Until recently, the oldest entertainment program known to survive on color videotape was NBC’s An Evening with Fred Astaire, broadcast live on October 17, 1958.
But now, a rare color videotape of the Kraft Music Hall Starring Milton Berle that predates the Astaire special by nine days has been discovered. The tape will be shown at the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum in Westwood on Saturday, February 24th at 7:30 Pm in a program that is free and open to the public.
“The Berle Kraft tape is the oldest known color videotape of an entertainment program,” said Mark Quigley, the John H. Mitchell Television Curator at the UCLA Film & Television Archive. “Entertainment” is a key distinction. The oldest known color tape is of the NBC Washington studios dedication ceremony on 05-22-1958.
“With the introduction of videotape technology in the broadcast industry starting in 1956, one of...
But now, a rare color videotape of the Kraft Music Hall Starring Milton Berle that predates the Astaire special by nine days has been discovered. The tape will be shown at the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum in Westwood on Saturday, February 24th at 7:30 Pm in a program that is free and open to the public.
“The Berle Kraft tape is the oldest known color videotape of an entertainment program,” said Mark Quigley, the John H. Mitchell Television Curator at the UCLA Film & Television Archive. “Entertainment” is a key distinction. The oldest known color tape is of the NBC Washington studios dedication ceremony on 05-22-1958.
“With the introduction of videotape technology in the broadcast industry starting in 1956, one of...
- 2/9/2024
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
This The Simpsons review contains spoilers.
The Simpsons Season 34 Episode 15
Once again, cartoon violence and mental health go hand-in-hand in solving all dysfunction. The Simpsons proves it’s never too late for a Christmas gift. “Bartless” merrily defaces It’s a Wonderful Life with a purple crayon and drops a new perspective under the Simpson family tree. Bart, the self-proclaimed poster child for evil children, may serve an even lower purpose.
The central story takes place the night after Marge and Homer hear a prank Bart pulled in the elementary school library actually inspired an interest in books to kindergarteners. It forces them to reevaluate a lifelong relationship. The question over whether Marge and Homer like Bart, or only forced to love him, is as raw a nerve as you can poke in any family, and the Simpsons are every family.
Eschewing the couch gag entirely, “Bartless” presents the best opening act for many seasons.
The Simpsons Season 34 Episode 15
Once again, cartoon violence and mental health go hand-in-hand in solving all dysfunction. The Simpsons proves it’s never too late for a Christmas gift. “Bartless” merrily defaces It’s a Wonderful Life with a purple crayon and drops a new perspective under the Simpson family tree. Bart, the self-proclaimed poster child for evil children, may serve an even lower purpose.
The central story takes place the night after Marge and Homer hear a prank Bart pulled in the elementary school library actually inspired an interest in books to kindergarteners. It forces them to reevaluate a lifelong relationship. The question over whether Marge and Homer like Bart, or only forced to love him, is as raw a nerve as you can poke in any family, and the Simpsons are every family.
Eschewing the couch gag entirely, “Bartless” presents the best opening act for many seasons.
- 3/6/2023
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Slasher maniac Art the Clown is back, and so is actor David Howard Thornton in the highly anticipated slasher sequel Terrifier 2.
Following his gruesome demise in the first film, a sinister presence has brought Art back to life to rein terror on the residents of Miles County. On Halloween night, he returns to the unassuming town and sets his sights on fresh prey: a teenage girl and her little brother.
Bloody Disgusting, Cinedigm, and Iconic Events are bringing Damien Leone’s Terrifier 2 to theaters nationwide on October 6 – get your tickets now! Ahead of the release, Thornton chatted with Bloody Disgusting about how changes in the makeup process evolved the killer clown in this sequel, along with an increase in the actor’s confidence.
Thornton said of his mindset coming into Terrifier 2, “I think I was a lot more excited this time around. I think there’s a...
Following his gruesome demise in the first film, a sinister presence has brought Art back to life to rein terror on the residents of Miles County. On Halloween night, he returns to the unassuming town and sets his sights on fresh prey: a teenage girl and her little brother.
Bloody Disgusting, Cinedigm, and Iconic Events are bringing Damien Leone’s Terrifier 2 to theaters nationwide on October 6 – get your tickets now! Ahead of the release, Thornton chatted with Bloody Disgusting about how changes in the makeup process evolved the killer clown in this sequel, along with an increase in the actor’s confidence.
Thornton said of his mindset coming into Terrifier 2, “I think I was a lot more excited this time around. I think there’s a...
- 10/6/2022
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
When the process of gathering materials for “Lucy and Desi” started, producer Jeanne Elfant Festa remembers was not prepared for the discovery that Lucy Arnaz Luckinbill would find. “I was in her pantry. I was literally stretching and I looked up and I saw a lockbox. I said ‘Lucy, what is that?’” she tells Gold Derby during our Meet the Experts: TV Documentary panel (watch the exclusive video interview above). Arnaz discovered that the surprise of the lockbox contained several of Lucy’s tapes that included recordings from after Lucy and Desi were divorced as well as Desi, Vivian Vance and the kids reenacting their favorite scenes from “I Love Lucy” with Lucy directing them. “It was just so beautiful because it also instilled the relationship that we all wanted to cling to, which is the throughline of the film. They maintained that respect and love for each other until...
- 8/11/2022
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
Our first episode back in the studio! Robert Weide discusses a few of his favorite movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008)
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010)
Mother Night (1996)
Woody Allen: A Documentary (2011)
Mort Sahl: The Loyal Opposition (1989)
Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth (1998)
Marx Brothers in a Nutshell (1982)
W.C. Fields: Straight Up (1986)
Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time (2021)
It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
Mary Poppins (1964)
The French Connection (1971) – Dennis Lehane’s trailer commentary, Mark Pellington’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
The Magnificent Seven (1960) – Jesus Treviño’s trailer commentary
The Godfather (1972) – Ernest Dickerson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
The Exorcist (1973) – Oren Peli’s trailer commentary
Patton (1970) – Rod Lurie’s trailer commentary
Mash (1970)
Short Cuts (1993) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Lenny...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008)
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010)
Mother Night (1996)
Woody Allen: A Documentary (2011)
Mort Sahl: The Loyal Opposition (1989)
Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth (1998)
Marx Brothers in a Nutshell (1982)
W.C. Fields: Straight Up (1986)
Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time (2021)
It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
Mary Poppins (1964)
The French Connection (1971) – Dennis Lehane’s trailer commentary, Mark Pellington’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
The Magnificent Seven (1960) – Jesus Treviño’s trailer commentary
The Godfather (1972) – Ernest Dickerson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
The Exorcist (1973) – Oren Peli’s trailer commentary
Patton (1970) – Rod Lurie’s trailer commentary
Mash (1970)
Short Cuts (1993) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Lenny...
- 11/30/2021
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Mummies may be par for the course on Halloween, but when the Disney Channel gets involved, the undead creatures take on a life of their own. Just on time for the holiday comes “Under Wraps,” a movie about a 4000-year-old mummy named Harold (Phil Wright) who is brought back to life by three friends.
Since Harold speaks only through a series of grunts, Wright’s expertise as a dancer and choreographer were key as he uses physicality to help define the character. Writer and director Alex Zamm provided Wright with a personal reference when describing how he envisioned the role, recounting when his son was “a constipated toddler who would walk in this way, lumbering forward, teetering always off balance.”
Beyond Zamm’s son, physical comedians like Harpo Marx and Lucille Ball became touchstones of Harold’s development.
Apart from the broad strokes of physical comedy inspiration, Harold’s look...
Since Harold speaks only through a series of grunts, Wright’s expertise as a dancer and choreographer were key as he uses physicality to help define the character. Writer and director Alex Zamm provided Wright with a personal reference when describing how he envisioned the role, recounting when his son was “a constipated toddler who would walk in this way, lumbering forward, teetering always off balance.”
