Long before Tom Cruise snapped his ankle in half jumping from rooftop to rooftop while making "Mission: Impossible — Fallout," Harrison Ford was putting his body on the line for our entertainment.
There's a long history of lead actors getting injured on movie sets while trying to capture something truly amazing for the viewing audience. Silent star Wallace Reid was famously injured in a train stunt gone wrong in 1919's "The Valley of the Giants" to the point where he ended up addicted to his pain management treatment (at that time the options were morphine or to just grin and bear it). That addiction would end up prematurely killing the young cinema star.
The point is Hollywood has a long history of stars putting their physical health on the line for the good of the picture and one notable incident that isn't talked about nearly as much as it should be...
There's a long history of lead actors getting injured on movie sets while trying to capture something truly amazing for the viewing audience. Silent star Wallace Reid was famously injured in a train stunt gone wrong in 1919's "The Valley of the Giants" to the point where he ended up addicted to his pain management treatment (at that time the options were morphine or to just grin and bear it). That addiction would end up prematurely killing the young cinema star.
The point is Hollywood has a long history of stars putting their physical health on the line for the good of the picture and one notable incident that isn't talked about nearly as much as it should be...
- 2/28/2023
- by Eric Vespe
- Slash Film
Click here to read the full article.
When Blanche Sweet sang “there’s a tear for every smile in Hollywood” in Show Girl in Hollywood (1930), she wasn’t wrong. Movie people have long been warning starry eyed wannabes to tread carefully if there were coming to Tinseltown full of hopes and dreams. In The Truth About the Movies by the Stars (1924), screenwriter Frank Butler wrote that “From every corner of the earth they come and across the Seven Seas – borne on the tireless wings of youthful optimism. Pathetic pilgrims these, struggling on to ultimate disillusion.”
A large part of Damien Chazelle’s Babylon (2022) explores the dark side of Hollywood’s Golden Age. The twenties roared in Hollywood, but there was also something larger at stake for characters in Babylon. Like any audience in front of a film, they were chasing that magic on the screen. They were chasing an idea.
When Blanche Sweet sang “there’s a tear for every smile in Hollywood” in Show Girl in Hollywood (1930), she wasn’t wrong. Movie people have long been warning starry eyed wannabes to tread carefully if there were coming to Tinseltown full of hopes and dreams. In The Truth About the Movies by the Stars (1924), screenwriter Frank Butler wrote that “From every corner of the earth they come and across the Seven Seas – borne on the tireless wings of youthful optimism. Pathetic pilgrims these, struggling on to ultimate disillusion.”
A large part of Damien Chazelle’s Babylon (2022) explores the dark side of Hollywood’s Golden Age. The twenties roared in Hollywood, but there was also something larger at stake for characters in Babylon. Like any audience in front of a film, they were chasing that magic on the screen. They were chasing an idea.
- 12/23/2022
- by Chris Yogerst
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon” captures 1920s Hollywood in all its decadence, debauchery and excess. Filming on dusty backlots and in sumptuous mansions, Chazelle creates a fever dream of vintage filmmaking through a contemporary lens. But before looking at history through his own lens, Chazelle started out by doing months of intensive research, finding inspiration in real-life Hollywood stars, powerbrokers and events. And in many cases, the early days of moviemaking were pretty scandalous.
“The reality is that these people were operating in a no-holds-barred kind of world where an entire industry and city were being built from the ground up, and that takes a certain kind of madness,” Chazelle has said.
The 1920s in particular were a freer time, says “Tinseltown” author William J. Mann. “There was an incredible freedom before the production code was established, and so people had a much freer sense of how they could live their lives.
“The reality is that these people were operating in a no-holds-barred kind of world where an entire industry and city were being built from the ground up, and that takes a certain kind of madness,” Chazelle has said.
The 1920s in particular were a freer time, says “Tinseltown” author William J. Mann. “There was an incredible freedom before the production code was established, and so people had a much freer sense of how they could live their lives.
