filmlover

I think I have mentioned elsewhere that Sony is supposed to be taking $100 off their Blu-ray players, including the new S350 and the upcoming S550, around September 28th. An interesting piece at blu-ray.com today sheds more light on that (and that it may be temporary, so get them while you can). Sources: Sub-$200 Blu-ray Players Coming this Winter Sources have indicated to Blu-ray.com that at least one company will offer a limited number of Blu-ray Disc players for under $200 this holiday season. These players would likely be offered during special "door buster" sales, like those commonly seen on the Friday after Thanksgiving - a day which retailers commonly refer to as "Black Friday". These players will likely be entry-level BonusView (Profile v1.1) players that companies hope to empty from their inventory as BD-Live (Profile v2.0) players begin to saturate the market. Additionally, recent industry whispers that Sony would be lowering the MSRP of their BDP-S350 and upcoming BDP-S550 also appear to be true, but may only be temporary. Official word has yet to be given from the consumer electronics company, but we have been informed that if these players do receive price reductions, the prices may not last long. Blu-ray Disc companies are determined to make Blu-ray the hot item this holiday season. No longer competing with the HD DVD format, consumer electronics manufacturers and movie studios hope to lure consumers to the high definition format this Winter with inexpensive players and a wide variety of titles. Note: As mentioned above, this information comes from trusted sources within the industry who are not speaking officially for their respective companies. It should not be considered official until an official press release confirms the information. http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1740

Lions Gate has a 2-disc DVD set coming out Nov. 11th on *Roberto Rossellini* No word of contents yet. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000V6EYU/ref=nosim?tag=dvdbeaver-20&link_code=as3&creativeASIN=B0000V6EYU&creative=373489&camp=211189

Frank Grimes and Web, Thanks for mentioning the sales. Sigh, there goes another $100.

This popped up in my email from Amazon, too, and I ordered it. It's a great deal.

ILRM, yes, movieman and Kyle have it right. If an article is in the TCM database (meaning: when you do a search for the film and "article" is in bold, you can click on that and see TCM's article. That would mean it has been on TCM and, therefore, not a premiere, even if it comes from a studio not in the list I posted. However, if there is not an article, and it falls outside the paremeters of the studios and the years mentioned in the original post, then it counts as one of your premieres.

LOL, eleven premieres are not enough? Oh, okay, people can have any film they want for the Silent Sunday Night, TCM Imports, and TCM Underground. It can be something new to TCM without counting as one of the 11 premieres. Just remember at Christmas, don't say I never gave you anything. I will amend the original post.

Thanks, mateo, we got the info posted about The Last Laugh and the General back on August 14th and 16th, respectively, though there is some new info in the link you provided to the Last Laugh.

It is about duplicate posts, but, more, it is about someone (CK) who ignores checking about anything and just posts what he wants, though he has been asked many times over several months to stop.

Since that article was dated June 9th, it is likely lzcutter is correct. Too bad, it would be good to see WB with their library, too.

Thanks, Kyle, for responding. You're right, I think I have only seen Unfaithfully Yours on the Fox Movie Channel

Hey, today's a holiday, Kyle. As good as time as any to begin.