Beyond Zamm’s son, physical comedians like Harpo Marx and Lucille Ball became touchstones of Harold’s development.
Apart from the broad strokes of physical comedy inspiration, Harold’s look...
- 9/30/2021
- by Zoe Hewitt
- Variety Film + TV
You’ve probably seen John Belushi’s screen test for Saturday Night Live. It’s been floating around the internet for a while, and shows up on the occasional SNL original-cast docs. Part of the four-minute clip opens R.J. Cutler’s Belushi, his portrait of the comedian premiering on Showtime (starting November 22nd). By the time he got to 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the Chicago-born, Albanian-American 26-year-old had already become the Tasmanian devil of Second City’s stage shows, the standout’s of National Lampoon’s off-off-Broadway satire Lemmings and Michael O’Donoghue...
- 11/20/2020
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
When it comes to Old Hollywood screenwriters, there are few names that loom larger than Mankiewicz. That is probably because between two very different Mankiewicz brothers, some of the greatest screenplays of all-time were penned. In the case of Herman J. Mankiewicz that included The Wizard of Oz (1939), San Francisco (1936), The Pride of the Yankees (1942), and a little movie called Citizen Kane (1941). And it’s in the latter’s style filmmaker David Fincher is visiting Mank’s life.
In Fincher’s first film at Netflix, the modern filmmaker is teaming with Gary Oldman, still fresh off his Oscar win for playing Winston Churchill, to offer a highly stylized and intriguing interpretation of the life and times of Herman “Mank” Mankiewicz at time when the silver screen was still black and white, and life in a smoke-filled Tinseltown took on an ambiguous gray.
With a teaser trailer absolutely dripping with atmosphere,...
In Fincher’s first film at Netflix, the modern filmmaker is teaming with Gary Oldman, still fresh off his Oscar win for playing Winston Churchill, to offer a highly stylized and intriguing interpretation of the life and times of Herman “Mank” Mankiewicz at time when the silver screen was still black and white, and life in a smoke-filled Tinseltown took on an ambiguous gray.
With a teaser trailer absolutely dripping with atmosphere,...
- 10/8/2020
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Our 100th Guest! Comedy icon Martin Short joins us to discuss a few of the movies that made him.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Innerspace (1987)
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
On The Waterfront (1954)
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
Terms Of Endearment (1983)
Moby Dick (1956)
The Exorcist (1973)
King Kong (1933)
A History Of Violence (2005)
A Song To Remember (1945)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Annie Hall (1977)
The Oscar (1966)
Sleeper (1973)
Bananas (1971)
City Lights (1931)
September (1987)
The Harder They Fall (1956)
Bad Day At Black Rock (1955)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Kiss Me Stupid (1964)
The Ox-Bow Incident (1942)
The Bad And The Beautiful (1953)
Ben-Hur (1959)
Spartacus (1960)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
The Graduate (1967)
Klute (1971)
Blow-Up (1966)
Blow Out (1981)
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather Part II (1974)
The Godfather Part III (1990)
Burn! (1970)
Reflections In A Golden Eye (1967)
Grease 2 (1982)
The Conversation (1974)
Back To The Future (1985)
Other Notable Items
Saturday Night Live TV...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Innerspace (1987)
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
On The Waterfront (1954)
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
Terms Of Endearment (1983)
Moby Dick (1956)
The Exorcist (1973)
King Kong (1933)
A History Of Violence (2005)
A Song To Remember (1945)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Annie Hall (1977)
The Oscar (1966)
Sleeper (1973)
Bananas (1971)
City Lights (1931)
September (1987)
The Harder They Fall (1956)
Bad Day At Black Rock (1955)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Kiss Me Stupid (1964)
The Ox-Bow Incident (1942)
The Bad And The Beautiful (1953)
Ben-Hur (1959)
Spartacus (1960)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
The Graduate (1967)
Klute (1971)
Blow-Up (1966)
Blow Out (1981)
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather Part II (1974)
The Godfather Part III (1990)
Burn! (1970)
Reflections In A Golden Eye (1967)
Grease 2 (1982)
The Conversation (1974)
Back To The Future (1985)
Other Notable Items
Saturday Night Live TV...
- 8/25/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Vincente Minnelli took time out from expensive MGM shows like Gigi to knock off this tale about the London debutante season, a light-comedy Cinderella story without satire or social comment. Young Sandra Dee and John Saxon come off well, but the show belongs to stars Rex Harrison and especially Kay Kendall, whose comedy timing and finesse lift the tame, weightless material.
The Reluctant Debutante
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1958 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 96 min. / Street Date May 26, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Rex Harrison, Kay Kendall, John Saxon, Sandra Dee, Angela Lansbury, Peter Myers, Diane Clare, Charles Herbert.
Cinematography: Joseph Ruttenberg
Film Editor: Adrienne Fazan
Written by William Douglas-Home from his play
Produced by Pandro S. Berman
Directed by Vincente Minnelli
Not often mentioned as a highlight of Vincente Minnelli’s career, The Reluctant Debutante is enjoyable now for the comedy playing of Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall. Harrison hadn’t been...
The Reluctant Debutante
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1958 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 96 min. / Street Date May 26, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Rex Harrison, Kay Kendall, John Saxon, Sandra Dee, Angela Lansbury, Peter Myers, Diane Clare, Charles Herbert.
Cinematography: Joseph Ruttenberg
Film Editor: Adrienne Fazan
Written by William Douglas-Home from his play
Produced by Pandro S. Berman
Directed by Vincente Minnelli
Not often mentioned as a highlight of Vincente Minnelli’s career, The Reluctant Debutante is enjoyable now for the comedy playing of Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall. Harrison hadn’t been...
- 6/30/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Movies to watch when you’re staying in for a while, featuring recommendations from Dana Gould, Daniel Waters, Scott Alexander, and Allison Anders.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Destroy All Monsters (1969)
Planet Of The Apes (1968)
Beneath The Planet of the Apes (1970)
Escape From The Planet Of The Apes (1971)
Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes (1972)
Battle For The Planet Of The Apes (1973)
Suparpie
The Wizard Of Oz (1939)
Hello Down There (1969)
Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
Thirteen Days (2000)
Stalker (1979)
Last Year At Marienbad (1961)
No Exit (1962)
The Exterminating Angel (1962)
Sleeper (1973)
The Tenant (1976)
Final Cut: Ladies And Gentlemen (2012)
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990)
La classe américaine (1993)
The Sex Adventures of a Single Man a.k.a. The 24 Hour Lover (1968)
The Omega Man (1971)
Soylent Green (1973)
Knives Out (2019)
The Hunt (2020)
Banana Split (2020)
The Cocoanuts (1929)
Animal Crackers (1930)
Monkey Business (1931)
Horse Feathers (1932)
Duck Soup (1933)
A Night At The Opera (1935)
The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant (1971)
Susan Slade (1961)
My Blood Runs Cold...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Destroy All Monsters (1969)
Planet Of The Apes (1968)
Beneath The Planet of the Apes (1970)
Escape From The Planet Of The Apes (1971)
Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes (1972)
Battle For The Planet Of The Apes (1973)
Suparpie
The Wizard Of Oz (1939)
Hello Down There (1969)
Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
Thirteen Days (2000)
Stalker (1979)
Last Year At Marienbad (1961)
No Exit (1962)
The Exterminating Angel (1962)
Sleeper (1973)
The Tenant (1976)
Final Cut: Ladies And Gentlemen (2012)
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990)
La classe américaine (1993)
The Sex Adventures of a Single Man a.k.a. The 24 Hour Lover (1968)
The Omega Man (1971)
Soylent Green (1973)
Knives Out (2019)
The Hunt (2020)
Banana Split (2020)
The Cocoanuts (1929)
Animal Crackers (1930)
Monkey Business (1931)
Horse Feathers (1932)
Duck Soup (1933)
A Night At The Opera (1935)
The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant (1971)
Susan Slade (1961)
My Blood Runs Cold...
