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Christmas movies are one of the most beloved genres in cinema history with every film fan having their own select favorite that they watch and rewatch every year. However, while the genre is treasured, the Oscars haven’t rewarded it as much as you might think or hope. There are several movies, however, that have found their way into Oscars lineups. We’ve detailed just five of those Christmas movies that have managed Oscar nominations or wins.

By the way, “The Apartment” is not included on this list (but might be in a future article). The Billy Wilder movie won five Academy Awards including Best Picture (1961) but there seems to be debate around whether it actually qualifies as a Christmas movie or not. It’s set during the holiday period, but some feel that isn’t enough for it to be an out-and-out Christmas movie. Perhaps that’s one for our forums.

No one took movie stardom more seriously than Steve McQueen. Once the actor became a certified box-office draw in the early 1960s on the strength of "The Magnificent Seven" and "The Great Escape," he got incredibly picky about his projects. McQueen knew his tough, taciturn type, and he rarely played against it. He was also disinclined to play anything other than the lead, and he demanded to be paid at his market value.

This proved problematic when he signed on to play heroic fireman Thomas O'Halloran in Irwin Allen's "The Towering Inferno." All-star disaster movies were quite the rage in the early 1970s, and were not looked down upon critically. George Seaton's 1970 adaptation of Arthur Hailey's "Airport" earned 10 Academy Award nominations, with Helen Hayes winning Best Supporting Actress. Three years later, Ronald Neame's "The Poseidon Adventure" racked up eight nominations, and two wins (for Best Original...

On March 12, once the curtain comes down on the 95th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre, the must-stop afterparty will just be getting started for Oscar nominees — winners and losers alike. This year marks the 65th anniversary of the Governors Ball, but it wasn’t always a coveted invitation — or even a tradition. The first Academy Awards statuettes were handed out in 1929 at a banquet in the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, but the annual banquet was discontinued during the war years and, by 1958, the ceremony had migrated farther down Hollywood Boulevard to the Pantages Theatre. This meant that once the show was over, the stars were left to fend for themselves. So that year, the Academy charged actor and future California senator George Murphy with chairing a post-Oscars dinner dance, which would take place at the Beverly Hilton hotel. Its venue has changed over the years, but...

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Canadian actor George R. Robertson passed away in Toronto on February 3, 2023. He was 89. 

Robertson is perhaps best known for playing the role of Chief, then Commissioner Henry Hurst in the first six "Police Academy" movies, released yearly from 1984 to 1989. The "Police Academy" series, while not well-reviewed, were massively successful, providing a generation with a cop-themed, National Lampoon-style snobs-vs.-slobs cinematic bedrock. According to the 2010 book "George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success" by Alex Ben Block and Lucy Autrey Wilson, the first "Police Academy" film made nearly 150 million on a 4 million budget. 

The premise of the series was simple: due to a shortage of police officers in an unnamed American city, the local police department has been ordered to accept anyone who applies for the job. This leads to a comedy of errors wherein every weirdo,...

These days, remakes are an all-too-prevalent part of the Hollywood machine. Not to get all old-man-yells-at-cloud on you, but it's gotten a bit silly of late. Even the likes of "Easy Rider" are being rebooted now. But long before, say, Disney began turning its beloved animated musicals into disorienting, desaturated live-action fare, movie studios always had a penchant for retreading successful material.

So it was back in 1994 when 20th Century Fox Studios decided it was high-time they remade the 1947 holiday classic "Miracle on 34th Street." The original captured the hearts of America, with Edmund Gwenn's Kris Kringle defending his claim of being the real Santa Claus in court, thereby restoring everyone's faith in the magic of existence. Valentine Davies' story, directed by George Seaton, simultaneously promoted corporate interests by heavily featuring department store giant Macy's, and critiqued big business encroachment on the festive season by depicting some good old...

The mean-spirited children’s books of Roald Dahl have, rather oddly, become indelible classics. That’s probably because Dahl — a former British espionage agent, and writer of even grimmer short stories for adults — was under no illusion that childhood was a wonderful time.

Books like “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Matilda” and “The Witches” confirm what most children already suspected: that adults have a general disdain for kids, and that if kids were going to survive, they’d have to save themselves. At their best, adaptations of Dahl’s work capture that cynical spirit. At their worst, they fall prey to Dahl’s basest instincts, an unfortunate tendency towards bigoted portrayals and unhealthy themes.

When exploring every Roald Dahl movie, however, you can’t stop at the kids’ films. Dahl was also a screenwriter who adapted the works of other authors to the big screen, and not every filmmaker was...

Is there a more perfect combination of capitalism and the more precious aspects of American life than the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade? Kindling festive excitement among the innocent children of the country is a wonderful thing, especially when it's sponsored by a store that wants to turn a decent profit for Christmas. As cynical as you want to be about it, there's no denying the annual event has become a beloved part of the holiday season stateside, signaling the immaculate melding of corporate interests with the human capacity for joy.

But believe it or not, before 1947 the parade didn't quite have the national recognition it does now. It wasn't until George Seaton's equally beloved interpretation of Valentine Davies' story "Miracle on 34th Street" hit theaters that the parade began being broadcast nationwide. The holiday classic not only spread a heartwarming message of hope, but also thrust Macy's and its festive...

