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Category:    Home > Reviews > Documentary > Entertainment > Hollywood > WWII > Biography > Stunts > Pop Culture > Stand Up Comedy > Talk > Bob Hope Entertaining The Troops (1989/MVD Visual DVD)/I Am Evel Knievel (2014/Virgil Films Blu-ray)/That Show with Joan Rivers (1968 - 69/Film Chest/Topics DVD Set)/The Sunshine Boys (1975/MGM/Warner

Bob Hope Entertaining The Troops (1989/MVD Visual DVD)/I Am Evel Knievel (2014/Virgil Films Blu-ray)/That Show with Joan Rivers (1968 - 69/Film Chest/Topics DVD Set)/The Sunshine Boys (1975/MGM/Warner Archive Blu-ray)


Picture: C/B-/C+/B Sound: C+/B-/C+/B- Extras: C/C/C-/C+ Main Programs: B-/B/B+/C+



PLEASE NOTE: The Sunshine Boys Blu-ray is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.



Here's a group of new releases that show show business at its best...



Robert Mugge's Bob Hope Entertaining The Troops (1989) is the home video name that they have come up with for a pretty good program that is actually a series of interviews with starts including Hope and (in various clips old and/or new) Carole Lombard, Bing Crosby, James Cagney, Dorothy Lamour, Danny Kaye and with particularly strong memory latter on, Mel Blanc, on how entertainers banded together during WWII to help the troops and those back home win the war. They did!


It also becomes a look behind the scenes of the industry in general and those who might not be Hope fans should not pass this up if they are expecting this to be all about him. This deserves a DVD and is very welcome release.


The only extra is 25 minutes of Bonus Footage from the 1988 reunion of Hope & company in the main program, though I wish a new extra or two had been made.



David Ray's I Am Evel Knievel (2014) is a long-overdue look at the legendary stunt driver who helped make the 1970s so great and has been a huge influence on world culture, sports and pop, ever since. Think of X-Games, X-treme sports and action films, then see this and you'll see how so much of it goes back to what Knievel did in his groundbreaking motorcycle jumps that were major cultural events each time they happened. A fun part of the counterculture of the time, it led to endless imitators, millions of fans and a massively successful licensing of clothes, collectibles and toys that people still love.


This is part biography of him, part an expose of the times with great rare footage and interviews with his ex-wife, widow, both sons, Matthew McConaughey, Michele Rodriguez, Guy Fieri, Kid Rock and many more who knew and loved him, including his biggest fans and scholars on his work. If anything, I could have seen this go on a little longer because there is more to say and show, but this will do and is definitely recommended.


Two featurettes on the Knievel are the extras, though a featurette on the Ideal Toys would have been a good idea.



That Show with Joan Rivers (1968 - 69) has the Film Chest/Topics company expanding a solid set issued by Synergy of the late, great comedienne's first TV show that we covered a while ago at this link:


http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11455/That+Show+with+Joan+Rivers,+Volume+1+-+3


Some of the prints still have a clear 'Synergy' in the lower right corner, but we get more episodes this time.


Episodes featuring Johnny Carson, Joel Grey, Carol Lawrence, Soupy Sales (on two different episodes), Jerry Lewis, Steve Lawrence, Dick Cavett, Florence Henderson, Phyllis Newman, Kitty Carlisle, David Susskind, Nancy Walker, Orson Bean and Shecky Green are joined by two great shows with Vivian Vance (who never got to work with Rivers in what should have been a surefire comedy project), Renee Taylor, Ed Sullivan, Rita Moreno, Joan Fontaine, two with Barbara Walters, James Earl Jones, Tessie O'Shea with fashion designer/critic Mr. Blackwell, Arthur Godfrey, Lily Tomlin, Roberta Peters, Larry Blyden and two with Rocky Graziano, one of which is about how to exercise where he & Joan are joined by Marty Allen.


The show got better as did Joan and it is amazing the talent she got. These episodes are great and more than a few have some real howlers that are so funny, it is worth watching each show to see them. She is also holding back in her opening monologues, but was even funny then. Sometimes, the crowd does not know how to deal with her boldness, but a star was born. Among some fine releases here, this is the best!


An brief essay on Rivers can be seen in the front cover of the case you open up via a velcro button.



Last but not least is Herbert Ross' film of Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys (1975), with Walter Matthau and George Burns as long-time vaudeville partners who have not talked for decades, but were a big hit in there day. A national network wants them to reunite, but it will not be easy. Richard Benjamin plays Matthau's son, trying to help him get work and just function properly without getting into any trouble. There are a few giggles here and there, with the shots of New York City of the time a real plus, but I always thought some of this was a little obvious and as good as it can get, it plays a bit long at 111 minutes despite all the great talent involved.


Still, it is more than worthy of the Blu-ray release it is getting here and Warner Archive has done a top rate job, so fans and the curious will be pleased.


Extras include a feature length audio commentary track by co-star Richard Benjamin, an excerpt on the film from the documentary mini-series When The Lions Roars (issued in its entirety elsewhere on this site), an Theatrical Trailer and two silent screen tests: one with Matthau joined by Jack Benny, the other with Phil Silvers before health issues forced both to drop out of the film and be succeeded by Burns.



The 1.33 X 1 image on the Hope and Rivers sets originated on analog NTSC color video and show their age, but the Hope set has more aliasing errors and staircasing, so the Rivers shows (with their better color) and comparatively better look playback better. Both also have some haloing and color bleeding, but that is to be expected from the format. The 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on Evel has its share of old such analog video and some film sadly from old analog video sources, but it looks better than the DVDs and has some good HD moments, but the 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Boys may show the age of the materials used, but this is far superior a transfer to all previous releases of the film, has fine color, might be thick in the way the grain lays, yet is consistent in this. That represents the way the film is supposed to look and that makes it the best picture playback performer here.


The lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on the Hope and Rivers sets sound as good as TV sonic standards of their time will allow and are as clean ands clear as they are ever likely to be, with any lossless version likely to show more flaws unless someone spends a million dollars or so fixing them up. They are fine in playback despite minor hiss or distortion.


The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Evel is a mix of mono, simple stereo and a few surround moments spread out the best the makers could for such a documentary and that is fine, but it is a bit inconsistent soundfield wise, so the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 1.0 Mono lossless mix on Boys is able to compete, especially since it sounds pretty good for its age.



To order The Sunshine Boys Warner Archive Blu-ray, go to this link for it and many more great web-exclusive releases at:


http://www.warnerarchive.com/



- Nicholas Sheffo


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