News

Max is bringing a lot of content in February, with the highlight being HBO’s Original ‘The White Lotus.’ Here’s every movie and TV show coming to the platform next month.

Titles coming to Max in February

February 1

42 (2013)

Accidentally Brave (2023)

Bad Boys (1995)

Bad Boys II (2003)

Brian Banks (2019)

Cabin in the Sky (1949)

Cleats & Convos with Deebo Samuel, Episode 114 (B/R)

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

Deepwater Horizon (2016)

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)

Dredd (2012)

Duplicity (2009)

Entertainment (2015)

Experimenter (2015)

Final Destination (2000)

Final Destination 2 (2003)

Final Destination 3 (2006)

Final Destination 5 (2011)

Ivanhoe (1952)

Jackie (2016)

Jezebel (1938)

Jupiter’s Darling (1955)

Just Mercy (2020)

King Solomon’s Mines (1950)

Kitty Foyle (1940)

Kusama: Infinity (2018)

Lady Be Good (1941)

Lassie Come Home (1943)

Life Partners (2014)

Lili (1953)

Little Women (1949)

Love & Basketball (2000)

Mad Money (2008)

Malcolm X (1992)

Mary of Scotland (1936)

Massacre (1934)

Mechanic: Resurrection (2016)

Mildred Pierce (1945)

Mister Roberts (1955)

Mr. Church (2016)

Mrs. Miniver (1942)

Neptune’s Daughter (1949)

Noma: My Perfect Storm (2015)

One Way Passage (1932)

Safe in Hell (1931)

Shadow on the Wall (1950)

Skate Kitchen...

Despite John Wayne being a huge admirer of Wyatt Earp, he was bizarrely overlooked for the role in Western classic My Darling Clementine. There have been many, many movie and TV retellings of the Wyatt Earp story. From James Garner's Hour of the Gun to the famous Tombstone vs Wyatt Earp box-office rivalry of the 1990s, the lawman's story has been recounted often. Despite John Wayne fronting 80 Westerns throughout his career, it's odd in hindsight that he never got own Wyatt Earp movie off the ground.

After breaking through with 1939's Stagecoach, Wayne became one of the biggest names in Hollywood. Despite this and his well-known love of Earp, whenever studio projects like 1957's Gunfight at the O.K. Corral moved into production, he was overlooked. Easily the best film about Earp produced during the apex of Wayne's stardom was My Darling Clementine, helmed by his old pal John Ford.

Howard Hawks' 1948 Western Red River finally convinced John Ford that John Wayne was a great actor, even though they had made four movies together already. John Wayne and John Ford made nine great Westerns together, and both the director and the actor became known as legends of the genre. Ford and Wayne were even responsible for some of the best Western movies of all time, like Stagecoach, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and The Searchers. Most of Ford's movies cast Wayne as a traditional, upstanding hero, but one of the first films that cast him against type surprised everyone.

Even though Wayne and Ford were an absolutely legendary pairing, Ford was still shocked by another movie Wayne made with a different director. Wayne's performance in Red River, directed by Howard Hawks, proved to Ford that the Duke was a great actor, even though their professional relationship was well under way by that point.

Actress Donna Reed was just 25 years old when she portrayed Mary in It's a Wonderful Life, a role she reportedly described as the most difficult of her career. Despite her young age, Reed played Mary from the age of 18 to 35 in the film, showcasing her talent and versatility as an actress. Reed reprised her role as Mary Hatch Bailey in a radio production of It's a Wonderful Life shortly after the film's release, alongside James Stewart. The radio version was much shorter than the movie.

Donna Reed portrayed Mary in the classic film It’s a Wonderful Life at a surprisingly young age, which the actress would later describe as the most difficult role of her career. Frank Capra’s 1946 Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life remains one of the most inspiring and important movies of all time, with much of the film’s long-lasting success being attributed to the timeless performances of its cast.

From Oliver Stone’s Platoon to John Ford’s They Were Expendable, some of the greatest war movies ever made were the work of filmmakers who actually served in the military. The 400 Blows director François Truffaut famously said that it’s impossible to make an anti-war film (via the BBC), because the inherent spectacle of cinema means that any war movie will inevitably glamorize warfare. However, cinematic portrayals of war are a lot more accurate when they’re helmed by a director who’s actually fought in a warzone and lived through the horrors of war.

There are plenty of terrific filmmakers with a military background who drew on that background to create a realistic war movie. U.S. Army veteran Joseph Sargent directed a great biopic of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur. U.S. Army Air Forces veteran Robert Altman satirized the Korean War in his hit dark comedy M*A*S*H.

For well over four decades, the name “John Ford” has been synonymous with Hollywood classics.

Ford has been hailed as one of the greatest directors of all time, with a long list of acclaimed films that have won multiple Academy Awards. His subject matter ranged from westerns to war movies and even his own slice of Irish-American culture.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the life and career of John Ford, discussing his early years in Hollywood and the lasting impact he has had on cinema today. We’ll also explore some memorable moments from his cinematic legacy.

So whether you are a film buff or just have an appreciation for classic movies, join us as we pay tribute to the legendary filmmaker John Ford.

John Ford. By Allan warren – Own work, Cc By-sa 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16706120 Overview of John Ford...

Movie star John Wayne and director John Ford became one of the most iconic filmmaker and actor duos ever to move through Hollywood. It all started with their fateful meeting when Wayne worked as a prop man at Fox, where their personalities quickly hit it off. They would later go on to collaborate on 14 movies together, although the list would be longer if one was to count the times they helped one another in lesser capacities.

‘Stagecoach’ (1939) L-r: Claire Trevor as Dallas and John Wayne as Ringo Kid | Getty Images

A group of unlikely travelers find themselves on a stagecoach headed for Lordsburg, New Mexico, in the 1880s. The arrival of an escaped outlaw named the Ringo Kid (Wayne) shakes up their adventure, as they face riding through dangerous Apache territory.

Wayne played his first leading role in Raoul Walsh’s The Big Trail in 1930, but the actor’s career...

