1.
Bessarabia
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Bessarabia is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. The acquisition was among the Empires last territorial acquisitions in Europe, the newly acquired territories were organised as the Governorate of Bessarabia, adopting a name previously used for the southern plains, between the Dniester and the Danube rivers. In 1917, in the wake of the Russian Revolution, the area constituted itself as the Moldavian Democratic Republic, bolshevik agitation in late 1917 and early 1918 resulted in the intervention of the Romanian Army, ostensibly to pacify the region. Soon after, the assembly declared independence, and then union with the Kingdom of Romania. The legality of acts was however disputed, most prominently by the Soviet Union. Axis-aligned Romania briefly recaptured the region in 1941 during the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, in 1947, the Soviet-Romanian border along the Prut was internationally recognised by the Paris Treaty that ended World War II. Part of the Gagauz-inhabited areas in the southern Bessarabia was organised in 1994 as a region within Moldova. According to the interpretation, the name Bessarabia derives from the Wallachian Basarab dynasty. Recent research has however cast doubt on this view, as the name was first applied to the territory by Western cartographers, showing up in local sources only in the second half of the 17th century. Furthermore, the use of the term to refer to the Moldavian lands near the Black Sea was explicitly rejected as a confusion by the early Moldavian chronicler Miron Costin. The confusion may have been caused by Polish references to Wallachia as Bessarabia, according to Dimitrie Cantemir, the name originally applied only to the part of the territory south of the Upper Trajanic Wall, somewhat bigger than current Budjak. The name Bessarabia may literally mean Bessi slaves after the Thracian tribe which was expelled by Trajan north of the Danube. The region is bounded by the Dniester to the north and east, the Prut to the west and the lower River Danube and it has an area of 45,630 km2. The area is mostly hilly plains with flat steppes and it is very fertile, and has lignite deposits and stone quarries. People living in the area grow sugar beet, sunflowers, wheat, maize, tobacco, wine grapes and they also raise sheep and cattle. Currently, the industry in the region is agricultural processing. The regions main cities are Chișinău, Izmail and Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, historically called Cetatea Albă / Akkerman, other towns of administrative or historical importance include, Khotyn, Reni and Kilia, and Lipcani, Briceni, Soroca, Bălți, Orhei, Ungheni, Bender/Tighina and Cahul. In the late 14th century, the newly established Principality of Moldavia encompassed what became known as Bessarabia
2.
Russian Empire
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The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
3.
Moldova
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Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova (Romanian, Republica Moldova, listen, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. In 1856, southern Bessarabia was returned to Moldavia, but Russian rule was restored over the whole of the region in 1878, Bessarabia remained a province of the Russian Empire until 1917, when during the Russian Revolution it became an autonomous and then nominally independent Moldavian Democratic Republic. In 1918, following a vote of its assembly, Bessarabia united with the Kingdom of Romania, the decision was disputed by Soviet Russia, which in 1924, created within the Ukrainian SSR, on a territory east of Bessarabia, a so-called Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1940, as a consequence of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Romania was compelled to cede Bessarabia to the Soviet Union, the Soviets decided to split the region between a newly established Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Ukrainian SSR. The Moldavian SSR included two-thirds of the territory of Bessarabia, on 27 August 1991, as part of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Moldavian SSR declared independence and took the name Moldova. The current Constitution of Moldova was adopted in 1994, the strip of the Moldovan territory on the east bank of the Dniester river has been under the de facto control of the breakaway government of Transnistria since 1990. Its economy is the poorest in Europe in per capita terms, Moldova is a parliamentary republic with a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of government. The name Moldova derives from the Moldova River, the valley of this served as a political centre at the time of the foundation of the Principality of Moldavia in 1359. The origin of the name of the river remains unclear, the dogs name, given to the river, extended to the Principality. For a short time in the 1990s, at the founding of the Commonwealth of Independent States, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country began to use the Romanian name, Moldova. Officially, the name Republic of Moldova is designated by the United Nations, in 2010, Oldowan flint tools were discovered at Bayraki that are 800, 000–1.2 million years old. This demonstrates that humans were present in Moldova during the early Paleolithic era. The inhabitants of this civilization, which lasted roughly from 5500 to 2750 BC, practiced agriculture, raised livestock, hunted, in antiquity, Moldovas territory was inhabited by Dacian tribes. Between the 1st and 7th centuries AD, the south was intermittently under the Roman, and then Byzantine Empires. The Principality of Moldavia, established in 1359, was bounded by the Carpathian Mountains in the west, the Dniester River in the east, and the Danube River and Black Sea to the south. Its territory comprised the territory of the Republic of Moldova, the eastern eight counties of Romania. Like the present-day republic and Romanias north-eastern region, it was known to the locals as Moldova, Moldavia was invaded repeatedly by Crimean Tatars and, beginning in the 15th century, by the Turks. In 1538, the principality became a tributary to the Ottoman Empire, the title used in the document of 6 July 1600 was The King of the country of Romania, Ardeal and of all of Moldavia
4.
Los Angeles
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Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
5.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
6.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
7.
Two Arabian Knights
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Two Arabian Knights is an American comedy film, directed by Lewis Milestone and starring William Boyd, Mary Astor and Louis Wolheim. A silent film, Two Arabian Knights was produced by Howard Hughes and was distributed by United Artists, the screenwriters were James T. ODonohue, Wallace Smith, and George Marion Jr. The film won an Academy Award for Best Comedy Direction, during the First World War, two American soldiers become trapped in no mans land. Expecting to die, W. Daingerfield Phelps III decides to fulfill his fondest desire, to beat up his sergeant since training camp, while they are brawling, the Germans sneak up and capture them. In a German prison camp, the two friends when Phelps takes responsibility for an unflattering caricature he drew of a guard. The two escape, stealing the white robes of Arab prisoners to blend in with the snow, however, they encounter a group of similarly garbed Arab prisoners being sent by train to Constantinople. Near the end of their journey, Phelps creates a distraction, when the hay is loaded onto a ship bound for Arabia, so are they. The stowaways are discovered, but the skipper is satisfied when Phelps pays him their fare, when a small boat founders nearby, Phelps jumps in to try to rescue an Arabian woman, Mirza. Both he and the woman have to be saved by OGaffney, the two soldiers and the skipper vie for the veiled womans affections. Phelps eventually coaxes her into removing her veil, and is entranced by her beauty, meanwhile, the womans escort observes this development with disapproval. The skipper insists on being paid for Mirzas fare, but none of the three have any money left and they hold him off as best they can. When they reach their destination, the skipper refuses to let Mirza debark without paying, Mirza is met by Shevket Ben Ali, Mirza informs Phelps that her father has arranged for her to marry Shevket. The Americans jump overboard when the skipper discovers what happened to his purser, the two men head for the American consul, but leave hastily without speaking to him when they find the skipper already there lodging a complaint. They decide to seek the assistance of Mirzas father the Emir, however, Mirzas escort has told him and Shevket that Phelps has seen her without her veil. Outraged, the Emir sends his men to bring the Americans back to be executed, unaware of this, the two soldiers saunter into the Emirs palace. Fortunately, Phelps reads Mirzas warning note in time, and the two escape, when Phelps sets out to rescue Mirza, OGaffney shows true friendship and accompanies him. They are trapped by Shevket and his men, but when Mirza threatens to kill herself, Phelps agrees and fires first, his gun is the unloaded one. Mirza is made to leave the room, then Shevket reveals that both guns are empty, he did not wish to wager his life with a dog
8.
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film)
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All Quiet on the Western Front is a 1930 American epic Pre-Code war film based on the Erich Maria Remarque novel of the same name. It was directed by Lewis Milestone, and stars Louis Wolheim, Lew Ayres, John Wray, Arnold Lucy, All Quiet on the Western Front opened to wide acclaim in the United States. Considered a realistic and harrowing account of warfare in World War I, a decade later, after the same organization polled over 1,500 workers in the creative community, All Quiet on the Western Front was ranked the seventh-best American epic film. In 1990, the film was selected and preserved by the United States Library of Congress National Film Registry as being deemed culturally, historically, the film was the first to win the Academy Awards for both Outstanding Production and Best Director. Its sequel, The Road Back, shows members of the 2nd Company returning home after the war, Professor Kantorek gives an impassioned speech about the glory of serving in the Army and saving the Fatherland. On the brink of becoming men, the boys in his class and their romantic delusions are quickly broken during their brief but rigorous training under the abusive Corporal Himmelstoss, who bluntly informs them, Youre going to be soldiers—and thats all. The new soldiers arrive by train at the zone, which is mayhem, with soldiers everywhere, incoming shells, horse-drawn wagons racing about. One in the group is killed before the new recruits can reach their post, the new soldiers are assigned to a unit composed of older soldiers, who are not exactly accommodating. The young soldiers find that there is no food available at the moment and they have not eaten since breakfast, but the men they have joined have not had food for two days. One of them, Kat Katczinsky, had gone to something to eat. The young soldiers pay for their dinner with cigarettes, the new recruits first trip to the trenches with the veterans, to re-string barbed wire, is a harrowing experience, especially when Behn is blinded by shrapnel and runs into machine-gun fire. They are sent back to the kitchens to get their rations, each man receives double helpings. The men start out eating greedily, but then settle into a satiated torpor and they hear that they are to return to the front the next day and begin a semi-serious discussion about the causes of the war and of wars in general. They speculate about whether geographical entities offend each other and whether these disagreements involve them. Tjaden speaks familiarly about himself and the Kaiser, Kat jokes that instead of having a war, they should have the leaders of Europe be stripped to their underwear and fight it out with clubs. One day, Corporal Himmelstoss arrives to the front and is immediately spurned because of his bad reputation, in an attack on a cemetery, Paul stabs a French soldier, but finds himself trapped in a hole with the dying man for an entire night. Throughout the night, he tries to help him, bringing him water. He cries bitterly and begs the dead body to speak so he can be forgiven, later, he returns to the German lines and is comforted by Kat
9.
