Hotchka Movies by the Decade feature #84 :: March 2•8

United Artists

The first week of March over the last century was an interesting one for film releases. Every decade had at least one new release, but how many of them are notable or memorable is the question. There’s no denying, though, that 1942 produced a bona fide classic comedy. 1922 does include a cinematic treasure, 1962 has a Vincent Price-less Poe film, 1972 had a massive flop, and the first film to air on HBO, 1982 put Klaus Kinski in the jungle, brought together a roster of stars for an Agatha Christie mystery, and produced a milestone in LGBT cinema, 1992 had Stephen King fighting to take his name off a film, and 2012 brought a Dr. Seuss character to CGI life in 3D. Of note, though, is that three of this week’s films were directed by their leading men, and two of them inspired TV series. Can you guess what these films are? Could any of your favorites be celebrating this week? Read on and find out!

1922

March 3 – The Burning Soil

• Cast: Eugen Klöpfer, Vladimir Gajdarov, Werner Krauss, Eduard von Winterstein, Stella Arbenina, Lya De Putti, Alfred Abel, Grete Diercks, Olga Engl, Elsa Wagner, Emilia Unda, Leonie Taliansky, Albert Patry, Magnus Stifter
• Director: F. W. Murnau
• Production Company: Deulig Film, distributed by Deulig-Verleih
• Trivia: The film opened in Germany on March 3, 1922. The film was considered lost until 1978, when it was discovered to have been owned by an Italian priest who organized screenings in mental hospitals. A restoration of the film was made with the assistance of French director Eric Rohmer.

March 8 – Laborer’s Love

• Cast: Zheng Zhegu, Zheng Zhengqiu, Yu Ying
• Director: Zhang Shichuan
• Production Company: Mingxing Film Company
• Trivia: The film opened in China on March 8, 1922. Original title is Lao gong zhi ai qing. Also known as Romance of a Fruit Peddler or Romance of a Fruit Pedlar. The earliest complete film from China’s early cinematic history that is available today. The film has both Chinese and English intertitles, indicating that at this early point in Shanghai cinema history, films were tailored to both Chinese and Western audiences.

1932

March 6 – Business and Pleasure

• Cast: Will Rogers, Jetta Goudal, Joel McCrea, Dorothy Peterson, Oscar Apfel, Vernon Dent, Boris Karloff, Mitchell Lewis, Jed Prouty, Cyril Ring, Peggy Ross
• Director: David Butler
• Production Company: Fox Film Corporation
• Trivia: The film opened in London on February 24, 1932 ahead of its March 6 US release.

1942

March 6 – To Be or Not to Be

• Cast: Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart, Lionel Atwill, Stanley Ridges, Sig Ruman, Tom Dugan, Charles Halton, George Lynn, Henry Victor, Maude Eburne, Halliwell Hobbes, Miles Mander
• Director: Ernst Lubitsch
• Production Company: Romaine Film Corp., distributed by United Artists
• Trivia: The Los Angeles premiere was held on February 19, 1942. The film was released in Canada on March 9, and in the UK in May 1942. Selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1996. Jack Benny was Ernst Lubitsch’s only choice for the lead and Benny was thrilled to accept the part from such an esteemed director. The film was released one month after actress Carole Lombard was killed in an airplane crash. Miriam Hopkins was originally cast as the female lead but she and Benny did not get along so she left the production and Lombard asked to be considered for the role, yearning to work with Lubitsch. Lombard had said making the film was the happiest experience of her career. When Jack Benny’s father went to see this movie, he was outraged at the sight of his son in a Nazi uniform in the first scene and even stormed out of the theater. Jack convinced his father that it was satire, and he agreed to sit through all of it. His father ended up loving the film so much he saw it forty-six times.

March 7 – Bullet Scars

• Cast: Regis Toomey, Adele Longmire, Howard da Silva, Ben Welden, John Ridgely, Frank Wilcox, Michael Ames, Hobart Bosworth, Roland Drew, Walter Brooke, Creighton Hale, Hank Mann, Sol Gorss, Don Turner
• Director: D. Ross Lederman
• Production Company: Warner Bros.–First National, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
• Trivia: Film debut of Adele Longmire.

