"A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens was embraced by the British public from the moment it first dropped in 1843; it was an instant bestseller and the work has never been out of print since (via ThoughtCo). Almost 60 years later, the festive tale took a leap to the new-fangled medium of cinema with "Scrooge, or Marley's Ghost" in 1901. That title hinted at a vision of Film Adaptations Yet to Come; Scrooge was the star of the show and would become a juicy role for dozens of famous actors over the next 120 years.
Since Daniel Smith donned Scrooge's nightcap in that pioneering first adaptation, George C. Scott, Albert Finney, Reginald Owen, Patrick Stewart, and Henry Winkler have all given their distinctive take on the role, while Alastair Sim remains many people's definitive version of the character. Bill Murray put a modern spin on the tale in "Scrooged," while in animation we've had Mr. Magoo,...
Since Daniel Smith donned Scrooge's nightcap in that pioneering first adaptation, George C. Scott, Albert Finney, Reginald Owen, Patrick Stewart, and Henry Winkler have all given their distinctive take on the role, while Alastair Sim remains many people's definitive version of the character. Bill Murray put a modern spin on the tale in "Scrooged," while in animation we've had Mr. Magoo,...
- 12/10/2022
- by Lee Adams
- Slash Film
Exclusive: Amazon Studios is teaming with Topic Studios and Pkm Productions to develop the series Savannah from Tracy Oliver and Joey Falco (The CW’s Charmed).
Adapted from New York Times best-selling author Sarah Pinborough’s book Dead to Her, Savannah is a thriller that follows two outsider women, one Black and one white, who marry into a moneyed and closed Southern society and the twisted choices they make to protect their secrets and survive a judgmental world that wants to tear them down. Oliver and Falco are co-writing the new drama series that Patrick Moran and his Pkm Productions and Topic Studios, the entertainment studio from First Look Media, are producing. Topic Studios landed the rights to Pinborough’s book to be developed as part of Oliver’s previously announced first-look deal with Topic Studios.
EVP Maria Zuckerman and SVP of Original...
Adapted from New York Times best-selling author Sarah Pinborough’s book Dead to Her, Savannah is a thriller that follows two outsider women, one Black and one white, who marry into a moneyed and closed Southern society and the twisted choices they make to protect their secrets and survive a judgmental world that wants to tear them down. Oliver and Falco are co-writing the new drama series that Patrick Moran and his Pkm Productions and Topic Studios, the entertainment studio from First Look Media, are producing. Topic Studios landed the rights to Pinborough’s book to be developed as part of Oliver’s previously announced first-look deal with Topic Studios.
EVP Maria Zuckerman and SVP of Original...
- 12/15/2020
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
Come Play will open in theaters October 30 and the phrase “I just want to be your friend” will never be the same again.
Yikes! Check out the trailer now and get ready for some true nightmares this Halloween.
Newcomer Azhy Robertson stars as Oliver, a lonely young boy who feels different from everyone else. Desperate for a friend, he seeks solace and refuge in his ever-present cell phone and tablet. When a mysterious creature uses Oliver’s devices against him to break into our world, Oliver’s parents (Gillian Jacobs and John Gallagher Jr.) must fight to save their son from the monster beyond the screen.
Come Play’s music is from composer Roque Banos and the cinematographer is Maxime Alexandre.
The film is produced by The Picture Company for Amblin Partners.
https://www.focusfeatures.com/come-play/
Azhy Robertson stars as ‘Oliver’ in writer/director Jacob Chase’s Come Play.
Yikes! Check out the trailer now and get ready for some true nightmares this Halloween.
Newcomer Azhy Robertson stars as Oliver, a lonely young boy who feels different from everyone else. Desperate for a friend, he seeks solace and refuge in his ever-present cell phone and tablet. When a mysterious creature uses Oliver’s devices against him to break into our world, Oliver’s parents (Gillian Jacobs and John Gallagher Jr.) must fight to save their son from the monster beyond the screen.
Come Play’s music is from composer Roque Banos and the cinematographer is Maxime Alexandre.
The film is produced by The Picture Company for Amblin Partners.
https://www.focusfeatures.com/come-play/
Azhy Robertson stars as ‘Oliver’ in writer/director Jacob Chase’s Come Play.
- 8/27/2020
- by Michelle Hannett
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
If you thought that becoming an Oscar-winning actor meant that all of Eddie Redmayne’s dreams had been realised, then you’d be wrong – until now that is. The Theory of Everything star has been in talks to play Fagin in a reboot of Oliver!, a role he has wanted to play from a very young age.
He may also be lining-up alongside superstar-songstress Adele, who herself has been linked with the part of Nancy.
And Redmayne can hold a note with the best of them, as he proved in 2012’s Les Miserables, so prepare for a memorable version of You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two, Fagin’s main contribution to the piece. When he was a mere ten years old, he appeared in a Sam Mendes (no less) stage production of the Dickens-inspired musical, as workhouse boy No43, and ever since then has harboured the ambition...
He may also be lining-up alongside superstar-songstress Adele, who herself has been linked with the part of Nancy.
And Redmayne can hold a note with the best of them, as he proved in 2012’s Les Miserables, so prepare for a memorable version of You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two, Fagin’s main contribution to the piece. When he was a mere ten years old, he appeared in a Sam Mendes (no less) stage production of the Dickens-inspired musical, as workhouse boy No43, and ever since then has harboured the ambition...
- 9/26/2017
- by Dan Green
- The Cultural Post
Each month, the fine folks at FilmStruck and the Criterion Collection spend countless hours crafting their channels to highlight the many different types of films that they have in their streaming library. This July will feature an exciting assortment of films, as noted below.
To sign up for a free two-week trial here.
Saturday, July 1 Changing Faces
What does a face tell us even when it’s disguised or disfigured? And what does it conceal? Guest curator Imogen Sara Smith, a critic and author of the book In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City, assembles a series of films that revolve around enigmatic faces transformed by masks, scars, and surgery, including Georges Franju’s Eyes Without a Face (1960) and Hiroshi Teshigahara’s The Face of Another (1966).
Tuesday, July 4 Tuesday’s Short + Feature: Premature* and Ten*
Come hitch a ride with Norwegian director Gunhild Enger and the late Iranian master...
To sign up for a free two-week trial here.
Saturday, July 1 Changing Faces
What does a face tell us even when it’s disguised or disfigured? And what does it conceal? Guest curator Imogen Sara Smith, a critic and author of the book In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City, assembles a series of films that revolve around enigmatic faces transformed by masks, scars, and surgery, including Georges Franju’s Eyes Without a Face (1960) and Hiroshi Teshigahara’s The Face of Another (1966).
Tuesday, July 4 Tuesday’s Short + Feature: Premature* and Ten*
Come hitch a ride with Norwegian director Gunhild Enger and the late Iranian master...
- 6/26/2017
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
Alien star John Hurt has passed away today at the age of 77. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer back in 2015, but at this time we’re unsure if that was the cause of death. The actor is survived by Anwen Rees-Myers, his wife of 12 years, and his two sons, Alexander and Nicholas.
The British film legend was a beloved, Academy Award-nominated talent with an incredibly accomplished career spanning six decades. Notable credits include V For Vendetta, Midnight Express, The Elephant Man, Harry Potter, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (a personal favorite of mine) and many, many more. So well recognized was Hurt that he even received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in 2014 for his tremendous work.
Born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire in 1940, he was the youngest of three children. Though he wasn’t allowed to see movies when he was younger, at the age of eight he was sent to...
