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In 1995, filmmaker Fred Olen Ray executive produced the direct-to-video Halloween slasher Jack-o — which he famously referring to as a “shit pickle” on the audio commentary.

30 years later, the B-movie stalwart is writing and directing Jack-o 2: Blood Moon Rising. Inspired by 1970s drive-in movies, the sequel aims to highlight a monstrous creature, dark swamps, and fair maidens in peril.

Ray will produce alongside Sean Donohue, with original Jack-o director Steve Latshaw and exploitation maven William Grefé (Mako: The Jaws of Death) executive producing.

Genre regulars Sybil Danning (Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf), Richard Gabai (Demon Wind), Sushii Xhyvette Holder (Naked Cannibal Campers), and Martin Nicholas (The Alien Dead) are attached to star.

An Indiegogo campaign has launched to crowdfund $50,000 toward the sequel, which Ray says will “help offset my personal cash investment for the bulk of the financing and allow me to import a name star.” Perks range...

Stars: Steve Barkett, Christopher Barkett, Tera Hendrickson, Richard Harrison, Dawn Wildsmith, John Henry Richardson, Patricia Schiotis, Joseph Pilato, Jan Bryant | Written and Directed by Steve Barkett

In the 80s and 90s there were so many post-apocalyptic films. Many of the most fun out-of-this-world ones were of the low-budget B movie variety, and we’ve probably all heard the term “so bad it’s good” when it comes to these films.

Steve Barkett is a name you may not know off the top of your head, but if you love those B-movies from that era, you’ll know his films. In 1982 he made The Aftermath, and in 1995 he made Attack of the 60 Foot Centrefold. But in between those two films, in 1991, he wrote, produced, directed and starred in Empire of the Dark. Vci Entertainment and Mvd Visual previously brought us The Aftermath on Blu-ray. Now, as we are coming upon the...

Not unlike an attentive bird who spots a smidgen of sustenance in a pile of cattle dung, director George Gallo and co-scripter Josh Posner’s new comedy retrieves a viable comic premise in the deservedly obscure and irredeemably wretched 1982 comedy “The Comeback Trail.” Unfortunately, their hugely enjoyable remake, in name only, was stuck in distribution limbo for the better part of five years, despite a stellar cast that includes Oscar winners Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones and Morgan Freeman. At long last, the movie recently received an extremely limited U.S. theatrical run and is now available on digital platforms.

Speaking as someone who viewed a screener of the new and improved “Comeback Trail” back in 2020, and has puzzled over why it remained more or less shelved ever since, I am happy to report after a second viewing that the indie production is every bit as funny as I...

Pulp-influenced, space-faring comic book heroes from Flash Gordon to Star-Lord can tip their hat to Buck Rogers, who debuted on the funny pages in 1929 and paved the way for the medium's future sci-fi protagonists. Though Legendary and Skydance have been developing their dueling "Buck Rogers" projects in recent years, the character's pop culture prevalence isn't quite what it used to be. Back in the day, however, Rogers received more than his share of attention. The character soon leaped from the page to a long-running radio series, a 1939 movie starring Buster Crabbe -- who, funnily enough, was also the go-to Flash Gordon actor of the era -- and a short-lived 1950 TV show.

However, if you were to name a definitive live-action take on Buck Rogers, it's hard to beat "Battlestar Galactica" creator Glen A. Larson's "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century." The show got its start in 1979 with a frankly...

Star Wars became a cultural phenomenon under the leadership of George Lucas. From the Original Trilogy to all the narrative pieces that are now considered part of the Legends timeline. While now the property is in the hands of Disney, Lucas could go back to the drawing board, realizing one of his greatest dreams with his fortune, should he ever want to move on from Star Wars.

Luke Skywalker || Credit: Lucasfilm

While Star Wars is one of the most recognizable space operas of our times, George Lucas was obsessed with a different one which he wanted to adapt. Back when Star Wars was a figment of Lucas’ imagination, the legendary director wanted to do a Flash Gordon film, but the rights for the film seemed to be a little too out of his ballpark then.

King Features really did not want to part with the rights for Flash Gordon Flash...

Nineteen sixty-eight has to be considered the apex of psychedelic sexploitation romps, with the release of Candy, adapted from Mason Hoffenberg and Terry Southern’s satirical reworking of Voltaire’s Candide, and Roger Vadim’s Barbarella, based on Jean-Claude Forest’s comic, and partially scripted by Southern (alongside an armada of other credited writers). Both employ a rambling, shaggy-dog structure as an excuse to flagrantly foreground softcore sexual hijinks tinged with a pungent whiff of social commentary, albeit the latter aspect may be easier to discern in Candy’s perverse daisy chain of events.

