15 Abandoned Theaters

Oobject captures the majesty and opulence that once defined theater archiecture, and the sadness of their current emptiness in this gallery of urban decay photography. The theater pictured here is in Hellingly Asylum, Sussex.

Theaters are a relic of the past. Don’t believe me? Look at drive-in movie theaters and the shakespearean stage. They simply don’t exist in modern America anymore, save for a relic or three buried in a small town somewhere. This list pays tribute to the thespians and films of the past century, to their writers and directors and to the actors who made them happen.

Link

(image credit: Flickr user Howzey)

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by vveneziani.

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Bizarre Spike Jonze Short

Last February, director Spike Jonez (Where the Wild Things Are) agreed to shoot a video for Kanye West’s song, “See You in My Nightmares,” which was then expanded into a creative, short film – shot at a nightclub over two days.

The end result is an uneasy glimpse of Mr. West at his worst, premonitions of his MTV Video Awards appearance abound, and the ending says a lot about the musician’s own battered image of himself.  It’s a fine piece, and will soon be available on iTunes.

Unfortunately for Spike Jonez, it was leaked last week with the help of…Kanye West.

“We Were Once a Fairytale” was leaked to the Internet and posted on Mr. West’s official Web site, kanyeuniversecity.com. Within a couple of days it was taken down without explanation.  Mr. Jonze said the film was accidentally leaked from the postproduction studio of a friend, and that Mr. West did not realize that it was not meant to be circulated yet. “I think he was like: ‘Oh, it’s out. I’ll link to it,’ ” Mr. Jonze said. (A representative for Mr. West declined to elaborate.)

NYT has the whole story here and here.

“We Were Once a Fairytale” (embedded video)

(Photo: Spike Jonez, Inc. & Getting Out Our Dreams Pictures)

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Photographing Light

Photo by Alan Jaras

Alan Jaras has a creative way of composing his photographs.  By focusing a beam of light through transparent, textured materials, and recording that light directly onto 35mm film without the use of a lens, he produces dazzling works of color and light.  The images are scanned to a computer, but no CG was used at all.  Check out his featured work at two different host sites, or his Flickr.

My Modern Met Link and Neu Black Link

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Guess The Nerd Movie

UGO’s Guess the Movie quizzes are challenging.   This one I thought I’d ace, but had to settle for 6/10.  All of their quizzes are hard, and categories vary from Coen Brothers Movies to the Halloween movies, and more.

Link

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10 Reasons Not to Bring Someone Back from the Dead

You can learn a lot from science fiction. For example, you should not try to bring someone back from the dead because they will try to kill you. Proof comes from seven different stories that send chills down our spines.

Pet Sematary: Any dead creature buried in the ancient Micmac burial ground comes back to life, just not quite the way you put it in. After losing his young son Gage, Louis buries his son in the graveyard. Sure enough, Gage comes back — and promptly murders his mother.

That’s only one of ten reasons not to resurrect dead bodies. Link -via Gorilla Mask

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Happy Birthday, Wizard!

The 1939 film The Wizard of Oz premiered 70 years ago today at The Strand Theatre in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. It didn’t premiere in Hollywood until three days later. In honor of the occasion, mental_floss brings you some Oz facts, such as how the color musical version came to be made after several movies had already used the story. Link

Previously at Neatorama: Movie Trivia: The Wizard of Oz, and The Wizard of Oz: The Short Version.

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The 15 Worst Movie Titles

Who could ever forget such memorable films as Eegah, Sssssss, Phffft, and Ghost in the Invisible Bikini? The great majority of the movie-going audience, it seems. Bad movie titles go with bad movies most of the time, but every once in a while there’s a gem with a real stinker for a title. Good luck finding one! Link -via Unique Daily

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The Highest-grossing Movies of All Time

You might read about how much money a certain movie makes and gasp at the numbers. But can you name the highest-grossing movies of all time if the ticket prices are adjusted for inflation? In this mental_floss quiz, you have five minutes to name the top 15 -if you can! I only guessed ten of them. Link

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Static : Pulse

static : pulse from Samuel Cockedey on Vimeo.