The British film legend was a beloved, Academy Award-nominated talent with an incredibly accomplished career spanning six decades. Notable credits include V For Vendetta, Midnight Express, The Elephant Man, Harry Potter, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (a personal favorite of mine) and many, many more. So well recognized was Hurt that he even received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in 2014 for his tremendous work.
Born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire in 1940, he was the youngest of three children. Though he wasn’t allowed to see movies when he was younger, at the age of eight he was sent to...
- 1/28/2017
- by Josh Wilding
- We Got This Covered
Sunset Song is Terence Davies’s touching epic of love, hope, and tragedy at the dawn of the Great War. The story centers on a young woman, Chris Guthrie (Agyness Deyn), and the hardship of living in rural Scotland at the time, while looking at the themes of patriarchal and dysfunctional family life whose exploration originally hailed Davies as an auteur.Fernando F. Croce, covering the film for the Notebook, wrote from Toronto:"A passion project for the great British filmmaker with a decade-long production history of false starts, this adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's 1932 Scottish novel emerges as a full-bodied reverie of faces and landscapes, splendor and pain."We talked to Terence Davies following the world premiere of Sunset Song at the Toronto International Film Festival. This conversation contains spoilers of the film’s story.Notebook: What made you interested in this novel? How did it fit with your personality as a filmmaker?...
- 10/15/2015
- by Amir Ganjavie
- MUBI
Ron Moody in 'Oliver!' movie. Ron Moody: 'Oliver!' actor nominated for an Oscar dead at 91 (Note: This Ron Moody article is currently being revised.) Two well-regarded, nonagenarian British performers have died in the last few days: 93-year-old Christopher Lee (June 7, '15), best known for his many portrayals of Dracula and assorted movie villains and weirdos, from the title role in The Mummy to Dr. Catheter in Gremlins 2: The New Batch. 91-year-old Ron Moody (yesterday, June 11), among whose infrequent film appearances was the role of Fagin, the grotesque adult leader of a gang of boy petty thieves, in the 1968 Best Picture Academy Award-winning musical Oliver!, which also earned him a Best Actor nomination. Having been featured in nearly 200 movies and, most importantly, having had his mainstream appeal resurrected by way of the villainous Saruman in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies (and various associated merchandising,...
- 6/12/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
‘Doctor Who’ actor Bill Kerr, also featured in Peter Weir’s ‘Gallipoli’ and ‘The Year of Living Dangerously,’ dead at 92 (photo: Bill Kerr and Patrick Troughton in ‘Doctor Who’) Australian actor Bill Kerr, best known internationally for a guest spot in the 1960s TV series Doctor Who, and for his supporting roles in the Peter Weir movies Gallipoli and The Year of Living Dangerously, died on August 28 (or 29, according to some sources), 2014, while watching the TV show Seinfeld at his home in Perth, West Australia. Kerr, whose exact cause of death is unclear, was 92. Born William Kerr on June 10, 1922, in Capetown, South Africa, to Australian vaudevillian parents touring the country, Bill Kerr grew up in Australia, where he became a popular television, stage, and film personality. His show business career began at an early age. “My mother took about 10 weeks off to have me, and when she returned to the...
- 8/29/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Oscar-winning British cinematographer who worked on a wide range of film classics
The Oscar-winning British cinematographer Oswald Morris, who has died aged 98, will be remembered for many classics, including Moulin Rouge, Fiddler on the Roof, Moby Dick and Lolita. He worked with some of the great directors, John Huston, Sidney Lumet, Carol Reed, Stanley Kubrick and Franco Zeffirelli. Many of Morris's films are landmarks in the history of colour cinematography. For Moulin Rouge (1952) he used filters to create a style reminiscent of paintings by Toulouse-Lautrec. For Fiddler on the Roof (1971), which won him an Oscar, he filmed with a silk stocking over the lens to give a sepia effect.
Morris also shot popular favourites such as The Guns of Navarone (1961), Oliver! (1968), The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) and The Man Who Would Be King (1975), and photographed acting luminaries: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Gregory Peck and Humphrey Bogart.
The Oscar-winning British cinematographer Oswald Morris, who has died aged 98, will be remembered for many classics, including Moulin Rouge, Fiddler on the Roof, Moby Dick and Lolita. He worked with some of the great directors, John Huston, Sidney Lumet, Carol Reed, Stanley Kubrick and Franco Zeffirelli. Many of Morris's films are landmarks in the history of colour cinematography. For Moulin Rouge (1952) he used filters to create a style reminiscent of paintings by Toulouse-Lautrec. For Fiddler on the Roof (1971), which won him an Oscar, he filmed with a silk stocking over the lens to give a sepia effect.
Morris also shot popular favourites such as The Guns of Navarone (1961), Oliver! (1968), The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) and The Man Who Would Be King (1975), and photographed acting luminaries: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Gregory Peck and Humphrey Bogart.
- 3/20/2014
- by Brian Baxter
- The Guardian - Film News
800x600
Ossie Morris signs a copy of his 2006 autobiography 'Houston, We Have a Problem' for Matthew Field in February of this year.
Oscar-winning British cinematographer Oswald Morris passed away Monday evening at his home in Dorset, England. He was 98 years old.
A founding member and former president of the Bsc (the British Society of Cinematographers), 'Ossie', as he was known to all in the business, won an Academy Award in 1971 for the musical Fiddler on the Roof and four Baftas, including one for The Hill (1965) starring Sean Connery. His early career included working on David Lean's Oliver Twist and John Huston's Moulin Rouge. Ossie worked on over 40 major productions in his life, including Oliver!, The Wiz, The Guns of Navarone, Equus, The Man Who Would be King, and many, many more.
Retro's Matthew Field met the great man at his home just a few weeks ago, in what...
Ossie Morris signs a copy of his 2006 autobiography 'Houston, We Have a Problem' for Matthew Field in February of this year.
Oscar-winning British cinematographer Oswald Morris passed away Monday evening at his home in Dorset, England. He was 98 years old.
A founding member and former president of the Bsc (the British Society of Cinematographers), 'Ossie', as he was known to all in the business, won an Academy Award in 1971 for the musical Fiddler on the Roof and four Baftas, including one for The Hill (1965) starring Sean Connery. His early career included working on David Lean's Oliver Twist and John Huston's Moulin Rouge. Ossie worked on over 40 major productions in his life, including Oliver!, The Wiz, The Guns of Navarone, Equus, The Man Who Would be King, and many, many more.
Retro's Matthew Field met the great man at his home just a few weeks ago, in what...
- 3/19/2014
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
By Lee Pfeiffer
The magnificent Oscar-winning best picture of the year for 1968, Oliver!, has been released as a Blu-ray special limited edition (3,000 units) by Twilight Time. This adaptation of the smash stage hit was a dream project for director Lewis Gilbert but, much to his dismay, the director's seat was given to Sir Carol Reed. How Gilbert's version of the film would have differed will never be known but suffice it to say, it's hard to imagine he could have improved on Reed's vision. There had been numerous previous screen versions of Dickens' classic novel Oliver Twist, with the most notable being David Lean's 1948 movie with a star-making turn by Alec Guinness as Fagin. The 1963 stage musical by Lionel Bart was a sensation and it stood to reason that the screen rights were quickly scooped up. The film went against the tide when considering other major musicals of the period.
