News

Max subscribers have a number of exciting movie and TV premieres to look forward to this month.

The biggest and most noteworthy is “A Minecraft Movie,” which is set to make its streaming premiere on Max on an undetermined date in June, after already grossing nearly $1 billion at the worldwide box office. Some smaller dramas, like director Paolo Sorrentino’s “Parthenope” and the Daisy Ridley action vehicle “Cleaner,” are arriving on the platform in June as well.

Max will also be the streaming home for “The Gilded Age” Season 3 when it makes its premiere on Sunday, June 22.

Below, you can find the full list of what’s new on Max in June 2025.

June 1

“A Hologram for the King” (2016)

“A Nightmare on Elm Street” (2010)

“A Perfect Getaway” (2009)

“Backtrack” (2016)

“Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons” (2022)

“Black Patch” (1957)

“Blues in the Night” (1941)

“Casino” (1995)

“Fight Club” (1999)

“Gentleman Jim” (1942)

“Hellboy” (2004)

“I Am Not Your Negro...

Morgan Spector, Carrie Coon, and Harry Richardson in ‘The Gilded Age’ season 3 (Photograph by Karolina Wojtasik/HBO Max)

Max’s June 2025 lineup includes the season three premiere of The Gilded Age, the three-part true crime documentary series The Mortician, and the premiere of My Mom Jayne, Mariska Hargitay’s very personal documentary film on her mother, classic movie star Jayne Mansfield. The hot summer month delivers the streaming premieres of A Minecraft Movie (date to be determined) and The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie.

Max’s June schedule also includes Parthenope, a romantic drama from writer-director Paolo Sorrentino, and director Martin Campbell’s Cleaner starring Daisy Ridley, Taz Skylar, and Clive Owen.

Max June 2025 Lineup

June 1

A Hologram for the King (2016)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

A Perfect Getaway (2009)

Backtrack (2016)

Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons (2022)

Black Patch (1957)

Blues in the Night (1941)

Casino (1995)

Fight Club...

At first glance, the "Star Wars" franchise and "Monkey Island" video game property seem very different. The former is a space-themed adventure set in a galaxy far, far away. The other is about puzzle-solving, seafaring voyages through the Caribbean. That said, both sagas feature pirates and they're associated with Lucasfilm, so they aren't completely alien to each other. Furthermore, their connection has only grown stronger thanks to the tremendous Amblin-inspired "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew" series on Disney+.

"Skeleton Crew" tells the story of a group of kids who encounter space pirates while embarking on a spirited adventure across the galaxy. The series draws upon a variety of influences, including the aforementioned point-and-click adventure games. While speaking to SFX Magazine (via GamesRadar), co-showrunner Jon Watts explained what the "Monkey Island" games mean to him, and how they informed the creation of "Skeleton Crew":

"It was great to go back and...

Regardless of its importance to the storytelling process, film music is too often an afterthought. There are a variety of theories that composers have as to why, and they’re mostly related to a lack of education. So I’ve decided to take an active stance in educating filmmakers about the role of music in film and the process of how a film score comes into being.

My hope is that by the end of this piece you’ll be more familiar with: A) the history of film music in general, and B) the key composers who have contributed to the development of film music as an art. So—where did this all start?

The Silent Era (1890s-1929) Silent film star Mary Pickford. Somewhere, a pianist is inspired.

During the silent era, films music is provided by each individual theater, either by phonograph or as performed live by flesh-and-blood musicians.

He was one of the biggest screen icons and one of the most colorful real-life characters in Hollywood history. Still considered the king of swashbucklers more than 60 years after his death, Errol Flynn’s success was a combination of happenstance, luck and his ability to charm.

Errol Leslie Flynn was born on June 20, 1909, in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia to an affluent family. A natural born rascal, he was thrown out of several private schools, and eventually wandered, working odd jobs. He fell into acting quite by chance when he won the role of Fletcher Christian in the Australian film “In the Wake of the Bounty” (1933). There are conflicting stories of how he landed this part, but it is the film that piqued his interest in acting, and eventually caught the attention of Warner Bros. executives.

In Hollywood, a combination of luck and Flynn’s athleticism and charm landed him the lead...

Exclusive: Production, finance, and sales company Panorama Motion Pictures will make its Cannes market debut with a slate of projects from Catalyst Studios and other independent producers.