Back in April we had put up a time lapse video clip by Samuel Cockedey called Remanence : Variance and folks seemed to have enjoyed watching it. Samuel, was kind enough to have contacted Neatorama recently with the news that he had just created a new video for us to watch hot off the proverbial presses.

The video shot in gorgeous HD is a lot more cinematic with grand vistas of Tokyo, various shots of the city coming alive with the buzzing traffic and buildings lighting up. My favourite part of the video has got to be the shot he has at the 1:00 mark with the clouds storming in over the city

* It goes without saying you gotta watch this in HD. You can either hit the expand button on the video as it plays (for full screen viewing) or head to the Vimeo link below the clip to watch it in a larger size.

Check out his site here – Link

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Man vs Cat in The Great Race

Martin Humphreys of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England has a one-eyed cat named Midge he adopted from a rescue center 12 years ago. For five years now, Midge has accompanied Humphreys on his daily run and hates to finish behind him.

When his workplace offered a £1,000 competition for employees to fulfil a dream, he won after proposing a children’s film about Midge’s peculiar talent.

The result, The Great Race, has been selected for the Short Film Corner at Cannes and Mr Humphreys, who wrote, directed and penned the theme song for the eight-minute production, is flying out to the French Riviera to show it to Hollywood executives. It is believed to be the lowest budget offering at the festival – the opening night film, Pixar animation Up, cost $150 million to make.

Midge is not attending the film festival. Link to story with film trailer. Link to video report. -via Arbroath

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Bathtub IV

Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Keith Loutit’s work has been presented on Neatorama in the past in “A Lilliputian World” and in “A Little Mardi-Gras” and each time it blew people away. Using his impressive skill with tilt-shift photography and filming he pumps out videos and pictures that present the illusion of miniatures brought to life. In this video Keith got to film a rescue training session with the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service.

More of Keith’s stuff here – Link

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Movie Trivia: The Wizard of Oz

There’s so much behind-the-scenes info on The Wizard of Oz, I couldn’t possibly touch on all of it in one Neatorama post. I just picked some of my favorites, but if I missed your favorite bit of Oz-related trivia, definitely leave a comment and let all of us know.

Poor Margaret Hamilton (the witch) was really injured in the scene where the Wicked Witch of the West departs Munchkinland in a huff after Dorothy arrives. She was standing on a trap door and was supposed to disappear down into it quickly when the smoke (followed by fire) puffed up, but during the second take of that scene, the fire came too early and her costume started burning. She suffered second and third degree burns and was unable to work for a month. When she came back, she refused to do any more work with fire.

Toto was played by a Cairn Terrier creatively named Terry. Because of her previous experience (she was “Rags” in Shirley Temple’s Bright Eyes) Terry got $125 a week for her efforts, which was more than twice what the actors playing the Munchkins got ($50/week). She got her foot broken during filming when an actor playing one of the guards stepped on her.

Margaret Hamilton wasn’t the first choice for the Wicked Witch. The iconic role almost went to Gale Sondergaard, who was very pretty and balked at the makeup job that would make her the ugly witch. Maggie Hamilton, however, was used to playing plain-Jane roles and had in fact based her career around it. You’re probably so used to the green makeup job that some of her other roles may be totally unfamiliar to you, even if you’ve seen her in them – she was Morticia’s mom in The Addams Family TV show, she portrayed a maid on As the World Turns in the early ‘70s, and played Cora the Maxwell House coffee lady in commercials in the ‘70s as well.

Margaret Hamilton’s son has said that she loved her “I’ll get you my pretty…” line so much, she used it in her personal life on a somewhat frequent basis, just for fun.

The date on the Wicked Witch of the East’s death certificate is actually the date of L. Frank Baum’s death. The 19th anniversary of his death, to be exact. We can’t read it, but this is what the Death Certificate says:

Certificate of Death

Name: The Wicked Witch of the East
Residence: The Land of Oz

I HEREBY CERTIFY that I attended deceased from May 6th to May 6th, 1938

I last saw her alive on May 6th 1938:

Death is said to have occurred on the date stated below at 12:30 p.m.

Date of Death: May 6th 1938

Month Day Year

Signature: W.W. Barister, M.D.

