There will be a special 'Psychoville' event at the Phoenix Cinema, East Finchley on Friday,23rd April at 6.30pm with Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton!

Alfred Hitchcock's 1948 film 'Rope' will be screened alongside episode 4 of 'Psychoville' - the sublime homage to that film, with everyone's favourite mother and son serial killers, David and Maureen Sowerbutts centre stage & on the big screen. There will also be an Q&A with Steve and Reece following the screening.
The Phoenix Cinema is one of the UK's oldest cinemas in the UK & one of
London's leading independent cinemas, as well as being Steve and Reece's local cinema.

This event is a charitable trust as a non-profit making organisation. Tickets for the 'Psychoville' event are £15.00 for adults & concessions are £13.00. All money raised will support the Phoenix Cinema's Centenary Restoration Project, which goes towards restoring the Grade II listed building.

Tickets can be booked online by following the link & then clicking the All Shows option...scroll down the page towards the bottom to book for the 'Psychoville & Rope' event & click on the time shown - 18.30 - to book.
Tickets can also be purchased by phoning the Phoenix Cinema box office - 020 8444 6789

Click here to relive Cinema Retro's "screen debut" on an episode of Psychoville.

Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Park Circus film distributors in the UK:

To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of PRETTY WOMAN, Cineworld Cinemas will host exclusive screenings nationwide on Valentine's Day, Sunday 14 February 2010.

Academy Award-winner Julia Roberts (ERIN BROCKOVICH) is Vivian, a spirited, streetwise diamond in the rough, when she meets Edward, a no-nonsense billionaire played by Golden Globe-winner Richard Gere (CHICAGO). It's a chance encounter that turns a weeklong business arrangement into a timeless, disarming modern-day fairy tale.

20 years after its release, PRETTY WOMAN has lost none of its charm. The scene where Vivian triumphantly returns to a posh Rodeo Drive shop, where she had previously been declined, still makes audiences cheer and the improbable romance between Vivian and Edward warms even the coldest heart.

This is a one-off opportunity to see the rags-to-riches romance back on the big screen on Valentine's Day.

USA, 1990, 120 minutes, BBFC Certificate: 15

Click here to watch original trailer

The Aero Theatre in Santa Monica will present two major film collaborations between Spencer Tracy and director Stanley Kramer on the evening of February 10. The program includes a 50th anniversary screening of Kramer's classic Inherit the Wind as well as a big screen showing of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? which proved to be Tracy's final film. The movie is quite dated today but does feature fine performances by Tracy, Kate Hepburn and Sidney Poitier. Inherit the Wind, which is rarely seen on the big screen, has lost none of its power and relevance. The court room square offs between Tracy and Frederic March remain examples of what brilliant screen acting is all about. Click here for more

As proud members of the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund, Cinema Retro is proud to help promote an advance London screening of Martin Scorsese's eagerly-anticipated thriller Shutter Island.

See details on banner ad below. Click on the banner for information about joining the CTBF and to view video messages from Daniel Craig and Danny Boyle.(Visit the store section to purchase tickets to Shutter Island)

CINEMA RETRO HAS RECEIVED THE FOLLOWING PRESS RELEASE THAT WILL BE OF INTEREST TO ALL SILENT FILM FANS:

The Kansas Silent Film Festival is back for its 14^th year Friday night - February 26^th and all day Saturday – February 27^th, 2010 at White Concert Hall on the campus of Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. As with all previous events, admission is free and open to the public. Kansas City film historian, Denise Morrison will provide introductions for the films to be presented, providing an overview of the silent film era and the artists who created them.

 

    Festival staff are very excited to announce this year’s special guest -  Melissa Talmadge Cox, Buster Keaton’s granddaughter, who will introduce her favorite of her grandfather’s films, OUR HOSPITALITY. The film was a family affair, with both Melissa’s grandparents as the stars (Buster Keaton and Natalie Talmadge), her great- grandfather (Joe Keaton) and her father (James Keaton) have small roles. This will be a spectacular presentation with live orchestral accompaniment and will open the festival on Friday night, February 26^th.

 

   Quite rightly called Buster Keaton's “neglected masterpiece”, OUR HOSPITALITY (1923) has long been overshadowed by Keaton's better known films (THE GENERAL, THE NAVIGATOR and SHERLOCK JR). Keaton plays Willie McKay, who is caught in the middle of a bitter family feud (ala the Hatfields and the McCoys). The film features Heaton’s trademark deadpan comedy in addition to some amazing stunts. Musical accompaniment will be provided by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra of Boulder, Colorado – a staple of the Kansas Silent Film Festival and a favorite with fans for over a decade.

 

   Starting off on the evening will be short films from comedy greats, Laurel and hardy (ANGORA LOVE -1929) and Charlie Chaplin (THE VAGABOND -1916). The program will begin Friday evening at 7 pm.   

 

   The Festival resumes Saturday morning, February 27^th at 10:00 am with an assortment of silent short films. Leading off is one of the earliest films in the Festival schedule, RESCUED BY ROVER (1905) - the first film in which a dog takes the lead, propels the story and becomes the hero. Rounding out the morning line-up is THE IRON MULE (1925) - featuring Al St. John who started his career in movies as a comedic sidekick to his uncle, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle and THUNDERING FLEAS (1926) - with Our Gang and an all-star cast of Hal Roach regulars besieged by….fleas! The morning music for these films will be provided by Jeff Rapsis at the piano and Greg Foreman at the organ.       

   THE MAGIC CLOCK (1928), an amazing fantasy film from one of the pioneers in stop-motion puppet animation will conclude the morning and features a charming  musical score by the Mont Alto Orchestra.

   After a lunch break, the films continue at 1:30pm with FLAMING FATHERS (1927) featuring Max Davidson, the irresistible ethnic comedian who made gem after gem in the short comedy field, but is almost forgotten today. Directed by Stan Laurel and Leo McCarey, this is a classic example of how one gag builds upon another and no gag is left unused. Coming all the way from his home state of New Hampshire, Jeff Rapsis will contribute a delightful piano score.

   The first Saturday afternoon feature, THE MATRIMANIAC (1916) stars Douglas Fairbanks and Constance Talmadge and features organ music by Marvin Faulwell. This movie really MOVES! There are more laughs and thrills packed into this film's 46 minutes than most films can show with twice the running time.

 

  

A 4-week, 28-film festival celebrating the centennial of director Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998) will run at Film Forum from Wednesday, January 6 through Thursday, February 4. The festival opens with a 9-day run (Jan. 6-14) of his early Film Noir tour de force Stray Dog, starring Toshiro Mifune as a cop searching for his stolen service revolver through a sweltering post-war Tokyo.

The festival, programmed by Bruce Goldstein, Film Forum’s Repertory Program Director, includes all of the director’s other legendary masterworks – Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, Rashomon, Ikiru, High and Low, Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, Ran, etc. – along with his earliest films from the 1940s and lesser-known classics like The Idiot, The Bad Sleep Well, Scandal, and I Live in Fear.

Born March 22, 1910 in Tokyo, Kurosawa came from a samurai family that traced its lineage back to the eleventh century. The youngest of nine children, Kurosawa’s first interest was painting (which he never really abandoned), but was drawn to movies through his older brother, who worked as a benshi, or narrator of silent films.

In 1936, Kurosawa answered a newspaper ad looking for apprentice film directors at P.C.L. (later to become Toho Studios). Hired as director Kajiro Yamamoto’s assistant, he apprenticed for seven years before given the chance to direct his first film, Sanshiro Sugata. Only five years later, he’d make Drunken Angel, the movie that solidified his critical reputation in Japan and first teamed him with actor Toshiro Mifune, playing a TB-infected gangster. It was the beginning of the most fruitful director-actor collaboration in film history.

Kurosawa’s reputation exploded in 1950 with Rashomon. Winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and a Best Foreign Film Oscar, it introduced the world to Japanese cinema and vaulted its director and two stars – actress Machiko Kyo and Mifune – to international prominence.

The London Film Museum (AKA The Movieum) has an on-going major exhibition of original costumes and props used in the new Sherlock Holmes film. This is an official, studio-authorized exhibition and there is no additional fee for viewing it beyond the normal entrance price to the Museum. The exhibit runs through 31 January. For more details click here

We're about ready to pack up and move to Pittsburgh to attend the Hollywood Theatre's fantastic line-up of retro films for the new year. Check out the details in this press release:

Even though it’s winter outside, the Hollywood Theatre heats up January with a jam packed mix of action, classics, cult, comedy and horror films sure to please any moviegoer:

 ·         The year starts off with a bang on January 2 with a day-long James Bond fest, featuring Dr. No, Goldfinger and Thunderball.

 ·         Classic film buffs can enjoy mystery, adventure, romance and old-time comedy with no commercials or interruptions in the Hollywood’s all-new comfortable seating with new sound system.  Original film offerings include Hitchcock thriller To Catch a Thief, perennial favorite Casablanca, the Rat Pack version of Ocean’s 11, sweeping Civil War epic Gone with the Wind, and Abbott and Costello in Africa Screams.  And don’t miss the crowned jewel of filmmaking, Citizen Kane.

 ·         Celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece North by Northwest with screenings on the 12^th and 14^th.  The film opened at the Hollywood Theatre in January of 1960.

 ·         A trio of Fellini films will steam up the screen this month.  The filmmaker’s genius shines through in 8 1/2; La Dolce Vita is considered one of the great achievements in world cinema; Amarcord is a semi-biographical bawdy romp that garnered an Oscar for Best Foreign Film.

 ·         Cheer on superheroes on the big screen with the original 1966 film version of The Batman Movie and 1978’s Superman, as well as mortal champions portrayed in the Academy Award winning Rocky, critically acclaimed Gran Torino and World War II adventure The Dirty Dozen.

 ·         

The Widescreen Weekend, one of the most popular aspects of the Bradford International Film Festival in England run by the National Media Museum, has announced its initial screenings for its March 2010 program: Peter Hyams' 2010 (to celebrate the calendar year) and Randal Kleiser's The Blue Lagoon starring Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins. Both will be presented in 70mm. There will also be an appearance by American Cinerama expert John Harvey, the man who is credited with helping to save the format when he devised a method to run all three projectors himself during the extended Cinerama film festival at the Neon Movies theater in Ohio back in the 1990s. John will be interviewed by the man who ran the festival with him, Larry Smith, who is now president of the Cinerama Preservation Society. For more click here

The age of the glamorous movie premiere may be dead in Hollywood, but it lives on in England. In fact, nobody does premieres better than the Brits, as anyone who has attended a 007 grand opening can attest. Leicester Square becomes a magical place, with thousands of enthused, but well-behaved fans gathered to cheer the stars and filmmakers as they walk down the red carpet - and the after-parties are even better! The new Sherlock Holmes film just premiered at the Empire Theatre in the Square. Click here for photo coverage.

By Lee Pfeiffer

On December 10, Food for Thought Productions staged another of their memorable events at The Players, the legendary arts club at Gramercy Park in New York City. A talented group of actors gathered to pay tribute to the late, great Rod Serling. The event offered a reading by Serling's daughter Anne in which she poignantly and touchingly recalls what life was like growing up with a father who was regarded as one of the entertainment industry's great talents. Anne Serling told a story similar to that of other children of celebrities: to her, he was just "dad" - a funny, gentle man who would amuse his family with humorous antics - and who had such sentiment for his roots that he made an annual pilgrimage to visit the modest home he grew up in at Binghamton, New York.  During a Q&A with the audience, Anne shed some light on Serling's work and personality. In response to my question about how he felt about Night Gallery, his 1970s horror anthology series, Anne indicated that her father quickly became disgruntled with the series because NBC offered him only limited influence over the stories and productions. She said that, with the exception of a few episodes, the experience left him frustrated. 

Cirque du Soleil has announced that it will stage an official celebration of Elvis Presley's life and career. For details about Viva Elvis,click here

In 2007, Cinema Retro contributing writer Raymond Benson (and author of twenty-one published books, including James Bond continuation novels) teamed up with Chicago’s Daily Herald film critic Dann Gire to create “Dann and Raymond’s Movie Club,” a live cinema history program that has become a big draw at Chicagoland suburban libraries.  

Benson met Gire, who is also founder and president of the Chicago Film Critics Association, around fifteen years ago at the home of mutual James Bond fan Doug Redenius and have been friends ever since.  One day they happened to note how they each had similar interests—especially in film—and decided to try and “do something together.”  After talking with Susan Gibberman, Head of Reader Services at the Schaumburg Township District Library in Schaumburg, Illinois, they struck a deal to present the Movie Club on the first Thursday of every month (excluding the summer).  Using a Siskel and Ebert format, the pair cover a topic with history, anecdotes, jokes, and clips from their representative favorites.  For example, one night they might talk about political films such as The Birth of a Nation, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Dr. Strangelove, and JFK.  Audience participation is encouraged, and the two hour program proved to be immensely entertaining.  Dann and Raymond’s Movie Club quickly became the most popular adult program at the Schaumburg library (the largest suburban library in Illinois).  They are now in their third season in Schaumburg.  The Arlington Heights Memorial Library hired the duo in 2008, so they now present their show there on the second Thursday of every month.  

For anyone in the Chicagoland area who is interested in attending Dann and Raymond’s Movie Club (admission is free), the schedule is always posted on the Appearances page of Benson’s website, www.raymondbenson.com, and on the Dann and Raymond’s Movie Club page on Facebook.

By Adrian Smith

If you’re in London during the next two weeks, be sure to check out this fabulous new festival and exhibition based on Hammer’s legendary horror films.The event was launched on the 27^th October at the Idea Generation gallery in Shoreditch, to which Cinema Retro was invited. We were told it was a private view of this exhibition of previously unseen photos and artwork, along with more well known stills and publicity photos. However, it was the most public “private view” we have ever seen. This could have been down to a resurgence in the popularity of Hammer, tied in with new film production, or it could have been the endless bottles of free cider.

Several Hammer-related guests were in attendance, including Paul Cole, John Hough, Lois Dane, Madeline Smith, Vera Day and Valerie Leon. The latter were also there to help promote the new book Hammer Glamour by Marcus Hearn. Hearn has co-curated the exhibition, which is well worth a look. Also in attendance was the CEO of the new Hammer, Simon Oakes.

Sadly, by the time Cinema Retro found the venue, hidden down some of the scariest back streets in East London, most of these guests had moved on to a secret party somewhere, but we did manage to catch up with the still glamorous Vera Day. She is best known for her starring roles in Quatermass II and some of the Hammer comedies. It was also fun to chat with Paul Cole, who enjoyed telling us about his appearance in Carry on Teacher, before moving into television production.

Cinema Retro contributor Graham Hill recently snapped some stars from our favorite films and TV series at the Hollywood Collector's Show. Click here for information on the next star-packed event in February 2010.

By Adrian Smith

In 1964 the BBC, as part of their regular “Wednesday Play” series, produced a 90- minute drama based on the assassination attempt on Hitler in 1944. John Carson played Col. Claus Schenk Count von Stauffenberg, now best known for being played by Tom Cruise in Valkyrie. I’ve not seen that, so I can’t compare them, although I imagine there are a vast number of differences. As a TV play, as opposed to a filmed drama, this is quite stagey, with a limited number of studio sets, and some filmed inserts. There is also an awful lot of talking. However, it is still an excellent production, which benefitted not only from some outstanding performances, but also a talented director in the German Rudolph Cartier. He was incredibly experienced in British television, having shot a number of well known shows including the original live The Quatermass Experiment a decade earlier.

The July Plot is being screened at the BFI in two weeks as part of its “Missing, Believed Wiped” segment. I was fortunate enough to be at a screening two weeks ago as part of a John Carson tribute at the Cine Lumiere in London. John himself was in attendance, and it was exciting to think that nobody, including him, had seen it for over 40 years.

Rather surprisingly, during the opening credits we follow von Stauffenberg and his briefcase containing the bomb through the various levels of security until he places it besides Hitler. We follow the action immediately afterwards, as his co-conspirators wait for confirmation of Hitler’s death and begin to roll out their plans for the takeover of the military and the police. It is tense stuff, despite the fact that we know Hitler was no more than scratched, due to someone else in the room moving the bomb behind a table leg. It is so frustrating to think that this really happened. If this was a Hollywood movie the plot would have worked and the war would have been over. The play rather poignantly reminds the audience of how many more people died in that final year of the war after von Stauffenberg and his comrades are caught and executed. It’s a sobering thought, and leaves you feeling some of the frustration they no doubt felt when they realised it was all over.

You can book tickets to see The July Plot for yourself at the BFI Southbank in London on the 22nd August  by clicking here. It’s highly recommended, and it can only be hoped that following its rediscovery and restoration the BBC will make this important piece of work available on DVD.

 

By Hank Reineke

In similar fashion to the spectral forces that compelled Richard Dreyfuss to the base of Devil’s Tower in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, each July I’m similarly drawn to Phoenixville, Pennsylvania to celebrate the Colonial Theatre’s annual Blobfest.  As some of you may remember, the Colonial found itself under attack in the closing reel of the classic sci-fi film The Blob (Paramount, 1958) and today, more than fifty years on, the theater remains under siege.  With roots in the local community (the film was shot in and around Phoenixville, Downington, and Chester Springs, PA), The Blob remains, without doubt, the uncontested star of the weekend’s ghoulish activities.  But the gelatinous creature generously shares his annual turn in the spotlight with fellow ne’er-do-well monsters of galactic and science-gone-awry origin.  Though I enjoy Citizen Kane as much as the next guy, Blobfest is more my kind of cinematic event and I’m grateful that there are still movie-houses that offer repertory programming beyond the usual mélange of classics sanctioned by the American Film Institute.  Though born in the shadow of the Empire State Building, my yearly return to comparatively rural Phoenixville feels something of a homecoming.  Coming of age in the 1960s and early 1970s, a too great percentage of my Saturday nights were misspent in front of the family television watching ghoulish broadcasts of Chiller Theatre on WPIX and Creature Features on WNEW out of New York City.  Similarly, weeknights, weekends, and recesses were reserved for study of the gloomy stills featured in the pages of Famous Monsters of Filmland - and, when you could find it on the newsstand, the far less celebrated Monster Times. 

By Mike Thomas

The recent A.M.P.A.S. screening of Harold and Maude in Los Angeles proved to be one of those completely unforgettable evenings for anyone fortunate enough to be in attendance. It was a night of intense drama as we entered, for it was taking place just hours after the announcement of the death of Michael Jackson, and a day after the thunderbolt announcement of the Academy’s decision to expand the Best Picture nominations to ten, a practice that had been abandoned in 1943. But most of all it was the beginning of a tribute to the late, great Hal Ashby, a director who, along with Robert Altman, typified the the best of American cinema in the 1970s and “Harold and Maude” may well be the best-loved film of his remarkable, but too brief career. But let us start at the beginning.

Like many, I got into “Harold & Maude” through its music. While listening to Radio Station KGB in San Diego, the announcer played a great Cat Stevens song called, “Maybe You’re Right“ and announced that the song, along with several other Cat Stevens songs were among the many joys to be sampled in a wonderfully eccentric film of forbidden love called “Harold & Maude,” playing at the leading revival house in town, the Ken Theatre. Any movie with a Cat Stevens score sounded pretty good to me and the DJs gushing endorsement clinched the deal, I caught it the very next night. As it turned out, “Maybe You’re Right” wasn’t in the film but there were a host of other the Catman’s tunes running through the it, and unlike the cynically placed pop songs injected in a film today for marketing purposes, these songs were woven into its fabric— it was impossible to imagine "Harold & Maude" without “Trouble,” or “Don’t be Shy,” or “If You Want to SIng Out, Sing Out.” The movie  had come and gone like a shooting star a few months earlier but had left a trail of goodwill in its wake, and as I watched it that night in the ratty, torn seats of the Ken, it was one of those epoch-defining films that summarized the best of that era - a zest for life over death, a celebration of one person’s individuality over mob conformity, an anti-war sentiment that virtually every film at the time embraced, and a rejection of the mindless consumerism that would soon be the legacy of the Me Generation 1980s, just a few years away. But most of all, “Harold and Maude,” was a celebration of love, in all its pain and glorious redemption, and it remains one of the grandest expressions of the healing power of that scary emotion ever put on celluloid.

The film had made an immediate impact on me, and a year later when the occasion arose for me to make my first student film, I wrote a script that was a tip of the hat to “H&M” wherein an alienated philosophy student  who reads Camus’ famous dictum in “The Myth of Sisyphus” that the only philosophical question is whether or not kill oneself decides to end it by jumping off the nearby cliffs overlooking the Pacific. Just as he is about to hurl himself off the precipice a beautiful woman calls to him to help her photograph the sunset. He looks down at the water and then at the girl and figures he can jump later. He snaps the picture of the young maiden, and she invites him back to her apartment. After leaving the next morning, full of love for life, he realizes as he approaches his car that he has left his glasses at her apartment. He turns to go back and get them and gets run over by a truck. OK, so “Harold and Maude” it wasn’t, but it does provide a clue to the film’s huge impact upon my delicate sensibilities. But as the counterculture faded and disco gave way to big-haired British synth bands and angry hip-hop gangsta acts, I relegated “Harold and Maude” to those quaint 70s relics that were best left back with tie-dyed T-shirts and patched Levis and the oeuvre of Seals & Crofts or the Captain and Tennille. I hadn’t seen the film since that night in 1972, and because it was such a perfect film-going experience, so tied to the time, I was afraid that maybe it wouldn’t hold up after those cold intervening years, or maybe I was afraid that I had been so changed by time that I would no longer be open  to the film’s magic. There was certainly an electricity in the air as I walked into the Academy foyer.

