The next oldie is a musical, at number 48 - Camelot, starring Richard Harris and Meg Bussert - but this isn't the movie Camelot, this is the 1982 Broadway production filmed by HBO, preserving Richard Harris' only stage role on film. Richard Muenz is Lancelot. Something amazing, amidst Grey's Anatomy and The Good Shepherd, to see a Broadway special in such company.
If you had to guess which classic musicals would make the top 100, The Sound of Music would come to mind sooner or later. The 40th anniversary two-disc special edition starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer pops up at number 56 -and was released in 2005. Let's face it, The Sound of Music is a perennial with audiences, thus making it a perennial on best-seller lists. This is the film that saved 20th Century Fox from complete disintegration.
It was mentioned above that The Sound of Music saved 20th Century Fox. At number 58 is a man who kept 20th Century Fox solvent for many a year - Tyrone Power. Power's major swashbucklers, 1940's The Mark of Zorro and the 1942 Black Swan are already out - Zorro, in fact, was released twice, once in black and white and once in double-sided black and white/color - but this set contains the remarkable Blood and Sand and Son of Fury from the early '40s, and the later films Captain from Castile (1947), Prince of Foxes (1949), and The Black Rose (1950). The latter three were made on location with gorgeous results, including an actual erupting volcano in Captain from Castile. The pre-order sales of Tyrone Power: The Swashbuckler Box Set promises another Power collection in the future.
Legend Judy Garland is at number 63 in The Pirate, a beautiful 1948 film which also stars Gene Kelly and is directed by the brilliant Vincent Minnelli. Often overlooked, this film has a great script and a rich Cole Porter score - not to mention the talents of Garland, Kelly, and Minnelli. A definite must. Not due out until July 2007.
Number 71 is 1977's Roots, one of the greatest miniseries ever produced, in the days when the networks had the money to do them. This is a four-disc collector's set, due to be released next month. It is the story of Kunta Kinte, who is abducted from his African village and brought to America as a slave. The series follows the family he eventually has and events in U.S. history such as the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and eventual emancipation of the slaves. The stars include LeVar Burton, Lou Gossett, Jr., Ben Vereen, Maya Angelou, Moses Gunn, among others. This isn't the first time Roots has been on DVD, but this promises to be a very special edition with an additional bonus disc, Crossing Over: How Roots Captivated a Nation and a documentary from 1978, Roots: One Year Later.
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