Author: Peter J Patrick
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Oscar Profile #398: Vanessa Redgrave
Born January 30, 1937 in London, England to acting giants Michael Redgrave (1908-1985) and Rachel Kempson (1910-2003), Vanessa Redgrave was the eldest of the couple’s three children which later included equally acclaimed actors Corin Redgrave (1939-2010) and Lynn Redgrave (1943-2010). The young actress made her stage debut in London’s west end in 1958 opposite her…
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The DVD Report #574
New This Week The Woman in the Window is prime film noir, one of two back-to-back mid-1940s films in which Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, and Dan Duryea form an unholy alliance under the direction of Fritz Lang. Newly remastered in high definition, the Kino Lorber Blu-ray is superb in every detail. The Woman in…
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Oscar Profile #397: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Born February 11, 1909 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Joseph Leo Mankiewicz was the younger brother of Herman J. Mankiewicz (1897-1953), the Oscar-winning co-writer of Citizen Kane. Young Joe Mankiewicz received a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University in 1928 at the age of 19. His college professor father sent him to Berlin to study German drama at…
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The DVD Report #573
New This Week Journey’s End, adapted from R.C. Sherriff’s autobiographical novel and play, has been filmed for the big screen three times, in 1930 by James Whale, in 1976 (as Aces High) by Jack Gold, and in 2017 by Saul Dibb. The play has itself been performed numerous times on stage and TV since its…
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Oscar Profile #396: Glenda Jackson
Born May 9, 1936 in Birkenhead, England to working class parents, Glenda Jackson was named after actress Glenda Farrell. Having performed with a local acting group while in her teens, she received a scholarship to the London based Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1954. She made her professional acting debut in a RADA production…
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The DVD Report #572
New This Week The Big Country, William Wyler’s mammoth 1958 film, has been newly remastered in HD, the new Blu-ray from Kino Lorber correcting the horizontal stretching of the previous 2011 Blu-ray release from MGM. That stretching was caused by the remastering of the original Technirama negative as though the film were shot in Cinemascope,…
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Oscar Profile #395: Stanley Donen
Born April 13, 1924 in Columbia, South Carolina to Moses and Helen Donen, Stanley Donen was a lonely and unhappy child who spent much of his youth in movie theatres. His favorite film was the 1933 Astaire-Rogers film, Flying Down to Rio which he saw between thirty and forty times. He shot and screened home…
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The DVD Report #571
New This Week Midnight Cowboy, as difficult as it may be to fathom, was filmed fifty years ago this year. The only X-rated movie to win an Oscar for Best Picture, John Schlesinger’s exploration of loneliness featured performances by Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight whose friendship and loyalty in the film, mirrored the admiration the…
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Oscar Profile #394: Willem Dafoe
Born July 22, 1955 in Appleton, Wisconsin, William J, Dafoe was one of eight children whose parents were a surgeon and a nurse who worked together constantly, leaving the future actor to be raised by his five older sisters. He became known as “Willem”, the Dutch name for “William”, while in high school. Dafoe studied…
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The DVD Report #570
New This Week The 15:17 to Paris may be minor Clint Eastwood but it’s the 86-year-old director doing what he does best, bringing contemporary real-life heroes into a film world largely filled with movies about imaginary superheroes. Ever since 2006’s back-to-back Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, Eastwood has primarily focused on…
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Oscar Profile #393: Don Ameche
Born May 31, 1908 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Dominic Felix Amichi, known professionally as Don Ameche, the actor was one of eight children and after his 1932 marriage, became the father of six. Having played in college shows, stock, and vaudeville, Ameche became a major radio star in the early 1930s, which led to the offer…
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The DVD Report #569
New This Week Black Panther is a fictional superhero that first appeared in Marvel Comics in July 1966 inFantastic Four #52. Black Panther’s real name is T’Challa, king and protector of the fictional African nation of Wakanda. Along with possessing enhanced abilities achieved through ancient Wakandan rituals of drinking the essence of the heart-shaped herb,…
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Oscar Profile #392: Kathleen Turner
Born June 19, 1954 in Springfield, Missouri to Patsy and Allen Richard Turner, a U.S. Foreign Service officer who grew up in China as the son of a Methodist missionary, (Mary) Kathleen Turner also grew up abroad. After graduating from the American School in London, her father died of a coronary thrombosis and she and…
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The DVD Report #568
New This Week Moonrise has one of the most deservedly famous opening sequences in film history. Three men are seen walking from the waist down. As they approach a stair it becomes clear that two of the men are accompanying the third to a hanging. The executioner is seen pulling the lever in silhouette and…
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Oscar Profile #391: Alan Bates
Born February 17, 1934 in Derbyshire, England, Alan Bates was the eldest of three sons of an insurance broker and a housewife. Wanting to be an actor from the age of 11, he won a scholarship to RADA (the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts) where his classmates included Albert Finney and Peter O’Toole. After…
