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Brothers Leonard, Adolph, Julius, Milton, and Herbert Marx were born into a performing family. Their mother, Meine Shoenberg (known on stage as Minnie Palmer) was already the daughter of a ventriloquist and a professional yodeler, and their uncle was Al Shean of the comedy duo Gallagher and Shean, well known on the vaudeville circuit. Minnie Palmer encouraged her sons to perform; they had natural gifts for music and comedy, and would serve as their manager. Julius, the first to perform, made his stage debut in 1905. Leonard, Adolph, Julius, Milton, and Herbert would eventually adopt the stage names Chico, Harpo, Groucho, Gummo, and Zeppo, respectively, and the Marx Bros. would swiftly become one of the premiere comedy acts of their generation.

To this day, no comedian hasn't been influenced by the Marx Bros. Chico's charming conman, Harpo's innocent cartoon, and Groucho's wisecracking Lothario are seared into the pop consciousness in perpetuity,...

On May 25, 1934, “The Thin Man” was released to rave reviews and big box office returns. The popularity of husband-and-wife sleuths Nick and Nora Charles set the standard for romantic comedies with a dash of thrill and mystery, and cemented actors William Powell and Myrna Loy as one of the greatest film teams of all time. Read on for more about “The Thin Man” 90th anniversary.

Dashiell Hammett was a well-known writer of hardboiled detective novels, but he added a light touch to his novel “The Thin Man,” and MGM quickly snatched up the film rights. Nick Charles (Powell) is a retired detective who enjoys the high life with his wealthy socialite wife Nora (Loy) and their spoiled pooch Asta (Skippy). Nick is lured back to his mystery-solving days by the disappearance of his old acquaintance, Clyde (Edward Ellis), whose daughter Dorothy (Maureen O’Sullivan) begs Nick to find out what happened to her father.

Tisa Farrow, an actor and sister of Mia Farrow, died in her sleep on Jan. 10 in Rutland, Vermont. She was 72.

Her sister Mia shared the news in a post on Instagram, writing: “If there is a Heaven, undoubtedly my beautiful sister Tisa is being welcomed there. She was the best of us – I have never met a more generous and loving person. She loved life and never complained. Ever. She was a nurse for 27 years, a wonderful sister to Steffi, Prudence and me, a devoted mother to Jason, who died in Iraq, Bridget and little grandson Kylor – the lights of her life.”

Farrow was born Theresa Magdalena Farrow in Los Angeles to actor Maureen O’Sullivan and film director John Farrow and was the youngest of seven siblings. She was the subject of a New York Times profile in 1970, in which she discussed her family connections in the entertainment industry.

“None...

Tisa Farrow, a former actor born, like sister Mia Farrow, to show business parents Maureen O’Sullivan and John Farrow, died unexpectedly Wednesday morning. She was 72.

Her death was announced on social media by Mia Farrow, who said that Tisa apparently died in her sleep.

“If there is a Heaven, undoubtedly my beautiful sister Tisa is being welcomed there,” Mia wrote on Instagram and X. “She was the best of us — I have never met a more generous and loving person. She loved life & never complained. Ever. She was nurse for 27 years, a wonderful sister to Steffi, Prudence and me, a devoted mother to Jason, who died in Iraq, Bridget and little grandson Kylor – the lights of her life.”

While never achieving the fame of sister Mia – or, for that matter, sister Prudence, who was immortalized by John Lennon in the classic 1968 Beatles White Album song “Dear Prudence” – Tisa Farrow nonetheless...

Tisa Farrow, the actress who appeared in such 1970s films as James Toback’s Fingers and William Richert’s Winter Kills, has died, her sister Mia Farrow announced. She was 72.

She died unexpectedly on Wednesday, “apparently in her sleep,” Mia Farrow reported on Instagram.

“If there is a Heaven, undoubtedly my beautiful sister Tisa is being welcomed there,” she wrote. “She was the best of us — I have never met a more generous and loving person. She loved life & never complained. Ever.”

Tisa Farrow made her onscreen debut in Homer (1970), portraying the girlfriend of a high school student (Don Scardino) deeply affected by the Vietnam War, and she also starred in the low-budget horror films Zombie (1979), directed by Lucio Fulci, and Anthropophagus (1980).

In her most prominent role, Farrow played a woman who has a kinky romance with a disturbed loner (Harvey Keitel) in writer-director Toback’s Fingers (1978). She then showed...

We have some sad news to report as we head into the weekend: Rosemary’s Baby star Mia Farrow has confirmed that her younger sister Tisa Farrow, who genre fans may remember as the star of Lucio Fulci’s 1979 classic Zombie and Joe D’Amato’s 1980 gross-out slasher Anthropophagus, has passed away at the age of 72.

Yesterday, Mia Farrow took to social media to write, “If there is a Heaven, undoubtedly my beautiful sister Tisa is being welcomed there. She was the best of us – I have never met a more generous and loving person. She loved life & never complained. Ever. She was a nurse for 27 years, a wonderful sister to Steffi, Prudence and me, a devoted mother to Jason, who died in Iraq, Bridget and little grandson Kylor – the lights of her life. She died unexpectedly yesterday morning (January 10th). Apparently in her sleep. This is a hard time for...

