Actress Lisa Loring has passed away from a stroke at age 64. Loring was the first actress to portray the character of Wednesday Addams in the classic TV series "The Addams Family" in 1964. She was only 6 years-old at the time but proved to be totally adept at performing among a cast of talented adult character actors. She also lived to see the popularity of the series transferred into a Broadway stage production, hit feature films and, most recently, the popular Netflix series "Wednesday".
Actress Cindy Williams, who co-starred with Penny Marshall in the classic TV sitcom "Laverne and Shirley", has passed away at age 75. Here is a tribute to her work on television and in feature films such as "American Graffiti" and "The Conversation".
Sit back and relish these highlights from Sergio Leone's masterpiece "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" with the inimitable byplay between Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach.
Here are some tantalizing excerpts of separate interviews with Robert Vaughn and David McCallum of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." at the peak of the show's success in 1966, courtesy of the BBC Archive.
Many
narratives, novels, dramas and films depict an artist at the mercy of a work he
is unable to complete. Constantly deferred and failed attempts bring him to the
verge of death or madness. In the celebrated Fellini’s Otto e mezzo (aka
8 ½) (1963), the film director Guido Anselmi dreams to realize a film he
is unable to create. Just as in Marcel Proust’s In search of the lost Time (that
may be the model of the script), we have to wait until the end of the
film for the creator to find a way of realizing his work, which is, of course,
the one we have just been watching.
In
real life, too, artistic creation often entails battling with a work dreamed of
but which remains forever unrealized. The aim of my book is to show that in
regards to this dream project, that the creator longs to produce and always
abandons, is at the center of his creative adventure. It constitutes the key to
his oeuvre.
How
did I arrive at such a thesis? Many years ago, I discovered in Jean Genet’s
manuscripts (sent by Jean Genet to his American translator and agent, Bernard
Frechtman), a draft of a project named La Mort (Death) on which he
worked almost twenty years. Genet did not finish writing this text. But by analyzing the drafts that remained of this great
project, I realized that it provided the key to understanding Genet’s creative
work as a whole. The meaning of ambiguous plays by Genet like The Balcony,
The Blacks or The Screens aswell
of his theoretical and political worksis put in light by the aims that Genet had set himself in La Mort.
In
Fellini’s case, the twists and turns in the long-delayed shooting of the Viaggio
di G. Mastorna (The Journey of G. Mastorna) have passed into legend. In Otto
e mezzo (1963), Fellini depicted a film director who was unable to make a
film whose actors were already signed up and huge sets already built.
A
few years later real life imitated fiction. Fellini collaborated with Dino
Buzzati and Brunello Rondi on a screenplay about the realm of the Dead (Il
viaggio di G. Mastorna). Just as in the imaginary scenario in Otto e
mezzo, the preparations for shooting are very well advanced. The enormous
sets are ready. Thousands of costumes have been made. The actors’ contracts are
signed. And then to the despair of producer Dino De Laurentiis, Fellini
abandoned the project. Fellini was to return often to the Viaggio di G.
Mastorna without ever succeeding in finishing it. He rewrote the screenplay
with other screenwriters, Bernadino Zapponi and Tonino Guerra. The American
film director Mike Nichols offered him a million dollars for the screen rights.
Fellini refused because he still believed he would one day be able to make it
himself. In the last months of his life, he even agreed to its becoming a
graphic novel by Milo Manara. Only a few days before his death in September
1993, confined to his hospital bed, Fellini was still drawing Mastorna’s
mysterious outline. It was his last self-portrait.
The
Journey of G. Mastorna was intended by Fellini to be a
“Metaphysical James Bond film”. Understanding this dream project sheds new
light on Fellini’s films.Spaghetti, women with enormous breasts,
dreams: Fellini’s stock in trade is all too well known. It ends up obscuring
the true meaning of an oeuvre which is quasi prophetic, a voice raging against
the materialism of the modern world, an ongoing quest for the sacred. The large
number of books on spiritualism in Fellini’s library show how interested he was
in these subjects. Mastorna was intended as an investigation into what
happens after Death because Fellini was certain that something after Death
existed. Fellini- like Genet- is
a mystic whose quest takes place far from religious institutions.
My
book evokes also other cinematographic dream projects: the adaptation of Marcel
Proust’s In search of the lost Time by Luchino Visconti, L’Enfer
(Hell) by Georges Clouzot and the Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon on which
the film director spent years gathering prodigious amounts of documentation.
For
each of the main dream projects depicted in the book, my approach was the same.
First, I reconstructed the different stages of the unfinished work. Then, I
established a link between the abandoned project, and the overall work of this
artist, thereby shedding new light on the totality of his oeuvre.
Universal kindly presents the full uncut, commercial free streamer of director Anthony Mann's 1952 film "Bend of the River" starring James Stewart, Arthur Kennedy and newcomer Rock Hudson.
(To watch the film in full screen, click on "Watch on YouTube".)
Following their acclaimed book "A Wealth of Pigeons", Steve Martin and his friend, New Yorker magazine cartoonist Harry Bliss, have collaborated on another volume of cartoons, "Number One is Walking". The title refers to how the main star on the set of a movie is referred to. "Number One is Walking", is shouted to advise the crew that the main star is en route to the set. Martin advises there is a numeric pecking order that only Hollywood could create. Each actor's status is diminished by how far down the line his or her "number" is. The first half of this book consists of Bliss's cartoon depictions of Martin's experiences on movie sets. Refreshingly, the humor is gentle and self-deprecating towards Martin. Many of the cartoons depict Martin's devotion to his beloved pet dogs. Bliss's work- intentionally or not- calls to mind the creations of Gary Larson , the mad genius behind "The Far Side". Larson went into self-imposed retirement some years ago, so Bliss's clever work helps fill the gap. During the film-related section of the book, Martin recalls amusing anecdotes involving most of the more prominent productions he appeared in. He has nothing but kind words to say about everyone he mentions or depicts in the book, with special praise given to Carl Reiner, with whom he collaborated on several films. The film section of the book is presented in comic book style with multi-panel cartoons and the anecdotes are interesting and funny. Martin explains why he gave up making feature films, writing "I lost interest in movies at exactly the same time movies lost interest in me". He relates that after making 40 feature films, he found the process too taxing and time-consuming. Thus, he re-evaluated his life and career and decided to slow down. He wrote a great deal (books, songs, plays) and teamed with his old pal Martin Short for a stand-up comedy tour that resulted in their hit streaming series "Only Murders in the Building". The second half of the book is a creative free-for-all and features full-panel cartoons unrelated to Martin's film career.
"Number One is Walking" has only one drawback for fans of Martin's movies, namely, the cursory anecdotes might well be his only attempt to provide us with insights into the making of these films. One would hope that a traditional book of memoirs about his movies might someday come to pass. In the interim, this book is amusing and classy, much like Martin and his distinctive brand of timeless humor.
It has always been possible for Netflix subscribers to share their passwords with family members and friends who do not reside with them, even though the company's usage agreement specifies that all password sharing should pertain only to people who live in the same household. With Netflix reporting a net loss of subscribers, the company is taking new measures to increase revenues. They have introduced a Netflix option for subscribers who don't mind watching programs and movies that are interrupted by commercial breaks. (Obviously, this wouldn't pertain to Cinema Retro readers!) The willingness of some people to watch these compromised versions will result in a whopping $3 a month discount. Cinephiles and purists will find this an offer they can refuse. For many viewers, the initial appeal of streaming services was to get away from the horrendous numbers of commercials that are seen on broadcast TV programs, but there will probably be plenty of undemanding viewers who jump at the offer. The other way to increase revenue will be to crack down on people sharing passwords. Beginning by late March, such individuals will either have to pay for their own subscriptions or lose access. They will be offered a special discount, however, as well as the ability to retain their account data and history. For more, click here.
It was a long-time dream of producer Harry Saltzman to bring the story of the Battle of Britain to the big screen. It took him many years of frustrating delays to fulfill his dream. The movie, directed by Guy Hamilton, featured an all-star cast and some of the most spectacular aerial footage ever filmed- and keep in mind this was done for real in the era before CGI. For an extensive look at the making of the film, see Dave Worrall's report in Cinema Retro issue #45.
Cinema Retro readers tell us they love issues that feature rare movie trade advertisements, so here's one extolling the boxoffice pull of the 1967 blockbuster "The Dirty Dozen" in its New York City engagements. In those days, major films often played exclusively in select theaters in big cities before opening wide in neighborhood theaters.
RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST FROM THE CINEMA RETRO ARCHIVES
By Lee Pfeiffer
You don't have to be gay to admire John Schlesinger's 1971 film Sunday Bloody Sunday but it probably helps in terms of appreciating just how ground-breaking the movie was in its day. As a straight guy of high school age when the film was released, I do remember it causing a sensation, although it would literally take me many years before I finally caught up with the film. Gay friends always spoke reverently of the movie and expressed how the most refreshing aspect of the story was how normally a loving relationship between two adult men was portrayed. In viewing the film as a Criterion Blu-ray release, I feel I can finally appreciate that point of view. Gay men have long been portrayed in movies, of course, but for the most part they had been depicted as objects of ridicule or as sexual deviants. There were the odd attempts to present gay characters as sympathetic in films such as The Trials of Oscar Wilde and the brilliant Victim. Yet, even these fine efforts present homosexuality as a burden those "afflicted" must bear. Stanley Donen's 169 film Staircase offered fascinating and bold performances by Rex Harrison and Richard Burton as two aging queens. However, the studio marketing campaign over-emphasized the oddity of two of the film industry's great lady's men playing a gay couple. In fact, the ad campaign showed Burton and "Sexy Rexy" giddily dancing, thus falsely conveying that the film was a comedic romp instead of a poignant and intelligent look at loving homosexual relationship. Schlesinger, one of the first unapologetic directors to come out of the closet (if, indeed, he was ever in one), decided that the most daring aspect of this highly personal film would be in its very ordinariness. The story covers a complicated love triangle between three disparate people. Dr. Daniel Hirsh (Peter Finch) is a middle-aged, Jewish London doctor who is involved romantically with a much younger man, Bob Elkin (Murray Head). Hirsh doesn't flaunt his homosexuality, nor does he attempt to painstakingly deny it. He just lives his life as a respected member of his community, although it is clear his family thinks he's straight. (In one amusing, though uncomfortable sequence, Hirsh attends a Bar Mitzvah and has to endure attempts by nosy female relatives to set him up with his "dream girl"). The relationship between Hirsh and Bob is fairly intense, but is compromised by one uncomfortable fact: Bob is bi-sexual and is carrying on an equally intense love affair with an older woman, Alex Greville (Glenda Jackson). Both Hirsh and Alex know about each other and (barely) tolerate the triangle as the price of having Bob in their lives. For his part, Bob is a rather self-absorbed young man who seems to have genuine affection for both of his lovers, but is also either oblivious or uncaring about how the uncertainties of the relationship are affecting their psychological well-being.
Sunday Bloody Sunday was released a time when the gay rights movement was moving into high gear in the post-Stonewall period. It illustrates why the 1970s is regarded by many as the most liberating decade in film history, with old line directors like Hawks, Welles and Hitchcock working at the same time young turks like Schlesinger were shaking things up in a way the old masters never had the opportunity to do, thanks to the restrictive motion picture code. Sunday is primarily remembered for an eyebrow-raising scene in which Hirsh and Bob engage in a romantic kiss. There's nothing sensational about the tasteful way in which this rather routine gesture between lovers is presented on screen. In fact, it was the sheer lack of sensationalism that drove home Schlesinger's primary message: that loving gestures between gay men can be every bit as routine as they are between husband and wife. The fact that the kiss was enacted by two straight actors did add considerable gravitas to the moment and must have caused more than one straight viewer to think "Well, if they don't care about enacting such a scene, why should I feel uncomfortable watching it?" Schlesinger also dared to film tasteful but passionate bedroom scenes between Bob and Hirsh. Nevertheless, nothing much actually happens in Sunday Bloody Sunday. The story was based in part on real-life experiences and people from Schlesinger's own life. The story merely traces the ups and downs in the love triangle as Bob causes panic in both Hirsh and Alex by announcing he is thinking of moving to America. Hirsh and Alex do have an unexpected face-to-face meeting during this crisis and their sheer civility and inability to engage in more than light banter only adds to the dramatic tension.
