The days are getting longer everywhere, except Palm Springs, where darkness is on the ascent each May. That’s when the city plays host to the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary May 9-12 with a program of a dozen classic films from the 1940s and ’50s. Great directors like Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Rossen, Andre de Toth and Anthony Mann and stars like Humphrey Bogart, John Garfield, Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Ryan will have desert dwellers and visitors alike eager to blot out the sun for four days, culminating in the festival’s customary Mother’s Day crime spree.
As always, the festival is curated and hosted by a face familiar to any serious modern-day noir aficionado, Alan K. Rode, one of the principals of the Film Noir Foundation and a co-host of the Noir City festival every April in Hollywood. Rode’s Noir City cohort,...
As always, the festival is curated and hosted by a face familiar to any serious modern-day noir aficionado, Alan K. Rode, one of the principals of the Film Noir Foundation and a co-host of the Noir City festival every April in Hollywood. Rode’s Noir City cohort,...
- 5/6/2024
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
Obviously it wasn’t by design, but the early-1950s renewal of the western genre, aided in large part by the success of Winchester ’73, which heralded a career second act for both its director, Anthony Mann, and its star, James Stewart, was answered in other quarters of the industry by multiple endeavors to take the once disreputable genre, previously dismissed as Roy Rogers/Saturday-matinee bunkum, all the way into the hallowed halls of state-sanctioned, capital-a art. And, as it happened, the two westerns that made a big runner-up showing at the 1952 and 1953 Oscars, High Noon and Shane, respectively, also served, by virtue of holding what wide swaths of the future cinephile demographic would come to view as Vichy letters of transit, as high-value targets for skeptics of the official cultural narrative.
These auteurist critics and film buffs, whose philosophy acquired definite contours some 10-odd years later, observed a different watershed moment: Rio Bravo.
These auteurist critics and film buffs, whose philosophy acquired definite contours some 10-odd years later, observed a different watershed moment: Rio Bravo.
- 5/3/2024
- by Jaime N. Christley
- Slant Magazine
“Semmelweis,” which Nfi World Sales will be selling at the European Film Market in Berlin, has become the highest grossing Hungarian movie in local theaters in five years.
The film is directed by Lajos Koltai who was Oscar nominated as the cinematographer of Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Malena.” “Semmelweis” marks Koltai’s first return to directing since “Evening” in 2007.
“Semmelweis” is a period biopic about a Hungarian doctor who became known as the “saviour of mothers” for introducing antiseptic procedures at a Vienna maternity clinic.
The film has attracted more than 280,000 moviegoers since its premiere on Nov. 30, and was among the top three movies for nine weeks. It has grossed more than $1.7 million.
Set in 19th century Vienna, the film tells the story of Ignac Semmelweis, the short-tempered but passionate doctor, who delivers babies and also carries out autopsies on a daily basis while looking for the cause of puerperal fever,...
The film is directed by Lajos Koltai who was Oscar nominated as the cinematographer of Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Malena.” “Semmelweis” marks Koltai’s first return to directing since “Evening” in 2007.
“Semmelweis” is a period biopic about a Hungarian doctor who became known as the “saviour of mothers” for introducing antiseptic procedures at a Vienna maternity clinic.
The film has attracted more than 280,000 moviegoers since its premiere on Nov. 30, and was among the top three movies for nine weeks. It has grossed more than $1.7 million.
Set in 19th century Vienna, the film tells the story of Ignac Semmelweis, the short-tempered but passionate doctor, who delivers babies and also carries out autopsies on a daily basis while looking for the cause of puerperal fever,...
- 2/7/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Ever since Martin Scorsese‘s “Killers of the Flower Moon” premiered at Cannes, critics have celebrated it as Scorsese’s first real Western after decades in which the genre’s influence could be felt at the edges of movies like “Casino” and “Gangs of New York.” The director himself sees it a little differently. As the guest on IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast’s 250th episode, he said, “How can I make a Western? I come from the Lower East Side. The guys who made Westerns, when they came out [to Los Angeles], they were riding horses. The old cliché of the director wearing jodhpurs? Well, that’s what they did — you got around on a horse, you had to wear boots, you had to have a riding crop.”
Scorsese feels that the Western as he knew it in childhood ended with Sam Peckinpah’s “The Wild Bunch” in 1969, and that it’s...
Scorsese feels that the Western as he knew it in childhood ended with Sam Peckinpah’s “The Wild Bunch” in 1969, and that it’s...
- 12/20/2023
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
It’s been more than 15 years since Oscar-nominated cinematographer and director Lajos Koltai helmed his last film, “Evening” (2007), a poignant meditation on mortality, regret and womanhood that featured a star-studded ensemble cast, including Vanessa Redgrave, Glenn Close, Eileen Atkins and Meryl Streep, and was released domestically by Focus Features.
For his return to the director’s chair, the Hungarian-born filmmaker also returns closer to home with “Semmelweis,” a period biopic drama about a Hungarian doctor who turns the medical establishment on its head in 19th-century Vienna. The film opens the 21st Hungarian Film Festival of Los Angeles, which runs Oct. 27 to Nov. 2 at the Laemmle Monica Film Center.
“Semmelweis” is set in 1847, as a mysterious epidemic is raging in a maternity clinic in Vienna. The film follows the Hungarian-born doctor Ignác Semmelweis, played by rising Hungarian actor Miklos H. Vecsei, in a race against the clock to solve the mystery...
For his return to the director’s chair, the Hungarian-born filmmaker also returns closer to home with “Semmelweis,” a period biopic drama about a Hungarian doctor who turns the medical establishment on its head in 19th-century Vienna. The film opens the 21st Hungarian Film Festival of Los Angeles, which runs Oct. 27 to Nov. 2 at the Laemmle Monica Film Center.
“Semmelweis” is set in 1847, as a mysterious epidemic is raging in a maternity clinic in Vienna. The film follows the Hungarian-born doctor Ignác Semmelweis, played by rising Hungarian actor Miklos H. Vecsei, in a race against the clock to solve the mystery...
- 10/22/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
All These Sons
With his first documentary Minding the Gap, Bing Liu turned the lens on himself and his friends to examine the domestic violence around them. One of the more human documentaries of the last decade, Liu’s film looked at Rockford, Illinois, and the racial and social elements that affect young men and women in this decent-sized city. With his newest effort, All These Sons, Liu and collaborator Joshua Altman focus on Chicago’s South and West Sides, following young Black men at Iman and Maafa, two community organizations aiming to keep these men away from the gun violence that surrounds them. Once again the resulting film bursts with empathy, built-in trauma, and forgiveness. – John F. (full review)
Where to...
All These Sons
With his first documentary Minding the Gap, Bing Liu turned the lens on himself and his friends to examine the domestic violence around them. One of the more human documentaries of the last decade, Liu’s film looked at Rockford, Illinois, and the racial and social elements that affect young men and women in this decent-sized city. With his newest effort, All These Sons, Liu and collaborator Joshua Altman focus on Chicago’s South and West Sides, following young Black men at Iman and Maafa, two community organizations aiming to keep these men away from the gun violence that surrounds them. Once again the resulting film bursts with empathy, built-in trauma, and forgiveness. – John F. (full review)
Where to...
- 4/28/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Ann Green de Toth, a screenwriter and film industry veteran who worked alongside her husband André de Toth on several projects, has died. She was 82.
De Toth died March 3 after her third battle with cancer in Toluca Lake, California, her family announced.
In 1969, she entered the industry, working with producer Jeffrey Selznick and director Andrzej Wajda, as they prepared for their film, Heart of Darkness. After marrying producer André de Toth in 1983, she worked with him on El Condor, The Todd Killing, Click of the Hammer, Prelude and Fugue for Lovers, The Silent Nine, The Professor and The Fighting Temeraire, among many other films.
De Toth also served, alongside the Ministry of Defense (Navy), as a research/production assistant on The Dangerous Game, a documentary with Hrh The Prince of Wales (aka King Charles), who was the captain of the HSM Bronington at the time.
She was a member of...
De Toth died March 3 after her third battle with cancer in Toluca Lake, California, her family announced.
In 1969, she entered the industry, working with producer Jeffrey Selznick and director Andrzej Wajda, as they prepared for their film, Heart of Darkness. After marrying producer André de Toth in 1983, she worked with him on El Condor, The Todd Killing, Click of the Hammer, Prelude and Fugue for Lovers, The Silent Nine, The Professor and The Fighting Temeraire, among many other films.
De Toth also served, alongside the Ministry of Defense (Navy), as a research/production assistant on The Dangerous Game, a documentary with Hrh The Prince of Wales (aka King Charles), who was the captain of the HSM Bronington at the time.
She was a member of...
- 3/18/2023
- by Christy Piña
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ann Green de Toth, a screenwriter and widow to director André de Toth, died March 3 in Toluca Lake, Calif. after a third battle with cancer. She was 82.
De Toth joined the film industry in 1969, after working on “Heart of Darkness” with producer Jeffrey Selznick and director Andrezej Wajd. In the following years, de Toth would collaborate with her husband on many of his films, including “El Condor,” “The Todd Killings,” “Click of The Hammer,” “Prelude and Fugue for Lovers,” “The Silent Nine,” “The Professor” and “The Fighting Temeraire.”
Born on June 16, 1940, in London, de Toth initially pursued secretarial training early in her career. She attended the Berlitz Schools of Language, where she organized special courses and recruited English teachers. During her five years at the institution, de Toth met her late husband.
By 1983, the married couple settled in Los Angeles. De Toth worked as Robert A. Daly’s executive secretary.
De Toth joined the film industry in 1969, after working on “Heart of Darkness” with producer Jeffrey Selznick and director Andrezej Wajd. In the following years, de Toth would collaborate with her husband on many of his films, including “El Condor,” “The Todd Killings,” “Click of The Hammer,” “Prelude and Fugue for Lovers,” “The Silent Nine,” “The Professor” and “The Fighting Temeraire.”
Born on June 16, 1940, in London, de Toth initially pursued secretarial training early in her career. She attended the Berlitz Schools of Language, where she organized special courses and recruited English teachers. During her five years at the institution, de Toth met her late husband.
By 1983, the married couple settled in Los Angeles. De Toth worked as Robert A. Daly’s executive secretary.
