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Gladiator II has been on fire at the box office since coming out two weeks ago, taking in nearly $350 million worldwide so far. And while those who saw it have been entertained by duels and sharks, there’s one thing we can all agree it was missing: a little song and dance! Fortunately, Saturday Night Live has it covered, releasing a spoof trailer that wonders, What if Gladiator II was a musical?

Set up as a rushed way to capitalize on both Wicked and Moana II, both of which topped Gladiator II at the box office this week, the trailer features star and SNL host Paul Mescal leading the additional 50 minutes of sure-to-be smash songs. After some singing by Devon Walker, Kenan Thompson and Bowen Yang – who have a number presumably called “There’s No Place Like Rome”, hitting on swords, sandals, whores, and scandals – Mescal gets his chance to try out his pipes.

"Gladiator II" is not a musical, unless you count a couple of ominous poetry recitals from Paul Mescal and Joseph Quinn. But "Saturday Night Live" saw the lack of ballads and rap battles as a missed opportunity, and Mescal stopping by 30 Rockefeller Plaza for guest host duties this week was a perfect opportunity for some reshoots.

The "SNL" trailer for "Gladiator II" aims to capitalize on the box office success of "Moana 2" and "Wicked" by adding 50 minutes of singing, including the central showstopper, "There's No Place Like Rome." Mescal himself fully commits to the bit ... in fact, he seems more enthused about this musical version of "Gladiator II" than he did in the actual movie. Perhaps all along he was secretly longing to break into song.

The sketch is also, arguably, even more historically accurate than Ridley Scott's spectacle-filled epic. There's no evidence that the Romans captured sharks...

In a comic twist, Saturday Night Live turned the impending film Gladiator II into an amusing musical spoof. This sketch appeared on a recent episode hosted by the film’s star, Paul Mescal.

The spoof trailer depicted the historical epic as a full-fledged musical, with 50 minutes of singing and dance. The parody made light of current cinema trends, particularly the recent popularity of musical films such as “Wicked” and “Moana 2.” It provided a comical contrast to the sombre tone of the original “Gladiator” trilogy.

Kenan Thompson began the skit with a musical piece called “There’s No Place Like Rome,” which created a cheerful tone for the ancient narrative. Mescal, playing his character Lucius, sang about being a “killing machine” while performing theatrical battle scenes.

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— ' (@cravemedia_) December 8, 2024

One of the memorable moments was Mikey Day as Rome’s Emperor, doing a Hamilton-inspired rap. The...

You know what Gladiator II was missing? A lot of singing and dancing, apparently.

After the runaway box office success of Moana 2 and Wicked, this week’s Saturday Night Live reimagined Gladiator II as a musical, with host Paul Mescal — who stars in the big-screen epic — reprising his role as warrior Lucius… only with a lot more singing this time. To kick off the fake trailer, Kenan Thompson led the ensemble in a stirring opening number called “There’s No Place Like Rome,” where (oof) “every senator has a boy to molest.”

More from TVLineDid Lioness Josie Survive Her Modified,...

Paul Mescal reimagined his blockbuster Gladiator II as a musical while hosting Saturday Night Live.

The 28-year-old actor took over the December 7 episode of the popular late-night show.

In a skit, the show poked fun at the movie’s very respectable box office numbers and compared them to the success of the big-screen adaptation of Wicked and Moana 2.

Inspired by those movies, Paul and the rest of the SNL cast shared a fresh take on his movie as a musical with songs like “There’s No Place Like Rome.”

Keep reading to find out more…

The clip ended with Paul flying on a broomstick singing Elphaba’s iconic battle cry from “Defying Gravity.” The number was performed by Cynthia Erivo in Wicked.

The spoof comes after Wicked and Gladiator II arrived in theaters on the same day. The phenomenon was nicknamed Glicked by fans.

See how Glicked‘s box office battle...

Henry Fonda, actor (1905-82)

Grammy: Best Spoken Word Album, “Great Documents” (1977)

Oscar: Best Actor, “On Golden Pond” (1981)

Tony: Best Actor, “Mister Roberts” (1948); Best Actor, “Clarence Darrow” (1975)

Oscar Hammerstein II, lyricist and producer (1895-1960)

Grammy: Best Original Cast Album, “The Sound of Music” (1960)

Oscar: Best Original Song, “The Last Time I Saw Paris” from “Lady Be Good” (1941); “It Might As Well Be Spring” from “State Fair” (1945)

Tony: Three awards for “South Pacific” (1950); Best Musical, “The King and I” (1952); Best Musical, “The Sound of Music” (1960)

Elton John

Grammy: Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group, “That’s What Friends Are For” (1986); Best Instrumental Composition, “Basque” (1991); Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” (1994); Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, “Candle in the Wind” (1997); Best Show Album, “Aida” (2000)

Oscar: Best Original Son, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from “The Lion King” (1994)

Tony: Best Score, “Aida” (2000)

John Legend, songwriter and...

