fedora ( film )
fedora film is an independent film production company that produces films and documentaries for the international market .
fedora plays in a new dcp restoration at film forum in new york september 5–11 .
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fedora is not the match of either classic, but in its own right, it is a very fine film .
flying fedora film’s ultimate vision is to build up the video and film industry in boise, idaho. we’re always looking for clients who think big, too !
a shamefully underrated film, fedora is wilder' s testament and one of the most sublime achievements of the' 70s .
billy wilder, fedora, 1978, 35 mm, color, sound, 114 minutes .
down - on - his - luck hollywood producer barry' dutch' detweiler attempts to lure fedora, a famous but reclusive film actress, out of retirement .
flying fedora film llc produces videos for businesses and non - profits. we also service larger video production companies with concept development, talent direction, assistant editing, and music composition .
brandon is am amazing film master. he really captures perfection on film and is am amazing editor .
fedora
opens today at cinema studio, where it is liable to have a very short run. preview audiences have been laughing in the wrong places - - understandable, perhaps, in light of he plot & apos; s outlandishness. a woman throws herself in front of a train in the first scene, and we learn that she was fedora, a great foreign - born movie queen who has long been in seclusion. then we see fedora & apos; s body lying in state, as weeping fans file through her mansion in paris. one of the mourners is dutch detweiler, played by william holden. mr. holden narrates
fedora
just as he narrated
sunset boulevard ,
the wilder film that
fedora
most eloquently recalls .
fedora - sortie le 21 août 2013 un film de billy wilder avec marthe keller, william holden, hildegard knef fedora, grande star hollywoodienne désormais retirée en europe, met fin à sa vie en se jetant sous un train. deux semaines auparavant, le producteur barry detweiler était parti à sa recherche dans l' espoir de la faire revenir sur le devant de la scène. mais la mystérieuse fedora vit désormais recluse auprès de gens étranges et s' avère difficile à approcher ...
rarely screened, billy wilder ’s penultimate film, fedora (1978), may be a wan companion to one of his most celebrated, sunset boulevard (1950). but several of its tawdry observations about stardom and vanity give it a kicky kind of sordidness, suggesting a squarer version of hollywood babylon, republished just three years before fedora ’s release .
wilder may have been a genius, but not everything a genius does is a work of genius. fedora is a curiosity, not a lost masterpiece .
in a dark, featureless frame, a woman sprints toward an incoming train and hurls herself in front of it, pausing briefly only to disregard a spine - tingling “fedora! ” shouted from off screen. that’s the remarkably curt, brutal opening scene of billy wilder’s fedora, which concludes with the image paralyzed in shock. when the freeze frame fades out, the first image to fade up is a shot of a newscaster intoning, “fedora is dead. ”
whenever i have a question about filmmaking or the filmmaking process, i call brandon first. an extremely professional and talented individual. and always styling in that fedora .
oft described as alternatively billy wilder' s vertigo, or as billy wilder' s follow - up to his own classic sunset blvd. neither fully capture what a strange, but satisfying film fedora is, nor are they wholly wrong .
fedora is old - fashioned with a vengeance, a proud, passionate remembrance of the way movies used to be, and a bitter smile at what they have become .
fedora film premiere • 5 and 11pm jan 24, 11pm jan. 25 • micon downtown cinema, 315 s. barstow st. , eau claire • $ 4 for 5pm showing, $ 8 for 11pm • urltoken • (215) 823 - 0041
flying fedora film llc’s founder and ceo, brandon freeman, has always had a fondness for fedoras and their attachment to a particular adventurous character and his courageous (if not haphazard) leaps into the unknown. creating this company has been a leap of faith all its own, and as we push toward our ultimate vision, the fedora reminds us that, while there’s a lot of planning and strategy required, sometimes, you just gotta jump .
mikel j. koven is senior lecturer and course leader in film studies at the university of worcester. he is the author of la dolce morte: vernacular cinema and the italian giallo film (2006) and film, folklore and urban legends (2008) .
this is a wonderful, wonderful movie. it' s of course best viewed in the context of its creator, the great billy wilder, for whom fedora marked a fitting bookend at the end of his career. it would be hard to miss the meta commentary, but what makes fedora special is the man we know telling it behind the camera. for billy wilder was really there in the days of titular fedora - back when movie stars had a majesty that eclipsed even the biggest of contemporary hollywood' s; when the movies had a glory and prestige now but a distant dream .
future learning and skills – giving everyone the opportunity to build a lifelong relationship with film .
