the killing of a chinese bookie is a 1976 american art and crime film directed and written by john cassavetes and starring ben gazzara .

a rough and gritty film , the formidable character gazzara plays was based on an impersonation he did for his friend cassavetes in the 1970s .

this is the second of their three collaborations , following husbands and preceding opening night .

the killing of a chinese bookie

the killing of a chinese bookie is a film written and directed by john cassavetes in 1976 .
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opening night is re - released by the bfi this month , and accompanied by a mini retrospective , including the killing of a chinese bookie .
trailer - original trailer for the killing of a chinese bookie . in english , not subtitled . ( 2 min , 1080p ) .
all blu - ray screen captures come from the source disc and have been shrunk from 1920x1080 to 900x506 and slightly compressed to conserve space . while they are not exact representations they should offer a general idea of overall video quality . shadows shadows shadows shadows faces faces faces faces a woman under the influence a woman under the influence a woman under the influence a woman under the influence the killing of a chinese bookie ( 1976 ) the killing of a chinese bookie ( 1978 ) the killing of a chinese bookie ( 1976 ) the killing of a chinese bookie ( 1978 ) opening night opening night opening night opening night
stills gallery - this gallery features behind - the - scenes photos of the cast and crew on the set of the killing of a chinese bookie . ( 1080p ) .
one of john cassavetes ' most accessible films , the killing of a chinese bookie offers a unique , noirish and naturalistic take on the sleazy criminal milieu based around sunset strip .
trailer for the killing of a chinese bookie ( john cassavetes , 1976 ) . it is shown as part of the john cassavetes retrospective at the filmmuseum amsterdam in the fall of 2009 .
receiving its long - overdue blu - ray premiere , as part of this dual format edition , the killing of a chinese bookie is john cassavetes’s uncompromising character study of a gangster .
the 6 - disc john cassavetes collection from optimum includes : shadows , faces , a woman under the influence , the killing of a chinese bookie , opening night with these listed extras .
the 8 - disc criterion john cassavetes - five films includes - shadows , faces , a woman under the influence , the killing of a chinese bookie , opening night with these listed extras .
the killing of a chinese bookie
is a wonderful film , but don ' t mistake it for an action movie . it ' s simply the meticulous filming of a man ' s final steps towards his own destruction .
“the killing of a chinese bookie” has nothing to compare with the spectacle of the rowlands performance in “a woman under the influence , ” but next to that earlier film it ' s virtually bressonian in the rigidity of its purpose and style . it even has a story of sorts .
the first version of the killing of a chinese bookie was released in 1976 . it was greeted with mixed reviews and poor box - office returns . cassavetes then went on to direct opening night . after completing that film , however , cassavetes went back and extensively re - edited the killing of a chinese bookie , shortening its length but also adding segments not in the first version . “i’d like to make that film about four or five more times” , cassavetes tells an interviewer at the time , “because it had interesting characters , interesting people” . [ 11 ] this inability to be done with the characters in the killing of a chinese bookie was a trait that marked a number of cassavetes’ productions .
also check out carney ' s books for an account of the differences between the two versions of the killing of a chinese bookie . he may be the only person in the world who has seen both . cassavetes presented him with 35mm prints of each before he died .
but i was sort of drifting in and out of sleep for the first twenty minutes of this before i suddenly realised why opening night - and , as it would turn out , the killing of a chinese bookie - are so strangely , rawly compelling .
the killing of a chinese bookie isn’t your typical mobster film per se . whilst it uses familial elements of the genre , it’s mainly used as window dressing to decorate a multi - layered character drama . and to the films credit it works best as an…
a classic , noirish study of the lethal combination of masculine pride and arrogant self - destruction , the film’s subtle and very naturalistic tone is similar to mean streets , martin scorsese’s excellent examination of catholic guilt and the fallibility of criminals . this similarity is no coincidence , either : scorsese and cassavetes had together formulated a treatment for the killing of a chinese bookie several years previously , during an editing session on scorsese’s film , and indeed cassavetes even claimed to have completed the script for the killing of a chinese bookie with the sole intention of handing it over to scorsese to direct .
arguably the most plot - driven of his films , cassavates withdrew the killing of a chinese bookie shortly after the initial release and subsequently re - cut a shorter version with a different opening . the re - cut version is available on the blu - ray and the dvd includes the long version amongst the special features .
the killing of a chinese bookie is the second film in my retrospective of john cassavetes filmography , the first being his debut shadows . the film stars ben gazzara as cosmo vittelli a strip club owner whose gambling addiction leaves him in hot water with the mob . he then accepts a proposition to take on a hit of a chinese mobster in order to lower his debt , which brings a whole host of other problems to his doorsteps .
no doubt the prime motivation for cassavetes’ participation in such films was money , and if those salaries bought him some time and artistic freedom , and helped bankroll mini - masterpieces like the killing of a chinese bookie , then all the better . despite the film ' s art - house credentials , the killing of a chinese bookie is perhaps cassavetes’ most well - known and conventional work , and it seems incomprehensible that it was panned upon its initial release , before a hasty re - edit by the director addressed its perceived deficiencies .
right from the opening handful of frames , one discovers that john cassavetes’ best known film , or at least the film many people think of when his name is brought up in conversation , the killing of a chinese bookie , is unlike anything the director did prior , or would do in its wake .
john cassavetes the killing of a chinese bookie , the fourth film in criterions john cassavetes : five films box set , is presented on blu - ray in the original aspect ratio of 1 . 85 : 1 in 1080p / 24hz . the dual - layer disc presents both the 1976 and 1978 versions of the film .
opening night’s production issues ranged from unions threatening the film for its non - union crew and extras to a stunted release and an exceedingly cool domestic reception . “if the killing of a chinese bookie was a commercial failure , ” notes charity , “ opening night barely registered at all . ” 21
it ' s rather like a shaggy dog story operating inside a chase movie . chinese bookie is the more insouciant , involuted and unfathomable of the two ; the curdled charm of gazzara ' s lopsided grin has never been more to the point .
one of them was the killing of a chinese bookie , a film that displays most of the faults of his kind of on - the - hoof film - making - and all the virtues . cassavetes always used to say that the emotion in his films was improvised but the lines written . there is no doubt , though , that when he let his actors loose on the set , there were considerable surprises in store .
john cassavetes ' s “the killing of a chinese bookie , ” which opened yesterday at the columbia i and ii theater , is like the last three of the director ' s films ( “a woman under the influence , ” “husbands” and “minnie and moskowitz” ) in the way it resolutely refuses to come to a point strong or interesting enough to support the loving care that ' s gone into its production , particularly on the part of the actors .
im disappointed with how the 76 version of chinese bookie was handled but everything else about this set offers a significant enhancement over the previous dvd set . the supplements altogether offer a great overview of cassavetes work and the presentations for the films are better and more filmic overall . it comes with a high recommendation .
i ' m going to watch john cassavetes ' s the killing of a chinese bookie and the copy i borrowed from the library has two cuts - one from 1976 that ' s a 135 minute edit and one from 1978 that ' s a 108 minute edit . i wonder which version i should watch , and if anybody knows which version cassavetes considered to be the
correct
edit .
but instead of cashing in , cassavetes continued to work mostly outside the mainstream hollywood system , and his remarkable run of films in the 1970s – husbands ( 1971 ) , minnie and moskowitz ( 1971 ) , a woman under the influence ( 1974 ) , killing of a chinese bookie ( 1976 ) , opening night ( 1977 ) – is an accomplishment that ranks with any director ' s body of work before or since .
interestingly , both the killing of a chinese bookie and mean streets are a long way from the terrific , elaborate and expensive crime films that scorsese would come to direct twenty years or so later . by then , scorsese was more interested in deconstructing the glamour , mythology and iconography of famous and wealthy mafia figures , rather than realism and the seamier , low - key experiences of small - time gangsters at street level .
from a story developed with martin scorcese , cassavetes tackles ( and comments on ) the film noir genre . cosmo , a club owner in heavy debt , is pressured into committing the title act to pay off the mob . note : according to ray carney , two versions of killing of a chinese bookie exist : a 1976 edit ( 135 minutes ) and a 1978 edit ( 108 minutes ) . both , carney says , are of equal interest . stars ben gazzara .
ben gazzara is the star of killing , the story of the owner of the crazy horse west , a failing la strip joint he is determined to keep open because it ' s the only thing he ' s built up from scratch in his somewhat tawdry life . in order to remain solvent , he has to kill a chinese bookie for the mob . the sequence in which he breaks into the old man ' s luxurious apartment and does the job is as terrifying as anything in the godfather .
if one face of time in cassavetes’ films is about repetition , habit , fatigue and the elongation of actions to the point where meaning is lost or overturned , time in the killing of a chinese bookie is more elusive , yet also more abrupt . for jean epstein , cinema’s ability to mark an event or an emotion with a sense of constant temporal dispersal constitutes one of its principal links to modern life : “you look at your watch , the present strictly speaking is already no longer there , and strictly speaking it is there again , it will always be there from one midnight to the next” . [ 28 ] there is a gnawing senses of distraction in the killing of a chinese bookie , of always being too soon or too late . it is as if the turning point that could reveal events and their significance is always just about to happen or has already happened prior to our arrival .
