Noticias

Maleah Joi Moon has become the 101st performer to win a Tony Award for their first outing on a Broadway stage for her performance in the musical “Hell’s Kitchen.”

She won Best Actress in a Musical at the 77th Tony Awards for portraying Ali, a 17-year-old girl searching for her place in the world while living in the titular New York City neighborhood and also being restrained by her overbearing mother. She is the 10th person to win the category for her Broadway debut. She joins:

Elizabeth Seal, “Irma La Douce” (1961)

Anna Maria Alberghetti, “Carnival” (1962)

Liza Minnelli, “Flora the Red Menace” (1965)

Leslie Uggams, “Hallelujah, Baby” (1968)

Alexis Smith, “Follies” (1972)

Natalia Makarova, “On Your Toes” (1983)

Lea Salonga, “Miss Saigon” (1991)

Catherine Zeta-Jones, “A Little Night Music” (2010)

Cynthia Erivo, “The Color Purple” (2016)

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Other performers who pulled off this accomplishment in recent years include...

Darryl Hickman, who appeared in such films as The Grapes of Wrath and Leave Her to Heaven as a youngster before becoming a CBS executive in charge of daytime drama and an actor once more, has died. He was 92.

Hickman, who lived in Montecito, died Wednesday, his family announced.

He was the older brother (by three years) of the late Dwayne Hickman, who starred on the 1959-63 CBS comedy The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Darryl appeared with his brother in Captain Eddie (1945) — he played famed fighter pilot Eddie Rickenbacker as a boy — and on three first-season episodes of Dobie as older brother Davey, who came home from college.

In 1951, after appearances in more than 40 movies, Hickman — who had been a contract player at Paramount and MGM — became disillusioned with the business and entered a monastery, though he was back in show business before long.

Hickman had made his first...

Jodie Comer has become the 100th performer to win a Tony Award for their Broadway debut for her performance in the play, “Prima Facie.”

She won Best Actress in a Play for portraying Tess, a lawyer who concentrates in providing legal defense for men who are accused of sexual assault but soon has the unthinkable happen to her. She is the 11th person to win the category for her first outing on a Broadway stage. She joins:

SEE2023 Tony Awards: Every winner (and nominee) in all 26 competitive categories

Martita Hunt, “The Madwoman of Chaillot” (1949)

Beryl Reid, “The Killing of Sister George” (1967)

Phyllis Frelich, “Children of a Lesser God” (1980)

Jane Lapotaire, “Piaf” (1981)

Joan Allen, “Burn This” (1988)

Pauline Collins, “Shirley Valentine” (1989)

Janet McTeer, “A Doll’s House” (1997)

Marie Mullen, “The Beauty Queen of Leeane” (1998)

Jennifer Ehle, “The Real Thing” (2000)

Deanna Dunagan, “August: Osage County” (2008)

Below are the Broadway debuts in the seven other...

This year’s Tonys will be held on June 11, so the American Theatre Wing will likely be announcing its lifetime achievement award recipient in the near future. Who do you think should take home this prestigious trophy, which honors an individual’s body of work? It has gone to veteran stage performers, directors, choreographers, playwrights, songwriters, producers, and designers. In some years we get multiple recipients.

Last year legendary five-time competitive Tony winner Angela Lansbury received this honor about four months before her death on October 11 at the age of 96. The following living performers have also already received this award and thus won’t be chosen again: Tommy Tune, James Earl Jones, Chita Rivera, and Rosemary Harris.

Here are the 10 possibilities featured in our poll below, all performers over the age of 65. Vote to let us know who you’d like to see honored.

SEEBrian d’Arcy James (‘Into the...

Comedy is what we need right now, says Nicholas Hytner, who ran London’s National Theatre for a decade.

It’s fine to have heavy-lifting dramas by Ibsen or Schiller, but boy-oh-boy laughter is an increasingly uplifting necessity.

Which is where Guys & Dolls and James Corden, post his life on The Late Late Show, come in.

