Oh, no he's not. Watching it, it's pretty obvious that the whole thing is a put-on. A very well made put-on, granted, but it does fall off its razor's edge a time or too. No matter -- it's still hilarious.
Fun Fact trivia: On location in Scotland, Ivanhoe's cinematographer Freddie Young, who later shot Lawrence of Arabia, made fine use of the countryside and Doune Castle -- years before the castle returned in its greatest star appearance in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Suddenly Ivanhoe's siege...
In January '03 I saw a screening of a longer cut of Jersey Girl with Smith, David Duchovny, and others. (There's a long story behind how that came to be.) That cut was better than the version released theatrically and on the current DVD. It was a stronger film. The scenes depicting how Ollie and...
in "Animal Crackers" is the line "I think I'd like to make her." still cut out? It's still cut, darn it, as is Harpo putting his head in Thelma Todd's lap in Horse Feathers' chopped-up "ice man" scene. These are the same prints that have been in circulation (although Dave Kehr in the New...
In the FWIW dept., I received the set today and am now sitting at my workplace desk with Animal Crackers running on my laptop next to my office computer. I'm only at Chico's "If we don't play, that-a runs into money" bit, and already I can see significant improvement over my beloved Image...
I'm with ArthurMy and Ronald on this one, in a big way. Yes, of course I'd love to see these films restored or otherwise given the spruce-up they need and deserve. Duck Soup, at least, deserves a Criterion treatment for all the usual, erm, criteria. But for now I'm very pleased that they're...
Thanks, Randy. By ragged I meant, as you say, awkward and obvious. It's a double pity because it happens during a song lyric, so it blows the rhythm of the line. As to whether there's only one source print for Animal Crackers, it just now occurs to me that Glenn Mitchell's exhaustive...
What I'm most curious about: If the source prints are the same used for the Image discs, or if better ones are available. (I don't even know that better ones exist, but here's hoping.) I should be getting a review copy verysoonnow, and the first scene I'll check will be early in Animal...
Orlock instead of Dracula is how the movie was originally released, so it's a matter of not changing the names back, not cutting the names out. Oh, heavens, yes. Any print that calls the vampire "Dracula" should be replaced with any edition that preserves the original "Count Orlock."...
I adore David Shepard's edition from Image, especially for its Silent Orchestra score. However, the BFI release -- available at amazon.co.uk -- includes the much-praised score by James Bernard (Hammer's court composer), and (so I hear) finally gives Orlock ample head room when he rises stiff as...
Thanks for the information. I'm surprised that there's so little word on what I'd assume would be an obviously DVD release. I recall enjoying the Lincoln Center production quite a lot, and it's been 14 years since it aired. Ah well. If there's anything I've learned from waiting for DVDs...
With the recent releases of Sweeney Todd and the Stephen Sondheim Collection (Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George, Follies in Concert, Passion, Sweeney Todd in Concert, A Celebration at Carnegie Hall), I've been expecting my favorite (by a wide margin) Sondheim musical, A Little Night...
The H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival is one of the things I love about quirky Portland. My wife and I never miss it. The fellow behind the festival has put out a couple of VHS's of assorted entries, so it's good to know that at least one DVD is also on the stands. Here's hoping for more soon. The...
That's true. In the commentary, Nimoy posits that the answer to the question "do they 'do it'?" is an uncommitting yes, and that Saavik ultimately stays on Vulcan quite probably because she's carrying Spock's child. He doesn't absolutely nail it down, but (as I recall) he sure sounds like that's...
Anyone here have the scoop on why MPI (or whoever now owns it) hasn't had an edition of HELP! on the stands for years? Any news about a reissue? Spending $80+ for one on eBay or at Amazon is not my first choice. Thanks. --MB
Once I get new SE's of King Kong and Forbidden Planet, my days of DVD-gathering and -writing will -- at least emotionally -- be over. There are no two more highly desired discs left on my "desert island" list. So while I'd love love love for this apparent rumor to be true, my gut tells me that...
I had the same problem with the same disc, THE CIRCUS Disc Two. The first time I played it on my Sony, it loaded only reluctantly -- after much hesitation and even then it gave me serious trouble navigating the menus. I figured that I had a flukey faulty disc, but I had a review to write, so...
David Kalat's commentary on Image's two-disc release of Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler is one of the most illuminating and entertaining historian tracks I've heard.
Damn. I guess I should feel fortunate because I can't see it (for whatever reason), but it's a shame that the blurring remains a technical reality and that it's a real bother to some viewers.
700?! Yes, congrats! Jeez. By my quickie calculations, that represents almost two months straight of non-stop, round-the-clock, no-bathroom-breaks movie-watching.
Heh. Happy accidents indeed. By the way, MarkZ, I continue to be impressed by your and others' reviews at digitallyobsessed.com. It's one of my few gotta-read review sites because so often the writing is as good as the reviews are thorough, a rare combination. (John Sinnott at DVDTalk, and...
I'm with Michael. Throughout the Volume 1 set I could spot the ghosting only when I step-framed, obviously not something I'm prone to do while simply enjoying the movie. Otherwise I'd never know it was there, though I was never sure whether that suggested a flaw in my eyesight or if when it...
The Chaplin Revue has long been a point of bother for Chaplin fans for that reason among others (e.g., some scenes in the reissue were assembled from Camera B takes that differed sharply from the original versions). The physical alterations made for The Chaplin Revue are at least as irksome as...
Granted, THE COCOANUTS and ANIMAL CRACKERS -- once you're past watching them for the first time -- seem to be made for the fast-forward button that gets you from one Marx scene to the next without having to endure the supporting actors and sappy songs. However, those films are derived from...