Reviews

My # 10 superlative rating of "3-D Essentials" reflects my overall excitement, amazement and enthusiastic reaction to the thrilling content and incredible restoration accomplishments Flicker Alley's release of this incredible compilation demonstrates!! Producer Bob Furmanek and 3-D restorer Greg Kintz have made available the BEST reason for the continued viability of 3-D--- by showing us just how GOOD it really WAS all those years ago!! And, by comparison, how anemic most of today's timid product is . It amazes me to think that current producers, studios and mommies don't realize how much kids LOVE 3-D POP-OUT!!

The box reads: "3-D Rarities: A Collection of 22 Ultra-Rare and Stunningly Restored 3-D Films" And that says it all. From the early-20th century shorts to 1950s previews ("It Came from Outer Space" and "The Maze" most prominent), a Caspar cartoon in wonderful color, shots of the 1939 New York World's Fair.....I could go on, but just check the listings here for complete contents. And learn all about the films and cuttings through the excellent booklet provided.

If you are a fan of 3-D or just believe (correctly) that it's simply too exciting and viable a format to simply "go away" OR be relegated to second-rate timid 21st-century presentations, then "3-D Rarities" is for you and your family. And will you all ever enjoy having a truly representative demo-disc for your friends!!!

I can't rate this disc too highly--that's why the top rating-- 10!!" As a 10-year old 3-D fan in the 1950s, I enjoyed many 3-D films in our small-town theatre and owned many of the View-Master (demo'd) and 3-D comic books shown. Now Greg Kintz and Bob Furmanek have demonstrated that those "relics" are NOT to be forgotten or ignored.

Here's hoping that "3D Rarities" helps spark more interest in the restoration and exhibition of 3-D films from ALL the eras that the 100 years of this essential release covers!!

Interested parties should order this one IMMEDIATELY before it sells out!!!! Do not miss "3-D Rarities."

This performance of one of O'Neill's several masterpieces sorely needs to be released on DVD. It is simply superb!! All four actors acquit themselves mightily, but Ruby Dee gives an interpretation of the tragic Mary Tyrone to break your heart. Earl Hyman as patriarch James Tyrone is also magnificent. O'Neill's text is adapted only slightly to accommodate the African-American characters-- changed from the original Irish-American. I have no doubt O'Neill would totally approve of the non-traditional casting and of this fine production. Please-- let's see this impressive Long Day's Journey into Night on DVD soon! JHB-4 New Orleans

I cannot believe this wonderful program, "A Christmas Memory," has received no votes or comments. But, then, it probably hasn't been seen or available for years. One of Capote's finest short stories, his TV adaptation was an annual small-screen event in the late 60s.

"A Christmas Memory" autobiographical-- concerns the sad little boy who was Truman Capote-- who is shuttled from relative to relative (he's also "Dill" in "To Kill a Mockingbird.") For several winters he stays with these particular relatives-- including the rather simple Sook. The piece is narrated by Capote (sans most of his "preciousness") and just beautifully performed by the wonderful Geraldine Page and a fine youngster named Donnie Melvin. I believe the work was filmed on location in Alabama. I don't remember its being in color but the black & white film was fine-- particularly for the late fall crispness depicted in the enchanting sequence in which Sook and Buddy go to the cabin of the local bootlegger-- a forbidding old Indian named "Ha-Ha"-- to obtain Whisky for the fruit-cakes Sook bakes that they send out to unknown and famous folk-- including the residents of the Roosevelt White House.

The most endearing moment occurs on the morning of December 25th when Buddy and Sook can't contain themselves and make just enough noise to wake the other "aunts"-- the household. As the two grumpy women slip into the room and the conspirators barely contain their delight, the inimitable voice of Capote drolly states: "They'd like to kill us... but it's Christmas, so they can't!"

Ten Stars indeed!!! Find this one if you can!

<"If you are interested in the theatre, there is a good chance that you will like it.>"

And an equally good chance that you will not! Unless you enjoy aimless dialogue that keeps you "Waiting...." until the final merciful curtain.

I'm not criticizing this film version. I wouldn't subject myself to it since I dislike the play so much. I first encountered it in college, hated it then and have managed to almost completely avoid it ever since.

We're all entitled to our opinions so please don't trash or try to correct mine. I know Beckett is considered an "icon" but I'm an open minded person who's given this "sacred cow" all the chances to interest me that I intend to. As a semi-pro actor I've been suggested for both the "main" roles but I couldn't imagine the torture of having to struggle through this script. Or to memorize these meandering lines!!

Sorry, folks, but I guess Beckett just isn't my cuppa !! Perhaps if I still drank alcohol,,,,, Joe

Hello from Joe Bonelli-- a native Mississippian and actor who performs as Tennessee Williams in a one-man show (not an "impersonator" gig). The one-star review of this "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" by a know-nothing here states that maybe that person doesn't understand or appreciate "over the top southern drama." You got it!! This version of the original Williams script, butchered by Hollywood in 1958-- good film, but NOT "Cat"-- is dead on. Tommy Lee Jones, a Texas native, is, in this version, the best Brick I've ever seen. This part is probably the most difficult male role in the Williams' canon and Tommy Lee pulls it off admirably. I like Jessical Lange very much but do not consider her quite right for this, for Blanche in "Streetcar" (which she also plays in a version that doesn't really work well) or Amanda in "Glass Menagerie" (which she is to play on Broadway in early 2005). Rip Torn and the late, lamented Kim Stanley are excellent in their roles and Williams-- who admired both immensely-- would, I believe, have approved. Now don't get me wrong-- there are some fine aspects to the Hollywood film and good performances all around (especially from the brilliant Burl Ives, recreating his Broadway original, and Madeline Sherwood as Sister Woman (Mae)-- ditto!) But the constraints of the Hollywood Production Code really hurt what could have been a true classic. By the way, Williams appreciated the performances of both Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman in the Hollywood bowdlerized version-- as do I. It would have been wonderful to see how these great stars/actors would have handled the original script. I suggest that the writer who doesn't "understand or appreciate over-the-top southern drama" stick to prettily-cast sanitized Hollywood adaptations of great plays and true-to-the-original films of them-- and pass on handing out uninformed opinions about the real thing. You don't have to like a play or a performance-- but you DO need to know something about it before you dismiss fine writing and acting.

Could not let the comments of the unappreciative dismisser of yet another brilliant Cagney performance, go without a challenge. This one was only several years after his Oscar-nominated LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME turn-- Doris Day's finest dramatic hour-- and a couple of years before Cagney's final turn in the hysterically-funny, if dated, Wilder comedy ONE, TWO, THREE. FACES is well done, photography and make-up wise, but I must agree that more concentration on the Chaney career as opposed to the personal story, would make for a more interesting film, overall. If you're a Cagney fan though, it's a must-see. Interesting appearance by then-up & coming actor Robert Evans as Hollywood's "boy-wonder" producer and studio semi-head, Irving Thalberg. What a prologue to a true-life career change!!

FRAILTY is a superb reminder that small films can be among the very best. Bill Paxton's eerie directorial debut is reminiscent of the Charles Laughton classic THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER. His subtle performance in the pivotal role of the father who is called by an "angel" to destroy "demons," is just right and obviously inspires truly amazing work from the two young boys, Matthew O'Leary and Jeremy Sumpter, who are cast as his sons. O'Leary, in particular, gives a stunning performance as the older son who does not fall under his father's spell. Matthew McConoughey turns in fine, understated work as the teller of the tale, as does Powers Boothe in the role of an FBI agent who is the recipient of the grown-up son's narrative. Subdued color photography, recalling the best of the black-and-white era, and an enveloping use of sound, create a really disturbing atmosphere. And Paxton's restraint in the use of violence, reminds us that the best of "thrillers" really thrill because so much is left to the imagination. What one does NOT see is far more frightening than all the bloody mayhem that all the Freddy Kruegers and Jasons will ever present to a too-jaded public. Perhaps my being a Southerner makes FRAILTY work so well for me. Southerners know the mindset that could create these people and situations. This one is for thoughtful adults and mature teens who are looking for provocative "entertainment" --- and a real scare! Check out FRAILTY before it gets out of the theaters!! And pick a room with a GREAT sound system!!

A bright youngster interested in "serious" music (admittedly a vanishing breed--who'll play the fiddle when no one can play the violin??"--could find this an interesting fiction about street kids and great musical stars. Heifitz was indeed the greatest violinist of his generation and the film gives him a rare on-screen chance to display his technique. The kids, especially Gene Reynolds, are fine and, all in all, the pic is a good example of first-rate studio family fare of the late 30's. It doesn't hit the top of the great '39 list, but it's a nice way for an intelligent family to spend a rainy afternoon with AMC or the Video Store--- good luck at Blockbuster!!!!

This is a beautifully scripted and acted version of the Dickens novel. The mini-series form allows the most detailed and complete rendition yet. Performances are especially fine, with three fine young Davids (though none to compare with the definitive Freddie Bartholomew), and a Mr. Macawber by Simon Callow to rank with the classic W.C.Fields. This is the only adaptation I've seen to rival the wonderful David O. Selznick Hollywood B&W film. This surely will sound like heresy to many British folk, but Selznick's film sets the stage for his masterful paring-down of Gone With the Wind, and gives the essentials for our enjoyment. Still, I wish this BBC mini-series would be issued for home video (ONE multi-layered DVD would do it). Then I could play it for my bright young nieces. Such exposure MIGHT even lead them to read the book when they get a little older, just as the Selznick did for me. Top marks all round!!

One only has to read the cast list and credits to salivate in anticipation of this DAVID COPPERFIELD, but, alas, alas! How so much major acting and directorial talent could have turned one of literature's richest tales into such a monumental BORE, is totally beyond me. It's pretty to look at with lovely photography, particularly the Yarmouth sequences, but, JUST PLAIN DULL!!! No need to go on! Skip it and check out the Selznick or the marvelous BBC mini-series from the 1980's.