Academy Awards
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The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname Oscar. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by AMPAS, the awards ceremony was first broadcast on radio in 1930 and televised for the first time in 1953. It is now live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony and its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording – are modeled after the Academy Awards. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2016, were held on February 26,2017, at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles, the ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and was broadcast on ABC. A total of 3,048 Oscars have been awarded from the inception of the award through the 88th, the first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16,1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel, the cost of guest tickets for that nights ceremony was $5. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the industry of the time. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes, winners were announced to media three months earlier, however, that was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11,00 pm on the night of the awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier, this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, for the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. At the 29th ceremony, held on March 27,1957, until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies always end with the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, see also § Awards of Merit categories The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. The five spokes represent the branches of the Academy, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers. The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio El Indio Fernández, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Cedric Gibbons design. The statuettes presented at the ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
10.
Academy Award for Best Director
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The Academy Award for Best Director is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is given in honor of a director who has exhibited outstanding directing while working in the film industry. However, these categories were merged for all subsequent ceremonies, nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the directors branch of AMPAS, winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy. For the first eleven years of the Academy Awards, directors were allowed to be nominated for multiple films in the same year, the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture have been very closely linked throughout their history. Of the 89 films that have been awarded Best Picture,63 have also been awarded Best Director, since its inception, the award has been given to 69 directors or directing teams. John Ford has received the most awards in this category with four, william Wyler was nominated on twelve occasions, more than any other individual. As of the 2017 ceremony, Damien Chazelle is the most recent winner in category for his work on La La Land. Chazelle also became the youngest director in history to receive this award, two directing teams have shared the award, Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins for West Side Story in 1961 and Joel and Ethan Coen for No Country for Old Men in 2007. The Coen brothers are the siblings to have won the award. For the first five ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned twelve months from August 1 to July 31, for the 6th ceremony held in 1934, the eligibility period lasted from August 1,1932 to December 31,1933. Since the 7th ceremony held in 1935, the period of eligibility became the full calendar year from January 1 to December 31. org The Academy Awards Database Oscar. com
11.
The General Died at Dawn
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The General Died at Dawn is a 1936 American drama film that tells the story of a mercenary who meets a beautiful girl while trying to keep arms from getting to a vicious warlord in war-torn China. The movie was written by Charles G. Booth and Clifford Odets and it stars Gary Cooper, Madeleine Carroll, Akim Tamiroff, and Dudley Digges. Director Milestone has a cameo role, the movie was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Cinematography, and Best Music, Score. There are several scenes in the film that show startling originality at the time, at one point, the camera focuses on a white door knob, and then dissolves to a white billiard ball to connect disparate scenes. In another scene, two characters have a conversation in which they speculate about the fates of characters in the drama. The answers to their questions appear in segments in the corners of the screen. The main character, OHara, is based on the real-life Anglo-Canadian Jewish adventurer Morris Abraham Two-Gun Cohen, during the early 1930s, Cohen ran guns for various warlords in mainland China. This is reported to be the first film to use foam latex prosthetics, makeup artist Charles Gemora applied sponge rubber eyelids for one of the actors. John Howard Reid called it one of the fifty finest films Hollywood ever made, in it, a major tells tall tales about his hunting adventures to a boy who resembles Freddie Bartholomew. The character of the major may have influenced by Colonel Heeza Liar. A third-season episode of the TV show M*A*S*H was entitled The General Flipped at Dawn. In the episode Harry Morgan appears as Major General Bartford Hamilton Steele, the General Died at Dawn at the Internet Movie Database The General Died at Dawn at AllMovie The General Died at Dawn on Escape, April 16,1949
12.
Of Mice and Men (1939 film)
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Of Mice and Men is a 1939 drama film based on the 1937 play based on the novella of the same title by American author John Steinbeck and starring Burgess Meredith, Betty Field and Lon Chaney, Jr. Chaney had appeared in more than 50 films to that point in his career, the film, produced by the Hal Roach Studios, was adapted by Eugene Solow and directed by Lewis Milestone. It was nominated for four Oscars, the musical score was by American composer Aaron Copland. Lennies part of the dream, which he never tires of hearing George describe, is merely to tend to soft rabbits on the farm, George protects Lennie at the beginning by telling him that if Lennie gets into trouble George wont let him tend them rabbits. After being dropped off 10 miles from their destination, George, when George points to Lennie the river, he runs to the river and dunks his whole head in it, drinking from it like an animal. George soon catches Lennie petting a dead bird, takes it away from him, when Lennie hears that they are going have beans for dinner, he requests ketchup, to which George responds that they do not have any. This leaves Lennie puzzled, as he forgot that first response from earlier and this also causes George to have a long speech about Lennies ungratefulness, childlike behavior and why they had to escape from Weed. Eventually, George eases the tensions by telling Lennie his favorite story about their farm before going to sleep. The next day, they arrive at the ranch near Soledad and they meet Candy, the aged, one-handed ranch-hand with his ageing dog he raised since he was a puppy. To make matters worse, Curleys seductive, yet sadistic and conniving wife, Mae, to whom Lennie is instantly attracted, George orders Lennie not to look at, or even talk to, her, as he senses the troubles that Mae could bring to the men. One night, Mae enters the barn in an attempt to talk with Slim, when this statement causes Mae to sob, Slim is forced to give in and let her talk. Back at the bunkhouse, Candy offers to join with George and Lennie after Carlson kills his dog, so they can buy the farm, Curley appears and makes a scene in the bunkhouse as the workers mock him after he accused Slim of keeping company with his wife. George and Lennies dream is over-shadowed when Curley catches Lennie laughing, grabs him from his bunk, instead of fighting back, Lennie asks for help from George, who tells him to fight back. Upon hearing George say this, Lennie catches Curleys hand and crushes it, Slim gives Curley an ultimatum, not to tell anyone what exactly happened. If Curley does tell his father in retribution to get Lennie and George fired, Curley is told, for this reason, to say that he got his hand caught in a piece of machinery. On Saturday night, everyone, except Lennie, Candy and Crooks, are in town, enjoying themselves. Crooks asks Lennie to stay in his room and Lennie explains to him about the farm that he, George and Candy are going to own, forgetting his promise to George not to tell this to anyone. Candy gets into the conversation too, and when George comes back first, he sees Lennie smoking a cigar and takes it away, at that moment, Mae enters the bunkhouse, trying to ask Crooks who crushed Curleys hand
13.
Ocean's 11
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Oceans 11 is a 1960 heist film directed by Lewis Milestone and starring five Rat Packers, Peter Lawford, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Joey Bishop. A remake, directed by Steven Soderbergh, starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy García, Julia Roberts, Bernie Mac, and Don Cheadle was released in 2001, followed by a pair of sequels. A gang of World War II 82nd Airborne veterans is recruited by Danny Ocean, the gang plans the elaborate New Years Eve heist with the precision of a military operation. Josh Howard takes a job as a worker driving a garbage truck while others work to scope out the various casinos. Sam Harmon entertains in one of the hotels lounges, demolition charges are planted on an electrical transmission tower and the backup electrical systems are covertly rewired in each casino. At exactly midnight, while everyone in every Vegas casino is singing Auld Lang Syne the tower is blown up, the backup electrical systems open the cashier cages instead of powering the emergency lights. The inside men sneak into the cages and collect the money. They dump the bags of loot into the garbage bins, go back inside. As soon as the come back on, the thieves stroll out of the casinos. A garbage truck driven by Josh picks up the bags and passes through the police blockade and it appears to have gone off without a hitch. Their ace electrician, Tony Bergdorf, has an attack in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip. This raises the suspicions of police, who wonder if there is any connection, reformed mobster Duke Santos offers to recover the casino bosses money for a price. He learns of Ocean being in town and his connection to Foster, Santos pieces together the puzzle by the time Bergdorfs body arrives at the mortuary. Santos confronts the thieves, demanding half of their take, in desperation, the money is hidden in Bergdorfs coffin, with $10,000 set aside for Bergdorfs widow. The group plans to back the rest of the money, making no payoff to Santos. This plan backfires when the director talks Bergdorfs widow into having the funeral in Las Vegas. Peter Lawford was first told of the story of the film by director Gilbert Kay. Lawford eventually bought the rights in 1958, imagining William Holden in the lead, Sinatra became interested in the idea, and a variety of different writers worked on the project
14.
Mutiny on the Bounty (1962 film)
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The film retells the 1789 real-life mutiny aboard HMAV Bounty led by Fletcher Christian against the ships captain, William Bligh. It is the second American film to be made from the novel and it was directed by Lewis Milestone, who replaced Carol Reed early in the production schedule, and it turned out to be Milestones final film. The screenplay was written by Charles Lederer, the score was composed by Bronisław Kaper. Mutiny on the Bounty was filmed in the Ultra Panavision 70 widescreen process and it was partly shot on location in the South Pacific. The film was panned, and was considered a box office bomb. A replica of the Bounty was constructed for the film, fifty years after the release of the film, the vessel sank in Hurricane Sandy with loss of life. In the year 1787, the Bounty sets sail from England for Tahiti under the command of captain William Bligh and her mission is to transport breadfruit to Jamaica, where hopefully it will thrive and provide a cheap source of food for the slaves. The difficult voyage gets off to a start with the discovery that some cheese is missing. The tone for the months to come is summarized by Blighs ominous pronouncement that cruelty with a purpose is not cruelty, aristocrat Christian is deeply offended by his ambitious captain. Bligh attempts to reach Tahiti sooner by attempting the shorter route around Cape Horn. The strategy fails and the Bounty backtracks east, costing the mission much time, singleminded Bligh attempts to make up the lost time by pushing the crew harder and cutting their rations. When the Bounty reaches her destination, the crew revels in the life of the tropical paradise —. Christian himself is smitten with Maimiti, daughter of the Tahitian king, Blighs agitation is further fueled by a dormancy period of the breadfruit, more months of delay until the plants can be transplanted. As departure day nears, three men, including seaman Mills, attempt to desert but are caught by Christian and clapped in irons by Bligh. On the return voyage, Bligh attempts to bring back twice the number of plants to atone for his tardiness. One member of the falls from the rigging to his death while attempting to retrieve the drinking ladle. Another assaults Bligh over conditions on the ship and is fatally keelhauled, Mills taunts Christian after each death, trying to egg him on to challenge Bligh. When a crewman becomes gravely ill from drinking seawater, Christian attempts to give him water in violation of the Captains orders
15.
