Actualités

Jeff Bridges made his unofficial screen debut in John Cromwell's 1951 drama "The Company She Keeps" just over a year after he was born. The son of actors Dorothy and Lloyd Bridges, he steadily proved himself a nepo baby of the finest order upon reaching young adulthood. In the 50 years and change since then, he's done it all, be it squaring off with King Kong, riding a light cycle on The Grid, or seeking compensation for the damage to his prized rug. (It really tied his living room together.) He even snagged a long-expected Oscar for playing an alcoholic country singer in Scott Cooper's "Crazy Heart," a film that arrived on the heels of Bridges portraying the first-ever Marvel Cinematic Universe villain in "Iron Man."

Trying to decide which of Bridges' movies stands out above the rest is a formidable challenge. It's also one that we, thankfully, need not...

Bibi Andersson, the Swedish actress who starred in 13 Ingmar Bergman films, died Sunday in Stockholm. She was 83.

Director Christina Olofson confirmed her death to several outlets. Andersson had suffered a stroke in 2009 and was hospitalized.

Andersson made a name herself after her type-defying role in 1966’s “Persona,” for which she received the award for best actress at the 4th Guldbagge Awards, the Swedish equivalent of the Academy Awards. Previous to the role, she was generally cast in more innocent parts, like in “The Seventh Seal” and “Wild Strawberries.”

Andersson won the silver bear for best actress as the Berlin Film Festival in 1963 for her work in Vilgot Sjöman’s “The Mistress” and in 1968, she was nominated for best foreign actress at the BAFTAs for her roles in both “Persona” and “Syskonbädd 1782.” After her “Persona” fame, she went on to work consistently throughout the ’60s and ’70s and accumulated roles in more than 50 films,...

Need a laugh? Paul Newman shoots people, hangs others and runs a judiciary speed trap for unwary outlaw vagrants. John Huston’s picture is a slack, passably amusing interpretation of writer John Milius’s career- boosting screenplay. A slow-going exercise in ‘printing the legend, only funnier,’ it’s recommended just to take in Stacy Keach’s memorable albino menace, ‘Bad Bob.’

The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 123 min. / Street Date July 17, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Paul Newman, Victoria Principal, Ava Gardner, Jacqueline Bisset, Ned Beatty, Tab Hunter, John Huston, Anthony Perkins, Stacy Keach, Roddy McDowall, Anthony Zerbe, Dick Farnsworth, Terry Leonard, Matt Clark, Bill McKinney, Steve Kanaly, Bruno The Bear, Michael Sarrazin.

Cinematography: Richard Moore

Film Editor: Hugh S. Fowler

Original Music: Maurice Jarre

Written by John Milius

Produced by John Foreman

Directed by John Huston

When John Huston movies are good,...

Time limit: 0 Quiz-summary

0 of 9 questions completed

Questions:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Information

Get the feeling someone is looking over your shoulder? This quiz won’t help! This week we’re investigating the subtle (and not-so-subtle) art of spying in the movies.

You have already completed the quiz before. Hence you can not start it again.

Quiz is loading...

You must sign in or sign up to start the quiz.

You have to finish following quiz, to start this quiz:

Results

0 of 9 questions answered correctly

Your time:

Time has elapsed

You have reached 0 of 0 points, (0)

Average score Your score Categories Not categorized 0% Your result has been entered into leaderboard Loading Name: E-Mail: Captcha: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Answered Review Question 1 of 9 1. Question

The plot of Hitchcock’s North by Northwest was suggested by this spy film.

The Man Who Never Was I Was Monty’s Double Odd Man Out Correct

Clifton Webb starred in Ronald Neame’s 1956 film...

When Quentin Tarantino got a plane earlier this month, traveling to the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon, France it wasn’t just for a meet and greet. In addition to preparing for a masterclass talk, the director selected fourteen films from 1970 to screen at the festival — Arthur Hiller’s “Love Story,” Jerzy Skolimowski‘s “Deep End,” Dario Argento’s “The Bird With The Crystal Plumage,” Anatole Litvak‘s “The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun,” Eric Rohmer‘s “Claire’s Knee,” Claude Chabrol’s “The Butcher,” John Huston‘s “The Kremlin Letter,” Billy Wilder’s “The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes,” Bob Rafelson’s “Five Easy Pieces,” William Wyler‘s “The Liberation of L.B.

