Exclusive: The company that holds rights to the literary estates of Langston Hughes and Evelyn Waugh is heading on a West Coast charm offensive and has snapped up the estate of Somerset Maugham.
International Literary Properties (Ilp) launched in 2019 but has so far focused on the UK and East Coast. Over the coming weeks, however, UK and Europe CEO Hilary Strong has numerous meetings in the diary with LA producers as Ilp looks to strike deals for adaptations of books from its 50-author roster across TV, film and in other areas.
“As we continue to buy considerable assets we need to broaden our relationships with the U.S. production community and showrunners,” Strong told Deadline. “We are going out to make sure people understand the message so we can start to develop producer networks in Hollywood akin to what we have on the East Coast and in the UK.”
Hilary...
International Literary Properties (Ilp) launched in 2019 but has so far focused on the UK and East Coast. Over the coming weeks, however, UK and Europe CEO Hilary Strong has numerous meetings in the diary with LA producers as Ilp looks to strike deals for adaptations of books from its 50-author roster across TV, film and in other areas.
“As we continue to buy considerable assets we need to broaden our relationships with the U.S. production community and showrunners,” Strong told Deadline. “We are going out to make sure people understand the message so we can start to develop producer networks in Hollywood akin to what we have on the East Coast and in the UK.”
Hilary...
- 11/8/2023
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
This meticulous docu-drama is still the best show about the Titanic, the awesome disaster that has never lost its grip on the imagination. Roy Ward Baker leads an enormous cast of Brit character actors through 2.5 hours of true-life terror in the icy Atlantic — Kenneth More, Honor Blackman, David McCallum, Laurence Naismith, Anthony Bushell. No stupid subplots and no insulting anachronisms, just an awful sinking death trap and 1600 passengers facing the freezing water. [Imprint] brings some new extras to the mix, too.
A Night to Remember
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] #135
1958 / B&w / 1:66 enhanced widescreen / 123 min. / Street Date June 29, 2022 / Available from / 39.95
Starring: Kenneth More, Honor Blackman, David McCallum, Laurence Naismith, Anthony Bushell, Alec McCowen, John Cairney, Michael Goodliffe, Ronald Allen, John Merivale, Jill Dixon, Kenneth Griffith, Frank Lawton, Tucker McGuire, Ralph Michael, George Rose, Joseph Tomelty, Jack Watling, Michael Bryant, Bee Duffel, Thomas Heathcote, Andrew Keir, Jeremy Bulloch, Desmond Llewelyn, Derren Nesbitt, Beth Rogan,...
A Night to Remember
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] #135
1958 / B&w / 1:66 enhanced widescreen / 123 min. / Street Date June 29, 2022 / Available from / 39.95
Starring: Kenneth More, Honor Blackman, David McCallum, Laurence Naismith, Anthony Bushell, Alec McCowen, John Cairney, Michael Goodliffe, Ronald Allen, John Merivale, Jill Dixon, Kenneth Griffith, Frank Lawton, Tucker McGuire, Ralph Michael, George Rose, Joseph Tomelty, Jack Watling, Michael Bryant, Bee Duffel, Thomas Heathcote, Andrew Keir, Jeremy Bulloch, Desmond Llewelyn, Derren Nesbitt, Beth Rogan,...
- 7/12/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Newly formed literary management company International Literary Properties – which represents the works of authors such as “Maigret’s” Georges Simenon – has signed a first-look deal with BBC Studios, allowing both BBC Studios Production and its team of independent producers the chance to adapt for television the intellectual property owned and managed by Ilp.
The London- and New York-based company, which was set up last year, holds the rights for authors including Simenon, Eric Ambler, Margery Allingham, Edmund Crispin, Dennis Wheatley, Robert Bolt, Richard Hull, George Bellairs, Nicolas Freeling, John Creasey and Michael Innes, as well as 20% of Evelyn Waugh’s estate.
This deal is the first major production partnership deal announced by Ilp and demonstrates its willingness to “pro-actively manage its estates, providing new opportunities for exploitation across all media platforms,” according to a statement.
The company is helmed in the U.K. by CEO Hilary Strong, formerly CEO of the Agatha Christie estate,...
The London- and New York-based company, which was set up last year, holds the rights for authors including Simenon, Eric Ambler, Margery Allingham, Edmund Crispin, Dennis Wheatley, Robert Bolt, Richard Hull, George Bellairs, Nicolas Freeling, John Creasey and Michael Innes, as well as 20% of Evelyn Waugh’s estate.
This deal is the first major production partnership deal announced by Ilp and demonstrates its willingness to “pro-actively manage its estates, providing new opportunities for exploitation across all media platforms,” according to a statement.
The company is helmed in the U.K. by CEO Hilary Strong, formerly CEO of the Agatha Christie estate,...
- 6/30/2020
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
A few weeks after it acquired rights to 12 notable author estates, London/New York management outfit International Literary Properties has set a first-look deal with BBC Studios. Under the pact, both BBC Studios Production and its portfolio of independent producers will have the opportunity to explore the intellectual property owned and managed by Ilp for screen adaptation.
Formed in November 2019, Ilp was set up to acquire rights in literary estates from authors and their heirs and to exploit those rights through all media platforms including TV, film and theater. The BBC Studios deal is the first major production partnership announced by Ilp.
Ilp currently holds the rights for authors including Georges Simenon, Eric Ambler, Margery Allingham, Edmund Crispin, Dennis Wheatley, Robert Bolt, Richard Hull, George Bellairs, Nicolas Freeling, John Creasey and Michael Innes as well as 20% of Evelyn Waugh’s estate.
Chaired in the UK by CEO Hilary Strong (formerly...
Formed in November 2019, Ilp was set up to acquire rights in literary estates from authors and their heirs and to exploit those rights through all media platforms including TV, film and theater. The BBC Studios deal is the first major production partnership announced by Ilp.
Ilp currently holds the rights for authors including Georges Simenon, Eric Ambler, Margery Allingham, Edmund Crispin, Dennis Wheatley, Robert Bolt, Richard Hull, George Bellairs, Nicolas Freeling, John Creasey and Michael Innes as well as 20% of Evelyn Waugh’s estate.
Chaired in the UK by CEO Hilary Strong (formerly...
- 6/30/2020
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
International Literary Properties, the newly former London- and New York-based company that this month acquired the estates of 12 late authors, has signed a first-look deal with BBC Studios, marking its first major production partnership.
