Ball of Fire

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Offering a screwball twist on the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, this delightful comedy has grown dated since its release in 1941, but that only adds to its everlasting charm. Written by the ace screenwriting team of Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett and directed by Howard Hawks, the movie presents a breezy case of opposites attracting when nightclub singer "Sugarpuss" O'Shea (Barbara Stanwyck) is recruited to teach jazzy slang to a group of culturally isolated professors. Gary Cooper plays Bertram Potts, the straight-laced scholar who's compiling slang for a new encyclopedia, and his equally stodgy colleagues are fascinated when Sugarpuss and "Pottsie" seem to be warming up for romance. Complications ensue when the savvy singer must distance herself from her mobster fiancé (Dana Andrews), and Ball of Fire takes a wacky turn when the klutzy intellectuals take on the mobster's henchmen. It's all a bit quaint by today's standards, but the movie's got a wealth of witty dialogue and sassy appeal, with Stanwyck leading the way in a role that's equal parts tough exterior and soft-hearted vulnerability. As a bonus, she performs a pair of rousing nightclub numbers (including a lively rendition of "Drum Boogie") with hopped-up drummer Gene Krupa and his orchestra. Ball of Fire was remade in 1948 as the Danny Kaye musical A Song is Born. This one's a real treat for fans of vintage Hollywood comedies. Don't miss it! --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

The stuff classics are made of.......2007-07-29

We are talking about the best of the best in romantic comedy. Here is one of the 2 couples that stood out during the golden age of American films. (Capra, Cukor and Preston Sturges, each in their own styles, also gave us some of the greatest classics in the genre). Here Cooper plays himself, the innocent, sweet and honest man who is incapable of doing a bad deed. He and seven older learned men are trying to assemble a modern encyclopedia in New York City. Their search for the newest street slang causes them run into 'trouble-girl' Stanwyck and her gang.

With touches of gang thriller and romantic comedy, its not very ambitious plot captivates by the sheer charm of its stars and the magical touch of genial Howard Hawks, who has a knack for making great classics look simple and unpretentious.

Capra, Hawks and Cukor; Stewart, Cooper and Grant or Jean Arthur, Barbara Stanwyck and Hepburn... whatever the combination it's always a winner. Truly the stuff classics are made of.

Even if any new edition of this classic is welcome, we must still hope for a better treatment (some extras and better print quality) of this treasure of American movie-making history in the future.

Love and learning.......2007-07-14

This classic has all the right chemistry. You will love the characters, the romance and action. This mixed with Cooper's trademark "shy guy" moves make it a real winner.

Stanwyck and Cooper light up the screen with shades of "Pygmalion" and "Snow White".......2007-06-12

A burlesque performer on the lam becomes the unexpected muse for a strait-laced professor in Billy Wilder's sparkling 1941 comedy, BALL OF FIRE.

When a group of stuffy bachelor professors are compiling a new encyclopedia, they find trouble writing about modern slang. Professor Bertram Potts (Gary Cooper) scouts the streets of New York to find willing people to help in their research. A visit to a nightclub reveals Sugarpuss O'Shea (Barbara Stanwyck) performing the rousing "Drum Boogie". Potts realises that here is the ideal expert who can lead him through the difficult world of the modern speech. But Sugarpuss is being pursued by the police...and the Mob!

Cooper and Stanwyck give off a splendid chemistry here after previously being paired in Frank Capra's Meet John Doe earlier in 1941. Legend has it that Lucille Ball was originally mentioned for the role of Sugarpuss, but it's hard to imagine anyone being better than Stanwyck, who gives a spirited performance (for another slice of Barbara in a similar role, be sure to see the hilarious Barbara Stanwyck: Lady of Burlesque).

The other professors are played by legendary character actors S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall, Richard Haydn, Oscar Homolka, Henry Travers, Tully Marshall, Aubrey Mather and Leonid Kinskey.

So great to see BALL OF FIRE firmly on DVD. This has been issued as part of the new MGM Movie Classics series along with three other Gary Cooper titles (Casanova Brown, The Wedding Night, and The Adventures of Marco Polo).

(Single-sided, single-layer disc).

I know I'm in the minority here . . ........2007-06-11

. . .but I didn't care that much for "Ball of Fire". I was expecting something like "Bringing Up Baby" or "The Awful Truth"--classic screwball comedies--but "Ball of Fire" just doesn't compare to those two. However, Barbara Stanwyck is marvelous in the film--she's terrific with her comic timing and her flashy clothes. Unfortunately, Gary Cooper is no Cary Grant. His stiff character isn't amusing--and all of the rest of his writing cronies got on my nerves after awhile. I wanted to laugh, but I just didn't find the film all that funny except for a few of Ms. Stanwyck's lines. I give it two stars for her performance--but I'd recommend renting two of her other films--"Christmas in Connecticut" and "Sorry, Wrong Number"--both of which I enjoyed far more than "Ball of Fire".

Ball of Fire.......2007-06-11

This is a remake of a remake, because the plot is so great. The best thing is Danny Kaye did a remake about 9 years later "A Song is Born" - I bought this film so I could watch the 2 together, but "A Song is Born" is only available in VHS. The only problem is it comes in Black and White.

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The Caine Mutiny
Superb psychological drama set during WWII
A True Masterpiece!
Improved picture and sound - easy to recommend
Important ethical questions with a solid cast.

The Caine Mutiny (Collector's Edition)
Starring: Humphrey Bogart , José Ferrer , Van Johnson , Fred MacMurray , and Robert Francis
Director: Edward Dmytryk
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000MGTQ7K
Release Date: 2007-05-08

Amazon.com essential video

Humphrey Bogart is heartbreaking as the tragic Captain Queeg in this 1954 film, based on a novel by Herman Wouk, about a mutiny aboard a navy ship during World War II. Stripped of his authority by two officers under his command (played by Van Johnson and Robert Francis) during a devastating storm, Queeg becomes a crucial witness at a court martial that reveals as much about the invisible injuries of war as anything. Edward Dmytryk (Murder My Sweet, Raintree County) directs the action scenes with a sure hand and nudges his all-male cast toward some of the most well-defined characters of 1950s cinema. The courtroom scenes alone have become the basis for a stage play (and a television movie in 1988), but it is a more satisfying experience to see the entire story in context. --Tom Keogh

Product Description

This is a classic film of modern day mutiny aboard a Naval vessel based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Herman Wouk. The nervous and inept behavior of Captain Queeg (Humphrey Bogart) during maneuvers aboard the U.S.S. Caine a destroyer/mine sweeper attracts the attention of the ship's crew members and it's executive officer, Maryk (Van Johnson). When Queeg's neurotic behavior reaches a breaking point during a fierce typhoon, Maryk takes command of the ship. Queeg then retaliates by having Maryk court-martialed. In a tense courtroom sequence, Lt. Greenwald (Jose Ferrer), assigned to Maryk's defense, systematically breaks Queeg down on the stand. Maryk wins the case but the victory is short-lived as Lt. Greenwald reveals that the men have all been the unwitting victims of a deceptiveshipmate named Lt. Keefer (Fred MacMurray), who actually instigated the mutiny for his own purposes. An all-star cast makes this film one to remember.

