ON THIS DAY in 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. This incident was featured in the 2002 documentary, MIGHTY TIMES: THE LEGACY OF ROSA PARKS.
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Good evening. We’re seeing a lot of the Master of Suspense these days, what with his self-titled movie currently playing at theaters. But we have always had the opportunity to catch his familiar face and form often over the years, right there during his cameo appearances in the very pictures he directed. We can identify that distinctive shape easily in those movies, but can you name the movie’s title?
Good luck, Mr. Thornhill, wherever you are…
Take the Quiz!(*The quiz title was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest: “Something wrong with your eyes?” “Yes”, says the sunglass-clad Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant), “They’re sensitive to questions”. In the hotel room of the fictitious George Kaplan, Roger spots a photograph of his kidnapper, Philip Vandamm, and says, “Oh, well, look who’s here!”.)
ON THIS DAY in 1874, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Sir Winston Churchill was born. Churchill’s early days were dramatized in Richard Attenborough’s 1972 film, YOUNG WINSTON.
- Born: November 29, 1895
- His mother, Gertrude: acted in silent films
- Married: six times
- Dancing lessons: never taken
- First film choreographed: WHOOPEE! with Eddie Cantor
- Deleted choreography: Ray Bolger’s WIZARD OF OZ scarecrow dance number
- Acquitted: at third trial for second degree murder charges following car accident in 1935
- Fun fact: was uncredited actor in three films he choreographed
- Directed at age 75: Broadway revival of No, No Nanette, starring Ruby Keeler
- Quote: “In an era of breadlines, depression and wars, I tried to help people get away from all the misery…to turn their minds to something else. I wanted to make people happy, if only for an hour.”
Busby Berkeley’s “Remember My Forgotten Man”, from GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933:
ON THIS DAY in 1832, novelist Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Her most famous novel, LITTLE WOMEN, was adapted for the screen in 1933 by director George Cukor, and starred Katharine Hepburn.
ON THIS DAY in 1582, William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway purchased their marriage license while at Stratford-upon-Avon. Shakespeare’s marriage to Hathaway was depicted in the 2005 BBC drama, A WASTE OF SHAME.
WILL THE RECENT debut of Sacha Gervasi’s HITCHCOCK spawn similar films that deal with singular, cinematic efforts to create a single motion picture? The field seems ripe for exploitation. Sure, there are interviews and short documentaries with directors on many DVDs and Blu-Ray disks nowadays. But maybe someone, someday will mine the minefield that was Michael Cimino’s HEAVEN’S GATE, for instance, and turn it into a major motion picture in its own right.
Here we present eight-and-a-half films about films, by no means a definitive list, and in no particular order–directorial efforts in which a director had to struggle, take a personal journey, or by sheer force of will, will them into existence:
WHITE HUNTER, BLACK HEART (1990; directed by Clint Eastwood) Ostensibly about an adventuring movie director named John Wilson, it’s quite obvious that the hunter with the black heart really is John Huston. The film is based upon Peter Viertel’s book about the storied filming of THE AFRICAN QUEEN, which Huston shot mainly on location, and which Huston/Wilson uses as an excuse to pursue the pleasures of life, pleasures that included ending the lives of African elephants–whether those pursuits have a negative effect on the movie production or not. 
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HEARTS OF DARKNESS: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (1991) By now, everyone knows that Francis Ford Coppola’s APOCALYPSE NOW was a troubled production, to say the least. All you need to do is add together Martin Sheen’s heart trouble, the Phillipine climate and the name Marlon Brando. This fascinating documentary follows the shooting of this terrific movie-one that captures the essence of the Vietnam war experience.
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CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS (1989; directed by Woody Allen) This is a personal favorite of mine, among all of Allen’s films. Actually, several stories converge here, only one of which is really about Allen’s filming woes. His task is to create a documentary about his brother-in-law, the conceited character played by Alan Alda, who says to Allen, “You’re not my first choice”. During the course of the filming, Allen falls in love and grows to detest the obnoxious Alda, who delivers the classic line, “Comedy equals tragedy plus time.” 
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ON THIS DAY in 1978, San Francisco mayor George Moscone and city supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated. The 2008 Gus Van Sant film, MILK, starring Sean Penn, documented this event.
ON THIS DAY in 1939, singer and actress Tina Turner was born. Turner was portrayed by Angela Bassett in the 1993 biographical film, WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?.
ON THIS DAY in 1947, the “Hollywood Ten” were cited for contempt of Congress and blacklisted by movie studios after refusing to answer the House Un-American Activities Commission’s questions. The 1976 Martin Ritt film, THE FRONT, starring Woody Allen and Zero Mostel, dramatized the subsequent events surrounding the blacklist.
ON THIS DAY in 1971, D. B. Cooper parachuted over Washington state from a hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines jet with $200,000 in ransom money. In 1981, THE PURSUIT OF D.B. COOPER, starring Robert Duvall and Treat Williams, dramatized this event.
Sensitive to Questions Quiz #26: “I wonder what subtle form of manslaughter is next on the program?”
Good evening. If you’re contemplating a trip to the movies tonight, we highly recommend a picture that’s just opening. This recommendation comes, if for no other reason, because of it’s ingenious and intriguing, one-word surname title. The film concerns a famous, portly director (played by Anthony Hopkins), whose big, glossy technicolor hit, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, was followed by “a new and altogether different motion picture excitement!”. And that famous movie is the subject of the following quiz.
Good luck, Mr. Thornhill, wherever you are…
Take the Quiz!(*The quiz title was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest: “Something wrong with your eyes?” “Yes”, says the sunglass-clad Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant), “They’re sensitive to questions”. Later, confronting Vandamm, Leonard and Eve at an auction house, Roger inquires of them, “I wonder what subtle form of manslaughter is next on the program?”.)
ON THIS DAY in 1963, the BBC television series Doctor Who premiered. In 1965, Peter Cushing starred in a feature-length movie adaptation of the show, titled DOCTOR WHO AND THE DALEKS.
ON THIS DAY in 1935, the Pan American Airways four-engine, flying boat China Clipper, made its inaugural flight from San Francisco to Manila. The 1936 film, CHINA CLIPPER, starring Pat O’Brien and Humphrey Bogart, dramatized this event.
News concerning big screens and small…
- Amazon’s Black Friday movie and TV deal calendar
- RESERVOIR DOGS: 20th anniversary theater presentation
- December’s new Netflix streaming movies
- Dolby’s new Atmos 3-D sound system
- TCM to present classic Johnny Carson interviews
- An Apple projector, and vintage Atari
- Projecteo: a tiny device for Instagrams
- Early Hitchcock film WHITE SHADOW debuts
- An iPad app for home theater enthusiasts
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