- 3/18/2023
- by Charna Flam
- Variety Film + TV
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Apples (Christos Nikou)
Apples is set in a world where digital technology seems not to exist, yet the psychic imprint of the digital age hangs heavy over first-time director Christos Nikou’s sparse absurdist dramedy. In an alternate-universe Greece, people are falling victim to a pandemic of sudden-onset Memento syndrome: total, crippling amnesia that befalls ordinary adults seemingly at random, necessitating elaborate state-run medical programs for the mnemonically impaired. Of particular concern to such programs are “unclaimed” amnesiacs, patients who fail to be identified by friends or family members and thus become wards of the state, who must be gradually rehabilitated into society and construct new identities from scratch. – Eli F. (full review)
Where to Stream: Mubi (free for 30 days)
Causeway (Lila Neugebauer...
Apples (Christos Nikou)
Apples is set in a world where digital technology seems not to exist, yet the psychic imprint of the digital age hangs heavy over first-time director Christos Nikou’s sparse absurdist dramedy. In an alternate-universe Greece, people are falling victim to a pandemic of sudden-onset Memento syndrome: total, crippling amnesia that befalls ordinary adults seemingly at random, necessitating elaborate state-run medical programs for the mnemonically impaired. Of particular concern to such programs are “unclaimed” amnesiacs, patients who fail to be identified by friends or family members and thus become wards of the state, who must be gradually rehabilitated into society and construct new identities from scratch. – Eli F. (full review)
Where to Stream: Mubi (free for 30 days)
Causeway (Lila Neugebauer...
- 11/4/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Tim Burton will receive the festival’s 14th Lumiere Award.
The 2022 Lumiere Festival (October 15-32) kicked off over the weekend for a week-long celebration of heritage films and modern masters.
Today (Oct 18) marks the start of the festival’s International Classic Film market reserved for industry professionals, the only such market in the world dedicated to classic cinema and film rights.
Highlights of this year’s event include a spotlight on Spain, a conversation with Manuel Alduy, director of cinema and digital fiction at France Télévisions, a DVD publishers fair and a focus on sustainability in the industry.
Now in...
The 2022 Lumiere Festival (October 15-32) kicked off over the weekend for a week-long celebration of heritage films and modern masters.
Today (Oct 18) marks the start of the festival’s International Classic Film market reserved for industry professionals, the only such market in the world dedicated to classic cinema and film rights.
Highlights of this year’s event include a spotlight on Spain, a conversation with Manuel Alduy, director of cinema and digital fiction at France Télévisions, a DVD publishers fair and a focus on sustainability in the industry.
Now in...
- 10/18/2022
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
You may be surprised to learn that the first Hollywood film that dealt with the Holocaust was released during the height of World War II. The 1944 Andre De Toth film, “None Shall Escape” shows a group of Polish-Jews gunned down by the Nazis while they are being forced into boxcars for deportation. Over the subsequent decades, the horrors of the Holocaust have been depicted on the big screen in such classics as 1959’s “The Diary of Anne Frank”; 1982’s “Sophie’s Choice,” for which Meryl Streep won her first Best Actress Oscar; and Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning 1993 masterpiece “Schindler’s List.”
The Holocaust, in which six million Jews died during World War II, has also been the subject of numerous lauded TV movies and miniseries. The latest is Barry Levinson’s acclaimed “The Survivor,” which premiered last September at the Toronto Film Festival and on HBO and HBO Max. The film, Levinson...
The Holocaust, in which six million Jews died during World War II, has also been the subject of numerous lauded TV movies and miniseries. The latest is Barry Levinson’s acclaimed “The Survivor,” which premiered last September at the Toronto Film Festival and on HBO and HBO Max. The film, Levinson...
- 7/8/2022
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
The Stranger Wore a GunIn the pantheon of great Western collaborations sits three mantels: John Wayne and John Ford, James Stewart and Anthony Mann, Randolph Scott and Budd Boetticher. There is another mantelpiece, unvarnished and dirty from disuse: Randolph Scott and André De Toth. Does it belong there? Elements, directions, suits in a deck—the trappings of the West always come in fours. Why does this cycle of films lack a reputation, good standing, or even a quick moniker? Skronky where Ford is rhythmic, constricted where Mann is open, jagged where Boetticher is smooth, the De Toth films, six all told with Scott, give, rather than a cohesive persona or moral treatise, a cluster of pictures and ideas on a centerless society. Brass lanterns blown dark, drawn-out fistfights, flaming wagons streaking across the plains, gunfights in pitch-black bars; these images run across the sextet, fogging the hopeful vision of the American West.
- 2/11/2022
- MUBI
With fears our winter travel will need a, let’s say, reconsideration, the Criterion Channel’s monthly programming could hardly come at a better moment. High on list of highlights is Louis Feuillade’s delightful Les Vampires, which I suggest soundtracking to Coil, instrumental Nine Inch Nails, and Jóhann Jóhannson’s Mandy score. Notable too is a Sundance ’92 retrospective running the gamut from Paul Schrader to Derek Jarman to Jean-Pierre Gorin, and I’m especially excited for their look at one of America’s greatest actors, Sterling Hayden.
Special notice to Criterion editions of The Killing, The Last Days of Disco, All About Eve, and The Asphalt Jungle, and programming of Ognjen Glavonić’s The Load, among the better debuts in recent years.
See the full list of January titles below and more on the Criterion Channel.
-Ship: A Visual Poem, Terrance Day, 2020
5 Fingers, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1952
After Migration: Calabria,...
Special notice to Criterion editions of The Killing, The Last Days of Disco, All About Eve, and The Asphalt Jungle, and programming of Ognjen Glavonić’s The Load, among the better debuts in recent years.
See the full list of January titles below and more on the Criterion Channel.
-Ship: A Visual Poem, Terrance Day, 2020
5 Fingers, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1952
After Migration: Calabria,...
- 12/20/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
When not making tons of money collaborating with James Stewart, Anthony Mann directed some really grim westerns. This mini-epic spells out the ugly real-life Code of The West: seizing land and establishing private empires. Walter Huston’s T.C. Jeffords maintains his sprawling fiefdom through economic tyranny (he prints his own money and expects banks to accept it) — and by simple violence, murdering the people that have lived on ‘his’ land for generations. Barbara Stanwyck is the feisty heir who wages generational war on her piratical father. It’s the darkest and most subversive of Huac-era ‘noir’ westerns.
The Furies
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 435
1950 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 109 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date April 20, 2021 / 39.95
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, Walter Huston, Judith Anderson, Gilbert Roland, Thomas Gomez, Beulah Bondi, Albert Dekker, John Bromfield, Wallace Ford, Blanche Yurka.
Cinematography: Victor Milner
Film Editor: Archie Marshek
Original Music:...
The Furies
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 435
1950 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 109 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date April 20, 2021 / 39.95
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, Walter Huston, Judith Anderson, Gilbert Roland, Thomas Gomez, Beulah Bondi, Albert Dekker, John Bromfield, Wallace Ford, Blanche Yurka.
Cinematography: Victor Milner
Film Editor: Archie Marshek
Original Music:...
- 4/13/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
When Hollywood from time to time reinvented the western the results were sometimes sensationally good, as attested to by this superior neglected classic. We’d call it the first psychological western if the term weren’t so limiting. Gregory Peck once again proves how good he can be when well cast and he’s surrounded by fine characterizations, not typical oater walk-ons. The screenplay and direction are so pleasing that the downbeat finale isn’t a drawback — it doesn’t strain to enforce an irony, or to sell a deep-dish ‘author’s message.’ This one’s just a winner in all categories.
The Gunfighter
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1053
1950 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 84 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date , 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Gregory Peck, Helen Westcott, Millard Mitchell, Jean Parker, Karl Malden, Skip Homeier, Anthony Ross, Verna Felton, Ellen Corby, Richard Jaeckel, Alan Hale Jr., Mae Marsh, James Millican, Kim Spalding.
The Gunfighter
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1053
1950 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 84 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date , 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Gregory Peck, Helen Westcott, Millard Mitchell, Jean Parker, Karl Malden, Skip Homeier, Anthony Ross, Verna Felton, Ellen Corby, Richard Jaeckel, Alan Hale Jr., Mae Marsh, James Millican, Kim Spalding.
- 11/21/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
As much as we adore and revere the theatrical experience, as theater chains prep to reopen amidst a virus that is spreading rapidly in certain areas of the country, one is far better off staying at home and enjoying films from around the world. There’s no better place to do that than The Criterion Channel, and now they’ve unveiled their July lineup.
Coming to the channel next month are retrospectives dedicated to the stellar early films of Atom Egoyan, works by Miranda July, films featuring Ryuichi Sakamoto scores, Olympic films (including their recent release Tokyo Olympiad), plus Kelly Reichardt’s masterful Certain Women, Med Hondo’s Soleil Ô (coming soon to disc with Scorsese’s next World Cinema Project release), Lizzie Borden’s Born in Flames, Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation, and much more.
See the lineup below and explore more on their platform. One can also see our weekly streaming picks here.
Coming to the channel next month are retrospectives dedicated to the stellar early films of Atom Egoyan, works by Miranda July, films featuring Ryuichi Sakamoto scores, Olympic films (including their recent release Tokyo Olympiad), plus Kelly Reichardt’s masterful Certain Women, Med Hondo’s Soleil Ô (coming soon to disc with Scorsese’s next World Cinema Project release), Lizzie Borden’s Born in Flames, Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation, and much more.
See the lineup below and explore more on their platform. One can also see our weekly streaming picks here.
- 6/26/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Robert Mitchum intercedes in a range war in this ‘A’ western, and he’s got the pro team of director Robert Wise and cameraman Nicholas Musuraca on his side. All but one action scene plays out at night, which is why this is sometimes called a Noir Western. The dark visuals fit that mold but the story values are strictly traditional, starting with the hero’s laconic do-it-don’t-say-it sense of personal honor. Partly filmed in Arizona, the fine production further advanced the laid-back Mitchum persona, this time as an honest cowpoke, not a cool-dude hipster.
Blood on the Moon
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1948 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 88 min. / Street Date April 28, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Preston, Walter Brennan, Phyllis Thaxter, Frank Faylen, Tom Tully, Charles McGraw, Clifton Young, Tom Tyler, George Cooper, Harry Carey Jr., Iron Eyes Cody, Chris-Pin Martin.
Cinematography: Nicholas...
Blood on the Moon
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1948 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 88 min. / Street Date April 28, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Preston, Walter Brennan, Phyllis Thaxter, Frank Faylen, Tom Tully, Charles McGraw, Clifton Young, Tom Tyler, George Cooper, Harry Carey Jr., Iron Eyes Cody, Chris-Pin Martin.
Cinematography: Nicholas...
