Many have tried to define Bette Davis, but few have succeeded. Nobody stormed into Hollywood and changed it forever as she did. She took great delight in playing tough, complicated women, the kind of women who loved men, like most female characters in early Hollywood. And although these were women who loved men, they didn't need them to survive. Davis was exceptionally confident and was never afraid to speak the truth. Whether it was a bad script or a director she didn't like, Bette Davis made sure they knew they weren't up to her talents.
Davis brought incredible honesty to her roles, making the characters she played seem like real human beings. That's all the more impressive, considering that many female parts at the time were two-dimensional. She earned an incredible 11 Oscar nominations throughout her career, though somehow, she only won two.
While there will always be talk about the...
Davis brought incredible honesty to her roles, making the characters she played seem like real human beings. That's all the more impressive, considering that many female parts at the time were two-dimensional. She earned an incredible 11 Oscar nominations throughout her career, though somehow, she only won two.
While there will always be talk about the...
- 2/19/2023
- by Barry Levitt
- Slash Film
We love this Fritz Lang western even though it’s not particularly good; only in hindsight do we realize that the brilliant director’s intentions may have been compromised. High-key lighting does Marlene Dietrich no favors, but she scores good scenes performing with Arthur Kennedy (revenged crazed cowpoke) and Mel Ferrer (tranquilized gunslinger). Lang fans will be impressed by the gaudy, over-bright restored Technicolor, and we can always blame Howard Hughes.
Rancho Notorious
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1952 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 89 min. / Available at Amazon.com / General site Wac-Amazon / Street Date January 10, 2023 / 21.99
Starring: Marlene Dietrich, Arthur Kennedy, Mel Ferrer, Lloyd Gough, William Frawley, Jack Elam, George Reeves, Frank Ferguson, Dan Seymour, John Doucette, Dick Elliott, Russell Johnson, Charlita.
Cinematography: Hal Mohr
Production Designer: Wiard Ihnen
Dietrich’s wardrobe designed by: Don Loper
Editorial Supervisor: Otto Ludwig
Original Music: Emil Newman
Written by Daniel Taradash, Silvia Richards
Produced by Howard Welsch
Directed...
Rancho Notorious
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1952 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 89 min. / Available at Amazon.com / General site Wac-Amazon / Street Date January 10, 2023 / 21.99
Starring: Marlene Dietrich, Arthur Kennedy, Mel Ferrer, Lloyd Gough, William Frawley, Jack Elam, George Reeves, Frank Ferguson, Dan Seymour, John Doucette, Dick Elliott, Russell Johnson, Charlita.
Cinematography: Hal Mohr
Production Designer: Wiard Ihnen
Dietrich’s wardrobe designed by: Don Loper
Editorial Supervisor: Otto Ludwig
Original Music: Emil Newman
Written by Daniel Taradash, Silvia Richards
Produced by Howard Welsch
Directed...
- 1/31/2023
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The first movie to directly confront McCarthyism! Or so said the editorials touting this ‘Long-Awaited Screen Event’ in which ‘Bette Davis Hits the Screen in a Cyclone of Dramatic Fury!’ The storm of the title was based on a real activist in Oklahoma who lost her job for promoting equal rights. Bette’s polite librarian is victimized by small-minded civic types; a subplot depicts the traumatic reaction of one of her patrons, a child expected to despise her as a traitor to the country. Daniel Taradash’s movie is an excellent starting point to discuss the thorny dramatic subgenre of liberal social issue movies.
Storm Center
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 155
1956 / B&w / 1:78 widescreen / 86 min. / Street Date September 30, 2022 / Available from / au 39.95
Starring:
Bette Davis, Brian Keith, Kim Hunter, Paul Kelly, Joe Mantell, Kevin Coughlin, Sallie Brophie, Howard Wierum, Curtis Cooksey, Michael Raffetto, Joseph Kearns, Edward Platt, Kathryn Grant, Howard Wendell, Malcolm Atterbury,...