Customer Reviews:

The Caine Mutiny.......2007-06-26

Dmytryk's stunning production remains one of our best war films, and courtroom dramas. A trio of outstanding performances distinguish it: an Oscar-nominated Bogart in one of his best turns as the embattled Queeg; Jose Ferrer, who almost steals the picture as whip-smart defense lawyer Barney Greenwald; and finally, Fred MacMurray, superb in the unsympathetic part of the cowardly Lieutenant Keefer. All hands on deck for this smart, salty classic.

Superb psychological drama set during WWII.......2007-06-15

"The Caine Mutiny" is a superb filmisation of the 1951 Pullitzer Prize-winning novel by Herman Wouk.

The clearly paranoid Caption Queeg (Humphrey Bogart) takes command of the minesweeper "Caine" and subjects his crew to his peculiar idiosyncracies. During a typhoon, however, Queeg cracks and is relieved of command by his Executive Officer Lieutenant Maryk (Van Johnson) who then goes on trial for mutiny.

Bogart is superb in the role of unstable Captain Queeg but Van Johnson is also excellent as the troubled Maryk - so too is Jose Ferrer as Maryk's cynical defence counsel. Fred MacMurray is in top form as the spineless Lieutenant Kiefer who eggs Maryk on, but doesn't follow through. There is a silly romantic subplot between Ensign Willie Keith (Robert Francis) and May Wynn as ... May Wynn (she took her screen name from this character) but this does not detract too much from the film.

The typhoon sequence is absolutely riveting, brilliantly realised by director Edward Dymytrk.

A richly rewarding psychological drama.

A True Masterpiece!.......2007-06-06

This the film to which "Crimson Tide" owes much as both have to do with a commanding officer having serious issues with his subordinate leading officer to the point where the CO is releaved of his command at the height of calamity on the ship.

This film enjoys that rarity in films wherein even the minor characters are well-drawn out and the major ones are as complex as they can get, especially in a military film. Humphrey Bogart may not have won his Oscar for this film (he did for African Queen), but this is perhaps his best and certainly most remembered role as the shell-shocked burned-out Captain of a busted-down ill-disciplined minesweeping vessel at the height of the war and a hurricane. Watching Bogart's Captain Queeg slow breakdown and his begging to his officers for help at one point is heart-wrenching. This is a surprisingly touching and emotional film.

The entire supporting cast is brilliant as well including Van Johnson who was never one of my favorite actors from this era, but performs here flawlessly as the second in command who eventually releaves his Captain by force. In addition, there are fine performances by Fred McMurray as the comic relief but also the sinister and arrogant instigator on the ship whose devious and self-centered motives push the story to it's inevitable and tragic conclusion, and Jose Ferrar is wonderful as the defense attorney for Van Johnson's character and he plays his role with bitingly sarcastic wit while he eventually learns to believe in his client in spite of his reservation. Ferrar's character even states that he would rather prosecute these "mutineers" than defend them as they had abandon Queeg when he needed help the most. Even E.G. Marshall's bit part as the prosecutor shows depth of character in the subtly ways in which he views Queeg on the stand during his breakdown.

The trial sequence near the end of the film is riveting and spawned it's own play later on Broadway. Watching Bogart's Queeg go from authoritative, confident, even arrogant, Captain to an emotional mess on the stand is awesome. The only other military trial scene that even comes close is Jack Nicholson's breakdown on the stand in A Few Good Men.

This film is nothing less than a masterpiece.

Improved picture and sound - easy to recommend.......2007-05-11

It's a tradition for television stations to show a selection of war movies over the Memorial Day holiday and it is fast becoming a tradition for the studios to release a slew of war themed DVDs to celebrate the contribution of the nation's veterans in time for the last Monday in May.
Special mention this year goes to Columbia who are releasing collector's editions of two classics that had already been afforded a release on those shiny silver discs.
First up is "The Caine Mutiny" which was first released on DVD back in late 1998. That bare bones version was widely panned for its poor transfer, which featured an overabundance of digital noise and was presented in basic stereo.
Those failings have been corrected for this most recent digitally remastered release. Here we are presented with a quite exceptional picture and soundtrack and a nice smattering of special features.
Based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Herman Wouk the film (which itself was nominated for seven Academy Awards in 1954) details the tension between the captain of a World War II era minesweeper (played superbly by Humphrey Bogart) and his crew. Bogart's character is overly paranoid and viewed by some as displaying cowardice in the face of battle.
Playing the part of the executive officer, Lt. Steve Maryk is Van Johnson who, spurred on by third in command, the spineless Lt. Keefer (Fred MacMurray), finally takes control of the ship when the safety of the ship and crew are threatened. Queeg's stubborn insistences to maintain the heading of the ship in a typhoon, flying in the face of good seamanship, forces Maryk to take action and he, along with Ensign Keith, are charged with mutiny upon return to port.
It is here that the movie truly shines. Reluctantly defending the two is the always-excellent Jose Ferrer, and the scene where he interrogates Queeg on the stand is spellbinding.
Complimenting the movie Columbia have added an interesting scene specific audio commentary by Program Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center Richard Pena and filmmaker and producer Ken Bowser. The two detail the difficulties the filmmakers initially faced when confronted with an initially uncooperative Department of he Navy, careers of the actors involved and the context of the film in relation to a political environment that saw Hollywood filmmakers blacklisted.
Apparently the Navy has never had a mutiny onboard one of its ships (a fact which leads to the placement of a disclaimer to the beginning of the picture) and they were none too pleased with the fictitious account. However, following a change in command, they reversed their decision and offered the use of dockyards, ships, aircraft carrier and even real sailors for the movie.
Both Pena and Bowser return for the two-part documentary on the making of the movie. Running for 18:48 and 16:16 respectively they are joined by Film Critic Bob Castle.
The three begin by discussing the mood in Hollywood at the time. Apparently movie audiences declined rapidly from 1946 to 1962 with the advent of television and greater foreign competition and so a nervous industry was looking for a "sure bet." Producer Stanley Kramer had bought the film rights to "The Caine Mutiny" book before it became a bestseller for $60,000. The book was a major selling point that led to the producers being able to cast the movie with a strong ensemble. Castle mentions some of the un-credited roles to illustrate this and Bogart reportedly read the book and actively campaigned for the role of the captain.
Rounding out the special features are trailers for "Walking Tall: The Payback," "Hard Luck" and "Edison Force." None bear any thematic connection with the main feature.
Recommended

Important ethical questions with a solid cast........2007-05-05

This Collector's Edition is worth getting for the extras alone. They have a useful discussion about the increasing challenge of TV to Classical Hollywood in the early 50s a reference to Elia Kazan,"On the Waterfront" (1954) a HUAC "friendly witness" and Edward Dmytryk, the only one of the Hollywood Ten to turn around and name names. ~ Australians here may remember the (destroyer) Voyager Incident of 1964 ~ was she cut in half by the carrier Melbourne. Inquest witnesses frequently referred to quote: "a Caine Mutiny situation" aboard Voyager.