Hytner, partnered with longtime executive Nick Starr, now own and control London’s Bridge Theatre and is overseeing a fully immersive revival of the classic Broadway musical Guys & Dolls, choreographed by Dame Arlene Phillips (Strictly Come Dancing) and now in early previews.

It stars Daniel Mays as Nathan Detroit, Andrew Richardson (A Call to Spy) as Sky Masterson, Celinde Schoenmaker (Rocketman) as Sarah Brown and Marisha Wallace (Aladdin) as long-suffering Miss Adelaide. Cedric Neal plays Nicely-Nicely Johnson. Also in the cast are Jordan Castle,...

The composer George Gershwin died in 1937 and eight years later Hollywood paid tribute with this biography directed by Irving Rapper. The preponderance of musicians appearing as themselves, including Paul Whiteman and Oscar Levant, confirms the storyline will concentrate on Gershwin’s music while playing fast and loose with the details of his private life. Robert Alda plays the composer, and Joan Leslie and Alexis Smith are on hand as two of his factionalized romantic entanglements.

The post Rhapsody in Blue appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

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Sony Pictures hopes audiences are all aboard for Bullet Train, David Leitch’s action comedy starring Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock and Brian Tyree Henry that hits theaters Aug. 5.

Trains have a history of transfixing Hollywood, dating back to 19th century silent-film footage of the vehicle that was so realistic, it reportedly caused audiences to flee in fear. But one project that didn’t captivate viewers as expected was the NBC drama series Supertrain.

Launched in February 1979 with stars Edward Andrews and Robert Alda, the show centered on a luxurious, nuclear-powered train and followed in the footsteps of ABC’s popular Love Boat by focusing on passengers’ personal lives — which involved murder, abduction, mystery and romance — amid the cross-country voyage. Skyrocketing costs for the lavish train sets led the network to spend at least 7 million (28.6 million today) on the pilot, making it the most...

Myles Frost became the latest addition to the list of people who have taken home a Tony Award for their Broadway debut. His win makes him the 98th member of this particular winners’ club.

Frost, who won Best Actor in a Musical for playing Michael Jackson in “Mj,” is the 13th person to win that category for their first time stepping into a character on a Broadway stage. He joins:

Ezio Pinza, “South Pacific” (1950)

Robert Alda, “Guys and Dolls” (1951)

Robert Lindsay, “Me and My Girl” (1987)

Brent Carver, “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (1993)

Alan Cumming, “Cabaret” (1998)

Hugh Jackman, “The Boy From Oz” (2004)

John Lloyd Young, “Jersey Boys” (2006)

Paulo Szot, “South Pacific” (2008)

David Álvarez, Trent Kowalik and Kiril Kulish (joint nomination), “Billy Elliot” (2009)

Douglas Hodge, “La Cage aux Folles” (2010)

See 2022 Tony Awards: Every winner (and nominee) in all 26 categories

Below are the Broadway debuts in the seven other acting categories that have...

Six years before his death in 1996, “Rent” composer Jonathan Larson began performing a solo semi-autobiographical musical “Tick, Tick…Boom!” about a young struggling composer named Jon who fears that he has made the wrong career choice. After his death, Larson’s show was expanded into a three-person piece by David Auburn that ran in London, off-Broadway, and as a national tour. Now it is an acclaimed new Netflix movie directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda (who appeared in a Encores production of the musical in 2014) and starring Andrew Garfield.

The composer bio movie genre has long been a favorite of Hollywood, especially during its Golden Age. But these bio-pics played fast and loose with the facts. The Production Code prevented these films from exploring the fact that Cole Porter and Lorenz Hart were gay. And some of these composers and/or their families were still alive and wanted a certain image presented on the big screen.

With the long-delayed 74th Tony Awards set for Sept. 26 at the Winter Garden and streaming on Paramount + and a CBS special, let’s take a deep dive into Tony Awards history and look back at the first decade. Broadway was bristling with excitement post World War II. Young playwrights such as Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and William Inge breathed new life into the Great White Way. And new talents electrifying audiences included Marlon Brando, Julie Harris and Gwen Verdon. It was the perfect time for the creation of the Tony Awards in 1947. The Antoinette Perry Awards or Theatre Excellence were named after the legendary theater actress who was co-founder of the American Theatre Wing; she had died in 1946.

