News

Billy Williams, the British cinematographer celebrated for his Oscar-winning work on Gandhi and his evocative imagery in On Golden Pond, passed away on May 21, 2025, at the age of 96. It is with deepest sadness that the British Society of Cinematographers announced the loss of “our friend, member and former President” Billy Williams Bsc, whose pioneering spirit shaped generations of image-makers.

Williams began his career apprenticed to his father before serving as a photographer in the Royal Air Force, then joined British Transport Films, where he honed a documentary eye for light and movement. His first feature credit came in 1965, and by 1967 he was director of photography on Ken Russell’s Billion Dollar Brain. He earned his first Oscar nomination for Women in Love (1969) and won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Gandhi (1982), a distinction he shared with Ronnie Taylor.

Colleagues recall Williams’s insistence on live musical performances and natural...

Billy Williams, the esteemed British cinematographer who shared an Oscar for shooting Gandhi and also was nominated for his work on the Glenda Jackson-starring Women in Love and Henry Fonda’s final film, On Golden Pond, has died. He was 96.

Williams’ death was announced in British Cinematographer magazine. No details on the cause of death were provided.

“With deep sorrow, we bid farewell to Billy Williams – an outstanding British cinematographer, laureate of the “Golden Frog” for exceptional achievements in the art of cinematography at the Camerimage Festival in 2000,” tweeted the official X account of Camerimage, the Poland-based film festival dedicated to cinematography.

Williams also served as the director of photography on John Milius’ The Wind and the Lion (1975), Stuart Rosenberg’s Voyage of the Damned (1976), Martin Brest’s Going in Style (1979) and Peter Yates’ Suspect (1987).

The London native received an early career break when he was hired for Ken Russell...

Michael Caine's perfect James Bond replacement, The Ipcress File, was unfortunately cut short by two back-to-back sequel flops. With more than 175 acting credits to his name, Caine has starred in classic movies such as The Man Who Would Be King (1975), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Get Carter (1971), and Alfie (1966). Caine is also celebrated for starring in several of Christopher Nolan's best movies, such as Interstellar, Inception, The Dark Knight, and The Prestige.

The Ipcress File was released in 1965 and starred Caine and a clever spy in London named Harry Palmer. The film was directed by Sidney J. Furie and also featured appearances by Nigel Green, Guy Doleman, Sue Lloyd, and Gordon Jackson. The Ipcress File received an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score of 97% matched with an audience score of 85%. The success and acclaim of the first film sparked two back-to-back sequels in 1966 and 1967, which tanked hard and essentially sunk the spy franchise.

Up until his recent official retirement in October 2023, actor Michael Caine had been a part of cinema history for well over half a century. However, many fans aren't aware that, had it not been for the silver-tongued persuasion of a fellow gigantic movie star, the silver screen never would have seen Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth, Dr. Wilbur Larch, Harry Brown, or any of his other memorable late-career turns.

Why did Michael Caine want to retire from acting in the early 90s? The reasons were plentiful, but the final straw that broke the camel's back was the extremely troubled production (and utterly abysmal success) of a little-known movie called Bullet to Beijing. On the set of that film, Caine had to deal with everything from the Russian mob to potential radiation concerns, and when it was all said and done, the actor finally felt like he had had enough.

Related...

Michael Caine considers the Harry Palmer sequels, "Bullet to Beijing" and "Midnight in Saint Petersburg," among his worst experiences. Sequels felt cheap and rushed, lacking the quality of the original Harry Palmer films, with little to no compelling character development. Despite Caine's talent, the sequels failed to make an impression, serving as a waste of his return to the character of Harry Palmer.

Michael Caine has one of the most illustrious acting careers in modern film, but two of the sequels to his James Bond-esque The Ipcress File linger as his most disliked acting experiences. Michael Caine has been a consistent presence in movies for over fifty years, with his early starring roles in films like The Ipcress File, The Italian Job, and Alfie establishing him as one of the 20th century's best screen actors. His career continued well into the 21st century, highlighting his adaptability from goofball comedies...

It’s Oscar night 1987, Jeff Bridges and Sigourney Weaver are dressed up all fancy, ready to tear open that majestic envelope and read the name of the best supporting actor of the year. The competition was tough but when but the victor of the night was that of Sir Michael Caine for his wonderful performance in the Woody Allen flick Hannah and Her Sisters. The audiences erupted with applause as they celebrated Mr. Caine’s triumphant Oscar glory. But then silence nothing… the actor is nowhere to be found. Where could he be? What event could drag him away from this ceremony? Unfortunately, it would turn out the Michael Caine was stuck in the furious jaws of Universal and was out battling stupid sharks instead. That’s right, Michael Caine missed this Oscars because of Jaws: The Revenge. Was it worth it? Of the universally panned sharkie fourquel, Michael Caine said,...

While we were all sad to hear that Michael Caine is retired, he most certainly earned the right to just kick back and just spend his days reading…or writing. And that’s just what Michael Caine has done, releasing his first novel at the age of 90.

