Kung fu collateral still kicking @ AMPAS
In 2011, producer and screenwriter Stephen Chin donated his collection of more than 800 kung fu film posters and related materials to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. An exhibition featuring selections from Chin’s exceptional poster collection hangs now through in the lobby of the Academy’s Wilshire Boulevard headquarters. If you are cruising ...
Gene Kelly’s witty number in “It’s Always Fair Weather” 5
We enjoyed watching “It’s Always Fair Weather” (MGM, 1955, co-dir: Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen) recently on Turner Classic Movies. The song-and-dance number in the video above, Thanks a Lot, But No Thanks, bears much influence of Jack Cole (he, too, worked with Gray, coaching the non-dancer in “Kismet” and “Designing Woman,” both at MGM). So ...
Remembering Rudi
July’s onset has us excited about a special event taking place in the City of Lights in a week. A new documentary “La Passion Noureev,” directed by Fabrice Herrault, will have its premiere in Paris. The venue is the Cinéma le Balzac on the Champs-Élysées. Herrault clarifies, via email, that “La Passion Noureev” is not ...
“Un Flic,” c’est fantastique
Jun
25
2013
A cool flick … concerns un flic. Alain Delon plays a French cop (“un flic”) who spends his days and nights chasing criminals, but doesn’t see the crook right under his nose. Simon (Richard Crenna) a smooth nightclub owner, works with a small crew to execute daring heists with big payoffs, while the la belle ...
Fred & Cyd march on tippy toe in “The Band Wagon”
In this publicity still for “The Band Wagon” (MGM, 1953), Cyd Charisse marches on gorgeous gams while her partner Fred Astaire embodies a human exclamation point. In the movie, Cyd dons a different frock. Costumes were by Mary Ann Nyberg, who has a wonderful film-costume portfolio. Nyberg ran into problems dressing Judy Garland in “A ...
Koehler on Cinema: “Between Us”
As Roman Polanski’s decidedly awkward “Carnage,” his 2011 adaptation of Yasmina Reza’s “God of Carnage” reminded, faithfully transferring plays to the screen more often than not fails. Dan Mirvish’s “Between Us,” his not-so-obeisant screen version of Joe Hortua’s play (commissioned but never produced by Costa Mesa-based South Coast Repertory), also deals with two married couples ...
How a genius choreographs: Jack Cole’s “Beale Street Blues” 2
In this 30-second snippet from the men’s dance in “Beale Street Blues,” one of Jack Cole’s three great dance numbers from THE I DON’T CARE GIRL (Fox, 1953), the work of a brilliant dance maker is on display. It’s a game of craps gone wrong. It gets played out on a platform, ostensibly (my reading) ...
Koehler on Cinema: Kubrick’s Last Movie
“Stanley Kubrick,” LACMA’s enormous exhibition devoted to the influential filmmaker, which closes June 30 for its only American stop, is essential viewing. The reasons why go beyond the show’s palpably physical survey of the life and work of one of the most important directors since World War II. It provides the viewer with an entirely ...
Hollywood archeology: Digging DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments”
arts·meme friend Mary Mallory alerts us to a new exhibition featuring prime California archeology: the recovery and reconstruction of a huge prop piece from Cecil B. DeMille’s silent movie classic “The Ten Commandments” (1923). A humongous face of an Egyptian sphinx-statue was recovered from the Central California sand dunes where DeMille directed his first (silent ...
arts•meme, stripped to skivvies, prepares for new look 2
We don’t look bad, we just look a bit dated. We’re five years old, after all.That’s why we’ve stripped to skivvies and preparing for a new look-and-feel. Please stand by, your arts blog will soon emerge with colorful and more contemporary design! Coming soon!