Monty @ 100: Duet (or not) with Brando in "The Young Lions"

by Nathaniel R

Though Montgomery Clift rubbed some early co-stars the wrong way, "difficult" reputations in Hollywood never tell the full story. Clift also had friends in Hollywood and some loyal and famous ones like Liz Taylor who saved his career with a three picture deal (starting with Raintree County). Marlon Brando was another, though their relationship was far more volatile. Brando initially idolized Clift and eventually became his rival for both roles and status as the actor of their generation. Though they had never acted together, they travelled in the same New York artistic circles and became friends (and very briefly lovers) in the 1940s.

Brando was four years younger than Clift and had followed in his footsteps to fame...

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Smackdown '65: Nuns, child abusers, and tragic pawns

The Supporting Actress Smackdown series picks an Oscar vintage and explores...

 

THE NOMINEES  1965 was all about the Julies, Christie and Andrews, headlining the years biggest hits but both were located in the lead actress category. When some of the year's most lauded supporting actress turned up in films Oscar wasn't interested in they selected quite an odd list from which films they were looking at, still missing one very obvious great choice. Recent Oscar winner Shelley Winters (A Patch of Blue) and recent nominee Joyce Redman (Othello) were invited back and future Dame and Oscar darling Maggie Smith (Othello) was invited for the first time. TV regular Peggy Wood (The Sound of Music) and a longtime Hollywood screenwriter Ruth Gordon (Inside Daisy Clover), nabbing her first nomination in an acting category, were also chosen. The resulting shortlist of characters included a nun, a child abuser, two women doomed by hateful petty men, and an eccentric old Californian who wasn't quite in touch with reality... not unlike some Oscar voters! 

THE PANEL  Here to talk about the performances and films are, in alpha order, Oscar buff Baby Clyde (The Film Experience), freelance writer Kayleigh Donaldson (Pajiba, What to Watch, SyFy FanGrrls), character actor Spencer Garrett (Bombshell, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), writer and podcaster Kevin Jacobsen (And the Runner Up Is...), writer, cosplayer, and director Terence Johnson (Le Noir Auteur, Vampyr Resistance Corps). And your host at The Film Experience, of course, Nathaniel R. Let's begin...

1965
SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN + PODCAST  
The companion podcast can be downloaded at the bottom of this article or by visiting the iTunes page...

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Monty @ 100: Friendship, Tragedy and "Raintree County"

by Cláudio Alves

Montgomery Clift's legacy is as defined by tragedy as it is by acting glory. Robert Lewis, his teacher at the famed Actors Studio, would famously describe Monty's downfall as "the longest suicide in Hollywood history". Until now, this centennial celebration has mostly avoided gossip and the dark shadow of doom clouding over the actor's biography. However, as we arrive at his ninth feature, the context of what was happening off-screen is too important to be dismissed…

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Horror Costuming: Stoker

by Cláudio Alves

We carry part of our parents with us at all times. Whether through the body their genetics defined, or the mind molded and perchance scarred by their influence, their absence, their love, we are made in their image. Some might rejoice in that intrinsic truth, others resent it. Park Chan-wook's only English-language feature, Stoker, understands this with caustic assuredness. From its opening salvos, the script and images call attention to matters of blood and descendence, materializing the familial bonds through costume design…

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NYFF: Yulene Olaizola's "Tragic Jungle"

by Jason Adams

M. Night Shyamalan's name has become synonymous with cinematic puzzlery, but there can be a dulling obviousness to the way he approaches the concept of Mystery, at least in his weakest moments. He genuinely thinks he can explain the unexplainable. His "twists" mostly seem to mash the Unknown into tight little balls we can hold in our hand to exit the theater with. And so it's only the opening passages of his film The Happening, about Mother Nature seeking vengeance against the humans who've abused her so, that retain any sort of power -- Shyamalan spends the remainder of that film piling plot contrivances on top of his original interesting idea until it's the audience who can't breath from the sheer weight of nonsense pouring off the screen.

I'll admit I thought of The Happening while watching the breeze move gently through the rainforest trees of Mexican director Yulene Olaizola's captivating and hypnotic new film Tragic Jungle...

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