Ever since movies began, filmmakers have depicted the end of the world of the world on screen whether it be from floods, asteroids, comets, alien invasion and even Zombies. But cinema went nuclear after the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945. The arrival of the nuclear age heralded the introduction of a new sub-genre: destruction by atomic bomb. And with the release July 21 of Christopher Nolan’s lauded “Oppenheimer,” which domestically earned some $70 million in its opening weekend, let’s look at some of the vintage flicks of the genre.
Nuclear destruction of London is stopped at the last moment in the taut 1950 British film “Seven Days to Noon,” directed by John and Roy Boulting and winners of the original story Oscar, stars veteran character actor Barry Jones as a brilliant scientist working at an atomic research center in London who steals an A-bomb that...
Nuclear destruction of London is stopped at the last moment in the taut 1950 British film “Seven Days to Noon,” directed by John and Roy Boulting and winners of the original story Oscar, stars veteran character actor Barry Jones as a brilliant scientist working at an atomic research center in London who steals an A-bomb that...
- 7/25/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Clockwise from left: Creature From The Black Lagoon (Universal), Elemental (Pixar), Friday The 13th Part 3 (Paramount), Jaws 3D (Universal), PhotoAlto/Odilon Dimier (Getty Images)Graphic: AVClub
Few moviegoing experiences are as discouraging as finding the perfect showtime for one of the year’s most-anticipated movies, only to discover it’s playing in 3D.
Few moviegoing experiences are as discouraging as finding the perfect showtime for one of the year’s most-anticipated movies, only to discover it’s playing in 3D.
- 6/12/2023
- by Richard Newby
- avclub.com
Thrillers from the Vault – 8 Classic Films
Blu-ray
Mill Creek Entertainment
1941, 1942, 1943, 1951 / B&w / 1.33: 1 / Blu ray
Starring Boris Karloff, Anne Revere, Peter Lorre, Bela Lugosi
Written by Robert Andrews, Edwin Blum, Randall Faye, Arch Oboler
Directed by Edward Dmytryk, Lew Landers, Arch Oboler
This is part two of a review for Mill Creek Entertainment’s Thrillers from the Vault, 8 Classics Films. Part one can be found here.
The Devil Commands is a hell of a title, and it’s a pretty good movie too. Released in 1941, Edward Dmytryk’s spookfest stars Boris Karloff as Julian Blair, a scientist whose experiments are a family affair—his wife Helen is one of his subjects.
Blair achieves his goal—a machine that records thought processes—but on a night he should be celebrating, his wife is killed in a car crash. Something breaks inside Blair and when he discovers that Helen may continue to live on through his invention,...
Blu-ray
Mill Creek Entertainment
1941, 1942, 1943, 1951 / B&w / 1.33: 1 / Blu ray
Starring Boris Karloff, Anne Revere, Peter Lorre, Bela Lugosi
Written by Robert Andrews, Edwin Blum, Randall Faye, Arch Oboler
Directed by Edward Dmytryk, Lew Landers, Arch Oboler
This is part two of a review for Mill Creek Entertainment’s Thrillers from the Vault, 8 Classics Films. Part one can be found here.
The Devil Commands is a hell of a title, and it’s a pretty good movie too. Released in 1941, Edward Dmytryk’s spookfest stars Boris Karloff as Julian Blair, a scientist whose experiments are a family affair—his wife Helen is one of his subjects.
Blair achieves his goal—a machine that records thought processes—but on a night he should be celebrating, his wife is killed in a car crash. Something breaks inside Blair and when he discovers that Helen may continue to live on through his invention,...
- 3/4/2023
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
1982 was a watershed year in terms of theatrical exhibition. The hit-cluttered summer release schedule -- which included all-timers like "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," "Poltergeist" and "An Officer and a Gentleman" -- firmly established the season as a commercial goldmine. Tucked in between the blockbusters and bombs was the modest sensation of "Friday the 13th Part 3." Directed by steady studio hand Steve Miner, the second sequel in the Paramount franchise sought to spice up its slasher formula by shooting in native 3D.
The format gamble worked. "Friday the 13th Part 3" opened to a then massive 9.3 million over the August 13 weekend, outgrossing "E.T." and compelling studios to consider wringing a few extra drops out of their flagging franchises by embracing the outmoded optical gimmickry. It worked -- for a couple of years, at least.
Jason Voorhees Has Entered The Theater
The "golden era" of 3D kicked off in 1952 with Arch Oboler's "Bwana Devil,...
