bless ' em all ( film )
beverley sisters & the syd lawrence orch. , on cd “bless ’em all” (pickwick, 1995 )
it’s not that director black, his creative team and his cast are not working hard, bless ‘em. but badham’s film worked because of a alchemical brew specific to film .
they say there' s a troopship just leaving bombay, bound for old blighty shore heavily laden with time expired men, bound for the land they adore. there' s many an airman just finishing his time, there' s many a twerp signing on. you' ll get no promotion this side of the ocean, so cheer up my lads, bless' em all. bless em all, bless em all, the long and the short and the tall bless all the sergeants and w. o. ones, bless all the corprals and their blinkin sons,' cos were saying goodbye to them all, as back to their billets they crawl you' ll get no promotion this side of the ocean, so cheer up my lads, bless' em all they say if you work hard you' ll get better pay we' ve heard all that before clean up your buttons and polish your boots scrub out the barrack room floor there' s many a rookie has taken it in, hook line and sinker an' all you' ll get no promotion this side of the ocean so cheer up my lads bless' em all. bless' em all, bless' em all, the long and the short and the tall, bless all the sergeants and w. o. ones, bless all the corprals and their blinkin sons,' cos were saying goodbye to them all, as back to their billets they crawl you' ll get no promotion this side of the ocean, so cheer up my lads, bless' em all now they say that the sergeant' s a very nice chap, oh what a tale to tell. ask him for leave on a saturday night and he' ll pay your fare home as well. there' s many an airman has blighted his life through writing rude words on the wall you' ll get no promotion this side of the ocean so cheer up my lads bless' em all bless' em all, bless' em all, the long and the short and the tall, bless all the sergeants and w. o. ones, bless all the corprals and their blinkin sons,' cos were saying goodbye to them all, as back to their billets they crawl you' ll get no promotion this side of the ocean, so cheer up my lads, bless' em all nobody knows what a twerp you have been, so cheer up my lads
bless' em all: the raider marines of world war ii: the history of the united states marine raiders: usmc major general oscar f. peatross: urltoken books
i wrote “bless ’em all” while serving in the old r. n. a. s. at dunkirk in 1916 [ actually, his service record indicates that he joined in january 1917 ]. and, furthermore, it wasn’t “bless. ”
chain lightning (1950) - - (movie clip) bless ...
numerous postwar films about the late conflict used bless ’em all to establish atmosphere or to quote the era. in the captive heart (1946), a british film set in a prisoner - of - war camp in germany and starring michael redgrave, pows sing bless ’em all in their compound. it is heard briefly in the us army air force drama twelve o’clock high (1949), starring gregory peck and dean jagger, and in chain lightning (1950), humphrey bogart and eleanor parker are among the singers gathered around a piano in a wartime london nightclub. also in 1950, in the blue lamp, the famous british police film starring dirk bogarde, a drunk serenades a police station with a snatch of the song. in 1951, director john ford chose to include bless ’em all in his documentary about the korean war, this is korea !
old dan, though, is not a man to be trifled with .
just let' em try it ,
he snarls ,
just let' em know we have the biggest and the fastest, just let' em know we' re not too chicken to use them ...
in captains of the clouds (1942), a technicolour film about hardy canadian bush pilots going off to war and partly shot on location in canada, james cagney and alan hale sing and dance a spirited version of bless ’em all. also in 1942, a very young robert stack and the rest of his squadron of “polish” flyers sing bless ’em all around a piano on their english airfield in ernst lubitch’s to be or not to be, starring jack benny and carole lombard. that same year, the song makes an appearance in the frank randle comedy, somewhere in camp. in 1944, bless ’em all appears in the film version of the oscar wilde short story the canterville ghost, starring charles laughton as the ghost, and robert young, margaret o' brien, and reginald owen, and in the comedy english without tears, starring michael wilding and margaret rutherford .
numerous postwar films about the late conflict used bless ’em all to establish atmosphere or to quote the era. in the captive heart (1946), a british film set in a prisoner - of - war camp in germany and starring michael redgrave, pows sing bless ’em all in their compound. it is heard briefly in the u. s. army air force drama twelve o’clock high (1949), starring gregory peck and dean jagger, and in chain lightning (1950), humphrey bogart and eleanor parker are among the singers gathered around a piano in a wartime london nightclub. also in 1950, in the blue lamp, the famous british police film starring dirk bogarde, a drunk serenades a police station with a snatch of the song. in 1951, director john ford chose to include bless ’em all in his documentary about the korean war, this is korea !
