समाचार

When creating the sounds for "Star Wars: A New Hope," the film's sound effects engineers didn't exactly have much reference to draw from. Sound doesn't travel through the vast emptiness of space, for starters, and no one has any audio recordings of space dogfights even if they were possible. So when sound designer Ben Burtt had to come up with sounds for the various spaceships and their weapons, he had to draw from his imagination. The Tie Fighters, flown by Imperial soldiers, don't sound like any jet fighter or airplane from our galaxy, and that's in large part because they're made from such an unusual combination of sounds.

In interviews collected by Popular Mechanics, Burtt and special effects artist Joe Johnston explained the sounds that went into creating the effect of the Tie Fighters zooming about, along with the inspirations behind those particular sounds. After all, the zippy little ships...

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.***Above: Darrly F. Zanuck.Garson Kanin once wrote a script for Twentieth Century-Fox mogul Darryl F. Zanuck intended to show a single character, a girl, living three different lives, branching out in separate paths depending on which of three couples adopted her as a child. A novel alternate-universe idea, perhaps ahead of its time for the fifties. To Kanin's dismay, however, Zanuck ruled that because he didn't have one big star who could carry a picture, he would cast three different starlets, one for each timeline. Kanin declared that this was the exact way to ruin the movie."Jesus Christ," responded Zanuck, "I thought you were different. But you're not.

They swim, they play, and they talk. They love George C. Scott and call him ‘pa.’ Mike Nichols’ paranoid sci-fi classic combines Lassie Go Home and The Manchurian Candidate. It works up a good guys versus bad guys conspiracy storyline — until the message arrives that what the adorable dolphins Fa and Bee really need, along with the rest of the natural planet, is for us greedy, murderous humans to just Go Away. Buck Henry’s screenplay overcomes aquatic clichés and cutesy animal traditions to come up with a crowd-pleasing winner.

The Day of the Dolphin

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1973 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 104 min. / Street Date February 18, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Paul Sorvino, Fritz Weaver, Jon Korkes, Edward Herrmann, John Dehner, Severn Darden, Elizabeth Wilson.

Cinematography: William A. Fraker

Film Editor: Sam O’Steen

Production Designer: Richard Sylbert

Original Music: Georges Delerue

Written by Buck...

Robert Taylor and Stewart Granger shine in Richard Brooks’ engaging drama about the grim slaughter of the Buffalo — a fairly appalling historical episode. A disclaimer is required to explain why we’re seeing real animals killed on screen… which in this case would seem justified by the film’s ecological theme.

The Last Hunt

Blu-Ray

The Warner Archive Collection

1956 / Color / 2:35 enhanced widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date August 21, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Stewart Granger, Lloyd Nolan, Debra Paget, Russ Tamblyn, Constance Ford, Joe De Santis.

Cinematography: Russell Harlan

Film Editor: Ben Lewis

Original Music: Daniele Amphitheatrof

From a novella by Milton Lott

Produced by Dore Schary

Written and Directed by Richard Brooks

This rather good western adds another notch to the theme of ‘the end of the West,’ preceding films by Anthony Mann and Sam Peckinpah and introducing an ecological theme not dissimilar to that of Romain Gary and John Huston...

I have a back file of reader notes asking for a Blu-ray for John Huston’s Moby Dick, and more pointedly, wondering what will be done with its strange color scheme. I wasn’t expecting miracles, but this new Twilight Time disc should make the purists happy – it has approximated the film’s original, heavily muted color scheme.

Moby Dick

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1956 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 116 min. / Street Date November 15, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95

Starring Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, Leo Genn, James Robertson Justice,

Harry Andrews, Orson Welles, Bernard Miles, Mervyn Johns, Noel Purcell, Frederick Ledebur

Cinematography Oswald Morris

Art Direction Ralph W. Brinton

Film Editor Russell Lloyd

Original Music Philip Sainton

Writing credits Ray Bradbury and John Huston

Produced and Directed by John Huston

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Talk about a picture with a renewed reputation… in its day John Huston’s Moby Dick was not considered a success,...

By Lee Pfeiffer

I recently wrote in relation to a review of "The Big Show" that circus movies have gone the way of the Model T. You can add to that another genre of film that used to be a Hollywood staple- the safari movies in which the hero was a great white hunter. Changing social attitudes make it unlikely we'd ever again cheer some rock-jawed leading man as he unloads some hi caliber bullets into a grazing elephant or a lazing hippo. The last word on such films was Clint Eastwood's woefully underrated (and woefully under-seen) 1990 film "White Hunter, Black Heart", which was loosely based on the hunting obsessions of director John Huston during production of "The African Queen". Nevertheless, jungle-themed adventures are still the stuff of cinematic thrills in the minds of retro movie lovers. One of the best is "Rampage", a 1963 opus directed by Phil Karlson...