The primary attribute of the film, aside from Schlesinger's spot-on direction, is the brilliance of the performances. Glenda Jackson was then emerging as a national treasure for the British film industry and the little-known Murray Head acquits himself very well indeed. However, it is Peter Finch's performance that dominates the movie as we watch his character go from loving acceptance of Bob's youthful self-absorbing actions to downright fury as his realization that Bob will never have the same passion for him. It's a superb performance on every level. Some viewers find the film's bizarre final sequence in which Hirsh addresses the viewer directly about his philosophy of life, but I found it to be a distraction and somewhat confusing. Nevertheless, this is a fine film, worthy of the praise it has generated over the years, and one that remains remarkably timely today.
The Criterion Blu-ray is right up to the company's top-notch standards. The transfer is beautiful and there are the usual informative extras including:
New interviews with Murray Head (who says that, as a young actor, he found his character to be rather despicable), cinematographer Billy Williams (who supervised the Blu-ray transfer), production designer Luciana Arrighi, Schlesinger biographer William J. Mann and the director's long-time partner, photographer Michael Childers who shot many of the great production stills for the film.
A 1975 audio interview with Schlesinger
Screenwriter Penelope Gillatt's original introduction to the published screenplay (there is plenty of coverage throughout the Blu-ray concerning the tense working relationship between Gillatt and Schlesinger, who accused the writer of taking the lion's share of credit for a screenplay he had extensively rewritten.)
The original theatrical trailer
Extensive liner notes by writer Ian Buruma, Schlesinger's nephew who appeared as an extra in the film.
In all, an outstanding tribute to an outstanding work by one of the era's great filmmakers.
Click here to order from Amazon. The film is also currently streaming on the Screenpix app, available for $2.99 a month through Amazon Prime, Roku and Apple TV.
The only commonal element among the films of director Nicolas Roeg is that there are no
common elements. Roeg graduated from being one of the industry's most
respected and innovative cinematographers to becoming an esteemed
filmmaker in his own right. Among his disparate productions: the London
crime film "Performance", the bizarre David Bowie starrer "The Man Who
Fell to Earth", the cult favorite "Bad Timing" and his most accomplished
film, the adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's supernatural novel "Don't
Look Now", which ranks as one of the most atmospheric and terrifying
movies ever made. By the early 1990s, however, Roeg's penchant for
making avant garde films with limited boxoffice appeal- combined with
his insistence on not compromising his artistic visions in the name of
commerce- put him at odds with studio executives. His movies were
largely appreciated by the art house cinema crowd but that didn't endear
him to the studio bosses in the corner offices. One of Roeg's most
bizarre, ambitious and expensive films was the little-seen and even
less-remembered "Eureka", a 1983 production that was bedeviled by bad
luck. First the basics: Roeg initially approached screenwriter Paul
Mayersberg to adapt a book titled "Who Killed Sir Harry Oakes?" by
Marshall Houts. Sir Harry Oakes may have faded into historical obscurity
but in 1943 he was certainly one of the most famous men in the world-
and had been for two decades. It all began when Oakes, an American by
birth, went north into the wilds of Canada in his quest to prospect for
gold. He doggedly pursued this ambition for fifteen years before
stumbling upon what became the greatest discovery and claim for gold in
North American history. Overnight Oakes became one of the richest men on
earth. He later moved to the Bahamas where he lived comfortably on a
large estate with his wife and daughter. Enamored by the British gentry
he interacted with, Oakes changed his citizenship and became a subject
of England. Big money buys impressive friends and Oakes was quite chummy
with the Duke of Windsor, who had made a wee bit of a splash himself a
few years earlier when he was known as King Edward VIII- yes, that King
Edward VIII, who abdicated the throne in order to marry the love of his
life. Edward was by then relegated to being the Governor-General of the
Bahamas, some theorized to get him off the front pages. Between his
scandalous marriage and the fact that he was deemed an appeaser to
Hitler in the lead up to the war with Germany, which was now raging, the
Duke was not "Flavor of the Month" in his native England. Still, he and
Harry Oakes hit it off rather well and before long Harry was knighted,
ostensibly because of his sizable contributions to charity, but some
theorized the Duke had pulled some strings on his behalf. Sir Harry's
bliss was short-lived. In 1943, he was brutally murdered in his own bed.
How brutal was the crime? Well, he was bludgeoned, tarred and
feathered, burned alive and beheaded. As you might imagine, the cause
of death was not listed as suicide. Clearly, at least one person in his
orbit was not very enamored of him and it was decided that the person
who liked him least was his son-in-law, who Harry had virtually
disowned. A sensational trial took place that resulted in breathless
international coverage but the suspect was found to be not guilty on the
basis of flimsy evidence. The sensational case remains technically
unsolved to this day, though amateur sleuths still debate who the real
culprit was and what his motive might have been.
Nicolas Roeg was understandably intrigued by this story and was
delighted when screenwriter Paul Mayersberg had also read the book that
Roeg wanted him adapt for the screen. He, too, had longed to make a film
of it. With the two men in synch, they set out to make a linear
retelling of the remarkable characters and events pertaining to Sir
Harry's life. However, they realized that since several of the major
players in his life were still alive, the production could be plagued by
lawsuits. Thus, they decided to give fictitious names to the
characters. This also liberated them in terms of using artistic license
when desirable, as they were no longer attempting to present a purely
factual study of Sir Harry's life and death. It also liberated Roeg by
allowing him to bring more esoteric elements into the production. The
central character was now named Jack McCann (Gene Hackman) and our first
view of him is indeed striking: he in embroiled in a violent struggle
with another man in the midst of a raging blizzard in the Canadian
wilderness. An unidentified woman, presumably the other man's wife,
pleads for the men to stop fighting and we learn that Jack, who has been
enraged by something that is never explained, is splitting up his
prospecting partnership with the other man. He eventually storms off
into the intimidating landscape to continue to pursue his goal of
finding a major strike. Ultimately he does just that by literally
falling into a fortune when he slips through a crevice and finds himself
in an underground cave that is literally raining gold dust. He rejoices
in his triumph but his happiness is short-lived. He returns to the
bordello where the love of his life, a local hooker and oracle (Helena
Kallianiotes) is literally on her death bed and she dies in his arms.
It's the first in a string of unfortunate incidents that will plague
Jack's life. The scene then abruptly switches to twenty years later
when we find Jack comfortably residing in his Bahamian estate named,
appropriately enough, Eureka. He's a hot-tempered man prone to violent
outbursts. The only calming influence in his life is his twenty year-old
beautiful daughter Tracy (Theresa Russell), who he clearly adores but
who also brings him consternation because of her strong, independent
ways. Tracy has married Claude Malliot Van Horn (Rutger Hauer), a
handsome, charismatic European gigolo. Jack can immediately see through
Claude's motives and calls him out for being an opportunist who is using
Tracy to get access to the McCann fortune. The rift results in Tracy
becoming estranged from Jack and her mother, Helen (Jane Lapotaire), a
weak-willed woman who Jack treats as he would the hired help. A parallel
subplot finds Jack being pressured by his friend and business associate
Charles Perkins (Ed Lauter) to sell his beloved estate to a group of
American gangsters headed by a man named Mayaofsky (Joe Pesci) and his
second-in-command Aurello D'Amato (Mickey Rourke). Seems they want to
expand their operations to the island Jack resides on and consider his
land crucial to their plans. Typically, Jack not only rejects their
offer but insults them in the process, leading to the gangsters deciding
to take strong-arm tactics against him. In the film's most disturbing
scene (and there are several), Jack is murdered in his bed by being
bludgeoned, tortured with a blowtorch and (we learn later) beheaded.
It's an incredibly gruesome sight to behold, as Roeg holds nothing back
from the viewer except the decapitation. (We should be thankful for
small favors). The balance of the film concerns the resulting murder
trial, which mirrors the real life case in that Jack's son-in-law was
arrested and charged with the crime. He had motive and opportunity- but
so did many of his enemies including the gangsters.
"Eureka" may have been an ambitious undertaking but it's also a
highly unsatisfying one. The script provides us with a dearth of
sympathetic characters. With the exception of Tracy (who is superbly
played by Roeg's then-wife Theresa Russell, who made numerous other
films with him), there isn't a single other character with any admirable
traits. Hackman delivers a powerful performance as McCann but the
character is sketchy. We all know money doesn't always buy happiness but
we never get to the root cause of his dissatisfaction with life and
everyone around him. The supporting cast is equally excellent with
Rutger Hauer giving one of the best performances of his career as the
vain, almost effeminate pretty boy whose charm makes Tracy blind to his
vulgarities. These are demonstrated in a very haunting sequence in which
Claude and two female companions secretly attend a voodoo ritual that
becomes a pagan-like orgy which leaves everyone involved disgraced and
emotionally scarred. Joe Pesci and Mickey Rourke are impressive as the
gangsters, with Pesci uncharacteristically underplaying his role, while
Ed Lauter does the same as Jack's wimpy friend Charlie. The main problem
with "Eureka" is that Roeg values style over substance. The entire
first section of the film involving Jack's quest for gold is compromised
by Roeg dropping in metaphysical and supernatural aspects, implying
that his seer girlfriend is somehow sending him psychic signals to find
the gold even though this will inexplicably cost her her own life. Even
when the story gets on more traditional footing in Jack's later years,
Roeg still toys with the viewer by inserting artistic touches that are
visually striking but which distract the audience and make things quite
confusing to follow. At times it's hard to figure out who is who and what everyone's relationships and motivations are.Roeg
also can't resist making numerous analogies between the characters of
Jack McCann and Charles Foster Kane, though the comparisons seem a bit
obvious and heavy handed. Having said that, the movie looks beautiful
and Alex Thomson's cinematography is top-notch, as is the lush musical
score by Stanley Myers.
If Jack McCann's fate seemed cursed, so did "Eureka" as a major film
production. The movie was financed and was to be distributed by United
Artists. However, during production the management team of the
long-troubled studio changed and "Eureka" was treated as an orphan
project that had been green lit by the previous regime. Not helping
matters was the fact that a test screening proved to be very
discouraging, with the audience overwhelmingly giving the quirky film a
"thumbs down" verdict. UA sat on the movie for two years before giving
it a very minor and abbreviated release, after which it fell into
obscurity. Twilight Time has released the film as a special edition
Blu-ray, limited to only 3,000 units- and kudos for them for doing so.
Although the film is a misguided and unsatisfying enterprise, it still
has enough impressive aspects to merit a look by any serious movie
scholar.
"Eureka" is an artistic failure in this writer's opinion but at least
it's a fascinating one and certainly worth a look in order to draw your
own conclusions.
The film is currently streaming on Screenpix, which is available through Amazon Prime, Roku, YouTube and Apple TV for $2.99 per month.
