Frank Capra at Columbia Collection is the New Blu-ray Pick of the Week

frank capra collection box

I’m generally not a fan of the way Christmas Season keeps getting bumped farther and farther up the calendar. I don’t need to see giant, inflatable Santa Clauses the day after Halloween, thank you very much. I don’t want to hear Christmas Carols at the grocery store on the first of November. Don’t tell me about Black Friday deals six weeks before Thanksgiving. Let me enjoy Autumn for a little while before I have to start thinking about presents, and visiting my in-laws, and decorating the bloody Christmas tree.

There is an exception to my bah-humbug-iness.

I’m totally down with big boxed sets of Blu-rays getting released as early as possible. That gives me plenty of time to add things to my list.

Frank Capra was one of the great directors of classic cinema. He directed the greatest of all Christmas movies, It’s a Wonderful Life, and also It Happened One Night, You Can’t Take It With You, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Arsenic and Old Lace, and many others.

This set includes 21 of his films that cover a great chunk of his career from his earliest silent movies to some of his great classics. It comes in a very nice-looking case and is loaded with extras.

The films include:

So This Is Love / The Way of the Strong / That Certain Thing / Submarine 4K SDR / The Younger Generation 4K SDR / Flight / Ladies of Leisure / Rain or Shine – 2 cuts / Dirigible 4K SDR / The Miracle Woman / Platinum Blonde 4K / American Madness / The Bitter Tea of General Yen / Forbidden / Lady for a Day / It Happened One Night 4K / Mr. Deeds Goes to Town 4K / Lost Horizon 4K / You Can’t Take It With You 4K / Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 4K / + Frank Capra: Mr America docu / 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

This is definitely going on my Christmas wishlist and it is now this week’s pick.

Also out this week that looks interesting:

The Terminator (40th Anniversary, 4K UHD): I still remember my Dad renting this film back in the late 1980s. I had no idea what it was, had never heard of the film, and if I’m being honest I was probably too young to have been allowed to watch it. But I absolutely loved it. Still do. As far as I can tell the few extras that are included in this disc have been ported over from previous releases.

Godzilla Minus One (4K UHD): Forget all those silly American Godzilla flicks, this is the real deal. Just an all-around terrific Godzilla film.

A Simple Plan (Limited Edition 4K UHD): Sam Raimi’s thriller about a struggling couple who stumble upon a crashed plane with a load of cash in it got loads of critical acclaim when it came out, but I didn’t care that much for it. I think it is time for a revisit. Arrow Video has this release and they’ve loaded it with extras.

Speak No Evil: American remake of a Danish thriller about an idyllic weekend holiday that goes terribly wrong. Stars James McAvoy, McKenzie Davis, and Scoot McNairy.

Funny Girl (4K UHD): Criterion presents this musical from director William Wyler about a poor Jewish girl (Barbara Streisand) who rises to fame and fortune.

CC40: To celebrate their 40th anniversary the Criterion Collection has put together this boxed set of 40 films. There doesn’t seem to be anything special about the films they chose. They have all been released by Criterion before and as far as I can tell they don’t come with any additional extras. It would be a good starter pack for someone who doesn’t already own a lot of these films (and has a lot of money), but otherwise, I can’t see any reason to buy this.

Slap the Monster: Radiance Films continues its fantastic schedule of releasing relatively obscure Italian films. This one follows a newspaper as it tries to derail a murder investigation in order to support a fascist political candidate.

Japan Organized Crime Boss: Another Radiance Film release. This one concerns an elderly Yakuza soldier who just got out of prison. He wants to lead a straight life from now on but his former compatriots keep dragging him back into the life. You can read my full review here.

Jackson Browne – Vienna, VA (07/20/22)

Jackson Browne
20 July 2022
Filene Center at Wolf Trap
Vienna, VA

Set 1
Somebody’s Baby
The Barricades of Heaven
The Long Way Around
Downhill From Everywhere
Fountain of Sorrow
Rock Me on the Water
In the Shape of a Heart
Before the Deluge
I Am a Patriot

Set 2
You Love the Thunder
The Dreamer
Until Justice Is Real
For a Dancer
These Days
Redneck Friend
Doctor My Eyes
Late for the Sky
The Pretender
Running on Empty

Disc 3 – encore 1 –
Take It Easy
Our Lady of the Well

encore 2 –
The Load-Out
Stay

LC master

Jackson Browne – Morrison, CO (08/22/16)

