The Bootleg Files: Hedda

Posted on December 5, 2025 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 923: “Hedda” (1975 film version of Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler” starring Glenda Jackson and Patrick Stewart).

LAST SEEN: On the Russian OK.ru site.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: On VHS video.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: There seems to be a rights clearance issue.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Damn, I hope so.

When the Academy Award nominations for 1975 were announced, Glenda Jackson was among the Best Actress nominees for her performance in “Hedda,” an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler” produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company under the direction of Trevor Nunn. The likelihood of Jackson winning the Oscar was nil, only because she already won two Best Actress Oscars within the previous five years – for “Women in Love” (1970) and “A Touch of Class” (1973) – and the Academy was not going to give her a third award in such a short period of time. Jackson was aware of that situation, which may explain why she was the only woman in that category who did not attend the Oscar ceremony.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Knighty Knight Bugs

Posted on December 3, 2025 by Phil Hall

Knighty Knight Bugs (1958)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Warren Foster
Animation by Gerry Chiniquy, Arthur Davis, Virgil Ross
Music by Milt Franklyn

When you consider how many cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny are now celebrated as animation classics, it is bizarre to realize that only three cartoons featuring the top star of the Warner Bros. animation studio were nominated for the Academy Award. Even more peculiar was the fact the three cartoons that were nominated – “A Wild Hare” (1940), “Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt” (1941), and “Knight Knight Bugs” (1958) – were far from the best of the Bugs Bunny series.

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The 10 Weirdest Honorary Oscars of All Time

Posted on June 20, 2025 by Phil Hall

Earlier this week, Variety reported that Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, was lobbying members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to bestow an Honorary Oscar on Bob Iger, chief executive of the Walt Disney Company and Kennedy’s boss. This created a major conflict of interest problem, since Disney’s broadcast division ABC is the broadcast partner of the Academy Awards, and the two are now in negotiations to renew the Academy’s licensing agreement beyond 2028.
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The 10 Wackiest Academy Award Achievements of All Time

Posted on February 28, 2025 by Phil Hall

Ahead of Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony, let’s take a few minutes to consider some of the unlikeliest nominations and winners in the history of cinema’s most prestigious prize.

Who Saw This Coming? Few people expected Hal Mohr to win the 1935 Best Cinematography Oscar for “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” – if only because he wasn’t nominated. In the mid-1930s, the Academy changed its rules to allow write-in votes to go alongside the ballot nominees, but after write-in candidate Mohr won his award the rules were rewritten to prevent another write-in winner.
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And the Nominees Aren’t – The 10 Worst Oscar Nomination Total Snubs of All Time

Posted on January 24, 2025 by Phil Hall

Yesterday’s Academy Award nominations generated the annual debate over who was nominated and who was snubbed. But when it comes to Oscar snubs, a surprisingly large number of classic films were ignored by Academy voters.

In my humid opinion – yes, humid, because I don’t do humble – here are my picks for the 10 films that were shockingly denied access to Academy Award nominations. Mercifully, none of these films suffered in reputation for lacking acknowledgement for Oscar consideration.
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The Bootleg Files: The Selfish Giant

Posted on September 13, 2024 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 878: “The Selfish Giant” (1971 Oscar-nominated animated short based on the Oscar Wilde story).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: There might be a right issue that is unresolved.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely at this time.

One of the most poignant animated films ever made is the 1971 adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s story “The Selfish Giant.” Directed by Peter Sander and produced on behalf of Reader’s Digest, it is a truly wonderful production that received an Academy Award nomination. However, today the film is almost completely forgotten, which is a major shame.
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The Bootleg Files – The Challenge: A Tribute to Modern Art

Posted on August 23, 2024 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 876: “The Challenge: A Tribute to Modern Art” (1974 Oscar-nominated documentary narrated by Orson Welles).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: There might be a right issue that is unresolved.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: A re-release on DVD and Blu-ray is not likely at this time.

Question: How can anyone encapsulate the history of modern art in roughly 100 minutes? The answer: You cannot, although Herbert Kline gave it a spirited try with his 1974 documentary feature “The Challenge: A Tribute to Modern Art.” Perhaps the key word in the film’s title is “tribute” – as with any tribute, it provides a celebratory overview of achievement without plumbing the depth and scope of the subject with any great intensity.
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