local connections: the film features charles mcgraw, whose biography was written by alan rode .
there' s a lot of awkwardness to fedora, from a sluggish pace to an awful bit of last - minute overdubbing that mars two performances, but there' s a lot of fascination in it .
this wearying nostalgia for golden - age moviemaking aside, fedora exposes, through a major plot twist i won' t give away, the off - screen pathologies that constitute the nightmares of the dream factory .
illy wilder & apos; s
fedora
is a fabulous relic, a grand old villa fallen slightly into disrepair. and if it seems outmoded, well, that is very much mr. wilder & apos; s intention .
fedora
is old - fashioned with a vengeance, a proud, passionate remembrance of the way movies used to be, and a bitter smile at what they have become .
i was expecting witty dialogue and a strong plot from wilder and diamond. not only is the dialogue bland but the the sequence of events the story presents is so boring that i wish i was fedora .
working with brandon / flying fedora film was an awesome experience from start to finish! the end product videos were of outstanding quality and did a wonderful job conveying the heart and mission behind our organization. we will use these videos countless times in the years to come – the investment was worth every penny !
looking forward to that post on the nanny too. a creepy, intelligent and stylish film .
i hired flying fedora film to make a fundraiser video promo for my new business. the resulting video conveyed my heart, vision, and goals creatively and beautifully with absolute accuracy and passion. it was the perfect big - picture communication i needed; it’s precise, funky, and fun to watch. i’m very pleased !
while peary’s assertion may have been true in the early 1980s, hollywood has quickly coopted the cult film, and marketed it back on itself, thereby destroying the specific film’s own cultishness. to own a copy of a particular cult film, on video or dvd, makes fans collectors, but simple ownership of the text breaks down the social significance of groupness that predicates, if not defines, a film’s cult status .
you can see echoes of sunset blvd throughout fedora. william holden reprising his lead role in a wilder film of a failing hollywood presence. the grand dame storyline, where fame and madness intersect. while, wilder takes his muse further towards the hitchcockian, with the oddly unsettling central mystery and the series of reveals that just uncover more questions .
fedora
is full of references to hollywood personages, not just for the sake of bitchiness but for purposes of scale. it ranges from california to greece, from dutch and fedora & apos; s golden youth (the young dutch is played by stephen collins, who imitates mr. holden to a t) to times less full of promise, as it demonstrates the kind of scope we don & apos; t readily see from
the kids with the beards ,
as dutch describes hollywood & apos; s new generation. the compactness and symmetry evident in
fedora
aren & apos; t easily achieved these days without a good deal of self - consciousness. mr. wilder achieves them naturally .
i have known brandon freeman at flying fedora film for over twenty years and have watched him develop and grow in his skill sets to the consummate professional he is today. i have hired him to shoot and edit numerous technical films that teach doctors how to perform diagnostic and treatment protocols. he understands what i am looking for and delivers a great product .
this entry was posted in film noir, los angeles, police procedural, scene of the crime, tuesday' s overlooked film and tagged kurt russell, mel gibson, michelle pfeiffer, robert towne. bookmark the permalink .
frank sinatra and shelley winters star in
meet danny wilson ,
sinatra' s last film before his comeback .
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the cult film is a film that occupies an asymptotic relationship with mainstream film by virtue of identifiable textual divergences. always in dialog with conventional mainstream cinema, the cult film, through unconventional textual elements including plot, dialog, cinematography, editing, and special effects, presents itself on the surface as mainstream’s foil. however, all pretense (and pretentiousness) aside, it is mainstream cinema with a twist (or several twists) rather than a wholly separate animal .
leapt at the role of her father. though the film flopped commercially in the u. s. , it was a financial success in europe under the title “ariane. ” it’s hard to watch this film without thinking of the influence of
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latter day hidden gem in the billy wilder catalog that seems more than missed among his films. wonderfully shot using natural light and long takes, fedora is a sort of sideways sunset blvd. , but imagined in a completely different manner. william holden is excellent, as is jose ferrer, but the weak female leads hold the film back a bit. the story will knock your socks off .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
to adapt timothy corrigan’s language from a cinema without walls, the cult film is not completely foreign but neither can it be easily domesticated. or shifting j. p. telotte’s language slightly, what cultists embrace is an uncomfortable difference that is transformed with some effort into a comfortable one. what defines the cult film therefore is the challenge it presents to spectators. by virtue of its unconventional textual elements, it forces viewers to reconcile their assumptions and expectations about film in general with the cult film’s obvious differences .
