Burton & Taylor trailer

Dominic West and Helena Bonham Carter as Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor? I AM SO THERE.



Not sure about a US air date, but I seem to remember hearing something about this film airing on BBC America this fall.

Remembering Elizabeth Taylor

I was saddened to hear of Elizabeth Taylor's passing this morning. As a classic film addict I've enjoyed many of her films throughout the years. She was talented, gorgeous, classy, and relished living life to the fullest, through heartache, tragedy, and (many) marriages. I thought I'd take this opportunity to highlight a few of my favorite Liz Taylor films, in the hope that perhaps you'll be inspired to revisit a classic or discover a new favorite.

Ivanhoe (1952):

Stand and pledge loyalty - or prepare to lie cold beneath your shields. Chivalrous knight Wilfrid of Ivanhoe is determined to restore Richard the Lionhearted to England's throne.
Gallantry and costumed pageantry combine in this crowd-pleasing nominee for 3 Academy Awards including Best Picture. Robert Taylor plays the title role and Elizabeth Taylor and Joan Fontaine also star in a rousing adaptation of Sir Walter Scott's novel. The film's jousting tournament is a galloping display of steed and stout-hearted men. Most spectacular of all is the siege of Torquilstone Castle, a wave-after-wave combat of arrows, fire, boulders, battering ram, and blade. To the battlements! (From the DVD, click to purchase.)

Growing up I went through a phase where I was absolutely obsessed with tales of knights and chivalry. This 1952 film was my first introduction to the tale of Ivanhoe, and one of the main reasons I developed a crush on Robert Taylor. The film holds up today as a wonderful example of technicolor spectacle from Hollywood's Golden Age, and Taylor gives a luminous, compelling performance as Rebecca. An absolute classic! Here's the film's trailer:

Elephant Walk (1954):

Elizabeth Taylor, Peter Finch, and Dana Andrews star in this action-packed drama set in Ceylon. Taylor plays a newlywed who accompanies Finch to his sprawling tea plantation called Elephant Walk...and falls for overseer Andrews. But this love triangle is soon dwarfed by other events. A cholera epidemic breaks out, drought blights the land and herds of thirst-maddened elephants devastate the plantation in a thundering stampede.

This famed sequence is a triumph of moviemaking. The palatial "bungalow" is reduced to rubble as onrushing elephants pound across polished floors, rip walls from their foundations and knock over kerosene drums to ignite a terrifying inferno. You have to see it to believe it! (From the DVD, click to purchase.)

This is one of the first films I can remember watching on AMC after my parents got cable when I was nine or ten years old. The feeling I got when I first saw the elephant stampede is still, to this day, seared in my memory. It blew me away then, and I still love it now. This is a fantastic, passionate story of romance and survival against the most overwhelming force of all - nature unleashed. L-O-V-E it in all of its over-the-top, cheesy glory. :)

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958):

"I'm not living with you," Maggie snaps at Brick. "We occupy the same cage, that's all." The raw emotions and crackling dialogue of Tennessee Williams' 1955 Pulitzer Prize play rumble like a thunderstorm in this film version, whose fiery performances and grown-up themes made it one of 1958's top box-office hits.

Paul Newman earned his first Oscar nomination as troubled ex-sports hero Brick. In a performance that marked a transition to richer adult roles, Elizabeth Taylor snagged her second. Her Maggie the Cat is a vivid portrait of passionate loyalty. Nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture and also starring Burl Ives (repeating his Broadway triumph as mendacity-loathing Big Daddy), Judith Anderson and Jack Carson, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof sizzles. (From the DVD, click to purchase.)

I ADORE this movie. If you're looking for a scandal-ridden, juicy family drama (I confess I have a weakness for such!), look no further than Cat. The performances are electrifying, and Newman and Taylor's on-screen chemistry sizzles. Wildly entertaining! (And isn't that Italian version of the poster fab?!) Here's the movie trailer:

Cleopatra (1963):

Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Rex Harrison star in this sweeping tale of power and betrayal - the legendary story of the Queen of the Nile and her conquest of Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony. Here is the truly unforgettable portrayal of the beguiling beauty who seduced two of Rome's greatest soldiers and changed the course of history. Breathtaking in scope and grandeur, the picture won Oscars for cinematography, art direction, costumes, sets and special effects. In the tradition of epic romantic adventures like Braveheart and Titanic comes the greatest spectacle of all...CLEOPATRA. (From the DVD, click to purchase.)

