Author: chicagofilmfestival

ON FILM EDITING: This book is a real classic. Technically, though, is dated, that is true. It’s a book written at the beginning of the ’80s, so no computers then. 44 more words

On Film Editing According to Edward Dmytryk — The Script Blog

If you are wondering who Elia Kazan is, we are in trouble. He created some of the best drama for screen and stage ever: On the Waterfront, Death of a Salesman, A Streetcar named Desire, East of Eden… He placed Brando and Dean where they belonged. 27 more words

On Directing: An Elia Kazan’s Masterclass — The Script Blog

Godwin’s law (or Godwin’s rule of Hitler analogies) is an Internet adage asserting that “as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1”. That is, if an online discussion (regardless of topic or scope) goes on long enough, sooner or later someone will compare someone or something […]

Suddenly I have the urge to violate Godwin’s Law — Writers Without Money

Have you ever had a Big Romance, one that completely engulfs you and makes you a better person? That’s a lot to ask of a love affair, but it does happen. Victoria Riskin writes about one such romance in her new book, Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: A Hollywood Memoir. Wray and Risken enjoyed a […]

How to Have a Hollywood Romance — Silver Screenings

Elmer Gantry (1960) is Burt Lancaster‘s movie. He plays the title character, a charismatic but aimless hustler who becomes involved in a 1920’s American religious movement. He loves the energy of dynamic religion, but equates it to selling a product, like hawking ice cream. Lancaster is at his scenery-chewing best here, with untamed hair and […]

Jean Simmons: Side-Stepping Burt Lancaster’s Shadow — Silver Screenings

Years ago, we (yours truly) worked for a weekly newspaper. According to the Organizational Chart, we had three bosses: The Managing Editor, the Circulation Manager and the Supervisor. They were men with Experience. But none of them were regarded as our leader. Our actual leader was a woman who did advertising layout, someone who had […]

Leadership Lessons from Henry Fonda — Silver Screenings

A graphic designer we know had a client who refused all her best ideas. They chopped away at her designs until they looked, well, awful. “They took a piece of my soul,” she said wrily. We wondered about miserable work experiences when we watched the Buster Keaton film, The Cameraman (1928). On the surface, it […]

Buster Keaton Goes to MGM — Silver Screenings

Don’t laugh: We genuinely like the Z-Grade film, Teenagers from Outer Space (1959). We immediately fell in love with it when our pal Debbi, from I Found it at the Movies, featured it as part of her Bad Film Series. What? You’ve never heard of this film? Well, you’re in for a Treat. Teenagers from […]

So Bad It’s Good: Teenagers from Outer Space — Silver Screenings

A real trick in filmmaking, we think, is to develop an utterly ridiculous premise and make a decent film of it. Take the 1951 film Rhubarb, a comedy about a baseball team owned by a cat. Yes, we know. There’s no way a baseball team would be owned by a cat. And what cat would […]

The Best Baseball Movie You’ve (maybe) Never Seen — Silver Screenings

Alfred Hitchcock‘s The Lady Vanishes (1938) is more “just” a mystery or thriller, in our opinion. The film centres on a train journey from a fictional European country to England. We first meet the train’s passengers while they are stranded in an alpine town due to an avalanche. This town shows little evidence of winter, […]

Alfred Hitchcock’s Letter to Pre-War Britain — Silver Screenings