Embassy International Pictures
It wasn’t a major week for new releases across the decades, but there were still some major releases of note. One 1935 film broke racial barriers with a famous dance scene, while another film tried to break censorship barriers but ultimately failed. A 1955 film was last musical for a superstar of the genre, and a 1965 film brought horror anthologies back to the big screen. A 1985 film went through a torturous production process, but went on to become a cult classic and a surprising inspiration for many films that came after. One 2005 film had an even more torturous filming process, while another introduced a character who would go on to appear in a baker’s dozen of films. 2015 gave us two sequels that didn’t live up to their originals, and a comedy that has developed a cult following. Scroll down the list to see all of the films released this week over the last century, and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating milestone anniversaries.
1925
- February 22 – Back to Life (USA, Postman Pictures)
- February 22 – Forbidden Cargo (USA, Robertson-Cole Pictures Corporation)
- February 22 – Her Husband’s Secret (USA, Frank Lloyd Productions)
- February 22 – New Lives for Old (USA, Famous Players-Lasky Corporation)
- February 22 – Ridin’ Pretty (USA, Universal Pictures)
- February 22 – The Trail Rider (USA, Fox Film Corporation)
- February 23 – Lady of the Night (USA, Metro-Goldwyn Pictures Corporation)
- February 23 – Oh, Doctor! (USA, Universal Pictures)
- February 25 – Red Blood and Blue (USA, Robertson-Cole Pictures Corporation)
- February 25 – The Shock Punch (USA, Famous Players-Lasky Corporation)
Lost films: Back to Life, Forbidden Cargo, Her Husband’s Secret, New Lives for Old
Status unknown: The Trail Rider, Lady of the Night, Red Blood and Blue
Boris Karloff has a featured role in Forbidden Cargo. A print of Ridin’ Pretty is in the collection of EYE Film Institute Netherlands. Gary Cooper made his film debut as a stunt rider in The Trail Rider.
Prints of Oh, Doctor! are held by UCLA Film and Television Archive, Academy Film Archive, and EYE Film Institute Netherlands, and it has been released on DVD. A print of The Shock Punch is preserved at the Library of Congress.
1935
Fox Film Corporation
- February 20 – Secrets of Chinatown (USA, Commonwealth Productions)
- February 20 – The Marriage Bargain (USA, Screencraft Productions)
- February 22 – After Office Hours (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
- February 22 – All the King’s Horses (USA, Paramount Pictures)
- February 22 – Folies Bergère de Paris (USA, 20th Century Pictures)
- February 22 – Murder on a Honeymoon (USA, RKO Radio Pictures)
- February 22 – The Little Colonel (USA, Fox Film Corporation)
- February 22 – The Whole Town’s Talking (USA, Columbia Pictures)
- February 23 – Sweet Music (USA, Warner Bros. Pictures)
- February 26 – Tracy Rides (USA, Reliable Pictures Corporation)
Commonwealth Productions went out of business before Secrets of Chinatown was released. The film was used as part of an arrangement to pay off creditors.
The Marriage Bargain was also released as Woman of Destiny. It was the last film in which Lon Chaney Jr. was billed under his real name, Creighton Chaney.
All the King’s Horses was adapted from the 1934 Broadway musical of the same name by Frederick Herendeen and Edward A. Horan, which was in turn based on the play Carlo Rocco by Lawrence Clarke and Max Giersberg. The film was Oscar nominated for Best Dance Direction.
Folies Bergère de Paris was also Oscar nominated for Best Dance Direction and beat out All the King’s Horses in a tie with Broadway Melody of 1936. This was the last Hollywood film to star Maurice Chevalier for twenty years. It is also the last film released by 20th Century Pictures before merging with Fox Film to form 20th Century Fox. Producer Darryl F. Zanuck also filmed a French-lanuage version simultaneously, also directed by Roy Del Ruth, called L’homme des Folies Bergère. As this version was created for the French market, showgirls were shown bare-breasted. Joseph Breen of the Production Code got wind of this and insisted the code be enforced even for films destined for foreign markets. Zanuck apparently lost the battle.
Murder on a Honeymoon was part of the Hildegarde Withers mystery series, and was the third and last time the role was played by Edna May Oliver. The film’s working title was Puzzle of the Pepper Tree which was the title of the 1933 Stuart Palmernovel on which it was based.
