“I’ve seen Paris, France, and Paris, Paramount Pictures,” Ernst Lubitsch said, or so they say, “and on the whole I prefer Paris, Paramount Pictures.”
The great director’s preference for the Hollywood city of lights over the French one expresses a common enough affinity for illusion over reality, but the studio in question was not chosen for alliteration alone. If gritty Warner Bros. specialized in mean streets and threadbare apartments and glitzy MGM spent big on grand hotels and emerald cities, Paramount transported moviegoers into realms of dreamy exoticism, allegedly set in Vienna, Budapest or St. Petersburg, but conjured with better-than-the-original costuming, set design, lighting and dialogue. In an age before jumbo jets, who was to quibble over verisimilitude?
A new version of Paramount looks to be a-borning: Controlling stakeholder Shari Redstone may put her company on the auction block. Whatever conglomerate or mogul buys the assets, it’ll...
The great director’s preference for the Hollywood city of lights over the French one expresses a common enough affinity for illusion over reality, but the studio in question was not chosen for alliteration alone. If gritty Warner Bros. specialized in mean streets and threadbare apartments and glitzy MGM spent big on grand hotels and emerald cities, Paramount transported moviegoers into realms of dreamy exoticism, allegedly set in Vienna, Budapest or St. Petersburg, but conjured with better-than-the-original costuming, set design, lighting and dialogue. In an age before jumbo jets, who was to quibble over verisimilitude?
A new version of Paramount looks to be a-borning: Controlling stakeholder Shari Redstone may put her company on the auction block. Whatever conglomerate or mogul buys the assets, it’ll...
- 2/29/2024
- by Thomas Doherty
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sony Pictures Entertainment is marking Columbia Pictures’ 100th anniversary with a new centennial logo inspired by the historic “Lady With the Torch” iconography.
Ahead of Columbia’s anniversary celebration on Jan. 10, 2024, the new logo has an enhanced glow to the torch to symbolize the vibrancy of the Hollywood studio’s history, Sony said in a statement.
“There is one thing that separates a major studio from all other content producers: history. At Columbia, that history is reflected in the countless cultural talismans created by thousands of people over now 100 years. All of us at Columbia are proud of that legacy and honored to celebrate it,” Tom Rothman, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures’ Motion Picture Group, said in a statement on Tuesday.
The studio behind classic Hollywood movies like It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and You Can’t Take it With You was founded by brothers...
Ahead of Columbia’s anniversary celebration on Jan. 10, 2024, the new logo has an enhanced glow to the torch to symbolize the vibrancy of the Hollywood studio’s history, Sony said in a statement.
“There is one thing that separates a major studio from all other content producers: history. At Columbia, that history is reflected in the countless cultural talismans created by thousands of people over now 100 years. All of us at Columbia are proud of that legacy and honored to celebrate it,” Tom Rothman, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures’ Motion Picture Group, said in a statement on Tuesday.
The studio behind classic Hollywood movies like It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and You Can’t Take it With You was founded by brothers...
- 11/14/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Cary Grant was a one-of-a-kind movie star. Sure, there have been others who have reached his level of fame, acclaim, and stature, but in terms of what made Grant a movie star, there has been no one like him before or since. His ability to seamlessly shift between a Hitchcock noir like "Notorious" to a total goofball comedy like "Monkey Business" remains unparalleled. Add to that his dashing good lucks, tall, athletic frame, and signature mid-Atlantic accent, and you have one of the greatest Hollywood icons of all time, if not the greatest.
For someone with such a distinctly defined movie star persona, his malleability as a performer was rather unusual. In the classic Hollywood era, the major studios were the ones molding stars. They had performers under long-term contracts, allowing them to basically plug in anyone they wished into certain projects. Actors would be paid like regular salaried employees...
For someone with such a distinctly defined movie star persona, his malleability as a performer was rather unusual. In the classic Hollywood era, the major studios were the ones molding stars. They had performers under long-term contracts, allowing them to basically plug in anyone they wished into certain projects. Actors would be paid like regular salaried employees...
- 3/4/2023
- by Mike Shutt
- Slash Film
Hungary’s National Film Institute Filmlab is positioning itself to become Europe’s go-to facility for 35mm post-production, processing and restoration. Working alongside the Nfi Archive — which is moving ahead with an ambitious program of classic film restoration — the Filmlab aims to be a “one-stop shop for digital, analog, VFX, digital restoration and color grading” according to its head, Tamás Bódizs.
Bódizs, who was appointed director six months ago, nine years after he first joined the lab, started his film industry career as a television editor. Film is his passion, he says, and putting Hungary on the map as the go-to location for advanced analog work is a goal the lab has been working towards in recent years.
“This idea is one I share with the former director. We know we can do analog processing, and want to be known for this throughout Europe,” he says.
The lab has spent...
Bódizs, who was appointed director six months ago, nine years after he first joined the lab, started his film industry career as a television editor. Film is his passion, he says, and putting Hungary on the map as the go-to location for advanced analog work is a goal the lab has been working towards in recent years.
“This idea is one I share with the former director. We know we can do analog processing, and want to be known for this throughout Europe,” he says.
The lab has spent...
- 2/18/2023
- by Nick Holdsworth
- Variety Film + TV
Here’s something we’re not allowed to say about Ye/Kanye West’s recent series of antisemitic tirades: there’s a small grain of truth in them.
No, obviously not the conspiracy theories, Holocaust denial, or downright fascistic claims that people who don’t believe in Christ shouldn’t hold public office. Ye has clearly crossed over into either profound mental illness, or hatred, or both.
