With a Song in My Heart - The Jane Froman Story (1952) Review

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(More customer reviews)This movie has never been released in ANY format so this is a cause for celebration for this highly sought after flick. Many fine reviews have already preceded mine (considering it is not yet available) so I will not rehash the plot but give what I hope will be interesting insights into the making of this fine film.
Susan during her contract with FOX were her most visible superstardom years and it has always struck me a bit odd little has been released by the studio considering a quarter of their budget was wrapped up in her movies alone. She was the only star at Grauman's to place her hands, footprints and signature in cement embedded in gold dust. Hayward's famous long red tresses were insured for a million dollars and could only be trimmed a half inch. She was allowed to have it cut shoulder length since she bore some resemblence to Jane Froman. She spent hours in the recording booth watching Froman sing the songs used on the soundtrack, noting her every gesture and movement which explains why her lip syncing job is one of the best on celluloid. Her lavish wardrobe was not for glamor but character, as Froman was voted consistently one of the top 10 best dressed women of her time. Her elaborate dance routines took weeks of rehearsal and during one shot, her breast was flashed during a daily rush and and had to be reshot. A young Bob Wagner credits his success to Hayward for taking him under her wing. This was his first major film albeit a small part and he had to cry in one scene while Hayward was singing which he found difficult to execute. Hayward deliberately had the camers focused on the back of her head during the scene as she prompted him to tears. In the 70's he remarked on THE TONIGHT SHOW what a tremendous help she was to a young struggling actor. Susan was not one for making friends with her peers; however, the ascerbic Thelma Ritter as her nurse and companion became life-long friends. Ritter who was also nominated for an oscar should have won. She was overlooked by the Academy 6 times and never received an award of any type. Poor judgement indeed.
Susan made many top money making films for Fox and was always voted one of the top 10 most popular movies during her tenure with FOX yet few have been released and this is her only Oscar nod during her contract with the company. She was cast in big budget movies and given interesting scenes to appeal to her creative talents and despite the overblown budgets, she always managed to bring a close intimacy to the moviegoing public. The next year after SONG she was given her best and most overlooked role as the maligned Rachel Jackeson in THE PRESIDENT'S LADY co-starring a fairly junior Charleton Heston. He was one of her better male leads as their chemistry on screen crackled with electricity.
This grand scale musical was the biggest moneymaker in it's category for 1952 and she was voted the "Most Popular Female Star of 1952" and won a Golden Globe award. Here it is...and it's a long time coming. This one woman show leans towards sentimentality at times, but Hayward never allows it to become maudlin. Under her cabable hands she has managed to give one of the finest musical performances in film history.
This is a classic movie for everyone in the family to enjoy. Sit back and watch a real pro at work here. She is that rare combination of beauty and talent that is seldom found in Hollywood.
A one of a kind movie with a one of a kind actress--the great Susan Hayward. And it is tragic she died at the age of 56 just as she was returning to movies and having great success in important made for TV movies (at a time when this medium was usually silly fare).
ABOUT TIME!!!! More FOX, please!!!

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The Pink Panther Film Collection (The Pink Panther / A Shot in the Dark / Strikes Again / Revenge of / Trail of) (1964) Review

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(More customer reviews)Having been a fan of "The Pink Panther" series from childhood, I was ecstatic that this set was being released, as the films are otherwise out of print on DVD (although luckily I still have my trusty VHS copies in reserve). I am tempted to give the set five stars simply because it is a wonderful day to see these films back in print, but realistically I had to take it down a notch as there a couple of negative considerations, the most obvious of which, of course, is the absence of "Return of the Pink Panther" from the collection, ostensibly because of legal hang-ups. Whatever the cause, the absence of the first of the 1970s-era "Panthers" is sorely missed. The other minor negative is the relative absence of special features on the movie DVDs, although the original "Pink Panther" has a wonderful trivia track. I would have really loved commentary tracks with Blake Edwards and some of the actors. I am somewhat ambivalent on the extremely unusual packaging the set comes in. It is hard to adequately describe the case, but suffice it to say that removing half of the DVDs is annoyingly difficult, although it looks very stylish.
On the positive end, you get four great "Panther" movies and the bodged-together "Trail of the Pink Panther", plus a disk of extras. Some people have dismissed the extras disk as inconsequential, but I rather enjoyed it. I particularly liked the documentary "The Pink Panther Story" which was heavy on interviews and insight. I had no idea that Sellers hated "A Shot in the Dark", whereas I (and many others) think it is a perfect movie in every way. I knew that Sellers could be somewhat Mercurial to work with, but I had no idea, for instance, that he had certain colors that he would not tolerate around him, and in fact made the producers of one of the movies once repaint a train because he couldn't stand the color! Also on the disk is a documentary about the animated Panther, which is quite interesting, as well as several of the short subject cartoons, which seem selected at random. They did include the Oscar winning "Pink Phink", the first cartoon short of the Pink Panther, which was an excellent choice. "Psychedelic Pink" included an annoying laugh track, and "Pinkfinger" was one of the weaker of the cartoons, which I have great recollection of from childhood. Interestingly enough, there are two related subject cartoons, one each of the Ant and the Aardvark, and The Inspector (in a fairly weak episode) to round out the extra disk.
This is a great set overall, with just a couple of things bringing it down to a four rating. I recommend it to all "Panther" fans everywhere, and to anyone who loves to laugh.

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Disc 1: THE PINK PANTHER Disc 2: REVENGE OF THE PINK PANTHER Disc 3: THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN Disc 4: A SHOT IN THE DARK Disc 5: TRAIL OF THE PINK PANTHER Disc 6: BONUS DISC

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Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)There's much more to this movie than might be seen by your average reviewer. Yes, it repeats itself. Yes, it uses obvious gags. But, such is the spirit and style of the Austin Powers series. Myers may reuse jokes, or use obvious gags.... but the point here is that he does them WELL. He isn't repeating material from the first two movies because he's lazy. Anyone who knows him will tell you very quickly that he'd never let that happen... he is doing is because its funny. The opening is an obvious preparation for such total absurdity (and even a mockery of its own popularity) and all references to earlier movies are done with such self-consciousness that he obviously wants us to think about the previous films. He isn't trying to make it seem new.
Its barely a shallow movie, either. If anyone knows the background to the Austin Powers series, you've probably heard about Mike's amazing devotion to his father, Eric. (note the name of the production company.... Eric's Boy) And, what subject perpetuates Goldmember, in jest or in somber truth? Family and fatherhood. No, this isn't Shakespeare, but he is contemplating an issue in a special way that only a comedian can do. It is as if he is laughing at the Mike Myers that made the first two films. On that level of self-realization, the film is hardly shallow. If comedies aren't your bag, or you have to cry all the way through something for it to say anything to you personally, that's fine, but lets remember that this is a comedy, folks. Laugh a little. It won't hurt. I promise.
With that, I tip my hat to Austin, Dr. Evil, Fat, and Goldmember. Mike is one of the most talented comedians of our era, and I look forward to seeing what he comes up with next.

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Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm not a Mike Myers fan, and I avoided this film--and its sequels--like the plague when they were on the big screen. But I now know the error of my ways: AUSTIN POWERS is one of the freshest bits of purely entertaining, mindless fluff to come along in quite a while, the perfect antedote to an overcast and bad-mood sort of day.
The story is an amalgamation of the more excessive plot ideas of such films as DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER and OUR MAN FLINT. Fashion photographer by day and swinging spy by night, Austin Powers is the toast of psychedelic London--and more than a match for Dr. Evil. But when Dr. Evil has himself frozen, Powers does the same, and the two defrost some thirty years later and resume their battle in the much more up-tight 1990s. The most obvious target of the spoof is the James Bond films, but fans of 1960s film will have a field day spotting the film's take offs on such characters as Matt Helm, Derek Flint, Emma Peel, celebrities like The Beatles and Andy Warhol, and such diverse films as THE TENTH VICTIM and the camp classic DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE GIRL BOMB. And dare we mention the sixties' own classic swinging spy spoof, the infamous CASINO ROYALE?
Myers is greatly amusing in the double role of Austin Powers and Dr. Evil, both of whom have considerable difficulty adjusting to everything from safe sex to inflation, and Elizabeth Hurley is quite good in the Diana Rigg-ish role of sidekick Vanessa Kensington. But the real fun here is in the details--and the details include every one from Michael York to Robert Wagner to Burt Bacharach to Carrie Fisher, "Fembots" with killer pasties, and Italian sexpot Fabiana Udenio as a character with the most devastating name since Honor Blackman hit the screen in GOLDFINGER. The soundtrack is just as swinging as it gets, with blasts of everything from "These Boots Are Made For Walking" and "I Touch Myself." And look for a hilarious spoof of Bob Fosse-inspired choreography during the main credits!
You won't find any deep thoughts in AUSTIN POWERS, and thank heaven for it: giggles and grins are the order of the day, and the film delivers them in abundance. The DVD is a nice one as well, offering your choice of widescreen or pan-and-scan, some entertaining notes and deleted scenes, and amusing commentary. Buy it and keep on your shelf for that rainy day.

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It's a smashing shagadelic party as Mike Myers (Wayne's World 1 & 2, So I Married an Axe Murderer) and Elizabeth Hurley (Dangerous Ground) star in a non-stop, hilarious comedy adventure. Frozen in the 60's, secret agent Austin Powers (Myers) is thawed back into action to once again battle his archenemy Dr. Evil. With his sexy sidekick Ms. Kensington (Hurley), Austin must stop Dr. Evil's outrageous plot to control the world. But first, this time-warped swinger must get hip quick and discover that there's no free love in the 90's! An all-star supporting cast including Michael York, Robert Wagner, Mimi Rogers and Carrie Fisher make Austin Powers a wacky, far-out trip you won't forget. DVD Features:Audio Commentary:Commentary by actor Mike Myers and director M. Jay Roach.Deleted ScenesOther:An original animated sequence "Music to Shag to". Spy genre retrospective. Star highlights with scenes (all Letterbox 1.85, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround) from Dangerous Ground (1997), Monkey Trouble (1994), Rapture, The (1991) (qv), and Wide Sargasso Sea (1993).Production NotesTheatrical Trailer

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The Towering Inferno (1974) Review

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(More customer reviews)Irwin Allen decided to follow up his "The Poseidon Adventure" success with the 1974 suspense-thriller "The Towering Inferno," a movie which also garnered an impressive 10 Oscar nominations and is released as a 2-disc DVD special edition this week.
Whereas in "The Poseidon Adventure" the leads had to travel up, the only way is down for Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, William Holden, Fred Astaire, Richard Chamberlain, Robert Wagner and Faye Dunaway. Attending the opening night gala the guests are trapped on the 129th floor of the world's tallest building which becomes an inferno thanks to the shoddy wiring system installed by chief builder James Duncan (Holden) and his electrician son Roger Simmons (Chamberlain).
Newman plays Doug Roberts, the proud architect behind the Glass Tower, a skyscraper, which dominates the San Francisco skyline at a height of 138-story's. Returning from a long vacation Roberts immediately recognizes that something is wrong and he is proven correct when a circuit breaker burns out and ignites garbage on a lower floor.
While the script can be a tad melodramatic at times, the effort put into this movie is obvious. Nominated for Best Picture and winning for best cinematography, best special effects and best song, the movie was a smash hit and still holds up well today in this age of blockbuster special effects extravaganza's.
As with "The Poseidon Adventure" the previous DVD release was sorely lacking in special features and has been replaced with three hours of extras. Joining the nine all-new featurettes which includes a retrospective, a look at the special effects and the art design is the AMC Backstory on the making of the movie, 32 deleted or extended scenes and an audio commentary by film historian F.X. Feeney.
Feeney's commentary is fascinating and comprehensive, covering all aspects of the production from the writing and dialogue all the way through to the sets and the sense of anticipation director John Guillerman builds up from the start. Feeney tells us that this movie was a milestone for Hollywood in that it was the first time two studios had co-produced a feature. Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox owned two separate books, "The Tower" by Richard Martin Stern and "The Glass Inferno" by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson, and both planned to make two competing movies on the same subject.
It was Allen who stepped in and proposed the historic deal and the two studios agreed, splitting first the cost and then the profit equally.
Though not for the full length of the feature special effects director Mike Venzina and stunt coordinator Branko Racki both individually comment on individual scenes. Verzina discusses eight scenes and Racki talks about nine separate scenes. Their observations are largely technical in nature and center on their selective specialties.
The longest of the documentaries is once again the AMC Backstory which runs 22:08. It is in this featurette that we learn that the model used for shots of the tower was itself seven stories high, that William Holden became aggravated with Faye Dunaway's tardy-ness to the set and that despite the media attempting to portray conflict between the two stars Steve McQueen and Paul Newman, the two actually got along well together with a mutual respect and friendly competition (as evidenced by a funny blooper).
The other featurettes range from 4:28 in length (on the directing of the movie) to 9:15 on the writer Stirling Silliphant. But they cover a wide range of topics from a retrospective by the cast and crew "Inside the Tower: We Remember" (8:16) in which Richard Chamberlain likens the set to being at a really glamorous Hollywood party day after day with the standard six star dressing rooms being increased to 15 to the architecture of the tower in "Still the World's Tallest Tower" (8:28) which compares The Glass Tower to other real-life skyscrapers and the impact these high-rise buildings have on the surrounding communities.
Other topics touched on include the safety aspects employed on the production in "Putting out fire" (4:58) in which Allen comments "You'd better have all the camera's rolling because fire waits for no man," and also reveals that firemen were on the set each day to "Running on fire" (5:52) which discusses the work of the stuntmen and includes the facts McQueen did not like anyone else doing his stunts and even Newman and Chamberlain did a number of their own stunts.
Also on this special collector's edition are 32 deleted or extended scenes that range from the 40-second "Still Waiting for the Elevator" which featuresshots of crowds of people pushing and shoving each other at the elevator and Holden's character assessing the situation on the telephone to the 2:55 clip "Four Alarm Fire" which covers the spreading of the fire through the building, the call from security requesting a four-alarm fire and shots of fire engines screaming through the streets of San Francisco.
All of the deleted or extended scenes were originally part of a longer television broadcast. Unfortunately their condition has deteriorated and they were deemed of too poor quality for Fox to include them through the popular DVD technique of seamless branching alongside the theatrical cut on the first disc.
Rounding out the special features on this release are three 1975 articles from "American Cinematographer" which run for a combined 83 pages and which, like those on "The Poseidon Adventure" DVD release, include selectable images which take the viewer to image galleries. These articles are all technical in nature and include discussion on how the movie was photographed and the work of the action unit. There are also six storyboard comparisons and five image galleries that range from shot compositions and costumes through to publicity and conceptual sketches.

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Item Name: The Towering Inferno (Special Edition); Studio:20th Century Fox

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