- 12/23/2022
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
There’s a lot to digest in Damien Chazelle’s overstuffed Hollywood epic, “Babylon.” The story of three disparate movie denziens trying to survive the transition between the silent era and the talkies boasts some stellar performances, but what people might remember after the credits roll is just how wild Chazelle’s hedonistic world is. As he sees it, the silent era of Hollywood is packed to bursting with orgies, dancing, booze, woozy elephants, and a lot of nudity. Oh, and a ton of cocaine.
To many modern-day viewers, cocaine is likely more synonymous with ’80s excess than the supposed glamour of the ’20s. Movies like “Goodfellas” and “Less Than Zero” present cocaine as a party drug of a more contemporary era, so it’s understandable that it would show up in Chazelle’s film, particularly its raucous opening party sequence, as the filmmaker threads historical accuracies with his own special skew.
To many modern-day viewers, cocaine is likely more synonymous with ’80s excess than the supposed glamour of the ’20s. Movies like “Goodfellas” and “Less Than Zero” present cocaine as a party drug of a more contemporary era, so it’s understandable that it would show up in Chazelle’s film, particularly its raucous opening party sequence, as the filmmaker threads historical accuracies with his own special skew.
- 12/22/2022
- by Kristen Lopez
- Indiewire
Click here to read the full article.
Long before Netflix’s Blonde landed a controversial Nc-17 rating, the Motion Picture Association gave films like Baby Doll (1956) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) “adults only” designations as a way to placate concerned parents and reformers.
Now, when news surfaces of Hollywood allegedly kowtowing to everything from domestic social crusaders to foreign governments, debate lights up headlines and social media conversations. But, historically speaking, industry moguls have most often erred on the side of not ruffling feathers, home or abroad, in order to court consumers — as evidenced in the birth of the MPA 100 years ago.
The lobbying group, which is marking its centennial in 2022, was born as the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association in 1922. Mppda counsel C.C. Pettijohn once told a 1929 Public Relations Conference that the film industry was first understood as a three-legged stool that included production, distribution, and exhibition.
Long before Netflix’s Blonde landed a controversial Nc-17 rating, the Motion Picture Association gave films like Baby Doll (1956) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) “adults only” designations as a way to placate concerned parents and reformers.
Now, when news surfaces of Hollywood allegedly kowtowing to everything from domestic social crusaders to foreign governments, debate lights up headlines and social media conversations. But, historically speaking, industry moguls have most often erred on the side of not ruffling feathers, home or abroad, in order to court consumers — as evidenced in the birth of the MPA 100 years ago.
The lobbying group, which is marking its centennial in 2022, was born as the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association in 1922. Mppda counsel C.C. Pettijohn once told a 1929 Public Relations Conference that the film industry was first understood as a three-legged stool that included production, distribution, and exhibition.
- 9/2/2022
- by Chris Yogerst
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Guest writer Bill Shaffer takes us back to Lawrence Kansas in 1989, for a cast and crew re-premiere of Carnival of Souls. By Bill Shaffer Note from Glenn Erickson: I think I first crossed emails with Bill Shaffer around 1998, when I was still the editor for MGM Home Video and just beginning to write MGM Video Savant. Bill sent along info that helped me convince the MGM restorers to include a flashback at the end of Duck You Sucker. Although I didn't find out until much later, Bill was a producer at the PBS station Ktwu in Topeka, Kansas, and had actually interviewed Eli Wallach once about The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Bill became a major source for info and connections when it came time to do the extras for the MGM releases of the Sergio Leone movie; all just to help out. I think the fact that...
