The late director Franklin J. Schaffner was born 105 years ago today.
Though Schaffner won an Oscar for directing Patton, my favorite Schaffner film will always be Planet of the Apes. In this scene, Charlton Heston discovers where he’s actually been for the entire movie.
4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
129 years ago, on this date, the great American filmmaker Howard Hawks was born in Indiana. Over a career that spanned several decades, Hawks proved himself to be a master of every genre. He made great crime films, great noirs, great comedies, and great westerns. His influence continues to be felt to this day. In honor of his legacy, it’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Howard Hawks Films
Scarface (1932, dir by Howard Hawks, DP: Lee Garmes)
Bringing Up Baby (1938, dir by Howard Hawks, DP: Russell Metty)
The Big Sleep (1946, dir by Howard Hawks, DP: Sidney Hickox)
Rio Bravo (1959, dir by Howard Hawks, DP: Russell Harlan)
Today’s scene that I love comes from 1971’s Dirty Harry, in which Clint Eastwood, as “Dirty Harry” Callahan finally confronts the the Scorpio Killer (Andy Robinson) and asks him if he feels lucky. Eastwood himself later said that Callahan’s badge must have been attached to a rubber band because he was somehow able to get it back in time for Magnum Force.
4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
On this date, 131 years ago, the great cinematic stylist Josef von Sternberg was born in Vienna. Von Sternberg would become one of the great directors of both the silent and the early sound era and is today best remembered for his many collaborations with Marlene Dietrich.
It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Josef von Sternberg Films
Underworld (1927, dir by Josef von Sternberg, DP: Bert Glennon)
The Blue Angel (1930, dir by Josef von Sternberg, DP: Gunther Rittau)
Shanghai Express (1932, dir by Josef von Sternberg, DP: Lee Garmes and James Wong Howe)
The Scarlet Empress (1934, dir by Josef von Sternberg, DP: Bert Glennon)
Everyone knows that Sean Connery made his debut of James Bond in 1962’s Dr. No but what they may not know is that Sean Connery was not the first actor to play James Bond. James Bond made his first appearance 8 years earlier when an American television show called Climax! presented a 48-minute adaptation of Ian Fleming’s first Bond novel, Casino Royale.
In this version of Casino Royale, James Bond was known as Jimmy Bond and he was about as American as you can get. (Felix Leiter, meanwhile, was now English and named Clarence Leiter). Jimmy Bond was played by Barry Nelson, an actor who is probably best known for playing the blandly friendly hotel manager in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Casino Royale’s villain, Le Chiffre, was played by none other than Peter Lorre.
This version of Casino Royale was initially meant to serve as a pilot for a weekly television series but, perhaps fortunately, the Climax version of Casino Royale didn’t get much attention when it was originally aired. According to Sinclair McKay’s authoritative Bond book, The Man With The Golden Touch, this version of Casino Royale was forgotten about until a copy of it was discovered in the 1980s. By that time, of course, everyone knew that James Bond was English and that Felix Leiter was American.
Thanks to YouTube, I’ve seen the Climax! Casino Royale and it’s definitely a curiosity. If Dr. No hadn’t launched the James Bond film franchise, there would be little reason to watch this version of Casino Royale. It moves a bit slowly, is way too stagey, and it reveals that, contrary to what we’ve all heard, live television was not always the greatest thing on the planet. Not surprisingly, this adaptation contains none of the brutality or the moral ambiguity that makes Fleming’s novel such a fun read. American television audiences would not see Jimmy Bond strapped naked to a chair and an American television show would never end with the hero saying, “The bitch is dead.” The best you can say about this version of Casino Royale is that Peter Lorre makes for a good villain (in fact, of the three versions of Casino Royale, the television version is the only one to feature an effective Le Chiffre) and Barry Nelson would have made a good Felix Leiter.
That said, I still find the television version of Casino Royale to be fascinating from a historical point of view. This is the type of show that you watch for curiosity value. This is the type of show that you watch so that you can think about how different things could have been.
So, presented for your viewing pleasure, here’s the original version of Casino Royale:
Considering that it’s Ian Fleming’s birthday, what else could I have possibly picked?
117 years ago today, Ian Fleming was born in Mayfair, London. A member of British Intelligence during World War II, Fleming is today best-remembered as the creator of James Bond.
Today’s scene that I love comes from 1962’s Dr. No. Here is Sean Connery, in his first appearance as Fleming’s iconic secret agent. Eunice Gray was cast as Sylvia Trench, who was originally envisioned as being Bond’s permanent “London” girlfriend. She also appeared in From Russia With Love before the idea was abandoned. We all know that Bond’s true love was Tracy di Vincenzo.
4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Today the Shattered Lens celebrates what would have been the 94th birthday of the great cinematographer, Gordon Willis. Willis was the master of using shadow and underexposed film to create some of the most haunting movie images of the 70s and 80s. He was also one of the first cinematographers to take advantage of the so-called “magic hour,” that moment when the sun is setting and everything is bathed in a golden glow. Today, everyone does that but Willis was the first.
Willis has often been cited as one of the most influential cinematographers of all time but, amazingly, Willis would receive only two Academy Award nominations (for Zelig and The Godfather Part III) and he would never win a competitive Oscar.
In memory of Gordon Willis, here are….
6 Shots From 6 Gordon Willis Films
End of the Road (1970, dir by Aram Avakian, Cinematography by Gordon Willis)
The Godfather (1972, dir by Francis Ford Coppola, Cinematography by Gordon Willis)
The Parallax View (1974, dir by Alan J. Pakula, Cinematography by Gordon Willis)
The Godfather Part II (dir by Francis Ford Coppola, Cinematography by Gordon Willis)
All The President’s Men (1976, dir by Alan J. Pakula, Cinematography by Gordon Willis)
Manhattan (1979, dir by Woody Allen, Cinematography by Gordon Willis)
A lot of people have sung this song, from Paul Anka to Frank Sinatra to Sid Viscous and Jay-Z.
Christopher Lee’s version remains my favorite.
… And now, the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I’ll say it clear
I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain
I’ve lived a life that’s full
I traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way
… Regrets, I’ve had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course
Each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way
… Yes, there were times, I’m sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all, and I stood tall
And did it my way
… I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried
I’ve had my fill, my share of losing
And now, as tears subside
I find it all so amusing
To think I did all that
And may I say, not in a shy way
Oh, no, oh, no, not me
I did it my way
… For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way
… Yes, it was my way
Songwriters: Paul Anka / Gilles Thibaut / Claude Francois / Jacques Revaux
The Fly (1958, D: Kurt Neumann)
One of the great things about the original, 1958 version of The Fly is that, even though it starred Vincent Price, Price didn’t play the Fly. Instead, for once, Price was allowed to be the voice of reason, the guy who said, “Maybe don’t mess around with the laws of time and space.”
Today’s scene that I love is from the ending of the original Fly. Supposedly, Price had a hard time filming this scene because whenever he heard the recording of David Hedison crying out, “Help me!,” he would start laughing. Still, if you know what spiders actually do to the flies that they capture, you can’t help but sympathize with our misdirected scientist in the web. Destroying him with a rock was probably the most merciful thing that anyone could do.
In honor of Vincent Price, on what would have been his birthday, here is a scene that I love.
Through the Shattered Lens