this list collects every film from the starting list that became they shoot pictures don' t they' s 1000 greatest films. this…
paul henreid and joan bennett star in
hollow triumph ,
opening the arthur lyons film noir festival thursday at the camelot theatres .
i. q. hunter is principal lecturer and subject leader in film studies at de montfort university, leicester. he edited british science fiction cinema (routledge, 1999) and co - edited pulping fictions (1996), trash esthetics (1997), sisterhoods (1998), alien identities (1999), classics (2000), retrovisions (2001) and brit - invaders! (2005). he has published widely on exploitation, horror and cult films and is currently writing a british film guide to a clockwork orange and cult film as a guide to life, a collection of articles on cult film, and coediting the wild eye: experimental film studies .
director billy wilder refused to allow anymore cuts to this film. united artists had already cut 12 minutes prior to a preview in santa barbara, and the screening had gone poorly with the audience, who were laughing during the wrong parts of the film. see more »
the tomatometer rating – based on the published opinions of hundreds of film and television critics – is a trusted measurement of movie and tv programming quality for millions of moviegoers. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
washed - up producer barry ‘dutch’ detweiler (william holden) attempts to lure the iconic but reclusive actress fedora (marthe keller) out of retirement in a bid to revive both their careers. but her privacy is hard won, and with good reason, and opening up the secrets surrounding her could spell disaster .
viewing the cult film in terms of its definition as an object, our contributors have confronted questions about cult esthetics: whether they are distinctly different from the esthetics of mainstream film; the independence of cult creators; whether there is a distinctive cult esthetic; whether the cult film (or only some cult films) is marked by a defamiliarized attitude toward the body, gender, society, the family, and human identity .
i just don' t know what to make of this movie. fedora was a movie i had wanted to see for the longest time and had never been able to find a copy of it anywhere. it was not easy since it had never been released on dvd until only very recently. it was the only billy wilder film i had not seen and had such high hopes for the film. maybe it did not help that i thought that this was a comedy, which this movie is not, because i was certainly disappointed in the final result. maybe i was just expecting too much and i should give it another chance a few years from now. this was billy wilder' s second to last film before retiring from directing .
i would disagree that cult film share any particular esthetic features. as i noted above, what some scholars call cult are erroneously so labeled .
i remember mad max fairly well, though not the two sequels that followed. gibson made quite an impact when the film was released in india .
if the 1980s and ‘90s was the era of alternative music, the 1940s and ‘50s was prime time for an alternative cinema style called film noir .
fedora, a hollywood screen goddess, retires at the height of her fame and beauty to live in seclusion on a greek island. barry detweiler, american producer, tries to persuade her to make a comeback in his new movie, thereby reviving his own failing career and fortunes. told in flashback, after the actress' s suicide .
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…
this is to suggest that, contra bruce kawin, it is not primarily the audience that defines a cult film. while obviously an audience is required for a film to become a cult film, i argue that there is something intrinsic to the “cinematic substrate” itself, some recognizably transgressive element of the film’s esthetics or thematics ranging from obvious bad taste to self - conscious artiness, that marks it as ripe for cultdom. this goes beyond umberto eco’s speculation that cult movies must display “organic imperfections, ” because all movies display organic imperfections and may be “unhinged” (4) —and this is precisely what cult films make evident .
billy wilder maakte met ‘fedora’ een film waarin hij enerzijds met warmte en weemoed terugkijkt op die goede ouwe tijd in het klassieke hollywood, en anderzijds met een verbitterde glimlach toeziet op wat er van die wereld is terechtgekomen. ondanks een gebrek aan scherpte, een traag tempo en de merkwaardige vertelstructuur, weet wilder onze aandacht vast te houden. dit komt voor een belangrijk deel op het conto van veteraan william holden, die zonder al te veel moeite zijn legendarische rol uit ‘sunset boulevard’ nog eens dunnetjes overdoet .
marthe keller, in the highly demanding leading role, is particularly resourceful, and mr. ferrer reads his lines with a witty understanding of the screenplay & apos; s intentional corniness (
to pump out the stomach, that is easy. the mind, that is another thing
). michael york appears, playing himself, the actor fedora hardly knows but has fallen hopelessly in love with. (this perhaps provides some indication of how improbable things become .) henry fonda arrives to present fedora with an oscar, in his supposed capacity as president of the academy, and to tell her how much he always envied fredric march, charles boyer, ronald colman and all of her other co - stars .
