Cleo takes Manhattan.

Writer Michael Coate of The Digital Bits web site commemorates the 50th anniversary of Fox's epic Cleopatra with a look at the film's roadshow engagements. (Roadshow presentations were prestigious, extended-runs in top theaters in major cities. Blockbuster films would play in these theatres for months before the movies would go into general release.) Coate also explains that the original 4 hour version of the film only ran for an abbreviated time before being cut by one hour at the insistence of studio bosses. There is no question that Cleopatra brought Fox to the brink of bankruptcy. However, the notion that it did not attract large audiences is false. The movie drew huge crowds for extended periods of time around the globe (one roadshow engagement lasted 64 weeks!) The reason the film failed financially was because of its troubled production history that saw the movie go into a hiatus period, the leading men were recast and production was switched from England to Italy. The result was a budget that skyrocketed beyond control and all but ensured the movie's financial failure. Looking at it today, it remains an impressive movie and one of which  it can truly be said, "They don't make 'em like that any more!" Click here to read

The blurb above ran on November 15, 1963 in the Film Daily trade magazine. Carl Foreman's expensive and ambitious WWII drama "The Victors" was screened in advance for war correspondents. The film was a dark and cynical look at the experiences of everyday soldiers in the WWII European campaign. An impressive cast of established stars and up-and-coming talent appeared in the film but the movie had a tortured history. Released during the Christmas season, the movie's downbeat, anti-war message didn't resonate with audiences. The movie was severely cut with different length versions appearing in various areas of the globe. The full director's cut has never been reconstructed. Additionally, the movie has never been released on DVD or Blu-ray in the USA, though it is available in the UK and European markets. Even in a truncated version, Foreman's film still packs a punch.

(The fascinating story behind the making of "The Victors" is covered in detail in Cinema Retro's tribute to films of WWII issue. Click here to order) 

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were immortalized as big screen anti-heroes in Arthur Penn's 1967 classic "Bonnie and Clyde". However, as an article in the Daily Mail indicates, their string of notorious bank robberies and sometimes fatal shoot-outs led to them being media sensations in the 1930s- but also resulted in a rather miserable existence. The basics of the movie's screenplay kept most of the main facts historically accurate, but as you'll see from the article there was also plenty of artistic license as well. Unlike Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, the real life Bonnie and Clyde were far from sex symbols. They did capture the imagination of the American public at a time when the country was grappling with depression from the Depression. It was an era in which the most notorious gangsters flourished, though all met inglorious demises, as did Bonnie and Clyde who were lured into a fatal ambush on a country road. The article presents a wealth of historical photographs of the couple as well as some morbid shots of their dead bodies, which were put on display as though they were carnival attractions. Also featured is a newly-found photograph of the couple embracing that has never been published before. Click here to read. 

It started with a rather innocuous post on the Cinema Retro Facebook page of the paperback movie tie-in novel for "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" along with a notation that we missed the era in which so many new films spawned the release of these editions. Before you could say "Dr. Zaius", readers from around the globe chimed in with their own memories of reading and collecting these books. Best of all, many of them took us up on the challenge to post any photos they might have from their own personal collections. Before long, there was a plethora of great images posted, bringing back memories of paperbacks based on "Dirty Harry", "Taxi Driver", "Star Wars", "The Mechanic" and so many others. Click here to join the fun and feel free to add your own observations and photos. (Note: to view all the entries, go to the end of the article and click on "View more comments" link.)

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Director Bernardo Bertolucci with Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider on the set of "Last Tango in Paris". The film's notorious sexual content overshadowed its artistic merits. Among them: a brilliant Oscar-nominated performance by Brando in which he laid bare inner demons that haunted him personally over the course of his life. Brando always dismissed the film by saying that he never knew what it was about but he also implied he regretted doing it because it revealed far too much of his inner turmoils. Maria Schneider was only 19 years-old when she made the movie and would later say that, she too, regretted the experience because she claimed to have been sexually manipulated by both Brando and Bertolucci. Nevertheless, the film remains powerful viewing even today in an era in which it would be unthinkable for a legendary leading man to make a movie this bold and groundbreaking. -Lee Pfeiffer

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Here's a gem from a 1968 broadcast of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" with Johnny and Jack Webb joining up for a "Dragnet" spoof. 

Click here to order Cinema Retro's special edition tribute issue to "Where Eagles Dare".

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Writing in the Daily Mail, journalist Philip Norman recalls his visit to the Austrian set of "Where Eagles Dare" to interview Richard Burton. As a star-struck 24 year-old, he was given personal access to Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, who had accompanied her husband to the film set. All was going swimmingly until an ill-fated, late night social gathering took place in the hotel lobby where Burton and other cast members were still clad in the uniforms of  German army officers. An unstable American fan approached Burton to tell him how much he admired him- but when he became intrusive, a war of words broke out and the man pulled a pistol on Burton, threatening his life. In true cinema style, the unflappable Burton dared the man to either use it or stick it up his arse! The tense scene was diffused by the unexpected appearance of Taylor, clad in her nightdress, who paraded into the lobby and seemed more disturbed about the noise from the argument than the man threatening her husband's life. Click here to read the remarkable and amusing tale.