CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

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The Glenn Miller Story [1953]

starring: James Stewart, June Allyson, Harry Morgan, Charles Drake, George Tobias
directed by: Anthony Mann

Release Date July 01, 1999
I first saw this film on TV 20 years ago and am very pleased that it has come out in a crisp DVD version. James Stewart gives a very watchable portrayal of the struggle and triumph of the famous American musician, while June Allyson gives a moving performance that shows that her star on the Walk of Fame is richly merited. The film contains some of Miller's most famous compositions like In the Mood - the climax of this in the film against the background of a German air raid is heartening as well as causing the audience within the film to cheer and applaud. A very enjoyable way to spend the afternoon (or later).
Highly recommended.

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

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The Man From Laramie [1955]

starring: James Stewart, Arthur Kennedy, Donald Crisp, Cathy O'Donnell, Alex Nicol
directed by: Anthony Mann

Release Date June 02, 1997
The last of the collaborations between James Stewart and director Anthony Mann, The Man From Laramie is the most ambitious even if it isn't always completely successful. On one level it's a standard revenge Western, with Stewart looking for the gunrunners who caused his brother's death, but his hunt takes in rancher Donald Crisp's powerful but dysfunctional dynasty and its divisions as well, and its through them that the film moves into almost mythically tragic territory. With foreman and almost adopted son Arthur Kennedy devotedly but thanklessly running the ranch for him and constantly trying to protect the old man from the feckless stupidity and sadism of his natural son Alex Nicol it soon becomes clear that not all the bad guys are that ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

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Quo Vadis [1952]

starring: Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Leo Genn, Peter Ustinov, Patricia Laffan
directed by: Anthony Mann, Mervyn LeRoy

Release Date February 19, 2001
I love it. From all the epics made in Hollywood it has the best script. I don't know another one that makes me laugh. This one truly has a good sense of humor and sarcasm. Not to forget the story about love, hate, courage - simply everything that makes a good movie. The actors are great - no one will forget Peter Ustinov's performance, and Robert Taylor - here he is not only as handsome as a man can be, his acting is also fine with a good sense of irony, great professionalism, topped by a very charming appearance.

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

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El Cid [1961]

starring: Charlton Heston, Sophia Loren, Raf Vallone, Geneviève Page, John Fraser
directed by: Anthony Mann

Release Date April 14, 1997
The first of Anthony Mann and Samuel Bronston's ambitious and intelligent epics, El Cid has to boast the most gorgeous use of the widescreen ever - the Cid and Chimene's first meeting makes the most of every inch of the screen, while Robert Krasker's gliding camera is remarkably sympathetic to screen format, architecture and exteriors alike. Indeed, the whole film displays Mann's typically intelligent use of location, here in interiors (often his weak spot) as well - during their bleak wedding feast, he keeps Chimene and the Cid at a distance, the staircase where he killed her father (never a great start to any marriage) prominent between them; and while the good king's court is filled with colour, light and people, once the weak Alfonso assumes power ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

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Bend Of The River [1952]

starring: James Stewart, Rock Hudson, Arthur Kennedy, Julie Adams, Lori Nelson
directed by: Anthony Mann

Release Date February 07, 2000
Bend of the River is in many ways Anthony Mann's `nicest' Western, but underneath the gorgeous Technicolor location work there's a darker side to Stewart's border raider desperate to reform and his relationship with friendly enemy Arthur Kennedy that threatens fireworks to come - and when they do, in the last 20 minutes, there's no problem in believing the depth of Stewart's rage or the relentlessness of his pursuit. Shot on many of the same locations as the even darker The Far Country, it's still terrific entertainment. Stepinfetchit's role is a little uncomfortable, but compared to the humiliation inflicted upon him in other pictures he's allowed a bit more dignity here than usual, closer to Hank Worden's Old Mose Harper in The Searchers than the racial stereotypes ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

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The Fall Of The Roman Empire [1964]

starring: Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd, Alec Guinness, James Mason, Christopher Plummer
directed by: Anthony Mann

Release Date April 14, 1997
I bought this out of cautious curiosity, since I already had a R2 DVD which looked pretty good - or so I thought. In fact, this version is on a different level entirely. The widescreen photography, the snowy landscapes, the crowds, the huge sets and the big close-ups are now jaw-droppingly impressive, with astonishing depth and detail and unlike Gladiator, what you see is what they built. CGI still can't hold a candle to this kind of thing. Take a look - they really don't make them like this any more.

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

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The Heroes Of Telemark [1965]

starring: Kirk Douglas, Richard Harris, Ulla Jacobsson, Michael Redgrave, David Weston
directed by: Anthony Mann

Release Date
This is the story, true in essence at least, of the successful attempt by Norwegians working for the British special forces or secret services to destroy the "heavy water" the Germans wished to transport to the Reich for experimentation on a possible atomic weapon. At the time, the Western Allies thought that the Reich was neck and neck with the USA in developing atomic weapons, though in retrospect, of course, we know this was not so, mainly because most of the leading atomic specialists (Einstein, Szilard et al) were Jews who had emigrated to the USA or were born there (Oppenheimer et al). Their aim was to destroy Germany completely because it had to some extent turned on the Jews.

Despite starring Kirk Douglas, the film was made by Rank, a British organization ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

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He Walked By Night [1948]

starring: Richard Basehart, Scott Brady, Roy Roberts, Whit Bissell, James Cardwell
directed by: Alfred L. Werker, Anthony Mann

Release Date October 23, 1995
"This is a true story. It is known to the Police Department of one of our largest cities as the most difficult homicide case in its experience, principally because of the diabolical cleverness, intelligence and cunning of a completely unknown killer..."

Shortly after WWII in Los Angeles, an off-duty policeman on his way home, late at night, stops a well-dressed young man on a deserted street he spotted loitering in front of an electronics store. He asks what the young man was doing and requests some identification. The young man says he was walking home. Since he says he forgot his wallet, he asks if the policeman would be satisfied with his discharge papers. The policeman says yes. The young man smiles, reaches under his jacket, pulls out a pistol and carefully shoots ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

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The Fall of the Roman Empire [1964]

starring: Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd, Alec Guinness, James Mason, Christopher Plummer
directed by: Anthony Mann

Release Date
I bought this out of cautious curiosity, since I already had a R2 DVD which looked pretty good - or so I thought. In fact, this version is on a different level entirely. The widescreen photography, the snowy landscapes, the crowds, the huge sets and the big close-ups are now jaw-droppingly impressive, with astonishing depth and detail and unlike Gladiator, what you see is what they built. CGI still can't hold a candle to this kind of thing. Take a look - they really don't make them like this any more.

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

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Gladiator / Spartacus / El Cid

starring: Russell Crowe, Tony Curtis, Peter Ustinov, Charlton Heston, Sophia Loren
directed by: Ridley Scott, Stanley Kubrick, Anthony Mann

Release Date September 15, 2003
I bought this out of cautious curiosity, since I already had a R2 DVD which looked pretty good - or so I thought. In fact, this version is on a different level entirely. The widescreen photography, the snowy landscapes, the crowds, the huge sets and the big close-ups are now jaw-droppingly impressive, with astonishing depth and detail and unlike Gladiator, what you see is what they built. CGI still can't hold a candle to this kind of thing. Take a look - they really don't make them like this any more.