Tag Archives: Academy Awards

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The Bootleg Files – Agueda Martinez: Our People, Our Country

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BOOTLEG FILES 825: “Agueda Martinez: Our People, Our Country” (1977 Oscar-nominated documentary short).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the proverbial cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

For many years, the films nominated in the Academy Award categories for short subjects were the most mysterious titles in the annual Oscar ceremonies. Between the evaporation of the theatrical shorts market in the early 1960s and the relatively recent dawning of the streaming era, these films were unknown and inaccessible to the vast majority of movie lovers.
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Dancing Pirate (1935) [Blu-ray/DVD]

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The 1935 production “Dancing Pirate” has gained footnote status in movie history for several accomplishments: it was among the few productions nominated in the short-lived Academy Award category for Best Dance Direction, it was the first musical feature shot in the three-strip Technicolor process, it was the last film produced by the independent Pioneer Pictures studio, and it included uncredited blink-and-you-miss-them appearances by a young Rita Hayworth and future First Lady Pat Nixon as members of the dancing ensemble.
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Oscars, Shmoscars: 10 Classic Films That Didn’t Receive An Academy Award Nomination

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This coming Sunday, movie lovers will be watching the Academy Awards telecast and betting on which films and creative artists will take home the celebrated prize. Oddly, the history of the Oscars is heavy with classic works that failed to snag a single nomination – and the reasons for the omissions are among the great mysteries of movie history.
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1961 In Movies

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It was the year when Natalie Wood became Puerto Rican, Mickey Rooney became Japanese, Charlton Heston took on the Moors and Sophia Loren barely survived World War II. On this episode of “The Online Movie Show”, the clock is set back to 1961 to celebrate that year’s amazing line-up of films. Our guest is filmmaker and writer David Cornelius.

The episode can be heard here.

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West Side Story: Behind the Scenes

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The 1961 version of “West Side Story” is considered by many to be among the greatest movie musicals of all time. On this episode of “The Online Movie Show,” we discuss the making of this classic (and dispel some longstanding rumors on its casting) with Richard Barrios, author of “West Side Story: The Jets, the Sharks, and the Making of a Classic.”

The episode can be heard here.

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The Bootleg Files: Cow on the Moon

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BOOTLEG FILES 746: “Cow on the Moon” (1959 animated short by Dušan Vukotić).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Most likely due to a problem with rights clearance.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Unlikely at this time.

During the mid-1950s, Yugoslavia began to make its presence known on the global cinema scene through the output of Zagreb Film, a Croatian-based studio specializing in offbeat animated shorts. At the time, animated shorts were still dominated by the Hollywood studios and their line-up of beloved zany characters. But the Zagreb Film animators slowly found their way into major film festivals and theatrical release thanks to inventive, stylish and subversively funny mini-productions.
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