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High-concept movies, particularly those based on previous films or novels, often face an uphill battle to surpass their predecessors. The inevitable comparisons and ‘who did it better’ debates can overshadow the new iteration’s merits. However, every so often, a fresh take can breathe new life into a beloved character, defying expectations and captivating audiences anew.

Jeff Bridges, in particular, had a profound vision for a beloved character from the MonsterVerse. The King Kong (1976) actor had a potential sequel, which unfortunately never came to fruition due to the movie’s modest box office performance. Bridges’ vision for the future of the giant ape was quite intriguing and might have become a hit for the genre.

A Vision Unfulfilled: The scrapped sequel concept

The MonsterVerse, synonymous with the iconic Godzilla, had another storied member: Kong, the giant ape that has terrorized cities for generations. With numerous renovations and reboots, each film...

Robert Logan, who succeeded Edd “Kookie” Byrnes as the valet parking attendant on the famed ABC detective show 77 Sunset Strip and starred as the dad in a series of return-to-nature adventure movies, has died. He was 82.

Logan died May 6 of natural causes in Estero, Florida, his son, Anthony Logan, told The Hollywood Reporter. His family chose to wait until this week to announce his death.

After Gerald Lloyd Kookson III was promoted from parking attendant at Dino’s Lodge — a nightclub owned by Dean Martin — to partner and private investigator at the detective agency next door, the Brooklyn-born Logan joined Warner Bros. Television’s 77 Sunset Strip to play his replacement, another hipster named J.R. Hale.

On the swanky series that starred Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Roger Smith as the crime solvers Stu Bailey and Jeff Spencer, respectively, Logan portrayed Hale on 50 episodes of the show’s final two seasons,...

On Dec. 16, 1974, 20th-Fox and Warner Bros. unveiled in theaters what would become a landmark disaster movie: The 170-minute, John Guillermin-directed Towering Inferno. The movie, which took in $116 million domestically at the time, tops The Hollywood Reporter’s list of greatest disaster movies of all time. THR’s original review of the feature is below:

Movie technology is the star of this awesome Irwin Allen production, a formula disaster picture made into an event by the sheer size of its inflating production values. More ordeal than entertainment, it overwhelms the spectator like a bully playing on the fears of a society trapped in its own burning affluence.

Since the screenplay by Stirling Silliphant has nothing new to say (the “insanity” of building skyscrapers is dealt with in Earthquake), and the general doomsday appeal of the disaster genre has already been established, The Towering Inferno‘s appeal lies entirely in immediate visceral reactions.

Anthea Sylbert, the two-time Oscar-nominated costume designer who worked on Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, Carnal Knowledge, Shampoo and Julia before becoming a studio executive and producer, has died. She was 84.

Sylbert died Tuesday in Skiathos, Greece, director Sakis Lalas told The Hollywood Reporter. Lalas just finished a documentary about Sylbert titled, My Life in 3 Acts.

Sylbert partnered with two-time Oscar-winning production Richard Sylbert on eight films and with his twin brother, Paul Sylbert — her first husband and another Oscar-winning production designer — on another three.

“Paul is the more bitter, more angry of the two,” she told Peter Biskind in 1993. “Someone once put it this way: Dick is more of a diplomat. He will put the ice pick somewhere in your back, you’re not quite sure, and you sort of feel tickled; Paul, while facing you, sticks it in your gut. I always used to think that if you put them together,...

Even in this age of instant YouTube gratification, movie trailers are a big deal. They get us hyped for an upcoming project by making promises that the eventual film will (hopefully) pay off. The best sizzle reels are even able to do this by giving a taste of things to come without ruining any surprises or plot twists. Think about the teaser for Alien with its cracking egg and unnerving siren sound, or the deft use of a choral version of Radiohead’s “Creep” in the classic promo for The Social Network. Both of those examples speak to the haunting nature of their movies while allowing space for the film to stand on its own down the road.

But some trailers do their job too well. Some trailers outdo the movies they advertise, sometimes because the film has a concept too shallow to sustain more than three minutes, and sometimes...

Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.

Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!

King Kong (1976) SteelBook 4K Uhd from Paramount

The 1976 remake of King Kong is now available on SteelBook 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray via Paramount. The 134-minute theatrical version is presented in 4K with Hdr., while the 182-minute TV cut is included on Blu-ray. No other special features are included.

From producer Dino De Laurentiis, the monster movie is directed by John Guillermin and written by Lorenzo Semple Jr. (Flash Gordon). Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin, and Jessica Lange star.

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter Apparel from Gutter Garbs

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter turns 40 tomorrow, and Gutter Garbs is celebrating with a design by Sam Coyne.

T-shirts for $30, long sleeves for $40, zip-up hoodies for...

Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack's 1933 mega-hit "King Kong" was a marvel of special effects. It employed stop-motion animation, outsize models, rear-projection, and novel composting methods to convince audiences that a giant ape was interacting with human co-stars. Compared to modern, ultra-slick CGI effects, the 1933 King Kong may not look as realistic, but the ape shimmers with life and personality beyond what many modern effects can accomplish. Kong is the most sympathetic character in the movie, as he was kidnapped from his home and exploited by would-be entertainment moguls. Using bi-planes to shoot Kong off the top of the Empire State Building wasn't a moment of triumph for a masterful humanity, but the tragic execution of an animal that doesn't understand what it was thrust into. Not bad for a film that's going to celebrate its 91st birthday in April of 2024.

Interpreting "King Kong" in 2024 is fraught. Cooper...

Jessica Lange came by her restlessness naturally. Born on April 20, 1949, to a stay-at-home mom and a traveling salesman father who moved the family all over the state of Minnesota, she quickly became acclimated to the process of re-acclimating. Eventually, the need for stabilization lost its appeal. Three years into studying art and photography at the University of Minnesota, she married Spanish photographer Paco Grande, at which point their shared wanderlust took them all over the United States and Mexico. The pair split upon moving to Paris, where Lange discovered Étienne Decroux and corporeal mime -- which departs from the conventional white-faced japery you're familiar with, and seeks to find abstract poetry in the movement of people and things.

Lange possessed the soul of a poet, but found this form of performance emotionally unrewarding, so she decamped for New York City to study acting with Mira Rostova at Hb Studio. She...

John Guillermin’s Academy Award Winning remake of iconic Hollywood classic, King Kong (1976), starring Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange and produced by Hollywood legend Dino de Laurentiis, this retelling of the classic monster adventure film went on to jointly win the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, as well as receiving Academy Award nominations for Best Cinematography (Richard H. Kline) and Best Sound. Jessica Lange was also honoured as Best new Actress for her role at the Golden Globes that same year.

Fred Wilson (Charles Grodin), an employee of a large American oil company, has been charged with a mission to find new oil wells. With a chartered boat, he sets off on a journey to an uninhabited island in the South Pacific. On board is also a stowaway: the palaeontologist Jack Prescott (Jeff Bridges) has smuggled himself onto the ship, as he hopes to examine a rare species of monkey on this island.

When the classic monster movie King Kong was released in the US in 1933, it had the biggest opening ever recorded, and little wonder – who could resist the fantastic story of a giant lovesick ape on the rampage in New York city!

Since then Kong has returned to the screen numerous times, not least in the 1976 version King Kong, starring Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange, with Kong himself brought to life by special effects legends Carlo Rambaldi (Et) and Rick Baker (American Werewolf in London). Directed by John Guillermin (The Towering Inferno) and produced by the legendary Dino De Laurentis (Flash Gordon) this blockbuster features a stirring John Barry score, action set pieces, stunning scenery, groundbreaking effects – it’s arguably one of the greatest King Kongs ever. To celebrate the towering release of the film in a stunning 4K restoration, here’s a look at Kongs onscreen from the 1931 original all...

To mark the release of the 4K reissue of John Guillermin’s King Kong, out now, we’ve been given a Steelbook to give away to 1 winner.

Fred Wilson (Charles Grodin), an employee of a large American oil company, has been charged with a mission to find new oil wells. With a chartered boat, he sets off on a journey to an uninhabited island in the South Pacific. On board is also a stowaway: the palaeontologist Jack Prescott (Jeff Bridges) has smuggled himself onto the ship, as he hopes to examine a rare species of monkey on this island. On the way, after a violent storm, the expedition also takes on board the shipwrecked Dawn (Jessica Lange), who is floating in a lifeboat at sea. When the ship anchors off the island, however, it turns out not to be a uninhabited as everyone once thought. The natives of the island...

To mark the release of the 4K reissue of John Guillermin’s King Kong, out now, we’ve been given 2 copies to give away on 4K Ultra HD.

Fred Wilson (Charles Grodin), an employee of a large American oil company, has been charged with a mission to find new oil wells. With a chartered boat, he sets off on a journey to an uninhabited island in the South Pacific. On board is also a stowaway: the palaeontologist Jack Prescott (Jeff Bridges) has smuggled himself onto the ship, as he hopes to examine a rare species of monkey on this island. On the way, after a violent storm, the expedition also takes on board the shipwrecked Dawn (Jessica Lange), who is floating in a lifeboat at sea. When the ship anchors off the island, however, it turns out not to be a uninhabited as everyone once thought. The natives of the...

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Sara Shane, who starred opposite Gordon Scott in Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure and appeared alongside Clark Gable in The King and Four Queens, has died. She was 94.

Shane died July 31 on the Gold Coast of Australia, her family announced.

Shane also starred with Kathleen Hughes and Marla English in the melodrama Three Bad Sisters (1956) and had the female lead in Affair in Havana (1957), featuring John Cassavetes and Raymond Burr.