- 3/27/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
The great Larry Wilmore joins us to share some very personal double features.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
1917 (2019)
Animal Crackers (1930)
Duck Soup (1933)
My Little Chickadee (1940)
A Night At The Opera (1935)
A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
The Parallax View (1974)
Singin’ In The Rain (1952)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Jaws (1975)
The Stepford Wives (1975)
The Party (1968)
The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)
The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
Richard Pryor: Live In Concert (1979)
Richard Pryor: Live And Smokin’ (1971)
Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986)
Dolemite Is My Name (2019)
Lenny (1974)
The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009)
Lolita (1962)
Caligula (1979)
The Night of the Iguana (1964)
The Elephant Man (1980)
What Would Jack Do? (2020)
Blue Velvet (1986)
The Apartment (1960)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Double Indemnity (1944)
The Sting (1973)
Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
1917 (2019)
Animal Crackers (1930)
Duck Soup (1933)
My Little Chickadee (1940)
A Night At The Opera (1935)
A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
The Parallax View (1974)
Singin’ In The Rain (1952)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Jaws (1975)
The Stepford Wives (1975)
The Party (1968)
The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)
The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
Richard Pryor: Live In Concert (1979)
Richard Pryor: Live And Smokin’ (1971)
Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986)
Dolemite Is My Name (2019)
Lenny (1974)
The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009)
Lolita (1962)
Caligula (1979)
The Night of the Iguana (1964)
The Elephant Man (1980)
What Would Jack Do? (2020)
Blue Velvet (1986)
The Apartment (1960)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Double Indemnity (1944)
The Sting (1973)
Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid...
- 3/10/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Josh Samuel Frank will be speaking Monday November 11th at 1pm at Jewish Community Center’s Staenberg Family Complex in Creve Coeur (2 Millstone Blvd) as part of this year’s 2019 St. Louis Jewish Book Festival. Ticket information can be found Here
Giraffes on Horseback Salad was a Marx Brothers film, written by modern art icon Salvador Dali who’d befriended Harpo. Rejected by MGM, the script was thought lost forever. But author Josh Frank found it, and, with comedian Tim Heidecker and Spanish comics creator Manuela Pertega, he’s re-created the film as a graphic novel in all its gorgeous, full-color, cinematic, surreal glory. It is the story of two unlikely friends, a Jewish super star film icon, and Spanish painter,...
Giraffes on Horseback Salad was a Marx Brothers film, written by modern art icon Salvador Dali who’d befriended Harpo. Rejected by MGM, the script was thought lost forever. But author Josh Frank found it, and, with comedian Tim Heidecker and Spanish comics creator Manuela Pertega, he’s re-created the film as a graphic novel in all its gorgeous, full-color, cinematic, surreal glory. It is the story of two unlikely friends, a Jewish super star film icon, and Spanish painter,...
- 11/5/2019
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
David Crow Jul 11, 2019
Gary Oldman will play Herman Mankiewicz for David Fincher in Mank. It will cover the making of Citizen Kane and The Wizard of Oz.
David Fincher and Gary Oldman finally working together feels like it’s destined to be movie history, but the fact that it’s occurring for a Herman Mankiewicz biopic is doubly on-the-nose. The film, which will reveal how a newspaper man became the screenwriter of what many consider to be the finest film ever produced, 1941’s Citizen Kane, is set-up for Fincher at Netflix, indicative of an ever growing relationship between the streaming service and Oscar nominated auteur. It also promises to be a personal film for the director as his own father, Jack Fincher, wrote the screenplay.
The film, which is currently titled Mank, is one Fincher has wanted to make since 1997—so after Se7en and The Game but before Fight Club...
Gary Oldman will play Herman Mankiewicz for David Fincher in Mank. It will cover the making of Citizen Kane and The Wizard of Oz.
David Fincher and Gary Oldman finally working together feels like it’s destined to be movie history, but the fact that it’s occurring for a Herman Mankiewicz biopic is doubly on-the-nose. The film, which will reveal how a newspaper man became the screenwriter of what many consider to be the finest film ever produced, 1941’s Citizen Kane, is set-up for Fincher at Netflix, indicative of an ever growing relationship between the streaming service and Oscar nominated auteur. It also promises to be a personal film for the director as his own father, Jack Fincher, wrote the screenplay.
The film, which is currently titled Mank, is one Fincher has wanted to make since 1997—so after Se7en and The Game but before Fight Club...
- 7/11/2019
- Den of Geek
Tony Sokol Mar 2, 2019
Graphic novel Giraffes on Horseback Salad puts together the Salvador Dalí Marx Brothers film that was never made.
The iconic surrealist artist Salvador Dalí was obsessed with the anarchic harpist Harpo Marx and wrote a screenplay for what he hoped would become a Marx Brother movie. Or Dalí didn't hope, as he considered the screenplay art enough. The upcoming graphic novel Giraffes on Horseback Salad pieces together what some papers have called one of the greatest movies never made. Written by Josh Frank, Giraffes on Horseback Salad comes out from Quirk Publishers on March 19.
"Grab some popcorn and take a seat," reads the official book synopsis. "The curtain is about to rise on a film like no other! But first, the real-life backstory: Giraffes on Horseback Salad was a Marx Brothers film written by modern art icon Salvador Dalí, who’d befriended Harpo. Rejected by MGM, the script was thought lost forever.
Graphic novel Giraffes on Horseback Salad puts together the Salvador Dalí Marx Brothers film that was never made.
The iconic surrealist artist Salvador Dalí was obsessed with the anarchic harpist Harpo Marx and wrote a screenplay for what he hoped would become a Marx Brother movie. Or Dalí didn't hope, as he considered the screenplay art enough. The upcoming graphic novel Giraffes on Horseback Salad pieces together what some papers have called one of the greatest movies never made. Written by Josh Frank, Giraffes on Horseback Salad comes out from Quirk Publishers on March 19.
"Grab some popcorn and take a seat," reads the official book synopsis. "The curtain is about to rise on a film like no other! But first, the real-life backstory: Giraffes on Horseback Salad was a Marx Brothers film written by modern art icon Salvador Dalí, who’d befriended Harpo. Rejected by MGM, the script was thought lost forever.
- 3/3/2019
- Den of Geek
Reportedly the biggest-budgeted and most widely released Bollywood production ever, “Thugs of Hindostan” is an exuberantly excessive masala of swashbuckling heroics, broader-than-broad comedy, propulsively choreographed action, and raucously caffeinated song-and-dance sequences. Writer-director Vijay Krishna Acharya, a creative force behind the popular “Dhoom” movies, has borrowed freely from Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean,” even to the point of having Indian superstar Aamir Khan often come across as a smudged carbon of Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow while playing a similarly unreliable rogue. But for all its recycled elements and predictable narrative stratagems, this diverting Diwali-timed extravaganza stands on its own merits as a lightly satisfying popcorn epic — provided, of course, you have a taste for such over-the-top amusement.
During the darkly majestic opening scenes — set in 1795, when the Indian subcontinent was known as Hindostan — Acharya provides the impetus for a tale of rebellion, revenge, and redemption as members of a...
During the darkly majestic opening scenes — set in 1795, when the Indian subcontinent was known as Hindostan — Acharya provides the impetus for a tale of rebellion, revenge, and redemption as members of a...
- 11/11/2018
- by Joe Leydon
- Variety Film + TV
Welcome to this week’s Ring of Honor review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and this turned out to be a big night for the league and we will be able to enjoy people beating the hell out of each other for money. Don’t walk away… Renee.
