Celebrity Vinyl

by Kimberly Lindbergs | September 1, 2011

Categories | Movie Reviews, Books, Actors, Actresses, David Hemmings, Richard Harris, Anthony Perkins, Brigitte Bardot, Dirk Bogarde

My latest post at TCM’s Movie Morlocks takes a look at some of my favorite celebrity albums recorded by classic film stars. Did you know Robert Mitchum recorded a calypso album? Have you ever heard Eddie Albert sing a Bob Dylan song? Or listened to Dirk Bogarde talk his way through “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”? These are just a few of the celebrity albums you’ll find if you make your way over to the Movie Morlocks!

- Celebrity Vinyl: Classic Actors Sing @ TCM’s Classic Movie Blog

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What’s It All About, Alfie?

by Kimberly Lindbergs | June 21, 2011

Categories | Books, Actors, Terence Stamp, Klaus Kinski, Sean Connery, Michael Caine

Michael Caine was one of the coolest actors working during the ’60s and ’70s but he was also incredibly sexy. He had unconventional good looks and I love the thick black glasses he used to wear that often hid his eyes and amazingly long lashes. Michael Caine may have played a British tough guy on numerous occasions but he had some of the loveliest eyes I’ve ever seen on an actor. He’s also incredibly talented and appeared in a lot of terrific movies including The Ipcress File (1965), Alfie (1966), Gambit (1966), Funeral in Berlin (1966), Billion Dollar Brain (1967), Deadfall (1968), The Magus (1968), The Italian Job (1969), Get Carter (1970), Sleuth (1972) and John Huston’s remarkable epic adventure, The Man Who Would Be King (1975), which was recently re-released on DVD and Blu-Ray a few weeks ago, just to name a few. Caine’s lengthy filmography is incredibly impressive, which is why he’s a living legend today. If you’re interested in learning more about the actor I highly recommend his 1992 autobiography “What’s It All About?” I recently picked up a copy for 50 cents at my local Goodwill store and it was a fast and fun read. Michael Caine writes with the same sense of humor that is apparent in many of the interviews he’s done. Here’s a few choice quotes from his book…

“One of the biggest movie companies in Britain at the time was Associated British Pictures, who ran their operation like an old Hollywood studio, with a rota of actors under contract. I was sent to see their chief casting director, a very powerful man called Robert Lennard… “My son is an accountant.” he said, “and he has more chance of success in this business than you do.” I sat there quite numb but smiling. He went on, “This may sound unkind, but you will thank me in the long run. I know this business well and I can assure you that you have no future in it. Give it up, Michael.”

“Terry (Stamp) and I made a pact at the beginning of the year. Because our profession was so unpredictable and we never knew who was going to be making any money, we promised each other that whichever one of us was working, if the other one could not pay his share of the rent, the one with the money would cough up. We shook hands on the deal, a sign of the true bond and depth of our friendship, and that is how it remained until we eventually made enough money for flats of our own.”

“The sixties had arrived in London. The Beatles were playing endlessly on the radio, The Rolling Stones were gathering fans and David Bailey was taking pictures of what he called “Dolly Birds.” This particular breed was brand new and all of a sudden more numerous than the London sparrow. All at once it seemed that every pretty girl with no tits was modeling clothes and every pretty girl with big tits was modeling those.”

“I had never imagined that Alfie would be released in the US and had played the role in a very thick Cockney accent with lots of slang words that would have made it impossible for an American to understand. Shelly Winters once told me many years later that she had never understood a single word I said to her in Alfie, and had just waited for my lips to stop moving and taken that as her cue to speak.”

“Working with Sean (Connery) was an absolute joy for me. I had rarely worked with an actor who was so unselfish and generous, so much so that you could experiment and take chances and not expect to find a knife in your back if it went wrong. We did all sorts of improvisations, which are less easy in films than in the theatre because of the technology involved, but it was all done in a completely relaxed atmosphere, because John (Huston) trusted us and we trusted each other.”

“There used to be a hardware store right on Beverly Hills Drive* where you could buy mundane things like nails and string, but where you could see the most extraordinary people buying them. I once saw Fred Astaire buying sandpaper and Danny Kaye buying one light bulb. The most frightening sight I ever saw during my whole stay in America was in that hardware store. I hid behind a shelf of tools and watched Klaus Kinski buying an axe. It cleared the store.”

*I believe Michael Caine is referring to Hollywood’s historic Pioneer Hardware store on Crescent Dr. in Beverly Hills, where you can still purchase some sandpaper or an axe if the need ever arises.

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It’s Women’s History Month

by Kimberly Lindbergs | March 10, 2011

Categories | Books, Actors, American Cinema, Actresses, Movie Morlocks, TCM

Top: Lon Chaney and Roman Navarro
Bottom: Joan Crawford and Anna May Wong
All photographs by Ruth Harriet Louise

In case you haven’t heard, it’s Women’s History Month, so this week I decided to focus my attention on one of Hollywood’s little known female pioneers, studio photographer Ruth Harriet Louise. Louise was MGM’s chief portrait photographer and the first woman to hold that position at a major Hollywood studio. Between 1925 and 1930 she photographed some of the MGM’s most iconic stars including Greta Garbo, Lon Chaney, Joan Crawford, Roman Navarro, John Gilbert, Norma Shearer and Anna May Wong. She died much to young in 1940 at age 37 but she left an incredible body of work behind. If you would like to know more about Ruth Harriet Louise you’ll find my latest piece about this fascinating woman and her brief but impressive career at TCM’s Movie Morlocks.
- Hollywood’s First Woman of Photography: Ruth Harriet Louise @ TCM’s Classic Movie Blog

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From the Archive of Hammer Films

by Kimberly Lindbergs | December 2, 2010

Categories | Books, British Cinema, Hammer Horror, Movie Morlocks, TCM

I recently rediscovered some old film posters that I had in storage for over 15 years and one of them was for the Hammer film, Frankenstein Created Woman (1967). I love Hammer’s Frankenstein movies and Frankenstein Created Woman is one of my favorites. The poster was a gift given to me many years ago and I’m planning on getting it framed soon so I can hang it proudly in my new home. I thought it would be fun to share a picture of my Hammer poster that I snapped yesterday.

