GOOD NEWS / BAD NEWS

The good news is that, finally, the complete four seasons of THE HUCKLEBERRY HOUND SHOW have been released  after 20 years since the first season premiered on DVD on November 15, 2005. I had been waiting for the missing episodes of this show ever since then and now its here in a great Blu-Ray package looking better than ever thanks to the Warner Archive Collection!

THE BAD NEWS:

Claudia Cardinale passed away on September 23 at 87 years old.

Born and raised in La Goulette, a neighbourhood of Tunis, Cardinale won the "Most Beautiful Italian Girl in Tunisia" competition in 1957, the prize being a trip to Italy, which quickly led to film contracts, due above all to the involvement of producer Franco Cristaldi, who acted as her mentor for a number of years and later married her. After making her debut in a minor role with Egyptian star Omar Sharif in Goha (1958), Cardinale became one of the best-known actresses in Italy, with roles in films such as Rocco and His Brothers (1960), Girl with a Suitcase (1961), Cartouche (1962), The Leopard (1963) and Federico Fellini's 8½ (1963).

From 1963, Cardinale appeared in The Pink Panther opposite David Niven. She went on to appear in the Hollywood films Blindfold (1966), Lost Command (1966), The Professionals (1966), Don't Make Waves (1967) with Tony Curtis, The Hell with Heroes (1968), The Red Tent (1969), A Fine Pair (1968), The Salamander (1981), and the Sergio Leone Western Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), a joint U.S.–Italian production, in which she was praised for her role as a former prostitute opposite Jason Robards, Charles Bronson and Henry Fonda.

(From WIKIPEDIA)

Arrivederci, cara bella Claudia!

A CHRISTMAS PRESENT!

After years of waiting, the Flip The Frog Complete Series Blu-Ray discs from Thunderbean Animation Shop have finally been released and I just received my copy, as a Christmas present from me to myself!

WIKIPEDIA describes Flip the Frog as follows:

Flip the Frog is an animated cartoon character created by American animator Ub Iwerks. He starred in a series of cartoons produced by Celebrity Pictures and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1930 to 1933. The series had many recurring characters besides Flip, including Flip's dog, the mule Orace, and a dizzy neighborhood spinster.

Ub Iwerks was an animator for the Walt Disney Studios and a personal friend of Walt Disney in 1930. After a series of disputes between the two, Iwerks left Disney and went on to accept an offer from Pat Powers to open a cartoon studio of his own, Iwerks Studio, and receive a salary of $300 a week, an offer that Disney was unable to match at the time.

Iwerks was to produce new cartoons under Powers' Celebrity Pictures auspices and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The first series he was to produce was to feature a character called Tony the Frog, but Iwerks disliked the name and was subsequently changed to Flip.

The character eventually wore out his welcome at MGM. His final short was Soda Squirt, released in August 1933. Subsequently, Iwerks replaced the series with a new one starring an imaginative liar named Willie Whopper.

 Flip became largely forgotten by the public in the ensuing years, but the character would make a small comeback when animation enthusiasts and historians began digging up the old Iwerks shorts. And finally, now in 2023, the complete Flip The Frog cartoons are available on Blu-Ray discs and ready to be enjoyed by all of us who remember them fondly.

LAUREL & HARDY : The Definitive Restorations

Finally, after a long wait, the Laurel & Hardy Definitive Restorations DVD and Blu-Ray discs were released on June 30th and a joyous occasion it was for the countless fans who were eagerly awaiting for this event!

And it was everything it was supposed to be.  The films look better than ever. The sharpness, detail and sound are exactly like they must have been when first released, almost 90 years ago.

I won't go into any details here because every Tom, Dick and Harry have posted their opinions on the social networks and I will not be adding my comments to them as I'm not interested in being a critic or reviewer, but mark my words, these films look gorgeous as never before.

The only drawback is that it's not a complete set. Laurel and Hardy appeared in about 106 films together, between 1917 and 1951 and this volume covers a mere fraction of that, which only wets L&H fans' appetite for more restorations.

Hopefully, there will be further volumes coming sometime but for the time being, let's enjoy what we have! Welcome back again, Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy!

For more details on this Blu-Ray and DVD release, check here:

https://www.amazon.com/Laurel-Hardy-Definitive-Restorations-Blu-ray/dp/B084P3S7NJ

You can watch the trailer here:

STAN & OLLIE Blu-Ray is here!

I finally got my copy of Jon S. Baird's film STAN & OLLIE starring John C. Reilly as Oliver Hardy and Steve Coogan as Stan Laurel.
The film has its faults, no doubt and relatives of Hal Roach may have some issues with it but all in all, it's a wonderful film, very entertaining and lovingly assembled by everyone associated with the production. Highly recommended, I will surely enjoy it repeatedly for years to come.

I posted my review a few months ago.
You can take a look here:
https://ferllera.blogspot.com/2019/02/stan-ollie-movie_16.html

And if you like this film, you'll love even more this other DVD set:
                                     
                                             Laurel-Hardy-Essential-Collection