Best DVD Week Ever
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Big Magilla
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Sonic Youth
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Oh, no no no, I wasn't commenting about the films' quality. I watched Charlie Chan myself when I was younger. It's just those three together are so... him!
Show me that post as a blind-item, and I'd know it was Criddic in two seconds.
But despite our differences, I don't want to make anyone feel self-conscious about their tastes in movies, so I apologize.
Show me that post as a blind-item, and I'd know it was Criddic in two seconds.
But despite our differences, I don't want to make anyone feel self-conscious about their tastes in movies, so I apologize.
"What the hell?"
Win Butler
Win Butler
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Big Magilla
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Sonic Youth wrote:criddic3 wrote:I've ordered the John Wayne/John Ford collection and the upcoming Charlie Chan collection (the ones with Warner Oland), both being released soon. And, of course, The Ronald Reagan Signature collection!
Lots of good stuff being released.
Bronze this post. Please!
I've had the entire extant Charlie Chan collection on DVD for over a year now. Consisting of 42 films on 14 discs, it's available on-line from TheVintageTheatre.com. A few of the early titles are grainy, but there are no scratches and the sound is good on all. It's in about as pristine a conditon as one can expect for these titles.
The Warner Oland and early Sidney Toler Chans were the best. Oland, who made a living playing Chinese characters on stage before he was cast as Chan, spent a lifetime studying Chinese culture and brings great dignity as well as humor and pathos to the part. His scenes with real Chinese actors, Keye Luke in particular, have a warmth and authenticity to them one would not generally expect from a non-Asian actor in slant-eye make-up.
Especially memorable are Charlie Chan in The Black Camel, Charlie Chan in London, Charlie Chan in Paris, Charlie Chan in Egypt, Charlie Chan's Secret (featuring a superb performance by Henrietta Crosman), Charlie Chan at the Opera (Oland meets his match in Boris Karloff), Charlie Chan at the Olympics (in which Keye Luke participates in the Berlin games), Charlie Chan on Broadway, Charlie Chan at Treasure Island and Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum. All of these films stand up well against The Thin Man, The Maltese Falclon and other pre-noir mystery and suspense classics and formed the prototype for Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Jessica Fletcher (Murder, She Wrote) and all other subsequent mystery series in which the hero or heroine just happens to be around when a murder takes place.
The John Ford/John Wayne Collection is about as perfect a collection of films chronicling the dual careers of director and actor as we're ever likely to see. The Ronald Reagan Collection is a mis-nomer as Pat O'Brien, Ann Sheridan and Richard Todd are the real stars of the films in this set, but any hook necessary to bring Knute Rockne All-American, Kings Row and The Hasty Heart to DVD is fine by me.
Edited By Big Magilla on 1150220311
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Big Magilla
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Sonic Youth
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Bronze this post. Please!criddic3 wrote:I've ordered the John Wayne/John Ford collection and the upcoming Charlie Chan collection (the ones with Warner Oland), both being released soon. And, of course, The Ronald Reagan Signature collection!
Lots of good stuff being released.
"What the hell?"
Win Butler
Win Butler
I've ordered the John Wayne/John Ford collection and the upcoming Charlie Chan collection (the ones with Warner Oland), both being released soon. And, of course, The Ronald Reagan Signature collection!
Lots of good stuff being released.
Lots of good stuff being released.
"Because here’s the thing about life: There’s no accounting for what fate will deal you. Some days when you need a hand. There are other days when we’re called to lend a hand." -- President Joe Biden, 01/20/2021
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Big Magilla
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I think Mommie Dearest is by far Dunaway's best performance. Some of the Joan-Christina scenes are over the top, but in other scenes the impersonation is so real you could swear you are watching the real Joan.
Apparently the vitirol of the initial reviews turned Dunaway sour on the film, although it should be noted that she came in second at the 1981 New York Film Critics Awards behind Glenda Jackson in Stevie. Too bad she had already won an Oscar for her over-praised performance in Network or she might have been a player at the Oscars as well.
Interestingly, the Special Editon of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? has an old black-and-white BBC interview with Joan that appears to have been done in the mid-60s. She tries hard to be pleasant, even publicly apologizing for saying mean things about Liz Taylor which she admits were none of her business, but every now and then the claws come out, especially when the interviewer suggests that the stars of the golden age were "manufactured".
Apparently the vitirol of the initial reviews turned Dunaway sour on the film, although it should be noted that she came in second at the 1981 New York Film Critics Awards behind Glenda Jackson in Stevie. Too bad she had already won an Oscar for her over-praised performance in Network or she might have been a player at the Oscars as well.
Interestingly, the Special Editon of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? has an old black-and-white BBC interview with Joan that appears to have been done in the mid-60s. She tries hard to be pleasant, even publicly apologizing for saying mean things about Liz Taylor which she admits were none of her business, but every now and then the claws come out, especially when the interviewer suggests that the stars of the golden age were "manufactured".
How odd of Dunaway to do that. I was really hoping she would be part of the commentary. Doesn't she realise that it is one of her best performances despite the campy nature of the film as a whole?Big Magilla wrote:The re-issue of Mommie Dearest includes a new commentary by John Waters and three doumentaries, none of them featuring Faye Dunaway, who has curiously disowned the film.
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Big Magilla
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If this isn't the best week ever for DVD releases it will do until another one comes along.
Tuesday saw the release of The John Ford Collection, The John Ford/John Wayne Collection, The John Wayne Suspense Collection, a remastered edition of Dumbo and spruced up editions of Mommie Dearest and Fried Green Tomatoes as well as three more entries in the Fox noir series, I Wake Up Screaming, House of Strangers and Boomerang.
