My Take: Retro Criterion Collection

Senior Director of Film, Jim Carl, highlights some interesting facts about films featured in this year’s Retro: The Criterion Collection Film Series, June 21-27 at the Carolina Theatre. 

Alfred Hitchcock’s THE 39 STEPS (1935)

“The 39 Steps” was a major British film of its time, and was voted the best British film of 1935 by critics and the 17th-most-popular film at the British box office in 1935. At the time, British studios were eager to establish their films in international markets, especially in the United States, and “The 39 Steps” was conceived as a prime vehicle towards this end. The movie cost nearly £60,000, with much of the budget going to the salaries of Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll. In actress Madeleine Carroll, this film establishes the template for Hitchcock’s succession of ice-cold and elegant leading ladies, later called the “Hitchcock blondes”.

Martin Scorsese’s AFTER HOURS (1985)

Originally titled “One Night in Soho” and written as a class assignment by a student named Joseph Minion at Columbia University, the script — which will be retitled “After Hours” — was purchased by actor Griffin Dunne with the intention of producing and starring in the film.  Dunne offered directing duties to a then-unknown Tim Burton, who accepted the job.  But when the project caught the eye of Martin Scorsese, who was looking for an independent picture after seeing his production deal fall apart for “The Last Temptation of Christ”, Burton graciously bowed out of the production, realizing that the film had a much better chance of being made if Scorsese was directing. Budgeted at $4.5 million, “After Hours” grossed $10.6 million at the box office and Scorsese won Best Director at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival.  The film would later be regarded as one of Scorsese’s most underrated efforts.

Russ Meyers’ BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1970)

After the box office success of 1967’s “The Valley of the Dolls”, 20th Century Fox wanted a sequel.  Jacqueline Susann, author of the original bestselling novel on which the film is based, wrote a treatment that was ultimately rejected. Still seeking to make the project, 20^th Century Fox hired Russ Meyer, an independent X-rated filmmaker who had tremendous success in the 1960s with low-budget exploitation films to write and direct this follow-up.  He employed film critic Roger Ebert to co-write an all-new script. Jacqueline Susann was so horrified upon seeing this film that she sued – and won – a $2 million verdict for damage to her reputation as a novelist. “Beyond” would go on to be an even bigger hit for Fox than the 1967 original, despite being called one of the worst pictures of 1970 by most critics, including Gene Siskel.  It will later be re-evaluated as a cult classic.

Andrei Tarkovsky’s IVAN’S CHILDHOOD (1962)

“Ivan’s Childhood” was Andrei Tarkovsky’s first feature film. It was based on the 1957 short story Ivan by Vladimir Bogomolov, which has been translated into more than twenty languages. Tarkovsky stated that in making this film he wanted to convey his hatred of war, and that he choose to focus on childhood because it is what contrasts most with war.  “Ivan’s Childhood” went on to win the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1962 and was selected as the Soviet entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 36th Academy Awards but was not accepted as a nominee.  Famous filmmakers such as Ingmar Bergman, Sergei Parajanov, and Krzysztof Kieślowski would later praise the film and cite it as an influence on their work.

Peter Bogdanovich’s THE LAST PICTURE SHOW (1971)

Going into “The Last Picture Show”, Peter Bogdanovich was a 31-year-old stage actor, film essayist, and critic. Bogdanovich had directed one film, 1968’s “Targets”, working with his wife and collaborator, Polly Platt.  Actor Sal Mineo had given Platt a copy of the Larry McMurtry’s book, saying, “I always wanted to be in this but I’m a little too old now”.  He recommended that Platt and Bogdanovich turn it into a film.  After discussing the proposed film with Orson Welles, his houseguest at the time, Bogdanovich agreed with him that shooting the film in black and white would work aesthetically, which by 1971 was an unusual choice.  The film was shot in Larry McMurtry’s small hometown of Archer City located in north-central Texas near the Oklahoma state line. Hollywood was stunned when “The Last Picture Show” became a critical and commercial success, grossing $29 million on a $1.3 million budget, and was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Cloris Leachman and Ben Johnson in supporting roles, however, walked away with Oscars.

Fritz Lang’s M (1931)

“M” is considered one of the very first examples of a police procedural film.  Its screenplay was written by Fritz Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou, and it was Lang’s first sound film. The film features many cinematic innovations, including the use of long, fluid tracking shots, and a musical leitmotif in the form of “In the Hall of the Mountain King” whistled by Peter Lorre’s character. Now considered a classic, Lang regarded the film as his magnum opus. It is widely considered one of the greatest films of all time, and an indispensable influence on modern crime and thriller fiction. “M” has been said, by various critics and reviewers, to be based on serial killer Peter Kürten—the “Vampire of Düsseldorf”—whose crimes took place in the 1920s, although Lang would later deny that he drew from this case.

Robert Altman’s THE PLAYER (1992)

Robert Altman had trouble with the Hollywood studio system in the 1970s after a number of his films (“McCabe & Mrs. Miller”, “The Long Goodbye”) were box office duds, despite critical praise and cult adulation.  To keep his career alive, he continued to work outside the studios throughout the 1980s, often doing small-budget projects or filmed plays like 1983’s “Streamers” and 1987’s “Beyond Therapy.”  When the independent distributor, Fine Line Features, offered him “The Player”, Altman accepted the film. W

hen “The Player” grossed almost $30 million, it became his comeback to making films in Hollywood. 65 celebrities make cameo appearances in the picture, mostly as a favor to Altman, and the opening sequence shot lasts 7 minutes and 47 seconds without an edit. Fifteen takes were required to shoot this scene.  Altman would be nominated for Best Director at the Oscars, his first nomination since 1975’s “Nashville.”

 David Byrne’s TRUE STORIES (1986)

After the success of Talking Heads’ 1984 concert film “Stop Making Sense”, Warner Brothers was eager for David Byrne to make a picture for them. They offered him complete creative control to make whatever he wanted. While on tour, he had been collecting newspaper clippings of stories that intrigued him, so he hired writers to create a screenplay centered around the stories in those articles.

He would later rewrite most of that script with his own ideas but gave the original writers credit ahead of his own name so that the film didn’t seem so much of a vanity project.  Budgeted at $2.5 million, Byrne shot the movie in Texas because it was a “right-to-work” state, and they had experienced crews and a studio near Dallas.  Although a box office disappointment on release, “True Stories” became a cult classic once it hit the video and TV market.