Michael Caine’s thriller, Deadly Game, finds career criminal catcher Dci agent Harry Taylor tracking down a mysterious box of uranium and various nefarious types who might be tied to the contents. While I haven’t read the book in its entirety, the first few pages – and the plot itself – give off the sort of vibe of the movies that Michael Caine would have starred in in the ‘60s and ‘70s. No doubt that the lead character’s name, Harry, calls to mind his recurring spy character Harry Palmer and vigilante Harry Brown, the titular character that gave Caine one of the meatiest...

Michael Caine is ready to move on from acting.

The 90-year-old Interstellar star’s announcement comes roughly a month after he said he considers himself “sort of” retired.

Keep reading to find out more…

In an interview published on Saturday (October 14), Michael told BBC Radio 4, “I keep saying I’m going to retire. Well, I am now.”

He continued, “I’ve figured, I’ve had a picture where I’ve played the lead and it’s got incredible reviews. The only parts I’m likely to get now are old men, and I thought, well I might as well leave with all this — what have I got to do to beat this?”

As it stands, Michael‘s final movie will be The Great Escaper, which released on October 6.

Michael is widely considered an acting legend, having won two Academy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards since the start of his career in the 1950s.

A brand new “The Boys” spinoff series, the second season of “Wheel of Time” and football highlight a robust lineup of new movies and shows coming to Amazon Prime Video in September. “Gen V,” a spinoff of “The Boys” set at a college, premieres on Sept. 29, while new episodes of “The Wheel of Time” Season 2 are rolling out all month long after the season premiere on Sept. 1.

Thursday Night Football is streaming starting Sept. 14, and a whole host of library movies worth checking out – from “Four Weddings and a Funeral” to “Dracula” to “10 Things I Hate About You” – are now streaming.

There’s also the premiere of the original film “Cassandro” starring Gael Garcia Bernal as a gay wrestler, and the acclaimed drama “A Thousand and One” comes to Prime Video on Sept. 19.

Check out the full list of what’s new on Amazon Prime Video in September 2023 below.

It’s a deceptively big month on Prime Video in September! To kick things off, The Wheel of Time will be back for a second season on the service, while a live-action The Boys spinoff series called Gen V will be capping off the original series content later in the month.

But there are also some interesting new projects lined up between those two biggies. On September 15, Jenna Coleman and Oliver Jackson-Cohen star in what is sure to be a delicious tale of revenge. Wilderness, based on B.E. Jones’ novel of the same name, stars Coleman as a heartbroken wife who discovers her husband has been cheating on her after she gives up her whole life to move over to America with him and support his career.

You should also keep an eye out for Cassandro, landing on Prime Video on the same day. The film, which has been...

Of all the great, classic spy and espionage films or TV shows— Bond, “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,’ the Jack Ryan films and TV shows, the “Kingsman’ series, “Three Days Of The Condor,” and all the classic spy films from the 1960s and ‘70s, etc.—the one that mainstream audiences probably know the least well is “The Ipcress File.”

Based on the globally renowned Len Deighton spy novel of the same name, “The Ipcress File” series starred Michael Caine as Harry Palmer and ended up as a trilogy of films: “The Ipcress File” (1965), “Funeral in Berlin” (1966) and “Billion Dollar Brain” (1967), this of course back in the day when movie studios didn’t really know how to franchise something by including a franchise title to tie the films together (decades later Caine returned to the character in 1995’s “Harry Alan Towers’ Bullet to Beijing” and 96’s “Midnight in Saint Petersburg”).

Continue reading...

Director Sidney J. Furie discusses his favorite films he’s watched and re-watched during quarantine with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Dr. Blood’s Coffin (1961)

The Ipcress File (1965) – Howard Rodman’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The Appaloosa (1966)

The Naked Runner (1967)

Lady Sings The Blues (1972)

The Entity (1982) – Luca Gaudagnino’s trailer commentary

The Boys in Company C (1978)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s review

Full Metal Jacket (1987)

The Apartment (1960) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946)

Twelve O’Clock High (1949)

A Place In The Sun (1951) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Out Of Africa (1985)

The Last Picture Show (1971) – Mark Pellington’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

Annie Hall (1977)

The Bad And The Beautiful (1952)

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)

The Tender Bar...

We loved James Bond but diehard ’60s spy fans hold a special admiration for Len Deighton’s ‘thinking man’s secret agent’ Harry Palmer. Viavision pulls off a slick trick by assembling the three top Michael Caine Harry Palmer pictures, each from a different studio, in a single deluxe gift box. Harry fights the Brain Drain, encounters criss-crossing conspiracies at the Berlin Wall, and witnesses a privatized invasion of the U.S.S.R., in The Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain, three great pictures by three very different directors. The presentations come with a glut of special edition extras.

The Harry Palmer Collection

All-Region Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 75, 76, 77

1965-67 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / Street Date October 20, 2021 / Available from Amazon / 109.99

Starring: Michael Caine

From the novels by Len Deighton

Produced by Harry Saltzman

Directed by Sidney J. Furie, Guy Hamilton, Ken Russell

It didn’t seem possible that there...

