Magic Lantern Video & Book Store
Hollywood Film Festival
movies about the movies,
about Hollywood,
and about cinema history
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brief essay |
Books About Hollywood Movies
Fiction About Hollywood & Cinema, 1915-2008
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"Movies About The Movies: Hollywood Reflected" [1997] by Christopher Ames Univ Press of KY 9x6 pb [3/98] for $19.95 Univ Press of KY 9¼x6¼ hardcover [5/97] for $32.50 covers "What Price Hollywood?" [1932], "A Star Is Born" [1937], "Stand-In" [1937], "Boy Meets Girl" [1938], "Sullivan's Travels" [1941], "In A Lonely Place" [1950], "Sunset Boulevard" [1950], "The Bad & The Beautiful" [1952], "Singin' In The Rain" [1952], "The Star" [1952], "A Star Is Born" [1954], "Pennies From Heaven" [1981], "Purple Rose of Cairo" [1985], "The Player" [1992], "Last Action Hero" [1993] and others |
Selected Films, A to Z
"A Girl's Folly" [World Film 1917] /tt0008011/
Directed by Maurice Tourneur; showing scenes inside a Fort Lee, New Jersey movie studio
"A Movie Star" [1916] with Mack Swain & Louella Maxim
"A Star Is Born" [1937]
"A Star Is Born" remake [1954]
directed by George Cukor
"Abbott & Costello In Hollywood" []
"Abbott & Costello Meet The Keystone Kops"
[Universal Pictures Feb 1955]
 | Circa 1912, Harry & Willie buy the defunct Edison Studios from a crook; after they realize that they were hoodwinked, they follow the crook to Hollywood and find him posing as a film director with plans to steal the studio payroll; includes old time steam & handcar railroad footage and biplane stunts. Directed by Charles Lamont; starring Bud Abbott & Lou Costello, Fred Clark, Lynn Bari, 'Slapsie Maxie' Rosenbloom, Frank Wilcox & Roscoe Ates, with cameos by Mack Sennett and original Keystone Cops Heinie Conklin, Harold Goodwin & Hank Mann
color photo {at left} poster in 3 sizes from Amazon from $5.99 available on DVD as part of "Best of A&C, Volume 4" [2005] Universal Studios Home Ent b&w DVD set [10/2005] 6 movies on 2 disks for $24.49 Universal b&w VHS [1/98] out of prodn/used full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia |
"Alex In Wonderland" [] /tt0065380/
"An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn"
[Hollywood Pictures Feb 1998]
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About a movie director who wants his name taken off the credits; this movie was so bad (after studio editing) that the real-life director demanded that his name be taken off the credits; definite candidate for worst film of all time. Co-produced, written & edited by Joe Eszterhas; directed by Arthur Hiller; starring Eric Idle, Ryan O'Neal, Coolio, Chuck D., Richard Jeni, Sandra Bernhard & Cherie Lunghi; cameos by Sylvester Stallone, Whoopi Goldberg, Jackie Chan, Robert Evans, Robert Shapiro, Shane Black, Gary Franklin, Joe & Naomi Eszterhas, Larry King, Peter Bart, Dominick Dunne, Billy Bob Thornton, Harvey Weinstein, Billy Barty & Stanley Ralph Ross; won astounding Razzie Awards 'grand slam' including Worst Picture, plus Razzie Worst Film of The Decade
Disney Video color DVD [4/2004] for $17.99 Disney Video color VHS [2/99] out of prodn/used full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia |
"The Bad and The Beautiful"
[M.G.M./Loew's Dec 1952]
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A studio head calls together a director, a screenwriter, and a leading actress who explain in flashback why they refuse to work with a cut-throat Hollywood producer.
