In “Caligula: The Ultimate Cut,” absolute power corrupts absolutely, but even using absolutely all of the footage shot for the notorious production back in 1976 does not necessarily result in a better film. The most expensive independent film ever produced until that time, “Caligula” was conceived by late Penthouse founder Bob Guccione as a sexually explicit film that also featured real actors and high production values; hiring bestselling author Gore Vidal to write a script for Italian avant-garde director Tinto Brass (“Salon Kitty”), Guccione subsequently attracted such respected thespians as Malcolm McDowell, Peter O’Toole, John Gielgud and Helen Mirren to star. But after disputes between Brass and Vidal prompted the author to sue to remove his name from the film, Guccione commandeered final cut and inserted shots of graphic sex and violence, prompting cast and crew alike to disavow the film.
Devoting a substantial portion of his adult life to “Caligula...
Devoting a substantial portion of his adult life to “Caligula...
- 10/4/2023
- by Todd Gilchrist
- Variety Film + TV
Arrow jumps into the 4K Ultra HD bracket with a knockout 40th anniversary presentation of this campy, music-filled and incredibly colorful Dino De Laurentiis spectacle. The impressive package has an endless catalog of extras, plus a second Blu-ray disc with a full-length feature about the film’s one-hit-wonder star Sam J. Jones. Buyers beware — no backup Blu-ray disc of the feature is included. In every other respect, “Go! Flash! Go!”
Flash Gordon
4K Ultra HD with Hdr
Arrow Video
1980 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 112 min. / Street Date August 18, 2020 / 40.26 (Amazon)
Starring: Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, Max von Sydow, Topol, Ornella Muti, Timothy Dalton, Brian Blessed, Peter Wyngarde, Mariangela Melato, Deep Roy.
Cinematography: Gilbert Taylor
Production Designer: Danilo Donati
Film Editor: Malcolm Cooke
Original Music: Howard Blake
Written by Michael Allin & Lorenzo Semple Jr. from characters by Alex Raymond
Produced by Dino De Laurentiis
Directed by Mike Hodges
First things first: a lot...
Flash Gordon
4K Ultra HD with Hdr
Arrow Video
1980 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 112 min. / Street Date August 18, 2020 / 40.26 (Amazon)
Starring: Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, Max von Sydow, Topol, Ornella Muti, Timothy Dalton, Brian Blessed, Peter Wyngarde, Mariangela Melato, Deep Roy.
Cinematography: Gilbert Taylor
Production Designer: Danilo Donati
Film Editor: Malcolm Cooke
Original Music: Howard Blake
Written by Michael Allin & Lorenzo Semple Jr. from characters by Alex Raymond
Produced by Dino De Laurentiis
Directed by Mike Hodges
First things first: a lot...
- 9/8/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Flash Gordon still stands alone in the pantheon of comic book movies 40 years on. Colorful, vibrant, kinky, and often absurd, Mike Hodges’ gaudy tale of an all-American boy defeating a powerful villain from space and saving the Earth in the process had until recently felt far removed from the predominantly safe and CG-heavy comic book fare of the last few decades, despite its familiar themes and due in large part to its distinct refusal to take itself seriously. But the film we know and love is a world away from how it began.
Back in the 1970s, wealthy businessman and film producer Dino De Laurentiis held on to the Flash Gordon rights after George Lucas’ attempts to extricate them. A much-less-minted Lucas was forced to make his own space adventure movie instead, a little project called Star Wars. Its success indisputable, De Laurentiis was more determined than ever to make...
Back in the 1970s, wealthy businessman and film producer Dino De Laurentiis held on to the Flash Gordon rights after George Lucas’ attempts to extricate them. A much-less-minted Lucas was forced to make his own space adventure movie instead, a little project called Star Wars. Its success indisputable, De Laurentiis was more determined than ever to make...
- 8/10/2020
- by Kirsten Howard
- Den of Geek
To call Italian writer, director and star Roberto Benigni’s live-action Pinocchio in 2002 flawed would be a gross understatement.
That ignominious experiment, which featured the (then) 50-year-old Benigni as the wooden puppet that becomes a real child, had a fantastical, almost sunny tone that was lambasted for its shoddy English-language dub (whose voice cast included Glenn Close and John Cleese) for overseas markets. But the kicker was a middle-aged man playing a little boy who — put simply — creeped viewers out.
