FILM 1860: A WOMAN'S FACE

FILM 1860: A WOMAN'S FACE

TRIVIA: Director Cukor wanted Anna's recital of her life story to be done in a tired, mechanical fashion, so he had Crawford repeat the multiplication tables over and over until he got the monotonous tone he was looking for. Then, he rolled the cameras.

This was originally an MGM project lined up for Greta Garbo, but she retired from films so MGM rushed Joan Crawford into the role.

Based on the movie "En kvinnas ansikte" from 1938 where Ingrid Bergman plays the lead role of Anna.

FILM 1716: THE WRONG MAN

TRIVIA: The scene where Henry ("Manny") Fonda is taken to prison was filmed in a real prison. As he is led to his cell , you can hear one of the inmates yell out "What'd they get ya for, Henry??", and a bunch of other prisoners laughing.

Alfred Hitchcock filmed one of his usual cameos, standing in a restaurant as Manny sits, but decided on using a narrated prologue instead.

Although based on a true story, Alfred Hitchcock deliberately left out some of the information that pointed to Manny's innocence to heighten the tension.

This marked the only time Henry Fonda worked with director Alfred Hitchcock. Fonda's close friend James Stewart worked with Hitchcock 4 times.

In the opening scene, it shows Manny (Henry Fonda) playing his bass viol. Seated at the piano, next to him is the pianist/conductor who tags the final note played. This is in reality Betnard Herrmann, the composer and conductor for many Hitchcock movies and many other Hollywood films of that era.

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

FILM 1418: THE ACCUSED

TRIVIA: Upon seeing a pre-screening of the film, Jodie Foster thought her performance as Sarah Tobias was so awful that she immediately began preparing for and taking the GRE's for graduate school. She was prepared to leave her film career behind and focus on academia...until she won the Academy Award for her performance.

Kelly McGillis was offered the role of Sarah Tobias, but having survived a violent sexual assault in 1982 by two men who broke into her apartment, she declined the role and instead fought for the part of Kathryn Murphy.

According Jodie Foster in her interview in Boffo! Tinseltown's Bombs and Blockbusters (2006), producer Stanley R. Jaffe felt she was "not sexy enough" for the role and wanted to cast another actress. He felt that 24-year-old Jodie Foster did not have the right talent for the role.

Brad Pitt auditioned for a role.

This is the first film since Two Women (1960) to win the Best Actress Academy Award without being nominated in any other category.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus was considered for the role of Sarah Tobias, but was later discarded because she was "too nice" for the part.

Brian De Palma was originally assigned to direct the movie.

In their separate careers several years after the release of The Accused (1988), both leading ladies, Kelly McGillis and Jodie Foster, publicly and proudly acknowledged their homosexuality. McGillis came out in 2009, and Foster in 2013.

FILM 1376: DRESSED TO KILL

TRIVIA: As a young man, De Palma, at his mother's urging, actually followed his father and used recording equipment to try and catch him with another woman. That incident inspired this film.

Angie Dickinson said on The Tonight Show that of all the movies she was in, Dressed to Kill is her favorite.

Brian De Palma specifically wrote the part of Liz Blake for his then wife Nancy Allen to play.

The conversation between Liz and Peter at the end of the movie about male-to-female surgery was filmed at the Windows on the World restaurant complex in the World Trade Center.

Michael Caine's psychiatric office is located at 162 East 70th Street on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

The flirtatious sequence with Angie Dickinson and the mystery man in the museum lasts almost 9 minutes, during which time no dialogue whatsoever is spoken.