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September marks Marcello Mastroianni’s centennial, and the Criterion Channel pays respect with a retrospective that puts the expected alongside some lesser-knowns: Monicelli’s The Organizer, Jacques Demy’s A Slightly Pregnant Man, and two by Ettore Scola. There’s also the welcome return of “Adventures In Moviegoing” with Rachel Kushner’s formidable selections, among them Fassbinder’s Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven, Pialat’s L’enfance nue, and Jean Eustache’s Le cochon. In the lead-up to His Three Daughters, a four-film Azazel Jacobs program arrives.

Theme-wise, a set of courtroom dramas runs from 12 Angry Men and Anatomy of a Murder to My Cousin Vinny and Philadelphia; a look at ’30s female screenwriters includes Fritz Lang’s You and Me, McCarey’s Make Way for Tomorrow, and Cukor’s What Price Hollywood? There’s also a giallo series if you want to watch an Argento movie and ask yourself,...

Maleah Joi Moon has become the 101st performer to win a Tony Award for their first outing on a Broadway stage for her performance in the musical “Hell’s Kitchen.”

She won Best Actress in a Musical at the 77th Tony Awards for portraying Ali, a 17-year-old girl searching for her place in the world while living in the titular New York City neighborhood and also being restrained by her overbearing mother. She is the 10th person to win the category for her Broadway debut. She joins:

Elizabeth Seal, “Irma La Douce” (1961)

Anna Maria Alberghetti, “Carnival” (1962)

Liza Minnelli, “Flora the Red Menace” (1965)

Leslie Uggams, “Hallelujah, Baby” (1968)

Alexis Smith, “Follies” (1972)

Natalia Makarova, “On Your Toes” (1983)

Lea Salonga, “Miss Saigon” (1991)

Catherine Zeta-Jones, “A Little Night Music” (2010)

Cynthia Erivo, “The Color Purple” (2016)

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Other performers who pulled off this accomplishment in recent years include...

Billy Wilder was the six-time Oscar winner who left behind a series of classically quotable features from Hollywood’s Golden Age, crafting sharp witted and darkly cynical stories that blended comedy and pathos in equal measure. Let’s take a look back at 25 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Wilder was born to a family of Austrian Jews in 1906. After working as a journalist, he developed an interest in filmmaking and collaborated on the silent feature “People on Sunday” (1929) with fellow rookies Fred Zinnemann, Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer. With the rise of Adolph Hitler, Wilder fled to Paris, where he co-directed the feature “Mauvaise Graine” (1934). Tragically, his mother, stepfather and grandmother all died in the Holocaust.

After moving to Hollywood, Wilder enjoyed a successful career as a screenwriter, earning Oscar nominations for penning 1939’s “Ninotchka” and 1941’s “Hold Back the Dawn” and “Ball of Fire.” He...

Near the end of Billy Wilder’s Witness for the Prosecution, after the central court case seems all but completely settled, senior barrister Sir Wilfrid Robarts (Charles Laughton) contemplates the surprising evidence that’s just been presented. “It’s a little too neat, too tidy, and altogether too symmetrical,” he remarks. It’s a comment that begs to be read through the lens of Wilder’s own wry approach to filmmaking, which often feels throughout his canon like an alchemic combination of effortless story execution, pinpoint humor, and acting masterclass.

Wilder effects an outward feeling of wily and out of control scenarios that are running like well-oiled machines within. The ending of Witness for the Prosecution exemplifies this by throwing its characters’ preceding buttoned-up decorum out of whack, as they race through a procession of sudden revelations that contain a clear logic and purpose. But per Wilder’s wont, the...

Prime Video has a fair amount in store for subscribers in November, as the uber-violent hit animated show Invincible returns for its highly anticipated second season. Based on the iconic comic book by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley, season two will find super-powered protagonist Mark attempting to rebuild his life after finding out the truth about his father Nolan.

Elsewhere on the streamer, the producing team behind the James Bond movies are out to spin the franchise in a completely different direction by debuting their curious new globe-trotting adventure series, pitched somewhere between a quiz show and a treasure hunt. 007: Road To A Million features Brian Cox as the game’s “mastermind”, watching over the contestants as they try to win a million quid.

Here’s everything coming to Amazon Prime Video and Freevee this month. Amazon Originals are accompanied by an asterisk!

New on Amazon Prime...

The filmmaking legend and one of the last standing titans of New Hollywood, William Friedkin, died last month. Tributes have poured out around the globe in the form of heartfelt open letters from collaborators, unearthed clips from the bombastic director's interviews and home video commentaries, and just about every repertory cinema in the country programming special Friedkin retrospectives. Now, we've gotten our first look at the best thing to remember Friedkin by: his last film.

"The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial" is by this point a classic U.S. text, adapted and re-adapted for the stage and screen numerous times since its original 1951 publication. It originated as a novel called "The Caine Mutiny" by Herman Wouk, and it won its year's Pulitzer Prize. Wouk then adapted the novel into a play in 1953, and it became another smash hit. Charles Laughton directed Peter Fonda in the lead role once it hit Broadway. It...

