Many critics at the time said that Frenzy looked more like the work of a Hitchcock imitator than of the master himself. I don't recall seeing many say that of Family Plot.
Surely you mean Wolfgang Kieling, who played Hermann Gromek, and whose protracted death scene was seemingly one of the few scenes that seemed to spark any interest for Mr. Hitchcock.
Hitchcock did much better when he was hemmed in by the restrictions of the ratings codes, as it forced him to come up with creative and innovative ways to suggest what could not be said or shown. Rope, Rebecca, Strangers on a Train and North by Northwest would be lesser films if their gay...
Both Frenzy and Family Plot are at least a step-up from the dreary Torn Curtain and Topaz.
I do prefer Family Plot for the relaxed tone, the witty and well-structured screenplay by Ernest Lehman, the fun performances by Barbara Harris, Bruce Dern, and William Devane, and the casual swipes...
I'm still very satisfied with my twelve-year-old Sony 1080p LCD panel. I simply don't have the interest I used to have and I grew tired of having to upgrade every ten years. I even ditched my surround sound and don't miss the noise.
I grew up with panned-and-scanned 240i VHS on a CRT being the...
Curious that Universal dumped these to blu-ray, apparently with little thought or care a decade ago, and is only now investing the money to bring them them to market in a "restored" form. I hope they sell enough to justify a volume 3, if only for an much-needed upgrade on The Man Who Knew To...
Do we know if work was done on Family Plot and Marnie? They were such an ugly mess on blu ray, I'd imagine they would need significant work to make them watchable in 4k.
The definitive version of the score for me is the re-recording done by James Conlon years ago. It has the complete score in a great performance with fantastic sound quality. Unfortunately it was released in the worst way: attached to an unremarkable book of photographs called "Feature Film" that...
I may have to pick this up. One of my dad's uncles was enlisted at the time and was involved in some way in the filming of this, the first ever Hollywood movie shot entirely in Canada.
There's some interesting background on the filming here
So glad to hear this is on its' way. This is my favourite of Berkeley's work at Warners. It really has everything, with so many talented Warner performers giving it their all, and Ruby Keeler.
It's also surprisingly feminist and modern-feeling considering this was made in 1933.
He was a very good Poirot, but I really missed the big budget production values and star-studded casts of those films. I wasn't a fan of the made for TV follow-ups with Peter Ustinov either, which were set in the ghastly "modern day" of the 1980s.
Evil UTS and Death OTN may be artistically lesser films, but I find myself returning to them much more often than Murder OTOE. I actually prefer Peter Ustinov's relaxed and open Poirot to Finney's overly busy and insular performance, and the loose, relaxed feel and almost campy tone compared...
MGM had many "novelty acts" in their heyday, and it wasn't easy for these performers to be respected, especially by members of the insular "Freed Unit". The great success of her frothy films probably also rubbed Gene the wrong way. MGM also parodied her pretty tastelessly with Janis Paige's...
There's a nice bit of symmetry there as Judy supported Gene through his first MGM film For Me and My Gal (1942), and Gene was able to return the favor eight years later in Summer Stock, when she was in poor health. You can really see how much respect and affection he has for her in that film...
I'm glad this is out in good shape, but although I love musicals, I've never really warmed up to this one. It might be the lack of chemistry between the leads, or the plodding story. I also found Betty Hutton unwatchably manic; talented, yes (and more suitable than Garland, for sure) but...
More Tennessee Williams' is always a good thing, but I've never really warmed up to this film. Maybe it's the odd tone, or its' general sordidness, or the sight of a talented cast working on material that may not be worthy of their efforts. I do hope that we'll get the far superior The Night of...
I remember the DVD being watchable, but very uneven, with a very soft image and some registration issues. The amount of process shots (i.e. front projection) in the film didn't help. I'm confident WAC will find find a way to present this properly. Certainly better than Universal did with...
Looking forward to this. The George Sidney commentary is indeed quite good. Despite being quite old at the time of recording, he is engaging and his memory is very sharp. He's also had quite an interesting life and was involved in many interesting projects in and out of the industry. Apparently...
This has always been one of my favorite Judy Garland films, and musically and comedically she's really at her peak here. Glad the commentary track is included, it's an excellent one.
I'm surprised it was rated PG in 1980, which Poltergeist was as well two years later. Thanks to political correctness, I think Airplane is even funnier today. I think most of us are just so familiar with the film the "offensive" content doesn't really register. I'm sure the PC brigade will...
It seems to me the real problem is that the some people apparently just can't understand that films are a fictional representation of reality that reflects the attitudes and concerns of the time they were made.
Interesting that Warner quietly omitted the Going to Heaven on a Mule musical number from Wonder Bar from The Busby Berkeley Disc when it was released on DVD (it was included on the laserdisc though).
Warner also passed over Wonder Bar when assembling their two Berkeley box sets, but years...