Movies and television have been competing for the same audience's time and money since TV was invented, but they've also formed a strange symbiosis. There have been a heck of a lot of movies based on TV shows, and a heck of a lot of TV shows based on movies.

Some of those shows based on movies have been major pop culture milestones, like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "The Karate Kid," and "Friday Night Lights." And of course a whole lot of been almost completely forgotten, like the sitcoms based on "Dirty Dancing," "Working Girl," and "Animal House."

But one thing these TV shows usually have in common is that they're almost always based on a hit movie. It's not surprising when a blockbuster like "M*A*S*H" or "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" gets turned into a television series. It's even common for smaller, but critically acclaimed films...

In the opening scene of the 1957 western The Tall T, a man on horseback is spotted from afar by a boy and his father, prompting the elder homesteader to fetch his rifle. The audience shares their uncertainty, seeing this figure through a telephoto lens from a great distance, but when the stranger gets closer to the ranch, he’s recognized by the boy as an ally.

It’s the film’s hero, Pat Brennan (Randolph Scott), a fellow rancher, and the gun is therefore set aside. The Tall T is the first in a series of westerns grouped under the name Ranown (after producer Harry Joe Brown and Scott’s production company) that director Budd Boetticher made in the late ’50s and concluded with the release of Comanche Station in 1960, and in this inaugural scene, Boetticher establishes a crucial theme and visual pattern of this spiritually unified set of potboilers.

What do the 76th annual Tonys have in common with the 17th annual awards?

Stephen Sondheim.

The late, great influential composer is represented in this year’s Tonys with the acclaimed, popular revivals of his 1979 classic “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Street” earning eight nominations and 1987’s “Into the Woods” receiving six.

Sixty years ago, it was Sondheim’s musical comedy “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” which dominated the Tony Awards with six wins: best musical, best producer for Harold Prince, best director for George Abbott, best author for Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, leading actor for Zero Mostel and featured actor for David Burns. Ironically, Sondheim failed to earn a nomination for best original score (music and/or lyrics) written for the theater. He would not win for his tunes until “Company” in 1971. Vying in that category were “Stop the World I Wanted...

The Beatles‘ “Dear Prudence” was inspired by the sister of a famous actor. During an interview, the real “Dear Prudence” said the song was important. On the other hand, she said it didn’t receive as much attention as other songs in the Fab Four’s discography.

Prudence Farrow, subject of The Beatles’ “Dear Prudence” | Bettmann / Contributor The subject of The Beatles’ ‘Dear Prudence’ 1st heard the song during a family game

A 2015 article from Rolling Stone says The Beatles’ “Dear Prudence” was inspired by Prudence Farrow, sister of Mia Farrow. The Farrows were present during The Beatles’ trip to India and Prudence spent a lot of her time deep in meditation. John Lennon noticed her devotion to spirituality and wrote the song in response.

Prudence said her mother, actor Maureen O’Sullivan, introduced her to “Dear Prudence” during a “psychological” game her family used to play. She explained how the game worked.

Emmy-winning newswoman and celebrity interviewer Barbara Walters, the doyenne of television news, has died, her publicist confirmed to Variety. She was 93.

Having blazed a trail for women in TV news, Walters was the highest-paid television journalist at one time, earning as much as 12 million per year at ABC, where she worked from 1976 until her retirement from ABC News and from her show “The View” in May 2014. She put in 12 years at NBC’s “Today” show prior to that.

Walters received multiple Daytime Emmy nominations for best talk show host for her work on “The View,” winning in 2003 and 2009, and she also received multiple Primetime Emmy nominations for her specials, winning in 1983. She also won a Daytime Emmy in 1975 for “Today” and shared a News and Documentary Emmy for her work at ABC on coverage of the turn of the millennium.

As Variety wrote in an article on her retirement, “Walters...

It’s pre-war Los Angeles and you’re a young and rather dashing British actor. You’re newly arrived in Hollywood and looking to make friends, and preferably ones who understand the importance of a properly made cup of tea. Look no further, then, than the Hollywood Cricket Club.

There you’ll find fellow famous Brits abroad such as David Niven, Boris Karloff and, thanks to the suspect nature of colonialism, an honorary Brit in the shape of Tasmanian-born Errol Flynn. Across the 1930s and 1940s, these stars (and more) could be counted on to drop by the club’s nets in their flawless whites. Cinema luminaries such as Cary Grant, Basil Rathbone, Ronald Colman and Leslie Howard would all also play for the team, while a young Elizabeth Taylor might be around to serve cream tea.

Like any sports team, each player brought their own distinct style to the game.

Alley Mills will be reunited with her The Wonder Years husband Dan Lauria in the new Off Broadway production of Paul Osborn’s classic stage comedy Morning’s At Seven, a reteaming that comes as Mills replaces the recently injured Judith Ivey.

