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Over the past 50-plus years, film historian Joseph McBride has been one of the great chroniclers and analyzers of American directors. His 1972 volume on Orson Welles was one of the first essential works on that great filmmaker, and in the years since, he has published the definitive biographies of John Ford, Frank Capra, Billy Wilder, Ernst Lubitsch, and Steven Spielberg — along with a couple more terrific books on Welles and one of the best tomes on screenwriting (“Writing in Pictures”) ever written.

McBride has always been expert at finding the intersection between biography and personal expression, as rigorous in his research as he is insightful in his visual and literary analysis. Now, he has turned his keen eye toward director George Cukor, and the result, “George Cukor’s People: Acting for a Master Director,” is one of McBride’s most innovative works to date and indispensable for anyone interested not...

With its body horror “The Substance” performing well at the box office, a rerelease of Tarsem Singh’s “The Fall” currently underway, and a successful streaming channel offering artful cinema from around the world, you’d think the fine folks at Mubi might slow down and smell the roses, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Returning for its seventh season, Mubi is announcing a new installment of its award-winning audio-documentary series, “Mubi Podcast.” This new batch of episodes is inspired by film critic Tim Robey’s soon-to-be-published book, “Box Office Poison: Hollywood’s Story in a Century of Flops.”

Highlighting films such as “Sylvia Scarlett” (1935), “Sorcerer” (1977), and “Speed Racer” (2008), Robey’s book uncovers the history behind some of the entertainment industry’s biggest flops, contrasting their initial failure with the eventual acclaim they’d garner over time. Over six episodes, “Mubi Podcast” host Rico Gagliano will use this material as a guide,...

Bruno Dumont talks Ma Loute and his Cannes musical Jeannette l'enfance de Jeanne d'Arc with Anne-Katrin Titze Photo: Ellen Sowchek

Bruno Dumont's cathartic and fearlessly comical journey Slack Bay (Ma Loute) stars an expressive Fabrice Luchini, a daring Juliette Binoche, and a blushing Valeria Bruni Tedeschi with Raph, a bit reminiscent of Katharine Hepburn in George Cukor's Sylvia Scarlett, an eternal Thierry Lavieville, Jean-Luc Vincent ("We know what to do, but we do not do"), a fascinated Brandon Lavieville, and the Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy-like duo Cyril Rigaux and Didier Després.

The Van Peteghems - André (Fabrice Luchini), Aude (Juliette Binoche), Billie (Raph): "You know, the way Juliette behaves, it's almost as though she is laughing at herself."

The Camille Claudel 1915 and Li'l Quinquin director's latest film Jeannette l'enfance de Jeanne d'Arc (Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc), based on a text by Charles Péguy,...

The recent box office success of The Boss firmly establishes Melissa McCarthy as the current queen of movie comedies (Amy Schumer could be a new contender after an impressive debut last Summer with Trainwreck), but let us think back about those other funny ladies of filmdom. So while we’re enjoying the female reboot/re-imagining of Ghostbusters and those Bad Moms, here’s a top ten list that will hopefully inspire lots of laughter and cause you to search out some classic comedies. It’s tough to narrow them down to ten, but we’ll do our best, beginning with… 10. Eve Arden The droll Ms. Arden represents the comic sidekicks who will attempt to puncture the pomposity of the leading ladies with a well-placed wisecrack (see also the great Thelma Ritter in Rear Window). Her career began in the early 1930’s with great bit roles in Stage Door and Dancing Lady.

Since any New York cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.

Metrograph

You’ve read of Rainer Werner Fassbinder‘s ten favorite films — now you can see them. The German titan’s beloved titles are celebrated in a new series: Johnny Guitar screens this Friday; Saturday offers Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Night of the Hunter, and the rarely seen The Red Snowball Tree; on Sunday, one can...

