Features

Everything Jeff saw in “Rear Window”

Roger Ebert

Timelapse video by Jeff Desom, on Press Play via Indiewire. Click here for more information. Thanks for the link to Michael Mirasol.
Here is my Great Movies review of the film.

Scorsese on Elia Kazan: Watch the documentary

Roger Ebert

Nobody else makes documentaries about the cinema like Martin Scorsese. Here is his first 20 minutes on Kazan. For the complete hour, click on the link below the video.

Watch the full episode. See more American Masters.

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Some bookstores just feel this way

Roger Ebert

Thanks for the link to Jana J. Monji.

The “Potemkin” restoration

Roger Ebert

“Battleship Potemkim,” one of the basic masterpieces, has never before approached this clarity. When Kino says “frame by frame” that’s literally what they mean. This is detailed close work.

My Great Movies review.

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View the trailers. If “none available,” click through to the Amazon VOD page.

Amazon.com Widgets

“Defiance trailer shows the weird weapons of future San Francisco”

Roger Ebert

Rene Clair’s “And Then There Were None”

Roger Ebert

The Ebert Club is pleased to share the following film by the great French auteur Rene Clair  and to invite you to join the Club and see what other mysteries lurk in the tree house!

And Then There Were None (1945) Directed by Rene Clair. Written by Dudley Nichols and based on the novel by Agatha Christie. Starring Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, Louis Hayward, Roland Young, Mischa Auer, June Duprez and Judith Anderson.  Winner! 1946 Locarno International Film Festival: Best Film.Synopsis: Ten strangers are summoned to a small island off the coast of Devon, by a mysterious note. Once there they discover that their unknown host, a certain “Mr. Owen”, has not yet arrived. They’re told he’ll be there by dinner and so they retire to their rooms to prepare for the evening. Come dinner, their host has still not arrived and suddenly a voice on a gramophone record proceeds to accuse all of them of past murders they were never prosecuted for. The guests strongly deny any wrong doing and a decision is made to leave the island immediately!  A servant however, tells them that there’s no way to get the boat from the mainland. There’s also no phone on the island and the boat only comes twice a week. It won’t be back until Monday morning and it’s only Friday night….

Go here to join the Club and see what else we have!

Ezra Pound also wrote a poem about the Lake Isle of Innisfree. And shared a cottage with Yeats.

Roger Ebert

Spoken Word writes on his wonderful Spoken Verse.com: . Ezra Pound shared a cottage with W B Yeats during a period of three years. It seems that he didn’t share Yeats’ ambition to end up living alone on an island in the middle of a lake.

The title refers to Yeats’ poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree. McHugh and I drove out there from Sligo, but your man who lived in the cottage on this shore didn’t feel like rowing us out.

“Volailles” actually means “chickens,” if we ]take it literally, but here it means whores. “Poules” is similar and it also means both chickens and whores. There was a delightful film called Irma la Douce with Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon set in the seedy part of Paris populated mainly with the Poules, their Mecs and the Flics – meaning the Prostitutes, their Pimps and the Cops. And, if you haven’t seen Irma La Douce here it is – just watch the opening few minutes and you’ll be hooked–er, yes, “hooked” is appropriate:.

The first tobacconist is in ‘Little Britain’ : Government Street, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

The second tobacco shop is in Old Town. San Diego, California, USA.

¶

O GOD, O Venus, O Mercury, patron of thieves,
Give me in due time, I beseech you, a little tobacco-shop,
With the little bright boxes piled up neatly upon the shelves
And the loose fragrant cavendish and the shag,
And the bright Virginia loose under the bright glass cases,
And a pair of scales not too greasy,
And the volailles dropping in for a word or two in passing,
For a flip word, and to tidy their hair a bit.

O God, O Venus, O Mercury, patron of thieves,
Lend me a little tobacco-shop,
or install me in any profession
Save this damn’d profession of writing,
where one needs one’s brains all the time.

¶

The Duke on Rooster: “My first good part in 20 years”

Roger Ebert

By Roger EbertDecember 8th, 1968

Hollywood, California — Over in a comer of the big sound stage, John Wayne was playing chess. He was leaning against a packing crate and studying the board in complete oblivion to the commotion Henry Hathaway was raising 10 yards away.

Hathaway got into the movie business as a juvenile in 1908 and has been directing action and Western pictures since 1918. His directing style remains unchanged; he gets excited about three times a day and starts shouting at people. But he has white hair and looks gentle, as opposed to Otto Preminger, who has no hair and looks dangerous, and so Hathaway is known as a terror but regarded with affection.

Just now he was haranguing a group of extras who were supposed to be a courtroom crowd. “You’re all waiting for the other fellow to sit down,” he was saying. “Now it’s clear as day that some of you have got to sit down before the rest of you do. So when the judge comes in, don’t everybody stand around with his hands in his pockets.” His tone was that of an eminently reasonable ship’s captain addressing a cargo of madmen in the hold. “Now let’s try it.”