With Cannes Film Festival now just around the corner, updates are coming in for our most-anticipated cinematic event of the year. The Un Certain Regard––which has now confirmed its full jury with Andréa Arnold (President), Mounia Meddour, Elsa Zylberstein, Daniel Burman, and Michael Covino––has unveiled its opening night film.

Arthur Harari’s Onoda – 10 000 Nights In The Jungle will premiere on the first night of the festival. Shot in Japanese, this international coproduction tells the story of the soldier Hiroo Onoda that was sent to an island in the Philippines in 1944, to fight against the American offensive. As Japan surrenders, Onoda ignores it, trained to survive at all costs in the jungle, he keeps his war going. He will take 10 000 days to capitulate, refusing to believe the end of the Second World War.

As the Cannes synopsis reads, “Between Kon Ichikawa’s Fires on the Plain, Josef von Sternberg...

French filmmaker Arthur Harari’s “Onoda – 10 000 Nights In The Jungle” will open the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes’ Official Selection.

The film tells the story of soldier Hiroo Onoda who was sent to an island in the Philippines in 1944 to fight against the American forces. As Japan surrenders, Onoda ignores it, and, as he is trained to survive at all costs in the jungle, he keeps his war going. He will take 10,000 days to capitulate, refusing to believe the end of WWII.

The cast includes Endō Yūya, Tsuda Kanji, Matsuura Yūya, Chiba Tetsuya, Katō Shinsuke, Inowaki Kai and Ogata Issei.

“Between Kon Ichikawa’s ‘Fires on the Plain,’ Josef von Sternberg’s ‘Anatahan’ and ‘They Were Expendable’ of John Ford, with lighting by Tom Harari, the director’s brother, ‘Onoda – 10 000 Nights In The Jungle’ is a staggering internal odyssey, an intimate and universal view of the world and the history,...

It is the second film by French director Arthur Harari.

French director Arthur Harari’s second feature Onoda - 10 000 Nights In The Jungle has been revealed as the opening film of Un Certain Regard at Cannes next month.

This brings the number of films due to be showcased in the section to 20.

The film follows real-life Japanese soldier Hiroo Onoda who was sent to an island in the Philippines in 1944, to fight against the US offensive. When Japan surrendered, Onoda, who has been trained to survive in the jungle, refused to capitulate and kept his war going. It took 10 000 days...

HBO Max is out with its list of everything new coming to the streaming service in October and everything leaving at the end of the month.

The list includes HBO Originals like the limited series “The Undoing” starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant, out Oct. 25, and David Byrne’s “American Utopia” special event about Byrne’s Broadway show that electrified audiences, out Oct. 17.

There is also Nathan Fielder’s comedic docuseries “How To With John Wilson,” out Oct. 23, and the first season finale of “Lovecraft Country” on Oct. 18.

Among the things leaving at the end of the month are “Amelie,” “Ocean’s 11,” “V For Vendetta,” “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” and “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.”

Read the full list here:

Oct. 1

A World of Calm, Documentary Series Premiere

Akeelah And The Bee, 2006 (HBO)

All-Star Superman, 2011

American Dynasties: The Kennedys, 2018

American Reunion, 2012 (HBO)

Analyze That,...

With Lovecraft Country still providing HBO and HBO Max with its horror content through October, the streamer is looking elsewhere for its spooky season offerings. HBO Max’s new releases for October 2020 feature some truly awesome horror library titles.

Jordan Peele’s Us, John Carpenter’s The Thing, and David Fincher’s Se7en all arrive on Oct. 1. That alone should be enough to last you through spooky season. And if it doesn’t, It: Chapter Two is right there as well. October is also a big month for Batman and Superman with Man of Steel arriving on Oct. 1 along with a whole of animated specials dropping that same day.

In relation to the library titles, this isn’t HBO Max’s strongest month from an original perspective. But there is still plenty to like here. The West Wing election special arrives on Oct. 15. That will be followed by David Byrne...

Act Like a Man is a column examining male screen performers past and present, across nationality and genre. If movie stars reflect the needs and desires of their audience in any particular era, examining their personas, popularity, fandom, and specific appeals has plenty to tell us about the way cinema has constructed—and occasionally deconstructed—manhood on our screens.For a generation of returning veterans, actor Robert Montgomery was the thinking man’s GI. In his roles in post-war American movies, whether they be war dramas or film noirs that he would both star in and direct, he carried an air of earned macho authority. He had a sort of inarguable stature that was supported as much by his real life as it was by his ironclad screen presence. A to-the-manor-born son from a failed business empire, Robert’s father Henry was head of the New York Rubber Company, making...

The image of “dive-bombing” is an easy one to conjure in your mind’s eye. Yet I can’t say I ever thought seriously about what the experience of dive-bombing might be like — you know, for the one doing the dive-bombing — until I saw “Midway.” In Roland Emmerich’s convulsive, more-authentic-than-not historical combat movie about the battle that took place between American and Japanese Naval forces from June 4 to 7, 1942, near the Midway atoll in the Pacific theater of World War II, we see U.S. bomber pilots, like the fearless flyboy Lt. Dick Best (Ed Skrein), approach a Japanese aircraft carrier from what must be a mile up in the sky. The U.S bombers zoom down at a nearly vertical angle, like guided missiles hurtling toward the ocean, so that as they approach their target they can blow it up with pinpoint accuracy.

We see all this from the pilot’s vertiginous point-of-view,...

To celebrate the Blu-ray release of The Incredible Shrinking Man, available on Blu-ray from 13th November, we have a copy of the film on Blu-ray up for grabs, courtesy of Arrow Video!

Based on the novel by the massively influential sci-fi and horror writer Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, The Martian Chronicles), with a script adapted by Matheson himself, and directed by Fifties sci-fi king Jack Arnold (Creature From The Black Lagoon), this is rightly regarded as being one of the finest science-fiction films of all time, a critically-acclaimed smash hit that currently has a 90 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes. Genuinely thrilling, and, as Scott’s plight becomes more desperate, tense and gruelling, the film features superbly realised special effects that bely the era, and the setting Scott finds himself in – filled with oversized household objects that suddenly become threatening and dangerous – takes on a wonderfully surreal atmosphere.

