François Truffaut is back with another Hitchcock-influenced adaptation of a Cornell Woolrich murder thriller, with stars Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Paul Belmondo as lovers – criminals – fugitives, and partly filmed in a remote French island in the Indian Ocean. It’s a tale of a mail-order bride, larcenous deception, and irrational amor fou run amuck. The things we do for love sometimes obey no logic. Also starring Michel Bouquet.
Mississippi Mermaid
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 123 110 min. / La Sirène du Mississippi / Street Date February 14, 2023 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Catherine Deneuve, Michel Bouquet, Nelly Borgeaud.
Cinematography: Denys Clerval
Production Designer: Claude Pignot
Deneuve dresses: Yves Saint-Laurent
Film Editor: Agnès Guillemot
Original Music: Antoine Duhamel
Screenplay by François Truffaut based upon the novel Waltz into Darkness by William Irish (Cornell Woolrich)
Produced by Marcel Berbert
Directed by François Truffaut
François Truffaut was the least radical of the official New Wave directors.
Mississippi Mermaid
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 123 110 min. / La Sirène du Mississippi / Street Date February 14, 2023 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Catherine Deneuve, Michel Bouquet, Nelly Borgeaud.
Cinematography: Denys Clerval
Production Designer: Claude Pignot
Deneuve dresses: Yves Saint-Laurent
Film Editor: Agnès Guillemot
Original Music: Antoine Duhamel
Screenplay by François Truffaut based upon the novel Waltz into Darkness by William Irish (Cornell Woolrich)
Produced by Marcel Berbert
Directed by François Truffaut
François Truffaut was the least radical of the official New Wave directors.
- 3/11/2023
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
François Truffaut’s ode to Hitchcock and Cornell Woolrich is an ice-cold femme revenge tale. Jeanne Moreau exacts retribution from five men who made her a widow on her wedding day. Truffaut winds it as tightly as a mousetrap, leaving Ms. Moreau’s psychology a mystery — feminists can debate whether the film is misogynistic. Raoul Coutard’s color cinematography is deceptively warm and inviting; the film’s biggest boost comes from Bernard Herrmann’s powerful music score.
The Bride Wore Black
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1968 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 107 min. / Street Date February 14, 2023 / La mariée était en noir / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Jeanne Moreau, Michel Bouquet, Jean-Claude Brialy, Charles Denner, Claude Rich, Michael Lonsdale, Daniel Boulanger, Alexandra Stewart, Sylvine Delannoy, Luce Fabiole, Michèle Montfort.
Cinematography: Raoul Coutard
Production Designer: Pierre Guffroy
Film Editor: Claudine Bouché
Original Music: Bernard Herrmann
Written by François Truffaut, Jean-Louis Richard from the novel by William Irish...
The Bride Wore Black
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1968 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 107 min. / Street Date February 14, 2023 / La mariée était en noir / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Jeanne Moreau, Michel Bouquet, Jean-Claude Brialy, Charles Denner, Claude Rich, Michael Lonsdale, Daniel Boulanger, Alexandra Stewart, Sylvine Delannoy, Luce Fabiole, Michèle Montfort.
Cinematography: Raoul Coutard
Production Designer: Pierre Guffroy
Film Editor: Claudine Bouché
Original Music: Bernard Herrmann
Written by François Truffaut, Jean-Louis Richard from the novel by William Irish...
- 2/4/2023
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Michel Bouquet, an icon of French cinema and theater who had appeared in over 100 films throughout his career and worked with some of France’s great auteurs, has died. He was 96.
The Élysée Palace, the office of the French president, announced Bouquet’s death in a statement Wednesday but gave no other details about his passing.
“For seven decades, Michel Bouquet brought theater and cinema to the highest degree of incandescence and truth, showing man in all his contradictions, with an intensity that burned the boards and burst the screen. A sacred monster has left us,” French president Emmanuel Macron said in a tweet Wednesday.
In 1991, Bouquet won the European Film Award for Best Actor his film “Toto the Hero.” He also won two César Awards for “How I Killed My Father” (2001) and “The Last Mitterrand” (2005). His career on stage dates all the way back to the 1940s, and he...
The Élysée Palace, the office of the French president, announced Bouquet’s death in a statement Wednesday but gave no other details about his passing.
“For seven decades, Michel Bouquet brought theater and cinema to the highest degree of incandescence and truth, showing man in all his contradictions, with an intensity that burned the boards and burst the screen. A sacred monster has left us,” French president Emmanuel Macron said in a tweet Wednesday.
In 1991, Bouquet won the European Film Award for Best Actor his film “Toto the Hero.” He also won two César Awards for “How I Killed My Father” (2001) and “The Last Mitterrand” (2005). His career on stage dates all the way back to the 1940s, and he...
- 4/13/2022
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Legendary French stage and screen actor Michel Bouquet has died. He was 96. The César Award winner passed away today at a Paris hospital, his spokesperson confirmed to Afp. A tribute on the official website of the Elysée Palace did not cite a cause of death.
Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery
Born in 1925, Bouquet began his film career in 1947 and went on to appear in more than 100 movies. In the 1960s and ’70s, he collaborated with New Wave directors François Truffaut and Claude Chabrol in such films as Truffaut’s The Bride Wore Black and Mississippi Mermaid and Chabrol’s The Unfaithful Wife and Just Before Nightfall, among others.
Later in his career, Bouquet won a European Film Award for Jaco Van Dormael’s Toto Le Héros (1991) and took two Best Actor Césars for Anne Fontaine’s How I Killed My Father (2001) and Robert Guédiguian’s The Last Mitterand...
Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery
Born in 1925, Bouquet began his film career in 1947 and went on to appear in more than 100 movies. In the 1960s and ’70s, he collaborated with New Wave directors François Truffaut and Claude Chabrol in such films as Truffaut’s The Bride Wore Black and Mississippi Mermaid and Chabrol’s The Unfaithful Wife and Just Before Nightfall, among others.
Later in his career, Bouquet won a European Film Award for Jaco Van Dormael’s Toto Le Héros (1991) and took two Best Actor Césars for Anne Fontaine’s How I Killed My Father (2001) and Robert Guédiguian’s The Last Mitterand...
- 4/13/2022
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Movie director Quentin Tarantino is known for being a cinephile who makes no secret of his influences. As a result, his movies often feature unashamed homages to the great directors, actors, and composers of days gone by. But amongst all this, he brings a bunch of style and ideas that make his movies unique, and he has also had a big influence on popular culture himself.
Of all his films, the one that best represents his habit of honoring his heroes, is the Kill Bill duology released in 2003 and 2004. Originally planned as a single movie, the movie’s producers indulged Tarantino by suggesting he could split the films into two volumes to avoid cutting some crucial scenes – there is even talk of a third movie in the pipeline, as discussed by www.variety.com. The two movies were heavily influenced by Asian cinema (amongst other genres) and are widely regarded as modern classics.
Of all his films, the one that best represents his habit of honoring his heroes, is the Kill Bill duology released in 2003 and 2004. Originally planned as a single movie, the movie’s producers indulged Tarantino by suggesting he could split the films into two volumes to avoid cutting some crucial scenes – there is even talk of a third movie in the pipeline, as discussed by www.variety.com. The two movies were heavily influenced by Asian cinema (amongst other genres) and are widely regarded as modern classics.
