Inspired by the look of classic pin-up queens and movie stars like Lauren Bacall, Hedy Lamarr, Rita Hayworth, Betty Grable, Ava Gardner, etc., modern day pin-up models embrace the aesthetic of a bygone era. They embody a classic feminine beauty, there is also an acceptance of all women regardless of their nationality, ethnicity, body shape or whether they have tattoos or not. The vintage lifestyle extends beyond hair, makeup and clothing to music, cars and of course classic movies.
The new documentary Bombshells and Dollies, directed by Daniel Halperin, chronicles the 2015 Viva Las Vegas 18 pin-up competition. Viva Las Vegas is a weekend long Rockabilly festival held every year in April. Over 25,000 vintage enthusiasts travel to Las Vegas every year for live music, car shows, burlesque shows, Tiki parties, bowling, dancing and much more. Twelve women compete to be chosen as Miss Viva Las Vegas. Five competitors are chosen by judges, one is chosen by those five, and the audience chooses the other six. In Bombshells and Dollies we get to meet each of the 12 competitors as well as other Viva Las Vegas regulars, organizers and the vintage pin-up queen herself Dita Von Teese. The pin-ups are from around the world: the U.S., Canada, Brazil, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. One of the competitors, Miss Victory Violet, is one of my favorite vintage models on INstagram and I was excited to watch the documentary to learn more about her.
The documentary follows the competition up until the winners are chosen: best wardrobe, best hair, best makeup, second runner up, first runner up and Miss Viva Las Vegas. The interest in 1940s and 1950s style and even WWII era culture is discussed at length. For those classic film fans who are interested in vintage looks and have interest in or have been to Viva Las Vegas themselves, this documentary is a must watch. There are a few classic film references and one of the competitor's outfits was even inspired by something Linda Darnell wears in My Darling Clementine (1946).
Bombshells and Dollies is available on digital through TriCoast Entertainment. You can find the documentary on Amazon Prime, InDemand, DirecTV, AT&T, FlixFling, Vimeo on Demand, Vudu and FANDANGO.
When we talk about the art of classic film many of us tend to focus on the work of the director. It's easy to do that. Their names are directly linked with their work in a way that other crew members, beyond the cast, are not. It's easy to ignore the contributions of the cinematographers who do so much with framing, composition, lighting, focus and movement of the camera to create the masterpieces we love.
Director Daniel Raim's new documentary Image Makers: The Adventures of America's Pioneer Cinematographers celebrates the work of seven early visionaries who learned their craft through practice, curiosity and invention. Their work is simply incredible because there was no precedent. Cinematographers developed their art form from scratch and their techniques would lay the foundation for technicians for decades to come. The film calls them a "fraternity of light" and they would share their craft with their fellow cinematographers through apprenticeship and collaboration.
Image Makers spotlights seven notable cinematographers from the 1910s to the 1950s. These seven include Billy Bitzer, Charles Rosher, Rollie Totheroh, William Daniels, Karl Struss, Gregg Toland and James Wong Howe. Bitzer was one of the early pioneers who came from nothing to establish a career working with D.W. Griffith. Totheroh was a former baseball player who had a background in illustration and his talent for being able to frame a shot lead to his long-time collaboration with Charlie Chaplin. Rosher had a background in photographer, gained the trust of Mary Pickford and became a master at lighting. Daniels worked with Greta Garbo at MGM developing techniques to best display Garbo's stunning countenance. Struss collaborated with Rosher on Sunrise (1927), used German camera movement techniques and even invented his own lens. Toland tragically died young at the age of 44 but during his short career photographed some majors including Citizen Kane (1941), Wuthering Heights (1939) and The Grapes of Wrath (1940). Wong Howe developed a love of photography as a child and after a brief career as a boxer found himself working in the film industry and quickly adapted to sound, color and widescreen working through the 1930s and into the 1970s.
"Cameraman Billy Bitzer and director D.W. Griffith ignite Hollywood spectacle with Intolerance(1916)"
"Cameraman James Wong Howe trailblazes on roller-skates for his breakthrough boxing film Body and Soul (1947)"
"Greta Garbo surrenders lovingly to William H. Daniels’ camera for the pre-code talkie Romance (1930)"
Film discussed at length include Intolerance (1916), Way Down East (1920), The Kid (1921), City Lights (1923), Greed (1924), Flesh and the Devil (1926), Sunrise (1927), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), The Thin Man (1934), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Body and Soul (1947) and Hud (1963). Other cinematographers mentioned include Karl Freund (the inventor of the unchained camera technique) and Harry Stradlings.
The documentary is directed, produced and edited by Daniel Raim. I really enjoyed his film Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story and the focus of his work is primarily on those in the industry who work behind the scenes. Illustrator Patrick Mate, who did wonderful artwork for Harold and Lillian, fills in the blanks with vibrant and expressive illustrations. They are always such a joy and add a unique energy to the documentary that archival images just cannot by themselves. The film has plenty of film clips, behind-the-scenes photographs and archival audio clips of cinematographer interviews in addition to the illustrations.
Image Makers is narrated by Michael McKean and features interviews with various experts including the father of silent film research Kevin Brownlow as well as film historian and critic Leonard Maltin who wrote the book The Art of the Cinematographer (which I need to get my hands on!). Other talking heads include cinematographers John Bailey and Rachel Morrison, director of the Margaret Herrick Library, curator of the ASC Camera Museum Steve Gainer, David Totheroh, grandson of Rollie Totheroh, Lothia Toland, daughter of Gregg Toland, among others. One of the highlights of the film is a scene with Kevin Brownlow and David Totheroh as they geek out over a makeshift camera projector that Rollie Totheroh and Charlie Chaplin used back in 1916.
Image Makers is an enlightening and informative documentary that shines a much needed spotlight on the work of early pioneers in cinematography. TCM fans, especially those who want to learn more about film history, will definitely want to check this one out.
