Which Classic 20th Century Fox Film Should Be on Blu-Ray?

Posted on January 15, 2013 at 3:55 pm

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment announced today a one-of-a-kind campaign, VOICE YOUR CHOICE, allowing film enthusiasts to decide which classic films they would like to see digitally restored and transferred to Blu-ray for the very first time. The program celebrates Fox’s most notable films from the 1930’s thru the 1960’s featuring performances by famous actors such as Henry Fonda, Shirley Temple, Paul Newman, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, John Wayne and more. Throughout the campaign, fans will also have the opportunity to write in and submit additional titles. Voting begins today at www.hometheaterforum.com and at www.foxconnect.com.

In addition Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will celebrate their extensive collection of classic movies by releasing at least one title on Blu-ray per month under the banner “20th Century Fox Studio Classics.” Drawing from Twentieth Century Fox’s rich catalog all releases will be Academy® award-winning or nominated movies from the 1920’s thru the 1960’s.

The “Vote Your Choice” options include some of my favorites: Shirley Temple’s “The Little Princess” and “The Blue Bird,” the charming romance “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir,” the dashing “Captain from Castile,” the witty “A Letter to Three Wives,” the rollicking story of “motion study” pioneers Frank and Lilian Gilbreath and their twelve children, “Cheaper by the Dozen,” the wild satire with Jayne Mansfield and Tony Randall, “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?”, the delightful caper film, “How to Steal a Million,” and the Tracy/Hepburn classic, “Desk Set.” Here are the candidates — cast your vote!

1930	Jesse James	Call of the Wild
	The Little Princess	Steamboat Round the Bend
	Swanee River
1940	The Return of Frank James
	That Night in Rio	Pin Up Girl
	The Black Swan	The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
	My Gal Sal	Kiss of Death
	To the Shores of Tripoli	Captain From Castile
	My Friend Flicka	The Blue Bird
	Crash Drive	A Letter to Three Wives
	Hello, Frisco, Hello	Mother Wore Tights
1950	Don’t Bother to Knock	Cheaper by the Dozen
	Carmen Jones	On the Riviera
	Anastasia	Black Widow
	Broken Lance	The True Story of Jesse James
	Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?	The Tall Men
	Desk Set	The Best of Everything
	The River’s Edge	The Bravados
	The Inn of the Sixth Happiness
1960	From the Terrace	Morituri
	Two for the Road	North to Alaska
	The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie	Bandolero!
	Let’s Make Love	Do Not Disturb
	The Agony and the Ecstasy	Back Door to Hell
	How to Steal a Million	Bedazzled (1968)
	The Undefeated	The 300 Spartans
	Can-Can

20th Century Fox Studio Classics titles and release dates for the first quarter of 2013 are as follows:

1/15	Titanic (1953)
	How Green Was My Valley
	Wild River
	Gentlemen’s Agreement
2/5	Laura
3/26	Panic in the Streets
4/2	Hello, Dolly!
5/7	Viva Zapata!

Angels and Ghosts Today on TCM

Posted on January 2, 2013 at 8:40 am

Turner Classic Movies starts off the new year with a day of movies about angels and ghosts, including some of my favorites:

“A Guy Named Joe” Spencer Tracy is a fighter pilot who is killed in action and returns as an angel to help his devastated girlfriend (Irene Dunne) find a new love.

“Cabin in the Sky” God and the devil battle for the soul of a wounded gambler in this classic film featuring rare performances by some of the leading African-American performers of the early 20th century, including Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Lena Horne, Ethel Waters (singing “Happiness is Just a Thing Called Joe”), Louis Armstrong, Rex Ingram, and Duke Ellington.

“Topper” A carefree young couple (Cary Grant and Constance Bennett) are killed in an accident and come back to liven the life of a straight-laced attorney.

“Matter of Life and Death” David Niven plays a pilot whose negotiation with the heavenly powers may be real or may be his delirious fantasy.

“Angel on My Shoulder” A gangster (Paul Muni) goes to hell and makes a deal with the devil — he can return to earth to get revenge on the man who murdered him if he will impersonate an honest judge and make everyone think he is corrupt.

“Here Comes Mr. Jordan” Remade as “Heaven Can Wait” with Warren Beatty and “Down to Earth” with Chris Rock, this is the classic about a boxer who is accidentally taken to heaven too soon by an over-eager angel and returns to earth in the body of a wealthy man.