- 4/21/2020
- by Peter Adams
- AsianMoviePulse
KollywoodThere are two things that will haunt you hours after the film has ended - Sri Priya’s cool grey eyes and the extremely catchy ‘oooooooo’ bit that comes before the 'Orae jeevan ondre ullam’ theme song in the film.Anjana ShekarYoutube/iHeartTamilA lady in green saree rushes to the dial-up telephone placed near a slanted, glass-panelled wall. “This is Latha’s elder sister speaking. That cobra came, fought with Latha and then she (cobra) turned into a snake!” The person on the other end gasps “What?” The woman adds, “Latha who saw that has fainted!” to which the person responds, “I’m coming there immediately.” If you chuckled at the incredulity of this exchange, let us tell you that this takes place in a 1979 Tamil movie that has spurned a whole series of television dramas, films and other pop culture extensions. YouTube Screengrab iHeartTamil Neeya? (use your most surprised...
- 5/24/2019
- by Anjana
- The News Minute
Film-score buffs had a bonanza of riches to choose from in 2018 — notwithstanding the fact that the soundtrack business is almost unrecognizable from what it was even a decade ago. Instead of farming out their new scores to the traditional soundtrack labels, most studios now retain them for their own in-house labels and generally release them digitally. Meanwhile, the labels that once relied on current films for their bread-and-butter releases are focusing more on the niche market for classic film scores: re-releasing old ones with new material, finding worthy titles that somehow never got released, and in some cases even re-recording classic scores.
It’s a complicated business, label executives say. Not only must they track down the best available audio (studios and production companies don’t always retain the elements or sometimes can’t find them), they have to clear the rights (and sometimes the music publishing details have changed). And,...
It’s a complicated business, label executives say. Not only must they track down the best available audio (studios and production companies don’t always retain the elements or sometimes can’t find them), they have to clear the rights (and sometimes the music publishing details have changed). And,...
- 12/30/2018
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
Phoenix Pictures and Renaissance Literary & Talent are teaming to develop a television anthology based on a series of short stories by prolific mystery writer Cornell Woolrich.
Some of the titles to be included in the potential anthology series are A Death Is Caused, After-Dinner Story, Death Sits In The Dentist’s Chair, For The Rest Of Her Life, The Moon Of Montezuma, Mystery In Room 913, The Murder Room, The Dancing Detective and The Death Rose.
Phoenix Pictures’ Chairman/CEO Mike Medavoy and Benjamin Anderson will executive produce the potential series, with Alan Nevins also attached to executive produce.
As a fan of the author, Medavoy had been tracking the Woolrich material for years. The Woolrich library has been a complicated rights issue with more than five owners controlling the nearly 300 properties in the Estate. Renaissance has spent years untangling the web of rights issues and, additionally, now represents all five proprietors.
Some of the titles to be included in the potential anthology series are A Death Is Caused, After-Dinner Story, Death Sits In The Dentist’s Chair, For The Rest Of Her Life, The Moon Of Montezuma, Mystery In Room 913, The Murder Room, The Dancing Detective and The Death Rose.
Phoenix Pictures’ Chairman/CEO Mike Medavoy and Benjamin Anderson will executive produce the potential series, with Alan Nevins also attached to executive produce.
As a fan of the author, Medavoy had been tracking the Woolrich material for years. The Woolrich library has been a complicated rights issue with more than five owners controlling the nearly 300 properties in the Estate. Renaissance has spent years untangling the web of rights issues and, additionally, now represents all five proprietors.
- 9/5/2018
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
French actor and filmmaker Jeanne Moreau, known for films such as Jules and Jim, The Trial, The Bride Wore Black, La Femme Nikita, died today at her home in Paris, at the age of 89, according to her agents. While French actors might have a reputation for perfecting the art of 'cool', it could be said that it was Moreau's work that began this. Daughter of a French restauranteur and an English dancer, she got into acting in the 1950s. Her first big break came when she appeared in Louis Malle's films Lift to the Scaffolding where she took a precarious walk to the sublime music of Miles Davis, and The Lovers (both 1958). But it was in Jules and Jim, about a woman caught...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 7/31/2017
- Screen Anarchy
Jeanne Moreau, a legend of French cinema and one of the French New Wave's leading actresses with roles in Jules & Jim and Elevator to the Gallows, died this weekend at the age of 89.
French authorities confirmed that the actress died at her Paris home; no cause of death was revealed, the BBC reports.
French president Emmanuel Macron tweeted of Moreau, "A legend of cinema and theater … an actress engaged in the whirlwind of life with an absolute freedom."
Pierre Lescure, president of the Cannes Film Festival, said in a statement,...
French authorities confirmed that the actress died at her Paris home; no cause of death was revealed, the BBC reports.
French president Emmanuel Macron tweeted of Moreau, "A legend of cinema and theater … an actress engaged in the whirlwind of life with an absolute freedom."
Pierre Lescure, president of the Cannes Film Festival, said in a statement,...
- 7/31/2017
- Rollingstone.com
Jeanne Moreau, whose brooding beauty entranced international film audiences in such films as The Lovers, Jules et Jim and The Bride Wore Black, has died at the age of 89.
The French president's office announced her death without providing a cause.
Dubbed “Le Moreau” for her slithering sensuality, she was a femme fatale who was also one of the top stage actresses of her time. Off-screen, Moreau oozed romance and mystery: Moreau was likened to the free-spirited woman with two lovers whom she played in Francois Truffaut's “Jules et Jim. ”
She burst to international stardom in Louis Malle's “The...
The French president's office announced her death without providing a cause.
Dubbed “Le Moreau” for her slithering sensuality, she was a femme fatale who was also one of the top stage actresses of her time. Off-screen, Moreau oozed romance and mystery: Moreau was likened to the free-spirited woman with two lovers whom she played in Francois Truffaut's “Jules et Jim. ”
She burst to international stardom in Louis Malle's “The...
- 7/31/2017
- by THR staff
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Can’t get enough looks at Independence Day: Resurgence before its release on June 24th? Four new behind-the-scenes videos have dropped, giving us a look at some pivotal scenes in the film as well as a profile of director Roland Emmerich. Also: a Ghoster concept trailer, details on three new Arrow Video Us releases, and info on the Dances with Films screening of Beacon Point.
Watch Four New Independence Day: Resurgence Videos: “We always knew they were coming back. After Independence Day redefined the event movie genre, the next epic chapter delivers global spectacle on an unimaginable scale. Using recovered alien technology, the nations of Earth have collaborated on an immense defense program to protect the planet. But nothing can prepare us for the aliens’ advanced and unprecedented force. Only the ingenuity of a few brave men and women can bring our world back from the brink of extinction.
Directed by Roland Emmerich,...
Watch Four New Independence Day: Resurgence Videos: “We always knew they were coming back. After Independence Day redefined the event movie genre, the next epic chapter delivers global spectacle on an unimaginable scale. Using recovered alien technology, the nations of Earth have collaborated on an immense defense program to protect the planet. But nothing can prepare us for the aliens’ advanced and unprecedented force. Only the ingenuity of a few brave men and women can bring our world back from the brink of extinction.
