Nearly 80 years after its premier, Gaslight has never felt more relevant. Adapted from Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 play Gas Light, George Cukor’s 1944 film follows a young newlywed named Paula (Ingrid Bergman) as she’s slowly driven to the brink of insanity by her nefarious husband Gregory (Charles Boyer). The film’s title has since been verbified to describe an extended period of psychological manipulation designed to make the victim doubt their sanity and “gaslighting” was recently named the Merriam-Webster word of the year. The dictionary’s official definition is “the act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one’s own advantage;” a perfect description of the way Gregory abuses his wife in the film. Gaslight hit theaters 78 years ago, but Gregory’s tactics are all too familiar today, an intimate and terrifying version of the large-scale manipulation we see all around us.
Set in 1875 London, Gaslight begins with...
Set in 1875 London, Gaslight begins with...
- 1/16/2023
- by Jenn Adams
- bloody-disgusting.com
Hina Khan, Chandan Roy Sanyal and Kunaal Roy Kapur will be seen starring in ‘Shadyantra’, a murder mystery.
Hina, who plays Natasha, said: “I am delighted that my desire to work in a play has been fulfilled and I am making my debut in theatre with ‘Shadyantra.’ I play Natasha who is very naive, trusting and giving but then a tragedy forces her to look at her life and her relationships more closely and then her instinct of self-preservation kicks in.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed playing the character and the whole process as I always wanted to do theatre. This teleplay has given me an opportunity to be part of the theatre fraternity and I am hopeful to be part of more teleplays in future.”
The teleplay narrates the story of a married couple, Rohan Tiwari and Natasha Malhotra Tiwari. Natasha is the heiress of a construction company but leads a...
Hina, who plays Natasha, said: “I am delighted that my desire to work in a play has been fulfilled and I am making my debut in theatre with ‘Shadyantra.’ I play Natasha who is very naive, trusting and giving but then a tragedy forces her to look at her life and her relationships more closely and then her instinct of self-preservation kicks in.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed playing the character and the whole process as I always wanted to do theatre. This teleplay has given me an opportunity to be part of the theatre fraternity and I am hopeful to be part of more teleplays in future.”
The teleplay narrates the story of a married couple, Rohan Tiwari and Natasha Malhotra Tiwari. Natasha is the heiress of a construction company but leads a...
- 12/8/2022
- by Glamsham Bureau
- GlamSham
Patrick Hamilton's play "Gas Light" debuted on the London stage in 1938. It was about Jack and Bella, characters who had recently married but whose relationship is immediately rocky. She hates his flirtatious ways and mishandling of money. Most frustratingly, he seems to disappear from their home for hours at a time without explanation. During this time, the gaslights in the house would dim. Whenever Bella brought up this odd quirk or mentioned any missing objects, Jack would assure her that she was imagining it -- indeed, that she might be going insane. It is from Hamilton's play that the modern vernacular has taken "gaslighting" as a verb.
"Gas Light" was first adapted to film in 1940 by director Thorold Dickinson. That version starred Anton Walbrook and Diana Wynyard, and it was a modest hit. The 1940 version, however, is not nearly as well-remembered as George Cukor's far more popular remake only four years later.
"Gas Light" was first adapted to film in 1940 by director Thorold Dickinson. That version starred Anton Walbrook and Diana Wynyard, and it was a modest hit. The 1940 version, however, is not nearly as well-remembered as George Cukor's far more popular remake only four years later.
- 10/11/2022
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Welcome back to Let’s Scare Bryan to Death, where this month we’re chatting with writer and podcast host Gena Radcliffe. As one half of the Kill by Kill podcast with co-host Patrick Hamilton, Radcliffe pokes fun at slasher tropes while also giving due to the characters so often forgotten in some of our favorite franchises. You can also find Radcliffe over at The Spool, where she writes about horror and a vast array of other pop culture, including music, film, and television.
Radcliffe’s selection for this month takes us to Western Pennsylvania to spend some time with the late, great, George A. Romero. But rather than spending time with hordes of the undead, we’re getting to know the world’s saddest vampire in the 1978 psychological horror film Martin. The titular Martin Mathias (John Amplas) believes himself to be a vampire, but other than a craving for...
Radcliffe’s selection for this month takes us to Western Pennsylvania to spend some time with the late, great, George A. Romero. But rather than spending time with hordes of the undead, we’re getting to know the world’s saddest vampire in the 1978 psychological horror film Martin. The titular Martin Mathias (John Amplas) believes himself to be a vampire, but other than a craving for...
- 7/28/2021
- by Bryan Christopher
- DailyDead
Stars: Katia Winter, Leya Catlett, Zach Avery, Emmy James, Lane Bradbury, Richard Bekins, Jerry Dixon, Marceline Hugot, Patrick Hamilton | Written by Andrew Wong | Directed by Eduardo Rodriguez
Director Eduardo Rodriguez has been, at least for me, something of a underrated talent. His first Hollywood movie, Stash House, was an effective action thriller and his follow-up, El Gringo, was a superb film and star-making vehicle for action star Scott Adkins. And – at least for me – his Fright Night sequel-c0me-remake was a decent entry in the franchise and one that I enjoyed more than the Colin Farrell iteration. So when I discovered his latest feature film, You’re Not Alone, was due out this week – after apparently being filmed in 2016 under the title Unwanted – I knew I had to check it out… And I’m glad I did.
You’re Not Alone tells the story of Emma (Katia Winter) who, after the premature death of her estranged husband,...
Director Eduardo Rodriguez has been, at least for me, something of a underrated talent. His first Hollywood movie, Stash House, was an effective action thriller and his follow-up, El Gringo, was a superb film and star-making vehicle for action star Scott Adkins. And – at least for me – his Fright Night sequel-c0me-remake was a decent entry in the franchise and one that I enjoyed more than the Colin Farrell iteration. So when I discovered his latest feature film, You’re Not Alone, was due out this week – after apparently being filmed in 2016 under the title Unwanted – I knew I had to check it out… And I’m glad I did.
