Paramount Pictures came down from the mountain with a beautifully restored version of Cecil B DeMille’s epic 1956 version of The Ten Commandments that featured Charlton Hestson in the iconic, almost career-defining role of Moses, with Yuk Brynner going toe to toe with him as the pharaoh, Ramses. The film plays like a who’s who…
Tag: technicolor
True Grit (1969) – Henry Hathaway
Ten Bad Dates With De Niro brings me a classic western on their list of titles that bring movie tears to the eye. John Wayne delivers an Oscar winning turn as Rooster Cogburn in Henry Hathaway’s cinematic adaptation of Charles Portis’ novel. I won’t lie, I came to the Coen Brothers version of the story…
The Red Shoes (1948) – Micheal Powell and Emeric Pressburger
The Directory in DK Canada’s The Movie Book continues to introduce me to classic films I haven’t seen, and today they introduced me to the Oscar winning film, The Red Shoes. Taking home awards from the Academy for Art & Set Direction as well as Best Music, the story follows the life and career of…
The Leopard (1963) – Luchino Visconti
The next film on the What Else to Watch list from DK Canada’s The Movie Book following my screening of Ossessione is this three hour epic starring Burt Lancaster. Lancaster plays Prince Don Fabrizio Salina, the ageing patriarch of a dying dynasty. It’s Sicily in the 1860s and political and social upheavals cause Fabrizio great…
That Lady in Ermine (1948) – Ernst Lubitsch & Otto Preminger
The final title from the What Else To Watch list as featured in DK Canada’s The Movie Book following its recommendation of To Be Or Not To Be is this fantasy/musical/comedy starring Betty Grable, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Cesar Romero. Grable is Angelina, a ruling countess, who just go married to Count Mario (Romeo). It…
West Side Story (1961) – Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins
Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins direct the film that brings me back to the musical genre in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book. Stephen Sondheim pens the lyrics for this Academy Award winning musical (including Best Picture) that is an updated retelling of Shakespeare’s beautiful tragedy Romeo & Juliet with Richard Beymer…
Show Boat (1936) – James Whale
The recommendations from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book for my screening of Oklahoma! gets underway with the 1936 adaptation of the Hammerstein stage musical, Show Boat. Directed by James Whale, who, one year previous, directed the iconic Bride of Frankenstein, the tale follows a young woman, Magnolia aka Nola (Irene Dunne)…
Oklahoma! (1955) – Fred Zinnemann
The Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book has brought around to musicals again, and this time, it’s Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! This big budget adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical that opened in 1943 cast Gordon MacRae as the show’s lead Curly and Shirley Jones, as the object of his affections, Laurey. There’s…
Anchors Aweigh (1945) – George Sidney
Frank Sinatra joins Gene Kelly in this recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of Singin’ in the Rain. The two crooners star as naval officers Clarence Doolittle (Sinatra) and Joseph Brady (Kelly). They arrive in Los Angeles, having been decorated for their service on a four…
El Cid (1961) – Anthony Mann
The recommendations for my viewing of Henry V for the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book gets underway with this towering film from Anthony Mann. Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren headline in this three-hour epic that chronicles the life and times of El Cid, known in Spain as Rodrigo Diaz (Heston), a…
The Mind Reels 