DVD Collectors Online

Hangman's Knot, a review by Rogmeister

Introduction--I got the idea for this back in 2006 and was going to do it in my blog but actually only did a review for one movie.  Thus, except for the first movie, my reviews will be new.  The idea is to review one movie for each year I've been alive.  I was born in 1952 so that's the year my first movie is from...



Hangman's Knot
Written & Directed by Roy Huggins
Cast: Randolph Scott, Donna Reed, Claude Jarman, Jr., Frank Faylen, Glenn Langan, Richard Denning, Lee Marvin, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams

Hangman's Knot is the only film ever directed by Roy Huggins. He would later go on to create and produce such television series as "Maverick" and "The Rockford Files". As his sole directorial effort for the big screen, this was a fine effort. The film begins with a group of men (led by Scott's character) waiting for what we soon learn is a Union army shipment of gold. They attack, resulting in all but one of the Union soldiers being killed and we then learn they are undercover Confederate soldiers. The one surviving Union soldier surprises the youngest and untested member of the Johnny Rebs who fires out of sheer reaction. Before he dies, he tells them that the Civil War is over...it had ended about a month before. They're not sure they believe him but they find out this is the truth when they go to meet their contact. That man obviously was trying to cheat them of the gold and his reward is to be shot dead by the group's hothead (Marvin). They load the gold into the man's wagon (disguised as an elixir salesman's wagon) but on their way out of the area, they meet up with what they first think is a posse but later find out they are just drifters out for the gold themselves. They take off when the drifters are tricked into believing someone already captured them.

They lose the wagon (the horses break lose from it) but are able to stop and board a stagecoach. The drifters are soon back and giving chase but the band on the stage manage to reach and board up at a stagecoach way-station. The rest of the film deals with Confederates (and the civilians with them) trying to survive as the drifters try to get at them...and more importantly at the gold.

All the movies I will be watching will be on DVD and I hope they all look as good as this one. The picture quality is incredibly good, especially the outdoor chase scenes where they're riding out in the plains around huge rocks. Donna Reed isn't someone you expect to see in a western but she and Scott have good chemistry and the film has a fine cast with lots of familiar faces from Lee Marvin to Claude Jarman Jr. of "The Yearling". There is no music composing credit so perhaps they simply used stock footage for this film. The movie is fast-paced and clocks in at a mere 81 Minutes.

Usually movies that are this old don't come with extras (unless they're special editions of Oscar-winning films) but this DVD did come with a trio of movie trailers...not for this film but for Cowboy (the trailer introduced by Jack Lemmon), Once Upon A Time In Mexico and Silverado.

(From The Movies Of My Life on March 23rd, 2011)

The Sound of Music, a review by addicted2dvd

The Sound of Music: 45th Anniversary Edition (1965/United States) Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (United States) Director: Robert Wise (1914) Writing: Howard Lindsay (Original Material By), Russel Crouse (Original Material By), Ernest Lehman (Screenwriter) Length: 175 min. Video: Widescreen 2.20:1 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio: 7.1, English: Dolby Digital: 4.0, Portuguese: Dolby Digital: 5.1, French: DTS: 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Commentary

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Stars:
Julie Andrews as Maria
Christopher Plummer as Captain von Trapp
Eleanor Parker as The Baroness
Richard Haydn as Max Detweiler
Peggy Wood as Mother Abbess

Plot:Extras:

• Scene Access
• Audio Commentary
• Feature Trailers
• Featurettes
• Gallery
• Interactive Games
• Interviews
• BD-Live
• Music Machine, Sing-along, Radio Spots, Screen Tests

This is a film I went into not expecting to like at all as I am not a big fan of musicals. But found I enjoyed the story quite a bit. Though I do feel lit went on a little too long. In my opinion it should have ended with Marie coming back to the family and her and Captain Van Trapp getting married. The extra Nazi stuff in my opinion was too much and not needed at all. But over all I am still surprisingly glad I watched it.



(From 2018 Challenge: Box Office TOP 100 FILMS OF ALL-TIME (Domestic Gross) on April 27th, 2018)

Tom's Glee Marathon, a review by Tom

Glee
Season 2.03 Grilled Cheesus
Writer: Ryan Murphy (Created By), Brad Falchuk (Created By), Ian Brennan (Created By), Brad Falchuk (Writer)
Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
Cast: Dianna Agron (Quinn Fabray), Chris Colfer (Kurt Hummel), Jessalyn Gilsig (Terri Schuester), Jane Lynch (Sue Sylvester), Jayma Mays (Emma Pillsbury), Kevin McHale (Artie Abrams), Lea Michele (Rachel Berry), Cory Monteith (Finn Hudson), Heather Morris (Brittany Pierce), Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester), Mike O'Malley (Burt Hummel), Amber Riley (Mercedes Jones), Naya Rivera (Santana Lopez), Mark Salling (Noah "Puck" Puckerman), Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina Cohen-Chang), Iqbal Theba (Principal Figgins), Romy Rosemont (Carole Hudson), Dot Jones (Shannon Beiste), Harry Shum, Jr. (Mike Chang), Chord Overstreet (Sam Evans), James Earl (Azimio), Brent Jennings, Anthony Brandon Wong (Dr. Lee), Adam Kolkin (Young Kurt), Teddy Lane, Jr. (Trainer), Sharon Muthu (Sikh), Al Pugliese (Customer), Robin Trocki (Jean Sylvester)

When I had first seen this episode, I was a little pissed off at it. It may be because I am not American and find it sometimes offensive how they are pushing religions. Or at least how the media portrays it.
In this episode Kurt's father has an heart attack. And everyone just came up to Kurt wanting to pray and pushing religions. When he said he doesn't believe in god and they should stop pushing it, I cheered for him.
I liked his "I appreciate your thoughts. But I don't want your prayers."

But one visit to a church with the stereotypical big black girl who is singing in a gospel choir in a church, he suddenly has a change of heart and is more welcoming of the prayers.
Also the reactions of the others, when he told them that he doesn't believe in god was like "Wait! What?!"
Is it really that bad in the US, or at least in the bible belt? The show plays in Ohio.

Finncompetent:
Finn starts praying to a grilled cheese sandwhich after the burn marks look like Jesus to him. At the end of the episode he lost faith and starts eating the some days old sandwich.

Notable music:
I really liked Kurt singing "I Want to Hold Your Hand":
Video

Loosing My Religion. Sung by Finn. It was one of his better songs.
Video

"One of Us". I always liked this song and also this version is nice listening to.
Video

Rating:

(From Tom's Glee Marathon on October 31st, 2012)