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On Saturday 13 July 2024, ITV broadcasts Changing Ends!

Baby Face Season 2 Episode 1 Episode Summary

In this episode of “Changing Ends” on ITV, titled “Baby Face,” viewers are treated to an autobiographical comedy that delves into Alan Carr’s experiences growing up in the 1980s. The narrative unfolds as Alan faces peer pressure and finds himself drawn into a risky challenge involving fake IDs, navigating the complexities of adolescence in a humorous and relatable manner.

Join ITV for a comedic journey through Alan Carr’s formative years, where the pressures of youth and the allure of adulthood collide. “Baby Face” promises to blend nostalgia with laughter, offering a glimpse into the misadventures and life lessons that shaped Carr’s early life against the backdrop of 1980s Britain.

What Time is the “Baby Face” Episode On?

The Baby Face episode of Changing Ends will be broadcast on July 13 2024 on ITV at 9:00 Pm.

Paul McCartney & Wings are finally offering a physical release of one of their most bootlegged albums: One Hand Clapping, the live studio sessions conducted post-Band on the Run in 1974 for a seldom-seen documentary film, will arrive everywhere on June 14th.

While several songs from One Hand Clapping eventually landed on subsequent Paul McCartney releases, this will be the first time the album is available in full. It was also the first Wings album recorded with a new lineup — Denny Seiwell and Henry McCullough departed after Band on the Run, and were replaced by guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Geoff Britton for the One Hand Clapping sessions.

The album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios over a span of four days while director David Litchfield filmed the documentary — which still hasn’t been released in an official capacity. Within the album’s 26 tracks are Paul McCartney & Wings favorites like “Live and Let Die...

Negotiations to end Hollywood's actors strike really came down to the wire for Timothée Chalamet, who hosted this week's episode of "Saturday Night Live." Since the strike also covers promotional work for films, Chalamet hasn't been able to talk publicly about his upcoming movies -- which include the chocolate fantasy "Wonka" and the wormy epic "Dune: Part Two" -- since mid-July. The strike finally came to end on Thursday, which was too late to have any full sketches based around Chalamet's movie roles, but not too late for the young star to celebrate in his opening monologue.

Chalamet made up for lost time by transforming his "SNL" monologue into a song called "Shameless Self-Promotion," a parody of the classic tune "Pure Imagination" sung by Gene Wilder in 1971's "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory." Director Paul King's prequel "Wonka" will also be a musical, with Chalamet himself singing a...

Wes Anderson recommends Warner Bros.’ early Barbara Stanwyck vehicle Baby Face, made in 1933 during pre-Production Code Hollywood, for top viewing as part of the November 2023 Turner Classic Movies lineup in the Asteroid City director’s own TCM Picks video that dropped on Wednesday.

The Hollywood studio made the infamous melodrama from director Alfred E. Green during the height of the Depression and before the official censors got their scissors into studio movies after Hollywood’s attempts at self-censorship, including with the Hays Code, failed to keep critics and the authorities at bay.

“There’s a period there where there’s nobody stopping them. Baby Face follows into that time, very, very strongly. It’s one of the most pre-code, pre-codes I can think of,” Anderson says of the breakout movie for a young Stanwyck.

The legendary Hollywood actress early in her career plays a character aptly named Lily Powers, a...

Among the myriad reasons we could call the Criterion Channel the single greatest streaming service is its leveling of cinematic snobbery. Where a new World Cinema Project restoration plays, so too does Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight. I think about this looking at November’s lineup and being happiest about two new additions: a nine-film Robert Bresson retro including L’argent and The Devil, Probably; and a one-film Hype Williams retro including Belly and only Belly, but bringing as a bonus the direct-to-video Belly 2: Millionaire Boyz Club. Until recently such curation seemed impossible.

November will also feature a 20-film noir series boasting the obvious and the not. Maybe the single tightest collection is “Women of the West,” with Johnny Guitar and The Beguiled and Rancho Notorious and The Furies only half of it. Lynch/Oz, Irradiated, and My Two Voices make streaming premieres; Drylongso gets a Criterion Edition; and joining...

She was one of the hardest working, most versatile actresses of the Golden Era of Hollywood, lauded by directors, costars and crew members for her professionalism and pleasant demeanor. During a time when most actors were typecasts, her most famous roles included a range of characters from society lady to sassy con artist, working class girl to helpless invalid and from heartbroken mother to one of the most infamous femme fatales of film noir.

Barbara Stanwyck was born Ruby Catherine Stevens on July 16, 1907, in Brooklyn, NY. Orphaned very young, Ruby dropped out of school at the age of 14, starting a series of odd jobs, eventually working for the telephone company. However, she had big dreams, and was soon a chorus girl in several shows, including the Ziegfeld Follies. In 1926, she had a part in the moderately successful play “The Noose,” and decided to change her name – “Barbara” was the name of her character,...

Marion Robert Morrison, more commonly known as John Wayne or ‘The Duke,’ left a lasting imprint on American cinema. His career spanned five decades, during which time he starred in 179 films and delivered countless illustrious performances.

He rose to fame with his starring role as Ringo Kid in the 1939 classic ‘Stagecoach,’ and would go on to play characters like Ethan Edwards in Ford’s 1956 ‘The Searchers’ – cementing his place in American film history.