Margaret Styne, the widow of Broadway composer Jule Styne who oversaw an estate and legacy that includes the much anticipated upcoming revival of Funny Girl, has died.

A longtime presence in the Broadway community, her death was announced by Jule Styne, Inc. in a Facebook post Feb. 15 that was more widely shared in a tweet today by Funny Girl producers Sonia Friedman, Scott Landis and David Babani and director Michael Mayer. Their revival of the classic musical, starring Beanie Feldstein, Jane Lynch, Ramin Karimloo and Jared Grimes, begins previews March 26 at the August Wilson Theatre, with opening night set for April 24.

Additional details regarding Styne’s death were not made public in keeping with her wishes.

“Over the years, Margaret Styne has always been a passionate advocate, supporter, and colleague to all of us working on Funny Girl,” said the producers and director in a joint statement posted on social media.

Final Oscar nomination predictions coming up very soon but while we finish them, today's silly discussion prompt:  rank the Best Picture nominees with "Three" in the title.

Three Smart Girls (1936) -3 noms.

A Letter To Three Wives (1949) - 3 noms & 2 wins: Director, Screenplay

Three Coins In The Fountain (1954) 3 noms & 2 wins: Cinematography, Song

The Godfather Part III (1990) - 7 noms. No wins

Toy Story 3 (2010) - 5 noms & 2 wins: Animated Feature and Song

Three Billboards... (2017) - 7 noms & 2 wins: Actress, Supporting Actor

And for extra credit...

Ah, yes — it’s a hot day in 1954, so what could be better than a cool movie theater projecting beautiful Italian scenery onto an Eee-Nor-Mous CinemaScope screen, and Frank Sinatra warbling an Oscar-winning tune. The simple escapism of Fox’s ‘three girls find love’ epic makes Rome look like a welcoming haven for carefree Americans — the stars park their car anywhere, and admire the fancy fountains without a single competing tourist to bother them: “It’s the favorable exchange rate!”

Three Coins in the Fountain

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1954 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 102 min. / Street Date April 16, 2019 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Clifton Webb, Dorothy McGuire, Jean Peters, Louis Jourdan, Maggie McNamara, Rossano Brazzi.

Cinematography: Milton R. Krasner

Film Editor: William Reynolds

Original Music: Jule Styne, Victor Young

Written by John Patrick from the novel by John H. Secondari

Produced by Sol C. Siegel

Directed by Jean Negulesco

Back...

Now that one of Hollywood’s great studios, 20th Century Fox, has merged into another named Disney, let’s reflect, as a form of final tribute to a proud former stand-alone major, on one of Fox’s great legacies: its Oscars. Its track record with the Academy is far better than the studio that just swallowed it up.

Since 1937, when the fabled Pico Boulevard studio got its first-ever Best Picture nomination for In Old Chicago (a movie that also won Alice Brady only the second Best Supporting Actress Oscar ever given), there have been a remarkable 78 Best Picture nominations overall (by my count) and 12 wins beginning with the studio’s first Best Picture triumph in 1941 for How Green Was My Valley, a decision that still causes controversy even today since that venerable John Ford classic beat Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, considered now by many to be the greatest movie of all time.

We weren’t surprised that Bradley Cooper‘s remake of “A Star is Born” lost seven of its eight races at the Academy Awards. After all, there is an Oscar curse on this classic tale of Hollywood. The first three versions of “A Star is Born” earned 17 nominations but won just two. The original 1937 film claimed the screenplay award while the 1976 musical remake won Best Original Song (“Evergreen”) for its leading lady, Barbra Streisand. She was the first female composer to win this Oscar; Lady Gaga became the 11th when she won for “Shallow.”

Let’s take a closer look to see how each of the four films fared at the Oscars.

2018 version

Cooper cast Lady Gaga in her first starring role. Reviews for the film were ecstatic praising the first-time helmer and his leading lady. It was the early frontrunner to sweep the Oscars and earned bids from 12 of...

Bradley Cooper‘s remake of “A Star is Born” has reaped bids with 12 of the 13 guilds that hand out awards but has yet to win with any of the six heard from so far. Cooper was widely expected to take home the Best First-Time Director prize at the DGA Awards on Feb. 2 but he lost that race to Bo Burnham (“Eighth Grade”). Is this losing streak a sign of things to come at the Academy Awards where it contends in eight categories?

