A Different Star Every Day in August...

Every year in August, Turner Classic Movies presents its popular month-long salute to 31 stars, each honored with a full 24 hours devoted exclusively to their films. August 2012 marks the movie channel’s 10^th annual Summer Under the Stars celebration and among those being showcased for the first time this year are Marilyn Monroe, Tyrone Power, Anthony Quinn, Eva Marie Saint, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Kay Francis and Warren William.

In addition, Jill of Sittin' on a Backyard Fence and Michael of ScribeHard on Film  will be celebrating with a month-long blogathon to complement TCM's August event. Click here for more information...and check back here on August 4...

And now, a glimpse, with a little commentary, of what this year's Summer Under the Stars has in store. 

Aug. 1 - John Wayne - Three iconic Ford Westerns, Stagecoach (1939), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and The Searchers (1956); two great Hawks Westerns, Red River (1948) and Rio Bravo (1959) - plus  seven more.

Aug. 2 - Myrna Loy - 14 of Loy's films will be presented including several from the Pre-Code era as well as some of her best known films - like The Thin Man (1934), Libeled Lady (1936), Wife vs. Secretary (1936) and The Best Years of Our Lives (1946).

Aug. 3 - Johnny Weissmuller - TCM's first nod to this Summer Under the Stars honoree will spotlight 13 Tarzan adventures and three Jungle Jim features. 

Marilyn Monroe in Billy Wilder's The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Aug. 4 - Marilyn Monroe - She received credit in only 26 films and had only bit parts in several of them. TCM will air 12 of her best-know films, including every film she made from 1953 forward except her last (1961's The Misfits).

Aug. 5 - Claude Rains will be honored with 13 films, from 1933's The Invisible Man to his final film, Twilight of Honor from 1963. Included is the “four” series: Four Daughters (1938), Four Wives (1939) and Four Mothers (1941).

Aug. 6 - Van Heflin is being recognized for the first time with 13 films including Act of Violence (1949), Battle Cry (1955) and 3:10 to Yuma (1957).

Aug. 7 - Sidney Poitier - A twenty year span of Poitier's career will be covered, from 1952 (Cry the Beloved Country) to 1972 (Buck and the Preacher, also directed by Poitier), with 12 films.

Aug. 8 - Rita Hayworth - Cary Grant called her "Judy" in Only Angels have Wings (1939), but everyone remembers her as Gilda (1946). These are just two of the 13 Hayworth films scheduled on her day.

Aug. 9 - Toshiro Mifune, one of Japan's preeminent actors, receives his first nod from TCM with six of his best-known Kurosawa films. Also featured Samuarai I (1955), II (1955) and III (1956) from Hiroshi Inagaki, Samurai Rebellion (1967) and Inagaki's Muhomatsu, The Rickshaw Man (1958).

Aug. 10 - Lionel Barrymore - 14 films will commemorate Barrymore, from the silent West of Zanzibar (1928) with Lon Chaney, to one of his very last onscreen appearances: Lone Star in 1953 with Clark Gable and Ava Gardner.

James Mason as Field Marshall Rommell in The Desert Fox (1951)

Aug. 11 - James Mason, the handsome actor with the incomparable voice, will be honored with 10 films, among them The Desert Fox (1951), A Star is Born (1954), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959), Kubrick's Lolita (1962) and Lord Jim (1965). If only 5 Fingers (1952) was part of the schedule!

Aug. 12 - Ginger Rogers - Four of her films with Astaire - Swing Time (1936), Shall We Dance? (1937), Carefree (1938) and The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) - are among the 13 films that will celebrate her career.

Aug. 13 - Deborah Kerr will be honored with 12 films, including her own favorite among them, Jack Clayton's The Innocents (1961), and one of Powell and Pressburger's (The Archers) legendary masterpieces, Black Narcissus (1947).

Joan Blondell and James Cagney in Footlight Parade (1933)

Aug. 14 - James Cagney - 13 Cagney films, from Pre-Code Hollywood to his late career, plus the 1992 documentary James Cagney: Top of the World, hosted by Michael J. Fox.

Aug. 15 - Lillian Gish - This is Gish's first year as a Summer Under the Stars honoree. D.W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916) will be featured as well as his Broken Blossoms (1919) and Orphans of the Storm (1921). 12 films in all, including two from Victor Sjostrom, The Scarlet Letter (1926) and The Wind (1928), plus Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter (1955) and The Comedians (1967), with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

Aug. 16 - Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock (1957) and Elvis on Tour (1972) are the highlights. 12 more are also on the schedule.