Image Makers: The Adventures of America’s Pioneer Cinematographers is a TCM original documentary and premieres on the channel on November 6th. Check your local listings for air times.
"Here is a woman who helped invent cinema, and there is a silence around her. It's absolutely intolerable and even stupid that we can't see these films." - Nicole Lise Bernheim, circa 1975
I’ve heard it said many times that we must preserve Alice Guy-Blache’s legacy. I didn’t fully appreciate the weight of this statement until I saw Pamela B. Green’s documentary Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache. This early filmmaking pioneer was present for the birth of cinema and helped shaped it at its very inception. She wrote, produced and directed and used filmmaking techniques such as close-ups, tinted color, synchronized sound, double exposure and various special effects that would become essential to filmmakers in the silent film era and beyond. She worked with various studios and in 1910 co-founded Solax Studios in Fort Lee, NJ with her husband Herbert Blache and business partner George A. Magie. After two decades of work and a thousand films, she disappeared from the industry and was mostly forgotten. In the years that followed and as film history was taken more seriously, Guy-Blache’s contributions were not recognized in the same way as her peers, including other women filmmakers like Lois Weber and Dorothy Arzner. Her legacy fell victim to deceit and the spread of misinformation. At the end of her life, she fought to set the record straight on many matters and her daughter Simone Blache even published her memoirs. But history still threatened to forget Guy-Blache forever. What needed to change? Her surviving films needed to be found, restored, viewed, studied and discussed. The more we learn about Alice Guy-Blache and her work, the better we can maintain an accurate depiction of the early days of cinema and the people who made it all happen.
Be Natural takes an investigative approach as it explores Alice Guy-Blache’s life and career, uncovers information, seeks out family members and interviews contemporary filmmakers in an effort to give Guy-Blache the recognition she deserves. The documentary employs mixed media visuals, archival photographs, interview footage with Guy-Blache from the late 1950s and the early 1960s. The film is narrated by Jodi Foster who also served as executive producer. While I was watching the film I thought to myself that this would be just the sort of project that Hugh Hefner would have invested in and I was right! He was also an executive producer along with Robert Redford and Regina K. Scully among others. There are so many talking heads in this documentary that it’s a bit overwhelming. Some discuss Guy-Blache at length and others appear for just a quick soundbite. Filmmakers featured include Peter Bogdanovich, Geena Davis, Agnes Varda, Diablo Cody, Ben Kingsley, Ava DuVernay, Kathleen Turner, Gillian Armstrong, Janeane Garofalo, etc. There are also interviews with family members, historians, professors, authors and archivists. Classic film enthusiasts will recognize some familiar faces including Kevin Brownlow, Anthony Slide, Cari Beauchamp and Jan-Christopher Horak. The documentary was inspired by Alison McMahan’s book Alice Guy Blache, Lost Visionary of the Cinema and director/producer Pamela B. Green established a Be Natural research team who did the investigative work on the film.
The documentary is choppy and jumps around a lot. Sometimes at a dizzying pace. I wish it could have slowed down and taken its time a bit. That doesn’t diminish the documentary’s importance which is profound. The film speaks to those of us who believe in the preservation of history and the acknowledgment of great works of those who have since passed on. Time and neglect can erase history and its up to us to speak Alice Guy-Blache’s name, to watch her films and to let future generations know about her story. Be Natural leads the charge in the name of Alice Guy-Blache.
Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache is a profoundly important and enlightening documentary on an early filmmaking pioneer that time threatened to forget.
screens in select theaters this summer and fall. Visit the official website for more information. The film will be available on digital July 23rd and DVD August 20th from Kino Lorber.
Founded in 1921 by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith, the Motion Picture and Television Fund Home (television was added later) seeks to care for members of the industry who were in need of full-time support. More than just a nursing home, the MPTF is a thriving community of retired visionaries. As Ted Witzer, former talent agent says, MPTF's community boasts "an incredible wealth of talent... just a little bit older."
Directed by Uli Gaulke, Sunset Over Mulholland Drive is a documentary that takes an intimate look at a group of MPTF residents and how they come together to collaborate on a project. The film was shot on the campus in 2017 and features the following residents:
Connie Sawyers - Actress
Ted Witzer - Talent Agent
Joel Rogosin - Television Producer
Deborah Rogosin - Therapist
Tony Lawrence - Screenwriter
Jerry Sedley Kaufmann - Director
Anne Faulkner - Actress
Daniel Selznick - Television Producer
Wright King - Actor
Phil Haberman - Sound Editor
Dena Dietrich - Actress
Duke Anderson - Sound Engineer
Maggie Malooly - Actress
Brett Hadley - Actor
I had the pleasure of visiting MPTF last Spring so I was particularly excited to see this film on the slate for this year's SXSW Film Festival. It's important for us to recognize the contributions, both big and small, that the MPTF residents made on the entertainment industry. So many figures from the past have been forgotten and overlooked and that's why classic film fans, like myself, know how valuable it is when the spotlight is focused on them. We cannot risk losing their stories forever.
The film focuses on a creative writing group which is organized by an MPTF staff member. It encourages individuals to write down their stories to preserve their legacies for their families and for future generations. About half way into the film we see the group work on a sequel to Casablanca, imagining what would happen if Rick and Ilsa reunited many years later. It's not the most interesting part of the documentary. This helps to give the film a storyline but I was much more interested in hearing from the different subjects than I was in finding how their project turned out.
Classic film lovers will appreciate all the references to films like Gone with the Wind, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes, A Streetcar Named Desire, American Graffiti and many others. The different residents discuss working with people like David O. Selznick, Susan Hayward, Dean Martin, Elvis, etc.
Some of my favorite moments in the film included Connie Stevens talking about her career, the sweet story about how John Lawrence found love again after his wife passed away and seeing actor Wright King watch his scene with Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire. Pretty much any moment when the film lingers on a scene or interview with one of the residents is a highlight for me. A few of the subjects have passed away since the filming making these moments even more special.
