Friday, January 15, 2021
Portrait of a Lady ( 1968 ) - BBC
Friday, January 8, 2021
Tanya Roberts Interview on the set of "A View to a Kill"
The beautiful Tanya Roberts passed away last Monday at the age of 65. Since she was best known for her work on the James Bond film A View to a Kill ( 1985 ), we thought we'd share a brief interview that was conducted on the set during the making of the final action sequence.
Ms. Roberts was only 30 years old when she co-starred with Roger Moore, who was age 57 at the time of filming, making him the oldest actor to play James Bond.
Monday, January 4, 2021
From the Archives: Red Canyon ( 1949 )
Edgar Buchanan and Howard Duff enjoy a relaxing talk on the trail in this scene from Red Canyon ( 1949 ), an entertaining semi-western from Universal Pictures.
From the Archives is our latest series of posts where we share photos from the Silverbanks Pictures collection. Some of these may have been sold in the past, and others may still be available for purchase at our eBay store : http://stores.ebay.com/Silverbanks-Pictures
Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Flood Tide ( 1958 )
Behind the mask of innocence.....murder!
Universal Pictures made a number of good melodramas in the late 1950s that have fallen into obscurity today, one of which was Flood Tide ( 1958 ) starring George Nader. It's similar to The Bad Seed ( 1956 ) with its main antagonist being a child, but instead of being just a melodrama, it has a touch of murder mystery to it as well.
The film begins with Bill Holleran ( Russ Conway ) being tried and convicted of murder....the murder of a man who was found washed upon the beach. He had got into an argument with a drunken friend at a party at his beach house and, according to Bill, they had a fistfight and then his friend stumbled away down the street trying to hitch a ride to town. However, a key witness claims that he saw Bill murder the drunken man and then drag his body out to the Pacific Ocean.
That key witness is David Gordon ( Michel Ray ). He's an intelligent and conniving 10-year-old who was crippled in an automobile accident, the same accident that killed his father several years previously. His mother Anne ( Cornell Borchers ) is devoted to his well-being and believes in the innocence of her son. She is so attentive to him that he develops an intense jealosy whenever he sees anyone take an interest in his mother.
Steve Martin ( George Nader ), is the owner of the beach house that Bill Holleran had rented. He was away in South America for several months, but when he hears about the case, he comes back to testify against young David.....he believes the boy to be lying. Alas, he is too late and the trial is over. Steve attempts to explain why he thinks that David may have been lying and thus begins a flashback of the events leading up to the trial.
If you expect to watch an engrossing murder mystery, then you would probably be disappointed with Flood Tide, but if you like a good melodrama, then it is well-worth checking out. I found the first half-hour to be difficult to watch because Anne so willingly allows David to rule her life, but after the flashback ends, the film takes a nice twist and we see Steve playing psychological games with David in the hopes of drawing him out of his selfish misery and getting him to confess to lying.Steve is in love with Anne and he sees that the only way he can marry her is by winning the love of David. He valiantly tries to give the boy confidence in himself and make him realize that just because he is physically crippled does not mean he has to be mentally crippled.
George Nader and Cornell Borchers are both excellent in their parts. Their blossoming romance is both touching to watch and rather sad because it seems so hopeless. Michel Ray is also very good as David. He was very much like Martin Stephens from Village of the Damned ( 1960 ), without the glowing eyes but equally dangerous. Ray made his first film appearence in The Divided Heart ( 1954 ), an excellent British film, and then he came to Hollywood where he had a very short career. He made a handful of westerns but is best known for playing Bud Brewster in the B-film The Space Children ( 1958 ).
Also in the cast is the lovely Joanna Moore as Steve's old flame, Judson Pratt as a doctor who wants to help David, and Charles Arnt as a kindly grocer. Troy Donahue also makes a brief appearence as a teenager on the beach.
Flood Tide has not yet been released on DVD, but copies of the film taped from late-night television can be found online.