A very positive aspect about streaming movies through Amazon Prime is that the service affords retro movie fans a seemingly limitless buffet of films that have never been released on DVD or Blu-ray. Thus, when I came upon a little-remembered 1972 TV movie, "She Waits", I was tempted to tune in. After all, any movie that offers a cast headed by Patty Duke, David McCallum, Dorothy McGuire, Lew Ayres and Beulah Bondi was certain to be worth checking out. I probably saw the movie back in the day but had no recollection of it. The 1970s was the Golden Age of TV movie and mini-series and every week viewers were enticed to check out big stars in original TV productions. The ratio of hits-to-misses was impressive. Some truly memorable productions were broadcast including young Steven Spielberg's classic road rage thriller "Duel". "She Waits" is no "Duel", but it is an interesting entry in the TV movie genre. You might think its premise of otherworldly possession of an innocent person was yet another entry inspired by "The Exorcist", but "She Waits" aired more than a year before "The Exorcist" was released- although a case could be made that it was inspired by the phenomenal success of William Peter Blatty's bestselling novel.
In addition to the impressive cast, "She Waits" also boasted an impressive director: Delbert Mann, whose feature films included such acclaimed gems as "Marty", "Separate Tables" and "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs" as well as the Doris Day hits "Lover Come Back" and "That Touch of Mink". By the early 1970s, however, Mann's star had eroded somewhat and he crossed over to television productions where he found constant employment. The script for "She Waits" was written by Art Wallace, who knew a thing or two about supernatural scenarios, having written an abundance of episodes of "Dark Shadows". In short, there's a lot of talent involved with this rather run-of-the-mill production.
McCallum and Duke play Mark and Laura McGuire, a newlywed couple who met in Tokyo, where Mark holds a prestigious executive position for a big company. They have traveled back to the States so that Laura can meet Mark's mother Sarah (Dorothy McGuire), whose precarious health leaves her spending most of her time in bed, cared for by the long-serving nanny Mrs. Medina (Beulah Bondi, reunited with McGuire with whom she appeared in "A Summer Place".) The two women inhabit one of those big Victorian-era homes that generally ensure there are plenty of things that go "bump" in the night. From the moment of their arrival, Mark and Laura find Sarah in a rather disturbed state of mind. She privately encourages Mark to leave the house as soon as possible and stay at a hotel, but Mark will have not consider it. He wants to stay in the house he grew up in. The reason for this sentiment is puzzling because we learn the cause of Sarah's trepidation relates to horrendous memories she and Mark have of his time in the home. It seems that Mark had previously resided there with his first wife, Elaine, who was apparently a nasty, demanding and manipulative woman. After one particularly bad argument with Mark, he stormed out of the house and Elaine was found dead from a gunshot wound which was attributed to suicide. Sarah tries to convince Mark that Elaine's spirit still remains in the house and that she will likely exact revenge on him through endangering Laura. Despite Laura's efforts to win Sarah's affections, she finds the situation in the house to be unnerving, with Mark and his mother keeping her in the dark about how Laura died. (It seems a bit of a stretch that Laura wouldn't have asked Mark about his former spouse prior to marrying him.) Mark summons Sarah's long-time physician, Dr. Carpenter, who seemingly has no other patients, as he virtually moves into the house to care for Sarah through administering numerous sedatives. Before long, Sarah's predictions begin to ring true, as Laura begins to feel a presence in the house and hears ominous voices and other indications that Elaine is still a presence there. Ultimately, Sarah confides in Laura about a shocking secret concerning her death and Mark's involvement. But that's just the beginning of the nightmare scenario, as Elaine's spirit takes possession of Laura.
"She Waits" is hardly a distinguished entry in films of this type, but it is enjoyable on a certain level, primarily due to the cast, who rise above the cliches. The film was obviously done on a low budget, as there are very few exteriors. The production design of the house is impressive, however, and Morton Stevens provides a suitably eerie score, right down to including organ music.
The main problem with watching "She Waits" on Amazon opens up a subject for debate. The source for the streaming version seems to have been derived from a VHS tape, which is the only home video format it has ever been available on. Viewed on today's hi-tech widescreen TVs, the show is barely watchable. The image looks as though it were filmed with a dirty camera lens through a murky pane of glass. Amazon's barely existent standards for what passes as appropriate for its screening service leaves a dilemma for retro movie fans. Is it acceptable to present such an atrocious version of a film if its the only way those interested can see it? Film directors and industry professionals would probably oppose showing their work in such a manner but historians would argue that even a sub-par version can be valuable for research purposes. As is evidenced by this review, I'm in the latter camp, though I certainly sympathize with filmmakers who object to having their carefully-crafted work presented in such a manner. If you have Amazon Prime, watch "She Waits" and decide for yourself.
The folks who might best recall Crane Wilbur as the dashing
paramour of Pearl White in the silent chapter serial The Perils of Pauline (1914) are now long gone.Though he continued to accept occasional film
and stage roles, by the early 1930s, Wilbur turned to screenwriting and
directing.He had already garnered
plenty of experience with the former, having produced a score of scenarios for
two and four reel silents from 1915-1925.Though he’s likely best remembered for his scripts on such sound “crime
and punishment” noirs as He Walked by
Night (1948), Wilbur also dabbled in horror-mysteries, turning out scripts for
a trio of Vincent Price vehicles (House
of Wax (1953), The Mad Magician
(1954) and The Bat (1959).
Truth be told, The
Bat is not considered one of Crane’s (nor Price’s) best films, but there’s still
plenty to like about - assuming creaky manor murder mysteries are your
thing.The film setting is a sprawling
mansion that houses a secret, and within that familiar scenario all traditional
mystery tropes are present.There’s
thunder and lightning, shutters battered by ghostly winds, shadowy staircases,
secret rooms, suits of armor toppling for unexplained reasons, and – of course –
victims dispassionately dispatched by “The Bat,” a mysterious figure cloaked in
black.“The Bat,” we learn, is
rightfully feared.There are reports he already
mercilessly murdered two women, both having their “throats ripped open with
steel claws.”
To no cinemagoer’s surprise, Chief of Detectives
Lieutenant Andy Anderson (Gavin Gordon) suspects the person masquerading as “The
Bat” is the otherwise affable Dr. Malcolm Wells (Vincent Price).His suspicions are not unreasonable: Dr.
Wells works with live bats in his humble home laboratory in which he –
inexplicably – secrets a neon-lit portraiture of a bat in full wingspread behind
a window curtain. We also learn, quite
early in the film, that while Price appears malleable he’s nonetheless a man capable
of violence.
During a remote cabin visit with his friend John Fleming,
a bank president, Wells is asked what ends he might agree to for a half-million
dollar reward.“Anything short of
murder,” Wells replies.When Fleming –
rather stupidly - confesses to embezzling 350,000 bonds of his bank’s negotiable
securities, Price is shocked by his friend’s frank admission.Dr. Wells initially appears a man of honor, steadfastly
refusing to be a half-partner in the scheme.Disappointed with his friend’s lukewarm response to a criminal
partnership, the duplicitous banker has no choice but kill Dr. Wells – who now
knows too much.But Price, getting the upper-hand,
manages to shoot Fleming dead.He disposes
of Fleming’s body in a forest fire set to cover evidence of the struggle and murder.
Though the police are still unaware of Fleming’s murder,
they are investigating the reports the bank has been swindled of one million
dollars. Both the police and the mysterious “The Bat” appear to have focused their
interests in getting their hands on the purloined assets.They are not the only interested parties.John Fleming’s nephew Mark (John Bryant) is set
to inherit his Uncle’s riches due to his relative having perished in the
“forest fire.”Bryant believes the
stolen funds might be secretly stashed somewhere in the Oaks, the old mansion leased
by his Uncle to the famed mystery novelist Cornelia van Gorder (Agnes
Moorehead). Bryant has access to the builder’s original blueprints to the
mansion.He plans to use them to search
out a secret room and the stolen assets.
Moorehead’s life as a mystery writer is neither solitary nor
contemplative.It’s actually a pretty
busy place, with police coming and going and with house guests and intruders’
alike murdered.She shares her home with
busy-bee, nervous housekeeper Lizzie Allen (Lenita Lane) and a stone-faced chauffeur-butler
Warner (John Sutton).Sutton’s face, if
not his name, should be familiar to Vincent Price fans.The two actors shared screen credit in such
productions as The Tower of London
(1939), The Invisible Man Returns
(1940), and The Return of the Fly
(1959).
The scenario of The
Bat was lifted from Mary Roberts Rinehart’s 1908 novel The Circular Staircase, already made as a five-reel silent film as
early as 1915.In 1920 the novel was adapted
for a successful and long-running Broadway stage play retitled The Bat.The popularity of the stage play begat three subsequent film versions (a
nine-reel silent version (1926) and two sound versions: The Bat Whispers (1930) and The
Bat (1959).
Though a redoubtable mystery, if you’re unable to sort
out the identity of “The Bat” within the pictures first twenty minutes… Well, I
suggest you skip a career in police or detective work.That’s not to say Wilbur’s eighty-minute
running time version lags or lacks surprises.But the film is a bit insular: ninety-five percent of the film – which
began production on April 27, 1959 – was shot economically and stagey in
interior settings.In the final analysis
Wilbur delivers a workmanlike, familiar mystery that’s just intriguing enough
to hold one’s interest… but, alas, it’s no classic.
There was some effort made to freshen the old property.While the film was in production C.J. Tevlin
of Liberty Pictures told the Los Angeles
Mirror that Wilbur was determined to bring a “horror” element to the
“classic murder mystery.” To that end, the filmmakers were going introduce live
bats into the existing scenario:“Two dozen bats have been collected and put
into cages at Allied Artists studio for use in the picture.Augie Lohman, head of the special effects
department, hired Indian boys to capture the bats from caves near his Tehachapi
ranch.The bats have 13-inch
wingspreads, with bodies considerably larger than a mouse, and vicious,
needle-like teeth.”Sure, it all sounded
cool.So it’s disappointing when only two
smallish bats appear on screen, one so tightly gripped it’s barely allowed a single
flutter.
If nothing else, such early production ballyhoo recognized
horror films were hot, inexpensive commercial commodities, its spooky tropes
certain to bring in audiences.1959 was,
in a sense, a career-defining year for Vincent Price.He was seen on the big screen in no fewer
than five feature films, three of which were horror/sci-fi offerings regarded today
as minor cult-classics: House on Haunted
Hill, The Tingler and The Return of Fly.In comparison to that celebrated trio, The Bat serves only weak tea, though
Price’s role as Dr. Wells further solidified his reputation as the preeminent star
of contemporary horror pictures.
Of course for all of its trappings, The Bat is not a horror
film.In fact there’s little denying
there were more cobwebs in the script than on the walls.Upon the film’s release, critical reaction to
the picture was mixed, ranging from muted praise to mild dismissal.One review noted, fairly, “Despite
author-director Crane Wilbur’s “modernization” of the screenplay […] “The Bat”
creaks with age, and all the ails and aches of its stereotyped plot
convolutions are manifold.”
It is what it is.Film
Detective has given us what I believe is the nicest transfer of The Bat that I’ve seen, and I’ve seen
plenty: the film has long been in public domain status.More often than not, you could find the film
on one of those cheaply-produced mystery/horror/suspense budget multi-pack
releases relegated to chain-store discount bins.This Film Detective “Special Edition,” is
just that – very special.Offering The
Bat in a 1.85:1 aspect radio and dts monaural sound, the company has chosen
to spruce up their already elegant presentation with a number of intriguing bonus
features.
For starters, we’re treated to the twenty-three minute
featurette The Case for Crane Wilbur,
written and produced by Daniel Griffith for Ballyhoo Pictures, with narration
by C. Courtney Joyner.The documentary
compactly traces Wilbur’s career on the stage through his debut as a film actor
in 1910 and examines his second career as screenwriter and director.
