Tativille (Free subscription) | 13/11/2009
Marcel L'Herbier's legendary L'Argent (1928), which screens November 14th and 15th at New York's Museum of Modern Art, and which was released in a two-disc, region-2 DVD set by Masters of Cinema for its eightieth anniversary in 2008, updates Emile Zola's eponymous, anti-speculatory serialization (1890; novel published in 1891) within the persuasive américanisme of post- Spirit of St. Louis ,...
Film Forno (Free subscription) | 03/11/2009
Max Reinhardt, king of German theater had to flee Nazi oppression at the height of his creative success. He came to America, staged A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Hollywood Bowl and was signed to a contract by Warner Bros. to direct a film version. I guess it didn’t make money because Reinhardt didn’t get [...]
a from l (Free subscription) | 23/10/2009
Posted by e-mail: Normally on Thursday evenings I watch Newsnight , then the last twenty minutes of Question Time , then This Week . Yesterday, in common with most of the population it seems, I watched Question Time in its entirety (I checked the first five minutes of Newsnight , but I was always going to switch over). It was a bear garden of a show. In a provocative move the BBC had invited onto the...
"Let's Not Talk About Movies" (Free subscription) | 17/10/2009
" Elephant Walk " ( William Dieterle , 1954) There are days...and movies...where you just want to say "this is just really bad," and be done with it. On to the next show with hope and a fresh perspective and a renewed realization of just how good cinema can be by seeing it...in its failings. " Elephant Walk " was a "programmer." A fiction property with clamored-for...
SHADOWPLAY (Free subscription) | 27/08/2009
Edgar Ulmer, noting actor William Dieterle’s girth and tendency to play knights in armour, claimed his nickname in the German theatre was “the Iron Stove,” adding, “He was a big guy, not talented…” As a director, WD could be pretty dynamic, as we’ve seen here recently. But once in a while he could still strap on [...]
Vinyl Is Heavy (Free subscription) | 24/08/2009
by Ryland Walker Knight —I can stare for a thousand years. Gaslight [George Cukor, 1944] # So much more painful this time, though I can't imagine it not being painful. I really need to re-read Contesting Tears . A Little Death [Gina Telaroli, 2009] Gina tells me this is a work in progress but it certainly looked cohesive and complete to my eyes. Johnny Guitar [Nicholas Ray, 1954] # Color like...
SHADOWPLAY (Free subscription) | 07/08/2009
In DARK CITY, a percussive 1950 noir directed by Shadowplay man-of-the-moment William Dieterle, Charlton Heston is introduced to the world in the role of Danny Haley, a professional gambler with a zero tolerance attitude to current affairs: spurning a newspaper offered by smoky chanteuse girlfriend/doormat Lizabeth Scott ~ She: “Don’t you want to know what’s going [...]
SHADOWPLAY (Free subscription) | 04/08/2009
One of my favourite non-Laughton moments from William Dieterle’s film of THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. While Maureen O’Hara has her eyes on higher things, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, his name come to resemble some CARRY ON film joke, stares fixedly down her cleavage. For what seems like minutes on end. It characterizes the old devil pretty [...]
SHADOWPLAY (Free subscription) | 02/08/2009
So, I’m scritching and scratching away at my first Film Club piece (have you got one of the new quill pads for your computer? It’s a real boon!), which airs tomorrow. Hope you’ll join me here. But I still have to write an Intertitle of the Week for today, so watch this space. Regular Shadowplayers [...]
The One-Line Review (Free subscription) | 31/07/2009
Germany Feature Film Director: F.W. Murnau Writers: Gerhart Hauptmann, Hans Kyser, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Cinematographer: Carl Hoffmann Composer: Timothy Brock (1995) Cast: Gösta Ekman, Emil Jannings, Camilla Horn, Frida Richard, William Dieterle, Yvette Guilbert, Eric Barclay, Hanna Ralph, Werner Fuetterer von Goethe’s Faust - in which forces of Good and Evil, battling over possession...
SHADOWPLAY (Free subscription) | 28/07/2009
I’m continuing to big up Film Club here, because I’m curious to see what will happen if I make as much noise as possible. This message is for fellows on Facebook, people with Twitter accounts, and those of you who just have many many friends — tell everybody! It’s not just a shameless attempt to boost [...]
SHADOWPLAY (Free subscription) | 27/07/2009
FILM CLUB wants you! After lengthy and mostly sober consideration, I’ve elected to start our experiment in internet confluence, Film Club, off with Arthur’s suggestion, THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER (AKA ALL THAT MONEY CAN BUY), a William Dieterle classic from 1941. Shadowplay requires that every man and woman in the land(s) shall watch along and [...]
[CinemaRatty] Lattest Articles (Free subscription) | 24/06/2009
Im supposed to be a detective solving a crime case, and everybody thinks I committed the crime Synopsis While investigating the mysterious death of his partner (Porter Hall), detective Ted Shane...
Film of the Year (Free subscription) | 01/04/2009
The challenges widescreen formats present to film style have been on my mind ever since last week's post saw the debut of CinemaScope in this blog's journey across film history. For instance, close-up cinematography is effected by the wider shape of the frame. Classic film fans are aware that an...
[CinemaRatty] Lattest Articles (Free subscription) | 21/02/2009
Except for the day where the leads have terminal and debilitating diseases in all the movies, some fairly good selections this week. (Oscar month is almost over!) As always, all times are EST and...
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