The first person I saw was Haskell Wexler, a friend since 1982 when he was a guest in a film series I was running at the San Diego Museum of Art. Then I chanced upon   fellow San Diego expatriate Cameron Crowe,  Curtis Hanson, Variety critic Todd McCarthy, Academy director Bruce Davis and the lovely Diablo Cody who chatted about her upcoming film, “Jennifer’s Body,” a horror film, a genre that she confessed no longer held the same attraction for her it  once did: “I think I’ve got that out of my system.” Jon Voight said he was looking  forward to discussing working with Ashby on the panel.

As the lights dimmed, Academy president Sid Ganis took the occasion to note the passing of the King of Pop, Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon (it is amazing, how the old “it always comes in 3s” folklore does seem to come true), and then the lights went down and out stepped Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf, to perform the two original songs, “Don’t be Shy” and “If You Want to Sing Out,” from the movie. It was one of the most remarkable performances I’ve ever witnessed, so simple and unadorned, yet riveting in its power and intensity and as dramatic an opening to the evening as one who hope for.

Following that was a panel discussion moderated by Cameron Crowe that was comprised of Judd Apatow, Diablo Cody, Peter Bart, Seth Rogen, Peter Bart, Haskell Wexler and Jon Voight. It was enjoyable, but the problem was that when there are so many people on a panel, time only permitted the briefest of answers and only Bart, Wexler and Voight actually worked with Ashby, so there wasn’t the opportunity to really delve into the man at length. But the unspoken question that hung in the air was - how would the film hold up? The answer - it played like gangbusters.

Instead of being some precious hippie relic from a distant, tie-dyed past, “Harold and Maude” seems even more astonishing now than it did then. In an age of “Transformers,” to see a studio film like this seems like a miracle. And one of my favorite moments - there are so many - was the brief shot of the concentration camp tatoo on Maude’s arm. Blink and you miss it, Ashby practically throws it away, but  by making the audience work and pay attention, when you catch it, it adds such a tremendous emotional subtext to film, a layer revealed only to fellow initiates. It is a kind of cinematic subtlety that has vanished along with bell bottoms and floral ties. 

By Mike Thomas

By Todd Garbarini

A studio error turned out to be a blessing in disguise in March when the Loews Theatre in Jersey City, NJ requested a 35mm print of Lewis Allen’s The Uninvited (1944) and instead was erroneously shipped a print of Charles Guard’s 2009 film of the same name (the film bears no relation other than titular to it’s 65 year-old predecessor, but it is rather a remake of the 2003 Asian film A Tale of Two Sisters).  It turned out that there were no known 35mm prints of the film, though this scribe swears that the Film Forum in New York City showed it years ago.  The mix-up turned out to be fortuitous as Universal created a new print of the film and it was screened Saturday night. Credit must be given to Paul Ginsburg, Vice President of NBC Universal Distribution, for ordering the new print struck (interestingly, the film is a Paramount Picture). The film was due to begin at 6:00 pm but was delayed for 25 minutes due to the unanticipated and overwhelming number of people in attendance, the main floor filled almost to 70% capacity.  This was a revelation to behold, and I overheard more than a few whispered comments on the ticket line remarking how nice it was to see the large turnout of people for this film which was on a double bill with Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940).  The lobby sported a table with rare promotional items, such a magazines and lobby cards, used in the original exhibitions of these films.  Once The Uninvited began, the audience applauded at the quality of the new print which was virtually flawless.  Having seen films like this on old 16mm reruns on television over 25 years ago, it is a reminder that films even of this age can look as though they were just made. The Uninvited stars a debonair Reginald Alfred Truscott-Jones, better known to audiences as the less tongue-tie-inducing Ray Milland, in a ghost story about a young woman who is drawn to her deceased mother’s Winward mansion estate. Though it cannot hold a candle (sorry, couldn’t resist!) to Jack Clayton’s The Innocents (1961) or Robert Wise’s The Haunting (1963) for psychological thrills, The Uninvited, while a bit too talky and a lot less cinematic than one would have hoped, still holds up as a nice little ghost story that isn’t afraid to play it straight.  At a time when summer box office now means over-the-top, special-effects laden adventures, it’s a relief to see that movie-goers of all ages are willing to come see films like this on the big screen.

By Lee Pfeiffer

The Film Society of Lincoln Center's week long tribute to Steve McQueen concluded last night with a big screen showing of Bullitt. Sadly, director Peter Yates, who was scheduled to introduce the film, was sidelined by an illness. However, party-hearty New Yorkers didn't let that interfere with enjoying the cocktail party held in his honor prior to the screening. The print provided was in very good condition and the audience responded with the enthusiasm of seeing the movie for the first time. It did occur to me, however, that given what a cash cow Bullitt has been for Warner Brothers since 1968, that it hasn't merited a full restoration. Let's hope the studio does justice to this film by making this a priority. Kudos to the Film Society for a job well done and an exciting week of superb entertainment. 

By Lee Pfeiffer

On Saturday May 23, actor Robert Vaughn appeared at The Film Society of Lincoln Center's tribute to Steve McQueen, introducing a screening of John Sturges' 1960 classic The Magnificent Seven. Hundreds of classic movie lovers gave Vaughn an enthusiastic greeting, as he reflected on the making of the film in his introduction. He quipped that he got the gig by default because he's the last remaining member of the legendary "Seven". Vaughn recalled how Sturges cast him after seeing the 27 year-old actor's Oscar-nominated performance in The Young Philadelphians.Sturges then asked him if he knew a "Gary Cooper-type" to play the part of Britt, the knife-thrower. Vaughn instantly recommended his college buddy James Coburn, who was then destitute and living in New York. Coburn had to borrow the plane fare from his parents to meet with Sturges, but he and Vaughn  remained lifelong friends - and Coburn was always grateful that Vaughn jump-started his big screen career. Vaughn said he recently ran into the other major surviving cast member, Eli Wallach, who played the bandit leader Calvera. The two remembered an amusing aspect of the filming: the presence on the set of a well-known Mexican film director who was employed to do translating to the crew and supporting actors. He said the man's career had only been marginally impacted by the fact that, after a Mexican film critic gave a pan review to one of his films, he killed the critic! Vaughn said that, even from an actor's standpoint, that reaction was a bit extreme for a critic. Following the introduction, Vaughn sat next to Neile McQueen, Steve's first wife, to view the movie on the big screen for the first time since 1960. The print was the best I have seen on a theater screen and the appreciative audience applauded at virtually every name on the opening credits. (You know you are in a sophisticated crowd when composer Elmer Bernstein's name gets as much applause as the stars!).

By Lee Pfeiffer

It was a very special opening night of The Film Society of Lincoln Center's week-long tribute to the films and career of Steve McQueen. Fox provided a stunning, newly restored 35mm print of director Robert Wise's 1966 epic The Sand Pebbles, which garnered McQueen his only Oscar nomination. Experiencing the film on the big screen with a superb sound system proved to be a wonderful experience - because if you haven't seen The Sand Pebbles in a theater, you haven't seen it at all. The evening kicked off with an introduction by Candice Bergen, who related that she was a rather nervous 19 year-old in the largely all-male company of heavyweights. She recalled how filming on Taiwan for many months was an arduous - and simultaneously boring - experience. In 1965, the island was largely devoid of any modern conveniences and newspapers and telephones were almost impossible to find. While the men had each other to pal around with, Bergen was largely left on her own - except for times when McQueen would take her on impromptu, wild motorcycle rides. She said the iconic star would often zip off on his cycle, causing director Wise to worry whether he would ever see him again. She said that it was more pleasurable filming back at the Fox Ranch in California, where the massive set for the China Light mission was constructed for the climactic sequence. She said she still remains impressed by the work of the production design team. Ms. Bergen also said that director Wise was very politically-oriented and that the film was an intentional metaphor for the on-going Vietnam conflict.

In honour of what would have been Sergio Leone’s 80^th birthday, Sir Christopher Frayling, the late director’s internationally acclaimed biographer, hosted a celebration of the legenary filmmaker’s work at the Italian Cultural Institute in London on Wednesday evening.

Sir Christopher, who has penned the foreword to Dave Worrall and Lee Pfeiffer’s upcoming book ‘The Westerns of Clint Eastwood’, invited Dave, along with Cinema Retro contributors, and authors in their own right, Matthew Field and Howard Hughes, and photographer Mark Mawston to this private tribute.

Posters from Sergio Leone’s movies adorned the walls, providing a fitting backdrop to the evening, which began with a talk on Leone’s career by Frayling (illustrated with a slideshow) followed by an on-stage interview with famed Italian director Dario Argento, who collaborated with Leone on the screenplay for Once Upon A Time in the West.

After an entertaining Q&A with an audience that included actor Robert Rietty (who did voice-over work for Leone) and production designer Sir Ken Adam, the guests were treated to a live performance of music from Leone’s movies by Paolo Castelluccia. His arrangements were amazing, especially as he and his partner were limited to the use of a piano, keyboards and trumpet, the highlight being from Once Upon A Time in America, which had the 150+ audience captivated.

 

By Lee Pfeiffer

In recent years, New Jersey has become Seventh Heaven for classic movie lovers, with numerous old-time theaters giving first class presentations of great films. April 29 saw a special screening of Stanley Kramer's 1963 comedy classic It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World at the Cedar Lane Theaters in Teaneck, New Jersey. Droves of fans came from far and wide to attend the show. A very nice 35mm print was screened to the delight of one and all. Theater owner Nelson Page is no stranger to movie fans. He's been sponsoring his program of Big Screen Classics for years and providing yeoman showmanship in the process. At the Cedar Lane, audiences were treated to a wonderful pre-show old time organ recital that included the film's main theme. The theater is also a treasure trove of old-time vestiges of an era when going to a movie theater was something special. There's a vintage theater box-office inside the theater lobby, as well as some eye-catching original movie posters. For Mad World, Paul Scrabo, one of the world's great experts on the film and the man who was instrumental in putting together the tribute documentary released by MGM Home Video in the 1990s, displayed rare posters and original artwork from the film. Scrabo also introduced the film and provided some fascinating insights into the behind-the-scenes stories. Scrabo also astutely pointed out that, while some people find the film to be overblown and unfunny, the criticism that the actors are overshadowed by the stunts is completely untrue. He correctly informed the audience that the script allows each of the many actors to play a fully developed character and lets their unique comedic abilities shine.Scrabo also said that many of the stars of the film were primarily known to audiences through black-and-white TV series. Thus, the opportunity to see all these legendary comics on the wide screen and in color was quite a thrill in 1963. The fact that the film has such a loyal and enthusiastic following after all these decades is all the proof you need that Stanley Kramer succeeded in his vision of creating a comedy that is a true classic.

Click here to visit Paul Scrabo's website which has extensive coverage of Mad World.

Click here for more information on the Big Screen Classics series.

