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NBR GALA: The honorees were Brad Bird, Ellen Page, Roger Deakins, Phil Donahue, Ellen Spiro, Diablo Cody, Nancy Oliver, Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Denzel Washington, Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud, Emile Hirsch, Amy Ryan, Robert Osborne, Casey Affleck, Julian Schnabel, Michael Douglas, Ben Affleck, Julie Christie, George Clooney, Tim Burton, Scott Rudin and The Coen Brothers.
The presenters were Sarah Vowell, Jennifer Garner, Tommy Lee Jones, Mike Wallace, Ellen Page, Emily Mortimer, Julianne Moore, Nicola Bulgari, Susan Sarandon, Lauren Bacall, George Clooney, Andrew Dominik, Jessica Lange, Glenn Close, Michael Murphy, Tilda Swinton, Stephen Sondheim and Kate Winslet.
The night was January 15, 2008 at Cipriani 42nd Street, the 2007 NBR Awards gala. It was a star-studded two-and-one-half-hour ceremony hosted for the second year in a row by Jesse L. Martin. Among the many memorable moments were Ellen Page’s presentation to JUNO scribe Diablo Cody and her own acceptance of Female Breakthrough Performer by co-star Jennifer Garner, Josh Brolin’s good-natured ribbing of Tommy Lee Jones as they and Javier Bardem accepted the Best Ensemble Award for NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, Denzel Washington bringing up his young co-stars Jurnee Smollett and Nate Parker to the stage as he accepted a Bulgari NBR Freedom of Expression Award for THE GREAT DEBATERS, George Clooney’s hilarious impersonation of The Coen Brothers, Glenn Close’s reminiscence of making FATAL ATTRACTION with Career Achievement winner Michael Douglas, Stephen Sondheim talking about his long time membership in the NBR before presenting Tim Burton with Best Director for SWEENEY TODD, and Kate Winslet’s presentation to Scott Rudin and the Coens for Best Film for NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
Check out http://www.nbrmp.org/gallery/ for photos from that fabulous evening, coming soon.
DO IT YOURSELF EDITING: At the 1978 Academy Awards ceremony, Francis Ford Coppola took the stage with Ali McGraw to present the Best Director Oscar to Michael Cimino for THE DEER HUNTER. Scratching his beard, he launched into a passionate, almost manic, speech about how technology was about to change from film to video, resulting in a world where everyone could make their own movie. His near-tirade brought a polite response from the audience, and near-ridicule from industry wags. Time has proven Francis to be right. Today, everyone can make their own movies, with inexpensive digital cameras using 60-minute tapes instead of 10-minute film loads, with editing software on your own home computer, with exhibition online at YouTube and dozens of other burgeoning sites. Francis was right.
To make it all easier, Adobe, the best-selling consumer photo-editing and video-editing software company, has released Photoshop Elements 6 and Premiere Elements 4 in one convenient package. Photoshop lets you take your pictures and do customized applications for photo books, postcards, scrapbooks, disc covers, and create interactive web galleries. There’s also one-click fixes to edit and improve your photos (including airbrushing portraits with “The Healing Brush”). With Premiere, the major enhancement is the ability to upload your videos directly to YouTube, share them on the web, DVD, hi-def Blu-ray disc and mobile devices, as well as creative interactive disc menus, animated titles and lots of effects and transitions. You can take footage straight from your camera to disc, with menu and scene index, in just a few steps, or you can make a more elaborate product with music, titles, effects and transitions … all with greater speed than previously available. Finally, you can simultaneously access video and photos, using the effects, transitions and titles for a photo slide show, create freeze-frames, grab a video frame and edit it like a photo for disc covers and labels, and add digital stills and scanned photos to your videos. The Adobe products are especially user friendly, with step-by-step guidance. So what are you waiting for? Make some movies and get ‘em up on YouTube already!
And speaking of YouTube, here’s a plug for three very talented friends and colleagues of mine, 2007 graduates of the Neighborhood Playhouse – Adam Schneider, Tom Sibley and Stephen Lundberg – who have been consistently turning out quality comedy shorts. Go to http://www.youtube.com/thewedidit and check out their work. Adam also did a fine job editing the well-received Michael Douglas and Roger Deakins tribute reels with me for the NBR gala.
And for sheer hilarity, you MUST watch the video Sarah Silverman made for boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnVJZkDuVBM.
JOAN BLONDELL: She was big-eyed, blonde, and buxom, loaded with personality and talent. Joan Blondell (1906-1979) enjoyed a long career (she made her stage debut with actor parents at age three!) through the Golden Age of Hollywood clear through Seventies TV and even a Cassavetes indie. Matthew Kennedy (whose previous book on Edmund Goulding I loved) has written a terrific new biography, Joan Blondell: A Life Between Takes (University Press of Mississippi), and it’s one of the best actor bios ever. He fully achieves the challenging task making the reader as if we know the subject personally.
During the Pre-Code years at Warners, Blondell was a studio workhorse, making 46 pictures between her feature debut in THE OFFICE WIFE (1930) and her last Warner gig in THE KID FROM KOKOMO (1939) … as well as loan-outs in THE GREEKS HAD A WORD FOR THEM (1932), BROADWAY BAD (1933) and STAND-IN (1937). She was the preferred co-star of James Cagney (they worked together on Broadway before heading to WB and appearing in eight movies between 1930 and 1934), her streetwise but lovable persona and good looks quickly making her a popular star. Blondell could do it all, from tough dramas like THE PUBLIC ENEMY (1931), NIGHT NURSE (1931), THE CROWD ROARS (1932) and THREE ON A MATCH (1932) to topical comedies BLONDE CRAZY (1931), BLONDIE JOHNSON (1933), and the Holy Grail of lost talkies, CONVENTION CITY (1933) to Busby Berkeley musical epics GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933, FOOTLIGHT PARADE (1933) and DAMES (1934). Like Cagney, Bette Davis and Olivia DeHavilland, she eventually chafed under the Warners yoke, but unlike her colleagues, couldn’t come to terms and she left the studio for an uncertain future, free-lancing at Columbia, MGM, Universal and Roach. Her post-Warner career yielded only the occasional opportunity to shine – Elia Kazan’s debut feature A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (1945), Goulding’s NIGHTMARE ALLEY (1947), and Curtis Bernhardt’s THE BLUE VEIL (1951), which earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. As her feature career slowed down, Joan made her TV debut in 1951, and guest starred on dozens of shows, including many Fifties drama anthologies, THE UNTOUCHABLES, WAGON TRAIN, THE TWILIGHT ZONE, BONANZA, THE LUCY SHOW, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., THE GIRL FROM U.N.C.L.E., PETTICOAT JUNCTION, LOVE AMERICAN STYLE, STARSKY AND HUTCH, THE LOVE BOAT, FANTASY ISLAND, and her own series HERE COME THE BRIDES. Occasional movies in her later years included DESK SET (1957), WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER? (1957), ANGEL BABY (1961), THE CINCINNATI KID (1965), for which the NBR named her Best Supporting Actress, SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL GUNFIGHTER (1971), GREASE (1978), and John Cassavetes’ OPENING NIGHT (1977). That’s quite a resume.
