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The Road Back (film)
''The Road Back'' is a 1937 American historical drama war film directed by James Whale, starring John King, Richard Cromwell, and Slim Summerville with a supporting cast featuring Andy Devine, Louise Fazenda, Noah Beery Jr., Lionel Atwill, Spring Byington, Al Shean, and an uncredited Dwight Frye. The screenplay is by Charles Kenyon and R. C. Sherriff from the novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque. Combining a strong anti-war message with prescient warnings about the rising dangers of the dictatorship of Nazi Germany, it was intended to be a powerful and controversial picture, and Universal entrusted it to their finest director, James Whale. The novel on which the film is based was banned by Nazi Germany. When the film was made, Universal Pictures was threatened with a boycott of all their films by the German government unless the anti-Nazi sentiments in the script were watered down. Carl Laemmle and his son, Carl Laemmle, Jr., the former heads of Universal, had recent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Whale
James Whale (22 July 1889 – 29 May 1957) was an English film director, theatre director and actor, who spent the greater part of his career in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. He is best remembered for several horror films: ''Frankenstein (1931 film), Frankenstein'' (1931), ''The Old Dark House (1932 film), The Old Dark House'' (1932), ''The Invisible Man (1933 film), The Invisible Man'' (1933) and ''Bride of Frankenstein'' (1935), all considered classics. Whale also directed films in other genres, including the 1936 Show Boat (1936 film), film version of the musical ''Show Boat''. Whale was born into a large family in Dudley, Worcestershire now Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. He discovered his artistic talent early on and studied art. With the outbreak of World War I he enlisted in the British Army and became an officer. He was captured by the Germans and during his time as a prisoner of war he realised he was interested in drama. Following his release at the end ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lionel Atwill
Lionel Alfred William Atwill (1 March 1885 – 22 April 1946) was an English stage and screen actor. He began his acting career at the Garrick Theatre. After coming to the U.S., he subsequently appeared in various Broadway plays and Hollywood films. Some of his more significant roles were in '' Captain Blood'' (1935), ''Son of Frankenstein'' (1939) and ''To Be or Not to Be'' (1942). Life and career Atwill was born on 1 March 1885 in Croydon, London, England. He studied architecture before his stage debut at the Garrick Theatre, London, in 1904. He became a star in Broadway theatre by 1918 and made his screen debut in 1919. His Broadway credits include ''The Lodger'' (1916), ''The Silent Witness'' (1930), ''Fioretta'' (1928), ''The Outsider'' (1924), ''Napoleon'' (1927), ''The Thief'' (1926), ''Slaves All'' (1926), ''Beau Gallant'' (1925), ''Caesar and Cleopatra'' (1924), ''The Outsider'' (1923), ''The Comedian'' (1922), ''The Grand Duke'' (1921), ''Deburau'' (1920), ''Tiger! ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gods And Monsters (film)
''Gods and Monsters'' is a 1998 period drama film that recounts the partly fictionalized last days of the life of film director James Whale, whose experience of war in World War I is a central theme. The film stars Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser, Lynn Redgrave, Lolita Davidovich, and David Dukes. An international co-production between the United Kingdom and the United States, the film is written and directed by Bill Condon, based on Christopher Bram's 1995 novel ''Father of Frankenstein''. The film is produced by Paul Colichman, Gregg Fienberg, and Mark R. Harris; Clive Barker served as executive producer. Despite positive reviews, the film was a box office failure. ''Gods and Monsters'' was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Actor for McKellen and Best Supporting Actress for Redgrave, and won for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film features reconstructions of the production of the 1935 film ''Bride of Frankenstein'', which Whale directed. The title ''Gods and Monst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Green Hell (film)
''Green Hell'' is a 1940 American jungle adventure film directed by James Whale, starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Joan Bennett. ''Green Hell'' was given a lavish production by Universal Pictures, which built a massive indoor jungle set on a sound stage. An Inca temple 125 feet high, 225 feet wide, and 45,000 square feet in area was constructed. Having spent a great deal of money on a film that turned out to be a critical and financial disaster, Universal used the set again, recycling it into an Egyptian temple for ''The Mummy's Hand'' (1940). Whale made only one more completed film after this, the 1941 World War II romantic melodrama ''They Dare Not Love'', starring George Brent as an exiled Austrian prince fighting the Nazis. Plot A group of adventurers journey deep into the South American jungle in search of ancient Incan treasure. A beautiful woman, brought to their camp by hired bearers, has come to join her husband, a newer member of the group, who was recently killed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Kiss Before The Mirror
''The Kiss Before the Mirror'' is a 1933 American pre-Code mystery film adapted from the 1932 play by Ladislas Fodor, directed by James Whale and starring Nancy Carroll, Frank Morgan, Paul Lukas, and Gloria Stuart. Plot Attorney Paul Held is defending his friend, Walter Bernsdorf, who has been charged with the murder of his wife Lucy in Vienna. By Walter's account, Lucy was unfaithful to him during their marriage. After a court hearing, Paul returns home to his wife, Maria, and watches her as she applies make-up at her vanity. The scene reminds him of the one Walter described leading up to Lucy's murder. When Paul attempts to kiss Maria, she rebuffs him, criticizing him for ruining her make-up. She then leaves their home. Paul follows Maria through the streets of Vienna, and observes her meeting with a male lover. This enrages Paul, and he fantasizes about murdering Maria; he also becomes obsessed with vindicating Walter of killing Lucy, hoping to prove in court that Walter's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wives Under Suspicion
