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If you have the requisite cones and rods, the moment is imprinted on your retina: Dorothy Gale awakens from a nasty bump on the head, opens the door of her drab sepia-toned farmhouse, and crosses over into an eye-popping realm of dazzling primary colors — ruby slippers, yellow brick roads and emerald cities.

Not only aren’t we in Kansas anymore, we aren’t in Hollywood anymore, at least not the usual black and white palette of all but 15 feature films that year. The portal into Oz did not open the curtain on cinematic color — nor was it alone in showcasing the polychromatic spectrum that year — 1939, after all, also saw the release of Gone With the Wind, whose painterly swatches of shimmering golden-hour hues made Oz look garish. But The Wizard of Oz drew the most vivid contrast between two possible screen worlds, a grim monochromatic Depression-scape and what was called...

Make room for a genuine rarity, come back from the cinema graveyard in excellent condition: a lavish color musical extravaganza from 1930 that’s been effectively Mia for generations. Universal undertook a daunting restoration of this ‘revue-‘ style spectacle, which includes a full presentation of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in its original orchestration.

King of Jazz

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 915

1930 / Color / 1:33 flat full frame / 98 105 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date March 27, 2018 / 39.95

Starring: Paul Whiteman, John Boles, Bing Crosby (unbilled),

Laura La Plante, Jeanette Loff, Glenn Tryon, Wiliam Kent, Slim Summerville, The Rhythm Boys, Kathryn Crawford, Beth Laemmle, Stanley Smith, Charles Irwin, George Chiles, Jack White, Frank Leslie, Walter Brennan, Churchill Ross, Johnson Arledge, Al Norman, Jacques Cartier, Paul Howard, Nell O’Day, The Tommy Atkins Sextette, Marion Stadler, Don Rose, The Russell Markert Girls.

Cinematography: Hal Mohr, Jerry Ash, Ray Rennahan

Film Editor: Maurice Pivar, Robert Carlisle...

Martin Scorsese is no stranger to The Criterion Collection, but that doesn’t make the announcement that his period drama “The Age of Innocence” will be officially joining the club in March 2018 any less exciting. Scorsese’s 1993 adaptation of Edith Wharton’s seminal novel will join other Scorsese films like “The Last Temptation of Christ” in the Collection.

Read More:‘Silence of the Lambs,’ ‘Night of the Living Dead,’ and More Join Criterion Collection in February 2018

“Innocence” is one of six new movies coming to Criterion in March 2018. Other new additions include Carl Theodor Dreyer’s silent masterpiece “The Passion of Joan of Arc” and Volker Schlöndorff’s largely-unseen “Baal.” You can head over to The Criterion Collection website to pre-order the titles now. Check out all the new additions below. Synopses provided by Criterion.

“Elevator to the Gallows”

For his feature debut, twenty-four-year-old Louis Malle brought together a mesmerizing performance by Jeanne Moreau,...

The Chicago International Film Festival 2016 announced its full lineup, and it includes Julia Ducournau's Raw, the previously announced 4K restoration of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, The Eyes of My Mother, and The Autopsy of Jane Doe, starring Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch.

Press Release: Chicago (September 13, 2016) ­ The Chicago International Film Festival today announces Opening and Closing Night selections, as well as the full slate of films included in the Festival’s U.S. Indies, Spotlight: Musicals and After Dark categories. Chicago will play host to gala screenings of Damien Chazelle’s La La Land and Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival as respective bookends to the 52nd Festival, opening on October 13th and closing on October 27th. A full list of these newly announced programs is below and at www.chicagofilmfestival.com. Tickets for these events and all film screenings go on sale September 21st for Cinema/Chicago members...

The Academy will highlight the art of film music with three programs in August: the West Coast restoration premiere of “King of Jazz,” a tribute screening of “Purple Rain” with members of the cast and crew, and a live concert… Continue Reading →...

For a number of people I know, the movie event of the year doesn’t involve superheroes or special effects: it’s a restoration of the 1930 Technicolor musical The King of Jazz. This early-talkie extravaganza was unavailable for many years, and when it surfaced there were questions about how authentic it was to the two-color Technicolor process of that era. (After all, the showpiece is conductor Paul Whiteman’s performance of the George Gershwin “Rhapsody in Blue”—in a medium that could only reveal variations of red and green.) What’s more, the print that circulated was a shortened 1933 reissue version. ...