Marlon Brando
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Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American actor, film director and activist. He is credited with bringing realism to film acting and he helped to popularize the Stanislavski system of acting, studying with Stella Adler in the 1940s. Julius Caesar, The Wild One, Reflections in a Golden Eye, Last Tango in Paris, Brando was also an activist for many causes, notably the Civil Rights Movement and various Native American movements. Brando received Academy Award nominations for playing Emiliano Zapata in Viva Zapata, Mark Antony in Joseph L. Mankiewiczs 1953 film adaptation of Shakespeares Julius Caesar, and Air Force Major Lloyd Gruver in Sayonara, an adaption of James Micheners 1954 novel. Brando was included in a list of Top Ten Money Making Stars three times in the 1950s, coming in at number 10 in 1954, number 6 in 1955, the 1960s proved to be a fallow decade for Brando. The Godfather was then one of the most commercially successful films of all time, Brando took a four-year hiatus before appearing in The Missouri Breaks. After this, he was content with being a highly paid actor in cameo roles, such as in Superman and The Formula. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Brando was paid a record $3.7 million and 11. 75% of the profits for 13 days work on Superman. Brando was ranked by the American Film Institute as the fourth-greatest movie star among male movie stars whose screen debuts occurred in or before 1950. He was one of three professional actors, along with Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe, named in 1999 by Time magazine as one of its 100 Most Important People of the Century. He died of respiratory failure on July 1,2004, at age 80, Brando was born on April 3,1924, in Omaha, Nebraska, to Marlon Brando, Sr. a pesticide and chemical feed manufacturer, and Dorothy Julia. Brando had two sisters, Jocelyn Brando and Frances. His ancestry included German, Dutch, English, and Irish and his patrilineal immigrant ancestor, Johann Wilhelm Brandau, arrived in New York in the early 1700s from the Palatinate in Germany. Brando was raised a Christian Scientist, however, she was an alcoholic and often had to be brought home from Chicago bars by her husband. In his autobiography, Songs My Mother Taught Me, Brando expressed sadness when writing about his mother, dodie and Brandos father eventually joined Alcoholics Anonymous. Brando harbored far more enmity for his father, stating, I was his namesake and he enjoyed telling me I couldnt do anything right. He had a habit of telling me I would never amount to anything, Brandos parents moved to Evanston, Illinois, when his fathers work took him to Chicago, but separated when Brando was 11 years old. His mother took the three children to Santa Ana, California, where they lived with her mother, in 1937, Brandos parents reconciled and moved together to Libertyville, Illinois, a small town north of Chicago
16.
Bessarabia Governorate
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Bessarabia was an oblast and later a guberniya in the Russian Empire. The Governorate was disbanded in 1917, with the establishment of Sfatul Ţării, the latter united with Romania in April 1918. Around 70% of the territory of the former governorate now belongs to the Republic of Moldova, as the Russian Empire noticed the weakening of the Ottoman Empire, it occupied the eastern half of the autonomous Principality of Moldavia, between the Prut and Dniester rivers. This was followed by six years of warfare, which were concluded by the Treaty of Bucharest, the Russians used the name Bessarabia for the whole region rather than the southern area. Bessarabia had an area of 45,630 km², more than the rest of Moldavia, in 1818, a special autonomous region was created, which had both Romanian and Russian as languages used in the local administration. Bănulescu-Bodoni also obtained permission for opening a seminary and a printing press, nicholas I of Russia, crowned in 1825, began a campaign of reforms which had the goal of gaining more control over the western provinces. Autonomy of the region was retracted in 1829, with the new constitution written by the governor of New Russia and Bessarabia, Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov. In 1834, Romanian was banned in schools and government facilities, and soon, books, the press and those who fought the changes could be exiled to Siberia. The constitution no longer made the usage of Romanian compulsory for public announcements and in 1854, also around 1850, Romanian was no longer used in schools and the importation of books from Moldavia and Wallachia was banned. Integration within the Russian Empire continued with the introduction of the zemstva in 1869, although this system was meant to increase the participation of the locals in civic affairs, it was run by Russians and other non-Moldavian functionaries brought from across the Empire. Romania became independent in 1878, but millions of ethnic Romanians lived outside its borders and as such it had aspirations toward Transylvania, as well as Bessarabia. In 1856, under the terms of the Treaty of Paris, Russia was forced to return a significant territory in southern Bessarabia to Moldavia, which joined Wallachia in 1859 to form Romania. The Romanian politicians and public were angered by this action, Romanian politician Mihail Kogălniceanu accused Russia of deception and of treating an ally like a conquered province. He even started a memorandum against Russia to try to influence the Western governments, denouncing not only the annexation of Southern Bessarabia, despite this, none of the European powers wanted to risk a conflict with Russia. According to the Treaty of Berlin, Romania gained Dobruja as a compensation for the loss of Southern Bessarabia, despite being a larger territory, Romanians considered it an unfair exchange and accepted it reluctantly, because there was no other alternative. Bessarabia was the most backward of the provinces of the Russian Empire. In 1897, literacy was just 15. 4% for the whole Bessarabia, with only 6% of ethnically Moldavians being literate, as of 1920, an estimated ten percent of men and one percent of women were able to read and write. Thus, by the 1880s only 23 schools remained, as a result, the literature and cultural life stagnated, only a few notable literary figures arising from Bessarabia, among them being Alexandru Hasdeu, Constantin Stamati and Teodor Vîrnav
17.
Jews
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The Jews, also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Israelites, or Hebrews, of the Ancient Near East. Jews originated as a national and religious group in the Middle East during the second millennium BCE, the Merneptah Stele appears to confirm the existence of a people of Israel, associated with the god El, somewhere in Canaan as far back as the 13th century BCE. The Israelites, as an outgrowth of the Canaanite population, consolidated their hold with the emergence of the Kingdom of Israel, some consider that these Canaanite sedentary Israelites melded with incoming nomadic groups known as Hebrews. The worldwide Jewish population reached a peak of 16.7 million prior to World War II, but approximately 6 million Jews were systematically murdered during the Holocaust. Since then the population has risen again, and as of 2015 was estimated at 14.3 million by the Berman Jewish DataBank. According to the report, about 43% of all Jews reside in Israel and these numbers include all those who self-identified as Jews in a socio-demographic study or were identified as such by a respondent in the same household. The exact world Jewish population, however, is difficult to measure, Israel is the only country where Jews form a majority of the population. The modern State of Israel was established as a Jewish state and defines itself as such in its Declaration of Independence and its Law of Return grants the right of citizenship to any Jew who requests it. The English word Jew continues Middle English Gyw, Iewe, according to the Hebrew Bible, the name of both the tribe and kingdom derive from Judah, the fourth son of Jacob. The Hebrew word for Jew, יְהוּדִי ISO 259-3 Yhudi, is pronounced, with the stress on the syllable, in Israeli Hebrew. The Ladino name is ג׳ודיו, Djudio, ג׳ודיוס, Djudios, Yiddish, ייִד Yid, ייִדן, Yidn. The etymological equivalent is in use in languages, e. g. but derivations of the word Hebrew are also in use to describe a Jew, e. g. in Italian. The German word Jude is pronounced, the corresponding adjective jüdisch is the origin of the word Yiddish, in such contexts Jewish is the only acceptable possibility. Some people, however, have become so wary of this construction that they have extended the stigma to any use of Jew as a noun, a factual reconstruction for the origin of the Jews is a difficult and complex endeavor. It requires examining at least 3,000 years of ancient human history using documents in vast quantities, as archaeological discovery relies upon researchers and scholars from diverse disciplines, the goal is to interpret all of the factual data, focusing on the most consistent theory. In this case, it is complicated by long standing politics and religious, Jacob and his family migrated to Ancient Egypt after being invited to live with Jacobs son Joseph by the Pharaoh himself. The patriarchs descendants were later enslaved until the Exodus led by Moses, traditionally dated to the 13th century BCE, Modern archaeology has largely discarded the historicity of the Patriarchs and of the Exodus story, with it being reframed as constituting the Israelites inspiring national myth narrative. The growth of Yahweh-centric belief, along with a number of practices, gradually gave rise to a distinct Israelite ethnic group
18.
U.S. Signal Corps
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The United States Army Signal Corps develops, tests, provides, and manages communications and information systems support for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was established in 1860, the brainchild of United States Army Major Albert J. Myer, support for the command and control of combined arms forces. Signal support includes Network Operations and management of the electromagnetic spectrum, while serving as a medical officer in Texas in 1856, Albert James Myer proposed that the Army use his visual communications system, called aerial telegraphy. When the Army adopted his system on 21 June 1860, the Signal Corps was born with Myer as the first, Major Myer first used his visual signaling system on active service in New Mexico during the early 1860s Navajo expedition. For nearly three years, Myer was forced to rely on detailed personnel, although he envisioned a separate, myers vision came true on 3 March 1863, when Congress authorized a regular Signal Corps for the duration of the war. Some 2,900 officers and enlisted men served, although not at any single time, even in the Civil War, the wigwag system, restricted to line-of-sight communications, was waning in the face of the electric telegraph. Initially, Myer used his office downtown in Washington, D. C. to house the Signal Corps School, when it was found to need additional space, he sought out other locations. First came Fort Greble, one of the Defenses of Washington during the Civil War, the size and location were outstanding. The school remained there for over 20 years and ultimately was renamed Fort Myer, Signal Corps detachments participated in campaigns fighting Native Americans in the west, such as the Powder River Expedition of 1865. The electric telegraph, in addition to signaling, became a Signal Corps responsibility in 1867. Within 12 years, the Corps had constructed, and was maintaining and operating, in 1870, the Signal Corps established a congressionally mandated national weather service. Within a decade, with the assistance of Lieutenant Adolphus Greely, Myer died in 1880, having attained the rank of brigadier general and the title of Chief Signal Officer. The weather bureau became part of the U. S. Department of Agriculture in 1891, the Signal Corps role in the Spanish–American War of 1898 and the subsequent Philippine Insurrection was on a grander scale than it had been in the Civil War. In 1908, on Fort Myer, Virginia, the Wright brothers made test flights of the Armys first airplane built to Signal Corps specifications, reflecting the need for an official pilot rating, War Department Bulletin No. 2, released on 24 February 1911, established a Military Aviator rating, Army aviation remained within the Signal Corps until 1918, when it became the Army Air Service. The Signal Corps lost no time in meeting the challenges of World War I, Chief Signal Officer George Owen Squier worked closely with private industry to perfect radio tubes while creating a major signal laboratory at Camp Alfred Vail. Early radiotelephones developed by the Signal Corps were introduced into the European theater in 1918, while the new American voice radios were superior to the radiotelegraph sets, telephone and telegraph remained the major technology of World War I. A pioneer in radar, Colonel William Blair, director of the Signal Corps laboratories at Fort Monmouth, even before the United States entered World War II, mass production of two radar sets, the SCR-268 and the SCR-270, had begun
19.