In this blog post, we’ll be taking a look at some of the best John Wayne movies, which capture the actor’s undeniable talent and unforgotten legacy. From westerns like ‘True Grit’ (1969) to war films like ‘The Longest Day’ (1962), Wayne left an indelible mark on our collective culture.

The Highest-Rated John Wayne Films on IMDb ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance’ (1962) – 8.1/10 ‘Rio Bravo’ (1959) – 8/10 ‘The Searchers’ (1956) – 7.9/10 ‘Stagecoach’ (1939) – 7.8/10 ‘Red River’ (1948) – 7.8/10 ‘The Longest Day’ (1962) – 7.7/10 ‘The Quiet Man’ (1952) – 7.7/10 ‘The Shootist...

Barbara Stanwyck is an early-Hollywood icon. The actor overcame a challenging childhood to become a performer of remarkable range, equally praised for her work in screwball comedies, Westerns, and film noirs. Unfortunately, the Big Valley star’s personal life was as fraught as some of her more complicated characters, but her artistic legacy made her a wealthy woman and a timeless on-screen presence.

Barbara Stanwyck grew up an orphan and began working as a pre-teen Barbara Stanwyck in ‘The Big Valley’ | ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

The youngest of five children, Barbara Stanwyck was born Ruby Catherine Stevens on Jul. 16, 1907, in Brooklyn, New York. Tragedy struck early in her life. Her mother, Catherine, died after a drunk passenger pushed her off a moving streetcar in 1911. Two weeks after the funeral, Stanwyck’s father, Byron, left to join a work crew digging the Panama Canal and...

Actor John Wayne starred in a wide assortment of movies primarily rooted in the Western and war genres. He had a signature walk and a slow, booming voice that commanded moviegoers’ attention. However, only nine of Wayne’s movies were selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” They select 25 film each year for this high honor. However, the Wayne films that made the cut aren’t all the obvious picks.

‘The Big Trail’ (1930) L-r: John Wayne as Breck Coleman and Marguerite Churchill as Ruth Cameron | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Raoul Walsh’s The Big Trail follows Breck Coleman (Wayne), as he leads an adventure with hundreds of settlers seeking to travel from the Mississippi River out West for greater opportunities. However, there are many potentially fatal dangers along the way.

The 1930 feature marked the actor’s first leading role,...

Before kickoff, Super Bowl Lvii held a pregame show that featured a wide array of performances, including country singer Chris Stapleton, 12-time Grammy winner Babyface, Abbott Elementary star Sheryl Lee Ralph and more.

>Get Chris Stapleton Concert Tickets Now!

Stapleton gave an emotional rendition of the national anthem that moved many players and Philadelphia Eagles’ head coach Nick Sirianni to tears.

.@ChrisStapleton brings the house down with his performance of the National Anthem! #Sblvii pic.twitter.com/iiRzjVcByW

— NFL (@NFL) February 12, 2023

Afterward, the U.S. Navy conducted a flyover above the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, celebrating 50 years of women flying in the navy.

In addition to “The Star-Splangled Banner,” there were performances of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by Ralph and “America the Beautiful” by Babyface.

However, three other performers — Oscar-winning Coda actor Troy Kotsur, deaf Navajo scholar Colin Denny and deaf TikTok star Justina Miles — made history by...

Chris Stapleton took the stage of Super Bowl Lvii at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona to perform the U.S. National Anthem. The singer-songwriter’s rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner” was emotional and inspiring.

However, the moment that took the night was Coda star Troy Kotsur who performed the anthem using American Sign Language (Asl). Although the NFL game has had Asl interpreters performing alongside the main artist, this is the first time it was done with an Oscar winner.

Ahead of his performance at the big game, Kotsur said he had been hesitant to accept the offer but told Variety that when he found out that the Super Bowl was in his home town he said, “Hell yes, I’m in.”

The championship game that saw the Philadelphia Eagles face the Kansas City Chiefs also had more pre-game performances. Performing “America the Beautiful” was Grammy-winning star Babyface with Colin Denny,...

The 2023 Grammy winners were announced on Sunday, February 5, during two different ceremonies in dozens of categories honoring the best music of the year across a wide range of genres. Most of the awards went out during the Premiere Ceremony that streamed online starting at 3:30pm Eastern/12:30pm Pacific, while the rest were handed out at the prime time telecast hosted for the third year in a row by Trevor Noah. Scroll down for our live updating list of winners in all categories.

SEEBillboard Hot 100: Every #1 song of 2022

These awards honor the best musical achievements from the eligibility period of October 1, 2021, through September 30, 2022. In most categories there are five nomination slots, but in the big four general field races – Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist – there are 10 nominees, a change made just last year and a reflection of...

For over a decade of John Wayne's early career, the actor was considered too much of a lightweight to register as the two-fisted lead in a Western or war flick. At 6' 4", you'd think he'd be an imposing presence, but put him in front of a camera and that immaculate face would undo him every time. In his 20s, Wayne was a beautiful man. Not handsome. Beautiful. As /Film's own Jacob Hall recently noted on Twitter, Wayne was such a knockout, the ultra-sophisticated Marlene Dietrich carried on a torrid affair with him before he was a star. Look at a random picture of The Duke from the early 1930s, and he'll melt your retinas.