It could well be. There is an Oscar curse on this classic tale of Hollywood. In all, the first three versions of “A Star is Born” earned 17 nominations but won just two. The original 1937 film claimed the screenplay award while the 1976 musical remake won Best Original Song (“Evergreen”) for its leading lady, Barbra Streisand. She was the first female composer to win this Oscar; Lady Gaga would be...

Bradley Cooper‘s remake of “A Star is Born” underperformed at Sunday’s Golden Globes winning just one of its five races: Lady Gaga shared in the prize for Best Original Song (“Shallow”). Could these shocking losses be a sign of things to come at the Oscars? Is there a curse on this classic tale of Hollywood?

Let’s take a look back at the results of how each of the first three versions of “A Star is Born” fared at the Academy Awards. Between them, they reaped 17 nominations but won just two. The original 1937 edition claimed the screenplay award while the 1976 musical remake won Best Original Song (“Evergreen”) for its star, Barbra Streisand. She was the first female composer to win this Oscar; Lady Gaga would be the 11th.

1937 version

This was a straight drama and was a loose retelling of the 1932 flick “What Price Hollywood.” It starred two...

This article marks Part 12 of the Gold Derby series analyzing 84 years of Best Original Song at the Oscars. Join us as we look back at the timeless tunes recognized in this category, the results of each race and the overall rankings of the winners.

The 1973 Oscar nominees in Best Original Song were:

“(You’re So) Nice to Be Around” from “Cinderella Liberty”

“Live and Let Die” from “Live and Let Die”

“Love,” from “Robin Hood”

“All That Love Went to Waste” from “A Touch of Class”

“The Way We Were” from “The Way We Were”

Won and should’ve won: “The Way We Were” from “The Way We Were”

The title song from “The Way We Were,” composed by the brilliant, Egot-winning Marvin Hamlisch, alongside Alan and Marilyn Bergman, is a dreamy, haunting, immensely moving piece, performed splendidly by the incomparable Barbra Streisand. The film’s leading lady strikes just the right notes here,...

Ray Milland directs a fine western drama, strong on character and tension; it garnered enough praise to set him on a second, minor career behind the camera. Milland also stars as a gunman in the wrong place at the wrong time — framed for a mass murder in an unforgiving frontier town. Who ya gonna blame? That nasty sidewinder villain Raymond Burr, of course.

A Man Alone

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1955 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 96 min. / Street Date November 6, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Ray Milland, Mary Murphy, Ward Bond, Raymond Burr, Arthur Space, Lee Van Cleef, Alan Hale Jr., Douglas Spencer, Thomas Browne Henry, Grandon Rhodes, Martin Garralaga, Kim Spalding, Minerva Urecal.

Cinematography: Lionel Lindon

Film Editor: Richard L. Van Enger

Original Music: Victor Young

Written by John Tucker Battle, from a story by Mort Briskin

Directed by R. Milland

A Man Alone is yet another exceptional western from Republic Pictures.

This article marks Part 6 of the Gold Derby series analyzing 84 years of Best Original Song at the Oscars. Join us as we look back at the timeless tunes recognized in this category, the results of each race and the overall rankings of the Academy Awards winners.

The 1954 Oscar nominees in Best Original Song were:

“The High and the Mighty” from “The High and the Mighty”

“The Man That Got Away” from “A Star Is Born”

“Hold My Hand” from “Susan Slept Here”

“Three Coins in the Fountain” from “Three Coins in the Fountain”

“Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)” from “White Christmas”

Won: “Three Coins in the Fountain” from “Three Coins in the Fountain”

Should’ve won: “The Man That Got Away” from “A Star Is Born”

Sure, the 1954 Oscar ceremony could have gone a lot worse. “On the Waterfront” and leading man Marlon Brando could have, for instance, fallen...

Yvonne Monlaur: Cult horror movie actress & Bond Girl contender was featured in the 1960 British classics 'Circus of Horrors' & 'The Brides of Dracula.' Actress Yvonne Monlaur dead at 77: Best remembered for cult horror classics 'Circus of Horrors' & 'The Brides of Dracula' Actress Yvonne Monlaur, best known for her roles in the 1960 British cult horror classics Circus of Horrors and The Brides of Dracula, died of cardiac arrest on April 18 in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine. Monlaur was 77. According to various online sources, she was born Yvonne Thérèse Marie Camille Bédat de Monlaur in the southwestern town of Pau, in France's Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, on Dec. 15, 1939. Her father was poet and librettist Pierre Bédat de Monlaur; her mother was a Russian ballet dancer. The young Yvonne was trained in ballet and while still a teenager became a model for Elle magazine. She was “discovered” by newspaper publisher-turned-director André Hunebelle,...

