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 Mockumentaries
 Movies about Movies
- Abbott and Costello in Hollywood (1945)
- Director, S. Sylvan Simon. Cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Frances Rafferty, Robert Stanton, Jean Porter, Warner Anderson, "Rags" Ragland, Mike Mazurki.
Bud and Lou turn Hollywood inside out with their pranks and comedy as they play the role of two barbers who want their own shop in Hollywood and try to raise money by becoming talent agents. 83 min. DVD 7449
 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Adaptation(2002)
- Directed by Spike Jonze. Cast: Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Tilda Swinton, Cara Seymour, Brian Cox, Judy Greer, Maggie Gyllenhaal.Blends fictional characters and situations with the lives of real people: obsessive orchid hunter John Laroche, "New Yorker" journalist Susan Orlean, Hollywood screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and his twin brother Donald. As Charlie struggles to adapt a best-selling book, he writes himself into the movie plot. 114 min. 83 min. DVD 2813
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003)
- Directed by Bruce Beresford. Cast: Antonio Banderas, Eion Bailey, Matt Day, Michael McKean, Colm Feore, Alexa Davalos, Anthony Stewart Head, Alan Arkin, Jim Broadbent. The true story of how Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa allowed a Hollywood crew to film him in battle, altering the course of film and military history in the process. Early movie giants D.W. Griffin and Harry Aiken send Frank Thayer to Mexico to persuade the cash-strapped, publicity-hungry Villa to let them film his revolution. Stepping into the literal cross fire, Thayer's crew risk their lives in the mingling of fiction and reality. The two make their movie and its original U.S. release helps change public opinion in Villa's favor and proves "the lens is mightier than the sword". 111 min. DVD 2682
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- The Auteur Theory (1999)
- Directed by Evan Oppenheimer. Cast: Natasha Lyonne, Alan Cox, Jeremy Sisto, Rachel True, Angeline Ball. At a relentless self-important student film festival, the directors of the (mostly terrible) short films are being killed off one-by-one. A budding British filmmaker decides to make a film about the search for the killer. The surviving filmmakers are the main suspects, so he begins to review their films, searching for footprints amidst the celluloid. 83 min. DVD 2813
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Auto Focus (2002)
- Directed by Paul Schrader. Cast: Greg Kinnear, Willem Dafoe, Rita Wilson, Kurt Fuller, Maria Bello, Ron Leibman, Ed Begley, Jr. A provocative drama about the life and mysterious death of television actor Bob Crane who became well known as the star of the comedy hit series "Hogan's Heroes." With fame and success, Crane drove headfirst into the darker, destructive side of celebrity life. He eventually teamed with a video technician who helped him document his numerous sexploits. But when his fast living got out of control, the end result was a brutal murder that remains one of Hollywood's most scandalous unsolved mysteries. 106 min. DVD 2335
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Aviator (2004)
- Directed by Martin Scorsese. Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly, Alec Baldwin, Alan Alda, Ian Holm, Danny Huston, Gwen Stefani, Jude Law, Adam Scott, Matt Ross, Kelli Garner, Frances Conroy, Brent Spiner, Stanley DeSantis, Edward Herrmann, Willem Dafoe.
Follows the life of Howard Hughes as the twentysomething millionaire, having already made a fortune improving the design of oil-drilling bits, who comes to Hollywood with an interest in getting into the picture business. It doesn't take long for Hughes to jump from producer to director of his first major film project, a World War I air epic. The film was a massive hit, and the eccentric inventor became a mogul in Hollywood, making Jean Harlow a star and enjoying a romance with Katharine Hepburn. But Hollywood's old-boy network never fully accepted Hughes, and in time his passion for flying began to reclaim his attentions. In time he began designing new planes, setting air speed records, flying around the world, and risking his life testing aircraft. Hughes also found time to romance Ava Gardner and founded his own airline, Trans-World Airlines. As his ideas became bolder and more eccentric, he gained many powerful enemies. 170 min. DVD 3996
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- Baadasssss!
- Produced and directed by Mario Van Peebles Cast: Joy Bryant, T.K. Carter, Terry Crews, Ossie Davis, David Alan Grier, Nia Long, Paul Rodriguez, Saul Rubinek, Vincent Schiavelli, Khleo Thomas, Mario Van Peebles, Karimah Westbrook, Rainn Wilson. A candid portrait of Melvin Van Peeble's struggles as a young, black director during the society-shifting 70's. Determined to make a film that matters, Melvin deals with two-faced backers, a rag-tag crew, threatening creditors, and various shades of Hollywood hypocrisy. With everything on the line, his only choice is to stick to his guns and do whatever it takes to get his neo-blaxploitation epic to the audience for which it was envisioned.
2004. 109 min. DVD 3540
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- The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
- Directed by Vincente Minelli. Cast: Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Barry Sullivan, Gloria Grahame, Gilbert Roland, Leo G. Carroll, Vanessa Brown. Biting drama that tells the story of a ruthless, manipulatve movie producer who lets nothing and nobody stand in his way. Now he's broke and needs the help of the very people he used and betrayed on his climb to the top. 119 min. DVD 3007
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Barton Fink (1991)
- Directed by Joel Coen. Cast: John Turturro, John Goodman, Judy Davis, Michael Lerner, John Mahoney, Jon Polito. It's Hollywood in the 40's, and Barton Fink, the New York playwright, has arrived to work as a screenwriter. He is assigned a low-brow wrestling movie, and quickly develops writer's block, which is aggravated by the seedy hotel he is staying in and his aggressively jovial neighbor, Charlie. Barton's struggle to create a truly great screenplay leads from the strange and unproductive to the chaotic and surreal.70 min. 999:144
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- Behind the Screen (Silent, 1916)
- Directed by Charlie Chaplin, featuring Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Albert Austin, Henry Bergman, Lloyd Bacon, Charlotte Mineau. Three movies are being shot simultaneously and Charlie is an overworked scene shifter. The foreman is waited on hand and foot until all the shifters but Charlie go on strike. A girl looking for work pretends to be a man and helps Charlie. Charlie discovers her gender and falls in love with her. The foreman thinks they are homosexual and in the ensuing fight they become involved in a long pie throwing scene from one of the movies in production. The frustrated workers dynamite the studio. A satire of life at a silent movie studio, a thinly veiled satire of Mack Sennett's Keystone Company. 15 min. DVD 9; VHS 999:695
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Benny's Video (1992)
- Directed by Michael Haneke. Cast: Arno Frisch, Angela Winkler, Ulrich Muhe, Ingrid Stassner. Benny likes to watch violent movies, including a home-made video of a pig being slaughtered. Benny soon loses his mind, killing a girl and filming the murder with his video camera. 106 min. DVD 5587
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Beware of a Holy Whore (Warnung vor Einer Heiligen Nutte) (West Germany, 1970)
- Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Cast: Lou Castel, Eddie Constantine, Hanna Schygulla, Marquard Bohm, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Ulli Lommel. In a Spanish coastal hotel, the cast and crew of a film wait for the director, the star and the production money. When the director finally arrives he makes life miserable for everyone. The group is left to petty bickering, attempts at amusement and desperate contacts to make it through the filming of the movie. 103 min. DVD 1624; VHS 999:1186
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Big Picture (1989)