Nevertheless, production and costume designer Danilo Donati won a pair of posthumous David di Donatello Awards, and the ...
That ignominious experiment, which featured the (then) 50-year-old Benigni as the wooden puppet that becomes a real child, had a fantastical, almost sunny tone that was lambasted for its shoddy English-language dub (whose voice cast included Glenn Close and John Cleese) for overseas markets. But the kicker was a middle-aged man playing a little boy who — put simply — creeped viewers out.
Nevertheless, production and costume designer Danilo Donati won a pair of posthumous David di Donatello Awards, and the ...
- 2/23/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
To call Italian writer, director and star Roberto Benigni’s live-action Pinocchio in 2002 flawed would be a gross understatement.
That ignominious experiment, which featured the (then) 50-year-old Benigni as the wooden puppet that becomes a real child, had a fantastical, almost sunny tone that was lambasted for its shoddy English-language dub (whose voice cast included Glenn Close and John Cleese) for overseas markets. But the kicker was a middle-aged man playing a little boy who — put simply — creeped viewers out.
Nevertheless, production and costume designer Danilo Donati won a pair of posthumous David di Donatello Awards, and the ...
That ignominious experiment, which featured the (then) 50-year-old Benigni as the wooden puppet that becomes a real child, had a fantastical, almost sunny tone that was lambasted for its shoddy English-language dub (whose voice cast included Glenn Close and John Cleese) for overseas markets. But the kicker was a middle-aged man playing a little boy who — put simply — creeped viewers out.
Nevertheless, production and costume designer Danilo Donati won a pair of posthumous David di Donatello Awards, and the ...
- 2/23/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Did they, or didn’t they?
Any baby boomer who saw Franco Zeffirelli’s sumptuous “Romeo & Juliet,” which opened in U.S. theaters Oct. 8, 1968, has wondered if stars Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting actually fell in love during the production.
Their performances as Shakespeare’s star-crossed ill-fated lovers were so passionate, audiences naturally thought they were acting out their own feelings.
“I had never been with anyone before we shot the film,” noted Hussey, author with her son Alexander Martin of the new memoir, “The Girl on the Balcony: Olivia Hussey Finds Life After ‘Romeo & Juliet.”’
“But Leonard and I held hands, kissed,” Hussey, 67, explained during a recent interview at a Studio City bistro. “I guess we sort of saw each other as boyfriend and girlfriend — but young. It wasn’t the way it might be today. A 15-year-old girl today is a lot more promiscuous than we were.
Any baby boomer who saw Franco Zeffirelli’s sumptuous “Romeo & Juliet,” which opened in U.S. theaters Oct. 8, 1968, has wondered if stars Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting actually fell in love during the production.
Their performances as Shakespeare’s star-crossed ill-fated lovers were so passionate, audiences naturally thought they were acting out their own feelings.
“I had never been with anyone before we shot the film,” noted Hussey, author with her son Alexander Martin of the new memoir, “The Girl on the Balcony: Olivia Hussey Finds Life After ‘Romeo & Juliet.”’
“But Leonard and I held hands, kissed,” Hussey, 67, explained during a recent interview at a Studio City bistro. “I guess we sort of saw each other as boyfriend and girlfriend — but young. It wasn’t the way it might be today. A 15-year-old girl today is a lot more promiscuous than we were.
- 10/7/2018
- by Susan King
- Variety Film + TV
"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber, is our weekly series on Production Design. You can click on the images to see them in magnified detail. Since the Honorary Oscars are handed out next week, here's a Donald Sutherland film for you!
Federico Fellini didn’t much like Giacomo Casanova, the famously amorous subject of his meandering fantasy-biopic. The director may not have liked Donald Sutherland, either. The actor was required to shave his head and sport both a false nose and a false chin to play the long-winded lover. The costumes aren’t especially flattering either. Fellini’s Casanova is an erotic descent into Hell, a grotesque pageant of 18th century moral abandon. It frequently borders on the disgusting.
It was also on the edge of Oscar’s attention, sliding into only two categories. While Fellini’s Casanova did win for its costumes, its production design missed out entirely. Anyone betting...
