Two Ealing classics – The Lavender Hill Mob and Kind Hearts & Coronets – are heading to 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray: more here.
Lovely, lovely news for fans of the wonderful Ealing Studios: a pair of its most-loved films have been given a 4K restoration, and are heading to the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format.
Charles Crichton’s The Lavender Hill Mob – which is also getting a cinema re-release in the UK this March – is arriving in a special Vintage Classics Collectors Edition set. That set includes a 64-page booklet, artcards, postcards, a Blu-ray and a 4K disc. Included too is an introduction from Martin Scorsese, and new extra features including a London Comedy Film Festival Q&a with Paul Merton.
The film is available for preorder now, and you can find more information – and get a copy – right here.
The release date for The Lavender Hill Mob on 4K disc is 22nd April,...
Lovely, lovely news for fans of the wonderful Ealing Studios: a pair of its most-loved films have been given a 4K restoration, and are heading to the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format.
Charles Crichton’s The Lavender Hill Mob – which is also getting a cinema re-release in the UK this March – is arriving in a special Vintage Classics Collectors Edition set. That set includes a 64-page booklet, artcards, postcards, a Blu-ray and a 4K disc. Included too is an introduction from Martin Scorsese, and new extra features including a London Comedy Film Festival Q&a with Paul Merton.
The film is available for preorder now, and you can find more information – and get a copy – right here.
The release date for The Lavender Hill Mob on 4K disc is 22nd April,...
- 2/21/2024
- by Simon Brew
- Film Stories
Although "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is probably the most widely beloved of them, a strong argument can be made that "The Last Crusade" is the real best entry in the Indiana Jones franchise. The duplicitous Elsa makes for perhaps the most compelling of Indy's love interests, and the introduction of Sean Connery as Indy's father paves the way for a more introspective look at Indiana as a person. "Temple of Doom" might technically be the only prequel in the series, but it's this third movie that seems most interested in exploring Indy's past.
The result is that this is the most intimate of the "Indiana Jones" movies, the one that cares the most about its main character's emotional journey. It's a choice that's reflected in the cinematography, which favors close-ups over the wider shots of the first two films. Some of the most memorable images of "Raiders" are...
The result is that this is the most intimate of the "Indiana Jones" movies, the one that cares the most about its main character's emotional journey. It's a choice that's reflected in the cinematography, which favors close-ups over the wider shots of the first two films. Some of the most memorable images of "Raiders" are...
- 10/7/2023
- by Michael Boyle
- Slash Film
Steven Spielberg's 2008 film "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is unlike the previous three Indiana Jones movies in several vital respects. One might have noticed that the previous movies all featured holy artifacts from one of Earth's major practiced faiths. The Ark of the Covenant from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is a relic sacred to the Jewish people. The Sankara Stones from "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" aren't real, but they are based on Shiva lingams, smooth stones found throughout India in Hindu temples devoted to Shiva. "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" saw the title archaeologist finding the Holy Grail, the cup that Christ used during the Last Supper in Christian mythology. In contrast, "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" saw Indy searching for ... an alien skull.
While crystal skulls are believed to be a part of ancient Aztec and Mayan religious practices,...
While crystal skulls are believed to be a part of ancient Aztec and Mayan religious practices,...
- 9/25/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
"Raiders of the Lost Ark" isn't just the best Indiana Jones movie, it also looks the best of all the films. 1981's inaugural Indy outing is visually stunning thanks to cinematographer Douglas Slocombe's shot composition and lighting. It's even more impressive how good "Raiders" looks when you consider that director Steven Spielberg was in a bit of a hurry to get his shots in the can.
Writing in American Cinematographer, the esteemed filmmaker revealed how the $20 million budget provided by Paramount Pictures would "pay for 87 days of shooting," but that he had a whole other, 73-day schedule worked out. It was all so that Spielberg could, in his words, "make 'Raiders' economically and make it look like $40 million and, in fact, spend only $20 million."
As a result, "Raiders" had Spielberg doing things he swore he'd never do again, like having Harrison Ford race a 300-pound boulder for the film's famous opening sequence — multiple times.
Writing in American Cinematographer, the esteemed filmmaker revealed how the $20 million budget provided by Paramount Pictures would "pay for 87 days of shooting," but that he had a whole other, 73-day schedule worked out. It was all so that Spielberg could, in his words, "make 'Raiders' economically and make it look like $40 million and, in fact, spend only $20 million."
As a result, "Raiders" had Spielberg doing things he swore he'd never do again, like having Harrison Ford race a 300-pound boulder for the film's famous opening sequence — multiple times.
- 9/19/2023
- by Joe Roberts
- Slash Film
He's one of the greatest, most successful filmmakers in the history of the moving image, but there were times throughout his career when even Steven Spielberg needed a hit. Badly.
One such crucial juncture arrived in 1980. After the unprecedented blockbuster combo of "Jaws" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," Spielberg face-planted with the critically reviled World War II comedy "1941." Turns out a lot of folks thought making hay out of the Pacific Coast's gun-toting freakout in the immediate wake of Pearl Harbor was in poor taste. In any event, though the film was a moderate box office hit, it was perceived as a full-scale fiasco for the Hollywood wunderkind. Had success spoiled Steven Spielberg?
Spielberg not only felt the heat, he thought he'd barely escaped disaster with his two smashes. He'd come close to getting fired when "Jaws" went way over schedule (as he scrambled to shoot around a...
One such crucial juncture arrived in 1980. After the unprecedented blockbuster combo of "Jaws" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," Spielberg face-planted with the critically reviled World War II comedy "1941." Turns out a lot of folks thought making hay out of the Pacific Coast's gun-toting freakout in the immediate wake of Pearl Harbor was in poor taste. In any event, though the film was a moderate box office hit, it was perceived as a full-scale fiasco for the Hollywood wunderkind. Had success spoiled Steven Spielberg?
Spielberg not only felt the heat, he thought he'd barely escaped disaster with his two smashes. He'd come close to getting fired when "Jaws" went way over schedule (as he scrambled to shoot around a...
- 9/11/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Making movies can be fun, it can be as boring as watching paint dry, and, sometimes, it can be dangerous. And I'm not even talking about filming stunts where people are crawling under moving trucks or getting electrocuted by Old Testament ghosts and an angry God. There's lots of heavy equipment and dangerous, exotic locations that crew have to be mindful of when they're out of their element.
Case in point: "Raiders of the Lost Ark" cinematographer Douglas Slocombe and his penchant for constantly nearly yeeting himself off of cliffs and other large drops while making the iconic, whip-cracking adventure.
As recounted by director Steven Spielberg in a lengthy piece he wrote for American Cinematographer, Slocombe would get so caught up in looking for a shot that sometimes he'd lose track of his surroundings.
Slocombe was a well-known and well-respected British cinematographer and although he was in his sixties by...
Case in point: "Raiders of the Lost Ark" cinematographer Douglas Slocombe and his penchant for constantly nearly yeeting himself off of cliffs and other large drops while making the iconic, whip-cracking adventure.
As recounted by director Steven Spielberg in a lengthy piece he wrote for American Cinematographer, Slocombe would get so caught up in looking for a shot that sometimes he'd lose track of his surroundings.
Slocombe was a well-known and well-respected British cinematographer and although he was in his sixties by...
- 8/29/2023
- by Eric Vespe
- Slash Film
One of the highlights of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" is Kate Capshaw's energetic and flashy opening musical number. It's a rousing rendition of Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" sung in Mandarin against an ever-increasing backdrop of complicated musical numbers harkening back to the heyday of famous choreographer and director Busby Berkeley. The song is a classic, and even appeared during the recent musical episode of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds." In "Temple of Doom," it's a stunningly photographed sequence by Steven Spielberg's cinematographer, the late, great Douglas Slocombe with head-spinning camera moves and eye-popping color.