Directed by Vincente Minnelli; starring Kirk Douglas, Lana Turner, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Barry Sullivan, Gloria Grahame, Gilbert Roland, Leo G. Carroll, Vanessa Brown, Francis X. Bushman & Barbara Billingsley; won Oscars for Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress (GG), Best B&W Cinematography {Br5uce Surtees}, Best Set Decoration, nomination for Best Actor (KD); nominated for BAFTA, DGA & WGA awards; listed on National Film Registry (2002) Turner b&w DVD [2/2002] for $17.99 M.G.M. b&w VHS [9/98] out of prodn/used Rhino/W.E.A. soundtrack CD [6/96] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb |
"The Barefoot Contessa" [Sept 1954]
"Barton Fink" [1991]
by Joel & Ethan Coen /title/tt0101410/
"Before Hollywood, There Was Fort Lee:
Early Moviemaking In New Jersey"
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Image Ent. color/b&w DVD [5/2003] for $22.49
includes the 40-minute featurette produced by Fort Lee Film Commission in 1964, plus a half-hour version of Maurice Tourneur's "A Girl's Folly" [World Film 1917] showing scenes inside a movie studio; D.W. Griffith's "The New York Hat" [Biograph 1912 short] starring Mary Pickford & Lionel Barrymore; "The Wishing Ring" [World Film 1914 feature] adapted & directed by Maurice Tourneur; and portions of Edwin S. Porter's "Rescued From The Eagle's Nest" [Edison 1908 short] and D.W. Griffith's "The Curtain Pole" [Biograph 1909 short] starring Mack Sennett & Florence Lawrence |
"The Big Picture"
[Columbia Sept 1989]
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A high-minded film student wins a national prize that includes access to bigwigs in Hollywood; after a series of compromises, his film project has lost the original vision, and the filmmaker has lost his soul.
Co-written & directed by Christopher Guest; starring Kevin Bacon, Emily Longstreth, J.T. Walsh, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael McKean, Kim Miyori, Teri Hatcher, Dan Schneider, Jason Gould, Fran Drescher, Suzy Cote, Eddie Albert & June Lockhart
Sony widescreen color DVD [10/2002] out of prodn/used Sony color VHS [4/97] out of prodn/many used full credits from IMDb 27"x39" poster available at AllPosters.com |
"Bombshell" [M.G.M. Oct 1933]
Directed by Victor Fleming; starring Lee Tracy, Jean Harlow, Frank Morgan, Franchot Tone & Pat O'Brien
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombshell_(film)
"Boy Meets Girl" [Warner Bros. Aug 1938]
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Two screenwriters devise a plot for the studio's cowboy star that involves a baby. The baby becomes a star, and the cowboy and his agent run off with the mother and the kid.
Directed by Lloyd Bacon; script by Bella & Samuel Spewack from their Broadway play; starring James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Marie Wilson, Ralph Bellamy, Frank McHugh, Dick Foran, Bruce Lester & Penny Singleton M.G.M. b&w VHS [9/98] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb "Studio One" telecast June 1949: video/kinescope not availaible • credits from IMDb playscript of "Boy Meets Girl" [1935] and "Spring Song" [1934] Dramatist's Play Service 7½x5¼ pb [10/46] for $7.50 credits of 1935 Broadway play |
"Broken Embraces" [Spain March 2009, USA Nov 2009]
Co-produced, written & directed by Pedro Almodóvar; starring Penélope Cruz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_Embraces
"Buffalo Bill and The Indians, or Sitting
Bull's History Lesson" [De Laurentiis June 1976]
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Before the invention of the motion picture, the traveling Wild West shows of Buffalo Bill and others created 'The Show Business'.
Directed by Robert Altman; based on the stage play by Arthur L. Kopit; starring Paul Newman, Joel Grey, Geraldine Chaplin, Frank Kaquitts, Will Sampson, Frank Kaquitts, Pat McCormick, Shelley Duvall, Noelle Rogers & Burt Lancaster
MGM/UA widescreen DVD [5/2001] for $17.98 MGM/UA color VHS [5/2000] for $14.95 full credits from IMDb Bantam movie tie-in pb [1976] out of print/used Based on the 1969 stage play "Indians: A Play" by Arthur L. Kopit Bantam movie tie-in pb [1976] out of print/used |
"The Carpetbaggers"
[Embassy/Paramount April 1964]
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The hard-driven heir to an industrial fortune {obviously based on Howard Hughes} builds airplanes, directs movies and breaks the hearts of friends & lovers.
