Deadline Hollywood Daily reports that Universal has canceled the drug-themed thriller Cartel just weeks before it was to begin filming in Mexico. Star Josh Brolin will be paid his full seven figure salary. Universal is getting skittish regarding bankrolling certain movies due to the fact that the studio has released a large number of flops recently. There were also concerns that the $40 million production would have logistical problems filming in Mexico, which is currently in a state of virtual war between government forces and powerful drug cartels. For more click here

By Lee Pfeiffer

Among the plethora of WWII dramas set in POW camps, Bryan Forbes' 1965 film King Rat is among the grimmest. The problem with many of these films, including the classic The Great Escape, is that the conditions depicted in the prison camp are benign enough that one wonders why anyone risks their life to escape. Not so with King Rat, which afforded George Segal one of his first and most important roles as a leading man. Segal is Corporal King, a low-ranking soldier who has managed to manipulate his way to being the de facto top-ranking officer among Allied prisoners in a Japanese POW camp. Through cunning, conning and cheating, King has established himself as the indispensable man: someone who can get decent food, medicine and other life-saving commodities for a price. Consequently, his superior officers not only defer to him but patronize him as well, hoping to get special goods and favors. King's relative riches afford him a lifestyle that is resented by many. His uniform is pristine, his hair neatly combed and he barely breaks a sweat even in the midst of the tropical hellhole he resides in. He also has a band of slavishly loyal minions who do his bidding, including superior officers.

If you are among the more enlightened fans of The Three Stooges, you will have realized long ago that Shemp Howard was a comic genius who was overshadowed by his brother Curly. In fact, Shemp was one of the Stooges before Curly but left for a successful solo career. He rejoined the act after Curly suffered a stroke. Shemp fans can be the loneliest guys in town, but his family has set up a great site extolling his life and career. It's called Shemp Company and it's a goldmine of photos and trivia. Click here to access.

Tom Hanks hasn't gotten so big that he's forgotten his roots. The Oscar winning superstar will reunite with cast members from the old TV series Bosom Buddies for an appearance on a TV awards program. Hanks starred in the variation of Some Like It Hot with Peter Scolari. The duo had a ratings hit playing two straight guys who lead a double life posing as women. The event will mark the first time the cast has been together since the show went off the air in 1982. For more click here

Acclaimed British actress Judy Cornwall will co-star with Sally Farmiloe-Neville in the new play When the Lilac Blooms, My Love which will open at the Leicester Square Theatre in London on 14 April and run through 1 May. The new drama concerns the  crisis that occurs when a daughter returns home to inform her family that she is pregnant. Cornwall has many loyal fans based on her long-running role as Daisy in the classic British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances. For more click here

Errol Flynn fans won't want to miss visiting a blog devoted entirely to the life and career of the legendary actor. Click here to visit

Gone are the days where big studio releases could bank on sex to sell a major film. Last Tango in Paris, Fatal Attraction, 9 1/2 Weeks, Basic Instinct were all pop culture sensations that brought in big box-office. However, as Brent Lang of The Wrap site writes, the abundance of sex on the web has diluted the shock value of erotic-themed mainstream movies. Most have ticket sales that are- well- flaccid. Click here to read

A top-secret script for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was erroneously left by someone in a British pub near Leavesden Studios, where the film is in production. An enterprising individual who found the script realized its value and sold it to The Sun, one of the UK's biggest tabloids. The paper says the script was left by a member of the crew who went on a boozy binge with his crew mates. The careless person has not been identified but he must be sweating bullets, as such scripts are generally numbered or otherwise encoded in order to identify people who might leak or sell key information from major films. Although star Daniel Radcliffe occasionally joins the crew at the pub, he's off the hook as he wasn't there on the evening in question. To its credit, the Sun didn't divulge any plot spoilers but did say the film will deviate substantially from the book. The paper then returned the script to Warner Brothers. For more click here

A new documentary examining the tragic and influential life of Warhol Factory star Candy Darling, entitled Beautiful Darling: The Life and Times of Candy Darling, Warhol Superstar had its US premiere at the New Directors/New Films Festival, last Friday, April 2nd, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The writer and director, James Rasin, was present with key members of his crew, most notably Jeremiah Newton, who executive produced and whose shared life with Darling provided the main focus
of this revelatory, intelligent documentary.

Framed by a present-day narrative involving close friend Jeremiah Newton's efforts to give Candy's funeral urn a final resting place (in tiny Cherry Valley, New York -- the significance of which is never explained), the documentary recounts in vivid detail the fast-burning life of Warhol's most legendary Superstar. (The only one of Warhol's Superstars, by the way, paid tribute by two Lou Reed-penned songs for The Velvet Underground.) The filmmaker and his crew weave together early video clips, film footage, recordings, photographs, period music and and original score to create a dense narrative fabric, making it one the most thorough and authoritative biopics of the Warhol clan.

On April 1, Cinema Retro held a screening of Sidney Lumet's 1964 Cold War classic Fail Safe at the legendary Players club in New York City. Editor-in-chief Lee Pfeiffer interviewed actor Fritz Weaver, who made his feature film debut in the movie. Weaver recalled that Lumet gave his leading actors the choice of what role they wanted to play. He chose the cold, calculating political scientist, but Walter Matthau had already taken that role. Weaver then chose to play the tightly-wound colonel who cracks under the pressure of trying to prevent a nuclear holocaust. He later learned that Matthau had wished he had played that role, so both men ended up playing the part the other actor actually would have preferred.

The bizarre disappearance of Patrick McDermott, former boyfriend of actress/singer Olivia Newton-John has been solved: he is alive and well and doesn't want to be bothered. McDermott mysteriously vanished on a 2005 California fishing trip and private detectives have been searching for him ever since. Finally, McDermott provided proof that he is alive and, like like Garbo, wants to be alone. Detectives refused to divulge his whereabouts, so the mystery behind the vanishing remains unsolved. For more click here

Even in death, Orson Welles looms larger-than-life. A long lost recording of him narrating a story about a dog who saves Christmas will be utilized on the basis of a forthcoming 3-D children's film. For more click here

John Forsythe, the handsome and distinguished star of TV, stage and movies, has died at age 92. Forsythe had a hit TV series with Bachelor Father and later starred in the long-running prime time soap opera Dynasty. He also provided the voice of Charlie in the Charlie's Angels TV series. On the big screen, Forsythe starred in two Alfred Hitchcock films: the whimsical The Trouble With Harry and the Cold War thriller Topaz. He was also heavily involved in charitable causes. For more click here

Word is out that Leonardo DiCaprio is the front-runner to star in Clint Eastwood's forthcoming bio pic of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. For more click here

***In the last couple of days, the Cinema Retro site has been down. This was due to technical problems at the company that hosts our site. It affected thousands of other web sites as well. We apologize for the disruption and inconvenience.***

In an article in Vanity Fair, writer James Wolcott states the obvious: that no late night contender for Johnny Carson's throne has succeeded in earning the reputation of being the heir apparent. When the King of the Night retired after thirty years of hosting The Tonight Show, bad blood over who would be his successor began almost immediately. Both David Letterman and Jay Leno had both earned their reputations as guests on Carson's show, but Carson clearly preferred that Letterman inherit his throne. When NBC chose Leno, Carson (always a class act) never publicly second-guessed the decision out of respect for Leno. However, the feud between Leno and Letterman became so fierce that it inspired books and a cable TV movie. In his article, Wolcott updates the messy legacy of trying to replace Carson by bringing in the recent Conan O'Brien debacle that alienated everyone and seemed to never completely satisfy anyone. He also points out why Carson will probably always be regarded as irreplaceable.Click here to read