Kirk Douglas turns 100 years old!

                                                 

It’s been 2 months since I last updated the blog and I’m currently studying for my finals but today is a very special day in Hollywood and I had to be part of the party! Kirk Douglas turns 100 years old today and I want you to celebrate while we go through his work.

So just in case you didn’t notice Kirk Douglas (the most famous dimple of Hollywood)  was born on December 9 1916, 100 years ago! What you probably didn’t know is that his real name is Issur Danielovitch Demsky. Born and raised in a family of Russian Jewish immigrants in a farm in Amsterdam, New York. Kirk Douglas is one of the last living legends of Hollywood’s Golden Age  and the second to turn 100 years old alongside with Olivia de Havilland.

Kirk Douglas is father of Michael Douglas. Michael followed his father’s steps and pursued an acting carreer too. Ironically, it was Michael Douglas who took home an Oscar before his father did. (Michael Douglas won in 1987 for his role in Wall Street). 

His debute came with The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) co-starring Barbara Stanwyck. But his most iconic and well-known role was Spartacus (1960).

Spartacus (1960)

As I already mentioned in my Trumbo entry Kirk Douglas was actively involved in the rebirth of several blacklisted Hollywood sreenplayers, one of them was Trumbo who re-wrote Spartacus after Kirk Douglas asked him to. About this he has said, «I’ve made over 85 pictures, but the thing I’m most proud of is breaking the blacklist.»

Kirk Douglas in Spartacus (1960)

Kirk Douglas starred and produced this classic putting himself under Kubrick’s orders for the second time. Spartacus was one of the most expensive Hollywood productions to that day with a total cost of $12 million. This is the role he will be remmebered for forever.

Kirk Douglas is much more than Spartacus, though. He is a three times Academy Award nominee for his role in Champion (1949), The Bad & The Beautiful (1952) and Lust for Life (1956) all of them for best actor and all of them he lost. The Academy, aware of its error, rewarded Kirk’s contribution to the industry 20 years ago, in 1996, with the Honorary Award for 50 years as a creative and moral force in the motion picture community.

Lust for Life (1956)

In this film Kirk Douglas magnificiently portrayed Van Gogh. His resemblance to the famous painter still shocks me to this day.

If you love Van Ghogh’s work and good films this is a must-watch. The visuals and in-depth study of Van Ghogh’s work mixes up perfectly with the accurate and dramatic portray Kirk Douglas gives. He even practiced painting so he could reasonably immitate the artist’s work.

Kirk Douglas as Van Ghogh

In my humble opinion Kirk Douglas gives out the best acting of his carrier in this film. He nailed the troubled charachter of Van Ghogh and, at the same time, respected the genius Van Ghogh was. Something the film Amadeus fails to do with Mozart, for example, but that’s another story…

Paths of Glory (1957)

This film, directed by Stanley Kubrick, puts Kirk Douglas in the role of a French colonel during the First World War. Kubrick and Douglas teamed up in this war film to commit themselves to the anti-war movement that would hit the US in the 1960’s.

Kirk Douglas in a scene from Paths of Glory (1957)

The film represents a crtic to war and violence. Douglas is a French soldier that refuses to participate in a suicidal attack against Germans and is charched for cowardice by a militar court.

Kirk Douglas is also known for his role in films like Detective Story (1950), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), Rio Bravo (1960),  Lonely Are the Brave (1962), or Seven Days in May (1964).

Kirk Douglas will celebrate his birthday today with a Beverly Hills party of +200 guests and, of course, almost every known Hollywood celebrity will be there. Sadly I’m not invited to the party hahaha but  I still wanted to celebrate his 100 years of life and contribution to film industry. Thank you Kirk Douglas and happy birthday!

