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After exploring “The Civil War,” “Baseball” and “Country Music,” award-winning documentarian Ken Burns and his frequent collaborator Lynn Novick examined the importance of being Ernest Hemingway in their three-part PBS documentary “Hemingway.” Premiering in April to strong reviews and Emmys buzz, the series weaves Papa’s biography with excerpts from his fiction, non-fiction, and personal correspondence. The series also reviews the mythology around the larger-than-life Hemingway, who penned such classic novels as “The Sun Also Rises,” “A Farewell to Arms,” “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “The Old Man and the Sea,” to reveal the truth behind the bravado.

Feature film adaptations of Hemingway’s works had mixed results. Hemingway Bff Gary Cooper excelled in 1932’s “A Farewell to Arms” and 1943’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” receiving an Oscar nomination for the latter. John Garfield gave one of his strongest performance in 1950’s superb noir “The Breaking Point,” based...

What can one say about a comedy that just limps along, even when an attractive cast does fine work every step of the way? Even the bit parts are creatively cast in this odd romp infected with a really bad case of The Cutes. Natalie Wood is at her best, but in service of dumb gags: let’s blow bubble gum bubbles! The result so upset Natalie that she ditched her studio contract. The roster of engaging talent includes Peter Falk (in suave leading man mode!), Dick Shawn (less grating than usual), Lila Kedrova & Lou Jacobi (showing real style), Jonathan Winters (wasted) and, of all people, Ian Bannen as Natalie Wood’s uncomprehending husband. Bannen is so good, he drags a real laugh or two from the material. The show has been beautifully remastered.

Penelope

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1966 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 97 min. / Street Date January 26, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Natalie Wood,...

Ron Moody as Fagin in 'Oliver!' based on Charles Dickens' 'Oliver Twist.' Ron Moody as Fagin in Dickens musical 'Oliver!': Box office and critical hit (See previous post: "Ron Moody: 'Oliver!' Actor, Academy Award Nominee Dead at 91.") Although British made, Oliver! turned out to be an elephantine release along the lines of – exclamation point or no – Gypsy, Star!, Hello Dolly!, and other Hollywood mega-musicals from the mid'-50s to the early '70s.[1] But however bloated and conventional the final result, and a cast whose best-known name was that of director Carol Reed's nephew, Oliver Reed, Oliver! found countless fans.[2] The mostly British production became a huge financial and critical success in the U.S. at a time when star-studded mega-musicals had become perilous – at times downright disastrous – ventures.[3] Upon the American release of Oliver! in Dec. 1968, frequently acerbic The...

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By Harvey F. Chartrand

Peter Gunn: The Complete Series is now available for the first time ever as a 12-dvd box set from Timeless Media Group… all 114 episodes, with a running time of over 58 hours.

Peter Gunn – created and produced by Blake Edwards – ran for three seasons – from 1958 to 1961. This classic detective show was a delightful blend of film noir and fifties cool, featuring a modern jazz score by Henry Mancini (a bonus CD of the soundtrack is included in the set), outbreaks of the old ultra-violence, a gallery of eccentric and sleazy characters (usually informants, gangsters and Beat Generation bohemians), and great acting by series leads Craig Stevens (as Gunn), Lola Albright (as his squeeze, sultry nightclub singer Edie Hart) and Herschel Bernardi (as Gunn’s friend and competitor Lieutenant Jacoby, who seems to work all by himself 24 hours a day...

Somehow, Norman Jewison still doesn't quite seem to get enough recognition. But, despite the fact that his name doesn't leap to mind when thinking about legendary directors, many of his films make the list of all-time greats. One of those classics (missing out on many of the Oscars it was nominated for due to the domination of The French Connection) is now available on Blu-Ray, and the 40th Anniversary Edition of Fiddler on the Roof is an absolute must own title.

Few films have ever managed to stir such emotion and deliver such complexity of theme, especially when you consider Fiddler on the Roof's ability to balance the oppressive setting with the joy and vibrancy of life embodied by Tevye (in Topol's brilliant performance).

Eyeing marriages for their five daughters, each with the fire and spark of youth tempered into various manifestations by the determined good cheer of their father,...

Chicago – Norman Jewison’s 1971 adaptation of the Broadway smash “Fiddler on the Roof” offers a textbook example of the best possible way to make a musical for the big screen. It came out at a time when movie musicals were quickly becoming a dying art form, and yet Jewison somehow managed to avoid all the mistakes that marred so many other filmmakers.

His first excellent decision was to avoid casting any big names. Topol was a 35-year-old actor who first played the main role of Tevye in a 1967 West End production. In the massive array of extras contained on this sensational 40th anniversary Blu-Ray edition, Jewison claims that he utilized clipped fragments of his own graying hair to age his preferred leading man. Yet the director’s efforts were obviously not in vain. Topol turned out to be such an indelible choice that it’s practically impossible to think of anyone else in the role.

Starring: Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey

Director: Norman Jewison

The Scoop: (1971) Based on the wildly popular Broadway musical of the same name, "Fiddler on the Roof" tells the story of a Jewish dad at the turn of the 20th century who is trying to cope with his daughters drifting away from both him and his faith. The solution? Well, we don't want to give any spoilers, but it involves a fiddle. The film won three Oscars.

Special Features: Commentary, featurettes, deleted song

Rated G, 181 min. | Watch the trailer...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

Arthur – Russell Brand, Helen Mirren, Jennifer Garner

Hanna – Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett, Eric Bana

Soul Surfer – AnnaSophia Robb, Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt

Your Highness – Danny McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman

Movie of the Week

Hanna

The Stars: Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett, Eric Bana

The Plot: A 16-year-old (Ronan) who was raised by her father to be the perfect assassin is dispatched on a mission across Europe, tracked by a ruthless intelligence agent and her operatives.

The Buzz: I’m moderately excited to see Your Highness, but Hanna wins ‘movie of the week’ here, as it looks to be a better film to see on the big screen. Director David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express) looks to have another great comedy on his hands in Your Highness, but if I had to pick just one to see in the theater, Hanna would be it. The premise...

In honor of the opening of the film Burlesque, starring Cher, Christina Aguilera and Stanley Tucci, the Movie Geeks are presenting what we feel are the best motion picture musicals.

Honorable Mention: Mary Poppins

“Practically Perfect in Every Way”, this is how the incomparably magical nanny Mary Poppins describes herself with nary a boastful smirk on a revealing tape measure in the still-charming 1964 Disney classic musical set in post-Victorian London circa 1910. Mary Poppins is the first movie I can remember seeing in a theater as a child I still feel genuine warmth about this movie as an adult. Such was the impact of Julie Andrews in her big screen debut, as she epitomizes the title character with equal quantities of starch and sugar. There are so many delightful scenes in Mary Poppins that it’s hard to choose which to highlight, though one of the best ones has to be...