Mills, who stars on CBS’ The Bold and the Beautiful, joins Lauria and other Morning’s At Seven cast members Lindsay Crouse, Alma Cuervo, Tony Roberts, John Rubinstein, Keri Safran, Jonathan Spivey and Patty McCormack (the latter most famously remembered as evil little Rhoda Penmark from 1956’s The Bad Seed).

The original Wonder Years mom was cast in the role of Arry after Ivey left the production due a torn tendon. (Nancy Ringham was a temporary replacement until Mills could join.)

“We are thrilled to have Alley Mills join our Morning’s At Seven family,” said producer Julian Schlossberg in a statement. “In the theatre, anything can happen,...

“I had me a quiet woman once. Outside she was as calm as Sunday, but inside wild as mountain scenery.”

Randolph Scott was a Hollywood Cowboy Legend, the always tall-in-the-saddle hero who helped define the genre. Rustle up a spot and enjoy 12 of his classics in this special 6-disc Western roundup. Making their Blu-ray debut in the United States and filled with new bonus features and collectible booklet, this is an impressive collection fit for any western movie fan! Order the set Here

Here’s a vintage trailer for Ride Lonesome:

The film in this set include:

The Desperadoes

The Nevadan

Santa Fe

Man in the Saddle

Hangman’s Knot

The Stranger Wore a Gun

A Lawless Street

The Tall T

Decision At Sundown

Buchanan Rides Alone

Ride Lonesome

Comanche Station

The films star Randolph Scott, Glenn Ford, Forrest Tucker, Donna Reed, Lee Marvin, Angela Landsbury, Maureen O’Sullivan, John Carroll, Lee Van Cleef,...

Claude Gonzalez and Frans Vandenburg have been following the stranger-than-fiction life of filmmaker John Farrow for over 10 years.

Born in 1904 in Marrickville, Sydney, John Farrow’s curious story ranges from fleeing Australia at age 17 to penning a Tahitian French Dictionary, winning an Oscar for co-writing Around the World in 80 Days, to being highly religious and conservative and married to the glamorous Hollywood star Maureen O’Sullivan. Yet on the flip side he obscured his past from his family and fathered an illegitimate son.

As a director, producer, writer and actor he was prolific, making 50 films and working with people like John Wayne, Bette Davis, Ava Gardner, and Lana Turner. He fathered seven children, including Mia Farrow.

Gonzalez and Vandenburg’s documentary – part mystery, biography and film noir – includes interviews with family members in the US and Australia, and with leading filmmakers and critics including Bruce Beresford, Phillip Noyce, Philippe Mora,...

Lois de Banzie, the Scottish-born actress whose Broadway performance in 1980’s Morning’s At Seven scored a Tony Award nomination, died April 3 in Greenbrae, California. She was 90.

Her death was announced by her family yesterday. A cause was not specified.

By the time of her Tony nomination, de Banzie, born in Glasgow, Scotland, had already established herself on Broadway with her performance as Mrs. Prynne in 1978’s Da starring Barnard Hughes.

Her performance as Myrtle Brown in Paul Osborn’s Morning’s at Seven, opposite Maureen O’Sullivan, Teresa Wright, Nancy Marchand and Elizabeth Wilson, brought both the Tony nomination and a Drama Desk Award. She returned to Broadway in 1985’s short-lived The Octette Bridge Club.

On screen, de Bansie appeared as Eleanor Roosevelt in Annie (1982) and as the mother of a seminarian in 1984’s Mass Appeal starring Jack Lemmon. Other film credits include Tootsie (1982), Sudden Impact (1983), Arachnophobia (1990), Sister Act (1992), Addams Family Values...

Meryl Streep and Mamie Gummer, “Ricki and the Flash”

The mother-daughter duo starred in this 2015 film directed by Jonathan Demme.

Demi Moore and Rumer Willis, “Striptease

Actually, this mother-daughter team is a frequent on-screen collaborator. They first appeared together in 1995’s “Now and Then, as well as 1996’s “Striptease.”

Carrie Fisher and Billie Lourd, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”

Billie Lourd starred alongside her late mother Carrie Fisher in “The Last Jedi,” Fisher’s last role before she died. Of course, Fisher reprised her famous role of Princess Leia.

Maureen O’Sullivan and Mia Farrow, “Hannah and Her Sisters”

O’Sullivan and Farrow starred together in the 1986 film, written and directed by Woody Allen, with whom Farrow was in a relationship.

Susan Sarandon and Eva Amurri Martino, “That’s My Boy” and “The Banger Sisters”

Another mother-daughter pair that’s in more than one film together, Susan Sarandon and her daughter Eva...

Even those who consider themselves experts in the subject will find a provocative treasure trove of images and anecdotes in “Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies.” Danny Wolf’s documentary is a breezy, open-eyed, and often encyclopedic compendium of all the ways the cinema has celebrated, exploited, and negotiated the power of the naked body. The film opens with a montage of actors and directors recalling the first movie they ever saw that had nudity in it, and that allows the film, in its early moments, to leap through some of Nudity’s Greatest Hits.

