filmlover

Thought some might like this, the title lobby card to the original MofZ.

Wings Blu-ray is $10.99 on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Wings-Blu-ray-Clara-Bow/dp/B00AEBB9QY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1360036850&sr=8-3&keywords=wings+blu-ray

With Schindler's List coming out on Blu in a few weeks, I noticed that will mean that 84 of the AFI's Top 100 movies of All Time are now on Blu-ray. Pretty good! The ones that are not yet on Blu are: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington The Philadelphia Story Shane It Happened One Night Intolerance Nashville Duck Soup Sullivan's Travels Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Tootsie In the Heat of the Night A Night At The Opera Bringing Up Baby Swing Time Sophie's Choice Yankee Doodle Dandy

Well. I am going to have to say 10 films I'd buy if they were available on Blu-ray - since I can't recall the last time I bought a DVD, and the only one I would buy on DVD would be Those Lips Those Eyes. And, in point of fact, there would be many since there are so many on DVD I would like to see restored and remastered in high definition for Blu...but these are probably my 10 to come first: The Mark of Zorro The Thief of Bagdad (Sabu) City Lights (on Blu in Europe, but needs an American release) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Best Years Of Our Lives To Sir With Love From Here to Eternity The Court Jester How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying 1776

Jan. 1947: Feb. 1947: Mar. 1947:

Interesting article: http://news.moviefone.com/2013/01/28/warner-bros-90th-anniversary_n_2568180.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl34%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D264919

Amazon currently has the digibooks of All About Eve and An Affair to Remember for $13.49 each.

*SPOILER ALERT: Do not read below if you don't know how it ends.* Great, great ending. Giving up the woman he loves because it is the right thing to do. Killing the head Nazi. Walking off with your best buddy to fight the good fight with "La Marseillaise" playing over the fade out.

I am really enjoying this special. I have seen other specials on the history of WB, and I have taken the studio tour a few times, but this combines both history and a tour very nicely.

*The Dick Van Dyke Show - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)* There have been sitcoms from the very beginning of television, and the very best was one that debuted in 1961. The top comedy series contain not only physical comedy, but are superbly written, and they can probably be counted on the fingers of two hands. The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, Cheers, and a few more. But the king of them all is The Dick Van Dyke Show. I don't think here was ever a funnier show on the air. Everyone connected with the show, in front of and behind the cameras, was a terrific talent: Carl Reiner created it, originally casting himself as a head writer of a TV variety show, but when the pilot failed, it was reworked to star Dick Van Dyke, who was at that moment enjoying great success on Broadway in "Bye Bye Birdie." Van Dyke was an nimble actor who easily combined slapstick tumbles with a charm and abilty to play a situation straight, and still get laughs. Others in the cast included Morey Amsterdam and Rose Marie, both show biz veterans, as the other writers of The Alan Brady Show. Richard Deacon was the put-upon producer of the show within the show...and until this viewing of the entire series, I never realized how very much he added to the series as Mel Cooley. Carl Reiner even got himself into the series...first as an occasional eccentric character, but then appearing in the last two seasons full onscreen as egotistical, tyrannical Alan Brady. There were a few other regulars, but the most surprising find was a very young woman named Mary Tyler Moore. There is no need for me to go into a resume of her later work, but I feel it is important to emphasize that before this program she was a relative unknown. And what she brought to The Dick Van Dyke Show was the perfect wife for Rob Petrie and the perfect acting partner for Dick Van Dyke. She could dance, sing, and her comic timing was even greater than anyone expected. She was youthful, very pretty, and while we see that Rob and Laura loved each other enormously, you also felt there was a lot of hot foolin-around going on behind that bedroom door. The Blu-ray set has all 158 half-hour episodes from the five seasons. And you will likely never laugh as much or as hard. Every episode had something, but in each season there were comic masterpieces that are still held in high esteem today: "Coast to Coast Big Mouth," "It May Look Like A Walnut!", "Where Did I Come From?", and "Oh, How We Met the Night We Danced" are just a few of them. And it comes to a nice conclusion with a tale that neatly wraps up the series, "The Last Chapter." The picture quality is fabulous. I watch every episode of the five seasons and I am eager to tell you that NEVER have these shows looked this wonderful! (There are some early episodes in the first season that have Dick wearing jackets that cause some jagged moments, but that is very minor.) The DTS-HD Master Audio is in the original mono but it is excellent. The extras that were on DVD are carried over, and there are quite a few of them (mostly in the form of commentaries). There are also Blu exclusives on each of the 15 Blu-ray discs, but these are mostly clips from old TV programs or awards shows, and so they show varying quality, never anything like today's HD. The Blu-ray set of The Dick Van Dyke Show contains over 60 hours of the best comedy you will ever see. It comes VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

Special guest star today: Hollywood!