This...

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film and TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post.)

This week’s question: In honor of Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk,” what is the best war movie ever made?

Read More‘Dunkirk’ Review: Christopher Nolan’s Monumental War Epic Is The Best Film He’s Ever Made Richard Brody (@tnyfrontrow), The New Yorker

Howard Hawks’ “The Dawn Patrol,” from 1930, shows soldiers and officers cracking up from the cruelty of their missions — and shows the ones who manage not to, singing and clowning with an exuberance that suggests the rictus of a death mask. There’s courage and heroism, virtue and honor — at a price that makes the words themselves seem foul. John Ford’s “The Lost Patrol,...

To read The National Review’s “Politically Incorrect Guide Memorial Day Movies” is one of those moments where you seriously wonder if conservatism in the Trump Era isn’t just one big episode of “Punk’d.” Written by Arthur Herman, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, the list was an attempt to highlight war movies for conservatives to watch on Memorial Day – many of which are fantastic – but are bizarrely packaged and advertised as movies that will piss off liberals.

Read More: ‘Dunkirk’ Trailer: Christopher Nolan Says It’s ‘Not a War Film,’ But It Still Looks Unbearably Intense

“These movies portray serving one’s country in uniform as something to be revered and respected, not dismissed,” boasts the Twitter promo for the piece. Its marketing is a straw-man argument, so it’s first important to establish a few matters of fact.

During the Vietnam War, there was liberal...

'The Pink Panther' with Peter Sellers: Blake Edwards' 1963 comedy hit and its many sequels revolve around one of the most iconic film characters of the 20th century: clueless, thick-accented Inspector Clouseau – in some quarters surely deemed politically incorrect, or 'insensitive,' despite the lack of brown face make-up à la Sellers' clueless Indian guest in Edwards' 'The Party.' 'The Pink Panther' movies [1] There were a total of eight big-screen Pink Panther movies co-written and directed by Blake Edwards, most of them starring Peter Sellers – even after his death in 1980. Edwards was also one of the producers of every (direct) Pink Panther sequel, from A Shot in the Dark to Curse of the Pink Panther. Despite its iconic lead character, the last three movies in the Pink Panther franchise were box office bombs. Two of these, The Trail of the Pink Panther and Curse of the Pink Panther, were co-written by Edwards' son,...

Entertainment journalist Mark Harris followed up his well-reviewed 2009 “Pictures at a Revolution” with an even better and more accessible book, the dramatic story of five top Hollywood directors and their roles in producing WWII propaganda films, told over 500 pages: “Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War. The first book was doomed not to become a movie due to prohibitive clip costs. But the urge to open up Harris’s exhaustive research on “Five Came Back” via dramatic documentary shorts shot in the global arena was irresistible — and they were free.

Read More: ‘Five Came Back’ Review: A Cinephile’s Dream Documentary Becomes Enthralling for Everyone on Netflix

There’s plenty of rich footage to choose from: Frank Capra’s “Why We Fight” propaganda, John Huston’s re-enacted “The Battle of San Pietro,” John Ford and William Wyler’s live footage of the D-Day invasion from sea and air,...

Entertainment journalist Mark Harris followed up his well-reviewed 2009 “Pictures at a Revolution” with an even better and more accessible book, the dramatic story of five top Hollywood directors and their roles in producing WWII propaganda films, told over 500 pages: “Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War. The first book was doomed not to become a movie due to prohibitive clip costs. But the urge to open up Harris’s exhaustive research on “Five Came Back” via dramatic documentary shorts shot in the global arena was irresistible — and they were free.

Read More: ‘Five Came Back’ Review: A Cinephile’s Dream Documentary Becomes Enthralling for Everyone on Netflix

There’s plenty of rich footage to choose from: Frank Capra’s “Why We Fight” propaganda, John Huston’s re-enacted “The Battle of San Pietro,” John Ford and William Wyler’s live footage of the D-Day invasion from sea and air,...

Lewis Milestone’s poetic character study of an infantry landing in Italy gives us a full dozen non-cliché portraits of men in war, featuring a dramatic dream team of interesting character actors. Dana Andrews was the only big star in the cast, joined by hopefuls Richard Conte, Lloyd Bridges and John Ireland; the standout crew includes Sterling Holloway, Norman Lloyd, Steve Brodie and Huntz Hall.

A Walk in the Sun

DVD

The Sprocket Vault / Kit Parker Films

1945 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 117 min. / Restored Collector’s Edition / Street Date ?, 2017 / available through The Sprocket Vault / 14.99

Starring: Richard Conte, George Tyne, John Ireland, Lloyd Bridges, Sterling Holloway, Norman Lloyd Dana Andrews, Herbert Rudley, Richard Benedict, Huntz Hall, James Cardwell, Steve Brodie, Matt Willis, Chris Drake, John Kellogg, Robert Horton, Burgess Meredith.

Cinematography: Russell Harlan

Film Editor: Duncan Mansfield

Original Music: Fredric Efrem Rich; ‘The Ballads’ sung by : Kenneth Spencer

Written by: Robert...

Now At A Reduced Price! Only $61.00 Through Amazon...Original Price Was $149.00- Free Shipping For Prime Members.

Time to put up your Dukes! (DVDs, that is!)

DVD Collection Of 40 Warner And Parmount Films Is Largest John Wayne Box Set Ever

Includes Hours Of Special Features And Remarkable Memorabilia

Amazon Buyers Get Exclusive Wayne Belt Buckle

Here is the original press release from when the set was originally made available:

To commemorate one of America’s most iconic film heroes, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will introduce a comprehensive new DVD set -- John Wayne: The Epic Collection -- on May 20. The spring release, just in time for Father’s Day gift-giving, will contain 38 discs with 40 Wayne films (full list below), including The Searchers, once called one of the most influential movies in American history[1] and the film for which Wayne won his Best Actor Academy Award®, True Grit (1969). The collection...