There are beautiful shots of the MPTF campus. And as someone who's been there I can tell you it's stunning in real life. There is a short tour at the beginning but I wish we learned more about the history of MPTF and about the different facilities on campus.
Sunset Over Mulholland Drive is an important documentary for the sole reason that it brings awareness to those elderly members of the entertainment industry who have contributed so much but are at risk of being forgotten. There are times I felt the film a bit rushed and that perhaps it could have gone in a different direction. Until I get the MPTF documentary of my dreams, I'll be pointing people to this one as essential viewing.
Sunset Over Mulholland Drive had its world premiere at the 2019 SXSW Film Festival as part of their Documentary Spotlight series.
You may be familiar with Frank Capra's Hollywood films but how much do you know about the propaganda documentaries he made during WWII? The Sicilian born Frank Capra emigrated to the US in 1903. Here he developed a fervent patriotism that helped chart the course of his life and career. After failed attempts at becoming a chemical engineer and later a screenwriter, he found his talents for directing film suited him best. In Hollywood he made hits such as It Happened One Night (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and Meet John Doe (1941). Before re-enlisting in the Army in 1941, he made Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) hoping that its release would secure finances for his family while he was away. When the war ended and Capra came back to Hollywood, much had changed not only in the industry but with Capra himself. He made the independent film It's a Wonderful Life (1946) which wouldn't become the beloved classic that we know today until much later. Capra would make 5 more films over the next decade and a half but couldn't recapture the magic of his pre-war career.
While Capra was in the Army, his contribution to the war effort was primarily propaganda filmmaking. He served as executive producer and co-director on several different documentaries. Seven of these films made up his Why We Fight series.
New from Olive Films is Mr. Capra Goes to War: Frank Capra's World War II Documentaries and Blu-Ray (and DVD) that features five of these films, 2 of which are from the Why We Fight series. In addition, Joseph McBride, Frank Capra biographer (Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success) is featured in an original documentary about Capra's life and career with a particular focus on his work during WWII. He also makes a 4 minute introduction to each of the 5 films.
This new one disc set contains the following:
Frank Capra: Why We Fight
31 minutes
Capra biographer Joseph McBride covers the scope of Frank Capra's life and his filmmaking career. Capra served in the Army for both WWI and WWII. We learn about his patriotism, conservative politics and personal conflicts. Confused with the changing ideologies of America during the war, Capra tried his best to make sense of this to make documentaries that would serve to help with the war effort. Capra received the Distinguished Service Medal for his contributions but was very ambivalent about the films he made during this time with the exception of The Battle of Russia. McBride speaks throughout this doc and unfortunately has a very monotone and dry delivery. The subject matter is interesting enough to make it worth your while. I was particularly fascinated by Capra's post-war career and his struggle to transition back into the industry.
Prelude to War (1942)
dir. by Frank Capra, Anatole Litvak
52 min
This is the first of Capra's Why We Fight films and it starts off with the following:
"This film, the first of a series, has been prepared by the War Department to acquaint members of the Army with factual information as to the causes, the events lead up to our entry into the war and the principles for which we are fighting."
The film drives home its message of freedom and equality by comparing and contrasting the United States with the fascist regimes of Germany and Japan. These are presented as two separate earths and begs the question: which one would you want to live on? I was particularly fascinated by the propaganda messaging against the suppression of religious freedom and exploring the dangers of not taking the war seriously.
The Battle of Russia Part 1 (1943)
36 min The Battle of Russia Part 2 (1943)
47 min
dir. by Frank Capra and Anatole Litvak
Russian born director Anatole Litvak joined forces with Frank Capra to direct this two part documentary, another entry into Capra's Why We Fight series. This propaganda film was pro-Russia and served to support our ally in the fight against the Nazis. Along with the pro-Soviet sentiment is quite a bit of anti-Nazi messaging. The first part focuses on Russia's military battles leading up to the WWII and the second part follows their battles against German invasion. It also clearly depicts Russia's successes in either defending or recapturing their borders. A hit upon its release in the US, the film didn't age well in the post-war McCarthy era.
The Negro Soldier (1944)
dir. by Stuart Heisler
produced by
40 min
After reading Mark Harris' book Five Came Back, I was most interested in seeing Heisler and Capra's film The Negro Soldier. This propaganda film had two purposes: 1) as a means to convince white people that it was crucial to have black people fight in the war and 2) as a means to recruit said black people. Carlton Moss wrote the script and also appears in the film as the black priest delivering a message to his parish about the importance of service. The film depicts the history of African-Americans in battle but also explores their contributions to American culture and their potential to contribute to the war effort.
Tunisian Victory (1944)
dir. by Frank Capra, John Huston and Hugh Stewart
76 min
During the war, American and British forces banded together to free Tunisia from the Nazis. Although united in the battle, the Americans and Brits didn't see eye to eye and their union was fraught with tension. This spilled over to the documentary. The Brits had real footage which they used in their film Desert Victory. The American filmmaking team had their own footage as well but due to an unfortunate accident it was forever lost at sea. The British weren't about to give up their footage so Capra, Stewart and Huston joined forces to recreate the scenes with actors. Because of the reenactments, this one has the most cinematic feel of all the films in the set. It also feels the most contrived.
Your Job in Germany (1945)
dir. by Frank Capra
13 min
"The problem now is future peace — that is your job in Germany."
Made specifically for the American occupation troops in Germany to teach them how to treat the German people and what to be wary of, Your Job in Germany was written by Theodore Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss. This documentary short stands out in the set because it served to educate G.I.s rather than inform the public. Warner Bros. repackaged the film the following year and released it as Hitler Lives. McBride points out in his introduction that all of these war films were in the public domain because they were made with taxpayer money and not for profit.
