A Bit of a Wallow in Filmic Nostalgia!

I mentioned a few blogs previously that I had visited a whole load of charity shops whilst we were on holiday, and as well as purchasing lots of CDs I also purchased some DVDs.

These were just a few of the ones I bought........

One of the classic Westerns, made in 1958, with theme music by Jerome Morross, starring Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carol Baker, Charlton Heston & Burl Ives, it tells the story of a New Englander who arrives in the Old West, where he becomes embroiled in a feud between two families over a valuable patch of land.

The Original James Bond Film. I have fond memories of this as I was working as a cinema projectionist at the time (on my summer vacation) and we got a pre-release copy of the film, which played to full houses for two weeks solidly. I can still remember one of the reel change overs, when there was a close up shot of the centre wheel hub of the Aston Martin with a gun emerging from it! Because there was so much action and blur of colour it was a devil to spot the cue dots which told you to change to the other projector!

This is one of those typically gentle British comedy films, directed by Mike Newell. Lots of gentle humour and a bit of pathos too. It's incredible to think that it was made way back in 1994.

A remake was made of this film, but the original (the one above, made in 1947) was far the better of the two. A whimsical tale, it tells of a nice old man who claims to be Santa Claus who is institutionalised as insane. A young lawyer decides to defend him by arguing in court that he is the real thing. Just the right kind of light story which gets put on over the Christmas period!

This crime drama was made in 1954, and I remember seeing it in a cinema around that time. I recall that there were rave reviews about the film, but I came away disappointed, probably because I was too young to appreciate what it was all about. Since then, and having seen it again I can now appreciate the gritty realism of the plot, which tells of  an ex-prize fighter turned longshoreman who struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses.

Another one of those films which gets an airing at Christmas - the saccharine sweet story of the true life Von Trapp Family Singers told via the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein. I recall seeing this film in the Majestic in Leeds in 1965 and being very impressed with the stereo sound. In the opening sequence when Julie Andrews moves across the screen singing "The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music" it was incredible to actually hear her voice move across the screen with her!