Naturalized
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Naturalization is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen in a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done by a statute, without any effort on the part of the individual, or it may involve an application, an oath or pledge of allegiance is also sometimes required. In some rare cases, laws for mass naturalization were passed, since World War II, the increase in international migrations created a new category of refugees, most of them economic refugees. The Peoples Republic of China gives citizenship to persons with one or two parents with Chinese nationality who have not taken residence in other countries, the country also gives citizenship to people born on its territory to stateless people who have settled there. Furthermore, individuals may apply for nationality if they have a relative with Chinese nationality, if they have settled in China. In practice, only few people gain Chinese citizenship, as of 2010, the naturalization process starts with a written application. Applicants must also submit original copies of a passport, a residence permit, a permanent residence permit. The Indian citizenship and nationality law and the Constitution of India provides single citizenship for the entire country, the provisions relating to citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution are contained in Articles 5 to 11 in Part II of the Constitution of India. Relevant Indian legislation is the Citizenship Act 1955, which has been amended by the Citizenship Act 1986, the Citizenship Act 1992, the Citizenship Act 2003, and the Citizenship Ordinance 2005. The Citizenship Act 2003 received the assent of the President of India on 7 January 2004, the Citizenship Ordinance 2005 was promulgated by the President of India and came into force on 28 June 2005. Following these reforms, Indian nationality law largely follows the jus sanguinis as opposed to the jus soli, Indonesian nationality is regulated by Law No. The Indonesian nationality law is based on jus sanguinis and jus soli, the Indonesian nationality law does not recognize dual citizenship except for persons under the age of 18. After reaching 18 years of age individuals are forced to choose one citizenship, Israels Declaration of Independence was made on 14 May 1948, the day before the British Mandate was due to expire as a result of the United Nations Partition Plan. The Israeli parliament created two laws regarding immigration, citizenship and naturalization, the Law of Return and the Israeli nationality law, the Law of Return, enacted on July 15,1950, gives Jews living anywhere in the world the right to immigrate to Israel. This right to immigrate did not and still does not grant citizenship, in fact, for four years after Israel gained independence, there were no Israeli citizens. On July 14,1952, the Israeli parliament enacted the Israeli Nationality Law. The Nationality Law naturalized all citizens of Mandated Palestine, the inhabitants of Israel on July 15,1952, because of Israels relatively new and culturally mixed identity, Israel does not grant citizenship to persons born on Israeli soil. Instead, the government chose to enact a jus sanguinis system, there is currently no legislation on second-generation immigrants
20.
Howard Hughes
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Howard Robard Hughes Jr. was an American businessman, investor, pilot, film director, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most financially successful individuals in the world. He first made a name for himself as a film producer, later in life, he became known for his eccentric behavior and reclusive lifestyle, oddities that were caused in part by a worsening obsessive–compulsive disorder and chronic pain from a plane crash. As a maverick film tycoon, Hughes gained prominence in Hollywood beginning in the late 1920s, when he made big-budget and often controversial films like The Racket, Hells Angels, later he controlled the RKO film studio. Hughes formed the Hughes Aircraft Company in 1932, hiring numerous engineers and designers and he spent the rest of the 1930s setting multiple world air speed records and building the Hughes H-1 Racer and H-4 Hercules. He acquired and expanded Trans World Airlines and later acquired Air West, Hughes was included in Flying Magazines list of the 51 Heroes of Aviation, ranked at No.25. Today, his legacy is maintained through the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the birthplace of Howard Hughes is recorded as either Humble or Houston, Texas. The date remains uncertain due to conflicting dates from various sources and he repeatedly claimed that his birthday was on Christmas Eve. A1941 affidavit birth certificate of Hughes that was signed by his aunt Annette Gano Lummis and Estelle Boughton Sharp states that he was born on December 24,1905, in Harris County, Texas. Hughes was the son of Allene Stone Gano and Howard R. Hughes Sr. a successful inventor and he was of English, and some French Huguenot, ancestry, and was a descendant of John Gano, a minister who allegedly baptized George Washington. His father had patented the two-cone roller bit, which allowed rotary drilling for petroleum in previously inaccessible places, the senior Hughes made the shrewd and lucrative decision to commercialize the invention by leasing the bits instead of selling them, and founded the Hughes Tool Company in 1909. Hughes uncle was the famed novelist, screenwriter, and film director Rupert Hughes, at a young age, Hughes demonstrated interest in science and technology. In particular, he had great engineering aptitude and built Houstons first wireless radio transmitter at age 11 and he went on to be one of the first licensed ham radio operators in Houston, having the assigned callsign W5CY. At 12, Hughes was photographed in the newspaper, identified as being the first boy in Houston to have a motorized bicycle. He was an indifferent student, with a liking for mathematics, flying and he took his first flying lesson at 14, and later attended math and aeronautical engineering courses at Caltech. The red brick house where Hughes lived as a teenager at 3921 Yoakum St. Houston today serves as the headquarters of the Theology Department of the University of St. Thomas and his mother Allene died in March 1922 from complications of an ectopic pregnancy. Howard Hughes Sr. died of an attack in 1924. Their deaths apparently inspired Hughes to include the creation of a research laboratory in the will that he signed in 1925 at age 19. Howard Sr. s will had not been updated since Allenes death, on his 19th birthday, Hughes was declared an emancipated minor, enabling him to take full control of his life
21.
The Racket (1928 film)
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The Racket is a 1928 American crime drama film directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Thomas Meighan, Marie Prevost, Louis Wolheim, and George E. Stone. The film was produced by Howard Hughes, written by Bartlett Cormack and Tom Miranda and it was adapted from Cormacks 1927 Broadway play The Racket. Due to the portrayal of a corrupt police force and city government both the film and the play were banned at the time in Chicago. The Racket is one of the first films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture in the 1929 Academy Awards, only one copy of the film is known to exist. It was long thought lost before being located in Howard Hughes film collection after his death. A print was shepherded by Dr. Hart Wegner of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, film department for restoration by Jeffrey Masino, along with another Hughes-produced film, Two Arabian Knights. In 2004 and 2006, Turner Classic Movies broadcast The Racket, Two Arabian Knights, and The Mating Call, Thomas Meighan as Captain James McQuigg Louis Wolheim as Nick Scarsi Marie Prevost as Helen Hayes G. Pat Collins as Patrolman Johnson Henry Sedley as Spike George E
22.
Gangster film
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Mob films — or gangster films — are a subgenre of crime films dealing with organized crime, often specifically with the Mafia. Especially in early mob films, there is overlap with film noir. The American movie The Black Hand is thought to be the earliest surviving gangster film. In 1912, D. W. Griffith directed The Musketeers of Pig Alley, critics have also cited Regeneration as an early crime film. Though mob films had their roots in such silent films, the genre in its most durable form was defined in the early 1930s and it owed its innovations to the social and economic instability occasioned by the Great Depression, which galvanized the organized crime subculture in the United States. The years 1931 and 1932 saw the genre produce three enduring classics, Warner Bros and those suffering from the Depression were able to relate to the gangster character who worked hard to earn his place and success in the world, only to have it all taken away from him. As the appeal and attraction of gangster movie stars such as Cagney, Robinson, Muni, during the early years of crime film, Scarface, arguably the most violent of gangster films created during the entire decade, particularly was the subject of criticism. This is illustrated by James Cagneys role as a law officer in the 1935 movie G Men and these pictures demonstrate the growing acceptance of crime films during the 1930s as long as criminals were not portrayed in a flattering light. It was now the law officers that the films attempted to glamorize, politics combined with the social and economic climate of the time to influence how crime films were made and how the characters were portrayed. Many of the films imply that criminals are the creation of society, rather than its rebel, the institution of Prohibition in 1920 led to an explosion in crime, and the depiction of bootlegging is a frequent occurrence in many mob films. However, as the 1930s progressed, Hollywood also experimented with the stories of the criminals and bank robbers, such as John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson. However, as the FBI increased in power there was also a shift to favour the stories of the FBI agents hunting the criminals instead of focusing on the criminal characters. In fact, in 1935 at the height of the hunt for Dillinger, many of the 1930s crime films also dealt with class and ethnic conflict, notably the earliest films, reflecting doubts about how well the American system was working. As stated, many films pushed the message that criminals were the result of a moral and economic society. In the 1970s there was a revival of mob films, notably with The Godfather and it was followed by two sequels, The Godfather Part II and The Godfather Part III. It also inspired other mob films such as The Valachi Papers, the 1983 remake of Scarface was not particularly well received at the time of its release, but over time it has come to be seen as a classic of the mob film genre. It went on to films such as King of New York. On the other hand, Sergio Leone shot an epic drama film Once Upon a Time in America, starring Robert De Niro
23.
