Given that the last Best Actor Oscar recipient with less than an hour of screen time was Jean Dujardin, it’s clear that modern academy voters strongly prefer lengthy lead male roles. That hasn’t always been the case, however, as indicated by the fact that 30 briefer turns than Dujardin’s have been awarded during the category’s 96-year history. Scroll through our photo gallery to find out which 10 Best Actor-winning performances are the shortest of all time.
This countdown is presented in terms of physical screen time, meaning any time an actor actually appears on screen or can be heard off screen. Moments involving non-visible or audible scene presence are not factored in. Unfortunately, one of this category’s 98 winning performances – Emil Jannings – could not be counted since the film is lost, but his concurrently honored and still-intact turn in “The Last Command” puts him in 13th place here.
This countdown is presented in terms of physical screen time, meaning any time an actor actually appears on screen or can be heard off screen. Moments involving non-visible or audible scene presence are not factored in. Unfortunately, one of this category’s 98 winning performances – Emil Jannings – could not be counted since the film is lost, but his concurrently honored and still-intact turn in “The Last Command” puts him in 13th place here.
- 3/28/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Given that the last Best Actor Oscar recipient with less than an hour of screen time was Jean Dujardin, it’s clear that modern academy voters strongly prefer lengthy lead male roles. That hasn’t always been the case, however, as indicated by the fact that 30 briefer turns than Dujardin’s have been awarded during the category’s 96-year history. Scroll through our photo gallery to find out which 10 Best Actor-winning performances are the shortest of all time.
This countdown is presented in terms of physical screen time, meaning any time an actor actually appears on screen or can be heard off screen. Moments involving non-visible or audible scene presence are not factored in. Unfortunately, one of this category’s 98 winning performances – Emil Jannings – could not be counted since the film is lost, but his concurrently honored and still-intact turn in “The Last Command” puts him in 13th place here.
This countdown is presented in terms of physical screen time, meaning any time an actor actually appears on screen or can be heard off screen. Moments involving non-visible or audible scene presence are not factored in. Unfortunately, one of this category’s 98 winning performances – Emil Jannings – could not be counted since the film is lost, but his concurrently honored and still-intact turn in “The Last Command” puts him in 13th place here.
- 3/28/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
In all but two cases over the past decade, the Oscar for Best Actor has gone to performers who exceed their lineups’ screen time averages by at least four minutes. This illustrates the academy’s near-exclusive favoritism toward lengthy lead male roles, which has only increased in recent years. Scroll through our photo gallery to find out which 10 Best Actor-winning performances are the longest of all time.
This countdown is presented in terms of physical screen time, meaning any time an actor actually appears on screen or can be heard off screen. Moments involving silent and non-visible scene presence do not apply here. Unfortunately, one of this category’s 98 winning performances – Emil Jannings – could not be counted since the film is lost, but its reported 94-minute running time indicates that he would not have made the cut anyway.
Six of the entrants on this list are from the 21st century,...
This countdown is presented in terms of physical screen time, meaning any time an actor actually appears on screen or can be heard off screen. Moments involving silent and non-visible scene presence do not apply here. Unfortunately, one of this category’s 98 winning performances – Emil Jannings – could not be counted since the film is lost, but its reported 94-minute running time indicates that he would not have made the cut anyway.
Six of the entrants on this list are from the 21st century,...
- 3/28/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
In all but two cases over the past decade, the Oscar for Best Actor has gone to performers who exceed their lineups’ screen time averages by at least four minutes. This illustrates the academy’s near-exclusive favoritism toward lengthy lead male roles, which has only increased in recent years. Scroll through our photo gallery to find out which 10 Best Actor-winning performances are the longest of all time.
This countdown is presented in terms of physical screen time, meaning any time an actor actually appears on screen or can be heard off screen. Moments involving silent and non-visible scene presence do not apply here. Unfortunately, one of this category’s 98 winning performances – Emil Jannings – could not be counted since the film is lost, but its reported 94-minute running time indicates that he would not have made the cut anyway.
Six of the entrants on this list are from the 21st century,...
This countdown is presented in terms of physical screen time, meaning any time an actor actually appears on screen or can be heard off screen. Moments involving silent and non-visible scene presence do not apply here. Unfortunately, one of this category’s 98 winning performances – Emil Jannings – could not be counted since the film is lost, but its reported 94-minute running time indicates that he would not have made the cut anyway.
Six of the entrants on this list are from the 21st century,...
- 3/28/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Since the inception of the Academy Awards, the U.S.-based organization behind them has always strived to honor worldwide film achievements. Their extensive roster of competitive acting winners alone consists of artists from 30 unique countries, three of which first gained representation during the 2020s. The last full decade’s worth of triumphant performers hail from eight countries, while 42.1% of the individual actors nominated during that time originate from outside of America.
The academy’s history of recognizing acting talent on a global scale dates all the way back to the inaugural Oscars ceremony in 1929, when Swiss-born Emil Jannings (who was of German and American parentage) won Best Actor for his work in both “The Last Command” and “The Way of All Flesh.” Over the next three years, the Best Actress prize was exclusively awarded to Canadians: Mary Pickford (“Coquette”), Norma Shearer (“The Divorcee”), and Marie Dressler (“Min and Bill...
The academy’s history of recognizing acting talent on a global scale dates all the way back to the inaugural Oscars ceremony in 1929, when Swiss-born Emil Jannings (who was of German and American parentage) won Best Actor for his work in both “The Last Command” and “The Way of All Flesh.” Over the next three years, the Best Actress prize was exclusively awarded to Canadians: Mary Pickford (“Coquette”), Norma Shearer (“The Divorcee”), and Marie Dressler (“Min and Bill...
- 3/18/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Since the establishment of the Academy Awards in 1929, exactly 60 films have achieved lone lead male acting nominations, meaning they were each recognized in the Best Actor category and nowhere else. The last such instance occurred in 2023 and involved “Aftersun” star Paul Mescal, who, at 26, stood out as the youngest member of a lineup consisting only of first-time Oscar contenders. Although his low-budget movie had a strong shot at an original screenplay bid and was viewed as a serious Best Picture candidate, it ended up getting no love outside the acting branch.
Before Mescal was recognized, his category hadn’t seen a lone nominee since Willem Dafoe earned his first lead bid for “At Eternity’s Gate” in 2019. This was the ninth time that four or more years separated consecutive Best Actor loners, with the single largest gap having spread between Cary Grant and Clifton Webb. Such nominations appear to be becoming less common in this category,...
Before Mescal was recognized, his category hadn’t seen a lone nominee since Willem Dafoe earned his first lead bid for “At Eternity’s Gate” in 2019. This was the ninth time that four or more years separated consecutive Best Actor loners, with the single largest gap having spread between Cary Grant and Clifton Webb. Such nominations appear to be becoming less common in this category,...
- 1/22/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
(Welcome to Did They Get It Right?, a series where we look at an Oscars category from yesteryear and examine whether the Academy's winner stands the test of time.)
We are in somewhat of a transitional period with how we think about the acting categories for entertainment awards. This, primarily, has to do with gender. We have had separate categories for female and male performers for decades upon decades, but if you really stop to think about it, there is no difference in what a female actor does compared to a male one. Why shouldn't Colin Farrell in "The Banshees of Inisherin" compete against Cate Blanchett in "TÁR"? Of course, the worry is that in our patriarchal society, men will come to dominate that category and fewer women will be nominated and win. Then you have the added issue of non-binary performers being forced to slot themselves in a particular...
We are in somewhat of a transitional period with how we think about the acting categories for entertainment awards. This, primarily, has to do with gender. We have had separate categories for female and male performers for decades upon decades, but if you really stop to think about it, there is no difference in what a female actor does compared to a male one. Why shouldn't Colin Farrell in "The Banshees of Inisherin" compete against Cate Blanchett in "TÁR"? Of course, the worry is that in our patriarchal society, men will come to dominate that category and fewer women will be nominated and win. Then you have the added issue of non-binary performers being forced to slot themselves in a particular...
- 8/6/2023
- by Mike Shutt
- Slash Film
Boris Karloff: The Man Behind The Monster director Thomas Hamilton on his upcoming series Horror Icons on interviewing Roger Corman: “He not only worked with Vincent Price, he worked with Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone, Lon Chaney.” Photo: Thomas Hamilton
Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone, Conrad Veidt, Maria Ouspenskaya, George Zukor, Paul Wegener, Emil Jannings, Brigitte Helm, Gale Sondergaard, Gloria Holden, Claude Rains, Fay Wray, Duane Jones, Max Schreck, Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Lon Chaney Sr., Lon Chaney Jr, Fw Murnau’s Faust and Nosferatu, Arthur Lubin’s Phantom of the Opera, Rowland V. Lee’s Son of Frankenstein, George Waggner’s The Wolf Man, James Whale’s The Invisible Man, Lambert Hillyer’s Dracula’s Daughter, Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Paul Wegener and Henrik Galeen’s The Golem, Hanns Heinz Ewers and Stellan Rye’s The Student Of Prague, and George Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead...
Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone, Conrad Veidt, Maria Ouspenskaya, George Zukor, Paul Wegener, Emil Jannings, Brigitte Helm, Gale Sondergaard, Gloria Holden, Claude Rains, Fay Wray, Duane Jones, Max Schreck, Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Lon Chaney Sr., Lon Chaney Jr, Fw Murnau’s Faust and Nosferatu, Arthur Lubin’s Phantom of the Opera, Rowland V. Lee’s Son of Frankenstein, George Waggner’s The Wolf Man, James Whale’s The Invisible Man, Lambert Hillyer’s Dracula’s Daughter, Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Paul Wegener and Henrik Galeen’s The Golem, Hanns Heinz Ewers and Stellan Rye’s The Student Of Prague, and George Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead...
- 4/1/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
There were numerous superstars during the silent era from the clown princes of comedy Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd to such dramatic and action icons as Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino, John Gilbert, Greta Garbo, Gloria Swanson and Lillian Gish. One was a good boy — the German Shepherd Rin Tin Tin. Not only is Rin Tin Tin, aka Rinty, credited with saving Warner Bros., but Hollywood lore also insists he, not Emil Jannings, was the first Best Actor Oscar winner.
With Warner Brothers celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and the Academy Awards just around the corner, it’s time to look at the Rinty phenomenon and its place in Hollywood history.
Rinty wasn’t the first canine star. Blair, the pet collie of British director Cecil Hepworth, headlined his 1905 thriller “Rescued by Rover.” The film was so popular it had to be shot twice because the...
With Warner Brothers celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and the Academy Awards just around the corner, it’s time to look at the Rinty phenomenon and its place in Hollywood history.
Rinty wasn’t the first canine star. Blair, the pet collie of British director Cecil Hepworth, headlined his 1905 thriller “Rescued by Rover.” The film was so popular it had to be shot twice because the...
- 2/27/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
There's one thing you can say about every single Academy Award nominee: whether they're good films or bad films, beloved or obscure, they are officially in the history books. Future movie lovers will read about them and, often, watch them out of either passionate interest or mild curiosity, decades later.
And that's a very good thing because a lot of the films that are nominated for the Oscars fall into obscurity pretty quickly. We may remember most of the Best Picture winners, for example, but what about the other films in contention? "Casablanca" won Best Picture at the 16th Academy Awards and it's a film most people can quote directly, even if they've never watched it before. But there's a good chance that many of its fellow nominees that same year — films like "The Human Comedy," "The More the Merrier," and "Watch On the Rhine" — aren't nearly as well known today.
And that's a very good thing because a lot of the films that are nominated for the Oscars fall into obscurity pretty quickly. We may remember most of the Best Picture winners, for example, but what about the other films in contention? "Casablanca" won Best Picture at the 16th Academy Awards and it's a film most people can quote directly, even if they've never watched it before. But there's a good chance that many of its fellow nominees that same year — films like "The Human Comedy," "The More the Merrier," and "Watch On the Rhine" — aren't nearly as well known today.
- 2/9/2023
- by William Bibbiani
- Slash Film
The Best Actor Oscar has been the pinnacle for leading men since the first Academy Awards in 1929 when the film industry started honoring its best and brightest.
Candidates for 2023 are many, including Hugh Jackman (The Son), Brendan Fraser (The Whale), Austin Butler (Elvis) and Christian Bale (Amsterdam), to mention but a few. Only time will tell who gets the next Best Actor Oscar, but time has told who the winners have been throughout history, and we have them all here for you.
The first winner was Emil Jannings, who was recognized for two films The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. The latter film, directed by Victor Fleming, is considered a lost film. Only two fragments survive, both from the end, making Jannings’ Academy Award-winning performance the only one of which there is no complete copy. That first year is also the only time that Oscars were awarded for multiple performances.
Candidates for 2023 are many, including Hugh Jackman (The Son), Brendan Fraser (The Whale), Austin Butler (Elvis) and Christian Bale (Amsterdam), to mention but a few. Only time will tell who gets the next Best Actor Oscar, but time has told who the winners have been throughout history, and we have them all here for you.
The first winner was Emil Jannings, who was recognized for two films The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. The latter film, directed by Victor Fleming, is considered a lost film. Only two fragments survive, both from the end, making Jannings’ Academy Award-winning performance the only one of which there is no complete copy. That first year is also the only time that Oscars were awarded for multiple performances.
- 8/29/2022
- by David Morgan
- Deadline Film + TV
The public considers the Academy Awards as a Hollywood event. True, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences is headquartered in Southern California, and most of the best pic contenders are American and/or in the English language. But Oscar history proves they have been an international event from the beginning.
In the first year (1927-28), there were nominations for directors Herbert Brenon (born in Ireland) and Lewis Milestone (born in Moldova), plus a special award to Charlie Chaplin (from the U.K.).
The next five years saw two noms apiece for directors Ernst Lubitsch (Germany) and Josef von Sternberg (Austria). And the second best actress Academy Award was given to Canadian Mary Pickford.
The early years of Oscar featured a slew of non-Americans. Aside from mega-star Chaplin, the list of early Academy Award winners includes Emil Jannings, George Arliss (U.K.), Claudette Colbert (raised in the U.S. but...
In the first year (1927-28), there were nominations for directors Herbert Brenon (born in Ireland) and Lewis Milestone (born in Moldova), plus a special award to Charlie Chaplin (from the U.K.).
The next five years saw two noms apiece for directors Ernst Lubitsch (Germany) and Josef von Sternberg (Austria). And the second best actress Academy Award was given to Canadian Mary Pickford.
The early years of Oscar featured a slew of non-Americans. Aside from mega-star Chaplin, the list of early Academy Award winners includes Emil Jannings, George Arliss (U.K.), Claudette Colbert (raised in the U.S. but...
- 1/22/2022
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
Since the first Best Actor Award was presented to Emil Jannings in 1927, 83 men have heard their names called on the big night, 10 of whom have won more than once in that category. Let’s take a look back at the 22 men in the 21st century who have taken this award. Each of those official acceptance speeches is available below to watch. We have also included one made by Anthony Hopkins, who wasn’t able to attend in 2021 to accept for “The Father,” even though it was recorded the following morning.
Katharine Hepburn is currently the only individual to win four acting Oscars, all in the leading category. However, Daniel Day-Lewis has come close, winning his third Best Actor statue in 2012, a feat Frances McDormand has accomplished on the Best Actress side. Laurence Olivier and Spencer Tracy hold the record for most Best Actor nominations at nine, while Jack Nicholson holds...
Katharine Hepburn is currently the only individual to win four acting Oscars, all in the leading category. However, Daniel Day-Lewis has come close, winning his third Best Actor statue in 2012, a feat Frances McDormand has accomplished on the Best Actress side. Laurence Olivier and Spencer Tracy hold the record for most Best Actor nominations at nine, while Jack Nicholson holds...
- 10/7/2021
- by Susan Pennington and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
The Academy Awards have been handing out a Best Actor trophy since the very first ceremony in 1928. Emil Jannings for a combo of “The Last Command” and “The Way of All Flesh” was the first recipient for his leading roles. The most recent champ was Joaquin Phoenix for “Joker.”
Since then, only one man has won the category three times: Daniel Day-Lewis for “My Left Foot,” “There Will Be Blood” and “Lincoln.” The only two times with back-to-back victories were for Spencer Tracy (“Captains Courageous” and “Boys Town”) and Tom Hanks (“Philadelphia” and “Forrest Gump”).
Beyond those two actors, the ones with two lead wins have included Marlon Brando, Gary Cooper, Dustin Hoffman, Fredric March, Jack Nicholson and Sean Penn. Tracy and Laurence Olivier are the ones with the most nominations at nine.
The oldest winner was Henry Fonda (“On Golden Pond”) at age 76. The oldest nominee was Anthony Hopkins...
Since then, only one man has won the category three times: Daniel Day-Lewis for “My Left Foot,” “There Will Be Blood” and “Lincoln.” The only two times with back-to-back victories were for Spencer Tracy (“Captains Courageous” and “Boys Town”) and Tom Hanks (“Philadelphia” and “Forrest Gump”).
Beyond those two actors, the ones with two lead wins have included Marlon Brando, Gary Cooper, Dustin Hoffman, Fredric March, Jack Nicholson and Sean Penn. Tracy and Laurence Olivier are the ones with the most nominations at nine.
The oldest winner was Henry Fonda (“On Golden Pond”) at age 76. The oldest nominee was Anthony Hopkins...
- 4/20/2021
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
In 1929, international movie star Emil Jannings won the first best actor Oscar for his work in two films, The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh.