The first annual Tony Awards took place on April 6, 1947 at the Waldorf Astoria and was broadcast on radio on Wor and Mutual Network radio. There was no categories for best play or musical,...

For only the third time this decade, none of the acting winners at this year’s Tony Awards did so for their Broadway debut. This is the 21st time that this has happened over the 73-year history of these top theater honors. Most of the winners were actually on the opposite end of the spectrum, winning for the first time after years of Broadway experience and several nominations to their name including André De Shields, Celia Keenan-Bolger and Stephanie J. Block. Check out the complete list of winners here.

The previous instances of Broadway debuts being shut out at the Tonys were in: 1948, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1959, 1960, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1982, 1990, 1991, 1994, 2001-2003, 2012 and 2017.

Below, you can see the names of all 96 people who have won Tonys for their debut on the Great White Way.

SEE2019 Tony Awards: Best Musical ‘Hadestown’ sweeps with 8 wins, ‘The Ferryman’ takes Best Play

Best Actor In A Play: 16 winners

Paul Scofield, “A Man for All Seasons” (1962)

Cliff Gorman,...

1974: Another World aired a one-hour special.

1983: Peter Reckell debuted on Days of our Lives.

1991: The Dallas series finale aired on CBS.

2013: Jeanne Cooper's final Y&R scene aired."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into d ifferent and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1968: On The Doctors, Ralph Anderson (Al Hinckley) held Matt (James Pritchett), Althea (Elizabeth Hubbard) and Nick (Gerald Gordon) hostage in Matt's office. As Maggie (Bethel Leslie) banged on the door, a gunshot went off.

1974: Another World broadcast for one hour for the first time in honor of its 10th anniversary.

1973: The Doctors' Carolee received more bad news.

1976: Ryan's Hope's Faith taped a note to her captor's back.

1985: Santa Barbara's Carnation Killer murdered Veronica.

2008: Billy Magnussen debuted as Casey on As the World Turns."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1945: Procter & Gamble bought Spic and Span for $1.9 million. It would later become one of the sponsors for P&G soaps for decades (most notably Search for Tomorrow).

1965: Actor John Larkin died at age 52. He starred as the original Mike Karr in The Edge of Night,...

It was 50 years ago next month that Alan Alda attended his first Hollywood awards show but it didn’t go so great that first time. Alda was one of the runners-up in the “most promising newcomer” category (which is now long defunct) at the 26th Golden Globes in 1969 — but the future M*A*S*H icon would more than make up for that early setback over the course a gold-plated career that has included plenty of acceptance speeches.

Six Golden Globes and six Emmys have competed for the dwindling space on Alda’s mantle over the years but on Sunday he seemed genuinely dazzled by his latest prize: SAG’s Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes both his accomplishments on screen and stage as well as his considerable humanitarian and charity work during a career that spans six different decades.

The SAG honor arrived a day before another milestone for Alda.

Anyone can be a multi-talent. But to be a major star with a big heart and a social conscience means even more.

Tonight at 8 p.m. Et/5 p.m. Pt on TNT and TBS, Alan Alda — who 83rd birthday is on Monday — will be honored by his thespian peers as he receives a Screen Actors Guild life achievement award for his body of work on stage, in film and especially on TV. That includes his 11 seasons on “M*A*S*H” (1972-83), both in front of and behind the camera, along with his activism and other landmarks in his seven-decade career.

The award predates the 25-year-old competitive awards by more than 30 years. The first recipient: Eddie Cantor in 1962. More recently, the guild has presented its honorary prize to such performers as Morgan Freeman, Lily Tomlin, Carol Burnett, Debbie Reynolds, Rita Moreno and Dick Van Dyke. Here are five reasons why Alda is fully...