- Directed by Christopher Guest. Cast: Kevin Bacon, Emily Longstreth, J.T. Walsh, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Teri Hatcher, Martin Short. Nick Chapman graduates from film school and his short film wins a prize. This gives him a high enough profile that he can get Hollywood to back the film he has long dreamed of making. But Nick soon is seduced by Hollywood and makes one concession after another until his original movie is lost altogether. A behind-the-scenes look at the cost of making it in Hollywood. 102 min. DVD 5940
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Bollywood Calling (India, 2002)
- Directed by Nagesh Kukunoor. Cast: Om Puri, Pat Cucisk, Navin Nischol, Perizaad Zorabian, Chet Dixon, Monique Curnen. A out-of-luck American B-movie star is thrust into the circus of Bollywood where she is spotted by a producer who concocts the first pairing of an American with the legendary Manu Kapoor, an ageing Indian star. An old-fashioned Hindi potboiler, presenting an honest, no-holds barred look at the world of Indian filmmaking. 99 min. DVD 1101
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Bollywood Dreams (India, 1995)
- Directed by Ramgopal Varma. Cast: Jackie Shroff, Aamir Khan, Urmila Mathondkar, Gulshan Grover. Mili is encouraged by her childhood friend Munna to pursue her dream of winning fame as an actress. When Mili is offered a part in a film by a famous actor, Munna feels he's no longer worthy of her affections and decides to leave town. 175 min. DVD 4464
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Bollywood/Hollywood (Canada, 2002)
- Directed by Deepa Mehta. Cast: Rahul Khanna, Lisa Ray, Dina Pathak, Moushumi Chatterjee, Ranjit Chowdry, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Jessica Pare, Akshaye Khanna. Rahul, a young millionaire who is pressured by his family to find a bride, employs a girl to pose as his Indian fiancee. A musical comedy and family drama that is also a spoof of Indian film culture. Non-US format DVD (PAL, Region 2). 100 min. DVD 3797
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Bollywood Queen (UK, 2002)
- Directed by Jeremy Wooding. Cast: Preeya Kalidas, James McAvoy, Amerjit Deu, Ray Panthaki, Ronny Jhutti. Nineteen-year-old Geena is entranced by the glamour of Bollywood and seduced by the sounds of R & B girl groups. When Geena meets Jay she finds that life can be just like the adventure and romance of the Bollywood movies she loves. 88 min. DVD 3847
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Bombay Talkie (1970)
- Director, James Ivory. A sophisticated American woman comes to Bombay and falls for two men involved in filmmaking in this affectionate, bemused view of Bollywood -- India's huge movie-making dream factory. Along the way she flees to an ashram to take up the spiritual life -- hilariously -- but eventually succeeds in destroying the marriage of one man and the careers of both. 110 min. DVD 2899
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Boogie Nights (1998)
- Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, Don Cheadle, John C. Reilly, William H. Macy, Heather Graham, Nicole Parker, Philip Seymour Hoffman. A film that throws the covers back on California's adult entertainment industry in the swinging seventies through the story of rising porn star Dirk Diggler. A touching and humorous portrait of a most unusual family of filmmakers brought to life with a sizzling seventies soundtrack. 155 min. 999:2773
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Bowfinger (1999)
- Director, Frank Oz. Cast: Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Christine Baranski, Terence Stamp, Heather Graham, Jamie Kennedy.
A group of wanna-be filmmakers and actors concocts a scheme to make a movie with a major star without having to pay him in this comedy. With the help of Jiff Ramsey, brother to Hollywoods biggest star, Hollywood's least successful director stops at nothing to get him into his latest low-budget film. 97 min. DVD 3383
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Brothers Skladanowsky (Die Gebruder Skladanowsky) (Germany, 2002)
- Directed by Wim Wenders. Cast: Udo Kier, Otto Kuhnle, Christoph Merg, Nadine Buttner, Lucie Hurtgen-Skladanowsky.
A rare gem of cinematic storytelling that weaves docudrama, fictional reenactment, and experimental photography into a powerful, reflective work on the early days of German cinema. The film tells the story of the Skladanowsky Brothers, the German-born duo who invented the "bioskop", an early version of the film projector at the same time as the Lumieres and Edison were working on their inventions. The footage is shot with a 1920s handcranking camera, in the style of silent films. 76 min. DVD 6951
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Camera (2000)
- Directed and filmed by Richard Martini. Cast: Carol Alt, Angie Everhart, Rebecca Broussard, Peter Rafelson, Phillip Noyce, Anderson Bourell, Erika Brannan.
A unique and hilarious story about the Dogma-style adventures of a video camera that gets stolen and goes on an adventure around the world, never leaving the point of view of the camera. It enters the lives of wannabe filmmakers, tourists on holiday and even celebrity stalkers. 80 min. DVD 6500
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Camera Buff (Amator) (Poland, 1979)
- Director Krzysztof Kieslowski. Filip, a young factory worker, buys an amateur movie camera so he can take pictures of his newborn daughter. But, when a clumsy documentary he made for work wins a prize at a local festival, Filip goes camera crazy. He embarks upon a new career as a filmmaker and begins to photograph anything that moves...including things the authorities would rather not have exposed. 108 min. 999:1329
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Camerman (Silent, 1928)
- Directed by Buster Keaton, featuring Keaton, Marceline Day, Harold Goodwin, Sidney Bracey, Harry Gribbon. Keaton plays a lovestruck tintype photographer who falls for a pretty girl, an employee of MGM News service. Buying an antiquated movie camera, he sets out to film news events in the streets of New York so he can win a job and the girl's affection. 70 min. DVD 5437; vhs 999:144
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Celebrity (1998)
- Directed by Woody Allen, featuring Hank Azaria, Kenneth Branagh, Judy Davis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Melanie Griffith, Winona Ryder. Following their divorce, the lives of a restless writer and his inhibited ex-wife take off in unpredictable directions. While Lee explores the wilder side of his newfound freedom, Robin begins an improbable transformation from neurotic schoolteacher to high-profile TV talk show host where she encounters movie stars and the cream of high society. 113 min. DVD 109; VHS 999:2504
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
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- The Cinema Director (aka Luke's Movie Muddle) (1916)
- Directed by Hal Roach. Starring Harold Llyod, Bebe Daniels and Snub Pollard. 999:581
- Cinema Paradiso (Nuovo Cinema Paradiso) (Italy / France, 1988)
- Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. A young boy in a small Italian village is befriended by the projectionist at the movie theater, the Cinema Paradiso. As he grows up he learns to love films, and is encouraged by his good friend to pursue his dream of one day making movies. 121 min. DVD 3195 (PAL); vhs 999:1976
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
 Movie Review Query Engine
- Close-Up (Nema-ye Nazdik) (Iran, 1990)
- Directed by Abbas Kiarostami. At the heart of this true story is Hossein Sabzian, an unemployed movie buff who finds himself mistaken for the enigmatic Iranian film director Mohsen Makhmalbaf. The misunderstanding takes on a life of its own and Sabzian ends up in jail where his trial is documented by the screenwriter/director Abbas Kiarostami. 94 min. DVD 3387; vhs 999:3082
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Contempt (Le Mépris) (France / Italy, 1963)
- Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Cast: Brigitte Bardot, Michel Piccoli, Jack Palance, Giorgia Moll, Fritz Lang. "A stately, elegant and seductive tale of ideals and compromise. Fritz Lang wants to make a film of The Odyssey, his American producer wants naked sirens and the scriptwriter invites the contempt of his wife by falling for the chequebook instead of remaining true to his art. Movie jokes, magnificent camerawork and a memorable score complement the commanding screen presences of Bardot and Piccoli, Palance and Lang." [Movie-mail] 120 min. DVD 1467; vhs 999:948
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Daffy Duck in Hollywood (1938)