With the Jane character absent in the John Guillermin-directed Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure (1959), Shane stepped in to portray Angie Loring, an American model and pilot who meets up with the King of the Jungle in Africa. The film was Scott’s fourth as Tarzan.

And in The King and Four Queens (1956), helmed by Raoul Walsh, Shane played Oralie McDade, one of four young widows — Eleanor Parker, Jean Willes and Barbara Nichols are the others — who...

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Disney+ is exploring a trip to Skull Island.

The streamer is in the early stages of development on a live-action King Kong series. The project from Disney Branded Television will be based on the 1933 film conceived by producer and director Merian C. Cooper and more recent novelizations by artist Joe DeVito, made in conjunction with Cooper’s estate.

Stephany Folsom (Prime Video’s Paper Girls) is attached to write a script and executive produce alongside James Wan (Aquaman), Michael Clear and Rob Hackett (via their Atomic Monster banner) and Dannie Festa of World Builder Entertainment.

This King Kong is not connected to the Monsterverse series from Legendary Entertainment, which has released two films featuring the giant ape (Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla vs. Kong) and is currently at work on a TV project at Apple TV+ and an animated Netflix show.

The Disney...

The year was 1976, and John Wayne was cheesed but good at King Kong.

The gargantuan ape with a fatal penchant for blonde starlets was all the rage at Paramount, and for good reason. The studio had sunk 24 million (equivalent to 124 million in 2022) into the John Guillermin-directed remake, and desperately needed it to hit the box-office jackpot when it opened in December. Though studios have huge marketing departments that, when professionally run, know how to manage multiple releases at once, Wayne felt the film that was to be his big-screen swan song, "The Shootist," was getting ignored by Paramount's advertising team. And it was all because of that big, stupid monkey.

The Duke Vs. King Kong

According to Scott Eyman's "John Wayne: The Life and the Legend," Wayne groused to his former secretary and then present companion Pat Stacy, "Those people are putting all their damn time into King Kong.

No stranger to the world of kaiju, storyboard artist Richard Bennett has utilized his artistic talents to help bring Godzilla vs. Kong, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and Kong: Skull Island to life on the big screen, and now he's teamed up with Clover Press to launch a Kickstarter campaign for Godzilla & Kong: The Cinematic Storyboard Art of Richard Bennett, a new hardcover coffee table book collecting his amazing storyboard art from all three of those colossal creature features (including deleted scenes)!

We had the pleasure of catching up with Bennett in a new Q&a feature to discuss his career as a storyboard artist and what readers can expect to find within the pages of Godzilla & Kong: The Cinematic Storyboard Art of Richard Bennett.

You can check out the Q&a and a preview from the book below, and to learn more about Godzilla & Kong: The Cinematic Storyboard Art of Richard Bennett,...

Another month, another Criterion Channel lineup. In accordance with Black History Month their selections are especially refreshing: seven by Melvin Van Peebles, five from Kevin Jerome Everson, and Criterion editions of The Harder They Come and The Learning Tree.

Regarding individual features I’m quite happy to see Abderrahmane Sissako’s fantastic Bamako, last year’s big Sundance winner (and Kosovo’s Oscar entry) Hive, and the remarkably beautiful Portuguese feature The Metamorphosis of Birds. Add a three-film Laura Dern collection (including the recently canonized Smooth Talk) and Pasolini’s rarely shown documentary Love Meetings to make this a fine smorgasboard.

See the full list of February titles below and more on the Criterion Channel.

Alan & Naomi, Sterling Van Wagenen, 1992

All That Heaven Allows, Douglas Sirk, 1955

The Angel Levine, Ján Kadár, 1970

Babylon, Franco Rosso, 1980

Babymother, Julian Henriques, 1998

Bamako, Abderrahmane Sissako, 2006

Beat Street, Stan Lathan, 1984

Blacks Britannica, David Koff, 1978

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution,...

Despite the proliferation of streaming services, it’s becoming increasingly clear that any cinephile only needs subscriptions to a few to survive. Among the top of our list are The Criterion Channel and Mubi and now they’ve each unveiled their stellar April line-ups.

Over at The Criterion Channel, highlights include spotlights on Ennio Morricone, the Marx Brothers, Isabel Sandoval, and Ramin Bahrani, plus Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard, Frank Borzage’s Moonrise, the brand-new restoration of Joyce Chopra’s Smooth Talk, and one of last year’s best films, David Osit’s Mayor.

At Mubi (where we’re offering a 30-day trial), they’ll have the exclusive streaming premiere of two of the finest festival films from last year’s circuit, Cristi Puiu’s Malmkrog and Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Labyrinth of Cinema, plus Philippe Garrel’s latest The Salt of Tears, along with films from Terry Gilliam, George A. Romero,...

During a three-hour discussion on a recent episode of “The Empire Film Podcast,” Edgar Wright and Quentin Tarantino revealed the existence of their makeshift quarantine movie club over the last 9 months. As Wright explained, “It’s nice. We’ve kept in touch in a sort of way that cinephiles do. It’s been one of the very few blessings of this [pandemic], the chance to disappear down a rabbit hole with the hours indoors that we have.” Tarantino added, “Edgar is more social than I am. It’s a big deal that I’ve been talking to him these past 9 months.”

