1950s: What Titles Did You Vote For? (1 Viewer)

[Douglas R]

"Anastasia". Please don't let "Desk Set" win - I can't stand it!

 

[Alan Tully]

"Anastasia". Please don't let "Desk Set" win - I can't stand it!

Anastasia has been on Film4 in HD (UK), & looked really good.

 

[benbess]

Anastasia is based on the idea that she survived. Doesn't really change the movie, but she didn't. From wikipedia: "Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (Russian: Великая Княжна Анастасия Николаевна Романова, Velikaya Knyazhna Anastasiya Nikolayevna Romanova) (June 18 [O.S. June 5] 1901 – July 17, 1918) was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia, and his wife Alexandra Fyodorovna. Anastasia was a younger sister of Grand Duchess Olga, Grand Duchess Tatiana, and Grand Duchess Maria, and was an elder sister of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia. She died in an extrajudicial killing by forces of the Bolshevik secret police, Cheka, with her family on July 17, 1918. Persistent rumors of her possible escape have circulated since her death, fueled by the fact that the location of her burial was unknown during the decades of Communist rule. The mass grave near Ekaterinburg which held the remains of the Tsar, his wife, and three daughters was revealed in 1991, but the bodies of Alexei Nikolaevich and one of his sisters—either Anastasia or her older sister Maria—were not discovered there. Her possible survival has been conclusively disproved. In January 2008, Russian scientists announced that the charred remains of a young boy and a young woman found near Ekaterinburg in August 2007 were most likely those of the thirteen-year-old Tsarevich and one of the four Romanov grand duchesses. Russian forensic scientists confirmed on April 30, 2008, that the remains were those of the Tsarevich Alexei and one of his four sisters.[1] In March 2009 the final results of the DNA testing were published by Dr. Michael Coble of the US Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, proving conclusively that the remains of all four Grand Duchesses have now been accounted for, and no one escaped....

 

[Moe Dickstein]

Well, if you need it so bad, why don't you just buy a multi-region player and get it - beautiful transfer from the UK, available right now and has been for over a year.

I hate UK packaging and I am happy with my player and have no need for a new one. The only ones I've imported so far are Cleopatra and Obsession, and I hide them on the shelf to not have to look at those horrible ratings logos. I never said my ocd made sense lol

 

[Moe Dickstein]

"Anastasia". Please don't let "Desk Set" win - I can't stand it!

Join me with Rock Hunter then Douglas =)

 

[lionel59]

ANASTASIA. Regardless of the facts- and this play and movie fictionalized them greatly anyway- this is a superbly acted, shot and scored movie by the incomparable Alfred Newman (who was robbed of his Oscar because Victor Young passed away and AROUND THE WORLD was a huge hit- in my opinion THE KING AND I should have won Best Picture over Todd's star-studded, fun but ultimately empty travelogue romp). In the doco on the Studio Classics edition I recall the DNA evidence was inconclusive. Interesting too, that the bodies of one of the Tsar's daughters and his son were not amongst the bodies of the others. Still, a fascinating time of speculation in Europe over the possible survival of one of the Romamovs and a sad story of a disturbed, friendless woman which should NEVER have become material for a kids' cartoon , IMO). I believe when Fox were unsure as to whether America could "forgive" Miss Bergman they originally cast Jennifer Jones, who I think may have been almost as good in the role. Some of the location shots by the Seine will look stunning in Blu Ray- as opposed to the endless shots of office space in DESK SET, a comedy with good things in it but one which I find somewhat over-rated, as much as I enjoy the work of Pheobe and Henry Ephron. I tend to think voting for titles NOT already released on Blu Ray overseas is a good idea, so that collectors have more titles in Blu to choose from globally. ( For a lark, someone should interpolate THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE into this list (!) as Fox have said there will be no OAR issues re these titles. No-one likes the P+S MOD of it and they restored the movie not too long ago so a better master in Scope is available. I think it's the last of the 'popular music composer biopics' (of which DEEP IN MY HEART is my personal fave) and is worth it just for Gordon MacRae giving a definitive rendition of 'The Birth of The Blues' with Sheree North and Jacques D'Amboise doing a sizzling dance in a stylized set in vivid DeLuxe colour)

 

[Adam Gregorich]

OK gave Danny Kaye my sympathy vote today, plus we need more DK on BD so I voted for On the Riviera

 

[Robin9]

