Movies About Movies And Filmmaking (From The University Of California, Berkeley's Library)...
LDK (Japan, 2003)
Director, Yukihiko Tsutsumi. Cast: YMaho Nonami, Eiko Koike, Daisuke Kizaki. Two actresses who share an apartment in Tokyo are in fierce competition with each other. As they vie for the same film role and the same boyfriend, their petty squabbles escalate to all-out war as they resort to violence to settle their dispute. 70 min. DVD 9675
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Abbott and Costello in Hollywood (1945)
Director, S. Sylvan Simon. Cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Frances Rafferty, Robert Stanton, Jean Porter, Warner Anderson, "Rags" Ragland, Mike Mazurki. Bud and Lou turn Hollywood inside out with their pranks and comedy as they play the role of two barbers who want their own shop in Hollywood and try to raise money by becoming talent agents. 83 min. DVD 7449Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Adaptation(2002)
Directed by Spike Jonze. Cast: Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Tilda Swinton, Cara Seymour, Brian Cox, Judy Greer, Maggie Gyllenhaal.Blends fictional characters and situations with the lives of real people: obsessive orchid hunter John Laroche, "New Yorker" journalist Susan Orlean, Hollywood screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and his twin brother Donald. As Charlie struggles to adapt a best-selling book, he writes himself into the movie plot. 114 min. 83 min. DVD 2813Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003)
Directed by Bruce Beresford. Cast: Antonio Banderas, Eion Bailey, Matt Day, Michael McKean, Colm Feore, Alexa Davalos, Anthony Stewart Head, Alan Arkin, Jim Broadbent. The true story of how Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa allowed a Hollywood crew to film him in battle, altering the course of film and military history in the process. Early movie giants D.W. Griffin and Harry Aiken send Frank Thayer to Mexico to persuade the cash-strapped, publicity-hungry Villa to let them film his revolution. Stepping into the literal cross fire, Thayer's crew risk their lives in the mingling of fiction and reality. The two make their movie and its original U.S. release helps change public opinion in Villa's favor and proves "the lens is mightier than the sword". 111 min. DVD 2682Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
The Auteur Theory (1999)
Directed by Evan Oppenheimer. Cast: Natasha Lyonne, Alan Cox, Jeremy Sisto, Rachel True, Angeline Ball. At a relentless self-important student film festival, the directors of the (mostly terrible) short films are being killed off one-by-one. A budding British filmmaker decides to make a film about the search for the killer. The surviving filmmakers are the main suspects, so he begins to review their films, searching for footprints amidst the celluloid. 83 min. DVD 2813Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Auto Focus (2002)
Directed by Paul Schrader. Cast: Greg Kinnear, Willem Dafoe, Rita Wilson, Kurt Fuller, Maria Bello, Ron Leibman, Ed Begley, Jr. A provocative drama about the life and mysterious death of television actor Bob Crane who became well known as the star of the comedy hit series "Hogan's Heroes." With fame and success, Crane drove headfirst into the darker, destructive side of celebrity life. He eventually teamed with a video technician who helped him document his numerous sexploits. But when his fast living got out of control, the end result was a brutal murder that remains one of Hollywood's most scandalous unsolved mysteries. 106 min. DVD 2335Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Crawford, Travis. "I Am a Camera" Filmmaker - The Magazine of Independent Film 11:1 (Fall 2002) p. 70-73 
UC users only- Denby, David. "Auto Focus" The New Yorker 78:32 (28 October 2002) UC users only
- Doherty, Thomas. "Sex, Half-Truths and Videotape." Cineaste, Spring2003, Vol. 28 Issue 2, p10, 4p, UC users only
- Ferber, Lawrence. "The lost language of Crane: Greg Kinnear and director Paul Schrader talk about the homoerotic tension behind the Bob Crane biopic Auto Focus." (film). The AdvocateOct 29, 2002 p55(1)
- Haun, Harry. "Hogan's Secrets" Film Journal International,Oct2002, Vol. 105 Issue 10, p18, 1p
- Jones, Kent. "Auto Focus" Film Comment 38:4 (July-August 2002) p. 15
- Peary, Gerald. "Interview with Paul Schrader." The Film Journal, Issue 4 January 2003
- Williams, Linda Ruth. "Swing High, Swing Low." Sight & Sound, Mar2003, Vol. 13 Issue 3, p32-33, 2p
The Aviator (2004)
Directed by Martin Scorsese. Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly, Alec Baldwin, Alan Alda, Ian Holm, Danny Huston, Gwen Stefani, Jude Law, Adam Scott, Matt Ross, Kelli Garner, Frances Conroy, Brent Spiner, Stanley DeSantis, Edward Herrmann, Willem Dafoe. Follows the life of Howard Hughes as the twentysomething millionaire, having already made a fortune improving the design of oil-drilling bits, who comes to Hollywood with an interest in getting into the picture business. It doesn't take long for Hughes to jump from producer to director of his first major film project, a World War I air epic. The film was a massive hit, and the eccentric inventor became a mogul in Hollywood, making Jean Harlow a star and enjoying a romance with Katharine Hepburn. But Hollywood's old-boy network never fully accepted Hughes, and in time his passion for flying began to reclaim his attentions. In time he began designing new planes, setting air speed records, flying around the world, and risking his life testing aircraft. Hughes also found time to romance Ava Gardner and founded his own airline, Trans-World Airlines. As his ideas became bolder and more eccentric, he gained many powerful enemies. 170 min.DVD 3996Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Awards
- British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards - Best Film
- Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards - Best Director
- Golden Globes, USA - Best Motion Picture - Dramatic
Baadasssss!
Produced and directed by Mario Van Peebles Cast: Joy Bryant, T.K. Carter, Terry Crews, Ossie Davis, David Alan Grier, Nia Long, Paul Rodriguez, Saul Rubinek, Vincent Schiavelli, Khleo Thomas, Mario Van Peebles, Karimah Westbrook, Rainn Wilson. A candid portrait of Melvin Van Peeble's struggles as a young, black director during the society-shifting 70's. Determined to make a film that matters, Melvin deals with two-faced backers, a rag-tag crew, threatening creditors, and various shades of Hollywood hypocrisy. With everything on the line, his only choice is to stick to his guns and do whatever it takes to get his neo-blaxploitation epic to the audience for which it was envisioned. 2004. 109 min. DVD 3540Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
Directed by Vincente Minnelli. Cast: Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Barry Sullivan, Gloria Grahame, Gilbert Roland, Leo G. Carroll, Vanessa Brown. Biting drama that tells the story of a ruthless, manipulatve movie producer who lets nothing and nobody stand in his way. Now he's broke and needs the help of the very people he used and betrayed on his climb to the top. 119 min. DVD 3007Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Awards & Honors- National Film Registry Selection
- Jordan, Jessica Hope. The sex goddess in American film, 1930-1965 : Jean Harlow, Mae West, Lana Turner, and Jayne Mansfield / Jessica Hope Jordan. Amherst, N.Y. : Cambria Press, 2009. (Main (Gardner) Stacks PN1995.9.F44 J67 2009)
- Nicholls, Mark. "My Victims, My Melancholia: Raging Bull and Vincente Minnelli's The Bad and the Beautiful" In: Martin Scorsese's Raging bull / edited by Kevin J. Hayes. Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, c2005. (Full-text available online [UC Berkeley users only]; Print: Main (Gardner) Stacks PN1997.R2253 M37 2005)
- Vincente Minnelli bibliography
The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien, Marius Goring, Valentina Cortesa, Rossano Brazzi, Warren Stevens, Bessie Love, Elizabeth Sellars. With extraordinary beauty, talent and grace, Spanish dancer Maria Vargas was born to be a star. Aided by American movie director Harry Dawes, she attains great success and fortune in Hollywood's land of dreams. But, though she gives her all for stardom, there is one thing Maria will never compromise - her soul. 130 min. DVD X2451Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Barton Fink (1991)
Directed by Joel Coen. Cast: John Turturro, John Goodman, Judy Davis, Michael Lerner, John Mahoney, Jon Polito. It's Hollywood in the 40's, and Barton Fink, the New York playwright, has arrived to work as a screenwriter. He is assigned a low-brow wrestling movie, and quickly develops writer's block, which is aggravated by the seedy hotel he is staying in and his aggressively jovial neighbor, Charlie. Barton's struggle to create a truly great screenplay leads from the strange and unproductive to the chaotic and surreal.70 min. DVD 3336Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Awards- Cannes Film Festival - Palme d'Or; Best Director; Best Actor (John Turturro)
Be Kind Rewind (1991)
Directed by Michel Gondry. Cast: ack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover, Mia Farrow, Melonie Diaz. Two local outcasts attempt to save a local video store. Amateur film director Mike must find a way to save the business after his magnetized friend, Jerry, erases every movie in the store. Using an outdated video camera and their own special effects, the two embark on an adventure to remake all the movies, from "Ghostbusters" to "Driving Miss Daisy," turning the two town misfits into local celebrities. 102 min. DVD X3751Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Behind the Screen (1916)
Directed by Charlie Chaplin. Cast: Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Albert Austin, Henry Bergman, Lloyd Bacon, Charlotte Mineau. Three movies are being shot simultaneously and Charlie is an overworked scene shifter. The foreman is waited on hand and foot until all the shifters but Charlie go on strike. A girl looking for work pretends to be a man and helps Charlie. Charlie discovers her gender and falls in love with her. The foreman thinks they are homosexual and in the ensuing fight they become involved in a long pie throwing scene from one of the movies in production. The frustrated workers dynamite the studio. A satire of life at a silent movie studio, a thinly veiled satire of Mack Sennett's Keystone Company. 15 min. DVD 9; VHS 999:695Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Stamp, Shelley. "Cinema Sees Itself: Behind the Screen and A Movie Star." In: American cinema of the 1910s : themes and variations / edited by Charlie Keil and Ben Singer. New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, c2009. (Full-text available online (UC Berkeley users only); Print Main (Gardner) Stacks PN1993.5.U6 A85733 2009)
Benny's Video (1992)
Directed by Michael Haneke. Cast: Arno Frisch, Angela Winkler, Ulrich Muhe, Ingrid Stassner. Benny likes to watch violent movies, including a home-made video of a pig being slaughtered. Benny soon loses his mind, killing a girl and filming the murder with his video camera. 106 min. DVD 5587Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Beware of a Holy Whore (Warnung vor Einer Heiligen Nutte) (West Germany, 1970)
Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Cast: Lou Castel, Eddie Constantine, Hanna Schygulla, Marquard Bohm, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Ulli Lommel. In a Spanish coastal hotel, the cast and crew of a film wait for the director, the star and the production money. When the director finally arrives he makes life miserable for everyone. The group is left to petty bickering, attempts at amusement and desperate contacts to make it through the filming of the movie. 103 min. DVD 1624; VHS 999:1186Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
The Big Picture (1989)
Directed by Christopher Guest. Cast: Kevin Bacon, Emily Longstreth, J.T. Walsh, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Teri Hatcher, Martin Short. Nick Chapman graduates from film school and his short film wins a prize. This gives him a high enough profile that he can get Hollywood to back the film he has long dreamed of making. But Nick soon is seduced by Hollywood and makes one concession after another until his original movie is lost altogether. A behind-the-scenes look at the cost of making it in Hollywood. 102 min. DVD 5940Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Bollywood Calling (India, 2002)
Directed by Nagesh Kukunoor. Cast: Om Puri, Pat Cucisk, Navin Nischol, Perizaad Zorabian, Chet Dixon, Monique Curnen. A out-of-luck American B-movie star is thrust into the circus of Bollywood where she is spotted by a producer who concocts the first pairing of an American with the legendary Manu Kapoor, an ageing Indian star. An old-fashioned Hindi potboiler, presenting an honest, no-holds barred look at the world of Indian filmmaking. 99 min. DVD 1101Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Bollywood Dreams (India, 1995)
Directed by Ramgopal Varma. Cast: Jackie Shroff, Aamir Khan, Urmila Mathondkar, Gulshan Grover. Mili is encouraged by her childhood friend Munna to pursue her dream of winning fame as an actress. When Mili is offered a part in a film by a famous actor, Munna feels he's no longer worthy of her affections and decides to leave town. 175 min. DVD 4464 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Bollywood/Hollywood (Canada, 2002)
Directed by Deepa Mehta. Cast: Rahul Khanna, Lisa Ray, Dina Pathak, Moushumi Chatterjee, Ranjit Chowdry, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Jessica Pare, Akshaye Khanna. Rahul, a young millionaire who is pressured by his family to find a bride, employs a girl to pose as his Indian fiancee. A musical comedy and family drama that is also a spoof of Indian film culture. Non-US format DVD (PAL, Region 2). 100 min.DVD 3797Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Bollywood Queen (UK, 2002)
Directed by Jeremy Wooding. Cast: Preeya Kalidas, James McAvoy, Amerjit Deu, Ray Panthaki, Ronny Jhutti. Nineteen-year-old Geena is entranced by the glamour of Bollywood and seduced by the sounds of R & B girl groups. When Geena meets Jay she finds that life can be just like the adventure and romance of the Bollywood movies she loves. 88 min. DVD 3847Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Bombay Talkie (1970)
Director, James Ivory. A sophisticated American woman comes to Bombay and falls for two men involved in filmmaking in this affectionate, bemused view of Bollywood -- India's huge movie-making dream factory. Along the way she flees to an ashram to take up the spiritual life -- hilariously -- but eventually succeeds in destroying the marriage of one man and the careers of both. 110 min. DVD 2899Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Bombshell(1933)
Directed by Victor Fleming. Cast: Jean Harlow, Lee Tracy, Frank Morgan, Franchot Tone, Pat O'Brien, Una Merkel, Ted Healy. Screen siren Lola Burns is fed up with the scandalous stories her publicist, Space Hanlon puts out, the endless arguments on the sets of her films and her family's constant drain on her money and peace of mind. Her attempts to get married, adopt a baby and quit the business altogether are constantly thwarted, unbeknownst to her, by Space, who is secretly in love with her. 96 min. DVD X7115; vhs 999:3816 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Beavers, Karen. "Everybody Has a Mammy: The Productive Discomfort of Louise Beavers' Movie Maids." Genders; 2010, Issue 52, p1-1, 1p
- DiBattista, Maria. "Blonde Bombshells: Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard, and Ginger Rogers." In: Fast-talking dames / Maria DiBattista. New Haven : Yale University Press, c2001. (Full text available online (UCB users only); Print: Main (Gardner) Stacks PN1995.9.W6 D53 2001)
- Jordan, Jessica Hope. The sex goddess in American film, 1930-1965 : Jean Harlow, Mae West, Lana Turner, and Jayne Mansfield / Jessica Hope Jordan. Amherst, N.Y. : Cambria Press, 2009. (Main (Gardner) Stacks PN1995.9.F44 J67 2009)
- Tremper, Ellen. "Double-peroxide, moving parts, and mobile mouths : movies of the 1930s." In: I'm no angel : the blonde in fiction and film / Ellen Tremper. Charlottesville : University of Virginia Press, 2006. (Main (Gardner) Stacks; PFA PR868.B56 T74 2006)
Boogie Nights (1998)
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, Don Cheadle, John C. Reilly, William H. Macy, Heather Graham, Nicole Parker, Philip Seymour Hoffman. A film that throws the covers back on California's adult entertainment industry in the swinging seventies through the story of rising porn star Dirk Diggler. A touching and humorous portrait of a most unusual family of filmmakers brought to life with a sizzling seventies soundtrack. Special DVD features: The John C. Reilly files; feature-length commentaries with writer/director P.T. Anderson and cast members; 10 deleted scenes; "Try" music video. 155 min. DVD X1036Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Goss, Brian Michael. "Academic Journal "Things Like This Don't Just Happen": Ideology and Paul Thomas Anderson's Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, and Magnolia." Journal of Communication Inquiry, Apr2002, Vol. 26 Issue 2, p171, 22p UC users only