This past weekend, the American Society of Cinematographers awarded Greig Fraser for his contribution to Lion as last year’s greatest accomplishment in the field. Of course, his achievement was just a small sampling of the fantastic work from directors of photography, but it did give us a stronger hint at what may be the winner on Oscar night. Ahead of the ceremony, we have a new video compilation that honors all the past winners in the category at the Academy Awards

Created by Burger Fiction, it spans the stunning silent landmark Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans all the way up to the end of Emmanuel Lubezki‘s three-peat win for The Revenant. Aside from the advancements in color and aspect ration, it’s a thrill to see some of cinema’s most iconic shots side-by-side. However, the best way to experience the evolution of the craft is by...

Killer Greek scenery in CinemaScope graces Jean Negulesco's relaxed thriller about art theft in the Aegean. But viewers are more likely to remember Sophia Loren's sexy wet diving costume that insured that her American debut didn't go unnoticed. Boy on a Dolphin Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 111 min. / Street Date October 25, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Alan Ladd, Clifton Webb, Sophia Loren, Alexis Minotis, Jorge Mistral, Laurence Naismith, Piero Giagnoni, Gertrude Flynn, Marni Nixon (voice), Scilla Gabel (Loren underwater). Cinematography Milton R. Krasner Film Editor William Mace Original Music Hugo Friedhofer Written by Ivan Moffat, Dwight Taylor from the novel by David Divine Produced by Samuel G. Engel Directed by Jean Negulesco

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Back when working on extras for The Guns of Navarone we saw documentation showing that Columbia Pictures had to jump through a lot of hoops with the Greek Royal Family...

One week a month, Watch This offers movie recommendations inspired by the week’s new releases or premieres. This week: Equity inspires a look back at other films set in the corporate world.

The Best Of Everything (1959)

By 1959, director Jean Negulesco had already helmed two movies depicting the lives of three young women looking for love in the big city: How To Marry A Millionaire and Three Coins In The Fountain. For The Best Of Everything, based on twentysomething editor Rona Jaffe’s novel, Negulesco moved the setting to the glamorous world of New York publishing. In a lovelorn typing pool, ambitious Caroline (Hope Lange), innocent April (Diane Baker), and glamorous Gregg (early supermodel Suzy Parker) are all felled by the cads they love.

Image: 20th Century Fox/Getty Images

The movie is about as sexist as you can get on both sides, to an almost absurd (and ...

Dolores Hart, Pamela Tiffin and Lois Nettleton are flight attendants aiming to snag three attractive, wealthy husbands right out of the air -- Karl Boehm, Hugh O'Brien and Karl Malden. There's more social comment in this 'coffee, tea or me' romantic comedy than can be found in a graduate thesis about the sexual habits of liberated stewardesses. And Hey, Frankie Avalon warbles the classy title tune! Come Fly with Me DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1963 / Color / 2:35 enhanced widescreen / 109 min. / Street Date June 30, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 18.49 Starring Dolores Hart, Hugh O'Brian, Karlheinz Bohm, Pamela Tiffin, Lois Nettleton, Karl Malden, Dawn Addams, Richard Wattis, Andrew Cruickshank, James Dobson, Lois Maxwell, John Crawford, Robert Easton, Maurice Marsac, George Coulouris, Ferdy Mayne. Cinematography Oswald Morris Film Editor Frank Clarke Original Music Lyn Murray Written by William Roberts from a book by Bernard Glemser Produced by Anatole De Grunwald Directed by Henry Levin

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

What?...

Batgirl Yvonne Craig. Batgirl Yvonne Craig dead at 78: Also featured in 'Star Trek' episode, Elvis Presley movies Yvonne Craig, best known as Batgirl in the 1960s television series Batman, died of complications from breast cancer on Monday, Aug. 17, '15, at her home in Pacific Palisades, in the Los Angeles Westside. Craig (born May 16, 1937, in Taylorville, Illinois), who had been undergoing chemotherapy for two years, was 78. Beginning (and ending) in the final season of Batman (1967-1968), Yvonne Craig played both Commissioner Gordon's librarian daughter Barbara Gordon and her alter ego, the spunky Batgirl – armed with a laser-beaming electric make-up kit “which will destroy anything.” Unlike semi-villainess Catwoman (Julie Newmar), Batgirl was wholly on the side of Righteousness, infusing new blood into the series' increasingly anemic Dynamic Duo: Batman aka Bruce Wayne (Adam West) and Boy Wonder Robin aka Bruce Wayne's beloved pal Dick Grayson (Burt Ward). “They chose...