Hell's Angels (film)
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Hells Angels is a 1930 independently made American epic aviation war film, directed and produced by Howard Hughes, that stars Ben Lyon, James Hall, and Jean Harlow. The film, which was written by Harry Behn and Howard Estabrook, was released by United Artists, originally shot as a silent film, Hughes retooled Hells Angels over a lengthy gestation period. Most of the film is in black-and-white, but there is one color sequence, despite its initial poor performance at the box office, the film eventually earned its production costs twice over. Hells Angels is now hailed as one of the screens first sound action films, Roy and Monte Rutledge are very different British brothers. Strait-laced Roy loves and idealizes the apparently demure Helen, Monte, on the other hand, is a womanizer. Their German friend and fellow Oxford student Karl is against the idea of having to fight England when World War I breaks out, meanwhile, the oblivious Monte is caught in the arms of a woman by her German officer husband, who insists upon a duel the next day. When Roy is mistaken for his brother, he goes ahead with the duel and is shot in the arm. Karl is conscripted into the German Air Force, and the two British brothers enlist in the Royal Flying Corps, Monte only to get a kiss from a girl at the recruiting station, when Roy finally introduces Monte to Helen, she invites Monte to her flat. Monte tries to rebuff her advances for his brothers sake, the next morning, however, he is for once ashamed of himself. Meanwhile, Karl is an officer aboard a Zeppelin airship sent to bomb Trafalgar Square, as the bombardier-observer, he is lowered below the clouds in a spy basket. He deliberately guides the Zeppelin over water, where the bombs have no effect, four RFC fighters are sent to intercept the Zeppelin. Roy pilots one, with Monte as his gunner, to gain altitude more quickly, the airship commander orders everything possible be jettisoned. When that is not enough, he decides to sacrifice Karl by cutting the cable that secures his pod and he then accepts the advice of another officer, the officer and other crewmen obediently leap to their deaths for Kaiser and fatherland. German machine gunners shoot down three aircraft, Roy and Monte survive a crash landing, after his machine guns jam or run out of ammunition, the last British pilot aloft dives his fighter into the dirigible, sending it crashing in a blazing fireball. The brothers narrowly avoid the debris, later, in France, Monte is branded a coward for shirking his duty when his replacement is shot down in his place. When a Staff Colonel asks for two volunteers for a mission, Roy and Monte step up. They are to destroy a vital enemy munitions depot their squadron had tried to blow up for days and they will sneak in using a captured German bomber the next morning so that a British brigade will have a chance in their otherwise hopeless afternoon attack. That night, Roy discovers a drunk Helen in a nightclub with Captain Redfield, when he tries to take her home, she turns on him, revealing that she never loved him, that she was, in fact, not the young innocent he believed her to be
24.
Erich Maria Remarque
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Erich Maria Remarque, born Erich Paul Remark, was a German novelist who created many works about the terror of war. His best known novel All Quiet on the Western Front, about German soldiers in the First World War, was made into an Oscar-winning film and his book made him an enemy of the Nazis, who burned many of his works. Erich Maria Remarque was born on 22 June 1898 into a working family in the German city of Osnabrück to Peter Franz Remark. During World War I, Remarque volunteered to join the German Army at the age of 18, on 12 June 1917, he was transferred to the Western Front, 2nd Company, Reserves, Field Depot of the 2nd Guards Reserve Division at Hem-Lenglet. On 26 June, he was posted to the 15th Reserve Infantry Regiment, 2nd Company, Engineer Platoon Bethe, and was stationed between Torhout and Houthulst. On 31 July, he was wounded by shrapnel in the leg, right arm and neck. After the war he continued his training and worked from 1 August 1919 as a primary school teacher in Lohne, at that time in the county of Lingen. From May 1920 he worked in Klein Berßen in the former County of Hümmling, now Emsland, and from August 1920 in Nahne, on 20 November 1920 he applied for leave of absence from teaching. Remarque worked at a number of different jobs, including librarian, businessman, journalist and his first paid writing job was as a technical writer for the Continental Rubber Company, a German tire manufacturer. At the age of 16, Remarque had made his first attempts at writing, this included essays, poems, the original family name, Remarque, had been changed to Remark by his grandfather in the 19th century. In 1927, Remarque made a second start with the novel Station at the Horizon. It was published in form only in 1998. All Quiet on the Western Front was written in 1927, the novel, published in 1929, described the experiences of German soldiers during World War I. A number of similar works followed, in simple, emotive language they described wartime, in 1931, after finishing The Road Back, Remarque bought a villa in Porto Ronco, Switzerland, planning to live both there and in France. His next novel, Three Comrades, spans the years of the Weimar Republic and his last novel was Shadows in Paradise, he wrote it while living at 320 East 57th Street in New York City. The apartment building played a prominent role in his novel, on 10 May 1933, the German government, on the initiative of the Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, banned and publicly burned Remarques works. Remarque finally left Germany to live at his villa in Switzerland, according to the data received from the Remarque museum in Osnabrück, Remarques German background as well as his Catholic faith were never questioned by the Nazis. The Nazis continued to decry his writings, claiming anyone who would change the spelling of his name from the German Remark to the French Remarque could not be a true German, the Nazis further made the false claim that Remarque had not seen active service during World War I
25.
Ben Hecht
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Ben Hecht /ˈhɛkt/ was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist and novelist. A journalist in his youth, he went on to write thirty-five books and he received screen credits, alone or in collaboration, for the stories or screenplays of some seventy films. In the 1910s and early 1920s, Hecht became a noted journalist, foreign correspondent, in the 1920s, his co-authored, reporter-themed play, The Front Page, became a Broadway hit. The Dictionary of Literary Biography - American Screenwriters calls him one of the most successful screenwriters in the history of motion pictures, Hecht received the first Academy Award for Original Screenplay, for Underworld. Many of the screenplays he worked on are now considered classics and he also provided story ideas for such films as Stagecoach. Film historian Richard Corliss called him the Hollywood screenwriter, someone who personified Hollywood itself, in 1940, he wrote, produced, and directed, Angels Over Broadway, which was nominated for Best Screenplay. In total, six of his movie screenplays were nominated for Academy Awards, of his seventy to ninety screenplays, he wrote many anonymously to avoid the British boycott of his work in the late 1940s and early 1950s. According to his autobiography, he never spent more than eight weeks on a script, in 1983,19 years after his death, Ben Hecht was posthumously inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. Hecht was born in New York City, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants and his father, Joseph Hecht, worked in the garment industry. His father and mother, Sarah Swernofsky Hecht, had immigrated to New York from Minsk, the family moved to Racine, Wisconsin, where Ben attended high school. When Hecht was in his teens he would spend the summers with an uncle in Chicago. On the road much of the time, his father did not have effect on Hecht’s childhood. Film author Scott Siegal wrote, He was considered a prodigy at age ten, seemingly on his way to a career as a concert violinist. After graduating from school in 1910, at age sixteen Hecht moved to Chicago. He lived with relatives, and started a career in journalism and he found work as a reporter, first for the Chicago Journal, and later with the Chicago Daily News. He was an excellent reporter who worked on several Chicago papers, after World War I, Hecht was sent to cover Berlin for the Chicago Daily News. There he wrote his first and most successful novel, Erik Dorn and it was a sensational debut for Hecht as a serious writer. The 1969 movie, Gaily, Gaily, directed by Norman Jewison, the film was nominated for three Oscars
26.
The North Star (1943 film)
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The North Star is a 1943 war film produced by Samuel Goldwyn Productions and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. It was directed by Lewis Milestone, written by Lillian Hellman, the film starred Anne Baxter, Dana Andrews, Walter Huston, Walter Brennan and Erich von Stroheim. The music was written by Aaron Copland, the lyrics by Ira Gershwin, the film also marked the debut of Farley Granger. The film is about the resistance of Ukrainian villagers, through guerrilla tactics, the film was an unabashedly pro-Soviet propaganda film at the height of the war. In June 1941 Ukrainian villagers are living in peace, as the school year ends, a group of friends decide to travel to Kiev for a holiday. To their horror, they find themselves attacked by German aircraft, eventually their village itself is occupied by the Nazis. Meanwhile, men and women take to the hills to form partisan militias, the full brutality of the Nazis is revealed when a German doctor uses the village children as a source of blood for transfusions into wounded German soldiers. Some children lose so much blood that they die, a famous Russian doctor discovers this and informs the partisans, who prepare to strike back. They launch an assault on the village to rescue the children. The Russian doctor accuses the German doctor of being worse than the convinced Nazis, the peasants join together, and one girl envisions a future in which they will make a free world for all men. World War II movies are RKO Radio Picturess Days of Glory on Russian resistance in the Tula Oblast, the film was rereleased in 1957 under the title of Armored Attack. This version starts with the entry of the German column into the town, in later years, the actual print was made available on video with none of the cut segments in the 1957 print
27.
The Purple Heart
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The Purple Heart is a 1944 American war film directed by Lewis Milestone. The film stars Dana Andrews, Richard Conte, Farley Granger, Don Red Barry, eighteen-year-old Farley Granger had a supporting role. The Purple Heart is a dramatization of the trial of a number of US airmen by the Japanese during World War II. The film is based on the trial of eight airmen who took part in the April 18,1942. Three were executed and one died as a POW, in April 1942, after a raid on Japan, eight American aircrew made up of the crews from two North American B-25 Mitchell bombers, are captured. Capt. Harvey Ross, becomes the leader of the captives, initially, the men are picked up by a local government official who is a Chinese collaborator in a Wang Jingwei controlled section of China. The Chinese official delivers the Americans to the Imperial Japanese Army to be put on trial at the Shanghai Police Headquarters. Although international observers and correspondents are allowed to witness the trial, the officer, General Mitsubi refuses to allow Karl Kappel. At the start of the trial, Lt. Greenbaum, an attorney in civilian life, declares the trial is illegal, as the men are in the military service of their country. When the senior officer Captain Ross refuses to answer the demands of the sly General Mitsubi to reveal the location of their aircraft carrier, the airmen endure harsh interrogation and torture from the Japanese guards with Sgt. Jan Skvoznik left in a state with a permanent head twitch. In court, the men see the state of Skvoznik. Canelli and Vincent rush the Japanese general, quickly felled by rifle butts and are returned to their cell, canelli, an artist suffers a broken right hand and arm. Vincent ends up in a state much like Skvoznik. Clinton returns seemingly unharmed, but the Japanese have ruptured his vocal cords, the Japanese have a listening device in the cell when Greenbaum repeats what the speechless Clinton writes. If anything happens to Lt. Bayforth, he tell all. After being tortured, Bayforth returns with his hands and arms useless, in the face of his captives unshakable resolve and the realization that the Japanese are doomed to destruction, the sadistic General Mitsubi ultimately chooses to shoot himself. The systematic torture and abuse the airmen endured while in captivity, principal photography for The Purple Heart began on October 11,1943 and continued to mid-January 1944
28.