Directed by Edward Dmytryk; script by John Michael Hayes, based on the bestselling novel; starring George Peppard, Alan Ladd, Robert Cummings, Martha Hyer, Elizabeth Ashley, Lew Ayres, Martin Balsam, Ralph Taeger, Archie Moore, Leif Erickson, Carroll Baker, Arthur Franz & Tom Tully
Paramount widescreen color DVD [4/2003] out of prodn/used Paramount color VHS [6/94] out of prodn/many used full credits from IMDb |
 | "The Carpetbaggers" [1961 novel] by 'international bestselling author' Harold Robbins A real potboiler, full of gratuitous sex scenes that were toned down in the movie. Forge/Doherty mass pb [5/2007] for $7.99 Pocket mass pb [6/93] out of print/used Buccaneer Books 9x6 hardcover [6/93] for $31.50 |
"The Cat's Meow" [Lionsgate April 2002]
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A version of events on Wm. Randolph's Hearst's yacht Oneida, during a star-studded party off the coast of California in November 1924, and the possible connection to the death of studio head Thomas H. Ince; real-life passengers included Hearst, his girlfriend actress Marion Davies, Charlie Chaplin, Ince, actress Margaret Livingston, columnist Louella Parsons, author Elinor Glyn and others.
Directed by Peter Bogdanovich; script by Steven Peros, based on his stage play; starring Cary Elwes, Kirsten Dunst, Edward Herrmann, Eddie Izzard, Joanna Lumley, Jennifer Tilly, Claudia Harrison, Victor Slezak & James Laurenson
Lionsgate widescreen color DVD [9/2003] for $12.99 Vidmark/Trimark color VHS [8/2002] out of prodn/used R.C.A. soundtrack CD [4/2002] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb |
"Chaplin" [TriStar Dec 1992]
 | Lovingly made bio-film covering Charlie Chaplin's early life in England, his professional success and personal failures in Hollywood, and his exile in Switzerland. Produced & directed by Richard Attenborough; color cinematography by Sven Nykvist; starring Robert Downey Jr. {as Charlie}, Geraldine Chaplin, Paul Rhys, Moira Kelly, Anthony Hopkins, Penelope Ann Miller, Dan Aykroyd, Marisa Tomei, Kevin Kline, Maria Pitillo, Deborah Moore, Diane Lane & Nancy Travis; Oscar noms for Best Actor [RD], Best Original Score, Best Art Direction; won BAFTA for Best Actor [RD]
Lions Gate letterbox-widescreen color DVD [5/98] for $10.99 Lions Gate widescreen color VHS [3/98] out of prodn/used Lions Gate color VHS [1/99] out of prodn/used Sony soundtrack CD by John Barry [12/92] for $9.98 full credits from IMDb • film entry at Wikipedia |
Magic Lantern's Charlie Chaplin [1889-1977] Page
'Perfect Charlie' film fansite
SM's 'Chaplin' film fansite
"Contempt" { 'Le Mépris' }
[France Dec 1963, USA Oct 1964]
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Godard's view of commercial Hollywood filmmaking and human relationships is mischievous, rebellious, subversive & contemptuous. A respected Italian screenwriter of an innovative production of "Homer's Odyssey" struggles to please the American producer, the German director (real-life director Fritz Lang - at age 72), and the writer's unhappy sexpot French wife.
Adapted & directed by Jean-Luc Godard, from the 1954 novel by Alberto Moravia; cinematography in Franscope by Raoul Coutard; starring Michel Piccoli, Jack Palance, Brigitte Bardot, Giorgia Moll & Fritz Lang, with cameos by Godard & Coutard
LionsGate widescreen color Blu-ray [2/2010] for $25.99 
Criterion widescreen color DVD [12/2002] 2 disks for $30.49 The DVD set includes "The Dinosaur and The Baby" TV documentary [61 minutes 1967], a conversation between Jean-Luc Godard and Fritz Lang; two on-set interviews with Godard: "Bardot et Godard" [8 minutes 1964], and "Paparazzi" [22 minutes b&w 1964]; plus other extras Embassy/Nelson Ent. color VHS [3/91] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb • Rialto movie site • movie entry at Wikipedia |
 | "Contempt" aka 'Il Disprezzo' [1954] by Alberto Moravia, translated by Angus Davidson New York Review of Books 7¾x4¾ pb [7/2004] for $10.17 New York Review of Books 8x5 pb [9/99] out of print/used |
"Crazy To Act" [1927 silent]
starring Oliver Hardy /tt0246538/
Truffaut's "Day For Night"
"The Day of The Locust"
[Paramount May 1975]
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Directed by John Schlesinger; starring Donald Sutherland, Karen Black, Burgess Meredith, William Atherton, Geraldine Page, Richard A. Dysart, Bo Hopkins, Pepe Serna, Lelia Goldoni & Billy Barty
Paramount widescreen color DVD [6/2004] for $14.23 Paramount color VHS [6/93] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb |
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"The Day of The Locust" [Jan 1939 classic] by Nathanael West
listed on Time Magazine's All-TIME 100 Novels (10/2005) NAL pb [9/83] for $5.95 Amereon hardcover [12/97] for $19.95 DH Audio ABR [9/87] 2 tapes out of print/used |
"The Father of My Children (Le Père de Mes Enfants)"
[France July 2009, IFC Films USA May 2010]
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Loosely based on the life of French film producer Humbert Balsan; when a minor film producer realizes that his company is going bankrupt, he commits suicide; the second half of the film looks at the impact of that act.
