Hotchka Movies by the Decade feature #66 :: October 27 to November 2

Pixar

It was a very big week for new movie releases, and with Halloween included as part of the week, there are a few horror films, a horror comedy, a surprising number of animated films (one that includes elements of horror), several films that went on to Oscar nominations and wins, a film that predicted the use of CGI, a sort-of sequel to the biggest midnight movie of all time, and a film that courted an odd controversy in its depiction of Jesus. These films and more celebrate milestone anniversaries this week. Are any of your favorites on the list?

1921

October 30 – Enchantment

Cast: Marion Davies, Forrest Stanley, Edith Shayne, Tom Lewis, Arthur Rankin, Corinne Barker, Maude Turner Gordon, Edith Lyle, Huntley Gordon, Emmet Foy, Julia Hurley, Gilbert Rooney
Director: Robert G. Vignola
Studio: Cosmopolitan Productions, distributed by Paramount Pictures
Trivia: A print of the film exists in the Library of Congress.

November – The Adventures of Mr. Pickwick

Cast: Frederick Volpe, Mary Brough, Bransby Williams, Ernest Thesiger, Kathleen Vaughan, Joyce Dearsley, Arthur Cleave, Athene Seyler, John Kelt, Hubert Woodward, Norman Page
Director: Thomas Bentley
Studio: Ideal Film Company
Trivia: The film was released in the UK in November 1921, but the exact date is lost to history. No US release date is known. Based on the 1837 novel The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. As of August 2010, the film is missing from the BFI National Archive, and is listed as one of the British Film Institute’s ’75 Most Wanted’ lost films.

November – Miss Lulu Bett

Cast: Lois Wilson, Milton Sills, Theodore Roberts, Helen Ferguson, Mabel Van Buren, Mae Giraci, Clarence Burton, Ethel Wales, Taylor Graves, Charles Ogle
Director: William C. deMille
Studio: Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, distributed by Paramount Pictures
Trivia: The film was released in the US in November 1921, but the exact date is unknown. Based on a 1920 play and bestselling novel of the same name by Zona Gale. The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2001.

1931

October 31 – Platinum Blonde

Cast: Loretta Young, Robert Williams, Jean Harlow, Halliwell Hobbes, Reginald Owen, Edmund Breese, Don Dillaway, Walter Catlett, Claud Allister, Louise Closser Hale
Director: Frank R. Capra
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Trivia: The film’s premiere was held in Birmingham, Alabama on October 24, 1931. Robert Williams’ last film. He died of peritonitis three days after the film’s release.

1941

October 28 – How Green Was My Valley

Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O’Hara, Donald Crisp, Roddy McDowall, Sara Allgood, Anna Lee, Patric Knowles, John Loder, Barry Fitzgerald, Rhys Williams, Morton Lowry, Arthur Shields, Frederick Worlock, Richard Fraser, Evan S. Evans, James Monks, Ethel Griffies, Lionel Pape, Marten Lamont, Ann E. Todd, Clifford Severn, Irving Pichel
Director: John Ford
Studio: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Trivia: Based on the best-selling 1939 novel of the same name by Richard Llewellyn. Nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning five including Best Picture (beating Sergeant York, The Maltese Falcon and Citizen Kane), Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Donald Crisp), Best Cinematography, and Best Black-and-White Art Direction-Interior Decoration. John Ford was the second director to win three Oscars for directing (he has four total, a record still unmatched). William Wyler was originally set to direct but he left to make The Little Foxes. The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1990, and was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 1998. Roddy McDowall had been in the US for just two weeks, evacuated from the UK during the Blitz, when he was cast.

