Buddy Adler was just two years into his brief reign as the Head of Production for 20th Century Fox in 1958 when producer Walter Wanger brought him an epic project that could potentially pull the then-struggling studio out of its box office slump. The film wound up soaring so far over budget that Fox would be forced to sell 180 acres of its Los Angeles backlot to Alcoa just to stay financially afloat.
Had Adler made "Cleopatra" on his own terms, the title role would've been a sensibly priced production toplined by one of the studio's affordable contract stars (e.g. Joan Collins or Joanne Woodward). Wanger, however, had outsized dreams. He saw the historical drama as a Hollywood epic for the ages. He believed in its potential to dominate the box office and win scores of Academy Awards. He wanted Elizabeth Taylor, arguably the most popular movie star on the planet,...
Had Adler made "Cleopatra" on his own terms, the title role would've been a sensibly priced production toplined by one of the studio's affordable contract stars (e.g. Joan Collins or Joanne Woodward). Wanger, however, had outsized dreams. He saw the historical drama as a Hollywood epic for the ages. He believed in its potential to dominate the box office and win scores of Academy Awards. He wanted Elizabeth Taylor, arguably the most popular movie star on the planet,...
- 4/14/2024
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
The Academy has released a list of 366 feature films in contention for the upcoming 93rd Oscars. The number of eligible movies is up from the 344 submitted in 2019, although it’s not an AMPAS record. This is the highest total since the 1970 awards, which had 374 eligible entries.
All the expected awards contenders are among the “reminder list of productions eligible for the 93rd Academy Awards,” which include Florian Zeller’s “The Father,” Shaka King’s “Judas and the Black Messiah,” Lee Isaac Chung’s “Minari,” Paul Greengrass’ “News of the World,” Regina King’s “One Night in Miami,” Emerald Fennell’s “Promising Young Woman” Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland,” Pete Docter and Kemp Powers’ “Soul,” and Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”
Some of the more unconventional contenders are also on the list, including Robert Downey Jr.’s family pic “Dolittle,” the horror film “The Empty Man” from David Pryor,...
All the expected awards contenders are among the “reminder list of productions eligible for the 93rd Academy Awards,” which include Florian Zeller’s “The Father,” Shaka King’s “Judas and the Black Messiah,” Lee Isaac Chung’s “Minari,” Paul Greengrass’ “News of the World,” Regina King’s “One Night in Miami,” Emerald Fennell’s “Promising Young Woman” Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland,” Pete Docter and Kemp Powers’ “Soul,” and Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”
Some of the more unconventional contenders are also on the list, including Robert Downey Jr.’s family pic “Dolittle,” the horror film “The Empty Man” from David Pryor,...
- 2/25/2021
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Two-fisted Hong Kong racketeer Clark Gable goes out on a limb to recover Susan Hayward’s husband, held prisoner in Red China. In a literal pirate vessel armed with a stolen cannon, Gable literally goes to war, risking his smuggling empire by half-kidnapping Michael Rennie’s Hong Kong cop. This lush CinemaScope action-travelogue-romance now comes off as comfort food movie viewing: familiar stars doing what they do best. It’s a German import from a Hollywood Studio whose library titles may no longer be licensed to hard media home video.
Soldier of Fortune
Region-Free Blu-ray
Explosive Media GmbH
1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 96 min. / Street Date September 26, 2019 / Treffpunkt Hongkong / Available at Amazon.de
15.99 Euros Starring: Clark Gable, Susan Hayward, Michael Rennie, Gene Barry, Alexander D’Arcy, Tom Tully, Anna Sten, Russell Collins, Richard Loo, Frank Tang, Jack Kruschen, Leo Gordon, Mel Welles, Robert Quarry.
Cinematography: Leo Tover
Film Editor: Dorothy Spencer
Original Music:...
Soldier of Fortune
Region-Free Blu-ray
Explosive Media GmbH
1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 96 min. / Street Date September 26, 2019 / Treffpunkt Hongkong / Available at Amazon.de
15.99 Euros Starring: Clark Gable, Susan Hayward, Michael Rennie, Gene Barry, Alexander D’Arcy, Tom Tully, Anna Sten, Russell Collins, Richard Loo, Frank Tang, Jack Kruschen, Leo Gordon, Mel Welles, Robert Quarry.
Cinematography: Leo Tover
Film Editor: Dorothy Spencer
Original Music:...
- 9/17/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
How many screenwriters in Hollywood can claim to have written a popular film that connects with a new generation each decade for half a century? Alvin Sargent — who passed away on May 9 at the age of 92 — began writing for television in the mid-1950s; was off to the races from his first produced feature script, 1966’s “Gambit”; and went on to deliver so many movies that have stood and will continue to endure the test of time.
Consider these titles: “Ordinary People” … Actually, to have written “Ordinary People” alone would be enough to land any living writer on a very short list of masters. But in Sargent’s case, that devastating autopsy of the middle-class American dream — an adaptation of Judith Christ’s novel addressing how the façade of domestic perfection masks the difficult work of maintaining a family and marriage — followed such already impressive credits as “The Sterile Cuckoo,...
