News

Jack Couffer, the renowned cinematographer, writer, director, producer and naturalist who earned an Oscar nomination for his lensing of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, died at a skilled nursing facility on July 30. He was 96.

His son Mike Couffer confirmed the news in a recent Facebook post, in which he referred to his father as “the most important person in my life.”

Born on December 7, 1924 in Upland, California, Jack Couffer long looked to blend his interests in cinematography and natural history, also shooting films such as Secrets of Life, Edge of Fury, and The Savage Eye, along with 11 episodes of the series The Magical World of Disney.

Couffer also wrote and directed episodes of Magical World of Disney, along with films including The Legend of the Boy and the Eagle and Ring of Bright Water.

He also worked, over the course of his career, as a second unit director on 1985 classic Out of Africa and other titles,...

Jack Couffer, the cinematographer, director, producer and wildlife aficionado who received an Oscar nomination for shooting the 1973 adventure tale Jonathan Livingston Seagull, has died. He was 96.

Couffer died July 30 at a hospice care facility in Costa Mesa, California, his son, Michael Couffer, announced.

Couffer also directed such features as Ring of Bright Water (1969), a movie about a dog that he co-wrote; The Legend of Lobo (1962), revolving around a wolf; and Living Free (1972), the sequel to the 1966 lion tale Born Free.

He served as the second-unit director on the Oscar best picture winner Out of Africa (1985), the Tanya Roberts-starring Sheena (1984) ...

Jack Couffer, the cinematographer, director, producer and wildlife aficionado who received an Oscar nomination for shooting the 1973 adventure tale Jonathan Livingston Seagull, has died. He was 96.

Couffer died July 30 at a hospice care facility in Costa Mesa, California, his son, Michael Couffer, announced.

Couffer also directed such features as Ring of Bright Water (1969), a movie about a dog that he co-wrote; The Legend of Lobo (1962), revolving around a wolf; and Living Free (1972), the sequel to the 1966 lion tale Born Free.

He served as the second-unit director on the Oscar best picture winner Out of Africa (1985), the Tanya Roberts-starring Sheena (1984) ...

This favorite animal film takes a half-step sideways out of the cute animal subgenre: the delightful Mij is no super-otter, just an ordinary playful garden-variety otter, as an Otter oughta be. (cough) Champion mellow English couple Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers have put together a film guaranteed to lower your blood pressure. But see it first before deciding it’s for your kids, as reality is not sugarcoated in its uplifting, but certainly not sentimentalized, view of our place in a world that still has some animals left alive.

Ring of Bright Water

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1969 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date May 21, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Virginia McKenna, Bill Travers, Peter Jeffrey, Jameson Clark, Helena Gloag.

Cinematography: Wolfgang Suschitsky

Film Editor: Reginald Mills

Original Music: Frank Cordell

Written by Jack Couffer and Bill Travers from a book by Gavin Maxwell

Produced by Joseph Strick

Directed by Jack...

Do you love movies about cute animals? The original pet-lion-in-Africa romp is actually a well balanced nature film about the separation between wild animals and those raised by humans. Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers winningly play the Adamsons, game wardens that dedicate themselves to the well-being of Elsa, the lioness they raise from infancy. Born Free Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1966 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 96 min. / Ship Date December 8, 2015 / available through Twilight Time Movies / 29.95 Starring Virginia McKenna, Bill Travers, Geoffrey Keen, Peter Lukoye, Omar Chambati Cinematography Kenneth Talbot Film Editor Don Decon Original Music John Barry Written by Lester Cole from the novel by Joy Adamson Produced by Sam Jaffe, Paul B. Radin Directed by James Hill

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Savant normally becomes sullen and anti-social around overly committed animal lovers, I suppose because I think the world gets a little out of balance when people seriously consider their domestic...

Having directed the first two Harry Potter movies (and been executive producer for the entire franchise) Chris Columbus once again takes to the director's chair for a tale of a misfit schoolboy who discovers that he is actually the heir to a magical kingdom and is swiftly dispatched to superhero school where similarly gifted kids learn to fight dragons etc. Sadly, this is not the latest Jk Rowling adaptation, but the second-rate, sub-Hogwarts knock-off Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief in which the earthbound offspring of Poseidon must visit Heaven and Hell in search of Zeus's missing fiery bolt – with the help of his stalwart new school-friends.

Even the publicity images look like dodgy Potter offcuts, with three teens (two boys, one girl) striking Potteresque poses against stormy skies which hide lurking beasties illuminated by Hammeresque gothic flashes.

The studio clearly thought that this adaptation of Rick Riordan's bestselling novel...

Oscar-winning director, screenwriter and producer Joseph Strick has died from congestive heart failure at the age of 86.

Strick, who was born in Pennsylvania, died on 1 June in Paris, France, where he had lived for several years.

He won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject in 1970 for Interviews With My Lai Veterans, which he wrote, produced and directed.

He also won the British Academy Television Awards (BAFTA) Flaherty Documentary Award for his 1959 film, The Savage Eye.

But Strick was perhaps best known for his screen adaptations of risque literary works including The Balcony, Ulysses and Tropic of Cancer, starring Rip Torn.

He hit headlines in 1970 after losing a court battle to overturn the X rating awarded to Tropic by the Motion Picture Association of America. The movie retained its adult rating until the early 1990s, when it was lowered to allow anyone 17 and over to view the film.

Other notable movie credits include Never Cry Wolf, Ring of Bright Water and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

Strick is survived by his second wife, Martine Rossignol Strick, and their two children, as well as his three kids from his first marriage.