Kennedy offers an exhaustive examination of her checkered personal life, including her three marriages to cinematographer George Barnes (REBECCA), actor-producer Dick Powell, and impresario Mike Todd (quite a violent relationship). Blondell emerges as a kind and generous woman who wanted nothing as much as a happy marriage, a dream that would elude her. Devoted to her children, and later her beloved pet dogs, plagued by emotional, financial and health problems, she seems to have never lost her love for her profession and her creative colleagues. Kennedy fully achieves the challenging task of making the reader feel as if we know the subject personally. It is a loving and inspiring tribute to a wonderful person and performer (www.upress.state.ms.us).
University Press of Mississippi is also responsible for the fantastic Conversations with Filmmakers Series of books, collecting career-spanning interviews with a variety of directors – John Ford, Clint Eastwood, Bernardo Bertolucci, Jean-Luc Godard, Pedro Almodovar, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Altman, Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, John Woo, Orson Welles, Billy Wilder, John Huston, Brian DePalma, Steven Spielberg, Michael Powell, Robert Aldrich and Fritz Lang, to name a few. I’ve just read Roman Polanski: Interviews, edited by Paul Cronin, encompassing 40 years of Polanski interviews, including many translated from French, German and Spanish periodicals and radio appearances.
GENIUS: Harvey and Bob Weinstein have launched a new DVD label for hard-core movie buffs. The Miriam Collection (named after their mother) kicks off with the long awaited EL CID, the 1961 Anthony Mann classic celebrated by Martin Scorsese as “one of the greatest epic films ever made.” Charlton Heston stars (in his finest performance) as the 11th Century hero who united Spain against the Moors, with Sophia Loren at her ravishing best as his romantic interest. Mann perfectly balances the epic with the intimate – check out Jeanine Basinger’s definitive study Anthony Mann (reviewed in my October column) for the last word on this spectacular motion picture. The Limited Collector’s Edition gift set includes an introduction by Scorsese, reproductions of the 1961 souvenir program and comic book, and six color production stills. The two-disc DVD boasts a stunning restoration, feature commentary by Bill Bronston (son of producer Samuel Bronston) and Neal M. Rosendorf (Bronston’s biographer); vintage interviews with Heston and Loren, still galleries, filmographies, a making-of documentary, a featurette on Bronston (a fascinating character), and featurettes on Mann, brilliant composer Miklos Rozsa, the film’s restoration, and trailer gallery. It’s sure to be on Top Ten DVD lists a year from now. Mann and Bronston’s equally sensational THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1964) is next from Miriam, and hopefully Bronston’s other Sixties epics, the flawed but fascinating 55 DAYS AT PEKING (1963), with Heston, David Niven and Ava Gardner, directed by Nicholas Ray, and CIRCUS WORLD (1964), directed by Henry Hathaway, starring John Wayne and Claudia Cardinale, hopefully won’t be far behind. Thank you, Weinstein Brothers!
Genius also releases the underrated true-story thriller THE HUNTING PARTY (2007), starring Richard Gere and Terrence Howard as journalists tracking a missing war criminal in Eastern Europe. Extras include audio commentary by writer-director Richard Shepard, deleted scenes with optional director commentary, an interview by Shepard by the real journalists featured in the original Esquire article, a making-of featurette, and the original article. THE NANNY DIARIES (2007) is smart and funny entertainment, based on the best-selling novel by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, starring Scarlett Johansson as the nanny for a Manhattan socialite, the always outstanding Laura Linney. There’s a blooper reel, and production featurettes. FATAL CONTACT (2006) continues the excellent Dragon Dynasty series of releases, all must-haves for action freaks. This one stars up-and-coming martial arts star Jacky Wu Jing (KILL ZONE); it’s the familiar underground fight ring background, but the action is typically off-the-hook. This one is a two-disc set, with commentary from director Dennis Law and Hong Kong cinema expert Bey Logan, and loads of behind-the-scenes featurettes.
PARAMOUNT: Based on the Neil Gaiman novel, STARDUST (2007) was largely ignored when it was released last summer. Catch up with it on DVD and see if you agree that it’s a charming and magical sword-and-sorcery fable, directed with just the right touch by Matthew Vaughn (LAYER CAKE; he also produced Guy Ritchie’s SNATCH, LOCK STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS and the less fortunate SWEPT AWAY remake). Vaughn put together a sparkling cast for his fairy tale, including Sienna Miller, Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, Ricky Gervais, Rupert Everett, Michelle Pfieffer, Robert DeNiro and Peter O’Toole. Special features include a blooper reel, deleted scenes and production featurette. Paramount Home Entertainment keeps releasing some of the best TV-on-DVD discs; big thumbs up for their current release of THE TUDORS: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON, with Jonathan Rhys Meyers as the young King Henry VIII. The Showtime series is one of the best programs on cable, a sexy and rollicking look at the youthful intrigues and indiscretions of the lusty monarch. It’s beautifully produced, written, directed, designed, photographed, and scored, with a cast that includes Sam Neill, Callum Blue, Henry Cavill, Henry Czerny, Natalie Dormer, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Nick Dunning, James Frain and Jeremy Northam. All ten episodes are included, with production featurettes and episodes of Showtime’s CALIFORNICATION, THIS AMERICAN LIFE and PENN & TELLER BS. Baby Boomers will groove on THE MOD SQUAD: SEASON 1 VOLUME 1 from 1968-69; this was the cool show for teens at the time, as rebel flower children Pete Cochran (Michael Cole), Linc Hayes (Clarence Williams III) and Julie Barnes (Peggy Lipton) become undercover detectives for police captain Adam Greer (Tige Andrews). Every week the Mod Squad tried to keep their values going while workin’ for The Man, and the result was one of the era’s most popular shows. One of the first hits for legendary TV producer Aaron Spelling, Season One guests include Lou Gossett, Jr., Dabney Coleman, Adam Roarke, Nina Foch, Dub Taylor, Della Reese and Gene Nelson.. The disc includes several excellent featurettes, including reminiscences from guest star Gossett. Vintage Western fans should grab the next installments of GUNSMOKE (THE SECOND SEASON VOLUME 1) from 1956-57 and RAWHIDE (VOLUME 2: THE SECOND SEASON) from 1960. Guest stars Angie Dickinson, Mike Connors, Marian Seldes, Andrew Duggan, Cloris Leachman, Simon Oakland, Claude Akins, Denver Pyle, Paul Fix and Stuart Whitman join James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone and Dennis Weaver on GUNSMOKE, episodes are directed by Andrew McLaglen (McLINTOCK), Christian Nyby (THE THING) and Ted Post (MAGNUM FORCE), with two episodes written by Winston Miller (MY DARLING CLEMENTINE) and “The Roundup,” “Legal Revenge,” and “Poor Pearl” scripted by Sam Peckinpah. RAWHIDE regulars Clint Eastwood and Eric Fleming host guest stars Buddy Ebsen, Cloris Leachman, James Franciscus, John Ireland, Debra Paget, Werner Klemperer, Regis Toomey and Jock Mahoney. Paramount also has the second volume of the beautifully produced ADVENTURES OF YOUNG INDIANA JONES TV series from the early ‘90s, a great gift for adolescents, not only for the adventures but the supplemental documentary discs that provide the historical background of each episode, the ultimate in “educational and entertaining.”