Match #1: The Briscoes beat Coast 2 Coast – Ring Of Honor World Tag Team Titles Match My Take: 3.5 out of 5
This was a much slower match than you would have expected from these two teams, but the action was structured properly and felt like a real competition, rather than a stunt show, so it was worth the viewing. C2C has had a quiet year of success, high-lighted by their undefeated streak, which I barely noticed, at all. C2C is a really good team in this match, with fluid tag work that is reminiscent of the Motor City Machine Guns at their peak.
Match #1: The Briscoes beat Coast 2 Coast – Ring Of Honor World Tag Team Titles Match My Take: 3.5 out of 5
This was a much slower match than you would have expected from these two teams, but the action was structured properly and felt like a real competition, rather than a stunt show, so it was worth the viewing. C2C has had a quiet year of success, high-lighted by their undefeated streak, which I barely noticed, at all. C2C is a really good team in this match, with fluid tag work that is reminiscent of the Motor City Machine Guns at their peak.
- 10/24/2018
- by Nathan Favel
- Nerdly
Ninety years after Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford first floated the idea of creating a museum for the movie business, the completion of Hollywood’s first major movie museum is finally nearing. Architect Renzo Piano and officials from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences traveled to Manhattan Monday to preview the project for East Coast press.
After fits and starts, funding headaches and clashing visions, the 300,000-square-foot Academy Museum will open in mid-2019. Its backers, AMPAS, better known as the group that hands the Oscars, promise that the museum will be an immersive experience that will feature everything from screenings to talks to props and items from iconic movies.
“It’s much more than a museum,” said Academy Museum director Kerry Brougher at the Plaza Hotel. “It’s a hub for film lovers…to come and experience film in different ways.”
The museum will cost in excess of...
After fits and starts, funding headaches and clashing visions, the 300,000-square-foot Academy Museum will open in mid-2019. Its backers, AMPAS, better known as the group that hands the Oscars, promise that the museum will be an immersive experience that will feature everything from screenings to talks to props and items from iconic movies.
“It’s much more than a museum,” said Academy Museum director Kerry Brougher at the Plaza Hotel. “It’s a hub for film lovers…to come and experience film in different ways.”
The museum will cost in excess of...
- 4/16/2018
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
The Scarlet Empress (1934), starring Marlene Dietrich, John Lodge, Sam Jaffe, Louise Dresser and “a supporting cast of 1,000 players,” is director Josef von Sternberg at his most grandiose and excessive, which is just another way of saying “at his best,” at the height of a state of expressive delirium no other director has ever really matched. (Though many have, either consciously or subconsciously, tried– I wonder if Ken Russell ever admitted envy for von Sternberg or this film.) Von Sternberg’s paints his pictures with gasp-and-giggle-inducingly broad strokes, but his approach is no joke. There’s an exhilarating strain of claustrophobia in the director’s films which is given its freest rein here. His frames are burdened with grandeur, luxury and horror closing in, and he achieves a genuine sense of epic sprawl and decadence, despite the orchestrated sense that the whole of Russia, royalty as well as the entirety of its oppressed,...
- 3/31/2018
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
Updated: Following a couple of Julie London Westerns*, Turner Classic Movies will return to its July 2017 Star of the Month presentations. On July 27, Ronald Colman can be seen in five films from his later years: A Double Life, Random Harvest (1942), The Talk of the Town (1942), The Late George Apley (1947), and The Story of Mankind (1957). The first three titles are among the most important in Colman's long film career. George Cukor's A Double Life earned him his one and only Best Actor Oscar; Mervyn LeRoy's Random Harvest earned him his second Best Actor Oscar nomination; George Stevens' The Talk of the Town was shortlisted for seven Oscars, including Best Picture. All three feature Ronald Colman at his very best. The early 21st century motto of international trendsetters, from Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro and Turkey's Recep Erdogan to Russia's Vladimir Putin and the United States' Donald Trump, seems to be, The world is reality TV and reality TV...
- 7/28/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
It’s a big holiday weekend, so Hollywood has concocted a new flick that’s a perfect match for that very special day. It’s an ode to mothers everywhere, but it’s not sugary and sappy, no hearts and flowers here. That’s because it’s the sophomore feature film from Amy Schumer, so it’s more than a touch tart and spicy. Two years ago the superstar of stand-up and cable TV (the critical and ratings darling of Comedy Central) stormed the multiplex with the hit comedy romance (which she wrote) Trainwreck. For this follow-up , she’s decided to share the screen (top billing, above the title in the ads) with a movie veteran. Of course, she had terrific co-stars in her previous flick (Bill Hader, future Oscar-winner Brie Larson and NBA icon LeBron James, for gosh sake). But this time Amy’s part of a team similar...
- 5/12/2017
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Albert Einstein: physicist, Nobel laureate, romantic and … owl? Trying to get a handle on the complex person whose name is literally synonymous with genius was the biggest challenge for Nat Geo Channel’s first scripted anthology series, which even has the title “Genius.”
Einstein was best associated with his theory of relativity, which is one of the two pillars of modern physics, and his mass-energy equivalence formula, E=mc². Beyond the science and iconic shock of grey hair, though, was a man who started out very differently from how we now perceive him.
Read More: Ron Howard Avoided Directing TV Until ‘Genius,’ and He Has a Reason for That — IndieWire’s Turn It On Podcast
“The goal of the show is to really humanize, get under the skin of Albert Einstein,” showrunner Ken Biller said. “We discovered that he lived this big, bold, brash, complicated, messy life.”
Einstein as a...
Einstein was best associated with his theory of relativity, which is one of the two pillars of modern physics, and his mass-energy equivalence formula, E=mc². Beyond the science and iconic shock of grey hair, though, was a man who started out very differently from how we now perceive him.
Read More: Ron Howard Avoided Directing TV Until ‘Genius,’ and He Has a Reason for That — IndieWire’s Turn It On Podcast
“The goal of the show is to really humanize, get under the skin of Albert Einstein,” showrunner Ken Biller said. “We discovered that he lived this big, bold, brash, complicated, messy life.”
Einstein as a...
- 5/9/2017
- by Hanh Nguyen
- Indiewire
Time to get ready for more I Love Lucy. CBS is planning to air a special on its network this May! The special will feature two colorized episodes aired back to back! The episodes will show off guest stars Harpo Marx and Van Johnson.CBS released a press statement sharing more about the episodes. Check that out below.Legendary comedian Harpo Marx and motion picture star Van Johnson are the guests on The New I Love Lucy Superstar Special, a new one-hour special featuring two colorized back-to-back episodes of the 1950s series, to be broadcast Friday, May 19 (9:00-10:00Pm, Et/Pt) on the CBS Television Network.The two episodes, "The Dancing Star," featuring Van Johnson, and "Harpo Marx," with comedian Harpo Marx, are newly colorized with a nod to the 1950s period in which they were filmed. This is similar to...
- 4/27/2017
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
The Parker family’s dysfunctional antics will continue, now that TBS has given a green light to Season 3 of The Detour.
RelatedSamantha Bee, TBS to Host Rival White House Correspondents’ Dinner
The Detour closes out its sophomore run with a new episode tonight at 10/9c, followed by a super-sized season finale, which will be presented with limited commercial interruption at 10:30.
“Season 2 has been so smart, hilarious and wrong,” TBS Svp Thom Hinkle said in a statement. “And from the early nuggets I’ve gotten from [creators] Jason [Jones, who also stars] and Sam [Bee], Season 3 is going to be even more effed up.”
RelatedCable...
RelatedSamantha Bee, TBS to Host Rival White House Correspondents’ Dinner
The Detour closes out its sophomore run with a new episode tonight at 10/9c, followed by a super-sized season finale, which will be presented with limited commercial interruption at 10:30.
“Season 2 has been so smart, hilarious and wrong,” TBS Svp Thom Hinkle said in a statement. “And from the early nuggets I’ve gotten from [creators] Jason [Jones, who also stars] and Sam [Bee], Season 3 is going to be even more effed up.”
