THREE STOOGES, GROUCHO, BEAU GESTE AND OTHER OBSESSIONS
The line between scholarship and obsession is often blurry. Academics are praised for spending years on a thesis or book, while superfans and enthusiasts are often dismissed as wackos. Here are five happy results of personal, passionate pursuits: four…
THE LITTLE RASCALS AT 100
My, how time flies. It was one hundred years ago that Hal Roach came up with the idea of putting ordinary kids together in a series of comedy shorts. The official name was Our Gang, but the titles often referred…
PRESTON STURGES’ WATERLOO: ‘THE GREAT MOMENT’
You may have overlooked Kino Lorber’s February Blu-ray release of The Great Moment (1944), starring Joel McCrea and Betty Field. It’s not an especially well-known title from the Paramount library, but it inspired Constantine Nasr, who produces bonus content for many…
ABBOTT & COSTELLO, HARPO MARX AND MORE ON BLU-RAY
JACK AND THE BEANSTALK (ClassicFlix) While I would never tout this as a great Abbott and Costello comedy, the vast array of bonus features on this release supersedes my interest in the film itself. Kudos to Bob Furmanek and…
OLD MOVIES MADE NEW ON BLU-RAY AND DVD
REPEAT PERFORMANCE (Flicker Alley) Joan Leslie, Louis Hayward and newcomer Richard Basehart top the cast of this intriguing drama that takes place on New Year’s Eve and enables its leading character to relive a painful and upsetting year. It…
BRINGING UP BABY: A MASTER CLASS ON BLU-RAY
The Criterion Collection has done it again: its treatment of the celebrated 1938 screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby offers a feast of fresh material to sink your teeth into. There’s a German-made interview documentary with Howard Hawks filmed in 1977, a…
THE LITTLE RASCALS’ FIRST TALKIES, FULLY RESTORED
Like the rest of the Hal Roach library, the 80 Our Gang talkies have not been cared for, to put it mildly. That’s why it’s heartwarming to see what tender loving care can do with the original negatives and 35mm materials…