Aug. 17 - Katharine Hepburn - Four films co-starring Spencer Tracy are on tap - Woman of the Year (1942), Adam's Rib (1949), Pat and Mike (1952) and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) - plus the ever-popular Bringing Up Baby (1938) and seven others.

Aug. 18 - Freddie Bartholomew - This is the one-time child star's first turn on Summer Under the Stars. His signature pictures - David Copperfield (1935), Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936), Captains Courageous (1937) and Kidnapped (1938) - are among his 13 films set to air.

Aug. 19 - Eva Marie Saint is also in the August spotlight for the first time. 10 films, including North by Northwest (1959) will be shown, along with the documentary, Destination Hitchcock: The Making of North by Northwest (2000), which she hosted. Also screening: On the Waterfront (1954), A Hatful of Rain (1957) and All Fall Down (1962).

Aug. 20 - Anthony Quinn - Another SUTS first-timer, Quinn will be honored with 11 films, including The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), Lust for Life (1956), Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962) and Zorba the Greek (1964).

William Powell and Kay Francis in One Way Passage (1932)

Aug. 21 - Kay Francis, the one-time Warner Bros. leading lady is yet another first-time SUTS honoree. 17 Francis films are on the bill and the majority are Pre-Code, including two with William Powell, Jewel Robbery and One Way Passage, both from 1932.

Aug. 22 - Jack Lemmon - 11 of his dozens of films will be shown, beginning with the delightful Phffft! (1954) co-starring Judy Holliday and ending with the last film Billy Wilder directed, Buddy, Buddy (1981) with Walter Matthau. Two of his best, The Apartment (1960) and Days of Wine and Roses (1962) are part of the mix. 

Aug. 23 - Gene Kelly is being honored on his centenary this year. In conjunction with that anniversary, the Classic Movie Blog Association is sponsoring a blogathon in his honor...I’ll be blogging on one of his lesser films, the Marilyn Monroe vehicle (see August 4) Let’s Make Love (1960), in which he made a cameo, but other bloggers will take a look at many of the films TCM will screen on the 23rd, including: An American in Paris (1951), Singin’ in the Rain (1952), On the Town (1949), Invitation to the Dance (1956)

Aug. 24 - Irene Dunne - 13 of Dunne's films, from the obscure to her best known and loved, will screen - including my all-time favorite screwball, The Awful Truth (1937).

Tyrone Power in Jesse James (1939)

Aug. 25 - Tyrone Power - Was he the handsomest man ever to grace the silver screen? I thought so the first time I saw his dark, striking face. Robert Osborne has written that Power was often described as “illegally handsome” and TCM will feature some of the films in which he stopped my young heart: Jesse James (1939), Johnny Apollo (1940) and A Yank in the R.A.F. (1941). All that’s missing from this handsome-a-thon are The Rains Came (1939), Blood and Sand(1941) and one or two others. TCM will also present some of the films in which Tyrone Power was given the opportunity to display his ability as an actor: The Razor’s Edge (1946) and Witness for the Prosecution (1957).

Aug. 26 - Gary Cooper - 11 films and one documentary will honor the actor on his day. One of the two films for which he won a Best Actor Oscar, Sergeant York (1941), will be shown, as well as one for which he was nominated, The Pride of the Yankees (1942). And there's even one I'd never heard of, One Sunday Afternoon (1933) with Fay Wray...

Aug. 27 - Jeanette MacDonald is best known for her partnership with Nelson Eddy, and seven of their films are among the 12 of hers set to air. Also on the schedule: Ernst Lubitsch's The Merry Widow (1934), San Francisco (1936) with Clark Gable and Smilin' Through (1941) with Gene Raymond.

Aug. 28 - Ava Gardner is one of very few who qualify as a true “Film Goddess.” She will be featured in pictures from her early days in Hollywood - Hitler’s Madman (1943) and Maisie Goes to Reno (1944) - along with some of her most interesting films – Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951) and Seven Days in May (1964) – and the one containing her best performance - The Night of the Iguana (1964). Also interesting is The Bribe (1949), a glossy MGM noir. One I haven’t seen and will be recording is My Forbidden Past (1951) with Melvyn Douglas and Robert Mitchum.

Aug. 29 - Ingrid Bergman - An interesting mix of Ingrid's films this year -  Hitchcock's misfire, Under Capricorn (1949) is followed by the two films she made next with future husband Roberto Rossellini, Stromboli (1950) and Europa '51 (1952). Also, Ingmar Bergman's Autumn Sonata (1978). Of course, Gaslight (1944) and Casablanca (1942) are among the 12 Bergman films on the bill.

