Chaplin, Barrymore, Arbuckle, Keaton, Capone, Hayworth and Flynn, they all came here. A top hot spot for Hollywood luminaries during Prohibition, and, again, during the U.S. gambling ban of WW II.
See if you can see Mickey Rooney and Joe DiMaggio in the photos below.
Miller spot uses classic footage from Flynn adventure to set up clever pitch for product.
Did you ever notice the monkey in the galley scene from the classic film The Sea Hawk starring Errol Flynn? Maybe not, but Miller Beer has cleverly brought him to the foreground with their new Miller Genuine Draft Beer 30-second takeoff. This time the monkey appears monkey appears at one of the portholes and drops a bottle which rolls to one of the rowing men.
“The knife the forced laborers use to extricate themselves and escape [in the film] is now a bottle of beer,” explains cinematographer Curtis Clark, ASC, who collaborated on the ad with first-time director Angus Wall. “The challenge was to link Errol Flynn and the original actors with our new guy. Instead of the knife, he’s handed the bottle of beer.”
To make it appear as if Flynn was actually handed a brew, Clark used motion control and a bottle on a rig to match the actions needed to composite the bottle into the late actor’s hand.
Light, angles and perspective proved to be the biggest worries during the five-day shoot at Renmar Studios in Los Angeles, on a set constructed to match the 1940s set. “We had the original footage with us during the entire shoot, so we were able to estimate the perspective needed,” Clark recalls. Although he didn’t have access to continuity reports of the original footage, he was able to make use of video assist to help him match footage. “We would feed in the original scene and superimpose our bottle over the point where Flynn’s hand was, which allowed us to quickly see if the bottle was at the correct perspective,” explains Clark, who was given one day to shoot two such scenes.
To capture the original Forties look, Clark chose Kodak Double X black & white stock. “We took the closest source of the film – in this case a D-1 transfer from Turner Broadcasting’s library –
and used it on the Cineon at Pacific Ocean Post to replicate the look of the original film grain, which was coarser than today’s stock,” explains Clark. “Because we didn’t know the exact steps the filmmakers went through to create the original footage, we had to guess the grain sharpness and diffusion levels.”
To further add to the authentic period feel, Clark and the director decided to recreate the shooting style of the period using the same lighting techniques and lenses.
Fortunately, Clark had found a set of old Cooke lenses that had been rehoused when he was shooting the King Kong Eveready Battery spot [AC March ’94], so he was able to use that gained knowledge to save time and accomplish his lighting tests in only one day.
“From my work on the King Kong spot I knew we needed to use tungsten lighting and traditional studio lamps. The lighting styles used in those days were, in many respects, old-fashioned,” observes Clark, who notes that many older features lack lighting continuity. “They’re not anything like what we would do today. The trick is to always refer back to the reality of the original film and not do what you would normally do to improve the lighting. Making it nicer is not the point: you want to
capture the original Forties look, Clark chose Kodak Double X black & white stock. “We took the closest source of the film – in this case a D-1 transfer from Turner Broadcasting’s library . We had to guess the grain sharpness and diffusion levels [the original filmmakers used.]”
To further add to the authentic period feel, Clark and the director decided to recreate the shooting style of the period using the same lighting techniques and lenses. Fortunately, Clark had found a set of old Cooke lenses that had been rehoused when he was shooting the King Kong Eveready Battery spot.
Live from Lovely Rita’s home in Chula Vista, California, where she lived as a young teen, working across the border in Golden Age Tijuana, only fifteen or so minutes away. Rita performed at Hollywood honcho hangouts like the Hotel (Agua) Caliente and the Foreign Club Cafe de Luxe, where she began her entertainment career dancing with her father in The (Dancing) Cansinos.
the 14th of october 2016 marks the 950th anniversary of the bloody Battle of Hastings.
When Edward the Confessor died without a successor in early 1066, three other noble horsemen claimed the throne of England.
At first Harald Goodwinson proclaimed himself Harald II. His brother Tostig challenged him instantly for the crown with the help of a Norwegian army (the Danes and Norwegians had held larg parts of the British Isle since the 9th century). Harald II. preveiled in the Battle at Stamford Bridge on the 25h September.
Meanwhile William the Conqueror entered the South of England from Normandy. Harald II. marched his weary men all the way down from the North and erected a wall on a knoll, which at first held firm against the furious attacks from the Normans. They were fighting the proverbial uphill battle. When TC William seemed to retreat, the Anglo Saxons left their forification to deliver the death blow. But the Normans suddenly turned and responded with a surprising onslaught. 7000 was the final deathcount at a time when towns averaged 2500 people.
Harald II. got ambushed and lost life, kingdom and ocular globe on the spot. The historic scene is depicted on a famous tapestry, showing him being hit by an arrow into the eye.
Wicked Will became King William I. on Christmas day of that year and abolished landownership immediately. His Normans` Earls and Counts were lent the lands seized from the Saxon aristocracy.