While being too much of a hunk for Marlene Dietrich to pass up is not exactly a problem, if you're trying to launch a career as a rugged man of the West, having a sun-kissed...

David J Fernandes. A quick search will reveal that we have written about this local director for a very long time and its been too long since we've last done that. Fernandes is here to make amends with a new web series called Creepy Bits! that launches on Friday across a multitude of digital platforms. Every Friday we will get a new horror short from Fernandes and company, culminating on Halloween night! Fernandes was kind enough to send over a bevy of stills as well. Check out the trailer and the gallery down below.    Creepy Bits Release Schedule Chapter 1: Baby Face  9pm - Friday, Sep 24, 2021 Chapter 2: Occupied  9pm - Friday, Oct 1, 2021 Chapter 3: Special Guest 9pm...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Above: Bone (1972) / The Furies (1950)In 1967, Barbara Stanwyck was looking back on a five-decade career, a feat few of her early Hollywood peers could match. Having spent much of the past decade working exclusively in television—she was an actress, she reasoned, so if movie scripts weren’t coming in, she would act on TV—she had found more failures than success. But by the late 60s, Stanwyck was finally where she wanted to be: the star of The Big Valley, an ABC Western that ran four seasons from 1965 - 1969. Stanwyck played matriarch Victoria Barkley on the series, which focused on the lives and loves of the millionaire Barkley ranching family.Like many series of the time, The Big Valley had a constant stream of guest stars, but one young actor stood out to Stanwyck when he guested on the show as an ex-slave serving as convict labor on the Barkley ranch.

Anya Taylor-Joy is proving she can slide seamlessly into any era, and based on the official trailer for Scott Frank’s adaptation of “The Queen’s Gambit,” she’s going to look flawless while doing it. The latest from Frank, creator of the show “Godless,” sees Taylor-Joy play Beth Harmon, an orphan growing up in the 1950s who earned worldwide success in the field of chess.

Drawing comparisons to the Barbara Stanwyck feature “Baby Face,” young Beth is considered an anomaly for being successful at chess, considering she’s a woman. Beth wants to be the best and beat the current Russian champ. Unfortunately, she also suffers from an intense addiction to pills and alcohol that, coupled with unresolved issues from her past, threaten to turn her genius into madness.

“The Queen’s Gambit” also includes Marielle Heller, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Moses Ingram, Harry Melling, and Bill Camp. Frank co-created “The Queen’s Gambit” with Allan Scott,...

Hoo-haw, as they say… but the hot reputation of this pre-Code slice of censor bait begins and ends with its astonishing original poster. The movie itself isn’t daring in sex, smut or violence, but is instead a highly cinematic art-piece about a woman taking on the sins of men and society. Director Phil Goldstone fashions a labyrinth of flashbacks, flash-forwards and scenes set in a psychological limbo. The woman under pressure is the sensual Zita Johann; she’s falling in a fatalistic tailspin as bleak as any future loser-Noir heroine. UCLA’s 4k restoration comes from the original camera negative.

The Sin of Nora Moran

Blu-ray

The Film Detective

1933 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 65 min. / Street Date July 29, 2020 / 24.99

Starring: Zita Johann, John Miljan, Alan Dinehart, Paul Cavanagh, Sarah Padden, Henry B. Walthall, Cora Sue Collins.

Cinematography: Ira H. Morgan

Film Editor: Otis Garrett

Original Music: [Heinz Roemheld]

Written by Frances Hyland...

The idea of re-opening seemed like a distant vision but now, suddenly, the shutdown is almost over and a resurgence is at hand. But on whose terms? Is this the moment for stars and working crews alike to demand new rules governing everything from working hours to rehearsals to meals to dressing rooms — to personal encounters in general?

But I’m referring to 1933, not 2020. That year, as now, Hollywood had been traumatized by an industrywide production shutdown with massive firings. All of it had been triggered, not by a pandemic, but rather by the shockingly abrupt collapse of the economy. “I hear the steel doors crashing shut all around me,” said a shocked Jack Warner, as banks closed across the country.

The joyride of the 1920s had suddenly come to an end and the process of recovery would be arduous but ultimately successful. Looking back on it a century later,...

The writer/director of The Love Witch talks about her favorite classic women’s pictures.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Love Witch (2016)

Baby Face (1933)

Stromboli (1950)

Europa ’51 (1951)

Fear (1951)

Duel In The Sun (1946)

The Scarlet Empress (1934)

Blonde Venus (1932)

Nora Prentiss (1947)

Woman On The Run (1950)

Wait Until Dark (1967)

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Imitation of Life (1969)

Little Women (2019)

Emma (2020)

My Cousin Rachel (2017)

Sex and the City (2008)

Mamma Mia! (2008)

Mildred Pierce (1945)

The Reckless Moment (1949)

Sudden Fear (1952)

Torch Song (1953)

Captain Marvel (2019)

Other Notable Items

The Captain Trips virus in Stephen King’s novel The Stand (1978)

Marlene Dietrich

Mae West

Jennifer Jones

Joan Crawford

Joan Bennett

Gene Tierney

Barbara Stanwyck

The Hays Code

Cary Grant

Marilyn Monroe

Ingrid Bergman

Roberto Rossellini

The Academy Awards

Bette Davis

Jennifer Jones

Gregory Peck

Joseph Cotten

Travis Banton

Josef von Sternberg

Catherine the Great

The Criterion Collection

Kent Smith

Dan Duryea

Douglas Sirk

Jane Austen

Mildred Pierce TV miniseries...