Loretta Young and Warren William in Employee's Entrance (1933)

Aug. 30 - Warren William - Cliff Aliperti of WarrenWilliam.commust be in seventh heaven! Some of William’s best known pictures will screen - Skyscraper Souls (1932), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), Lady for a Day (1933) and Cleopatra (1934) - along with many less known. Thursday, Aug. 30, will be a day to find out a whole lot more about the film work of "Pre-Code cad" Warren William. Click here for Cliff Aliperti's SUTS preview at his Immortal Ephemera website.

Aug. 31 - James Caan receives his first SUTS nod this year. Missing is the film that made him a star, The Godfather (1972), but Michael Mann's debut film, Thief (1981), is well worth watching. Also among the 12 Caan films on the schedule is The Rain People (1969), the last film Francis Coppola made before The Godfather; it co-stars Robert Duvall.

Read More

A TV Tour of Hitchcock Film Locations and Edna May Wonacott's First On-Camera Interview

Bodega School House

Eye on the Bay, a feature of KPIX, CBS’s San Francisco TV outlet, was recently on the trail of director Alfred Hitchcock, traveling around the Bay Area to take an up-close look at locations used in his films. The 20-minute piece, Hitchcock Step-By-Step, focuses on sites featured in Shadow of a Doubt (1943), The Birds (1963) and Vertigo (1958). Aaron Leventhal, co-author of the definitive Hitchcock-in-the-Bay-Area guidebook, Footsteps in the Fog, discusses the director’s work in the region, providing fascinating production background as well as information on many locations. Hitchcock’s granddaughter, Tere Carruba, talks about her grandfather from a personal point of view and Edna May Wonacott, the last surviving featured cast member of Shadow of a Doubt, speaks on television for the first time about how she was chosen for the film and what it was like to work with Alfred Hitchcock.


Clips from each movie accompany location visits. Eye on the Bay host Brian Hackney, a Hitchcock fan, guides the tour.

Note: A brief (15 sec.) commercial spot opens each segment. Closing spots at the end of segments can easily be skipped.

Old Courthouse Square, Santa Rosa

Click here to view Part 1. An 8-minute segment with a tour of Santa Rosa locations for Shadow of a Doubt and an interview with Edna May Wonacott Green ("Ann Newton"), now living in Arizona.

Click here to view Part 2, a 5-minute segment shot in Bodega Bay, where The Birds was filmed in 1962. The Hitchcock production has had a lasting effect on the small Bay Area town; it’s estimated that 10,000 tourists come each year specifically to visit locations featured in The Birds.

Click here to view Part 3, a 5-minute segment that spotlights sites seen in Vertigo. This tour takes us from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Mission at San Juan Batista and many locations in between.

Click here for Part 4. Just over 1-1/2 minutes long, it references Rebecca (1940) and Marnie (1964) and ventures to the estate Hitchcock purchased in Scotts Valley while shooting location footage for Rebecca, his first American film. It was Hitchcock’s much beloved home away from Hollywood.

Edna May Wonacott on the set with Alfred Hitchcock, 1942

Read More

Woody Allen, Master of Suspense?

This post is my contribution to The Best Hitchcock Films Hitchcock Never Made blogathon hosted by Tales of the Easily Distracted and Classic Becky's Brain Food. Click here for more information and links to participating blogs.

~

On the face of it, the only thing Alfred Hitchcock and Woody Allen seem to have in common is the distinction of being aknowledged as preeminent auteurs. As Michael Newton put it in The Guardian earlier this year, "Along with Alfred Hitchcock, Allen must be the most recognizable director in the history of cinema."

Hitchcock, who spent most of his career working within the studio system, developed the habit early on of planning and shooting his films so carefully that they were virtually immune to being re-cut by anyone else. Then, in 1954, he entered into a deal with Paramount that allowed him to work autonomously, provided generous production budgets and gave him ownership of those films he both produced and directed. Allen‘s career as a director took off in the 1970s, just as a new generation of independent-minded filmmakers swept into Hollywood. Almost from the beginning he had a remarkable arrangement with his financiers and distributors: as long as he stayed within budget he would have complete artistic freedom. Hitchcock, who began in the silent era where he gained experience in art direction, was influenced by German expressionism and Soviet montage theory and approached film as visual storytelling. Allen began as a writer and, naturally, has relied more on dialogue and use of the long master shot in his films. Hitchcock became synonymous with big movies with high production values while Allen has made films with an "art house" sensibility and appeal on relatively small budgets.

And yet, in 2005 Woody Allen made a film of distinctly “Hitchcockian” elements. Match Point is a sexy thriller about luck and morality set in modern-day London. The film showcases two intensely magnetic stars, Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Bend it Like Beckham, Mission Impossible III, The Tudors) and Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Iron Man II, The Avengers).