Katharine Hepburn movies. Katharine Hepburn movies: Woman in drag, in love, in danger In case you're suffering from insomnia, you might want to spend your night and early morning watching Turner Classic Movies' "Summer Under the Stars" series. Four-time Best Actress Academy Award winner Katharine Hepburn is TCM's star today, Aug. 7, '15. (See TCM's Katharine Hepburn movie schedule further below.) Whether you find Hepburn's voice as melodious as a singing nightingale or as grating as nails on a chalkboard, you may want to check out the 1933 version of Little Women. Directed by George Cukor, this cozy – and more than a bit schmaltzy – version of Louisa May Alcott's novel was a major box office success, helping to solidify Hepburn's Hollywood stardom the year after her film debut opposite John Barrymore and David Manners in Cukor's A Bill of Divorcement. They don't make 'em like they used to Also, the 1933 Little Women...

Don't cry just yet, Kate the Great fans. While it's true that there is only one wrap-up episode left Tomorrow in Anne Marie's mammoth undertaking "A Year with Kate"* in which she reviewed every performance in Katharine Hepburn's fascinating career, we have exciting news. We're making it into a book! Details are not yet concrete but if you would like to be included in updates about pre-order and other 'Don't Miss It' news, please fill out this form at our Facebook page!

Anne Marie's last episodes airs tomorrow Wednesday December 31st. But until then... take a peak at any you missed. Some chapters will be substantially rewritten for the book.

1930s: A Bill of Divorcement, Christopher Strong, Morning Glory, Little Women, Spitfire, The Little Minister, Break of Hearts, Alice Adams, Sylvia Scarlett, Mary of Scotland, A Woman Rebels, Quality Street, Stage Door, Bringing Up Baby, Holiday,

1940s: Philadelphia Story,...

Episode 25 of 52: In which Kate confronts Angela Lansbury onscreen and the Blacklist offscreen and manages to beat both.

Early on, I stated that sometimes Kate’s career seems charmed. I’d venture 1948 is one of those charmed years. As we saw last week, Song of Love failed--Kate’s first failure at MGM. Yet some strange circumstances and good luck landed Kate in State of the Union, based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning play. I say “good luck” because in the fall of 1947, the storm that would become the Hollywood Blacklist was brewing, and Kate nearly got caught in the center of it.

Though not as cloyingly obvious as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - no light from the Lincoln Memorial in this film - State of the Union nevertheless delivers the classic Capra Corn package: nostalgia, patriotism, and a happy ending snatched from the jaws of tragedy at the last second.

Episode 9 of 52 wherein Anne Marie screens all of Katharine Hepburn's films in chronological order

In which Katharine Hepburn looks better in a suit than Cary Grant.

I will never turn down a movie about a lady in a suit. Two reasons: 1) Early exposure to As You Like It and 2) An experimental phase in college film studies during which I flirted heavily with the Hays Code.

What I’m saying is, I was predisposed to love Sylvia Scarlett no matter what. Still, it wasn’t what I expected. Kate in Sylvia Scarlett gets lumped in with Greta Garbo in Queen Christina and Marlene Dietrich in Morocco as a member of the Cinematic Sapphic Sisterhood. But after this week’s viewing, I actually think that’s reductive. Instead, Morocco, Queen Christina and Sylvia Scarlett all deal with different shades of androgyny, sex, and gender.

Too academic a subject? I will include pictures of ladies kissing.

The following is an essay featured in the anthology George Cukor - On/Off Hollywood (Capricci, Paris, 2013), for sale at www.capricci.fr.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center will be running a complete retrospective on the director, "The Discreet Charm of George Cukor," in New York December 13, 2013 - January 7, 2014. Many thanks to David Phelps, Fernando Ganzo, and Camille Pollas for their generous permission.

The Second-hand Illusion:

Notes on Cukor

Above: The Chapman Report (1962), A Life of Her Own (1950)

“There’s always something about them that you don’t know that you’d like to know. Spencer Tracy had that. In fact, they do all have that – all the big ones have it. You feel very close to them but there is the ultimate thing withheld from you – and you want to find out.” —George Cukor1

“Can you tell what a woman’s like by just looking at her?” —The Chapman Report...

