The desert will again be a hotbed of deceit and larceny in luxurious black-and-white as the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival returns to Palm Springs this Thursday through Sunday, with the quintessential noir classics “The Killing” and “Double Indemnity” bookending a marathon weekend that otherwise tends toward more rarely screened ‘40s and ‘50s titles.
Several sons or daughters of the original actors or directors will be on hand, but of special interest to festival attendees will be the presence of one of the actual filmmakers: James B. Harris, 94, Stanley Kubrick’s producing partner for several of his best early films, who’ll be able to speak first-hand about the making of 1956’s “The Killing,” the crime drama that turned out to be Kubrick’s first real masterpiece.
“I’m just utterly thrilled that ‘The Killing’ will show and Jimmy will be the guest on opening night,” says the festival’s longtime guiding light,...
Several sons or daughters of the original actors or directors will be on hand, but of special interest to festival attendees will be the presence of one of the actual filmmakers: James B. Harris, 94, Stanley Kubrick’s producing partner for several of his best early films, who’ll be able to speak first-hand about the making of 1956’s “The Killing,” the crime drama that turned out to be Kubrick’s first real masterpiece.
“I’m just utterly thrilled that ‘The Killing’ will show and Jimmy will be the guest on opening night,” says the festival’s longtime guiding light,...
- 5/9/2023
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
Can we have a random break for applause for Daniel Walber's The Furniture column. It was Daniel's birthday this weekend so he has the day off. He's already 69 episodes in to this incredible series which has been filled with sharp insights, a keen eye, and rich Hollywood anecdotes. Here's everything he's covered thus far. Please show your love in the comments if you look forward to these each Monday.
The Forties and Fifties
• Hold Back the Dawn (1941) Bored at the border
• How Green Was My Valley (1941) Designing dignity
• That Hamilton Woman (1941) High ceilings
• Captain of the Clouds (1942) A Canadian air show
• The Magnificent Andersons (1942) Victorian Palace / Manifest Destiny
• My Gal Sal (1942) Nonsense Gay Nineties
• The Shanghai Gesture (1942) Appropriating Chinese design
• Black Narcissus (1947) Mad for matte paintings
• David and Bathsheba (1951) A humble palace of moral struggle
• A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Decorative madness
• My Cousin Rachel (1952) Ghosts of property
• Lust for Life...
The Forties and Fifties
• Hold Back the Dawn (1941) Bored at the border
• How Green Was My Valley (1941) Designing dignity
• That Hamilton Woman (1941) High ceilings
• Captain of the Clouds (1942) A Canadian air show
• The Magnificent Andersons (1942) Victorian Palace / Manifest Destiny
• My Gal Sal (1942) Nonsense Gay Nineties
• The Shanghai Gesture (1942) Appropriating Chinese design
• Black Narcissus (1947) Mad for matte paintings
• David and Bathsheba (1951) A humble palace of moral struggle
• A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Decorative madness
• My Cousin Rachel (1952) Ghosts of property
• Lust for Life...
- 7/31/2017
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Take one fiercely individual auteur fed up with the Hollywood game, put him in Kyoto with a full Japanese film company, and the result is a picture critics have been trying to figure out ever since. It’s a realistic story told in a highly artificial visual style, in un-subtitled Japanese. And its writer-director intended it to play for American audiences.
The Saga of Anatahan
Blu-ray
Kino Lorber
1953 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 91 min. / Anatahan, Ana-ta-han / Street Date April 25, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring: Akemi Negishi, Tadashi Suganuma, Kisaburo Sawamura, Shoji Nakayama, Jun Fujikawa, Hiroshi Kondo, Shozo Miyashita, Tsuruemon Bando, Kikuji Onoe, Rokuriro Kineya, Daijiro Tamura, Chizuru Kitagawa, Takeshi Suzuki, Shiro Amikura.
Cinematography: Josef von Sternberg, Kozo Okazaki
Film Editor: Mitsuzo Miyata
Original Music: Akira Ifukube
Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya
Written by Josef von Sternberg from the novel by Michiro Maruyama & Younghill Kang
Produced by Kazuo Takimura
Directed by Josef von Sternberg...