- 7/8/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The director-centric 1970s were a time for pushing the boundaries of 'acceptable' film content, but John Byrum's witty and profane period piece about a Hollywood porn director was a step too far. Richard Dreyfuss leads a cast of utterly fearless actors in a witty and intelligent dissection of movieland decadence. Inserts Region A Blu-ray Twilight Time 1975 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 115 min. / Street Date June 14, 2016 / (Nc-17) / Available from Twilight Time Movies Store29.95 Starring Richard Dreyfuss, Jessica Harper, Veronica Cartwright, Bob Hoskins, Stephen Davies. Cinematography Denys N. Coop Art Direction John Clark Costumes Shirley Russell Produced by Davina Belling, Clive Parsons Written and Directed by John Byrum
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
At least in Los Angeles, the theatrical showings of John Byrum's remarkable Inserts came and went (cough) so fast that nobody had time to be outraged. The reviews made it sound like sordid trash that could only attract men in plastic raincoats.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
At least in Los Angeles, the theatrical showings of John Byrum's remarkable Inserts came and went (cough) so fast that nobody had time to be outraged. The reviews made it sound like sordid trash that could only attract men in plastic raincoats.
- 7/8/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Women suffrage movie 'Mothers of Men': Dorothy Davenport becomes a judge and later State Governor in socially conscious thriller about U.S. women's voting rights. Women suffrage movie 'Mothers of Men': Will women's right to vote lead to the destruction of The American Family? Directed by and featuring the now all but forgotten Willis Robards, Mothers of Men – about women suffrage and political power – was a fast-paced, 64-minute buried treasure screened at the 2016 San Francisco Silent Film Festival, held June 2–5. I thoroughly enjoyed being taken back in time by this 1917 socially conscious drama that dares to ask the question: “What will happen to the nation if all women have the right to vote?” One newspaper editor insists that women suffrage would mean the destruction of The Family. Women, after all, just did not have the capacity for making objective decisions due to their emotional composition. It...
- 7/1/2016
- by Danny Fortune
- Alt Film Guide
Ernst Lubitsch: The movies' lost 'Touch.' Ernst Lubitsch movies on TCM: Classics of a bygone era Ernst Lubitsch and William Cameron Menzies were Turner Classic Movies' “stars” on Jan. 28, '16. (This is a fully revised and expanded version of a post published on that day.) Lubitsch had the morning/afternoon, with seven films; Menzies had the evening/night, also with seven features. (TCM's Ernst Lubitsch schedule can be found further below.) The forgotten 'Touch' As a sign of the times, Ernst Lubitsch is hardly ever mentioned whenever “connoisseurs” (between quotes) discuss Hollywood movies of the studio era. But why? Well, probably because The Lubitsch Touch is considered passé at a time when the sledgehammer approach to filmmaking is deemed “fresh,” “innovative,” “cool,” and “daring” – as if a crass lack of subtlety in storytelling were anything new. Minus the multimillion-dollar budgets, the explicit violence and gore, and the overbearing smugness passing for hipness,...
- 1/31/2016
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
One of the Most Amazing Silent Movies (or Movies of Any Era, Period) Ever Made Tops the List of Best of Movies Released in 1921 Rex Ingram’s The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Metro Pictures' film version of Vicente Blasco Ibáñez’s epic novel -- from a scenario by the immensely powerful writer-producer June Mathis -- catapulted Mathis’ protégé, the until then little known Rudolph Valentino (photo, left), to worldwide superstardom, as The Four Horsemen became one of the biggest box-office hits of the silent era. Ingram’s wife, the invariably excellent Alice Terry (right, dark-haired in real life; a light-haired in her many movies), played Valentino's love interest. Ninety-two years after its initial launch, the Four Horsemen remains a monumental achievement. Released by MGM, Vincente Minnelli's 1962 remake of this Metro Pictures production featured an all-star cast: Glenn Ford, Ingrid Thulin (dubbed by Angela Lansbury), Charles Boyer, Lee J. Cobb,...
- 4/3/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Everybody's favorite movie decade: Which ones are the best movies released in the 20th century's second decade? Best Film (Pictured above) Broken Blossoms: Barthelmess and Gish star as ill-fated lovers in D.W. Griffith’s romantic melodrama featuring interethnic love. Check These Out (Pictured below) Cabiria: is considered one of the major landmarks in motion picture history, having inspired the scope and visual grandeur of D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance. Also of note, Pastrone's epic of ancient Rome introduced Maciste, a bulky hero who would be featured in countless movies in the ensuing decades. Best Actor (Pictured below) In the tragic The Italian, George Beban plays an Italian immigrant recently arrived in the United States (Click below for film review). Unfortunately, his American dream quickly becomes a horrendous nightmare of poverty and despair. Best Actress (Pictured below) The movies' super-vamp Theda Bara in A Fool There Was: A little...