- 5/16/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Mill Creek and Kit Parker have raided the Columbia vault once again in search of Noir Gold from the ‘fifties. Their selection this time around has a couple of prime gems, several straight crime thrillers and domestic jeopardy tales, and also a couple of interesting Brit imports. They aren’t really ‘Noir’ either, but they’re still unexpected and different. The top title is Don Siegel’s incomparable The Lineup, but also on board is a snappy anti-commie epic by André De Toth. Get set for a lineup of impressive leading ladies: Diana Dors, Arlene Dahl, Anita Ekberg — and the great Colleen Dewhurst as a card-carrying Red!
Noir Archive 9-Film Collection Volume 3
The Shadow on the Window, The Long Haul, Pickup Alley, The Tijuana Story, She Played with Fire, The Case Against Brooklyn, The Lineup, The Crimson Kimono, Man on a String
Blu-ray
Mill Creek / Kit Parker
1957 -1960 / B&w...
Noir Archive 9-Film Collection Volume 3
The Shadow on the Window, The Long Haul, Pickup Alley, The Tijuana Story, She Played with Fire, The Case Against Brooklyn, The Lineup, The Crimson Kimono, Man on a String
Blu-ray
Mill Creek / Kit Parker
1957 -1960 / B&w...
- 9/10/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
How does Hollywood sell a gritty, realistic western? With a sexy shot of star Tina Louise! Viewers will be surprised: this fine western is a showcase for the elemental ruthlessness we associate with director André de Toth — its convincing snowbound setting is so intense, we can almost feel the cold. Slick writer Philip Yordan sets up an impossible conflict as a blizzard moves in on a tiny town… Robert Ryan must sort out his feelings for the town beauty Tina Louise, as he negotiates with the he-boss of the killer crooks, Burl Ives. It looks as if Ryan has no choice but to volunteer for a suicide journey — but nature has the last word.
Day of the Outlaw
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1959 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 92 min. / Street Date August 27, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Robert Ryan, Burl Ives, Tina Louise, Alan Marshal, Venetia Stevenson, David Nelson, Nehemiah Persoff, Jack Lambert,...
Day of the Outlaw
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1959 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 92 min. / Street Date August 27, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Robert Ryan, Burl Ives, Tina Louise, Alan Marshal, Venetia Stevenson, David Nelson, Nehemiah Persoff, Jack Lambert,...
- 8/20/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
One of Max Ophüls’ best American movies is this razor-sharp ‘domestic film noir’ with excellent acting and a premise that was probably too sordid-real for 1949: cheap crooks blackmail an ordinary housewife trying to protect her family. Joan Bennett confronts the crisis head-on, facing down James Mason’s unusually sympathetic ‘collector.’
The Reckless Moment
Region free Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1949 / B&W / 1:37 full frame Academy / 82 min. / / Street Date April 22, 2019 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £17.00
Starring: James Mason, Joan Bennett, Geraldine Brooks, Henry O’Neill, Shepperd Strudwick, David Bair, Roy Roberts, William Schallert.
Cinematography: Burnett Guffey
Film Editor: Gene Havlick
Original Music: Hans Salter
Written by Henry Garson, Robert Soderberg; Mel Dinelli, Robert E. Kent, from a story by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding
Produced by Walter Wanger
Directed by Max Ophüls
Nobody forgets Joan Bennett’s film noir appearances — she has a dark, moody quality that even Dario Argento appreciated. In The Woman in the Window...
The Reckless Moment
Region free Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1949 / B&W / 1:37 full frame Academy / 82 min. / / Street Date April 22, 2019 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £17.00
Starring: James Mason, Joan Bennett, Geraldine Brooks, Henry O’Neill, Shepperd Strudwick, David Bair, Roy Roberts, William Schallert.
Cinematography: Burnett Guffey
Film Editor: Gene Havlick
Original Music: Hans Salter
Written by Henry Garson, Robert Soderberg; Mel Dinelli, Robert E. Kent, from a story by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding
Produced by Walter Wanger
Directed by Max Ophüls
Nobody forgets Joan Bennett’s film noir appearances — she has a dark, moody quality that even Dario Argento appreciated. In The Woman in the Window...
- 4/13/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Is this any way to treat a lady? Lovely Nina Foch just wanted a job, but she instead becomes the fall-gal in a psychologically perverse plan to deny her very identity. Cult director Joseph H. Lewis makes deft use of cinematic suspense techniques to compel our involvement in a bizarre conspiracy: not just convincing a woman that she’s insane, but that she’s literally not herself.
My Name is Julia Ross
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1945 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 65 min. / Street Date February 19, 2019 / Available from Arrow Films (UK) / 39.95
Starring: Nina Foch, Dame May Whitty, George Macready, Roland Varno, Leonard Mudie, Anita Bolster, Doris Lloyd, Queenie Leonard.
Cinematography: Burnett Guffey
Film Editor: Henry Batista
Visual Effects: Lawrence Butler, Donald Glouner
Musical director: Mischa Bakaleinikoff
Written by Muriel Roy Bolton, from the novel by Anthony Gilbert (Lucy Malleson)
Produced by Wallace MacDonald
Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
2019 is shaping up just fine for Blu-ray releases of small-scale,...
My Name is Julia Ross
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1945 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 65 min. / Street Date February 19, 2019 / Available from Arrow Films (UK) / 39.95
Starring: Nina Foch, Dame May Whitty, George Macready, Roland Varno, Leonard Mudie, Anita Bolster, Doris Lloyd, Queenie Leonard.
Cinematography: Burnett Guffey
Film Editor: Henry Batista
Visual Effects: Lawrence Butler, Donald Glouner
Musical director: Mischa Bakaleinikoff
Written by Muriel Roy Bolton, from the novel by Anthony Gilbert (Lucy Malleson)
Produced by Wallace MacDonald
Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
2019 is shaping up just fine for Blu-ray releases of small-scale,...
- 2/9/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In a war film, what’s the difference between nasty exploitation and just plain honest reportage? André De Toth made tough-minded action films with the best of them, and this nail-biting commando mission with Michael Caine and Nigel Davenport is simply superb, one of those great action pictures that’s not widely screened. To its credit it’s not ‘feel good’ enough to be suitable for Memorial Day TV marathons.
Play Dirty
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 118 min. / Street Date October 17, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Michael Caine, Nigel Davenport, Nigel Green, Harry Andrews.
Cinematography: Edward Scaife
Film Editor: Jack Slade
Art Direction: Tom Morahan, Maurice Pelling
Original Music: Michel Legrand
Written by Lotte Colin, Melvyn Bragg, from a story by George Marton
Produced by Harry Saltzman
Directed by André De Toth
Some movies that were ignored when new now seem far more important, perhaps due to the tenor of times.
Play Dirty
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 118 min. / Street Date October 17, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Michael Caine, Nigel Davenport, Nigel Green, Harry Andrews.
Cinematography: Edward Scaife
Film Editor: Jack Slade
Art Direction: Tom Morahan, Maurice Pelling
Original Music: Michel Legrand
Written by Lotte Colin, Melvyn Bragg, from a story by George Marton
Produced by Harry Saltzman
Directed by André De Toth
Some movies that were ignored when new now seem far more important, perhaps due to the tenor of times.
- 10/24/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Witness the ‘fifties transformation of the femme fatale, from scheming murderess to self-deluding social climber. Barbara Stanwyck redefines herself once again in Gerd Oswald’s best-directed picture, a searing portrayal of needs and anxieties in the nervous decade. With fine support from Raymond Burr, Virginia Grey and Royal Dano.
Crime of Passion
Blu-ray
ClassicFlix
1957 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 84 min. / Street Date September 5, 2017 /
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Sterling Hayden, Raymond Burr, Fay Wray, Virginia Grey, Royal Dano.
Cinematography: Joseph Lashelle
Art Direction: Leslie Thomas
Original Music: Paul Dunlap
Original Story and Screenplay by Jo Eisinger
Produced by Herman Cohen, Robert Goldstein
Directed by Gerd Oswald
A key title in the development of the Film Noir, 1957’s Crime of Passion shows how much the style had departed from the dark romanticism and expressive visuals of the previous decade. The best mid-’50s noirs strike a marvelously cynical and existentially bleak attitude regarding crime and society.
Crime of Passion
Blu-ray
ClassicFlix
1957 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 84 min. / Street Date September 5, 2017 /
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Sterling Hayden, Raymond Burr, Fay Wray, Virginia Grey, Royal Dano.
Cinematography: Joseph Lashelle
Art Direction: Leslie Thomas
Original Music: Paul Dunlap
Original Story and Screenplay by Jo Eisinger
Produced by Herman Cohen, Robert Goldstein
Directed by Gerd Oswald
A key title in the development of the Film Noir, 1957’s Crime of Passion shows how much the style had departed from the dark romanticism and expressive visuals of the previous decade. The best mid-’50s noirs strike a marvelously cynical and existentially bleak attitude regarding crime and society.
- 9/16/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
On paper it’s a western with everything — a major star, decent supporting players, a cult director and sideways references to the blacklisting years. But even with its ya-gotta-see-it-to-believe-it high noon showdown scene, Joseph H. Lewis’s last feature film is still a lower-tier United Artists effort. Sterling Hayden goes up against Sebastian Cabot and Nedrick Young, armed with a, with a . . . aw, you probably know already.
Terror in a Texas Town
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1958 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 80 min. / Street Date July 11, 2017 / Available from Arrow Video / 39.95
Starring: Sterling Hayden, Sebastian Cabot, Carol Kelly, Eugene Martin, Nedrick Young, Victor Millan, Frank Ferguson, Marilee Earle, Byron Foulger, Glenn Strange.
Cinematography: Ray Rennahan
Original Music: Gerald Fried
Written by Dalton Trumbo, fronted by Ben Perry
Produced by Frank N. Seltzer
Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
Auteurists in the early 1970s championed directors like Phil Karlson, Budd Boetticher and Anthony Mann. These stylists...
Terror in a Texas Town
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1958 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 80 min. / Street Date July 11, 2017 / Available from Arrow Video / 39.95
Starring: Sterling Hayden, Sebastian Cabot, Carol Kelly, Eugene Martin, Nedrick Young, Victor Millan, Frank Ferguson, Marilee Earle, Byron Foulger, Glenn Strange.
Cinematography: Ray Rennahan
Original Music: Gerald Fried
Written by Dalton Trumbo, fronted by Ben Perry
Produced by Frank N. Seltzer
Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
Auteurists in the early 1970s championed directors like Phil Karlson, Budd Boetticher and Anthony Mann. These stylists...