RelatedCable...
- 4/25/2017
- TVLine.com
What a Way to Go!
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1964 / Color B&W / 2:35 enhanced widescreen 1:37 flat Academy / 111 min. / Street Date February 7, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring Shirley MacLaine, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly, Robert Cummings, Dick Van Dyke, Reginald Gardiner, Margaret Dumont, Fifi D’Orsay, Maurice Marsac, Lenny Kent, Marjorie Bennett, Army Archerd, Barbara Bouchet, Tom Conway, Peter Duchin, Douglass Dumbrille, Pamelyn Ferdin, Teri Garr, Queenie Leonard.
Cinematography: Leon Shamroy
Film Editor: Marjorie Fowler
Original Music: Nelson Riddle
Written by: Betty Comden, Adolph Green story by Gwen Davis
Produced by: Arthur P. Jacobs
Directed by: J. Lee Thompson
Want to know what the producer of Planet of the Apes was up to, before that milestone movie? Arthur P. Jacobs was an agent for big stars before he became a producer, which positioned him well for his first show for 20th Fox, What a Way to Go!
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1964 / Color B&W / 2:35 enhanced widescreen 1:37 flat Academy / 111 min. / Street Date February 7, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring Shirley MacLaine, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly, Robert Cummings, Dick Van Dyke, Reginald Gardiner, Margaret Dumont, Fifi D’Orsay, Maurice Marsac, Lenny Kent, Marjorie Bennett, Army Archerd, Barbara Bouchet, Tom Conway, Peter Duchin, Douglass Dumbrille, Pamelyn Ferdin, Teri Garr, Queenie Leonard.
Cinematography: Leon Shamroy
Film Editor: Marjorie Fowler
Original Music: Nelson Riddle
Written by: Betty Comden, Adolph Green story by Gwen Davis
Produced by: Arthur P. Jacobs
Directed by: J. Lee Thompson
Want to know what the producer of Planet of the Apes was up to, before that milestone movie? Arthur P. Jacobs was an agent for big stars before he became a producer, which positioned him well for his first show for 20th Fox, What a Way to Go!
- 1/31/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
On this day in history as it relates to the movies...
1859 Billy the Kid, future legendary outlaw, is born. He's been played in movies and TV by actors like Buster Crabbe, Hugh O'Brian, Paul Newman, Clu Galager, Val Kilmer, and perhaps most famously by Kris Kristofferson, BAFTA nominated for Pat Garret and Billy the Kid (1973)
1887 Boris Karloff, villainous movie icon (Frankenstein, The Mask of Fu Manchu, Scarface, etcetera) is born
1888 Harpo Marx is born...
1859 Billy the Kid, future legendary outlaw, is born. He's been played in movies and TV by actors like Buster Crabbe, Hugh O'Brian, Paul Newman, Clu Galager, Val Kilmer, and perhaps most famously by Kris Kristofferson, BAFTA nominated for Pat Garret and Billy the Kid (1973)
1887 Boris Karloff, villainous movie icon (Frankenstein, The Mask of Fu Manchu, Scarface, etcetera) is born
1888 Harpo Marx is born...
- 11/23/2016
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Mariann Lewinsky curates several strands at Bologna's festival of restored or recovered films, Il Cinema Ritrovato: this year, she commemorated the centenary birth of the Dada movement and Krazy Kat with her Krazy Serial, in which surviving episodes of incomplete serials were jammed together with shorts and newsreels. The finest moment was perhaps when one serial ended and another, Abel Gance's The Poison Gases, began, but with it's opening title long lost, so that the caption "A few minutes later" seemed to join to wholly unconnected narratives.The preceding serial was Jacques Feyder's bizarre spoof, The Clutching Foot (Le pied qui étreint), which I realized from pervious excursions to Bologna was a parody not just of serials in general but of 1914's The Exploits of Elaine in particular, in which Pearl White was regularly menaced by a secret society led by the hooded and spasm-wracked mastermind The Clutching Hand.
- 7/7/2016
- MUBI
Savant UK correspondent Lee Broughton analyzes one of his favorite pictures starring Stacy Keach, who seemed to make only cult items in the '70s and '80s. William Peter Blatty dishes out a thick mix of comedy and dark soul-searching about the human condition as a Caligari- insane asylum, but with new twists. The Ninth Configuration Second Sight Region B Blu-ray 1980 / Colour / 2.35:1 enhanced widescreen / 118 m. / available through Amazon.uk Starring Stacy Keach, Scott Wilson, Jason Miller, Ed Flanders, Neville Brand, George Dicenzo, Moses Gunn, Robert Loggia, Joe Spinell, Tom Atkins. Cinematography Gerry Fisher Production Design William Malley Film Editors Peter Taylor, T. Battle Davis, Roberto Silvi, Peter Lee-Thompson Original Music Barry DeVorzon Written, Produced and Directed by William Peter Blatty from his novel
Reviewed by Lee Broughton
(Note: Savant reviews as a guest at Tfh. Here I stretch my prerogatives by presenting a review from Lee Broughton, a valued U.
Reviewed by Lee Broughton
(Note: Savant reviews as a guest at Tfh. Here I stretch my prerogatives by presenting a review from Lee Broughton, a valued U.
- 6/26/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Who are the funniest, wackiest, cleverest, wittiest comic actors in the history of film and television? Take a look at our list and see who we came up with.
The top 25 laugh-getters…
#25…George Carlin: Probably the best stand-up comedian of all-time. He brilliantly satirized American culture, mixing his liberal social commentary with an often unapologetically coarse and dirty style of language. His penchant for obscenities was most evident in his trademark routine “Seven words you can never say on television”. No one was better at mocking the excesses of American culture than Carlin.
#24…Robin Williams: He had a manic energy and great improvisational skills. His hyper, free-form style inspired many comedians to follow, such as Jim Carrey. He shot to fame in the TV series Mork & Mindy, before breaking away to very successful movie career, appearing in films like Good Morning Vietnam, The World According to Garp, Mrs. Doubtfire and Popeye.
The top 25 laugh-getters…
#25…George Carlin: Probably the best stand-up comedian of all-time. He brilliantly satirized American culture, mixing his liberal social commentary with an often unapologetically coarse and dirty style of language. His penchant for obscenities was most evident in his trademark routine “Seven words you can never say on television”. No one was better at mocking the excesses of American culture than Carlin.
#24…Robin Williams: He had a manic energy and great improvisational skills. His hyper, free-form style inspired many comedians to follow, such as Jim Carrey. He shot to fame in the TV series Mork & Mindy, before breaking away to very successful movie career, appearing in films like Good Morning Vietnam, The World According to Garp, Mrs. Doubtfire and Popeye.
- 4/17/2016
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (Rob Young)
- Cinelinx
Groucho Marx in 'Duck Soup.' Groucho Marx movies: 'Duck Soup,' 'The Story of Mankind' and romancing Margaret Dumont on TCM Grouch Marx, the bespectacled, (painted) mustached, cigar-chomping Marx brother, is Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” star today, Aug. 14, '15. Marx Brothers fans will be delighted, as TCM is presenting no less than 11 of their comedies, in addition to a brotherly reunion in the 1957 all-star fantasy The Story of Mankind. Non-Marx Brothers fans should be delighted as well – as long as they're fans of Kay Francis, Thelma Todd, Ann Miller, Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, Allan Jones, affectionate, long-tongued giraffes, and/or that great, scene-stealing dowager, Margaret Dumont. Right now, TCM is showing Robert Florey and Joseph Santley's The Cocoanuts (1929), an early talkie notable as the first movie featuring the four Marx Brothers – Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo. Based on their hit Broadway...
- 8/14/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
For Melissa McCarthy, finding the perfect wig can make or break a performance.
Like Peter Sellers, Harpo Marx and other comedy greats before her, McCarthy understands the power of a good wig.
