Studio: Bfs Ent & Multimedia Limi Release Date: 10/18/2005 Run time: 24 minutes Read more
Movie DVDA legendary Broadway tour de force comes to the screen with Monty Woolley's central performance in The Man Who Came to Dinner. And it's a turn well worth immortalizing. All goatish beard, snapping teeth, and plummy-voiced put-downs, Woolley fully inhabits the role of Sheridan Whiteside, a celebrated author and radio celebrity who gets waylaid by a cracked hip during a visit to small-town Ohio. Bossing the helpless homeowners and bewildered staff from his wheelchair, he quickly fills his hosts' house with his projects (including four penguins) and famous visitors (Ann Sheridan as a self-centered diva, Jimmy Durante as a comedian based on Harpo Marx). Bette Davis goes for a quieter role than usual as Whiteside's assistant; she falls for a local newspaperman, drippily played by Richard Travis. They all revolve around the seated figure of Woolley, his hands drumming on his armrests, his teeth bared as though ready to devour his inferiors. He's delicious. The script is larded with topical references and Broadway-style repartee, not all of which has aged well, and director William Keighley doesn't have a clear grasp of how to shoot jokes. But the basic situation is so durable, and Whiteside's character (based on famed Algonquin Round Table wit Alexander Woollcott) so unusual and nasty, that the movie remains great fun. --Robert Horton Read more
COLD-SOULED EBENEZER SCROOGE HAS A CHANGE OF HEART AFTER SPIRIT VISITATIONS ON CHRISTMAS EVE. FOLKS MIGHT NOT HAVE HAD MUCH TO SING ABOUT IN 1840'S ENGLAND, BUT THIS MUSICAL WILL MAKE YOU BELIEVE OTHERWISE. KENNETH MORE'S MUSICAL NUMBER AS THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT IS ESPECIALLY ENTERTAINING.A mixed bag as variations on A Christmas Carol go, this 1970 British musical tells the usual story of Scrooge (Albert Finney) and his spirits on Christmas Eve, although the whole thing is set to music by Leslie Bricusse. Except for Finney's feisty and involved performance, however, there isn't much to recommend this. The songs, which absorb so much of the evolving story line and emotions, are not all that good. Plenty of support, however, from the likes of Roy Kinnear (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory) and Dame Edith Evans (Tom Jones), the handsome production is directed by veteran Ronald Neame (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie). --Tom Keogh Read more
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 08/18/2009 Read more
In order to help her daughter marry into a well-to-do family an aging apple-seller passes herself off as a woman of wealth. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 05/20/2008 Starring: Bette Davis Hope Lange Run time: 137 minutes Rating: Nr Director: Frank Capra Read more
In order to help her daughter marry into a well-to-do family an aging apple-seller passes herself off as a woman of wealth. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 05/20/2008 Starring: Bette Davis Hope Lange Run time: 137 minutes Rating: Nr Director: Frank Capra Read more
Studio: Genius Products Inc Release Date: 09/16/2008 Run time: 65 minutesThis classic 1964 television special featuring Rudolph and his misfit buddies set the standard for stop-motion animation for an entire generation before Tim Burton darkly reinvented it in the early 1990s. Burl Ives narrates as Sam the Snowman, telling and singing the story of a rejected reindeer who overcomes prejudice and saves Christmas one particularly blustery year. Along the way, he meets an abundance of unforgettable characters: his dentally obsessed elf pal Hermey; the affable miner Yukon Cornelius and his motley crew of puppies; the scary/adorable Abominable Snow Monster; a legion of abandoned, but still chatty, toys; and a rather grouchy Santa. In addition to the title song that inspired it, this 53-minute tape is crammed with catchy tunes such as "Silver and Gold" and "Holly Jolly Christmas." Those who grew up looking forward to watching Rudolph every Christmas season will undoubtedly be able to recite the quotable quotes ("I'm cuuuute. She said I'm cuuuute." "Herbie doesn't like to make toys.") as well as any Casablanca cult audience. --Kimberly Heinrichs Read more