fred godfrey holds the distinction of having written two of the twentieth century’s most famous wartime singalong songs, both icons of their time for generations of english - speaking people: world war one’s take me back to dear old blighty and world war two’s bless ’em all .
the new couplets formed the basis of a second version, called bless ’em all no. 2, which formby recorded in february 1941. as with the first version, however, godfrey’s name again did not appear in the composing credits of formby’s regal zonophone disc .
bless ’em all still surfaces in odd places: paul mccartney, no less, sings a snatch of the song in his 1984 film give my regards to broad street, and tommies sing it around a piano (what an original idea !) in the academy - award - nominated 2007 film atonement, starring james mcavoy, keira knightley, and vanessa redgrave, whose father michael appeared in a film that used the song more than half a century earlier .
subsequently, bless ’em all became a hit around the english - speaking world at war — including in the united states, where americanized lyrics were supplied by al stillman (who would go on to write the words for such great hits as juke box saturday night, moments to remember, no, not much! , chances are, and teacher, teacher). before long, bless ’em all began to be used in films whenever the script called for a group of people to gather around a piano for a singalong, especially if the setting was wartime london .
another which turned up, although not in its original form, is bless ’em all (robert jordan hill, 1949). an eagle - eyed british film enthusiast contacted us when he spotted a print for sale on ebay entitled be kind sergeant which turned out to be a cut - down version of the film. this kind of ‘repurposing’ was quite common among smaller production companies who would then rerelease the films as short programmer fillers .
long after it was listed on the bfi’s list of ‘most wanted’ missing films, bless ‘em all was finally tracked down in belgium’s cinematheque royal. the somewhat scratchy, well - worn 35mm print that was found there, which features distinctive burnt - in french and dutch subtitles, was transferred into the bfi’s collection in late 2014. it is currently the only film copy known to exist .
all in all, this is a film of distinct contrasts. when it' s good it' s absolutely fabulous. but, when it' s overdoing the 3d and cgi, it' s tedious .
but “bless ’em all” in its raw state did not occur to me as a publishing proposition, and it was left to the ingenuity of young jimmy hughes, frank lake and mr. [ s. ] vanlier, of keith prowse, to make it so respectable that it might have come straight from the vicar’s tea party !
perhaps the most pleasing non - film find was donated by a collector who was trying to sell some of his memorabilia. a screenplay he had from the 1971 film nobody ordered love (robert hartford - davis) didn’t find a buyer, so he very generously passed it to us. this particular film is actually about the making of a film and, unusually, a script of the fictional ‘film within the film’ came with it .
although a degree of controversy surrounds the writing of bless ’em all, godfrey always claimed to have come up with the song during world war one while serving with the royal naval air service. in a letter published in the daily mirror on 2 april 1941, in response to a query about the song’s origins, he relates the following story :
as the cast reassemble to give us a rousing final rendition of christmas together, the snow begins to fall and scrooge hoists tiny tim onto his shoulder where he closes the film with the words that were, after all, written for him -
god bless us every one .
the central message here isn' t so much
god bless us, everyone
as
god save us, everyone .
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what we know about stacey dash' s controversial film about ro ...
———, bless ’em all no. 2 (regal zonophone mr - 3441 [ & other numbers? ], 1941); reissued on lp “george formby and his ukelele” (world record club sh - 151); reissued on 5 - cd set “george formby, the war and postwar years, volume 2 of the jsp compilation” (jsp cd - 1902, 2006 )
bless ’em all was also used in two wartime films about the us marines, who adopted the song as their unofficial anthem. in guadalcanal diary (1943), starring lloyd nolan, william bendix, and anthony quinn, bendix and other marines sing it while digging a gun pit on that infamous island — unusually, they sing the british lyrics. and in marine raiders (1944), the song is used as a recurring theme in the scenes set in australia — at one point, stars pat o’brien and robert ryan sing it in a melbourne club. a wartime documentary entitled tunisian victory (1944), co - directed by frank capra and narrated by burgess meredith (among others), also interpolates bless ’em all in the soundtrack .
us printing issued in conjunction with the 1942 film to be or not to be .
the uk reprint for the 1961 film the long and the short and the tall .
we care for one of the greatest collections of film and television in the world .
daniel appears as confused as we are. after all, like us, he' s not had the benefit of marley having dropped by to put all this into context .
