Blacklisted gay communist 1940’s character actor Will Geer became Grandpa Walton in the hit series “The Waltons”. How so?
Paul Henreid is most famous for his roles in Casablanca. He became a star at Warner Brothers during World War II, as the exotic lead. After the war, his contract was cancelled and he was left to his own devices. He continued acting and also began producing and directing.
The screen is a neutral element in the film-going experience. Or is it? It projects dreams but it is also the receptacle of our dreams. And does it also watch the audience at the same time? Cinema as a two way street.
The screening room used to be a microcosm of a larger world, filled with churning emotions and explosive temperaments. Welcome to the comfortable world of the private screening rooms where what is on the screen pales in comparison to what happens among the viewers.
Chris Olsen appeared in films by some of the best directors of the fifties. Even though he never became a famous child actor, he was in a handful of the most iconic fifties movies. He “retired” at the age of ten.The Boy Who Criedis part of Rappaport’s series of fictional autobiographies.
A fictitious auto-biography by Sergei/Sir Gay Eisenstein: his films and sexual desires.
Jacques Tati and Robert Bresson were very different directors, yet the way they structure a scene is very similar.
An essay by Mark Rappaport on Douglas Sirk’s actresses and the role of mirrors in his films.)