“the killing of a chinese bookie” is about cosmo vitelli ( ben gazzara ) , the owner of a tacky nightclub on hollywood ' s sunset strip , and cosmo ' s troubles when the mob coerces him into carrying out a contract murder in order to pay off a $ 23 , 000 gambling debt . that ' s the story , but the film has less interest in story than in character , for which , in mr . cassavetes ' s vocabulary , you may also read actor .
the killing of a chinese bookie seems to retrace one of cinema’s first lessons , about light and its capacity to both bring forth an image or action yet also lose it in an uneven flow and distribution of luminous force . how is it possible to build and maintain a figure in the midst of this uneven luminous wash ? what are the attributes of this figure that is at once both flesh and blood and shot through with light ? in alexandre astruc’s account of murnau’s films he describes a tension between composition and annihilation in the very construction of the image :
ben gazzara and al ruban - in this excellent interview piece , actor ben gazzara ( cosmo ) and and producer al ruban discuss their contributions to the killing of a chinese bookie and recall their interactions with john cassavetes during the shooting of the film . the two gentlemen also discuss the initial reactions to the 1976 version of the film . the interviews were conducted exclusively for criterion in los angeles and new york in 2004 . in english , not subtitled . ( 19 min , 1080i ) .
the fourth disc features the killing of a chinese bookie and the big feature is that the disc features both the 1976 and 1978 cuts of the film . the inclusion of the two cuts is somewhat surprising since gena rowlands apparently refused to allow the alternate version of shadows to be included in the set and my understanding is cassavetes preferred the 78 cut . as to why there are two cuts to the film : cassavetes was apparently disappointed in the reception of it when he originally released it in 1976 . he shortened it down and re - edited , i think in an attempt to make it more of a conventional gangster film .
the killing of a chinese bookie , directed and written by john cassavetes ; produced by al rubin ; supervising editor , torn cornwell ; camera operators , fred elmes and mike harris ; music conducted and arranged by anthony harris ; released by faces distribution corporation . running time : 130 minutes . at the columbia i and ii theaters . second avenue rear 64th street . this film has been rated r .
barely able to contain his anger but realizing that he is in a tight spot , cosmo drives to the chinese gangster ' s heavily guarded home .
mort comes to visit the club with an entourage . they ask him about his mortgage . they know he doesn ' t have the money and start talking about a
punk chinese bookie
they can ' t get to . cosmo reveals that he fought in korea and killed some people in the war . they propose that he kill the bookie . he initially declines , bragging about being a club owner and how he built himself up from nothing . he says that he ' s interested in reducing the debt but not eliminating it . ( killing the bookie ) after some back and forth , they suggest that he take his girls and use them to draw out the bookie ( he likes beautiful girls ) go locate him and invite him to his club to reduce the debt by $ 10 , 000 . 00 .
the criterion collection upgrades their box set john cassavetes : five films to blu - ray , presenting the films and special features over five dual - layer discs . the set includes the films shadows , faces , a woman under the influence , the killing of a chinese bookie , and opening night . shadows is presented in the aspect ratio of about 1 . 33 : 1 , faces at 1 . 66 : 1 , and the other three films in the ratio of 1 . 85 : 1 . all five films are presented with 1080p / 24hz high - definition transfers .
it has the plot of a fast - paced , exciting thriller , but the killing of a chinese bookie rather becomes a slow - paced , intimate , somber and atmospheric noir - ish character study full of humanity that ' ll immersive you throughout . its superbly shot but it never shows off , and ben gazzara is phenomenal , totally convincing as the sleazy strip club owner living a mundane existence . cassavetes ' honest portrait of this man is both sympathetic and bleak , and the mood and his raw , observational style works wonders here . i really liked this one , and its not only because there ' s a lot of boobs in it .
if theatre and cinema are always present in cassavetes’ films , caught in a process of reciprocal exchange , why , we might ask , does he feel the need to literalise this scenario in the killing of a chinese bookie and opening night ? these two films reveal something rarely associated with cassavetes : an attempt to theorise the impulses and drives at work in his films . this theorisation , however , does not take place somewhere apart from the films ; it emerges in tandem with the work of performance . by turning towards the world of theatre , cassavetes is not taking a step away from cinema but looking at it from a certain vantage point , taking in a particular truth of the work .
this disturbance of tempo is strikingly reflected in the centrepiece of the film’s rereading of the gangster genre : cosmo’s performance of the hit on the chinese bookie . after receiving an extraordinarily complex set of directions , cosmo finds his journey to the bookie’s house suddenly interrupted by a blowout on the freeway . he uses this unexpected delay to make a quick phone call back to the club to check on the progress of the act . when neither vince nor sonny are able to tell him which number is being performed , cosmo is forced to sing into the receiver a few bars of mr sophistication’s signature tune , “i can’t give you anything but love” . the neon light of the phone booth seems to operate as cosmo’s own personal spotlight demanding that he come up with an appropriate performance .
mr . cassavetes ' s way of film making is to set up actors , whom he admires , trusts and finds endlessly fascinating , in situations in which they are as likely to philosophize about acting as about life . acting—performance—is a legitimate metaphor for certain kinds of lives but by the end of “the killing of a chinese bookie” you may rightfully expect more than you have actually received . this includes a lot of enigmatic snatches of cosmo ' s nightclub shows , bits and pieces of intentionally awful sketches , as well as cosmo ' s relationships to his “girls” and his emcee ( a selfdescribed “freak , ” played with good , self‐contained desperation by meade roberts , the screen writer .
the killing of a chinese bookie made me , like , immediately and deeply unhappy . i ' m not sure if this is the audience arc cassavetes had in mind exactly ( not that it matters what cassavetes had in mind ) , but i started the movie feeling sorry for cosmo . he runs a seedy nightclub and pours himself into it but doesn ' t have the money or the talent or the luck for it to be really special . the clientele all seem more bored by the show than they are titillated . this is largely due to cassaavetes ' s slow pacing and ben…
the plague’s freedom , of course , comes at a cost for both human life and a certain type of theatrical representation in which performance and the mechanics of staging are in the service of a re - presentation of a previous text . this is a theatre bound to the authority of the script , a theatre where action and gesture are subordinated to the psychological requirements of character . artaud affirms :
next is another portion of an audio interview with john cassavetes , conducted by michael ciment . similar interviews also appear on the discs for a woman under the influence and the killing of a chinese bookie . this 29 - minute segment unsurprisingly concentrates on opening night , and he talks about his personal experiences working in theater and talks about recruiting the films audiences . most interestingly , though , is when he talks about the films central play . it was incredibly hard to write since it was supposed to be an awful play the actors didnt want anything to do with , and he had little interest in it . i found it probably the more engaging of all of the audio interviews found in the set .
these events follow on from each other in a consecutive pattern , yet what has been lost or curtailed is the motivating connection that could adequately explain how we have come to be where we are , how we get from one point to the next . the various events that push the narrative forward lack a gravitational pull and tend to constantly deviate our attention away from the central drama . ( “nothing remains fixed , and everything becomes ominous” , as rosenbaum said of out one / spectre ) . [ 26 ] deleuze identifies this breakdown in the line or fibre that connects and prolongs events as a defining feature of a certain sector of post wwii american cinema beyond hollywood . in altman’s a wedding ( us 1978 ) , nashville ( us 1975 ) and cassavetes’ the killing of a chinese bookie :
the guards don ' t seem to notice him at all and he makes his way into the bookie ' s quarters to find the old man in a hot tub with a younger woman . he waits for her to leave and confronts him when the bookie returns to the hot tub alone . the girl was close by however , and sees him shoot the bookie . the guards come running and he ' s forced to kill some of them on his way out , getting shot himself . he catches a passing bus and heads home then switching taxis as they ' d planned for him . he collapses once inside , but still insists on getting to the club . mort and his people hear that the bookie ' s dead , and are obviously surprised . mort appears angry about it and quite surprised .
