CHARIOTS OF FIRE, THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA, and THE BROADWAY MELODY on DVD
by Andre Soares
Three Academy-Award winning films from Warner Home Video: Chariots of Fire (1981), The Life of Emile Zola (1937), and The Broadway Melody (1929).
Chariots of Fire was the surprise 1981 Oscar winner, beating favorites Reds and On Golden Pond — both of which also happened to be better movies. Chariots of Fire tells the story of two Englishmen from different backgrounds (one is Jewish, one is Christian), suffering different kinds of pressure while getting ready to take part in the 1924 Olympic games.
This sentimental sports drama became an unexpected box-office hit, partly because of Vangelis‘ good — if a tad repetitive — music.
Ian Charleson is the Christian runner, Ben Cross the Jewish one. Surprisingly, neither one became movie stars following the film’s success. (Charleson died of AIDS complications in 1990. He was 41.) Ian Holm overacts — as usual — and for his efforts received a best supporting actor Academy Award nomination. John Gielgud is his usual supercilious self. Hugh Hudson directed.
Chariots of Fire Two-Disc Special Edition DVD special features include:
- Commentary by director Hugh Hudson
- "Wings on Their Heels": The Making of Chariots of Fire
- Chariots of Fire – "A Reunion" (Filmed during afternoon tea on Lord Puttnam’s estate.)
- Seven additional scenes
- Screen tests of the performers
- Theatrical trailer
- Actor Ben Cross talks about running for the film’s opening sequence
The Life of Emile Zola is one of the worst movies to win a best picture Oscar. Paul Muni stars as Émile Zola, who accuses French society of anti-Semitism while defending Jewish Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, played by Joseph Schildkraut.
Dreyfus may have been 100% innocent of treason, but Schildkraut was 100% guilty of hamminess. He should have been immediately shipped off to Devil’s Island, with no chance of appeal. Paul Muni, for his part, should have been deported on that same boat — instead, Muni’s caricature earned him an Academy Award nod for best actor. Schildkraut, by the way, won the best supporting actor statuette.
William Dieterle directed this well-intentioned mess of a film — that, admittedly, doesn’t look all that bad when compared to more recent Oscar-winning atrocities like Braveheart, Chicago, and Gladiator.
The Life of Emile Zola DVD special features include:
- Short The Littlest Diplomat
- Musical short Romance Road
- Cartoon Ain’t We Got Fun
- Audio-Only bonus: Radio production starring Paul Muni
- Theatrical trailer
Today, The Broadway Melody creaks. In the late 1920s, it sang and danced its way to box-office heaven. Although Ernst Lubitsch’s The Love Parade and Rouben Mamoulian’s Applause would remain the two best known examples of revolutionary early Hollywood talkies, The Broadway Melody became a mammoth financial success — and the winner of the second best picture Oscar — because of its proudly mainstream averageness.
Vaudeville entertainer Charles King stars as the man sandwiched between two pert and pretty sisters, Anita Page — on her way to a stardom that was not to happen — and Bessie Love, back from vaudeville (after her movie career had faded) for one last cinematic smash. Harry Beaumont directed. Music by Nacio Herb Brown — who’d briefly marry Anita Page in the mid-1930s.
The Broadway Melody DVD special features include:
- Medley of musical shorts:
- The Dogway Melody
- Van & Schenck
- Gallery of 5 Metro Movietone Revues
- Broadway Melody Musicals trailer gallery
The Bette Davis Collection DVD Set
The Greta Garbo Signature Collection DVD Set
Anthony Asquith’s THE BROWNING VERSION on DVD
FANNY AND ALEXANDER and SHORT CUTS on DVD
Andrzej Wajda: Three War Films DVD Set
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