Preparing to return to his native Germany when his win was announced — three months before the first Academy Awards ceremony — he made sure to pick up his award before he left, writing to the Academy: “I therefore ask you to kindly hand me now already the statuette award to me.”
Oscar in hand, Jannings returned to Europe after a six-picture sojourn in America and resumed his illustrious career as a ...
Preparing to return to his native Germany when his win was announced — three months before the first Academy Awards ceremony — he made sure to pick up his award before he left, writing to the Academy: “I therefore ask you to kindly hand me now already the statuette award to me.”
Oscar in hand, Jannings returned to Europe after a six-picture sojourn in America and resumed his illustrious career as a ...
- 3/16/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
In 1929, international movie star Emil Jannings won the first best actor Oscar for his work in two films, The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh.
Preparing to return to his native Germany when his win was announced — three months before the first Academy Awards ceremony — he made sure to pick up his award before he left, writing to the Academy: “I therefore ask you to kindly hand me now already the statuette award to me.”
Oscar in hand, Jannings returned to Europe after a six-picture sojourn in America and resumed his illustrious career as a ...
Preparing to return to his native Germany when his win was announced — three months before the first Academy Awards ceremony — he made sure to pick up his award before he left, writing to the Academy: “I therefore ask you to kindly hand me now already the statuette award to me.”
Oscar in hand, Jannings returned to Europe after a six-picture sojourn in America and resumed his illustrious career as a ...
- 3/16/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Organizations that give awards think every category is important. The American public, on the other hand, seems to only care about best picture, actor and actress.
However, to millions of people around the world, the most important category is the one devoted to movies that are not in the English language — what the Oscars call international feature film and what the Globes call foreign language.
For them, it’s not just about validation for one movie. Brillante Ma Mendoza, director of this year’s Philippines Oscar submission “Mindanao,” says, “An Oscar is more than a trophy,” adding that a nomination or win would be proof that “the whole Philippine film industry can stand with the best.”
Poland has been nominated three times in the past five years, including one win. Director Małgorzata Szumowska hopes the momentum carries to her film this year, “Never Gonna Snow Again.” After the award to Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Ida,...
However, to millions of people around the world, the most important category is the one devoted to movies that are not in the English language — what the Oscars call international feature film and what the Globes call foreign language.
For them, it’s not just about validation for one movie. Brillante Ma Mendoza, director of this year’s Philippines Oscar submission “Mindanao,” says, “An Oscar is more than a trophy,” adding that a nomination or win would be proof that “the whole Philippine film industry can stand with the best.”
Poland has been nominated three times in the past five years, including one win. Director Małgorzata Szumowska hopes the momentum carries to her film this year, “Never Gonna Snow Again.” After the award to Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Ida,...
- 1/27/2021
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
One Shot is a series that seeks to find an essence of cinema history in one single image of a movie. F.W. Murnau's The Last Laugh (1924) is showing May 3 - June 2, 2020 in the United States in the series Weimar Cinema.An aging doorman (Emil Jannings), portly and pleasant and proud of his job, has become an eyesore for the decorous hotel where he works, and is unceremoniously deposed from his job. He becomes inconsolable. This is a man who defines himself by his vocation, who isn’t even given a name. At night, he bumbles down the streets in drunken discomfiture, cowering as buildings conspire and the city threatens to crush him. Even his imperial beard, redolent of Franz Josef’s formidable whiskers, can’t hide the look of destitution on his face. F. W. Murnau’s The Last Laugh shares with its viewers many moments of vulnerability, moments...
- 5/29/2020
- MUBI
As Disney quietly disappears huge swathes of film history into its vaults, I'm going to spend 2020 celebrating Twentieth Century Fox and the Fox Film Corporation's films, what one might call their output if only someone were putting it out.And now they've quietly disappeared William Fox's name from the company: guilty by association with Rupert Murdoch, even though he never associated with him.***The coming of sound cost the American film industry plenty: it forced them to soundproof their stages, refit their theaters, and it rendered a fair few actors unemployable, by reason of heavy accents or lack of facility with the English language. In fact, one of the founders of 20th Century Fox was the comedy star Raymond Griffith, whose damaged vocal cords prevented him speaking above a croak, and who made the transition to writing and producing when he saw the writing on the wall. But on the other hand,...
- 3/18/2020
- MUBI
The experts were right when they said that silent filmmaking was developing something unique and beautiful, before talkies came along and spoiled the party with all that noise. This ‘handy three-pack’ of once-obscure Josef von Sternberg classics proves the theory 100% — his intense dramas excite audiences with something that’s gone missing from the movies, or the cinema or whatever you want to call it: the magic of visual stylization in the service of basic human emotions. Before Marlene there was Evelyn Brent and Betty Compson: Sternberg presents them as shimmering visions.
3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 529, 530, 531
1927-28 / B&w / 1:33 Silent Ap / 81, 88, 75 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 8, 2019 / 79.96
Starring: George Bancroft, Evelyn Brent, Clive Brook; Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent, William Powell; George Bancroft, Betty Compson, Olga Baclanova.
Cinematography: Bert Glennon; Bert Glennon; Harold Rosson
Original Music: multiple scores by Robert Israel,...
3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 529, 530, 531
1927-28 / B&w / 1:33 Silent Ap / 81, 88, 75 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 8, 2019 / 79.96
Starring: George Bancroft, Evelyn Brent, Clive Brook; Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent, William Powell; George Bancroft, Betty Compson, Olga Baclanova.
Cinematography: Bert Glennon; Bert Glennon; Harold Rosson
Original Music: multiple scores by Robert Israel,...
- 10/22/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
A Look Back: Murnau’s ‘Faust’A fun evening with friends including my friend Christa Lang Fuller, who introduced me to the 96 year old former actress Noreen Nash, (see blog) not too long ago. Christa hosted an evening with Justin from the Academy Museum, from next door and French American producer Martine Melloul and me to watch the vintage film ‘Faust’.
Christa is my age, German born, and was a young actress in Paris when she met the director Sam Fuller. At 23 she married him and eventually they left Paris for the U.S. They had a daughter, Samantha and she has a daughter, Samia. Sam died in 1997 and so the three women live in a beautiful warm and welcoming home on Woodrow Wilson Drive.
Christa has a sort of salon and along with her stories she feeds us food in abundance. This time Justin from the Academy Museum brought...
Christa is my age, German born, and was a young actress in Paris when she met the director Sam Fuller. At 23 she married him and eventually they left Paris for the U.S. They had a daughter, Samantha and she has a daughter, Samia. Sam died in 1997 and so the three women live in a beautiful warm and welcoming home on Woodrow Wilson Drive.
Christa has a sort of salon and along with her stories she feeds us food in abundance. This time Justin from the Academy Museum brought...
- 7/30/2019
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Robert Siodmak's Phantom Lady (1944) and The Killers (1946) are showing in March and April, 2019 on Mubi in many countries around the world.The KillersThere’s a long-told apocryphal story about German-born silent film star Emil Jannings. He was the first-ever winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1929. After his career had waned, he would return to his homeland and form close ties with Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda. His stardom was renewed within the Third Reich’s film industry. When Berlin was reduced to rubble and Allied troops advanced on Jannings’ home, the story goes that he held his golden statuette aloft and shouted some placating words to the soldiers: “Don’t shoot, I won an Oscar!” True or not, Jannings’ tale is a cruel sort of reversal of the reality faced by artists who were forced to escape Europe during the Nazis’ reign. Throughout the thirties,...
- 4/2/2019
- MUBI
It could be lucky No. 7 and 13 for Glenn Close. She picked up her seventh Oscar nomination on Tuesday, for Best Actress for “The Wife,” which did not get any other nominations. If Close’s name is finally in the envelope on Oscar day, she’d be the 13th winner in the category as the only nominee for her film.
The first 12 were:
1. Mary Pickford, “Coquette” (1928/29)
2. Marie Dressler, “Min and Bill” (1930/31)
3. Helen Hayes, “The Sin of Madelon Claudet” (1931/32)
4. Katharine Hepburn, “Morning Glory” (1932/33)
5. Bette Davis, “Dangerous” (1935)
6. Joanne Woodward, “The Three Faces of Eve” (1957)
7. Sophia Loren, “Two Women” (1961)
8. Jodie Foster, “The Accused” (1988)
9. Kathy Bates, “Misery” (1990)
10. Jessica Lange, “Blue Sky” (1994)
11. Charlize Theron, “Monster” (2003)
12. Julianne Moore, “Still Alice” (2014)
Twelve times in the Oscars’ 90-year history doesn’t sound like a lot, but it is when you look at Best Actor, which only has five solo nominee winners: Emil Jannings, Jose Ferrer, Cliff Robertson, Michael Douglas and Forest Whitaker.
