Quote (originally posted by Joe Karlosi):
"Mario - one problem is, I don't know if Mike is talking about loaning the films out. I know he said he'd let me borrow BIRTH OF A NATION, and I intend to do a blind buy of GONE WITH THE WIND myself at some point. I can't guarantee that I'd go out and buy all the films he's suggesting, though - and I wouldn't expect him to, either. There is always rental. And as you know, I have friends who have many different types of films, but the irony of that is we've stopped loaning discs out recently (I think we tended to keep the others' for too long!)
And I have a confession to make that I'm sure is not unique - I'm not one who feels comfortable lending my DVDs out - especially by mail order.
I HAVE exchanged movies with friends here at home, and even there I get kind of uneasy about it, but it's generally safer than going through the mail, and I know these friends and their habits (no offense to anyone intended)."
Damn, that is unfortunate, Joe! Does this mean that you won't be borrowing that long-promised Luis Bunuel film - THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE (1977) - from you friend, now
?
I certainly empathize with your uneasiness regarding the loaning out of one's own DVDs to friends and relatives. I myself would like nothing better than to introduce 6 like-minded friends of mine to many films I love which I know they haven't seen (or even heard of) yet but so far I've only loaned out those discs which, for various reasons, I happened to have more than 1 copy of, namely HENRY V (1944), BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1946), MILL OF THE STONE WOMEN (1960) and NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE (1979). At the moment, I have some 13 more of these but I've been dragging my feet for weeks about "concluding the transaction", so to speak! We have been exchanging lots of VHS and DVD-Rs, though...
Quote (originally posted by Joe Karlosi):
"Mike, would you take off PATHS OF GLORY instead?"
Although GANGS OF NEW YORK (2002) was, on the whole, an excellent film, I suggest you don't skip PATHS OF GLORY (1957), Joe - not only because it is one of the greatest anti-war films ever made or because it features a superb cast in peak form (Kirk Douglas, George Macready, Adolphe Menjou, Ralph Meeker, Timothy Carey, Richard Anderson) but also because it would give you the chance of watching Stanley Kubrick at work BEFORE he became Stanley Kubrick. As a matter of fact, I still think of PATHS OF GLORY as possibly Kubrick's finest film!
Quote (originally posted by Michael Elliott):
"Mario, I'd probably go a step further and call THE CAMERAMAN the greatest comedy I've ever seen. I watched it for the first time last year and I honestly don't ever remember laughing so hard. I still prefer THE GENERAL overall but as far as laughs go, THE CAMERAMAN was the best Keaton and I'd say better than any of Chaplin's straight comedies."
Mike, I must say I was surprised that you hadn't watched THE CAMERAMAN (1928) prior to getting the Warners set but I'm certainly glad that you like it so much. In fact, I'd personally rank it at No. 4 in Keaton's canon after THE GENERAL (1927), SHERLOCK JR. (1924) and OUR HOSPITALITY (1923). I too laughed out loud lots of times (especially when Buster trampled over that amiable chimp
) when I watched the film on DVD...and that was my third viewing! I've often expressed myself on Chaplin so I won't go into it again here; suffice to say that Buster Keaton is not only my all-time favorite solo comedian, but I also consider him to be one of the greatest artists of the 20th Century...no kidding! However, I must say that going through that two-week stretch of back-to-back film comedy viewings (taking in Keaton, W.C. Fields, The Marx Brothers, Laurel & Hardy and Abbott & Costello) made me all the more eager to get to the 10 Chaplin titles I have in my "DVDs To Watch" pile!
Quote (originally posted by Michael Elliott):
"I'm actually going to take off GANGS OF NEW YORK and replace it with ON THE WATERFRONT. And yep, I will gladly send these to Joe so he can watch them. I want him to watch the early Griffith shorts on the BIRTH disc and God knows I wouldn't recommend the film as a blind buy. I might also take off CHINATOWN and replace it with an earlier noir like OUT OF THE PAST"
Well, Mike, you sure know how to pick 'em
! For the record, I had all but given up on receiving my copy of Warners' 5-Disc "Film Noir Collection" Box Set when it found itself, unexpectedly, in my mail box at Christmas time...after more than 2 months in the mail!
Quote (originally posted by Michael Elliott):
"As far as A HARD DAYS NIGHT goes, too many Franco not enough musicals. Sorry, I just got a Franco double feature in the mail 5 minutes ago.
BTW Mario, where's your BARBED WIRE DOLLS review? I've been looking for it at a few places and was shocked you didn't care for it. For a WIP film, I thought it was a lot of fun. I also enjoyed SADOMANIA so perhaps that's saying something. Either way, 99 WOMEN and VENUS IN FURS should be here in a month."
Well, after being on a Jess Franco binge myself (watching 37 of his films over a period of 20 months), I'm a little worn out - I will be eventually renting VOODOO PASSION (1977) and LOVE CAMP (1977), though. Incidentally, while I was looking forward to the upcoming 2 Blue Underground releases, I'm disappointed that (apparently) 99 WOMEN (1968) is no longer a 2-Disc Set but rather 2 separate single disc editions. I already own the film on DVD-R so I don't know whether I'll be upgrading now but I guess I'll decide after reading some online reviews. Then again, VENUS IN FURS (1968) is arguably Jess' best film so, although I already have it on VHS, upgrading it to DVD is a given.
As for my reviews, Mike, I've taken a back seat from writing them for the moment for, although I had great fun doing them and discussing them on the Forums, they simply took too much of my time. Since one of my New Year Resolutions was that I get to grips with all my unwatched DVDs in 2005 (currently numbering some 278!), I hardly have time to spend hours on a review anymore. Still, I'm grateful that you looked out for them (as I do for yours on the HTF) and, if you didn't know already, you can read most of them on the IMDB user comments.
