Jacqui

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

Yeah I went into Amazon to order the Newman and Cooper boxsets and found they were gone. I thought I was going nuts!! But went to a couple of other online stores and found that they had the pre-orders and artwork up and running.

Thanks for the info guys.

Lucas Anderson

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

Just going on to pre-order the Newman boxset, what does GIFT SLIM mean for the uneducated (such as myself)

Here is the link:

http://www.dvdpacific.com/item.asp?ID=750273

MarcoBiscotti

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

Slim case packaging (as opposed to keepcase) one would assume..

Cees Alons

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

I never saw the box sets announced anywhere on any retailer's site I frequent. The individual titles begin to show up though.

But I hesitate to order the indivdual titles if the word is still that box sets will appear.

Anyone who knows more about it?


Edit: Correction, just found the Paul Newman (11/14/06) and the Gary Cooper (11/07/06) Collections. No trace of the Brando Set (yet?).


Cees

Frank M

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

http://www.dvdpacific.com/item.asp?ID=750229

Cees Alons

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

Thanks, Frank! The Marlon Brando Collection indeed, due 11/07/2006.

I'm not a member there, but I'm particularly glad I have the product id. now and the UPC #.

Thanks again!


Cees

DanMel

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

I read down this very old thread, but it doesn't seem like anyone on this forum actually challenged this claim that Sergeant York was just a bunch of propaganda, so I will let the actual real life story of Sergeant York below explain in detail just how accurate this movie was on his life. Alvin York was on the WB set every day seeing to it that they kept to the facts on his story and did not try to make it into a fictional Hollywood movie in any way. I would guess that a german as yourself would be a person that would not like this movie very much. I am nearly 100 percent German myself but as I was born in the United States as was my parents and grandparents, I don't particularly like any movies that were made out of the good old United States.

You state you are a Howard Hawks fan, which I am as well. I would like to bring to your attention that Sergeant York has been the number 1 or number 2 best selling movie of ALL the Howard Hawks movies being sold on Amazon ever since it was released in Nov of 2006. Today it is second only to another Gary Cooper movie Ball of Fire. It would seem that the two favorite Howard Hawks movies outside of this small crowd that posts here that are mostly proffessional film critics believe these to be Hawks two best movies over all the John Wayne movies and the like.

Amazon.com Movies & TV Bestsellers: The most popular items in Hawks, Howard. Updated hourly.

True account of Alvin York for the record:

York was inducted into the United States Army and served in Company G, 328th Infantry Regiment, 82nd Infantry Division at Camp Gordon, Georgia. Discussion of the Biblical stance on war with his company commander, Captain Edward Courtney Bullock Danforth (1894–1974) of Augusta, Georgia and his battalion commander, Major Gonzalo Edward Buxton (1880–1949) of Providence, Rhode Island, eventually convinced York that warfare could be justified.[1]

During a mission to secure the German Decauville rail-line on October 8, 1918, York's actions earned him the Medal of Honor. He recalled:

"The Germans got us, and they got us right smart. They just stopped us dead in our tracks. Their machine guns were up there on the heights overlooking us and well hidden, and we couldn’t tell for certain where the terrible heavy fire was coming from… And I'm telling you they were shooting straight. Our boys just went down like the long grass before the mowing machine at home. Our attack just faded out… And there we were, lying down, about halfway across [the valley] and those German machine guns and big shells getting us hard."[3]

The German fire took a heavy toll on the regiment. Seventeen men under the command of Sergeant Bernard Early (which included York) infiltrated behind the German lines to take out the machine guns. The group worked their way behind the Germans and overran the headquarters of a German unit, capturing a large group of German soldiers who were preparing to counter-attack against the US troops. Early’s men were contending with the prisoners when machine gun fire suddenly peppered the area, killing six Americans, Corp. Murray Savage, and Pvts. Maryan E. Dymowski, Ralph E. Weiler, Fred Waring, William Wins and Walter E. Swanson, and wounding three others, Sgt. Early, Corp. William S. Cutting (AKA Otis B. Merrithew) and Pvt. Mario Muzzi. The fire came from German machine guns on the ridge, which turned their weapons on the US soldiers. The loss of the nine put Corporal York in charge of the seven remaining U.S. soldiers, Privates Joseph Konotski (Kornacki), Percy Beardsley, Feodor Sok, Thomas C. Johnson, Michael A. Saccina, Patrick Donohue and George W. Wills. As his men remained under cover, and guarding the prisoners, York worked his way into position to silence the German machine guns. York recalled:

"And those machine guns were spitting fire and cutting down the undergrowth all around me something awful. And the Germans were yelling orders. You never heard such a racket in all of your life. I didn't have time to dodge behind a tree or dive into the brush… As soon as the machine guns opened fire on me, I began to exchange shots with them. There were over thirty of them in continuous action, and all I could do was touch the Germans off just as fast as I could. I was sharp shooting… All the time I kept yelling at them to come down. I didn't want to kill any more than I had to. But it was they or I. And I was giving them the best I had."[4]

One of York’s prisoners, German First Lieutenant Paul Jürgen Vollmer, emptied his pistol trying to kill York while he was contending with the machine guns. Failing to injure York, and seeing his mounting losses, he offered to surrender the unit to York, which was gladly accepted. By the end of the engagement, York and his seven men marched 132 German prisoners back to the American lines. His actions silenced the German machine guns and were responsible for enabling the 328th Infantry Regiment to renew the offensive to capture the Decauville Railroad.[5]

York was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroism, but this was upgraded to the Medal of Honor, which was presented to York by the commanding general of the American Expeditionary Force, General John J. Pershing. The French Republic awarded him the Croix de Guerre and Legion of Honor. Italy and Montenegro awarded him the Croce di Guerra and War Medal, respectively.

York was a Corporal during the action. His promotion to sergeant was part of the honor for his valor. Of his deeds York said to his division commander, General Duncan, in 1919: "A higher power than man power guided and watched over me and told me what to do."

Sergeant York was selected to be a pallbearer for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier when it was created.

DanMel

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER

On his early life there is this documentation posted:

"Alvin Collum York was born to an impoverished farming family in Tennessee on December 13, 1887, the third of eleven children.[1] Up until a few years before the war, York was hard drinking and prone to fighting in saloons. His mother, a member of a pacifist Christian denomination, tried to convince York to change his ways to no avail. However, during a night of heavy drinking when he and a friend got into a fight with other saloon patrons, York's friend was killed. The event shook York so much that he finally followed his mother and became a Christian, no longer fighting or drinking. On June 5, 1917, at the age of 29, Alvin York received a notice to register for the draft. From that day until he arrived back from the War on May 29, 1919, he kept a diary of his activities.[2] There is some controversy on whether he was an official conscientious objector. Most people agreed that York was a pacifist after the death of his friend, but whether he was an official conscientious objector for draft is debatable. According to documentation, York applied to be a conscientious objector for the draft but was never approved. Whether this is because York withdrew the application or there was simply not enough time is not entirely clear."

However, this so called controversy on him being a consciencous objector is clearly refuted simply by looking at his original registration card that clearly states "don't want to fight".

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/a...tionforwar.jpg

So to sum it up I would say that Sergeant York just may be the most accurate movie ever made on a person's life. The only detail that I know of from the movie that was not accurate is that he was not struck by a bolt of Lighting that caused his conversion. He stated that his conversion to Christianity was a more gradual process brought on from conversations with Gracie, but for the sake of time of a 2 hour plus movie they added that quicker scene into it.

Simon Howson

Re: COOPER, BRANDO, AND NEWMAN BOXSETS IN NOVEMBER