The format gamble worked. "Friday the 13th Part 3" opened to a then massive 9.3 million over the August 13 weekend, outgrossing "E.T." and compelling studios to consider wringing a few extra drops out of their flagging franchises by embracing the outmoded optical gimmickry. It worked -- for a couple of years, at least.
Jason Voorhees Has Entered The Theater
The "golden era" of 3D kicked off in 1952 with Arch Oboler's "Bwana Devil,...
- 8/13/2022
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Another key ’50s sci-fi makes it to Blu-ray in an admirable encoding. Roger Corman’s end-of-the-world survivalist struggle against radioactive mist and three-eyed mutants shines in the glory of Superscope: Richard Denning and cute Lori Nelson must contend with a human monster in Touch Connors’ gangster. Adele Jergens spices things up, while Paul Birch delivers downer sermons about doomsday. It’s a truly marvelous atom fable, full of fanciful silly-science that makes for good storytelling. With a commentary by Tom Weaver. And don’t forget to click the ‘Rhododendron’ link.
Day the World Ended
Blu-ray
1955 / B&w / 2.00:1 widescreen / 79 min. / Street Date December 21, 2021
Starring: Richard Denning, Lori Nelson, Adele Jergens, Touch Connors, Paul Birch, Raymond Hatton, Paul Dubov, Jonathan Haze, Paul Blaisdell, Chet Huntley (voice).
Cinematography: Jock Feindel
Set Decoration: Harry Reif
Film Editor: Ronald Sinclair
Special Effects: Paul Blaisdell
Original Music: Ronald Stein
Written by Lou Rusoff
Executive Producer:...
Day the World Ended
Blu-ray
1955 / B&w / 2.00:1 widescreen / 79 min. / Street Date December 21, 2021
Starring: Richard Denning, Lori Nelson, Adele Jergens, Touch Connors, Paul Birch, Raymond Hatton, Paul Dubov, Jonathan Haze, Paul Blaisdell, Chet Huntley (voice).
Cinematography: Jock Feindel
Set Decoration: Harry Reif
Film Editor: Ronald Sinclair
Special Effects: Paul Blaisdell
Original Music: Ronald Stein
Written by Lou Rusoff
Executive Producer:...
- 1/4/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The first post-nuclear science fiction thriller is a grim & gripping end-of-the-world tale with rough content for its year. Arch Oboler’s best movie watches as five motley survivors discover that their pre-apocalyptic prejudices have survived as well, precipitating a savage struggle in the shadow of doom. The filming was an artistic collaboration with established film theorists and their film-student disciples — call it ‘lyrical neorealism.’ For its world debut on Blu-ray, the atomic classic is given a new transfer and new extras.
Five
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 33
1951 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 91 min. / Street Date February 23, 2021 / Available from Viavision / $34.95 au
Starring: William Phipps, Susan Douglas, James Anderson, Charles Lampkin, Earl Lee.
Cinematographic Consultant: Louis Clyde Stoumen
Photography, Editing and Production assistance: Sid Lubow, Ed Spiegel, Arthur Swerdloff
Film Editor: John Hoffman
Production Design: Arch Oboler
Original Music: Henry Russell
Poem by James Weldon Johnson
Written, Produced and Directed by Arch Oboler
Making something new...
Five
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 33
1951 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 91 min. / Street Date February 23, 2021 / Available from Viavision / $34.95 au
Starring: William Phipps, Susan Douglas, James Anderson, Charles Lampkin, Earl Lee.
Cinematographic Consultant: Louis Clyde Stoumen
Photography, Editing and Production assistance: Sid Lubow, Ed Spiegel, Arthur Swerdloff
Film Editor: John Hoffman
Production Design: Arch Oboler
Original Music: Henry Russell
Poem by James Weldon Johnson
Written, Produced and Directed by Arch Oboler
Making something new...
- 3/23/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Hal Willner, a longtime sketch music producer for Saturday Night Live and a music producer and compiler of tribute albums and concerts, died Monday of complications related to Covid-19, according to multiple reports. He was 64.
Willner, who joined SNL in 1981, also produced albums for such artists as Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Marianne Faithfull and Lucinda Williams. He was a score producer for films including Finding Forrester (2000) and Gangs of New York (2002) and served as a music consultant or supervisor on Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), Bewitched (2005) and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), among many other credits.