- Directed by Tex Avery. "The opening scene: the gate of Wonder Pictures ("If it's a good picture, it's a Wonder!"). Daffy bursts into the office of movie producer I.M. Stupendous and asks, "Do you need a good duck actor?" The producer phones his German director, Mark Hamburger, and tells him that the picture better be good, and it better be finished today, or else! But you know from the director's beret, his German rolling R's, his pencil-thin mustache and jodhpurs that there is no way this will happen. Daffy drenches everybody by plugging the sprinkler system into the lights, then loads machine-gun rounds into the hand-cranked camera, cuts in on a love scene with a Katharine Hepburn chicken, and appears in the director's turkey lunch. When they all go to lunch, Daffy decides to give them a real feature, a crazy newsreel grouping of live-action shots, with narration that doesn't match at all (including two seconds from Gold-Diggers of 1933). Daffy switches his film with the director's when Hamburger is about to screen it for Stupendous. The producer loves it so much that in the next scene, Daffy is a director with rolling R's... and Hamburger is heckling him." [Big Cartoon Database] Video Disc 155
- David Holzman's Diary (1967)
- A film by Jim McBride. "An early black and white example of mock-documentary, this features a young filmmaker who attempts to discover the "truth" about his life by recording it on film, drawing on Jean-Luc Godard's observation that "Film is truth 24 times a second." [from Faking It] 74 min. Video 999:1439
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Day for Night (La Nuit Am?ricaine) (France / Italy, 1973)
- Directed by Fran?ois Truffaut. This "homage to moviemaking," details the loves and lunacy of the closely-knit family of strangers that comprises an on-location film, cast and crew. 116 min.DVD 3524; also VHS 999:1492
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Day for night: [the complete script of the film] / Fran?ois Truffaut ; translated by Sam Flores. New York: Grove Press: distributed by Random House, [1975] (Main Stack PN1997.N9.T7131)
- Crittenden, Roger. La Nuit Americaine London : BFI Pub., 1998. BFI film classics. (Main Stack PN1997.N9.C75 1998)
- Day of the Locust (1975)
- Directed by John Schlesinger. Cast: Karen Black, Burgess Meredith, Donald Sutherland, William Atherton, Richard A. Dysart, Geraldine Page. A naive young set designer seeks work in Tinseltown and falls in love with a wannabe actress who lives with her alcoholic father. This powerful presentation of Hollywood's decadence in the late '30s, is masterful in creating a world of platinum blonds, cockfights, self-delusion, killer ambition and broken dreams. Based on the book by Nathanial West. 144 min. DVD 3283
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
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- Ed Wood (1994)
- Directed by Tim Burton. Cast: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Jeffrey Jones, Bill Murray. A stranger-than-fiction true story of the early career of Edward D. Wood, Jr., the undisputed worst movie director of all time. Wood was the auteur behind Glen or Glenda? and Plan 9 from outer space, and it is during the making of these two no-budget flicks that Wood is profiled. Special features: Deleted scenes; behind-the-scenes featurette: "Let's shoot this F#*%@r!," hosted by Johnny Depp; "Making Bela": featurette about the creation of the Bela Lugosi character in the film with actor Martin Landau and makeup artist Rick Baker; "Pie plates over Hollywood": featurette on the look of the film with production designer Tom Duffield; featurette on the use of the theremin to create music for the film; audio commentary with director Tim Burton, actor Martin Landau, writers Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski, director of photography, Stefan Czapsky and costume designer, Colleen Atwood; music video; theatrical trailer, and more. 127 min. DVD 3933
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- 8 1/2 (Eight and a Half) (Italy, 1963)
- Directed by Federico Fellini. Cast: Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimee, Sandra Milo, Barbara Steele. Autobiographical film about a famous film director who loses his inspiration while making a movie. Much of the story is told in flashback sequences. DVD Disc two features Fellini's rarely seen first film for television, an imagined documentary, as well as a documentary about Nino Rota, the maestro behind the music of Fellini's films, interviews, still photographs and production photos connected with the film. 135 min. DVD 952; vhs 999:132
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Electric Shadows (Meng ying tong nian) (China, 2004)
- Directed by Jiang Xiao. Cast: Xia Yu, Jiang Yihong, Jiang Shan, Niu Zhenhua. When a delivery man crashes into a girl, she asks him to feed the pets in her apartment, while she is in the hospital. There he finds her diary that exposes the story of a young girl's passion for the movies, which re-ignites his own longing for the days when the cinema enchanted China's masses. 95 min. DVD 5857
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Evidence of the Film (1913)
- Directors, Edwin Thanhouser, Lawrence Marston. Cast: William Garwood, Marguerite Snow, Marion and Madeline Fairbanks, William Russell. Early example of a fictional dramatic movie with filmmaking as a subject. The film laboratory and editing scenes are of enormous interest as historical documents as well as ingeniously integrated into the crime tale. 15 min. DVD 5864; vhs 999:2841
- Felix in Hollywood(1923)
- Animated short. Directed by Pat Sullivan. "Felix helps his actor owner get to Hollywood. The cat auditions for a film job himself, but he must perform celebrity impressions (including one of Charlie Chaplin) and save Douglas Fairbanks from huge, angry Jersey skeeters before he gets "one of those long-term contracts." [Big Cartoon Database] 7 min. vhs 999:518
- The Festival: Disaster Film Has a Whole New Meaning (TV series, 2005)
- A hilarious and all-too-realistic spoof of the film industry, The Festival is a 6-part mockumentary series starring wide-eyed young filmmaker Rufus Marquez. As seen through the lens of fictional documentarian Cookie Armstrong, Marquez hitchhikes his way to the impossibly pretentious Mountain United Film Festival (M.U.F.F.), clutching the only copy of his first feature, "The unreasonable truth of butterflies." Recently divorced and living in his mother's basement, Marquez desperately wants his big break; instead he's pushed to the edge of a breakdown. At M.U.F.F., absurdity piles onto absurdity as the charmingly naive Marquez enters a zany world of bitter veteran filmmakers, self-important Hollywood executives, preening actor-gods, and obnoxious groupies. Directed by Phil Price. 132 min. DVD 7260
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Ficció (Spain, 2006)
- Director, Cesc Gay. Cast: Eduard Fernandez, Javier Camara, Montse German, Carme Pla, Agata Roca.
Alex is a motion picture director who is trying to finish the script of his film. He decides to go away, leaving his wife and children to settle in house of a friend in a small town. In this calm and solitary place he hopes to finish his work.... 103 min. DVD 8624
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Film Fan.(1939)
- Directed by Bob Clampett. Animated short. Porky attends a free movie showing, and enjoys a "Looney Tone" newsreel and other previews. DVD 4875; also on DVD 8900
- Film Geek (2005)
- Directed by James Westby. Cast: Melik Malkasian, Tyler Gannon, Matt Morris, John Breen. When Scotty, a movie nerd trying to get a life, is fired from his video store job for annoying his customers, he hits rock bottom. Then he meets free-spirited Niko, who just may be the one to save him from his hopeless existence. 72 min. DVD 6243
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Fluffer (2001)
- Directed by Richard Glatzer, Wash West. Cast: Scott Gurney, Michael Cunio, Roxanne Day, Taylor Negron, Richard Riehle, Deborah Harry. A young filmmaker's obsession with a "straight" gay porn star who is in it for the money, leads him to work with the actor as part of the film crew. 94 min. DVD 3760
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- For Your Consideration (2006)
- Directed by Christopher Guest. Cast: Catherine O'Hara, Ed Begley, Jr., Eugene Levy, Harry Shearer, Christopher Moynihan, Christopher Guest, Jennifer Coolidge, Parker Posey, Michael McKean, Bob Balaban, John Michael Higgins, Fred Willard, Jane Lynch.
