Hou Hsiao-Hsien @ 75: The Studio Films (1980-1982)

by Cláudio Alves

His films are poems, lyrical examinations of the mundane that live in the moment but look backward to a past out of reach but still tangible. Master shots are his preference, whether standing still through mnemonic patterns or roving in idyll movement. Form and emotion are synonyms in this cinematic imagination, indissociable ideas that repudiate traditional storytelling norms. Indeed, many of his works are constructed from the transitory passages other filmmakers leave on the cutting room floor.

For these reasons and more, I have long loved the cinema of Hou Hsiao-Hsien. So, to celebrate his 75th birthday, I ask you, dear reader, to join me on a trip down memory lane, a multi-part odyssey through this master of cinema's filmography…

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What's your favourite Elmer Bernstein score?

Happy Centennial to the composer Elmer Bernstein. Bernstein was born 100 years ago today in NYC to Ukrainian immigrant parents. As a teenager he hoped to become a concert pianist. Fate had different plans; He became a legendary film composer instead. His A list breakthrough came in the mid 50s with the back-to-back success of The Man with the Golden Arm (his first Oscar nomination) and Cecil B DeMille's The Ten Commandments. A year before his death in 2004 he was Oscar nominated for a 14th time for Far From Heaven (2002).  So many classic films on his resume. Consider...

• Sudden Fear (1952)
• The Man With the Golden Arm (1955)
• The Ten Commandments (1956)
• The Magnificent Seven (1960)
• To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
• Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) - Oscar win
• An American Werewolf in London (1981)
• The Grifters (1991)
• The Age of Innocence (1993)
• Far From Heaven (2002)

Do you have a favourite score from his work?

Doris Day @ 100: 'With Six You Get Eggroll'

Team Experience has been celebrating Doris Day for her Centennial. 

by Nathaniel R

Most careers peter out. Not so with Doris Day's. The most bankable actress of the first half of the 1960s chose to wrap it up at the first real sign that her popularity was waning. Her last top ten of the year hit was the bizarre comedy The Glass Bottom Boat (1966) but her last film, a blended family comedy called With Six You Get Eggroll (1968), was also a hit albeit not as big as her usual successes. The 1960s were tumultuous on all fronts including ideas about sexuality. The media became snide about Day, infamously dubbing her "The World's Oldest Virgin".

In retrospect, with only anecdotal history to go on, it's fascinating that Doris Day was supposedly rejected on these grounds when Julie Andrews, the box office queen of the second half of the 1960s, was not exactly a repudiation of the Day persona; sunny, funny, wholesome, short-haired musical blonde whose chemistry with male co-stars was undeniable but hardly horny...

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Doris Day @ 100: "Pillow Talk"

By Christopher James

Doris Day had the biggest hit of career with "Pillow Talk," which was her first movie with Rock Hudson

Doris Day’s sole Oscar nomination came for Pillow Talk. If this isn’t the best performance of her career, it’s at least the most iconic version of her persona. For those looking to get a sense of her star character, this is the best place to start. Pillow Talk was the highest grossing movie of Day’s career, and the start of her most bankable period. According to the Numbers, Pillow Talk was the fifth highest grossing film of 1959 with $18 million box office (roughly $182 million adjusted for inflation). In addition to acting, Day also sings three songs in the film, most notably the titular song that plays over the delightful opening credits.

It’s impossible to resist the pairing of Rock Hudson and Doris Day in Pillow Talk. While Down with Love most infamously used this film for reference, so many modern romantic comedies and sitcoms mine from Pillow Talk, which effectively wrings laughs from miscommunications, mistaken identities and odd couple dynamics...

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Doris Day @ 100: "The Man Who Knew Too Much"

To celebrate Doris Day's Centennial we're watching a few of the superstar's movies...

by Cláudio Alves

No matter how popular she was in her heyday, it's hard to look at Doris Day's lasting legacy and not think she's a tad underrated. Perhaps not as a comedienne or a songstress, but surely as an actress. Especially as a dramatic actress. While Day consolidated her stardom with many musicals and romantic comedies, her range went beyond such genres. She could as easily make her audience swoon and laugh as she could break their hearts and rile up adrenaline through pure suspense. So as we celebrate the star's centennial, let's appreciate the full breadth of her talents and shine a light on her brief stint as one of Alfred Hitchcock's (not so) icy blondes…

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