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( 1969), in which it is sung by the film’s star, warren mitchell .
either that, or the film' s budget would only stretch to one musical number .
but, i digress. back to the future... . sorry, film .
thus scrooge, in the robustly miserable form of albert finney, waltzed onto the screen, accompanied by a cast of all singing, all dancing, classically trained authentic working - class cockneys .
a late silent film unique in british cinema for being produced, written and directed by women .
to its purposes — as in a new zealand all - blacks rugby “captains” tv commercial from 2007 .
all in all, this is a well made and well acted adaptation of the tale, and the sets and locations succeed wonderfully in conveying a sense of the age in which the story is set .
this rare calvert film was loaned to us by cohen media and has been scanned and preserved digitally .
it is, so the credits claim, the earliest known version of a christmas carol on film .
all in all, though, this is a genuine piece of dickensian film history and, as such, is well worth watching, if only for its curiosity value. its antiquated feel certainly adds to the atmosphere - and who needs ghosts when you' ve got a particularly annoying collection of cratchit children ?
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us printing issued in conjunction with the 1942 film captains of the clouds, with americanized lyrics by al stillman .
found! material on the film had been misfiled on the bfi’s own database and was located after an audit .
found! the director of the film, henri helman, generously donated his own personal print to the bfi .
but these are just niggling points and, all in all, this was such a satisfying re - working of the story that i' m surprised it hasn' t been shown every christmas since it first aired in 2000 .
since then, we have had scores of emails and letters from film enthusiasts reporting sightings of the films and offering material. many members of the public sent emails along the lines of “that film isn’t missing, i’ve got it on dvd! ” however, while it’s great to know that a film has survived on tape or dvd, this doesn’t mean it’s out of danger. many such bootleg copies derive from television screenings here or abroad; the film will have been transmitted from a tape format, meaning the film material it originally came from could be long gone .
a number of fred godfrey’s songs have turned up on the silver screen over the years, sometimes in unexpected places. bless ’em all has been used numerous times in films set in world war two, while other godfrey songs have helped to evoke the music hall era. in only a couple of instances, for max miller and george formby, was godfrey commissioned to write songs for a particular film. godfrey songs have the distinction of being heard in three films that either won or were nominated for the academy award for best picture: cavalcade (1933, winner); twelve o’clock high (1949); and atonement (2007) .
found! a print turned up at paramount’s archive, and the studio generously donated a digital file of the film .
another title that surfaced on dvd after our call - out. the archive now holds digital material on the film .
and, in all honesty, anthony walters makes a really convincing tiny tim, so much so that i think his depiction of the character is one of the best, if not the best i' ve watched. so, in closing, may i say, god bless him, whatever he' s doing now .
one of the most gruesomely memorable of all british anti - smoking promos depicts fat oozing out of nonchalant smokers' cigarettes .
the publicity generated by last summer’s announcement of the discovery in new zealand of a british silent film on which hitchcock had worked shows that there is a great public interest in cinematic treasure troves. while the print of the white shadow, a film directed by graham cutts in 1923, isn’t complete, it is a missing piece in the jigsaw of british film history .
then, too, we used to shove a piano up on to an old lorry and go and do concerts for the troops up the line. as there were no ladies present “bless ’em all” became a sort of national anthem. archie glen also sang a new song of mine called “down texas way” at one of our dunkirk (1916, if you please) concerts [ again, the actual year seems to have been 1917, as down texas way was published that year ]. i sent it to my publisher and it sold half a million copies .
all in all though, this version makes a good effort at re - telling the story, and its target audience - of which, given the fact is was made in 1969, i was one - would, no doubt, have loved it .
fred godfrey receives credit in this 1961 australian reprint issued in conjunction with the film the long and the short and the tall .
the game is afoot as we begin an international hunt for a lost film version of arthur conan doyle’s a study in scarlet .
all in all, whilst not an outstanding version, this is certainly a reasonable adaptation, beautifully illustrated throughout, and it manages to cram dickens story into a mere twenty five minutes without losing too much of either the atmosphere or the moral of the original .
i' m the dead ,
the stranger continues ,
all the dead. we' re quite a stew .