The grand George Cukor, after such works as The Women, Camille, and Sylvia Scarlett were released, was branded a "women's director." There's no question he knew how to make his female leads shimmer as if they were residing in the firmament and not just on the screen. That's one rumored reason why he was released from Gone with the Wind. Apparently, Clark Gable was afraid he might be overshadowed by his female lead if Cukor did the helming.

Gable would no doubt have had a similar jitteriness with Lars von Trier, who after Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, and Antichrist, has merited the moniker of "depressed women's director." No one else since Ingmar Bergman and Chantal Akerman has so consistently and illustriously particularized the disintegration of females stuck in an interminable, patriarchal dystopia.

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The grand George Cukor, after such works as The Women, Camille, and Sylvia Scarlett were released, was branded a "women's director." There's no question he knew how to make his female leads shimmer as if they were residing in the firmament and not just on the screen. That's one rumored reason why he was released from Gone with the Wind. Apparently, Clark Gable was afraid he might be overshadowed by his female lead if Cukor did the helming.

Gable would no doubt have had a similar jitteriness with Lars von Trier, who after Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, and Antichrist, has merited the moniker of "depressed women's director." No one else since Ingmar Bergman and Chantal Akerman has so consistently and illustriously particularized the disintegration of females stuck in an interminable, patriarchal dystopia.

Sounds glum? Have no fear. Watching the despondent despond is not a joyless experience when a master is in control,...

Short hair on female characters is usually a humiliating punishment – and a small step to alien, monster or homicidal maniac

All the way through Scream 4, I was itching for a freeze-frame of Hayden Panettiere's hairdo, so that I could give it an in-depth examination. What the hell was it? Some kind of demi-pompadour with the curlicues glued flat? I suspect that if you were to poke at it, it would be rock-solid, like a Ken doll coiffure. I think it's great they gave her short hair. But did it have to be so weird?

Then again, short hair invariably seems weird in a Hollywood where flowing locks are the norm. Even Demi Moore, who rocked the pixie cut in Ghost, now sports a poker-straight curtain. Hilary Swank goes long between androgyny trims for Boys Don't Cry or Amelia. Who is known for their short hair nowadays? Halle Berry?...

Daniel Craig's appearance in heels may be a cross-dressing first for the Bond hero but he follows a long tradition of gender role swapping from a tuxedo-clad Marlene Dietrich to Dustin Hoffman's Tootsie

Daniel Craig's appearance in heels, blonde wig and patterned dress for a video raising awareness of gender inequality for International Women's Day marks 007's drag debut. But cross-dressing is not, strictly speaking, new to the Bond franchise – remember the Spectre agent who attends his own faked funeral as his "widow" at the beginning of Thunderball? – and far from a novelty on the big screen.

The silent era, with its often stagey film productions, had its share of cross-dressing in the theatrical tradition, which continued into the sound era with numerous variations and embellishments. Generally speaking, girls dress as boys to get kinds of social access or agency normally denied to women while boys dress...

No 78: Edmund Gwenn 1877-1959

He was born Edmund Kellaway in Wandsworth, London (or possibly the Vale of Glamorgan), grew to be 5ft 4in, was described over the years as "endearing", "cherubic", "portly", "elfin", with "a twinkle in his eye" and a seductively "soothing voice". All these attributes contributed to his appearance as Kris Kringle, the New York department store Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street (1947) who believes he's Father Christmas and convinces a Manhattan court to agree with him.

This brought him an Oscar as best supporting actor and a kind of immortality. In 1951, he was nominated for a similar role in Mister 880 as a sweet-natured counterfeiter who only forges dollar bills when he needs them. But there's much more to Gwenn than this.

Gwenn's stern Victorian father kicked him out of the house for wanting to go on the stage and he travelled around England and...