Continue reading Quentin Tarantino Dives Into 1970s Cinema In Full Masterclass Talk From 2016 Lumière Film Festival at The Playlist.

Techno-thriller fans have been waiting a long time for a good disc of action ace John Sturges' sci-fi espionage suspenser. George Maharis, Richard Basehart, Anne Francis and Dana Andrews must stop a madman who has snatched a full battery of deadly bio-warfare viruses from a super-secret government lab. Each flask can wipe out an entire city, and one of them will kill every living thing on the planet. The Satan Bug Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 114 min. / Street Date September 22, 2015 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring George Maharis, Richard Basehart, Anne Francis, Dana Andrews, John Larkin, Richard Bull, Frank Sutton, Edward Asner, Simon Oakland, John Anderson, James Hong, Hari Rhodes, Henry Beckman, Harry Lauter, Tol Avery, Russ Bender, James Doohan, Harold Gould, Carey Loftin. Cinematography Robert Surtees Film Editor Ferris Webster Original Music Jerry Goldsmith Written by Edward Anhalt, James Clavell from the novel by Ian Stuart (Alistair MacLean...

Twilight Time is celebrating its 4th anniversary with a major promotion that sees some of their limited edition titles reduced in price through April 3. These are the titles on sale.

Group 1

Retail price point: $24.95

Picnic

Pal Joey

Bite The Bullet

Bell, Book, And Candle

Bye Bye Birdie

In Like Flint

Major Dundee

The Blue Max

Crimes And Misdemeanors

Used Cars

Thunderbirds Are Go / Thunderbird 6

Group 2

Retail price point: $19.95

Rapture

Roots Of Heaven

Swamp Water

Demetrius And The Gladiators

Desiree

The Wayward Bus

Cover Girl

High Time

The Sound And The Fury

The Rains Of Ranchipur

Bonjour Tristesse

Beloved Infidel

Lost Horizon

The Blue Lagoon

Experiment In Terror

Nicholas And Alexandra

Pony Soldier

The Song Of Bernadette

Philadelphia

The Only Game In Town

Love Is A Many Splendored Thing

Sleepless In Seattle

The Disappearance

Sexy Beast

Drums Along The Mohawk

Alamo Bay

The Other

Mindwarp

Jane Eyre

Oliver

The Way We Were...

"John Huston doesn’t have a flawless track record as a film director, but few have so perfectly embodied the idea of what a film director ought to be," writes Nick Pinkerton in his overview of Let There Be Light: The Films of John Huston, the retrospective running at the Film Society of Lincoln Center through January 11. In the L, Justin Stewart recommends The Kremlin Letter (1970), which "delivers everything you want in a Cold War spy thriller, along with a vintage draught of sexism and groovy S&M particular to its moment in time." And Henry Stewart writes up White Hunter, Black Heart (1990): "In this fictionalized telling of the making of The African Queen, Clint Eastwood performs a sustained, fascinating, campy impression of the larger-than-life John Huston." » - David Hudson...

"John Huston doesn’t have a flawless track record as a film director, but few have so perfectly embodied the idea of what a film director ought to be," writes Nick Pinkerton in his overview of Let There Be Light: The Films of John Huston, the retrospective running at the Film Society of Lincoln Center through January 11. In the L, Justin Stewart recommends The Kremlin Letter (1970), which "delivers everything you want in a Cold War spy thriller, along with a vintage draught of sexism and groovy S&M particular to its moment in time." And Henry Stewart writes up White Hunter, Black Heart (1990): "In this fictionalized telling of the making of The African Queen, Clint Eastwood performs a sustained, fascinating, campy impression of the larger-than-life John Huston." » - David Hudson...

James Bond assistant director David C Anderson has died, aged 72.

The filmmaker worked as a unit production manager, producer and production executive in film and TV across decades.

He was the assistant director for three of the first four Bond movies - Dr No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963) and Thunderball (1965).

The son of Dam Busters director Michael Anderson, he started his film career at Pinewood Studios.

