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Continue reading Discuss: Do You Want Cruise in 'Mission Impossible 4'?

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Filed under: Drama, Thrillers, United Artists, Celebrities and Controversy, Newsstand, Tom Cruise, Movie Marketing, Images, War

Tom Cruise and Valkyrie just cannot stay out of the press -- and alas, the press has rarely been good. Well, here comes a bit more controversy: There have now been claims from German press that United Artists doctored a photo of hopeful Hitler assassin, Claus von Stauffenberg. In the interests of historic representation, journalistic credibility, and a chance to see how weird Cruise's career can get, Slate took the above photo (released by United Artists) to their design experts. Visit the magazine to see the details of their analysis -- but they have come to the conclusion that it has been doctored. A comparison with a AP file photo of von Stauffenberg is remarkably different than the one UA has been publicizing. It seems to be the same photo, but that too could be up for debate. Possibly, UA is guilty of nothing more than carefully choosing a flattering photo. Other photos of von Stauffenberg, which are from the front and better lit, don't have much of a resemblance to Cruise.

Visit Slate to judge for yourself, then come back and tell us your take. If it has been doctored, how silly is that? Plenty of historical figures have been ably played by actors bearing little resemblance to them -- and perhaps even the better for it, as they didn't rely only on physical looks to carry the role. The whole story smells of insecurity on the part of someone (or everyone) at United Artists. Though, for now (or until more experts weigh in), we'll just chalk this up as another piece of fascinating Hollywood mystery.

[via IMDB's Hitlist]

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Oh, this one hurts.

The rap on Cyd Charisse was that she was a far better dancer than an actress, but I don't care what you say: The lady had presence. When that endless leg stretched out before Gene Kelly's dazzled eyes in "Singin' in the Rain," you knew a star was being born.

Like all the pure dancers of Hollywood -- Astaire, Kelly, Eleanor Powell -- Charisse expressed persona through movement rather than dialogue, and in her case that persona was smoky, sinuous, and cool: a quintessential 50s mix of sex and poise. She was the choreographic equivalent of a classic Sinatra LP.

She also had one of the great Hollywood birth names: Tula Ellice Finklea. Born in Amarillo, Texas, and nicknamed "Sid" by a brother who couldn't pronounce "Sis," she moved to Hollywood when she was young to study ballet. After dancing with the Ballets Russes and a first marriage to her teacher, Nico Charisse, in Paris, Charisse made the move into film, starting with 1943's "Something to Shout About." (It wasn't.)

It was her dance number with Astaire in 1946's "Ziegfeld Follies" (here's a link to the video; Charisse turns up about 1:30 in) that made audiences sit up and wonder who the hell was dancing with Fred. She still had to wait six more years, until the climactic "Broadway Melody" setpiece of "Singin' in the Rain," to become a full-fledged household name. After that it was more Astaire ("The Band Wagon," "Silk Stockings") and more Kelly ("Brigadoon," "It's Always Fair Weather"), and a 60-year marriage to singer Tony Martin, who survives her. Feast your eyes on the Mickey Spillane-derived "Girl Hunt Ballet" number from "Band Wagon":

Class is what she had, and legs as long as Manhattan. Of all her movies, the one I treasure most is 1955's "It's Always Fair Weather" -- the dark, dyspeptic answer-musical to "Singin' in the Rain" -- in which Charisse entertains a gym full of pug-faced boxers who toss her around the ring in delight and sing "Baby, You Knock Me Out." That she did. Behold -- we were not worthy.

So the American Film Institute is airing its top 10 list of genre movies, 10 in fact: animation, courtroom drama, gangster, romantic comedy, fantasy, western, sports, mystery, epic, science-fiction. The show is another of the group's highly arguably but immensely watchable -- especially so since it's looking temporally impossible for the Lakers to catch the Celtics -- summer specials. Although, seeing Rob Reiner impersonate Lee J. Cobb in "12 Angry Men" might have cost me my appetite. (Right now, they're on courtroom dramas and Sidney Lumet's movie is number three.)

The lists were culled from a pool of 500 movies (50 per genre) and distributed to a big list of critics (not me), historians, and film professionals. And since the AFI has already done horror-thrillers, musicals, romances, and comedies, this list gets a bunch of marketable categories over with. Now it's official: These lists are a real video-store organization principle.