First up the company is producing ambitious project The Sea Hawk, an IP based on Raphael Sabatini’s book, which was most famously adapted into a hit feature by legendary producer Howard Koch and starring Errol Flynn for Warner Bros. in 1940.

The story follows an English gentleman through the changing tides of fortune and fate, who becomes a galley-slave and ultimately the most famous barbary pirate in the Mediterranean Sea. It will be produced by Panorama CEO Mark Pennell and Armyan Bernstein (Air Force One) of Beacon Pictures. Bernstein was most recently an EP on the Kevin Costner western Horizon, which is premiering in Cannes.

Producers are currently shopping for a director with casting targeted before the end of the year.

Pennell, a writer and producer,...

For over 25 years, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival called the Castro Theatre home. With the iconic theater now closed for a year-plus-long renovation, Sfsff has relocated to the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, located in a beautiful park created for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition at the north edge of the Presidio. The auditorium, primarily a performance space, seats nearly a thousand and features a spacious foyer where passholders could visit and relax between shows (particularly useful on chilly weekends).

Sfsff prides itself on mixing landmark productions and audience favorites with rediscoveries, revelations, and rarities, often recently uncovered and restored. And for its 27th edition this year, the festival presented 20 features and six short films over five days, all with live musical scores by some of the finest silent film accompanists in the world.

The opening night film, Albert Parker’s 1926 swashbuckler The Black Pirate, certainly qualifies as both landmark and favorite.

Cass Warner, filmmaker, author and granddaughter of Harry Warner, co-founder of Warner Bros., has died. She was 76.

Her death was announced by her son and Yellowstone actor Cole Hauser on his Instagram page. “Her kindness, love, humor and amazing spirit will be missed by not only my family but the world. You have touched so many,” he wrote.

Cass’ grandfather, Harry Warner, was the eldest Warner brother, a Polish immigrant who co-founded the studio in 1923 after jumping into the early days of movie mania in 1905 with brothers Sam, Albert and Jack. The foursome created a cinematic powerhouse, a dream factory that was the social conscience of Hollywood, one that churned out timely and topical films about the Great Depression, the rise of fascism, the Red Scare and more.

Harry’s daughter, Betty Warner Sheinbaum, wrote of her father as “a very serious man. He was the company’s conscience and driving force.

Tyrannical and brilliant, director Michael Curtiz created film legends out of mere stars, and turned movies into myth. Here are some of his greatest films.

When movie enthusiasts think of legendary director Michael Curtiz, the first thing that pops into their mind is Casablanca (1942), consistently named to, and occasionally topping, lists of the greatest films of all time. Although if we’re being honest, most people think of it as a Humphrey Bogart movie. The same could be said of Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). These are known for their stars, James Cagney, and Errol Flynn, the latter of whom Curtiz put on the map with Captain Blood (1935). In the director’s hands, actors and characters merged into a mythology which exceeded mere signature roles, becoming universal symbols.

Curtiz worked in the motion picture business from its infancy, but began in the theater, graduating Budapest’s...

Swashbuckler movies have experienced periods of success throughout cinematic history, from classic Hollywood epics to the resurgence in the late '90s and the prominence of blockbusters in the 2000s. These movies have evolved and adapted to different genres, such as family animation, period dramas, and fantasy, while still incorporating thrilling action and compelling storytelling. Iconic swashbuckler movies like The Adventures of Robin Hood and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl have had a lasting impact on the genre, with memorable characters and thrilling adventures.

Swashbuckler movies might not be hugely popular in today’s cinematic climate, but the genre has gone through several periods of success throughout the history of cinema. They started out as classic Hollywood epics, with some of the most successful directors of the ‘40s and ‘50s using the genre as a way to make their stories more exciting and adventurous for general audiences.

Pirate movies offer a thrilling mix of adventure, danger, and romance, making them perfect entertainment for audiences of all ages. From classic silent films to modern blockbusters, pirate movies have a wide range of stories and styles to offer, with some even focusing on children's adventures. The best pirate movies combine unique stories, impressive fight scenes, and stirring performances to create an immersive and enjoyable experience for viewers and critics alike.

There is a big difference between classic and modern pirate movies, but the best pirate movies are all grand adventures. The life of a pirate is a life of freedom, danger, and debauchery that make for perfect entertainment. Pirate films are fun and exciting adventure movies that provide a little bit of everything. There are usually great fight scenes, ship battles, and even some romance. Audiences can have a great time with these movies, and most critics can't deny...

