Comments on: Finishing School

By: The Last Dinosaur » DVDs Worth Watching

The Last Dinosaur » DVDs Worth Watching — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 22:11:26 +0000

[...] mostly enjoyed the Warner Archive line of made-on-demand DVDs for lesser-known oldies and cult classics I first watched a while [...]

By: Jim Perreault

Jim Perreault — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 22:32:08 +0000

Hmmm “Vivacious Lady” is being shown as part of AFI’s “Backwards and in High Heels: Ginger Rogers Centennial Retrospective”. (http://www.afi.com/silver/new/nowplaying/2011/v8i1/rogers.aspx)

I won’t be able to make that one, but perhaps others can.

Jim

By: Johanna

Johanna — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 22:00:55 +0000

Oh, neat, I had forgotten that TCM also did made-on-demand DVDs. Thanks for pointing that out.

By: Rodney

Rodney — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 21:58:39 +0000

Double Harness is an exclusive available from TCM, part of the TCM Vault Collection: The Lost & Found RKO Collection. The six-disc set also includes “Rafter Romance,” “One Man’s Journey,” “Stingaree,” “Living on Love,” and “A Man to Remember.” Great stuff!

By: Johanna

Johanna — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 21:37:13 +0000

Oh, I didn’t realize that this was one of the lost RKOs. I’ve enjoyed both of the others you mention, especially Double Harness (for its unique comments on marriage and women’s roles) — I wish Warner Archive would put that one out. And yes, I liked the ending, but I didn’t want to spoil too much. I’ve put Hard Way on my wishlist, thanks. And I do enjoy Vivacious Lady, with Jimmy Stewart! He’s another fave.

By: Grant

Grant — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 21:25:51 +0000

This is a really fun “code tester” that I’ve seen several times.

“The movie is not remastered — there are speckles in the image at times — but it’s almost 80 years old, so I’m amazed that it looks as good as it does”

This was one of several in a batch of films discovered and restored in 2007 that were produced by King Kongs Merian C. Cooper. Apparently RKO had given him the rights to many of the films he produced as severance and prior to 07, they had been sitting in a vault all those decades unseen. The Ginger Rogers film “Rafters Romance” and “Double Harness” with Ann Harding were a couple others in that same batch that TCM shows from time to time.

I’ll also add that Finishing School has a very rewarding ending.

Speaking of Ginger, here’s a few really funny and entertaining movies of her to watch out for on TCM…

Vivacious Lady
In Person
Once Upon A Honeymoon

Also, if you’ve never seen the Ida Lupino film “The Hard Way”, you might want to see that. Very gritty look at the entertainment biz. The thing is, it’s based on the life of Ginger Rogers and her Mother who was a notorious “stage mother”. Very good movie.