- Sickels, Robert C. "1970s Disco Daze: Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights and the Last Golden Age of Irresponsibility." Journal of Popular Culture, Spring2002, Vol. 35 Issue 4, p49, 12p UC users only
- Udovitch, Mim. "The epic obsessions of Paul Thomas Anderson." Rolling Stone, 02/03/2000, Issue 833, p46, 5p UC users only
Bowfinger (1999)
Director, Frank Oz. Cast: Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Christine Baranski, Terence Stamp, Heather Graham, Jamie Kennedy. A group of wanna-be filmmakers and actors concocts a scheme to make a movie with a major star without having to pay him in this comedy. With the help of Jiff Ramsey, brother to Hollywoods biggest star, Hollywood's least successful director stops at nothing to get him into his latest low-budget film. 97 min. DVD 3383Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Broken Embraces (Los abrazos rotos) (Spain, 2009)
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Cast: Penélope Cruz, Lluis Homar, Blanca Portillo, José Luis Gómez, Rubén Ochandiano, Tamar Novas,Ángela Molina. Fourteen years ago, he had two names: Harry Caine, the pseudonym he used for his literary works, and Mateo Blanco, his real name which he used to direct films. But that was before the accident when he lost his sight and his beloved Lena. Now he goes by Harry Caine. If he can't direct films, he can only survive with the idea that Mateo Blanco died on Lanzarote with his Lena. When he is given the chance to tell his story, he can't refuse. Special features: Deleted scenes; Pedro directs Penélope; Variety Q&A with Penélope Cruz; "The cannibalistic councillor" a short film by Pedro Almodóvar; On the red carpet: the New York film festival closing night.127 min. DVD X2715Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
The Brothers Skladanowsky (Die Gebruder Skladanowsky) (Germany, 2002)
Directed by Wim Wenders. Cast: Udo Kier, Otto Kuhnle, Christoph Merg, Nadine Buttner, Lucie Hurtgen-Skladanowsky. A rare gem of cinematic storytelling that weaves docudrama, fictional reenactment, and experimental photography into a powerful, reflective work on the early days of German cinema. The film tells the story of the Skladanowsky Brothers, the German-born duo who invented the "bioskop", an early version of the film projector at the same time as the Lumieres and Edison were working on their inventions. The footage is shot with a 1920s handcranking camera, in the style of silent films. 76 min. DVD 6951Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Il caimano (Le caiman; The Cayman)(Italy / France, 2006)
Directed by Nanni Moretti. Cast: Silvio Orlando, Margherita Buy, Jasmine Trinca, Nanni Moretti, Elio de Capitani, Dario Cantarelli, Antonio Catania, Cecilia Dazzi, Luisa de Santis, Giacomo Passarelli, Daniele Rampello. This film-within-a-film is centered on the figure of Italy's prime minister and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, a subject so controversial that even the public television refuses to produce it. While film producer Bonomo's private life collapses piece by piece, as he's divorcing from his wife, and the bank is pressing him hard to pay back his long-standing debts, he finds out that struggling to get this movie filmed is the only thing that keeps him alive. 108 min. DVD 9702 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Camera (2000)
Directed and filmed by Richard Martini. Cast: Carol Alt, Angie Everhart, Rebecca Broussard, Peter Rafelson, Phillip Noyce, Anderson Bourell, Erika Brannan. A unique and hilarious story about the Dogma-style adventures of a video camera that gets stolen and goes on an adventure around the world, never leaving the point of view of the camera. It enters the lives of wannabe filmmakers, tourists on holiday and even celebrity stalkers. 80 min. DVD 6500Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Camera Buff (Amator) (Poland, 1979)
Director Krzysztof Kieslowski. Cast: Jerzy Stuhr, Malgorzata Zabkowska, Krzysztof Zanussi, Ewa Pokas, Stefan Czyzewski, Jerzy Nowak, Tadeusz Bradecki, Marek Litewka. Filip, a young factory worker, buys an amateur movie camera so he can take pictures of his newborn daughter. But, when a clumsy documentary he made for work wins a prize at a local festival, Filip goes camera crazy. He embarks upon a new career as a filmmaker and begins to photograph anything that moves...including things the authorities would rather not have exposed. 108 min. DVD 4182; vhs 999:1329Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Krzysztof Kieslowski bibliography
The Camerman (1928)
Directed by Buster Keaton, featuring Keaton, Marceline Day, Harold Goodwin, Sidney Bracey, Harry Gribbon. Keaton plays a lovestruck tintype photographer who falls for a pretty girl, an employee of MGM News service. Buying an antiquated movie camera, he sets out to film news events in the streets of New York so he can win a job and the girl's affection. 70 min. DVD 5437; vhs 999:144Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Celebrity (1998)
Directed by Woody Allen. Cast: Hank Azaria, Kenneth Branagh, Judy Davis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Melanie Griffith, Winona Ryder. Following their divorce, the lives of a restless writer and his inhibited ex-wife take off in unpredictable directions. While Lee explores the wilder side of his newfound freedom, Robin begins an improbable transformation from neurotic schoolteacher to high-profile TV talk show host where she encounters movie stars and the cream of high society. 113 min.DVD 109Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Chaplin (1992)
Directed by Richard Attenborough. Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Dan Aykroyd, Geraldine Chaplin, Kevin Dunn, Anthony Hopkins, Milla Jovovich, Moira Kelly, Kevin Kline, Diane Lane, Penelope Ann Miller, Paul Rhys, John Thaw, Marisa Tomei, Nancy Travis, James Woods. A loving, grand scale dramatization of the Little Tramp's amazing life and times from his poverty-stricken childhood in England to his Honorary Oscar in 1972. His friendships with Mack Sennett and Douglas Fairbanks, his many wives and scandalous affairs, and his relentless pursuit by J. Edgar Hoover are covered in this biographical film; a stunning depiction of a bygone era when Hollywood was at its most glamorous. Special features: "All at sea" Chaplin home movie; "Strolling into the sunset" featurette; Chaplin the hero" featurette; The most famous man in the world" featurette; Theatrical trailer. 135 min.DVD X387Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Combs, Richard. "Little man, what now?" Film Comment, July/August 1993, Vol. 29, p4-4, 1p UC users only
- Doherty, Thomas. "Chaplin." Cineaste, 1992, Vol. 19 Issue 4, p75-77, 3p
- Grant, Edmond. "Chaplin." Films in Review, May/June 1993, Vol. 44, p192-193, 2p UC users only
- Maland, Charles. "How much Chaplin appears in Chaplin? A look at Attenborough's screen biography." Literature Film Quarterly, 1997, Vol. 25 Issue 1, p49, 6p UC users only
- Romney, Jonathan. "Chaplin." Sight & Sound, January 1993, Vol. 3, p42-43, 2p
The Cigarette girl of Mosselprom (Papirosnitsa ot Mosselproma) (Soviet Union, 1924)
Director, Yuri Zhelyabuzhsky. Cast: Yuliya Solntseva, Igor Ilyinsky, Nikolai Tsereteli, Anna Dmokhovskaya, M. Tsybulsky. A charming, silent romantic comedy that tells the tale of a young man who falls in love with the title character. She becomes a famous film star and herself falls in love, not with the hero, but with her cameraman. No one ever gets what he or she truly wants, though they continue to pursue their lost dreams to the bitter end. Reveling in the unexpected throughout, it is capped by an adroit surprise ending. Originally released in 1924 at Mezhrabpom-Rus Studios; this version mastered from 35mm elements restored by the Cinémathèque de Toulouse in 2007. 112 min. DVD X6403Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
The Cinema Director (aka Luke's Movie Muddle) (1916)
Directed by Hal Roach. Starring Harold Llyod, Bebe Daniels and Snub Pollard. DVD X427; vhs 999:581
Cinema Paradiso (Nuovo Cinema Paradiso) (Italy / France, 1988)
Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. Cast: Antonella Attili, Salvatore Cascio, Philippe Noiret, Jacques Perrin. A young boy in a small Italian village is befriended by the projectionist at the movie theater, the Cinema Paradiso. As he grows up he learns to love films, and is encouraged by his good friend to pursue his dream of one day making movies. Special features: Disc 1. U.S. theatrical version. Commentary featuring director Giuseppe Tornatore with Millicent Marcus. Two new documentaries: "Exploring a timeless classic", "Little Italy love story: 'Cinema paradiso' style". Cucino paradiso--a Food Network tribute--easy entertaining with Michael Chiarello. Theatrical trailer and director's cut trailer -- Disc 2. The director's cut.121 min. DVD X1616; also DVD 3195 (PAL) Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Awards
- Academy Award - Best Foreign Language Picture
- British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards - Best Foreign-language Film; Best Actor (Philippe Noiret)
- Cannes Film Festival - Grand Prize of the Jury
- Golden Globe Awards - Best Foreign Language Film
- London Critics Circle Film Awards - Foreign Language Film of the Year; Actor of the Year (Philippe Noiret)
- Di Salvo, Thomas J. "The Severed Cord: Solitude and Alienation in Giuseppe Tornatore's 'Nuovo Cinema Paradiso' and 'Stanno tutti bene'" Veltro: Rivista della Civiltà Italiana, vol. 40, no. 1-2, pp. 94-98, Jan 1996
- Galt, Rosalind. "Italy's Landscapes of Loss: Historical Mourning and the Dialectical Image in Cinema Paradiso, Mediterraneo, and Il Postino." Screen, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 158-73, July 2002 UC users only
- Galt, Rosalind. "The Dialectic of Landscape in Italian Popular Melodrama." In: The new European cinema : redrawing the map New York : Columbia University Press, c2006. (Full text available online [UCB users only]; Print: MAIN: PN1993.5.E8 G35 2006; PFA : PN1993.5.E8 G35 2006)
- Radstone, Susannah. "Cinema/Memory/History." Screen, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 34-47, April 1995
- Schickel, Richard. "Cinema Paradiso." The Wilson Quarterly. Summer 1999. Vol. 23, Iss. 3; p. 56 (15 pages)UC users only
- Thiel, Lydia Distefano. "Cinema Paradiso: Search for the Father." RLA: Romance Languages Annual, vol. 3, pp. 321-25, 1991
Close-Up (Nema-ye Nazdik) (Iran, 1990)
Directed by Abbas Kiarostami. Cast: Hussain Sabzian, Hasan Farazmand, Abulfazl Ahankhah, Mihrdad Ahankhah, Nayer Muhsini Zunuzi, Ahmad Riza Muayyid Muhsini, Muhsin Makhmalbaf. At the heart of this true story is Hossein Sabzian, an unemployed movie buff who finds himself mistaken for the enigmatic Iranian film director Mohsen Makhmalbaf. The misunderstanding takes on a life of its own and Sabzian ends up in jail where his trial is documented by the screenwriter/director Abbas Kiarostami. 94 min. DVD 3387; vhs 999:3082Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Contempt (Le Mépris) (France / Italy, 1963)
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Cast: Brigitte Bardot, Michel Piccoli, Jack Palance, Giorgia Moll, Fritz Lang. "A stately, elegant and seductive tale of ideals and compromise. Fritz Lang wants to make a film of The Odyssey, his American producer wants naked sirens and the scriptwriter invites the contempt of his wife by falling for the chequebook instead of remaining true to his art. Movie jokes, magnificent camerawork and a memorable score complement the commanding screen presences of Bardot and Piccoli, Palance and Lang." [Movie-mail] 120 min. DVD 1467; vhs 999:948Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
CQ (2001)
Directed by Roman Coppola. Cast: Jeremy Davies, Angela Lindvall, Elodie Bouchez, Gérard Depardieu, Massimo Ghini, Giancarlo Giannini, John Phillip Law, Sylvio Muccino, Jason Schwartzman, Dean Stockwell, Billy Zane. A fledgling filmmaker, whose day job is as a film editor, abandons all reality to follow his sultry lead actress into the exciting futuristic fantasy life of her super-spy character in the film he is working on. Special features: "CQ: A Cinematic Odyssey" featurette; "CQ Cinematography" featurette; "Actor's Acting" featurette; "Music and Sound" featurette; "Chronique D'un Cineaste": a visual diary of Roman Coppola's cinematic journey; Sofia Coppola documentary; "The Making of CQ" featurette narrated by film star Matthieu Tonetti; "On the Set of CQ" documentary by Eleanor Coppola; "Xavier and Sabestien": Je Vous Presente Angela featurette; Audio commentary with director Roman Coppola and cinematographer Robert Yeoman; "Codename Dragonfly" featurette including Codename Dragonfly trailer; Mellow music video; original theatrical trailer; photo gallery. 87 min. DVD X2663Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
The Coocoo Nut Grove (1935)
Directed by Friz Freleng. Animated short. A visit to a Hollywood nightclub, featuring caricatures of, among others, Walter Winchell, Hugh Herbert, W.C. Fields, Katharine Hepburn, Ned Sparks, Johnny Weissmuller, Lupe Velez, John Barrymore, Harpo Marx, George Arliss, Mae West, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Clark Gable, Edna May Oliver, Gary Cooper, The Dionne Quintuplets, Groucho Marx, Helen Morgan, Wallace Beery, 'Edward G. Robinson' and George Raft. DVD 4875
Daffy Duck in Hollywood (1938)
Directed by Tex Avery. Animated short. "The opening scene: the gate of Wonder Pictures ("If it's a good picture, it's a Wonder!"). Daffy bursts into the office of movie producer I.M. Stupendous and asks, "Do you need a good duck actor?" The producer phones his German director, Mark Hamburger, and tells him that the picture better be good, and it better be finished today, or else! But you know from the director's beret, his German rolling R's, his pencil-thin mustache and jodhpurs that there is no way this will happen. Daffy drenches everybody by plugging the sprinkler system into the lights, then loads machine-gun rounds into the hand-cranked camera, cuts in on a love scene with a Katharine Hepburn chicken, and appears in the director's turkey lunch. When they all go to lunch, Daffy decides to give them a real feature, a crazy newsreel grouping of live-action shots, with narration that doesn't match at all (including two seconds from Gold-Diggers of 1933). Daffy switches his film with the director's when Hamburger is about to screen it for Stupendous. The producer loves it so much that in the next scene, Daffy is a director with rolling R's... and Hamburger is heckling him." [Big Cartoon Database] DVD 4875
David Holzman's Diary (1967)
A film by Jim McBride. "An early black and white example of mock-documentary, this features a young filmmaker who attempts to discover the "truth" about his life by recording it on film, drawing on Jean-Luc Godard's observation that "Film is truth 24 times a second." [fromFaking It] 74 min. DVD X1226; vhs 999:1439Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Carson, L. M. Kit. David Holzman's diary; a screenplay by L. M. Kit Carson, from a film by Jim McBride. New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux [1970] (Pacific Film Archive PN1997.D3842 C3 1970)
- Atkinson, Michael. " David Holzman's Diary" Cineaste, Winter 2011, Vol. 37 Issue 1, p64-66, 3pUCB users only
- Clark, Randall. "This Is Not: Falseness in Documentary Cinema." In: Trompe(-)l'oeil : imitation & falsification / Edited by Philippe Romanski & Aïssatou Sy-Wonyu. Mont-Saint-Aignan : Publications de l'Université de Rouen, 2002. pp: 344-346. (Main (Gardner) Stacks PN56.D46 T76 2002)
- Gernalzick, Nadja. "To Act Or To Perform: Distinguishing Filmic Autobiography." Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 1-13, Winter 2006 UCB users only
- Hogue, P. "David Holzman's diary." Film Comment v. 29 (November/December 1993) p. 2-4UCB users only
- Hollister, S. "David Holzman's diary." Film Quarterly v. 23 no. 4 (Summer 1970) p. 50-2 UCB users only
- Lane, Jim. "David Holzman's Diary: An Unlikely Beginning." In: The autobiographical documentary in AmericaMadison : University of Wisconsin Press, c2002. (MAIN: CT25 .L27 2002)
- Latham, James. ""Your Life Is Not a Very Good Script": "David Holzman's Diary" and Documentary Expression in Late-1960s America and Beyond." Post Script - Essays in Film and the Humanities 26:3 (Summer 2007) p. 22-33 UCB users only
- Rosenbaum, Jonathan. "David Holzman's Diary/My girlfriend's wedding: historical artifacts of the past and present." In:Goodbye cinema, hello cinephilia : film culture in transition / Jonathan Rosenbaum. Imprint Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2010. (Pacific Film Archive PN1994 .R63 2010)
- Stevens, B. "This is my life." Sight & Sound v. ns16 no. 5 (May 2006) p. 92UCB users only
- Zuber, Sharon L.