It's about an indie movie called "Home for Purim," a somewhat inane drama about a dysfunctional Jewish family living in the South during World War II. But while the film is still in production, a reporter for an online entertainment site drops the word -- based on a brief visit to the set -- that one of the ensemble cast performers may be an Oscar contender. It goes on to chronicle how the Oscar buzz affects the director, additional cast members, writers, an agent, a publicist, and the hosts from an Hollywood entertainment-type television program. 86 min. DVD 7294
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- 45 Minutes from Hollywood /b> (1926)
- Directed by Fred Guiol. Cast: Glenn Tryon, Charlotte Mineau, Rube Clifford, Molly O'Day, Theda Bara, Oliver Hardy. Hotel DetectiveA young man visiting Hollywood on family business gets into trouble when he sees a bank robbery in progress, and thinks it is a movie scene. 21 min. DVD 4322
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Free and Easy (1930)
- Directed by Edward Sedgwick. Cast: Buster Keaton, Anita Page, Robert Montgomery, Trixie Friganza, Fred Niblo. Keaton departs with the newly crowned Miss Gopher City and heads for Hollywood determined to turn her into a star. 93 min. DVD 5437
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Get Shorty (1995)
- Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. Cast: John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo, Danny DeVito. Loan shark Chili Palmer had done his time as a gangster. So when "business" takes him to Los Angeles to collect a debt from down-and-out filmmaker Harry Zimm, Chili talks tough...and then pitches Harry a script idea. Immediately Chili is swept into the Hollywood scene: he schmoozes film star Martin Weir and romances "B" movie queen Karen Flores. In fact, all would be smooth for this cool new producer, if it weren't for the drug smugglers and an angry mobster who wan't leave him alone. 105 min. DVD 8973; vhs 999:1557
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Girl of Your Dreams (La Niña de tus ojos) (Spain, 1998)
- Directed by Fernando Trueba. Cast: Neus Asensi, Jesus Bonilla, Penelope Cruz, Karel Dobry, Loles Leon, Gotz Otto, Antonio Resines, Jorge Sanz, Rosa Maria Sarda.
In Civil War torn Spain, Germany invites a group of filmmakers to shoot two versions of the Andalusian musical drama "The girl of your dreams" in Berlin. Happy to leave the war behind them, the troupe of Spaniards starts filming in Hitler's Berlin. The hospitality upon their arrival has more to do with the youthful charms of Macarena Granada. What's more, the only Andalusion-looking extras in Germany are the gypsies and Jewish prisoners in a nearby concentration camp. When Macarena befriends one of the prisoners, the troupe must decide if the movie is more important than their lives. 105 min. 999:1790
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Gods and Monsters (1988)
- Directed by Norman Jewison. Cast: Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser, Lynn Redgrave. It's 1957 and Hollywood horror director James Whale's heyday as the director of "Frankenstein," "Bride of Frankenstein" and "The Invisible Man" is long behind him. Retired and a semi-recluse, he lives his days accompanied only by images from his past. When his dour housekeeper Hannah hires handsome young gardener Clayton Boone, the openly gay director and the simple yardman develop an unlikely friendship. Based upon the novel: Father of Frankenstein / by Christopher Bram. 106 min. 999:2598
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Hijacking Hollywood (1996)
- Directed by Neil Mandt. Cast: Henry Thomas, Scott Thompson, Mark Metcalf, Neil Mandt, Nicole Gian, Helen Duffy, Paul Hewitt. An aspiring director working as a lowly production assistant, conspires with his aspiring producer roommate to steal, and hold for a $150,000 ransom, the reels of a mega budgeted film he's working on. 91 min. DVD 5949
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Hollywood Canteen (1944)
- Directed by Delmer Daves. In this musical extravaganza a GI on leave in Hollywood drops in at the Hollywood canteen, hoping to meet his dream girl. He is assisted in his search by real-life canteen founders Bette Davis and John Garfield and over thirty other Hollywood luminaries. Andrews Sisters, Jack Benny, Joe E. Brown, Eddie Cantor, Kitty Carlisle, Jack Carson, Dane Clark, Joan Crawford, Helmut Dantine, Bette Davis, Faye Emerson, Victor Francen, John Garfield, Sydney Greenstreet, Alan Hale, Paul Henreid, Robert Hutton, Joan Leslie, Peter Lorre, Ida Lupino, Irene Manning, Joan McCracken, Dolores Moran, Dennis Morgan, Eleanor Parker, Joyce Reynolds, Roy Rogers, S.Z. Sakall, Zachary Scott, Alexis Smith, Barbara Stanwyck, Joseph Szigeti, Donald Woods, Jane Wyman, Jimmy Doresy, Carmen Cavallaro, the Golden Gate Quartet and the Sons of the Pioneers. 124 min. 999:1606
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Hollywood Capers.(1935)
- Directed by Jack King. Animated short. "Beans (from The Boston Beans) tries to crash into a Hollywood studio. He sneaks in by impersonating Oliver Hardy. Beans causes a lot of trouble in a sound stage and is confronted by the Frankenstein Monster. Other caricatures include a funny sequence with W.C. Fields and a brief cameo by Charlie Chaplin." [Big Cartoon Database] DVD 4875
- Hollywood Daffy(1946)
- Directed by Friz Freleng. Animated short. "Newly arrived in Hollywood, Daffy sneaks onto the Warmer Brothers lot, disguising himself as an Oscar statuette and eventually posing as a tour guide. Daffy spoofs a number of contemporary stars, and others appear as "themselves." He also has a number of run-ins with a Keystone Kop-like gate guard. He refuses to leave until he sees stars." [Big Cartoon Database] Video Disc 155
- Hollywood Ending (2002)
- Directed by Woody Allen. Cast: Woody Allen, George Hamilton, Tea Leoni, Debra Messing, Mark Rydell, Treat Williams. Val Waxman, a one-time cinematic genius down on his luck, receives a script for a period noir set against the backdrop of 1940s New York City. His ex-wife has managed to convince a high-powered studio head, to take a chance on Val's "unique vision." Just when the cameras are ready to roll, however, Val finds that unique vision in jeopardy as he's struck with a psychosomatic case of blindness. When efforts to cure him fail, Val contrives a scheme to forge ahead with the picture, for fear of blowing his one last chance at greatness. 112 min. DVD 1402
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Hollywood Steps Out.(1941)
- Directed by Tex Avery. Animated short. "Hollywood legends caricatured include Mischa Auer, Wallace Beery, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Jerry Colonna, Bing Crosby, Douglas Fairbanks, Henry Fonda, Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo (as a big-footed cigarette girl), Judy Garland, Cary Grant, Oliver Hardy, Sonja Henie, J. Edgar Hoover, Boris Karloff, Buster Keaton, Kay Kyser, Dorothy Lamour, Peter Lorre, Myrna Loy, Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, William Powell, Tyrone Power, George Raft, Cesar Romero, Mickey Rooney, Sally Rand, Ann Sheridan, C. Aubrey Smith, Ned Sparks, Jimmy Stewart, Leopold Stokowski, Lewis Stone, the Three Stooges, Spencer Tracy, Arthur Treacher and Johnny Weissmuller. Watch for caricatures of Leon Schlesinger and assistant Henry Binder at their reserved table. Places are reserved for Bette Davis, Kate Smith, Blondie, Dagwood, Little Dumpling and Daisy, but these guests do not appear. Ben Shenkman has been credited as an animator, particularly with regard to the caricatures." [Big Cartoon Database] DVD 3137
- Hollywood Shuffle (1987)
- Directed by Robert Townsend. Cast: Robert Townsend, Craigus R. Johnson, Helen Martin, Starletta DuPois. Bobby Taylor waits for his big break as an actor and dreams of leading roles, Academy Awards, stretch limos and adoring fans. 81 min. DVD 7353; vhs 999:422
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Movie Review Query Engine
- Hollywoodland (2006)
- Directed by Allen Coulter. Cast: Adrien Brody, Diane Lane, Ben Affleck, Bob Hoskins, Lois Smith, Robin Tunney, Larry Cedar, Jeffrey DeMunn, Brad William Henke, Dash Mihok, Molly Parker, Caroline Dhavernas, Kathleen Robertson, Joe Spano.