FOX/MGM: To celebrate Oscar’s 80th anniversary, Fox has issued several fabulous collections, perfect for those looking to start or enhance their DVD collections. The BEST ACTRESS COLLECTION gives us Ingrid Bergman in Anatole Litvak’s ANASTASIA (1956), as a woman trying to pass as the missing daughter of Czar Nicholas Romanov; Yul Brynner and Helen Hayes co-star. Joanne Woodward delivers virtuoso work as THE THREE FACES OF EVE (1957), and won an NBR Award as well. Sally Field got her Oscar and an NBR Award as the labor organizer in Martin Ritt’s NORMA RAE (1978), Hilary Swank received hers (as well as an NBR Breakthrough Performer Award) for Kimberly Peirce’s BOYS DON’T CRY (1999), supported by Chloe Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard and Brendan Sexton III; and Reese Witherspoon was named Best Actress as June Carter Cash opposite Joaquin Phoenix’ Johnny Cash in James Mangold’s WALK THE LINE (2005). THE BEST ACTOR COLLECTION offers Warner Baxter as The Cisco Kid in Raoul Walsh’s seminal talkie IN OLD ARIZONA (1929); Yul Brynner as the King of Siam opposite Deborah Kerr’s Anna in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical THE KING AND I (1956); Art Carney as a septuagenarian traveling cross-country with his beloved cat in Paul Mazursky’s HARRY AND TONTO (1974); George C. Scott in the title role of the controversial WWII general PATTON (1970), directed by Franklin Schaffner; and Michael Douglas as Wall Street raider Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone’s WALL STREET (1970). Fox owns the homevideo rights to the MGM/UA library, hence the United Artists BEST PICTURE COLLECTION. Ernest Borgnine won the Oscar and the NBR for Delbert Mann’s MARTY (1955), based on the Paddy Chayefsky teleplay about a lonely Bronx butcher who eventually finds love – the film was also honored by the Academy and the NBR; Billy Wilder took home Oscars for Best Picture, Director and Screenplay for THE APARTMENT (1960); the 1961 Best Picture award went to the Robert Wise-Jerome Robbins screen version of the Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim WEST SIDE STORY (1961); and Tony Richardson’s adaptation of Henry Fielding’s bawdy 18th Century TOM JONES (1963), presented here in the director’s cut (Richardson cut seven minutes in 1989).
Leo McCarey was one of the most important directors of his day, yet is sadly neglected today. As a producer-director at the Hal Roach Studios during the Twenties, he teamed Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, went on to direct comedy icons Eddie Cantor (THE KID FROM SPAIN), the Marx Brothers (DUCK SOUP), Mae West (BELLE OF THE NINETIES), W.C. Fields and Burns & Allen (SIX OF A KIND) and Harold Lloyd (THE MILKY WAY); most historians agree that Cary Grant copied the director’s persona to create his own indelible screen character. McCarey’s RUGGLES OF RED GAP (1935) gave Charles Laughton one of his most memorable roles, his heartbreaking drama MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW (1937) is a forgotten masterpiece, and he won two Best Director Oscars (for THE AWFUL TRUTH and GOING MY WAY). In 1939, McCarey had another big hit with LOVE AFFAIR, starring Charles Boyer and his favorite actress, Irene Dunne; by the mid-Fifties, McCarey’s career had floundered and he remade the picture as AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER (1957), starring Cary Grant (their fourth picture together) and Deborah Kerr. It became one of the highest grossing movies of his career, and continues to be one of the most beloved romantic comedy-dramas of all time. Fox has released a two-disc 50th anniversary edition with some excellent extras, including featurettes on McCarey, Grant, Kerr, producer Jerry Wald, and the film’s visuals, and AMC’s BACKSTORY episode on the film. Singer Marnie Nixon and outstanding film historian Joseph McBride provide the audio commentary.
THE JOHN FRANKENHEIMER COLLECTION re-issues three tremendous Frankenheimers and debuts a title new to DVD. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, his 1962 political thriller is still highly effective, with magnificent performances from Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey and an Oscar-nominated and NBR Award-winning Angela Lansbury. There’s an interview with Sinatra, screenwriter George Axelrod, and the director, an audio commentary by Frankenheimer, and featurettes with Lansbury and uber-fan William Friedkin. Frankenheimer took over the direction of the WWII action movie THE TRAIN (1964) from Arthur Penn when he clashed with star Burt Lancaster; even at 133 minutes Frankeheimer keeps it fast-paced and suspenseful, with Lancaster handling his own stunts. There’s another Frankenheimer commentary and a music-only track highlighting Maurice Jarre’s score. In retrospect, RONIN (1998) is one of the best action pictures of the ‘90s, with great work from a superlative cast headed by Robert DeNiro, Jean Reno, Natasha McElhone, Stellan Skarsgard, Sean Bean and Jonathan Pryce, with some of the best car chases ever committed to celluloid. There’s another director’s commentary and an alternate ending. THE YOUNG SAVAGES (1961), new to DVD, Frankenheimer’s second feature, is a gritty drama, filmed on location in Manhattan, with Lancaster as a D.A. prosecuting three Italian juvenile gang members for the murder of a blind Puerto Rican boy from a rival gang. All four films represent Frankenheimer’s filmmaking virtues, intelligent, compelling, brilliantly shot and edited, always fine acting, always fine storytelling.
CHARLIE CHAN VOLUME 4 picks up with the introduction of Sidney Toler as the ace detective; after a lengthy search the character actor was chosen to replace Warner Oland after his untimely death in 1938. The four Chans include Toler’s best – CHARLIE CHAN IN HONOLULU (1938), CHARLIE CHAN IN RENO (1939), CHARLIE CHAN AT TREASURE ISLAND (1939) and CHARLIE CHAN IN CITY OF DARKNESS (1939) -- the first three directed by Norman Foster, crackling fast-paced mystery entertainments. As they always do on their Chan sets, Fox loads up the extras, including featurettes on Toler, the writers, and the locations chosen for the films.