The set also includes an informative audio commentary
courtesy of film noir scholar Jason A. Ney.Ney is also the author of the sixteen-page booklet included in the
set.His essay, The Case of the Forgotten Author: The Literary Conundrum of Mary
Roberts Rinehart, studies the work of this now mostly forgotten but wildly
successful mystery novelist whose novel and play inspired the many iterations
of The Bat.
One of the most generous additions to this set – and one
I’m particularly enthralled with - is the inclusion of no fewer than nine –
yes, nine - archival radio broadcasts
featuring Vincent Price.These
recordings, sourced from such vintage radio programs as Suspense, Escape, Theatre of Romance, Hollywood Star Time and the CBS
Radio Workshop, were taken from the original broadcasts 1943 through 1956.This collection of programs alone make this
set a required purchase for fans of the actor who might not have yet examined –
or dimly recall - Price’s radio work.
It took sixty-three years but there is now a complete
score for Elmer Bernstein's 1960 classic The Magnificent Seven. Quartet Records
in association with MGM has released a four-CD set of The Magnificent Seven
Collection. It includes the soundtracks for the four movies in the franchise -
the original, Return, Guns and Ride. As an extra, the set includes The Music
from Marlboro Country, a promotional LP made by Phillip Morris in 1967 which
consists of recycled cues from Return and orchestrations inspired by
Bernstein's themes. As I recall, the record was sent free to fans who submitted
proof of purchase of Marlboro cigarettes. The best news is that the entire
original 1960 score is finally available.
The first disc is for the original film and has a running
time of 78:40 with a runoff of additional cues, not in sequence, on disc four.
Some cues are as short as both eleven and sixteen seconds. Bernstein's
daughter, Emilie, previously produced a 1998 CD of the original but it only had
twenty-four tracks, whereas the new release contains forty-one, including some
as memorable as "Chico's Bravado", "Enemy Camp" and
"Lee's Problem". There is also an illustrated thirty-six page booklet
about each movie and Bernstein's involvement. The liner notes don't specify how
the tracks were enhanced or tweaked but they all sound the best they ever have.
The entire package is, well, magnificent.
Press Release from Quartet:
Celebrating the centenary of Maestro Elmer Bernstein,
Quartet Records and MGM are proud to present a mammoth, deluxe 4-CD collection
with the original iconic MAGNIFICENT SEVEN saga that comprises four films produced
between 1960 and 1972, all of them scored by the great Elmer Bernstein.
Bernstein’s music is a genre-defining masterpiece.
Inspired, in part, by the work of Aaron Copland, the composer created a
distinctive blend of Americana and what he called Tex-Mex elements without
resorting—as so many of his predecessors did—to quoting actual folksongs. The
score is replete with memorable themes and rife with tension when such is
called for. Following the development of Bernstein’s music through all four films
makes for a fascinating journey!
The score of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN was not officially
released until 1998 by Ryko. For this new release, on Disc 1, we accessed three
1/4? full-track monaural rolls of “print” takes vaulted by MGM to expand upon
the earlier edition. Several bonus tracks are included at the end of Disc 4 due
to insufficient room on the first disc.
For RETURN OF THE SEVEN, only the celebrated re-recording
done by Bernstein in London has survived; the scoring masters and music stems
remain lost. For Disc 2 of this set, we newly transferred the 1/4? stereo album
master and have maintained the spacing the composer placed between each track.
We have also included the CD premiere of the rare album recorded by the
composer for a promotional Philip Morris & Co. campaign on United Artists
Records: THE MUSIC FROM MARLBORO COUNTRY, sourced from the 1/4? stereo album
master.
GUNS OF THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN is perhaps the most varied and
musically satisfying of the sequels. We have used on Disc 3 the same extended
stereo program produced by Lukas Kendall for the Film Score Monthly label and
included in a long-out-of-print western box set.
For the final entry in the series, THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
RIDE!, Bernstein’s orchestrators, Leo Shuken and Jack Hayes, adapted the
composer’s thematic material to fit sequences in the movie. A single day was
spent recording at the Universal Scoring Stage in Los Angeles with Bernstein
conducting. While scoring masters remain elusive, we have accessed the monaural
music stem to include the 45 minutes of music heard in the film on Disc 4.
Meticulously produced, restored and mastered by Chris
Malone, the package designed by Nacho B. Govantes comes with cover art created
by Jim Titus and a 36-page booklet with an in-depth essay by authoritative
music writer Frank K. DeWald.
Elmer Bernstein never wavered from his commitment to
write music that enhanced every film he scored with beauty, excitement, passion
and dignity. Quartet Records is proud to celebrate his centenary with this 4-CD
compendium of all the surviving music Bernstein recorded for the four original
MAGNIFICENT SEVEN films. Enjoy the ride!
As you may know, the Royal Mail has announced that, due to an apparent extensive hacking operation, they cannot guarantee delivery of packages sent to Europe. Therefore, they are advising that no mailings should be made from the UK to Europe at this time. All Cinema Retro issues for Europe are dispatched from our UK office. Thus, customers in Europe can place orders, but we cannot send them out until this crisis is resolved. Mail within the UK is not affected.
Here is the latest official update from the Royal Mail service:
“Following the recent cyber incident, we are trialing operational workarounds and have started moving limited volumes of export parcels. While we trial these operational workarounds, we continue to ask customers not to submit any new export parcels into the network. Our initial focus will be to clear mail that has already been processed and is waiting to be dispatched.
We are pleased to announce that we have resumed the export of letters which do not require a customs declaration to all international destinations. From 19:00 hrs, customers will be able to start re-submitting international export letters which do not require a customs declaration into the Royal Mail network again through all channels including Royal Mail post boxes and Post Office branches. Royal Mail continues to work with external experts, the security authorities and regulators to mitigate the impact of this cyber incident, with a focus on restoring services for export letters and parcels. Our import operations continue to perform a full service with some minor delays. Domestic services remain unaffected.
We apologise to impacted customers for any disruption this incident may be causing. Please be assured our teams are working around the clock to resolve this situation and we will update customers as soon as we have more information.” Customers can check for updates on the official Royal Mail site."
"The Wilby Conspiracy" is primarily notable for the teaming of two
big screen legends: Sidney Poitier and Michael Caine. The 1975 film
itself aspires to be a bold indictment of South Africa's cruel apartheid
regime which saw black residents of the country terrorized and
humiliated by the white minority. Most movies wouldn't go near the
topic in the mid-1970s so the script, based on Peter Driscoll's novel,
is to be commended for being ahead of the game in terms of raising
awareness of the practices that would ultimately bring down the corrupt
regime and see the seemingly impossible achievement of having one-time
political prisoner Nelson Mandela elected as president. Yet,
screenwriters Rod Amateau and Harold Nebenzal were obviously tasked with
primarily delivering an action adventure "buddy" pic that starts off
resembling Poiter's 1950s classic "The Defiant Ones" (the protagonists
are even handcuffed together for a time.) Adding another note of
nostalgia is that the film reunited Poitier with director Ralph Nelson,
with whom he collaborated on "Lilies of the Field" and "Duel at Diablo".
The film opens with a courtroom scene in which a prisoner, Shack
Twala (Poitier) is awaiting what is believed to be a predetermined
sentence for political "crimes" that will see him sent back to prison.
Twala is a prominent black activist who has gained international
attention for his objections to social injustice. Much to the surprise
of Twala and his lawyer, Rina Van Niekerk (Prunella Gee), Twala is
absolved of the crime and is released as a free man. The good feelings
don't last long, however. During the drive home, their car is stopped by
police officers who harass Twala, who becomes enraged and fights back
with the help of Rina's boyfriend, Jim Keogh (Caine), a mining executive
who is largely apolitical. Now wanted by the law, the two men drop off
Rina and flee to Johannesburg, a 900 mile journey. There, Twala hopes to
unite with a fellow political activist who might be able to sneak them
across the border into Botswana. They have plenty of close calls and are
aggressively pursued by Major Horn (Nicol Williamson), a dreaded higher
up in the nation's nefarious security forces that routinely employed
torture. They also learn that there was an ulterior motive in the court
case that saw the government drop charges against Twala. The plot gets
increasingly burdened with secondary characters and the search for a
large cache of stolen diamonds that went missing many years ago. Twala
wants to recover them and deliver them to a man named Wilby (Joe de
Graft), the head of the black resistance movement who resides freely in
Botswana. The plan is to use the diamonds to finance Wilby's attempts to
publicize and shame the apartheid regime. Along the way there are
double crosses and people who turn out to be dubious allies to the men
who are on the lam. Most amusing is Saeed Jaffrey as a timid dentist who
nevertheless risks his life for the activists cause. He also employs a
fellow conspirator, Persis (Persis Khambatta), who seems to have been
primarily written into the film in order to shoehorn in a rather absurd
and unconvincing sex scene between her and Twala. Caine is in top form
as the meek man who turns into an action hero literally overnight and he
has the movie's best one-liners. Poitier, while not wasted, is
under-utilized and lacks any scenes of great dramatic power. Prunella
Gee provides a fine, spirited performance but the scene stealer is Nicol
Williamson, who presents a fascinating villain who is charismatic, yet
cruel and totally dedicated to enshrining white supremacy in South
Africa by whatever means he needs to employ. (Like his real life
counterparts, he naturally considers himself to be a patriot.)
The film abounds with impressive action scenes though a couple come
close to "jumping the shark" in terms of credibility. (Ironically, the
most suspense was generated off screen when an errant camera crashed
through a speeding car with Poitier and Caine in the front seats, almost
killing them both.) The movie also has an adequate score by Lalo
Schifrin, though the decision to open this action opus with a romantic
love song over the credits is bewildering. Because South Africa was
obviously not available as a film location, Kenya substituted nicely and
director Nelson makes the most of the expansive landscapes. Interiors
were shot at Pinewood Studios outside of London. There are quite a few
"behind-the-cameras" talents from the James Bond films: Associate
Producer Stanley Sopel, Sound Recordist Gordon K. McCallum, legendary
stunt coordinator Bob Simmons, First Assistant Editor John Grover and
and Stills Photographer George Whitear. Another trivia note: the film
was produced by actor/director Helmut Dantine, who has a small role in
the movie. So there's a lot of talent both on and off-screen and while
the movie is certainly not a classic, it can be recommended as a fun and
sometimes poignant action flick.
(Now streaming on Screenpix, available through Amazon Prime, Roku, YouTube and Apple TV for $2.99 per month.)
John Hamilton’s 2005
book Beasts in the Cellar: The Exploitation Film Career of Tony Tenser
(FAB Press), is probably the book in my collection that I have referred to the
most in the eighteen years since I bought it. It is an incredible piece of
research and writing and one which has inspired me with my own writing
projects. It was during his time spent with Tony Tenser writing that book that
the idea for this one first emerged, and now almost twenty years later John
Hamilton has given us a book solely dedicated to the films produced in the UK
by one of Tony Tenser’s frequent partners, American International Pictures. AIP
had achieved unheard of levels of success in the states with their teen-themed
drive-in titles such as I Was a Teenage Werewolf (Gene Fowler Jr., 1957)
and Invasion of the Saucer Men (Edward L. Cahn, also 1957) and naturally
as they expanded, they looked to the UK for skilled craftsmen, excellent studio
facilities and perfect locations for their often creepy, gothic-tinged films.
With in-house directors such as Roger Corman delivering fantastic films on low
budgets they could afford to take some risks, and they began by investing in
British projects such as Horrors of the Black Museum (Arthur Crabtree,
1959) before taking a more vested interest in bigger projects such as the giant
ape over London epic Konga (John Lemont, 1961).
After establishing
relationships with UK producers like Tony Tenser they were able to produce an
incredible run of films, many of which are still considered important today.