Directed by Roland Emmerich,...
- 5/20/2016
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
By John M. Whalen
Cornell Woolrich is a writer whose work was much loved and cherished by fans of film noir. The Internet Movie Database lists 102 credits for him for both film and TV shows—titles including “Rear Window,” “The Bride Wore Black,” “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes,” “Black Angel,” “Fear in the Night,” and “Phantom Lady,” He didn’t write any screenplays that I know of. The films and TV shows were all adapted from a prolific output of stories written under his Woolrich and William Irish pseudonyms, and under his real name, George Hopley.
While Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and James M. Cain make up the Big Three in noir fiction, Woolrich carved out a special niche for himself. Chandler, and Hammett wrote about tough guy heroes who usually overcame the web of evil they encountered. Cain’s heroes weren’t always so lucky, but at least...
Cornell Woolrich is a writer whose work was much loved and cherished by fans of film noir. The Internet Movie Database lists 102 credits for him for both film and TV shows—titles including “Rear Window,” “The Bride Wore Black,” “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes,” “Black Angel,” “Fear in the Night,” and “Phantom Lady,” He didn’t write any screenplays that I know of. The films and TV shows were all adapted from a prolific output of stories written under his Woolrich and William Irish pseudonyms, and under his real name, George Hopley.
While Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and James M. Cain make up the Big Three in noir fiction, Woolrich carved out a special niche for himself. Chandler, and Hammett wrote about tough guy heroes who usually overcame the web of evil they encountered. Cain’s heroes weren’t always so lucky, but at least...
- 5/13/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Quentin Tarantino is possibly the most prolific writer/director working in film today. His first feature-length film, Reservoir Dogs, came out back in 1993, and yet the man still manages to surprise us with his hard-hitting dialogue, unconventional humor, and radical social and political commentary. This is a man who serves as a prime example of succeeding as a result of respecting one's elders, as he learns from those great filmmakers who came before him, while still managing to thread his own style through his intricately woven, homage-heavy film résumé.
While the rest of the world toned down its violence and opted for bigger box office, PG-13 sure-things, Tarantino stuck to his guns, consistently making movies for adults and constantly pushing the envelope as to what is allowed onscreen and how to go about displaying such graphic material. Tarantino doesn't give a damn what you think, and that's the reason why...
While the rest of the world toned down its violence and opted for bigger box office, PG-13 sure-things, Tarantino stuck to his guns, consistently making movies for adults and constantly pushing the envelope as to what is allowed onscreen and how to go about displaying such graphic material. Tarantino doesn't give a damn what you think, and that's the reason why...
- 12/30/2015
- by Kalyn Corrigan
- DailyDead
Above: Franciszek Starowieyski’s 1970 poster for Mademoiselle (Tony Richardson, UK/France, 1966).In Christopher Nolan’s new short film about the Quay Brothers (titled—with Nolan’s predilection for mono-nomenclature—simply Quay) he gives us a clue to some of the twin animators’ influences in the film’s opening shots. After drawing back the curtains in their curiosity shop of a studio, Timothy Quay opens a glass cupboard to remove a book. Blink and you’ll miss it, but on the shelves are books on Marcel Duchamp, Spanish sculptor Juan Muñoz, Czech artists Jan Zrzavy, Vlastislav Hofman and Jindrich Heisler, and—most prominently—a book on Polish artist Franciszek Starowieyski.I wrote a few years ago about the Quays’ love of Polish film posters and Franciszek Starowieyski (1930-2009) is one of the indisputable later masters of the Polish school. From the mid 50s until the late 80s he produced some 100 film...
- 8/30/2015
- by Adrian Curry
- MUBI
Nearly two decades into a career that has since spanned nearly seven, Jeanne Moreau had already worked under the direction of Godard, Malle, Welles, Antonioni, Demy, Ophüls, Frankenheimer and Buñuel, among others, by the time she collaborated again with François Truffaut, who had previously helped make her a star with Jules and Jim. Their third collaboration (the first being 400 Blows), The Bride Wore Black, a psycho-thriller inspired by the work of his hero Alfred Hitchcock again put her in the spotlight, this time as a vengeful seductress to which Quentin Tarantino and Uma Thurman’s Bride of Kill Bill is much indebted to (though the homage crazed auteur claims to have never seen the film). With incredible bipolar turns, Moreau plays Julie Kohler, a widow on a mission to take revenge on the five men (including Claude Rich, Michel Bouquet, Michael Lonsdale, Daniel Boulanger and Charles Denner) responsible for the death of her husband.
- 2/18/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Specialty Blu-ray label Twilight Time continues to show their deep love for film with a continually growing and constantly eclectic selection of releases. The next few months will see Blu-ray titles as varied as To Sir With Love, U-Turn, The Night of the Generals and Zardoz. There were five titles on last month’s slate (released on 1/20) including a great American underdog tale in Breaking Away, an Indian biopic of uprising and war with Bandit Queen, Francois Truffaut’s female-driven revenge film The Bride Wore Black, Woody Allen’s surreal ode to the cinema in The Purple Rose of Cairo and a 30th Anniversary release of Fright Night. That last title — the only one not covered below — was actually released by the label once before with a far slimmer selection of special features. It immediately became a collector’s item, and now, barely three weeks after its re-release, this anniversary edition is already fetching ridiculous sums from...
- 2/16/2015
- by Rob Hunter
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
A Spoonful of Violence: Hopkins’ Unbalanced Sophomore Effort
Actress turned screenwriter turned director Karen Leigh Hopkins unleashes her sophomore feature Miss Meadows after its premiere at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, where it was met with a middling response. After her first stint as director with 1998’s indie film The Rose Sisters and a 2001 Penelope Ann Miller television film, A Woman’s a Helluva Thing, her latest succeeds as her highest profile effort as director, though it’s nowhere near the level of success that some of her screenwriting efforts have attained, like 1998’s Stepmom or the majorly lambasted Because I Said So (2007). Tonally awkward and a bit too underwhelming to fully succeed as the black comedy cum violent thriller character study it is trying to be, Hopkins does manage to use the casting of Katie Holmes to her advantage (something not many directors have been able to do...
Actress turned screenwriter turned director Karen Leigh Hopkins unleashes her sophomore feature Miss Meadows after its premiere at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, where it was met with a middling response. After her first stint as director with 1998’s indie film The Rose Sisters and a 2001 Penelope Ann Miller television film, A Woman’s a Helluva Thing, her latest succeeds as her highest profile effort as director, though it’s nowhere near the level of success that some of her screenwriting efforts have attained, like 1998’s Stepmom or the majorly lambasted Because I Said So (2007). Tonally awkward and a bit too underwhelming to fully succeed as the black comedy cum violent thriller character study it is trying to be, Hopkins does manage to use the casting of Katie Holmes to her advantage (something not many directors have been able to do...