But it is true that Hollywood has a lot of Jewish people in it, right?
It should not be controversial to admit this.
No, obviously not the conspiracy theories, Holocaust denial, or downright fascistic claims that people who don’t believe in Christ shouldn’t hold public office. Ye has clearly crossed over into either profound mental illness, or hatred, or both.
But it is true that Hollywood has a lot of Jewish people in it, right?
It should not be controversial to admit this.
- 12/11/2022
- by Jay Michaelson
- Rollingstone.com
Still by far the best adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson story, Paramount’s glossy pre-Code is also one of the most prestigious horror shows on record. Fredric March won an acting Oscar and it’s one of Miriam Hopkins’ best performances. The film is sexually daring and technically astute — with the help of cameraman Karl Struss director Rouben Mamoulian makes use of every cinematic trick he can conjure. The horrible Mr. Hyde is conceived as a near-simian primitive man, equating unrestrained lust and desire as something ‘society’ must repress. The disc packaging says it’s two minutes longer than the 2004 Warner DVD . . . but it’s not.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1931 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 98 min. / Available at Amazon.com / General site Wac-Amazon / Street Date October 25, 2022 / 21.99
Starring: Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, Rose Hobart, Holmes Herbert, Halliwell Hobbes, Edgar Norton, Tempe Pigott, Douglas Walton.
Cinematography: Karl Struss...
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1931 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 98 min. / Available at Amazon.com / General site Wac-Amazon / Street Date October 25, 2022 / 21.99
Starring: Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, Rose Hobart, Holmes Herbert, Halliwell Hobbes, Edgar Norton, Tempe Pigott, Douglas Walton.
Cinematography: Karl Struss...
- 10/15/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Three years since Elizabeth Banks was honored as Pioneer Of The Year in 2019, the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation returned Wednesday night with their Pioneer Of The Year dinner, this time honoring James Bond franchise producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. It was a welcome return for the industry charity which earned what co-chair Erik Lomis (with Heather Morgan) announced was a healthy haul of 1.5M dollars for the cause.
MGM, United Artists Releasing and their new owner Amazon Studios sponsored the evening for the organization whose membership spans the distribution and exhibition side of the business. Everyone was in high spirits at the Beverly Hilton ballroom. Of course the honorees themselves were responsible for much of that upbeat response for a crowd eager to get back to normal after three years where the pandemic had Ko’d this event. It didn’t hurt that the most recent James Bond himself,...
MGM, United Artists Releasing and their new owner Amazon Studios sponsored the evening for the organization whose membership spans the distribution and exhibition side of the business. Everyone was in high spirits at the Beverly Hilton ballroom. Of course the honorees themselves were responsible for much of that upbeat response for a crowd eager to get back to normal after three years where the pandemic had Ko’d this event. It didn’t hurt that the most recent James Bond himself,...
- 9/22/2022
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Long before Netflix’s Blonde landed a controversial Nc-17 rating, the Motion Picture Association gave films like Baby Doll (1956) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) “adults only” designations as a way to placate concerned parents and reformers.
Now, when news surfaces of Hollywood allegedly kowtowing to everything from domestic social crusaders to foreign governments, debate lights up headlines and social media conversations. But, historically speaking, industry moguls have most often erred on the side of not ruffling feathers, home or abroad, in order to court consumers — as evidenced in the birth of the MPA 100 years ago.
The lobbying group, which is marking its centennial in 2022, was born as the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association in 1922. Mppda counsel C.C. Pettijohn once told a 1929 Public Relations Conference that the film industry was first understood as a three-legged stool that included production, distribution, and exhibition.
Long before Netflix’s Blonde landed a controversial Nc-17 rating, the Motion Picture Association gave films like Baby Doll (1956) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) “adults only” designations as a way to placate concerned parents and reformers.
Now, when news surfaces of Hollywood allegedly kowtowing to everything from domestic social crusaders to foreign governments, debate lights up headlines and social media conversations. But, historically speaking, industry moguls have most often erred on the side of not ruffling feathers, home or abroad, in order to court consumers — as evidenced in the birth of the MPA 100 years ago.
The lobbying group, which is marking its centennial in 2022, was born as the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association in 1922. Mppda counsel C.C. Pettijohn once told a 1929 Public Relations Conference that the film industry was first understood as a three-legged stool that included production, distribution, and exhibition.
- 9/2/2022
- by Chris Yogerst
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
If Sunday night’s Oscar ceremony were a validation for Legendary Entertainment and Warner Bros., whose $165 million gamble on Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi tentpole “Dune” paid off in the form of six Academy Awards, it was no less a triumph for the Hungarian film industry, which hosted the blockbuster throughout much of production in 2019 and 2020.
The trophy haul, which included an Oscar for production design duo Patrice Vermette and Hungary’s Zsuzsanna Sipos, further cemented the status of an industry that last year broke records with $650 million in total production spend.
Herb Gaines, Legendary’s head of physical production, says the country ticked all the boxes to host a production on such a massive scale. “We were looking for a production base that could support a film of this magnitude as well as be logistically feasible for access to our desert location needs,” says Gaines, citing the convenience of a...
The trophy haul, which included an Oscar for production design duo Patrice Vermette and Hungary’s Zsuzsanna Sipos, further cemented the status of an industry that last year broke records with $650 million in total production spend.
Herb Gaines, Legendary’s head of physical production, says the country ticked all the boxes to host a production on such a massive scale. “We were looking for a production base that could support a film of this magnitude as well as be logistically feasible for access to our desert location needs,” says Gaines, citing the convenience of a...