It’s finally back on Blu in Region 1, the ‘sixties spy movie beloved by enthusiasts that yearned for something a bit more substantial & nutritious than James Bond. This first Harry Palmer adventure seems even more perfect than when it was thanks to a great espionage recipe and quality ingredients. Michael Caine is sensational as the anti-007, the feel of London streets is intoxicating, and John Barry’s music score is beyond praise. Are Sidney Furie’s directorial mannerisms too show-offy, too fussy? I only raise the question to defend him.

The Ipcress File

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 109 min. / Street Date October 27, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Michael Caine, Nigel Green, Guy Doleman, Sue Lloyd, Gordon Jackson, Aubrey Richards, Frank Gatliff, Thomas Baptiste, Oliver MacGreevy, Freda Bamford, David Glover, Mike Murray, Anthony Baird.

Cinematography: Otto Heller

Film Editor: Peter Hunt

Production Designer: Ken Adam

Original Music: John Barry

Written by W.H. Canaway,...

Here are many more movies to watch when you’re staying in for a while, featuring recommendations from Jim Gavin, Karyn Kusama, Matt Christman, and Jonah Ray.

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

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Three Tough Guys (1974)

Two Gentlemen Sharing (1969)

Tower of Evil a.k.a. Horror on Snape Island (1972)

Blow-Up (1966)

Blow Out (1981)

Body Double (1984)

Rififi (1955)

The Big Clock (1948)

No Way Out (1987)

Funeral In Berlin (1966)

The Ipcress File (1965)

Billion Dollar Brain (1967)

The Innocents (1961)

Miracle Mile (1988)

Femme Fatale (2002)

Main Street Women (1980)

Sleepwalkers (1992)

A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)

Dracula’s Dog (1977)

Moneyball (2011)

Together (2000)

Contagion (2011)

Panic In The Streets (1950)

The Killer That Stalked New York (1950)

The Satan Bug (1965)

A Prophet (2009)

Point Break (1991)

The Thing (1982)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Hit! (1973)

Outbreak (1995)

The Island (2005)

6 Underground (2019)

Pain And Gain (2013)

The Invitation (2015)

High-Rise (2015)

The ’Burbs (1989)

To My Great Chagrin: The Unbelievable...

After producing the first two Harry Palmer movies to provide a more realistic, intellectual alternative to his cartoonish James Bond series, producer Harry Saltzman “Bonded” it up for this third entry after The Ipcress File and Funeral In Berlin. Although a troubled production with Big Sleep-level plot complications and an unlikely director in arthouse favorite Ken Russell, it’s considered the liveliest of the Palmer series. Magnetic leading lady Françoise Dorléac (Catherine Deneuve’s sister) was killed in an car accident soon after filming completed.

The post Billion Dollar Brain appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

Secret agent Michael Caine must take on both the kidnappers of his son and his own suspect Army Intelligence colleagues in Don Siegel’s efficiently filmed, curiously tame suspense thriller. Delphine Seyrig is enticing and Donald Pleasance an unlikeable security bureaucrat, while the capable Janet Suzman and John Vernon fill out a top-flight cast that performs well in thriller surprisingly lacking in dramatic impact.

The Black Windmill

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1974 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date December 4, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Michael Caine, Donald Pleasence, Janet Suzman, Delphine Seyrig, John Vernon, Clive Revill, Joss Ackland, Catherine Schell, Joseph O’Conor, Hermoine Baddeley, John Rhys-Davies

Cinematography: Ousama Rawi

Film Editor: Antony Gibbs

Original Music: Roy Budd

Written by Leigh Vance, from the novel Five Days to a Killing by Clive Egleton

Produced and Directed by Don Siegel

Something seems wrong from the first with The Black Windmill: the...

Perhaps motivated by the success of La La Land, Criterion has reissued two impressive Jacques Demy musicals as separate releases. This all-singing, all-dancing homage to candy-colored vintage Hollywood musicals is a captivating Franco-American hybrid that allows free rein to Demy’s marvelously positive romantic philosophy.

The Young Girls of Rochefort

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 717

1967 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 125 min. / Les Demoiselles de Rochefort / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date April 11, 2017 / 39.95

Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Françoise Dorléac, Danielle Darrieux, George Chakiris, Gene Kelly, Michel Piccoli, Jacques Perrin

Cinematography: Ghislain Cloquet

Production Designer: Bernard Evein

Film Editor: Jean Hamon

Original Music: Michel Legrand

Produced by Mag Bodard, Gilbert de Goldschmidt

Written and Directed by Jacques Demy

I was going to squeak by reviewing only Jacques Demy’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, but the interest in the new La La Land prompted some emails and messages that tell me a revisit of the charming...

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The plot of Hitchcock’s North by Northwest was suggested by this spy film.

The Man Who Never Was I Was Monty’s Double Odd Man Out Correct

Clifton Webb starred in Ronald Neame’s 1956 film...