If you watch that sequence, everything seems to be designed to draw your eye to Willie Scott, just as if you were in the club watching her. While there are many reasons for this the main reason you can't take your eyes off of her is very simple: she's got on a super shiny dress.
If you watch that sequence, everything seems to be designed to draw your eye to Willie Scott, just as if you were in the club watching her. While there are many reasons for this the main reason you can't take your eyes off of her is very simple: she's got on a super shiny dress.
- 8/19/2023
- by Eric Vespe
- Slash Film
Here’s the thing: you can argue for another Indiana Jones film as the archaeologist’s greatest adventure, but then Raiders comes along and outshines it with a light that reduces all who disrespect it to dust. Raiders is a perfect film: if it had flaws they’d be like the scar on Harrison Ford’s chin: a flourish to set off the perfection of the rest. If Raiders had a flaw (see Note 2), it would be like the deliberate mistake that master Persian carpet weavers introduce to their intricate patterns so that they don’t challenge God himself. And if this film teaches us anything, it’s that challenging God is not a good idea. The other are (mostly) astonishingly great because they’re a lot like Raiders. Raiders is astonishingly great because it is a perfect film.
First and foremost, that’s down to Steven Spielberg, which explains...
First and foremost, that’s down to Steven Spielberg, which explains...
- 6/21/2023
- by Helen O'Hara
- Empire - Movies
Michael Caine’s heist comedy has been rated one of the top UK movies ever. It’s a flip Swingin’ England slapstick thriller, lavishly produced and with an emphasis on fancy cars. Caine is a cockney crook with an insane scheme to steal millions in Red Chinese gold in Turin. Slick stuntwork combines with ‘Team Brit’ humor for a wild escape in a rush hour traffic jam. The lavish goes for show-off spectacle — its real stars are a trio of undersized, underdog UK automobiles.
The Italian Job 4K
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date January 31, 2023 / Available from / 39.95
Starring: Michael Caine, Noël Coward, Benny Hill, Raf Vallone, Tony Beckley, Rossano Brazzi, Margaret Blye, Irene Handl, Michael Standing, Harry Baird, Robert Rietty, Lelia Goldoni, Valery Leon, Lisa Shane.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Production Designer: Disley Jones
Art Director: Michael Knight
Film Editor: John Trumper
Stunt Driving:...
The Italian Job 4K
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date January 31, 2023 / Available from / 39.95
Starring: Michael Caine, Noël Coward, Benny Hill, Raf Vallone, Tony Beckley, Rossano Brazzi, Margaret Blye, Irene Handl, Michael Standing, Harry Baird, Robert Rietty, Lelia Goldoni, Valery Leon, Lisa Shane.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Production Designer: Disley Jones
Art Director: Michael Knight
Film Editor: John Trumper
Stunt Driving:...
- 1/21/2023
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
All those British crime films once deemed undesirable for the National Image are beginning to get the attention they deserve. This story of a single day in a working class section of London has plenty of criminal activity but blends it in with the everyday crimes of desperation and boredom. The Sandigate girls are flirting with trouble but Googie Withers’ Rose Sandigate has gone much further: she’s hiding an escaped fugitive who was once her lover in the vain hope of recapturing her lost youth. Director Robert Hamer examines a dozen distinctive characters on the edge of respectability, in one of the most original ‘Brit noirs’ we’ve seen to date.
It Always Rains on Sunday
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1947 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 92 min. / Street Date November 5, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Googie Withers, John McCallum, Jack Warner, Edward Chapman, Susan Shaw, Patricia Plunkett, Nigel Stock, David Lines, Sydney Tafler,...
It Always Rains on Sunday
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1947 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 92 min. / Street Date November 5, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Googie Withers, John McCallum, Jack Warner, Edward Chapman, Susan Shaw, Patricia Plunkett, Nigel Stock, David Lines, Sydney Tafler,...
- 12/10/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Dust off that old fedora and break out that trusty whip, because Indiana Jones is finally back for one last ride.
After years of rumors, false starts, and rampant speculation, we've actually set our eyes upon brand new footage of Harrison Ford as the world-famous archaeologist extraordinaire, who makes a specialty out of punching Nazis and chewing bubble gum ... and he's all out of gum. Today, Lucasfilm dropped the highly-anticipated trailer and the official title for the artist previously known as "Indy 5," which is now called "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny." What exactly is a dial of destiny, you ask? Beats me, but the cadence and rhythm of that McGuffin sure fits perfectly with the pulpy feel of the rest of the throwback franchise. And that's a huge relief, considering that this will be the first (and presumably only?) "Indiana Jones" movie to be made without the direct fingerprints of a certain Mr.
After years of rumors, false starts, and rampant speculation, we've actually set our eyes upon brand new footage of Harrison Ford as the world-famous archaeologist extraordinaire, who makes a specialty out of punching Nazis and chewing bubble gum ... and he's all out of gum. Today, Lucasfilm dropped the highly-anticipated trailer and the official title for the artist previously known as "Indy 5," which is now called "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny." What exactly is a dial of destiny, you ask? Beats me, but the cadence and rhythm of that McGuffin sure fits perfectly with the pulpy feel of the rest of the throwback franchise. And that's a huge relief, considering that this will be the first (and presumably only?) "Indiana Jones" movie to be made without the direct fingerprints of a certain Mr.
- 12/1/2022
- by Jeremy Mathai
- Slash Film
4K discs are selling like hotcakes so it’s only natural for studios to give Home Theater fanatics the biggest vintage blockbusters. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg’s hyper-efficient, no-loitering juggernaut is a return to the joys of serial action thrills, one ‘did you see that?’ bravura sequence after another. Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones is pitted against Paul Freeman’s villainous Belloq, and the might of Jehovah combats the Nazis. Accept the proposition that Adolf Hitler was ‘nuts about the occult’ and everything else will make logical sense. The picture hasn’t dated at all — it overflows with Gee-Whiz excitement that makes Marvel exploits play like weak tea.
Raiders of the Lost Ark 4K
4K Ultra HD + Digital / Steelbook
Paramount
1981 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 115 min. / Street Date June 14, 2022 / Available from / 30.99
Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott, Alfred Molina, Wolf Kahler, Anthony Chinn, Pat Roach,...
Raiders of the Lost Ark 4K
4K Ultra HD + Digital / Steelbook
Paramount
1981 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 115 min. / Street Date June 14, 2022 / Available from / 30.99
Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott, Alfred Molina, Wolf Kahler, Anthony Chinn, Pat Roach,...
- 6/7/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Peter Yates’ excellent war-movie follow-up to Bullitt landed in the wrong year: the beautifully produced and directed action thriller was barely seen in America. Royal Navy mechanic Peter O’Toole swears vengeance on the U-Boat commander who sunk his ship and murdered its entire crew. Locals in a Caribbean backwater help him to strike back: he must first teach himself to fly an airplane. With support from Horst Janson, Sian Phillips and the great Philippe Noiret, it’s a wartime suspense nail-biter with a little manic obsession thrown in as well. Indicator’s extras feature the great editor-director John Glen, who relates the exciting story of the filming on location in Venezuela.
Murphy’s War
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1971 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 107 min. / Limited Edition / Street Date May 30, 2022 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £19.99
Starring: Peter O’Toole, Sian Phillips, Philippe Noiret, Horst Janson, John Hallam, Ingo Mogendorf.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe...
Murphy’s War
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1971 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 107 min. / Limited Edition / Street Date May 30, 2022 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £19.99
Starring: Peter O’Toole, Sian Phillips, Philippe Noiret, Horst Janson, John Hallam, Ingo Mogendorf.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe...
- 5/10/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
John Huston plays every narrative card in the deck for the difficult task of expressing the great doctor’s insights into psychoanalysis. His actors personalize the concepts of neurosis, etc., investing us in Sigmund’s search for answers in long-ago Vienna. The fascination has multiple levels: in investigating the nature of ‘hysteria’ Dr. Sigmund Freud finds that he shares to a degree the same mental aberrations, as does his mentor. Actor Montgomery Clift was fighting numerous personal demons at the time, and Huston’s directing methods were described by some as cruel. Superb production values and Jerry Goldsmith’s music score enhance the experience. The scan on view is Huston’s director’s cut, not Universal’s shorter original release version.