Kirk Douglas with his family during this past Thanksgiving

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_Douglas_filmography

https://giphy.com/search/kirk-douglas-paths-of-glory

https://www.instagram.com/catherinezetajones/?hl=es

Trumbo, a screenwriter behind the scenes

Dalton Trumbo used to like to write in his bathtub

Dalton Trumbo was born in 1905 and died in 1976 at the age of 70. He was accused by the House of Un-American Activities Committee in 1947 for being a member of the communist party, spent 11 months in prison in 1950, and was consequently blacklisted by the film industry until the 1960s.

Trumbo during his Committee Subpoena (1947)

Trumbo joined the communist party in 1943, during the time the USA fought side by side with the USSRR in the Second World War. In 1947 the House of Un-American Activities Committee started an investigation against communist sympathizers in the Hollywood industry. The Committee began to subpoena those artists that were related with the Communist party. The shoutouts against these artists were made by famous columnists like Hedda Hopper or William R. Wilkenson who named various Hollywood actors, producers, directors and screenwriters and related them to the Communist Party.

During these subpoenas the accused were asked the famous question: “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party of the United States?” Trumbo and ten other screenwriters refused to answer to this question alleging the first amendment that guarantees the freedom of speech and assembly. Their tactic failed and all ten were condemned to prison, two of them to six months, the other eight to ten months. Trumbo spent ten months in prison in 1950.

Trumbo photographed before getting into prison (1950)

Before being condemned to prison Trumbo had already written well-known screenplays like: Kitty Foyle (1940) or Tender Comrade (1944) both of which starred Ginger Rogers, and A guy named Joe (1944) that was brought to the screen with Spencer Tracy as protagonist. Since he was blacklisted in 1950 his scripts were fronted or credited to other screenwriters who were not blacklisted or even signed under pseudonyms. Trumbo managed to work also by correcting and revising scripts during this period.

Roman Holiday

I would humbly say that from my point of view the script of Roman Holiday is probably one of the best screenplays of all time. It is genuinely and elegantly funny, and it manages to be a romantic comedy without getting too cheesy. The light humour that Trumbo put into the dialogue and situations is amusing without having to recur to the absurd or the obscene. Roman Holiday is a film that will never get old and Trumbo’s script helped it to be an instant classic.

Trumbo wrote Roman Holiday when he was already blacklisted by the film community, in 1953. His friend and scriptwriter Ian McLellan Hunter accepted to take credit for his work and appeared as the official scriptwriter.

Fragment of Roman Holiday’s original script (1953)

William Wyler was the only director who, despite knowing Trumbo wrote the original screenplay, recognised the value of the story behind it and wasn’t afraid to direct it.

Of Course, as soon as the film premiered it gain huge success and was highly acclaimed by the critic. Roman Holiday was nominated to seven Academy Awards and won three of them including best motion picture story. Ian McLellan Hunter fronted and picked up the Oscar without anyone having a clue that it was Trumbo who actually wrote it. It was not until the 1960’s that Trumbo was recognised as the writer of this script and it was in 1993 when he was posthumously awarded with an Oscar for it.

The Brave One

In 1956 Trumbo wrote The Brave One, that told the story of a young boy who tries to save his beloved bull from being killed in a bullfighter arena. This script was signed under the pseudonym of Robert Rich. When it got nominated for best story at the Oscars they had to confront the problem of who would pick up the award if it won. In the end it was Frank King, the nephew of the film’s producer who picked up the Academy Award in name of “Robert Rich”.

The media went crazy trying to find Robert Rich and rumours pointed to Trumbo as the original writer of the script. This rumours were denied in the first place. It wasn’t until 1975 that the Oscar was reissued in Trumbo’s name.

Exodus

In 1960 director Otto Preminger went to Trumbo with the idea of making a film based on Leon Uris’s novel Exodus. Trumbo accepted to write the screenplay for this film adaptation.

After receiving the brilliant screenplay Preminger decided to come forward and Trumbo’s name was credited for his work. This was the first film that showed Trumbo’s name in the front credits since he had been accused by the House of Un-American Activities Committee marking the beginning of the end of the blacklist.