These include The Masque of the Red Death (Roger Corman, 1964), Witchfinder
General (Michael Reeves, 1968) and The Abominable Dr Phibes (Robert
Fuest, 1971), to name just three. And yes, they all also happen to star Vincent
Price. For more than a decade Price was on the AIP payroll and he loved working
in Europe and the UK for them as it gave him plenty of opportunities to scour the
art galleries and antique shops, as well as being able to dine at all the
finest restaurants and make occasional appearances on radio and television.
AIP’s contribution to
British film production during the 1960s and 1970s was massive and it is terrific
that John Hamilton has produced this equally massive piece of work to reveal
just what they were up to. As is to be expected, the research is exemplary, and
the book is packed with images from behind the scenes and publicity shoots,
posters and other promotional material, and also, where available, images
highlighting the different versions of the films, where occasional ‘hot’ scenes
were shot for the continental or Japanese markets. The writing is thorough,
leaving no stone unturned, and with its use of archival and new interviews, in
many cases the tales are being told by the participants themselves.
With a foreword from
the late Gordon Hessler, who made a few of his most memorable films for AIP,
and an afterword by Phibes co-star Valli Kemp, Witches, Bitches and
Banshees: The British Films of American International Pictures is an
essential read for anyone interested in the cinema of the 1960s. The British
horror film-focused magazine Little Shoppe of Horrors, now in operation
for more than fifty years (and effectively still a one-man operation), is to be
congratulated for finally branching out into book publishing, and we at Cinema
Retro look forward to seeing what they bring us next.
To commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Kino Lorber provides free viewing of the landmark 1970 documentary "King: A Filmed Record...Montgomery to Memphis".
Constructed from a wealth of archival footage, King: A Filmed Record...
Montgomery to Memphis is a monumental documentary that follows Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. from 1955 to 1968, in his rise from regional
activist to world-renowned leader of the Civil Rights movement. Rare
footage of King's speeches, protests, and arrests are interspersed with
scenes of other high-profile supporters and opponents of the cause,
punctuated by heartfelt testimonials by some of Hollywood's biggest
stars.
King was originally presented as a one-night-only special event on March
20, 1970, at an epic length of more than three hours (plus
intermission). Since that time, the film has occasionally been
circulated in a version shortened by more than an hour. Newly restored
by the Library of Congress, in association with Richard Kaplan, and
utilizing film elements provided by The Museum of Modern Art, the
original version of King can again be seen in its entirety, mastered in
HD from the 35mm preservation negative.
Admitted to the National Film Registry in 1999, King is a cinematic
national treasure that allows viewers to be first-hand witnesses to Dr.
King's crusade, and thereby gain a fuller appreciation of both the
personal challenges he endured and the vast cultural legacy he left
behind.
(To watch in full screen format, click on "Watch on YouTube".)
Gina Lollobrigida, the reluctant Italian superstar, has died in Rome at age 94. Like her arch-rival Sophia Loren, Lollobrigida was born into humble circumstances in Italy and survived the carnage that was wreaked on the country by Mussolini's ill-fated alliance with Nazi German and Japan. She intended to follow a nondescript life but when she entered a beauty contest, her stunning looks and voluptuous figure attracted the attention of Hollywood. She was sent to Hollywood where none other than Howard Hughes signed her to a film contract. Lollobrigida's career took off like a rocket and she was soon steaming up theater screens opposite the top male boxoffice attractions including Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Frank Sinatra and Sean Connery. Like Loren, she proved to more than a flash-in-the-pan bombshell because she was a fine actress. She was enamored of Rock Hudson, who she co-starred with in two comedies, but griped that she didn't like Sinatra because of his alleged habits of being late on the set. Ironically, Sean Connery complained that she exhibited diva-like behavior on the set of their film "Woman of Straw". She had a tumultuous love life and retired from feature films in the 1970s when the best roles were being offered to younger actresses. She concentrated on her interests in photography and politics.
Click here for more details about her remarkable life and career.
By
Sandra de Bruin with Dean Brierly (BearManor Media), 218 pages, Hardback,
Paperback & Kindle, ISBN 979-8-88771-028-0
By Steve Stiefel
Overview
Hollywood
with a Smileis
not your typical self-indulgent memoir. You will find no axe grinding, closet
skeleton rattling, or “MeToo” posturing in these pages, just captivating
accounts by Sandra de Bruin of her successful and fascinating life as an
actress in the film capital of the world. During a career that spanned decades,
de Bruin enjoyed professional and personal encounters with countless Hollywood
icons. But rather than beating her own drum, she generously directs the focus
onto these familiar faces of film and television.
These
beguiling narratives enlighten and charm in equal measure: a hilarious
fender-bender with Paul Newman; a working relationship/friendship with Charlton
Heston; an affecting encounter with Elvis Presley; accolades from Ricardo
Montalban, James Garner and Dolly Parton; recurring chance meetings with Cliff
Robertson; adventures and misadventures on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny
Carson; a romantic relationship with legendary film director Robert Wise. Plus, intimate
perspectives on de Bruin’s life and dreams, follies and foibles, friendships
and loves.
A
poetical prologue sets the book’s tone and tempo and clarifies its raison d’être.
Additional context is provided through capsule biographies that introduce each
chapter and personality, and which underscore an era in which stars really were
stars. This one-of-a-kind book reveals a side of Hollywood rarely remarked
upon—its good side. Furthermore, the insights that de Bruin offers into the
vagaries of human character and behavior aren’t limited to her star-studded
subjects, but have a universal resonance beyond the bounds of the fabled Dream
Factory.
Photo courtesy of Sandra De Bruin.
Q&A
with Sandra de Bruin and Dean Brierly
Q:One of the most
unique aspects of the book is reading about famous stars like Paul Newman and
Charlton Heston outside of their familiar movie star personas.
A: This was a conscious
decision—to present these iconic figures in a down-to-earth and real-world
context in which they behave just like anyone else. We're all familiar with the
classic stories that have been endlessly repeated and recycled. But in our
book, you will encounter a different aspect, a different side, to people like
Paul Newman, James Garner, Jason Robards.
Q:What was your
reason for starting each celebrity chapter with their mini-biographies?
A: We did that partly
with younger generations in mind who might not be familiar with some of the
celebrities from Hollywood's Golden Era. And we tried whenever possible to draw
parallels to contemporary entertainers: for example, comparing Harry
Belafonte's talents and accomplishments to those of Usher. Not all of the
subjects in the book received the same renown during their lifetimes, like
actor Frederick Combs, designer Ret Turner, or C. Bernard Jackson, the
African-American playwright and founder of the Inner City Cultural Center in
Los Angeles, yet all three made huge creative and social contributions in their
respective domains.
Q:In fact, not all
of the people you write about were superstars.
A: We felt it was
important to pay tribute to the working actresses and actors and the
behind-the-scene folks who, in a real sense, are the backbone of Hollywood.
Their stories can be just as important and inspiring as those of their famous
contemporaries.
Q:Talk about the
tone of the book, which is uplifting and positive rather than self-indulgent
and snarky.
A: This was never
intended as a "tell-all" book, which as a genre feels overdone. There
are countless books devoted to dishing dirt on Hollywood stars, but we felt it
important to take a different approach. Everyone who has read the book says
they appreciate how positive and uplifting and funny it is in a nonjudgmental
way.
Q:Sandra, to a
remarkable degree, you don’t blow your own horn, and willingly reveal, as the
book's subtitle reads, your own follies and foibles. The focus really seems to
be on the subjects you write about rather than yourself. Why did you opt for
this approach?
A: We didn’t want this
book to be just another memoir about someone the general public has never
really heard of. We wanted it to mainly be about the icons of Hollywood and my
encounters with them, not the other way around. However, I also wanted to
include some of my own follies and foibles so the reader would have a sense of
who I am.
Q:Yet, these
anecdotes do reveal a great deal about your character and perspective, not only
with regard to the famous people you met, but towards your career as well. Were
you conscious of this during the writing of the book?
A: Yes, I certainly
was. Acting is definitely an art, but it is also a business. When not actually
performing, I always conducted myself according to my instilled values and in a
friendly business fashion. I never relied on my looks or my sexuality. Talent,
intellect, and tenacity made me a professional working actress.
Q:How did these
unique encounters influence your career and career decisions?
A:
Meeting
all these astonishing and highly successful people in a genre known for its
harsh climate made me realize that I could succeed by being true to myself. The
powers that be apparently respected that and my talent.
Q:
What
was the most enjoyable aspect of writing this book and the most challenging?
A: Writing this book
brought back wonderful memories. It made me giggle at my naiveté and applaud my
tenacity. The most challenging parts of it were the bios and pulling it all
together, but those issues were solved by my writing partner, Dean Brierly.
What a guy!
Q:Sandra, how did
you come up with a limerick for the prologue? It’s heartfelt, inspiring, and
delightful.
A: Thank you! Dean and
I agreed that most prologues are a tad boring and wanted to come up with
something different. After a glass of wine, or maybe two, I just sat down at
the computer and rolled it out. It came so easily! It still astonishes me.
Q:What do you hope
people will take away from your book?
A: That Hollywood is
not just Tinseltown, but is also filled with lovely people, some of whom become
well-deserved icons.
Testimonials
“Sandra
de Bruin’s memories of a cherished era in entertainment history are sure to
keep you captivated from one page to the next. The author’s unforgettable
encounters with select celebrities are presented with such authority and
clarity you feel as if you’re almost reliving the experiences with her.
—J.R.
Jordan, film historian and author of Robert Wise: The Motion Pictures
“What
a happy romp Sandra has written: a mélange of memorable vignettes about stars
she met or admired as a longtime actress in Hollywood. It’s at once warm,
revealing and hilarious. I loved it!”
—Nick
Lyons, author of Fire in the Straw
“I
always felt that actors who did not achieve superstardom have the more
interesting stories, and Sandra de Bruin is no exception. She shares her life
as a working actress, describing amusing encounters with some of Hollywood’s
biggest stars.”
—Tom
Lisanti, author of Carol Lynley: Her Film & TV Career in Thrillers,
Fantasy & Suspense
About
the Authors
• Sandra de Bruin has appeared in over 200
television shows, several major films, many Los Angeles stage productions,
numerous commercials, voiceover and looping...and, oh, yes, danced in a
production at the Los Angeles Music Center. Her informative and witty articles
have appeared in several magazines, and her scripts have been optioned, bought,
sold and dropped by major studios and independent producers alike. She created
the "Actor's Audition Log" and the "Performer's Workshop
Log" to fulfill the organizational needs of her fellow performers from
coast to coast and around the world.
•
Dean Brierlyis a film historian and writer who
has contributed to numerous print and online magazines, including Cinema
Retro, Filmfax, Outre?, and others. Among his many celebrity
interviews are Gordon Parks, David Carradine, Michael Moriarty, Stella Stevens,
Fred Williamson, and Joe Dante. Dean has contributed liner notes for Blu-ray
and DVD releases, and publishes several film blogs, including Fifties Crime
Films and Classic Hollywood Quotes.
Click here to order from Amazon. Available in hardback, softcover and Kindle versions.
In this blast from the past, The Supremes sing yet another Motown #1 hit, the theme song from the movie "The Happening", which starred Anthony Quinn and Faye Dunaway. The film was mediocre, but the Supremes and the song were terrific. The song was yet another hit written by the team of Eddie Holland, Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier, who somehow supplied a seemingly endless number of great, chart-topping Motown songs.
"THE WAY WE WERE: THE MAKING OF A ROMANTIC CLASSIC" (Applause)
By Tom Santopietro
I started thinking about The Way We Were as the
subject of a possible book when I happened to hear two women quoting the entire
last scene of the film by heart, re-enacting Barbra Streisand’s Katie Morosky murmuring
“Hubbell, your girl is lovely” to the aging but still golden Robert Redford.
