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Last year, Deadline reported that Oscar-winner Jamie Lee Curtis was prepping to fill the late legend Angela Lansbury’s shoes in a new version of “Murder, She Wrote,” the beloved ’80s and ’90s series that saw mystery novelist Jessica Fletcher (Lansbury) tracking down murderers in the sleepy Maine hamlet of Cabot Cove, as well as in her globe-trotting travels (courtesy of the Universal Studios backlot).

At the “Freakier Friday” premiere, Curtis confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that the project is still on the way, in a dramatic fashion: “Oh, it’s…,” employs pregnant pause and dramatic facial expressions, “happening.”

“We’re a minute away. But, yeah, very excited, very excited. But I’m, you know, tamping down my enthusiasm until we start shooting,” she added. “I have a couple other things to hustle and then, then I’ll get to enjoy that work.”

This isn’t the first attempt at remaking the long-running series.

The George A. Romero / Stephen King horror anthology Creepshow is one of my all-time favorite movies – and so is the Michael Gornick-directed sequel Creepshow 2, which I’ve probably watched even more times than its predecessor. I love everything about Creepshow 2, so I was very glad to hear the news that Arrow Video is giving the film a 4K Uhd release in the US, the UK, and Canada. The release date is September 30th, and copies can be pre-ordered through a variety of links (check out the list on Arrow Video’s Facebook page), including This One.

Directed by Gornick from a screenplay by George A. Romero (based on stories written by Stephen King), Creepshow 2 has the following synopsis: Join our old friend, the rotting Creep himself, as he introduces this horror anthology which presents gruesome looks at three tales of horror: a hit-and-run driver in “The Hitchhiker...

Creepshow 2 will bring three blood-curdling tales of terror to 4K Ultra HD on September 30 via Arrow Video.

The 1987 horror anthology sequel has been newly restored in 4K from the original camera negative with Dolby Vision.

Special features:

4K restoration by Arrow Films from the original negative (new) 4K (2160p) Uhd Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) Original lossless mono, stereo and 5.1 DTS-hd Ma surround audio options Audio commentary with director Michael Gornick Screenplay for a Sequel – Interview with screenwriter George A. Romero Tales from the Creep – Interview with actor and make-up artist Tom Savini Poncho’s Last Ride – Interview with actor Daniel Beer The Road to Dover – Interview with actor Tom Wright Nightmares in Foam Rubber – Special effects featurette with FX artists Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero My Friend Rick – Howard Berger on his special effects mentor Rick Baker Behind-the-scenes footage Image gallery Trailers & TV spots Original screenplay...

Stars: Angela Lansbury, William Windom, Richard Crenna, Ray Baker, Ron Masak, Robert Mailhouse | Written by J. Michael Straczynski, Peter S. Fischer, Derek Marlowe, Mark A. Burley, Richard Levinson, William Link | Directed by Anthony Pullen Shaw, Walter Grauman, Vincent McEveety, Seymour Robbie

Dame Angela Lansbury had an illustrious career that spanned 80 years. The actress, singer and producer won many awards for her roles on stage and screen. Among her numerous wins were five Tony Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, 18 Primetime Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award and she was nominated for three Academy Awards. These are just some of her well-deserved awards and nominations.

Dame Lansbury starred in such classic films as Gaslight (1944), The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). After an amazing career in film, Angela was offered the opportunity to star in two TV series. One a sitcom and the other a detective series, her...

"Family Guy" has parodied plenty of stories over the years. One of creator Seth MacFarlane's favorite episodes, "And Then There Were Fewer," pays homage to Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None." Naturally, the show parodied the original "Star Wars" trilogy, with each film getting its own elongated episode. However, one of the best parodies the show frequently dabbles in is its "Road To..." series where Brian and Stewie, both voiced by MacFarlane, travel to various locales to get into various misadventures and learn a little something about one another.

The installments are based on the "Road To..." movies that were prominent in the 1940s starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour. Each film more or less has the same gimmick where the main characters would have a reason to travel somewhere, but the plot doesn't matter a great deal. The journey is mostly an excuse for...

Some double acts have made such an impact that they'll never be forgotten. Laurel and Hardy, Lemon and Matthau, and Key and Peele have etched their names in the history books, some of the best pairings of Hollywood's Golden Age. Then, there are those lesser-known Golden Age Hollywood actors who have created some fantastic moments together but can live in a hazy memory that gets revisited from time to time. Bing Crosby and Bob Hope were enormous stars in their own right, and are probably most remembered for their solo achievements. Crosby's White Christmas gets replayed every year around the holidays, and Hope is still considered one of the best Academy Awards hosts in history.

When they joined forces in the Road To... series of films, they created the kind of movie magic that Old Hollywood comedy movies can produce. With laughs aplenty, and the glamorous addition of Dorothy Lamour,...

There is no shortage of variety in Leonardo DiCaprio’s filmography but when he signed up to play the role of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, he left fans and critics in awe. The film faced a few setbacks before it was finally set in motion. Luckily, Leonardo DiCaprio was ready to slash his fee down by a whopping ninety percent.

Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar (2011) | Credits: Warner Bros. Pictures

The film’s producer, Dustin Graze, had to rope in the help of renowned director Clint Eastwood to get a green light for his film. Clint Eastwood always gives his hundred percent to his films, no matter what the project might be. J. Edgar was no exception to the rule either as it saw the filmmaker get his hands dirty in order to give Leonardo DiCaprio and co-star Armie Hammer a lesson in violence.

Clint Eastwood Becomes a Mentor for...

by Chad Kennerk

All images courtesy of Okcmoa

There’s a good chance you’ve seen her name emblazoned on screen in at least one of the hundreds of opening titles that bear her name. Considered one of film history’s great costume designers, Edith Head began working for Paramount Pictures in 1924. In 1982, her name was still appearing on screen with the posthumous release of the Steve Martin comedy Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, which was dedicated to her memory. She initially made waves in the late 1930s for her association with the sarong dress (designed for Dorothy Lamour) and made history in 1938 when she became the first female head of a major studio's costume department after designer Travis Banton’s departure from Paramount. The establishment of the Academy Award for Costume Design in 1949 helped further introduce costume designers to the general public and led to a record-breaking run of nominations and wins for Head.

Brian and Stewie episodes are the heart of Family Guy, bringing depth and connection to the series. "Road To..." specials feature hilarious adventures with Brian and Stewie, defining their dynamic. From time travel mishaps to emotional arcs, Brian and Stewie's bond grows stronger over the series.

The best Brian and Stewie episodes in Family Guy history remain some of the best for the animated series overall thanks to their strong relationship. While characters like Peter, Quagmire, Meg, and even Lois to an extent, are good for rapid-fire jokes, Brian and Stewie have a deeper connection and often bring the heart to the series that otherwise would just be an afterthought. Through Family Guy's run, Brian and Stewie seem to have grown even closer throughout the years, and while they weren't the original partners in crime, they are easily the best duo on the show now.

At the beginning of Family Guys run,...

The Creepshow 2 episode of The Black Sheep was Written and Narrated by Andrew Hatfield, Edited by Brandon Nally, Produced by Lance Vlcek and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

Its hard for a sequel to be better than the original – no, hey! Don’t close the article and please hold all hate in the comments until the end. I’m not saying Creepshow 2 (watch it Here) is better than the first movie, that’s just silly. Ok, so it’s hard for sequels to eclipse their previous iteration. Godfather II is always the answer to that but there are other things that you can prefer. Some people prefer the breakneck action of Aliens to the slasher in space of Alien. Others may enjoy Friday the 13th Part 2 with its higher violence (although it does have the same body count) and introduction to Jason to part 1’s mommy revenge story.

Bob Hope's "Road to" movies will be featured on August 17 during Turner Classic Movies' Summer Under the Stars tribute. The maestro of the macabre, Vincent Price, will be celebrated on Wednesday, August 23. Humphrey Bogart's To Have and Have Not, The Maltese Falcon, and Key Largo are also scheduled during the TCM primetime lineup.

There’s no place like Summer Under the Stars. For the last 20 years, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) has presented its annual tribute dedicated to showcasing a different actor each day in August. At the halfway point of this year's schedule, legendary performer Bob Hope will keep things moving along on Thursday, August 17 with five of his seven famous “Road to” musical comedies. They will play back-to-back beginning at 11:30 a.m. Edt. Hope starred alongside Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour in the series from 1940 until 1962.

This year eight newcomers made their way into the 31-day lineup,...

The world was at war 80 years ago. The United States was grieving over the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 by the Japanese military and the defeat of our forces that month at Wake Island. And then the beloved Carole Lombard, her mother, servicemen and the crew perished in a plane crash west of Las Vegas on January 16, 1942. She was returning to Hollywood after raising 2 million in a war bond drive in Indianapolis.

How would Hollywood and audiences respond to World War II? They certainly didn’t shy away from the war. If you look at the top 10 films of the year, there are some escapist films but also movies dealing with the global conflict.

In fact, the No. 1 film of the year William Wyler’s “Mrs. Miniver” broke records at Radio City Music Hall in New York playing 10 weeks. Production began on the stirring, sentimental drama about a British...

A new episode of the JoBlo Horror Originals video series Wtf Happened to This Horror Movie? has just been released, and for this one we’re digging into the making of one of my all-time favorite movies: the 1987 horror anthology Creepshow 2 (watch it Here)! To find out what went into the making of Creepshow 2, check out the video embedded above.

Directed by Michael Gornick from a screenplay by George A. Romero (based on stories written by Stephen King), Creepshow 2 has the following synopsis:

Join our old friend, the rotting Creep himself, as he introduces this horror anthology which presents gruesome looks at three tales of horror: a hit-and-run driver in “The Hitchhiker”, a wooden Indian in “Ol’ Chief Wooden Head”, and four friends whose vacation on a secluded lake turns into a nightmare in “The Raft”. Creepshow 2 is a deliciously wicked roller coaster ride that will...