The magnificent Oscar-winning best picture of the year for 1968, Oliver!, has been released as a Blu-ray special limited edition (3,000 units) by Twilight Time. This adaptation of the smash stage hit was a dream project for director Lewis Gilbert but, much to his dismay, the director's seat was given to Sir Carol Reed. How Gilbert's version of the film would have differed will never be known but suffice it to say, it's hard to imagine he could have improved on Reed's vision. There had been numerous previous screen versions of Dickens' classic novel Oliver Twist, with the most notable being David Lean's 1948 movie with a star-making turn by Alec Guinness as Fagin. The 1963 stage musical by Lionel Bart was a sensation and it stood to reason that the screen rights were quickly scooped up. The film went against the tide when considering other major musicals of the period.
- 11/26/2013
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Alec Guinness: Before Obi-Wan Kenobi, there were the eight D’Ascoyne family members (photo: Alec Guiness, Dennis Price in ‘Kind Hearts and Coronets’) (See previous post: “Alec Guinness Movies: Pre-Star Wars Career.”) TCM won’t be showing The Bridge on the River Kwai on Alec Guinness day, though obviously not because the cable network programmers believe that one four-hour David Lean epic per day should be enough. After all, prior to Lawrence of Arabia TCM will be presenting the three-and-a-half-hour-long Doctor Zhivago (1965), a great-looking but never-ending romantic drama in which Guinness — quite poorly — plays a Kgb official. He’s slightly less miscast as a mere Englishman — one much too young for the then 32-year-old actor — in Lean’s Great Expectations (1946), a movie that fully belongs to boy-loving (in a chaste, fatherly manner) fugitive Finlay Currie. And finally, make sure to watch Robert Hamer’s dark comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets...
- 8/3/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Alec Guinness movies: Pre-’Star Wars’ Guinness runs the gamut from Dickens’ Fagin to Japanese businessman romancing Rosalind Russell Alec Guinness is Turner Classic Movies’ “Summer Under the Stars” star on Saturday, August 3, 2013. The bad news: No Alec Guinness TCM premieres or lesser-known Guinness movies, e.g., A Run for Your Money, Last Holiday, Malta Story, The Prisoner, Star Wars (kidding). The good news: Alec Guinness movies are always welcome, even when the movies themselves are unworthy of his talents — and there were quite a few of those — or when Guinness forces his characters to fit his persona (instead of the other way around), so that we’re watching Alec Guinness play Alec Guinness playing some role or other, instead of, for instance, a Japanese businessman who happens to be both Star Trek‘s George Takei’s father and Rosalind Russell’s platonic paramour. (TCM schedule: Alec Guiness movies.) (Photo: Alec Guinness ca.
- 8/3/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Heavyweight boxer, James Bond stuntman and bodyguard to Hollywood stars
The abiding memory that millions around the world will have of Nosher Powell, who has died aged 84, is of him fighting in vain to save his aeroplane after it had been attacked by a seagull in Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (1965). Gert Fröbe may have been the German officer in charge of the plane but it was Powell who, as the stuntman and double, ended up in the water.
Powell's first appearance as a stuntman was in Laurence Olivier's Henry V (1944). He also had small roles in David Lean's Oliver Twist (1948) and Cosh Boy (1953), with Joan Collins. In 1952 he was a boxer in Emergency Call, in which he fought the former world champion Freddie Mills. Powell had a decent if not outstanding boxing career himself, reaching No 3 in the British heavyweight rankings.
George Frederick Bernard Powell was born in Camberwell,...
The abiding memory that millions around the world will have of Nosher Powell, who has died aged 84, is of him fighting in vain to save his aeroplane after it had been attacked by a seagull in Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (1965). Gert Fröbe may have been the German officer in charge of the plane but it was Powell who, as the stuntman and double, ended up in the water.
Powell's first appearance as a stuntman was in Laurence Olivier's Henry V (1944). He also had small roles in David Lean's Oliver Twist (1948) and Cosh Boy (1953), with Joan Collins. In 1952 he was a boxer in Emergency Call, in which he fought the former world champion Freddie Mills. Powell had a decent if not outstanding boxing career himself, reaching No 3 in the British heavyweight rankings.
George Frederick Bernard Powell was born in Camberwell,...
- 4/26/2013
- by James Morton
- The Guardian - Film News
Heavyweight boxer, James Bond stuntman and bodyguard to Hollywood stars
The abiding memory that millions around the world will have of Nosher Powell, who has died aged 84, is of him fighting in vain to save his aeroplane after it had been attacked by a seagull in Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (1965). Gert Fröbe may have been the German officer in charge of the plane but it was Powell who, as the stuntman and double, ended up in the water.
Powell's first appearance as a stuntman was in Laurence Olivier's Henry V (1944). He also had small roles in David Lean's Oliver Twist (1948) and Cosh Boy (1953), with Joan Collins. In 1952 he was a boxer in Emergency Call, in which he fought the former world champion Freddie Mills. Powell had a decent if not outstanding boxing career himself, reaching No 3 in the British heavyweight rankings.
Continue reading...
The abiding memory that millions around the world will have of Nosher Powell, who has died aged 84, is of him fighting in vain to save his aeroplane after it had been attacked by a seagull in Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (1965). Gert Fröbe may have been the German officer in charge of the plane but it was Powell who, as the stuntman and double, ended up in the water.
Powell's first appearance as a stuntman was in Laurence Olivier's Henry V (1944). He also had small roles in David Lean's Oliver Twist (1948) and Cosh Boy (1953), with Joan Collins. In 1952 he was a boxer in Emergency Call, in which he fought the former world champion Freddie Mills. Powell had a decent if not outstanding boxing career himself, reaching No 3 in the British heavyweight rankings.
Continue reading...
- 4/26/2013
- by James Morton
- The Guardian - Film News
Makeup artist who created Yoda and Chewbacca for the Star Wars films
If there was a film made in Britain between the early 1940s and early 1980s that required innovations in makeup and prosthetics design, chances are that Stuart Freeborn, who has died aged 98, was involved in it in some capacity. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, David Lean's adaptation of Oliver Twist, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Omen, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back: all these benefited from Freeborn's pioneering approach to makeup. When audiences gaze with wonder upon the apes in the "dawn of man" sequence at the beginning of 2001, or fall under the spell of the 2ft tall guru Yoda and his gnomic proclamations, their response is a testament to Freeborn's persuasive artistry.
He was born in Leytonstone, east London, where it was assumed that he would follow in the footsteps of his father,...
If there was a film made in Britain between the early 1940s and early 1980s that required innovations in makeup and prosthetics design, chances are that Stuart Freeborn, who has died aged 98, was involved in it in some capacity. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, David Lean's adaptation of Oliver Twist, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Omen, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back: all these benefited from Freeborn's pioneering approach to makeup. When audiences gaze with wonder upon the apes in the "dawn of man" sequence at the beginning of 2001, or fall under the spell of the 2ft tall guru Yoda and his gnomic proclamations, their response is a testament to Freeborn's persuasive artistry.
He was born in Leytonstone, east London, where it was assumed that he would follow in the footsteps of his father,...
- 2/9/2013
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
The film world has lost one of the giants of movie makeup and creature design. Stuart Freeborn, whose credits go back to the 1930s, died earlier this week from a combination of ailments due to his age, according to The Guardian. He was 98. He worked for David Lean on 1948's Oliver Twist, setting up Alec Guinness with his prosthetic teeth, and later worked with Guinness and Lean on The Bridge on the River Kwai.Freeborn was brought to my attention thanks to another series of films starring Guinness. As the principal artist behind the creature shop on the first Star Wars film, Freeborn was responsible for the team that created Chewbacca. The costume was designed based upon designs that had been created for Stanley Kubrick's earlier...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 2/7/2013
- Screen Anarchy
'Star Wars' make-up artist Stuart Freeborn has died at the age of 98.
