Hotchka Movies by the Decade feature #85 :: March 9•15

Prana Film

There is the belief that films released early in the year often get overlooked at awards time because of the films that came out later in the year and are more fresh in the voters’ minds. This week seems to disprove that notion with several films scoring nominations and wins from the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs and the Cannes and Berlin Film Festivals. On the flip side, this week also includes a few box office bombs, including one that ended up costing Disney $200 million. This week also marks the 100th anniversary of a groundbreaking and influential film that was nearly erased from history. Read more about all of this week’s new releases, and tell us if any of your favorites debuted this week!

1922

March 11 – Cops

• Cast: Buster Keaton, Joe Roberts, Virginia Fox, Edward F. Cline
• Director: Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton
• Production Company: First National Pictures Inc.
• Trivia: The short was released in Canada in April 1922, and in the UK in May 1923. The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1997. The short was restored in 2015 by Lobster Films.

March 15 – Nosferatu

• Cast: Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schröder, Alexander Granach, Georg H. Schnell, Ruth Landshoff, John Gottowt, Gustav Botz, Max Nemetz, Wolfgang Heinz, Hardy von Francois, Albert Venohr, Guido Herzfeld, Karl Etlinger, Fanny Schreck
• Director: F. W. Murnau
• Production Company: Prana Film, distributed by Film Arts Guild
• Trivia: An unauthorized and unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. The German gala premiere was held on March 4, 1922. The film made its UK debut on December 16, 1928 as Dracula. The US debut occurred on June 1, 1929 under the title Nosferatu the Vampire. The film’s full title is Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (German: Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens). Stoker’s heirs sued over the adaptation, and a court ruling ordered all copies of the film to be destroyed. However, several prints of Nosferatu survived, and the film came to be regarded as an influential masterpiece of cinema. This was the only film produced by Prana, which declared bankruptcy shortly after the film’s release. As there was only one camera available due to budget restrictions, there was only one original film negative. An unauthorized, re-edited sound version of the film was produced in 1930 and released in Vienna, Austria. It contained original, unused footage from the film as well as newly shot footage. F.W. Murnau’s name is not included in the credits. The original film was banned in Sweden due to ‘excessive horror’; the ban was lifted in 1972. The concept of sunlight being lethal to vampires originated with this film. Count Orlok/Nosferatu is only seen for about nine minutes in the entire film, making his first appearance 21 minutes in.

1932

March 11 – Dancers in the Dark

• Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Jack Oakie, William Collier, Jr., Eugene Pallette, Lyda Roberti, George Raft, Paul Fix
• Director: David Burton
• Production Company: Paramount Pictures
• Trivia: Based on a play, The Jazz King, by James Creely. The play was also known as St Louis Blues and Master of Ceremonies. The film was released in London on May 24, 1932, with a general UK release starting on November 24. Filming started under the title The Jazz King.

1942

March 12 – A Garibaldian in the Convent

• Cast: Leonardo Cortese, María Mercader, Carla Del Poggio, Fausto Guerzoni, Elvira Betrone, Clara Auteri Pepe, Dina Romano, Olga Vittoria Gentilli, Federico Collino, Armando Migliari, Lamberto Picasso, Vittorio De Sica, Achille Majeroni, Miguel del Castillo, Evelina Paoli, Adele Mosso, Gilda Marchiò, Virginia Pasquali, Licia D’Alba, Tatiana Farnese
• Director: Vittorio De Sica
• Production Company: Cristallo Film, Industria Cinematografica Italiana
• Trivia: The film was screened at the Museum Of Modern Art in New York City on October 8, 1991.

March 13 – Song of the Islands

• Cast: Betty Grable, Victor Mature, Jack Oakie, Thomas Mitchell, George Barbier, Hilo Hattie, Billy Gilbert, Lillian Porter
• Director: Walter Lang
• Production Company: 20th Century Fox
• Trivia: The film’s premiere was held in Miami on February 5, 1942. It then opened in New York City on March 11 ahead of its general US release. Betty Grable was already a popular star at Fox, and with the success of this film the studio kept giving Grable lavish Technicolor musicals and an increasing salary. John Payne was originally cast as her co-star but dropped out for another film. He was replaced with Victor Mature, who had to drop out of another film (replaced by Cesar Romero in Highway to Hell). Grable and Mature (dubbed by Ben Gage) sang the duet ‘Blue Shadows and White Gardenias’ which was cut from the film. While set on a Pacific Island in 1942, there is not a single mention of World War II.