- ""David Holzman's Diary": A Critique of Direct Cinema." Post Script - Essays in Film and the Humanities 28:3 (Summer 2009) p. 31-40 UCB users only
Day for Night (La Nuit Américaine) (France / Italy, 1973)
Directed by François Truffaut. Cast: Jacqueline Bisset, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Valentina Cortese, Jean Champion, Dani, Jea-Pierre Leaud, Alexndra Stewart, Francois Truffaut. This "homage to moviemaking," details the loves and lunacy of the closely-knit family of strangers that comprises an on-location film, cast and crew. 116 min.DVD 3524; also VHS 999:1492Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Awards
- Academy Award - Foreign Language Picture
- British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards - Best Film
- National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA - Best Director, Best Film
- BAFTA Awards - Best Direction, Best Film
- New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Best Director, Best Film
- Day for night: [the complete script of the film] / Fran?ois Truffaut ; translated by Sam Flores. New York: Grove Press: distributed by Random House, [1975] (Main Stack PN1997.N9.T7131)
- Crittenden, Roger. La Nuit Americaine London : BFI Pub., 1998. BFI film classics. (Main Stack PN1997.N9.C75 1998)
Day of the Locust (1975)
Directed by John Schlesinger. Cast: Karen Black, Burgess Meredith, Donald Sutherland, William Atherton, Richard A. Dysart, Geraldine Page. A naive young set designer seeks work in Tinseltown and falls in love with a wannabe actress who lives with her alcoholic father. This powerful presentation of Hollywood's decadence in the late '30s, is masterful in creating a world of platinum blonds, cockfights, self-delusion, killer ambition and broken dreams. Based on the book by Nathanial West. 144 min. DVD 3283Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
De película(Chile, 2004)
Directed by Eduardo Banderas and Eduardo López. Cast: Miguel Krstulovic, Jimmy Fredes, Coca Guazzini, Hern\án Vallejos. Andres and Mauricio are two struggling and unlucky film students that have the chance to participate in a well known documentary festival, in which the main price is the right to take part in a very important European film festival. They try to complete their task in spite of the fact that they are lacking materials and time. Moreover, they are confronting moral and personal problems in their lives. 28 min. DVD X7012Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Don't Die Without Telling Me Where You're Going (No te mueras sin decirme adónde vas)(Argentina, 1995)
Directed by Eliseo Subiela. Cast: Dario Grandinetti, Mariana Arias, Oscar Martinez. Leopoldo, a lonely film projectionist has invented a machine to record his dreams. Through a series of odd events, he discovers that he is the reincarnation of one of the inventors of cinema, and that a woman he sees in his dreams is his eternal companion on a trip through the centuries. 130 min. DVD X2905Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Ed Wood (1994)
Directed by Tim Burton. Cast: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Jeffrey Jones, Bill Murray. A stranger-than-fiction true story of the early career of Edward D. Wood, Jr., the undisputed worst movie director of all time. Wood was the auteur behind Glen or Glenda? and Plan 9 from outer space, and it is during the making of these two no-budget flicks that Wood is profiled. Special features: Deleted scenes; behind-the-scenes featurette: "Let's shoot this F#*%@r!," hosted by Johnny Depp; "Making Bela": featurette about the creation of the Bela Lugosi character in the film with actor Martin Landau and makeup artist Rick Baker; "Pie plates over Hollywood": featurette on the look of the film with production designer Tom Duffield; featurette on the use of the theremin to create music for the film; audio commentary with director Tim Burton, actor Martin Landau, writers Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski, director of photography, Stefan Czapsky and costume designer, Colleen Atwood; music video; theatrical trailer, and more. 127 min. DVD 3933Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
8 1/2 (Eight and a Half; Otto e mezzo) (Italy, 1963)
Directed by Federico Fellini. Cast: Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimee, Sandra Milo, Barbara Steele. Autobiographical film about a famous film director who loses his inspiration while making a movie. Much of the story is told in flashback sequences. DVD Disc two features Fellini's rarely seen first film for television, an imagined documentary, as well as a documentary about Nino Rota, the maestro behind the music of Fellini's films, interviews, still photographs and production photos connected with the film. 135 min. DVD 952Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Awards
- Academy Award - Foreign Language Film
- National Board of Review, USA - Foreign Language Film
- New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Foreign Language Film
Electric Shadows (Meng ying tong nian) (China, 2004)
Directed by Jiang Xiao. Cast: Xia Yu, Jiang Yihong, Jiang Shan, Niu Zhenhua. When a delivery man crashes into a girl, she asks him to feed the pets in her apartment, while she is in the hospital. There he finds her diary that exposes the story of a young girl's passion for the movies, which re-ignites his own longing for the days when the cinema enchanted China's masses. 95 min. DVD 5857Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
The Errand Boy (1961)
Directed by Jerry Lewis. Cast: Jerry Lewis, Brian Donlevy, Howard McNear, Dick Wesson. Hired to act as the eyes and ears of a motion picture studio mogul, studio mail room clerk Morty is to roam the lot and report back with any questionable activities. But the shenanigans and hijinks he uncovers are ones of his own doing! 92 min. DVD X7166Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Dale, Alan S. "Jerry Lewis: The Once and Future King of Comedy." In: Comedy is a man in trouble : slapstick in American movies / Alan Dale. Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, c2000. (Full text available online [UCB users only]; Print: Main (Gardner) Stacks PN1995.9.C55 D35 2000)
- Fujiwara, Chris. Jerry Lewis / Chris Fujiwara. Urbana ; Chicago : University of Illinois Press, c2009. (Full-text available online [UC Berkeley users only]; Print: Moffitt PN1998.3.L46825 F85 2009)
- Krutnik, Frank. "Jerry Lewis: The Deformation of the Comic."Film Quarterly, Vol. 48, No. 1 (Autumn, 1994), pp. 12-26UC users only
- Polan, Dana. "Being and Nuttiness: Jerry Lewis and the French." Journal of Popular Film & Television; Spring84, Vol. 12 Issue 1, p42-46, 5p, UC users only
- Rapf, Joanna E. "Comic Theory from a Feminist Perspective: A Look at Jerry Lewis." Journal of Popular Culture; Summer93, Vol. 27 Issue 1, p191-203, 13pUC users only Shaviro, Steven. "Comedies of Abjection: Jerry Lewis." In: The cinematic body / Steven Shaviro. Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, c1993. (Full-text available online [UC Berkeley users only]; Print: Main (Gardner) Stacks PN1995 .S484 1993)
Evidence of the Film (1913)
Directors, Edwin Thanhouser, Lawrence Marston. Cast: William Garwood, Marguerite Snow, Marion and Madeline Fairbanks, William Russell. Early example of a fictional dramatic movie with filmmaking as a subject. The film laboratory and editing scenes are of enormous interest as historical documents as well as ingeniously integrated into the crime tale. 15 min. DVD 5864; vhs 999:2841
The Exterminating Angels (Les anges exterminateurs) (France, 2006)
Directed by Jean-Claude Brisseau. Cast: Frédéric van den Driessche, Maroussia Dubreuil, Lise Bellynck, Marie Allan. François is a filmmaker holding auditions for his upcoming film about female pleasure. He expects the process to be unconventional but cannot predict the danger that so much arousal can cause. As his female cast embarks on a journey of intense physical pleasure-seeking they become emotionally involved with the director and each other, bringing new meaning to the warning to never mix business with pleasure. 99 min.DVD X3450Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
The Extra Girl (1923)
Directed by F. Richard Jones. Cast: Mabel Normand, Ralph Graves, Vernon Dent, Anna Hernandez. A small town girl and would-be star wins a beauty contest through a mix-up and goes to Hollywood. When she arrives the mistake is discovered and she starts working in the props department of the studio instead. Her parents then come out to California and invest some money with a very shifty individual. Film is notable for the sets of a typical studio of the 1920s. 68 min. DVD 9789Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Felix in Hollywood(1923)
Animated short. Directed by Pat Sullivan. "Felix helps his actor owner get to Hollywood. The cat auditions for a film job himself, but he must perform celebrity impressions (including one of Charlie Chaplin) and save Douglas Fairbanks from huge, angry Jersey skeeters before he gets "one of those long-term contracts." [Big Cartoon Database] 7 min.vhs 999:518
The Festival: Disaster Film Has a Whole New Meaning (TV series, 2005)
A hilarious and all-too-realistic spoof of the film industry, The Festival is a 6-part mockumentary series starring wide-eyed young filmmaker Rufus Marquez. As seen through the lens of fictional documentarian Cookie Armstrong, Marquez hitchhikes his way to the impossibly pretentious Mountain United Film Festival (M.U.F.F.), clutching the only copy of his first feature, "The unreasonable truth of butterflies." Recently divorced and living in his mother's basement, Marquez desperately wants his big break; instead he's pushed to the edge of a breakdown. At M.U.F.F., absurdity piles onto absurdity as the charmingly naive Marquez enters a zany world of bitter veteran filmmakers, self-important Hollywood executives, preening actor-gods, and obnoxious groupies. Directed by Phil Price. 132 min. DVD 7260Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Ficció (Spain, 2006)
Director, Cesc Gay. Cast: Eduard Fernandez, Javier Camara, Montse German, Carme Pla, Agata Roca. Alex is a motion picture director who is trying to finish the script of his film. He decides to go away, leaving his wife and children to settle in house of a friend in a small town. In this calm and solitary place he hopes to finish his work.... 103 min.DVD 8624Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
The Film Fan (1939)
Directed by Bob Clampett. Warner Brothers. Animated short. "Porky Pig is on his way to the store to pick up some groceries for his mother when he walks by a sign saying that the local movie theater is having a "kids admitted free" day. The excited Porky rushes in and views a series of spoofs of newsreels, movie trailers, feature films, and even the Lone Ranger!" [IMDB] Included on DVD X344; also on DVD 4875 and DVD 8900
Film Geek (2005)
Directed by James Westby. Cast: Melik Malkasian, Tyler Gannon, Matt Morris, John Breen. When Scotty, a movie nerd trying to get a life, is fired from his video store job for annoying his customers, he hits rock bottom. Then he meets free-spirited Niko, who just may be the one to save him from his hopeless existence. 72 min. DVD 6243Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
A Film Johnnie (1914)
Directed by George Nichols. Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Virginia Kirtley. "Charlie goes to the movie and falls in love with a girl on the screen. He goes to Keystone Studios to find her. He disrupts the shooting of a film, and a fire breaks out. Charlie is blamed, gets squirted with a firehose, and is shoved by the female star." [IMDB] 15 min. DVD 6243Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
The Fluffer (2001)
Directed by Richard Glatzer, Wash West. Cast: Scott Gurney, Michael Cunio, Roxanne Day, Taylor Negron, Richard Riehle, Deborah Harry. A young filmmaker's obsession with a "straight" gay porn star who is in it for the money, leads him to work with the actor as part of the film crew. 94 min. DVD 3760Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
For Your Consideration (2006)
Directed by Christopher Guest. Cast: Catherine O'Hara, Ed Begley, Jr., Eugene Levy, Harry Shearer, Christopher Moynihan, Christopher Guest, Jennifer Coolidge, Parker Posey, Michael McKean, Bob Balaban, John Michael Higgins, Fred Willard, Jane Lynch. It's about an indie movie called "Home for Purim," a somewhat inane drama about a dysfunctional Jewish family living in the South during World War II. But while the film is still in production, a reporter for an online entertainment site drops the word -- based on a brief visit to the set -- that one of the ensemble cast performers may be an Oscar contender. It goes on to chronicle how the Oscar buzz affects the director, additional cast members, writers, an agent, a publicist, and the hosts from an Hollywood entertainment-type television program. 86 min. DVD 7294Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Forgotten Silver (New Zealand, 1996)
Written and directed by Peter Jackson & Costa Botes. A "mockumentary" which documents the fictitious "lost" life of Colin McKenzie, a New Zealand film pioneer and inventor extraordinaire. Through archive photos, rare film footage and interviews with such experts as critic Leonard Maltin, producer Harvey Weinstein and actor Sam Neill uncover the trials, triumphs, and tragedies behind the supergenius filmmaker. Special features: Audio commentary with co-director Costa Botes ; "Behind-the-bull: forgotten silver," a 21 min. documentary featuring interviews with directors Peter Jackson and Costa Botes ; deleted scenes. 55 min. 1997. DVD 3800Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Conrich, I., et. al., "Fool's gold: New Zealand's Forgotten silver, myth, and national identity." In: Docufictions : essays on the intersection of documentary and fictional filmmaking / edited by Gary D. Rhodes and John Parris Springer. Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., c2006. (Main Stack PN1995.9.D62.D63 2006; Moffitt PN1995.9.D62.D63 2006)
- Horton, A. "Forgotten silver." Cineaste v. 26 no. 3 (Summer 2001) p. 55UCB users only
- Sadashige, Jacqui. "Forgotten Silver." The American Historical Review Vol. 102, No. 3 (Jun., 1997), pp. 938-939 UCB users only
45 Minutes from Hollywood (1926)
Directed by Fred Guiol. Cast: Glenn Tryon, Charlotte Mineau, Rube Clifford, Molly O'Day, Theda Bara, Oliver Hardy. A young man visiting Hollywood on family business gets into trouble when he sees a bank robbery in progress, and thinks it is a movie scene. 21 min. DVD 4322; DVD X317Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Free and Easy (1930)
Directed by Edward Sedgwick. Cast: Buster Keaton, Anita Page, Robert Montgomery, Trixie Friganza, Fred Niblo. Keaton departs with the newly crowned Miss Gopher City and heads for Hollywood determined to turn her into a star. 93 min. DVD 5437Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Full Frontal (2002)