Veteran’s Day is November 11. While we all try to escape from the most exasperating Presidential Campaign in our history let me pay tribute to the Men and Women who have served in the military to insure we keep our electoral process and our freedoms.

Having served in the Navy four years (there he goes again!) I have a keen interest in any movie about the military, especially the sea service. I did serve during peace time so had no experience with combat but still spent most of my tour of duty at sea on an aircraft carrier, the USS Amerca CV66. Among other jobs I ran the ship’s television station for almost two years. Movies have always been important to me and so providing a few hours of entertainment every day when we were at sea was just about the best job I could have had.

The author...

Turner Classic Movies is a boon for auteurists. Who need a local movie theater when you can just scan TCM’s monthly schedule for directors you want to catch up on? (Or, for the more adventurous, directors you’ve never heard of—part of the simultaneous greatness of and frustration with TCM is their seemingly random hodgepodge programming of great films with utter mediocrity.) I’ve been guilty on many occasions of letting a film by a filmmaker I like pass by—it’s too long, it’s otherwise easy to see, the mood isn’t right, the film sounds like a minor work—and one that I let pass more than any other was John Ford’s 1957 film The Wings of Eagles.Made after The Searchers, given a particularly forgettable title (I keep having to double-check if the film is actually The Eagle’s Wings or On The Wings of Eagles...

Some actors and directors go together like spaghetti and meatballs. They just gel together in a rare way that makes their collaborations special. Here is a list of the seven best parings of director and actor in film history.

7: Tim Burton & Johnny Depp:

Edward Scissorhands; Ed Wood; Sleepy Hollow; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; Corpse Bride; Sweeney Todd; Alice in Wonderland; Dark Shadows

Of all the parings on this list, these two make the oddest films. (In a good way.) Tim Burton is one of the most visually imaginative filmmakers of his generation and Johnny Depp was once the polymorphous master of playing a wide variety of eccentric characters. They were a natural combo. Depp made most of his best films with Burton, before his current ‘Jack Sparrow’ period began. The duo had the knack for telling stories about misfits and freaks, yet making them seem sympathetic and likable.

John Ford's best war movie does a flip-flop on the propaganda norm. It's about men that must hold the line in defeat and retreat, that are ordered to lay down a sacrifice play while someone else gets to hit the home runs. Robert Montgomery, John Wayne and Donna Reed are excellent, as is the recreation of the Navy's daring sideshow tactic in the Pacific Theater, the 'speeding coffin' Patrol Torpedo boats. They Were Expendable Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1945 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 135 min. / Street Date June 7, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Robert Montgomery, John Wayne, Donna Reed, Jack Holt, Ward Bond, Marshall Thompson, Cameron Mitchell, Paul Langton, Leon Ames, Donald Curtis, Murray Alper, Harry Tenbrook, Jack Pennick, Charles Trowbridge, Louis Jean Heydt, Russell Simpson, Blake Edwards, Tom Tyler. Cinematography Joseph H. August Production Designer Film Editor Douglass Biggs, Frank E. Hull Original Music Earl K. Brent, Herbert Stothart, Eric Zeisl Writing credits Frank Wead, Comdr. U.S.N. (Ret.), Based on the book by William L. White Produced and Directed by John Ford, Captain U.S.N.R.

