Hotchka Movies by the Decade feature #172 :: November 8•14

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

As we head deeper into November, we begin to run into both the holiday season and ‘awards season’ and several of the films that premiered this week across the decades were holiday films, awards contenders or both. One film from 1933 was still capitalizing on ‘spooky season’ with the release of a now classic Universal Horror, while 1943 gave us an unofficial sequel to a different Universal Horror and a B-film meant to pair with an official sequel. The year also gave us an Oscar-nominated documentary. 1953 saw Disney do very well at the Oscars with two Oscar-nominated shorts (and one winner) as well as an Oscar winning documentary. 1963 had a classic John Wayne Western that interjected some humor into the story, and a film that became unintentionally humorous decades later on TV. 1973 had a Disney animated feature based on a classic story that only became a beloved film in its later years. 1983 gave us the tragic story of a Playboy Playmate, and 1993 saw Disney tackle another classic story but as a live-action film. 2003 saw Warner Bros. attempt to breathe new life into its classic animated characters, gave us a film that has gone on to be a Christmas classic, and produced a film that earned ten Oscar nominations and two wins. This week in 2013 belonged to Marvel with the second film starring the God of Thunder. Check out this week’s list and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating milestone anniversaries!

1923

• November 9 – La Souriante Madame Beudet (France, short, Colisée Films)
• November 9 – The Virgin Queen (France, J. Stuart Blackton Feature Pictures)
• November 11 – Blow Your Own Horn (USA, Film Booking Offices of America)
• November 11 – Lights Out (USA, Film Booking Offices of America)
• November 11 – Pioneer Trails (USA, Vitagraph Company of America)
• November 11 – The Rendezvous (USA, Goldwyn Pictures)
• November 11 – The Temple of Venus (USA, Fox Film Corporation)
• November 12 – Fires of Fate (Denmark, Société des Etablissements L. Gaumont)
• November 12 – Flaming Youth (USA, Associated First National Pictures)
• November 12 – Jealous Husbands (USA, Associated First National Pictures )
• November 12 – Under the Red Robe (USA, Goldwyn Pictures)

La Souriante Madame Beudet has no known US theatrical release date. The film was included on the home video release Early Women Filmakers: An International Anthology from Flicker Alley. The title translate to English as The Smiling Madame Beudet. It is considered by many to be one of the first truly ‘feminist’ films.

The Virgin Queen, which had sequences filmed in Prizmacolor, has no known US theatrical release date.

Lights Out was based on the 1922 play Lights Out by Paul Dickey and Mann Page, later adapted into the 1938 film Crashing Hollywood. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has preserved a print of The Rendezvous.

Jean Arthur was originally the lead in The Temple of Venus, but was replaced by the more experienced Mary Philbin after a few days of rehearsal. Unfortunately, the film is considered lost.

Fires of Fate has no known US theatrical release date, however a version of the film was released in the US as Desert Sheik. It was adapted from the 1909 play Fires of Fate by Arthur Conan Doyle which was in turn based on his 1898 novel The Tragedy of the Korosko.

Flaming Youth was based on the novel of the same name by Samuel Hopkins Adams. F. Scott Fitzgerald cited the film as the only one that captured the sexual revolution of the Jazz Age. The film is considered partially lost with just one reel preserved at the Library of Congress. The reel contains a skinny dipping scene shot in silhouette that was played up in the film’s promotion. The film was judged to be obscene in Québec with all prints and lobby cards seized and theatrical exhibitors arrested if they played the film. Judge Arthur Lachance viewed the film and judged it to be ‘immoral’ and it could not be shown anywhere in Canada ‘without violating the Canadian criminal code.’

Jealous Husbands is considered a lost film. Under the Red Robe was based upon the Stanley Weyman novel of the same name. The film features the last screen performance by Robert B. Mantell and the only screen performance of opera singer John Charles Thomas. The complete film does survive at the George Eastman House, donated by MGM. The film was remade with sound in 1937.