[ a ] fluid space , subject to variations of mood , the feeling of the moment , the unpredictability of the present moment , when a moment of madness could at any time cause the scene to shift and jeopardise the performance and the very idea of performance itself . ( 16 )
the 1978 version of bookie and the four other films in the set deliver fantastic digital transfers that look far more film - like in comparison to criterions previous dvds of the films . the images are as crisp as possible when the source allows and detail is very high with excellent depth .
the 76 version of bookie sounds pretty awful . its mixed low , near impossible to hear at times , flat , and appallingly edgy . the 78 version of the film , along with influence and opening night sound much better , offering a bit more range and fidelity .
leaving the realm of broken marriages , insane significant others or the bohemian culture of 50s new york city , cassavetes takes to the world of a low - rent strip club owner in la who becomes indebted to a gangster after losing $ 20 , 000 in a card game . with no money to his name and no one looking to help him out with this debt , he is forced to take the life of a chinese bookie with the hopes of clearing his books of the big debt . however , when things are uncovered that prove this alleged hit as something far deeper and far more troubling , lives get put on the line , and what follows is a rather solid , if oddly uninteresting and unwieldy bit of post - noir filmmaking .
this perceptual transformation of the world is crucial to the film’s effect and its construction of a specifically cinematic form of theatricality . in terms drawn from the work of jean - louis schefer , deleuze describes the cinema’s capacity to replace the presence of bodies found in theatre with a different type of presence :
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what happens ? the movie opens on a schoolyard with girls chanting a jump rope rhyme . on the other side of the fence surrounding the scho . . .
the other films , all in colour , are in far better shape . there are shots that do look out of focus , but its a condition from the shoot and nothing to do with the transfers . the 1978 version of bookie looks a bit muddy in places ( maybe a condition of all of the low light shooting , ) but otherwise the colours in it and the other colour films look to be gorgeously saturated , with natural skin tones . the colour films also have very little damage present , just a few minor marks .
just as cassavetes repeatedly took acting roles in movies that were clearly beneath him in order to finance his own work , likewise , to preserve his position , gazarra is forced to put his morals aside and shoot the chinaman . lit by mostly available neon street signs and flares of sunshine in the lens , bookie indulges little of the familiar trappings of the gangster film . vitelli is a law unto himself , much like cassavetes , and it is his dedication to the minutiae of his craft that is afforded the most screen time . his contempt for anything resembling a movie ‘event’ is particularly evident in a key scene where the hoods tell vitelli how to carry out the killing being shot in almost complete darkness .
a witness who sees all , a guarantee that all has been witnessed by an effectively virtual audience , so that we do not leave the framework of a performance in a truly theatrical sense of the word . ( 87 )
these rapid shifts of perspective are an essential part of what jousse refers to as cassavetes’ “contrapuntal composition” ( 15 ) . we see the production of the second woman from a range of different and often competing perspectives : that of the producer , the audience , the stagehands , the personal dressers , the playwright , the director , the director’s wife and the resentful co - star . as jousse notes , the effect of this composition is to engage the viewer in the tension of the performance , to , in a sense , lift us out of the comfort of our seats and force us to experience something of the confusions , anxieties and competing perspectives which inform the play’s production .
true to cassavetes ' form , the 108 - minute version is not just a simple edit of the 135 - minute version . the order of several scenes has been changed , there are different edits of a few scenes , and there are a few segments unique to the 108 - minute version . the bulk of the cutting in the 1978 version removed many of the nightclub routines that were in the 1976 version .
the disc then closes with a series of production galleries , offering on set photos from the shoot , followed by a theatrical trailer .
cosmo vitelli is the owner of the
crazy horse west
strip club in las vegas . one night , he loses $ 23 , 000 while playing poker at mort weil ' s place . cosmo doesn ' t have the money to pay his debt to mort and his associates who are mobsters . mort strongly suggests cosmoget even by performing a hit for the mob . all he has to do is to kill a chinese bookmaker downtown . left with no other choices , cosmo kills the man who ' s in fact the head of the chinese triads of the west coast . wounded by a bullet , cosmo comes back to his club only to learn that the mob wants him dead now . however , vitelli goes on presenting the show every night .
disc # 1 - - the killing of a chinese bookie - the 1976 cut 1 . paid in full [ : 17 ] 2 . scotch and water [ 4 : 29 ] 3 . crazy horse west [ 4 : 20 ] 4 .
it ' ll pick up
[ 4 : 30 ] 5 . picking up the girls [ 7 : 44 ] 6 . casino [ 4 : 54 ] 7 . audition [ 11 : 01 ] 8 . gay paris [ 9 : 07 ] 9 . debt reduction [ 8 : 51 ] 10 . further instruction [ 5 : 02 ] 11 . en route [ 7 : 15 ] 12 . killing [ 1 : 19 ] 13 . damage control [ 6 : 26 ] 14 .
imagination
[ 9 : 02 ] 15 . shootout [ 7 : 43 ] 16 . a rose for betty [ 4 : 52 ] 17 . backstage [ 13 : 14 ] 18 . a whole new trip [ 7 : 24 ] disc # 2 - - the killing of a chinese bookie - the 1978 cut 1 .
it ' ll pick up
/ paid in full [ : 17 ] 2 . scotch and water [ 3 : 25 ] 3 . picking up the girls [ 4 : 22 ] 4 . casino [ 4 : 11 ] 5 . audition [ 10 : 28 ] 6 . gay paris [ 7 : 45 ] 7 . debt reduction [ 6 : 01 ] 8 . further instruction [ 8 : 55 ] 9 . en route [ 5 : 49 ] 10 . killing [ 6 : 18 ] 11 . damage control [ 2 : 20 ] 12 .
imagination
[ : 55 ] 13 . shootout [ 4 : 07 ] 14 . a rose for betty [ 6 : 49 ] 15 . backstage [ 4 : 47 ] 16 . a whole new trip [ 10 : 04 ] 1 . color bars
cosmo vitelli owns the crazy horse west , a strip joint in california . he ' s laconic , a korean war vet , and a gambler . when we meet him , he ' s making his last payment on a gambling debt . then , he promptly loses $ 23 , 000 playing poker at an illegal local casino . the guys he owes this time aren ' t so friendly , pressuring him for immediate payment . then they suggest that he kill a chinese bookie to wipe off the debt . vitelli and the film move back and forth between the double - crossing , murderous insincerity of the gamblers and the friendships , sweetness , and even love among vitelli , the dancers , a dancer ' s mother , and the club ' s singer , mr . sophistication .
then closing off the disc is a stills gallery presenting a decent sized collection of shots from the film , publicity photos and behind - the - scenes bits , including what looks like a photo of the crew at the end . the disc then closes with a theatrical trailer that i dont actually think is on the previous dvd edition .
this release offers a collection of four films for lovers of country western themes and . . .
cosmo vitelli owns the crazy horse west , a strip joint in california . he ' s laconic , a korean war vet , and a gambler . when we meet him , he ' s making his last payment on a gambling debt . then , he promptly loses $ 23 , 000 playing poker at an illegal local casino . the guys he owes this time aren ' t so friendly , pressuring him for immediate payment . then they suggest that he kill a chinese bookie to wipe off the debt . vitelli and the film move back and forth between the double - crossing , murderous insincerity of the gamblers and the friendships , sweetness , and even love among vitelli , the dancers , a dancer ' s mother , and the club ' s singer , mr . sophistication . written by
the shooting angle , the placement of the people within the frame , the distribution of lights – all serve to construct the lines of a dramatic scene whose unbearable tension will end in annihilation . . . each image is an unstable equilibrium , better still the destruction of a stable equilibrium brought about by its own élan . [ 25 ]
gazzara in a tuxedo the whole time , i ' ll watch that any day of the fucking week .
one of john cassavetes’s loyal troupe of collaborators reminisces about working with the fearless filmmaker .
the only disappointing transfer is the 1976 version of bookie . it appears every film in the set received new masters but the 1976 version looks very similar to the previous dvd edition and i suspect its the same high - def transfer used for that . its much softer and lacks detail in comparison to the 78 version here , with close - ups that look fuzzy around edges where they look crisper and cleaner in the 78 version . colours are a bit duller and blacks can crush out parts of the image . for me this was the most disappointing aspect of the sets transfers since i actually prefer the 76 cut of the film .
gentlemen’s club owner cosmo vitelli is a man dedicated to pretenses of composure and self - possession . when he runs afoul of a group of gangsters , cosmo is forced to commit a horrible crime in a last - ditch effort to save his beloved club and his way of life .
a strange , strange little movie ; shot
cinema verite ,
often utilizing a hand held camera , and murky lighting . due to the resultant disorientation from the documentary like directorial techniques , and the script ' s rather unorthodox concepts , i wasn ' t quite sure what to make of chinese bookie . but it ' s all so unique , appreciation is the only possible response ( for me , least ) to this film . there just isn ' t anything remotely like it . if you haven ' t seen it , i ' d encourage you to do so . - john fiero
the dreams and visions in opening night and love streams serve as a reminder of the proximity of cassavetes’ films to a theatre which “reforges the links between what does and does not exist , between the virtual nature of the possible and the material nature of existence” . ( artaud , “theatre and the plague” , 17 ) this is a type of theatre that “can only happen the moment the inconceivable really begins , where poetry taking place on stage nourishes and superheats created symbols” . ( 17 )
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all of the films present their respective films audio in lossless linear pcm 1 . 0 mono . other than the 76 version of bookie i feel the transfers are about as good as they can be . dialogue is mostly clear but limitations of the audio equipment used during filming can cause some problems , like muffled dialogue . faces had some dialogue looped over in post - production and this is very obvious and distracting in a few places .
even the most arid and banal image is transformed when it is projected on the screen . the smallest detail , the most insignificant object assume a meaning and a life which pertain to them alone , independently of the value of the meaning of the images themselves , the idea which they interpret and the symbol which they constitute . ( … ) essentially the cinema reveals a whole occult life with which it puts us directly into contact . [ 23 ]
the disc then closes with a couple of standards , including a stills gallery with photos from the workshop , the filming and premiere of shadows , as well as photos from the score recording session and then posters from around the world for cassavetes films ( these posters were originally included on the constant forge dvd as a supplement . ) a 3 - minute theatrical trailer closes off the disc .
