It is the dream of millions to become a major player in Hollywood, but only a relatively few lucky souls are able to secure power positions in the film capital. On today’s show, Phil Hall gets a unique perspective on how to succeed in Hollywood from Summer Helene, executive vice president of California Pictures at Paramount and an award-winning film and television producer. This is a brutally honest and deeply funny program – take time to listen to this!
100 years ago, Francis X. Bushman was one of the top stars of the movie industry. Today, he is either mostly forgotten or only remembered for his least characteristic role as the villainous Messala in the 1925 version of “Ben-Hur.” On this episode, film historian Lon Davis recalls Bushman’s turbulent film career – which was full of amazing scandals – and his late-life comeback on TV, including appearances on “You Bet Your Life” and “Batman.”
“The Online Movie Show” is produced at the Platinum Wolfe Studios.
By the time he reached 22, Bronx-born Sal Mineo received Academy Award nominations for his extraordinary performances in “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Exodus.” By the time he reached 25, he was virtually unemployable in the film world. Today’s episode traces the rise and fall of this complex actor with Michael Michaud, author of the wonderful book “Sal Mineo: A Biography.”
Has there ever been a more bizarre creature than Ro-Man, the extraterrestrial robot that looks like a gorilla wearing a diving helmet? On this episode, we learn the story behind the making of “Robot Monster” and the life of its mysterious creator, Phil Tucker, with our guest Anders Runestad, author of the book “I Cannot, Yet I Must.” We also get to discuss Tucker’s work with Lenny Bruce on the equally bizarre “Dance Hall Racket” and the stories behind his lost films “Space Jockey” and “Pachuco.”
This episode celebrates the birth and development of the horror film genre, from the 1890s through the 1920s. Our guest is Troy Howarth, co-author of “Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era (Volume 1),” and we celebrate the horrific output of the Edison studios, German icon F.W. Murnau, the Lon Chaney-Tod Browning canon, and other masters of silent horror flicks.
“The Online Movie Show” is produced at the Platinum Wolfe Studios.
Daniel Blake Smith is an award-winning filmmaker at home in nonfiction and narrative genres. He wrote and co-produced the PBS-aired ”February One,” a documentary about the 1960 Greensboro, N.C., lunch counter sit-in that helped launch the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and two prize-winning documentaries (both narrated by film star James Earl Jones) about Native American life: “Cherokee Legacy: The Trail of Tears,” and “Black Indians: An American Story.” Smith’s documentary biopic about Edgar Allan Poe (“Terror of the Soul”), starring John Heard and Treat Williams with music by Philip Glass, aired on PBS’ “American Masters” series, and his documentary “Kentucky—An American Story” (narrated by Ashley Judd) aired on Kentucky Educational Television. He wrote and produced the 2016 drama “Texas Heart” starring John Savage. In this episode, Dr. Smith (he also has a Ph.D from of Virginia) talks about his distinguished cinema career.
This episode of “The Online Movie Show with Phil Hall” celebrates the Oscar-winning DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, the animation studio responsible for such beloved characters as The Pink Panther, The Ant and the Aardvark, Tijuana Toads and The Dogfather. Mark Arnold, author of “Think Pink: The DePatie-Freleng Story,” discusses the little-known history of the innovative artists behind these beloved animated shorts.
This program is produced at Platinum Wolfe Studios.