You’re Not Alone tells the story of Emma (Katia Winter) who, after the premature death of her estranged husband,...
- 3/23/2021
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Filming a long, extended take in a movie is one of the best ways to win some acclaim and show off a bit of your directorial prowess. But it’s often so complex and so ambitious that still only a handful of directors have ever dared make their movie to appear as though it was filmed in one continuous, unbroken shot. Sam Mendes is the latest mad man to attempt the feat for his World War I epic “1917,” and boy did he nail it. Here are some other films that helped pave the way for him.
“Rope” (1948)
The master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock was the first to attempt a single-take feature film, taking on a radical experiment with a big budget and A-list stars that included James Stewart. His movie “Rope” was inspired by a play by Patrick Hamilton and concerned a pair of men who murdered someone, hid his...
“Rope” (1948)
The master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock was the first to attempt a single-take feature film, taking on a radical experiment with a big budget and A-list stars that included James Stewart. His movie “Rope” was inspired by a play by Patrick Hamilton and concerned a pair of men who murdered someone, hid his...
- 12/23/2019
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Celebrate Friday the 13th with Our New Audio Commentary for Friday The 13th Part VII – The New Blood
As a special Friday the 13th treat for all Daily Dead readers and Corpse Club listeners, we recorded a new audio commentary to John Carl Buechler's Friday the 13th Part VII – The New Blood!
Recorded by Corpse Club podcast co-hosts Bryan Christopher and Scott Drebit, along with special guests Patrick Hamilton and Gena Radcliffe from the Kill by Kill podcast, this audio commentary is a special gift for all Daily Dead readers and Corpse Club listeners to unwrap and enjoy!
The next time you watch Friday the 13th Part VII, you can listen as Scott, Bryan, Patrick, and Gena take a deep dive into the 1988 sequel, including the film's palpable practical effects, Tina Shepard's telekinetic powers, the haunting unmasking of Jason Voorhees, the film's most memorable kills, and the intense performances by Lar Park Lincoln and Kane Hodder.
You can listen to our new Friday the 13th Part...
Recorded by Corpse Club podcast co-hosts Bryan Christopher and Scott Drebit, along with special guests Patrick Hamilton and Gena Radcliffe from the Kill by Kill podcast, this audio commentary is a special gift for all Daily Dead readers and Corpse Club listeners to unwrap and enjoy!
The next time you watch Friday the 13th Part VII, you can listen as Scott, Bryan, Patrick, and Gena take a deep dive into the 1988 sequel, including the film's palpable practical effects, Tina Shepard's telekinetic powers, the haunting unmasking of Jason Voorhees, the film's most memorable kills, and the intense performances by Lar Park Lincoln and Kane Hodder.
You can listen to our new Friday the 13th Part...
- 12/13/2019
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
The veteran pair duel hypnotically in a mystery thriller whose occasional silliness is masked by storytelling gusto
This mystery thriller is outrageous and irresistible, an old-fashioned drama with dashes of Patricia Highsmith, Patrick Hamilton, John le Carré and maybe Elizabeth Jane Howard’s memoir Slipstream. It features delicious performances by Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen – I don’t think McKellen has had such a juicy role since his turn in the 1998 drama Apt Pupil – and the film has such storytelling gusto that you’ll overlook bits of implausible silliness involving smartphone-type “handsets” with which large financial sums can supposedly be transferred from one bank account to another.
The director is Bill Condon, and it’s adapted by screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher from the bestselling 2016 novel by first-time author Nicholas Searle who caused a flurry of his own by announcing that he was “not allowed to say more about his career than...
This mystery thriller is outrageous and irresistible, an old-fashioned drama with dashes of Patricia Highsmith, Patrick Hamilton, John le Carré and maybe Elizabeth Jane Howard’s memoir Slipstream. It features delicious performances by Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen – I don’t think McKellen has had such a juicy role since his turn in the 1998 drama Apt Pupil – and the film has such storytelling gusto that you’ll overlook bits of implausible silliness involving smartphone-type “handsets” with which large financial sums can supposedly be transferred from one bank account to another.
The director is Bill Condon, and it’s adapted by screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher from the bestselling 2016 novel by first-time author Nicholas Searle who caused a flurry of his own by announcing that he was “not allowed to say more about his career than...
- 11/7/2019
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Alfred Hitchcock celebrates his 119th birthday on August 13. Born in 1899, the director has long been revered as one of the most influential filmmakers of all time. He also holds the unfortunate distinction of being one of Oscar’s biggest losers, with five Best Director nominations and no wins. Still, who needs an Oscar when you’ve impacted world cinema as significantly as “Hitch” has? In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 25 of his greatest films, ranked from worst to best.
Known as “the Master of Suspense,” Hitchcock cut his teeth directing silent movies in his native England. With films like “The Lodger” (1927), he gained a reputation for helming tense and stylish psychological thrillers. With the invention of sound came an added element to Hitchcock’s work: a sly sense of humor.
He moved to America in 1940 to direct two films that earned Best Picture nominations: “Foreign Correspondent” and “Rebecca,...
Known as “the Master of Suspense,” Hitchcock cut his teeth directing silent movies in his native England. With films like “The Lodger” (1927), he gained a reputation for helming tense and stylish psychological thrillers. With the invention of sound came an added element to Hitchcock’s work: a sly sense of humor.
He moved to America in 1940 to direct two films that earned Best Picture nominations: “Foreign Correspondent” and “Rebecca,...