This behavior wasn’t just liking the film- this was quasi-obsession. When I
then happened to catch a re-run of “Sex and the City” where the four best
friends decide that the entire world is divided into “Katie girls” and others,
followed by Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw re-enacting The Way We
Were’s finale in front of the Plaza Hotel, I was intrigued. Hooked. Why
does this decidedly flawed film carry such romantic heft? After all, if the
best movies form parts of our world views and shape our dreams, what did this
hyper fandom for a fifty-year- old film say about the way we are today?
As I started to research the history of the film, my
“possibly writing” became a definite “yes”; accelerating the decision was
realizing that by writing about The Way We Were I was actually, if
unconsciously completing my trilogy of books centering on films that people
don’t just like, but actually obsess over: The Godfather Effect- drama, The
Sound of Music Story- musical, and now The Way We Were- romance.
The backstory was juicy in and of itself. Redford didn’t
want to make the film, dragging his heels until director Sidney Pollack wore
him down with promises of rewrites.Screenwriter Arthur Laurents
remained dissatisfied throughout filming, feuding with desperate producer Ray
Stark. The deeper I dug, the more intrigued I became: I spent several days at
the Library of Congress reading through Laurents’s papers, including a
scorching eight-page memo to Stark in whichhe enumerated the film’s
perceived flaws; flaws which he felt- and I’m translating politely here- were
so egregious that they made him feel sick. Eleven different screenwriters had a
hand in the script- no wonder Laurents was perpetually angry. His own life had
inspired several key incidents in the screenplay and his life was now being
re-written by eleven other people.
I liked the fact that in the early going this now iconic
film’s success was far from assured; as one studio executive only half-kiddingly
said to Sydney Pollack: “Barbra Streisand doesn’t sing and she plays a
communist—are you trying to kill me?!” The fact that no one expected a romantic
classic made its now half-century of success all the more intriguing. The film
had received decidedly mixed reviews upon its initial release, although the
stars were highly praised, and Streisand received an Academy Award nomination. (She
lost to Glenda Jackson for A Touch of Class, and when was the last time
anyone decided that they just had to watch A Touch of Class again?)
Streisand, she of the fearsome reputation, proved to be the
easiest personality for Pollack to handle. This was her chance to prove her
chops as a dramatic actress and she was happy with her part; she signed on as
soon as she read the treatment, acknowledging that the treatment more than met
David Lean’s dictum that five good scenes dictates an answer of “yes”. In her
own words: “This had more than five good scenes.” She may have worried over every
last detail during filming, but, Pollack explained, she was not being
difficult- she came from a place of deep concern. She wanted it all to meet her
own perfectionist standards.
A sneak preview proceeded swimmingly- until, that is, the
political unrest of the blacklist period, so central to Laurents’s life and his
conception of the story, shot to the foreground. As soon as the love story
receded, audiences left the theater for popcorn and a cigarette. It was the
love story people cared about, not the polemics. Which meant that after that
first preview in San Francisco, ten minutes of politics was edited out
overnight with a razor blade. Literally. It left the film in a choppy state but
the love story now remained front and center and audiences at the second
preview cheered.
Industry publications predicted a big box office opening followed
by a quick drop-off, but the drop-off never came. Viewers returned to the film
over and over, which leads to the ultimate question: Why did audiences care so
much, unfailingly starting to cry over Katie and Hubbell’s final break-up. And
the more I read, the more I watched, and the more I interviewed (Streisand,
James Woods –his first film- lyricist Alan Bergman, Lois Chiles), I
found four reasons for the film’s extraordinary 50-year hold on audiences
around the world:
nStar chemistry in spades. Redford and Streisand at their
early ‘70s peak, looking great and throwing off sparks together, proving that
opposites really do attract. Everything about them reads as a contrast- looks,
acting styles, manner of speech- and it all blends beautifully.
nIll-fated love affairs are universal. Like Katie and
Hubbell, everyone in the viewing audience has loved the wrong person at one
time. Or at several times. Everyone has loved passionately, if not wisely. As
film historian Jeanine Basinger put it: “Yes- everyone really has loved the
wrong person at one point or another. Except for maybe 10 people- and who wants
to know them?”
nThe uber romantic score by the then unknown Marvin Hamlisch,
who composed the title song on spec, in hopes of scoring the entire movie. His
reward? Two Oscars.
nThat killer ending in front of the Plaza. For the three
people over 50 in the United States who haven’t seen the film, I won’t describe
it- except to say that even critics who didn’t like the film fell for the
ending- it’s an all time keeper.
And as audiences clamored to know if Katie and Hubbell would
ever get back together, the clamor for a sequel grew in volume.Talks were held.
Screenplays were written. So what happened?
To find that out you have to read the book. Besides, I have
my own idea for a sequel.
Cinema Retro has received the following announcement from Kino Lorber:
“Marathon
Man”
(1976,
125m)
4K
UHD + Blu-ray
Street
Date: 2/28/2023
Director:
John Schlesinger
Starring:
Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider, William Devane, Marthe Keller,
Fritz Weaver, Marc Lawrence, Jacques Marin, Richard Bright
Is
it safe? From the best-selling novel by William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men, Misery) comes one of the most daring and
affecting thrillers ever brought to the screen. Dustin Hoffman (Papillon) plays
the likable graduate student and marathon runner of the title, unwillingly
trapped in a killing game of intrigue involving a Nazi fugitive, Christian
Szell. Laurence Olivier (Sleuth) received an Academy Award nomination for his
chilling portrayal of Szell, who turns dental instruments into tools of torture
with dispassionate ease. Directed by John Schlesinger (Billy Liar, Midnight Cowboy,
The Day of the Locust), Marathon Man moves with nail-biting suspense to its
gripping, fever-pitched conclusion. Featuring Roy Scheider (Jaws), William
Devane (Rolling Thunder), Marthe Keller (Black Sunday) and the extraordinary
cinematography of Conrad Hall (Electra Glide in Blue).
Bonus
Features:
DISC
1 (4KUHD): Brand New HDR/Dolby Vision Master – From a 4K Scan of the Original
Camera Negative | NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historians Steve Mitchell and
Nathaniel Thompson | 5.1 Surround and Lossless 2.0 Audio | Triple-Layered
UHD100 Disc | Optional English Subtitles / DISC 2 (BLU-RAY): Brand New 2022 HD
Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative | NEW Audio
Commentary by Film Historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson | The Magic
of Hollywood: Original Making of Marathon Man | Going the Distance: Remembering
Marathon Man | Rehearsal Footage | Theatrical Trailer | 10 TV Spots | 2 Radio
Spots | Dual-Layered BD50 Disc | Optional English Subtitles
In the 1960s, Chuck Connors was a big star in his native America. After spending a few years in professional baseball, Connors entered the acting profession His husky build and good looks got him noticed and he began to land prominent supporting roles in a wide range of films. In the 1960s, he became one of the biggest American TV stars by playing the title role in the long-running classic Western TV series "The Rifleman". When that show finally left the air, Connors returned to feature films. Among them was a little-noticed European Western titled "Kill Them All and Come Back Alone", one of many such movies inspired by the success of Sergio Leone's "Dollars" trilogy. The film's release in the U.S. was rather haphazard and the primary distributor was a company named Fanfare Films. As evidenced by this marketing poster, the promotion for the movie was lackluster and botched. Connors was the above-the-title leading man, yet the company managed to spell his name wrong. So much for hiring Mr. Magoo as a proofreader!
One of the benefits of subscribing to the New York Times is that you get access to the Times Machine, their on-line archive of every page of every issue of the newspaper dating back to day one. In researching a film review, we couldn't help but browse through the film section. It simply reinforced the opinion that during this era, you could throw a dart on any date on a calendar and be assured that a wealth of worthy flicks were in release. In this case, "The Odd Couple" was a massive hit at Radio City Music Hall while other films, ranging from "B" movies to prestigious hits, were gracing Gotham theaters. They include "Half a Sixpence", "The Producers", "The Detective", "The Devil's Brigade", "The Graduate", "Doctor Doolittle", "The Swimmer", the reissue of "Gone with the Wind", "2002: A Space Odyssey", "Wild in the Streets", "Belle de Jour", "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and other gems. Those really were the days!
The Australian video label ViaVision's Imprint line has released "The Avengers: The Emma Peel Collection (1965-1967) as a Blu-ray special edition set consisting of 16 discs containing every episode featuring Diana Rigg. We just received a review set and haven't even made a dent in the mind-boggling number of bonus extra features but we can say that the quality is outstanding throughout. Best of all, the set is region-free.
Here is the official description:
Extraordinary
crimes against the people and the state have to be avenged by agents
extraordinary. Two such people are John Steed, top professional, and his
partner, Emma Peel, talented amateur. Otherwise known as The Avengers.
With lethal bowler hat and umbrella, killer fashion and kung fu, the secret
agents investigate bizarre and colourful adventures with nonchalant efficiency,
sophistication and charm.
Whilst
every era of the long-running, enduringly popular and trend-setting British
series has its own unique style, charm and wit, it is the Emma Peel years that
have become the programme’s most iconic and recognisable, with Diana Rigg’s
portrayal of Mrs. Emma Peel ushering in a new era of excitement, fashion and
iconology, coupled with Patrick Macnee’s continuing depiction of the urbane and
sublime John Steed.
Now,
this 16-disc Blu-ray set brings together every episode from the Emma Peel era
in stunning high-definition encompassing the complete Series 4 and 5, plus a
copious collection of vintage and new Special Features celebrating this peak
era of The Avengers.