Freud
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1962 / B&w / 2:35 widescreen / 141 min. / Street Date November 20, 2021 / Freud: The Secret Passion / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Montgomery Clift, Susannah York, Larry Parks, Susan Kohner,...
Freud
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1962 / B&w / 2:35 widescreen / 141 min. / Street Date November 20, 2021 / Freud: The Secret Passion / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Montgomery Clift, Susannah York, Larry Parks, Susan Kohner,...
- 10/26/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
To mark the release of Joseph Losey’s Mr. Klein on 13th September and The Servant on 20th September, we’ve been given 2 bundles of each film to give away on Blu-ray.
Mr. Klein
This brand-new restoration of the César Award-winning political thriller directed by Joseph Losey is starring Alain Delon in a career defining role with a special appearance from Jeanne Moreau. Mr. Klein, with its Kafkaesque focus on the themes of identity and obsession, has become a classic of the doppelgänger paranoia genre and is one of Losey’s darkest films.
Paris, January 1942 – art dealer Robert Klein (Alain Delon) is making a killing. For this loyal Frenchman the Nazi occupation is a unique business opportunity. He stands to profit from the Jewish people’s misfortune, as they sell their possessions in a hurry to leave the country. But when a Jewish newspaper turns up on Klein’s doorstep,...
Mr. Klein
This brand-new restoration of the César Award-winning political thriller directed by Joseph Losey is starring Alain Delon in a career defining role with a special appearance from Jeanne Moreau. Mr. Klein, with its Kafkaesque focus on the themes of identity and obsession, has become a classic of the doppelgänger paranoia genre and is one of Losey’s darkest films.
Paris, January 1942 – art dealer Robert Klein (Alain Delon) is making a killing. For this loyal Frenchman the Nazi occupation is a unique business opportunity. He stands to profit from the Jewish people’s misfortune, as they sell their possessions in a hurry to leave the country. But when a Jewish newspaper turns up on Klein’s doorstep,...
- 9/6/2021
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
As Disney quietly disappears huge swathes of film history into its vaults, I'm going to spend 2020 celebrating Twentieth Century Fox and the Fox Film Corporation's films, what one might call their output if only someone were putting it out.***"Like watching Shirley Temple pull the wings off a fly," was one critic's evocative summary of A High Wind in Jamaica (1965), Alexander Mackendrick's disturbingly faithful rendition of Richard Hughes' striking novel.The book had been a passion project of Mackendrick for years, and he'd tried unsuccessfully to set it up at Ealing, the little British studio which had launched his career, but the story, in which a crew of anachronistic Victorian pirates find themselves inadvertent abductors of a family of schoolchildren, was much too strange and upsetting for producer Michael Balcon. You see, the children utterly destroy the pirates. It was a variation on the theme of "lethal innocence...
- 10/29/2020
- MUBI
As Disney quietly disappears huge swathes of film history into its vaults, I'm going to spend 2020 celebrating Twentieth Century Fox and the Fox Film Corporation's films, what one might call their output if only someone were putting it out.***"One of the truly outstanding incompetents" may have been Orson Welles's hilarious verdict on Franco-Irish director and madman John Guillermin, and looking at something like King Kong (1976) or God help us King Kong Lives (1986) one can't help but sense some justice in this, but in his earlier career, the energetic Guillermin showed some promise. His films throughout the fifties were solid and stolid in the way of too much British cinema of the time, but Rapture (1965) is a crazily stylish tour-de-force of excessive, out-of-control camera lurches and assaults which even Welles might have admired.The previous year Guillermin had made Guns at Batasi, a 99% British feature, but produced by...
- 10/14/2020
- MUBI
By Tim McGlynn
Every so often I come across a movie from years ago that I simply overlooked or didn’t have the opportunity to see. After viewing the Kino-Lorber Blu-ray release of Caravans, I have to say I’m rather sorry I missed this one.
Caravans, directed by James Fargo, had a brief release from Universal in 1978, after which it disappeared with only an ABC-TV airing and sporadic appearances on cable to mark its existence. The trailer promises that Caravans is the greatest desert adventure since Lawrence of Arabia, which clearly it is not. However, there is much to enjoy with this new video release.
The year is 1948 and American diplomat Mark Miller (Michael Sarrazin) is sent to the fictional Middle Eastern country of Zakharstan to search for Ellen Jasper(Jennifer O’ Neill), the daughter of a U.S. senator. Ellen has left her husband, Colonel Nazrullah (Behrouz...
Every so often I come across a movie from years ago that I simply overlooked or didn’t have the opportunity to see. After viewing the Kino-Lorber Blu-ray release of Caravans, I have to say I’m rather sorry I missed this one.
Caravans, directed by James Fargo, had a brief release from Universal in 1978, after which it disappeared with only an ABC-TV airing and sporadic appearances on cable to mark its existence. The trailer promises that Caravans is the greatest desert adventure since Lawrence of Arabia, which clearly it is not. However, there is much to enjoy with this new video release.
The year is 1948 and American diplomat Mark Miller (Michael Sarrazin) is sent to the fictional Middle Eastern country of Zakharstan to search for Ellen Jasper(Jennifer O’ Neill), the daughter of a U.S. senator. Ellen has left her husband, Colonel Nazrullah (Behrouz...
- 10/11/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Steven Soderbergh has been one of modern American cinema’s most restless and forward-thinking artists for just about the entire length of his career (and his short-lived retirement), starting with “Sex, Lies & Videotape” and only venturing deeper into the vanguard from there. When the film industry began flirting with day-and-date releases, Soderbergh was on the frontlines. When iPhones became viable professional-grade movie cameras, Soderbergh unburdened himself of the Hollywood apparatus like an itchy little kid peeling off his suit after church on Sunday. And when a pandemic brought the world to a standstill, it turned out that Soderbergh had made the definitive film about 2020 almost 10 years earlier with “Contagion.” For better or worse, the agile indie godhead has been ahead of the curve.
And yet you never get the sense that he’s more interested in breaking shit than he is in making the movies better, and less compromised by the business around them.
And yet you never get the sense that he’s more interested in breaking shit than he is in making the movies better, and less compromised by the business around them.
- 7/31/2020
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Staring down his prey with sunken eyes and a sinister smile, Alastair Sim was the fiend Charles Addams never got around to drawing. Sim was a quick-change artist who didn’t need makeup to transform from a grasping monster into your favorite uncle – it’s why he remains the greatest interpreter of Ebenezer Scrooge. Whether playing a cold-blooded assassin in The Green Man or a kindly army chaplain in Folly to be Wise he understood as well as anyone why the masks of tragedy and comedy are intertwined.
Sim is one of those figures who’s been consigned to the history books for decades. But by releasing a Blu ray set of the great man’s comedies in 2020, Film Movement Classics, like Scrooge, hasn’t lost their senses – they’ve come to them.
Alastair Sim’s School for Laughter
Blu ray
Film Movement Classics
1954, ’60, ’51, ’47 / 1.67:1, 1.37:1 / 86, 97, 93, 82 min.
Starring Alastair Sim,...
Sim is one of those figures who’s been consigned to the history books for decades. But by releasing a Blu ray set of the great man’s comedies in 2020, Film Movement Classics, like Scrooge, hasn’t lost their senses – they’ve come to them.
Alastair Sim’s School for Laughter
Blu ray
Film Movement Classics
1954, ’60, ’51, ’47 / 1.67:1, 1.37:1 / 86, 97, 93, 82 min.
Starring Alastair Sim,...