- 8/13/2018
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
This classy Fox production was considered the epitome of sick film subject matter in the pre- Psycho year of 1959, the true story of jazz-age thrill killers Leopold & Loeb. Dean Stockwell and Bradford Dillman are the nihilistic child murderers; Orson Welles stops the show with his portrayal of Clarence Darrow, going under a different name.
Compulsion
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1959 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date March 7, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Orson Welles, Dean Stockwell, Diane Varsi, Bradford Dillman, E.G. Marshall, Richard Anderson, Robert F. Simon, Edward Binns, Gavid McLeod, Russ Bender, Peter Brocco.
Cinematography: William C. Mellor
Film Editor: William Reynolds
Original Music: Lionel Newman
Written by Richard Murphy from a novel by Meyer Levin
Produced by Richard D. Zanuck
Directed by Richard Fleischer
Movies about serial killers and psychos with exotic agendas were much different before Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, which hit America in 1960 like a thrown brick.
Compulsion
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1959 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date March 7, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Orson Welles, Dean Stockwell, Diane Varsi, Bradford Dillman, E.G. Marshall, Richard Anderson, Robert F. Simon, Edward Binns, Gavid McLeod, Russ Bender, Peter Brocco.
Cinematography: William C. Mellor
Film Editor: William Reynolds
Original Music: Lionel Newman
Written by Richard Murphy from a novel by Meyer Levin
Produced by Richard D. Zanuck
Directed by Richard Fleischer
Movies about serial killers and psychos with exotic agendas were much different before Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, which hit America in 1960 like a thrown brick.
- 3/12/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In the middle of the 20th century, Alfred Hitchcock made a career out of generating fear from the mundane. Psycho made us afraid to shower. The Birds had us looking toward the skies for more than just the pigeons looking to crap on our heads. And I’ll be damned if Rear Window didn’t get me to stop spying on my neighbors with a telescopic camera.
Those familiar with Hitchcock’s work likely know that his ability to instill dread stems from his knowledge about the difference between surprise and suspense. According to Hitchcock, to surprise, you simply need to set off a bomb in the middle of a scene. To create suspense, however, the audience needs to know the bomb is there. Suspense is the knowledge that two people are living their lives blissfully unaware that each moment could be their last. That’s why many of Hitchcock...
Those familiar with Hitchcock’s work likely know that his ability to instill dread stems from his knowledge about the difference between surprise and suspense. According to Hitchcock, to surprise, you simply need to set off a bomb in the middle of a scene. To create suspense, however, the audience needs to know the bomb is there. Suspense is the knowledge that two people are living their lives blissfully unaware that each moment could be their last. That’s why many of Hitchcock...
- 2/1/2017
- by Bryan Christopher
- DailyDead
Jimmy Stewart collaborated with Alfred Hitchcock four times, but their first endeavor together was 1948’s “Rope,” based on the play by Patrick Hamilton. Inspired by the notorious killing of a 14-year-old boy by Leopold and Loeb in the 1920s, “Rope” is the second of Hitch’s “limited setting” films (after 1944’s “Lifeboat”) and takes place largely in the same apartment. It also sees Stewart as a dark, manipulative college professor (the ubiquitous good guys always make the best villains, don’t they?) who pushes two of his students (the terrific Farley Granger and John Dall) against each other, which leads them to do the unthinkable and commit murder. Read More: Watch: 9-Minute Video Essay Examines How Alfred Hitchcock Brilliantly Blocks A Scene In an experimental turn, “Rope” is Hitchcock’s first Technicolor film, and, for those who haven’t seen it, gives off the illusion that it is all shot...
- 4/8/2016
- by Samantha Vacca
- The Playlist
“It isn’t here, you must have dreamed you put it there. Are you suggesting that this is a knife I hold in my hand? Have you gone mad, my husband?”
Gaslight plays at The Hi-Pointe Theater (1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, Mo 63117) September 19th at 10:30am as part of their Classic Film Series
Greetings again from the darkness! Husbands were surely disliked in the 1940’s, at least by writers of movies! There is no shortage of films depicting the villainous husband targeting the unsuspecting and defenseless wife. A couple years prior to Gaslight we had Suspcion, and a couple years after, we had Notorious. The latter also features Ingrid Bergman who won her first Oscar for Gaslight, one of the more atmospheric of the psychological thrillers.
Gaslight is based on the Patrick Hamilton play Angel Street, which will be performed live, on stage at St. Louis’ own Rep Theater...
Gaslight plays at The Hi-Pointe Theater (1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, Mo 63117) September 19th at 10:30am as part of their Classic Film Series
Greetings again from the darkness! Husbands were surely disliked in the 1940’s, at least by writers of movies! There is no shortage of films depicting the villainous husband targeting the unsuspecting and defenseless wife. A couple years prior to Gaslight we had Suspcion, and a couple years after, we had Notorious. The latter also features Ingrid Bergman who won her first Oscar for Gaslight, one of the more atmospheric of the psychological thrillers.
Gaslight is based on the Patrick Hamilton play Angel Street, which will be performed live, on stage at St. Louis’ own Rep Theater...
- 9/15/2015
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Rosamund Pike nearly stole the show in David Fincher's "Gone Girl" but he stole the hearts of the Palm Springs International Film Festival's committee members. The actress is getting the Breakthrough Performance Award! Last year, "12 Years A Slave's" Lupita Nyong'o received the same award and walked all the way to Oscar glory!
Pike is joining recently announced recipients Eddie Redmayne, Julianne Moore, and J.K. Simmons. Here's the press release:
Palm Springs, CA (November 21, 2014) . The 26th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (Psiff) will present Rosamund Pike with the Breakthrough Performance Award, Actress at its annual Awards Gala. The Gala will also present awards to previously announced honorees Julianne Moore, Eddie Redmayne and J.K. Simmons. Presented by Cartier, and hosted by Mary Hart, the Awards Gala will be held Saturday, January 3 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The Festival runs January 2-12.