Special
Features and Technical Specs:
1080p
high-definition presentation from the original 35mm elements
Collectable
double-sided Hardbox packaging LIMITED to 1500 copies
120-page booklet
featuring essay by Dick Fiddy of the British Film Institute and Story
Information for every episode taken from the original studio files
Original ‘as
broadcast’ mono audio tracks (LPCM)
Original ‘as
broadcast’ “The Avengers in Color” opening slate on Series 5 episodes
Audio Commentary
on “The Town of No Return” by producer / writer Brian Clemens and director
Roy Ward Baker
Audio Commentary
on “The Master Minds” by writer Robert Banks Stewart
Audio Commentary
on “Dial A Deadly Number” by writer Roger Marshall
Audio Commentary
on “The Hour That Never Was” by director Gerry O’Hara
Audio Commentary
on “The House That Jack Built” by director Don Leaver
Audio Commentary
on “The Winged Avenger” by writer Richard Harris
Audio Commentary
on “Epic” by guest actor Peter Wyngarde
NEW Audio
Commentary on “The Joker” by filmmakers Sam Clemens and George Clemens
(sons of writer/producer Brian Clemens) (2022)
Audio Commentary
on “Return of The Cybernauts” by Diana Rigg’s stunt-double Cyd Child
Audio Commentary
on “Murdersville” by producer / writer Brian Clemens
Filmed
introductions to eight Series 5 episodes by producer / writer Brian
Clemens
Filmed
introduction to “The ?50,000 Breakfast” by guest actress Anneke Wills
Brief audio
recollection from guest actor Francis Matthews on filming “The Thirteenth
Hole”
“THE AVENGERS
AT 50” – Footage captured from the 50th anniversary celebration
of the series, held at Chichester University in 2011. Includes: video
message from Patrick Macnee, interviews with producer / writer Brian
Clemens, director Don Leaver (never before released), director Gerry
O’Hara (never before released), stunt co-ordinator Raymond Austin, guest
actress Carol Cleveland, guest actress Anneke Wills, writer Roger
Marshall, and Patrick Macnee’s biographer Marie Cameron
“Dame Diana Rigg
at the BFI” – 2015 on-stage interview and Q&A held at the British Film
Institute in London to celebrate 50 years of Emma Peel
“The Series Of
No Return” – audio interview with actress Elizabeth Shepherd, who was
originally cast as Emma Peel
Granada Plus
Points featuring actor Patrick Macnee, composer Laurie Johnson, writer
Roger Marshall and stunt-double Cyd Child
Bonus Series 6
episode “The Forget-Me-Knot” – Emma Peel’s final story and the
introduction of Tara King
“K Is For Kill”
– excerpt from The New Avengers episode featuring appearances by
Emma Peel
ARCHIVAL
MATERIAL
Armchair Theatre episode “The
Hothouse” starring Diana Rigg (the performance that led to Rigg’s casting
as Emma Peel in The Avengers
Chessboard
Opening Title sequence used on US broadcasts for Series 4
German and
French title sequences
Series 4 UK
Commercial Break Bumper slates
Alternative
titles / credits / end tag of select Series 4 episodes
Series 4
Commercial Break Bumpers
Production trims
from select Series 5 episodes
“The Strange
Case Of The Missing Corpse” – Series 5 teaser film
German
television interview with Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg by Joachim
Fuchsberger
Colourisation
test footage for “Death At Bargain Prices” and “A Touch Of Brimstone”
Reconstructed
John Stamp Series 4 trailer
“They’re Back”
Trailers, Series 5 Trailer and Series 5 German Cinema Trailer
Extensive Photo
Galleries from the studio archives
1973 Interview
with Diana Rigg discussing her US sitcom Diana, and leaving The
Avengers
Original Aspect
Ratio 1.33:1, b&w / colour
Audio English
LPCM 2.0 Mono
English
subtitles for the Hard of Hearing (Series 4 & 5 episodes only)
BONUS
DISC 1: ADDITIONAL SPECIAL FEATURES
More interviews
from “THE AVENGERS AT 50” including composer Laurie Johnson, writer
and guest actor Jeremy Burnham, stunt-double Cyd Child, and a
screenwriters’ panel discussion featuring Brian Clemens, Richard Harris,
Richard Bates and Terrance Dicks
“Brian Clemens
In Conversation” – on-stage interview at the British Film Institute in
London discussing his early writing career
Extensive Photo
Gallery from The Avengers Fashion Show
Diana Rigg Photo
Gallery
BONUS
DISC 2: THE ORIGINAL EPISODES FILE
Featuring the 4
original episodes from the Cathy Gale era of the series which were remade
in Series 5: “Death Of A Great Dane”, “Don’t Look Behind You”, “Dressed To
Kill” and “The Charmers” (Standard Definition)
Audio Commentary
by writer Roger Marshall on “Death Of A Great Dane”
Audio Commentary
by actress Honor Blackman and UK presenter Paul O’Grady on “Don’t Look
Behind You”
Filmed
introduction by Patrick Macnee and Honor Blackman to “Don’t Look Behind
You”
“Tunnel Of Fear”
– a full-length, previously lost episode from Series 1, recovered in 2016
“THE AVENGERS
AT 50” – interview with Honor Blackman by Paul O’Grady
Click here for full details and to order. (Price is in Australian dollars.)
Michael Winner emerged as a promising young director/screenwriter/film editor in the early 1960s and his career gained momentum when the mod movement of the mid-Sixties made London the go-to place for everything and everyone who was hip. Winner fit into that category very neatly. He was wealthy, charismatic, talented and very much a key member of the city's thriving social scene. He made offbeat comedies that appealed to young audiences such as "The Jokers" and "I'll Never Forget What'sis Name". Soon he was making big studio films and was accorded substantial budgets to do so. He was quite diverse in his subject matter. "Hannibal Brooks" was a WWII comedy, "The Games" a drama set at the Olympic, "The Nightcomers", an ambitious prequel to Henry James's classic ghost story "The Turn of the Screw". He made good Westerns such as "Lawman" and "Chato's Land" and his numerous collaborations with Charles Bronson were crucial in finally elevating Bronson to major star status after being regarded as a reliable character actor for many years. Winner's biggest hit starred Bronson: the 1974 urban thriller "Death Wish" that perfectly reflected the real-life paranoia of America's soaring crime rate. The film was provocative and controversial, much to Winner's delight, and it made a ton of money. But soon after, Winner's fortunes in cinema began to decline. He seemed to have backward momentum and most of his films were poorly received by critics and audiences, even though occasionally a few proved to be underrated including his 1978 remake of "The Big Sleep" that was fittingly as confusing as the classic original.
One of Winner's least-remembered films from this era is "Firepower", released in 1979, which starred James Coburn and Sophia Loren. Like most of Winner's recent movies, it didn't light any fires at the boxoffice, but it has an impressive cast and production values that elevate the film above the embarrassing "Death Wish" sequels Winner would later preside over that gave him a resurgence of relevance. The film literally opens with a bang when a scientist opens a letter bomb and is blown to smithereens. He's the husband of Adele Tasca (Sophia Loren), who suspects the assassination was orchestrated by her husband's employer, the mysterious billionaire Karl Stegner, because he had discovered that Stegner was distributing a drug that could result in patients contracting cancer. Stegner is also wanted by the U.S. government for high-end criminal activities. There's one major problem: Stegner maintains a Howard Hughes-like lifestyle and no one even knows what he looks like. FBI agent Frank Mancuso (Vincent Gardenia) leans on crime figure Sal Hyman (Eli Wallach) to use his connections to locate Stegner in return for having pending criminal charges against him dropped. Hyman, in turn, reaches out to another man of mystery, Jerry Fannon (James Coburn), to get the job done in return for an eye-popping fee. Fannon is the ultimate Mr. Fix-It, having pulled off seemingly impossible tasks for other shady characters. Fannon enlists his trusted right-hand man, Catlett (O.J. Simpson) for the assignment and the two set off to the island of Curacao in the Caribbean, where he has learned Stegner is residing in a seaside mansion protected by an army of bodyguards who report to his top assistant, Leo Gelhorn (George Grizzard, successfully cast against type in an action role.)
Things get complicated when Adele arrives on the scene, ostensibly to find a way to expose and kill Stegner herself. But Fannon soon sees she might actually be in league with her husband's murderer. As with scenarios of this type, Fannon is welcomed into Stegner's hacienda by his prey. In this case, Stegner remains unseen but Fannon is afforded some courtesies by Gelhorn and Stegner's personal physician, Dr. Felix (Tony Franciosa). The Bond-like scenario finds heroes and villains exchanging witticisms and veiled threats very politely over drinks in a luxurious environment. Of course, the detente doesn't last long and the action becomes frequent and explosive. There's a goofy and thankfully brief subplot that finds Coburn face-to-face with his exact double, who he employs as part of his strategy but the screenplay by frequent Michael Winner collaborator Gerald Wilson affords some unexpected plot twists and genuine surprises and Winner handles the action scenes very well indeed, even if they not very original. For example, Coburn employs a bulldozer to demolish a house, which is fun to watch, but Robert Mitchum had already performed the same feat on screen a couple of years before in more spectacular fashion in "The Amsterdam Kill". The gorgeous Caribbean locations add a degree of luster to the production. The cast comes through, with Coburn especially fun to watch. Loren, who was paid $1 million to appear in the film, looks sensational but the role is somewhat underwritten and the inevitable romantic moments between Coburn and Loren's characters are rather dull and perfunctory. Eli Wallach and Vincent Gardenia are relegated to extended cameo roles and the film ends with a strange but welcome brief appearance by Victor Mature that is played for laughs.I should also mention the impressive stunt work performed by Terry Leonard and his crew.
(Warning: the video below contains spoilers!)
"Firepower" was produced by Sir Lew Grade, who originally had Charles Bronson agree to star in the film. At the last minute, Bronson pulled out and Grade considered canceling the production. However, he had already sunk a good deal of money into the project and signed James Coburn as the lead. Coburn would later recall, "I did it for the money, the locations (the Caribbean islands) and
to work with Sophia Loren. The director was Michael Winner. He’s
probably one of the weirdest guys I’ve ever met. Yet, I thought he was a
good guy when I first met him. But when he got on the set, he was
almost like a total dictator. I found it hard to
work for that way. The most fun I had was when I got to drive a
bulldozer through a
house in the islands." For all the effort, the film was greeted with negative reviews and a weak boxoffice take. The movie is available on Blu-ray as a collaboration between Kino Lorber and Scorpion Releasing. The transfer looks great and the disc includes the original trailer.
The 1969 action flick "The File of the Golden Goose" stars Yul Brynner in a crime thriller that plays more like an
espionage movie. Brynner portrays American Treasury agent Peter Novak,
who is sent to London to infiltrate and bust a major ring that
specializes in spreading counterfeit U.S. currency. Novak is assigned a
young Scotland Yard detective, Arthur Thompson (a very effective Edward
Woodward) and the two men enact a scenario where they are ultimately
taken in as part of the gang by mobster front man George Leeds
(always-reliable character actor Walter Gotell). The film is
unremarkable on most levels, but the script is intelligently written and
there is some genuine suspense when Novak begins to suspect that
Thompson is adapting to the mobster lifestyle for real. Brynner makes
for one of the most inimitable leading men of his era, constantly
bringing a sense of dignity and gravitas to what otherwise might be
considered to be a B movie.
There is also a very wry performance by
Charles Gray, playing an out-of-the-closet queen who dabbles in
counterfeit bills in between hosting orgies. The film was helmed by
actor/director Sam Wanamaker, who makes the most of the extensive London
locations. However, the movie's climactic shootout sequence involving a
helicopter is a bit of a dud and suffers from poor editing.
Nevertheless, any Brynner film deserves attention and The File of the Golden Goose is a more than satisfying thriller, though it must be said my opinion is in the minority. The movie was a critical and boxoffice failure but if you share my sometimes irrational love of even low-grade spy movies of this era, you'll find it enjoyable.
The film is available on Blu-ray through Kino Lorber in a welcome upgrade to MGM's previous DVD release. The only bonus extra is a trailer.
Anne
Francis was director John Sturges’ only female actor in 1955’s “Bad Day at
Black Rock”, and she repeated her solo act ten years later on “The Satan Bug”.
But on that production, she and many cast members felt a preoccupation, a
distance, from the man who held together “The Magnificent Seven” and “The Great
Escape”. Francis was certain “He was thinking about “The Hallelujah Trail”.
This was Sturges’ next production, his entry into the world of roadshow
presentations; a mammoth production with a huge cast and even huger backdrop:
Gallup, New Mexico.
Bill Gulick’s 1963 novel, originally titled “The Hallelujah Train”, seemed a
perfect story to upend all western movie conventions, with the cavalry, the
Indians, the unions, and the Temperance Movement fighting over the
transportation of forty wagons of whiskey. Sturges was comfortable making westerns,
but this was a comedy western. He appreciated the Mirisch Corporation’s vision
of straight actors trying to make sense of the silliness, but still wanted to
persuade James Garner, Lee Marvin and Art Carney for major roles. Sturges knew
these actors could handle comedy.
Garner
passed. “The premise was too outrageous, not enough truth to be funny”, he
said. The rest of Sturges’ dream cast was not available, but what he got seemed
attractive: a pair of solid supporting actors, Jim Hutton and Pamela Tiffin,
and Lee Remick and Burt Lancaster for the leads. Lancaster had previously
worked with Sturges on “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” and was impressed how the
film turned out. The rest of the supporting cast included Donald Pleasence,
Brian Keith, and Martin Landau. They were in for a tough shoot.