During his six-decade career, he was celebrated for creating characters such as Yoda, the 7ft tall wookie Chewbacca and the slug-like Jabba the Hutt.
He also worked on classic films such as Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey', where he created the apelike human ancestors in the 'Dawn of Man' sequence.
'Star Wars' director George Lucas released a statement on Wednesday:
"He brought with him not only decades of experience, but boundless creative energy. His artistry and craftsmanship will live on forever in the characters he created. His 'Star Wars' creatures may be reinterpreted in new forms by new generations, but at their heart, they continue to be what Stuart created for the original films."
Freeborn also worked on 'Oliver Twist,' 'The Bridge on the River Kwai,...
During his six-decade career, he was celebrated for creating characters such as Yoda, the 7ft tall wookie Chewbacca and the slug-like Jabba the Hutt.
He also worked on classic films such as Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey', where he created the apelike human ancestors in the 'Dawn of Man' sequence.
'Star Wars' director George Lucas released a statement on Wednesday:
"He brought with him not only decades of experience, but boundless creative energy. His artistry and craftsmanship will live on forever in the characters he created. His 'Star Wars' creatures may be reinterpreted in new forms by new generations, but at their heart, they continue to be what Stuart created for the original films."
Freeborn also worked on 'Oliver Twist,' 'The Bridge on the River Kwai,...
- 2/7/2013
- by The Huffington Post UK
- Huffington Post
Stuart Freeborn, the British pioneering movie makeup artist behind creatures such as Yoda and Chewbacca in the Star Wars films, has died. He was 98.
LucasFilm confirmed Wednesday that Freeborn had died, "leaving a legacy of unforgettable contributions".
Star Wars director George Lucas said in a statement that Freeborn was "already a makeup legend" when he started working on the space epic.
"He brought with him not only decades of experience but boundless creative energy," Lucas said. "His artistry and craftsmanship will live on forever in the characters he created. His Star Wars creatures may be reinterpreted in new forms by new generations but at their heart they continue to be what Stuart created for the original films."
Freeborn's granddaughter, Michelle Freeborn, said he died on Tuesday in London from a...
LucasFilm confirmed Wednesday that Freeborn had died, "leaving a legacy of unforgettable contributions".
Star Wars director George Lucas said in a statement that Freeborn was "already a makeup legend" when he started working on the space epic.
"He brought with him not only decades of experience but boundless creative energy," Lucas said. "His artistry and craftsmanship will live on forever in the characters he created. His Star Wars creatures may be reinterpreted in new forms by new generations but at their heart they continue to be what Stuart created for the original films."
Freeborn's granddaughter, Michelle Freeborn, said he died on Tuesday in London from a...
- 2/7/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
Stuart Freeborn, the legendary British makeup artist who worked on films for Stanley Kubrick and David Lean and created such creatures as Yoda and Chewbacca for the Star Wars films, died Tuesday in London. He was 98. Freeborn transformed Alec Guinness into Fagin for Lean's 1948 version of Oliver Twist and aged Roger Livesay through the decades in another British film classic, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943). Photos: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2013 His other makeup credits include Powell’s The Thief of Bagdad (1940), Lean’s The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957),
read more...
read more...
- 2/6/2013
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Stuart Freeborn, the makeup artist who designed Yoda, Chewbacca and a number of other memorable "Star Wars" characters, died Wednesday in England. He was 98. Freeborn began his six-decade career in the movie business with uncredited work on 1936's "Rembrandt" before creating makeup magic for 75 other films, including "Oliver Twist," "Dr. Strangelove," 2001: A Space Odyssey," four "Superman" films and the original "Star Wars" trilogy. Also read: Disney Planning 'Star Wars' Spin-Off Films "Stuart was already a makeup legend when he started on 'Star Wars,'" George Lucas said in a statement on StarWars.com.
- 2/6/2013
- by Greg Gilman
- The Wrap
News Ryan Lambie Feb 6, 2013
We're sad to learn that British makeup artist Stuart Freeborn, whose work included Star Wars and 2001, has passed away at the age of 98.
Yoda is surely among the most recognisable and loved characters in sci-fi cinema, and it says so much about the enduring fan affection for the old sage that, more than 30 years after he first appeared in The Empire Strikes Back, there are rumours that he may soon appear in his own Star Wars spin-off movie.
How sad, then, to hear that Stuart Freeborn, the makeup designer who created Yoda's distinctive green features, has passed away at the age of 98.
The credits in Freeborn's long career include The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp, David Lean's Oliver Twist and The Bridge Over The River Kwai. He was responsible for the makeup effects in Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove, which transformed Peter Sellers into an effete British army captain,...
We're sad to learn that British makeup artist Stuart Freeborn, whose work included Star Wars and 2001, has passed away at the age of 98.
Yoda is surely among the most recognisable and loved characters in sci-fi cinema, and it says so much about the enduring fan affection for the old sage that, more than 30 years after he first appeared in The Empire Strikes Back, there are rumours that he may soon appear in his own Star Wars spin-off movie.
How sad, then, to hear that Stuart Freeborn, the makeup designer who created Yoda's distinctive green features, has passed away at the age of 98.
The credits in Freeborn's long career include The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp, David Lean's Oliver Twist and The Bridge Over The River Kwai. He was responsible for the makeup effects in Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove, which transformed Peter Sellers into an effete British army captain,...
- 2/6/2013
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
British make-up great Stuart Freeborn has died. The prosthetics designer, the man who gave Yoda his distinctive look and worked closely with actors of the calibre of Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers, was 98.Born in East London as the Great War began, Freeborn was a pioneer in cinema whose refusal to follow a traditional career path led him to Alexander Korda's door in the 1930s. At the producer's Denham Studio he worked with Alec Guinness to create the haggard Fagin in David Lean's Oliver Twist, and with movie stars such as Marlene Dietrich and Vivien Leigh. "I never stopped from that moment," remembered Freeborn of a career that took in The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp and Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and Dr. Strangelove. He created the 'Dawn of Man' sequence on the former, and worked with the director to pinpoint Sellers' many looks in the latter.
- 2/6/2013
- EmpireOnline
'Playing Fagin was one of the happiest times of my life. I loved the boys' mischievous minds – I wanted to make them laugh'
Mark Lester, actor (Oliver Twist)
The auditions had narrowed down to two other boys and me. We were put in a room in a London hotel and Carol Reed, the director, ordered the dismayed hotel barber to cut our hair badly to resemble a workhouse style. Then he just looked and looked at us, and we were sent home with this awful hair. When I heard I'd got the part, my reaction was that it was a chance to miss a lot of school. Actually, I spent most of the time in my dressing room reading Sherlock Holmes.
Ron Moody, who played Fagin, was very jolly and used to play cards with us boys between shoots. But we were all terrified of Oliver Reed. He was one...
Mark Lester, actor (Oliver Twist)
The auditions had narrowed down to two other boys and me. We were put in a room in a London hotel and Carol Reed, the director, ordered the dismayed hotel barber to cut our hair badly to resemble a workhouse style. Then he just looked and looked at us, and we were sent home with this awful hair. When I heard I'd got the part, my reaction was that it was a chance to miss a lot of school. Actually, I spent most of the time in my dressing room reading Sherlock Holmes.
Ron Moody, who played Fagin, was very jolly and used to play cards with us boys between shoots. But we were all terrified of Oliver Reed. He was one...