Address: Munchkin City

Can you imagine anyone but Judy Garland as Dorothy? How about Shirley Temple? Although producer Mervyn LeRoy had always had Judy in mind for the role, he was being pressured to “borrow” Shirley Temple from Fox. She was only 10 and Judy was 16 at the time; studio executives thought 10 was a much more appropriate age for this particular role. They ended up auditioning Shirley just to say they had, but in the end it didn’t matter anyway: Fox refused to loan her out.

The first film version of Dorothy depicted her as a blonde with baby doll-esque makeup because that’s the way Oz illustrator John R. Neill drew her in the books. Well, he was actually the second person to illustrate Dorothy for L. Frank Baum – the first was W.W. Denslow, who drew her the way we know her today: brunette pigtails and the blue-and-white Gingham dress. But Baum had a falling-out with Denslow and John R. Neill took over for the design from then on out, which amounted to more than 40 stories. People who are fans of the book series over the movie say that they usually picture a blonde Dorothy as opposed to the Judy Garland Dorothy.

When the song “If I Had a Heart” is playing and a girl speaks the words “Wherefore art thou, Romeo?” the voice you’re hearing is Adriana Caselotti – Snow White.

The Horse of a Different Color was created by putting Jell-O paste onto a white horse. It was difficult to keep the horse from licking the paste, so the scene had to be shot quickly. If you look closely, you can see the driver of the buggy subtly restraining the horse from licking himself.

Originally, a scene with an insect called the Jitterbug was shot. It involved a dance sequence with our heroes but was ultimately cut due to time constraints. But you can still hear a reference to the scene in the movie when the Wicked Witch of the West sends the flying monkeys after the gang. She says,

“Take your army to the Haunted Forest, and bring me that girl and her dog. Do as you like with the others, but I want her alive and unharmed! They’ll give you no trouble. I promise you that. I’ve sent a little insect on ahead to take the fight out of them. Take special care of those ruby slippers. I want those most of all. Now fly!”

In the book, Glinda is the Good Witch of the South, not the North. The two Good Witches were combined into one character for time’s sake in the film. She is, however, restored to her proper direction in The Wiz.

Likewise, Dorothy’s slippers were silver in the book. They were changed to the famous ruby red version for film to take full advantage of the new Technicolor technology. There are many authentic versions of the ruby slippers – some counts say at least seven. Among those, one pair is housed at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian, Debbie Reynolds owns a never-used pair with curled toes, and one pair was stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

Bert Lahr, AKA the Cowardly Lion, was the first to use the phrase “Heavens to Murgatroyd!” that Snagglepuss later became famous for. Snagglepuss’ voice was based on Lahr’s. His son, John Lahr, is the senior drama critic at The New Yorker.

As most people know, the Tin Man was originally supposed to be played by Buddy Ebsen, but when Ebsen discovered he was severely allergic to the Tin Man’s makeup job, he was forced to drop the role. Jack Haley replaced him, using a voice that he used to tell his son bedtime stories. Somewhat strangely, Jack Haley, Jr., was married to Liza Minelli for about five years in the ‘70s.

The classic “Over the Rainbow” almost didn’t make it into the film. Studio heads thought the black-and-white beginning was too long and wouldn’t entertain kids like the Technicolor part would, and they also thought it wasn’t appropriate to make Judy Garland sing in a barnyard.

When the witch first tries to take the ruby slippers from Dorothy at the beginning and her hands are zapped with fire, you’re actually seeing dark apple juice squirting out of the shoes. The footage was later sped up so the streams of apple juice resembled fire more closely. So says IMDB, anyway – I couldn’t verify that through any other source.

This one sounds like a total urban legend, but Snopes says it’s true. The costume designers were looking for a very fancy coat for Professor Marvel – the Wizard’s Kansas counterpart – but one that had gotten quite shabby. Some of the crew went to a secondhand shop and bought a bunch of coats to go through; Frank Morgan (the actor who played the Wizard), the director and the wardrobe people selected one out of the bunch that seemed perfect. It had a velvet collar but the nap was worn off of the velvet and it was looking a little worse for the wear. It even fit Morgan just right. Morgan was wearing the coat one afternoon and discovered a label that said “L. Frank Baum.” The coat had originally been made for Baum in Chicago – the tailor verified it, and Baum’s widow did as well. She was given the coat after the movie wrapped.

