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"Wanda" Written, Directed and staring Barbra Loden is now on Turner Classics.
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| Jackson 5 In Africa |
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The Jackson 5 in Africa, A never-before-seen documentary chronicling the J-5’s concert tour to Senegal . Equal parts propaganda film, time capsule, and jam session. Just seconds off the plane, the Jacksons are surrounded by Sabar dancers in regal attire. It continues on in that peculiar mysticism as the family tours the National Palace, a primary school, on Gorée Island, and the Medina, where candle lights in tin-roofed huts are likened to “twinkling stars” in the night sky.
The boys were captured at a rare point in their lives—not yet jaded by fame, still young enough to be awestruck by skyscrapers in the capital. Decked in royal beads, they move with a grace and carriage typically reserved for older men.
What was evident from their first sold out performance at Demba Diop stadium, was not only how wide the J-5’s international appeal was, but also how plugged in to contemporary African-American culture the Senegalese—and indeed all Africans—were. From their clothes to their style, hair, and swagger, the Africans could have been jamming in a stadium in Detroit.
By Iquo B. Essien (The Stimulist)
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“Bizarre and Hilarious "Tour video”
ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE ONLINE
By AUSTIN SKAGGS
"i could NOT keep this to myself. this MUST be seen. Hey guys. its me the ultra rare connoisseur of fine treat.(singular) this is a never seen before rare docu aboutthe J5 pilgrimage to africa. awesome!!!!!share this."
Don’t have an hour to kill watching some documentary you could’ve seen in your 7th grade Social Studies class? No worries; we got you covered. Take a look at some of the highlights we found from this bizarre and hilarious “tour video.”
There are some sweet Jackson moments as well. Check out Part 3 of the series for some classic live footage of the group performing “Hum Along and Dance.” The scene at the venue looks insane—people climbing the venue walls, the gangstas ticket counters all are wearing shades (at night!), leather jackets, and have hand rolled cigarettes dangling from their mouths, adding a level of intimidation. To top it all off, J5 had some technical trouble, delaying the manic crowd for a few hours.
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| Available for United States, Canada and all of South America |
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| A That's Entertainment of Western movie. Also starring Robert Blake, Ernest Borgnine, Bill "Hopalong Cassidy" Boyd, Raymond Burr, Lee Van Cleef, Gary Cooper, Joan Crawford, Henry Fonda, Angie Dickinson, Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Roy Rogers and many more. |
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| The Green Hornet Movie |
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| Green Hornet Movie II |
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| License The Bruce Lee Screentest from Tele-Ventures |
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| Bruce Lee and Van Williams |
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The Green Hornet movie and Green Hornet movie Part II starred Bruce Lee as Kato and Van Williams as The Green Hornet. Larry Joachim produced the movie version and also distributed the pictures with 20th century fox. One of the first comic book super heroes. Featuring great stories and great fight scenes and a super car The Black Beauty.
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This is the lost Rod Serling Science Fiction Classic "CAROL FOR ANOTHER CHRISTMAS." Not released or seen for over 30 years, it's available for TV, theatrical and DVD distribution worldwide. From the mighty pen of Rod Serling, creator of the Twilight Zone, comes a masterful film starring PETER SELLERS, ROBERT SHAW, EVA MARIE SAINT, PETER FONDA, RICHARD HARRIS, BRIT EKLAND, BEN GAZZARA AND STERLING HAYDEN. DIRECTED BY JOSEPH L. MANKIEWICZ. MUSIC BY HENRY MANCINI.
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The New York Times
Marley Is Dead, Killed in a Nuclear War By THOMAS VINCIGUERRA Published: December 20, 2007
Has there ever been a holiday yarn as ubiquitous as Dickens’s “Christmas Carol”? Whether filmed in black and white or color, played straight or set to music, starring Alastair Sim or Mr. Magoo, this quintessential Christmas story is inescapable this season. And despite so many incarnations, what is probably the darkest, most unusual version has been almost entirely forgotten.
