Hotchka Movies by the Decade feature #87 :: March 23•29

Paramount Pictures

This week had some interesting films, but they are all over-shadowed by a giant of cinema celebrating its 50th anniversary this week, the winner of several Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actor (which was infamously refused by the winner). This week also saw one of the first films shot entirely on location, an aerial serial that set the tone for aerial serials and films to come, an early special effects Oscar winner, a final return to ‘The Road’ for Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, a breathtaking Australian Western, and two films with Woody Harrelson twenty years apart (one of which also made a huge star out of Jennifer Lawrence). Read on to see if any of your favorite movies are celebrating anniversaries this week!

1922

• No new films were released this week in 1922.

1932

March 24 – The Blue Light

• Cast: Leni Riefenstahl, Mathias Wieman, Beni Fuhrer, Max Holzboer, Martha Mair, Franz Maldacea
• Director: Leni Riefenstahl
• Production Company:
• Trivia: The film was released in Germany on March 24, 1932, but did not receive a US release until May 8, 1934. Original German title: Das blaue Licht. Employed a new Agfa film stock that when shot through a red filter the sky would appear absolutely black. One of the earliest sound film shot entirely on location in the mountains of Switzerland. In 1960, Leni Riefenstahl collaborated with L. Ron Hubbard on a script for a remake of the film but it was never produced.

March 25 – One Hour with You

• Cast: Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Genevieve Tobin, Charles Ruggles, Roland Young, Josephine Dunn, Richard Carle, Barbara Leonard, George Barbier, Donald Novis
• Director: George Cukor, Ernst Lubitsch
• Production Company: Paramount Pictures
• Trivia: Based on the play Only a Dream by Lothar Schmidt. The film premiered in New York City on March 23, 1932, and was released in the UK on January 9, 1933. A French-language version titled Une heure près de toi was produced simultaneously. The film is a musical remake of The Marriage Circle (1924), the second film that Lubitsch directed in the United States. Oscar-nominated for Best Picture. The film was preserved by the UCLA Film and Television Archive with its original color tints restored. One of the few films of the pre-Code era to show a married couple in the same bed together.

March 28 – Goodnight, Vienna

• Cast: Jack Buchanan, Anna Neagle, Gina Malo, Clive Currie, William Kendall, Joyce Bland, Gibb McLaughlin, Herbert Carrick, Clifford Heatherley, O. B. Clarence, Peggy Cartwright, Muriel Aked, Aubrey Fitzgerald
• Director: Herbert Wilcox
• Production Company: United Artists
• Trivia: Based on a radio operetta written by Eric Maschwitz. The film opened in London on March 28, 1932, followed by a wide UK release on September 12. The film was released in the US on November 2, 1932. Also known as Magic Night.

March 28 – The Airmail Mystery

• Cast: James Flavin, Lucile Browne, Wheeler Oakman, Frank Hagney, Sidney Bracey, Nelson McDowell, Walter Brennan, Al Wilson, Bruce Mitchell, Jack Holley
• Director: Ray Taylor
• Production Company: Universal Pictures
• Trivia: The film opened in London on April 21, 1932. Universal’s first aerial serial that established a template for aerial serials and films to come. The film debut of James Flavin. The film is considered lost. Al Wilson’s last role. He died from injuries sustained after an aircraft crash after production on the film ended.

1942

Paramount Pictures

March 26 – Reap the Wild Wind

• Cast: Ray Milland, John Wayne, Paulette Goddard, Raymond Massey, Robert Preston, Lynne Overman, Susan Hayward, Milburn Stone, Charles Bickford, Walter Hampden, Louise Beavers, Martha O’Driscoll, Elisabeth Risdon, Hedda Hopper, Victor Kilian, Oscar Polk, Raymond Hatton, Lane Chandler, William ‘Wee Willie’ Davis, Ben Carter, Janet Beecher, Dave Wengren, Davison Clark, Louis Merrill, Frank M. Thomas, Victor Varconi, Sue Thomas, James Dime
• Director: Cecil B. DeMille
• Production Company: Paramount Pictures
• Trivia: Based on a serialized story written by Thelma Strabel in 1940 for The Saturday Evening Post. The film premiered in New York City on March 18, 1942. It was released in the UK on June 15. Cecil B. DeMille’s second Technicolor film. Earned three Oscar nominations — Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Special Effects — winning for Special Effects. One of the rare John Wayne films in which he accepted second billing and played a character with a dark side. For the 1954 re-release, Wayne got top billing on the poster due to his increased star power, supporting player Susan Hayward was billed second after her star power increased, Ray Milland was billed third. The last major acting role for Hedda Hopper, although the gossip columnist would continue to make cameo appearances in many films. DeMille got along with Wayne so well he allowed the star to pick his own costumes.

