“I’ve seen Billy Wilder take suggestions from a prop man, and I don’t know a stronger director than Billy as far as being definite about what he wants, especially since he’s also the author. But he’ll listen and let you try. That’s the important thing, to at least let others try their ideas, and then say no or yes.”
— Jack Lemmon interviewed for Film Comment (May-June 1973)
“By the time we were ready to start a picture, everyone on the lot knew what we’d been talking about, so we never had anything on paper. Neither Chaplin, Lloyd, nor myself, even when we got into feature-length pictures, ever had a script. . . .
“Somebody would come up with an idea. ‘Here’s a good start,’ we’d say. We skip the middle. We never paid any attention to the middle. We immediately went to the finish. We worked on the finish and if we get a finish that we’re all satisfied with, then we’ll go back and work on the middle. For some reason, the middle always took care of itself.”
— Buster Keaton interviewed for The Parade’s Gone By (1968)
Film composer Max Steiner died on December 28, 1971, but he continued to rack up film credits.
Zorro, the Gay Blade (1981) included some of his music from The Adventures of Don Juan (1948). Creepshow (1982) included music from A Star is Born (1937). Great Balls of Fire! (1989) and UHF (1989) included music from Gone with the Wind (1939). Lost in Yonkers (1993) included music from Now, Voyager (1942). And King Kong (2005) included the fanfare from King Kong (1933).
“The way I approached writing music for films was to fit the music to what I thought the dramatic story should be and score according to the way a character impressed me, whoever he might be. He may be a bastard, she may be a wonderful woman, he may be a child. I write what I see. This is very difficult for anybody to understand. Especially for anybody with such eyesight as I have. But I see a character on the screen and that is what makes me write the way I do. That is also the reason that people enjoy what they hear because it happens to fit.”
— Max Steiner interviewed for The Real Tinsel (1970)
Production photo from Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Stanley Kubrick had originally planned to end Dr. Strangelove with a pie fight in the War Room. Kubrick even went so far as to film the sequence, but changed his mind after viewing the footage. Presumably, he thought the result was too satirical. Only photos remain of that sequence.
“Another reason for cutting the custard pie fight at the end of the film was that at one point, President Muffley took a pie in the face and fell down, prompting Gen. Turgidson to cry, ‘Gentlemen! Our gallant young president has just been struck down in his prime!’ Stanley Kubrick had already decided to cut the pie fight by the time of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, but this line (or possibly even the whole sequence) would certainly have been cut anyway due to its eerie similarity to real events.”
— Source: Internet Movie Database
Major T. J. “King” Kong: Survival kit contents check. In them you’ll find: one forty-five caliber automatic; two boxes of ammunition; four days’ concentrated emergency rations; one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills; one miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible; one hundred dollars in rubles; one hundred dollars in gold; nine packs of chewing gum; one issue of prophylactics; three lipsticks; three pair of nylon stockings. Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.
— Dialogue from Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
What was the first science-fiction film? It would have to be Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon), written and directed by Georges Méliès. Released in France in 1902, it even provides a glimpse of the moon’s inhabitants, the insect-like Selenites.
According to Wikipedia, “Méliès had intended on releasing the film into the United States to profit from it; however, Thomas A. Edison’s film technicians had secretly made copies of it and distributed it throughout the country, thus putting money into Edison’s pocket. Méliès never profited from it and eventually went broke.”
Ever see the name Mahatma Kane Jeeves in the credits of a W.C. Fields movie? Fields adopted this strange sounding name, as well as the names of Otis Criblecoblis and Charles Bogle, when he didn’t want to receive credit for writing his own material. “Mahatma Kane Jeeves” is meant to suggest an aristocrat who says to his butler when walking out, “My hat, my cane, Jeeves.”
Insurance Salesman: Do you know a man by the name of LaFong? Carl LaFong? Capital L, small a, Capital F, small o, small n, small g. LaFong. Carl LaFong.
Harold: No, I don’t know Carl LaFong — capital L, small a, capital F, small o, small n, small g. And if I did know Carl LaFong, I wouldn’t admit it!
— Dialogue from It’s a Gift (1934)
What was the last Hollywood silent? It depends on how you define a silent film. Sunrise (1927) is considered to be one of the greatest silent films, even though it was released with a synchronized music track.
Because Modern Times (1936) used title cards for its dialogue, you could make a strong case for it being Hollywood’s last major silent production. Chaplin’s Tramp does sing, though in keeping with the silent tradition of the character, the lyrics are unintelligible. The Tramp’s final words in the film are a fitting tribute to the end of an era: Buck up – never say die! We’ll get along.