Written & directed by Mia Hansen-Løve; starring Chiara Caselli, Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Alice de Lencquesaing, Alice Gautier, Manelle Driss, Eric Elmosnino, Sandrine Dumas & Dominique Frot; won Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, won Lumiere Award for Best Screenplay DVD/Blu-ray not yet available • full credits at IMDb • official movie site |
"Finding Bliss [LightShow/Phase 4 Films May 2010] 
| "Girl meets porn"; a romantic comedy following an aspiring female filmmaker who ends up working as an editor on a 'crossover' adult film; written & directed by Julie Davis; starring Leelee Sobieski, Matthew Davis, Denise Richards, Jamie Kennedy & Kristen Johnston; DVD/Blu-ray not yet available • full credits from IMDb • official movie site |
"Gable and Lombard [1976]
full credits from IMDb
"Going Hollywood" [Cosmopolitan/M.G.M. Dec 1933]
Directed by Raoul Walsh; script by Donald Ogden Stewart; starring Marion Davies,
Bing Crosby, Fifi D'Orsay & Stuart Erwin; full credits from IMDb 6302747279
"The Great Waldo Pepper"
[Universal March 1975]
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Too young to fly in World War I, Waldo barnstorms across America with veterans of combat, then gets a chance to prove his skills in aerial dogfights for the movies.
Co-produced, co-written & directed by George Roy Hill; co-written by William Goldman; cinematography by Robert Surtees; music by Henry Mancini; starring Robert Redford, Bo Svenson, Bo Brundin, Susan Sarandon, Geoffrey Lewis, Edward Herrmann, Philip Bruns & Margot Kidder
Goodtimes Home Video color DVD [7/98] out of prodn/used Universal color VHS [4/92] out of prodn/many used full credits from IMDb 11"x17" blue poster from Amazon for $9.99 11"x17" yellow poster (at left) from Amazon for $9.99 script with photographs, by William Goldman & George Roy Hill Dell mass pb [3/75] out of print/used |
"Hollywood" [Paramount Aug 1923 silent]
video/DVD not available (prints/negatives presumed lost) • full credits from IMDb |
"Hollywood Cavalcade" [Fox Oct 1939]
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Filmed in Technicolor and black & white; loosely based on the team of Mack Sennett {technical advisor} & Mabel Normand. A movie director of the Silent Era brings a young actress from Broadway to Hollywood, where she becomes a star; although they love each other, she marries a costar, so the director fires both actors, and his directing career declines.
Directed by Irving Cummings & Malcolm St. Clair; starring Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Stuart Erwin & Donald Meek, with cameos by silnet film actors Chick Chandler, Chester Conklin, Heinie Conklin, James Finlayson, Al Jolson, Buster Keaton, Hank Mann, 'Snub' Pollard, Jed Prouty, Rin-Tin-Tin, Mack Sennett & Ben Turpin
Fox b&w/color DVD [10/2008] for $13.49 full credits from IMDb |
"Hollywood Dreams" []
http://www.hollywooddreamsthemovie.com/ by Jaglom
"Hollywood Ending" [DreamWorks May 2002]
Written & directed by and starring Woody Allen; co-starring Téa Leoni, George
Hamilton, Treat Williams, Debra Messing & Mark Rydell;
full credits from IMDb
DreamWorks official moviesite {requires Flash}
"Hollywood Hotel" [1937]
Directed by Busby Berkeley [CD but not video] /title/tt0029010/
"Hollywood's Magical Island: Catalina"
documentary [Blue Water Ent. 2003]
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video/DVD available from producer
full credits at IMDb • official movie site |
"Hollywoodland" [2006]
full credits from IMDb;
official movie site
"Inside Daisy Clover" [1965]
based on the 1963 novel by Gavin Lambert
"It's A Great Feeling" [Warner Bros. Aug 1949]
A waitress at the Warner Bros. studio commissary gets her big break.