As it moves back in time, one of the documentary’s fascinations is the way it’s constantly juxtaposing big Hollywood movies and European art movies and softcore exploitation films and everything in between. That, of course, is just as it should be. Aesthetically, there’s a world of difference between “Vixen” and “The Virgin Spring,...

At 130 minutes, Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies has a clear trajectory. Well, make that a clear enough trajectory. Dipping its toes into present-day before going back to the 1880s, Danny Wolf’s documentary wafts through the expected checkpoints: the pre-Code era, the reign of the Hays Code, the introduction of the Motion Picture Association of America. There are but three or four major tent poles in the film’s structure itself. But despite such a wide scope, it manages to lack enough context to form its own argument, or to say much of anything that new.

It’s a bit peculiar too. Wolf, who co-wrote Skin with Paul Fishbein, doesn’t seem entirely focused on the history of nudity itself at first. Instead, he uses the #MeToo movement’s skyrocket from 2017 onward as a sort of framing structure. The first and last five minutes use this context to bookend the picture,...

” The body is meant to be seen. Not all covered up ” – Marilyn Monroe

Skin: A History Of Nudity In The Movies , available On Demand August 18th, explores the history of nudity in film, beginning with the silent movie era through present day. The documentary delves into the gender bias concerning nudity in motion pictures and will follow the revolution that has pushed for gender equality in feature films today. A deep discussion of pre-code Hollywood and its amoral roots, the censorship that “cleaned up” Hollywood and how the MPAA was formed leads into a discussion of how nudity changed cinematic culture through the decades. It culminates in a discussion of “what are nude scenes like in the age of the #Metoo movement?”

Danny Wolf, director of Skin: A History Of Nudity In The Movies , took the time to talk to We Are Movie Geeks about the film.

Interview conducted by Tom Stockman August 11th,...

MGM in 1940 was just the movie factory to turn out a smart, compact version of the Jane Austen novel, with Greer Garson in fine form and Laurence Olivier possibly slumming but also contributing a flawless performance. Robert Z. Leonard’s direction is invisible but does no harm; adaptors Aldous Huxley and Jane Murfin telescope events and concoct an even happier ending, all with great skill. Sorry, despite persistent rumors, the story hasn’t a single zombie.

Pride and Prejudice

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1940 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 118 min. / Street Date July 14, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier, Mary Boland, Edna May Oliver, Maureen O’Sullivan, Ann Rutherford, Frieda Inescort, Edmund Gwenn, Heather Angel, Marsha Hunt.

Cinematography: Karl Freund

Film Editor: Robert Kern

Original Music: Herbert Stothart

Written by Aldous Huxley, Jane Murfin from the book by Jane Austen

Produced by Hunt Stromberg

Directed by Robert Z. Leonard

I...

Randolph Scott's final 'Ranown' western is a minimalist masterpiece, an unusually gentle story about a great westerner on a forlorn romantic quest. It's also a showcase for the underrated Nancy Gates and Claude Akins, and a pleasure to watch in wide, wide CinemaScope. Comanche Station All-region Blu-ray Explosive Media / Alive 1960 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 74 min. / Street Date July 22, 2016 / Einer Gibt Nicht Auf / available at Amazon.de/ EUR14,99 Starring Randolph Scott, Nancy Gates, Claude Atkins, Skip Homeier, Richard Rust. Cinematography Charles Lawton Jr. Film Editor Edwin H. Bryant Music supervisor Mischa Balaleinikoff Written by Burt Kennedy Produced and Directed by Budd Boetticher

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

One must be careful when ordering Blu-ray discs of Hollywood films from overseas. Foreign distributors license American movies that the studios won't release here, but sometimes they don't have access to good video masters. In a few cases the films being offered are simply being pirated.

Helena Bonham Carter & Cary Elwes star in Lady Jane (1986)On this day in history as it relates to the movies

1553 Lady Jane Grey takes the throne in England. Her reign is just nine days long and Helena Bonham Carter plays her in her feature film debut (filmed just before A Room With a View though it was released second)

1856 Nikola Tesla, famed inventor and futurist is born in the Austrian empire. He's later played by David Bowie in Christopher Nolan's The Prestige (2006) but isn't it strange that he has never received his own major biopic given his fame and eccentricity and pop culture relevances (bands named after him, characters based on him, etcetera)?

1871 Marcel Proust, French novelist is born.

 1925 The "Monkey Trial" in which a man is accused of teaching evolution in science class, begins in Tennessee. It's later adapted into a famous play and the Stanley Kramer film...

As we approach the release of The Legend of Tarzan (2016) we're ogling past screen incarnations of the Lord of the Apes...

