Jim Clark of Jim's Film Website has put together a wonderful piece examining ten films by Robert Wise. My favorites are The Set-Up and The Day the Earth Stood Still.
It was difficult whittling down the forty films Wise directed to an introductory list of just ten. But they do suggest the range of his diverse, artful -- and unabashedly entertaining -- body of work, which could be compared to such canonical studio directors as Howard Hawks (the 1932 Scarface, Bringing Up Baby, Red River) and Michael Curtiz (Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Mildred Pierce). Although Wise is often thought of as primarily an 'actor's director' -- and he's worked with many of Hollywood's most talented performers -- he has also created several films which are nothing less than visually stunning (The Set-Up, Odds Against Tomorrow, The Haunting), even as they find an ideal balance between image, sound, drama, and theme. In still other films, he knows when to rein in his visual imagination and focus on performance (The Day the Earth Stood Still, Run Silent, Run Deep, The Sound of Music).
| :: posted by Donald Melanson, 9/18/2004 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Colossus!
Universal has finally announced one of my most aniticipated movies on DVD: Colossus: The Forbin Project. The bad news is that Universal's site lists the aspect ratio as full frame. I hope that's a mistake. This is a 2.35:1 Panavision film. There's no way to show it full frame without completely ruining the composition.
| :: posted by Donald Melanson, 9/09/2004 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
A Guide to Hitchcock DVDs
I just discovered the Alfred Hitchcock DVD Information Site -- a wonderful resource for comparing the many different Hitchcock DVDs available (especially the early British films, of which there are many releases of wildly varying quality). There's loads of screenshots and even audio samples of some DVDs.
I just discovered the Alfred Hitchcock DVD Information Site -- a wonderful resource for comparing the many different Hitchcock DVDs available (especially the early British films, of which there are many releases of wildly varying quality). There's loads of screenshots and even audio samples of some DVDs.
| :: posted by Donald Melanson, 9/07/2004 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
Sunday, September 05, 2004
Ebert in Telluride
Roger Ebert is at the Telluride Film Festival and has filed this report.
Telluride may be the only film festival without an angle. Audiences come here to see films, not to buy, sell or hype them. Well, maybe a little hype. Far from trying to publicize its films, Telluride never even announces them in advance; you have to attend on faith.
| :: posted by Donald Melanson, 9/05/2004 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
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