Author: Peter J Patrick
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The DVD Report #739
New This Week Unique among home video releases, the Criterion Collection’s Original Cast: Company has been released on Blu-ray, sourced from a newly restored 4K digital transfer. The holy grail for both documentary and theater afficionados, this rare look at Broadway behind the curtain was made the weekend just after Stephen Sondheim’s groundbreaking musical had…
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Oscar Profile #561: Ed Begley
Born March 25, 1901in Harford, Connecticut to immigrant Irish parents, Ed Begley was first attracted to the theatre at age 9 when he performed on stage at the Hartford Globe Theatre. He ran away from home two years later, while in the 5th grade to pursue acting but worked in numerous jobs until his Broadway…
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The DVD Report #738
New This Week Dominic Cooke is one of the leading directors of contemporary London’s plays and musicals. His production of Follies starring Imelda Staunton was filmed and given a limited release as National Theatre Live: Follies in 2017, the same year as Cooke’s first film, On Chesil Beach, was released. Cooke’s planned full-length film version…
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Oscar Profile #560: Shirley Booth
Born August 30, 1898 in Brooklyn, New York as Marjory Ford but known growing up as Thelma Ford, this future Tony, Oscar, and Emmy winner would be known professionally as Shirley Booth. Booth made her stage debut in a stock company production of Mother Carey’s Chickens. She changed her name due to her father’s objections…
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The DVD Report #737
New This Week Paramount Presents has released the theatrical cut of Cameron Crowe’s 2000 film Almost Famous on Blu-ray for the first time. Crowe’s Oscar winner (for Best Original Screenplay) was previously released on Blu-ray ten years ago in its Bootleg (director’s) Cut only. The new Blu-ray from a 4K film transfer includes both versions…
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Oscar Profile #559: Todd Haynes
Born January 2, 1961 in Los Angeles, California, Todd Haynes was one of four children of Allen and Shelley Haynes. His mother’s family was Ashkenazi Jewish (from Poland, Romania, and Russia) and his father, who was a cosmetics importer, had English/Welsh ancestry. Haynes developed an interest in film at an early age. In 1978, he…
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The DVD Report #736
New This Week John Kraskinki’s 2018 dystopian horror film, A Quiet Place, was a huge hit. It was inevitable that there would be a sequel. A Quiet Place: Part II had its world premiere in New York on March 8, 2020, but further shows were put on hold as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. It…
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Oscar Profile #558: Madeline Kahn
Born September 29, 1942 in Boston, Massachusetts, Madeline Gail Wolfson known professionally as Madeline Kahn, was the daughter of a garment manufacturer and his wife. Her parents were divorced when she was two and she moved to New York with her mother. Her mother later married her stepfather, Hiller Kahn, who adopted her. Kahn graduated…
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The DVD Report #735
New This Week With the DVD and Blu-ray releases of new films still at a post-pandemic premium, most new releases continue to be of classic films, many of them courtesy of Kino Lorber and Warner Archive. Newly released are four of note from Kino and three from Warner. Two of the Kino releases are Cecil…
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Oscar Profile #557: Kevin Kline
Born October 24, 1947, in St. Louis, Missouri, Kevin Kline was the second of four children of Robert and Margaret Kline. His father was of German Jewish descent and his mother was Irish Catholic. He was raised in mother’s faith. His father’s family owned a chain of stores. His father was an amateur opera singer…
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The DVD Report #734
New This Week The Pianist has finally been given a U.S. release on Blu-ray. The closest the 2002 Oscar-winning film came to a U.S. Blu-ray release previously was on a Region “A” Canadian release a few years ago. Based on the autobiography of Polish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman, the Shout Select release is loaded with extras…
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Oscar Profile #556: Russell Metty
Born September 20, 1906, in Los Angeles, California, Russell Metty first worked in the film industry as a lab technician, becoming an apprentice cameraman for Paramount in 1929. He then became a lighting cameraman at RKO. His first credit as cinematographer was for 1934’s West of the Pecos. Metty’s first major film of note as…
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The DVD Report #733
New This Week Finally available on Blu-ray, Criterion’s 4K restoration of Howard Hawks’ 1938 comedy classic, Bringing Up Baby, was well worth the wait. Four years prior to the film’s release, Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night and Hawks’ Twentieth Century ushered in the era of screwball comedy with Capra’s film winning a slew of…
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Oscar Profile #555: Nunnally Johnson
Born December 5, 1897, in Columbus, Georgia, Nunnally (Hunter) Johnson was the son of a railway superintendent. Educated in Columbus, he graduated from high school in 1915. Having worked for his local newspaper as a delivery boy, he became a junior reporter for the Savannah Press before moving to New York in 1919, the year…
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The DVD Report #732
New This Week The Criterion Collection has released on Blu-ray a new 4K restoration of Samuel Fuller’s 1953 classic, Pickup on South Street. A consummate film noir, this black-and-white masterpiece, which clocks in at a lean, action-packed 80 minutes, has never looked better. Fuller was a legendary newspaper man before he became a film writer…