- 11/14/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Marie Dubois, actress in French New Wave films, dead at 77 (image: Marie Dubois in the mammoth blockbuster 'La Grande Vadrouille') Actress Marie Dubois, a popular French New Wave personality of the '60s and the leading lady in one of France's biggest box-office hits in history, died Wednesday, October 15, 2014, at a nursing home in Lescar, a suburb of the southwestern French town of Pau, not far from the Spanish border. Dubois, who had been living in the Pau area since 2010, was 77. For decades she had been battling multiple sclerosis, which later in life had her confined to a wheelchair. Born Claudine Huzé (Claudine Lucie Pauline Huzé according to some online sources) on January 12, 1937, in Paris, the blue-eyed, blonde Marie Dubois began her show business career on stage, being featured in plays such as Molière's The Misanthrope and Arthur Miller's The Crucible. François Truffaut discovery: 'Shoot the...
- 10/17/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Jules and Jim
Directed by François Truffaut
Written by François Truffaut and Jean Gruault
France, 1962
In François Truffaut’s debut feature, The 400 Blows, widely seen as the flagship production of the French Nouvelle Vague, or “New Wave,” he was able to convey a representation of youth in a very specific era and, at that time, in a very unique way. Autobiographical as the 1959 film was, it also featured a notable vitality and honesty, two traits that would distinguish several of these French films from the late 1950s and into the ’60s. While The 400 Blows was an earnest and refreshing portrayal of adolescence, in some ways, Truffaut’s 1962 feature, Jules and Jim, his third, feels even more youthful, in terms of stylistic daring and energetic exuberance. Though dealing with adults and serious adult situations, Jules and Jim exhibits a formal sense of unbridled glee, with brisk editing, amusing asides,...
Directed by François Truffaut
Written by François Truffaut and Jean Gruault
France, 1962
In François Truffaut’s debut feature, The 400 Blows, widely seen as the flagship production of the French Nouvelle Vague, or “New Wave,” he was able to convey a representation of youth in a very specific era and, at that time, in a very unique way. Autobiographical as the 1959 film was, it also featured a notable vitality and honesty, two traits that would distinguish several of these French films from the late 1950s and into the ’60s. While The 400 Blows was an earnest and refreshing portrayal of adolescence, in some ways, Truffaut’s 1962 feature, Jules and Jim, his third, feels even more youthful, in terms of stylistic daring and energetic exuberance. Though dealing with adults and serious adult situations, Jules and Jim exhibits a formal sense of unbridled glee, with brisk editing, amusing asides,...
- 2/7/2014
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
by Blood Raven, MoreHorror.com
Think back to season one of American Horror Story. Remember Tate walking down the hallways of his high school just before his shooting spree? What was the song playing in the background?
If you know what I'm talking about, most of you are thinking it was the whistling song from Kill Bill when "nurse" Elle was on her way to poison Beatrix Kiddo with a syringe while she was still asleep in a coma. Your guess would be right, except it would also be wrong.
The whistling song is actually the main sound track of an old 1969 British Horror film, Twisted Nerve, composed by the talented Bernard Herrmann. That's Right! It didn't originate with Kill Bill.
After seeing Twisted Nerve, it makes sense why this song has been reused with other "unsuspecting" killers…
Twisted Nerve is the tale of a troubled young man named Martin...
Think back to season one of American Horror Story. Remember Tate walking down the hallways of his high school just before his shooting spree? What was the song playing in the background?
If you know what I'm talking about, most of you are thinking it was the whistling song from Kill Bill when "nurse" Elle was on her way to poison Beatrix Kiddo with a syringe while she was still asleep in a coma. Your guess would be right, except it would also be wrong.
The whistling song is actually the main sound track of an old 1969 British Horror film, Twisted Nerve, composed by the talented Bernard Herrmann. That's Right! It didn't originate with Kill Bill.
After seeing Twisted Nerve, it makes sense why this song has been reused with other "unsuspecting" killers…
Twisted Nerve is the tale of a troubled young man named Martin...
- 7/9/2013
- by admin
- MoreHorror
Review Billy Grifter 3 Jul 2013 - 09:15
Defiance's penultimate episode leaves plenty to be covered in the finale. Here's Billy's review of Past Is Prologue...
This review contains spoilers.
1.11 Past Is Prologue
In general, penultimate episodes to show seasons fall into two categories. They're either a story that clears the way for a finale, or the first part of a double episode. Past Is Prologue falls neatly into the second of those options, because very little is resolved or defined, it's mostly setup for the season end next week.
That's not to say it was bad. There were some very interesting sequences in which we saw what the Tarr tribe is like when they smell an opportunity to advance themselves. The particular prize they're after is the mine, via Datak becoming Mayor and selling the good townsfolk out to the Earth Republic.
Earlier in the season we were sold the notion...
Defiance's penultimate episode leaves plenty to be covered in the finale. Here's Billy's review of Past Is Prologue...
This review contains spoilers.
1.11 Past Is Prologue
In general, penultimate episodes to show seasons fall into two categories. They're either a story that clears the way for a finale, or the first part of a double episode. Past Is Prologue falls neatly into the second of those options, because very little is resolved or defined, it's mostly setup for the season end next week.
That's not to say it was bad. There were some very interesting sequences in which we saw what the Tarr tribe is like when they smell an opportunity to advance themselves. The particular prize they're after is the mine, via Datak becoming Mayor and selling the good townsfolk out to the Earth Republic.
Earlier in the season we were sold the notion...
- 7/3/2013
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Defiance, Season 1: Episodes 9, 10 and 11 – “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times,” “If I Ever Leave This World Alive” and “The Bride Wore Black”
Directed by Allan Kroeker (9 and 10) and Todd Slavkin (11)
Written by Clark Perry (9), Bryan Garcia (10) and Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer (11)
Airs Monday nights at 9 on SyFy
Apologies for major technical issues on my end that made me fall behind on these reviews. Coming back to watch and write about three episodes of Defiance as one unit, though, was a really interesting exercise. As this debut season has gone along, it has felt like Defiance episodes work perfectly fine in their own right as self-contained stories but that they lack that substance that lends itself to more meaningful examination or criticism. When I’ve addressed this in the past, I’ve pointed my finger at the fact that the show is more concerned with world-building than...
Directed by Allan Kroeker (9 and 10) and Todd Slavkin (11)
Written by Clark Perry (9), Bryan Garcia (10) and Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer (11)
Airs Monday nights at 9 on SyFy
Apologies for major technical issues on my end that made me fall behind on these reviews. Coming back to watch and write about three episodes of Defiance as one unit, though, was a really interesting exercise. As this debut season has gone along, it has felt like Defiance episodes work perfectly fine in their own right as self-contained stories but that they lack that substance that lends itself to more meaningful examination or criticism. When I’ve addressed this in the past, I’ve pointed my finger at the fact that the show is more concerned with world-building than...
- 6/27/2013
- by Sean Colletti
- SoundOnSight
Review Billy Grifter 26 Jun 2013 - 10:15
Defiance finally begins to motor with this week's revealing, unpredictable, captivating story. Here's Billy's review...
This review contains spoilers.
1.10 The Bride Wore Black
To say that Defiance has been a slow burn is probably a major understatement, because what this show desperately needed was this type of story about five episodes back. In The Bride Wore Black we learned more about the history of Defiance, the major characters, and their motivations than we've been given all season. And, not a minute too soon for this reviewer.