Marlene Dietrich in Witness For The Prosecution, Albert Finney in Murder On The Orient Express, Maggie Smith in Evil Under The Sun, Kenneth Branagh in Murder On The Orient Express Graphic: United Arists/Emi Films/20th Century Fox It makes sense that filmmakers have been turning to Agatha Christie for...

Marlene Dietrich in Witness For The Prosecution, Albert Finney in Murder On The Orient Express, Maggie Smith in Evil Under The Sun, Kenneth Branagh in Murder On The Orient ExpressGraphic: United Arists/Emi Films/20th Century Fox

It makes sense that filmmakers have been turning to Agatha Christie for source...

If you thought you'd seen the last of Hercule Poirot, think again. Agatha Christie's famous Belgian detective, who has appeared in countless of her mystery novels, returns in "A Haunting in Venice," which is set to premiere on Sept. 15. The movie is based on Christie's 1969 novel "Hallowe'en Party," which revolves around Poirot embroiled in another murder mystery. The original story takes place at a Halloween party, while the upcoming adaptation sees the detective at a séance.

"A Haunting in Venice" coproducer and director Kenneth Branagh is set to reprise his role as Poirot for the third time in the upcoming film. He first made his debut as Poirot in the star-studded 2017 film "Murder on the Orient Express." Five years later, he returned as Poirot in the 2022 movie "Death on the Nile," which also had a stacked cast. The third film in the Branagh trilogy will also feature huge stars...

With its list of new releases for July 2023, Prime Video is going to help you stay safe from the oppressive July sun.

Highlighting the Amazon Originals on the TV side this month are two heavy hitters. The first is The Horror of Dolores Roach on July 7. Based on a podcast of the same name, this series could best be described as a modern day Sweeney Todd? Why, you ask? Well you know why. Think about it. Then season 2 of Neil Gaiman adaptation Good Omens premieres on July 28. This season will follow angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and demon Crowley (David Tenant) as they seek to keep the Archangel Gabriel (Jon Hamm) away from both heaven and hell.

There aren’t any Amazon Original movies of note this month and that’s alright as the influx of library titles is more than enough. July 1 sees the arrival of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, No Country for Old Men,...

While summer starts in June, things truly heat up in July, and that includes all the hot new drops on streamers. Amazon’s Prime Video has refreshed its slate of content with over 60 new movies, like Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born” and the 1973 animated adaption of the children’s book “Charlotte’s Web.”

Prime Video kicks off the start of the month with Doug McHenry’s “Jason’s Lyric,” “Father of the Bride,” and “Little Nicky.”

Plus, if you’re a Reese Witherspoon fan, Prime Video sets you up with her very first film and her breakout role as Dani in “Man in the Moon.” And the entire “Legally Blonde” trilogy is also available, for those who bend and snap.

Prime Video is also giving watchers some ultimate film classics like “Free Willy,” ”Gladiator,” and “Dances With Wolves.”

Last but absolutely not least, Season 2 of “Good Omens” will land on...

Amazon originals like season two of The Summer I Turned Pretty and Good Omens, as well as The Horror of Dolores Roach, are just some of the titles hitting Prime Video this July.

Blockbusters like Fast X, 80 for Brady, Till, Knock at the Cabin, Legally Blonde and Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, Men in Black 1-3, Saving Private Ryan, Scarface and more will also be coming to the streamer this month.

The fourth and final season of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan sees the titular character, played by John Krasinski, on his most dangerous mission yet, against a foreign and domestic enemy. Two new episodes of the thriller drop on the streamer every Friday until July 14.

Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty returns with its second season on July 14 and picks up where season one left off at Cousins Beach. When an unexpected visitor threatens the future...

Prime Video has adapted the one-woman podcast “Empanada Loca” into a new series. “The Horror of Dolores Roach” will begin streaming on the service on July 7. Buckle up, because this one is gruesome. Roach (Justina Machado) returns to a gentrified Washington Heights after a long prison sentence and works as a masseuse in the basement of a friend’s empanada shop. But when her security is threatened, Roach is driven to extremes to survive.

Watch “The Horror of Dolores Roach” trailer:

Season 2 of “Good Omens” also will premiere on Prime Video in July. Arriving July 28, the series focuses on the friendship between Aziraphale (Michael Sheen), a fussy angel and rare-book dealer, and the snarky demon Crowley (David Tennant). While the Apocalypse has been averted, the pair are back living their lives in London, until the archangel Gabriel shows up. The series is based on the novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

Jodie Comer has become the 100th performer to win a Tony Award for their Broadway debut for her performance in the play, “Prima Facie.”