Alan Alda is set to receive the Screen Actors Guild’s Life Achievement Award during the 25th Annual SAG Awards on Jan. 27 from Tom Hanks: a canny tribute to career excellence passing between one generation’s most beloved actor and the next. But unlike Hanks, whose off-screen goodness is repeatedly and almost without exception reinforced in the roles he chooses, Alda insists that he devoted considerable professional effort throughout his career to testing audience’s sympathies, even if the effort proved unsuccessful in challenging the likability that’s become synonymous with his name.

“I’ve played people who were either villains or they weren’t totally nice guys at least half the time through my life, and every time I play one somebody says, ‘boy, you’ve never done that before,’” Alda says. “So I must have covered America with the slime of my amiability a little more than I thought I would.

Fritz Lang's House By The River starring Louis Hayward and Jane Wyatt to screen in the tribute to Pierre Rissient

The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced that they will honour Pierre Rissient, programmer of the Mac-Mahon Theatre in Paris, publicist in partnership with Bertrand Tavernier, Cannes Film Festival mover and shaker, and so much more. Seven films will screen in tribute in the Retrospective section of the 56th New York Film Festival.

Clint Eastwood's Play Misty For Me; Raoul Walsh's The Man I Love with Ida Lupino, Bruce Bennett and Robert Alda; Joseph Losey's Time Without Pity starring Michael Redgrave; Mehboob Khan's Mother India with Nargis; King Hu's A Touch Of Zen; Lino Brocka's Manila In The Claws Of Light with Bembel Roco and Hilda Koronel, and Fritz Lang's House By The River.

The Retrospective section is co-programmed by New York...

Ari’el Stachel became the latest person to take home a Tony Award for their Broadway debut. This victory puts him in a freshman club that now has 96 members. Watch him discuss his victory in the Tonys press room in the video above.

Stachel, who won Best Featured Actor in a Musical for playing Haled in “The Band’s Visit,” is the ninth person to claim that particular honor for his first Broadway outing. He joins:

Harry Belafonte, “John Murray Anderson’s Almanac” (1954)

Sydney Chaplin, “Bells are Ringing” (1957)

Frankie Michaels, “Mame” (1966)

Wilson Jermaine Heredia, “Rent” (1996)

Dan Fogler, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” (2005)

Levi Kreis, “Million Dollar Quartet” (2010)

John Larroquette, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” (2011)

Daveed Diggs, “Hamilton” (2016)

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Below are the Broadway debuts in the seven other acting categories that claimed Tony Awards.

Best Actor In A Play: 16 winners

Paul Scofield,...

1974: Another World aired a one-hour special.

1983: Peter Reckell debuted on Days of our Lives.

1991: The Dallas series finale aired on CBS.

2013: Jeanne Cooper's final Y&R scene aired."All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."

― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1968: On The Doctors, Ralph Anderson (Al Hinckley) held Matt (James Pritchett), Althea (Elizabeth Hubbard) and Nick (Gerald Gordon) hostage in Matt's office. As Maggie (Bethel Leslie) banged on the door,...

1973: Nancy Pinkerton debuted as Dorian Lord on One Life to Live.

1978: Dallas' Pam revealed her pregnancy but later lost the baby.

1996: All My Children's Marian played a revealing tape to hurt Tad.

2001: General Hospital's Skye announced she was a Quartermaine."All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."

― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1968: On Dark Shadows, Jeff (Roger Davis) dozed off in a chair in the living room of the...

1973: The Doctors' Carolee received more bad news.

1976: Ryan's Hope's Faith taped a note to her captor's back.

1985: Santa Barbara's Carnation Killer murdered Veronica.

2008: Billy Magnussen debuted as Casey on As the World Turns."Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever shall be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results."

― Machiavelli

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1945: Procter & Gamble bought Spic and Span for $1.9 million. It would later become one...

Spider-Man Strikes Back (1978) Director: Ron Satlof Stars: Nicholas Hammond, Robert Alda, Michael Pataki Today marks the day that Spider-Man finally swings back home to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Spider-man: Homecoming, so Awfully Good Movies is once again returning to the well of Marvel's early days of adapting their comic books for TV with 1978's Spider-man Strikes... Read More...