The Saga of Anatahan
Blu-ray
Kino Lorber
1953 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 91 min. / Anatahan, Ana-ta-han / Street Date April 25, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring: Akemi Negishi, Tadashi Suganuma, Kisaburo Sawamura, Shoji Nakayama, Jun Fujikawa, Hiroshi Kondo, Shozo Miyashita, Tsuruemon Bando, Kikuji Onoe, Rokuriro Kineya, Daijiro Tamura, Chizuru Kitagawa, Takeshi Suzuki, Shiro Amikura.
Cinematography: Josef von Sternberg, Kozo Okazaki
Film Editor: Mitsuzo Miyata
Original Music: Akira Ifukube
Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya
Written by Josef von Sternberg from the novel by Michiro Maruyama & Younghill Kang
Produced by Kazuo Takimura
Directed by Josef von Sternberg...
- 4/11/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
"The Furniture" is our weekly series on Production Design. This week Daniel Walber looks back at one of the Art Direction Oscar nominees of 1942 for its 75th anniversary.
While Josef von Sternberg’s The Shanghai Gesture was still in production, the studio received a letter from T.K. Chang, the Chinese Consul to Los Angeles. Having read the script, he objected to its vicious and absurd portrayal of Shanghai’s underbelly and cautioned the producers to take “consideration of Chinese sentiment.”
Producer Arnold Pressburger defended the film as merely a fantasy. “This imaginary world has no connection with the realistic aspects of today,” he replied. This argument even wound up in the final cut, in the form of an opening title card: “Our story has nothing to do with the present.”
Chang saw right through Pressburger’s nonsense. “Such imaginations always prove to be constructed from the raw material of realities,...
While Josef von Sternberg’s The Shanghai Gesture was still in production, the studio received a letter from T.K. Chang, the Chinese Consul to Los Angeles. Having read the script, he objected to its vicious and absurd portrayal of Shanghai’s underbelly and cautioned the producers to take “consideration of Chinese sentiment.”
Producer Arnold Pressburger defended the film as merely a fantasy. “This imaginary world has no connection with the realistic aspects of today,” he replied. This argument even wound up in the final cut, in the form of an opening title card: “Our story has nothing to do with the present.”
Chang saw right through Pressburger’s nonsense. “Such imaginations always prove to be constructed from the raw material of realities,...
- 1/16/2017
- by Daniel Walber
- FilmExperience
How would you program this year's newest, most interesting films into double features with movies of the past you saw in 2015?Looking back over the year at what films moved and impressed us, it is clear that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, the annual tradition of our end of year poll, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2015—in theatres or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2015 to create a unique double feature.All the contributors were given the option to write some text explaining their 2015 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch...
- 1/4/2016
- by Notebook
- MUBI
First off, let's make one thing clear. We're not scratching our heads at Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing" making the BBC's 100 greatest American films. That movie, of which an image accompanies this post, not only made the list, but ranked appropriately at no. 25. It's the rest of the selections that have us scratching and, yes, shaking our heads in disbelief. A wonderful page view driver, these sorts of lists make great fodder for passionate movie fans no matter what their age or part of the world they hail from. There is nothing more entertaining than watching two critics from opposite ends of the globe try to debate whether "The Dark Knight" should have been nominated for best picture or make a list like this. Even in this age of short form content where Vines, Shapchats and Instagram videos have captured viewers attention, movies will continue to inspire because...
- 7/22/2015
- by Gregory Ellwood
- Hitfix
Leave it to the Brits to compile a list of the best American films of all-time. BBC Culture has published a list of what it calls "The 100 Greatest American Films", as selected by 62 international film critics in order to "get a global perspective on American film." As BBC Culture notes, the critics polled represent a combination of broadcasters, book authors and reviewers at various newspapers and magazines across the world. As for what makes an American filmc "Any movie that received funding from a U.S. source," BBC Culture's publication states, which is to say the terminology was quite loose, but the list contains a majority of the staples you'd expect to see. Citizen Kane -- what elsec -- comes in at #1, and in typical fashion The Godfather follows at #2. Vertigo, which in 2012 topped Sight & Sound's list of the greatest films of all-time, comes in at #3 on BBC Culture's list.