Anyway, The Caine Mutiny was made at the tail end of the "movie star era", so there's a danger of being dazzled by the "Boggie aura" and not being objective about the actions of the troubled Capt.Queeg, or even noticing the good job Bogart does in the role.

Fred McMurray too, has a powerful screen presence and he plays the devious Lt. Tom Keefer with a darkness not seen since his Walter Neff in "Double Indenity;" a complete contrast to his fatherly, "My Three Sons" personae. Yet McMurray's "star appeal" can also obscure his "thinking preformance" - he clearly lets you read every "shifty" thought on Keefer's face. Keefer only verbalises his true colors (no pun) when he "'fesses up" to a "yellow streak 10 miles wide," after Maryk corners him into seeing Admiral Halsey about Queeg.

There is an interesting association with cowardice and the color yellow here; we have Queeg, throwing the yellow dye marker in panic and running from duty and Keefer's calculating, "too smart to be brave" yellow as he runs from responsibility - who then, is the true coward and why?

Van Johnson is on "safe" ground; Lt. Steve Maryk, is an extension of his own affable, fair minded self, a qualilty that prevents him from understanding that Keefer's duplicity and deflected hatred of the Navy will make him legally culpable of mutiny.

José Ferrer is a commanding screen presence at any time, and he makes Lt. Barney Greenwald seem to have been there for the entire picture. Ferrer plays his final scene with intimidating indignation - he has been drinking he says, to assuage "his guilty conscience" and we learn for the first time of his dilemma in defending Maryk.

Still you can put meditations on the complexities of human nature aside if you want and take "The Caine Mutiny" as pure wartime action, but you'd miss the little payoffs. It took me a long time, for example, to notice one small give-away detail; the dismissal of Comdr. DeVriess (Tom Tully) as a "slack" commanding officer by the rather affectless Robert Francis as Ens. Willis Seward Keith. The J.G.'s assessment seemed valid enough - until I noticed DeVriess timing Maryk's, perfomance on the paravanes with a stop-watch!

DeVriess had the maturity and experience to know how and when to get the best out of his command, but he will not push his "tired crew" and "beaten up tub, that ought to be melted down for razor blades," beyond their frayed limits. A "slack" commander, Willie? Sometimes you just have to trust the man at the helm to know what he's doing, even if you don't!

The moral complexity of the mutiny on the Caine is further complicated by Queeg's honesty and humility before his subordinate officers after the "yellow stain" incident. Their rejection of his plea for help raises questions about professionalism, loyalty and subordination to lawful authority ~ explosive issues that Greenwald carefully avoids in the court-martial, but ones with which he vociferously confronts Maryk at the "joyful celebration" ~ "You're an honest man, Steve. Tell me, do you think it would have necessary for you to have taken command if you'd given Queeg the loyalty and support he deserved?" ~ (powerful stuff.)

The Caine Mutiny is great war film: good to see it out on DVD. Also the commentary track and the extra features have a lot on interesting information on the problems in Hollywood with falling ticket sales and the reasons why war films were popular at the time.
THe two extras on the blacklist and especially about Edward Dmytryk, the only one of the Hollywood 10 who eventually "named names," were interesting as well as references to Elia Kazan and his use of Terry Malloy in "On the Waterfront" to justify his own testemony before HUAC.

Average customer rating:

Standard Film Noir
...is where the gutter begins
One of the best detective films of the Fifties!
A solid noir, thanks to Otto Preminger's direction and Joseph LaShelle's cinematography
SUPERB NOIR -- INVOLVING, COMPLEX MORAL DRAMA

Where the Sidewalk Ends (Fox Film Noir)
Starring: Dana Andrews , Gene Tierney , Gary Merrill , Bert Freed , and Tom Tully
Director: Otto Preminger
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
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ASIN: B000B8384Q
Release Date: 2005-12-06

Amazon.com

Otto Preminger made four films noirs at Fox, all terrific. If we set aside the peerless Laura as more psychological mystery-romance than noir, there's plenty of evidence for judging Where the Sidewalk Ends the best of the lot (the other two being Fallen Angel, a study in small-town perversity, and Whirlpool, a delicious exercise in creepy psychology, slippery mise-en-scène, and daringly complicated point-of-view). It's a hard-edged tale of a borderline-vicious New York police detective, Mark Dixon (Dana Andrews), with tortuous personal reasons for overzealousness in going after the bad guys. Much of the film unreels in one night, when the murder of a high-roller from out of town precipitates a string of events that lead to Dixon's becoming an accidental killer. Preminger's direction is taut, forceful, and fluid, especially when Dixon sets about creating an alibi for himself. Unfortunately, an innocent man gets implicated, with Dixon looking on, and the guilty cop's moral and psychological torment increases with each turn of the screw.

Tightly scripted by Ben Hecht, Preminger's film lacks the anguished poetry of Nicholas Ray's On Dangerous Ground, another 1950 noir centered on a cop (Robert Ryan) addicted to ultraviolence, but its grip is relentless. Preminger had a shrewd instinct for tapping a certain thuggish strain in Andrews, whose performance here is arguably his best. They're reunited with Gene Tierney, as a woman caught in the sidewash of sordid goings-on, and Laura cameraman Joseph La Shelle, whose work has a luster beyond the accustomed semidocumentary look of Fox noirs. Gary Merrill, usually a bland nice-guy, relishes the chance to play nasty as Dixon's gangland bête noire Tommy Scalise, a homoerotic villain in the Tommy Udo vein with a menthol inhaler as fetish object. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews:

Standard Film Noir.......2007-06-19

Not the greatest film noir, nor from Preminger, but very professionally made, very enjoyable, except for the last five minutes where the censor steps in. The quality of the film was excellent, as good as when I saw it 56 years ago. Well worth an entry into my film noir collection.

...is where the gutter begins.......2007-03-17

Dana Andrews needed a director like Otto Preminger to bring out his best qualities: here, as a police detective who is haunted by his father's criminal past and enjoys roughing up suspects, he gets one of the best roles of his career. In this unusually well written film noir from Fox, Andrews accidentally kills a murderer he was sent to question and must cover up his crime; he falls in love with the murderer's widow (Gene Tierney), and then must scramble when her adoring father is blamed for the murder. The sense of atmosphere here is very fine, and the direction is stunning: there are some great shots in a car elevator, for example, and also in a steam room. Preminger de-emphasizes Andrews's handsomeness and brings out his more weary tough qualities; unfortunately, he can't seem to do much with poor Gene Tierney, who as always seems far too beautiful for the part she's playing. (Things are not helped by the stunning outfits designed for her by her husband Oleg Cassini, who has a small role in the film. Her fabulous plaid coat, for example, has a scarf made exactly to match it, which are both so eye-catching you are distracted by them in every scene they're in.) Gary Merrill, Bette Davis's husband, has a great unusual role as a very insinuating mobster that Andrews's detective can't stand; Karl Malden has a duller role as Andrews's by-the-book rival.

