MEMORABLE SCREEN PAIRINGS (PT1)

January 21, 2019 Alan Royle 0

  I was thinking about what made some movies so superior to others and why I found myself watching them time and again. Of course, a strong story, snappy script, interesting characters and a memorable soundtrack are major ingredients, but there was something more. It was the interaction between the […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT74.

October 27, 2018 Alan Royle 2

Johnny Depp in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) Johnny Depp’s maternal grandfather was a full-blood Cherokee, which probably helps to account for Johnny’s sharp cheekbones and sculptured visage. As a youngster Johnny was smoking at 12, lost his virginity at 13 and had done every kind of drug there was by […]

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MOVIE TRIVIA – PT68

October 15, 2018 Alan Royle 0

    Anastasia (1956) has often been referred to as Ingrid Bergman’s ‘Hollywood comeback’ film, but that is misleading. She had been effectively blacklisted by Hollywood since 1949 over the affair with director Roberto Rossellini that produced a child out of wedlock prior to their marriage. Studios refused to cast […]

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MOVIE TRIVIA – PT55.

September 13, 2018 Alan Royle 2

Per Oscarsson as the priest in The Last Valley I have never fully comprehended why The Last Valley (1971) bombed at the box office and suffered at the hands of the critics. Perhaps, its negative approach to religion (both Catholic and Protestant) and its pointed abhorrence of every aspect of war […]

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MOVIE TRIVIA – PT52.

September 5, 2018 Alan Royle 2

  Anne Heche in Six Days Seven Nights (1998)     In 2001, Anne Heche stated in a series of interviews that she had an alter-ego named Celestia who was an alien from another planet. She also insisted that she could speak to God and was the half-sister of Jesus Christ; adding […]

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MOVIE TRIVIA – PT50.

September 1, 2018 Alan Royle 6

Several scenes in the 1952 film The Sound Barrier required stars Nigel Patrick and Ann Todd to be seated in one of the new de Havilland Comets. They were blissfully unaware that in just two years’ time two de Havilland Comets would break up in mid-air, killing everyone on board […]

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MOVIE TRIVIA – PT45.

August 14, 2018 Alan Royle 0

   James Dean & Paul Newman screen testing                                          Dean with girlfriend Pier Angeli Paul Newman was a finalist for the Cal Trask role in East of Eden (1955), but it […]

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STARS WHO WENT TO WAR 1939-45 – PT2.

July 23, 2018 Alan Royle 2

Part two of ‘Stars Who Went To War 1939-45’ looks at some of the ‘lesser lights’ who signed up to fight for their country – and a few who chose not to.           Eddie & his son Edward Jr EDDIE ALBERT:   The future star of Green Acres won a […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT 14.

May 24, 2018 Alan Royle 0

      Ben Fisz Former Polish World War Two fighter pilot Ben Fisz discovered a book called ‘Skis Against the Atom’ in a London public library and convinced himself it would make a terrific movie. He quietly purchased the film rights from the author, then hired a writer to work […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT6

May 8, 2018 Alan Royle 0

Ava Gardner in 55 Days at Peking (1963) Ava Gardner had a long-running nervous breakdown during the making of 55 Days at Peking (1963). She was drunk on several days, continually demanded rewrites, and was extremely difficult to deal with. Charlton Heston stated that her character, Baroness Natalie Ivanoff, was killed off […]