All posts by alanwp

DVDs, Movies, TV

“Master of Dark Shadows” takes viewers deep(er) into Collinwood

Baby Boomers have sunk their teeth into many small-screen shows, but was anything more darkly delicious than Dark Shadows?

Master of Dark Shadows (MPI Home Media), a comprehensive celebration of the legendary Gothic daytime series and its visionary creator, Dan Curtis, is a feature documentary about the undyingly popular story of vampire Barnabas Collins and all the eerie goings-on at the gloomy Maine mansion Collinwood. The documentary was directed by David Gregory.

Narrated by Ian McShane, Master of Dark Shadows offers insights from Curtis, in addition to Oscar-winning writer-producer Alan Ball, screenwriter William F. Nolan, author Herman Wouk, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Steele and Ben Cross. Of course many members of the cast chime in, including Jonathan Frid, David Selby, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Lara Parker, John Karlen, Nancy Barrett, Jerry Lacy, Roger Davis, Marie Wallace, Chris Pennock and James Storm.

In 1966, a phenomenon was launched when Dark Shadows debuted on ABC as a daily Gothic suspense series. Airing in the late afternoon, the show attracted a massive youth audience as it shifted to the supernatural with the introduction of vulnerable vampire Barnabas Collins. Witches, ghosts and scary story lines turned Dark Shadows into a TV classic that led to motion pictures, remakes, reunions and legions of devoted fans who have kept the legend alive for five decades.
The documentary reveals the fascinating history, far-reaching impact and lasting appeal of Dark Shadows with a compelling blend of rare footage and behind-the-scenes stories while also exploring the dramatic talents of creator-producer-director Dan Curtis.
DVDs, Movies, TV

“Frontline: Documenting Hate”, an in-depth investigation into today’s white supremacy groups in the U.S. is mandatory viewing.

Love survives hate. It overcomes it.

PBS Distribution’s Frontline: Documenting Hate, an in-depth, two-part investigation into today’s white supremacy groups in the U.S. and the violent attacks that have taken place as a result, is mandatory viewing. Divided into two parts, Charlottesville and New American Nazis, the documentary focuses on how each has played a major role in reinforcing hate in America.

In Charlottesville, correspondent A.C. Thompson methodically tracks down some of those at the center of the infamous and deadly rally in Charlottesville, Virginia—revealing that one participant in the violence was an active-duty Marine, and the other worked for a major defense contractor and held a U.S. government security clearance. This part also shows just how ill-prepared law enforcement was to handle an influx of white supremacists from across the country, some of whom had been part of a series of earlier violent confrontations in California and descended on Charlottesville specifically to fight.

The second part of the program, New American Nazis, presents a new investigation into white supremacist groups in America—in particular, a neo-Nazi group, Atomwaffen Division, that has actively recruited inside the U.S. Military. This joint investigation documents the group’s terrorist objectives, examines how civilian and military authorities have responded, and shows how the group gained strength after the 2017 Charlottesville rally. In the wake of the 2018 deadly anti-Semitic attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, this program documents the rise and force behind these white supremacy groups.

Books, Celebrity Chatter

What’s juicier than celebrity gossip? How about a book about the controversial scandal magazine “Confidential”

Gossip! I have been gathering it, writing about it and spreading it ever since I began interviewing celebs and their “friends”. And I have a collection of the controversial scandal magazine Confidential, which, without a doubt, was the bible of gossip.

Confidential was the forerunner of today’s titillating headlines and celebrity gossip exposés. American culture in the 1950s revered celebrities as exemplary citizens with high morals and honest characters—Confidential challenged that notion with each issue it printed. The magazine tarnished Hollywood stars’ well-constructed images by publishing raunchy and brazen stories of their misdeeds and transgressions. Soon, the magazine was surpassing other successful publications such as Time, Life and the Saturday Evening Post in newsstand sales. For the first time, readers will learn how Confidential gained its notorious reputation and how it forever altered American culture, law and journalism.