One of the best detective films of the Fifties!.......2007-01-17

Perhaps the most gripping and intelligent of crooked cop movies is Otto Preminger's 'Where the Sidewalks Ends,' from a really excellent script by Ben Hecht based on the novel 'Night Cry' by Frank Rosenberg...

Dana Andrews is the honest, tough New York policeman, always in trouble with his superiors because he likes his own strong-arm methods as much as he detests crooks... When he hit someone, his knuckles hurt... And the man he wants to hit is a smooth villain (Gary Merrill) who points up the title. 'Why are you always trying to push me in the gutter?' he asks Andrews. 'I have as much right on the sidewalk as you.'

Dana Andrew's obsession and neurosis are implanted in his hidden, painful discovery that he is the son of a thief... His deep hatred of criminals led him to use their own illegal methods to destroy them, and the pursuit of justice became spoiled in private vendetta...

By a twist of irony unique to the film itself, Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney of 'Laura' are united once more, and Andrews now seems to be playing the same detective a few years later, but no longer the romantic, beaten down by his job, by the cheap crooks... This time, he goes too far, and accidentally kills a suspect... The killing is accidental, the victim worthless, yet it is a crime that he knows can break him or send him to jail...

Using his knowledge of police procedure, he covers up his part in the crime, plants false clues, and tries to implicate a gang leader, but cannot avoid investigating the case himself... The double tension of following the larger case through to its conclusion without implicating himself in the murder, is beautifully maintained and the final solution is both logical, satisfying, and in no way a compromise...

The film is one of the best detective films of the 50's, with curious moral values, also one of Preminger's best...

Preminger uses a powerful storytelling technique, projecting pretentious camera angles and peculiar touches of the bizarre in order to externalize his suspense in realism...

A solid noir, thanks to Otto Preminger's direction and Joseph LaShelle's cinematography.......2006-11-09

There's a hole as big as Carlsbad Caverns right in the middle of the plot. What is so surprising is that, thanks to Otto Preminger's skill and that of his cinematographer, Joseph LaShelle, how the story is told more than makes up for it. Here's the set-up. A police detective with a well-earned reputation for beating up low-lifes tracks down a suspect in a murder. The guy is drunk and the cop is impatient. One thing leads to another and the guy stands up and smacks the cop on the chin. While the cop is picking himself up, the guy reaches for a whiskey bottle and starts to bring it down on the cop's head. The cop blocks that swing, then punches the guy hard, and I mean hard, right in the chest, then connects just as hard with the guy's chin. The guy goes down and doesn't get up. He's dead. So now we're off on a plot-line where the cop's hatred of crooks, which is based on some family issues, suddenly has him hiding the corpse. Wouldn't you know it, the corpse is found...and an aggressive young precinct head decides that the man responsible is the father of a girl the detective starts to fall for. And while this is going on, the detective hasn't stopped his obsessive search for the crook he thinks is really behind the original murder, a sneering mobster with a fondness for nasal inhalers.

Wait, now. Any cop who hit and accidently killed a guy in self defense would instantly have a wall of blue thrown protectively around him, no matter how hard a case he might be. Every resource would be used to see that the cop was exonerated. I know, I know, this is a movie, but Detective Mark Dixon's (Dana Andrews) reaction is so excessive that it becomes nothing more than a glaring plot device. And, in my view, that undermines the tension of the movie.

Another thing that doesn't help is that both Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney (as Margaret Taylor, who becomes Dixon's love interest) are, in my opinion, not compelling actors. Andrews had a great voice but, to my way of thinking, a somewhat wooden face and a stolid acting style. Sometimes he was effective, sometimes not. Tierney is, as usual, gorgeous to look at, but she is no actress. She seems to spend all her time in this movie either being noble toward the man Dixon accidently killed, or noble and loving toward her father, or noble and loving toward Dixon. I'm fairly well convinced that her performance in Leave Her to Heaven, a first-rate acting job, was some mysterious and happy accident.

Some critics have made much of the apparent moral ambiguity in Mark Dixon's character. I don't quite see it that way. Yes, he hates crooks for reasons a psychoanalyst could help him deal with. When given a semi-legal chance to rough them up, he does. But there is no moral ambiguity in his character. He may be an angry man, but he has friends. He doesn't need to agonize about spending his savings to help another person; he just does it. Dixon is a man with problems, but moral ambiguity isn't one of them.

Because of all this, what's important in this movie is how Preminger and LaShelle go about telling the story, not the story itself. They do terrific jobs. The feel of the movie captures Dixon's anger, his short fuse, his loneliness. The movie looks gritty, dark and authentic. Small details add a lot to the sense of reality. When we walk into Dixon's small apartment we can see just a quick glimpse of an icebox behind a screen. Even in 1950 there were a lot of iceboxes still around. The bar where Dixon's partner orders a scotch and water looks like any number of old, dark downtown bars. Margaret Taylor's apartment is tiny. There's no bedroom, just a single bed next to the wall as you walk in. And the movie has faces, actors you sort of recognize who look right for their parts...Tom Tully as Margaret's father, Bert Freed as his partner, Ruth Donnelly as Gladys, the owner of a small Italian restaurant, Karl Malden as the new precinct captain, Neville Brand as one of the goons; even Gary Merrill who overacts a little looks the part as Tommy Scalise, the mobster. Brand, in particular, looks like a man you never want to irritate.

I enjoyed the movie because it was so well put together. That hole in the plot, however, kept me from getting very involved with the story-line. The DVD transfer looks just fine. The major extra is a commentary by Eddie Muller, identified as a film noir historian. I didn't listen to the commentary but Muller has gotten good notices for his noir work.

SUPERB NOIR -- INVOLVING, COMPLEX MORAL DRAMA.......2006-09-18

Otto Preminger's WHERE THER SIDEWALK ENDS (1950) is another color noir, this one's about a troubled, brutal cop already on probation who accidentally kills a murder suspect. Desperate to protect himself, he pins the whack on a hated shark who's committed similar kills. When the cop falls in love with the stiff's widow, he remains mum when her father is charged with the murder. Oh what webs we weave when we first deceive...

This complex and involving moral drama about a guy who puts off doing what's right until it's almost too late will keep you involved and guessing until the final fade out.

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Disappointing Lemon
Where's that DVD? Oh I see it!
The Wackiest Ship In The Army
Wrong Movie
They don't make 'em like this anymore.

