Editorial Product Review: :Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's Showboat, based on Edna Ferber's 1926 novel, is a seminal American musical, the first to explore serious themes (most notably racism) and to truly integrate song with story and character. The plot follows three generations of a theatrical Mississippi riverboat family from the 1880s to the 1920s. The 1936 film version, directed by Englishman James Whale (Frankenstein), is probably the one that best captures the spirit its creators intended. First and foremost, it features Paul Robeson as Joe. His ...
Editorial Product Review: :Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's Showboat, based on Edna Ferber's 1926 novel, is a seminal American musical, the first to explore serious themes (most notably racism) and to truly integrate song with story and character. The plot follows three generations of a theatrical Mississippi riverboat family from the 1880s to the 1920s. The 1936 film version, directed by Englishman James Whale (Frankenstein), is probably the one that best captures the spirit its creators intended. First and foremost, it features Paul Robeson as Joe. His ...
Editorial Product Review: :Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's Showboat, based on Edna Ferber's 1926 novel, is a seminal American musical, the first to explore serious themes (most notably racism) and to truly integrate song with story and character. The plot follows three generations of a theatrical Mississippi riverboat family from the 1880s to the 1920s. The 1936 film version, directed by Englishman James Whale (Frankenstein), is probably the one that best captures the spirit its creators intended. First and foremost, it features Paul Robeson as Joe. His ...
Editorial Product Review: :Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's Showboat, based on Edna Ferber's 1926 novel, is a seminal American musical, the first to explore serious themes (most notably racism) and to truly integrate song with story and character. The plot follows three generations of a theatrical Mississippi riverboat family from the 1880s to the 1920s. The 1936 film version, directed by Englishman James Whale (Frankenstein), is probably the one that best captures the spirit its creators intended. First and foremost, it features Paul Robeson as Joe. His ...
Editorial Product Review: essential video:Absolutely one of the most hilarious movies ever made, this classic farce featuring the outrageous genius of the Marx Brothers is a chance to see some of their best bits woven together seamlessly in a story of high society, matchmaking, and chaos. In order to bring two young lovers together, brothers Groucho, Chico, and Harpo must sabotage an opera performance even as they try to pass themselves off as stuffed shirts. Featuring the classic sequence where Groucho piles as many people as possible ...
Editorial Product Review: :James Toback's portrait of white and black culture mixing it up on the streets of Manhattan is like two films colliding. In the center of the swirl are a group of upper-class white teens (led by Elijah Wood and pop singer Bijou Phillips) who appropriate hip-hop culture to rebel against their affluent lifestyle, and a posse of gangstas and drug dealers (led by rap producer Oli 'Power' Grant) who are themselves trying to get off the streets and into the business culture through their music. ...
Editorial Product Review: essential video:A Day at the Races is the Marx Brothers at their commercial and popular peak, working with a top Hollywood director (Sam Wood of The Pride of the Yankees), supported with a healthy screen budget paying for such extras as a blue-tinted ballet sequence, love songs from crooner Allan Jones, and decorative sets. But the brothers are also at the top of their game in terms of their own comic material and timing. The story finds Groucho, Chico, and Harpo helping out at ...
Editorial Product Review: essential video:A Day at the Races is the Marx Brothers at their commercial and popular peak, working with a top Hollywood director (Sam Wood of The Pride of the Yankees), supported with a healthy screen budget paying for such extras as a blue-tinted ballet sequence, love songs from crooner Allan Jones, and decorative sets. But the brothers are also at the top of their game in terms of their own comic material and timing. The story finds Groucho, Chico, and Harpo helping out at ...
Editorial Product Review: :Producer David O. Selznick had dreams of musical stardom for Jean Harlow when he cast her in the melodrama Reckless, based on the tragic life of Broadway singer Libby Holman (called Mona Leslie in the movie). Harlow is charming in the film and does some of her finest dramatic acting, but she's no musical star. She looks uncomfortable lip-synching her songs, and the little bit of hoofing she does is nothing to write home about. As is the case in so many 1930s movies, the ...
Editorial Product Review: :Producer David O. Selznick had dreams of musical stardom for Jean Harlow when he cast her in the melodrama Reckless, based on the tragic life of Broadway singer Libby Holman (called Mona Leslie in the movie). Harlow is charming in the film and does some of her finest dramatic acting, but she's no musical star. She looks uncomfortable lip-synching her songs, and the little bit of hoofing she does is nothing to write home about. As is the case in so many 1930s movies, the ...
Small and light enough for a shirt pocket, Samsung's Helix YX-M1 is a one-stop audio entertainment center with an XM radio, a digital music player, and room for 50 hours of tunes, but it comes up short on battery life.