Cleopatra is a film that has always fascinated me. I love the actual history and the sheer spectacle of the movie, and the film's story off-screen is as fascinating as the history that plays out over a sprawling run-time that exceeds four hours. And for as long as that is, this movie never drags and is as riveting an experience as the first time I can remember watching it years ago. Elizabeth Taylor OWNS the screen in this movie. Sure, it's over-the-top, but I love it. You can read an article about the film's tumultuous history here - they sure don't make 'em like this anymore. Here's a crazy-long film trailer:

The Taming of the Shrew (1967):

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton sparkle and amuse as Katharina and Petruchio in William Shakespeare's comic look at male chauvinism and women's lib in the 16th century. Petruchio, a poverty-stricken gentleman from Verona, journeys to Padua in search of a wealthy wife. There he encounters the fiery Katharina, a self-willed shrew who leads Petruchio on a merry chase before he successfully circumvents her attempts to avoid marriage. Their honeymoon becomes a humorous battle of wit and insult with Kate as determined to maintain her independence as Petruchio is to "tame" her. When the embattled couple returns to Padua, Kate helps Petruchio win a wager that his is the most obedient of wives. But in reality, the shrewish Kate has found a more effective way to dominate her mate. (From the DVD, click to purchase.)

I mentioned this movie a couple of weeks ago when I blogged about the Shakespeare Retold version of Shrew. This movie is, in my estimation, one of the best film versions of a Shakespeare play ever made (yes, I'm equating it with my beloved Kenneth Branagh films! *wink*). It's wildly entertaining from start to finish, and Taylor and Burton's chemistry just can't be equaled - I think they were a perfect pair to play Shakespeare's feuding lovers. Here's the trailer:



Rest in peace, Dame Elizabeth, and thank you for the fabulous films.

Review: The Robe DVD

Just in time for the Easter, 20th Century Fox offers up a newly-remastered, special edition release of the 1953 Biblical epic The Robe on DVD and Blu-Ray. This is a review of the DVD release. Based on the novel by Lloyd C. Douglas, The Robe is the story of Marcellus Gallio (Richard Burton), a Roman tribune who is sent to Palestine as a punishment for antagonizing Caligula (Jay Robinson) and threatening to rival the volatile emperor-to-be for the affections of the beautiful Diana (Jean Simmons). He arrives just in time for Passover, and within days he is ordered to oversee the execution of the recently tried and condemned teacher Jesus. After the crucifixion, the soldiers cast lots for Jesus’s clothing and Marcellus wins the robe. Acquiring the robe sends Marcellus into a downward spiral of fear and paranoia, and fearing he might destroy the garment, Marcellus’s slave Demetrius (Victor Mature), interested in Jesus’s message, steals the garment. Marcellus begins to believe the robe itself is cursed, and recalled by the emperor, he reports on Jesus’s teachings and followers – it’s a new doctrine of freedom that the emperor finds threatening. Marcellus returns to Palestine to find and destroy the robe and to ferret out the seeds of rebellion that might grow with the spread of this new “Christian” faith. As Marcellus gets to know Jesus’s followers, he finds his life transformed by the truth by the life and legacy of the man whose execution he oversaw. Becoming a believer brings the power of the Roman political establishment to bear against Marcellus, and soon he must decide what he’s willing to sacrifice in order to follow his new spiritual king.

When given the chance to review this new DVD release of The Robe, I jumped at the opportunity – after all, it’s what you might consider the “grandfather” of all Biblical epics. It’s the first film that was released using CinemaScope technology, which completely changed the way films could be conceptualized and viewed. Suddenly there was nearly twice as much space available in which to visually tell the story. Long before widescreen was the standard, The Robe paved the way by taking every advantage of the new technology. Every frame of The Robe is filled with eye-popping color, detailed sets, and gorgeous costumes. Thanks to a superb remastering job, The Robe has probably never looked (or sounded) better. The DVD is padded with a handful of special features, including a brief introduction by Martin Scorsese, an isolated music track highlighting Alfred Newman’s sumptuous score, a commentary track with David Newman and three film historians, and still galleries. Personally I found the thirty minute The Making of The Robe featurette to be the most interesting. It gives an excellent overview of The Robe’s ten-plus year journey to the big screen, touching on the filmmakers, studio changes, casting process, and the film’s legacy. It also gives the film some historical context by discussing how the Black List, McCarthy trials, and the general politically volatile climate of the time as a whole informed the way the story was brought to the screen.

If you’re a fan of big, splashy epics The Robe is definitely worth checking out. Sure, it’s not without its shortcomings – the dialogue is occasionally a little clunky and the whole introduction of the robe as a sort of talisman comes off a bit contrived – but it’s an absorbing film, especially fascinating to view in light of how it informed later film classics like The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur. The real strength of the story is in Marcellus’s transformation from a hardened secularist to a man of faith. That journey is handled with a deftness and grace that makes his story timeless and authentic over fifty years after the film was made. And if you’ve only seen the film, it’s worth checking out the novel which is still in print. It’s highly readable, and over the course of 500 pages Marcellus’s character and faith transformation are given even more room to develop and grow.