Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine' 1938: Jean Renoir's film noir (photo: Jean Gabin and Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine') (See previous post: "'Cat People' 1942 Actress Simone Simon Remembered.") In the late 1930s, with her Hollywood career stalled while facing competition at 20th Century-Fox from another French import, Annabella (later Tyrone Power's wife), Simone Simon returned to France. Once there, she reestablished herself as an actress to be reckoned with in Jean Renoir's La Bête Humaine. An updated version of Émile Zola's 1890 novel, La Bête Humaine is enveloped in a dark, brooding atmosphere not uncommon in pre-World War II French films. Known for their "poetic realism," examples from that era include Renoir's own The Lower Depths (1936), Julien Duvivier's La Belle Équipe (1936) and Pépé le Moko (1937), and particularly Marcel Carné's Port of Shadows (1938) and Daybreak (1939).[11] This thematic and...
- 2/6/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Shadows
Written by John Cassavetes
Directed by John Cassavetes
USA, 1959
“We did everything wrong, technically…. The only thing we did right was to get a group of people together who were young, full of life, and wanted to do something of meaning.” – John Cassavetes
As one of the first movies to be produced outside of the Hollywood studio system, John Cassavetes’ self-financed Shadows (1959) is a pioneering movie in the history of American independent cinema. Favoring an approach influenced by theatre, Cassavetes cast amateur actors and friends in a semi-improvised character study about three siblings living in 1950’s New York. Produced on a small budget, Shadows was shot in Cassavetes’ own apartment and out on the streets of Manhattan, while friends stood on look out watching for the police.
In the final credits of Shadows Cassavetes mischievously proclaimed, “The film you have just seen was an improvisation”. If Jean-Luc Godard’s...
Written by John Cassavetes
Directed by John Cassavetes
USA, 1959
“We did everything wrong, technically…. The only thing we did right was to get a group of people together who were young, full of life, and wanted to do something of meaning.” – John Cassavetes
As one of the first movies to be produced outside of the Hollywood studio system, John Cassavetes’ self-financed Shadows (1959) is a pioneering movie in the history of American independent cinema. Favoring an approach influenced by theatre, Cassavetes cast amateur actors and friends in a semi-improvised character study about three siblings living in 1950’s New York. Produced on a small budget, Shadows was shot in Cassavetes’ own apartment and out on the streets of Manhattan, while friends stood on look out watching for the police.
In the final credits of Shadows Cassavetes mischievously proclaimed, “The film you have just seen was an improvisation”. If Jean-Luc Godard’s...
- 11/1/2011
- by Tom Jarvis
- SoundOnSight
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