Storm Center
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 155
1956 / B&w / 1:78 widescreen / 86 min. / Street Date September 30, 2022 / Available from / au 39.95
Starring:
Bette Davis, Brian Keith, Kim Hunter, Paul Kelly, Joe Mantell, Kevin Coughlin, Sallie Brophie, Howard Wierum, Curtis Cooksey, Michael Raffetto, Joseph Kearns, Edward Platt, Kathryn Grant, Howard Wendell, Malcolm Atterbury,...
- 11/12/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Marlon Brando had few if any hits in the 1960s, but this wartime spy picture is a not-bad thriller with some tense moments. Both Brando and Yul Brynner have been blackmailed into a risky mission as spy and sea captain; they’re more than a little disillusioned to find themselves transporting a boatload of Nazis and political prisoners headed back to Germany. Persecuted victim Janet Margolin is beyond caring — she’s a victim on a voyage of the damned.
Morituri
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1965 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 123 min. / The Saboteur, Code Name Morituri / Street Date May 21, 2019 / Available from Twilight Time Movies / 29.95
Starring: Marlon Brando, Yul Brynner, Janet Margolin, Trevor Howard, Martin Benrath, Hans Christian Blech, Wally Cox, William Redfield.
Cinematography: Conrad Hall
Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Written by Daniel Taradash from a novel by Werner Jörg Lüddecke
Produced by Aaron Rosenberg
Directed by Bernhard Wicki
The dark, dank, morally murky...
Morituri
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1965 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 123 min. / The Saboteur, Code Name Morituri / Street Date May 21, 2019 / Available from Twilight Time Movies / 29.95
Starring: Marlon Brando, Yul Brynner, Janet Margolin, Trevor Howard, Martin Benrath, Hans Christian Blech, Wally Cox, William Redfield.
Cinematography: Conrad Hall
Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Written by Daniel Taradash from a novel by Werner Jörg Lüddecke
Produced by Aaron Rosenberg
Directed by Bernhard Wicki
The dark, dank, morally murky...
- 6/25/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This article marks Part 4 of the Gold Derby series reflecting on films that contended for the Big Five Oscars – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay (Original or Adapted). With “A Star Is Born” this year on the cusp of joining this exclusive group of Oscar favorites, join us as we look back at the 43 extraordinary pictures that earned Academy Awards nominations in each of the Big Five categories, including the following six films that took home a trio of prizes among the top races.
With a total of 13 nominations, the most of any Oscar contender that year, “From Here to Eternity” (1953) towered over the 26th Academy Awards. At the ceremony, the Fred Zinnemann film dominated, earning eight prizes, including three in the Big Five categories. It earned Best Picture, plus Best Director honors for Zinnemann and Best Adapted Screenplay (Daniel Taradash). While Frank Sinatra and...
With a total of 13 nominations, the most of any Oscar contender that year, “From Here to Eternity” (1953) towered over the 26th Academy Awards. At the ceremony, the Fred Zinnemann film dominated, earning eight prizes, including three in the Big Five categories. It earned Best Picture, plus Best Director honors for Zinnemann and Best Adapted Screenplay (Daniel Taradash). While Frank Sinatra and...
- 10/15/2018
- by Andrew Carden
- Gold Derby
“Wash your face, brush your teeth, and say your Prayers.” Marilyn Monroe’s first plunge into a dramatic starring role casts her as a dangerously unstable babysitter in a hotel-set suspense thriller co-starring Richard Widmark and Anne Bancroft. Ms. Monroe may not be Ethel Barrymore (thankfully) but the role suits her well — to play a woman unhinged by low self-esteem and melancholy romantic reveries, she may have tapped personal experience.
Don’t Bother to Knock
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1952 / B&W / 1.37 Academy / 76 min. / Street Date March 20, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Richard Widmark, Marilyn Monroe, Anne Bancroft, Donna Corcoran, Jeanne Cagney, Lurene Tuttle, Elisha Cook Jr., Jim Backus, Verna Felton, Willis Bouchey.
Cinematography: Lucien Ballard
Film Editor: George A. Gittens
Written by Daniel Taradash from a novel by Charlotte Armstrong
Produced by Julian Blaustein
Directed by Roy (Ward) Baker
Although she rates second billing below Richard Widmark,...