- 3/29/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
As the pandemic wears on, New York and Los Angeles have never felt farther apart—and it seems likely that even more distancing, both social and cultural, will be the unhappy drill for years to come.
In truth, the two great sister cities have never been as close as you might think, at least in movie and media terms. Rather, they were a polarity, tightly linked, but often frustrated with and suspicious of each other, and rarely on the same page. When Louis B. Mayer and MGM were all about entertainment in Culver City, Nicholas Schenck and fellow owners at parent company Loew’s in New York were focused on finance. At Paramount, Adolph Zukor, who died at age 103 in Los Angeles, suffered the same rift with East Coast counterparts and unhappy backers on Wall Street. Later, David Begelman, at Columbia’s studio in Burbank, had it out with corporate overseers back on Fifth Ave.
In truth, the two great sister cities have never been as close as you might think, at least in movie and media terms. Rather, they were a polarity, tightly linked, but often frustrated with and suspicious of each other, and rarely on the same page. When Louis B. Mayer and MGM were all about entertainment in Culver City, Nicholas Schenck and fellow owners at parent company Loew’s in New York were focused on finance. At Paramount, Adolph Zukor, who died at age 103 in Los Angeles, suffered the same rift with East Coast counterparts and unhappy backers on Wall Street. Later, David Begelman, at Columbia’s studio in Burbank, had it out with corporate overseers back on Fifth Ave.
- 5/11/2020
- by Michael Cieply
- Deadline Film + TV
The year was 1918. As World War I was ending, the Spanish Flu began ravaging the world. Within a year, it killed 675,000 Americans and 50 million worldwide — 10 million more than those who perished in the war.
There are several parallels between the response to the Spanish Flu and Covid-19 in the U.S. In both cases, states of emergency were declared; all public places, including movie theaters and schools, were closed for months; and wearing face masks in public was recommended.
More from DeadlineCoronavirus: List Of Canceled Or Postponed Hollywood & Media Events'Tinseltown' 1920s Hollywood Mystery Series In Works At Spectrum Originals From Kevin Murphy, William Mann, Kapital & Paramount TVToronto: Michael Pitt Joins Mary Pickford Pic 'The First'
The Spanish flu pandemic brought about cataclysmic changes in the film business, most of them orchestrated by Adolph Zukor. It led to the establishment of the studio system, which continues to dominate Hollywood, and vertical integration,...
There are several parallels between the response to the Spanish Flu and Covid-19 in the U.S. In both cases, states of emergency were declared; all public places, including movie theaters and schools, were closed for months; and wearing face masks in public was recommended.
More from DeadlineCoronavirus: List Of Canceled Or Postponed Hollywood & Media Events'Tinseltown' 1920s Hollywood Mystery Series In Works At Spectrum Originals From Kevin Murphy, William Mann, Kapital & Paramount TVToronto: Michael Pitt Joins Mary Pickford Pic 'The First'
The Spanish flu pandemic brought about cataclysmic changes in the film business, most of them orchestrated by Adolph Zukor. It led to the establishment of the studio system, which continues to dominate Hollywood, and vertical integration,...
- 4/7/2020
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Spectrum Originals is developing Tinseltown, a period drama series based on William J Mann’s 2014 bestselling book Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, And Madness At The Dawn of Hollywood. The project hails from Mann, The Son executive producer Kevin Murphy, Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment, Tracy Katsky’s KatCo and Paramount Television Studios.
Co-written by Murphy and Mann, Tinseltown is set against the seamy, glamorous backdrop of silent film era. It explores the lives of four pioneer women filmmakers whose lives and livelihoods were threatened by a scandalous murder and the brutal patriarchy of Hollywood’s nascent studio system.
More from Deadline'Good Vibes Only' Dramedy With The Beach Boys Music From John Stamos, Steve & Jim Armogida And Kapital In Works At HBO Max'Disgraceland' Drama Series From Callie Khouri, Michael Lohmann & T Bone Burnett Based On Podcast In Works At Kapital EntertainmentSpectrum Originals Sets Premiere Date For Josh Hartnett Southern Gothic Drama...
Co-written by Murphy and Mann, Tinseltown is set against the seamy, glamorous backdrop of silent film era. It explores the lives of four pioneer women filmmakers whose lives and livelihoods were threatened by a scandalous murder and the brutal patriarchy of Hollywood’s nascent studio system.
More from Deadline'Good Vibes Only' Dramedy With The Beach Boys Music From John Stamos, Steve & Jim Armogida And Kapital In Works At HBO Max'Disgraceland' Drama Series From Callie Khouri, Michael Lohmann & T Bone Burnett Based On Podcast In Works At Kapital EntertainmentSpectrum Originals Sets Premiere Date For Josh Hartnett Southern Gothic Drama...
- 4/3/2020
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Just months after assuming the role of Hungarian film commissioner, Csaba Káel has designs on revamping the film and television industries to boost content development and production, expand already formidable studio facilities and become a lynchpin for film and TV production and servicing that extends far beyond Budapest.
Káel took up his post in September, eight months after the death of former film commissioner Andy Vajna, the Hungarian-born producer who after a legendary stint in Hollywood in the 1980s and ‘90s returned to his native country, helping transform it into a thriving production hub while also overhauling its film financing system and introducing a cash rebate.
Káel is determined to build on that foundation, overseeing ambitious plans to integrate the Hungarian film and TV industries while boosting the capacity of what is already the second-biggest production hub in Europe, behind the U.K.
