History, Legacy & Showmanship
“[Spielberg] has said he felt invincible at the time, so what you get is a Steven Spielberg channeling his inner ten-year-old and going crazy on a movie backlot.” — Mike Matessino
“The main reason to celebrate 1941,” says Mike Matessino, “is because it has been restored in HD and released on Blu-ray, particularly the extended version that fans have come to love and which Steven Spielberg considers his Director’s Cut.” Matessino produced the two-disc CD soundtrack release of 1941 issued by La-La Land Records in 2011 and will be hosting the American Cinematheque’s March 22nd screening of the film and cast-and-crew Q&A. The screening will mark the theatrical debut of a new DCP of the extended cut of the film. [Read more here...]
Nearly a decade after the high-definition Blu-ray Disc format was introduced, movie buffs and home theater consumers are finding there are still titles being released for the first time. Among the latest, 1776, the musical celebration of the founding of the United States, is being released this week by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
“I’m very happy that it is coming out on Blu-ray,” says Peter H. Hunt, the film’s director. “It’s not a major, major classic, but it is in its own right a ’classic.’ It has grown in that regard over the years. It’s like the little engine that could. It keeps chugging along. More and more people have seen it and love it.” [Read more here...]
“I knew we had a good picture, but I had no idea that it would become such a staggering hit.” — producer-director Robert Wise
“Considering the degree to which most people pride themselves being cynical, I’m still surprised that a movie this heartfelt was so thoroughly embraced by so many people and continues to be. Perhaps folks aren’t as hard-edged as they pretend to be.” — film historian and author Barry Monush [Read more here...]
“Star Trek: The Motion Picture provided a unique experience, leaving some audience members, myself included, elated at the prospect, “The Human Adventure Is Just Beginning.” — Robert Meyer Burnett
“I do feel very lucky to have been a kid while this amazing renaissance of fantasy filmmaking was going on.… Star Wars, then Close Encounters, then Superman, then Alien, then Star Trek: The Motion Picture… at least in terms of going to the movies, those are two-and-a-half years I wish I could experience again. It was a truly magical time.” — Mike Matessino [Read more here...]
“[T]he lasting impact of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is that it showed that a James Bond film could be made without Sean Connery in the lead role. The producers maintained that audiences came to the films to see James Bond, not necessarily the actor playing him.” — Bruce Scivally
The Digital Bits is pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 45th anniversary of the release of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the sixth cinematic James Bond adventure and, most notably, the first not to star Sean Connery as Agent 007. [Read more here...]