Southern’s contributions to the Dino De Laurentiis-produced Barbarella can be detected in some of its wittier lines (“A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming!”) and sly pokes at the persistence of class-consciousness. Aside from Southern, the two films are linked by the presence of Anita Pallenberg, style icon and muse of the Rolling...

It was five decades ago long distance swimmer Diana Nyad became part of the cultural landscape with her feats including a recording-setting circling of Manhattan and a 102-mile swim from the Bahamas to Florida she accomplished that in 27 hours. In 1978, Nyad made her first attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida but ended the quest after 40 hours. After segueing to a successful career as a sports journalist on ABC’s “Wild World of Sports” for over two decades, she decided at 60 to try again. She made three attempts felled by asthma, muscle fatigue, jellyfish and a tropical storm.

Nyad’s attempts at the swim were the subject of the 2013 documentary “The Other Shore.” When I talked to her for the L.A. Times a decade ago the then 64-year-old was preparing for her final attempt. “When I first started this in my 20s and when I started again when I turned...

Stormtroopers were Star Wars' version of redshirts for a long time -- punchlines who evolved into sincere but incompetent working joes. Star Wars has brilliantly explained their deterioration as a reflection of the Empire's corruption and incompetence. Using just the costume design and a few precious moments of screentime, Ahsoka makes them a force to be reckoned with again.

The following contains spoilers for Ahsoka Episode 6, "Part Six: Far, Far Away," streaming now on Disney+.

For a long time, the Stormtroopers were Star Wars' running joke. The Empire's hired goons have a tendency to do what hired goons always do: get thumped by the heroes en masse. After a brief bout of competency in the opening of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, they slip into expected form to the point where they -- and the Empire itself -- are undone by a tribe of teddy bears with pointy sticks.

The character of Flash Gordon has had a long and rich history in pop culture lasting almost 100 years. The first appearance of the space bound all-American hero was found in a science-fiction comic strip created in 1934 by illustrator Alex Raymond and writer Don Moore. Former Olympian and actor Buster Crabbe appeared as the character in the classic Universal serials that depicted Flash Gordon's clashes with Ming the Merciless on the planet Mongo. Fondly remembered for their air of wispy nostalgia, the "Flash Gordon" serials always ended on a cliffhanger. I remember one in particular where Flash is thrown down a dark hole with no chance of escape, only to be saved by the sudden deployment of a net in the first scene of the next episode. 

That is to say, "Flash Gordon" was always a little ridiculous.

The Buster Crabbe serials have certainly left their mark on film history, but...

Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker might've been the protagonist of George Lucas' "Star Wars," but Harrison Ford was its breakout star as the charming interstellar rapscallion Han Solo. He would've broken out eight years earlier in Jacques Demy's "Model Shop," but the genius head of Columbia Pictures at the time believed Ford had "no future" as a film actor. Having finally kicked down the door at the age of 35, Ford was determined to not get pigeonholed as his generation's Flash Gordon à la Buster Crabbe. So before "Star Wars" hit theaters on May 22, 1977, the actor chased down a supporting role in a small, independently produced film.

The film was Jeremy Kagan's "Heroes," a quiet drama about a Vietnam veteran (Henry Winkler) who escapes a mental hospital in New York City and sets out on a quest to start a worm farm in Northern California. Winkler is joined by...

George Clooney will executive produce a new television adaptation of “Buck Rogers” for Legendary, and it is Legendary’s intention for Clooney to star in the project, insiders with knowledge told TheWrap.

Grant Heslov will also executive produce the project alongside Clooney under their Smokehouse banner. “Transformers” producer Don Murphy and Susan Montford will produce via their Angry Films banner along with Flint Dille, the grandson of the original Buck Rogers creator. New York Times bestselling and award-winning comic book creator, television and film writer Brian K Vaughan has been tapped to write the television adaptation.

The project is based on the characters and concepts introduced in the 1928 novella “Armageddon 2419 A.D.” novella by Philip Francis Nowlan. The story followed “Anthony Rogers,” a mining engineer from the 20th century who awakens from suspended animation after 500 years to find himself in the middle of a planetary war.

Nowlan and Chicago newspaperman John F.

New York Times bestselling and award-winning comic book creator, television and film writer Brian K Vaughan has been tapped to write the television adaptation of “Buck Rogers” for Legendary. The deal falls under Legendary’s overall pact with Vaughan.

“Transformers” producer Don Murphy and Susan Montford will produce via their Angry Films banner along with Flint Dille, the grandson of the original Buck Rogers creator.

The project is based on the “Armageddon 2419 A.D.” novella by Philip Francis Nowlan that introduced the Buck Rogers character in 1928. The story centers on a coal mine inspector who awakens from suspended animation after 500 years to find himself in the middle of a planetary war.

“Buck Rogers” has been adapted into various comic strips, a movie serial, radio and television shows. Developed by Chicago newspaperman John F. Dille in the 1930s, it immediately became one of the world’s most popular comic strips, read...

