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This year’s awards-contending films offer a treasure trove of crafts that includes transformations, exquisite sets, lavish costumes, memorable scores and songs and immersive cinematography. The contenders range from newcomers to legends — Variety breaks down the categories below.

Makeup And Hair

Prosthetic makeup designer Kazu Hiro could very well walk away with his third Oscar for his work on Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro.” Transforming Cooper into the legendary composer Leonard Bernstein consisted of five different stages to gradually age the actor. And the guild as well as the Academy love a transformation.

Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” could be a contender in this area, following in the footsteps of the first two films that landed guild nominations. The sheer volume of prosthetics and wigs went into building the characters such as the humanimals, the hybrid of humanoid and animal, and the villain, the High Evolutionary, played by Chukwudi Iwuji.

Celebrity cinematographers are exceedingly rare. More often than not, credit for a film’s visual assembly goes to its director, while DPs can be overlooked. Roger Deakins, typically as famous as the directors with whom he works, is an exception. The legendary lensman is ranked fifth in our combined Best Cinematography Oscar odds for “Empire of Light,” his latest project under Sam Mendes. The movie stars Olivia Colman as Hilary, a lonely cinema manager living on the British coast. A chance at fleeting happiness arrives in the form of Stephen (Micheal Ward), a young man who gets a job at the theater. Their May-December romance is complicated by personal and broader political factors at the turn of the ’80s.

See ‘Empire of Light’ cinematographer Roger Deakins: ‘You’re trying to create a reality that all fits together as a whole’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

Comparing “Empire of Light” to “1917”—Mendes and Deakins’ previous collaboration,...

Robert Eggers is such a dominant force in the indie film world that it’s easy to forget “The Northman” is only his third movie. Eggers made his feature debut with 2015’s “The Witch,” but he started directing films seven years earlier when he adapted Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” as a short in 2008.

The film helped Eggers develop the period horror aesthetic that he perfected in “The Witch,” and established his relationships with several key collaborators. Now, cinephiles can watch the short film for the first time, as Eggers has chosen to show the film exclusively on IndieWire.

“I am pleased to share ‘The Tell-Tale Heart.’ It is an uneven film, but my first film that I was proud of making,” Eggers wrote in a statement. “It is also my first collaboration with my Dp Jarin Blaschke and editor Lousie Ford, and we have worked together ever since,...

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber. (Click on the images for magnified detail)

This week marks the 75th anniversary of Leave Her to Heaven, a technicolor noir blockbuster with set decoration so opulent, you will find yourself shouting at the upholstery.

It has other virtues, of course: Gene Tierney’s wickedly genre-shifting performance, Leon Shamroy’s shadow-wielding cinematography, Vincent Price’s height, etc. But the last time I watched it, I couldn’t take my eyes off the sets. The film takes place in a fever-dream of post-war prosperity before the fact, an endless parade of over-decorated vacation homes.

Frankly, it should have won the Oscar for Best Art Direction - Interior Decoration, Color...

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.***Twentieth Century Fox didn't weather the 60s terribly well, but what American studio did? At least they hit the 70s running with M*A*S*H, which was more or less through luck (they execs were too busy having heart failure over the cost of Patton (1970) and Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) to bother Robert Altman, who then became a semi-regular director for them during the next decade).George Axelrod's The Secret Life of an American Wife (1968) pops out as an endearing oddity in an output mostly divided between the last gasps of formerly reliable or even inspired filmmakers (try Frank Tashlin's Doris Day spy caper Caprice [1967]), weird experiments and cheap...

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...

Freddie Mercury sang that Love Kills, and that’s apparently where Gene Tierney’s coming from in this bizarre domestic noir. Dream wife Tierney is cultured, rich, and drop-dead gorgeous, but hubby Cornell Wilde should have read the small print about her manic possessiveness. Beautiful people, beautiful scenery and Technicolor so bright that even Alfred Newman’s music score seems to be in color; John M. Stahl’s thriller stretches the definition of Film Noir.

Leave Her to Heaven

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 1020

1945 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 110 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date March 24, 2020 / 39.95

Starring: Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain, Vincent Price, Mary Philips, Ray Collins, Darryl Hickman.