Directed by Steven Soderbergh. Cast: David Duchovny, Nicky Katt, Catherine Keener, Mary McCormack, David Hyde Pierce, Julia Roberts, Blair Underwood, Enrico Colantoni, Erika Alexander, Brad Rowe, Brad Pitt. A day in the life of various Los Angeles citizens as they get ready to go to a birthday party for a Hollywood producer. Before the night is over, relationships are tested, hearts are broken and passions are renewed. 101 min. DVD X4140Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Die Gebrüder Skladanowsky (Trick of Light) (Germany, 2002)
Directed by Wim Wenders. Cast: Udo Kier, Otto Kuhnle, Christoph Merg, Nadine Buttner, Lucie Hurtgen-Skladanowsky. A rare gem of cinematic storytelling that weaves docudrama, fictional reenactment, and experimental photography into a powerful, reflective work on the early days of German cinema. The film tells the story of the Skladanowsky Brothers, the German-born duo who invented the "bioskop", an early version of the film projector at the same time as the Lumieres and Edison were working on their inventions. The footage is shot with a 1920s handcranking camera, in the style of silent films. 76 min. DVD 6951Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Wenders bibliography
Get Shorty (1995)
Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. Cast: John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo, Danny DeVito. Loan shark Chili Palmer had done his time as a gangster. So when "business" takes him to Los Angeles to collect a debt from down-and-out filmmaker Harry Zimm, Chili talks tough...and then pitches Harry a script idea. Immediately Chili is swept into the Hollywood scene: he schmoozes film star Martin Weir and romances "B" movie queen Karen Flores. In fact, all would be smooth for this cool new producer, if it weren't for the drug smugglers and an angry mobster who wan't leave him alone. 105 min. DVD 8973Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
The Girl of Your Dreams (La Niña de tus ojos) (Spain, 1998)
Directed by Fernando Trueba. Cast: Neus Asensi, Jesus Bonilla, Penelope Cruz, Karel Dobry, Loles Leon, Gotz Otto, Antonio Resines, Jorge Sanz, Rosa Maria Sarda. In Civil War torn Spain, Germany invites a group of filmmakers to shoot two versions of the Andalusian musical drama "The girl of your dreams" in Berlin. Happy to leave the war behind them, the troupe of Spaniards starts filming in Hitler's Berlin. The hospitality upon their arrival has more to do with the youthful charms of Macarena Granada. What's more, the only Andalusion-looking extras in Germany are the gypsies and Jewish prisoners in a nearby concentration camp. When Macarena befriends one of the prisoners, the troupe must decide if the movie is more important than their lives. 105 min. DVD 8148Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Hardcastle, Anne E. "Representing Spanish Identity through españolada in Fernando Trueba's The Girl of your Dreams." Film Criticism, Spring2007, Vol. 31 Issue 3, p15-35, 21p UC users only
- Heredero, Carlos. "Contemporary Spanish Cinema Supplement: New Creators for the New Millennium: Transforming the Directing Scene in Spain." Cineaste 29:1 (Winter 2003) p. 32-37 UC users only
- Hillman, Roger. "Trueba's La Niña de tus ojos (The Girl of Your Dreams) (1998): the German connection." Studies in European Cinema; 2008, Vol. 5 Issue 1, p67-76, 10p UC users only
- Perriam, Chris. "Jorge Sanz: El Galán Sumiso. Problematising Masculinities in Mainstream Cinema in Spain." Forum for Modern Language Studies; Jan2001, Vol. 37 Issue 1, p26-37, 12p UC users only
A Girls Folly (1917)
Directed by Maurice Tourneur. Cast: Robert Warwick, June Elvidge, Doris Kenyon, Chester Barnett, Jane Adair, Johnny Hines. Mary Baker is a pretty country girl who longs to get away from her humdrum existence. A moving picture company takes pictures near her home, and a chance meeting with Kenneth Driscoll, the leading man, who earlier evaded his long-time lover, gives her the desired opportunity. Uses the Peerless Studio of the silent motion picture producers located in Fort Lee, New Jersey as a background for the action. 105 min. DVD 6512Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- DeBauche, Leslie M. "Demystifying the Movies: A Girl's Folly." In: American cinema of the 1910s : themes and variations / edited by Charlie Keil and Ben Singer. New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, c2009. (Full-text available online (UC Berkeley users only); Print Main (Gardner) Stacks PN1993.5.U6 A85733 2009)
Gods and Monsters (1988)
Directed by Bill Condon. Cast: Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser, Lynn Redgrave. It's 1957 and Hollywood horror director James Whale's heyday as the director of "Frankenstein," "Bride of Frankenstein" and "The Invisible Man" is long behind him. Retired and a semi-recluse, he lives his days accompanied only by images from his past. When his dour housekeeper Hannah hires handsome young gardener Clayton Boone, the openly gay director and the simple yardman develop an unlikely friendship. Based upon the novel: Father of Frankenstein / by Christopher Bram. Includes documentary: "The World of Gods and monsters : a journey with James Whale" / produced and directed by David J. Skal and Sam Irvin ; written by David J. Skal ; narrated by Clive Barker. Special features: Directors's commentary with Bill Condon ; The making of Gods & Monsters -- Theatrical trailer. 106 min. DVD X1057; vhs 999:2598 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Awards
- Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards - Best Actor (Ian McKellen)
- Golden Globes - Best Actress (Lynn Redgrave)
- Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards - Best Actor (Ian McKellen)
- National Board of Review, USA - Best Film; Best Actor (Ian McKellen)
Hijacking Hollywood (1996)
Directed by Neil Mandt. Cast: Henry Thomas, Scott Thompson, Mark Metcalf, Neil Mandt, Nicole Gian, Helen Duffy, Paul Hewitt. An aspiring director working as a lowly production assistant, conspires with his aspiring producer roommate to steal, and hold for a $150,000 ransom, the reels of a mega budgeted film he's working on. 91 min.DVD 5949Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
His New Job (1915)
Directed by Charlie Chaplin. Cast: Gloria Swanson, Charles Chaplin, Ben Turpin, Charlotte Mineau, Leo White, Robert Bolder, Charles J. Stine The little tramp applies for a job as an actor at a film studio. When he is mistaken for the property man, disaster befalls the Hollywood production. (Look for an 18-year-old Gloria Swanson in one of her earliest appearances). 32 min. DVD X353Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Hollywood Canteen (1944)
Directed by Delmer Daves. In this musical extravaganza a GI on leave in Hollywood drops in at the Hollywood canteen, hoping to meet his dream girl. He is assisted in his search by real-life canteen founders Bette Davis and John Garfield and over thirty other Hollywood luminaries. Andrews Sisters, Jack Benny, Joe E. Brown, Eddie Cantor, Kitty Carlisle, Jack Carson, Dane Clark, Joan Crawford, Helmut Dantine, Bette Davis, Faye Emerson, Victor Francen, John Garfield, Sydney Greenstreet, Alan Hale, Paul Henreid, Robert Hutton, Joan Leslie, Peter Lorre, Ida Lupino, Irene Manning, Joan McCracken, Dolores Moran, Dennis Morgan, Eleanor Parker, Joyce Reynolds, Roy Rogers, S.Z. Sakall, Zachary Scott, Alexis Smith, Barbara Stanwyck, Joseph Szigeti, Donald Woods, Jane Wyman, Jimmy Doresy, Carmen Cavallaro, the Golden Gate Quartet and the Sons of the Pioneers. 124 min. DVD X816; 999:1606 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Hollywood Cavalcade (1939)
Directed by Irving Cummings; Malcolm St. Clair (silent film sequences); Buster Keaton (uncredited). Cast: Alice Faye, Don Ameche, J. Edward Bromberg, Alan Curtis, Stuart Erwin, Al Jolson, Donald Meek, Buster Keaton, George Givot, Eddie Collins, Lynn Bari, Jed Prouty, Chester Conklin, Ben Turpin, Hank Mann, Snub Pollard. Michael Linnett Connors takes Molly Adair from Broadway understudy to 1913 Hollywood star. Although she is in love with him, she marries her co-star reckoning wrongly Connors thinks of her only in terms of movies. He fires her in pique, apparently terminally damaging his career. Many silent stars are shown here making the transition from silent to sound films. Special features: "Hollywood cavalcade: the silent dream" featurette; "Buster Keaton: head over heels in Hollywood" featurette; "Hello Roscoe: the fate of Fatty Arbuckle" featurette; outtakes; Fox Movietonews: The Hollywood cavalcade premier; restoration comparison; advertising gallery; still gallery. 97 min. DVD X409 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Hollywood Capers.(1935)
Directed by Jack King. Animated short. "Beans (from The Boston Beans) tries to crash into a Hollywood studio. He sneaks in by impersonating Oliver Hardy. Beans causes a lot of trouble in a sound stage and is confronted by the Frankenstein Monster. Other caricatures include a funny sequence with W.C. Fields and a brief cameo by Charlie Chaplin." [Big Cartoon Database] DVD 4875
Hollywood Daffy(1946)
Directed by Friz Freleng. Animated short. "Newly arrived in Hollywood, Daffy sneaks onto the Warmer Brothers lot, disguising himself as an Oscar statuette and eventually posing as a tour guide. Daffy spoofs a number of contemporary stars, and others appear as "themselves." He also has a number of run-ins with a Keystone Kop-like gate guard. He refuses to leave until he sees stars." [Big Cartoon Database] DVD X346
Hollywood Ending (2002)
Directed by Woody Allen. Cast: Woody Allen, George Hamilton, Tea Leoni, Debra Messing, Mark Rydell, Treat Williams. Val Waxman, a one-time cinematic genius down on his luck, receives a script for a period noir set against the backdrop of 1940s New York City. His ex-wife has managed to convince a high-powered studio head, to take a chance on Val's "unique vision." Just when the cameras are ready to roll, however, Val finds that unique vision in jeopardy as he's struck with a psychosomatic case of blindness. When efforts to cure him fail, Val contrives a scheme to forge ahead with the picture, for fear of blowing his one last chance at greatness. 112 min. DVD 1402Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Hollywood Shuffle (1987)
Directed by Robert Townsend. Cast: Robert Townsend, Craigus R. Johnson, Helen Martin, Starletta DuPois. Bobby Taylor waits for his big break as an actor and dreams of leading roles, Academy Awards, stretch limos and adoring fans. 81 min. DVD 7353; vhs 999:422 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Hollywood Steps Out (1941)
Directed by Tex Avery. Animated short. "A tour of Ciro's Nightclub packed with caricatures of many top stars, including (in order) Cary Grant, Greta Garbo Edward G. Robinson and Ann Sheridan, Johnny Weissmuller, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and George Raft, Harpo Marx, Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, Leopold Stokowski, James Stewart and Dorothy Lamour, 'Tyrone Power (I)' and Sonja Henie, The Frankenstein Monster, Larry Fine, Moe Howard, Curly Howard, Oliver Hardy, Cesar Romero, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland and Lewis Stone, Kay Kyser, Peter Lorre, Henry Fonda, J. Edgar Hoover, Ned Sparks, Jerry Colonna, and Groucho Marx; many more just get sight gags, such as Claudette Colbert, Norma Shearer, William Powell, Don Ameche, Wallace Beery, C. Aubrey Smith, Boris Karloff, Arthur Treacher, Buster Keaton and Mischa Auer." [IMDB] 8 min. DVD 3136 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Hollywoodland (2006)
Directed by Allen Coulter. Cast: Adrien Brody, Diane Lane, Ben Affleck, Bob Hoskins, Lois Smith, Robin Tunney, Larry Cedar, Jeffrey DeMunn, Brad William Henke, Dash Mihok, Molly Parker, Caroline Dhavernas, Kathleen Robertson, Joe Spano. Made famous as Superman on television, George Reeves finds it hard to not be typecast because of it. When he is found dead of a gunshot wound, rumors begin to run rampant. Based on Hollywood's most notorious unsolved mystery. 127 min. DVD 7139 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Alleva, Richard. "L.A. Stories." Commonweal, 10/6/2006, Vol. 133 Issue 17, p22-23, 2p UC users only
- Fuller, Graham. "Bushwacked By Hollywood." Sight & Sound; Nov2006, Vol. 16 Issue 11, p30-33, 4pUC users only
How to Make a Monster (1958)
Directed by Herbert L. Strock. Cast: Robert H. Harris, Paul Brinegar, Gary Conway, Gary Clarke, John Ashley. When master monster make-up man Pete is sacked by the new bosses of American International studios he uses his creations to exact revenge. 73 min. DVD 8110Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Hugo (2011)
Directed by Martin Scorsese. Cast: Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Ray Winstone, Emily Mortimer, Christopher Lee, Helen McCrory, Michael Stuhlbarg, Frances de la Tour, Richard Griffiths, Jude Law. Hugo is an orphan boy living in the walls of a train station in 1930s Paris. He learned to fix clocks and other gadgets from his father and uncle which he puts to use keeping the train station clocks running. The only thing that he has left that connects him to his dead father is an automaton (mechanical man) that doesn't work without a special key which Hugo needs to find to unlock the secret he believes it contains. On his adventures, he meets with a shopkeeper, George Méliès, who works in the train station and his adventure-seeking god-daughter. Hugo finds that they have a surprising connection to his father and the automaton, and he discovers it unlocks some memories the old man has buried inside regarding his past. Based on the book entitled "The invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick. Special features: Shoot the moon: the making of Hugo (20 min.); Previews (10 min.). 126 min. DVD X7155Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Hurlyburly (1998)
Directed by Anthony Drazan. Cast: Sean Penn, Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright Penn, Chazz Palminteri, Garry Shandling, Anna Paquin, Meg Ryan. From his posh condo atop the Hollywood Hills, a high powered casting director, Eddie and his business partner, Mickey and his friend and would-be actor, Phil engage in a wild life of hard partying and late nights of sex, lies and self-obsession. But as life in the fast lane comes to a crashing halt, Eddie decides to plunge beneath the surface ... and discover his soul. Based on the play by David Rabe. 81 min. DVD 695 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Illusions (1983)
Directed by Julie Dash. Cast: Lonette McKee, Rosanne Katon, Ned Bellamy, Jack Radar. Story takes place in 1942 and is about Mignon Dupree, a black woman studio executive who appears to be white, and Ester Jeeter, a black woman who is the singing voice for a white Hollywood star. The film follows the struggles of the women as well as the use of motion picture films in Hollywood during wartime. 34 min.DVD X2394; vhs Video/C 999:1365; also on Video/C 3181 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Julie Dash bibliography