The first 12 were:
1. Mary Pickford, “Coquette” (1928/29)
2. Marie Dressler, “Min and Bill” (1930/31)
3. Helen Hayes, “The Sin of Madelon Claudet” (1931/32)
4. Katharine Hepburn, “Morning Glory” (1932/33)
5. Bette Davis, “Dangerous” (1935)
6. Joanne Woodward, “The Three Faces of Eve” (1957)
7. Sophia Loren, “Two Women” (1961)
8. Jodie Foster, “The Accused” (1988)
9. Kathy Bates, “Misery” (1990)
10. Jessica Lange, “Blue Sky” (1994)
11. Charlize Theron, “Monster” (2003)
12. Julianne Moore, “Still Alice” (2014)
Twelve times in the Oscars’ 90-year history doesn’t sound like a lot, but it is when you look at Best Actor, which only has five solo nominee winners: Emil Jannings, Jose Ferrer, Cliff Robertson, Michael Douglas and Forest Whitaker.
- 1/24/2019
- by Joyce Eng
- Gold Derby
Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday.
This week’s question: What is the worst performance by a great actor you usually love?
Carlos Aguilar (@Carlos_Film), The Wrap, Remezcla, MovieMaker Magazine
Collectively, Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna have been enlisted to enhance films by Almodovar, Spielberg, Larraín, Korine, and, of course, Alfonso Cuarón; in addition to many more efforts by the world’s leading directors. Both have also tried their hand at directing, with Luna having a more notable run behind the camera, and more recently basked in the attention of worldwide mainstream success in the form of “Coco” and “Rogue One.”
Yet, buried underneath that steady stream of good marks and auteur-driven opportunities, most of which this critic has been a champion of, is “Casa de Mi Padre.” Matt Piedmont’s debut feature, a Spanish-language satire starring Will Ferrell,...
This week’s question: What is the worst performance by a great actor you usually love?
Carlos Aguilar (@Carlos_Film), The Wrap, Remezcla, MovieMaker Magazine
Collectively, Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna have been enlisted to enhance films by Almodovar, Spielberg, Larraín, Korine, and, of course, Alfonso Cuarón; in addition to many more efforts by the world’s leading directors. Both have also tried their hand at directing, with Luna having a more notable run behind the camera, and more recently basked in the attention of worldwide mainstream success in the form of “Coco” and “Rogue One.”
Yet, buried underneath that steady stream of good marks and auteur-driven opportunities, most of which this critic has been a champion of, is “Casa de Mi Padre.” Matt Piedmont’s debut feature, a Spanish-language satire starring Will Ferrell,...
- 1/14/2019
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
It took cojones for Chevy Chase — forever and always holiday-roading patriarch Clark Griswold — to star in a remake of F.W. Murnau's monumental 1924 silent The Last Laugh. Oh, wait. That's not what this is? An original story by writer-director Greg Pritikin, you say, about a retired talent manager, Al Hart (Chase), who hits the road with a former client, Buddy Green (Richard Dreyfuss), to rekindle their glory days? Ok, well, at least Murnau won't be rolling over in his grave with Emil Jannings.
Viewers' eyes will spin in their sockets, however, from the first ...
Viewers' eyes will spin in their sockets, however, from the first ...
- 1/11/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
It took cojones for Chevy Chase — forever and always holiday-roading patriarch Clark Griswold — to star in a remake of F.W. Murnau's monumental 1924 silent The Last Laugh. Oh, wait. That's not what this is? An original story by writer-director Greg Pritikin, you say, about a retired talent manager, Al Hart (Chase), who hits the road with a former client, Buddy Green (Richard Dreyfuss), to rekindle their glory days? Ok, well, at least Murnau won't be rolling over in his grave with Emil Jannings.
Viewers' eyes will spin in their sockets, however, from the first ...
Viewers' eyes will spin in their sockets, however, from the first ...
- 1/11/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
10 random things that happened on this day, October 3rd, in showbiz history
1918 Centennial Alert: Ernst Lubitsch's The Eyes of the Mummy, starring Pola Negri and future Oscar winner Emil Jannings, premieres in Germany. It will take four years to make it to the Us. You can watch this early horror film in its entirety on YouTube. It's not very good but Lubitsch would go on to a brilliant career directing screwball comedies. Negri plays a girl rescued from captivity in an ancient Egyptian temple but her nightmare is only just beginning!
1929 Actress Jeanne Eagels, the star of The Letter that year, dies of a drug overdose at 39, after which she becomes the first (and still only) actress ever Oscar-nominated posthumously...
1918 Centennial Alert: Ernst Lubitsch's The Eyes of the Mummy, starring Pola Negri and future Oscar winner Emil Jannings, premieres in Germany. It will take four years to make it to the Us. You can watch this early horror film in its entirety on YouTube. It's not very good but Lubitsch would go on to a brilliant career directing screwball comedies. Negri plays a girl rescued from captivity in an ancient Egyptian temple but her nightmare is only just beginning!
1929 Actress Jeanne Eagels, the star of The Letter that year, dies of a drug overdose at 39, after which she becomes the first (and still only) actress ever Oscar-nominated posthumously...
- 10/3/2018
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
The Captain (Der Hauptmann) director Robert Schwentke: "There's certain conventions in German cinema." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
In the first instalment of my conversation with Robert Schwentke at the Quad Cinema, the director of Red, R.I.P.D., and Flightplan talks about his latest film The Captain (Der Hauptmann), shot by Florian Ballhaus and starring Max Hubacher with Alexander Fehling, Milan Peschel, Frederick Lau, Bernd Hölscher, Waldemar Kobus, Samuel Finzi, and Wolfram Koch.
Max Hubacher stars as Willi Herold in The Captain
Robert Schwentke also discusses with me the significance of the uniform for Emil Jannings in Fw Murnau's Der Letzte Mann; Heinz Rühmann in Helmut Käutner's Der Hauptmann Von Köpenick, based on Carl Zuckmayer's play; being a "big fan" of Bierkampf director and star Herbert Achternbusch; Heinz Schirk's Die Wannseekonferenz and Theodor Kotulla's Aus einem Deutschen Leben; certain conventions of German cinema, and...
In the first instalment of my conversation with Robert Schwentke at the Quad Cinema, the director of Red, R.I.P.D., and Flightplan talks about his latest film The Captain (Der Hauptmann), shot by Florian Ballhaus and starring Max Hubacher with Alexander Fehling, Milan Peschel, Frederick Lau, Bernd Hölscher, Waldemar Kobus, Samuel Finzi, and Wolfram Koch.
Max Hubacher stars as Willi Herold in The Captain
Robert Schwentke also discusses with me the significance of the uniform for Emil Jannings in Fw Murnau's Der Letzte Mann; Heinz Rühmann in Helmut Käutner's Der Hauptmann Von Köpenick, based on Carl Zuckmayer's play; being a "big fan" of Bierkampf director and star Herbert Achternbusch; Heinz Schirk's Die Wannseekonferenz and Theodor Kotulla's Aus einem Deutschen Leben; certain conventions of German cinema, and...
- 7/27/2018
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
10 random things that happened on this day (July 23rd) in showbiz history.
1884 Emil Jannings born in Switzerland. In 1928 he will become the first man to ever win the Best Actor Oscar. He won for his roles in the silent films The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. He was the only man to ever win for a silent film until Jean DuJardin took the Oscar for The Artist (2011)
Montgomery Clift, Amy Adams, Woody Harrelson, Vanessa Williams and more after the jump...
1884 Emil Jannings born in Switzerland. In 1928 he will become the first man to ever win the Best Actor Oscar. He won for his roles in the silent films The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. He was the only man to ever win for a silent film until Jean DuJardin took the Oscar for The Artist (2011)
Montgomery Clift, Amy Adams, Woody Harrelson, Vanessa Williams and more after the jump...
- 7/23/2018
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
What, another docu about Nazis? Rüdiger Suchsland’s show tells the entire story — with many rare clips and interesting actor and filmmaker profiles — of the hundreds of state-produced German films made during the Third Reich. It’s the most thorough, informative and eye-opening show on the subject I’ve yet seen. It comes with revelations about some surprising names, like Douglas Sirk and Ingrid Bergman.
Hitler’s Hollywood
DVD
Kino Lorber
2017 / Color & B&W / 1:78 enhanced widescreen / 105 min. / Street Date July 10, 2018 / Hitlers Hollywood: Das deutsche Kino im Zeitalter der Propaganda 1933 – 1945 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Narrated by Udo Kier
With film clips of Hans Albers, Heinz Rühmann, Zarah Leander, Ilse Werner, Marianne Hoppe, Gustaf Gründgens, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Alfred Abel, Lída Baaroví, Willy Fritsch, Gustav Fröhlich, Lilian Harvey, Johannes Heesters, Brigitte Helm, Paul Henreid, Margot Hielscher, Emil Jannings, Pola Negri, Magda Schneider, Kristina Söderbaum, Anton Walbrook.
Film Editor: Ursula Pürrer
Produced by Gunnar Dedio,...