March 27 – The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine

• Cast: Dennis O’Keefe, Ruth Terry, Gloria Dickson, Roman Bohnen, George E. Stone, Spencer Charters, William B. Davidson, Roscoe Ates, Bobby Larson, Joe Cunningham, Harry Shannon, Jed Prouty, Patsy Parsons, Linda Brent, Wade Boteler, Emmett Vogan, Ray Erlenborn, Olaf Hytten, Lois Collier, William “Billy” Benedict, Dorothy Christy, Guy Usher, Douglas Evans, Sven Hugo Borg, Al Bridge, Fred Burns, Mary Davenport, Virginia Farmer, Dick Elliott, Charles Williams, Mary Currier, Joel Friedkin, Jack Raymond, Jimmie Fox, Edmund Cobb, Frank Fanning, Ben Hall, Ralph Peters, Sada Simmons, Morgan Brown, Margaret Marquis, Rand Brooks
• Director: Bernard Vorhaus
• Production Company: Republic Pictures
• Trivia: Based on the 1910 play, Alias Jimmy Valentine, by Paul Armstrong. Shown on TV as Unforgotten Crime. Also known as Find Jimmy Valentine. In order to fit into a one-hour format for television, the first two reels of the film were cut, rendering the film incomprehensible.

1952

March 28 – The Wild North

• Cast: Stewart Granger, Wendell Corey, Cyd Charisse, Morgan Farley, J.M. Kerrigan, Howard Petrie, Houseley Stevenson, Lewis Martin, John War Eagle, Ray Teal, Clancy Cooper
• Director: Andrew Marton
• Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, distributed by Loew’s Inc.
• Trivia: The film first opened in London on January 28, 1952. The film premiered in Los Angeles on March 22. Also known as The Big North, Constable Pedley, The Constable Pedley Story, The Wild North Country and North Country. First major studio feature film made with Ansco color film.

1962

March 23 – Satan in High Heels

• Cast: Meg Myles, Grayson Hall, Del Tenney, Sabrina, Mike Keane, Robert Yuro
• Director: Jerald Intrator
• Production Company: Cosmic Films Inc.
• Trivia: The film used Manhattan locations Club Le Martinique at 57 West 57th Street and Sutton Place neighborhood for the apartments where Pepe and the Kenyons live.

March 28 – Hand of Death

• Cast: John Agar, Paula Raymond, Stephen Dunne, Roy Gordon, John A. Alonzo, Joe Besser, Butch Patrick, Norman Burton, Fred Krone, Jack Donner, Chuck Niles, Ruth Terry
• Director: Gene Nelson
• Production Company: Associated Producers Inc., distributed by 20th Century Fox
• Trivia: Working titles for the film were Five Fingers of Death and The Death Walker. Gene Nelson’s directorial debut. The film had been unavailable for nearly 40 years and was thought to be lost.

March 29 – The Road to Hong Kong

• Cast: Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Joan Collins, Robert Morley, Peter Sellers, Walter Gotell, Sir Felix Aylmer, Alan Gifford, Michele Mok, Katya Douglas, Roger Delgado, Robert Ayres, Peter Madden, David Niven, Dave King, Mei Ling, Jacqueline Jones, Yvonne Shima, Dorothy Lamour, Bob Simmons, Nosher Powell
• Director: Norman Panama
• Production Company: Melnor Films, distributed by United Artists
• Trivia: The film opened in the UK on March 29, 1962. It received a US release on May 22. The seventh and final film in the popular ‘Road to…’ series, and the only one not produced by Paramount Pictures. Dorothy Lamour was replaced as Hope & Crosby’s leading lady with Joan Collins because Bing Crosby thought Lamour was too old (she was 48), but Hope refused to do the film without her. An extended cameo of the three singing together was a compromise. Other cameos included Jerry Colonna, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. The film was shot in black and white to give it the feel of the 1940s and ’50s ‘Road to…’ films even though the previous one was shot in color. The lamasery where Hope goes to restore his memory is reused from Black Narcissus. The plot of espionage, space rockets and a SPECTRE-like organization pre-dated Dr. No by five months.