Well, we are back with the TCM Programming Challenge and it starts TODAY, September 1st and will run until midnight (PT) September 30, 2008. This is Challenge #11 and it?s about time. Well, at least one night will be (you will see what I mean). *The basics:* this is a fun-only contest for members of the TCM Forum. If you have a desire to program an imaginary week of movies for TCM, here is the place to do so. The first Challenge was created a few years ago by fellow board member, path40a, and each Challenge from then on was hosted by the person who won the previous Challenge. It is my honor to host this current one because I won the last Challenge. This is not sponsored in any way by TCM. As I said, it is for fun only. However, the TCM Programmer has looked in on these scheules in the past and has used some of the suggestions for the real TCM programming. One thing you will definitely get out of doing a week's schedule yourself is a much greater appreciation of what the TCM Programmer does fifty-two weeks a year. *Gifts:* Normally, there aren?t gifts handed out at the end of the Challenge, but I want to spice things up and am going to provide some myself this time around. These will be in the form of DVDs ( _one of the top prizes will be the special 3-DVD box set of The Jazz Singer_ ) and other movie-related material. I will award gifts to the top five vote-receiving schedules. (Note: the voting will be done after the contest closes and will be done in a separate thread, so wait for that time to vote.) *PROGRAMMING REQUIREMENTS* (NOTE: You must incorporate these into your schedule as they are part of what goes into a normal TCM week): 1. Select any week in the forthcoming 12 months. Your week must start on Sunday and end on Saturday. 2. Each programming day _must_ begin at 6 AM (ET). 3. Each evening?s programming (the Osborne hours) must begin at _8 PM_. 4. One night must be devoted to a Star of the Month ? pick four movies of a star you want to salute (since a Star of the Month has one night per week for a full month, it must be someone whose output would cover that). 5. One night of your week must have four films devoted to a favorite subject of mine that will be the _Theme of the Month:_ _Time Travel in the Movies_ (more later about this theme). 6. You will pick your own themes for the remaining five nights, plus pick themes for groups of films during the day. Two examples from past schedules: ?Some Fun and Ad-Venture At Last" (movies about advertising) and and ?Brrrr: The Cold War?. There are as many themes as your mind can come up with. Popular themes you can consider: a star whose birthday falls on one of your days or a special anniversary of something. 7. On Sunday night at Midnight (crossing over into Monday), schedule one silent movie you would like to see on _Silent Sunday Nights_. 8. On Sunday night (crossing over into Monday), at approximately 2 AM, schedule one foreign film you would like to see on _TCM Imports_ 9. On Friday night (crossing into Saturday) at 2 AM, schedule one cult film you would like to see on _TCM Underground_ 10. On Saturday night at 8 PM, have one film you would run as part of _The Essentials_. 11. You will be allowed to use up to 11 premieres (see further below). You can have any films you want for the Silent Sunday Night, TCM Imports, and TCM Underground. It can be something new to TCM without counting as one of the 11 premieres. The above may sound complicated but it really isn?t. There are links towards the bottom of this post to previous Challenge Schedules so you can see how they were handled. *SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT THE ONE NIGHT?S THEME ABOUT TIME TRAVEL*: You will pick four movies for this night. At first, one might think there are very few films about time travel (The Time Machine, Time After Time, to name two), but I discovered there are a LOT more for you to choose from. Here is a link that might help (make sure you list movies for your schedule, not TV shows): http://www.imdb.com/keyword/time-travel/?sort=date Also, people like to read why you made certain programming choices, so include a tiny bit about why you did pick your films at the end of your schedule or in a separate post. _IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT SCHEDULING TIMES:_ An entry in your schedule looks like this: 2:00 PM Love Finds Andy Hardy (MGM, 1938) Mickey Rooney 92 min. Make sure your running times fit properly within your schedule. In the case above, because Love Finds Andy Hardy is 92 minutes long and begins at 2:00 PM, the next film couldn?t start until at least 3:45 PM. If you want, but it is not necessary, you can list cartoons or shorts to fill in the extra time. _The film libraries (with hyperlinks) for use in this Challenge are_ - _Warner Bros:_ http://www.imdb.com/company/co0026840/ _MGM (pre-1986):_ http://www.imdb.com/company/co0020206/ _RKO (all):_ http://www.imdb.com/company/co0041421/ _Columbia Pictures (all)_ http://www.imdb.com/company/co0071509/ _United Artists (after 1950):_ http://www.imdb.com/company/co0026841/ _Samuel Goldwyn (all):_ http://www.imdb.com/company/co0016710/ _Walt Disney (Live Action only):_ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Disney_live_action_films And, as always, you are free to program any film that has already been presented on TCM regardless of library affiliation and should be designated with a "p/s" symbol (designating "previously scheduled"). And you can find running times for your film selections by using IMDB.com or TCMDB.com to research your titles. *SPECIAL NOTE: As this is the lucky #11 Challenge, I am going to make an exception to the rule and allow you to have _ELEVEN premieres_. These will be films that you can pull from any studio not listed above or before/after the dates for the studios that are listed above.* The deadline for Schedule entries is midnight (Pacific time) on September 30, 2008. Here are links to previous schedules: Challenge #10 ( http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/thread.jspa?threadID=127551&start=30&tstart=495&messageID=8088572#8088572 ) Challenge #9 (http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/message.jspa?messageID=8046284#8046284) Challenge #8 (http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/message.jspa?messageID=8013984#8013984) Challenge #7 (http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/message.jspa?messageID=7973260#7973260) Challenge #6 (http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/message.jspa?messageID=7934043#7934043) Challenge #5 (http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/message.jspa?messageID=7877675#7877675) Challenge #4 (http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/message.jspa?messageID=7847611#7847611) Challenge #3 (http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/message.jspa?messageID=7827881#7827881) Challenge #2 (http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/message.jspa?messageID=7794350#7794350) or the original from the immortal Path40a Challenge #1 (http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/message.jspa?messageID=7781430#7781430) Enjoy! Message was edited by: filmlover

