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 Back to Part One Barrie Maxwell - Main Page |
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| The
Christmas Column (continued) Worthy Gifts, Recommended... for Musical Fans |
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| This
new release really shines in the area of supplements with a
carry-over of the material from the previous DVD version
supplemented by a wealth of additional features. Among the
highlights in the latter are a new audio commentary featuring film
historian John Fricke; a featurette covering the restoration
process; a documentary on the film's imaginative effects focusing on
music, costuming, art direction, and make-up; a documentary on the
film's legacy; a Lux Radio Theater adaptation of the film; and
various features focusing on the story's creator L. Frank Baum. All
the Baum material is contained on the third disc, including a new
documentary on Baum and five previous filmed versions of the Oz
story (including the 70-odd minute long 1925 silent filming).
Finally the package includes two cardboard portfolios containing
reproductions of 1939 Kodachrome publicity art (ten portraits and
on-set photographs) in one and in the other, reproductions of the
premiere program for the Grauman's Chinese Theatre showing on August
15, 1939, MGM's Studio News edition celebrating the film's release,
Photoplay Studies (a scholastic guide) in honour of the film, a page
from the publicity campaign book, and facsimiles of the premiere
invitation and ticket for the Grauman's showing. Very highly
recommended. |
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| Fox's
new 2.20:1 anamorphic transfer removes most of the objectionable
edge effects and offers a fairly crisp image with very good colour
fidelity. There are a few soft sequences, particularly the nighttime
ones in the gazebo. The image has been cleaned of significant
scratches and nicks although a few stray speckles still remain. A
Dolby Digital 5.0 surround track provides a nice sense of
envelopment mainly due to front separation as surround effects are
subtle at best. An English stereo track as well as Spanish Mono and
French 2.0 Dolby Surround are included as are English and Spanish
subtitles. The supplementary content on this two-disc set is
substantial and for the most part new with much of it introduced by
Julie Andrews. There is an all-new mainly cast and crew audio
commentary highlighted by Andrews and Christopher Plummer, as well
as a second commentary by director Robert Wise carried over from the
previous DVD release. Disc Two features a new and extensive
retrospective making-of documentary, new featurettes showing Plummer
and Andrews in conversation, the Austrian locations used in the
film, a reunion of the seven actors who played the Von Trapp
children in the film, and highlights of a Singalong event at the
Hollywood Bowl. The disc also includes the A&E Biography program
on the real Von Trapp Family, as well as screen tests, trailers,
photo galleries, and a restoration comparison. Recommended. ... for Western Fans |
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| The
film's action sequences are stylishly staged by Boetticher and he
effectively cuts away from showing actual shootings at their
climactic moments, preferring to focus on the reactions rather than
actions of the principals involved. The ending is also impressive
for its sense of ambivalence. Seven Men
from Now has more depth in an hour and a quarter than
most current films manage in over two hours. Paramount's DVD is the latest in its series of Batjac production releases, the first that did not star John Wayne. The film was completely restored by Batjac and the disc is very good looking. The 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer is crisp and clear with very good image detail. The colour has good fidelity for the most part, although some sequences look less vibrant than they might. This is perhaps reflective of the shortcomings of WarnerColor. The mono sound is clear and free of distortion. English sub-titles are provided. The disc's supplements are impressive beginning with an excellent audio commentary by James Kitses, film historian and author of "Horizons West: Anthony Mann, Budd Boetticher, Sam Peckinpah". There is a fine seven-part documentary on Budd Boetticher and the making of the film that lasts about 50 minutes. While it tends to be top heavy with talking heads, it certainly covers the ground in detail. Other supplements include a focus on the Lone Pine area of California where the film was shot, a profile on Gail Russell, a photo gallery, and the original theatrical trailer. Highly recommended. |
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| Sony's
MGM component has released the series' first season (and the pilot
show) on a two-disc box set. The presentation is full frame as
originally telecast and looks quite nice. Colour is a bit muted at
times, but image crispness and detail are good. The Dolby 2.0
Surround track is in fine shape, offering clarity and some measure
of dynamicism in the action sequences. English and French subtitles
are provided, but there are no supplements. Recommended. ... for Animation Fans |
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| This
year's offering follows the same format as in the past with each
disc offering cartoons with a particular theme or character and a
subset of the volume's extras. Disc One focuses on Bugs Bunny with
cartoons from the 1942-1953 period: Hare
Force, Hare Remover,
Hare Tonic, A
Hare Grows in Manhattan, Easter
Yeggs, The Wabbit Who Came to
Supper, Bowery Bugs,
Homeless Hare, The
Case of the Missing Hare, Acrobatty
Bunny, Wackiki Wabbit,
Hare Do, Rebel
Rabbit, Hillbilly Hare,
and Duck! Rabbit! Duck!. Disc
Two features Hollywood Caricatures and Parodies from 1935-1961: Daffy
Duck in Hollywood, Hollywood
Capers, The Coo-Coo Nut Grove,
Porky's Road Race, The
Woods Are Full of Cuckoos, She
Was an Acrobat's Daughter, The
Film Fan, Speakin' of the
Weather, Thugs with Dirty Mugs,
Goofy Groceries, Swooner
Crooner, Wideo Wabbit,
The Honey-Mousers, The
Last Hungry Cat, and The Mouse
That Jack Built. Disc Three focuses on Porky and the Pigs
from 1938-1958: I Haven't Got a Hat,
Porky's Romance, Porky's
Party, Porky in Egypt,
Porky and Teabiscuit, Pigs
Is Pigs, Pigs in a Polka,
Porky Pig's Feat, Daffy
Duck Slept Here, Bye, Bye
Bluebeard, An Egg Scramble,
Robin Hood Daffy, The
Windblown Hare, Claws for
Alarm, and Rocket Squad.
