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digitalbits rumor mill 10/31 - Grand Hotel, My Fair Lady: SE, Tom & Jerry, more! - Page 2

post #31 of 40
11/1/03 at 6:17pm
Thanks for the additional information, Mark. I had completely forgotten Julie Andrews made Mary Poppins (and won) that same year. And it seems perfectly logical that if the Academy chose to give Rex Harrison an award that basically honored him for his years of playing Higgins, they'd honor Julie Andrews in the same way.

Looking back on the actresses and films, I would have given Hepburn the 1964 Oscar for My Fair Lady over Andrews in Mary Poppins. Julie Andrews then would receive the 1965 Oscar for The Sound Of Music (Julie Andrews IS Maria von Trapp! -- although I must admit I have never seen Darling, so I cannot comment on whether Julie Christie's performance that year truly was better than Julie Andrews in The Sound Of Music).
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post #32 of 40
11/1/03 at 6:20pm
Quote:
I hope so too & UNCUT! In this age of extreme PC, these Tarzan films are far from being PC. I hope they slip under the radar of the PC Police. If they don't make it to DVD uncut, I still have my LDs which are unedited.


I'm assuming "Tarzan and His Mate" is one of the films you're thinking of. The VHS version is definitely uncut. It's pretty shocking to see "adult" scenes in a film that's almost 70 years old.
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post #33 of 40
11/1/03 at 6:58pm
I'm very concerned that any Tom and Jerry releases will get smacked by the political correctness police as well. Some of the episodes that have been officially released on DVD already (including Best Picture Academy Award winners!! ) have been censored (most notably The Little Orphan) regardless of the fact that we are talking about movie history. Some of the cartoons are 60 years old and made when America had a different mentality regarding topics like race. That does not justify current censorship as far as I'm concerned, and I will not purchase any DVDs that contain censored episodes. I'd rather purchase the Art of Tom and Jerry laserdiscs which (from what I understand) are uncensored, with the exception of possibly one episode with voice-over by June Foray.
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post #34 of 40
11/1/03 at 8:25pm
Jim*F-

I agree with you and like your retroactive "corrections."


On a completely different note, I am trilled that The Thin Man series is going to be coming out...the one film looks so lonely not having the other Nick, Nora, and Asta films sitting next to it on my shelf.


Mark
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post #35 of 40
11/1/03 at 9:30pm
Jack Warner got burned when he cast John Raitt (The Pajama Game) and Gwen Verdon (Damn Yankees) in the film versions of their Broadway shows - neither had made a film before and neither scored big at the box office.

Warner wasn't going to take the same chance on his very expensive film version of "My Fair Lady" plus overseas income counted for more than half of a major film's profits in the 60's and Hepburn was international box office.

According to memos from Jack Warner Audrey was always the only choice for the role of Eliza (in 1961) Though actors considered for Higgins were Peter O'Toole (who was offered the role but was too expensive) David Niven, Rock Hudson and Cary Grant. Rex wasn't big box-office either but with Audrey's name on the marque it wouldn't matter as much. (Both Rex Harrison and Robert Preston (The Music Man - Warner again) had made many films before Warner cast them in their stage roles, Julie Andrews hadn't made any films and was know not to photograph very well from her Television appearences, so she was a risk at the time of production, had the film been made a year later she would have been cast - but Rex may not have.
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post #36 of 40
11/2/03 at 1:16pm
Quote:
I'm assuming "Tarzan and His Mate" is one of the films you're thinking of. The VHS version is definitely uncut. It's pretty shocking to see "adult" scenes in a film that's almost 70 years old
"Tarzan and His Mate" is pre-code, so they could use those nude swimming scenes. The other concerns I have about these films & the PC Police involve animal treatment & the portrayal of the African natives.
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post #37 of 40
11/2/03 at 1:36pm
that is great news about Weismuller's Tarzan finally coming to DVD in what I hope will be uncut versions

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post #38 of 40
11/2/03 at 7:37pm
Oscar, I may have missed something (believe me, that's always possible), but I think the Tarzan mentions thusfar have been as "hoped for" releases, titles folks would like to see (uncut, but I don't believe that's an issue -- most of the risque material from Pre-Code Hollywood involves inuendo, women in undergarments, the occasional curse word or lustful reference, and of course the violence of those early gangster pictures -- the nude bathing scene in Tarzan and His Mate is a rarity in major studio Pre-Code, but all of the nudity, if I recall, is shot from a fair distance and, well, underwater; I doubt it would warrant more than a PG today ... heck, a Union Soldier is shot in the face, in close-up, in Gone With the Wind, and when that was last re-released, it carried a PG rating ... Tarzan isn't Eyes Wide Shut ; I can't for a moment imagine that WB would edit it at the expense of the only notable market for the film: classic fans ... as to the un-PC material, I really do believe the Tarzan movies are thought of as feature classics, and held in a different strata from animated shorts, though of course everything should be preserved unedited for audiences; there's un-PC material -- unless it's blatantly racist or sexist, I rarely notice it personally, but I'm sure we could come up with a fair-sized list if we tried -- to be found in countless classic films on disc already, from WB and other studios); has anyone actually heard that these are on the way? I'm sure we'll see them eventually, but I haven't heard mention of anything official yet.
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post #39 of 40
11/2/03 at 9:13pm
I'm personally waiting for:

-Red-Headed Woman (1932)
-Red Dust (1932)
-Bombshell (1933)
-Dinner at Eight (1933)
-Libeled Lady (1936)

.....And yes, I'm a MAJOR Jean Harlow fan if you probably haven't guessed:b

Reg
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post #40 of 40
11/2/03 at 9:25pm
My personal favorite is Wife vs. Secretary (1936), which seems to survive in outstanding quality. I hope WB brings it to DVD.

You'll be happy to hear that they have indicated Libeled Lady will arive next year. 2004 is shaping up to be very special for classic fans by way of several studios. 2003 wasn't so shabby, either.
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