Author: Peter J Patrick
-
Oscar Profile: Ronald Colman Revisited
Born February 9, 1891 in Richmond, Surrey, England, Ronald Colman made his professional acting debut in 1914. An ankle injury in World War I left him with a slight limp which he tried to hide for the rest of his life. In America from 1920 on, “the longer he stayed”, opined Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., “the…
-
Home Viewing with Peter #937
The last film to receive major 2024 awards recognition that I hadn’t seen before, A24’s Heretic, is available from the studio on both 4K UHD and standard Blu-ray. It is also currently streaming on Max. The film is one of two 2024 releases starring Hugh Grant that is currently available on Blu-ray while also streaming…
-
Oscar Profile: Billy Williams
Born June 3, 1929 in London, England, William Desmond Williams, known professionally as Billy Williams, was the son of a cinematographer also known as Billy. Williams left school at 14 to go to work for his father as an apprentice cameraman, working with him for four years. At 18, he joined the RAF as a…
-
Home Viewing with Peter #936
Shout! Scream Factory has released a 4K UHD upgrade of George A. Romero’s 1988 film, Monkey Shines with an accompanying Blu-ray that includes vintage making-of documentaries of the film. Oddly, Amazon is selling the 4K package for $28.99, the old Blu-ray for $35.01, and the original DVD for $74.69, a bizarre reverse pricing strategy. Presented…
-
Oscar Profile: Oscars and Fathers
In recognition of Father’s Day coming up on June 15, now is a great time to focus on actors who’ve either been nominated or won Oscars for playing fathers on screen. Actors who’ve won Best Actor Oscars for playing characters on screen whose role as a father is important to the plot, include George Arliss…
-
Home Viewing with Peter #935
Warner Archive has upped its game with the release of no less than five major Blu-ray upgrades of films ranging from 1938’s Three Comrades to 2007’s La Vie en Rose. Three Comrades has one of the most fabled pedigrees in film history. Its source material was a 1936 novel by Erich Maria Remarque (All Quiet…
-
Oscar Profile: Edward Norton
Born August 18, 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts, Edward Harrison Norton is the son of an environmental attorney who was a prosecutor in the Carter administration and an English teacher whose father, James Rouse, was a famed real estate developer known as the father of the modern shopping mall. Norton was attracted to acting at an…
-
Home Viewing with Peter #934
Two of the year’s most popular films are now both streaming and in release on home video First up is Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17, his first film since his Oscar-winning Parasite. Filmed in late 2022 and early 2023, Mickey 17 is the film version of Edward Ashton’s 2022 science fiction novel Mickey 7 in…
-
Oscar Profile: Brenda Vaccaro
Born November 18, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York, Brenda Vaccaro is the daughter of Italian-Americans who raised her in Dallas, Texas where her parents founded Mario’s Restaurant. At 17, Vaccaro returned to New York to study acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse. She made her Broadway debut in 1961’s Everybody Loves Opel for which received a…
-
Home Viewing with Peter #933
Many of us make a concerted effort to see as many of the films of our favorite directors as we can. While you may be familiar with most or all the films of Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, or Quentin Tarantino among those still making films, and Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford among classic film directors,…
-
Oscar Profile: Walter Pidgeon
Born September 23, 1897 in New Brunswick, Canada to a haberdasher and a housewife, Walter Pidgeon was educated at the University of New Brunswick where he studied law and drama. He volunteered with the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery in World War I. Severely injured in an accident when he was crushed between two gun…
-
Home Viewing with Peter #932
May is Mental Health Month, a subject that the screen has explored many times. Here in chronological order are ten of the most unforgettable films that have explored mental health issues, offering insight into various conditions of human experience. One can find elements of mental health problems in characters in practically all the films made…
-
Oscar Profile: Richard Brooks Revisited
Born May 18, 1912 in Philadelphia, PA to Russian Jewish immigrants Hyman and Esther Sax, Reuben Sax grew up poor. He studied journalism at Temple University for two years from 1929-1931 before discovering that his parents were going into debt paying for his education at which time he quit school and rode the freight trains…
-
Home Viewing with Peter #931
Criterion has released a 4K UHD/Blu-ray combination of Anora, the fastest release of a major film by the home video giant in its history. They usually take their time with their releases, typically providing upgrades of films first released by other companies. While the package is a nice one, it is also a rather dubious…
-
Oscar Profile: Barbara Stanwyck Revisited
Born Ruby Stevens in Brooklyn, N.Y. on July 16, 1907, Barbara Stanwyc was the fifth and youngest child of a working-class couple. When she was four, Ruby’s mother was pushed off a moving streetcar by a drunken stranger and died. Two weeks later her father joined a crew digging the Panama Canal and was never…