More from DeadlineNotable Hollywood & Entertainment Industry Deaths In 2020: Photo GalleryAllen Garfield Dies: Veteran Film Actor Had Covid-19 Complications, Was 80'snl's Michael Che Says He Lost His Grandmother To Coronavirus: "I'm Obviously Hurt And Angry"
“As unique a person I ever had the fortune to cross paths with,” tweeted Seth Meyers,...
Willner, who joined SNL in 1981, also produced albums for such artists as Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Marianne Faithfull and Lucinda Williams. He was a score producer for films including Finding Forrester (2000) and Gangs of New York (2002) and served as a music consultant or supervisor on Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), Bewitched (2005) and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), among many other credits.
More from DeadlineNotable Hollywood & Entertainment Industry Deaths In 2020: Photo GalleryAllen Garfield Dies: Veteran Film Actor Had Covid-19 Complications, Was 80'snl's Michael Che Says He Lost His Grandmother To Coronavirus: "I'm Obviously Hurt And Angry"
“As unique a person I ever had the fortune to cross paths with,” tweeted Seth Meyers,...
- 4/7/2020
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Verily, Blu-ray 3-D is better than most theatrical 3-D! Paramount’s fourth and last 3-D production went out to theaters only in 2-D, so for all practical terms this Kino/3D Archive restoration is a depth-format premiere. Expect a kissing scene or two: lusty Fernando (¿Quién es más macho?) Lamas and demure Rhonda Fleming succumb to the sweaty allure of the tropics. He pushes the sex appeal more than she does! Together they take a 3-D trek to where the headhunters roam, into a jungle to secure a golden treasure.
Jivaro
3-D Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1954 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 92 min. / Street Date March 26, 2019 / 34.95
Starring: Fernando Lamas, Rhonda Fleming, Brian Keith, Lon Chaney Jr., Richard Denning, Rita Moreno, Marvin Miller, Morgan Farley, Pascual García Peña, Nestor Paiva, Gregg Barton.
Cinematography: Lionel Lindon
Film Editor: Howard Smith
Original Music: Gregory Stone
Written by Winston Miller, story by David Duncan
Produced by William H. Pine,...
Jivaro
3-D Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1954 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 92 min. / Street Date March 26, 2019 / 34.95
Starring: Fernando Lamas, Rhonda Fleming, Brian Keith, Lon Chaney Jr., Richard Denning, Rita Moreno, Marvin Miller, Morgan Farley, Pascual García Peña, Nestor Paiva, Gregg Barton.
Cinematography: Lionel Lindon
Film Editor: Howard Smith
Original Music: Gregory Stone
Written by Winston Miller, story by David Duncan
Produced by William H. Pine,...
- 3/9/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Character actor William Phipps, who starred in sci fi films of the 1950s and voiced Prince Charming in 1950’s “Cinderella,” died Friday, June 1 at UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 96.
Phipps’ friend and entertainment industry author Tom Weaver announced the news, adding that Phipps had been battling lung cancer, which was complicated by pneumonia.
Phipps was born in Vincennes, Ind., on Feb. 4, 1922. In 1939, he enrolled at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Ill., where he studied accounting and planned to pursue it as a career while continuing what was then an acting hobby on the side.
In 1941, Phipps decided to forgo his Eiu studies and moved to California to pursue his acting dream. He later enlisted in the Navy after his brother Jack was shot down over the South Pacific, serving as a radioman aboard six ships between 1942 and 1945. After his discharge, he returned to Hollywood and used the G.
Phipps’ friend and entertainment industry author Tom Weaver announced the news, adding that Phipps had been battling lung cancer, which was complicated by pneumonia.
Phipps was born in Vincennes, Ind., on Feb. 4, 1922. In 1939, he enrolled at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Ill., where he studied accounting and planned to pursue it as a career while continuing what was then an acting hobby on the side.
In 1941, Phipps decided to forgo his Eiu studies and moved to California to pursue his acting dream. He later enlisted in the Navy after his brother Jack was shot down over the South Pacific, serving as a radioman aboard six ships between 1942 and 1945. After his discharge, he returned to Hollywood and used the G.
- 6/3/2018
- by Erin Nyren
- Variety Film + TV
It’s awful, it’s terrible, it’s difficult to watch — but it’s finally available in its original 3-D, in the improved Space-Vision process. A giant monkey attacks Seoul, trashing cardboard buildings, toy boats and a dead shark (and it’s not shamming). Keep a good movie on hand to rinse this one away immediately afterwards. Not recommended for people taking prescription medication. If simians persist, consult your doctor.