SONY: Producer (and sometime director) Stanley Kramer (1913-2001) gets the star treatment with the STANLEY KRAMER COLLECTION. A true independent during the closing years of the studio system, Kramer tackled socially conscious themes and made them palatable to the masses. A darling of the Academy, his films earned a record 85 Oscar nominations between 1949 and 1972, and he was responsible for casting a staggering list of actors in their earliest American screen roles: Marlon Brando, Kirk Douglas, Grace Kelly, Jose Ferrer, Julie Harris, Sophia Loren, Oskar Werner, Maximilian Schell, Giancarlo Giannini and Harrison Ford. The centerpiece of this set is a newly restored version of GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER (1967), the beloved landmark romantic comedy starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy (in their last screen pairing), Sidney Poitier, Katharine Houghton, Cecil Kellaway and Beah Richards. Nominated for ten Oscars (including Best Picture and Kramer’s direction), the movie earned Hepburn her second of three Academy Awards and won Best Original Screenplay for William Rose. Steven Spielberg and Kramer’s widow Karen introduce the film, and there are messages from Quincy Jones and Tom Brokaw on the movie’s social impact, several featurettes, footage of Kramer accepting the 1962 Irving G. Thalberg Award, and the 2007 Producers Guild Stanley Kramer Award to Al Gore. Kramer produced Fred Zinneman’s version of Carson McCullers’ MEMBER OF THE WEDDING (1952), made after the success of the Kramer-Zinnemann HIGH NOON (1952), and it is an outstanding adaptation, with an Oscar-nominated performance by Julie Harris and unforgettable work by Ethel Waters and Brandon deWilde. Extras include commentary by author and professor Virginia Spencer Carr, “The Journey from Stage to Film” with Kevin Spacey, Virginia Carr and Karen Kramer; a featurette on McCullers; and a note from Julie Harris. Kramer also produced Dr. Seuss’ THE 5,000 FINGERS OF DR. T (1953), directed by Roy Rowland, a colorful fantasy about a little boy who imagines himself the prisoner of the evil doctor, deliciously played by Hans Conreid. Special features include featurettes about the film and the Oscar-nominated Frederick Hollander-Morris Stoloff music. Jeanine Basinger offers compelling commentary on THE WILD ONE (1954), produced by Kramer and directed by Laslo Benedek (later a longtime film instructor at NYU); it’s the Brando motorcycle classic that helped shape the youth culture of the Fifties and defined biker chic, with a wonderfully sloppy early Lee Marvin performance as the leader of a rival gang. Extras include featurettes on Brando (with Dennis Hopper and Taylor Hackford) and the real life incident in Hollister, California, that inspired the movie. SHIP OF FOOLS (1965, six Oscar nominations), directed and produced by Kramer, is another welcome addition to DVD, an intense epic drama about a transoceanic voyage to 1933 Germany, based on the famous Katherine Ann Porter novel. This ranks with JUDGEMENT AT NUREMBERG (1961) and THE DEFIANT ONES (1958) as Kramer’s finest directorial achievement; the remarkable cast includes Lee Marvin, Vivien Leigh, Simone Signoret, Jose Ferrer, Oskar Werner, Elizabeth Ashley, Michael Dunn and Jose Greco. There are two production featurettes included. Karen Kramer introduces all the films, and continues to perpetuate her husband’s legacy, maintaining the website www.stanleykramer.com.
Alan Parker’s MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (1978) was one of the most powerful movies of the decade, based on the true story of an American youth incarcerated in a brutal Turkish prison for attempting to smuggle hashish out of the country. The late Brad Davis starred as the hapless American, brutalized by warden Paul Smith, comforted by fellow inmate John Hurt. Oliver Stone’s Oscar-winning screenplay is a model of dramatic structure, and helped put Stone on the movie-making map. SPHE has released a 30th Anniversary Edition highlighted by Parker’s educational commentary, three new featurettes, a photo gallery, and a personal essay and photo journal from the director. MIDNIGHT EXPRESS is yet another reason to celebrate (and to mourn the passing of) an incredible decade in American cinema. The clever and whimsical comedy GROUNDHOG DAY (1993) comes back to DVD with a 15th Anniversary edition. Harold Ramis directs Bill Murray as a TV weatherman assigned to cover Groundhog Day in Punxatawney, Pennsylvania, who finds himself to relive the day over and over again. Andie MacDowell and Chris Elliott offer support; if you haven’t seen this in a while, it still holds up as great fun. There are deleted scenes, audio commentary and interview with Ramis, and a real life look at groundhogs! For comedy of a different kind, try MONTY PYTHON’S LIFE OF BRIAN: THE IMMACULATE EDITION, an elaborate set commemorating Python’s controversial 1979 satire about a guy named Brian Cohen, born in a manger next door to Jesus, and continually mistaken for the Messiah. It’s Python at their wicked, irreverent best. The movie has been “immaculately” re-mastered, there’s a one-hour documentary, an original 110-minute recording of an early screenplay reading, commentary by Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle and Terry Jones, another commentary by John Cleese and Michael Palin, original ads with Cleese, Idle and Gilliam in their “Mrs.” characters and Palin as the dentist; and five deleted scenes – “Shepherds,” “Pilate’s Wife,” “Otto,” “The Sign That is the Sign,” and “The Souvenir Salesman.”
SPHE follows up the success of their Ray Harryhausen 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH set with two more Fifties sci-films with wonderful stop-motion special effects by Harryhausen. EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS (1956) is great camp, with Washington D.C. coming in for the destructive wrath of the aliens. The film is presented in its original black-and-white as well as a colorized version, and offers the viewer the option to switch between both, if one is so inclined. The two-disc set also has commentary by Harryhausen, Arnold Kunert and visual effects artists Jeffrey Okun and Ken Ralston; a sit down between the effects maestro and Tim Burton; a production featurette; a featurette on blacklisted writer Bernard Gordon; a present-day look at stop-motion; a featurette on the music; one on the colorization process; and a digital sneak peek of the Flying Saucers vs. the Earth comic book. In IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA (1955), a giant radioactive octopus (hey, ya don’t see THAT everyday) attacks the Golden Gate Bridge and attacks San Francisco’s Embarcadero. Many of the previous title’s special features are included on another two-disc set, including a Burton-Harryhausen meeting. Harryhausen and Kunert share the commentary this time with visual effects artists Randall William Cook and John Bruno, and there’s an advance look at a new comic book, It Came from Beneath the Sea … Again.
