Author: Peter J Patrick
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The DVD Report #799
Universal has released a 60th anniversary 4K UHD Blu-ray edition of To Kill a Mockingbird, Robert Mulligan’s film of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actress (Mary Badham), Black-and-White Cinematography, and Score, it won three for Best Actor (Gregory Peck), Adapted Screenplay (Horton Foote), and Black-and-White…
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Oscar Profile #620: Angela Lansbury Revisited
Born October 16, 1925, the daughter of actress Moyna MacGill and socialist politician, Edgar Lansbury, whose father was 1930s Labor Party leader, George Lansbury, aspiring actress Angela Lansbury was greatly influenced by the careers of Hollywood stars Deana Durbin and Irene Dunne. After her father’s death, she, along with twin brothers Edgar and Bruce were…
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The DVD Report #798
VCI Entertainment has released a 90th Anniversary Blu-ray Special Edition of Rain restored by the Mary Pickford Foundation. Based on W. Somerset Maugham’s 1921 short story, Miss Thompson, this was the second film version of the legendary 1922 play by John Colton and Clemence Randolph retitled Rain. The play, starring Jeanne Eagels, was so popular…
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Oscar Profile #619: Don Murray Revisited
Born July 31, 1929 in Hollywood, California, Don Murray was the son of Broradway dance director and stage manager, Dennis Murray and his wife Ethel, a former Ziegfeld Follies dancer, Raised in the New York City suburbs, Murray graduated from East Rockaway High School in 1947 and then studied at the American Academy of Dramatic…
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The DVD Report #797
Shout Select has released a Collector’s Edition 4K UHD – Blu Ray combo pack of Oliver Stone’s 1986 Oscar winner, Platoon. Considered to be the best film about the Vietnam War by most and the best war movie of all-time by some, Platoon was at the time of its release the latest in a smattering…
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Oscar Profile #618: James Whitmore
Born October 1, 1921 in White Plains, New York to a park commission official and his wife, James Whitmore went to Choate school in Waterford, Connecticut on a football scholarship and then Yale University where he turned to acting after suffering a knee injury. He joined the U.S. Marines at the outbreak of World War…
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The DVD Report #796
New This Week Criterion has released 4K restorations of Le Corbeau and Exotica on Blu-ray. Made during the World War II German occupation of France, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Le Corbeau is both an absorbing mystery and a subtle condemnation of the Vichy government’s collaboration with the Gestapo. The plot revolves around poison pen letters menacing a…
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Oscar Profile #617: Darryl Hickman
Born July 28, 1931 in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles, California, Darryl Hickman was the older son of Milton and Katherine Hickman. His father was an insurance salesman and mother a housewife. Hickman’s younger actor brother Dwayne was born in 1934. As of 1940 the family was living with their maternal grandfather, Louis Henry…
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The DVD Report #795
New This Week Kino Lorber has released a Blu-ray of Mark Robson’s Bright Victory. Previously unavailable on home video in the U.S., this 1951 film was one of the most acclaimed films of its day and one which still stands out. Arthur Kennedy received the New York Film Critics Award for Best Actor over Marlon…
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Oscar Profile #616: William Holden Revisited
Born William Franklin Beedle, Jr. on April 17, 1918 in O’Fallon, Illinois, the future William Holden moved to Pasadena, California with his family when he was three. He was discovered by a Paramount film scout while appearing in a school play at Pasadena Junior College and given a contract by the studio. After two minor…
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The DVD Report #794
New This Week Sportswriter, screenwriter, and novelist Paul Gallico (1897-1976) received an Oscar nomination for the original story of 1942’s The Pride of the Yankees. He also wrote the original stories for The Clock and Lili among others. His novels included The Three Loves of Thomasina and The Poseidon Adventure, both of which made hit…
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Oscar Profile #425: Paul Newman Revisited
Born January 26, 1925 in Shaker Heights, Ohio to Theresa (née Fetsko) and Arthur Newman, who ran a profitable sporting goods store, Paul Newman would become a world-famous actor, director, professional racing car driver and humanitarian. He would receive numerous awards throughout his career including nine Oscar nominations and one win for acting, a nomination…
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The DVD Report #793
New This Week Any time of year is a good time to revisit your favorite films on DVD, Blu-ray, 4K UHD, or whatever platform you can find them on. Autumn, however, is the time of year when I tend to watch the same twenty-five films year after year as time permits. I break those film…
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Oscar Profile #614: Bing Crosby
The most popular entertainer of his time, Bing Crosby was born in Tacoma, Washington in 1903. He was a rising star when he married his first wife, Dixie Lee in 1930. She was a well-known singer and actress while he was still struggling to make his name. After the success of his single “I Surrender…
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The DVD Report #792
New This Week Dirty Dancing has probably had more home video releases than any other film over the last thirty-five years as its ownership went from Vestron to Artisan to Lionsgate among others in the U.S., 20th Century-Fox in Australia, Columbia in the U.K., and Warner Home Video in France to name just a few.…