1933

Universal Pictures

• November 10 – After Tonight (USA, RKO Radio Pictures)
• November 10 – Big Time or Bust (USA, Capitol Film Exchange)
• November 10 – Goodbye Love (USA, RKO Radio Pictures)
• November 10 – King of the Wild Horses (USA, Columbia Pictures)
• November 10 – The Prizefighter and the Lady (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
• November 10 – White Woman (USA, Paramount Pictures)
• November 11 – Carnival Lady (USA, William Steiner Distribution)
• November 11 – Female (USA, Warner Bros. Pictures)
• November 11 – Fog (USA, Columbia Pictures)
• November 11 – Just My Luck (AUS, Woolf & Freedman Film Service)
• November 11 – The Medicine Man (AUS, RKO Radio Pictures)
• November 13 – The Invisible Man (USA, Universal Pictures Corp.)

Just My Luck and The Medicine Man have no known US theatrical release dates.

RKO considered firing After Tonight star Constance Bennett after the film lost $100,000 at the box office. Working titles for the film were Free Lady, The Woman Spy and Without Glory.

A print of King of the Wild Horses is held in the Library of Congress collection. Frances Marion received an Oscar nomination for Best Writing, Original Story for The Prizefighter and the Lady. Howard Hawks was the film’s original director but quit when he learned he’d be working with non-actor Max Baer instead of Clark Gable. He was replaced with W.S. Van Dyke.

White Woman was based on the 1933 Broadway play Hangman’s Whip, written by Norman Reilly Raine and Frank Butler. The film was remade in 1939 as Island of Lost Men.

Female was based on the 1933 novel of the same name by Donald Henderson Clarke. Three directors worked on the film. William Wellman took over after original director William Dieterle took ill. When Jack Warner decided he didn’t like an actor in the film, Michael Curtiz was brought in for re-shoots as Wellman was already at work on College Coach. Curtiz ended up with sole directing credit.

The Library of Congress holds a copy of Fog. Just My Luck was based on a 1932 Aldwych farce by H.F. Maltby, Fifty-Fifty, adapted from the French play Azaïs by Louis Verneuil and Georges Berr.

The Invisible Man was based on H. G. Wells’ 1897 novel of the same name. The film was in development as early as 1931, seen as a good follow-up to Dracula but Universal made Frankenstein instead. The film was intended to be a project for Boris Karloff. Karloff exited the project after director James Whale left, not wanting to be pegged as a horror director after the success of Frankenstein. (Whale returned to horror after the failure of 1932’s The Impatient Maiden.) Several sequels followed that were not directly related to the original. The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2008. When Universal obtained the rights to Wells’ novel, it also acquired Philip Wylie’s 1931 novel The Murderer Invisible with the intention of including some of the more gruesome elements into Wells’ story. The studio went through several scripts and Whale and Karloff both returned to the production, but after Whale’s own script was rejected he left the project again. With R.C. Sherriff set to write a new script, Whale returned again, and Sherriff ignored Universal’s request to include material from The Murderer Invisible. Universal was experiencing financial issues and shut down on February 13, 1933, laying off Whale for 12 weeks. Karloff left the project on June 1, 1933. Frankenstein star Colin Clive was considered for the lead role, as was stage actor Claude Rains but Whale didn’t want to hire an unknown for the role. Whale changed his mind after seeing Rains’ screen test for A Bill of Divorcement. Universal approved of a second screen test and signed Rains to a two-picture deal. Chester Morris was cast as Dr. Arthur Kemp but left when he learned the role was unflattering. Actors on the verge of success, Walter Brennan and John Carradine, were also cast. The film’s special effects were filmed in utmost secrecy and took about two months to complete. Universal falsely claimed the invisibility effects were accomplished with mirrors. The invisibility effects were actually accomplished by covering the set in black velvet with Rains dressed in black velvet tights covered by whatever costume he was wearing. The footage was combined with the original shot. Lighting on the clothing was difficult to match with the original shot, and small imperfections such as eye holes were touched up by hand, frame-by-frame, with a brush and opaque dye. Rains’ career benefited from the film, making him one of Hollywood’s most valuable actors.