Under the deal, announced Tuesday, BBC Studios Production, the production arm of BBC Studios, and its portfolio of independent producers can explore the intellectual property owned and managed by Ilp.
Set up last year, the company holds the rights for authors including Georges Simenon, Eric Ambler, Margery Allingham, Edmund Crispin, Dennis Wheatley, Robert Bolt, Richard Hull, George Bellairs, Nicolas Freeling, John Creasey and ...
Under the deal, announced Tuesday, BBC Studios Production, the production arm of BBC Studios, and its portfolio of independent producers can explore the intellectual property owned and managed by Ilp.
Set up last year, the company holds the rights for authors including Georges Simenon, Eric Ambler, Margery Allingham, Edmund Crispin, Dennis Wheatley, Robert Bolt, Richard Hull, George Bellairs, Nicolas Freeling, John Creasey and ...
- 6/30/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Launched in November, London/New York book rights outfit International Literary Properties has acquired 12 literary estates from the UK’s Peters, Fraser + Dunlop. The eight figure deal sees Ilp acquire the rights formerly held by the agency for the estates of Georges Simenon, Eric Ambler, Margery Allingham, Edmund Crispin, Dennis Wheatley, Robert Bolt, Richard Hull, George Bellairs, Nicolas Freeling, John Creasey, Michael Innes and Evelyn Waugh.
Ilp was set up to acquire the rights in literary estates from those who have inherited them, or from living authors, and will work to exploit those rights through all media platforms including TV, film and theater. Many of the estates acquired under the current deal include the detective, spy and crime genres. Simenon is best known as the creator of French Detective Jules Maigret, for example. Bolt, however, was a playwright who also penned the scripts for Lawrence Of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and A Man For All Seasons.
Ilp was set up to acquire the rights in literary estates from those who have inherited them, or from living authors, and will work to exploit those rights through all media platforms including TV, film and theater. Many of the estates acquired under the current deal include the detective, spy and crime genres. Simenon is best known as the creator of French Detective Jules Maigret, for example. Bolt, however, was a playwright who also penned the scripts for Lawrence Of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and A Man For All Seasons.
- 6/2/2020
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Recently formed rights business International Literary Properties (Ilp) has acquired the literary estates of 12 writers, including Evelyn Waugh and Georges Simenon, from U.K. agency Peters, Fraser + Dunlop.
The eight-figure multi-estates deal sees London and New York-based Ilp acquire the rights for the literary estates of writers Georges Simenon, Eric Ambler, Margery Allingham, Edmund Crispin, Dennis Wheatley, Robert Bolt, Richard Hull, George Bellairs, Nicolas Freeling, John Creasey, Michael Innes and Evelyn Waugh.
Their works spans books including Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited,” Simenon’s Inspector Maigret novels, and Wheatley’s thrillers such as “The Devil Rides Out,” and Creasey’s “The Battle for Inspector West.”
Bolt, meanwhile, wrote the screenplays for “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Doctor Zhivago,” and “A Man for All Seasons,” “Ryan’s Daughter” and “The Mission.”
Peters, Fraser + Dunlop will continue to act as literary agent for the twelve estates.
Ilp launched last year to acquire the rights and manage IP from literary estates,...
The eight-figure multi-estates deal sees London and New York-based Ilp acquire the rights for the literary estates of writers Georges Simenon, Eric Ambler, Margery Allingham, Edmund Crispin, Dennis Wheatley, Robert Bolt, Richard Hull, George Bellairs, Nicolas Freeling, John Creasey, Michael Innes and Evelyn Waugh.
Their works spans books including Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited,” Simenon’s Inspector Maigret novels, and Wheatley’s thrillers such as “The Devil Rides Out,” and Creasey’s “The Battle for Inspector West.”
Bolt, meanwhile, wrote the screenplays for “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Doctor Zhivago,” and “A Man for All Seasons,” “Ryan’s Daughter” and “The Mission.”
Peters, Fraser + Dunlop will continue to act as literary agent for the twelve estates.
Ilp launched last year to acquire the rights and manage IP from literary estates,...
- 6/2/2020
- by Tim Dams
- Variety Film + TV
The literary estates of 12 late authors have been acquired by the newly formed London- and New York-based company International Literary Properties, with the hope that the properties can be adapted for film and TV.
The eight-figure deal was made with one of the longest-established literary and talent agencies in the U.K. — Peters, Fraser + Dunlop — and sees Ilp acquire the rights formerly held by the agency for the literary estates of Georges Simenon, Eric Ambler, Margery Allingham, Edmund Crispin, Dennis Wheatley, Robert Bolt, Richard Hull, George Bellairs, Nicolas Freeling, John Creasey, Michael Innes and Evelyn ...
The eight-figure deal was made with one of the longest-established literary and talent agencies in the U.K. — Peters, Fraser + Dunlop — and sees Ilp acquire the rights formerly held by the agency for the literary estates of Georges Simenon, Eric Ambler, Margery Allingham, Edmund Crispin, Dennis Wheatley, Robert Bolt, Richard Hull, George Bellairs, Nicolas Freeling, John Creasey, Michael Innes and Evelyn ...
The literary estates of 12 late authors have been acquired by the newly formed London- and New York-based company International Literary Properties, with the hope that the properties can be adapted for film and TV.
The eight-figure deal was made with one of the longest-established literary and talent agencies in the U.K. — Peters, Fraser + Dunlop — and sees Ilp acquire the rights formerly held by the agency for the literary estates of Georges Simenon, Eric Ambler, Margery Allingham, Edmund Crispin, Dennis Wheatley, Robert Bolt, Richard Hull, George Bellairs, Nicolas Freeling, John Creasey, Michael Innes and Evelyn ...
The eight-figure deal was made with one of the longest-established literary and talent agencies in the U.K. — Peters, Fraser + Dunlop — and sees Ilp acquire the rights formerly held by the agency for the literary estates of Georges Simenon, Eric Ambler, Margery Allingham, Edmund Crispin, Dennis Wheatley, Robert Bolt, Richard Hull, George Bellairs, Nicolas Freeling, John Creasey, Michael Innes and Evelyn ...
Raymond Benson and Peter Janson-Smith in Krakow.
By Raymond Benson
Peter Janson-Smith passed away on Friday, April 15, 2016, at the age of 93. He was a giant in the world of British publishing, a major figure in that arena for nearly seventy years. Serious James Bond fans will know him as Ian Fleming’s literary agent, the man who spearheaded the exploitation of Fleming’s 007 novels around the world from 1956 until Peter’s retirement in 2002.
