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Stanley Donen
Stanley Donen ( ; April 13, 1924 – February 21, 2019) was an American film director and choreographer whose most celebrated works are '' On the Town,'' (1949) and ''Singin' in the Rain'' (1952), both of which he co-directed with Gene Kelly. His other films include '' Royal Wedding'' (1951), ''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'' (1954), ''It's Always Fair Weather'' (1955), ''Funny Face'' (1957), '' Indiscreet'' (1958), and '' Charade'' (1963). Donen began his career in the chorus line on Broadway for director George Abbott, where he befriended Kelly. From 1943, he worked in Hollywood as a choreographer before collaborating with Kelly. After ''On the Town'', Donen worked as a contract director for MGM under producer Arthur Freed producing critically well-received box-office hits. Donen and Kelly co-directed the musical ''Singin' in the Rain'', released in April 1952, which has appeared on lists of the best films ever made. Donen's relationship with Kelly deteriorated during th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. It is the center of the Columbia metropolitan statistical area, which had a population of 829,470 in 2020 and is the 72nd-largest metropolitan statistical area in the nation. The name Columbia is a poetic term used for the United States, derived from the name of Christopher Columbus, who explored for the Spanish Crown. Columbia is often abbreviated as Cola, leading to its nickname as "Soda City." The city is located about northwest of the geographic center of South Carolina, and is the primary city of the Midlands region of the state. It lies at the confluence of the Saluda River and the Broad River, which merge at Columbia to form the Congaree River. As the state capital, Columbia is th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indiscreet (1958 Film)
''Indiscreet'' is a 1958 British romantic comedy film directed by Stanley Donen and starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. The film is based on the play '' Kind Sir'' written by Norman Krasna. This was Grant's and Bergman's second film together, after Alfred Hitchcock's ''Notorious'' (1946), and was one of the first films to popularise artistic use of the technique of split screens. The film was remade for television in 1988 starring Robert Wagner and Lesley-Anne Down. Plot Anna Kalman is an accomplished London-based theatre actress who has given up her hopes of finding the man of her dreams. Through her brother-in-law, Alfred Munson, she meets a handsome economist, Philip Adams. She is instantly captivated by him and expresses visible interest in him. At the end of their first meeting, she makes a pass at him to go on a date sometime later to which he politely states that he is married. He further adds that he is separated and unable to get a divorce from his wife. Ann ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vincente Minnelli
Vincente Minnelli (born Lester Anthony Minnelli; February 28, 1903 – July 25, 1986) was an American stage director and film director. He directed the classic movie musicals '' Meet Me in St. Louis'' (1944), '' An American in Paris'' (1951), '' The Band Wagon'' (1953), and '' Gigi'' (1958). ''An American in Paris'' and ''Gigi'' both won the Academy Award for Best Picture, with Minnelli winning Best Director for ''Gigi''. In addition to having directed some of the best known musicals of his day, Minnelli made many comedies and melodramas.Obituary '' Variety'', July 30, 1986. He was married to Judy Garland from 1945 until 1951; the couple were the parents of Liza Minnelli. Early life Lester Anthony Minnelli was born on February 28, 1903, to Marie Émilie Odile Lebeau and Vincent Charles Minnelli. He was baptized in Chicago, and was the youngest of four known sons, only two of whom survived to adulthood. His mother's stage name was Mina Gennell, and his father was the musical c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean-Pierre Coursodon
Jean-Pierre Coursodon (23 July 1935 – 31 December 2020) was a French film critic and historian. He wrote film reviews and journal articles to the magazines including ''Cinéma'' (1958–1965, 1977–1986) and ''Anthologie du Cinéma'' (1966–1969). In 1967, Coursodon began living in the United States where he contributed essays to ''Film Comment'' (1973–1975) and ''Cinéma d'Aujourd'hui'' (1975–1976). Since 1988, Coursodon served as an American correspondent for '' Positif'' magazine. In 1970, Coursodon also co-wrote with Bertrand Tavernier an encyclopedic book ''30 ans de cinéma Américain'' (translated as ''30 Years of American Cinema''). The book was updated in 1991 as ''50 ans de cinéma américain'' to encompass two more decades. Both encyclopedia editions have yet to be translated into English. Coursodon was the co-editor (along with Pierre Sauvage) of the two-volume, English-language work ''American Directors'' (1983). Coursodon also worked as a translator, being re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch (; January 29, 1892November 30, 1947) was a German-born American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch". Among his best known works are '' Trouble in Paradise'', ''Design for Living'', ''Ninotchka'', '' The Shop Around the Corner'', ''To Be or Not to Be'' and '' Heaven Can Wait''. In 1946, he received an Honorary Academy Award for his distinguished contributions to the art of the motion picture. Early life Lubitsch was born in 1892 in Berlin, the son of Simon Lubitsch, a tailor, and Anna (née) Lindenstaedt. His family was Ashkenazi Jewish; his father was born in Grodno in the Russian Empire (now Belarus), and his mother was from Wriezen outside Berlin. He turned his back on his father's tailoring business to enter the theater, and by 1911 was a member of Max Reinha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
René Clair