Virginia Patton Moss, a former actress who was the final surviving adult cast member of Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life,” died on Aug. 18 in Albany, Ga. She was 97 years old.

Moss’ death was confirmed through Legacy. Karolyn Grimes, who worked with Moss on “It’s a Wonderful Life” as a child actor, posted a tribute to her costar on her personal Facebook page.

“We have another angel! Virginia Patton Moss. She was 97 years old,” Grimes wrote. “She is now with her beloved Cruse. She will be missed!”

Moss is credited as her birth name, Virginia Patton, on the 1946 feature. She played Ruth Dakin Bailey, the husband to Todd Karns’ Harry Bailey and sister-in-law to protagonist George Bailey, played by star James Stewart. Moss was the final surviving adult cast member of the holiday classic.

Moss began her career as a performer as a student at the University of Southern California,...

If crises continue to mount and late-summer box office fails to catch a second wind, Hollywood might have to revisit one of its few remaining sure things: a good dog movie.

Sure, Netflix and Amazon always have vintage canine classics on the shelf to stream, from Benji to Lassie, but a new weepie is also needed in the plexes — one to ease public tensions.

Further, those of us who’ve adopted a best friend to cope with the pandemic now are going back to work or to school. Or simply facing the fact that a best friend is more than we can handle, and so are the vet bills.

Given all this, exhibitors might wonder whether the cast of The Suicide Squad shouldn’t have featured canine stars like Hachi, Marley or even Scooby-Doo rather than live actors cast as Bloodsport, Ratcatcher or Sylvester Stallone’s King Shark.

The pooches...

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

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Latest Title in the Paramount Presents Line Debuts March 30, 2021

Legendary director Cecil B. DeMille’s grand spectacle The Greatest Show On Earth arrives for the first time on Blu-ray as part of the Paramount Presents line on March 30, 2021 from Paramount Home Entertainment.

A two-time Academy Award-winner*–including Best Picture and Best Writing, Motion Picture Story–The Greatest Show On Earth captures the thrills, chills and exhilaration of the circus. Featuring three intertwining plotlines filled with romance and rivalry, DeMille's film includes spectacular action sequences, including a show-stopping train wreck. The Greatest Show On Earth also boasts a sensational cast, including Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, Charlton Heston, Dorothy Lamour, Gloria Grahame, and James Stewart.

Newly restored from a 4K scan of the original negative, this essential movie of the Golden Age of Hollywood packs action, romance,...

Rhonda Fleming, star of the 1940s and ’50s who was dubbed the “Queen of Technicolor” and appeared in “Out of the Past” and “Spellbound,” died Wednesday in Santa Monica, Calif., according to her secretary Carla Sapon. She was 97.

Fleming appeared in more than 40 films and worked with directors such as Alfred Hitchcock on “Spellbound,” Jacques Tourneur on “Out of the Past” and Robert Siodmak on “The Spiral Staircase.”

Later in life, she became a philanthropist and supporter of numerous organizations fighting cancer, homelessness and child abuse.

Her starring roles include classics such as the 1948 musical fantasy “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” alongside Bing Crosby, 1957 Western “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” and the noir “Slightly Scarlet” alongside John Payne.

Her co-stars over the years included Kirk Douglas, Glenn Ford, Burt Lancaster, Bob Hope, Rock Hudson and Ronald Reagan, with whom she made four films. Other notable roles included Fritz Lang...

Though not in character as Alan Grant and Ian Malcolm, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum have officially reunited while filming Jurassic World 3. The duo, who originally appeared on screen together in 1993's Jurassic Park, are finally returning to the franchise at the same time, alongside Laura Dern's Ellie Sattler. Now, the two have shared a couple of videos from behind the scenes, with Neill and Goldblum serenading one another with a few jazzy tunes.

I Remember You #JeffGoldblumpic.twitter.com/gFAv6LGFH3

— Sam Neill (@TwoPaddocks) September 7, 2020

Taking to Twitter, Sam Neill first shared a video of himself sitting alongside Jeff Goldblum, who is playing the piano. They then sing a delightfully improvised version of I Remember You, a song originally performed by Dorothy Lamour in 1942's The Fleet's In. But that wasn't the end of it. Neill also shared another video of the two performing a rendition Swing Time's A Fine Romance,...