A bulk of the film club was curated by none other than Martin Scorsese, who sent Wright a recommendation list of nearly 50 British films that Scorsese considers personal favorites. In the five months Wright spent in lockdown before resuming production on “Last Night in Soho” — and before he received the...

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By Tim McGlynn

During the pre-video/broadcast television era of the mid-seventies, college campuses were teeming with movie offerings on a weekly basis. It was the only way to see older theatrical titles in their uncensored form. My own experience at the University of Illinois provided 8 to 10 films per weekend with recent Hollywood hits, classic revivals and the occasional porn flick being the usual choices. Lecture halls, auditoriums and even church sanctuaries were converted to temporary cinemas that offered a cornucopia in 16mm. These were quality exhibitions with twin projectors, external speakers for clear dialogue and anamorphic lenses when needed. It seemed a little odd that one could view a somewhat racy movie in the same space that would be used for worship the next morning. I would often take in several titles on Friday and Saturday nights for the bargain price of...

Dino De Laurentiis took a lot of flack for his underwhelming remake of the incomparable 1933 horror classic, which he promoted into a monster-sized hit. Nothing could eclipse the original but the good casting still appeals. An honest ad campaign would have leaned on two points: See Jeff Bridges and Charles Grodin carry an insultingly ugly production like real stars! See ‘newcomer’ Jessica Lange play a sexualized ditz so well that she retains her dignity! …and most importantly, See the biggest special effects fraud ever perpetrated on movie screens! Umbrella Entertainment from Australia puts this one back in print, on Blu-ray.

King Kong (1976)

Region B Blu-ray

Umbrella Entertainment

1976 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 134 min. / Street Date November 4, 2020 / Available at Umbrella Enertainment 19.95 (au)

Starring: Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin, Jessica Lange, Rick Baker, Rene Auberjonois, Julius Harris, Jack O’Halloran, Ed Lauter, John Agar.

Cinematography: Richard Kline

Film Editor: Ralph E. Winters

Production design: Mario Chiari,...

As Disney quietly disappears huge swathes of film history into its vaults, I'm going to spend 2020 celebrating Twentieth Century Fox and the Fox Film Corporation's films, what one might call their output if only someone were putting it out.***"One of the truly outstanding incompetents" may have been Orson Welles's hilarious verdict on Franco-Irish director and madman John Guillermin, and looking at something like King Kong (1976) or God help us King Kong Lives (1986) one can't help but sense some justice in this, but in his earlier career, the energetic Guillermin showed some promise. His films throughout the fifties were solid and stolid in the way of too much British cinema of the time, but Rapture (1965) is a crazily stylish tour-de-force of excessive, out-of-control camera lurches and assaults which even Welles might have admired.The previous year Guillermin had made Guns at Batasi, a 99% British feature, but produced by...

“The romance of the desert has the power to seduce,” we hear in the first Death on the Nile trailer. Thus director Kenneth Branagh continues his loving obsession with mystery writer Agatha Christie, gathering as much star power as his 2017 adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express. The opening shot lingers on the sun-drenched pyramids and entombed pharaohs with fetishistic delight. Gal Gadot and Armie Hammer also do a slow burn into the camera lens. These are killer shots, and the Death of the Nile release date, Oct. 23, brings a welcome relief but still leaves questions.

The 20th Century Studios mystery was filmed in England and Egypt just prior to the coronavirus pandemic, and the release will be in the early phases of theaters reopening around the world. Working from a screenplay by Michael Green, who also adapted Murder on the Orient Express, will Branagh be able to reconstruct the...

Director Kenneth Branagh is returning with another Agatha Christie adaptation, following up on his commercially successful and star-studded “Murder on the Orient Express,” which hit theaters in 2017. “Death on the Nile” will see a similarly pedigreed cast of British and international favorites embroiled in another Christie caper of chin-scratching proportions. Branagh has once again teamed up with his “Orient Express” screenwriter Michael Green for the adaptation from 20th Century Studios, which just released an official first trailer for the mystery thriller.

“Death on the Nile” will see Branagh returning in the role of beloved fictional detective Hercule Poirot. The rest of the stacked cast includes Gal Gadot, Letitia Wright, Armie Hammer, Annette Bening, Ali Fazal, Sophie Okonedo, Tom Bateman, Emma Mackey, Dawn French, Rose Leslie, Jennifer Saunders, and Russell Brand.

The plot follows Poirot, a world-renowned detective, who becomes involved in a love triangle gone murderously bad while on a vacation in Egypt.

Shaft’s Big Score! / Shaft in Africa

Blu ray

Warner Archive

1972, 1973 / 2.35 : 1 / 104, 112 Min.

Starring Richard Roundtree, Vonetta McGee, Frank Finley

Directed by Gordon Parks, John Guillermin

Released in 1971 during a notoriously divisive presidential campaign, Shaft was both a middle finger to the powers that be and a sexually charged Black Power taunt – a combination that convulsed 42nd Street audiences while scaring the bejesus out of your average Nixon voter.

For that grindhouse crowd, Richard Roundtree, not Nixon, was The One and his portrayal of the street-smart detective reached far beyond The Deuce – director Gordon Parks’ film cost only $500,000 but brought in 13 million at the box office. Sequels were just around the corner.

A year later Shaft’s Big Score! reunited Parks, Roundtree and screenwriter Ernest Tidyman while quadrupling the budget in the bargain – the streets are still mean but the volatile mood swings that made the 1971 film a cultural touchstone...

Oscar-nominated art director and production designer Bill Creber died in Los Angeles March 7 of complications from pneumonia after a prolonged illness, Deadline has learned. He was 87.

A Los Angeles native, William “Bill” Creber is best known for his work with the original Planet of the Apes franchise including the original 1968 film starring Charlton Heston as well as Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) and Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971).

He received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Art Direction for the 1965 film The Greatest Story Ever Told. This was followed by two more Oscar nods for his work on two iconic Hollywood films: The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1974). He also received a BAFTA nomination for the latter action pic which starred Steve McQueen and was directed by John Guillermin.

He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy in 1964 for Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea...

Tarzan Goes to India/Tarzan’s Three Challenges

Blu ray

Warner Archives

1962, 1963 / 2:35:1 / 88 Min., 92 Min. / Street Date – January 29, 2019

Starring Jock Mahoney, Simi Garewal, Woody Strode

Cinematography by Paul Beeson, Edward Scaife

Directed by John Guillermin, Robert Day

Jane Goodall fell for Tarzan at an early age – ‘he married the wrong Jane’ she said, half joking. A confirmed tree-hugger, the King of the Apes would seem to be a perfect match for the nature loving primatologist – even though the greater part of Tarzan’s big screen career played out in backlot jungles rather than the real thing.

Producer Sy Weintraub rectified that situation with Tarzan Goes to India and Tarzan’s Three Challenges – both sleekly made widescreen entertainments that put the jungle lord in his proper element. Made on location in India and Thailand, the films are a non-stop parade of cliffhanging serial thrills that revel in the raw beauty...

Jock Mahoney in Tarzan Goes To India and Tarzan’S Three Challenges are now available On Blu-ray from Warner Archives! Ordering information can be found Here

Tarzan Goes To India (1962)

No need to land the plane when Tarzan flies to India. Just fly over an inland lake and the loin-clothed hero will leap into its blue depths! Jock Mahoney, who two years earlier portrayed Tarzan’s foe in Tarzan the Magnificent, makes his splashy debut as Tarzan in this tale about the Ape-Man’s rescue of elephants who will be doomed when a newly built dam unleashes its waters. John Guillermin directs, combining colorful subcontinent locales with battles large and thunderous (massive bull elephants), small and fierce (cobra versus mongoose), cunning and treacherous (Tarzan against human foes). No matter where the jungle, there is but one jungle lord!

John Guillermin (Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure) directs this tale of action and intrigue in the subcontinent.

Jeff Bridges grew up with show business in his veins. His father, the late Lloyd Bridges, was a gregarious sort who not only loved the making of movies, but the selling of them as well. He would encourage his children to give it a go. “This is a great life,” he would tell them.

Still, like any rebellious kid, the younger Bridges — who will receive the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.’s Cecil B. DeMille Award for career achievement at the 76th annual Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 6 — was resistant to chasing his father’s chosen trade. He wanted to be a musician instead, or an artist. “I had maybe 10 movies under my belt before I thought I could do this for the rest of my life,” he said in 2009.

Eventually the passion kicked in. Six decades into a movie career that technically began when he was a 6-month-old infant on...

Exciting news! Tarzan’S Greatest Adventure (1959) is now available on Blu-ray from Warner Archives! Ordering information can be found Here

After Lex Barker carried the mantle clear of Weissmuller’s long shadow, Gordon Scott was free to claim the crown of King of the Jungle. His Tarzan was keen, intelligent, and literate – much as Tarzan’s creator, Edgar Rice Burroughs, had envisioned – and in the aptly named Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure, Scott’s run as the jungle lord reached a peak in what is widely regarded as one of the best entries in the prodigious series of action adventure classics. Tarzan is on a deadly trail, determined to find the diamond hunters (including Anthony Quayle and Sean Connery) who brought terror and death to a peaceful village. But as much as Tarzan is a tracker and avenger, he’s also a protector. An irresponsible gadfly from the so-called civilized world...