Continue reading for more photos from the event.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Last Friday, I attended the special screening of The Lion in Winter at the Loews Theatre, the classic movie palace in Jersey City, New Jersey. Not only did I want to see the highly acclaimed film on the big screen for the first time, but the event also allowed me to meet with my old friend, Anthony Harvey who directed the 1968 classic. It had been a few years since I had seen Tony, who I first met when I was writing the Sony DVD documentary on the making of Dr. Strangelove. Tony had been Stanley Kubrick's editor on that film as well as Lolita and it was Kubrick himself who persuaded Tony to try his hand at directing. I was pleased to see Tony looking as fit as ever - though his modesty, in an industry dominated by towering egos,  continues to amaze me. As the doors were opened, he said he suspected only a handful of people would turn up. He was shocked to find hundreds in attendance, and prior to the screening, Tony was accorded rock star treatment by classic movie buffs who asked him to autograph their programs. It should be noted that there are no longer any 35mm prints of this classic movie in good enough condition to make it through a projector. This one remaining archival print was made available to the Loews by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Prior to the film, Tony was interviewed at length by author and film historian Foster Hirsch, who is among the best when it comes to asking intelligent questions of his subject. Tony said that he had only one minor independent film to his credit (the little-seen Dutchman) when he was tapped to direct The Lion in Winter. He confessed that initially, it was a bit nerve-wracking to consider he would suddenly be in charge of such a big-budget movie, as well as directing acting royalty like Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn.However, he quickly realized that if he was to enjoy the respect of the cast and crew, he would have to be a decisive and strong figure on the set. His first challenge was to find suitable locations, a feat that would see the production filming in England, Ireland and France. Tony was resolved to accurately recreate the conditions of King Henry II's reign in the 12 century - and found the coldest, least hospitable castle imagineable. He improvised certain aspects of the filming by putting an abundance of animals in the midst of the set without forewarning the actors. Thus, cast members had to negotiate around running chickens and dogs. There was method to the madness as research showed this to be an accurate representation of the king's court of that era. 

(Photo: Sylvan Whittingham Mason/ www.sylvanmason.com)

Lee Pfeiffer reports on Cinema Retro's fourth and final day at the festival.

Although the film festival was to conclude the following day with widescreen showings of The Electric Horseman and Year of the Dragon, this would be the last day Dave Worrall and I could attend. As such, we had to devote a good deal of time to business meetings and schmoozing with friends and colleagues. However, in the morning we attended Cineramacana, a fun potpourri of weird short films, odd reels and (inexplicably) a trailer for Yentl which only serves to remind us that middle-aged Barbra Streisand posing as a teenage boy was the least convincing casting since Duke Wayne played Ghengis Khan in The Conqueror. Oy vey! Couldn't someone have stopped this ludicrous vanity piece from going into production? This segment of the festival also presented a lovely nature film sans narration that was produced on a budget of fifty pounds! That's probably what gets budgeted every day on Brad Pitt's hair mousse. There was also a bizarre but oddly hypnotic film that was comprised entirely of every page of various international editions of the Bible photographed at high speed and projected over the course of four minutes. (And you thought you had a lot of extra time on your hands!)

This was followed by the museum's artistic director Tony Earnshaw's outstanding tribute to Richard Burton. Titled Lion of the Welsh, Earnshaw gave a highly personalized overview of the great actor's life, confessing he was his boyhood idol since seeing him in The Wild Geese. Earnshaw did not stint on criticizing Burton for often trashing his own talent in search of a fast paycheck and the next drink, but also reminded us of the incredible work he did on screen and on stage. As Earnshaw pointed out, Burton was only 58 years-old when he died and was doing fine work again, as evidenced by his final performance in 1984. That the Academy never recognized his talents with an Oscar remains a blight on Hollywood history. Earnshaw's tribute was followed by a 70mm screening of Becket, but this proved a disappointment because the only print available (from the Czech Republic) was mostly red and devoid of color. This didn't compromise the outstanding dialogue and performances, but - having seen the fully restored 35mm version in New York last year- it was too painful to see the film's deteroriated 70mm version and we opted to leave early. We didn't attend the screening of Carousel, but the latter got high marks from those who did see the restored print in its original CinemaScope 55 format. 

We returned in the evening for the screening of Khartoum, one of the great underrated epics of the 1960s. Fortunately, this was a magnificent, fully restored print. As I had only seen it on the "big screen" at a drive-in theater as a kid (on a double bill with the hillbilly hit Forty Acre Feud!), I was especially thrilled to view it under these conditions. Prior to the screening, I had given projectionist Duncan McGregor a rare original production featurette that no one seemed to have seen before. It detailed the horse stunts done in the film. Duncan opted to project it on the big screen and it made for an interesting feature prior to the main event. The screening of Khartoum was sponsored by film historian Tom March, who earned kudos from one and all for his generosity. The print itself was terrific, even if the studio placed the intermission in the wrong place! The film holds up very well indeed, and I believe this to be Charlton Heston's finest work on screen. For us, it was a fitting end to a wonderful weekend - one filled with more laughs than most people probably experience in a year. As for Bradford and Cinema Retro - well, as someone once said, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." We'll be back next year- and we hope many of you will join us.

Lee Pfeiffer reports on the Bradford International Film Festival -Day 3

Today's events began at 10:00 AM with a crowd gathering in the Pictureville Cinema for Cinerama Ventures, a festival of documentaries hosted by Dave Strohmaier and Randy Gitsch, producers of the acclaimed documentary Cinerama Adventure. The presentation included new featurettes about the making of How the West Was Won that were frustratingly dropped from the recent deluxe DVD release. One documentary looked at the film's return engagement in the 1990s at the Arclight Hollywood Cinerama Theatre and featured moving interviews with attendees who spoke about how much the film meant to them. Another fascinating documentary centered on the film's legendary run at the small Neon Theatre in Dayton, Ohio. The theater was specially fixed to conform with Cinerama projection standards and How the West Was Won was intended to run for a matter of weeks...instead it ran for years, as fans descended on the theater from all over the world. The documentary centered on the efforts of projectionist John Harvey who personally ran every performance of the movie at the theater during its run. In doing so, Harvey - who had also reconstructed a Cinerama print from diverse reels from various sources - managed to perform duties that originally required five men to handle the complex Cinerama projection system. The documentary was funny, informal and, in the end, very touching as it examined how one man's dream of keeping Cinerama alive has paid dividends in the ensuing years. There was also a terrific documentary in which Cinerama fan Tom March visited the main locations of How the West Was Won and photographed them as they are today. The images were brilliantly overlayed on film clips from the original movie. Sadly, Warner Home Video did not include this featurette on the recent DVD release.

A true highlight of the morning's presentations was the surprise unveiling by Dave and Randy of a reel of film from the long-missing feature Russian Adventure. The film was a bizarre attempt by the Soviets to emulate the American 3-strip Cinerama process. It was ultimately released in the USA in 1966 with narration by Bing Crosby! Perhaps due to Cold War tensions at the time, not even Der Bingle could persuade audiences to attend the showings and the film ultimately lost more than $15 million. It was thought to be missing for decades but, acting on a tip, Dave Strohmaier found the complete feature stored in a trailer in Los Angeles. As he prepared to remove it, a local artist challenged him, saying he had permission to spray paint the reels and dangle them from the ceiling of his art exhibition. Using innovative Sherlockian thinking, Dave said that the film represented a "Hazmat" situation because the stock was highly flammable and that the artist was risking interfering with public safety. Humiliated and chastized, the artist stood silently as Dave loaded the last known print of this film into a pickup truck, thus ensuring it's preserved for future generations. Seeing the sample reel was a treat for all in the audience. Forget the fact that the travelogue was little more than a ludicrous Soviet propaganda film that implied the average Russian was living it up by taking drives in the country in their sports cars. (Both sports cars in the country were probably requisitioned for this film.) It offered a fascinating time capsule of a bygone era - and left the audience hungry for more. Dave and Randy are looking into what the next steps will be in terms of preserving and exhibiting the print, which has suffered from the dreaded "vinegar syndrome" that ultimately destroys film.

Following this presentation, came the main event: the big screen premiere of Warner Brothers' new digitally remastered version of How the West Was Won. This was the same master that was used for the recent DVD release. The film had to be especially formatted on the Cinerama screen because the dimensions didn't exactly conform. However, miracle worker projectionist Duncan McGregor managed this feat with a bare minimal amount of cropping. As the famed overture of Alfred Newman's magnificent score resonated through the audience, the anticipation built steadily. When the curtains parted, the MGM lion roared as the famous main title theme thundered through the theater. The digital version was stunning - and benefited from the fact that the "join lines" had been painstakingly eliminated. I found this was a welcome development, though Cinerama purists might argue that anything other than the original presentation is a bastardization. However, if there were complaints from the audience, they were not obvious. Everyone was thrilled to see the film looking better than ever. Kudos to Warner Home Video for making the substantial investment in preserving an American classic. From an artistic standpoint, this is brilliant filmmaking - taking a sweeping, epic tale and personalizing it through the eyes of the members of one family. I was also reminded of how diminished today's star system is. With 24 Hollywood legends in How the West Was Won, one can only ponder how a remake of the film could feature even a fraction of such personalities. Adam Sandler would probably be cast as General Grant.

The next main event was an afternoon presentation of Fox's 1966 epic The Bible...In the Beginning. I have only seen bits and pieces of the film over the years and was eagerly awaiting the opportunity to view the recently restored print. However, it was explained that - unbelievably- Fox made a poor print from the restored elements and oversaturated the Adam and Eve opening sequence, which was considered quite erotic in its day. It was hoped that a corrected print had been sent, but after a few minutes, it became obvious that Fox had sent the problematic print. Indeed, the magnificent cinematography in this opening reel made it look like you were glimpsing images in an inkwell, with every nighttime sequence virtually indistinguishable. There were other problems, as well - namely, the quality of the movie itself. Although both Dave Worrall and I find the holy books that the major religions are based on to be as believable and inspiring as Dr. Seuss books, we were prepared to view the film objectively. After all, we have admiration for such religious-based films as Ben-Hur and The Greatest Story Ever Told. However, The Bible shapes up as a massive ego trip by John Huston, who directs, narrates (as the voice of God, no less) and stars as Noah. The film quickly lapses into ham-handed acting, laughable narration (with God talking to Adam like a schoolmaster chastising an unruly pupil) and cornball dialogue that would have been the envy of Ed Wood. I confess that I became very amused by the fact that there are people in this world who literally believe the cause of our woes is the fact that a guy and his girlfriend ate a golden apple offered to them by a serpent -and these are some of the same people who still complain that the old Batman TV series was too "over-the-top"! However, even the unintentional laughs generated by The Bible couldn't convince us to sit through more than the first half hour. Life itself is just too precious to have given another two hours to reviewing the film. As I wrote of The Silver Chalice, "You may not have been an atheist going into the theater, but you probably emerged as one."

The evening offered a well-received presentation of West Side Story, but by this point, our weary arses needed a break so it was off to dinner, the pub (for another late night) and looking forward to Sunday's highly-anticipated big screen showing of Khartoum.