- 4/25/2020
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
The 1970s was the Golden Age of the “Movie of the Week” with the three networks –ABC, CBS and NBC — not only offering theatrical flicks several days a week, but also made-for-tv movies. These ran the gamut from the silly — 1973’s “The Horror at 37,000 Feet” — to such acclaimed award-winning fare as 1970’s “Tribes,” 1971’s “Brian’s Song” and “Duel,” 1972’s “That Certain Summer” and “The Glass House,” 1974’s “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” and 1975’s “Queen of the Stardust Ballroom” and “Love Among the Ruins.”
I have especially warm memories of ABC’s “Love Among the Ruins,” which marked the only film pairing of Oscar-winning legends Katharine Hepburn and Laurence Olivier. I was a junior in college when it originally aired and I recall an Sro crowd at the Brooks Hall TV lounge at Allegheny College in Meadville (Sharon Stone’s hometown) Pa to watch the exquisite romantic comedy.
I have especially warm memories of ABC’s “Love Among the Ruins,” which marked the only film pairing of Oscar-winning legends Katharine Hepburn and Laurence Olivier. I was a junior in college when it originally aired and I recall an Sro crowd at the Brooks Hall TV lounge at Allegheny College in Meadville (Sharon Stone’s hometown) Pa to watch the exquisite romantic comedy.
- 4/17/2020
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Toot Toot! The Little Engine that Could becomes a tale of the little town that could, when their tiny rail service is discontinued. A crackerjack cast of Ealing regulars — Stanley Holloway, Naunton Wayne, John Gregson — band together to take over the little spur line and keep it running. We get to see a vintage locomotive from the early 1800s in action, but the appeal isn’t limited to lovers of trains — Ealing’s knack for inspired, understated comedy is all over this show. Plus, it’s the company’s first feature in Technicolor, and is beautifully remastered.
The Titfield Thunderbolt
Blu-ray
Film Movement Classics
1953 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 84 min. / Street Date , 2020 /
Starring: Stanley Holloway, George Relph, Naunton Wayne, John Gregson, Godfrey Tearle, Hugh Griffith, Gabrielle Brune, Sidney James, Reginald Beckwith, Edie Martin, Michael Trubshawe, Jack MacGowran, Ewan Roberts.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editor: Seth Holt
Original Music: Georges Auric
Written by...
The Titfield Thunderbolt
Blu-ray
Film Movement Classics
1953 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 84 min. / Street Date , 2020 /
Starring: Stanley Holloway, George Relph, Naunton Wayne, John Gregson, Godfrey Tearle, Hugh Griffith, Gabrielle Brune, Sidney James, Reginald Beckwith, Edie Martin, Michael Trubshawe, Jack MacGowran, Ewan Roberts.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editor: Seth Holt
Original Music: Georges Auric
Written by...
- 1/11/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
They’re ‘The Men Who Broke the Bank and Lost the Cargo!’ Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway shine in one of the funniest crime comedies ever, Ealing Studios’ tale of a pair of nobodies who take the Bank of England for millions. Guinness’s bank clerk follows his dreams into a big time bullion heist, and the joke is that his ad-hoc mob is the most loyal, ethical band of brothers in the history of crime. This being a caper picture, the suspense is steep as well — just what is going to trip up these brilliantly gifted amateurs?
The Lavender Hill Mob
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1951 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 81 min. / Street Date September 3, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sidney James, Alfie Bass, Audrey Hepburn.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editor: Seth Holt
Original Music: Georges Auric
Written by T.E.B. Clarke
Produced by Michael Balcon
Directed by...
The Lavender Hill Mob
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1951 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 81 min. / Street Date September 3, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sidney James, Alfie Bass, Audrey Hepburn.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editor: Seth Holt
Original Music: Georges Auric
Written by T.E.B. Clarke
Produced by Michael Balcon
Directed by...
- 10/15/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Some movies just don’t get the respect they deserve, which cues pushy reviewers to sing their praises. Forget everything you’ve read and give this Roman Polanski picture a chance — it’s the classiest Halloween treat ever, a lavish blend of Hammer horror, slapstick comedy and wistful romance — plus a vampire horde more balefully scary than a carload of zombies. It’s the beloved Sharon Tate’s best picture, and its vampire king is an original apart from Bela Lugosi and Chris Lee’s Draculas — an aristocratic one-percenter on a satanic mission to put all of humanity in a graveyard of the undead. Warners’ Panavision-Metrocolor restoration is drop-dead beautiful. And they’ve even revived Frank Frazetta’s original ‘jolly chase’ poster art.
The Fearless Vampire Killers or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1967 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 107 91 min. / Dance of the Vampires, Your...
The Fearless Vampire Killers or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1967 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 107 91 min. / Dance of the Vampires, Your...
- 10/8/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Four out of five psychologists agree that something rotten is alive and well between the sawdust and the high wire in the delirious Circus of Horrors. Lame big-top horror pix are common enough, but this fiendishly entertaining delight would inspire the voyeur-sadist in MisterRogers. Anton Diffring is the steely-eyed medical maniac with a mission to populate an insane circus exclusively with cosmetically-enhanced prostitutes and criminals. And I won’t turn that into a White House joke.
Circus of Horrors
Blu-ray
Scream Factory
1960 / Color / 1:78 anamorphic 16:9 / 88/92m. / Phantom of the Circus / Street Date September 10, 2019 / 29.95
Starring: Anton Diffring, Jane Hylton, Kenneth Griffith, Erika Remberg, Conrad Phillips, Yvonne Monlaur, Donald Pleasence, Colette Wilde, Vanda Hudson, Yvonne Romain, John Merivale, Carla Challoner.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editor: Reginald Mills
Makeup: Trevor Crole-Rees
Art Direction: Jack Shampan
Original Music: Muir Mathieson, Franz Reizenstein
Written by George Baxt
Produced by Leslie Parkyn, Julian Wintle
Directed...
Circus of Horrors
Blu-ray
Scream Factory
1960 / Color / 1:78 anamorphic 16:9 / 88/92m. / Phantom of the Circus / Street Date September 10, 2019 / 29.95
Starring: Anton Diffring, Jane Hylton, Kenneth Griffith, Erika Remberg, Conrad Phillips, Yvonne Monlaur, Donald Pleasence, Colette Wilde, Vanda Hudson, Yvonne Romain, John Merivale, Carla Challoner.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editor: Reginald Mills
Makeup: Trevor Crole-Rees
Art Direction: Jack Shampan
Original Music: Muir Mathieson, Franz Reizenstein
Written by George Baxt
Produced by Leslie Parkyn, Julian Wintle
Directed...
- 9/14/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Alexander Mackendrick’s exhilarating pirate adventure mixes accurate history with a fine story of innocence corrupting the corrupt: Anthony Quinn’s pirate goes soft for a 12 year-old girl, and jeopardizes his highly insecure professional standing. James Coburn is superb as the first mate trying to keep the skullduggery on course with a passel of interfering kids on board. And young Deborah Baxter offers an un-sentimentalized portrait of the ordinary magic of childhood. No Summer Magic this! Region-Free German disc.
A High Wind in Jamaica
Blu-ray Caution This May be Region B only see below
Explosive Media GmbH
1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date July 20, 2018 / Sturm über Jamaika / Available at Amazon.de
11.99 Euros Starring: Anthony Quinn, James Coburn, Deborah Baxter, Dennis Price, Lila Kedrova, Nigel Davenport, Isabel Dean, Kenneth J. Warren, Gert Fröbe, Vivienne Ventura
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Art Director: John Hoesli
Film Editor: Derek York
Original Music: Larry Adler
Written by Stanley Mann,...
A High Wind in Jamaica
Blu-ray Caution This May be Region B only see below
Explosive Media GmbH
1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date July 20, 2018 / Sturm über Jamaika / Available at Amazon.de
11.99 Euros Starring: Anthony Quinn, James Coburn, Deborah Baxter, Dennis Price, Lila Kedrova, Nigel Davenport, Isabel Dean, Kenneth J. Warren, Gert Fröbe, Vivienne Ventura
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Art Director: John Hoesli
Film Editor: Derek York
Original Music: Larry Adler
Written by Stanley Mann,...