Walt Disney Productions

October 31 – Dumbo

Cast: Edward Brophy, Verna Felton, Cliff Edwards, Herman Bing, Sterling Holloway, Margaret Wright, Hall Johnson, James Baskett, Nick Stewart, Jim Carmichael, The King’s Men, Noreen Gammill, Dorothy Scott, Sarah Selby, Billy Bletcher, Malcolm Hutton, John McLeish
Director: Ben Sharpsteen, Norman Ferguson, Wilfred Jackson, Bill Roberts, Jack Kinney, Samuel Armstrong
Studio: Walt Disney Productions, distributed by RKO Radio Pictures
Trivia: The film premiered in New York City on October 23, 1941. Based upon a children’s story written by Helen Aberson-Mayer and Harold Pearl. Disney’s fourth animated feature. The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2017. The film was designed to have a lower budget to help recoup the money lost by Pinocchio and Fantasia, which did not receive wide distribution in Europe due to the war. In the story, Dumbo’s friend was a bird, but was replaced with Timothy the mouse to riff on the myth of the fear elephants have for mice. The crows also did not appear in the original story.

October 31 – The Chocolate Soldier

Cast: Nelson Eddy, Risë Stevens, Nigel Bruce, Florence Bates, Dorothy Raye, Nydia Westman, Max Barwyn, Charles Judels
Director: Roy Del Ruth
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Trivia: Uses original music from the Oscar Straus 1908 operetta of the same name, which was based on George Bernard Shaw’s 1894 play Arms and the Man, but the studio replaced the story with one it already owned, the Ferenc Molnár play The Guardsman, after being unable to come to terms with Shaw. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards.

November – Unholy Partners

Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Edward Arnold, Laraine Day, Marsha Hunt, William T. Orr, Don Beddoe, Emory Parnell
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Trivia: The film’s exact US release date is unknown. Lana Turner had originally been announced as the female lead.

November 1 – One Foot in Heaven

Cast: Fredric March, Martha Scott, Beulah Bondi, Gene Lockhart, Elisabeth Fraser, Harry Davenport, Laura Hope Crews, Grant Mitchell, Moroni Olsen, Frankie Thomas, Jerome Cowan, Ernest Cossart, Nana Bryant
Director: Irving Rapper
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Trivia: The film’s premiere was held in Washington DC on October 2, 1941. Adapted from the autobiography by Hartzell Spence. Was Oscar nominated for Best Picture, its only nomination.

1951

November – The Model and the Marriage Broker

Cast: Jeanne Crain, Scott Brady, Thelma Ritter, Zero Mostel, Michael O’Shea, Helen Ford, Frank Fontaine, Dennie Moore, John Alexander, Jay C. Flippen, Nancy Kulp, Kathryn Card, Maudie Prickett, Ken Christy, Shirley Mills
Director: George Cukor
Studio: 20th Century-Fox
Trivia: The film’s exact US release date in November 1951 is unknown. Received a single Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design (Black & White). Screenwriter Walter Reisch blamed the film’s lack of success on Fox studio head Darryl Zanuck who, by the time of the film’s production, had focused on CinemaScope and color, neither of which the film lent itself to and was treated as a ‘stepchild’. Nancy Kulp’s film debut. Thelma Ritter is billed third in the credits but gets more screen time than either of the two leads, making her the true lead of the film (and her only leading role).

November – Young Wives’ Tale

Cast: Joan Greenwood, Nigel Patrick, Derek Farr, Guy Middleton, Athene Seyler, Helen Cherry, Audrey Hepburn, Fabia Drake, Irene Handl, Brian Oulton, Joan Sanderson
Director: Henry Cass
Studio: Associated British-Pathé Limited
Trivia: The film was released in the UK in November 1951, the exact date is unknown, and it arrived in the US on June 9, 1952. Features one of Audrey Hepburn’s early film roles.

November 1 – Golden Girl

Cast: Mitzi Gaynor, Dale Robertson, Dennis Day, Una Merkel, Carmen D’Antonio, Gene Sheldon, James Barton, George Jessel, Emory Parnell, Raymond Walburn
Director: Lloyd Bacon
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Trivia: Loosely based on the life of famed entertainer Lotta Crabtree, who was known as ‘The Golden Girl’ (1847–1924). Received a single Oscar nomination, Best Original Song (‘Never’). Merry Anders’ film debut.