Hitler’s Hollywood
DVD
Kino Lorber
2017 / Color & B&W / 1:78 enhanced widescreen / 105 min. / Street Date July 10, 2018 / Hitlers Hollywood: Das deutsche Kino im Zeitalter der Propaganda 1933 – 1945 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Narrated by Udo Kier
With film clips of Hans Albers, Heinz Rühmann, Zarah Leander, Ilse Werner, Marianne Hoppe, Gustaf Gründgens, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Alfred Abel, Lída Baaroví, Willy Fritsch, Gustav Fröhlich, Lilian Harvey, Johannes Heesters, Brigitte Helm, Paul Henreid, Margot Hielscher, Emil Jannings, Pola Negri, Magda Schneider, Kristina Söderbaum, Anton Walbrook.
Film Editor: Ursula Pürrer
Produced by Gunnar Dedio,...
- 7/3/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
A film about a male teacher getting it on with his female student ought to touch a nerve in the era of #MeToo. But Submission – despite valiant performances from Stanley Tucci and Addison Timlin as the parties involved – lacks the spark it needs to spring to life.
Tucci plays Ted Swenson, a prof who teaches creative writing at a second-rate New England college and fills classrooms on the success fumes from his acclaimed first book, concerning his father's fatal decision to light himself on fire to protest the war in Vietnam.
Tucci plays Ted Swenson, a prof who teaches creative writing at a second-rate New England college and fills classrooms on the success fumes from his acclaimed first book, concerning his father's fatal decision to light himself on fire to protest the war in Vietnam.
- 3/2/2018
- Rollingstone.com
Francine Prose on Stanley Tucci, Kyra Sedgwick, Addison Timlin, Jessica Hecht, Janeane Garofalo, Peter Gallagher, and Ritchie Coster in Submission: "I think the casting is extraordinary." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Based on Francine Prose's 2000 novel Blue Angel, inspired by Josef von Sternberg's 1930 film Der Blaue Engel, adapted from Heinrich Mann's book Professor Unrat from 1905, Submission links present with past. If Angela Argo in Richard Levine's Submission were to set out to do what Marlene Dietrich's Lola Lola did to Emil Jannings' Professor Immanuel Rath, what would that look like in the second decade of the 21st century?
Ted Swenson (Stanley Tucci) with his student Angela (Addison Timlin)
Submission with cinematography by Hillary Spera (Reed Morano's Meadowland) tells the wayward tale of Ted Swenson (Stanley Tucci), a professor who teaches creative writing at a small Vermont college. Once a celebrated author, he now has trouble putting anything creative on paper himself,...
Based on Francine Prose's 2000 novel Blue Angel, inspired by Josef von Sternberg's 1930 film Der Blaue Engel, adapted from Heinrich Mann's book Professor Unrat from 1905, Submission links present with past. If Angela Argo in Richard Levine's Submission were to set out to do what Marlene Dietrich's Lola Lola did to Emil Jannings' Professor Immanuel Rath, what would that look like in the second decade of the 21st century?
Ted Swenson (Stanley Tucci) with his student Angela (Addison Timlin)
Submission with cinematography by Hillary Spera (Reed Morano's Meadowland) tells the wayward tale of Ted Swenson (Stanley Tucci), a professor who teaches creative writing at a small Vermont college. Once a celebrated author, he now has trouble putting anything creative on paper himself,...
- 3/1/2018
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Stewart? Poitier? Scofield? De Niro? Day-Lewis? Our chief critic selects a victor from his nominees – and reveals who you chose as your people’s champion
Catch up on the full list of Peter’s nominees
The best actor Academy award has always had a totemic fascination. Peter O’Toole was tortured throughout his career by getting nominated eight times without winning, and actually considered turning down a lifetime achievement Oscar in 2003 — at the age of 70 — on the grounds that he was “still in the game and might win the lovely bugger outright”. (He never did, though was nominated for the last time in 2007.) Holding the Oscar in your hand is something that many actors daydream about. The first ever best actor winner, Emil Jannings, was the German silent movie actor later disgraced for his propaganda associations with the Nazi regime: when Allied troops entered Berlin in 1945, he is said to have stood in the rubble,...
Catch up on the full list of Peter’s nominees
The best actor Academy award has always had a totemic fascination. Peter O’Toole was tortured throughout his career by getting nominated eight times without winning, and actually considered turning down a lifetime achievement Oscar in 2003 — at the age of 70 — on the grounds that he was “still in the game and might win the lovely bugger outright”. (He never did, though was nominated for the last time in 2007.) Holding the Oscar in your hand is something that many actors daydream about. The first ever best actor winner, Emil Jannings, was the German silent movie actor later disgraced for his propaganda associations with the Nazi regime: when Allied troops entered Berlin in 1945, he is said to have stood in the rubble,...
- 2/21/2018
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Denzel Washington (“Roman J. Israel, Esq.”) is a longshot to win Best Actor, sitting in fifth place in our combined Oscar odds. There are lots of things working against him: Gary Oldman (“Darkest Hours”) is an indisputable frontrunner; he has zero precursor wins, not even from a tiny regional critics group; it’s hard to win a third acting Oscar (he was much better positioned last year for “Fences”); and his is the only nomination for his film.
In Oscar history, there have only been five times when Best Actor went to a film with no other nominations. Washington will try to join the club that includes inaugural Best Actor winner Emil Jannings (“The Last Command” and “The Way of All Flesh”), Jose Ferrer (1950’s “Cyrano de Bergerac”), Cliff Robertson (1968’s “Charly”), Michael Douglas (1987’s “Wall Street”) and Forest Whitaker (2006’s “The Last King of Scotland”).
See Revisiting Daniel Day-Lewis...
In Oscar history, there have only been five times when Best Actor went to a film with no other nominations. Washington will try to join the club that includes inaugural Best Actor winner Emil Jannings (“The Last Command” and “The Way of All Flesh”), Jose Ferrer (1950’s “Cyrano de Bergerac”), Cliff Robertson (1968’s “Charly”), Michael Douglas (1987’s “Wall Street”) and Forest Whitaker (2006’s “The Last King of Scotland”).
See Revisiting Daniel Day-Lewis...
- 2/2/2018
- by Joyce Eng
- Gold Derby
Philip French’s screen legends: No 21
‘I am not a myth,’ she said - one of her least convincing statements. Born in Berlin, the daughter of a military family, she broke on to the international scene with the coming of sound as the nightclub performer Lola Lola, humiliating and destroying schoolteacher Emil Jannings in The Blue Angel (1930), a role on which she was to play variations for the rest of her life. The film was directed in Berlin by Joseph von Sternberg, the Hollywood aristocrat born into a working-class Jewish family in Vienna. Both self-creations, their conspiratorial Svengali-Trilby relationship continued back in the Us with six exotic, erotic melodramas at Paramount, in which exquisite decor accompanied the subversion of social decorum. Most of the films were produced before the Hollywood code was strictly enforced. Blonde Venus (1932), for instance, begins with Marlene and five other fräuleins bathing in the nude observed by six American hikers.
‘I am not a myth,’ she said - one of her least convincing statements. Born in Berlin, the daughter of a military family, she broke on to the international scene with the coming of sound as the nightclub performer Lola Lola, humiliating and destroying schoolteacher Emil Jannings in The Blue Angel (1930), a role on which she was to play variations for the rest of her life. The film was directed in Berlin by Joseph von Sternberg, the Hollywood aristocrat born into a working-class Jewish family in Vienna. Both self-creations, their conspiratorial Svengali-Trilby relationship continued back in the Us with six exotic, erotic melodramas at Paramount, in which exquisite decor accompanied the subversion of social decorum. Most of the films were produced before the Hollywood code was strictly enforced. Blonde Venus (1932), for instance, begins with Marlene and five other fräuleins bathing in the nude observed by six American hikers.
- 12/27/2017
- by Guardian Staff
- The Guardian - Film News
The cream of German Expressionist filmmaking of the 1920s is increasingly accessible to modern audiences. The curated restoration of F.W. Murnau’s expressionist masterpiece is a beauty — we finally can experience the film in its full original form.
The Last Laugh
Blu-ray
Kino Lorber Kino Classics
1924 / B&W / 1:37 flat full frame / 90 min. / Der letze mann / Street Date November 14, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring: Emil Jannings, Georg John.
Cinematography: Karl Freund
Film Editor: Elfi Böttrich
Production Design: Edgar G. Ulmer
Original Music: Giuseppe Becce
Written by Carl Mayer
Produced by Erich Pommer
Directed by F. W. Murnau
Back in the early 1970s film school professors had limited resources. They lectured, assigned readings from a short list of authoritative film scholars and screened 16mm prints of renowned world classics. The only problem is that it was often difficult to correlate the classics described in the texts with the ragged film prints available.
The Last Laugh
Blu-ray
Kino Lorber Kino Classics
1924 / B&W / 1:37 flat full frame / 90 min. / Der letze mann / Street Date November 14, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring: Emil Jannings, Georg John.