Mr. Capra Goes to War: Frank Capra's World War II Documentaries is available on Blu-Ray and DVD from Olive Films. The disc includes English subtitles and the option to play McBride's introduction before each film. This is a fantastic one disc set and is a must for WWII buffs and film history enthusiasts alike.
"I started out with very little talent but I was so tormented with ambition."
Cecil Beaton (1904-1980)
Cecil Beaton was many things. He was a photographer, a writer, a painter, a set decorator, a costume designer and a socialite. But if we were to put him in one master category it would have to be that of artist. Beaton was an aesthete to the highest degree. Born with an appreciation for all things beautiful, Beaton was drawn to art in its many forms. His first love was the theater and he loved looking at photographic portraits of stage actresses. This led to his personal ambition to photograph them himself. He set out to learn photography but a traditional education was not for him. Beaton did poorly in school and rarely attended lectures while in college. Everything he learned about art was self-taught. He mastered techniques in photography through sheer determination. Before the word "selfies" ever became part of our daily lexicon, Beaton made taking self-portraits an almost daily practice. His two sisters were his models and with them he learned how to master the art of styling, staging, and posing.
Beaton went on to have a long and industrious career in fashion and art. He was a tireless worker, always on the go and game for anything. His work took him to Hollywood, a place that brought him an opportunity to work with some of the best subjects in the world. Beaton stylized the sets and costumes for films like Gigi (1958) and My Fair Lady (1964). He shot iconic portraits of legendary stars like Katharine Hepburn, Gary Cooper, Marilyn Monroe, Orson Welles, Sylvia Sidney, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Leslie Caron, Marlon Brando, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Audrey Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, Barbra Streisand, Merle Oberon, Lillian Gish and Grace Kelly. His favorite model was Greta Garbo. Not only was she the ideal subject for his photography, he was immensely drawn to her as a person. The two had tumultuous friendship which led to a brief affair. Beaton was a complicated fellow, never settling down and besides his relationship with Garbo, he preferred the company of men. He wasn't afraid to be a dandy in a time when homosexuality was illegal in his home country of England.
Cecil Beaton's portrait of Gary Cooper
Cecil Beaton's portrait of Greta Garbo
New from Zeitgeist Films and directed by Lisa Immordino Vreeland, Love, Cecil chronicles the life and career of the man whose style made an indelible mark on the 20th century. We learn about his often tumultuous relationships with his family growing up and with his friends, lovers and collaborators. There is even footage of George Cukor discussing how the two didn't get along while making My Fair Lady. The film includes interviews with a variety of experts including magazine editors, photographers, historians, designers, museum curators, artists and people who knew Beaton well including his biographer, a former model, his former butler and the director of the first documentary on Beaton's life entitled Beaton by Bailey. We also hear from Beaton himself through archival footage and from his journal entries, read by actor Rupert Everett.
This is a multi-faceted look at an artist who had the capacity to delight and to shock. He was opinionated, disapproving and sometimes rude. As a contributor to Vogue, he once made the mistake of incorporating an anti-Semitic slur into one of his article sketches. The issue had to be scrapped. To make up for his grievous error, Beaton contributed to the WWII effort as a war photographer. He traveled all over the world, working tirelessly and was even in a serious airplane crash. Beaton's work was published in many outlets including one on the cover of LIFE magazine.
Classic film enthusiasts will be interested to learn about Beaton's contributions to the visual spectacle of two very important mid-century films: My Fair Lady and Gigi. Beaton worked on others but these are the two focused on in this documentary. I was particularly taken with the beautiful portraits Beaton shot of many of my favorite actors and actresses.
Love, Cecil is a dynamic exploration of an artistic genius whose passion for beauty influenced everything he did. Highly recommended.
Love, Cecil recently opened at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York City. It will be playing in Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta and many other cities across the country through July and August and into the fall. Visit Zeitgeist Films' official website for dates and locations.
Recommended viewing: Pair Love, Cecil with another Zeitgest Film documentary Bill Cunningham: New York (2010). I found these two figures, both fashion photographers, both complicated individuals, to be very similar in many ways.
In 1923, Cecil B. DeMille and his crew headed to the Nipomo Dunes of Guadalupe, California, a small town 160 miles north of Hollywood. DeMille brought with him carpenters, electricians, sculptors, painters, set decorators and many more to build a giant set for his new film The Ten Commandments (1923). His crew got to work on building a 900 feet wide and 100 feet tall set which included 20 Sphinxes and four 35 ton statues of Ramses. It was one of the biggest sets in movie history. Too big to build on the Paramount Studio lot, DeMille needed a wide open space that could double as Egypt and the Guadalupe dunes was just the location. The whole project was one of Biblical proportions well-suited for a film director whose approach to films was nothing less than epic. Too large to move back to Hollywood, the set's fate was up in the air. What would DeMille do with it? If he left it there, rival filmmakers would discover it and take advantage of their masterpiece to make their own movies. DeMille would have none of that. So he decided to bury the set, the entire set, in the sands of the dunes.
"If, a thousand years from now, archaeologists happen to dig beneath the sands of Guadalupe, I hope they will not rush into print with the amazing news that Egyptian Civilization... extended all the way to the Pacific coast of North America. The sphinxes they will find were buried there when we had finished them." - Cecil B. DeMille
Fast forward 60 years later. It was the early 1980s and filmmaker Peter Brosnan and his team had set out to find the buried set of The Ten Commandments. It was a project that would be plagued by setbacks and bureaucratic red-tape. Brosnan's documentary, The Lost City of Cecil B. DeMille (2016), tells the story the archaeological dig that spanned over 3 decades. What seemed like a relatively straightforward dig became anything but that. The film also explores the making of DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1923). Back in the 1980s and 1990s, Brosnan and his team searched for those who worked on the film and Guadalupe locals who either witnessed the production or were extras on the set. As a result of their work to capture these stories, Brosnan provides a plethora of archival footage. In this we find lots of interviews with extras, witnesses and with other figures including Agnes DeMille (Cecil's niece), screenwriter Jesse Lasky Jr., actor Pat Terence, actress Leatrice Joy (audio only) plus many of the people involved in the archaeological dig. There are also contemporary interviews with Peter Brosnan, his team members including Bruce Cradozo, Richard Eberhardt, Kelvin Jones, and DeMille's granddaughter Cecilia DeMille Presley. And to my surprise the documentary also covered the making of the 1956 version of The Ten Commandments which helps complete this almost century long story.