- 12/4/2012
- by Anna Tims
- The Guardian - Film News
We chat to director Cary Fukunaga about adapting a 150 year old story, casting Michael Fassbender, and his upcoming projects…
Cary Fukunaga’s bleakly beautiful Jane Eyre sits comfortably amongst the best cinematic adaptations of Charlotte Brontë’s novel, and features an outstanding lead performance from Mia Wasikowska. Only its director’s second feature (the first being 2009 Spanish-language immigration drama Sin Nombre), Jane Eyre is now out on DVD in the UK.
We spoke to the film’s young director Cary Fukunaga, about how he avoided making a “cheeseball” glossy period drama, Michael Fassbender’s teeth, his upcoming sci-fi and Us Civil War projects, and why he wants to fit a horse with rubber shoes…
This interview contains potential spoilers for Jane Eyre.
You had to cut a lot from the story so you could make the film, can you please make my day by telling me that there’s going...
Cary Fukunaga’s bleakly beautiful Jane Eyre sits comfortably amongst the best cinematic adaptations of Charlotte Brontë’s novel, and features an outstanding lead performance from Mia Wasikowska. Only its director’s second feature (the first being 2009 Spanish-language immigration drama Sin Nombre), Jane Eyre is now out on DVD in the UK.
We spoke to the film’s young director Cary Fukunaga, about how he avoided making a “cheeseball” glossy period drama, Michael Fassbender’s teeth, his upcoming sci-fi and Us Civil War projects, and why he wants to fit a horse with rubber shoes…
This interview contains potential spoilers for Jane Eyre.
You had to cut a lot from the story so you could make the film, can you please make my day by telling me that there’s going...
- 3/9/2012
- Den of Geek
'Cheeky cockney' character actor who graced British screens for more than 60 years
While working on the classic Ealing comedy Hue and Cry in 1947, the actor Harry Fowler, who has died aged 85, was given sage advice by one of his co-stars, Jack Warner: "Never turn anything down … stars come and go but as a character actor, you'll work until you're 90."
Fowler took the suggestion and proved its near veracity. Between his 1942 debut as Ern in Those Kids from Town until television appearances more than 60 years later, he notched up scores of feature films and innumerable TV shows, including three years as Corporal "Flogger" Hoskins in The Army Game.
He never attained star status but created a gallery of sparky characters, including minor villains, servicemen, reporters and tradesmen enriched by an ever-present cheeky smile and an authentic cockney accent. He was Smudge or Smiley, Nipper or Knocker, Bert or 'Orace, as...
While working on the classic Ealing comedy Hue and Cry in 1947, the actor Harry Fowler, who has died aged 85, was given sage advice by one of his co-stars, Jack Warner: "Never turn anything down … stars come and go but as a character actor, you'll work until you're 90."
Fowler took the suggestion and proved its near veracity. Between his 1942 debut as Ern in Those Kids from Town until television appearances more than 60 years later, he notched up scores of feature films and innumerable TV shows, including three years as Corporal "Flogger" Hoskins in The Army Game.
He never attained star status but created a gallery of sparky characters, including minor villains, servicemen, reporters and tradesmen enriched by an ever-present cheeky smile and an authentic cockney accent. He was Smudge or Smiley, Nipper or Knocker, Bert or 'Orace, as...
- 1/5/2012
- by Brian Baxter
- The Guardian - Film News
There have been more than 400 film and TV adaptations so far, and counting, some brilliant, some memorably awful
The opening credits of BBC1's new three-part adaptation of Great Expectations (27-29 December) show a chrysalis cracking open to reveal a pair of trembling wings. A few seconds later this delicate emergence is replaced on screen by the escaped convict Magwitch (Ray Winstone) erupting from the stagnant waters of the Essex marshes. Covered in blood and slime, he is at once the monster of nightmares and a huge misshapen baby gasping its first breath.
In a single sequence, the director Brian Kirk gets to the heart of Dickens's novel as a fable of rebirth and renewal. Together with Sarah Phelps, the screenwriter, he has created a world in which characters are forever seeking to transform themselves – or each other. A spookily young Miss Havisham (Gillian Anderson), still cocooned in her tatty wedding dress,...
The opening credits of BBC1's new three-part adaptation of Great Expectations (27-29 December) show a chrysalis cracking open to reveal a pair of trembling wings. A few seconds later this delicate emergence is replaced on screen by the escaped convict Magwitch (Ray Winstone) erupting from the stagnant waters of the Essex marshes. Covered in blood and slime, he is at once the monster of nightmares and a huge misshapen baby gasping its first breath.
In a single sequence, the director Brian Kirk gets to the heart of Dickens's novel as a fable of rebirth and renewal. Together with Sarah Phelps, the screenwriter, he has created a world in which characters are forever seeking to transform themselves – or each other. A spookily young Miss Havisham (Gillian Anderson), still cocooned in her tatty wedding dress,...
- 12/24/2011
- by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst
- The Guardian - Film News
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: March 27, 2012
Price: DVD $79.95, Blu-ray $99.95
Studio: Criterion
Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson embark on a Brief Encounter.
In the 1940s, playwright Noël Coward (Design for Living) and filmmaker David Lean (Doctor Zhivago) worked together in one of cinema’s greatest writer-director collaborations, celebrated in the four-film Blu-ray and DVD collection David Lean Directs Noël Coward.
Beginning with the 1942 wartime military drama movie In Which We Serve, Coward and Lean embarked on a series of literate, socially engaged and undeniably entertaining movies that ranged from domestic epic (This Happy Breed) to whimsical comedy (Blithe Spirit) to poignant romance (Brief Encounter).
Here’s a brief run-down on each of the classic British films in the David Lean Directs Noël Coward DVD and Blu-ray collection, all of which created a lasting testament to Coward’s legacy and introduced Lean’s talents to the world:
In Which We Serve (1942)
This action...
Price: DVD $79.95, Blu-ray $99.95
Studio: Criterion
Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson embark on a Brief Encounter.
In the 1940s, playwright Noël Coward (Design for Living) and filmmaker David Lean (Doctor Zhivago) worked together in one of cinema’s greatest writer-director collaborations, celebrated in the four-film Blu-ray and DVD collection David Lean Directs Noël Coward.
Beginning with the 1942 wartime military drama movie In Which We Serve, Coward and Lean embarked on a series of literate, socially engaged and undeniably entertaining movies that ranged from domestic epic (This Happy Breed) to whimsical comedy (Blithe Spirit) to poignant romance (Brief Encounter).
Here’s a brief run-down on each of the classic British films in the David Lean Directs Noël Coward DVD and Blu-ray collection, all of which created a lasting testament to Coward’s legacy and introduced Lean’s talents to the world:
In Which We Serve (1942)
This action...
- 12/16/2011
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Buster Keaton, Bugsy Malone and the Wizard of Oz are captivating children at film clubs across the UK
Black and white images flicker across absorbed young faces as timeless stories unfold. To the delight of the education charity Filmclub, classic films are captivating children as young as seven.
In the past year, a quarter of all the films watched by its members have been pre-1979 movies and some, such as The Electric Edwardians (1900), date right back to the birth of cinema.
Launched in 2008 by film director Beeban Kidron and educationist Lindsay Mackie, Filmclub (@filmclub) helps schools set up film clubs and supplies a huge range of thoughtfully curated films.
Libby Serdiuk, aged 10, was "pleasantly surprised by The General (1926):
"I had never watched a film without sound or colour. Before I knew it my eyes were glued to the screen! The stunts were exhilarating to watch, Buster Keaton was mind blowing,...