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every year, around early december, i prepare myself for my dickens christmas walk by both reading the book and watching the film .
the earliest version i have been able to track down is this incomplete silent film by robert w. paul that dates from 1901 .
the holy grail of our most wanted list – hitchcock’s second silent film the mountain eagle – hasn’t yet come to light, but the bfi and film enthusiasts everywhere remain hopeful that it, along with the other ‘lost’ films, may one day be restored to the screen .
buzzing comedies such as the spy who dumped me await you in our summer movie guide. check in for all the info you need .
barrymore, however, did get to introduce the film' s trailer which was billed as a
fireside chat
with lionel barrymore .
i' m sorry mr jones ,
carole replies ,
but mr cohen would only let us film outside his grocery shop if we let his grandson appear in the film. and the lad' s got a lovely voice, don' t you think?'
the glitzy, genial, star - studded, screwball - y bastard son of barton fink. both are set at the fictional war - era capitol studios, both pit vulgar hollywood titans against the hollow nobility of the creative class. (the coens have always been neutral in this clash, god bless & apos; em. they love taking the piss out of both .) but whereas barton fink is a brilliant, kafkaesque black comedy, hail, caesar! is… lightly amusing ?
there is no way to gauge how good the film will be. following the success of films like straight outta compton, there is a chance that it could turn out some huge numbers at the box office. but there are also black biopic failures that stand out as well, like wendy williams’ television film about the late aaliyah. the poor casting choices for that film were the talk of black twitter for weeks .
found! who would have thought the belgians were fans of max bygraves? a subtitled print of the film was located at the belgian cinematek .
we get a final
god bless us, every one !
from tiny tim, before the camera pans in on the faces of various cute cratchit children, and the credits roll to bring another version of a christmas carol to an end .
but, all good things must come to the end, and so too must this outing of scrooge. so, it' s with a heavy heart that you bid a tearful farewell to sixty minutes of your life that you' re never going to get back, as you watch tiny tim struggle to his feet and bring the festivities to a close with a rousing
god bless us, everyone !
short comedy film starring hal monty and max bygraves as two sailors on leave. hal tries his hand at boxing but gets more than he bargained for .
a superhero who is the very first of her kind could be headed to theaters. according to deadline, american gods writer maria melnik will pen the film
this post contains spoilers for the first purge. the first purge — which is actually the fourth film in the purge franchise, and a prequel — was
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice, telling a story of startling cruelty. what a space it opens…
love, life and laughter (1923): spanish promotional postcard card. in spain the film went by the title risas y lagrimas (laughter and tears )
a film about the landmark roe v. wade supreme court case is currently in production, and is reportedly facing backlash for a pro - life stance on the
if you have film material on any of these titles, or any clues to where we might track it down, please contact us at fictioncurators @ urltoken .
a 16mm print was purchased by the rights holder, and the film is now available on dvd. the bfi national archive would still like to preserve material .
in yet another departure from the original story, the film' s last line isn' t the immortal tiny tim utterance ,
god bless us. every one !
, but, rather, it is left to colin baker to deliver the lyrics from one of the production' s musical numbers ,
sing a song of christmas, sing it in your heart. let the light of christmas fill your heart .
it set me wondering about all the different film adaptations there must have been over the years, and so i decided to begin researching the various celluloid incarnations of ebenezer scrooge by compiling a list of the many adaptations of a christmas carol and, having done so, i set about watching as many of them as i could .
the first film to use this huge fred godfrey hit was, oddly, a swedish production called trötte teodor (1931), where it is given the title var har du vatt i natt? it is also heard in the 1933 british film comedy that’s my wife, starring the now - forgotten claud allister, frank pettingell, and the delightful betty astell; in beloved enemy (1936), starring merle oberon, brian aherne, donald crisp, and a young david niven; and on the soundtrack of the 1948 film of terence rattigan’s play the winslow boy, starring robert donat. the song was revived once more for the 2015 film the dressmaker, starring kate winslet .
it' s a huge relief when the film cuts back to scrooge who continues his homeward journey through the snow hurling rasping insults at every man and dog he meets .
but, all joking and cynicism aside, carol for another christmas does have a certain nostalgic charm about it and the performances from the various actors are gripping, albeit depressing .
so, although this is not the best version of the dickens classic, it is certainly a quality adaptation and belongs fairly high up in the top ten all time versions .
