filmlover

I was just looking at deepdiscount and they have the same Warner Bros. box set sale on (or at least some of them) and while their price is about a dollar more for something like the John Ford Film Collection ($26.80 at dd; $25.49 at Amazon), the sale on the Warner's titles goes until the 15th. And the dd 20% off sale starts on the 6th, so you can get the Ford set (and others) at 20% off the sale price, so that brings the Ford set down to approximately $21.44. Just for waiting a few more days.

from latimes.com *Turner Classic Movies series honors Sophia Loren* 'They did a wonderful job (choosing films),' says the Oscar-winning actress. The channel will show 23 of her best. By Susan King, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer June 4, 2008 The thing about Clark Gable, said Sophia Loren from her home in Geneva, Switzerland, was his watch. The sex symbol whose film career has spanned nearly six decades worked with the Hollywood icon in the lighthearted 1960 comedy "It Started in Naples." "He was always looking at the watch when it came to 4 or 4:30 in the afternoon," she said by phone. "Even if we were in the middle of a scene at 5, I could hear the alarm going off and he would leave the set." "We were flabbergasted. What?" she added. "But he had it in his contract." "It Started in Naples" is just one of the 23 Loren movies screening Wednesdays this month on Turner Classic Movies. "Naples" screens this evening along with 1954's "Too Bad She's Bad," the classic 1963 comedy "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" and the 1961 comedy "The Millionairess." Other Loren films featured are her Oscar-winning turn in 1961's "Two Women," the 1958 melodrama "The Key," the 1964 epic "The Fall of the Roman Empire" and 1957's melodrama "Boy on a Dolphin." "They did a wonderful job [choosing films]," says the actress, who will be 74 in September. "They are showing films that I did when I was 18 and the impact in America with 'The Pride and the Passion' and the Oscar and so on and on." In fact, she's still working and is set to star as ****'s ( Daniel Day-Lewis) mother in Rob Marshall's production of the musical "Nine," which is based on Federico Fellini's Oscar-winning classic "8 1/2 ." "I just want to work in things that really give me emotions," she said. "I think for me as an Italian to be in a musical is the dream of my life. Now I am going to be part of this, which I think is absolutely marvelous. I can't wait to start." Despite her long career and her Italian background, Loren surprisingly never worked with Fellini. "Sometimes in movies, it's very difficult to find a story that is good for the director and the actress," Loren said. "I always admired his style, his intelligence. He was also very funny, a great man." The Italian director with whom Loren is most closely associated is Vittorio De Sica, who guided her to an Oscar in "Two Women." "He was my father in the profession," said Loren. "He really taught me everything because I started with him in [1954's] 'The Gold of Naples' and I worked with him, I think, 20 years. Marcello [Mastroianni] and I did about 14 films with him." In De Sica, she found the right person at the right time, she said. "We came from the same city, Naples. We understood each other with a look and a gesture. I was like a member of the family. He could make me do anything he wanted. He knew my character. It was just like we were one person." Ironically, Loren wasn't supposed to play the mother in "Two Women," a harrowing drama about a widowed shopkeeper and her religious teenage daughter who flee Rome after an Allied bombing raid. De Sica and Loren's husband, producer Carlo Ponti, wanted Loren to play the daughter and the Oscar-winning powerhouse Anna Magnani to play the mother. But Magnani refused. "She said, 'We have two strong characters, and we are going to eat each other up on the screen,' " Loren said. " 'If Sophia is in the film, I am not going to be the mother.' De Sica was very upset. But she left De Sica with this phrase: 'Why don't you let Sophia play the mother?' " The director liked Magnani's suggestion. "He wrote me a telegram," she recalled. "I was in Paris. He said, 'You are going to play the mother and your daughter is going to be 14 years old. I thought I was going to die. I was 25 years old." The film's most haunting sequence -- the aftermath of the two women's rape by soldiers -- was shot in just one take. "De Sica said 'Take. Print.' I said, 'No. Let's do it again.' He said, 'No. If something goes wrong with the negative we will do it again. But it's beautiful.' " Loren, now a grandmother, has a full life with her grandchildren and her sons Carlo and Edoardo. "I always feel like I am a kid. I want to discover things. I am very curious." But Loren confesses she's still in deep mourning over the death of her husband early last year. "I met him when I was 15 years old. Can you imagine? A lifetime. When I was with him, I had always in front of me not a person but the entire world." http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-loren4-2008jun04,0,1975499.story

You're welcome, Frank. Here are some other good items from the other Amazon sales on right now: The Original Nancy Drew Movie Mystery Collection $12.49 (down from $24.98) Superman - the 1948 & 1950 Theatrical Serials Collection $16.99 (down from $39.98)

Amazon has just started a good sale on a lot of DVDs, including LOTS of classic box sets at great prices. Examples: Rooney & Garland Collection $27.49 (was $59.92) Tennessee Williams Collection $27.49 (was $68.98) John Ford Film Collection $25.49 (was $59.98) Some sets are 60% off. http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_6990742_7?ie=UTF8&docId=306150&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-8&pf_rd_r=0VC3Q92B7YYPRS403W5A&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=404598801&pf_rd_i=1061354

Tinted lobby cards have been around since the silents. For example: I don't think that they were done to fool the public into thinking the movie was in color, since back then the films (with exceptions) had no color sequences other than a one-color tinting of a scene (e.g, nighttime). Even during the Thirtires, Forties, and onwards, lobby cards had color, but it was easy to tell when a fillm was to be in color because the poster and lobby cards would boldly proclaim something like "In Technicolor!"