As fate would have it, Boomerang, the film I most wanted to get my hands on, not having seen it in some years, is the one that has so far proven unavailable at five stores and two on-line services I vistied. It's either that suppliers confused the 1947 Elia Kazan film with the 1992 Eddie Murphy title in abundant supply at most of the same stores, or that demand for the film exceeded Fox's limited supply.
The title of the John Wayne Suspense Collection is misleading. None of the films produced by Wayne's production company feature Wayne himself. The must-have in the collection is the gorgeous weide screen release of William Wellman's Track of the Cat, which includes documentaries on Wellman, author Walter Van Tilbrg Clark who also wrote The Ox-Bow Incident, and the making of the film.
The John Ford Collection includes The Lost Patrol featuring Boris Karloff's best non-Frankenstein performance; The Informer, Ford's first Oscar winner which more closely resembles Muranu's Sunrise and Lang's M in tone and style than it does any of Ford's later films; Katharine Hepburn's Mary of Scotland; the under-rated Sergeant Rutledge about the trial of a black man for the rape (and murder) of a white woman two years before To Kill a Mockingbird; and Cheyenne Autumn, Ford's late career aplogia for the mistreatment of the American Indian at the hands of the U.S. Cavalry.
The John Ford/John Wayne collection includes all eight of the thirteen Ford/Wayne films controlled by Warner Bros. They Were Expendable and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon are re-issues in new boxes and The 3 Godfathers has been available exclusively at Target for several months, but The Long Voyage Home, Fort Apache and The Wings of Eagles are new to DVD and Stagecoach and The Searchers have both been re-mastered with loads of extras.
The Ultimate Collector's Edition of The Searchers includes reproductions of Warner Bros. inter-office memoes, the original press kit and the Dell comic book which reminded me of my first encounter with the material. All this makes it look like The Searchers was Warners prestige release for 1956, which it was not. That distinction belongs to Giant, yet it's The Searchers which has endured as that year's true masterpiece.
The re-issue of Fried Green Tomatoes is advertised as the "extended version" yet the running time is the same as the previous release, 2 hours, 17 minutes, though it does include some 15 minutes of deleted scenes. The re-issue of Mommie Dearest includes a new commentary by John Waters and three doumentaries, none of them featuring Faye Dunaway, who has curiously disowned the film. The only footge of the real Crawford is from Johnny Guitar, the only Crawford film Paramont apparently owns the rights to. Unfortuantely they are unable to immediately capitalize on it as the planned May DVD release of the film has been delayed indefinitely. Nice to know, though, that according to a spiffy new trailer attached to Mommie Dearest, Reds will finally be released on DVD in October.
Edited By Big Magilla on 1149826520
Tuesday saw the release of The John Ford Collection, The John Ford/John Wayne Collection, The John Wayne Suspense Collection, a remastered edition of Dumbo and spruced up editions of Mommie Dearest and Fried Green Tomatoes as well as three more entries in the Fox noir series, I Wake Up Screaming, House of Strangers and Boomerang.
As fate would have it, Boomerang, the film I most wanted to get my hands on, not having seen it in some years, is the one that has so far proven unavailable at five stores and two on-line services I vistied. It's either that suppliers confused the 1947 Elia Kazan film with the 1992 Eddie Murphy title in abundant supply at most of the same stores, or that demand for the film exceeded Fox's limited supply.
The title of the John Wayne Suspense Collection is misleading. None of the films produced by Wayne's production company feature Wayne himself. The must-have in the collection is the gorgeous weide screen release of William Wellman's Track of the Cat, which includes documentaries on Wellman, author Walter Van Tilbrg Clark who also wrote The Ox-Bow Incident, and the making of the film.
The John Ford Collection includes The Lost Patrol featuring Boris Karloff's best non-Frankenstein performance; The Informer, Ford's first Oscar winner which more closely resembles Muranu's Sunrise and Lang's M in tone and style than it does any of Ford's later films; Katharine Hepburn's Mary of Scotland; the under-rated Sergeant Rutledge about the trial of a black man for the rape (and murder) of a white woman two years before To Kill a Mockingbird; and Cheyenne Autumn, Ford's late career aplogia for the mistreatment of the American Indian at the hands of the U.S. Cavalry.
The John Ford/John Wayne collection includes all eight of the thirteen Ford/Wayne films controlled by Warner Bros. They Were Expendable and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon are re-issues in new boxes and The 3 Godfathers has been available exclusively at Target for several months, but The Long Voyage Home, Fort Apache and The Wings of Eagles are new to DVD and Stagecoach and The Searchers have both been re-mastered with loads of extras.
The Ultimate Collector's Edition of The Searchers includes reproductions of Warner Bros. inter-office memoes, the original press kit and the Dell comic book which reminded me of my first encounter with the material. All this makes it look like The Searchers was Warners prestige release for 1956, which it was not. That distinction belongs to Giant, yet it's The Searchers which has endured as that year's true masterpiece.
The re-issue of Fried Green Tomatoes is advertised as the "extended version" yet the running time is the same as the previous release, 2 hours, 17 minutes, though it does include some 15 minutes of deleted scenes. The re-issue of Mommie Dearest includes a new commentary by John Waters and three doumentaries, none of them featuring Faye Dunaway, who has curiously disowned the film. The only footge of the real Crawford is from Johnny Guitar, the only Crawford film Paramont apparently owns the rights to. Unfortuantely they are unable to immediately capitalize on it as the planned May DVD release of the film has been delayed indefinitely. Nice to know, though, that according to a spiffy new trailer attached to Mommie Dearest, Reds will finally be released on DVD in October.
Edited By Big Magilla on 1149826520