With Martin Scorsese’s Hugo arriving on DVD and Blu-ray this month, we’ve picked out our five favourite movies about movies…
Singin’ in the Rain
Let’s start with an oldie, but most definitely a goldie. For those who don’t know, this 1952 musical concentrates on a defining moment in the film business – when talkies began. Crucially, however, the film really deals with manufacturing; and specifically how the studio tries to “sell” a couple to the world (with hilarious and musical consequences).
The unabandoned joy of the main trio – Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds – is what really wins you over though. Having said that, amazingly Singin’ in the Rain won not one Oscar.
Shadow of the Vampire
This little-discussed gem from 2000 performs the ambitious task of being a film about a film whilst also pastiching that very film its documenting. Directed by E. Elias Merhige (who hasn’t done much since, sadly), Shadow of the Vampire is a fictionalised version of the behind-the-scenes action on F. W. Murnau’s 1922 horror, Nosferatu.
John Malkovich plays the director with his typical Malkovichian style, but it’s a heavily made-up Oscar-nominated Willem Dafoe taking centre stage as actor Max Shreck (who played vampire Orlok in the original film). The actor’s unusual methods unnerve the crew leading to one of the most bizarre, and a tad unpleasant, finales of modern times. A fitting homage; it’s acted in the style of the day and shot beautifully.
Hugo
Love letter. There, just in case you’ve missed the dozens of times that particular phrase has been used recently, Hugo is Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning love letter to the father of film, Georges Méliès. (We’re tempted to hashtag that ‘obvious’.)
Although the story is itself as fantastical and whimsical as the filmmaker’s magical movies, the facts are as surprising as the clockwork robotic heart of the sumptuous 3D flick. But it’s the Goodfellas director’s take on Méliès’ post-film career that warms the soul with vivid colours, elegant camerawork and charming characters. Scorsese’s love for film is clear and never before has he revealed his heartfelt innocence in such a pleasingly mainstream, yet artistic, style.
Ed Wood
If Hugo was Scorsese’s love letter then this 1994 classic must be Tim Burton’s veritable sex call. Also picking a couple of Oscars (one for the sensational Martin Landau as horror star Bela Lugosi), Ed Wood combined fact with fiction in this telling of Edward D. Wood Jnr’s career in films (often dubbed the “worst” director ever). Johnny Depp’s brightly naive and optimism-fuelled portrayal matched the audacity of the titular man’s work.
The highlight is Burton’s reworking of various scenes from Wood’s “masterpiece” Plan 9 from Outer Space, forcing you to go and seek the original source out of sheer curiosity – no mean feat. Ed Wood is a film about films but it’s also about love for film, good or bad.
The Player
Without a doubt, Robert Altman’s snappy satire (twenty years old this year!) stands alone as the sharpest, funniest and, by all accounts, most incredibly accurate take on the Hollywood machine.
The Player strikes gold on all fronts and anyone with the vaguest interest in cinema should watch this piece of perfection. The narrative is a film noir steal (complete with an Icelandic femme fatale in Greta Scacchi and problem-addled movie producer-turned-detective in Tim Robbins), but it’s the brain-scratching savviness of the gags and their reference-a-minute knowingness that make the film such a supreme piece of work.
The inner-workings of the movie biz are hilariously laid out as writers pitch to uninterested producers using phrases like, “It’s Out of Africa meets Pretty Woman“, “Ghost meets Manchurian Candidate,” (which is touted as a “psychic, political, thriller comedy, with a heart”) whilst also proposing a sequel to The Graduate (“Dark, weird and funny. And with a stroke”).
Cameos of “real” stars like Bruce Willis, Jeff Goldblum and Julia Roberts pepper the work magnificently adding “reality” but best of all is the denouement, which mimics the altered ending of the film being produced throughout by the titular player, Habeas Corpus. Meta doesn’t even come close.
What’s your favourite movie about movies? Let us know below…
Watch the Hugo trailer…