- Description from Women Make Movies catalog
In Praise of Love (Éloge de l'amour) (France, 2001)
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Cast: Alain Sarde, Ruth Walburger, Bruno Putzulu, Cecile Camp, Jean Davy, Françoise Verny, Audrey Klebaner, Jeremie Lippmann, Claude Baignieres. This film is divided into two sections which pivot on the death of a young woman. In Part one Edgar, a film director, has searched out Elle to star in a film he is trying to make depicting what he calls the four stages of love. The second part of the film flashes back two years to the time when Edgar first met Elle, the granddaughter of an elderly couple, veterans of the French Resistance, who were selling the rights to their story. 98 min.DVD 1817Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- McNeill, Isabelle. "Phrases, monuments and ruins: melancholy history in Éloge de l'amour (2001)." Studies in French Cinema; 2003, Vol. 3 Issue 2, p111-120, 10pUC users only
- Morrey, Douglas. "History of resistance / resistance of history: Godard's Éloge de l'amour (2001)." Studies in French Cinema,2003, Vol. 3 Issue 2, p121-130, 10pUC users only
Inland Empire (2006)
Directed by David Lynch. Cast: Laura Dern, Jeremy Irons, Justin Theroux, Harry Dean Stanton. When an actress falls in love with her co-star, she finds her life is becoming much like the film she is starring in, which is based on a Polish film that was never finished due to horrible tragedies. Special features: (Disc 2): More thngs that happened; ballerina; Lynch 2; quinoa; stories; trailers; stills. 172 min.DVD 8137 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Inside Daisy Clover (1965)
Directed by Robert Mulligan. Cast: Natalie Wood, Christopher Plummer, Robert Redford, Roddy McDowall, Ruth Gordon, Katharine Bard, Betty Harford, John Hale, Harold Gould, Ottola Nesmith, Edna Holland, Peter Helm. Daisy Clover is a 15 year old Tomboy who dreams of being a Hollywood star. After auditioning for producer Raymond Swan of Swan Studios she becomes the toast of Hollywood. Daisy must then come to terms with her new found fame and the 1930's Hollywood star treatment. She is considered a has-been by the time she turned seventeen. Daisy's meteoric rise to stardom and even faster fade-out is chronicled in an incisive behind-the-scene tour of vintage Hollywood. Based on the novel by Gavin Lambert. 128 min. DVD X5442Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Intervista (Italy, 1987)
Directed by Federico Fellini. Cast: Fellini, Anita Ekberg, Marcello Mastroianni. A dramatization of the life of the Italian motion picture director Federico Fellini, framed in the form of an interview conducted by a Japanese film crew. As the interview progresses Fellini's mind wanders to his earliest days. With the co-operation of Fellini's loyal co-workers, the viewer is permitted to see tantalizingly brief excerpts (some self-mocking) of Fellini's modus operandi. 108 min. DVD 5947 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Irma Vep (France, 1996)
Directed by Olivier Assayas. Cast: Maggie Cheung, Jean-Pierre Leaud, Nathalie Richard. Aging director Henri Vidal has decided to film a remake of the legendary silent serial, Les vampires, in hopes of making a comeback. Vidal chooses Cheung to play Irma Vep, the leader of a band of jewel thieves. Arriving in Paris unable to speak a word of French, Cheung finds herself stuck in the middle of a stressful situation when the production begins to fall apart and Vidal suffers a nervous breakdown. 95 min. DVD 4136Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
It Happened in Hollywood(1937)
Director Harry Lachman. Cast: Fay Wray, Richard Dix, Victor Kilian, Franklin Pangborn. A comedy/drama about a silent-screen cowboy who can't quite adjust to talkies, the death of westerns or to playing a modern-day gangster. Then the desperate actor walks into a bank just as it's being robbed and gets into a shoot-out with the crooks and becomes a real-life hero. With his name in all the papers -- and Westerns once again a popular commodity -- the studio signs him up to a new contact, along with Gloria. Franklin Pangborn does one of his amusing turns in a bit part as a dialog coach. Features a host of doubles for many of the biggest stars of the day. Based on the book Once a hero by Myles Connolly. 67 min. DVD X2350 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Kids Auto Races at Venice (1914)
Directed by Henry Lehrman. Cast: Charles Chaplin, Henry Lehrman. Charlie visits the Kid Auto Races at Venice, California. It's a big event with thousands of spectators along the track, where the kids compete with another in small cars. A film team is trying to capture the event, but whenever they put up the camera, Charlie walks around in front of it. The film director is irritated and tries to push Charlie aside, but Charlie comes back over and over again. In the end the director gets furious and kicks Charlie in his backside. Charlie revenges himself by making wry faces straight into the lens. Afterwards Charlie writes a letter to his girl friend, complaining that his picture didn't pass the censor. 6 min. DVD X5112; DVD 13; vhs 999:1465 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Killer Snake (2004)
Directed by Elpidia Carrillo. Cast: Julie Carmen, Elpidia Carrillo,Tricia Cruz, Erlinda Orozco, Tom Todoroff. Trapped in a Hollywood bubble, Latina actresses find themselves in a world of competition and despair. They religiously perform their rituals of exercise and dedication to beauty, each struggling with age, weight and the loneliness of Los Angeles. 25 min. DVD DVD X7356Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Director Shane Black. Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan, Corbin Bernsen. While fleeing from the cops, small time hood Harry Lockhart stumbles into an acting audition and does so well he gets sent to Hollywood. While there, Harry pursues a girl he loved in high school and gets caught up in a twisted murder mystery. His only chance of getting out alive is a gay private detective named Gay Perry, who also works as a consultant for movies and has been hired to tutor Harry in portraying a private eye. Based, in part, on the novel: Bodies are where you find them by Brett Halliday. 103 min. DVD X3333 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
The Lady Killer (1933)
Director Roy Del Ruth. Cast: James Cagney, Mae Clarke, Margaret Lindsay, Leslie Fenton, Douglas Dumbrille. Pre-Hays Code story of a New York thug who suddenly stumbles onto fame and fortune as an actor in Hollywood. His pictures are in all the fan magazines, his name is in marquee lights. Former con artist Dan Quigley's doing all right in the movie racket but if his criminal past catches up with him he could end up in the Big House. Special features: Commentary by film historian Dr. Drew Casper; Warner night at the movies 1933 short subjects gallery: movie retrospective short "The camera speaks," vintage newsreel, musical short "Kissing time," classic cartoon "The shanty where Santy Claus lives," trailers of "Lady killer" and 1933's "Footlight parade." 77 min. DVD X128 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Last Action Hero(1993)
Director John McTiernan. Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, F. Murray Abraham, Art Carney, Charles Dance, Frank McRae, Tom Noonan, Robert Prosky, Anthony Quinn, Mercedes Ruehl, Austin O'Brien. What happens when a magic ticket blasts a 12-year-old boy out of his theater seat into the movie and what happens when the movie hero comes off the cinema screen to become involved in real life? The answers are to be found in this fast-action thriller in which a young boy's movie hero comes to life. 131 min. DVD X863 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
The Last Command (1928)
Director Josef von Sternberg. Cast: Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent, William Powell, Jack Raymond. A Czarist general displaced from his Russian homeland, finds himself in a Hollywood boarding house awaiting the degrading call to work as a movie extra. By intercutting between the "defeated" general and the action of the Russian Revolution, Von Sternberg shows how far the high and mighty can fall. 88 min. DVD X4406; vhs 999:329 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Awards & Honors- Academy Awards - Best Actor (Emil Jannings)
- National Film Registry Selection
- Tibbetts, John. "Sternberg and "The Last Command"." Cinema Journal, 15:2 (1976:Spring) p.68UC users only
- Josef von Sternberg bibliography
The Last Tycoon (1977)
Director Elia Kazan. Cast: Robert DeNiro, Tony Curtis, Robert Mitchum, Jeanne Moreau, Jack Nicholson, Donald Pleasence, Ray Milland, Dana Andrews. A spectacular film production of F. Scott Fitzgerald's notorious novel which provides a penetrating glimpse at big studio politics in the early days of Hollywood. Based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. 123 min. DVD X1074; vhs 999:2539 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Letter of Introduction (1938)
Director John M. Stahl. Cast: Adolphe Menjou, Andrea Leeds, Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy, George Murphy, Rita Johnson, Ann Sheridan, Eve Arden, Ernest Cossart. An aging matinee idol is confronted by his long-forgotten daughter. She presents him with a letter of introduction and asks for his help to get into films. He tries to re-establish his relationship with her while also trying to hide the fact that she is his daughter from the press. 100 min. DVD X4967 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
The Life and Death of 9413: A Hollywood Extra(1928)
Robert Florey, an american avant-garde director, brilliantly tells the story of a nonentity trying to break into Hollywood, in the form of a satiric expressionist film. The film was shot by cameraman Slavko Vorkapich on a shoestring budget in his kitchen, using erector sets and similar money-saving devices." [from Films About Filmmaking] 123 min. DVD 4191; DVD 4667; also vhs 999:2539 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Lisbon Story (Germany / Portugal, 1994)
Directed by Wim Wenders. Cast: Rudiger Vogler, Patrick Bauchau, Teresa Salgueiro, Madredeus. When sound engineer Phillip Winter receives a cryptic message from his friend, a self-obsessed director, he drives to Lisbon. But upon his arrival, Winter is unable to find the director, and an unfinished silent film is the only clue to his whereabouts. As a result the engineer finds himself roaming the streets of Lisbon recording sound for his friend's unfinished silent film. 100 min. 999:3698 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Living in Oblivion (1995)
Directed by Tom DiCillo. Cast: Steve Buscemi, Catherine Keener, Dermot Mulroney, Danielle Von Zerneck, James LeGros. In this wickedly funny satire of the movie-making business, the leading man has just had a disastrous one-night stand with the leading lady. The cinematographer is breaking up with the assistant director. The director's mother has wandered onto the set and the dwarf hired for the dream sequence has an attitude. 92 min. DVD 4786 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Lucky Devils (1933)
Directed by Ralph Ince. Cast: Bill Boyd, Dorothy Wilson, William Gargan, Robert Rose, Roscoe Ates, William Bakewell, Julie Haydon, Bruce Cabot. A group of stuntmen at one studio in Hollywood call themselves "Lucky Devils," and regularly chant "A stuntman makes a bad husband and a husband makes a bad stuntman." It rings true when Slugger Jones is killed doing his last stunt right after his marriage. When stuntman Skipper Clark gets a wire from the doctor telling him his wife must be sent to a hospital, he decides to do a dangerous stunt the other stuntmen refuse, going over a 30-foot waterfall in a rowboat, for the $200 needed for the hospital. 64 min. vhs 999:3941 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Lumière et Compagnie.
Filmmakers: Gabriel Axel, Theo Angelopoulos, Vicente Aranda, Merzak Allouache,John Boorman, Bigas Luna, Youssef Chahine, Alain Corneau, Costa-Gavras, Raymond Depardon, Francis Girod, Peter Greenaway, Michael Haneke, Lasse Hallstrom, Hugh Hudson, Idrissa Ouedraogo, James Ivory, Ismail Merchant, Gaston Kabore, Abbas Kiarostami, Cedric Klapisch, Andrei Konchalovsky, David Lynch, Patrice Leconte, Louis Lumière, Claude Lelouch, Claude Miller, Lucian Pintilie, Arthur Penn, Jacques Rivette, Jerry Schatzberg, Spike Lee, Helma Sanders, Fernando Trueba, Nadine Trintignant, Liv Ullmann, Jaco van Dormael, Regis Wargnier, Wim Wenders, Zhang Yimou, Kiju Yoshida.To commemorate the Centennial of the Lumière Brothers' first motion picture, 40 of the world's leading international filmmakers created their own one minute Lumiere film. Using the restored original camera, each director offered his own signature style to the film. These exciting eclectic shorts are combined with intriguing interviews with the filmmakers. 88 min. DVD X4059; Video/C 999:1611 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Malibu Beach Party (1940)
Directed by Friz Freleng. Animated short. Warner Brothers. Jack Bunny (a spoof of Jack Benny) invites Hollywood celebrities to his Malibu house for a party. Included on DVD 8232
Man Bites Dog (Belgium, 1992)
Directed by Remy Belvaux. Cast: Benoit Poelvoorde, Remy Belvaux, Jenny Drye, Jacqueline Poelvoorde Pappaert, Malou Madou, Andre Bonzel. A camera crew follows a serial killer/thief around as he exercises his craft. He expounds on art, music, nature, society, and life as he offs mailmen, pensioners, and random people. Slowly he begins involving the camera crew in his activities, and they begin wondering if what they're doing is such a good idea, particularly when the killer kills a rival and the rival's brother sends a threatening letter. 96 min. DVD 2814 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Man With The Movie Camera (Man With a Movie Camera) (Chelovek s Kinoapparatom) (Soviet Union, 1929)
Directed by Dziga Vertov. Photographer, Mikhail Kaufman. An experimental film without any plot, showing, through a succession of street and interior scenes, all the tricks of which the instrument is capable creating a boldly detailed portrait of the Moscow of the l920s. Uses numerous cinematic techniques such as split screens, multiple superimpositions and variable speeds to study the relation between cinema and reality.Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
DVD 88 Kino. Original music composed and performed by the Alloy Orchestra following the instructions written by Dziga Vertov. 68 min. Special features: Audio essay by Yuri Tsivian.DVD 2992 Kino. Music by Michael Nyman and his band. 68 min.