Teresa Wright-Samuel Goldwyn association comes to a nasty end (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright in 'Shadow of a Doubt': Alfred Hitchcock Heroine in His Favorite Film.") Whether or not because she was aware that Enchantment wasn't going to be the hit she needed – or perhaps some other disagreement with Samuel Goldwyn or personal issue with husband Niven Busch – Teresa Wright, claiming illness, refused to go to New York City to promote the film. (Top image: Teresa Wright in a publicity shot for The Men.) Goldwyn had previously announced that Wright, whose contract still had another four and half years to run, was to star in a film version of J.D. Salinger's 1948 short story "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut." Instead, he unceremoniously – and quite publicly – fired her.[1] The Goldwyn organization issued a statement, explaining that besides refusing the assignment to travel to New York to help generate pre-opening publicity for Enchantment,...

 

Jourdan as the Bond villain Kamal Kahn in "Octopussy".

Louis Jourdan, the talented and iconic star of French cinema, has passed away at age 93. Among his major English-language films that made him an international star were Hitchcock's "The Paradine Case", the classic musical "Gigi", "Three Coins in the Fountain", "The Swan", "The V.I.P.S" and "Year of the Comet". In 1983, Jourdan also entered pop culture history by playing the lead villain opposite Roger Moore in the James Bond film "Octopussy". For more click here. For more about Jourdan and "Octopussy", visit the MI6 Community web site here.   ...

French actor Louis Jourdan, who enjoyed a long and varied career playing debonair men and a James Bond villain, has died. He was 93.

Jourdan began acting in his native France in the late 1930s, though World War II put many of his early productions in jeopardy. He was invited to be part of his first American film in 1946, when legendary Hollywood producer David O. Selznick cast him in Alfred Hitchcock's 1947 flick "The Paradine Case," alongside his wife, the late Berthe Frederique "Quique" Jourdan.

Louis Jourdan continued to find success in Hollywood throughout the 1940s and '50s in movies such as "Letter From An Unknown Woman," "Three Coins In The Fountain," and two Vincente Minelli features: "Madame Bovary" and "Gigi," the latter of which won nine Oscars including Best Pitcure. He worked steadily over the next few decades, frequently appearing in TV movies and series guest-starring roles, before landing...

French film and TV actor Louis Jourdan has died at the age of 93.

After appearing in several French films, Jourdan starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s "The Paradine Case" in 1947 and shot various films over the next decade including "Madame Bovary," "Decameron Nights," and "Three Coins in the Fountain".

In 1958 he had his big break as a playboy in the musical "Gigi," which scored him a Golden Globe nomination. It also led to plenty of film and TV projects including 1961's "The Count of Monte Cristo," "To Commit a Murder," "Swamp Thing" and his final film "Year of the Comet".

However he's probably best remembered for his role as the exiled Afghan prince and villain Kamal Khan in the often underrated yet memorable Roger Moore-led 1983 James Bond film "Octopussy". The actor is one of the few to have two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work.

Jourdan met...

French film actor who found stardom with Three Coins in the Fountain and Gigi, and whose later roles included a villain in the James Bond movie Octopussy

For audiences in the 1940s and 50s, Louis Jourdan’s incredible good looks and mellifluous Gallic purr seemed to sum up everything that was sexy and enticing about Frenchmen. As a result, he became the most sought-after French actor since Charles Boyer. Though perhaps this hampered him, stymying opportunities to extend his dramatic range, any actor who was constantly in demand by both French studios and Hollywood producers had a lot to be grateful for.

When Jourdan, who has died aged 93, played the consummate bon vivant in Vincente Minnelli’s Gigi (1958), he became an international celebrity. The film, which co-starred Maurice Chevalier and Leslie Caron, won nine Oscars, including best picture. Though the best-known of its Lerner and Loewe numbers was Chevalier’s Thank Heaven for Little Girls,...

Hollywood has had many quintessential young Englishmen, but from the late 1940s through the early '60s, there was only one quintessential young Frenchman: Louis Jourdan. The star of the 1958 Best Picture Oscar winner, Gigi, whose film roles also included those in Madame Bovary, Three Coins in the Fountain, The Swan, The V.I.P.S and Can-Can, Jourdan died Saturday at his home in Beverly Hills, reports Variety. He was 93. As was told in a 1985 People profile, Jourdan - real name Gendre - and his two brothers grew up in the South of France, where their parents managed hotels in Cannes, Nice and Marseilles.