Confidential Confidential: The Inside Story of Hollywood’s Notorious Scandal Magazine (Chicago Review Press, $27.99), by Samantha Barbas, presents a thoroughly-researched history of America’s first gossip magazine and the legal disputes that led to its end. With an extensive network of informants, Confidential soiled celebrities’ pristine reputations by publishing the stars’ scandalous secrets including extramarital affairs, drug use and taboo sexual practices in lewd detail.

By 1955, Confidential was the nation’s ruling publication on newsstands, forcing many to question the legalities of freedom of the press and society’s moral obligation to censor indecent content. Ultimately, a slew of multi-million dollar libel lawsuits and criminal charges brought by the state of California—concluding in the infamous 1957, star-studded Los Angeles trial—caused Confidential’ s downfall. Confidential Confidential provides readers with an insider’s view as to how the magazine obtained its juicy stories and how it laid the foundation for future gossip tabloids such as People, the National Enquirer and TMZ. Though it was legally forced to stop its gossip-mongering in 1958, Confidential’s legacy endures as society’s contemporary obsession with sensationalism and celebrity scandal remains more popular than ever.

Insightful and entertaining, Confidential Confidential will appeal to both Hollywood and journalism history aficionados and readers interested in celebrity culture.

Oh, yes, remind me to tell you about the famous movie star who was a notorious shoplifter. And we don;t mean Winona.

Books

“When Death Becomes Life: Notes from a Transplant Surgeon” is an important look at the miracle of organ transplant

The miracle of organ transplants straddles the line between heartbreak and hope—one person’s life extended through the tragedy of another’s loss. Joshua D. Mezrich, a transplant surgeon at the University of Wisconsin, witnesses this complex miracle with everyday regularity, and in his eloquent and illuminating new book, When Death Becomes Life: Notes from a Transplant Surgeon (Harper, $27.99), this dedicated doctor and elegant writer weaves stories from his own awe-inspiring work into a history of the medical advances that have made the extension of many lives possible.

When Death Becomes Life: Notes from a Transplant Surgeon“Joshua Mezrich has performed the perfect core biopsy of transplantation—a clear and compelling account of the grueling daily work, the spell-binding history and the unsettling ethical issues that haunt this miraculous lifesaving treatment,” says Pauline Chen, author of Final Exam: A Surgeon’s Reflections on Mortality.  “Mezrich’s compassionate and honest voice, punctuated by a sharp and intelligent wit, render the enormous subject not just palatable but downright engrossing.”

Joshua D Mezrich, MD

“My goal is not to provide a chronological depiction of my coming-of-age as a surgeon, but rather, to use my experiences and those of my patients to give context for the story of the modern pioneers who make transplantation a reality,” Dr. Mezrich writes. “The remarkable events that allowed mankind to successfully transplant organs between two individuals who are not genetically identical occurred relatively recently…These accomplishments were achieved on the backs of a relatively small number of truly incredible people.”

Mezrich brilliantly captures the urgency of his work, which can find him travelling through a storm in a small plane to a remote hospital where someone is dying from a gruesome accident, consoling an organ donor’s survivors, and renewing the possibility of life in the intense environment of the operating room.

As he recounts his experiences with great sensitivity and compassion, he also engages in the fascinating ethical and philosophical debates that he and his colleagues face: How much risk should a healthy person be allowed to take to save someone she loves? Should a patient suffering from alcoholism receive a healthy liver? What defines death, and what role did organ transplantation play in that definition?

DVDs, Movies, TV

MHz Choice releases three new international DVD box sets. Don’t know foreign languages? There are subtitles.

Bet you didn’t know we speak a few languages, other than English?
Really.
We’ve learned snatches of Spanish (¿Dónde está la biblioteca?).
Some bits of Swedish (Hur är det?).
And our fave, French. (Oui!)
Yet you won’t need to dust off the passport, international driver’s license and some old francs since, on May 28, MHz Choice releases three new international DVD box sets . . . even if you don’t know foreign languages, there are subtitles.
You do know how to read, don’t you?
FYI: Each season is also available as a separate DVD set. Order @ shopmhz.com.