An important first step was taken at the start of the year,...
Káel took up his post in September, eight months after the death of former film commissioner Andy Vajna, the Hungarian-born producer who after a legendary stint in Hollywood in the 1980s and ‘90s returned to his native country, helping transform it into a thriving production hub while also overhauling its film financing system and introducing a cash rebate.
Káel is determined to build on that foundation, overseeing ambitious plans to integrate the Hungarian film and TV industries while boosting the capacity of what is already the second-biggest production hub in Europe, behind the U.K.
An important first step was taken at the start of the year,...
- 2/23/2020
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
The experts were right when they said that silent filmmaking was developing something unique and beautiful, before talkies came along and spoiled the party with all that noise. This ‘handy three-pack’ of once-obscure Josef von Sternberg classics proves the theory 100% — his intense dramas excite audiences with something that’s gone missing from the movies, or the cinema or whatever you want to call it: the magic of visual stylization in the service of basic human emotions. Before Marlene there was Evelyn Brent and Betty Compson: Sternberg presents them as shimmering visions.
3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 529, 530, 531
1927-28 / B&w / 1:33 Silent Ap / 81, 88, 75 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 8, 2019 / 79.96
Starring: George Bancroft, Evelyn Brent, Clive Brook; Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent, William Powell; George Bancroft, Betty Compson, Olga Baclanova.
Cinematography: Bert Glennon; Bert Glennon; Harold Rosson
Original Music: multiple scores by Robert Israel,...
3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 529, 530, 531
1927-28 / B&w / 1:33 Silent Ap / 81, 88, 75 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 8, 2019 / 79.96
Starring: George Bancroft, Evelyn Brent, Clive Brook; Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent, William Powell; George Bancroft, Betty Compson, Olga Baclanova.
Cinematography: Bert Glennon; Bert Glennon; Harold Rosson
Original Music: multiple scores by Robert Israel,...
- 10/22/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
They called themselves United Artists, but the trades called it a “rebellion against established producing and distributing arrangements.” Paramount Pictures founder Adolph Zukor reportedly said, “The inmates have taken over the asylum.” But when Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith went before the cameras on Feb. 5, 1919, to announce the creation of a corporation to distribute their own films, they claimed it was necessary to protect their own interests as well as to “protect the exhibitor and the industry from itself.”
It wasn’t any great prescient vision that had brought Hollywood’s biggest moneymakers to this point. Rather, they were reacting — and quickly — to what they saw as a threat to limit their salaries and the quality of their films.
A little backstory: During the 1910s, as the demand for films skyrocketed, production companies, theaters and distribution mechanisms multiplied and, in retrospect, reaction was often the catalyst for change.
It wasn’t any great prescient vision that had brought Hollywood’s biggest moneymakers to this point. Rather, they were reacting — and quickly — to what they saw as a threat to limit their salaries and the quality of their films.
A little backstory: During the 1910s, as the demand for films skyrocketed, production companies, theaters and distribution mechanisms multiplied and, in retrospect, reaction was often the catalyst for change.
- 10/4/2019
- by Cari Beauchamp
- Variety Film + TV
Musso & Frank Grill has catered to Hollywood players for 100 years and the venerable establishment is celebrating its centennial anniversary on Sept. 27. A book about the restaurant will be released. The Hollywood Award of Excellence, the first of its kind for a restaurant, will be presented by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.
Musso’s is also expanding, with three new private dining rooms set to open in early 2020.
“Our family and the Hollywood community can’t even measure the historic importance of the restaurant reaching its 100th anniversary,” says COO-cfo-proprietor and fourth-generation owner Mark Echeverria. “We’re so proud of the entire team and what the generations before us did. It’s an unbelievable milestone.
“We grew up with Hollywood. In 1919, Hollywood Boulevard was a dirt road and the industry was just starting to take off.”
When Musso & Frank opened its doors on the now iconic boulevard in 1919, it was in...
Musso’s is also expanding, with three new private dining rooms set to open in early 2020.
“Our family and the Hollywood community can’t even measure the historic importance of the restaurant reaching its 100th anniversary,” says COO-cfo-proprietor and fourth-generation owner Mark Echeverria. “We’re so proud of the entire team and what the generations before us did. It’s an unbelievable milestone.
“We grew up with Hollywood. In 1919, Hollywood Boulevard was a dirt road and the industry was just starting to take off.”
When Musso & Frank opened its doors on the now iconic boulevard in 1919, it was in...
- 9/27/2019
- by Nick Clement
- Variety Film + TV
Tony Sokol Jul 30, 2019
Western movies, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, wouldn't have been the same without the infamous ranch owned by George Spahn.
Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood attempts to take back stolen potential via the kind of fantasy fulfillment that's made only possible on celluloid. As with the Beatles' song "Helter Skelter," Sharon Tate, and the peace and love generation as a whole, the icons of hope in the 1960s were all tainted by mere association with Charles Manson. None of these needed to be linked to the murderous narcissist. Tate, magnificently captured Margot Robbie in the film, would have continued the rising trajectory of her film and modeling career; "Helter Skelter" would be remembered as the song that invented heavy metal, when it was just Paul McCartney trying to make as much noise on vinyl as possible; peace and Love would...
Western movies, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, wouldn't have been the same without the infamous ranch owned by George Spahn.
Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood attempts to take back stolen potential via the kind of fantasy fulfillment that's made only possible on celluloid. As with the Beatles' song "Helter Skelter," Sharon Tate, and the peace and love generation as a whole, the icons of hope in the 1960s were all tainted by mere association with Charles Manson. None of these needed to be linked to the murderous narcissist. Tate, magnificently captured Margot Robbie in the film, would have continued the rising trajectory of her film and modeling career; "Helter Skelter" would be remembered as the song that invented heavy metal, when it was just Paul McCartney trying to make as much noise on vinyl as possible; peace and Love would...
- 7/30/2019
- Den of Geek
When the producers of Lionsgate’s “The Spy Who Dumped Me” were struggling to get a permit for a key location on the streets of Budapest several years ago, they knew exactly where to turn. “I called Andy,” says Adam Goodman, whose Mid Atlantic Films serviced the shoot. “I said, ‘Look, we need your help.’”
Goodman might have expected Hungarian film commissioner Andy Vajna to pick up the phone and call in a favor. But on the day of Mid Atlantic’s pitch, a black minivan pulled up to the stairs of the mayor’s office. “Andy steps out with the mirrored sunglasses, the suit, smoking a cigar,” Goodman recalls recently in Budapest. “As we walked into the mayor’s offices, it was like the parting of the Red Sea.” Vajna’s presence gave a winning presentation added weight, according to Goodman. Within days of the meeting, he had the permit he needed.
Goodman might have expected Hungarian film commissioner Andy Vajna to pick up the phone and call in a favor. But on the day of Mid Atlantic’s pitch, a black minivan pulled up to the stairs of the mayor’s office. “Andy steps out with the mirrored sunglasses, the suit, smoking a cigar,” Goodman recalls recently in Budapest. “As we walked into the mayor’s offices, it was like the parting of the Red Sea.” Vajna’s presence gave a winning presentation added weight, according to Goodman. Within days of the meeting, he had the permit he needed.
- 6/5/2019
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
‘3rd Dimension!’ ‘Technicolor!’ Paramount underwent a difficult post-production learning curve getting this early entry in the 3-D craze out the door and into waiting theaters. Fernando Lamas and Arlene Dahl decorate the colonial-era costume drama, injecting some heat into their frisky wrestling match meet-cute love scene. Rip those bodices!
Sangaree
3-D Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1953 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 94 min. / Street Date October 16, 2018 / 34.95
Starring: Fernando Lamas, Arlene Dahl, Patricia Medina, Francis L. Sullivan, Charles Korvin, Tom Drake, John Sutton, Willard Parker.
Cinematography: W. Wallace Kelley, Lionel Lindon
Film Editor: Howard A. Smith
3-D Blu-ray restoration: 3-D Film Archive
Original Music: Lucien Cailliet
Written by David Duncan, Frank L. Moss, from the novel by Frank Slaughter
Produced by William H. Pine, William C. Thomas
Directed by Edward Ludwig
Producers William H. Pine and William C. Thomas turned out profitable Paramount product for fifteen years, although few of their shows were accorded artistic accolades.
Sangaree
3-D Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1953 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 94 min. / Street Date October 16, 2018 / 34.95
Starring: Fernando Lamas, Arlene Dahl, Patricia Medina, Francis L. Sullivan, Charles Korvin, Tom Drake, John Sutton, Willard Parker.
Cinematography: W. Wallace Kelley, Lionel Lindon
Film Editor: Howard A. Smith
3-D Blu-ray restoration: 3-D Film Archive
Original Music: Lucien Cailliet
Written by David Duncan, Frank L. Moss, from the novel by Frank Slaughter
Produced by William H. Pine, William C. Thomas
Directed by Edward Ludwig
Producers William H. Pine and William C. Thomas turned out profitable Paramount product for fifteen years, although few of their shows were accorded artistic accolades.
- 9/15/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In October 2009, Kater Gordon’s writing career came to a sudden end. In the space of a year, she went from Matt Weiner’s personal assistant on “Mad Men” to his Emmy-winning co-writer of the season finale. Then, less than a month after standing next to Weiner on the Nokia Theatre stage, she was fired. Or, as a show insider put it: “Matt has reluctantly decided that their relationship has reached its full potential.” That awkward rationale highlighted the “Mad Men” narrative: It was Weiner’s show, and his whims were law.
“Mad Men” continued for six more critically lauded seasons as Gordon faded from the news cycle and from the industry. Now imagine that story in 2017, with Gordon coming forward with her sexual harassment accusations against Weiner. Her story would have legs; he would be forced to deal with the charges, Peak TV be damned. All of which suggests...
“Mad Men” continued for six more critically lauded seasons as Gordon faded from the news cycle and from the industry. Now imagine that story in 2017, with Gordon coming forward with her sexual harassment accusations against Weiner. Her story would have legs; he would be forced to deal with the charges, Peak TV be damned. All of which suggests...
- 11/29/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
A happy discovery! This is a major late- silent-era gem on the order of Von Sternberg’s Docks of New York — a special treat that will please fans of director William Wellman — he revisited parts of it in a later talkie. It’s also a key movie in our education/adoration of the maverick actress Louise Brooks, the erotic sensation too hot and too independent for Hollywood.
Beggars of Life
Blu-ray
Kino Classics
1928 / B&W / 1:33 Silent Aperture / 81 min. / Street Date August 22, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Wallace Beery, Richard Arlen, Louise Brooks, Blue Washington, Roscoe Karns, Robert Perry, Guinn ‘Bog Boy’ Williams.
Cinematography: Henry Gerrard
Film Editor: Alyson Shaffer
Assistant Director: Charles Barton
Music: The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
Written by Jim Tully and Benjamin Glazer from a novel by Jim Tully
Produced by Jesse L. Lasky, Adolph Zukor, William A. Wellman
Directed by William A. Wellman
Director...
