Black History Month: Song of the South's Forgotten Oscar

Tim here to kick off a daily miniseries for the team. It might seem disingenuous, if not outright perverse, to begin The Film Experience's rough chronological celebration of Black History Month by taking at peek at one of the most infamously racist movies ever made, but for good or bad, Song of the South (1946) is an important milestone in the all-too-thin history of African-Americans and the Oscars. Seven years after Hattie McDaniel's groundbreaking Best Supporting Actress win for Gone with the Wind (we recently dove deep into that film else we'd start with her) James Baskett became the very first black man to receive an Academy Award, and the last for 16 years.

Not, mind you, a competitive Academy Award. Baskett was the last adult actor to receive an Honorary Oscar for a single performance (rather than for a career), with the inscription:

For his able and heart-warming characterization of Uncle Remus, friend and story teller to the children of the world, in Walt Disney's Song of the South".

[More...]

Click to read more ...

Say What? Tilda to Miyazaki-san

What did Tilda Swinton say to Hayao Miyazaki? 
Amuse us with your best guess in the comments.

Swinton, Lasseter, and MIyazaki at the Governors Awards

Bonus Round Competition: Correctly guess / make a case for what her favorite Miyazaki movie is.

I'll name two winners on Wednesday.

The Governors Awards 2014: Honoring Cinematic Giants

Updated with Acceptance Speech Videos!

The Governors Awards are in swing in Los Angeles and though I am in sweatpants typing from my rented apartment and not in a tux (maybe next year if the cinematic gods shine down on The Film Experience?) just being in the same zip code is somehow comforting. Maybe that's because I feel more invested after our Honorary Oscar miniseries. We should have been doing this every year at TFE! It's a shame that at nearly every corner of the internet, the Honorary winners are basically just as neglected as they are by the Academy on the big night. So I feel proud of our efforts at paying them homage just as awards season explodes. Which is does tonight, in fact; basically anyone hoping for an Oscar nomination is in that room tonight... but more on the attendees soon.

This is the lady we're most happy is there ... Maureen O'Hara. She just turned 94 so it took the Academy long enough!

Click to read more ...

The Honoraries: Maureen O'Hara in "The Quiet Man" (1952)

In "The Honoraries" we're looking at the careers of this year's Honorary Oscar recipients (O'Hara, Miyazaki, Carrière) and the Jean Hersholt winner (Belafonte). Here's abstew on an Irish fav...

 

I have often said that "The Quiet Man" is my personal favourite of all the pictures I have made. It is the one I am most proud of and I tend to be very protective of it. I loved Mary Kate Danaher.

-Maureen O'Hara 'Tis Herself

The making of John Ford's Oscar-winning film The Quiet Man was a labor of love for all involved. Despite having already won the Best Director Oscar three times, Ford found it difficult to get his passion project off the ground. As far back as 1944, John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara had agreed to star in Ford's love letter to Ireland. And it eventually found a home at the most unusual of places. B-movie studio Republic only agreed to make the film (which they thought would lose them money) if Ford, Wayne, and O'Hara first made a guaranteed money-generating Western together first. After 1950's Rio Grande for the studio, they headed to shoot on location among the lush emerald fields of Ireland itself and the affection for the country and its people is apparent in every frame.

Click to read more ...

The Honoraries: Harry Belafonte and the Music of 'Beat Street'

In "The Honoraries" we're looking at the careers of this year's Honorary Oscar recipients (O'Hara, Miyazaki, Carriere) and the Jean Hersholt winner (Belafonte). Here's Glenn on a Belafonte hip-hop musical gem…

Harry Belafonte brought hip-hop culture to the world with Beat Street. This rather unassuming musical from 1984, made in the shadow of Style Wars and Wild Style, might not strike you as an important film, but it very much is for the way it influenced a lifestyle and popularized it around the globe. Belafonte was a producer on the film as well as the soundtrack (the first film to ever release two soundtracks – I have part one on vinyl!) and his influence shows. His time-tested ability to spin niche into cultural touchstones is yet again on display with this, the first mainstream film to focus on hip-hop, graffiti art and breakdancing into a hit. Giving the under-heard voice of the youth an audience.

I also just happen to think it is a wildly entertaining film, and the kind of which we rarely get.

Click to read more ...