On a personal level, Peter’s death is a great loss. For me, he was a mentor, a friend, a teacher, and someone I called my “English dad.” He was instrumental in the research for my 1984 book, The James Bond Bedside Companion, and he hired me to write the continuation James Bond novels in the mid-90s. In short, I owe much of my career to him.
Peter was born on September 5, 1922, in Navestock, England, which is...
By Raymond Benson
Peter Janson-Smith passed away on Friday, April 15, 2016, at the age of 93. He was a giant in the world of British publishing, a major figure in that arena for nearly seventy years. Serious James Bond fans will know him as Ian Fleming’s literary agent, the man who spearheaded the exploitation of Fleming’s 007 novels around the world from 1956 until Peter’s retirement in 2002.
On a personal level, Peter’s death is a great loss. For me, he was a mentor, a friend, a teacher, and someone I called my “English dad.” He was instrumental in the research for my 1984 book, The James Bond Bedside Companion, and he hired me to write the continuation James Bond novels in the mid-90s. In short, I owe much of my career to him.
Peter was born on September 5, 1922, in Navestock, England, which is...
- 4/28/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Fans of this show know it as the It's a Wonderful Life of war movies, an intensely moving tale that restores feeling and tenderness to people crippled by loss and despair. The stellar pairing of top star Gregory Peck and Burmese unknown Win Min Than is unique in movies and not to be missed. The Purple Plain Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1955 / Color /1:66 widescreen / 100 min. / Street Date April 5, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Gregory Peck, Win Min Than, Brenda De Banzie, Bernard Lee, Maurice Denham, Lyndon Brook, Anthony Bushell, Josephine Griffin Cinematography Geoffrey Unsworth Art Direction Donald M. Ashton, Jack Maxsted Film Editor Clive Donner Original Music John Veale Written by Eric Ambler from a novel by H.E. Bates Produced by John Bryan, Earl St. John Directed by Robert Parrish
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
How can one convey the way a picture grows on one? I liked The Purple Plain...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
How can one convey the way a picture grows on one? I liked The Purple Plain...
- 3/29/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Guns! Bombs! Assassinations! Blackmail! Fritz Lang invents the escapist super-spy thriller! To seize a set of political documents the evil Haghi dispatches the seductive agents Kitty and Sonya to neutralize a Japanese security man and our own top spy No. 236. (that's 007 x 33,714.2857!) It's a top-rank silent winner from the maker of Metropolis. Spies (Spione) Blu-ray Kino Classics 1928 / B&W /1:33 Silent Aperture / 150 min. / Street Date February 23, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Gerda Maurus, Lien Deyers, Willy Fritsch, Lupu Pick, Hertha von Walther, Fritz Rasp, Craighall Sherry, Hans Heinrich von Twardowsky, Gustl Gstettenbaur. Cinematography Fritz Arno Wagner Art Directors Otto Hunte, Karl Vollbrecht Set Designer Edgar G. Ulmer (reported) Original Music Werner R. Heymann (original) Neil Brand piano score on this disc. Written by Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou from her novel Produced by Erich Pommer Directed by Fritz Lang
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
How did Fritz Lang...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
How did Fritz Lang...
- 3/19/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In a novel effort to stress that film noir wasn’t a film movement specifically an output solely produced for American audiences, Kino Lorber releases a five disc set of obscure noir examples released in the UK. Spanning a near ten year period from 1943 to 1952, the titles displayed here do seem to chart a progression in tone, at least resulting in parallels with American counterparts. Though a couple of the selections here aren’t very noteworthy, either as artifacts of British noir or items worthy of reappraisal, it does contain items of considerable interest, including rare titles from forgotten or underrated auteurs like Ronald Neame, Roy Ward Baker, and Ralph Thomas.
They Met in the Dark
The earliest title in this collection is a 1943 title from Karel Lamac, They Met in the Dark, a pseudo-comedy noir that barely meets the criteria. Based on a novel by Anthony Gilbert (whose novel...
They Met in the Dark
The earliest title in this collection is a 1943 title from Karel Lamac, They Met in the Dark, a pseudo-comedy noir that barely meets the criteria. Based on a novel by Anthony Gilbert (whose novel...
- 8/24/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
The October Man
Written by Eric Ambler
Directed by Roy Ward Baker
U.K., 1947
Jim Ackland (John Mills) is riding the bus with his niece one dark and stormy night. The vehicle is filled to the brim with passengers, some fast asleep, others enjoying time with their loved ones. Fate sees that Jim’s life is turned upside down however, as a mechanical failure sends the bus off track, crashing into a wall. The last thing Jim recalls before blacking out is the harrowing horn of an oncoming train. Months later, Jim is finally relieved from his hospital stay, although warned by the doctor that his recovery from the fracture in his skull will require time, and that he may even experience difficult episodes of relapse. Confident that things are on the mend, Jim rents a hotel room as his new living quarters and finds employment at a nearby chemical lab.
Written by Eric Ambler
Directed by Roy Ward Baker
U.K., 1947
Jim Ackland (John Mills) is riding the bus with his niece one dark and stormy night. The vehicle is filled to the brim with passengers, some fast asleep, others enjoying time with their loved ones. Fate sees that Jim’s life is turned upside down however, as a mechanical failure sends the bus off track, crashing into a wall. The last thing Jim recalls before blacking out is the harrowing horn of an oncoming train. Months later, Jim is finally relieved from his hospital stay, although warned by the doctor that his recovery from the fracture in his skull will require time, and that he may even experience difficult episodes of relapse. Confident that things are on the mend, Jim rents a hotel room as his new living quarters and finds employment at a nearby chemical lab.
- 7/10/2015
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
'Henry V' Movie Actress Renée Asherson dead at 99: Laurence Olivier leading lady in acclaimed 1944 film (image: Renée Asherson and Laurence Olivier in 'Henry V') Renée Asherson, a British stage actress featured in London productions of A Streetcar Named Desire and Three Sisters, but best known internationally as Laurence Olivier's leading lady in the 1944 film version of Henry V, died on October 30, 2014. Asherson was 99 years old. The exact cause of death hasn't been specified. She was born Dorothy Renée Ascherson (she would drop the "c" some time after becoming an actress) on May 19, 1915, in Kensington, London, to Jewish parents: businessman Charles Ascherson and his second wife, Dorothy Wiseman -- both of whom narrowly escaped spending their honeymoon aboard the Titanic. (Ascherson cancelled the voyage after suffering an attack of appendicitis.) According to Michael Coveney's The Guardian obit for the actress, Renée Asherson was "scantly...