Cinematography: Leon Shamroy

Film Editor: James B. Clark

Original Music: Alfred Newman

Written by Jo Swerling from the novel by Ben Ames Williams

Produced by William A. Bacher, Darryl F. Zanuck

Directed by John M. Stahl

How can a glossy...

One of the seemingly surefire locks on Oscar night is in Best Cinematography. Roger Deakins is the runaway favorite to take home the statuette for “1917,” per our odds, and after waiting 23 years for his first Oscar, he could now join the two-time winners club in the second fastest timespan.

Deakins finally won a long-awaited Oscar two years ago for “Blade Runner 2049” (2017) on his 14th nomination — his first having been for 1994’s “The Shawshank Redemption.” He had no projects in 2018, making this his first bid since his win, so perhaps this could be the beginning of a win streak.

The legendary cinematographer would be the 15h person with two victories — fitting since this is his 15th nomination — a list that includes John Toll, Janusz Kaminski, Haskell Wexler, James Wong Howe and Burnett Guffey. Eight people have won three, including Conrad Hall, Robert Richardson (one of Deakins’ rivals this year...

Roger Deakins is back in the Best Cinematography Oscar race for the first time since his win for “Blade Runner 2049” (2017) with Sam Mendes‘ “1917.” His long-awaited victory was on his 14th nomination and if he nabs a 15th, he’ll tie for second place for most nominations.

Robert Surtees is currently in sole possession of second-place honors, amassing 15 bids over his nearly five-decade career. He won for “King Solomon’s Mines” (1950), “The Bad and the Beautiful” (1952) and “Ben-Hur” (1959). Leon Shamroy and Charles Lang hold the category record at 18 nominations each. Shamroy has a record four wins, which he shares with 10-nominee Joseph Ruttenberg, having triumphed for “The Black Swan” (1942), “Wilson” (1944), “Leave Her to Heaven” (1945) and “Cleopatra” (1963). Lang prevailed once, taking home the prize on his second nomination for “A Farewell to Arms” (1932).

See Can Roger Deakins win the Best Cinematography Oscar again so soon after long overdue first victory?

At the moment,...

It’s wacky, daffy and incredibly square, yet Frank Tashlin’s late career Doris Day romp has a certain gotta-watch interest factor: the male cast of clowns performs the sexist comedy well, and Ms. Day’s fantastic screen personality brightens everything. Space-age executive lothario Rod Taylor hires Doris just for romantic purposes, while Arthur Godfrey, John McGiver, Dom DeLuise, Edward Andrews, Paul Lynde and Dick Martin execute dated slapstick amid ‘futuristic’ gadgets from the days of Buck Rogers.

The Glass Bottom Boat

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1966 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date March 26, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Doris Day, Rod Taylor, Arthur Godfrey, John McGiver, Dom DeLuise,

Ellen Corby, Edward Andrews, Eric Fleming, Paul Lynde, Dick Martin.

Cinematography: Leon Shamroy

Film Editor: John McSweeney

Original Music: Frank DeVol

Written by Everett Freeman

Produced by Everett Freeman and Martin Melcher

Directed by Frank Tashlin

The great director Frank Tashlin is...

Gregory Peck slips into vengeance mode full-tilt, riding down a quartet of blackhearted knaves: rapist Stephen Boyd, ambusher Albert Salmi, sneaky Lee Van Cleef and inscrutable Henry Silva. The action direction and scenery in this late ‘fifties Big Sky western are excellent; Joan Collins and Kathleen Gallant put in good performances as well.

The Bravados

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1958 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 97 min. / Street Date September 18, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Gregory Peck, Joan Collins, Stephen Boyd, Albert Salmi, Henry Silva, Kathleen Gallant, Barry Coe, George Voskovec, Herbert Rudley, Lee Van Cleef, Joe DeRita, Andrew Duggan, Ken Scott, Gene Evans, Beulah Archuletta, Robert Adler.

Cinematography: Leon Shamroy

Film Editor: William Mace

Original Music: Lionel Newman

Written by Philip Yordan from a novel by Frank O’Rourke

Produced by Herbert B. Swope Jr.