Here are many more movies to watch when you’re staying in for a while, featuring recommendations from Steven Canals, Larry Karaszewski, Gareth Reynolds, and Alan Arkush with special guest star Blaire Bercy from the Hollywood Food Coalition.

Please support the Hollywood Food Coalition. Text “Give” to 323.402.5704 or visit https://hofoco.org/donate!

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976)

Groundhog Day (1993)

Kung Fu Mama a.k.a. Queen of Fist (1973)

Ali: Fear Eats The Soul (1974)

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (2019)

In The Mood For Love (2000)

Hunger (2008)

The Sweet Hereafter (1997)

Fargo (1996)

Night of the Lepus (1971)

Dolemite Is My Name (2019)

Soylent Green (1973)

Silent Running (1972)

Canyon Passage (1946)

McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)

The Professionals (1966)

Ride Lonesome (1959)

Carrie (1952)

The Heartbreak Kid (1972)

Hello Down There (1969)

The Brass Bottle (1964)

The Trouble With Angels (1966)

Pollyanna (1960)

Tiger Bay (1959)

The Parent Trap (1961)

Endless Night (1972)

The Family Way (1966)

Take A Girl Like You (1970)

Freddy Got Fingered...

With movie theaters having to close their doors to curb the spread of coronavirus, it also meant many previously scheduled festivals had to cancel, postpone, or improvise. The latest to still make things work during these strange circumstances is Turner Classic Movies, whose annual TCM Classic Film Festival was set to take place in mid-April in Los Angeles, celebrating their 11th edition.

They’ve now announced a Special Home Edition to take place April 16-19 on the channel, featuring new restorations of films that previously played at the festival as well as ones slated for this year. They are also featuring interviews with talent from years past, showing both on the channel and on YouTube and social media.

The lineup offers no shortage of cinema history landmarks with The Seventh Seal, North by Northwest, Metropolis, Grey Gardens, They Live by Night, Network, Casablanca, and The Magnificent Ambersons (with Peter Bogdanovich...

Barbara Stanwyck’s spiky strumpet literally sleeps her way to the top in Baby Face, the Sui Generis of gleefully prurient pre-code films that made Warner Bros. ground zero for gloriously salacious entertainment before Will Hays and his fun-killing code spoiled the party. Though Stanwyck’s character engages in some situations that would raise eyebrows even in 2020, she naturally has a heart of gold and and poker-faced George Brent is the lucky fella who benefits. Director Alfred Green (Invasion U.S.A.) specialized in fast-paced, low-budget exploitation fare but thanks to Stanwyck’s all-out performance, Baby Face remains his most memorable achievement.

The post Baby Face appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

Lyon — The 11th Lumière Festival in Lyon, France, opened on Saturday with a celebration of its 10-year anniversary, a tribute to past Lumière Award recipients, and rousing standing ovations for Frances McDormand and Donald Sutherland, who are among the high-profile actors and filmmakers being feted this year.

Dedicated to heritage cinema, the festival was established in 2009 by Thierry Frémaux and Bertrand Tavernier, the Institut Lumière’s respective director and president.

Looking back at its decade-long history, the ceremony, held in Lyon’s cavernous Halle Tony Garnier concert hall, presented clips of all Lumière Award recipients, beginning with Clint Eastwood, who was the first person to receive the prize, followed by Miloš Forman, Gérard Depardieu, Ken Loach, Quentin Tarantino, Pedro Almodóvar, Martin Scorsese, Catherine Deneuve, Wong Kar-wai and Jane Fonda.

Praising Fonda for her activism, Frémaux informed the audience of the actress’ arrest on Friday outside the U.S. Capitol, eliciting...

The House of the Seven Gables

Blu ray

Kino Lorber

1940 / 1:33:1 / 89 Min.

Starring Margaret Lindsay, Vincent Price, George Sanders

Written by Lester Cole

Cinematography by Milton R. Krasner

Directed by Joe May

In 1940’s The House of the Seven Gables, Margaret Lindsay transforms from sunny romantic to stone-faced recluse in the blink of an eye – her startling performance gives a 20th century hot foot to Universal’s 19th century melodrama.

Published in 1851, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel is set during the new era of enlightenment – a superstitious few may resist but the wheels of change are turning – just not fast enough for the Pyncheon family, a seemingly cursed dynasty plagued by corruption and cruelty.

Lindsay plays Hepzibah Pyncheon whose lover Clifford has been framed by his brother Jaffrey for the death of their father. A cold-blooded fop maintaining the family’s avaricious tradition, Jaffrey covets the distinctly gabled ancestral home and its hidden treasures.