Universal Pictures

March 13 – The Ghost of Frankenstein

• Cast: Lon Chaney Jr., Cedric Hardwicke, Ralph Bellamy, Lionel Atwill, Bela Lugosi, Evelyn Ankers, Janet Ann Gallow, Barton Yarborough, Olaf Hytten, Doris Lloyd, Leyland Hodgson, Holmes Herbert, Lawrence Grant, Otto Hoffman, Dwight Frye, Harry Cording
• Director: Erle C. Kenton
• Production Company: Universal Pictures
• Trivia: Fourth film in the ‘Frankenstein’ series. This was the first film in which Lon Chaney Jr. played the Monster. Boris Karloff was planned to reprise the role of the Monster but had a scheduling conflict with Arsenic and Old Lace on Broadway (Karloff actually had no intention of returning to the role of the Monster). Chaney experienced a severe allergic reaction to the makeup and missed several days of filming. Basil Rathbone’s character from Son of Frankenstein was in the original script but did not appear in the movie. Denmark banned the film when Universal tried to release it there in 1948. While the film follows the events of Son of Frankenstein, it notoriously revives several characters that died in that film including the Monster, Ygor and two councilmen. Their revivals were never sufficiently explained. A brief shot the of the smoldering Monster staggering across a field after escaping from the lab was shot but not used. This is the last of the ‘Frankenstein’ films to feature the Monster solo (he’s paired with other Universal Monsters in subsequent films), and the last to feature a ‘Dr. Frankenstein’ character. It’s also the only ‘Frankenstein’ film in which a member of the Frankenstein family is killed. The ghost of the title appears for just two minutes.

1952

March 14 – Deadline – U.S.A.

• Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ethel Barrymore, Kim Hunter, Ed Begley, Warren Stevens, Paul Stewart, Martin Gabel, Joseph De Santis, Joyce MacKenzie, Audrey Christie, Fay Baker, Jim Backus
• Director: Richard Brooks
• Production Company: 20th Century Fox
• Trivia: The film was released in Canada on May 10, 1952, and in the UK on May 22. Originally titled The Newspaper Story. The newspaper in the film, The Day, was based on the New York Sun edited by Benjamin Day. James Dean appears in a tiny non-speaking role in the film as a press boy. Gregory Peck and Richard Widmark were considered for the role played by Humphrey Bogart.

1962

March 9 – Knife in the Water

• Cast: Leon Niemczyk, Jolanta Umecka, Zygmunt Malanowicz
• Director: Roman Polanski
• Production Company: Zespol Filmowy
• Trivia: The film opened in Poland on March 9, 1962. It received a UK release on January 19, 1963, and opened in the US on October 28, 1963. Roman Polanski’s feature debut, and his only Polish-language feature to date. Oscar nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, the first Polish film to receive the honor. The sailboat on which the film was shot was large enough for the three actors, but the crew often had to hang over the side in harnesses. Polanski received an offer to remake the film in English with Hollywood actors but he didn’t want to repeat himself. Polanski wanted to play the young hitchhiker but producers turned him down, saying he was not attractive enough. Polanski did, however, dub the actor’s voice which was much too deep for the character.

March 9 – State Fair

• Cast: Pat Boone, Bobby Darin, Pamela Tiffin, Ann-Margret, Tom Ewell, Alice Faye, Wally Cox
• Director: José Ferrer
• Production Company: 20th Century Fox
• Trivia: A remake of the 1933 film State Fair and the 1945 film State Fair, and an adaptation of the 1932 novel by Phil Stong. Ann-Margret’s second film, although it was the first film she shot but A Pocketful of Miracles was released first. Alice Faye came out of retirement to play the mother; it was her final film. A Dallas teenager named Marvin Lee Aday made his film debut as an extra. He went on to become Meat Loaf. Wally Cox’s first film. Director José Ferrer suggested the brunette Ann-Margret dye her hair red, and she liked it so much it became her signature hair color. Fox withdrew the previous two films from distribution to avoid confusion with this one. The 1933 version was thought lost until a print was discovered in the 1990s. The 1945 version was shown on television under the title It Happened One Summer.