Legendary is in the final stages of putting together a deal for the movie rights to swashbuckling sci-fi hero Buck Rogers, multiple individuals with knowledge of the project tell TheWrap.

“Transformers” producer Don Murphy set up the project at Legendary and is producing through his Angry Films banner along with Susan Montford.

The project is based on the “Armageddon 2419 A.D.” novella by Philip Francis Nowlan that introduced the Buck Rogers character in 1928. The story centers on a coal mine inspector who awakens from suspended animation after 500 years to find himself in the middle of a planetary war.

Armageddon 2419 A.D.

“Buck Rogers” has been adapted into various comic strips, a movie serial, radio and television shows. Developed by Chicago newspaperman John F. Dille in the 1930s, it immediately became one of the world’s most popular comic strips, read by millions daily in the newspapers all over the world.

Top notch action director William Witney brings together Audie Murphy and a vivid supporting cast of B-movie stars including Buster Crabbe and Gloria Talbott. Murphy plays a former Quantrill’s Raider seeking redemption in his search for the kidnapped daughter of a Yaqui Indian chief. Thanks to an empathetic script, Native Americans are treated with all due respect.

And here are three interviews with Mr. Witney:

Serial Days at Republic, “2 Directors No Waiting”

Working With Trigger

Serial Days at Republic- Working with Herbert J Yates

The post Arizona Raiders appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

Hollywood Vampires: The Birth of Midnight Movies on L.A.'s Sunset Strip is a three-part series of essays by Tim Concannon.Praising Arizona: Louis K. Sher Vs. The Censor, The Case Of Les Amants"Whenever I hear the word cinema, I can't help thinking hall rather than film."—Roland Barthes.1kiva. noun. An underground or partly underground chamber in a Pueblo village, used for ceremonies or councils. Origin: Hopi. Old Town Boutique Shops, Scottsdale Main Street in 2011. Site of the former Kiva Theatre, which closed in 1993.Arguably, before El Topo played at the Elgin in New York's West Village in 1971, and before trans performance troupe the Cockettes performed their Nocturnal Dream Shows for film director, impresario, and protégé of Salvador Dalí, Stephen F. Arnold, at the Pagoda Palace Theatre on San Francisco's Russian Hill, midnight movies began at a theatre adjoining Santa Monica Boulevard, where the Underground Cinema 12 film...

To get everyone in the mood for his ninth film, director and cult film guru Quentin Tarantino has something special in mind for the Sony Movie Channel. From the 5th of August Tarantino’s ‘Swinging Sixties-a-Movie Marathon’ will showcase nine films which perfectly set the tone for Once Upon a Time …in Hollywood, which comes out in cinemas on the 14th of August.

Each of these films has been specially curated, having influenced the director’s new film, and will play individually or as double features. As always with the director, there are some surprises here. In amongst ’60s classics Easy Rider and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice are secret agent specials, violent Westerns and a little bit of love in all its complicated forms. In short – it’s a masterclass in movie mood – just the thing to dive into before you take a trip back to the...

“Thor: Ragnarok” director Taika Waititi has signed onto “Flash Gordon,” as an animated feature film project from Disney-Fox. It is not known yet whether he will write, direct, or both. Deadline first broke the news.

Waititi is currently in post-production on his sure-to-be-controversial Adolf Hitler satire “Jojo Rabbit,” adapted from the novel by Christine Leunens. The story follows a Hitler youth who discovers his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their attic, prompting him to address his nationalistic ideals through his friendship with an imaginary Hitler, played by Waititi. Starring Thomasin McKenzie, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell and Rebel Wilson, the Fox Searchlight dark comedy hits theaters on October 18.

Last fall, Deadline reported that Fox had hired “Overlord” director Julius Avery to write and direct a “Flash Gordon” movie, after having previously negotiated in 2015 with “Kingsman” director Matthew Vaughn. That was before the Disney-Fox merger, however, and the project now...

Exclusive: Fox/Disney has attached Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi to “crack” Flash Gordon, as an animated feature film.

I had heard that the inventive filmmaker Waititi was signing on to write and direct, but his camp indicates it’s too early to gauge exactly what his role would be. The director is in post on Jojo Rabbit, his scripted adaptation of the Christine Leunens novel, a satire in which a young boy in Hitler’s army discovers that his mother is hiding a Jewish girl from the Nazis. Despite the ruthless nationalism in the air, the youth is torn and one of this voices guiding him is his idiot imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler — Waititi plays him.

Waititi recently extricated himself from another animated film, Bubbles, the Netflix stop motion project. Even though the film went in a $20 million package after ferocious bidding during the 2017 Cannes market for a Black List script by Isaac Adamson,...