.Rosamund Pike perfectly taps into Gillian Flynn.s...
Pike is joining recently announced recipients Eddie Redmayne, Julianne Moore, and J.K. Simmons. Here's the press release:
Palm Springs, CA (November 21, 2014) . The 26th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (Psiff) will present Rosamund Pike with the Breakthrough Performance Award, Actress at its annual Awards Gala. The Gala will also present awards to previously announced honorees Julianne Moore, Eddie Redmayne and J.K. Simmons. Presented by Cartier, and hosted by Mary Hart, the Awards Gala will be held Saturday, January 3 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The Festival runs January 2-12.
.Rosamund Pike perfectly taps into Gillian Flynn.s...
- 11/21/2014
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
This time on The Forgotten, we've made the film under discussion available to watch, for free, below.
1948 was one of the great years of British film, with Powell & Pressburger, David Lean and others on top form. Terence Fisher, later to make his name at Hammer (Curse of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula, etc.) was only just beginning his career, but he began it well: soon he would co-direct the gripping Hitchcockian yarn So Long at the Fair (1950), but before that came 40-minute short subject To the Public Danger, a thriller revolving around drunk driving.
As four characters meet in an English roadhouse and begin the kind of inebriate evening people fresh from WWII seemed to take in their strides, recklessness and arrogance leads towards inevitable doom, with the boozing accompanied by bullying, seduction, class prejudice, cowardice, paranoia and a slew of other unattractive qualities. The result is not so much mounting tension as an oppressive,...
1948 was one of the great years of British film, with Powell & Pressburger, David Lean and others on top form. Terence Fisher, later to make his name at Hammer (Curse of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula, etc.) was only just beginning his career, but he began it well: soon he would co-direct the gripping Hitchcockian yarn So Long at the Fair (1950), but before that came 40-minute short subject To the Public Danger, a thriller revolving around drunk driving.
As four characters meet in an English roadhouse and begin the kind of inebriate evening people fresh from WWII seemed to take in their strides, recklessness and arrogance leads towards inevitable doom, with the boozing accompanied by bullying, seduction, class prejudice, cowardice, paranoia and a slew of other unattractive qualities. The result is not so much mounting tension as an oppressive,...
- 10/23/2014
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
1. The term "gaslight." The Ingrid Bergman thriller "Gaslight" -- released 70 years ago this week, on May 4, 1944, wasn't the original use of the title. There was Patrick Hamilton's 1938 play "Gas Light," retitled "Angel Street" when it came to Broadway a couple years later. And there was a British film version in 1939, starring Anton Walbrook (later the cruel impresario in "The Red Shoes") and Diana Wynyard.
Still, the glossy 1944 MGM version remains the best-known telling of the tale, with the title an apparent reference to the flickering Victorian lamps that are part of Gregory's (Charles Boyer) scheme to make wife Paula (Bergman) think she's seeing things that aren't there, thus deliberately undermining her sanity in order to have her institutionalized so that he'll be free to ransack the ancestral home to find the missing family jewels.
This version of Hamilton's tale was so popular that it made the word "gaslight"into a verb,...
Still, the glossy 1944 MGM version remains the best-known telling of the tale, with the title an apparent reference to the flickering Victorian lamps that are part of Gregory's (Charles Boyer) scheme to make wife Paula (Bergman) think she's seeing things that aren't there, thus deliberately undermining her sanity in order to have her institutionalized so that he'll be free to ransack the ancestral home to find the missing family jewels.
This version of Hamilton's tale was so popular that it made the word "gaslight"into a verb,...
- 5/9/2014
- by Gary Susman
- Moviefone
(Thorold Dickinson, 1940, BFI, PG)
Although he only directed eight features, Thorold Dickinson (1903-84) had as remarkable and wide-ranging a career in the British cinema as his close contemporaries David Lean and Anthony Asquith. Like Lean, he served a long apprenticeship as an editor. Like Asquith, a fellow liberal, Oxford-educated son of the establishment, he had an early interest in the avant-garde and played a significant role in organising Act, the film industry trade union.
As film critic of the Spectator, Graham Greene praised The High Command and The Arsenal Stadium Mystery, Dickinson's first two films, both thrillers. But there were long absences from commercial cinema. In the late 1930s he spent several years making leftwing documentaries supporting the Spanish government. Much of his second world war was devoted to public information pictures, and for several postwar years he produced pictures for the United Nations. In the 1960s he became Britain's...
Although he only directed eight features, Thorold Dickinson (1903-84) had as remarkable and wide-ranging a career in the British cinema as his close contemporaries David Lean and Anthony Asquith. Like Lean, he served a long apprenticeship as an editor. Like Asquith, a fellow liberal, Oxford-educated son of the establishment, he had an early interest in the avant-garde and played a significant role in organising Act, the film industry trade union.
As film critic of the Spectator, Graham Greene praised The High Command and The Arsenal Stadium Mystery, Dickinson's first two films, both thrillers. But there were long absences from commercial cinema. In the late 1930s he spent several years making leftwing documentaries supporting the Spanish government. Much of his second world war was devoted to public information pictures, and for several postwar years he produced pictures for the United Nations. In the 1960s he became Britain's...
- 12/15/2013
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Given Alfred Hitchcock's penchant for thrilling stories that demanded a big screen cinematic backdrop to play out on, his decision to adapt Patrick Hamilton’s play "Rope" seemed odd. Set in a single room, where there was no mystery exactly but rather the tension of the murderers getting caught, so perhaps the challenge lay in the contained nature of the story. Hitchcock embraced it, decided that it would be his first Technicolor production (what better way to test the format than in a movie with one location?) and then attempted to create the illusion of a single take movie with no obvious cuts between scenes. While these days single takes are almost commonplace, it was certainly a bold move in 1948 and even if through contemporary eyes the experiment didn't quite work, it's still a lot of fun to watch. Vashi Nedomansky has put together a pretty nice 3-minute compilation...
