Focus Features
The last weekend of August, the last weekend of Summer. Typically a dead zone for new movie releases as people get in their last bit of vacation heading into Labor Day weekend, and going back to work and school. But the week did yield a classic Judy Garland-Gene Kelly musical, Tom Hanks’ film debut, a film spun off from a TV series that was spun off from a film that brings the two together, and a horror film whose poster caused controversy in the UK. Let’s take a look at what this week has to offer, and remember to click on the links to purchase the films or books upon which they were based and help keep Hotchka open for business!
1920
August 29 – The Untamed
- Cast: Tom Mix, Pauline Starke, George Siegmann
- Director: Emmett J. Flynn
- Studio: Fox Film Company
- Trivia: Based on the novel of the same name by Max Brand. Was remade in 1931 as the sound film Fair Warning. A print of the film is preserved in the George Eastman House Motion Picture Collection.
August 30 – The Devil’s Pass Key
- Cast: Sam de Grasse, Mae Busch, Maude George, Leo White
- Director: Erich von Stroheim
- Studio: Universal Film Manufacturing Company, distributed by Jewel Productions
- Trivia: Von Stroheim’s second film as director and considered one of the best films of 1920. The film premiered in New York City on August 8, 1920 at the Capitol Theatre. The film originally ran 130 minutes but was released as an 80 minute cut. An article in 1993 stated the film would be screened at the 1994 Berlin Film Festival but that has never been verified. The film’s negative was discovered to have decomposed in the Universal vault in 1941 and is considered lost.
September 1 – His Own Law
- Cast: Hobart Bosworth, Rowland V. Lee, Jean Calhoun
- Director: J. Parker Read, Jr.
- Studio: Goldwyn Pictures
- Trivia: A print of the film is preserved in the Library of Congress collection.
September 1 – What Women Want
- Cast: Louise Huff, Van Dyke Brooke, Robert Ames, Clara Beyers, Howard Truesdale, Betty Brown
- Director: George Archainbaud
- Studio: American Cinema Corp, distributed by Pioneer Films
- Trivia: A print of the film is preserved in the Library of Congress collection.
1930
August 27 – Monte Carlo
- Cast: Jack Buchanan, Jeanette MacDonald, Claud Allister, ZaSu Pitts
- Director: Ernst Lubitsch
- Studio: Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: Features the song ‘Beyond the Blue Horizon’ which was written for the film and performed by MacDonald. The song was a hit record for MacDonald, and was a hit again in 1970 when covered by Lou Christie. Critics hailed the film as a masterpiece of the new musical genre. The screenplay was based on the novel Monsieur Beaucaire by Booth Tarkington.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
August 30 – Doughboys
- Cast: Buster Keaton, Sally Eilers, Cliff Edwards, Edward Brophy
- Director: Edward Sedgwick
- Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Trivia: This was Keaton’s second starring talkie vehicle, and was partly inspired by his own experiences in World War I. While the writers inserted puns and jokes for Keaton, he insisted his dialog be less jokey. Keaton considered this the best film he made for MGM.
1940
August 26 – Queen of the Yukon
- Cast: Charles Bickford, Irene Rich, June Carlson, Dave O’Brien
- Director: Phil Rosen
- Studio: Monogram Pictures
- Trivia: Adapted from Jack London’s story. The film was shot in Big Bear Lake, California.
August 30 – Dance, Girl, Dance
- Cast: Maureen O’Hara, Louis Hayward, Lucille Ball, Ralph Bellamy, Maria Ouspenskaya
- Director: Dorothy Arzner
- Studio: RKO Radio Pictures
1950
August 30 – Edge of Doom
- Cast: Dana Andrews, Farley Granger, Joan Evans, Ellen Corby
- Director: Mark Robson
- Studio: Samuel Goldwyn Productions, distributed by RKO Radio Pictures
- Trivia: The film had its premiere in New York City on August 2, 1950. The film was named one of the Top Ten Films of 1950 by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.
August 31 – Summer Stock
- Cast: Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Eddie Bracken, Gloria DeHaven, Marjorie Main, Phil Silvers, Hans Conried
- Director: Charles Walters
- Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, distributed by Loew’s Inc.
- Trivia: This was Garland’s last pairing with Kelly. The film’s final musical number, ‘Get Happy’, was filmed two months after production on the film had wrapped and Garland had sought the help of a hypnotherapist and lost 20 pounds, performing the number perfectly in just a couple of takes. Garland was nearly replaced by June Allyson after she was suspended by MGM in May 1949 during production of Annie Get Your Gun (replaced by Betty Hutton) and was hospitalized for three months, treated for drug dependency. Mickey Rooney was the first choice for the Kelly role but was rejected because he was no longer the box office draw he had been. Busby Berkeley had been set to direct but was replaced by Walters before production began, working with Kelly as a favor to Garland who needed the career boost. After failing to show up to film the musical number ‘Heavenly Music’, producer Joe Pasternak asked Mayer if they should just abandon the film, but Mayer insisted that Garland had made the studio a lot of money so the least they could do was give her a second chance because stopping production would finish her. Nick Castle was the film’s choreographer but Kelly choreographed three numbers: ‘You Wonderful You,’ ‘All for You’, and ‘Portland Fancy’. After completing the film, Garland took a long-promised vacation but was called back to MGM to replace June Allyson, who was pregnant, on Royal Wedding. Again Garland struggled to perform due to exhaustion and overwork and was fired from the film, with her MGM contract terminated by mutual agreement, something L.B. Mayer later regretted.
