British invade Noir City film festival
Mar
24
2014
IT ALWAYS RAINS ON SUNDAY 1947, Rialto, 92 min, UK Dir: Robert Hamer A former barmaid, now the harried matriarch of a family in impoverished Bethnal Green, jeopardizes everything to shelter the escaped fugitive who was once her lover. A slice-of-life noir and prototype of British “kitchen sink” drama. BRIGHTON ROCK 1947, Rialto, 92 min, ...
Cherbourg umbrellas pop with panache, fifty years later
The delicious, the divine, the delectable and digitally restored, THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, opens Friday at Landmark’s Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles for a one-week big-screen viewing engagement. If you’ve not yet seen Jacques Demy’s candy-colored all-song French classic — yes, it’s an operetta à la française — on the big screen doing so at ...
Kosloff, unfurled
He worked for two of the greatest arts titans of the 20th century: Ballets Russes impresario Sergei Diaghilev and Hollywood director Cecil B. DeMille. After a long career as a silent movie actor, Theodore Kosloff made his final film appearance in DeMille’s “Madam Satan,” DeMille’s failed movie musical created on the cusp of the Depression. ...
Meet Fanchon, a successful Los Angeles woman of dance
To pair with his biographical sketch on Fanchon published in the adjacent blog story, dance historian Larry Billman kindly provided arts·meme with photos of this slender and beguiling lady of arts and commerce. According to Billman, Fanchon, in her day, was an “industry” of Los Angeles dance: a successful Hollywood choreographer, producer, businesswoman and dance ...
Fantastic Fanny Wolff — refashioned as Fanchon!
FANCHON (Fanny Wolf/Wolff later Simon) b. Los Angeles, California, USA, September 14, 1892 (or 1895) d. Los Angeles, California, USA, February, 1965 (Obit for Fanchon Simon) Legendary dance director, film and stage producer, writer, lyricist, costume designer and prolific producer of prologues in movie theaters (live productions in conjunction with films, also called “Ideas”) for ...
Fanchon and Marco, explored
“Variety” called Fanchon and Marco “the most famous brother and sister producing team” and “the standard by which stage shows are judged.” Their work included productions for Paramount, Fox, Republic Pictures, MGM, the Ice Follies, the Hollywood Bowl, a talent school and and dance companies through the ’20s to the ’40s. An illustrated presentation will ...
Gang warfare quelled by dancer love — backstage at Miami City Ballet 3
On stage, it was “The Jets are gonna have their way … tonight.” It was the premiere of Jerome Robbins‘s “West Side Story Suite” at Miami City Ballet. A big tangle of tension, gang hatred, rumble, and knife-fight. But backstage, a cross-generational love fest took hold, as George Chakiris, the iconic Sharks gang-leader, now retired, ...
A rumble, with love, at Miami City Ballet 2
Valentine’s Day love continues to take new and different forms. This year, February 14, 2014, in serendipitous Miami, Florida, a love connection of a special sort occurred at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. It was a backstage visit by Oscar-winning dancer/actor George Chakiris following Miami City Ballet’s premiere performance of “West Side ...
Koehler on Cinema: A great movie week
It’s pure coincidence that this is one of the best opening weeks for new movies in Los Angeles in recent memory. Not only are “The Lego Movie,” “In Bloom” and “The Last of the Unjust” all essential viewing—along with “A Field in England,” the latest brilliant black comedy from director Ben Wheatley and writer Amy ...
West Side Story’s George Chakiris to host Miami City Ballet gala 4
The distinction — true, false or otherwise — between so-called commercial dancers and those of the “concert” dance world will be breached February 14, 2014, when George Chakiris, “Bernardo” in WEST SIDE STORY (1961), hosts a gala to benefit Miami City Ballet, one of the nation’s leading classical ballet companies. Chakiris, who began his long ...