Black and white images flicker across absorbed young faces as timeless stories unfold. To the delight of the education charity Filmclub, classic films are captivating children as young as seven.
In the past year, a quarter of all the films watched by its members have been pre-1979 movies and some, such as The Electric Edwardians (1900), date right back to the birth of cinema.
Launched in 2008 by film director Beeban Kidron and educationist Lindsay Mackie, Filmclub (@filmclub) helps schools set up film clubs and supplies a huge range of thoughtfully curated films.
Libby Serdiuk, aged 10, was "pleasantly surprised by The General (1926):
"I had never watched a film without sound or colour. Before I knew it my eyes were glued to the screen! The stunts were exhilarating to watch, Buster Keaton was mind blowing,...
- 12/14/2011
- by Judy Friedberg
- The Guardian - Film News
Oliver Twist by David Lean (1948)
I've had a lifelong admiration for Alec Guinness and I watched all the Ealing comedies adoringly, but in Oliver Twist I felt he pushed himself to new extremes. He translated his thespian techniques to the screen quite seamlessly, parading a supreme understanding of the camera. His performance was so considered, so subtle. So much more than simply acting out a script with dialogue. Watching him, one became colossally aware of the fact that thought translates on the screen. David Lean's direction and his great cinematography enhanced this sense, of course.
The most memorable image, for me, is that of Guinness's character, Fagin, looking out over the crowds of Victorian London. It emphasised that what's important is the image on the screen, above everything else – an important lesson for any actor performing in the adaptation of a literary source. I've been in a few literary adaptations.
I've had a lifelong admiration for Alec Guinness and I watched all the Ealing comedies adoringly, but in Oliver Twist I felt he pushed himself to new extremes. He translated his thespian techniques to the screen quite seamlessly, parading a supreme understanding of the camera. His performance was so considered, so subtle. So much more than simply acting out a script with dialogue. Watching him, one became colossally aware of the fact that thought translates on the screen. David Lean's direction and his great cinematography enhanced this sense, of course.
The most memorable image, for me, is that of Guinness's character, Fagin, looking out over the crowds of Victorian London. It emphasised that what's important is the image on the screen, above everything else – an important lesson for any actor performing in the adaptation of a literary source. I've been in a few literary adaptations.
- 10/8/2011
- by Mina Holland
- The Guardian - Film News
Oliver Twist by David Lean (1948)
I've had a lifelong admiration for Alec Guinness and I watched all the Ealing comedies adoringly, but in Oliver Twist I felt he pushed himself to new extremes. He translated his thespian techniques to the screen quite seamlessly, parading a supreme understanding of the camera. His performance was so considered, so subtle. So much more than simply acting out a script with dialogue. Watching him, one became colossally aware of the fact that thought translates on the screen. David Lean's direction and his great cinematography enhanced this sense, of course.
The most memorable image, for me, is that of Guinness's character, Fagin, looking out over the crowds of Victorian London. It emphasised that what's important is the image on the screen, above everything else – an important lesson for any actor performing in the adaptation of a literary source. I've been in a few literary adaptations.
I've had a lifelong admiration for Alec Guinness and I watched all the Ealing comedies adoringly, but in Oliver Twist I felt he pushed himself to new extremes. He translated his thespian techniques to the screen quite seamlessly, parading a supreme understanding of the camera. His performance was so considered, so subtle. So much more than simply acting out a script with dialogue. Watching him, one became colossally aware of the fact that thought translates on the screen. David Lean's direction and his great cinematography enhanced this sense, of course.
The most memorable image, for me, is that of Guinness's character, Fagin, looking out over the crowds of Victorian London. It emphasised that what's important is the image on the screen, above everything else – an important lesson for any actor performing in the adaptation of a literary source. I've been in a few literary adaptations.
- 10/8/2011
- by Interview by Mina Holland
- The Guardian - Film News
A child star as Oliver Twist, he became a key figure in epoch-making TV comedy
'Please, sir – I want some more." Rationing was still in force when, under the eye of David Lean's camera, a thin, pale eight-year-old boy named John Howard Davies raised his gruel bowl and dared to request a second serving. That image of Davies in Oliver Twist (1948) spoke to the mood of the moment – suggesting the sort of deprivation that postwar Britain was attempting to legislate out of existence. One scene called for Davies, who has died of cancer aged 72, and his fellow child actors to look on enviously as the bigwigs of the workhouse devoured a great pile of pastries, hams and chicken. The astonished expressions are genuine. None of these boys had ever seen food like it.
The film's production company, Cineguild, had launched a national campaign to secure a talented unknown for the title role.
'Please, sir – I want some more." Rationing was still in force when, under the eye of David Lean's camera, a thin, pale eight-year-old boy named John Howard Davies raised his gruel bowl and dared to request a second serving. That image of Davies in Oliver Twist (1948) spoke to the mood of the moment – suggesting the sort of deprivation that postwar Britain was attempting to legislate out of existence. One scene called for Davies, who has died of cancer aged 72, and his fellow child actors to look on enviously as the bigwigs of the workhouse devoured a great pile of pastries, hams and chicken. The astonished expressions are genuine. None of these boys had ever seen food like it.
The film's production company, Cineguild, had launched a national campaign to secure a talented unknown for the title role.
- 8/25/2011
- by Matthew Sweet
- The Guardian - Film News
Actor and British television producer John Howard Davies died this past Monday at the age of 72. Davies was originally known for playing the lead role of Oliver in David Lean's 1948 film Oliver Twist. He was 8 years old at the time and the well received performance led to roles in three other films and an appearance on the television series "William Tell" as a teenager.
- 8/24/2011
- Pastemagazine.com
Posters for The Raven, The Lady, A Dangerous Method, My Week with Marilyn, The Three Musketeers 3D, Straw Dogs, Footloose, The Woman in Black, Underworld: Awakening, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Blackthorn and a motion poster for Puss in Boots.
A photo of Megan Fox, Chris O'Dowd and Jason Segel on the set of This Is 40.
"Spike Lee‘s remake of “Oldboy", Michael Mann's contemporary prospector drama "Gold", Clint Eastwood‘s “A Star Is Born" remake, Scott Cooper‘s 80's revenge tale “Out Of The Furnace", and Darren Aronofsky‘s biblical epic “Noah" are all said to be under consideration by Christian Bale as his next project…" ( full details )
"The first trailer for "The Hunger Games" will premiere with the MTV Video Music Awards this Sunday. Jennifer Lawrence will introduce the clip which will air at 9 pm Us-et/Pt…" (full details)
"Warner Bros. Pictures has delayed the $12 million raunchy R-rated...
A photo of Megan Fox, Chris O'Dowd and Jason Segel on the set of This Is 40.
"Spike Lee‘s remake of “Oldboy", Michael Mann's contemporary prospector drama "Gold", Clint Eastwood‘s “A Star Is Born" remake, Scott Cooper‘s 80's revenge tale “Out Of The Furnace", and Darren Aronofsky‘s biblical epic “Noah" are all said to be under consideration by Christian Bale as his next project…" ( full details )
"The first trailer for "The Hunger Games" will premiere with the MTV Video Music Awards this Sunday. Jennifer Lawrence will introduce the clip which will air at 9 pm Us-et/Pt…" (full details)
"Warner Bros. Pictures has delayed the $12 million raunchy R-rated...