Consider these titles: “Ordinary People” … Actually, to have written “Ordinary People” alone would be enough to land any living writer on a very short list of masters. But in Sargent’s case, that devastating autopsy of the middle-class American dream — an adaptation of Judith Christ’s novel addressing how the façade of domestic perfection masks the difficult work of maintaining a family and marriage — followed such already impressive credits as “The Sterile Cuckoo,...
- 5/11/2019
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Nicholas Ray’s CinemaScope detour into outlaw Americana is yet another sincere artistic effort muffled by studio interference. Ray sought to examine a legend in terms of folklore and celebrity. Fox just wanted a cheap remake of its 1939 hit and undermined the director all the way. It’s a potentially great film marred by clumsy reshoots and re-edits.
The True Story of Jesse James
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 92 min. / Street Date November 20, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter, Hope Lange, Agnes Moorehead, Alan Hale Jr., Alan Baxter, John Carradine, Rachel Stephens, Barney Phillips, Biff Elliot, Frank Overton, Barry Atwater, Marian Seldes, Chubby Johnson, Frank Gorshin, Carl Thayler, John Doucette, Ken Clark, Anthony Ray, Gene Roth, Sumner Williams, Carleton Young.
Cinematography: Joe MacDonald
Original Music: Leigh Harline
Written by Walter Newman, based on an earlier screenplay by Nunnally Johnson
Produced by Herbert B. Swope Jr....
The True Story of Jesse James
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 92 min. / Street Date November 20, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter, Hope Lange, Agnes Moorehead, Alan Hale Jr., Alan Baxter, John Carradine, Rachel Stephens, Barney Phillips, Biff Elliot, Frank Overton, Barry Atwater, Marian Seldes, Chubby Johnson, Frank Gorshin, Carl Thayler, John Doucette, Ken Clark, Anthony Ray, Gene Roth, Sumner Williams, Carleton Young.
Cinematography: Joe MacDonald
Original Music: Leigh Harline
Written by Walter Newman, based on an earlier screenplay by Nunnally Johnson
Produced by Herbert B. Swope Jr....
- 12/22/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Now it can be told! Or maybe, now it can’t be told? William Bradford Huie’s novel of creeping American ambition in Honolulu ends up as a tame vehicle for Jane Russell, who in one of her last big starring movies gives the Hawaiian scenery a run for its money. Raoul Walsh does well in the direction department, but the story has been cleaned up for Sunday School.
The Revolt of Mamie Stover
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1956 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 92 min. / Street Date July 17, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Jane Russell, Richard Egan, Joan Leslie, Agnes Moorehead, Jorja Curtright, Michael Pate, Richard Coogan, Alan Reed, Eddie Firestone, Jean Willes, Margia Dean, Sally Todd, Hugh Beaumont.
Cinematography: Leo Tover
Costumes: Travilla
Visual Effects: Ray Kellogg
Original Music: Hugo Friedhofer
Written by Sydney Boehm, from the novel by William Bradford Huie
Produced by Buddy Adler
Directed by Raoul Walsh...
The Revolt of Mamie Stover
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1956 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 92 min. / Street Date July 17, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Jane Russell, Richard Egan, Joan Leslie, Agnes Moorehead, Jorja Curtright, Michael Pate, Richard Coogan, Alan Reed, Eddie Firestone, Jean Willes, Margia Dean, Sally Todd, Hugh Beaumont.
Cinematography: Leo Tover
Costumes: Travilla
Visual Effects: Ray Kellogg
Original Music: Hugo Friedhofer
Written by Sydney Boehm, from the novel by William Bradford Huie
Produced by Buddy Adler
Directed by Raoul Walsh...
- 7/28/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Rita Moreno spoke out in support of the Time's Up movement on the Golden Globes red carpet on Sunday and shared her own #MeToo experience, accusing a former studio head of stalking her when she was young.
"It's more than an idea, it's something. It's a movement, and I'm really delighted about that because I had my experiences. Believe me," Moreno, 86, told Et's Nancy O'Dell. "I had people stalking me who were head of studios. I was very young...At a time when it was just par for the course, and he was the head of 20th Century Fox."
"Buddy Adler," Moreno alleged when asked, referring to E. Maurice "Buddy" Adler, who was the production head of Fox and, in 1958, received the Golden Globes' Cecil B. DeMille award. He died in 1960. "That wasn't the only thing. It was so rampant," she said.
Moreno claimed harassment was simply accepted at the time. "Nobody was going to...
"It's more than an idea, it's something. It's a movement, and I'm really delighted about that because I had my experiences. Believe me," Moreno, 86, told Et's Nancy O'Dell. "I had people stalking me who were head of studios. I was very young...At a time when it was just par for the course, and he was the head of 20th Century Fox."
"Buddy Adler," Moreno alleged when asked, referring to E. Maurice "Buddy" Adler, who was the production head of Fox and, in 1958, received the Golden Globes' Cecil B. DeMille award. He died in 1960. "That wasn't the only thing. It was so rampant," she said.
