BearManor Media News — q&a

  What was your first experience with the films of director Tobe Hooper?   I first encountered Hooper’s work when I saw The Texas Chain Saw Massacre at the tender age of 15. It was on an unlikely triple-bill with Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon and Michael Findlay’s absurdly violent Shriek of the Mutilated. Hooper’s film made sleep difficult for the next three weeks. Few films before or since have affected me so deeply.   From that point on, I obsessively followed his career, from 1976’s Eaten Alive, his scrappy follow-up to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, to his justly...

John Mansell, the author of Italian Western. Violent Image, Savage Soundtrack talks to James Anthony Phillips about writing the book and his love of the genre and its music. James Anthony Phillips is an adjunct lecturer at several New York City universities and is a freelance journalist specializing in film and music.   James Anthony Phillips. Why were you interested in Italian Westerns and not American? What are the differences in cinematic approach?   John Mansell. Like so many people, I too was interested in American westerns. I enjoyed films such as The Big Country, Shane, The Magnificent Seven, and...

10 Questions for Trav S.D. Regarding the Marx Brothers Miscellany Who were the Marx Brothers? – The Marx Brothers were the most critically acclaimed and successful stage and screen comedy team in history. Their period of activity lasted from roughly 1905, when two of the five brothers started out in vaudeville, through 1977, when the most famous of the brothers (Groucho) passed away. The members were Chico, Harpo, Groucho, Gummo (who quit in 1918), and Zeppo (who replaced Gummo and performed with the team through 1933). The brothers starred in movies, radio, television, and on Broadway. Two of them also...

W. Paul Apel on The Valley Obscured by Smog 1.) Where did your obsession with Ed Wood begin? Even though I'd heard of Ed Wood in passing before, my obsession really began with the Tim Burton film. Roger Ebert said that if you go to the movies enough, eventually you'll see yourself on screen. That's how I felt watching it. I'm not a cross-dressing B-movie filmmaker, but I identified with someone who had the drive to make movies with his gang of misfits while also having the weakness of saying "good enough" and moving on. I'd never seen that combination portrayed...

Q&A on the Movie Girls book Bear Manor Media: What exactly is Movie Girls: Lillian and Dorothy? Ben Urish: Well, it’s a picture book about The Gish Sisters, and how they met future star Mary Pickford, the great director D.W. Griffith, and got involved in the early days of movies.   Bear Manor Media: So, it’s a children’s book, then? Ben Urish: Partly, I suppose. It is geared for young readers, but anyone interested in films would enjoy it. It is great story of family bonding, discovering your talents, and the development of technology, an artform, and a business.  ...