1943

• November 10 – Happy Land (USA, Twentieth Century Fox)
• November 10 – Henry Aldrich Haunts a House (USA, Paramount Pictures)
• November 10 – Minesweeper (USA, Paramount Pictures)
• November 10 – The Falcon and the Co-eds (USA, RKO Radio Pictures)
• November 11 – Riding High (USA, Paramount Pictures)
• November 11 – Sahara (USA, Columbia Pictures)
• November 11 – The Battle of Russia (USA, documentary, United States Office of War Information, War Activities Committee of the Motion Pictures Industry)
• November 11 – The Return of the Vampire (USA, Columbia Pictures)
• November 12 – Nearly Eighteen (USA, Monogram Pictures)
• November 12 – The Cross of Lorraine (USA, Loew’s Inc.)
• November 12 – The Mad Ghoul (USA, Universal Pictures Company, Inc.)
• November 13 – Northern Pursuit (USA, Warner Bros. Pictures)

Happy Land was the feature film debut of child actor Natalie Wood. The Falcon and the Co-eds was the seventh of sixteen films in the Falcon series. The film’s title is a misnomer as the setting is an all-girls school, therefore they are not co-eds. Riding High is also known as Melody Inn. It was Oscar nominated for Sound Recording.

Sahara was based on the novel Patrol by Philip MacDonald, and an incident depicted in the 1936 Soviet film The Thirteen by Mikhail Romm. The film was remade in 1953 as Last of the Comanches, and again in 1995 as Sahara. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor (J. Carrol Naish), Best Cinematography (Black-and-White), and Best Sound. The lead role was offered to Gary Cooper, Glenn Ford and Brian Donlevy before Humphrey Bogart was cast. Donlevy was tired of making war films and Bogart was tired of making gangster films so the actor swapped roles with Donlevy appearing in My Friend Curley (although he was replaced by Cary Grant). The film’s working title was Somewhere in the Sahara. Actor Kurt Kreuger, playing a typical Nazi, claimed to have nearly died while Rex Ingram held his face firmly down in the sand as the director forgot to yell ‘Cut’. To simulate perspiration, the actors’ faces were smeared with Vaseline and sprayed with water. Bogart’s third wife Mayo Methot was the only woman on location, and brought her husband lunch on set every day.

The Battle of Russia is Frank Capra’s fifth film in the Why We Fight documentary series. Walter Houston was the film’s narrator. It was the second film of the series to score an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature.

The Return of the Vampire was not an official sequel to Dracula but has been seen as a follow-up, with Bela Lugosi’s vampire renamed only because Universal owned the rights to Dracula. It was the last film for which Lugosi would receive star billing by a major Hollywood studio.

The Cross of Lorraine was partly based on Hans Habe’s 1941 novel A Thousand Shall Fall. A number of German, Austrian, French and Dutch actors, who had fled Europe because of the war, participate in the film. It was the second MGM film about the French Resistance.

The Mad Ghoul was developed under the title The Mystery of the Mad Ghoul. It was intended to be exhibited as half of a double bill with Son of Dracula. The film’s director, James Hogan, died of a heart attack one week before the film was released. The ‘false skin’ effect by Jack Pierce was worn by actor David Bruce for three days, but caused him to bleed as it was removed. Universal intended for Evelyn Ankers to perform her own songs, but recordings of Lillian Cornell were used instead.

Northern Pursuit was originally titled To the Last Man. Errol Flynn fell ill during production with the studio stating he was battling an upper respiratory ailment. In reality he was battling tuberculosis.

1953

• November 8 – Isn’t Life Wonderful! (UK, Associated British-Pathé)
• November 9 – Background (UK, ABPC)
• November 10 – A Day to Remember (UK, General Film Distributors)
• November 10 – Ben and Me (USA, short, Buena Vista Film Distribution)
• November 10 – Paris Model (USA, Columbia Pictures)
• November 10 – The Living Desert (USA, documentary, Buena Vista Distribution)
• November 10 – Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (USA, short, Buena Vista Distribution)
• November 11 – The Glass Web (USA, Universal Pictures)
• November 13 – All the Brothers Were Valiant (USA, Loew’s Inc.)
• November 13 – Give a Girl a Break (AUS, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
• November 13 – Shark River (USA, United Artists)

Isn’t Life Wonderful! was released in the US as Uncle Willie’s Bicycle Shop, the title of Brock Williams original 1948 novel, by Stratford Pictures Corporation on November 10, 1954. Background was released in the US on July 7, 1954 as Edge of Divorce. A Day to Remember was released in the US by Republic Pictures on March 29, 1955. Give a Girl a Break was released in the US by MGM on December 3, 1953.

