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Euronews
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Indiana Jones whip once owned by Princess Diana sells at auction
The whip wielded by Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade that once belonged to Princess Diana has sold at auction for $525,000 (€452,000). Once filming was completed, Ford gave the whip to then-Prince Charles at the film's UK premiere in 1989. It was given as a gift to Princess Diana, who gave it to the current owner, who was not identified. 'The bullwhip is the iconic symbol of an iconic character of cinema history, Indiana Jones, and has been a highlight of this auction," said Joe Maddalena, Heritage's executive vice president. Thursday's sale came a day after the Rosebud sled from 1941's Citizen Kane went for an eye-watering $14.75 million (€12.7m), making it one of the priciest props in movie history - second only to the $32.5 million that Judy Garland's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz fetched in December. The sled was sold by longtime owner Gremlins director Joe Dante. 'Rosebud' is the last word spoken by the title character in director Orson Welles' 1941 film Citizen Kane, and the hunt for its meaning provides the film's plot. Many critics have regarded it as the best film ever made. Long thought lost, the sled is one of three of the prop known to have survived. Dante stumbled on it when he was filming on the former RKO Pictures lot in 1984. He wasn't a collector, but knew the value of the sled and quietly preserved it for decades, putting it as an Easter egg into four of his own films. Dante's friend and mentor Steven Spielberg paid $60,500 for another of the sleds in 1982, and an anonymous buyer paid $233,000 for the third in 1996. Both these items were part of the Summer Entertainment Auction being held all week by Heritage Auctions. Heritage says the overall take has made it the second-highest grossing entertainment auction of all time, and there's still a day to go. Yet to be up for bids are Macaulay Culkin's knit snow cap from Home Alone, a pair of 'Hattori Hanzo' prop swords from Kill Bill Vol. 1 and a first edition set of Harry Potter novels signed by J.K. Rowling.
Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Sled from 1941 film Citizen Kane sells at auction for €12.75m
The iconic sled from Orson Welles's 1941 classic Citizen Kane has sold for $14.75m (€12.75m) at auction. The item therefore becomes the second most valuable piece of movie memorabilia ever sold, following last December's sale of a pair of ruby slippers from 1939's The Wizard of Oz for $32.5m. The buyer is unknown, but the seller was the director Joe Dante, who was given the item in 1984 while working on Explorers on the Paramount lot, previously home to RKO Pictures. 'One of the crew who knew I was a fan of vintage films came to me with a wood prop and said: 'They're throwing out all of this stuff. You might want this,'' said Mr Dante. 'I'm not sure he knew what the sled was, but he must have had some inkling, or why else would he have asked me? 'I was astonished. Since I am a huge fan of the movie, I said, 'Yeah, I'll be glad to take it.'' The prop is primarily pine hardwood, with the original paint, but signs of both wear and tear on the lot and with a few missing rails, likely donated to the wartime drive for scrap metal. 'I've had the honour of protecting this piece of cinematic history for decades,' Mr Dante said in a statement released by action house Heritage. 'To see Rosebud find a new home — and make history in the process — is both surreal and deeply gratifying. It's a testament to the enduring power of storytelling.' Mr Dante featured the sled in Explorers, as well as 1989's The Burbs, Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990), and an episode of the early 90s series Eerie, Indiana. The exact number of sleds produced for the film is unknown — the auction house says a 'few' were made; one sold to Steven Spielberg in 1982 for $60,500, and another to an anonymous buyer for $233,000 in 1996. Other sales in the auction include a filming miniature X-wing from The Empire Strikes Back, a bullwhip from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Austin Powers' green velvet suit. A nude photo of Marilyn Monroe is also available, armour from Ben-Hur and a Ralph Lauren blazer owned by Audrey Hepburn. 'This is one of the most important events in entertainment auction history,' said Heritage Auctions executive vice-president Joe Maddalena. 'These aren't just props. They're mythic objects. They tell the story of Hollywood's greatest moments, one piece at a time, each tied to a memory, a performance, a legend.' The Guardian Read More Star Wars lightsaber used by Darth Vader to go up for auction
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Rosebud sled from Citizen Kane sells at auction for £11m
The iconic sled from Orson Welles's 1941 classic Citizen Kane has sold for $14.75m (£11m) at auction. The item therefore becomes the second most valuable piece of movie memorabilia ever sold, following last December's sale of a pair of ruby slippers from 1939's The Wizard of Oz for $32.5m (£24.2m). The buyer is unknown, but the seller was the director Joe Dante, who was given the item in 1984 while working on Explorers on the Paramount lot, previously home to RKO Pictures. 'One of the crew who knew I was a fan of vintage films came to me with a wood prop and said, 'They're throwing out all of this stuff. You might want this,'' said Dante. 'I'm not sure he knew what the sled was, but he must have had some inkling, or why else would he have asked me? 'I was astonished. Since I am a huge fan of the movie, I said, 'Yeah, I'll be glad to take it.'' The prop is primarily pine hardwood, with the original paint but signs of both wear and tear on the lot and with a few missing rails, likely donated to the wartime drive for scrap metal. 'I've had the honour of protecting this piece of cinematic history for decades,' Dante said in a statement released by action house Heritage. 'To see Rosebud find a new home – and make history in the process – is both surreal and deeply gratifying. It's a testament to the enduring power of storytelling.' Dante featured the sled in Explorers, as well as 1989's The Burbs, Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) and an episode of the early 90s series Eerie, Indiana. The exact number of sleds produced for the film is unknown – the auction house says a 'few' were made; one sold to Steven Spielberg in 1982 for $60,500 (£45,150) in 1982 and another to an anonymous buyer for $233,000 (£174,000) in 1996. Other sales in the auction include a filming miniature X-wing from The Empire Strikes Back, Indiana Jones' bullwhip originally given to HRH Prince Charles by Harrison Ford at the royal premiere of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Austin Powers's green velvet suit. A nude photo of Marilyn Monroe is also available, armour from Ben-Hur and a Ralph Lauren blazer owned by Audrey Hepburn. 'This is one of the most important events in entertainment auction history,' said Heritage Auctions executive vice president Joe Maddalena. 'These aren't just props. They're mythic objects. They tell the story of Hollywood's greatest moments, one piece at a time, each tied to a memory, a performance, a legend.'