It is “Carol for Another Christmas,” a 90-minute television adaptation written by Rod Serling, best known as the creator of “The Twilight Zone.” The first in a series of 1960s-era made-for-television movies designed to promote the activities of the United Nations, it was also the only television program directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, the Oscar-winning writer and director of “All About Eve.”
Its pedigree notwithstanding, “Carol for Another Christmas” was shown just once on ABC, on Dec. 28, 1964.“It certainly didn’t get the attention it should have,” Serling’s widow, Carol, said in an interview. “I haven’t seen it in so long.”"Carol for Another Christmas" is a cautionary plea for peace, global cooperation and humanitarian intervention. As such, it echoes many of the socially conscious themes Serling plumbed in “The Twilight Zone,” as well as earlier anthology shows like “Playhouse 90” and “Studio One,” and the film “Planet of the Apes.” In Serling’s hands, Ebenezer Scrooge becomes Daniel Grudge (played by Sterling Hayden), a wealthy industrialist whose son had been killed in battle on Christmas Eve 1944. The loss has transformed him into a man whose idea of international relations is bombing other countries into submission. But as in Dickens, three spirits work their reformational magic. In this case, they do so by forcing Grudge to face a world where understanding among nations no longer exists. First up is the Ghost of Christmas Past (Steve Lawrence), a World War I soldier representing the dead of all wars, who whisks Grudge to the blasted landscape of Hiroshima to confront its blinded and radiation-scarred victims. Then comes the Ghost of Christmas Present (Pat Hingle), a self-absorbed glutton who feasts while starving masses huddle in a displaced persons camp. Finally, the Ghost of Christmas Future (Robert Shaw) escorts Grudge to the nuclear aftermath of World War III.Serling’s biggest (and most bizarre) departure from Dickens is an original character, Imperial Me (Peter Sellers), the leader of a ragtag group of doomsday survivors. Clad in a pilgrim outfit and a 10-gallon hat bearing the glittering legend “ME,” he exhorts his howling mob to follow an every-man-for-himself philosophy.“Each behind his own fence!” he yells in a twanging Texas accent. “Each behind his own barricade! Follow me, my friends and loved ones, to the perfect society! The Civilization of ‘I’!” When Grudge’s black butler (Percy Rodrigues) pleads with Imperial Me’s followers to obey the rule of law, a boy in cowboy garb shoots him to death.
In its day, “Carol for Another Christmas” was a major television event. Broadcast without commercial interruption, it was underwritten by Xerox, which paid $4 million to sponsor a total of four United Nations television specials. But as one might suspect, “Carol” wasn’t exactly a cheery holiday offering. It is, in fact, extremely downbeat, more so than any other version of “A Christmas Carol” or almost anything else in the Serling canon. Although Grudge reluctantly realizes the need for world peace at program’s end, his conversion is hardly euphoric.“Most episodes of ‘The Twilight Zone’ that dealt with social change tended to end on an optimistic note,” said Gordon F. Sander, the author of “Serling: The Rise and Twilight of Television’s Last Angry Man” (Dutton). “‘Carol’ is so unlike most of Serling’s other psychodramatic work. It’s depressing, and he was basically an optimist.”Mr. Sander suggested that emblematic events like the Cuban missile crisis and the assassination of President Kennedy, as well as the Johnson administration’s escalating involvement in Vietnam, colored Serling’s writing. “For a liberal like Serling, that was a bleak year,” Mr. Sander said, “and I think the program reflects that.”That gloom was not lost on critics, who gave “Carol” mixed reviews. Variety wrote that the show “generalized to the extreme” and was ultimately “a disappointment.”“Serling has two poles in his writing,” said Marc Scott Zicree, the author of “The Twilight Zone Companion” (Bantam). “There’s his powerful, human-oriented writing, and his very didactic writing, and ‘Carol’ falls on the didactic side.”