the offhand jabs at the dissolution of orthodox craftsmanship in 1970s cinema are overwhelmed by a deeper core of autocritique played out in the film' s downward trajectory .
continuing the exploration of themes first examined in sunset boulevard, now decades later through the prism of new hollywood, fedora is a great filmmaker’s testament, and a masterful, stirring exploration of cinema’s power. the masters of cinema series is proud to present a new dual - format special edition for the first time on dvd and blu - ray in the uk .
ernest mathijs is coeditor of the cult film reader, and of the book series cultographies. he runs the centre for cinema studies at the university of british columbia .
austin, bruce a. “portrait of a cult film audience: the rocky horror picture show. ” journal of communications (spring 1981): 43 - 54 .
to the extent that the cult film makes a spectacle of itself through its self - conscious foregrounding of its differences from mainstream film, cult films are always metafilms, films that foreground the conventions of and expectations surrounding mainstream cinema. by virtue of “pushing the boundaries, ” they highlight the existence of those boundaries that circumscribe conventional cinema .
billy wilder and william holden self - consciously returning to the subject matter of sunset boulevard sounds much more intriguing than it turns out to be. in reality, fedora is a chore to get through, only belatedly getting to the real meat of its story. it gets better then, but is still only so effective at expounding on its undertones of vicious satire and psychological horror .
thanks for that todd – evidently not - so - forgotten after all! the one thing i would say is that the kennaway book is in fact a novelisation. the earliest documentation extant on it appears to be kennaway’s treatment for the film dated january 1960 while the film was completed in 1962 and the novel published in hardback in 1963 .
“the evolution of the arthur lyons film noir festival into a showcase event is attributable to the loyalty of our core audience, word of mouth within the classic film community and the increased use of social media to promote the festival, ” rode said. “the enhanced identity of palm springs as a desired tourist destination certainly doesn’t hurt either. ”
why it’s worth watching: a superb neo - noir from the 1970s is eminently worthy of rediscovery. if you like “the bank job” and “ocean’s eleven, ” you’ll like “charlie varrick” because it’s a well - crafted heist film of the same ilk. co - star andy robinson will discuss the film in a post - screening q & a .
those willing to perform this work reap the rewards of their efforts—the smugness of presumed elite or outsider status. the appreciative spectator of the art - house film has her intellectual credentials validated, the slasher film fan has his intestinal fortitude verified—and each can then look down his or her nose at the assumed banality of mainstream cinema and its vanilla patrons .
keep your comments focused on the film. don' t post randomness / off - topic comments. jokes are fine, but don' t post tactless / inappropriate ones .
the deliberate and sometimes dismaying anachronisms are signs of a deep, unshakable commitment to a personal aesthetic - - a commitment that is sometimes more moving than anything in the film itself .
so how will all the time in the world affect spy kids? it' s receiving the widest release of any film this weekend, with 3, 000 theaters, and is the only new family - friendly film coming out. it should enjoy a healthy box office return because of that (not to mention intrigue over the aroma scope technology that will allow audiences to smell the film). early reviews for the film have yet to be released, but the star power has piled on for this sequel—including antonio banderas, ricky gervais, joel mchale, and jeremy piven—hinting that, at the very least, critics will find it diverting summer fare. in the end, the spy kids ranking could improve after this release .
when lyons died in 2008, his associate, film historian alan k. rode, took over hosting and producing duties while also continuing to find guest speakers after paige died in 2013 .
local connections: sinatra was divorcing current part - time rancho mirage resident nancy sinatra sr. while escaping to his palm springs home with ava gardner at the time this film came out .
, ” especially with the casting of lubitsch regulars cooper and chevallier, and the gypsy musicians that seem to follow cooper everywhere in the film. but in contrast to the works it sometimes evokes, everything about this film falls a little flat, from the romance to the jokes, and at 130 minutes, well, seriously, how long should it take a pushing - 60 playboy to fall in love with audrey hepburn? this film is no one’s best, but no one’s worst either. still, we’d hope for a lot more from wilder. [ c ]
this entry was posted in basil dearden, cold war, dvd review, espionage, oxford, scene of the crime, spy movies, tuesday' s overlooked film. bookmark the permalink .
why it’s worth watching: the final hollywood film by blacklisted director jules dassin (rififi, never on sunday, topkapi) is an overlooked classic with gene tierney and a brilliant ensemble cast .