1952

March 6 – Rancho Notorious

• Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Arthur Kennedy, Mel Ferrer, Gloria Henry, William Frawley, Lisa Ferraday, John Raven, Jack Elam, George Reeves, Frank Ferguson, Francis McDonald, Lloyd Gough, Russell Johnson, Emory Parnell
• Director: Fritz Lang
• Production Company: Fidelity Pictures Corporation, distributed by RKO Radio Pictures
• Trivia: The film began its UK engagement on April 10, 1952, followed by a Canadian release on April 18. The film was originally titled The Legend of Chuck-a-Luck, but changed at the insistence of Howard Hughes, head of RKO Pictures. The ballad ‘The Legend of Chuck-a-Luck’ heard during the opening credits and throughout the film is the first song in an American film to use the lyrics as narration.

March 7 – 5 Fingers

• Cast: James Mason, Danielle Darrieux, Michael Rennie, Walter Hampden, Oskar Karlweis, Herbert Berghof, John Wengraf, Ben Astar, Roger Plowden
• Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
• Production Company: 20th Century Fox
• Trivia: Also known as Five Fingers. Based on the book Operation Cicero (Original German: Der Fall Cicero) (1950) by Ludwig Carl Moyzisch. The film premiered in New York City on February 22, 1952. It opened in Canada on March 13, and in the UK on April 3. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Director and Best Screenplay. Five Fingers was adapted into a 1959-1960 16-episode TV series, starring David Hedison and Luciana Paluzzi.

March 7 – Something to Live For

• Cast: Joan Fontaine, Ray Milland, Teresa Wright, Richard Derr, Douglas Dick
• Director: George Stevens
• Production Company: Paramount Pictures
• Trivia: The first film to focus on the Alcoholics Anonymous program. The character of Jenny Carey was based on stage actress Laurette Taylor, mother of the film’s screenwriter Dwight Taylor, whose struggle with alcoholism kept her from acting for years at a time. Final film of actresses Judith Allen and Patsy O’Byrne.

1962

March 5 – Nine Days in One Year

• Cast: Aleksey Batalov, Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Tatyana Lavrova, Nikolai Plotnikov, Sergei Blinnikov, Yevgeniy Yevstigneyev, Mikhail Kozakov, Valentin Nikulin, Pavel Shpringfeld, Aleksandr Pelevin, Yevgeni Teterin, Nikolai Sergeyev, Ada Vojtsik, Valentina Belyayeva, Igor Yasulovich, Lyusyena Ovchinnikova
• Director: Mikhail Romm
• Production Company: Mosfilm, distributed by Artkino Pictures (1964, USA, subtitled)
• Trivia: The film’s working title was 365 Days. The film opened in the Soviet Union on March 5, 1962. It was screened at the San Francisco International Film Festival on November 2, 1962 but did not receive a theatrical engagement in the US until December 28, 1964. The film is based on true events, and is one of the most important Soviet films of the 1960s.

March 7 – Cartouche

• Cast: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Claudia Cardinale, Jess Hahn, Marcel Dalio, Jean Rochefort, Philippe Lemaire, Noël Roquevert, Odile Versois, Jacques Charon, Lucien Raimbourg, Jacques Balutin, Pierre Repp, Jacques Hilling, Paul Préboist, René Marlic
• Director: Philippe de Broca
• Production Company: Films Ariane/Filmsonor Productions/Franco London Films, Embassy Pictures
• Trivia: The film opened in France on March 7, 1962. It opened in the US on July 21, 1964. Jean-Paul Belmondo did all his own stunts.

March 7 – The Premature Burial

• Cast: Ray Milland, Heather Angel, Hazel Court, Alan Napier, Richard Ney, John Dierkes, Dick Miller, Clive Halliday, Brendan Dillon
• Director: Roger Corman
• Production Company: Santa Clara Productions, distributed by American International Pictures
• Trivia: Based upon the 1844 short story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe. The film was released in the UK on September 6, 1962. The third in a series of eight ‘Poe Cycle’ films directed by Roger Corman. Corman wanted to use previous Poe star Vincent Price, but Price was under contract to AIP and Corman was self-financing the film so he cast Ray Milland instead. AIP, however, acquired the film just after production began. Francis Ford Coppola worked on the film as an assistant director.