Helping you stay sane while staying safe… featuring Leonard Maltin, Dave Anthony, Miguel Arteta, John Landis, and Blaire Bercy from the Hollywood Food Coalition.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Plague (1979)

Target Earth (1954)

The Left Hand of God (1955)

A Lost Lady (1934)

Enough Said (2013)

Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)

Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)

Heaven Can Wait (1978)

Down to Earth (2001)

Down To Earth (1947)

The Commitments (1991)

Once (2007)

Election (1999)

About Schmidt (2002)

Sideways (2004)

Nebraska (2013)

The Man in the Moon (1991)

The 39 Steps (1935)

Casablanca (1942)

The Lady Vanishes (1938)

The Night Walker (1964)

Chuck and Buck (2000)

Cedar Rapids (2011)

Beatriz at Dinner (2017)

Duck Butter (2018)

The Good Girl (2002)

The Big Heat (1953)

Human Desire (1954)

Slightly French (1949)

Week-End with Father (1951)

Experiment In Terror (1962)

They Shoot Horses Don’t They? (1969)

Ray’s Male Heterosexual Dance Hall (1987)

Airport (1970)

Earthquake (1974)

Drive a Crooked Road (1954)

Pushover (1954)

Waves (2019)

Krisha (2015)

The Oblong Box (1969)

80,000 Suspects (1963)

Panic In The Streets (1950)

It Comes At Night (2017)

Children of Men (2006)

The Road (2009)

You Were Never Really Here...

The centerpiece of Scott Ora’s cluttered San Fernando Valley apartment is the 1939 Oscar his step-grandfather, the late lyricist Leo Robin, was presented for co-writing “Thanks for the Memory.” Sung by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross in the film “The Big Broadcast of 1938,” the trophy sits proudly on the piano where Robin worked on some of his biggest hits. The movie marked the comedian’s breakout role and Leo’s tune, co-written with frequent collaborator Ralph Rainger, soon became Hope’s theme song. It was Robin’s only Academy Award win out of a total of 10 nominations.

Over the course of 20 years, from 1934 (when the best original song category was introduced and he was nominated for “Love in Bloom”) through 1954, Robin, a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame who died in 1984 at the age of 84, earned 10 Oscar nominations (two in 1949 alone). His impressive catalog includes signature tunes for Maurice Chevalier...

The Road to Singapore, Zanzibar,

Morocco and Utopia

Blu ray

Kino Lorber

1940, 41, 42, 43, 46 / 1:33:1 / 85, 91, 82, 90 Min. / Street Date – March 26, 2019

Starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour

Written by Frank Butler, Don Hartman, Melvin Frank

Cinematography by William C. Mellor, Ted Tetzlaff

Directed by Victor Schertzinger, David Butler, Hal Walker

Between 1940 and 1962, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby starred in seven “Road” pictures directed by such distinct talents as David Butler, Norman McLeod and Hope’s own gag-writer Norman Panama who would lead the comedian kicking and screaming into the sixties with How to Commit Marriage, a poison pen letter to the counterculture released in 1969.

Though produced during a World War, the first four Road films avoided the cynicism of that late 60’s farce – instead they were the essence of disposable fun – populist entertainments peppered with topical wisecracks, potshots at company brass and the occasional talking fish. Beginning with Road to Singapore, a...

Anyone familiar with this column knows my deep-rooted affection for Ms. Kate Jackson; I espoused her many virtues when I covered Satan’s School for Girls (you can ponder my musings here), and I promise (warn?) you I will do so again as I discuss the couple-in-a-house-is-met-with-animosity-from-a-possible-ghost telefilm, Death at Love House (1976), aka How Much Is That Dead Actress In the Window?

Originally broadcast as The ABC Friday Night Movie on Friday, September 3rd, Love House was up against The CBS Friday Night Movies and NBC trotted out The Rockford Files/Quincy M.E. for folks like mine. So who won out? We all did! I loved Rockford and Quincy. Okay, CBS probably lost. But if you were looking for some charming stars doing charming things in a charming manor with a hint of danger, look no further than ABC.

Let’s open up our battered faux TV Guide and see...

No host, no problem. One of the biggest questions surrounding the 2019 Oscars was how exactly the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science were going to open the awards ceremony without a host. Now we have our answer: Queen.

As first teased back at the start of February, iconic rock band Queen kicked off the show by singing “We Will Rock You” and “We are the Champions” with frontman Adam Lambert. The Queen and Freddie Mercury biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” earned five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. A giant projection of Freddie Mercury appeared on the screen at the back of the stage as the medley came to its conclusion. After Queen took the stage, the Academy aired a supercut that brought together the year in film in 2018, from nominees to non-nominees.

The first group of presenters was Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Maya Rudolph. “There is no host tonight. There...

Legend has it that Buster Keaton got his nickname from Harry Houdini after the magician saw him tumble down a flight of stairs as an infant and not shed a tear. "Boy, that was sure a buster!" Harry allegedly declared, using the parlance of the day for a fall. That was far from the only hard-knock Buster endured in his life. Incorporated into his parents' vaudeville act as a baby, he was tossed around the stage like a slapstick prop. "It wasn't really child abuse," Peter Bogdanovich, director of the new documentary The Great Buster, exclusively told Closer Weekly in the magazine's latest issue, on newsstands now. "It was comedy." (Photo Credit: Getty Images) Buster went out on his own as a silent-film comic and became a superstar, earning the moniker "The Great Stone Face" for his deadpan gags. His love life didn't make him smile, either. His first marriage,...