March 9 – The Awful Dr. Orloff

• Cast: Conrado San Martín, Diana Lorys, Howard Vernon, Perla Cristal, Mary Silvers, Ricardo Valle, Mara Laso, Venancio Muro, Félix Dafauce, Faustino Cornejo, Manuel Vázquez, Juan Antonio Riquelme, Fernando C. Montes, Elena María Tejeiro, Javier de Rivera, Carmen Porcel, Rafael Hernández, Marisa Paredes, Juan García Tiendra, Pilar Gómez Ferrer, Tito García, Jesús Franco
• Director: Jesús Franco
• Production Company: Hispamer Film, Plaza Films Intl., Eurociné, distributed by Delta Films
• Trivia: The film was not released in the US until December 2, 1964. The original Spanish title, Gritos en la noche, translates to Screams in the Night. Considered the earliest Spanish horror film. Spanish censors were worried the film would damage the country’s reputation so Franco set it in France.

March 10 – Journey to the Seventh Planet

• Cast: John Agar, Carl Ottosen, Peter Monch, Ove Sprogøe, Louis Miehe-Renard, Ann Smyrner, Greta Thyssen, Ulla Moritz, Mimi Heinrich, Annie Birgit Garde, Bente Juel
• Director: Sidney W. Pink
• Production Company: Cinemagic Inc., distributed by American International Pictures (U.S.)
• Trivia: Filmed with a budget of $75,000. The film is set in September 2001. Some of the shoddy Danish special effects were replaced with newly produced footage, and some monster footage was replaced with tinted black-and-white footage from Earth vs the Spider. Another FX shot was reused from The Angry Red Planet.

1972

March 9 – Tales from the Crypt

• Cast: Ralph Richardson, Geoffrey Bayldon, Joan Collins, Martin Boddey, Chloe Franks, Oliver MacGreevy, Ian Hendry, Susan Denny, Angela Grant, Peter Fraser, Frank Forsyth, Robin Phillips, David Markham, Peter Cushing, Robert Hutton, Manning Wilson, Clifford Earl, Edward Evans, Irene Gawne, Stafford Medhurst, Richard Greene, Barbara Murray, Roy Dotrice, Jane Sofiano, Peter Thomas, Hedger Wallace, Nigel Patrick, Patrick Magee, George Herbert, Harry Locke, Tony Wall
• Director: Freddie Francis
• Production Company: Amicus Productions, Metromedia Producers Corporation, distributed by Cinerama Releasing Corporation
• Trivia: Based on stories from EC Comics . The film premiered in New York City on March 8, 1972. It was released in the UK on September 28. Ralph Richardson, as the Crypt Keeper, filmed his role in a day.

March 10 – Frogs

• Cast: Ray Milland, Sam Elliott, Joan Van Ark, Adam Roarke, Lynn Borden, Dale Willingham, Hal Hodges, Judy Pace, Mae Mercer, David Gilliam, Nicholas Cortland, George Skaff, Hollis Irving, Lance Taylor Sr., Carolyn Fitzsimmons, Robert Sanders
• Director: George McCowan
• Production Company: American International Pictures
• Trivia: The film was released in the UK on june 25, 1973. Many of the 500 frogs and 100 South American toads purchased for use in the film escaped during production. Joan Van Ark’s film debut.

March 10 – Silent Running

• Cast: Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin, Jesse Vint, Mark Persons, Cheryl Sparks, Larry Whisenhunt
• Director: Douglas Trumbull
• Production Company: Universal Pictures
• Trivia: The 70mm version of the film was released in the UK on September 28, 1972. Directorial debut of Douglas Trumbull. Special effects artist Trumbull and Stanley Kubrick intended to include the Saturn sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey but the technology was not yet advanced enough so Trumbull included it in this film. The interiors were filmed aboard the decommissioned Korean War aircraft carrier USS Valley Forge which was scrapped after filming completed. The model of the spaceship Valley Forge was 25 feet long. Several shots of the Valley Forge and its sister ships were reused in Battlestar Galactica. The three drones were played by four bilateral amputees, and the 20 lb drone costumes were custom made for each actor. The soundtrack was written by Peter Schickele, aka P.D.Q. Bach.

Warner Bros. Pictures

March 10 – What’s Up, Doc?