Twilight Time has announced an updated release schedule covering the next several months. The new schedule includes these Blu-rays: The Fury (1978) Blu-ray - March 12th Christine (1983) Blu-ray - March 12th The Song of Bernadette (1943) Blu-ray - March 26th Release brought forward to be ready at Easter time. Major Dundee (1965) Blu-ray (2-disc set) - April 9th At Long Last Love (1975) Blu-ray - April 9th (NOTE: Not on the TT label, but exclusively handled by TT for Twentieth Century Fox). TT will be handling all production for this Fox title on behalf of the studio, but it will not be a limited edition. Philadelphia (1993) Blu-ray - May 14th Leave Her to Heaven (1945) Blu-ray - May 14th Hard Times (1975) Blu-ray - June 11th The Driver (1978) Blu-ray - June 11th The Only Game In Town (1970) Blu-ray - June 11th

I am watching The Story of Louis Pasteur, and I just had an odd thought whil looking at the shadowy cinematography... What if it had been Warner Bros. that had produced Frankenstein, Dracula and the rest...and not Universal? Who would they have cast? With Muni's love of makeup, he might have tried for the Frankenstein monster. George Arliss as Dr. Frankenstein? Peter Lorre as Fritz? Edward G. Robinson as Quasimodo? Or, LOL, George Raft as Dracula? Cagney could have fun as the Invisible Man.

Yes, Russ Jones did everything, write, draw, publish. I forgot about Castle of Frankenstein. I used to look eagerly to that magazine. Very talented man.

Panic in the Streets is coming out on Blu-ray on March 26th.

And here's something funny...until I remembered the magazine article below, I forgot that I also did a lengthy article in 1981 on swashbuckling films, and it turned out to be my first professional writing sale. I might even reprint it here but I will need to see how my writing was 32 years ago, LOL!

You just reminded me of an article that appeared in a 1972 nostalgia magazine:

This is my favorite part of the Oscar month, the first four days devoted to WB, my favorite studio. I am delighting Aline MacMahon in Gold Diggers of 1933! She is so wonderful. And seeing Ruby Keeler again in 42nd Street, I am still stunned by how much audiences seemed to love her...couldn't act, couldn't dance, couldn't sing. And a bunch of Paul Muni's films throughout the day. And Flynn. And Bogart.

From August 1947: From November 1947: From December 1947:

Charles S. Cohen, Chairman and CEO of the Cohen Media Group, today announced the arrival of the Cohen Film Collection, a world-renowned collection of rare cinematic gems, which will be meticulously restored and enhanced for generations to come. The Cohen Film Collection (formerly The Rohauer Library), will include more than 700 films – from enduring Hollywood classics to foreign masterpieces and seminal avant-garde works – which will undergo complete digital restoration so that the best possible versions of these historic films are available across all platforms of delivery. Many of these films will be theatrically re-released, while others will join the Collection on Blu-ray and DVD. The first release from The Collection, Tristana, is currently in theaters and will be debuting on Blu-ray and DVD this March. Coming to Blu-ray and DVD on February 19, 2013, will be The Thief of Bagdad, Douglas Fairbanks' 1924 fantasy epic that marked a new peak for action cinema during the silent era. The Thief of Bagdad has been digitally restored in 2k from two 35mm negatives incorporating color tints and tones of the original release prints. Featuring state-of-the-art sound, the Carl Davis orchestral score and accompanied by audio commentary and numerous extras, The Thief of Bagdad Blu-ray and DVD indicates the care Cohen will be taking with all releases from this collection. Many titles in the collection are rare; the collection has the only known materials for some films. Exclusive licenses and contracts
bring to the Collection original nitrate elements camera negatives, prints and other materials unavailable elsewhere, to assure the best High Definitions transfers possible. Highlights of The Cohen Film Collection include: * The General (1926). The Collection has the original nitrate camera negative of Buster Keaton's Civil War comic masterpiece and is creating, in partnership with The Library of Congress, a 4K scan from a safety fine-grain positive master newly struck for the restoration. The Collection also includes Keaton's Sherlock Jr., Our Hospitality, The Navigator, Go West and dozens of his remarkable short films. * Intolerance (1916). D.W. Griffith's awe-inspiring epic is receiving a 2K restoration that will include an orchestral score by world renowned composer Carl Davis. Other Griffith masterworks in the Collection include The Birth of a Nation (both the 1915 original and the 1930 cut), Broken Blossoms, Way Down East, Orphans of the Storm and many of the groundbreaking shorts directed by the "Father of Film." * Sudden Fear (1952). David Miller's film noir, starring Joan Crawford and Jack Palance, is receiving a 2K restoration. * L'Etoile de Mer (1928). This and other experimental shorts by the avant- garde photographer Man Ray will be released. * Hangmen Also Die (1943). The Collection is working with Britain's Pinewood Studios on a 2K restoration of this Fritz Lang film that will reinstate a short sequence not in the version currently available here. * Song of Freedom (1936). One of six films in the Collection starring the singer- actor-activist Paul Robeson. * Son of the Sheik (1926). Rudolph Valentino's last film is being restored from nitrate material held at the Library of Congress. Valentino's Blood and Sand and The Eagle are also in the Collection. * Jamaica Inn (1939). The Collection will restore this period adventure, the last film Alfred Hitchcock made in England before moving to Hollywood and his first adaptation of a tale by Daphne du Maurier (Rebecca, The Birds). * Fire Over England (1937). This historical drama marked the first screen pairing of Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier and is being restored to honor, in 2013, the 100th anniversary of Leigh's birth. It's one of four Leigh films in the Collection. * The Strong Man (1926). Frank Capra's first feature film stars Harry Langdon, generally regarded as one of the quartet of great silent-screen comics along with Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd (all of whom are also represented in the Collection). One of 14 Langdon films in the Collection. * Douglas Fairbanks films. In addition to The Thief of Bagdad, the Collection includes such early Fairbanks titles as The Lamb and Double Trouble, both from 1915, as well as his later adventure classics The Mark of Zorro, The Three Musketeers, Robin Hood and The Black Pirate. Among the dozens of other Fairbanks titles in the Collection is The Taming of the Shrew, a screen pairing of Fairbanks and his wife, "America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford.