Mary (Italy | France | USA, 2005)
Directed by Abel Ferrara. Cast: Juliette Binoche, Forest Whitaker, Matthew Modine, Heather Graham, Stefania Rocco. After a movie about the death of Christ is finished, the lead actress becomes obsessed with Mary Magdalene and embarks on a profound journey towards enlightenment. While a jounalist begins his own quest for spiritual truth, through his documentary about the life of Christ. The lives of the journalist and the lead actor and actress come dramatically together when there is a bomb threat at the premiere of the movie. 83 min. DVD X4941Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
The Masquerader(1914)
Directed by Charlie Chaplin. Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Roscoe Arbuckle, Charlie Murray. "This silent film about filmmaking features Chaplin in a cross-dressing role. Chaplin is an actor in a film studio who gets tossed out of the film for messing up his scenes. Returning dressed as a lady, he/she wins the heart of the director. Eventually all hell breaks loose, the camera gets trashed, and the sets are destroyed in classic slap stick style." [from Films About Filmmaking] 10 min. DVD X5114; vhs 999:1457Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Millennium Actress (Sennen joyu) (Japan, 2003)
Directed by Satoshi Kon. In this film, notable for its animated visual style, past and present collide as a film director discovers a mysterious key that unlocks the secrets of a legendary actress who vanished at the height of her career. 100 min. DVD 3750Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Mommie Dearest (1981)
Directed by Frank Perry. Cast: Faye Dunaway, Steve Forrest, Diana Scarwid, Mara Hobel, Howard Da Silva, Rutanya Alda. Based on the book by her adopted daughter this is the story of the tormented life of movie star, Joan Crawford, who struggling to survive in a cutthroat world, succumbed to alcoholism and child abuse. Based on the book by Christina Crawford. Special DVD features: Commentary by filmmaker John Waters; featurettes; photo gallery; original theatrical trailer. 129 min. DVD X1061 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Babener, Liahna. "Haywire in Hollywood; girlhood memories by movieland daughters." Journal of Popular Film and Television 16.n4 (Wntr 1989): 138(10).
- Brauerhoch, Annette. "Mixed Emotions: Mommie Dearest-Between Melodrama and Horror." Cinema Journal, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 53-64, Fall 1995. UC users only
- Haralovich, Mary Beth. "Too much guilt is never enough for working mothers: Joan Crawford, Mildred Pierce, and Mommie Dearest." Velvet Light Trap (Spring 1992): 43(10).UC users only
- Negra, Dianne. "Negotiating Gender in Quest Narratives and Family Dramas: Raiders of the Lost Ark, On Golden Pond, and Mommie Dearest." In: American cinema of the 1980s : themes and variations / edited by Stephen Prince. New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, c2007. (Full text available online(UCB users only); Print: Main (Gardner) Stacks; Moffitt PN1993.5.U6 A8578 2007)
Mother Goose Goes Hollywood (1938)
Directed by Wilfred Jackson. Walt Disney Productions. Animated short. "From the opening scene where Mother Goose takes the place of the MGM lion, it's a trip through her famous rhymes with Hollywood stars taking the place of the storybook characters. Characters: Mother Goose, Katharine Hepburn/Little Bo Peep, Ned Sparks/The Jester, Hugh Herbert/Old King Cole; Harpo, Chico, Groucho Marx as the Fiddlers Three, W.C. Fields/Humpty Dumpty, Charlie McCarthy; Charles Laughton, Spencer Tracy, Freddie Bartholomew as The Three Men in a Tub, Stan Laurel/Simple Simon, Oliver Hardy/The Pieman, Edward G. Robinson, Greta Garbo/See Saw Margery Daw, Clark Gable, Fats Waller, Fred Astaire, George Arliss, Joe Penner, Joe E. Brown, Martha Raye, Stepin Fetchit, Rudy Vallee, Wallace Beery; Cab Calloway and his Band as the Four and Twenty Blackbirds." [Big Cartoon Database] DVD 6860
Movie Crazy (1932)
Directed by Clyde Bruckman. Starring Harold Lloyd. Harold Hall, an accident prone young man with little or no acting ability, desperately wants to be in pictures. After a mix-up with his application photograph, he gets an offer to have a screen-test, and goes off to Hollywood. At the studio, he does everything wrong and causes all sorts of trouble. But he catches the fancy of a beautiful actress, and eventually the studio owner recognizes him as a comic genius. 96 min. DVD 4683Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Movie Star (1916)
Directed by Directed by Fred Hibbard. Cast: Mack Swain, Louella Maxam, Mai Wells, Ray Grey. Just as the local movie theater is about to begin showing a picture, the star of the film arrives and comes to see the movie himself. On screen, the star must rescue his girl from danger. In the theater, the star finds that not all of the audience admires his acting as much as he does DVD 1312; vhs 999:1899
- Stamp, Shelley. "Cinema Sees Itself: Behind the Screen and A Movie Star." In: American cinema of the 1910s : themes and variations / edited by Charlie Keil and Ben Singer. New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, c2009. (Full-text available online (UC Berkeley users only); Print Main (Gardner) Stacks PN1993.5.U6 A85733 2009)
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
My Big Fat Independent Movie (2005)
Directed by Philip Zlotorynski. Cast: Paget Brewster, Neil Barton, Ashley Head, Eric Hoffman, Brian Krow, Darren Keefe. In this spoof of independent films, hitmen Sam and Harvey are on their way to pull a heist in Las Vegas. Instead of picking up the rest of their crew, they find swinging hepcat Johnny Vince. Along the way they kidnap a store clerk and encounter a wide range of outlandish characters. 80 min.DVD 5252Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
My Week with Marilyn (UK / USA, 2011)
Directed by Simon Curtis. Cast: Michelle Williams, Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Redmayne, Dominic Cooper, Philip Jackson, Derek Jacobi, Toby Jones, Michael Kitchen, Julia Ormond, Simon Russell Beale, Dougray Scott, Zoë Wanamaker, Emma Watson, Judi Dench. In the summer of 1956, 23-year-old Colin Clark, determined to make his way in the film business, worked as a lowly assistant on the set of The Prince and the Showgirl, the film that famously united Sir Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe. When his diary account was published, one week was missing. This is the story of that week: an idyll in which he escorted a Monroe desperate to get away from Hollywood hangers-on and the pressures of work. Based on the diaries by Colin Clark. 99 min. DVD X7192Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Awards
- Golden Globe Awards - Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical (Michelle Williams)
- London Critics Circle Film Awards: Supporting Actor of the Year (Kenneth Branagh)
Newsfront (Australia, 1978)
Directed by Phillip Noyce. Cast: Bill Hunter, Wendy Hughes, Gerard Kennedy, John Ewart, Chris Haywood. The newsreel cameramen were unsung heroes who raced to beat headlines and defied dangers to capture moments on film for moviegoers. They captured historic moments but when a new technology called television arrived, their days were numbered. Tells the story of two such Australian journalists who filmed the historical events of two turbulent decades. 110 min.DVD 4984Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
A Night at the Movies(1937)
Director: Roy Rowland. Short film featuring Robert Benchley. "A Husband and his Wife decide to go to the movies and check the ads in the newspaper. They discover that every theatre in town is running a double feature and one-or-the-other has already seen one of the films. They go anyway since Hubby has free tickets. But he leaves them in the car and uses his parking tickets at the theatre. It takes the entire staff to iron out the problem. Once Hubby is seated he gets a coughing fit, upsets all the audience before he goes to the lobby. He returns through the wrong door and finds himself on stage with a group of chorus girls doing a live-bit between films. All this in only eight minutes." [IMDB] DVD X3298
Nine(2009)
Director: Rob Marshall. Cast Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Fergie, Kate Hudson, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Sophia Loren. With only a week left before shooting begins on the filming of his latest movie, world famous film director Guido Contini is desperately searching for a way to overcome his creative block. Escaping to a seaside resort, he attempts to restore the equilibrium to his personal and professional existence by drawing inspiration from the women in his life. Based on the Broadway musical Nine, book by Arthur Kopit. Special features: Commentary with director Rob Marshall and producer John DeLuca; 8 featurettes; 3 music videos. 119 min. DVD X3379Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Nocturnal Uproar (Tapage nocturne) (France, 1979)
Directed by Catherine Breillat. Cast: Dominique Laffin, Marie-Hélène Breillat, Bertrand Bonvoisin, Joe Dallesandro. Solange is the female version of a womanizing film director who is confident about her conquests and her ability to figure out men. Along comes Bruno, a man she can't stand. Solange's faith is put to a test. In spite of her better judgment, she is undeniably attracted to Bruno and sleeps with him over and over again. 91 min. DVD X6727Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Om Shanti Om (India, 2007)
Directed by Farah Khan. Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Arjun Rampal, Kirron Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Deepika Padukone, Bindu. Om Prakesh Makhija works as a junior artiste in the Bollywood of the 1970s and is in love with the superstar of the time, Shantipriya. His aspirations to become a successful actor himself and be with his love are thwarted when she is murdered by the producer to whom she is secretly married. Om Prakash dies trying to save her but is reincarnated as a popular movie star who eventually remembers his past life and seeks to avenge Shanti's death. DVD. 162 min. DVD 9632Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Once Upon a Time Cinema (Ruzi Ruzagari, Cinema) (Iran, 1992)
Directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Cast: Ezzatollah Entezami, Mehdi Hashemi, Mohammad Ali Keshavarz, Akbar Abdi. A loving comedic homage to movies and moviemaking in Iran. It jumps around from the old silent days under the Shah to the current day, and makes fun of censorship rules. The leading character is known simply as "Cinematographer," and characters appear in multiple roles onscreen in re-created films from previous eras, as well as in the story itself. In some cases, the screen characters leave the movie they are in and interact with real-life people. This antic comedy also screens clips from well-know Iranian films of the past. 100 min. 999:2966Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Passion (1982)
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Hanna Schygulla, Michel Piccoli, Jerzy Radziwilowicz. A Godard-like director is trying to film a movie in the style of the great painters--Rembrandt, Goya, El Greco. The film is plagued by difficulties as the money for the film begins to run out, he can't seem to find the right lighting and the film has no story. In the middle of this intense situation, he starts a simultaneous affair with two women; Hanna, the owner of the hotel, and Isabelle, a factory worker who is trying to stir up a revolt. 88 min. DVD 9296; DVD X1262; vhs 999:3514Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Peeping Tom (UK, 1945)
Director, Michael Powell. Cast: Carl Boehm, Moira Shearer, Anna Massey, Maxine Audley. A study of a voyeuristic maniac who kills women while filming them with his 16mm camera. 101 min. DVD 187; VHS 999:535Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Pittsburgh (1971)
Directed by Chris Bradelwy & Kyle la Brache. Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Ed Begley, Jr., Illeana Douglas, Moby, Conan O'Brien, Alanis Morissette,Thomas Cavanagh. A real-life 'mockumentary' about a Hollywood star's public fame and private life. Jeff Goldblum puts his life on hold to help his young Canadian fiance secure a green card by agreeing to do a production of The Music Man. Now he's faced with grueling rehearsals, a furious agent, and the friends he's convinced to help him. 84 min. DVD 8203Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
The Player (1991)
Directed by Robert Altman. Cast: Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward, Whoopi Goldberg, Peter Gallagher, Brion James, Cynthia Stevenson. In this thriller of murderous obsession among Hollywood's glamorous elite, movie studio executive Griffin Mill starts receiving anonymous death threats from a rejected screenwriter. Finally, his desperation drives him to kill...but did he rub out the wrong writer? This suspenseful satire ruthlessly skewers Hollywood's dark side with the help of more than 65 superstar cameo appearances. 124 min. DVD 5519; vhs 999:2083Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Awards
- British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards - Best Direction
- Cannes Film Festival - Best Director; Best Actor (Tim Robbins)
- Golden Globes - Best Motion Picture; Comedy/Musical; Best Actor, Comedy/Musical (Tim Robbins)
- New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Best Film; Best Director
- Tolkin, Michael. The player ; The rapture ; The new age : three screenplays / by Michael Tolkin. New York : Grove Press, c1995. (Main (Gardner) Stacks PS3570.O4278 P56 1995)
The Pornographers (Jinruigaku nyumon) (Japan, 1966)
Director: Shohei Imamura. Ogata, a small time porno filmmaker in Osaka, struggles to cope with the corrupted sexual mores in his family, the world outside, and himself. For this presentation of the seedier and offbeat side of Japanese life usually not found on the screen, Imamura was severely attacked by the media for his nonchalant treatment of incest but he rejected the criticism on the grounds that black comedy is required to break taboos. Based on the novel Erogotoshitachi by Akiyuki Nozaka. 128 min. DVD X4318; vhs 999:2137 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
The Preview Murder Mystery (1936)
Directed by Robert Florey. Cast: Reginald Denny, Frances Drake, Gail Patrick, George Barbier, Ian Keith. A public relations man for a movie studio uses an early form of television to help solve a murder. 60 min.vhs 999:3938Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
Directed by Woody Allen. Cast: Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, Danny Aiello, Jack Rollins. Cecilia is a poor waitress whose only escape is the thrill and excitement of going to the movies. Suddenly, while watching her favorite movie, the leading man jumps out of the picture to be with her. Confusion abounds as the actors he has left in the movie try to get him back. 82 min. DVD 1022; vhs 999:923Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Awards- British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards - Best Film
- Cannes Film Festival - FIPRESCI Prize
- César Awards, France - Best Foreign Film
- Golden Globes - Best Screenplay
- London Critics Circle Film Awards - Film of the Year
- New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Best Screenplay
Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
Directed by Woody Allen. Cast: Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, Danny Aiello, Jack Rollins. Cecilia is a poor waitress whose only escape is the thrill and excitement of going to the movies. Suddenly, while watching her favorite movie, the leading man jumps out of the picture to be with her. Confusion abounds as the actors he has left in the movie try to get him back. 82 min. DVD 1022; vhs 999:923Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Quiet, Please(1939)
Directed by Crane Wilbur. Short film. "Director Nitvitch has a penchant for completely changing his movies in the middle of production. In this case, he starts by making a romance using two stars who cant stand each other off screen. He makes two changes, one of which involves a gorilla (don't ask)." [IMDB]18 min. Included on DVD X513Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
La Ricotta(Italy, 1963)
