Hotchka Movies by the Decade feature #167 :: October 4•10

Miramax Films

It was another big week for new movie premieres, and considering we’re at the beginning of ‘Spooky Season’ there is very little in the way of horror on the big screen this week. We do have several films that have been deemed culturally significant and are now part of the National Film Registry, and there are a few Oscar and Golden Globe-worthy films in the bunch as well. Other notable films this week feature Mae West, Lucille Ball, Clark Gable, Rita Moreno, Sylvester Stallone, Richard Gere, Bruce Campbell, George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Uma Thurman, Arnold Schwarzenegger and two Bonds — Connery and Lazenby. Read on to learn more and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating this week!

1923

• October 4 – Slave of Desire (USA, Goldwyn Pictures)
• October 6 – Cause for Divorce (USA, Selznick Pictures)
• October 7 – Does It Pay? (USA, Fox Film Corporation)
• October 7 – Ruggles of Red Gap (USA, Paramount Pictures)
• October 7 – The Spanish Dancer (USA, Paramount Pictures)
• October 7 – The Steadfast Heart (USA, Goldwyn Pictures)
• October 7 – Times Have Changed (USA, Fox Film)
• October 8 – The Bad Man (USA, Associated First National Pictures)
• October 8 – The Eternal Struggle (USA, Metro Pictures)

Slave of Desire was originally titled The Magic Skin. It was based on the novel La Peau de chagrin by Honoré de Balzac, first published in 1831. It was previously filmed in 1909 as The Wild Ass’s Skin. A print of the film is preserved in the collection of Cinémathèque Française.

Ruggles of Red Gap was adapted from the novel by Harry Leon Wilson. The Spanish Dancer was restored by the EYE Film Institute in the Netherlands, and the film was shown at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., on August 5, 2012.

The Steadfast Heart was based upon the novel of the same name by Clarence Budington Kelland. A print of survives in France at the Centre national du cinéma archive in Fort de Bois-d’Arcy.

The Bad Man was adapted from the play of the same name by Porter Emerson Browne. The film’s star, Holbrook Blinn, was the lead in the touring production of the play.

The Eternal Struggle was based on the 1913 novel The Law-Bringers, written by Edith Joan Lyttleton. Once thought to be a lost film, this film was one of ten silent films digitally preserved in the Russian film archive Gosfilmofond and presented to the Library of Congress in October 2010.

Does It Pay? and Ruggles of Red Gap are considered lost films.

1933

Paramount Pictures

• October 5 – My Woman (USA, Columbia Pictures)
• October 6 – Ann Vickers (USA, RKO Radio Pictures)
• October 6 – Gigolettes of Paris (USA, Equitable Pictures)
• October 6 – I’m No Angel (USA, Paramount Pictures)
• October 6 – Night Flight (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
• October 6 – The Power and the Glory (USA, Fox Film Corporation)
• October 7 – Her Splendid Folly (USA, Progressive Pictures)
• October 7 – The Bowery (USA, Twentieth Century Pictures)
• October 7 – Wild Boys of the Road (USA, Warner Bros. Pictures)
• October 9 – Cash (UK, London Film Productions)
• October 10 – Riders of Destiny (USA, Monogram Pictures)

Ann Vickers was based on the novel of the same name by Sinclair Lewis. The film was controversial due to its themes of extramarital affairs, birth control and abortion. The character of Vickers was changed from the book to an unmarried woman to eliminate the issue of adultery. This film and The Sign of the Cross led the formation in 1934 of the Catholic Legion of Decency.

Gigolettes of Paris was released in the United Kingdom as Tarnished Youth. The film’s original title was Gold Diggers of Paris, but Warner Bros. sued because of their series of ‘Gold Diggers’ movies, preventing the use of the title. Warners did go on to release a film titled Gold Diggers of Paris in 1938.

Mae West received sole story and screenplay credit for I’m No Angel. It is one of her films that was not subjected to heavy censorship, although it is cited as one of the films that led to the strict Hollywood production code that soon followed.