Made famous as Superman on television, George Reeves finds it hard to not be typecast because of it. When he is found dead of a gunshot wound, rumors begin to run rampant. Based on Hollywood's most notorious unsolved mystery. 127 min. DVD 7139
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Hurlyburly (1998)
- Directed by Anthony Drazan. Cast: Sean Penn, Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright Penn, Chazz Palminteri, Garry Shandling, Anna Paquin, Meg Ryan. From his posh condo atop the Hollywood Hills, a high powered casting director, Eddie and his business partner, Mickey and his friend and would-be actor, Phil engage in a wild life of hard partying and late nights of sex, lies and self-obsession. But as life in the fast lane comes to a crashing halt, Eddie decides to plunge beneath the surface ... and discover his soul. Based on the play by David Rabe. 81 min. 999:422
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Movie Review Query Engine
- Illusions (1983)
- Directed by Julie Dash. Cast: Lonette McKee, Rosanne Katon, Ned Bellamy, Jack Radar. Story takes place in 1942 and is about Mignon Dupree, a black woman studio executive who appears to be white, and Ester Jeeter, a black woman who is the singing voice for a white Hollywood star. The film follows the struggles of the women as well as the use of motion picture films in Hollywood during wartime. 34 min. 999:1365
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Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Inland Empire (2006)
- Directed by David Lynch. Cast: Laura Dern, Jeremy Irons, Justin Theroux, Harry Dean Stanton.
When an actress falls in love with her co-star, she finds her life is becoming much like the film she is starring in, which is based on a Polish film that was never finished due to horrible tragedies. Special features: (Disc 2): More thngs that happened; ballerina; Lynch 2; quinoa; stories; trailers; stills. 172 min. DVD 8137
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Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Intervista (Italy, 1987)
- Directed by Federico Fellini. Cast: Fellini, Anita Ekberg, Marcello Mastroianni. A dramatization of the life of the Italian motion picture director Federico Fellini, framed in the form of an interview conducted by a Japanese film crew. As the interview progresses Fellini's mind wanders to his earliest days. With the co-operation of Fellini's loyal co-workers, the viewer is permitted to see tantalizingly brief excerpts (some self-mocking) of Fellini's modus operandi. 108 min. 999:2578
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Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Irma Vep (France, 1996)
- Directed by Olivier Assayas. Cast: Maggie Cheung, Jean-Pierre Leaud, Nathalie Richard. Aging director Henri Vidal has decided to film a remake of the legendary silent serial, Les vampires, in hopes of making a comeback. Vidal chooses Cheung to play Irma Vep, the leader of a band of jewel thieves. Arriving in Paris unable to speak a word of French, Cheung finds herself stuck in the middle of a stressful situation when the production begins to fall apart and Vidal suffers a nervous breakdown. 95 min. DVD 4136
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Lady Killer.(1933)
- Director Roy Del Ruth. Cast: James Cagney, Mae Clarke, Margaret Lindsay, Leslie Fenton, Douglas Dumbrille. Pre-Hays Code story of a New York thug who suddenly stumbles onto fame and fortune as an actor in Hollywood. His pictures are in all the fan magazines, his name is in marquee lights. Former con artist Dan Quigley's doing all right in the movie racket but if his criminal past catches up with him he could end up in the Big House. 77 min. 999:3298
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Last Action Hero(1993)
- Director John McTiernan. Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, F. Murray Abraham, Art Carney, Charles Dance, Frank McRae, Tom Noonan, Robert Prosky, Anthony Quinn, Mercedes Ruehl, Austin O'Brien. What happens when a magic ticket blasts a 12-year-old boy out of his theater seat into the movie and what happens when the movie hero comes off the cinema screen to become involved in real life? The answers are to be found in this fast-action thriller in which a young boy's movie hero comes to life. 131 min. 999:1508
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Last Tycoon (1977)
- Director Elia Kazan. Cast: Robert DeNiro, Tony Curtis, Robert Mitchum, Jeanne Moreau, Jack Nicholson, Donald Pleasence, Ray Milland, Dana Andrews. A spectacular film production of F. Scott Fitzgerald's notorious novel which provides a penetrating glimpse at big studio politics in the early days of Hollywood. Based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. 123 min. 999:2539
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Life and Death of 9413: A Hollywood Extra(1928)
- Robert Florey, an american avant-garde director, brilliantly tells the story of a nonentity trying to break into Hollywood, in the form of a satiric expressionist film. The film was shot by cameraman Slavko Vorkapich on a shoestring budget in his kitchen, using erector sets and similar money-saving devices." [from Films About Filmmaking] 123 min. DVD 4191; DVD 4667; also vhs 999:2539
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Lisbon Story (Germany / Portugal, 1994)
- Directed by Wim Wenders. Cast: Rudiger Vogler, Patrick Bauchau, Teresa Salgueiro, Madredeus. When sound engineer Phillip Winter receives a cryptic message from his friend, a self-obsessed director, he drives to Lisbon. But upon his arrival, Winter is unable to find the director, and an unfinished silent film is the only clue to his whereabouts. As a result the engineer finds himself roaming the streets of Lisbon recording sound for his friend's unfinished silent film. 100 min. 999:3698
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Living in Oblivion (1995)
- Directed by Tom DiCillo. Cast: Steve Buscemi, Catherine Keener, Dermot Mulroney, Danielle Von Zerneck, James LeGros. In this wickedly funny satire of the movie-making business, the leading man has just had a disastrous one-night stand with the leading lady. The cinematographer is breaking up with the assistant director. The director's mother has wandered onto the set and the dwarf hired for the dream sequence has an attitude. 92 min. DVD 4786
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Lumiere et Compagnie(France / Denmark / Spain / Sweden, 1996)
- To commemorate the Centennial of the Lumiere Brothers' first motion picture, 40 of the world's leading international filmmakers created their own one minute Lumiere film. Using the restored original camera, each director offered his own signature style to the film. These exciting eclectic shorts are combined with intriguing interviews with the filmmakers. Filmmakers: Gabriel Axel, Theo Angelopoulos, Vicente Aranda, Merzak Allouache, John Boorman, Bigas Luna, Youssef Chahine, Alain Corneau, Costa-Gavras, Raymond Depardon, Francis Girod, Peter Greenaway, Michael Haneke, Lasse Hallstrom, Hugh Hudson, Idrissa Ouedraogo, James Ivory, Ismail Merchant, Gaston Kabore, Abbas Kiarostami, Cedric Klapisch, Andrei Konchalovsky, David Lynch, Patrice Leconte, Louis Lumiere, Claude Lelouch, Claude Miller, Lucian Pintilie, Arthur Penn, Jacques Rivette, Jerry Schatzberg, Spike Lee, Helma Sanders, Fernando Trueba, Nadine Trintignant, Liv Ullmann, Jaco van Dormael, Regis Wargnier, Wim Wenders, Zhang Yimou, Kiju Yoshida. 88 min. Video/C 999:1611
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Malibu Beach Party (1940)
- Animated short. Warner Brothers. Jack Bunny (a spoof of Jack Benny) invites Hollywood celebrities to his Malibu house for a party. Included on DVD 8232
- Man Bites Dog (Belgium, 1992)
- Directed by Remy Belvaux. Cast: Benoit Poelvoorde, Remy Belvaux, Jenny Drye, Jacqueline Poelvoorde Pappaert, Malou Madou, Andre Bonzel. A camera crew follows a serial killer/thief around as he exercises his craft. He expounds on art, music, nature, society, and life as he offs mailmen, pensioners, and random people. Slowly he begins involving the camera crew in his activities, and they begin wondering if what they're doing is such a good idea, particularly when the killer kills a rival and the rival's brother sends a threatening letter. 96 min. DVD 2814
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Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Man With The Movie Camera (Man With a Movie Camera) (Chelovek s Kinoapparatom) (Soviet Union, 1929)
- Directed by Dziga Vertov. Photographer, Mikhail Kaufman. An experimental film without any plot, showing, through a succession of street and interior scenes, all the tricks of which the instrument is capable creating a boldly detailed portrait of the Moscow of the l920s. Uses numerous cinematic techniques such as split screens, multiple superimpositions and variable speeds to study the relation between cinema and reality.