Barbara Stanwyck’s spiky strumpet literally sleeps her way to the top in Baby Face, the Sui Generis of gleefully prurient pre-code films that made Warner Bros. ground zero for gloriously salacious entertainment before Will Hays and his fun-killing code spoiled the party. Though Stanwyck’s character engages in some situations that would raise eyebrows even in 2019, she naturally has a heart of gold and and poker-faced George Brent is the lucky fella who benefits. Director Alfred Green (Invasion U.S.A.) specialized in fast-paced, low-budget exploitation fare but thanks to Stanwyck’s all-out performance, Baby Face remains his most memorable achievement.

The post Baby Face appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

What does a working girl have to do to get ahead, when all she has in her favor is an incredible face, a lavish wardrobe, and a pair of legs to make any executive wolf howl? Loretta Young juggles two egotistical swains, while Joan Blondell shines as an enticing all-pro homewrecker.

Big Business Girl

DVD-r

The Warner Archive Collection

1931 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 74 min. / Street Date September 14, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Loretta Young, Frank Albertson, Ricardo Cortez, Joan Blondell, Frank Darien, Dorothy Christy, Oscar Apfel, Judith Barrett, Mickey Bennett, George ‘Gabby’ Hayes, Virginia Sale.

Cinematography: Sol Polito

Film Editor: Pete Fritch

Written by Robert Lord, story by Patricia Reilly & H.N. Swanson

Produced and Directed by William A. Seiter

Let’s hear it for the Warner Archive Collection’s voluminous vault of early ’30s Warners, MGM and Rko entertainments, which has given us a real education about this era of filmmaking.

I’ve always been fascinated by the duality of Pre-Code cinema, which is talked up in classic film circles as a sin-fueled dungeon of excess, but in most cases simply uses outlandish scenarios to moralistic ends. Baby Face might be about a woman sleeping her way to the top of society, but Barbara Stanwyck still has to realize love is more important than all the riches she’s accrued. Scarface might glorify violence, but Paul Muni will still get his in the end. Indulgence and retreat; enjoy the highs, but shape up or be doomed. Similarly, in the 1970s, after the Motion Picture Production Code was shattered and a wave of sex-fueled odysseys came rushing to the screens, they tended to strike out familiar territory, using their exploitative qualities to reinforce the status quo. So it is with The Swinging Cheerleaders. Jack Hill’s 1974 cheapo gets high on its topless women and under-the-table groping,...

It’s easy to see an anti-feminist “Just look what happens to women who break the rules” underneath what is most obviously simply straight-up salaciousness.

Baby Face is a 1933 Hollywood film from the moment just before the so-called Hays Code, which had been created in 1929 but hadn’t had much in the way of teeth, began to be seriously enforced… and it’s pretty clear that outrage over this movie helped contribute to the push for the Code to claim its power to censor. This movie may represent the pinnacle of cinematic “offenses” that pre-Code films committed that had conservatives and self-appointed morality police up in arms: Baby Face is blatantly, openly about sex in a way that few movies ever are, even today. Even “worse,” it’s about a woman using the power of sex to get ahead in the world.

Whether or not Baby Face was seen in...

Woo hoo! The pre-Code marvels return for one last go-round -- tales of sin and moral turpitude but also serious pictures about social issues that the Production Code effectively swept from Hollywood screens -- financial crimes and ethnic bigotry. Forbidden Hollywood Volume 10 Guilty Hands, The Mouthpiece, Secrets of the French Police, The Match King, Ever in My Heart DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1932-1934 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 63, 62, 78, 85, 70 min. / Street Date October 27, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 40.99 Starring Lionel Barrymore, Kay Francis, Madge Evans; Warren William, Sidney Fox, Aline McMahon; Frank Morgan, Gwili Andre, Gregory Ratoff Rochelle Hudson; Warren William, Lili Damita, Glenda Farrell, Claire Dodd; Barbara Stanwyck, Otto Kruger, Ralph Bellamy, Ruth Donnelly. Cinematography Merritt B. Gerstad, Barney McGill; Alfred Gilks; Robert Kurrie; Written by Bayard Veiller; Joseph Jackson, Earl Baldwin, Frank J. Collins; Samuel Ornitz, Robert Tasker; Houston Branch, Sidney Sutherland, Einar Thorvaldson; Bertram Millhauser, Beulah Marie Dix.

Virginia Bruce: MGM actress ca. 1935. Virginia Bruce movies on TCM: Actress was the cherry on 'The Great Ziegfeld' wedding cake Unfortunately, Turner Classic Movies has chosen not to feature any non-Hollywood stars – or any out-and-out silent film stars – in its 2015 “Summer Under the Stars” series.* On the other hand, TCM has come up with several unusual inclusions, e.g., Lee J. Cobb, Warren Oates, Mae Clarke, and today, Aug. 25, Virginia Bruce. A second-rank MGM leading lady in the 1930s, the Minneapolis-born Virginia Bruce is little remembered today despite her more than 70 feature films in a career that spanned two decades, from the dawn of the talkie era to the dawn of the TV era, in addition to a handful of comebacks going all the way to 1981 – the dawn of the personal computer era. Career highlights were few and not all that bright. Examples range from playing the...