- 7/21/2015
- by Jordan Benesh
- Rope of Silicon
Every now and then a major publication or news organisation comes up with a top fifty or one hundred films of all time list - a list which always stirs up debate, discussion and often interesting arguments about the justifications of the list's inclusions, ordering and notable exclusions.
Today it's the turn of BBC Culture who consulted sixty-two international film critics including print reviews, bloggers, broadcasters and film academics to come up with what they consider the one-hundred greatest American films of all time. To qualify, the film had to be made by a U.S. studio or mostly funded by American money.
Usually when a list of this type is done it is by institutes or publications within the United States asking American critics their favourites. This time it's non-American critics born outside the culture what they think are the best representations of that culture. Specifically they were asked...
Today it's the turn of BBC Culture who consulted sixty-two international film critics including print reviews, bloggers, broadcasters and film academics to come up with what they consider the one-hundred greatest American films of all time. To qualify, the film had to be made by a U.S. studio or mostly funded by American money.
Usually when a list of this type is done it is by institutes or publications within the United States asking American critics their favourites. This time it's non-American critics born outside the culture what they think are the best representations of that culture. Specifically they were asked...
- 7/21/2015
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Below you will find a list of movie that Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz director Edgar Wright has never seen. Not long ago Wright went out and asked his friends and fans to recommend some movies they thought he may have missed over the last thirty years of his life. He got recommendations from Quentin Tarantino, Daniel Waters, Bill Hader, John Landis, Guillermo Del Toro, Joe Dante, Judd Apatow, Joss Whedon, Greg Mottola, Schwartzman, Doug Benson, Rian Johnson, Larry Karaszeski, Josh Olson, Harry Knowles and hundreds of fans on this blog.
From these recommendations, Wright created a master list of recommended films that were frequently mentioned. The director now wants the fans to choose which of the films on the list he should watch on the big screen.
Wright is holding a film event at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles called Films Edgar Has Never Seen.
From these recommendations, Wright created a master list of recommended films that were frequently mentioned. The director now wants the fans to choose which of the films on the list he should watch on the big screen.
Wright is holding a film event at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles called Films Edgar Has Never Seen.
- 10/18/2011
- by Venkman
- GeekTyrant
Edgar Wright's latest epic project [1] has him partnering with Quentin Tarantino, Judd Apatow, Joss Whedon, Bill Hader, Guillermo Del Toro, Joe Dante, Greg Mottola, Harry Knowles, Rian Johnson and, probably, several of you. Like all of us, Wright has a bunch of classic and cult films he's never seen. Unlike all of us, he has the means to see them for the first time on the big screen and will do just that in December [2] at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles during Films Edgar Has Never Seen. The director of Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World asked both his famous friends (some of which are listed above) and fans to send in their personal must see lists and, from those titles, Wright came up with one mega list from which he'll pick a few movies to watch December 9-16. After the jump check...
- 10/18/2011
- by Germain Lussier
- Slash Film
Marlene Dietrich, Gary Cooper, Morocco Turner Classic Movies is dedicating this evening to filmmaker Josef von Sternberg, best known for his elaborate pageants starring Marlene Dietrich. One of those, Shanghai Express (1932) was shown earlier this evening; another, the creaky melodrama Morocco (1930), which earned Dietrich her sole Academy Award nomination, is on right now. Gary Cooper and Adolphe Menjou co-star. Next, TCM will present Crime and Punishment (1935) an atmospheric but melodramatic adaptation of Dostoevsky's novel. I've yet to sit through the last three: The Shanghai Gesture (1941), Macao (1952), and The King Steps Out (1937). Schedule and synopses from the TCM website: 5:00pm [Romance] Shanghai Express (1932) A beautiful temptress re-kindles an old romance while trying to escape her past during a tension-packed train journey. Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong, Warner Oland Dir: Josef von Sternberg Bw-82 mins 6:30pm [Romance] Morocco (1930) A sultry cabaret singer falls [...]...