Louis Jourdan, the debonair leading man who romanced Leslie Caron in Gigi and played a wealthy Afghan prince in the James Bond film Octopussy, has died. He was 93. The French actor, who brought his smooth, continental charm to such films as Letters From an Unknown Woman (1948), The Happy Time (1952) and Three Coins in the Fountain (1954), died Saturday in his Beverly Hills home, according to French publication Le Point. After World War II, Jourdan attracted the attention of famed producer David O. Selznick and was cast in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Paradine Case (1947), which starred Gregory Peck and

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By Anjelica Oswald

Managing Editor

On Dec. 12, the Academy released a shortlist of 79 songs in contention for best original song at the 87th Academy Awards, but it’s not so easy to predict which songs will be announced as nominees on Jan. 15. You can’t turn to potential best picture nominees — or best animated features, for that matter — to predict which songs make the final cut. Though a number of best picture nominees have also been nominated for best original song, there’s not much correlation between the two.

The original song category was first introduced at the 7th Annual Academy Awards, and the winner was “The Continental” from 1934’s The Gay Divorcee, also nominated for best picture.

Nineteen of the 80 Oscar-winning songs have come from best picture nominees. They are as follows:

“The Continental” — The Gay Divorcee (1934) “Over the Rainbow” — The Wizard of Oz (1939) “Swinging on a Star” — Going My Way...

Boy meets girl meets typewriter in this thoughtful, witty French take on classic Hollywood romcoms

There was an old but not inaccurate joke that romantic movies from the Soviet Union were about triangular affairs between a boy, a girl and a tractor. The attractive new French movie Populaire, the feature-length debut as writer-director of Régis Roinsard, is about a boy, a girl and a typewriter. A typewriter originally meant the female operator, and the machine in this picture takes on a dramatic identity of its own.

In many ways Populaire is a companion piece to Michel Hazanavicius's Oscar-winning The Artist in its knowing love for American cinema. It also has the same star, Bérénice Bejo (though not here in the leading role), and the same photographer, Guillaume Schiffman, who grew up in the movie business as the son of Suzanne Schiffman, the long-time assistant to François Truffaut, with whom...

The Trevi Fountain figured famously in Fellini's classic La Dolce Vita with Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg.

Rome has been the backdrop to some iconic films over the years, but its real heyday was between the 1950s and 1960s, when classics such as Roman Holiday were shot in and around the city centre. Even today, the locations used are considered to be points of pilgrimage for any self-respecting retro film fan, from the Trevi Fountain to the Colosseum, especially as 2013 marks the 60th anniversary of Roman Holiday hitting our screens.

The easiest way to track down the real life places behind the celluloid is to create your own walking tour, so that you can spend as long as you like at each spot; just use the Rome film map from lowcostholidays.com and dive straight into the sights to plan your own route. Here’s your guide to each...

Woody Allen channels the spirit of Fellini with four engaging tales of sex, celebrity and married life

After his unhappy experiences filming in London and what I considered an indifferent visit to Spain in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Woody Allen was approaching peak form last year exploring the subject of nostalgia and cultural tourism in Midnight in Paris. He's now moved on to a country in which a man called Oreste Lionello became nationally famous for dubbing Allen into Italian. But his presence in Rome is not to do with money alone, though that's an important incentive. It's the city most closely associated with his southern European idol Federico Fellini, to whom he has often paid homage in the past (most notably with Stardust Memories and Radio Days), and indeed the cinematic idea of "the Eternal City", as the place is referred to with half-mocking reverence, is central to his latest film.

Sunday's overcrowded with great TV, but what to watch the rest of the time? Each Monday, we bring you this guide to five worthy -- or at least noteworthy -- highlights from the other six days of the week. Directed by Jean Negulesco TCM, Monday, April 30th at 8pm Turner Classic Movies is showing a marathon of four early films from the Romanian-born Jean Negulesco, better known for his later, glossier work like "How to Marry a Millionaire," "Three Coins in the Fountain" and "Daddy Long Legs." This selection is from his stint directing for Warner Bros. in the 1940s, kicking off with the film noir "Nobody Lives Forever," with John Garfield as a racketeer home from World War II. It's followed by "Casablanca" reunion (sans Bogart and Bergman) "The Conspirators," Joan Crawford romance "Humoresque," and "The Mask of Dimitrios," Negulesco's...

"Midnight in Paris" was a critical and commercial success for Woody Allen and it even received some much-deserved Oscar love so Sony Pictures Classics has announced that the director's latest film, previously known as "Nero Fiddled," is now officially titled "To Rome with Love."

According to the Sony Pictures Classics press release, the name change is due to the "homage to the eternal city of Rome where the film was shot on location last summer. This will be used for its worldwide release. The film.s former title, Nero Fiddled, while an appropriate and humorous phrase in the U.S., is not a familiar expression overseas and many international territories preferred a more globally understood name."

