Author: Peter J Patrick
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The DVD Report #694
New This Week The Chalk Garden, newly released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber, is the 1964 film version of a celebrated 1950s British play with one of the most unusual production histories of any such play. The play about the clash between the imperious dowager Mrs. St. Maugham and Miss Madrigal, the mysterious governess she…
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Oscar Profile #517: Charles Walters
Born February 17, 1911 in Pasadena, California, Charles Walters graduated from Anaheim Union High School in 1930 and briefly attended USC-Los Angeles before embarking on a dancing career in 1931. After joining the touring Fancho & Marcum review as a chorus boy and specialty dancer, Walters embarked on a correspondence with producer, dancer, and choreographer…
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The DVD Report #693
New This Week The Elephant Man has been given a new 4K digital restoration by the Criterion Collection. Shot in gorgeous black-and-white, David Lynch’s 1980 film is told from the perspective of London surgeon Frederick Treves, played by Anthony Hopkins, who first encounters the severely deformed John Merrick, played by John Hurt, in a freak…
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Oscar Profile #516: Rob Reiner
Born March 6, 1947, Robert Norman Reiner was born in the Bronx, New York to Estelle and Carl Reiner, the renown comedian, actor, writer, producer, director. It was only a matter of time before Rob will follow his father into show business. The younger Reiner began his acting career in TV’s Manhunt in 1961. He…
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The DVD Report #692
New This Week Never Steal Anything Small, released in 1959, is one of the most obscure films of James Cagney’s lengthy career. Released in the early days of VHS, the film was never released on DVD until now that Kino Lorber has made it available on both DVD and Blu-ray. The third and last film…
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Oscar Profile #515: John Hurt
Born January 2, 1940 in Derbyshire, England, John (Vincent) Hurt was the son of a Church of England clergyman and his wife. Determined to become an actor, he withstood the taunts of his preparatory school headmaster who told him that although he may be good in school plays, he didn’t have what it takes to…
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The DVD Report #691
New This Week Roman Holiday has finally been released on Blu-ray thanks to a 4K film transfer from Paramount. The 1953 classic had not previously been remastered since its 2002 DVD Special Edition which was only a slight improvement over its previous release. Time has been kind to this Cinderella in reverse story about a…
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Oscar Profile #514: Oscars and Nuns
To quote Wikipedia: “A nun is a member of a religious community of women, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery. Communities of nuns exist in numerous religious traditions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Jainism, and Taoism. Within Christianity, women religious, known as nuns or religious sisters, are found…
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The DVD Report #690
New This Week Brute Force and The Naked City have received long overdue U.S. Blu-ray releases from Criterion. The films were the two biggest hits of American writer-director Jules Dassin’s Hollywood career which lasted from1940 through his blacklisting during the filming of 1950’s Thieves’ Highway. After his move to France in 1952, Dassin became an…
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Oscar Profile #513: Jude Law
Born December 29, 1972 in London, England, (David) Jude Law was born the son of Margaret and Peter Law, schoolteachers, his father later becoming the youngest headmaster in London. The future star made his acting debut with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987 at the age of 14 and his TV debut the following…
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The DVD Report #689
New This Week Death on the Nile, newly released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber, was the second of four elaborate films made from the works of Agatha Christie by the producing team of John Brabourne and Richard Goodwin whose credits ranged from 1968’s Romeo & Juliet to 1984’s A Passage to India. Home video rights…
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Oscar Profile #512: Peter Ustinov
Born April 16, 1921 in London, England, Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov was the son of a Russian father and German mother. His father was a British spy and his mother a painter and ballet designer. He was educated at Westminster College in London where he excelled at acting, making his stage debut in Surrey…
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The DVD Report #688
New This Week The Sign of the Cross, newly released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber, is a historically important film from 1932 that resurrected the career of producer-director Cecil B. DeMille, made a star of Claudette Colbert, and saved Paramount from bankruptcy. The prolific DeMille, one of the founders of Paramount, hadn’t had a hit…
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Oscar Profile #511: Whoopi Goldberg
Born November 13, 1955 in New York, New York, Caryn Elaine Johnson, known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg, is the daughter of Robert James Johnson Jr., a Baptist clergyman, and Emma Johnson, née Harris, a nurse, and teacher. A high school dropout, she relocated to Southern California in the mid-1970s before moving to Berkeley, outside of…
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The DVD Report #687
New This Week Tender Mercies earned Robert Duvall his only Oscar out of seven nominations for his portrayal of a broken-down middle-aged country singer on the mend. Previously nominated for The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, and The Great Santini, and subsequently for The Apostle, A Civil Action, and The Judge, his was that rare situation in…