At the height of their careers, most actresses dream of winning Oscars. Dorothy Lamour, however, set her sights on a much less glamorous reward. "She loved to collect S&H Green Stamps to paste into her stamp books," son Richard Howard, 68, exclusively tells Closer Weekly in the magazine's latest issue, on newsstands now. "When they were filled, she’d take them to the five-and-dime redemption center to claim her prize, and she’d have coffee while she chatted it up with the locals." She may have achieved wealth and fame thanks to the popular Road to... films with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, but Dorothy never forgot her humble roots. "She was a true rags to riches success story," Richard says of his mom, who was born in a Louisiana charity ward and died in 1996 at 81 from a heart attack. Dorothy’s own mother once used curtains off their windows to...

Gloria Grahame, who’s portrayed by Annette Bening in Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, which premieres at Tiff on Sept. 12, had an exceptional career in the late 1940s and 1950s.

She won a supporting actress Oscar (for 1952’s The Bad and the Beautiful) and worked with legendary actors (Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Stewart, Dorothy Lamour and Robert Mitchum) and directors (Fritz Lang, Elia Kazan, Vincent Minnelli and Nicholas Ray, whom she married). Grahame’s specialty was the film noir femme fatale. Unfortunately, she also made some fatal career moves.

In June 1951, Ray caught her in bed at their Malibu home...

You pick up a lot of baggage when you live to be 100, a sentiment confirmed by the long, long movie career of Bob Hope. His unofficial status as the preeminent entertainer of the 20th century is open to debate but he was without a doubt that era’s most conspicuous comedian. Marlon Brando’s infamous dismissal, “He’ll go to the opening of a market to receive an award”, was mean-spirited but it had the sting of truth; for over eighty years Hope was everywhere, for better or worse.

Living up to his nickname, “Rapid Robert”, the 31-year old Hope shot out of the gate in 1934 with a series of quick-on-their feet comic shorts revolving around his unique presence as a leading man and comical sidekick rolled into one. It wasn’t long before he was starring in pleasantly prosaic musicals like The Big Broadcast of 1938 and handsomely mounted...

Rebecca Lea Jun 5, 2017

We look back at the films based on Stephen King's writing. This time? It's Creepshow 2...

The film: The Creep arrives in town with a fresh batch of stories for another boy named Billy, who delights in grabbing a copy of the Creepshow comic. He reads the tale of Old Chief Wood’nhead first, in which an elderly couple find themselves victimised by an armed robbery in their general store. Next, The Raft, in which four college students take trip to a lake to go swimming, only to find out there’s something in the water. Finally, a married woman travelling home from a meeting with her lover loses control of her car and runs down a hitch-hiker, but flees from the scene to keep her life in order.

See related Star Wars: Rogue One review Star Wars: Rogue One - what did you think?...

This Week in Home Video‘They’re Playing With Fire’ Blends Bloody Violence and T&A Thrills to Surprising EffectPlus 13 more new releases to watch at home this week on Blu-ray/DVD.

Welcome to this week in home video! Click the title to buy a Blu-ray/DVD from Amazon and help support Fsr in the process!

Pick of the WeekThey’re Playing With Fire [Kl Studio Classics]

What is it? A sexy college professor seduces her student, and then people start dying horrible deaths.

Why see it? I’ve been a Sybil Danning fan for more years than I care to recall, but somehow this one slipped past me before now. I’m not sure what teen me would have thought, but as an adult I’m in awe of just how off the rails it gets from its very clear T&A origin. From the cover to the copy the film sells itself as just another sex flick, but...

As a lifelong fan of the original Creepshow—one of the first R-rated horror movies I ever saw as a kid and still my favorite horror anthology of all-time—it has taken me years to come to terms with the fact that Creepshow 2 is not bad. In fact, it’s quite good at times. But because it failed to capture the lightning-in-a-bottle magic of the first film (I mean, you had George A. Romero, Stephen King, and Tom Savini all working at their peaks), I have always ignored the fact that there’s a lot to like in Creepshow 2, even if it does fall short of its predecessor’s greatness. Thankfully, Arrow’s new special edition Blu-ray helped put me in my place.

Based on three more stories by King, Creepshow 2 finds original director Romero trading in the director’s chair for screenwriting duties. Calling the shots...

Arrow Video has a few items for horror fans to place under the tree and slip into stockings this holiday season, and we have full release details and cover art for their December Blu-ray releases of Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box Limited Edition Trilogy, Creepshow 2, and The Driller Killer (which is now slated for a December 13th release).

Press Release:Mvd Entertainment Group furthers the distribution of Arrow Video in the Us with three great new titles in December. The biggest release of the the month is Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box Limited Edition Trilogy, a limited edition run of 10,000 deluxe box-sets featuring Clive Barker's iconic and seminal horror classic Hellraiser. Arriving just in time for Christmas on December 13th, this exclusive box set will include the first three films in the Hellraiser saga alongside an abundance of bonus materials and never-before-seen footage.

The horror continues with the...