November 2 – The Raging Tide

Cast: Shelley Winters, Richard Conte, Stephen McNally, Charles Bickford, Alex Nicol, John McIntire, Tito Vuolo, Chubby Johnson, Minerva Urecal
Director: The Raging Tide
Studio: Universal Pictures
Trivia: Based on the 1950 novel Fiddler’s Green by Ernest K. Gann.

1961

October 30 – King of Kings

Cast: Jeffrey Hunter, Siobhán McKenna, Hurd Hatfield, Ron Randell, Viveca Lindfors, Rita Gam, Carmen Sevilla, Brigid Bazlen, Harry Guardino, Rip Torn, Frank Thring, Guy Rolfe, Royal Dano, Robert Ryan, Edric Connor, Maurice Marsac, Grégoire Aslan, George Coulouris, Conrado San Martín, Gérard Tichy, Antonio Mayans, Luis Prendes, David Davies, José Nieto, Rubén Rojo, Fernando Sancho, Michael Wager, Félix de Pomés, Adriano Rimoldi, Barry Keegan, Rafael Luis Calvo, Tino Barrero, Paco Morán
Director: Nicholas Ray
Studio: Samuel Bronston Productions, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Trivia: The film’s premiere was held on October 11, 1961. Ray Milland provides the uncredited voice of Satan, and Orson Welles is the uncredited narrator. With the death of Rip Torn on July 9, 2019, Carmen Sevilla and Antonio Mayans are the last surviving primary cast members. Miklós Rózsa was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. Peter Cushing, Tom Fleming, Christopher Plummer, and Max von Sydow were considered for the role of Jesus. Alec Guinness had met with producers for the role as well. John Ford suggested Jeffrey Hunter after directing him in The Searchers. The producers agreed to the casting because of Hunter’s striking blue eyes. The film was shot on location in Spain. The film was the first major studio sound production in English to show the face of Jesus. Prior films, such as Ben-Hur, opted to show His hands or the back of His head. Silent films had no issue showing the face of Jesus. The crucifixion scene had to be re-shot because a preview audience was offended at Jesus having a hairy chest (Hunter’s armpits were also shaved for the reshoot). So much attention has been paid to Jeffrey Hunter’s chest hair that no one noticed he’s wearing a false nose, which is most evident in close-ups during the crucifixion scene. Richard Johnson’s role, which ran nearly an hour, was completely deleted from the film.

November – Valley of the Dragons

Cast: Cesare Danova, Sean McClory, Joan Staley, Danielle De Metz, Gregg Martell, Gil Perkins, I. Stanford Jolley, Michael Lane, Roger Til, Mark Dempsey, Jerry Sunshine, Dolly Gray
Director: Edward Bernds
Studio: Zimbalist-Roberts-Bernds Productions, distributed by Columbia Pictures
Trivia: The film’s exact US release date is unknown. Known in the UK as Prehistoric Valley. Loosely based on Jules Verne’s Off on a Comet. The film is heavily dependent on stock footage from One Million B.C., King Dinosaur, Cat-Women of the Moon and Rodan, with the director confirming the film was built around the stock footage from One Million B.C. The film was shot on a left over set from The Devil at 4 O’Clock on the Columbia Pictures lot.

November 1 – Bachelor in Paradise

Cast: Bob Hope, Lana Turner, Janis Paige, Jim Hutton, Paula Prentiss, Don Porter, Virginia Grey, Agnes Moorehead, Florence Sundstrom, John McGiver, Clinton Sunberg, Alan Hewitt, Reta Shaw, Vin Scully
Director: Jack Arnold
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Trivia: The film received an Oscar nomination for Best Song (performed by Ann-Margret at the Academy Awards, greatly boosting her career), and Bob Hope was nominated for a Golden Globe. This was Hope’s first film for MGM. A sequel, An Armful of Girls, was requested to be written but was never produced due to the film’s box office failure.