What the film lacks for in production quality it makes up for in a riveting story. The archival footage of the dig and the last surviving witnesses to the 1923 filming add much value to this documentary. I was riveted by the story of Brosnan and his team's quest to uncover the buried set. This is a fascinating documentary and well worth the time of any serious classic film buff.
October marks the home video release of Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story, now available on DVD and Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber. If you follow me on social media, you know I've been a champion for this film ever since I reviewed it back in 2015. I recently hosted a Twitter chat for the movie's TCM premiere and have been recommending Harold and Lillian to anyone who will listen. Now that the film is available, I encourage you all to all to purchase the DVD or Blu-Ray which contains over 2+ hours of deleted scenes, words of wisdom from Lillian Michelson and a full lecture from Harold Michelson on storyboard art. To celebrate the release, I had a chat with director Daniel Raim about his work on the movie.
Daniel Raim got his start as a documentary filmmaker while he served in the Israeli Defense Forces. Born in Israel, he moved back on his own at the tender age of 15. He studied painting at art school but it wasn't until his time in the military where says he learned to "tell stories through camera and editing." Raim said, "I found it something I connected with on a level and enjoyed immensely. To look through the lens of a camera and see individual stories and to shape them." During the last week of his service, he had a premonition that he would go to Hollywood and meet a wise sage who would teach him the way of cinema.
Daniel Raim at the 2016 TCMFF.
Source: Zimbio
Raim found himself at the AFI where he met a sage in the form of Robert F. Boyle, the production designer who worked on Hitchcock masterpieces such as Saboteur, Shadow of a Doubt, North by Northwest, The Birds and Marnie. Boyle was then 90 years old and had founded the production design program at the AFI. Raim remembered hitting it off with Boyle immediately. He said to himself "this is the guy I want to learn cinema from. I wasn't interested in becoming a production designer per say but I was more interested in him." While the other AFI students didn't fully appreciate Boyle, Raim saw not only the opportunity to learn from him but also to tell his story.
The first documentary Raim made was The Man on Lincoln's Nose (2000), a 40 minute film profiling Boyle's career. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary. About the film Raim says "I made it my personal mission to make a documentary that takes the time to listen." At the time Raim felt that he didn't have the skills to make the film he really wanted to make. He followed up The Man on Lincoln's Nose with a feature length project called Something's Gonna Live (2010), which became a portrait of six artists, icons of the Golden Age of Hollywood. These include Robert Boyle (North By Northwest), Henry Bumstead (Vertigo), Conrad L. Hall (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), Harold Michelson (The Graduate), Albert Nozaki (The Ten Commandments), Haskell Wexler (America, America). Raim said, "somehow all these careers and friendships were intertwined and there's a narrative about that."
It was during Raim's time at AFI that he met storyboard artist and production designer Harold Michelson. Harold had a long and varied career and worked on everything from The Ten Commandments to Spaceballs. He began as a storyboard artist in the studio era which then became New Hollywood. Raim remembers, "I'd go hang out in Harold's office... For hours, he'd just tell stories. Then I noticed on his bookshelf were all these original storyboards from Cleopatra,The Ten Commandments, The Birds, The Graduate, The Cotton Club. Mind-blowing, more than I could handle." Harold's stories weren't fanciful fantasies of a glorious time in Hollywood. They were about the real struggle to work in what Raim refers to as the "combat zone of working on a Hollywood movie production set." A place where egos often clashed. Raim told me that feature films during the studio era "were often storyboarded long before a direct was brought on. There was a script, someone like Harold storyboarded it, with all the camera placements, angles, height, tilt, lens... all of this was economical... to determine how much set they needed to build."
Then there was Harold's wife Lillian Michelson, the vivacious, charming and genius film researcher. In 1998, Harold invited Raim to meet Lillian at DreamWorks where she regularly had lunches with industry folks. Raim remembers,
"[it] was amazing to be so warmly received. She [doesn't] know who I am. She's immediately interested in who I am and what I'm doing. It's almost like being welcomed into a family you never knew you were a part of. It was like this open door in a way. The routine was that I'd have lunch, Lillian would spend half an hour yelling at Harold because of what he was eating. She'd go off and do her research work. Then I would spend the next few hours in Harold’s office soaking in all this amazing film history. I would leave these lunches completely energized.”"
Fast forward to 2013. What started as an interest in Harold Michelson's work developed into a feature-length film about two personal and professional lives that made an impact on Hollywood and the lives of those who inhabited their world. During the process of working on the movie, Raim visited the Art Director's Guild and asked if they had any taped interviews of Harold that he could use. Harold had passed away in 2007 so anything Raim could get his hands on would be crucial. He received a Hi8 Analog cassette shot in 1998. When Raim went to digitize the grainy footage he recognized his voice on the other side of the camera. He remembers, "I don't even remember shooting this stuff. Later I recalled that I was asked to record this interview with Harold for his lifetime achievement award... The cinema gods have handed me the making of this film." This footage allowed for Harold Michelson's own voice to shine through in the documentary.
In addition to this, Raim had access to Harold's poems and cards and a very carefully selected and small pile of love letters that Lillian allowed him to use. In these Raim and his wife and co-producer/co-editor Jennifer Raim, found "nuggets of wisdom and humor and everything else that humanized them." Harold and Lillian were a real couple audiences could relate to. Raim said about their story:
"I was determined to make a film that puts the audience in the shoes of Harold and Lillian to experience what it must have been like to come to Hollywood in it's heyday... I wanted to create that narrative so I found the idea of that moment when she's stepped off the train in Hollywood for the first time. For me that's what the movie is about. That moment."
Even though Raim did not have Harold to film he did have Lillian, who like Harold did not care to be on camera. In addition to that, she was reluctant to discuss anything negative, especially about Harold. However, Raim didn't want to make a puff piece. He said to Lillian, "I promise you audiences will believe the movie only if you share with me some of these less flattering stories. These stories humanize Harold and make his accomplishments that much more believable." And that meant discussing Harold's drinking, his depression as well as her own challenges and her son's Autism. Raim made Lillian more comfortable by ditching the film crew. He didn't hide the fact that he was filming her but he scaled it back to make for a more intimate atmosphere.
A piece by Patrick Mate from Harold and Lillian
Harold and Lillian features excellent storytelling about two captivating figures. The film has added elements that effectively draw the audiences into the story. Artist Patrick Mate's illustrations would not only fill in the gaps where footage was lacking but would also enhance the storytelling and pay tribute to Harold's art. Early on in the process Raim had shown Mate a rough cut. Mate reluctantly agreed to view it and as soon as he did he knew this was a project he wanted to be involved with. Raim said "it was wonderful how Patrick's images tell a very nuanced story all in one frame." When you watch Harold and Lillian, look closely at Mate's illustrations. Some of them are references to classic films like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and several others. Raim knew the ending of Harold and Lillian very early on. The train sequence when Lillian travels to Hollywood to meet Harold is the heart of the film. It was up to Mate to tell that story with his line illustrations and he did so quite beautifully. Those pieces were the first ones Mate created. If you watch closely you'll see the illustration techniques change throughout the film to what Raim called " a little more surreal, a little more adventurous."
Part of the whimsy of Harold and Lillian is the lovely music which includes an original score by Dave Lebolt as well as a classic piece by Debussy. About the music, Raim told me,
"I worked with him and at some point I arrived at a kind vision for the music based on an attitude I felt the music represented towards their life. . The Jaques Tati-esque music that's on the Blu-Ray, that was born out of thinking about their life and also my desire to present their life in a way that it channels the ups and downs. That they look back on it with humor, wit, compassion, love. To use music that wasn't inherently dramatic but presented a driving forward, how they approached life. They just kept going despite the challenges. There is a more poignant piece of music that we call the Lillian theme. That more poignant piano theme makes a statement that there's more to it than someone who organizes books on a shelf."
Would audiences get what the director was trying to get across? Raim received help and advice from Danny DeVito, a good friend of the Michelsons. He had collaborated with them on several projects. DeVito was one of the first people Raim interviewed for the film. He, along with editor Lynzee Klingman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), encouraged Raim to edit the movie down to 1-1/2 hours from it's original 2+ hours length. DeVito's involvement was so important to the film that Raim invited him to become executive producer.
Lillian Michelson, Daniel Raim, Jennifer Raim at the 2016 TCMFF. Source: Zimbio
Also instrumental to the movie was Jennifer Raim. Daniel Raim told me that Jennifer brought "a sensitivity and sensibility toward Lillian's very personal feminist struggles." This became crucial in presenting Lillian to an audience who would be primed to receive her message of perseverance and hope. One of the things that surprised Raim about the release of Harold and Lillian, despite the fact that it had a successful 68 city theatrical run, was how much of a rock star Lillian would be. He told me a story of how he and Lillian attended an American Academy of Dramatic Arts event where the Michelsons received a lifetime achievement award. The crowd of academy alums watched the documentary and shortly afterwards there was a line out the door to meet Lillian. One young woman told Lillian that her story inspired her so much that it helped lift her out of her depression and suicidal thoughts. In fact Lillian Michelson has had a profound effect on many people who have watched the film, myself included. She is the feminist hero many of us women look to for guidance and inspiration.
Following the success of Harold and Lillian, director Daniel Raim is busy with many new projects. He's working on a series of videos for the Criterion Channel on Filmstruck. While he was in Japan he made a documentary about one of his favorite directors Yasujiru Ozu. He continues to be inspired by stories of filmmakers and has other features currently in development. Stay tuned for more from this talented director. Make sure you follow him on Twitter @DanielRaim and check out his production company Adama Films.
Many thanks to Daniel Raim for taking the time to chat with me. Make sure you visit the official Harold and Lillian website to purchase a DVD or Blu-Ray copy of the documentary. It's also available on iTunes, Amazon and Google Play for digital download and to rent on DVD Netflix.
"He's a man's man. He's a woman's man. He's an ideal man." - Angela Lansbury
Australian actor Rod Taylor burst upon the Hollywood scene in the late 1950s but it wasn't until his seminal film The Time Machine came out in 1960 that he became a major movie star. Good looks coupled with a talent for comedy and drama, Taylor was a force to be reckoned with. He had an artistic soul beneath a rugged Aussie exterior. He was a born adventurer and up for anything. Taylor did his own stunts, was an expert at accents and had a charisma that translated well on screen. As one of the top leading men of the 1960s, Taylor paved the way for Australian movie stars to come.
Born in a suburb of Sydney, Rod Taylor was raised by a very Aussie father and a very British mother who both had a profound influence on his creative pursuits. At a young age he pursued drawing, painting and pottery as his artistic trade. It wasn't until he heard a radio program that he realized he could be an actor. He worked on radio and on some movies in his homeland and was quickly scooped up by American filmmakers and lured to Hollywood. His early work consisted of small parts in big pictures. He worked alongside many greats including Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Montgomery Clift, Ernest Borgnine, Debbie Reynolds, Bette Davis and more. When The Time Machine came out in 1960, Taylor was already dabbling in TV work with his series Hong Kong. Both made an impact on audiences and Taylor's life as a major movie star began. He continued to work throughout the 1960s and 1970s in some great parts with some of the best in the business. Even parts he didn't particularly care for helped him in one way or another. Taylor was driven by the love of his art, his adventurous spirit and as he liked to say "a bit of ego thrown in."
Rod Taylor: Pulling No Punches, a new documentary by Robert de Young and Stephan Wellink, sets out to not only to tell the story of Taylor's acting career but to capture the essence of the man. Told through interviews, photographs and movie clips, we see the span of his work and talent. It benefits from having the man himself, Rod Taylor, as the main interview subject. The filmmakers interviewed him over two days at Taylor's home in Beverly Hills. Taylor passed away in early 2015 making this documentary a timely treasure. (We even get to hear a bit about Taylor's former love interest Anita Ekberg who passed away only a few days after he did.) Several other talking heads in the documentary, all of whom were important figures in Taylor's life, include Angela Lansbury, Tippi Hedren, Maggie Smith, Baz Luhrmann, Stephan Elliott, screenwriter Peter Yeldham, Susie Porter, Keitch Michell and others like Taylor's biographer, manager, lawyer, etc.
Films discussed at length include: The Catered Affair (1956), Raintree Country (1957), The Time Machine (1960), Colossus and the Amazon Queen (1960), 101 Dalmations (1961), Seven Seas to Calais (1962), The Birds (1963), The V.I.P.s (1963), Sunday in New York (1963), The Liquidator (1965), Young Cassidy (1965), The Glass Bottom Boat (1966), Dark of the Sun (1968), The Man Who Had Power Over Women (1970), The Train Robbers (1973), Welcome to Woop Woop (1997) and his final film Inglorious Basterds (2009). You'll hear Rod Taylor himself tell you stories about working on each of these. Taylor seemed to be a fun-loving guy who really enjoyed his work and looked back fondly on his career. He was a colorful character and that definitely shows through.
Rod Taylor: Pulling No Punches reinvigorated my interest in Rod Taylor. I was instantly hooked. Taylor was an immensely captivating figure and it doesn't hurt that his blue eyes, with just a hint green in them, are simply mesmerizing. I've always been drawn to Rod Taylor films. I thought I had seen quite a lot of them until I watched this doc and realized I had to dive further into his filmography. I enjoyed the graphic design elements of the documentary and how it was sectioned by theme in a sort of chronological order. It was aesthetically pleasing and a lot of fun to watch.
Rod Taylor Pulling No Punches is a thoroughly enjoyable documentary that captures the essence of the Australian movie star who charmed audiences around the world. Highly recommended.
Check out the official Facebook page for more details about the film. I hope a DVD and Blu-Ray release will be in the near future. It recently won Best Feature Documentary at the Burbank International Film Festival.
My good friend Jessica reviewed the documentary and interviewed the director and producer on her blog Comet Over Hollywood. I recommend you read it. She introduced me to the film!
Many thanks to the filmmakers for the opportunity to review the screener.
Norma Miller and Susan Glatzer on media day in April 2017
Today is National Dance Day and I’d like to share with you two interviews I did with dancer Norma Miller, the Queen of Swing, and Susan Glatzer, director of the swing dancing documentary Alive and Kicking which I reviewed back in April.
Norma Miller with other members of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers. Photo source: Norma Miller's official website
"Give me a beat!" - Norma Miller
At 97 years old, Norma Miller is still as feisty as ever. The legendary swing dancer is the last surviving member of Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers which also included the late great Frankie Manning. She started dancing at the age of 5 and quickly became an attraction whether it was on the sidewalks of Harlem or in the Savoy Ballroom. In my phone conversation with Norma Miller she explained, "the Savoy Ballroom was the first integrated place in America. And it
was a place where we could go in every night and dance and we didn't
have to pay to come in."At the tender age of twelve, she and her mother lived across from the Savoy Ballroom and Miller could often be found dancing just outside it. She was invited in and soon started enchanting eager audiences with her moves.
Miller then caught the eye of Herbert White, also known as "Whitey" and he invited her to become one of his dancers. On becoming one of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers Miller told me, "that became the professional act that came out of the Savoy Ballroom.
We were traveling for [the] Whitey's Lindy Hoppers [in] 1937." Whitey's troupe of talented swing dancers traveled the world and it wasn't long before she got to Hollywood. Miller remembers:
"We went all the way. We crossed the country. We played every Paramount theater. From New York City all the way out to the West Coast. And it was at the West Coast that the people that was making a movie called A Day at the Races saw us at the theater and called back the cast so they could put the Lindy Hop in there. And that was the first time America
saw the Lindy Hop."
When I asked her if she had fun making A Day at the Races (1937) Miller enthusiastically replied "of course!".
In a few years time she'd be back in Hollywood. Norma Miller told me "that was 1941 that was a different act. We were at the time traveling with [Ole] Olsen and [Chic] Johnson. We were part of their package." She was in a fantastic swing dancing seen in the otherwise odd little movie Hellzapoppin' (1941). In it she dances with Frankie Manning. I told Miller that the scene was the best part of the movie. She replied, "Did you see the whole movie?" When I told her yes she said, 'now you know why it was the best thing!"
It IS rather a strange film!
The Lindy Hop of Norma Miller's generation was different from swing dancing today. Miller said, "The Lindy Hop is a professional dance. What you do today is social dancing. It's the greatest means of people communicating. There's nothing better than swing dancing because everybody can do it." Miller hopes people will watch the documentary Alive and Kicking, she's one of three swing dancing legends interviewed in the film. Miller told me, "if they like it, it'll give them a jump start so that people can get out and dance again."