After Buster Crabbe filled a loincloth beautifully and Johnny Weissmuller & Maureen O'Sullivan gave us the deservedly definitive Golden Age Tarzan and Jane, the franchise had to recast or close shop. O'Sullivan left first and by the late 40s Weissmuller was feeling too old for the role and also called it quits. The producer Sol Lesser wasn't about to let the profitable franchise go, though, and led a search for a replacement. The winner was Lex Barker, a then little known blue blood actor from New York who had been disowned by his family for choosing an acting career (!) and he took up the loincloth in 1949 for Tarzan's Magic Fountain.

I opted to watch Barker's third go at the character in Tarzan's Peril (sometimes called Tarzan and the Jungle Queen...

Vivien Leigh ca. late 1940s. Vivien Leigh movies: now controversial 'Gone with the Wind,' little-seen '21 Days Together' on TCM Vivien Leigh is Turner Classic Movies' star today, Aug. 18, '15, as TCM's “Summer Under the Stars” series continues. Mostly a stage actress, Leigh was seen in only 19 films – in about 15 of which as a leading lady or star – in a movie career spanning three decades. Good for the relatively few who saw her on stage; bad for all those who have access to only a few performances of one of the most remarkable acting talents of the 20th century. This evening, TCM is showing three Vivien Leigh movies: Gone with the Wind (1939), 21 Days Together (1940), and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Leigh won Best Actress Academy Awards for the first and the third title. The little-remembered film in-between is a TCM premiere. 'Gone with the Wind' Seemingly all...

Groucho Marx in 'Duck Soup.' Groucho Marx movies: 'Duck Soup,' 'The Story of Mankind' and romancing Margaret Dumont on TCM Grouch Marx, the bespectacled, (painted) mustached, cigar-chomping Marx brother, is Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” star today, Aug. 14, '15. Marx Brothers fans will be delighted, as TCM is presenting no less than 11 of their comedies, in addition to a brotherly reunion in the 1957 all-star fantasy The Story of Mankind. Non-Marx Brothers fans should be delighted as well – as long as they're fans of Kay Francis, Thelma Todd, Ann Miller, Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, Allan Jones, affectionate, long-tongued giraffes, and/or that great, scene-stealing dowager, Margaret Dumont. Right now, TCM is showing Robert Florey and Joseph Santley's The Cocoanuts (1929), an early talkie notable as the first movie featuring the four Marx Brothers – Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo. Based on their hit Broadway...

Michael Caine young. Michael Caine movies: From Irwin Allen bombs to Woody Allen classic It's hard to believe that Michael Caine has been around making movies for nearly six decades. No wonder he's had time to appear – in roles big and small and tiny – in more than 120 films, ranging from unwatchable stuff like the Sylvester Stallone soccer flick Victory and Michael Ritchie's adventure flick The Island to Brian G. Hutton's X, Y and Zee, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Sleuth (a duel of wits and acting styles with Laurence Olivier), and Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men. (See TCM's Michael Caine movie schedule further below.) Throughout his long, long career, Caine has played heroes and villains and everything in between. Sometimes, in his worst vehicles, he has floundered along with everybody else. At other times, he was the best element in otherwise disappointing fare, e.g., Philip Kaufman's Quills.

'Father of the Bride': Steve Martin and Kimberly Williams. Top Five Father's Day Movies? From giant Gregory Peck to tyrant John Gielgud What would be the Top Five Father's Day movies ever made? Well, there have been countless films about fathers and/or featuring fathers of various sizes, shapes, and inclinations. In terms of quality, these range from the amusing – e.g., the 1950 version of Cheaper by the Dozen; the Oscar-nominated The Grandfather – to the nauseating – e.g., the 1950 version of Father of the Bride; its atrocious sequel, Father's Little Dividend. Although I'm unable to come up with the absolute Top Five Father's Day Movies – or rather, just plain Father Movies – ever made, below are the first five (actually six, including a remake) "quality" patriarch-centered films that come to mind. Now, the fathers portrayed in these films aren't all heroic, loving, and/or saintly paternal figures. Several are...

Teresa Wright and Matt Damon in 'The Rainmaker' Teresa Wright: From Marlon Brando to Matt Damon (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright vs. Samuel Goldwyn: Nasty Falling Out.") "I'd rather have luck than brains!" Teresa Wright was quoted as saying in the early 1950s. That's understandable, considering her post-Samuel Goldwyn choice of movie roles, some of which may have seemed promising on paper.[1] Wright was Marlon Brando's first Hollywood leading lady, but that didn't help her to bounce back following the very public spat with her former boss. After all, The Men was released before Elia Kazan's film version of A Streetcar Named Desire turned Brando into a major international star. Chances are that good film offers were scarce. After Wright's brief 1950 comeback, for the third time in less than a decade she would be gone from the big screen for more than a year.

