Despite accusations of plagiarism from What price Hollywood? (1932), the movie was a box office hit and led to three musically-oriented remakes, in 1954 (with Judy Garland), 1976 (with Barbra Streisand) and 2018 (with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper) – it’s tough not to feeel déjà-vu when watching this version, though it is historically the first one! Gaynor’s acting is a bit weak, but Fredric Marsh’s acting, witty dialogues, and well-played supporting characters more than make up for it.

A tell of innocence and greed, fame or forgetfulness, success and failure, glamour and creepy, private and public life, this one of the first movies by Hollywood about Hollywood, and it paved the way for many other self-introspections into Hollywood’s dream factory. This first portrait of behing-the-scene Hollywood moviemaking sheds a witty light on what it costs to become a celebrity, in opposition to the gloss and glamour of most Hollywood movies of the time. The contrasting destinies of the two main characters give a great basis for a social satire of the movies milieu, and the multiple remakes attest to the strength of this narrative.

Finally, the movie has kept most of its freshness even after 80 years and its small flaws disappear behind the efficient direction and Marsh’s charismatic acting.

The Oscar that lead actress Janet Gaynor receives in A Star Is Born is actually the same that she received in real life as Best Actress at the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1928. Two years after playing in A Star Is Born, she turned down the role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, as she wanted to retire from acting.

The post A Star Is Born first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

Their (obviously less talented) rivals from Not the Nine O’Clock News went so far as to denounce ‘Monty Python worshipers’, under the holy guidance of Rowan Atkinson, in an episode that you may watch here on YouTube.

And now for something completely different aimed at introducing the Monty Python to an American audience through some of the funniest sketches of their BBC legendary show ‘the Monty Python’s Flying Circus’. Though it achieved mixed success West of the Atlantic – it’s less a movie than a succession of sketches and requires a sense of humour – , it remains an absolute reference for married couples in search of guidance and lumberjacks with a taste for singing.

From the ‘Dead Parrot’ to the ‘Funniest Joke in the World’, from the ‘Upper Class Twit of the year’ to the ‘Hell’s Grannies’, you will discover / recognise some of their most famous sketches of their first two series of the ‘Flying Circus’.

And now for something completely different:

The post And now for something completely different first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

From the musical debuts of four guys as ‘Smile’ to Queen’s impressive list of hits, this great documentary takes you through the full artistic story of a legendary band. As their relationship with the press was notoriously shaky, there are relatively few archive videos of Queen, and Queen: Days of our Lives is a small gem: two hours of music, anecdotes, May and Taylor interviews, and archive videos.

Priceless!

The post Queen: Days of our Lives first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

Photography, as always with Tarkovsky, is perfect – if you can enjoy a slow-paced movie, you will be taken by its esthetics and formal beauty.

A reflexion on death and grief, on nature and human mind, Solaris is a hypnotic reflexion, a poetic psychological drama that happens to be set in space.

The post Solaris first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

A bewitching, slow, tense, weird movie, Stalker is difficult to define. Most striking is Tarkovsky’s full control of the atmosphere: a forest of sounds, a deeply beautiful photography, a very slow but very dense tempo, the music of the Russian language…

If the magic works, you will believe in the possibility of the Room.

The movie is in Russian but subtitles are available for many languages; don’t forget to turn them on and to select the language of your choice!

The post Stalker first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

Audrey Hepburn meets a charming Cary Grant, as she ponders whether divorcing her husband while on holidays skiing in the French Alps. When she comes back to Paris, her husband’s dead, he left her a mysterious fortune, and thieves are chasin her.

Hepburn and Grant, the streets of Paris, the Jardin du Luxembourg, romance, thrill, and money: Charade is a true classic.

The post Charade first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.