Now Screening - What Are You Watching Right Now?

[struth]

The Asphalt Jungle, 1950...




When the film was being prepared for a British bow, the producers hesitated because it was so full of American slang. At the time, films heavy with slang were usually re-dubbed for English audiences. Gerard Fairlie, the British author of the "Bulldog Drummond" adventure stories, was called upon as a consultant, and he advised against re-dubbing, even though some words would go right over the heads of British viewers. The film was not re-dubbed and earned good box-office returns in England.

The poster showing Marilyn Monroe in a purple dress was created much later, after she became a household name. Monroe was basically unknown when the film was made in 1950 and only has a very small role. She certainly wouldn't have been given top billing at the time. In fact, she wasn't named on the original posters at all. John Huston, an avid horseman, had a team of Irish stallions boarded and trained at MGM talent executive Lucille Ryman Carroll's ranch, and he happened to be $18,000 in arrears for payments to the ranch. On a Sunday afternoon in September, Carroll and her husband invited Huston out to the ranch and made him an offer he couldn't refuse, to borrow a line from another movie. Carroll informed Huston that if he did not allow Marilyn Monroe another shot at the role, the ranch would sell his stallions and collect the money due. Huston did not refuse the terms, and Monroe got another screen test, only this time she had the support of Louis B. Mayer and MGM chief hair stylist Sydney Guilaroff. When Fox chief Darryl F. Zanuck saw the film, he again assumed her contract.

[struth]

golden oldie now with... The Old Dark House, 1932...



This was the first American film of Charles Laughton from UK and Raymond Massey from Canada.

In the film, Gloria Stuart visits a centenarian in his bed who explains to her what happens when you get to be this age. 65 years later Gloria Stuart would famously play the centenarian Rosa DeWitt Bukater in Titanic (1997) and then live to be one, dying at 100 years old in 2010.

Due to copyright issues resulting from the 1963 remake, the 1932 version of "The Old Dark House" was not broadcast on television until 1994. The Old Dark House (1932) was withdrawn from circulation when the remake The Old Dark House (1963) by William Castle Productions was released. This film was considered to be lost until director Curtis Harrington discovered a printable negative.

[Barry]

The Fifth Element

[Barry]

Stardust (2007)



Might appear to be a bit of a soppy fairy tale, but it has some nice fantasy touches, as well as a great line up of performers.

[struth]

The Lone Ranger, 2013...




In an interview, Johnny Depp thanked his stunt horse, Scout, for saving his life after a violent fall during filming. After Scout dragged Depp 25 feet, Scout jumped over him to avoid stepping on him. A clip of the fall shows the horse clearly jumping over Depp, and detaching him from the saddle. Depp suffered only minor bruises and scrapes, but says it could have been a lot worse if the horse had stepped on him.

The "frame story" where young Will meets the old Tonto takes place in 1933, the year of the first Lone Ranger radio broadcast.

Todd McDaniels, a linguist at the Comanche Nation College, commented favorably on Johnny Depp's attempts to speak Comanche, a language with 23 to 30 living native speakers. "The words were there, the pronunciation was shaky, but adequate."

[struth]

Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, 1957...



When filming began, Robert Mitchum worried that Deborah Kerr would be like the prim characters she frequently played. However, after she swore at director John Huston during one take, Mitchum, who was in the water, almost drowned laughing. The two stars went on to have an enduring friendship which lasted until Mitchum's death in 1997.

The director and the explosives expert were reportedly left hanging onto an elevated platform on location - uninjured - after a short-circuit in explosives-effect wiring unexpectedly set off all of some 30 planted detonation devices at one time.

10 years later, director Buds Boetticher tried to reunite Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr once again as a soldier of fortune and a nun for " Two Mules for Sister Sara", which he was originally to direct and write for Universal. In the end he would just receive a screenwriting credit, and Clint Eastwood and Shirley Maclaine would end up starring.

[struth]

North to Alaska, 1960...




Richard Fleischer was originally hired to direct the picture. He accepted, but when he asked to see the script he was informed that one hadn't been written yet. Also, after talking with Capucine, he thought she was all wrong for the role of the prostitute - he didn't think she was sexy or earthy enough to convince anyone that she was a hooker, and he informed producer Charles K. Feldman of his conclusion and asked that she be replaced. Unfortunately for Fleischer, Feldman and Capucine were living together at the time and he had already promised her the role. So Capucine got the part and Fleischer got the boot. He was replaced by Henry Hathaway. Capucine's lusty abandonment in the role proved Fleischer wrong, and she would go on to portray another prostitute two years later, giving a shattering performance as the ill-fated Hallie Gerard in Walk on the Wild Side (1962).


Years after the production was first shown in public, the producers of the film admitted that, in the scene where Capucine is trying to laugh, she was actually tickled on her feet and that her laughs and pleas for mercy were entirely genuine.

The day after Johnny Horton's recording of the theme song was released, he was killed in a car crash. Despite the singer not being around to promote the record, it reached #1 on the country charts and #4 on the Hot 100. It also reached #23 in the UK.

Johnny Horton also did the battle of new orleans, but alas his fame only lasted about 3 yrs until his untimely death at 35.

[struth]

Too many crooks,1959.

[Barry]

The Lone Ranger, 2013...

As a film, it is a whole lot better than I expected. Will add it to my collection one day.

[struth]

My Favorite Brunette, 1947..