Take the intro to Fully Flared, the 2007 skateboarding film directed by Spike Jonze, Ty Evans and Cory Weincheque. And then remaster it in 720p HD and you have quite the sensory experience. Give the clip at least a minute to unfold…
François Truffaut once called Werner Herzog the single most important director on the planet, and TIME magazine (with Rogert Ebert writing the related article) ranked Herzog as one of the 100 most influential people alive today. Last April, Herzog, a “romantic visionary” of the New German Cinema movement, visited the UC Santa Barbara campus where he spent roughly two hours in conversation with the author and essayist, Pico Iyer. The video above skips over two introductions, including one by Iyer himself. So if you’re looking for more context, you can always rewind to the very beginning… H/T to @eacion and via Film Studies for Free.
Just a quick note: Earlier this week, we posted a list of 25 Free John Wayne Westerns. Now comes a list of Free Alfred Hitchcock films. We have 15 Hitchcock films in total, most shot during the early stages of his career – that is, during the 1920s and 30s. And, on the list, you will find several well known classics, including The Lodger, one of Hitchcock’s great silent films; Blackmail, Hitchcock’s first “talking” or sound film; The 39 Steps, a thriller that became an early commercial and critical hit; and The Man Who Knew Too Much, a film that Hitchcock later remade for an American audience with Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day. These classics and eleven other films appear in the Free Hitchcock collection. Enjoy …
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In the late 1990s, Errol Morris, the acclaimed director, was hired to make a film for an “in house” conference of IBM employees. Eventually IBM canceled the conference, and the film was scrapped. (Watch a clip of it here.) Now more than a decade later, IBM has brought Morris back, this time to direct a film meant to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the company’s founding. The 30-minute film, They Were There, appears on IBM’s YouTube Channel, and it notably features music by Philip Glass.
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A year ago, Canon launched a contest called “The Story Beyond the Still,” which encouraged photographers to become filmmakers, and help viewers see “beyond the still” image. Fast forward twelve months and we have the final result: A collaborative film, now being premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, that stitches together “chapters” (or film sequences) created by six contest-winning artists, all under the direction of Vincent Laforet. Each chapter ends with a still image that creates the jumping-off point for the next chapter, giving one artist the chance to pick up where a previous artist left off. The complete collaborative film (above) runs 37 minutes. You can find more contest-winning video on Vimeo right here.
32 years after his death, John Wayne (né Marion Morrison) remains a tremendously popular movie star. According to a Harris Poll taken earlier this month (January 2011), Americans still rank The Duke as their third most favorite actor, putting him right behind Johnny Depp and Denzel Washington. No doubt about it, the legend of John Wayne continues to grow. And happily you can find a gold mine of John Wayne Western films online – all free. Today, we have pulled together a list of 25 films that span five decades of work, moving from the 1930s to the 1970s. You can find them all otherwise listed in our collection of Free Movies Online.
Angel and the Badman - Free — A black and white Western starring John Wayne and Gail Russell. Considered a radical departure from the Western genre at the time. Find Internet Archive version here. (1947)
Blue Steel – Free – John Wayne plays a U.S. Marshal trying to capture the Polka Dot Bandit. Some consider it the best of the John Wayne Lone Star films. (1934)
Born to the West — Free — Can Dare Rudd prove he is responsible enough to win the heart of Judy and also outwit the crooked saloon owner? Stars John Wayne, Marsha Hunt and John Mack Brown.
Frontier Horizon - Free — The Three Mesqueteers try to prevent wholesale slaughter in this fine Republic Western. Stars John Wayne, Ray “Crash” Corrigan, and Raymond Hatton. (1939)
Helltown — Free — Originally called “Born to the West,” this John Wayne Western was based on a novel by Zane Grey, an important author of Western novels. (1937)
McLintock! — Free — Comedy Western starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. Loosely based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. (1963)
‘Neath the Arizona Skies — Free — John Wayne plays a cowboy protecting an oil-land heiress. (1934)
Paradise Canyon — Free — Features Wayne as “government agent John Wyatt who searches for a counterfeit ring operating on the Mexican/Arizona border.” (1935)
Rainbow Valley — Free — John Martin (John Wayne) is a “government agent working under cover. Leading citizen Morgan calls in gunman Butch Galt (Buffalo Bill Jr.) who blows Martin’s cover.” Find the YouTube version here. (1935)
Randy Rides Alone – Free – Jailed for murders he didn’t commit, Randy Bowers (John Wayne) escapes only to stumble into the den of the real murderers. Entertaining early Wayne Western. (1934)
Riders of Destiny -Free — John Wayne portrays Singin’ Sandy Saunders and has a reputation as the most notorious gunman since Billy the Kid. Wayne was the first singing cowboy, but his singing was dubbed, and it was the last time he “sang” in a Western. (1933)
Sagebrush Trail — Free — John Wayne plays John Brant who escapes from jail after being wrongly accused of murder. Features great stagecoach chase. (1933)
Texas Terror — Free – A young John Wayne in a romantic Western. (1935)
The Dawn Rider - Free — John Wayne plays John Mason, a man avenging his father’s murder. A Western directed by Robert Bradbury. (1935)
The Desert Trail - Free — Early Western with John Wayne. According to WesternClippings, not Wayne’s finest hour. (1935)
The Lawless Frontier - Free – B Western starring John Wayne and directed by Robert Bradbury. (1934)
The Lucky Texan – Free — Jerry Mason (played by John Wayne) and Jake Benson become partners and strike it rich with a gold mine. (1934)
The Man From Utah - Free – The Marshal sends John Weston (John Wayne) to a “rodeo to see if he can find out who is killing the rodeo riders who are about to win prize money.” (1934)
The Range Feud — Free — Clint Turner is arrested for the murder of his girlfriend Judy’s father, a rival rancher who was an enemy of his own father. Stars John Wayne and Buck Jones. (1931)
The Star Packer - Free – “A gang working for ‘The Shadow’ is terrorizing the town. John Travers (John Wayne) decides to take on the job of sheriff and do something about it.” (1934)
The Trail Beyond — Free – Western starring John Wayne, Noah Beery, Sr., and Noah Beery, Jr. (1934)
Two Fisted Law - Free — After Rob Russell steals Tim Clark’s ranch, Clark starts prospecting for silver. Stars John Wayne and Tim McCoy. (1932)
War of the Wildcats - Free – John Wayne stars in a Western also released under the title In Old Oklahoma. One of Wayne’s better post-Stagecoach performances. (1943)
West of the Divide – Free – A young John Wayne in a B Western. (1934)
Winds of the Wasteland — Free — The arrival of the telegraph put Pony Express riders like John Blair (John Wayne) and his pal Smoky (Lane Chandler) out of work they try to start a stagecoach route through a ghost town. A rival stagecoach company tries to stop them. (1936)
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A quick note for film aficionados: The 2011 edition of the Sundance Film Festival is now underway. And over the next two weeks, The YouTube Screening Room will bring you short films from festivals past and present. Right now, you can watch four new films by up-and-coming directors – 8 Bits, Andy and Zach, The High Level Bridge, and Skateistan: To Live and Skatein Kabul (above). More new films will be added on January 27th and February 3rd. In the meantime, you can catch several other short films that originally played at Sundance, or were made by Sundance Institute alumni.
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