terrence malick ' s days of heaven , the long - awaited follow - up to his 1973 debut badlands , confirmed his reputation as a visual poet and narrative iconoclast with a story of love and murder told through the jaded voice of a child and expressive . . .
even with the bare outlines provided by what is already known , however , it is still possible to piece together a history of mutual relations out of which emerges an understanding of cinematic writing defined in and through a relationship to the stage – the stage as both a physical place and as the catalyst for a scenario carried through into the cinema . in terms of the films themselves , this consciousness of the stage as a generator for the fiction is reflected in the way cassavetes builds into his scripts situations in which the various life crises of his characters are structured around , and framed by , questions of performance and theatricality . in a comparison between cassavetes and orson welles ( for whom theatre - and - cinema also forms a constant refrain ) , rosenbaum observes :
when cosmo arrives at the bookie’s house , the camera travels through a series of exits , corridors and doorways following cosmo but also at times seeming to lose him in the maze . eventually the camera stumbles upon an old man contently humming to himself and splashing around in a large communal bath . for a time the film seems to forget about cosmo , intent instead to observe the playful behavior of the old man . when the old man moves to a different bath in an adjoining room , he glances a number of times in the general direction of where we assume cosmo is standing , without registering his presence . when he finally acknowledges cosmo’s presence , the old man blinks hard as if trying to assure himself that what he is seeing is not a ghost . the only verbal contact between the two occurs just before the old man is shot , when he mumbles in a barely audible tone , “i’m real bad . i’m so sorry” .
at first it seems as if nancy has been conjured into being by myrtle as a device for the performance – an attempt to “stay in touch” with a set of emotions that are fast receding and a way of transforming the scenario of aging and passivity built into the role of virginia . what quickly becomes apparent , however , is the danger of such conjurings , registered in the dead fan’s brutal actions and myrtle’s equally violent , final response . as myrtle is pummeled by nancy , the threat of madness that hovers over her struggle with the role of virginia is steered away from a question of psychological crisis to one of physical disintegration . despite myrtle’s assurances that she has created nancy and can make her appear and disappear at will , opening night never resolves the issue of myrtle’s relation to the dead fan or the place of this apparition in relation to the rest of the film .
teenagers in a small town are dropping like flies , apparently in the grip of mass . . .
tracing cassavetes’s schooling and early career before giving a chapter on each of the films , attention is also paid to cassavetes’s relationship with gena rowlands—and the ways in which the two worked together . charity additionally explores posthumous productions of cassavetes’s un - filmed scripts . included is a filmography , a chronology of his stage plays , and of his performances .
despite a few disappointments ( like the lengthy documentary , a constant forge ) the supplements generally do offer an excellent amount of insight into cassavetes filmmaking career and style , and offer a great overview for those coming to the directors films for the first time .
note : the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer ( s ) .
george kouvaros is professor of film studies in the school of the arts and media , unsw . his most recent book is
moving on with the remaining supplements you first get notes about the two versions of the film followed by an 18 - minute discussion featuring ben gazzara and al ruban . both talk about working with cassavetes and how they see his films , but concentrate primarily on killing of course . they talk about making it , their reactions to it and the eventual public reception of it . it ' s an excellent interview , which i felt might have been too short .
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he starts to reconsider , when mort comes by the club and asks him to step outside . he presents it to mort as
i ' m going to do you a favor , i don ' t want to reduce the debt .
mort is insistent that he come outside and after they hit cosmo a few times they force him into a car and make it clear that they ' re willing to kill him . they give him a car , a map , a gun and specific instructions for dealing with the bookie ' s dogs , guards , and locks . cosmo heads out to do it , seeing no choice in the matter any longer . he has some difficulty with the car which breaks down on the highway while he ' s driving , so he finds a gas station and calls a cab . despite his crisis , he also takes the opportunity to check on the club , getting angry about only having two girls on stage and the music choice . he stops at a bar and orders meat for the dogs and then sets out for the bookie ' s place .
moving on with the remaining supplements you first get notes about the two versions of the film followed by an 18 - minute discussion featuring ben gazzara and al ruban . both talk about working with cassavetes and how they see his films , but concentrate primarily on killing ? of course . they talk about making it , their reactions to it and the eventual public reception of it . it ' s an excellent interview , which i felt might have been too short .
this sudden shifting can also be seen during the spaghetti breakfast when one of nick’s work mates suddenly finds his voice and begins to serenade myrtle . both moments remind us of the dynamic potential that defines the nature of the scene in cassavetes’ work : a capacity for a sudden and sometimes violent interruption to work against the very foundations of a scene , as well as our ability to define its general direction .
what about it ? ( for a full summary of the film , scroll down to
what happens ?
) l . a . confidential is a movie all about make . . .
an amazing but sad first act sets up a sleek , tense , and comparitively consumable cassavetes film that left me depressed for all the owners of a failing business . a great character study .
the plot’s biggest gamble is to make cosmo , this likable if screwed - up schnook , actually go through with the killing . is it plausible that someone so seemingly decent would do such a thing ? we don’t know , any more than we know enough about his past to say with certainty whether it’s even the first time he’s killed someone . but if we accept cassavetes’s model of the self as constantly in flux—provisional , unknowable , yet susceptible to the immediate claims of duty—then we may be better able to make the leap and accept the possibility .
when a young boy ' s family is killed by the mob , their tough neighbor gloria becomes his reluctant guardian . in possession of a book that the gangsters want , the pair go on the run in new york .
the idea of a play built right on stage , encountering production and performance obstacles , demands the discovery of active language , both active and anarchic , where the usual limits of feelings and words are transcended . antonin artaud [ 2 ]
to consider the theater as a second - hand psychological or moral function , and to believe that dreams themselves have only a substitute function , is to diminish the profound poetic bearing of dreams as well as of the theater . [ 22 ]
founded in 1999 , senses of cinema is one of the first online film journals of its kind and has set the standard for professional , high quality film - related content on the internet .
it is an intoxicating vision of the function of criticism ; the only problem is that , in the rush to significance , the actual ways artistic language operates get forgotten . works of genius are not explainable in terms of a series of generic cultural meanings . shakespeare is not synonymous with the elizabethan world view ; in fact , the power and wonder of his work begin where cultural descriptions of it end . great artists inflect and comment upon the systems of expression into which they are bornthey do not merely repeat them in their work .
a large gambling debt forces cosmo to meet a group of local wise guys ( seymour cassel , morgan woodward , timothy carey , robert phillips , john kullers ) who demand that he immediately pays what he owes if he wishes to continue running the club . when cosmo confesses to them that he does not have the money , they offer him a ' reasonable ' deal : if cosmo agrees to kill an influential chinese gangster for them , they will forget about his gambling debt . at first cosmo rejects the deal , but after one of the wise guys , a bubbly regular at the club , bruises his ribs , he changes his mind . another wise guy then gives him a gun and a stolen car .
this film works on a number of levels that challenge the viewer . on the one hand , the cinema - verite technique of the visuals , reminiscent of raoul coutard (
breathless
) , really dials us into the life of cosmo . cassavetes delivers him as he is : a freewheeling , caring guy trying to make his nightclub a go without exploiting the girls who work for him . on the other , the plot , a meandering set of tableaus that toy with cliché but never give into them , gives the viewer an opportunity to escape the authoritarian conventions of mainstream cinema . cassavetes isn ' t worried about masking real time precisely because his characters come to life in it . one of the finest
organic
films ever made ; a seemingly naturally paced film about real people bracketed by the aesthetic codes of the film noir genre . very impressive .
this marks , at least within this five films box set that criterion so wonderfully upgraded to blu - ray late last month , the point in cassavetes’ career where , at least aesthetically , the director began getting in his own way . featuring only a handful of truly memorable shots and some of the least inspired photography in any of cassavetes’ films ( there is actually no cinematography credit found on this film ) , the film lacks much of the energy of his earlier work , or even the unbridled energy found within many of the final frames of the film that came prior to this , a woman under the influence . despite a score that keeps the film afloat and pace chugging along , the best thing that can be said about the film visually is that cassavetes has a way with crafting an ever evolving film that has rarely been matched . at its best , the film is a slow burn of a neo - noir . oddly lyrical in its pacing , the film builds and , as previously mentioned , evolves continuously starting out as a character study and making its way to the realm of pure crime noir . with the central hit being one of the best and most vital moments of the film , the picture takes a decided turn following , only to find its stride for a wonderfully kinetic final act .


fashions of 1934 is a 1934 american pre-code musical comedy film directed by william dieterle with musical numbers created and directed by busby berkeley .

the screenplay by f. hugh herbert and carl erickson was based on the story the fashion plate by harry collins and warren duff .

the film stars william powell , bette davis , hugh herbert and frank mchugh , and has songs by sammy fain ( music ) and irving kahal ( lyrics ) .

( sometime after the initial release , the title " fashions of 1934 " was changed to " fashions " , replacing the original title with an insert card stating william powell in " fashions " ) .