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

They Were Expendable has always been appreciated, but hasn't been given a high roost in John Ford's filmography. Yet it's one of his most personal movies, and for a story set in the military service, his most serious. We're given plenty of service humor and even more sentimentality -- with a sing-along scene like those that would figure in the director's later cavalry pictures, no less. Yet the tone is heavier, more resolutely downbeat. The war had not yet ended as this show went before the cameras, yet Ford's aim is to commemorate the sacrifices, not wave a victory flag. By 1945 Hollywood was already rushing its last 'We're at War!' morale boosters out the gate and gearing up for production in a postwar world. Practically a pet project of legendary director John Ford, They Were Expendable is his personal tribute to the Navy. Typical for Ford, he chose for his subject not some glorious victory or idealized combat, but instead a thankless and losing struggle against an invader whose strength seemed at the time to be almost un-opposable. They Were Expendable starts at Pearl Harbor and traces the true story of an experimental Patrol Torpedo Boat unit run by Lt. John Brickley (Robert Montgomery), his ambitious second in command Lt. Ryan (John Wayne) and their five boat crews. The ambience is pure Ford family casting: the ever-present Ward Bond and Jack Pennick are there, along with youthful MGM newcomers Marshall Thompson (It! The Terror from Beyond Space and Cameron Mitchell (Garden of Evil, Blood and Black Lace) being treated as new members of the Ford acting family. Along the way Ryan meets nurse Sandy Davyss (Donna Reed). Despite their battle successes, the Pt unit suffers casualties and loses boats as the Philippine campaign rapidly collapses around them. Indicative of the unusual level of realism is the Wayne/Reed romance, which falls victim to events in a very un-glamorous way. There's nothing second-rate about this Ford picture. It is by far his best war film and is as deeply felt as his strongest Westerns. His emotional attachment to American History is applied to events only four years past. The pace is fast but Expendable takes its time to linger on telling character details. The entertainer that responds to the war announcement by singing "My Country 'tis of Thee" is Asian, perhaps even Japanese; she's given an unusually sensitive close-up at a time when all Hollywood references to the Japanese were negative, or worse. MGM gives Ford's shoot excellent production values, with filming in Florida more than adequate to represent the Philippines. Even when filming in the studio, Ford's show is free of the MGM gloss that makes movies like its Bataan look so phony. We see six real Pt boats in action. The basic battle effect to show them speeding through exploding shells appears to be accomplished by pyrotechnic devices - fireworks -- launched from the boat deck. Excellent miniatures represent the large Japanese ships they attack. MGM's experts make the exploding models look spectacular. Ford's sentimentality for Navy tradition and the camaraderie of the service is as strong as ever. Although we see a couple of battles, the film is really a series of encounters and farewells, with boats not coming back and images of sailors that gaze out to sea while waxing nostalgic about the Arizona lost at Pearl Harbor. The image of civilian boat builder Russell Simpson awaiting invasion alone with only a rifle and a jug of moonshine purposely references Ford's earlier The Grapes of Wrath. Simpson played an Okie in that film and Ford stresses the association by playing "Red River Valley" on the soundtrack; it's as if the invading Japanese were bankers come to boot Simpson off his land. Equally moving is the face of Jack Holt's jut-jawed Army officer. He'd been playing basically the same crusty serviceman character for twenty years; because audiences had never seen Holt in a 'losing' role the actor makes the defeat seem all the more serious. The irony of this is that in real life, immediately after Pearl Harbor, Holt was so panicked by invasion fears that he sold his Malibu beach home at a fraction of its value. Who bought it? According to Joel Siegel in his book The Reality of Terror, it was Rko producer Val Lewton. John Wayne is particularly good in this film by virtue of not being its star. His character turn as an impatient but tough Lieutenant stuck in a career dead-end is one of his best. The real star of the film is Robert Montgomery, who before the war was known mostly for light comedies like the delightful Here Comes Mr. Jordan. Montgomery's Brickley is a man of dignity and dedication trying to do a decent job no matter how hopeless or frustrating his situation gets. Whereas Wayne was a Hollywood soldier, Montgomery actually fought in Pt boats in the Pacific. When he stands exhausted in tropic shorts, keeping up appearances when everything is going wrong, he looks like the genuine article. Third-billed Donna Reed turns what might have been 'the girl in the picture' into something special. An Army nurse who takes care of Wayne's Ryan in a deep-tunnel dispensary while bombs burst overhead, Reed's Lt. Davyss is one of Ford's adored women living in danger, like Anne Bancroft's China doctor in 7 Women. A little earlier in the war, the films So Proudly We Hail and Cry 'Havoc' saluted the 'Angels of Bataan' that stayed on the job, were captured and interned by the Japanese. Expendable has none of the sensational subtext of the earlier films, where the nurses worry about being raped, etc.. We instead see a perfect girl next door (George Bailey thought so) bravely soldiering on, saying a rushed goodbye to Wayne's Lt. Ryan over a field telephone. Exactly what happens to her is not known. Even more than Clarence Brown's The Human Comedy this film fully established Ms. Reed's acting credentials. The quality that separates They Were Expendable from all but a few war films made during the fighting, is its championing of a kind of glory that doesn't come from gaudy victories. Hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned, the Navy, Army and Air Corps units in the Northern Philippines that weren't wiped out in the first attacks, had to be abandoned. The key scene sees Lt. Brickley asking his commanding officer for positive orders to attack the enemy. He's instead 'given the score' in baseball terms. In a ball club, some players don't get to hit home runs. The manager instead tells them to sacrifice, to lay down a bunt. Brickley's Pt squadron will be supporting the retreat as best it can and for long as it can, without relief or rescue. Half a year later, the U.S. was able to field an Army and a Navy that could take the offensive. Brickley's unit is a quiet study of honorable men at war, doing their best in the face of disaster. According to John Ford, Expendable could have been better, and I agree. He reportedly didn't hang around to help with the final cut and the audio mix, and the MGM departments finished the film without him. Although Ford's many thoughtful close-ups and beautifully drawn-out dramatic moments are allowed to play out, a couple of the battle scenes go on too long, making the constant peppering of flak bursts over the Pt boats look far too artificial. Real shell bursts aren't just a flash and smoke; if they were that close the wooden boats would be shattered by shrapnel. The overused effect reminds me of the 'Pigpen' character in older Peanuts cartoons, if he walked around accompanied by explosions instead of a cloud of dust. The music score is also unsubtle, reaching for upbeat glory too often and too loudly. The main march theme says 'Hooray Navy' even in scenes playing for other moods. Would Ford have asked for it to be dialed back a bit, or perhaps removed from some scenes altogether? That's hard to say. The director liked his movie scores to reflect obvious sentiments. But a few of his more powerful moments play without music. We're told that one of the un-credited writers on the film was Norman Corwin, and that Robert Montgomery directed some scenes after John Ford broke his leg on the set. They Were Expendable is one of the finest of war films and a solid introduction to classic John Ford. The Warner Archive Collection Blu-ray of They Were Expendable looks as good as the excellent 35mm copies we saw back at UCLA. This movie has always looked fine, but the previous DVDs were unsteady in the first reel, perhaps because of film shrinkage. The Blu-ray corrects the problem entirely. The B&W cinematography has some of the most stylized visuals in a war film. Emphasizing gloom and expressing the lack of security, many scenes are played in silhouette or with very low-key illumination, especially a pair of party scenes. Donna Reed appears to wear almost no makeup but only seems more naturally beautiful in the un-glamorous but ennobling lighting schemes. These the disc captures perfectly. Just as on the old MGM and Warners DVDs, the trailer is the only extra. We're told that MGM shoved the film out the door because victory-happy moviegoers were sick of war movies and wanted to see bright musicals instead. The trailer reflects the lack of enthusiasm -- it's basically two actor name runs and a few action shots. The feature has a choice of subtitles, in English, French and Spanish. On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, They Were Expendable Blu-ray rates: Movie: Excellent Video: Excellent Sound: Excellent Supplements: DTS-hd Master Audio Deaf and Hearing Impaired Friendly? Yes; Subtitles: English, French, Spanish Packaging: Keep case Reviewed: June 6, 2016 (5135expe)

Visit DVD Savant's Main Column Page Glenn Erickson answers most reader mail: dvdsavant@mindspring.com

Text © Copyright 2016 Glenn Erickson...

In this episode of Off The Shelf, Ryan and Brian take a look at the new DVD and Blu-ray releases for Tuesday, May 24th 2016.