- 1/4/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Above: Mimi Branescu (left) in Tuesday, After Christmas.
Eyes crammed with images, ears filled to the brim with sound, and the brain jet-lagged, over-tired, over-joyed, and over-wearied—instant festival criticism is a talent of the rare stalwart few. This year I'm thinking of a different approach, leaving to the inexhaustible and comprehensive David Hudson the brilliant but unenviable task of up to the minute roundups of all from that Croisette that's fit to print (on your screen). Centering our on the ground coverage of the festival will take the form primarily of my favorite moment missives—the festival being such a sloppy, overwhelming explosion of cinema that anything but short impressions of memory seems imprecise and over-eager. So stay tuned til after the fest for a more indepth rundown. But for now, cine-critique fired from the hip!
***
On Tour (Mathieu Amalric, France): Behind the Looking Glass
The first film I caught at the festival,...
Eyes crammed with images, ears filled to the brim with sound, and the brain jet-lagged, over-tired, over-joyed, and over-wearied—instant festival criticism is a talent of the rare stalwart few. This year I'm thinking of a different approach, leaving to the inexhaustible and comprehensive David Hudson the brilliant but unenviable task of up to the minute roundups of all from that Croisette that's fit to print (on your screen). Centering our on the ground coverage of the festival will take the form primarily of my favorite moment missives—the festival being such a sloppy, overwhelming explosion of cinema that anything but short impressions of memory seems imprecise and over-eager. So stay tuned til after the fest for a more indepth rundown. But for now, cine-critique fired from the hip!
***
On Tour (Mathieu Amalric, France): Behind the Looking Glass
The first film I caught at the festival,...
- 5/14/2010
- MUBI
David Cairns
The Forgotten: Flaming Beefcake
The Forgotten: Remember You Must Die
The Forgotten: That Glaring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze
The Forgotten: Forty Million Frenchmen
The Forgotten: April 29
Fernando F. Croce
Now on DVD: “Panic in the Streets” (Elia Kazan, 1950)
Adrian Curry
Movie Poster of the Week: "Punch-Drunk Love"
Movie Poster of the Week: "La Salamandre"
Movie Poster of the Week: "Band of Ninja"
Movie Poster of the Week: "Oh, That Nastya!"
David D'Arcy
Podcast. David D'Arcy and Alexei Popogrebsky
Podcast. Bahman Ghobadi, Roxana Saberi and Obash of The Yellow Dogs
The Ferroni Brigade
The Way to the Golden Donkey
Sex and Politics: Jack Stevenson's "Scandinavian Blue: The Erotic Cinema of Sweden and Denmark in the 1960s and 1970s"
Daniel Kasman
Video Sundays: Music Videos by An Older Generation
Image of the Day: Damsels in Distress #3
Video Sundays. From Hollywood to New German Cinema, The Impressionist Whirligig Camera...
The Forgotten: Flaming Beefcake
The Forgotten: Remember You Must Die
The Forgotten: That Glaring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze
The Forgotten: Forty Million Frenchmen
The Forgotten: April 29
Fernando F. Croce
Now on DVD: “Panic in the Streets” (Elia Kazan, 1950)
Adrian Curry
Movie Poster of the Week: "Punch-Drunk Love"
Movie Poster of the Week: "La Salamandre"
Movie Poster of the Week: "Band of Ninja"
Movie Poster of the Week: "Oh, That Nastya!"
David D'Arcy
Podcast. David D'Arcy and Alexei Popogrebsky
Podcast. Bahman Ghobadi, Roxana Saberi and Obash of The Yellow Dogs
The Ferroni Brigade
The Way to the Golden Donkey
Sex and Politics: Jack Stevenson's "Scandinavian Blue: The Erotic Cinema of Sweden and Denmark in the 1960s and 1970s"
Daniel Kasman
Video Sundays: Music Videos by An Older Generation
Image of the Day: Damsels in Distress #3
Video Sundays. From Hollywood to New German Cinema, The Impressionist Whirligig Camera...
- 5/2/2010
- MUBI
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.