The already-incredible line-up for the 2016 New York Film Festival just got even more promising. Ang Lee‘s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk will hold its world premiere at the festival on October 14th, the NY Times confirmed today. The adaptation of Ben Fountain‘s Iraq War novel, with a script by Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire), follows a teenage soldier who survives a battle in Iraq and then is brought home for a victory lap before returning.

Lee has shot the film at 120 frames per second in 4K and native 3D, giving it unprecedented clarity for a feature film, which also means the screening will be held in a relatively small 300-seat theater at AMC Lincoln Square, one of the few with the technology to present it that way. While it’s expected that this Lincoln Square theater will play the film when it arrives in theaters, it may be...

The Hurricane

Written by Dudley Nichols

Directed by John Ford

USA, 1937

“My name is John Ford and I make Westerns,” so the legendary filmmaker once declared. As has been pointed out (by Martin Scorsese among others) that statement in a sense discounts the great director’s non-genre works, like the four features for which he won Academy Awards: The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), and The Quiet Man (1952). But with more than 140 directing credits on his résumé, it also sidesteps many lesser known, though quality, Ford films, those that either fall into the middle of the road category or those that are very good, if not quite great. That’s where his 1937 romantic drama The Hurricane comes in.

Produced by Samuel Goldwyn, directed by Ford (two years after The Informer and two years before his groundbreaking Stagecoach [1939]), and written by Dudley Nichols, himself an Oscar-winner for his writing The Informer,...

John Ford and Samuel Goldwyn's South Seas disaster picture can boast spectacular action and compelling romance. The unjustly imprisoned Jon Hall crosses half an ocean to rejoin his beloved Dorothy Lamour under The Moon of Manakoora, before an incredible (and incredibly expensive) hurricane blows the island to smithereens. Ford's direction is flawless, as are the screenplay by Dudley Nichols and the Hollywood-exotic music score by Alfred Newman. The Hurricane Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1937 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 110 min. / Street Date November 24, 2015 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Dorothy Lamour, Jon Hall, Mary Astor, C. Aubrey Smith, Thomas Mitchell, Raymond Massey, John Carradine, Jerome Cowan, Al Kikume, Kuulei De Clercq, Layne Tom Jr., Mamo Clark, Movita, Inez Courtney, Chris-Pin Martin. Cinematography Bert Glennon Film Editor Lloyd Nosler Special Effects James Basevi, Ray Binger, R.T. Layton, Lee Zavitz Original Music Alfred Newman Written by Dudley Nichols, Oliver H.P. Garrett from the...

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...

He's back and he's funnier than ever. The mischievous, cagey entertainer William Claude Dukenfield starred in some of the best comedies ever. This five-disc DVD set contains eighteen of his best, all the way from Million Dollar Legs in 1932 to Never Give a Sucker an Even Break in 1941. And we get to see all sides of W.C's talent -- he was a top-rank juggler, of just about anything. W.C. Fields Comedy Essentials Collection DVD Universal Studios Home Entertainment 1932-1941 / B&W / 1:37 Academy 1316 minutes (21 hours, 46 min) Street Date October 13, 2015 / 99.98 Starring Larson E. Whipsnade, T. Frothinghill Bellows, Egbert Sousé, Eustace P. McGargle, Harold Bissonette, Professor Quail, Augustus Winterbottom, Mr. Stubbins, Sam Bisbee, Ambrose Wolfinger, Cuthbert J. Twillie, Humpty-Dumpty. Written by Charles Bogle, Mahatma Kane Jeeves, Otis Criblecoblis

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

In the late 1960s there were these things called Head Shops, see, where various hippie consumer goods were sold.

Coleen Gray in 'The Sleeping City' with Richard Conte. Coleen Gray after Fox: B Westerns and films noirs (See previous post: “Coleen Gray Actress: From Red River to Film Noir 'Good Girls'.”) Regarding the demise of her Fox career (the year after her divorce from Rod Amateau), Coleen Gray would recall for Confessions of a Scream Queen author Matt Beckoff: I thought that was the end of the world and that I was a total failure. I was a mass of insecurity and depended on agents. … Whether it was an 'A' picture or a 'B' picture didn't bother me. It could be a Western movie, a sci-fi film. A job was a job. You did the best with the script that you had. Fox had dropped Gray at a time of dramatic upheavals in the American film industry: fast-dwindling box office receipts as a result of competition from television,...

Vivien Leigh ca. late 1940s. Vivien Leigh movies: now controversial 'Gone with the Wind,' little-seen '21 Days Together' on TCM Vivien Leigh is Turner Classic Movies' star today, Aug. 18, '15, as TCM's “Summer Under the Stars” series continues. Mostly a stage actress, Leigh was seen in only 19 films – in about 15 of which as a leading lady or star – in a movie career spanning three decades. Good for the relatively few who saw her on stage; bad for all those who have access to only a few performances of one of the most remarkable acting talents of the 20th century. This evening, TCM is showing three Vivien Leigh movies: Gone with the Wind (1939), 21 Days Together (1940), and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Leigh won Best Actress Academy Awards for the first and the third title. The little-remembered film in-between is a TCM premiere. 'Gone with the Wind' Seemingly all...

