–AND THE WINNER OF THE $100K POWER LINE PRIZE IS…–

Putting their money where their mouth is, our friends at Power Line came up with the terrific idea of tapping into the creative world to explain the dangers of President Obama’s mounting debt. Starting next week, Big Hollywood will post a number of the entries — favorites, runner ups, and finalists, on a daily basis, but for now you can check out the grand-prize winner here.  

The idea, of course, is to get a crucial message out. So you are encouraged to “steal” these videos and help them to go viral.

–MOVIES SPIELBERG (ALLEGEDLY) DEMANDS YOU SEE BEFORE YOU WORK WITH HIM–

While this may or may not be true about Spielberg, what is true is that this is a great list of great films. Whoever came up with it should be programming film schools or Turner Classic Movies.

There are only a few on here I haven’t seen. The most surprising title, though, is Steve McQueen’s “The Hunter,” which is widely regarded as a truly awful film. The inclusion of Rod Steiger’s “No Way to Treat a Lady,” “Ramblin’ Rose,” “Runaway Train,” “Scarecrow,” “The Chase,” “French Connection 2,” “Lonelyhearts,” and One-Eyed Jacks” are all unexpected but excellent choices.

Those of you looking to educate yourself on the magic of motion pictures could do a lot worse (like any AFI Top 100 list) than this.

–NBC REIMAGINING “PRIME SUSPECT”–

Great, just great.

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Oscar season approaches, which means that once again it’s time for the annual cry of … There-Are-No-Good-Roles-For-Women! Maybe “cry” isn’t the best word. ”Whine” is more suitable — from a self-inflicted wound. Here’s a taste of this year’s first-whine from a Hollywood Reporter story titled: Shallow Pool for Oscar’s Actress Contenders:

How shallow is the pool? Some are talking about performances such as Sandra Bullock’s in the feel-good film “The Blind Side

The lack of depth has led to a slew of awards-season chatter, from the expected downplaying — all categories are cyclical — to blanket explanations about studios making fewer awards movies in general. …

But it also highlights that, for all the strides made by the women behind the camera, the women in front of them can still be subject to the old prejudices. Indeed, the more cynical in town — including at least one actress awards-contender — say that the director and actress trends are hardly a coincidence. Many female directors, they argue, can feel pressure to cast a preponderance of strong male leads to negate the perception that theirs is a female-oriented film.

The article is simply wrong on one very important point. These aren’t “old prejudices,” these are new prejudices. (more…)

Hedy Lamarr’s perfectly arched eyebrows emphasize her symmetrical features. Considered the most beautiful woman in Hollywood, Lamarr was also incredibly bright, co-inventing, in 1941, a “frequency-hopping device that now serves as the basis for modern spread-spectrum communication technology.” That quote is grabbed from Wikipedia. I have absolutely no idea what it means, but darn, I’m impressed. Anyhoo. Married six times, Lamarr gained and lost several fortunes. After her career was over she was arrested on shoplifting charges.

Screening movies from Hollywood’s Golden Age, I’ve noticed an interesting trend—in eyebrows.

During the early days of silent films, female stars appeared pretty normal. Which is to say, eyebrows were lightly plucked, but retained a recognizably human configuration. (more…)

Mary Pickford's rich and lustrous hair was the paradigm of female beauty in early Hollywood.

I’ve been looking at portraits of Hollywood stars from the 50’s, a time when the studio system was finally collapsing, and I noticed a few things.

The quality of studio portrait photography was dismal.

The images are, for the most part, bland, with little creative inspiration. Everyone seems bored—the photographers and the stars. Hollywood once employed geniuses like George Hurrell and C.S. Bull, whose iconic photography helped mold the G-d-like images of Hollywood’s golden age.

But as the studios were shrinking in power, they drastically cut back on their still departments. And because actors were no longer under long-term contract to the studios, the technocrat executives who replaced the original passionate moguls had no stake or ability to carefully shape and control the images of their most promising thespians.

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John Wayne walks the walk in Hondo, 1953.

It’s in the walk.

Think of Mae West, hands caressing her Rubenesque hips, head tilted, not just sauntering, but oozing forward, the exaggerated female.

Elbows cocked and angled at his hips, moving with concentrated energy, Jimmy Cagney looks like a coiled spring about to explode.

Joan Crawford, leading with her linebacker shoulders, like a tank on the battlefield, determined, dangerous, unstoppable. (more…)