The Flash Gordon reboot has found its director. Julius Avery, the man behind the upcoming Nazi zombie thriller Overlord, has been tapped by Fox to write and direct the long-gestating project. At one point, X-Men: First Class and Kingsman director Matthew Vaughn was on deck to tackle the popular character's next big screen adventure. He's now stepped down from the director's chair but will remain on board as a producer.

According to a new report, Julius Avery went in and pitched his take to executives at the studio and they liked what he had to say. So, they've officially tapped the Australian filmmaker to write and direct the new Flash Gordon movie. This is being viewed as a potential blockbuster tentpole and has clear franchise potential, assuming things go well. Matthew Vaughn only stepped aside because his take wound up being remarkably similar to what Marvel did with Guardians of the Galaxy.

Fox has hired “Overlord” director Julius Avery to write and direct a “Flash Gordon” movie.

The studio had been in negotiations in 2015 with “Kingsman” director Matthew Vaughn to helm “Flash Gordon.” Vaughn will now produce with John Davis and Hearst Entertainment & Syndication Group.

Fox senior vice president Matt Reilly is overseeing “Flash Gordon” for the studio. C.J. Kettler is overseeing for Hearst.

Flash Gordon originated in 1934 as a science-fiction comic strip created by and originally drawn by Alex Raymond to compete with the Buck Rogers strip. The story opened with Earth threatened by a collision with the planet Mongo and Flash’s friend Dr. Zarkov inventing a rocket ship in an attempt to stop the disaster. The comic strip led to a serial starring Buster Crabbe and multiple movies and television series.

Avery is an Australian director who made his debut on A24’s “Son of a Gun,” which led...

Exclusive: As Paramount ramps up for the November 9 release of his horror film Overlord, Julius Avery has been set by Fox to write and direct Flash Gordon. This is the potential tent pole that once had Matthew Vaughn circling to direct. Vaughn will instead produce the film with John Davis and Hearst, whose head of film is C.J. Kettler.

Avery is an Australian director who made his debut on the Alicia Vikander-Ewan McGregor-starrer Son Of A Gun, and he made Overlord for Paramount and J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot. The film premiered at Fantastic Fest, and has been scaring up good reviews with the horror cognoscenti so far, scoring a 93 on Rottentomatoes.com as it gears up for a November 9 release. Avery grew up in Australia loving the Flash Gordon comic. He pitched his take and the studio and studio sparked to it and set him.

Flash Gordon...

Flash Gordon is flying again.

Julius Avery, the filmmaker behind Paramount and Bad Robot's upcoming World War II zombie project Overlord, is in talks to write and direct a Flash Gordon movie for Fox, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. 

Artist Alex Raymond introduced Flash Gordon in 1934 as a hero who ends up on the planet Mongo fighting the tyrant ruler Ming the Merciless. The comic book strip also featured characters such as Dale Arden and mad scientist Hans Zasrkov, and went on to spawn serials starring Buster Crabbe and a 1980 movie featuring a Queen soundtrack. It also influenced George ...

Flash Gordon is flying again.

Julius Avery, the filmmaker behind Paramount and Bad Robot's upcoming World War II zombie project Overlord, is in talks to write and direct a Flash Gordon movie for Fox, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. 

Artist Alex Raymond introduced Flash Gordon in 1934 as a hero who ends up on the planet Mongo fighting the tyrant ruler Ming the Merciless. The comic book strip also featured characters such as Dale Arden and mad scientist Hans Zasrkov, and went on to spawn serials starring Buster Crabbe and a 1980 movie featuring a Queen soundtrack. It also influenced George ...

“And On The Eighth Day Bava Created Color.” That’s my sentiment with every new quality restoration of a Mario Bava picture. This amazing new disc of Il Maestro’s teeth-clenched Viking epic delivers stunning action scenes and eye-bending widescreen fantasy visuals. Arrow’s Blu-ray is spiked with a new Tim Lucas commentary.

Erik the Conqueror

Blu-ray + DVD

Arrow Video USA

1961 / Color / 2:35 widescreen (Dyaliscope) / 90 min. / Street Date August 29, 2017 / Available from Arrow Video / 39.95

Starring: Cameron Mitchell, Alice & Ellen Kessler, George Ardisson, Andrea Checchi, Françoise Christophe, Raf Baldassarre, Joe Robinson, Folco Lulli.

Cinematography: Mario Bava, Ubaldo Terzano

Film Editor: Mario Serandrei

Original Music: Roberto Nicolosi

Written by Oreste Biancoli, Mario Bava

Produced by Ferruccio De Martino

Directed by Mario Bava

Far too good to be slammed as a mere imitation of Richard Fleischer’s The Vikings, Mario Bava’s exciting Erik the Conqueror is one of the best of the Italian-made...