- 7/26/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Versatile star of Hollywood’s international years whose work spanned romantic comedies, period epics and spaghetti westerns
For more than a decade from the mid-1950s, the film star Elsa Martinelli, who has died aged 82, was one of the most prominent female Italian exports to Hollywood, along with her compatriots Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida and Claudia Cardinale. In addition, Martinelli’s appearance seemed to be the sine qua non of Italian co-productions of period epics, romantic comedies, erotic sketch movies and spaghetti westerns.
It was during Hollywood’s international years that Martinelli starred opposite Kirk Douglas, John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Charlton Heston and Anthony Quinn, and, both in the Us and Italy, worked with directors such as André De Toth, Guy Hamilton, Dino Risi, Howard Hawks and Orson Welles. Her slim, elfin looks led to her being described by one newspaper in the 1950s as a “kind of Audrey Hepburn with sex appeal”.
Continue reading.
For more than a decade from the mid-1950s, the film star Elsa Martinelli, who has died aged 82, was one of the most prominent female Italian exports to Hollywood, along with her compatriots Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida and Claudia Cardinale. In addition, Martinelli’s appearance seemed to be the sine qua non of Italian co-productions of period epics, romantic comedies, erotic sketch movies and spaghetti westerns.
It was during Hollywood’s international years that Martinelli starred opposite Kirk Douglas, John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Charlton Heston and Anthony Quinn, and, both in the Us and Italy, worked with directors such as André De Toth, Guy Hamilton, Dino Risi, Howard Hawks and Orson Welles. Her slim, elfin looks led to her being described by one newspaper in the 1950s as a “kind of Audrey Hepburn with sex appeal”.
Continue reading.
- 7/14/2017
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
By John M. Whalen
It goes without saying that Kirk Douglas is a Hollywood icon. From his first role as Walter O’Neill in “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers,” (1946) to “Spartacus” (1960) and beyond that until his last, so far, appearance in a made for TV movie, he remains—even in retirement after a stroke and a helicopter crash— one of those larger than life movie stars, the kind they just don’t make any more. He had a look and a style. Those shiny white teeth could as easily smile charmingly at you or snarl like a barracuda. His bright blue eyes could be full of tenderness one minute, as in his love scenes in “Spartacus,” or fierce and mean as in “Gunfight at the Ok Corral.” He played complex characters that were always a mix of good and bad, but never evil.
Such a character is Johnny Hawks,...
It goes without saying that Kirk Douglas is a Hollywood icon. From his first role as Walter O’Neill in “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers,” (1946) to “Spartacus” (1960) and beyond that until his last, so far, appearance in a made for TV movie, he remains—even in retirement after a stroke and a helicopter crash— one of those larger than life movie stars, the kind they just don’t make any more. He had a look and a style. Those shiny white teeth could as easily smile charmingly at you or snarl like a barracuda. His bright blue eyes could be full of tenderness one minute, as in his love scenes in “Spartacus,” or fierce and mean as in “Gunfight at the Ok Corral.” He played complex characters that were always a mix of good and bad, but never evil.
Such a character is Johnny Hawks,...
- 5/26/2017
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Kirk Douglas grits his teeth and goes full macho, wrasslin’ with that beautiful Sioux up in the high country — the Sioux miss in question being the Italian model Elsa Martinelli in her screen debut. Kirk can’t decide if he wants to stay with Elsa, or lead what must be the most shameful bunch of pioneer bigots ever to cross the plains. Walter Matthau and Diana Douglas are standouts in this vigorous action western directed by André de Toth.
The Indian Fighter
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1955 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 88 min. / Street Date May 9, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Elsa Martinelli, Walter Matthau, Diana Douglas, Walter Abel, Lon Chaney Jr., Eduard Franz, Alan Hale Jr., Elisha Cook Jr., Ray Teal, Frank Cady, Michael Winkelman, William Phipps.
Cinematography: Wilfrid M. Cline
Art Direction: Wiard Ihnen
Film Editor: Richard Cahoon
Original Music: Irving Gordon, Franz Waxman
Written by Robert L. Richards,...
The Indian Fighter
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1955 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 88 min. / Street Date May 9, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Elsa Martinelli, Walter Matthau, Diana Douglas, Walter Abel, Lon Chaney Jr., Eduard Franz, Alan Hale Jr., Elisha Cook Jr., Ray Teal, Frank Cady, Michael Winkelman, William Phipps.
Cinematography: Wilfrid M. Cline
Art Direction: Wiard Ihnen
Film Editor: Richard Cahoon
Original Music: Irving Gordon, Franz Waxman
Written by Robert L. Richards,...
- 5/5/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Welcome to the University of Qt.
Without question or the slightest hint of a doubt, I feel wholly comfortable saying that there are more video essays, compilations, montages, and supercuts dedicated to the work of Quentin Tarantino than any other director out there. He has been an object of fascination bordering obsession from the first scene of Reservoir Dogs, and with each new film he releases, the fervor surrounding his mythos only increases. Largely this is due to Qt himself, who’s as good a hype-man as he is a filmmaker, but that’s just one more reason we love him: confidence. Qt knows he’s the shit and he’d be the first person to tell you that if the rest of us would ever shut up about it.
Bottom line, not since perhaps Kubrick has the totality of a director’s career been held in such high regard, nor...
Without question or the slightest hint of a doubt, I feel wholly comfortable saying that there are more video essays, compilations, montages, and supercuts dedicated to the work of Quentin Tarantino than any other director out there. He has been an object of fascination bordering obsession from the first scene of Reservoir Dogs, and with each new film he releases, the fervor surrounding his mythos only increases. Largely this is due to Qt himself, who’s as good a hype-man as he is a filmmaker, but that’s just one more reason we love him: confidence. Qt knows he’s the shit and he’d be the first person to tell you that if the rest of us would ever shut up about it.
Bottom line, not since perhaps Kubrick has the totality of a director’s career been held in such high regard, nor...
- 3/17/2017
- by H. Perry Horton
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
By Hank Reineke
Though Vincent Price would eventually garner a well-deserved reputation as Hollywood’s preeminent bogeyman, it was only really with André De Toth’s House of Wax (1953) that the actor would become associated with all things sinister. In some sense the playful, nervously elegant Price was an odd successor to the horror film-maestro throne: he was a somewhat aristocratic psychotic who shared neither Boris Karloff’s cold and malevolent scowl nor Bela Lugosi’s distinctly unhinged madness or old-world exoticism.
His early film career started in a less pigeonholed manner: as a budding movie actor with a seven year contract for Universal Studios in the 1940s, the tall, elegant Price would appear in a number of semi-distinguished if modestly-budgeted romantic comedies and dramas. His contract with Universal was apparently non-exclusive, and his most memorable roles for the studio were his earliest. In a harbinger of things to come,...
Though Vincent Price would eventually garner a well-deserved reputation as Hollywood’s preeminent bogeyman, it was only really with André De Toth’s House of Wax (1953) that the actor would become associated with all things sinister. In some sense the playful, nervously elegant Price was an odd successor to the horror film-maestro throne: he was a somewhat aristocratic psychotic who shared neither Boris Karloff’s cold and malevolent scowl nor Bela Lugosi’s distinctly unhinged madness or old-world exoticism.
His early film career started in a less pigeonholed manner: as a budding movie actor with a seven year contract for Universal Studios in the 1940s, the tall, elegant Price would appear in a number of semi-distinguished if modestly-budgeted romantic comedies and dramas. His contract with Universal was apparently non-exclusive, and his most memorable roles for the studio were his earliest. In a harbinger of things to come,...
- 1/30/2017
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Keep up with the always-hopping film festival world with our weekly Film Festival Roundup column. Check out last week’s Roundup right here.
Full Lineup Announcements
– “3-D Auteurs,” a 19-day, 34-film festival spotlighting stereoscopic movies by some of history’s most distinguished directors, will run at Film Forum November 11 – 29. The festival spans 3-D’s earliest days (including some turn-of-the-century films by pioneer Georges Méliès) to the present, and represents virtually every genre, including Westerns, Film Noir, and Science Fiction. Hollywood’s first big 3-D craze (sometimes called 3-D’s “golden era”), intended to offset the threat of television, came in the early 1950s, with such movies as Hitchcock’s “Dial M For Murder,” André De Toth’s “House of Wax” and Jack Arnold’s “Creature From the Black Lagoon” (all included in the series).
Hollywood produced roughly 50 movies in the process from 1952 to 1954, before fizzling out and being overtaken by...
Full Lineup Announcements
– “3-D Auteurs,” a 19-day, 34-film festival spotlighting stereoscopic movies by some of history’s most distinguished directors, will run at Film Forum November 11 – 29. The festival spans 3-D’s earliest days (including some turn-of-the-century films by pioneer Georges Méliès) to the present, and represents virtually every genre, including Westerns, Film Noir, and Science Fiction. Hollywood’s first big 3-D craze (sometimes called 3-D’s “golden era”), intended to offset the threat of television, came in the early 1950s, with such movies as Hitchcock’s “Dial M For Murder,” André De Toth’s “House of Wax” and Jack Arnold’s “Creature From the Black Lagoon” (all included in the series).
Hollywood produced roughly 50 movies in the process from 1952 to 1954, before fizzling out and being overtaken by...
- 10/20/2016
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Noir if I can help it! Sultry Lizabeth Scott out-'fatals' every femme we know in this wickedly ruthless tale of unadulterated female venality. Rough creep Dan Duryea meets his match, as do other unfortunate males that get between Liz and a plump bag of blackmail loot. The Film Noir Foundation's restoration is a valiant rescue job, for a worthy 'annihilating melodrama.' Too Late for Tears Blu-ray + DVD Flicker Alley / FIlm Noir Foundation 1949 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 102 min. / Street Date May 17, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Lizabeth Scott, Don DeFore, Dan Duryea, Arthur Kennedy, Kristine Miller, Barry Kelley Cinematography William Mellor Art Direction James Sullivan Film Editor Harry Keller Original Music Dale Butts Written by Roy Huggins from his story Produced by Hunt Stromberg Directed by Byron Haskin
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Who's doing good work for film preservation? The Film Noir Foundation has racked up some impressive rescues and restorations in the last fifteen years or so,...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Who's doing good work for film preservation? The Film Noir Foundation has racked up some impressive rescues and restorations in the last fifteen years or so,...
- 5/21/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
We return with a catch up about upcoming MoC releases, Criterion UK and a look at Andre de Toth’s Day of the Outlaw. Enjoy!
From Masters of Cinema:
Revered by the likes of Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino, the great director Andre de Toth made some of the most gripping and unusual American films of the 1950s, and Day of the Outlaw stands as one of his finest.