• Cast: Barbra Streisand, Ryan O’Neal, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, Austin Pendleton, Michael Murphy, Philip Roth, Sorrell Booke, Stefan Gierasch, Mabel Albertson, Liam Dunn, John Hillerman, George Morfogen, Graham Jarvis, Randy Quaid, M. Emmet Walsh
• Director: Peter Bogdanovich
• Production Company: Saticoy Productions, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
• Trivia: Very loosely based on the novel A Glimpse of Tiger by Herman Raucher. The film premiered in New York City on March 9, 1972. It received a UK release on August 13. The third highest grossing film of 1972, behind The Godfather and The Poseidon Adventure. The San Francisco car chase sequence accounted for approximately a quarter of the film’s $4 million budget. The production did not have permission from the city to drive cars down the concrete steps in Alta Plaza Park in San Francisco; these were badly damaged during filming and still show the scars today. Sorrell Booke nearly drowned in San Francisco Bay at the end of the sequence. In the chase scene, a Chinese marching band is inexplicably playing the Mexican tune ‘La Cucaracha’ (although, in certain prints, it sounds more like ‘Deep in the Heart of Texas’) on German glockenspiels. During the chase scene, a black limo loses its hood during a hard turn, which was an accident but kept in the film. Madeline Kahn, in her feature film debut, was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress. The first American film to credit the stunt people. The delivery boy, whose bike Judy (Streisand) steals, was Ryan O’Neal’s brother Kevin. The woman she sits next to on the plane is their mother Patricia. Streisand’s character was fashioned after the type of characters Carole Lombard played. Kenneth Mars ad-libbed almost all of his dialogue, which drove Bogdanovich crazy.

March 12 – Godzilla vs. Gigan

• Cast: Hiroshi Ishikawa, Tomoko Umeda, Yuriko Hishimi, Minoru Takashima, Zan Fujita, Toshiaki Nishizawa, Kunio Murai, Gen Shimizu, Kuniko Ashihara, Zeko Nakamura, Akio Muto, Haruo Nakajima, Kenpachiro Satsuma, Koetsu Omiya, Kanta Ina
• Director: Jun Fukuda
• Production Company: Toho-Eizo, distributed by Toho
• Trivia: The film opened in Japan on March 12, 1972. It opened in Honolulu, Hawaii on March 19, 1975, but did not get a general US release until August 1977 under the title Godzilla on Monster Island. Released in Japan as Chikyū Kōgeki Meirei: Gojira tai Gaigan, translating to Earth Destruction Directive: Godzilla vs. Gigan. Twelfth film in the ‘Godzilla’ franchise. It is the last film in which Godzilla was portrayed by Haruo Nakajima after playing the character since the original 1954 film. The original version of the film featured Godzilla and Anguirus conversing through speech bubbles. These were omitted from the American release and the monsters’ ‘voices’ were dubbed into English. This was the first film in which Godzilla was seen bleeding.

March 15 – Corky

• Cast: Robert Blake, Charlotte Rampling, Patrick O’Neal, Christopher Connelly, Pamela Payton-Wright, Ben Johnson, Laurence Luckinbill, Paul Stevens, Bobby Allison, Donnie Allison, Buddy Baker, Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Charlie Briggs, Jack Garner, Lulu Roman, John Marriott, Glen Wood
• Director: Leonard Horn
• Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
• Trivia: Producer Bruce Geller was so upset at post-production changes made to the film by MGM management that he asked for his name to be taken off the film. This was refused. Roddy McDowall had a role as an appliance salesman but his scenes were cut.

March 15 – Slaughterhouse-Five

• Cast: Michael Sacks, Ron Leibman, Eugene Roche, Sharon Gans, Valerie Perrine, Holly Near, Perry King, Kevin Conway, Friedrich von Ledebur, Ekkehardt Belle, Sorrell Booke, Roberts Blossom, John Dehner, Gary Waynesmith, Richard Schaal, Gilmer McCormick, Stan Gottlieb, Karl-Otto Alberty, Henry Bumstead, Lucille Benson, John Wood
• Director: George Roy Hill
• Production Company: Universal Pictures, distributed by Cinema International Corporation
• Trivia: Based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Kurt Vonnegut. The film won the Jury Prize at the 25th Cannes Film Festival, a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and a Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film. Michael Sacks was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male for his portrayal of Billy Pilgrim. Sacks is actually 11 months older than his on-screen daughter, played by Holly Near, and four months younger than Perry King, who plays his son. Sharon Gans, who played their mother, was six years older than King and seven years older than Near. Vonnegut wrote that he loved this ‘flawless translation’ of his novel. Art Garfunkel claimed he was offered the Sacks role of Billy Pilgrim but turned it down, a decision he regretted after seeing the film.