2023 marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which revived the moribund pirate genre while giving cinema an icon in Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow. The movie defied expectations on a number of levels, with dubious origins in a Disney theme-park ride and a genre that had fallen far out of favor. Subsequent sequels have been a mixed bag, while Depp's off-screen controversies have tarnished his most famous character. But the original film remains an evergreen classic while resurrecting the pirate movie from a perennial spot on death's doorstep.

Like a lot of success stories, The Curse of the Black Pearl came about from a confluence of factors, not all of which were in the filmmakers' hands. Lightning struck in a manner that even a studio as big as Disney couldn't quite replicate, and it leaves a legacy the likes...

Rudy Behlmer, author of “Memo From David O. Selznick” and nearly a dozen other film-history books, died Friday at his home in Studio City, Calif. He was 92.

Behlmer was among the most widely respected historians of Golden Age Hollywood, in part because of his insistence upon researching “primary source material” and not relying on faulty memories or exaggerated press accounts of the time.

“Memo From David O. Selznick,” which Behlmer edited from thousands of Selznick’s private letters, telegrams and memoranda, was a best seller in 1972. Behlmer first interviewed the “Gone With the Wind” producer for a 1963 article for “Films in Review,” one of dozens of magazine pieces he wrote over the decades.

Other books followed: “Hollywood’s Hollywood: The Movies About the Movies”, “Inside Warner Bros. 1935-1951” (1985), “Behind the Scenes: The Making Of…” (1989) and “Memo from Darryl F. Zanuck” (1993).

Behlmer’s first book, co-written with fellow film historians Tony Thomas and Clifford McCarty,...

He was one of the biggest screen icons and one of the most colorful real-life characters in Hollywood history. Still considered the king of swashbucklers 60 years after his death, Errol Flynn’s success was a combination of happenstance, luck and his ability to charm.

Errol Leslie Flynn was born on June 20,1909, in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia to an affluent family. A natural born rascal, he was thrown out of several private schools, and eventually wandered, working odd jobs. He fell into acting quite by chance when he won the role of Fletcher Christian in the Australian film “In the Wake of the Bounty” (1933). There are conflicting stories of how he landed this part, but it is the film that piqued his interest in acting, and eventually caught the attention of Warner Bros. executives.

SEEOscar Best Actor Gallery: Every Winner in Academy Award History

In Hollywood, a combination of luck and Flynn...

Grand action entertainment bursts forth on the high seas, showing us how much production value Golden Hollywood could lavish on an exciting, artful swashbuckler. Errol Flynn is at his glorious best, backed by greats like Flora Robson, Henry Daniell and Claude Rains in fine form. The special effects and full-sized ship sets impress in ways that computer generated images never will. And the rousing music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold seals the deal — the term ‘Timeless Classic’ was invented for marvels like this.

The Sea Hawk

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1940 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 127 min. / Street Date December 18, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Errol Flynn, Brenda Marshall, Claude Rains, Donald Crisp, Flora Robson, Alan Hale, Henry Daniell, Una O’Connor, James Stephenson, Gilbert Roland, William Lundigan, Julien Mitchell, Montagu Love, J.M. Kerrigan, David Bruce, Fritz Leiber, Francis McDonald, Pedro de Cordoba, Ian Keith, Jack La Rue, Halliwell Hobbes, Victor Varconi,...

If Agnes Varda wins the Best Documentary Feature Oscar for “Faces Places” on Sunday night, she will become just the 13th person, and the first woman, to take home a competitive Oscar and an honorary award in the same year. This would be in addition to setting the record, at age 89, as the oldest person to win a competitive Oscar.

The French/Belgian filmmaker is already the 31st person to receive an Oscar nomination and an honorary award in the same year. If she wins, she would join a list that includes some of the titans of the film industry. While she would be the 13th person to accomplish this, it would actually be the 15th time that this has occurred, since Walt Disney did it three times. Listed below are the other instances where a person claimed competitive and honorary wins within the same year.

See: Predictions in all...

Now restored to perfection, this genuine classic hasn’t been seen intact for way over sixty years. Michael Curtiz and Robert Rossen adapt Jack London’s suspenseful allegory in high style, with a superb quartet of actors doing some of their best work: Robinson, Garfield, Lupino and newcomer Alexander Knox.

