4K UHD Review: The Mirror Crack’d
With the success of Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, it’s no surprise that the same group of producers would forge ahead with another tale by Agatha Christie, this one featuring Miss Marple. Based on the 1962 novel The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side, 1980’s The Mirror Crack’d stars Angela […]
4K UHD Review: Blue Hawaii
Released in 1961, Blue Hawaii is an enduring favorite among Elvis fans. The plot is thin to non-existent, but it was the first time Elvis had shot a movie on location, making for beef up production values. The production also secured the services of Oscar winning cinematographer Charles Lang (A Farewell to Arms) to shoot […]
Blu-ray Review: The Court Jester (Paramount Presents)
In the 1940’s and 1950’s, Danny Kaye was a huge movie star. Largely forgotten today, he made only three movies throughout the 1960’s, though he did star in his own variety show from 1963-67. Essentially retiring early, Kaye made only a sprinkling of appearances until his death in 1987. While Kaye’s most popular film is […]
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (Special Edition) (Blu-ray)
[AMAZONPRODUCTS asin=”B00K5ZXKFM”]Released in by Disney 1971, Bedknobs and Broomsticks has long been considered by many to be the evil stepsister of 1964’s Mary Poppins. While the similarities are impossible to ignore, Bedknobs and Broomsticks deserves more respect than it receives in many cinema circles. Based on the books The Magic Bed Knob; or, How to […]
Samson and Delilah (1949) (Blu-ray)
[Note: Portions of this review appeared in an earlier DVD review of the film.] Less than a year after delivering Cecil B. DeMille’s Samson and Delilah on DVD with an impressive DVD transfer, Paramount has stepped up their game with a Blu-ray, featuring a restoration scanned in 4K, restoring its Technicolor brilliance and an […]
Blu-ray Review: Harlow
Released in 1964, Harlow: An Intimate Biography, co-written by Irving Shulman and Jean Harlow’s one-time agent Arthur Landau, hit the best seller lists and became one of the hottest books of the year. Critically panned and the subject of several lawsuits—including one from Jean Harlow’s own elderly father—was a decidedly salacious, heavily fictionalized account of […]
DVD Review: Samson and Delilah (1949)
Overdone, gaudy, and deliciously entertaining, Samson and Delilah is the kind of epic Cecil B. DeMille (The Ten Commandments) thrived on. Nobody did sword and sandal epics better than he did, and in terms of entertainment value, Samson and Delilah is one of his best. Apparently, moviegoers in 1949 agreed, as the film grossed a […]
DVD Review: The First Christmas – The Story of the First Christmas Snow (Remastered Deluxe Edition)
Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass, better known to millions as simply Rankin/Bass, gained fame for co-producing and directing a wide array of stop motion animation features. Some of their most popular were their holiday offerings such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, The Year Without a Santa Claus, Frosty […]
Blu-ray Review: The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Not a box office hit when first released, in the nearly fifty years since, The Manchurian Candidate has taken its place among the greatest espionage films ever made. While The Manchurian Candidate seemed to foreshadow much of the political and social turmoil that would erupt across the American landscape during the 1960’s, it seems oddly […]
Blu-ray Review: Fantasia / Fantasia 2000
Disney / Buena Vista | 1940-1999 | 2 Movies | 195 min | G Few would deny that Walt Disney was a creative genius. Looking at Walt’s history, there are countless milestones and achievements. Even so, Disney was always looking to try something new and push the boundaries of animation. Walt wanted to create an […]