Directed by David Butler; starring Dennis Morgan, Doris Day,
Jack Carson, Bill Goodwin, Irving Bacon & Claire Carleton, with cameos by dozens of stars of the time;
full credits from IMDb
"Jiminy Glick In Lalawood" [May 2005]
"The Last Movie" [1971] by Dennis Hopper
"The Last Shot" [2004] = DVD 3/M5
"The Last Tycoon" [Paramount Nov 1976]
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A studio mogul fights for art against the mercenary executives in control of the studio, while distracted by a young actress who is an exact double of his deceased wife.
Directed by Elia Kazan; script by Harold Pinter; starring Robert De Niro, Tony Curtis, Robert Mitchum, Jeanne Moreau, Jack Nicholson, Donald Pleasence & Ray Milland
Paramount wudescreen color DVD [11/2003] for $9.98 Paramount color VHS [4/95] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb 11"x17" movie poster available at AllPosters.com |
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"The Love of The Last Tycoon: A Western" [1941 classic, rev 1993] by F. Scott Fitzgerald [1896-1940]; edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli The classic unfinished novel about Hollywood. The version edited by Fitzgerald scholar Bruccoli restores the author's original intent. Said to be based on M.G.M. exec Irving Thalberg. Scribner 8x5¼ pb [4/95] for $8.80 Cambridge Univ Press 8¾x5¾ hardcover [12/93] out of print/used |
"Living In Oblivion" [1995] /tt0113677/
"The Magic Box" [Festival of Film 1951, U.K. & USA 1952]
 | Uses double flashback design to tell the story of British portrait photographer William Friese-Greene [1855-1921], who was obsessed with inventing a practical motion picture camera, and later a method for color cinematography. Directed by John Boulting; script by Eric Ambler, based on Ray Allister's 1948 biography; Technicolor cinematography by Jack Cardiff; with an all-star cast including Robert Donat {as Friese-Greene}, Margaret Johnston, Maria Schell, Richard Attenborough, Frederick Valk, Eric Portman, Laurence Olivier, Stanley Holloway, Michael Hordern, Michael Redgrave, Margaret Rutherford & Peter Ustinov
Region 1 DVD or VHS not available; full credits at IMDb • movie entry at BFI |
"Merton of the Movies" [ MGM 1947] with Red Skelton
"Movie Crazy" [1932]
Harold Lloyd's most successful sound film
"Newsfront" by Peter Weir /title/tt0077986/
"Nickelodeon" [1976]
full credits from IMDb
"Off The Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's"
[indep June 1998]
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The restaurant was a Hollywood institution for 60 years, and the site of many after-Oscars parties. Chasen's stood at the corner of Beverly Blvd. and Doheny Drive (across the street from Beverly Hills, in what is today West Hollywood), and is now a Bristol Farms grocery store.
Directed by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini; all-star list of interviewees; plus longtime employees Tommy Gallagher, Raymond Bilbool, Ronnie Clint, Pepe Ruiz, Val Schwab & Onetta Johnson
New Video Group color DVD [3/2004] for $22.49 New Video Group color VHS [10/99] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb • entry at Wikipedia |
"The Party" [] Blake Edwards & Peter Sellers
"The Perils of Pauline"
[Paramount July 1947]
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This feature film is now public domain; romanticized account of seamstress Pearl White's discovery and rapid rise to silent serial stardom. Directed by George Marshall; starring Betty Hutton, John Lund, Billy De Wolfe. William Demarest, Constance Collier & Frank Faylen, with silent movie stalwarts William Farnum, Chester Conklin, Paul Panzer, 'Snub' Pollard, Creighton Hale & James Finlayson
ROAN Technicolor DVD [2/2000] for $17.99 Bridgestone Multimedia color VHS [5/98] out of prodn/used Madacy color VHS [9/97] out of prodn/used Madacy color VHS [undated] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb |
"The Player" [Avenue/Spelling April 1992]
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A screenwriter is blackmailing a movie studio executive... Directed by Robert Altman [1925-2006]; novel & script by Michael Tolkin; starring Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward, Whoopi Goldberg, Peter Gallagher, Dean Stockwell, Sydney Pollack & Lyle Lovett, plus many cameos; 3 Oscar noms, won 2 BAFTA, won 2 at Cannes, won WGA Best Script/Adaptation
New Line Special Edition widescreen color DVD [7/97] for $14.49 New Line color VHS [6/2002] out of prodn/many used full credits from IMDb 11"x17" poster from Amazon for $9.99 |
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"The Player" [1988 novel] by Michael Tolkin
Grove Press 8¼x5½ pb [4/97] for $9.60 Atlantic Monthly Press hardcover [6/88] out of print/used Random House ABR audio [5/93] out of stock/used "The Return of The Player" [2006 sequel] by Michael Tolkin Grove Press 8x5¼ pb [7/2007] for $10.40 Grove Press 9¼x6¼ hardcover [8/2006] for $4.80 [sic] |
"The Purple Rose of Cairo"
[Orion Pictures March 1985]
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A Depression-era waitress goes to the movies for escape, and discovers that the hero of the movie has walked off the screen to escape into the real world.