Anderson later worked with a number of top directors, including Terence Young, John Huston, Lewis Gilbert, John Sturges, Michael Cimino and Blake Edwards.

His films included The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Kremlin Letter, The Man Who Would Be King, The Eagle Has Landed, The Deer Hunter, Quadrophenia, Flash Gordon, Tequila Sunrise and What About Bob?

On TV, Anderson worked on several shows such as The Saint, Shirley MacLaine's Shirley's World, Diana: Her Real Story, Tales From the Crypt and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

This article is dedicated to Andrew Copp: filmmaker, film writer, artist and close friend who passed away on January 19, 2013. You are loved and missed, brother.

****

Looking at the Best Actor Academy Award nominations for the film year 2012, the one miss that clearly cries out for more attention is Liam Neeson’s powerful performance in Joe Carnahan’s excellent survival film The Grey, easily one of the best roles of Neeson’s career.

In Neeson’s case, his lack of a nomination was a case of neglect similar to the Albert Brooks snub in the Best Supporting Actor category for the film year 2011 for Drive(Nicolas Winding Refn, USA).

Along with negligence, other factors commonly prevent outstanding lead acting performances from getting the kind of critical attention they deserve. Sometimes it’s that the performance is in a film not considered “Oscar material” or even worthy of any substantial critical attention.

It’S Sold Out!!! That means if you are holding or have ordered your copy of the the 199o Tom Savini remake of Night of the Living Dead as released by Twilight Time you are holding a thing of value, clearly collectible and highly in demand. Your dilemma now, before you open it, is if you wanna pawn it on Ebay to make a quick $200 or do you wanna rip open the packaging, smell the beautiful 8 page booklet inside and be a part of an elite club of 3000 folks who “got in” while the getting was good. There’s no guarantee that you won’t see another pressing of this release; Twilight Time is more than clear about that always being a potential. What should be fair to say is that if you are fan of this movie and you love Blu-ray, this is a disc that you should have in your collection.

On Sunday's (April 29) upcoming episode of "Mad Men" -- titled "At the Codfish Ball" -- Don Draper (Jon Hamm) takes a break from his usual wardrobe of sharp suits to lounge in his pajamas and catch up on some light reading. Meanwhile, new wife Megan Draper (Jessica Paré) is opting to stick close to the TV.

So what does Don read in his spare time? In the picture, he's holding a copy of Bernard Malamud's 1966 novel, "The Fixer." The book -- about "a man who finds himself a stranger in his community and a victim of irrational prejudice as a wave of anti-Semitic hysteria engulfs a town after the murder of a boy" -- won that year's Pulitzer Prize for fiction and The National Book Award.

From the Wikipedia book synopsis: "[The main character] finally finds it in his heart to forgive his former wife, who left him just before the novel began.

Below you will find a list of movie that Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz director Edgar Wright has never seen. Not long ago Wright went out and asked his friends and fans to recommend some movies they thought he may have missed over the last thirty years of his life. He got recommendations from Quentin Tarantino, Daniel Waters, Bill Hader, John Landis, Guillermo Del Toro, Joe Dante, Judd Apatow, Joss Whedon, Greg Mottola, Schwartzman, Doug Benson, Rian Johnson, Larry Karaszeski, Josh Olson, Harry Knowles and hundreds of fans on this blog.

From these recommendations, Wright created a master list of recommended films that were frequently mentioned. The director now wants the fans to choose which of the films on the list he should watch on the big screen.

Wright is holding a film event at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles called Films Edgar Has Never Seen.

Edgar Wright's latest epic project [1] has him partnering with Quentin Tarantino, Judd Apatow, Joss Whedon, Bill Hader, Guillermo Del Toro, Joe Dante, Greg Mottola, Harry Knowles, Rian Johnson and, probably, several of you. Like all of us, Wright has a bunch of classic and cult films he's never seen. Unlike all of us, he has the means to see them for the first time on the big screen and will do just that in December [2] at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles during Films Edgar Has Never Seen. The director of Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World asked both his famous friends (some of which are listed above) and fans to send in their personal must see lists and, from those titles, Wright came up with one mega list from which he'll pick a few movies to watch December 9-16. After the jump check...