Background was based on the 1950 play of the same title by Warren Chetham-Strode, who also wrote the screenplay for the film. A Day to Remember was based on The Hand and Flower, a 1952 novel by Jerrard Tickell. The Glass Web was based on Max Simon Ehrlich’s 1952 novel Spin the Glass Web, and was produced in 3D.

Ben and Me was adapted from the book of the same name written by author/illustrator Robert Lawson and first published in 1939. The film was Oscar nominated for Best Short Subject, Two-Reel. It was the second film released under the Buena Vista Distribution label. The film was paired with The Living Desert, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary. The Living Desert was the first feature-length film in Disney’s True-Life Adventures series, the previous films being short subjects. Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom was the first Disney film released under the Buena Vista Distribution label, and was a sequel to the 3D short Melody released earlier in 1953. It was also the first Disney cartoon to be filmed in CinemaScope, and it won the Oscar for Best Short Subject (Cartoon). A version in 4:3 ratio was provided to theaters not equipped for CinemaScope. Some of the artwork had to be rearranged for the smaller screen.

All the Brothers Were Valiant was based on the 1919 novel of the same name by Ben Ames Williams. It’s a remake of a 1923 film with Lon Chaney, and a 1928 version titled Across to Singapore, both of which are considered lost. Elizabeth Taylor had been announced as the female lead opposite Stewart Granger and Robert Taylor. Ms. Taylor had to bow out due to giving birth while production was underway in Jamaica. Ann Blyth was her replacement. Granger said he was forced to do the film over the film he wanted, Mogambo, when the lead of that film was given to Clark Gable. Lewis Stone died six months after completing the film.

A young Bob Fosse has a featured role in Give a Girl a Break. The film’s third female lead, Helen Wood, left Hollywood for stage work in New York, and appeared under the pseudonym ‘Dolly Sharp’ in Deep Throat.

1963

• November 12 – The Informers (UK, J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors)
• November 13 – McLintock! (USA, United Artists)
• November 13 – Take Her, She’s Mine (USA, 20th Century-Fox)
• November 13 – The Skydivers (USA, Crown International Pictures)
• November 13 – Twilight of Honor (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
• November 14 – The Servant (UK, Warner-Pathé Distributors)
• November 14 – The Wheeler Dealers (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

The Informers was released in the US as Underworld Informers by Continental Distributing on October 13, 1965. The Servant was released in the US by Warner Bros. Pictures on March 16, 1954.

McLintock! was loosely based on William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. The film fell into the public domain in 1991, but the estate of John Wayne retains distribution rights for ‘officially restored’ versions of the film, and holds the original film negatives and rights to the musical score. Wayne insisted a role be given to Yvonne DeCarlo, billed as a special guest star, because her husband had been injured while making How the West Was Won.

Take Her, She’s Mine was based on the 1961 Broadway comedy written by Henry Ephron and Phoebe Ephron. The character of Mollie, played by Elizabeth Ashley, was based on Ephron’s daughter Nora. The film opened nine days before the assassination of President Kennedy, and Fox quickly recalled all prints to delete a scene in which a character supposedly speaks with Jacqueline Kennedy.

The Skydivers was lampooned on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 in which TV’s Frank describes it as like “Manos without the lucid plot”.

Twilight of Honor was released in the UK as The Charge is Murder. The film features the debuts of Joey Heatherton and Linda Evans. It also marked MGM contract player Richard Chamberlain’s first starring role in a film. Filming took place during a break from filming Dr. Kildare, Chamberlain’s hit series. The film was based on a novel by Al Dewlin. Nick Adams received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, while the Art Direction was also nominated.

The Servant was based on Robin Maugham’s 1948 novella, adapted by Harold Pinter. Director Joseph Losey’s health was poor during filming. Star Dirk Bogarde provided him assistance with direction and finishing the film.