Directed by Henry King

The Bravados is just the kind of western America liked in the late 1950s,...

Meet the lusty Amber St. Clare, a 17th century social climber determined to sleep her way to respectability. Gorgeous Linda Darnell gets her biggest role in a lavishly appointed period epic; Otto Preminger hated the assignment but his direction and Darryl Zanuck’s production are excellent. And it has one of the all-time great Hollywood movie scores, by David Raksin.

Forever Amber

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1947 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 138 min. / Street Date December 19, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Linda Darnell, Cornel Wilde, Richard Greene, George Sanders, Glenn Langan, Richard Haydn, Jessica Tandy, Anne Revere, John Russell, Jane Ball, Robert Coote, Leo G. Carroll, Natalie Draper, Margaret Wycherly, Norma Varden.

Cinematography: Leon Shamroy

Art Direction: Lyle Wheeler

Visual Effects: Fred Sersen

Original Music: David Raksin

Written by Philip Dunne, Ring Lardner Jr. from the novel by Kathleen Winsor

Produced by William Perlberg

Directed by Otto Preminger

Three years ago,...

A great cast swashbuckles its way through Henry King’s piratical spectacular with an assist from Leon Shamroy’s Oscar-winning Technicolor cinematography. Splendid hokum in the overstuffed Darryl Zanuck tradition.

Fritz Lang continues his take-no-prisoners indictment of America’s curious relationship with crime; this time he presents the thesis that an innocent man can be a pawn in cosmic game of injustice. Three-time loser Henry Fonda, the glummest actor in ’30s films, doesn’t mean to rob or kill, but gosh darn it, They Made Him a Criminal. Those considerations aside, it’s a wonderful cinematic achievement, made all the better by a decent digital restoration.

You Only Live Once

Blu-ray

ClassicFlix

1937 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 86 min. / Street Date July 25, 2017 / 29.98

Starring: Sylvia Sidney, Henry Fonda, Barton MacLane, Jean Dixon,

William Gargan, Jerome Cowan, Charles ‘Chic’ Sale, Margaret Hamilton, Warren Hymer,

Guinn ‘Big Boy’ Williams, Ward Bond, Jack Carson, Jonathan Hale

Cinematography: Leon Shamroy

Art Direction: Alexander Toluboff

Film Editor: Daniel Mandell

Original Music: Hugo Friedhofer

Written by Graham Baker and Gene Towne

Produced by Walter Wanger

Directed by Fritz Lang...

This past weekend, the American Society of Cinematographers awarded Greig Fraser for his contribution to Lion as last year’s greatest accomplishment in the field. Of course, his achievement was just a small sampling of the fantastic work from directors of photography, but it did give us a stronger hint at what may be the winner on Oscar night. Ahead of the ceremony, we have a new video compilation that honors all the past winners in the category at the Academy Awards

Created by Burger Fiction, it spans the stunning silent landmark Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans all the way up to the end of Emmanuel Lubezki‘s three-peat win for The Revenant. Aside from the advancements in color and aspect ration, it’s a thrill to see some of cinema’s most iconic shots side-by-side. However, the best way to experience the evolution of the craft is by...

What a Way to Go!

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1964 / Color B&W / 2:35 enhanced widescreen 1:37 flat Academy / 111 min. / Street Date February 7, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring Shirley MacLaine, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly, Robert Cummings, Dick Van Dyke, Reginald Gardiner, Margaret Dumont, Fifi D’Orsay, Maurice Marsac, Lenny Kent, Marjorie Bennett, Army Archerd, Barbara Bouchet, Tom Conway, Peter Duchin, Douglass Dumbrille, Pamelyn Ferdin, Teri Garr, Queenie Leonard.

Cinematography: Leon Shamroy

Film Editor: Marjorie Fowler

Original Music: Nelson Riddle

Written by: Betty Comden, Adolph Green story by Gwen Davis

Produced by: Arthur P. Jacobs

Directed by: J. Lee Thompson

Want to know what the producer of Planet of the Apes was up to, before that milestone movie? Arthur P. Jacobs was an agent for big stars before he became a producer, which positioned him well for his first show for 20th Fox, What a Way to Go!