The story was a basic whodunit, for the murder of Kenya's husband seven years previously. Though it was pretty obvious early on who was the most likely candidate, even if the writers very noticeably avoiding giving her a motive, while spreading them about to other characters so generously. The upside of this was that we got to see very different versions of Datak,...
Defiance finally begins to motor with this week's revealing, unpredictable, captivating story. Here's Billy's review...
This review contains spoilers.
1.10 The Bride Wore Black
To say that Defiance has been a slow burn is probably a major understatement, because what this show desperately needed was this type of story about five episodes back. In The Bride Wore Black we learned more about the history of Defiance, the major characters, and their motivations than we've been given all season. And, not a minute too soon for this reviewer.
The story was a basic whodunit, for the murder of Kenya's husband seven years previously. Though it was pretty obvious early on who was the most likely candidate, even if the writers very noticeably avoiding giving her a motive, while spreading them about to other characters so generously. The upside of this was that we got to see very different versions of Datak,...
- 6/26/2013
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Tags: DefianceDefiance recapstelevisionTV recapsJulie BenzJaime MurrayMia KirshnerWAPIMDb
Hi ya, Gayliens! I apologize for short-shifting you on the Defiance recap last week. There's so much lez/bi stuff happening on TV this summer — especially on Monday nights — that it's proving tricky to keep up. Luckily, we didn't miss any Sapphic shenanigans last week. The real crazytown bananapants stuff with Stahma and Kenya kicks off next week. So, please enjoy these two mini-caps of the last two weeks' episodes and let's meet back here next week to process all the feelings we feel.
1.09: If I Ever Leave This World Alive
There is a full plague consuming Defiance, and the townsfolk have started calling it Irath Flu because Irathients are carriers of it but are not affected by it. If you've seen one episode of this show, you know what's coming: The council — including frakkin Datak Tarr now — vote to quarantine the...
Hi ya, Gayliens! I apologize for short-shifting you on the Defiance recap last week. There's so much lez/bi stuff happening on TV this summer — especially on Monday nights — that it's proving tricky to keep up. Luckily, we didn't miss any Sapphic shenanigans last week. The real crazytown bananapants stuff with Stahma and Kenya kicks off next week. So, please enjoy these two mini-caps of the last two weeks' episodes and let's meet back here next week to process all the feelings we feel.
1.09: If I Ever Leave This World Alive
There is a full plague consuming Defiance, and the townsfolk have started calling it Irath Flu because Irathients are carriers of it but are not affected by it. If you've seen one episode of this show, you know what's coming: The council — including frakkin Datak Tarr now — vote to quarantine the...
- 6/25/2013
- by stuntdouble
- AfterEllen.com
Defiance has fully recovered from its recent plague and "The Bride Wore Black" finally brought us to the nuptials of Romeo and Juliet, Christie McCawley and Alak Tarr.
Like their literary counterparts, Christie and Alak have had a rocky relationship due to family drama and racial/cultural differences. Thankfully, though, we were treated to a happy ending with a wedding instead of the story following William Shakespeare’s lead into tragedy.
There were a few surprises along the way. First and foremost was Rafe McCawley with a twofer. He figured out that Datak Tarr was using the wedding as a way to get access to the McCawley mines and took steps to prevent him from ever getting it.
The second shock was him accepting Alak as the person Christie loved and that being enough for him to be willing to take him in if Datak turned him away for marrying Christie.
Like their literary counterparts, Christie and Alak have had a rocky relationship due to family drama and racial/cultural differences. Thankfully, though, we were treated to a happy ending with a wedding instead of the story following William Shakespeare’s lead into tragedy.
There were a few surprises along the way. First and foremost was Rafe McCawley with a twofer. He figured out that Datak Tarr was using the wedding as a way to get access to the McCawley mines and took steps to prevent him from ever getting it.
The second shock was him accepting Alak as the person Christie loved and that being enough for him to be willing to take him in if Datak turned him away for marrying Christie.
- 6/25/2013
- by jim@tvfanatic.com (Jim Garner)
- TVfanatic
Angelina Jolie's remarkable story about undergoing a preventative double mastectomy triggered an outpouring of empathy this week, as well as opened the door to the important discussion of women's health issues. At the other end of the spectrum, good fun was had over the gift Dean McDermott gave Tori Spelling for their seventh wedding anniversary. Here are the five stories that sparked the strongest reactions from readers over this past week - the news that made you happy, sad, laugh out loud, awestruck, even angry. In the meantime, please keep clicking on the emoticons at the bottom of every...
- 5/19/2013
- by Stephen M. Silverman
- PEOPLE.com
The bride wore black! 90210 actress Shenae Grimes married her fiancé, Josh Beech, a British model, in Vera Wang gown today outside of London. He alerted his Twitter followers about the news, writing, "Huge day!" And she confirmed that today was indeed special by posting a photo of themselves in their wedding finest a bit later with the comment, "I now pronounce us Mr. and Mrs. Beech!" Shenae wore a black Vera Wang gown for the backyard ceremony at an English Tudor home. Shenae and Josh got engaged in December. Congrats to the newlyweds! View Slideshow ›...
- 5/10/2013
- by Allie Merriam
- Popsugar.com
The bride wore black.Shenae Grimes and Josh Beech are officially man and wife, as the "90210" star tweeted a photo of the couple kissing with the message "I now pronounce us Mr. and Mrs. Beech!"It looks like the pic was taken during the ceremony itself -- and while her dress wasn't as unique as Mama June Shannon's camo gown, it was definitely an unusual choice.No white to be found here, as the 23-year-old sported a black and grey number for the ceremony.And that wasn't the only non-traditional part of the wedding. The two reportedly walked down the aisle to house music at a tudor manor outside of London.Congrats to the happy couple! What do you think about wearing a black wedding dress? Sound off below! Read more...
- 5/10/2013
- by tooFab Staff
- TooFab
Prolific Spanish film-maker who specialised in psychedelic gothic horror – often laced with sex and violence
According to the Internet Movie Database, the Spanish film-maker Jesús Franco, who has died aged 82, directed 199 films, from El árbol de España in 1957 to Al Pereira vs the Alligator Ladies in 2012, a record few can match in the era of talking pictures. Given that many Franco films exist in three or four variant versions, sometimes so radically different that alternative cuts qualify as separate movies, his overall tally might be considerably higher.
Born Jesús Franco Manera, he was most often credited – at least on international release prints – as Jess Frank or Jess Franco, though he used a host of pseudonyms, writing scripts as David Khune, composing music as Pablo Villa and co-directing pornographic films (with his long-term muse Lina Romay) as Rosa Almirall. He was a true man of the cinema, whose CV ranged from...
According to the Internet Movie Database, the Spanish film-maker Jesús Franco, who has died aged 82, directed 199 films, from El árbol de España in 1957 to Al Pereira vs the Alligator Ladies in 2012, a record few can match in the era of talking pictures. Given that many Franco films exist in three or four variant versions, sometimes so radically different that alternative cuts qualify as separate movies, his overall tally might be considerably higher.
Born Jesús Franco Manera, he was most often credited – at least on international release prints – as Jess Frank or Jess Franco, though he used a host of pseudonyms, writing scripts as David Khune, composing music as Pablo Villa and co-directing pornographic films (with his long-term muse Lina Romay) as Rosa Almirall. He was a true man of the cinema, whose CV ranged from...
