Warner Bros. Pictures
As we move into the Fall season, Hollywood begins to think about adults returning to theaters after the summer and awards season. This week features a lot of movies that were never considered for awards, and a few that are what many refer to as ‘prestige pictures’. Directors and stars in this week’s lineup include Cecil B. DeMille, Boris Karloff, Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, William Wyler, James Cagney, Blake Edwards, Bing Crosby, Stanely Kramer, Catherine Deneuve, Jonathan Demme, Mary Tyler Moore, Robert Redford, Martin Scosese, Robert De Niro, Gene Wilder, Gene Hackman, Kathleen Turner, Emma Stone, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ben Affleck. Can you guess which of their movies were released this week? Read on to find out if you were right! And be sure to click on any of the red links to make a rental or purchase to help support Hotchka!
1920
September 17 – Over the Hill to the Poorhouse
- Cast: Mary Carr, Noel Tearle, Stephen Carr, William Welsh, Johnnie Walker, Vivienne Osborne, Dorothy Allen, Edna Murphy
- Director: Harry Millarde
- Studio: Fox Film Corporation
- Trivia: Also known as Over the Hill. Previously filmed in 1908, remade in 1931 as Over the Hill, and again in 1937 as Tears of a Mother. The 1920 version is preserved at Bois d’Arcy in France.
September 19 – Clothes
- Cast: Olive Tell, Crauford Kent, Cyril Chadwick, Zeffie Tilbury, Frank Currier
- Director: Fred Sittenham
- Studio: Metro Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the 1906 Broadway play by Channing Pollock and Avery Hopwood that featured a young supporting player named Douglas Fairbanks. A 1914 version of the film is lost, and all accounts suggest this version is lost as well.
September 19 – The Cradle of Courage
- Cast: William S. Hart, Ann Little, Tom Santschi, Gertrude Claire, Frank Thorwald, George Williams
- Director: Lambert Hillyer
- Studio: William S. Hart Productions, distributed by Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: Copies of the film survive at the Cinematheque Royale de Belgique (Brussels), Museum of Modern Art (New York City), Library of Congress, UCLA Film and Television Archive, and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
September 19 – Half an Hour
- Cast: Dorothy Dalton, Charles Richman, Albert L. Barrett, Frank Losee, H. Cooper Cliffe
- Director: Harley Knoles
- Studio: Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, distributed by Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the 1913 play by J.M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan.
September 19 – Headin’ Home
- Cast: Babe Ruth, William Sheer, Margaret Seddon, James A. Marcus, Ralf Harolde, Ann Brody, Ricca Allen, Sammy Blum, Raoul Walsh
- Director: Lawrence C. Windom
- Studio: Kessel & Baumann, distributed by Yankee Photo Corporation
September 19 – Honest Hutch
- Cast: Will Rogers, Mary Alden, Priscilla Bonner, Tully Marshall, Nick Cogley, Byron Munson
- Director: Clarence G. Badger
- Studio: Goldwyn Pictures
- Trivia: Based on Old Hutch Lives Up to It by Garret Smith.
September 19 – Little Miss Rebellion
- Cast: Dorothy Gish, Ralph Graves, George Siegmann, Riley Hatch, Marie Burke
- Director: George Fawcett
- Studio: New Art Film Company, Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, distributed by Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: It is not known if the film currently survives or is lost.
September 22 – You Can Never Tell
- Cast: Bebe Daniels, Jack Mulhall, Edward Martindel, Helen Dunbar, Harold Goodwin, Neely Edwards, Leo White, Milla Davenport, Graham Pettie, Gertrude Short
- Director: Chester M. Franklin
- Studio: Realart Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the short stories You Never Can Tell and Class by Grace Lovell Bryan. The film is preserved at the Library of Congress.
1930
September 20 – Madame Satan
- Cast: Kay Johnson, Reginald Denny, Lillian Roth, Roland Young
- Director: Cecil B. DeMille
- Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Trivia: DeMille’s daughter Katherine was an uncredited ‘Zeppelin Reveler’. DeMille can be heard as a Radio Newscaster. The Zeppelin sequences were to be filmed in Technicolor but the process was abandoned due to the issues with high-speed photography needed to film the miniatures. A ‘pre-code’ film, DeMille still had to work with censors to minimize nudity, drinking and other potentially objectionable elements of the script. Gloria Swanson was sought for the role of Gloria, but after the disastrous Queen Kelly (1929), which was never released theatrically in the US, Swanson was advised to only appear in films from her own production company. While the film did have some Technicolor sequences, it now exists only in black and white and, according to reviews at the time, one musical number is missing from the surviving prints.