We were surprised that Sony Pictures didn’t release a Blu-ray edition of the original Fright Night, especially with all of the promotion that was done for the remake. The remake may not have fared as well as expected, but plenty of horror fans want to get their hands on a restored version of the original.

Scheduled for release on December 13th, specialty label Twilight Time has announced that they have made a deal with Sony and will be offering a limited edition Blu-ray of the original Fright Night.

“Twilight Time joins forces with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment to release Blu-ray editions of classic Columbia titles

Los Angeles, California (September 1, 2011) — Specialty label Twilight Time has struck a deal with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment to license and release classic films from the Sony-owned Columbia Pictures library in high-definition Blu-ray editions. In line with Twilight Time’s innovative limited series concept, just...

Oh, that old DVD from MGM is a barebones crapfest. Okay, so it was decent 10 years ago, but it was a flipper (no longer made), only extra was a trailer, and technology has changed. Well, thanks to whatever hype the remake caused, on the Blu-ray forums, the webmaster posted this great little piece of news:

“…Scheduled follow-up on December 13th is the original Fright Night (1985), the horror/comedy cult favorite written and directed by Tom Holland and starring Chris Sarandon and Roddy McDowall.”

A December date for the remake seems likely, since it flopped and a three month window is the norm. If anything, this is killer news. Let’s hope there’s some good extras. Thoughts?

Update: Here’s the official press release via Screen Archives:

Specialty label Twilight Time has struck a deal with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment to license and release classic films from the Sony-owned Columbia Pictures...

Here at Dread Central we don't screw around. When word broke of a possible Fright Night Blu-ray coming later this year, we went straight to work and now bring you the exclusive first word!

From the Press Release

Specialty label Twilight Time has struck a deal with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment to license and release classic films from the Sony-owned Columbia Pictures library in high-definition Blu-ray editions. In line with Twilight Time’s innovative limited series concept, just 3,000 units of each title will be produced, aimed at the collector/classic film aficionado market, and available exclusively online through Screen Archives, the nation’s largest independent distributor of specialty soundtracks.

The November 8th Blu-ray debut of director Cy Endfield’s and special effects master Ray Harryhausen’s 1961 science fiction/fantasy classic, Mysterious Island, will be followed by a new release on the first Tuesday of each month. Scheduled follow-up on December...

Welcome to the first Notebook Soundtrack Mix—Hyper Sleep! A word about the mix: There's no thematic thread through this collection, it's a variety of intriguing music. In making soundtrack mixes, I'm drawn to the subjective qualities of association and meaning that arise from experiencing the musical narratives that result from transitions and combinations of tracks in succession. Though there are several favorite films, Seijun Suzuki's Branded to Kill, for one, individual pieces are chosen simply for the music. I haven't seen some of the films. Robert Drasnin, Vladimir Cosma and Antoine Duhamel are represented with curious French T.V. work, rather than with some of their more well known output (The Kremlin Letter, Diva and Pierrot le fou, respectively.) Maybe this is the first of a series…I have several ideas for themed mixes, but wanted to start this way, including work that reflects jazz, classical, experimental and pop influences.

Set at the end of of the sixties The Kremlin Letter tells the story of the highly skilled Naval officer Charles Rone (Patrick O’Neal), who is recruited by the CIA to track down a rather embarrassing letter that’s possibly fallen into the wrong hands.

The letter is, unsurprisingly perhaps, something of a macguffin and directer John Huston, who was also instrumental in penning the adaptation from the Noel Behn novel on which it is based, uses this somewhat fruitless quest as a way of spinning an elaborate and sordid spy tale that can absorb an audience, possibly confuse them and even occasionally disgust them.

It seems almost trite to point out but The Kremlin Letter is the antithesis of the bulk of the Bond series up to the point of the film’s release, with the exception perhaps of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service released shortly before it,...

Don’t worry folks. This isn’t a Twilight related news article. We don’t do that here on The Criterion Cast. Instead it’s the exciting news that specialty DVD label Twilight Time has partnered with 20th Century Fox to release limited edition versions of many of their films. Similar to what the Warner Archive does, Twilight Time will be taking films from Fox’s archives and pressing a run of 3000 DVDs from a restored transfer. All releases are to include an 8 page booklet with an essay, stills and poster art. Some releases will even have an isolated score, all for $19.99.