Halloween has drifted off like a ghost in the night, and most of us have recovered from the piles of food we ate at Thanksgiving. That means it's time to build snow sculptures, hang up the twinkling lights and stockings, and watch some holiday classic films like 1947's "Miracle on 34th Street." Oddly enough, it was released in June of that year because 20th Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck thought people saw more films in the summer, according to the Turner Classic Movies website. Despite the warm breezes blowing as ticket holders waited to check out this story of a man who might very well be Santa Claus, it wasn't filmed in the summer. In fact, the scene at the big parade was filmed during the actual 1946 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City in November. 

The cast had to sneak in some shots during the real...

There is an adorable moment in Anthony Giacchino's "Director by Night" -- a 54-minute documentary on the amateur-turned-professional directing career of his brother Michael -- where the Giacchinos' mother Josephine is asked to read a list of her famous son's composing credits. Looking over a paragraph penned by Anthony, Josephine reads that Michael has composed music for films like "The Batman" and "The MCU Spider-Man Trilogy." Innocently, she asks what "MCU" stands for. Anthony patiently explains that it describes the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Josephine then asks if "The Batman" is also part of the MCU. Anthony can barely disguise his frustration. No, mom. That's DC comics. Josephine is a little embarrassed that she's not as familiar with this stuff as her kids. 

"Director by Night" isn't so much about the making of Michael's MCU entry "Werewolf by Night" (which broadcast on Disney+ on October 7), but about Michael Giacchino's childhood passion for filmmaking.

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Faye Marlowe, a 1940s starlet best known for her turn opposite the doomed Laird Cregar, Linda Darnell and George Sanders in the film noir classic Hangover Square, has died. She was 95.

Marlowe died May 5 in Cary, North Carolina, her daughter Karen Joseph told The Hollywood Reporter.

In her brief Hollywood career, the dark-haired Marlowe also starred alongside Richard Conte in The Spider (1945), another excellent film noir; with Richard Crane in Johnny Comes Flying Home (1946); and, as the title character, with Eddie Albert in Rendezvous With Annie (1946).

After she appeared on the stage for John Brahm, the German director gave her a key role in her first movie, Fox’s Hangover Square (1945). She played the pianist girlfriend of a mild-mannered composer (Cregar) who suffers from blackouts and becomes a serial killer in the turn-of-the century, London-set thriller scored by Bernard Herrmann.

(Cregar, who was...

George Seaton connected an ideal cast to this true-life WW2 story so good that a lazy script and slack direction can’t sink it. William Holden is the American-Swede who spies for the Allies, ruining his own reputation and schmoozing with Nazis that will kill him if he slips up. Wonderful Lilli Palmer is the patriot-agent who steals his heart. The locations are impressive but one inspired scene captures with perfection the utter depravity of fascist power. If ever a WW2 movie needed a remake, this one qualifies.

The Counterfeit Traitor

Region-free Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 118

1962 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 141 min. / Street Date April 27, 2022 / Available from /

Starring: William Holden, Lilli Palmer, Hugh Griffith, Carl Raddatz, Ernst Schröder, Charles Régnier, Ingrid van Bergen, Helo Gutschwager, Wolfgang Preiss, Werner Peters, Erica Beer, Stefan Schnabel, Klaus Kinski, Eva Dahlbeck.

Cinematography: Jean Bourgoin

Production Designer: Ellen Schmidt

Art Directors: Hal Pereira, Tambi Larsen, Mathias Matthies

Film Editors: Hans Ebel,...

Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars and Emmys ceremonies from film awards editor Clayton Davis. Following history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar and Emmy predictions are updated regularly with the current year's list of contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four phases, running all year long: Draft, Pre-Season, Regular Season and Post Season. The eligibility calendar and dates of awards will determine how long each phase lasts and is subject to change.

To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit The Oscars Collective

Visit each category, per the individual awards show from The Oscars Hub

Revisit the prediction archive of the 2021 season The Archive

Link to television awards is atTHE Emmys Hub

2022 Oscars Predictions:

Best Adapted Screenplay

Updated: March 24, 2022

Awards Prediction Commentary:

For the majority of the awards season, no...

Everything old is new again. Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed remake of “West Side Story” has garnered seven Oscar nominations. That haul is impressive but pales next to that of the 1961 original which reaped a whopping 11 bids. Not surprisingly, it was the big winner at the 34th annual Oscars. These took place at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on April 9, 1962 with Bob Hope hosting.

The Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins adaptation of the Leonard Bernstein–Stephen Sondheim landmark Broadway musical waltzed away with 10 wins including Best Picture, Director (shared for the first time) and for supporting players Rita Moreno and George Chakiris.

Robbins also received an honorary Oscar that night for his “brilliant achievement in the art of choreography on film.” Ironically, Robbins had received his walking papers from his directing duties 45 days into production. Wise told me in a 2002 L.A. Times interview that the production was behind schedule and over-budget.

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“BEHIND Every MAN…â€.

By Raymond Benson

One of the more popular Hollywood movies of 1954 was The Country Girl, written and directed by George Seaton, adapted from a stage play by Clifford Odets. The Academy liked it well enough to nominate it for Best Picture, Director, Actor (Bing Crosby), Black and White Art Direction, and Black and White Cinematography (John F. Warren). The movie won Oscars for Actress (Grace Kelly) and for the Adapted Screenplay by Seaton.

The Academy sure loves it when a beautiful actress dispenses with any hint of glamour and presents herself in a dowdy, plain, or even “uglyâ€. appearance. And while Grace Kelly could never not be beautiful, her role as Georgie Elgin is not known to emphasize her timeless attractiveness and sensuality. Furthermore, she delivers an outstanding performance that was good enough to surpass the likes...

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By John M. Whalen

It’s a story line that’s been used in dozens of Western films. Two long-time friends who grew up together, later split up and take different paths—one follows the straight and narrow and becomes a lawman and the other turns into an outlaw. Fate decrees that one day they will have to meet in a showdown. It usually ends with the outlaw lying face down in the dirt and the sheriff sad and bitter about it all, wondering if it was all really worth it.

In 1973 two films with that plot were released within a month of each other. In May, Universal released “Showdownâ€. starring Rock Hudson and Dean Martin, the last film directed by veteran helmsman George Seaton (“Miracle on 34th St.,â€. “Airportâ€.) and the last western that Martin (“Sons of Katie Elder,...

George Seaton’s literal feel-good comedy is the flipside of pandemic films like Contagion: a powerful virus ‘cures’ grumpiness and bad vibes, encouraging a kind of Urban Utopia. The picture has nothing more to say than ‘have a nice day,’ yet it’s difficult to argue with any positive sentiment, especially these days. George Peppard and Mary Tyler Moore battle nobly with the material, which varies from good parody (Dom DeLuise) to awful vaudeville schtick to wafer-thin satire to terrible musical interludes. A Toucan bird from South America steals the show — his trainer Ray Berwick should have won an Oscar.

What’s So Bad About Feeling Good?

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 94 min. / Street Date August 24, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: George Peppard, Mary Tyler Moore, Susan Saint James, Don Stroud, Dom DeLuise, John McMartin, Charles Lane, Nathaniel Frey, George Furth, Morty Gunty, Frank Campanella, Thelma Ritter,...

Since the first ceremony, Oscar voters have honored the importance of the first step in the filmmaking process by awarding screenwriters on an annual basis. The Best Adapted Screenplay award is given in recognition of each year’s most outstanding script derived from an existing work. Academy rules allow for a variety of source materials, including fiction and nonfiction books, plays, and even previous short and feature films.

The films in contention for the 2021 Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar are “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” “The Father,” “Nomadland,” “One Night in Miami,” and “The White Tiger.” Our odds currently indicate that “Nomadland” (82/25) will win the award, followed in order by “The Father” (37/10), “One Night in Miami” (9/2), “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” (9/2), and “The White Tiger” (9/2).

In adapting his play “The Father” from stage to screen, Florian Zeller teamed with Christopher Hampton, who previously won this award in 1989 for “Dangerous Liaisons.” Hampton is now one of...

The most glamorous movie about the Korean War experience lauds the bravery of Navy aviators while spelling out the downside of fighting an unpopular war. William Holden, Grace Kelly, Fredric March and Mickey Rooney turn in sharp performances, and Charles McGraw gets his best character part as a no-nonsense flight commander. Paramount’s special effects department outdid themselves on this one — the illusions are beautifully matched to the live-action filmmaking. Heaven help the good civilian soldier that finds himself asking how he ended up getting shot at in a ditch in some far-off foreign country.

The Bridges at Toko-Ri

Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 30

1954 / Color / Open Matte flat 1:37 (should be 1:85 widescreen) / 102 min. / Street Date February 24, 2021 / Available from Viavision / 34.95

Starring: William Holden, Grace Kelly, Fredric March, Mickey Rooney, Robert Strauss, Charles McGraw, Keiko Awaji, Earl Holliman, Richard Shannon, Willis Bouchey, Teru Shimada, Dennis Weaver, Corey Allen, Gene Reynolds, Roger Pace.

Cinematography: Loyal Griggs...

Paul Raci, 72, has already won several critics organization’s awards including from the National Society of Film Critics for his performance as Joe, a recovering alcoholic who lost his hearing in the Vietnam War. Joe runs a house for recovering deaf addicts that Ruben (Riz Ahmed), a drug addict who lost his hearing playing drums, goes to live. Raci ranks in the top five contenders for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars according to our exclusive odds.

And there’s a good reason wh: the actor gives such a natural, forceful performance as the no-nonsense Joe-his parents were deaf. He’s also fluent in American Sign Language and has appeared in some dozen productions of the Los Angeles-based Deaf West Theater and is lead performer of the Asl Black Sabbath tribute band Hands of Doom. And just as Joe, Raci is also a Vietnam Vet.

Character actors have won Oscars...

“Why isn’t the original Miracle on 34th Street on TV this year? We need to see movies that offer hope.”

“Where is Miracle on 34th Street with Maureen O’Hara??”