A happy discovery! This is a major late- silent-era gem on the order of Von Sternberg’s Docks of New York — a special treat that will please fans of director William Wellman — he revisited parts of it in a later talkie. It’s also a key movie in our education/adoration of the maverick actress Louise Brooks, the erotic sensation too hot and too independent for Hollywood.

Beggars of Life

Blu-ray

Kino Classics

1928 / B&W / 1:33 Silent Aperture / 81 min. / Street Date August 22, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Wallace Beery, Richard Arlen, Louise Brooks, Blue Washington, Roscoe Karns, Robert Perry, Guinn ‘Bog Boy’ Williams.

Cinematography: Henry Gerrard

Film Editor: Alyson Shaffer

Assistant Director: Charles Barton

Music: The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra

Written by Jim Tully and Benjamin Glazer from a novel by Jim Tully

Produced by Jesse L. Lasky, Adolph Zukor, William A. Wellman

Directed by William A. Wellman

Director...

By Hank Reineke

The blending of two disparate but popular film genres – in this case, the horror/sci-fi film with the saddle opera - was hardly new when The Valley of Gwangi hit the big screen in 1969. This film’s most identifiable predecessor, one pitting cowboys against a prehistoric monster, might be The Beast of Hollow Mountain (1956), but truth be told Hollywood had been combining these two genres almost from the very beginning. In the 1930s and ‘40s, audiences thrilled to the ghostly monochrome exploits of such western serial heroes as Ken Maynard, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Buster Crabbe with such films as Tombstone Canyon (1932), The Vanishing Riders (1935), and Wild Horse Phantom (1944). Universal’s Curse of the Undead (1959) was a later but no less interesting experiment for Hollywood’s preeminent fright factory. The studio removed the vampire from the usual atmospheric Gothic trappings of old Europe and dropped him onto the sagebrush plain.

On this day in history as it relates to the movies...

1859 Billy the Kid, future legendary outlaw, is born. He's been played in movies and TV by actors like Buster Crabbe, Hugh O'Brian, Paul Newman, Clu Galager, Val Kilmer, and perhaps most famously by Kris Kristofferson, BAFTA nominated for Pat Garret and Billy the Kid (1973)

1887 Boris Karloff, villainous movie icon (Frankenstein, The Mask of Fu Manchu, Scarface, etcetera) is born

1888 Harpo Marx is born...

On this day in history as it relates to showbiz...

1040 King Duncan is killed in battle and King Macbeth succeeds him. Shakespeare fictionalizes everything later for Macbeth. So many theatrical productions and movies follow. Out damn spot!

1932 The 1932 Summer Olympics end. This is the Olympic year when gorgeous Buster Crabbe became a gold medalist (pictured left). Hollywood then snatched him right up for movie serials and action adventure franchises including Tarzan The Fearless

1945 Japan surrenders during Ww II (the six year war will last only two more weeks.) but movie makers all over the world have never stopped telling the war's infinite stories. On that same day Steve Martin is born in Waco Texas. It only takes him another 68 years to get the Oscar he totally deserved

1946 Two actor birthdays: Blacksploitation actor Antonio Fargas who became "Huggybear" on TV's popular Starksy & Hutch and Susan Saint James TV of McMillan & Wife...

As we approach the release of The Legend of Tarzan (2016) we're ogling past screen incarnations of the Lord of the Apes...

After Buster Crabbe filled a loincloth beautifully and Johnny Weissmuller & Maureen O'Sullivan gave us the deservedly definitive Golden Age Tarzan and Jane, the franchise had to recast or close shop. O'Sullivan left first and by the late 40s Weissmuller was feeling too old for the role and also called it quits. The producer Sol Lesser wasn't about to let the profitable franchise go, though, and led a search for a replacement. The winner was Lex Barker, a then little known blue blood actor from New York who had been disowned by his family for choosing an acting career (!) and he took up the loincloth in 1949 for Tarzan's Magic Fountain.

I opted to watch Barker's third go at the character in Tarzan's Peril (sometimes called Tarzan and the Jungle Queen...

It's that time again to look back on the month that was. We're doing a little early to pretend that May is already over. T'was a difficult month for your host with writer's block that wouldn't quit (which is not a common malady at Tfe HQ) but we thank you for your enthusiasms about all we do here. Here's a look back on key posts this month in case you missed any...

6 Personal Favs

Buster Crabbe's Loincloth on Tarzan the Fearless (1933)

Podcast: Truth or Dare a seminal text on celebrity culture. And...

Interview Jose's chat with the dancers from that same Madonna doc

Thelma & Louise relay revisit of one of the all time best flicks

10 Bad Girl Oscar Winners  -Kieran's list from Marylee Hadley to Nurse Ratched

Maddening Matte Painting - Daniel on Black Narcissus (1947) 

7 That Sparked Most Conversation

Best Actress an overdue narrative or fresh blood this year?...

one of many erotic moments in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)New Miniseries! As we approach the release of The Legend of Tarzan (2016) we'll be ogling past screen incarnations of the Lord of the Apes each weekend like we're going to an old timey matinee.