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini. Cast: Orson Welles as a director who sets out to make a film about the passion of Jesus. 35 min. DVD 2768
Roast-beef and Movies(1934)
Directed by Sam Baerwitz. Featuring Ted Healy and The Three Stooges. A trio of amateur film makers try to persuade a group of studio executives to exhibit their new movie. 16 min. Included on DVD 5730Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
RKO 281 (2000)
Directed by Benjamin Ross. Cast: Liev Schreiber, James Cromwell, Melanie Griffith, Brenda Blethyn, Roy Scheider and John Malkovich. Based in part on the PBS documentary "The Battle over Citizen Kane," this is a dramatization of the battle between Orson Welles and newspaper publisher William Randolf Hearst over the production of the motion picture Citizen Kane. Rich with tales of sexual blackmail, money and threats behind closed doors, this tells the story of Hearst's attempts to shut the movie down and ruin Welles' career. 87 min. DVD 290Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Safe Conduct (Laissez-passer) (2002)
Directed by Bertrand Tavernier. Cast: Jacques Gamblin, Denis Podalydes, Charlotte Kady, Marie Desgranges, Ged Marlon, Philippe Morier-Genoud, Laurent Schilling, Maria Pitarresi, Marie Gillain. During the Nazi occupation of France during World War II, the nation's movie studios continued to operate. Jean Devaivre is an assistant director for Continental Pictures, a studio which has recently been taken over by the Germans and is headed by Dr. Greven. With a wife and son to support, Devaivre feels he has little choice but to continue with his work. Screenwriter Jean Aurenche, a man who lives for wine, women and song, refuses to work for Greven, and struggles to find a way to make a living with his words. 163 min. DVD 2684Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Kauffmann, Stanley. "Grace under pressure." The New Republic. Nov 4, 2002. Vol. 227, Iss. 19; pg. 22UC users only
- Lovejoy, Alice. "Safe Conduct." Film Comment, Nov/Dec2002, Vol. 38 Issue 6, p76, 1pUC users only
- Marcelle Clements. "When Moviemaking Was a Form of Resistance." New York Times. (Late Edition (East Coast)). Oct 13, 2002. pg. 2.11
- Porton, Richard; Flitterman-Lewis, Sandy. "The spirit of resistance: An interview with Bertrand Tavernier." Cineaste. Spring 2003. Vol. 28, Iss. 2; p. 4UC users only
The Scarlet Pumpernickel (1950)
Directed by Chuck Jones. Animated short. Daffy "Dumas" Duck has written his own screenplay which parodies The Scarlet Pimpernel and tries to sell it to "J.L.," the studio head. The cartoon concerns itself less with "The Scarlet Pimpernel," Baroness Emmuska Orczy's tale of an heroic figure who smuggles doomed noblemen out of Paris during the French Revolution, than with mocking swashbucklers in general and Errol Flynn in particular (Errol is mentioned no less than three times). Daffy plays the title character, a dashing highwayman (as Flynn) with an unspecified mission in life, except to irritate the Lord High Chamberlain (Porky as Claude Rains). The Chamberlain, realizing that his daughter Melissa is the Scarlet Pumpernickel's true love, arranges to marry her to the Grand Duke (Sylvester as Basil Rathbone), hoping that this will flush the Pumpernickel out of hiding. Elmer Fudd has a small part as the proprietor of the King's Nostril Inn. DVD 2073
Sex Is Comedy (2002)
Directed by Catherine Breillat. Cast: Anne Parillaud, Gregoire Colin, Roxane Mesquida, Ashley Wanninger, Dominique Colladant, Bart Binnema, Yves Osmu, Francis Seleck, Elisabete Piecho. For director Jeanne, sex is no laughing matter. She doesn't find it funny that her two leading actors can't stand each other when she's about to shoot the most important moment in her film ... the sex scene. The actress objects to nudity, the actor won't take off his socks, and the only thing heating up between them is their tempers. At her wits' end, Jeanne tries everything in her power to seduce, intimidate and sweet-talk her reluctant young lovers into performing the film's sexy final scene. 95 min. DVD 3840Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Ince, K. "Is Sex Comedy or Tragedy? Directing Desire and Female Auteurship in the Cinema of Catherine Breillat." The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism v. 64 no. 1 (Winter 2006) p. 157-64
- Larcher, J. "Sex is comedy." Cahiers du Cinema no. 568 (May 2002) p. 38-9
- Williams, L. R. "Sex Is Comedy." Sight & Sound v. ns13 no. 8 (August 2003) p. 56, 58
- Vincendeau, G. "What she wants." Sight & Sound v. ns13 no. 5 (May 2003) p. 20-2UC users only
Shadow Magic (China / Germany / Taiwan / USA, 2000)
Directed by Ann Hu. Cast: Jared Harris, Xia Yu, Liu Peiqi, Lu Liping, Yufei Xing, Tang Qingzhuo. Based on a true story about a Chinese photographer and an Englishman who arrive with "moving pictures" in early 20th century China. Liu unintentionally defies his family's traditions to help bridge the gap between Chinese culture and the inventions of western technologies. In order to better his standing in society, so he can marry the woman he loves, Liu must decide if he wants to risk everything to help bring the motion picture industry to China. 115 min. DVD 2895Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Shadow of the Vampire (UK / USA / Luxembourg, 2000)
Directed by E. Elias Merhige. Cast: John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Cary Elwes, Aden Gillet, Eddie Izzard, Udi Kier, Catherine McCormack, Ronan Vibert. This riveting suspense thriller is about the filming of Nosferatu and the difficult relationship between the director, F. W. Murnau and actor Max Schreck. As cast and crew begin to disappear, it seems that Murnau has made a devil's bargain with Schreck, whose performance is too authentic. 92 min. DVD 2330Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Atkinson, M. "Vampire variations" [E. E. Merighe's Shadow of the vampire]. Film Comment v. 36 no. 6 (November/December 2000) p. 27-9
- Elsaesser, Thomas. "Six degrees of Nosferatu." Sight & Soundv. ns11 no. 2 (February 2001) p. 12-15UC users only
- Kemp, P. Shadow of the vampire. Sight & Sound v. ns11 no. 2 (February 2001) p. 50-1UC users only
- Sterritt, D. Shadow of the vampire. Cineaste v. 25 no. 4 (2000) p. 34-5UC users only
Sherlock Jr. (1924)
Directed by Buster Keaton. A young man (played by Buster Keaton) working at a movie theater takes a break from sweeping to read a book on how to be a detective. After work he buys a box of candy for a girlfriend and presents it to her along with a ring. Another suitor, the deceitful 'sheik', steals a watch from the girl's house, pawns it, and tries to impress her with a larger box of candy. The main character is accused of taking the watch and is forced to leave the girl's house. He returns to his job at the theater and falls asleep in the projector room. The young man dreams he can walk through the film screen and into an adventurous mystery movie. The characters are people from his real life, with the sheik playing the villain and the main character himself being the inventive and invincible detective Sherlock Jr. He manages to solve the crime and save the girl in this contained narrative before waking up back in the projector booth. The girl shows up and admits that her family had made a mistake in suspecting him. Unsure of what to do next, the hero looks to the characters in the movie currently playing for suggestions. 44 min. DVD 133Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Show People (1928)
Director, King Vidor. Cast: Marion Davies, William Haines, Dell Henderon, Paul Ralli. Peggy Pepper from Georgia goes to Hollywood with dreams of becoming a dramatic actress, but can only find work in the pie-throwing comedies of Billy Boone. She finally triumphs and becomes very vain and snooty but as she's about to marry a French count, Billy brings her to her senses with the aid of a well-aimed custard pie. 58 min. DVD X3616; vhs 999:3313Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Directed by Stanley Donen & Gene Kelley. Cast: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell, Cyd Charisse, Douglas Fowley, Rita Moreno. A musical-comedy spoof of the turmoil that afflicted the motion picture industry in the late 1920's during the changeover from silent films to sound. DVD 7266: special features: new 50th anniversary documentary, "What a glorious feeling," hosted by Debbie Reynolds; "You are my lucky star" outtake; scoring session music cues; feature-length audio commentary; theatrical trailer; excerpts of Arthur Freed/Nacio Herb Brown songs from originating movies. 103 min. DVD 7266; DVD 3; VHS 999:36 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Awards & Honors- National Film Registry Selection
- Card, James. "'More than meets the eye' in Singin' in the Rain and Day for Night." Literature/Film Quarterly, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 87-95, 1984
- Casper, Joseph Andrew. Stanley DonenMetuchen, N.J. : Scarecrow Press, 1983. (MAIN: PN1998.A3 D592 1983; MOFF: PN1998.A3 D592 1983)
- Chumo, Peter N. "Dance, Flexibility, and the Renewal of Genre in Singin' in the Rain." Cinema Journal, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 39-54, Fall 1996 UC users only
- Clover, Carol J. "Dancin' in the Rain." Critical Inquiry, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 722-47, Summer 1995
- Cohan, Steven. "Case Study: Interpreting Singin' in the Rain." In: Reinventing film studies / edited by Christine Gledhill and Linda Williams. London : Arnold ; New York : Co-published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press, 2000. (Grad Svcs PN1995.R455 2000; Main Stack PN1995.R455 2000; PFA PN1995.R455 2000)
- Comden, Betty. Singin' in the rain New York, Viking Press [1972] (MAIN: PN1997.S513 C65)
- Ewing, Marilyn M. "Retrospectives: "Gotta Dance!" Structure, Corruption, and Syphilis in "Singin' in the Rain"." Journal of Popular Film & Television 34:1 [Spring 2006] p. 12-23
- Miles, Adrian. "Singin' in the Rain: A Hypertextual Reading."Postmodern Culture: An Electronic Journal of Interdisciplinary Criticism, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. [no pagination], Winter 1998UC users only
- Prock, Stephan. "Music, Gender and the Politics of Performance in Singin' in the Rain." Colby Quarterly, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 295-318, December 2000
- Telotte, J. P. "Ideology and the Kelly-Donen Musicals." Film Criticism, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 36-46, Spring 1984
- Silverman, Stephen M. Dancing on the ceiling : Stanley Donen and his movies. New York : Knopf : Distributed by Random House, 1996. (MAIN: PN1998.3.D65 S55 1996; MOFF: PN1998.3.D65 S55 1996)
- Wollen, Peter. Singin' in the rain London : BFI Publishing, 1992. (MOFF: PN1997.S5133 W67 1992)
Sixteen Millimeter Shrine(TV 1959)
An aging movie star lives in her dreams of the past and eventually disappears in her screening room. Twilight Zone, Episode 4, October 23, 1959. DVD 2608
Slugs (Nacktschnecken) (Austria, 2004)
Director, Michael Glawogger. Cast: Michael Ostrowski, Raimund Wallisch, Pia Hierzegger, Georg Friedrich, Detlev Buck, Brigitte Kren. An Austrian low-budget comedy about three young pals who plan to earn money by shooting an hardcore-porno movie. 86 min. DVD 7784Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Soigne ta droite (Keep Your Right Up!) (France, 1982)
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Cast: Jean-Luc Godard, Jane Birkin, Fred Chichin, Michel Galabru, Pauline Lafont, Rita Mitsouko. "The Idiot" (also known as "The Prince") has been guaranteed financing for a film, but only if he can deliver it within 24 hours. He encounters all sorts of hilarious problems as he attempts to do so. Meanwhile, a pop group works on a new album. 82 min. DVD 3313Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Somewhere (1923)
Directed by Sofia Coppola. Cast: Elle Fanning, Stephen Dorff. A witty, moving, and empathetic look into the orbit of actor Johnny Marco. He is living at the legendary Chateau Marmont hotel in Hollywood, has a Ferrari to drive around in, and a constant stream of girls and pills to stay in with. Comfortably numbed, Johnny drifts along. Then, his 11-year-old daughter Cleo from his failed marriage arrives unexpectedly at the Chateau. Their encounters encourage Johnny to face up to where he is in life. 98 min. DVD X6304Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Souls for Sale (1923)
Directed by Rupert Hughes. Cast: Eleanor Boardman, Frank Mayo, Richard Dix, Mae Busch, Barbara La Marr, Lew Cody. The souls in question are silver-screen hopefuls in this witty, insightful glimpse at the early movie business. Feared lost for decades, it includes unique working cameos of director Erich von Stroheim and a non-Tramp Charlie Chaplin, and features starlet Eleanor Boardman, the "Cinderella of Hollywood" whose rags-to-riches story echoed her character's. Escaping from a train journey with her sinister new husband, Mem Steddon crawls across the California desert and spies her salvation: an Arab sheik riding a camel! The location movie crew brings Mem to Tinseltown, where bit parts and acting lessons lead her to starring roles, and a fiery finale with her murderous spouse. Based on Red Book serial novel of motion picture life in Hollywood by Rupert Hughes. 90 min.DVD 5340Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Speaking Parts (1982)
Directed by Atom Egoyan. Cast: Michael McManus, Arsinee Khanjian, Gabrielle Rose, Tony Nardi, David Hemblen, Patricia Collins, Gerard Parkes. A struggling actor working as a hotel custodian and gigolo finds himself the obsessional object of two women: a scriptwriter he hustled for a part in a movie and a hotel maid. Their tangled web of psycho-sexual desires ultimately leads to death. 92 min. DVD 5340Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
A Star Is Born (1937)
Directed by William A. Wellman. Cast: Janet Gaynor, Fredric March, Adolphe Menjou, May Robson, Andy Devine, Lionel Stander. A fading star meets an aspiring actress, falls in love with her and they marry. Her career skyrockets, while his continues to fade with tragic results. 91 min. DVD 3284Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
A Star Is Born (1954)
Directed by George Cukor. Cast: Judy Garland, James Mason, Jack Carson, Charles Bickford. A classic story of fame, innocence and destruction. A matinee idol falls in love with a young girl and propels her to stardom. Her career skyrockets, while his continues to fade with tragic consequences. Based on the Dorothy Parker, Alan Campbell, Robert Carson screenplay from a story by William A. Wellman and Robert Carson. 91 min. DVD 572; VHS 1018Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
A Star is Hatched (1938)
Animated short. Directed by Friz Freleng. Emily the chicken, lives in Hickville but dreams of Hollywood. Her chance comes when director J. Megga-Phone happens to drive past and gives her his card. She makes her way to Hollywood, and Megga-Phone's office, where she discovers a whole flock of hens with the same card and a completely uncaring Megga-Phone. She returns home to faithful Clem, and a chick with foolish notions. Included on DVD 3636
Star Maps (1997)
Directed by Miguel Arteta. Cast: Douglas Spain, Efrain Figueroa, Kandyce Jorden, Martha Velez, Lysa Flores, Annette Murphy, Robin Thomas, Vincent Chandler, Al Vicente. Carlos, a naive young man, works for his father selling star maps which point the way to the homes of some of Hollywood's biggest celebrities. But his job is really a front for a prostitution ring, and in this city of illusions, Carlos' plan to use one of his customers to help him get a movie role just may be the biggest illusion of all. 90 min. VHS 999:2855Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Stardust Memories (1980)
Directed by Woody Allen. Cast:Woody Allen, Charlotte Rampling, Jessica Harper, Marie-Christine Barrault, Tony Roberts. A famous comedy film maker, rejected by his fans and critics after a venture into serious cinema, seeks comfort from the three dissimilar women he is dating: the beautiful but neurotic Dorrie, sensitive and talented violinist Daisy, and earthy, mature Isobel. 91 min. DVD 223; VHS 999:1913Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
State and Main