She won Best Actress in a Play for portraying Tess, a lawyer who concentrates in providing legal defense for men who are accused of sexual assault but soon has the unthinkable happen to her. She is the 11th person to win the category for her first outing on a Broadway stage. She joins:

SEE2023 Tony Awards: Every winner (and nominee) in all 26 competitive categories

Martita Hunt, “The Madwoman of Chaillot” (1949)

Beryl Reid, “The Killing of Sister George” (1967)

Phyllis Frelich, “Children of a Lesser God” (1980)

Jane Lapotaire, “Piaf” (1981)

Joan Allen, “Burn This” (1988)

Pauline Collins, “Shirley Valentine” (1989)

Janet McTeer, “A Doll’s House” (1997)

Marie Mullen, “The Beauty Queen of Leeane” (1998)

Jennifer Ehle, “The Real Thing” (2000)

Deanna Dunagan, “August: Osage County” (2008)

Below are the Broadway debuts in the seven other...

There’s a bracing and chilly high-mindedness about Justine Triet’s psychothriller, about a suspicious death whose only reliable witness happens to be blind

I have been agnostic about Justine Triet’s work in the past, but her courtroom drama murder mystery in this year’s Cannes competition, with its ambiguous title and ambiguous dénouement, is very intriguing. It reminded me at various stages of Billy Wilder’s Agatha Christie adaptation Witness for the Prosecution or Steven Bochco’s underrated, under-remembered 90s TV drama Murder One.

Sandra Hüller plays Sandra, a successful and fashionable author (that staple figure of French cinema), German by birth, but now living in a handsome chalet in the French Alps with her French husband Samuel (Samuel Theis), a former academic and would-be author himself, who has now hit a career slump and creative block and is currently hoping to salvage the family finances by fixing...

Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.

Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!

Godzilla & Godzilla Raids Again Novelizations from University of Minnesota Press

First published in Japan in 1955, the original novelizations of Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again will be released in English for the first time on October 3 via University of Minnesota Press.

Jeffrey Angles, professor of Japanese at Western Michigan University, has newly translated the original material written by Shigeru Kayama, who conceived the initial story for Godzilla.

The two young adult novellas are being published together in one 256-page book, which is available to pre-order in paperback for $17.41 and and e-book for $9.99.

Scooby-Doo Play Set from Mezco Toyz

Mezco Toyz has announced a Scooby-Doo Friends & Foes box set as part of its 5 Points line of retro-style 3.75” scale action figures.

The launch of innovative thrillers like “Glass Onion” and “Bullet Train” has re-ignited the love for this classic genre. These films are a potent concoction of action, suspense, crime, and sci-fi – prepared to keep viewers in an endless loop of anticipation (or fear).

IMDb makes it a breeze for thriller fanatics to find the cream of the crop. From award-winning classics like “Witness for the Prosecution” that form this genre’s identity to worldwide successes such as “Parasite.” It even includes two dark superhero movies from “The Dark Knight” franchise among its top-rated gems.

Ranked Best Thriller Movies [Sortable Table] Rank Title Year IMDb Metascore 18 Witness for the Prosecution 1957 8.4 76 17 The Lives of Others 2006 8.4 89 16 Rear Window 1954 8.5 100 15 Oldboy 2003 8.4 77 14 Psycho 1960 8.5 97 13 Aliens 1986 8.4 84 12 Parasite 2019 8.5 96 11 The Usual Suspects 1995 8.5 77 10 Léon: The Professional 1994 8.5 64 9 Memento 2000 8.4 81 8 Joker 2019 8.4 59 7 The Departed 2006 8.5 85 6 The Prestige 2006 8.5 66 5 The Silence of the Lambs 1991 8.6 85 4 Se7en 1995 8.6 65 3 The Dark Knight Rises 2012 8.4 78 2 Inception 2010 8.8 74 1 The Dark Knight 2008 9 84 More About the Best Thriller Movies List...

We love this Fritz Lang western even though it’s not particularly good; only in hindsight do we realize that the brilliant director’s intentions may have been compromised. High-key lighting does Marlene Dietrich no favors, but she scores good scenes performing with Arthur Kennedy (revenged crazed cowpoke) and Mel Ferrer (tranquilized gunslinger). Lang fans will be impressed by the gaudy, over-bright restored Technicolor, and we can always blame Howard Hughes.

Rancho Notorious

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1952 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 89 min. / Available at Amazon.com / General site Wac-Amazon / Street Date January 10, 2023 / 21.99

Starring: Marlene Dietrich, Arthur Kennedy, Mel Ferrer, Lloyd Gough, William Frawley, Jack Elam, George Reeves, Frank Ferguson, Dan Seymour, John Doucette, Dick Elliott, Russell Johnson, Charlita.

Cinematography: Hal Mohr

Production Designer: Wiard Ihnen

Dietrich’s wardrobe designed by: Don Loper

Editorial Supervisor: Otto Ludwig

Original Music: Emil Newman

Written by Daniel Taradash, Silvia Richards

Produced by Howard Welsch

Directed...

Fatih Akin has teamed up with Berlin-based UFA Fiction on his miniseries about German star Marlene Dietrich, starring Diane Kruger.

Based on the biography “My Mother Marlene,” by Dietrich’s daughter, Maria Riva, the five-part series, tentatively titled “Marlene,” is produced by UFA Fiction and Akin’s Bombero International in Hamburg.