Great point, but lackluster title! Come on, can't they be more creative than "To Rome with Love?" How about "Three Coins in the Fountain?" Ha!

Much like Allen's films, "To Rome with Love" tells...

You'd think a movie starring Marlon Brando at the height of his young-firebrand sex appeal, written by Nobel laureate John Steinbeck, and directed by the great Elia Kazan, would be better remembered today. Yet "Viva Zapata!", released exactly 60 years ago (on Feburary 7, 1952), is all but regarded as a footnote in the careers of Brando, Steinbeck, and Kazan. That's a shame, since it's at once a terrifically exciting action film, a heroic biopic, and a penetrating political study. Of course, even then, it was an odd one -- a movie about legendary figures in Mexican history portrayed by an almost Mexican-free cast; a movie about a pro-peasant revolutionary hero made at a time of anti-Communist hysteria in Hollywood. That it got made at all was remarkable, given the battles over censorship and casting, not to mention the battles between Brando and co-star Anthony Quinn, whose bitter tension often erupted into elaborate pranks and practical jokes.

Katharine Hepburn, Rossano Brazzi in Oscar nominee (but not DGA nominee) David Lean's Summertime DGA Awards vs. Academy Awards 1948-1952: Odd Men Out George Cukor, John Huston, Vincente Minnelli 1953 DGA (12) Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, Above and Beyond Walter Lang, Call Me Madam Daniel Mann, Come Back, Little Sheba Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Julius Caesar Henry Koster, The Robe Jean Negulesco, Titanic George Sidney, Young Bess DGA/AMPAS George Stevens, Shane Charles Walters, Lili Billy Wilder, Stalag 17 William Wyler, Roman Holiday Fred Zinnemann, From Here to Eternity   1954 DGA (16) Edward Dmytryk, The Caine Mutiny Alfred Hitchcock, Dial M for Murder Robert Wise, Executive Suite Anthony Mann, The Glenn Miller Story Samuel Fuller, Hell and High Water Henry King, King of Khyber Rifles Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, Knock on Wood Don Siegel, Riot in Cell Block 11 Stanley Donen, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers George Cukor, A Star Is Born Jean Negulesco,...

John Hooper selects 10 of his favourite Rome-based films from Hepburn in Roman Holiday to Fellini's La Dolce Vita

• As featured in our Rome city guide

Roman Holiday, William Wyler, 1953

Insulated from the commotion of Roman life, Via Margutta is a cobbled street near the Spanish Steps, draped in ivy and lined nowadays with art galleries, restaurants and boutiques. It was home to Federico Fellini and Truman Capote. And at number 51, Crown Princess Ann (Audrey Hepburn) began her fleeting love affair with an American foreign correspondent, Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck) in the enchanting, if improbable, comedy that shot Hepburn to fame and forever welded Vespas to Rome in the popular imagination. "You have my permission to withdraw..." slurs Hepburn, unaware she has previously been sedated, as she lets her skirt slip to the floor. "Why, thank you very much," replies the gentlemanly Peck and leaves her to sleep alone. It...

“The Three Musketeers.” In 3-D. It took Hollywood this long to get to this because…? Could “The Three Stooges” in 3-D be far behind? “Three Coins in the Fountain: 3-D”? “3 Men and a Baby” in 3-D? I think you get the point. We’re not certain 3-D necessarily makes things better, but it does add a marketing hook. “The Taking of Pelham 123-d” anyone? Okay, we’ll stop. “3-D Days of the Condor?” “Close Encounters of the 3-D Kind?...

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

The Sammy Awards (or Sammys) are named after movie lyricist Sammy Cahn (1913-1993), who received 4 Oscars for his songs, and was nominated more than any other songwriter, 26 times in all. Cahn said he was “flattered and honored” to have these movie music awards named after him. His Oscar-winning songs are: “Three Coins in the Fountain”; “All the Way”; “High Hopes”; and “Call Me Irresponsible.” All four songs were recorded by Frank Sinatra, a big fan of Sammy’s lyrics. Now in their twenty-third (23rd) year, the Sammys are the longest running awards for film music recordings.

The Sammys are chosen each year by Roger Hall, a film music historian, member of the International Film Music Critics Association, author of the book, A Guide to Film Music – Songs and Scores, and editor of the long-running online magazine, Film Music Review – www.americanmusicpreservation.com/fmr.

There was an entrancing 1949 French movie, The Lovers of Verona, in which the 17-year-old Anouk Aimée and Serge Reggiani become star-crossed lovers while playing understudies in a film of Romeo and Juliet being shot in Italy. It came to mind as I endured the endless longueurs of this kitschy piece in which New Yorker fact-checker Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) and her restaurateur fiance (Gael García Bernal) drift apart on a visit to Verona. He's only interested in researching food, while she becomes involved with a group of Italian women who answer lonely hearts letters left at Juliet's supposed house by lovelorn girls.