The Sea Wolf

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1941 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 100 min. uncut! / Street Date October 10, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Alexander Knox, Ida Lupino, John Garfield, Gene Lockhart, Barry Fitzgerald. Stanley Ridges, David Bruce, Francis McDonald, Howard Da Silva, Frank Lackteen, Ralf Harolde

Cinematography: Sol Polito

Film Editor: George Amy

Art Direction: Anton Grot

Special Effects: Byron Haskin, Hans F. Koenekamp

Original Music: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Written by Robert Rosson, from the novel by Jack London

Produced by Hal B. Wallis, Henry Blanke

Directed by Michael Curtiz

Chopping up films for television was once the...

David Crow May 9, 2017

The director of Highlander and The Shadow has been tapped to direct a biopic on Errol Flynn's early years as a treasure hunter.

Errol Flynn is one of Hollywood’s very first action stars. Known for his dashing good looks (and his notorious after hours affairs), Flynn enjoyed a swashbuckling career in Hollywood throughout the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, famously defining the pirate subgenre with turns in Captain Blood (1935) and The Sea Hawk (1940), and going West, young man, for the genre’s first Technicolor extravaganza Dodge City (1938), as well as the classic piece of historical revisionism that is They Died With Their Boots On (1941). Of course, to many, he simply remains the definitive Prince of Thieves from The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Sorry, Kevin.

But Flynn had plenty of adventures before he fell into movie song, drink, and lechery. And it appears it will be getting...

This is definitely the time of year when film critic types (I’m sure you know who I mean) spend an inordinate amount of time leading up to awards season—and it all leads up to awards season, don’t it?—compiling lists and trying to convince anyone who will listen that it was a shitty year at the movies for anyone who liked something other than what they saw and liked. And ‘tis the season, or at least ‘thas (?) been in the recent past, for that most beloved of academic parlor games, bemoaning the death of cinema, which, if the sackcloth-and-ashes-clad among us are to be believed, is an increasingly detached and irrelevant art form in the process of being smothered under the wet, steaming blanket of American blockbuster-it is. And it’s going all malnourished from the siphoning off of all the talent back to TV, which, as everyone knows,...

'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl': Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow. 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl' review: Mostly an enjoyable romp (Oscar Movie Series) Pirate movies were a Hollywood staple for about three decades, from the mid-'20s (The Sea Hawk, The Black Pirate) to the mid-to-late '50s (Moonfleet, The Buccaneer), when the genre, by then mostly relegated to B films, began to die down. Sporadic resurrections in the '80s and '90s turned out to be critical and commercial bombs (Pirates, Cutthroat Island), something that didn't bode well for the Walt Disney Company's $140 million-budgeted film "adaptation" of one of their theme-park rides. But Neptune's mood has apparently improved with the arrival of the new century. He smiled – grinned would be a more appropriate word – on the Gore Verbinski-directed Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,...

The Sea Hawk

Written by Howard Koch and Seton I. Miller

Directed by Michael Curtiz

U.S.A., 1940

Under the Warner Brothers banner, Errol Flynn leaps, bounds and rouses hearts to the tune of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s winning score and the direction of taskmaster Michael Curtiz. Following on the coattails of Captain Blood (1935) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), it’s easy to dismiss The Sea Hawk (1940) as just a studio swashbuckler, another outing of a tried and true formula that Bosley Crowther called, “an overdressed ‘spectacle’ film which derives much more from the sword than the pen.” Admittedly, this loose adaptation owes more to the seafaring adventures of Sir Francis Drake than the original Rafael Sabatini novel of the same name, but it owes even more to the politics surrounding its production. On closer examination, the film stands as a testament not only to Flynn in his booming...

With the recent premiere of Maleficient, we’ve all spent a good deal of time talking about Elle Fanning and her career turn as a real life Disney princess. But the focus is about to shift again to the older sister, with Dakota Fanning stepping into the shoes of a young and impressionable 1940s starlet in The Last of Robin Hood. After all, who would know more about struggling through Hollywood and rising to fame as a teenager than someone who has done it herself? The silver screen gal she’s portraying, Beverly Aadland, was in a bit of a different situation than Fanning, however. Aadland was a chorus girl just at the beginnings of her blossoming film career, with only a twinkle of Hollywood in her future and an overbearing stage mom (Susan Sarandon) at her side. It’s the beauty and talents of the — very, very — young beauty that catches the eye of Robin Hood...

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.