- 8/31/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
File this great comedy under social science fiction, subheading ‘H’ for hilarious. Alec Guinness’s comic boffin hero is both a bringer of miracles and one of the most dangerous men alive. The story of Sidney Stratton, brilliant chemist and inadvertent industrial terrorist, is a consistent laugh riot. Call the jokes droll, understated, dry, and reserved, but they certainly aren’t stupid — Ealing’s high-class comedy is slapstick heaven, yet hides a lesson about modern economics that most people still haven’t learned. And Guinness’s romantic foil is the woman with the velvet-gravel voice, Joan Greenwood.
The Man in the White Suit
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1951 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 85 min. / Street Date September 3, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Michael Gough, Ernest Thesiger, Howard Marion-Crawford, Henry Mollison, Vida Hope.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Art Direction: Jim Morahan
Film Editor: Bernard Gribble
Original Music:...
The Man in the White Suit
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1951 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 85 min. / Street Date September 3, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Michael Gough, Ernest Thesiger, Howard Marion-Crawford, Henry Mollison, Vida Hope.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Art Direction: Jim Morahan
Film Editor: Bernard Gribble
Original Music:...
- 8/24/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Dead of Night
Blu ray
Kino Lorber
1945 / 1.33 : 1 / 102 Min.
Starring Mervyn Johns, Michael Redgrave, Googie Withers
Cinematography by Douglas Slocombe
Directed by Basil Dearden, Alberto Cavalcant, Charles Chrichton, Robert Hamer
Anthology films have been a reliable Hollywood staple since D.W. Griffith’s time-traveling Intolerance and Paramount’s depression-era dramedy If I Had a Million. The short story format has proved especially popular with horror movie fans who prefer their thrills lean, mean and straight to the point.
That humble subgenre contains multitudes – from Masaki Kobayashi‘s elegant Kwaidan to the comic book stylings of Freddie Francis’s Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors to the state of the art shocker Nightmare Cinema – but the great-granddaddy of them all is surely the 1945 classic from Britain’s Ealing Studios – Dead of Night.
Mervyn Johns, the eternal Everyman, plays Walter Craig, a restoration expert whose newest project – a provincial manor called “Pilgrim’s...
Blu ray
Kino Lorber
1945 / 1.33 : 1 / 102 Min.
Starring Mervyn Johns, Michael Redgrave, Googie Withers
Cinematography by Douglas Slocombe
Directed by Basil Dearden, Alberto Cavalcant, Charles Chrichton, Robert Hamer
Anthology films have been a reliable Hollywood staple since D.W. Griffith’s time-traveling Intolerance and Paramount’s depression-era dramedy If I Had a Million. The short story format has proved especially popular with horror movie fans who prefer their thrills lean, mean and straight to the point.
That humble subgenre contains multitudes – from Masaki Kobayashi‘s elegant Kwaidan to the comic book stylings of Freddie Francis’s Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors to the state of the art shocker Nightmare Cinema – but the great-granddaddy of them all is surely the 1945 classic from Britain’s Ealing Studios – Dead of Night.
Mervyn Johns, the eternal Everyman, plays Walter Craig, a restoration expert whose newest project – a provincial manor called “Pilgrim’s...
- 7/9/2019
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Why do crime caper films have so much appeal? Are we all closet criminals, eager to watch less timid souls risk life and limb to get the big payout and live happily ever after? Peter Yates’ stylish re-telling of England’s Great Train Robbery makes for an excitingly detailed, nonsense-free heist straight from real life, with a just-the-facts clarity. The show begins with an influential car chase — straight through the heart of London.
Robbery
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1967 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date May 21, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Stanley Baker, Joanna Pettet, James Booth, Frank Finlay, Barry Foster, William Marlowe, Clinton Greyn, George Sewell, Glynn Edwards, Julie Ege.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editor: Reginald Beck
Original Music: Johnny Keating
Written by Edward Boyd, George Markstein, Peter Yates, from a story by Gerald Wilson
Produced by Stanley Baker, Michael Deeley
Directed by Peter Yates
I’d always heard about Peter Yates’ Robbery,...
Robbery
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1967 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date May 21, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Stanley Baker, Joanna Pettet, James Booth, Frank Finlay, Barry Foster, William Marlowe, Clinton Greyn, George Sewell, Glynn Edwards, Julie Ege.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editor: Reginald Beck
Original Music: Johnny Keating
Written by Edward Boyd, George Markstein, Peter Yates, from a story by Gerald Wilson
Produced by Stanley Baker, Michael Deeley
Directed by Peter Yates
I’d always heard about Peter Yates’ Robbery,...
- 5/7/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Cinematographer Ben Davis is often credited with a crucial role in creating the visual tone of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In films including “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and “Doctor Strange,” he proved that big-budget superhero films can offer strong characters and soulful visuals.
But at the same time, Davis has kept one foot solidly in the real world, shooting intimate dramas like “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”
Most recently, the Dp handled cinematography on Disney’s live-action “Dumbo” and “Captain Marvel,” the latest comic-book adaptation from Marvel. Both films are being released this month.
That enviable versatility is reminiscent of the classic and beloved Brit DPs under whom he trained, including Douglas Slocombe and Billy Williams, known for their extraordinary adaptability and for lending each film its own singular aesthetic.
“I learned so much from watching them create images, but...
But at the same time, Davis has kept one foot solidly in the real world, shooting intimate dramas like “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”
Most recently, the Dp handled cinematography on Disney’s live-action “Dumbo” and “Captain Marvel,” the latest comic-book adaptation from Marvel. Both films are being released this month.
That enviable versatility is reminiscent of the classic and beloved Brit DPs under whom he trained, including Douglas Slocombe and Billy Williams, known for their extraordinary adaptability and for lending each film its own singular aesthetic.
“I learned so much from watching them create images, but...
- 3/8/2019
- by David Heuring
- Variety Film + TV
This moody, unsettling whodunnit benefits from sensitive cinematography, fine direction and a perfectly-cast group of players. Stephen Boyd gets a worthwhile starring role, backed by some good names and a nice debut from Judi Dench. What I don’t understand is why Pamela Franklin, possibly the most talented and versatile young English player ever, didn’t become a major star. She’s more than half the picture here.
The Third Secret
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1964 / B&W / 2:35 / 103 min. / / Street Date February 25, 2019 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £17.77
Starring: Stephen Boyd, Pamela Franklin, Diane Cilento, Richard Attenborough, Jack Hawkins, Paul Rogers, Alan Webb, Rachel Kempson, Freda Jackson, Judi Dench, Peter Copley, Nigel Davenport, Charles Lloyd Pack, Barbara Hicks.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editor: Frederick Wilson
Original Music: Richard Arnell
Written and Produced by Robert L. Joseph
Directed by Charles Crichton
Trying to keep up a production schedule during the cash-flow crisis of Cleopatra,...
The Third Secret
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1964 / B&W / 2:35 / 103 min. / / Street Date February 25, 2019 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £17.77
Starring: Stephen Boyd, Pamela Franklin, Diane Cilento, Richard Attenborough, Jack Hawkins, Paul Rogers, Alan Webb, Rachel Kempson, Freda Jackson, Judi Dench, Peter Copley, Nigel Davenport, Charles Lloyd Pack, Barbara Hicks.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editor: Frederick Wilson
Original Music: Richard Arnell
Written and Produced by Robert L. Joseph
Directed by Charles Crichton
Trying to keep up a production schedule during the cash-flow crisis of Cleopatra,...