November 1 – The Comancheros

Cast: John Wayne, Stuart Whitman, Ina Balin, Nehemiah Persoff, Lee Marvin, Michael Ansara, Bruce Cabot, Joan O’Brien, Patrick Wayne, Richard Devon, Jack Elam, Henry Daniell, Edgar Buchanan, Guinn ‘Big Boy’ Williams, Bob Steele
Director: Michael Curtiz
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Trivia: Based on a 1952 novel of the same name by Paul Wellman. Michael Curtiz’s terminal illness prevented him from completing the film, so John Wayne took over in an uncredited capacity. Curtiz died shortly after the film’s completion.

November 1 – The Mask

Cast: Paul Stevens, Claudette Nevins, Bill Walker, Anne Collings, Martin Lavut, Leo Leyden
Director: Julian Roffman
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Trivia: The film premiered in New York City on October 27, 1961. Re-released as Eyes of Hell. The first Canadian film to be marketed extensively in the United States since the age of silent film. Considered to be Canada’s first film in the horror genre, and the only Canadian 3D feature film.

1971

October 29 – Duck, You Sucker!

Cast: Rod Steiger, James Coburn, Romolo Valli, Maria Monti, Rik Battaglia, Franco Graziosi, Antoine Saint-John, Vivienne Chandler, David Warbeck
Director: Sergio Leone
Studio: Rafran Cinematografica, Euro International Films, San Miura, United Artists, distributed by Euro International Films (Italy), United Artists (International)
Trivia: The film was released in Italy on October 29, 1971. It opened in wide release in the US on July 7, 1972. Also known as A Fistful of Dynamite and Once Upon a Time … the Revolution. The second film of Leone’s Once Upon a Time Trilogy, and the last Western directed by Leone. Leone had not intended to direct the film, hoping to employ someone who could replicate his visual style. Peter Bogdanovich was signed but left due to a lack of control, then Sam Peckinpah signed on but the studio turned him down for financial reasons. Rod Steiger refused to be in the film unless Leone directed. Leone begged Eli Wallach to be in the film, so Wallach quit another project but the studio already hired Steiger for the role. No compensation was offered to Wallach, now out of two jobs, and he sued. The film’s current running time is 157 minutes, but Leone had stated it ran about 40 minutes longer at test screenings.

October 29 – A Safe Place

Cast: Tuesday Weld, Orson Welles, Jack Nicholson, Philip Proctor, Gwen Welles, Roger Garrett, Francesca Hilton, Richard Finocchio
Director: Henry Jaglom
Studio: BBS Productions, distributed by Columbia Pictures
Trivia: The film was screened at the New York Film Festival on October 15, 1971 ahead of its theatrical release. About 50 hours of footage was shot. Jack Nicholson appeared in the film for no pay, asking only for a new color TV in return.

November – I, Monster

Cast: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Mike Raven, Richard Hurndall, George Merritt, Kenneth J. Warren, Susan Jameson, Marjie Lawrence, Aimée Delamain, Michael Des Barres
Director: Stephen Weeks
Studio: British Lion Films, The Cannon Group
Trivia: The film was released in the UK in November 1971, but did not reach US screens until April 1973. Leslie Judd and Ian McCulloch appear uncredited. Stephen Weeks feature directorial debut. Adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Was intended to use the Pulfrich effect to provide a 3-D experience, but the plan was abandoned.

1981

Universal Pictures

October 30 – Halloween II

Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Nichole Drucker, Donald Pleasence, Charles Cyphers, Lance Guest, Pamela Susan Shoop, Hunter von Leer, Tawny Moyer, Ana Alicia, Nancy Stephens, Dick Warlock, Adam Gunn, Gloria Gifford, Leo Rossi, Ford Rainey, Jeffrey Kramer, Cliff Emmich, John Zenda, Anne Bruner, Lucille Benson, Catherine Bergstrom, Anne-Marie Martin, Dana Carvey, Billy Warlock, Jonathan Prince, Jack Verbois
Director: Rick Rosenthal
Studio: Dino De Laurentiis Corporation, distributed by Universal Pictures
Trivia: Nick Castle, Tony Moran, Brian Andrews and Kyle Richards appear in archival footage. Nancy Loomis has a corpse cameo. Rick Rosenthal’s directorial debut. The film was intended to complete the Michael Myers story. The original story was to have taken place several years after the events of the first film. The plot device of Laurie being Michael’s sister was a function of John Carpenter becoming involved in writing a sequel to a story he felt had no story left to tell. The sister storyline was retconned in the 2018 reboot with Laurie’s granddaughter saying that was something people had just made up. The film was considered for 3D but the process was too expensive for this type of film, and shooting in darkness would also not lend itself to 3D. The mask Michael Myers wears in the film is the same one from the original.