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Many a TVLine reader is on the hunt for the 1947 classic Christmas movie, about a jolly old man who just might be the real Santa Claus. Alas, unless you subscribe to Disney+, you’re likely to only get coal.

If you ever sit down to watch 20th Century Fox’s original trailer for Miracle on 34th Street, a few things might appear strange. Right off the bat it’s unique—unprecedented even—to market a new release without any real footage from the film. Other than a few seconds of the movie’s opening titles and an actual shot from the picture’s final seconds, audiences were told nothing about Miracle on 34th Street other than it was “hilarious!” “exciting!” and, dare they say it, “groovy!”

There was of course a reason for this: 20th Century Fox, and more specifically studio head Darryl F. Zanuck, had absolutely no faith in the feel-good holiday movie and didn’t even want the audience to know it was a holiday movie. Zanuck’s insistence that the film open in New York City on June 4 probably added to their skittishness toward the subject matter.

We're watching All 17 of Montgomery Clift's films for his Centennial. Here's returning contributor David Upton with episode 4.

Just two years after his debut in The Search, Montgomery Clift returned to post-war Europe. The Big Lift, released in 1950, was just two years removed from the true story it centres on, the Berlin airlift of 1948. One of the first major crises of the Cold War, the airlift was needed thanks to the Soviet blockade of the part of the city under the control of Western allies. Berlin is a city in ruin, populated by a people torn apart and living amongst rubble. Into this, director George Seaton’s film casts a watchful Monty and the exuberant Paul Douglas as a pair of Air Force sergeants, Danny MacCullough and Hank Kowalski.

Future AMPAS president Seaton, best known for 1947’s whimsical Christmas fantasy Miracle on 34th Street, goes hard on the verité factor,...

As Disney quietly disappears huge swathes of film history into its vaults, I'm going to spend 2020 celebrating Twentieth Century Fox and the Fox Film Corporation's films, what one might call their output if only someone were putting it out.And now they've quietly disappeared William Fox's name from the company: guilty by association with Rupert Murdoch, even though he never associated with him.***"We offer for your mental scrutiny / The reasons for the mutiny."I believe Where Do We Go From Here? (1945) qualifies as a rarity, having never been released on any home video or streaming format. This is a shame, but you can see why. The whole concept of whimsy has a tendency to lumpenness, even though the very word seems to imply a lighter-than-air approach. Which is heavier, a ton of scrap metal or a ton of feathers?So what we have here is a fantasy in...

Critics compare this sophisticated spy thriller to Carol Reed’s earlier Triumph set in Vienna with Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles — but it’s a different story altogether, not about black-market evil but the perils of moral compromise in a divided Berlin. James Mason and Claire Bloom are stunningly good together, in a moody suspense that’s completely serious — no comic relief or ‘fun’ jeopardy to distract from the fascinating, you-are-there setting, a Berlin trying to rebuild itself. With Hildegard Knef, and an extended, beautifully filmed nighttime chase that seals an unlikely romance.

The Man Between

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1953 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 102 min. / Street Date November 5, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: James Mason, Claire Bloom, Hildegard Knef, Geoffrey Toone, Aribert Wäscher, Ernst Schróder, Dieter Krause, Hilde Sessak, Karl John, Ljuba Welitsch, Reinhard Kolldehoff.

Cinematography: Desmond Dickinson

Film Editor: Bert Bates

Original Music: John Addison

Written by Harry Kurnitz,...

Barry Jenkins and Spike Lee made history this year as the first black writers to earn multiple nominations at the Oscars. They’re both up for Best Adapted Screenplay, Jenkins for “If Beale Street Could Talk” and Lee for “BlacKkKlansman.” But Jenkins previously won this category for “Moonlight” (2016), so if he prevails again he will become the first black writer to claim multiple awards, and he would join an elite group of scribes with multiple Best Adapted Screenplay trophies on their mantels.

The auspicious list of multiple champs already includes Joseph L. Mankiewicz (“A Letter to Three Wives” and “All About Eve”), George Seaton (“Miracle on 34th Street” and “The Country Girl”), Robert Bolt (“Doctor Zhivago” and “A Man for All Seasons”), Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo (together for both “The Godfather” and “The Godfather Part II”), Alvin Sargent (“Julia” and “Ordinary People”), Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (“A Room with a View...

This article marks Part 3 of the Gold Derby series reflecting on films that contended for the Big Five Oscars – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay (Original or Adapted). With “A Star Is Born” this year on the cusp of joining this exclusive group of Oscar favorites, join us as we look back at the 43 extraordinary pictures that earned Academy Awards nominations in each of the Big Five categories, including the following 11 films that scored a pair of prizes among the top races.

At the 4th Academy Awards ceremony, “Cimarron” (1931) made Oscar history as the first motion picture to ever score nominations in the Big Five categories. On the big night, the western took home the top prize in Best Picture, as well as the Oscar in Best Adapted Screenplay (Howard Estabrook). Not as successful were the picture’s director, Wesley Ruggles, topped by Norman Taurog (“Skippy”), and the leads,...

