Releases in Honor of Black History Month
Video companies are celebrating Black History Month with the release of African American-themed movies and documentaries.
MGM is offering several classic films for $15 and $20, including six starring Sidney Poitier: 1958’s “The Defiant Ones,” for which he received his first best actor Oscar nomination; 1963’s “Lilies of the Field,” featuring his Oscar-winning performance as a handyman; 1965’s “A Patch of Blue,” an emotional drama about a black man who befriends a white blind girl; the Academy Award winner as best film of 1967, “In the Heat of the Night,” in which he introduced the character of Det. Virgil Tibbs; and the two “Heat” sequels, “The Organization” and “They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!”
MGM’s “Soul Cinema” line ($15 each) features the comedies “Cotton Comes to Harlem,” “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka,” “Norman, Is That You?” and the action thrillers “Shaft’s Big Score” and “Shaft in Africa.”
On tap from PBS Home Video are six documentaries ($20 each); “Against the Odds: The Artists of the Harlem Renaissance,” which features more than 130 rarely seen paintings, prints, photographs and sculptures by African American artists; “First Person Singular: John Hope Franklin,” a chronicle of the life and work of the legendary historian; “Flyers: In Search of a Dream,” which examines America’s pioneering black aviators; “Held in Trust: The Story of Lt. Henry O. Flipper,” a look at the first black graduate from West Point; “Ipi Ntombi: An African Dance Celebration,” and “Mississippi, America,” which recalls the summer of 1964, when blacks and whites assisted Mississippi blacks in their fight for the right to vote.
Artisan Entertainment presents three inspirational dramas ($15 each): Tim Reid’s acclaimed “Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored”; “The Long Walk Home,” with Whoopi Goldberg and Sissy Spacek; and “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” an adaptation of Maya Angelou’s autobiography starring Diahann Carroll and Esther Rolle.
New from MPI Home Video is the documentary “Muhammad Ali--In His Own Words” ($20). The 40-minute tape chronicles the life of the former heavyweight champion through a series of his public appearances. It includes footage that hasn’t been seen for decades.
Other titles in the MPI library ($20 and $30 each) include the documentaries “The Voyage of La Amistad: A Quest for Freedom”; “Martin Luther King Jr.: I Have a Dream”; “Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Collection”; “The Speeches of Malcom X”; and “The Speeches of Nelson Mandela.”
Bonneville Worldwide Entertainment features 10 titles from the acclaimed PBS children’s series “Wonderworks” ($15 and $20) including “You Must Remember This,” starring Robert Guillaume and Tim Reid, and “Booker,” starring LeVar Burton as Booker T. Washington.
Also included in BWE’s Black History collection is the Oscar-nominated documentary “A Great Day in Harlem” ($20), chronicling first-time photographer Art Kane’s 1958 photo of 57 of the greatest jazz stars, assembled in front of a Harlem brownstone; and the 1983 drama “Marvin & Tighe” ($20), a drama about two vastly different people who develop an enduring friendship.
New from Hollywood’s Attic is “Music and Comedy Masters” ($20 each; $100 for the set), a six-volume series featuring performances by African American entertainers of the 1930s, ‘40s and early ‘50s. Though the prints often leave a lot to be desired, it’s great fun to see a pre-MGM Lena Horne in “Boogie Woogie Dream.” That goes too for “Showtime at the Apollo,” with Mantan Moreland, Lionel Hampton and Nat King Cole, and “Spying the Spy,” a 1915 spoof of the private eye genre. For more information on this set, call (818) 843-3366.
The digital media column will return next week.
