Click movie title to link to the Movies page
.Liberal drinking of alcohol, a mainstay of the first four "Thin Man" movies, was curtailed for this movie due to wartime liquor rationing.
This was Robert Taylor's first movie since returning from military service in World War II.
The first American film to deal with the subject of the Holocaust from the point of view of a survivor, it was also the film debut of Morgan Freeman and composer Quincy Jones's first major motion picture score.
The events on which the film is based took place at the same prisoner of war camp (Stalag Luft III) and at the same time as the events in the much better-known film of the same genre, The Great Escape (1963). The escape committee of prisoners that was planning the latter decided that other escape activity had to be going on at the same time so that life in the camp would appear normal to the Germans. It was the Wooden Horse tunnel that fell into this category.
The lead actors took a two month break in production from shooting the 1861 scenes and shooting the 1864 war-time scenes to grow facial hair and lose weight, changing their physical appearance. drastically to show the ravages of war.
The Prince and the Showgirl (1957)
Marilyn Monroe got one-up on Sir Laurence Olivier when she discovered that someone in the crew, she suspected it was Olivier, was running a book on how many takes she would need for a fairly tricky scene. She went home and studied hard, so that on the day of shooting, she was more than prepared. She delivered the line and then left the room, closing the door behind her as directed. However, within a few seconds the door flew open again and Monroe stuck her head through the gap. "Pretty good, huh?" she exclaimed, before shutting the door for a final time. This line was not in the script and was an obvious dig at those who doubted her ability to do the scene. However, it fitted in so well that it wasn't re-shot, and can now be seen in the final cut.
Burt Reynolds and Raquel Welch fell out while making this movie. Three years later, they both starred in Fuzz (1972). However, Welch only agreed to do the movie after it was agreed that she would not have to appear in any scenes with Reynolds. They would remain enemies until 1982 when the producers of Cannery Row (1982) fired Welch, claiming she was unprofessional, and replaced her with Debra Winger. Reynolds testified on her behalf stating "Although Raquel and I don't like each other, she was always on time, well-prepared, and thoroughly professional." She ended up winning ten million eight hundred thousand dollars.
Charlton Heston recounts in his autobiography "In the Arena" how a determined young Steven Spielberg tried several times to infiltrate the set,only to be ejected. .Director Schaffner finally gave in let him watch what was being filmed.
Johnny Cash sang the theme song. Nick Adams wanted his good friend, Elvis Presley, to sing the song, but the producers preferred Cash.
By the time shooting was completed in Argentina, Eva Perón had died. For that reason the crew remained in the country, by a request from the government, in order to film the funeral proceedings in Technicolor.
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
Initially, Sir Alec Guinness was only offered four of the roles. It was Guinness who insisted on playing all eight. This had many flow effects. The scene where six members of the D'Ascoyne's family, all played by Sir Alec Guinness, are seen together, took two days to film. The camera was set on a specially built platform to minimize movement. In addition, the camera operator spent the night with the camera to ensure that nothing moved it by accident. A frame with six black matte painted optical flat glass windows was set in front of the camera, and the windows opened one at a time so each of the characters could be filmed in turn. The film was then wound back for the next character. Most of the time was spent waiting for Guinness to be made up as the next character.
According to an article about Steve McQueen's western films in Cowboys & Indians Magazine (to celebrate the DVD release of Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958)), McQueen thoroughly researched the life of Tom Horn by spending time with famed western novelist Louis L'Amour, who had many of Horn's letters in his private collection.