1972

Rank Organisation

March 2 – Antony and Cleopatra

• Cast: Charlton Heston, Hildegarde Neil, Eric Porter, John Castle, Fernando Rey, Carmen Sevilla, Freddie Jones, Peter Arne, Douglas Wilmer, Roger Delgado, Julian Glover
• Director: Charlton Heston
• Production Company: Rank Organisation
• Trivia: Film adaptation of the play of the same name by William Shakespeare. The film opened in the UK on March 2, 1972, but did not get a US release until September 26, 1973. Due to poor reviews, the film received a very limited release in the US. Charlton Heston had asked Orson Welles to direct but he turned it down so Heston did it himself. For the sea battle, Heston re-used footage from his 1959 film Ben-Hur. Heston took the lead in MGM’s Skyjacked so the studio would allow him to use the footage. Stock footage from The Robe was also used. Heston had played Mark Anthony in two previous adaptations of Julius Caesar in 1950 and 1970. Heston had wanted Diana Rigg to play Cleopatra.

March 2 – Sometimes a Great Notion

• Cast: Paul Newman, Henry Fonda, Lee Remick, Michael Sarrazin, Richard Jaeckel, Linda Lawson, Cliff Potts, Roy Jenson, Joe Maross
• Director: Paul Newman
• Production Company: Newman-Foreman Company, distributed by Universal Pictures
• Trivia: Based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Ken Kesey, the first of his novels to be adapted for the screen. Also known as Never Give an Inch. The film opened in the US in limited release on December 17, 1971 before expanding on March 2, 1972. Nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Richard Jaeckel) and Best Original Song. Richard A. Colla was the original director but quit due to creative differences. At the same time, Newman broke his ankle so production was halted. George Roy Hill was asked to direct but turned it down, so when Newman returned and production resumed, he took over the direction. The fictional community in the film is called Wakonda. This was the first film to be broadcast on HBO on November 8, 1972.

1982

March 4 – Fitzcarraldo

• Cast: Klaus Kinski, Claudia Cardinale, José Lewgoy, Miguel Ángel Fuentes, Paul Hittscher, Huerequeque Enrique Bohórquez, Grande Otelo, Peter Berling, David Pérez Espinosa, Milton Nascimento, Ruy Polanah, Salvador Godínez, Dieter Milz, William ‘Bill’ Rose, Leôncio Bueno, Jean-Claude Dreyfus
• Director: Werner Herzog
• Production Company: Werner Herzog Filmproduktion, Pro-ject Filmproduktion, Filmverlag der Autoren, ZDF, Wildlife Films Peru S.A., Iquitos, distributed by Filmverlag der Autoren (West Germany)
• Trivia: The film opened in West Germany on March 4, 1982. It was released in the US on October 10, 1982. Jason Robards was the film’s original star but he became ill three weeks into production and was replaced with Klaus Kinski, even though he and the director had clashed violently on their three previous productions. The fourth pairing was no different. When shooting was nearly complete, the chief of the Machiguenga tribe, who were used extensively as extras, asked Herzog if they should kill Kinski for him. Herzog declined. Forty percent of Robards’ work had been completed and had to be completely reshot with Kinski. After filming wrapped, the ship was left in the forest, where it remains to this day. Mick Jagger had also been cast in the film but was unable to continue due to production delays with the reshoots so his role was written out. Nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film.

EMI Films

March 5 – Evil Under the Sun

• Cast: Peter Ustinov, Colin Blakely, Jane Birkin, Nicholas Clay, Maggie Smith, Roddy McDowall, Sylvia Miles, James Mason, Denis Quilley, Diana Rigg, Emily Hone
• Director: Guy Hamilton
• Production Company: EMI Films, Titan Productions, Mersham Productions Ltd., distributed by Columbia-EMI-Warner Distributors[
• Trivia: Based on the 1941 novel of the same name by Agatha Christie. The film was screened at the Manila International Film Festival on January 25, 1982, and premiered in Australia on February 12. The film opened in the UK on March 23. The film’s story changed the novel’s setting from Devon to an Adriatic island. The novel’s characters of Rosamund Darnley and Mrs. Castle were merged creating Daphne Castle, played by Maggie Smith. The novel’s female character of Emily Brewster was written as a man named Rex Brewster, played by Roddy McDowall. Maggie Smith and Jane Birkin had both appeared in the previous Christie film Death on the Nile, while Denis Quilley and Colin Blakely had appeared in 1974’s Murder on the Orient Express. The hotel ledger seen briefly in the film contains many famous names including Cole Porter, whose music was re-orchestrated for the film’s score. This was the second of Peter Ustinov’s six appearances as Hercule Poirot. The character of Colonel Race from Death on the Nile was included in the original script but David Niven, who originated the role, had to decline due to failing health.