Robert Ryan plays the ruthless cattleman Blaise Starrett who rides into the small, snowbound town of Bitters to settle a feud with homesteader Hal Crane (Alan Marshal) over access to land, with one eye on rekindling a past love affair with Crane’s wife Helen (Tina Stuart). But once a band of brutal outlaws, led by the notorious Captain Jack Bruhn (Burl Ives), enters and takes the townspeople hostage, the situation becomes a powder keg ready to blow.
Set against extraordinary winter landscapes,...
From Masters of Cinema:
Revered by the likes of Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino, the great director Andre de Toth made some of the most gripping and unusual American films of the 1950s, and Day of the Outlaw stands as one of his finest.
Robert Ryan plays the ruthless cattleman Blaise Starrett who rides into the small, snowbound town of Bitters to settle a feud with homesteader Hal Crane (Alan Marshal) over access to land, with one eye on rekindling a past love affair with Crane’s wife Helen (Tina Stuart). But once a band of brutal outlaws, led by the notorious Captain Jack Bruhn (Burl Ives), enters and takes the townspeople hostage, the situation becomes a powder keg ready to blow.
Set against extraordinary winter landscapes,...
- 5/17/2016
- by Tom Jennings
- CriterionCast
Since any New York cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Metrograph
Spend “A Weekend with Amy Heckerling” when Johnny Dangerously and Fast Times at Ridgemont High screen this Saturday, while Look Who’s Talking and Clueless show on Sunday. All are on 35mm.
For “Welcome to Metrograph: A-z,” see a print of Philippe Garrel‘s The Inner Scar on Friday and Sunday; André de Toth‘s...
Metrograph
Spend “A Weekend with Amy Heckerling” when Johnny Dangerously and Fast Times at Ridgemont High screen this Saturday, while Look Who’s Talking and Clueless show on Sunday. All are on 35mm.
For “Welcome to Metrograph: A-z,” see a print of Philippe Garrel‘s The Inner Scar on Friday and Sunday; André de Toth‘s...
- 5/13/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
An exercise in dizzy disorientation, this Cornell Woolrich crazy-house noir pulls the rug out from under us at least three times. You want delirium, you got it -- the secret words for today are "Obsessive" and "Perverse." Innocent Robert Cummings is no match for sicko psychos Peter Lorre and Steve Cochran. The Chase Blu-ray Kino Classics 1946 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 86 min. / Street Date May 24, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Robert Cummings, Michèle Morgan, Steve Cochran, Peter Lorre, Lloyd Corrigan, Jack Holt, Don Wilson, Alexis Minotis, Nina Koschetz, Yolanda Lacca, James Westerfield, Shirley O'Hara. Cinematography Frank F. Planer Film Editor Edward Mann Original Music Michel Michelet Written by Philip Yordan from the book The Black Path of Fear by Cornell Woolrich Produced by Seymour Nebenzal Directed by Arthur D. Ripley
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
As Guy Maddin says on his (recommended) commentary, the public domain copies of this show were...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
As Guy Maddin says on his (recommended) commentary, the public domain copies of this show were...
- 5/7/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This is a "go to" festival for international filmmakers with Jewish films who want to have their films premiere in Hollywood. The 11th L.A. Jewish Film Festival May 18th through May 25.
Opening night on May 18 will be a grand, red carpet, star-studded gala at the Steve Tisch Cinema Center at the Saban Theatre, Beverly Hills. Lajff will recognize the Laemmle Theater family with a special honor for their ongoing commitment to film and filmmakers. This family, headed by legendary Universal studio owner, Carl Laemmle and continuously run by subsequent three generations of Laemmles, is truly a force of nature. The Laemmle Theaters is a 75+ year old family run business which has established a sense of community through film in every neighborhood of Los Angeles they touch. The Laemmle family also supports many local organizations.
Watch this wonderful history of the Laemmle theaters in which Gregory Laemmle, the President of Laemmle Theaters, gives the Beverly Hills Historical Society a summary of the Laemmle family movie theater's history and his programming of the Fine Arts and Music Hall theaters in Beverly Hills.
Opening night film is the North American premiere of “False Flag” /”Kfulim”, a gripping espionage thriller TV series (now known as “filmed entertainment”) which premiered at the Berlinale’s inaugural Special Series section and won the Grand Prize at Series Mania. It comes from the makers of “Homeland” as it first appeared in Israel in 2015 before being remade for U.S. audiences.
Created by Amit Cohen and Maria Feldman, Amit will be present after the screening for a Q&A with actor Angel Bonanni.
Variety, October 2015 called it a “Thrill Ride. Keshet’s hot strike may continue with False Flag”
C21 Hot Picks for Mipcom 2015 said, “’False Flag’ has a touch of ‘Homeland’ about it and could be the next big Israeli drama”.
Directed by Oded Ruskin, it stars Ishai Golan, Ania Bukstein, Angel Bonanni, Roy Assaf and Orna Salinger who play five Israeli citizens who find themselves plunged into a gripping international espionage affair overnight. These ordinary people, going about their daily business, wake up one morning to discover that they are implicated in a ruthless kidnapping operation following the disappearance of the Iranian Defense Minister while on a secret visit to Moscow. News bulletins repeatedly flash their names and passport photos on screen, linking them to video footage from the kidnapping.
French pay TV channel Canal Plus acquired exclusive rights to “False Flag” for France from Keshet International. Will it be remade for U.S.??? We shall see.
In addition to the opening night ceremony, this year will be the first year for a new award. Lajff will establish the Marvin Paige Hollywood Legacy Award. Marvin Paige who died in 2014 was a classic Hollywood casting director, the go-to Hollywood star wrangler of anybody and everybody needing to get a hold of a celebrity. He worked with Lajff for its entire 11 years and his work continues with his former protégé.
Read Leonard Maltin on Marvin Paige
The Marvin Paige Hollywood Legacy Award will be presented on closing night, Wednesday, May 25th, at the iconic Beverly Hills theater, The Fine Arts, to legendary actress Marsha Hunt, formerly blacklisted and still known as a free speech and humanitarian activist today at age 98!).
Closing night film Wednesday, May 25th is the classic, 72 year old movie ”None Shall Escape” starring Marsha Hunt and directed by André De Toth, starring Marsha Hunt, Alexander Knox, Henry Travers, and written by Alfred Neumann and Joseph Than (Alfred Neumann and Joseph Than were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story.)
"None Shall Escape" is a 1944 war film. Even though the film was made during World War II, the setting is a post-war Nuremberg-style war crimes trial. Production began August 31, 1943 and finished October 26, more than eighteen months before the war in Europe ended. About the career of a Nazi officer as shown as flashbacks from his trial as a war criminal, the film will be discussed by film historian, Professor Jan Christopher Horak with Marsha Hunt in person.
There will also be a very special screening of Israel’s beloved, 1966 film musical, “Sheni Kuni Lemel”/ “The Flying Matchmaker” featuring an appearance from L.A. local celebrity and star of the film, Mike Burstyn who starred in the film when he was just 19 years old. This is the first screening of the newly restored print from Israel - the first to be shown in the U.S. Lajff will honor this classic Israeli star with an award on the first night of the screening for “Sheni Kuni Lemel”. (Learn more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flying_Matchmaker)
Another film definitely to be seen is the first film made by Oscar-winning director of “Son of Saul”, László Nemes. The 2008,14 minute short, “ With a Little Patience” will be playing before “Fever at Dawn” on May 23. Director László Nemes fixes the camera on the evocatively stoic face of a young female office clerk, capturing her every nuance as she methodically goes about her daily routine, which leads to a solemn revelation just outside the window, where a man is waiting. The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival
and was the winner at the 14th Drama International Short Film Festival.
Monday, May 23, 7:30 pm Laemmle’s Music Hall, Beverly Hills program introduction by Consul General of Hungary, Laszlo Kalman
Another top film here is “The People Vs. Fritz Bauer”. If you saw the German submission for the Academy Award this year, “Labyrinth of Lies” you will know the story, but will find this film much,much more authentic and engrossing. It is the real story of the boss of the young man “Labyrinth” who is the true life hero.
Audience Award Winner at the Locarno International Film Festival, World Premiere Toronto International Film Festival 2015. Cohen Media has U.S. rights.
Its L.A. premiere will be Tuesday, May 24, 7:30 pm Laemmle’s Music Hall. Drama, Germany, 2015, 105 minutes, Director: Lars Kraume, in German with English subtitles
Top German actors Burghart Klaussner (“The White Ribbon”) and Ronald Zehrfeld (“Barbara”, “Phoenix”) star in this riveting historical thriller, which chronicles the staggering efforts of German district attorney Fritz Bauer to bring Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann to justice.
Few figures encapsulate the conflicted character of postwar Germany better than Fritz Bauer, the Attorney General who was instrumental in bringing the elusive Adolf Eichmann to trial in Israel. This film is both a portrait of this complex man and a riveting historical thriller that chronicles the Herculean efforts and tremendous risks undertaken en route to apprehending the chief engineer of the Nazis' Final Solution.
In the late 1950s, Germany flourishes under the economic miracle, and grows increasingly apathetic about confronting the horrors of its recent past. Nevertheless, Fritz Bauer (Burghart Klaussner) relentlessly devotes his energies to bringing the Third Reich to justice. One day Bauer receives a letter from Argentina, with information about Adolf Eichmann. He is excited by the promising lead, but obstructed at every turn by authorities with Nazi ties, many of them former higher-ups under Hitler, now in top government positions. Bauer journeys to Jerusalem to seek alliance with Mossad, the Israeli secret service. This is an act of treason — yet committing treason is the only way Bauer can serve his country.
Fritz Bauer was the Attorney General portrayed in “Labyrinth of Lies.” This is the story that led up to the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials.
Introduction: Deputy Consul General Stefan Biedermann of the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany. Sponsored by the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany
“A La Vie” / “To Life”
Drama, France, 2014, 104 minutes
Director: Jean-Jacques Zilbermann
Starring: Julie Depardieu, Johanna ter Steege, Suzanne Clément
Audience Award Winner at Warsaw Jewish Ff 2015
Breaking Glass has U.S. rights.
Veteran French writer/director Jean-Jacques Zilbermann (“He’s My Girl” - Lajff 2011) sets his engaging new drama in postwar Paris where Hélène (Julie Depardieu), a young Auschwitz survivor rebuilds her life while searching for her friends from the camp, Lily and Rose (Johanna ter Steege, Suzanne Clément). When the women are finally reunited, they share a watershed vacation in 1962 in a seaside resort, enjoying the intimacies of life, love and faith. This emotionally complex film about the sustaining power of women’s friendship was inspired by the director’s mother and her annual vacation with the friends she made in the camps. Don’t miss this masterful film starring a trio of award-winning actresses.
