Tod Browning’s “Freaks”
Before R-ratings, anti-heroes and gratuitous violence and nudity in mainstream Hollywood movies, there was the Hays Code. As a form of self-policing the industry, virtually every movie released up until 1968 needed that stamp of approval if it wanted distribution. And while it helped produce all of Old Hollywood’s true classics for several decades, it often included ridiculous rulings like not being able to show or flush a toilet on screen, not allowing married couples to be shown sleeping in the same bad or always making sure criminals, even protagonists of the movie, got punished in the end.
But before the Hays Code was nothing, and it was a gloriously weird, scandalous time for the movies. Certain Hollywood films in the early ’30s as “talkies” were rapidly taking hold have since been labeled “Pre-Code” films that never received Hollywood’s stamp of approval.
Every Friday in September,...
Before R-ratings, anti-heroes and gratuitous violence and nudity in mainstream Hollywood movies, there was the Hays Code. As a form of self-policing the industry, virtually every movie released up until 1968 needed that stamp of approval if it wanted distribution. And while it helped produce all of Old Hollywood’s true classics for several decades, it often included ridiculous rulings like not being able to show or flush a toilet on screen, not allowing married couples to be shown sleeping in the same bad or always making sure criminals, even protagonists of the movie, got punished in the end.
But before the Hays Code was nothing, and it was a gloriously weird, scandalous time for the movies. Certain Hollywood films in the early ’30s as “talkies” were rapidly taking hold have since been labeled “Pre-Code” films that never received Hollywood’s stamp of approval.
Every Friday in September,...
- 9/4/2014
- by Brian Welk
- SoundOnSight
Last week, the film world lost a giant. Often called The Cockney Cagney, Bob Hoskins was an actor who didn’t just demand your attention on screen, he grabbed you by the throat, turned you upside down, and shook you until you could only applaud. Cargill and I do our best to adequately honor this towering talent via some of our favorites of his performances. Sure, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Hook are tremendous films, but we stick to the deep track stuff. We also explain why Hoskins would have made the perfect Wolverine. And yes, there will be discussion of Super Mario Brothers that borders on tribute. You’ve been warned. You should follow Brian (@Briguysalisbury), Cargill (@Massawyrm), and the show (@Junkfoodcinema). Download Episode #10 Directly On This Week’s Show: Bob Hoskins Retrospective [1:42 - 53:29] Secret Weapon-X [53:30 - 57:21] Denouement [57:22 - 60:41] Films Discussed: [Click to buy, help us keep the lights on] Get In Touch With Us: Email Junkfood Cinema Follow the Show:
"Junkfood Cinema: Bob Hoskins, The Little Giant...
"Junkfood Cinema: Bob Hoskins, The Little Giant...
- 5/6/2014
- by Brian Salisbury
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Andrei Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev Andrei Tarkovsky, Audrey Hepburn, Clara Bow Movies: Packard Campus May 2012 Schedule Friday, April 27 (7:30 p.m.) Solaris (Magna, 1972) An alien intelligence infiltrates a space mission. Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. With Natalya Bondarchuk and Donatas Banionis. Sci-fi psychological drama. Black & White and color, 167 min. In Russian and German with English subtitles. Saturday, April 28 (7:30 p.m.) To Kill A Mockingbird (Universal, 1962) A Southern lawyer defends a black man wrongly accused of rape, and tries to explain the proceedings to his children. Directed by Robert Mulligan. With Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Phillip Alford, Brock Peters and Robert Duvall. Drama. Black & white, 129 min. Selected for the National Film Registry in 1995. Thursday, May 3 (7:30 p.m.) The Little Giant (Warner Bros., 1933) A Chicago beer magnate about to lose his business with the repeal of Prohibition, moves to California and tries to join society's upper crust, but his gangster origins prove tough to shake.
- 4/21/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Clara Bow, Mantrap What do Andrei Tarkovsky, Edward G. Robinson, Clara Bow, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Audrey Hepburn have in common? Easy. They'll all be featured in some form or other at the Library of Congress' Packard Campus in Culpeper, Virginia, in May. [Packard Campus screening schedule.] Andrei Tarkovsky will be represented by the classic sci-fier Solaris (1971), billed as the Soviet Union's answer to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, and by the classic period drama Andrei Rublev (1969), a meditation on art, religion, spirituality, and human brutality and stupidity. A technicality: Solaris will actually be screened on April 27. Edward G. Robinson stars in The Little Giant (1933), a pre-Code crime comedy featuring Mary Astor. The (at the time) energetic Roy Del Ruth (The Maltese Falcon, Taxi!, Employees' Entrance) directed. Clara Bow is the star of Mantrap (1926), a fluffy romantic comedy of interest chiefly because of Bow and because neither of her two leading...
- 4/21/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
When Beethoven died on 26 March 1827 in Vienna, he had been ill for over three months, in which time he completed no compositions. It was the culmination of a long string of illnesses; his work was seriously interrupted in 1811, 1812, 1816-17, 1821, 1825, and from December 1826 to his death. (His extensive meddling in the lives of various relatives had also interfered with his musical productivity.)
We ran an Anniversaries piece for Beethoven's birthday in 2010 that looked at recordings of his symphonies. Now, to mark the anniversary of his death on, we look at his piano sonatas. Beethoven transformed the sonata nearly as much as the symphony, his 32 canonical works (which doesn't include the early C major sonata and F major sonatina without opus numbers or the three "Elector" sonatas Wo47) in the form varying greatly and achieving, especially in the last five or six, an epic, questing quality that's highly personal.
But even...
We ran an Anniversaries piece for Beethoven's birthday in 2010 that looked at recordings of his symphonies. Now, to mark the anniversary of his death on, we look at his piano sonatas. Beethoven transformed the sonata nearly as much as the symphony, his 32 canonical works (which doesn't include the early C major sonata and F major sonatina without opus numbers or the three "Elector" sonatas Wo47) in the form varying greatly and achieving, especially in the last five or six, an epic, questing quality that's highly personal.
But even...
- 3/26/2012
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Will we see an animated film version of the kids' book Muncle Trogg: The Smallest Giant in the World? Very possibly; Sony Animation has optioned the title. That doesn't necessarily mean we'll see the movie, as a lot of material is optioned and never fully developed for various reasons. But this is the first pickup for the company under the relatively new leadership of Michelle Raimo-Kouyate, and you might think a new president of production is going to want her first buy to look like a good one. Muncle Trogg, written by Janet Foxley, is about a kingdom of giants and the smallest among them. (Not a stretch to realize that, given the title.) The little giant investigates a human settlement nearby, and the story kicks into motion. A few more details are after the break. The exec said of the book, There are strong characters, relatable themes, a...
- 4/1/2011
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
Alan Tudyk will be joining the cast of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter as Stephen A. Douglas, the man that Lincoln ran against to become the 16th president of the United States. Stephen Douglas was known as "The Little Giant" due to his small stature, but was also a political strong man and gave Lincoln a good run for the 1860 election,which as we all know, eventually went to Lincoln. For those unfamiliar with the story, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a fictional take on the life of the 16th president and his on-going battle with vampires. When Lincoln was a child, his mother was killed by a vampire and from that moment on, Abraham vowed to rid the nation of the blood suckers. Tudyk is mostly known for his work in Joss Whedon's projects, such as Firefly and it's big screen follow-up Serenity, as well as the television series 'Dollhouse.
- 3/17/2011
- ComicBookMovie.com
Alan Tudyk has signed on for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter , Variety reports. The film is slated to star Benjamin Walker as Lincoln, the man destined to become the United State's 16th President, who must also deal with quelling attacks from bloodthirsty undead. Tudyk, best known for his associations with Joss Whedon (including roles on "Firefly" and "Dollhouse"), will play historical figure Stephen A. Douglas. In reality, Douglas was Lincoln's political opponent in the 1860 election and was nicknamed "The Little Giant", standing 5'4" but weilding tremendous political influence. In the original novel, Douglas is aligned with the vampires of the South. Described by director Timur Bekmambetov as "a very entertaining, epic history...
- 3/17/2011
- Comingsoon.net
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