Well, I’m glad I’m not the only one who didn’t quite follow this one. In his 1957 review of the film for Cahiers du cinema (reprinted in the booklet accompanying this release), Jean-Luc Godard wrote that Forty Guns “is so rich in invention – despite an incomprehensible plot – and so bursting with daring conceptions that it reminds one of the extravagances of Abel Gance and Stroheim, or purely and simply of Murnau.” For a movie featuring a half-dozen standoffs, at least as many deaths, two musical numbers, and an honest-to-God tornado, nothing much seems to happen in Forty Guns. The tone and tenor of the thing feels as relaxed as Rio Bravo. I’ve seen it twice now, and viewed a few scenes here and there beyond that, and I still can’t quite reconcile the whole. But Godard’s right – it’s a hell of a thing to see.

Flipping through cable TV channels this morning, and landed on a TCM broadcast of the 1933 drama "Baby Face" (it started about an hour before I started typing this) - a film that may have been the first to introduce the Bbf stock character (Bbf of course means Best Black Friend – a usually black actress cast as the leading white actress’ best friend; and even though they’re supposed to be “equals,” the Bbf is often 2 dimensional, there strictly to support her white friend, aiding her in eventually overcoming some personal obstacle). "Baby Face" starred Barbara Stanwyck (the leading white lady) and Theresa Harris (the...

Hedy Lamarr: 'Invention' and inventor on Turner Classic Movies (photo: Hedy Lamarr publicity shot ca. early '40s) Two Hedy Lamarr movies released during her heyday in the early '40s — Victor Fleming's Tortilla Flat (1942), co-starring Spencer Tracy and John Garfield, and King Vidor's H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941), co-starring Robert Young and Ruth Hussey — will be broadcast on Turner Classic Movies on Wednesday, November 12, 2014, at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Pt, respectively. Best known as a glamorous Hollywood star (Ziegfeld Girl, White Cargo, Samson and Delilah), the Viennese-born Lamarr (née Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler), who would have turned 100 on November 9, was also an inventor: she co-developed and patented with composer George Antheil the concept of frequency hopping, currently known as spread-spectrum communications (or "spread-spectrum broadcasting"), which ultimately led to the evolution of wireless technology. (More on the George Antheil and Hedy Lamarr invention further below.) Somewhat ironically,...

Tod Browning’s “Freaks”

Before R-ratings, anti-heroes and gratuitous violence and nudity in mainstream Hollywood movies, there was the Hays Code. As a form of self-policing the industry, virtually every movie released up until 1968 needed that stamp of approval if it wanted distribution. And while it helped produce all of Old Hollywood’s true classics for several decades, it often included ridiculous rulings like not being able to show or flush a toilet on screen, not allowing married couples to be shown sleeping in the same bad or always making sure criminals, even protagonists of the movie, got punished in the end.

But before the Hays Code was nothing, and it was a gloriously weird, scandalous time for the movies. Certain Hollywood films in the early ’30s as “talkies” were rapidly taking hold have since been labeled “Pre-Code” films that never received Hollywood’s stamp of approval.

Every Friday in September,...

Hollywood got away with a hell of a lot before the Production Code, and Turner Classic Movies is offering a weekly taste of the bounty. Alec Baldwin and TCM's Robert Osborne will introduce 24 hours of pre-Code sex, drugs, profanity, nudity and bad behavior every Friday in September. TCM will highlight the freewheeling early careers of Barbara Stanwyck, Mae West, Jean Harlow, Warren William, James Cagney and more who starred in films where the bad guy sometimes won, and where the fallen heroine didn't need, or even want, to be saved. Classics on the docket include "Baby Face," "Footlight Parade," "Freaks," "Trouble in Paradise," "The Story of Temple Drake" and "Scarface" -- all wildly licentious for the time. Without censorship, during the 20s and early 30s sound boom, Hollywood did not sanitize sex, drug use, abortion, prostitution and extreme violence. Here's a look at the Code, which has some whacky do-nots.

Female Perversion: Glazer’s Latest a Strange, Hypnotic Exploration of the Body Feminine

It’s been over a decade now since Jonathan Glazer’s exciting and strange sophomore film Birth (2004), an eerie and unsettling exploration of reincarnation tainted with the specter of pedophilia. While greeted with divisive reactions, his long awaited next feature, Under the Skin seems destined for an equally baffling reaction as he once again employs an A-list star in a nightmarish and disorienting universe of perplexing intention. Have no doubt, however, that Glazer has crafted a cinematic masterpiece that’s surreal, scintillating, and unforgettably strange. While reminiscent of several classic sci-fi titles in its obfuscated execution, it’s most notable ancestor would perhaps be Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth, but only in a rudimentary comparison of narrative. Glazer’s is a menacing look at the construction and consumption of female sexuality.

On the...

I must have been about 12 years old when I first saw Tarzan and His Mate. I loved the Tarzan movies. Tarzan was the undisputed King of the Jungle and was the greatest, Cheetah was man’s best friend, Boy was annoying, and Jane was the Queen of the Jungle and a young male’s introduction to the allure of the female. The uncensored version, with a naked Jane silhouetted while changing clothes in a backlit tent and the spectacular underwater ballet scene would have been a revelation to me; Tarzan and Jane are frolicking in their favorite swimming hole, Tarzan in his usual loincloth and Jane naked – not naked from the waste up, or presumed naked as they hid her behind some lake flora or rocks – Jane was naked.

Madam Satan

Most film fans knowledge of Pre-Code Hollywood movies doesn’t go much further than King Kong, Frankenstein, and a few other titles.