In an odd coincidence Titan has recently released Marcus Hearn’s latest book, The Art of Hammer: The Official Poster Collection From the Archive of Hammer Films, which I just reviewed for the Movie Morlocks. I really admire Hearn’s devotion to Hammer. The author has written three books about the “Studio That Dripped Blood” in recent years, including Hammer Glamour: Classic Images from the Hammer Archives, which I wrote about last year. His latest book is the first collection of Hammer film posters ever published and it’s a real treat for Hammer fans like myself.
- From the Archive of Hammer Films @ TCM’s Classic Movie Blog

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Impossibly Funky Fresh and Dope

by Kimberly Lindbergs | August 26, 2010

Categories | Books, Blaxploitation, Movie Morlocks, TCM

I haven’t had much free time lately but last weekend I set aside one afternoon to do some end of the summer reading and one of the books I enjoyed was Mike White’s Impossibly Funky: A Cashiers du Cinemart Collection.

The book is a great read and I think anyone who appreciates the variety of films that I cover here at Cinebeats will probably enjoy White’s book as well, which contains his controversial look at Quentin Tarantino’s films, an entire chapter devoted to script writers, reviews of obscure films as well as Hollywood hits and misses, interviews with various directors and actors, as well as a lengthy appreciation of one of my favorite blaxploitation films, Black Shampoo (Greydon Clark; 1976). You can find my review of Impossibly Funky: A Cashiers du Cinemart Collection over at TCM’s Movie Morlocks blog this week.

Recommended Links:
- ImpossibleFunky Productions (Mike White’s Blog)
- Greydon Clark - Official Website (Director of Black Shampoo)

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The Fantastic Cinema of Ishiro Honda

by Kimberly Lindbergs | May 13, 2010

Categories | Books, Japanese Cinema, Science Fiction, Tokusatsu, Ishiro Honda

I recently read Peter H. Brothers’ informative new book Mushroom Clouds and Mushroom Men: The Fantastic Cinema of Ishiro Honda and really enjoyed it. It’s the first English language book written about the Japanese director Ishiro Honda and it’s a must-read for fans of Japanese science fiction and fantasy films. I love giant monster movies so I decided to review the book for the Movie Morlocks this week.

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The Art of Bollywood

by Kimberly Lindbergs | April 15, 2010

Categories | Books, Bollywood, Movie Morlocks, TCM

Movie poster for Free Love (Batra Kaushalraj; 1974)

Taschen recently released a wonderful book called The Art of Bollywood that collects some rare and colorful posters for Bollywood films. I own several Bollywood movie poster books already because I love the artwork but this is is probably the best of the bunch due to the detailed information it provides. My review of the book can be found at TCM’s Movie Morlocks blog.

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Attention Shane Briant Fans!

by Kimberly Lindbergs | April 5, 2010

Categories | News, Books, Actors, Shane Briant

Shane Briant & Rita Tushingham in Straight on Til Morning (1972)

Fellow Shane Briant fans take note - Robert Kenchington who runs the Shane Briant Tribute Site has recently published a pictorial biography of the actor called “Shane Briant: A Talent for Terror.” It contains many rare photos of Shane Briant as well as information about his life and career. You can currently purchase the book online at Lulu.com. Robert Kenchington also created a promotional video for the book that I’ve posted below.

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I’ve been abducted by the Morlocks!

by Kimberly Lindbergs | March 4, 2010

Categories | News, Books, Oscars, Movie Morlocks, TCM

I’ve got some exciting news to share! I was recently asked to join the Movie Morlocks team and I’m officially blogging for TCM (Turner Classic Movies) at http://moviemorlocks.com now. I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity and I couldn’t be more excited about it. It will give me the chance to spread my wings a bit and write about older films that I love but don’t often cover here at Cinebeats. I’ll be posting there once a week but I’ll still be updating Cinebeats whenever I can.

My recent move has been occupying most of my time lately but like a lot of movie lovers I’ve got the Oscars on my mind. In my first post for the Movie Morlocks I discuss why I enjoy the annual Academy Awards show and I review Robert Hofler’s new book Party Animals: A Hollywood Tale of Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n’ Roll Starring the Fabulous Allan Carr. Carr produced the disastrous 1989 Oscar telecast and if you want to know more you’re going to have to visit TCM’s Movie Morlocks blog.

Last year I had a lot of fun “Live Tweeting” the Oscars on Twitter so I’m going to try and do it again this year. I’m living out of boxes so life’s a little chaotic at the moment but I’ll update Cinebeats before the 82nd Academy Awards with more details. Sunday promises to be an interesting night!

A Morlock goes after Yvette Mimieux in The Time Machine (1960)

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