Beggars of Life
Blu-ray
Kino Classics
1928 / B&W / 1:33 Silent Aperture / 81 min. / Street Date August 22, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Wallace Beery, Richard Arlen, Louise Brooks, Blue Washington, Roscoe Karns, Robert Perry, Guinn ‘Bog Boy’ Williams.
Cinematography: Henry Gerrard
Film Editor: Alyson Shaffer
Assistant Director: Charles Barton
Music: The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
Written by Jim Tully and Benjamin Glazer from a novel by Jim Tully
Produced by Jesse L. Lasky, Adolph Zukor, William A. Wellman
Directed by William A. Wellman
Director...
- 8/8/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Honorary Award: Gloria Swanson, Rita Hayworth among dozens of women bypassed by the Academy (photo: Honorary Award non-winner Gloria Swanson in 'Sunset Blvd.') (See previous post: "Honorary Oscars: Doris Day, Danielle Darrieux Snubbed.") Part three of this four-part article about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Honorary Award bypassing women basically consists of a long, long — and for the most part quite prestigious — list of deceased women who, some way or other, left their mark on the film world. Some of the names found below are still well known; others were huge in their day, but are now all but forgotten. Yet, just because most people (and the media) suffer from long-term — and even medium-term — memory loss, that doesn't mean these women were any less deserving of an Honorary Oscar. So, among the distinguished female film professionals in Hollywood and elsewhere who have passed away without...
- 9/4/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Veteran film producer and friend to many of Hollywood's stars
The office walls of the film producer AC Lyles, who has died aged 95, were plastered with celebrity photographs. He seemed to know everybody in Hollywood, from presidents and governors to the great names of film, such as Elizabeth Taylor, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. James Cagney, William Holden and Ronald Reagan were close personal friends.
Lyles worked for the same company, Paramount, for most of his life, starting as a mailroom office boy in 1937, after the studio's head, Adolph Zukor, gave in to his weekly letters begging for a job.
Indeed, he maintained that he had decided on his ninth birthday that he was going to be a producer. At the age of 10, he had a cleaning job at the Paramount cinema in his home town of Jacksonville, Florida, and seeing the silent film Wings, starring Clara Bow, reinforced this aspiration.
The office walls of the film producer AC Lyles, who has died aged 95, were plastered with celebrity photographs. He seemed to know everybody in Hollywood, from presidents and governors to the great names of film, such as Elizabeth Taylor, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. James Cagney, William Holden and Ronald Reagan were close personal friends.
Lyles worked for the same company, Paramount, for most of his life, starting as a mailroom office boy in 1937, after the studio's head, Adolph Zukor, gave in to his weekly letters begging for a job.
Indeed, he maintained that he had decided on his ninth birthday that he was going to be a producer. At the age of 10, he had a cleaning job at the Paramount cinema in his home town of Jacksonville, Florida, and seeing the silent film Wings, starring Clara Bow, reinforced this aspiration.
- 10/6/2013
- by Michael Freedland
- The Guardian - Film News
Publicist and producer A.C. Lyles, who in recent years has served as the studio ambassador at Paramount Pictures, died Friday at age 95. Lyles had worked for Paramount since he was ten years old, longer than any other employee in the history of that studio. He first went to work more than 80 years ago in the Paramount mailroom when Adolph Zukor ran the studio. He was a publicist for many years before making a transition to producing for the studio. Photos: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2013 Andrew Craddock Lyles was born in Jacksonville, Fla., and first met Zukor
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- 9/30/2013
- by Alex Ben Block
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
(Note: This review pertains to the UK Region 2 Pal format release available on www.amazon.co.uk)
By Adrian Smith
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
Cecil B. DeMille will always be remembered for his lavish historical epics like The Ten Commandments (1923 and again in 1956), Sign of the Cross (1932) and Samson and Delilah (1949). However, with over one hundred and sixty credits as either director or producer, he also worked in plenty of other genres. Following two flops, This Day and Age (1933) and Four Frightened People (1934), Paramount head Adolph Zukor insisted he try to replicate the success of Sign of the Cross with another visual spectacle. DeMille agreed and cast Claudette Colbert in the lead role of Cleopatra (she had already starred in both Sign of the Cross and Four Frightened People and was about to win the Oscar for It Happened one Night (1934)).
The plot focuses on Cleopatra's...
By Adrian Smith
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
Cecil B. DeMille will always be remembered for his lavish historical epics like The Ten Commandments (1923 and again in 1956), Sign of the Cross (1932) and Samson and Delilah (1949). However, with over one hundred and sixty credits as either director or producer, he also worked in plenty of other genres. Following two flops, This Day and Age (1933) and Four Frightened People (1934), Paramount head Adolph Zukor insisted he try to replicate the success of Sign of the Cross with another visual spectacle. DeMille agreed and cast Claudette Colbert in the lead role of Cleopatra (she had already starred in both Sign of the Cross and Four Frightened People and was about to win the Oscar for It Happened one Night (1934)).
The plot focuses on Cleopatra's...
- 2/25/2013
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
On January 13, 2012, Paramount Pictures’ gathered 116 stars on the historic Stage 18 on the lot to celebrate it’s 100th Anniversary.
This historic “birthday” photo was taken by Vanity Fair. See the interactive version here – http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2012/07/paramount-pictures-100th-anniversary-photo – and then check out the video below.
