In This Issue:

January 2010

What's New on DVD

A Christmas Tale (2008)

Drama/Foreign/Romance. Intense/Moving.
Color. 152 mins. Rated Unrated. Directed By Arnaud Desplechin. Starring Jean-Paul Roussillon, Mathieu Amalric, Melvil Poupaud and Catherine Deneuve.
Arnaud Desplechin's rich, bittersweet tapestry of one complex extended family forced to confront past conflicts resonates on multiple levels: it's at once a story about mortality, unresolved familial ... Read More >
 

District 9 (2009)

Action/Adventure/Horror/Science Fiction. Fast-paced/Spine-tingling.
Color. 112 mins. Rated R. Directed By Neil Blomkamp. Starring Sharlto Copley and Nathalie Boltt.
Even with state-of-the-art special effects creating a most convincing race of aliens, Neil Blomkamp's disarming new science fiction feature succeeds first and foremost on the fundamentals of story ... Read More >
 

Lonely Are the Brave (1962)

Drama/War/Westerns. Fast-paced/Intense.
Color. 107 mins. Rated Unrated. Directed By David Miller. Starring Kirk Douglas, Walter Matthau and Gena Rowlands.
Scripted by blacklist writer Dalton Trumbo from a novel by anarcho-environmentalist Edward Abbey, Miller's "Brave" pits the ideals of radical American individualism against the arbitrariness of ... Read More >
 

The Dead (1987)

Drama. Brainy/Moving.
Color. 83 mins. Rated PG. Directed By John Huston. Starring Donal McAnn and Angelica Huston.
John Huston's elegiac adaptation of a short story by James Joyce, written by his son Tony and starring his daughter, is a memorable tribute to the Irish literary giant. But the film is a stunner in ... Read More >
 

Trumbo (2007)

Documentary. Brainy/Moving.
Color. 95 mins. Rated PG-13. Directed By Peter Askin. Starring Michael Douglas, Donald Sutherland and Joan Allen.
Based on a play by son Christopher Trumbo, this riveting, often touching film portrays the steep and very public price one man paid for his principles. The gifted writer would spend over a decade in ... Read More >
 

Theme of the Month: David Niven's Centennial

To welcome a New Year and a new decade, we celebrate actor David Niven who would have turned one hundred in 2010. Niven, often called one of Hollywood's last gentlemen, started out as a reliable supporting player in the 1930s only to become a full fledged star beginning in the 1940s. He lent his debonair charm to many distinguished productions, and later in life, became a best selling author. In particular, his autobiography "The Moon's a Balloon" is not to be missed.

Dodsworth (1936)

Romance. Moving.
Black & White. 101 mins. Rated Unrated. Directed By William Wyler. Starring Walter Huston and Ruth Chatterton.
Director William Wyler and screenwriter Sydney Howard have crafted an adult, perceptive romantic drama, beautifully played. They wisely minimize the soapiness inherent in the premise, leaving an ... Read More >
 

Separate Tables (1958)

Drama. Moving/Brainy.
Black & White. 99 mins. Rated Unrated. Directed By Delbert Mann. Starring David Niven, Burt Lancaster, Rita Hayworth, Wendy Hiller and Deborah Kerr.
What in lesser hands could have been a mucky soap-fest becomes instead a subtle, sensitive, intelligent film thanks to director Mann's deft handling of Rattigan's Oscar-nominated script. The ... Read More >
 

The Bishop's Wife (1947)

Family. Moving/Wholesome/Witty.
Black & White. 109 mins. Rated Unrated. Directed By Henry Koster. Starring Cary Grant, David Niven and Loretta Young.
Nominated for Best Film at the 1947 Oscars, Henry Koster's sweet, thoroughly charming "Bishop's Wife" was a big crowd-pleaser in its day, and has since become one of our more cherished holiday films. ... Read More >
 

The Dawn Patrol (1938)

Action/Adventure/War/Westerns. Intense/Moving/Fast-paced.
Black & White. 103 mins. Rated Unrated. Directed By Edmund Goulding. Starring Basil Rathbone, Errol Flynn and David Niven.
A scene-for-scene remake of Howard Hawks's 1930 film of the same name, "Patrol" is an anguished World War I flier drama starring the dashing, seemingly unflappable Flynn, who inhabits his role with ... Read More >
 

The Guns of Navarone (1961)

War/Westerns. Fast-paced/Scenic.
Color. 157 mins. Rated PG. Directed By J. Lee Thompson. Starring Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn.
Epic-scale adventure based on Alistair MacLean's book. The movie boasts terrific action sequences, but is also an engrossing ensemble drama thanks to a sterling screenplay from producer Carl Foreman ... Read More >
 

The Pink Panther (1964)

Comedy. Scenic/Farr-cical.
Color. 115 mins. Rated Unrated. Directed By Blake Edwards. Starring Peter Sellers, David Niven and Capucine.
The great Blake Edwards inaugurated the farcical "Panther" series in 1964 with this zesty comedy caper starring David Niven as a covetous, Cary Grant-like jewel thief. But it was Peter Sellers's ... Read More >
 

The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)

Action/Adventure/Romance. Fast-paced/Spine-tingling/Witty.
Black & White. 101 mins. Rated Unrated. Directed By John Cromwell. Starring Ronald Colman, Douglas Fairbanks and Madeleine Carroll.
A case of mistaken identity is the fuel for this classic, swashbuckling tale of romance and intrigue starring the inimitable Ronald Colman-in dual roles. David O. Selznick's production features a ... Read More >
 

Spotlight

• January 10th – John introduces "Bridge Over the River Kwai" at a private club in New York City.

• February 7th – John hosts a screening of " " at a private club in New York City.