SIX ENJOYABLE MOVIE DUOS – PT 1.

September 3, 2016 Alan Royle 6

  They say that movie ‘chemistry’ strikes every now and then, and when it does it lights up the screen. The people that make these kinds of decisions are forever mixing and matching, trying to find a combination that just ‘clicks’ with audiences. And it does not always have to […]

Gene Hackman’s best films?

August 24, 2016 Alan Royle 0

  I was asked recently, on the radio, who my favorite actor was. I was caught unprepared and blurted out ‘Gene Hackman’. Once I got home, however, I began to think deeply about the question and pretty quickly came to the conclusion that, although I admire Hackman’s work, there were […]

‘The Seven Year Itch’ (1955) – not a good movie.

August 20, 2016 Alan Royle 2

  Some movies seem to take on a life of their own. Suddenly and often inexplicably, they are lauded as masterpieces, works of art, living statements of the times. Easy Rider (1969) is one such film. I have always thought it was an over-rated ‘nothing’ picture, inhabited by two ‘druggies’ […]

The making of the first Bond film – ‘Dr No’ (1962)

August 12, 2016 Alan Royle 8

  In 1961 author Ian Fleming sold a six-month option to all his James Bond novels and short stories (those already penned and future ones), with the exception of Casino Royale, which he had previously sold, to entrepreneur Harry Saltzman. Harry formed Eon Productions with Albert R. ‘Cubby’ Broccoli, and […]

Four memorable lady movie villains.

July 23, 2016 Alan Royle 2

  The history of movies is literally riddled with iconic male villains, but not so many women have been fortunate enough to sink their teeth into a genuinely meaty, nasty role. One of the first (and best) appeared in Hitchcock’s 1940 classic Rebecca. Dame Judith Anderson positively oozed malevolence as […]

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The making of ‘The Great Escape’ (1963)

July 19, 2016 Alan Royle 5

In World War Two Stalag Luft III was an enormous POW camp in Germany, encompassing 59 acres surrounded by over five miles of perimeter fencing and housing some 10,000 Allied servicemen of the Fleet Air Arm. Renowned author Paul Brickhill wrote the book from which this film is taken. He […]

The making of ‘The Magnificent Seven’ (1960)

July 17, 2016 Alan Royle 7

  The Mirisch brothers, Walter, Marvin and Harold, produced a number of highly profitable movies in the fifties and sixties – Some Like it Hot (1959), West Side Story (1961), The Pink Panther (1963) and In the Heat of the Night (1967) were among them. The Magnificent Seven and The […]

A closer look – ‘On the Riviera’ (1951).

May 10, 2016 admin 0

    This was a typical Danny Kaye offering, one that show-cased the considerable comic talents he was blessed with. Sadly, his over the top style dated quite quickly (much like that of Jim Carrey later). Watching most of Danny’s films today is hard work, the probable exception being the […]