1982

March 12 – Missing

• Cast: Sissy Spacek, Jack Lemmon, Melanie Mayron, John Shea, Charles Cioffi, David Clennon, Richard Venture, Jerry Hardin, Richard Bradford, Joe Regalbuto, Keith Szarabajka, John Doolittle, Janice Rule, Ward Costello, Hansford Rowe, Tina Romero, Richard Whiting
• Director: Costa-Gavras
• Production Company: PolyGram Pictures, distributed by Universal Pictures
• Trivia: Adapted from the book The Execution of Charles Horman: An American Sacrifice (1978) by Thomas Hauser. The film opened in limited US release on February 12, 1982. It was released in the UK on July 23. The film was awarded the Palme d’Or at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival while Lemmon won the Best Actor prize. It received four Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Actress, winning Best Adapted Screenplay. The film was banned in Chile during Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, even though neither Chile nor Pinochet is ever mentioned by name. First Hollywood film of Greek director Costa-Gavras.

March 12 – Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip

• Cast: Richard Pryor, Gene Cross, Julie Hampton
• Director: Joe Layton
• Production Company: Rastar Pictures, distributed by Columbia Pictures
• Trivia: The most financially lucrative of the comedian’s concert films. The film’s budget was $4.5 million, $3 million of which was Pryor’s salary. Edited together from two performances, with most of the footage coming from the second night as Pryor lost his train of thought the first night, forgetting some of the material and ending the performance early.

1992

March 13 – American Me

• Cast: Edward James Olmos, Panchito Gomez, William Forsythe, Steve Wilcox, Pepe Serna, Richard Coca, Daniel A. Haro, Sal Lopez, Vira Montes, Danny De La Paz, Daniel Villarreal, Evelina Fernández, Roberto Martín Márquez, Dyana Ortelli, Jacob Vargas, Eric Close, Rigoberto Jimenez, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Robby Robinson, Ron Thompson, Rafael H. Robledo, William Smith
• Director: Edward James Olmos
• Production Company: YOY Productions, Olmos Productions, The Sean Daniel Company
• Trivia: The film was released in the UK in January 1993. Edward James Olmos’ first film as director. Parts of the film were shot in Folsom State Prison and California Institution for Men. Shooting lasted for three weeks and included 800 inmates and guards, who appeared as extras. Scenes shot in Los Angeles included gang members as extras. Many of the film’s deleted scenes are included in the trailer. First feature film for Eric Close. Michael Biehn was originally considered for that role.

March 13 – Article 99

• Cast: Ray Liotta, Kiefer Sutherland, Forest Whitaker, Lea Thompson, John C. McGinley, John Mahoney, Keith David, Kathy Baker, Eli Wallach, Troy Evans, Noble Willingham, Lynne Thigpen, Jeffrey Tambor, Rutanya Alda
• Director: Howard Deutch
• Production Company: Orion Pictures
• Trivia: The film was released in the UK in April 1993. Filmed on location in Kansas City, Missouri.

March 13 – Howards End

• Cast: Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham Carter, Vanessa Redgrave, Joseph Bennett, Prunella Scales, Adrian Ross Magenty, Jo Kendall, Anthony Hopkins, James Wilby, Jemma Redgrave, Ian Latimer, Samuel West, Simon Callow, Mary Nash, Siegbert Prawer, Susie Lindeman, Nicola Duffett, Atalanta White, Gerald Paris, Mark Payton, David Delaney, Mary McWilliams, Barbara Hicks, Rodney Rymell, Luke Parry, Antony Gilding, Peter Cellier, Crispin Bonham Carter, Patricia Lawrence, Margery Mason, Jim Bowden, Alan James, Jocelyn Cobb, Peter Darling, Brian Lipson, Barr Heckstall-Smith, Mark Tandy, Andrew St. Clair, Anne Lambton, Emma Godfrey, Duncan Brown, Iain Kelly, Allie Byrne, Sally Geoghegan, Paula Stockbridge, Bridget Duvall, Lucy Freeman, Harriet Stewart, Tina Leslie
• Director: James Ivory
• Production Company: Merchant Ivory Productions, Sumitomo Corporation, Imagica Corporation, Cinema Ten, JSB Japan Satellite Broadcasting, Inc., Ide Productions, FilmFour International, distributed by Sony Pictures Classics (United States), Palace Pictures (United Kingdom)[
• Trivia: Based on the 1910 novel of the same name by E. M. Forster. The film premiered in New York City on February 27, 1992 before entering into general US release on March 13. The London premiere was held on April 28, 1972 followed by the general UK release on May 1. The film was released in Canada on May 8. The first film to be released by Sony Pictures Classics. Winner of the 45th Anniversary Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Received nine Oscar nominations including Best Picture, winning three: Best Actress (Thompson), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Art Direction. It also earned eleven BAFTA nominations, winning two: Best Picture and Best Actress. Thompson actually received thirteen different nominations for her role, winning them all.