Flamboyant artist Ken Russell was eventually sidelined for what the industry calls 'excess,' but he was a genuine artist, as indicated by this, his last American film. Absolutely beyond the pale in terms of polite viewing, it's by turns awkward and insightful, profane... and more profane. Crimes of Passion Blu-ray + DVD Arrow Video (UK) 1984 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 112, 107 min. / Street Date July 12, 2016 / Available from Amazon UK 39.95 Starring Kathleen Turner, Anthony Perkins, Annie Potts, Bruce Davidson, John Laughlin. Cinematography Dick Bush China Blue's dress Ruth Myers Original Music Rick Wakeman Written and Produced by Barry Sandler Directed by Ken Russell

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

What separates exploitation trash from progressive film art? They say it's an artist's vision, and Ken Russell certainly has plenty of that. I can admire Russell's house brand of outrageousness but I also find much of his work just too fussy, too indulgent. He's excellent when trying...

A pure-gold Savant favorite, Sir Richard Attenborough's first feature as director is a stylized pacifist epic of the insane tragedy of WW1, told through contemporary songs, with the irreverent lyrics given them by the soldiers themselves. And one will not want to miss a young Maggie Smith's music hall performance -- luring young conscripts to doom in the trenches. It's the strangest pacifist film ever, done in high style. Oh! What a Lovely War DVD The Warner Archive Collection 1969 / Color / 2:35 enhanced widescreen / 144 min. / Street Date September 22, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 16.99 Starring: Too many to name, see below. Cinematography Gerry Turpin Production Design Donald M. Ashton Art Direction Harry White Choreography Eleanor Fazan Film Editor Kevin Connor Original Music Alfred Ralston Written by Len Deighton from the musical play by Joan Littlewood from the radio play by Charles Chilton Produced by Richard Attenborough, Brian Duffy, Len Deighton Directed...

Ahead of American Ultra's arrival in UK cinemas, here's our pick of the 25 finest, sneakiest secret agents in film...

Operatives. Spies. Moles. Infiltrators. Secret agents go by many names. In fact, Britain's national security agency doesn't even call them agents - they're covert human intelligence sources, or simply “officers".

Whatever we choose to call them, secret agents lead necessarily furtive and obscure lives - so obscure that most of what we know about them is defined by what we've seen and read in books and movies.

During the Cold War, the image of the secret agent as a well-groomed sophisticate in a suit proliferated all over the world, and even in the high-tech landscape of the 21st century, that image still stands - just look at such movies as Kingsman: The Secret Service, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and, of course, the Bond franchise. But secret agents can come in many other guises,...

Michael Caine young. Michael Caine movies: From Irwin Allen bombs to Woody Allen classic It's hard to believe that Michael Caine has been around making movies for nearly six decades. No wonder he's had time to appear – in roles big and small and tiny – in more than 120 films, ranging from unwatchable stuff like the Sylvester Stallone soccer flick Victory and Michael Ritchie's adventure flick The Island to Brian G. Hutton's X, Y and Zee, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Sleuth (a duel of wits and acting styles with Laurence Olivier), and Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men. (See TCM's Michael Caine movie schedule further below.) Throughout his long, long career, Caine has played heroes and villains and everything in between. Sometimes, in his worst vehicles, he has floundered along with everybody else. At other times, he was the best element in otherwise disappointing fare, e.g., Philip Kaufman's Quills.

Sneak Peek new images of actor Michael Caine looking 40 years younger, similar to his classic spy movie character 'Harry Palmer', from a VFX-tweaked deleted sequence that will be available on the Blu-ray release of director Matthew Vaughn's "Kingsman: The Secret Service":

"...the images show Caine's character 'Arthur' the head of the spy agency in 'Kingsman: The Secret Service', when he was a young ruthless spy...

"...looking like British secret agent 'Harry Palmer' from the 1960's spy features 'The Ipcress File'...

"...'Funeral in Berlin'...

"...and 'Billion Dollar Brain", based on the novels by author Len Deighton..."

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Kingsman: The Secret Service" and Michael Caine as 'Harry Palmer'...

David Crow Feb 15, 2019

Kingsman: The Secret Service pulled from a lot of spy movies (and television) to find its tone. We try to list them all!

A few years ago, Fifty Shades of Grey opened on Valentine's Day weekend and shattered all sorts of records... but it was the movie that did almost as well that holiday which has had the longer franchise staying power as the years passed: Kingsman: The Secret Service. With enough charm and gonzo showmanship by director Matthew Vaughn (and comic creator Mark Millar) to be taken seriously, but still featuring the necessary chaos to qualify as a Monty Python gag, Kingsman: The Secret Service was an outrageous dose of bonkers entertainment. Indeed, it found the missing ingredient that James Bond producers have recently lost.

But as the ever dapper Harry Hart (Colin Firth) admits to Taaron Egerton in Kingsman, alongside his worthy foe Richmond Valentine...

What would it look like if Ken Russell had been a Soviet filmmaker? One clue can be found in the spy flick The Billion Dollar Brain, starring Michael Caine. The cheeky English auteur succeeded in making an espionage caper in which the Russians are the heroes and the Americans the villains, and indulged his love of Eisenstein with a version of the battle on the ice from Alexander Nevsky.