David and Bathsheba

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1951 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 116 min. / Street Date January 10, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, Raymond Massey, Kieron Moore, James Robertson Justice, Jayne Meadows, George Zucco, Francis X. Bushman, Gwen Verdon

Cinematography: Leon Shamroy

Art Direction: George Davis, Lyle Wheeler

Film Editor: Barbara McLean

Original Music: Alfred Newman

Written by: Philip Dunne

Produced by: Darryl F. Zanuck

Directed by Henry King

Right in the middle of WW2, 20th Fox struck religious pay dirt with two respectful religion-themed movies, one about a miracle and another about the hard life of a priest. Each created a new Hollywood star. Five years later there began a regular Hollywood Bible War. In 1949 Cecil B. DeMille released his first Biblical epic in Technicolor, Samson and Delilah, throwing violence, sex and hammy acting at the screen in even measure. MGM bounced back with a tremendous production of...

What? A movie where adults behave like adults? Otto Preminger showcases a quiet maturity in this story of an independent woman caught between two men, adulterous lover Dana Andrews and conflicted suitor Henry Fonda. The script is witty and the people believable -- this is one of Joan Crawford's best performances. Daisy Kenyon Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1947 / B&W / 1:37 flat full frame / 99 min. / Street Date Nov 15, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Joan Crawford, Dana Andrews, Henry Fonda, Ruth Warrick, Martha Stewart, Peggy Ann Garner Cinematography Leon Shamroy Art Direction George Davis, Lyle Wheeler Film Editor Louis Loffler Original Music David Raksin Written by David Hertz from the book by Elizabeth Janeway Produced and Directed by Otto Preminger

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Why is Daisy Kenyon one of Joan Crawford's best pictures? Crawford could be a fine actress, but too many of her pictures seem distorted by her star persona.

The marvelous season of Leo McCarey films at New York's Museum of Modern Art features a few real rarities and a whole passel of acknowledged classics: features like Duck Soup and Make Way for Tomorrow and hilarious shorts programs featuring Laurel & Hardy, Charley Chase and others. Perhaps the rarest item is Part Time Wife, a 1930 rehearsal for the greatness of The Awful Truth, complete with Airedale, but only slightly less obscure is late-career entry Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (1958), a strange quasi-satire which folds together several late-fifties concerns without actually addressing them or working out what it is, or what it's for.Whether it's actually true that right-wingers can't do satirical comedy, McCarey certainly lost the fire that made Duck Soup so truly anarchic during the years when he moved away from comedy to make beloved, sentimental and sincere dramas. Returning to broad comedy is something many of his fan probably wished he would do,...

The American Society of Cinematographers awarded Emmanuel Lubezki his third consecutive win for “The Revenant.” Should he repeat at the Oscars, he’ll be the first person in history to win Best Cinematography three years in a row, and will be one away from tying Leon Shamroy and Joseph Ruttenberg for the most overall wins in this category. Shamroy prevailed for “The Black Swan” [1942], “Wilson” [1944], “Leave Her to Heaven” [1945], and “Cleopatra” [1963]. And Ruttenberg was crowned champ for “The Great Waltz” [1938], “Mrs. Miniver” [1942], “Somebody Up There Likes Me” [1956], and “Gigi” [1958]. -Break- Subscribe to Gold Derby Breaking News Alerts & Experts’ Latest Oscar Predictions Lubezki competes at the Oscars against Ed Lachman (“Carol”), three-time Oscar champ Robert Richardson (“The Hateful Eight&r...

Cinematographer Emmanuel ("Chivo") Lubezki continued his remarkable roll Sunday night. After taking BAFTA honors for "The Revenant," he became the first Asc member to win five awards with the metaphysical wilderness adventure (surpassing the late Conrad Hall), and three consecutively. He previously won for "Birdman," "Gravity," "Tree of Life," and "Children of Men." Read More: "Inside the BAFTA Awards" Lubezki's now poised to become the first in his craft to do the consecutive Oscar hat-trick (he's currently tied with Leon Shamroy, Winton Hoch, and John Toll, who received the Asc's Lifetime Achievement Award). He thanked director Alejandro G. Iñárritu (who made history last weekend by snatching his second consecutive DGA award) for his passion and energy. Lubezki recently told me that making "The Revenant" changed his life and is the most immersive movie he's...