Dana Andrews movies: Film noir actor excelled in both major and minor crime dramas. Dana Andrews movies: First-rate film noir actor excelled in both classics & minor fare One of the best-looking and most underrated actors of the studio era, Dana Andrews was a first-rate film noir/crime thriller star. Oftentimes dismissed as no more than a “dependable” or “reliable” leading man, in truth Andrews brought to life complex characters that never quite fit into the mold of Hollywood's standardized heroes – or rather, antiheroes. Unlike the cynical, tough-talking, and (albeit at times self-delusionally) self-confident characters played by the likes of Alan Ladd, Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, and, however lazily, Robert Mitchum, Andrews created portrayals of tortured men at odds with their social standing, their sense of ethics, and even their romantic yearnings. Not infrequently, there was only a very fine line separating his (anti)heroes from most movie villains.

Imitation of Life

Written by William Hurlbut

Directed by John M. Stahl

USA, 1934

Written by Eleanore Griffin and Allan Scott

Directed by Douglas Sirk

USA, 1959

The debate about the necessity and worth of continual remakes rages on every year. Will the new version be as good as the original? Or even better? Should it have even been made to begin with? While we do seem to hear more about this recently, the concept of a remark is, of course, nothing new. Examples go back to the very dawn of cinema. What makes a remake particularly worthwhile, however, is when the films involved are dissimilar in certain aspects yet notably congruent in other areas: just enough to keep the basic premise or theme consistent, but varied enough to keep it up to date and original in one way or another. If both versions have their merits, a considerate comparison and contrast...

Martha Stewart: Actress / Singer in Fox movies apparently not dead despite two-year-old reports to the contrary (Photo: Martha Stewart and Perry Como in 'Doll Face') According to various online reports, including Variety's, actress and singer Martha Stewart, a pretty blonde featured in supporting roles in a handful of 20th Century Fox movies of the '40s, died at age 89 of "natural causes" in Northeast Harbor, Maine, on February 25, 2012. Needless to say, that was not the same Martha Stewart hawking "delicious foods" and whatever else on American television. But quite possibly, the Martha Stewart who died in February 2012 -- if any -- was not the Martha Stewart of old Fox movies either. And that's why I'm republishing this (former) obit, originally posted more than two and a half years ago: March 11, 2012. Earlier today, a commenter wrote to Alt Film Guide, claiming that the Martha Stewart featured in Doll Face, I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now,...

Review by Sam Moffitt

I love strippers! Always have and always will. Having said that I have never been to a real burlesque show. Oh, I’ve been to tittie bars, sure, tittie bars, absolutely! Four years in the Navy and having been a bachelor all my life (I am engaged to a wonderful woman so cut me some slack here) I’ve been to plenty of bars where topless dancers do their shimmy and shake and hang from the pole and all that. But that isn’t really burlesque.

I can remember growing up in St. Louis in the 60s and 70s and looking at ads in the Globe Democrat and Post Dispatch for the Grand Burlesque downtown (was it on Washington?) and the Stardust Burlesque on DeBaliviere. How I wanted to go to those theaters, how I wanted to see Evelyn West and her $20,000 (was that the dollar amount?...

Lana Turner movies: Scandal and more scandal Lana Turner is Turner Classic Movies’ "Summer Under the Stars" star today, Saturday, August 10, 2013. I’m a little — or rather, a lot — late in the game posting this article, but there are still three Lana Turner movies left. You can see Turner get herself embroiled in scandal right now, in Douglas Sirk’s Imitation of Life (1959), both the director and the star’s biggest box-office hit. More scandal follows in Mark Robson’s Peyton Place (1957), the movie that earned Lana Turner her one and only Academy Award nomination. And wrapping things up is George Sidney’s lively The Three Musketeers (1948), with Turner as the ruthless, heartless, remorseless — but quite elegant — Lady de Winter. Based on Fannie Hurst’s novel and a remake of John M. Stahl’s 1934 melodrama about mother love, class disparities, racism, and good cooking, Imitation of Life was shown on...