René Clair (11 November 1898 – 15 March 1981), born René-Lucien Chomette, was a French filmmaker and writer. He first established his reputation in the 1920s as a director of silent films in which comedy was often mingled with fantasy. He went on to make some of the most innovative early sound films in France, before going abroad to work in the UK and USA for more than a decade. Returning to France after World War II, he continued to make films that were characterised by their elegance and wit, often presenting a nostalgic view of French life in earlier years. He was elected to the Académie française in 1960. Clair's best known films include '' Un chapeau de paille d'Italie'' (''The Italian Straw Hat'', 1928), '' Sous les toits de Paris'' (''Under the Roofs of Paris'', 1930), ''Le Million'' (1931), ''À nous la liberté'' (1931), ''I Married a Witch'' (1942), and ''And Then There Were None'' (1945). Early life René Clair was born and grew up in Paris in the district of Les ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starring role in Kitty Foyle (film), ''Kitty Foyle'' (1940), and performed during the 1930s in RKO Pictures, RKO's musical films with Fred Astaire. Her career continued on stage, radio and television throughout much of the 20th century. Rogers was born in Independence, Missouri, and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City. She and her family moved to Fort Worth, Texas, when she was nine years old. In 1925, she won a Charleston dance contest that helped her launch a successful vaudeville career. After that, she gained recognition as a Broadway theatre, Broadway actress for her stage debut in ''Girl Crazy''. This led to a contract with Paramount Pictures, which ended after five films. Rogers had her first successful film roles as a supporting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer. He is often called the greatest dancer in Hollywood film history. Astaire's career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years. He starred in more than 10 Broadway and West End musicals, made 31 musical films, four television specials, and numerous recordings. As a dancer, he was known for his uncanny sense of rhythm, creativity, and tireless perfectionism. Astaire's most memorable dancing partnership was with Ginger Rogers, whom he co-starred with in 10 Hollywood musicals during the classic age of Hollywood cinema. Astaire and Rogers starred together in ''Top Hat'' (1935), '' Swing Time'' (1936), and ''Shall We Dance'' (1937). Astaire's fame grew in films like ''Holiday Inn'' (1942), '' Easter Parade'' (1948), '' The Band Wagon'' (1953), '' Funny Face'' (1957), and ''Silk Stockings'' (1957). The American Film Institute named Astaire the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley (born Berkeley William Enos; November 29, 1895 – March 14, 1976) was an American film director and musical choreographer. Berkeley devised elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns. Berkeley's works used large numbers of showgirls and props as fantasy elements in kaleidoscopic on-screen performances. Early life Berkeley was born in Los Angeles, California, to Francis Enos (who died when Busby was eight) and stage actress Gertrude Berkeley (1864–1946). Among Gertrude's friends, and a performer in Tim Frawly's Stock company run by Busby Berkeley's father, were actress Amy Busby from whom Berkeley gained the appellation "Buzz" or "Busby" and actor William Gillette, then only four years away from playing Sherlock Holmes. Whether he was actually christened Busby Berkeley William Enos,Spivak, Jeffrey, ''Buzz, The Life and Art of Busby Berkeley'' (University Press of Kentucky, 2010), pp. 6–7. or Berkeley William Enos, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Backstage Musical
A backstage musical is a genre of musical with a plot set in a theatrical context that revolves around the production of a play or musical revue. The film's narrative trajectory often comes to a halt one or more times to allow a performance. The songs performed in this context are considered diegetic numbers in that they occur literally in the plot, though they do not necessarily move the story forward. The backstage musical was typified in the early films by director and choreographer Busby Berkeley, including '' 42nd Street'' (1933), ''Footlight Parade'' (1933), ''Dames'' (1934) and the ''Gold Diggers'' series (1933, 1935 and 1937), with examples in later films including ''Burlesque'' (2010) and A ''Star Is Born'' (2018). Stage musicals that themselves have elements of backstage musicals include ''Show Boat'' (1927), ''Kiss Me, Kate'' (1948), ''The Band Wagon'' (1953), ''Gypsy'' (1959), ''Cabaret'' (1966), ''Follies'' (1971), ''A Chorus Line'' (1975) and ''The Phantom of the Op ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Film Producer
A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, directing, editing, and arranging financing. The producer is responsible for finding and selecting promising material for development. Unless the film is based on an existing script, the producer hires a screenwriter and oversees the script's development. These activities culminate with the pitch, led by the producer, to secure the financial backing that enables production to begin. If all succeeds, the project is "greenlighted". The producer also supervises the pre-production, principal photography and post-production stages of filmmaking. A producer is also responsible for hiring a director for the film, as well as other key crew members. Whereas the director makes the creative decisions during the production, the producer typicall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Library Of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.; it also maintains a conservation center in Culpeper, Virginia. The library's functions are overseen by the Librarian of Congress, and its buildings are maintained by the Architect of the Capitol. The Library of Congress is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its "collections are universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 470 languages." Congress moved to Washington, D.C., in 1800 after holding sessions for eleven years in the temporary national capitals in New York City and Philadelphia. In both cities, members of the U.S. Congress had access to the sizable co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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