News

Exclusive: Tubi has acquired Aardman Animations’ series Lloyd of the Flies.

The series, originally for Citv in the UK, will be badged as a Tubi Original in the U.S. and Canada. It will launch exclusive on the free streaming service on August 6.

The 52-episode series follows Lloyd, a young fly who is the middle child of 451, who lives in an apple with his long-suffering parents, cheeky little sister and 224 maggots. Along with his best friend, woodlouse Abacus, his faces endless endless awkward, annoying and occasionally life-threatening situations largely of his own devising, because when you’re only one centimeter high, even tiny problems can lead to massive consequences.

Tom Rosenthal plays Lloyd and Alex Lawther, who we revealed on Friday is among the leads for new FX series Alien plays Abacus. Lauren Patel (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie), Callum Scott Howells (It’s a Sin), Teresa Gallagher...

It’s a manhunt South of the Border — Niven Busch’s drama has violence and murder but is really a novelistic character study that goes against the typical rules of Hollywood. Lew Ayres tries to atone for mistakenly killing a man, by coming to the aid of the victim’s widow. But he doesn’t realize that Teresa Wright’s ranch wife has learned the truth about him. The independent production is a modern oil-field western set in Mexico, and unusual both in storytelling style and emphasis, with an atypical imperfect hero and a romance far removed from Hollywood clichés. John Sturges is the director of this interesting obscurity.

The Capture

Blu-ray

The Film Detective

1950 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 91 min. / Street Date January 18, 2022 / Available from The Film Detective / 24.95

Starring: Lew Ayres, Teresa Wright, Victor Jory, Jacqueline White, Jimmy Hunt, Barry Kelley, Duncan Renaldo, William Bakewell, Milton Parsons, Felipe Turich, Edwin Rand,...

Hollywood learns to imbed a social message into a crime thriller. John Paxton’s adaptation of Richard Brooks’ neat murder tale is solid noir because it sheds light on the malaise of returning soldiers. No parades and confetti here: Robert Ryan is the hateful bigot but the other characters live amid equally shadowy values — laid-back Robert Mitchum, unhappy bar girl Gloria Grahame. Edward Dmytryk puts a polish on a fine screenplay with a fresh viewpoint, that avoids thriller clichés.

Crossfire

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1947 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 86 min. / Street Date , 2021 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Gloria Grahame, Paul Kelly,

Sam Levene, George Cooper, Jacqueline White, Steve Brodie, William Phipps, Lex Barker, Marlo Dwyer.

Cinematography: J. Roy Hunt

Film Editor: Harry Gerstad

Art Direction: Albert S. D’Agostino, Alfred Herman

Original Music: Roy Webb

Written by John Paxton from the novel The Brick Foxhole by...

Daniel Radcliffe has joined the cast of the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt interactive special in a not-yet-revealed role.

In the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt interactive special, Kimmy Schmidt (Ellie Kemper) sets off on her biggest adventure yet. Three states! Explosions! A dancing hamburger! And you, the viewer, get to decide how the story goes. Will you foil the Reverend’s (Jon Hamm) evil plan and get Kimmy to her wedding on time? Or will you accidentally start a war against the robots?

Tina Fey and Robert Carlock’s acclaimed comedy series ended its four-season run on Netflix in January. The interactive special will air in 2020. It will be created and executive produced by Fey and Carlock, with the series’ core cast members — Ellie Kemper, Tituss Burgess, Jane Krakowski and Carol Kane — all set to return. Universal Television, the studio behind Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, is producing the special, with the series’ Jeff Richmond,...

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is getting on the hot interactive storytelling trend. Tina Fey and Robert Carlock’s acclaimed comedy series, which ended its four-season run on Netflix in January, will return to the streaming platform for an untitled interactive special.

The special, which will break ground for a comedy series, will air in 2020. It will be created and executive produced by Fey and Carlock, with the series’ core cast members — Ellie Kemper, Tituss Burgess, Jane Krakowski and Carol Kane — all set to return. Universal Television, the studio behind Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, is producing the special, with the series’ Jeff Richmond, Sam Means, David Miner and Meredith Scardino also executive producing.

“We’re thrilled to announce that we’re about to start production on an all-new Interactive Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt special, set to debut on Netflix in 2020,” Fey said in announcing the news at the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Fysee panel tonight.

Teresa Wright: Later years (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright: From Marlon Brando to Matt Damon.") Teresa Wright and Robert Anderson were divorced in 1978. They would remain friends in the ensuing years.[1] Wright spent most of the last decade of her life in Connecticut, making only sporadic public appearances. In 1998, she could be seen with her grandson, film producer Jonah Smith, at New York's Yankee Stadium, where she threw the ceremonial first pitch.[2] Wright also became involved in the Greater New York chapter of the Als Association. (The Pride of the Yankees subject, Lou Gehrig, died of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in 1941.) The week she turned 82 in October 2000, Wright attended the 20th anniversary celebration of Somewhere in Time, where she posed for pictures with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. In March 2003, she was a guest at the 75th Academy Awards, in the segment showcasing Oscar-winning actors of the past. Two years later,...

The Narrow Margin

Written by Earl Felton

Directed by Richard Fleischer

USA, 1952

Single-location films can be a tough sell for some. In some instances, the location might seem too preposterous to be the setting for an entire story, thus creating a sense that the project is based on a gimmick. It requires some considerable storytelling prowess to properly convey the reasons why characters would remain in said location if dangers lurk around every corner, and to create new, plausible threats to keep the interest level high. Trains as single-location settings present some interesting challenges. They offer its passengers the opportunity to peruse its in and outs in many ways, not all of which offer a lot of breathing room. Richard Fleischer turned out to be one such director capable of taking full advantage of the setting with 1952’s The Narrow Margin.

Detective Sergeants Walter Brown (Charles McGraw) and Gus Forbes...

The 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival is just over two months away, and is slowly unveiling its usual packed slate of classic stars set to make appearances. Included in this year's in-person lineup are Max von Sydow, Ann Blyth and Eva Marie Saint. These three will each appear with landmark films in their careers; Von Sydow will be on hand for Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal" and William Friedkin's "The Exorcist"; Blyth for Michael Curtiz' "Mildred Pierce" (pictured above with Joan Crawford) and Vincente Minelli's "Kismet"; and Saint for Elia Kazan's Best-Picture-winner "On the Waterfront." Actors Mitzi Gaynor and France Nuyen ("South Pacific") and Jacqueline White ("The Narrow Margin"), along with filmmakers Kevin Brownlow (introducing newly restored silent classic "The Big Parade"), and Jerry Zucker, David Zucker and Jim Abrahams ("Airplane!") are also scheduled...

Directed by Edward Dmytryk, written by John Paxton, and produced by Adrian Scott, Crossfire (1947) will be screened as the next feature in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ series “Oscar Noir: 1940s Writing Nominees from Hollywood’s Dark Side” on Monday, August 9, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Crossfire, which stars Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, and Gloria Grahame, will be introduced by Oscar-winning screenwriter Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential), with a post-film discussion with actress Jacqueline White, who plays Mary Mitchell in the film. Based on future filmmaker Richard Brooks‘ novel The Brick Foxhole, Crossfire is a taut, effective thriller focused on the evils of bigotry — in this case, anti-Semitism. Chiefly because of Crossfire‘s subversive sensibility, I find it more powerful than Elia Kazan‘s genteel Oscar winner Gentleman’s Agreement, another 1947 release dealing with anti-Jewish prejudice.