“Children Of Giant”
Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqBYPp8IfQw
La Premiere
Documentary, United States 2015, 85 minutes
Director: Hector Galan
Thursday, May 19 at the Laemmle's Town Center, Encino at 7:30 pm
Marilyn Moss, George Stevens biographer, M.G. Lord, Elizabeth Taylor biographer Plus Earl Holliman (actor from the film) and Jim Silke join the panel discussion, moderated by Nick Redman.
Sixty years after the Hollywood blockbuster that dared tackle the issue of prejudice against Mexican-Americans, “Children Of Giant” explores the cultural and social legacy of the landmark 1956 drama. Starring a legendary trio—Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean—Giant is the epic story of a powerful West Texas ranching dynasty, and the Anglo-Latino tensions their characters encounter. Edna Ferber, the daughter of a Hungarian-born Jewish storekeeper, whose own encounters with discrimination informed her work, bases the film on the novel. Similarly stirred to address human rights issues after his WWII military service, Oscar-winning director George Stevens embraced the book’s controversial themes of feminism, class division and racism in the post-war American Southwest. The lavish production had an enormous impact on the dusty little town of Marfa, Texas, and the Mexican-Americans who saw it as a first exposure to their second-class status.
Rare behind-the-scenes footage and clips from the movie complement interviews with surviving cast and crew, film historians, as well as residents whose lives mirrored the social issues explored onscreen.
“Golan: A Farewell To Mr. Cinema”
Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evRsJy8GxrU&spfreload=10
La Premiere
Documentary, UK/Israel, 74 minutes
Directed by Christopher Sykes
Sunday, May 22, 7:00 pm, Laemmle’s Music Hall, Beverly Hills
Speakers for Golan: Farewell to Mr. Cinema. Sam Firstenberg and Sybil Danning.
This film is the final chapter in the extraordinary life and career of Menahem Golan, Israeli movie director, producer, mogul and 'madman'. Golan and his cousin Yoram Globus, pursued the American Dream and turned the Hollywood power structure upside down, producing over 300 films and becoming the most powerful independent film company in the world; Cannon Films. Golan produced movies featuring such stars as Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Charles Bronson.
In his eighties and living in Jaffa, Golan looks back to his great days in Hollywood, forward to a new blockbuster, and dreams of the Oscar he has always wanted...
“In Search Of Israeli Cuisine”
La Premiere
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOd6cyFvBr8
Documentary, United States 2015, 97 minutes
Thursday, May 19, 7:30 pm Laemmle’s Music Hall, Beverly Hill
Q&A with Amelia Saltsman, cookbook author and personality and Rob Eshman, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of the Jewish Journal.
Sunday, May 22, 4:30 pm, Laemmle’s Town Center, Encino
Q&A with Elana Horwich, owner of Meal with a Spiel
Director: Roger Sherman
Starring: Michael Solomonov
Michael Solomonov, the James Beard award-winning celebrity chef-restaurateur travels across Israel to savor a food revolution rooted in centuries-old tradition. Developed in only the last 30 years and using both ancient farming techniques and high-tech innovations, Israel’s food scene is among the most dynamic in the world. From Tel Aviv’s most exclusive eateries to street bazaars, Israeli-American Solomonov interviews chefs, home cooks, farmers, vintners, and cheese makers drawn from the more than 100 cultures that make up Israel today — Jewish, Arab, Muslim, Christian, and Druze. This journey to his homeland reaffirms that Israeli cuisine is a beautiful and delectable reflection of the country’s unique diversity.
In a gastronomical expedition, celebrity chef-restaurateur Michael Solomonov zigzags Israel to savor a food revolution rooted in centuries-old tradition.
Israel’s food scene is among the most dynamic in the world, extending beyond falafel and hummus to include tasty ethnic and regional specialties. Having won the James Beard award for embracing these authentic flavors, Israeli-American Solomonov returns to his homeland to discover his culinary heritage anew. From Tel Aviv’s most exclusive eateries, to street bazaars, to simmering pots in family kitchens, “In Search Of Israeli Cuisine” excites the taste buds with multi-cultural recipes passed on and elevated. But even food is not immune to sectarian conflict, as Palestinian cooks chafe when their savory secrets are adapted by Jewish chefs. Equally eye-opening is the story behind the ingredients that Israel produces using both ancient farming techniques and high-tech innovations. Combining a procession of mouthwatering dishes and interviews with chefs, home cooks and farmers of all backgrounds, Oscar-nominated documentarian Roger Sherman presents a diverse portrait of the Israeli people told through the very personal language of food.
Rob Eshman, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Jewish Journal, Blog “Foodaism” to lead discussion. Additional guests Tbd. Sponsored by the Jewish Journal and the Consulate General of Israel
Food sponsored by Mickey Fine Pharmacy & Grill and Yrf Darca
For the full array of programming go to: http://lajfilmfest.org/...
Opening night on May 18 will be a grand, red carpet, star-studded gala at the Steve Tisch Cinema Center at the Saban Theatre, Beverly Hills. Lajff will recognize the Laemmle Theater family with a special honor for their ongoing commitment to film and filmmakers. This family, headed by legendary Universal studio owner, Carl Laemmle and continuously run by subsequent three generations of Laemmles, is truly a force of nature. The Laemmle Theaters is a 75+ year old family run business which has established a sense of community through film in every neighborhood of Los Angeles they touch. The Laemmle family also supports many local organizations.
Watch this wonderful history of the Laemmle theaters in which Gregory Laemmle, the President of Laemmle Theaters, gives the Beverly Hills Historical Society a summary of the Laemmle family movie theater's history and his programming of the Fine Arts and Music Hall theaters in Beverly Hills.
Opening night film is the North American premiere of “False Flag” /”Kfulim”, a gripping espionage thriller TV series (now known as “filmed entertainment”) which premiered at the Berlinale’s inaugural Special Series section and won the Grand Prize at Series Mania. It comes from the makers of “Homeland” as it first appeared in Israel in 2015 before being remade for U.S. audiences.
Created by Amit Cohen and Maria Feldman, Amit will be present after the screening for a Q&A with actor Angel Bonanni.
Variety, October 2015 called it a “Thrill Ride. Keshet’s hot strike may continue with False Flag”
C21 Hot Picks for Mipcom 2015 said, “’False Flag’ has a touch of ‘Homeland’ about it and could be the next big Israeli drama”.
Directed by Oded Ruskin, it stars Ishai Golan, Ania Bukstein, Angel Bonanni, Roy Assaf and Orna Salinger who play five Israeli citizens who find themselves plunged into a gripping international espionage affair overnight. These ordinary people, going about their daily business, wake up one morning to discover that they are implicated in a ruthless kidnapping operation following the disappearance of the Iranian Defense Minister while on a secret visit to Moscow. News bulletins repeatedly flash their names and passport photos on screen, linking them to video footage from the kidnapping.
French pay TV channel Canal Plus acquired exclusive rights to “False Flag” for France from Keshet International. Will it be remade for U.S.??? We shall see.
In addition to the opening night ceremony, this year will be the first year for a new award. Lajff will establish the Marvin Paige Hollywood Legacy Award. Marvin Paige who died in 2014 was a classic Hollywood casting director, the go-to Hollywood star wrangler of anybody and everybody needing to get a hold of a celebrity. He worked with Lajff for its entire 11 years and his work continues with his former protégé.
Read Leonard Maltin on Marvin Paige
The Marvin Paige Hollywood Legacy Award will be presented on closing night, Wednesday, May 25th, at the iconic Beverly Hills theater, The Fine Arts, to legendary actress Marsha Hunt, formerly blacklisted and still known as a free speech and humanitarian activist today at age 98!).
Closing night film Wednesday, May 25th is the classic, 72 year old movie ”None Shall Escape” starring Marsha Hunt and directed by André De Toth, starring Marsha Hunt, Alexander Knox, Henry Travers, and written by Alfred Neumann and Joseph Than (Alfred Neumann and Joseph Than were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story.)
"None Shall Escape" is a 1944 war film. Even though the film was made during World War II, the setting is a post-war Nuremberg-style war crimes trial. Production began August 31, 1943 and finished October 26, more than eighteen months before the war in Europe ended. About the career of a Nazi officer as shown as flashbacks from his trial as a war criminal, the film will be discussed by film historian, Professor Jan Christopher Horak with Marsha Hunt in person.
There will also be a very special screening of Israel’s beloved, 1966 film musical, “Sheni Kuni Lemel”/ “The Flying Matchmaker” featuring an appearance from L.A. local celebrity and star of the film, Mike Burstyn who starred in the film when he was just 19 years old. This is the first screening of the newly restored print from Israel - the first to be shown in the U.S. Lajff will honor this classic Israeli star with an award on the first night of the screening for “Sheni Kuni Lemel”. (Learn more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flying_Matchmaker)
Another film definitely to be seen is the first film made by Oscar-winning director of “Son of Saul”, László Nemes. The 2008,14 minute short, “ With a Little Patience” will be playing before “Fever at Dawn” on May 23. Director László Nemes fixes the camera on the evocatively stoic face of a young female office clerk, capturing her every nuance as she methodically goes about her daily routine, which leads to a solemn revelation just outside the window, where a man is waiting. The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival
and was the winner at the 14th Drama International Short Film Festival.
Monday, May 23, 7:30 pm Laemmle’s Music Hall, Beverly Hills program introduction by Consul General of Hungary, Laszlo Kalman
Another top film here is “The People Vs. Fritz Bauer”. If you saw the German submission for the Academy Award this year, “Labyrinth of Lies” you will know the story, but will find this film much,much more authentic and engrossing. It is the real story of the boss of the young man “Labyrinth” who is the true life hero.
Audience Award Winner at the Locarno International Film Festival, World Premiere Toronto International Film Festival 2015. Cohen Media has U.S. rights.
Its L.A. premiere will be Tuesday, May 24, 7:30 pm Laemmle’s Music Hall. Drama, Germany, 2015, 105 minutes, Director: Lars Kraume, in German with English subtitles
Top German actors Burghart Klaussner (“The White Ribbon”) and Ronald Zehrfeld (“Barbara”, “Phoenix”) star in this riveting historical thriller, which chronicles the staggering efforts of German district attorney Fritz Bauer to bring Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann to justice.
Few figures encapsulate the conflicted character of postwar Germany better than Fritz Bauer, the Attorney General who was instrumental in bringing the elusive Adolf Eichmann to trial in Israel. This film is both a portrait of this complex man and a riveting historical thriller that chronicles the Herculean efforts and tremendous risks undertaken en route to apprehending the chief engineer of the Nazis' Final Solution.