Right now you can order the wonderfully under-seen John Huston spy thriller The Kremlin Letter (1970) at Screen Archives. Right now for pre-order is the Richard Fliescher film Violent Saturday (1955) and soon enough will have Fate Is the Hunter (1964), Woman Obsessed (1959), and The Egyptian (1954). Films that most people haven...

 

Craig in Casino Royale

 

By Lee Pfeiffer

Times certainly have changed. The idea of Sean Connery going in drag for any cause would probably have meant the end of his career in the 1960s. However, Daniel Craig is self-assured enough to do so in a bold, powerful new ad campaign designed to shed light on the inequities that still exist between men and women, both in the workplace and in society in general. The Bond-like spot has Craig being interviewed by an unseen Judi Dench. It's quite an eye-opening bit of film that helps to register the fact that, in many ways, women are still second class citizens even in modern, industrialized countries. As for Craig's drag garb, he fares much better than George Sanders when he did the same in The Kremlin Letter.  (Note to all of our gay Cinema Retro contributors: stop salivating and keep writing!) Click here...

"A new DVD specialty label, Twilight Time, featuring limited editions of vintage 20th Century Fox films, was launched Tuesday," reports Susan King in the Los Angeles Times. "The first film under the Twilight Time banner is John Huston's rarely seen 1970 spy thriller, The Kremlin Letter, which will be available Jan 25. A new title will be offered on the last Tuesday of each month thereafter."...

Actor famous for her roles in blaxploitation films of the 1970s

The actor Vonetta McGee, who has died aged 65 after a cardiac arrest, was a heroine of 1970s blaxploitation movies, but I pursued her because she had also appeared in the greatest of all Italian westerns, Sergio Corbucci's Il Grande Silenzio (The Great Silence). The year was 1983, and I was in the fortunate position of having a feature to direct: Repo Man. The cast was a large one for a low-budget movie. It included all types: method actors from New York, punks from the La hardcore scene, disgruntled Hollywood character actors and refugees from the theatre, but only one star, as I soon discovered.

Not that Vonetta behaved in a "starry" fashion. She was completely approachable and a professional, always one of the team. Nevertheless, of all the actors in my film, Vonetta was the one with the credits.

I’m only just learning that 70s starlet Vonetta McGee has died at 65 years old; she suffered cardiac arrest at a hospital in Berkeley, and was on life support for two days before passing. This happened last week Friday actually, the 9th of July.

During McGee’s prime, she co-starred in a handful of 1970s blaxploitation films, including roles in Blacula, Hammer and Shaft in Africa.

Her career began in the late 60s, when she played parts in films alongside the likes of Jean-Louis Trintignant and Klaus Kinski in the Spaghetti Western The Great Silence (1968), & Sidney Poitier in The Lost Man (1969). She can also be found in John Huston’s 1970 noir thriller The Kremlin Letter.

Post her blaxploitation run, she later appeared with Clint Eastwood in The Eiger Sanction. In the ’80s, she had numerous TV credits, including parts in Cagney & Lacey, Bustin’ Loose, and L.A. Law.

Her resume thinned out in the 1990s,...

by Lee Pfeiffer

There will be a rare American TV showing of John Huston's mega-bomb 1970 spy thriller The Kremlin Letter shown tomorrow (Friday, February 27) on the Fox Movie Channel at 2:00 Pm (Eastern Standard Time). The misguided flick boasts an impressive cast including Patrick O'Neal, Bibi Anderson, Max Von Sydow, Orson Welles and Richard Boone in a plot so incomprehensible, you'll be lost within minutes. There are some great locations (it's one of the few films to be allowed to be shot in London's legendary Reform Club) and does boast the unique opportunity to see George Sanders playing a spy master in drag. (This had to be J. Edgar Hoover's favorite movie!) This Cold War thriller laid a Siberia-sized egg at the box-office, but it's a "must have" for all bad movie lovers out there in Cinema Retro Land. Incidentally, a couple of years ago, Retro writer Eddy...