Luise Rainer dies at age 104: Rainer was first consecutive Oscar winner, first two-time winner in acting categories and oldest surviving winner (photo: MGM star Luise Rainer in the mid-'30s.) The first consecutive Academy Award winner, the first two-time winner in the acting categories, and, at age 104, the oldest surviving Oscar winner as well, Luise Rainer (Best Actress for The Great Ziegfeld, 1936, and The Good Earth, 1937) died at her London apartment on December 30 -- nearly two weeks before her 105th birthday. Below is an article originally posted in January 2014, at the time Rainer turned 104. I'll be sharing more Luise Rainer news later on Tuesday. January 17, 2014: Inevitably, the Transformers movies' director Michael Bay (who recently had an on-camera "meltdown" after a teleprompter stopped working at the Consumer Electronics Show) and the Transformers movies' star Shia Labeouf (who was recently accused of plagiarism) were mentioned -- or rather, blasted, in...

Veterans Day movies on TCM: From 'The Sullivans' to 'Patton' (photo: George C. Scott in 'Patton') This evening, Turner Classic Movies is presenting five war or war-related films in celebration of Veterans Day. For those outside the United States, Veterans Day is not to be confused with Memorial Day, which takes place in late May. (Scroll down to check out TCM's Veterans Day movie schedule.) It's good to be aware that in the last century alone, the U.S. has been involved in more than a dozen armed conflicts, from World War I to the invasion of Iraq, not including direct or indirect military interventions in countries as disparate as Iran, Guatemala, and Chile. As to be expected in a society that reveres people in uniform, American war movies have almost invariably glorified American soldiers even in those rare instances when they have dared to criticize the military establishment.

The Hollywood star is always headline news – for her movies, relationships and extendend family. And her latest claims about the paternity of her son have reopened the bitter wounds from her split from Woody Allen

For a while, Mia Farrow was a genuine Surrey housewife. In a life of bright lights and dark, dark shadows, this must surely count as one of the most unusual periods of them all: a moment of apparent stability and respectability in the late 70s and early 80s. During this time, she picked up her twin sons Matthew and Sascha by the conductor André Previn from their ballet classes and music lessons and took them back to the family home in Leigh, much as if she had never been the daughter of Tarzan's Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan), nor the young bride of Frank Sinatra.

But this was the era when the notion of adopting needy children took hold.

"There isn't any such thing in the world as a bad boy."

Even people who haven't seen "Boys Town" know Spencer Tracy's line, in character as Father Edward Flanagan, as the credo of the real Boys Town, the institution renowned for its care of orphaned and troubled kids. The classic movie, released 75 years ago this week (on September 9, 1938), was a huge hit, a milestone in the careers of Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney, and an inspiration to wayward kids and those who would help them, all over the country.

As beloved as the movie has been for generations, there's still plenty you may not know about it -- how it almost didn't get released, how Tracy's Oscar victory almost turned into a publicity nightmare, and how the movie almost did more harm than good to the real Boys Town.

Read on for 25 true tales behind the making of "Boys Town.

Woody Allen's latest is a brilliant, switchblade soap starring Cate Blanchett as a society woman on the skids

To see Blue Jasmine is to squirm. Woody Allen's 46th film as director is a big Bloody Mary of a movie – half slap, half tickle – that makes your head sweat and your heart swell. It's only at the end you realise the one thing you didn't have was tense shoulders. The tense shoulders of the Woody Allen fan sat in front of his latest and wondering whether it's a return to form. Blue Jasmine is so gripping you forget to ask yourself the question. Which means, of course, that the answer is yes.

The last time that happened, for me at least, was Deconstructing Harry (1997), whose opening this echoes: another rattly, crackling anti-heroine pitches up at a place she hates. In that earlier film, it was Judy Davis, slamming cab...

Rick Santorum puts kids to sleep Mia Farrow is a frequent Twitter tweeter. Earlier today, for instance, Farrow expressed her disgust at the Chinese and Russian governments' decision to veto United Nations sanctions against Syria, where the Bashar al-Assad regime reportedly massacred hundreds of people in the city of Homs. On the homefront, Farrow posted a picture she called "a gem" (via the website Think Progress). Regarding the picture (see above), Farrow's tweet reads: "See children's choir literally passing out from boredom during [Republican presidential candidate Rick] Santorum [Florida] speech." Despite a movie career that includes almost fifty films during the course of nearly five decades, Mia Farrow not only has never won an Oscar, she has never been even nominated for one. that's quite surprising, considering her movie credits. Among those are Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (1968), with John Cassavetes; Peter Yates' John and Mary (1969), with Dustin Hoffman; Jack Clayton's The Great Gatsby...

'Cheeta', the chimpanzee that performed in the "Tarzan" films of the 1930's, has died at the age of 80.

"It is with great sadness that the community has lost a dear friend and family member on December 24, 2011," the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor, Florida announced.

Cheeta appeared in "Tarzan the Ape Man" (1932) and "Tarzan and His Mate" (1934), starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan.

The average life span of a wild chimpanzee is 45 years.

According to the sanctuary where he lived, Cheeta loved finger-painting and watching football, walking upright with a straight back like a human.

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Cheeta"...

