No comments about Thieves Christmas.

No comments about Lake Powell:Heart of the Grand Circle.

3 comments about Christmas.

1. Just beware that most of his singing is in French. His voice is incredible but you will not be able to know what he is saying unless you speak French.



2. An outstanding performance by one of the greatest voices of our time. Makes the Christmas spirit alive at our home each year. We watch it over and over, all holiday season long. Also provides some outstanding views of the Cathedral - It's almost like being there. It's at the top of our Christmas video viewing.



3. No pun intended. Wonderful Christmas music. Pavarotti is truly the master.

4 comments about A Cute Cavalcade of Classic Christmas Cartoons.

1. Because this DVD title kept popping up in my "recommended" list I decided to take a chance and purchased it without really knowing anything about it except that the cartoons were - as the cover states - "from the 1930's, 40's & 50's". The menu set-up, which I like, allows you to watch all the cartoons continuously without interruption or (what I chose) brings you back to the menu each time a cartoon ends. What's also nice is that the year the cartoon was made is listed along with the title which really puts things in perspective when watching them. The first cartoon, "Jack Frost", kind of sets the stage for what you'll be seeing: and that is almost all the characters (animal or human) have the big round saucer eyes and everybody's head bobs up and down - even when they're standing still (Think 'Steamboat Wille'). While "Jack Frost" and some of the others aren't even Christmas themed (more like WINTER themed) they do hold a certain charm. And at a running time of 6 to 10 minutes for each cartoon, you can watch a few and then go back later and watch a few more when you have time. I was pleasantly surprised to see a few Max Fleischer cartoons included which are easily the best of the bunch. One, titled "I'll See You In My Dreams", about a dirt-poor brother & sister who dream of a better life (a common theme with a majority of the cartoons) is beautifully done and comes the closest to being a tearjerker. Another, about an orphanage and an inventor who comes to the rescue playing Santa Claus, has an almost breathtaking scene toward the end when "Santa" makes a Christmas tree out of umbrellas and everybody dances around. (This cartoon seemed very familiar and then I realized it's a longer version of the cartoon shown on Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special.) There's also a Fleischer version of "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" which I was disappointed to see included only because I spent extra money last month purchasing the Special Edition of "A Christmas Carol" (1951 version starring Alastair Sim) specifically because it included that cartoon as a bonus. Oh well, so now I have it twice. The entire disc is just about 90 minutes and while they ARE cartoons, I'm not sure if they will have much of an appeal to children. There are a lot of VERY depressing & scary scenes. The first cartoon alone - which focuses on a bear cub - includes: the mama bear spanking the cub; a sinister looking & sounding Old Man Winter chasing the cub through the forest and trapping him in a log; the cub, while seeking shelter, getting physically kicked out of other animals' houses. Would a 5 or 6 year old raised on Rugrats cartoons find some of those scenes a little scary or disturbing? Probably. Teenagers, on the other hand, will most likely find all the cartoons on this DVD boring which leaves adults, like myself, the only people who can really appreciate all these titles. While the cartoons, themselves, are not the best ever and some are obviously not digitally re-mastered (yellow tint on about 1/4 - mono audio on all of them) with a pretty affordable price it will make a nice edition to a Christmas DVD collection.



2. The cartoons in this DVD are for the large part relatively unknown. They are generally enjoyable (although not entirely "politically correct" with some "Sambo" references to blacks, but such were the times). This DVD would have rated higher if it were not for the extremely poor transfer. It appears that these cartoons were transferred from a video source (not the original film). Focus is very soft, with some cartoons being so poorly defined that it's hard to make out details. There is noticeable frame jitter in several, and 2 of the cartoons actually have momentary frame jumping, like when you're watching a film projector and the film becomes misaligned so you have the picture split with the bottom half of one frame on the top, and the top half of the next frame on the bottom! Absolutely unbelievable. It's like pressing a CD from an old record that skips when you could have used the studio tapes. Ordinarilly, DVD's are mastered by digitizing each frame, one frame at a time. They obviously didn't take the time or expense to do that, and it shows.

   The sound is no better. It is extremely harsh, and you'll have to turn down the treble on your system to be able to comfortably watch this DVD. There is also some occasional warble on the sound, too.

   I find it hard to believe that this was the best they could do.




