Author: Peter J Patrick
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Oscar Profile: Mike Nichols
Born Mikhail Igor Peschkowsky November 6, 1931 to wealthy Russian-Jewish parents in Berlin, Germany, the future Mike Nichols lost his hair at the age of four due to a bad reaction to an allergic reaction to a Whooping Cough inoculation and wore wigs and false eyebrows in adulthood to hide his baldness. At the age…
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Home Viewing with Peter #945
Warner Archive’s latest batch of Blu-ray upgrades is finally here. Easily the best of the seven new releases is Roy Rowlands’ lighter than air 1950 musical, Two Weeks with Love starring Jane Powell, Ricardo Montalban, Debbie Reynolds, and Carlton Carpenter. A throwaway story line about summertime in Old New York set in 1913 provides the…
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Oscar Profile: James Whale Revisited
James Whale was born in Dudley, England, a poor mining town, in 1889. He learned to direct as a prisoner of war in a German prison camp during World War I. That experience led him to the London stage, Broadway and eventually a Hollywood contract with Universal, where he made most of his films. Although…
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Home Viewing with Peter #944
Columbia has made available a new Blu-ray release of Blake Edwards’ 1962 film, Experiment in Terror which was previously released in the U.S. by boutique label Twilight Time. That out-of-print release is currently available on Amazon for $97.95. The new release is going for $27.55 on Amazon The film is an extremely tense thriller filmed…
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Oscar Profile: Richard Burton Revisited
Born November 10, 1925 in Pontrhydyfen, Wales to Welsh speaking parents, Richard Walker Jenkins, Jr. was the twelfth of thirteen children. His mother died shortly after giving birth to his younger brother when Richard was just two years old. His father, a coal miner, soon abandoned the family and he was raised by his older…
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Home Viewing with Peter #943
Wes Anderson is a filmmaker with a unique perspective whose films people seem to either love or hate. Although his films have more lovers than haters, some people love some of his films and hate some of his others. An 8-time Oscar nominee and winner for his 2023 short film, The Wonderful Story of Henry…
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Oscar Profile: Julie Andrews Revisited
Born October 1, 1935 in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England as Julia Elizabeth Wells, the internationally acclaimed superstar known professionally as Julie Andrews took the last name of her stepfather (Ted Andrews) when her mother remarried in 1944. Andrews began performing at early age with her mother and stepfather who were both music hall performers. Just after…
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Home Viewing with Peter #942
Now available on 4K UHD and standard Blu-ray from Kino Lorber, George Stevens’ 1953 classic, Shane, joins Roman Holiday, Stalag 17, Sabrina, and White Christmas as the fifth of seven of Paramount’s biggest hits of the early 1950s to be released on 4K UHD, with 1950’s Sunset Boulevard due to follow on August 5th. Can…
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Oscar Profile: Ray Heindorf
Born August 25, 1908 in Haverstraw, New York, Ray(mond) John Heindorf worked as a pianist in a silent movie house in Mechanicville in his early teens. In 1928, he moved to New York City, where he landed a job as a musical arranger before moving to Hollywood in February 1929. Heindorf’s first job in Hollywood was as an orchestrator…
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Home Viewing with Peter #941
Now available on 4k UHD and standard Blu-ray from Warner Home Video, and streaming on HBO Max, Sinners is the year’s most critically acclaimed film to date as well as the biggest box-office success thus far. Directed by Ryan Coogler, the film is another showcase for Michael B. Jordan, who previously starred in Coogler’s Fruitvale…
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Home Viewing with Peter #940
The Criterion Collection has released a 4K UHD upgrade of Fritz Lang’s 1953 masterwork, The Big Heat. Previously released on Blu-ray by boutique label, Twilight Time in 2014, The Big Heat has leaped ahead of such Lang films as 1936’s Fury, 1944’s The Woman in the Window, and 1945’s Scarlet Street to take its place…
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Oscar Profile: Leo McCarey Revisited
Born October 3, 1896, (Thomas) Leo McCarey began in films as Assistant Director to horror legend Tod Browning in 1920, but soon found his niche as a comedy writer for Hal Roach’s Our Gang comedies. He later brought Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy together and guided their early joint career. By 1929 he was VP in charge…
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Home Viewing with Peter #939
Warner Archive released Blu-ray upgrades of seven classic films in June, the most it has released in some time including a rare 4K Ultra HD release. Getting the 4K upgrade is High Society, Charles Walters’ musical remake of George Cukor’s 1940 classic, The Philadelphia Story with the action moved from Philadelphia to Newport, Rhode Island.…
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Oscar Profile: Robert Donat Revisited
Born March 18, 1905 in Manchester, England, Robert Donat‘s carefully honed speaking voice was a result of the elocution lessons he took as a boy to overcome a terrible stammer. Unfortunately, he never outgrew his other childhood affliction, an asthmatic condition that caused him to turn down more film roles than he accepted. On stage…
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Home Viewing with Peter #938
The Criterion Collection has released Mitchell Leisen’s 1939 screwball comedy, Midnight, on Blu-ray. Midnight may not be one of the films you think of as one of the greatest of the so-called greatest year in film history, but it has its aficionados. Released in May of that year, the film starred Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche,…