As we launch the Best Cinematography category in our Oscars predictions center, several people have a chance to make history at this year's ceremony. For instance, Emmanuel Lubezki has won the award for the last two years ("Gravity" in 2013, "Birdman" in 2014), and as the cinematographer for "The Revenant" this year he has a chance to go three-for-three, which would make him the first in Oscar history to win in three consecutive years. -Break- Experts' Oscar predictions update: 'Spotlight' pulls further ahead of 'Joy' with 'The Martian' rising fast As it stands, Lubezki is one of only four to have won back-to-back. The others were Leon Shamroy ("Wilson" in 1944, "Leave Her to Heaven" in 1945), Winton Hoch ("Joan of Arc" in 1948, "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" in 1949) and John Toll ("Legends of the Fall" in 1994, "Braveheart" in 1995). It...

"What Does ‘Cinematic TV’ Really Mean?" reads the headline over Matt Zoller Seitz's introduction to a video at Vulture that features examples of imaginatively directed television such as Fargo, True Detective, The Leftovers and The Knick. Also in today's roundup: Reverse Shot has launched a new symposium in which writers argue that the director isn't the true auteur. So far: "Leon Shamroy's Leave Her to Heaven" and "Juliette Binoche's Clouds of Sils Maria." Plus: A review of Masaki Kobayashi's Kwaidan highlighting the work of composer and sound designer Tôru Takemitsu, interviews with Eric Khoo, John Cameron Mitchell and Tab Hunter—and more. » - David Hudson...

"What Does ‘Cinematic TV’ Really Mean?" reads the headline over Matt Zoller Seitz's introduction to a video at Vulture that features examples of imaginatively directed television such as Fargo, True Detective, The Leftovers and The Knick. Also in today's roundup: Reverse Shot has launched a new symposium in which writers argue that the director isn't the true auteur. So far: "Leon Shamroy's Leave Her to Heaven" and "Juliette Binoche's Clouds of Sils Maria." Plus: A review of Masaki Kobayashi's Kwaidan highlighting the work of composer and sound designer Tôru Takemitsu, interviews with Eric Khoo, John Cameron Mitchell and Tab Hunter—and more. » - David Hudson...

By winning the Best Cinematography Oscar for a second year in a row, "Birdman" director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki has joined a truly elite club whose ranks haven't been breached in nearly two decades. Only four other cinematographers have won the prize in two consecutive years. The last time it happened was in 1994 and 1995, when John Toll won for Edward Zwick's "Legends of the Fall" and Mel Gibson's "Braveheart" respectively. Before that you have to go all the way back to the late '40s, when Winton Hoch won in 1948 (Victor Fleming's "Joan of Arc" with Ingrid Bergman) and 1949 (John Ford's western "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon"). Both victories came in the color category, as the Academy awarded prizes separately for black-and-white and color photography from 1939 to 1956. Leon Shamroy also won back-to-back color cinematography Oscars, for Henry King's 1944 Woodrow Wilson biopic "Wilson" and John M. Stahl...

The American Society of Cinematographers (Asc) has awarded "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" top honors for cinematography. Emmanuel Lubezki also won the award last year, making him the first back-to-back recipient to date. This is his fourth Asc award after "Children of Men," "The Tree of Life" and "Gravity," all of them in the last eight years. At the upcoming 87th annual Academy Awards, Lubezki may well join a still exclusive club of individuals who have won the Best Cinematography Oscar in two consecutive years. Howard Greene, Leon Shamroy, Winton Hoch and John Toll did it previously. Check out the full list of Asc winners below, nominees here and the rest of the season's offerings at The Circuit. Theatrical Release "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" (Emmanuel Lubezki) Episode of a Regular Series "Boardwalk Empire" - "Golden Days for Boys and Girls" (Jonathan Freeman) Television Movie, Miniseries...