The Wheeler Dealers was released in the UK as Separate Beds. It was based on George Goodman’s 1959 novel of the same name. James Garner received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

1973

Buena Vista Distribution

• November 8 – Robin Hood (USA, Buena Vista Distribution)
• November 9 – Carry On Girls (UK, Rank Organisation)
• November 12 – A Delicate Balance (USA, American Film Theatre)
• November 14 – The Don Is Dead (USA, Universal Pictures)

Robin Hood was the first animated feature from Disney produced without the involvement of Walt Disney, although Disney had entertained the idea as far back as 1937 with the character Reynard the Fox. The original pitch set the film in the Deep South to recapture the spirit of Song of the South, but that film’s reputation caused concerns with studio executives so it was decided to stay with a traditional English location. Due to the lengthy period of voice actor auditions, production on the film fell behind schedule, forcing the use of dance sequences recycled from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Jungle Book and The Aristocats. Tommy Steele was cast in the lead role based on his performance in The Happiest Millionaire, but he was replaced by Brian Bedford when he couldn’t make the character sound more heroic. Peter Ustinov was cast because of his performance in Blackbeard’s Ghost. Animator Bryon Howard cited the film as a major influence on Zootopia.

Carry On Girls has no known US theatrical release date. It’s the 25th of 31 Carry On films. A Delicate Balance was based on Edward Albee’s 1966 Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name. He also wrote the screenplay. Kate Reid received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress. The Don Is Dead was based on the novel of the same name by Marvin H. Albert, who also co-wrote the screenplay.

1983

• November 10 – Unico in the Island of Magic (USA, Video Premiere)
• November 10 – Star 80 (USA, Warner Bros. Pictures)
• November 11 – Skønheden og udyret (Denmark, Kærne Film)
• November 11 – The Jigsaw Man (UK, United Film Distribution Company)

Unico in the Island of Magic originally opened in Japan as Maho no Shima e on July 16, 1983. Skønheden og udyret has no known US release date. It’s known in English as Beauty and the Beast. The Jigsaw Man was released in the US on August 24, 1984.

Star 80 was adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Village Voice article ‘Death of a Playmate’ by Teresa Carpenter. It was director Bob Fosse’s final film. Writer Paddy Chayefsky recommended the article to Fosse, and Fosse dedicated the film to Chayefsky, who died shortly after Fosse announced the film. The murder scene was filmed in the house where the actual murder of Dorothy Stratton took place. Mariel Hemingway actively campaigned for the role of Stratton, and won the part after four auditions. Fosse had to talk Eric Roberts into taking the role of Paul Snider, whom Roberts felt was too unlikeable. Cliff Robertson played Hugh Hefner, but Hefner disliked his depiction in the film and sued the producers. This was Carroll Baker’s first Hollywood film since 1967. In accordance with the Stratten family’s wishes, Stratten’s mother never is mentioned by name in the film, and the names of her sister and brother were changed. Director Peter Bogdanovich was Stratton’s boyfriend at the time of her murder, and he opposed the film and threatened to sue if he found the character of Aram Nicholas to be objectionable. He ultimately did not pursue legal action.

The Jigsaw Man was based on the novel of the same title by Dorothea Bennett. The film reunited Michael Caine and Sir Laurence Olivier, who had both been Oscar-nominated for their performances in 1972’s Sleuth. Filming was interrupted due to financial difficulties. An ill Olivier collapsed on set, and then he and Caine walked off the picture after not being paid. They returned when producers secured $4 million in financing.

1993

• November 12 – Carlito’s Way (USA, Universal Pictures)
• November 12 – Ernest Rides Again (USA, Emshell Producers Group, Inc.)
• November 12 – My Life (USA, Columbia Pictures)
• November 12 – The Remains of the Day (UK/Ireland, Columbia TriStar Films)
• November 12 – The Three Musketeers (USA, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution)
• November 13 – This Won’t Hurt a Bit (AUS, Beyond Films)

This Won’t Hurt a Bit has no known US theatrical release date.

Carlito’s Way was based on the novels Carlito’s Way (1975) and After Hours (1979) by Judge Edwin Torres, and was based mainly on After Hours but the title of the first novel was used to avoid confusion with Martin Scorsese’s 1985 film of the same name. This was the second collaboration between director Brian De Palma and actor Al Pacino following Scarface (1983). Sean Penn and Penelope Ann Miller earned Golden Globe nominations for their performances. A direct-to-video sequel, Carlito’s Way: Rise to Power, was released in 2005. De Palma initially did not want to make the film when he saw Spanish-speaking characters popped up in the script because he didn’t want to make Scarface all over again. After reading the script all the way through he realized it wasn’t what he thought it was and agreed to direct, envisioning it as a noir film. Aside from one sequence shot in Florida, the entire film was shot on location in New York City.