September 1 – The Black Rose
- Cast: Tyrone Power, Orson Welles, Cécile Aubry, Jack Hawkins, Michael Rennie, Herbert Lom, Robert Blake, Laurence Harvey
- Director: Henry Hathaway
- Studio: 20th Century Fox
- Trivia: The film was loosely based on a popular 1945 novel by the same name by author Thomas B. Costain. Filmed partly on location in England and Morocco, standing in for China’s Gobi Desert. The film was conceived as a follow-up to 1949’s Prince of Foxes, reuniting Power and Welles. The film earned an Oscar nomination for Michael Whittaker’s costume design. Director Hathaway thought the film was horribly miscast, with Hawkins too old for his role, saying Aubry ‘didn’t have a lick of sense’ (he wanted Leslie Caron who was more interested in ballet), and didn’t get along with Welles who refused to take direction, peferring to ‘outwit people’. An unsubstantiated rumor suggests a 40 second scene features the bodies of two Moroccan peasants hanging from a tree, offered to the production by a French colonel who was a fan of Welles; Morocco was a French colony at the time.
September 1 – A Life of Her Own
- Cast: Lana Turner, Ray Milland, Tom Ewell, Barry Sullivan, Jean Hagen, Phyllis Kirk, Hermes Pan
- Director: George Cukor
- Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Trivia: Loosely adapted from ‘The Abiding Vision’ from Rebecca West’s 1935 book The Harsh Voice: Four Short Novels. Joseph Breen, administrator of the Motion Picture Production Code, rejected the original script as ‘shocking and highly offensive’ for its portrayal of ‘adultery and commercialized prostitution’. A revised version was found to not have sufficient compensating moral values and was required to ‘show that the adulterous situation is wrong and that sinners must be punished for their sin’. Vincente Minnelli was originally signed to direct but left for Father of the Bride after numerous script and casting issues delayed the start of production. Turner had refused to star in the film but the studio demanded she honor her contract. Wendell Corey was replaced by Ray Milland after several weeks of filming, but the reason is not clear. One source claims Corey asked to be released, feeling the film was not right for him. Others say Corey was fired at the behest of Turner after a wardrobe delay led Corey to crack that Barbara Stanwyck (whose husband Robert Taylor was reportedly having an affair with Turner) wouldn’t have kept everyone waiting. The film score a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score but lost to Sunset Boulevard. The film was not a hit for MGM, losing approximately $679,000.
1960
- No new films premiered this week in 1930.
1970
August 26 – The People Next Door
- Cast: Eli Wallach, Julie Harris, Hal Holbrook, Deborah Winters, Cloris Leachman, Rue McClanahan, Nehemiah Persoff
- Director: David Greene
- Studio: Avco Embassy Pictures
- Trivia: The screenplay was adapted by JP Miller from his 1968 CBS Playhouse teleplay.
August 28 – Weekend With the Babysitter
- Cast: George E. Carey, Susan Romen, James Almanzar, Luanne Roberts
- Director: Don Henderson
- Studio: Crown International Pictures
- Trivia: The one of only two films Romen made, and her only starring role. Considered a ‘spiritual sequel’ to 1969’s The Babysitter which also starred Carey, but in a different role, and was directed by Henderson. The babysitter in both films is named Candy Wilson.
1980
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
August 29 – He Knows You’re Alone
- Cast: Caitlin O’Heaney, Don Scardino, Elizabeth Kemp, Tom Rolfing, Patsy Pease, James Rebhorn, Tom Hanks, Paul Gleason
- Director: Armand Mastroianni
- Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, distributed by United Artists (United States/Canada), Cinema International Corporation (International)
- Trivia: Also known by the title Blood Wedding. This was Tom Hanks’ feature film debut. Hanks’ character was written to be killed off but the filmmakers liked him so much they never filmed his death scene. The film has been acknowledged as one of the first horror films inspired by the success of Halloween. The film was scheduled to be shot in Houston but funding was difficult to acquire so the film was shot in Staten Island with half of the original budget. Director Mastroianni stated the film took only six months to complete. The film’s premiere was in Los Angeles on August 29 before opening in New York City on September 26. The film garnered scathing reviews, but a few critics appreciated the ‘wry twist’ of the opening scene. In a retrospective, Rovi noted the film’s movie theater opening sequence was copied almost shot-by-shot by Wes Craven for Scream 2.