Cinematography: Karl Freund
Film Editor: Elfi Böttrich
Production Design: Edgar G. Ulmer
Original Music: Giuseppe Becce
Written by Carl Mayer
Produced by Erich Pommer
Directed by F. W. Murnau
Back in the early 1970s film school professors had limited resources. They lectured, assigned readings from a short list of authoritative film scholars and screened 16mm prints of renowned world classics. The only problem is that it was often difficult to correlate the classics described in the texts with the ragged film prints available.
- 11/14/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1972 / 1:85 / Street Date July 18th, 2017
Starring: Woody Allen, Gene Wilder, Tony Randall, Burt Reynolds
Cinematography: David M. Walsh
Film Editor: Eric Albertson
Written by Woody Allen
Produced by Jack Brodsky, Elliott Gould
Music: Mundell Lowe
Directed by Woody Allen
A how-to book for fledgling libertines, David Reuben’s bestselling Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) was the kind of sex manual that could remain on the coffee table when the in-laws arrived. An everyman’s guide to the birds and the bees, it ambled through its range of racy topics, from sodomy, cunnilingus to, um, plastic surgery for the genitalia, with both commonsensical and alarmingly retrograde attitudes, dispensing its advice with all the excitement of an insurance agent’s visit. When Woody Allen was given the opportunity to adapt it,...
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1972 / 1:85 / Street Date July 18th, 2017
Starring: Woody Allen, Gene Wilder, Tony Randall, Burt Reynolds
Cinematography: David M. Walsh
Film Editor: Eric Albertson
Written by Woody Allen
Produced by Jack Brodsky, Elliott Gould
Music: Mundell Lowe
Directed by Woody Allen
A how-to book for fledgling libertines, David Reuben’s bestselling Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) was the kind of sex manual that could remain on the coffee table when the in-laws arrived. An everyman’s guide to the birds and the bees, it ambled through its range of racy topics, from sodomy, cunnilingus to, um, plastic surgery for the genitalia, with both commonsensical and alarmingly retrograde attitudes, dispensing its advice with all the excitement of an insurance agent’s visit. When Woody Allen was given the opportunity to adapt it,...
- 9/2/2017
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
At last, an expressionist silent classic that takes full advantage of cinematic principles. The legendary E.A. Dupont goes in for subjective-emotional effects of which Hitchcock would approve, and cameraman Karl Freund and effects wizard Eugen Schüfftan pull off spectacular visuals and special effects. No wonder this was a huge hit in America, it’s way ahead of its time (and ours, in some ways).
Varieté
Blu-ray
Kino Classics
1925 / Color tinted / 1:33 Silent Ap / 95 min. / Street Date August 22, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Emil Jannings, Maly Delschaft, Lya De Putti, Warwick Ward, Alice Hechy, Georg John, Kurt Gerron.
Cinematography: Karl Freund, Karl Hoffman
Art Director: Alfred Junge, Oscar Friedrich Werndorff
Visual Effects: Eugen Schüfftan
Original Music: Erno Rapee
From the book Der Eid des Stephan Huller by Felix Hollaender
Produced by Erich Pommer
Written and Directed by E. A. Dupont
We carefully studied this show in film school, in a mangled...
Varieté
Blu-ray
Kino Classics
1925 / Color tinted / 1:33 Silent Ap / 95 min. / Street Date August 22, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Emil Jannings, Maly Delschaft, Lya De Putti, Warwick Ward, Alice Hechy, Georg John, Kurt Gerron.
Cinematography: Karl Freund, Karl Hoffman
Art Director: Alfred Junge, Oscar Friedrich Werndorff
Visual Effects: Eugen Schüfftan
Original Music: Erno Rapee
From the book Der Eid des Stephan Huller by Felix Hollaender
Produced by Erich Pommer
Written and Directed by E. A. Dupont
We carefully studied this show in film school, in a mangled...
- 7/4/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The twentieth entry in an on-going series of audiovisual essays by Cristina Álvarez López and Adrian Martin. Mubi will be showing Josef von Sternberg's The Blue Angel (1930) from February 14 - March 16, 2017 in the United States.The Blue Angel (1930) is a film that stands at many, superimposed crossroads. It represents a transition between the expressive language of silent cinema and the new technology of sound cinema. Before the reign of dubbing took hold around the world, it was a heroic instance of a project shot in two different language versions (German and English) simultaneously. It juxtaposes two very different sorts of acting performance: the expressive histrionics of Emil Jannings, characteristic of the silent period, and the more understated naturalness of its rising star, Marlene Dietrich. In its drama, it plays out the clash, and the changeover, between an institutionalized form of high, literary culture (as transmitted in Professor Rath’s classroom), and the unruly,...
- 2/14/2017
- MUBI
Brigitte Horney is not much remembered today, despite a long, distinguished career (films for Siodmak, Wegener, Fanck, the Nazi Baron Munchausen). Tarantino's name-checking of her during the pub games of Inglourious Basterds is probably her one star moment. Maybe the porn star name doesn't help: if Emil Jannings had been christened Emil Bigballs, he might not enjoy the status he currently has.Horney did not confine her activities to Germany: Secret Lives is a version of the Mata Hari history/legend produced in Britain with a French director, the versatile, some would say hacky, Edmond T. Gréville, whose most famous British creation was the 1960 camp classic Beat Girl (John Barry score; Gillian Hills; Christopher Lee; Oliver Reed; striptease and juvenile delinquency). But his '30s and '40s work, mostly in France, was generally slick and stylish.As a flagrant roman à clef treatment of the career of a celebrated seductress,...
- 9/21/2016
- MUBI
Utilizing a tremendous premise in the most laborious way possible, Josef von Sternberg’s The Last Command has to rank among his least dynamic and interesting films. Taking inspiration from an actual Russian general who fled the motherland and was forced to work as a day-player extra in early Hollywood, the 1928 film only treats its present-day setting as a framing device to house a too-familiar tale. Sergius Alexander (Emil Jannings), grand duke and army commander, had a special fervor for quashing revolutionary movements, but, as he’s living on the brink of the Russian Revolution, this task is sure to overwhelm him. Stretching this exposition across an hour of screentime, even someone of Sternberg’s genius cannot find purchase in anything of interest. There’s nothing distinctive about Sergius’s fall from glory, nor the manner in which he wields his power. Nothing in this section is a fraction as...
- 8/12/2016
- by Scott Nye
- CriterionCast
It's almost here -- the 88th Academy Awards finally airs this Sunday, and we're counting down the minutes.
We've already given you our Oscar predictions, and now we're bringing you some of the best (and, um, craziest) facts about Hollywood's biggest awards show. From the first Best Actor winner, to the "one dollar" Oscar rule, here are 25 things you (probably) don't know about the Oscars.
1. The youngest Oscar winner was Tatum O'Neal (above), who won Best Supporting Actress for "Paper Moon" (1973) when she was only 10 years old. Shirley Temple won the short-lived Juvenile Award at 6 years old.
2. After winning Best Actress for "Cabaret" (1972), Liza Minnelli became (and still is) the only Oscar winner whose parents both earned Oscars. Her mother, Judy Garland, received an honorary award in 1939 and her father, Vincente Minnelli, won Best Director for "Gigi" (1958).
3. Nameplates for all potential winners are prepared ahead of time; in 2014, the Academy made 215 of them!
We've already given you our Oscar predictions, and now we're bringing you some of the best (and, um, craziest) facts about Hollywood's biggest awards show. From the first Best Actor winner, to the "one dollar" Oscar rule, here are 25 things you (probably) don't know about the Oscars.
1. The youngest Oscar winner was Tatum O'Neal (above), who won Best Supporting Actress for "Paper Moon" (1973) when she was only 10 years old. Shirley Temple won the short-lived Juvenile Award at 6 years old.
2. After winning Best Actress for "Cabaret" (1972), Liza Minnelli became (and still is) the only Oscar winner whose parents both earned Oscars. Her mother, Judy Garland, received an honorary award in 1939 and her father, Vincente Minnelli, won Best Director for "Gigi" (1958).
3. Nameplates for all potential winners are prepared ahead of time; in 2014, the Academy made 215 of them!
- 2/26/2016
- by Phil Pirrello
- Moviefone
The latest restoration of a German silent classic is F.W. Murnau's lavishly mounted version of the Goethe tale, starring Emil Jannings as Mephisto. It's an impressive drama but also has a sense of (Teutonic) humor here and there. Most every shot is a fantastic visuals, and the bigger scenes use visual designs worthy of fine art. Faust Blu-ray + DVD Kino Classics 1926 / B&W / 1:33 flat full frame / 106, 116 min / Street Date November 17, 2015 / available through Kino Lorber / 34.96 Starring Gösta Ekman, Emil Jannings, Camilla Horn, Frida Richard, William Dieterle, Yvette Guilbert, Eric Barclay, Hanna Ralph, Werner Fuetterer. Cinematography Carl Hoffman Production Design Robert Herlth, Walter Röhrig Film Editor Elfi Böttrich Written by Gerhart Hauptmann, Hans Kyser from plays by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Christopher Marlowe Produced by Erich Pommer Directed by F.W. Murnau
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Back in film school, lecturers on cinema art of the 1920s claimed that Germany had an edge over Hollywood.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Back in film school, lecturers on cinema art of the 1920s claimed that Germany had an edge over Hollywood.