I loved looking for creepy things in movies when I was in high school, and I totally bought all of them – the “ghost” in Three Men and a Little Baby and the “munchkin suicide” in The Wizard of Oz among them. In case you haven’t seen it, it’s allegedly at the end of the Tin Man sequence, right before Dorothy and Co. head back down the Yellow Brick Road. I remember very clearly seeing this image back then (the clip below will show you exactly where) and having no doubt that it was clearly a suicide, and how creepy it was. Ever since I’ve discovered that it was just the wing of an exotic bird, that’s all I can see. I can’t even fathom how I used to buy that it was a munchkin suicide. Check out the clip below of TV Land’s “Myths and Legends” to get the whole scoop.

Here’s another myth, sort of. I tried this one in high school too – matching up Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon with the movie. And it works! It really does. But various members of Pink Floyd have denied that they wrote the album while watching The Wizard of Oz or that they were inspired by the movie or anything of that sort at all. But it does eerily match up. It gives the whole thing a very spooky vibe. If you don’t want to rely on YouTube and have both the album and the movie, here’s how to do it: start the album at the third lion’s roar in the MGM movie title right before the film starts. Otherwise, here’s the YouTube version. I suggest also checking out “The Great Gig in the Sky” which coincides with the tornado scene – it’s kind of amazing.

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Movie Trivia: Wayne's World. Zang!

Is there anyone who doesn’t know at least 75 percent of the lines in Wayne’s World? It gets busted out in our house quite a bit. As much as we quote it, though, I certainly didn’t know most of the stuff below before I started researching, and hopefully you didn’t either. Party on.

Mike Myers came up with Wayne back in Canada, when he would bust the cable access host out as a party trick.

Garth was based in part on Dana Carvey’s brother, Brad, who invented the Video Toaster (it’s not actually a toaster).

Penelope Spheeris was chosen to direct largely because she had just done The Decline of Western Civilization Part II, The Metal Years. When she was asked to direct, she had to make her choice between doing Wayne’s World and filming a documentary on the criminally insane at Patton State Hospital. Obviously, she went with WW.

The movie had to be made quickly in July and August because all of the SNL cast members had to be back to New York to shoot by Labor Day. The schedule was so tight that Dana shot his last scene, then jumped in the limo waiting outside of the soundstage door and rushed off to the airport in full makeup to catch a flight home to NYC because he was due on the set of Saturday Night Live.

Dana Carvey really does drum in the movie – if you’re a Dana Carvey fan, you probably already know that. He’s an amateur drummer. Likewise, Tia Carrere also did all of her own singing and bass playing.

Dana Carvey and Mike Myers both said that they got really sore necks from headbanging in the Bohemian Rhapsody scene.

Donna Dixon, the actress/model who plays the babe Garth is in love with, is actually the wife of another SNL alum – Dan Aykroyd. Completely unrelated to the movie, Donna Dixon used to date Paul Stanley from KISS around 1981.

In the scene at Stan Mikita’s near the beginning, the girl serving the coffee and wearing the Blackhawks jersey was Mike Myers’ girlfriend at the time. They later got married (and divorced).

Penelope Spheeris actually directed the video for Dream Weaver, which Wayne hears in his head when he spots Cassandra for the first time. It was being used as Wayne’s “dream woman” music even back in the SNL skit days, before Penelope Spheeris was ever attached to it, but it’s still an interesting bit of coincidence.

If you watch the French version of the movie, you’ll hear “Chooing!” instead of the trademark “Schwing!”

Alan, one of Wayne and Garth’s headbanger friends, is played by Michael DeLuise, Dom DeLuise’s son. He’s the one who says, “Do I frighten you? …Do you want me to?” to Noah Vanderhoff’s wife. He’s also the jerk boyfriend in Encino Man.

