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Wilkie Cooper
Wilkie Cooper BSC (19 October 1911 – 15 December 2001) was a British cinematographer. Cooper was born in London, the son of the silent era cinematographer Douglas Percival Cooper. His early career included ''Green for Danger'' (1946) and '' London Belongs to Me'' (1948) for producer-director team Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, ''Stage Fright'' (1950) for Alfred Hitchcock, and ''Undercover'' (1943) for Ealing Studios. He worked with Jack Cardiff on ''Web of Evidence'' (1956), a thriller starring Van Johnson and Vera Miles and worked with J. Lee Thompson on the Wernher von Braun biopic ''I Aim at the Stars'' (1960). He co-produced ''Sea of Sand'' (1958) with Monty Berman. He forged a partnership with special effects maestro Ray Harryhausen in later years, photographing several of his productions, including ''The 7th Voyage of Sinbad'' (1958), '' Jason and the Argonauts'' (1963) and ''First Men in the Moon'' (1964). Cooper retired in 1972. He was married to actress ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wernher Von Braun
Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( , ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German and American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS, as well as the leading figure in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany and later a pioneer of rocket and space technology in the United States. As a young man, von Braun worked in Nazi Germany's rocket development program. He helped design and co-developed the V-2 rocket at Peenemünde during World War II. Following the war, he was secretly moved to the United States, along with about 1,600 other German scientists, engineers, and technicians, as part of Operation Paperclip. He worked for the United States Army on an intermediate-range ballistic missile program, and he developed the rockets that launched the United States' first space satellite Explorer 1 in 1958. He worked with Walt Disney on a series of films, which popularized the idea of human space travel in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Land Raiders (film)
''Land Raiders'' is a 1970 American Western film directed by Nathan Juran and starring Telly Savalas, George Maharis, Arlene Dahl and Janet Landgard. It was produced by Charles H. Schneer, who was best known for producing most of Ray Harryhausen's features, three of which were also directed by Juran. Plot In the 1870s Arizona town of Forge River, cattle baron Vince Carden (Telly Savalas) is estranged from his brother, Paul (George Maharis). The men are of Mexican ancestry but Vince has renounced that part of his heritage. Vince hates Native Americans and pays out bounties on Indian scalps, then benefits financially by being able to buy up the cheap land caused by the strife and bloodshed. Paul is rudderless, haunted by a past romance that ended with the death of his lover, which some people think he was responsible for. A wagon train joined by Paul is attacked by braves in retaliation for a raid that was fermented by Vince. The only survivor besides Paul is a woman returning h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Port Afrique
''Port Afrique'' is a 1956 British drama film based on the 1948 novel of the same name by Bernard Victor Dryer (1918–1995). The colour film was directed by Rudolph Maté and the adapted screenplay was written by John Cresswell. The film was made at Shepperton Studios with sets designed by the art director Wilfred Shingleton. It was filmed on location in the Casbah in Algiers and in Tangiers and Morocco. Synopsis Set in July 1945, the film tells the story of a returning American pilot named Rip Reardon who lost his leg during the war and a young woman, Ynez, who is accused of the murder of Rip's wife. Cast * Pier Angeli as Ynez * Philip Carey as Rip Reardon * Dennis Price as Robert Blackton * Eugene Deckers a Colonel Moussac * James Hayter (actor), James Hayter as Nino * Anthony Newley as Pedro * Richard Molinas as Captain * Christopher Lee as Franz Vermes * Guy De Monceau as Police Driver * Jacques Cey as Waiter * Dorothy White as Berber Girl * Denis Shaw as Gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
It's A Wonderful World (1956 Film)
''It's a Wonderful World'' is a 1956 British musical film directed by Val Guest and starring Terence Morgan, George Cole, Mylène Demongeot (in her first English-language film and listed in the credits as Mylène Nicole) and Kathleen Harrison. It also features Dennis Lotis, a popular singer at the time. It was made at Shepperton Studios. Songs include: ''Rosanne'', ''When You Came Along'', ''Girls! Girls! Girls!'' (Ted Heath, Moira Heath), ''A Few Kisses Ago'' (Robert Farnon, Val Guest), and '' The Hawaiian War Chant'' (Ted Heath). Synopsis In London, Ray and Ken (Morgan and Cole) are two struggling composers of popular songs, and they make friends with a young French singer, Georgie (Demongeot), newly arrived from Paris. She likes one of the songs Ray and Ken have written, and chooses to sing it when she gets an audition with bandleader Ted Heath (playing himself), and she is hired as their singer. Unaware of this, Ken stumbles across another route to success when his broken r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Call Of The Blood (1948 Film)
''Call of the Blood'' is a 1948 British-Italian drama film directed by John Clements and Ladislao Vajda and starring Clements, Kay Hammond and John Justin. In the Edwardian era a British family move to Sicily where the husband has an affair with a local woman. It was adapted from a 1906 novel of the same title by Robert Hichens. The film's sets were designed by art director Maurice Fowler. Elizabeth Haffenden worked as costume designer. Cast * John Clements as Julius Ikon * Kay Hammond as Doctor Anne Lester * John Justin as David Erskine * Hilton Edwards as Doctor Robert Blake * Robert Rietti as Gaspare * Carlo Ninchi as Salvatore * Lea Padovani as Maddelena * Jelo Filippo as Sebastiono * H.G. Stoker as Uncle Ben * Keith Pyott Keith Pyott ( Blackheath, London, 9 March 1902 - 6 April 1968) was a British actor. He transferred from stage to screen and was a regular face in drama in the early days of television, appearing in '' Educated Evans'', ''The Prisoner'', ''Out o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peggy Bryan
Margaret Eileen Bryan (3 January 1916 – 12 January 1996) was an English film and stage actress, born in Birmingham, England. She appeared in many films, including most notably as the screen wife of George Formby in the comedy film ''Turned Out Nice Again'' (1941). She married cinematographer Wilkie Cooper, with whom she had three sons. Biography Peggy Bryan attended Windermere College with her first employment position as an elocution teacher at Highclare College located in Sutton Coldfield. Although her family did not have a theatrical background, she gained considerable amateur stage experience and eventually decided on an acting career. She applied to the London Academy of Music and Drama and was awarded a six-month scholarship. Bryan gained her first professional acting role on 16 December 1937 as the character of Puck in a scene from William Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' at the Royal performance in aid of King George's Actors Pension Fund. She perfor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First Men In The Moon
''The First Men in the Moon'' is a scientific romance by the English author H. G. Wells, originally serialised in ''The Strand Magazine'' from December 1900 to August 1901 and published in hardcover in 1901, who called it one of his "fantastic stories". The novel tells the story of a journey to the Moon undertaken by the two protagonists: a businessman narrator, Mr. Bedford; and an eccentric scientist, Mr. Cavor. Bedford and Cavor discover that the Moon is inhabited by a sophisticated extraterrestrial civilisation of insect-like creatures they call "Selenites". The inspiration seems to come from the famous 1870 book by Jules Verne, ''From the Earth to the Moon'', and the opera by Jacques Offenbach from 1875. In that opera the word "selenites" is used for the first time for moon inhabitants. Plot summary The narrator is a London businessman named Bedford who withdraws to the countryside to write a play, by which he hopes to alleviate his financial problems. Bedford rents a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jason And The Argonauts (1963 Film)
''Jason and the Argonauts'' (working title: ''Jason and the Golden Fleece'') is a 1963 Anglo-American independent mythological fantasy adventure film distributed by Columbia Pictures. It was produced by Charles H. Schneer, directed by Don Chaffey, and stars Todd Armstrong, while co-starring Nancy Kovack, Honor Blackman, and Gary Raymond. Shot in Eastman Color, the film was made in collaboration with stop-motion animation master Ray Harryhausen and is known for its various legendary creatures, notably the iconic fight scene featuring seven skeleton warriors. Although it was a box-office disappointment during its initial release, the film was critically acclaimed and later became a cult classic. The film score was composed by Bernard Herrmann, who had partnered with Harryhausen on ''The 7th Voyage of Sinbad'' (1958), '' The 3 Worlds of Gulliver'' (1960) and '' Mysterious Island'' (1961). Plot Pelias usurps the throne of Thessaly, killing King Aristo. A prophecy states that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad
''The 7th Voyage of Sinbad'' is a 1958 Technicolor heroic fantasy adventure film directed by Nathan H. Juran and starring Kerwin Mathews, Torin Thatcher, Kathryn Grant, Richard Eyer, and Alec Mango. It was distributed by Columbia Pictures and produced by Charles H. Schneer. It was the first of three Sinbad feature films from Columbia, the later two from the 1970s being ''The Golden Voyage of Sinbad'' (1973) and ''Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger'' (1977). All three Sinbad films were conceptualized by Ray Harryhausen using Dynamation, the full color widescreen stop-motion animation technique that he created. While similarly named, the film does not follow the storyline of the tale " The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor" but instead has more in common with the Third and Fifth voyages of Sinbad. ''The 7th Voyage of Sinbad'' was selected in 2008 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aestheti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Harryhausen
Raymond Frederick Harryhausen (June 29, 1920 – May 7, 2013) was an American-British animator and special effects creator who created a form of stop motion model animation known as "Dynamation". His works include the animation for '' Mighty Joe Young'' (1949) with his mentor Willis H. O'Brien (for which the latter won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects); his first color film, ''The 7th Voyage of Sinbad'' (1958); and '' Jason and the Argonauts'' (1963), which featured a sword fight with seven skeleton warriors. His last film was '' Clash of the Titans'' (1981), after which he retired. In 1960, Harryhausen moved to the United Kingdom and became a dual American-British citizen. He lived in London until his death in 2013. During his life, his innovative style of special effects in films inspired numerous filmmakers. In November 2016 the BFI compiled a list of those present-day filmmakers who claim to have been inspired by Harryhausen, including Steven Spielberg, Peter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Special Effects
Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual world. Special effects are traditionally divided into the categories of mechanical effects and optical effects. With the emergence of digital film-making a distinction between special effects and visual effects has grown, with the latter referring to digital post-production and optical effects, while "special effects" refers to mechanical effects. Mechanical effects (also called practical or physical effects) are usually accomplished during the live-action shooting. This includes the use of mechanized props, scenery, scale models, animatronics, pyrotechnics and atmospheric effects: creating physical wind, rain, fog, snow, clouds, making a car appear to drive by itself and blowing up a building, etc. Mechanical effects are also often inco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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