fashions of 1934

looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing fashions of 1934 near you .
fashions of 1934 only has one berkeley number but it ' s a doozy involving a ridiculous mountain of ostrich feathers . it ' s one of his best sequences in my opinion .
master of the world ( 1934 , germ . ) ( aka der herr der welt )
fashions of 1934 may be a bit far - fetched and inconsistent , being predicated on a false premise , but it has color , flash , dash , class , girls and plenty of clothes .
part comedy , part musical , part fashion show , fashions of 1934 is a brisk bit of movie fluff with two classic stars of hollywood ' s golden age . the fashions on display here are outrageous and over - the - top . like the movie itself they are from a long gone , and much more fabulous , era .
fashions of 1934 feels like a much smaller film than 42nd street and footlight parade and the pace is far from breakneck , but it ' s a pleasant , little film with one bonkers berkeley showpiece .
crew : ( b & w ) extract of a review from 1934 . running time : 80 min .
thin man , the ( 1934 ) $ 159 . 90 million adjusted worldwide box office
razmyslov , p . ( 1934 ) . 0 “kul’turno - istoricheskoj teorii psikhologii” vygotskogo i lurija .
strange to see bette davis playing second fiddle to someone else . that someone happens to be william powell who in fairness is quite well suited alongside miss davis . the big pull of this movie however , are the many wonderful paris fashions of the 30 ' s worn superbly by the catwalk models . an entertaining oddity , fashions of 1934 is executed extremely well with the bonus of having two great actors and those magnificent costumes . the supporting cast are certainly up to standard in this recommended comedy .
fashions of 1934 may be a bit far - fetched and inconsistent , being predicated on a false premise , but it has color , flash , dash , class , girls and plenty of clothes . story [ by harry collins and warren duff ] has to do with the boot - legging of exclusive paris models . action starts in the us but quickly shifts to the [ … ]
another fast - paced , thinly plotted musical comedy boasting the magnificent choreography of busby berkeley , fashions of 1934 stars william powell as a fashion designer who has a reputation for stealing other designers ' creations and marketing them as his own . when parisian designers begin barring powell ' s spies from their shows and salons , powell goes himself , . . . read more
i’d not seen “fashions of 1934” in its entirely since a mid - 1970s showing at the old theater 80 st . marks in the east village . released in february 1934 , this comedy is most famous for its sole musical number , a real doozy . sammy fain and irving kahal’s “spin a little web of dreams” inspired busby berkeley to some of his most outre work at warners , involving chorines posing as human harps and “venus and her galley slaves” ( forming a 60 - foot galleon ) as well as showgirls wearing little but ostrich features .
fashions of 1934 is a comedy , drama , musical english movie , directed by william dieterle , starring william powell , bette davis , frank mchugh , hugh herbert along with others . here , on the movie page , you will find every thing that you need to know . check out what others are saying about the movie on twitter .
original music and lyrics by chris jeffries . recorded live at the northwest film forum - july , 2006 . featuring footage from fashions ( 1934 ) , directed by busby berkeley . piano : chris jeffries . vocals : wier harman , erin mcgaughan , scott o . moore , taylor ott , mike shapiro & joel summerlin .
among many other adventurous explorations of the studio’s vast catalogue , the manufacture - on - demand warner archive collection has been particularly active in making available on dvd so - called “pre - code” titles — those sex - and - innuendo drenched early talkies that the studios pumped out to entice depression - era audience into theaters until rigorous enforcement of the production code beginning on july 1 , 1934 brought an end to the fun . there are ten ( ! ) more especially rare ones coming next month ( see below ) , but first i want to review two old favorites that came out recently — “hollywood party” and “fashions of 1934” — as well as one i’d never seen before , william wellman’s notorious , eye - popping “safe in hell” ( 1934 ) .
the collected works of l . s . vygotsky . vol . iii . problems of the theory and history of psychology
tcm celebrates the 100th anniversary of a musical legend with three nights of programming devoted to some of leonard bernstein ' s . . . more
fashions of 1934 is an odd but entertaining little pre - code comedy with music . it ' s memorable as the only screen teaming of william powell and bette davis . powell plays his usual dapper , fast talking con man , while davis was in the middle of an identity crisis . the powers that be at warner brothers were trying to reinvent her as a platinum blonde glamor puss , complete with heavy lipstick and false eyelashes . they dressed her in many sophisticated gowns , by their resident fashion designer orry - kelly , that emphasized her rather pendulous breasts .
bette davis as powell ' s part - time love interest didn ' t really make much of an impression . there just wasn ' t much chemistry there between them . there was more of that between him and fake duchess verree teasdale . frank mchugh & hugh herbert was there to bring the humor but didn ' t contribute much . so had william powell not been there i ' m fairly certain
fashions of 1934
would have been a failure , so all credit to him for making it work and turning this one into a entertaining fashion crook story .
the onscreen title is fashions , from when the print was later retitled to avoid being out - of - date . this is the kind of minor title you ' d ordinarily have to wait to see when it ' s aired on turner classic movies , yet now it ' s a recent release in warner archives ' made - on - demand series of dvd - r ' s .
harvard film archive 24 quincy street sat . , dec . 17 , 2016 , 9 – 10 : 30 p . m . most notable for mischievously riding the edge of the production code , fashions of 1934 features a lot of naughtiness and a trio of lovably unethical lead characters . william powell plays sherwood nash , a charming shyster who ropes bette davis’ amateur dress designer into a scheme for bootlegging top parisian fashions for high prices . in fact , the berkeley dance number comes as somewhat of a surprise , but when it does appear as an elaborate cog in nash’s complex ostrich - feather racket , “spin a little web of dreams” twists into delectable berkeley decadence , with dancers wearing feather fans , playing living harps and sailing atop an undulating , glistening faux sea . his most astonishing flourish : overhead shots of the plumed dancers forming a beautiful , feathery flower , which opens and closes as if photographed in time - lapse . gazette classification : film category : film library location : harvard film archive more info : hcl . harvard . edu…
fog over frisco is a 1934 american pre - code drama film directed by william dieterle . the screenplay by robert n . lee and eugene solow was based on the short story the five fragments by george dyer .
a hollywood version of jacques deval ' s 1933 french drama un vie perdue , journal of a . . .
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there’s the wow feather scene wherein busby berkeley has combined a pageant of ostrich plumes to include a hall of human harps , a web of dreams , and venus and her galley slaves . berkeley again repeats the prismatic formations , dissolves , overhead shots and other of the now established school of bb cinematerps .
classic flix ( incidentally , the online place we know of that rents titles from the warner archive collection and other mod programs ) also says hen’s tooth video is offering the first authorized dvd release of a pair of excellent dumas swashbucklers from hollywood’s classic era in february : rowland v . lee’s “the count of monte cristo” ( 1934 ) starring robert donat and james whale’s “the count of monte cristo” ( 1939 ) with louis hayward and joan bennett . hopefully hen’s tooth has licensed “red salute” ( 1935 ) the rest of the pre - 1948 edward small productions catalogue , mysteriously unavailable on video since the vhs era .
3 anyway back to the man of the moment and i must record that i considered that bill powell had one of the most deliciously witty personas in the history of movies , a joy to watch – and hear ! – and well deserving of this page and its update which nostalgically remind me of sunday afternoons long ago watching regular tv reruns of the thin woman . top marks and nice little miniature of bill with his two stooges .
hollywood didn’t quite know what to do with bette davis in the early thirties , and in fashions of 1934 she is terribly miscast as a fashion designer and love interest to william powell’s con man . done up in a platinum blonde wig and painted with eyeliner meant to make her eyes appear longer , she exclaimed in her memoir , “the bossmen were trying to make me into a greta garbo ! ” later that same year , she would finally hit her stride with a career - making performance in of human bondage . aside from the casting error , the film is a brisk pre - code romp , punctuated by a marvel of a busby berkeley number that features countless women in skimpy ostrich feather bikinis . while the romance…
in this paper the author presents a selection of the criticisms levelled against vygotsky in the nineteen thirties . he defends the view that while most of these criticisms were biased and scientifically unsound several of them may serve as a starting point for the present - day assessment of vygotsky’s ideas .
fashions of 1934 is not a musical . mind you , that doesn ' t stop it from pulling off a spectacularly feathery , leggy number from busby berkley ' s high period , complete with overhead geometries and women dressed up as harps . without being as long and elaborate as his work in 42nd street or the gold digger series or the great footlight parade , it ' s still one of his signature offspring of the soundstage , the editing room and the fever dream that pretends to be somehow performed live in a theatre . there it is , bursting from the movie and berkley ' s camera like several dozen dianas from the head of jupiter while the viewer stares . berkley also seems to have staged the climactic fashion show , which looks as if it ' s about to burst into song any minute . despite all this , the movie ' s not a musical ; it ' s one of warner brothers ' snappy , fast - talking pre - code comedies .
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mr . wolf ' s big list of forgotten , overlooked and underappreciated films .
star of midnight ( 1935 ) $ 90 . 70 million adjusted worldwide box office
she eventually dropped out of the picture altogether , claiming an acute nervous breakdown .
time stated ,
brisk to the point of confession , fog over frisco is not the best of director william dieterle ' s pictures .
