Comments on: This Week on TCM

By: This Week on TCM » Comics Worth Reading

This Week on TCM » Comics Worth Reading — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 18:06:51 +0000

[...] first, an apology. I said last week that You’ve Got Mail was disappointing. I just rewatched it (since it is, slightly, a [...]

By: Brian Pearce

Brian Pearce — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 01:15:54 +0000

I believe TCM did an evening of Ida Lupino-directed films several months ago. She doesn’t seem to have extensive writing credits, but she co-wrote at least one film, and she had a lengthy career behind the camera, both producing and directing.

By: James Schee

James Schee — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 04:24:37 +0000

Yeah it doesn’t sound like my kind of thing either. One interesting thing wwas fainding a page that listed women who did do all of these things in the same movie back in the silent movie age.

It said it was common practice back then for those on the set to just share duties to save costs.

I love Shop around the Corner as well, hopefully I’ll catch it.

By: John

John — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 01:56:41 +0000

“Shop Around the Corner” is easily one of my top 5 favorite seasonal films – and just a great romantic comedy – and Stewart is just astonishingly great in it, as he was in so many things. Always glad to encounter others who appreciate it.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 01:54:17 +0000

Yes, I do like that film. I’m a fan of the forgotten Kay Francis, and she does a wonderful job in that, along with the bubbly Miriam Hopkins. It holds attention quite well for its age, favorably comparing to modern movies.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 01:29:39 +0000

If you like Shop Around the Corner, you might also like Lubitsch’s other best-known work, Trouble in Paradise. It’s a favorite of mine.

By: Tim O'Shea

Tim O'Shea — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 21:49:59 +0000

I think Ishtar has aged to the point it’s far more palatable than initially apprised. Stack it up against the Pauly Shore canon, for instance, and it’s Citizen Kane level… :)

By: Ian Brill

Ian Brill — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 19:04:50 +0000

Elaine May of the brilliant comedy duo Nichols & May has had an interesting career. She revolutionized comedy with Mike Nichols. She directed the original Heartbreak Kid (which is great) as well as film called Mikey and Nicky, which she also wrote. Then she wrote and directed Ishtar, a notorious bomb but maybe it deserves to be reconsidered after all these years. She reunited with Mike Nichols to work on the screenplay for The Birdcage.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 16:35:45 +0000

Thanks, James. Two Days in Paris doesn’t sound like my kind of movie, but it’s good to see Delpy’s doing it as well.

I think I should have been a little more specific that I was looking for women who wrote, directed, and acted in the same movie, not had done those roles in different films at different times. More Woody Allen (auteur, much as I find that term pretentious) than Mel Gibson.

Tim, that quote reminds me, as I’m sure you knew it would, of the American superhero industry as well. And that’s very likely a big factor, that women aren’t encouraged to have or display the kind of ego moviemaking takes.

Oh, right, Anniversary Party, co-created with Alan Cumming. I think I need to see that again, since I don’t recall much of anything about it. Thanks, good reminder.

Anun, I’ll look at those. Appreciate it.

And yes, surprised to see Andy Griffith, but very pleased with his work.

By: Anun

Anun — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 05:44:55 +0000

Rebecca Miller of Personal Velocity seems to be one AWD person, although her resume on IMDB suggests that she also turned to writing and directing after leaving acting behind.

Also, there’s Sarah Polley, who’s 28 and done all three quite handily from the looks of things. I haven’t seen anything by her yet, but since Away From Her does have Olympia Dukakis (who I adore), it may be worth checking out.

By: Martin Allen

Martin Allen — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 05:26:15 +0000

Diane Keaton only wrote on one documentary (Heaven) that she also directed, but has directed a number of other things. Jennifer Jason Leigh did all three on the Anniversary Party; it got middling reaction, but I quite like it.

Sofia Coppola still does all three, of course. Opinions may vary, but she’s probably the one who has had the most success, if you average out over the three duties.

By: Tim O'Shea

Tim O'Shea — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 05:21:32 +0000

Andy Griffith was great in Waitress. I’ve respected Shelly dating back to her films with Hal Hartley and I was relieved to hear (as sad as this sounds) it was murder rather than suicide (as originally speculated) that took her life. In a perfect world she would still be around to make many more films.

Carrie Fisher is a great script doctor, and her recent role in 30 Rock was classic. I guess you can count Liv Ullmann in the actor/writer/director column, but she’s not known for the latter two aspects.

In trying to find more examples, I ran across the following quote from Nora Ephron:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreams_on_Spec

——
Writer-director Nora Ephron (When Harry Met Sally and You’ve Got Mail) describes why she believes there are so few women making films: “It’s a very male business, and it has in vast portions of it—the whole action movie part of it might as well be the United States Army in 1943, in that the ethics of it are boot camp and action movies and guns and explosions and all the rest of it, and that—so that means that—that about 50% of the business is not only pretty much closed off to women, but women don’t even wanna be in it.”
——-

By: James Schee

James Schee — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 04:26:28 +0000

Julie Delpy was the only one I could find currently who did all three in movies. Apparently it was a common practice back in the silent movie days for women to do all of the above as well.