Month: March 2017

Disco Film Screenings at the LOC

The Library of Congress just announced their “Bibliodiscotheque” and a whole series of film screenings to go with it!Here are a few disco-themed movies from our collection to get you dancing! The Greasy Strangler (HU DVD 13736): Ronnie runs a disco walking tour of Los Angeles with his adult son Brayden when the appearance of … Continue reading “Disco Film Screenings at the LOC”

The Library of Congress just announced their “Bibliodiscotheque” and a whole series of film screenings to go with it!
Here are a few disco-themed movies from our collection to get you dancing!

  • The Greasy Strangler (HU DVD 13736): Ronnie runs a disco walking tour of Los Angeles with his adult son Brayden when the appearance of a beautiful woman on their tour along with the surfacing of the killer The Greasy Strangler changes their world forever.
  • 54 (HU DVD 12193): Just another kid with big ambitions, Shane O’Shea was like countless others, stuck at the end of the line outside New York’s infamous Studio 54 Disco. But when he finally gets a foot in the door, it doesn’t take him long to experience 54.
  • Saturday Night Fever (HU DVD 3123): Tony is an undereducated Brooklyn teenager who is bored with his daytime job. The highlight of his week is going to the local disco, where he is the king of the dance floor. Tony meets Stephanie at the disco and they agree to dance together in a competition. Stephanie resists Tony’s attempts to romance her, as she aspires to greater things. Gradually, Tony also becomes disillusioned with the life he is leading and he and Stephanie decide to help one another to start afresh.
  • Boogie Nights (HU DVD 8): A film that throws the covers back on California’s adult entertainment industry in the swinging seventies. It’s a touching and often humorous portrait of a most unusual family of filmmakers, brought to dazzling life by an all-star cast and sizzling seventies soundtrack.
  • The Last Days of Disco (HU DVD 3318): Depicts the ’last days’ at a disco palace, where drugs, sex and weirdness ran rampant. Icy Charlotte and demure Alice toil by day as publishing house assistants and by night the two look for romance and entertainment at a premier disco club. But, as the disco is closed, they wonder if disco can ever really be dead?
  • Airplane (HU DVD 6241): An off-the-wall comedy that spoofs airplane disaster flicks. An ex-fighter pilot is forced to take over the control of an airliner when the flight crew succumbs to food poisoning. (Has a disco scene!)
  • Xanadu (HU DVD 6744): Danny, an aging musician who wants to open a nightclub, and Sonny, a young artist, are both searching for inspiration. Kira, a beautiful mythical muse, is brought to earth in order to help both men fulfill their dreams.

And let’s not forget this epic disco scene:

Come check out a movie! You should be dancing…yeah!

Presenting the DVD wall!

So, a confession. A few weeks ago, I screwed up. As part of our ongoing project to digitize our VHS collection, I had accidentally encoded almost 100 videos incorrectly. I went back and fixed the mistakes, but I ended up with nearly 100 DVDs to discard. Rather than toss them out or recycle them, I … Continue reading “Presenting the DVD wall!”

So, a confession. A few weeks ago, I screwed up. As part of our ongoing project to digitize our VHS collection, I had accidentally encoded almost 100 videos incorrectly. I went back and fixed the mistakes, but I ended up with nearly 100 DVDs to discard.

Rather than toss them out or recycle them, I made art!

This wall of DVDs is a reminder that, yes, mistakes can happen. I call it “Memento Oopise.” It’s also really reflective and shimmery and pretty. If for some reason you end up with a bunch of old CD-Rs, consider gluing them to your wall!

Please do not glue the AU Library’s DVDs to your wall.

Beauties turned Beastly

Film Comment’s Michael Sragow has much to say about Disney’s live action Beauty and the Beast. While we wait for Disney to get down to business and ruin Mulan, here’s are some animated Disney classics in our collection with remakes rumored or in the works: Mulan: HU DVD 11033The Little Mermaid: HU DVD 281The Lion … Continue reading “Beauties turned Beastly”

Film Comment’s Michael Sragow has much to say about Disney’s live action Beauty and the Beast. While we wait for Disney to get down to business and ruin Mulan, here’s are some animated Disney classics in our collection with remakes rumored or in the works:

Mulan: HU DVD 11033
The Little Mermaid: HU DVD 281
The Lion King: HU DVD 5090 (No, seriously)
Aladdin: HU DVD 8550
Peter Pan: HU DVD 8133
Dumbo: HU DVD 5152 (Again, seriously? SERIOUSLY.)

…and of course, we have the classic Disney version of Beauty and the Beast (HU DVD 7849).

Feud: Bette and Joan

Feud: Bette and Joan premieres TONIGHT on FX. For anyone who will be waiting to binge watch this series on DVD, may we suggest the below titles to tide you over? What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? (HU DVD 610): This film was the notorious battleground of Davis and Crawford. An aging ex-vaudeville child star … Continue reading “Feud: Bette and Joan”

Feud: Bette and Joan premieres TONIGHT on FX. For anyone who will be waiting to binge watch this series on DVD, may we suggest the below titles to tide you over?

  • What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? (HU DVD 610): This film was the notorious battleground of Davis and Crawford. An aging ex-vaudeville child star initiates a psychotic reign of terror over her crippled sister, a former movie-queen of the 1930’s. In an old mansion, two sisters live alone. One is Jane Hudson, once billed as “Baby Jane Hudson, the diminutive dancing Duse,” a child star whose brief career lit up the lives of her doting parents. The other is Blanche, whose own career as an actress was cut tragically short by a crippling accident. Ever since that accident, Baby Jane has taken care of Blanche — or has she?
  • Hush– Hush, Sweet Charlotte (HU DVD 11847): This film was meant to reunite Davis and Crawford on screen, but did not succeed. A southern belle finds out the truth about her husband’s murder when her cousin reopens the case.
  • All about Eve (HU DVD 3081): A great Bette Davis film. From the moment she glimpses her idol at the stage door, Eve Harrington moves relentlessly towards her goal: taking the reins of power from the great actress Margo Channing. The cunning Eve maneuvers her way into Margo’s Broadway role, becomes a sensation and even causes turmoil in the lives of Margo’s director boyfriend, her playwright and his wife. Only the cynical drama critics see through Eve, admiring her audacity and perfect pattern of deceit.
  • Mildred Pierce (HU DVD 2187): A great Joan Crawford film. Mildred Pierce is a woman who will do anything to satisfy the demands of her spoiled daughter Veda, including divorce, opening her own business, and possibly murder.