- 11/5/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Yippee-ki-yay! It's action-movie time! From Die Hard to Deliverance, here's what the Guardian and Observer's critics think are the 10 best ever made. Let us know what you think in the comments below
• Top 10 romantic movies
Peter Bradshaw on action movies
In some ways, it should be the quintessential cinema genre. After all, what does the director shout at the beginning of a take? Action – at times a euphemism for violence and machismo – evolved into a recognisable genre in the 80s. Gunplay and athleticism resurfaced in a sweatier and more explicitly violent form, with movies such as Sylvester Stallone's First Blood. The hardware was all-important, and the metallic sheen of the guns was something to be savoured alongside the musculature of the heroes. The genre spawned the action hero. These were not pretty-boys there to melt female hearts: they were there to get a roar of approval from the guys.
• Top 10 romantic movies
Peter Bradshaw on action movies
In some ways, it should be the quintessential cinema genre. After all, what does the director shout at the beginning of a take? Action – at times a euphemism for violence and machismo – evolved into a recognisable genre in the 80s. Gunplay and athleticism resurfaced in a sweatier and more explicitly violent form, with movies such as Sylvester Stallone's First Blood. The hardware was all-important, and the metallic sheen of the guns was something to be savoured alongside the musculature of the heroes. The genre spawned the action hero. These were not pretty-boys there to melt female hearts: they were there to get a roar of approval from the guys.
- 10/10/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
It's 1969, the King's Road is swinging and William Boyd has a lunch rendezvous with the subject of his latest novel, Solo – secret agent, 007. Don't miss Bond's Q&A
Time travel. 1969. Chelsea. There was an autumnal feel about the day as I emerged from the tube station at Sloane Square. Instinctively, I looked round over my right shoulder to see what was playing at the Royal Court. The Contractor by David Storey, directed by Lindsay Anderson. I hadn't seen that play – but then I had been a 17-year-old schoolboy in 1969, and my theatre-going life hadn't really started. It was strange being back in Chelsea in 1969, the year of the moon-landing, the year of my first summer in London. Stranger still to be going to interview James Bond.
I walked along the south side of Sloane Square heading for the King's Road. The curved art deco monolith of Peter Jones acting as...
Time travel. 1969. Chelsea. There was an autumnal feel about the day as I emerged from the tube station at Sloane Square. Instinctively, I looked round over my right shoulder to see what was playing at the Royal Court. The Contractor by David Storey, directed by Lindsay Anderson. I hadn't seen that play – but then I had been a 17-year-old schoolboy in 1969, and my theatre-going life hadn't really started. It was strange being back in Chelsea in 1969, the year of the moon-landing, the year of my first summer in London. Stranger still to be going to interview James Bond.
I walked along the south side of Sloane Square heading for the King's Road. The curved art deco monolith of Peter Jones acting as...
- 9/28/2013
- by William Boyd
- The Guardian - Film News
If not for a last minute change, legendary opera star Maria Callas would have been the female lead in The Guns of Navarone.
Opera superstar Maria Callas was set to make her movie debut in Carl Foreman’s iconic war film The Guns Of Navarone, according to a new book, The Making Of The Guns Of Navarone launched this weekend at the Bradford Widescreen Film Festival (April 26-29) by Scottish film historian Brian Hannan.
The singer had scandalised the world by her affair with Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, who would later marry Jackie Kennedy, widow of assassinated president John F Kennedy. Callas was first choice for the role of the older female Greek partisan. Producer Carl Foreman promised ‘mucho love scenes’ with star Gregory Peck.
Commented Hannan, ‘At the time, Maria Callas was the most famous woman in the world, a fiery mixture of Princess Diana and Madonna, the...
Opera superstar Maria Callas was set to make her movie debut in Carl Foreman’s iconic war film The Guns Of Navarone, according to a new book, The Making Of The Guns Of Navarone launched this weekend at the Bradford Widescreen Film Festival (April 26-29) by Scottish film historian Brian Hannan.
The singer had scandalised the world by her affair with Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, who would later marry Jackie Kennedy, widow of assassinated president John F Kennedy. Callas was first choice for the role of the older female Greek partisan. Producer Carl Foreman promised ‘mucho love scenes’ with star Gregory Peck.
Commented Hannan, ‘At the time, Maria Callas was the most famous woman in the world, a fiery mixture of Princess Diana and Madonna, the...
- 4/25/2013
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Here are two forthcoming books by author Brian Hannan that are sure to interest Cinema Retro readers:
The Making Of The Guns Of Navarone by Brian Hannan (published by Baroliant Press May 2013 £8.99)
History tells us The Guns Of Navarone was a huge critical and box office success. But for most of the filming and the run-up to release it didn’t look that way. Us producer Carl Foreman, a victim of the McCarty anti-communist witch-hunt of the early 1950s, lost his scriptwriter (Eric Ambler), preferred cast (William Holden and Cary Grant), director (Alexander Mackendrick), two leading ladies and very nearly one the stars, David Niven who almost died during shooting. Actor Gregory Peck turned into a potential liability after the disastrous box office of Beloved Infidel. Calling on new research material, Brian Hannan takes a fresh look at an old favourite, creating a snapshot, movie-wise, of the period.
The Making...
The Making Of The Guns Of Navarone by Brian Hannan (published by Baroliant Press May 2013 £8.99)
History tells us The Guns Of Navarone was a huge critical and box office success. But for most of the filming and the run-up to release it didn’t look that way. Us producer Carl Foreman, a victim of the McCarty anti-communist witch-hunt of the early 1950s, lost his scriptwriter (Eric Ambler), preferred cast (William Holden and Cary Grant), director (Alexander Mackendrick), two leading ladies and very nearly one the stars, David Niven who almost died during shooting. Actor Gregory Peck turned into a potential liability after the disastrous box office of Beloved Infidel. Calling on new research material, Brian Hannan takes a fresh look at an old favourite, creating a snapshot, movie-wise, of the period.
The Making...
- 3/22/2013
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
The gray rolling seas thundered through the forest of pilings under the piers, sometimes cresting enough to send a geyser of wind-whipped froth up onto the decking. Other places, it poured through the gaps the wind and tide had eaten through the dunes and poured into the beach town streets. It pulled boats large and small from their moorings in the lagoon marinas and piled them like a child’s toys up on the land. Some in apartment buildings would tell of the cars in the ground level garage floating against each other bathtub playthings. But there was nothing childlike in the way it took entire houses, made seaside villages look like an extension of the ocean and not the land.