[ 3 ]
s l kapurthe times of india , news service . ( 1953 , feb 23 ) . hollywood stars buy saris . the times of india ( 1861 - current )
cited as the pre - code to end all pre - codes in several books and documentaries in recent years , “safe in hell” doesn’t offer anything extraordinary in the way of skin or innuendo , but it’s chockablock with the kind of situations and characters that would be verboten on screen for nearly three decades commencing in mid - 1934 . dorothy mackaill , an undeservedly forgotten star of early talkies ( her 1932 “love affair” with humphrey bogart also turned up on dvd this month from the tcm vault collection ) plays a prostitute who flees new orleans with the help of her boyfriend ( donald cook ) after killing a john ( ralf harole ) . or at least so she thinks .
washington ' s album son of pain is a lost treasure of r & b ; an album rich in bluesy southern drawls , honeyed harmonies and street - smart rhythms .
pack your beach blanket for a bittersweet tale of love and summer ' s magic .
star natalie dormer has hit back at critics of her film ' in darkness . '
of perfecting techniques ; in live mode . quite the same wikipedia . just better .
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william powell ( 1892 - 1984 ) seems to be only remembered for two film roles : nick charles in 6 thin man movies ( 1934 - 1947 ) and as the good - hearted father in 1947’s life with father . those are only two of many great movie performances in movie career that lasted almost 35 years and produced almost 100 movies . it is hard not to mention myrna loy when discussing powell . he and loy appeared in 14 movies together… . their screen partnership was one of the most successful screen duos ever !
shadow of the thin man ( 1941 ) $ 224 . 10 million adjusted worldwide box office
song of the thin man ( 1947 ) $ 142 . 40 million adjusted worldwide box office
hey bob… . . that was nice of joan… . plus it let her get close to loy… . with hopes that some of that box office magic might rub off on joan…lol .
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in his review in the new york times , mordaunt hall described the film as a
ruddy thriller
and opined ,
what [ it ] lacks in the matter of credibility , it atones for partly by its breathless pace and its abundance of action . as the story of murder and robbery passes on the screen it scarcely gives the spectator time to think who might be the ring - leader of the band of desperadoes .
[ 2 ]
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bette davis and willam powell really do a fine job of playing off of one another in this light - hearted drama . it ' s nearly a comedy . i enjoyed seeing . . .
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i have not seen the last of mrs . cheyney… . . but it sounds like one worth checking out . i can see gable pushing to get loy of the movie so he could star with loy… . she is…as you know… . ”the greatest box office actress of all - time”…lol .
it ' s a testament to zevin ' s understanding of multiple age groups that she ' s able to capture a variety of women at various life stages . her portrayals feel honest and true .
filming began in ceylon in february 1953 . after four weeks of location work the unit moved to hollywood for six weeks of studio filming . however , vivien leigh missed filming on the second day .
lakeith stanfield and his sorry to bother you director boots riley discuss the stress of filming sex scenes .
the three of them wind up in paris where they become involved with an old paramour of powell ' s . she ' s passing herself off as a russian grand duchess ( even though she was formerly known as hoboken mabel ) and is engaged to the most successful designer of them all named oscar baroque . throw in a man selling thousands of ostrich feathers , a fashion show that predates cukor ' s in the women , and a couple of gaudy busby berkeley production numbers and this is the result .
under wellman’s blunt direction , “safe in hell” makes the 1929 version of “the letter” ( released by wac earlier this year ) look like family entertainment by comparison . the acting is uniformly better than in many early warner talkies of this era . the transfer has scratches and speckles , but looks better than i expected for a film that’s resided in the margins of film history for most of the past 80 years .
this extended number , available for years on dvd as part of a berkeley compilation disc , is finally available in the context of a highly entertaining movie that represents the sole teaming of william powell and bette davis — under the capable direction of william dieterle , normally a drama specialist who also helmed powell in the lubitch - like bauble “jewel thief” ( 1932 ) , another title crying out for a wac release .
miss davis wasn ' t amused by the role . as she complained to kathryn dougherty of photoplay magazine , “look at me in this picture - all done up like a third - rate imitation of the mgm glamour queens . that isn ' t me . i ' ll never be a clothes horse or romantic symbol . ” later that year , on loan out to rko , she sunk her teeth into the role of slatternly waitress mildred rogers in of human bondage and showed the world what dramatic fireworks she was capable of .
“it’s a nightmare , ” director william beaudine , many years later , quoted himself as saying when he was shown a footage assemblage from “hollywood party , ” an eventual expensive flop that finally limped brieflyu into theaters on june 1 , 1934 — one month before the production code took effect . producer harry rapf , who was shepherding perhaps mgm’s most troubled musical ( four of other musicals were abandoned on orders of irving thalberg in the early ’30s ) hired beaudine to shoot a new ending in which this incoherent musical mismatch is revealed as a … a nightmare suffered by the film’s star , jimmy durante , who is playing “himself . ”
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though not the best of bert wheeler and robert woolsey ' s starring vehicles , kentucky kernels turned . . .
hey bob…you can have your nickname for loy… . . but the “greatest box office actress of all - time” is used to people trying to bring her down with the crawfords , davis , and de havillands of the world .
but if you need your # glassmovie fix before july 20th , here’s the world premiere of our teaser poster .
not for the first nor the last time , powell plays a con man . this one starts out selling designs for new paris fashions — surrepticiously sketched by davis and / or photographed by frank mchugh — to new york knockoff artists before graduating to a more elaborate scame . this one involves a former girlfriend from hoboken who’s posing as a duchess ( veree teasdale , who warbles the infectious “web of dreams” ) , her blustering fashion designer lover ( reginald owen , whose french accent is even shakier than teasdale’s russian one ) , ostrich feathers belonging to the tipsy hugh herbert , and a musical revue where the berkeley number turns up .
twenty - two william powell movies crossed the magical $ 100 million domestic gross mark . that is a percentage of 41 . 50 % of his movies listed . mister robert s ( 1955 ) was his biggest box office hit .
2 moreover an extensive survey published a few months ago in wikipedia examined the purchasing power of blockbusters’ worldwide earnings down through the years from birth of a nation onward and it concluded that godpop one ’s total adjusted figure was $ 1 . 640 billion in today’s money . as in real terms ticket prices in the thin man’s years were much cheaper than those today the purchasing power in 2017 of the actual worldwide grosses of its 6 movies taking into account the varying inflation rates over the years concerned is just $ 715 . 27 million or an average of only about $ 120 globally per movie .
and finally , the criterion collection will be offering a blu - ray upgrade of otto preminger’s “anatomy of a murder” ( 1959 ) with james stewart , lee remick and george c . scott , on february 21 . features include newsreels shot on the set an excepts from a 1967 episode of william f . buckley’s tv show “firing line” where he interviews preminger .
it’s also worth noting that the digital bits is reporting that universal will be issuing 100th anniversary editions of various catalogue titles on blu - ray as well as dvd in 2012 . presumably this will include high - definition bows for their ’30s horror classics and some of their hitchcock titles beyond “psycho . ” universal will be joining paramount , also founded in 1912 , which after last week’s column confirmed my suspicion that january’s release of “wings” is the beginning of a new centennial - oriented line .
five william powell movie won at least one oscar® in any category… . . or 9 . 43 % of his movies .
maltin gave the film 2 stars out of 4 , and made one of his pithier critiques :
pachyderm stampede climax comes none too soon .
a major plot element in the film is that the tea plantation ' s manor , where the film ' s action occurs , had been built in the middle of a path that migrating indian elephants had previously used .
part of the warner brothers release was filmed on location in san francisco . it was remade as spy ship in 1942 .
twelve william powell movies received at least one oscar® nomination in any category… . . or 22 . 64 % of his movies .
the plot jumps all over the place and covers a lot of ground in just 77 minutes . powell works illegitimately in the new york fashion industry making knock offs of dresses made by famous designers . davis is his girlfriend who sketches the gowns to be reproduced on the cheap . frank mchugh plays snap , a photographer who also provides much of the comic relief with his horn dog antics .
in the fall of 1933 davis was in the process of a long battle with warner brothers ' chief jack warner . she was fed up with being forced to make movies she considered junk and was begging him to allow her to be loaned out to rko for
a like number of writers were involved , with only lyricist howard dietz ( who was also head of mgm’s new york publicity office ) and playwright arthur kober receiving credit . james wong howe gets sole credit as cinematographer , though you can bet others were involved .
he was awarded a star on the hollywood walk of fame at 6274 hollywood boulevard in hollywood , california on february 8 , 1960 .
for which she received a write - in nomination for best actress of 1935 though she was not officially nominated by the academy members .
