NitrateVille.com

So what did everyone get for Christmas or whatever holiday that you celebrate this time of year? I was lucky to receive The King of Jazz book plus Bob Birchard's Monty Banks book. I also received the Marx Brothers' new BluRay set, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Book Thief, The Treasure of Sierra Madre and Pulp Fiction, all on BluRay.

Volume I of R C Dale's 'The Films of Rene Clair'.

And a late present, THE MOTION PICTURE GUIDE: SILENT FILM 1910-1936, by Robert B Connelly.

Steve Haberman's Silent Screams.

greta

Some really wonderful lobby cards all Dorothy Gish including Nell Gwyn and a couple of title cards Out of Luck being one. Also Robert Bader's book on the Marx Brothers.

The Kino Blu-ray of Fritz Lang's 'Spies.' I also got a $100 gift card and a $50 bill so I'll be doing some shopping of my own.

Of yuletide video-pleasury things, including those I got for Christmas along with those I got on Christmas: Conquering Power, All Quiet on the Western Front, Pierre Etaix Collection, Behind Office Doors (reviewed today on a monitor near you), Million Dollar Legs, The Smart Set, a DVD of Diplomaniacs to replace my faltering videocassette of same, collection Vamps of the Silent Era, Monastery of Sendomir, The Hell Ship, Complete Jacques Tati, Lonesome/Broadway; plus, perhaps of lesser interest to the cinema crowd, numerous ballets (a long-sought rare DVD of three rare short ballets Ballet Miniatures, Swedish Royal Ballet’s Swan Lake—which I watched on Christmas, La Scala Ballet’s exciting Excelsior—which I watched on Christmas Eve; Bolshoi’s Nutcracker). And I have a mountain of newly-acquired films, bought earlier this year, which I have not yet discussed here.

I've already spent two Amazon gift certificates on several CD's by the Mills Brothers; blu rays of I CONFESS, THE GANG'S ALL HERE, the upcoming Criterion HIS GIRL FRIDAY, and the Julie Christie FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD; a copy of Alain Silver's FILM NOIR: AN ENCYCLOPEDIC REFERENCE TO THE AMERICAN STYLE; the MoC blu ray set of the Buster Keaton shorts; and the Kino DVD of THE LITTLE FUGITIVE, which I've never seen.

Honestly, when I do my income tax forms next month, I think I'm going to list Amazon as one of my dependents!

I must have been good this year. I got two books: Dangerous Curves Atop Hollywood Heels, and a book about The Black Cat. For DVD's I got Underground and The Monster of Piedras Blancas.

Matthew

I have watched two of my new Marx Bros. blu-rays already. Well, first we put Duck Soup on just to see how it looked and 71 minutes later, we were done seeing how it looked. This is a movie that you'd say, can't really get better at what it's good at just because it's razor-sharp, but I'd say the overall air of absurdism is only that much more so from the art deco settings and the very straight-faced old men who stand around as if the antics of the Marxes as leaders of a country are reasonable. So yeah, it's even funnier in blu-ray.

Tonight we watched The Cocoanuts, my first time seeing it in nearly 40 years. Well, it's tough to sit through still. Very good for 1929, but there's not that much Marx Bros. in it, relative to the running time-- even in their own movie, they're sort of comic relief to a musical romance. But when they have the chance they get laughs, and it sure looks beautiful in the restored parts, so it was worth it for that.

From others: the "King of Jazz" hardcover book, very beautiful.

From myself: (here): "Napoleon" BR set, Seiki multi-format player, "The Iceman Cometh" (4-hr edition), "Berlin Alexanderplatz" (PAL edition.)

From myself: (on order): "Satantango" DVD set, "Faust", "Nosferatu", "City Girl" BRs from BFI and MoC, "Floating Weeds" and "The Burmese Harp" BRs from Eureka...going "international" on BR will just speed up my financial ruin, but I do like the British editions and prices a lot more.

Purchased earlier in the year, the Russian "War and Peace" still lurks on the shelf, unwatched as of yet.
The stacking of films has begun; when will they all be seen?

Claus.

I bought myself the King of Jazz block.I rarely pay over £20 for a book.The last was Buzz,the blog of Busby Berkeley.
I look forward to reading it in due course.Currently ploughing through the 530 page very detailed blog of Mickey Rooney.