Douglas Sirk movies: ‘Imitation of Life,’ ‘Written on the Wind’ (photo: Lana Turner, Juanita Moore, Karin Dicker in ‘Imitation of Life’) Douglas Sirk is Turner Classic Movies’ Director of the Evening. The German-born (April 26, 1897, in Hamburg) filmmaker has developed a cult following in recent decades after his "women’s pictures" were reappraised by some critics as works of profound social criticism filled with auteuristic touches. Why it would take years (or decades) for people to realize the obvious is a little mind-boggling, until you remember that movies about women and their issues have been, for the most part, relegated to the sidelines. A stupid prejudice that continues to this very day. My statement, by the way, has nothing to do with yikesy political correctness; if you don’t believe me, just check out the Best Picture Academy Award winners or Palme d’Or winners or Golden Lion winners or Golden...

Guys and Dolls remake supposedly to star Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (photo: Channing Tatum in Magic Mike) Guys and Dolls will be brought back to the big screen by way of 20th Century Fox, according to Deadline.com. Back in 1955, Joseph L. Mankiewicz directed for independent producer Samuel Goldwyn a highly successful movie version of the Broadway musical based on a Damon Runyon short story. Distributed by MGM, that particular Guys and Dolls starred Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, and Vivian Blaine. This time around, Fox supposedly wants Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, whose singing prowess was amply displayed in, respectively, G.I. Joe: Retaliation and The Dark Knight Rises. And Tatum and Gordon-Levitt can dance, too, as proven at the 2013 Oscar show (and, in Tatum’s case, Magic Mike). But hey, Goldwyn didn’t care that neither Marlon Brando nor Jean Simmons could sing (or dance), either. And Brando...

Warner Archive Collection 4th anniversary DVD / Blu-ray releases The Warner Archive Collection (aka Wac), which currently has a DVD / Blu-ray library consisting of approximately 1,500 titles, has just turned four. In celebration of its fourth anniversary, Wac is releasing with movies featuring the likes of Jane Powell, Eleanor Parker, and many more stars and filmmakers of yesteryear. (Pictured above: Greer Garson, Debbie Reynolds, Ricardo Montalban in the sentimental 1966 comedy / drama with music The Singing Nun.) For starters, Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds play siblings in Richard Thorpe's Athena (1954), whose supporting cast includes Edmund Purdom, Vic Damone, frequent Jerry Lewis foil Kathleen Freeman, Citizen Kane's Ray Collins, Tyrone Power's then-wife Linda Christian, former Mr. Universe and future Hercules Steve Reeves, veteran Louis Calhern, not to mention numerology, astrology, and vegetarianism. As per Wac's newsletter, the score by Hugh Martin and Martin Blane "gets a first ever Stereophonic Sound remix for this disc,...

The art of the glass shot or matte painting is one which originated very much in the early ‘teens’ of the silent era. Pioneer film maker, director, cameraman and visual effects inventor Norman Dawn is generally acknowledged as the father of the painted matte composite, with other visionary film makers such as Ferdinand Pinney Earle, Walter Hall and Walter Percy Day being heralded as making vast contributions to the trick process in the early 1920’s.

Boiled down, the matte process is one whereby a limited film set may be extended to whatever, or wherever the director’s imagination dictates with the employment of a matte artist. In it’s most pure form, the artist would set up a large plate of clear glass in front of the motion picture camera upon which he would carefully paint in new scenery an ornate period ceiling, snow capped mountains, a Gothic castle or even an alien world.

When Harry Knowles, the Grand Mufti of movie bloggers, has a birthday party he does it up big. It starts with the Internet's most die-hard cinemaniacs filling out an elaborate application for a coveted, assigned seat at Austin's Alamo Drafthouse Theater, and ends with intense film junkie bragging rights.

The event, appropriately called Butt-Numb-a-Thon, is a (more than) 24-hour movie marathon mixing hard-to-find vintage prints and first looks at forthcoming films. In years past, attendees have had sneak peeks at movies like "King Kong", "Kick-Ass" and "Hobo With A Shotgun", as well rare opportunities to see flicks like Disney's "Song of the South" or Orson Welles' "Chimes at Midnight."