C. O. (Doc) Erickson, later an executive producer of “Urban Cowboy” and “Groundhog Day,” was the show’s production supervisor. “I thought it was overdone,” he said. “It was too long, too tiring and beat you over the head too much.” Nonetheless, Mr. Erickson praised the show’s underlying theme of international involvement for the sake of humanity. “It was a noble effort,” he said. “I think Joe and Rod were inspired to do it because they felt it was important to do the U.N.’s business and promote it.” To its credit, “Carol for Another Christmas” offers striking production values. And the music, by Henry Mancini, includes a poignant title tune.And all of the performances are strong, no mean feat considering the preachiness of the script. Rounding out the exceptional cast are Eva Marie Saint as a Navy Wave, Ben Gazzara as Grudge’s nephew Fred, and Peter Sellers’s wife, Britt Ekland, in a nonspeaking role as the gun-toting boy’s mother. (In a scene that was ultimately cut, Peter Fonda played the ghost of Grudge’s dead son.) Perhaps the most refreshing surprise is Steve Lawrence. Those who know him mainly for his schmaltzy cabaret act with his wife, Eydie Gorme, will be jolted by his portrayal of the savvy world-weary doughboy who convincingly argues the case for diplomacy: “When we stop talking, we start swinging. Then we bleed. Then we got problems. Like winding up dead.”“That was my father’s favorite performance,” said Mankiewicz’s son Tom. “He only knew Steve as a singer, but he really impressed him as an actor. He thought he was a natural.” There are no plans to rebroadcast “Carol for Another Christmas” or issue it on home video. But the film can be viewed on a private console at the Paley Center for Media in New York and Los Angeles and at the Film and Television Archive at the University of California, Los Angeles. Glimpses can also be seen on the DVD compilation “The Unknown Peter Sellers.”Some years ago, Ms. Serling recalled, a producer approached her with the idea of remaking the program. The proposal came to nothing, but she hopes someone else will take up the challenge. “Rod absolutely loved Dickens, and he loved that story,” she said. “I would like to see it updated. If it helped the U.N., that would be fine. That’s what it was originally for.”
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| Barbara Loden's "Wanda" |
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This Landmark film is available for the world, TV, DVD, Theatrical. Please inquire for licensing.
The New York Times critic's choice review
written by Dave Kehr and published September 12, 2006.
Barbara Loden’s 1970 film — the only feature she directed, and a masterpiece — had the bad luck to be doubly ahead of its time. Politically, it was guilty of premature post-feminism. The story about a youngish housewife (played by Ms. Loden) from Pennsylvania coal mining country who walks away from her husband and two children to take up with a mean-spirited petty thief (Michael Higgins) is hardly a parade of positive role models. And formally, the film — shot in 16-millimeter by Nicholas Proferes, using the lightweight equipment that was then driving the cinéma vérité documentary movement — goes far beyond the jittery, performance-centered style associated with that era’s independent films, like John Cassavetes’s 1968 “Faces.”
Favoring long shots and a motionless camera, Ms. Loden approaches the modern, impassive realism of Abbas Kiarostami and Hou Hsiao-hsien. An early shot of Wanda, a tiny figure in white slowly crossing a desolate field darkened by coal dust, plays with distance and duration in a way that seems startlingly contemporary, as if it had been clipped from the latest film by Gus Van Sant.
Ms. Loden, who is still awaiting a biographer, was a working-class girl from South Carolina who came to New York to be a model and pin-up; instead she became an actress and the wife of the director Elia Kazan, who cast her as the Marilyn Monroe figure in his 1964 production of Arthur Miller’s “After the Fall.” Ms. Loden won a Tony Award for her work, but seemed to gain little traction from it; Mr. Kazan directed her in two more plays, neither successful.