Robin Swicord’s THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB (2007) is definitely worth a rental, a frequently funny romantic comedy based on the book by Karen Joy Fowler about five women and a man who get together to discuss the classic works of the great authoress. The comedy comes as they draw parallels to their own love lives. The superb cast includes Kathy Baker, Maria Bello, Marc Blucas, Amy Brenneman, Hugh Dancy, Maggie Grace, Jimmy Smits, Kevin Zegers and Lynn Redgrave. Deleted scenes, audio commentary by cast and crew, behind-the-scenes footage, a featurette on Austen and clips of the Los Angeles premiere are included. From the thriving Mexican Cinema comes CHARM SCHOOL (NINAS MAL), a 2007 hit from south of the border about a group of bad girls at a finishing school. The story’s been done plenty of times before, but director Fernando Saranina provides a fresh take and a winning group of young actresses headed by Martha Higareda. There are four behind-the-scenes featurettes and a music video. I applaud any Western that gets produced these days, and SEPTEMBER DAWN (2007), starring Jon Voight, has an intriguing premise. It’s the true story of the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre, when 120 men, women and children were slaughtered as they passed through Utah. To this day, mystery surrounds the event – were the killers Paiute warriors or a renegade sect of Mormons? Christopher Cain’s film is an admirable effort … but one thing ruined the movie for me, namely, the freshly laundered and pressed clothing of the pioneers! No dust, no dirt, no sweat after months on the trail? I’m incredulous this escaped someone’s eye. Still, if you’re as Western hungry as me, and you’ve seen the great ones, and you’ve seen James Mangold’s 3:10 TO YUMA remake and Andrew Domenik’s instant classic THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD, SEPTEMBER DAWN will do. Two featurettes commemorate the original event.
If you like flesh-eating zombies, intense special effects and Milla Jovanovich – and I sure as hell do – RESIDENT EVIL: EXTINCTION (2007) is a must. The third installment in the hit franchise, this is the best one yet, and director Russell Mulcahy (HIGHLANDER) really delivers the thrills and chills. Like most cool genre movies on DVD, there are lots of extras – deleted scenes, a sneak peek at the upcoming CGI feature RESIDENT EVIL: DEGENERATION; commentary with Mulcahy, writer-producer Paul W.S. Anderson and producer Jeremy Bolt; and four making-of featurettes. If you like rich, funny, sensual farce set in 17th century France – and I sure as hell do – MOLIERE (2007) is another must. Loaded with romantic plot twists, Laurent Tirard’s film evokes the spirit of the playwright with a mise-en-scene as seductive as any of his plays. There’s a production featurette and director commentary. And if you like classic Seventies TV comedies –and who the hell doesn’t? – BARNEY MILLER: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON from 1975-76 brings the wisecracking detectives from New York’s 12th Precinct back with 22 episodes on three DVDs. Hal Linden had his signature role as Captain Barney Miller, supported by Barbara Barrie as his wife, Abe Vigoda as Fish, Maxwell Gail as Wojo, Ron Glass as Harris, Jack Soo as Yemana and Gregory Sierra as Chano. The set includes “minisodes” of CHARLIE’S ANGELS and GROWING PAINS.
WARNER BROS. has released a third cycle of DIRECTORS’ SHOWCASE titles, all excellent and underrated films from the late ‘60s through the early ‘80s, each available on DVD for the first time. Robert Ellis Miller’s THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER (1968), based on the Carson McCuller novel, is superior drama, with Oscar-nominated Alan Arkin as the deaf John Singer, who moves to a small Southern town to be near his mentally impaired friend (Chuck McCann) and impacts the lives of a teenage girl (Sondra Locke in her film debut, also Oscar-nominated), an alcoholic (Stacy Keach), a dying black doctor (Percy Rodriguez) and his daughter (Cicely Tyson). There are beautiful performances by all in a deeply emotional and touching film. Daryl Duke’s PAYDAY (1972) is one of the forgotten classics of the decade. Rip Torn tears it up in the performance of his career as a B-level country singer on a sex-drugs-and booze laden tour of the Deep South. There’s audio commentary from Duke and producer Saul Zaentz – PAYDAY deserves to be better known, so pick it up and spread the word. Rita Moreno reprises her Tony Award-winning turn as ditzy Googie Gomez in the screen version of Terrence McNally’s play THE RITZ (1976), directed by Richard Lester (A HARD DAY’S NIGHT and HELP!, PETULIA, THE THREE MUSKETEERS, SUPERMAN II). A gaggle of quirky characters congregate at the Ritz, a gay bathhouse; the cast includes Treat Williams and Kaye Ballard, and from the original Broadway cast, Jack Weston, Jerry Stiller, F. Murray Abraham and Paul B. Price. A vintage featurette about Weston is included. Lee Grant directed and co-starred in the moving TELL ME A RIDDLE (1980), based on the Tillie Olsen’s novella, about an elderly couple trying to rediscover love; Melvyn Douglas and Lila Kedrova are marvelous as the couple. Screenwriter par excellence Robert Towne (CHINATOWN, uncredited work on BONNIE AND CLYDE and THE GODFATHER) made his directorial debut with PERSONAL BEST (1982), with Mariel Hemingway as a track star trying out for the 1976 Olympics who gets involved in a lesbian affair with another athlete, played by Patrice Donnelly, once the third ranked pentathlete in the world. This aspect of the film overshadowed the fine filmmaking at the time of its initial release; today PERSONAL BEST can be appreciated as near-perfect dramatic story-telling.