1940
September 17 – Before I Hang
- Cast: Boris Karloff, Evelyn Keyes, Bruce Bennett, Edward Van Sloan
- Director: Nick Grinde
- Studio: Columbia Pictures
- Trivia: The film’s working title was The Wizard of Death.
September 19 – The Howards of Virginia
- Cast: Cary Grant, Martha Scott, Cedric Hardwicke, Richard Carlson, Alan Marshal
- Director: Frank Lloyd
- Studio: Columbia Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the book The Tree of Liberty written by Elizabeth Page. Much of the film was shot in Colonial Williamsburg which had just recently been restored or reconstructed. The Capitol, Raleigh Tavern and Governor’s Palace are featured prominently.
September 20 – King of the Royal Mounted (serial)
- Cast: Allan Lane, Robert Strange, Robert Kellard, Lita Conway, Herbert Rawlinson, Harry Cording, Bryant Washburn, Budd Buster
- Director: William Witney, John English
- Studio: Republic Pictures
- Trivia: The 12-chapter serial was edited into a feature length film and released in 1942 as The Yukon Patrol. At a cost of $137,874, it was the cheapest serial Republic produced in 1940. Republic found success with its films titled ‘King of …’ which led the studio to dub Roy Rogers ‘King of the Cowboys’.
- Cast: James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, Arthur Kennedy, Frank Craven, Anthony Quinn, Elia Kazan
- Director: Anatole Litvak, Jean Negulesco
- Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the 1936 novel of the same name by Aben Kandel. George Raft was meant to star opposite Cagney but was unavailable so the part went to Anthony Quinn. The tramp who ‘hosts’ the film is played by Frank Craven, a slight parody of his role as The Stage Manager in Our Town which he filmed prior to City for Conquest.
1950
September 19 – The Toast of New Orleans
- Cast: Mario Lanza, Kathryn Grayson, David Niven, J. Carrol Naish, Rita Moreno
- Director: Norman Taurog
- Studio: Metro Goldwyn Mayer, distributed by Loew’s Corporation
- Trivia: The film was made after Lanza’s successful film debut, That Midnight Kiss, as an opportunity for him to sing on the big screen again. Grayson also starred in that film. The film features several arias from well-known operas, and the song ‘Be My Love’ which was nominated for an Academy Award. Thirty-five sets were required for the film, and three adjoining soundstages were combined to create one of the largest indoor sets constructed for a musical. The finale features Lanza and Grayson performing in Madama Butterfly; Lanza made his operatic stage debut as Pinkerton in 1948. This was Moreno’s first role in a movie musical. The film premiered at the Loew’s State in New Orleans on September 9 before going nationwide on September 29.
1960
September 16 – High Time
- Cast: Bing Crosby, Fabian, Tuesday Weld, Nicole Maurey, Richard Beymer, Yvonne Craig, Gavin MacLeod
- Director: Blake Edwards
- Studio: Bing Crosby Productions, distributed by 20th Century Fox
- Trivia: The film was originally titled Big Daddy, with Gary Cooper set to star. Cooper’s terminal illness forced him to turn down the role, Crosby was signed and the script was tailored to meet his requirements. The film was then known as Daddy-O before being retitled. Simone Signoret was originally announced as the female lead. This was Fabian’s second film. Filming was interrupted by a Screen Actors Guild strike on March 7, 1960. Fabian’s manager reportedly wanted to buy the film so it could be completed, which columnist Hedda Hopper found ridiculous since Fabian had only been in the business for a year. Filming resumed on April 12. Beymer and Weld developed a romantic relationship during filming. The song ‘The Second Time Around’ was the last Crosby would introduce that would be nominated for a Best Original Song Oscar. It became a hit for Frank Sinatra, and was also recorded by Barbra Streisand for ‘The Movie Album’ (2003).
September 22 – The Dark at the Top of the Stairs
- Cast: Robert Preston, Dorothy McGuire, Eve Arden, Angela Lansbury, Shirley Knight, Lee Kinsolving, Frank Overton
- Director: Delbert Mann
- Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Knight earned an Oscar and Golden Globe nomination for best Supporting Actress. Kinsolving scored a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Knight was also nominated for the New Star of the Year — Actress Golden Globe. Mann received a Directors Guild nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Feature Film. The film is based on William Inge’s Tony Award winning 1957 play. To beat a looming actors strike, the film increased production to seven days a week to complete filming. The film launched the Fall season of Radio City Music Hall on September 22 before going wide on October 8.
