Robert Fischer
From footage filmed in 1983, this documentary presents an interview with director Jack Arnold and his reminiscences of the making of the 1957 film THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN.
Short doc in which Anthony Slide (Andre De Toth on Andre De Toth) discusses the work of Andre De Toth in general and The Indian Fighter in particular.
For over half a century, the filmmaker Edgar Reitz, one of the signatories of the Oberhausen Manifesto and a pioneer of epic film narration, has explored, as a practitioner and theoretician, the rules and limits of cinema, which he always seeks to break and extend in new ways. One example of his tireless search and research are the Geschichten vom Kübelkind, which he co-directed with Ula Stöckl in 1969/70, 22 absurdly funny, subversive and anarchistic short films of different lengths, which consciously oppose all conventions, with incredible success. The films remain unrivalled in their Dadaistic inventiveness.
The son of film director von Sternberg discusses his father.
Film scholar Janet Bergstrom discusses Sternberg's 1930 film starring Marlene Dietrich.
A first-hand account of the shooting of John Frankenheimer's The Birdman of Alcatraz by the film's camera operator, Richard H. Kline, ASC.
Film scholar Jan-Christopher Horak discusses Pabst's 1931 film
Film scholar Jan-Christopher Horak discusses Pabst's 1930 film "Westfront 1918".
Featuring brand new interviews with producer Douglas Wick, screenwriter Wesley Strick, and special effects artist Rick Baker, THE BEAST INSIDE: CREATING »WOLF« examines the making of Mike Nichols’ WOLF (1994) in all its stages from original idea to final appearance.
In June 2015, forty-five years after OUT 1 was made, the filmmakers went to Paris to interview cast and crew members and to revisit some of the film’s most significant locations. THE MYSTERIES OF PARIS features new contributions from actors Bulle Ogier, Michael Lonsdale and Hermine Karagheuz, cinematographer Pierre-William Glenn, assistant director Jean-François Stévenin and producer Stéphane Tchal Gadjieff, but also rare archival interviews with actors Jacques Doniol-Valcroze and Michel Delahaye and, most prominently, illuminating statements by director Jacques Rivette himself from two different archival interviews. Running time is 110 minutes.
Actors Rüdiger Vogler, Hanns Zischler and Lisa Kreuzer reflect on their work in front of the Robby Müller’s camera for Wim Wender’s seminal road movie KINGS OF THE ROAD (Im Lauf der Zeit, 1976).
Actors Rüdiger Vogler and Lisa Kreuzer reflect on their work in front of the Robby Müller’s camera for Wim Wender’s seminal road movie WRONG MOVE (1975).
In this feature-length interview, conducted by Robert Fischer in February 2015, Volker Schlöndorff talks about the making of his film BAAL (1969), based on the first play ever written by Bertolt Brecht. He describes his working relationship with Rainer Werner Fassbinder and his group of actors and how the Brecht family hated the film when it first came out, resulting in BAAL’s inavailability for over 40 years.
Actors Tony Lo Bianco and Marilyn Chris, and editor Stan Warnow, discuss the 1970 film THE HONEYMOON KILLERS.
A documentary on the 1973 Sam Fuller film Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street.
Welles scholar Joseph McBride discusses the 1952 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play. (A 32-minute edit of this documentary was presented by the Criterion Collection in their edition of Othello.)
In retracing the making of FEDORA, Robert Fischer’s documentary SWAN SONG: THE STORY OF BILLY WILDERʼS FEDORA adds yet another layer of comment and reflection on the film’s very own subject matter: 35 years after playing the romantic leads in FEDORA, Marthe Keller and Michael York look back at working with Billy Wilder – and their careers. Additional testimonies come from acclaimed cinematographer Gerry Fisher, producer Harold Nebenzal, Paul Diamond (son of Wilder’s writing partner I.A.L. Diamond), and German actor Mario Adorf.
Walter Hill's Streets of Fire Revisited
An interview with cinematographer Richard H. Kline talking about his filming experience in Brian De Palma's film The Fury.
Director Keith Gordon looks back on his 1992 cult classic; A Midnight Clear.
A fascinating and absorbing documentary about the making of Jerzy Skolimowski's cult favourite, DEEP END, which was shot in 1970 as a US-German co-production on location in London and Munich. The film's two stars, Jane Asher and John Moulder-Brown, 23 and 17 years of age at the time respectively, meet for the first time in 40 years and discuss their on-screen and off-screen relationship in candid detail, while director/writer Skolimowski chronicles the production history from the writing of the script to the film's acclaimed first showing at the Venice Film Festival. Director of photography Charly Steinberger revisits some of the original locations and explains how he managed to shoot almost the entire film with a hand-held camera. Also on board are production designer Anthony Pratt, editor Barrie Vince, and actor Christopher Sandford, each of whom contributes his own version of how DEEP END was part of the sixties' "swinging London"; and at the same time tilted it on its head.