- 8/24/2011
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
When does a child actor stop being merely precocious and enter the pantheon of acting gods? You know the gods of which we speak; they look down from their mighty pedestals as we shower them with tributes year after year… The Oscar Nominees.
Well, in order to walk through that threshold into Hollywood’s elite circle, these young folks have to have chops, serious chops. Or be really, really cute. Either way, it takes sacrifice, hard work and possibly some crazy-ass stage parents.
In honor of this year’s youthful nominees Hailee Steinfeld (“True Grit”) and Jennifer Lawrence (“Winter’s Bone”), and for your continued cinematified education, we present the youngest ever Academy Award nominees and winners from throughout the history of the awards.
Justin Henry, ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’ (1979)
Age: 8
Nomination: Best Supporting Actor (Youngest Nominee)
A troubled family is at the center of 1979′s “Kramer Vs. Kramer,” where Henry...
Well, in order to walk through that threshold into Hollywood’s elite circle, these young folks have to have chops, serious chops. Or be really, really cute. Either way, it takes sacrifice, hard work and possibly some crazy-ass stage parents.
In honor of this year’s youthful nominees Hailee Steinfeld (“True Grit”) and Jennifer Lawrence (“Winter’s Bone”), and for your continued cinematified education, we present the youngest ever Academy Award nominees and winners from throughout the history of the awards.
Justin Henry, ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’ (1979)
Age: 8
Nomination: Best Supporting Actor (Youngest Nominee)
A troubled family is at the center of 1979′s “Kramer Vs. Kramer,” where Henry...
- 2/10/2011
- by Max Evry
- NextMovie
Prosthetic snouts have poked their beaks into numerous films. And the winners by a nose (or even a nasal hair) are ...
The nose knows. Slap bang in the middle of our faces sits something with which we can be identified with uncanny ease. So, when proboscises get altered, we're thrown off the scent. A shock conk confounds our perceptions and forces us to see a different person. That's why both Lawrence Olivier and Orson Welles liked fake beaks. The falsie Alec Guinness wore as Fagin in Oliver Twist (1948) copied Cruikshank's illustrations from the novel's first edition, but it also caused the film to be delayed, banned and edited. The temporary cinematic rhinoplasty packs powerful juju – and this is why nasal prostheses have poked on to the silver screen in over 50 roles in five basic categories.
1) Foremost, the phoney schnoz is thespian camouflage. Think Richard Attenborough in Seance on a Wet Afternoon,...
The nose knows. Slap bang in the middle of our faces sits something with which we can be identified with uncanny ease. So, when proboscises get altered, we're thrown off the scent. A shock conk confounds our perceptions and forces us to see a different person. That's why both Lawrence Olivier and Orson Welles liked fake beaks. The falsie Alec Guinness wore as Fagin in Oliver Twist (1948) copied Cruikshank's illustrations from the novel's first edition, but it also caused the film to be delayed, banned and edited. The temporary cinematic rhinoplasty packs powerful juju – and this is why nasal prostheses have poked on to the silver screen in over 50 roles in five basic categories.
1) Foremost, the phoney schnoz is thespian camouflage. Think Richard Attenborough in Seance on a Wet Afternoon,...
- 12/1/2010
- by Karen Krizanovich
- The Guardian - Film News
"Alone in the hissing laboratory of his wishes, Mr Pugh minces among bad vats and jeroboams, tiptoes through spinneys of murdering herbs, agony dancing in his crucibles, and mixes especially for Mrs Pugh a venomous porridge unknown to toxicologists which will scald and viper through her until her ears fall off like figs, her toes grow big and black as balloons, and steam comes screaming out of her navel." —Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood.
Britain's film industry in the nineteen-forties, stoked to new heights of relevance and seriousness by the mission of wartime, rolled on with considerable momentum, arguably climaxing in 1948, the year that saw production of Powell & Pressburger's The Red Shoes, Thorold Dickinson's The Queen of Spades, Olivier's Hamlet and David Lean's Oliver Twist. (It couldn't last: the same year saw the Rank Organisation introduce Production Facilities Limited, quickly nicknamed Piffle, a body intended to strategize...
Britain's film industry in the nineteen-forties, stoked to new heights of relevance and seriousness by the mission of wartime, rolled on with considerable momentum, arguably climaxing in 1948, the year that saw production of Powell & Pressburger's The Red Shoes, Thorold Dickinson's The Queen of Spades, Olivier's Hamlet and David Lean's Oliver Twist. (It couldn't last: the same year saw the Rank Organisation introduce Production Facilities Limited, quickly nicknamed Piffle, a body intended to strategize...
- 9/30/2010
- MUBI
Director who captured swinging London's zeitgeist and remade classics for television
For a few years in the 1960s, Clive Donner, who has died aged 84 after suffering from Alzheimer's disease, was among the leading film directors of swinging London. Unfortunately, when London stopped swinging, so did Donner. The four films that made his name were a low-budget adaptation of Harold Pinter's play The Caretaker (1963); Nothing But the Best (1964), a wicked satire on the British class structure; the farcical What's New Pussycat? (1965); and the coming-of-age comedy Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (1968).
Already in his 30s when he started directing, Donner gained a reputation for being tuned in to "youth". His debut movie, The Secret Place (1957), a heist drama shot on location in the East End, had David McCallum as a Brandoesque leather-jacketed "crazy mixed-up kid".
The Heart of a Child (1958) concerned a boy and his St Bernard dog, Rudi,...
For a few years in the 1960s, Clive Donner, who has died aged 84 after suffering from Alzheimer's disease, was among the leading film directors of swinging London. Unfortunately, when London stopped swinging, so did Donner. The four films that made his name were a low-budget adaptation of Harold Pinter's play The Caretaker (1963); Nothing But the Best (1964), a wicked satire on the British class structure; the farcical What's New Pussycat? (1965); and the coming-of-age comedy Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (1968).
Already in his 30s when he started directing, Donner gained a reputation for being tuned in to "youth". His debut movie, The Secret Place (1957), a heist drama shot on location in the East End, had David McCallum as a Brandoesque leather-jacketed "crazy mixed-up kid".
The Heart of a Child (1958) concerned a boy and his St Bernard dog, Rudi,...
- 9/7/2010
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Cinematographer known for his work on the Carry On films
Despite, or because of, the ancient, dirty jokes, schoolboy humour, double entendres, and a string of hammy actors tele- graphing each jest with pursed lips, rolling eyes or a snigger, the Carry On films have an army of devotees. Among the most regular actors were Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Sid James, Joan Sims and Kenneth Connor, and behind the camera, on almost all of the 30 Carry On movies, was the cinematographer Alan Hume, who has died aged 85.
Hume started as camera operator on the very first, Carry On Sergeant (1958), soon becoming director of photography (Dp) on Carry On Regardless (1961), and continuing as Dp until Carry On Columbus (1992) ended the franchise. Though few would make any artistic claims for the films, they were competently shot, rapidly, on a shoestring. Because of the rapport Hume built up over a long period with...
Despite, or because of, the ancient, dirty jokes, schoolboy humour, double entendres, and a string of hammy actors tele- graphing each jest with pursed lips, rolling eyes or a snigger, the Carry On films have an army of devotees. Among the most regular actors were Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Sid James, Joan Sims and Kenneth Connor, and behind the camera, on almost all of the 30 Carry On movies, was the cinematographer Alan Hume, who has died aged 85.
Hume started as camera operator on the very first, Carry On Sergeant (1958), soon becoming director of photography (Dp) on Carry On Regardless (1961), and continuing as Dp until Carry On Columbus (1992) ended the franchise. Though few would make any artistic claims for the films, they were competently shot, rapidly, on a shoestring. Because of the rapport Hume built up over a long period with...