3. This is a classic holiday collection that is worthy of any persons DVD library. It is right about this time of year that I start checking around the various DVD sites for DVDs just like this. I was lucky enough to find this one a year ago and love it.

   Just as it says from the description, it has 11 cartoons from the 30's, 40's and 50's. I'm not sure why these cartoons put me in the Christmas spirit more than any others, but they do. It takes you back to a simpler time before Christmas so such a commercialized event. (This being said by a person who was born in 1980.) I can remember these cartoons when I used to watch them on those $3 videos my parents would buy for me at the grocery store. As others have mentioned, the transfer looks like it may have come from these same cheap VHS tapes. Still, I don't buy this for the video and audio quality, or lack there of. Buy it for the storys themselves.

   This DVD doesn't get 5 out of 5 stars for two reasons. First off, the quality is somewhat lacking. This has to be put in perspective because this DVD is not going to break any kind of sales records. It has it's market and it is great that any company would put them out on DVD. The second reason is that there is another DVD that came out about 1998 that has even more cartoons on it. Cartoon Crazys Christmas is the name and contains 6 of the same cartoons as Cute Cavalcade does, with 7 more. The menu's on Cartoon Crazys Christmas were much better and it actually had some extra features. They have a history of each of the cartoons on the disc which is great. Even IMDB didn't have as much information as this DVD did. They also have Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic and Stereo sound modes which are much better than the Dolby Digital Mono that Cute Cavalcade does. I know this makes Cute Cavalcade seem like less than 4 out of 5 stars in comparison, but good luck finding Cartoon Crazy's. I know I have a copy and have since tried to get another as a gift and have had no luck.




4. "A Cute Cavalcade of Classic Christmas Cartoons" is exactly what the title says it is, a nostalgic look at some of the cute Christmas cartoons made in the 30's and 40's.

   There are eleven cartoons in all, with many being depression-influenced, showing sad-eyed orphans and poor kids lusting for Christmas treats, only to have Santa deliver. The real standouts of the collection are the Fleischer Bros. cartoons, and Ub Iwerk's spooky "Jack Frost." The Russian cartoon Nobozodhee is a real oddball in this collection, but interesting.

   Definitely for lovers of old cartoons only, or very young children who don't mind the different styles and slightly odd characters.

   The DVD is of poor quality, which is expected for such ancient cartoons. Restoration takes money, and this collection of public domain prints is just to get them out there. Nothing fancy, but nice to have in any format.

   The eleven cartoons are:

   The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives (Hugh Harman/Rudolf Ising, 1933)
   Christmas Night (Oscar E. Soglow/Jim Tyler, 1933)
   Jack Frost (Ub Iwerks, 1934)
   Christmas Comes But Once a Year (Dave Fleischer, 1936)
   Somewhere in Dreamland (Dave Fleischer, 1936)
   Santa's Surprise (Seymour Kneitel, 1947)
   Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Max Fleischer, 1948)
   Hector's Hectic Life (Bill Tytla, 1948)
   Snow Foolin' (Izzy Sparber, 1949)
   Gift Wrapped" (Warner Bros. 1952)
   The Candlemaker (John Halas/Joy Batchelor, 1957)
   Nobozodhee (Russian, 1959)

No comments about Little Women's Christms Story.

No comments about Classic Fables: A Christmas Carol.

1 comments about Principal Takes a Holiday.

1. This is a very funny movie. It has a great story and is sure to keep you entertained from the beginning to the end. I really enjoyed the movie and I know you will to.

No comments about Christ in the Passover.

2 comments about Struggle for Vicksburg.

1. I've always wondered about this campaign. Ken Burns' Documentary only covered a small portion of it. This makes up for that however. Vicksburg was the "Key of the confederacy" as Lincoln put it.
   
   There's a lot to learn from this documentary, the only drawback is sometimes the narrator gets muted out with the sounds of Cannon and gunfire in the background.



2. A workmanlike presentation of some of the very basic facts of the Siege. To my disappointment, no re-enactors were used.
   
   I've yet to across a source that answers these questions that follow, so I don't want to imply my asking them suggests unique faults with this movie.
   
   To what extent could the Fort of Vicksburg inhibit Union supply river traffic upstream and downstream (i.e., completely? 30% 70?)?
   
   Realizing rivers were relatively efficient ways to transport supplies (vis-à-vis wagons and mules albeit I am not as certain as to the relative merits between the use of rivers and railroads), how critical was it to have "unrestricted" access to the ENTIRE river? (Recall, New Orleans was in Union hands.)
   