Moreno claimed harassment was simply accepted at the time. "Nobody was going to...
- 1/8/2018
- Entertainment Tonight
Eighty-five-year-old Rita Moreno, who may be best known for playing Anita in the movie West Side Story, went off script in a truly empowering way last night at the Paley Center's Celebrating Women in Television event in Beverly Hills, CA. The actress opened up about her own experience facing aggressive sexual harassment by the then-head of 20th Century Fox as a young woman in Hollywood. She also suggested her choice to come forward was motivated by the horrific list of sexual harassment and assault accusations against producer Harvey Weinstein, which only continues to grow. "This is important, and this is why I'm bringing it up, honestly," Moreno - who is one of the few stars to ever win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony - told the crowd. "This is not what I'm supposed to talk about. This is important this week." Moreno also acknowledged the particular barriers she faced...
- 10/13/2017
- by Lindsay Miller
- Popsugar.com
That scarlet woman Ingrid is back from exile, and hypocritical Hollywood is not complaining -- Anatole Litvak and Arthur Laurents make an intriguing romantic-psychological mystery of a bogus Romanoff Duchess who surfaces in 1928 Paris to claim the crown fortune. Good roles for Yul Brynner and Helen Hayes as well. It's a strange intersection of scandal, history and swindlers that may have found the real item... and maybe not. Anastasia Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1956 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 105 min. / Ship Date March 15, 2016 / available through Twilight Time Movies / 29.95 Starring Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brynner, Helen Hayes, Akim Tamiroff, Martita Hunt, Felix Aylmer, Sacha Pitoeff, Ivan Desny, Natalie Schafer, Karel Stepanek Cinematography Jack Hildyard Art Direction Andrej Andrejew, Bill Andrews Film Editor Bert Bates Original Music Alfred Newman Written by Arthur Laurents from a play by Marcelle Maurette Produced by Buddy Adler Directed by Anatole Litvak
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The cleverly written and...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The cleverly written and...
- 3/29/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Woody Allen Golden Globes 2014 tribute: Diane Keaton remembers ‘friend’ (photo: Woody Allen directing Cate Blanchett in ‘Blue Jasmine’) Accepting from presenter Emma Stone the 2014 Cecil B. DeMille Award for absentee Woody Allen, Diane Keaton (Sleeper, Love and Death, Annie Hall, Interiors, Manhattan, Manhattan Murder Mystery) was a likable presence at the January 12, 2014, Golden Globes ceremony, but her reminiscences about Allen were clearly PG-rated, going on about their "friendship" as if the two had always been just pals. Was that lullaby she sang moving or would Woody Allen have been right in yelling, "get the hook and get her off the god damn stage"? You decide. Now, in all fairness, Diane Keaton’s Woody Allen tribute wasn’t all PG-rated treacle, as she was twice bleeped by the censors. Apparently, NBC — and the ludicrous FCC — believe television audiences should be treated as if we were all three-year-olds. (See also: “Golden Globes...
- 1/13/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Jodie Foster, who turns 50 on Nov. 19, got an early birthday present from the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. with Thursday's announcement that she is to be the recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award. -Insertgroups:12- She is the fourth youngest honoree in the 59-year history of this lifetime achievement honor. Judy Garland, who was the first woman to be feted, was only 39 in 1962, while 1957 honoree Buddy Adler was 48 and 1966 honoree Charlton Heston was 43. Foster is only the thirteenth woman to receive this award and the first since Barbra Streisand in 2000. Foster has been a favorite of the HFPA over the years, with seven nominations. She won her two Golden Globes for the same roles that netted her Oscars -- "The Accused" (1988) and "Silence of the Lambs" (1991). However, given her relative youth, Foster did not even figure into Chris Beachum's crystal balling of the potential women who were worthy of this award.
- 11/1/2012
- Gold Derby
They grow up so fast.
Former child star Jodie Foster is now claiming a lifetime achievement award.
The two-time Academy Award-winning star of The Silence of the Lambs and The Accused will received the Cecil B. DeMille trophy at the upcoming Golden Globe Awards.
Past recipients of the honor include Barbra Streisand, Al Pacino, Warren Beatty, and — last year — Morgan Freeman.
At age 50, Foster will be the fourth youngest person to ever claim the award, edging out Kirk Douglas (1968), producer Darryl F. Zanuck (1954) and Walt Disney (1953) who were all tied for that spot at 51-years-old. There are a few who...
Former child star Jodie Foster is now claiming a lifetime achievement award.
The two-time Academy Award-winning star of The Silence of the Lambs and The Accused will received the Cecil B. DeMille trophy at the upcoming Golden Globe Awards.
Past recipients of the honor include Barbra Streisand, Al Pacino, Warren Beatty, and — last year — Morgan Freeman.
At age 50, Foster will be the fourth youngest person to ever claim the award, edging out Kirk Douglas (1968), producer Darryl F. Zanuck (1954) and Walt Disney (1953) who were all tied for that spot at 51-years-old. There are a few who...
- 11/1/2012
- by Anthony Breznican
- EW - Inside Movies
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