Night Flight was also known as Dark to Dawn, and based on the 1931 novel of the same name, which won the Prix Femina the same year, by French writer and pioneering aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The film was withdrawn from circulation in 1942 due to a dispute between MGM and Saint-Exupéry, and was not seen by the public again until 2011.

The Power and the Glory was the first screenplay written by Preston Sturges. The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2014.

The Bowery was the first film from Twentieth Century Pictures two years before the studio merged with the Fox Film Corporation. The film was one of eleven in 1933 that featured Fay Wray as the leading lady, including King Kong.

Wild Boys of the Road was based on the story Desperate Youth by Daniel Ahern. The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2013.

Cash was released in the US on July 26, 1934 as For Love or Money. Riders of Destiny featured a 26-year-old John Wayne as the screen’s second singing cowboy. It was the first of sixteen Lone Star Westerns from Monogram.

1943

• October 4 – The Girl from Monterrey (USA, Producers Releasing Corporation)
• October 7 – Doughboys in Ireland (USA, Columbia Pictures)
• October 8 – Best Foot Forward (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
• October 8 – Blazing Guns (USA, Monogram Pictures)
• October 8 – Crazy House (USA, Universal Pictures)
• October 8 – Hi’ya, Sailor (USA, Universal Pictures)

The Girl from Monterrey is also known by the American spelling The Girl from Monterey. Doughboys in Ireland featured Robert Mitchum in an early role.

Best Foot Forward was adapted from the 1941 Broadway musical comedy of the same title. All of the cast did their own singing except for Lucille Ball, Virginia Weidler and Jack Jordan. Weidler was 16 years old at the time, and retired from acting after making Best Foot Forward.

1953

• October 5 – Vicki (USA, 20th Century Fox)
• October 6 – Little Fugitive (USA, Joseph Burstyn Inc.)
• October 7 – Murder on Monday (USA, Arthur Mayer-Edward Kingsley)
• October 7 – The Veils of Bagdad (USA, Universal Pictures)
• October 9 – Behind the Headlines (UK, New Realm Pictures)
• October 9 – Mogambo (USA, Loew’s, Inc.)
• October 9 – O Canto do Mar (Brazil, UCB)
• October 9 – The Steel Lady (USA, United Artists)
• October 10 – Blood Orange (UK, Exclusive Films)

Vicki was based on the novel I Wake Up Screaming, written by Steve Fisher, and is a remake of the 1941 film of that title.

Little Fugitive was nominated for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story, at the 26th Academy Awards. It is an acknowledged influence on the French New Wave, and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1997.

Murder on Monday was released in the UK as Home at Seven in 1952. It was based on the 1950 play Home at Seven by R. C. Sherriff. It was the only film directed by Ralph Richardson, although it’s been said the film was actually directed by Alex Korda who gave Richardson the credit when it was realized what a bad film it was.

The working title for The Veils of Bagdad was Prince of Bagdad. Star Victor Mature was borrowed from 20th Century-Fox. The film also featured a young Stuart Whitman, who had just signed a long-term contract with Universal.

Behind the Headlines appears to have not had a US theatrical release. O Canto do Mar translates to Song of the Sea. The film has no known US release date. The Steel Lady is also known as Treasure of Kalifa. Blood Orange opened in the US in November 1954 as Three Stops to Murder.

Mogambo was adapted from the play Red Dust by Wilson Collison, and is a remake of the 1932 film of that title. Clark Gable played the same role in both films. The location shoot in Kenya was plagued by rain and bad road conditions, resulting in the deaths of three crew members including assistant director John Hancock. The film was nominated for two Oscars: Best Lead Actress (Ava Gardner) and Best Supporting Actress (Grace Kelly). Kelly won the Golden Globe in the same category. The film was also nominated for a BAFTA for Best Film.