- 3/2/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
One thing that distinguished this year's Il Cinema Ritrovato festival of rare, rediscovered or restored cinema from around the world was the air-conditioning. In previous years, the "cinephile's heaven" had seen people falling asleep at films they'd waited their whole lives to see, struck down by stifling midsummer heat. Now, even that beloved cinematic sweatbox the Jolly can cool its customers enough to mostly stave off somnolence, and if a hardboiled cinephage does pass out, it's more likely to be due to the unforgiving schedule of nine-to-midnight viewings.The doughty traveler can concentrate on seeing everything in one or two strands—retrospectives on the cinema of 1898 and 1918, the work of directors John M. Stahl, Marcello Pagliero, Luciano Emmer and Ylmaz Guney, the studio Fox, the countries China and Russia in the early thirties, and so on... or they can do as I did, sampling almost randomly from across the goodies on offer.
- 7/23/2018
- MUBI
The L-Shaped Room
Blu ray
Twilight Time
1962 / 1:85 / 126 Min. / Street Date December 19, 2017
Starring Leslie Caron, Tom Bell, Brock Peters
Cinematography by Douglas Slocombe
Written by Bryan Forbes
Music by Brahms, John Barry
Edited by Anthony Harvey
Produced by Richard Attenborough
Directed by Bryan Forbes
The winter of 1962 found British films at their most grandiose and self-effacing. Opening at the Odeon was Lawrence of Arabia, using every inch of that cavernous theater’s wide screen. Five minutes up the road Dr. No had just premiered in the smaller but no less lofty London Pavilion.
On the other side of the tracks art houses were bringing starry-eyed Brits back to earth with austere fare like John Schlesinger’s A Kind of Loving and Tony Richardson’s The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.
Those sober-minded dramas, shot in low key black and white with ramshackle flats and grey skies as their backdrops,...
Blu ray
Twilight Time
1962 / 1:85 / 126 Min. / Street Date December 19, 2017
Starring Leslie Caron, Tom Bell, Brock Peters
Cinematography by Douglas Slocombe
Written by Bryan Forbes
Music by Brahms, John Barry
Edited by Anthony Harvey
Produced by Richard Attenborough
Directed by Bryan Forbes
The winter of 1962 found British films at their most grandiose and self-effacing. Opening at the Odeon was Lawrence of Arabia, using every inch of that cavernous theater’s wide screen. Five minutes up the road Dr. No had just premiered in the smaller but no less lofty London Pavilion.
On the other side of the tracks art houses were bringing starry-eyed Brits back to earth with austere fare like John Schlesinger’s A Kind of Loving and Tony Richardson’s The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.
Those sober-minded dramas, shot in low key black and white with ramshackle flats and grey skies as their backdrops,...
- 2/6/2018
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Photographed by Douglas Slocombe, Roman Polanski’s serio-comic tribute to Hammer Studios is probably his most ravishing film. It stars himself and, at her most exquisite, Sharon Tate, along with Jack MacGowran as the addle-pated Professor Abronsius (a vampire hunter more batty than the vampires themselves) and Ferdy Mayne as the aristocratic blood drinker, Count von Krolock. Krzysztof Komeda (Rosemary’s Baby) contributed the eerie score.
- 9/22/2017
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
‘Vertigo,’ ‘Free Fire,’ and Much, Much More
This week on the One Perfect Podcast Channel we have a score of great shows coming up.
First off, Matthew Monagle is joined by critic Tomris Laffly to discuss — what else? — Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire starring Brie Larson, Armie Hammer, and Cillian Murphy. If you don’t know the format, Monagle and his guest discuss the film both before and after seeing it, weighing expectations against reality. The result is a review show unlike every other, and one you have to check it out.
Then on Shot by Shot, the cinematography podcast hosted by myself and One Perfect Shot creator Geoff Todd, we’re talking about a film many consider to be the greatest ever made, Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, which was shot by the Master of Suspense’s favorite Dp, the great Robert Burks.
Then there’s Neil Miller’s The Big Idea, the...
This week on the One Perfect Podcast Channel we have a score of great shows coming up.
First off, Matthew Monagle is joined by critic Tomris Laffly to discuss — what else? — Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire starring Brie Larson, Armie Hammer, and Cillian Murphy. If you don’t know the format, Monagle and his guest discuss the film both before and after seeing it, weighing expectations against reality. The result is a review show unlike every other, and one you have to check it out.
Then on Shot by Shot, the cinematography podcast hosted by myself and One Perfect Shot creator Geoff Todd, we’re talking about a film many consider to be the greatest ever made, Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, which was shot by the Master of Suspense’s favorite Dp, the great Robert Burks.
Then there’s Neil Miller’s The Big Idea, the...
- 4/24/2017
- by H. Perry Horton
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Anthony Harvey’s multiple-Oscar-winning “The Lion in Winter,” his lauded adaptation of the play by James Goldman, is coming back to the big screen, thanks to a carefully crafted 4K restoration from Studiocanal and Rialto Pictures.
The dazzling historical drama stars Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn as King Henry II and his Eleanor of Aquitaine, a royal couple on the cusp of bloody ruin and rebellion. The film also boasts the screen debuts of both Anthony Hopkins (as Richard) and Timothy Dalton (as King Philip of France), with stellar turns from John Castle (as Geoffrey) and Nigel Terry (as John) to round out one of the most impressively casted features in Hollywood history.
Read More: ‘Citizen Kane’ Trailer: Orson Welles’ Classic Get Stunning Restoration for Its 75th Anniversary
“The Lion in Winter” is appropriately set during Christmastime — and you thought your family gatherings were messy — and follows the royal...
The dazzling historical drama stars Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn as King Henry II and his Eleanor of Aquitaine, a royal couple on the cusp of bloody ruin and rebellion. The film also boasts the screen debuts of both Anthony Hopkins (as Richard) and Timothy Dalton (as King Philip of France), with stellar turns from John Castle (as Geoffrey) and Nigel Terry (as John) to round out one of the most impressively casted features in Hollywood history.
Read More: ‘Citizen Kane’ Trailer: Orson Welles’ Classic Get Stunning Restoration for Its 75th Anniversary
“The Lion in Winter” is appropriately set during Christmastime — and you thought your family gatherings were messy — and follows the royal...
- 11/22/2016
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Best Shot 1977 Party, Finale
Julia Cinematography by: Douglas Slocombe (2nd of 3 nominations)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind Cinematography by: Vilmos Zsigmond (1st of 4 nominations. His only win)
In case you missed our little Cinematography 1977 party we previously looked at the Oscar nominees Looking for Mr Goodbar, The Turning Point, and the little seen Ernest Hemingway inspired drama Islands in the Stream. Now that we're entirely out of time (Supporting Actress Smackdown Of 1977 Is Tomorrow!) here's a quick look at our final two nominated pictures. This time we'll do it in the abbreviated spirit we always intended for the series but could never manage due to longwindedness: a single image and why we claim it as "best".
Julia...
Julia Cinematography by: Douglas Slocombe (2nd of 3 nominations)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind Cinematography by: Vilmos Zsigmond (1st of 4 nominations. His only win)
In case you missed our little Cinematography 1977 party we previously looked at the Oscar nominees Looking for Mr Goodbar, The Turning Point, and the little seen Ernest Hemingway inspired drama Islands in the Stream. Now that we're entirely out of time (Supporting Actress Smackdown Of 1977 Is Tomorrow!) here's a quick look at our final two nominated pictures. This time we'll do it in the abbreviated spirit we always intended for the series but could never manage due to longwindedness: a single image and why we claim it as "best".
Julia...
- 7/30/2016
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Cinema Retro has received the following press release:
Cinema Rediscovered | Great films back on big screens
Watershed and partners Independent Cinema Office (Ico), South West Silents and 20th Century Flicks announce the inaugural Cinema Rediscovered (28-31 July 2016) a new major international archive film event taking place in Bristol, UK and surrounding region supported by Film Hub South West & West Midlands, part of the BFI Film Audience Network, awarding funds from the National Lottery.
Taking inspiration from the pioneering Il Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna, Italy, Cinema Rediscovered celebrates cinema going as an event, giving audiences an opportunity to discover or indeed re-discover new digital restorations, film print rarities of early cinema and contemporary classics on the big screen in cinemas including Watershed (Bristol) and Curzon Clevedon Cinema & Arts, one of the oldest continuously-running cinemas in the UK. The South West may not have Bologna’s spectacular Piazza Maggiore or balmy weather,...