Here's a link to an article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080529/ap_on_en_tv/obit_korman

I think it is an excellent schedule. And I think that any of those who have been complaining there are too many recent films in the past schedules will have to give that worn-out cry a rest. Lots of 1930s here, etc. I am not a big Kay Francis fan but having a month to her means a lot of early Warner Bros. films, and that's good by me.

Exactly right.

Quick trivia question I learned from the booklet in the box set: Who was the first Amos Burke? He played him in a 1961 episode of a different TV series.

It was an Aaron Spelling production (man, he had a good record of producing hits). It's interesting watching the credits in this initial box set to see that Harlan Ellison wrote two episodes. VCI is also going to be producing a box set of the complete "Honey West" series. I am looking forward to that one. HW was introduced in an episode in the second season of "Burke's Law." I didn't like when "Burke's Law" transitioned in the third season to "Amos Burke, Secret Agent."

film fatale, post a review of it in the Adventure ot the Fantasy threads here. I am sure people would like to know more about it. I will be doing so, too (as soon as the damned DVDplanet.com order arrives!).

Again, Celluloid, we don't need all the fluff part of the announcement here. Basically, the title, the release date, any special features, the things we need to know to make a decision about buying it. We don't need Tim Burton's film history nor a synopsis of the film.

When I was a kid (so many decades ago), I used to watch the TV murder mystery, "Burke's Law" and always enjoyed it. Over this last weekend, I saw all of the first 16 episodes of the series on the new VCI box set release and was stunned by how many film stars appeared on it (it was sort of the "Murder, She Wrote" of its day with regards to actors appearing on the show). In the first week alone, there was William Bendix, Rod Cameron, Bruce CAbot, Sir Cedric Hardwick, and Zasu Pitts. It's true that they all had bit parts, appearing as possible suspects in a murder mystery, but they were all fun to watch. I mean look at the third week with Mary Astor, Lizabeth Scott, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Chill Wills, all in one episode. Other stars who appeared in the first sixteen shows were Elizabeth Montgomery, Charlie Ruggles, Ed Begley, Terry-Thomas, Rita Moreno, Joan Blondell, Keenan Wynn, Burgess Meredith, Sammy Davis, Jr., Diana Dors, John Ireland, Carolyn Jones, Howard Duff, Ida Lupino, Laraine Day, RHonda Fleming, Anne Francis, Celeste Holm, Annette Funicello, Joan Caulfield, Gloria Swanson, Edward Everett Horton, June Allyson, Jack Haley, Agnes Moorehead, Yvonne DeCarlo, Broderick Crawford, and Hoagy Carmichael (I got a special kick out of the fact that he sings a song in the show and it was one he did in "To Have and Have Not"). Oops, and I forgot to mention that Gene Barry was the star. (One inside joke had him do a double-take at a gravemarker that read, "HE CALLED BAT MASTERSON A LIAR".) I found I enjoy the show as much as I did back then.

It looks like the deepdiscount.com 20% off their already discounted prices sale will be taking place from June 6th through June 22nd. One discount code I have read on another site is "DDAF". I have been waiting for awhile now for this to come around again.

FredCDobbs says: British-sounding Nazis parachute into England and try to capture Churchill. First, they dress up like British soldiers. Then I get really bored and change channels. When I turn the movie back on later, they are dressed in Nazi uniforms while in England. This doesn?t make any sense. So you make a thread about about a movie you didn't watch. When I was younger, I enjoyed the movie, but this time seeing it, I felt it did go on longer than it should and it wasn't well written, but at least I watched it all the way through. Now, let's look at the errors in your post: 1. They weren't dressed in British uniforms. Obviously, you didn't have the sound on before you flipped around the channels. They were dressed as Polish fighters. They had the Nazi uniforms on underneath so they would not be shot as spies. 2. Several American soldiers were killed by the Nazis in the shooting engagement. 3. The reason for the switch to Nazi uniforms was when they were trapped in the church and had been discovered as Nazis, with the American forces on the outside surrounding them, so they weren't parading around England in them. 4. You also make it sound like they were driving around London or something, as opposed to the small out of the way village on the coast. 5. Sutherland wasn't an Irish Nazi. He was an Irish patriot who was helping the Nazis in order to defeat the British. As postulated by Caine, if the circumstances had been different Sutherland would have tried kidnapping Hitler. As far as British actors like Michael Caine portraying Nazis, that has happened in many films. James Mason as Rommel. Robert Shaw, etc.