October 30 – Looker

Cast: Albert Finney, James Coburn, Susan Dey, Leigh Taylor-Young, Dorian Harewood, Darryl Hickman, Terri Welles, Terry Kiser
Director: Michael Crichton
Studio: The Ladd Company, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Trivia: The first film to attempt to create a computer-generated, three-dimensional model of the human body, although it was only represented on a computer screen. The first film to create three-dimensional shading with a computer, months before the release of Tron. Michael Crichton predicted CGI technology with the film, a technology the brought dinosaurs to life in the film based on his novel Jurassic Park. Kim Carnes’ version of the theme song is more well-known but the song is performed by Sue Saad in the movie.

October 30 – Roar

Cast: Noel Marshall, Tippi Hedren, Melanie Griffith, John Marshall, Jerry Marshall, Kyalo Mativo
Director: Noel Marshall
Studio: Film Consortium, distributed by Filmways Pictures, Alpha Films
Trivia: The film was released in Australia on October 30, 1981, and received a limited US release beginning April 17, 2015. Filming began in 1976 and took five years to finish, with the film fully complete after 11 years in production. Melanie Griffith was mauled during production which required 50 stitches to her face. It was feared she would lose her eye but there was no permanent disfiguration. A lion also grabbed her by the hair and wouldn’t let go, and the shot is in the film. A 1978 flood from a dam break killed many of the film’s lions, washed away the set, and destroyed already completed film footage, setting production back several years.

October 30 – Saturday the 14th

Cast: Richard Benjamin, Paula Prentiss, Jeffrey Tambor, Severn Darden, Kari Michaelsen, Rosemary DeCamp, Kevin Brando, Nancy Lee Andrews, Stacy Keach Sr., Roberta Collins, Paul ‘Mousie’ Garner
Director: Howard R. Cohen
Studio: New World Pictures
Trivia: Despite the title, the film actually spoofs horror films from the 1930s and 1940s. The film was rushed into production to compete with a similar horror-comedy titled Thursday the 12th. That film was eventually released as Pandemonium in 1982. The address of the house in the film is 329 Elm Street, which was not a reference to A Nightmare on Elm Street as that film was released three years later.

October 30 – Shock Treatment

Cast: Jessica Harper, Cliff De Young, Richard O’Brien, Patricia Quinn, Little Nell, Charles Gray, Barry Humphries, Ruby Wax, Jeremy Newson, Wendy Raebeck, Rik Mayall, Darlene Johnson, Manning Redwood, Barry Dennen, Betsy Brantley, Chris Malcolm, Eugene Lipinski, Gary Shail, Claire Toeman, Donald Waugh, David John, Gary Martin, Sinitta Renet
Director: Jim Sharman
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Trivia: The film opened in the UK in 1981 but the date is unknown. It opened in West Germany on October 30, 1981 and received a very limited US release (on the midnight movie circuit) on October 31. Rocky Horror Picture Show Fan Club president Sal Piro has a silent cameo as a man using a pay phone. Richard O’Brien had intended to make the film a direct sequel to Rocky Horror titled Rocky Horror Shows His Heels, but Tim Curry had no desire to reprise his role and director Jim Sharman was resistant to revisiting the material. O’Brien had already put work into the songs so he kept them and revised the story, with the new title The Brad and Janet Show which is closer to the finished film. Dr. Scott was intended to appear in the film but Jonathan Adams was not interested in returning to the role. The film was to shoot on location in Denton, Texas but the 1980 Screen Actors Guild strike ground production to a halt. The settings were re-worked to take place in a TV studio and production moved to the UK. The Dr. Scott character morphed into game show host Bert Schnick. While many original RHPS cast members appear in the film, only Jeremy Newson reprises his role as Ralph Hapschatt. Many of the original stage show actors appear in the film as well. Susan Sarandon was approached to reprise the role of Janet, but with her star on the rise her salary demands were beyond what the production could afford. Cliff De Young was the original choice to play Brad in RHPS but was unavailable, but with Barry Bostwick unavailable for Shock Treatment De Young was approached and given the role. For the opening 360-degree single shot, De Young begins in a control booth and had to do a quick change and quickly run down stairs to hit his second mark. The ‘Lullaby’ sequence was filmed in only one take.