Cinema Rediscovered | Great films back on big screens
Watershed and partners Independent Cinema Office (Ico), South West Silents and 20th Century Flicks announce the inaugural Cinema Rediscovered (28-31 July 2016) a new major international archive film event taking place in Bristol, UK and surrounding region supported by Film Hub South West & West Midlands, part of the BFI Film Audience Network, awarding funds from the National Lottery.
Taking inspiration from the pioneering Il Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna, Italy, Cinema Rediscovered celebrates cinema going as an event, giving audiences an opportunity to discover or indeed re-discover new digital restorations, film print rarities of early cinema and contemporary classics on the big screen in cinemas including Watershed (Bristol) and Curzon Clevedon Cinema & Arts, one of the oldest continuously-running cinemas in the UK. The South West may not have Bologna’s spectacular Piazza Maggiore or balmy weather,...
- 7/20/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
We're about one month away from the announcement of this year's Honorary Oscar recipients. They're usuallly announced at the end of August for a November Governor's Awards ceremony. This year's ceremony will be on November 12th. Last year rumors circled that it was Doris Day's turn but that didn't turn out to be accurate. For the past two years, The Film Experience has tried to make up for the dearth of movie site reporting about the Oscar Honorary careers (beyond the sharing of press releases / YouTube videos of their speeches) with mini-retrospectives so we're always hoping they'll choose well to give us wonderful careers to discuss right here.
Let's reprint a list of worthies we shared a year or so ago, with a few adjustments, in case any of the elites in the Academy are undecided about who to put forth or get behind for these coveted honors.
James Ivory...
Let's reprint a list of worthies we shared a year or so ago, with a few adjustments, in case any of the elites in the Academy are undecided about who to put forth or get behind for these coveted honors.
James Ivory...
- 7/19/2016
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Watch the movies. Pick a shot. join us! You can see all the past episodes here.
Tuesday Evening, July 19th
Zootopia (2016, Howard, Moore, Bush. 108 minutes)
It's the second biggest global hit of the year and now that it's available for home viewing let's have a second look at this delightful animated comedy about a utopia threatened when predators go wild again.
Best Shot Special: Mon Jul 24- Fri Jul 29th
Oscar Battles: Best Cinematography 1977
Close Encounters Vilmos Zsigmond
Islands In The Stream Fred J Koenekamp
Julia Douglas Slocombe
Looking For Mr Goodbar William A Fraker
Turning Point Robert Surtees
Choose one or more of Oscar's 1977 Cinematography nominees for your "Best Shot" pleasure. We'll reajudicate the cinematography Oscar battle of 1977 over the final week of July. If this sounds crazy, please note that 1977 happens to be our "Year of the Month" and four of those five titles were also nominated for...
Tuesday Evening, July 19th
Zootopia (2016, Howard, Moore, Bush. 108 minutes)
It's the second biggest global hit of the year and now that it's available for home viewing let's have a second look at this delightful animated comedy about a utopia threatened when predators go wild again.
Best Shot Special: Mon Jul 24- Fri Jul 29th
Oscar Battles: Best Cinematography 1977
Close Encounters Vilmos Zsigmond
Islands In The Stream Fred J Koenekamp
Julia Douglas Slocombe
Looking For Mr Goodbar William A Fraker
Turning Point Robert Surtees
Choose one or more of Oscar's 1977 Cinematography nominees for your "Best Shot" pleasure. We'll reajudicate the cinematography Oscar battle of 1977 over the final week of July. If this sounds crazy, please note that 1977 happens to be our "Year of the Month" and four of those five titles were also nominated for...
- 7/16/2016
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
One of the best-remembered dramas of the '70s gives us controversial actresses, a lavish production and a story by the even more controversial Lillian Hellman. Director Fred Zinnemann makes it into a suspenseful, deeply affecting experience. Julia Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1977 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 118 min. / Ship Date April 12, 2016 / available through Twilight Time Movies / 29.95 Starring Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Robards, Maximilian Schell, Hal Holbrook, Meryl Streep, Rosemary Murphy, Dora Doll, Elisabeth Mortensen, John Glover, Lisa Pelikan, Susan Jones, Cathleen Nesbitt, Maurice Denham. Cinematography Douglas Slocombe Film Editor Walter Murch Original Music Georges Delerue Written by Alvin Sargent based on the story by Lillian Hellman Produced by Richard Roth Directed by Fred Zinnemann
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Fred Zinnemann was a cinema activist from way back, a filmmaker of uncompromising convictions. His most frequent theme is anti-fascism, although he began with a very Soviet-styled pro-union film in Mexico, Redes.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Fred Zinnemann was a cinema activist from way back, a filmmaker of uncompromising convictions. His most frequent theme is anti-fascism, although he began with a very Soviet-styled pro-union film in Mexico, Redes.
- 4/30/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Exclusive: The inaugural Cinema Rediscovered festival will host screenings, workshops and the Ico’s Archive Screening Day 2016.
Bristol’s arts venue Watershed is teaming with the Independent Cinema Office (Ico), South West Silents and 20th Century Flicks to launch a new international archive film festival.
Supported by the BFI Film Audience Network’s Film Hub South West & West Midlands, Cinema Rediscovered will run in and around Bristol between July 28-31, 2016.
Taking inspiration from Il Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna, the event will showcase new digital restorations, film print rarities of early cinema and contemporary classics on the big screen.
Programme highlights include the world premiere of the new restoration of British drama The Lion in Winter (1968) ahead of its release later this year through Studiocanal and a presentation of the 4K restoration of Japanese auteur Nagisa Ôshima’s BAFTA-winning English language debut Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983), starring David Bowie.
The Lion in Winter forms the centrepiece of a tribute...
Bristol’s arts venue Watershed is teaming with the Independent Cinema Office (Ico), South West Silents and 20th Century Flicks to launch a new international archive film festival.
Supported by the BFI Film Audience Network’s Film Hub South West & West Midlands, Cinema Rediscovered will run in and around Bristol between July 28-31, 2016.
Taking inspiration from Il Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna, the event will showcase new digital restorations, film print rarities of early cinema and contemporary classics on the big screen.
Programme highlights include the world premiere of the new restoration of British drama The Lion in Winter (1968) ahead of its release later this year through Studiocanal and a presentation of the 4K restoration of Japanese auteur Nagisa Ôshima’s BAFTA-winning English language debut Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983), starring David Bowie.
The Lion in Winter forms the centrepiece of a tribute...
- 4/27/2016
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
The British film editor’s credits included The Killing Fields, The Mission and Vera Drake.
Jim Clark, the Oscar-winning film editor, has died aged 85 following an illness.
The Guild of British Film and Television Editors (Gbfte), of which Clark was a founding editor, released a statement describing Clark as a “likeable and respected man” who “will be missed especially by Laurence his wife.”
Clark’s glittering career encompassed more than 40 films, including his Oscar and BAFTA-winning work on Roland Joffé’s 1984 war drama The Killing Fields and his BAFTA-winning work on the same director’s historical drama The Mission.
Additional credits included John Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy, on which he was a creative consultant, and more recently as editor for James Bond film The World Is Not Enough and Mike Leigh’s Vera Drake.
Clark detailed some of his colourful experiences in the well-received 2011 memoir Dream Repairman: Adventures in Film Editing.
Douglas Slocombe
Clark...
Jim Clark, the Oscar-winning film editor, has died aged 85 following an illness.
The Guild of British Film and Television Editors (Gbfte), of which Clark was a founding editor, released a statement describing Clark as a “likeable and respected man” who “will be missed especially by Laurence his wife.”
Clark’s glittering career encompassed more than 40 films, including his Oscar and BAFTA-winning work on Roland Joffé’s 1984 war drama The Killing Fields and his BAFTA-winning work on the same director’s historical drama The Mission.