“Here we go,” Wayne said. He plays the part of Rooster Cogburn in “True Grit,” a Western comedy, adventure, satire or what-have-you based on the best-seller by Charles Portis. The press releases describe Rooster as a mean, ornery, one-eyed, no-good, low-down rapscallion, and Wayne obviously enjoys the part. He took another look at the chess board, decided not to move until the scene had been shot, got up and moseyed over to the set.

It turned out that the light men hadn’t arranged the lights to their satisfaction, so Hathaway decreed a 10-minute break and Wayne walked back off the set, pushing his eye-patch up on his forehead.

“This is, oh, maybe the fifth or sixth picture I’ve made with. Hathaway,” Wayne recalled. “Every director has his own way of handling actors. John Ford, now, had a rapier wit and if he wanted to zing somebody he’d hit ’em quick and pull back. Henry, on the other hand, uses a club.”

What was the last picture by Wayne and Hathaway?

“Let’s see. That would be ‘Sons of Katie Elder.’ I don’t care for it much, myself. I had just got over that cancer operation and I thought I could hear myself breathing all the time. Everybody said it was my imagination. Well, old Henry was very thoughtful of me, of course, since I was recuperating and all. He took me up to 8,500 feet to shoot the damned thing and the fourth day of shooting he had me jumping into ice water. Very considerate.”

Wayne chuckled. “All the same, give Hathaway a good story, and that’s what ‘True Grit’ is, and he’s great. He’s not so good on his own stories; I found that out. He can’t quite get objective about them. But I love this story. I tried to buy the rights and then I found out Hal Wallis was bidding on it. Between us we pushed the price clear to the sky, and then Wallis got it and cast me anyway.”

The story involves a spunky little frontier girl (played by Kim Darby) who sets off to avenge her father’s murder and hires Rooster as her paid gunman. Glen Campbell, the hot young country singer and TV host, makes his screen debut in the film as a Texas Ranger.

“The picture’s got to make a bundle,” Wayne said. “And for a change I have a good part. I’d say this is my first good part in 20 years.”

There were protests from Wayne’s listeners. “Well,” he said, “what the hell has there been? I’m always the straight guy who heaves the pack up on his back shouts, ‘Follow me!’ Everybody else in picture gets to have funny little scenes, clever lines, but I’m the hero so I stand there.

“Howard Hawks worked out a whole system based on that. He’d just stand me up as a target and run everybody at me. ‘EI Dorado,’ that was just a remake of an earlier picture by Hawks, ‘Rio Bravo.’ And in both pictures you had Robert Mitchum or Dean Martin as the drunken sheriff, and you had the old deputy and the young kid, and where did that leave me?

“And in that picture, Who Killed What’s-His-Name? Yeah, the John Ford picture: ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.’ They had Lee Marvin as the colorful heavy, and that young Irish fellow playing the intellectual, and Andy Devine playing the best friend, and Jimmy Stewart to get a laugh kicking the horse crap out of his way, and what was left? Try to wind your way through that one…”

Wayne said he was talking in professional terms. “What I mean is, I haven’t been short of good roles in terms of starring roles, but I’ve gotten damn few roles you could get your teeth into and develop a character. Until Rooster in ‘True Grit,’ I haven’t had a role like that since ‘The Searchers’ (1956). And before that, maybe ‘Sgt. Stryker’ or ‘She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,’ another great Ford picture.

“But look at ‘The Quiet Man.’ Everybody was a character but me. For three fourths of the movie, I had to keep alive just walking through it. Those are the tough ones to do. At least in ‘Rio Bravo,’ I had a couple of gags in addition to furnishing the father image.”

He unwrapped some peanut brittle and took a bite. “And old Rooster is going to be a lovely role. When this picture’s over I got to go to work and get some of this weight off.” He grinned. “But it’s pretty nice playing a fat old man.”

Hathaway walked over, slapped Wayne on the shoulder, and said, “All right then, Duke, let’s get to work. Always assuming, of course, that I can get those damn fools to sit down when the judge comes in.”

“Heah come de judge,” said Wayne.

Some 200 of my TwitterPages are linked at the right.
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“Rosebud” was a rather tawdry device

Roger Ebert

Can you spot props from the movie? Before scrutinizing this frame from the film, you should watch the scene. Embedding has been disabled, but go here to view the ending of “Citizen Kane.

Here are my Great Movies review of the film, and my Viewer’s Companion to Citizen Kane.
The 2-disc Special Edition includes my commentary track.

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Teaserama!

