#film classics

[film-classics]

Carmen Miranda - The Brazilian Bombshell

Carmen Miranda (born Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha in Marco de Canaveses, Porto on February 9, 1909) was a Portuguese-born Brazilian singer. Nicknamed "The Brazilian Bombshell", she was known for her sass and signature fruit hat outfit that she wore in her American films.

Miranda was introduced to a composer while working at her family's inn, and she soon recorded her first single ("Não vá Simbora") in 1929.  She then signed a two-year contract with Rádio Mayrink Veiga, the most popular Brazilian station of the 1930s. Her rise to stardom in Brazil was linked to the growth of a native style of music: the samba.

At the invitation of US show business impresario, Lee Shubert, who saw her perform in Rio's Cassino da Urca, she came to Broadway and starred in hit musicals: The Streets of Paris and Sons o' Fun.

Her fame grew quickly, and she was formally presented to President Franklin D. Roosevelt at a White House banquet shortly after her arrival in the US.

When news of Broadway's latest star (known as the Brazilian Bombshell) reached Hollywood, Twentieth Century-Fox offered her a contract in 1941. Her most memorable film performances are in the musical numbers of films such as Week-End in Havana (1941) and The Gang's All Here (1943).

After World War II, Miranda's films at Fox were produced in black-and-white, indicative of Hollywood's diminishing interest in her. As a result, Miranda decided to produce her own films to limited success. Although her film career was faltering, her musical career remained solid and she was still a popular nightclub attraction. She continued to tour the US, Europe, and Latin America.

After filming a segment for the NBC variety series The Jimmy Durante Show, where complained of feeling unwell, she died at home in Beverly Hills, California from a heart attack. She was 46 years old.

Legacy:

Was the first contract singer in Brazilian radio history; subsequently, the highest-paid radio singer in Brazil in the 1930s

Chosen by former Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas as a goodwill ambassador in the United States in 1939

Was the first Latin American star to have a block in the forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in 1941

Was Hollywood's highest-paid entertainer and the top female taxpayer in the US in 1945, earning more than $200,000 that year

Has a museum in Rio de Janeiro, Museu Carmen Miranda, established in her honor in 1976

Received the Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique Grande Oficial, a Portuguese order of knighthood, in 1995

Has a square in Hollywood named Carmen Miranda Square with a ceremony headed by honorary mayor of Hollywood Johnny Grant and attended by Brazilian consul general Jorió Gama in 1998

Was one of 500 stars nominated for the American Film Institute's 50 greatest screen legends in 1999

Honored by the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro in 2005 and the Latin America Memorial in São Paulo in 2006 with a Carmen Miranda Forever exhibit to commemorate the 50th anniversary of her death

Bestowed the Ordem do Mérito Cultural by the Ministry of Culture of Brazil in 2009

Was a part of a set of commemorative US Postal Service Latin Music Legends stamps, painted by Rafael Lopez, in 2011

Commemorated in the 2016 Summer Olympics closing ceremony with a tribute

Honored with a Google Doodle on her 108th birthday in 2017

Was the first South American honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6262 Hollywood Boulevard for motion picture

[hannibal-or-maybe-just-rex]

1981: Heavy Metal. Animation Anthology. IMDb 6.6. Very cool soundtrack too.

[lonesomedreamereccentriclover]

Legendary game designer and film lover Hideo Kojima visits the Criterion closet and recommends some great Japanese cinema!

[applebees4prez]

film class is simple. i watch a boring old movie i don’t understand. i sit in the back with a friend and analyze it in a Gay Way. it becomes easier to watch. Movies: The Gay Way.

[schibborasso]

The Day Mars Invaded The Earth, 1963

[sapphire-imeo]

I have to make a short film about my school by Friday omggg

[ooaassiiss]

CANDYMAN (1992)

DIRECTOR(S): Bernard Rose

BRIEF SUMMARY: For decades, the housing projects of Chicago's Cabrini-Green were terrorized by a ghost story about a supernatural, hook-handed killer. In present day, an artist begins to explore the macabre history of Candyman, not knowing it would unravel his sanity and unleash a terrifying wave of violence that puts him on a collision course with destiny.

[thepopculturearchivist]

MOTION PICTURE HERALD, January 17, 1948

[talefoundryshow]

Great Scott, it’s a NEW VIDEO!

Time travel can be heavy… but we don’t think it has to be. Paradoxes can be pretty fun!

