Elias Kazantzoglou, known as Elia Kazan, was an American film and theatre director, producer, screenwriter and actor, described by The New York Times as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history".
Four Daughters is a 1938 American romance film that tells the story of a happy musical family whose lives and loves are disrupted by the arrival of a charming young composer who interjects himself into the daughters' romantic lives. His cynical, bitter musician friend comes to help orchestrate his latest composition and complicates matters even more. The movie stars the Lane Sisters and Gale Page, and features Claude Rains, Jeffrey Lynn, John Garfield, and Dick Foran. The three Lanes were sisters and members of a family singing trio.
Louis Leo Prima was an American trumpeter, singer, entertainer, and bandleader. While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres throughout his career: he formed a seven-piece New Orleans–style jazz band in the late 1920s, fronted a swing combo in the 1930s and a big band group in the 1940s, helped to popularize jump blues in the late 1940s and early to mid 1950s, and performed frequently as a Vegas lounge act beginning in the 1950s.
Jimmie Noone was an American jazz clarinetist and bandleader. After beginning his career in New Orleans, he led Jimmie Noone's Apex Club Orchestra, a Chicago band that recorded for Vocalion and Decca. Classical composer Maurice Ravel acknowledged basing his Boléro on an improvisation by Noone. At the time of his death Noone was leading a quartet in Los Angeles and was part of an all-star band that was reviving interest in traditional New Orleans jazz in the 1940s.
Sweet Bird of Youth is a 1959 play by Tennessee Williams that tells the story of a gigolo and drifter, Chance Wayne, who returns to his hometown as the companion of a faded movie star, Alexandra del Lago, whom he hopes to use to help him break into the movies. The main reason for his homecoming is to get back what he had in his youth, primarily, his old girlfriend, whose father had run him out of town years before. The play was written for Tallulah Bankhead, a good friend of Williams.
Consenting Adults is a 1992 American thriller film directed by Alan J. Pakula, and stars Kevin Kline, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Kevin Spacey and Rebecca Miller. The original music score was composed by Michael Small. The film's tagline is: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife."
Mo' Better Blues is a 1990 American musical comedy-drama film starring Denzel Washington, Wesley Snipes, and Spike Lee, who also wrote, produced, and directed. It follows a period in the life of fictional jazz trumpeter Bleek Gilliam as a series of bad decisions result in his jeopardizing both his relationships and his playing career. The film focuses on themes of friendship, loyalty, honesty, cause-and-effect, and ultimately salvation. It features the music of the Branford Marsalis quartet and Terence Blanchard on trumpet. The film was released five months after the death of Robin Harris and is dedicated to his memory, being his final acting role.
An Affair to Remember is a 1957 American romance film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. Filmed in CinemaScope, it was distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is considered among the most romantic films of all time according to the American Film Institute. The film was a remake of McCarey's 1939 film Love Affair, starring Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer.
Thief is a 1981 American neo-noir heist film written and directed by Michael Mann in his feature film debut. It stars James Caan as a professional safecracker trying to escape his life of crime, and Tuesday Weld as his wife. The supporting cast includes Jim Belushi, Robert Prosky, Dennis Farina, and Willie Nelson. The screenplay is inspired by the memoir The Home Invaders: Confessions of a Cat Burglar, by former cat burglar Frank Hohimer. The original musical score was composed and performed by Tangerine Dream.
Robert Leo Hackett was a versatile American jazz musician who played swing music, Dixieland jazz and mood music, now called easy listening, on trumpet, cornet, and guitar. He played Swing with the bands of Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman in the late 1930s and early 1940s, he played Dixieland from the 1930s into the 1970s in a variety of groups with many of the major figures in the field, and he was a featured soloist on the first ten of the numerous Jackie Gleason mood music albums during the 1950s.
Pete Kelly's Blues is a 1955 musical crime film based on the 1951 radio series of the same name. It was directed by and starred Jack Webb in the title role of a bandleader and musician. Janet Leigh is featured as party girl Ivy Conrad, and Edmond O'Brien as a gangster who applies pressure to Kelly. Peggy Lee portrays alcoholic jazz singer Rose Hopkins. Ella Fitzgerald makes a cameo as singer Maggie Jackson. Lee Marvin, Martin Milner, and Jayne Mansfield also make early career appearances.
A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1951 American Southern Gothic drama film adapted from Tennessee Williams's Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name. It is directed by Elia Kazan, and stars Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden. The film tells the story of a Mississippi Southern belle, Blanche DuBois (Leigh), who, after encountering a series of personal losses, seeks refuge with her sister (Hunter) and brother-in-law (Brando) in a dilapidated New Orleans apartment building. The original Broadway production and cast was converted to film, albeit with several changes and sanitizations related to censorship.
Elvis is a 1979 American made-for-television biographical film aired on ABC. It was directed by John Carpenter and starred Kurt Russell as Elvis Presley. It marked the first collaboration between Carpenter and Russell.
Paris Blues is a 1961 American musical romantic drama film directed by Martin Ritt, starring Sidney Poitier as expatriate jazz saxophonist Eddie Cook, and Paul Newman as trombone-playing Ram Bowen. The two men romance two vacationing American tourists, Connie Lampson and Lillian Corning. The film also deals with American racism of the time contrasted with Paris's open acceptance of black people. The film was based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Harold Flender.
The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond is a 2008 independent film by director Jodie Markell. It is based on Tennessee Williams' long-forgotten 1957 screenplay, and stars Bryce Dallas Howard in the leading role of Fisher Willow. The film was released on December 30, 2009, making it the last film to be released in the 2000s.
Satisfaction is a 1988 American comedy-drama film directed by Joan Freeman and starring Justine Bateman and Liam Neeson. Primarily known today as Julia Roberts' first credited big-screen role, Satisfaction is also one of the few theatrical productions by either Aaron Spelling or the NBC network.
The Cry of the Owl is a 2009 thriller film based on Patricia Highsmith's 1962 book of the same name, and was directed by Jamie Thraves. It stars Paddy Considine, Julia Stiles, and Karl Pruner. This is the third filming of the book after the 1987 French film adaptation by Claude Chabrol and a German TV adaptation titled Der Schrei der Eule also from 1987. After Robert Forrester is caught by Jenny Thierolf, the girl he has been spying on, he becomes the victim of her manipulative advances. The disappearance of Jenny's fiancé Greg after a fight with Robert marks the beginning of a series of dangerous and ultimately fatal incidents.
Birth of the Blues is a 1941 American musical film directed by Victor Schertzinger and starring Bing Crosby, Mary Martin and Brian Donlevy.
Susan Dimiti "Suzy" Williams is an American singer-songwriter. She became well known through the musical duo Stormin’ Norman & Suzy. Williams has performed at venues ranging from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to the Hotel Palmas in the Canary Islands, and on network television and film. She has been reviewed in publications including Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, and Los Angeles Magazine. Her singing was referred to in Rolling Stone as a "mixture of Bessie Smith, Sophie Tucker, and perhaps a trace of Janis Joplin".
A Jazzman's Blues is a 2022 American drama film written, produced and directed by Tyler Perry. The film stars Joshua Boone, Amirah Vann, Solea Pfeiffer, Austin Scott, Brent Antonello, and Ryan Eggold.