A Walk in the Sun (1945 film)
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A Walk in the Sun is a 1945 American war film based on the novel by Harry Brown, who was a writer for Yank, the Army Weekly based in England. The book was serialized in Liberty Magazine in October 1944, platoon Sergeant Pete Halverson takes over command and orders Sgt. Eddie Porter to lead the men to the beach while he tries to find the company commander, first aid man McWilliams remains with Rand, and the rest of the men hit the beach and dig in while trying to elude the shelling and machine-gun fire. Bill Tyne wonders what they will do if Halverson does not return, and after the sun rises, Tyne remains on the beach to wait for Halverson, but learns from McWilliams that both Rand and Halverson are dead. Soon after, McWilliams is shot by an airplane when he goes to a bluff to view the aerial attack on the beachhead. Tyne walks to the woods, and there discovers that three men have been hit, including Sgt. Hoskins who was the senior surviving NCO, hoskins wound means he cannot continue and Porter as the next senior NCO is forced to take command. Hoskins warns Tyne as he is leaving to keep an eye on Porter because he suspects Porter is going to crack under the pressure of command. Ward then lead the men in three squads along a road toward their objective, a bridge that they are to blow up that is near a farmhouse, Porter knows that the six-mile journey will be a dangerous one, and grows agitated. He warns the men to watch out for enemy tanks and aircraft, as they walk, the men shoot the breeze and discuss their likes and dislikes, the nature of war and the food they wish they were eating. Enemy aircraft appear and one of them strafes the platoon as they run for cover in a ditch, some of the men are killed. Afterwards Porter is distracted when two retreating Italian soldiers surrender to the platoon and confirm that they are on the right road, the Italians warn them that the area is controlled by German troops, and soon after, the platoon meets a small reconnaissance patrol of American soldiers. After the patrols motorcycle driver offers to ride to the farmhouse and report back, finally Tyne tells the men to take a break while he sits with Porter. As machine gunner Rivera and his pal, Jake Friedman, razz each other, Porter begins to break down and tells Ward that he is putting Tyne in charge. Leaving a man to guard the still-crying Porter, Tyne pushes on, the men finally reach the farmhouse, but when a small patrol attempts to crawl through the field in front of the house, they are shot at by the Germans, and two men are killed. Tyne and Ward are baffled about what to do next when Windy, the remaining men nervously wait for their comrades to reach the bridge, until finally Rivera opens fire and Tyne and his men go over the stone wall and into the field. The bridge is blown up, and despite heavy losses, the platoon captures the house. Then, at noon, Windy, Ward and the remaining men wander through the house as Farmer fulfills his dream of eating an apple
29.
Nazi Germany
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Nazi Germany is the common English name for the period in German history from 1933 to 1945, when Germany was governed by a dictatorship under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Under Hitlers rule, Germany was transformed into a fascist state in which the Nazi Party took totalitarian control over all aspects of life. The official name of the state was Deutsches Reich from 1933 to 1943, the period is also known under the names the Third Reich and the National Socialist Period. The Nazi regime came to an end after the Allied Powers defeated Germany in May 1945, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by the President of the Weimar Republic Paul von Hindenburg on 30 January 1933. The Nazi Party then began to eliminate all opposition and consolidate its power. Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934, and Hitler became dictator of Germany by merging the powers and offices of the Chancellery, a national referendum held 19 August 1934 confirmed Hitler as sole Führer of Germany. All power was centralised in Hitlers person, and his word became above all laws, the government was not a coordinated, co-operating body, but a collection of factions struggling for power and Hitlers favour. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending, extensive public works were undertaken, including the construction of Autobahnen. The return to economic stability boosted the regimes popularity, racism, especially antisemitism, was a central feature of the regime. The Germanic peoples were considered by the Nazis to be the purest branch of the Aryan race, millions of Jews and other peoples deemed undesirable by the state were murdered in the Holocaust. Opposition to Hitlers rule was ruthlessly suppressed, members of the liberal, socialist, and communist opposition were killed, imprisoned, or exiled. The Christian churches were also oppressed, with many leaders imprisoned, education focused on racial biology, population policy, and fitness for military service. Career and educational opportunities for women were curtailed, recreation and tourism were organised via the Strength Through Joy program, and the 1936 Summer Olympics showcased the Third Reich on the international stage. Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels made effective use of film, mass rallies, the government controlled artistic expression, promoting specific art forms and banning or discouraging others. Beginning in the late 1930s, Nazi Germany made increasingly aggressive territorial demands and it seized Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939. Hitler made a pact with Joseph Stalin and invaded Poland in September 1939. In alliance with Italy and smaller Axis powers, Germany conquered most of Europe by 1940, reichskommissariats took control of conquered areas, and a German administration was established in what was left of Poland. Jews and others deemed undesirable were imprisoned, murdered in Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the tide gradually turned against the Nazis, who suffered major military defeats in 1943
30.
Empire of Japan
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The Empire of Japan was the historical Japanese nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to the enactment of the 1947 constitution of modern Japan. Imperial Japans rapid industrialization and militarization under the slogan Fukoku Kyōhei led to its emergence as a world power, after several large-scale military successes during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War, the Empire also gained notoriety for its war crimes against the peoples it conquered. A period of occupation by the Allies followed the surrender, Occupation and reconstruction continued well into the 1950s, eventually forming the current nation-state whose full title is the State of Japan or simply rendered Japan in English. The historical state is referred to as the Empire of Japan or the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan in English. In Japanese it is referred to as Dai Nippon Teikoku, which translates to Greater Japanese Empire and this is analogous to Großdeutsches Reich, a term that translates to Greater German Empire in English and Dai Doitsu Teikoku in Japanese. This meaning is significant in terms of geography, encompassing Japan, due to its name in kanji characters and its flag, it was also given the exonym Empire of the Sun. After two centuries, the policy, or Sakoku, under the shoguns of the Edo period came to an end when the country was forced open to trade by the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. The following years saw increased trade and interaction, commercial treaties between the Tokugawa shogunate and Western countries were signed. In large part due to the terms of these Unequal Treaties, the Shogunate soon faced internal hostility, which materialized into a radical, xenophobic movement. In March 1863, the Emperor issued the order to expel barbarians, although the Shogunate had no intention of enforcing the order, it nevertheless inspired attacks against the Shogunate itself and against foreigners in Japan. The Namamugi Incident during 1862 led to the murder of an Englishman, Charles Lennox Richardson, the British demanded reparations but were denied. While attempting to exact payment, the Royal Navy was fired on from coastal batteries near the town of Kagoshima and they responded by bombarding the port of Kagoshima in 1863. For Richardsons death, the Tokugawa government agreed to pay an indemnity, shelling of foreign shipping in Shimonoseki and attacks against foreign property led to the Bombardment of Shimonoseki by a multinational force in 1864. The Chōshū clan also launched the coup known as the Kinmon incident. The Satsuma-Chōshū alliance was established in 1866 to combine their efforts to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu, in early 1867, Emperor Kōmei died of smallpox and was replaced by his son, Crown Prince Mutsuhito. On November 9,1867, Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned from his post and authorities to the Emperor, however, while Yoshinobus resignation had created a nominal void at the highest level of government, his apparatus of state continued to exist. On January 3,1868, Satsuma-Chōshū forces seized the palace in Kyoto. On January 17,1868, Yoshinobu declared that he would not be bound by the proclamation of the Restoration, on January 24, Yoshinobu decided to prepare an attack on Kyoto, occupied by Satsuma and Chōshū forces
31.
Hollywood blacklist
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Artists were barred from work on the basis of their alleged membership in or sympathy with the Communist Party USA or refusal to assist investigations into the partys activities. On June 22,1950, a pamphlet entitled Red Channels was published, focused on the field of broadcasting, it identified 151 entertainment industry professionals in the context of Red Fascists and their sympathizers. Soon, most of those named, along with a host of artists, were barred from employment in most of the entertainment field. A number of those blacklisted, however, were barred from work in their professions for years afterward. The Hollywood blacklist was rooted in events of the 1930s and the early 1940s, encompassing the height of the Great Depression, two major film industry strikes during the 1930s increased tensions between the Hollywood producers and the unions, particularly the Screen Writers Guild. The American Communist Party lost substantial support after the Moscow show trials of 1936–38, the U. S. government began turning its attention to the possible links between Hollywood and the party during this period. Under then chairman Martin Dies, Jr. the House Un-American Activities Committee released a report in 1938 claiming that communism was pervasive in Hollywood. Two years later, Dies privately took testimony from a former Communist Party member, John L. Leech, Dies said he would clear all those who cooperated by meeting with him in what he called executive session. Within two weeks of the grand jury leak, all those on the list except for actress Jean Muir had met with the HUAC chairman, Dies cleared everyone except actor Lionel Stander, who was fired by the movie studio, Republic Pictures, where he was contracted. In 1941, producer Walt Disney took out an ad in Variety, according to historians Larry Ceplair and Steven Englund, In actuality, the strike had resulted from Disneys overbearing paternalism, high-handedness, and insensitivity. Inspired by Disney, California State Senator Jack Tenney, chairman of the state legislatures Joint Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities, the probe fell flat, and was mocked in several Variety headlines. The subsequent wartime alliance between the United States and the Soviet Union brought the American Communist Party newfound credibility, during the war, membership in the party reached a peak of 50,000. As World War II drew to a close, perceptions changed again, with communism increasingly becoming a focus of American fears and hatred. In 1945, Gerald L. K. Smith, founder of the neofascist America First Party, the greatest hotbed of subversive activities in the United States. Rankin promised, Were on the trail of the tarantula now, reports of Soviet repression in Eastern and Central Europe in the wars aftermath added more fuel to what became known as the Second Red Scare. Its counsel revolved around a list of ideological prohibitions, such as Dont smear the free-enterprise system, on July 29,1946, William R. Wilkerson, publisher and founder of The Hollywood Reporter, published a TradeView column entitled A Vote For Joe Stalin. In August and September 1946, Wilkerson published other columns containing names of numerous purported Communists and they became known as Billys List and Billys Blacklist. It had declared its intention to investigate whether Communist agents and sympathizers had been planting propaganda in U. S. films, the hearings opened with appearances by Walt Disney and Ronald Reagan, then president of the Screen Actors Guild
32.
