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Nathan Lane has won two Tony Awards from five nominations. This year, with his acclaimed turn as notorious attorney Roy Cohn in the Broadway revival of”Angels in America,” Lane hopes to claim his third Tony and first for a performance in a play.

Tony Kushner won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize and Tony for this play about the early days of AIDS. Lane portrays Cohn who, in 1985, is deeply closeted and has recently learned he has been infected. Cohn finds himself alone in the hospital, judged by those around him, including the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg, who was executed alongside husband Julius following Cohn’s successful prosecution at their espionage trial.

Ben Brantley‘s review in The New York Times was a love letter: “Taking on a role memorably embodied by Ron Leibman and Al Pacino, among others, he provides a fresh-as-toxic-paint interpretation that embraces extremes — of viciousness and, more surprisingly tenderness — without stripping gears.

Lewis Milestone’s poetic character study of an infantry landing in Italy gives us a full dozen non-cliché portraits of men in war, featuring a dramatic dream team of interesting character actors. Dana Andrews was the only big star in the cast, joined by hopefuls Richard Conte, Lloyd Bridges and John Ireland; the standout crew includes Sterling Holloway, Norman Lloyd, Steve Brodie and Huntz Hall.

A Walk in the Sun

DVD

The Sprocket Vault / Kit Parker Films

1945 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 117 min. / Restored Collector’s Edition / Street Date ?, 2017 / available through The Sprocket Vault / 14.99

Starring: Richard Conte, George Tyne, John Ireland, Lloyd Bridges, Sterling Holloway, Norman Lloyd Dana Andrews, Herbert Rudley, Richard Benedict, Huntz Hall, James Cardwell, Steve Brodie, Matt Willis, Chris Drake, John Kellogg, Robert Horton, Burgess Meredith.

Cinematography: Russell Harlan

Film Editor: Duncan Mansfield

Original Music: Fredric Efrem Rich; ‘The Ballads’ sung by : Kenneth Spencer

Written by: Robert...

Even as The Criterion Collection and TCM gear up to launch their streaming service FilmStruck later this month, that hardly means the boutique label is abandoning hard format releases. And as per usual, mid-month has arrived, and Criterion is revealing what they’ve got coming down the line.

The most iconic movie in the lineup for January 2017 is Howard Hawks‘ screwball comedy classic, “His Girl Friday.” While the terrific movie starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell has been easily available on various formats for year’s now, Criterion’s edition brings with it a new restoration, and paired with 1931’s “The Front Page” (which is based on the same stage play as ‘Friday’), also presented in a new restoration of director Lewis Milestone‘s “preferred version.” And, of course, there will be all kinds of other odds and ends included, too.

Continue reading Screwball Comedy Classic ‘His Girl Friday’ Leads...

Pat O'Brien movies on TCM: 'The Front Page,' 'Oil for the Lamps of China' Remember Pat O'Brien? In case you don't, you're not alone despite the fact that O'Brien was featured – in both large and small roles – in about 100 films, from the dawn of the sound era to 1981. That in addition to nearly 50 television appearances, from the early '50s to the early '80s. Never a top star or a critics' favorite, O'Brien was nevertheless one of the busiest Hollywood leading men – and second leads – of the 1930s. In that decade alone, mostly at Warner Bros., he was seen in nearly 60 films, from Bs (Hell's House, The Final Edition) to classics (American Madness, Angels with Dirty Faces). Turner Classic Movies is showing nine of those today, Nov. 11, '15, in honor of what would have been the Milwaukee-born O'Brien's 116th birthday. Pat O'Brien and James Cagney Spencer Tracy had Katharine Hepburn.

In the early 1970s the nascent American Film Institute mounted a screening series at Lincoln Center in New York to show off some of its most important acquisitions, including Lewis Milestone’s 1931 adaptation of the stage play The Front Page. Yet somehow, this significant film directed by the man who made All Quiet On the Western Front and produced by Howard Hughes has remained somewhat obscure in the decades since that showing. Inferior copies (and copies of copies) have been available but don’t do justice to the picture. Now, at last, Kino Lorber has released a restoration by the Library of Congress, drawn from the surviving 35mm elements of this landmark early-talkie. The...

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Review by Sam Moffitt

I never was a fan of Shirley Temple, far from it. I do recall seeing most of her movies years ago. Back in the Sixties Channel 11, in St. Louis, used to have a Shirley Temple Theater on weekend afternoons. My sister Judy, for some reason, had to watch those Shirley Temple films. So I can recall seeing Bright Eyes, the Little Colonel, Heidi, Little Miss Marker and what have you.

To say I was not impressed would be a major understatement. Even as a young kid I realized there was a strict formula to Shirley’s movies, namely her sunny disposition and optimistic outlook would win over cranky old adults and straighten out bratty little kids, who were usually the villains, in her films, and that was about all.

I do recognize and respect Shirley Temple’s place in film history. She was the biggest star...