 
With a little luck it goes forward and you win. Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose...

Chris Wilton (Rhys Meyers) is a former professional tennis player hired by a posh London tennis club as an instructor. There he meets Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode), scion of an extremely moneyed British family. The two become friendly and when Tom discovers Chris enjoys opera, he invites him to join his family in their box at the Royal Opera House for a performance of La Traviata. There Chris meets Tom’s parents and his eligible and instantly smitten sister, Chloe (Emily Mortimer); romance blooms. Soon after, Chris meets Nola Rice (Johansson), Tom’s luscious fiancée, an aspiring American actress. While the Hewett progeny are attractive enough physically, their wealth, position and lifestyle of culture and privilege are even more appealing. Chris and Nola are good-looking, charismatic creatures and, much as each knows they are onto a good thing with their respective lovers, sparks fly between them.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Scarlett Johansson as Chris Wilton and Nola Rice

This Woody Allen-penned, Oscar-nominated story could easily have appealed to Alfred Hitchcock who knew not only the value of a good, well-scripted story, but also made two films about tennis playing protagonists with problematic relationships and status issues who become involved in murder. In Strangers on a Train (1951), competitive tennis player Guy Haines aspires to a loftier position in life and hopes to divorce his small-town floozy wife so he can marry the daughter of a U.S. senator. In Dial M for Murder (1954), retired tennis player Tony Wendice, who has discovered that his wealthy wife has been carrying on a serious love affair, fears he may lose his meal ticket and cushy lifestyle.

But before any inkling of murder surfaces in Match Point, Chris, who is headed for marriage to Chloe and a good job with “one of” her father’s companies, develops a fascination with Nola. When, one day, he runs into her on the street, the two end up having drinks together. They talk about themselves and their relationships with Chloe and Tom and the elder Hewetts. Nola remarks that Eleanor, Tom and Chloe’s mother, hates her but that Chris is more fortunate, he’s “being groomed.”

Nola: You’re going to do very well for yourself, unless you blow it.

Chris: And how am I going to blow it?

Nola: By making a pass at me.

Chris: What makes you think that’s going to happen?

Nola: Men always seem to wonder. They think I’d be something very special.

Scarlett Johansson will portray Janet Leigh In "Hitchcock" (2013)

The two laugh, but Chris is powerfully tempted. Scarlett Johansson's Nola Rice begins as an assured, almost taunting beauty confident of her sexual appeal. She isn't quite the Grace Kelly version of the Hitchcock blonde, but falls somewhere between the worldly hedonism of Ingrid Bergman at the beginning of Notorious (1946) and Kim Novak's subdued sultriness in Vertigo (1958). A blonde who flirts with danger, Nola is Hitchcock's kind of woman.

When fate eventually provides the moment, the two indulge in a frenzy of passion, but Nola warns, "this can't lead anyplace." Chris goes on to marry Chloe and Tom later breaks off with Nola (Tom: "mother poisoned the well"). Chris adapts to life on the corporate fast track, he and Chloe move into a spectacular, glass-encased apartment overlooking the Thames and she is soon fixated on becoming pregnant. The vitality begins to drain from Chris's life. As luck will have it, he and Nola meet again and this time she, who is beginning to lose her self-confidence and show slight signs of wear, is available. A torrid affair begins. As Chris embarks on a double life, the atmosphere quickens with tension. When his romance with Nola hits the wall of reality and she begins to pose a threat, unrelenting suspense mounts until a neatly executed plot twist brings unexpected resolution.

The man who said, "I'd rather be lucky than good" saw deeply into life...

What helps to create the film's tension and suspense are themes and motifs that echo Hitchcock:

• The Wrong Man - Occasionally Hitchcock turned this theme on its head and the-innocent-man-accused would be a secondary character rather than the protagonist. This character's sudden death puts an end to further police investigation. The device is employed in both Blackmail (1929) and Shadow of a Doubt (1943)  - it also occurs in Match Point.
• Doubles - A recurrent Hitchcock theme in which two characters seem kindred spirits until their bond is broken. Classic examples are the relationships between Guy Haines and Bruno Anthony in Stangers on a Train and "the two Charlies" in Shadow of a Doubt. Chris and Nola appear to be two of a kind when they meet over a ping pong table. But, as she learns, he plays "a very aggressive game."
• Obsession - Vertigo is a virtual meditation on obsession, but Hitchcock contemplated fascination several times. Young Charlie is enchanted by her Uncle Charlie in Shadow of a Doubt, Bruno is obsessed with Guy in Strangers on a Train, two young men are enthralled with a philosophy in Rope (1948), in Rear Window (1954) L.B. Jeffries becomes obsessed with his neighbors' lives and his belief that a murder has been committed. In Match Point, Chris develops a fixation on Nola; later, their roles reverse.
• The staircase motif is an image Alfred Hitchcock used frequently - famously in Suspicion (1941), Shadow of a Doubt, Notorious, Strangers on a Train, Vertigo and Psycho (1960). Staircases are prominently featured in Match Point.
• The dominant mother is another Hitchcock trademark. Mrs. Bates is a powerful unseen presence in Psycho; in Notorious, Mme. Sebastian has all but emasculated her son. Outspoken Eleanor Hewett's disapproval of Nola in Match Point is pivotal.
• Landmarks are common backdrops for important scenes in Hitchcock films - the list is long, from the British Museum in Blackmail forward. Match Point showcases London landmarks including The Tate Modern museum, The Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, the stunning Parliament View Apartments and The Queen's Club. Unlike Allen's treatment of New York in Manhattan (1979), Match Point is no homage to a city, rather, the attractions of London enhance the film's narrative.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers

As well known for his ability to cast a film as Alfred Hitchcock, Woody Allen has said that his philosophy is to “hire the best actors, shut up and get out of their way.” One of Match Point’s great strengths is its cast, especially Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the central role. His Chris Wilton subtly and evocatively transforms from a beguiling “boy from Ireland come to London” who would like to do something special with his life, to a remote and preoccupied rising executive with dark secrets on his compliant conscience. Rhys Meyer’s sympathetic introduction along with selective point-of-view camera work engages the viewer; Chris is captivating. By the time he has fallen into desperation and is entangled in murder, we find ourselves complicit and anxious about his fate. Hitchcock managed this trick many times with his proclivity for point-of-view editing and masterful casting. Who could help but identify with Robert Walker’s Bruno Anthony in Strangers on a Train as he struggles to retrieve a lighter from a drain so that he can plant it as false evidence? Who doesn't share the nervousness of Anthony Perkins’s Norman Bates in Psycho as he waits for a car to sink after he’s pushed it into a swamp?

Woody Allen was elated with Match Point and was quoted widely at the time of its release saying he considered it his best film to date. Everything had come together, he said, and the production had been blessed with luck. Every actor exceeded his expectations, there was no trouble gaining access to desired locations and even the weather cooperated. He reflected that the storyline lent itself to the film medium and he’d been able to take advantage of that, focusing on action as much as dialogue. The movie, best described as a “moral thriller,” was his first successful drama and reinvigorated his career. Allen’s screenplay was nominated for an Oscar and Jonathan Rhys Meyers was awarded the Chopard Trophy at Cannes.

Filming Match Point: Scarlett Johansson and Woody Allen on the set

~

Sources:
Conversations with Woody Allen by Eric Lax, Knopf (2007)
Woody Allen: cinema's great experimentalist by Michael Newton, The Guardian, January 13, 2012 (quote only)

Read More

Singin' and Dancin' into a Theater Near You

Gene Kelly, "singin' and dancin' in the rain..."

In honor of the 60th anniversary of its original release, Singin’ in the Rain returns to theaters nationwide next Thursday, July 12, for one night only.

This perfect opportunity for classic film fans to see one of the great Hollywood classics on the big screen is presented by Turner Classic Movies, NCM Fathom Events and Warner Home Video. The festivities will begin with a special TCM original production hosted by Robert Osborne that includes behind-the-scenes footage and an interview with Debbie Reynolds, who starred in the film with Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor. Next, Stanley Donen's Singin’ in the Rain will screen, fully re-mastered and it promises to be more dazzling than ever.

 

To further celebrate Singin’ in the Rain’s milestone anniversary, Warner Home Video will release a special 60th Anniversary Edition on July 17. The three-disc set will include the re-mastered film on DVD and Blu-Ray and will feature a new documentary entitled Singin’ in the Rain: Raining on a New Generation.

This tribute marks the fourth classic movie anniversary event co-sponsored by NCM Fathom and TCM who have similarly commemorated the 70^th anniversaries of Casablanca (1942) and The Wizard of Oz (1939) as well as the 50^th anniversary of West Side Story (1961). 

First released in 1952 and nominated for two Academy Awards, Singin’ in the Rain ranks #1 on the American Film Institute’s list of the “25 Greatest Movie Musicals.” Tickets for the July 12 screenings are available online at the Fathom Events website and through participating theater box offices.

Read More