From Spain
Velvet: The Complete Series Box Set (Seasons 1-4) 
Spain’s sexy, blockbuster television series takes you to the golden age of haute couture–late ’50s Madrid–where silk, sensuality and seduction flourish in a clothing emporium where everyone would like to go shopping at least once. Velvet Galleries is an Art Deco palace, a magical place of dazzling luxury and glamour. What shoppers don’t see, however, is the tender love story unfolding in the Galleries between humble dressmaker, Ana, and Alberto, the owner’s son and heir apparent.

Among elegant fabrics and haute-couture dresses, Ana and Alberto yield to their love, knowing full well that Alberto’s family opposes his relationship with a poor young employee. While Alberto rebels against family expectations, Ana, who longs to become a designer, struggles to assert herself as a creative personality. As family conflicts simmer, the star-crossed lovers Alberto and Ana fight for their destiny and pursue their forbidden love.

From France
Captain Marleau, Volumes 1 and 2
Captain Marleau (played by Corinne Masiero) has a hunter’s instinct, disguised under a deliberately offbeat veneer.  As she says herself, she doesn’t skim over cases, she plunges into them. Always on the prowl, she lies in wait for clues and her prey and takes them by surprise. In each episode, her hunt centers around a character
played by a famous actor…men and women who are a match for the outstanding cop.

Captain Marleau is the brainchild of French writer Elsa Marpeau, who describes her as a cross between Frances McDormand’s Marge Gunderson, Raymond Chandler’s literary creation, Philip Marlowe and Peter Falk’s, Columbo. The series is directed by another female French treasure, Josée Dayan. This team of women have created a policewoman who wears a parka and a Holden Caulfield hunting cap, dances and sings spontaneously, doesn’t care what others think of her and sees through lies with laser clarity. Her breezy manner and little red braids suggest Pippi Longstocking and believe the fact that she’s the smartest person in the room.  French audiences swooned over Captain Marleau, just like coroner Léopold Salaun (Jean-Claude Drouot) – because she’s a refreshing blast of crime-solving brilliance.

From Sweden
Miss Friman’s War
Meet the courageous group of women brave enough to take on both the male ruling classes of the day and a corrupt food industry. Savvy is their strategy and cans of healthy food are their weapons! It’s 1905 in Stockholm and Swedish lives are changing rapidly because of the introduction of new food safety technologies. Despite the advances, food poisoning epidemics are common among low income families and the line between different social groups remains clearly defined. The role of women also remains clearly defined, limited to hearth and home.

That is the situation Miss Dagmar Friman finds herself in when she returns to Stockholm after several years living in London. Miss Friman is more than a little headstrong and believes firmly in equal rights for women. She and her friends set out to open Swedish Homes, a grocery cooperative that sells unspoiled food at prices even workers can afford.  It’s a store for women, run by women and a revolutionary idea for its time. When the all-male board of the Stockholm Wholesale Association learn about the women’s business plan they start fighting back in any way they can, including illegal blockades. Unfazed, the women are determined to overcome all obstacles and open their Swedish Homes store on time.

DVDs, Movies, Music, TV

“Sammy Davis , Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me” chronicles the career of the one-eyed wonder

Finally. PBS Distribution has released the new American Masters program, Sammy Davis , Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me,  the first major film documentary to examine the performer’s vast career and his journey for identity through the shifting tides of civil rights and racial progress during 20th-century America. Sammy Davis, Jr. had the kind of career that was indisputably legendary, vast in scope and scale.

And yet, his life was complex, complicated and contradictory. Davis strove to achieve the American Dream in a time of racial prejudice and shifting political territory. He was a veteran of increasingly outdated show business traditions and worked tirelessly to stay relevant, even as he frequently found himself bracketed by the bigotry of white America and the distaste of black America. Davis was the most public black figure to embrace Judaism, thereby yoking his identity to that of another persecuted minority. In Duke Ellington’s words, he was “beyond category.”

Featuring interviews with such luminaries as Billy Crystal, Norman Lear, Jerry Lewis, Whoopi Goldberg and Kim Novak, with never-before-seen photographs from Davis’ vast personal collection and footage of his electric performances, this film explores the life and art of a uniquely gifted entertainer whose trajectory highlighted the major flashpoints of American society from the Depression through the ’80s.