Miracle on 34th Street is back in theatres this month as part of our Classic Film SeriesMiracle on 34th Street is back in theatres this month as part of our Classic Film SeriesIngrid Randoja - Cineplex Magazine11/29/2017 1:57:00 Pm

In today’s Hollywood no movie studio would even consider opening a Christmas movie in June, but that’s exactly what 20th Century Fox studio head Darryl Zanuck decided to do in 1947 with Miracle on 34th Street. In addition to releasing the film in summer, he also decided that the trailer wouldn’t even mention it was a Christmas movie.

His curious choices paid off as crowds flocked to see a movie that’s become a Holiday classic. Directed by George Seaton, the film stars Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle, a kindly old man who is hired by Macy’s department store employee Doris Walker (Maureen O’Hara) to act...

Back when interracial marriage was a shady topic (are those dark days coming back?) the U.S. military had some adjustment issues. Full integration of the ranks didn’t remove the anti- Japanese bigotry. James Michener’s novel has been transformed into a big-scale romance, with Marlon Brando coming to terms with a split in loyalty between the flag and his private life. The big shock is that the Paul Osborn’s screenplay doesn’t let the military off easy.

Sayonara

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 147 min. / Street Date November 14, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Marlon Brando, Patricia Owens, James Garner, Martha Scott, Miiko Taka, Miyoshi Umeki, Red Buttons, Kent Smith.

Cinematography: Ellsworth Fredericks

Film Editors: Philip W. Anderson, Arthur P. Schmidt

Production Design: Ted Haworth

Original Music: Irving Berlin, Franz Waxman

Written by Paul Osborn from the novel by James Michener

Produced by William Goetz...

Long before movies routinely created ‘worlds’ with their own twisted fantasy logic, only a few paranoid thrillers, usually odd genre items, tried out twisted stories of deceptive ‘hidden realities.’ Like an extended Twilight Zone entry, this lively James Garner war pic morphs into a bizarre conspiracy worthy of Philip K. Dick. If only it weren’t so “L-a-o” — Literal And Obvious.

36 Hours

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1965 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 115 min. / Street Date April 11, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Rod Taylor, Werner Peters, John Banner, Russell Thorson, Alan Napier, Oscar Beregi, Ed Gilbert, Sig Ruman, Celia Lovsky, Karl Held, James Doohan.

Cinematography Philip H. Lathrop

Art Direction Edward Carfagno, George W. Davis

Film Editor Adrienne Fazan

Original Music Dimitri Tiomkin

Written by George Seaton, Carl K. Hittleman, Luis H. Vance from a story by Roald Dahl

Produced by William Perlberg

Directed by George Seaton

Released...

Merle Oberon films: From empress to duchess in 'Hotel.' Merle Oberon films: From starring to supporting roles Turner Classic Movies' Merle Oberon month comes to an end tonight, March 25, '16, with six movies: Désirée, Hotel, Deep in My Heart, Affectionately Yours, Berlin Express, and Night Song. Oberon's presence alone would have sufficed to make them all worth a look, but they have other qualities to recommend them as well. 'Désirée': First supporting role in two decades Directed by Henry Koster, best remembered for his Deanna Durbin musicals and the 1947 fantasy comedy The Bishop's Wife, Désirée (1954) is a sumptuous production that, thanks to its big-name cast, became a major box office hit upon its release. Marlon Brando is laughably miscast as Napoleon Bonaparte, while Jean Simmons plays the title role, the Corsican Conqueror's one-time fiancée Désirée Clary (later Queen of Sweden and Norway). In a supporting role – her...

Ramon Novarro: 'Ben-Hur' 1925 star. 'Ben-Hur' on TCM: Ramon Novarro in most satisfying version of the semi-biblical epic Christmas 2015 is just around the corner. That's surely the reason Turner Classic Movies presented Fred Niblo's Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ last night, Dec. 20, '15, featuring Carl Davis' magnificent score. Starring Ramon Novarro, the 1925 version of Ben-Hur became not only the most expensive movie production,[1] but also the biggest worldwide box office hit up to that time.[2] Equally important, that was probably the first instance when the international market came to the rescue of a Hollywood mega-production,[3] saving not only Ben-Hur from a fate worse than getting trampled by a runaway chariot, but also the newly formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which could have been financially strangled at birth had the epic based on Gen. Lew Wallace's bestseller been a commercial bomb. The convoluted making of 'Ben-Hur,' as described...

Constance Cummings: Stage and film actress ca. early 1940s. Constance Cummings on stage: From Sacha Guitry to Clifford Odets (See previous post: “Constance Cummings: Flawless 'Blithe Spirit,' Supporter of Political Refugees.”) In the post-World War II years, Constance Cummings' stage reputation continued to grow on the English stage, in plays as diverse as: Stephen Powys (pseudonym for P.G. Wodehouse) and Guy Bolton's English-language adaptation of Sacha Guitry's Don't Listen, Ladies! (1948), with Cummings as one of shop clerk Denholm Elliott's mistresses (the other one was Betty Marsden). “Miss Cummings and Miss Marsden act as fetchingly as they look,” commented The Spectator. Rodney Ackland's Before the Party (1949), delivering “a superb performance of controlled hysteria” according to theater director and Michael Redgrave biographer Alan Strachan, writing for The Independent at the time of Cummings' death. Clifford Odets' Winter Journey / The Country Girl (1952), as...