, and watching that screen test, found on the dvd, it’s hard not to imagine what might have been). but there’s one great trump card up the film’s sleeve, and that’s
that does sound rather good, doesn’t it? i’d love to get victim especially on blu - ray eventually. frustratingly, the perfectly good dvd releases of the film seem all bereft of any contextual extras, of which you would think there would be an abundance. a decent book came out on the film recently by the way by john coldstream – you can download a sample chapter here :
jamie sexton is lecturer in film studies at aberystwyth universuty, uk. he is author of alternative film culture in inter - war britain (exeter university press, 2008) and coauthor (with ernest mathijs) of the forthcoming cult cinema: an introduction (blackwell, 2009). he also coedits (also with ernest mathijs) the book series on cult films entitled cultographies for wallflower press .
billy wilder' s
fedora
grows on you. it is, to begin with, a seemingly unnecessary movie based on a surprise ending that you can figure out within the first 15 minutes. it is, to end with, a movie that spends its last hour revealing the surprise. anybody watching this movie for the pleasure of discovering the surprise is, therefore, doomed to boredom at the worst and mild astonishment at the best .
why it’s worth watching: an insightful look at a post bobby sox crooner and pre - “from here to eternity” version of ol’ blue eyes in a overlooked and underappreciated film that is not on dvd .
kawin, bruce. “after midnight. ” the cult film experience: beyond all reason. ed. j. p. telotte. austin: university of texas press, 1991. 18 - 25 .
read a fuller analysis, posted when the seventh harry potter film hit theaters :
the greatest movie franchises of all time .
the gallery in the post has been updated to reflect current rankings .
should you see it? i dunno. if you do, go with a clear mind and a slight grin on your face and a memory for the, movies of the 1940s. accept the dumb parts, and the unsurprising revelations, as part of the film' s style instead of as weaknesses. trust wilder to know what he' s doing, even during the deliberate clichés. see it like that, and i bet you' ll like it. see it with a straight face, and you' ll think it' s boring and obvious .
fedora' s
odd that way: it leaves itself up to the audience .
fedora
is a movie worth seeing for those last reasons. it has a surprise ending that' s no surprise (even though i won' t give it away - you' ll be able to give it away yourselves single - handedly). it has characters who turn out to be exactly as we think they' ll be, and it has instant insights into human nature that turn out to be worth about the instants they' re allotted .
why it’s worth watching: one of the great val lewton rko films is highlighted by what is arguably karloff’s finest screen performance. it’s his eighth and final film collaboration with
dracula
icon bela lugosi .
the social function of the cult film is difficult to define succinctly. what may be true for some cult audiences may not be true for others, and any kind of speculation would be superficial. so while there may be a film which brings a group together—for example, those people who love the texas chain saw massacre or mamma mia! —may not have the same reasons for loving the film as other fans, or the same level of engagement to it. sociological (or worse, psycho - sociological) speculation cannot grasp the actual and lived reasons for such cultish devotion. neither can lazy audience research methodologies like questionnaires or focus groups. the only way to properly understand the social function of the cult film is by proper participant - observation ethnography, and even that needs to recognize the temporal and special limitations of any conclusions .
chuck kleinhans coedits jump cut: a review of contemporary media (urltoken) and teaches in the radio / tv / film department at northwestern university. his current research covers asian extreme cinema and women warrior films .
the following review is offered as part of the tuesday’s overlooked film meme hosted by todd mason over at his sweet freedom blog and you should head over there to see the many other fascinating titles that have been selected .
mystery novelist and palm springs city councilman arthur lyons launched the palm springs film noir festival with former palm springs international film festival executive director craig prater in 2000 as a celebration and exploration of the noir form. he delighted in finding obscure, out - of - print noirs and became known for getting actors from these black - and - white relics to do post - screening q & as, with the help of casting director marvin paige .
last may, the harry potter films were declared by box office mojo to be the most successful film franchise of all time. it' s true that the first seven films in the series—the eight installment, the deathly hallows: part 2 hits theaters friday—grossed a mammoth $ 2 billion in the u. s. critics have been particularly kind to the series as well, with some even arguing that the most recent film was better than the book .
when scream 4 was released, the series placed a respectable number 30 on our list. but the film' s poor box office and mixed reviews caused scream' s ranking to drop seven spots to number 37. comparatively, the surprise box office and critical success of fast five, by far the best - reviewed film in the fast and the furious series, helped the franchise leap seven spots from number 50, barely on the list, to number 43 .