A*P*E
3-D Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1976 / Color / 2:35 widescreen 3-D / 87 min. / ‘Attacking Primate monstEr’ / Street Date February 28, 2017 / 29.95
Starring Joanna Kerns, Alex Nicol, Rod Arrants, Nak-hun Lee.
Cinematography Tony Francis, Daniel L. Symmes
Editor Paul Leder
Original Music Bruce McRae
Written byPaul Leder, Reuben Leder
Produced by Paul Leder, K.M. Leung
Directed by Paul Leder
They say home video 3-D is in trouble, but viewers properly equipped are presently experiencing a renaissance in retrofitted and refurbished 3-D features.
A*P*E
3-D Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1976 / Color / 2:35 widescreen 3-D / 87 min. / ‘Attacking Primate monstEr’ / Street Date February 28, 2017 / 29.95
Starring Joanna Kerns, Alex Nicol, Rod Arrants, Nak-hun Lee.
Cinematography Tony Francis, Daniel L. Symmes
Editor Paul Leder
Original Music Bruce McRae
Written byPaul Leder, Reuben Leder
Produced by Paul Leder, K.M. Leung
Directed by Paul Leder
They say home video 3-D is in trouble, but viewers properly equipped are presently experiencing a renaissance in retrofitted and refurbished 3-D features.
- 3/4/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
By Todd Garbarini
“The dark corners of the human mind are the deepest dark, I believe, of anything in the universe,” once said author, playwright, producer, and director Arch Oboler in describing his infamous radio plays of the 1930s and 1940s which aired on NBC under the title of Lights Out! It is no secret that some of the world's most well-known artists, everyone from author Edgar Allan Poe to film director Dario Argento, have channeled nightmarish experiences from their childhood and woven them into the very fabric of their stories and films. The late great surrealist Swiss artist Hans Rudolf Giger, known internationally as H.R. Giger, also sublimated his fears and frustrations into startling and often horrific imagery that coupled man with machinery as he explored the triptych of existence: birth, life, and death. Audiences are taken behind the scenes of this master painter in the elegiac final days...
“The dark corners of the human mind are the deepest dark, I believe, of anything in the universe,” once said author, playwright, producer, and director Arch Oboler in describing his infamous radio plays of the 1930s and 1940s which aired on NBC under the title of Lights Out! It is no secret that some of the world's most well-known artists, everyone from author Edgar Allan Poe to film director Dario Argento, have channeled nightmarish experiences from their childhood and woven them into the very fabric of their stories and films. The late great surrealist Swiss artist Hans Rudolf Giger, known internationally as H.R. Giger, also sublimated his fears and frustrations into startling and often horrific imagery that coupled man with machinery as he explored the triptych of existence: birth, life, and death. Audiences are taken behind the scenes of this master painter in the elegiac final days...
- 5/14/2015
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
If you’ve never listened to horror radio, I wouldn’t blame ya. Most old radio shows are hokey, musty relics of forgotten times, only chilling to housewives in 1942. But there are exceptions, recordings from long ago with strange powers that have only grown over the passing decades. If you can look past the sometimes-dated presentation and put yourself in the right mindset, the best horror radio is like listening to the distant cries of ancient ghosts. Collected below are my ten favorite old-timey radio horror broadcasts. Turn off the lights and listen! [You can hear each episode by clicking on the title.] 1) Suspense: "Ghost Hunt" Forget The Blair Witch Project; this episode of Suspense marks the real beginning of found-footage horror. Recorded way back in 1949, the story is told through audiotapes “discovered” after wacky radio disc jockey Smiley Smith goes mad in a haunted house. Smiley starts off treating his visit like a goofy radio stunt, but before long,...
- 4/7/2014
- by Stephen Johnson
- FEARnet
With Halloween in the air, we thought it would be fun to reach out to the horror genre's biggest and brightest stars - both legends in the industry and up-and-coming superstars - to ask them two quick questions: What's your biggest fear, and what's your favorite scary movie? Read on for the results!
Some of the results will make you laugh. Some will make you shiver... and some, well some are just too funny for words. Sit back and get ready to hear from the likes of Anne Rice, John Carpenter, Robert Englund, the "Ghost Adventures" crew, cast members from "The Walking Dead," George A. Romero, and many - Many - more. Who knows? You may even find some new movies you should check out or at least revisit.
Let the scares begin!
A
Jace Anderson
Writer - The Toolbox Murders (2004), Schism, Night of the Demons (2009), Mother of Tears
1) I...