In retrospect, she seems hardly to be Mr. Kazan’s kind of actor at all. Though physically commanding and sexually charged, as were all of the stars he created, she had a kind of silence, a sense of her characters’ privacy, that ran counter to the institutionalized exhibitionism of the Method. This is another way that “Wanda,” with its long periods of silence and inaudible dialogue, differs from Mr. Cassavetes’s films, though it is inevitably compared to them.
Ms. Loden, who was separated from Mr. Kazan, died of cancer in 1980, at 48, without making or appearing in another movie. “Wanda” stands as an incredible one-off, like “The Night of the Hunter,” Charles Laughton’s one film as a director. It is evidence of a great career that never was. Parlour Pictures, $24.95, not rated.
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| Jim Kelly is The Black Samurai |
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A SECOND LOOK DVD set is devoted to '70s martial arts star Jim KellyThe African American martial arts star of the 1970s gets a DVD set devoted to his impressive skills.By Steve Ryfle January 10, 2010 Before Jackie Chan and Jet Li, before Chuck Norris, Jean Claude van Damme and Steven Seagal, Jim Kelly earned his place in the pantheon of martial arts heroes fighting alongside Bruce Lee in 1973's "Enter the Dragon." With his lightning-quick fists and feet, cocksure attitude and repertoire of quotable one-liners, the Afro-sporting, chisel-chested Kelly was as cool and flashy as Lee was fast and lethal. Nearly four decades on, Kelly has become a certified cult film legend -- the 2009 blaxploitation spoof "Black Dynamite" contained more than one homage to his movies -- though his Hollywood career was all too brief. This week, Warner Home Video will release its Urban Action Collection, featuring three of Kelly's classic films on DVD for the first time: 1974's "Black Belt Jones" and "Three the Hard Way" and 1976's "Hot Potato." A fourth entry in the set, 1974's "Black Samson," stars Rockne Tarkington, the actor who was originally set to play Kelly's groundbreaking role in "Enter the Dragon." "Enter the Dragon' is a primary text for my whole generation, and Jim Kelly's presence is invaluable," said film and television director Reginald Hudlin. "Jim Kelly looked cool, he had a perfect mushroom-bomb-shaped Afro, he carried himself in a stylish way, and he was political. You were glad to see yourself represented onscreen in general but specifically by him. Jim Kelly conveys a level of class that not every black exploitation-era hero had." The movie was a giant hit, and Kelly was rewarded with a non-exclusive, three-picture contract with Warner Bros. He was the first martial artist signed to such a deal. Between 1974 and 1976, he landed his biggest roles in the films contained in the new DVD collection: In "Black Belt Jones," he played a secret agent fighting the mob; in "Three the Hard Way," he teamed with ex-NFL stars Jim Brown and Fred Williamson to thwart a white supremacist plot; "Hot Potato" follows Kelly into the jungles of Thailand to rescue a diplomat's daughter who's been kidnapped.
When Kelly's studio contract ended in the late 1970s, black action movies and martial arts films had fallen out of favor. Instead of midbudget studio projects, Kelly now starred in ultra-low-budget schlock titles including "Black Samurai," "Death Dimension" and the Hong Kong-made "The Tattoo Connection.""I never left the movie business," Kelly said. "It's just that after a certain point, I didn't get the type of projects that I wanted to do. I still get at least three scripts per year, but most of them don't put forth a positive image. There's nothing I really want to do, so I don't do it. If it happens, it happens, but if not, I'm happy with what I've accomplished." calendar@latimes.com
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Jim "Dragon" Kelly is best known for his role in Bruce Lee's "Enter The Dragon" in 1973. When the daughter of a royal family is held hostage, Jim Kelly as The Black Samurai agent for D.R.A.G.O.N. Defense Reserves Agency Guardian of Nations, will stop at nothing to destroy the evil organization that abducted her. This is an action packed movie with flying jet packs, karate killer midgets, A warlock, Suped up spy car, and great martial arts by Jim Kelly. Produced by Barbara Holden and Larry Joachim.
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| One of the most controversial films of all time. |
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