David Lean and Alec Guinness

Alec Guinness, who would later star as Obi-wan Kenobi in the Star Wars movies, first appeared in four of director David Lean's top 5 domestic box office movies (all of the above except Ryan's Daughter).

Links to interesting websites and on-line movie trailers can be found at DavidLean.com. 

Evolution of the Vampire in Literature and on Screen

Featured Films Standing the Test of Time #11-#20

William Wyler #1 Director

With a lifetime total of 12, William Wyler was nominated for more directing Oscars than anyone else.

Top Director Oscar Nominations (Wins)

• William Wyler 12 (3)
• Billy Wilder 8 (2)
• David Lean 7 (2)
• Fred Zinnemann 7 (2)
• Woody Allen 6 (1)
• Frank Capra 6 (3)
• Martin Scorsese 6 (1)
• Steven Spielberg 6 (2)

Wyler also shows a 100% Rotten Tomatoes celebrity "Tomatometer" reading with the range of his movies garnering between 67% and 100% positive reviews.  As is often the case, Wyler's top 5 biggest box office grossers aren't necessarily people's favorite movies.  Here's how the top 5 line up against Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer of positive reviews:

• Ben Hur, 1959 91%
  
• The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946 97%
• Mrs. Miniver, 1942 86%
• Funny Girl, 1968 92%
• Friendly Persuasion, 1956 100%

Other Wyler films with 100% Tomatometer ratings might be higher on my list of box office hits if I had the missing rental information (that includes 100% rated Wuthering Heights, 1939; The Letter, 1940; and The Little Foxes, 1941)

James Bond's Broccoli

The USC School of Cinematic Arts will pay tribute to James Bond movie creator Albert 'Cubby' Broccoli per the Los Angeles Times.  My favorites remain the early films starring Sean Connery, which were also the most profitable.

Do Longer Movie Credits Correlate to the Increase in Movie Costs?

Do your eyes glaze over when you see words like "second assistant accountant, first assistant accountant, aerial ground coordinator, head carpenter, draftsperson, set decoration buyer, stand-by props, supervising painter, cashier, visual consultant, safety advisor: additional photography, U.S., local gang boss, assistant production coordinator, assistant location manager, key tailor, utility stand-in, key craft service, craft service assistant, tailoring, assistant to director, advertising publicity supervisor" on and on running across the screen?

Movie etiquette requires we remain seated for all screen credits and, I must confess, I was thrilled to get a credit on Star Wars in 1977, but I tend to think credits are way to long.

That said, I wish more non movie products provided better credits.  For example, I'm curious at times who the producers of especially great commercials are.  And, now that I've been in book publishing awhile, I know the name on a book cover doesn't always reflect who wrote it.  Some writers are good about crediting where credit is due but just as often the truth, such as 'my wife really wrote this book,' or 'you wouldn't believe what this read like before my editor got hold of it,' or 'this just has my name on it but I didn't write a word,' remains a mystery only a few people know the answer to.

It does seem as if the steady rise in movie production costs has been accompanied by ever lengthening credits, which may partly explain why the costs have gone up so much.  In 1977, my "assistant to director" credit was among 17 "other cast" names - while in 2009, the "other cast" credits for X-Men Origins: Wolverine totaled over 100 names - a 6 fold increase.  Maybe that's one explanation for why Star Wars cost $46.2 million (in 2008 adjusted dollars) while X-Men Origins: Wolverine cost $150 million.

Charlton Heston and the Biblical Epic

Two of the top 5 movies Charlton Heston starred in were biblical epics (The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur), both released in the 1950s.  Unlike a lot of other actors who starred in 1950s movies, Heston lived a long life.  Susan Hayward and Humphrey Bogart died at 57, Gary Cooper at 60, Audrey Hepburn at 63 and the list goes on of 50s stars who didn't make it to age 70.  Acting  as a biblical character was probably a healthy choice since you didn't see too many of them smoking cigarettes on the screen.