Some of the results will make you laugh. Some will make you shiver... and some, well some are just too funny for words. Sit back and get ready to hear from the likes of Anne Rice, John Carpenter, Robert Englund, the "Ghost Adventures" crew, cast members from "The Walking Dead," George A. Romero, and many - Many - more. Who knows? You may even find some new movies you should check out or at least revisit.
Let the scares begin!
A
Jace Anderson
Writer - The Toolbox Murders (2004), Schism, Night of the Demons (2009), Mother of Tears
1) I...
- 10/30/2013
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
James Wolcott's right on this one: "Even if, like me, you thought you never needed or wanted to read another votive offering to Marilyn Monroe, lay aside thy doubts and reservations and attend to Jacqueline Rose's essay in the London Review of Books, 'A Rumbling of Things Unknown,' a full-course meal of a meditation." He quotes a couple of passages, but the gist is this: "It is something of a truism for psychoanalysis that one member of a family can carry the unconscious secrets of a whole family, can fall sick, as it were, on their behalf. My question is: for whom or what in 1950s and early 1960s America was Marilyn Monroe carrying the can?"
More reading. Sean O'Hagan interviews William Klein for the Guardian.
DVD/Blu-ray. Dave Kehr reviews three releases for the New York Times this week, the first from Olive Films: "Often overlooked...
More reading. Sean O'Hagan interviews William Klein for the Guardian.
DVD/Blu-ray. Dave Kehr reviews three releases for the New York Times this week, the first from Olive Films: "Often overlooked...
- 4/29/2012
- MUBI
Last week, screenwriter and “Lost” co-creator Damon Lindelof signed a seven-figure deal with Disney to write “an original large-scale science fiction feature film.” Deadline reported the movie is planned “to play to a family audience,” but was unable to glean any other information from their inside sources, other than a curious working title of 1952.
This is the first film produced from the beginning by Lindelof, who is familiar with secrecy after working under paranoid producer J.J. Abrams. He recently rewrote Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel into an original sci-fi film titled Prometheus and contributed to this summer’s genre mash-up Cowboys & Aliens. Lindelof is currently holed up with Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci to complete Star Trek 2 for Abrams, in hopes of meeting its previously-announced summer 2012 release, then he will begin work on Disney’s large-scale science fiction flick (between jags of defending the “Lost” finale on Twitter, of...
This is the first film produced from the beginning by Lindelof, who is familiar with secrecy after working under paranoid producer J.J. Abrams. He recently rewrote Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel into an original sci-fi film titled Prometheus and contributed to this summer’s genre mash-up Cowboys & Aliens. Lindelof is currently holed up with Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci to complete Star Trek 2 for Abrams, in hopes of meeting its previously-announced summer 2012 release, then he will begin work on Disney’s large-scale science fiction flick (between jags of defending the “Lost” finale on Twitter, of...
- 6/22/2011
- by Jeff Leins
- newsinfilm.com
Robert Stack on TCM: The Tarnished Angels, The Mortal Storm Schedule (Pt) and synopses from the TCM website: 3:00 Am Date With Judy, A (1948) A teenager thinks her grandfather is involved with a fiery Latin singer. Cast: Wallace Beery, Jane Powell, Elizabeth Taylor. Dir: Richard Thorpe. C-113 mins. 5:00 Am Fighter Squadron (1948) A dedicated flyer pushes himself and those around him during a perilous World War II campaign. Cast: Edmond O’Brien, Robert Stack, Rock Hudson. Dir: Raoul Walsh. C-95 mins. 6:45 Am My Outlaw Brother (1951) A ranger tries to pry his brother from the Mexican bandit gang he’s joined. Cast: Mickey Rooney, Wanda Hendrix, Robert Stack. Dir: Elliott Nugent. Bw-82 mins. 8:15 Am Bwana Devil (1952) A British railway engineer in Kenya tries to capture the lions attacking his workers. Cast: Robert Stack, Barbara Britton, Nigel Bruce. Dir: Arch Oboler. C-79 mins. 9:45 Am Iron Glove, The (1954) [...]...
- 8/16/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
"Avatar." "Alice in Wonderland." "How To Train Your Dragon." The success of these latest big budget 3-D epics wouldn't have been possible if not for the groundwork laid by previous filmmakers decades earlier, during a time when 3-D filmmaking was considerably less sophisticated than the material currently seen in movie theaters. Many of these movies, some ranging all the way back to the 1950s, aren't quite as involved as the trip from your theater chair to the lush jungles of Pandora, but the efforts are nonetheless quite impressive — or, at the very least, highly nostalgic.