1991

October 30 – The Linguini Incident

Cast: David Bowie, Rosanna Arquette, Marlee Matlin, Eszter Balint, Buck Henry, Viveca Lindfors, Andre Gregory, Kathy Kinney, James Avery, Al Berry
Director: Richard Shepard
Studio: Academy Entertainment
Trivia: The film opened in France on October 30, 1991, then played in the US starting May 1, 1992. Iman and Julian Lennon have cameos in the film. Released on home video as Shag-O-Rama.

November 1 – 29th Street

Cast: Danny Aiello, Anthony LaPaglia, Lainie Kazan, Frank Pesce, Robert Forster, Ron Karabatsos, Rick Aiello, Vic Manni, Paul Lazar, Pete Antico, Donna Magnani
Director: George Gallo
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Trivia: The real Frank Pesce plays his own brother, Vito Pesce.

November 1 – Billy Bathgate

Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Nicole Kidman, Loren Dean, Bruce Willis, Steven Hill, Stanley Tucci, Mike Starr, Steve Buscemi, John Costelloe, Billy Jaye, Timothy Jerome, Stephen Joyce, Robert F. Colesberry, Frances Conroy, Moira Kelly, Kevin Corrigan, Xander Berkeley, Barry McGovern, Terry Loughlin, Paul Herman
Director: Robert Benton
Studio: Touchstone Pictures, distributed by Buena Vista Pictures
Trivia: Adapted from E.L. Doctorow’s 1989 novel of the same name, but Doctorow distanced himself from the film due to extensive deviations from the book. Nicole Kidman received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

November 1 – Little Man Tate

Cast: Adam Hann-Byrd, Jodie Foster, Dianne Wiest, Alex Lee, Harry Connick Jr., David Hyde Pierce, Debi Mazar, P.J. Ochlan, Michael Shulman, Carolyn Lawrence, Celia Weston, Danitra Vance, Nathan Lee, Richard Fredette, Jonathan Freeman, Elizabeth H. Frietsch, Jennifer Trier, Lawrence Gallegos, D. Michael Pierce, Evan Prizant, Geoffrey C. York, Ellen McElduff
Director: Jodie Foster
Studio: Orion Pictures Corporation
Trivia: The film was screened at TIFF on September 6, 1991. Bob Balaban appears uncredited as Quizmaster. Jodie Foster’s feature directorial debut. Joe Dante was originally to direct but left over creative differences. The film was made after Foster agreed to act in the film without payment as Orion Pictures was on the verge of bankruptcy.

November 1 – The People Under the Stairs

Cast: Brandon Adams, Everett McGill, Wendy Robie, A. J. Langer, Ving Rhames, Bill Cobbs, Kelly Jo Minter, Sean Whalen, Jeremy Roberts, Conni Marie Brazelton, Joshua Cox, John Hostetter, John Mahon, Yan Birch
Director: Wes Craven
Studio: Alive Films, distributed by Universal Pictures
Trivia: Wes Craven chose Wendy Robie and Everett McGill to play the parts of Mommy and Daddy after seeing them play husband and wife on the TV series Twin Peaks. The film was inspired by a true story of children that had been locked away by their parents. Film debut of Sean Whalen.

