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My request is a new transfer to digital of Korda's The Thief of Bagdad (1940). I read years ago that there had been an optical restoration of the film, paid for by some of the remarkable filmmakers of the moment (Scorsese, Spielberg, Lucas?) who recognized it as one of the great fantasy films...

This is a brilliant crucial first step in a project that I've dreamed of for many years. THANK YOU. Laurel and Hardy are among the great geniuses of world cinema. I hope that Orson Bean got to see many of these restorations, before his recent death (at 91) as a pedestrian in a grotesque...

Are there plans to restore the Korda-Michael Powell version of THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1940)? Restored photo-chemically many years ago, it's badly in need of sophisticated digital restoration. I thank the Criterion Collection for remaining (the recent release of THE HEIRESS demonstrates this) in...

I haven't seen "The Giant Behemoth" (after reading Robert Harris's words I've just ordered it), but let me second Harris's high opinion of "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms." It's my favorite of the black-and-white Harryhausen films I've seen, with a marvelous, indelible performance by Cecil...

The care and necessarily fanatical attention to detail that Robert Harris has demonstrated over several generations of technological innovation--saving what was about to be lost, then twenty years later doing it again with better tools and even more impressive results--deserve an Oscar. Film...

I share Anthony's frustration. It seems to me incomprehensible that chapter stops are not keyed to musical numbers. How often do viewers return to "scenes" in a musical, rather than numbers? Does George Feltenstein really often not just want to see "Dancing in the Dark" or "Triplets"? The...

It's extremely easy to order from Amazon Japan. You have an option to view the page in English. Not everything is translated, but generally enough to make your way. All Amazon pages everywhere in the world have the same layout. So if you have become a creature of Amazon, as I have, you can...

Matt just doesn't "get" La Notte, and it's sad he chose to review it. Let me say flat out that I think it's one of the greatest films ever made. It's now available in Blu-ray in a staggeringly beautiful print. The film now once again has the visual subtlety that it had when I first saw it in...

It should be noted that there was, very briefly, a beautiful copy of "Fire Over England" available on DVD from Lumivision. Its source was a gorgeous nitrate print from George Eastman House. Few Lumivision DVDs were ever issued; it was a successful company on lazer disc. Let's hope that the...

Sorry--for some reason this posted twice.

"Samson and Delilah" came out when I was ten. When I watch it I'm ten again. Hedy Lamarr is the most beautiful woman in the world--infinitely duplicitous, but only because she loves Samson so much. Samson lumbers around, sincere, destructive, unable to tell who really loves him and who is...

Bob Furmanek and GregK, thank you! I'm glad to know that the separation I was hearing--separation that always seemed too good to come from fake electronic rechannelling, so common in the early days of Stereo--was from surviving stems, even if the original 3 track mix hadn't survived. It's a...

The Paramount VHS pre-recorded tape of WAR OF THE WORLDS was in Stereo. At the time I thought it was genuine Stereo; if it was fake, electronic Stereo, it was elegantly and discreetly done. I was surprised when it was released. At the time I didn't know what Mr. Furmanek is now telling us...

YES--to the good folks at Paramount who gave us the superb Blu-ray of "Sunset Boulevard" though the original negative no longer exists, please give us a Blu-ray of "Samson and Delilah." You've spent the money on an extensive restoration. Now make the money that a Blu-ray will get you. A DVD...

Gary, remember that "Buck Privates" contains a great musical number, "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." Someone at Universal clearly knew they had a great song; it's staged economically but brilliantly. The biggest problem with the DVD is the Dolby Digital sound on this number--it's rather thin and...