Another clue can be found in Pervorossiyanye (a.k.a. Russian Pioneers, 1968) by Aleksandr Ivanov and Yevgeni Shiffers. The Great Leap Forward here is the blending of dialectical montage with a pop art influence derived from Antonioni. The filmmakers even paint their landscapes, and actors, for maximum graphic effect. The anamorphic lens has a tendency to warp and abstract backgrounds in close shots, creating smeared and elongated blurs of light out of everything. Here this is taken to the next logical step,...

By Lee Pfeiffer 

The three Harry Palmer feature films (The Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain) have had a rather cluttered history in terms of their video releases. Surprisingly, producer Harry Saltzman didn't stick with one studio in terms of their theatrical releases, as he did with the James Bond films which he co-produced with Cubby Broccoli. Instead, each of the Palmer films was financed by and released by a different studio. Thus, in the ensuing decades, the video rights to these films have been convoluted. The titles have remained consistently available to consumers in some countries, while in others (including the USA), they have appeared and disappeared from the marketplace for years at a time. Now the Warner Archive has reissued Paramount's original DVD version of Funeral in Berlin as a burn-to-order title. The original film, The Iprcress File, was internationally acclaimed as the "thinking man's 007" movie.

On this week’s episode, Michael & I talk about a low budget film Anchor Bay’s Mimesis: Night of the Living Dead

Show Notes:

Intro

What We’ve Been Watching

Andy: A Good Die to Die Hard, Beyond the Black Rainbow Michael: Asylum Blackout, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2, Billion Dollar Brain, Contagion, Fast Five

Picks of the Week – DVD & Blu-Ray Releases for February 19, 2013

Andy’s Pick

Michael’s Pick

Mimesis: Night Of Living Dead Discussion

Outro

Contact us Email Michael & Andy at podcast@destroythebrain.com Leave us a voicemail at 206-338-4259

Leave us a review & Subscribe on iTunes | Follow us on Twitter & Facebook | Join the Facebook Group Here!

The name ‘Broccoli’ has been most closely associated with the James Bond film series over the last 50 years: famously the late Albert R “Cubby” Broccoli, and now his daughter, Barbara (who co-produces the 007 movies with her stepbrother, Michael G Wilson.)

But in the early days — from Dr No (1962) to The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) — another producer shared the Bond film billings with Cubby: Harry Saltzman.

In fact it was Harry, a no-nonsense and flamboyant Canadian, who had originally secured the film rights from Bond author Ian Fleming. Already a successful film producer known for the British kitchen sink dramas Look back in Anger and The Entertainer, Harry teamed up with Cubby and kick-started the 007 franchise with their company, Eon productions.

It wasn’t easy. Harry and Cubby wanted the then unknown Sean Connery to star as Bond while the studio was pushing for a household name. How Saltzman and Broccoli stood their ground,...

One of the film industry's last great composers has passed away at age 76. Sir Richard Rodney Bennett died this week in New York. The prolific composer was part of a now bygone age when spectacular and memorable film scores were a routine part of the motion picture industry. Bennett was nominated for three Oscars for his work on Far From the Madding Crowd, Nicholas and Alexandra and Murder On The Orient Express. He was also nominated for numerous BAFTA awards for his work in film and on television. Bennett was also acclaimed for his non-film work that included writing symphonies and operas. His other feature film scores include Billy Liar, Equus, Billion Dollar Brain, Four Weddings and a Funeral and The Devil's Disciple. For more click here...

On 10th November, Julien’s presided over the sale of 800+ lots for their ‘Hollywood Icons and Idols’ auction, featuring movie costumes, props and assorted memorabilia.

The auction’s big draw was a (not ‘the’; there were several) blue and white cotton gingham pinafore dress and original blouse worn by Judy Garland as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. It exceeded lowest expectations selling for $480,000, perhaps not as much as hoped for bearing in mind it is such a well loved costume – top estimate was $600,000. Much of the bidding went this way, certainly high and above estimates, but nowhere near the record amounts seen at the Debbie Reynolds auction last year. This could be because overall the lots were not as obviously exciting, or economic reasons, or even simply that the sale was not particularly well publicised.

Any item seen on Marilyn Monroe will make money, but over half a million...

With "Midnight in Paris," Woody Allen's comic look at nostalgia and its limitations, having earned four Oscar nominations last week (including nods for Best Picture, Allen's direction and his original screenplay), it's a good time to take a look back at Allen's 1987 comedy "Radio Days." Another comic take on nostalgia, "Radio Days" is now officially a golden oldie itself, having been released exactly 25 years ago, on January 30, 1987. A fond look, filtered through memory, of a 1940s New York childhood, the radio broadcasts that captivated audiences back then, and the behind-the-scenes gossip about the performers who voiced them, "Radio Days" may be best known today for launching the career of Seth Green -- then a 12-year-old who played the Allen-like narrator as a boy. But there's also a wealth of little-known true stories behind the film, some of them from Allen's own life, some from classic radio lore, and some...