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a hollywood version of jacques deval ' s 1933 french drama un vie perdue , journal of a crime stars ruth chatterton as françoise moliet , a proud parisian who refuses to divorce her playwright husband paul ( adolphe menjou ) , even though he is rather . . .
though not the best of bert wheeler and robert woolsey ' s starring vehicles , kentucky kernels turned out to be the team ' s biggest financial success . wheeler and woolsey star as unemployed vaudevillians willie and elmer , who through a series of convoluted circumstances . . .
a very welcome bonus in the warner archive release are surviving pre - recordings are three of the cut rogers and hart numbers , as well as alternate recordings of the title song by ross and another singer . they reported wrote a number called “prayer” for jean harlow , but while the lyrics exist it’s unclear whether she ( or one of her voice doubles ) ever recorded it before it was scrapped hart wrote new lyrics for rogers’ melody and it was introduced by ross in “manhattan melodrama” as “the bad in every man . ” at the behest of mgm executives , hart wrote another set of more commercial lyrics that finally turned it into a timeless classic — “blue moon . ”
born arthur veary treacher in brighton , east sussex , england , he was the son of a lawyer . he established a stage career after returning from world war i , and by 1928 , he had come to america as part of a musical - comedy revue called great temptations . when his film career began in the early 1930s , treacher was hollywood ' s idea of the perfect butler , . . .
typical hollywood charmer . william powell runs the show and manages to keep this floating above average with an average shot script . with a short moment of assistance of a busby berkeley ' ostrich feather ' number filled with super sexy girls wearing as little as possible between the feathers .
steve 1 if they had been making the invisible woman instead of the invisible man myrna would have been an excellent choice for the lead .
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up for dec . 13 pre - orders at wac are five double features of pre - code dramas and comedies made by warner bros . : “the office wife” ( 1930 ) with dorothy mackaill , lewis stone and joan blondell and “party husband” ( 1931 ) with mackaill and donald cook ; “loose ankles” ( 1930 ) with loretta young and douglas fairbanks jr . and “the naughty flirt” ( 1931 ) with alice white and myna loy ; “i’ve got your number” ( 1934 ) with blondell and pat o’brien and “havana widows” ( 1933 ) with blondell and glenda farrell ; “the road to paradise” ( 1930 ) with loretta young and jack mulhall and “week - end marriage” ( 1932 ) with young and norman foster ; and “the right of way” ( 1931 ) with young and conrad nagel and “the truth about youth” ( 1930 ) with young and loy .
it is based upon the novel elephant walk by
robert standish
, the pseudonym of the english novelist digby george gerahty ( 1898–1981 ) .
own all of the previous ' mission : impossible ' movies to watch at home for just $ 3 . 99 each with ticket purchase . buy tickets
1 . whilst the updated adjusted overall gross for the thin man series is healthy it might have earned even more had bill been partnered by a more carefully selected leading lady . status - wise crawford or katie hepburn would have been ideal but they had strong screen personas that probably would not have suited the subordinate part of nora though i am of course aware of this site’s ability to almost convince itself that the series should have been called the thin woman !
wrote ,
davis was also annoyed at having to play onlooker to some protracted funny business between frank mchugh and hugh herbert in the back of a car , and as the scene plays today , she is obviously impatient and annoyed beneath her tight smile and forced attentiveness . ' i ' ve spent so much of my life being second fiddle - will it ever end ? ' she asked the producer , henry blanke . . . she told kathryn dougherty editor of
hey steve… . i agree 100 % … . . when the comment link is not working it is very frustrating to find some of these comments… . hopefully whatever went wrong will stay fixed . so of the comments that have multiple responses very difficult to find… . i am sure john will forgive you . 🙂
2 ( 1 ) you and bruce agree on just two of the top five and as he did on myrna’s page bruce has included 2 thin man movies in william’s top 5 . i could never understand bruce’s apparent fascination with all of them as for me the series whilst entertaining falls into the category of “once you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all” ( 2 ) i liked the closing still of bill and myrna and the one from life with father but an absolute peach was william with joan crawford and robert montgomery in the last of mrs cheyney . crawford actually took over loy’s part in that one as myrna was assigned as gable’s leading lady parnell which joan had turned down . ( 3 ) for me the pick of the fine posters were lawyer man , the kennel murder case and double harness with bill and ann harding . i wonder what happened to her ? she must have been important enough at one point to get billed before powell in your poster ( 4 ) overall an excellent profile of great star william powell who epitomised an era now long gone so 9 . 4 / 10 .
story [ by harry collins and warren duff ] has to do with the boot - legging of exclusive paris models . action starts in the us but quickly shifts to the french capital where the slick , racketeering william powell transfers his ingenuity and buncombe to coincide with the ultra - ateliers of the french fashion founts .
like many of the best comedies and tragedies , this weimar - era silent film understands how each mode is often a hair ' s breadth from the other .
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olive films is launching another wave of titles licensed from paramount in the new year , beginning with three jerry lewis titles on feb . 14 that will be available in blu - ray as well as on dvd . they are frank tashlin’s “rock - a - bye baby” ( 1958 ) , a loose reworking of “the miracle of morgan’s creek” ; tashlin’s “the geisha boy” ( also 1958 ) and the utterly atypical “boeing boeing” ( 1965 ) with tony curtis , derived from a vintage british farce recently revived on broadway .
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cheers bruce , the comment links are still working . nice . it makes life easier when a link takes you directly to the comment instead of my digging around for it .
by thomas m pryorspecial to the new , york times . ( 1952 , dec 11 ) . paramount waits reply of oliviers . new york times ( 1923 - current file )
john tells me that freddy mac did appear in a few westerns in the 50s , sadly none of them were on the video , low ratings . i wish i included one .
i remember john replied to an old comment a couple of weeks ago . i wanted to read it but just couldn’t find it and eventually i gave up . sorry john . 🙂
the treasure of the lost canyon wasn’t even on my master list , powell in a western is unusual , almost as unusual as fred macmurray wearing a toga in a historical film . 🙂
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bruce 1 of course we will never know how the thin man series would have panned out had bill powell had a different partner but it has long been recognised that one possible definition of madness is to insist upon doing the same thing in the same way but expecting different results . your ww table shows the series as having a total adjusted global gross of around $ 1 . 340 billion for all 6 movies . according to steve’s coppola video the first godfather alone grossed $ 1 . 394 billion worldwide and jaws and star wars are each sure to have well exceeded that figure .
the plot of the film is pretty convoluted but in a good , imaginative way . and william powell manages the constantly shifting con with aplomb . bette davis is nicely understated and world - weary as his girl friday ( there ' s a girl friday in all of these movies , isn ' t there ? ) and frank mchugh plays their third wheel who apparently giggles uncontrollably at anything sexual .
william powell tries a number of underhanded schemes to take over the fashion industry . the main plot here is fairly interesting , but the romance angle is poorly handled . bette davis is great in the beginning , but then spends most of the film being lightly irritated at william powell for the schemes he undertakes and the other women he ' s around . there ' s never any strong reason to believe their relationship is actually under threat , and they don ' t even really have much interaction on screen for most of the film . it always feels like an afterthought that was pushed into the film .
lee mcintyre ' s ' post - truth ' is a history lesson and a call to action asking liberals to defend the concept of objective truth . but is it the best approach to the problem ?
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bette davis , anxious to portray the slatternly waitress mildred in the rko radio pictures production of human bondage , accepted the relatively small role of arlene in the hope her cooperation would convince jack l . warner to lend her to the rival studio for the film . her ploy worked , and when warner received word about her dynamic performance in bondage , he elevated her to top billing in frisco . [ 1 ]
wac has also taking a bunch of tantalizing pre - orders through mid - december , including richard brooks’ “the brothers karamazov” ( 1958 ) with yul brenner , claire bloom and william shatner on nov . 30 .
rest in peace mr . # tabhunter . he was one of my mom ' s favorites . our urltoken page ranked his top 25 movies . thoughts and prayers to his friends , family and fans . urltoken
in the world of blu - ray upgrades , dvd beaver is reporting that mgm and fox will be bowing high - def versions of four best picture winners — alfred hitchcock’s “rebecca” ( 1940 ) , billy wilder’s “the apartment” ( 1960 ) , john schlesinger’s “midnight cowboy” ( 1970 ) and woody allen’s “annie hall” ( 1977 ) on jan . 24 , the day oscar nominations come out . also reportedly due that day are blu - ray bows for “spellbound” ( 1945 ) and “notorious” ( 1946 ) — originally announced as part of a hitchcock blu - ray set this fall with “rebecca” — as well as allen’s “manhattan” ( 1979 ) .
davis was not fond of this movie , which sees her as glammed up as she ever got during her peroxide period — courtesy of her longtime collaborator , the australian designer william orry - kelly , who also executed those barely - there ostrich feature creations . davis may also have been irked because her character apparently isn’t getting any action in a movie where everyone else , including frank mchugh and hugh herbert , clearly are .
today’s cornucopia of warner achive collection releases include edmund goulding’s legendarily unavailable and terrific “the constant nymph” ( 1943 ) with an oscar - nominated joan fontaine , charles boyer , alexis smith , charles coburn and peter lorre .
also long anticipated is the dvd debut of king vidor’s technicolor adventure “northwest passage : book 1– rogers rangers” ( 1940 ; book 2 was never filmed ) with spencer tracy , robert young and walter brennan . also out today are a pair of other tracy vehicles : fred zinneman’s “the seventh cross” ( 1944 ) with hume cronyn and jessica tandy ; and john sturges’ noirish “the people against o’hara” ( 1951 ) with pat o’brien and diana lynn .
colonial tea planter john wiley , visiting england at the end of world war ii , wins and weds lovely english rose ruth and takes her home to elephant walk , ceylon , where the local elephants have a grudge against the plantation because it blocks their migrating path . ruth ' s delight with the tropical wealth and luxury of her new home is tempered by isolation as the only white woman in the district ; by her husband ' s occasional imperious arrogance ; by a mutual physical attraction with plantation manager dick carver ; and by the hovering , ominous menace of the hostile elephants . the elephants end up destroying the plantation in a stampede along with a fire .