November 1 – Year of the Gun

Cast: Andrew McCarthy, Sharon Stone, Valeria Golino, John Pankow, George Murcell, Mattia Sbragia, Roberto Posse, Thomas Elliot, Lou Castel
Director: John Frankenheimer
Studio: Triumph Releasing Corporation
Trivia: The film was screened at TIFF on September 10, 1991. Based on the novel by Michael Mewshaw, which was based on real life events in 1978.

2001

October 31 – Wasabi

Cast: Jean Reno, Ryōko Hirosue, Michel Muller, Carole Bouquet
Director: Gérard Krawczyk
Studio: EuropaCorp, Victor Company of Japan, Samitose Productions, TF1 Films, CanalPlus, distributed by EuropaCorp Distribution (France), Destination Films (International)
Trivia: The film was released in Belgium and France on October 31, 2001, and received a limited US release on September 27, 2002. Ryoko Hirosue learned all of her French dialogue phonetically.

November 2 – Domestic Disturbance

Cast: John Travolta, Vince Vaughn, Teri Polo, Matt O’Leary, Steve Buscemi, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Chris Ellis, Angelica Page
Director: Harold Becker
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Trivia: The film’s premiere was held on October 30, 2001. Actors Vince Vaughn and Steve Buscemi and screenwriter Scott Rosenberg were involved in a barroom brawl at the Firebelly Lounge in Wilmington, North Carolina, during filming. Vaughn was arrested, and Buscemi was stabbed several times and had his face slashed. The film was re-edited three times to receive a PG-13 rating. The film was ultimately cut from 111 minutes to 89 minutes, creating many plot holes and characters disappearing without a trace. Final theatrical feature film directed by Harold Becker. Though the film takes place in Maryland, it was filmed in North Carolina.

November 2 – Monsters, Inc.

Cast: John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Mary Gibbs, Steve Buscemi, James Coburn, Jennifer Tilly, Bob Peterson, John Ratzenberger, Frank Oz, Daniel Gerson, Steve Susskind, Bonnie Hunt, Jeff Pidgeon, Sam Black, Laraine Newman
Director: Pete Docter
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios, distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Trivia: The film premiered in Los Angeles on October 28, 2001. Oscar winner for Best Original Song, and was among the first films nominated in the newly created Best Animated Feature category (it lost to Shrek). Pixar created the Fizt program to realistically render CGI fur for the film. The process was also applied to clothing. It took 11 to 12 hours to render a single frame of Sully because of the 2.3 million hairs.

November 2 – Tape

Cast: Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, Uma Thurman
Director: Richard Linklater
Studio: Tape Productions, distributed by Lionsgate
Trivia: The film screened at Sundance on January 26, 2001, TIFF on September 8 and the Vancouver International Film Festival on October 10 before its limited US release. Based on Stephen Belber’s play of the same name.

November 2 – The One

Cast: Jet Li, Jason Statham, Delroy Lindo, Carla Gugino, James Morrison, Dylan Bruno, Richard Steinmetz, Steve Rankin, Dean Norris, Harriet Sansom Harris, Tucker Smallwood, Archie Kao, Mark Borchardt
Director: James Wong
Studio: Columbia Pictures, Revolution Studios, Hard Eight Pictures. distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
Trivia: Doug Savant appears in an uncredited role as Cop. The film was originally to star Dwayne Johnson.

2011

October 28 – Anonymous

Cast: Rhys Ifans, Jamie Campbell Bower, Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson, Sebastian Armesto, Rafe Spall, David Thewlis, Edward Hogg, Xavier Samuel, Sam Reid, Paolo De Vita, Trystan Gravelle, Robert Emms, Tony Way, Alex Hassell, Mark Rylance, John Keogh, Helen Baxendale, Amy Kwolek, Vicky Krieps, Derek Jacobi
Director: Roland Emmerich
Studio: Columbia Pictures, Anonymous Pictures, Centropolis Entertainment, Relativity Media, Studio Babelsberg Motion Pictures, distributed by ony Pictures Releasing
Trivia: The film was screened at TIFF on September 11, 2011, and opened in limited release in Canada and the US, and in general release in the UK on October 28. Anonymous was the first motion picture to be shot with the new Arri Alexa camera, with most of the period backgrounds created and enhanced via new CGI technology. More than 70 sets recreating Elizabethan London were built at Germany’s Studio Babelsberg, including a full-scale replica of The Rose theatre.

