Kenneth Turan’s DVD pick of the week: Holiday Picks, Part III - the theme’s the thing
Kenneth Turan’s DVD Pick of the Week: Holiday Gifts Part 3; “The Golden Year,” “Special Effects Collection” and “Forbidden Hollywood Volume 9.”
My last group of wonderful DVD and Blu-ray collections available for holiday giving is perhaps my favorite. It features films linked by theme, not actor or director.
New from the Warner Archive folks is Volume 9 of their “Forbidden Hollywood” series, an ongoing collection of pre-Code films that has proved enormously popular. This grouping includes tough items like “Big City Blues” and “Hell’s Highway,” as well as “The Cabin In the Cotton,” source of the famous Bette Davis line “I’d love to kiss you but I just washed my hair.”
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Also from Warner are two very different packages. “Special Effects Collection” features four monster classics, from the ape-centric “Son of Kong” and “Mighty Joe Young” to “The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms” and “Them!”
Finally, there’s “The Golden Year,” five classic films from 1939, perhaps cinema’s greatest year. These include “Dark Victory,” “Dodge City,” “Gone With The Wind,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and “Ninotchka.” Not a clinker in the bunch.
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