We began by staring hard at Buster Crabbe's loincloth so as to avoid the acting and plotting. For chapter 2 we're moving to the main event: Johnny Weissmuller. He's the actor most often associated with the the Lord of the Apes since he played it 12 times and because he played it so well. There's a genuine guileness and in the moment feeling to his work that lets the ape man read more simple and pure than stupid, despite all the broken English. A few seasons ago on a weakly attended episode of 'Hit Me With Your Best Shot' we marvelled at how erotic the pre-code Tarzan the Ape Man...

New Miniseries! As we approach the release of The Legend of Tarzan (2016) we'll be ogling past screen incarnations of the Lord of the Apes each weekend like we're going to an old timey matinee.

We begin with Buster Crabbe as Tarzan the Fearless (1933) who looks much better in this movie than implied on the poster which imagines him from maxi-challenge workroom outtakes from RuPaul's Drag Race. Blend, man, blend!

This next image is more flattering I promise...

As Google reminds us today is the anniversary of the very first Olympic games way back in 1896. What better time than now then for a beauty break featuring actors (this is the Film Experience after all) with Olympic history. Know this going in: Hollywood was Obsessed with swimmers for a long time.

Let's kick it off with the original Flash Gordon Buster Crabbe. Here are eight Olympic Beauties with acting careers after the jump...

People have been arguing the “who was comics’ first costumed hero” question for decades. Some feel it was Mandrake the Magician, by Lee Falk and Phil Davis (1934), others cite the truly obscure Red Knight created by John Welch and Jack McGuire, and still others prefer to credit E.C. Segar’s Popeye (1929). But I think it’s safe to say that most comics fans and scholars bestow that honor upon The Phantom, created by Lee Falk and Ray Moore 80 years ago this past week.

Neither Mandrake nor Popeye are “costumed heroes.” They perform their feats of daring in their regular work clothes. Whereas the Red Knight got his start in 1934 as a guy named Bullet Benton, he did not don the Red Knight costume and, therefore, the costumed hero persona until April of 1940. I suspect somebody at the Register and Tribune Syndicate took a gander at the McClure Syndicate’s success with Superman.

Constance Cummings: Actress in minor Hollywood movies became major London stage star. Constance Cummings: Actress went from Harold Lloyd and Frank Capra to Noël Coward and Eugene O'Neill Actress Constance Cummings, whose career spanned more than six decades on stage, in films, and on television in both the U.S. and the U.K., died ten years ago on Nov. 23. Unlike other Broadway imports such as Ann Harding, Katharine Hepburn, Miriam Hopkins, and Claudette Colbert, the pretty, elegant Cummings – who could have been turned into a less edgy Constance Bennett had she landed at Rko or Paramount instead of Columbia – never became a Hollywood star. In fact, her most acclaimed work, whether in films or – more frequently – on stage, was almost invariably found in British productions. That's most likely why the name Constance Cummings – despite the DVD availability of several of her best-received performances – is all but forgotten.

In honor of Halloween, I once again have a special essay-article up, and this time I can name the contributor. Randall William Cook rates special celebrity status around DVD Savant despite being a friend from way, way back. I hope he's writing a book about his career, because his Hollywood experiences range far afield, from UCLA film school, to acting and directing film and TV, to doing special make-ups, animation direction, front-rank stop motion direction, and second unit direction on big features. Heavily into digital work since the 1990s, Randy supervised character animation and sequence direction for the three Lord of the Rings movies, netting him an amazing three Oscars, three years straight. And he's still the same guy from college -- a new Harryhausen or Welles disc comes out, and he wants to know all about it. Oh, and Cook is a fine writer as well -- as I think this thoughtful piece shows.

Following the success of X-Men: First Class and Kingsman: The Secret Service, Matthew Vaughn is in negotiations to direct Fox's Flash Gordon movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film, based on the Alex Raymond 1930s sci-fi comic strip of the same name (which inspired Star Wars), has already seen a few iterations on film: It was first turned into a three-part film serial, starring Buster Crabbe as the the famous space explorer, in the '30s and, in 1980, was brought to the silver screen again (this time soundtracked by Queen) with Sam J. Jones in the title role. The comic strip follows Flash, his love interest Dale Arden, and scientist Hans Zarkov, who travel to the planet Mongo to fight its ruler, Ming the Merciless.

Matthew Vaughn is the frontrunner to direct a new Flash Gordon movie.

20th Century Fox is developing a big-screen revival of the science fiction comic strip, which has been adapted many times for the screen since the 1930s.

Vaughn is now in formal talks with the studio to bring a new version of Flash Gordon to life, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The revival is being written by science fiction scribes John D Payne and Patrick McKay.