If you’ve ever watched the scene where Garth is working on the mechanical hand in the studio and wondered what in the heck that was all about, it’s because it’s part of a backstory we weren’t privy to. According to Dana Carvey, Garth had kind of caught on to what Rob Lowe’s character was up to – exploiting the guys and going after Wayne’s girl. So he devised this mechanical hand to kill Benjamin and was working on it when Benjamin himself walked over, sending the hand into a frenzy. Garth was worried that the hand was going to kill him right then and there in front of everyone, so he had to bash it to death with a hammer before it strangled Benjamin. So now you know.

With the popularity of “That’s what she said” on The Office, I think we tend to forget that the phrase was really popularized with Wayne’s World. At least I forgot.

Have a favorite Wayne’s World line or moment? Share it in the comments. Rumor has it that Mike Myers has been working on the script for WW 3 – what do you think about that? Could it be done so many years later, and would it be a flop like WW 2 was?

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Konflict (Conflict) - A Short Film

[YouTube - Link]

Remember when you were little and playing outside with your friends and someone said lets play ‘War’, ‘Cowboys and Indians’ or ‘Cops and Robbers’? And using your imagination that stick you found turned into a weapon complete with sounds and recoil and the times when you’d argue with friends on whether or not they got hit by your weapon? Well, these kids are doing the same thing but are using their imagination at a much more prodigious level.

**Note: This movie has subtitles so please turn them on by following the instructions that pop up when you press play!

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The Open Doors

[YouTube - Link]

Based on the short story The Open Window by Saki (H. H. Munro). A twelve minute film that I think some of you will enjoy. A young nervous man from the city goes to the country to rest but finds things aren’t what they appear to be…

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Lost In A Sushi Moment

The effect of sending the camera around a Tokyo sushi restaurant via the conveyor, coupled with the music on this video, is quite a beautiful thing.

Dennis Wheatley and Stefan McClean were sitting in a Tokyo sushi bar when they had an idea to make this impromptu film:

"We were sitting in this sushi bar pondering how best to set up a camera to film things all by itself whilst we were in Tokyo.
Take our hands out of the equation… let the camera have its own journey.

What we loved about watching this film back was the space that the
camera was able to enter.. extremely personal and scrutinising but not
too lingering."

The music is titled "Lost in a Moment" by Shrift.

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Jake.

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Award Winning Short Film "Shadows"

Check out this award winning short film (it’s only 3 minutes long). It’s a nice shoutout to the gothic horror films of the 20s and 30s. Simple but effective.

Plot Synopsis:

A leasing agent prepares an apartment with a mysterious past for an
afternoon viewing. While awaiting the arrival of the prospective client
the leasing agent learns that she’s not alone in the apartment.

– via fightingowlfilms

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Gukbe2000.

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Plastic Could Make House Lights Obsolete

Could flexible organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs, be the future of lighting? Don’t worry; I don’t understand that sentence either. Keep reading for a jargon-free explanation.

On General Electric’s research campus in Niskayuna, NY, there is a machine that prints lights. This machine is so good at its job the lights it creates could make traditional lamps and lighting fixtures obsolete. In what sounds to be a relatively simple process, the semitrailer-size machine coats an 8” wide plastic film with chemicals and seals it with a layer of metal foil. When an electric current is applied to the plastic sheet, be prepared to throw on a pair of shades as it emits an ethereal blue glow.

Light from the sheet is produced using compounds known as organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). OLEDs are currently used in television and cell-phone displays and have been embraced by large
manufacturers such as Siemens and Philips.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by whitespace.

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1:42:08, a Student Film by George Lucas

Ever wonder what some of the big-name Hollywood directors’ pre-fame student and short films were like?

Long before Star Wars or even THX-1138 George Lucas was an ordinary USC film student. For his Senior thesis film he, along with 13 other film students, produced an 8-minute short film known as 1:42:08. The dialoge-free film follows racing driver Peter Brock as he takes a Lotus 23 through Willow Springs Raceway at full-throttle.

– via autoblog

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by whitespace.

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Movie Trivia - Ghostbusters

How much do you know about Ghostbusters? Eli of Penguins with Top Hats blog has a neat list of trivia about the movie:

The Stay Puft Marshmallow man doesnt only make an appearance at the end of the movie, he is also seen twice before. In Dana Barrett's apartment, next to the eggs on the counter there is a bag of Stay Puft, and in one of the outdoor scenes an ad for Stay Puft can be seen on one of the buildings.