Disc Four's theme is All-Star Cartoon
Party (1938-1963): Daffy Duck
and the Dinosaur, Super Rabbit,
Daffy Duck and Egghead (1938),
A Gruesome Twosome (1945),
Draftee Daffy (1945), Falling
Hare (1943), Steel Wool
(1957), Birds Anonymous
(1957), No Barking (1954),
Rabbit Punch (1948), An
Itch in Time (1943), Odor-Able
Kitty (1945), Walky Talky
Hawky (1946), Gonzales Tamales
(1957) and To Beep or Not to Beep
(1963). All these cartoons look great, scoring highly in terms of crispness, image detail, and colour fidelity and brightness. Nicks and scratches have been cleaned up with only the occasional speckle in evidence. The mono sound is also clear and virtually hiss-free. French mono sound and English, French, and Spanish subtitles are provided. Supplements include audio commentaries on selected cartoons; "Behind the Tunes" featurettes with animators, historians, and voice artists profiling specific cartoons, characters, and creators; two documentaries - 1989's Chuck Amuck and 1990's What's Up Doc? A Salute to Bugs Bunny; bonus rarities from the vaults including early studio black-and-white and wartime shorts; and music-and-effects-only tracks on various cartoons. Additionally, Whoopi Goldberg (apparently a Looney Tunes enthusiast) provides an introduction to the set and gives some historical perspective on the stereotyping that will be found in some of these cartoons. This perhaps presages inclusion in future sets of some of the "censored 11" cartoons that have the really extreme stereotyping. Very highly recommended. ... for War Film Fans Battle of Britain: Collector's Edition (1969) A Bridge Too Far: Collector's Edition (1977) (both released on DVD by Sony [MGM] on October 25th, 2005) Film Rating (Battle of Britain): B+ Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras): A/A-/B+ Film Rating (A Bridge Too Far): A- Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras): B/B+/B+ |
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| Two
very enjoyable World War II films previously available on DVD in
fairly barebones versions have finally been given their due with new
two-disc collector's editions. The Battle
of Britain's subject matter is self evident from the
title and it's a film that has grown on me with time. Originally, I
found just about everything in the film second-rate compared to the
aerial sequences and the musical score. While I still find that true
to some extent, I'm more excepting of the various human interest
subplots and the wealth of cameo performances by well-known stars
(particularly Laurence Olivier). Perhaps, it's just that compared to
so much of contemporary film-making, the film as a whole looks now
like an Oscar-caliber effort. A Bridge
Too Far documents the Allies' launching of Operation
Market Garden, an attempt to slice quickly through northern Holland
to secure vital bridges over the Rhine and bring an early end to the
war by smashing Germany's war plants. The film also uses a large
assemblage of stars in various small parts, but does so more
effectively than does Battle of Britain.
The film is a massive production that effectively documents the
events of the offensive and clearly shows how a combination of
politics, faulty intelligence, bad luck, and poor weather doomed it.