Tarzan got a new lease on life when a film company finally went to Africa to pit the excellent ‘Lord of the Jungle’ Gordon Scott against a formidable phalanx of villains. Anthony Quayle, Sean Connery and Niall MacGinnis are perfect Dastards of the Darkest Continent. Also top-flight are the women in this jungle combat, wicked Scilla Gabel and naughty Sara Shane. Fun for adult kids of all ages!

Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1959 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 87 min. / Street Date November 13, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Gordon Scott, Anthony Quayle, Sara Shane, Niall MacGinnis, Sean Connery, Al Mulock, Scilla Gabel.

Cinematography: Edward Scaife

Film Editor: Bert Rule

Original Music: Douglas Gamley

Written by Les Crutchfield, Berne Giler, John Guillermin from the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Produced by Harvey Hayutin, Sy Weintraub

Directed by John Guillermin

Of all the big-screen Tarzans — Johnny Weissmuller, Lex Barker, Jock Mahoney,...

Call Me By Your Name’s Armie Hammer has joined the cast of Kenneth Branagh’s Agatha Christie adaptation of Death on the Nile.

Hammer is expected to play the lead male role in the whodunit. He joins Gal Gadot who was recently announced to be playing the role of the rich heiress who steals her best friend’s man, Linnet Ridgeway Doyle. Doyle is also the main victim in the story. Branagh return’s to the role of detective Hercule Poirot. As casting commences we can expect yet another star-studded line-up to equal that of Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express.

The Death on the Nile story focuses on the honeymoon on a cruise down the Nile. Things become a bit complicated by the fact many of those onboard have a motive to kill her. Things get even more complicated when some of the suspects themselves start to be knocked off.

Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot is set to star in Kenneth Branagh’s follow-up to Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile.

Gadot will play the role of the rich heiress who steals her best friend’s man, Linnet Ridgeway Doyle. Doyle is also the main victim in the story. Branagh return’s to the role of detective Hercule Poirot. So far, Gadot is the only announced member of the film’s cast alongside Branagh.

The story focuses on the honeymoon on a cruise down the Nile. Things become a bit complicated by the fact many of those onboard have a motive to kill her. Things get even more complicated when some of the suspects themselves start to be knocked off.

Also in the news – Taron Egerton is the spitting image of Elton John in first look image from Rocketman

The Agatha Christie novel was first adapted for...

Exclusive: Gal Gadot has been set to star in Death On the Nile, the latest Agatha Christie adaptation set up at 20th Century Fox with Kenneth Branagh directing. The project came together last year as the studio was finding success with its Christie ensemble Murder on the Orient Express. The pic ended up grossing $352.8 million worldwide with Branagh at the helm and also playing master detective Hercule Poirot.

Fox has already set a December 20, 2019 release date for Death on the Nile, which Christie published in 1937. It centers on Poirot investigating a murder during a luxurious cruise on the Nile River that he just happens to be on. But just as he identifies a motley collection of would-be murderers, several of the suspects also meet their demise, which only deepens the mystery. Michael Green, who also adapted Orient Express, is the screenwriter.

Judy Hofflund, Simon Kinberg and Ridley Scott are producing.

In her 74 years in show business, Dame Angela Lansbury has become a legend in film, theater and television. She has been nominated for three Academy Awards and was bestowed with an honorary Oscar in 2013. In addition, she has won two Golden Globe Awards for her film work, as well as two additional nominations. She has also won five Tony Awards (from seven nominations) for her work in the theatre. It has been quite a career. She is one of the few performers equally known for all three entertainment genres, and for that effort she was recognized with a Kennedy Center Honors in 2000.

SEEEmmys 2018 exclusive: PBS ‘Masterpiece’ categories for ‘Little Women,’ ‘The Child in Time’ and more

Yet the only major award to have eluded Dame Angela is the Emmy. Famously, she has been nominated 18 times for the golden statue and yet has never won the golden statue. All of her...

By Nicholas Anez

Business isn’t exactly booming for private detective Peter Joseph Detweiler, better known as P.J. His makeshift office is in a bar belonging to his only friend Charlie, his sporadic jobs include entrapping cheating wives and he is not above drowning his sorrows in liquor. So when wealthy magnate William Orbison offers him a substantial fee to be a bodyguard for his mistress, Maureen Prebble, he jumps at the chance. What P.J. doesn’t know is that Orbison has already hired someone else to commit a murder. How this murder and the shamus’s new job intersect is the crux of the terrific 1968 neo-noir from Universal, P.J. (U.K. title: New Face in Hell.)

Private detectives were prominent in the late 1960s and included Harper (1966), Tony Rome (1967), Gunn (1967), and Marlowe (1969). P.J. appeared in the midst of this surplus, which may account in part for its box office failure.

Chris here. Has everyone caught up to Murder on the Orient Express yet? For yours truly, it was set exactly in the spot in Europe that Clueless said we might be "whelmed" and our Eric Blume felt the same. But that hasn't stopped audiences from turning it into a modest hit, resulting in a global take of over $150 million - and that's enough for Fox to officially kick off a mini-franchise.