For the day and a half I watched Hurricane Sandy pound my home state of New Jersey – which was all the time I had before I lost my cable...
For the day and a half I watched Hurricane Sandy pound my home state of New Jersey – which was all the time I had before I lost my cable...
- 11/2/2012
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
The daughter of legendary movie mogul Harry Saltzman insists 007 fans shouldn't be surprised to learn Alfred Hitchcock was considered to direct the first James Bond film - because her dad, his business partner Cubby Broccoli and author Ian Fleming had a series of wacky ideas as they plotted the iconic film projects.
A recently uncovered telegram from Fleming to novelist Eric Ambler in 1959 suggests the writer was considering Hitchcock for the first Bond film, which was initially set to be Thunderball.
Saltzman, Broccoli and the 007 creator eventually settled on Terence Young, who picked Sean Connery to play Bond over Cary Grant - the best man at Saltzman's wedding - and Roger Moore, who eventually took over the role from Connery.
And they decided to make Dr. No the first film. Thunderball became the fourth Bond movie in the series.
Saltzman's daughter Hilary tells WENN, "I've never heard about the telegram before, but Fleming was legendary for floating constant ideas about re casting and possible directors... probably too many.
"Don't forget, he also wanted his next-door neighbour Noel Coward to play the role of Dr. No... and my father contacted Salvador Dali because he wanted him to design the tarot cards for Live and Let Die! They all had wild ideas."...
A recently uncovered telegram from Fleming to novelist Eric Ambler in 1959 suggests the writer was considering Hitchcock for the first Bond film, which was initially set to be Thunderball.
Saltzman, Broccoli and the 007 creator eventually settled on Terence Young, who picked Sean Connery to play Bond over Cary Grant - the best man at Saltzman's wedding - and Roger Moore, who eventually took over the role from Connery.
And they decided to make Dr. No the first film. Thunderball became the fourth Bond movie in the series.
Saltzman's daughter Hilary tells WENN, "I've never heard about the telegram before, but Fleming was legendary for floating constant ideas about re casting and possible directors... probably too many.
"Don't forget, he also wanted his next-door neighbour Noel Coward to play the role of Dr. No... and my father contacted Salvador Dali because he wanted him to design the tarot cards for Live and Let Die! They all had wild ideas."...
- 5/21/2012
- WENN
Alfred Hitchcock was James Bond creator Ian Fleming's top pick to direct the first 007 film, according to a newly discovered letter.
In a telegram sent to mutual friend and novelist Eric Ambler in 1959, Fleming asks whether the horror master was available to make Thunderball.
The message reads, "Would Hitchcock be interested in directing?"
Fleming goes on to outline the film's plot in the telegram, which has been published on website Letters Of Note, but Hitchcock turned down the offer because he was busy working on Psycho.
Filmmaker Terence Young stepped in after it was decided Dr. No would be the first Bond movie, starring Sir Sean Connery as the superspy.
Thunderball later became the fourth Bond movie in the series.
In a telegram sent to mutual friend and novelist Eric Ambler in 1959, Fleming asks whether the horror master was available to make Thunderball.
The message reads, "Would Hitchcock be interested in directing?"
Fleming goes on to outline the film's plot in the telegram, which has been published on website Letters Of Note, but Hitchcock turned down the offer because he was busy working on Psycho.
Filmmaker Terence Young stepped in after it was decided Dr. No would be the first Bond movie, starring Sir Sean Connery as the superspy.
Thunderball later became the fourth Bond movie in the series.
- 5/16/2012
- WENN
London, May 16: A secret telegram has surfaced which shows that James Bond creator Ian Fleming wanted Alfred Hitchcock to direct the first 007 flick.
Fleming sent the communique in 1959, where he asked Hitchcock to take the helm of the first Bond film through a mutual friend, the Daily Mail reported.
Outlining the plot, the telegram was sent to novelist Eric Ambler, asking: "Would Hitchcock be interested?"
"Have written Bond movie treatment featuring Mafia stolen atomic bomber blackmail of England culminating Nassau with extensive.
Fleming sent the communique in 1959, where he asked Hitchcock to take the helm of the first Bond film through a mutual friend, the Daily Mail reported.
Outlining the plot, the telegram was sent to novelist Eric Ambler, asking: "Would Hitchcock be interested?"
"Have written Bond movie treatment featuring Mafia stolen atomic bomber blackmail of England culminating Nassau with extensive.
- 5/16/2012
- by Rahul Kapoor
- RealBollywood.com
Titanic
Written and directed by James Cameron
USA, 1997
A Night to Remember
Written by Eric Ambler
Directed by Roy Ward Baker
UK, 1958
Marking the 100th anniversary of the disaster, the two most famous films about the Titanic sinking have received the restoration and re-release treatment, albeit one of them on a much grander scale. The 1958 British production A Night to Remember, from director Roy Ward Baker, has been given a new digital restoration, receiving blu-ray treatment in North America courtesy of The Criterion Collection and a limited theatrical run in select cities in the United Kingdom. James Cameron’s Titanic, meanwhile, has been converted into 3D for a worldwide re-release. This revival of the world’s previous highest grossing film allows for re-evaluation on the part of its critics, re-familiarisation for its fans, and a chance for those who missed it on the big screen the first time round, like this writer,...
Written and directed by James Cameron
USA, 1997
A Night to Remember
Written by Eric Ambler
Directed by Roy Ward Baker
UK, 1958
Marking the 100th anniversary of the disaster, the two most famous films about the Titanic sinking have received the restoration and re-release treatment, albeit one of them on a much grander scale. The 1958 British production A Night to Remember, from director Roy Ward Baker, has been given a new digital restoration, receiving blu-ray treatment in North America courtesy of The Criterion Collection and a limited theatrical run in select cities in the United Kingdom. James Cameron’s Titanic, meanwhile, has been converted into 3D for a worldwide re-release. This revival of the world’s previous highest grossing film allows for re-evaluation on the part of its critics, re-familiarisation for its fans, and a chance for those who missed it on the big screen the first time round, like this writer,...
- 4/14/2012
- by Josh Slater-Williams
- SoundOnSight
DVD Playhouse—April 2012
By Allen Gardner
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Warner Bros.) An eleven year-old boy (newcomer Thomas Horn, in an incredible debut) discovers a mysterious key amongst the possessions of his late father (Tom Hanks) who perished in 9/11. Determined to find the lock it matches, the boy embarks on a Picaresque odyssey across New York City. Director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter Eric Roth have fashioned a film both grand and intimate, beautifully-adapted from Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, thought by most who read it to be unfilmable. Fine support from Jeffrey Wright, Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, Viola Davis and the great Max von Sydow. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.
Battle Royale: The Complete Collection (Anchor Bay) Adapted from Koushun Takami’s polarizing novel (compared by champions and detractors alike as a 21st century version of A Clockwork Orange) and set in a futuristic Japan,...
By Allen Gardner
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Warner Bros.) An eleven year-old boy (newcomer Thomas Horn, in an incredible debut) discovers a mysterious key amongst the possessions of his late father (Tom Hanks) who perished in 9/11. Determined to find the lock it matches, the boy embarks on a Picaresque odyssey across New York City. Director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter Eric Roth have fashioned a film both grand and intimate, beautifully-adapted from Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, thought by most who read it to be unfilmable. Fine support from Jeffrey Wright, Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, Viola Davis and the great Max von Sydow. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.
Battle Royale: The Complete Collection (Anchor Bay) Adapted from Koushun Takami’s polarizing novel (compared by champions and detractors alike as a 21st century version of A Clockwork Orange) and set in a futuristic Japan,...
- 4/13/2012
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
"It may not be true that 'the three most written-about subjects of all time are Jesus, the Civil War, and the Titanic,' as one historian has put it, but it's not much of an exaggeration," writes Daniel Mendelsohn in this week's New Yorker. "Since the early morning of April 15, 1912, when the great liner went to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, taking with it five grand pianos, eight thousand dinner forks, an automobile, a fifty-line telephone switchboard, twenty-nine boilers, a jeweled copy of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam, and more than fifteen hundred lives, the writing hasn't stopped."
What follows is an epic and irresistibly readable survey of 100 years' worth of Titanic lore. The disaster immediately inspired a "glut" of poems, "more than a hundred songs," countless histories, novels and plays and, of course, innumerable films, both narrative and documentary:
A scant month after the sinking, a one-reel movie...
What follows is an epic and irresistibly readable survey of 100 years' worth of Titanic lore. The disaster immediately inspired a "glut" of poems, "more than a hundred songs," countless histories, novels and plays and, of course, innumerable films, both narrative and documentary:
A scant month after the sinking, a one-reel movie...
- 4/10/2012
- MUBI
A Night to Remember Directed by Roy Ward Baker Written by Eric Ambler Starring: Kenneth More, Ronald Allen, Robert Ayres, Honor Blackman With the 100 year anniversary of the Titanic disaster coming up on April 15th, one can expect an onslaught of television specials, films, and books looking back at one of the world's worst nautical disasters. Criterion's blu ray release of Roy Ward Baker's 1958 docudrama A Night to Remember is a strategically timed reminder that before James Cameron's 'Romeo and Juliet on a boat', there was this detailed, cinematic account of the sinking of an otherwise unsinkable ship. I think synopsizing the events that took place during the Titanic's maiden voyage is pretty much pointless at this point. After James Cameron's romantic take on the story became one of the top grossing films of all time, everybody seems to be familiar with the basic chain of events.
- 4/9/2012
- by Jay C.
- FilmJunk
There's a foretaste of the Somme and a whole social order being upended in Roy Ward Baker's film
Ah, the many Proustian pleasures to be derived from a renewed acquaintance with Roy Ward Baker's 1958 Titanic melodrama A Night To Remember ... Last seen by me on some wintry Sunday afternoon in the prepubescent early 1970s, probably in the same post-prandial time-slot where I first encountered The Cockleshell Heroes, Carve Her Name With Pride and The Colditz Story – the dull roar of British postwar self-congratulation on film. It has lingered clearly in my head in a way none of those others ever did, and come back fresh as ever.
Certain pleasures derive from familiarity: any waterborne or storm-tossed movie made in Britain in those years fetched up sooner or later in what I've always thought of as "the Ealing tank", although here it's the equally ripple-free Pinewood tank, abetted, pricelessly,...
Ah, the many Proustian pleasures to be derived from a renewed acquaintance with Roy Ward Baker's 1958 Titanic melodrama A Night To Remember ... Last seen by me on some wintry Sunday afternoon in the prepubescent early 1970s, probably in the same post-prandial time-slot where I first encountered The Cockleshell Heroes, Carve Her Name With Pride and The Colditz Story – the dull roar of British postwar self-congratulation on film. It has lingered clearly in my head in a way none of those others ever did, and come back fresh as ever.
Certain pleasures derive from familiarity: any waterborne or storm-tossed movie made in Britain in those years fetched up sooner or later in what I've always thought of as "the Ealing tank", although here it's the equally ripple-free Pinewood tank, abetted, pricelessly,...
- 4/6/2012
- by John Patterson
- The Guardian - Film News
Gary Oldman gives us a Smiley to equal Alec Guinness's in this triumphant adaptation of John le Carré's masterpiece
Directed by Tomas Alfredson, who made the subtly suggestive Swedish vampire movie Let the Right One In, and adapted by the British husband and wife team, Peter Straughan and the late Bridget O'Connor, this is as lucid and accomplished a screen version of a long, complicated novel as I have seen. John le Carré is still best known for The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, his realistic 1963 riposte to the then burgeoning cult of James Bond, the title of which immediately entered the language alongside Graham Greene's The Third Man and Our Man in Havana.
But the book that changed the course of espionage fiction came 11 years later. Following his single excursion into conventional psychological fiction (The Naive and Sentimental Lover), le Carré's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier,...
Directed by Tomas Alfredson, who made the subtly suggestive Swedish vampire movie Let the Right One In, and adapted by the British husband and wife team, Peter Straughan and the late Bridget O'Connor, this is as lucid and accomplished a screen version of a long, complicated novel as I have seen. John le Carré is still best known for The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, his realistic 1963 riposte to the then burgeoning cult of James Bond, the title of which immediately entered the language alongside Graham Greene's The Third Man and Our Man in Havana.
But the book that changed the course of espionage fiction came 11 years later. Following his single excursion into conventional psychological fiction (The Naive and Sentimental Lover), le Carré's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier,...