For Costco members, and who get the coupon books in the mail, from June 2nd to June 8th Costco will be selling at $119.99 each: the Ford at Fox Collection big box set ($269.99 on Amazon), the United Artists 30 Film Essential Collection ($260 on Amazon), and the James Bond Ultimate Collector's Set ($209.99 on Amazon).

A great announcement from WB in Hollywood Reporter: Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging is restoring George Cukor's 1954 "A Star Is Born" in 6K resolution. The film, starring Judy Garland and James Mason, is believed to be the first restoration project where the scanning, restoration work and mastering will be completed at that resolution. Digital film restoration is most commonly accomplished at 2K, though an increasing number have been using 4K. A 4K file contains four times as much picture information -- measured in pixels -- as a 2K file, and 6K contains 2 1/4 times as much as a 4K file. Ned Price, vp mastering, Warner Bros. Technical Operations, said that the facility's reason to go to higher resolution was because "The original camera negative contains more information than 2K, though 2K is today's typical display resolution. But we anticipate higher display resolution in the future. So we are attempting to preserve the asset, rather than just create an element for exhibition." _The key goal of the project is preservation, but the restored version of the film will also eventually be released on Blu-ray Disc and standard DVD._ "There has been photochemical work done on this particular title, but with new digital tools we are able to retrieve the original color balance of the faded negative in a way that we could not reproduce photochemically," Price said. "We made film preservation elements since the film had differential fading, meaning ... the edges of the film had more oxygen and deteriorated quicker. By scanning it, we're able to get a completely flat field of color." Numerous restoration industry leaders share the belief that the community needs to step up to a resolution higher than 2K for restoration and preservation. Still, opinions vary, as more storage and bandwidth is needed to handle these larger files, which along with cost, is a challenge. "6K is typically a costly proposition, so that's why we are testing the waters on 'A Star is Born,' " Price said. "As the size of data is more easily managed and the tools become more accessible, we will increase our resolution." Restoration of "A Star Is Born" is expected to take four to six months. Said Price: "Our expectation is that the restoration would live for easily 100 years." Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging, the studio's digital post and restoration facility, has recently restored such titles as "Bonnie and Clyde," "Dirty Harry," "Cool Hand Luke" and "How the West Was Won." http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3id08e9f14f520f15dc5cd20b88ae9ec44

Excellent news. Too bad they didn't include Wonder Bar. Four films seems kind of a short set.

marcco, only the *online* extras will need the 2.0 connection. The movie and plenty of other extras that will be on the two Blu discs will be fully playable on current Blu-ray players. Personally, I have no interest in downloading ringing tones or buying merchandise or playing a trivia game of Sleeping Beauty with people across the country. Also, it should be pointed out that by the time Sleeping Beauty gets released, there will be several Blu-ray players, besides the PS3, with 2.0 capability. Message was edited by: filmlover

Warner Bros. is bringing Paul Newman's "Cool Hand Luke" to Blu-ray high def in September. http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Warner/Disc_Announcements/Warner_Bringing_Cool_Hand_Luke_to_Blu-ray_this_September/1731

I wasn't aware that Satyricon was on the schedule, but if it has been pulled then I am very glad. I saw it at a theater and walked out because it was one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen. I am not one to say "disgusting" about much but this film had me doing so. I don't care if it is Fellini, it definitely doesn't belong on TCM.

> {quote:title=FrankGrimes wrote:}{quote} By the way, I don't know if you saw it in the Upcoming Releases information, but Kino is going to start releasing on Blu-ray high def this fall. LOL, I did, because I wrote it.

Another deepdiscount.com sale: Look for the marked "up to 61% off" of Sony/Columbia titles. Mostly new stuff but they do have From Here to Eternity, Funny Girl, and A Man for All Seasons for $5.99 each, and Gilda and Holliday for $7.75 each. Deepdiscount.com also has another Sony/Columbia sale - look for "Save up to 58% on select Sony titles": The original 3:10 to Yuma, Cat Ballou, and others for about $6.28. Plus a "Buy 1, Get 1" Anchor Bay sale: mostly junk but it does have the Peter Sellers Collection (which contains HEAVENS ABOVE!, HOFFMAN, I'M ALL RIGHT JACK, THE SMALLEST SHOW ON EARTH, CARLTON BROWNE OF THE F.O., and TWO WAY STRETCH) for $21.26 (sao that would work out to $10.63 for the whole box set when getting something else).

Heck, we have to get the new people picking up HDTVs past the black borders on the left and right for pre-widescreen releases

Well, as far as grain goes, there is good and bad. Universal does bad. When you look at some of their releases on standard, it looks like 10 million insects are flying in front of the screen image. Warners knows how to do it right so you basically seldom see any (with the exception of the That's Entertainment set which looked shocking in a number of sequences on Blu, but then the original DVD set was hardly as good as it could be). It all comes down to the master the studios are working from. You can look at a Blu release of The Searchers and it is incredible, picture perfect. Then you can look at a film from the last few years and find a lot of grain. The age doesn't really have anything to do with how much grain one will see. Some of WB's DVD releases, such as Citizen Kane, would look incredible in high def because the master they have now is so great.