- 10/8/2013
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
I’m a big believer in the axiom that, if a person’s talented, then they will be noticed and remembered. This has been particularly true regarding those in the film business; lots of directors have come and gone, and there have always been good and bad directors, just as there have always been good and bad movies. While we may bemoan the state of whatever era of cinema we may be living in, we can take solace in the fact that the cream will rise, that the great directors of our age will have their names engraved in the annals of film history while their not-so-talented contemporaries will fade away.
Unfortunately, what’s true of directors isn’t always true of films, even the films of great directors. For whatever reason, even when discussing the filmographies of famous directors, some films, even great ones, fall between the cracks, therefore...
Unfortunately, what’s true of directors isn’t always true of films, even the films of great directors. For whatever reason, even when discussing the filmographies of famous directors, some films, even great ones, fall between the cracks, therefore...
- 4/18/2013
- by Alan Howell
- Obsessed with Film
The Italian master's challenging and difficult L'Avventura was booed at its premiere in Cannes. But nowadays the director gets something far more hurtful: indifference
This is the centenary year of Michelangelo Antonioni. He was born on 29 September 1912 and died in 2007 at the age of 94, having worked until almost the very end. As well as everything else, he gave us one of the founding myths of postwar cinema: The Booing of L'Avventura. For film historians, it's as pretty much important as the audience riots at the 1913 premiere of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.
At the Cannes film festival on 15 May 1960, Antonioni presented his L'Avventura, a challenging and difficult film and a decisive break from his earlier work, replete with languorous spaces and silences. This was movie-modernism's difficult birth. The film was jeered so ferociously, so deafeningly, that poor Antonioni and his beautiful star Monica Vitti burst into tears where they sat. There...
This is the centenary year of Michelangelo Antonioni. He was born on 29 September 1912 and died in 2007 at the age of 94, having worked until almost the very end. As well as everything else, he gave us one of the founding myths of postwar cinema: The Booing of L'Avventura. For film historians, it's as pretty much important as the audience riots at the 1913 premiere of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.
At the Cannes film festival on 15 May 1960, Antonioni presented his L'Avventura, a challenging and difficult film and a decisive break from his earlier work, replete with languorous spaces and silences. This was movie-modernism's difficult birth. The film was jeered so ferociously, so deafeningly, that poor Antonioni and his beautiful star Monica Vitti burst into tears where they sat. There...
- 9/27/2012
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
A master of suspense, Hitchcock delights in toying with his audience, repelling and luring his viewers into the scene of a crime – and nowhere more audaciously than in Rope
Rope isn't Hitchcock's best film, but it's one of his most audacious. With this movie, the master of suspense turns a nail-biting setpiece into a full-length feature, and shows us the ugly flipside of the violent thrillers that made his name. Murder in the movies is usually more about motive than consequence. The bad guys have it coming, and killers are much more interesting before they start repenting their crimes. But Rope rejects that formula by taking inspiration from a real-life murder, a particularly cold-hearted one, and rubbernecking on its aftermath.
Rope is the dark shadow of Rear Window, a film Hitchcock made six years later, also with James Stewart, also set in a smart city apartment. In the later film our voyeurism,...
Rope isn't Hitchcock's best film, but it's one of his most audacious. With this movie, the master of suspense turns a nail-biting setpiece into a full-length feature, and shows us the ugly flipside of the violent thrillers that made his name. Murder in the movies is usually more about motive than consequence. The bad guys have it coming, and killers are much more interesting before they start repenting their crimes. But Rope rejects that formula by taking inspiration from a real-life murder, a particularly cold-hearted one, and rubbernecking on its aftermath.
Rope is the dark shadow of Rear Window, a film Hitchcock made six years later, also with James Stewart, also set in a smart city apartment. In the later film our voyeurism,...
- 7/27/2012
- by Pamela Hutchinson
- The Guardian - Film News
Rope (1948) Director: Alfred Hitchcock Writer: Hume Cronyn (Adaptation), Arthur Laurents (Screenplay), Patrick Hamilton (Play), Ben Hecht Stars: James Stewart, John Dall and Farley Granger Studio: Warner Bros. There arent many horror films that portray their first and only murder within the first five minutes of the film, but then Alfred Hitchcock was never much one for convention. Ropes singular hapless victim is dispensed with quickly and…...
- 3/19/2012
- Horrorbid
"I'm not one of those people who sits in the dark, looking at their work from 70 years earlier," Angela Lansbury insists. "I'm really not."
Still, the widely loved stage and screen star is pleased that many of her films are about to be showcased by Turner Classic Movies. The channel has named the "Murder, She Wrote" television icon its Star of the Month for January, with Lansbury festivals running each Wednesday.
The titles range from her screen debut in 1944's "Gaslight" (Jan. 4) to her chilling portrayal of one of movie history's most manipulative mothers in 1962's "The Manchurian Candidate" (Jan. 18) -- both Oscar-nominated performances.
"When I see it now," Lansbury tells Zap2it of her "Gaslight" work, "I say, 'How did you ever have the chutzpah to play that role as you did, at that age?' I'm enormously interested in how I arrived at that performance, but I also...
Still, the widely loved stage and screen star is pleased that many of her films are about to be showcased by Turner Classic Movies. The channel has named the "Murder, She Wrote" television icon its Star of the Month for January, with Lansbury festivals running each Wednesday.
The titles range from her screen debut in 1944's "Gaslight" (Jan. 4) to her chilling portrayal of one of movie history's most manipulative mothers in 1962's "The Manchurian Candidate" (Jan. 18) -- both Oscar-nominated performances.
"When I see it now," Lansbury tells Zap2it of her "Gaslight" work, "I say, 'How did you ever have the chutzpah to play that role as you did, at that age?' I'm enormously interested in how I arrived at that performance, but I also...
- 12/28/2011
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
This gripping thriller, part of the BFI's Bogarde retrospective, daringly smashed through 1961's homosexual taboos, but has weathered best as a study of blackmail and paranoia
As part of a retrospective season dedicated to that utterly unique English actor Dirk Bogarde, BFI Southbank is this week screening his 1961 film Victim. Bogarde stars as Melville Farr, a brilliant, upwardly mobile barrister with a dark past: he's an in-the-closet gay man who risks exposure (in the days when it was illegal) by taking on a homosexual blackmail ring. It was co-written by Janet Green – a thriller/whodunnit specialist who counted Midnight Lace among her credits – and directed by Basil Dearden.
What a gripping film – melodramatic and self-conscious, yes, but forthright and bold. Its tendency to show homosexuality as a tragic, pitiable quirk of nature may now look like condescension, but for the time this was real risk-taking. It has some of the...
As part of a retrospective season dedicated to that utterly unique English actor Dirk Bogarde, BFI Southbank is this week screening his 1961 film Victim. Bogarde stars as Melville Farr, a brilliant, upwardly mobile barrister with a dark past: he's an in-the-closet gay man who risks exposure (in the days when it was illegal) by taking on a homosexual blackmail ring. It was co-written by Janet Green – a thriller/whodunnit specialist who counted Midnight Lace among her credits – and directed by Basil Dearden.
What a gripping film – melodramatic and self-conscious, yes, but forthright and bold. Its tendency to show homosexuality as a tragic, pitiable quirk of nature may now look like condescension, but for the time this was real risk-taking. It has some of the...
- 8/8/2011
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
This article was originally published in 2006 when I kicked off the Personal Canon Project but I'm trying to get all the articles back online. 'The 100 movies I most think about when I think about the movies.'
Rope (1948) Directed by Alfred Hitchcock | Screenplay by Arthur Laurents, Hume Cronyn, and Ben Hecht based on the play "Rope's End" by Patrick Hamilton | Starring: James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger and Cedric Hardwicke | Production Company Transatlantic Pictures and Warner Bros | Released 08/28/48
Hitchcock and the Continuous Shot
Alfred Hitchcock served as auteur-theory training wheels for me. I doubt I'm alone in this. Perhaps it's the confines of his chosen genre that throw his presence as a director into such unmistakable relief. Or maybe it's his celebrity, cultivated through that famous profile, press-baiting soundbites, celebrated fetishes, and television fame. But what it comes down to is this: when watching a Hitchcock film, even uneducated moviegoers,...
Rope (1948) Directed by Alfred Hitchcock | Screenplay by Arthur Laurents, Hume Cronyn, and Ben Hecht based on the play "Rope's End" by Patrick Hamilton | Starring: James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger and Cedric Hardwicke | Production Company Transatlantic Pictures and Warner Bros | Released 08/28/48
Hitchcock and the Continuous Shot
Alfred Hitchcock served as auteur-theory training wheels for me. I doubt I'm alone in this. Perhaps it's the confines of his chosen genre that throw his presence as a director into such unmistakable relief. Or maybe it's his celebrity, cultivated through that famous profile, press-baiting soundbites, celebrated fetishes, and television fame. But what it comes down to is this: when watching a Hitchcock film, even uneducated moviegoers,...
- 6/22/2011
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Playwright and screenwriter who wrote the book for West Side Story
The playwright, screenwriter and director Arthur Laurents has died aged 93. If he was not as well known as some of his collaborators, Laurents was nevertheless intrinsic to the success of the stage musicals West Side Story (1957), Gypsy (1959) and La Cage aux Folles (1983), and the films Rope (1948) and The Way We Were (1973).
Laurents wrote the book for West Side Story, which updated Romeo and Juliet to the streets of New York, with gangs called the Jets and the Sharks replacing the houses of Montague and Capulet. The production was directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. "The book is the shortest on record," said Laurents of his contribution, "yet the last third doesn't have one musical number, neither song nor dance ... The monologue was intended to be an aria sung by Maria.
The playwright, screenwriter and director Arthur Laurents has died aged 93. If he was not as well known as some of his collaborators, Laurents was nevertheless intrinsic to the success of the stage musicals West Side Story (1957), Gypsy (1959) and La Cage aux Folles (1983), and the films Rope (1948) and The Way We Were (1973).
Laurents wrote the book for West Side Story, which updated Romeo and Juliet to the streets of New York, with gangs called the Jets and the Sharks replacing the houses of Montague and Capulet. The production was directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. "The book is the shortest on record," said Laurents of his contribution, "yet the last third doesn't have one musical number, neither song nor dance ... The monologue was intended to be an aria sung by Maria.
- 5/6/2011
- by Christopher Hawtree
- The Guardian - Film News
'Someone once said to me: "Don't take this the wrong way, but you look like Kathy Burke."'
Kathy Burke, 46, was born in London. Her mother died when she was two, and she was raised by neighbours until the age of six, when she was returned to her alcoholic father. At 16, she began to act at the Anna Scher theatre school in Islington and, a year later, got her first role, in the film Scrubbers. She appeared in Harry Enfield's Television Programme, playing characters such as Waynetta Slob, and in the sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme. Her film roles include Nil By Mouth, for which she won the Cannes Palme D'Or. In recent years she has directed plays, and her latest, The Stock Da'wa, is at Hampstead Theatre until 14 May.
What is your earliest memory?
Sausage and chips at Auntie Joan's.
What was your most embarrassing moment?
In my 20s, walking...