Take a look at the photo from the 75th Anniversary. The stars then were Bob Hope, Charlton Heston, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Stewart. When I was a page, 8 years after this first picture was taken, I was there watching Kevin Costner film Waterworld in the blue sky tank.
2012 ushered in the 100th Anniversary of Paramount Pictures, the only major Hollywood studio to achieve this historic milestone. In December 2011, Paramount Pictures unveiled a new company logo to commemorate the studio.s 100th Anniversary in show business. Adolph Zukor, Jesse L. Lasky and Cecil B. DeMille are credited as Paramount.s principle founders, with “Queen...
This historic “birthday” photo was taken by Vanity Fair. See the interactive version here – http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2012/07/paramount-pictures-100th-anniversary-photo – and then check out the video below.
Take a look at the photo from the 75th Anniversary. The stars then were Bob Hope, Charlton Heston, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Stewart. When I was a page, 8 years after this first picture was taken, I was there watching Kevin Costner film Waterworld in the blue sky tank.
2012 ushered in the 100th Anniversary of Paramount Pictures, the only major Hollywood studio to achieve this historic milestone. In December 2011, Paramount Pictures unveiled a new company logo to commemorate the studio.s 100th Anniversary in show business. Adolph Zukor, Jesse L. Lasky and Cecil B. DeMille are credited as Paramount.s principle founders, with “Queen...
- 6/12/2012
- by Melissa Thompson
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Paramount Pictures are due a pretty large birthday cake shortly. The studio that has brought you everything from Titanic to Top Gun and hundreds more in between has had a special poster commissioned. Unfortunately the Gallery1998 commission is only for staff and not available to the general public. But fear not, you can check it out here! And what a poster it is!!! Click the image to make it super sized and see how many movies you can identify. --- Paramount Pictures can trace its beginning to the creation in May 1912 of the Famous Players Film Company. Founder Hungarian-born Adolph Zukor, who had been an early investor in nickelodeons, saw that movies appealed mainly to working-class immigrants.[3] With partners Daniel Frohman and Charles Frohman he planned to offer feature-length films that would appeal to the middle class by featuring the leading theatrical players of the time (leading to the slogan...
- 6/5/2012
- by noreply@blogger.com (Vic Barry)
- www.themoviebit.com
The Motion Picture Association of America must die. It’s a monopolistic behemoth that poisons creativity and commerce while hiding behind the failed task of educating parents about film content, and the time has come to call for its dissolution. The above logo is what we, as movie fans, are most familiar with when it comes to the MPAA because we see it on trailers and home video, but that symbol is really a trick of PR. The goal of the MPAA is not to rate movies, even if that’s the product we know and loathe best. The MPAA’s founding, fundamental aim is to maintain the corporate dominance of its members – the six largest studios. It does not serve fans. It does not serve families. It does not serve filmmakers. A Too-Quick History Unfortunately, it’s always been this way. In 1922, Famous Players-Lasky (the Adolph Zukor-led studio behind the first Best Picture winner, Wings...
- 2/1/2012
- by Cole Abaius
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
The year 2012 ushers in the 100th Anniversary of Paramount Pictures, the only major Hollywood studio to achieve this historic milestone. Today, Paramount is proud to present one of many celebratory hallmarks that will commemorate this momentous occasion: the Paramount Pictures 100 Years of Movie Magic App for the iPad and its first float in the 2012 Tournament of Roses Parade.
The app is an exploration of the studio.s incredibly rich and storied history. From Paramount.s modest beginning in 1912 with Queen Elizabeth to Mission: Impossible . Ghost Protocol, the app provides a fresh and innovative opportunity to experience your favorite films by flipping through never-before-seen photos, watching memorable film clips, and listening to timeless music scores.
This unique keepsake also includes an overview of Paramount.s story, a Studio Tour and a specially designed Scene it? game . all of which you can share with your friends and family on email, Twitter, and Facebook.
The app is an exploration of the studio.s incredibly rich and storied history. From Paramount.s modest beginning in 1912 with Queen Elizabeth to Mission: Impossible . Ghost Protocol, the app provides a fresh and innovative opportunity to experience your favorite films by flipping through never-before-seen photos, watching memorable film clips, and listening to timeless music scores.
This unique keepsake also includes an overview of Paramount.s story, a Studio Tour and a specially designed Scene it? game . all of which you can share with your friends and family on email, Twitter, and Facebook.
- 1/2/2012
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
New Logo Will Be Seen With
.Mission: Impossible . Ghost Protocol.
Hollywood, CA (December 14, 2011) . Paramount Pictures today unveiled a new company logo that commemorates the studio.s 100th Anniversary in show business. The new logo can be seen on the new Tom Cruise starrer, Mission: Impossible . Ghost Protocol. The movie will open in IMAX and on other premium large format screens on Friday, December 16th and in theatres everywhere on December 21st.
The studio.s first logo, a symbol of a rugged, snow-covered peak from the Wasatch mountain range, was created in 1916. The 100th Anniversary logo was created by Devastudios, Inc.
Paramount will use the logo throughout its centennial year in 2012. Beginning in 2013, the wording about the 100th anniversary will be removed from the logo, with the rest of the design remaining in use.
About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (Ppc), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is...
.Mission: Impossible . Ghost Protocol.
Hollywood, CA (December 14, 2011) . Paramount Pictures today unveiled a new company logo that commemorates the studio.s 100th Anniversary in show business. The new logo can be seen on the new Tom Cruise starrer, Mission: Impossible . Ghost Protocol. The movie will open in IMAX and on other premium large format screens on Friday, December 16th and in theatres everywhere on December 21st.