Swashbuckling actor who starred in Adventures of Don Juan and Robin Hood dies following heart attack

Vancouver, October 15

Errol Flynn, the film actor, whose favourite saying was "the way of a transgressor is not as hard as they claim," died in Vancouver last night in the apartment of a doctor friend. He had dropped in for a drink, but suddenly complained of a pain in his back and died of a heart attack - his fourth. He was 50.

Obituary

Errol Flynn was born on June 20, 1909, in Hobart, Tasmania, where his father and mother were cruising on a marine biological study. His father, Professor Theodore Thompson Flynn, of Queen's College, Belfast, is an authority on ocean life and is at present engaged on research work at London University. In Beam Ends, the first of three books he wrote, Errol Flynn recounted that in his early days, before he started acting, he was a policeman,...

Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh look gorgeous but it's Flora Robson as Queen Elizabeth who steals the show

Fire Over England (1937)

Director: William K Howard

Entertainment grade: B+

History grade: C

In 1588, the Spanish Armada sailed against Elizabeth I's England.

International relations

Philip II's Spain is beleaguered by English pirates. The Spanish ambassador turns up at the court of Queen Elizabeth (Flora Robson) to protest. Elizabeth insists she has nothing to do with piracy, and considers herself Philip's loving sister (as history buffs will know, he was married to her half-sister, Mary I). "His portrait still hangs in a place of honour," she assures the ambassador. "My king does not ask your grace to hang his portrait, but to hang his enemies," the ambassador zings back.

Piracy

Meanwhile, fictional English pirate's son Michael Ingolby (Laurence Olivier) is aboard a ship when it is taken by the Inquisition. He jumps...

New biopic of silver screen star will feature Dakota Fanning as 15-year-old girl with whom he had two-year affair

It is one of Hollywood's most infamous sex scandals: the story of how the swashbuckling Errol Flynn conducted a two-year affair with a 15-year-old ingenue that lasted until his premature death in 1959. Now Dakota Fanning is set to play the young actor seduced by the 50-year-old Flynn in a new movie titled The Last of Robin Hood. Kevin Kline will play the faded star in his final years.

At the time of the affair Flynn, who had a reputation as an incorrigible womaniser, had already been accused – and found not guilty – of the statutory rape of two underage girls in 1942. According to the target of his attentions, Beverly Aadland, he was planning to marry her after securing a divorce from his third wife, Patrice Wymore. However, the Australian-born star of 1938's...

With a shiny new version of iTunes just having arrived from Apple’s secret labs, the timing is just perfect to introduce you to this software as a powerful tool for organizing reference material. iTunes is maybe the most underrated and misunderstood application on the planet. Many people just see it as a way to fill their iPhones. While it certainly is pretty good at doing that, it also can serve as a tool to give you access to music you might want to listen to for inspiration. iTunes also works great for cataloguing your own work for reference, but we will come to that in a future article.

So what are we talking about here? I don’t know about you, but at least I am constantly prompted to cal up this or that film score. People say „I want something like Xy did in that film!“. Fortunately, with a big record collection,...

Errol Flynn plays Elizabeth I's favourite pirate Sir Francis Drake (aka Geoffrey) in a movie that veers off course into Nazi waters

Director: Michael Curtiz

Entertainment grade: C+

History grade: C

Francis Drake was Elizabeth I's favourite pirate. He was acclaimed as a hero in England and knighted, but the Spanish – the main victims of his exploits – considered him a villain.

Societies

King Philip II of Spain is planning world domination. "The riches of the New World are limitless, and the New World is ours," he gloats. "Only northern Europe holds out against us." Around his neck is a gold medallion of a dead sheep, hoisted by its midriff. This is the chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece, the most prestigious private club of the early modern age. Its membership was limited to 50 kings, princes, archdukes and other rulers. Philip II of Spain was its sovereign...

With the arrival of the auteur theory, filmmakers like Michael Curtiz no longer get as much sway among the current generation of directors. Curtiz (born Kertész Kaminer Manó in Hungary in 1886), was a journeyman, a man who flourished in the studio system after being picked out by Jack Warner for his Austrian Biblical epic "Moon of Israel" in 1924. He stayed at the studio for nearly 20 years, taking on whatever he was assigned at a terrifyingly prolific rate -- he made over 100 Hollywood movies up to "The Comancheros" in 1961. And some of them are terrible, as you might expect.

But Curtiz was also responsible for some of the greatest films of the era, and those who diminish his abilities (including the director himself, who once said "Who cares about character? I make it go so fast nobody notices") are ignoring his enormous skill behind the camera, and his undeniable capacity for...