Currently in production, the miniseries chronicles Dietrich’s life as an artist, lover, German emigrant and mother as well as a woman who created her own rules and lived by them, whatever the cost.

“‘Marlene’ will be not only the first series I have written and directed but also the greatest challenge in my film career,” said Akin, the series’ creator.

“It is the continuation of my successful collaboration with Diane Kruger. Nobody is better cast than her. Marlene was not only a cinematic icon, but a woman in exile, German immigrant in America, resistance fighter and so much more.

Myles Frost became the latest addition to the list of people who have taken home a Tony Award for their Broadway debut. His win makes him the 98th member of this particular winners’ club.

Frost, who won Best Actor in a Musical for playing Michael Jackson in “Mj,” is the 13th person to win that category for their first time stepping into a character on a Broadway stage. He joins:

Ezio Pinza, “South Pacific” (1950)

Robert Alda, “Guys and Dolls” (1951)

Robert Lindsay, “Me and My Girl” (1987)

Brent Carver, “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (1993)

Alan Cumming, “Cabaret” (1998)

Hugh Jackman, “The Boy From Oz” (2004)

John Lloyd Young, “Jersey Boys” (2006)

Paulo Szot, “South Pacific” (2008)

David Álvarez, Trent Kowalik and Kiril Kulish (joint nomination), “Billy Elliot” (2009)

Douglas Hodge, “La Cage aux Folles” (2010)

See 2022 Tony Awards: Every winner (and nominee) in all 26 categories

Below are the Broadway debuts in the seven other acting categories that have...

Well, if Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz didn’t know who they were taking to the Oscars before, they do now. The married actors earned matching nominations: Best Actor for “Being the Ricardos” and Best Actress for “Parallel Mothers,” respectively. They’re the sixth spouses in Oscar history to earn Oscar acting nominations in the same year.

SEESassy Oscar nominations reactions from our film forum posters: Cheers for Kirsten Dunst, jeers for Lady Gaga snub

Bardem and Cruz join five other couples: Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt; Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner; Elsa Lanchester and Charles Laughton; Rex Harrison and Rachel Roberts; and Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

This is the first time Bardem and Cruz are nominated together, but they have had remarkably similar Oscar track records. Both are nominated for the fourth time. Both won their Oscars on their second try for supporting roles. And both have been...

The former head of the ACLU discusses some of the movies – and sports legends – that made him.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Mighty Ira (2020)

The Jackie Robinson Story (1950)

42 (2013)

Shane (1953)

Panic In The Streets (1950)

Last Year At Marienbad (1962)

The Seventh Seal (1957)

La Strada (1954)

Wild Strawberries (1957) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

The Virgin Spring (1960) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The Last House On The Left (1972) – Darren Bousman’s trailer commentary

A Walk In The Sun (1945) – Glenn Erickson’s review

Paths Of Glory (1957) – George Hickenlooper’s trailer commentary, John Landis’s trailer commentary

All Quiet On The Western Front (1930) – Ed Neumeier’s trailer commentary

Lonely Are The Brave (1962)

Casablanca (1942) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

On The Waterfront (1954) – John Badham’s trailer commentary

12 Angry Men (1957)

Inherit The Wind (1960)

Judgment At Nuremberg (1961)

Witness For The Prosecution (1957)

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

The Verdict (1982)

Twelve Angry Men teleplay (1954)

The Front (1976)

Judgment At Nuremberg teleplay...

From Pig starring Nicolas Cage, Writer/Director Michael Sarnoski and Writer/Producer Vanessa Block join Josh and Joe to discuss the movies that inspired them during the creation of their film.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Nobody (2021)

Infested (2002)

The Big Chill (1983)

A History of Violence (2005)

Pig (2021)

Mandy (2018)

John Wick (2014)

The Testimony (2015)

No Country For Old Men (2007) [Both] – John Badham’s trailer commentary

The Maltese Falcon (1941) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Blood Simple (1984) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review, Dennis Cozzaliio’s review

Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

Raising Arizona (1987)

Moonstruck (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s trailer commentary

Joe (2013)

Witness For The Prosecution (1957) [Vanessa Block] – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary

Easter Parade (1948)

Titanic (1997)

Never Been Kissed (1999)

Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

The Crow (1994)

Jurassic Park (1993)

Midnight Cowboy (1969) [Michael Sarnoski] – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion...

It’s smooth noir sailing with this polished noir from Universal-International and its choice cast of pros — Edmond O’Brien, Ella Raines and William Bendix, plus Vincent Price doing an excellent turn as a Machiavellian businessman, a ‘frame’ expert with a side specialty in double-dealing. Director Michael Gordon earns an early credit at Universal-International with a nice look: almost all exteriors are richly photographed nighttime scenes. Ella Raines is particularly good — despite the cover illustration, she’s not a femme fatale, just a cautious independent woman.

The Web

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1947 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 87 min. / Street Date July 13, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Edmond O’Brien, Ella Raines, William Bendix, Vincent Price, Maria Palmer, John Abbott, Fritz Leiber, Howland Chamberlain, Tito Vuolo.