Written & directed by Woody Allen; starring Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, Gil Shepherd, Danny Aiello, Dianne Wiest & Edward Herrmann; listed on Time Magazine's All-TIME 100 Movies (5/2005)
MGM/UA widescreen DVD [11/2001] for $17.98 Anchor bay color VHS [9/90] out of stock/used full credits from IMDb |
"R.K.O. 281" tv movie [HBO/WGBH airdate Nov 1999]
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The title is the production number for the filming of "Citizen Kane", released in December 1941. After Wm. Randolph Hearst learned that Orson Welles was making a feature film that was a thinly-disguised and unflattering look at Hearst's life, the publishing tycoon and presidential hopeful used his power and influence to bury the picture.
Directed by Benjamin Ross; starring Liev Schreiber {as Welles}, James Cromwell, Melanie Griffith, John Malkovich & Roy Scheider; nominated for 13 Emmy Awards, including Best TV Movie, Best Direction & Best Script, won 3 minor Emmies; won WGA Award for Best TV Script (tied)
H.B.O. Home Video color DVD [4/2000] for $12.99 H.B.O. Home Video color VHS [3/2001] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb |
"Shrink" [indep July 2009]
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"The doctor is out!" Unable to cope with personal problems, L.A.'s top celebrity psychiatrist seeks solace in drugs, then is assigned a pro bono case of a troubled teenage girl living far from the Hollywood Hills. Co-produced by & starring Kevin Spacey; directed by Jonas Pate; written by Thomas Moffett; also starring Mark Webber, Saffron Burrows, Jack Huston, Keke Palmer, Dallas Roberts, Robert Loggia, Pell James & Laura Ramsey
DVD/Blu-ray not yet available • full credits from IMDb • official movie site |
"Silent Movie" [1976]
full credits from IMDb |
"Singin' In The Rain"
full credits from IMDb
"Stand-In" [1937]
full credits from IMDb
"The Star" [1952]
full credits from IMDb
"Star Spangled Rhythm" [Dec 1943]
Stars Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Fred MacMurray, Franchot Tone, Ray Milland
"State & Main" satire [Dec 2000] wr/dir David Mamet
"Strictly Background: Extras In The Spotlight"
documentary feature film [Anthem Pictures 2007]
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Co-produced & directed by Jason Connell; featuring Terry Bolo, Geoffrey Gould, Cecilia Hartfeld, Louis McCarten, Jay Michaels, Cary Y. Mizobe, Tafan Nieves, Mark Nobel, Jeff Olan, John Richards & Marvin Rouillard
Anthem Pictures color DVD [8/2008] for $17.99 full credits from IMDb • official movie site |
"The Stunt Man" [1980]
full credits from IMDb
"Sullivan's Travels" [Paramount Dec 1941]
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A successful director of lightweight popular films decides that he wants to make a serious movie about people affected by the Great Depression. When his producers counter that he knows notrhing about such lives, the director goes on the road as a hobo.
Co-produced, written & directed by Preston Sturges [1898-1959]; starring Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, Robert Warwick, William Demarest, Franklin Pangborn, Porter Hall, Byron Foulger, Margaret Hayes, Robert Greig, Roscoe Ates & Eric Blore; listed on National Film Registry (1990)
Criterion b&w DVD [8/2001] for $35.99 Universal b&w VHS [3/92] out of prodn/many used full credits from IMDb |
"Sunset" [TriStar April 1988]
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While working on a movie as technical advisor, real-life lawman Wyatt Earp teams with cowboy star Tom Mix to solve a murder at the Academy Awards ceremony in Beverly Hills.