There are bigger movies, and there are better movies, but few movies have become the go to selection when throwing out favorite or best film titles, and fewer still have become as synonymous with Hollywood itself. A film that was famously released without a great deal of expectation coming from anyone involved with its creation, it has become not only an icon of the movie industry, but an inescapable part of American culture.

The Casablanca 70th Anniversary Edition adds even more bonuses to watch, plus some physical goodies, making it a must buy, and great gift, especially for anyone who hasn’t broken down and taken the title home before.

The standard caveat to this edition, especially among the serious fans who pay attention to such things, is going to be the fact that the film had an Ultimate Edition Blu-Ray release only a few years ago, and that edition...

Tired of only smelling the person sitting next to you in the movie theater? Well how about catching a whiff of a scratch-and-sniff card with instructions on how to use it explained to you by a talking dog voiced by Ricky Gervais before you watch Spy Kids: All the Time in the World? That's exactly what you're going to get as today Dimension Films announced Spy Kids: All the Time in the World will be presented in 4D with an age-old gimmick called "Aroma-scope" which sounds "pull my finger" disgusting, but is really more harmless and stupid than that.

Here's how it will work: With each individual admission ticket, kids and parents will also receive an Aromascope card that is free of charge with easy to read numbers outlined. As the numbers flash on the movie screen the audience will rub the corresponding number on their card. When...

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

The Sammy Awards (or Sammys) are named after movie lyricist Sammy Cahn (1913-1993), who received 4 Oscars for his songs, and was nominated more than any other songwriter, 26 times in all. Cahn said he was “flattered and honored” to have these movie music awards named after him. His Oscar-winning songs are: “Three Coins in the Fountain”; “All the Way”; “High Hopes”; and “Call Me Irresponsible.” All four songs were recorded by Frank Sinatra, a big fan of Sammy’s lyrics. Now in their twenty-third (23rd) year, the Sammys are the longest running awards for film music recordings.

The Sammys are chosen each year by Roger Hall, a film music historian, member of the International Film Music Critics Association, author of the book, A Guide to Film Music – Songs and Scores, and editor of the long-running online magazine, Film Music Review – www.americanmusicpreservation.com/fmr.

“Just give him a sword and let him do his thing,” was the way Errol Flynn described the studio executive’s opinions of him. In his heyday, Flynn was known as the king of Hollywood Swashbucklers. He’s still best remembered today for his tights-and-fights adventures, such as Captain Blood, The Sea Hawk, Don Juan, The Prince & the Pauper and most notably The Adventures of Robin Hood. But there was more to Flynn’s career than that.

From the late 1930s through the mid 1940s, the dashing Flynn was one of the two biggest action film stars in the world (the other being John Wayne). Aside from costumed adventures, he also made Westerns (Dodge City; They Died With Their Boots On) and War movies (Dawn Patrol). Although he may have seemed miscast as a cowboy, people accepted it because it was the beloved Flynn in the white hat. And when it came to war films,...

By Angel Luis Rivera-Marcano

Forty years ago on April 6, 1970 two combat photojournalists covering the Vietnam War were captured by factions of the Viet Cong and Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and never heard from again. The news of their capture received much attention in the media when the identity of the two was released. For taken along with Dana Stone, a CBS correspondent was Sean Flynn, international film star and the only legitimate son of legendary movie star, Errol Flynn and his first wife, French actress, Lili Damita. The exploits, on and off screen of Sean‘s dad, Errol Flynn have earned him a controversial, if not legendary status in Hollywood history. His fame exceeded his starring roles in such Hollywood classics as, “The Adventures of Robin Hood” (1938),“Captain Blood” (1935), “The Sea Hawk” (1940), “Dodge City...

HollywoodNews.com: The dog days of summer are the best time of the year for movie fans as they turn on the air conditioning and park themselves on the couch for the latest edition of Turner Classic Movies’ (TCM) ultimate movie star showcase: Summer Under The Stars.