Uggie: 'The Artist' dog star. Uggie, 'The Artist' scene-stealing dog star, has died The biggest non-human movie star of the 21st century, Uggie, whose scene-stealing cuteness helped to earn Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist the 2011 Best Picture Academy Award, has died. According to his official Facebook page, Uggie had been suffering from prostate cancer; he was euthanized last Friday, Aug. 7, '15. Born in 2002, Uggie was 13 years old. An announcement posted on Tuesday night, Aug. 11, on the Fb page Consider Uggie read: We regret to inform to all our friends, family and Uggie's fans that our beloved boy has passed away. We were not planning on posting anything until we healed a little more but unfortunately somebody leaked it to TMZ and they will be announcing it. In short, Uggie had a cancerous tumor in the prostate and is now in a better place not feeling pain.

Teresa Wright-Samuel Goldwyn association comes to a nasty end (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright in 'Shadow of a Doubt': Alfred Hitchcock Heroine in His Favorite Film.") Whether or not because she was aware that Enchantment wasn't going to be the hit she needed – or perhaps some other disagreement with Samuel Goldwyn or personal issue with husband Niven Busch – Teresa Wright, claiming illness, refused to go to New York City to promote the film. (Top image: Teresa Wright in a publicity shot for The Men.) Goldwyn had previously announced that Wright, whose contract still had another four and half years to run, was to star in a film version of J.D. Salinger's 1948 short story "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut." Instead, he unceremoniously – and quite publicly – fired her.[1] The Goldwyn organization issued a statement, explaining that besides refusing the assignment to travel to New York to help generate pre-opening publicity for Enchantment,...

Honorary Award: Gloria Swanson, Rita Hayworth among dozens of women bypassed by the Academy (photo: Honorary Award non-winner Gloria Swanson in 'Sunset Blvd.') (See previous post: "Honorary Oscars: Doris Day, Danielle Darrieux Snubbed.") Part three of this four-part article about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Honorary Award bypassing women basically consists of a long, long — and for the most part quite prestigious — list of deceased women who, some way or other, left their mark on the film world. Some of the names found below are still well known; others were huge in their day, but are now all but forgotten. Yet, just because most people (and the media) suffer from long-term — and even medium-term — memory loss, that doesn't mean these women were any less deserving of an Honorary Oscar. So, among the distinguished female film professionals in Hollywood and elsewhere who have passed away without...

Top box office movies of 2013: If you make original, quality films… (photo: Sandra Bullock has two movies among the top 15 box office hits of 2013; Bullock is seen here in ‘The Heat,’ with Melissa McCarthy) (See previous post: “2013 Box Office Record? History is Remade If a Few ‘Minor Details’ Ignored.”) As further evidence that moviegoers want original, quality entertainment, below you’ll find a list of the top 15 movies at the domestic box office in 2013 — nine of which are sequels or reboots (ten if you include Oz the Great and Powerful), and more than half of which are 3D releases. Disney and Warner Bros. were the two top studios in 2013. Disney has five movies among the top 15; Warners has three. With the exception of the sleeper blockbuster Gravity, which, however dumbed down, targeted a more mature audience, every single one of the titles below were aimed either at teenagers/very,...

The record-breaking Oscar winner was a key part of Alfred Hitchcock's team, and helped Audrey Hepburn achieve movie immortality

• Edith Head's classic designs – in pictures

Edith Head, the subject of today's Google Doodle, still holds the record for most Oscar wins by an individual woman: eight, all for her costume designs. Most of these wins came in the early 50s, including two for Audrey Hepburn movies, Roman Holiday and Sabrina, but it was Head's work on a string of Alfred Hitchcock films that have ensured her place in the cinematic firmament.

In fact, it's fair to say that Head's costume work in films such as Vertigo, The Birds, and Rear Window was integral to Hitchcock's particular, recondite concern: the dismantling of apparently perfect women. The co-ordinated suits and neat frocks worn by the likes of Tippi Hedren, Grace Kelly and Kim Novak were the most obvious part of...

Irene Dunne movies: Five-time Best Actress Academy Award nominee starred in now-forgotten originals of well-remembered remakes In his August 2007 Bright Lights article "The Elusive Pleasures of Irene Dunne," Dan Callahan explained that "the reasons for Irene Dunne’s continuing, undeserved obscurity are fairly well known. Nearly all of her best films from the thirties and forties were remade and the originals were suppressed and didn’t play on television. She did some of her most distinctive work for John Stahl at Universal, and non-horror Universal films are rarely shown now. Practically all of her movies need to be restored; even her most popular effort, The Awful Truth (1937), looks grainy and blotchy on its DVD transfer, to say nothing of things like Stahl’s When Tomorrow Comes (1939), or Rouben Mamoulian’s High, Wide, and Handsome (1937), two key Dunne films that have languished and deteriorated in a sort of television/video purgatory.

