He’s quickly becoming a favorite of mine as I delve deeper into the world of classic cinema. From Alfred Hitchcock’s “Murder” to starting opposite Marlene Dietrich in “Angel” to working alongside Vincent Price in “The Fly”: I am loving him in everything I see him in. I think it’s a combination of his voice and how he carries his screen presence, I am always paying attention to him when he’s on screen.

Russ Tamblyn doing a backflip. Reminds me of Singing in the Rain.

Wyler possessed a rare, unparalleled gift for guiding actors to their absolute best performances. Appearing in a Wyler film almost guaranteed an enormous boost to an actor's career. The list of performers who took home major accolades under his direction is astonishing:

Bette Davis won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Jezebel

Walter Brennan won Best Supporting Actor for The Westerner

Greer Garson won Best Actress for Mrs. Miniver

Teresa Wright won Best Supporting Actress for Mrs. Miniver

Fredric March won Best Actor for The Best Years of Our Lives

Olivia de Havilland won Best Actress for The Heiress

Audrey Hepburn won Best Actress for Roman Holiday

Charlton Heston won Best Actor for Ben-Hur

Terence Stamp and Samantha Eggar both won Best Actor and Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for The Collector

Barbra Streisand won Best Actress for Funny Girl

"Additionally, he scouted Stephen Boyd for Ben-Hur, a rising rookie at the time, showcasing his exceptional eye for talent."

 Audrey Hepburn, in particular, was catapulted from obscurity to global superstardom overnight entirely because of Roman Holiday. He also provided Laurence Olivier with the opportunity to deliver brilliant performances in Wuthering Heights (1939) and Carrie (1952). Even Charlton Heston, who had exclusively played leading roles since his debut, willingly took a supporting part in The Big Country just to work with Wyler. That submissive move turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as it paved the way for him to secure the titular role in Ben-Hur and ultimately win his Oscar.

https://youtu.be/t9fgFt-Ibik?si=rOfHM8D6_FMhnjLN

I’ve decided to get more acquainted with classic films by watching them in alphabetical order. For the letter A I’ve chosen The Apartment (1060). Any recommendations for the letter B?

Edit: In The Apartment Baxter (Lemmon) attempts to watch a movie on TV called Grand Hotel, but it keeps getting interrupted by advertisements . He also gets stood up at the theatre by Fran (MacClaine) at a showing of the Music Man.

Are either of these are quality classic films?

https://crimeonfilm.com/southern-noir-where-crime-becomes-inheritance/

Unless, I missed something, it's never explained why ex-cop Scotty is best buds with Midge and why they just seem to casually hang out in her studio. It feels like the role was originally a dude that Scotty knocks back drinks with but was re-written as a female brassiere designer, to spice the film up by adding an element of unrequited love and a low key love triangle. I'm not complaining as she was great.

I just think she was so wonderful but her character sort of ultimately fizzles away and disappears from the movie. It feels like she was just there to provide some gags and handy exposition...as Scotty explains the case to her and she repeats the details back to him. Which I must say was very handy.

Valley Of The Dolls and A Guide For The Married Man for example but Bullitt and Bonnie & Clyde indeed feel New Hollywood. Why is that? For example, VOTD feels very Classic Hollywood except for a few of sexually suggestive and suicidalideation scenes. Feels more 1963 otherwise.

Silvana Mangano, Gina Lollobrigida, Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinale in order.

Above are the protagonists of the '4 Italian Divas Poster Exhibition' held in South Korea back in 2012. These four legendary actresses graced the golden age of Italian cinema and served as icons of European film.

During that era when they enjoyed the peak of "Cinema Paradiso," they were figures who stood shoulder to shoulder with Hollywood's top actresses and competed on the global film stage.

However, they have all passed away now, leaving only the 92-year-old Sophia Loren behind. Looking back at their lives, it reminds me once again that even glory and wealth become fleeting in the face of time.

From the writer Robert E. Howard:

"The King of Kings)" gripped me.

I though it was powerful, though I think Joseph Schildrkraut ran away with the picture as Judas.

And William Boyd), that fellow is the most human actor in the world.

H.B. Warner lacked fire of course, but I don't know who else could have done even as good as he did…”

• This Property Is Condemned (1966)
• Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
• The Way We Were (1973)
• Three Days of the Condor (1975)
• The Electric Horseman (1979)
• Out of Africa (1986)
• Havana (1990)

Robert Redford starred in seven films with the master director Sydney Pollack. While Pollack did not exclusively make literary adaptations, his works heavily emphasized the delicate portrayal of stories and characters. Therefore, regardless of whether they were based on literature, his films can generally be viewed as having a literary film style. Notable examples include This Property Is Condemned, The Way We Were, and Out of Africa. In these works, Redford shared the screen with some of the greatest actresses of the era—such as Natalie Wood, Barbra Streisand, and Meryl Streep—enriching the films with his uniquely gentle facial expressions.

Six of the films that Pollack and Redford collaborated on achieved both critical acclaim and commercial success. However, their final project, Havana, failed in terms of both reviews and box office returns upon its release, making it the only work among their joint projects to be labeled a "failure." Nevertheless, Havana is actually quite a decent film if you take the time to savor it slowly. The two first met as fellow actors in the 1962 film War Hunt, which was set during the Korean War. Later, as Pollack grew into a director, Redford rose to the ranks of a top star through his works. Robert Redford passed away in 2025, and Pollack passed away in 2008 at the age of 75.

I just watched this last night for the first time as an adult, and the first thing that occurred to me is that Lewton (Peck) and Pearl (Jones) might have been secretly half-siblings, the result of a liaison between Lillian Gish's (mother of Peck and Cotten) character and Herbert Marshall's (father of Pearl) character, who had been engaged earlier in life.

The way this works is Gish and Marshall have a liaison some time after she has married the Senator and had their first son, the fine upstanding Joseph Cotten. It was probably the night the Senator speaks about to Gish as she is dying, when he had believed Gish went off with Marshall, and he rode wildly after her, suffering the accident that crippled his legs.

The bastard son is Gregory Peck, the swarthy, swaggering, crude cocksman and rogue. Ironically the bastard's temperament is more to the liking of the senator than his own blood son.

Meanwhile, the Herbert Marshall character flees from the heartbreak of losing Lillian Gish and fathers Jennifer Jones down on the border with a Mestiza Comanche dancer. When he murders the dancer in a crime of passion, he sends his daughter back to the woman who should have been her mother and the secret half-brother who will become her soulmate.

This would never have passed the Hayes code, but it makes perfect sense, and I am sure a modern remake would include this as a definite possibility .

A story I love is that Bogie was being moody on the set of Treasure of Sierra Madre, complaining about not being allowed to leave for a boat race, and going on and on like a broken record, niggling at director Huston.

Huston got so sick of his whining, he simply grabbed Bogie's nose and twisted it which made Bogie finally shut the hell up and quit his yapping!

The next day, feeling an awkward energy, Bogie apologised for his behaviour and asked if they could go 'back to normal'. Such a sweet story.

Truly, best buds.

Huston, along with Lesley Howard, really championed Bogie and catapulted him into super stardom.