Kathy Burke, 46, was born in London. Her mother died when she was two, and she was raised by neighbours until the age of six, when she was returned to her alcoholic father. At 16, she began to act at the Anna Scher theatre school in Islington and, a year later, got her first role, in the film Scrubbers. She appeared in Harry Enfield's Television Programme, playing characters such as Waynetta Slob, and in the sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme. Her film roles include Nil By Mouth, for which she won the Cannes Palme D'Or. In recent years she has directed plays, and her latest, The Stock Da'wa, is at Hampstead Theatre until 14 May.
What is your earliest memory?
Sausage and chips at Auntie Joan's.
What was your most embarrassing moment?
In my 20s, walking...
- 4/15/2011
- by Rosanna Greenstreet
- The Guardian - Film News
We look back at Farley Granger's movie career, from the two masterpieces he made with Alfred Hitchcock to Luchino Visconti's operatic melodrama Senso
Spotted doing a cockney accent in a play while still at high school, Farley Granger was signed to a seven-year deal by MGM in 1943 and soon put to work alongside Anne Baxter and Dana Andrews in The North Star, a pro-Soviet war film about the sufferings of a Ukrainian village under the Nazi yoke.
With a script by blacklistee Lillian Hellman, The North Star – later reissued under the title Armored Attack! – was cited by the House Committee on Un-American Activities as a prime example of Hollywood communist propaganda.
After one more film – The Purple Heart (1944) – and a spell in the navy where he discovered his bisexuality, Granger found himself cast in what would become his breakthrough film, They Live by Night. Shot in 1947, Nicholas Ray...
Spotted doing a cockney accent in a play while still at high school, Farley Granger was signed to a seven-year deal by MGM in 1943 and soon put to work alongside Anne Baxter and Dana Andrews in The North Star, a pro-Soviet war film about the sufferings of a Ukrainian village under the Nazi yoke.
With a script by blacklistee Lillian Hellman, The North Star – later reissued under the title Armored Attack! – was cited by the House Committee on Un-American Activities as a prime example of Hollywood communist propaganda.
After one more film – The Purple Heart (1944) – and a spell in the navy where he discovered his bisexuality, Granger found himself cast in what would become his breakthrough film, They Live by Night. Shot in 1947, Nicholas Ray...
- 3/30/2011
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
My memory of great screen romances has been battered by a stream of filmic bad dates with Jennifer Aniston, but a new pairing is already restoring my faith
If it takes a special kind of churl to be appalled at the sight of young people in love, then the studios have made sourpusses of us all. Of course, raging against the romcom is an old trick – but this is, I believe, a war that can't be surrendered, the genre's crimes having gone a long way to ruining the entire notion of romance in modern cinema. And that is a problem, the memory of Bogart & Bacall and Grant & Hepburn now tainted for a new generation by a thousand soul-withering Jennifer Aniston films.
It takes a whole load of dreadful to besmirch a legacy like that – but besmirched it's been by the string of filmic bad dates on which contemporary cinemagoers have ventured out.
If it takes a special kind of churl to be appalled at the sight of young people in love, then the studios have made sourpusses of us all. Of course, raging against the romcom is an old trick – but this is, I believe, a war that can't be surrendered, the genre's crimes having gone a long way to ruining the entire notion of romance in modern cinema. And that is a problem, the memory of Bogart & Bacall and Grant & Hepburn now tainted for a new generation by a thousand soul-withering Jennifer Aniston films.
It takes a whole load of dreadful to besmirch a legacy like that – but besmirched it's been by the string of filmic bad dates on which contemporary cinemagoers have ventured out.
- 4/23/2010
- by Danny Leigh
- The Guardian - Film News
There are Famous Monsters…and then there are famous monsters.
Both Psycho and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre were inspired by the real-life crimes of mass murderer Ed Gein; The Silence of the Lambs, book and film, incorporated character traits of multiple serial killers in the depiction of Jame Gumb, the psychopath hunted by FBI agent Clarice Starling — with a little help from the imprisoned Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter, himself a (still-mysterious) amalgam of stranger-than-fiction monsters of past and present.
While the profoundly disturbing thriller Se7en reeked with authentic nihilism, and films like Dawn of the Dead and Hostel took blood-soaked pains to offer satiric commentaries on the sorry state of humanity, there’s an entire genre of films that bypass the more commercial goals of “escapism” in favor of more directly dramatizing the horrific tales we’ve read about in the newspapers, pored over in paperback, or seen described...
Both Psycho and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre were inspired by the real-life crimes of mass murderer Ed Gein; The Silence of the Lambs, book and film, incorporated character traits of multiple serial killers in the depiction of Jame Gumb, the psychopath hunted by FBI agent Clarice Starling — with a little help from the imprisoned Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter, himself a (still-mysterious) amalgam of stranger-than-fiction monsters of past and present.
While the profoundly disturbing thriller Se7en reeked with authentic nihilism, and films like Dawn of the Dead and Hostel took blood-soaked pains to offer satiric commentaries on the sorry state of humanity, there’s an entire genre of films that bypass the more commercial goals of “escapism” in favor of more directly dramatizing the horrific tales we’ve read about in the newspapers, pored over in paperback, or seen described...
- 3/15/2010
- by Movies Unlimited
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
Comedy, London
Almeida, London
Cottesloe, London
She's as sculpted and svelte as a trophy. She's the coquette as maquette. It was truly ingenious to cast Keira Knightley in Martin Crimp's updated version of The Misanthrope. Knightley plays a Hollywood actress, a magnified version of her public self. The less she acts, the more she becomes the part. Crimp's play, given a sparky production by Thea Sharrock, carps at suckers-up to celebrity and at media minions; it does so with many postmodernist winks. And what's more postmodern than an attack on celebrity culture which features a celebrity?
First seen in 1996, and now revised, Crimp's adaptation has a go at bankers and at Tom Stoppard; it creates a critic called Covington – bit of a cut and shunt with reviewers' names there – who's a would-be playwright with bad hair and a blazer; it alludes knowingly to Molière. It does all this in tremendously dextrous,...