Jackson Browne
22 august 2016
Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Morrison, CO, USA

Disc 1 – Set 1
Rock Me on the Water
Just Say Yeah
Fountain of Sorrow
The Long Way Around
Call It a Loan
I’m Alive
For Everyman
Walls and Doors
For a Dancer
Doctor My Eyes

Disc 2 – Set 2
The Birds of St. Marks
Your Bright Baby Blues
Which Side
These Days
Somebody’s Baby
Boulevard
Redneck Friend
The Barricades of Heaven
Late for the Sky
In the Shape of a Heart
The Pretender
Running on Empty

Disc 3 – encore
Take It Easy
Our Lady of the Well
I Am a Patriot

L.C. master

CD RIP > Audacity 1.3
Cd wave > Traders Little Helper level 8

Noirvember: Targets (1968)

targets poster

In August of 1966 Charles Whitman, after stabbing his wife and mother to death, climbed a clock tower at the University of Texas at Austin and shot over 30 people with a rifle.

Two years later Peter Bogdanovich directed his first movie. Famed producer Roger Corman told Bogdanovich he could make any movie he liked under two conditions. First Boris Karloff owed him two days worth of work so the film would have to utilize that. Second, he had to use clips from Corman’s own film with Karloff, The Terror (1963). Other than that he could do what he wanted (within the budget constraints of course.)

Targets blends a slightly autobiographical tale of Karloff as an aging horror actor who finds real life’s horrors to be more than he can take, and a Charles Whitman-esque “average man” who goes on a shooting spree. The way that these two separate stories merge is quite fascinating.

Karloff is Byron Orlok an elderly actor who starred in the type of horror movies Karloff used to star in. But he finds he no longer has an audience. Those old films seem dated and cheesy to modern audiences. Real life with its relentless real violence is much scarier than those old movies. He announces he’s going to retire, much to the chagrin of Sammy Michaels (Peter Bogdanovich) a director who has just written a part specifically for Orlok.

During these scenes, we watch Orlok watch scenes from The Terror, and later we’ll see him watch himself in The Criminal Code (1933). It is quite a treat to watch Karloff watching himself on screen.

Orlok is unrelenting in his decision to retire but does agree to make an appearance at a drive-in theater where one of his films will be shown.

Meanwhile, Bobby Thompson (Tim O’Kelly) is a seemingly normal young man. He has a pretty wife and a perfectly average set of parents with whom they live in a nice little house. He likes to go hunting with his father. He likes guns.

The film gives us hints that not all is well with the Thompsons. Nothing dramatic, but his interactions with his wife are bland. His conversations with his parents are empty. We watch them sit around the television laughing blankly at some broad comedy.

Then he kills his wife and mother, loads up a bag full of weapons, sits atop an oil storage tank, and begins taking potshots at cars on a nearby highway. When the cops arrive he escapes, making his way to a drive-thru playing some old film starring Byron Orlok.

Bogdanovich shoots all of this with a low-key style. He wisely doesn’t make any overt statements about movies and violence, allowing the viewer to draw their own conclusions.

It is a fascinating film and one that amazes me that it ever got made. There aren’t a lot of people who could take that mandate from Roger Corman and make something at all watchable, that Bogdanovich turned it into something great is a minor miracle.

Various Artists – Nobody Sings Dylan Like Dylan, Vol. 39

Various Artist
Nobody Sings Dylan Like Dylan Vol. 39

(There are but #40 Volumes.)

Lineage:
downloaded from tracker 2019-06-24. r5. Many thanks to JS for all the original collection and compilation
LL blog > Transmission 2.94 > iMac 3.6 GHz (os10.14.6 Mojave) > xACT 2.47 (st5, md5) > Transmission 2.94 >
checksums included in torrent with original checksum files. (ffp, md5)

checkout the “NSDdetails 2012-07-25.numbers” file included in the torrent (somewhere). it’s an apple file of some kind but you should be able to open it up as excel or something else depending on your particular system. has details on all the included songs, bands, artists. please don’t hesitate to contact me if you need to.

Search on the web, shows this on Amazon –
https://www.amazon.com/Nobody-Sings-Dylan-Like/dp/B0039L1J6Q#customerReviews
Nobody Sings Dylan Like Dylan Import Label: Righteous ASIN: B0039L1J6Q VARIOUS ARTISTS (Artist)
The peculiar thing about this release is the title, “Nobody Sings Dylan Like Dylan.” These are NOT Dylan songs, but his covers of traditional songs. I don’t wonder much how they decided on the misleading description.

