Angela Lansbury Archives - Big Gay Picture Show

Angela Lansbury Sings Beautiful Live Rendition Of Beauty & The Beast To Mark The Film’s 25th Anniversary

September 20, 2016 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

There aren’t many 90-year-olds who are still working, and who can sing a song as well as they did decades before. But then, Angela Lansbury isn’t your ordinary woman.

Lansbury surprised a special 25th Anniversary screening of Beauty And The Beast at New York City’s Lincoln Center with a live rendition of the title song. Composer Alan Menken was at the piano and together they create a moment where it’s difficult not to be very jealous of those who saw it live.

Of course, we’re getting plenty more Beauty & The Beast soon, with Bill Condon directing a live-action version of classic Disney animated movie, complete with the classic songs and some new tunes too. Emma Watson and Dan Stevens are playing the title roles, with Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Luke Evans and Josh Gad also appearing. It’ll be out next year.

Take a look at Angela Lansbury’s performance below. [Read more…]

Women He’s Undressed (US Cinema/DVD Review)

July 24, 2016 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Angela Lansbury, Cary Grant, Catherine Martin, Jane Fonda
Director: Gillian Armstrong
Running Time: 95 mins
Certificate: NR (US)
Release Date: July 19th 2016 (LA), August 9th 2016 (US DVD/VoD)

Gillian Armstrong is best known for directing the likes of Charlotte Gray, Oscar & Lucinda and Little Women, but here she returns to the documentary arena for a film about Orry-Kelly. It’s not a name you’ll necessarily recognise, although you will probably know some of his work – Ingrid Bergman’s costumes in Casablanca, Marilyn Monroe’s frocks in Some Like It Hot, the western clothes in Oklahoma! and all manner of dresses for Bette Davis.

He won three Oscars (making him Australia’s most prolific Academy Award winner until fellow costume designer Catherine Martin picked up her third and fourth gongs for The Great Gatsby (2013)), and to many in the filmmaking community he’s a bit of a legend. He was also an alcoholic and he was gay, something he didn’t hide but didn’t publicly flaunt either. Rumours suggest he may have had an intimate relationship with Cary Grant when they roomed together shortly after they both arrived in the US, although that’s never been confirmed. [Read more…]

The Company Of Wolves (Blu-ray/DVD)

October 18, 2012 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Sarah Patterson, Angela Lansbury, David Warner, Stephen Rea, Graham Crowden
Director: Neil Jordan
Running Time: 91 mins
Certificate: 18
Release Date: October 22nd 2012

If you have a teenage daughter you want to warn off boys and sex, but would prefer to do it through symbolic folklore than just telling them straight, then this in the film for you. If nothing else it’ll make them wary of any man whose eyebrows meet in the middle.

Neil Jordan’s 1984 fantasy film, based on Angela Carter’s stories, is part anthology, part tales within tales and quite often very strange. The film plays out as the dreams of a girl called Rosaleen, who’s on the threshold of womanhood. He sleeping fantasies see her living in a folklore-ish village deep in the woods. Her grandmother (Angela Lansbury) tells her stories that impress upon her that she should, “Never stray from the path, never eat a windfall apple and never trust a man whose eyebrows meet in the middle.” These stories within stories generally involve women falling for rather bestial men who have an extremely wolfish side, or the terrible repercussions of doing the wrong thing. [Read more…]