Archive for January 20th, 2009
January 20th, 2009
You probably don’t recognize the name Kathleen Byron, though I’ll bet you’ve seen her in at least one movie: She played Mrs. Ryan, the mother of Matt Damon, in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. But Byron’s career stretched much further back than that 1997 film. Born in 1923, the British actress appeared in scores of movies since the 1930s.
Her most memorable roles were in the films directed by the legendary team of Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell, known to film fans as “The Archers.” She played an angel in A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH (just released — finally! — on DVD) and a no-nonsense World War II girlfriend in THE SMALL BACK ROOM (released last year). But it’s in the 1947 film BLACK NARCISSUS where she delivers her most memorable performance: Sister Ruth, the greatest crazy nun ever captured on film.
Kathleen Byron died Sunday at the age of 88, but here’s a bit of memorable film from near the end of BLACK NARCISSUS to remember her by. It’s after Ruth has left her nun’s habit behind — along with most of her inhibitions.
January 20th, 2009
You know, with all the excitement over the inauguration, the Golden Globes and the impending Oscar nominations, I’ve almost forgotten that there’s a big film festival going on in Utah at this very moment. I can’t be there myself — what sort of budget do you think I’m operating on? — but thankfully, the blogosphere is full of intrepid online journalists watching movies, talking to the muckety-mucks and putting their stories on the Web for all to see. Here are a few links:
Sundance coverage from the folks at Cinematical
Sundance coverage from the folks at the Onion AV Club
Sundance coverage from writer Jeffrey Wells (Jeff’s blog is more of a rolling report than anything grouped into categories, so just start reading from the top)
And here’s the official Sundance page.
January 20th, 2009
Neatorama has an interesting list of actors who died — actually, really, not-a-special effect died — while making various movies, and how the productions dealt with the sudden loss of a performer.
My favorite case, of course, is PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, where director Ed Wood used a few minutes of Bela Lugosi, then replaced him with his wife’s chiropractor, who looked nothing like Lugosi, but was told by Ed to keep his cape over his face in every scene. It didn’t work (for one thing, he was also a lot taller and younger than Lugosi), but it makes for some memorable movie moments.
 Check out the whole list here.