Vaughn is riding high off the success of his blockbuster spy movie Kingsman: The Secret Service, which has been tipped for a sequel from 20th Century Fox.

He has also previously directed the big screen hits X-Men: First Class and Kick-Ass, and is producing the Fantastic Four reboot.

Flash Gordon's film history began with a series of Buster Crabbe serials in the 1930s, and much later spawned a 1980 revival starring Sam J Jones,...

Long gestating in the bowels of Hollywood, a Flash Gordon reboot is finally moving forward at 20th Century Fox. X-Men: First Class and Kingsman: The Secret Service director Matthew Vaughn is in talks to take the helm on this sci-fi adventure. John Davis and George Nolfi will produce the movie, which is based on Alex Raymond's iconic comic stipe hero.

20th Century Fox picked up the rights to Flash Gordon nearly a year ago, with King Features producing. John Davis spent more than a year trying to wrangle the rights from the Hearst Corporation after other attempts to rejuvenate the character on the big screen failed. Flash Gordon was created in 1934. The main story follows a football player who, along with the lovely Dale Arden and mad scientist Hans Zasrkov, accidentally winds up on the planet Mongo, where they must fight off its merciless leader Ming.

Flash Gordon was...

Last week, I taunted you with visions of ancient superhero movies – serials, as they were called back then. Today we’d call them really low-budget webcasts. Here’s a few more worthy of your consideration, and this time we’re delving into a trio of iconic heroes from the pulps and newspaper strips – and now, of course, comic books.

The Shadow is the best-known of all the classic pulp heroes, and for a very good reason: many of the more than 300 stories published were quite good. Walter B. Gibson created something magical – a series with a lead character who had plenty of secrets but no secret identity, aided and abetted by a slew of agents who had no idea who their master was. The character’s popularity was enhanced massively by a highly successful radio series, one that gave The Shadow an alter-ego and a female companion and took away most of his agents.

Mike Cecchini Nov 5, 2019

Whether it's coincidence or by design, Interstellar contains a number of parallels to Superman and the Man of Steel legend.

While Christopher Nolan departed the DC Extended Universe after lending his name to Man of Steel, his memory smolders on. There are those among us who still wonder what the Superman franchise would have looked with Nolan in the director’s chair. As unlikely as that is, there are still plenty of parallels with elements of the Superman legend on display in Interstellar.

Some of this is probably a result of the film’s other overt Judeo-Christian overtones, to which the Superman mythos already have their fair share of similarities, whether Old or New Testament. And while there are plenty of religious themes and Biblical parallels in Interstellar, we're here to look at this from a more Kryptonian point of view.

At the heart of Interstellar is...

Tony Sokol Sep 26, 2019

"Science Fiction Double Feature" from The Rocky Horror Picture Show references lots of movies. We unpack it all...

I have watched, well, not exactly watched, but experienced The Rocky Horror Picture Show over 100 times. I’ve only watched it about 30 times. I saw it in the movies and on HBO about five times before I couldn’t take it anymore and troweled makeup on, ripped up some fishnet stockings and took to a stage myself. Figured I was a natch, had the same hair as Tim Curry and did his voice in a passable mimic, not that I'd need it.

I performed in a Friday night cast 72 times from when I was 15 to when I was 17. I started as Dr. Frank N. Furter and when I was replaced by a woman in lingerie, as opposed to a guy in drag, I played Janet for a while. The...

Last week my colleague Ms. Thomases and I were sharing a movie experience at a Manhattan multi-mega-complex. Running the gauntlet of promotional material we passed the familiar poster advertising the franchise-saving event, Man of Steel. Once we were settled in the theater and the obnoxiously repulsive commercials started playing – most were for television shows – I mentioned to Martha that the new management of Warner Bros. hasn’t truly green-lit the Justice League movie. “They’re waiting to see how Man of Steel works out.”

Her Oh-Oh Sense flared up. While both of us were hoping for a killer Superman flick, nothing we have seen thus far has promoted any sense of confidence. Do we need another origin story filled with the Els and the Kents? Most of us have cable teevee or DVDs or streaming video or all three, and there’s plenty of filmed presentations of that origin story.

Feature Ryan Lambie Jan 25, 2013

Does an image tweeted by director Brad Bird hint at the true identity of his 1952 sci-fi project?

Inspiration for movies can come from all sorts of places - books, videogames, magazine articles, and even internet memes (see Safety Not Guaranteed). Brad Bird's enigmatic work-in-progress - currently going under the working title 1952 - takes its inspiration from an extremely unusual source: a box of stuff opened up at Disney's offices in Burbank, California.

Other than this snippet of information, the only things we've learned about 1952 are as follows: that it's a science fiction movie with a Close Encounters sense of Spielbergian wonder, that George Clooney's name is attached to it, and that Jeff Jensen (stuntman, actor, and writer) and Damon Lindelof are working on its script.