"I just think wigs and makeup and costumes completely transform me when I read a character I really, really love," the Spy actress says in an interview with People and Entertainment Weekly editorial director Jess Cagle. She describes finding the right hairpiece as "incredibly important."
McCarthy, 44, explains that when she reads a new character's lines in a script, she knows "immediately what they look like."
After painting that mental picture,...
Like Peter Sellers, Harpo Marx and other comedy greats before her, McCarthy understands the power of a good wig.
"I just think wigs and makeup and costumes completely transform me when I read a character I really, really love," the Spy actress says in an interview with People and Entertainment Weekly editorial director Jess Cagle. She describes finding the right hairpiece as "incredibly important."
McCarthy, 44, explains that when she reads a new character's lines in a script, she knows "immediately what they look like."
After painting that mental picture,...
- 6/4/2015
- by Michael Miller, @write_miller
- People.com - TV Watch
Where else to present a concert version of a new, original Broadway musical titled Song Of Solomon than at the Actors' Temple. The historic building, constructed in 1923, has been designated a national landmark and the synagogue has been home to many of the greats in show business. Some of it's members and congregants were Al Jolson, Edward G. Robinson, Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Henny Youngman, Eddie Cantor and countless other lesser-known actors, comedians, singers, playwrights, composers, musicians, writers, dancers and theatrical agents. Academy Award winner Shelley Winters kept the High Holy Days in the Actors Temple. as well as The Three Stooges, and Harpo Marx who attended services. Ed Sullivan, whose wife Sylvia Weinstein was Jewish, was also a member.
- 11/18/2014
- by Stephen Sorokoff
- BroadwayWorld.com
Dear Danny,
I also rode the Tokyo Tribe rollercoaster, and my head hasn’t stopped spinning yet. Slamming together the most rabid excesses of the worlds of manga comics and hip-hop music, it’s a continuous blitzkrieg: Sono’s ne plus ultra of sheer brio, and, along with Godard’s Adieu au language, the festival’s most assaultive sensory experience so far. Its pinwheel neon hues, inflamed camera movements and acrobatic gangland mugging are straight-up dilations of Seijun Suzuki’s vintage gonzo pulp—indeed, the first time I ever heard Japanese rapping on screen was during a brief interlude in Suzuki’s mock-opera Princess Raccoon. I doubt even that veteran iconoclast, however, could have dreamed up the bit in Tokyo Tribe when the vile underworld kingpin (Riki Takeuchi), swollen like an obscene parade float, pulverizes a field of warring gangs with a Gatling gun held, of course, crotch-level. Such moments of absolute glee abound,...
I also rode the Tokyo Tribe rollercoaster, and my head hasn’t stopped spinning yet. Slamming together the most rabid excesses of the worlds of manga comics and hip-hop music, it’s a continuous blitzkrieg: Sono’s ne plus ultra of sheer brio, and, along with Godard’s Adieu au language, the festival’s most assaultive sensory experience so far. Its pinwheel neon hues, inflamed camera movements and acrobatic gangland mugging are straight-up dilations of Seijun Suzuki’s vintage gonzo pulp—indeed, the first time I ever heard Japanese rapping on screen was during a brief interlude in Suzuki’s mock-opera Princess Raccoon. I doubt even that veteran iconoclast, however, could have dreamed up the bit in Tokyo Tribe when the vile underworld kingpin (Riki Takeuchi), swollen like an obscene parade float, pulverizes a field of warring gangs with a Gatling gun held, of course, crotch-level. Such moments of absolute glee abound,...
- 9/9/2014
- by Fernando F. Croce
- MUBI
You don’t know why you haven’t watched it. Your nerdier friends have loved it since it was on PBS back in the day, and you knew a girl in high school who knit her own giant scarf during homeroom because that actor who looked kind of like Harpo Marx wore one when he played “the Doctor.” Maybe you’re like me, and when Doctor Who fandom started pushing Star Wars and Star Trek out of your local comic convention, your adolescent heart turned cold and rejected the low-budget British sci-fi series out of hand.But now you feel out of step. It’s one of those zeitgeist-y Game of Thrones “Winter Is Coming” moments, and you’re on the outside, looking in. You’ve heard that the new (well, newish, the reboot was almost ten years ago) Who is more popular in the U.S. than it’s...
- 8/22/2014
- by Ivan Cohen
- Vulture
We're continuing this periodic summer project where we revisit classic sitcom episode. This week we're going waaaay back to the 1950s for one of the most famous television half hours of them all: "Job Switching," from "I Love Lucy" season 2, coming up just as soon as I show you the creases on these silk stockings... "Job Switching," which first aired in 1952, is by far going to be the oldest episode we do in this series (unless "The Honeymooners" magically starts streaming before the summer is out), and I'm going to be very curious for your reactions to it. Ken Levine occasionally will do posts where he asks his readers what they think of vintage sitcom episodes, and the reaction tends to be mixed, and leaning more towards negative among people who didn't grow up in one of the previous peak periods for multi-cam comedy. In terms of sitcoms that have...
- 6/27/2014
- by Alan Sepinwall
- Hitfix
How did Oprah Winfrey first nab the job of hosting A.M. Chicago back in 1984? By sending in an audition tape that was compiled overnight, and details how the would-be media mogul came to have a name that's somewhere between a biblical reference and Harpo Marx. Photos: The Resurgence of Oprah Winfrey Earlier this week, the Own channel posted a YouTube clip of Winfrey's original 1983 audition tape, which she introduced as a reel she put together overnight with an editor, since she didn't keep track of her stories as well as she should have. Wearing a black-and-cream
read more...
read more...
- 5/7/2014
- by Ashley Lee
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Feature Alex Westthorp 16 Apr 2014 - 07:00
Alex's trek through the film roles of actors who've played the Doctor reaches Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy...
Read the previous part in this series, Doctor Who: the film careers of Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker, here.
In March 1981, as he made his Doctor Who debut, Peter Davison was already one the best known faces on British television. Not only was he the star of both a BBC and an ITV sitcom - Sink Or Swim and Holding The Fort - but as the young and slightly reckless Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great And Small, about the often humorous cases of Yorkshire vet James Herriot and his colleagues, he had cemented his stardom. The part led, indirectly, to his casting as the venerable Time Lord.
The recently installed Doctor Who producer, John Nathan-Turner, had been the Production Unit Manager on...
Alex's trek through the film roles of actors who've played the Doctor reaches Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy...
Read the previous part in this series, Doctor Who: the film careers of Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker, here.
In March 1981, as he made his Doctor Who debut, Peter Davison was already one the best known faces on British television. Not only was he the star of both a BBC and an ITV sitcom - Sink Or Swim and Holding The Fort - but as the young and slightly reckless Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great And Small, about the often humorous cases of Yorkshire vet James Herriot and his colleagues, he had cemented his stardom. The part led, indirectly, to his casting as the venerable Time Lord.
The recently installed Doctor Who producer, John Nathan-Turner, had been the Production Unit Manager on...
- 4/15/2014
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: May 6, 2014
Price: DVD $24.95, Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Olive Films
The 1949 music-filled comedy Love Happy was the final film starring the legendary Marx Brothers (Duck Soup, Animal Crackers).
In the film, Harpo Marx is a true patron of the arts, taking from the rich to help feed a group of poor actors struggling to open a new musical without financial backers. He unknowingly makes off with the missing Romanoff diamonds when he shoplifts a tin of sardines from a classy Manhattan market. The diamonds have been smuggled into the country by a sinful yet sizzlingly beautiful jewel thief, Madame Egelichi (Ilona Massey). The Madame traces the tin back to the theater and becomes the show’s financial backer. Hoping to recover the missing diamonds, she and her henchmen nearly bring the whole house down in a madcap race to retrieve the jewels on opening night.
In addition to Harpo,...