After the jump, we've listed some of the classic 3-D movies that might pale in comparison to today's technological standards, but still thrilled and invigorated audiences in their prime.
Bwana Devil
Produced, written and directed by Arch Oboler, this 1952 drama is widely considered the first full-color American 3-D motion picture. Robert Stack starred as Jack Hayward,...
After the jump, we've listed some of the classic 3-D movies that might pale in comparison to today's technological standards, but still thrilled and invigorated audiences in their prime.
Bwana Devil
Produced, written and directed by Arch Oboler, this 1952 drama is widely considered the first full-color American 3-D motion picture. Robert Stack starred as Jack Hayward,...
- 3/30/2010
- by Josh Wigler
- MTV Movies Blog
The Bubble (1966) Direction and Screenplay: Arch Oboler Cast: Michael Cole, Deborah Walley, Johnny Desmond, Kassie McMahon, Barbara Eiler "The Bubble In 3-D. Filmed In Space-vision! In 4th Dimensional Living Color", so says the cover for the DVD release of this seldom seen 1966 science-fiction morsel, also known as The Fantastic Invasion of Planet Earth and The Zoo, written, produced and directed by Arch Oboler, with special visual effects by Samuel Dockery and George Schlicher. A husband, with his pregnant wife and their friend, fly in a small aircraft through a storm and land in a nightmare world that resembles the back lot of a movie studio, peopled by humanoids and a gigantic hand. When they later explore their surroundings, they discover they are [...]...
- 3/24/2010
- by Danny Fortune
- Alt Film Guide
By Michael Atkinson
Filmmaking is all about collaboration and fortuity, as much as we genuflect faithfully to the sacredness of the auteur. Take Carol Reed -- a career that spanned almost four decades, encompassing 33 features, and yet only a few are memorable (not, God knows, his late-career Oscar-winner "Oliver!"). Essentially, Reed finds his way onto the pantheon's higher shelves on the strength of only a handful of films, starting with the trio of startling, precise, infinitely rich features he made in the late '40s, one after the other -- "Odd Man Out" (1947), "The Fallen Idol" (1948) and "The Third Man" (1949) -- and ending a little less auspiciously with "Our Man in Havana" (1959). The rogue factor here is that three out of the four were written by Graham Greene, whose particular ironic-tension story skills gave many a medium-boil filmmaker his best shot at sublimity. The first three -- certainly one of...
Filmmaking is all about collaboration and fortuity, as much as we genuflect faithfully to the sacredness of the auteur. Take Carol Reed -- a career that spanned almost four decades, encompassing 33 features, and yet only a few are memorable (not, God knows, his late-career Oscar-winner "Oliver!"). Essentially, Reed finds his way onto the pantheon's higher shelves on the strength of only a handful of films, starting with the trio of startling, precise, infinitely rich features he made in the late '40s, one after the other -- "Odd Man Out" (1947), "The Fallen Idol" (1948) and "The Third Man" (1949) -- and ending a little less auspiciously with "Our Man in Havana" (1959). The rogue factor here is that three out of the four were written by Graham Greene, whose particular ironic-tension story skills gave many a medium-boil filmmaker his best shot at sublimity. The first three -- certainly one of...
- 2/3/2009
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
As it happens, I missed the press preview for "Fly Me to the Moon." It was a stupid misunderstanding, too boring to describe. My fault. I admit I was not inconsolable. After "Space Chimps," I had launched enough animated creatures to the Moon without starting on the insect kingdom. But even more to the point, "Fly Me to the Moon" was in 3-D, and I could all too easily imagine being "startled" by flies buzzing, ohmigod! straight at me!
Faithful readers will know about my disenchantment with 3-D. My dad took me to see the first 3-D movie, Arch Oboler's "Bwana Devil," in 1952. Lots of spears thrown at the audience. Since then I have been attacked by arrows, fists, eels, human livers, and naked legs. I have seen one 3-D process that works, the IMAX process that uses $200 wrap-around glasses with built-in stereo. Apparently that process has been shelved,...
Faithful readers will know about my disenchantment with 3-D. My dad took me to see the first 3-D movie, Arch Oboler's "Bwana Devil," in 1952. Lots of spears thrown at the audience. Since then I have been attacked by arrows, fists, eels, human livers, and naked legs. I have seen one 3-D process that works, the IMAX process that uses $200 wrap-around glasses with built-in stereo. Apparently that process has been shelved,...
- 8/22/2008
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.