[January 01, 2009] Many classics are on DVD Tweet Jan 01, 2009 (The Akron Beacon Journal - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- If it's Thursday, it's a new year for the mailbag . . . Q: How can someone request or acquire older movies? Like "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" with Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara or "Robin Hood" with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland? These two classics seem to have disappeared. I would like to watch these great movies again sometime. A: Turner Classic Movies, still the best repository of classic movies shown on TV, has a "Suggest a Movie" page on its Web site (http://www.tcm.tv). Its movie database will also tell you if a title is already available on DVD, how to buy it and whether a telecast is scheduled. The Errol Flynn Adventures of Robin Hood and the Laughton Hunchback are both available on DVD. And TCM plans to show the Laughton Hunchback on Jan. 13. Other sites you can search for movies include the Internet Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com), which indicates if titles are available in authorized versions, and online retailers like Amazon.com, Moviesunlimited.com and Deepdiscount.com. And I do a lot of online keyword searches through Google and other means. Unfortunately, I cannot find everything, as the next question and answer indicate. Q: A number of years ago I saw "Hotel Splendide," a movie starring Daniel Craig and Toni Collette and have been searching ever since for a format that will work on my DVD or video. This, from Yahoo! Movies: "After an absence of five years, Kath, a spirited young sous-chef, returns to the Hotel Splendide in the hope of reconciling with Ronald, the most level-headed of the three siblings who run this spectacularly dilapidated resort on a desolate stretch of English coastline." It is a dark comedy with vivid visuals. Can you help? A: The movies of Daniel Craig have generated more interest since he became the current James Bond, and some of the older titles are making their way to DVD. Unfortunately, the only authorized copies I found of Hotel Splendide were in overseas DVD formats and may not work in your DVD player. I did see a VHS for sale at http://www.robertsvideos.com but cannot vouch for the source or quality. Q: After watching "The Shield" since its inception, I was unable to watch the final show. Do you know if it will be rerun or put on DVD? If not, where can I find out how it ended? A: I am sorry you missed the finale, which ranks among the best endings for a TV series ever. So as not to spoil it for people who still have not watched, let me refer you to my notes and comments in the November 2008 posts in the HeldenFiles Online (http://heldenfels.ohio.com). My colleague Alan Sepinwall's blog, http://sepinwall.blogspot.com, has an even more detailed summary and review of the finale, as well as an extensive interview with Shield creator Shawn Ryan. I would expect that last run of episodes to come to DVD, since all of the rest of the series has, but do not yet have a release date. Q: I saw a movie starring Gene Wilder as a rabbi in a western who hooked up with a gunslinger (can't remember the actor's name). It was a comedy. I can't remember the name of the movie. What is it, and is it available on VHS or DVD, preferably DVD? A: That's The Frisco Kid, with Wilder and Harrison Ford. It is available on DVD. Q: I am looking for the movie "Ulysses" with Kirk Douglas. I think it was made in 1954. A: The Italian big-screen telling of The Odyssey was indeed released in 1954 and is on DVD. If your local retailer cannot find it, I have seen it for sale on Amazon.com. Q: Do you think the movie "This Is Elvis" will be on TV again? It was made in 1981. I am interested in viewing Dana MacKay, the actor who played Elvis at age 35. A: I do not know of an upcoming showing of the film. But it is available on DVD. If you do not want to buy it, you may want to see if your local library has it. -- Do you have a question or comment about movies, TV and other popular culture? Write to [email protected] or the Akron Beacon Journal, 44 E. Exchange St., Akron, OH 44309. Please mark the note for Mailbag and do not phone in questions. Letters may be edited. Individual replies cannot be guaranteed. Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal and in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com. To see more of the Akron Beacon Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.ohio.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]