Co-written & directed by Blake Edwards, from a story by Rod Amateau; starring Bruce Willis, James Garner, Malcolm McDowell, Mariel Hemingway, Kathleen Quinlan, Jennifer Edwards, Patricia Hodge, Richard Bradford, M. Emmet Walsh, Joe Dallesandro, Andreas Katsulas, Dann Florek, Bill Marcus, Michael C. Gwynne & Dermot Mulroney Sony widescreen color DVD [8/98] for $12.49 Sony color VHS [6/97] out of prodn/many used full credits from IMDb |
"Sunset Boulevard" [1950]
full credits from IMDb
"Tales From The Hollywood Hills"
TV mini-series [P.B.S./Channel 4 1987-88]
"Natica Jackson" [Nov 1987]
Directed by Paul Bogart; teleplay by Andy Wolk, based on a story by John O'Hara; starring Michelle
Pfeiffer, Hector Elizondo, George Murdock & Brian Kerwin; won W.G.A. Award
• full credits at IMDb
"Pat Hobby Teamed With Genius" [1987]
Written & directed by Rob Thompson, based on stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald [1896-1940]; starring
Christopher Lloyd, Colin Firth, Joseph Campanella & Kevin Bash
• full credits at IMDb
"A Table at Ciro's" [1987]
Directed by Leon Ichaso; co-written by Budd Schulberg & Stanley H. Silverman; starring Darren McGavin, Lois
Chiles, Kenneth McMillan, Stella Stevens, Steven Bauer, Sherilyn Fenn & Ann Magnuson
• full credits at IMDb
"The Old Reliable" [1988]
Directed by Michael Blakemore; adapted by Mark Eden from a novel by P.G. Wodehouse;
starring Rosemary Harris, Lori Loughlin, Joseph Maher & Lynn Redgrave
• full credits at IMDb
"The Closed Set" [Nov 1988]
Directed by Mollie Miller; teleplay by Ellen M. Violett, based on a 1959 Gavin Lambert short story;
starring Rita Moreno, D.W. Moffett, Harold Gould & Penelope Ann Miller
• full credits at IMDb
"Golden Land" [1988]
teleplay by William Hanley, based on the 1935 short story by William Faulkner [1897-1962]
• full credits at IMDb
"This Film Is Not Yet Rated"
[Independent Film Channel Sept 2006]
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A breakthrough exposé about the M.P.A.A. movie ratings board and its secret practices.
Produced by Eddie Schmidt; co-written & directed by Kirby Dick I.F.C. color DVD [1/2007] for $17.99 full credits from IMDb official movie site |
"Tropic Thunder" [DreamWorks Aug 2008]
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"A very subtle satire [of Hollywood] wrapped in a very broad comedy." – Devin O'Leary, Weekly Alibi film critic
The hapless director of an over-budget jungle war epic decides to submit his actors to boot camp in Southeast Asia, which morphs into real combat with real rebels and real ammo.
Co-produced, co-written, directed by & starring Ben Stiller; co-written by Justin Theroux & Etan Cohen; co-starring Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Brandon T. Jackson, Jay Baruchel, Steve Coogan, Danny R. McBride, Nick Nolte & Tom Cruise
DreamWorks Video widescreen color DVD [11/2008] for $14.49 DreamWorks widescreen color Unrated Director's Cut DVD [11/2008] 2 disks for $24.49 full credits from IMDb • official movie site {requires Flash} |
"Under The Rainbow"
[Warner Bros./Orion Pictures July 1981]
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The German Führer sends a midget secret agent to Culver City, California to meet with a Japanese spy. The meeting turns out to be the same weekend that The Culver Hotel [est. 1924] receives 150 'little people' working as Munchkins on the movie "The Wizard of Oz", a busload of Japanese tourists, and a paranoid Duke and his bumbling Secret Service escort. {Reviewed as awful but hilarious.}
Directed by Steve Rash; starring Chevy Chase, Carrie Fisher, Eve Arden, Joseph Maher, Robert Donner, Billy Barty, Mako, Cork Hubbert, Pat McCormick, Adam Arkin, Richard Stahl, Freeman King, Zelda Rubinstein & Jerry Maren
Warner Home Video widescreen color DVD [undated] out of prodn/used Warner Home Video color VHS [4/92] out of prodn/used 11"x17" poster from Amazon for $14.99 full credits from IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia |
"What Just Happened"
[2929 & Magnolia Pictures Oct 2008]
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A middle-aged Hollywood producer is in over his head trying to balance two ex-wives, the iron-gloved studio chief, the drug-addled director of his new film, his teenage daughter, Bruce Willis (sporting a beard), and assorted agents & screen writers – under a two-week deadline to deliver a finished print of the movie to the Cannes Festival in France.