The Wackiest Ship in the Army
Starring: Jack Lemmon , Ricky Nelson , John Lund , Chips Rafferty , and Tom Tully
Director: Richard Murphy
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B0002TSZHY
Release Date: 2004-10-12

Description

Jack Lemmon and Ricky Nelson get that sinking feeling when they pilot THE WACKIEST SHIP IN THE ARMY in this hilarious comedy-adventure. During World War II, the Army recruits Navy officer Rip Crandall (Lemmon) to command a battered old schooner for a top-secret mission. Masquerading as a Japanese fishing boat, this nautical nightmare must smuggle a spy through mine-infested waters of the South Pacific. Unfortunately for Crandall, he has inherited a wild crew of butterfingered landlubbers, including First Officer Tommy Hanson (Nelson). Can the dedicated lieutenant whip these comically inexperienced gobs into shape in time to carry out their perilous mission? Starring: Jack Lemmon (2-time Academy Award® Winner, 1955 Mr. Roberts, 1973 Save the Tiger, 8-time Academy Award® Nominee), Ricky Nelson (Golden Globe® Nominee, 1959, Most Promising Newcomer).

Customer Reviews:

Disappointing Lemon.......2007-06-10

Somehow, I (we) remembered this movie differently from what we just saw and sadly, were dissapointed with the plot (if any), dialogue and the acting.

Where's that DVD? Oh I see it!.......2007-05-17

His is one outstanding film. It is funny, very funny - a real service comedy and it works on several levels. The cast is first rate. Jack Lemmon and Rick Nelson are perfectly cast. A very memorable movie all around. Fond memories.

The Wackiest Ship In The Army.......2007-03-28

This vhs tape was in excellent condtion. It arrived in just a couple of days of ordering and was very pleased with the condition the tape was in.

Wrong Movie.......2007-01-03

This isn't a bad movie, but what I had rather see is a compilation of the seasons that "Wackiest Ship in the Army" was on TV. The TV show was, all told, much superior to this movie. The missions they were sent on and the dangers that they faced were exciting, and at the same time done with much humor. I'm not knocking this movie at all, but I would prefer to see the several seasons of the TV show on DVD. McHale's Navy it definitely wasn't.

They don't make 'em like this anymore........2006-07-10

If you enjoy the comic antics of Jack Lemmon (Grumpy Old Men, Grumpier Old Men), give yourself a treat. Mr. Lemmon's earlier films are well written, campy, and just plain fun! Two of my favorite Lemmon films are HOW TO MURDER YOUR WIFE and THE WACKIEST SHIP IN THE ARMY. Give yourself a fun filled evening. Send the kids out for pizza, turn off the phone, pop some popcorn, and curl up on the sofa with THE WACKIEST SHIP IN THE ARMY. Don't expect a deep "meaningful" plot or some kind of political metaphor. Isn't it time for a good laugh, the way we use to?

The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (Ultimate Edition)

Average customer rating:

Is This The TCM Restoration?

The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (Ultimate Edition)
Starring: Lon Chaney , Patsy Ruth Miller , Norman Kerry , Kate Lester , and Winifred Bryson
Director: Wallace Worsley
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000TEUSI6
Release Date: 2007-10-09

Description

Lon Chaney stars as the gentle outcast Quasimodo in the first film version of Victor Hugo's classic novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Paris of 1482 was meticulously recreated on the back lot of Universal Studios for this powerful drama that turned Chaney into a screen legend -- now presented in the ultimate special edition of this timeless classic.

Mastered in high definition from an original multi-tinted print.

New symphonic score compiled by Donald Hunsberger, adapted and conducted by Robert Israel. Recorded in Europe in digital stereo. Insert essay and optional audio essay through the film, both by Michael F. Blake, author of two books on Lon Chaney. Facsimile reproduction of original souvenir program.

Gallery of Original 3-D stills (3-D viewing glasses are included with this DVD). Extensive gallery of 2-D stills including production shots, scenes and advertising materials. Behind-the-scenes footage of Lon Chaney out of makeup on the set.

Customer Reviews:

Is This The TCM Restoration?.......2007-07-24

I'm assuming this is the expanded TCM Restoration. If so, this will be significantly better then any previous edition. The Turner restoration is stunning by comparison with all previous editions.

One possible caveat: Image really messed up the dvd mastering/authoring on the similar Phantom Of The Opera collection. There was significant ghosting on movement. Image told me by email the cause was Milestone provided them a poor PAL to NTSC conversion for the master & no one caught it before pressing the $30 sets.

Average customer rating:

Heads are spinning
Slow-Moving But Decent
Does The Future Already Exist ?
It's All a Bit Muddled.
Could have been a lot better

The Mothman Prophecies
Starring: Nesbitt Blaisdell , Dan Callahan , Shane Callahan , David Eigenberg , and Ron Emanuel
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Suspense | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B0000648X0
Release Date: 2002-06-04

Amazon.com

Described by director Mark Pellington as "a psychological mystery with naturally surreal overtones," The Mothman Prophecies begins like an ambitious episode of The X-Files. Richard Gere brings adequate torment, portent, and ambiguity to his role as a Washington Post reporter and grieving widower plagued by a mysterious, unseen urban legend known as the Mothman. Pellington develops subtle doom and gloom that's as effective as the paranoid streak he brought to Arlington Road. As the Mothman terrifies a West Virginia town, he remains an enigma, glimpsed almost subliminally. This--along with a magnificently creepy soundtrack--amplifies the movie's surreal overtones while keeping everything else (unsettling phone calls, prophesied disasters, suggestions of the afterlife) completely unexplained. With Laura Linney and Debra Messing in underdeveloped roles, The Mothman Prophecies feels a bit underdeveloped itself (and ends in desperate need of Mulder and Scully). But if you like your weirdness open-ended, this moody thriller's worth a look. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Heads are spinning.......2007-05-15

Richard Gere plays a husband who can't figure out how his life was suddenly turned upside down by an unidentified, winged creature in this Science Fiction/Thriller. When his wife sees a strange image that causes her car accident, husband and wife are both haunted by an entity that appears to have 'noticed it's been noticed'. The question is, what does this entity plan to do about it and why? Gere stars as a reporter who must seek the answers to these strange questions, but in doing so will he destroy his own sanity?

Chrissy K. McVay - Author

Slow-Moving But Decent.......2007-02-01

I liked The Mothman Prophecies but I think it was a mistake to try to tie this movie in as much as it was with the hysterical tall tales that arose after the Silver Bridge collapse at Kanauga, Ohio/Point Pleasant, West Virginia in December 1967. In doing that, filmmakers unintentionally detracted from their genuinely eerie plot and instead left themselves open to constant, kvetching criticism that "none of that happened!" Of course it didn't. This is a movie. Duh. Leaving all that behind, The Mothman Prophecies is a fun film to watch even if it could have sped its pace up a bit. The "Chap Stick" scene was one part giggly funny and three parts chills down your back spooky, and it was little moments like those that made the supernatural elements work when they could easily have been overpowered by the investigative overtones that held the story together. I also felt the entire movie was somehow a subtle homage to The X-Files, with Richard Gear coming close to playing up on the old "Wow, David Duchovny looks like him" talk, but he was ultimately so upstaged by Laura Linney's performance that it's easy to miss that. This is a good movie but not a classic. It's well worth seeing once or twice, and it will probably give susceptible people the creeps. Not quite four stars but a little better than three.

Does The Future Already Exist ?.......2007-01-28

This story gets involved with the issue of 'precognition' which is the ability of someone (or some 'thing' in this case) to be able to see and foretell the future.