''Wives Under Suspicion'' is a 1938 American crime film based on a 1932 Ladislas Fodor play that was previously adapted into the film, ''The Kiss Before the Mirror''. This version was directed by James Whale and stars Warren William, Gail Patrick, Ralph Morgan, and Constance Moore. It released by Universal Pictures. In 1966, the film entered the public domain in the United States because the claimants did not renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication. Plot A district attorney Jim Stowell (Warren William) realizes that his own wife (Gail Patrick) might be having an affair while he is prosecuting a cuckolded murderer. Cast * Warren William as District Attorney Jim Stowell * Gail Patrick as Lucy Stowell * Ralph Morgan as Professor Shaw MacAllen * William Lundigan as Phil * Constance Moore as Elizabeth * Cecil Cunningham as "Sharpy" * Jonathan Hale as Dan Allison * Lillian Yarbo as Creola * Milburn Stone as Eddie Kirk * J. Anthony Hughes as Murphy * Samue ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Laemmle, Jr
Carl Laemmle Jr. (born Julius Laemmle; April 28, 1908 – September 24, 1979) was an American film producer - studio executive and heir of Carl Laemmle, who had founded Universal Studios. He was head of production at the studio from 1928 to 1936. Early life Laemmle was born on April 28, 1908, in Chicago, the son of Carl Laemmle, the founder of Universal Pictures, and Recha Stern Laemmle, who died in 1919 when he was eleven years old. Carl Jr. had a sister Rosabelle, and a cousin Carla, an actress and dancer. His mother was buried in Salem Fields Cemetery, Glendale, New York. His family was Jewish. The Laemmle family shared a large New York City apartment located at 465 West End Avenue before moving to Los Angeles, California. Career During his tenure as head of production, beginning in 1928 in the early years of "talkie" movies, the studio had great success with films such as ''All Quiet on the Western Front'' (1930), ''Dracula'' (1931), ''Waterloo Bridge'' (1931), ''Fra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Laemmle
Carl Laemmle (; born Karl Lämmle; January 17, 1867 – September 24, 1939) was a film producer and the co-founder and, until 1934, owner of Universal Pictures. He produced or worked on over 400 films. Regarded as one of the most important of the early film pioneers, Laemmle was born in what is now Germany. He immigrated to the United States in 1884 and worked in Chicago for 20 years before he began buying nickelodeons, eventually expanding into a film distribution service, the Laemmle Film Service, then into production as Independent Moving Pictures Company (IMP), later renamed Universal Film Manufacturing Company, and later still renamed Universal Pictures Company. Early life and education Karl Lämmle was born in 1867 to Julius Baruch Lämmle and Rebekka Lämmle, a Jewish couple in the Radstrasse, a street in the Jewish quarter of Laupheim, in the Kingdom of Württemberg. His father was a cattle merchant, also involved in land transactions. The family struggled financial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a dictatorship. Under Hitler's rule, Germany quickly became a totalitarian state where nearly all aspects of life were controlled by the government. The Third Reich, meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", alluded to the Nazi claim that Nazi Germany was the successor to the earlier Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and German Empire (1871–1918). The Third Reich, which Hitler and the Nazis referred to as the Thousand-Year Reich, ended in May 1945 after just 12 years when the Allies defeated Germany, ending World War II in Europe. On 30 January 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany, the head of gove ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dictatorship
A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by the dictator and facilitated through an inner circle of elites that include advisers, generals, and other high-ranking officials. The dictator maintains control by influencing and appeasing the inner circle while repressing any opposition, which may include rival political parties, armed resistance, or disloyal members of the inner circle. Dictatorships can be formed by a military coup that overthrows the previous government through force or by a self-coup in which elected leaders make their rule permanent. Dictatorships are authoritarian or totalitarian and can be classified as military dictatorships, one-party dictatorships, personalist dictatorships, or absolute monarchies. The term dictatorship originates from its use i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anti-war Movement
An anti-war movement (also ''antiwar'') is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term anti-war can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts, or to anti-war books, paintings, and other works of art. Some activists distinguish between anti-war movements and peace movements. Anti-war activists work through protest and other grassroots means to attempt to pressure a government (or governments) to put an end to a particular war or conflict or to prevent it in advance. History American Revolutionary War Substantial opposition to British war intervention in America led the British House of Commons on 27 February 1783 to vote against further war in America, paving the way for the Second Rockingham ministry and the Peace of Paris. Antebellum United States Substantial antiwar sentiment developed in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Screenplay
''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, feature length filmed dramas, including ''ScreenPlay''. Various writers and directors were utilized on the series. Writer Jimmy McGovern was hired by producer George Faber to pen a series five episode based upon the Merseyside needle exchange programme of the 1980s. The episode, directed by Gillies MacKinnon, was entitled ''Needle'' and featured Sean McKee, Emma Bird, and Pete Postlethwaite''.'' The last episode of the series was titled "Boswell and Johnson's Tour of the Western Islands" and featured Robbie Coltrane as English writer Samuel Johnson, who in the autumn of 1773, visits the Hebrides off the north-west coast of Scotland. That episode was directed by John Byrne and co-starred John Sessions and Celia Imrie. Some scenes were shot a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