The
weather was unpredictable (you can spot thunderstorms heading their way in the
finished film) and the location had three hundred crew members miles away from
the hotels. Scenes contained countless stunts, and fifty tons of Fuller’s earth
was blown by several giant fans to create The Battle at Whiskey Hills. Bruce
Surtees, son of Sturges’ cinematographer Robert Surtees and focus-puller on the
set, recalled “All this and we’re shooting in Ultra-Panavision 70mm, which made
life even more difficult!” Despite the difficulties, the director was loving
what he saw on set; the film looked as breathtaking as any wide screen western
ever could, the stunts were amazing, and thank God he was also laughing all
through it.
The
hilarity was cut short near the end of the shooting. For the sprawling wagon
chase finale, stunt persons Buff Brady and Bill Williams convinced associate
producer Robert Relyea to let them delay their jump from inside a catapulted
coach. Permission was given, and in the attempt, Williams got tangled somehow
during his planned escape. He was killed instantly. Relyea nixed including the footage in the finished film, but was overruled by
Mirisch. It’s an incredible shot and it plays in every promotional trailer, probably the
most famous footage from the production. Was including it a bad decision or a
tribute? There is still a debate over this among retro movie fans.
“We
all thought it was going to be a hit picture”, said Sturges, “until we hit an
audience.” “The Hallelujah Trail” opened with a 165-minute cut that audiences and critics
found “belabored and overlong”. Sturges overheard some patrons wondering if
this was a straight western or a deliberate comedy. Screenwriter John Gay
blamed much of the response on the performances of Brian Keith and Donald Pleasence.
Gay wanted his lines played straight but the actors played it for laughs. The
film was soon cut to 156-minutes (the version on this Blu-ray) and the
reactions were much more positive; critics noted several inspired sight gags,
audiences enjoyed the cartoonish atmosphere of the DePatie-Freleng maps,
Variety found the film “beautifully packaged”, and the LA Times proclaimed “The
Hallelujah Trail” as “one of the very few funny westerns ever made, and
possibly the funniest.”
When the film finished its roadshow run, United Artists cut the film once more,
to 145-minutes. It didn’t help. Compared to “Cat Ballou” and even “F Troop”,
“The Hallelujah Trail” was unhip.Sturges
was done with comedy, but not with roadshow Cinerama, though his future films would have checkered histories. He was set to direct
“Grand Prix” but clashed with the original star, Steve McQueen. A year later
Gregory Peck turned down Sturges’ “Ice Station Zebra’, wary of its weak third
act. Rock Hudson, now middle-aged and wanting a strong lead role, came aboard
for this Sturges voyage instead. The MGM release still had a confusing third
act, but the film sails nicely mostly due to Patrick McGoohan and some clever
dialogue.
Decades
later, “The Hallelujah Trail” remains a nice memory to those who attended the
Cinerama presentation; not much greatness to retain but a great experience at
the movies. But that experience was tough to relive because the film remained
in legacy format limbo for years: a letterboxed standard definition transfer.
So when Olive Films announced a Blu-ray release in 2019, fans of comedy epics
sung Hallelujah! Now this film can be viewed in 1080P! Retreat! Unfortunately, the quality of the Olive release resembled an upscaled version of the original standard
definition transfer. But two years later “The Hallelujah Trail” was casually
spotted on Amazon Prime, and it was a new HD transfer. And a year after that,
it’s a new Kino Lorber Blu-ray release.
(Above: Dell U.S. comic book tie-in.)
Any
Cinema-Retro reader worth their Cinerama Chops should have this Blu-ray in
their collection. “The Hallelujah Trail” is an hour too long, but you get miles
of lovely landscape. My favorite portrayal? Donald Pleasence as Oracle, who predicts the future in
return for free drinks. And watch for his amazing jump off a roof! Certainly,
the most impressive part of the film is the finale: the runaway wagon chase.
There are sections where you swear it’s Remick, Keith and Landau handling those
coaches but you know it has to be well made-up stunt people, at least for most
of it. You’re also realizing that this sequence, and perhaps the entire film,
is performed without any process work or rear projection.
There’s a legitimate debate on how the film may have been more successful if
James Garner played the role of Colonel Gearhart, though only Lancaster could
have pulled off that bathtub smile scene. There’s no disagreement on the music;
Elmer Bernstein’s sprawling score contains so many themes that Sturges’
biographer Glenn Lovell qualifies the film as “almost a pre-“Paint Your Wagon”
musical." And here’s your tiniest “Trail”
trivia: decades ago, during the production
of the laserdisc version, MGM/UA discovered that a few reels were mono sound
instead of multi-channel, including the main title featuring the chorus. Yours
truly was working on a project for the company at the time, and I happily lent
them my stereo score LP. so the main title would be in stereo. That audio track
mix remains on this new Blu-ray as well. (You’re welcome, America!)
Kino
Lorber is kind enough to provide some expert guides to help you along the “Trail”:
the perfect pairing of screenwriter C. Courtney Joyner and filmmaker/historian
Michael Schlesinger. Joyner had already provided his Sturges bonafides with his
documentary on the director for the recent Imprint Blu-ray of “Marooned”, and I
can verify Schlesinger’s knowledge of film comedy, having been fortunate to
join him, along with Mark Evanier, for the commentary track on Criterion’s
“It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”. Joyner and Schlesinger tackle and
acknowledge “The Hallelujah Trail”s social and political incorrectness, but
also deflate any virtue signaling by examining how the film is smartly an equal
opportunity offender: the Cavalry, the Indians, the Temperance Movement, all up
for farce. Thanks to this team, and the picture quality of this Blu-ray, I
finally spotted the gag of the Indians circling the wagons as the cavalry is
whooping and hollering. Both gents are in a fine fun mood to tackle this type
of film, and It’s one of my favorite film commentaries of 2022.
“The
Hallelujah Trail” now looks clearer and sharper than any previous home video
release, and somehow it makes the comedy and the performances sharper as well.
I think you’ll be entertained by this roadshow epic, and with Joyner and
Schlesinger as your commentary companions you may indeed learn, as the posters
proclaimed, “How the West Was Fun!”
Leo G. Carroll was one of the most dependable and popular character actors of the 20th century. As this short "fact file" video indicates, he had a very interesting life and career. He was wounded in WWI and was also an accomplished director of stage productions. He was one of Alfred Hitchcock's favorite actors, appearing in six of the Master's films. He found an unexpected late-career surge in popularity with younger audiences with his immortal portrayal of spy boss Alexander Waverly on both "The Man from U.N.C.L.E" and "The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.". Both Robert Vaughn and David McCallum admitted to being in awe of working with him and both agreed he was the real Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The late David V. Picker is known to James Bond fans as the United Artists head of production who agreed to finance and distribute the James Bond series after Columbia Pictures turned down its option. But Picker, who was a longtime friend of Cinema Retro, can be credited with being prescient about many other aspects of the movie industry including recognizing the potential of Steve McQueen as a viable leading man in motion pictures, despite the fact that McQueen was primarily known as a "TV actor" at the time. In those days, that made it difficult for actors to fully assimilate into stars of the big screen. Picker approved McQueen as a lead in "The Magnificent Seven" and "The Great Escape", both directed by John Sturges, who also deserves enormous credit for McQueen's career ascension. Here are clips from these films and the 1968 production of "The Thomas Crown Affair" in which McQueen was allowed to play against type as a rich sophisticate. The rights to the films are now held by MGM but they represent the glory days of United Artists.
By 1963, Vincent Price was generally recognized as the heir apparent
to Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi as the undisputed king of the horror
film genre. Somewhat lost in discussion's of Price's work is the fact
that, until he starred in "House of Wax" in the mid-1950s, he had a long
career as a popular and respected supporting actor in mainstream
Hollywood productions. If there is a sad aspect to his international
success as a horror star, it's that his talents were rarely used
henceforth in films of other genres. Nonetheless, Price knew a good
thing when he saw it. His collaborations with producer Roger Corman on
cinematic versions of classic Edgar Allan Poe stories had proven to be
wildly successful. Price wasn't overly selective about working with
other producers who sought to capitalize on those films by making
blatant imitations of Corman's productions. One such title is "Diary of a
Madman", released in 1963 and based on a story by French writer Guy de
Maupassant. In some ways, the film is a worthy rival to a Corman/Price
collaboration in that it's intelligently scripted, well-cast and has a
relatively creative production design that somewhat masks the movie's
threadbare budget. As with the Corman flicks, Price is given a meaty
role and he makes the most of it. He plays Simon Cordier, a respected
French judge in the late 19th century. He has a reputation for fairness
and an obsession with studying the criminal mind in the hope of
understanding what motivates some men to commit horrendous crimes of
violence. The film opens with Cordier receiving a request to meet with a
prisoner who he has sentenced to die on the guillotine. The man is a
serial killer and Cordier is interested in taking the opportunity to
speak to the prisoner, whose behavior has left him baffled. The man was a
pillar-of-the-community type with no criminal background a stable
profession. Upon meeting the condemned prisoner in his cell, the doomed
convict informs Cordier that he welcomes his imminent execution because
he has been inexplicably possessed by an invisible being known as the
Horla. He relates an incredible story about this creature periodically
taking over control of his body and mind and forcing him to commit acts
of murder. As the incredulous Cordier tries to absorb this fanciful
tale, the man suddenly attacks him. In defending himself, Cordier hurls
the prisoner against a wall, killing him instantly.
Back in his chambers, Cordier is haunted by the experience but
doesn't think much more of it- until some strange occurrences leave him
disturbed. Seems that Cordier's irresponsible behavior had somehow been
responsible for the accidental death of his wife and young son years
before. Cordier has tried to block the bad memories from his mind by
locking away all mementos relating to them, including a large framed
photograph that had been stored in his attic. He is shocked to find it
hanging prominently on the wall of his study. His loyal butler (Ian
Wolfe) denies having placed it there. Other strange occurrences lead
Cordier to question his mental stability. A psychiatrist assures him
that he is suffering from fatigue and urges him to delve back into his
passion for sculpting, which he has ignored for years. Cordier follows
his advice and begins to feel more relaxed. Things only get better when
he has a chance encounter with a vivacious and flirtatious young woman
named Odette (Nancy Kovack), who agrees to be a paid model for him. She
begins a campaign to seduce Cordier, never telling him that she is
actually married to a financially-strapped artist, Paul (Chris
Warfield). When Paul objects to the amount of time that Odette is
spending in Cordier's studio, she assures him she is only trying to earn
money that they desperately need. In reality, she is a heartless gold
digger who is weighing the option of leaving Paul for the older man.
Oblivious to all this, Cordier is happy to have found love once again.
His mood, however, is rudely disrupted when he realizes the cause of the
strange things that have been going on in his house: it seems that the
Horla has chosen to possess him in retribution for killing the prisoner
whose body it once inhabited. Although Cordier can not see the Horla, he
discovers it is a physical presence who can not only speak to him, but
can also utilize a number of cruel witticisms that he uses to mock and
humiliate the esteemed jurist. From this point on, Cordier's life is a
living hell. In rational moments, he tries frantically to figure out
how to rid himself of this ghoulish presence, but the Horla retains
control of his mind and body at will. This leads to Cordier carrying out
a particularly gruesome murder, leaving him desperate to find a way out
of his tortured existence. He devises a last-ditch effort to lure the
Horla into his study where he hopes to kill him through use of his one
vulnerability: fire. The resulting consequences are dramatic but have
tragic results even for Cordier.
"Diary of a Madman" is mid-range Price fare from this period. The
entire enterprise rides on the actor shoulders, but they prove to be
broad enough to carry it off. Price looks dashing and, as always, puts
his best efforts into even a modest enterprise such as this. Nancy
Kovack also gives a fine performance as a bad girl who, refreshingly,
never learns to redeem herself as she cuckolds both of her lovers in
turn. The film is not exceptional on any level, but it is consistently
entertaining and reasonably engrossing.
"Diary of a Madman" is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