DVDs, Movies, TV

A quartet of important PBS programs, now on DVD

We are always writing about PBS’ specials and programs because they are, well, special programs.

A few choices:

NOVA: Pluto and Beyond
When the New Horizons spacecraft whizzed by Pluto in 2015, we Earthlings were dazzled by the breathtaking images it beamed home. They revealed a never-before-seen alien landscape – a world of mountains made of ice mixed with plains of frozen-solid methane and nitrogen. After more than two years of poring over the data, NASA has made remarkable new discoveries about everyone’s favorite dwarf planet.

But New Horizons didn’t stop there. On New Year’s Day 2019, the probe flew by an object known now as Ultima Thule, believed to be a primordial building block of the solar system. This is the most distant flyby in NASA’s history – 4 billion miles from Earth. If successful, it will shed light on one of the least understood regions of our solar system: the Kuiper Belt. NOVA was embedded with the New Horizons mission team as the team uncovered in real time the secrets of what lies beyond Pluto.

NATURE: Equus: The Story of the Horse
Ever since the beginning of time, humans and horses have had an extraordinary and unusual partnership. As a result, horses have helped shape the human world. In this program, viewers join anthropologist Dr. Niobe Thompson and equine experts on a two-part adventure around the world and throughout time to discover the origins of the horse and what makes us so perfect for each other. In part one, Origins, viewers experience a stunning 3D reconstruction as a realistic animation of the 45 million-year-old ancestor of the horse, the Dawn horse, rises from a fossil bed and begins a transformation into the magnificent animal we know today. Viewers discover why horses have almost 360-degree vision and gallop on a single toe.

In part two of the program, Chasing the Wind, viewers encounter extraordinary horse breeds old of the Siberian Arctic to the scorching heat of the Arabian Desert. Filmed over 18 months across three continents, the program not only explores the horse and its biology but how humans have partnered with the horse throughout the centuries, creating more than 400 breeds found all around the world.

USS INDIANAPOLIS: The Final Chapter
In the waning days of World War II, less than three weeks before the Japanese surrendered, the U.S. Navy experienced a catastrophic disaster. The USS Indianapolis, the pride and joy of the U.S. Navy, had just delivered the components of the atomic bomb destined for Hiroshima when she is sunk by a Japanese sub. 300 sailors go down with her, and the 900 survivors drift for four and a half days, battling the sun, thirst, sharks, and their own fear. Ultimately, only 316 of them are pulled from the sea alive.

https://youtu.be/lyIboZvBa2I

The sinking of Indianapolis remains the U.S. Navy’s worst single loss of life at sea. The program flashes back and forth in time between the Indianapolis’ history and her ultimate fate, and 2017, when explorers finally found the ship’s remains 18,000 feet below the surface of the Philippine Sea. Viewers will hear first-hand accounts from survivors about those horrific days trying to survive and how they feel today, now that the USS Indianapolishas been found.

Victoria & Albert: The Wedding
This two-part British drama produced by BBC Studios for PBS and BBC gives an insider’s look into the elaborate planning that went into one of the most famous weddings of all time: the romantic 1840 union of Queen Victoria and her consort Prince Albert. Host and Royal historian Lucy Worsley, along with a team of experts, oversees the meticulous recreation of the most important and fascinating elements of the wedding celebration, from the food and the music to the tiered cake, exquisite white wedding dress, and more.

Scouring all available materials, including Victoria’s own diaries for details, the program reveals how the pomp and pageantry secured the nation’s unwavering attention as Victoria gained favor with her subjects and invented the modern ideal of marriage.

Books, Movies

“The Art of the Missing Link” is the wonder that links the book and the film

There’s nothing a great book being the companion to a great flick. Witness Missing Link, a stunning, epic, raucous stop-motion comedy. Now, Insight Editions and LAIKA, the animation studio behind the film), have brought us The Art of Missing Link ($45.00), a must-have companion to the film featuring featuring concept art from the film’s creation—including sketches, storyboards, character designs, and much more.