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
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DVD 88 Kino. Original music composed and performed by the Alloy Orchestra following the instructions written by Dziga Vertov. 68 min. Special features: Audio essay by Yuri Tsivian.
- DVD 2992 Kino. Music by Michael Nyman and his band. 68 min.
- The Masquerader(1914)
- Directed by Charlie Chaplin. Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Roscoe Arbuckle, Charlie Murray. "This silent film about filmmaking features Chaplin in a cross-dressing role. Chaplin is an actor in a film studio who gets tossed out of the film for messing up his scenes. Returning dressed as a lady, he/she wins the heart of the director. Eventually all hell breaks loose, the camera gets trashed, and the sets are destroyed in classic slap stick style." [from Films About Filmmaking] 10 min. 999:1457
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Millennium Actress (Sennen joyu) (Japan, 2003)
- Directed by Satoshi Kon. In this film, notable for its animated visual style, past and present collide as a film director discovers a mysterious key that unlocks the secrets of a legendary actress who vanished at the height of her career.
100 min. 999:2966
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Mother Goose Goes Hollywood (1938)
- Directed by Wilfred Jackson. Walt Disney Productions. Animated short. "From the opening scene where Mother Goose takes the place of the MGM lion, it's a trip through her famous rhymes with Hollywood stars taking the place of the storybook characters.
Characters: Mother Goose, Katharine Hepburn/Little Bo Peep, Ned Sparks/The Jester, Hugh Herbert/Old King Cole; Harpo, Chico, Groucho Marx as the Fiddlers Three, W.C. Fields/Humpty Dumpty, Charlie McCarthy; Charles Laughton, Spencer Tracy, Freddie Bartholomew as The Three Men in a Tub, Stan Laurel/Simple Simon, Oliver Hardy/The Pieman, Edward G. Robinson, Greta Garbo/See Saw Margery Daw, Clark Gable, Fats Waller, Fred Astaire, George Arliss, Joe Penner, Joe E. Brown, Martha Raye, Stepin Fetchit, Rudy Vallee, Wallace Beery; Cab Calloway and his Band as the Four and Twenty Blackbirds." [Big Cartoon Database] DVD 6860
- Movie Crazy (1932)
- Directed by Clyde Bruckman. Starring Harold Lloyd. Harold Hall, an accident prone young man with little or no acting ability, desperately wants to be in pictures. After a mix-up with his application photograph, he gets an offer to have a screen-test, and goes off to Hollywood. At the studio, he does everything wrong and causes all sorts of trouble. But he catches the fancy of a beautiful actress, and eventually the studio owner recognizes him as a comic genius. 96 min. DVD 4683
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Movie Star (1916)
- Directed by Directed by Fred Hibbard. Cast: Mack Swain, Louella Maxam, Mai Wells, Ray Grey. Just as the local movie theater is about to begin showing a picture, the star of the film arrives and comes to see the movie himself. On screen, the star must rescue his girl from danger. In the theater, the star finds that not all of the audience admires his acting as much as he does DVD 1312; vhs 999:1899
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- My Big Fat Independent Movie (2005)
- Directed by Philip Zlotorynski. Cast: Paget Brewster, Neil Barton, Ashley Head, Eric Hoffman, Brian Krow, Darren Keefe. In this spoof of independent films, hitmen Sam and Harvey are on their way to pull a heist in Las Vegas. Instead of picking up the rest of their crew, they find swinging hepcat Johnny Vince. Along the way they kidnap a store clerk and encounter a wide range of outlandish characters. 80 min. DVD 5252
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Newsfront (Australia, 1978)
- Directed by Phillip Noyce. Cast: Bill Hunter, Wendy Hughes, Gerard Kennedy, John Ewart, Chris Haywood. The newsreel cameramen were unsung heroes who raced to beat headlines and defied dangers to capture moments on film for moviegoers. They captured historic moments but when a new technology called television arrived, their days were numbered. Tells the story of two such Australian journalists who filmed the historical events of two turbulent decades. 110 min. DVD 4984
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Once Upon a Time Cinema (Ruzi Ruzagari, Cinema) (Iran, 1992)
- Directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf. A loving comedic homage to movies and moviemaking in Iran. It jumps around from the old silent days under the Shah to the current day, and makes fun of censorship rules. The leading character is known simply as "Cinematographer," and characters appear in multiple roles onscreen in re-created films from previous eras, as well as in the story itself. In some cases, the screen characters leave the movie they are in and interact with real-life people. This antic comedy also screens clips from well-know Iranian films of the past. 100 min. 999:2966
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Passion (1982)
- Directed by Jean Luc Godard. Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Hanna Schygulla, Michel Piccoli, Jerzy Radziwilowicz. A Godard-like director is trying to film a movie in the style of the great painters--Rembrandt, Goya, El Greco. The film is plagued by difficulties as the money for the film begins to run out, he can't seem to find the right lighting and the film has no story. In the middle of this intense situation, he starts a simultaneous affair with two women; Hanna, the owner of the hotel, and Isabelle, a factory worker who is trying to stir up a revolt. 88 min. 999:3514
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Peeping Tom (UK, 1945)
- Director, Michael Powell; featuring Carl Boehm, Moira Shearer, Anna Massey, Maxine Audley. A study of a voyeuristic maniac who kills women while filming them with his 16mm camera. 101 min. DVD 187; VHS 999:535
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Pittsburgh (1971)
- Directed by Chris Bradelwy & Kyle la Brache. Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Ed Begley, Jr., Illeana Douglas, Moby, Conan O'Brien, Alanis Morissette,Thomas Cavanagh.