October 28 – In Time

Cast: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, Alex Pettyfer, Vincent Kartheiser, Olivia Wilde, Matt Bomer, Johnny Galecki, Collins Pennie, Ethan Peck, Yaya DaCosta, Rachel Roberts, August Emerson, Sasha Pivovarova, Jesse Lee Soffer, Bella Heathcote, Toby Hemingway, Melissa Ordway, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Christoph Sanders, Jeff Staron, Matt O’Leary, Nick Lashaway, Ray Santiago, Kris Lemche, Laura Ashley Samuels
Director: Andrew Niccol
Studio: New Regency, Strike Entertainment, distributed by 20th Century Fox
Trivia: The film’s premiere was held on October 20, 2011, and its first official theatrical release was in Singapore on October 26. Working titles for the film included Now and I’m.mortal. Harlan Ellison sued over similarities to his story ‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman’, but after seeing the film, dropped his claim with no compensation or screen credit received. Many of the character names are those of famous, and not so famous, watchmakers. Olivia Wilde plays Justin Timberlake’s mother, even though she is three years younger than him.

October 28 – Like Crazy

Cast: Anton Yelchin, Felicity Jones, Jennifer Lawrence, Charlie Bewley, Finola Hughes, Oliver Muirhead, Alex Kingston, Keeley Hazell, Chris Messina, Ben York Jones, Jamie Thomas King
Director: Drake Doremus
Studio: Indian Paintbrush, Super Crispy Entertainment, distributed by Paramount Vantage
Trivia: The film screened at Sundance on January 22, 2011, where it won the Grand Jury prize, and at TIFF on September 13 before beginning its limited US release. The general release print was trimmed slightly from the Sundance print to remove some language for a PG-13 rating. Much of the film was improvised.

DreamWorks Animation

October 28 – Puss in Boots

Cast: Antonio Banderas, Zach Galifianakis, Salma Hayek, Billy Bob Thornton, Amy Sedaris, Constance Marie, Mike Mitchell, Guillermo del Toro, Chris Miller
Director: Chris Miller
Studio: DreamWorks Animation, distributed by Paramount Pictures
Trivia: The film was screened at the Austin Film Festival on October 23, 2011. Spun off from the Shrek franchise, taking place after Shrek Forever After. The film was Oscar-nominated for Best Animated Feature Film. A sequel is scheduled to be released on September 23, 2022.

October 28 – The Rum Diary

Cast: Johnny Depp, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Rispoli, Amber Heard, Richard Jenkins, Giovanni Ribisi, Amaury Nolasco, Marshall Bell, Bill Smitrovich, Julian Holloway, Karen Austin, Jason Smith, Karimah Westbrook, Jorge Antares
Director: Bruce Robinson
Studio: GK Films, Infinitum Nihil, FilmEngine, distributed by FilmDistrict
Trivia: The film’s Los Angeles premiere was held on October 13, 2011. Based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Hunter S. Thompson. Johnny Depp suspended his sobriety for this film in order to experience the effects of liquors depicted.

November 2 – The Intouchables

Cast: François Cluzet, Omar Sy, Audrey Fleurot, Anne Le Ny, Clotilde Mollet, Alba Gaïa Bellugi, Joséphine de Meaux, Cyril Mendy, Christian Ameri, Grégoire Oestermann, Marie-Laure Descoureaux, Absa Dialou Toure, Salimata Kamate, Thomas Soliveres, Dorothée Brière-Meritte, Caroline Bourg, Émilie Caen
Director: Olivier Nakache, Éric Toledano
Studio: Gaumont, TF1 Films Production, Quad Productions, Chaocorp, Ten Films
Trivia: The film opened in Belgium and France on November 2, 2011, but did not receive a limited US release until May 25, 2012. The film won the César Award for Best Actor for Omar Sy and garnered seven further nominations.

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