- 3/27/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight Written by Online Film Critics Society members Phil Hall and Rory Leighton Aronsky, What If They Lived? (BearManor Media, 2011) takes a look at the lives and oeuvre of celebrities whose film careers were prematurely curtailed by death. As befitting their book's title, Hall and Aronsky then wonder, "What if they lived?" Encompassing the early days of cinema all the way to the early 21st century, What If They Lived? features an eclectic mix of film talent gone much too soon. Those include Rudolph Valentino, Jean Harlow, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Dorothy Dandridge, Lon Chaney, Bruce Lee, John Belushi, River Phoenix, Mabel Normand, Carole Lombard, John Gilbert, Will Rogers, Robert Walker, Chris Farley, Natasha Richardson, and Heath Ledger, in addition to mostly forgotten luminaries such as early D. W. Griffith leading man Robert Harron, silent-era superstar Wallace Reid, Evelyn Preer, Carole Landis, Laird Cregar, Robert Francis,...
- 3/31/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
In my posting yesterday regarding Todd Bridges’ interview on The Today Show for his new autobiography, Killing Willis, he stated towards the end of the second part of the interview that he blames some of the failure to really restart a major acting career to racism; that despite the fact that he’s been clean and sober and has stayed out of trouble with the law for over 16 years, he’s still labeled as a drug addict and unreliable by the powers-that-be in Hollywood, while other white actors who have had their own share on drug problems, spent time in prison and wild behavior such as Robert Downey Jr and Drew Barrymore have kept working and have now are even bigger stars than they were years ago.
Granted to say one would immediately come to that same conclusion too. Why has Bridges struggled while others have done well? Is it...
Granted to say one would immediately come to that same conclusion too. Why has Bridges struggled while others have done well? Is it...
- 3/16/2010
- by Sergio
- ShadowAndAct
By Michael Atkinson
Todd Rohal's "The Guatemalan Handshake" is one of the most inventive, most poetic, most disarmingly authentic indies of the last few years . so, of course, you've never had a chance to see it. It's a movie that seems to have dropped out of the sky, inexplicably, like a satellite fragment landing on Main Street. Naturally, it's not a project constructed around a traditional idea of storytelling propulsion . Rohal has whipped his world from the weedy ground up into a fiery, relentless storm of quirk, but he's original enough in his cataract of details to keep us in a constant state of enchanted disorientation. Why was "Napoleon Dynamite," with its relatively stereotypical uber-misfit, a hit, while this 2006 daydream foundered out of sight?
Set in some Forgottentown, Pennsylvania, "The Guatemalan Handshake" encounters characters undramatically, and its narrative gradually coalesces around them: Donald the triangular-electric-car-driving nebbish (Will Oldham); his...
Todd Rohal's "The Guatemalan Handshake" is one of the most inventive, most poetic, most disarmingly authentic indies of the last few years . so, of course, you've never had a chance to see it. It's a movie that seems to have dropped out of the sky, inexplicably, like a satellite fragment landing on Main Street. Naturally, it's not a project constructed around a traditional idea of storytelling propulsion . Rohal has whipped his world from the weedy ground up into a fiery, relentless storm of quirk, but he's original enough in his cataract of details to keep us in a constant state of enchanted disorientation. Why was "Napoleon Dynamite," with its relatively stereotypical uber-misfit, a hit, while this 2006 daydream foundered out of sight?
Set in some Forgottentown, Pennsylvania, "The Guatemalan Handshake" encounters characters undramatically, and its narrative gradually coalesces around them: Donald the triangular-electric-car-driving nebbish (Will Oldham); his...
- 4/29/2008
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.