so how will on stranger tides affect the number 13 ranking of pirates of the caribbean? the film is set to open on a record number of screens this weekend, and is already doing gangbusters business internationally (we only consider domestic receipts for these rankings). early reviews still haven' t been particularly glowing - - typical for the franchise - - but they indicate that this fourth film is much better than the two previous sequels. we' ll see how things change .
i really had forgotten about this film sergio. i saw it a long time ago and didn’t particularly like it. i think you’re right about it being unsure of what kind of movie it wanted to be and falling between stools as a consequence .
the espionage element in the script seems like an attempt to cash in on the burgeoning spy boom of the early 60s. the one time that i saw it, many years ago, it came across as a fascinating mess. it reminded me, in a strange way, of the film version of doomwatch. that movie was basically a bit of environmentally aware sci - fi that sold itself as a horror film because horror movies were the only ones being made by british studios at the time. the horror element was dropped halfway through the doomwatch movie, making it seem slightly pointless. the mind benders really needed to dump the espionage angle and concentrate on the psychological elements. if only they had it might have been a better remembered film .
telotte, j. p. “beyond all reason: the nature of the cult. ” the cult film experience: beyond all reason. ed. j. p. telotte. austin: university of texas press, 1991. 5 - 17 .
the following review (updated from a previous post) is offered as part of the tuesday’s overlooked film meme hosted by todd mason over at his sweet freedom blog and you should head over there to see the many other fascinating titles that have been selected .
sergio, that’s a knockout list of films by dearden and relph (pun intended) for here are two filmmakers and their films what are entirely new to me. of course, i am familiar with dick bogarde and i am sure i have seen him on screen before — just don’t ask me where! i like the way you take a film “apart” and, obviously, it’s not enough to understand the finer nuances of a film and its making but the reviewing of it as well. your professional expertise with bfi screenonline reflects in all your reviews here. i read your profiles of kenneth branagh, edgar wallace and richard attenborough and was impressed by the site content. the guide to british and irish film directors is as entertaining as it’s enriching. terrific stuff, sergio !
thoroughly enjoyed this review. it’s a film i first sought out because pauline kael gave it a rave review on its release and i really liked it at the time. i must watch it again – kurt russell is something of a favourite actor of mine .
we approached a number of leading scholars, journalists, and critics—authors of classics in the field, editors of journals devoted to cult film, and new scholars of the subject—and invited them to contribute to our critical symposium. in the following pages, and continuing on our web site, we offer a wide range of critical interpretations and strategies—emanating from the united states, england, and australia—that we believe will contribute to a new clarity about cult film, but leave abundant breathing room for the stimulating clash of differing considered opinions .
ticket sales continue to grow, said rode, although films only screen at the camelot theatres. rode prefers to measure the festival’s growth by its attention from the national film noir community and by the fact that turner classic movies has come aboard this year as a sponsor .
i remember pulling this dvd off the shelves from my parents’ dvd collection and not really expecting much of the movie. instead, i got a really good bit of entertainment. but you’ve covered it far better than i have already. great review of a sorely underappreciated film !
our contributors differ in emphasis, which has created a trio of interrogational repertoires. their three major focus points can be itemized as: the cult fan; the cult object; and the relationship between the cult film and the marketplace. viewing the phenomenon of cult film through the lens of the fan elicits questions about what distinguishes cult interest from the more general category of cinephilia; differences between the opportunities for cult fans now and cult fans back in the day of pre - home - viewing technologies; and the motives and cultural roles of the cult fan .
matt hills is a reader in media and cultural studies at cardiff university. he is the author of fan cultures (2002) and the pleasures of horror (2005) and has written widely on cult media, most recently for the sage handbook of film studies (2008) .
for his penultimate film, billy wilder created this elegiac, potent and richly entertaining mystery. reuniting with one of his greatest actors william holden, and co - written with his longtime collaborator i. a. l. diamond, this is an exquisitely crafted tale of romance and intrigue .
what initially drew our attention was that not only did cult film turn up in our conversations with great frequency, it also arrived in numerous guises. cult as shock and schlock; cult as nostalgia; cult as marginality; cult as intensity and passion; cult as marketing hype; cult as fad and fashion; cult as subversion; cult as historical era marker. too many things to too many people, cult film seemed to us to be stretching so thinly before our eyes as to potentially lose its meaning in a dizzying vortex. it seemed an untenable situation ripe for critical investigation .
the harry potter films have been a magical success at the box office, which makes it easy to see why warner brothers and the film' s creative team made the decision to split j. k. rowling' s final 784 - page book into two movies—at least from a financial standpoint .