Price: DVD $24.95, Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Olive Films
The 1949 music-filled comedy Love Happy was the final film starring the legendary Marx Brothers (Duck Soup, Animal Crackers).
In the film, Harpo Marx is a true patron of the arts, taking from the rich to help feed a group of poor actors struggling to open a new musical without financial backers. He unknowingly makes off with the missing Romanoff diamonds when he shoplifts a tin of sardines from a classy Manhattan market. The diamonds have been smuggled into the country by a sinful yet sizzlingly beautiful jewel thief, Madame Egelichi (Ilona Massey). The Madame traces the tin back to the theater and becomes the show’s financial backer. Hoping to recover the missing diamonds, she and her henchmen nearly bring the whole house down in a madcap race to retrieve the jewels on opening night.
In addition to Harpo,...
- 4/14/2014
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Comic relief characters are written to try and make us laugh. Some of them are better than others. Join us as we discuss some of the best and worst comic relief characters in film.
Each month the Cinelinx staff will write a handful of articles covering a specified film-related topic. These articles will be notified by the Movielinx banner. Movielinx is an exploration and discussion of our personal connections with film. We’ll even submit reviews of the films we discuss so that you can get a better idea of what we’re talking about. April is National Humor Month, and because of this we will honor comedy in film. What makes you laugh? Feel free to add your own comments or reviews of movies that tickle your funny bone.
Comic relief characters play an important part in film. They can be major characters or minor ones, but their purpose...
Each month the Cinelinx staff will write a handful of articles covering a specified film-related topic. These articles will be notified by the Movielinx banner. Movielinx is an exploration and discussion of our personal connections with film. We’ll even submit reviews of the films we discuss so that you can get a better idea of what we’re talking about. April is National Humor Month, and because of this we will honor comedy in film. What makes you laugh? Feel free to add your own comments or reviews of movies that tickle your funny bone.
Comic relief characters play an important part in film. They can be major characters or minor ones, but their purpose...
- 4/14/2014
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (G.S. Perno)
- Cinelinx
Screwball comedy movies, rare screenings of epic box office disaster: Library of Congress’ Packard Theater in April 2014 (photo: Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in ‘The Awful Truth’) In April 2014, the Library of Congress’ Packard Campus Theater in Culpeper, Virginia, will celebrate Hollywood screwball comedy movies, from the Marx Brothers’ antics to Peter Bogdanovich’s early ’70s homage What’s Up, Doc?, a box office blockbuster starring Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal. Additionally, the Packard Theater will present a couple of rarities, including an epoch-making box office disaster that led to the demise of a major studio. Among Packard’s April 2014 screwball comedies are the following: Leo McCarey’s Duck Soup (Saturday, April 5) — actually more zany, wacky, and totally insane than merely "screwball" — in which Groucho Marx stars as the recently (un)elected dictator of Freedonia, abetted by siblings Harpo Marx and Chico Marx, in addition to Groucho’s perennial foil,...
- 3/27/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Stepping out of the male-dominated, moustache friendly broadcasting arena of the 1970s, this eagerly anticipated Anchorman sequel sees returning writer and director Adam McKay parodying the beginning of 24 hour news networks and the eventual demise of hard news in turn for escapist trash. A principle quote to be taken from this comedy is “If it’s crap, they’ll watch it” – and this is evidently a notion the filmmakers themselves have abided by. But is this entertaining, funny, rewatchable crap? You bet your Burgundy ass it is.
We willingly reenter the world of Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), heralded as San Diego’s finest newscaster alongside his partner and colleague, Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate). However when he is made redundant and his other half promoted, he decides to leave his family and reunite with his trustworthy crew, of Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), Champ Kind (David Koechner) and Brick Tamland (Steve Carell...
We willingly reenter the world of Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), heralded as San Diego’s finest newscaster alongside his partner and colleague, Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate). However when he is made redundant and his other half promoted, he decides to leave his family and reunite with his trustworthy crew, of Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), Champ Kind (David Koechner) and Brick Tamland (Steve Carell...
- 12/16/2013
- by Stefan Pape
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The trailers for “A Madea Christmas” promise the sight of the tough-talking, no-nonsense protagonist working as a shopping mall Mrs. Santa and shooting down the dreams of bratty kids. That never happens in the movie, alas, but the sight of Madea in a fake North Pole makes me want to share my own Christmas wish: I want Madea to have her own “Duck Soup.” Fans of the Marx Brothers fondly remember that 1933 comedy as the group’s finest and funniest, and one of the reasons it’s so great is because it’s the most unfiltered vehicle for Groucho, Harpo,...
- 12/13/2013
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Model Christie Brinkley stopped by "Today" Monday morning (Oct. 21) where she talked about 50 years of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, which is being celebrated by the release of a new book, "Sports Illustrated Swimsuit: 50 Years of Beautiful."
Brinkley started posing for the iconic swimsuit issue in 1975, with her first cover coming in 1979. She graced the cover three years in a row, which is a record that still stands -- though if Kate Upton is the cover girl in 2014, she'll tie Brinkley.
Anyway, Brinkley talks about her first issue, which was incredibly racy at the time.
"When I did my first issue ... I did a picture sort of from the side in a thong and it was so racy at the time," she says. "The magazine came out in America and everybody started calling me in Paris and going,...
Model Christie Brinkley stopped by "Today" Monday morning (Oct. 21) where she talked about 50 years of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, which is being celebrated by the release of a new book, "Sports Illustrated Swimsuit: 50 Years of Beautiful."
Brinkley started posing for the iconic swimsuit issue in 1975, with her first cover coming in 1979. She graced the cover three years in a row, which is a record that still stands -- though if Kate Upton is the cover girl in 2014, she'll tie Brinkley.
Anyway, Brinkley talks about her first issue, which was incredibly racy at the time.
"When I did my first issue ... I did a picture sort of from the side in a thong and it was so racy at the time," she says. "The magazine came out in America and everybody started calling me in Paris and going,...
- 10/21/2013
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
Harpo Marx, a third of the legendary comedy trio the Marx Brothers, is known for his quiet pantomime style. And by quiet we mean he never talked in any of his television or film performances. He was so convincing, in fact, that many audiences believed he was actually mute. Early in his career, however, the actor did use his speaking voice in his routines — and we feature a rare video below of Harpo talking. When the Marx Brothers were known as the Three Nightingales on the vaudeville circuit, the brothers' uncle Al Shean — a noted performer himself — wrote a new act for the funnymen. There were no speaking parts in his script for Harpo, which perplexed the performer. He didn't want to be left out of the gags, so he went ahead and ad-libbed...
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- 5/23/2013
- by Alison Nastasi
- Movies.com
All About Meat (The Garcias)
Written and Directed by Michelangelo Alasá Duo Multicultural Arts Center
Through December 15, 2012
All About Meat (The Garcias) is by turns hilarious, over-the-top irreverent, grotesque, and exasperating -- and it has uniformly fine performances by a relentlessly spirited cast. Writer/director/player Michelangelo Alasá might be said to be attempting to meld the style of Pedro Almodovar with that of John Waters (with a good helping of vaudeville slapstick). First and foremost, this is a sex comedy about a family of Cuban origin, the wealthy Garcias, whose chorizo factory in New Jersey is the largest in the world.
At the pork-sausage-making family's helm is matriarch Dolores, who is dramatic, emotional, knifing, and manipulative, and whose thick Spanish accent seems at times to require subtitles when she is emoting (and she hardly ceases her emoting).
In fact, just about all the action of the play prompts Dolores to "emote.
Written and Directed by Michelangelo Alasá Duo Multicultural Arts Center
Through December 15, 2012
All About Meat (The Garcias) is by turns hilarious, over-the-top irreverent, grotesque, and exasperating -- and it has uniformly fine performances by a relentlessly spirited cast. Writer/director/player Michelangelo Alasá might be said to be attempting to meld the style of Pedro Almodovar with that of John Waters (with a good helping of vaudeville slapstick). First and foremost, this is a sex comedy about a family of Cuban origin, the wealthy Garcias, whose chorizo factory in New Jersey is the largest in the world.