Rat Pack
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The Rat Pack was a supergroup of actors originally centered on their leader, Frank Sinatra. Later it was revealed by Sinatra that Joey Bishop headed the bunch, Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop, they appeared together on stage and in films in the early 1960s, including the movies Oceans 11, Sergeants 3, and Robin and the 7 Hoods. Sinatra, Martin, and Davis were regarded as the lead members. The name The Rat Pack was first used to refer to a group of friends in New York, several explanations have been offered for the famous name over the years. Rat Pack may also be a version of Holmby Hills Rat Pack. Visiting members included Errol Flynn, Ava Gardner, Nat King Cole, Robert Mitchum, Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh, Tony Curtis, Mickey Rooney, Lena Horne, Jerry Lewis and Cesar Romero. In his autobiography The Moons a Balloon, David Niven confirms that the Rat Pack originally included him but neither Sammy Davis, the 1960s version of the group included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr. Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop. Marilyn Monroe, Angie Dickinson, Juliet Prowse, Buddy Greco, the post-Bogart version of the group was reportedly never called that name by any of its members – they called it the Summit or the Clan. The Rat Pack was a used by journalists and outsiders. Often, when one of the members was scheduled to give a performance, the marquees of the hotels at which they were performing as individuals would read, for example, DEAN MARTIN - MAYBE FRANK - MAYBE SAMMY as seen on a Sands Hotel sign. Rat Pack members played a role in campaigning for Kennedy and the Democrats, Lawford had asked Sinatra if he would have Kennedy as a guest at his Palm Springs house in March 1962, and Sinatra went to great lengths to accommodate the President. When Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy advised his brother to sever his ties to Sinatra because of the association with Mafia figures such as Sam Giancana. Kennedy instead chose to stay at rival Bing Crosbys estate, which further infuriated Sinatra, Lawford was blamed for this, and Sinatra never again had a good word for from that point onwards. Lawfords role in the upcoming 4 for Texas was written out, and his part in Robin and the 7 Hoods was given to Bing Crosby. It has since been broadcast on Nick at Nite as part of The Museum of Television & Radio Showcase series and released on DVD as part of the Ultimate Rat Pack Collection, Live & Swingin. In 1981, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. appeared together in the film Cannonball Run and this would be the last time that the three would appear in a movie together. In December 1987, at Chasens restaurant in Los Angeles, Sinatra, Davis, at the press conference to announce the tour, Martin joked about calling the tour off, and Sinatra rebuked a reporter for using the term Rat Pack, referring to it as that stupid phrase. Martin had since become increasingly dependent on alcohol and prescription drugs, Davis had hip replacement surgery two years previously, and been estranged from Sinatra because of Davis use of cocaine
33.
Frank Sinatra
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Francis Albert Sinatra was an American singer, actor, and producer who was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century. He is one of the music artists of all time. Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants, Sinatra began his career in the swing era with bandleaders Harry James. Sinatra found success as a solo artist after he signed with Columbia Records in 1943 and he released his debut album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra, in 1946. Sinatras professional career had stalled by the early 1950s, and he turned to Las Vegas and his career was reborn in 1953 with the success of From Here to Eternity, with his performance subsequently winning an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Sinatra released several critically lauded albums, including In the Wee Small Hours, Come Fly with Me, Only the Lonely and Nice n Easy. Sinatra left Capitol in 1960 to start his own label, Reprise Records. It was followed by 1968s collaboration with Duke Ellington, using his Las Vegas shows as a home base, he toured both within the United States and internationally until a short time before his death in 1998. Sinatra forged a successful career as a film actor. After winning an Academy Award for From Here to Eternity, he starred in The Man with the Golden Arm and he appeared in various musicals such as On the Town, Guys and Dolls, High Society, and Pal Joey, winning another Golden Globe for the latter. Toward the end of his career, he associated with playing detectives. Sinatra would later receive the Golden Globe Cecil B, on television, The Frank Sinatra Show began on ABC in 1950, and he continued to make appearances on television throughout the 1950s and 1960s. While Sinatra never formally learned how to read music, he had a natural, intuitive understanding of it, a perfectionist, renowned for his impeccable dress sense and cleanliness, he always insisted on recording live with his band. His bright blue eyes earned him the popular nickname Ol Blue Eyes, Sinatra led a colorful personal life, and was often involved in turbulent affairs with women, such as with his second wife Ava Gardner. He went on to marry Mia Farrow in 1966 and Barbara Marx in 1976, Sinatra had several violent confrontations, usually with journalists he felt had crossed him, or work bosses with whom he had disagreements. He was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985, Sinatra was also the recipient of eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. After his death, American music critic Robert Christgau called him the greatest singer of the 20th century, Francis Albert Sinatra was born on December 12,1915, in an upstairs tenement at 415 Monroe Street in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was the child of Italian immigrants Antonino Martino Marty Sinatra
34.
Dean Martin
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Dean Martin was an Italian-American singer, actor, comedian, and film producer. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the century, Martin was nicknamed the King of Cool for his seemingly effortless charisma. He and Jerry Lewis were partners in the popular comedy team Martin. He was a member of the Rat Pack and a star in concert stages, nightclubs, recordings, motion pictures and he was the host of the television variety program The Dean Martin Show and The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast. Martin was born on June 7,1917, in Steubenville, Ohio, to an Italian father, Gaetano Alfonso Crocetti, and an Italian-American mother, Angela Crocetti. His father, who was a barber, was originally from Montesilvano, in Abruzzo, Martin had an older brother named William Alfonso Crocetti. Martins first language was an Abruzzese dialect of Italian, and he did not speak English until he started school at the age of five and he attended Grant Elementary School in Steubenville where he was bullied for his broken English. He later took up the drums as a hobby as a teenager, Martin then dropped out of Steubenville High School in the 10th grade because he thought he was smarter than his teachers. He bootlegged liquor, served as a croupier, was a blackjack dealer, worked in a steel mill. At 15 he was a boxer who billed himself as Kid Crochet and his prizefighting earned him a broken nose, a scarred lip, many broken knuckles, and a bruised body. Of his 12 bouts, he said, I won all but 11, for a time, he roomed with Sonny King, who, like Martin, was starting in show business and had little money. It is said that Martin and King held bare-knuckle matches in their apartment, fighting until one was knocked out, Martin knocked out King in the first round of an amateur boxing match. Martin gave up boxing to work as a roulette stickman and croupier in an illegal casino behind a tobacco shop, at the same time he sang with local bands, calling himself Dino Martini. He got his break working for the Ernie McKay Orchestra and he sang in a crooning style influenced by Harry Mills, among others. In the early 1940s, he started singing for bandleader Sammy Watkins, in October 1941 Martin married Elizabeth Betty Anne McDonald. They had four children before the marriage ended in 1949, Martin worked for various bands throughout the early 1940s, mostly on looks and personality until he developed his own singing style. Martin flopped at the Riobamba, a nightclub in New York, when he followed Frank Sinatra in 1943, Martin was drafted into the United States Army in 1944 during World War II, serving a year in Akron, Ohio. He was reclassified as 4-F and discharged, possibly because of a double hernia, by 1946, Martin was doing well, but he was little more than an East Coast nightclub singer with a common style, similar to that of Bing Crosby
35.
1st Academy Awards
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AMPAS president Douglas Fairbanks hosted the show. Tickets cost $5,270 people attended the event and the ceremony lasted fifteen minutes. Awards were created by Louis B, Mayer, founder of Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation. It is the only Academy Awards ceremony not to be broadcast either on radio or television, during the ceremony, the AMPAS presented Academy Awards in twelve categories. Winners were announced three months before the live event, some nominations were announced without reference to a specific film, such as for Ralph Hammeras and Nugent Slaughter, who received nominations in the now defunct category of Engineering Effects. Unlike later ceremonies, an actor or director could be awarded for works within a calendar year. Emil Jannings, for example, was given the Best Actor award for his work in both The Way of All Flesh and The Last Command, moreover, Charlie Chaplin and Warner Brothers each received an Honorary Award. Major winners at the ceremony included 7th Heaven and Sunrise, which received three awards, and Wings, receiving two awards. Among its honors, Sunrise won the award for Unique and Artistic Picture and these two categories at the time were seen as equally the top award of the night intended to honor different and equally important aspects of superior film making. The next year, the Academy dropped the Unique and Artistic Picture award, in 1927, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was established by Louis B. Mayer, originator of Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation, which then would be joined into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, mayers purpose in creating the award was to unite the five branches of the film industry, including actors, directors, producers, technicians, and writers. Mayer commented on the creation of the awards I found that the best way to handle was to hang medals all over them, if I got them cups and awards theyd kill them to produce what I wanted. Thats why the Academy Award was created, Mayer asked Cedric Gibbons, art director of MGM, to design an Academy Award trophy. Nominees were notified through a telegram in February 1928, in August 1928, Mayer contacted the Academy Central Board of Judges to decide winners. The ceremony was held on May 16,1929, at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, located in Los Angeles and it consisted of a private dinner with thirty-six banquet tables, where 270 people attended and tickets cost five dollars. Actors and actresses arrived at the hotel in luxury vehicles, where many attended to encourage celebrities. The ceremony was not broadcast on radio or television, and was hosted by AMPAS director Fairbanks, winners were announced three months before the ceremony. Three categories were eliminated for subsequent presentations, Best Engineering Effects, Best Title Writing, the larger film producers received the preponderance of awards, Fox Films Corporation, MGM, Paramount Pictures, Radio-Keith-Orpheum and Warner Brothers Production
36.