Hugh Jackman is Sir Lionel Frost: a brave and dashing adventurer who considers himself to be the world’s foremost investigator of myths and monsters. The trouble is, no one else seems to agree.  He sees a chance to prove himself by traveling to America’s Pacific Northwest to discover the world’s most legendary creature. A living remnant of Man’s primitive ancestry . . . The Missing Link.

Zach Galifianakis is Mr. Link:  the slightly silly, surprisingly smart and soulful beast who Sir Lionel discovers. As species go, he’s as endangered as they get; he’s possibly the last of his kind, he’s lonely, and he believes that Sir Lionel is the one man alive who can help him.  Together they set out on a daring quest around the world to seek out Link’s distant relatives in the fabled valley of Shangri-La.

Along with the independent and resourceful Adelina Fortnight (Zoe Saldana), who possesses the only known map to the group’s secret destination, the unlikely trio embarks on a riotous roller-coaster ride of a journey.  Along the way, our fearless explorers encounter more than their fair share of peril, stalked at every turn by dastardly villains seeking to thwart their mission. Through it all, Mr. Link’s disarming charm and good-humored conviction provide the emotional and comedic foundation of this fun-filled family movie.

The Art of Missing Link is a lushly illustrated volume that goes behind the scenes of LAIKA’s new stop-motion adventure. LAIKA utilizes cutting-edge technology to advance stop-motion animation in a hybrid of old and new techniques. This book probes deep into the filmmakers’ meticulous process and showcases the one-of-a-kind artwork from the making of the film.

DVDs, Movies

Need more than high-octane coffee? Try Steven Seagal’s newest flick, “General Commander”

Whenever we hear about a new Steven Seagal flick, we prepare for the high-octane adventure. The latest example: General Commander, arriving on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital and On Demand May 28 from Lionsgate. Sonia Couling and Byron Gibson round out the cast.

Seagal takes on a global crime syndicate in this powerful action saga. After CIA agent Jake Alexander (Seagal) sees a member of his team killed during a sting operation, he demands revenge against guilty mob boss Orsini. But the CIA won’t sanction the hit, so Jake and his crew quit the agency and form a task force with just one mission: vengeance. Full of explosive action, thrilling stunts, and bone-crunching fights, General Commander never lets up.
Tale about being on deadly ground!
Books

Thank God for Andrew McCabe: Another reason to hate the racist scumbag, Adolph Frump

Does anyone hate Adolph Frump more than I do?
Oh, yes! More than half the nation!
On March 16, 2018, just 26 hours before his scheduled retirement from the organization he had served with distinction for more than two decades, Andrew G. McCabe was fired from his position as deputy director of the FBI.
In The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump (St. Martin’s Press, $29.99), Andrew G. McCabe offers a dramatic and candid account of his career, and an impassioned
defense of the FBI’s agents, and of the institution’s integrity and independence in protecting America and upholding our Constitution.

The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump

McCabe started as a street agent in the FBI’s New York field office, serving under director Louis Freeh. He became an expert in two kinds of investigations that are critical to American national security: Russian organized crime―which is inextricably linked to the Russian state―and terrorism. Under Director Robert Mueller, McCabe led the investigations of major attacks on American soil, including the Boston Marathon bombing, a plot to bomb the New York subways, and several narrowly averted bombings of aircraft. And under James Comey, McCabe was deeply involved in the controversial investigations of the Benghazi attack, the Clinton Foundation’s activities, and Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of state.

The Threat recounts in compelling detail the time between Frump’s November 2016 election and McCabe’s firing, set against a page-turning narrative spanning two decades when the FBI’s mission shifted to a new goal: preventing terrorist attacks on Americans. But as McCabe shows, right now the greatest threat to the United States comes from within, as President Trump and his administration ignore the law, attack democratic institutions, degrade human rights, and undermine the U.S. Constitution that protects every citizen.
Important, revealing and powerfully argued, The Threat tells the true story of what the FBI is, how it works, and
why it will endure as an institution of integrity that protects America.