Cinematography: Irving Glassberg

Production Designer Art Directors: Bernard Herzbrun, James Sullivan

Film Editor: Russel F. Schoengarth

Original Music: Hans J. Salter

Written by William Bowers, Bertram Millhauser...

Guillermo del Toro takes a walk on the noir side in his first film since winning the Oscar for directing the 2017 best picture winner “The Shape of Things.” “Nightmare Alley,’ based on the uncompromising 1946 novel by William Lindsay Gresham, offers a bleak depiction of humanity including low-rent carnivals filled with has-beens, geeks and “rum-dums.” Searchlight Pictures is giving “Nightmare Alley,” which had to shut down production during the height of Covid in 2020, the “A” treatment, opening the film on Dec. 3 just in time for awards consideration.

The innovative Mexican filmmaker best known for his acclaimed fantasy, horror (“The Devil’s Backbone”) and sci-fi (‘Hellboy”) productions, co-wrote the screenplay with Kim Morgan. Bradley Cooper plays Stan Carlisle, a handsome manipulative carny worker who has a massive chip on his shoulder. Stan wants to hit the big time and with the help of carnival headliner Zeena (Toni Collette) resurrects her old mentalist act.

The verdict is in. If you want to have success in awards’ season go to court. Over the decades, a caseload of legal movies have been judged to be Oscar worthy. And for good reason. The genre is rich with emotions, betrayals, manipulations, love, hate, violence and redemption. Who doesn’t remember Humphrey Bogart’s brilliant Oscar-nominated turn as Captain Queeg slowly losing his mind on the stand as he recounts his obsession with missing strawberries in 1954’s “The Caine Mutiny”?

“A Free Soul” (1931)

Lionel Barrymore won his only Academy Award for for his delicious over-the-top turn as a wily alcoholic attorney who gets a ruthless gangster (Clark Gable) off for murder in this juicy pre-code melodrama. Though his free-spirited daughter (Norma Shearer), who wears the slinkiest of gowns, has a boyfriend (a staid Leslie Howard), she soon realizes she loves bad boys and leaves Howard for Gable. It’s a big mistake.

“I didn’t always give the record companies the best songs,” Prince told Rolling Stone in 2014, and no one knows that better now than former Warner Bros. A&r executive Michael Howe, who has served as full-time archivist for Prince’s estate since 2017. With a mammoth, no-holds-barred deluxe edition of Prince’s 1987 masterpiece Sign O’ The Times out now, Howe explains what it’s like essentially living inside Prince’s massive vault of unreleased material. Each reissue project starts with mounds of analog tape, which have to be digitized before...

7 random things that happened on this day in showbiz history...

1890: Agatha Christie born in Devon, England. She would become one of the world's most famous writers of all time. Over 70 (!!!) adaptations of her work have hit film and television over the years from as early as 1928 (a silent film called The Passing of Mr Quinn) to the forthcoming Death on the Nile in 2020. Only one of the adaptations was ever nominated for Best Picture though: Billy Wilder's take on Witness for the Prosecution (1957)...

by Nathaniel R

Three afterthoughts about the 1957 Smackdown.

1. The reader ballots were quite interestingly divided though they were sparser than usual  - are we doing too many Smackdowns or is it just that the films were harder to find this time?  I was shocked to see that Tfe readers who had seen The Bachelor Party weren't particularly fond of Carolyn Jones who, in my estimation, was the best of the nominees. Overall it was the lowest rated field of nominees I've ever seen for reader polling.

2. My own ballot for '57 would go like so...

Marlene Dietrich, Witness for the Prosecution Carolyn Jones, The Bachelor Party Elsa Lanchester, Witness for the Prosecution Kay Thompson, Funny Face Isuzu Yamada, Throne of Blood

Though I reserve the right to ditch Lanchester and/or Thompson should I see something better. The speed of this summer's Smackdown schedule has made catching up or revisiting 'extra' films impossible.

Are you enjoying our super-sized Supporting Actress Smackdown season? We've already discussed 1947, 1981, and 2002. We normally only do 4 episodes but we're super-sizing things this summer so there's lots more to come. It's our own niche movie-loving way of trying to alleviate your (and our) anxiety, depression, exhaustion, during this tumultous time of righteous protests, pandemic sheltering, and treasonous manchild in the White House. Up next 1957

The Nominees

Hope Lange (Peyton Place) Carolyn Jones (The Bachelor Party) Miyoshi Umeki (Sayonara) Elsa Lanchester (Witness for the Prosecution) Diane Varsi (Peyton Place)

Get to watching those four films when you need a break from the real world! Send in your ballots once you've screened 'em with "1957" in the subject line. But please only vote on the movies you've seen.