Betty Hutton: Annie Get Your Gun and dancing with Fred Astaire (Photo: Betty Hutton in Annie Get Your Gun) [See previous post: "Betty Hutton Movies: 'It Had to Be You.'"] Betty Hutton’s career would reach its peak in 1950: Top billed, she danced with Fred Astaire in Norman Z. McLeod’s aptly titled Let’s Dance. Though not a great movie, the pairing with Astaire signaled prestige; the Rko-turned-mgm star was certainly more well-regarded than the likes of Sonny Tufts, John Lund, Don DeFore, or Macdonald Carey. That same year, Betty Hutton replaced a problematic Judy Garland in MGM’s George Sidney-directed film version of Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun. Of note: On Broadway, the role of Annie Oakley had been played by none other than Hutton’s Panama Hattie nemesis, Ethel Merman. Annie Get Your Gun was to be one of MGM’s biggest productions of the year. Hutton was even featured on the cover of Time magazine,...

Betty Hutton movies (photo: Betty Hutton in The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, with Eddie Bracken) [See previous post: "Betty Hutton Bio: The Blonde Bombshell."] Buddy DeSylva did as promised. Betty Hutton was given a key supporting role in Victor Schertzinger’s 1942 musical comedy The Fleet’s In, starring Dorothy Lamour, William Holden, and Eddie Bracken. “Her facial grimaces, body twists and man-pummeling gymnastics take wonderfully to the screen,” enthused Pm magazine. (Hutton would have a cameo, as Hetty Button, in the 1952 remake Sailor Beware, starring Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, and Corinne Calvet.) The following year, Betty Hutton landed the second female lead in Happy Go Lucky (1943), singing Jimmy McHugh and Frank Loesser’s "Murder, He Says," and stealing the show from fellow Broadway import Mary Martin and former Warner Bros. crooner Dick Powell. She also got co-star billing opposite Bob Hope in Sidney Lanfield’s musical comedy Let’s Face It. Additionally, Paramount’s hugely successful all-star war-effort...

“Personality” was first performed by Dorothy Lamour in the 1946 film Road to Utopia. That’s not why it’s this week’s B-Sides. Being sung by a busload of human oddities in a Frank Henenlotter flick is the reason why this freakish take on “Personality” made the B-Sides.

Actress-singer Annie Ross has had a storied career that began with an “Our Gang” short and near its end saw her cast as the freak-loving “Granny Ruth” in the 1992 threequel Basket Case 3: The Progeny. A nutzoid mother hen to a gaggle of freaks similar to the franchise’s star mutant, Belial, it’s her love for these freaks of nature that leads to this amazing big band, bus-bound musical number from the most insane entry in Frank Henenlotter’s Basket Case franchise – and that’s saying something.

This scene is also a little depressing because looking at the wonderfully imaginative make-up...

There are a handful of hardcore Fanboys out there who simply can't handle that “Star Wars” didn't win the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1977. That it lost out to one of the finest, most clever examples of transcendent visual storytelling, “Annie Hall,” is of no consequence. The '77 Oscar is an injustice equaled only by the destruction of Alderaan.

Here's the thing: it's okay to love both. (And to realize that “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” not being nominated that year is possibly the bigger crime.) What you may not know is that George Lucas and Woody Allen recognized there was a problem and actually tried to get a project off the ground that would bring peace to the two parties.

While the film never made it past script stage, we at Planet Fanboy are among the few who've actually had a chance to read the collaborative work.

In the book Hollywood Unknowns, author Anthony Slide tackles a little-known side of Hollywood moviemaking: the aspirations and travails of the movie extras and bit players (in addition to "side" chapters on actors' stand-ins and stunt doubles). [Image: Book cover featuring -- possibly -- short filmmaker Pete Smith.] Slide's Hollywood Unknowns: A History of Extras, Bit Players and Stand-Ins covers the history of the movie extras from the very dawn of cinema -- when, say, someone like future "star" Florence Lawrence could be the focus of one film and mere "atmosphere" in another -- to the current crop of movie extras. Among the sujects discussed in Anthony Slide's highly entertaining tome are the history of Central Casting; union battles involving the Screen Actors Guild, the Screen Extras Guild, and splinter groups; and a look at former silent-era performers, including Clara Kimball Young, King Baggott, and William Farnum, who finished their days as Hollywood extras. So, next time you watch Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist,...

Review by Sam Moffitt

Some movies stay with you. People are constantly amazed that I can remember so much about movies but also what theatre I saw them in and under what circumstances. Movies can be like songs in the memory, where you were physically and mentally and emotionally the first time you heard a song and how it takes on much more meaning than the musicians ever intended. The same with books, I recall at what point in my life I read certain books and where I was at the time. And so, it’s the same with movies, for me anyway.

In 1966 my Father entered John Cochran Veteran’s Hospital in St. Louis, on North Grand, for brain surgery. He never walked out of there. We were visiting Dad before the surgery, at eleven years old I was already a die hard Movie Geek. I used to beg my parents,...