Maureen O'Sullivan (Jane), Cheeta, Johnny Weismuller (Tarzan): MGM in the '30s Cheeta, Tarzan's chimp in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) and Tarzan and His Mate (1934), died of kidney failure during the week of December 19 according to Florida's Suncoast Primate Sanctuary. Sad news — and curious news as well. The Associated Press reports that chimps in captivity live between 40 and 60 years. Cheeta, oftentimes spelled as Cheetah, would have been 80. Also, more than one chimp played Cheeta in the various Tarzan movies. One of those, known as either Jiggs or Mr. Jiggs, is supposed to have died of pneumonia at a very young age in 1938, the year he co-starred with Dorothy Lamour in Her Jungle Love. (Actually, Ray Milland, not Jiggs, was Lamour's paramour in that movie.) And finally, according to Suncoast's outreach director Debbie Cobb, MGM's Tarzan Johnny Weismuller donated Cheeta to the sanctuary back in 1960. But did olympic swimmer Weismuller...

Primate purported to be Johnny Weissmuller's co-star in classics such as Tarzan the Ape Man dies at Florida animal sanctuary

If Tarzan's co-star had been human, it is safe to assume that news of his demise would have been greeted with glowing tributes, a Hollywood funeral and perhaps a retrospective season of his greatest cinematic moments.

As it was, the death of an 80-year-old chimpanzee called Cheetah was announced quietly by the Florida animal sanctuary where he had spent the past five decades in retirement. There was no grand send-off for the venerable Cheetah. Even his purported role as Johnny Weissmuller's regular primate sidekick remains shrouded in mystery.

The Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor claims the primate arrived there in 1960 and was donated by Weissmuller's estate. He is believed to have been born in 1930 or 1931 and was one of a number of chimpanzees whose owners vied...

Palm Harbor, Fla. — A Florida animal sanctuary says Cheetah, the chimpanzee sidekick in the Tarzan movies of the early 1930s, has died at 80. But other accounts call that claim into question.

Debbie Cobb, outreach director at the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor, said Wednesday that her grandparents acquired Cheetah around 1960 from "Tarzan" star Johnny Weissmuller and that the chimp appeared in Tarzan films between 1932 and 1934. During that period, Weissmuller made "Tarzan the Ape Man" and "Tarzan and His Mate."

But Cobb offered no documentation, saying it was destroyed in a 1995 fire.

Also, some Hollywood accounts indicate a chimpanzee by the name of Jiggs or Mr. Jiggs played Cheetah alongside Weissmuller early on and died in 1938.

In addition, an 80-year-old chimpanzee would be extraordinarily old, perhaps the oldest ever known. According to many experts and Save the Chimps, another Florida sanctuary, chimpanzees in captivity generally live to between 40 and 60, though Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee,...

"My mom,Tarzan's Jane, referred to Cheetah-the-chimp as 'that bastard' - saying he bit her at every opportunity. Cheetah lived to be 80." Mia Farrow remembers the cheeky chimpanzee which starred alongside her actress mother Maureen O'Sullivan in 1942's Tarzan's New York Adventure. The animal died in a Florida animal sanctuary on Christmas Eve.

Cheetah, best known as the chimpanzee sidekick to Tarzan in the classic 1930s films, died Saturday of kidney failure. He was believed to be 80 years old.

Also known as Cheetah-Mike, "Cheeta" and was one of several chimps who appeared in the films from 1932 to 1934, with swimmer Johnny Weissmuller in the starring role.

After living on Weissmuller's estate for many years, Cheetah retired to Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Florida.

"It is with great sadness that the...

Cheetah, a chimpanzee who starred alongside Tarzan in the franchise films of the early 1930s, died Saturday. He had experienced kidney failure earlier that week, and was thought to be 80 years old. Cheetah, also known as Cheetah-Mike, acted as Tarzan's comic sidekick "Cheeta" and was one of several chimpanzees who appeared in the films of 1932 to 1934, with Johnny Weissmuller in the starring role. Around 1960, after living on Weissmuller's estate, Cheetah retired to Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor, Fla. "It is with great sadness that the community has lost a dear friend and family member," the sanctuary announced this week on its website.

Part of a series by David Cairns on forgotten pre-Code films.

Alice Brady said of her face: "It skids, that's the trouble with it. It needs chains. Just when I'm trying to be serious on the screen the thing skids, and I'm doing a tragic scene with a comic face. Look at it. I've often seen those little blonde babes around here giving me the once over. I'm sure they wonder how a face like that fits into pictures."

Stage Mother (1933) offers Brady, best remembered perhaps as the ditzy mom in My Man Godfrey (with Mischa Auer as her louche live-in lover), one of her rare dramatic roles, and she manages to keep her wonky face on the road throughout. With her unlikely, low voice, wide smile and indescribable cackle, Brady has a repertoire of grotesque traits to dazzle the viewer, but she also has an innate sympathy which she...

Chris O'Dowd, star of The It Crowd, on his new comedy, what links him to Tarzan and impressing Minnie Riperton's daughter

What are you doing right this moment?

I'm in London at Steve Coogan's offices, knocking off a TV show I've been working on. It's called Moone Boy, which is based on me growing up in Ireland as a 12-year-old. I'm not playing the 12-year-old, though, because I wouldn't fit the clothes, but there is a part for me as his imaginary best friend.