At the pork-sausage-making family's helm is matriarch Dolores, who is dramatic, emotional, knifing, and manipulative, and whose thick Spanish accent seems at times to require subtitles when she is emoting (and she hardly ceases her emoting).
In fact, just about all the action of the play prompts Dolores to "emote.
- 10/24/2012
- by Jay Reisberg
- www.culturecatch.com
Alicia might be expressing sweet relief in the above picture, but I'm not so placated. I won't declare Sunday's The Good Wife a disaster, but it still perpetuated a number of the problems I have with season four: regurgitated drama at the firm, too little of people we care about, and a Kalinda storyline that's radioactively bad. Someone hold up a Geiger counter to her grizzled man Nick's face and tell me if his shock-blondness is Silkwood-related.
Fortunately, there was one triumphant performance that felt like a cool balm on an otherwise aching sore. Ready to clap?
Aw, yeah: Guess who ruled last episode? This guy.
Mr. Alan Cumming enjoyed what may be his finest moment on the show when he confronted -- or should I say, brought up in a mumbled, diplomatic fashion -- the potential of Alicia's affair with Will leaking to the press. Perfect pausing, conscientious glances,...
Fortunately, there was one triumphant performance that felt like a cool balm on an otherwise aching sore. Ready to clap?
Aw, yeah: Guess who ruled last episode? This guy.
Mr. Alan Cumming enjoyed what may be his finest moment on the show when he confronted -- or should I say, brought up in a mumbled, diplomatic fashion -- the potential of Alicia's affair with Will leaking to the press. Perfect pausing, conscientious glances,...
- 10/15/2012
- by virtel
- The Backlot
Laughing during an alien invasion movie is nothing new. I mean, my sides are still hurting from "Battleship." But laughing intentionally during an alien invasion has its place in the annals of movie history, as well.
Upon reflection, the aliens should bring with them the full spectrum of emotion. (Along with those dry ice cream squares.) Beings from distant stars may be just like us. Some of us are scary and evil, but some of us are funny and fun. (And some of us have horrendous scales that secrete an acid that can chew through steel – but let's leave former Secretary of State Dean Rusk out of this.)
This weekend, three of your favorite comic actors (and one British dude you've been meaning to learn more about) are serving up some interstellar hilarity in "The Watch." The movie is a hoot but, unfortunately, the aliens themselves aren't the source of the LOLz.
Upon reflection, the aliens should bring with them the full spectrum of emotion. (Along with those dry ice cream squares.) Beings from distant stars may be just like us. Some of us are scary and evil, but some of us are funny and fun. (And some of us have horrendous scales that secrete an acid that can chew through steel – but let's leave former Secretary of State Dean Rusk out of this.)
This weekend, three of your favorite comic actors (and one British dude you've been meaning to learn more about) are serving up some interstellar hilarity in "The Watch." The movie is a hoot but, unfortunately, the aliens themselves aren't the source of the LOLz.
- 7/26/2012
- by Jordan Hoffman
- NextMovie
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This Friday will kick off the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, and though our old Revolutionary War adversaries might be our allies now, that doesn't mean the U.S. of frickin' A. isn't ready to bring the thunder.
Using our powers of make-believe and fantasy, we've assembled athletic champions from the entirety of movie history to give us a clear advantage towards the race for Olympic glory in every sport of the XXX Olympiad.
Archery
This year, the team events will be presented in single elimination format, with each archer shooting a total of 72 arrows from a 70-meter distance. Representatives from our women's team include District 12's Katniss Everdeen of "The Hunger Games" whose chief competitor for the gold is Scotland's Princess Merida of "Brave." The Men's team shall attempt to defeat Middle Earth's Legolas Greenleaf from "The Lord of the Rings Trilogy" with...
This Friday will kick off the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, and though our old Revolutionary War adversaries might be our allies now, that doesn't mean the U.S. of frickin' A. isn't ready to bring the thunder.
Using our powers of make-believe and fantasy, we've assembled athletic champions from the entirety of movie history to give us a clear advantage towards the race for Olympic glory in every sport of the XXX Olympiad.
Archery
This year, the team events will be presented in single elimination format, with each archer shooting a total of 72 arrows from a 70-meter distance. Representatives from our women's team include District 12's Katniss Everdeen of "The Hunger Games" whose chief competitor for the gold is Scotland's Princess Merida of "Brave." The Men's team shall attempt to defeat Middle Earth's Legolas Greenleaf from "The Lord of the Rings Trilogy" with...
- 7/26/2012
- by Max Evry
- NextMovie
Los Angeles — Actress Doris Singleton, who played one of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo's lesser-known neighbors on "I Love Lucy," has died. She was 92.
Lucie Arnaz, daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, confirmed the death in a post on her Facebook page. Singleton died Tuesday, the same day as writer-director Nora Ephron, and Arnaz acknowledged them both in her post, writing, "They were loved and appreciated and will be missed."
Singleton's death also was reported by Variety and the Hollywood Reporter.
Her character, first called Lillian Appleby and then Caroline Appleby, appeared in 10 episodes. She was Lucy's neighbor, the wife of a radio station owner.
"She was sort of Lucy's nemesis" because both had young sons, Singleton said in a 2005 interview for the Archive of American Television of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation. "There was a rivalry there but she had to be nice, Lucy had to be nice to Caroline,...
Lucie Arnaz, daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, confirmed the death in a post on her Facebook page. Singleton died Tuesday, the same day as writer-director Nora Ephron, and Arnaz acknowledged them both in her post, writing, "They were loved and appreciated and will be missed."
Singleton's death also was reported by Variety and the Hollywood Reporter.
Her character, first called Lillian Appleby and then Caroline Appleby, appeared in 10 episodes. She was Lucy's neighbor, the wife of a radio station owner.
"She was sort of Lucy's nemesis" because both had young sons, Singleton said in a 2005 interview for the Archive of American Television of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation. "There was a rivalry there but she had to be nice, Lucy had to be nice to Caroline,...
- 6/29/2012
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Actress Doris Singleton, best known for playing Lucy and Ricky Ricardo’s neighbor Carolyn Appleby on the iconic 1950s sitcom "I Love Lucy," has died, reports People magazine. She was 92.
Lucie Arnaz, the daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, confirmed Singleton's death in a statement on her Facebook page, People says, noting its timing with the death of flimmaker Nora Ephron earlier this week.
Singleton appeared in 10 episodes of the 1951 to 1957 sitcom after meeting the show's star, Lucille Ball, before a performance of "My Favorite Husband," the radio show that preceded "I Love Lucy," The Hollywood Reporter notes. Ball invited Singleton to join the show a few years after they met, casting her as the wife of a radio station owner played by Hy Averback.
Trained as a vocalist and ballet dancer, Brooklyn-born Dorothea Singleton performed with the American Ballet Theater and the Art Jarrett's orchestra in the late 1930s,...
Lucie Arnaz, the daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, confirmed Singleton's death in a statement on her Facebook page, People says, noting its timing with the death of flimmaker Nora Ephron earlier this week.
Singleton appeared in 10 episodes of the 1951 to 1957 sitcom after meeting the show's star, Lucille Ball, before a performance of "My Favorite Husband," the radio show that preceded "I Love Lucy," The Hollywood Reporter notes. Ball invited Singleton to join the show a few years after they met, casting her as the wife of a radio station owner played by Hy Averback.
Trained as a vocalist and ballet dancer, Brooklyn-born Dorothea Singleton performed with the American Ballet Theater and the Art Jarrett's orchestra in the late 1930s,...
- 6/28/2012
- by Jessica Cumberbatch Anderson
- Huffington Post
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