The dearth of facts about Brad Bird's film have led to all sorts of speculation - most notably,...

A Filmic Notion on The Red Shoes "...a film that 'could be' my all time favourite"

Awards Circuit on the breakthrough performers of 2012

Pajiba 15 pop culture moments that made us cry in 2012

Boy Culture continues their countdown of hottest actors of all time (#50-21) ranging from Buster Crabbe, to Tyrone Power through Christian Bale in this edition. But I've just been informed that Takeshi Kaneshiro is not on the list at all so someone will have to explain this word "hotness" to me!

Antagony & Ecstasy Tim shares his ten best of the year: Magic Mike, Oslo August 31st, Tabu and more... I wish I liked Oslo a bit more than I do but I'm thrilled that so many critics I like are suddenly enthused about Joachim Trier because I don't remember having much company when I was all "ohmygodeveryone Reprise !!!" a few years back.

Media Decoder on footing your own Oscar campaign.

"Harry Potter" director David Yates will helm "Tarzan" for Warner Bros. The potential franchise is based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' series of classic books about the Earl of Greystoke's adventures as a "white ape" in equatorial Africa. It's 100 years since the first book, "Tarzan of the Apes," was published. Burroughs also originated the John Carter of Mars series, which recently met with big budget disaster. Tarzan was far more globally well-known via some 89 Hollywood incarnations, from Buster Crabbe and Johnny Weismuller through Christopher Lambert. So far rumors have Yates meeting with Henry Cavill, Charlie Hunnam and Alexander Skarsgård for the titular role, while Warners is also eyeing Tom Hardy. Cavill stars as Superman in Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel," out next June, while Hunnam stars in Guillermo del Toro's epic aliens vs. robots film "Pacific Rim," set for July. Skarsgård,...

For years now Island Of Lost Souls has been DVD’s most glaring omission from the Golden Age of Horror. It won the Rondo Award several times for Film Most in Need of DVD Released or Restoration , but last October, classic horror fans rejoiced when Criterion finally released the film. They were not disappointed and this year, not surprisingly, Island Of Lost Souls won the Rondo for Best Classic DVD.

Island Of Lost Souls (1932), the first adaption of H.G.Well’s 1896 novel The Island of Dr. Moreau was one several shocking horror films from the early 30′s that helped advance the enforcement of the Hays Code, Hollywood’s self-censoring rules deeming “no picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it.”. It wasn’t Island Of Lost Souls’s radical scenes of horror (like Freaks) or the deviant sexuality (like the Frederick March version of Dr.

"Special From Next Avenue"

By Leah Rozen

Hollywood has long carried an Olympic torch for the Games and their charismatic champions

Before he wore a loincloth as Tarzan and yodeled while swinging across movie screens on a vine, Johnny Weissmuller was an Olympic swimming champ.

The strapping Weissmuller -- 6-foot-5, 190 pounds -- power-splashed his way to five gold medals in the 1924 and ‘28 Olympic Games. Recognizing a marketable hunk when it saw one, Hollywood snapped him up.

"It was like stealing," Weissmuller (1904-1984) once said of his Tarzan career, which included a dozen films between 1932 and ‘48. "There was swimming in it, and I didn't have much to say. How can a guy climb trees, say ‘Me Tarzan, you Jane,’ and make a million?"

I was a sucker for Weismuller’s Tarzan films -- as a kid, I used to watch the scratchy prints that repeatedly aired on Saturday afternoon TV.

In fact,...

We each saw The Avengers at fan-filled midnight screenings, separately but equally. We tried to avoid any spoilers here, but we can’t guarantee we hit that mark. And, being who we are, there are a couple of teasers in this dialog.

Mike: Did you see it in 2-D, 3-D, or IMAX?

Glenn: 3-D.

Mike: Me too. This was the first movie ever that I can recommend in 3-D.

Glenn: Which is amazing, considering it was upsampled to 3-D. The film was converted to 3-D during post-production for the theatrical release. But it certainly paid off.

Mike: The 3-D imaging credits were as long as the Manhattan phone book.

Glenn: Someone asked me point blank if The Avengers is the greatest superhero movie of all time. I said I don’t know about that, it has some very tough competition. But hands down, it’s the greatest superhero battle movie of all time.

Kellan Lutz will be swinging into action in his first major role away from the Twilight franchise after signing on to play Tarzan in a new 3D movie.

The actor made his name playing vampire Emmett Cullen in the hit bloodsucking film series, which is set to end later this year, and he will be back in action as the latest incarnation of the jungle-dwelling hero.

Actress Spencer Locke will play Tarzan's love interest Jane in the movie, which will be shot in 3D using performance-capture technology.

Elmo Lincoln, Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe have all previously played the vine-swinging hunk on the big screen.