- 9/17/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
The Big Picture explores a question that has long fascinated readers and writers – the situation of people who disappear from their everyday lives to hide, take on new identities or are never seen again. In real life, the inventor Rudolf Diesel and the writer Ambrose Bierce both disappeared in 1913; in 1920, the ex-Labour MP Victor Grayson vanished in London, possibly abducted to prevent him exposing governmental corruption. In his short story Wakefield, Nathaniel Hawthorne explores the mind of a middle-class Victorian Londoner who drops out to hide for 20 years a street away from his old home, and in The Third Man Graham Greene (possibly borrowing the idea from Eric Ambler's The Mask of Dimitrios) created an antihero who fakes his own death. In Patricia Highsmith's twice-filmed The Talented Mr Ripley, a villain takes over the identity of a dead man, a device brilliantly used in Antonioni's The Passenger and...
- 7/25/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
A bitter post-second world war conflict between Dutch colonialists and local nationalists followed the liberation of Indonesia from the Japanese occupation and led to the creation of the present republic, largest of all Islamic states. Apart from documentaries, it hasn't attracted much attention, and the only enduring literary work of interest it has inspired is Eric Ambler's 1956 thriller The Night-Comers. This situation has not really been radically altered by the Freedom trilogy, an epic account of the struggle, made by an Indonesian director working with American writers and technicians, the first part of which is Red & White, the colours of the patriotic insurgents.
Unfortunately, Red & White is a conventional, unilluminating work, lacking historical context and individual characterisation, the best scenes being old black-and-white newsreels that accompany the final credits. The Dutch troops are sadistic racists, massacring anyone who stands in their way. Their opponents, a group of officer cadets trained to lead the liberation,...
Unfortunately, Red & White is a conventional, unilluminating work, lacking historical context and individual characterisation, the best scenes being old black-and-white newsreels that accompany the final credits. The Dutch troops are sadistic racists, massacring anyone who stands in their way. Their opponents, a group of officer cadets trained to lead the liberation,...
- 11/7/2010
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Film director whose quirky career covered sci-fi, westerns, drama and Hammer horror
Roy Ward Baker, who has died aged 93, progressed from teaboy to director of sturdy British dramas to weird Hammer horrors, via Hollywood. It was a rather quirky career for a very straightforward man. Baker – who directed Marilyn Monroe in Don't Bother to Knock and made the camp Mexican western The Singer Not the Song, the lesbian The Vampire Lovers and the transsexual Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde – insisted on calling himself "a simple-minded English lad". Perhaps the film closest to his personality was A Night to Remember (1958), which many would argue is the best of the cinematic versions of the story of the sinking of the Titanic.
Roy Horace Baker (he frequently replaced his middle name with Ward, his mother's maiden name) was born in London into a middle-class family. As a boy, he was sent to study...
Roy Ward Baker, who has died aged 93, progressed from teaboy to director of sturdy British dramas to weird Hammer horrors, via Hollywood. It was a rather quirky career for a very straightforward man. Baker – who directed Marilyn Monroe in Don't Bother to Knock and made the camp Mexican western The Singer Not the Song, the lesbian The Vampire Lovers and the transsexual Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde – insisted on calling himself "a simple-minded English lad". Perhaps the film closest to his personality was A Night to Remember (1958), which many would argue is the best of the cinematic versions of the story of the sinking of the Titanic.
Roy Horace Baker (he frequently replaced his middle name with Ward, his mother's maiden name) was born in London into a middle-class family. As a boy, he was sent to study...
- 10/8/2010
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Because, you know, why even bring up something such as "the pulp imagination of Eric Rohmer" when such a quality is never manifested in any of his films?
Or is it?
First, to the question of why even bring it up. Well, it's the pseudonym. Maurice Scherer, "Momo" to his pals, supposedly chose the name Eric Rohmer our of respect for two authors: Eric Ambler, the British and relatively respectable creator of spy thrillers such as The Mask of Dmitrios; and Sax Rohmer, the altogether more disreputable creator of that racist embodiment of the, ahem, "Yellow Peril," the arch-villain Fu Manchu. So he must have liked that kind of thing. You'd not likely get this from his films, which are peopled with largely refined and cultivated characters who almost unfailingly maintain a sense of good taste even as Rohmer is peeling back their façades and dissecting their rather silly and sometimes profoundly sad emotional cores.
Or is it?
First, to the question of why even bring it up. Well, it's the pseudonym. Maurice Scherer, "Momo" to his pals, supposedly chose the name Eric Rohmer our of respect for two authors: Eric Ambler, the British and relatively respectable creator of spy thrillers such as The Mask of Dmitrios; and Sax Rohmer, the altogether more disreputable creator of that racist embodiment of the, ahem, "Yellow Peril," the arch-villain Fu Manchu. So he must have liked that kind of thing. You'd not likely get this from his films, which are peopled with largely refined and cultivated characters who almost unfailingly maintain a sense of good taste even as Rohmer is peeling back their façades and dissecting their rather silly and sometimes profoundly sad emotional cores.
- 8/25/2010
- MUBI
Producer, director and cinematographer of many well-loved British film classics, including Oliver Twist, Tunes of Glory and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
The producer, director, writer and cinematographer Ronald Neame, who has died aged 99, played an important role in British cinema for more than half a century. The critic Matthew Sweet once called him "a living embodiment of cinema, a sort of one-man world heritage site". Neame was assistant director to Alfred Hitchcock on Blackmail (1929), the first British talkie; he was the cinematographer on In Which We Serve (1942), Noël Coward's moving tribute to the Royal Navy during the second world war; he co-produced and co-wrote David Lean's Brief Encounter (1945) and Great Expectations (1946); and he directed Alec Guinness in two of his best roles, in The Horse's Mouth (1958) and Tunes of Glory (1960). As if this wasn't enough, Neame also conquered Hollywoo d with one of the first and most successful disaster movies,...
The producer, director, writer and cinematographer Ronald Neame, who has died aged 99, played an important role in British cinema for more than half a century. The critic Matthew Sweet once called him "a living embodiment of cinema, a sort of one-man world heritage site". Neame was assistant director to Alfred Hitchcock on Blackmail (1929), the first British talkie; he was the cinematographer on In Which We Serve (1942), Noël Coward's moving tribute to the Royal Navy during the second world war; he co-produced and co-wrote David Lean's Brief Encounter (1945) and Great Expectations (1946); and he directed Alec Guinness in two of his best roles, in The Horse's Mouth (1958) and Tunes of Glory (1960). As if this wasn't enough, Neame also conquered Hollywoo d with one of the first and most successful disaster movies,...