20th Century Fox

March 13 – My Cousin Vinny

• Cast: Joe Pesci, Ralph Macchio, Marisa Tomei, Mitchell Whitfield, Fred Gwynne, Lane Smith, Austin Pendleton, Bruce McGill, Maury Chaykin, Paulene Myers, Raynor Scheine, James Rebhorn, Chris Ellis, Michael Simpson, Lou Walker, Kenny Jones
• Director: Jonathan Lynn
• Production Company: Palo Vista Productions, Peter V. Miller Investment Corp., distributed by 20th Century Fox
• Trivia: The film was released in the UK on July 17, 1992. Fred Gwynne’s final film appearance. Principal location of filming was Monticello, Georgia. Marisa Tomei won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Lawyers have praised the accuracy of My Cousin Vinny‘s depiction of courtroom procedure and trial strategy. When Vinny knocks over the judge’s chess board, it was an accident but the director thought it funny and left it in the film. The misunderstanding over the word ‘youts’ came from a real conversation between Joe Pesci and director Jonathan Lynn, who is British and had a hard time understanding Pesci’s New York accent.

March 13 – Shakes the Clown

• Cast: Bobcat Goldthwait, Julie Brown, Adam Sandler, Blake Clark, Tom Kenny, Paul Dooley, Kathy Griffin, Robin Williams, Paul Kozlowski, Dan Spencer, Jeremy Kramer, Jack Gallagher, Bruce Baum, Greg Travis, Florence Henderson, Scott Herriott, LaWanda Page, Martin Charles Warner, Johnny Silver, Tim Kazurinsky, Sydney Lassick, Tony V
• Director: Bobcat Goldthwait
• Production Company: IRS Media
• Trivia: Prior to its general release, the film screened at the Boston Film Festival on August 28, 1991 and at the Chicago International Film Festival in October 1991. After its release, it was also screened at the USA Film Festival on April 29, 1992. Robin Williams was credited under the pseudonym ‘Marty Fromage’. Upon its release, the film earned $115,000 against a $1.4 million budget. It has since become a cult classic. Paul Dooley agreed to do the film on the spot when Bobcat Goldthwaite approached him at an airport and explained the part to him.

March 13 – Utz

• Cast: Armin Mueller-Stahl, Brenda Fricker, Peter Riegert, Paul Scofield, Gaye Brown, Miriam Karlin, Pauline Melville, Adrian Brine, Peter Mackriel, Caroline Guthrie, Clark Dunbar
• Director: George Sluizer
• Production Company: First Run Features
• Trivia: The film is based on the 1988 novel Utz by Bruce Chatwin, who also co-wrote the screenplay. The film was screened at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 21, 1992 before it’s UK release on March 13. The film also screened at TIFF on September 16, 1992, and went into release in the US on February 12, 1993. Armin Mueller-Stahl won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival.

2002

March 15 – Talk to Her

• Cast: Javier Cámara, Darío Grandinetti, Leonor Watling, Rosario Flores, Mariola Fuentes, Geraldine Chaplin, Pina Bausch, Malou Airaudo, Caetano Veloso, Roberto Álvarez, Elena Anaya, Lola Dueñas, Adolfo Fernández, Ana Fernández, Chus Lampreave, Paz Vega, Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes
• Director: Pedro Almodóvar
• Production Company: El Deseo S.A., distributed by Warner Sogefilms
• Trivia: The film opened in Spain on March 15, 2002. In the US, it was screened at the Telluride Film Festival on April 30, then opened in the UK on August 23. It screened at TIFF on September 6, 2002, at the New York Film Festival on October 13, and at AFI Fest on November 17. The film played in New York City and Los Angeles for awards consideration, went into limited US release on December 25 — with a general Canadian release as well — and then expanded on February 14, 2003. Winner of the BAFTA for Best Film Not in the English Language and the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, while Almodóvar won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The character of Benigno is based on Pedro Almodóvar’s close friend Roberto Benigni.