In the late 1950s, Germany flourishes under the economic miracle, and grows increasingly apathetic about confronting the horrors of its recent past. Nevertheless, Fritz Bauer (Burghart Klaussner) relentlessly devotes his energies to bringing the Third Reich to justice. One day Bauer receives a letter from Argentina, with information about Adolf Eichmann. He is excited by the promising lead, but obstructed at every turn by authorities with Nazi ties, many of them former higher-ups under Hitler, now in top government positions. Bauer journeys to Jerusalem to seek alliance with Mossad, the Israeli secret service. This is an act of treason — yet committing treason is the only way Bauer can serve his country.
Fritz Bauer was the Attorney General portrayed in “Labyrinth of Lies.” This is the story that led up to the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials.
Introduction: Deputy Consul General Stefan Biedermann of the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany. Sponsored by the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany
“A La Vie” / “To Life”
Drama, France, 2014, 104 minutes
Director: Jean-Jacques Zilbermann
Starring: Julie Depardieu, Johanna ter Steege, Suzanne Clément
Audience Award Winner at Warsaw Jewish Ff 2015
Breaking Glass has U.S. rights.
Veteran French writer/director Jean-Jacques Zilbermann (“He’s My Girl” - Lajff 2011) sets his engaging new drama in postwar Paris where Hélène (Julie Depardieu), a young Auschwitz survivor rebuilds her life while searching for her friends from the camp, Lily and Rose (Johanna ter Steege, Suzanne Clément). When the women are finally reunited, they share a watershed vacation in 1962 in a seaside resort, enjoying the intimacies of life, love and faith. This emotionally complex film about the sustaining power of women’s friendship was inspired by the director’s mother and her annual vacation with the friends she made in the camps. Don’t miss this masterful film starring a trio of award-winning actresses.
“Children Of Giant”
Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqBYPp8IfQw
La Premiere
Documentary, United States 2015, 85 minutes
Director: Hector Galan
Thursday, May 19 at the Laemmle's Town Center, Encino at 7:30 pm
Marilyn Moss, George Stevens biographer, M.G. Lord, Elizabeth Taylor biographer Plus Earl Holliman (actor from the film) and Jim Silke join the panel discussion, moderated by Nick Redman.
Sixty years after the Hollywood blockbuster that dared tackle the issue of prejudice against Mexican-Americans, “Children Of Giant” explores the cultural and social legacy of the landmark 1956 drama. Starring a legendary trio—Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean—Giant is the epic story of a powerful West Texas ranching dynasty, and the Anglo-Latino tensions their characters encounter. Edna Ferber, the daughter of a Hungarian-born Jewish storekeeper, whose own encounters with discrimination informed her work, bases the film on the novel. Similarly stirred to address human rights issues after his WWII military service, Oscar-winning director George Stevens embraced the book’s controversial themes of feminism, class division and racism in the post-war American Southwest. The lavish production had an enormous impact on the dusty little town of Marfa, Texas, and the Mexican-Americans who saw it as a first exposure to their second-class status.
Rare behind-the-scenes footage and clips from the movie complement interviews with surviving cast and crew, film historians, as well as residents whose lives mirrored the social issues explored onscreen.
“Golan: A Farewell To Mr. Cinema”
Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evRsJy8GxrU&spfreload=10
La Premiere
Documentary, UK/Israel, 74 minutes
Directed by Christopher Sykes
Sunday, May 22, 7:00 pm, Laemmle’s Music Hall, Beverly Hills
Speakers for Golan: Farewell to Mr. Cinema. Sam Firstenberg and Sybil Danning.
This film is the final chapter in the extraordinary life and career of Menahem Golan, Israeli movie director, producer, mogul and 'madman'. Golan and his cousin Yoram Globus, pursued the American Dream and turned the Hollywood power structure upside down, producing over 300 films and becoming the most powerful independent film company in the world; Cannon Films. Golan produced movies featuring such stars as Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Charles Bronson.
In his eighties and living in Jaffa, Golan looks back to his great days in Hollywood, forward to a new blockbuster, and dreams of the Oscar he has always wanted...
“In Search Of Israeli Cuisine”
La Premiere
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOd6cyFvBr8
Documentary, United States 2015, 97 minutes
Thursday, May 19, 7:30 pm Laemmle’s Music Hall, Beverly Hill
Q&A with Amelia Saltsman, cookbook author and personality and Rob Eshman, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of the Jewish Journal.
Sunday, May 22, 4:30 pm, Laemmle’s Town Center, Encino
Q&A with Elana Horwich, owner of Meal with a Spiel
Director: Roger Sherman
Starring: Michael Solomonov
Michael Solomonov, the James Beard award-winning celebrity chef-restaurateur travels across Israel to savor a food revolution rooted in centuries-old tradition. Developed in only the last 30 years and using both ancient farming techniques and high-tech innovations, Israel’s food scene is among the most dynamic in the world. From Tel Aviv’s most exclusive eateries to street bazaars, Israeli-American Solomonov interviews chefs, home cooks, farmers, vintners, and cheese makers drawn from the more than 100 cultures that make up Israel today — Jewish, Arab, Muslim, Christian, and Druze. This journey to his homeland reaffirms that Israeli cuisine is a beautiful and delectable reflection of the country’s unique diversity.
In a gastronomical expedition, celebrity chef-restaurateur Michael Solomonov zigzags Israel to savor a food revolution rooted in centuries-old tradition.
Israel’s food scene is among the most dynamic in the world, extending beyond falafel and hummus to include tasty ethnic and regional specialties. Having won the James Beard award for embracing these authentic flavors, Israeli-American Solomonov returns to his homeland to discover his culinary heritage anew. From Tel Aviv’s most exclusive eateries, to street bazaars, to simmering pots in family kitchens, “In Search Of Israeli Cuisine” excites the taste buds with multi-cultural recipes passed on and elevated. But even food is not immune to sectarian conflict, as Palestinian cooks chafe when their savory secrets are adapted by Jewish chefs. Equally eye-opening is the story behind the ingredients that Israel produces using both ancient farming techniques and high-tech innovations. Combining a procession of mouthwatering dishes and interviews with chefs, home cooks and farmers of all backgrounds, Oscar-nominated documentarian Roger Sherman presents a diverse portrait of the Israeli people told through the very personal language of food.
Rob Eshman, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Jewish Journal, Blog “Foodaism” to lead discussion. Additional guests Tbd. Sponsored by the Jewish Journal and the Consulate General of Israel
Food sponsored by Mickey Fine Pharmacy & Grill and Yrf Darca
For the full array of programming go to: http://lajfilmfest.org/...
- 5/5/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Shock celebrates 3D horror classic House Of Wax on the anniversary of its release. “Everything I ever loved has been taken away from me , but not you my Marie Antoinette for I will give you eternal life…” So says Professor Henry Jarrod, the disfigured and now maniacal sculptor in director Andre de Toth’s classic…
The post Released On This Day: 1953’s House Of Wax appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
The post Released On This Day: 1953’s House Of Wax appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
- 4/25/2016
- by Chris Alexander
- shocktillyoudrop.com
Did Quentin Tarantino stumble this time out? His tale of western killers sharing a snowbound cabin builds almost zero suspense, and the verbal excess and violent grossness lack Tarantino's usual clever, wickedly funny edge. And 70mm cooped up in a dim interior? It's A Long Day's Journey into Lincoln Logs. Totally dig Jennifer Jason Leigh and Ennio Morricone, though. The Hateful Eight Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD Anchor Bay / Weinstein 2015 / Color / 2.76 widescreen (Ultra Panavision 70) / 187 min. / Street Date March 29, 2016 / 39.99 Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Bruce Dern, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tim Roth, Walton Goggins, Demián Bichir, Michael Madsen, James Parks, Dana Gourrier, Zoë Bell, Lee Horsley, Gene Jones, Channing Tatum. Cinematography Robert Richardson Film Editor Fred Raskin Original Music Ennio Morricone Production Design Yohei Taneda Produced by Richard N. Gladstein, Shannon McIntosh, Stacey Sher Written and Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Quentin Tarantino's opening title sequence card announces...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Quentin Tarantino's opening title sequence card announces...
- 3/26/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Who is the outlaw in Day of the Outlaw? Undoubtedly Burl Ives’ villainous Jack Bruhn – he leads a band of bad guys into the remote Wyoming town, holding everyone there loosely as hostages until he decides to move along. But he’s not an outlaw the way we typically understand it; for one thing, he wears a Union (not even Confederate!) officer’s uniform, and his legacy of shame is more rooted in military than more overtly criminal activities. His band of men are far more outlaws than he, but there is no singular one.
Instead, I want to pivot attention to Blaise Starrett (Robert Ryan), the ostensible hero of the story, who starts the film ready to murder a farmer (Alan Marshal) over the latter’s desire to put fences around his land, which Blaise is used to running his cattle through a couple times a year. That Blaise...
Instead, I want to pivot attention to Blaise Starrett (Robert Ryan), the ostensible hero of the story, who starts the film ready to murder a farmer (Alan Marshal) over the latter’s desire to put fences around his land, which Blaise is used to running his cattle through a couple times a year. That Blaise...
- 2/18/2016
- by Scott Nye
- CriterionCast
Now, after 62 years, viewable again in beautiful 3-D! Scientists are being murdered in a secret underground laboratory overseen by a super-computer and two robots, Gog and Magog. The restoration is a stunning achievement, covered thoroughly on the disc extras. The year is young, but this is an early favorite. Gog 3-D 3-D Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1954 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 85 min. / Street Date March 1, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 34.95 Starring Richard Egan, Constance Dowling, Herbert Marshall, John Wengraf, Philip Van Zandt, Michael Fox, William Schallert. Cinematography Lothrop B. Worth Film Editor Herbert L. Strock Original Music Harry Sukman Written by Tom Taggart, Richard G. Taylor, Ivan Tors Produced by Ivan Tors Directed by Herbert L. Strock
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Once viewable only at isolated special film festivals, vintage films on 3-D are enjoying a comeback thanks to a busy independent company. The 3-D Film Archive has done work for various studios and disc distributors,...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Once viewable only at isolated special film festivals, vintage films on 3-D are enjoying a comeback thanks to a busy independent company. The 3-D Film Archive has done work for various studios and disc distributors,...