Directed by Barry Levinson; co-produced & written by Art Linson, based on his 2002 book; co-produced by & starring Robert De Niro; also starring Catherine Keener, Robin Wright Penn, Sean Penn, Lily Rabe, Kristen Stewart, Stanley Tucci, John Turturro, Bruce Willis & Michael Wincott
Magnolia widescreen color Blu-ray [2/2009] for $15.99 Magnolia widescreen color DVD [2/2009] for $14.98 full credits from IMDb • official movie site |
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"What Just Happened?: Bitter Hollywood Tales From The Front Line" [2002] by Art Linson "...you may have missed [this book] when it came out last year. Now it's in paperback. Don't make the same mistake twice." — Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times Book Review Grove Press 8x5½ movie tie-in pb [10/2008] for $11.20 Bloomsbury USA 8x5 pb [5/2003] out of print/used Bloomsbury USA 9½x6½ hardcover [5/2002] out of print/used |
"What Price Hollywood?" [R.K.O. Pathé June 1932]
Directed by George Cukor; full credits from IMDb
"What Price Hollywood?" [1981] Edited by Andrew Velez /B001ZV2TS4/ + 9780804460941
"White Hunter, Black Heart"
[Malpaso/Warner Bros. May & Sept 1990]
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A world-famous movie director on location in Africa neglects the production of his movie for an obsession with hunting and killing one particular elephant. The main character is modeled after John Huston, the movie being filmed is "The African Queen" [1951], the movie stars are Humphrey Bogart & Kate Hepburn.
Co-produced & directed by & starring Clint Eastwood; co-written by Peter Viertel, based on his novel; co-written by James Bridges & Burt Kennedy; also starring Jeff Fahey, Charlotte Cornwell, Norman Lumsden, George Dzundza, Marisa Berenson, Richard Vanstone, Jamie Koss & Mel Martin
Warner Home Video widescreen color DVD [9/2003] for $17.99 Warner Home Video color VHS [6/99] out of prodn/used 27"x40" poster from Amazon for $19.99 full credits from IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia |
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"White Hunter, Black Heart" novel [Doubleday 1953] by Peter Viertel Penguin mass pb [8/90] out of print/used Laurel mass pb [8/87] out of print/used see also Magic Lantern's "The African Queen" 1951 Movie Page |
"The Wild Party"
[Merchant-Ivory Prodns/A.I.P. March 1975]
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Jolly Grimm, fading star of the Silent Era, stages a drunken bash in hopes of getting distribution for his final silent movie; but the film is a dud and the guests at his mansion feed on the grim mood and the free liquor, and the sexual hijinks get out of hand. When Jolly sees his mistress and a younger actor enter an upstairs bedroom, he gets a gun and waits for them outside the room. {Director Ivory disowned the film released by A.I.P., which was cut from 108 to 95 minutes; the DVD contains the Director's Cut and a 20-minute documentary.}
Directed by James Ivory; written by Walter Marks, based on the 1928 narrative poem by Joseph Moncure March {which was perhaps inspired by the troubles of comedian Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle [1887-1933]}; starring James Coco, Raquel Welch, Perry King, Tiffany Bolling, Royal Dano, David Dukes, Christina Ferra-Gilmore & Eddie Lawrence
M.G.M. Video widescreen color DVD [6/2004] for $13.49 full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia |
"Without Reservations" [R.K.O. 1946]
The female author of a novel in a similar tone as Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead" meets a tough-guy actor on a train
bound for Hollywood where her novel is to be made into a movie; she actively pursues him for the lead role,
though he's read the novel and openly mocks it as ridiculous nonsense.
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy; starring John Wayne & Claudette Colbert;
full credits at IMDb
"The Woman Chaser" [1999]
"Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood" [1976]
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