The likes of Sean Connery, Dirk Bogarde, and Anthony Hopkins shine
in the production, but much of the credit for the film's
effectiveness must go to director Richard Attenborough. The previous DVD release of Battle of Britain looked very good and I see little if any difference in the new version. The image is bright, clear, and offers good colour fidelity. Blacks are deep and shadow detail is very good. There are some minor edge effects on occasion, but overall, the 2.35:1 anamorphic presentation is very pleasing indeed. I don't have the previous release of A Bridge Too Far for comparison, but the new version is merely okay. The 2.35:1 anamorphic image is occasionally soft, suffers from excessive grain (so that some of the darker sequences are quite murky), and is characterized by plenty of scratches and speckles. Both releases sport new Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes and they work well, particularly enhancing the Battle of Britain's music score. Generally, on both, dialogue is crisp and clear while action sequences offer an effective surround feeling (although somewhat more pronounced on Battle of Britain). A French 5.1 track is offered on both films as are English and French subtitles (also Spanish on Battle of Britain). The supplements on Battle of Britain consist of an informative and generally interesting audio commentary by director Guy Hamilton, aerial sequence director Bernard Williams, and historian Paul Annett; a 50-odd minute documentary on the making of the film; shorter featurettes on the aerial sequences and the film's intent and its reception; a short featurettes of reminiscences by an RAF squadron leader who actually took part in the Battle; an animated photo gallery; the optional William Walton score for the film in 5.1 Dolby Digital (Walton's effort was replaced by another score by Ron Goodwin for the film's actual release); and the film's theatrical trailer. A Bridge Too Far includes an audio commentary by screenwriter William Goldman with comments from various other cast and crew interspersed. There is also a pop-up trivia track that relates some of key actual historical aspects of the events on screen. The other supplements include a 40-odd minute making-of documentary; some reminiscences by director Attenborough; reminiscences by veterans in the actual offensive, although the fact they're only Americans vets reduces the featurette's effectiveness; an extensive photo gallery; and the theatrical trailer. Both are recommended. ... for Silent Fans |
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| The
range of material included is breath-taking in its inclusion of both
the obscure and the familiar, with well-known mainstream names such
as D.W. Griffith, Orson Welles, Busby Berkeley, Robert Flaherty, and
Robert Florey being represented as well as a wealth of lesser-known
ones. Many of the items presented have been known by aficionados of
the avant-garde only by reputation (for example, several works by
Joseph Cornell), so their wide availability now in this set is truly
significant. The collection is organized thematically by disc: Disc One - The Mechanized Eye: Experiments in Technique and Form (22 films including work by early cinematographers James White, Billy Bitzer, and Frederick Armitage, as well as experimental efforts by photographer Walker Evans, painter Emlen Etting, and musician Jerome Hill) Disc Two - The Devil's Plaything: American Surrealism (18 films from the likes of early professional filmmakers such as Edwin Porter, James Cruze, and Robert Florey, and later amateurs such as Joseph Cornell) Disc Three - Light Rhythms: Music and Abstraction (32 films focusing on the abstract qualities of light, including pioneer films by Ralph Steiner, Mary Ellen Bute, and Douglass Crockwell and Hollywood montages created by Ernst Lubitsch and Busby Berkeley) Disc Four - Inverted Narratives: New Directions in Storytelling (20 films developing the language of cinema narrative from the likes of D.W. Griffith, Lois Weber, Charles Vidor, Theodore Huff, Josef Berne, and David Bradley) Disc Five - Picturing a Metropolis: New York City Unveiled (29 films depicting scenes of New Yorkers among the skyscrapers, streets, and night life of Manhattan during a half century of progress) Disc Six - The Amateur as Auteur: Discovering Paradise in Pictures (19 homemade films covering the intimate [Joseph Cornell's Children Trilogy] to large scale [James Hughes' A Day in Santa Fe]) Disc Seven - Viva La Dance: The Beginnings of Cine-Dance (42 films celebrating dance from the experimental [Norman McLaren's Stars and Stripes] to commercial [excerpt from Busby Berkeley's Wonder Bar] The material on these seven discs (mastered from newly preserved and restored 35mm and 16mm prints) looks remarkably good, given its age and provenance. Certainly there are scratches and speckles and missing frames, but the images are mostly quite sharp with at times very fine image detail. There is a mixture of black and white, tinted, and colour footage generally as appropriate to the original projection of the films. Sound reproduction, where intended, is also quite good particularly where new recordings of original music or new film scores have been prepared (generally in stereo). Supplements include on-screen film notes and/or filmmaker biographies prepared by more than three dozen film historians and scholars such as Kevin Brownlow, David Curtis, Bruce Posner, David Shepard, and Scott MacDonald. Bruce Posner also contributes a 15-page essay introducing the material, which is included as a separate pamphlet in the box set. There's no doubt that this box set is a special interest item that will not appeal to all, but for those interested in early American film, it stands beside the previous two boxes of Treasures from American Film Archives as a must-have item. Recommended. |
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| In
the first program (My Happiest Years),
it is fascinating to see how an initial idea for a gag or sequence
got changed into the finished product that we've become so familiar
with (parts of The Cure and
The Immigrant are
highlighted), particularly in those instances where the
metamorphosis was so complete that virtually nothing of the original
conception remains. The second program (The
Great Director) focuses on Chaplin's features such as
The Kid, The
Gold Rush, and City Lights
again delving into Chaplin's creative process using rare footage but
also utilizing new interviews with original cast members Jackie
Coogan, Lita Grey, Georgia Hale, and Virginia Cherrill. The third
program (Hidden Treasures)
reveals further unknown footage, especially the original extended
opening sequence for City Lights
and lengthy footage from The Professor,
a film that Chaplin abandoned although he later worked some of its
ideas into Limelight. The
attraction of this documentary series on Chaplin is that it tells us
something we didn't know about before, instead of rehashing old
ground or providing yet another standard biography. Along with Charlie
Chaplin: The Forgotten Years (previously reviewed
here),
it goes far to fill in some of the gaps in our knowledge of this
great film clown. The disc's full frame transfer is correctly framed and given the limitations of many of the clips included in the programs, looks very nice with remarkable detail at times. Some of the more recent interviews are merely okay in comparison. The stereo audio is clear and transmits both James Mason's authoritative tones and Carl Davis's music well. Supplements on the disc include a making-of documentary that is mainly an interview with Kevin Brownlow (about 15 minutes) and two shorts - The Making of "The Count" and Chaplin Meets Harry Lauder (the great British Music Hall star). A Chaplin text biography rounds out the disc. Highly recommended. |
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