Federico Fellini didn’t much like Giacomo Casanova, the famously amorous subject of his meandering fantasy-biopic. The director may not have liked Donald Sutherland, either. The actor was required to shave his head and sport both a false nose and a false chin to play the long-winded lover. The costumes aren’t especially flattering either. Fellini’s Casanova is an erotic descent into Hell, a grotesque pageant of 18th century moral abandon. It frequently borders on the disgusting.
It was also on the edge of Oscar’s attention, sliding into only two categories. While Fellini’s Casanova did win for its costumes, its production design missed out entirely. Anyone betting...
- 11/6/2017
- by Daniel Walber
- FilmExperience
Fellini Satyricon
Written by Federico Fellini and Bernardino Zapponi (adaptation and screenplay) and Brunello Rondi (additional screenplay)
Directed by Federico Fellini
Italy, 1969
It’s somewhat surprising that in 1971, Federico Fellini was nominated for a best director Academy Award for Fellini Satyricon. To say the least, it’s a very un-Oscar type of film, especially by today’s standards. But it is a film, an exceptional one, that truly from start to finish conveys the creative imagination of its directorial guiding force. So perhaps in that regard, the nomination makes sense. This very rationale is also the reason why Fellini remains one of the greatest of all film directors, and why Fellini Satyricon, though not at all his best work, nevertheless remains so fascinating and precious. As its title suggests, the movie explicitly expresses the personal vision of its director—more than his name above the title, Fellini’s name was the title.
Written by Federico Fellini and Bernardino Zapponi (adaptation and screenplay) and Brunello Rondi (additional screenplay)
Directed by Federico Fellini
Italy, 1969
It’s somewhat surprising that in 1971, Federico Fellini was nominated for a best director Academy Award for Fellini Satyricon. To say the least, it’s a very un-Oscar type of film, especially by today’s standards. But it is a film, an exceptional one, that truly from start to finish conveys the creative imagination of its directorial guiding force. So perhaps in that regard, the nomination makes sense. This very rationale is also the reason why Fellini remains one of the greatest of all film directors, and why Fellini Satyricon, though not at all his best work, nevertheless remains so fascinating and precious. As its title suggests, the movie explicitly expresses the personal vision of its director—more than his name above the title, Fellini’s name was the title.
- 3/3/2015
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
With a gigantic budget of 127 million Euro, a huge cast of more than a thousand actors and extras and 42 weeks of shooting in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S, Dante’s Inferno will be produced as a 125-minute motion picture and a 7-episode television series. The capital vices will be the focus of this modern version of Dante’s work, realized with the most advanced 3d acquisition system and showing fantastic scenarios of volcanoes, petrified forests, glaciers and salt plains. Director Simone Orlandini and producers David Bush and Teresina Moscatiello presented the project during the 63rd Berlinale.
The ambitious project of translating the everlasting masterpiece by Dante Alighieri for the first time onto the big screen has a noble father: it was conceived as the last visionary dream of Alfredo Bini, producer of Pasolini and Orlandini’s “grandfather”. Bini’s film should have had a stellar cast, with Vittorio Gasmann in the role of Dante, and Orson Welles as director; yet, the latter died shortly after accepting the job. Orlandini now takes up the immense challenge, thanks to the extraordinary material put together by Bini, but also availing himself of the immense progress of current technology: “Cinema – says Orlandini – has now reached such a technical as well as artistic maturity as to be able to confront and tackle this universal and immortal work, which has already over the centuries inspired the greatest artists in the fields of literature, music and visual arts”. There will be a grandiose studio reconstruction (all the nine infernal circles) and myriads of effects to create all the characters, the allegorical figures, the fantastic animals, the terrifying scenes and all the astonishing situations conjured up by Dante’s incomparable poetic imagination. The sceneries have already been designed by the prestigious art director Danilo Donati, winner of two Oscars and of countless international awards.
Today’s script, designed for a young audience, is an adaptation of the original script written by professor Luigi Pruneti, renowned writer and essayist, and Florentine just like the great poet.
"We have already put together - say Bush and Moscatiello - 45% of the productive forces and the artistic and technical talents required to make the film; significantly, all of the professionals are Oscar winners. We have contacted major studios in New Zealand and Germany’s Babelsberg for the studio shoot. The film will be produced in stereo 3d and with extensive use of digital technology.”
