Celluloid Heroes

This is not a review, but a note that Warner Brothers have announced a new special-edition of DVD of The Jazz Singer, the first feature-length film with synchronized sound. File this one under “It’s about damned time,” because this film has been MIA on Region 1 DVD for the entire decade that the format has been available.

On the recent update to the AFI 100 Years, 100 Movies list, The Jazz Singer completely dropped off the list. In addition, The African Queen, another classic criminally neglected by the DVD market, dropped 48 spots to number 65. One can only suspect that one reason for these films falling off the list was their absence from the home video market. In other words, “Out of sight, out of mind.”

Of course, this release comes a couple of years too late to keep The Jazz Singer on the AFI List. Fortunately, I don’t care much about those lists.

Hopefully, we can get The African Queen to be released on some format, maybe HD DVD or Blu-Ray, before too long. Other than the original theatrical editions of the first Star Wars trilogy, this about the last great film that we can’t watch at home.

Before, he was evil and my enemy. Now, he is evil and my friend.

Released at the height of the James Bond heyday, this sober, gritty adaptation of John le Carré’s novel seems like a deliberate antidote to the increasingly fanciful adventures of Ian Fleming’s superspy. There are no outlandish gadgets or glamorous locations and the only significant female character dresses like a librarian (Of course, that might have something to do with the fact that she’s a librarian). For those who like their espionage somewhat grounded in reality, this movie is a three-course meal.

(more…)

Ain’t no dream. We run away slaves but we come back fightin’ men.

144 years ago this coming week, a Union regiment from Massachusetts led a futile assault on a Confederate bastion near Charleston known as Battery Wagner. As Civil War battles go, it was relatively minor and would normally go unremarked compared to the Battle of Gettysburg and the fall of Vicksburg, which both happened at roughly the same time. What made this action remarkable was the fact that 54th Massachusetts Volunteers was the first regular unit of the Union army to consist entirely of black soldiers, led by a white colonel, the son of prominent Boston abolitionists.

As an account of this event, Glory is reasonably accurate and thoroughly inspiring, built around a core of superb actors giving some of their best performances. It’s portrayal of Civil War combat is technically on par with the later Gettysburg, only more realistic and bloody, fully deserving of the film’s R rating.

(more…)