Susan Glatzer's documentary was five years in the making and originally she wasn't supposed to direct it. In my conversation with Glatzer, she told me:
"I've been a swing dancer for 19 years... At first I wasn't going to be directing it. I wanted to have somebody
else direct it. And they were always busy. So I started and that's how
it happened. As I started filming I realized that there were things I
wanted to say about our society today. I really did feel like dancing
was such a good way of expressing it. Of coming together and how the
dance brings people together. We get to relate on a human level. I think
that we isolate a lot and I do think that the internet has turned it
into us and them a lot more than we naturally are."
In the documentary, Glatzer interviews legends like the aforementioned Norma Miller and Frankie Manning as well as Dawn Hampton who passed away late last year. When I asked her what she learned from interviewing these rock stars of swing dancing, she one word for me: "humility". She went on to say,
"Dawn,
she knew how to live life. She knew how see the grace and the beauty in
every situation. She saw gratitude in so many things. That's way beyond
the dance. Frankie [Manning] was the same way. There's the Frankie Manning Foundation and part of their mission is to grow the swing
community and introduce the dance to people. A big part of it is to
carry on his outlook on his life which was about kindness and everyone
is welcome to swing dance. I don't care how young, old, what size,
shape, race. It doesn't matter. Everyone is welcome. Carrying on that
kind of way of looking at other individuals. In a way that we do not do
much of these days. Where we see other people as human beings who are
potential friends as opposed to the other faction."
Also in the documentary are the young professional swing dancers who make this dance not only their profession but their lifestyle. Many of them got hooked on swing dancing from seeing clips from classic films. On how old movies influenced the swing dancing revival in the home video era, Glatzer says,
"they saw all these old movies and they were like who are these people and how do we find them? They started researching and they found the original dancers. But my generation when I started dancing in the '90s. If you got your hands on a fourth generation VHS copy of Groovy Movie or Hellzapoppin' that was considered so amazing. You would watch it and re-watch it again and try to learn the moves. And now everything is out there on YouTube. You had to work hard for it back in the day. It really did come with seeing those old movies again."
Alive and Kicking is an amazing documentary that captures the spirit of not only swing dancing but a lively and thriving community. My last question for Glatzer was what she hoped people would take away from watching this documentary. She responded, "if they are just discovering this music and this dance and they want to explore that, that would be amazing. I do think that we live lives of quiet desperation. So few of us have a source of joy in our lives. I hope that it encourages people to find whatever is the source of joy for themselves."
Thank you to Norma Miller and Susan Glatzer for taking the time out to talk to me and to Caitlin Rose for coordinating.
"Obits have next to nothing to do with the death and absolutely everything to do with the life." - Margalit Fox
Classic film enthusiasts are well-acquainted with obituaries. The deaths of our beloved stars are a common occurrence. When someone dies we take the time to reflect on their life. Reading obits on and offline is one of the ways we celebrate the life and mourn the loss. When I first started this blog I always knew that I didn't want to write obits. At first I would post little tributes instead with just a few words and a picture or two. Even then it became too much and I abandoned the practice. I have the utmost respect for those who regularly write obits even more so now that I watched the new documentary Obit. Life on a Deadline (2016).
Directed by Vanessa Gould, Obit. takes a deep dive into the work by the obit team at The New York Times. Talking heads include current and former obit writers Bruce Weber, Margalit Fox, William Grimes, Douglas Martin, Paul Vitello, their boss William McDonald as well archivist Jeff Roth and various others who contribute to the The New York Times obits.
Newspaper obit writers are a dying breed. Once considered to be the most boring section of a newspaper, today's writers have breathed new life into this form of journalism. The New York Times obit team focuses on writing pieces that educate, illuminate and entertain. They capture the essence of a life while also telling the reader an enthralling story. While they try to do justice to a life there is also the need for impartiality. These writers are not afraid to explore the negatives along with the positives. There is a keen eye on research. Obit writers race against the clock to pull together as much information as they can in a short amount of time. This means calling family members of the deceased, speed reading clips that are pulled from TheNew York Times' "Morgue" and using other resources to build the skeleton of the obit. Then there are the creative minds of these writers whose talent for the written word weave the tales of lives well-lived or not at all.
Scene from Obit. Photo source: Kino Lorber
One minute into Obit. and I was hooked. I was utterly fascinated by the process of researching and writing an obit. Viewers follow the writers on a typical day at the office but we also get to hear about some of their previous work too. The position of an obit writer used to be the lowest rung on the totem pole of a newspaper; a job relegated to someone on their way out. I get the sense that while The New York Times obit team isn't one of the top departments it is still respected.
"There's a tremendous amount of pressure to be as prepared as you can, knowing that you'll never be prepared." - William McDonald
We get a peak at how the obit team pitches for a page one piece (either a top story or a "refer", a call out to the obit section on the bottom of the front page). Viewers get to see the "Morgue" where decades worth of news clippings arranged by subject and subject matter. There are insights on how photographs are selected, how the length of obits are decided on and how they approach advances, obits written ahead of a person's death. There is also a spotlight on individual obits for figures like adventurer John Fairfax, author David Foster Wallace, Marshall Lytle of Bill Haley and the Comets, stunt pilot Elinor Smith, actress Farrah Fawcett and singer Michael Jackson. These were fascinating and we learn quite a bit about the process.
Archivist Jeff Roth in the "Morgue" - Photo source: Kino Lorber
I was hoping this documentary had more classic film related figures but alas it did not. The only person mentioned was Elizabeth Taylor who's obit was a big deal for the team. There are some clips of movie stars like Lauren Bacall and Marilyn Monroe but none are focused on. I think it's still worth the time of classic film fans to watch this documentary especially if you're like me and read obituaries on a regular basis.
Obit. Life on a Deadline (2016) is an illuminating and informative documentary on the writers who give the recently deceased one final send-off. This is a must-see!
Obit. (2016) will be available from Kino Lorber on DVD and Blu-Ray on August 1st. You can pre-order the movie by using the buy links below.