This is an interesting subject.

Some people believe that it is possible not only to see other times but to travel there physically.

One theory is if you travel back in time and for example kill your parents we wouldn't notice the effect of your actions in this time but you would have created an alternate history. A 'parrallel' time.

What does this mean ? I have no idea.

But it raises the question of how can it be possible to see the future unless the future already exists in some form ? Otherwise it wouldn't be possible to see the future now because something could happen to change it.

This is all far beyond human comprehension but anyway the hero of this story is involved with some sort of force or creature who can predict the future.

The creature has been interacting with the population of a small town using telephones, visions, dreams, apparitions, etc.. The usual bridges to other dark dimensions.

But the moth man creature never comes out and says exactly what's going to happen. It just gives small clues and glimpses. That's where the 'adventure' comes in.

The opening credits indicate the story is based on actual events. Doing that in and of itself creates problems with this type of story.

Like many horror / new age type movies this story walks a fine line between being suspenseful and being utterly rediculous.

Supposedly the mysterious Great Pyramid tells the destiny of our human race encoded in the markings on the walls inside the pyramid.

Perhaps our future is really 'written in stone'.

Jeff Marzano

The Philadelphia Experiment ~ Michael Paré, Nancy Allen, Eric Christmas, and Bobby Di Cicco (DVD - 1984)

The Outer Limits - The Original Series, Season 1 ~ Outer Limits (DVD - 1963)

The Outer Limits - The Original Series, Season 2 ~ Outer Limits (DVD - 1963)

It's All a Bit Muddled........2007-01-24

I've never read the novel that THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES is based upon. I am, however, familiar with the events that took place between November 1966 and December 1967 in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. I first heard about The Mothman when I was in the second grade and read a book about monsters in the United States. The story scared me so much that for days I had nightmares and was afraid of looking out of windows. I soon conquered my fear, but in doing so, forgot about Mothman. That was until I saw a special about the creature and Point Pleasant on the Sci-Fi channel a couple years ago. It was through that show that I learned a movie, THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES had been made about the events surrounding the 1966-1967 events in Point Pleasant. I finally got around to watching the movie recently.

The movie takes place in a modern setting and revolves around a man named John Klein (Richard Gere), a successful journalist for the Washington Post. John and his wife Mary (Debra Messing) finally find and agree to purchase their dream home. On their way home after the meeting, Mary sees a winged creature with red eyes jump at her and swerves off the road onto a sidewalk. John is fine, but Mary sustains a severe head wound which leads doctors to discovering a tumor in her brain. Not long after, she dies.

Two years later, John is driving out of D.C. and in less than two hours discovers that somehow he's traveled over 400 miles and is outside the town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. When he approaches a nearby house, he is held at gunpoint by the home's owner until the police arrive. It seems that a man looking just like John has been knocking on their door for the past two evenings at 2:30am. A local police officer, Connie (Laura Linney) arrives on the scene and calms the situation. Connie isn't surprised by John's story because in the last few months in Point Pleasant a lot of strange things have been happening: strange lights, vivid dreams, haunting voices, bizarre physical illnesses, etc. The most unusual of the events are the reports and sightings of a creature the locals have begun referring to as The Mothman: a giant humanoid with wings and large red eyes. Upon seeing drawings of the creature, John is reminded of Mary and the sketches she drew of the creature she saw. He knows they are one and the same and John sets out to find how deep the connection goes and what exactly the mothman's purpose is.

THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES is a well directed film with some very talented actors. I like director Mark Pellington's film ARLINGTON ROAD and I really enjoy Laura Linney's work (though I could care less about Richard Gere). However, I really didn't enjoy the movie. To begin with, the film takes place in a modern setting while the events at Point Pleasant, which is what the film is based upon, occurred in the late 1960s. I thought the movie was going to be a period piece, but it turned out to be no such thing. Though there is a basic plot, the movie is highly disjointed with quick cuts moving from one scene and setting to another. I understand that this was done purposely as a way to produce the confusion the citizens and John feels in the audience, but I simply found it frustrating. Also, even though the Mothman can be seen several times in the movie, he is never seen clearly or in his entirety. Once again, I believe this is done for affect, but I wish the creature would have been seen clearly at least once. It might have just been me, but I found the deep friendship that developed between John and Gordon Smallwood (Will Patton) to be completely unbelievable. Actually, I found the whole idea of how John was able to become almost a citizen of Point Pleasant to be unrealistic. I'm from a small town and yes small town people are very friendly welcoming, but they are also very protective. I don't think the people of the town would have adopted John as quickly as they seem to do in the movie.

THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES is often found in the horror isle of the local video store, but the movie isn't a horror movie. It's more of a psychological thriller/suspense tale.

Overall, THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES is the type of movie that you might enjoy if you like one of the actors that stars in the film or if you're a fan of the director. I'd also recommend it to people who have an interest in the event that took place at Point Pleasant, though remember that the film is set in the present and doesn't offer any real suggestions about anything (it also avoids the whole UFO and G-men that were also seen in the area). For the casual movie watcher, THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES will probably be a mixed bag with just as many people liking it as there are who didn't enjoy it. Watch at your own risk.

Could have been a lot better.......2007-01-20

Richard Gere should retire and I would like to know who Debra Messing is related to, the girl is so one trick pony. Well I think the mothman should have made an apprearance during the film. But sll you hear is his/its voice on the telephone, I guess he had a lot of quarters

Average customer rating:

superb movie
Love the music and the storyline.
Better than the novel
Riveting Hollywood Sleaze
A Nauseatingly Addictive Train Wreck.

The Carpetbaggers
Starring: George Peppard , Alan Ladd , Robert Cummings , Martha Hyer , and Elizabeth Ashley
Director: Edward Dmytryk
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00008CMQZ
Release Date: 2003-04-22

Amazon.com

The Carpetbaggers is the kind of trash classic most people are too embarrassed to admit they actually enjoy. But this Harold Robbins adaptation is so cheerfully vulgar, it's hard not to have a good time--especially given the thinly veiled portrait of Howard Hughes at its center. George Peppard plays the heel-hero, who founds an airline company in the 1920s and buys a movie studio in the 1930s, crushing friends and mistresses along the way. The high cheese factor is aided by the good-time cast: Carroll Baker as Peppard's hot stepmom, Bob Cummings (quite funny) as a cynical agent, and Elizabeth Ashley, who married Peppard, in her debut--uncharacteristically, as a good girl. The sad note is Alan Ladd, looking and sounding very end-of-the-line in his final role, as a man's man cowboy star. Elmer Bernstein's swaggering score helps goose the action along, but the rest is thick melodrama indeed. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

superb movie.......2006-01-29

A great film with an engrossing story- I literally could not take my eyes off it.George Peppard's signature role (better than Tiffany's). If you long for a movie with a great story buy it! Congrats to Paramount for the excellent transfer- sharp with great colours and very little evidence of print damage.

