If any film deserves a remake, it is “Boom!” Not a scene-for-scene remake of the infamously ghastly 1968 Joseph Losey film, but in a production that is aligned with the source material, Tennessee Williams’ short story “Man Bring This Up Road” that was later adapted as the Broadway drama “The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore.”
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When Brigitte Berman’s “Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got” won the Academy Award as Best Documentary Feature Film for 1986, the Canadian production had yet to secure a theatrical release. Unfortunately for Berman, the film’s subject – clarinetist and band leader Artie Shaw – sued her to secure a greater share of potential box office profits. Due to the litigation, the film never played theatrically after its Oscar win – Shaw died in December 2024 and Berman’s production didn’t have its theatrical premiere until January 2024.
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In the realm of concert films, “Rockshow” never seemed to get much love. The 1980 theatrical release – the first for the start-up Miramax – was relatively brief and not celebrated by either film or music critics. The initial home entertainment releases cut out several numbers, and then the film was out of circulation until a full restored re-release in 2013 that electrified Paul McCartney’s most die-hard fans but left everyone else mostly unmoved.
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For many years, the 1910 version of “Frankenstein” was the subject of endless speculation when the film was believed to be irretrievably lost. The agitation over its absence was understandable, since it represented an early foray into the horror genre and it was the first film adaptation of the Mary Shelley novel.
Strangely, much less interest has been generated by the second film version of the Mary Shelley novel. This 1915 production, titled “Life Without Soul,” was somewhat closer to its source material than the 1910 film, and it was later at the center of one of the most unusual intellectual property legal cases to emerge in the 1930s.
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Initially planned as a TV special to air when “Saturday Night Live” was on hiatus but rejected by NBC for being too risque and vulgar, “Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video” created a minor brouhaha in 1979 when it was theatrically released. Viewed today, however, there is absolutely nothing edgy or provocative to be found in Michael O’Donoghue’s spoof of the classic shockumentary “Mondo Cane.” In fact, the film is downright tame and dull by contemporary standards.
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There has been a great deal of talk about whether Rachel Zegler was the right person to play the title character in Disney’s “Snow White.” However, the first woman who was considered to be a Disney was even less likely for the role she was considered to play.
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Many Three Stooges fans have taken to various online forums to declare “Sweet and Hot” as the team’s worst film. It isn’t – not by a long shot – but, admittedly, it is an experiment that didn’t quite work.
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