Elvis Presley

Between March 24, 1958, when they join the U.S. Army and the March 5, 1960, when he graduated with the rank of sergeant, Elvis Presley had to stay away from movie screens. Were not complete two years of silence, for his label RCA Victor conveniently spaced knew the material they had been recorded before his military service, including no fewer than a dozen items in the Top 40. But several factors had led to the entertainer to believe that the end of his career as a musical idol of the masses had come to an end. There were only two years of relative retreat, right in its heyday, but also saw the confluence of various personal circumstances such as the death of his beloved mother Gladys, or know that would eventually become his wife, PriscillaIn Germany, where he was stationed (in fact I could not like their fans) or professionals, such as the emergence of new musical figures ready to seize his throne (Bobby Darin, Frankie Avalon, Fabian, Ricky Nelson or Pat BooneAll with just barely distinguished career in film.)


On his return to America, his label was quick to put it in the recording studio to provide their eager fans with new material to compensate for the long absence of the star, besides returning to provide the necessary media exposure to oil unstoppable commercial equipment. Appearances TV and new films were some of the steps in this direction. His first film in two years, "GI Blues" became a huge commercial success, further enhanced by the magnetic presence of the King in uniform. His manager, Colonel Parker, and the owner of his movie contract, the veteran producer Hal B. Wallis, preferring to bet on single vehicle roll safe, modest budget, to the glory of the star, but Elvis insisted on demanding more demanding roles as an actor. So his next two films would be on loan and material that appeared to augur all types of commercial and critical congratulations. "Flaming Star", a Western antiépico on the status of mixed race, and "unruly," a melodrama written by none other than Clifford Odets. However, the box office ruled in favor of Parker and Wallis, and the relative commercial failure of both proposals set about two dozen Elvis movies inconsequential in colorful scenes such as Acapulco, Hawaii or Las Vegas, surrounded by starlets, And most times non-existent substance.


The project "Flaming Star" had a few years rolling studies. Initially thought of names of the caliber of Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, or directors like Michael Curtiz or screenwriter Nunnally Johnson finally to bring to the big screen the novel Flaming Lance by Clair Huffaker (novelist and screenwriter closely connected to the movies West during the 60's, with popular titles such as "Rio Conchos", "The Comancheros" or "100 Rifles"). After falling into the hands of specialist notable genre films, Don Siegel and starring Elvis already, 20th Century Fox surrounded himself with an outstanding cast of popular faces: Steve Forrest (the then-popular Hondo Harrelson television), the beautiful Barbara Eden (about to become another icon on the small screen, the beautiful genius Jeannie) And veteran of the caliber of Dolores del Rio, John McIntire, and a large budget and excellent technicians. Embodying the mestizo Pacer Burton, Presley returned to leave notes of what might have become if their paths have been others. This is not just another of those titles designed to splendor and glory of the star, and shows that in the right hands, Elvis could have been a remarkable performer.


"Flaming Star" is projected on Monday March 28th at 19:30 pm in the ICCAT. As always in original version with subtitles and free admission. After the screening, the usual conversation where we will try to delve into aspects of the movie itself or the career of Elvis. All are invited. Long live the king!

Black and White Cinema

Movies like "Sunset Boulevard" and "Barton Fink" helped us imagine what life was like the writers in the Hollywood of big studios. Knowing that the film was made much money (and overly so fast), it was normal posh writers sell their soul to the devil in exchange for the glare of tinsel. Sacrificing the integrity of his previous literary commitment in favor of accepting the suggestions from the offices they were doing. At the end of the day, no matter how grown they were, they entered through the door of the study, were not just another brick in the wall, another link in the chain.


One of these writers was Daniel Mainwaring, a Californian who while working as a journalist for San Francisco Chronicle a novel published in 1932 considered at the time as "too proletarian", entitled "One Against the Earth." Perhaps the allegations were received that he "invited" to change not only the "tone" of his writings, but even his name. He adopted the pseudonym Geoffrey Homes and opted for something less committed and easier to sell: crime and mystery. In this area was managed with considerable wealth during five years, enough time for that siren launched from a small production company called Pine Productions (a kind of branch specialized in series B Paramount). Mainwaring's first job in Hollywood was the screenplay for "No hands on the clock" (1941), the first step in a career that lasted well into the 60 and that, like many others, was hampered by its inclusion in blacklists. In this photo, he is seen smiling next to Bogart, someone who could not spoil the race witch hunters, unlike what happened with Mainwaring.


Between 1941 and 1946 he wrote a considerable number of novels and screenplays of variable quality. One day, tired of writing detective stories in which everything is focused on whodunitDecided to turn around and published a more ambitious work, "Build My Gallows High", a novel next year, with a couple of adjustments made by the same Mainwaring, Frank Fenton and the great James M. Cain, became the screenplay for "Out of the Past" (1947), directed by Jacques Tourneur and almost unanimously regarded as one of the best works of black film of all time. Produced for RKO by Warren Duff, "the Past" tells the story of an ex-detective retired and runs a gas station in a small town. Bring a quiet and simple life, dividing his time between fishing and his girlfriend. One day he receives a visit from an old acquaintance who tells him that the boss wants to see it. It is clear that no one can escape his past.

Starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas and Rhonda Fleming, this movie is showing on Wednesday 16 February at 19:00 in Cultural Sphere of the English Court (Mesa y Lopez, 15, 7 th floor). The screening, free and VOSE, give way to a conference and cultural practice in this forum.

Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor and her seven husbands

"Every time I fell in love, got married. My principles forbid me just having adventures" and thought Elizabeth Taylor, The Hollywood legend who had seven different husbands and married eight times.

The American star who promised eternal love eight times, one of their husbands was Richard Burton, whom he married twice, and died on Wednesday aged 79, was very material to the chronicle of the show, hungry for scandal, with his troubled love life.

Taylot was 18 when she married, on 16 May 1950, with Nicholas Hilton Jr., heir to the hotel. A few months later divorced to marry, 21 February 1952, with British actor Michael Wilding, 19 years her senior. They had two children: Michael Jr. and Christopher. They divorced in 1956.

Free again, Liz, the beautiful violet-eyed actress married the rich producer Michael Todd. They had a daughter, Elizabeth Frances, in August 1957, seven months after a tragic plane crash killed Todd in New Mexico (center-south).

In 1959 Liz was converted to Judaism to marry her fourth husband, singer Eddie Fisher, who had just left his wife Debbie Reynolds. On May 12, 1959, the day of the wedding in Las Vegas, actress predicted "a honeymoon 30 or 40 years." But divorce occurred five years later, on March 5, 1964.

Ten days later, she married Richard Burton, who entered his life during the filming of "Cleopatra" (1963). Shot him seven films, including the acclaimed "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, 1966), which earned him an Oscar for best actress.

After stormy and dramatic reconciliations breaks (they divorced in 1974, remarried in October 1975 and divorced again in July 1976), the passionate pair entered a part of the legend of "the terrible lovers."

On December 4, 1976 film diva married for the seventh time, with Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner, who was divorced in December 1982.

And in 1991 stunned the world when she married for the eighth time, now her husband was Larry Fortensky, a construction worker, 40 years her junior, whom he met in rehab. They parted amicably after three years. It was his eighth and last marriage.