- 1/1/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Every week we dive into the cream of the crop when it comes to home releases, including Blu-ray and DVDs, as well as recommended deals of the week. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best (or most interesting) films one can take home. Note that if you’re looking to support the site, every purchase you make through the links below helps us and is greatly appreciated.
The Apu Trilogy (Satyajit Ray)
Although it premiered 60 years ago this week at the Museum of Modern Art, Satyajit Ray‘s Pather Panchali remains among both the most accomplished of debuts and cinema’s most universally relatable experiences. Accentuating the basics of human emotions to result in the most complex of reactions, Ray’s subsequent trilogy of films follows the hardships of a Bengali boy as he passes into adulthood, a delicately powerful tale of transition that’s now been gloriously restored.
The Apu Trilogy (Satyajit Ray)
Although it premiered 60 years ago this week at the Museum of Modern Art, Satyajit Ray‘s Pather Panchali remains among both the most accomplished of debuts and cinema’s most universally relatable experiences. Accentuating the basics of human emotions to result in the most complex of reactions, Ray’s subsequent trilogy of films follows the hardships of a Bengali boy as he passes into adulthood, a delicately powerful tale of transition that’s now been gloriously restored.
- 11/17/2015
- by TFS Staff
- The Film Stage
Norma Shearer: The Boss' wife was cast in 'The Divorcee.' Norma Shearer movies on TCM: Early talkies and Best Actress Oscar Note: This Norma Shearer article is currently being revised and expanded. Please Check back later. Norma Shearer, one of the top stars in Hollywood history and known as the Queen of MGM back in the 1930s, is Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month of Nov. 2015. That's the good news. The not-so-good news is that even though its parent company, Time Warner, owns most of Shearer's movies, TCM isn't airing any premieres. So, if you were expecting to check out a very young Norma Shearer in The Devil's Circus, Upstage, or After Midnight, you're out of luck. (I've seen all three; they're all worth a look.) It's a crime that, music score or no, restored print or no, TCM/Time Warner don't make available for viewing the...
- 11/11/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Greta Garbo movie 'The Kiss.' Greta Garbo movies on TCM Greta Garbo, a rarity among silent era movie stars, is Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” performer today, Aug. 26, '15. Now, why would Garbo be considered a silent era rarity? Well, certainly not because she easily made the transition to sound, remaining a major star for another decade. Think Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, William Powell, Fay Wray, Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, John Barrymore, Warner Baxter, Janet Gaynor, Constance Bennett, etc. And so much for all the stories about actors with foreign accents being unable to maintain their Hollywood stardom following the advent of sound motion pictures. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer star, Garbo was no major exception to the supposed rule. Mexican Ramon Novarro, another MGM star, also made an easy transition to sound, and so did fellow Mexicans Lupe Velez and Dolores del Rio, in addition to the very British...
- 8/27/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Part I. A Filmmaker’s Apotheosis
April 20th, 1938 marked Adolf Hitler’s 49th birthday. In the past five years, he’d rebuilt Germany from destitute anarchy into a burgeoning war machine, repudiated the Versailles Treaty and, that March, incorporated Austria into his Thousand-Year Reich. In Nazi Germany, fantasy co-mingled with ideology, expressing an obsession with Germany’s mythical past through propaganda and art. Fittingly, Hitler celebrated at the Ufa-Palast am Zoo in Berlin, Germany’s most prestigious cinema.
There, Nazi officials and foreign diplomats joined dignitaries of German kultur. Present were Wilhelm Furtwangler, conductor of Berlin’s Philharmonic Orchestra; Albert Speer, Hitler’s architect and confidante; actor Gustaf Grundgens, transformed from Brechtian Bolshevik to director of Prussia’s State Theater; and movie star Emil Jannings, Oscar-winner of The Lost Command and The Blue Angel, now an Artist of the State. Also Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, who nationalized German cinema in...
April 20th, 1938 marked Adolf Hitler’s 49th birthday. In the past five years, he’d rebuilt Germany from destitute anarchy into a burgeoning war machine, repudiated the Versailles Treaty and, that March, incorporated Austria into his Thousand-Year Reich. In Nazi Germany, fantasy co-mingled with ideology, expressing an obsession with Germany’s mythical past through propaganda and art. Fittingly, Hitler celebrated at the Ufa-Palast am Zoo in Berlin, Germany’s most prestigious cinema.
There, Nazi officials and foreign diplomats joined dignitaries of German kultur. Present were Wilhelm Furtwangler, conductor of Berlin’s Philharmonic Orchestra; Albert Speer, Hitler’s architect and confidante; actor Gustaf Grundgens, transformed from Brechtian Bolshevik to director of Prussia’s State Theater; and movie star Emil Jannings, Oscar-winner of The Lost Command and The Blue Angel, now an Artist of the State. Also Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, who nationalized German cinema in...
- 7/8/2015
- by Christopher Saunders
- SoundOnSight
'Father of the Bride': Steve Martin and Kimberly Williams. Top Five Father's Day Movies? From giant Gregory Peck to tyrant John Gielgud What would be the Top Five Father's Day movies ever made? Well, there have been countless films about fathers and/or featuring fathers of various sizes, shapes, and inclinations. In terms of quality, these range from the amusing – e.g., the 1950 version of Cheaper by the Dozen; the Oscar-nominated The Grandfather – to the nauseating – e.g., the 1950 version of Father of the Bride; its atrocious sequel, Father's Little Dividend. Although I'm unable to come up with the absolute Top Five Father's Day Movies – or rather, just plain Father Movies – ever made, below are the first five (actually six, including a remake) "quality" patriarch-centered films that come to mind. Now, the fathers portrayed in these films aren't all heroic, loving, and/or saintly paternal figures. Several are...
- 6/22/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
African-American film 'Bert Williams: Lime Kiln Club Field Day.' With Williams and Odessa Warren Grey.* Rare, early 20th-century African-American film among San Francisco Silent Film Festival highlights Directed by Edwin Middleton and T. Hayes Hunter, the Biograph Company's Lime Kiln Club Field Day (1913) was the film I most looked forward to at the 2015 edition of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. One hundred years old, unfinished, and destined to be scrapped and tossed into the dust bin, it rose from the ashes. Starring entertainer Bert Williams – whose film appearances have virtually disappeared, but whose legacy lives on – Lime Kiln Club Field Day has become a rare example of African-American life in the first years of the 20th century. In the introduction to the film, the audience was treated to a treasure trove of Black memorabilia: sheet music, stills, promotional material, and newspaper clippings that survive. Details of the...
- 6/16/2015
- by Danny Fortune
- Alt Film Guide
Every year Villa Aurora follows its own long tradition of welcoming the German community and friends to socialize and celebrate the German contribution to American culture.
The German co-production “Citizenfour” by Laura Poitras (De/Us, Praxis Films, Br, Ndr) was awarded the Oscar® for Best Documentary Feature yesterday. “Citizenfour” has also received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature.
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” by Wes Anderson (Gb/De, Neunzehnte Babelsberg Film), another German co-production, picked up four Academy Awards® in the categories Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Hair and Make-Up as well as Best Original Score. It had been nominated in nine categories.
A day before the Oscars®, German Films joined forces with the Villa Aurora and the German Consul-General in Los Angeles to hold their traditional reception in honor of the German Oscar® nominees at the garden of the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles.
The teams of “Citizenfour” comprising the German producers Dirk Wilutzky and Mathilde Bonnefoy, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” with the producers Carl Woebcken, Henning Molfenter and Christoph Fisser, the representatives of the German regional funders Carl Bergengruen of Mfg Baden-württemberg and Kirsten Niehuus of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg as well as the director Wim Wenders, who was nominated for Best Documentary Feature for “The Salt Of The Earth," celebrated there with guests from the German and international film industry.
The beautiful Spanish Deco home at 520 Paseo Miramar in the Pacific Palisades was bought by the famed author, Lion Feuchtwanger and his wife Marta in 1943 the same year that he published The Devil in France, the account of his imprisonment by the Nazis in the South of France before he fled to the U.S.
In September of 1940, with the support of Varian Fry and the U.S. Vice Consul in Marseille, Hiram Bingham, Lion and Marta were able to join another group of exiles in crossing the Pyrenees on foot. They made their journey from Lisbon to New York on different ships. From there, they traveled to Los Angeles, and in 1943 moved into the Villa Aurora, which soon became a focal point in the lives of many intellectuals and artists who had fled from Germany including Bertold Brecht, Thomas Mann and his brother Heinrich Mann, Marlene Dietrich.