The Little Colonel is best known for its famous staircase tap dance performed by Shirley Temple and Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson. It was the first interracial dance pairing in Hollywood history and was so controversial that it was cut out in the Southern United States. Temple upset actor Lionel Barrymore when prompting him on a line he had forgotten, causing him to storm off set. Temple was sent after him to apologize, but instead of a direct apology, she told him he was the best actor in the world and asked for his autograph, defusing the situation and bringing the actor back to the set. Early Technicolor footage was used for the film which required heavy red-hued makeup for the actors. It was the only time Temple wore makeup on any of her Fox films.
The Whole Town’s Talking was released in the UK as Passport to Fame. The film has no connection to a 1926 film of the same name. Footage from 1931’s The Criminal Code was re-used in the film. Edward G. Robinson was loaned to Columbia Pictures by Warner Bros., an arrangement he learned about through gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. He initially opposed the project but changed his mind after reading the script. His career was in the doldrums at the time, and the film is considered a turning point in reviving his career. It was one of a handful of comedies he made.
1945
- February 22 – Leave It to Blondie (USA, Columbia Pictures)
- February 23 – Frisco Sal (USA, Universal Pictures)
- February 24 – Docks of New York (USA, Sam Katzman Productions)
Leave It to Blondie was the fifteenth of twenty-eight Blondie films from Columbia Pictures. Frisco Sal was originally to be titled Frisco Kate.
1955
- February 20 – The Violent Men (USA, Columbia Pictures)
- February 21 – Raising a Riot (UK, Wessex Film Productions)
- February 24 – The End of the Affair (UK, Coronado Productions)
- February 24 – Three for the Show (USA, Columbia Pictures)
Raising a Riot was released in the US on May 7, 1957. The End of the Affair was released in the US in May 1955.
One of the uncredited children in Raising a Riot is Caroline John, who would later play Liz Shaw in Doctor Who. The End of the Affair was based on Graham Greene’s 1951 novel of the same name.
Three for the Show was a CinemaScope musical comedy remake of Too Many Husbands (1940). It was Betty Grable’s last musical. It is based on the 1919 play Home and Beauty, which was retitled Too Many Husbands when it came to New York.
1965
Amicus Productions
- February 23 – Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (UK, Amicus Productions)
- February 24 – Love Has Many Faces (USA, Jerry Bresler Productions)
Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors was released in the US on February 28, 1965. It was the first in a series of horror anthology films from Amicus Productions, as well as the first horror film in general for the company. The film was a conscious attempt to duplicate the success of 1945’s Dead of Night. The script began as an unmade 1948 TV series, with the original stories written by producer/writer Milton Subotsky while he was working on NBC’s Lights Out TV series.
Nancy Wilson sings the title song for Love Has Many Faces, and Edith Head designed Lana Turner’s costumes.
1975
- February 24 – Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (USA, The American Film Theatre)
Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris first opened in Canada on January 27, 1975. The film is based on the Off-Broadway revue featuring 25 Brel songs performed by two men and two women. For the film, one woman was dropped and a chorus of young hippies and eccentric-looking characters was added. Original cast members Mort Shuman and Elly Stone make their only film appearances in the movie. Jacques Brel had no involvement in the show but did make a guest appearance in the film.
1985
- February 20 – Brazil (France, Embassy International Pictures)
- February 20 – Half Life: A Parable for the Nuclear Age (AUS, documentary, O’Rourke and Associates Filmakers Pty. Ltd.)
- February 22 – Into the Night (USA, Universal Pictures)
Brazil was released in the US on December 18, 1985. Half Life: A Parable for the Nuclear Age was released in the US on December 3, 1986.