I included some art in these last ones. It may/may not have any relationship to our subject. As always if you don’t want them, just set your client to opt out. This one is of a man who has been a great inspiration to me.

Bit sad to get to the end, but ‘all things must pass’

There wasn’t a thing left to say
The night we called it a day.

Nobody Sings Dylan Like Dylan, Vol. 39 – I See My Light Come Shining

01 This Wheel’s On Fire – Levon Helm Band (Jun 26 2011, Solid Sound Festival, N. Adams, MA)
02 It Takes a Lot to Laugh – Levon Helm Band (Apr 11, 2008, Wanee Fest, Live Oak, FL)
03 Hard Rain/Don’t Think Twice – Tom Russell (Jan 21, 2012, The Met, Bury, UK)
04 I Threw it All Away – Lambchop (Mar 8, 2012, Amstelkerk, Amsterdam, Holland)
05 Girl From the North Country – Bruce Hornsby (Oct 31 1998, Yoshi’s, Oakland, CA)
06 True Love Tends to Forget – Eleanor Friedberger (Feb 3, 2012, The Troubadour, West Hollywood, CA)
07 When I Paint My Masterpiece – Glen Hansard (Dec 31, 2011, RTE Radio One, New York, NY)
08 North Country Blues – Martin Simpson (Mar 7, 2012, Colston Hall 2, Bristol, UK)
09 Seven Curses – June Tabor and the Oyster Band (Nov 22, 2011, The Assembly, Leamington Spa, England)
10 Quit Your Lowdown Ways – Suzie Vinnick (Feb 4, 2012, Music Hall. Worpswede, Germany )
11 One More Cup Of Coffee – Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express (Jan 8, 2012, Armando’s, Martinez, CA
12 Drifter’s Escape – Patti Smith (Dec 31, 2011, Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY)
13 You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere – Bluegrass Alliance (Sep 1971, Camp Springs Bluegrass Festival, Reidsville, NC)
14 Farewell Angelina – Tim O’Brien (Oct 28, 2011, Parrish Auditorium, Hamilton, OH)
15 Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door – Simone Felice (Mar 16, 2012, World CafÈ Live, Philadelphia PA)
16 Tears of Rage – Levon Helm Band with Ray Lamontage and the Boston Pops (Sep 25 2011, Life Is Good Festival, Canton, MA)
17 I Shall Be Released – Levon Helm Band with Wilco (Jun 26 2011, Solid Sound Festival, N. Adams, MA)

Fleetwood Mac – Salt Lake City, UT (11/28/87)

Fleetwood Mac
Salt Palace, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
11/28/87
Shake the Cage Tour

Say You Love Me
The Chain
Dreams
Isn’t It Midnight
Oh Well
Seven Wonders
Rattlesnake Shake
Over My Head
Gold Dust Woman
Don’t Let Me Down Again
Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You?
I Loved Another Woman
Brown Eyes
World Turning
Little Lies
Stand Back
You Make Loving Fun
Go Your Own Way

Encore:
Blue Letter
Don’t Stop
Songbird

Noirvember: No Way Out (1950)

now way out poster

Dr. Luther Brooks (Sidney Poitier) is the first African American doctor at the county hospital. He’s assigned to the prison ward where his first patients are the racist Biddle brothers who have just been brought in after a botched robbery.

Both brothers were shot in the leg. Ray (Richard Widmark) fixes up easily, but George (Harry Bellaver) seems to have unrelated symptoms. Luther does all he can for him, including administering a spinal tap, but ultimately George dies in the hospital. Ray, who did nothing but throw racial insults at Dr. Brooks while he was working lays the blame for his brother’s death at his feet.

Luther’s boss clears him of any wrongdoing, but Luther is rattled just the same. Maybe there was something he could have done differently. Maybe the racist insults clouded his judgment. An autopsy is the only way to be sure. But he can’t get that without a member of the family’s approval. Naturally, Ray doesn’t want to grant that approval, but maybe his sister will.

The film spends a lot of time with Luther’s family. He is a good man and his family are good people. But they are black in a time and place where that makes life difficult. Even with Luther’s success life can be hard.

Ray and his friends are planning an attack on Luther and his family. The African American community hears about this and they plan their own pre-emptive attack. Luther speaks to the hospital’s elevator operator about this and advises caution, that they should be better than them. Which prompts this response from the operator:

“Ain’t it asking a lot for us to be better than them when we get killed just trying to prove we’re as good?”