Short documentary about sequences removed from the film.
This absolutely top-notch documentary by Robert Fischer is a fascinating look back at not just the film in question, but Fassbinder's meteoric career which ended all too soon with his untimely death. Archival footage of Fassbinder is utilized (including several fascinating snippets culled from interviews he did at the disastrous Cannes premiere of Despair), as well as many others involved in the film and its release. Even if you're not a particular fan of Despair, or even in fact of Fassbinder, this is stellar documentary film making and is an intriguing look at one of the most enigmatic masters of the New German Cinema.
Documentary interview the director Ted Kotcheff on his film 'Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?'
Feature-length interview film with Bernhard Sinkel about his four-part film 'Fathers and Sons' (1986).
Allison Anders talks about her love for the work of film director Douglas Sirk
Kathryn Bigelow talks about the work of film director Douglas Sirk.
In an archival interview filmed in 1989, Tony Aboyantz discusses his work on Max Ophuls' 1952 film LE PLAISIR.
The stars and director of 'Written on the Wind' and 'The Tarnished Angels' talk about director Douglas Sirk's techniques. Archival interviews originally appeared in the documentary "Douglas Sirk: Uber Stars" (Eckhart Schmidt, 1980)
In an archival interview filmed in 1989, Daniel Gélin discusses his work on Max Ophuls' 1952 film LE PLAISIR.
In an archival interview filmed in 1989, Robert Christidès discusses his work on Max Ophuls' 1952 film LE PLAISIR.
Ophuls scholar Alan Williams discusses the French director's 1950 film
A documentary including archival footage of a 1989 interview with actor Daniel Gélin about his experiences working on Max Ophuls' 1950 film LA RONDE.
Allen Baron, director of "Blast of Silence" visits locations from the film and recalls the production.
Featuring interviews with daughter Nicola Lubitsch, film historians Enno Patalas and Jan-Christopher Horak and filmmaker Tom Tykwer (among others), Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin documents the life of the legendary filmmaker from his birth in 1892 to his departure for Hollywood in 1923. The documentary is sprinkled with excerpts from Lubitsch's rarely-seen early work (both as actor and director) and offers fascinating insights into the German film industry in the silent era.
The story behind the novel and the film Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo.
Orson Welles Biographer Simon Callow discusses the making of "Mr. Arkadin" (aka "Confidential Report.")
Legendary French film director and Nouvelle Vague co-founder Claude Chabrol takes us back to the mid-fifties, when he and then-fellow film critic François Truffaut met and interviewed Alfred Hitchcock under hilarious circumstances. Chabrol then describes how he went on to write, with Eric Rohmer, the first book on Hitchcock, and even served as a consultant when Hitch came to Paris to direct his film TOPAZ. Several key scenes from Hitchcock movies, with a special emphasis on UNDER CAPRICORN, are discussed and dissected.
Radio producer Harry Alan Towers discusses his work with Orson Welles.
Filmmaker Todd Haynes talks about Max Ophuls' 1952 film Le Plaisir.
Film scholar Jean-Pierre Berthome discusses Max Ophuls' original script for his 1952 film LE PLAISIR and its relationship to the three stories by Guy de Maupassant on which the script is based.
Evil assassins want to kill Daniel Küblböck, the third runner up for the German Idols.
Though he never actually worked in Hollywood, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who died in 1982 at the age of 36, was influenced greatly by Amercian studio films of the 1950s and the convention of melodrama (the link most often mentioned is Douglas Sirk).
When Francois Truffaut approached Alfred Hitchcock in 1962 with the idea of having a long conversation with him about his work and publishing this in book form, he didn't imagine that more than four years would pass before Le Cinéma selon Hitchcock finally appeared in 1966. Not only in France but all over the world, Truffaut's Hitchcock interview developed over the years into a standard bible of film literature. In 1983, three years after Hitchcock's death, Truffaut decided to expand his by now legendary book to include a concluding chapter and have it published as the "Edition définitive". This film describes the genesis of the "Hitchbook" and throws light on the strange friendship between two completely different men. The centrepieces are the extracts from the original sound recordings of the interview with the voices of Alfred Hitchcock, Francois Truffaut, and Helen Scott – recordings which have never been heard in public before.
Fiona Lewis discusses her role in 'The Fury'
In-depth interview with filmmaker Sam Irvin who, in 1977, worked on Brian De Palma's The Fury as a production assistant, extra, and journalist for Cinefantastique magazine.
THE MAKING OF HIGHLANDER is a four-part documentary which covers virtualy every aspect of the behind-the-scenes adventure of filming Russell Mulcahy’s 1986 cult classic.
Milos Forman talks Robert Fischer through his filmography and the difficult transition from Czechoslovakia to Hollywood. Shot in 2000, edited and completed in 2018.