March 5 – I’m Dancing as Fast as I Can

• Cast: Jill Clayburgh, Nicol Williamson, Dianne Wiest, Geraldine Page, Albert Salmi, James Sutorius, Ellen Greene, Joseph Maher, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, Dan Hedaya, Kathleen Widdoes, Richard Masur, John Lithgow, David Margulies
• Director: Jack Hofsiss
• Production Company: Paramount Pictures
• Trivia: Based on the memoir of the same title by Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Barbara Gordon, whose addiction to and difficult withdrawal from Valium serves as the basis of the plot. The first movie where actors Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern would share screen-time together before Home Alone and its sequel. This was the only film directed by Jack Hofsiss.

March 5 – Making Love

• Cast: Michael Ontkean, Harry Hamlin, Kate Jackson, Wendy Hiller, Arthur Hill, Nancy Olson
• Director: Arthur Hiller
• Production Company: 20th Century Fox
• Trivia: The film opened in a limited US release on February 12, 1982 before expanding on March 5. The film was released in the UK on June 11. The first mainstream Hollywood drama to address the subjects of homosexuality, coming out and the effect that being closeted and coming out has on a marriage. To try to make the film a hit, it was marketed both as a ‘women’s film’ to attract the female audience, and as a ‘cinematic milestone’ to draw in young, educated males. The tactic seemed to work the first weekend in limited release, but when the film expanded it ended up losing more than half of its budget and distribution costs, forcing the resignation of studio head Sherry Lansing. Fox would not recoup its loses until the 1983 release of Return of the Jedi. Harry Hamlin and Michael Ontkean refused to do the simulated sex scene so director Arthur Hiller found two extras in West Hollywood with similar builds for the scene. This was the first leading role for Kate Jackson in a theatrical film. Jackson and Ontkean had previously starred together in the 1970s police drama TV series The Rookies.

March 7 – The Weavers: Wasn’t That a Time!

• Cast: Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, Ronnie Gilbert, Fred Hellerman
• Director: Jim Brown
• Production Company: United Artists Classics
• Trivia: The film was the inspiration for the 2003 mockumentary film A Mighty Wind.

March 8 – Heatwave

• Cast: Judy Davis, Richard Moir, Chris Haywood, Bill Hunter, John Gregg, John Meillon, Dennis Miller, Carole Skinner
• Director: Phillip Noyce
• Production Company: Umbrella Entertainment, New Line Cinema
• Trivia: The film opened in Australia on March 8, 1982. It played in the US in June 1983. Based on the murder of Juanita Nielsen. It was the second of two films inspired by the story that came out at that time, the first being The Killing of Angel Street. The original script was titled King’s Cross.

1992

March 5 – Gladiator

• Cast: Cuba Gooding Jr., James Marshall, Brian Dennehy, Robert Loggia, Thomas Charles Simmons, Debra Stipe, Cara Buono, Jena Wynn, Jon Seda, Ossie Davis, Lance Slaughter, T.E. Russell, Vonte Swee, Antoine Roshell, Jeon-Paul Griffin, John Heard, Francesca P. Roberts, Emily Marie Hooper, Laura Whyte
• Director: Rowdy Herrington
• Production Company: Price Entertainment, distributed by Columbia Pictures
• Trivia: The film was released in the UK on June 26, 1992. Jon Seda’s film debut. James Marshall’s first and last lead role in a film.

March 6 – Once Upon a Crime

• Cast: John Candy, James Belushi, Cybill Shepherd, Sean Young, Richard Lewis, Ornella Muti, Giancarlo Giannini, George Hamilton, Roberto Sbaratto, Joss Ackland, Ann Way, Geoffrey Andrews, Caterina Boratto, Elsa Martinelli, Riccardo Parisio Perrotti
• Director: Eugene Levy
• Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Entertainment Film Distributors (UK)
• Trivia: Remake of Mario Camerini’s 1960 Italian comedy film Crimen. The film opened in both the UK and the US on March 6, 1992. It received a Canadian release on August 9. Director Eugene Levy makes a cameo appearance as a Casino Cashier. The film received one Razzie Award nomination, Sean Young for Worst Supporting Actress. She ‘lost’ to Estelle Getty in Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.