Directed by David Mamet. Cast: Alec Baldwin, Charles Durning, Clark Gregg, Philip Seymore Hoffman, Patti LuPone, William H. Macy, Sarah Jessica Parker, David Paymer, Rebecca Pidgeon, Julia Stiles. In order to save money on production costs, a movie production crew moves into a small town in Vermont. The crew soon discovers that their much needed "prop" has burned down, the star can't keep his pants zipped, the starlet won't take off her top and the locals want a piece of the action. 105 min. DVD 2894Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
State of Things (Stand der Dinge) (West Germany / Portugal / USA, 1982)
Director, Wim Wenders. Cast: Patrick Bauchau, Allen Goorwitz, Viva, Sam Fuller, Paul Getty II, Roger Corman. Friedrich (Patrick Bauchau), a Swiss director is in the middle of shooting an impressionistic film about six survivors of the nuclear holocaust when the film stock suddenly runs out. He is forced to go to Hollywood in search of a film producer (Allen Goorwitz) who is an erratic genius ceaselessly roaming the LA streets throughtout the night. 102 min. DVD X6346; vhs 999:248Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
The Stunt Man (1980)
Directed by Richard Rush. Cast: Peter O'Toole, Steve Railsback, Barbara Hershey, Allen Goorwitz, Alex Rocco, Adam Roarke, Sharon Farrell, Philip Bruns, Chuck Bail. Vietnam veteran Cameron is on the run from the police when he stumbles onto the set of a war movie directed by megalomaniac Eli Cross. But when the young fugitive is forced to replace a dead stunt man, he falls in love with the movie's leading lady while trying to avoid getting arrested or killed. Is Eli trying to capture Cameron's death on film? And what happens to a paranoid stunt man when illusion and reality change places? 130 min. Based on the novel The stunt man by Paul Brodeur. DVD 4787Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Sullivan's Travels (1941)
Directed by Preston Sturges. Cast: Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, Robert Warwick, William Demarest, Margaret Hayes, Porter Hall, Franklin Pangborn, Eric Blore. "Sullivan is a successful, spoiled, and naive director of fluff films, with a heart-o-gold, who decides he wants to make a film about the troubles of the downtrodden poor ["O Brother, Where Art Thou"]. Much to the chagrin of his producers, he sets off in tramp's clothing with a single dime in his pocket to experience poverty first-hand, and gets some reality shock." [Internet Movie Database][See also: filmsite.org for a fuller description] 91 min.DVD 6592; DVD 790; VHS 999:358Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Directed by Billy Wilder. Cast: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim. A harsh look at Hollywood in which an aging silent-movie queen makes a tragic attempt to return to stardom. 110 min. DVD 1476;l vhs 999:182Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Awards & Honors- Golden Globes - Best Motion Picture, Drama; Best Director; Best Actress, Drama (Gloria Swanson)
- National Board of Review, USA - Best Film; Best Actress (Gloria Swanson)
- National Film Registry Selection
Super 8 1/2: A Cautionary Bio-pic (1995)
Directed by Bruce LaBruce. Cast: Bruce LaBruce, Liza LaMonica, Mikey Mike, Klaus von Brucker, Chris Teen, Dirty Pillows, Buddy Cole, Ben Weasel, Amy Nitrate, Vaginal Creme Davis, Richard Kern. A vaguely autobiographical look at a director of gay films whose career is in decline. The "creator" of the films is the artistically affected Googie. Most of her scenes end in blackouts of Bruce LaBruce, his former lovers, and his lesbian punkette buddies Wednesday and Jane Friday. There are also numerous clips of Bruce's porn films and clips from Googie's own attempt at experimental filmmaking. 106 min.999:3482Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Swimming With Sharks (1994)
Directed by George Huang. Cast: Kevin Spacey, Frank Whaley, Michelle Forbes. Kevin Spacey stars as Buddy Ackerman, "the boss from hell" who reigns over an entry-level corporate job anyone would kill for. The ambitious Guy (Frank Whaley), Buddy's personal assistant, finds himself ducking everthing from insults to paperweights as he tries to satisfy Buddy's needs. But when those "needs" involve Guy's girlfriend, he snaps. In a wicked twist of personnel payback, Guy takes Buddy as his "personal hostage" for a hilarious executive-suite revenge that is every abused employee's dream come true! 101 min.DVD 5941Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One
Cast: Patricia Ree Gilbert, Don Fellows, Jonathan Gordon, Bob Rosen, William Greaves. Director William Greaves presides over a beleaguered film crew in New York's Central Park, leaving them to try to figure out what kind of movie they're making. A couple enacts a breakup scenario over and over as a documentary crew films the crew filming the action. Locals wander casually into the frame: the project defies easy description. Yet this wildly innovative sixties counterculture landmark remains one of the most tightly focused and insightful movies ever made about making movies. Special features: "Discovering William Greaves": a new documentary on Greave's career, featuring Greaves, his wife and coproducer Louise Archambault, actress Ruby Dee, filmmaker St. Clair Bourne, and film scholar Scott MacDonald; theatrical trailer. 1968. 75 min. DVD 9097
- MacDonald, Scott. "The country in the city: Central Park in Jonas Mekas's Walden and William Greaves's Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One." Journal of American Studies. Dec 1997. Vol. 31; p. 337 (24 pages) UC users only
- Romney, Jonathan. "Sign of the Times: William Greaves's Symbiopsychotaxiplasms." Modern Painters, December 2005/January 2006, p44-47, 4p UC users only
- San Filippo, Maria. "What a long, strange trip it's been -- William Greaves' Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One." Film History, 2001, Vol. 13 Issue 2, p216-225, 10p,UC users only
- "Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One." Film Comment, Nov/Dec2006, Vol. 42 Issue 6, p75-75UC users only
- "William Greaves/"Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One" (1968)" Wide Angle, 1995, Vol. 17 Issue 1/4, p128-134, 7p
- Knee, Adam; Musser, Charles. "William Greaves, Documentary Film-Making, and the African-American Experience William Greaves, Documentary Film-Making, and the African-American Experience." Film Quarterly, Vol. 45, No. 3 (Spring, 1992), pp. 13-25 UC users only
Tango(Spain / Argentina, 1998)
Directed by Carlos Saura. Set in Buenos Aires with a rich blend of muted light and intoxicating dance this film tells the story of director Mario Suarez's quest to create the ultimate tango film. Complications develop when Mario falls in love with Elena, a talented young dancer who is the girlfriend of an investor in the picture. And Mario's creative vision is challenged by his investors when he plans a scene that recreates Argentina's dark years of political suppression and "disappearances." 115 min. DVD 6194; vhs 999:2650Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Thank your Lucky Stars (1943)
Directed by Robert Benton. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Eddie Cantor, Bette Davis, Olivia De Havilland, Errol Flynn, John Garfield, Joan Leslie, Ida Lupino, Dennis Morgan, Ann Sheridan, Dina Shore, Alexis Smith, George Tobias, Jack Carson, Alan Hale, Edward Everett Horton, S.Z. Sakall, Hattie McDaniel and Spike Jones. Eddie Cantor insists upon being chairman of the Cavalcade of Stars benefit show, in return for the use of his vocalist, Dinah Shore. Cantor disrupts the producers' plans with his own egocentric ideas. When they discover a talented bus driver named Joe Simpson, who can't get an acting job because he too closely resembles Eddie Cantor, a scheme is hatched to put the show back on track. Bonus features: Warner night at the movies 1943 short subjests gallery; vintage newsreel; musical shorts "Three cheers for the girls" and "The United States Navy Band"; patriotic short "Food and magic"; classic cartoon "Fallen hare"; trailers of Thank your luck stars and 1943's Watch on the Rhine; audio-only bonus: radio show adaptation with the film's stars.127 min. DVD X817Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Torremolinos 73 (Spain | Denmark, 2003)
Directed by Pablo Berger. Cast: Javier Camara, Candela Peña, Juan Diego, Malena Alterio, Fernando Tejero. Alfredo Lopez is a tired encyclopedia salesman, and Carmen is his faithful wife. The lives of this married couple change forever when Alfredo's boss makes a proposal to them to make erotic films to besold in Scandinavian countries, under the guise of being a false encyclopedia about reproduction. Carmen becomes an adult film star in the Northern countries, and a Danish crew flies in to help Alfredo, by now an aspiring serious film maker, to make an Ingmar Bergman inspired feature film called "Torremolinos 73." Instead of a career in show business, however, Carmen is eager to have a baby. 91 min. DVD X3392; vhs 999:3889Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Tropic Thunder (2008)
Directed by Ben Stiller. Cast: Ben Stiller, Robert Downey, Jr., Jack Black, Steve Coogan, Nick Nolte, Danny McBride, Brandon T. Jackson, Jay Baruchel. While filming an action movie in the jungle, death and hilarity ensue as the lead actors believe the murderous heroin-producing gang they encounter is a part of the script. A spoof on action/adventure films. Special features: Audio commentaries; Before the Thunder"; The hot LZ; Blowing s#%t up; Designing the "Thunder"; The cast of "Tropic thunder"; Rain of madness; deleted and extended scenes; alternate ending; Full mags; MTV movie awards : "Tropic thunder"; video rehearsals. 107 min. DVD X840Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Twilight (1997)
Directed by Robert Benton. Cast: Paul Newman, Susan Sarandon, Gene Hackman, Stockard Channing, Reese Witherspoon, Giancarlo Esposito, James Garner. Harry Ross is a burned-out private eye who's plunged into a murder mystery tied to a long-unsolved case of Hollywood dreams, schemes and cover-ups. 95 min. DVD 5405Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Ulysses' Gaze (To vlemma tou Odyssea) (1995)
Directed by Theo Angelopoulos. Cast: Harvey Keitel, Erland Josephson, Maia Morgenstern, Thanasses Vengos, Yorgos Michalakopoulos, Dora Volanaki, Mania Papademitriou. In this mystical film a Greek-American director travels in the Balkans in search of lost reels of film shot by the Manakia brothers, pioneers of cinema. The film travels through war-torn Eastern Europe giving a compelling eye-witness account, as well as an informed and compassionate description of the scope of the conflict that is still unraveling in the Balkan states. 173 min. DVD 729Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Barnes, Hugh. "Ulysses' Gaze." TLS. Times Literary Supplement n4847 (Feb 23, 1996 n4847): 21(1)
- Kimberly, Nick. "Ulysses' Gaze." Sight and Sound 6.n2 (Feb 1996): 55(1).
- Portuges, Catherine. "Ulysses' Gaze." American Historical Review 101.n4 (Oct 1996): 1158(2)
- Romney, Jonathan. "Make it yellow.(film director, Theo Angelopoulos)(Interview)." Sight and Sound 9.5 (May 1999): 8(4).
Valley of the Dolls (1967)
Directed by Mark Robson. Cast: Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, Paul Burke, Sharon Tate, Susan Hayward. Lured by dreams of fame and fortune, three ambitious young women enter the world of show business and discover how easy it is to sink into a celebrity nightmare of ego, alcohol and "pills" -- the beloved "dolls". 123 min. DVD X2476Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Venice/Venice (1992)
Directed by Henry Jaglom. Cast: Nelly Alard, Henry Jaglom, Suzanne Bertish, Melissa Leo, Daphne Kastner, David Duchovny. Dean is a maverick American film director surprised that his most recent film has been chosen as the Official U.S. Entry at the Venice Film Festival. A beautiful French journalist arrives at the festival with the intention of interviewing the eccentric filmmaker. In the midst of all the festival madness, she is forced to confront the wide divergence between things as they really are and things as they seem to be - both on screen and off. 108 min. DVD X4994Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Directed by Robert Aldrich. Cast: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono, Marjorie Bennett, Anna Lee. An aging ex-vaudeville child star initiates a psychotic reign of terror over her crippled sister, a former movie-queen of the 1930's. 132 min. DVD 4072Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
What Makes Sammy Run? (TV, NBC's Sunday Showcase)
Cast: Larry Blyden, John Forsythe, Barbara Rush, Dina Merrill, Norman Fell. Sammy Glick is a Jewish boy born in New York's Lower East Side who decides to climb the ladder of success by any means necessary. Through backstabbing and double-crossing, Sammy fights to become the motion picture industry's top screenwriter. A rags to riches story about the world of 1930s Hollywood based on the controversial novel by Budd Schulberg. Original 2-part broadcast on NBC's Sunday Showcase in 1959. 105 min. DVD X1117
- Rhodes, Chip. "Ambivilence on the Left: Budd Schulberg's What Makes Sammy Run?" Studies in American Fiction, Spring2002, Vol. 30 Issue 1, p65, 19p UC users only
- Schulberg, Budd. What makes Sammy run? / by Budd Schulberg. Cambridge, Mass. : R. Bentley, 1979, c1941 (Main (Gardner) Stacks PS3537.Sc714 .W32 1979)
What's Cookin Doc? (1944)
Directed by Robert Clampett and Friz Freleng. Warner Brothers Studios. "Hollywood; Oscar night. After a live-action introduction establishing these points, Bugs Bunny says hi and begins blatantly lobbying for the Oscar that goes instead to James Cagney. Miffed, Bugs shows the audience a clip from Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt (1941), and the crowd gives it to him but not the Oscar." [Internet Movie Database] 9 min. DVD 9503 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
The Wild Party (1975)
Directed by James Ivory. Cast: James Coco, Raquel Welch, Perry King, Tiffany Bolling. Since "talking pictures" have come in, Jolly has been losing his boxoffice appeal so he has produced, using all his savings, a film that will be screened for all the studio heads that night at the party. Based on the poem by Joseph Moncure March. 109 min.DVD X2638 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Windy Riley goes Hollywood(1931)
Directed by William Goodrich (Roscoe Arbuckle). Cast: Jack Shutta and Louise Brooks. A driver on a non-stop race from New York to San Francisco gets detoured to Hollywood, where he winds up working as a publicity man for a movie studio and assigned to revive the career of a beautiful but fading star. 18 min. 18 min. DVD 1173 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Who's Camus Anyway? (Kamyu nante shiranai) (Japan, 2005)
Directed by Mitsuo Yangimachi. Cast: Shuji Kashiwabara ; Hinano Yoshikawa, Ai Maeda, Hideo Nakaizumi, Hirotaro Honda. Who is Camus, anyway? This drama, unfolded around the filming activities on the campus of a university in Tokyo, presents the personal lives and loves of the modern youth of Japan. 115 min. DVD 6347 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Windy Riley goes Hollywood
Directed by Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle. Cast: Jack Shutta, Louise Brooks (in her first talking role) 18 min. DVD 1173
You Ought To Be In Pictures(1940)
Directed by Friz Freleng. Warner Brothers. Animated short. "As the clock strikes midday, the animators vanish from their desks, abandoning the studio to Porky and Daffy. Jealous of Porky's success in the Looney Tunes cartoon series, Daffy tricks Porky into quitting Looney Tunes and heading for the Warner Brothers lot to go after the big money in a career in live-action features. Poor Porky never gets through the front gate. Frustrated, Porky returns to Termite Terrace, where he sees Daffy trying to take over Porky's job. Porky takes the conniving duck into an empty studio and beats the living bejeezes out of him. He then heads over to real-life Looney Tunes producer Leon Schlesinger's office to try and get his job back. Schlesinger has kept Porky's contract in his desk, and he tells Porky that he'll always have a job at Termite Terrace." [Big Cartoon Database] DVD 3137
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/moviesaboutmovies.html
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