2012 Additions to the National Film Registry

Posted on December 21, 2012 at 11:42 am

Each year, the Library of Congress announces the names of films added to the National Film Registry — an assortment that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically” significant. This year’s selections bring the number of films in the registry to 600. New additions include the delightful comedy “Born Yesterday,” featuring Judy Holliday’s Academy Award-winning performance; and Truman Capote’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” starring Audrey Hepburn. Among the documentaries named to the registry are “The Times of Harvey Milk,” a revealing portrait of San Francisco’s first openly gay elected official; “One Survivor Remembers,” an Academy Award-winning documentary short about Holocaust survivor Gerda Weissmann Klein; and Ellen Bruno’s documentary about the struggle of the Cambodian people to rebuild in the aftermath of Pol Pot’s killing fields. The creative diversity of American filmmakers is evident in the selections of independent and experimental films, which include Nathaniel Dorsky’s “Hours for Jerome,” Richard Linklater’s “Slacker” and the Kodachrome Color Motion Picture Test film of 1922. Among the cinema firsts are “They Call It Pro Football,” which has been described as the “Citizen Kane” of sports movies; and the 1914 version of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” which features the first black actor to star in a feature-length American film. The actor Sam Lucas made theatrical history when he also appeared in the lead role in the stage production of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in 1878. You can nominate your own candidates for next year’s list. This year’s additions:

3:10 to Yuma (1957)

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54muV-xIhIU

The Augustas (1930s-1950s)

Born Yesterday (1950)

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

A Christmas Story (1983)

The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Title Fight (1897)

Dirty Harry (1971)

Hours for Jerome: Parts 1 and 2 (1980-82)

The Kidnappers Foil (1930s-1950s)

Kodachrome Color Motion Picture Tests (1922)

A League of Their Own (1992)

The Matrix (1999)

The Middleton Family at the New York World’s Fair (1939)

One Survivor Remembers (1995)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dqo9poiA2Y

Parable (1964)

Samsara: Death and Rebirth in Cambodia (1990)

Slacker (1991)

Sons of the Desert (1933)

The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973)

They Call It Pro Football (1967)

The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)

Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)

Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1914)

The Wishing Ring; An Idyll of Old England (1914)

“Becoming Santa” — OWN Documentary

Posted on December 15, 2012 at 5:41 pm

The wonderful, poignant OWN documentary “Becoming Santa” is now available on DVD. I wrote about the movie when it was shown on OWN.

Related Tags:

Documentary Neglected gem

More Christmas Movies You Might Not Know But Should

Posted on December 9, 2012 at 3:59 pm

My lists of 12 Christmas movies that don’t feature Tiny Tim, Linus, Bing Crosby, the Grinch, or Clarence the Angel, or a Leg Lamp, Twelve More Great Christmas Movies Without Santa, Tiny Tim, or a Message from Ovaltine, and Worst Christmas Movies are among my favorite and most-read. Try some neglected gems that are fun to share with family during the holidays:

“A House Without a Christmas Tree” Jason Robards stars in this story about a widower who finds Christmas memories too painful and his daughter, who wins a Christmas tree at school.

“A Song for the Season” Gerald McRaney plays a man who is not happy to be moving back in with his father (Andy Griffith) for his new job as principal of a troubled school. Things begin to change when he meets the beautiful music teacher (Naomi Judd).

Remember the Night is a bittersweet film about a prosecutor (Fred MacMurray) who brings a woman accused of shoplifting (Barbara Stanwyck) home with him for Christmas so that she won’t get an overly lenient sentence from the judge swayed by the holiday spirit, a very different mood from the stars’ other feature, “Double Indemnity” and notable, too, as the first screenplay from Preston Sturges.

“Gift of the Magi” O. Henry’s classic tale of the poor young couple who sacrifice their most precious belongings to give to each other stars Marla Sokoloff and Mark Webber.

“Merry Sitcom” This collection of 60’s sitcom Christmas classics includes episodes from “Bewitched,” “That Girl,” “The Flying Nun,” and “The Donna Reed Show.” For fans of 50’s television, “Holiday TV Classics” has episodes from “The Beverly Hillbillies,” “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,” and many, many more.

“Blackadder’s A Christmas Carol” turns the classic story inside out with hilarious results as Rowan Atkinson plays a kind-hearted shopkeeper who is inspired by spirits to give meanness a try.

“Bells of St. Mary’s” has the return of Bing Crosby as Father O’Malley, this time at odds with Ingrid Bergman as a spirited nun. The children’s depiction of the Nativity is delightfully improvised.

“Holiday Affair” Robert Mitchum and Janet Leigh star in a sweet holiday story about a widow with a young son who finds love again.