Directed byHoward Hawks & Richard Rosson Produced by Howard Hughes Written by Scarfaceby Armitage Trail Screenplay by Ben Hecht Starring Paul Muni
George Raft
Ann Dvorak
Karen Morley
Boris Karloff Cinematography Lee Garmes & L.W. O’Connell Editing by Edward Curtiss Distributed by United Artists Release date April 9, 1932 Running time 93 minutes Country United States Language English & Italian
Firstly this is the original Scarface – AKA Scarface Shame of a Nation, not the 1983 version featuring Al Pacino. This is the 1932 version featuring Paul Muni and George Raft and directed by Howard Hawks. It is probably one of the most celebrated gangster films of the 1930s, with Paul Muni giving a great, charismatic performance as the ambitious villain Tony Camonte. His performance is perhaps the equal of James Cagney’s in Public Enemy or Edward G Robinson in Little Caesar, although he seems to be rather forgotten today. One criticism of the picture I have is that I do think that Boris Karloff was horribly miscast as the rival gangster Gaffney. It is very hard to believe that someone with a proper English gentleman’s voice (and what a voice) would be a hard-nosed gangster from Chicago.
This was a very controversial film in its time, with the censors demanding lots of cuts and even am alternative ending because it was felt that this movie glorified the life of gangsters. Fortunately the film was being financed by the richest man on Earth at that time, Howard Hughes, and he was able to make these changes to the picture, although when the censors still would not pass the movie he just released the original version in states that had very relaxed censorship regulations.
There were also several accidents on set with Gaylord Lloyd, brother of silent screen comedian Harold Lloyd, losing an eye after being shot by live ammunition!!!
Directed by Mark Hartley Produced by Craig Griffin & Michael Lynch Written by Mark Hartley Music by Stephen Cummings
Cinematography Germain McMicking & Karl von Moller Editing byJamie Blanks, Sara Edwards & Mark Hartley Distributed by Madman Entertainment Release date 28 August 2008 Running time 103 minutes CountryAustralia
United States
Language English
This is an interesting documentary that looks at some of the exploitation films made in Australia in the 70s & 80s. It’s really amazing how much crap our film industry made in what was supposed to have been its golden age. It seems that if an Aussie film wasn’t filled with gratuitous nudity it would be filled with gratuitous violence. One thing that is glaringly obvious is that very few of the films mentioned are any good, but it is still a watchable doco.
This short early film by Tim Burton is being shown at ACMI as a part of the Tim Burton exhibition at Federation Square. I had never seen it before. It is a Burton-esque version of the Grimm’s fairy tale and has a few amusing moments. It runs for about 20 minutes and combines live-action with stop motion animation, although it is mostly live-action. Like most things Burton, it is slightly weird.
Directed by Tim Burton Produced by Rick Heinrichs Written by Tim Burton Narrated by Vincent Price Music by Ken Hilton Cinematography Victor Abdalov Studio Walt Disney Productions Distributed byTouchstone Home Video
Buena Vista Distribution Release date UK 1982 Running time 5 minutes 52 seconds CountryUSA Language English
I saw Vincent last week as a part of the Tim Burton exhibition that is currently on at ACMI in Federation Square, Melbourne. (I also have it on DVD as an extra on The Nightmare Before Christmas) It’s a great six-minute stop motion animated film that shows where Burton would be headed in his career. It features great narration from Vincent Price and the animation is very good.
Directed by Dominique Monféry Produced by Baker Bloodworth & Roy E. Disney Written bySalvador Dalí, John Hench & Donald W. Ernst Music by Armando Dominguez Music Adaptation: Michael Starobin Editing by Jessica Ambinder-Rojas Studio Disney Studios France Distributed byWalt Disney Pictures Release dateUSA: December 19, 2003
France: June 1, 2003
Destino was a collaboration between Disney and Salvador Dali that commenced in 1945/46 but was unfinished. They had storyboarded it but due to financial difficulties and the war the project was cancelled. It was resurrected in 2000 by Roy Disney and finally premiered in 2003.
It has not been released onto DVD yet, although it could be an extra release with the forthcoming Fantasia/Fantasia 2000 release next year. It was supposed to have been a part of the Walt Disney Treasures line but that never came to fruition. It is quite interesting and very Dali-esque. Destino was a part of the National Gallery Of Victoria‘s 2009 Dali exhibition; Liquid Desires.
Directed byWes Anderson Produced by Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Allison Abbate &
Steven M. Rales Written by Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach (screenplay)
Roald Dahl (book) Starring George Clooney
Meryl Streep
Jason Schwartzman
Bill Murray
Michael Gambon
Jarvis Cocker
Owen Wilson
Willem Dafoe
Helen McCrory Music by Alexandre Desplat Cinematography Tristan Oliver Editing by Andrew Weisblum Studio 20th Century FoxAnimation
Indian Paintbrush
Regency Enterprises
American Empirical Pictures Distributed by 20th Century Fox Release date November 25, 2009
Running time 87 minutes Country United States
United Kingdom Language English
It is difficult to watch any film, let alone an animated film, after just seeing a movie as brilliant as Toy Story 3, but as I am so fascinated in stop motion animation and because I have wanted to see this film for quite a while, so I decided to watch Fantastic Mr. Fox.
The film is OK and the stop motion animation is excellent, but it cannot compare to the emotion of the Pixar Toy Story 3. The film is an Americanized version of Road Dahl’s book, which is not as bad as it sounds as there are still some very British elements in the movie. All I can say is that it is a good but not great film.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock Produced by David O. Selznick Written by Story: Hilary Saint, George Saunders & John Palmer Screenplay:Angus MacPhail & Ben Hecht Starring:Ingrid Bergman
Gregory Peck
Michael Chekhov
Leo G. Carroll
Rhonda Fleming Music byMiklós Rózsa Cinematography George Barnes Editing by Hal C. Kern StudioSelznick International Pictures Distributed by United Artists Release date(s) October 31, 1945 Running time 111 minutes Country United States Language English
Spellbound is a 1945 psychological mystery thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It was nominated for the Academy Award for best picture, and won Oscars for best music, thanks to the score by Miklós Rózsa. Its most famous scene was a dream sequence designed by surrealist artist Salvador Dali.
The film is quite interesting but not what I would consider one of Hitchcock’s best, mainly due to how annoying the beautiful Ingrid Bergman is at the times when she is spouting off psychoanalytical mumbo-jumbo. Sure this is a film about psychiatrists but sometimes it just is a little too much.
If you forget about the psychoanalysis stuff this then becomes a whodunit, with Ingrid Bergman out to prove the innocence of amnesiac Gregory Peck, who it is believed murdered a prominent psychiatrist before taking his place. The way the mystery is solved is quite clever in the way in which it ties into the dream sequence that Peck experienced. Overall I did enjoy the film and the mystery elements to it. I also must make a comment about the brief display of Technicolor that appears in this black & white film at the climax.