- 4/5/2013
- by Kim Newman
- The Guardian - Film News
DVD Release Date: March 19, 2013
Price: DVD $29.95
Studio: Kino Lorber
Geraldine Chaplin (l.) and Jane Fonda set out to living communally in All Together.
Five aging friends decide to ditch assisted living and move in with each other in the 2012 French comedy All Together.
When elderly lothario Claude (Claude Rich, The Bride Wore Black) is put into an old folks home, his friends bust him out and start a cranky commune together, thinking they can care for each other better than anyone else. The hell with reduced autonomy, loss of memory, illness and, worset of all, separation from each other! The group is joined by a young graduate student (Daniel Brühl) who films their experiment for his research project, while also acting as a de facto caretaker. Everyone seems to enjoy communal living…at least until old jealousies and the infirmities of age begin to pull the group apart.
Written and directed by Stephane Robelin,...
Price: DVD $29.95
Studio: Kino Lorber
Geraldine Chaplin (l.) and Jane Fonda set out to living communally in All Together.
Five aging friends decide to ditch assisted living and move in with each other in the 2012 French comedy All Together.
When elderly lothario Claude (Claude Rich, The Bride Wore Black) is put into an old folks home, his friends bust him out and start a cranky commune together, thinking they can care for each other better than anyone else. The hell with reduced autonomy, loss of memory, illness and, worset of all, separation from each other! The group is joined by a young graduate student (Daniel Brühl) who films their experiment for his research project, while also acting as a de facto caretaker. Everyone seems to enjoy communal living…at least until old jealousies and the infirmities of age begin to pull the group apart.
Written and directed by Stephane Robelin,...
- 3/12/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
DVD Release Date: Feb. 26, 2013
Price: DVD $29.95
Studio: Olive Films
Kim Rossi-Stuart (l.) and Inés Sastre enjoy each other's company in Beyond the Clouds.
Legendary filmmakers Michelangelo Antonioni (I Vinti) and Wim Wenders (Pina) teamed up to create the 1995 drama-romance film Beyond the Clouds.
Co-written by Antonioni, Wenders and Tonino Guerra and directed by Antonioni, Beyond the Clouds, told from the dreamlike perspective of a wandering film director (portrayed by Secretariat‘s John Malkovich), weaves together four stories of love and lust, inspired by Antonioni’s book about the enigmatic power of modern relationships.
Taking place in Ferrara, Portofino, Aix en Provence and Paris, each story–which always has a woman at its center–turns inwards in its examination of love. Or, as the late Antonioni put it, the stories turn “towards the true image of that absolute and mysterious reality that nobody will ever see.” Er, okay….
Featuring music from Van Morrison,...
Price: DVD $29.95
Studio: Olive Films
Kim Rossi-Stuart (l.) and Inés Sastre enjoy each other's company in Beyond the Clouds.
Legendary filmmakers Michelangelo Antonioni (I Vinti) and Wim Wenders (Pina) teamed up to create the 1995 drama-romance film Beyond the Clouds.
Co-written by Antonioni, Wenders and Tonino Guerra and directed by Antonioni, Beyond the Clouds, told from the dreamlike perspective of a wandering film director (portrayed by Secretariat‘s John Malkovich), weaves together four stories of love and lust, inspired by Antonioni’s book about the enigmatic power of modern relationships.
Taking place in Ferrara, Portofino, Aix en Provence and Paris, each story–which always has a woman at its center–turns inwards in its examination of love. Or, as the late Antonioni put it, the stories turn “towards the true image of that absolute and mysterious reality that nobody will ever see.” Er, okay….
Featuring music from Van Morrison,...
- 1/4/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
The Bride Wore Black
Directed by François Truffaut
Written by François Truffaut and Jean-Louis Richard
France, 1968
The Bride Wore Black has a reputation that precedes it. It’s critically lauded, from the 1960’s, in French, by the legendary François Truffaut, a paean to Alfred Hitchcock, and the afflatus to Quentin Tarantino. This should be a great film by design, right?
Even though the film’s standing with critics seems to be universal, it’s not nearly as good as advertised, which makes the film’s shortcomings even more disappointing. Like it’s apocryphal prestige, The Bride Wore Black sets up an experience of high potential and intrigue, only to flounder in an anti-climatic misfire.
The bride in question is Julie Kohler (Jeanne Moreau). A recent widow, ‘widow’ being the impetus, Kohler leaves town following an unsuccessful suicide attempt.
Once out, she makes it her duty to track down five men who do not know her,...
Directed by François Truffaut
Written by François Truffaut and Jean-Louis Richard
France, 1968
The Bride Wore Black has a reputation that precedes it. It’s critically lauded, from the 1960’s, in French, by the legendary François Truffaut, a paean to Alfred Hitchcock, and the afflatus to Quentin Tarantino. This should be a great film by design, right?
Even though the film’s standing with critics seems to be universal, it’s not nearly as good as advertised, which makes the film’s shortcomings even more disappointing. Like it’s apocryphal prestige, The Bride Wore Black sets up an experience of high potential and intrigue, only to flounder in an anti-climatic misfire.
The bride in question is Julie Kohler (Jeanne Moreau). A recent widow, ‘widow’ being the impetus, Kohler leaves town following an unsuccessful suicide attempt.
Once out, she makes it her duty to track down five men who do not know her,...
- 7/11/2012
- by Justin Li
- SoundOnSight
Starting July 13th and running through September 2nd, prepare yourself to be transported to a summer vacation in France. All you have to do is check in at Tiff Cinematheque (350 King Street West, Toronto).
The 41-film sabbatical will make take you to popular and renowned destinations that include Jean-Luc Godard’s Pierrot le Fou (1965), Luis Buñuel’s Belle de Jour (1967), François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows (1959), and Jean Renoir’s La Grande Illusion (1937).
We’ll even be making stops at more remote, recherché locations, such as Jean Eustache’s The Mother and the Whore (1973) and Jean-Pierre Melville’s Army of Shadows (1969).
Remember to pack lightly, re-schedule accordingly, and prepare for the ultimate staycation. Bon voyage!
Screenings include:
La Grand Illusion (1937)
Friday July 13 at 6:00 Pm
Sunday July 22 at 7:30 Pm
117 minutes
Heralded as “one of the fifty best films in the history of cinema” by Time Out Film Guide, Jean Renoir...
The 41-film sabbatical will make take you to popular and renowned destinations that include Jean-Luc Godard’s Pierrot le Fou (1965), Luis Buñuel’s Belle de Jour (1967), François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows (1959), and Jean Renoir’s La Grande Illusion (1937).
We’ll even be making stops at more remote, recherché locations, such as Jean Eustache’s The Mother and the Whore (1973) and Jean-Pierre Melville’s Army of Shadows (1969).
Remember to pack lightly, re-schedule accordingly, and prepare for the ultimate staycation. Bon voyage!
Screenings include:
La Grand Illusion (1937)
Friday July 13 at 6:00 Pm
Sunday July 22 at 7:30 Pm
117 minutes
Heralded as “one of the fifty best films in the history of cinema” by Time Out Film Guide, Jean Renoir...
