DVD-fanatic-9 - You have got to see Mia Farrow's performance. What a great film. I don't want to spoil it but I will say it rivals Wait Until Dark in suspense.
It's a decent little thriller punctuated by a wonderfully off-kilter performance by Alan Arkin. He sure has fun in that movie, in three different roles no less. Nice to see it getting a Blu from the Archive, but Warner needs to get their shit together in terms of accommodating Canadians (and the rest of the world). US only shipping from their site? C'mon. Their Blu prices are pretty heavy too...is there really a person on this earth that would pay US$22 for MICHAEL COLLINS? I honestly want to know.
Looking at Warner Archive titles on amazon.ca, it looks like $20 plus shipping is about the average asking price. Ok, fine. It's kind of interesting (read: sad) to see the titles they choose to put out through the Archive program, though. I recently picked up James Cagney's Yankee Doodle Dandy on DVD. Back in the day, Warner's lavished it with one of their fold-out, cardboard double disc sets, with docs, commentaries, nice artwork, the whole 9 yards. Now it's available through Warner Archive. They don't have enough faith in it to even ship it to stores. I guess we should be glad things like Casablanca, Citizen Kane, or Treasure of the Sierra Madre didn't suffer the same fate. How things change in a few years....
I've been close friends with Audrey's son for years, and he once told me that Wait Until Dark was one of the films his mother was most proud of.
I find that to be unbearably cool. She's one of my all-time favorite actors, and from what I've read, an all around great person. I'd probably be star struck if I met your friend!
It's easy to say he's biased because it's his mother, but I've heard it all about how she was off-camera, her work with UNICEF, etc. She was a legitimate saint. Her film work is absolutely nothing compared to Audrey the person.
I just heard today that there aren't even 60 films on Netflix streaming that were made/released before 1970. Sad state of affairs.
I remember reading some bullshit article (i wish i could remember where) that laughably referred to the content on Netflix (Canada, in this case) as an indication of quality. I did a quick search for people like Cary Grant, John Wayne, Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn, Gregory Peck, Liz Taylor, Paul Newman, Charlton Heston, Lawrence Olivier, etc, etc. Several of them had no films at all. The rest had only 1 or 2. The history of the film industry is being erased by things like Netflix. How are people supposed to be able to identify quality, if their medium of choice forces the bar to remain so low? It's depressing. Long live physical media.
It's not Netflix's fault. Netflix WANTS content and content selection. Netflix wants these old movies. Blame the studios for not being forward-thinking with regard to digital streaming. On this board, we love physical media, but we are not the majority. The majority of film fans are watching via digital streaming services. There is no going back. Studios that do not realize this are actively turning down money in a short-sighted attempt to sell discs to people who do not want them.
Is there any actual hope of more studios getting into bed with Turner Classic Movies, FilmStruck, Criterion, Mubi, AMC, whomever might be more than happy to pick up their slack in streaming?
I just wonder if it's a rights issue, because Hulu has a ton of silents and Criterion releases. Maybe Netflix doesn't want to pay for the rights to stream certain titles? I was surprised that they didn't get Seinfeld. Hulu did.
Exclusivity. Hulu outbids Netflix, Netflix outbids Hulu for certain titles' exclusive digital rights.
Since someone requested review quotes along with review links in another thread, thought I'd start here. "A totally compelling film to curl up with on a late Friday night. Wait Until Dark works every time you see it - wonderfully acted by the limited cast and expertly realized by director Young. The Warner Archive Blu-ray is the same old story - a good, nay very adept, a/v transfer here but no investment in some new extras - including a, worthy, commentary. Still a total gem of a film experience and one to definitely own in its best quality! " DVD Beaver review: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/blu-ray_reviews_75/wait_until_dark_blu-ray.htm
