Great moments in movie history

Something a little different this week-- screenshots from a couple of movies that contain the very first closeups of two well-known stars.

The first is from the 1950 noir classic, Dark City-- it served as the inspiration for the title of Eddie Mueller's indispensible book, Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir, and is a perfect example of the genre. Among its seedy pleasures are Jack Webb and Harry Morgan cast as enemies for a change, and Webb is hilarious as a weasly, dribble-glass-dispensing gunsel.

The first acting credit reads, "Introducing Charlton Heston," and when it's not obscuring his face, here's the world's first close-up look at the man who would be Moses.

If you think he looks a little sweaty and shifty, you're right-- the first thing he does is duck the cops, then get rid of a hot gun (insert your own NRA joke here).

Looking lovely, on the other hand, is something our next star can't seem to help, no matter what age. Although she'd already been in a couple Australian TV shows, here in her first feature-film close-up, from the immortal drama BMX Bandits, is 16-year-old Nicole Kidman.