DVD Sale -- Buy Your Favorite Movies

[David]

I love this time of year for many reasons, including the fact that the discount DVD vendors offer great sales. Both DeepDiscountDVD & DVD Planet are offering Thanksgiving weekend sales that end either later today or tomorrow. The code words on checkout online are SUPERSALE for DeepDiscountDVD & 20OFFSALE for DVD Planet.

I ordered a couple of things, & got them for a great price. First of all, I bought the 1934 Howard Hawks movie "Twentieth Century" with John Barrymore & Carole Lombard. This movie, along with "It Happened One Night" (Frank Capra's pleasurable, most sustained feat of casual movie magic), kicked off the screwball style in American movies. The DVD has a couple of great extras on it, too.

The Art Deco design of the Twentieth Century Limited



I also bought the 1970s BBC "Fall of Eagles," which is the most powerful thing I've seen all year (along with Koreeda's "Nobody Knows," which is itself the greatest Japanese film since "Hana to Alice"). Sixteen installments follow Europe's march toward doom & world war, & chart the dangerous waters of the revolutions of 1848 & onward, as three mighty empires -- the Hapsburgs (or Habsburgs) of Austria-Hungary, the Hohenzollerns of Russia/Germany, & the Romanovs of Russia -- extend their influence through war; territorial acquisition; ceding of responsibilities to electors, prime ministers & chancellors; & royal marriage among Houses. If you're not interested in this period of European history, you'll still be mesmerized by this production; & if you love the history, you'll be in heaven. The writing alone is astonishing; if there is writing this good on TV today, please tell me where it is so I can enjoy more current achievements, too. The performances are down the line the apogee for the various cast members, whether Pamela Brown, Rachel Gurney, or a very young, terrifyingly ideological Patrick Stewart as Lenin.

The Hapsburg Crest of Eagles



Patrick Stewart as Vladimir Lenin