Brazil has no connection to the country, nor does it take place there, instead it is named after the recurrent theme song, Ary Barroso’s ‘Aquarela do Brasil’, known simply as ‘Brazil’ to British audiences, as performed by Geoff Muldaur. The film’s script was developed under several titles including The Minstry and 1984 ½, a reference to both George Orwell’s 1984 and Fellini’s 8½. Other working titles included The Ministry of Torture, How I Learned to Live with the System — So Far, and So That’s Why the Bourgeoisie Sucks. Director Terry Gilliam has referred to the film as the second of his ‘Trilogy of Imagination’ series, between Time Bandits and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Gilliam also called it the first of a dystopian trilogy followed by 12 Monkeys and The Zero Theorum (though he later denied saying this). The film is set in no specific time period, but has the look of the 1980s as seen through the eyes of a 1940s filmmaker, with production design influenced by the films of Fritz Lang like Metropolis and M, and film noir of the 1940s. A scene near the end of the film references the Odessa Steps scene from 1925’s Battleship Potemkin. Brazil’s over all production design, lighting and cinematography has inspired other films including Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children, Super Mario Bros., The Hudsucker Proxy, Dark City, Tim Burton’s Batman, The Descent, Jupiter Ascending, Pi, Sucker Punch, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which even includes a direct reference to Brazil‘s form 27B/6, without which no work can be done by repairmen, when Finn and Rose are arrested for Parking Violation 27B/6.
1995
- February 23 – Napoleon (AUS, limited, AMPCO Films)
- February 24 – The Hunted (USA, Davis Entertainment)
- February 24 – The Walking Dead (USA, Savoy Pictures)
Napoleon was released in the US on October 10, 1997. It was the most expensive independent production made in South Australia at the time. 64 different dogs played the title role.
The Hunted was the mainstream directorial debut of J.F. Lawton, following two low-budget films made under a pseudonym. The film’s establishing shots were filmed in Japan during the first two weeks of production, with the rest of the film shot in Vancouver.
The Walking Dead is not a zombie movie, but depicts the lives of five Marines who are all assigned to rescue a group of POW during the Vietnam War in 1972.
2005
BET Pictures
- February 25 – Cursed (USA, Dimension Films)
- February 25 – Diary of a Mad Black Woman (USA, BET Pictures)
- February 25 – Man of the House (USA, Bel Air Entertainment)
Cursed was planned for a 2003 release, but Bob and Harvey Weinstein kept asking for reshoots and changes to the plot, re-edited the movie to make it PG-13 rather than R-rated, and fired makeup artist Rick Baker, who had created the werewolves he created, replacing them with CGI creatures. Skeet Ulrich was originally in the film but after it resumed production after shutting down for rewrites with just six days left to shoot, he left the project, unsatisfied with his character’s transformation. Joshua Jackson joined the cast in his place. The high school used in the film was the same one used for Sunnyvale High on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as West Beverly High on Beverly Hills 90210 and the 90210 spin-off. After reshoots, the film’s new tragic ending tested highest with audiences, but Dimension Films was still unhappy and demanded a new one. Jesse Eisenberg and Christina Ricci were the only actors to work on all the different versions of the film. After the third round of reshoots, a fourth was required and the crew made T-shirts printed with ‘Cursed 4: Back for More’, and another ending was filmed. Editor Patrick Lussier was originally to work on the film for six weeks, but ended up spending 19 months on it. All three versions of the unreleased film do exist, and there has been a #ReleaseTheCravenCut movement to get Wes Craven’s original film released, however, the original first ending was never shot and with various Miramax properties reverting to other entities, the future release of an alternate cut is in doubt.
Diary of a Mad Black Woman is Tyler Perry’s feature film debut, and the first entry in the Madea series of films (although it was not directed by Perry).
The original title of Man of the House was Cheer Up, and was originally set up at Warner Bros. before the project was put into turnaround, picked up by Revolution Studios in May 2003.
2015
- February 20 – All the Wilderness (USA, Super Crispy Entertainment)
- February 20 – Hot Tub Time Machine 2 (USA, United Artists)
- February 20 – McFarland, USA (USA, Mayhem Pictures)
- February 20 – The DUFF (USA, CBS Films)
- February 26 – The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (AUS, Blueprint Pictures)
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was released in the US and Canada on March 6, 2015.
All the Wilderness was originally titled The Wilderness of James.
Original Hot Tub Time Machine star John Cusack did not return for the theatrical sequel, but does have a cameo in the unrated version. The film’s original title was Hot Tub Time Machine 3: Because Hot Tub Time Machine 2 Hasn’t Happened Yet, a jokey reference to the time travel plot but the studio refused it believing it would confuse audiences.
The DUFF is an acronym for ‘Designated Ugly Fat Friend’. Most of the original cast of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel returned for The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, with the addition of Richard Gere, Tamsin Grieg and David Strathairn.