Author: Peter J Patrick
-
Home Viewing with Peter #845
Kino Lorber has released a 4K UHD upgrade of 1975’s Three Days of the Condor. This still exciting thriller was one of the best of the cycle of conspiracy films that Hollywood produced between 1971’s Klute and 1981 ‘s Blow Out. That memorable cycle also includes Chinatown, The Conversation, The Parallax View, All the President’s…
-
Oscar Profile: Cliff Robertson
Born September 9, 1923 to the idle heir to a ranching fortune and his first of five wives, Clifford Parker Robinson III, known professionally as Cliff Robertson, his parents divorced when he was one and his mother died of peritonitis a year later. He was raised by his maternal grandmother. Robertson served as third mate…
-
Home Viewing with Peter #844
Universal has released a 4K UHD upgrade of 2020’s Promising Young Woman. Nominated for five Oscars and winner of one for Emerald Fennell’s screenplay, this release comes as Fennell’s second directorial film, Saltburn, and star Carey Mulligan’s latest, Maestro, are making their film festival debuts to strong reviews. Fennell, previously best known for her acting…
-
Oscar Profile: Walter Mirisch
Born November 8, 1921 in New York, New York, Walter Mirisch was the youngest of three sons born to Josephine and Max Mirisch, a tailor. He had two half-brothers from his father’s first marriage, his first wife having died young. He graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in 1939. His first job was as an…
-
Home Viewing with Peter #843
Kino Lorber has released a newly 4K-mastered Blu-ray of Louis Malle’s controversial 1978 film, Pretty Baby. Based on the real-life happenings at New Orleans’ infamous red-light district, Storyville, which existed from 1897 until it was forcibly closed by the U.S. Navy in 1917, and the famed photographs of E.J. Bellocq (1873-1949), the film stars Brooke…
-
Oscar Profile: Betty Comden
Born May 3, 1917 to a Brooklyn lawyer and his English teacher wife, Basya Cohen, known professionally as Betty Comden, attended Erasmus Hall High School and New York University, graduating in 1938. In 1938, mutual friends introduced Comden to aspiring actor Adolph Green, who would become her songwriting partner. She would marry husband Steven Kyle…
-
Home Viewing with Peter #842
Now streaming on Netflix, The Pope’s Exorcist is one of the few recent theatrical releases that I was looking forward to seeing. While I spend most of my streaming time on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Max, Peacock, and Hulu binging on TV shows I’ve missed, I look forward to seeing the occasional film as well. Unfortunately,…
-
Oscar Profile Ernest Lehman
Born December 8, 1915, Ernest Lehman’s wealthy parents lost their fortune during the Great Depression. Educated at the College of the City of New York, after graduation he worked as a freelance writer. During World War II, he was trained as a radio operator and later worked in the aviation industry. He also worked as…
-
Home Viewing with Peter #841
Two 1985 films from Oscar winning directors have been given 4K UHD plus Blu-ray releases. Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, long available only on an old bare bones Warner Bros. DVD, makes both its 4K UHD and Blu-ray debut from the Criterion Collection. This dark comedy follows a computer operator (Griffin Dunne) from New York’s upper…
-
Oscar Profile: John Garfield
Born March 4, 1913, Jacob Julius Garfinkle was the son of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine. He was raised by his father, a clothes presser and part-time cantor, after the death of his mother when he was 7. Sent to a special school for problem children where he was introduced to boxing and drama, he won…
-
Home Viewing with Peter #840
Warner Brothers may have stepped up production of its library of classic Warner, RKO, and MGM films on Blu-ray through the Warner Archive but upgrades to 4K Ultra HD of its major productions, which are handled by Warner Home Video, are still few and far between. This month there are two – 1955’s East of…
-
Oscar Profile: Russell Crowe
Born April 7, 1964 in Wellington, New Zealand, Russell Crowe’s parents both catered movie sets. His maternal grandfather was a cinematographer. The family moved to Australia when he was 4 and remained there for ten years before returning to New Zealand. He permanently relocated to Australia at 21. Crowe made his acting debut on Australian…
-
Home Viewing with Peter #839
Warner Archive’s latest batch of Blu-ray upgrades includes two early Best Picture Oscar winners, The Broadway Melody and Cimarron. Released in Los Angeles and New York in February 1929, and to the rest of the country in June of that year, MGM’s first talkie, The Broadway Melody, went on to become the biggest box-office hit…
-
Oscar Profile: Alan Arkin
Born March 26, 1934 in Brooklyn New York, Alan Arkin was the son of artist-writer-lyricist David I. Arkin and his wife Beatrice, a teacher. The family moved to Los Angeles in 1946 where the senior Arkin was employed by the Hollywood studios until he ran afoul of the “red scare” in 1950. The younger Arkin…
-
Home Viewing with Peter #838
Australia’s ViaVision Imprint label has released an all-region Blu-ray of John Ford’s 1940 film, The Long Voyage Home. Made between Ford’s Oscar-winning The Grapes of Wrath and How Green Was My Valley, The Long Voyage Home was the director’s favorite of the three. He was a director for hire by Daryl F. Zanuck on the…
