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Gaumont Haymarket
The Odeon Haymarket was a cinema on Haymarket, London. Three cinemas occupied the site between 1925 and 1996, predecessors being Capitol Cinema (1925–1936) and Gaumont Haymarket (1937–1959). It became the Odeon Haymarket in 1962, before closing in 1996. Capitol Cinema (1925–1936) Built by Sir Walter Gibbons and opened in 1925, this was a large and ornate cinema in a Neo-Classical style, created as part of a development of an island site on this major London thoroughfare. Designed by Andrew Mather (architect of many later Odeon cinemas), the cinema used theatrical norms of stalls and circle seating, together with a number of boxes. An organ was installed and used during intermissions. Total seating was 1,700. In May 1928, Walter Gibbons company General Theatres Corporation was taken over by Gaumont British Theatres. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haymarket, London
Haymarket is a street in the St James's area of the City of Westminster, London. It runs from Piccadilly Circus in the north to Pall Mall, London, Pall Mall at the southern end. Located on the street are the Haymarket Theatre, Theatre Royal, Her Majesty's Theatre, New Zealand House, a cinema complex and restaurants. History Origins The broad street connecting Pall Mall, London, Pall Mall with Piccadilly is recorded in the Elizabethan era and, as the name suggests, was chiefly used as a street market for the sale of fodder and other farm produce. At that time, it was a rural spot, with the village of Charing (London), Charing the closest settlement. This practice continued to the reign of William III of England, William III; by that time, carts carrying hay and straw were allowed in the street to trade, toll-free. In 1692, when the street was paved, a tax was levied on the loads: 3Penny (British pre-decimal coin), d for a load of hay and 2d for one of straw. In 1830, the market w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Taylor (American Actor)
Robert Taylor (born Spangler Arlington Brugh; August 5, 1911 – June 8, 1969) was an American film and television actor and singer who was one of the most popular leading men of cinema. Taylor began his career in films in 1934 when he signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He won his first leading role the following year in ''Magnificent Obsession''. His popularity increased during the late 1930s and 1940s with appearances in '' Camille'' (1936), ''A Yank at Oxford'' (1938), ''Waterloo Bridge'' (1940), and ''Bataan'' (1943). During World War II, he served in the United States Naval Air Forces, where he worked as a flight instructor and appeared in instructional films. From 1959 to 1962, he starred in the television series ''The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor''. In 1966, he assumed hosting duties from his friend Ronald Reagan on the series ''Death Valley Days''. Taylor was married to actress Barbara Stanwyck from 1939 to 1952. He married actress Ursula Thiess in 1954, and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chariots Of Fire
''Chariots of Fire'' is a 1981 British historical sports drama film directed by Hugh Hudson, written by Colin Welland and produced by David Puttnam. It is based on the true story of two British athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice. Ben Cross and Ian Charleson star as Abrahams and Liddell, alongside Nigel Havers, Ian Holm, John Gielgud, Lindsay Anderson, Cheryl Campbell, Alice Krige, Brad Davis and Dennis Christopher in supporting roles. Kenneth Branagh makes his debut in a minor role. ''Chariots of Fire'' was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won four, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Score for Vangelis' electronic theme tune. At the 35th British Academy Film Awards, the film was nominated in eleven categories and won three, including Best Film. It is ranked 19th in the British Film Institute's list of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Puttnam
David Terence Puttnam, Baron Puttnam, CBE, HonFRSA, HonFRPS, MRIA (born 25 February 1941) is a British film producer, educator, environmentalist and former member of the House of Lords. His productions include ''Chariots of Fire'', which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, '' The Mission'', ''The Killing Fields'', '' Local Hero'', '' Midnight Express'' and '' Memphis Belle''. In 1982, he received the BAFTA for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema, and in 2006 he was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Puttnam sat on the Labour benches in the House of Lords, although he was not principally a politician. In 2019 he was appointed chair to thselect committee on democracy and digital technologies The committee published its findings in its ' report in June 2020. Early life Puttnam was born in Southgate, London, England, the son of Marie Beatrix, a housewife of Jewish origin, and Leonard Arthur Put ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugh Hudson
Hugh Hudson (born 25 August 1936) is an English film director. He was among a generation of British directors who would begin their career making documentaries and television commercials before going on to have success in films. He directed the 1981 Academy Award and BAFTA Award Best Picture ''Chariots of Fire'', a film ranked 19th in the British Film Institute's list of Top 100 British films. He continued to direct commercials while making films, which included the British Airways face advertisement from 1989 made in collaboration with London-based advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi. Early life Hugh Hudson was born at 27 Welbeck Street, London, the son and only child of Michael Donaldson-Hudson and his second wife Jacynth Mary Ellerton, from Cheswardine in rural north east Shropshire. Michael's father was Ralph Charles Donaldson-Hudson, and his great-grandfather was Charles Donaldson-Hudson, a one-time member of Parliament for Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. His pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mel Gibson
Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apocalyptic action series ''Mad Max'' and as Martin Riggs in the buddy cop action-comedy film series ''Lethal Weapon''. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia, when he was 12 years old. He studied acting at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, where he starred opposite Judy Davis in a production of ''Romeo and Juliet''. During the 1980s, he founded Icon Entertainment, a production company, which independent film director Atom Egoyan has called "an alternative to the studio system". Director Peter Weir cast him as one of the leads in the World War I drama ''Gallipoli'' (1981), which earned Gibson a Best Actor Award from the Australian Film Institute,The Australian Film InstitutPast Winners as well as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hamlet (1990 Film)
''Hamlet'' is a 1990 drama film based on the Shakespearean tragedy of the same name, directed by Franco Zeffirelli and starring Mel Gibson as the eponymous character. The film also features Glenn Close, Alan Bates, Paul Scofield, Ian Holm, Helena Bonham Carter, Stephen Dillane, and Nathaniel Parker. An international co-production between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Italy, the film was the first produced by Icon Productions, a company co-founded by Gibson. Plot The film largely follows the plot of the original play, albeit omitting certain dialogue and minor characters to fit the average length of a feature film. This version also makes no modern day adaptations. Cast * Mel Gibson as Prince Hamlet * Glenn Close as Queen Gertrude * Alan Bates as King Claudius * Paul Scofield as the ghost of King Hamlet * Ian Holm as Polonius * Helena Bonham Carter as Ophelia * Stephen Dillane as Horatio * Nathaniel Parker as Laertes * Michael Maloney and Sean Murray as Rosencr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Franco Zeffirelli
Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli (12 February 1923 – 15 June 2019), was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer and politician. He was one of the most significant opera and theatre directors of the post-World War II era, gaining both acclaim and notoriety for his lavish stagings of classical works, as well as his film adaptations of the same. A member of the Forza Italia party, he served as the Senator for Catania between 1994 until 2001. Films he directed included the Shakespearean adaptations ''The Taming of the Shrew'' (1967), starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton; '' Romeo and Juliet'' (1968), for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director; and ''Hamlet'' (1990), starring Mel Gibson and Glenn Close. His Biblical television miniseries '' Jesus of Nazareth'' (1977) won both national and international acclaim and is still frequently shown at Christmas and Easter in many countries. A Grande Ufficiale OMRI of the It ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Playtime
''Playtime'' (stylized as ''PlayTime'' and also written as ''Play Time'') is a 1967 comedy film directed by Jacques Tati. In the film, Tati again plays Monsieur Hulot, the popular character who had central roles in his earlier films ''Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot'' and ''Mon Oncle''. However, Tati grew ambivalent towards playing Hulot as a recurring central role during production; he appears intermittently in ''Playtime'', alternating between central and supporting roles. Shot on 70 mm, the work is notable for its enormous set, which Tati had built specially for the film, as well as Tati's trademark use of subtle yet complex visual comedy supported by creative sound effects; dialogue is frequently reduced to the level of background noise. ''Playtime'' is considered Tati's masterpiece and his most daring work. In 2012, ''Playtime'' was 43rd on the British Film Institute's critics' list and 37th in their directors' list of " Top 100 Greatest Films of All Time". The film was a fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacques Tati
Jacques Tati (; born Jacques Tatischeff, ; 9 October 1907 – 5 November 1982) was a French mime, film-maker, actor and screenwriter. In an ''Entertainment Weekly'' poll of the Greatest Movie Directors, he was voted the 46th greatest of all time (out of 50), although he directed only six feature-length films. Tati's '' Playtime'' (1967) ranked 43rd in the 2012 ''Sight & Sound'' critics' poll of the greatest films ever made. As David Bellos puts it, "Tati, from ''l'Ecole des facteurs'' to ''Playtime'', is the epitome of what an ''auteur'' is (in film theory) supposed to be: the controlling mind behind a vision of the world on film". Family origins Tati was of Russian, Dutch, and Italian ancestry. His father, Georges-Emmanuel Tatischeff (1875-1957), was born in Paris, the son of Dmitry Tatishcheff (Дмитрий Татищев; also spelled Tatishchev), General of the Imperial Russian Army and military attaché to the Russian embassy in Paris. The Tatischeffs were a Russian nobl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Hangman (1959 Film)
''The Hangman'' is a 1959 film directed by Michael Curtiz. It stars Robert Taylor and Tina Louise. The film is based on the short story of the same name by Luke Short. Plot Deputy U.S. Marshal Mac Bovard, known as the Hangman for his success at seeing guilty men die for their crimes, rounds up three of four outlaws suspected in a robbery that resulted in murder. Two are hanged. The third is needed to identify John Butterfield, whose face Bovard has never seen. Due to be hanged soon, the third outlaw refuses to cooperate. Knowing that Butterfield had been a U.S. Army cavalry trooper, Bovard goes to Butterfield's former post, Fort Kenton, to get assistance from the Army in identifying Butterfield. Butterfield's former girlfriend, Selah Jennison, works at Fort Kenton doing laundry. She refuses to help Bovard, even when he offers a $500 reward. Butterfield had been there for her after the death of her husband, so she remains loyal to him. A freight driver, Johnny Bishop, could b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rank Organisation
The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment conglomerate founded by industrialist J. Arthur Rank in April 1937. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the United Kingdom, owning production, distribution and exhibition facilities. It also diversified into the manufacture of radios, TVs and photocopiers (as one of the owners of Rank Xerox). The company name lasted until February 1996, when the name and some of the remaining assets were absorbed into the newly structured Rank Group plc. The company itself became a wholly owned subsidiary of Xerox and was renamed XRO Limited in 1997. The company logo, the Gongman, first used in 1935 by the group's distribution company General Film DistributorsThe Independent July 16, 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