This year, after a Friday night kick-off party at an elaborate pinball arcade, the lucky few exchanged tips on how long to wait until drinking coffee (everyone has their own theory) and tried to guess the line-up. This was my second Bnat,...

Linda Christian, international actress and Tyrone Power's second wife, died Friday (July 22) in Palm Springs, California. Christian, who was 87, had been suffering from colon cancer. Linda Christian was born Blanca Rosa Henrietta Stella Welter Vorhauer on November 13, 1923, in Tampico, Mexico, to a Dutch oil executive and his German-Mexican wife. As a young girl, she traveled the world with her parents, according to reports eventually becoming fluent in seven languages. Discovered by Errol Flynn while in Acapulco, Christian moved to Los Angeles where she began her film career in bit parts in Hollywood movies of the mid-1940s. Labeled "The Anatomic Bomb" by Life magazine, Christian eventually progressed to supporting roles in a handful of productions, among them Robert Florey's Tarzan and the Mermaids (1948) and Richard Fleischer's The Happy Time (1952). Leading roles, however, eluded her, while a reported seven-year MGM contract led nowhere. Though the first Bond girl...

DVD Playhouse—April 2011

By

Allen Gardner

Hereafter (Warner Bros.) Clint Eastwood’s spiritual thriller follows a trio of characters whose seemingly disparate paths converge: Matt Damon as a blue collar Joe who tries to fight against his psychic powers that see “the other side,” Cecile de France as a journalist who somehow survives the tsunami that crushed Indonesia, and a London schoolboy (Frankie and George McLaren) who seeks answers after losing his twin brother. Like all of Eastwood’s films, the narrative construction is tight as a drum, with solid work by all involved. That said, “solid” would have to be the operative word to describe the proceedings here, as well as “unremarkable” and “uninvolving” on an emotional level. Perhaps we expect too much when we see Clint’s name on a film these days, but that’s the flip side of being one of the best. Blu-ray/DVD combo pack.

DVD Playhouse—April 2011

By

Allen Gardner

Hereafter (Warner Bros.) Clint Eastwood’s spiritual thriller follows a trio of characters whose seemingly disparate paths converge: Matt Damon as a blue collar Joe who tries to fight against his psychic powers that see “the other side,” Cecile de France as a journalist who somehow survives the tsunami that crushed Indonesia, and a London schoolboy (Frankie and George McLaren) who seeks answers after losing his twin brother. Like all of Eastwood’s films, the narrative construction is tight as a drum, with solid work by all involved. That said, “solid” would have to be the operative word to describe the proceedings here, as well as “unremarkable” and “uninvolving” on an emotional level. Perhaps we expect too much when we see Clint’s name on a film these days, but that’s the flip side of being one of the best. Blu-ray/DVD combo pack.

Durham, Nc - The hard truth of cinema takes place at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, Nc from April 14-17. That’s four solid days of movies that don’t feature Natalie Portman’s face being digitally inserted on other bodies. Four days of real people doing real stuff. And you can get some great BBQ.

This years line up has enough goodness to make me have to make painful choices as what to watch. There’s only one screening unless a movie wins a major prize. It’s be there or miss out. Choice wisely. Here’s a few of the films I’m looking to catch:

The Hangman (Thursday 10:20 a.m.) appears to be a creepy classic as it probes the man who executed Nazi Adolph Eichmann. What’s he do now? He ritually slaughters animals. Windfall (Thurs 4:20 p.m.) takes us to Meredith,...

April 19 is a Sharon Stone-hosted screen ing for "Behind the Burly Q," a documentary about burlesque. Also promised to be there is Alan Alda, who's in it. "Only I probably won't show," Alan told me. "It's a previous commitment, and we'll have to see." And what's this whole thing about? "The days of burlesque. Years ago, I wrote about my experiences with my father Robert Alda who was in burlesque, and this is a piece that was included. "See, I have memories from...