1970
September 16 – R.P.M.
- Cast: Anthony Quinn, Ann-Margret, Gary Lockwood, Paul Winfield, Graham Jarvis
- Director: Stanley Kramer
- Studio: Columbia Pictures
- Trivia: The film’s title refers to the variable speed of a record player, the revolutions per minute.
1980
September 17 – The Last Metro
- Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu, Jean Poiret
- Director: François Truffaut
- Studio: Les Films du Carrosse, Andrea Films, SEDIF, SFP, TF1 Films Production, distributed by Gaumont, United Artists Classics
- Trivia: The film won ten Césars, the French equivalent to the Oscar, including Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Actor. It was nominated for Best Foreign Film by the Oscars and Golden Globes. The film was inspired by the biography of actor Jean Marias, and Truffaut’s uncle and grandfather who were part of the French Resistance. The film was meant to be part of a trilogy dealing with the world of entertainment. The first was 1973’s Day for Night, which dealt with the film world. A third script was completed focusing on the music hall world but was never filmed after the failure of Truffaut’s The Green Room, which forced him to look for a more commercial project. Depardieu was not a fan of Truffaut’s directing style and did not want to be in the film but he was convinced he should take the part. Most of the filming took place in an abandoned chocolate factory that had been converted into a studio.
September 19 – Melvin and Howard
- Cast: Paul Le Mat, Mary Steenburgen, Pamela Reed, Jason Robards, Michael J. Pollard, Dabney Coleman, Charles Napier
- Director: Jonathan Demme
- Studio: Universal Pictures
- Trivia: The film was inspired by the story of Melvin Dummar who was listed as the beneficiary of $156 million in a will allegedly handwritten by Howard Hughes that was found at the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. The real Melvin Dummar has a cameo appearance as a man behind a counter at a bus depot. Gloria Grahame had a short role as Mrs. Sisk but most of it was cut from the film. Steenbergen won both the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress, as well as several other national film awards. Robards was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar and Golden Globe. Le Mat earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor – Comedy or Musical. Bo Goldman won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Paul Thomas Anderson has called the film one of his favorites, and Robards’ last role was in Anderson’s Magnolia. SCTV parodied the movie in a sketch called ‘Melvin and Howards’ in which Melvin (Rick Moranis), after picking up Howard Hughes (Joe Flaherty), also picks up Howard Cosell (Eugene Levy), Congressman Howard Baker (Dave Thomas) and Curly Howard (John Candy).
September 19 – Mother’s Day
- Cast: Nancy Hendrickson, Deborah Luce, Tiana Pierce, Rose Ross, Michael McCleery
- Director: Charles Kaufman
- Studio: Duty Productions, Saga Films A.B., distributed by United Film Distribution Company
- Trivia: The film was banned in the UK for its depiction of violence and rape, and received a video release for the first time in 2015.
Paramount Pictures
September 19 – Ordinary People
- Cast: Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, Timothy Hutton, Elizabeth McGovern, M. Emmet Walsh, Dinah Manoff
- Director: Robert Redford
- Studio: Wildwood Enterprises, Inc, distributed by Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: The directorial debut of Redford. Based on the 1976 novel by Judith Guest. The film was nominated for six Oscars and won four: Best Picture, Best Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Supporting Actor (Hutton). It also won five Golden Globes: Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Actress in a Drama (Moore), Best Supporting Actor (Hutton) and Best Screenplay.