Roger Deakins inched closer to the likes of fellow cinematographers Leon Shamroy and Charles B. Lang Jr. Thursday morning by picking up his twelfth Oscar nomination to date, for his work on Angelina Jolie's "Unbroken." But where Shamroy and Lang each picked up some hardware in their day, Deakins — one of the most celebrated artists behind the camera today — is still looking for his first. But he doesn't bog down in that. In fact, he's most eager to discuss the other work nominated alongside his today when chatting in the wake of the nominations announcement. Like the Polish entry "Ida," for instance, which was recognized by BAFTA this year and with a special Asc award last year, yet few were expecting it to figure in today. "I think that's fantastic," Deakins says. "I thought that was a great film. I think 'Leviathan' should have been in there, too. But...

Good Morning Oscar fans! Today is nomination day!

Wamg was in the thick of nomination morning fever at the home of the Oscars – the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

Prior to the announcement, A.M.P.A.S. and the show’s producing team, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, gave the press assembled in the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre a first look at the new Oscar promo featuring host Neil Patrick Harris, titled “Anything Can Happen,” and given what went down this morning, that’s certainly the case.

Let’s get right to the big shockers – No Lego Movie for Best Animated Feature or Life Itself in Best Documentary Feature.

Also missing among the presumed nominees were Ava DuVernay (Selma, directing), Clint Eastwood (American Sniper, directing), Jennifer Aniston (Cake, best actress), David Oyelowo (Selma, best actor), Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler, best actor), Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel, best actor), Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl,...

When 20th Century Fox released Planet Of The Apes on February 8, 1968, audiences saw Pierre Boulle’s novel come to life on the big screen through futuristic sets and costumes, John Chambers’ Oscar-winning makeup and a percussion heavy score by Jerry Goldsmith. Shot by cinematographer Leon Shamroy, CGI wasn’t even a thought yet.

As noted in the documentary Behind the Planet of the Apes (narrated by Roddy McDowall “Cornelius”), the special effect shot of the half-buried Statue of Liberty at the end of the film was completed by adding a matte painting with existing cliffs. The iconic shot looking down at Taylor (Charlton Heston) was done from a 70-foot scaffold, angled over a 1/2-scale papier-mache model of the Statue.

Jump ahead 30 plus years to where the apes and scenes will be created through the Oscar-winning visual effects house Weta Digital.

Employing a new generation of the cutting edge performance capture...

‘Gone with the Wind’ actress Mary Anderson dead at 96; also featured in Alfred Hitchcock thriller ‘Lifeboat’ Mary Anderson, an actress featured in both Gone with the Wind and Alfred Hitchcock’s adventure thriller Lifeboat, died following a series of small strokes on Sunday, April 6, 2014, while under hospice care in Toluca Lake/Burbank, northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Anderson, the widow of multiple Oscar-winning cinematographer Leon Shamroy, had turned 96 on April 3. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1918, Mary Anderson was reportedly discovered by director George Cukor, at the time looking for an actress to play Scarlett O’Hara in David O. Selznick’s film version of Margaret Mitchell’s bestseller Gone with the Wind. Instead of Scarlett, eventually played by Vivien Leigh, Anderson was cast in the small role of Maybelle Merriwether — most of which reportedly ended up on the cutting-room floor. Cukor was later fired from the project; his replacement, Victor Fleming,...

Washington, April 8: Mary Anderson, who played Maybelle Merriwether in the iconic film 'Gone With the Wind' has died at the age of 96.

The actress was married to famous cinematographer Leon Shamroy and had one child, The Hollywood Reporter reported.

Anderson also starred in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Lifeboat', where she played U.S. Army nurse Alice Mackenzie, opposite Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Walter Slezak, John Hodiak and Hume Cronyn. (Ani)...

Mary Anderson, who played Maybelle Merriwether in Gone With the Wind and was one of the nine survivors cast adrift from a torpedoed ship in Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat, has died. She was 96. Anderson died Sunday under hospice care in Burbank, her friend Betty Landess told the Los Angeles Times. Photos: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2014 Anderson was the widow of cinematographer Leon Shamroy, who collected 18 Academy Award nominations during his career and won for The Black Swan (1942), Wilson (1944), Leave Her to Heaven (1945) and Cleopatra (1963). They were married for 21 years until his death in

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Today, you say Black Swan and images of a crazed Natalie Portman come to mind, but there was an earlier film by that name, a swashbuckler that has been forgotten by many. The first Black Swan is a 1942 adventure starring Tyrone Power and Maureen O’Hara based on Rafael Sabatini’s novel. Having already succeeded with adaptations of Captain Blood and The Sea Hawk, this seemed a natural followup for 20th Century Fox.

