Film_Fatale

I think it's just an amazing film, and some of the interviews included in the DVD strongly suggest the filmmakers wanted, to the extent that it might be possible, for the focus on the film to be on the people around Hitler rather than on Hitler himself. We all know he was a madman, but what is truly amazing is how the people around him were so transfixed by him that even near the end when he was clearly delusional, issuing orders to move imaginary armies around Berlin, and even though they all knew the war was lost, they mostly tried to continue humoring him and being very deferential to him. Is the greatest tragedy that there should have been a man like Hitler, or that the people of Germany at that point in time empowered him thus?

I think it would be a great idea, at least done one night a week. It would be a lot more appreciated than something like "Underground", I think.

That's an awesome list, Frank. BH's work with Hitch truly is some of the most memorable in film history!

"Well, there's always the unexpected..." :|

Well, one of the main things TCM has got going for it (and for which many film buffs are obviously grateful) is that it has a policy of always trying to show movies in their original aspect ratio. They will only show pan-and-scan when it's the only copy they can get from a distributor who owns that particular movie. In the past, it was "letterboxing" that some people had a problem with. In the future, it is more likely that some will complain about "pillarboxing" -- black bars on the sides of the TV when movies shot in the old "academy" ratio (same as the old TV sets) are shown on widescreen TV sets. Nonetheless there are quite a few DVD players out there that come equipped with some sort of "zoom" function which essentially allows you to zoom in to the image and eliminate any "black bar" areas from the image that is seen on the monitor. It is estimated that the vast majority of Americans will have some kind of HDTV set in their homes when the price for sets with screens over 37" goes below $600, which IIRC is expected to happen sometime next year. (Will try to find the actual article with these figures)

If Streisand still looks good on camera.... she'd be my choice.... Well, with a lot of filters... it might be possible

> I have a print of it. It's watchable, but nowhere > near the quality we see in the short clips of The > Wonderful Horrible Life of LR. You might check > to see if your local library has a copy or you can > get an ILL (Inter Library Loan) to view it and > determine if it's worth buying. I wish they would > put out a nice remastered cleaned up version like > they have done with TOTW. I'm also dying to > get a good copy of The Blue Light and > Tiefland. My video store has both the new DVD and the original VHS version from Janus. I just haven't decided which one to pick.

TCM can't show it letterboxed unless Sony provides them with a widescreen version. Why they didn't is beyond me, because as others pointed out, the DVD is letterboxed.

Anyone know what the quality is like of the version of Olympia on DVD?

I have long ago learned not to listen to Ms. Fisher. But it's hard to believe she wouldn't have heard of the remake. It came out in theaters around the same time as the adaptation of her Postcards from the Edge.

It's great to see the great Broderick get his turn in the spotlight, today is one of the best days of SUTS. Only kinda wish they could have shown the 1979 George Roy Hill film A Little Romance, one of his last but also most charming performances. Lawrence Olivier wasn't bad, either.

Well I can't imagine Esther Williams having the same kind of appeal today, because the world today is very different than it was in the 40's and 50's. And that's where having an opposable thumb comes in handy - just click that little button on your remote and change the channel whenever there's a movie on you don't feel like watching.

The OP is absolutely right! Why would we need junk like The Wizard of Oz, An American in Paris, Singin' in the Rain, The Bandwagon, Meet Me in St. Louis, On the Town or Seven Brides for Seven Brothers? Heaven knows humanity is much better served by the likes of Disney's High School Musical and any number of sequels that will surely follow it!

It'll be really cool to have it on a DVD. Even more if they can give you a choice of watching the original theatrical version, or the one that includes the W.C. Fields segment. (Not that I don't like him, but I think the movie plays better at just around 2 hours).

> Lindsay Crouse was married to David Mamet. There's an interesting anecdote about that in the audio commentary of the new DVD. Let's just say that Mamet's hands make an uncredited cameo in the movie during the scene that's set in the hotel room.

shearerchic, do you post under a similar name on imdb.com? If so, I hope what you said about Tales of Manhattan turns out to be true! I just rented it on VHS because it isn't out on DVD.

I hope WHV can remaster The Sea Hawk and release it on DVD. I checked before deciding on recording it from TCM and all I saw were dozens of public-domain versions.

Does anyone here have Mackenna's Gold on DVD? I am trying to confirm if the movie was ever issued on a widescreen DVD. The only ones I've seen so far are pan-and-scan. I know it was shown letterboxed last time it played on TCM... so Sony must have that version available somewhere.

Anyone else watched this lately? I'm glad at least it is available on DVD (and letterboxed, too) but it's a shame they didn't issue a special set with both the musical and non-musical '42 version. Still, it's a lot of fun, especially with Bob Fosse bringing his great skills as a dancer and choreographer to the picture. (And I don't think I'd ever seen him billed as "Robert Fosse"!). I found the bandstand number to be especially delightful.

Wonder if Paramount Blu-Ray titles will soon go for big bucks on eBay, since they're all now OOP... *sigh*

I don't think compatibility is the issue here, since 96-98% of all the DVD recordings I make play just fine. By the way, you ever use Taiyo Yuden discs?

What I'm talking about comes down to a more basic philosophical principle -- don't trust nobody.

If you do watch House of Games, remember -- you should never threaten someone with an empty gun!

You can't spell "fun" without RKO! Um. Wait. Actually, you can. It just isn't the same, though.

The extras on the Criterion definitely make it worth renting, at the very least, or buying it if you're a big fan of David Mamet's work. There's a lot of great stuff on the audio commentary. Mamet was definitely not pleased at Orion Pictures' handling of the movie's theatrical release, that much is clear!! Also, as the essay on the inside booklet points out, it's hard to understate the impact the movie had back in 1987, even if a lot of the elements have been done to death by other movies since then. But, yeah, I remember how unique and refreshing the movie was shortly after it came out, before Mamet's other works were brought to the screen. Oh, you're a bad pony, and I'm not gonna bet on you! -- you gotta love lines like that! B-)