I tend to think voting for titles NOT already released on Blu Ray overseas is a good idea, so that collectors have more titles in Blu to choose from globally. ( For a lark, someone should interpolate THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE into this list (!) as Fox have said there will be no OAR issues re these titles. No-one likes the P+S MOD of it and they restored the movie not too long ago so a better master in Scope is available. I think it's the last of the 'popular music composer biopics' (of which DEEP IN MY HEART is my personal fave) and is worth it just for Gordon MacRae giving a definitive rendition of 'The Birth of The Blues' with Sheree North and Jacques D'Amboise doing a sizzling dance in a stylized set in vivid DeLuxe colour)

Well said, Lionel. I couldn't agree more. I will enter The Best Things In Life Are Free in the "suggestion box"

 

[Chuck F]

I thought the choices for the '60's was kind of weak, but at least it's a start.

 

[Keith Cobby]

This would have been easy for me had I not recently received the German release of The Tall Men (excellent picture quality), one of my favourite westerns and for me Clark Gable's best film. I have today voted for Anastasia but also like The River's Edge and On the Riviera. I can't believe the support for Desk Set!

 

I have The Tall Men as well. It is nice. I wrote in The Young Lions for requested films. Snowball's chance in hell for that one, I guess.

 

[Rob_Ray]

I can't believe the support for Desk Set!

For those who work in an office environment like I do, Desk Set is so much fun on so many levels. While I would agree that Adam's Rib and other Tracy-Hepburn collaborations are technically better films, I gravitate toward Desk Set more than any of them and I can't fully explain why. But I watch the Christmas Sequence every year around the holidays.

 

[PODER]

Ah well ... I wasted yesterday's vote on a non-Fox picture. So today I went with PRINCE OF PLAYERS, a wonderful companion piece to this year's LINCOLN!

 

[Lromero1396]

This would have been easy for me had I not recently received the German release of The Tall Men (excellent picture quality), one of my favourite westerns and for me Clark Gable's best film. I have today voted for Anastasia but also like The River's Edge and On the Riviera. I can't believe the support for Desk Set!

Everyone should vote for Anastasia or The Tall Men. Even though Desk Set is a charming little film I think that its inclusion here is reducing a chance of other more worthy titles you have mentioned getting released. It's certainly not as good as the votes here suggest. also dropped in a suggestion for The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit; a wonderful film with Gregory Peck playing a war veteran whose experiences are coming back to haunt him. It also is a wonderful allegory for society, with the choice between work and family being a core element. TMITGFS also stars Jennifer Jones and Fredric March and, on top of that, a gorgeous score by Bernard Herrmann. I hope it gets released as it is so often overlooked.

 

[Lromero1396]

Ah well ... I wasted yesterday's vote on a non-Fox picture. So today I went with PRINCE OF PLAYERS, a wonderful companion piece to this year's LINCOLN!

I agree with you on Prince of Players. Richard Burton is fantastic in the role of Edwin Booth and to see him on screen reciting Shakespeare is an absolute delight, elevated even more so by Bernard Herrmann's score. I'll drop a vote for anything with a Herrmann score.

 

[Mikey1969]

As a librarian and fan of Hepburn and Tracy, I'm glad to see Desk Set well represented. It's probably their best film together. It's a fun film from beginning to end, although the Cinemascope process isn't well suited to the films' settings. I seem to remember that the laserdisc was even wider than the DVD.

 

[Persianimmortal]

also dropped in a suggestion for The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit; a wonderful film with Gregory Peck playing a war veteran whose experiences are coming back to haunt him.

It's a superb film, I'm actually surprised it hasn't come out on Blu-ray yet. The themes of honesty and work/life balance in the movie are just as relevant today as they were when the movie was made.

 

[Randal Gist]

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?--we need more Tashlin on blu-ray--especially The Girl Can't Help It., not mention Martin & Lewis' best films, Artists and Models and Hollywood or Bust. That said, I would also love to see The Tall Men in blu.

 

[haineshisway]

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?--we need more Tashlin on blu-ray--especially The Girl Can't Help It., not mention Martin & Lewis' best films, Artists and Models and Hollywood or Bust. That said, I would also love to see The Tall Men in blu.

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter, as posted by me above, IS on Blu - region B, beautiful transfer as I recall.

 

[revgen]

Voted for Don't Bother to Knock (1952). My favorite Marilyn Monroe movie.