RARE SILENT FILMS ON BLU-RAY AND DVD
First, I want to spread the word that the good folks at Film Preservation Society (www.filmpreservationsociety.org) are offering a Blu-ray copy of the 1925 Richard Dix comedy Too Many Kisses, which features the screen debut of Harpo Marx. The entertaining…
CARY GRANT: A BRILLIANT DISGUISE by Scott Eyman
CARY GRANT: A BRILLIANT DISGUISE by Scott Eyman (Simon and Schuster) Over the years, it’s been said, people told Cary Grant they wished they could be like him and the star responded, “So do I.” This is more than…
NEW AND NOTABLE FILM BOOKS September 2020
HITCHCOCK’S CALIFORNIA: VISTA VISIONS FROM THE CAMERA EYE by Robert Jones, Dan Auiler, and Aimee Sinclair; introduction by Bruce Dern; afterword by Dorothy Herrmann (Middlebrow Books) At first glance I thought this striking, oversized book was a series…
THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD
I’m a sucker for Charles Dickens, and I must confess I came to him through movies. It was a showing of the 1935 David Copperfield that inspired me to read the source novel when I was a boy; then I became…
JOHN WAYNE, MARLENE DIETRICH, OUR GANG AS YOU’VE NEVER SEEN THEM
Imagine John Wayne hosting a television show like Entertainment Tonight. In a way he did, when he was rebounding from the failure of his first starring film, Fox’s epic production The Big Trail in 1930. The make-believe television series was called The Voice…
REMEMBERING OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND
It had to happen sometime, but with the passing of Olivia de Havilland today at the age of 104 the curtain rings down on the golden age of Hollywood. There are other survivors of that era but none can…
STAN & OLLIE & BUD & LOU & BUSTER ON BLU-RAY AND DVD
LAUREL & HARDY: THE DEFINITIVE RESTORATIONS (Kit Parker Films) I’ve been watching Laurel and Hardy since I was very young, when they were a daily presence on local television, but I’ve never seen their films look or sound…