As for the cast, the roles of Dante, Virgil and Beatrice will be covered by International A-list stars, and among the numerous actors and extras dozens of extraordinary world-class artists, dancers and musicians will appear. The release 2015 is the 750th anniversary of Dante's birth and given the very high cultural value of the project, the production will ask for patronage from the President of the Italian Republic and the collaboration of Unesco.
The ambitious project of translating the everlasting masterpiece by Dante Alighieri for the first time onto the big screen has a noble father: it was conceived as the last visionary dream of Alfredo Bini, producer of Pasolini and Orlandini’s “grandfather”. Bini’s film should have had a stellar cast, with Vittorio Gasmann in the role of Dante, and Orson Welles as director; yet, the latter died shortly after accepting the job. Orlandini now takes up the immense challenge, thanks to the extraordinary material put together by Bini, but also availing himself of the immense progress of current technology: “Cinema – says Orlandini – has now reached such a technical as well as artistic maturity as to be able to confront and tackle this universal and immortal work, which has already over the centuries inspired the greatest artists in the fields of literature, music and visual arts”. There will be a grandiose studio reconstruction (all the nine infernal circles) and myriads of effects to create all the characters, the allegorical figures, the fantastic animals, the terrifying scenes and all the astonishing situations conjured up by Dante’s incomparable poetic imagination. The sceneries have already been designed by the prestigious art director Danilo Donati, winner of two Oscars and of countless international awards.
Today’s script, designed for a young audience, is an adaptation of the original script written by professor Luigi Pruneti, renowned writer and essayist, and Florentine just like the great poet.
"We have already put together - say Bush and Moscatiello - 45% of the productive forces and the artistic and technical talents required to make the film; significantly, all of the professionals are Oscar winners. We have contacted major studios in New Zealand and Germany’s Babelsberg for the studio shoot. The film will be produced in stereo 3d and with extensive use of digital technology.”
As for the cast, the roles of Dante, Virgil and Beatrice will be covered by International A-list stars, and among the numerous actors and extras dozens of extraordinary world-class artists, dancers and musicians will appear. The release 2015 is the 750th anniversary of Dante's birth and given the very high cultural value of the project, the production will ask for patronage from the President of the Italian Republic and the collaboration of Unesco.
- 3/28/2013
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
To celebrate the release of the 1980 Flash Gordon movie on Blu-ray, Mark Pickavance takes a timely look back at that film and the classic 30s serial…
In my own mind, Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon was always the part of a slew of science fiction concepts, encompassing a Gulliver-like adventure where the ordinary man and intergalactic peculiar collide head-on. Technically, the 30s comic book appearance came after Buck Rogers, but I'd also say they both were heavily influenced by the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and specifically John Carter Of Mars.
But, as well syndicated as the Flash Gordon comic strip was, it was the three serial films starring Buster Crabbe as Flash, the first appearing in 1936, that really lit the rocket on this particular character. The amazing longevity of these serials meant that I saw them as a child in Saturday morning cinema screenings, and they regularly appeared on...
In my own mind, Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon was always the part of a slew of science fiction concepts, encompassing a Gulliver-like adventure where the ordinary man and intergalactic peculiar collide head-on. Technically, the 30s comic book appearance came after Buck Rogers, but I'd also say they both were heavily influenced by the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and specifically John Carter Of Mars.
But, as well syndicated as the Flash Gordon comic strip was, it was the three serial films starring Buster Crabbe as Flash, the first appearing in 1936, that really lit the rocket on this particular character. The amazing longevity of these serials meant that I saw them as a child in Saturday morning cinema screenings, and they regularly appeared on...
- 8/23/2010
- Den of Geek
ROME -- In retelling the Italian fable Pinocchio, director-actor Roberto Benigni follows the basic outline of Carlo Collodi's 1883 book and creates the first Italian film version of this worldwide best seller produced for the international movie marketplace. Unlike the 1940 Walt Disney Co. animated feature, which uprooted Pinocchio from Italy and dressed the boy puppet in lederhosen and a feathered hat, Benigni's Pinocchio is set in 19th century rural Italy, a land of cobblestoned villages and Tuscan hillsides. Yet many key scenes take place in such fairy-tale settings as the Blue Fairy's castle, Il Paese dei Balocchi (Toy Town) and the inside of a giant shark's belly. The flavor is fablelike and also unquestionably Italian thanks to the lavish sets created by Danilo Donati, who worked with Benigni on Life Is Beautiful.
- 10/7/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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