- 8/17/2010
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
This week on Clip joint, we're hitting the tiles as greatpoochini clambers over the best film clips up on the roof
Panicking, protesting, prowling or seeking sanctuary – where would we be without a rooftop to clamber onto? Small wonder rooftops are such perfect settings for pivotal movie scenes. They even offer ready-made light sources, whether filled with sun or stars.
And what a view! Vistas of cities, vantage points for cross-haired surveillance, somewhere to hide but nowhere to run. Having someone clamber onto a roof invariably means that something exhilarating, dramatic, wistful or tragic is about to take place – unless, of course, they're making a documentary about tiles.
If a film needs a location to heighten the drama, then let's head to the roof. Powerful or terrified if we look down, desperate or free if we look up, the rooftop holds the boundary between heaven and earth. So this week's...
Panicking, protesting, prowling or seeking sanctuary – where would we be without a rooftop to clamber onto? Small wonder rooftops are such perfect settings for pivotal movie scenes. They even offer ready-made light sources, whether filled with sun or stars.
And what a view! Vistas of cities, vantage points for cross-haired surveillance, somewhere to hide but nowhere to run. Having someone clamber onto a roof invariably means that something exhilarating, dramatic, wistful or tragic is about to take place – unless, of course, they're making a documentary about tiles.
If a film needs a location to heighten the drama, then let's head to the roof. Powerful or terrified if we look down, desperate or free if we look up, the rooftop holds the boundary between heaven and earth. So this week's...
- 8/11/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
Alan Hume, one of the most accomplished directors of photography has died aged 85.A veteran of over 100 films, Alan Hume began his career as a clapper boy on David Lean's In Which We Serve, Great Expectations and Oliver Twist. He progressed up the ranks to focus puller by his third film with Lean. When Our Girl Friday (starring a young Joan Collins) came along in 1953, Hume was promoted to camera operator and shot 27 more films as camera operator in 7 years. He gained a reputation for being fast, efficient and a brilliant photographer - which deeply impressed Carry On producer Peter Rogers, who put Hume under contract and offered him the chance to become a director of photography in 1960 on No Kidding. Over the next forty years, Hume lit over 150 films and TV shows.Among his credits were fifteen Carry On films, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Stepping Out,...
- 7/13/2010
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Peter O'Toole is instantly recognizable by his stage-trained voice and immaculate diction, regal bearing, and piercing blue eyes. Known mostly, if not primarily, for his role in David Lean's (Passage to India, Doctor Zhivago, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Brief Encounter, Oliver Twist) 1962 adaptation of T.E. Lawrence's memoirs, Lawrence of Arabia, O'Toole delivered a string of mesmerizing performances, beginning with Lawrence of Arabia, and continuing through Beckett (1964), Lord Jim (1965), A Lion in Winter (1968), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), and, the subject of this week's feature, The Ruling Class (1972), an adaptation of Peter Barnes' 1968 much-lauded play for the English stage.
In The Ruling Class, Ralph Gurney, the 13th Earl of Gurney (Harry Andrews), dies via auto-erotic asphyxiation, leaving Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney (Peter O'Toole) to inherit his title, land, property, and the family seat in the House of Lords. Jack, however, inherited something else from his predecessor: mental illness.
In The Ruling Class, Ralph Gurney, the 13th Earl of Gurney (Harry Andrews), dies via auto-erotic asphyxiation, leaving Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney (Peter O'Toole) to inherit his title, land, property, and the family seat in the House of Lords. Jack, however, inherited something else from his predecessor: mental illness.
- 6/30/2010
- by Mel Valentin
- Cinematical
Producer, director and cinematographer of many well-loved British film classics, including Oliver Twist, Tunes of Glory and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
The producer, director, writer and cinematographer Ronald Neame, who has died aged 99, played an important role in British cinema for more than half a century. The critic Matthew Sweet once called him "a living embodiment of cinema, a sort of one-man world heritage site". Neame was assistant director to Alfred Hitchcock on Blackmail (1929), the first British talkie; he was the cinematographer on In Which We Serve (1942), Noël Coward's moving tribute to the Royal Navy during the second world war; he co-produced and co-wrote David Lean's Brief Encounter (1945) and Great Expectations (1946); and he directed Alec Guinness in two of his best roles, in The Horse's Mouth (1958) and Tunes of Glory (1960). As if this wasn't enough, Neame also conquered Hollywoo d with one of the first and most successful disaster movies,...
The producer, director, writer and cinematographer Ronald Neame, who has died aged 99, played an important role in British cinema for more than half a century. The critic Matthew Sweet once called him "a living embodiment of cinema, a sort of one-man world heritage site". Neame was assistant director to Alfred Hitchcock on Blackmail (1929), the first British talkie; he was the cinematographer on In Which We Serve (1942), Noël Coward's moving tribute to the Royal Navy during the second world war; he co-produced and co-wrote David Lean's Brief Encounter (1945) and Great Expectations (1946); and he directed Alec Guinness in two of his best roles, in The Horse's Mouth (1958) and Tunes of Glory (1960). As if this wasn't enough, Neame also conquered Hollywoo d with one of the first and most successful disaster movies,...
- 6/20/2010
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
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Bronson Bronson made my Top 25 of 2009 coming in at #7 and it's a film I find immensely watchable and rewatchable. While a few people disagreed with my "A" review, they all loved Tom Hardy in the lead role. Be sure to check this one out. A Serious Man The Coen brothers' latest film also made my Top 25 of 2009 coming in at #25 and I also just recently reviewed the Blu-ray edition. My opinion says buy it, but you may want to give my review a read if you are on the fence. The Time Traveler's Wife I actually don't mind this movie all that much. When it comes to schmaltzy melodramas some can be overbearing and some can actually work... for the most part this one falls into the latter category. This one drew some negativity for the rather creepy idea...
Bronson Bronson made my Top 25 of 2009 coming in at #7 and it's a film I find immensely watchable and rewatchable. While a few people disagreed with my "A" review, they all loved Tom Hardy in the lead role. Be sure to check this one out. A Serious Man The Coen brothers' latest film also made my Top 25 of 2009 coming in at #25 and I also just recently reviewed the Blu-ray edition. My opinion says buy it, but you may want to give my review a read if you are on the fence. The Time Traveler's Wife I actually don't mind this movie all that much. When it comes to schmaltzy melodramas some can be overbearing and some can actually work... for the most part this one falls into the latter category. This one drew some negativity for the rather creepy idea...
- 2/9/2010
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
In “Ways of Love” three vignettes directed by three top film makers add up to the year’s best foreign release. Marcel Pagnol’s “Jofroi” is about a senile farmer (Vincent Scotto) who shams suicide thirty times to protect some lovingly nurtured trees. This director feels that there is nothing more delightful than pondering the virtuosity of character actors—earthy types who immobilize the screen with chattered wisdom and time-wasting mannerisms. In Jean Renoir’s “A Day in the Country,” a pretty Parisian (Sylvia Bataille) is seduced while the camera fastens on the countryside in tender mimicry of Papa Renoir’s paintings. As usual Renoir maneuvers his motorless plot into splendid landscape to press home the idea that man is a handsome spot in nature. Rossellini’s controversial “The Miracle” is a powerful, messy slab of life, starring Anna Magnani as a talkative idiot made pregnant by a silent stranger she believes to be St.
- 11/23/2009
- MUBI
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