1990
September 19 – Goodfellas
- Cast: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino
- Director: Martin Scorsese
- Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Adapted from the non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi. Scorsese originally titled the film Wise Guy but he and Pileggi changed it because of the similarly titled Brian De Palma film Wise Guys, and the 1987 TV series Wiseguy. The film had its premiere on September 9, 1990 at the Venice Film Festival where Scorsese was awarded the Silver Lion for Best Director. The film received six Oscar nominations including Best Picture. The film was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry in 2000. Scorsese had no intention of making another mob movie, but saw a review of the book and, after reading it, felt it was the most honest portrayal of the lifestyle he’d ever read. Scorsese intended to make the film in 1988 but funds became available for him to make The Last Temptation of Christ, so he postponed it. Funding for the film was secured after Robert De Niro was cast. Scorsese says the film’s style was influenced by the first three minutes of Jules and Jim with extensive narration, quick edits, freeze frames and multiple locations. Joe Pesci has said the cast ad-libbed and improvised during rehearsals and Scorsese made transcripts, choosing the lines he liked best and incorporated them back into a revised script, most notably the ‘Do I amuse you?’ scene which came from Pesci’s actual experience as a waiter when he thought he was complimenting a customer who happened to be in the mob by saying he was funny. The comment was not taken well. The cast did not meet Henry Hill, the focal point of the movie, until a few weeks before the premiere. Liotta met him in an undisclosed city, and Hill told him he loved the movie. Scorsese wanted the film’s violence to be realistic and horrible but he had to trim ten frames of blood to secure an R-rating from the MPAA. At $25 million, it was Scorsese’s most expensive film to date, and with working for a major studio it was also the first time he was obliged to preview the film for test audiences twice. At the first screening, there were 40 walkouts in the first ten minutes. The favorite scene for the test audiences was the ‘Do I amuse you?’ scene. There is no traditional score for the film, just contemporary or older music that Scorsese felt fit the scene, with a lot of the non-dialog scenes filmed to playback of the songs that would be used in the film. Some of the songs were pre-written into the script while Scorsese discovered others during editing.
September 20 – The Big Steal
- Cast: Ben Mendelsohn, Claudia Karvan, Steve Bisley, Marshall Napier, Damon Herriman
- Director: Nadia Tass
- Studio: Distributed by Hoyts Distribution, Umbrella Entertainment
- Trivia: The film won three Australian Film Institute awards. The film’s original title was Mark Clark Van Ark. The film was released in Australia on September 20 but appears to not have had a US theatrical release.
September 21 – Don’t Tell Her It’s Me
- Cast: Steve Guttenberg, Jami Gertz, Kyle MacLachlan, Shelley Long
- Director: Malcolm Mowbray
- Studio: Hemdale Film Corporation, MGM
- Trivia: The film is also known as The Boyfriend School, and is adapted from the book of the same title by Sarah Bird.
September 21 – Funny About Love
- Cast: Gene Wilder, Christine Lahti, Mary Stuart Masterson, Robert Prosky, Stephen Tobolowsky, Wendie Malick, Anne Jackson, Susan Ruttan
- Director: Leonard Nimoy
- Studio: Duffy Films, Avnet/Kerner Productions, distributed by Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: This was Wilder’s first role as a romantic lead. Based on the Esquire article ‘Convention of the Love Goddesses’ by Bob Greene. The film originally featured three love interests for Wilder’s character, with the third played by Farrah Fawcett. After a test screening, all of Fawcett’s scenes were cut and the film was re-edited. The film holds a 0% approval rating from seven critics, including Janet Maslin and Roger Ebert, on Rotten Tomatoes.
September 21 – Narrow Margin
- Cast: Gene Hackman, Anne Archer, James B. Sikking, J. T. Walsh, M. Emmet Walsh
- Director: Peter Hyams
- Studio: Carolco Pictures, distributed by TriStar Pictures
- Trivia: Loosely based on the 1952 film The Narrow Margin. Hyams saw the film on television late one night and thought it would be ideal for a remake. Hyams wanted the train to be traveling through a remote location so people couldn’t just jump off and get a rental car, so he set the film in the Canadian Rockies. A locomotive and 12 privately owned passenger railcars were used for filming, with some distant exterior shots employing a model train.
2000
September 22 – Prince of Central Park
- Cast: Kathleen Turner, Danny Aiello, Cathy Moriarty, Harvey Keitel
- Director: John Leekley
- Studio: Keystone Studios
- Trivia: Remake of the 1977 TV movie The Prince of Central Park with Ruth Gordon. Both were based on the novel by Evan Rhodes. Rhodes adapted the novel into a Broadway play with Jo Anne Worley in 1989, but it was so poorly received it closed after four performances. A production prior to the Broadway opening played in Miami Beach and starred Nanette Fabray. Many thought if Fabray had stayed with the show it would have lasted longer on Broadway.
