#Litvak

[detournementsmineurs]

Ingrid Bergman dans "Anastasia" d'Anatole Litvak (1956) - adapté de la pièce de théâtre éponyme de Marcelle Maurette (1955), librement inspirée de la vie d'Anna Anderson née Franziska Schanzkowska (1894-1984) qui se faisait passée pour la Grande-Duchesse Anastasia Nikolaïevna Romanova de Russie (1901-1918) - décembre 2024.

[misguidedandperplexed]

What they say: you're a disappointment to your ancestors

What they mean: stop eating fish and dairy together, you misnaged

[bygonely]

Glamorous Photos of French Model Sophie Malgat Litvak from the Early 1950s

[victusinveritas]

A friend and comrade posted this on Facebook. Sharing a link to the film here for your viewing entertainment.

This movie also stars Vincent Price.

[gatabella]

Sophia Loren at Lido nightclub, Paris, c.1962

[citizenscreen]

Anatole Litvak celebrating his GOODBYE AGAIN (Aimez-Vous Brahms) at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival with his stars, Ingrid Bergman, Anthony Perkins, and Yves Montand.

[manderley]

ᴏʟɪᴠɪᴀ ᴅᴇ ʜᴀᴠɪʟʟᴀɴᴅ ɪɴ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗻𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗣𝗶𝘁 (𝟭𝟵𝟰𝟴)

[robertocustodioart]

Sophie Malgat Litvak by Nat Farbman 1952

[rachelmygod]

Mayerling (Anatole Litvak, 1939)

[lobbycards]

The Night of the Generals, Italian lobby card, 1967

[detournementsmineurs]

Ingrid Bergman et Yul Brynner dans “Anastasia” d'Anatole Litvak (1956) - adapté de la pièce de théâtre éponyme de Marcelle Maurette (1955), librement inspirée de la vie d'Anna Anderson née Franziska Schanzkowska (1894-1984) qui se faisait passer pour la Grande-Duchesse Anastasia Nikolaïevna Romanova de Russie (1901-1918) - décembre 2024.

[thursdaymurderbub]

Silver Screen magazine, April 1940

[spockvarietyhour]

Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) directed by Anatole Litvak

[bitter69uk]

Born on this day: brilliant, fragile and intense English stage and film actress Vivien Leigh (5 November 1913 - 8 July 1967). Coincidentally, that weird British TV station Talking Pictures here screened Leigh’s rarely glimpsed, forgotten and unloved 1955 melodrama The Deep Blue Sea (tagline: “What happens to a married woman when she’s trapped between the devil … and the Deep Blue Sea”) on Sunday. (You always know when you’re watching Talking Pictures: the ads are all for walk-in bathtubs, mobility scooters, funeral and will-making services and Dormeo mattresses). For her first film following her Oscar-winning triumph in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Leigh chose this adaptation of Terence Rattigan’s hit stage play. (In between, she was forced to drop out of Elephant Walk (1953) due to mental health struggles and was replaced by Elizabeth Taylor. After this one, Leigh wouldn’t make another film for six years). The Deep Blue Sea is a movie about stoical, genteel suffering and suicide notes over cigarettes and glasses of scotch, with everyone speaking in posh old-school received pronunciation. Costumed by Pierre Balmain, her face a white-powdered mask of pain, Leigh portrays Hester, an upper-crust middle-aged society woman who abandons the security of her fifteen-year marriage to a judge to embark on an ill-fated love affair with a feckless younger man. Anatole Litvak’s direction is stodgy and indifferent (weirdly, he gives Leigh virtually no close-ups). But it can’t help but exert fascination as an addition to Leigh’s gallery of troubled, self-destructive women who either go mad or die by the end of the film: think Myra in Waterloo Bridge (1940), Anna Karenina (1948), Blanche DuBois in Streetcar and Karen Stone in The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone (1961). Deep Blue Sea was clearly filmed within the confines of a studio, but the view from Hester’s window is Battersea. (London is delineated by shots of black cabs, red phone boxes and red buses. British character actress Dandy Nichols from the sitcom Till Death Do Us Part plays Hester’s cockney landlady). (The Deep Blue Sea was very interestingly remade in 2011 by Terence Davies with Rachel Weisz in Leigh’s role).

[nitrateglow]

Thoughts on Five Miles to Midnight (1962)

Movies like this are why I don't take critics seriously. I really enjoyed this one so much more than I expected. It's not a perfect movie-- I found myself wishing Hitchcock had directed it instead-- but it's a deliciously dark psychological thriller.

Sophia Loren and Anthony Perkins are Lisa and Bob, a married couple living in Paris. Bob is a possessive, emotionally unstable jerk. Lisa can't handle the abuse anymore and wants a divorce, but Bob refuses. When Bob takes a flight to Casablanca, the plane crashes midway, reportedly leaving no survivors.

Before Lisa can feel liberated, Bob returns to their apartment days later, bloodied and bruised. Turns out he survived, but he doesn't want her to tell anyone because his life insurance policy will make the two of them rich beyond their wildest dreams. Lisa just wants Bob out of her life, so the two make a deal: Lisa will hide Bob in her apartment while going through the process of collecting the money and then Bob will start a new life elsewhere, never darkening her doorstep again.

Several factors complicate this simple plan: a nosy kid peeking into the apartment from across the street, a sleazy neighbor hoping to put the moves on the now available Lisa, Bob's aggressive sexual jealousy towards his repulsed wife, and Lisa being at her wits' end as her husband tries to convince her to stay with him despite everything.

I was fascinated by the two main characters in this movie. Bob is a narcissist of the highest order and Lisa is vulnerable but manipulative in her own way (we learn she mainly married Bob to escape a bad situation, a truth which makes Bob bitter). Their messy marital drama blended well with the crime element, giving the film the grim vibe of noir.

My only issue is that some of the suspense scenes could have used a surer hand and more tension. I really think Hitchcock would have done a great job with this story. However, as it is, the performances are good and the story kept my interest. I don't get why it's considered such a dud. Maybe it's because none of the characters are super sympathetic? I don't care-- they were INTERESTING and Lisa was sympathetic enough for all her faults, so I was invested.

Also, I love Perkins' sunglasses and leather gloves look. What an aesthetic!

[letterboxd-loggd]

The Long Night (1947) Anatole Litvak

September 8th 2024