(Click here to visit Dave Strohmaier's definitive Cinerama history web site)

Cinema Retro publishers Lee Pfeiffer and Dave Worrall attended the Bradford International Film Festival in Bradford, England last week. Here is Lee Pfeiffer's second report:

On our first full day of the Bradford International Film Festival, we learned there aren't many slouchers when it comes to maximizing the screenings of classic movies. The first screening was at 10:00 AM - and we had been up half the night socializing with other attendees at the pub of the Midland Hotel. Still, even the temptation of crawling back under the covers could not override the opportunity to see This is Cinerama presented on the big screen in its original three panel format. I had only seen one film in true Cinerama since I originally viewed How the West Was Won at age 6. That additional opportunity came in the late 1990s when I drove to Dayton, Ohio to see the same movie presented at the Neon Theater during it's extended run in Cinerama. There are precious few venues left in which to see this wonderful process and Bradford's National Media Museum's Pictureville Cinema provides one of the most inviting settings. A sizeable crowd enthusiastically awaited the introductory comments by Dave Strohmaier and Randy Gitsch, creators of the documentary Cinerama Adventure, itself a masterpiece of filmmaking. This is Cinerama was released in 1952 and was intended as a test film for the Cinerama format. There is no narrative storyline. Instead, the film is a disconnected series of thrill ride footage, travelogues and filmed stage presentations. The format still thrills, but it must have been a sensation when witnessed during its early premiere engagements, when audiences were primarily used to black and white TV shows as a primary means of entertainment. In fact, Cinerama was an attempt by the motion picture industry to fight off the perceived threat of television by providing audiences with the type of thrill they couldn't possibly experience in their living rooms. The film has a slapped-together look that is part of its charm. It opens with a prolonged, one-panel flat screen introduction by Lowell Thomas that is intentionally mundane so that when the screen expands to three panels and reveals the Coney Island rollercoast footage, the effect is thrilling. For a film dedicated to big screen action, there are some bizarre segments that are as dull as they are claustrophobic. For example, a seemingly endless sequence features nothing but a choir singing in a cathedral. Another segment features the spectacular finale of Aida in a mammoth stage production, but a snippet of the sequence would have sufficed. I confess that when I attended a production of the play in Rome as a college student, I couldn't last through the entire affair, as even the abundance of gyrating slave girls in skimpy outfits wears thin quickly. However, the second part of the film picks up considerably with extensive travelogue segments showing spectacular aerial views of natural wonders. In what might have been one of the first instances of product placement, most of the second half of the film is shot in Cypress Gardens, a Florida tourist attraction that features water-based stunt shows. The few attempts at humor featuring the performers are as corny as they are quaint. The movie was "directed" by Merian C. Cooper and Michael Todd, but it's really the cameramen who were the creative forces. The main interest in the film is as a historical curiosity, but it's a most welcome one - especially in three panel Cinerama.

The film was followed by a 70mm showing of Franco Zeffirelli's 1966 production of The Taming of the Shrew starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, along with a fine supporting cast including Michael Hordern and young Michael York. I had never seen this film, as I thought the emphasis on pure Shakespearean dialogue might be too heavy for a kid from Jersey City. However, I found it to be delightful and very entertaining - proof, once again, that not all of Liz and Dick's screen pairings were meaningless vanity pieces. Taylor's heaving bosom tests the limits of a wide screen and Burton is very amusing as her drunken suitor, determined to win the tempermental temptresses' hand - and her dowry. Unfortunately, the print was quite red - an indication of how studio's have allowed their libraries to deteriorate.

We returned in the evening for the festival's sell-out 70mm presentation of Where Eagles Dare. The only 70mm print known to exist was imported from Sweden, thus it contained Swedish sub-titles, though they did not prove to be too distracting. Fortunately, while the print was "warm", it had not turned as red as many feared. Cinema Retro sponsored this screening, and it was quite an honor to see the magazine's logo on the screen shot of sponsors that included Dolby and Eon Productions. Prior to the screening, the museum's Artistic Director Tony Earnshaw had an on-stage interview with actor Derren Nesbitt, who portrayed the villain Major Von Hapen in the film. Nesbitt, a distringuished actor of stage and screen, brought the house down with hilarious anecdotes about making the film, praising director Brian G. Hutton and co-stars Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood. He also related amusing stories about the less-than-pleasant circumstances involving the filming of The Naked Runner, though he had nothing but good things to say about star Frank Sinatra. Charmingly self-deprecating, Nesbitt kept the audience in stitches.

Following Nesbitt's appearance,  Dave Worrall and I introduced the film and gave some background on the strange career of Brian G. Hutton, who retired from show business at the height of his success to pursue real estate investments. We also showed some samples of Retro's forthcoming special edition tribute to Where Eagles Dare. I had never seen the film on the big screen, a rarity for me in terms of Clint Eastwood's early movies. Seeing it in 70mm with a magnificent soundtrack was quite a thrill. The movie also contained the original intermission, which was not included on general release prints in America. The degree of fanaticism among movie fans for this film is extraordinary. Some attendees told me they had flown in from other countries primarily to see Where Eagles Dare. Suffice it to say, you haven't lived until you've seen it on the big screen.

At the end of the evening, many of the attendees followed what would be the nightly ritual of returning to the pub at the Midland Hotel. Everyone was pumped to talk about the events of the day and the evening only became more enjoyable when I ran into Darren Nesbitt and his charming wife at the bar and they enthusiastically joined our party. He regaled us with hilarious stories about his long career in show business and gave us candid assessments of the legends he worked with. (He loved Sinatra, deplored Patrick McGoohan with whom he had co-starred as #2 in an episode of The Prisoner.) Finally, the day's activities and ample ingestions of lager took their toll and the party broke up shortly before 3:00 AM. We all needed our strength for round three the following day.

(For festival organizer Thomas Hauerslev's report, visit his site www.in70mm.com)

Cinema Retro publishers Lee Pfeiffer and Dave Worrall attended the Bradford International Film Festival in Bradford, England last week. Here is Lee Pfeiffer's first report:

For many years, we had heard about the exciting events that take place at the annual Bradford International Film Festival. The festival is held at the National Media Museum, which is a state-of-the-art showcase for the history of British film, TV, photography and new media. Over the last fifteen years, the festival has hosted world premieres, classic film screenings and internationally acclaimed interview sessions with actors and filmmakers. Although the festival has proven to be a popular attraction, Bradford's distance from London (several hours north) has kept many movie fans from attending. As most of our dealings are generally in London, we fall into that category ourselves.However, we learned that passing up on this festival is a major faux pas on behalf of any serious movie lover. This year, we opted to attend one of the festival's most popular events, the Widescreen Weekend during which classic movies are screened in their original 70mm and Cinerama versions on the giant curved screen. The bait that lured us to attend was the fact that Cinema Retro had been asked to sponsor a rare 70mm screening of Where Eagles Dare. Since our readers know we're preparing a special edition of the magazine devoted exclusively to this Richard Burton-Clint Eastwood classic, it was an offer we couldn't refuse. For many years we had heard about this wonderful gathering of dedicated movie lovers and we had to wonder why it took until the 15th anniversary of the festival to finally attend. 

I took a red-eye flight from Newark and landed in Heathrow last Thursday morning. It took over four hours for us to drive up to Bradford and settle in at The Midland Hotel, an old world venue that was rich in atmosphere. The hotel is a sponsor of the festival and we soon learned that the majority of attendees stay here so they can socialize at the pub and discuss the events of the day. This notion was reinforced when, after checking in, we stopped at the hotel pub for the first pint of the day, only to be introduced to David Strohmaier and Randy Gitsch the two most noted scholars on the Cinerama process and the creators of the fantastic documentary Cinerama Adventure. This is truly one of the greatest documentaries about classic filmmaking that has ever been conceived - an exhaustive and highly entertaining look at the short-lived but wonderful Cinerama process. Their documentary appears on MGM's recent deluxe DVD edition of How the West Was Won. Dave and Randy were with Tom March, who had scouted and documented the locations for that film as they appear today. (More about that later). Tom was also personally sponsoring the festival's big screen showing of Khartoum. (Talk about a true humanitarian!).We immediately fell into a prolonged discussion of classic filmmaking - a past-time that would be repeated every evening during our stay in Bradford.

Although the Widescreen Weekend had officially kicked off this day with a screening of The King and I, our first and only event on the day was to attend a separate event: producer Michael G. Wilson's "Master Class" on the making of James Bond movies which was held - appropriately enough - in the Museum's Cubby Broccoli Theatre. Wilson and Eon Productions have long been patrons of the Museum and the film festival, but this was his first participation in an actual event. Tony Earnshaw, the Artistic Director of the Museum, had tried for years to convince Wilson to sit down for a one-on-one interview, but the typically modest Wilson had to be convinced there was actually interest among the movie-going public to hear a discussion about the inner-workings of the Bond films. The rapt attention of the audience would immediately nullify those concerns.

Earnshaw proved to be a most adept interviewer: every question was appropriate and intelligent (something I wish I could say for many chat show hosts on TV and radio). The program began with an amusing montage of all the cameo appearances Wilson has made in the Bond films over the decades. The Hitchcockian touch is considered a good luck charm by the cast and crew. Wilson is not known for being overly-verbose and tonight was no exception. However, he was comfortable, relaxed and in good spirits - and he spoke about the making of the Bond films with refreshing candor. Wilson related how he had been happily pursuing a career in law when the increasing legal difficulties between his stepfather Cubby Broccoli and his production partner necessitated his move into the Eon offices in order to work on legal matters. After Broccoli and Saltzman split, Cubby convinced Wilson to stay on and groomed him in the fine art of movie producing. He also noted that Wilson had a creative streak when it came to coming up with concepts for specific sequences in the films. Before long, Wilson was co-authoring scripts with long-time franchise screenwriter Richard Maibaum.Wilson related some amusing and occasionally harrowing stories from his early days on the series. He had seen a liquor ad with stuntman Rick Sylvester skiing off the face of a mountain and felt it should be used as the pre-credits sequence for The Spy Who Loved Me. It was only after Sylvester had been formally hired and the stunt budgeted and planned for, that Wilson learned the ski stunt never happened - it was all done with trick photography. Nevertheless, Sylvester assured Wilson that he could indeed do the stunt, if the crew were to film in a remote mountainous region of Canada where conditions were appropriate. The led to near disaster, as the cost of bringing a full crew to such an inhospitable area caused the budget to soar. The weather had to be perfect to enact the stunt, but nature wouldn't cooperate and the crew burned up $250,000 (a huge sum in 1976) with nary a single frame of film to show for it. Nervous United Artists executives demanded the unit return home - which probably would have put an end to Wilson's fledgling career as a future producer. However, in dramatic Hollywood fashion, there was a brief break in the weather and Sylvester managed to carry off the stunt. The idea of adding the Union Jack to Bond's parachute was literally done at the last minute to bring some levity to the sequence. Wilson revealed that, to this day, such late-in-the-day brainstorms are often incorporated into the films.