Pre-Code Hollywood studios spent millions transitioning their medium to sound and other new technologies that brought about major advances in photography, lighting, and set design. But there were still five million unemployed people in the United States and many more just getting by. The studios were losing money, many of them going bankrupt.

By 1930 the breadlines were longer than the ticket lines and people were slow to give up their hard earned money. They wanted to be entertained, they wanted to laugh and forget their troubles for just a while. Comedies, adventure, and musicals quickly became the most popular film genres of the time.

I. Pre-Code Action, Adventure, and Drama

Hollywood took their stories to the far corners of the earth as places like Africa, the South Pacific, and the Far East became exotic settings for movies. An island kingdom somewhere in the Pacific with strange creatures, even stranger natives,...

Pola Negri, The Spanish Dancer Silent-film lovers in The Netherlands will be able to enjoy a new restoration of the 1923 Pola Negri period comedy The Spanish Dancer. Screening with live musical accompaniment, the film will be presented at 4:15 p.m. on Friday, April 6, and at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 8, at the Eye Film Institute Netherlands in Amsterdam. On the Eye Film Institute website, The Spanish Dancer is described as a "comical costume drama." Set in early 17th-century Spain, the story follows gypsy singer Maritana (Negri) and her lover, penniless nobleman Don César de Bazan (Antonio Moreno), as they become enmeshed in court intrigue. The screenplay is based on Adolphe d'Ennery and Philippe Dumanoir's play Don César de Bazan, itself taken from a Victor Hugo novella. Beulah Marie Dix and powerhouse producer-screenwriter June Mathis adapted the tale. Directed by future Academy Award nominee Herbert Brenon (Sorrell and Son...

Every Sunday in February, Film School Rejects presents a nominee for Best Picture that was made before you were born and tells you why you should like it. This week, Old Ass Movies presents the movie behind the movie that everyone else knows in an attempt to prove that remakes aren’t necessarily all bad. Also to prove that the Academy doesn’t always know what they’re doing even when they know what they’re doing. The Front Page (1931) Directed by: Lewis Milestone Starring: Adolphe Menjou, Pat O’Brien, Mary Brian, and Edward Everett Horton The Front Page didn’t win the Oscar for Best Picture the year it was up for it (the 4th annual). In fact, it didn’t win for Best Actor or Best Director either. By all accounts, it didn’t deserve to win. The expansive Cimarron (which was based off an Edna Ferber novel, just...

The Hollywood Reporter has the list of this year's selections for the National Film Registry. Selected by the Library of Congress, these "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant will be preserved forever to ensure their availability for future generations of cineastes.

The roster this year runs the gamut, from early silents (like 1906's actuality "A Trip Down Market Street") to the avant-garde (like Larry's Jordan's 1969 collage film "Our Lady of the Sphere") to mainstream blockbusters (like disco hallmark "Saturday Night Fever"). Interestingly, there's quite a few contributions this year from major filmmakers who've recently passed away, from directors Irvin Kershner ("The Empire Strikes Back") and Blake Edwards ("The Pink Panther") to actor Leslie Nielsen ("Airplane!").

Here's the full list of the newly inducted members of the National Film Registry. All links will take you to their IMDb page (if you're interested in more detailed descriptions of all the films, you...

The Birthday Boys and Girls of 11/11

1821 Fyodor Dostoevsky, legendary Russian author of Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov fame. So many movies inspired by his work. But he's not the legendary Russian author that'll be getting all the press this next couple of months. That'd be Leo Tolstoy, soon to be chattered about when The Last Station emerges as an Oscar contender.

1887 Roland Young, popular 30s and 40s character actor (Topper, The Philadelphia Story, Ruggles of Red Gap)

1898 René Clair, (pictured left), wonderful French writer/director. If you've never seen Le Million I urge you to rent it maintenant. His Oscar nominated films include The Gates of Paris (1957) and À nous la liberté (1931)

1899 Pat O'Brien --Ewwww, not that one people -- the actor! whose film career stretches alllllll the way from the 1931 classic The Front Page to 1981's Ragtime.

1901 Sam Spiegel, powerful producer. Boy was he on fire in...

Andrew Fleming has been tapped to write with an eye to direct Her Guy Friday, a re-imagining of His Girl Friday, for Warner Bros. Pictures. Kimberly di Bonaventura and Deborah Newmyer are producing through their Double Down Prods. shingle, along with the studio. His Girl Friday, which starred Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, in turn was a loose remake of The Front Page, the film version of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's play. The romantic comedy centers on a macho war correspondent who is forced to take a desk job in the big city. However, he finds that working for his editor, the queen of mean, is harder than working on the front lines, and an office battle of the sexes ensues. Fleming has a history of directing the projects he writes, with Dick, The Craft and Threesome on his resume. He most recently helmed The In-Laws, Franchise Pictures' remake for Warners. He also is attached to direct the comedy Faith Buffalo for Castle Rock Entertainment. Kevin McCormick is overseeing the project for the studio. Fleming is repped by UTA.