cult status is tied to the social situation of film reception, and this implies fans. for example, fifty years ago, marx brothers films could be considered cult films since screenings brought out dedicated enthusiasts who often knew many of the lines, their favorite scenes and gags, etc. in the 1960s the orson welles cinema in cambridge, ma. , ran a humphrey bogart film festival during the exam period every semester at harvard. freshmen were initiated into the ritual viewing, and, by the time they were juniors, could call out their favorite lines, anticipate every plot point, etc .
and then it has something else. style. figure this out: if you can see
fedora
and not get hung up on what it' s about and who the characters are, which is admittedly a large order, there' s a real pleasure to be had in sitting there and letting it happen to you. it is not a great movie, but it has the form and feel of a great movie. the movie it feels like is
sunset boulevard
( 1950), which was also directed by wilder and also starred william holden, and cast gloria swanson as a greta garbo type actress who had retreated into her legend and her memories .
finally, where our contributors set their sights on the commodification of cult film, they ran up against the overwhelming question of whether cult film is possible any longer, given a marketplace that omnivorously coopts whatever it catches in the cross hairs of its profit motive in order to produce a standardized product. under this heading, we find consideration of whether and how there can still be the kind of search for the unknown, obscure object of filmgoing desire that marked the cult adventure in the long - ago days of the midnight movie, screened in the kind of independently owned movie theatre that barely exists today .
back in september, for the seventh harry potter film' s release, we used a formula that took both box office and critics score into account to rank the 50 greatest movie franchises of all time. here' s an abbreviated explanation of the process we used to come up with those rankings :
it is typical of the morally ambivalent tone of the film that it is left to the putative villain of the piece, the leader of a drug cartel, to sum up the core of the story. this last part of the film has several major twists and there is plenty of plot and incident to get through, but ultimately it is guided by the emotional demands of the characters: will the dea make nick arrest his friend? will jo ann decide which man she truly loves? will the opera - loving, ping - pong playing carlos let mac truly get out of the drug trafficking business ?
cult film has actually been a subject of intermittent, serious study for almost thirty years, and the object of “gee - whiz, ” hyperemotional expostulations for longer than that. but cineaste is also aware that the past ten years has seen a surge of scrutiny of the cult film phenomenon by well - informed scholars, journalists, and critics armed with something more than the pleasure, curiosity, and wonder of the initial wave of critics. this “new wave” of cult criticism, so to speak, carries with it the intention of winnowing the wheat of rigorous understanding from the chaff of spurious and digressive chatter .
there are as many social functions as there are discourses of cult. for some, it can be a badge of distinction as a marker of difference or transgression. for others, it might be a badge of distinction linked to bids for the philosophical and artistic value of “genre” film; or for others again, the reclaiming of kitsch and trash film via paracinema. i suppose what these things share is the sense of cult film as a type of “othering”: filmic and audience identities being constructed against cultural norms or normativity; against the devaluation of “genre” cinema; against the manners of “appropriate” and “tutored” cinematic taste. cult is about being “for” and “against. ” as such, it can build and reinforce interpretive and affective communities, but it can also be a classification felt as having very intense, personalized value. so cult movies, i think, can have a rather paradoxical social function—simultaneously individuating and community - building .
i quite agree, sergio. kurt russell is “more grounded and stable” and if i were to compare him with anybody (though i don’t see why i should) then it would have to be someone like russell crowe, not gladiator or a beautiful mind, but perhaps proof of life alongside meg ryan and david morse. that’s more his kind of film — rescuing someone from hell, so to say. he was certainly “impressive” in tombstone — in spite of the superb cast, he walks away with the film, doesn’t he? he is a very intense actor and, yes, underrated, as you rightly say .
they were certainly very varied in their output but one see that with this film they were perhapos falling foul of that perception that many had of them that there is something perhaps a bit stolid about their desire to tackle important subjects in an ‘accessible’ manner which, you could argue, is either a mark of commercial savvy or a certain loftiness with regard to the intelligence of general audiences. this one os perhaps too self conciously trying tobe ‘different’ or maybe it just wasn’t a pressing enough subject for them. deep down one suspects they would raher have made a film about the more conventional clements agent rather than the more diaphanous bogarde scientist .