When Peter Guralnick released Last Train to Memphis, the first half of his superb two-volume biography of Elvis Presley, some people must have wondered, "Who needs two books to tell the story of Elvis?" They may as well have grumbled, "Two whole books about America?" Some lives, some careers, push outward and up, expanding until they burst that flimsy constraint we call a frame of reference. In 1933, Barbara Stanwyck defied the Hays Office, that huffy watchdog of our moviegoing morals, with a performance that might have been shocking if it weren't so dazzling in its cold practicality. In Baby Face, Stanwyck's Lily Powers, an oppressed young woman decidedly from the other side of the tracks, watches her abusive father die in a fire -- and almost smiles. She h...

Whether you think of Warner Bros. as the studio that gave you talking pictures, Bugs Bunny, Bogart, or Batman, you have to acknowledge the studio's place at the forefront of Hollywood history. Indeed, it'll be hard to avoid acknowledging it this year, as the studio will be spending 2013 celebrating its 90th birthday. The celebration kicks off with the release of two massive boxed sets of 50-plus discs each, both entitled the "Best of Warner Bros." -- a 100-film set of DVDs and a 50-film set of Blu-rays. Both sets encompass the studio's milestones of the entire sound film era, which Warners itself kicked off in 1927 with the release of "The Jazz Singer." (The sets go all the way up to the 2010 classic-to-be "Inception.") As familiar as these movies are, there's still plenty you may not know about the legendary movie studio, from who the actual Warner Brothers were, to the stars the studio minted,...

If you’ve hunted around for movie bargains, you’ve probably seen some of Mill Creek Entertainment’s 50-Movie Packs on DVD. Apart from other great releases by Mill Creek, these packs are phenomenal boons to cinephiles looking to collect older titles.

There are three new packs available, and I want to not only let you in on a discount code, but I have one of the packs available for you to win.

I know a lot of people may be quick to overlook these packs, and not every movie included stands out as a major value, but there are some great titles in each of them, and fans of the genres will be pleasantly surprised by what they get out of the deal. I have to admit that there is something about seeing a 50-movie pack, especially when it doesn’t cost a couple of hundred dollars, or more,...

No doubt: it's been a very good year for both these stars. And much as I admire Jean Dujardin's sublime performance in The Artist, my hunch is that the industry will favor one of its own on Oscar night. So who will it be -- George or Brad? I'm saving my prediction for a later Oscar piece, but for now simply want to consider these actors' respective contributions, leading up to and including 2011. And you'll note I say "actors," because one thing this past year confirmed was that both these handsome, movie-idol type personalities can, in fact, really act. Some will claim they've always known it, but for me this was a pretty striking discovery. Too often Pitt and Clooney have been constrained by their leading man status to playing cool, heroic protagonists who save the day and get the girl. And they appear to be playing themselves. (Sometimes even on the same screen,...

Bel Ami movie: Robert Pattinson The Bel Ami movie trailer was released a week ago. Now comes the Brazilian Bel Ami trailer (scroll down), which happens to be the (classy) English-language trailer with Portuguese subtitles. The text below is an expanded version of the article posted at the time of the original trailer's release. In the trailer, we get to watch Robert Pattinson play a radically different character from his lovestruck vampire in the Twilight movies. Instead of having sex with Breaking Dawn's virginal Kristen Stewart, in Bel Ami Pattinson keeps himself busy with the more mature Kristin Scott Thomas and a whole array of other females of varying ages, shapes, and civil and social statuses. Two veterans of the British stage, Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod, directed this latest film adaptation of Guy de Maupassant's novel about Georges Duroy, an impoverished but ambitious ex-soldier who uses his drive,...

Beginning a series looking at obscure pre-Code Hollywood films, made between the advent of sound and the strict enforcement of the Production Code. Some of these movies are rightly celebrated and frequently screened: Baby Face (1933), Red Headed Woman (1932), even to some extent Bed of Roses (1933). But others are trapped in copyright limbo or locked in vaults by studios too blind to exploit their holdings. That's the kind we're going to look at.

Tay Garnett was a typical tough-guy director, working in every genre but with a feeling for exotic climes (usually reproduced on the backlot). His reputation—that of a seventh-rate Howard Hawks, maybe—has never been hugely prestigious, and despite his frequently working on the screenplays of Hawks' films, and even making cameo appearances, the notion of Garnett as auteur never really took hold. Maybe, just maybe, this is partly due to the scarcity of some of his most interesting work.

Silent All Quiet On The Western Front: TCM's Library of Congress Tribute [Photo: Kay Francis, Leslie Howard in British Agent.] Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 8:00 Pm The Constant Nymph (1943). A composer finds inspiration in his wife's romantic cousin. Dir: Edmund Goulding. Cast: Charles Boyer, Joan Fontaine, Alexis Smith. Bw-112 mins. 10:00 Pm Baby Face (1933). A beautiful schemer sleeps her way to the top of a banking empire. Dir: Alfred E. Green. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, Donald Cook. Bw-76 mins. 11:30 Pm Two Heads On A Pillow (1934). Once-married attorneys face off during a heated divorce case. Dir: William Nigh. Cast: Neil Hamilton, Miriam Jordan, Henry Armetta. Bw-68 mins. 12:45 Am All Quiet On The Western Front (1930). Young German soldiers try to adjust to the horrors of World War I. Dir: Lewis Milestone. Cast: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray. Bw-134 mins. 3:15 Am : Will Rogers Winging Around Europe (1927). Bw-0 mins. 3:30 Am...