What do they think of you back in Boyle now that you're all famous in Hollywood?

I hope they think well of me. I guess I'll find out when we go there to shoot Moone Boy in January. They'll probably be excited for a couple of days and then they'll be like: "Get these bloody cameras out of here, we're trying to do a day's work.

Ralph Bellamy on TCM: Sunrise At Campobello, The Awful Truth Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 6:00 Am Carefree (1938) A psychiatrist falls in love with the woman he's supposed to be nudging into marriage with someone else. Dir: Mark Sandrich. Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Ralph Bellamy. Bw-83 mins. 7:30 Am The Secret Six (1931) A secret society funds the investigation of a bootlegging gang. Dir: George Hill. Cast: Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, John Mack Brown. Bw-84 mins. 9:00 Am Headline Shooter (1933) A newsreel photographer neglects his love life to get the perfect shot. Dir: Otto Brower. Cast: William Gargan, Frances Dee, Ralph Bellamy. Bw-61 mins. 10:15 Am Picture Snatcher (1933) An ex-con brings his crooked ways to a job as a news photographer. Dir: Lloyd Bacon. Cast: James Cagney, Ralph Bellamy, Patricia Ellis. Bw-77 mins. 11:45 Am The Wedding Night (1935) A married author falls for the beautiful farm girl...

Each year New York residents can look forward to two essential series programmed at the Film Forum, noirs and pre-Coders (that is, films made before the strict enforcing of the Motion Picture Production Code). These near-annual retrospective traditions are refreshed and re-varied and re-repeated for neophytes and cinephiles alike, giving all the chance to see and see again great film on film. Many titles in this year's Essential Pre-Code series, running an epic July 15 - August 11, are old favorites and some ache to be new discoveries; all in all there are far too many racy, slipshod, patter-filled celluloid splendors to be covered by one critic alone. Faced with such a bounty, I've enlisted the kind help of some friends and colleagues, asking them to sent in short pieces on their favorites in an incomplete but also in-progress survey and guide to one of the summer's most sought-after series. In this entry: what's playing Friday,...

In Hit Me With Your Best Shot, we look at a predetermined movie, and choose what we think of as its best shot. We're taking a break next week (change of plans) but please consider joining us on Wednesday, June 1st for Moulin Rouge! You have two whole weeks to pick a shot. That'll be a theme week right here at the blog "Spectacular! Spectacular!" 10th anniversary (5/30-6/03).

This week's film is Tarzan The Ape Man (1932) which kicked off the most popular stretch of this enduring franchise. (You know some reboot has to be just around the corner). In this particular outing that famous jungle swinger (Johnny Weismuller) sweeps sexy Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan Centennial!) right off her feet and into the air (and water) until she's flat on her back in his tree house. I'm speaking literally. Jane is kind of a slut.

I mean that in the nicest way.

10|25|50|75|100 in celebration of major film anniversaries

One hundred years ago on this very day, Maureen O'Sullivan was born in Ireland. She went on to become Hollywood's first major female Irish movie star. Though she appeared in The Thin Man (1934) and an early version of Pride and Prejudice (1940) she is best remembered as Jane from six Tarzan adventures. Tomorrow on "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" we'll be looking at Tarzan the Ape Man (1932). The Weismuller and O'Sullivan pairing is basically what people think of when they think of Tarzan at the movies though the character had plentiful interpretations before and since.

Here she is talking about how the controversies that swirled around "Jane" for her skimpy wardrobe.

O'Sullivan retired for most of the 1940s (her thirtysomething years) and in that time she gave us what might have been her greatest gift to the cinema, the incomparable Mia Farrow.

Before her...

The Thin Man will be helmed by Rob Marshall, starring Johnny Depp in the remake. Marshall just worked with Depp on the eagerly anticipated upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and will produce alongside John DeLuca via their Lucamar company. The 1934 film was directed by W.S. Van Dyke and starred William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan, Nat Pendleton and Minna Gombell. Pic was based on the 1933 mystery novel by Dashiell Hammett. The story is set in Prohibition-era New York City where the main characters consist of Nick Charles, a private detective, and his wife Nora. Since giving up his career after marrying Nora who is a wealthy socialite, Nick, spends most of his time getting wasted in hotel rooms and speakeasies. They have no kids, but own a schnauzer called Asta.

The Thin Man will be helmed by Rob Marshall, starring Johnny Depp in the remake. Marshall just worked with Depp on the eagerly anticipated upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and will produce alongside John DeLuca via their Lucamar company. The 1934 film was directed by W.S. Van Dyke and starred William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan, Nat Pendleton and Minna Gombell. Pic was based on the 1933 mystery novel by Dashiell Hammett. The story is set in Prohibition-era New York City where the main characters consist of Nick Charles, a private detective, and his wife Nora. Since giving up his career after marrying Nora who is a wealthy socialite, Nick, spends most of his time getting wasted in hotel rooms and speakeasies. They have no kids, but own a schnauzer called Asta.