- 6/20/2010
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Actor Pierce Brosnan is going to be around a lot in the coming months with key roles in a number of films including Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer and the romantic drama Remember Me . At the junket for Chris Columbus' fantasy-adventure epic Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief , in which Brosnan plays a centaur named Chiron, ComingSoon.net asked him if he had any update on the proposed sequel to his 1999 thriller The Thomas Crown Affair , last mentioned almost two years ago, to be based on the 1964 Peter Ustinov film Topkapi and Eric Ambler's novel "Light of Day." The last word was that Paul Verhoeven might direct and that Angelina Jolie would co-star with Brosnan, so we quickly asked the actor if there was any progress on the sequel....
- 2/5/2010
- Comingsoon.net
Not sure what to watch? We can help with our comprehensive guide to the best films on TV this Christmas and new year
Choose a date
Saturday 19 December | Sunday 20 December | Monday 21 December | Tuesday 22 December | Wednesday 23 December |Christmas Eve | Christmas Day | Boxing Day | Sunday 27 December | Monday 28 December | Tuesday 29 December | Wednesday 30 December | New Year's Eve | New Year's Day
Saturday 19 December
Yes Man (Peyton Reed, 2008)
10am, 8pm, Sky Movies Premiere
Remember Jim Carrey in Liar, Liar, where he forces himself to tell the truth for 24 hours? Well, here Jim Carrey forces himself to answer yes to any request, for a year. Which is upping the ante somewhat, but doesn't make it a better film. This is a return to the manic, gurning, not-very-funny Carrey, as if The Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine etc hadn't happened. Just say no.
The Golden Compass (Chris Weitz, 2007)
11.40am, 8pm, Sky Movies Family
What with Harry Potter, Narnia, Lemony Snicket and all,...
Choose a date
Saturday 19 December | Sunday 20 December | Monday 21 December | Tuesday 22 December | Wednesday 23 December |Christmas Eve | Christmas Day | Boxing Day | Sunday 27 December | Monday 28 December | Tuesday 29 December | Wednesday 30 December | New Year's Eve | New Year's Day
Saturday 19 December
Yes Man (Peyton Reed, 2008)
10am, 8pm, Sky Movies Premiere
Remember Jim Carrey in Liar, Liar, where he forces himself to tell the truth for 24 hours? Well, here Jim Carrey forces himself to answer yes to any request, for a year. Which is upping the ante somewhat, but doesn't make it a better film. This is a return to the manic, gurning, not-very-funny Carrey, as if The Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine etc hadn't happened. Just say no.
The Golden Compass (Chris Weitz, 2007)
11.40am, 8pm, Sky Movies Family
What with Harry Potter, Narnia, Lemony Snicket and all,...
- 12/18/2009
- by Paul Howlett
- The Guardian - Film News
No. 57: Joan Greenwood 1921-87
Born in London, daughter of the painter Sydney Earnshaw Greenwood, she was trained at Rada and became one of the most enchanting stage, screen and TV actresses of her time. There were the quizzical eyes, the neat face with its provocative nose and the slight, firm body which looked good in off-the-shoulder dresses in such period movies as the elegant Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948), the dire The Bad Lord Byron (1949) and Tony Richardson's Oscar-winning Tom Jones (1963). Above all, there was that voice - husky, seductive, felinely purring.
Leslie Howard gave Greenwood her first significant film role in The Gentle Sex (1943), his Second World War, morale-boosting tribute to the gutsy Ats girls. Her first major performance, however, was in The October Man (1947), produced and written by Eric Ambler, where she protects amnesiac John Mills when he's framed for murder.
Continue reading...
Born in London, daughter of the painter Sydney Earnshaw Greenwood, she was trained at Rada and became one of the most enchanting stage, screen and TV actresses of her time. There were the quizzical eyes, the neat face with its provocative nose and the slight, firm body which looked good in off-the-shoulder dresses in such period movies as the elegant Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948), the dire The Bad Lord Byron (1949) and Tony Richardson's Oscar-winning Tom Jones (1963). Above all, there was that voice - husky, seductive, felinely purring.
Leslie Howard gave Greenwood her first significant film role in The Gentle Sex (1943), his Second World War, morale-boosting tribute to the gutsy Ats girls. Her first major performance, however, was in The October Man (1947), produced and written by Eric Ambler, where she protects amnesiac John Mills when he's framed for murder.
Continue reading...
- 5/23/2009
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Paul Verhoeven is coming back to Hollywood.
The Dutch helmer is set to direct the sequel to 1999's The Thomas Crown Affair for MGM. It will be his first American film since 2000's Hollow Man.
Now titled The Thomas Crown Affair 2, the film is based on the 1964 MGM film Topkapi and the novel The Light of Day by Eric Ambler. The project has been in development since 2002.
Set in Europe and the Middle East, the story revolves around the adventures of Crown as he becomes entangled in a centuries-old feud and must decide how much he's willing to risk for love.
Pierce Brosnan, who is producing the film through his Irish DreamTime shingle, is set to reprise his role as the self-made billionaire.
Verhoeven quickly made Hollywood's A-list of directors with 1990's Total Recall and 1992's Basic Instinct, but after movies like 1995's poorly received Showgirls, his status fell. After returning to the Netherlands, his career was revived after he received critical acclaim for last year's2006's Black Book.
Verhoeven is repped by UTA, manager Marion Rosenberg and attorney Tom Hansen.
The Dutch helmer is set to direct the sequel to 1999's The Thomas Crown Affair for MGM. It will be his first American film since 2000's Hollow Man.
Now titled The Thomas Crown Affair 2, the film is based on the 1964 MGM film Topkapi and the novel The Light of Day by Eric Ambler. The project has been in development since 2002.
Set in Europe and the Middle East, the story revolves around the adventures of Crown as he becomes entangled in a centuries-old feud and must decide how much he's willing to risk for love.
Pierce Brosnan, who is producing the film through his Irish DreamTime shingle, is set to reprise his role as the self-made billionaire.
Verhoeven quickly made Hollywood's A-list of directors with 1990's Total Recall and 1992's Basic Instinct, but after movies like 1995's poorly received Showgirls, his status fell. After returning to the Netherlands, his career was revived after he received critical acclaim for last year's2006's Black Book.
Verhoeven is repped by UTA, manager Marion Rosenberg and attorney Tom Hansen.
- 11/13/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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