A real-life 'mockumentary' about a Hollywood star's public fame and private life. Jeff Goldblum puts his life on hold to help his young Canadian fiance secure a green card by agreeing to do a production of The Music Man. Now he's faced with grueling rehearsals, a furious agent, and the friends he's convinced to help him. 84 min. DVD 8203
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Player (1991)
- Directed by Robert Altman. Cast: Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward, Whoopi Goldberg, Peter Gallagher, Brion James, Cynthia Stevenson. In this thriller of murderous obsession among Hollywood's glamorous elite, movie studio executive Griffin Mill starts receiving anonymous death threats from a rejected screenwriter. Finally, his desperation drives him to kill...but did he rub out the wrong writer? This suspenseful satire ruthlessly skewers Hollywood's dark side with the help of more than 65 superstar cameo appearances. 124 min. DVD 5519; vhs 999:2083
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
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- Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
- Directed by Woody Allen, featuring Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, Danny Aiello, Jack Rollins. Cecilia is a poor waitress whose only escape is the thrill and excitement of going to the movies. Suddenly, while watching her favorite movie, the leading man jumps out of the picture to be with her. Confusion abounds as the actors he has left in the movie try to get him back. 82 min. DVD 1022; vhs 999:923
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- La Ricotta(Italy, 1963)
- Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini. Starring Orson Welles as a director who sets out to make a film about the passion of Jesus. 35 min. DVD 2768
- RKO 281 (2000)
- Directed by Benjamin Ross. Cast: Liev Schreiber, James Cromwell, Melanie Griffith, Brenda Blethyn, Roy Scheider and John Malkovich. Based in part on the PBS documentary "The Battle over Citizen Kane," this is a dramatization of the battle between Orson Welles and newspaper publisher William Randolf Hearst over the production of the motion picture Citizen Kane. Rich with tales of sexual blackmail, money and threats behind closed doors, this tells the story of Hearst's attempts to shut the movie down and ruin Welles' career. 87 min. DVD 290
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- Sex Is Comedy (2002)
- Directed by Catherine Breillat. Cast: Anne Parillaud, Gregoire Colin, Roxane Mesquida, Ashley Wanninger, Dominique Colladant, Bart Binnema, Yves Osmu, Francis Seleck, Elisabete Piecho. For director Jeanne, sex is no laughing matter. She doesn't find it funny that her two leading actors can't stand each other when she's about to shoot the most important moment in her film ... the sex scene. The actress objects to nudity, the actor won't take off his socks, and the only thing heating up between them is their tempers. At her wits' end, Jeanne tries everything in her power to seduce, intimidate and sweet-talk her reluctant young lovers into performing the film's sexy final scene. 95 min. DVD 3840
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Ince, K. "Is Sex Comedy or Tragedy? Directing Desire and Female Auteurship in the Cinema of Catherine Breillat." The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism v. 64 no. 1 (Winter 2006) p. 157-64
- Larcher, J. "Sex is comedy." Cahiers du Cinema no. 568 (May 2002) p. 38-9
- Williams, L. R. "Sex Is Comedy." Sight & Sound v. ns13 no. 8 (August 2003) p. 56, 58
- Vincendeau, G. "What she wants." Sight & Sound v. ns13 no. 5 (May 2003) p. 20-2
 UC users only
- Shadow Magic (China / Germany / Taiwan / USA, 2000)
- Directed by Ann Hu. Cast: Jared Harris, Xia Yu, Liu Peiqi, Lu Liping, Yufei Xing, Tang Qingzhuo. Based on a true story about a Chinese photographer and an Englishman who arrive with "moving pictures" in early 20th century China. Liu unintentionally defies his family's traditions to help bridge the gap between Chinese culture and the inventions of western technologies. In order to better his standing in society, so he can marry the woman he loves, Liu must decide if he wants to risk everything to help bring the motion picture industry to China. 115 min. DVD 2895
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Shadow of the Vampire (UK / USA / Luxembourg, 2000)
- Directed by E. Elias Merhige. Cast: John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Cary Elwes, Aden Gillet, Eddie Izzard, Udi Kier, Catherine McCormack, Ronan Vibert. This riveting suspense thriller is about the filming of Nosferatu and the difficult relationship between the director, F. W. Murnau and actor Max Schreck. As cast and crew begin to disappear, it seems that Murnau has made a devil's bargain with Schreck, whose performance is too authentic. 92 min. DVD 2330
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Atkinson, M. "Vampire variations" [E. E. Merighe's Shadow of the vampire]. Film Comment v. 36 no. 6 (November/December 2000) p. 27-9
- Elsaesser, Thomas. "Six degrees of Nosferatu."
Sight & Sound v. ns11 no. 2 (February 2001) p. 12-15UC users only
- Kemp, P. Shadow of the vampire. Sight & Sound v. ns11 no. 2 (February 2001) p. 50-1UC users only
- Sterritt, D. Shadow of the vampire. Cineaste v. 25 no. 4 (2000) p. 34-5UC users only
- Sherlock Jr. (1924)
- Directed by Buster Keaton. A young man (played by Buster Keaton) working at a movie theater takes a break from sweeping to read a book on how to be a detective. After work he buys a box of candy for a girlfriend and presents it to her along with a ring. Another suitor, the deceitful 'sheik', steals a watch from the girl's house, pawns it, and tries to impress her with a larger box of candy. The main character is accused of taking the watch and is forced to leave the girl's house. He returns to his job at the theater and falls asleep in the projector room. The young man dreams he can walk through the film screen and into an adventurous mystery movie. The characters are people from his real life, with the sheik playing the villain and the main character himself being the inventive and invincible detective Sherlock Jr. He manages to solve the crime and save the girl in this contained narrative before waking up back in the projector booth. The girl shows up and admits that her family had made a mistake in suspecting him. Unsure of what to do next, the hero looks to the characters in the movie currently playing for suggestions. 44 min. DVD 133
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- Singin' in the Rain (1952)
- Directed by Stanley Donen & Gene Kelley. A musical-comedy spoof of the turmoil that afflicted the motion picture industry in the late 1920's during the changeover from silent films to sound. DVD 7266: special features: new 50th anniversary documentary, "What a glorious feeling," hosted by Debbie Reynolds; "You are my lucky star" outtake; scoring session music cues; feature-length audio commentary; theatrical trailer; excerpts of Arthur Freed/Nacio Herb Brown songs from originating movies. 103 min. DVD 7266; DVD 3; VHS 999:36
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Sixteen Millimeter Shrine(TV 1959)
- An aging movie star lives in her dreams of the past and eventually disappears in her screening room. Twilight Zone, Episode 4, October 23, 1959. DVD 2608; vhs 999:1274
- Slugs (Nacktschnecken) (Austria, 2004)
- Director, Michael Glawogger. Cast: Michael Ostrowski, Raimund Wallisch, Pia Hierzegger, Georg Friedrich, Detlev Buck, Brigitte Kren.
An Austrian low-budget comedy about three young pals who plan to earn money by shooting an hardcore-porno movie. 86 min. DVD 7784
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- Soigne ta droite (Keep Your Right Up!) (France, 1982)
- Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Cast: Jean-Luc Godard, Jane Birkin, Fred Chichin, Michel Galabru, Pauline Lafont, Rita Mitsouko. "The Idiot" (also known as "The Prince") has been guaranteed financing for a film, but only if he can deliver it within 24 hours. He encounters all sorts of hilarious problems as he attempts to do so. Meanwhile, a pop group works on a new album. 82 min. DVD 3313
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- Speaking Parts (1982)
- Directed by Atom Egoyan. Cast: Michael McManus, Arsinee Khanjian, Gabrielle Rose, Tony Nardi, David Hemblen, Patricia Collins, Gerard Parkes. A struggling actor working as a hotel custodian and gigolo finds himself the obsessional object of two women: a scriptwriter he hustled for a part in a movie and a hotel maid. Their tangled web of psycho-sexual desires ultimately leads to death. 92 min. DVD 5340
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- A Star Is Born (1937)
- Directed by William A. Wellman. Cast: Janet Gaynor, Fredric March, Adolphe Menjou, May Robson, Andy Devine, Lionel Stander. A fading star meets an aspiring actress, falls in love with her and they marry. Her career skyrockets, while his continues to fade with tragic results. 91 min. DVD 3284; VHS 999:737
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- A Star Is Born (1954)
- Directed by George Cukor. Cast: Judy Garland, James Mason, Jack Carson, Charles Bickford. A classic story of fame, innocence and destruction. A matinee idol falls in love with a young girl and propels her to stardom. Her career skyrockets, while his continues to fade with tragic consequences. Based on the Dorothy Parker, Alan Campbell, Robert Carson screenplay from a story by William A. Wellman and Robert Carson. 91 min. DVD 572; VHS 1018
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- A Star is Hatched (1938)
- Animated short. Directed by Friz Freleng. Emily the chicken, lives in Hickville but dreams of Hollywood. Her chance comes when director J. Megga-Phone happens to drive past and gives her his card. She makes her way to Hollywood, and Megga-Phone's office, where she discovers a whole flock of hens with the same card and a completely uncaring Megga-Phone. She returns home to faithful Clem, and a chick with foolish notions. Included on DVD 3636
- Star Maps (1997)
- Directed by Miguel Arteta. Cast: Douglas Spain, Efrain Figueroa, Kandyce Jorden, Martha Velez, Lysa Flores, Annette Murphy, Robin Thomas, Vincent Chandler, Al Vicente.