Wilson acknowledged that the production of each film is a frantic period and that Eon delivers the finished movie to the studio with relatively little wiggle room to make changes. He said this actually works in Eon's favor because it precludes studio brass from ordering wide-ranging alterations to the films, as there simply isn't enough time to enact them. On the other side of the coin, he expressed frustration that the tight deadlines have compromised Eon's influence over the title song. He said that in the past, the composer of the song worked in consultation with the filmmaking team. In recent years, however, Eon had little or no say over the song, which has been delivered so late in the process that the producers have to accept whatever is delivered. (Although Wilson did not mention any specific song titles, one would not be going out on a limb to assume it includes the dreadful Another Way to Die from Quantum Of Solace.) Wilson also explained why Eon tends to use writers and technicians who are veterans of the series. He said it is very time consuming to bring on new talent and wait for them to assimilate into understanding Eon's methods, as well as comprehend the company's philosophies of how the Bond character should be presented. He also said that he doesn't let fan or media bias deter his creative instincts. He acknowledged it was frustrating to read the widespread campaign against Daniel Craig after he was signed as Bond, but never wavered in his belief that the end result would be that the public and critics would embrace him. At the end of the session, Wilson took questions from the audience - which is often a recipe for disaster at fan events because seemingly every eccentric within ten miles is drawn to the microphone like a moth to a flame. However, in our first indication that Bradford draws serious and mature film fans, every question asked was appropriate and interesting. One in particular hit the mark when someone asked Wilson why he allowed the action sequences in Quantum to be edited with so many fast cuts that it robbed the scenes of any suspense. Wilson acknowledged that they were attempting to please modern audiences who are used to that style of editing but did not outwardly endorse the style. He said that Eon always experiments with different filmmaking styles that the director may favor - and that by the time the first edit is done, there is precious little time to make radical changes.The only news Wilson broke about the next Bond film is that there is no news at all. He said there had been no significant work done on the next entry.

At the end of the session, Wilson graciously stayed on to chat informally with fans and sign autographs. Although we've known Michael for many years on a personal basis, this was an enjoyable and rare opportunity for us to hear him discuss aspects of his career that we had not been aware of. More importantly, this highly enjoyable evening served as a teaser for the great weekend events that were to follow.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Last Sunday, Mary Tyler Moore was honored with a special ceremony at The Players, the legendary club for the arts at New York's Gramercy Park. Miss Moore, who looked as stunning as ever, was obviously delighted to be among her friends and colleagues at the black tie event. She mingled during the cocktail hour, then laughed during the post-dinner on-stage tributes from Elaine Stritch, Bernadette Peters (who sang an impromptu song about her friendship with Moore) and sitcom director and writer Bill Persky (who wrote some of the best episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show.) Persky pointed out that he had admired Moore long before he even knew what she looked like, as she was the sexy "legs" protruding from a dancing pack of cigarettes in a TV commercial. Persky also related that Moore had tested for the part of Danny Thomas' daughter in his sitcom, but Thomas turned her down because no one would believe the cute actress with the button nose could have been the off-spring of a man with a protuding schnozzola. A couple of years later, when casting for the role of Laura Petrie in The Dick Van Dyke Show, Thomas, who was producing the series, remembered Moore and said "Get me the girl without the nose!"

Following a gourmet dinner, Miss Moore was treated to a remarkable compilation of video clips from her career. The club's executive director John Martello, who created the video tribute, correctly observed that Moore's Mary Richards on The Mary Tyler Moore Show was the first "liberated" woman on TV - and became a role model for a generation of young girls.The clips also included Moore guest starring opposite Steve McQueen in Wanted: Dead or Alive and her extraordinary, Oscar-nominated performance in Robert Redford's Ordinary People.In her remarks on stage, Miss Moore spoke about her long battle against diabetes and announced her forthcoming book, which was written to help others cope with the disease. At the conclusion of the event, many attendees retired to the famous Grill Room where once the likes of Cagney and Sinatra held court. I was introduced to the seemingly ageless Tony Bennett and couldn't help but remind him of his performance as the immortal "Hymie Kelly" in the 1966 guilty pleasure The Oscar. "Oh God!", he exclaimed, "Why would anyone want to remember that!" I did assure him that, compared to Stephen Boyd's over-the-top performance, he came across looking like Olivier, which elicited a big laugh.Also in attendance was the great TV talk show host Dick Cavett, whose 1970s chat show won critical acclaim but fell victim to Johnny Carson's ratings juggernaut. When I told Cavett I used to watch the program regularly he joked, "So you were the one!"

In all, another memorable night on the town in good old Gotham.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Last night New York City became Hollywood-on-the-Hudson when The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hosted a 40th anniversary screening of Midnight Cowboy at The Directors Guild Theater. It was an extraordinary evening on every level. The program is part of the Monday Nights with Oscar series, which was created by Patrick Harrison of A.M.P.A.S. For years, Harrison has presented some of the most unique and memorable classic movie events the city has seen - and last evening was no exception. For the Midnight Cowboy tribute, some key members of the creative production team were reunited for an on-stage discussion hosted by David V. Picker, the legendary producer and former United Artists executive who oversaw the studio during its glory days of the 1960s and 1970s. Arriving at the theater, it was clear this was to be the hottest movie in town. Fans lined up for more than an hour with a separate line formed for a wait-list of movie lovers who were desperate to obtain a ticket - a scenario almost unheard of for a film that was first released in 1969. Prior to the movie, I was invited for a "meet-and-greet" with the participants immediately prior to the screening. Attendees were David Picker, producer Jerome Hellman, actress Sylvia Miles, cinematographer Adam Holender, costume designer Ann Roth and music supervisor John Barry. Unfortunately, Barry could not stay for the panel discussion after the film but he seemed delighted to be among his colleagues from Midnight Cowboy. We did chat a few minutes about our respect for our mutual friend Cubby Broccoli, who Barry said he missed tremendously.

We then walked into the theater, where A.M.P.A.S. had been showing a superb slide program of rare stills from the film, set to the original soundtrack. David Picker made some brief introductory remarks and advised the audience there would be a discussion about the making of the film after the screening. The print shown was the restored version done for the 25th anniversary of the film. If you haven't seen Midnight Cowboy on the big screen, you can't truly appreciate the artistry behind it. I've always had a fondness for films that reflect the seamier side of New York and this movie captured Gotham during a period of extensive decline that began in the mid 1960s and lasted through the early 1990s. It now seems like a different world, but Adam Holender's brilliant cinematography provides us with a time capsule of this bygone era of grind house theaters, male hustlers strutting their wares on 42nd street, grimy luncheonettes, ancient arcades and foreboding subway stations. To paraphrase Woody Allen, the era was horrible, upsetting and very frightening - and it was all over much too quickly. Each time I see the film, I learn to appreciate a new aspect. In this case, I looked beyond the superb performances of Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight and appreciated the quality of the supporting actors, the most underrated being John McGiver's brief but classic turn as a religious fanatic who Joe Buck is hoodwinked into believing is actually the owner of a male escort service. The sequence manages to be as unnerving as it is hilarious.The use of rock music along with John Barry's immortal original themes also resonated more impressively than ever. As David Picker points out, in a properly made film, every nuance of every scene is the result of painstaking planning and debating.

Following the screening, the members of the panel discussion were greeted with rapturous applause as they walked on stage. Picker moderated the discussion, which unveiled a wealth of fascinating anecdotes. For the record, it should be said that, had it not been for Picker, the film would never had been made. During his tenure at United Artists, Picker and his uncle Arnold prided themselves on supporting filmmakers who had offbeat scenarios for motion pictures. Although modest by nature, Picker was the man who urged UA to produce the James Bond series, release the Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood Dollars trilogy in America and sign The Beatles for A Hard Day's Night. We won't get into other "minor" achievements such as giving approval for The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape. As hard as it is to believe in this era of studio micro-management, once UA gave the green light to a film, they never interfered with the creative process. Indeed, Picker said the first time UA brass saw any footage from Midnight Cowboy was at a screening when the finished film was presented. He said that Arnold Picker, who was an admittedly tough man to please, sat quietly with the rest of the brass in total silence at the end of the film, as director John Schlesinger and Jerome Hellman nervously awaited his response. Arnold simply stood up and said, "It's a masterpiece. Let's go to lunch." 

The panel discussion proved to be contentious at times as participant's had different memories of certain events. Sylvia Miles, ever the gadfly, told an entire story about how she won the part in the film - only to have Jerome Hellman (who had hired her) tell her that her story was so far off from what had really happened, that it appeared they were on two different continents. Hellman also challenged Adam Holender about certain recollections of the production, but Picker diffused these minor quibbles with deft, statesman-like abilities that would have made Henry Kissinger envious. Picker also had to humorously contend with Miles' attempts to monopolize the discussion and remind everyone that she was nominated for a Supporting Actress Oscar although only on screen for six minutes. It's safe to say that this woman loves the spotlight so much, she probably strikes a pose every time she opens the refrigerator door. Still, her quirkiness brought a great deal of laughter to the evening. Costume designer Ann Roth downplayed her own contributions, saying no one is ever interested in the costume design - a misstatement challenged by the audience. She went to say how there was great debate over aspects of Jon Voight's cowboy duds - and he had to be convinced to wear a black hat instead of a white one.

Much of the discussion centered on John Schlesinger, about whom nary a negative word was said. It was clear he was a most extraordinary man. Hellman explained that Schlesinger had agreed to do a film with him when he was red-hot following the release of Billy Liar and Darling. However, Schlesinger's big budget MGM production of Far From the Madding Crowd had bombed and suddenly the offers dried up. Schlesinger was determined to prove he had another winner in him and it was he who suggested to Hellman that they adapt James Leo Herlihy's novel Midnight Cowboy to the screen. The script went through several unsuccessful incarnations before Waldo Salt submitted an unsolicited script. Salt was a writer on the fringe of suicide and this was his last attempt to get a meaningful story to the screen. With Hellman and Picker's backing, Midnight Cowboy not only saved his career, but his life. Hellman also related that he had cast Dustin Hoffman as Ratso after seeing him in a one-man off-Broadway production in which he simply darted around the stage pushing a broom! Hoffman was completely unknown, but by the time Midnight Cowboy went into production, he was already a hot property due to The Graduate - a film he was reluctant to test for out of fear it might conflict with Hellman's production.

David Picker also afforded the audience a surprise treat by showing vintage clips from the 1970 Academy Awards ceremony in which the film was awarded Oscars for Best Picture, director and screenplay. Watching these clips from so long ago was a movie lover's delight. Schlesinger was not able to attend the ceremony because he was shooting Sunday, Bloody Sunday and Voight accepted his Oscar. What struck me was how low-key the Oscar ceremonies used to be and how brief and gracious the acceptance speeches were, as opposed to today when you would think the winners were getting paid by minute. Many people have pondered how Dustin Hoffman failed to get the Best Actor award. My own theory is that he had to compete with fellow nominee Jon Voight, so they probably cut into each other's votes. Not helping matters was that, after forty years in the business, John Wayne gave the performance of his career in True Grit and was the popular and sentimental favorite.

In all, it was remarkable to witness these talented individuals recall the making of a masterpiece. If you've never seen Midnight Cowboy, I almost envy you for having that experience to look forward to. It was film made by giants both in front of and behind the cameras. As Norma Desmond might point out, there are still great movies being made today - it's just the people who make them who seem smaller.