September 22 – The Specials
- Cast: Thomas Haden Church, James Gunn, Rob Lowe, Jamie Kennedy, Judy Greer, Sean Gunn, Paget Brewster, Jordan Ladd, Jim Zulevic, Kelly Coffield, Taryn Manning, Jenna Fischer, Melissa Joan Hart, Michael Weatherly
- Director: Craig Mazin
- Studio: Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, Mindfire Entertainment, distributed by Fluid Entertainment, Regent Entertainment
September 22 – Urban Legends: Final Cut
- Cast: Jennifer Morrison, Matthew Davis, Hart Bochner, Joseph Lawrence, Anthony Anderson, Loretta Devine, Anson Mount, Eva Mendes
- Director: John Ottman
- Studio: Original Film, Phoenix Pictures, distributed by Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Releasing
2010
September 17 – Alpha and Omega
- Cast (voice): Justin Long, Hayden Panettiere, Dennis Hopper, Danny Glover, Christina Ricci
- Director: Anthony Bell, Ben Gluck
- Studio: Crest Animation Productions, distributed by Lionsgate Films
- Trivia: Premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 8, 2010. The film was dedicated to Hopper, who died four months before the film was released. Despite negative reviews, the film made money at the box office and spawned a series of direct-to-video sequels. The story was meant to have a darker tone but Lionsgate wanted a more family-friendly film which resulted in a major re-write. Actors who were considered for the film include Jason Segel, Keri Russell, Jeff Bridges, David Koechner, Michael Cera, Carla Gugino, Bronson Pinchot (whose role was given to Hopper) and Helen Hunt. The actors would actually perform the roles with the footage then sent to the animation studio in India.
September 17 – Devil
- Cast: Chris Messina, Logan Marshall-Green, Geoffrey Arend, Bojana Novakovic, Jenny O’Hara, Bokeem Woodbine, Matt Craven, Jacob Vargas, Caroline Dhavernas
- Director: John Erick Dowdle
- Studio: Media Rights Capital, The Night Chronicles, distributed by Universal Pictures
September 17 – Easy A
- Cast: Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Cam Gigandet, Lisa Kudrow, Malcolm McDowell, Aly Michalka, Stanley Tucci, Fred Armisen
- Director: Will Gluck
- Studio: Olive Bridge Entertainment, distributed by Screen Gems
- Trivia: The film premiered at TIFF on September 11, 2010. Partially inspired by the 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Screenwriter Bert V. Royal had planned to adapt three literary classics — The Scarlet Letter, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Mystery of Edwin Drood — into films set at the same high school with some characters appearing in multiple films. The song ‘Pocketful of Sunshine’, which was a running joke in the film, was not in the original script. Director Gluck’s favorite movie is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and several homages are included in the film. The film was shot in Ojai, California on actual locations, included houses and the high school. No film sets were used. Emma Stone won Best Comedic Performance at the MTV Movie Awards. A spin-off of the film was announced on June 20,2019.
September 17 – Catfish
- Cast: Nev Schulman, Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
- Director: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
- Studio: Relativity Media, Rogue Pictures, distributed by Universal Pictures
- Trivia: The film’s title comes from the practice of shipping live cod with catfish from Asia to North America to keep the cod active in their tanks to ensure the quality of the fish upon arrival. Without the catfish, the cod were inactive and the flesh was mushy. The husband of Angela states she acts as a ‘catfish’, keeping the lives of those around her interesting. The film spawned the MTV series which premiered on November 12, 2012 and is still in production today. The film has been subject to two lawsuits concerning songs used in the film without proper attribution, with Relativity concluding the film will never be profitable due to the suits.
September 17 – Jack Goes Boating
- Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Ryan, John Ortiz, Daphne Rubin-Vega
- Director: Philip Seymour Hoffman
- Studio: Big Beach, distributed by Overture Films, Relativity Media
- Trivia: The only film directed by Hoffman. Based on the 2007 play bu Robert Glaudini. Most of the play’s cast reprise their roles in the film with the exception of Beth Cole, who was replaced with Amy Ryan but has a cameo as a teacher. The film premiered at Sundance on January 23, 2010.
September 17 – Leaves of Grass
- Cast: Edward Norton, Keri Russell, Tim Blake Nelson, Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon
- Director: Tim Blake Nelson
- Studio: First Look Studios, distributed by Millennium Films
- Trivia: The film premiered at TIFF on September 14, 2009, followed by a limited release on six screens on April 2, 2010.
September 17 – The Town
- Cast: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively, Titus Welliver, Pete Postlethwaite, Chris Cooper
- Director: Ben Affleck
- Studio: Legendary Pictures, GK Films, Thunder Road Pictures, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 8, 2010, and had a screening at Boston’s Fenway Park before its national release. Based on the 2004 Chuck Hogan novel Prince of Thieves, which is based on actual events. Renner earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. Warner Bros. was presented with the novel in 2006 producer Graham King with Adrian Lyne set to direct. Three attempts at a script to fit WB’s requirements for a two-hour movie with a $37 million budget failed. By 2008, it was decided Ben Affleck would direct after the success of Gone Baby Gone.
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