1963

• October 5 – Breath of Life (UK, British Lion Film Corporation)
• October 9 – Cry of Battle (USA, Allied Artists)
• October 10 – A New Kind of Love (UK, Paramount Pictures)
• October 10 – Bitter Harvest (UK, J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors)
• October 10 – West 11 (UK, Warner-Pathé Distributors)

Breath of Life, Bitter Harvest and West 11 have no known US release dates.

Cry of Battle was based on the 1951 novel Fortress in the Rice by Benjamin Appel. The film’s working title was To Be a Man. The film was shot in the Philippines, and Rita Moreno had to travel back to Hollywood to attend the Academy Awards where she was nominated, and won, for West Side Story. A Filipino designed her dress for the awards ceremony, which Edith Head voted the most original of the night. The designer returned to the Philippines the next day. Moreno was to have a nude bathing scene in the film, which attracted a lot of attention, but she eventually did the scene in a dress.

A New Kind of Love was released in the US on October 30, 1963. The film was Oscar nominated for Costume Design and Best Score. Star Joanne Woodward received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.

Bitter Harvest is based on The Siege of Pleasure, the 1932 second volume in the trilogy 20,000 Streets Under the Sky by Patrick Hamilton. West 11 was based on The Furnished Room (1961), Laura Del-Rivo’s debut novel.

1973

• October 7 – The Final Programme (UK, Anglo-EMI Film Distributors Ltd./MGM-EMI Distributors Ltd.)

The Final Programme was released in the US in August 1974 by New World Pictures as The Last Days of Man on Earth.

1983

Warner Bros. Pictures

• October 7 – Never Say Never Again (USA/Canada, Warner Bros. Pictures)
• October 7 – Romantic Comedy (USA, MGM/UA Entertainment Co.)

Never Say Never Again is based on the James Bond novel Thunderball by Ian Fleming. It marked Sean Connery’s return to the role of Bond after Diamonds Are Forever twelve years earlier, and it was his final appearance as Bond. The film was originally developed under the title James Bond of the Secret Service, but it was changed to reference Connery’s comments that he would ‘never again’ play the role after Diamonds. Connery’s martial arts instructor on the film was Steven Seagal, and Connery discovered ten years later that Seagal had broken his wrist while training.

Romantic Comedy was based on Bernard Slade’s 1979 play of the same title.

1993

• October 6 – Gettysburg (Philippines, New Line Cinema)
• October 7 – Half Japanese: The Band That Would Be King (USA, documentary)
• October 8 – Deadfall (USA, Trimark Pictures)
• October 8 – Demolition Man (USA, Warner Bros. Pictures)
• October 8 – Mr. Jones (USA, TriStar Pictures)
• October 8 – The Young Americans (UK, Rank Film Distributors)

Gettysburg was released in the US and Canada on October 8, 1993. It was adapted from the 1974 historical novel The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, and originally filmed as a mini-series for TNT. The 254 minute film is one of the longest released in the US by a major studio. For the first time, the National Parks Service allowed battle scenes to be filmed on the Gettysburg Battlefield, although much of the movie was shot at the nearby Adams County farm. Thousands of Civil War reenactors volunteered their time to participate in the massive battle scenes.

Sylvester Stallone originally passed on Demolition Man but took on the role because he liked the idea of two equal opponents. He wanted Jackie Chan as his co-star but Chan turned it down. Wesley Snipes also turned the role down several times before the producers went to the set of Rising Sun to talk him into it. Lori Petty was cast in the role of Huxley, but was fired after two days due to personality differences with Stallone. The filmmakers were allowed to demolish the old Los Angeles Department of Water & Power building, which gave them more control over the explosion. Director Marco Brambilla had no prior feature directorial experience and the film suffered many delays during filming, but producer Joel Silver attributed that to the massive undertaking involved in creating the film and not to Brambilla’s inexperience. Taco Bell is mentioned as the last surviving restaurant chain after the ‘franchise wars’, but that was changed to Pizza Hut for the European release as Taco Bell was not that well-known outside of the US. Lines were redubbed and logos were changed in post-production, making this the first instance of localized product placement.