(Thanks to Christina Colon, Harvey Bolgla and Matthew Calderone for their assistance in coverage of this event).

For more on Monday Nights with Oscar, click here and sign up for the newsletter.

Film journalist Anita Haas and her co-author Carlos Aguilar recently attended a unique film festival in Spain. Anita filed this report report exclusively for Cinema Retro:

The Festival Internacional del Cine Clásico de Granada Retroback is the perfect opportunity for nostalgia and reminiscing, for discovering, and rediscovering and all in the marvelous surroundings of one of Spain’s most beautiful and historic cities. Brainchild of its young director, David Lopez, the festival takes place in the last week of January, nicely breaking up the long, dark winter. With an explosive opening night concert by Monica Mancini (daughter of Henry Mancini), eleven retrospectives, three exhibitions, two publications, and fifteen special guests, including actors, directors and writers, this brand new festival has started life with a bang!

The late Audrey Hepburn was the “fairy godmother” for this first edition, represented in the festival by her sons Sean Hepburn Ferrer and Luca Dotti, who rang in the event by bringing an exhibition of the actress’s life and personal objects including international posters of her films, her two Oscars, and Givenchy’s dresses from Breakfast At Tiffany’s and Sabrina, two of the films which formed part of the retrospective.

Exhibitions were not limited to Audrey Hepburn, however. Accompanying the retrospective of Italian Fantasy films, was Graziano Marraffa's  poster and lobby card collection, with the original drawing of the Italian Diabolik poster, signed by John Phillip Law himself.  The  display proved to be a terrifying taster before late-night screenings of 60’s genre trailers and films like Black Sunday with gothic horror queen Barbara Steele, The Secret of Dr. Hichcock, Blood and Black Lace, They’re Coming to Get You, Asylum Erotica with the disturbing couple Klaus Kinski and  Margaret Lee,  Footprints On the Moon, Frozen Terror, and Don’t Torture A Duckling to name a few. The Perfume of the Lady in Dark, a psychologically thriller reminiscent of Repulsion, was introduced by its director Francesco Barili. The prolific Pupi Avati also attended the festival to introduce La Casa dalle finestre che ridono, and the master of Italian horror, Dario Argento, presented Suspiria, his most emblematic piece from 1977. All three directors received placques in honour of their contribution to the seventh art.

To top off the section, Quatermass, an extensive anthology of Italian Fantasy films, was launched during a round table discussion with its publisher Javier G. Romero, and ten specialists in the field from both Spain and Italy.

A tribute that was very special for both me and my husband, Carlos Aguilar, was the one in honour of our late friend, John Phillip Law and one of the highlights of the week for me, was finally meeting Caroline Munro, every bit the charming lady I was told she was. She came to introduce The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, receive an award, and help us launch our book John Phillip Law: Diabolik Angel. Thank you Caroline!

Another special tribute for us was in honour of another good friend, the veteran Spanish director Eugenio Martin, subject of the main festival publication Eugenio Martin: Un autor por todos los generos, written by Carlos Aguilar and me. Martin, a former resident of Granada, boasts a career of over forty years in the business. As the title of our book implies, this man has made films in almost all the genres. His better-known titles include the western The Ugly Ones, starring Tomas Milian, and Horror Express with genre giants Christopher Lee, and Peter Cushing as well as their acting antithesis Telly Savalas. Martin introduced his uniquely Andalusian horror film A Candle for the Devil, starring British actress Judy Geeson, and in which Martin’s wife, the Danish actress Lone Fleming, plays a lightly-clad, soon-to-be-murdered tourist in the darkly Catholic Andalusia of the Franco regime. Martin didn’t shy away from social comedy either, in his parody of the extreme left-right politics of the Spanish Civil War, the amusing Tengamos la Guerra en Paz. He also introduced his two earliest works, the semi-autobiographical Despedida de Soltero, with the unforgettable Spanish actor, Pepe Isbert, and Viaje Romantico a Granada, a 1956 art documentary (dedicated to Washington Irving); a filigree based on engravings of 19th century artists from beyond the Spanish borders who evoked the city in their pictures and writings.

Besides several well-known Hollywood classics, Spanish cinema was also well represented by “Other Spanish Classics”. This section consisted of a group of eight little-known gems selected especially for their unjust obscurity.  Fulano y Mengano by Joachim Romero Marchent, better known for his westerns, Jess Franco’s first film Tenemos 18 Años, Diferente a very camp musical from the sixties, and the weird and claustrophobic El Extraño Viaje  formed part of it. On a more international level, the great Frederico Fellini was represented by five of his masterpieces (La dolce vita, Eight & Half, etc), along with George Franju, whose film Judex was introduced by French actor and scriptwriter Jacques Champreaux. Other retrospectives included the French director Jean-Pierre Melville (The Red Circle) and the Japanese director Kaneto Shindo (Kuroneko).  And lastly, “Once Upon a Time”, is a section comprised of films along the decades. This year being 2009, it started with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919), and finished with Woody Allen’s Manhattan from 1979, coming in just before 1980, the year the festival has chosen as its cut-off date.

And what’s in store for next year’s line-up? Rumour has it that … then again, maybe it is better to get your information straight from the horse’s mouth at www.retroback.es, because if you like Cinema Retro, you’ll like Retroback.

(Click here for John Exshaw's review of the John Phillip Law book)

 
                                                

Journalist Graham Hill attended last weekend's Hollywood Collector's Show, which always prove to be a great time for all classic movie lovers. Graham reports that, among the stars attending this event for autograph signing sessions, were such favorites as Debbie Reynolds and daughter Carrie Fisher, Richard Kiel, Bruce Dern, John Saxon, Geoffrey Lewis, Tony Curtis, and adult film icons Marilyn Chambers and Seka. Time has been kind to most of these stars and Graham reports they were doing a brisk business at their respective tables. The shows are held periodically in Los Angeles and Chicago.

(All photos copyright Graham Hill. All rights reserved)

For details on future shows, visit www.hollywoodshow.com

By Mike Thomas

The screening at the Academy on Friday was the start of a Leslie Caron tribute weekend in Los Angeles as events at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre at the Motion Picture Academy and the following nights at the American Cinematheque demonstrated the timeless charm of this beloved actress. Leslie Caron was the original Amelie, a Gallic sprite who enchanted the world when Gene Kelly discovered her at 18 and cast her in “American in Paris.” She went on to prove her skill as a dramatic actress in such fare as “The L-Shaped Room“ and even won an Emmy for a recent stint on “Law and Order” but it was in her 50s musicals, “Gigi,” “Daddy Long Legs, “ “American in Paris,” and “Lili,”  that she won the hearts of the world.

A sold-out crowd paid tribute to Ms. Caron as she recounted some very funny stories of her time at MGM, and  the making of that night’s screening, “Gigi.” Moderated by critic Stephen Farber, the interview was as light as a souffle and when she flashed her trademark smile she had the audience in the palm of her hand.
It was pointed out that “Gigi” was the last great original screen created for the screen. With a score by the great Lerner & Lowe and based on story by Colette, it won 9 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director for Vincente Minnelli, a man legendary for being more concerned with a film’s mis-en-scene  than his actors. While shooting the  "I Don't Understand the Parisians" number on the backlot near a constructed stream, Minnelli shot take after take. "I couldn't understand what I was doing wrong,” confessed Caron. “After take 18  he said, 'cut, great, print, the swans were great!'" She also spoke of her joy at working with the two great male dancers of the cinema, Kelly and Astaire and confessed her childhood ambition was to be a ballerina, not an actress. But she admitted  her greatest thrill came in 1964 when she co-starred in “Father Goose,” with Cary Grant. “I couldn’t believe it,” she marveled, “Me in a film with Cary Grant!” She talked of the film’s shooting in Jamaica as idyllic time, complete with butler who would scurry up a tree every morning to fetch fresh cocoanuts for her. She also commented about working with directors like James Ivory in an amusing anecdote where Ivory asked her if she knew she came off arrogant in a delivery and she said yes, she was intentionally trying to it that way. “Don’t!,” he snapped and that was that. Discussing her upcoming memoirs she admitted she was worried that somebody she had dissed in the book might be in the audience so she had better behave herself. But there was no need to worry, she had us at ‘”bonjour.”

Contributing writer Ajay Chowdhury joined Cinema Retro publisher Dave Worrall and photographer Mark Mawston to attend the recent London tribute to Oscar-winning producer Michael Deeley at the National Film Theatre. The event was hosted by Retro writer Matthew Field, who co-authored Deeley's just-published autobiography. Here is exclusive coverage of the event with photos of the after-party. 

September 30, 2008. Following a glorious digital screening of Blade Runner: The Final Cut, Screen 1 at the National Film Theatre on London's Southbank played host to “Michael Deeley In Converation”. As the producer of Blade Runner (1982), The Italian Job (1969), The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976), Convoy (1978) and The Deer Hunter (for which he won the 1978 Academy Award for Best Picture), Deeley is a veteran of top flight movie-making on both sides of the Atlantic.

A wittily-edited montage of Deeley-produced movies counted the audience into the evening and then Matthew Field, interviewer and co-writer of Deeley's new autobiography, Blade Runner, Deer Hunters And Blowing The Bloody Doors Off: My Life In Cult Movies (Faber & Faber) introduced us to the producer. Asked what “producer” meant, Deeley said simply someone who causes a film to be made.

After serving in the British Army in Malaysia in the 1950's, Deeley, who had eschewed university, was looking for something to do. Upon considering how hard it is nowadays to break into the film industry, he sheepishly revealed to this cineaste audience that he just fell into business through a friend, starting in the cutting rooms. Later, with a colleague, he scraped together the money to produce his first picture, The Case Of The Mukkinese Battle-Horn (1956) starring Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan. It was Deeley's attempt to capture the madcap proto-Monty Python radio comedy of The Goon Show to the big screen. The audience was then treated to a clip of this rare film which Deeley had generously donated to the British Film Institute.

Deeley started at Woodfall Films, the British film purveyor of Kitchen-Sink dramas headed by playwright John Osborne, director Tony Richardson and producer Harry Saltzman. In his capacity as General Manager, Deeley worked on the Michael Crawford starrer, The Knack…And How To Get It (1965). Deeley did not the think the film has stood the test of time and found it to be too “mechanical” for his taste.

