Nashville (Criterion Collection) BLU-RAY/DVD DUAL FORMAT EDITION

Criterion Takes On Altman's Seminal Masterwork: Special Features Announced
Of all the Criterion announcements this year, the arrival of Robert Altman's "Nashville" is the one that has excited me the most. I've owned the film on a clunky two cassette VHS format and on a rather unimpressive DVD presentation. One of the seminal films of the seventies, this is an important work that has demanded a more worthy distribution. When I saw that Criterion had picked up the title, I rushed over here to see what features would be included on the release. Alas, there was nothing yet listed. I thought that other "Nashville" enthusiasts might also be chomping at the bit in anticipation, so I thought I'd give a shout-out to the announced pre-release features. This is for informational purposes only, I have not previewed this edition. I can say with confidence, however, that any restoration can't help but be a noticeable improvement over the poor quality discs currently on the market.

The "Nashville" release will be in a Blu-ray/DVD Combo pack having one...
Robert Altman is a 'genius'
As have others, I too am excited beyond belief that Criterion is honoring NASHVILLE to be part of its series. I will never forget when I first saw the film in New York City. I was stunned by it and stood in line a second and third time. It became one of the most astonishing metaphors of our political climate at the time. The film, created in Altman's improvisational style, is flooded with truthful work: Lily Tomlin, Keith Carradine, Ronee Blakley, Henry Gibson, Shelley Duvall, Geraldine Chaplin, Karen Black, Ned Beatty, and the list goes on --- all contributed enormously to the mosaic. With echoes of the Kennedy assassination, the film marches on as a panorama of the sixties. The film almost ridicules Nashville and I can understand why the country capital was not celebrating its perspective The plot occurs in five days with intertwining story lines and the Grand Ole Opry as a backdrop. The finale is a political rally for one Hal Philip Walker, a radical conservative, a kind of Ted...

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I Married a Witch (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

At last! I Married a Witch gets the treatment it deserves.
I've been waiting for at least 10 years for this hilarious film to be released on dvd for region 1. I owned the vhs, and it was a film I'd watch with family and friends every Halloween season....until dvds replaced vhs tapes. It's been a long wait. At one point, I even purchased a bootleg with Korean subtitles that was too awful to enjoy. I'm thrilled that it's getting the Criterion treatment that it deserves.
Veronica Lake is stunning as a witch who puts a curse on the descendants of the judge who convicted her of witchcraft in Puritan New England. Cecil Kellaway is charming. Fredric March plays the descendants from the 17th century until the present day (1942), doomed to suffer miserable marriages. Great sets, great costumes, great hair, great story by the writer of Topper. Lake must have been quite a diva. She and Fredric March loathed one another. March said working with her was the worst experience of his life, and he worked with Miriam Hopkins! Joel McCrea turned it down...
A Bewitching Comedy With Sexy Witch Veronica Lake
It's rare nowadays when you can say that you have seen a totally delightful comedy in the cinemas. That rare marriage of charming scenerio, ideally cast players, and romantic setting seems to be sadly a thing of the past which is why I always find "I Married a Witch", such enjoyable viewing. Here we have two very famous performers in dramatic veteran Fredric March, and Film Noir siren Veronica Lake playing against their usual "type" and having a field day cutting loose with this romantic screwball tale that combines sexy humour with elements of the supernatural. Based on the unfinished novel by "Topper", author Thorne Smith, "I Married a Witch", gave us a whole new image of what witches were like minus the warts and crooked nose and in much the same vein as the later legendary series "Bewitched", showed us witches who were playful and extremely sexy. Veronica Lake had I feel her most appealing role here and proved herself adept at frothy comedy and capable of far more than just...
One of the greatest Hollywood comedies of the forties
I once did a list for a friend of the ten sexiest female characters in the movies. Veronica Lake's lovely witch ranked very high on that list. Although she starred in several other classic films from 1942 to 1946, this movie is easily my favorite. Much of her reputation today is based on her several appearances in film noir classics (THIS GUN FOR HIRE, THE GLASS KEY, and THE BLUE DAHLIA), but I actually preferred her in this film and to a lesser degree SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS.

The rest of the cast is just as delightful. Fredric March is everything you could ask a romantic lead who is descended from Puritans to be, and Cecil Kellaway and Robert Benchley take turns stealing scenes.

Of all the European directors forced by political turmoil in Germany and Italy to work in the US temporarily in the thirties and forties, Rene Clair probably had the most successful record. While his best work remains the extraordinary films he made in the early thirties working in France (SOUS LES...
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