1972

March 23 – Steptoe and Son

• Cast: Wilfrid Brambell, Harry H. Corbett, Carolyn Seymour, Arthur Howard, Victor Maddern, Fred Griffiths, Joan Heath, Fred McNaughton, Lon Satton, Patrick Fyffe, Patsy Smart, Mike Reid, Alec Mango, Michael Da Costa, Enys Box, Barrie Ingham
• Director: Cliff Owen
• Production Company: EMI Films, distributed by MGM-EMI Film Distributors
• Trivia: A spin-off from the popular British television comedy series of the same name, which inspired the 1970s US TV series Sanford & Son. The film opened in the UK on March 23, 1972. The film was a box office success, making five times its budget. To receive an ‘A’ (PG) cinema certificate some brief nudity was removed from the striptease scene. DVD releases are fully uncut.

March 24 – The Godfather

• Cast: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte, Al Lettieri, Diane Keaton, Abe Vigoda, Talia Shire, Gianni Russo, John Cazale, Rudy Bond, Al Martino, Morgana King, Lenny Montana, Johnny Martino, Salvatore Corsitto, Richard Bright
• Director: Francis Ford Coppola
• Production Company: Paramount Pictures, Alfran Productions, distributed by Paramount Pictures
• Trivia: Based on Mario Puzo’s best-selling 1969 novel of the same name. The film premiered in New York City on March 14, 1972 and began its engagement in the city on March 15. The film opened in Los Angeles on March 22, followed by a general US and Canada release on March 24. A UK premiere was held on August 23, followed by a general UK release on August 24. It was the highest-grossing film of 1972. The film earned 11 Oscar nominations, winning Best Picture, Best Actor (Brando) and Best Adapted Screenplay. Brando famously declined his award. It also received 5 BAFTA nominations, winning one for Best Film Music, and 7 Golden Globe nominations, winning 5 including Best Motion Picture Drama. Richard S. Castellano ad-libbed the line ‘Leave the gun, take the cannoli.’ The cat held by Marlon Brando in the opening scene was a stray that Coppola found while on the Paramount lot. Francis Ford Coppola’s first cut of the film ran two hours, six minutes. Studio head Robert Evans demanded a longer cut with more family scenes. The final release version was nearly 50 minutes longer.

March 29 – Deaf Smith & Johnny Ears

• Cast: Anthony Quinn, Franco Nero, Pamela Tiffin, Princess Ira von Fürstenberg, Franco Graziosi
• Director: Paolo Cavara
• Production Company: Compagnia Cinematografica Prima, Co. Film, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
• Trivia: The film opened in Italy on March 29, 1972. It did not receive a US release until July 25, 1973. The film is loosely based on the life of Deaf Smith.

March 29 – The Carey Treatment

• Cast: James Coburn, Jennifer O’Neill, Pat Hingle, Skye Aubrey, Elizabeth Allen, John Fink, Dan O’Herlihy, James Hong, Alex Dreier, Michael Blodgett, Regis Toomey, Steve Carlson, Rosemary Edelman, Jennifer Edwards, John Hillerman
• Director: Blake Edwards
• Production Company: Geoffrey Productions, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
• Trivia: Based on the 1968 novel A Case of Need credited to Jeffery Hudson, a pseudonym for Michael Crichton. The film was released in the UK on July 2, 1972. Prior to its release, the film was heavily edited by the studio without Blake Edwards’ input. Edwards disowned the film, and the incident is satirized in Edwards’ S.O.B.

1982

The Hoyts Group

March 25 – The Man from Snowy River

• Cast: Tom Burlinson, Terence Donovan, Kirk Douglas, Tommy Dysart, Bruce Kerr, David Bradshaw, Sigrid Thornton, Jack Thompson, Tony Bonner, June Jago, Chris Haywood, Kristopher Steele, Gus Mercurio, Howard Eynon, Lorraine Bayly
• Director: George T. Miller
• Production Company: Cambridge Productions, Edgley International, Snowy River Investment Pty. Ltd., distributed by The Hoyts Group
• Trivia: Based on the Banjo Paterson poem ‘The Man from Snowy River’. The film opened in Australia on March 25, 1982, and on November 5 in the US and Canada. Tom Burlinson performed all his own horse riding stunts in the film. One of fifty Australian films selected for preservation as part of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia’s Kodak / Atlab Cinema Collection Restoration Project.

March 26 – Neil Simon’s I Ought to Be in Pictures

• Cast: Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret, Dinah Manoff, Lance Guest, Calvin Ander, Shelby Balik, Larry Barton, Eugene Butler, Bill Cross, Michael Dudikoff, Gillian Farrell, David Faustino, Martin Ferrero, Allan Graf, Samantha Harper, Noberto Kerner, Art LaFleur, Nomi Mitty, Santos Morales, Charles Parks, José Rabelo, Lewis Smith, Virginia Wing, Wayne Woodson, Tom Wright, Muni Zano
• Director: Herbert Ross
• Production Company: 20th Century Fox
• Trivia: Based on Neil Simon’s 1980 play of the same name. Dinah Manoff was the only cast member from the play to reprise her Tony Award winning stage role on film. Herbert Ross also directed the play. Film debut of David Faustino.

1992

March 27 – Ladybugs

• Cast: Rodney Dangerfield, Jackée Harry, Jonathan Brandis, Ilene Graff, Vinessa Shaw, Tom Parks, Randall May, Jeanetta Arnette, Crystal Cooke, Jennifer Frances Lee, Vanessa Monique Rossel, Johna Stewart-Bowden, Jandi Swanson, Nancy Parsons, Blake Clark, Tommy Lasorda
• Director: Sidney J. Furie
• Production Company: Ladybugs Productions, distributed by Paramount Pictures (United States & Canada), Warner Bros. (International)
• Trivia: The film also opened in Canada on March 27, 1992. In the final game, several of the Flames team are boys in wigs.

March 27 – Ruby

• Cast: Danny Aiello, Sherilyn Fenn, Tobin Bell, Joseph Cortese, Arliss Howard, Richard C. Sarafian, Leonard Termo, David Duchovny, Carmine Caridi, Marc Lawrence, Joe Viterelli, John Roselius, Willie Garson
• Director: John Mackenzie
• Production Company: Triumph Releasing Corporation (United States), Rank Film Distributors (United Kingdom)
• Trivia: Based on a play written by British screenwriter Stephen Davis. The film was released in the UK on May 29, 1992. Willie Garson, who stars as Lee Harvey Oswald, also plays LHO in Quantum Leap (1989). Bob Hoskins was originally cast as Jack Ruby, but delays caused him to drop out as he had to report for duty on Steven Spielberg’s Hook. Danny Aiello said the role of Jack Ruby was his favorite. Debut theatrical feature film of actor Maurice Benard.

March 27 – The Cutting Edge

• Cast: DB Sweeney, Moira Kelly, Roy Dotrice, Terry O’Quinn, Dwier Brown, Chris Benson, Michael Hogan, Kevin Peeks, Rachelle Ottley, Barry Flatman, Christine Hough, Doug Ladret
• Director: Paul Michael Glaser
• Production Company: Interscope Communications, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
• Trivia: The film opened in the UK on August 28, 1992. The film spawned several sequels, each with different casts. Neither Moira Kelly nor DB Sweeney knew how to skate before making this movie. Kelly fractured her ankle doing a jump in the first week of shooting. This forced all the skating scenes to be pushed to the end of shooting while she wore a cast for a month.

March 27 – The Power of One

• Cast: Guy Witcher, Simon Fenton, Stephen Dorff, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Jeremiah Mnisi, Ian Roberts, John Gielgud, Fay Masterson, Morgan Freeman, Daniel Craig, Robbie Bulloch, Dominic Walker, Faith Edwards, Alois Moyo, Brian O’Shaughnessy, Marius Weyers, Clive Russell, Winston Ntshona, Nomadlozi Kubheka, Mark Clements
• Director: John G. Avildsen
• Production Company: Regency Enterprises, Le Studio CanalPlus, Alcor Films, Village Roadshow Pictures, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, Roadshow Entertainment (Australia & New Zealand)
• Trivia: Loosely based on Bryce Courtenay’s 1989 novel of the same name. The film was released in the UK on September 4, 1992. Daniel Craig’s feature film debut.

March 27 – White Men Can’t Jump

• Cast: Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson, Rosie Perez, Tyra Ferrell, Cylk Cozart, Kadeem Hardison, Ernest Harden, Jr., Nigel Miguel, Freeman Williams, Louis Price, Marques Johnson, Alex Trebek, Allan Malamud, Duane Martin
• Director: Ron Shelton
• Production Company: 20th Century Fox
• Trivia: The film opened in the UK on October 9, 1992. When Woody Harrelson dunked, it was not on a ten foot hoop, but actually a nine and a half foot hoop. He couldn’t quite dunk on a ten foot hoop.