this year’s lineup, he said, will “push the envelope on conventional characterizations of film noir. ” but, it’s also loaded with local connections. to explore every component, i’ve pointed out the local ties of most of those films while rode explains why you need to see each one. here’s the whole bill :
why it’s worth watching: if you want to know where the term, “it’s a bitter little world” came from, you need to see this movie. restored 35 mm print by the ucla film and television archive. also, henreid’s daughter, monika henreid, will participate in a post - screening q & a .
but that' s not to say that a well - done, well - marketed series revival can' t be lucrative. a surprisingly rapturous critical reception and breakout box - office performance by rise of the planet of the apes earlier this month helped raise the planet of the apes ranking from 46 to 43 on the list, and could get higher as the film continues to make money in wide release. the surprise box office and critical success of fast five —by far the best - reviewed film in the fast and the furious series—launched its ranking from a barely - on - the - list no. 50 to no. 45 .
. ariane, suddenly finding herself in love, decides to hide her innocence beneath a veneer of worldliness and countless affairs, in order to play the player into falling in love with her too (nope it doesn’t make a lot of sense here, and it doesn’t in the film either). again, wilder wanted
completely fascinating but at the same time it really depressed me. it' s a cynical view of hollywood without any love for it. in sunset blvd, it does have a certain cynicism but it' s also filled with humor and a love of movies. i don' t really think you can bring fedora up without also mentioning sunset blvd. i think this movie works primarily because billy wilder made it. although i' m in an uneasy mood after watching it, the story is great and i was always interested in what was happening. even though it' s only at the beginning and end of this, i' m convinced william holden narration is one of the three best things in movies .
when doctor vando and dutch meet in the bar at approximately 30 minutes into the film, there is a closeup of vando' s earring. at the end of the scene as doctor vando leaves the bar (approximately 34 minutes), vando points at his earring. this time, the earring is considerably thinner and smaller .
even adjusted for inflation, the average box office across the pirates series is higher then lord of the rings and harry potter. but its critical reception has been less impressive. while the first film was largely praised by the critics, the subsequent ones were panned. after the third film, newsweek' s dave ansen proclaimed ,
more is not merrier .
the atlantic' s christopher orr wrote in his review that on stranger tides
has the feel of a tv drama renewed for one season too many .
since our methodology weighs box office success and critical reception equally, how do pirates' mixed reviews affect its standing on the list ?
cult films are still shown in public venues—the sing - along screenings of mamma mia! are cult events in that sense, since they encourage not only repeat viewings but pleasure in the film experience “beyond all reason” (as j. p. telotte called it). and of course rocky horror still does the rounds. but the experience of cult seems, paradoxically, to have become at once more privatized, more global, and more disembodied. one is now certain via the internet that whatever film one adores, whether it is the big lebowski, black snake moan, or scatwork orange, that someone somewhere shares one’s peculiar taste—but i’m not sure it matters anymore .
when doctor vando and dutch meet in the bar at approximately 30 minutes into the film, there is a closeup of vando' s earring. at the end of the scene as doctor vando leaves the bar (approximately 34 minutes), vando points at his earring. this time, the earring is considerably thinner and smaller. see more »
btw – finally caught up with paranoiac a few weeks ago. strange is an understatement, isn’t it? i loved every minute of it! i figured out the identity of the masked choir boy but never saw the entombed body gimmick coming. such a mix of genre tropes in that flick – kind of like a gothic suspense goulash on film .
melville returned to the policier model seven years later with le doulos. less well known than his other work in the genre, this film rewards attention with more elaborate characterizations than its predecessor. if you are never in doubt as to where bob or his cohorts stand, the motivations of the figures in this film seem as transitory as the weather. the title refers to the french expression for stool pigeon, for duplicity is as commonplace as trench coats in this environment. as melville stated ,
the characters are all double, they are all false .
furthermore, the criminals and the police lack the kind of brotherly bonhomie of the earlier picture. a character can never be sure when he might be shot or betrayed or arrested in le doulos.
fedora is a 1978 west german-french drama film directed by billy wilder . the screenplay by wilder and i. a. l. diamond is based on a novella by tom tryon included in his collection crowned heads , published in 1976 . the film stars william holden and marthe keller . 
fedora is a 1978 west german-french drama film directed by billy wilder. the screenplay by wilder and i. a. l. diamond is based on a novella by tom tryon included in his collection crowned heads, published in 1976. the film stars william holden and marthe keller.
fedora is a 1978 west german-french drama film directed by billy wilder. the screenplay by wilder and i. a. l. diamond is based on a novella by tom tryon included in his collection crowned heads, published in 1976. the film stars william holden and marthe keller.