Poitier played in a lot of films like this during this time period. He played good African Americans awash in a sea of racism. He was a great actor, perhaps the prominent black actor of his time. This was a period when America was legally segregated, but that was slowly beginning to change. I’m no historian so I’ll leave that discussion to others but it is interesting to watch films like this try to deal with institutional racism on an artistic level.

Not all of the films Poitier played in like this were good, but this one is terrific. I love how it spends a lot of time with Luther and his family. It is a slice-of-life portrayal of these people in this place at this specific time, and the every-day, working-class racism that pervades their lives.

But it is also a pretty terrific little thriller. Richard Widmark is as terrifying as Ray. They say he often apologized to Poitier after a scene of him spitting racism at him. It can feel a little dated at times, but at the same time, it remains quite contemporary.

Wilco – San Francisco, CA (12/31/98)

Wilco
December 31, 1998
The Fillmore
San Francisco, CA

Source: SBD > DAT
Lineage: DAT-M > CDR > AIF
Mastering (BLG): Adobe Audition > iZotope RX9 / Ozone 9 > WavePad > xACT > FLAC

01 California Stars
02 Forget the Flowers
03 New Madrid
04 Hesitating Beauty
05 When the Roses Bloom Again
06 Someday Soon
07 Christ For President
08 She’s a Jar
09 Can’t Stand It
10 Hotel Arizona
11 Kingpin
12 One Hundred Years From Now
13 Monday
14 Outtasite (Outta Mind)

Encore:
15 Passenger Side
16 I’m Always In Love
17 James Alley Blues
18 Far, Far Away
19 Red-Eyed and Blue
20 I Got You (At the End of the Century)

Encore 2:
21 I Must Be High
22 Hoodoo Voodoo
23 Casino Queen > Dueling Banjos >
24 Should I Stay or Should I Go > Casino Queen >
25 Passenger Side (punk)

Encore 3:
26 Give Back the Key To Me Heart
27 Henry & The H-Bombs
28 The Lonely 1

Total Time: 119:36

.txt compiled on Nov 27, 2021

Tony Rice & Alison Krauss – Telluride, CO (06/23/07)

Tony Rice w/ Alison Krauss & Union Station
34th Telluride Bluegrass Festival
Town Park
Telluride, Colorado
June 23, 2007 Saturday

Source: Neumann KM84i>Bumblebee 20′>SD 722 @ 24/48
Transfer: 722>Goldwave>Flac @ 16/44.1
Recordist: John R

Tony Rice – Guitar
Alison Krauss – Fiddle, Vocal
Ron Block – Banjo, Guitar, Vocal
Dan Tyminski – Mandolin, Vocal
Jerry Douglas – Dobro
Barry Bales – Bass

  1. Shadows
  2. I’m Walking
  3. Sawin’ On The Strings
  4. Early Morning Rain
  5. Four Strong Winds
  6. Sixteen Miles
  7. Pearly Blue
  8. Born To Be With You
  9. Summertime
  10. Church Street Blues
  11. Manzanita
  12. Song For A Winter’s Night
  13. I Think It’s Going to Rain Today
  14. Any Old Time
  15. Freeborn Man
  16. My Old Kentucky Home

Alison Krauss – Morristown, NJ (05/12/97)

Alison Krauss & Union Station
Morristown Community Theatre
Morristown, NJ
May 12, 1997

Source: Sony WM-D3 w/ Mic > Cassette Master > M-Audio FastTrack Pro > Wavelab > EQ > WAV > FLAC

  1. So Long, So Wrong
  2. The Road is a Lover
  3. (instrumental)
  4. Introductions
  5. Find My Way Back To My Heart
  6. I Can Let Go Now
  7. Baby, Now That I’ve Found You
  8. I’ll Remember You, Love, In My Prayers
  9. Too Late to Cry
  10. No Place To Hide
  11. (instrumental)
  12. Steel Rails
  13. Baby Mine
  14. In The Palm of Your Hand
  15. It Won’t Work This Time
  16. (instrumental)
  17. Every Time You Say Goodbye
  18. Blue Trail Of Sorrow
  19. Looking Through the Eyes of Love
  20. When You Say Nothing at All
  21. Oh, Atlanta
  22. Green Pastures
  23. There Is A Reason

Some level setting throughout and analog distortion on a few loud parts. This is probably the only source for this show. Enjoy!