In The Company Of Glenn

The greatest films never made

Eddie Constantine in Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville

I learn from Richard Brody's new book Everything is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard, that prior to settling on Alphaville with him, Godard wanted American expat tough-guy portrayer Eddie Constantine to play the lead role in an adaptation of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend.

The mind fairly boggles at the notion: Jean-Luc Godard's I Am Legend, starring Eddie Constantine.

What are your favorite unrealized movies, in the mode of this, or, say, David Lean's Nostromo? There are hundreds out there, for sure...

On a side note, it's pretty droll how Lou Reed has turned into such an Eddie Constantine lookalike in recent years, no?

Happy belated birthday, Shirley Temple!

Shirley Temple, seen above with Henry Fonda in John Ford's Fort Apache, turned 80 yesterday, and apparently is suffering a broken arm.

I'm sure I'm not the only film lover out there wishing her comfort...and remembering her fascinating career with some gratitude. Dave Kehr's review of a recent Fox DVD box of three films she made before her short-lived "mature" period is a fitting, and respectful, tribute. I think about Temple and, aside from my admiration for her talent...other things blow me away. She worked with Ford. With Dwan. With Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. 80 isn't that old for being a living link to that era of moviemaking. Quite a life, quite a talent.