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William Cameron Menzies. William Cameron Menzies movies on TCM: Murderous Joan Fontaine, deadly Nazi Communists Best known as an art director/production designer, William Cameron Menzies was a jack-of-all-trades. It seems like the only things Menzies didn't do was act and tap dance in front of the camera. He designed and/or wrote, directed, produced, etc., dozens of films – titles ranged from The Thief of Bagdad to Invaders from Mars – from the late 1910s all the way to the mid-1950s. Among Menzies' most notable efforts as an art director/production designer are: Ernst Lubitsch's first Hollywood movie, the Mary Pickford star vehicle Rosita (1923). Herbert Brenon's British-set father-son drama Sorrell and Son (1927). David O. Selznick's mammoth production of Gone with the Wind, which earned Menzies an Honorary Oscar. The Sam Wood movies Our Town (1940), Kings Row (1942), and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943). H.C. Potter's Mr. Lucky...

‘Dracula’ 1931 actress Carla Laemmle dead at 104 (photo: Carla Laemmle ca. 1930) Carla Laemmle, a bit player in a handful of silent movies and at the dawn of the sound era — e.g., the horror classics The Phantom of the Opera (1925) and Dracula (1931) — and a niece of Universal Studios co-founder Carl Laemmle, died on June 12, 2014, at her Los Angeles home. Laemmle, who had reportedly been in good health, was 104 years old. Born Rebekah Isabelle Laemmle on October 20, 1909, in Chicago, Carla Laemmle was less known for her movie work than for having survived most of her contemporaries and for her family connection to the Universal mogul — her father, Joseph Laemmle, was Carl’s brother. ‘Dracula’ actress was a member of Carl Laemmle’s ‘very large faemmle’ "Uncle Carl Laemmle, Has a very large faemmle," once half-joked poet Ogden Nash, in reference to Laemmle’s penchant for hiring family members. As Laemmle’s niece,...

‘Gilda,’ ‘Pulp Fiction’: 2013 National Film Registry movies (photo: Rita Hayworth in ‘Gilda’) See previous post: “‘Mary Poppins’ in National Film Registry: Good Timing for Disney’s ‘Saving Mr. Banks.’” Billy Woodberry’s UCLA thesis film Bless Their Little Hearts (1984). Stanton Kaye’s Brandy in the Wilderness (1969). The Film Group’s Cicero March (1966), about a Civil Rights march in an all-white Chicago suburb. Norbert A. Myles’ Daughter of Dawn (1920), with Hunting Horse, Oscar Yellow Wolf, Esther Labarre. Bill Morrison’s Decasia (2002), featuring decomposing archival footage. Alfred E. Green’s Ella Cinders (1926), with Colleen Moore, Lloyd Hughes, Vera Lewis. Fred M. Wilcox’s Forbidden Planet (1956), with Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Warren Stevens, Jack Kelly, Robby the Robot. Charles Vidor’s Gilda (1946), with Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready. John and Faith Hubley’s Oscar-winning animated short The Hole (1962). Stanley Kramer’s Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), with Best Actor Oscar winner Maximilian Schell,...

The Wrap the new triangular Oscar logo

French Films About Trains "Category is: 2013 Realness"

i09 Paul Rudd to play Hank Pym aka Ant Man in the future Marvel movie for Edgar Wright

Digital Spy... and Edgar Wright shares his ten favorites of 2013 (and Short Term 12 is on it so I love him even more now)

Cinema Blend Hugh Jackman to play the villain in the new Peter Pan film for Joe Wright... but he's not Captain Hook

Deep Cuts the best music scenes in movies this year

Film School Rejects 3 films getting Oscar rereleases and 3 that deserve to get the same treatment

Variety 'how American Hustle conned the critics' a scathing review of... um... either the movie or its reviews.

Vanity Fair David O. Russell's last minute decision to cast Jennifer Lawrence

Vulture Taylor Kitsch on The Normal Heart, Lone Survivor and his resistance to doing a Friday Night Lights...