Ernest Rides Again is the sixth film to feature the character Ernest P. Worrell, the fifth film in the Ernest series, and the last to be released theatrically.

The Remains of the Day received a limited release in the US and Canada through Columbia Pictures on November 5, 1993, then went into wide release on November 19. It was adapted from the Booker Prize-winning 1989 novel of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro. It received eight Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. It received six BAFTA nominations, winning one for Anthony Hopkins as Leading Actor. It also received five Golden Globe nominations. The film was to have been directed by Mike Nichols with a screenplay by Harold Pinter. Nichols withdrew as director but stayed on as a producer, and after a radical rewrite of the script that included some of Pinter’s work, the author asked for his name to be removed from the credits.

The Three Musketeers was loosely based on the 1844 novel The Three Musketeers (Les Trois Mousquetaires) by Alexandre Dumas. Disney, Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures were all developing Musketeers movies at the same time in 1992, with Disney purchasing a screenplay from the same author who was writing the one for Columbia, which then accused Disney of stealing its concepts. A lawsuit was settled out of court with Disney winning and the Columbia production was cancelled. TriStar did continue with its more adult-oriented adaptation that was more faithful to the novel but it was never produced. Charlie Sheen was sought for the role of Porthos but was cast as Aramis. Brendan Fraser was the first choice for D’Artangan but the role went to Chris O’Donnell after being turned down by Brad Pitt and Stephen Dorff. O’Donnell, Kiefer Sutherland and Oliver Platt went through six weeks of fencing training, but Sheen was unavailable as he was still filming Hot Shots! Part Deux at the time.

2003

Warner Bros. Pictures

• November 8 – My Flesh and Blood (USA, documentary, limited, Strand Releasing)
• November 13 – The Company (Russia, limited, Paradise Group)
• November 13 – The Honourable Wally Norman (AUS, Becker Entertainment)
• November 14 – Looney Tunes: Back in Action (USA/Canada, Warner Bros. Pictures)
• November 14 – Love Actually (USA, Universal Pictures)
• November 14 – Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (USA/Canada, 20th Century Fox)
• November 14 – The Brown Bunny (Austria, Mars Distribution)
• November 14 – The Gospel of John (USA, ThinkFilm)
• November 14 – Tupac: Resurrection (USA, documentary, Paramount Pictures)

The Company received a limited US release through Sony Pictures Classics on December 25, 2003. The Honourable Wally Norman has no known US theatrical release date. The Brown Bunny received a limited US release through Wellspring Media on August 27, 2004.

My Flesh and Blood won the Audience Award and Directing Award for Documentaries at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. The Company was Robert Altman’s penultimate film as director.

Looney Tunes: Back in Action is the second theatrical film in the Looney Tunes franchise. The film was originally developed as a direct sequel to Space Jam, as the studio initially believed Michael Jordan was going to return but had been lied to by a producer in order to keep the development process moving. Without Jordan’s involvement the project was cancelled. It was redeveloped as Spy Jam with Jackie Chan in the lead role. A second project with racing driver Jeff Gordon, Race Jam, was also being developed but both projects were ultimately cancelled. Joe Dante was asked to direct Back in Action but he hated Space Jam and developed the story to more closely represent the personalities of the Looney Tunes characters. Dante, however, had no creative control and the project was significantly different from his intended version. It was the last film scored by Jerry Goldsmith, whose failing health necessitated the participation of John Debney to score the last reel of the film. Goldsmith, however, is the sole credited composer in the marketing material and only his music is included on the soundtrack album. Debney received an ‘Additional Music by’ credit at the end of the film, and a ‘Special Thanks’ in the soundtrack album credits. The film was a box office bomb which resulted in the cancellation of a Looney Tunes franchise revival at Warner Brothers. Had the film been released earlier in the Summer as planned, it may have been more successful. It was the last film produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation, and the last theatrical Looney Tunes film until Space Jam: A New Legacy in 2021. The film did score four Annie Award nominations including Best Animated Feature, but lost all to Finding Nemo. In addition to the character of Damian ‘D.J.’ Drake, Brendan Fraser also appears as himself, and voices the Tasmanian Devil and Tasmanian She-Devil. Dick Miller, Roger Corman, Paula Abdul, Jeff Gordon, Matthew Lillard and Kevin McCarthy make cameo appearances, while Peter Graves has an uncredited cameo. Studio execs were not happy with the jokes in Dante’s script and hired 25 writers to produce jokes that were short enough to fit into an animated character’s mouth. The film still has just one credited screenwriter.

