Miscellaneous bits of news and fun stuff from around the Internet...
...I've preordered the UK StudioCanal release of
CIRCLE OF DANGER (1951). This very enjoyable film, starring Ray Milland and Patricia Roc, will be released in February. Extras include interviews with film historians Imogen Sara Smith and Christina Lane.
...Coming to Blu-ray and DVD this March from Classic Flix: A restored edition of the public domain film
MEET JOHN DOE (1941). It will be sourced from the "best available materials" at the Library of Congress.
...Also coming in March, from Arrow Films in the UK:
THE SHOOTIST (1976). It's a 2K remaster from the original 35mm camera negative and comes loaded with extras.
...The Film Noir Foundation announced its schedule for its 21st
Noir City Festival in the Bay Area. The festival takes place in Oakland from January 19-28, 2024. The double bills will pair English-language film noir titles with foreign films, including
HARDLY A CRIMINAL (1949), an Argentinian film I enjoyed at Noir City nearly a decade ago. The schedule is always interesting as a preview of some of the titles which may play in Hollywood later in the year. P.S. It's fun that the great historian Imogen Sara Smith, who now edits the Film Noir Foundation's magazine, is this year's Miss Noir City!
...Thanks to reader Christine for letting me know about the upcoming
two-year renovation of the Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro.
...The January Criterion Channel
streaming lineup will including a tribute to Ava Gardner and a collection of cat movies. I'm intrigued that Criterion was able to license Disney's THAT DARN CAT! (1965) and THE CAT FROM OUTER SPACE (1978) for the series, which also includes
CAT PEOPLE (1942) and RHUBARB (1951).
...Coming to UCLA's Billy Wilder Theater from January through March: A 13-film
Greta Garbo series. Tickets are free, on a first-come, first-served basis with no advance reservations.
...
Fathom Events announced its 2024
Big Screen Classics lineup, which includes THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939), MY FAIR LADY (1964), GONE WITH THE WIND (1939), and
REAR WINDOW (1954). For the second year, each screening will be introduced by Leonard Maltin.
...Southern California historian Chris Nichols has written about Harold Lloyd's legendary Christmas tree for
Los Angeles Magazine.
...The basic version of Amazon Prime Video streaming will be coming
with commercials beginning January 15th. Those who don't want commercials will have to pay an additional $35.88 a year. Streaming continues to morph back into a form of commercial television we thought we might be leaving behind, as libraries are reduced and commercials are added by multiple streaming services.
...Older Angel City Press books which have recently caught my eye:
HOLLYWOOD RIDES A BIKE by Steven Rea and
BUNKER HILL LOS ANGELES by Nathan Marsak.
...Leonard Maltin's "New and Notable Film Books" for this month includes several titles I've purchased, reviewed, or will be reviewing in the future. A very interesting list which I recommend perusing. While you're at it, check out Andy Wolverton's list of the dozen books on film he enjoyed most in 2023.
...I found Maltin's review of FERRARI (2023) intriguing and might try it. It made his list of his favorite films of 2023.
...I've heard nothing but good things about THE BOYS IN THE BOAT (2023), an Olympics-themed film directed by George Clooney, and I definitely plan to see it. Here's a review by Pete Hammond for Deadline.
...I'm intrigued by a biography of Jean Peters coming in March from the University Press of Mississippi.
JEAN PETERS: HOLLYWOOD'S MYSTERY GIRL is by Michelangelo Capua. It will hopefully provide interesting insights not only on Peters but on her one-time husband, Howard Hughes.
..."20 Classic Los Angeles Restaurants Every Angeleno Must Try," from Eater Los Angeles. I'm glad to say I've eaten at a number of them.
...Kim Luperi has a wonderful, photo-filled post on visiting Greer Garson's New Mexico ranch at I See a Dark Theater.
...I loved Colin's "10 of the Best" Western Women column for Riding the High Country.
...Here's Todd Gilchrist of Variety on the success of the 4K release of OPPENHEIMER (2023) in a world where retailers are removing physical media from shelves. I've seen movies disappear from my local Target.
...Glenn Erickson's latest CineSavant reviews for Trailers From Hell include two releases from Australia's Viavision Imprint,
DIAMOND HEAD (1962) and
Essential Film Noir Collection 5. The latter has some really interesting titles: ISLAND OF DOOMED MEN (1940), THE RED MENACE (1949), THE BURGLAR (1957), and 13 WEST STREET (1962). I'll add that it was lovely to find my name in Glenn's "thank you"
Christmas list of correspondents.
...I love that POKEMON CONCIERGE on Netflix uses stop motion animation. Here's a trailer.
...KC of Watching Classic Movies recently discussed Veronica Lake in a podcast with Brian Brown of UCLA.
...I was excited to learn via Toby at
The Hannibal 8 that Film Masters is releasing "B" films on DVD.
Recent releases by Film Masters include CONVICT'S CODE (1939), which Toby
wrote about, and LIGHTHOUSE (1947), which I
reviewed after it was shown on TCM last summer. I urge readers to support these releases so we get more of them!
...Tim Millard of The Extras podcast has reviewed the year with the Warner Archive's George Feltenstein. I'm looking forward to seeing what 2024 brings!
...Vulture recently featured an enjoyable joint interview with Hallmark stars Andrew Walker, Tyler Hynes, and Paul Campbell.
...This week Notable Passings, covering the past month, may be found in a separate post.
...I have a few more odds and ends which I'll save for next weekend, as this week's column is long enough! For additional recent links of interest to classic film fans, please visit my December 2nd column.
Miscellaneous bits of news and fun stuff from around the Internet...
4 Comments:
A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR Laura.
Some wonderful news here firstly I have both of the Film Masters new DVD's and can highly recommend them both. The print quality far outshines what was available before.
Wonderful news about BACK FROM THE DEAD and CIRCLE OF DANGER; a warning Studio Canal's BluRay's are strictly region B locked even my multi region player would not play one of their discs. Their 4K restorations are outstanding, comparable to the finest on the market.
Speaking of CONVICT's CODE's Lambert Hillyer I finally caught up with one of his movies that I have been after for ages GIRLS CAN PLAY (1937) Jacqueline Wells (Julie Bishop) is one of my all time favorite actresses and the film is great fun mixing crime and baseball. The film is much lighter than most of Hillyer's films but still has darker elements, putting a poisonous needle in a catcher's glove is not sporting to say the least. Rita Hayworth has a supporting role and Charles Quigley was also very good.
Laura-Excuse stupid Limey of course I SHOULD have said "Catcher's Mitt" Jacqueline (Julie) looked as if she could play a mean game of baseball I really enjoyed the baseball scenes knowing nothing about the rules of the game.
Just saw The Boys in the Boat two days ago, and it was so enjoyable! Thoroughly so. I highly recommend it.
Happy New Year!
I'm really excited for this year's Fathom Events classics lineup because the AMC theater in my city is FINALLY showing them!!! I used to have to drive an hour or more to a much bigger city for those movies, which I could only make work once a year or so. But now, I can make these happen a lot more! In fact, my family, my brother's family, plus a family we are all friends with (including our kids with their kids) are all going to see The Wizard of Oz together! We have almost a whole reserved just for us, which cracks me up. My kids have never seen it before, and none of us have seen it on the big screen, so this is gonna be epic.
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