The JOAN CRAWFORD COLLECTION VOLUME 2 is a strong representation of the superstar’s career. In Clarence Brown’s SADIE McKEE (1934) she plays the working girl character that made her a star in the first place, working her way into high society; there’s typical MGM gloss and a supporting cast that includes Franchot Tone (they married after the film), Edward Arnold and Gene Raymond. Extras include the 1934 Harman-Ising cartoon TOYLAND BROADCAST and Pete Smith’s GOOFY MOVIES #4. Frank Borzage’s STRANGE CARGO (1940) teamed Crawford for the eighth and final time with Clark Gable in a searing Christ parable about convicts escaping Devil’s Island; Peter Lorre and Ian Hunter co-star. There’s a documentary about Crawford and Gable featuring Jeanine Basinger and Joan’s daughter Christina, the vintage short MORE ABOUT NOSTRADAMUS and the vintage cartoon THE LONESOME STRANGER. Crawford does some of her best work in George Cukor’s A WOMAN’S FACE (1941), with Melvyn Douglas and Conrad Veidt, playing a facially scarred woman who undergoes plastic surgery to become beautiful, then gets involved in murder. Two radio adaptations are included, one starring Bette Davis, the other Ida Lupino, along with the cartoon LITTLE CESARIO and the short YOU CAN’T FOOL A CAMERA. Crawford left MGM in 1945 to join Warners, winning an Oscar for MILDRED PIERCE (1945). She re-teamed with that film’s director (Michael Curtiz), producer (Jerry Wald) and co-star Zachary Scott for the torridly delightful noir FLAMINGO ROAD (1949), as a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who takes on town boss Sydney Greenstreet. There’s a new featurette, CRAWFORD AT WARNERS, the classic cartoon CURTAIN RAZOR, and a radio adaptation with the film’s stars. Charles Walters’ TORCH SONG (1953) found her back at Metro for a torpid melodrama as a musical theatre star that works today as pure camp. There’a new featurette about the movie, a PSA Crawford did for the Jimmy Fund, and bonus audio of the star’s recording sessions – the real highlight is the fantastic Tex Avery cartoon TV OF TOMORROW.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus won the 2006 Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for the CBS sitcom THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE. A new two-disc set includes all 13 episodes of the first season along with unaired scenes, a gag reel and a sitdown with Dreyfus and series creator Kari Lizer. The former SEINFELD star has lots of opportunities to shine as a suburban single mom who finds out her ex-husband is dating a much younger woman, nicknamed Young Christine, which makes Dreyfus – you got it. Dreyfus’ charisma and comedic timing makes this one of the best sitcoms on TV, attracting over 10 million viewers a week. Cast regulars include Hamish Linklater, Emily Rutherford, Clark Gregg, Alex Kapp Horner, Trevor Gagnon, and Tricia O’Kelley. THIRD WATCH: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON is a six-disc set with 22 episodes of the Emmy-winning series created by John Wells (E/R, THE WEST WING) about police, paramedics and firefighters in New York City. The series ran from 1999 through 2005 and lived up to the high standards of Well’s other dramatic series. Michael Beach, Bobby Cannavale, Eddie Cibrian, Molly Price, Kim Raver, Anthony Ruvivar, Skipp Sudduth and Jason Wiles star; extras include a retrospective documentary and a gag reel.
DISNEY: Every new edition of the WALT DISNEY TREASURES series is cause for celebration, and Buena Vista Home Entertainment has three new ones currently available, as always in limited supply. The inimitable Leonard Maltin hosts each volume, which are individually numbered, with an authenticity certificate and an exclusive lithograph. Adding to the value is the collectible packaging. THE ADVENTURES OF OSWALD THE LUCKY RABBIT is housed in gold tin; CHRONOLOGICAL DONALD (DUCK) and DISNEYLAND: SECRETS, STORIES AND MAGIC in silver tins.
The double-disc Oswald set features the rarely-seen rabbit, Walt Disney’s first animated star (predating Mickey Mouse), produced from 1926 to 1928. These silent shorts are accompanied by new musical scores by well-known silent film accompanist and composer Robert Israel, and several of the shorts offer audio commentary from Maltin and animation historians Mark Kausler and Jerry Beck. Extras features include “The Hand Behind the Mouse,” a feature-length documentary about legendary cartoon director/animator, Ub Iwerks, Walt’s first employee, and a largely unsung figure in the history of Disney animation. Narrated by Kelsey Grammer, the documentary was made by Ub’s granddaughter, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker Leslie Iwerks. “Oswald Comes Home,” tells how Oswald came back to the Disney studios, with new interviews with Bob Iger, Roy Disney and Diane Disney Miller. “The Work of Ub Iwerks” offers six examples of Iwerks’ early shorts, including a newly restored STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), the debut of Mickey Mouse. CHRONOLOGICAL DONALD, VOLUME 3 collects 31 solo Donald Duck shorts from 1947 through 1950. Bonus materials include
“The Many Faces of Donald Duck,” a retrospective look at Donald’s career; “Sculpting Donald,” with Disney sculptor Ruben Procopio discussing the challenges of creating a 3D model of a 2D character; and “Donald Duck on the Mickey Mouse Club,” an Easter Egg Hunt for all ten variations of the Donald Duck gag at the end of the show’s opening titles. DISNEYLAND: SECRETS, STORIES AND MAGIC includes never-before-seen documentaries and featurettes presenting the story of the original theme park, and a replica vintage Disneyland ticket booklet. “Disneyland: Secrets, Stories and Magic is a new documentary with archival footage, commentary from Walt, and new interviews. “People and Places: Disneyland U.S.A.” was released a year after the Disneyland opening in 1955, a cinematic tour presented in Cinemascope and Technicolor with a newly restored 5.1 audio track. “The Golden Horseshoe Revue,” “Disneyland Goes To The Worlds Fair” and “Disneyland Around The Seasons” are original “Disneyland TV” broadcasts; never before seen by the public, “Operation Disneyland” is a rare closed-circuit piece made for ABC affiliates illustrating the huge challenge of the park’s 1955 opening day live broadcast. ”Building Walt’s Dream: Disneyland under Construction” has also never been seen by the public and showcases color time-lapse footage of the construction of Disneyland. Finally, “A Wonderful World of Disneyland” trivia game and still frame gallery are included. BVHE also has DIRT: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON, a terrific series starring Courteney Cox as the editor of a Hollywood gossip rag. It’s a great show for those obsessed with TMZ and the comings of goings of Tinsel Town’s shallowest celebrities. The four-disc set includes production featurettes, deleted scenes, and outtakes. Recommended.
UNIVERSAL: THE JASON BOURNE COLLECTION brings all three Bourne films together in one smashing box set. With Matt Damon as Robert Ludlum’s renegade secret agent, these are smart, dynamic action-adventure masterpieces and are even better when watched back-to-back-to-back. Doug Liman directed the first installment, THE BOURNE IDENTITY (2002), and served as an executive producer on the next two, THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (2004) and THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM (2007, NBR Top Ten), both directed by Paul Greengrass (UNITED 93). Criss-crossing the globe as a kind of anti-Bond, Damon undeniably proved his superstardom, carrying these gripping thrillers with great skill. Producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall bring immense production values and locations to these pictures, and provide terrific support for Damon in each film – Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, and Brian Cox in IDENTITY; Potente, Cox, Julia Stiles, Gabriel Mann and Joan Allen in SUPREMACY; Stiles, Allen, Albert Finney, Scott Glenn, Paddy Considine and David Strathairn in ULTIMATUM. Each disc is jam-packed with production featurettes and director commentaries. Grab this set for endlessly satisfying action entertainment.