Now in its eighth year, the August festival dedicates each of its 31 days to one of Hollywood’s most enduring actors and actresses. This year’s roster is set to include such stars as Steve McQueen (Aug. 3), Ingrid Bergman (Aug. 6), Errol Flynn (Aug. 7), Bob Hope (Aug. 8), Walter Matthau (Aug. 11), Maureen O’Hara (on her 90th birthday, Aug. 17), Katharine Hepburn (Aug. 20), Paul Newman (Aug. 21), Lauren Bacall (Aug. 25), Olivia de Havilland (Aug. 27), Peter O’Toole (Aug. 28), Henry Fonda (Aug. 29) and Clint Eastwood (Aug. 31). Assembled from the network’s library of more than 5,000 films, this one-of-a-kind festival is an opportunity for viewers to enjoy a varied...

Ivan Guerrero has done something very cool. He’s taken loads of classic sci-fi movie clips and spliced them together to make a 50s-style movie trailer for The Empire Strikes Back. Guerrero has more of these “Premakes”, but this one is a must-see. I just can’t help but marvel at how he was able to find the right old clips to make a reasonable comparison to the iconic imagery of Star Wars. But he did and it’s damn impressive.

Hit the jump to check it out along with a list of all the films he used to put it together.

—

Here’s Guerrero’s list of films he took footage from (and obviously he did some text and small special effects). Also, if you’d like to see more of his Premakes, click here [via The Awesomer]:

Flash Gordon (“Deadline at Noon”, “Conquers the Universe”), The Phantom Planet, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century,...

Are you celebrating Mexico today?

Happy Cinco De Mayo!

I'm eating tacos for dinner because it's the least I can do. And I'm also perusing amazing photos of Mexican film stars of yore like the deliriously sexy Lupe Vélez and one star of the right now... Señor Bernal of course. Also deliriously sexy. Especially in closeups.

So I thought we'd drool on six of the earliest crossover sensations tonight with a few films of note (for one reason or another) for each of their careers. If you'd like to investigate further, click on the links. Enjoy!

Lupe Vélez The Gaucho, 1927 | Hot Pepper, 1933 | The Girl From Mexico, 1939

Ramon Novarro Scaramouche 1923 | Ben-Hur 1925 | The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg, 1927

These silent stars had volatile lives and careers, both ending with tragic deaths. Vélez career was a series of ups and downs and some say she was bipolar. She had several movie star affairs...

No 76: Errol Flynn 1909-1959

Flynn was born in Tasmania, the son of an eminent marine biologist, and early on developed a passion for the sea and a reputation as a rebel. Spotted by a Warner Brothers talent scout while a young, very minor actor in England, he became an overnight Hollywood star in 1935 as a last-minute replacement for Robert Donat as the swashbuckling hero of Captain Blood. By 1936 he was the leading contender to play Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind.

Flynn was tall, slim, graceful, debonair with a neatly trimmed moustache, a winning smile, a hearty, self-mocking laugh. Everything he did, both on screen and off, contributed to his legendary status: the colonial background (he claimed to be a descendant of Fletcher Christian); the celebrated characters he played (General Custer, Robin Hood); his sexual conquests; his prodigious phallic dimensions (according to Truman Capote in Music for Chameleons,...

We recently published Glenn Kay's interview with Joe Dante discussing the full details on his upcoming film The Hole (read it here). Now, Jason Anders caught up with the director to go back even further. All the way back to 1978, and the recently remade Piranha...

Jason Anders/Fangoria: Let's start with one of your earliest films, 1978's Piranha; what originally inspired you to become involved in filmmaking, and what roads led to you directing one of your first motion pictures, which garnered the respect of major Hollywood names like Steven Spielberg? Also, tell me about the challenges you faced on the production of this film, which was shot in just 30 days.

Joe Dante: I had originally planned to become a cartoonist; it was only during art school that I came to realize I was more inclined toward filmmaking. This was the mid-'60s when the idea of "film school...

Actors Jude Law and Sadie Frost are among an array of British stars set to headline Ridley Scott's pirate movie based on the story of Captain Kidd. Lena Headey Ewen Bremner and Rupert Graves are also being eyed by Scott to star in the film. Miranda Richardson is set to briefly reprise the Queen Elizabeth I role she once played for laughs in the British Blackadder TV series. Kidd's sworn enemies in the movie would be Alan Rickman as an admiral and James Coburn as a rival buccaneer. Scott and producer Jerry Bruckheimer are keen to point out that their Disney-backed movie is definitely not a comedy. A senior source explains, "They are looking at something in the mold of Errol Flynn in The Sea Hawk. But with special effects, computer graphics and the like they can achieve so much more. "But the studio would like an ensemble cast, very young and glamorous, to rival some other movies being made like Ocean's Eleven."...