Spartacus

It was also in 1960 when Spartacus, the film by Stanley Kubrick premiered in cinemas. This classic starring Kirk Douglas was one of the most expensive Hollywood productions at the time. It was Kirk Douglas who sent the story to Trumbo and asked him to re-write it and correct it. Kirk Douglas was so eager to play the main character at this film that he produced it and followed Trumbo’s work closely. Trumbo was also credited for this script.

Papillon

His last screenplay was the adaption of the novel Papillon which he co-wrote with Lorenzo Semple Jr.. Trumbo then retired and stopped working as a scriptwriter to spend more time with his family.

Now, Trumbo’s work is recognised by the Academy and he has become one of the most influential screenwriters of all time. His legacy and his story have inspired several documentaries and biopics. The latest one is the film Trumbo (2015) starring Bryan Cranston as the screenwriter. For his performance Cranston received an Academy Award nomination for best actor. The film has received fairly good critic highlighting Cranston’s portray of Trumbo.

REFERENCES

Anon, 2016. Dalton Trumbo. Wikipedia. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/dalton_trumbo  [Accessed March 12, 2016].

Coe, K., 2010. Audrey Hepburn. Remembering Roman Holiday. Part 1. YouTube. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjl_wpyd8fm  [Accessed March 12, 2016]. 2002

Roach, J., 2015. Trumbo

Hitchcock Never Won An Oscar!

Hitchcock never won an Oscar!

Alfred Hitchcock was a British director, producer and occasional actor (cameos) who was born in 1899 and died in 1980 at the age of 89. He is known as “the master of suspense”. His work as a director has inspired thousands. He always said that he made films for the viewers. His filming methods, which were new at the time, are now widely spread and used by Hollywood directors making the general public underestimate the influence he’s had in the film industry. And despite of all of these Hitchcock never won an Oscar.

I will try to briefly explain the most important of his stylistic trademarks: The most important one is voyeurism, this is a technique first used in painting and introduced by Hitchcock to the big screen. Voyeurism makes the viewer feel like if he or she is participating directly in the action of the film. In this technique the director uses camera movement to mimic a person’s gaze. This technic is now widespread and continuously used in our days and makes the films more realistic and directly engages the viewers in the film.

Another way in which Hitchcock made his movies realistic was by using what he called “point of view shots” to show the point of view of an individual. This is done by making a close up of the actor or actress, then you show what their looking at and then you go back to the close up to see the reaction of the character. If the character starts moving the camera, when showing what the character is looking at, must move too. Like it can be seen in this clip from Rear Window where Hitchcock uses a short distant shot representing the lens of the camera that the character (James Stewart) uses to follow Grace Kelly.

Hitchcock is known as “the master of suspense” not only because his films always have a plot that runs around the mystery and the psychoanalysis but also because of the way he framed the scenes in his films. He used framed shots to maximise anxiety and fear. These feelings where transmitted by the use of close-ups over the actors and actresses reactions.

Hitchcock’s work is also characterized by his cameos, he briefly appeared in 39 out of 52 of his films. His appearances made his fans look for him and, in order for them to concentrate on the film instead of looking for him, Hitchcock started to appear early, usually before the first hour of the film.

An artist is not only an artist because of the quality of his work but also because of the influence and impact his work has on the world. And Hitchcock’s impact on the world and on the cinema industry is undeniable. Even if you have never seen any of his movies you still know Psycho (1960) and know about the shower scene in that film. Or, even if you don’t know the name of the film or haven’t watched it you know North by North West’s (1959) scene where Cary Grant has to throw himself to the ground so that a plane doesn’t crush to him:

Hitchcock directed more than 50 films. He started with silent films in the United Kingdom and made also some films that are part of his best known works: The 39 steps (1935), Sabotage (1936) and The Lady Vanishes (1939).

In 1940 he went to Hollywood and his first Hollywood film Rebecca (1940) was the adaptation of the novel after the same name by Daphne du Maurier. Rebecca was recognised as a masterpiece and was Hitchcock’s first Oscar nomination as director but didn’t win. This film starred Joan Fontaine, considered as the first “icy blond” female star of his films.