Actually, the sale is only on about half a dozen Blus at $14.99 and about the same at $19.99. But I see you have bought a Blu disc. Congrats. Like I did when I started out, I am assuming you bought a Blu disc before having a player yet. Now, it will be eating away at you to get one. However, I do feel the need to point out that Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange is not a great video transfer. If you check out the review on highdefdigest, you will see it got 2.5 out of 5 stars (I have ACW and I have to agree): If you want something of Kubrick and see 2001 on sale, get it. PQ is incredible. http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/259/clockworkorange.html highdefdigest.com is always good to check before you buy. Here's an alphabetical list of their reviews: http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/reviews_alpha.html However, if you are looking for a really good title on sale right now, head over to Frys. They have a group of Fox titles at about $15.99 (a terrific price for Fox films) and while not al are worthwhile, I can recommend The Sand Pebbles and Mrs. Doubtfire for being exceptional picture quality (yes, and excellent sound). http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/1342/sandpebbles.html http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/1340/mrsdoubtfire.html I'll put together a list pretty soon of ones I recommend and paste it in the Blu-ray discussion thread.

from classicflix.com: (Cover art and pricing is here: http://www.classicflix.com/studio-anthology-novemeber-special-price-a-339.html?osCsid=ef7135bed63ccd38bfd902283803904b ) Koch has announced a November 11th release date for *Studio One: Anthology.* 17episodes from the Anthology series which began its run in 1948 will be in this 6 disc set. Stars include: Charlton Heston, Art Carney, Jack Lemmon, Leslie Nielsen, Norman Fell, Sal Mineo, Elizabeth Montgomery, Vaughn Taylor, Lorne Greene and Lee Remick. This collection features 17 restored and re-mastered dramas along with a wealth of extensively researched bonus materials. Episodes include: Twelve Angry Men Wuthering Heights 1984 The Arena June Moon Dino Julius Caesar Pontius Pilate The Storm Confessions of a Nervous Man The Remarkable Incident at Carson Corners Dark Possession The Death and Life of Larry Benson The Strike The Medium An Almanac on Liberty Summer Pavilion BONUS FEATURES: Footage from the Archive of American Television Utilizing Interview Excerpts about Studio One Excerpts from The Paley Center's Studio One Seminar Interview with Director Paul Nickell PLUS: Collectible - 52-page Booklet with Detailed Information about Each Anthology Episode

The Challenge will begin on Monday in a separate thread. See you then and there.

*****, Celluloid Kid, you're doing it again!!! Why don't you EVER pay attention before you go posting info? For months we have told you to STOP posting any info before checking to see if it has been posted, but you DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN! _WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?_* *The Disney information was posted August 26th!* *You know, I bet if we were to look at your tons of posts here, we would only find one, maybe two times you have posted something that hasn't been posted already.* *Tell us this one piece of information we don't know: Why do you post here at all????*

I watched it last night and it looks amazing.

Sorry, Lynn, my "Well of Information" is now dry.

Hi, ILRM, and thanks, Kyle, for an accurate answer. The contest is definitely open to you, even if you don't currently receive TCM. A love for movies and a knowledge of the schedule layout are the two most important things. (There will be links to past ones in the actual Challenge when the time comes, plus special requirements for the new schedule...each host gets a chance to add a special theme or two that must be incorporated into the schedule.) Again, I want to restate that this effort isn't sponsored in any shape or form by TCM. Heck, I wouldn't even really call it a contest because it is out of sheer love that we do this, and to get a chance to see that creating a week of films isn't as easy as one wold think. It will give you a much greater appreciation of what the TCM programmer has to do every week, 52 weeks a year. The great privilige of being able to host the next Challenge will go to the person who gets the most votres from other members of the board. I am lucky in that I have won two times. Oh, speaking of winning, I would like to mention that supplying DVDs and the like for the top vote receivers is definitely NOT the norm for these Programming Challenges. It's just something I want to do to add a little something for people's efforts this time around. Anyway, I will see you all in two weeks with full details of the newest Programming Challenge. Everyone rest until then. I know I will be doing just that. filmlover