Each week inside The Ebert Club, we aim to amuse and delight our readers, not just inform them; as anyone can do that. Instead, we aim higher and reach for the best – and if we fail, we compromise and reach for the best of the worst, or at the very least the last thing you’d ever expect to find. Behold a “naughty” b-rated trailer covered in 1950’s cheese! Go here to join the Club and explore a truly eclectic assortment of finds. Your subscription helps support the Newsletter, the Far-Flung Correspondents and the On-Demanders.

Go here to join the Ebert Club. Your subscription helps support the Ebert Club Newsletter, the Far-Flung Correspondents and The Demanders.

“Sita Sings the Blues”

Roger Ebert

We showed this inspired film at Ebertfest 2009. It ran into copyright trouble involving the old records it used. Nina Paley then sidestepped copyright laws by making the film a gift under Wikipedia’s Creative Commons. It has found so many admirers that it’s now #42 on IMDb’s list of the 50 Best Musicals of All Time, right there between “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” (1977) and “The Jungle Book” (1967).

My blog entry, Having Wonderful Time, Wish You Could Hear.

My review of the film, sharing some wordage from the earlier blog.

Melissa Haizlip: Winner of this year’s $25,000 Chaz and Roger Ebert Fellowship at the Indie Spirits Awards

Roger Ebert

Melissa Haizlip was born in Boston and raised in the Virgin Islands, Connecticut and New York. After attending Yale, she moved to New York where she first collaborated with her uncle Ellis Haizlip when he produced the groundbreaking PBS special “Three by Three” for Great Performances: Dance In America (PBS).

After studying at Yale, and a 25-year career as a professional Broadway stage performer and TV / film actor, Melissa moved to Los Angeles to work in Development at the American Film Institute. She soon began casting for independent features, including “40,” a multi-storyline, international thriller set in Turkey and Africa. After winning the Golden Orange Award for best new talent at the Antalya International Film Festival in Turkey 2009, “40” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival 2010, screened at Osaka 2010, and received special jury mention at Palm Springs 2011.

In 2009, Melissa founded Shoes In The Bed Productions, an independent film production company producing cinematic works of non-fiction with an emphasis on diverse new voices and filmmakers of color. The company’s first feature-length documentary, Mr. SOUL! was featured during IFP’s Independent Film Week 2010, Spotlight on Documentaries Forum, and is a participant in the 2011 Producers Guild of America Diversity Workshop. Mr. SOUL! screened at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 41st Annual Independent Film Series in 2011. This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, which awarded a Spring 2012 Arts in Media grant to support producyion and post production costs of Mr. SOUL! Melissa is a Project: Involve Fellow in Film Independent’s Class of 2012-2013.

And here is a link to the the Website for Melissa’s film: .

And a link to my review of a previous winner.

Free sample of Ebert Club Newsletter

Roger Ebert

This is a free sample of the Newsletter members receive each week. It contains content gathered from recent past issues and reflects the growing diversity of what’s inside the club. To join and become a member, visit Roger’s Invitation From the Ebert Club.

Marie writes: Not too long ago, Monaco’s Oceanographic Museum held an exhibition combining contemporary art and science, in the shape of a huge installation by renowned Franco-Chinese artist Huang Yong Ping, in addition to a selection of films, interviews and a ballet of Aurelia jellyfish.The sculpture was inspired by the sea, and reflects upon maritime catastrophes caused by Man. Huang Yong Ping chose the name “Wu Zei”because it represents far more than just a giant octopus. By naming his
installation “Wu Zei,” Huang added ambiguity to the work. ‘Wu Zei’ is Chinese for cuttlefish, but the ideogram ‘Wu’ is also the color black – while ‘Zei’ conveys the idea of spoiling, corrupting or betraying. Huang Yong Ping was playing with the double meaning of marine ink and black tide, and also on corruption and renewal. By drawing attention to the dangers facing the Mediterranean, the exhibition aimed to amaze the public,
while raising their awareness and encouraging them to take action to protect the sea.

My master thinks this is art

Roger Ebert

These are photographs of dogs by Tim Flach, collected in a London exhibition at Osborne Samuel Ltd, . at 23a Bruton Street.

The web page explains:

Dogs is Tim Flach’s follow-up to the successful Equus, applying the same wildly creative vision he first gave to horses, to dogs. Here, Flach once again sets out to document fully the lives of animals whose history is powerfully linked to our own and to provide a unique perspective on one of our closest companions: this time, dogs. Using photographs of dogs both solitary and in groups, as well as in varied settings and locations, Flach uses his lens to present a inimitable and engaging portrait of the physical and spiritual lives of dogs around the globe. Dogs delves deep into the psyche of this enduring bond to create an exquisite study of man’s best friend, and promises to deliver one of the most appealing, popular and exciting photographic tributes to dogs ever published.
This is one of Flach’s contact sheets:

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