Maureen O'Hara: Queen of Technicolor. Maureen O'Hara movies: TCM tribute Veteran actress and Honorary Oscar recipient Maureen O'Hara, who died at age 95 on Oct. 24, '15, in Boise, Idaho, will be remembered by Turner Classic Movies with a 24-hour film tribute on Friday, Nov. 20. At one point known as “The Queen of Technicolor” – alongside “Eastern” star Maria Montez – the red-headed O'Hara (born Maureen FitzSimons on Aug. 17, 1920, in Ranelagh, County Dublin) was featured in more than 50 movies from 1938 to 1971 – in addition to one brief 1991 comeback (Chris Columbus' Only the Lonely). Maureen O'Hara and John Wayne Setting any hint of modesty aside, Maureen O'Hara wrote in her 2004 autobiography (with John Nicoletti), 'Tis Herself, that “I was the only leading lady big enough and tough enough for John Wayne.” Wayne, for his part, once said (as quoted in 'Tis Herself): There's only one woman who has been my friend over the...

Teresa Wright and Matt Damon in 'The Rainmaker' Teresa Wright: From Marlon Brando to Matt Damon (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright vs. Samuel Goldwyn: Nasty Falling Out.") "I'd rather have luck than brains!" Teresa Wright was quoted as saying in the early 1950s. That's understandable, considering her post-Samuel Goldwyn choice of movie roles, some of which may have seemed promising on paper.[1] Wright was Marlon Brando's first Hollywood leading lady, but that didn't help her to bounce back following the very public spat with her former boss. After all, The Men was released before Elia Kazan's film version of A Streetcar Named Desire turned Brando into a major international star. Chances are that good film offers were scarce. After Wright's brief 1950 comeback, for the third time in less than a decade she would be gone from the big screen for more than a year.

Oscar 2015 winners (photo: Chris Pratt during Oscar 2015 rehearsals) The complete list of Oscar 2015 winners and nominees can be found below. See also: Oscar 2015 presenters and performers. Now, a little Oscar 2015 trivia. If you know a bit about the history of the Academy Awards, you'll have noticed several little curiosities about this year's nominations. For instance, there are quite a few first-time nominees in the acting and directing categories. In fact, nine of the nominated actors and three of the nominated directors are Oscar newcomers. Here's the list in the acting categories: Eddie Redmayne. Michael Keaton. Steve Carell. Benedict Cumberbatch. Felicity Jones. Rosamund Pike. J.K. Simmons. Emma Stone. Patricia Arquette. The three directors are: Morten Tyldum. Richard Linklater. Wes Anderson. Oscar 2015 comebacks Oscar 2015 also marks the Academy Awards' "comeback" of several performers and directors last nominated years ago. Marion Cotillard and Reese Witherspoon won Best Actress Oscars for, respectively, Olivier Dahan...

Rod Taylor dead at 84: Actor best known for 'The Time Machine' and 'The Birds' Rod Taylor, best remembered for the early 1960s movies The Time Machine and The Birds, and for his supporting role as Winston Churchill in Quentin Tarantino's international hit Inglourious Basterds, has died. Taylor suffered a heart attack at his Los Angeles home earlier this morning (January 8, 2015). Born on January 11, 1930, in Sydney, he would have turned 85 on Sunday. Based on H.G. Wells' classic 1895 sci-fi novel, The Time Machine stars Rod Taylor as a H. George Wells, an inventor who comes up with an intricate chair that allows him to travel across time. (In the novel, the Victorian protagonist is referred to simply as the "Time Traveller.") After experiencing World War I and World War II, Wells decides to fast forward to the distant future, ultimately arriving at a place where humankind has been split...

Maureen O'Hara movies: 2014 Honorary Oscar for Hollywood legend (photo: Maureen O'Hara at the 2014 Governors Awards) In the photo above, the movies' Maureen O'Hara, 2014 Honorary Oscar recipient for her body of work, arrives with a couple of guests at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 2014 Governors Awards. This year's ceremony is being held this Saturday evening, November 8, in the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood. For the last couple of years, Maureen O'Hara has been a Boise, Idaho, resident. Before that, the 94-year-old movie veteran -- born Maureen FitzSimons, on August, 17, 1920, in Dublin -- had been living in Ireland. Below is a brief recap of her movies. Maureen O'Hara movies: From Charles Laughton to John Wayne Following her leading-lady role in Alfred Hitchcock's British-made Jamaica Inn, starring Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara arrived in Hollywood in 1939 to play the gypsy Esmeralda opposite Laughton in William Dieterle...

By Anjelica Oswald

Managing Editor

Hollywood films portraying the world — including the troubled side — of show business have garnered best picture nominations for years. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) could be a serious Oscar contender and features Michael Keaton as a former film star known for his portrayal of a superhero named Birdman. He attempts to renew his career by writing, directing and performing in a Broadway play. The film hit theaters Friday. Here are ten best picture Oscar-nominated films about show business (in chronological order):

1. The Red Shoes (1948)

The film is a tragic story about a young ballet dancer (Moira Shearer) who is forced to choose between her future dance career and the composer she falls in love with. The film was nominated for five Oscars and won two.