*Boomerang* (1947) Well, I finally plucked down almost $20 for this, the first printing of this title, because it looks like it will go unreleased yet again here in the United States. The film is more of what the commentatators called a "docu-noir," being part film noir and a docudrama. The story is based on the real-life killing of a minister by an unknown assailant and the subsequent bringing to trial of a suspect who may be innocent. Dana Andrews is the fighting D.A. who battles political presure while doubting the accused's involvement in the crime. It's a decent enough film, made near the original city where the real crime took place. Performances are solid by Andrews, Ed Begley, and a number of director Elia Kazan's troupe (Lee J,. Cobb, Arthur Kennedy, Karl Malden). And while you feel at the time that it is a generally good piece, it feels as if it has been elevated to classic film noir status because of the times in which it was made and Kazan's importance as a director, and I would guess a bit by the lack of the DVD being available here, and after a few days I felt it wasn't that gripping a motion picture and kind of vague on most fronts. Certainly, there is no real resolution of the crime (the film focuses more on the importance of justice). It is an excellent print, sound is good. The commentary by film historians Alain Silver and James Ursini is very good and quite informative. Extras leave a lot to be desired (the poster and unit photography galleries are very brief) and there is one of the unusual trailers that Fox puts on these things that comes without narration, looking like it was unfinished. All in all, still a good film to have, but not a release to wait on with great anticipation.

Edgecliff, What's the name of the set? Thanks

Welcome aboard, vdobon.

I hope you are all having a fun summer, but as the days dwindle down it it time to get your thinking caps back on because it is almost time for...that's right...it's back to the TCM Programming Challenge (#11, this time). I have the honor of being the the host this time (by way of having won the last Challenge), and I am going to try to make it a really fun Challenge for you by providing some prizes (DVDs and the like) to the top five vote getters at the end of the contest. (Special note: This contest, as with the ten previous Programming Challenges, is a fun-only contest on the message board and is not sponsored by TCM. However, the TCM Programmer has looked in on the contests in the past and used some of our ideas in his programming.) So, for now, enjoy the rest of the summer and wait for the actual Programming thread to appear here in General Discussions to see the requirements and special themes that must be included in your schedule. See you then.

Kino International has a new release coming out: *The General: (The Ultimate 2-Disc Edition),* priced at $29.95 : NEWLY MASTERED IN HD FROM A 35MM ARCHIVE PRINT STRUCK FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE SPECIAL FEATURES: - Three musical scores to choose from: (1) Music composed and conducted by Carl Davis, performed by The Thames Silents Orchestra (in 5.1 Stereo Surround or 2.0 Stereo) (2) Music arranged and directed by Robert Israel (3) Theatre organ score by Lee Erwin - A video tour of the authentic General, presented in association with The Southern Museum - A tour of the filming locations, presented by John Bengtson, author of Silent Echoes - Behind-the-scenes home movie footage - Filmed introduction by Gloria Swanson - Filmed introduction by Orson Welles - The Buster Express, a brisk montage of train gags from throughout Keaton's career