As The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo reminds us, a powerful title sequence can have a huge impact. Here’s Ryan’s celebration of a resurgent art form…

David Fincher’s version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo opens with a booming, teacup-rattling title sequence, in which hideous forms – some technological, others biological – ooze in and out of black oil and fire. Cut to the howls and thunderous riff of Trent Reznor and Karen O’s cover of The Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin, it’s an aggressive statement of intent, as though Fincher’s violently stamping his authority on a property that was only adapted for the screen two years ago.

Fincher’s no stranger to opening his films with a dazzling display of sound and imagery. Images of pain and suffering are compiled by nimble, evil fingers to the music of Nine Inch Nails at the beginning of Seven.

Production designer behind the deadly gadgets used by James Bond – and his foes

The production designer Syd Cain, who has died aged 93, was one of many behind-the-scenes professionals elevated to something like prominence by the worldwide interest in the James Bond films. An industry veteran who began work in British cinema as a draughtsman in 1947, contributing to the look of the gothic melodrama Uncle Silas, Cain is credited on a range of film and television projects, but remains best known for his work in various design capacities on the 007 series, from Dr No in 1962 to GoldenEye in 1995.

Born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, Cain served in the armed forces in the second world war, surviving a plane crash and recovering from a broken back. Working at Denham Studios in Buckinghamshire in the 1940s and 50s, he moved up from uncredited draughtsman (on Adam and Evelyne, The Interrupted Journey, You Know What Sailors Are...

It’s always sad when an actor or filmmaker dies, and in 2011 we have had to mourn the loss of many great stars of past and present. Pete Postlethwaite, John Barry, Maria Schneider, Jane Russell, Michael Gough, Elizabeth Taylor, Sidney Lumet, Peter Falk – all great losses, many of them at much too young an age. Only ten days ago John Neville, the delightfully charismatic star of Terry Gilliam’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, passed away peacefully aged 86.

But perhaps none of these deaths should be mourned more than that of Ken Russell, who died this week in his sleep at the ripe old age of 84. Aside from his short-lived and ill-advised appearance on Celebrity Big Brother, his name will be unfamiliar to the majority of young filmgoers – people who didn’t grow up with his biopics of Elgar and Mahler, people who didn’t spend their twenties listening to Who records,...

Oscar-nominated maverick found inspiration for his work in music and literature

After a film career full of wild drama, gaudy conflagrations and operatic flourishes, the director Ken Russell died quietly in hospital on Sunday afternoon at the age of 84, after suffering a series of strokes. – effecting a quiet, discreet exit from the comfort of his hospital bed. "My father died peacefully," said his son Alex Verney-Elliott. "He died with a smile on his face."

Known for his flamboyant, often outrageous brand of film-making, Russell made movies that juggled high and low culture with glee and invariably courted controversy. His 1969 breakthrough, the Oscar-winning Women in Love, electrified audiences with its infamous nude wrestling scene, while 1971's The Devils – a torrid brew of sex, violence and Catholicism – found itself banned across Italy and was initially rejected by its backer, Warner Bros. His other notable films include Altered States, The Boy Friend and Tommy,...

British director Ken Russell has died peacefully in his sleep at the age of 84. Best known for dramas like Women In Love, which secured him an Oscar nomination, and rock musical Tommy, he was known for his flamboyant style and delight in controversial themes and presentations.

Russell began his career as a photographer, before moving into TV documentary and short films. His first film was a comedy called French Dressing in 1963, but it wasn't until 1967's Billion Dollar Brain, with Michael Caine and Karl Malden, that he had a major success. His reputation was cemented two years later with Women In Love, the adaptation of Dh Lawrence's novel, which received four Oscar nominations, including one for Russell himself, and landed Glenda Jackson her win for Best Actress - all this despite inviting controversy for a naked wrestling scene between Oliver Reed and Alan Bates.

Russell continued to invite controversy with The Devils,...

Legendary British filmmaker Ken Russell, the notorious director famous for boundary-pushing films such as Women in Love, Altered States and The Devils, has died at 84 following a series of strokes.

For an artist who's been called an iconoclast, a maverick and a genius — one with a professed love for consciousness-altering drugs — Russell (born July 3, 1927) got his start in a fairly conventional manner. Following a stint in the service, Russell worked as a photojournalist to minor acclaim before going to work at the BBC as a director in 1959.

While at the BBC, Russell made a series of historical documentaries, still regarded as impressive for their impressionistic visual technique. This is the beginning of the flamboyant style that became synonymous with the name Ken Russell. Many of these television films focused on renowned composers, including Edward Elgar, Richard Strauss and Claude Debussy. Interestingly, this is subject matter Russell would return to often...

Following a series of strokes, British film director Ken Russell died on Sunday at the age of 84. Russell was famed for being experimental and flamboyant with his films which had heavily sexual overtones and often rebelled against the otherwise rigid and subdued tone used by other famed British filmmakers. It earned him the nickname 'The Fellini of the North'.