LIONSGATE: In his later career, Cary Grant was able to own the copyrights on several of his films. Republic Picures acquired these copyrights in recent years and Lionsgate has collected them in a four-disc set. Cary may have mellowed by the time he made these pictures but they are still essential for lovers of one of the greatest movie stars in history. Stanley Donen’s INDISCREET (1958) reteams him with his NOTORIOUS co-star Ingrid Bergman in a romantic comedy made in England, with Ingrid as a famous actress and Cary as a famous playboy, based on the Norman Krasna play Kind Sir – the movie screams “screen chemistry.” Blake Edwards’ OPERATION PETTICOAT (1959) is a hilarious Naval farce co-starring Tony Curtis, who idolized Grant (see his homage in SOME LIKE IT HOT); this was the highest grossing film of Grant’s long career (outgrossing NORTH BY NORTHWEST by $3 million). Donen’s THE GRASS IS GREENER (1960) is less successful though still worthwhile, with Grant and Deborah Kerr as broke British nobility forced to rent their castle to nouveau riche Americans Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons; with stars like these you just can’t go wrong in this kind of material. Delbert Mann’s THAT TOUCH OF MINK (1962) is frothy fluff, teaming Grant with Doris Day in the middle of her Rock Hudson period. Gig Young is excellent in comic relief, the perfect foil for Cary. Overall, this is worth picking up … sadly, no extras are included.
R2: HEEERE’S JOHNNY is a fantastic eleven-disc set that brings the King of Late Night, the one and only Johnny Carson, back into our living rooms, along with sidekick Ed McMahon and bandleader Doc Severinsen. For over 30 years, on 4,000 shows with 25,000 guests, Johnny defined the late night talk show, and this is a far-ranging look at his long career. The set has some creative packaging, a gate-fold with curtains to simulate the show’s opening, but the treasure’s inside. “Timeless Moments” is a six-disc Best-of-the-Tonight Show featuring ten complete shows. Guest include Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Garry Shandling, Roseanne Barr in one of her first TV appearances, Super Dave Osborne, Charles Grodin, Michael Landon, Rodney Dangerfield, Kevin Pollack, Buddy Hackett, Don Rickles, a very young Ellen DeGeneres, and, in an unscheduled appearance, Bob Hope and Dean Martin. The shows include Carson monologues, his characters like Carnac the Magnificent, Art Fern and Johnny-as-President Reagan, and appearances by The Mighty Carson Players. One of the most popular recurring segments were his unpredictable visits with wild animals from the San Diego Zoo and Wild Kingdom, as well as novelty acts like smoke ring blowers, nose flute players and oddball guests like the farmer who made jewelry out of quail droppings. “The Ultimate Collection Starring Johnny Carson” is a three-disc compilation spanning the 60s to the 90s. Some of the most famous moments in Carson history are here – the Ed Ames tomahawk toss at Johnny, Tiny Tim’s wedding party, early Albert Brooks, James Stewart reciting his poems, and more wildlife sequences. Extras include the Emmy Award-winning final show from May 21, 1992, with guest stars Bette Midler and Robin Williams, documentaries about Johnny and a backstage tour of The Tonight Show at Studio One. “Stand-Up Comedians” offers standup from the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Rodney Dangerfield, George Carlin, Garry Shandling, Roseanne, Drew Carey, Louie Anderson, Steve Wright and Rita Rudner, while “Carson Country” boasts musical performances from Johnny Cash (performing “Ring of Fire” in a rare 1964 kinescope), The Judds, Dwight Yoakam and Buck Owens, C & W comedy sketches, and a surprise visit from John Wayne.
BOB HOPE: THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION is just that – a terrific 468-minute four-disc set that gathers the best of Bob’s prodigious TV legacy. Disc One holds two volumes of 50 YEARS OF LAUGHTER, with extensive clips from THE BOB HOPE SPECIALs from 1950 through the 1990s, with a cavalcade of stars including Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Jack Benny, Johnny Carson, Phyllis Diller and Danny Thomas. Disc Two has HOPE FOR THE HOLIDAYS, a compendium of Bob’s famous Christmas shows, and SALUTE TO THE TROOPS, a tribute to Hope’s hundreds of shows for servicemen from World Two to Vietnam. Disc Three contains hilarious celebrity bloopers (including a priceless Lee Marvin bit), and special features including Bob’s first ever radio appearance in 1935, his pre-fame film shorts CALLING ALL TARS and PAREE PAREE, both from 1936, and “Memories of World War II,” with Bob and wife Delores reminiscing about their wartime service. Disc Four features “World of Comedy,” a 90-minute collection of some of his greatest TV moments, with guest stars Bing Crosby, Jackie Gleason, Lucille Ball, Johnny Carson, Don Rickles, Frank Sinatra, Dorothy Lamour, Debbie Reynolds, Bob Newhart and John Wayne.
KINO: The 1964 SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS is one of the most important works of Russian cinema, a stark drama set in the Ukraine in the 19th Century, directed by Sergei Paradjanov. Boasting stunning imagery, anthropology, tragedy and visionary cinema all at once, it’s available for the first time in a restored version, in Dolby Digital 5.1. Extras include the 39-minute documentary ISLANDS about Paradjanov and his contemporary Andrei Tarkovsky; a featurette, photo album, stills gallery, cast and crew filmographies and trailers. Kino continues its collaboration with the Munich Film Museum and the F.W. Murna Foundation with G.W. Pabst’s psychoanalytic thriller SECRETS OF A SOUL (1926). Pabst adds an element of surrealism to his German Expressionism in incredible nightmare sequences; the mid-Twenties fascination with psychiatry inspired the creation of this film, with Freud associates Karl Abraham and Hanns Sachs contributing the screenplay. Werner Krauss (Dr. Caligari in the milestone German silent THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI) stars as the tortured scientist. The DVD includes illustrated notes detailing the controversy that swirled around the project. www.kino.com.
MPI: Jackie Gleason is of course best known for his eternally popular series THE HONEYMOONERS, but there was so much more to The Great One, including his dramatic work in THE HUSTLER (1961), GIGOT (1962), REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT (1962) and SOLDIER IN THE RAIN (1963). JACKIE GLEASON: GENIUS AT WORK (2006), hosted by CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM’S Jeff Garlin, is a loving tribute to his comedic genius – an overused accolade but never truer than in the case of Jackie Gleason. The documentary is studded with rare live broadcasts from the Gleason archive; in addition to THE HONEYMOONER’s Ralph Kramden, we are treated to some of his other characters – Reginald Van Gleason III, Joe the Bartender, The Loudmouth, Rudy the Repairman, Fenwick Babbitt, and The Poor Soul, a stunning and hilarious gallery of Gleason creations. These sketches were performed live on THE JACKIE GLEASON SHOW in 1952-53, earning him the sobriquet of “Mr. Saturday Night,” and the documentary includes moments of Gleason and company (especially Art Carney) reacting to the vagaries of live production. Ex-wife Marilyn Taylor (one of her sister’s June Taylor Dancers) is also on hand with reminiscences. How sweet it is!