1990
August 31 – The Big Man
- Cast: Liam Neeson, oanne Whalley-Kilmer, Ian Bannen, Billy Connolly, Hugh Grant
- Director: David Leland
- Studio: Miramax Films
- Trivia: Based on the novel of the same name by William McIlvanney. The film’s US title is Crossing the Line.
August 31 – The Lemon Sisters
- Cast: Diane Keaton, Carol Kane, Kathryn Grody, Elliott Gould, Rubén Blades, Estelle Parsons, Richard Libertini, Aidan Quinn
- Director: Joyce Chopra
- Studio: Miramax Films
- Trivia: Prior to release, the film had been shelved for more than a year and underwent extensive revisions. Critics and audiences hated the film; it earned just over $3.4 million against a $9 million budget.
2000
September 1 – The Day I Became a Woman
- Cast: Fatemeh Cherag Akhar, Hassan Nebhan, Shahr Banou Sisizadeh, Ameneh Passand, Shabnam Tolouei
- Director: Marzieh Meshkini
- Studio: Olive Films (U.S.)
- Trivia: The film had its premiere at the 2000 Venice Film Festival, and won several festival awards that year.
September 1 – Highlander: Endgame
- Cast: Adrian Paul, Christopher Lambert, Bruce Payne, Lisa Barbuscia, Donnie Yen, Damon Dash, Sheila Gish
- Director: Doug Aarniokoski
- Studio: Davis-Panzer Productions, Dimension Films, distributed by Miramax Films
- Trivia: The fourth film in the series, it serves as a continuation of the original 1986 Highlander film and the Highlander TV series, uniting the film’s Connor MacLeod with the TV series’ Duncan MacLeod. The original draft of the script differs greatly from the final product: the Kate character was originally named Alexis; flashback scenes were set in Ireland, not Shanghai; Paris, not the film’s London, was the original home to Methos. The drafts carried various titles: Highlander IV: The Immortals, Highlander: The Search for Connor, and Highlander: World Without End. The film was meant to act as a bridge between the original TV series and the spin-off Highlander: The Raven, but those plans went awry when the spin-off was cancelled and production was delayed due to cast availability issues. Dimension demanded cuts to give the film a quicker pace which resulted in scenes of expository dialog being cut, making the film incomprehensible to anyone unfamiliar with the Highlander universe. An extended cut with the restored footage was released on DVD, which also improved the visual effects, sound mixing and color timing.
September 1 – Whipped
- Cast: Amanda Peet, Brian Van Holt, Jonathan Abrahams, Zorie Barber, Judah Domke, Callie Thorne, Bridget Moynahan
- Director: Peter M. Cohen
- Studio: Destination Films
2010
Lionsgate
August 27 – The Last Exorcism
- Cast: Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr, Louis Herthum, Caleb Landry Jones
- Director: Daniel Stamm
- Studio: Strike Entertainment, StudioCanal, Arcade Pictures, distributed by Lionsgate
- Trivia: The film had its world premiere at the LA Film Festival on June 24, 2010. The film had a second screening at San Diego Comic-Con on July 24 hosted by Eli Roth. The film was scheduled to run at the SXSW Film Festival, but Lionsgate bought the distribution rights to the film and pulled it from the festival. In the UK, the poster depicting a young girl in a blood-spattered dress, bent over backwards below a crucifix received 77 complaints as being ‘offensive’, ‘distressing’, and ‘unsuitable for public viewing’, with two people claiming the girl seemed to have suffered a sexual assault, a complaint that was not upheld. However, the poster was banned from public display but was acceptable on the back cover of Cineworld magazine. The film used Chatrouletter for its viral marketing campaign. The film was a financial success, earning $67.7 million worldwide against a $1.8 million budget, and it won the Best Horror Film award from the Empire Awards. A sequel was released in 2013 with a screenplay co-written by La La Land director Damien Chazelle.
August 27 – Takers
- Cast: Matt Dillon, Paul Walker, Idris Elba, Jay Hernandez, Michael Ealy, Tip ‘T.I.’ Harris, Chris Brown, Hayden Christensen
- Director: John Luessenhop
- Studio: Screen Gems, Rainforest Films, Grand Hustle Films, distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
- Trivia: The film’s original title was Bone Deep. Stephen King placed the film at Number 5 on his ten best films of the year for Entertainment Weekly. Idris Elba won the Best Actor BET Award in 2011 for this film and his TV series Luther.
September 1 – The American
- Cast: George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli
- Director: Anton Corbijn
- Studio: This is that, Smoke House Pictures, distributed by Focus Features
- Trivia: The screenplay was adapted from the novel A Very Private Gentleman by Martin Booth. Director Corbijn states on the DVD audio commentary that American Westerns and ‘Spaghetti Westerns’ were major influences from the film, and as an homage a scene from 1968’s Once Upon a Time in the West is playing on a television in the back of a restaurant. Large segments of dialog between the Clara and Jack characters are taken verbatim from Graham Greene’s novel The Honorary Consul.
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