Sophie's new job brings her into contact with an English grandmother (Vanessa Redgrave) who left a letter there for her Italian Romeo in 1957 and is drawn back to find him, accompanied by her parodic English grandson. This is Three Coins in the Fountain with a small infusion of Lost in Translation...

Kristen Bell is best known to fan-boys for her kick-ass roles on shows such as Heroes and Veronica Mars but the actress has also been building quite a comedic resume with her work on TV's Party Down and in films like Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Couples Retreat. Now the actress is headlining in her own romantic comedy entitled When In Rome, opening in theaters on January 29th. The movie is loosely based on the 1954 film Three Coins In The Fountain and features an all-star comedic cast that includes Josh Duhamel (Win A Date With Tad Hamilton!), John Heder (Napoleon Dynamite), Dax Shepard (Baby Mama), Will Arnett (Arrested Development), Danny DeVito (Get Shorty) and Anjelica Huston (The Royal Tenenbaums). We recently had a chance to sit down with a few of the stars of the new film including Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Will Arnett and Jon Heder (who performed magic tricks...

One month, 280 films and 70,000 words later, my guide to the films of 2010 is now complete. I hope you've enjoyed reading it all - it's been utterly exhausting but an ultimately rewarding venture I've been single-handedly pulling together since early December. If you have liked it, my only request is that you help spread the word about it now that it's all done.

If you're a fellow blogger or site owner, please give it a plug on your site. If you're a reader, give it a mention on Facebook, Twitter or other online places you might venture. A lot of effort went into this, the greatest reward so far has been seeing it talked about and hearing your reactions. I'm glad many of you have gotten a lot of use out of the previous pages, so I hope you enjoy this final part:

Vincere

Opens: 2010

Cast: Filippo Timi, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Corrado Invernizzi,...

Cinematic birthdays for Nov. 19th, this time with lighter loafers.

1889 Clifton Webb, reportedly as out as an actor could be back in the day but Oscar never gave him their top prize. They never give out actors the statue. Sad, but true. Classic films include Oscar favorites like Laura and Three Coins in the Fountain (review) but he's most famous for playing Mr. Belvedere, the uptight gentlemen bachelor of a certain obvious if unspoken persuasion. I saw the first of the three Belvedere films Sitting Pretty (1948) a few years ago and it was quite an... unh... time capsule.

1933 Larry King, asker of inane questions

1942 Calvin Klein makes pretty things

1938 Ted Turner took Jane Fonda away from me (the movies... same thing) ages ago and I've never forgiven him.

1954 Kathleen Quinlan an actress I don't really get

1958 Charlie Kaufman mindbender

1961 Meg Ryan have you ever noticed how people turn on actresses...

Mad Men at the Movies: Talking bout movies and movie stars referenced in the '60s set series. Previously: Gidget, The Wizard of Oz, Lady Chatterley's Lover, Natalie Wood and Joan Crawford and Marty.

1.9 "Shoot"

An ad man angles to steal Don Draper from his firm by courting his wife for a modelling gig.

Jim Hobart: Anyone ever tell you you're a dead ringer for Grace Kelly?

Betty Draper: They used to.

Jim Hobart: You know what? Coca-Cola is deep into this international campaign right now. A European face like yours, like Grace Kelly's, might be a road we could go down. We could put a call out for a Grace Kelly 'type' but I don't think we'd come this close... As compliments go, that's quite a doozy. Do you think January Jones heard that before Mad Men or is it all in that 50's princess styling?

That "European...

Mad Men at the Movies: Discussing movies referenced in the '60s set series. Previously: Gidget, The Wizard of Oz, Lady Chatterley's Lover and Natalie Wood.

1.6 "Babylon"

Don Draper relaxes in bed with his wife's book "The Best of Everything". She joins him.

Don Draper: [sarcastically] This is fascinating.

Betty Draper: It's better than the Hollywood version.

Don: Certainly dirtier.

Betty: Joan Crawford is not what she was. And honestly, I found her eyebrows completely unnerving, like a couple of caterpillar's just pasted there. Her standing next to Suzy Parker... as if they were the same species.

Don: Well, some men like eyebrows. And all men like Joan Crawford. Salvatore couldn't stop talking about her.The Best of Everything (1959).

Like the Gidget reference, this last line is another wink to modern audience that Salvatore, Don's co-worker, is gay. These days who loves Joan Crawford more than the gays? Of course back...