Their German passports had been confiscated by the Nazis. In the McCarthy era, Feuchtwanger was scrutinized as a “premature antifascist” by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Fearing that he would not be allowed to return, he never traveled outside the U.S. again. After years of immigration hearings, Feuchtwangers application for American citizenship was finally granted, but the letter informing Feuchtwanger of the fact was not received until a day after his death.
Marta bequeathed to the University of Southern California the library and the house in exchange for the life-long right to live in the Villa. She was appointed curator of the Villa and was politically and culturally active. The Villa remained a social destination in Los Angeles. In 1987 she died at the age of 96.
"So, in my fiftieth year, I literally arrived in the U.S. on foot. Has that made me a U.S. citizen? Can a piece of paper change half a century of my life? I don’t believe it. Now, that I have only 10 years to complete the second half of the century, I feel, it is good to have the citizenship of a country that unites my German routes with the ones of many other nations. Being American is very close to being a citizen of the world."
Source: Marta Feuchtwanger: Only a Woman, Years Days Hours, Aufbau Verlag Berlin Leipzig, 1984
Celebrating the Academy Award Nominees at the same time as 20 years of present ownership of the Villa Aurora and at the same time as 25 years after German reunification, restoration of the famed Babelsberg Studios made this year especially notable.
At the party, I had the chance to speak with Mariette Rissenbeek, Managing Director or German Films.
How long have you been with German Export?
I started in 2002, 13 years ago. I was in charge of festivals and public relations. The position gave me rewarding insights into festivals and I was able to meet many producers.
What changes have you seen in your time there?
I started a year after “Good Bye Lenin” and “Nowhere in Africa”. In the 2000s, German films became very popular internationally. Since 2011 I have been the Managing Director which involves lots of administration and politics.
How do German films do abroad?
Every year two to three titles work well. “Phoenix” is doing very well in France. “Hannah Arendt” and “The Lives of Others” did well worldwide. This year we have “Elser” (“Thirteen Minutes”) which just premiered in Berlin and of course “Salt of the Earth” and “CitizenFour” (winner of the 2015 Spirit Award for Best Documentary), “Victoria” which Adopt Films acquired for U.S.
Germans have consistently won Academy Awards since 1929 when Emil Jannings won for Best Actor in “The Way of All Flesh” and “ The Last Command”.
I also had the chance to speak with the Director of Villa Aurora, my friend since her days at Goethe Institute.
How long have you been Director of Villa Aurora ?
Three years in May.
You moved over from Goethe Institute and have changed Villa Aurora significantly. Can you tell us what changes it has undergone since you took over as its director?
When I applied for the position, I gave my vision for the Villa in various areas which included increased visibility, and renovations, as the home was in a rather neglected state. I also wanted our guests to network more with the Los Angeles arts community. So now their work appears in galleries, they give master classes and they show their work.
I had support from the Berlin headquarters and the German Foreign office and so we could renovate, landscape and install better lighting. I love creative work and this has been very satisfying.
Similarly as at the Goethe Institute, I still network and organize events, but I am also a “den mother” to the fellows. At this time we have five artists in residence. Four are here for three months and one is here for eight months – a writer in exile who cannot live in the native country of birth. We have had a writer from Syria living in Turkey; last year we had someone from Viet Nam and before, a blogger from Belarus living in Poland.
We also have an agreement with Cal Arts to send an artist to Germany to work and present their work.
Once again the congeniality and milieu brought together Hollywood and Germany, a partnership which goes back to the first days of the Hollywood we know today.
The German co-production “Citizenfour” by Laura Poitras (De/Us, Praxis Films, Br, Ndr) was awarded the Oscar® for Best Documentary Feature yesterday. “Citizenfour” has also received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature.
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” by Wes Anderson (Gb/De, Neunzehnte Babelsberg Film), another German co-production, picked up four Academy Awards® in the categories Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Hair and Make-Up as well as Best Original Score. It had been nominated in nine categories.
A day before the Oscars®, German Films joined forces with the Villa Aurora and the German Consul-General in Los Angeles to hold their traditional reception in honor of the German Oscar® nominees at the garden of the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles.
The teams of “Citizenfour” comprising the German producers Dirk Wilutzky and Mathilde Bonnefoy, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” with the producers Carl Woebcken, Henning Molfenter and Christoph Fisser, the representatives of the German regional funders Carl Bergengruen of Mfg Baden-württemberg and Kirsten Niehuus of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg as well as the director Wim Wenders, who was nominated for Best Documentary Feature for “The Salt Of The Earth," celebrated there with guests from the German and international film industry.
The beautiful Spanish Deco home at 520 Paseo Miramar in the Pacific Palisades was bought by the famed author, Lion Feuchtwanger and his wife Marta in 1943 the same year that he published The Devil in France, the account of his imprisonment by the Nazis in the South of France before he fled to the U.S.
In September of 1940, with the support of Varian Fry and the U.S. Vice Consul in Marseille, Hiram Bingham, Lion and Marta were able to join another group of exiles in crossing the Pyrenees on foot. They made their journey from Lisbon to New York on different ships. From there, they traveled to Los Angeles, and in 1943 moved into the Villa Aurora, which soon became a focal point in the lives of many intellectuals and artists who had fled from Germany including Bertold Brecht, Thomas Mann and his brother Heinrich Mann, Marlene Dietrich.
Their German passports had been confiscated by the Nazis. In the McCarthy era, Feuchtwanger was scrutinized as a “premature antifascist” by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Fearing that he would not be allowed to return, he never traveled outside the U.S. again. After years of immigration hearings, Feuchtwangers application for American citizenship was finally granted, but the letter informing Feuchtwanger of the fact was not received until a day after his death.
Marta bequeathed to the University of Southern California the library and the house in exchange for the life-long right to live in the Villa. She was appointed curator of the Villa and was politically and culturally active. The Villa remained a social destination in Los Angeles. In 1987 she died at the age of 96.
"So, in my fiftieth year, I literally arrived in the U.S. on foot. Has that made me a U.S. citizen? Can a piece of paper change half a century of my life? I don’t believe it. Now, that I have only 10 years to complete the second half of the century, I feel, it is good to have the citizenship of a country that unites my German routes with the ones of many other nations. Being American is very close to being a citizen of the world."
Source: Marta Feuchtwanger: Only a Woman, Years Days Hours, Aufbau Verlag Berlin Leipzig, 1984
Celebrating the Academy Award Nominees at the same time as 20 years of present ownership of the Villa Aurora and at the same time as 25 years after German reunification, restoration of the famed Babelsberg Studios made this year especially notable.
At the party, I had the chance to speak with Mariette Rissenbeek, Managing Director or German Films.
How long have you been with German Export?
I started in 2002, 13 years ago. I was in charge of festivals and public relations. The position gave me rewarding insights into festivals and I was able to meet many producers.
What changes have you seen in your time there?
I started a year after “Good Bye Lenin” and “Nowhere in Africa”. In the 2000s, German films became very popular internationally. Since 2011 I have been the Managing Director which involves lots of administration and politics.
How do German films do abroad?
Every year two to three titles work well. “Phoenix” is doing very well in France. “Hannah Arendt” and “The Lives of Others” did well worldwide. This year we have “Elser” (“Thirteen Minutes”) which just premiered in Berlin and of course “Salt of the Earth” and “CitizenFour” (winner of the 2015 Spirit Award for Best Documentary), “Victoria” which Adopt Films acquired for U.S.
Germans have consistently won Academy Awards since 1929 when Emil Jannings won for Best Actor in “The Way of All Flesh” and “ The Last Command”.
I also had the chance to speak with the Director of Villa Aurora, my friend since her days at Goethe Institute.
How long have you been Director of Villa Aurora ?
Three years in May.
You moved over from Goethe Institute and have changed Villa Aurora significantly. Can you tell us what changes it has undergone since you took over as its director?
When I applied for the position, I gave my vision for the Villa in various areas which included increased visibility, and renovations, as the home was in a rather neglected state. I also wanted our guests to network more with the Los Angeles arts community. So now their work appears in galleries, they give master classes and they show their work.
I had support from the Berlin headquarters and the German Foreign office and so we could renovate, landscape and install better lighting. I love creative work and this has been very satisfying.
Similarly as at the Goethe Institute, I still network and organize events, but I am also a “den mother” to the fellows. At this time we have five artists in residence. Four are here for three months and one is here for eight months – a writer in exile who cannot live in the native country of birth. We have had a writer from Syria living in Turkey; last year we had someone from Viet Nam and before, a blogger from Belarus living in Poland.
We also have an agreement with Cal Arts to send an artist to Germany to work and present their work.
Once again the congeniality and milieu brought together Hollywood and Germany, a partnership which goes back to the first days of the Hollywood we know today.
- 2/26/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
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