The Furniture: The Night of the Hunter's American Expressionism

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber, is our weekly series on Production Design. You can click on the images to see them in magnified detail.

Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter is an American classic. But it is also a clear descendant of a movement from across the Atlantic: German Expressionism. This comes through most clearly in the breathtaking work of cinematographer Stanley Cortez (The Magnificent Ambersons).

Yet while The Night of the Hunter’s visual language is clearly indebted to the German films of the 1920s, its sets are far cry from the angular nightmares of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and its siblings. Instead, the work of art director Hilyard M. Brown and set decorator Alfred E. Spencer is grounded in iconic American architecture. Through the intimate collaboration of production design and cinematographer, an Expressionist battle between good and evil unfolds through the aesthetic material of American life...

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Charlize's Birthday Share

Look at all these people who share Charlize Theron's birthday! Our favorite Atomic Blonde isn't even the only South African Oscar winner born on this day. It's quite a day in showbiz history all told. Which of these luminaries will you celebrate today inside your hearts?

Jeanne Moreau as Mata Hari in 1964

1876 Mata Hari, exotic dancer / spy / juicy role for both Greta Garbo & Jeanne Moreau
1884 Billie Burke, Glinda the Good Witch herself (also an Oscar nominated actress for Merrily We Live, 1938)
1901 Yuliya Solntseva, actress/director (the only female to win Best Director at Cannes until Sofia Coppola this summer)
1902 Ann Harding, Oscar nominated actress (Holiday, 1930)
1914 Ted Moore, Oscar winning cinematographer from South Africa
1927 Carl "Alfafa" Switzer of Our Gang fame
1942 Garrison Keillor of A Prairie Home Companion
1942 BJ Thomas, singer of the Oscar-winning "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head"
1942 Caetano Veloso, singer of the sublime "Cucurrucucú Paloma" which is heard in several movies including two Oscar winners: Talk to Her and Moonlight
1943 Alain Corneau, French writer/director 
1944 John Glover, enduring character actor

1944 David Rasche, undervalued funny character actor (Veep, In the Loop, Burn After Reading)
1960 David Duchovny, aka Fox Mulder
1963 Harold Perrineau, TV regular (currently on Claws)
1965 Jon Jon Briones, stage and screen actor (last seen in revival of Miss Saigon)
1971 Rachel York, Broadway regular and TV actor
1974 Michael Shannon, scene-stealer / Oscar nominated actor

Elizabeth Debicki with Luca Calvani in "The Man From UNCLE"

1974 Luca Calvani, italian actor (The Man From UNCLE)
1975 Charlize Theron, fierce icon / Oscar-winning actress
1978 Alexandre Aja, horror movie director
1979 Eric Johnson, actor (The Knick/ 50 Shades franchise)
1982 Abbie Cornish, Bright Star who seems to have disappeared!

TCA Awards: This is Us, The Handmaid's Tale, Atlanta...

The Television Critics Association have announced the winners of their 33rd annual awards at a ceremony hosted by Kristin Chenoweth. She sang, of course, but the surprise is that she pulled up Sterling K Brown for a duet. They sang "For Good" from Wicked! This is not a televised awards show but apparently his voice was good. That's a surprise to anyone who watched him "sing" in character on This is Us, the reveal there being that his character had no musical talent.

The TCA Awards don't do gendered acting* or supporting awards so there are only two acting winners a year. Congrats to Carrie Coon and Donald Glover for emerging as the lucky two. More winners after the jump...

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What did you see this weekend?

Weekend Box Office (Aug 4th-6th)
W I D E	L I M I T E D
1. 🔺 DARK TOWER $19.5 REVIEW	1. 🔺  AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL $900k (cum. $1.0) 180 screens  REVIEW
2. DUNKIRK $17.6 (cum. $133.5)  PODCAST | TOM HARDY	2. WOLF WARRIOR 2 $460k (cum. $1.0) 32 screens
3. EMOJI MOVIE $12.3 (cum. $49.4) REVIEW	3. MAUDIE  $262k (cum. $5.1) 187 screens REVIEW
4. GIRLS TRIP  $11.4 (cum. $85.4) REVIEW	4. 🔺  LANDLINE $240k (cum. $503k) 141 screens

It's tough to know what to compare Dark Tower to, to know if it's had a good opening weekend or not but word-of-mouth is going to be a problem if the reviews are any indication. The reviews were kinder, though not as many ticket buyers turned out, for the other new releases...

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knowing i'm on the tweet where you live... 🎶

But seriously though...

Dear future Emmy winners:

Pls take note of @HollandTaylor in 1999. This is how you pose with an award. pic.twitter.com/gcazv8vCs7

— Stacy Lambe (@sllambe) August 2, 2017

After the jump more amusing tweets including but not limited to Marisa Tomei, Six Feet Under, and Atomic Blonde...

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