THE FINAL COUNTDOWN – THE PRINCESS DIARIES

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN – THE PRINCESS DIARIES

September 17, 2023 Alan Royle 1

  THE FINAL COUNTDOWN (1980)                       This intriguing ‘what if’ movie examines what might have taken place if the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz had traveled back in time (from 1980) to December 6th, 1941, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and had the opportunity to alter history by interceding in the Japanese attack on […]

SINGERS IN MOVIES & ON TV – PT1

SINGERS IN MOVIES & ON TV – PT1

August 30, 2023 Alan Royle 0

  Lee Marvin in Paint Your Wagon There have been a lot of pop singers, rockers, opera singers and country & western vocalists who have made it to the silver screen over the decades, usually with considerable success. Of course, not all of them were gifted with great sets of pipes, […]

‘MAMMA MIA!’ & ‘MARY POPPINS’

‘MAMMA MIA!’ & ‘MARY POPPINS’

December 27, 2022 Alan Royle 6

  MAMMA MIA! (2008)                                                                                  It will probably come as a shock to readers (it certainly did to me) to learn that this bloody awful musical became, in December 2008, the highest-grossing movie in UK history, surpassing Titanic (1997)! It has, however, since been passed by Avatar in 2009. […]

WORLD WAR TWO – The stars & their stories – PT63.

WORLD WAR TWO – The stars & their stories – PT63.

January 3, 2022 Alan Royle 2

  PETER USTINOV (1921-2004)                  Born in London in 1921, Peter Ustinov had ancestral connections to Russian nobility, as well as to the Ethiopian Royal Family. His mother was seven months pregnant with him and working for the Imperial Mariinsky Ballet and Opera House in St. Petersburg, when she and her […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT157.

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT157.

July 8, 2020 Alan Royle 7

  Warren Beatty During the making of Bonnie & Clyde (1967), the star of the picture, Warren Beatty, got into an altercation with Jack Warner in his office at Warner Bros. Voices were raised during the confrontation until, finally, in exasperation, Jack walked across the room to the window and […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT155.

May 18, 2020 Alan Royle 0

Dudley Moore Dudley & wife Tuesday Weld British comedian/musician Dudley Moore was only 5’2” tall (1.57m) and a most unlikely movie heartthrob when some wag nicknamed him ‘The Sex Thimble’. And for quite some time that description seemed apt. Women adored him. He married (and divorced) four of them in […]

Movie Trivia – PT3

May 2, 2018 Alan Royle 0

Capucine as Angel in North to Alaska (1960) Richard Fleischer was all set to direct North to Alaska (1960) but thought Capucine was all wrong as the prostitute. In his opinion she was ‘not classy enough and not sexy enough’. He was unaware that she just happened to be producer Charles Feldman’s […]

The musical – a couple of duds.

April 9, 2017 Alan Royle 0

                                     Movie musicals have been around for decades. The studios quickly became aware of their potential as cash cows the moment silent movies became talkies. Most pundits would probably agree that the genre […]

Past Oscars PT 5 – (1961-66)

November 16, 2016 Alan Royle 0

    1961               West Side Story – Best Picture                         Maximilian Schell – Best Actor for Judgment at Nuremberg                         George Chakiris – Best Supporting Actor for West Side Story                                                               Except for Fanny, I have seen each of the nominees – West Side Story, Judgment at Nuremberg, […]

Three old comics.

October 15, 2016 Alan Royle 0

                                     Jack Benny (1894 – 1974) In his will Jack Benny left instructions for a single red rose to be delivered to Mary Livingstone, his widow and co-star from his radio days, every morning […]