Don’t Bother to Knock
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1952 / B&W / 1.37 Academy / 76 min. / Street Date March 20, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Richard Widmark, Marilyn Monroe, Anne Bancroft, Donna Corcoran, Jeanne Cagney, Lurene Tuttle, Elisha Cook Jr., Jim Backus, Verna Felton, Willis Bouchey.
Cinematography: Lucien Ballard
Film Editor: George A. Gittens
Written by Daniel Taradash from a novel by Charlotte Armstrong
Produced by Julian Blaustein
Directed by Roy (Ward) Baker
Although she rates second billing below Richard Widmark,...
- 4/7/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Even lesser Abbott & Costello movies are still comedy gravy to the avid fans of the fast-talking duo. Their first film deal away from Universal yields a so-so production graced with a string of their patented old-time comedy routines. And the transfer beats anything we’ve yet seen.
The Noose Hangs High
Blu-ray
ClassicFlix
1948 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 77 min. / Street Date August 15, 2017 / available through ClassicFlix / 24.99
Starring: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Joseph Calleia, Leon Errol, Cathy Downs, Mike Mazurki, Fritz Feld, Murray Leonard, Ellen Corby, Russell Hicks, James Flavin, Minerva Urecal, Fred Kelsey.
Cinematography: Charles Van Enger
Film Editor: Harry Reynolds
Assistant Director: Howard W. Koch
Original Music: Walter Schumann
Written by John Grant, Howard Harris from an earlier screenplay by Charles Grayson, Arthur T. Horman story by Julian Blaustein, Daniel Taradash, Bernard Feins
Produced and Directed by Charles Barton
A few famous movie comedy teams prospered with good will and parted with hugs,...
The Noose Hangs High
Blu-ray
ClassicFlix
1948 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 77 min. / Street Date August 15, 2017 / available through ClassicFlix / 24.99
Starring: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Joseph Calleia, Leon Errol, Cathy Downs, Mike Mazurki, Fritz Feld, Murray Leonard, Ellen Corby, Russell Hicks, James Flavin, Minerva Urecal, Fred Kelsey.
Cinematography: Charles Van Enger
Film Editor: Harry Reynolds
Assistant Director: Howard W. Koch
Original Music: Walter Schumann
Written by John Grant, Howard Harris from an earlier screenplay by Charles Grayson, Arthur T. Horman story by Julian Blaustein, Daniel Taradash, Bernard Feins
Produced and Directed by Charles Barton
A few famous movie comedy teams prospered with good will and parted with hugs,...
- 8/26/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“A man don’t go his own way, he’s nothing.” Audiences can go their own way to cinemas when Fathom Events, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and Sony Pictures Entertainment bring the compelling war-time drama “From Here to Eternity” (1953) back to the big screen for a special two-day event this December as part of Fathom Events and Turner Classic Movies’ TCM Big Screen Classics series.
“TCM Big Screen Classics: From Here to Eternity” will screen on Sunday, December 11 and Wednesday, December 14 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. local time (both days) and will include eye-opening commentary from Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz on how all is not always fair in love and war, or in this classic film.
Winner of eight Academy Awards® in 1953, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Frank Sinatra) and Best Supporting Actress (Donna Reed), this patriotic narrative about war and love is a...
“TCM Big Screen Classics: From Here to Eternity” will screen on Sunday, December 11 and Wednesday, December 14 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. local time (both days) and will include eye-opening commentary from Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz on how all is not always fair in love and war, or in this classic film.
Winner of eight Academy Awards® in 1953, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Frank Sinatra) and Best Supporting Actress (Donna Reed), this patriotic narrative about war and love is a...
- 11/22/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The icon-establishing performances Marilyn Monroe gave in Howard Hawks’ Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and in Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot (1959) are ones for the ages, touchstone works that endure because of the undeniable comic energy and desperation that sparked them from within even as the ravenous public became ever more enraptured by the surface of Monroe’s seductive image of beauty and glamour. Several generations now probably know her only from these films, or perhaps 1955’s The Seven-Year Itch, a more famous probably for the skirt-swirling pose it generated than anything in the movie itself, one of director Wilder’s sourest pictures, or her final completed film, The Misfits (1961), directed by John Huston, written by Arthur Miller and costarring Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift.