The Library of Congress has announced that 25 films will be added to the National Film Registry. New this year were Pulp Fiction, Roger & Me, The Right Stuff, The Magnificent Seven, and Forbidden Planet. Not immune to the Saving Mr. Banks press campaign, Mary Poppins also made the cut. You can read the full list below and drink some sugar-laden medicine as a tribute (ideally something non-drowsy).Bless Their Little Hearts (1984)                     Brandy in the Wilderness (1971) Cicero March (1966) Daughter of Dawn (1920) Decasia (2002) Ella Cinders (1926) Forbidden Planet (1956) Gilda (1946) The Hole (1962) Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) King of Jazz (1930) The Lunch Date (1989) The Magnificent Seven (1960) Martha Graham Early Dance Films (Heretic, 1931; Frontier, 1936; Lamentation, 1943; Appalachian Spring, 1944) Mary Poppins (1964) Men and Dust (1940) Midnight (1939) Notes on the Port of St. Francis (1951) Pulp...

Author Slide to discuss the history of Hollywood extras at historical Lasky-DeMille Barn Film historian Anthony Slide, author of dozens of books on Hollywood history, will be discussing his most recent work, Hollywood Unknowns: A History of Extras, Bit Players and Stand-Ins, at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 10, at the Hollywood Heritage Museum, located at a Hollywood historical landmark: the Lasky-DeMille Barn, right across the street from the Hollywood Bowl. (Check out: "The History of Hollywood Extras, Bit Players and Stand-Ins: Interview with Author and Film Historian Anthony Slide.") Pictured Above are Olivia de Havilland and her The Charge of the Light Brigade stand-in, Ann Robinson, circa 1936. As per the Barn's press release, "Mr. Slide will discuss the lives and work of extras, including the harsh conditions, sexual harassment, scandals and tragedies." Besides, he'll also talk about Central Casting and the Hollywood Studio Club, the residence of a number of up-and-coming actresses,...

In some rather remarkable news, Carla Laemmle, one of Hollywood’s last remaining silent movie stars, is about to celebrate her 102nd birthday on October 22, 2011, and it looks like she has no intention of slowing down in the career department just yet.

The iconic actress just recently wrapped on the feature film Mansion of Blood alongside other horror veterans including Gary Busey (pictured with Laemmle on the right), Robert Picardo, and Terry Moore; and it was recently announced that a documentary on her life, Among the Rugged Peaks: The Carla Laemmle Story is set to debut during the St. Louis International Film Festival on Friday, November 18, at the Tivoli Theatre.

Narrated by award-winning Actress Sally Kirkland, Among the Rugged Peaks was produced by Tom Tangen of Elusive Entertainment and features extensive interviews with many classic Hollywood stars, all while taking Carla back to the original Phantom of the Opera stage...

Ever since Bing Crosby starred in the 1930 film "King of Jazz," countless musicians have tried, with varying degrees of success, to parlay their musical ability into a side career in film.

The following list -- dug up in honor of this Sunday's Video Music Awards on MTV -- is proof that not all musicians are created equal when it comes to their acting abilities.

For every Mariah Carey in "Precious," you can find a Mariah Carey in "Glitter," but these 40 artists have shown that they can, at least some of the time, create memorable roles and transcend their musical careers. Sometimes, they even win Oscars.

40. Madonna

During the nascent years of MTV, no female artist had more influence visually than the Material Girl, whose mix of eye-popping fantasy and gritty urban realism videos continue to influence a generation of vocalists. Despite a Best Actress Golden Globe for 1996's "Evita," the...

By Roger Friedman

HollywoodNews.com: Dan Pritzker is the heir to the Hyatt fortune. He’s also a jazz fan, and a big one. He’s been writing and directing his first film, “Bolden!” a jazz movie set at the turn of the last century, since 2007. Shooting re-commences on June 14th for three more weeks.

“Bolden!” is billed as a “mythical interpretation” of the life of legendary New Orleans cornet player, Charles “Buddy” Bolden, considered the King of Jazz from around 1900 to 1907. After that, Buddy Bolden, only 30, succumbed to schizophrenia.

Pritzker has been shooting the film since 2007 at studios in Wilmington, North Carolina. This week he resumes new shoots–not re-shoots–as star Anthony Mackie is finally available. The in-demand actor has just finished his run on Broadway in “A Behanding in Spokane.”

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