( 1969), in which it is sung by the film’s star, warren mitchell. it has also appeared in television shows, including a 1966 episode of the british series
noël coward uses this song, performed by seaside singers, to quote the edwardian era in cavalcade, his academy award - winning 1933 film starring diana wynyard and clive brook .
indeed, theater patrons around the world have been seduced in advance by fond memories from their youth or middle - age, flashing back on the 1977 film by john badham .
and so scrooge sets off on his journey through his past and present which, to be honest, although beautifully shot, is much like other film versions of the story .
but it all comes right (or goes wrong) in the end - except for sir derek jacobi, whose efforts to reclaim his role are cut short by the sudden, and dramatic, arrival of dame diana rigg, whose attempt to recite tiny tim' s ,
god bless us, every one !
, is hijacked by robert, who is, in turn, interrupted by the abrupt arrival of ellie morris, back in her intended role as tiny tim .
will tiny tim live ,
scrooge enquires of the spirit, and it' s all you can do to stop yourself shouting at the screen
please god no .
once inside, all is hustle and bustle, as a group of jolly carolers urge the milling throng to ,
harken while you may, for christmas day is near .
i have, you see, been watching the many film versions there have been of the charles dickens classic in an endeavour to find the best movie adaptation of a christmas carol .
thus are we treated to one of the most unusual introductions to ebenezer scrooge, or as he is in this case, daniel grudge, ever to have been committed to film .
this stylishly creepy film was the british selection for cannes in 1974 but for the years since has only been available on poor vhs copies. then, in 2014, a negative was discovered…
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i don' t think i have ever borne witness to a more un - scrooge - like scrooge in all of the film versions that i have sat through; and boy have i seen some un - scrooge - like portrayals. even scrooge mc duck, bore more of a resemblance to dickens' s misanthropic miser, and he had feathers and a huge bill to contend with .
saturday night live – the musical is and always will be a license to print money. the initial 1998 london stage version moved two years later to broadway where it played 501 performances. it then had 38, count ‘em, 38 separate full - fledged productions and extensive tours across a dozen countries including this one, and three versions aboard cruise ships .
daniel then treats fred to a terrific updating (well an updating to 1964 and the cold war years) of scrooge' s berating of all and sundry at the beginning of the original carol .
kenneth more turns in a splendidly jocular portrayal of the ghost of christmas present and proceeds to get scrooge so drunk on the milk of human kindness (which looks suspiciously like red wine) that it' s a wonder he doesn' t wake up on christmas morning with the mother of all hangovers and proceed to throw up all over the little boy he shouts down to from his bedroom window .
in the atmospheric opening scene of this 1999 outing for a christmas carol, a victorian hearse, pulled by two black horses, and followed by two figures, dressed all in black - and sporting, if i might say, two particularly splendid stove - pipe hats - picks its way across the snowy summit of a hill to which skeletal trees cling tenaciously, as a blizzard rages all around .
, starring james mcavoy, keira knightley, and vanessa redgrave, whose father michael appeared in a film that used the song more than half a century earlier. though associated particularly with world war two ,
all that aside though, this is a terrific version of the carol and the songs, although not particularly memorable, are most certainly catchy and you find yourself humming them at the most inopportune of moments .
being forced to repeat christmas eve, however, gives scrooge the opportunity to try his hardest to reform several times, each time making a clumsy hash of it until it all comes right in the end .
now, i don' t know about you, but i always find that a song helps in these situations; and, sure enough, scrooge' s mother launches into a tear jerker entitled ,
god bless us every one .
she should be thankful that tiny tim doesn' t have her imprisoned for stealing his catch phrase .
this song was written for george formby, jr. ’s 1943 film get cracking. the lad with the ukulele performs it sitting atop a home - made “tank” that is meant to help repel the invader .
luckily, it looks like benny boom’s team did a pretty good job aligning actors with the famous people they play in all eyez on me. click through these side - by - sides and decide for yourself .
we then follow scrooge through his christmas morning redemption, before bob cratchit does a news reporter - type piece to camera, in which he informs us that scrooge was as good as his word etc. etc. and tiny tim, riding on scrooge' s shoulder, closes the whole affair with a joyous
god bless us, every one .
this big godfrey hit is heard in the 1946 british film gaiety george, starring richard greene and ann todd, and, somewhat remarkably, in the 2017 blockbuster wonder woman, starring gal gadot and chris pine .
this is an ongoing project and, eventually, it is my intention to have a review of every film version of a christmas carol, so please be sure to check back regularly for updates and new reviews .
and, it has to be said, as opening sequences go, it is gripping and quite spooky. if they' d kept this momentum going we' d have a genuine marrow chiller of a film .
mgm' s determination to make this a
family friendly
film meant that they took certain liberties with the original storyline as they attempted to tone down what they saw as the unsuitable elements of the dickens narrative .
some of “run all night” doesn’t make a lot of sense and i wished for a little more grit and a little less polish in some of its darker beats (although viewers should be warned that this piece doesn’t shy away from extreme violence at times). there’s also a fine line between entertainment and being a bit too on - the - nose when you choose to set a shoot - out in an irish bar to the pogues, but the film had won me over by that point. and that’s when you really know an action film has worked overall—when its flaws are beaten down like the guys who choose to cross jimmy conlon by what works .
there were also cries of “what about. .? ” and some compelling arguments for additions, among them the herbert wilcox film the little damozel (1933) and bob kellett ’s 1974 comedy all i want is you… and you… and you… both of these titles, along with more than 400 other british films missing from the national collection, were on a long list of ‘wants’ which had to be whittled down to 75 during the process .
in 1935, seymour hicks reprised the part he had made his own in thousands of stage versions, plus the 1913 film adaptation, and played the title role in this, the first talking version of the dickens classic .
you find yourself just waiting for the first custard pie to be thrown but, instead, we get the film' s only musical number when the assembled guests rise to their feet and give a stirring rendition of
god save the queen .
at which point the film cuts to the starving, scrabbling poor outside the kitchen window who are also standing to attention and singing along as well! how' s that for gritty social realism ?
one of the great advantages that animation has over human - acted movies, is that the director can use the magic of the medium to do things that are impossible with the more traditional and commonplace methods of film making .
the second spirit to appear is the ghost of christmas past. there is a genuinely moving sequence when scrooge places a comforting, transparent arm around his younger self as they sing
i' m all alone in the world
the missing 1923 film love, life and laughter, considered one of the finest british features at the time and part of the bfi most wanted search for 75 ‘missing’ british films, has been found at an archive in amsterdam .
on coming to the door, mrs cratchit exclaims ,
it' s a prize turkey
and you can' t be sure whether she' s referring to the bird or the film that you' ve just sat through .
i' m all of your aef' s ,
comes the reply ,
also the bef' s, the huns, the ruskies ,
and your heart sinks as you realise that the sermonising is far from over .
by bill hirschman talent, energy and enthusiasm strut across the broward stage door production of saturday night live – the musical. unfortunately, this company does not have enough of those virtues to rescue this misconceived material that should stayed a film .
just how creepy the film is going to be becomes evident from the outset, when the camera zooms out from the wizened, white face of a very dead jacob marley, his jaw bandaged shut, and two pennies covering his eyes .
we then follow scrooge on his homeward journey, in the course of which he encounters jane krakowski, jesse l. martin and geraldine chaplain, all of whom try to encourage him to be a better person and help out their various causes .
danai gurira as afeni shakur sure, she gave birth to one of the greatest pop culture figures of all time. but afeni shakur was great in her own right. she was also an activist and member of the black panther party. as the subject of his timeless classic “dear mama, ” there is no denying how much she meant to the late rapper. walking dead fans rejoice! the actress who plays your beloved michonne is now playing matriarch to the greatest rapper of all time .
the film version i have always watched is the 1951 adaptation starring alastair sim, largely because a) i consider it the finest version ever made and b) because it brings back happy childhood memories, of when it was always on tv .
it wasn' t until audiences found
magnolias
that harling and the others involved with the production realized it had the trappings of a comedy .
all the women i knew were really funny ,
harling said of his approach to the setting that surrounds the tragedy at the story' s center .
they all love one - liners and they talk in bumper stickers, and they’re sharp, funny women .
martindale still regales him with memories of their surprised reactions to the audience' s reception .
i just saw her not too long ago ,
he said .
she’ll say,' remember when we just didn’t realize we were gonna get all those laughs? we thought we were doin’ a drama!'
i' m, i' m, ssssssorry, mr jones
, she stammers, as the director fixes her with a stare, so wilting, that it brings a decided flush to her cheeks ,
but the vicar said we could only use his churchyard if we let his sons appear in the film. and, it' s not like it' s cost us anything; after all, the parish ladies guild knitted their costumes out of used washing up bottles .
daniel, though, is having none of this lily - livered liberalism, and his parting
christmas present
to his nephew is a homily in which he tells him to put all his energies into
developing the fastest bombers and the most powerful missiles on earth, they' ll provide a lot more security for our young, and for the rest of the world' s young than all of your debating societies, forums, treaties and other forms of surrender and handout ...
bette davis. the 80 - year - old actress wanted to invite harling for tea at her hotel near columbus circle. davis hadn' t yet seen the play, but elizabeth taylor had. (police were forced to shut down the street outside the theater because so many people were rubbernecking taylor' s arrival .) davis wanted to play ouiser, and she suggested taylor for m' lynn and katharine hepburn for clairee .
it was fantastic ,
harling recalled .
if i ever write a book, it’s a complete, incredible chapter. she basically, bless her heart, wanted to show that she was up and at ‘em and doing it. there was nobody else and she was looking fabulous .
luckily for harling, it was in someone else' s hands to break the news to davis that the movie would be casting younger women .
a hit for billy williams, “the man in the velvet suit, ” this take - off on the wacky animal dances of the era (the turkey trot, the grizzly bear, the fox trot — about the only one that survived) was revived in the zany gene wilder film, the adventures of sherlock holmes smarter brother (1975), where it is sung and danced to by wilder, madeleine kahn, and marty feldman. it is also heard in the 2014 australian film tracks .
although the show was originally broadcast in colour, the only recording of it was preserved by kinescope, which consisted of a film camera being placed in front of a black and white television set in the studio, in order to record the show .
i suppose it was inevitable that, sooner or later, somebody would make a blue film version of the charles dickens classic. the only real surprises are that a) it took till 1975 and b) it' s only ever been done once .
suddenly, however, marley' s disembodied head appears, and begins darting around the tableau; and you find yourself admiring his nerve at turning up, uninvited, at the last supper, when he is, after all, as dead as a doornail .
you can picture the cast and crew freezing, looks of nervous concern etched across all their faces, as david jones shimmies down the drainpipe from the rooftop, on which his director' s chair is precariously perched, and strides over to the little boy .
following belle' s rejection of him, there is a scene, which is in the book, but which is often left out of film versions, when the ghost of christmas past tells scrooge to
look, and see the happiness you have missed .
we then witness belle as the happily married, doting mother of so many children, i counted at least sixteen, that, deep down, scrooge must have been thanking his lucky stars that she gave him the old heave ho all those years ago .
we' d had oliver and pickwick and so the time seemed right to give dickens christmas classic the full razzle - dazzle musical treatment - they had a head start with this one since dickens had, after all, written it in staves as opposed to chapters .
for example, second fiddle, the last film by britain’s most prolific director maurice elvey, was regarded as a fairly average domestic comedy on its release but its gender politics are interesting to a modern audience, dealing as it does with women’s position in the workplace .
however, it sticks extremely closely to dickens' s 1843 story, unlike many dramatizations that have gone before it; and it' s certainly an original and ground breaking adaptation in which the recreations of victorian london more than compensate for the film' s shortcomings .
in all honesty, this scene just doesn' t work, and you begin to realise the restrictions of computer generated wizardry. this scene required a pathos that, at present at least, only human actors can portray and the animated characters are more annoying than poignant .
the look that scrooge shoots towards the front door says it all. but, it' s too late, there' s no escape. he' s trapped, hemmed in by the stepford cratchits and, as the orchestra strikes up, and tim takes a deep breath, scrooge' s left hand closes in on the back of the boy' s neck and you can see the torment etched into his features as he fights the urge to drive tim' s face hard into the table and end the torment once and for all .
lasting just over 13 minutes, this adaptation, made in 1910 and directed by j. searle dawley for thomas edison' s film production company, this version makes a reasonable go at presenting the important aspects of dickens story, and the ghosts themselves are well attempted .
there may be no movie that better epitomizes the bond of female friendship than
steel magnolias .
released 25 years ago this week, it' s become a touchstone - - mothers share the film with their daughters, teen girls turn to it as a sleepover staple and men of all ages find themselves taken with the tale of six brassy southern ladies (sally field, dolly parton, shirley maclaine, daryl hannah, olympia dukakis and julia roberts) faced with one grave tragedy. initial reviews were mixed, but it became 1989' s 14th highest - grossing film nonetheless. today, you can' t turn on a television set without finding it somewhere. we caught up with robert harling, who adapted the movie from his 1987 play, to learn just how much
steel magnolias
means to him .