Love the music and the storyline........2005-09-06

I've been a fan of this version of the movie for years. I love the theme music, and the storyline. George Pappard is wonderful also. Definitely dated, a lot of sexist stuff, pre women's lib.

Better than the novel.......2005-08-30

I'm a huge fan of the harold robbins novel but i've got to say that the film is every bit as good and probably better. The only thing lacking id the back story about nevada smith but he has his own film as well so i recommend getting that one also. overall its a terrific story and in a day and age when its all about special effects this film stands alone as a story, and a bloody good one at that!

Riveting Hollywood Sleaze.......2005-07-12

"The Carpetbaggers" is a fantastic adaptation of Harold Robbins' bestseller, very racy for its era, with dialogue that is often rare and juicy, a superb cast, and great direction by Edward Dmyrtryk. The character of Jonas Cord is loosely based on the life of Howard Hughes, and it is interesting to compare this film with Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator." Both George Peppard as Cord and Leonardo DiCaprio as Hughes give brilliant performances, but overall, I find this film far more satisfying, and certainly a lot more entertaining.

Peppard was at the height of his career in this film, and it is perhaps his best. It gives him a wide range of emotions, as well as the physicality and toughness he was so good at. Others that shine in the large cast are Alan Ladd in what was to be his last film as Nevada Smith, Carroll Baker as the sultry Rina, Robert Cummings as Nevada's slick and slimey manager. Elizabeth Ashely as Mrs. Jonas Cord (and who soon after this film was to become the real life Mrs. Peppard), Martin Balsam as the owner of a film studio, and Lew Ayres, as second in command in Jonas Cord's empire, has some of the best lines in the film.

The pacing of the film never lags, and there is a brutal fight between Jonas and Nevada, one of those screen fights that is always fascinating to watch. The Nevada Smith character is quite complex, and was to spawn a "prequel" 2 years later, starring Steve McQueen. The cinematography by Joseph MacDonald is marvelous, the Edith Head gowns lavishly glamorous, and very important to the success of this film is the fabulous jazzy score, which is one of Elmer Bernstein's finest. In my youth I devoured all of Robbins' books, loved the well-written sleaze of them, and loved this film in its theatrical release. I've since watched it repeatedly, and find more to enjoy in it with each viewing. Total running time is 150 minutes.

A Nauseatingly Addictive Train Wreck........2005-07-12

I just got through watching this Dmytryk film on TCM tonight, and all I can say is that if you are looking for the George Peppard who played Paul Varjak in Breakfast at Tiffany's, forget it. In fact, he is so cold and so stiff (I realize he's trying to play a nasty Howard Hughes knockoff), that a cardboard figurine would have been just as convincing in his stead.

Outside of great costumes and sets, this movie is long and boring. Where it's not boring it's a snicker inducing raunchfest. Poor Alan Ladd in his final role, barely having to act as he plays a drunken hasbeen, and Elizabeth Ashley who is the only redeeming character in the entire plot and also resembles Audrey Hepburn to a scary degree in the last half of this debacle. Carroll Baker may be sexy in her lingerie, but she's so over-the-top with her heavy breathing and her lingerie that you actually want to cheer when her car goes off the road.

I can think of better ways to pass my time for 2 and 1/2 hours than this...like watching the mating rituals of moth-eaten underwear. Still, you just can't stop watching it through to its unrealistic ending. If I'd have thought beating up one of my old flames after years of his acting like a total jag would have changed him overnight, I'd have done it long ago! If you must see this lousy piece of 60's smut, make sure you rent it or come across it on TV before you go buying it. I've seen corpses that are more convincing than Peppard was in this flick!

Average customer rating:

"a far better thing I do"
A Tale of Two Cities
A marvelous example of David Selznick's way with literature, and why Ronald Colman was a star
A Tale of Two Cities
Movie of a literature classic

A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
Starring: Ronald Colman , Elizabeth Allan , Edna May Oliver , Reginald Owen , and Basil Rathbone
Director: Jack Conway , Robert Z. Leonard , and Jacob Leventhal
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000GRUQL0
Release Date: 2006-10-10

Amazon.com

Ronald Colman isn't even on screen for the most famous lines of his career ("It's a far, far better thing I do..."), but such is the power of the moment and the performance that everybody remembers it anyway. A Tale of Two Cities was the follow-up for producer David O. Selznick and high-class studio MGM to their hit adaptation of another Charles Dickens novel, Great Expectations. While not scaling the heights of that impeccable production, Tale gives a tight, straightforward reading of Dickens' story of the French Revolution. Colman plays the drunken romantic Sydney Carton, who pines for the lovely Lucie Manette (Elizabeth Allan) even though she marries former French aristocrat Charles Darnay (Donald Woods). Meanwhile, back in Paris, the Revolution erupts, and Darnay is fated for the guillotine... perhaps. Along with Colman's expert study in melancholy, the film is crammed with fragrant supporting players, such as Edna May Oliver, Reginald Owen, and the uniquely unsettling Blanche Yurka as the endlessly-knitting Madame Defarge. In a handful of scenes, Basil Rathbone makes the Marquis de Evremonde the quintessence of clueless privilege ("With what I get from these peasants, I can hardly afford to pay my perfume bill"). Journeyman director Jack Conway doesn't have the lovely touch that George Cukor brought to Copperfield, but Selznick hired him because "the picture is melodrama, it must have pace and it must 'pack a wallop.'" It still does. Footnote to film history: Selznick's assistant, Val Lewton, supervised the Revolutionary montage, and hired director Jacques Tourneur for the job; later they would team up on Lewton's great run of B-horror pictures, beginning with Cat People. --Robert Horton

Description

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...." Charles Dickens' tale of love and tumult during the French Revolution comes to the screen in a sumptuous film version by the producer famed for nurturing sprawling literary works: David O. Selznick (David Copperfield, Anna Karenina, Gone with the Wind). Ronald Colman (The Prisoner of Zenda) stars as Sydney Carton ? sardonic, dissolute, a wastrel...and destined to redeem himself in an act of courageous sacrifice. "It's a far, far better thing I do than I've ever done," Carton muses at that defining moment. This is far, far better filmmaking, too: a Golden Era marvel of uncanny performances top to bottom, eye-filling crowd scenes (the storming of the Bastille, thronged courtrooms, an eerie festival of public execution) and lasting emotional power. Revolution is in the air!

DVD Features:
Other:Oscar?-Nominated Short Audioscopicks 2 Classic Cartoons: Hey, Hey Fever and Honeyland Audio-Only Bonus: Radio Show Adaptation Starring Colman
Theatrical Trailer

Customer Reviews:

"a far better thing I do".......2007-07-29

One of the great classics of old Hollywood and perhaps the greatest film version of any of Dicken's works (and there have been many fine ones!!).
When people say they don't make them like that anymore they are or should be referring to a film like this.
Ronald Colman gives a superb perfomance in this moving tale of injustice, revolution, rage, vengence, love and sacrifice. You MUST see this movie!!

A Tale of Two Cities.......2007-06-20

Conway's rich, peerless adaptation of Charles Dickens's famous novel ("It was the best of times, it was the worst of times") succeeds on the merits of its lavish production design and exquisite, tone-perfect acting from the entire cast--overseen, of course, by MGM honcho David O. Selznick. Colman delivers his crowning screen performance as the cynical, boozing Carton, and when he utters the famously cathartic line "It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done," only the most hardened could fail to be moved. Great support from Blanche Yurka, Basil Rathbone, and Edna May Oliver make this a sumptuous gem worth visiting again and again.

A marvelous example of David Selznick's way with literature, and why Ronald Colman was a star.......2007-05-04

A Tale of Two Cities is an outstanding example of a film which in memory seemed great and a classic, but when seen again is just a classic. That's not faint praise, either. Jack Conway may be listed as director, but make no mistake...this is David O. Selznick's film. It carries his strengths with great emotional impact, but it carries Selznick's flaws just as emphatically. Thanks to Charles Dickens, we have a hugely empathetic tale of noble sacrifice and redemption, played out against the extremes of injustice represented by the French Revolution. Thanks to Selznick, that story has been brought to life with cinematic fervor, strong actors, melodramatic situations, vast and detailed settings, and a screenplay which may run for over two hours but which never loses our interest. But Selznick was a man who was convinced that if one blow of the cinematic hammer could drive a nail home, then two or three more would naturally do the job better. And so at regular intervals we have characters, major and minor, over-acting. We are left in absolutely no doubt of the nobility of the noble of the heart; how evil the evil are; how dedicated and chirpy the servants are; or when we should tear up, or smile at amusing antics, or be repulsed by the evil madness of the revolutionaries. Selznick even employs message cards to remind us where we are and what we should be feeling, a technique that went out of fashion with the death of the silent movies.

Still, A Tale of Two Cities is undoubtedly a classic of movie making. Thanks to Dickens and to Ronald Colman as Sydney Carlton, thanks to some vivid casting, thanks to a great mise en scene, as they say, and thanks to Selznick's showmanship and craft, one would have to be a cynic among cynics not to be carried away by Carlton's sadness and his natural nobility. Just as importantly, you'd have to be dead in the heart and head not to be moved by his sacrifice, at how Carlton redeems himself for a friend and the woman they both love. "This I know," he tells Lucie Manette one afternoon. "I would embrace any sacrifice for you and for those dear to you. Will you hold me in your mind as being ardent and sincere in this one thing? Think now and then that there is a man who would give his life to keep a life you love beside you." The courage he gives a young seamstress as they prepare to meet their deaths, the drum roll for the blade to descend, his walk up the stairs to the guillotine, those last words as the camera moves up from the crowds, up past the blade and up to the sunlit clouds...well, I was choking back tears. The ending is melodramatic, flawed for me by a syrupy score and by the over-acting of the young woman playing the seamstress. But, I'll tell you, it works.

It's Sydney Carlton who drives the movie. Without a first-rate actor with whom we can empathize and admire, the part would either be awash in self-pity or simply become tiresome. Ronald Colman may seem a bit old fashioned now. We've come to expect our heros to be much more direct, younger and less idealistically romantic. Colman exuded breeding and intelligence even when he was sword-fighting. He made no enemies of men and he gave women someone to dream about. His portrayal of the dissolute, drunken, self-loathing Carlton never falls into simple sloshing about or petulance. He can see himself with a clear eye and a sense of ironic understanding. He makes Carlton not only a man who has wasted his talents and his life, but a man who we are willing to believe is able to find redemption. That redemption is the unexpected love for Lucie Manette that even extends to deliberately sacrificing of himself to save the man Lucie Manette loves. His love for her is that great.

Selznick peopled his film with vivid caricatures. Some work, some don't. The greasy, revolutionary enthusiasts of the guillotine all begin to look and act alike. The haughty, mannered French aristos are so self-centered we wind up kind of admiring them, and the last scenes showing some of them being noble in the face of the blade is a little phony. Still, Basil Rathbone as the Marquis St. Evremonde wearing a white, powdered wig is a sight to enjoy. His concern for his horses, after they've just run down a peasant boy, is touching. "It's extraordinary to me that you people cannot take care of yourselves and your children," he says, with impeccable Rathbonian diction. "One or the other of you is forever in the way. How do you know what injury you might do to my horses?" And Blanche Yurka as Madame Defarge should make us all extremely wary of women who knit.

A Tale of Two Cities is nothing less than a marvelous, coarsened Selznick "literary" production. It remains an immensely watchable film. If it fails at being "great," it certainly ranks after seventy years as a classic. The DVD transfer looks very good. The extras include a couple of cartoons and a radio adaption of the story.

A Tale of Two Cities.......2007-03-09

Finding this movie on DVD was first a surprise and then a genuine pleasure. This is a time honored story brought to life on the screen with an excellent performance by Ronald Colman and a superb supporting cast. A Tale of Two Cities is a literary classic on its own merit but the cinematic version is just a pleasure and worth every penny for those that treasure movies from the Golden Age of Hollywood. For devoted movie collectors this is a "must-have".

Movie of a literature classic.......2007-03-09

Good job of restoring and digitally remastering this movie. Fans of Charles Dickens and Ronald Colman will enjoy it.

The Universe: An Amazing Journey From the Sun to the Most Distant Galaxies

Average customer rating:

An Awsome Universe, Hubble pictures explained
Uplifting
A much clearer universe
An amazing DVD: educational, inspirational, and beautiful!
The Universe DVD: Far more than I Imagined

The Universe: An Amazing Journey From the Sun to the Most Distant Galaxies
Director: Tim Tully
Manufacturer: Universe Productions
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

ASIN: B00007H24F

Description

The Universe is a spellbinding DVD journey from the Sun to the farthest galaxies.

Featuring incredible NASA images and original orchestral music, The Universe is a never-before-seen guided tour of the cosmos in widescreen anamorphic video and 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound.

Using images from SOHO, Hubble, TRACE and other orbiting space telescopes, The Universe is a dynamic excursion through over 200 magnificent astronomical objects. Beginning with video of the sun's broiling corona, the program proceeds through the solar system, traveling to the stars and nebulae of the Milky Way, and to galaxies as much as 14 billion light-years away.

The Universe is a mind-expanding trip into eternity. The viewer seems to travel through space, seeing grand panoramas, probing close-ups, and breathtaking vistas, all in full color.

An original score by Paul D. Lehrman and Tim Tully provides The Universe with a rich, Surround Sound tapestry combining symphonic and electronic timbres into a timeless musical experience. Renowned astronomers Alex Filippenko and Karel Schrijver offer insights into the world of contemporary astronomy.

A clear, concise narration names each object as it comes into view, giving its distance from Earth and the data astronomers derive from it. The overall effect is to bring the vast expanse of the cosmos into a clear overview.

The narration can be turned off so the viewer hears only the score: a rich suite of motifs, that weave through an array of variations, mixed in 5.1 surround sound, to take full advantage of the technology. A combination of ambient effects and instrumental placement richly evokes a feeling of being immersed in space with the flowing images of The