Film Fatale, those last two titles are in the following brand new announcement, with details of Criterion's first five _Blu-ray_ releases in _November_. All will have street prices of $39.95 (so, of course will be cheaper on Amazon and the like...also, Criterion have all available for pre-order at $31.96). I checked and the Blu-ray release of The Last Emperor will have the features that are in the 4-disc standard DVD set, EXCEPT the added extended TV version. from blu-ray.com: The Criterion Collection has posted details for their first five Blu-ray Disc titles. *The Third Man* and *The Man Who Fell to Earth* are set for release on November 18th, while three more titles - *Bottle Rocket*, *Chungking Express*, and the critically acclaimed *The Last Emperor* - arrive one week later on the 25th. The films will be presented in their original (or director approved) aspect ratios in new high definition digital transfers, featuring lossless and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mixes. Each title will also contain a wealth of extra features. 'The Third Man' (1949) will featured a restored high definition transfer in 1.37:1, and an uncompressed mono soundtrack. Extra features include: Video introduction by writer-director Peter Bogdanovich Two audio commentaries: one by filmmaker Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Tony Gilroy, and one by by film scholar Dana Polan Shadowing "The Third Man" (2005), a ninety-minute feature documentary on the making of the film Abridged recording of Graham Greene's treatment, read by actor Richard Clarke "Graham Greene: The Hunted Man," an hour-long, 1968 episode of the BBC's Omnibus series, featuring a rare interview with the novelist "Who Was the Third Man? (2000)," a thirty-minute Austrian documentary featuring interviews with cast and crew The Third Man on the radio: the 1951 "A Ticket to Tangiers" episode of The Lives of Harry Lime series, written and performed by Orson Welles, and the 1951 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of The Third Man Illustrated production history with rare behind-the-scenes photos, original UK press book, and U.S. trailer Actor Joseph Cotten's alternate opening voice-over narration for the U.S. version Archival footage of postwar Vienna A look at the untranslated foreign dialogue in the film A booklet featuring an essay by Luc Sante 'The Man Who Fell to Earth' (1976) will feature a high definition digital transfer approved by director Nicolas Roeg, and an uncompressed stereo soundtrack. Extra features include: Audio commentary by Roeg and actors David Bowie and Buck Henry New video interview with screenwriter Paul Mayersberg Performance, video interviews with actors Candy Clark and Rip Torn Audio interviews with costume designer May Routh and production designer Brian Eatwell Audio interview from 1984 with author Walter Tevis, conducted by Don Swaim Multiple stills galleries, including Routh's costume sketches; behind-the-scenes photos; and production and publicity stills, introduced by set photographer David James Gallery of posters from Roeg's films Trailers Booklet featuring an essay by critic Graham Fuller 'The Last Emperor' (1987) features a high definition digital transfer approved by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, and a stereo track in DTS-HD Master Audio. Extras include: Audio commentary by director Bernardo Bertolucci, producer Jeremy Thomas, screenwriter Mark Peploe, and composer-actor Ryuichi Sakamoto The Italian Traveler: Bernardo Bertolucci, a 53-minute film by Fernand Mozskowicz, tracing the director's geographic influences, from Parma to China Video images taken by Bertolucci in China The Chinese Adventure of Bernardo Bertolucci, a 52-minute documentary that revisits the film's creation A 47-minute documentary featuring Storaro, editor Gabriella Cristiana, costume designer James Acheson, and art director Gianni Silvestri A 66-minute documentary exploring Bertolucci's creative process and the making of The Last Emperor A 30-minute interview with Bertolucci from 1989 A new interview with composer David Byrne A new interview with Ian Buruma examining the historical period of the film Theatrical trailer Booklet featuring an essay by critic David Thomson 'Chungking Express' (1994) features a restored high-definition digital transfer, as well as a remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack supervised by director Wong Kar-wai. Extras include: Audio commentary by noted Asian cinema critic Tony Rayns U.S. theatrical trailer New and improved English subtitle translation Booklet featuring a new essay by critic Amy Taubin and excerpts from a 1996 Sight and Sound interview with Wong by Rayns 'Bottle Rocket' (1996) features a new, restored transfer supervised by direct Wes Anderson and a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Extras include: Commentary by director/co-writer Anderson and co-writer/actor Owen Wilson The Making of "Bottle Rocket": an original documentary by filmmaker Barry Braverman featuring Anderson, James L. Brooks, James Caan, Temple Nash Jr., Kumar Pallana, Polly Platt, Mark Mothersbaugh, Robert Musgrave, Richard Sakai, David and Sandy Wasco, Andrew and Luke and Owen Wilson, and Robert Yeoman The original thirteen-minute black-and-white Bottle Rocket short film from 1992 Eleven deleted scenes Anamorphic screen test, storyboards, location photos, and behind-the-scenes photographs by Laura Wilson Murita Cycles, a 1978 short film by Braverman The Shafrazi Lectures, no. 1: Bottle Rocket Booklet featuring an essay by executive producer James L. Brooks, an appreciation by Martin Scorsese, and original artwork by Ian Dingman http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1670