Saturday, December 26, 2020
The Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie Game
Look at all that beautiful white fluffy snow! We've been posting a number of tricky photos lately, so to cap the year off we have an easier puzzle for our Impossibly Difficult followers. Be the first to identify the film this screenshot was taken from and you've got yourself a prize!
As always, if you are not familiar with the rules to the Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie game or the prize, click here!
Wednesday, December 23, 2020
The 12 Delights of Christmas Tag
1) A favorite Christmas tradition?
3) Tea or hot chocolate?
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The "milk of human kindness"...if it tastes like Earl Grey, I'll take a large cup, too! |
4) Favorite Christmas colors (i.e. white, blue, silver, red and green, etc)?
White and green. The colors of snow and garlands.
5) Favorite kind of Christmas cookie?
7) Three favorite traditional Christmas carols?
Diana: O Come All Ye Faithful, Silent Night, Joy to the World
8) A favorite Christmas song (i.e. something you might hear on the radio)?
10) Have you ever gone caroling?
Yes! It was an annual tradition at our church, but sadly, this year we did not have the pleasure of singing out door-to-door.
11) Ice skating, sledding, skiing, or snowboarding?
1) A favorite Christmas tradition?
2) Say it snowed at your domicile, would you prefer to go out or stay curled up inside?
Sunday, December 20, 2020
All I Desire ( 1953 )
Naomi Murdoch is returning to the small town of Riverdale to see her daughter perform in a high school play and the town is in a gossiping uproar. Nearly ten years earlier, Naomi left Riverdale, her husband Henry ( Richard Carlson ), and her three children to pursue a career on the stage as an actress. The townsfolk - and her family - have not forgiven her. All except Lily ( Lori Nelson ), Naomi's younger daughter. It was a letter from Lily that brought Naomi on her homeward journey.
Once back in Riverdale, Naomi comes to realize how much she has missed her family and her home. But she feels that it is too late to make amends. Henry and she argue the first night she arrives and their eldest daughter Joyce ( Marcia Henderson ) is particularly bitter towards her. To make matters worse, Dutch Heinemann ( Lyle Bettger ), a local shop owner, thinks that because Naomi is back in town they can pick on where they left off with their affair.
All I Desire was directed by Douglas Sirk and, like most of his films from the 1950s, it is bubbling with soapy melodrama. Most of his films were shot in color, but this one was black-and-white and it was a good decision to film it in monochrome because of the emphasis it gives to the low-lighting and shadows that were beautifully captured by cinematographer Carl Guthrie ( Caged ).
The script was an adaption of Carol Brinks' novel "Stopover" and, even though the film is only 80-minutes, it manages to pack in quite a lot of drama in such a short span....with, surprisingly, no loose ends.Barbara Stanwyck was ideally cast as Naomi and looks beautiful in the turn-of-the-century period costumes designed by Rosemary Odell. Naomi is a tired hardened woman who never really made it big in the theater world but she decides to play the part of being an elegant distinguished actress and make her family proud. Few actresses could have played this part with as much conviction as Ms. Stanwyck.
Richard Carlson is also well-suited in the role of Henry, the mild-mannered school principal who is shocked by his wife's return. Henry was beginning to grow attached to Ms. Harper ( Maureen O'Sullivan ), the school's drama teacher, but when Naomi comes back into his life, he has to re-evaluate his feelings.
Also in the cast is Billy Gray as Naomi's son Ted, Lotte Stein as the Swedish housekeeper, and Richard Long as Joyce's charming beau. Stuart Whitman and Guy Williams also have small parts as Lily's school companions.The publicity department at 20th Century Fox probably thought that the film's period setting would turn away audience members and so they created poster art that, amusingly, had nothing to do with the film. One poster has a background of storm clouds while a man ( presumably Richard Carlson ) kisses the neck of a negligee-clad woman who looks a lot like Barbara Hale. Another has a dark-haired Barbara Stanwyck cradling the head of Robert Mitchum, both of them wearing outfits that look like they came out of the 1940s (!).
All I Desire did not need the pulp-fiction publicity to sell it, because the film is a fine production all around and is one of Barbara Stanwyck's best films of the 1950s.