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“LOST EMPIRES”

Colin Firth stars in one of his first movies, playing a newcomer to the stage, and Sir Laurence Olivier in one of his last, playing a comic on his way out. And it’s a gem, telling about the last years of the music halls that were so popular in England in the early and mid 1900s, based on the novel by J.B. Priestly. The Masterpiece Theater series was filmed in some authentic old music halls around the United Kingdom and beautifully evokes the lives, music, and costumes of music hall performers. John Castle plays Colin’s uncle, a magician who introduces him to the world of the music hall. Step into a fascinating world of yesterday in this 3-disc DVD set from Granada and Goldhil Video and you’ll enjoy forgetting about today. My highest rating: Two paws up, tail wags, and lots of “Woo Woo’s!”

“YOUNG ADAM”
I have yet to be disappointed in a movie with Ewan McGregor. To me, he saved MOULIN ROUGE from disaster because Nicole Kidman was in it. His new one is a romantic thriller with Tilda Swinton who always plays offbeat women or women-like women. “Only an amoral drifter(Ewan) knows for certain whether his ex-girlfriend’s death was an accident, suicide, or murder in this critically
acclaimed thriller.” Watch it and find out. It’s worth the trip. From Columbia Tri-Star. Two paws up.






“BLOOM”
James Joyce’s Ulysses gets a powerful treatment in this new adaptation of his huge novel. Stephen Rea, Aneline Ball, Hugh O’Conor, and Patrick Bergin are a great ensemble cast in a production that will take you back to a June morning in 1904 that you may never forget. A terrific DVD from MTI Home Video.





“BON VOYAGE”
A delightful romantic comedy from France with a terrific cast headed by Isabelle Adjani and Gerard Depardieu. “Rousing hilarity and spectacle!” and “Devour it with pleasure!” said two critics. It keeps you wondering, with murderous intrigues, political melodrama, scientific secrets and, of course (since it’s French) love affairs. From Columbia Tri-Star.

“WATERMELON MAN”
Godfrey Cambridge plays an offbeat character in this “comedy with a soul.” He’s a white suburban husband and father who is also a loud-mouthed racist who wakes up one morning to find he’s turned into a black man. Imagine the possibilities. It’s pretty funny while it does a job on the tolerance theme. From Columbia Tri-Star.

“SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER, AND SPRING”
My foreign film pick of the month. From Korea with love, with English or French subtitles, this tells a Buddhist fable about a tiny monastery that floats on a raft tended by a solitary monk. A young child comes aboard to bring even deeper meaning to the monk’s life. It’s an engrossing movie from award-winning Korean writer-director-editor Kim Ki-duk and one you will appreciate and long remember. From Columbia Tri-Star. Max’s rating: the highest.




“SHARPE’S REGIMENT, MISSION, AND SEIGE”
Three more DVD entries in the smashing Brit adventure series with Sean Bean as the stalwart Brit officer Richard Sharpe in the Napoleonic Wars, based on Bernard Cornwell’s best-selling novels. These three are definitely up to the high standards of the earlier entries, and I have about four more to look forward to. I really think Errol Flynn would have liked what Sean is doing to keep the swashbuckler alive. I can’t think of anyone who could do it better. Certainly not cardboard Russell Crouse (MASTER AND COMMANDER), or the new kids on the adventure block, pretty boys Colin Farrell (ALEXANDER) and Brad Pitt (Achilles in TROY). Sean isn’t pretty; he looks like he slept in the mud and ate grass with his fighting men. From Carlton and BFS Video. Two paws up, tail wags, and lots of “Woo Woo’s!”




“WODEHOUSE PLAYHOUSE”
The real-life husband and wife acting team of John Alderton and Pauline Collins, who were knockouts in the Masterpiece Theater series “UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS” which is still available on DVD, are perfect playing in this comic series on DVD from the stories by P.G. Wodehouse. It’s very British comedy, which means it’s smart and not in the toilet. Acorn Media offers all three series of the BBC comedy in a 6-volume boxed set, or separately by series. It’s wry and rib-tickling and you won’t feel like you checked your head at the door.

 

“AT HOME WITH THE BRAITHWAITES”
They’re a modern Brit family coping with winning millions in the first-ever Euro Lottery. Only the young mother(Amanda Redman) knows, though, and it’s fun to see how she keeps it from the rest of the family including her husband. They’re a typical dysfunctional Brit family with a philandering husband (Peter Davison), a closet lesbian daughter, and… well, you’ll see. The complete first season of the hit television series in a 2-DVD set >From Acorn Media.

“LITTLE MEN, SET TWO”
The further adventures of Louisa May Alcott’s boys that was so good in the first set. Michelle Rene Thomas reprises her role as Jo, running a boarding school for boys and girls in rural Massachusetts in the years after the Civil War. Charming stories, charmingly told and acted. A two-disc set from BFS Video.

“HETTY WAINTHROPP INVESTIGATES”
Hetty is a 60-year-old Brit housewife who can’t resist trying to solve mysteries, with the help of a teenage sidekick. It’s one of BBC’s most popular series and stars Patricia Routledge who was named the U.K.’s all-time favorite actress in a 1996 viewer poll. I can’t say I agree, considering Vivien Leigh, Glenda Jackson, Vanessa Redgrave and others, but Patricia is awfully good. The detective stories are typical Brit which I like - the emphasis on story and character and not on blood and guts.

The complete first season of six episodes in a 3-DVD set from Acorn Media.

Oldies But Goodies

"LORD JIM"
Peter O’Toole stars in this adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s seafaring adventure as a captain who disgraces himself when he abandons his ship in a great emergency and is branded a coward. James Mason co-stars in this exciting 1965 drama from director Richard Brooks that is beautifully restored for DVD. From Columbia Tri-Star.

 

Eight of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies that have been somehow overlooked so far are out at last on DVD in restored editions, and they’re all great. My three favorites of them are “SUSPICION” with Joan Fontaine wondering if the man she married, Cary Grant, is going to kill her; “FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT” with Joel McCrea learning World War II is all over Europe before America gets into it; and “I CONFESS” with Montgomery Clift (now there was an actor!) as a priest who can’t tell the cops a killer just admitted it in the confessional. The others are almost as good:  “STRANGERS ON A TRAIN,” “DIAL M FOR MURDER,” “THE WRONG MAN,” “STAGE FRIGHT,” and Hitch’s only comedy, “MR. AND MRS. SMITH” which teamed Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery as feuding marrieds who find out they really aren’t. From Warner Home Video. Two paws up and some “Woo Woo’s!”

For Puppies and Kids

“ANNIE: A ROYAL ADVENTURE”
My canine girlfriend’s name is Annie and also was an orphan, so how could I not like the further adventures of the comic strip Little Orphan Annie? It’s a very family-friendly comedy adventure with Ashley Johnson in the title role. From Columbia-Tri-Star.

 

“JIM HENSON’S THE STORYTELLER: GREEK MYTHS”
Greek mythology is imaginatively told by the creators of “THE DARK CRYSTAL” and “LABYRINTH.” Four stories feature both live actors and creations from Jim Henson’s (The Muppets) creature shop. What a great way for kids and teenagers to learn about Theseus and the Minotaur, Daedalus and Icarus, Orpheus and Eurydice, and Perseus and the Gorgon. Even Harry Potter never encountered such fantastic creatures. From Columbia-Tri-Star.

“IT’S A SMALL WORLD”
One of the “Brainy Baby” series introducing kids to different languages. It’s a fun way for kids to learn about people, animals, and cultures of foreign lands. From The Brainy Baby Company.

BONES TO PICK

There’s a rush to get political DVDs on the shelves before the election (yes, I hear there’s one in early November).

I’m trying to keep up with them, but can’t find BUSH’S BRAIN. Maybe Karl Rove has it. I’ll have to email our Leader’s Edgar Bergen. It’s a documentary from TLA that says “dirty tricks” Rove is pulling all the strings while Bush talks. It’s even more anti-Bush than Michael Moore’s FAHRENHEIT 9/11 which comes on its heels. I probably shouldn’t get into politics, but the political ball can be almost as much fun as chasing after a soccer ball my master throws.

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