I do like that "A Cry in the Dark" made the cut of courtroom dramas (sing it in your finest American Top 40 voice: "number nine"). Is "Schindler's List" really an "epic"? According to the institute's definition, pretty much: It's a "genre of large-scale films set in a cinematic interpretation of the past." Fine. In romantic comedy, "City Lights" was number one. That's nice. So is "Thief of Baghdad"'s coming in at number nine on the fantasy list. (Criterion just put out a new edition.) Dirty-old "Shampoo" did not make the cut.

Here's the rest of the lists.

ANIMATION
1 SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937)
2 PINOCCHIO (1940)
3 BAMBI (1942)
4 LION KING, THE (1994)
5 FANTASIA (1942)
6 TOY STORY (1995)
7 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1991)
8 SHREK (2001)
9 CINDERELLA (1950)
10 FINDING NEMO (2003)

FANTASY
1 WIZARD OF OZ, THE (1939)
2 LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (2001)
3 IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1947)
4 KING KONG (1933)
5 MIRACLE ON 34th STREET (1947)
6 FIELD OF DREAMS (1989)
7 HARVEY (1950)
8 GROUNDHOG DAY (1993)
9 THIEF OF BAGDAD, THE (1924)
10 BIG (1988)

GANGSTER
1 GODFATHER, THE (1972)
2 GOODFELLAS (1990)
3 GODFATHER PART II, THE (1974)
4 WHITE HEAT (1949)
5 BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
6 SCARFACE: THE SHAME OF A NATION (1932)
7 PULP FICTION (1994)
8 PUBLIC ENEMY, THE (1931)
9 LITTLE CAESAR (1931)
10 SCARFACE (1983)

ROMANTIC COMEDY
1 CITY LIGHTS (1931)
2 ANNIE HALL (1977)
3 IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
4 ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953)
5 PHILADELPHIA STORY, THE (1941)
6 WHEN HARRY MET SALLY? (1989)
7 ADAM'S RIB (1949)
8 MOONSTRUCK (1987)
9 HAROLD AND MAUDE (1971)
10 SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE (1993)

COURTROOM DRAMA
1 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1963)
2 12 ANGRY MEN (1957)
3 KRAMER VS. KRAMER (1979)
4 VERDICT, THE (1982)
5 FEW GOOD MEN, A (1992)
6 WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION (1958)
7 ANATOMY OF A MURDER (1959)
8 IN COLD BLOOD (1967)
9 CRY IN THE DARK, A (1988)
10 JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG (1961)

EPIC
1 LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
2 BEN-HUR (1959)
3 SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993)
4 GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
5 SPARTACUS (1960)
6 TITANIC (1997)
7 ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930)
8 SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998)
9 REDS (1981)
10 TEN COMMANDMENTS, THE (1956)

SCIENCE FICTION
1 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
2 STAR WARS: EPISODE IV- A NEW HOPE (1977)
3 E.T. - THE EXTRA TERRESTRIAL (1982)
4 CLOCKWORK ORANGE, A (1971)
5 DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, THE (1951)
6 BLADE RUNNER (1982)
7 ALIEN (1979)
8 TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY (1991)
9 INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956)
10 BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985)

WESTERN
1 SEARCHERS, THE (1956)
2 HIGH NOON (1952)
3 SHANE (1953)
4 UNFORGIVEN (1992)
5 RED RIVER (1948)
6 WILD BUNCH, THE (1969)
7 BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)
8 MCCABE & MRS. MILLER (1971)
9 STAGECOACH (1939)
10 CAT BALLOU (1965)

SPORTS
1 RAGING BULL (1980)
2 ROCKY (1977)
3 PRIDE OF THE YANKEES, THE (1943)
4 HOOSIERS (1986)
5 BULL DURHAM (1988)
6 HUSTLER, THE (1961)
7 CADDYSHACK (1980)
8 BREAKING AWAY (1979)
9 NATIONAL VELVET (1945)
10 JERRY MAGUIRE (1996)

MYSTERY
1 VERTIGO (1958)
2 CHINATOWN (1974)
3 REAR WINDOW (1954)
4 LAURA (1944)
5 THIRD MAN, THE (1950)
6 MALTESE FALCON, THE (1941)
7 NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)
8 BLUE VELVET (1986)
9 DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954)
10 USUAL SUSPECTS, THE (1995)