2. All About Eve (1950)

Anne Baxter stars as Eve, an aspiring, conniving actress who...

Women presidents at the Academy: Cheryl Boone Isaacs is only the third one (photo: Angelina Jolie, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Brad Pitt) (See previous post: "Honorary Award Non-Winners: Too Late for Gloria Swanson, Rita Hayworth, Marlene Dietrich.") Wrapping up this four-part "Honorary Oscars Bypass Women" article, let it be noted that in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 85-year history there have been only two women presidents: two-time Oscar-winning actress Bette Davis (for two months in 1941, before the Dangerous and Jezebel star was forced to resign) and screenwriter Fay Kanin (1979-1983), whose best-known screen credit is the 1958 Doris Day-Clark Gable comedy Teacher's Pet. Additionally, following some top-level restructuring in April 2011, the Academy created the positions of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer, with the CEO post currently held by a woman, former Film Independent executive director and sometime actress Dawn Hudson. The COO post is held...

James Garner movies on TCM: ‘Grand Prix,’ ‘Victor Victoria’ among highlights (photo: James Garner ca. 1960) James Garner, whose film and television career spanned more than five decades, died of "natural causes" at age 86 on July 19, 2014, in the Los Angeles suburb of Brentwood. On Monday, July 28, Turner Classic Movies will present an all-day marathon of James Garner movies (see below) as a tribute to the Oscar-nominated star of Murphy’s Romance and Emmy-winning star of the television series The Rockford Files. Among the highlights in TCM’s James Garner film lineup is John Frankenheimer’s Monaco-set Grand Prix (1966), an all-star, race-car drama featuring Garner as a Formula One driver who has an affair with the wife (Jessica Walter) of his former teammate (Brian Bedford). Among the other Grand Prix drivers facing their own personal issues are Yves Montand and Antonio Sabato, while Akira Kurosawa’s (male) muse Toshiro Mifune plays a...

Grace Kelly is an actress that I haven’t spent nearly enough time with. Thankfully, that will soon change thanks to Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Here is a portion of the news release …

On July 29, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (Wbhe) will remember one of Hollywood’s most glamorous film stars with the debut of the Grace Kelly Collection. The Collection includes six of the iconic screen legend’s most popular films. She stars with some of Hollywood’s finest leading men, including Clark Gable, Cary Grant, William Holden, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.

About the Films

Mogambo (1953)

Kelly received her first Academy Award nomination (Best Actress in a Supporting Role) in this remake of 1932’s Red Dust, in which Gable originally starred with Jean Harlow. He stars here with Kelly and the sizzling Ava Gardner, who was also nominated for her performance. Directed by John Ford, and shot on location in Africa,...

Look, not every flight can promise Liam Neeson will be on board as your personal air marshal, ready to kick ass as he foils an extortion plot, as in this week's Non-Stop. Without that assurance, anyone might be afraid to fly. But my fear of flying started long before 9/11 and the Age of Terrorism, stretching back even before Erica Jong published Fear of Flying in 1973 and introduced the idea of the "zipless ----," which, in turn, made me terrified of women and what they might expect of me. No, I blame one movie in particular for making me afraid of stuffing myself like a pork sausage into a casing that is far too small for my size. Airport (1970; d. George Seaton). I...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

‘Grace of Monaco’ U.S. March release canceled as biopic starring Nicole Kidman as Grace Kelly to open 2014 Cannes Film Festival (photo: Nicole Kidman as Grace Kelly in ‘Grace of Monaco’) Directed by Olivier Dahan, and starring Nicole Kidman as Oscar-winning Hollywood actress-turned-European princess Grace Kelly, Grace of Monaco was to have been a (possibly) strong Oscar 2014 contender — at least in the Best Actress category. After all, Dahan had guided 2007 Best Actress Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose; Nicole Kidman is a respected actress with one Academy Award win (for Stephen Daldry’s The Hours) and two nominations (Moulin Rouge!, Rabbit Hole); and, last but certainly not least, Grace of Monaco was to have been released in North America by the Oscar-savvy The Weinstein Company. However, Harvey Weinstein was reportedly unhappy with Olivier Dahan’s final cut, and demanded that Grace of Monaco be reedited.

Jacqueline Bisset vs. the Golden Globes 2014 get-lost orchestra NBC or whoever organized the Golden Globes 2014 ceremony sat Jacqueline Bisset way in the back of the awards ceremony ballroom. Never mind the fact that Bisset’s film career began nearly half a century ago and that she was a Golden Globe nominee in the Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television category for the mini-series Dancing on the Edge. As a result, it took Bisset, who seemed about as surprised as everybody else when her named was called up, more than a minute to reach the stage. (Photo: Jacqueline Bisset accepts her Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television © HFPA.) Visibly moved, Bisset had to wait a few more seconds before she was able to talk. By the time she began with her somewhat rambling acceptance speech,...

Oscar Sunday is three months from today, March 2, 2014 and this year, it’s anyone’s game. The Academy has a history of playing up all the glamour and suspense, and this year should be no different.

As of today, Gold Derby‘s Top 5 Best Picture predictions for the 86th Academy Awards are: 12 Years A Slave, Gravity, Saving Mr. Banks, Captain Phillips and American Hustle.

Hit Fix’s Top 5 are: Gravity, 12 Years A Slave, Saving Mr. Banks, Captain Phillips and Inside Llewyn Davis.

In what’s classic TV, take a look at the opening of the 43rd Academy Awards in 1971, featuring an introduction by Academy President Daniel Taradash.

The big A-listers of the day all appeared at the Oscars – Goldie Hawn, Jeanne Moreau, Melvyn Douglas, Ryan O’Neal, Leigh Taylor-Young, George Segal, Jennifer Jones, Lee Grant, Maximilian Schell, Ginger Rogers, Jack Nicholson, Ali McGraw, Robert Evans, Quincy Jones, Sally Kellerman, Jim Brown,...

With the announcement of a possible sequel to It’s a Wonderful Life, the Internet is abuzz with everyone and anyone’s opinion. But the 1946 Jimmy Stewart-starring film isn’t the first holiday classic to get the sequel treatment. Some are just as spirited as their predecessors; others are the cinematic equivalent to getting coal in your stocking.

We break down seven sequels to holiday favorites to see how they fare before It’s a Wonderful Lie: The Rest of the Story joins their ranks.

A Christmas Story 2 (2012)

The Original: A Christmas Story (1983)

The Sequel: Set five years after the original,...

Broadway actress Marta Heflin dead at 68: Featured in several Robert Altman movies (photo: Marta Heflin in ‘A Perfect Couple’) Stage actress Marta Heflin, who was featured in a handful of movies in the ’70s and early ’80s, including three Robert Altman efforts, died on September 18, 2013, after "a long illness." Heflin (born on March 29, 1945, in Washington, D.C.) was 68. On Broadway, Marta Heflin was featured in the musicals Fiddler on the Roof, Hair, Soon, and Jesus Christ Superstar (replacing Yvonne Elliman as Mary Magdalene). Additionally, she was seen in Ed Graczyk’s Robert Altman-directed 1982 play Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, about a group of James Dean fans — among them Karen Black, Cher, Sandy Dennis, Kathy Bates, Sudie Bond, and Mark Patton — who get together on the twentieth anniversary of Dean’s death. Marta Heflin movies Along with her fellow Come Back to the Five and Dime,...

That Night In Rio

Directed by Irving Cummings

Written by George Seaton, Bess Meredyth, and Hal Long

Starring Don Ameche, Alice Faye, and Carmen Miranda

USA, 91 min.

Romance and harmless conflict run amuck in Irving Cummings’s That Night In Rio. The film follows American entertainer, Larry Martin (Don Ameche), as he impersonates his doppelganger, Baron Manuel Duarte. Once Manuel’s wife, Baroness Cecilia Duarte (Alice Faye) discovers the impersonation, she begins to want her husband to be as loving as the one portrayed by Larry. That Night In Rio also features several song and dance numbers from Carmen Miranda, at the time deemed “The Brazilian Bombshell.”

That Night In Rio is part of Twentieth Century Fox’s musicals set in Latin countries (like another Miranda film, Down Argentine Way). Like other Latin lover musicals of the era, That Night In Rio has a stereotypical depiction of Latin culture. This...

Kirk Douglas movies: The Theater of Larger Than Life Performances Kirk Douglas, a three-time Best Actor Academy Award nominee and one of the top Hollywood stars of the ’50s, is Turner Classic Movies’ "Summer Under the Stars" featured star today, August 30, 2013. Although an undeniably strong screen presence, no one could ever accuse Douglas of having been a subtle, believable actor. In fact, even if you were to place side by side all of the widescreen formats ever created, they couldn’t possibly be wide enough to contain his larger-than-life theatrical emoting. (Photo: Kirk Douglas ca. 1950.) Right now, TCM is showing Andrew V. McLaglen’s 1967 Western The Way West, a routine tale about settlers in the Old American Northwest that remains of interest solely due to its name cast. Besides Douglas, The Way West features Robert Mitchum, Richard Widmark, Lola Albright, and 21-year-old Sally Field in her The Flying Nun days.

Jeanne Crain: Lighthearted movies vs. real life tragedies (photo: Madeleine Carroll and Jeanne Crain in ‘The Fan’) (See also: "Jeanne Crain: From ‘Pinky’ Inanity to ‘Margie’ Magic.") Unlike her characters in Margie, Home in Indiana, State Fair, Centennial Summer, The Fan, and Cheaper by the Dozen (and its sequel, Belles on Their Toes), or even in the more complex A Letter to Three Wives and People Will Talk, Jeanne Crain didn’t find a romantic Happy Ending in real life. In the mid-’50s, Crain accused her husband, former minor actor Paul Brooks aka Paul Brinkman, of infidelity, of living off her earnings, and of brutally beating her. The couple reportedly were never divorced because of their Catholic faith. (And at least in the ’60s, unlike the humanistic, progressive-thinking Margie, Crain was a “conservative” Republican who supported Richard Nixon.) In the early ’90s, she lost two of her...