Deeley remembered Robbery (1967) starring Stanley Baker, a low budget British crime story which featured a gritty, exciting car chase directed by Peter Yates. Apparently, it was this sequence that convinced Steve McQueen that the British Yates was the guy to helm San Franciscan cop thriller, Bullitt (1968) with that car chase. You never know who's watching! Talk of car chases led to the classic Michael Caine Mini-adventure, The Italian Job (1969). Deeley humorously admitted to staging a real life traffic jam in the middle of Turin by use of strategically parked white vans parked at key junction points in the Italian industrial city. He also recalled keeping the British end up. Forced by British Leyland to purchase Minis at trade price, he was tempted to replace the British motors with Fiats with an offer of unlimited free cars for shooting,  a personal Ferrari and $50,000 and the freedom to shoot anywhere in the city. This offer he almost couldn’t refuse was made by Gianni Agnelli, the then-chairperson of the Italian car giant (FIAT is an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino - Italian Automobile Factory of Turin). Deeley reluctantly refused (sighing at the loss of the free Ferrari), explaining the heart of the film was them and us, symbolised by rampaging Minis: “I guess the The Italian Job was the first Eurosceptic movie.” The cliffhanger ending of the movie was shown after which Deeley explained how it would have been resolved at the beginning of the proposed sequel*. Noel Coward was cast to counter-balance Caine and because Deeley wanted to distinguish the film from a previous, seemingly light-hearted Caine comedy, Alfie (1966).

Deeley became a corporate player in the 1970’s. He took over British Lion Films and was responsible for releasing The Wicker Man (1973) and Don't Look Now (1973). The former, a classic pagan horror tale starring Christopher Lee, Edward Woodward and Britt Ekland was the cause of much controversy for Deeley as he had been accused by director Robin Hardy and Christopher Lee of butchering the film for release. Deeley defended himself by stating that the only way the film could have been released was by cutting the running time. All the distributors had rejected the film and refused to show it leaving Deeley with a stark choice. His actions at least brought to the public a movie which otherwise would have gathered dust on a shelf. Deeley fondly explained how making David Bowie the alien figure in Nicholas Roeg’s surreal sci-fi poem, The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976) was perfect casting as the rock star was curiously detached from the norm. The entirely American-set movie was made by an entirely European crew who entered the United States and completed the film on tourist visas – an industry first, thought Deeley, chuckling!

Deeley then went on to discuss having to take over the 1978 trucker movie, Convoy from an increasingly drug-addled Sam Peckinpah (he pronounced it “Peckinpaw”). He felt Sam by this time was a lost soul but also recalled the powerful commercial value of the director’s name. Another problem director was Michael Cimino with whom Deeley worked on The Deer Hunter. He felt Cimino misled the production company by allegedly subcontracting script-writing duties to a third party. Deeley was forthright in his condemnation of Cimino as a responsible film maker and cited a recent Vanity Fair magazine article detailing the eccentricities of this notorious director.

Deeley’s crowning creative achievement was producing Blade Runner. The film, based on Philip K. Dick’s story, Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? Had started life as more romantic tale but when Ridley Scott got on board, it developed into something harder and darker. The physicality of the production alienated the director from its star, Harrison Ford, whom Deeley described as a gentleman. He believed the summer release of the movie harmed its box office and would have preferred a more Oscar-friendly staged release nearer Christmas.

Opened up to the audience for questions, Deeley, when asked whether he thought the industry had changed by being ruled by lawyers and accountants stated that it was ever thus: the industry had always been ruled by suits. He shuddered (much to the audience’s amusement) at the suggestion the Blade Runner should be remade and explained how films benefited from national funding based on audience attendance.

It was a fascinating evening. Deeley was particularly unsentimental. He does not own his films on DVD and only watched them while preparing his autobiography. In dealing with Deeley, Field was coolly knowledgeable and the two colleagues displayed confident chemistry.  Deeley refreshingly expressed robust opinions with the dry, sly wit and confidence of a man who has lived a full and rewarding life in the picture business and does not need to kow tow to the dictates of an industry dominated by maintaining personal relationships. The audience was treated to a  insight of that rare animal: a British producer who stood at the top of his field in the UK and America and who has caused an idiosyncratic list of classic films to be made.

*oh, you wanna know how it ended?! The sequel was to have begun with the sound of roaring helicopters with cables attached to the back of the bus, decanting the British crew and, er, repatriating the gold to the Italian Mafia!
-Ajay Chowdhury is the editor of the James Bond magazine Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

SLEEPING BEAUTY AT THE ACADEMY

ACADEMY TRIBUTE TO GEORGE PAL

By Mike Thomas

 

Cinema Retro's correspondent in Scotland, Brian Smith, reports on Sean Connery's appearance at a screening of his 1965 classic The Hill.

HOME, JAMES

Sir Sean Connery returned to his beloved home city of Edinburgh to celebrate his 78th birthday. He appeared at the Edinburgh International Book Festival today to launch his memoirs, Being A Scot. In front of a 300-strong crowd (the event sold out within minutes of the tickets going on sale) he discussed the book with his co-author Murray Grigor. Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, attended and after the event hosted a birthday party for Sir Sean at Bute House, the official residence of the First Minister. Other attendees included Sean's wife, Micheline and his brother Neil and his wife, Eleanor.

The previous evening Sean introduced a rare screening of his 1965 masterpiece The Hill at Edinburgh's Filmhouse Cinema. Much to his delight, he was welcomed on stage with the audience singing Happy Birthday. He was interviewed by film writer, producer and director, Mark Cousins. His wife Micheline and son Jason were also in the audience. Sean was relaxed and in good humour as he shared his memories of making of the film as if it was yesterday.

In The Films Of Sean Connery (Citadel Press, 1993), authors Philip Lisa and Cinema Retro's Lee Pfeiffer describe The Hill as "arguably the greatest film of Sean Connery's career." Although not a commercial success, Sean's involvement grew out of his desire to move away from the James Bond image after the release of his third Bond movie, Goldfinger, in 1964.

"I was really trying to do something different," recalled Sean. "More testing and original for me. The Bonds were very limiting because they were badly planned and they ran over. So this was a very compact film."

Sean had never met director Sidney Lumet before and admitted to being "very reluctant because I didn't honestly believe an American would be able to handle the discipline of the British army. I was absolutely proved wrong." Sean is keen to point at that his relationship with Sidney Lumet is the longest he's had with any director, and cheekily added, "Nothing sexual, mind you!" They would later collaborate on The Anderson Tapes (1971), The Offence (1973), Murder On The Orient Express (1974) and Family Business (1989). "We've stayed very, very good friends," said Sean, "and my wife and I always see him when we're in New York."

The Hill is set in a British prison camp in the Libyan desert during World War II. Sean's character, Trooper Joe Roberts, is sent to the stockade for disobeying orders and assaulting a superior officer. However, recently arrived Staff Sergeant Williams (Ian Hendry) persecutes Roberts and his cellmates (played by Ossie Davis, Roy Kinnear, Alfred Lynch and Jack Watson) by running them up and down an artificial hill of sand and rock in the blazing sun until they collapse from heat exhaustion. When one of the men dies after a particularly arduous session on the hill, Roberts rebels and eventually gains the sympathy of another staff sergeant, played by Ian Bannen, and the medical officer played by Michael Redgrave. The film is unrelenting in its depiction of the brutality waged against these men. It is shot in black and white, the editing is minimal and there is no music score.

Sean recalled, "The concept was to shoot in black and white with a fantastic cameraman, Ossie Morris." He pointed out that being on set was very different to the finished film. "If you saw it being made in reality, and then you saw it on the screen, you would say it's not the same place." Oswald Morris let a lot of light into the camera to replicate, visually, the heat and glare of the desert sun. The film was shot in Spain, still in uncomfortably hot desert surroundings. Lumet's direction also called for the actors to climb the hill for real, and in one take. This removed the necessity of editing and the use of doubles. "Lumet had a cradle on the side of the hill with the arm on it and the camera was following us up and down the other side, recalled Sean. "We were all knackered."

"To be fair to [Sidney Lumet], because he goes for the difficult stuff, perhaps the sound suffers a bit, but you can't take away from the central core of what the movie is and how good all the actors are - including myself!"

This week the Edinburgh Filmhouse will also be screening Sean Connery in Sidney Lumet's The Offence (1973), John Huston's The Man Who Would Be King (1975) and Richard Lester's Robin And Marion (1976). Brian Smith.

Article and Connery candid photographs(C) Brian Smith, 2008. All rights reserved.

For Cinema Retro's review of The Hill DVD click here

The evening of July 29 was a night to remember at The Players, New York's famed social club for the arts, when members gathered to celebrate the 95th birthday of American comedy legend Prof. Irwin Corey who Lenny Bruce called "one of the most brilliant comedians of all time". The evening also kicked off a reciprocal visitation agreement between members of The Players and The Friars Club. Thus, the stage was populated by hilarious roasts from famed Friars Borscht Belt comedians such as Sgt. Bilko's Mickey Freeman, Stewie Stone and F Troop's Larry Storch, himself 91-years young. There were so many one-liners I became convinced the ghost of Milton Berle was frantically writing the jokes backstage. Most of the humor was at Prof. Corey's expense, of course, as Freeman noted that Corey's pre-nuptual agreement was signed so long ago, it insured he retained possession of the cave. Prof. Corey, who remains a popular fixture on New York's social scene, had his family in attendance and despite the elegant surroundings, was in his usual attire of wrinkled clothing and a baseball cap. His speech was typical of the man himself: a rambling mixture of one-liners ("I went to the doctor to get a transfusion and he told me my blood type is extinct!"), the kind of left wing political barbs that saw him blacklisted during the dark days of McCarthyism ("I'd rather be a son-of-a-bitch than a son-of-a-Bush!") along with his latest obsession, kooky consipracy theories about 9/11. (This had to be the only place in the world where such subjects were logically intermingled.). The world of stand-up comedy is a rough place and not for the faint of heart, as evidenced by a comic (who shall remain unnamed) who MC Mickey Freeman felt was wearing out his welcome on stage. This prompted Freeman to bruskly escort the man offstage by "gently" reminding him his act was going on too long by saying, "Hey, I'm double parked outside". He also cautioned him that he was here to honor a 95 year old man who might not make it through the end of his act. Everyone agreed to gather in the same place 95 years from now to celebrate Prof. Corey's 190th birthday - and no one would be surprised if Corey makes the date. I'll always remember the wonderful and moving words of wisdom about marital bliss that Prof. Corey once told me: "Marriage is like a bank account - you put it in, you take it out, you lose interest!" - Lee Pfeiffer

One of the Colt Walker pistols famously used by Clint Eastwood in the 1976 classic western The Outlaw Josey Wales is among a staggering 1,000 original movie props being put up for auction on the Internet. Among the other highlights:tablets from The Ten Commandments, costumes from Austin Powers, a Star Wars fighter, Spiderman's costume, the actual Holy Grail seen in the Indiana Jones adventure, and many more. For details on the auction click here. The auction takes place on August 1.

Happy birthday to The Blob - the king of sci-fi, Cold War era monsters has just reached the half-century mark and the old boy is more vibrant than ever. As usual, there are commemorative events in Phoenixville, Pa where the movie, which starred Steve McQueen, was shot. Last night there was the traditional recreation of screaming hordes of people running in terror from the Colonial Theater, replicating the scene in the film where teenagers are menaced when the gooey Blob takes over the projection booth. To watch a video of the event, click here

(For Cinema Retro's first-hand fearsome coverage of Blobfest 2007 click here)

For Blob star Aneta Corseaut's "lost interview" about the film with Cinema Retro editor Lee Pfeiffer, click here