[piggyrobloxandmore-yt]

Nick: this movie sucks

Riley: yea

Dasiy: omg she agreed

Riley: wait I didn't here him what did he say

Nick: that this movie sucks

Riley: no it doesn't

Nick: it's 3hrs long

Daisy: omg it is

Riley: have you watched it before

Nick: yes with my family

Riley: but why didn't you tell them that you didn't like the movie

Nick: cause they like the movie and thier my family

Riley: can you treat us like we're family

Nick: no I don't wanna treat you like my family

Riley: im gonna kill you

Nick: omg your threating us

Daisy and Mortimer and Host start laughing.

Riley: I don't even have to teach this class I can just get out and move away

Nick: now your threating us that your gonna move

Riley: your gonna make me cry

Nick: now your gaslighting us

Daisy: Riley just don't say anything or else he may say more

Riley:...

Nick:...

(Btw the thier watching is sound of music and also this actually did happen in our class to and that gave me a random Idea for turning that into this quote. I love my film class)

[althenyxmindscape]

Le Voyage dans la Lune

[film-classics]

Clara Bow - The It Girl

Clara Gordon Bow (born in Brooklyn, New York on July 29, 1905) was an American actress who rose to stardom during the silent film era and successfully made the transition to "talkies" in 1929. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the film It (1927) brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl".

Bow's parents were descended from English and Scots-Irish immigrants who had come to America the generation before. Against her mother's wishes but with her father's support, Bow competed in Brewster publications' magazine's annual nationwide acting contest, "Fame and Fortune", in fall 1921, winning an evening gown and a silver trophy. Bow was then introduced to director Christy Cabanne, who casted her in her first film role.

Encouraged by her father, Bow continued to visit studio agencies asking for parts. She made a handful of films when she caught the eye of Preferred Pictures, which signed her and paid for her move to Hollywood. Bow became a hugely popular actor soon after moving. After her original studio closed down, she became Paramount Pictures' biggest star in the late 1920s. Aside from  It (1927), she made other memorable movies like Wings (1927), the first Academy Award for Best Picture winner.

However,  the pressures of fame, public scandals, and overwork, took their toll on Bow's fragile emotional health. She eventually left Hollywood, her last performance being in 1947, and retired in a ranch in Nevada.

Sadly, she began showing symptoms of psychiatric illness and checked into The Institute of Living. She was was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and after leaving the institution, Bow lived alone in a bungalow in Culver City, where at age 60, she died of a heart attack.

Legacy:

Named as the foremost "baby" of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1924

Listed by the Motion Picture Herald as one of America’s top-10 box office draws from 1927 to 1931, topping the list in 1928 and 1929

Is the model for Max Fleischer's cartoon character Betty Boop, created in 1930

Opened The 'It' Cafe in the Hollywood Plaza Hotel in 1937

Honored with an image on a United States postage stamp in 1994

Nominated for the 1999 American Film Institute "100 Years...100 Stars" list

Is the namesake of a song by 50 Foot Wave in 2004 and another by Taylor Swift in 2024

Has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine Street for motion picture

[universalhorrorblog]

[lonesomedreamereccentriclover]

On January 2nd 2024, the @criterioncollection will release a 4K uhd blu-ray upgrade of the Apu Trilogy with following extras:

SPECIAL FEATURES

4K digital restorations of all three films, undertaken in collaboration with the Academy Film Archive at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and L’Immagine Ritrovata, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the 4K UHD and Blu-ray editions

In the 4K UHD edition: Three 4K UHD discs of the films and three Blu-rays with the films and special features

Audio recordings from 1958 of director Satyajit Ray reading his essay “A Long Time on the Little Road” and in conversation with film historian Gideon Bachmann

Interviews with actors Soumitra Chatterjee, Shampa Srivastava, and Sharmila Tagore; camera assistant Soumendu Roy; and film writer Ujjal Chakraborty

Making “The Apu Trilogy”: Satyajit Ray’s Epic Debut, a video essay by Ray biographer Andrew Robinson

“The Apu Trilogy”: A Closer Look, a program featuring filmmaker, producer, and teacher Mamoun Hassan

Excerpts from the 2003 documentary The Song of the Little Road, featuring composer Ravi Shankar

The Creative Person: “Satyajit Ray,” a 1967 documentary short by James Beveridge, featuring interviews with Ray, several of his actors, members of his creative team, and film critic Chidananda Das Gupta

Footage of Ray receiving an honorary Oscar in 1992

Programs on the restorations by filmmaker Kogonada

PLUS: Essays by critics Terrence Rafferty and Girish Shambu, as well as a selection of Ray’s storyboards for Pather Panchali

Cover by F. Ron Miller

[the-watcher-in-the-sky]