Lucille Ball in the 40's Ziegfeld Follies.

This still is Lucille Ball in the sumptuous 40's Ziegfeld Follies.

Ziegfeld Follies (MGM) is a 1945 Hollywood musical comedy film directed by Lemuel Ayers, Roy Del Ruth, Robert Lewis, Vincente Minnelli, Merrill Pye, George Sidney and Charles Waters. It stars many of MGM leading talents, including Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, Lucille Bremer, Fanny Brice (the only member of the ensemble that was a star of the original Follies), Judy Garland, Kathryn Grayson, Lena Horne, Gene Kelly, James Melton, Victor Moore, William Powell, Red Skelton, and Esther Williams.

Producer Arthur Freed wanted to create a film along the lines of the Ziegfeld Follies Broadway shows and so the film is composed of a sequence of unrelated lavish musical numbers and comedy sketches. Although produced in 1944-45, it was released in 1946, to considerable critical and box-office success.

The film was entered into the 1947 Cannes Film Festival.

Nathalie Wood Photo Tribute

My Week with Marilyn

My Week with Marilyn is a British biographical film directed by Simon Curtis and written by Adrian Hodges. It stars Michelle Williams, Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Redmayne, Dougray Scott, Judi Dench and Emma Watson. Based on two books by Colin Clark, it depicts the making of the 1957 film The Prince and the Showgirl, which starred Marilyn Monroe (Williams) and Laurence Olivier (Branagh). The film focuses on the week in which Monroe spent time being escorted around Britain by Clark (Redmayne), after her husband, Arthur Miller (Scott), left the country.
Principal photography began on 4 October 2010 at Pinewood Studios. Filming took place at Saltwood Castle, White Waltham Airfield and on locations in and around London. Curtis also used the same studio in which Monroe shot The Prince and the Showgirl in 1956. My Week with Marilyn had its world premiere at the New York Film Festival on 9 October 2011 and was shown at the Mill Valley Film Festival two days later. The film was released on 23 November 2011 in the United States and 25 November in the United Kingdom.

Plot

In the summer of 1956, Colin Clark works as an assistant on the British set of The Prince and the Showgirl, which stars Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe, who is also on honeymoon with her new husband, playwright Arthur Miller. When Miller leaves the country, Clark introduces Monroe to British life and they spend a week together, during which time she escapes from her Hollywood routine and the pressures of work.

Cast

• Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe
• Kenneth Branagh as Sir Laurence Olivier
• Eddie Redmayne as Colin Clark
• Judi Dench as Dame Sybil Thorndike
• Emma Watson as Lucy
• Zoë Wanamaker as Paula Strasberg
• Dougray Scott as Arthur Miller
• Dominic Cooper as Milton H. Greene
• Julia Ormond as Vivien Leigh
• Derek Jacobi as Sir Owen Morshead
• Richard Clifford as Richard Wattis
• Philip Jackson as Roger Smith
• Simon Russell Beale as Admiral Cotes-Preedy

Full Film,The Story of Esther Costello 1957 Joan Crawford

The Story of Esther Costello is a 1957 British drama film starring Joan Crawford, Rossano Brazzi, and Heather Sears (who won a BAFTA Award as "Best British Actress" for her performance). The film is an exposé of large-scale fundraising. The Story of Esther Costello was produced by David Miller and Jack Clayton with Miller directing. The screenplay by Charles Kaufman was based on a novel by Nicholas Monsarrat. It was distributed by Columbia Pictures.

Plot

With her marriage to womaniser Carlo Landi (Brazzi) in ashes, wealthy and childless Margaret Landi (Crawford) finds an emotional outlet in patronising a 15-year-old deaf, dumb, and blind Irish girl named Esther Costello (Sears). Esther's disabilities are the result of a childhood trauma and are psychosomatic rather than physical. As Costello makes progress with Braille and sign language, she is seen as an example of triumph over adversity. Carlo gets wind of Margaret's new life and re-enters the scene. He views Esther as a source of cheap financial gain and arranges a series of exploitative tours for her under a mercenary manager (Ron Randell). One day when Margaret is absent from the Landi apartment, Carlo seduces and rapes the now 16-year-old Esther. The shock restores the girl's sight and hearing. When Margaret learns of her husband's business duplicities and the rape, she consigns Esther to the care of a priest and a young reporter who loves her (Lee Patterson), then kills Carlo and herself.

Cast

The cast further includes Denis O'Dea as Father Devlin, Fay Compton as Mother Superior, John Loder as Paul Marchant, and Bessie Love as Matron in Art Gallery.

Production notes

The film is based on a book by Nicholas Monsarrat that nearly had Helen Keller's co-workers suing for libel due to perceived parallels between Helen's story and Esther's. In particular, the book seemed to slur the character of Anne Sullivan's husband, writer-publicist John Macy, who was close to Keller's age. A relationship between John and Keller has long been a subject of speculation. Esther's reporter friend was reminiscent of Keller's highly-publicised attempt to elope with reporter-secretary Peter Fagan.

Reception

The New York Times noted, "Miss Crawford, Mr. Brazzi, and Mr. Patterson and all the minor players are professional throughout." William K. Zinsser in the New York Herald Tribune wrote, "It wouldn't be a Joan Crawford picture without plenty of anguish...And her fans will have their usual good time...this plot enables Miss Crawford to run a full-course dinner of dramatic moods, from loneliness to mother love, from pride in the girl to passion with her husband, and finally to smouldering rage...Somehow she pulls it off. This may not be your kind of movie but it is many women's kind of movie and our Joan is queen of the art form."

Watch the Movie on You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQvaJCkUZwo