Friday, 20 February 2015

Ben-Hur (1959)

Directed by William Wyler and starring Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Haya Harareet, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith, Martha Scott, Cathy O'Donnell, Sam Jaffee, Finlay Currie and Frank Thring.


4-disc Collectors Edition DVD bought in 2005

3-disc 50th Anniversary Limited Edition Blu-ray bought in 2013
222m 26s












 DVD










Both DVD and Blu-ray sets contain the bonus movie - Ben-Hur (1925) directed by Fred Niblo and starring Ramon Novarro and Francis X Bushman. 143mins

Audio commentary by actor Charlton Heston and film historian T. Gene Hatcher
Isolated music score by Miklos Rozsa
Charlton Heston & Ben-Hur: A Personal Journey (78mins)
Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed Cinema (58mins)
Ben-Hur: The Making of an Epic" documentary (59mins)
Ben-Hur: A Journey Through Pictures
Screen Tests (29mins)
Vintage Newsreels (10mins)
Highlights from the 1960 Academy Awards Ceremony
Theatrical Trailers


Solomon and Sheba (1959)

Directed by King Vidor and starring Yul Brynner, Gina Lollobrigida, Marisa Pavan, David Farrar, Harry Andrews and George Sanders.


DVD bought in 2004
135m 30s






Theatrical Trailer

Last Train from Gun Hill (1959)

Directed by John Sturges and starring Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Carolyn Jones and Earl Holliman.


DVD bought in 2007
90m 27s






No extras

Rio Bravo (1959)

Directed by Howard Hawks and starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson and Walter Brennan.


2-disc Special Edition DVD bought in 2007
135m 16s






Audio commentary with filmmaker John Carpenter and film historian Richard Schickel
Commemoration: Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo (33mins)
The Men Who Made Movies: Howard Hawks (55mins)
Old Tucson: Where Legends Walked (9mins)
Theatrical trailer

North by Northwest (1959)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jesse Royce Landis and Martin Landau.


DVD bought in 2000

50th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray bought in 2009

Steelbook Blu-ray bought in 2014
136m 25s





 Blu-ray




 Steelbook Blu-ray






Blu-ray extras -

Audio Commentary by Writer Ernest Lehman
Music Only Audio Track
The Master's Touch: Hitchcock's Signature Style (58mins)
Cary Grant: A Class Apart (87mins)
North by Northwest: One for the Ages (26mins)
Destination Hitchcock: the Making of North by Northwest (40mins)
Stills Gallery
A Guided Tour with Alfred Hitchcock Trailer
Theatrical Trailer

Some Like it Hot (1959)

Directed by Billy Wilder and starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft, Pat O'Brien, Joe E. Brown and Nehemiah Persoff.



Special Edition DVD bought in 2002

Blu-ray bought in 2014
121m 32s






Blu-ray





Blu-ray extras -

Audio Commentary featuring an interview with Tony Curtis, a 1984 interview with actor Jack Lemmon, and additional commentary with Paul Diamond, Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mendel
The Making of Some Like It Hot (26mins)
The Legacy of Some Like It Hot (20mins)
Nostalgic Look Back (31mins)
Memories From the Sweet Sues (12mins)
Virtual Hall of Memories (21mins)
Theatrical Trailer

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Produced by Walt Disney and directed by Clyde Geronimi, Les Clark, Eric Larson and Wolfgang Reitherman.


Collector's Edition 2-disc DVD and Book bought in 2008

50th Anniversary Platinum Edition Blu-ray bought in 2010
75m 10s










  Blu-ray






Blu-ray Extras -

Audio Commentary with John Lasseter, Andreas Déja, Leonard Maltin
"Cine-Explore" PiP video/audio commentary with John Lasseter, Leonard Maltin and Andreas Deja
"Dragon Encounter" interactive feature
"Grand Canyon" short
Once Upon a Dream" music video by Emily Osment
Disney Song Selection
"Princess Fun Facts" pop-up feature
Games & Activities
Original Disneyland Sleeping Beauty Castle Walktrough Attraction
History of the Sleeping Beauty Walkthrough Attraction" featurette
Picture Perfect: The Making of Sleeping Beauty" documentary (44mins)
Eyvind Earle: The Man and His Art" featurette
"Sequence 8" featurette
Alternate Opening
Deleted Songs:
Storyboard Sequences
Sleeping Beauty Art Galleries
The Sound of Beauty: Restoring a Classic" featurette
Theatrical Trailers
"The Peter Tchaikovski Story" short (49mins)
"Four Artists Paint One Tree" featurette (16mins)