3rd Academy Awards
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The 3rd Academy Awards were awarded to films completed and screened released between August 1,1929, and July 31,1930, by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. All Quiet on the Western Front was the first film to win both Best Picture and Best Director, a feat that would become common in later years, lewis Milestone became the first person to win two Oscars, having won Best Director – Comedy at the 1st Academy Awards. The Love Parade received six nominations, the greatest number of any film to that point, however, it did not win in any category. Best Sound Recording was introduced this year, making it the first new category since the inception of the Oscars and it was awarded to Douglas Shearer, brother of Best Actress winner Norma Shearer, making them the first sibling winners in Oscar history. Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface,1929 in film 1930 in film Academy Awards Database
37.
12th Academy Awards
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The 12th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, honored the best in film for 1939. The ceremony was held on February 29,1940, at a banquet in the Coconut Grove at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles and it was hosted by Bob Hope. David O. Selznicks production Gone with the Wind received the most nominations of the year with thirteen and this was the first year in which an Academy Award was awarded in the category of special effects. This was also the first time that two awards for cinematography were presented, hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to receive an Academy Award, winning in the Best Supporting Actress category for Gone with the Wind. Sidney Howard became the first posthumous winner for his screenplay for Gone with the Wind, AMPAS presented Academy Awards of Merit in twenty categories. Nominees for each award are listed below, award winners are listed first, among those who campaigned in favour of the film were Hedda Hopper who declared it as great as Lincolns Gettysburg speech, while Sheilah Graham called it the best talking picture ever made. Screen Book magazine stated that it should win every Academy Award, frank Capra, the director, and James Stewart, the films star were considered front runners to win awards. Gone with the Wind premiered in December 1939 with a Gallup poll taken shortly before its release concluding that 56.5 million people intended to see the film. The New York Film Critics Award was given to Wuthering Heights after thirteen rounds of balloting had left the voters deadlocked between Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Gone with the Wind, the press were divided in their support for the nominated actors. West Coast newspapers, particularly in Los Angeles, predicted Bette Davis would win for Dark Victory, observing that Davis had achieved four box office successes during the year, one paper wrote, Hollywood will stick by its favourite home-town girl, Bette Davis. Capra was the incumbent President of the Academy, and in a first for Academy Awards ceremonies, sold the rights for the event to be filmed. Warner Bros. obtained the rights, for $30,000 to film the banquet and the presentation of the awards, to use as a short, among these were Clark Gable and Bette Davis. Following the banquet, Capra opened proceedings at 11pm with a speech before introducing Bob Hope who made his first appearance as host of the awards. Looking at a table laden with awards awaiting presentation, he quipped, mickey Rooney presented an Academy Juvenile Award to Judy Garland, who then performed Over the Rainbow, a Best Song nominee from The Wizard of Oz. As the evening progressed, Gone with the Wind won the majority of awards, making a speech, Selznick paused to extend praise and gratitude to Olivia de Havilland, a Best Supporting Actress nominee, and made it clear in his speech he knew she had not won. Hattie McDaniel became the first black performer to win an Academy Award, de Havilland was among those to make their way to McDaniels table to offer congratulations, though it was reported de Havilland then fled to the kitchen, where she burst into tears. The press reported an irritated Irene Mayer Selznick followed her, and told her to return to their table, robert Donat, the winner for Best Actor, was one of three nominated actors not present. Accepting the award for Donat, Spencer Tracy said he was sure Donats win was welcomed by the entire motion-picture industry before presenting the Best Actress award to Vivien Leigh, the press noted Bette Davis was among those waiting to congratulate Leigh as she returned to her table
38.
Up and at 'Em
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The film had theatrical release August 16,1922. It is unknown if any copies of this film survive, wishing to drive her fathers car, Barbara Jackson dresses up in the chauffeurs uniform and sneaks out. For a lark, she picks up a passenger, but it develops that passenger is part of a team of crooks who are planning to rob Bob Everett, a rival of her father, of his precious artworks. Believing her to be a detective, the bandit forces her to take part in the robbery. After convincing Everett that she was an accomplice and not the real thief. He had just purchased one of the paintings from an art dealer, as the two explain the deception, William informs him that he became suspicious when recognizing the painting as one owned by Everett and that he had the dealer held at the front gate. The police arrive and round up the crooks, collaborating with director William A. Seiter on the script, Up and at Em marks his first Hollywood screenplay. The film also marks the first screen role for actor Eddie Quillan, when he and his four siblings were touring California as part of the Vaudeville Orpheum Circuit, his father had submitted the 5 children for auditions at Keystone Studios. After viewing the footage, Mack Sennett was so impressed with that of Eddie. Eddie Quillan was signed to contract in 1922, and Up, up and at Em at the Internet Movie Database Up and at Em synopsis at AllMovie Up and at Em at SilentEra lantern slide coming attraction advert
39.
Where the North Begins
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Where the North Begins is a 1923 American silent drama film produced and distributed by Warner Bros. This was the film for up-and-coming canine actor Rin Tin Tin. Director Chester M. Franklin shot the exterior scenes in Canada but he stayed too long and shot too much footage. The negatives were processed in Hollywood and the Warner executives saw that the movie was wandering off script, with too much beautiful scenery, Warner hired a second director, Millard Webb, to shoot the story in parallel with Franklins effort. Milestone tried to avoid editing what he saw as a doomed film, Warner executives previewed the finished film but indicated sweeping changes before it was to be released. Milestone resisted this, he felt it worked well as it was, Milestone suggested to Rapf that the film be previewed locally with a test audience. Accordingly, the film was shown while the Warner executives waited outside, Duncan and Rin Tin Tin were present at the theaters entrance greeting theatergoers as they left. The Warner executives asked Duncan if he knew the members and he said yes. The test screening was thus considered flawed because of the likelihood of a sympathetic audience, another screening was arranged in another location, without Duncan and the dog. This second test was a success and the film was put in distribution exactly as Milestone. Where the North Begins at the Internet Movie Database Where the North Begins synopsis at AllMovie Original lobby poster Film still, The Telegraph
40.
Listen Lester
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Released by Universal Pictures on May 20,1924, the film stars Louise Fazenda and Harry Myers. Prints of the film exist in the Library of Congress film archive, angry, Arbutus enlists the aid of lady detective Miss Pink and follows the two to Florida. At his hotel, the Colonel enlists the aid of the hotel detective Listen Lester to get back the love letters he had written to Arbutus. The detective accomplishes his task but is foiled when Miss Pink recovers the letters. A hotel clerk then gets back, but in turn loses them back to Arbutus. Mary in the meantime is sparking up a romance with Jack Griffin, in desperation, Arbustus enlists the aid of Lester to fake she and Mary getting kidnapped in the hope that this will bring the men to their senses. One of the fake kidnappers takes himself too seriously and gets a bit rough with Mary, Jack rescues the women and he and Mary reconcile. Out of ideas, Arbustus decides to stop chasing the Colonel, when the Colonel realizes how much he would miss her attentions, he discovers that he does love her after all
41.
The Mad Whirl
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The Mad Whirl is a 1925 jazz age black-and-white silent film drama film about the loosening of youth morals that took place during the 1920s. Written by Edward T. Lowe Jr. and Lewis Milestone, and directed by William A. Seiter for Universal Pictures, Cathleen Gillis falls in love with Jack Herrington. Martin Gillis, Cathleens loving father, is stern, very religious, Cathleen is an obedient daughter and conservative in her views as well. Jacks lifestyle places him at odds with Cathleens, but he promises her his will change his ways and he backslides several times, but in the end is reformed by Cathleens love, and they elope. After the elopement, Gladys and John get a stern lecture on temperance and sobriety from Martin, may McAvoy as Cathleen Gillis Jack Mulhall as Jack Herrington Myrtle Stedman as Gladys Herrington Barbara Bedford as Margie Taylor Alec B
42.
Dangerous Innocence
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Dangerous Innocence was a 1925 American silent romantic comedy/drama film written by Lewis Milestone and James O. Spearing based upon the novel Anns an Idiot by Pamela Wynne. Directed by William A. Seiter for Universal Pictures, the film starred Laura La Plante, the films status is currently unknown, any copies of this film exist, and it is now considered lost. On a ship sailing from England to India, Ann Church meets young and dashing Major Anthony Seymour, falls in love and makes some innocent advances to gain his attentions. The Major at first resists her advances because he believes she is that young, another passenger, Gilchrist who is a cad, takes advantage of Anns naiveté and places her in a compromising position. To save her reputation, the Major proposes to Ann and she accepts, when they arrive in Bombay, Gilchrist gets even by telling Ann that the Major had had an affair with her mother, causing Ann to break the engagement. Angry, the Major follows Gilchrist off ship and thrashes him, as she prepares to return alonne to England, the Major forces Gilchrist to admit to Ann that the relationship between the Major and Anns mother was platonic and never romantic. The young couple reunite and are married at sea. Laura La Plante as Ann Church Eugene OBrien as Maj. Anthony Seymour Jean Hersholt as Gilchrist Alfred Allen as Capt, when he realizes her age his intentions turn affectionate, but become complicated when he learns that Ann is the daughter of an old sweetheart. They praise director William A. Seiter, writing that he shows originality and they also share that Laura La Plante is quite effective as Ann, and that Eugene OBrien acts the role of Seymour with sincerity and restraint. Dangerous Innocence at the Internet Movie Database
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The Teaser
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The film was directed by William A. Seiter for Universal Pictures, and stars Laura La Plante, Pat OMalley, Hedda Hopper, and Walter McGrail. It is unknown whether any copies of this film exist, Ann Barton, a girl from a once-wealthy family, must make a living by clerking in a cigar store. There she meets and falls in love with James McDonald, a cigar salesman and she is then adopted by Margaret Wyndham, her rich and aristocratic aunt, who disapproves of James due to his crude manners. Wishing to break up the two, Aunt Margaret sends Ann away to finishing school, in response, Ann acts out publicly and embarrasses her aunt. In the meantime, James learns how to be a gentleman and wins her back through having learned good manners. They concluded The story is a little thing which is not apt to interest many persons. Time Magazine offered that The extraordinarily blonde Laura La Plante occupies herself genially enough in the title part, the Teaser at the Internet Movie Database The Teaser at AllMovie