- 7/2/2012
- by Justin Li
- SoundOnSight
Strange, how objects travel between films, across times, spaces and fictions. Here: An Econolite train motion lamp, with "General" engine. Apparently a prerequisite for European auteurs making post-modern, American-style Hitchcock pastiches. A way to simultaneously signify an intimate, cozy family atmosphere, fold contemporary-seeming references to American cinema further back to pre-cinema optical illusions, and, most movingly, take on a kind of parental cinephilia, directors not just referencing movies but creating family spaces imbued fictionally and meta-fictionally with a love for cinema, passing it down to children.
From François Truffaut's The Bride Wore Black (1968), featuring Jeanne Moreau and Christophe Bruno; cinematography by Raoul Coutard.
From Wim Wender's The American Friend (1977), featuring Bruno Ganz and Andreas Dedecke; cinematography by Robby Müller.
From François Truffaut's The Bride Wore Black (1968), featuring Jeanne Moreau and Christophe Bruno; cinematography by Raoul Coutard.
From Wim Wender's The American Friend (1977), featuring Bruno Ganz and Andreas Dedecke; cinematography by Robby Müller.
- 11/15/2011
- MUBI
Loaded with recognizable tropes just begging to be tampered with, genre film is fertile spoof material, as can be evidence by obvious examples like the pointless Scary Movie franchise, or even within the same film as in those slasher film that knowingly straddle the line between terror and comedy, or B-Movies so tongue-in-cheek campy they function both as a good-humored critique of the genres the are playing against as well as a standalone narratives in their own right. Francois Truffaut’s sometimes goofy, sometimes chilling 1969 film The Bride Wore Black is genre lampoonery in the hands of a French auteur, not an unsurprising combo when considering the familiarity of the New Wave filmmakers with cinematic convention and their penchant for messing with it.
The Bride Wore Black was something of a critical failure when it opened, and Truffaut later disowned the film and derided it as one of his worst.
The Bride Wore Black was something of a critical failure when it opened, and Truffaut later disowned the film and derided it as one of his worst.
- 11/14/2011
- by Farihah Zaman
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Movie Poster of the Week was on vacation last week and thus missed the opening of the re-release of The Bride Wore Black at New York’s Film Forum. But, before it closes this Thursday, I simply must celebrate the fact that Truffaut’s 1968 Hitchcockian revenge drama may have more great and varied original posters than any other film. I count eleven here, each one a winner. First there are two French posters for La mariée était en noir by the peerless René Ferracci, who must have been more than usually inspired by Jeanne Moreau in her widow’s garb. In the first, above, he contradicts the title by scribbling in white on a photograph of Moreau in her titular mourning robe to turn it back into a wedding dress. (The same design was used for the original American poster which Film Forum and distributor Film Desk are selling reproductions of.
- 11/8/2011
- MUBI
"[T]he shadow of Alfred Hitchcock would loom heavily over the works of the young critics who took up cameras and formed the French New Wave," writes Fernando F Croce in Slant. "Whether direct or circuitous, traces of Hitch can be felt in Godard's insistence on filmic technique visibly and violently manifesting itself, Chabrol's fascination with human duality and repressed beastliness, Rohmer's Catholic examinations of private moralities, and even Rivette's view of a world precariously suspended over various trap doors. Curiously, the upstart who related most ardently to the older auteur was also the one with the least in common stylistically and spiritually: François Truffaut, whose freewheeling camera and affection for hypersensitive characters put him at the opposite side of the spectrum from the implacable visual exactitude and jaundiced worldview which characterized the Master of Suspense…. Think of Truffaut's The Bride Wore Black [1968] as the lumpiest fruit borne out of that union,...
- 11/4/2011
- MUBI
Peter Lennon (obituary, 21 March) existed in a constant state of activity, always embarking upon new projects. I don't know of anybody else who, starting to write their first film script at the age of 77, and basing it on their own rich and varied life, would decide it could only be a diptych of paired feature films. I was asked to read the (excellent) first draft and advised Peter that maybe he should lower his sights a bit, to just one film. He politely ignored me and continued doing exactly what he had done all his life – whatever he thought was right.
In the period that I filmed Peter for my 2004 documentary about his groundbreaking 1968 film Rocky Road to Dublin, he never at any point seemed like somebody whose life was nearing its end. He didn't seem to think of things ending: he was always beginning something. In the nature of such endeavours,...
In the period that I filmed Peter for my 2004 documentary about his groundbreaking 1968 film Rocky Road to Dublin, he never at any point seemed like somebody whose life was nearing its end. He didn't seem to think of things ending: he was always beginning something. In the nature of such endeavours,...
- 3/23/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
After taking on Jean Luc Godard in last weeks Not In The English Language it seemed only appropriate to place his contemporary Francois Truffaut in the frame this week.
Following the literary adaptation of Fahrenheit 451 and the film that would later go on to inspire Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill series The Bride Wore Black, Francois Truffaut returned to the Antoine Doinel series in 1968 with Stolen Kisses.
We pick up on the story that began in The 400 Blows and Antoine et Colette with Antoine freshly discharged (dishonorably) from the army, and on the lookout for his sweetheart (although not Colette the earlier object of his affections from the second film in the series). Through a series of events Antoine ends up working for a private detective agency, fall for the boss’s wife and finally end up working as a TV repairman. It’s all very scattershot but works incredibly well on screen.
Following the literary adaptation of Fahrenheit 451 and the film that would later go on to inspire Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill series The Bride Wore Black, Francois Truffaut returned to the Antoine Doinel series in 1968 with Stolen Kisses.
We pick up on the story that began in The 400 Blows and Antoine et Colette with Antoine freshly discharged (dishonorably) from the army, and on the lookout for his sweetheart (although not Colette the earlier object of his affections from the second film in the series). Through a series of events Antoine ends up working for a private detective agency, fall for the boss’s wife and finally end up working as a TV repairman. It’s all very scattershot but works incredibly well on screen.
- 2/2/2011
- by Adam Batty
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
We asked you to suggest the most defective crime capers on screen. Here are some truly ludicrous grand plans
@AcropolisNow Ocean's Eleven – how did the fliers for hookers, which doubled as the money, get into the vault? If the Swat team had brought in large bags that looked like money and then came out without them would that have not sent the alarm bells ringing?
@RichAlchemy Ocean's Twelve. The fact that they spend at least half their time trying to steal £2m worth of stuff, when they need £90m, and their equipment looks like it costs far more than £2m. The fact they construct a ludicrous plan to steal an egg from a museum, only to find that the French guy did it by dancing round the lasers. Oh, and the fact they actually get said egg by nicking a guy's backpack off a train.
@unke How about the scheme...
@AcropolisNow Ocean's Eleven – how did the fliers for hookers, which doubled as the money, get into the vault? If the Swat team had brought in large bags that looked like money and then came out without them would that have not sent the alarm bells ringing?
@RichAlchemy Ocean's Twelve. The fact that they spend at least half their time trying to steal £2m worth of stuff, when they need £90m, and their equipment looks like it costs far more than £2m. The fact they construct a ludicrous plan to steal an egg from a museum, only to find that the French guy did it by dancing round the lasers. Oh, and the fact they actually get said egg by nicking a guy's backpack off a train.
