Creature remake!

Heeeee’s back! Here’s Reuters’ take on the long awaited update of the 50’s sci-fi classic. See an overview of the chatter that has continued to swirl around the project in the press, including Hellboy’s Del Toro confirming he is definitely not involved at Countingdown.com. For an autographed photo like the one above from Ben Chapman, who played the original gill man, visit his site at The Reel Gillman.

Porky dies at 71

The mainstream media is almost a week behind on this news, but check out this article from late Friday here. In an October 2000 entry in the Classmate News of John Jay High School, San Antonio, TX, (scroll down to find the proper entry with photos of Porky then and more recently) a longtime friend Dennis Dupriest mentions that it was Porky not Buckwheat who first uttered the immortal word “otay” despite the Eddie Murphy skit. Check also this German site for a full filmography and here for an extensive gallery of young film stars from the 1930’s including the photo above.

Singin’ Mitchum

Mitchumgirl at the Classic Actors Yahoo Movie Group has created a page of audio files from the handful of his movies in which Mitchum sings including One Minute to Zero; Rachel and the Stranger; Pursued; Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison; Young Billy Young; The Sundowners; The Night of the Hunter; and The Night Fighters. If you can think of any she’s missed contact her through the Classic Actors group, and for more on the record demonstrating Mitchum’s lesser known calypso talents shown above visit this Washington, DC, record collector’s website.

Widmark to be honored

After 44 years in motion pictures, film noir icon Richard Widmark, who burst onto the screen as psychotic killer Tommy Udo in the 1947 “Kiss of Death” and presaged the rogue cop of the Dirty Harry era in the 1968 police drama “Madigan” with Henry Fonda, is finally getting his due. Read about the Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s plans to honor the 90 year old actor this January with their annual Career Achievement Award in this Reuters report and at Cinematical. Read Richard’s bio and an extensive filmography here and here. And for an overview of the actor’s career and more photos like the one above and posters from his films check out Brian W. Fairbanks’ “Richard Widmark: The Face of Film Noir".

Eastwood revisits Iwo Jima--Twice

Remember the scene near the end of the original World War II classic where Wayne’s Sgt. Stryker is taken out by a sniper’s bullet? Contemporary tough guy Clint Eastwood plans to revisit the famous battle not only from the standpoint of the U.S. Marines but from the other end of the sniper’s scope as well. Read the full story on Time Online Edition of the two Iwo Jima’s scheduled for release next fall. And check out more photos like the ones above at this John Wayne photo gallery and at Eastwood: The Worldwide Webpage.

It’s alive!

The new archives blog for “The Rosebud Chronicles” entitled “The Final Reel” is up and running. Access the site here or through our links section below. And check out more great stills from the 1931 James Wales classic as well as the 1939 Son of Frankenstein and Mel Brooks’ hilarious spoof here. The page is part of an online course on major authors of British Literature at Ole’ Miss. Check out the course introduction here.

Bogie.com

Growing up watching classic cinema on television and later on video, I inevitably seemed to gravitate towards movies like The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The African Queen and the war film Sahara from 1943. The common denominator, of course, was Bogie. Here’s a great guide to the actor at All Things Bogart. Included are links to other great sites like Mike Rosenberg’s massive Tribute to Humphrey Bogart with photos like the one above, Elizabeth’s Bogart Page at Reel Classics: The Classic Movie Site, The Official Bogart Site, and Norbert Wohnl’s fan site for the Bogie and Hepburn picture The African Queen. Share any Bogie sites you’ve found below.

Happy birthday Buster

I know I’m a couple of days late on this, but according to Lady Neferankh at The-Movies-Of-The-Golden Age, Buster Keaton would have been 110 earlier this week. Check out Neferankh’s Keaton poster tribute above and here. And for more stuff on the silent movie master look here and here.

Sci-Fi cinema class?

High school was never like this. Check out this lesson plan for students and teachers using classic and modern science fiction cinema as the text. Here’s the section covering the earliest science fiction films and another from the Golden Age of the 50’s. There’s even a printable worksheet here. Try to overlook the typos and grammar. The idea is an interesting one. For some toys inspired by classic science fiction films like the “Blue Robby” based on the character from “Forbidden Planet” check here. Or to hear samples from the film's soundtrack by electronic music pioneers Louis and Bebe Barron use this link.