But in Don’t Bother to Knock (1952) she delivers a powerful dramatic performance as Nell, a psychologically devastated, delusional, perhaps psychotic young woman apparently on...
But in Don’t Bother to Knock (1952) she delivers a powerful dramatic performance as Nell, a psychologically devastated, delusional, perhaps psychotic young woman apparently on...
- 4/11/2016
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
Julie Andrews, Max von Sydow and Richard Harris bring James Michener's true saga to life -- but it's the story of the destruction of paradise. A huge success just the same, producer Walter Mirisch's film testifies to the skill with which he brought together big talent for a show that doesn't compromise with a happy-happy historical revision. Hawaii Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1966 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 161 min. / Ship Date January 19, 2016 / available through Twilight Time Movies / 29.95 Starring Julie Andrews, Max von Sydow, Richard Harris, Gene Hackman, Carroll O'Connor, Jocelyne Lagarde, Manu Tupou, Ted Nobriga, Elizabeth Logue. Cinematography Russell Harlan Production Designer Cary Odell Art Direction James W. Sullivan Film Editor Stuart Gilmore Original Music Elmer Bernstein Written by Dalton Trumbo, Daniel Taradash from the novel by James Michener Produced by Walter Mirisch Directed by George Roy Hill
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Well, fans of James Michener that missed the...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Well, fans of James Michener that missed the...
- 1/26/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Dean Jones: Actor in Disney movies. Dean Jones dead at 84: Actor in Disney movies 'The Love Bug,' 'That Darn Cat!' Dean Jones, best known for playing befuddled heroes in 1960s Walt Disney movies such as That Darn Cat! and The Love Bug, died of complications from Parkinson's disease on Tue., Sept. 1, '15, in Los Angeles. Jones (born on Jan. 25, 1931, in Decatur, Alabama) was 84. Dean Jones movies Dean Jones began his Hollywood career in the mid-'50s, when he was featured in bit parts – at times uncredited – in a handful of films at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer In 2009 interview for Christianity Today, Jones recalled playing his first scene (in These Wilder Years) with veteran James Cagney, who told him “Walk to your mark and remember your lines” – supposedly a lesson he would take to heart. At MGM, bit player Jones would also be featured in Robert Wise's...
- 9/2/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Women presidents at the Academy: Cheryl Boone Isaacs is only the third one (photo: Angelina Jolie, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Brad Pitt) (See previous post: "Honorary Award Non-Winners: Too Late for Gloria Swanson, Rita Hayworth, Marlene Dietrich.") Wrapping up this four-part "Honorary Oscars Bypass Women" article, let it be noted that in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 85-year history there have been only two women presidents: two-time Oscar-winning actress Bette Davis (for two months in 1941, before the Dangerous and Jezebel star was forced to resign) and screenwriter Fay Kanin (1979-1983), whose best-known screen credit is the 1958 Doris Day-Clark Gable comedy Teacher's Pet. Additionally, following some top-level restructuring in April 2011, the Academy created the positions of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer, with the CEO post currently held by a woman, former Film Independent executive director and sometime actress Dawn Hudson. The COO post is held...
- 9/4/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Oscar Sunday is three months from today, March 2, 2014 and this year, it’s anyone’s game. The Academy has a history of playing up all the glamour and suspense, and this year should be no different.
As of today, Gold Derby‘s Top 5 Best Picture predictions for the 86th Academy Awards are: 12 Years A Slave, Gravity, Saving Mr. Banks, Captain Phillips and American Hustle.
Hit Fix’s Top 5 are: Gravity, 12 Years A Slave, Saving Mr. Banks, Captain Phillips and Inside Llewyn Davis.
In what’s classic TV, take a look at the opening of the 43rd Academy Awards in 1971, featuring an introduction by Academy President Daniel Taradash.
