Humor, love of life power Claude Lelouch’s ‘Chacun Sa Vie’
Apr
30
2017
I just loved the opening-night feature film of COLCOA, the French film festival in Los Angeles. Everyone’s Life, blessed by a French title, Chacun sa vie had its north American premiere with its master-director, Claude Lelouch, in the house. It’s a great title — and so apt isn’t it? Because in the end (asserts Lelouch, the ...
Worldly actress Jacqueline Bisset honored at COLCOA
Apr
30
2017
A gorgeous crystal vase and heartfelt congratulations to the British-born actress Jacqueline Bisset, bilingual, bicultural, and in every way a screen stunner. Bisset was honored with the 2017 Prix Alliance Française presented by Christophe Lemoine Consul General of France in Los Angeles on April 27, 2017. The ceremony took place at the annual COLCOA French film ...
Free tix! DeMille’s ‘Cleopatra’ @ Chinese Theatre 90th birthday
Apr
20
2017
On May 1, 2017, Hollywood Heritage, the TCL Chinese Theatre, and NBCUniversal will celebrate the 90th Anniversary of the opening of the Chinese Theatre. It was known then, and for many still is nostalgically remembered as Grauman’s Chinese. The Chinese gives a prime example of Los Angeles’ kooky ‘themed’ architecture. The birthday bash will feature ...
Farber on Film: ‘Lady in the Dark’ @ TCM Fest 2017
A strong female character is at the center of Lady in the Dark, a forgotten 1944 film that was presented in a beautiful 35mm nitrate print at the Egyptian Theatre on the final night of the festival. This movie was adapted from a Broadway play written by Moss Hart, with music by Kurt Weill and ...
Go Grover! Grover Dale does the boogaloo in ‘The Landlord’
I so enjoyed seeing “The Landlord” (1970), Hal Ashby’s maiden voyage as a film director, screened at TCM Fest 2017. One of those rambling and intriguing seventies movies that is so direct, so real, and wearing its heart on its sleeve. As the credits rolled, an added bonus — the name of arts·meme friend, Grover ...
Farber on Film: ‘The Landlord’ @ TCM Fest 2017
Apr
14
2017
One of the special guests at this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival was actress and director Lee Grant, who gave a spirited interview before the screening of The Landlord, the film that earned her one of her four acting nominations for best supporting actress. Grant’s first nomination came for William Wyler’s Detective Story in 1951, ...
Farber on film: ‘David and Lisa’ @ TCM Fest 2017
Many out-of-town patrons attend the TCM Festival to catch the big productions with the big stars in attendance: In the Heat of the Night, The China Syndrome, Saturday Night Fever. Or they line up for perennial audience pleasers like Casablanca, which celebrated its 75th anniversary in the large Chinese Theatre. But for some of us, ...
“Baby Jane” never better than at poolside screening, TCM Fest
Apr
8
2017
The highlight of our first day of this, our eighth TCM Turner Classic Film Festival, was hands down WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (1964) screened poolside of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. We so enjoyed viewing the Gothic horror movie so smartly directed by Robert Aldrich and graced by the outre performance of Bette Davis and ...
Greek tragedy in Alphabet City: the death of Lee Morgan
Trumpeters have the most tragic lineage of any instrument in jazz history. Car accidents, mental illness, congenital defects, drugs and alcohol have claimed some of the greatest players. But the murder of trumpeter Lee Morgan in 1972 was a laceration on the music that never healed. That a great but floundering musician regained his footing ...
Critic Robert Koehler’s TCM Fest 2017 game plan
Despite the untimely death of its venerated, longtime host, film historian Robert Osborne, this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival isn’t likely to take on a funereal mood. Instead, it’ll probably be more like a wake. That’s because the overarching theme of the new edition is comedy, under the theme, “Make ‘Em Laugh: Comedy in the ...