Author: Peter J Patrick
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Oscar Profile #597: Oscar’s Fourth Decade (1958-1967)
It was during Oscar’s fourth decade that studio control over the movie business faltered, film distribution changed from single theatre premieres to wider openings, and the Hollywood Production Code saw chinks in it that ended it completely by the end of the decade. Oscar’s 1958 Best Picture was Best Director Vincente Minnelli’s Gigi, a musical…
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The DVD Report #776
New This Week 1962’s The Counterfeit Traitor might not be William Holden’s best-known film, but it’s a very good one that contains one of his best performances. Known for such films as Sunset Boulevard, Picnic, and The Bridge on the River Kwai, Holden plays real-life Eric Ericson, an American-born oil trader of Swedish descent who…
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Oscar Profile #597: Oscar’s Third Decade (1948-1957)
Oscar’s 1948 Best Picture was Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet, the first time the award went to a non-Hollywood film. The British film won over three Hollywood films, Best Director John Huston’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, John Negulesco’s Johnny Belinda, and Anatole Litvak’s The Snake Pit as well as another British film, Powell & Pressburger’s…
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The DVD Report #775
New This Week Singin’ in the Rain, newly upgraded to 4K Ultra High Definition by Warner Bros., is referred to in some quarters as the best Hollywood musical of all time. That, however, is something of an over-statement. Fans of The King and I, South Pacific, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, The Sound of…
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Oscar Profile #596: Oscar’s Second Decade (1938-1947)
Oscar recognized non-English language films in the Best Picture category for the first time with Jean Renoir’s Grand Illusion included among the ten films nominated for the honor in 1938. It lost to the classic comedy, You Can’t Take It with You. Other films nominated that year included The Adventures of Robin Hood, Boys Town,…
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The DVD Report #774
New This Week The Criterion Collection’s newly released Blu-ray of Vittorio De Sica’s Miracle in Milan is the 4K restoration of the 1951 film that was rereleased theatrically in France and Italy in 2019 and subsequently throughout the rest of world, reaching the U.S. in February 2022. This unique film was originally written by De…
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Oscar Profile #595: Oscar’s First Decade (1928-1937)
The Academy Awards began with boards from five areas of endeavor (directors, actors, producers, writers, and technicians) whose votes decided the nominations while a panel of judges from each board decided the winners. The eligibility period was from August 1, 1927-July 28, 1928, for films opening in Los Angeles during that period. An eligibility list…
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The DVD Report #773
New This Week Spider-Man: No Way Home, newly released on Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD, and DVD by Sony, was the first film released to theaters during the Covid-19 pandemic to earn more than $1 billion at the box-office. The emotionally riveting superhero movie was the 15th Marvel film nominated for a Best Visual Effects Oscar,…
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Oscar Profile #594: David Cronenberg
Born March 15, 1943 in Toronto, Canada, David Cronenberg is the son of a musician mother and writer-editor father. A voracious reader from an early age, he developed a strong interest in the science fiction writings of Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, and later, Philip K. Dick, all of whom would influence his film work. Controversial…
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The DVD Report #772
New This Week 2022’s Death on the Nile is Kenneth Branagh’s second film version of an Agatha Christie novel, one that works much better than his 2017 version of Murder on the Orient Express. The actor-writer-director plays Christie’s mythical detective, Hercule Poirot, in both films. With both having been filmed to better advantage in the…
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Oscar Profile #593: Eric Roberts
Born April 18, 1956 in Biloxi, Mississippi, Eric Roberts is the son of actors who ran an acting school in Atlanta, Georgia, where he grew up. His younger siblings, Julia Roberts and Lisa Roberts Gillan are also actors. Roberts got his start in the now defunct television soap opera, Another World in 1977. The following…
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The DVD Report #771
New This Week Ordinary People has finally been given a U.S. release on Blu-ray by Paramount. One of the most emotionally charged Oscar winners ever, it still seems odd to me that Kramer vs. Kramer and Terms of Endearment, two other emotionally charged films from the same era, are more often referred to by film…
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Oscar Profile #592: Bernard Herrmann
Born June 29, 1911 in New York, New York, Bernard Herrmann was the son of middle-class Jewish parents, born into a family of Russian origin. His father encouraged his interest in music. Started out as a violinist a violinist, he became a composer at 13 and a conductor of his own orchestra at 20. Later…
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The DVD Report #770
New This Week Kino Lorber has released a Blu-ray edition of the 1941 version of Fannie Hurst’s Back Street starring Margaret Sullavan and Charles Boyer, some months after releasing the 1961 version starring Susan Hayward and John Gavin. Still missing in the format is the original 1932 version starring Irene Dunne and John Boles. Back…
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Oscar Profile #591: Francis Ford Coppola Revisited
Born April 7, 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, Francis Ford Coppola’s father Carmine was a flautist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. His mother Italia was a former actress. Two years after his birth his father was named principal flautist for the NBC Symphony Orchestra and the family moved to Woodside, Queens. Originally trained as a musician,…