The Ghostbusters Fire House is located at North Moore, & Varick St. in New York, NY. They have the large white Ghosbuster II sign hanging in their bay.

To promote the film, the Ectomobile was driven around Manhattan prior to the release. In the middle of the film's initial release, to keep interest going, Ivan Reitman had a trailer run, which was basically the commercial the Ghostbusters' use in the movie, but with the 555 number replaced with a 1-800 number, allowing people to call. They got a recorded message of Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd saying something to the effect of "Hi. We're out catching ghosts right now." They got 1,000 calls per hour, 24 hours a day, for six weeks.

Link

From the Upcoming Queue, submitted by Muppetmaker.

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Up & Coming Indie Filmmakers

Poking around Fangoria’s site I stumbled upon something seemingly out of the ordinary – a short film review of an unknown film by an unknown filmmaker.

The short called "The Night Shift" is an adventure/comedy/horror/sci-fi film about a cemetery night watchman whose nightly job is to keep the cemetery’s residents from escaping. Citing Fangoria’s positive review I gave the 23 minute film a view and thought it was fantastic. It’s truly a unique and out of the ordinary concept that makes for a very entertaining film. I hope everyone can set aside 23 minutes and give this wonderful film a chance. You won’t regret it.

Meanwhile, I checked out the filmmaker’s website (www.fightingowlfilms.com) and learned they’re a Mobile, Alabama (where?) based low-budget filmmaking group aspiring to make a feature film. I wish them the best of luck and with a film like "The Night Shift" on their resume I look forward to their future endeavors.

I’ve posted Part 1 of the film as found on YouTube. Part 2 and 3 are also available as well.

– via fangoriaonline

From the Upcoming Queue, submitted by Gukbe2000.

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The Oft Overlooked Art of Sound Design

The crack of Indy’s whip, the bleep-blips of R2-D2, and the asthmatic breathing of Darth Vader. These unique and memorable sound effects are all products of an often overlooked art form – the art of sound design. A Sound Designer’s duties include creating, editing and applying sound effects and all non-compositional elements of a film, video game, theater performance, recording or television program in what amounts to a very daunting job.

Link

From the Upcoming Queue, submitted by whitespace.

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100 Films in Under 2 Minutes

Montage-maker Paul Proulx’s work has been featured on Neatorama before, but I just couldn’t resist myself again: Proulx has recently put together a 2-minute clip that features moments from his 100 favorite films. At first I didn’t feel like this clip was particularly creative but as I watched it more, I realized that aside from the juxtaposition of similar beats/events/lines here, there’s a rhythm to the way these moments are edited together…and I like it. What do you think?

Also, can you name all the films?

Link

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Suffrage Slapstick

(YouTube link)
In this silent film from 1899, two ladies (male actors play the parts) are engaged in some sort of excited exchange when two men play a trick on them. From the YouTube page:

The film doesn’t make clear why they deserve this attack, but an accompanying set of cards produced by the production company indicates that the ladies were engaged in a discussion about the then pressing political issue of women’s suffrage.

From the British Film Institute National Archive. Link

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The Outrageous (Mis)Fortune of Terry Gilliam

Anyone who’s ever seen the heartbreaking documentary Lost in La Mancha knows that esteeemed filmmaker Terry Gilliam does not have fortune on his side when he’s making films. But what might be less familiar to people is that his bad luck has followed him almost since the beginning of his career. According to film blog Cineleet:

No director in history knows more about compromise than Terry Gilliam. Part and parcel of being a visionary is being constantly told you can’t get the shot. Forces of Darkness conspire to defeat you, often in the form of studio executives, sometimes in the form of Nature herself.

Right now, they have a great post documenting many of the challenges Gilliam has faced, from 1977’s Jabberwocky all the way through next year’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which was dramatically affected by the tragic death of Heath Ledger (Ledger was slated to portrayed one of the film’s main characters). I can’t imagine the fortitude it takes for a man like Gilliam, who’s suffered countless setbacks, to keep pressing forward. I’d like to think that the visions he has for his movies prevent him from stopping.

Link

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