decent master print may also have contributed to this dilemma. However, we both overlooked yet another filmed version of the story that no one seems to remember: this one was shot for the A&E TV network in the year 2000 and starred Toby Stephens and Mira Sorvino. Stephens, of course, would go on to play the Bond villain Gustav Graves in Die Another Day. - Lee Pfeiffer

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The good folks at the Egotastic! web site have done another great humanitarian service by posting some - er, titillating photos of Marisa Tomei in her acclaimed performance as a stripper in The Wrestler. As you know, we at Cinema Retro blush real easy so we'll only publish this teaser shot....but if you're sense of morality is as low as ours, you won't be able to resist clicking here to see an abundance of other shots of the 44 year-old Oscar winner - as well as a slew of revealing photos of other famous actresses.

Director Robert Mulligan, beloved by actors for his low-key style and temperament behind the camera, has passed away at age 83. Mulligan began directing in live TV productions in the 1950s but graduated to feature films with the acclaimed production of Fear Strikes Out. His career highlight was helming the 1962 classic screen adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird for which he was nominated for an Oscar. Under his direction, star Gregory Peck won the Best Actor Academy Award for his immortal performance as Atticus Finch in the film. Mulligan never directed blockbuster hits, but several of his productions proved to be extremely popular with audiences and critics. Among them: Come September, Love With the Proper Stranger, Baby, The Rain Must Fall  (the latter two starring Steve McQueen), Up the Down Staircase, Summer of '42 and the bittersweet comedy Same Time, Next Year.  However, some of his best work remained under-rated, including such films as The Rat Race, Inside Daisy Clover, and his one foray into the supernatural, his creepy 1972 screen adaptation of author Thomas Tryon's The Other. He and Gregory Peck had also reunited in 1968 for the superb western thriller The Stalking Moon which found Peck's character relentlessly pursued by a murderous but unseen Indian chief. For more on Mulligan click here