2002

March 26 – Highway

• Cast: Jared Leto, Jake Gyllenhaal, Selma Blair, John C. McGinley, Jeremy Piven, Frances Sternhagen, Kimberley Kates, Mark Rolston, Matthew Davis, M. C. Gainey, Arden Myrin
• Director: James Cox
• Production Company: New Line Cinema
• Trivia: The film went straight-to-video in the US on March 26, 2002. Jared Leto’s brother Shannon appears as one of the club kids. The film was originally set to be released theatrically in September 2001, but the New Line Cinema exec that championed the film left the company so it was re-edited and sent to home video. The film’s original title was A Leonard Cohen Afterworld. Vince Vaughn was originally cast as Scawdly, but left the project, and he was replaced by Jeremy Piven. Todd Phillips was originally set to direct but he left for another project.

March 27 – He Loves Me… He Loves Me Not

• Cast: Audrey Tautou, Samuel Le Bihan, Isabelle Carré, Clément Sibony, Sophie Guillemin
• Director: Lætitia Colombani
• Production Company: Sony Pictures Entertainment
• Trivia: The film was released in France on March 27, 2002. It opened in the UK on November 22. It received a limited US release on February 14, 2003.

March 29 – Thirteen Conversations About One Thing

• Cast: Matthew McConaughey, John Turturro, Clea DuVall, Alan Arkin, Amy Irving, Tia Texada, Richard E. Council
• Director: Jill Sprecher
• Production Company: Sony Pictures Classics
• Trivia: The film was screened at the Venice Film Festival on September 2, 2001, TIFF on September 7, and at Sundance in January 2002. The film then opened in general release in Italy on March 29, 2002. The film opened in the US on July 2. The film’s story is inspired by two different head injuries that director Jill Sprecher endured.

2012

Lionsgate

March 23 – The Hunger Games

• Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Wes Bentley, Toby Jones, Alexander Ludwig, Isabelle Fuhrman, Amandla Stenberg, Jacqueline Emerson, Jack Quaid, Leven Rambin, Dayo Okeniyi, Willow Shields, Paula Malcomson
• Director: Gary Ross
• Production Company: Lionsgate, Color Force, distributed by Lionsgate
• Trivia: Based on Suzanne Collins’s 2008 novel of the same name. The film’s Los Angeles premiere was held on March 12, 2012. The film opened in international markets on March 22, and in the US, UK and Canada on March 23. 30 actresses auditioned or read for the role of Katniss Everdeen. Jennifer Lawrence was filming X-Men: First Class when he landed the role. John C. Reilly had been in talks to play Haymitch Abernathy before Woody Harrelson was cast. Harrelson had originally passed on the role but the director called him and convinced him to accept. Virtually all production photography took place in North Carolina. There was a swear jar on set, and director Gary Ross said that half of it was contributed by Lawrence. While horsing around on the set, Lawrence accidentally kicked Josh Hutcherson in the head, knocking him out and resulting in a concussion. Lawrence was paid $500,000 for the film. She received $10 million for Catching Fire. Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth dyed their natural blond hair brown for the film, while Hutcherson dyed his brown hair blond. The name of Elizabeth Banks’ character Effie Trinket is never spoken in the film.

March 29 – A Royal Affair

• Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Alicia Vikander, Mikkel Følsgaard, David Dencik, Søren Malling, Trine Dyrholm, William Jøhnk Nielsen, Cyron Bjørn Melville, Rosalinde Mynster, Laura Bro, Bent Mejding, Thomas W. Gabrielsson, Søren Spanning, John Martinus, Erika Guntherová, Harriet Walter, Klaus Tange
• Director: Nikolaj Arcel
• Production Company: Zentropa Entertainments, DR TV, Trollhättan Film AB, Film i Väst, Sveriges Television, Sirena Film
• Trivia: The film was screened at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 16, 2012. It was released in Denmark on March 29, 2012. The film opened in the UK on June 15, and received a limited US release on November 9. The film received two Silver Bears at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 85th Academy Awards. It was also nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film award at the 70th Golden Globe Awards. Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen portrayed a German character. Swedish actress Alicia Vikander plays an English character who speaks Danish for most of the film, and had to learn Danish for the role. Mikkelsen was ten years older than his real-life character was at the time of his execution.