- 2/10/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Two obscure Robert Wise titles reach Blu-ray release this month, both direct follow-ups to some of the auteur’s more iconic works. First up is 1962’s Two for the Seesaw, a romantic drama headlined by Robert Mitchum and Shirley MacLaine following the famed 1961 title West Side Story. But the decade prior would fine Wise unveiling one of his most stilted efforts, The Captive City (1952), a sort-of noir procedural which followed his sci-fi social commentary The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). Providing John Forsythe with his first starring role (a performer who would find his most famous roles decades later on television, as Blake Carrington in “Dynasty,” and of course, the famous voice in “Charlie’s Angels”), it has to be one of the most unenthusiastic renderings of organized crime ever committed to celluloid. A scrappy journalist defies the mob ruled police force and a slick Mafia boss in a tired...
- 1/5/2016
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
The Film Detective Archives refurbishes the forgotten 1959 film version of The Bat, an adaptation of a play by Depression era mystery writer Mary Roberts Rhinehart (co-written with Avery Hopwood in 1920), a woman referred to as the American Agatha Christie. A previous film version was made in 1926 by Roland West, followed by a 1930 sequel. Concerning a criminal who dresses in a bat costume and terrorizes people while committing crimes, Rhinehart’s character was the basis for American comic book artist Bob Kane’s creation of Batman. Thus, it’s an intriguing ‘origin’ property for several reasons. This particular version, which stands as the last official directorial credit of writer and B-film director Crane Wilbur, is also rather entertaining thanks to its two headlining stars, the inimitable Vincent Price and a rare leading role for the superb character actress, Agnes Moorehead.
Murder mystery writer Cornelia van Gorder (Moorehead) rents an isolated mansion...
Murder mystery writer Cornelia van Gorder (Moorehead) rents an isolated mansion...
- 12/29/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
(This is a review of the roadshow version of The Hateful Eight, which will be screening in true 70Mm in about 50 theaters across the country during the first two weeks after the movie’s release on Christmas Day. The same roadshow version will also screen in other venues digitally rather than on film. Before the roadshow engagement ends, a slightly shortened version, sans overture and intermission, will go into general release on December 31, so if you’re interested in seeing the roadshow version—and if you can, you should see it—read your newspaper or Internet theater listings carefully.)
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Once upon a time, not so very long ago, a friend and I had a friendly discussion online about what it was that made a story a “western.” It seemed to him that, beyond the usual interchangeable trappings of the genre-- six-shooters, ruthless bad guys, conflicted lawmen, a showdown on Main Street...
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Once upon a time, not so very long ago, a friend and I had a friendly discussion online about what it was that made a story a “western.” It seemed to him that, beyond the usual interchangeable trappings of the genre-- six-shooters, ruthless bad guys, conflicted lawmen, a showdown on Main Street...
- 12/22/2015
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
or, Savant picks The Most Impressive Discs of 2015
This is the actual view from Savant Central, looking due North.
What a year! I was able to take one very nice trip back East too see Washington D.C. for the first time, or at least as much as two days' walking in the hot sun and then cool rain would allow. Back home in Los Angeles, we've had a year of extreme drought -- my lawn is looking patriotically ratty -- and we're expecting something called El Niño, that's supposed to be just shy of Old-Testament build-me-an-ark intensity. We withstood heat waves like those in Day the Earth Caught Fire, and now we'll get the storms part. This has been a wild year for DVD Savant, which is still a little unsettled. DVDtalk has been very patient and generous, and so have Stuart Galbraith & Joe Dante; so far everything...
This is the actual view from Savant Central, looking due North.
What a year! I was able to take one very nice trip back East too see Washington D.C. for the first time, or at least as much as two days' walking in the hot sun and then cool rain would allow. Back home in Los Angeles, we've had a year of extreme drought -- my lawn is looking patriotically ratty -- and we're expecting something called El Niño, that's supposed to be just shy of Old-Testament build-me-an-ark intensity. We withstood heat waves like those in Day the Earth Caught Fire, and now we'll get the storms part. This has been a wild year for DVD Savant, which is still a little unsettled. DVDtalk has been very patient and generous, and so have Stuart Galbraith & Joe Dante; so far everything...
- 12/15/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This is a Great film noir. A straying husband's 'innocent' dalliance wrecks lives and puts his marriage in jeopardy. Been there, done that? Dick Powell and Lizabeth Scott are menaced by Raymond Burr, while wife Jane Wyatt is kept in the dark. Andre de Toth's direction puts everyone through the wringer, with a very adult look at the realities of the American marriage contract, circa 1948. Pitfall Blu-ray Kino Lorber Studio Classics 1948 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 86 min. / Street Date November 17, 2015 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Dick Powell, Lizabeth Scott, Jane Wyatt, Raymond Burr, John Litel, Byron Barr, Jimmy Hunt. Cinematography Harry Wild Art Direction Arthur Lonergan Film Editor Walter Thompson Written by Karl Kamb from the novel by Jay Dratler Produced by Samuel Bischoff Directed by André De Toth
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Is 'domestic noir' even a category? I think so. Some of the creepiest late- '40s noir pictures take intrigue,...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Is 'domestic noir' even a category? I think so. Some of the creepiest late- '40s noir pictures take intrigue,...
- 11/17/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Whether you’re all for 3D, or have reserved a special place in hell for those awkward glasses, it would seem that it is here to stay. Long before it turned into the latest service fee added onto the bill of your movie going experience, 3D was a fun (and new) twist for film lovers. And with House of Wax (1953), Warner Bros. created not only the first color major studio 3D film, but one of the finest horror films of the 50’s, period.
Released in April of ’53, House of Wax was a pricey venture (1 million Us to produce), but one that Warner Bros. was willing to bank on after the smash 3D success of Bwana Devil (1952), an independent production. By this point, the major studios were desperate to get people back to the movies, as that new and nasty little box called television halved theatre attendance. What they achieved with...
Released in April of ’53, House of Wax was a pricey venture (1 million Us to produce), but one that Warner Bros. was willing to bank on after the smash 3D success of Bwana Devil (1952), an independent production. By this point, the major studios were desperate to get people back to the movies, as that new and nasty little box called television halved theatre attendance. What they achieved with...
- 8/29/2015
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Quentin Tarantino is going to light up San Diego Comic-Con in a couple of weeks when he struts into town with his western "The Hateful Eight," and one wonders how many of the fanboys will have seen the Robert Altman, Sergio Corbucci, or André de Toth films he references in chatting with EW. Not that it matters. Half of the fun of any Tarantino flick is tracking down the genre gems he mentions as influences. Read More: Quentin Tarantino Saddles Up To Bring 'The Hateful Eight' To Comic-Con His star-studded western about a bunch of rogues facing off in a snow blasted waystation sounds grim, but Tarantino promises it'll have a spark of life to it as well. “I can definitely say that as bleak as our movie is, we are definitely the funniest snow Western ever made. This is funnier than 'The Great Silence,' it...
- 7/2/2015
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Continuing the tradition of brisk pre-Code films, Joel McCrea’s occasional appearances in Gregory La Cava’s 1933 Bed of Roses serve as strange moral medium between the wanton hedonism of the lead Constance Bennett and the upcoming censorship of the era. Screenwriter Wanda Tuchock’s story of jail-hopping prostitutes-on-the-side seems like a victory lap for vice-ridden cinematic world of the early 30s, including flippant talk of suicide, heavily implied sex, liberal boozing, and poking fun at previous attempts of government sponsored moral judgment (“The Eighteenth Amendment is a law, and as a law should be enforced until it stops being a law”). The film begins in a prison as Bennett’s Lorry Evans and partner-in-crime Minnie (Pert Kelton) walk out of their cells, trash-talking life outside in radio-ready cadence and street-ready slang. They have short hair, hats tipped on the side of their head (I assume gravity worked differently in...
- 6/5/2015
- by Zach Lewis
- MUBI
Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.Above: Rainer Werner Fassbinder would have turned 70 this week. Can you imagine how many films unfilmed he would have made between 1982, when he died, and now? At his Movie Poster of the Day Tumblr, Adrian Curry has found a fantastic poster for Fassbinder's 1981 film, Lola.fxguide has a terrific exploration of the computer effects used in George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road.Above: Anna Karina and Jean-Luc Godard. From our Tumblr.New York's essential BAMcinamFest, running June 17 - 28, has announced its 2015 lineup, which features such Notebook favorites as Queen of Earth, Stinking Heaven, and Counting, as well as several premieres including a new short film by our friend and contributor C. Mason Wells.Film Comment's Nicholas Rapold has interviewed with Apichatpong Weerasethakul about Cemetery of Splendour, the best film in Cannes this year.
- 6/3/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
One way of telling the history of photographic arts is to describe a linear progression of more and more realistic picture-making, as if painter's brushes and pencils aimed mainly to approximate the human eye until, finally, photography emerged. (This is the premise André Bazin famously explored in “The Ontology of the Photographic Image.”) Given photography's automatic reproduction, painting could move on to express more boldly, more experimentally, more abstractly. Realism was no longer necessary. Incidentally, a lot of the most visible and most discussed uses of CGI and SFX in contemporary cinema have embodied images, actions, and temporalities that are far from realistic. These digital platforms enable visions of worlds that alter our own sufficiently so as to provide something—escape? Improvement? Color? It doesn't ultimately matter. The point is that the pixel has often been directed towards ends that seem to go against photography (and cinematography's) automatic capture of the world.
- 5/1/2015
- by Zach Campbell
- MUBI
Madame Tussauds
This year, Star Wars will be everywhere. It will be in your face, certainly from May through to December. It will be in our lunchboxes, it will be in our TV sets, it will most definitely be in our cinemas. And once Madame Tussauds open their much-hyped new section, we’ll be able to get it right up in our faces.
Here’s a new video from the wax museum, revealing the process by which a little wax Yoda was made. Seeing as the wee Jedi master was already a sculpted model to start with – not to spoil it for anybody – this is a relatively easy starting point for Tussauds. When they have to replicated Harrison Ford, however… that should be a bit tougher.
If you didn’t watch that video, or couldn’t turn up the sound, you’ll have missed what might be the most exciting bits of information.
This year, Star Wars will be everywhere. It will be in your face, certainly from May through to December. It will be in our lunchboxes, it will be in our TV sets, it will most definitely be in our cinemas. And once Madame Tussauds open their much-hyped new section, we’ll be able to get it right up in our faces.
Here’s a new video from the wax museum, revealing the process by which a little wax Yoda was made. Seeing as the wee Jedi master was already a sculpted model to start with – not to spoil it for anybody – this is a relatively easy starting point for Tussauds. When they have to replicated Harrison Ford, however… that should be a bit tougher.
If you didn’t watch that video, or couldn’t turn up the sound, you’ll have missed what might be the most exciting bits of information.
- 2/3/2015
- by Brendon Connelly
- Obsessed with Film
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