2012

Walt Disney Pictures

March 9 – John Carter

• Cast: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Mark Strong, Ciarán Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Bryan Cranston, Daryl Sabara, Polly Walker, Thomas Haden Church, Willem Dafoe, David Schwimmer, Jon Favreau, Don Stark, Nicholas Woodeson, Art Malik
• Director: Andrew Stanton
• Production Company: Walt Disney Pictures
• Trivia: Based on A Princess of Mars (1912), the first book in the ‘Barsoom’ series of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The film premiered in Los Angeles on February 22, 2012, then opened in international markets on March 7 and 8 before its general US, UK and Canadian release on March 9. Andrew Stanton’s live-action directorial debut after directing a series of animated films for Pixar. At a cost of $350 million (including marketing and distribution costs), it is one of the most expensive films ever made. Disney lost $200 million on the film, making it one of the biggest box office bombs in history, forcing Disney to cancel two planned sequels. Stanton claimed he had stayed within budget, but admitted he’d reshot most of the film twice. Stanton often relied on advice from other Pixar animators than people with live-action experience. The chairman of Disney at the time had no feature film experience, and the new marketing team and production executives had little more. A decision to shorten the film’s original title, John Carter of Mars, stemmed from the title character not actually being ‘of Mars’ until the end of the film, and because of a study the studio conducted showing that movies with ‘Mars’ in the title often did poorly at the box office, something Disney experienced with the animated Mars Needs Moms in 2011. Willem Dafoe accepted the role of Tars Tarkas because he thought it was interesting for him to act while wearing pajamas and walking on stilts.

March 9 – Silent House

• Cast: Elizabeth Olsen, Adam Trese, Eric Sheffer Stevens, Julia Taylor Ross, Adam Barnett, Haley Murphy
• Director: Chris Kentis, Laura Lau
• Production Company: LD Entertainment, Elle Driver Productions, Eye for an Eye Filmworks, Tazora Films, Cinema Management Group, distributed by Open Road Films, Universal Pictures
• Trivia: A remake of the 2010 Uruguayan film, La Casa Muda. The film was screened at Sundance on January 21, 2011. It also opened in Canada on March 9, 2012, and in the UK on May 4. The film is notable for its ‘real time’ footage and the manufactured appearance of a single continuous shot. This was the third film made by Elizabeth Olsen, but the first to be released.

March 9 – A Thousand Words

• Cast: Eddie Murphy, Kerry Washington, Clark Duke, Cliff Curtis, Allison Janney, Ruby Dee, Jack McBrayer, Steve Little, John Witherspoon, Kayla Blake, Lennie Loftin, Alain Chabat, Ted Kennedy, Emanuel Ragsdale
• Director: Brian Robbins
• Production Company: DreamWorks Pictures, Saturn Films, Varsity Pictures, Work After Midnight Films, distributed by Paramount Pictures
• Trivia: The film also opened in Canada on March 9, 2012, and went straight to DVD in the UK on July 16 after the US box office failure. The movie was filmed in 2008 for a 2009 release but was caught up in the separation of DreamWorks Pictures from Paramount Pictures.

March 9 – Jiro Dreams of Sushi

• Cast: Jiro Ono
• Director: David Gelb
• Production Company: Magnolia Pictures
• Trivia: After screenings at several film festivals in 2011, the film was released in New York City on March 9, 2012. It received a limited release in Canada on March 16, and it was released in the UK on January 11, 2013. The film was originally conceived to feature different sushi chefs and styles but director David Gelb was so taken with Jiro and his restaurant that he became the sole focus. Jiro said in an interview that he never actually dreamed of sushi.

March 9 – Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

• Cast: Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt, Kristin Scott Thomas, Amr Waked, Tom Mison, Conleth Hill, Rachael Stirling, Catherine Steadman, Hugh Simon, Clive Wood, Tom Beard, Nayef Rashed, Otto Farrant
• Director: Lasse Hallström
• Production Company: BBC Films, UK Film Council, Kudos Pictures, Davis Films, distributed by Lionsgate
• Trivia: Based on the 2007 novel of the same name by Paul Torday. The film screened at TIFF on September 10, 2011. It opened in Lithuania on March 9, 2012 with limited releases in Canada and the US on the same day. It opened in the UK on April 20. Ewan McGregor had to learn how to fly fish for his role.