Please Welcome Our Next Panel ... ...

by Nathaniel R

We hope you loved listening to the Smackdown Podcast and discussing various 1947 movies this month. It means a lot when you watch, vote, listen, and share these events. Another round of applause to our returning guests Dana Delany (she previously guest-starred on "1973"), Angelica Jade Bastién (she previously guest-starred on "1941"), and the newbies, actor Patrick Vaill (Netflix's upcoming Dash & Lily) and lyricist Tom Mizer (The Marvelous Mrs Maisel S3). Dana wanted to send a note to listeners that she was sorry for accrediting the direction of To Kill a Mockingbird to Richard Brooks rather than Robert Mulligan... the names just got jumbled because it was Richard Brooks who wrote "The Brick Foxhole" which she was also discussing.

I was so into this conversation that now I have ordered a copy of "The Brick Foxhole" to understand Crossfire in a fully homosexual way. I didn't know...

Riverdale Season 4 is here!

This is great news for fans of quirky, unpredictable, and always entertaining TV. Perhaps more so than any other show on TV, Riverdale is very comfortable in its own skin; season three was a weird and wonderful experience, with episodes like “The Midnight Club” flashback installment and the noir experiment pushing the creative parameters of the show… and, wonderfully, sticking the landing each time.

You can read our review of the latest episode here.

Riverdale Season 4 Return Date

Up next? “Lynchian,” which will air on April 2. Check out the trailer…

Riverdale Season 4 Episode Guide Riverdale Season 4 Episode 1 – Chapter 58: In Memorium

As the residence of Riverdale prepare for its upcoming Independence Day parade, Archie receives a phone call that will change the rest of his life forever.

read our review of “In Memoriam” here.

air date: 10/9/19

Riverdale Season 4 Episode 2 – Chapter 59: Fast Times at Riverdale High...

Charles Laughton’s sole directorial effort, the 1955 suspense classic The Night of the Hunter is getting a modern remake from Universal Pictures, according to Variety. Amy Pascal’s (Spider-Man: Far From Home) Universal Pictures-based banner Pascal Pictures will produce along with Peter Gethers. The screenplay will be written by Matt Orton, best known for the Nazi-hunter film Operation Finale, based on Davis Grubb’s 1953 novel.

The original film is iconic, and Robert Mitchum’s portrayal of newly released prison convict Harry Powell is one of the greatest villains of the silver screen. This is the film which introduced the hand tattoos Love and Hate and the biblical battle fought just below the knuckles. It is the story of good and evil that goes back to when “Cain struck the blow that laid his brother low.” The inked-fingers had “veins that run straight to the soul of man.”

The book and...

In 1955, Oscar-winning actor Charles Laughton, who appeared in films like Witness for the Prosecution, Mutiny on the Bounty, and Spartacus, stepped behind the camera as a director for the first and only time. The result was The Night of the Hunter, a dark, moody thriller starring Robert Mitchum as a serial killer, and a […]

The post ‘The Night of the Hunter’ Remake in Development at Universal From ‘Operation Finale’ Writer appeared first on /Film.

We have a relatively quiet week of home media releases ahead of us this week, but the titles that are coming out are a rad bunch of films nonetheless. Scream Factory is doing the Dark Lord’s work with both the Collector’s Edition of April Fool’s Day and the HD release of Frankenstein: The True Story. If you missed it in theaters back in January, Nicolas Pesce’s The Grudge (2020) is headed to various platforms this Tuesday, and Arrow Video has put together a stellar Special Edition release of Philip Ridley’s The Passion of Darkly Noon as well.

Other Blu-ray and DVD releases for March 24th include Endless Night, Cabal, Hunter’s Moon, The Zombinator, and The Wizard: Collector’s Edition.

April Fool’s Day: Collector’s Edition

Good friends...with some time to kill. When Muffy St. John invited her college friends up to her parents' secluded...

Early in John Mulaney’s new Netflix special John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch (debuting December 24th), one of the comedian’s underage co-stars asks him what the tone of the show is supposed to be. “Is it ironic,” she wonders, “or do you like doing a children’s show?” Mulaney confesses that his answer depends on how the special turns out: If it’s bad, he’ll claim he meant it to be ironic. If it’s good, he’ll brag about how hard everyone worked. “You can go very far in life,...

Something tells us the Lodges aren’t making plans to spend a cozy Thanksgiving together. (For one thing, several of them are behind bars.)

TVLine has an exclusive sneak peek at this Wednesday’s Riverdale (The CW, 8/7c), and in it, Veronica unloads on her imprisoned dad Hiram for getting poor old Pop Tate involved in his upcoming trial: “Just when I thought you couldn’t go any lower, you prove me wrong, Daddy.” But Hiram defends himself, reminding his daughter that she can keep Pop out of this whole mess if she’ll agree to tell the feds she framed him.

Billy Wilder would’ve celebrated his 113th birthday on June 22, 2019. The six-time Oscar winner left behind a series of classically quotable features from Hollywood’s Golden Age, crafting sharp witted and darkly cynical stories that blended comedy and pathos in equal measure. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 25 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Wilder was born to a family of Austrian Jews in 1906. After working as a journalist, he developed an interest in filmmaking and collaborated on the silent feature “People on Sunday” (1929) with fellow rookies Fred Zinnemann, Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer. With the rise of Adolph Hitler, Wilder fled to Paris, where he co-directed the feature “Mauvaise Graine” (1934). Tragically, his mother, stepfather and grandmother all died in the Holocaust.

