In this touching silent tale, directed by Herbert Brenon, Lon Chaney plays a circus clown, who smiles despite the fcat that his heart is heartbroken by by his ward (the young Loretta Young, before she became a star). In the end, he decides to take his onw life so that she can marry her true […]
Oscar Movies: Last Year at Marienbad–Alain Resnais’ Mysteriously Beautiful Tale
July 28, 2014 by
Alain Resnais’ Last Year at Marienbad is an experimental film that, among other things, explores the formal possibilities of film. Beautifully shot in Cinemascope by Sacha Vierny, a quintessential figure of the French New Wave, the movie is a puzzle, a mysterious riddle about the relationship between a present and a past, which may not […]
Oscar Movies: Late Show (1979)–Great Collaboration between Robert Altman and Robert Benton
July 28, 2014 by
Art Carney renders a much more interesting performance in Robert Benton’s The Late Show than he did three years earlier in his Oscar winning turn, Harry and Tonto.
Oscar Movies: Leatherneck (1928-1929): Writing
July 28, 2014 by
In this, part-silent, part talkie, William Boyd, court-martialed for desertion and murdering a Marine, is acquitted the last moment by the testimony of his Russian wife. Scripted by Elliott, who’s better known for adapting to the big screen Gaston Leroux’s novel, The Phantom of the Opera for the famous Lon Chaney version of 1925. Oscar […]
Oscar Movies: Legend–Ridley Scott’s Epic Flop Starring Tom Cruise
July 27, 2014 by
Tom Cruise made this lavishly produced epic for British director Ridley Scott just before he became a star the following year with Top Gun, directed by Ridley’s brother, Tony Scott.