Love Actually opened to mixed reviews, but received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Screenplay. It received three BAFTA nominations, winning one for Bill Nighy as Supporting Actor. The film has become a Christmas staple due to its annual TV broadcasts. Writer-Director Richard Curtis’ original screenplay had no Christmas theme, but his affection for such films caused him to write it as one. The original concept had fourteen scenarios, with four of them being dropped (two were filmed). The scene with Colin (Kris Marshall) attempting to chat up the female caterer at the wedding appeared in drafts of the screenplay for Four Weddings and a Funeral, but was cut from the final version. Curtis called the editing process a ‘nightmare scenario’ as the film was being rushed to meet a 2003 Christmas season deadline. For the scene in which Rowan Atkinson’s character Rufus annoys Harry, Alan Rickman’s reaction was reportedly genuine, having been ‘driven insane’ by the time constraints. Hugh Grant said the dance scene was ‘absolute hell’. Ant & Dec played themselves in the film with Bill Nighy’s character referring to Dec as ‘Ant or Dec’, a common occurrence as the two TV presenters are usually seen as a duo. Actress Jeanne Moreau is seen briefly, entering a taxi at the Marseille Airport. Curtis’ daughter Scarlett chose to play Lobster Number 2 in the Nativity play on the condition that she could meet Keira Knightley. Two scenes were cut that featured the film’s only gay love story, and Curtis later said he regretted losing that storyline.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World was adapted from three novels in author Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey–Maturin series. Filming took place on the open sea for ten days, on replica ships in water tanks built for Titanic at Baja Studios, and on the Galapagos Islands, the first non-documentary to shoot there. Director Peter Weir won the BAFTA for Best Director. The film received ten Oscar nominations including Best Picture, winning for Best Cinematography and Best Sound Editing. The film used 2,000 hats, 1,900 pairs of shoes and 400 pounds of hair.

The Brown Bunny was shot with handheld cameras on 16mm film which was blown up to 35mm. Vincent Gallo — star, director, writer, camera operator — fainted twice during the film’s production due to exhaustion. The US release version of the film was about 25 minutes shorter that what was shown at Cannes. Critic Roger Ebert called the film ‘the worst’ ever shown at Cannes, but revised his opinion after seeing the shorter version, giving the film his signature ‘thumbs up’. Jennifer Jason Leigh was originally set for the role played by Chloe Sevigny, turning it down because of the unsimulated oral sex scene as she was in a relationship at the time.

The Gospel of John is a word-for-word adaptation of the American Bible Society’s Good News Bible and follows the Gospel of John precisely. Tupac: Resurrection, which uses narration from the late rapper, was Oscar nominated for Best Documentary Feature.

2013

• November 8 – The Book Thief (USA, 20th Century Fox)
• November 8 – Thor: The Dark World (USA, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

The Book Thief was based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Markus Zusak and adapted by Michael Petroni. It received Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for its score.

Thor: The Dark World is the second Thor film, and the eighth film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Thor director Kenneth Branagh was set to return but withdrew from the project due to the long commitment, replaced with Alan Taylor although Patty Jenkins was originally confirmed (withdrawing due to creative differences). Inspired by his work on Game of Thrones, Taylor wanted the film to be more grounded than the first. Josh Dallas was set to reprise the role of Fandral, but had to bow out due to conflicts with the TV series Once Upon a Time. He was replaced with Zachary Levi, who had been the original choice for the role but conflicts with his series Chuck prevented him from taking the role. Mads Mikkelsen was in talks to play one of the film’s villains, but he was committed to the Hannibal TV series.