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The Notebook is the North American home for Locarno Film Festival Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian's blog. Chatrian has been writing thoughtful blog entries in Italian on Locarno's website since he took over as Director in late 2012, and you can find the English translations here on the Notebook as they're published.Appreciated and admired though he was by the greatest American filmmakers of his time (Frank Capra, Howard Hawks, Ernst Lubitsch), Leo McCarey isn’t held in the same regard today. While far from an obscure director, he isn’t considered a master of comedy by critics and audiences. The man who launched the careers of Laurel & Hardy and Cary Grant, and let the Marx Brothers make their zaniest film (Duck Soup), is not as well known as the performers he worked with. This lack of recognition may be due to the difficulty in finding a through-line in his work. While...

Chris Evans may be playing Captain America in "The Avengers," but even he admits he geeked out the first time he saw Robert Downey, Jr. and Chris Hemsworth in costume. Recently, Evans spoke with Moviefone -- the first in our weeklong series of discussions with the stars of the film -- about how nervous he was to chew out Downey on screen, Captain America's uncomfortable new cowl, and how he wants to do a quirky indie film next (well, unless Ridley Scott calls). Scarlett Johansson told us that her suit was really uncomfortable. Did you have the same complaint about the new Captain America suit? It is certainly more flexible than the first suit, but the cowl is a lot more difficult. The first one was a helmet so you could just take it on and off at will, but this one is actually this kind of rubber thing that goes into the suit.