The Audubon Society battles plumage poachers in the Everglades, circa 1900. Legendary director Nicholas Ray suffered an on-location meltdown filming this early ecologically sensitive epic, but the finished product is still one of his better pictures. Burl Ives, Christopher Plummer and Chana Eden give top 'Ray' performances. The eccentric supporting cast includes Peter Falk, boxer Two-Ton Tony Galento and none other than the real Gypsy Rose Lee. Wind Across the Everglades DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1958 / Color / 1:85 enhanced widescreen / 93 min. / Street Date October 6 2015, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Burl Ives, Christopher Plummer, Gypsy Rose Lee, George Voskovec, Tony Galento, Howard Smith, Emmett Kelly, Pat Henning, Chana Eden, Curt Conway, Peter Falk, Sammy Renick, Cory Osceola, MacKinlay Kantor, Totch Brown, George Voskovec, Sumner Williams. Cinematography Joseph Brun Film Editor Georges Klotz, Joseph Zigman Art Direction Richard Sylbert Original Music Paul Sawtell & Bert Shefter Written by Budd Schulberg Produced by Stuart Schulberg...

John Huston sets the bar for director-driven quality filmmaking of the early 1970s. Stacy Keach is a punchy boxing bum who teams up with the ambitious newcomer Jeff Bridges; the glowing discovery is the amazing Susan Tyrell, film history's most convincingly caustic floozy-alcoholic, bar none. Her voice can peel paint, but we love her dearly. Fat City Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 100 min. / Street Date September 8, 2015 / available through the Twilight Time Movies / 20.95 Starring Stacy Keach, Jeff Bridges, Susan Tyrrell, Candy Clark, Nicholas Colasanto, Art Aragon, Curtis Cokes, Sixto Rodriguez Cinematography Conrad L. Hall Production Designer Richard Sylbert Film Editor Walter Thompson Original Music Kris Kristofferson, Marvin Hamlisch (supervisor) Written by Leonard Gardner from his novel <Produced by John Huston, Ray Stark Directed by John Huston

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

This rewarding show is a fine opportunity to catch up on two great talents, John Huston and Stacy Keach.

As we bid goodbye to the Summer action blockbusters, we say hello once more to the serious slate of films looking to pick up award gold in the last few months of the year. And what better subject matter than the true story or the biographical or “bio-pic”? Maybe a good mix of the two, and since Hollywood enjoys celebrating itself why not tackle one of its greatest stars? Though not as highly merchandised today at contemporaries Bogart, Monroe, or Hepburn (either one), few stars shone as brightly in that golden age than Errol Flynn, king of the silver screen swashbucklers. Now Flynn was played by the similarly dashing Jude Law ten years ago in the Howard Hughes story, The Aviator. And previously he was parodied wonderfully by Peter O’Toole as Alan Swann in the raucous comic gem My Favorite Year in 1982 and by former Bond Timothy Dalton as...

The Last of Robin Hood

Written by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland

Directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland

USA, 2013

The Last of Robin Hood depicts the last romance of Errol Flynn’s life from the not-so-tender age of 48 until his death. Who was the lucky girl? Beverly Aadland. One person’s definition of luck is most people’s definition of statutory rape—something that Flynn had some trouble with before—as Miss Aadland was under 18 at the time. This is the crux of the conundrum behind the story and what would regularly confound a filmmaker in bringing it to the screen—even Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita screenplay was rejected and reworked by Stanley Kubrick. Fortunately for the audience, Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland are no regular filmmakers (see Grief, The Fluffer, and Quinceanera). They have written and directed a film about three protagonists (Beverly Aadland, her mother Florence, and...

"We Want Our DVD And Blu-ray!" - It always frustrates retro movie lovers when a film becomes unavailable in a home video format. Even "B" movies deserve a better fate. Sometimes this is due to contractual and licensing reasons. Nevertheless, we always want to be on the tip of the spear in lobbying for unavailable movies to be brought back to the home video market. In that regard, we are running our previously published review of "Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion", a minor effort, to be sure, but one that we hope will be available again on DVD or Blu-ray. It is presently available for streaming rental or purchase on Amazon.) 

By Lee Pfeiffer

The Warner Archive has released a number of films made by Ivan Tors' production company during the 1960s. Tors specialized in underwater and animal-themed adventure movies and TV series and he had a number of major successes including Sea Hunt,...

John Huston was a master of the improbably optimistic protagonist in films. Many of his leading characters were people in search of some grand totem that would make their lives complete, or make the rich, or in some other way satisfy their basest urges. He did it with Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon & The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, with Gregory Peck in his adaptation of Moby Dick, and Connery and Caine in The Man Who Would be King. The Roots of Heaven may be among his lesser known films, but it's protagonist Morel, played by Trevor Howard, has taken on no less a Herculean task, and his struggle takes on mythical proportions as he battles imperial African governments for the sake of...