Almeida, London
Cottesloe, London
She's as sculpted and svelte as a trophy. She's the coquette as maquette. It was truly ingenious to cast Keira Knightley in Martin Crimp's updated version of The Misanthrope. Knightley plays a Hollywood actress, a magnified version of her public self. The less she acts, the more she becomes the part. Crimp's play, given a sparky production by Thea Sharrock, carps at suckers-up to celebrity and at media minions; it does so with many postmodernist winks. And what's more postmodern than an attack on celebrity culture which features a celebrity?
First seen in 1996, and now revised, Crimp's adaptation has a go at bankers and at Tom Stoppard; it creates a critic called Covington – bit of a cut and shunt with reviewers' names there – who's a would-be playwright with bad hair and a blazer; it alludes knowingly to Molière. It does all this in tremendously dextrous,...
- 12/20/2009
- by Susannah Clapp
- The Guardian - Film News
Almeida, London
Patrick Hamilton's 1929 thriller, which he claimed was nothing more than "a De Quinceyish essay in the macabre", makes a bizarre choice for the festive season. But, although the piece has lost some of its flesh-creeping power, it is stylishly done in Roger Michell's swift, interval-free production.
Michell also shifts the focus of interest. Traditionally, the piece is seen as a study of the superman-complex of two Oxford undergraduates who, in committing a murder to show their freedom from moral restraints, hold the mirror up to Nietzsche. Given the piece was partly inspired by the American Leopold-Loeb case, it is also natural, as in Keith Baxter's 1994 revival, to highlight its gay subtext. But Michell seems less interested in the two killers than in their charismatic guest, Rupert Cadell, at a cocktail party staged around the chest containing the body of the murderee.
Rupert, a war-damaged Wildean...
Patrick Hamilton's 1929 thriller, which he claimed was nothing more than "a De Quinceyish essay in the macabre", makes a bizarre choice for the festive season. But, although the piece has lost some of its flesh-creeping power, it is stylishly done in Roger Michell's swift, interval-free production.
Michell also shifts the focus of interest. Traditionally, the piece is seen as a study of the superman-complex of two Oxford undergraduates who, in committing a murder to show their freedom from moral restraints, hold the mirror up to Nietzsche. Given the piece was partly inspired by the American Leopold-Loeb case, it is also natural, as in Keith Baxter's 1994 revival, to highlight its gay subtext. But Michell seems less interested in the two killers than in their charismatic guest, Rupert Cadell, at a cocktail party staged around the chest containing the body of the murderee.
Rupert, a war-damaged Wildean...
- 12/17/2009
- by Michael Billington
- The Guardian - Film News
Keira Knightley's West End debut tops a host of un-Christmassy openings, but time's running out for La Cage aux Folles
We're getting close to Christmas, but there are a remarkable number of unfestive openings this week. Blithe Spirit in Manchester should – of course – be a spirited production, directed by Sarah Frankcom who recently staged Simon Stephens's Punk Rock. In London, Patrick Hamilton's Rope is at the Almeida, the hugely starry Misanthrope with Keira Knightley and Damian Lewis is at the Comedy, Simon Callow is doing his Dickens turn in Dr Marigold and Mr Chips at Riverside Studios, and there's even an Agatha Christie thriller, A Daughter's Daughter, arriving opportunistically at Trafalgar Studios to fill in for a few weeks. Potted Potter, which is silly, hugely enjoyable fun, is in Studio 2. And even in Christmas week there are openings, with the RSC's Twelfth Night arriving at the Novello,...
We're getting close to Christmas, but there are a remarkable number of unfestive openings this week. Blithe Spirit in Manchester should – of course – be a spirited production, directed by Sarah Frankcom who recently staged Simon Stephens's Punk Rock. In London, Patrick Hamilton's Rope is at the Almeida, the hugely starry Misanthrope with Keira Knightley and Damian Lewis is at the Comedy, Simon Callow is doing his Dickens turn in Dr Marigold and Mr Chips at Riverside Studios, and there's even an Agatha Christie thriller, A Daughter's Daughter, arriving opportunistically at Trafalgar Studios to fill in for a few weeks. Potted Potter, which is silly, hugely enjoyable fun, is in Studio 2. And even in Christmas week there are openings, with the RSC's Twelfth Night arriving at the Novello,...
- 12/11/2009
- by Lyn Gardner
- The Guardian - Film News
The 60th anniversary of Robert Hamer's Ealing classic Kind Hearts and Coronets is the perfect time to get acquainted with the witty, provocative book on which it is based
This week, I spoke at the Film Nite discussion group in London on the 60th anniversary of Robert Hamer's Ealing classic Kind Hearts and Coronets. It was a chance to revisit that old chestnut: is it true that you can only make great films from terrible books, and that conversely, great books always get turned into terrible films?
Kind Hearts and Coronets is the elegant black comedy about a suburban draper's assistant, Louis Mazzini, played by Dennis Price, who by a quirk of fate is distantly in line to a dukedom and sets out to murder every single nobleman and noblewoman ahead of him in the succession so that he can get his hands on the ermine. All the...
This week, I spoke at the Film Nite discussion group in London on the 60th anniversary of Robert Hamer's Ealing classic Kind Hearts and Coronets. It was a chance to revisit that old chestnut: is it true that you can only make great films from terrible books, and that conversely, great books always get turned into terrible films?
Kind Hearts and Coronets is the elegant black comedy about a suburban draper's assistant, Louis Mazzini, played by Dennis Price, who by a quirk of fate is distantly in line to a dukedom and sets out to murder every single nobleman and noblewoman ahead of him in the succession so that he can get his hands on the ermine. All the...
- 11/12/2009
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
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