Russell first came to notice with 1967's "Billion Dollar Brain", the third film in the Michael Caine-led Harry Palmer spy drama series based on Len Deighton's books. Two years later he directed his signature film - an adaptation of Dh Lawrence's "Women In Love".

'Women' scored numerous Oscar nominations and featured the now infamous nude wrestling scene between Oliver Reed and Alan Bates that broke the taboo of full frontal male nudity on camera in a mainstream film.

That lead to numerous films in the 1970's that have since become infamous.

The Associated Press reports that Ken Russell, the controversial British director of such cult films as "The Devils," "Tommy," and "Altered States," died on Sunday after a series of strokes. He was 84. The AP sums it up well:

"Ken Russell got Oliver Reed and Alan Bates to wrestle naked, turned Vanessa Redgrave into a demonic nun and cast Ringo Starr as the pope. Critics and mainstream audiences often hated his films. Actors and admirers loved him. The iconoclastic British director, whose death aged 84 was announced Monday, made films that blended music, sex and violence in a potent brew seemingly drawn straight from his subconscious."

Russell isn't a household name, but amongst cinephiles, his appearance in a film's credits signalled reason for excitement. Russell's movies might not always have been perfect, but during his heyday in the 1960s and '70s, they were always interesting. Scrolling through his IMDb page you...

Ken Russell with Twiggy on the set of The Boyfriend (1971)

 

By Lee Pfeiffer

Director Ken Russell, who once seemed destined to enter his family's shoe business, has died after a series of strokes at age 84. Russell served in the British navy before using his talents as a photographer to become a documentary film maker. Once he began making major studio films, they were often steeped in controversy. Russell seemed to have little regard for whether his movies had boxoffice appeal. Instead, he focused on his own creative visions of storytelling. One of Russell's most acclaimed films, the 1970 version of D.H. Lawrence's Women in Love earned him as Oscar nomination and was both a critical and financial success. The films he made in the years after were not as well regarded. His 1971 film The Devils was considered so shocking that it has been censored and cut into various versions throughout the world.

Following the sad death of director Ken Russell yesterday, James looks back at his sometimes stunning body of work...

While his best years were clearly long behind him, the passing of director Ken Russell, one of the undoubted titans of post-war British cinema, still feels like a huge loss for the world of film. Contrarian, provocateur and a lover of excess in all its forms, Russell was a filmmaker whose work was rarely restrained, seldom safe and almost always memorable, although not necessarily for the right reasons.

Despite a childhood desire to be a ballet dancer, it was as a photographer that Russell initially made his name, and it was through this route that he secured a job in 1959 within the BBC.

Working as an arts documentarian during the 1960s, Russell honed his craft, creating a series of artful, evocative films, mainly focusing on composers such as Debussy, Elgar and Strauss.

Ken Russell, who has died aged 84, was so often called rude names – the wild man of British cinema, the apostle of excess, the oldest angry young man in the business – that he gave up denying it all quite early in his career. Indeed, he often seemed to court the very publicity that emphasised only the crudest assessment of his work. He gave the impression that he cared not a damn. Those who knew him better, however, knew that he did. Underneath all the showbiz bluster, he was an old softie. Or, perhaps as accurately, a talented boy who never quite grew up.

It has, of course, to be said that he was capable of almost any enormity in the careless rapture he brought to making his films. He could be dreadfully cruel to his undoubted talent,...

The director Ken Russell has died aged 84. We look back at his most memorable moments, from The Devils to Women in Love

• Ken Russell: films in photographs

After early attempts at carving out a career as a photographer, Russell and his future wife Shirley-Ann began making short films with a fantasy/parable bent – in contrast with the socially engaged spirit of the then influential Free Cinema movement. Peep Show (1956) was a parody of silent cinema, while arguably the most striking of the shorts was Amelia and the Angel, part funded by the BFI, about a girl looking for angel's wings for a school play.

Russell's proficiency got him noticed by the BBC, and he was put to work on the arts documentary strand Monitor. He made a string of TV programmes with increasingly elaborate formats – on everything from pop art to brass bands, culminating with his epic film about Edward Elgar,...

British moviemaker Ken Russell has died at the age of 84.

Russell directed several classic British films during his 55-year career, including spy thriller Billion Dollar Brain, The Who's rock opera Tommy, and Oscar-winning 1969 movie Women in Love.

He also notched up a range of acting and writing credits, and was working in front of the cameras as recently as 2010, when he played a university lecturer in crime drama Mr. Nice. He even has a role in upcoming horror movie Invasion of the Not Quite Dead.

Actress-turned-politician Glenda Jackson, who won a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in Women in Love, paid tribute to Russell after news of his death was announced on Monday.

She told the BBC, "(It was) just wonderful to work with him and to work with him as often as I did. He created the kind of climate in which actors could do their job and I loved him dearly."

Jackson insisted it's "a great shame" Russell was not more widely recognised in the movie industry, adding: "It was almost as if he never existed - I find it utterly scandalous for someone who was so innovative and a film director of international stature."