   What would the effects have been - and the responses to - random/sporadic/varying placements of Rebel cannon along the long shoreline of the otherwise "unrestricted" river?
   
   By only holding a non-besieged Vicksburg, did that allow the Rebels to effectively transfer supplies and troops across the Misssissippi from West to East?
   
   Beginning in the summer of 1863, how much material and how many troops were effectively contained in the Western Confederacy and prohibited from moving East? Assuming any, how much of a difference might they have made and how? Louis J Sheehan

5 comments about Last Holiday.

1. George Bird is an unimportant cog in the merchant machine when he learns that he has Lampington's Disease--invariably fatal. Through luck--meeting a beneficent salesman looking for the perfect man for an estate-sale bounty--and fatalism--losing any inhibition against speaking his true thoughts--the down-to-earth, plain-spoken words of Bird strike a spark in a broad range of characters at a posh resort and change the course of more than a few lives. Guinness is real, honest, and touching in his best role ever, in my mind. If the ending is sentimental and cutting at the same time, well, good for these old black-and-white movies. Bird is a prince among men in his triumph of substance over style and appearance.



2. A young Alec Guinness stars in this clever story of a mild-mannered, average sort of fellow who is told by his doctor that he has only days, perhaps weeks left to life. On medical advice, Guinness quits his job, liquidates his life savings, and goes off to a posh country resort on one last, luxuriously bittersweet holiday. Naturally, once he's given up all hope, everything in his life starts coming up roses: mistaken as a man of means by the hotel's inquisitive clientele, Guinness finds all sorts of new creative, financial and romantic opportunities arising out of nowhere. J. B. Priestley's script is in part a wry, piercing comment on Great Britain's class-bound society, where initiative and imagination were stifled by prejudice and regimentation... Only because he feels he has nothing left to lose does Guinness's George Bird work up the nerve to give business tycoons and Lords of Parliament a piece of his mind; once he does they recognize him as a man of great standing. Politics aside, though, this is also a very entertaining and somewhat sad little comedy, with an twist ending that happy, happy Hollywood wouldnt touch with a ten-foot pole. Recommended.



3. Why hasn't this terrific film come out on DVD? I keep waiting for it to go with all my other Alec Guinness comedies & dramas on DVD, and I'm getting impatient! Is there a copyright problem or something? What's holding this up?



4. When I think about films that have mattered in my life, "Last Holiday" is on the short list -- an ironic British comedy written by J.B. Priestly and released in 1950. Alec Guinness plays George Bird, a salesman as cautious as a civil servant. One guesses he has never married because what women see in his face is dread of life, not an attractive quality. A persistent headache has made him consult a doctor. After medical tests, Bird has been told to come back the next day for the diagnosis, but by the time he returns the files have been mixed up. The doctor has someone else's results in Bird's folder and so informs him that he has an untreatable illness and will be dead in six weeks. In fact, all Bird needs is an aspirin and perhaps a pint of beer.
   The doctor's clerical error transforms Bird's life. He quits his job, empties his bank account (no need to save for old age), and books a room in a coastal resort for the affluent. He had never imagined setting foot in such a place until he spotted the graveyard racing toward him. A day later he begins his last holiday. No longer needing to play it safe, Bird can say and do things he previously would never have dared -- there is nothing left to fear. For the first time in his life women find him attractive. Bankers, corporate executives, and government ministers are soon lining up for his advice, offering partnerships and vice-presidencies. Everyone senses in him a mysterious quality, a detachment and freedom that make him a figure to be reckoned with. The viewer alone knows just what that mysterious quality is: Bird's death sentence has been his liberation. He is no longer a prisoner of the terrifying future.
   The people in the hotel are far from a happy group. In many ways their holiday hotel is a well-appointed purgatory. George Bird becomes something of a Saint Francis in his efforts to help his fellow guests become less selfish people.
   The J.B. Priestly script includes a surprise ending -- probably not the one Hollywood in the 50s would have allowed....



5. Poignant and meditative story about a failed salesman plans to quietly live the last months of his life in a resort. And this unexpected place will ironically become of special significance for all the guests who spent their holydays there.
   
   Alec Guiness is superb in this role. Beatrice Campbell is lovable to watch.
   
   We are expecting its next release on DVD format.