Michelle Pfeiffer gave up the female lead in Mr. Jones to take the role of Catwoman in Batman Returns. She was replaced by Lena Olin. The Young Americans has no known US theatrical release date.

2003

• October 9 – Gettin’ Square (AUS, Umbrella Entertainment)
• October 9 – The Mother (Germany, Momentum Pictures)
• October 10 – Bubba Ho-Tep (USA, Vitagraph Films)
• October 10 – Gang of Roses (USA, limited, Lionsgate)
• October 10 – Good Boy! (USA/Canada, MGM Distribution Co.)
• October 10 – House of the Dead (USA/Canada, Artisan Entertainment)
• October 10 – Intolerable Cruelty (USA/Canada, Universal Pictures)
• October 10 – Kill Bill: Volume 1 (USA/Canada, Miramax Films)

Gettin’ Square has no known US theatrical release date. The Mother opened in the US and Canada on June 18, 2004.

Bubba Ho-Tep was based on the novella of the same name by Joe R. Lansdale. Only 32 prints of the film were struck and exhibited at various film festivals. Director Don Coscarelli ‘roadshowed’ the film across the country, and by the time it was released on DVD it had already developed a large cult following.

Good Boy! was based on the book Dogs from Outer Space by Zeke Richardson. MGM and The Jim Henson Company hoped the film would launch a series of films like Beethoven and Air Bud.

House of the Dead was based on the video game franchise of the same name by Sega, but was not a direct adaptation of the individual entries. Director Uwe Boll described the film as a prequel to the original 1996 game. It was Boll’s first film to be released theatrically, and his first video game adaptation.

Intolerable Cruelty was originally to be directed by Ron Howard with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant as the leads, then by Jonathan Demme. Joel and Ethan Coen signed on to direct after their own film project, The White Sea, fell through. This was their first work-for-hire project. George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones were then cast as the leads.

Kill Bill: Volume 1 was Quentin Tarantino’s tribute to the 19973 film Lady Snowblood, grindhouse cinema, martial arts films, samurai cinema, blaxploitation and spaghetti Westerns. Tarantino released the film in two parts to avoid cutting any scenes for running time. Volume 2 was released six months later. He had to delay the start of production when star Uma Thurman became pregnant. While scenes are presented out of chronological order, the film was shot in sequence. The House of Blue Leaves scene used practical effects over CGI to give the same feel as 1970s Chinese cinema. Thurman was injured in a car crash near the end of filming after asking for a stunt driver because she was uncomfortable in the car, but Tarantino assured her it was safe. The car hit a tree and Thurman suffered a concussion and knee damage, as well as damaging her relationship with Tarantino for years afterwards.

2013

Lionsgate

• October 4 – Concussion (USA, limited, RADiUS-TWC)
• October 4 – For Those in Peril (UK, Protagonist Pictures)
• October 4 – Grace Unplugged (USA, Lionsgate)
• October 4 – How I Live Now (UK, Entertainment One)
• October 4 – Runner Runner (USA, 20th Century Fox)
• October 9 – Dimensions (USA, limited, Film Festival Flix)
• October 9 – Escape Plan (Philippines, Lionsgate)
• October 10 – Ten (UK, Scruffy Bear Pictures)

For Those in Peril opened in the US on a limited basis on October 3, 2014. How I Live Now opened in the US on a limited basis on November 8, 2013. Escape Plan was released in the US, Canada and the UK on October 18, 2013. Ten has no known US theatrical release date.

Grace Unplugged was the first film co-produced by Orion Pictures since 1999’s One Man’s Hero. How I Live Now was based on the 2004 novel of the same name by Meg Rosoff. Dimensions was Sloane U’Ren’s feature film directorial debut, and is also known as Dimensions: A Line, A Loop, A Tangle of Threads.

Escape Plan is the first film to pair Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The original screenplay was titled The Tomb.