FIRST LOOK: After festival screenings at Sundance, Deauville and Toronto, Mike Cahill’s KING OF CALIFORNIA (2007), produced by Michael London and Alexander Payne (director of SIDEWAYS, ABOUT SCHMIDT, ELECTION) was barely released last September. The movie is a delightful comedy-drama starring 2007 NBR Career Achievement Award winner Michael Douglas and Evan Rachael Wood in a tale clearly inspired by DON QUIXOTE. Douglas plays Wood’s father, recently released from a mental institution and convinced he has found the site of buried conquistador treasure … under the cement floor of a local Costco! His pragmatic daughter goes along for the ride, and the film evolves into a touching father-daughter relationship story. There’s a making-of featurette and outtakes; highly recommended. With packaging and a title that indicates a “romantic comedy,” SEX AND BREAKFAST (2007), written and directed by first-timer Miles Brandman, is a talky drama about two dysfunctional couples (Macaulay Culkin and Alexis Dziena, Kuno Becker and Eliza Dushku) who seek help at Joanna Miles sex clinic. The over-written script sinks the picture, though Brandman does elicit fine performances throughout.
TIME/LIFE has made a lot of Baby Boomers happy with the releases of the complete THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. and GET SMART, two of the most beloved TV series of the Sixties. THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., the first successful spy show on American television, starred Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo and David McCallum as Illya Kuryakin, and originally aired on NBC from 1964 to 1968, earning 16 Emmy award nominations during its run. THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.: THE COMPLETE SERIES includes all four seasons, the majority of which has never before been available on home video, 105 episodes featuring nearly 10 hours of bonus material such as a new, in-depth interview with stars Vaughn and McCallum, original featurettes, home movies from the production set, the original, never-before-aired on network TV pilot episode, and much, much more. An additional fifteen interviews with production crew members, fans and experts, including directors Richard Donner and Joseph Sargent and writers Dean Hargrove and Peter Allan Fields, are also featured in the generous amount of DVD extras. Nine original featurettes boast an amazing array of rare clips and memorabilia, including behind-the-scenes footage of guest star Joan Crawford, one of many notable guest stars to appear throughout the series, among them Vincent Price, Kurt Russell, and William Shatner with Leonard Nimoy two years prior to STAR TREK. An “Art and Artifacts” featurette highlights set designs and blueprints, scripts, production memos and more. Several featurettes explain the history and divulge little known information about the series, others showcase the innovative gadgets, vehicles and wardrobe, and the unique music created specifically for the show. James Bond creator Ian Fleming was involved in the early development of THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. and came up with the name "Napoleon Solo." Fleming's hand-written notes about the show’s plots and characters are included in the bonus features of the DVD set. This is just a staggering collection, an absolute must if you grew up with Solo and Kuryakin.
GET SMART was the comedic take on the spy genre, created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry – a recommendation for a comedy series if ever was. Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, Barbara Feldon as Agent 99, Edward Platt as The Chief, and Richard Gautier as Hymie the Robot delighted fans for five seasons from 1965 to 1970, and ever since in syndication. GET SMART: THE COMPLETE SERIES has all 138 episodes on 25 DVDs, with guest stars like Don Rickles, Joey Bishop and Johnny Carson, jam-packed with extras galore. There are audio intros by Barbara Feldon, highlights from a 2003 GET SMART reunion, an in-depth interview with Buck Henry, audio commentaries on selected episodes from Barbara Feldon, Mel Brooks and Henry, Bernie Kopell (“Siegfried”) and Bill Dana (“Agent Quigley”), guest stars James Caan and Don Rickles, executive producer Leonard Stern, bloopers, series promos, vintage clips of early Adams and Feldon TV appearances, footage from the 1967, 1968 and 1969 Emmy Awards, Don Adams’ 75th birthday at the Playboy mansion, and a touching tribute to Don Adams by Barbara Feldon. This and the U.N.C.L.E. collections are absolute models of DVD production, thoughtfully and carefully produced, digitally remastered and restored. (TimeLife.com).
GEFFEN/MTV: Nirvana’s November 1993 performance on the MTV show “Unplugged” comes to DVD in its entirety for the first time in NIRVANA: UNPLUGGED IN NEW YORK. Fronted by the late great Kurt Cobain, and featuring band member Dave Grohl (currently one of our finest rockers with The Foo Fighters) on drums and occasional vocals, this is a live testament to the creativity and quality of Nirvana. The band does acoustic versions of “About a Girl,” “Come As You Are,” “Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam,” “The Man Who Sold the World,” “Pennyroyal Tea,” “Dumb,” “Polly,” “On a Plain,” “Something in the Way,” “Plateau,” “Oh, Me,” “Lake of Fire,” “All Apologies,” and “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” Extras include the show originally broadcast on MTV, interviews with band and audience members, and rehearsal footage (www.hereisnirvana.com).
IMAGE: Yes was a supergroup during the Seventies with releases like The Yes Album, Fragile (both 1971), Close to the Edge (1972) and Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973); they enjoyed a resurgence in the ‘80s with their album 90/25 and the single “Owner of a Lonely Heart.” Band members Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman and Alan White specialized in symphonic orchestrations with soaring harmonies, searing guitar, and Wakeman’s keyboard wizardry, and songs like “Starship Trooper,” Yours is No Disgrace,” “I’ve Seen All Good People,” “Roundabout,” and “Long Distance Runaround” were staples on FM radio. CLASSIC ARTISTS: YES is a definitive two-disc DVD celebration of the group, following the peregrinations of the band through four decades. Disc One has 204 minutes of interviews and performance; Dosc two features 134 minutes of rarities, including rehearsal footage. A handsome 20-page color booklet is included in the set.
RHINO: The JUNO soundtrack has been as successful as the movie, placing #1 on the Billboard charts. The “Junoverse” expands next month as a limited-edition orange vinyl version arrives on February 18. February also brings a JUNO ringtone, Ellen Page and costar Michael Cera's cover of The Moldy Peaches' "Anyone Else But You," available from all major carriers. The charming duet, which closes the film, has also been added as a video on MTV. The JUNO soundtrack was initially rolled out to digital retailers in December as the film was opening in select cities. It has steadily gained momentum in the marketplace thanks to strong word of mouth -- and an unusual degree of synergy between the movie and its soundtrack. The film's young star, Ellen Page (NBR’s Female Breakthrough Performer for 2007), suggested using the music of The Moldy Peaches, and the 19-track JUNO soundtrack includes eight songs featuring that band's Kimya Dawson. The album debuted on the Billboard Top 10 -- largely on the strength of digital sales.
“Anyone Else But You” Streaming Video:
http://rhino.edgeboss.net/qtime/rhino/juno/v_fl_juno_-_original_soundtrack_anyone_else_but_you_video_single_450.mov http://rhino.edgeboss.net/wmedia/rhino/juno/v_fl_juno_-_original_soundtrack_anyone_else_but_you_video_single_300.wvx
Juno Mixtape E-Card:
http://www.rhino.com/juno
JOHN GALLAGHER
jgmovie@gmail.com
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