SEEOscar Best Director Gallery: Every Winner In Academy Award History

After moving to Hollywood, Wilder enjoyed a successful career as a screenwriter,...

For only the third time this decade, none of the acting winners at this year’s Tony Awards did so for their Broadway debut. This is the 21st time that this has happened over the 73-year history of these top theater honors. Most of the winners were actually on the opposite end of the spectrum, winning for the first time after years of Broadway experience and several nominations to their name including André De Shields, Celia Keenan-Bolger and Stephanie J. Block. Check out the complete list of winners here.

The previous instances of Broadway debuts being shut out at the Tonys were in: 1948, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1959, 1960, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1982, 1990, 1991, 1994, 2001-2003, 2012 and 2017.

Below, you can see the names of all 96 people who have won Tonys for their debut on the Great White Way.

SEE2019 Tony Awards: Best Musical ‘Hadestown’ sweeps with 8 wins, ‘The Ferryman’ takes Best Play

Best Actor In A Play: 16 winners

Paul Scofield, “A Man for All Seasons” (1962)

Cliff Gorman,...

Ray Milland in The Big Clock (1948) will be available on Blu-ray From Arrow Academy May 14th

Adapted by acclaimed screenwriter Jonathan Latimer from a novel by the equally renowned crime author Kenneth Fearing, The Big Clock is a superior suspense film which classily combines screwball comedy with heady thrills.

Overworked true crime magazine editor George Stroud has been planning a vacation for months. However, when his boss, the tyrannical media tycoon Earl Janoth, insists he skips his holiday, Stroud resigns in disgust before embarking on an impromptu drunken night out with his boss’s mistress, Pauline York. When Janoth kills Pauline in a fit of rage, Stroud finds himself to have been the wrong man, in the wrong place, at the wrong time: his staff have been tasked with finding a suspect with an all too familiar description… Stroud s very own!

Directed with panache by John Farrow (Around the World in 80 Days...

BBC Studios, the British public broadcaster’s commercial arm, has announced a raft of territory sales for Richard Gere starrer “MotherFatherSon,” a drama series written by Tom Rob Smith, Emmy-nominated for “The Assassination of Gianni Versace.” The show will screen Tuesday at Series Mania, France, in the International Panorama section.

Buyers for the eight-part thriller include HBO for Central and Eastern Europe, Tvnz in New Zealand, RTP2 in Portugal, Ruv in Iceland, Catchplay in Taiwan, Zee Café in India and Amedia in Russia. The show will be shown on BBC First in Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and South Africa.

Gere stars in his first television role for 30 years alongside Helen McCrory and Billy Howle. The cast also includes Sarah Lancashire, Paul Ready, Danny Sapiani (“Black Panther”), Joseph Mawle (“Game of Thrones”) and Sinéad Cusack (“Call the Midwife”). The director is James Kent, who will attend the Series Mania screening.

Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories has inked a deal with Agatha Christie Ltd to develop a new TV series centered on Christie’s iconic sleuth Miss Marple. The latest incarnation will be based on the author’s Miss Marple books and short stories, and will be co-developed by the Big Little Lies producer and Endeavor Content.

The potential series will be produced by Agl’s James Prichard and Basi Akpabio along with Papandrea. Made Up Stories’ Steve Hutensky, Casey Haver, Jeanne Snow and Janice Park are shepherding the project.

Christie’s books about the amateur detective have been in print for more than 90 years and are now in more than 100 territories worldwide. Numerous film and TV adaptations have been mounted along the way starring the likes of Margaret Rutherford, Angela Lansbury, Geraldine McEwan, Helen Hayes and Joan Hickson.

“I’m just thrilled to be joining forces with James and...

U.K. film and television veterans Bob Benton and Hilary Strong have launched new U.K. and international production company The Anthology Group. The move is a reorganization of Benton’s Bob & Co. group, which he founded in 2010 and where Strong has served as CEO since September 2017. Both will continue in those roles in the new company, with former Lion Television founder Jeremy Mills serving as chairman.

The new company will be the parent of Anthology Studios, which comprises six film and television production companies, a theater production company, and an established licensing company. Bob Anthology Advisory will also come under the new banner, continuing to advise on investment opportunities.

Two of the production companies are newly formed scripted production companies Mischief Screen and Rockfleet. Mischief Screen has been created in partnership with Mischief Worldwide, the newly announced team-up of Mischief Theatre, Kenny Wax and Stage Presence, and will be headed by Strong.

At the opening-night party of Matt Tyrnauer’s hit documentary “Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood” at Tim Burton’s Chateau Marmont apartment, Scotty Bowers, the tousle-haired author of 2012 tell-all “Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars,” celebrated his 95th birthday.

“So how gay was Spencer Tracy?” I asked him.