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Follow-Up Keaton shorts collection Bill & Ted News Warner Archive: Unsinkable Molly Brown, They Were Expendable, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Victor / Victoria Kino Lorber: I Wake Up Screaming,Battle of the Sexes, Fritz Lang’s Western Union, Destiny Grindhouse Releasing: Fulci’s A Cat in the Brain Disney Movie Club: The Boatniks Signal One upcoming releases Universal: Patch Adams BFI: Carmen Jones (Released by Fox in the Us), The Crying Game, Cry of the City (Coming in September from Kino in the Us) Kickstarter: RoboDoc Links to Amazon 54 Director’s Cut Buster Keaton: The Shorts Collection 1917–1923 The Chase Devlin (1974): The Complete Series French Postcards Iphigenia Killer Dames: Two Gothic Chillers King & Four Queens Manhunter A Married Woman Mystery Science Theater 3000...

Director Robert Montgomery's last is a war movie like no other, a study in leadership and command with no combat scenes. James Cagney uses none of his standard personality mannerisms; the result is something very affecting. And that music! You'll think the whole show is the memory of a soul in heaven. The Gallant Hours Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1960 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 115 min. / Street Date April 5, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring James Cagney, Dennis Weaver, Ward Costello, Vaughn Taylor, Richard Jaeckel, Les Tremayne, Walter Sande, Karl Swenson, Leon Lontoc, Robert Burton, Carleton Young, Raymond Bailey, Harry Landers, Richard Carlyle, James Yagi, James T. Goto, Carl Benton Reid, Selmer Jackson, Frank Latimore, Nelson Leigh, Herbert Lytton, Stuart Randall, William Schallert, Arthur Tovey, John Zaremba. Cinematography Joseph MacDonald Art Director Wiard Ihnen Original Music Roger Wagner Written by Beirne Lay Jr., Frank D. Gilroy Produced and Directed by Robert Montgomery...

Hal Roach looks on as technicians install Vitaphone equipment in his studio screening room, ca. 1928. (Click on the image to enlarge it.) 'A Century of Sound': Q&A with former UCLA Preservation Officer Robert Gitt about the evolution of film sound technology Long before multi-track Dolby stereo and digital sound technology, there were the Kinetophone and the Vitaphone systems – not to mention organ and piano players at movie houses. Much of that is discussed in A Century of Sound, which chronicles the evolution of film sound from the late 19th century to the mid-1970s. A Century of Sound has been split into two parts, with a third installment currently in the planning stages. They are: Vol. 1, “The Beginning, 1876-1932,” which came out on DVD in 2007. Vol. 2, “The Sound of Movies: 1933-1975,” which came out on Blu-ray in 2015. The third installment will bring the presentation into the 21st century.

Between 1970 and 1975—and the ages of 53 and 58—Robert Mitchum made six films. The beginning of the decade found him in Ireland taking on the role of schoolteacher Charles Shaughnessey in David Lean’s epic Ryan’s Daughter (1970) and five years later he was starring as Philip Marlowe in Raymond Chandler adaptation Farewell My Lovely (1975). In between, he made the father-son melodrama Going Home (1971), an eccentric western called The Wrath of God (1972) and two crime dramas made back-to-back in 1973 and 1974. While they have a couple of other elements in common besides Mitchum—actor Richard Jordan, composer Dave Grusin—The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) and The Yakuza (1974) are poles apart in terms of tone. Broadly speaking, the first is low-key, downbeat and domestic, the second is glossy and globetrottingly exotic.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle is based on the debut novel by George V. Higgins, a lawyer and former Assistant Attorney General...

Veterans Day movies on TCM: From 'The Sullivans' to 'Patton' (photo: George C. Scott in 'Patton') This evening, Turner Classic Movies is presenting five war or war-related films in celebration of Veterans Day. For those outside the United States, Veterans Day is not to be confused with Memorial Day, which takes place in late May. (Scroll down to check out TCM's Veterans Day movie schedule.) It's good to be aware that in the last century alone, the U.S. has been involved in more than a dozen armed conflicts, from World War I to the invasion of Iraq, not including direct or indirect military interventions in countries as disparate as Iran, Guatemala, and Chile. As to be expected in a society that reveres people in uniform, American war movies have almost invariably glorified American soldiers even in those rare instances when they have dared to criticize the military establishment.

Amazon's best-selling titled "John Wayne: The Epic Collection" is on sale this week at an astounding 54% off. That means you save $80 on this massive DVD collector's set that includes 38 of the Duke's classic movies. Also included are bonus collectibles and a Duke belt buckle available exclusively through this Amazon deal.

Below is the original press release from Warner Home Video pertaining to the set's debut on Father's Day.

Burbank, Calif., February 24, 2014 -- To commemorate one of America’s most iconic film heroes, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will introduce a comprehensive new DVD set -- John Wayne: The Epic Collection -- on May 20. The spring release, just in time for Father’s Day gift-giving ($149.98 Srp), will contain 38 discs with 40 Wayne films (full list below), including The Searchers, once called one of the most influential movies in American history[1] and the film for which Wayne won his Best Actor Academy...

There is no studio that times their releases more perfectly than Warner Bros. Around the end-of-year holidays there will be gift sets for films like “Elf” and “Willy Wonka.” Near Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, you can expect gift-appropriate releases.

And, of course, they always bring out the war movies and Westerns for Father’s Day in June. This year’s gift idea is a beauty, a massive 40-film, career-spanning set of films starring the legendary John Wayne. From 1932’s “Big Stampede” to 1976’s “The Shootist,” there’s a bit of everything for Wayne fans in here, but more for those who like war movies and Westerns.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

We don’t need to go through them all but highlights include “Rio Bravo,” “El Dorado,” “The Searchers,” “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” “True Grit,” “How the West Was Won,” “Fort Apache,” “Donovan’s Reef,” and “Hatari!” Some Wayne...

Hopefully you’ll get to spend plenty of time outdoors this weekend, soaking up the sun. But if rain (or laziness) keeps you inside, we’ve compiled the TV marathons playing this weekend to keep you occupied! Enjoy!