March 6 – The Lawnmower Man

• Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Jeff Fahey, Jenny Wright, Geoffrey Lewis, Jeremy Slate, Dean Norris, Austin O’Brien, Troy Evans, Rosalee Mayeux, Mark Bringelson, Ray Lykins, Colleen Coffey
• Director: Brett Leonard
• Production Company: Allied Vision, Fuji Eight Company Ltd., Lane Pringle Productions, Angel Studios, distributed by New Line Cinema (United States), First Independent Films (United Kingdom)
• Trivia: The film opened in the UK on June 5, 1992, and in Canada on June 21, 1995. Based on an original screenplay, ‘CyberGod’, with the title taken from Stephen King’s 1975 short story. Both included a gardener who operates a lawnmower, but the film has little to do with King’s story. The film was originally promoted with King’s name above the title, for which he successfully sued to have it removed. He won further damages when the home video release of the 141 minute director’s cut included his name in the title. The film was released in Japan under the title Virtual Wars.

2002

March 8 – Men with Brooms

• Cast: Paul Gross, Peter Outerbridge, Jed Rees, James Allodi, James B. Douglas, Leslie Nielsen, Barbara Gordon, Molly Parker, Connor Price, Michelle Nolden, Michael Yebba, Polly Shannon, Jane Spidell, Kari Matchett, Bob Bainborough, A. Paul Savage, George Karrys, Greg Bryk, Stan Coles, Darryl Casselman, Mike ‘Nug’ Nahrgang, Timm Zemanek, George Buza
• Director: Paul Gross
• Production Company: Alliance Atlantis
• Trivia: The film opened in Canada on March 8, 2002. Discussions about the original story focused on hockey, but Paul Gross felt it would be difficult to produce with a large cast and too political so he solved the problem by changing the sport to curling. The Tragically Hip, one of Canada’s most popular rock bands, appear in this film as team Kingston. All five members hail from Kingston.

2012

Universal Pictures

March 2 – Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax

• Cast: Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Rob Riggle, Jenny Slate, Betty White, Nasim Pedrad, Stephen Tobolowsky, Elmarie Wendel, Danny Cooksey, Joel Swetow, Michael Beattie, Dave B. Mitchell, Dempsey Pappion, Chris Renaud, Laraine Newman
• Director: Chris Renaud
• Production Company: Illumination Entertainment, Dentsu, distributed by Universal Pictures
• Trivia: The film also opened in Canada on March 2, 2012. It opened in the UK on July 27. The fourth feature film based on a Dr. Seuss story, the second that was fully computer animated, and the first released in 3D. Danny DeVito performed the voice of The Lorax in five languages besides English — Russian, German, Italian, Catalan/Valencian, and Castillian & Latin Spanish — learning his lines phonetically. Final film of Elmarie Wendel.

March 2 – Project X

• Cast: Thomas Mann, Oliver Cooper, Jonathan Daniel Brown, Dax Flame, Brady Hender, Nick Nervies, Alexis Knapp, Miles Teller, Martin Klebba, Rick Shapiro, Rob Evors, Caitlin Dulany, Peter Mackenzie, Nichole Bloom, Jesse Marco
• Director: Nima Nourizadeh
• Production Company: Silver Pictures, Green Hat Films, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
• Trivia: The film was also released in Canada and the UK on March 2, 2012. The title Project X was initially a placeholder for a final title, but interest generated by the secretive title kept it in place. To preserve the idea that this was a true ‘found footage’ film, producers decided to find completely new actors through an open casting call. Traditional casting was also used to give professional actors with little experience a chance to audition. To create a believable friendship, the three leads were sent to Disneyland together and spent a weekend together in a cabin at Big Bear in California. The residential neighborhood seen in the film was created entirely on the Warner Ranch in Burbank, with filming taking place between 5 PM and 5 AM. As much of the set was destroyed by the end of the film, production took place mostly in chronological order. The street is also the same street that Walter Murtaugh from Lethal Weapon lives on.

March 2 – Being Flynn

• Cast: Robert De Niro, Julianne Moore, Paul Dano, Liam Broggy, Olivia Thirlby, Lili Taylor, Dale Dickey, Victor Rasuk, Wes Studi, Katherine Waterston, Billy Wirth
• Director: Paul Weitz
• Production Company: Depth of Field, Corduroy Films, Tribeca Productions, distributed by Focus Features
• Trivia: Based on Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, a 2004 memoir by Nick Flynn. The film received a limited US release on March 2, 2012, and it opened in Canada on March 16. The film went straight-to-DVD in the UK on April 29, 2013. Kelly McCreary’s debut.