The new Agatha Christie Poirot films are keeping in line with the adaptations of the 70s, so next up will be Death on the Nile - expect Evil Under the Sun afterwards should Nile be a success too. Branagh is expected to return as director and star, and Orient Express's screenwriter Michael Green will be back as well. Get ready for more CGI exotic locales and modes of transportation because this one is set on a steamboat in Egypt.

What’s the best true-story WW2 combat film for pure-grit, no-nonsense tanks ‘n’ bombs ‘n’ crazy mayhem action on a giant scale? This non-stop battle epic gets my vote. George Segal and Ben Gazzara’s infantry dogs are suitably tough, cynical and desperate, especially when they’re repeatedly sent into danger. The history is fairly accurate — there was indeed a race to seize the last bridge across the River Rhine.

The Bridge at Remagen

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 117 min. / Street Date June 13, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95

Starring: George Segal, Robert Vaughn, Ben Gazzara, Bradford Dillman, E.G. Marshall, Peter Van Eyck, Hans Christian Blech, Bo Hopkins, Matt Clark, G&uunl;nter Meisner.

Cinematography: Stanley Cortez

Film Editors: William Cartwright, Harry Knapp, Marshall Neilan Jr.

Original Music: Elmer Bernstein

Written by Richard Yates, William Roberts, Roger Hirson

Produced by David L. Wolper

Directed by John Guillermin

Who...

In the entire history of cinema, only a few select films are so influential, so ingrained in our popular culture, that they become a modern myth. 1933's King Kong, directed by Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack, is one of those films. As the original effects-driven blockbuster and monster movie milestone, Kong has been re-imagined, parodied, and referenced countless times since first being unleashed more than eight decades ago. Each one of us has, at some point in our lives, encountered The Eighth Wonder of the World. Whether it's a remake, like John Guillermin's 1976 film, or Peter Jackson's in 2005, or a reference made in The Simpsons, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, or Jurassic Park, the legend of the colossal ape endures. With Kong: Skull Island, the eighth movie to feature the titular beast, director Jordan Vogt-Roberts (of the Sundance breakout The Kings of Summer previously) delivers a fresh,...

Ray Morton wrote the two-part article about the making of the 1976 version of "King Kong" that appeared in Cinema Retro issues #'s 32 and 33. Here is his report on a recent screening of the film in Santa Monica.

By Ray Morton

On Saturday, December 10, 2016 the American Cinematheque presented a special fortieth anniversary screening of the 1976 version of King Kong at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, California.

King Kong was produced by Dino De Laurentiis, written by Lorenzo Semple, Jr., and directed by John Guillermin. It stars Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin, and (in her screen debut) Jessica Lange. The film features Oscar-nominated cinematography by Richard H. Kline and a marvelous score by John Barry. King Kong’s innovative creature effects were created by Carlo Rambaldi and seven-time Academy Award-winning make-up artist and creature creator Rick Baker, who also played the title role (alongside a full-sized mechanical Kong created by Rambaldi and...

Cinema Retro has received the following press announcement:

Here's The The Big One!

On Saturday, December 10, 2016 at 7.30 pm, the American Cinematheque will present a special 40th anniversary screening of the 1976 version of King Kong at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica.

King Kong was produced by Dino De Laurentiis, written by Lorenzo Semple, Jr., and directed by John Guillermin. It starred Jeff Bridges and Charles Grodin and introduced Jessica Lange to the big screen. Richard H. Kline provided the movie's Oscar-nominated cinematography and John Barry composed and conducted its classic score.

King Kong's innovative creature effects were created by Carlo Rambaldi and the Academy Award-winning make-up artist and creature creator Rick Baker (who also starred as Kong).

The screening will feature a new HD print of the movie (courtesy of Paramount Pictures) and will be followed by a panel discussion about the making of the film. The panel will...

A Tribute to King Kong takes place as part of the The St. Louis International Film Festival Sunday, Nov. 6 beginning at 6:00pm at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium. The first film screened will be the new documentary Long Live The King, which explores the enduring fascination with one of the biggest stars — both literally and figuratively — in Hollywood history: the mighty King Kong. Produced and directed by Frank Dietz and Trish Geiger, the creative team behind the award-winning “Beast Wishes,” the documentary devotes primary attention to the 1933 classic, celebrating the contributions of filmmakers Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, stars Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, and Bruce Cabot, writer Edgar Wallace, and especially stop-motion innovator Willis O’Brien. But Kong’s legacy is also fully detailed: the sequel “Son of Kong,” the cinematic kin “Mighty Joe Young,” the Dino DeLaurentis and Peter Jackson remakes, even the Japanese versions by Toho Studios.

Our series continues with a special installment that compares not just one but Two remakes to a classic original. This week, Cinelinx goes ape and looks at all three versions of King Kong.