In Suspicion (1941), Joan Fontaine plays the main female character too. In this film Cary Grant is the suspicious husband of Fontaine. One of the most famous scenes in the film is when Grant is climbing up the stairs carrying an extremely white glass of milk. The glass actually glowed as Hitchcock used a lightbulb to illuminate the glass and capture the audience’s attention on it.

 

Spellbound (1945) was Hitchcock’s third Oscar nomination as a director. In this film Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman, considered Hitchcock’s second blond muse, play the main characters of a thriller inspired by the psychoanalysis. In this film Hitchcock makes his cameo carrying a violin and smoking a cigarette in an elevator.   The “dream scene” in this movie, made in collaboration with Dali, shows how important was for Hitchcock to create the feelings for the audience, it is truly a scene that can only be described as a dream as you can see in this clip:

Rear window (1954), starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly (also one of his blond muses), is the best example of the “Hitchcocknian” way of filmmaking where Hitchcock uses his techniques of “point of view”, “voyeurism”, close-up shots and film editing that characterized him so much. It is one of his best works as a director as he managed to tell the plot using a “photographic” camera view during most of the film. In this film Hitchcock makes his cameo as the pianist’s butler.

Psycho (1960), starring Anthony Perkins, is probably Hitchcock’s most famous film and one of his best works as a director.  The tension he transmits with this film, the violence of the shower scene that never fails to shock the audience, and the plot-twist of the end have become the trademarks of most of the terror movies that have been made since then. Psycho gave him his fifth and last nomination as director, which he also lost.

Almost one decade before Strangers on a train (1951) was released.  There is also something very special about this film. Of course, it is an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith novel, and so the plot about two men who trade murderers so that no one will suspect of them, is not Hitchcock’s merit. But it is that the film is more famous than the book and that his unique way of editing the fight scene in the carousel, with strategic cuts in each moment of the fight that make the scene dynamic and the tension palpable, are part of filmmaking history.  Hitchcock makes his cameo 11 minutes into the film carrying a double-bass as he is climbing to the train.

Hitchcock’s cameo in «Strangers on a train» (1951)

We cannot forget about one of his most renowned masterpieces: The Birds (1963) that marked the debut of one of her last blond muses: Tippy Hedren. This is probably one of the most important and best thrillers of Hitchcock’s carrier.

Even though he never won an Oscar Hitchcock did win a Golden Globe for his TV Show Alfred Hitchcock Presents an anthology series that aired in American television from 1955 to 1965. The series featured thrillers of about 25 to 30 minutes each that were all created by Hitchcock. He appeared at the beginning of every episode to eclipse his own silhouette and offered a brief explanation of the episode that it was about to air. All these short stories have to be added to his already long-list of film creations.

Hitchcock is most probably greatest filmmaker in history and his art was practically ignored by the Academy which only gave him 5 nominations out of his 52 films and never rewarded him with the golden trophy.

REFERENCES:

Anon, 2016. Alfred Hitchcock. Wikipedia. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/alfred_hitchcock  [Accessed February 28, 2016].

Anon, GIFs Categories – Celebrities, Anime, Sports & More | GIPHY. GIPHY. Available from: http://giphy.com/categories  [Accessed February 28, 2016].

A.H., 2009. Spellbound Hitchcock (Dream Scene)1945. YouTube. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iauudtwfvhs  [Accessed February 28, 2016]. 1945

J.M.B., 2004. How to Turn Your Boring Movie into a Hitchcock Thriller. Film Techniques Of Alfred Hitchcock – Suspense, Camera Angles, Style, Editing, Basics. Available from: http://www.borgus.com/hitch/ [Accessed February 28, 2016].

J.M.B., 2012. Hitchcock Techniques (2004) Part 1. YouTube. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg6velhqxgs  [Accessed February 28, 2016].