Charles S. Cohen, Chairman and CEO of the Cohen Media Group, today announced the arrival of the Cohen Film Collection, a world-renowned collection of rare cinematic gems, which will be meticulously restored and enhanced for generations to come. The Cohen Film Collection (formerly The Rohauer Library), will include more than 700 films – from enduring Hollywood classics to foreign masterpieces and seminal avant-garde works – which will undergo complete digital restoration so that the best possible versions of these historic films are available across all platforms of delivery. Many of these films will be theatrically re-released, while others will join the Collection on Blu-ray and DVD. The first release from The Collection, Tristana, is currently in theaters and will be debuting on Blu-ray and DVD this March. Coming to Blu-ray and DVD on February 19, 2013, will be The Thief of Bagdad, Douglas Fairbanks' 1924 fantasy epic that marked a new peak for action cinema during the silent era. The Thief of Bagdad has been digitally restored in 2k from two 35mm negatives incorporating color tints and tones of the original release prints. Featuring state-of-the-art sound, the Carl Davis orchestral score and accompanied by audio commentary and numerous extras, The Thief of Bagdad Blu-ray and DVD indicates the care Cohen will be taking with all releases from this collection. Many titles in the collection are rare; the collection has the only known materials for some films. Exclusive licenses and contracts
bring to the Collection original nitrate elements camera negatives, prints and other materials unavailable elsewhere, to assure the best High Definitions transfers possible. Highlights of The Cohen Film Collection include: * The General (1926). The Collection has the original nitrate camera negative of Buster Keaton's Civil War comic masterpiece and is creating, in partnership with The Library of Congress, a 4K scan from a safety fine-grain positive master newly struck for the restoration. The Collection also includes Keaton's Sherlock Jr., Our Hospitality, The Navigator, Go West and dozens of his remarkable short films. * Intolerance (1916). D.W. Griffith's awe-inspiring epic is receiving a 2K restoration that will include an orchestral score by world renowned composer Carl Davis. Other Griffith masterworks in the Collection include The Birth of a Nation (both the 1915 original and the 1930 cut), Broken Blossoms, Way Down East, Orphans of the Storm and many of the groundbreaking shorts directed by the "Father of Film." * Sudden Fear (1952). David Miller's film noir, starring Joan Crawford and Jack Palance, is receiving a 2K restoration. * L'Etoile de Mer (1928). This and other experimental shorts by the avant- garde photographer Man Ray will be released. * Hangmen Also Die (1943). The Collection is working with Britain's Pinewood Studios on a 2K restoration of this Fritz Lang film that will reinstate a short sequence not in the version currently available here. * Song of Freedom (1936). One of six films in the Collection starring the singer- actor-activist Paul Robeson. * Son of the Sheik (1926). Rudolph Valentino's last film is being restored from nitrate material held at the Library of Congress. Valentino's Blood and Sand and The Eagle are also in the Collection. * Jamaica Inn (1939). The Collection will restore this period adventure, the last film Alfred Hitchcock made in England before moving to Hollywood and his first adaptation of a tale by Daphne du Maurier (Rebecca, The Birds). * Fire Over England (1937). This historical drama marked the first screen pairing of Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier and is being restored to honor, in 2013, the 100th anniversary of Leigh's birth. It's one of four Leigh films in the Collection. * The Strong Man (1926). Frank Capra's first feature film stars Harry Langdon, generally regarded as one of the quartet of great silent-screen comics along with Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd (all of whom are also represented in the Collection). One of 14 Langdon films in the Collection. * Douglas Fairbanks films. In addition to The Thief of Bagdad, the Collection includes such early Fairbanks titles as The Lamb and Double Trouble, both from 1915, as well as his later adventure classics The Mark of Zorro, The Three Musketeers, Robin Hood and The Black Pirate. Among the dozens of other Fairbanks titles in the Collection is The Taming of the Shrew, a screen pairing of Fairbanks and his wife, "America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford.