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THE HOUSE OF ELIOTT
Two British sisters born to privilege are left destitute when their father dies, so they fight their way to the top of the cutthroat world of fashion design. The setting is London in the roaring 1920s as envisioned by actresses Eileen Atkins and Jean Marsh, who created Upstairs, Downstairs, one of the most popular and successful Masterpiece Theater series ever. This new series ran on A&E, PBS, and BBC America, and is wonderful to watch in a 4-volume DVD boxed set containing 12 hour-long episodes.

There are plenty of plots and subplots to keep it moving at a fast pace, and the sets, costumes, and cars are enough to make it a very enjoyable show. From BBC and Acorn Media.

Max’s rating: Two paws up and lots of “Woo woo woo’s!”

 

SUMMER’S LEASE
You’ll feel like you’ve taken a vacation to Tuscany watching this delightful Masterpiece Theater combination of mystery, romance, and farce. John Gielgud tags along when his daughter, her husband, and their teenage daughter rent a villa under the Tuscan sun. The living is far from easy and there’s a missing landlord to wonder about in this story from the novel by John Mortimer, who gave us Rumpole of the Bailey and Brideshead Revisted. From BBC and Acorn Media.

Max’s rating: Two paws up and lots of tail wags.

HITCH
Will Smith stars as Hitch, New York City’s greatest matchmaker who learns that mating people can backfire.

The plot is slim but the laughs carry it along. It raked in $170 million at theater box offices as one of the comedy hits so far this year. From Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

BUTTERFLIES
The Brits make many funny TV series, and this is one of my favorites. Wendy Craig, of The Forsyte Saga, and Geoffrey Palmer, of As Time Goes By, team up in a smart and sophisticated sitcom. Craig plays a bored middle-aged housewife and Palmer her husband, a dour dentist obsessed with butterfly collecting. This is series 1 of the show its creator said is about middle-aged people feeling as if time is running out, leaving them fluttering about like butterflies. Lots of good summertime laughs here. From BBC and Acorn Media.

NADINE
Jeff Bridges, who is always worth watching, plays the financially strapped husband of Kim Basinger (ditto) in this murder mystery from 1987. Rip Torn plays an unscrupulous businessman (is there any other kind today?) Written and directed by Robert Benton who gave us “Kramer vs. Kramer” and “Places in the Heart.” A good thriller from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

 

GEORGY GIRL
One of the big hits of 1966, this Brit film was one of the first to deal with the sexual revolution. James Mason and Alan Bates star in this, the film debut of Lynn Redgrave, which had four Academy Award nominations including the title song. It’s a clever story… Redgrave plays a girl named Georgy who marries Mason, a wealthy older man, so she can give her roommate’s abandoned, illegitimate baby a home. From Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

 

Best Documentary of the Month

 

GUNNER PALACE
Director Michael Tucker spent two months living with GIs in one of Day Hussein’s former “pleasure palaces” in Iraq. He takes us to the front lines of the insane and unnecessary war that Rumsfeld said might last five hours, five days, or five weeks, but still rages on three years later. Reviewers said it is “an unique portrait of the fragmented, chaotic, and stress-filled existence of American soldier at war in Iraq.” From Palm Pictures.

Bones to Pick

 

Too bad those who select classic movies from studio vaults don’t know enough about them to be able to give the DVD release the correct title. Case in point: Universal has released five classic Gary Cooper movies on DVD (we’re very grateful for them for that). But they misnamed one of them.

“The General Died at Dawn” is called “The General Dies at Dawn.” If you look it up by “Dies,” the web sites won’t find it.

If movie studios want, my master and I will check on things like that before their classics are released on DVD. For a few good bones, of course, with some meat on them. Woo, woo!

 

I bet you didn't know, but besides reviewing movies, I sing opera. Click here to see and hear me rehearsing the Barcarolle from "Tales of Hoffman."

Maybe you would like to visit my master's web site with highlights of his huge collection of old movie magazines, Bijou Follies
Two more web sites I recommend are: Errol Flynn and Jeffrey Hunter