Epoch Times
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Epoch Times
‘Good Sam': The Downside of Helping Others
NR | 1h 54m | Drama | 1948 Is Sam Clayton's (Gary Cooper) winning ways with people see him excel as manager at his town's leading department store. Still, even years later, he and his wife Lucille (Ann Sheridan), or Lu, haven't saved enough to buy their dream home. Sam keeps giving the family's savings to needy folk. Never mind that Lu and their two school-going children are needy, too. At church, Rev. Daniels (Ray Collins) glorifies the Golden Rule, accelerating Sam's altruism. To an exasperated Lu, Sam's always been that way with families who aren't, well, family. Lu knows about Sam's largesse. He loans his car to the Butlers, whose car breaks down before their family picnic, invites the Nelsons over for dinners that the Claytons can barely afford themselves and allows Lu's wastrel brother Claude (Dick Ross) to shack up at their house as a jobless bachelor. Sam loans the family car to the Butler family, in "Good Sam." RKO Pictures Sam figures that what Lu doesn't know, can't hurt her. Except that it does. She discovers that he's secretly gifted their nest egg to former neighbors, the Adams, so they can afford to have a baby and start their gas station business. Related Stories 11/4/2024 8/19/2024 Soon, the Claytons are in trouble: a lawsuit, attorney fees, and a pile of loans that otherwise grateful beneficiaries show no signs of repaying. Lu's had enough. At her request, and with more than a touch of understatement, Rev. Daniels agrees to intervene, 'Maybe Sam's overdoing it a little.' McCarey, who'd started his career in the 1920s, made several do-gooder and feel-good family films by the time the Depression had come and gone, such as ' Again, McCarey foregrounds the traditional institutions of marriage and family and the selflessness that holds both together. Here, he comically cautions against charity going overboard; his film's title is a pun on the epithet 'Good Samaritan.' Sam's good deeds hover between sensible and senseless, depending on who's at the receiving end. Watch for the scene with a lady on the bus. Sam (Gary Cooper) and the lady on the bus (Florence Auer, uncredited), in "Good Sam." RKO Pictures Aside from the laughs, however, McCarey isn't advocating for a mindless generosity at the cost of self-respect and self-worth. Without giving the ending away, implicit in his warm, fuzzy narrative is a cold, hard reminder that debtors must be responsible for their debt, as creditors must be with their credit. A Benefactor Bereft of Balance Cooper is goofier here than in most of his roles; in some scenes, like Sam, he overdoes it. Other scenes run on longer than they should. But like James Stewart, Cooper's able to pull off otherwise implausible scenes seemingly effortlessly. Sam's kindness isn't deliberate or calculated, it's more like a reflex; he can't help himself. And Cooper inhabits that character with every gesture. The gorgeous Sheridan has a tough time passing off as a humdrum housewife, and the screenplay, unfairly, depicts Lu, an obviously devoted wife and mother, as too much of a vixen. She doesn't resent Sam's kindness, merely that it too often comes at the expense of kindness to his own family. Is a little balance, she wonders, too much to ask for? Once, she sighs to Sam, 'We have no life of our own.' With her expressive eyes and throaty laughter, Sheridan shines with some amusing lines. When Lu's pleading with Rev. Daniels to intervene, she admits that she knows marriage ought to be a case of give and take. But she finds it odd that Sam gets to give everything away while she's supposed to just take it. Deadpan she says, 'He is his brother's keeper and he's got too many brothers. He started with my brother, and he's built up from there.' (L–R) Car mechanic Nelson (Clinton Sundberg), Lu (Ann Sheridan), Sam (Gary Cooper), and Claude (Dick Ross), in 'Good Sam.' RKO Pictures Car mechanic Nelson (Clinton Sundberg) strolls into the house and plonks himself at the dining table—on Sam's invitation, of course. A horrified and already overwrought Lu rushes to serve breakfast. Nelson explains with mock propriety, and without a hint of irony, that he doesn't entertain freeloaders, as he says, 'You'd be surprised how many people don't pay. It'd amaze you the number of deadbeats there are … worthless, no-good.' With all the irony she can muster, Lu smilingly introduces her fashionably late-riser brother, 'Have you met my brother, Claude?' You can watch 'Good Sam' on YouTube, Prime Video, and DVD. 'Good Sam' Director: Leo McCarey Starring: Gary Cooper, Ann Sheridan, Ray Collins Not Rated Running Time: 1 hour, 54 minutes Release Date: Sept. 1, 1948 Rated: 3 stars out of 5 What arts and culture topics would you like us to cover? Please email ideas or feedback to