The studio.s first logo, a symbol of a rugged, snow-covered peak from the Wasatch mountain range, was created in 1916. The 100th Anniversary logo was created by Devastudios, Inc.
Paramount will use the logo throughout its centennial year in 2012. Beginning in 2013, the wording about the 100th anniversary will be removed from the logo, with the rest of the design remaining in use.
About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (Ppc), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is...
- 12/14/2011
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Trying to get Hollywood to change direction is not unlike trying to steer an elephant by poking it in its thick-hided ass with a matchstick; it doesn’t exactly respond like a Maserati.
And that’s a problem because there are some box office signs suggesting the American movie industry needs – may, in fact, desperately need, and soon – to change the path it’s been cannon-balling along on since the late 1970s. Unfortunately, Hollywood’s history suggests nobody should hold their breath waiting for someone to turn the wheel until after that bus has gone over a cliff. American moviemaking is great at glomming on to technological innovation – Dolby sound, 3-D, CGI — anything that brings in a crowd by offering a showier show. The industry’s track record on what to do when the crowd stops coming — on divining and interpreting and appropriately responding to changes in the cultural landscape — is,...
And that’s a problem because there are some box office signs suggesting the American movie industry needs – may, in fact, desperately need, and soon – to change the path it’s been cannon-balling along on since the late 1970s. Unfortunately, Hollywood’s history suggests nobody should hold their breath waiting for someone to turn the wheel until after that bus has gone over a cliff. American moviemaking is great at glomming on to technological innovation – Dolby sound, 3-D, CGI — anything that brings in a crowd by offering a showier show. The industry’s track record on what to do when the crowd stops coming — on divining and interpreting and appropriately responding to changes in the cultural landscape — is,...
- 3/27/2011
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Apple's visionary leader isn't really a computer guy at all – he's an old-style media mogul
As I write, the most valuable company in the world, in terms of market capitalisation, is Exxon Mobil. This is a huge corporation, based in Texas and operating across the world. It drills for, and refines, oil; sells thousands of oil-derived and petrol-related products; and operates in all the major markets in the world. In the UK, it owns Esso, for example, and the chances are that if you bought engine oil or other lubricants in the last year you were purchasing an Exxon product. And last Thursday morning it was worth $416.3bn.
Question: on the same morning, what was the second most valuable company in the world? Another oil giant? A global retailer such as Walmart? A multinational mining company?
Answer: none of the above. It was a California-based computer manufacturer that makes outrageously...
As I write, the most valuable company in the world, in terms of market capitalisation, is Exxon Mobil. This is a huge corporation, based in Texas and operating across the world. It drills for, and refines, oil; sells thousands of oil-derived and petrol-related products; and operates in all the major markets in the world. In the UK, it owns Esso, for example, and the chances are that if you bought engine oil or other lubricants in the last year you were purchasing an Exxon product. And last Thursday morning it was worth $416.3bn.
Question: on the same morning, what was the second most valuable company in the world? Another oil giant? A global retailer such as Walmart? A multinational mining company?
Answer: none of the above. It was a California-based computer manufacturer that makes outrageously...
- 2/13/2011
- by John Naughton
- The Guardian - Film News
The Portland Underground Film Festival running this weekend brought out a lot of preview write-ups: The Shadow Over Portland looks at some horror movie offerings; the Portland Mercury asked fest director Seth Sonstein for some picks; Bob Moricz scans a nice write-up on his own film in Puff written for the Willamette Weekly; and Oregon Live has some of its own picks. Michael P. Heneghan, director of the animated feature The Romantic, discusses his screening at the 2010 Boston Underground Film Festival back in March — and the troubles with submitting to fests in general. Amos Poe, one of the leading figures in the No Wave cinema movement, has penned a piece for Ted Hope’s Truly Free Film. It includes his inspiration for becoming a filmmaker — a story about Adolph Zukor of all people. Landscape Suicide gets lots of frame grabs from Jean-Luc Godard’s latest polemic Film Socialisme, and posts...
- 6/13/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
(A.C. Lyles, below)
by Jon Zelazny
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared at EightMillionStories.com on February 27, 2009
There’s an A.C. Lyles Building at the Paramount Pictures main lot, but you won’t find A.C. Lyles there; his office is on the fourth floor of the William S. Hart Building.
When I arrived for our interview, Mr. Lyles was chatting with some visitors in his outer office. He bid me into his main office, and asked his assistant Pam to put in a video… a short promo reel that opens with a six minute tribute by then-President Ronald Reagan, who warmly recalls his and Nancy’s many years of friendship with A.C. and his wife Martha, and congratulates A.C. on his fifty years at the studio. The President’s intro is followed by taped congratulations from President Carter, President Ford, and Vice President Bush, then assorted clips celebrating Mr.
by Jon Zelazny
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared at EightMillionStories.com on February 27, 2009
There’s an A.C. Lyles Building at the Paramount Pictures main lot, but you won’t find A.C. Lyles there; his office is on the fourth floor of the William S. Hart Building.
When I arrived for our interview, Mr. Lyles was chatting with some visitors in his outer office. He bid me into his main office, and asked his assistant Pam to put in a video… a short promo reel that opens with a six minute tribute by then-President Ronald Reagan, who warmly recalls his and Nancy’s many years of friendship with A.C. and his wife Martha, and congratulates A.C. on his fifty years at the studio. The President’s intro is followed by taped congratulations from President Carter, President Ford, and Vice President Bush, then assorted clips celebrating Mr.
- 5/14/2009
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
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