Saturday

Adventure Time, Cartoon Network, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

American Restoration, History, 8 a.m.-2 p.m.

Arrested Development, IFC 6:00 a.m.- 8:30 a.m. (Sunday)

Bridezillas, We Tv, 10 a.m. – 5 a.m. (Sunday)

Counting Cars, History, 2 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Deadliest Catch, Discovery, 8 p.m.- 2 a.m. (Sunday)

Defiance, SyFy, 4 p.m.-6 a.m. (Sunday) – episodes repeated

Elvis movies,...

If you don't have travel plans for Memorial Day weekend, get cozy on the couch (and set your DVR) because there are plenty of fun marathons happening.

Need to catch up on Season 1 of "Longmire" before the Season 2 premiere Monday, May 27? Want to re-live "Veronica Mars" Season 1? How about watching the entire series of "Arrested Development" (and reading our re-watch posts) before the new season is out on Netflix?

Here is all your Memorial Day weekend programming, all times Eastern.

Friday, May 24

A&E: "Storage Wars" marathon, 3 p.m. to 4 a.m. the next day

Animal: "Finding Bigfoot" marathon, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., "Invasion" premiere and new episode, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Bravo: "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" marathon, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., "Millionaire Matchmaker" marathon, 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. the next day

Chiller: "The Twilight Zone" marathon, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Discovery: "Sons of Guns" marathon,...

The “adult” Western – as it would come to be called – was a long time coming. A Hollywood staple since the days of The Great Train Robbery (1903), the Western offered spectacle and action set against the uniquely American milieu of the Old West – a historical period which, at the dawn of the motion picture industry, was still fresh in the nation’s memory. What the genre rarely offered was dramatic substance.

Early Westerns often adopted the same traditions of the popular Wild West literature and dime novels of the 19th and early 20th centuries producing, as a consequence, highly romantic, almost purely mythic portraits the Old West. Through the early decades of the motion picture industry, the genre went through several creative cycles, alternately tilting from fanciful to realistic and back again. By the early sound era, and despite such serious efforts as The Big Trail (1930) and The Virginian (1929), Hollywood Westerns were,...

The Stone Roses' 1990 gig at Spike Island and Tim Burton's dead dog are given a new lease of life

Fang to rights

Tim Burton's Frankenweenie – a stop-motion, black-and-white ode to the horror films of his youth – opened the 56th BFI London film festival last week. It was bursting with every horror reference you could think of, as young Victor Frankenstein brings his dead dog Sparky back to life with an experiment for the school science fair.

Burton has lovingly crafted his references – doesn't everything in stop motion require hours of planning and thought? – but a little bat told me that he has actually overlooked one crucial aspect of film-making. In one scene the boy's parents are watching a horror movie on TV as he creeps back from the pet cemetery having dug up his dead pup. The parents (voiced by Catherine O'Hara and Martin Short) are cuddling...

If you’ve seen Gwyneth Paltrow’s brain dissected in Contagion, you know that Steven Soderbergh is willing to portray stars in a less than glamorous light. But in an interview with The Independent, the Oscar-winning director of Traffic and Haywire practically exuded blood lust for A-listers. Don’t worry, though: It’s all in the name of art!

“It’s always good to kill movie stars,” Soderbergh told the British newspaper. “I think that the two most important things that have happened to that aspect of movies in the last 50 years are Hitchcock killing off Janet Leigh in a...

Typecasting is a terrible fate to befall an actor. Many of them have suffered from it over the years, accepting role after role in similar films with similar plots and similar characters simply because they have no real alternative. However, in spite of the risks involved there are also those who subvert this association; those who have elevated themselves to near legendary status within their chosen genre. Their performances define it and are woven inextricably into its rich tapestry. Two such actors are pictured above and are the subject of this article – one, a silent and anonymous loner with no time for small talk and very direct methods of dealing with his adversaries, the other a straight talking, no – nonsense peacekeeper with a trademark southern drawl. Both are perhaps best known for their westerns, although they also directed, produced and starred in a variety of other films too including military epics and ‘unorthodox’ police procedurals.

“How come you only show us clips from movies none of us ever heard of?”

She was 30, a single mom who’d admirably gone back to school for a business degree to better things for her and her family. She’d taken my film appreciation class as an elective, a break from the grind of her business classes, expecting it would be – her word – “fun.”

But, due to the aforementioned “movies none of us ever heard of,” she was not having the anticipated fun.

I explained, “Because most movies were made before you were born.”

Simple and obvious, it still didn’t satisfy her, and the unasked next question in her eyes I guessed to be, “But why do we have to see them?”

Most of my class – not all, but most – I knew felt similarly. They didn’t say it but I could tell: rolled eyes, glazed eyes, eyes...

Memorial Day 2011 is here and while we should all take time to thank a veteran and active servicemen and women, it also means for us TVphiles - lots of good programming. So either settle in with some popcorn or make sure your DVR is ready to go.

There are movie marathons. Syfy is busting out its greatest hits in the giant monster oeuvre on Friday, followed by "Star Trek" movies all weekend. TCM and AMC are showing nothing but military movies, including classics like "All Quiet on the Western Front," "From Here to Eternity" and "Patton."

If marathons are your thing, you've got everything from "Firefly" and "Doctor Who" to "House Hunters" and "How It's Made." And if you're a sports fan, while the NBA playoffs are on hiatus, you can still watch a ton of baseball, the 2011 French Open or the annual Memorial Day race the Indianapolis 500.

Zap2it...

They shall beat their swords into plowshares

and their spears into pruning hooks;

One nation shall not raise the sword against another,

neither shall they learn war any more.

Isaiah 2:4

War is a nation’s ultimate commitment of blood and treasure. As such, the stories a people tells about its wars – and don’t tell – and the ways it remembers its wars – or chooses to forget them – tells us much about the kind of people they consider themselves to be at different times in their history, as well as the kind of people they really were…and are.

For most of the 20th century, the war film was a Hollywood staple. From one era to the next, war movies documented the nation’s conflicts, reflected the national consciousness on particular combats as well as on thinking going far beyond any one, particular war. They’ve been propagandistic and revisionist,...

Incited by yet another viewing of Shutter Island this weekend, I began to think about how Leonardo DiCaprio has well and truly become director Martin Scorsese’s current muse. Actor/director collaborations have been a constant feature in the film industry, right back to filmmakers such as Howard Hawks and their relationships with stars like Cary Grant in the 1930s/40s. The films produced by a director and their muse are credited to the strong creative bond between two talents and this generally transfers extremely effectively on to the screen, and the best of these partnerships are usually when a director finds an actor to play a heightened, ‘film star’ version of himself on screen, his vessel into portraying the character birthed in a director’s mind and based somewhat on himself.

Consider for example, Christopher Nolan’s use of Leonardo DiCaprio in Inception.

For audiences, the familiarity of a...

Chicago – If you love movies, you love Blake Edwards. The iconic comic director, best known for teaming with Peter Sellers in a series of wacky Pink Panther adventures, also directed such classics as “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “Days of Wine and Roses,” “The Great Race” “10” and “Victor Victoria.” Blake Edwards died Wednesday at age 88.

Born William Blake Crump in 1922 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Edwards began his career as a writer/director in Hollywood’s “Silver Age” in the 1950’s, after a stint as an actor in the 1940’s, mostly playing uncredited military types in such films as “They were Expendable” and “The Best Years of Our Lives.” He began in radio, writing the popular “Richard Diamond” series, and moved on to television with Diamond star Dick Powell with “Four Star Playhouse.”

Peter Sellers (left) and Blake Edwards (right) trying out a gag during their memorable collaboration

Photo credit: BFI

Edwards went...

Most war films are, ultimately, about winning. In 1945, however, as World War II was ending, John Ford made probably the finest U.S. war picture, about one of America’s greatest defeats—-in the Philippines—-the title of which alone is devastating in its implications: They Were Expendable (available on DVD). Ford, who had entered the Navy in 1941, at age 47, was closely involved in numerous missions and operations all through the War, serving with the O.S.S. (forerunner of the C.I.A.) and making several war documentaries, including this country’s first one, The Battle of Midway (1942), which mostly he himself shot hand-held…...

For arguably the worst film of his undistinguished career, Sly Stallone has assembled a crowd of familiar screen action men to play a band of mercenaries who go around the world gleefully wasting bad guys in large numbers with guns, knives, explosives and karate chops. When not killing people, they grin at one another and swap self-aggrandising macho talk. Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger have non-executive walk-on roles and Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal and Vinnie Jones are presumably being held in reserve for the sequel. For the record, John Ford's They Were Expendable, one of the greatest pictures about men in battle, is indispensable. Stallone's Expendables is redundant, superfluous, worthless and every pejorative synonym Roget can come up with.

Action and adventureSylvester StallonePhilip French

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Director Peter Bogdanovich.

Interviewing Peter Bogdanovich for the April 2002 issue of Venice Magazine was a thrill for me. Like Francis Coppola, John Frankenheimer, and William Friedkin before him, Bogdanovich was one of those filmmakers whose one-sheets hung on my bedroom walls growing up. Plus the fact that he himself had a renowned career as a film historian and interviewer of his own childhood heroes, such as John Ford, Howard Hawks, Orson Welles, and dozens of others, made our talk a real feast.

Not long after the article was printed, I received a letter with a New York City postmark. The note enclosed said simply: “Dear Alex, thanks for doing your homework so well, and thanks for the good vibes. All the best to you of love and luck, Peter Bogdanovich.”

Our chat remains one of my favorites during my 15 year tenure as a film writer. --A.S.

Peter Bogdanovich’S...

A Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks TV series about the second world war's brutal Pacific campaign begins tomorrow – a story surprisingly little told because, for years, the public has preferred to turn away from its dark undertone of racism and savagery

When Tom Hanks was making Saving Private Ryan, the writer Nora Ephron sent him a book that weighs in at almost 2,000 pages: the Library of America's Reporting World War II. It was a thoughtful gift, appropriate to his then role as an infantry captain on D-Day. But when Hanks began dipping into the collection, he remarked earlier this month, what gripped him the most was not the war in Europe but the other great Us campaign of the second world war – the battle for the Pacific.

There was an irony in his interest. Hanks is the son of a naval mechanic who served in the Pacific, but when he first picked up the book,...

Executive Decision: Or should we call this one "They Were Expendable?" Early in the week, it was announced that the fourth Spider Man film to be directed by Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire was not, in fact, going to happen. Raimi had told the studio he could not deliver the film for its 2011 deadline, and studio head Amy Pascal  and Some Dude from Marvel decided not to replace Raimi but rather to "reboot" the franchise à la Batman Begins, or something. Observe Nikki Finke and Michael Fleming, "Immediately, the news brought celebration and consternation equally to webslinger fanboys who say the reboot plot puts Peter Parker back in high school." I don't follow the ins and outs of studio heads and dealmaking as much as I used to, but it's always kind of interesting to observe the semiotics of such situations. In this case, not much outrage resulted.

No. 78: Donna Reed 1921-86

Every Hollywood studio had its girl-next-door under contract in the 1930s and 40s, a pretty, wholesome, reliable future homemaker, usually a small-town girl from the midwest. The most perfect of them all was Donna Reed, brought up on a farm Iowa, 5ft 7in, brunette and exuding an unaffected purity. She was spotted by an MGM scout in a student show at Los Angeles City College, where she was in secretarial school. The studio changed her name from Donne Belle Mullinger to Donna Reed and cast her in a succession of lightweight films including Shadow of the Thin Man with William Powell and Myrna Loy and Babes on Broadway with Rooney and Garland. By 1944, with the help of the MGM publicity department, a Us battalion in Europe voted her "the girl we'd most like to come home to".

She came into her own as the war...