The big A-listers of the day all appeared at the Oscars – Goldie Hawn, Jeanne Moreau, Melvyn Douglas, Ryan O’Neal, Leigh Taylor-Young, George Segal, Jennifer Jones, Lee Grant, Maximilian Schell, Ginger Rogers, Jack Nicholson, Ali McGraw, Robert Evans, Quincy Jones, Sally Kellerman, Jim Brown,...
As of today, Gold Derby‘s Top 5 Best Picture predictions for the 86th Academy Awards are: 12 Years A Slave, Gravity, Saving Mr. Banks, Captain Phillips and American Hustle.
Hit Fix’s Top 5 are: Gravity, 12 Years A Slave, Saving Mr. Banks, Captain Phillips and Inside Llewyn Davis.
In what’s classic TV, take a look at the opening of the 43rd Academy Awards in 1971, featuring an introduction by Academy President Daniel Taradash.
The big A-listers of the day all appeared at the Oscars – Goldie Hawn, Jeanne Moreau, Melvyn Douglas, Ryan O’Neal, Leigh Taylor-Young, George Segal, Jennifer Jones, Lee Grant, Maximilian Schell, Ginger Rogers, Jack Nicholson, Ali McGraw, Robert Evans, Quincy Jones, Sally Kellerman, Jim Brown,...
- 12/3/2013
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
I’ve always been a war film buff, maybe because I grew up with them at a time when they were a regular part of the cinema landscape. That’s why I read, with particular interest, my Sound on Sight colleague Edgar Chaput’s recent pieces on The Flowers of War (“The Flowers of War Is an Uneven but Interesting Chinese Ww II Film” – posted 2/20/12) and The Front Line (The Front Line Rises to the Occasion to Overcome Its Familiarity” – 2/16/12) with such interest. An even more fun read was the back-and-forth between Edgar and Sos’s Michael Ryan over the latter (“The Sound on Sight Debate on Korea’s The Front Line” – 2/12/12), with Michael unimpressed because the movie had “…nothing new to add to the war genre,” and Edgar coming back with “…‘new’ is not always what a film must strive for. So long as it does well what it set out to do…...
- 2/28/2012
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Fondly remembered for star Burt Lancaster's preposterously high trunks, From Here To Eternity was almost even racier, recalls John Patterson
"The boldest book of our time … honestly, fearlessly on the screen!" That was how the movie posters for From Here To Eternity touted Fred Zinnemann's adaptation of James Jones's bestselling novel dealing with army life in Hawaii before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941.
From Here to Eternity still stands up very well. That's not altogether surprising, given the success of Jones's novel, which required extensive bowdlerisation by screenwriter Daniel Taradash before it could be filmed at all. Its subsequent success at the 1954 Oscars, where it won eight Academy Awards, including best picture, director, screenplay, camerawork and both supporting actor awards, was a sweep not seen since It Happened One Night in 1935 or repeated until One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest in 1976. Its famous sex scene, with macho Burt Lancaster,...
"The boldest book of our time … honestly, fearlessly on the screen!" That was how the movie posters for From Here To Eternity touted Fred Zinnemann's adaptation of James Jones's bestselling novel dealing with army life in Hawaii before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941.
From Here to Eternity still stands up very well. That's not altogether surprising, given the success of Jones's novel, which required extensive bowdlerisation by screenwriter Daniel Taradash before it could be filmed at all. Its subsequent success at the 1954 Oscars, where it won eight Academy Awards, including best picture, director, screenplay, camerawork and both supporting actor awards, was a sweep not seen since It Happened One Night in 1935 or repeated until One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest in 1976. Its famous sex scene, with macho Burt Lancaster,...
- 9/20/2010
- by John Patterson
- The Guardian - Film News
Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster make love in From Here to Eternity(top); Montgomery Clift and Frank Sinatra do a little (sorta) lovemaking of their own later on in the film (bottom) Fred Zinnemann’s 1953 Academy Award-winning drama From Here to Eternity, starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, and Frank Sinatra, will be screened by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Wednesday, November 18, at 7:30 p.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The presentation will feature the premiere of a new digital restoration, as well as an onstage discussion with Ernest Borgnine, who has a supporting role in the film. Adapted by Daniel Taradash from James Jones‘ bestselling [...]...
- 11/10/2009
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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