,
i was glamourized beyond recognition . i was made to wear a platinum wig . makeup had been given the green light with nary a ? may i ? ? the bossmen were trying to make me into a greta garbo . they even dressed the wig like her hair , to say nothing of the false lashes and huge mouth and the slinky clothes .
she had a lot to say about the experience - none of it positive .
that kind of thing was for harlow and crawford - never for me . in that picture i was frightfully ill at ease , and even felt embarrassed at times .
author lawrence w . quirk , in his book
wisely there isn’t an overplus of music . ‘broken melody’ [ by sammy fain and irving kahal ] is the one big number , reprised for the ostrich feather production , with the blonde lookers camera - angled from every stance .
when arlene disappears , her step - sister val ( margaret lindsay ) steps in to discover what happened to her with the help of society reporter tony sterling ( donald woods ) and photojournalist izzy wright ( hugh herbert ) .
2 fred was quite good in a group of passable westerns in the mid to late fifties . here they are with the ratings of imdb [ uk ! ] 1953 / the moonlighter 59 % * * 1955 / the far horizons 62 % * * 1955 / gunpoint 63 % 1957 / gun for a coward 60 % 1957 / quantez 63 % 1958 / day of the badman 61 % 1959 / good day for a hanging 64 % 1959 / face of a fugitive 66 % 1959 / oregon trail 49 % * * in the moonlighter fred was teamed for the penultimate time with old sparring partner barbara stanwyck , in the far horizons he co - starred with chuck and fred was 1st billed , and in the other 7 fred was the stand - alone star . only the chuck one was an a movie and over here at least the other 8 were on double bills usually on the 2nd half .
seven other directors — george stevens , edmund goulding , richard boleslvasky , sam wood , charles reisner , russell mack and roy rowland — labored for months over what was originally called “the hollywood revue of 1933 , ” and envisoned as a followup to rapf’s plotless all - star musical smash from 1929 . the final result is only one of two mgm films from the classic era to emerge with a directorial credit ( the other being the 1947 greer garson disaster “desire me” ) .
this page is not a completed page . just wanted to show the movies in our database that starred william powell . not sure when we will finish this page but until then , we figured there was no good reason not to share what we do have . a quick look at powell’s career and it looks like their are about 15 missing powell movies from 1931 - 1956 . sadly , due to lack of informaton many of powell’s silent films will never be ranked here . we call our website ultimate movie rankings because we try and rank every movie an actor or actress made . since this is only a few of powell’s movies we will just call this a william powell movie ranking page and leave out the ultimate !
besides durante , pearl and a sizeable contingent of scantily - clad chorines , the number employs african “natives” ( at least some clearly in blackface ) who sing about “trader horn” and “king kong , ” the latter also referenced in pearl’s subsequent monologue .
hey steve… . bob’s comment got me to do a myrna loy versus joan crawford page… . . and the stats do not look to good for joan compared to the box office machine known as myrna “greatest box office actress of all - time” loy . urltoken
as for william powell… . i agree with you 100 % on his witty persona……sadly he is not mentioned too often when people name great actors of the past…but looking at this table… . it is real easy to see that his career is among the best ever .
btw the comment links seem to be working today , they are taking me directly to the new comments and not to the first page of comments . i was getting lost searching for new comments that weren’t at the top . i hope it still works tomorrow .
using rottentomatoes . com’s 60 % fresh meter . 34 william powell movies are rated as good movies…or 64 . 15 % of his movies . mister roberts ( 1955 ) is his highest rated movie while it’s a big country ( 1951 ) is his lowest rated movie .
also today , wac has re - packaged five collections of films previously available as singles and as discounted “value paks” as proper box sets in cardboard sleeves at prices that work out to roughly $ 10 a title . there are five titles apiece starring elizabeth taylor and randolph scott , six with lon chaney ( sr . ) and a pair of tazan sets , one starring lex barker ( five titles ) and the other with gordon scott ( six ) . other previously available titles are being discounted for black friday sales that will apparently stretch into next week .
at 1 : 40pm we will meet in the theatre lobby near the toronto film society table . you can spot me by looking for someone with messy black hair , a green t - shirt and a black messenger bag . at 1 : 45pm we will go grab a bunch of seats together .
an average ultimate movie rankings ( umr ) score is 40 . 00 . 31 william powell movies scored higher that average… . or 58 . 49 % of his movies . life with father ( 1947 ) got the the highest umr score while got the lowest mister roberts ( 1955 ) umr score .
mister roberts is my favorite of the color movies you mentioned… . . he picked a fine movie to be his last one . 6 color and 30 black and white… . or 16 . 66 % to 83 . 34 % . that is of course the only movies listed in this page… . . i am sure the actually % would be around 5 % to 95 % . thanks for sharing this william powell information . when i update this page…i am sure the 36 movies listed will be in the 50s…as i have already found 10 more powell movie box office numbers since first writing this page .
it was originally intended to star the husband and wife team of laurence olivier and vivien leigh ( with olivier in the finch role ) . however olivier was already committed to the project the beggar ' s opera ( 1953 ) . leigh was enthusiastic about the role and continued in her husband ' s absence , but she was forced to withdraw from production shortly after filming began in colombo , ceylon , as a result of bipolar disorder . according to leonard maltin ' s annual movie guide book , leigh can be seen in some long shots that were not re - filmed after elizabeth taylor replaced her .
i know her career hadn ' t really taken flight yet , but its still a shame that bette davis gets sidelined in favor of william powell doing his william powell thing . the industry politicking that comprises most of this movie ' s narrative is really well written , very modern ( like a prestige cable drama , a * good prestige cable drama ) and genuinely understands the intersection between media , politics , art and gender . there ' s also a running gag / subplot involving powell ' s slimy , sexually immature pal trying to get laid that is not so well written , but its mostly negligible .
dec . 6 will bring wac’s extremely welcome four - disc , eight - movie “robert montgomery collection” containing the pre - code titles “shipmates” ( 1931 ) , “the man in posssession” ( 1931 ) , “faithless” ( 1932 ) with tallulah bankhead , “lovers courageous” ( 1932 ) , “but the flesh is weak” ( 1932 ) and “made on broadway” ( 1933 ) as well as post - coders “live , love and learn” ( 1937 ) with rosalind russell and “the earl of chicago” ( 1940 ) with edward arnold and edmund gwenn . concurrently , wac is releasing four made - for - tv biopics starring montgomery’s daughter elizabeth of “bewitched” fame .
van der veer r . ( 1993 ) the reception of vygotsky’s ideas in the nineteen thirties . in : stam h . j . , mos l . p . , thorngate w . , kaplan b . ( eds ) recent trends in theoretical psychology . recent research in psychology . springer , new york , ny
this is the movie that features the famous “human harps” number wherein busby berkeley positioned scantily clad beauties as large harps being played by other scantily clad beauties ( see photo ) . it also features his trademark overhead shot of chorus girls in isometric patterns . this time utilizing huge feathers to imitate a rosebud opening and closing .
also turning up is mickey mouse ( voiced by walt disney ) , who trades imitates and trades insults with durante before introducing a technicolor cartoon , “hot choc - lat soldiers” which is song by none other than lyricst arthur freed ( who would eventually move the mgm musical beyond the limitations of the tin - eared rapf ) .
hi bob , thanks for the review , rating and trivia , always appreciated . had to laugh at your opening paragraph belittling ‘queen of the box office . myrna loy . bruce and john will no doubt roll their eyes at that remark . come on bob give her some credit for drawing the crowds , was she that anonymous ? poor myrna .
the boyfriend takes her to a tawdry carribean island without an extradition treaty with the u . s . , where she checks into a hotel managed by nina mae mckinney with perhaps the biggest collection of sleazeballs i’ve ever seen in a movie — among them gustav von seyffertitz and john wray . vowing to remain faithful to the boyfriend who she “marries” in a minister - free ceremony , mackaill holds them off — as well as the island’s even slimy jailer ( morgan wallace ) , who eventually frames her for murder . another of her twisted admirers ( charles middleton ) , a disgraced lawyer , mounts an able defense , but mackaill finally opts to confess and be executed rather than be turned over to the slimy jailer .
hey steve . wow… . i did not realize the comment link was working again… . i wish i could say it was something i did to fix… . but somehow it fixed it self… . i updated a few widgets this morning… . but the comment one was not one of those… . maybe another widget broke this originally and now they have fixed it .