Out on Blu-ray from 20th Century Home Entertainment, The Black Swan tells the story of the infamous Captain Morgan (Laird Cregar), attempting to lead a more virtuous life. He is appointed as Governor of Jamaica, charged with ridding the waters of his former brigands. No one trusts the notorious former pirate, complicating his work although he’s successful using his personal relationships to convince Captain Jamie Waring (Power) and Tom Blue (Thomas Mitchell) to end their criminal work.

(Fritz Lang, 1937, Studiocanal, 12)

Fritz Lang is one of the few directors with truly substantial bodies of film in both the silent and the sound era, though he rarely had the budgets or creative freedom during his Hollywood years that he'd enjoyed in 1920s Berlin.

This classic of social-conscience cinema, his third film after fleeing from Nazi Germany, stars Henry Fonda as a three-time loser, unjustly convicted of murder and on the run with his pregnant wife (Sylvia Sidney). It is at once a great prison melodrama, an expression of Lang's fascination with fate and destiny, and a powerful attack on the death penalty and the stigmatisation of ex-convicts. Fonda (here anticipating his Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath) has rarely been better, Sidney is heartbreaking as his devoted wife, and the supporting cast is a gallery of familiar character actors (Margaret Hamilton, Barton MacLane, William Gargan, Ward Bond et...

Movie sagas never die; they always come back every so often and in one form or another, and 2011 sees the cinematic revival of a very famous and enduring science fiction genre.

By effectively reversing Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, Monkey Planet is more of a satirical look at modern life and less of a science fiction story. Globetrotting journalist Ulysse Merou accompanies his friend Professor Antelle and physicist Arthur Levain on a space journey to the Betelgeuse quadrant of the Galaxy. Their ship lands on a planet similar to Earth, which the professor names Soror (Latin for sister).

Shortly after landing, the ship is destroyed by a tribe of primitive humans who also capture the astronauts. The tribe is later attacked by a hunting party of apes dressed in 20th Century clothes, driving trucks and carrying guns. Levain is killed during the hunt and Merou is caught and taken to an ape city,...

HollywoodNews.com: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present a recently restored 70mm print of “South Pacific” at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

The screening is presented in association with Center Theater Group, which is hosting the touring version of the current Broadway revival.

Following the screening, Center Theatre Group’s artistic director, Michael Ritchie, will lead an onstage discussion featuring Mitzi Gaynor, who portrays Ensign Nellie Forbush in the film.

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s musical version of James Michener’s novel premiered on stage in 1949 and was adapted for film in 1958. Set against the backdrop of World War II, “South Pacific” explores the dynamics of romantic attraction and racial prejudice among several residents of a fictitious South Pacific island and members of the U.S. Navy.

Featuring numerous well-loved songs, including “Some Enchanted Evening,” “A Wonderful Guy,” “Happy Talk” and “Bali Ha’i,...

On The Evolution Of CinemaScope: Or, of you're going to be a stickler about names of formats and such, "The 2.35:1 Or So Aspect Ratio."

Above: The Robe (Henry Koster, 1953).

Above: Bonjour Tristesse (Otto Preminger, 1958).

Above: Le Mepris (Contempt) (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963).

When CinemaScope was introduced in 1953, the first film in the widescreen format was in the then au-courant sand-and-sandals quasi-Biblical-epic genre. The Robe still plays, in its silly way, as a study in gargantuan production value. And the gargantuan dimensions of the CinemaScope screen were seen as something of a novelty, a piece of showmanship rather than cinema per se, Zanuck's would-be blowback at television in an attempt to shore up the notion that movies were still going to be your best entertainment value.

What, though, had 'Scope to do with the art of cinema? And/or what director was going to be able to use 'Scope artistically? The answer came reasonably quickly,...