@unke How about the scheme...
- 10/17/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
For this edition Shadows of Film Noir, we take a look at William Castle's The Mark of the Whistler (1944), produced by the "B" unit at Columbia Pictures in 1944. It's a terrific, compact, intense little knuckle-biter about greed and its terrible consequences. It has never been available on video or DVD, though it recently screened at San Francisco's Roxie Cinema as part of an extraordinary new film noir series, "I Still Wake Up Dreaming." Here's hoping that someday Sony will be able to release a "Whistler" box set.
Behind the Scenes
"The Whistler" series comprised eight films, released between 1944 and 1948. They were more or less like "The Twilight Zone," with different stories and different characters each time, although actor Richard Dix played the lead character in seven of them. (Each movie ran about 60 minutes.) The "Whistler" character (played, without credit, by Otto Forrest) is more or less a narrator, a...
Behind the Scenes
"The Whistler" series comprised eight films, released between 1944 and 1948. They were more or less like "The Twilight Zone," with different stories and different characters each time, although actor Richard Dix played the lead character in seven of them. (Each movie ran about 60 minutes.) The "Whistler" character (played, without credit, by Otto Forrest) is more or less a narrator, a...
- 6/5/2010
- by Jeffrey M. Anderson
- Cinematical
Subject for further study: Jean Delannoy.
Object of current enquiry: Cornell Woolrich.
I love Woolrich's crime fiction, which is paranoid in almost a Philip K. Dick kind of way, and angst-ridden like Poe. Woolrich seems to have really lived the nightmare, roiling in misery his whole life, embittered, alcoholic and multi-dysfunctional. A natural for the movies.
Outside of the numerous film and TV adaptations in America, Woolrich found his fiction adapted in South America, Germany, Turkey, and especially France, where Truffaut adapted The Bride Wore Black (1968) and Waltz into Darkness (as La sirène du Mississipi, 1969).
Jean Delannoy, if he's remembered at all, is probably best known for the scathing review Truffaut wrote for his Chiens perdus sans collier (1955), a major salvo in the Cahiers du cinéma assault on the old guard of French filmmaking. Ironically, or at least coincidentally, the previous year Delannoy made Obsession, which was the last French...
Object of current enquiry: Cornell Woolrich.
I love Woolrich's crime fiction, which is paranoid in almost a Philip K. Dick kind of way, and angst-ridden like Poe. Woolrich seems to have really lived the nightmare, roiling in misery his whole life, embittered, alcoholic and multi-dysfunctional. A natural for the movies.
Outside of the numerous film and TV adaptations in America, Woolrich found his fiction adapted in South America, Germany, Turkey, and especially France, where Truffaut adapted The Bride Wore Black (1968) and Waltz into Darkness (as La sirène du Mississipi, 1969).
Jean Delannoy, if he's remembered at all, is probably best known for the scathing review Truffaut wrote for his Chiens perdus sans collier (1955), a major salvo in the Cahiers du cinéma assault on the old guard of French filmmaking. Ironically, or at least coincidentally, the previous year Delannoy made Obsession, which was the last French...
- 4/15/2010
- MUBI
Like all great writers, the filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, creates his own universe in which his eclectic bunch of characters run amok. It’s a slightly-cartoon world populated by stock genre characters such as boxers, druggies, psychos, femme fatales, gangsters, assassins and petty crooks. Tarantino uses genre cinema as a spring board for his own imagination. He is an iconoclast, a magpie, a fanboy who gets to unleash his richly-textured dream world every few years.
For the former video store clerk turned film director, there seems no reality other than film. Tarantino is still excited about films just as he was when a young boy. There is hero worship and idolatry in every frame. Even movies he hasn’t directed, but written, the force of personality remains. Stylistically, his films like to play with time frames and have a cartoony presentation of violence (some critics have called it gratuitous).
For the...
For the former video store clerk turned film director, there seems no reality other than film. Tarantino is still excited about films just as he was when a young boy. There is hero worship and idolatry in every frame. Even movies he hasn’t directed, but written, the force of personality remains. Stylistically, his films like to play with time frames and have a cartoony presentation of violence (some critics have called it gratuitous).
For the...
- 2/17/2010
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
Jose here to remind you that the magnificent Jeanne Moreau turns 82 today.
Go and celebrate by watching Elevator to the Gallows, Diary of a Chambermaid, The Lovers, Querelle, The Bride Wore Black, Jules and Jim, The Last Tycoon or my favorite La Notte.
Heck you can even watch Ever After if only to enjoy that smokey voice narrating a fairy tale.
If you've seen those and love Jeanne, today's a perfect day to revisit them and if you're not familiar with the woman Orson Welles called "the greatest actress in the world", what are you waiting for?...
Go and celebrate by watching Elevator to the Gallows, Diary of a Chambermaid, The Lovers, Querelle, The Bride Wore Black, Jules and Jim, The Last Tycoon or my favorite La Notte.
Heck you can even watch Ever After if only to enjoy that smokey voice narrating a fairy tale.
If you've seen those and love Jeanne, today's a perfect day to revisit them and if you're not familiar with the woman Orson Welles called "the greatest actress in the world", what are you waiting for?...
- 1/23/2010
- by Jose
- FilmExperience
Hermann joking with frequent collaborator Alfred Hitchcock.
Cinema Retro reader and film historian Bruce Crawford gave us the head's up that he recently collaborated with Robert Osborne on a month-long tribute to composer Bernard Hermann. Films relating to the maestro will be presented every Tuesday in September on TCM. Here is a look at the schedule:
12 August 2009Tcm (USA) - Spotlight on HerrmannSource: Bill Huelbig, Bruce Crawford Every Tuesday in September Turner Classic Movies (Us Version) will show several Herrmann scored films.
The spotlight will be hosted by Robert Osborne.
The Herrmann consultant is Bruce Crawford.
The schedule:
1. Sept:
Hangover Square
Devil and Daniel Webster
Citizen Kane
The Magnificent Ambersons
On Dangerous Ground
8. Sept:
Five Fingers
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Beneath the 12-Mile Reef
The Naked and the Dead
3 Worlds of Gulliver
15. Sept:
The Trouble With Harry
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Vertigo
The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad
Mysterious Island...
Cinema Retro reader and film historian Bruce Crawford gave us the head's up that he recently collaborated with Robert Osborne on a month-long tribute to composer Bernard Hermann. Films relating to the maestro will be presented every Tuesday in September on TCM. Here is a look at the schedule:
12 August 2009Tcm (USA) - Spotlight on HerrmannSource: Bill Huelbig, Bruce Crawford Every Tuesday in September Turner Classic Movies (Us Version) will show several Herrmann scored films.
The spotlight will be hosted by Robert Osborne.
The Herrmann consultant is Bruce Crawford.
The schedule:
1. Sept:
Hangover Square
Devil and Daniel Webster
Citizen Kane
The Magnificent Ambersons
On Dangerous Ground
8. Sept:
Five Fingers
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Beneath the 12-Mile Reef
The Naked and the Dead
3 Worlds of Gulliver
15. Sept:
The Trouble With Harry
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Vertigo
The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad
Mysterious Island...
- 8/26/2009
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.