“run all night” is also subtly elevated by a top - notch team behind the camera, especially editor craig mckay, a two - time oscar nominee for “ reds ” and “ the silence of the lambs. ” for at least an hour, “run all night” hums—to be fair, there’s a bit of a sag in the middle and the entire piece runs too long at nearly two hours. but take note of the way mckay and collet - serra orchestrate a great sequence in a subway station, creating a rhythm between the cops trying to find mike and the bad guys coming after jimmy. or look at the great car chase scene, which is shot in a bit too much close - up (as are a few of the fights), but has a visceral pace to it that makes it impossible to look away. or watch one of the final sequences in a train yard and the way it perfectly fits together to build tension. there’s a tempo to “run all night” that really serves as the entertaining foundation of the whole film, and it’s what so many boring action films lack .
in april 1963, the un announced that its new foundation would be producing a series of six movies, each of which would air simultaneously on all three us television networks without, thanks to an investment of $ 4 million from the xerox corporation, the need for commercial breaks .
scrooge then leaves the counting house, pausing to retrieve his top hat from his long - suffering assistant, and informs cratchit that, in lieu of the fact he' ll be taking christmas day off, he' d better be at work all the earlier the next day .
a strong supporting cast backs george c. scott' s fantastic portrayal of scrooge and, i have to say, i consider this to be one of the all time great versions, and one that certainly has the right mood and feel to both the settings and the performances .
although i' ve not been able to track down a full online version, there are several clips from the film that can be viewed at the turner classic movies site here. if you would prefer to watch the full uncensored version (!) it is available on amazon .
our appeal hasn’t always turned up film material, but we have also received a lot of information and related material on several of the titles. alan rothwell, star of linda (don sharp, 1960), sent us some images scanned from his own collection; the family of actress moyna vawser, who has a small part in michael powell ’s the man behind the mask (1936), provided us with photos of her appearance; and a collector in america shared a spanish postcard advertising the silent film love, life and laughter (george pearson, 1923) .
but, who really cares about liberties when you have such a first rate film version as this. it' s well acted, well told, well presented and, as it draws to a close, you find yourself most certainly wanting to ask for more - oops wrong book !
thankfully, the moment passes, and scrooge sets about paying his annual christmas eve visit to the local brothel where, surrounded by a bevvy of scantily clad beauties, he tucks in to a massive portion of turkey, waited on by erica, the aforementioned daughter of his dead partner, whilst the pipe smoking madame, martha, bemoans the fact that he could have his pick of any of her girls but
all you do is eat .
you can see her point, how would he feel if all she ever did when she visited his saloon was roger the barman ?
this re - telling is narrated by michael redgrave in a tone that is so spookily reminiscent of the old pathé news reels, reporting on the devastation of the london blitz, that your first reaction on hearing the introduction is to dive for cover and await the wail of the all clear siren.
bless 'em all is a 1948 british musical comedy film starring hal monty and max bygraves , the latter in his screen debut . three men meet when they are called up for the second world war and fight together in the battle of france . it is on the british film institute 's 75 most wanted list of lost films ; only a two-and-a-half minute trailer was known to survive at the time . however , a reader notified bfi that a cut-down version titled be kind sergeant was being offered for sale on ebay . 
bless'em all is a 1948 british musical comedy film starring hal monty and max bygraves, the latter in his screen debut. three men meet when they are called up for the second world war and fight together in the battle of france. it is on the british film institute's 75 most wanted list of lost films; only a two-and-a-half minute trailer was known to survive at the time. however, a reader notified bfi that a cut-down version titled be kind sergeant was being offered for sale on ebay.
bless'em all is a 1948 british musical comedy film starring hal monty and max bygraves, the latter in his screen debut. three men meet when they are called up for the second world war and fight together in the battle of france. it is on the british film institute's 75 most wanted list of lost films; only a two-and-a-half minute trailer was known to survive at the time. however, a reader notified bfi that a cut-down version titled be kind sergeant was being offered for sale on ebay.