King Kong was created in 1933 by Universal Pictures and was the prototype for the Kaiju genre, years before Godzilla ever stomped on Tokyo. The image of Kong atop the Empire State Building is one of the most iconic images in the history of film and pop culture. The first film led to a sequel (the Son of Kong), an animated series, lots of rip-offs (Mighty Joe Young, Konga, A*P*E, the Mighty Peking Man) and years later inspired a pair of remakes (Not counting the campy Kaiju films King Kong vs. Godzilla and King Kong Escapes.) After all these years, Kong remains one of the greatest giant movie monsters of all time. Let’s take a...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Remember the old days when unpredictable occurrences seemed to predictably occur at the Oscars ceremony? There was the nude streaker who failed to unravel the ever-unflappable David Niven. There were the political activist winners who used the forum to grandstand for their favorite causes. This included Vanessa Redgrave's pro-Palestinian, anti-Zionist remarks during her acceptance speech, Marlon Brando sending a surrogate to reject his "Godfather" Oscar in protest of Hollywood's treatment of Native Americans, "Patton" winner George C. Scott refusing to show up at all in protest of the competitive nature of awards shows, the producers of the anti-Vietnam War documentary "Hearts and Minds" taking solace that that the nation was about to be "liberated" by a brutal communist regime, which caused another stir when Frank Sinatra was pushed on stage at Bob Hope's urging to read a hastily-scribbled denouncement of the remark. The Oscars haven't...

Coleen Gray in 'The Sleeping City' with Richard Conte. Coleen Gray after Fox: B Westerns and films noirs (See previous post: “Coleen Gray Actress: From Red River to Film Noir 'Good Girls'.”) Regarding the demise of her Fox career (the year after her divorce from Rod Amateau), Coleen Gray would recall for Confessions of a Scream Queen author Matt Beckoff: I thought that was the end of the world and that I was a total failure. I was a mass of insecurity and depended on agents. … Whether it was an 'A' picture or a 'B' picture didn't bother me. It could be a Western movie, a sci-fi film. A job was a job. You did the best with the script that you had. Fox had dropped Gray at a time of dramatic upheavals in the American film industry: fast-dwindling box office receipts as a result of competition from television,...

Director John Guillermin has passed away at age 89. The British director was best known for his high profile action films including the 1974 blockbuster "The Towering Inferno" and the 1976 remake of "King Kong", a production that was plagued by troubles but ended up being quite profitable. Guillermin was despised by some in the industry for his mercurial temperament and harsh methods of directing actors. However, no one could deny his talents. He was equally adept at directing scenes of intimate drama as well as explosive, large-scale action scenes. Among his best films was the 1969 production of "The Bridge at Remagen" which was interrupted by the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. Guillermin and producer David L. Wolper managed  to salvage the film by moving the production elsewhere, a monumental task that they completed successfully. Other Guillermin films include "Death on the Nile", "The Blue Max", "El Condor", "Shaft in Africa", "Skyjacked", "Never Let Go...

Film director whose action movies included The Towering Inferno and King Kong

The film director John Guillermin, who has died aged 89, started on cheap British B films in the 1950s and progressed to such big-budget spectaculars as The Towering Inferno, the second King Kong and Death on the Nile in the 1970s. He learned to work with tight resources during his eight-year apprenticeship in the lower echelons of British cinema, and proved equally responsible when given the chance to handle large forces.

Whether they cost a shoestring or megabucks, most of his 35 films were made in a thoroughly workmanlike, Saturday-night-at-the-movies manner. Only in his later work was there sometimes a disparity between scale and quality.

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Perfectionist director of big-budget action fare also took the reins on Agatha Christie whodunnit Death on the Nile and blaxploitation sequel Shaft in Africa

John Guillermin, the British director whose expertise with big-budget action fare in the 1960s and 70s led him to direct the 1976 remake of King Kong and the 1974 disaster movie epic The Towering Inferno, has died. He was 89.

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John Guillermin, a prolific British filmmaker who specialized in action and adventure pics including The Towering Inferno and the 1976 version of King Kong that launched Jessica Lange’s career, has died at his Los Angeles home. He was 89. His friend Nick Redman posted the news on Facebook. Guillermin’s long career started after a stint in the Royal Air Force during World War II. He started out as a documentarian in France and ended up making a movie nearly every year…...

The Towering Inferno director John Guillermin has died at the age of 89.

The filmmaker's close friend Nick Redman confirmed Guillermin's passing this week in Los Angeles, according to Entertainment Weekly.

Guillermin's long and varied career included working on action epics like Tarzan Goes to India, blaxploitation drama thriller Shaft in Africa and the '80s cult classic Sheena: Queen of the Jungle.

Among his more famous Hollywood projects was the disaster epic The Towering Inferno, the highest-grossing movie of 1974.

Guillermin was also at the helm of 1976's King Kong remake starring Jessica Lange, a financial success that earned middling reviews.

In more recent decades, Guillermin focused on low-budget films and television work.

He is survived by two children from his marriage to Kenyan actress Maureen Connell.