Carlos, a naive young man, works for his father selling star maps which point the way to the homes of some of Hollywood's biggest celebrities. But his job is really a front for a prostitution ring, and in this city of illusions, Carlos' plan to use one of his customers to help him get a movie role just may be the biggest illusion of all. 90 min. VHS 999:2855
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- Stardust Memories (1980)
- Directed by Woody Allen. Cast:Woody Allen, Charlotte Rampling, Jessica Harper, Marie-Christine Barrault, Tony Roberts. A famous comedy film maker, rejected by his fans and critics after a venture into serious cinema, seeks comfort from the three dissimilar women he is dating: the beautiful but neurotic Dorrie, sensitive and talented violinist Daisy, and earthy, mature Isobel. 91 min. DVD 223; VHS 999:1913
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- State and Main
- Directed by David Mamet. Cast: Alec Baldwin, Charles Durning, Clark Gregg, Philip Seymore Hoffman, Patti LuPone, William H. Macy, Sarah Jessica Parker, David Paymer, Rebecca Pidgeon, Julia Stiles. In order to save money on production costs, a movie production crew moves into a small town in Vermont. The crew soon discovers that their much needed "prop" has burned down, the star can't keep his pants zipped, the starlet won't take off her top and the locals want a piece of the action. 105 min. DVD 2894
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- State of Things (Stand der Dinge) (West Germany / Portugal / USA, 1982)
- Director, Wim Wenders. Cast: Patrick Bauchau, Allen Goorwitz, Viva, Sam Fuller, Paul Getty II, Roger Corman. Friedrich (Patrick Bauchau), a Swiss director is in the middle of shooting an impressionistic film about six survivors of the nuclear holocaust when the film stock suddenly runs out. He is forced to go to Hollywood in search of a film producer (Allen Goorwitz) who is an erratic genius ceaselessly roaming the LA streets throughtout the night. 102 min. 999:248
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- The Stunt Man (1980)
- Directed by Richard Rush. Featuring Peter O'Toole, Steve Railsback, Barbara Hershey, Allen Goorwitz, Alex Rocco, Adam Roarke, Sharon Farrell, Philip Bruns, Chuck Bail.
Vietnam veteran Cameron is on the run from the police when he stumbles onto the set of a war movie directed by megalomaniac Eli Cross. But when the young fugitive is forced to replace a dead stunt man, he falls in love with the movie's leading lady while trying to avoid getting arrested or killed. Is Eli trying to capture Cameron's death on film? And what happens to a paranoid stunt man when illusion and reality change places? 130 min. Based on the novel The stunt man by Paul Brodeur. DVD 4787
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Sullivan's Travels (1941)
- Directed by Preston Sturges, featuring Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, Robert Warwick, William Demarest, Margaret Hayes, Porter Hall, Franklin Pangborn, Eric Blore. "Sullivan is a successful, spoiled, and naive director of fluff films, with a heart-o-gold, who decides he wants to make a film about the troubles of the downtrodden poor ["O Brother, Where Art Thou"]. Much to the chagrin of his producers, he sets off in tramp's clothing with a single dime in his pocket to experience poverty first-hand, and gets some reality shock." [Internet Movie Database][See also: filmsite.org for a fuller description]
91 min.DVD 6592; DVD 790; VHS 999:358
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
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- Sunset Boulevard (1950)
- Directed by Billy Wilder. Featuring William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim. A harsh look at Hollywood in which an aging silent-movie queen makes a tragic attempt to return to stardom. 110 min. DVD 1476;l vhs 999:182
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
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- Super 8 1/2: A Cautionary Bio-pic (1995)
- Directed by Bruce LaBruce. Cast: Bruce LaBruce, Liza LaMonica, Mikey Mike, Klaus von Brucker, Chris Teen, Dirty Pillows, Buddy Cole, Ben Weasel, Amy Nitrate, Vaginal Creme Davis, Richard Kern. A vaguely autobiographical look at a director of gay films whose career is in decline. The "creator" of the films is the artistically affected Googie. Most of her scenes end in blackouts of Bruce LaBruce, his former lovers, and his lesbian punkette buddies Wednesday and Jane Friday. There are also numerous clips of Bruce's porn films and clips from Googie's own attempt at experimental filmmaking. 106 min. 999:3482
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Swimming With Sharks (1994)
- Directed by George Huang. Cast: Kevin Spacey, Frank Whaley, Michelle Forbes. Kevin Spacey stars as Buddy Ackerman, "the boss from hell" who reigns over an entry-level corporate job anyone would kill for. The ambitious Guy (Frank Whaley), Buddy's personal assistant, finds himself ducking everthing from insults to paperweights as he tries to satisfy Buddy's needs. But when those "needs" involve Guy's girlfriend, he snaps. In a wicked twist of personnel payback, Guy takes Buddy as his "personal hostage" for a hilarious executive-suite revenge that is every abused employee's dream come true! 101 min. DVD 5941
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Tango(Spain / Argentina, 1998)
- Directed by Carlos Saura. Set in Buenos Aires with a rich blend of muted light and intoxicating dance this film tells the story of director Mario Suarez's quest to create the ultimate tango film. Complications develop when Mario falls in love with Elena, a talented young dancer who is the girlfriend of an investor in the picture. And Mario's creative vision is challenged by his investors when he plans a scene that recreates Argentina's dark years of political suppression and "disappearances." 115 min. DVD 6194; vhs 999:2650
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Twilight (1997)
- Directed by Robert Benton. Cast: Paul Newman, Susan Sarandon, Gene Hackman, Stockard Channing, Reese Witherspoon, Giancarlo Esposito, James Garner. Harry Ross is a burned-out private eye who's plunged into a murder mystery tied to a long-unsolved case of Hollywood dreams, schemes and cover-ups. 95 min. DVD 5405
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Valley of the Dolls (1967)
- Directed by Mark Robson. Cast: Cast: Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, Paul Burke, Sharon Tate, Susan Hayward. Lured by dreams of fame and fortune, three ambitious young women enter the world of show business and discover how easy it is to sink into a celebrity nightmare of ego, alcohol and "pills" -- the beloved "dolls". 123 min. 999:3482
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- What's Cookin Doc? (1944)
- Directed by Robert Clampett. Warner Brothers Studios. "Hollywood; Oscar night. After a live-action introduction establishing these points, Bugs Bunny says hi and begins blatantly lobbying for the Oscar that goes instead to James Cagney. Miffed, Bugs shows the audience a clip from Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt (1941), and the crowd gives it to him but not the Oscar." [Internet Movie Database] 9 min. Video Disc 155
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Who's Camus Anyway? (Kamyu nante shiranai) (Japan, 2005)
- Directed by Mitsuo Yangimachi. Cast: Shuji Kashiwabara ; Hinano Yoshikawa, Ai Maeda, Hideo Nakaizumi, Hirotaro Honda. Who is Camus, anyway? This drama, unfolded around the filming activities on the campus of a university in Tokyo, presents the personal lives and loves of the modern youth of Japan. 115 min. DVD 6347
- Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- You Ought To Be In Pictures(1940)
- Directed by Friz Freleng. Animated short. "As the clock strikes midday, the animators vanish from their desks, abandoning the studio to Porky and Daffy. Jealous of Porky's success in the Looney Tunes cartoon series, Daffy tricks Porky into quitting Looney Tunes and heading for the Warner Brothers lot to go after the big money in a career in live-action features. Poor Porky never gets through the front gate. Frustrated, Porky returns to Termite Terrace, where he sees Daffy trying to take over Porky's job. Porky takes the conniving duck into an empty studio and beats the living bejeezes out of him. He then heads over to real-life Looney Tunes producer Leon Schlesinger's office to try and get his job back. Schlesinger has kept Porky's contract in his desk, and he tells Porky that he'll always have a job at Termite Terrace." [Big Cartoon Database] DVD 3137
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