Joely Richardson, who starred in Russell's BBC TV series Lady Chatterley, adds, "I will forever feel privileged and honoured to have worked with the great Ken Russell. More than that, I was extremely fond of the man himself."

Russell's fellow British filmmaker Michael Winner told the Daily Mirror, "I've known Ken since 1968. He was the most innovative director. I persuaded Oliver Reed to work with him even though Oliver said, 'I'm not a TV star, I'm a movie star.'

"His television was in a field of its own, it was absolutely extraordinary. Then he graduated to movies... He was also a very nice person. He was very cheerful and very well-meaning. He had a very good run even though his style of picture-making became obsolete, but that happened to everyone, Billy Wilder and (Alfred) Hitchcock."

Russell passed away in a hospital on Sunday after a series of strokes. He is survived by his wife Elize.

British moviemaker Ken Russell has died at the age of 84.

Russell directed several classic British films during his 55-year career, including spy thriller Billion Dollar Brain, The Who's rock opera Tommy, and Oscar-winning 1969 movie Women in Love.

He also notched up a range of acting and writing credits, and was working in front of the cameras as recently as 2010, when he played a university lecturer in crime drama Mr. Nice. He even has a role in upcoming horror movie Invasion of the Not Quite Dead.

Fellow British filmmaker Michael Winner paid tribute to Russell after news of his death was announced on Monday, telling the Daily Mirror, "I've known Ken since 1968. He was the most innovative director. I persuaded Oliver Reed to work with him even though Oliver said, 'I'm not a TV star, I'm a movie star.'

"His television was in a field of its own, it was absolutely extraordinary. Then he graduated to movies... He was also a very nice person. He was very cheerful and very well-meaning. He had a very good run even though his style of picture-making became obsolete, but that happened to everyone, Billy Wilder and (Alfred) Hitchcock."

Russell, who Winner insists had been "terribly ill for some time", passed away in a hospital on Sunday. No further details were available as WENN went to press.

British director Ken Russell has died peacefully in his sleep at the age of 84. Best known for dramas like Women In Love, which secured him an Oscar nomination, and rock musical Tommy, he was known for his flamboyant style and delight in controversial themes and presentations.Russell began his career as a photographer, before moving into TV documentary and short films. His first film was a comedy called French Dressing in 1963, but it wasn't until 1967's Billion Dollar Brain, with Michael Caine and Karl Malden, that he had a major success. His reputation was cemented two years later with Women In Love, the adaptation of Dh Lawrence's novel, which received four Oscar nominations, including one for Russell himself, and landed Glenda Jackson her win for Best Actress - all this despite inviting controversy for a naked wrestling scene between Oliver Reed and Alan Bates.Russell continued to invite controversy with The Devils,...

Ken Russell, the British film director and former Celebrity Big Brother contestant, has died at the age of 84. The director, whose work includes Women in Love, The Devils and Tommy, died peacefully in his sleep in hospital yesterday afternoon (November 27), his son Alex confirmed. Novelist and broadcaster Norman Lebrecht revealed the news on the Arts Journal blog. Born in Southampton in 1927, Russell served in both the Royal Air Force and Merchant Navy before moving into directing television documentaries. He started feature film directing with his 1963 movie French Dressing before making Harry Palmer film Billion Dollar Brain with Michael Caine. Russell's 1969 adaptation of Dh Lawrence's Women in Love earned him an Oscar nomination for 'Best Director' and won its star Glenda Jackson (more)...

A line-up of Eon greats at the National History Museum in 2002, where Syd was promoting his autobiography. (L to R): Ken Adam, Syd Cain, Peter Lamont and Michael G. Wilson. (Photo copyright Dave Worrall. All rights reserved).

By Lee Pfeiffer

Syd Cain, the respected art director and production designer, has died at age 93. Syd's death is a personal loss to many of us at Cinema Retro who considered him a friend. His remarkable career included a long association with the James Bond films. He began on the very first film, Dr. No, in 1962 as art director, working with the legendary production designer Ken Adam. When Adam wasn't available for the second film, From Russia With Love, Syd took over for the art direction and production design duties. Syd was billed as the production designer for the 1969 Bond classic On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969, playing a crucial role in...

The spy's ingenious gadget, designed by Syd Cain for Live and Let Die, is to be auctioned in Geneva

James Bond first used it to unzip the dress of beautiful Italian secret agent Miss Caruso with the winning line: "Sheer magnetism, darling." Later it confused deranged metal-armed henchman Tee Hee, allowing the spy to quip: "Butter hook!" And it saved the bacon of both himself and Dr Kananga's psychic Solitaire when Bond used it to cut them both down from an almost certain death-by-sharks situation.

The auction house Christie's can make no such promises. It did, though, announce that it is to sell one of the spy's most famous and useful watches – his Rolex Submariner from the 1973 film Live and Let Die.

The watch is likely to be expensive even by Rolex standards, and before its sale in Geneva on November 14 an estimate has been placed on it of 200,000-...