Movies
Alfred Hitchcock’s Earliest Works Discovered, “Highly Unstable”
The earliest surviving film worked on by Alfred Hitchcock is among the latest finds by researchers combing the New Zealand Film Archive, reports Variety.
The British feature The White Shadow (1924) was previously considered lost, but three reels of the six-reel pic have turned up in the Kiwi archive, along with 60 other pics, including Hollywood titles were previously thought to be lost to the ravages of nitrate degradation. The New Zealand Film Archive and the San Francisco-based National Film Preservation Foundation announced the discoveries on Wednesday.
The LA Times adds that the print is made of “highly unstable nitrate material.” Yikes! More inside.
“This is one of the most significant developments in memory for scholars, critics, and admirers of Hitchcock’s extraordinary body of work,” said David Sterritt, chairman of the National Society of Film Critics and author of “The Films of Alfred Hitchcock.” “These first three reels of ‘The White Shadow’ offer a priceless opportunity to study his visual and narrative ideas when they were first taking shape.”
Pic is described as an atmospheric melodrama starring Betty Compson in a dual role as twin sisters, one angelic and the other being “without a soul.” Hitchcock is credited as assistant director to Graham Cutts, as well as serving as art director, editor and writer on the film, which was distribbed in the U.S. by Lewis J. Selznick Enterprises.
Film historians have been digging through the archive for more than a year, ever since it became known that the archive housed a cache of early films saved by Kiwi projectionist and film enthusiast Jack Murtagh, who died in 1989. Last year, the researchers discovered a trove of 75 titles, including a John Ford silent, “Upstream” (1927), that was previously considered lost (Daily Variety, June 7, 2010).
Among the other films uncovered in the latest round of research are the two-color Technicolor short “The Love Charm” (1928), early works from pioneering femme helmers Muriel Ostriche and Alice Guy, a 1920 dance demonstration by ballerina-choreographer Albertina Rasch and a fragment from the Keystone Kops’ lost slapstick comedy “In the Clutches of the Gang” (1914).
The pics from the Kiwi archive will be preserved over the next three years through a partnership with five major U.S. film archives that are collaborating with the National Film Preservation Foundation on the project: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, George Eastman House, the Library of Congress, the Museum of Modern Art and the UCLA Film & Television Archive. A restored print of “The White Shadow” reels will also be presented to the British Film Institute for its Hitchcock rescue project.
Movies
‘Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence’ Gets PG-13 Rating for “Some Violent Content”
The killer tomatoes are back in Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence, and the film has received its official MPA rating in the wake of the trailer release this week.
Starboard Entertainment’s Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence has been Rated PG-13 for “language, some violent content and suggestive material.”
Watch this week’s official trailer down below.
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence will be released in select cities across the US beginning August 7th in major cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Diego, and others, and expanding to further locations throughout the month.
The fifth installment in the horror-comedy franchise pits the eternal power of nature against AI’s best and brightest.
In Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence, a young biotech prodigy develops a revolutionary genetically engineered vegetable designed to solve humanity’s problems. But when the experiment spirals out of control, it unleashes a new generation of killer tomatoes, setting the stage for another outrageous chapter in the long-running cult franchise.
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes co-creators Costa Dillon and J. Stephen Peace return to write and executive produce. David Ferino directs.
The film features an ensemble cast led by icon John Astin (The Addams Family), reprising his role as Professor Gangreen, comedy legend David Koechner (Anchorman), Academy Award nominee Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight), horror favorite Catherine Corcoran (Terrifier), comedy veteran Dan Bakkedahl (Veep), Myrna Velasco (Star Wars Resistance), Vernée Watson (Shrinking, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), and Paul Bates (Coming to America).
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes launched in 1979, followed by 1988’s Return of the Killer Tomatoes, 1991’s Killer Tomatoes Strike Back, and 1992’s Killer Tomatoes Eat France.
The franchise also spawned an animated series in 1990.
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