“He got drunk and thanked the man beside him in the morning for taking care of him,” he said with a gap-toothed grin, taunting me with his next provocation: “He didn’t just suck cock, he crunched it!”

We laughed. “And how gay was Katharine Hepburn?”

“She loved one woman for 40 years who left her to marry a rich man,” he said. He claims to have arranged 150 get-togethers with women over five decades for Hepburn. That was his job — putting gay people together via a Hollywood gas station for rendezvous with movie stars,...

At the opening-night party of Matt Tyrnauer’s hit documentary “Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood” at Tim Burton’s Chateau Marmont apartment, Scotty Bowers, the tousle-haired author of 2012 tell-all “Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars,” celebrated his 95th birthday.

“So how gay was Spencer Tracy?” I asked him.

“He got drunk and thanked the man beside him in the morning for taking care of him,” he said with a gap-toothed grin, taunting me with his next provocation: “He didn’t just suck cock, he crunched it!”

We laughed. “And how gay was Katharine Hepburn?”

“She loved one woman for 40 years who left her to marry a rich man,” he said. He claims to have arranged 150 get-togethers with women over five decades for Hepburn. That was his job — putting gay people together via a Hollywood gas station for rendezvous with movie stars,...

Oliver Stone's oft-overlooked political thriller Salvador is set to join the Masters of Cinema series on 17 September, as part of another impressive line-up of titles announced by Eureka! Entertainment. Released in 1986 but eclipsed by Stone’s other film from that year, Platoon, Salvador stars James Woods in an Oscar-nominated role as a sleazy photojournalist covering the horrors of the civil war in El Salvador in 1980, while Jim Belushi and John Savage offer excellent support. Billy Wilder returns to the MoC once again with Witness For The Prosecution. Adapted from Agatha Christie’s hit play, the film stars Charles Laughton, Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich and Elsa Lanchester in a thrilling courtroom mystery riddled with surprise revelations and shocking twists. It arrives in a dual-format...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Ari’el Stachel became the latest person to take home a Tony Award for their Broadway debut. This victory puts him in a freshman club that now has 96 members. Watch him discuss his victory in the Tonys press room in the video above.

Stachel, who won Best Featured Actor in a Musical for playing Haled in “The Band’s Visit,” is the ninth person to claim that particular honor for his first Broadway outing. He joins:

Harry Belafonte, “John Murray Anderson’s Almanac” (1954)

Sydney Chaplin, “Bells are Ringing” (1957)

Frankie Michaels, “Mame” (1966)

Wilson Jermaine Heredia, “Rent” (1996)

Dan Fogler, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” (2005)

Levi Kreis, “Million Dollar Quartet” (2010)

John Larroquette, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” (2011)

Daveed Diggs, “Hamilton” (2016)

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Below are the Broadway debuts in the seven other acting categories that claimed Tony Awards.

Best Actor In A Play: 16 winners

Paul Scofield,...

John Malkovich and “Harry Potter” star Rupert Grint have signed on for “The ABC Murders,” an Agatha Christie adaptation for the BBC in Britain and Amazon in the U.S. Shooting gets underway in June and will see Malkovich become the latest actor to take on the role of the famously mustachioed Belgian detective.

Kenneth Branagh played the sleuth in the 2017 film adaptation of “Murder on the Orient Express” and is reprising the role in a remake of “Death on the Nile.” David Suchet and Alfred Molina are among those to have played the part on the small screen.

Grint has signed on to play Inspector Crome. The cast also includes Andrew Buchan (“Broadchurch”), Eamon Farren (“Twin Peaks”), Tara Fitzgerald (“Game of Thrones”), Bronwyn James (“Harlots”), and Freya Mavor (“The Sense of an Ending”).

Based on the classic 1936 Christie novel, the series will run to three parts. British pubcaster the...

Rupert Grint is also cast in the three-part drama.

The ABC Murders, the latest in a series of BBC One Agatha Christie adaptations, has unveiled its cast, with John Malkovich in the key role of Hercule Poirot.

This one off three-part drama continues BBC One and Agatha Christie Limited’s production deal that will see Agatha Christie Limited and Mammoth Screen deliver six more Christie adaptations.

Lining up alongside Malkovich are Rupert Grint (the Harry Potter series), Andrew Buchan (Broadchurch), Eamon Farren (Twin Peaks), Tara Fitzgerald (Game Of Thrones), Bronwyn James (Harlots) and Freya Mavor (Skins).

This new version is being written by Sarah Phelps,...

Richard Gere is officially confirmed for his first major TV role in MotherFatherSon.

The eight-part original drama, which is being made by BBC Studios Drama London for BBC Two, will also star Helen McCrory (Peaky Blinders, Harry Potter) and Billy Howle (Witness for the Prosecution, On Chesil Beach) and was written and created by Tom Rob Smith, whose credits include Child 44, London Spy and FX's recent hit The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.

"It’s been almost 30 years since I worked in television," Gere said Tuesday in a statement. "I’m so pleased to be ...