Additional credits included John Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy, on which he was a creative consultant, and more recently as editor for James Bond film The World Is Not Enough and Mike Leigh’s Vera Drake.
Clark detailed some of his colourful experiences in the well-received 2011 memoir Dream Repairman: Adventures in Film Editing.
Douglas Slocombe
Clark...
- 3/1/2016
- ScreenDaily
Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.NEWSThai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, whose brilliant Cemetery of Splendor will be released in the Us this spring, has revealed a new installation work, Home Movie, made for Sydney's 2016 Biennale. According to his website, "an exhibition space hosts a cave-like ritual where people gather to simply take in the light": "In this home-cave, the heat is both comfortable and threatening. A fireball is an organic-like machine with phantom fans to blow away the heat and, at the same time, rouse the fire, which is impossible to put out even in dreams."This season seems to be one of cinema masters passing. In addition to the directors who've died over the last month, we've lost two great cinematographers this week. First, Douglas Slocombe, who shot the first three Indian Jones films,...
- 2/27/2016
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Leading British cinematographer who worked on some of the classic Ealing films and Hollywood blockbusters such as Raiders of the Lost Ark
Douglas Slocombe, who has died aged 103, was one of Britain’s greatest cameramen – an award-winning cinematographer noted for his high contrast shooting and a key figure in British and American film from the heyday of Ealing Studios in the 1940s and 50s onwards.
Slocombe, who was entirely self-taught, had a career spanning more than 40 years and 80 films. He was nominated for Oscars for Travels With My Aunt (1972), Julia (1977) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Bafta recognised him with awards for The Servant (1963), The Great Gatsby (1974) and Julia, nominations for Guns at Batasi (1964), The Lion in Winter (1968) and Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), and a lifetime achievement award in 1993.
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Douglas Slocombe, who has died aged 103, was one of Britain’s greatest cameramen – an award-winning cinematographer noted for his high contrast shooting and a key figure in British and American film from the heyday of Ealing Studios in the 1940s and 50s onwards.
Slocombe, who was entirely self-taught, had a career spanning more than 40 years and 80 films. He was nominated for Oscars for Travels With My Aunt (1972), Julia (1977) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Bafta recognised him with awards for The Servant (1963), The Great Gatsby (1974) and Julia, nominations for Guns at Batasi (1964), The Lion in Winter (1968) and Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), and a lifetime achievement award in 1993.
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- 2/23/2016
- by Sheila Whitaker
- The Guardian - Film News
Douglas Slocombe (1913-2016)Sad news to report. The former "oldest living Oscar nominee" cinematographer Douglas Slocombe died today just two weeks after his 103rd birthday. (If you're curious that makes the goddess Olivia de Havilland, who turns 100 this July, the oldest living Oscar nominee or winner)
Imagine shooting the boulder-roll opening sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark or lighting its snake pit scene with torches! Douglas Slocombe did it. His other two nominations sprang from far more feminine pictures, the Jane Fonda Best Picture nominee Julia (1977. Also: Meryl Streep's film debut!) and the Maggie Smith vehicle Travels With My Aunt (1972).
More on his iimpressive career and some images from key films after the jump...
Imagine shooting the boulder-roll opening sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark or lighting its snake pit scene with torches! Douglas Slocombe did it. His other two nominations sprang from far more feminine pictures, the Jane Fonda Best Picture nominee Julia (1977. Also: Meryl Streep's film debut!) and the Maggie Smith vehicle Travels With My Aunt (1972).
More on his iimpressive career and some images from key films after the jump...
- 2/23/2016
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Slocombe with Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg filming "Raiders of the Lost Ark" in 1981. (Photo: LucasFilm).
Douglas Slocombe, the acclaimed cinematographer and director of photography, has passed away at age 103. Slocombe was revered by directors over a career that extended from 1940 to 1989, when he lensed his final film, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". He had also filmed the first two entries in the Indiana Jones series, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom". Slocombe never won an Oscar but was nominated for "Travels with My Aunt", "Julia" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark". He had been nominated for eleven BAFTA awards, winning three times. Slocombe's other major films include the Ealing Studios British comedy classics starring Alec Guinness, the classic chiller "Dead of Night", "The Blue Max", "The Lion in Winter", the original version of "The Italian Job", "The Fearless Vampire Killers", "The Great Gatsby...
Douglas Slocombe, the acclaimed cinematographer and director of photography, has passed away at age 103. Slocombe was revered by directors over a career that extended from 1940 to 1989, when he lensed his final film, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". He had also filmed the first two entries in the Indiana Jones series, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom". Slocombe never won an Oscar but was nominated for "Travels with My Aunt", "Julia" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark". He had been nominated for eleven BAFTA awards, winning three times. Slocombe's other major films include the Ealing Studios British comedy classics starring Alec Guinness, the classic chiller "Dead of Night", "The Blue Max", "The Lion in Winter", the original version of "The Italian Job", "The Fearless Vampire Killers", "The Great Gatsby...
- 2/22/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Douglas Slocombe, the legendary cinematographer best known for shooting the Indiana Jones trilogy for director Steven Spielberg, has passed away at 103. Although his most well-known films came at the end of his career, Slocombe’s filmography is a masterclass in film craft, showcasing an artist and a technician who knew his way around all genres and […]
The post Douglas Slocombe, Legendary Cinematographer of ‘Indiana Jones’, Dead at 103 appeared first on /Film.
The post Douglas Slocombe, Legendary Cinematographer of ‘Indiana Jones’, Dead at 103 appeared first on /Film.
- 2/22/2016
- by Jacob Hall
- Slash Film
Dailies is a round-up of essential film writing, news bits, videos, and other highlights from across the Internet. If you’d like to submit a piece for consideration, get in touch with us in the comments below or on Twitter at @TheFilmStage.
See the full list of winners of the 2016 Berlin Film Festival at Keyframe, and all of our reviews here.
Watch a short documentary on the career of legendary cinematographer Douglas Slocombe, who has passed away at the age of 103:
RogerEbert.com‘s Matt Zoller Seitz on why Leonardo DiCaprio winning an Oscar for The Revenant would be bad for acting:
The acting-as-punishment routine takes this mentality to its lowest depth. Right now Leonardo DiCaprio is the front-runner in the Best Actor race for his performance in the survival epic “The Revenant,” in which he plays an 1830s trapper seeking revenge against a colleague who betrayed him and...
See the full list of winners of the 2016 Berlin Film Festival at Keyframe, and all of our reviews here.
Watch a short documentary on the career of legendary cinematographer Douglas Slocombe, who has passed away at the age of 103:
RogerEbert.com‘s Matt Zoller Seitz on why Leonardo DiCaprio winning an Oscar for The Revenant would be bad for acting:
The acting-as-punishment routine takes this mentality to its lowest depth. Right now Leonardo DiCaprio is the front-runner in the Best Actor race for his performance in the survival epic “The Revenant,” in which he plays an 1830s trapper seeking revenge against a colleague who betrayed him and...
- 2/22/2016
- by TFS Staff
- The Film Stage
The three-time Oscar nominee is best known for shooting the first three Indiana Jones films and nearly all the classic Ealing comedies
Raiders of the Lost Ark cinematographer Douglas Slocombe has died aged 103 in London.
The Oscar-nominated British director of photography is best known for shooting the first three Indiana Jones films in the 1980s, and nearly all the classic comedies produced by London-based Ealing Studios, including Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) and The Lavender Hill Mob (1951). In total, he shot 80 films.
Continue reading...
Raiders of the Lost Ark cinematographer Douglas Slocombe has died aged 103 in London.
The Oscar-nominated British director of photography is best known for shooting the first three Indiana Jones films in the 1980s, and nearly all the classic comedies produced by London-based Ealing Studios, including Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) and The Lavender Hill Mob (1951). In total, he shot 80 films.
Continue reading...
- 2/22/2016
- by Nigel M Smith
- The Guardian - Film News
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