Joan Fontaine-Charles Boyer in Rare The Constant Nymph on TCM. [Photo: Miriam Jordan, Neil Hamilton in Two Heads on a Pillow.] Besides the Edmund Goulding-directed Joan Fontaine-Charles Boyer-Alexis Smith movie The Constant Nymph, other Library of Congress Film Archive entries on Turner Classic Movies tonight include Two Heads on a Pillow (1934), a B comedy directed by William Nigh, an important late silent-era director (Lon Chaney's Mr. Wu, Ramon Novarro's Across to Singapore) later stuck with second-rate fare. Apparently a sort of Adam's Rib predecessor, Two Heads on a Pillow features former silent-era leading man Neil Hamilton (Batman's Commissioner Gordon) and minor leading lady Miriam Jordan as once-married attorneys involved in a divorce case. It's probably worth watching even if only because of its cast, which also includes silent-era veterans Betty Blythe (the title role in the now-lost The Queen of Sheba) and Claire McDowell (Ramon Novarro's leprosy-stricken mom in Ben-Hur,...

Barbara Stanwyck, John Wayne in Alfred E. Green's Baby Face (top); Sandro Panseri in Ermanno Olmi's Il Posto (bottom) In the next few hours, Turner Classic Movies will present one of MGM's last silent films (with synchronized score), one of the best movies of the 1960s, one of the most outrageous pre-Code releases of the early 1930s, and a documentary about the portrayal of women in pre-Code movies. All that in addition to a Wildfire vehicle and a production that sounds a lot like a (however unofficial) remake of Fred Zinnemann's The Search. Either get your various recording devices ready, or start drinking lots and lots of coffee. Starring Renée Adorée (above right), a sensational actress whose style was more naturalistic than that of most performers out there today, Tide of Empire (1929) was one of MGM's last silent-film releases. Allan Dwan, by then already a veteran, directed.

Lamberto Maggiorani in Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves Some good and/or unusual offerings tonight on Turner Classic Movies. Silent Sundays will feature the 1925 version of The Wizard of Oz. Directed by and starring silent-film comedian Larry Semon, The Wizard of Oz features Dorothy Dwan in the role that would become associated with Judy Garland, especially in the minds of some gay men — and that's one mystery I've never been able to fathom. I mean, why Judy's Dorothy? Why Dorothy to begin with? Why not Barbara Stanwyck in Baby Face? Or Norma Shearer in Let Us Be Gay? Or Conrad Veidt in The Man Who Laughs? Or Tyrone Power in The Mark of Zorro? Or Ramon Novarro in Ben-Hur? Or Frances Dee in Blood Money (or The Gay Deception or I Walked with a Zombie)? Why not Toto or Asta? It's a mystery. Albert Lamorisse's Academy Award-winning...

The first film to introduce the Bbf character trope? Bbf of course means Best Black Friend – a usually black actress cast as the leading white actress’ best friend; and even though they’re supposed to be “equals,” the Bbf is often a plot device, there to support her white friend, providing some special insight that helps the white lead overcome some personal obstacle.

I’ve watched the film, titled Baby Face, starring Barbara Stanwyck (the leading white lady) and Theresa Harris (the Bbf), but it’s been awhile since I last saw it.

I was only reminded of it thanks to a completely unrelated post on Ta-Nehisi Coates’ blog on the Atlantic website, in which he references the film, prompting me to revisit it.

Like a lot of black actresses working in Hollywood during the 1930s and 1940s, Theresa Harris was mostly limited to servant roles. And, if I remember correctly,...

American Idol will be rocking an R&B theme on this week’s show and the lucky contestants are set to mentored by none other than the amazing Usher.

Set to perform on the Wednesday night result show (Thursday in the UK) are P Diddy, Usher and the cuter than cute Justin Bieber. We have included the entire songlist that the remaining ten contestants can choose from and we’d love to hear your suggestions. As always, you can leave your comments below!

Songlist (from iTunes)

A Song For Momma – Boyz II Men

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – Diana Ross

Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing – Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

Ain’t Too Proud to Beg – The Temptations

Angel of Mine – Monica

At Your Best You Are Love – Aaliya

Baby I Need Your Loving – The Four Tops

Back At One – Brian McKnight

Back in My Arms Again – The...

What should the "American Idol" Top 10 sing for the R&B/Soul week? Make your picks here.

Even though Usher kinda spilled the "Idol" mentoring beans over the weekend, it was officially announced during the Wednesday, March 24 results show that he would be mentoring the Top 10 for R&B/Soul week.

We love that R&B/Soul reaches way back into Motown because some of the non-Michael Lynche singers need some oldies thrown in there.

The song list is available here, but here is the whole list:

  

    * A Song For Momma - Boyz II Men

    * Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross

    * Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing - Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

    * Ain't Too Proud to Beg - The Temptations

    * Angel of Mine - Monica

    * At Your Best You Are Love - Aaliya

    * Baby I Need Your Loving - The Four Tops

    * Back At One - Brian McKnight...