my First Movie Take Two

Famed Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky's final masterpiece, The Sacrifice is a haunting vision of a world threatened with nuclear annihilation that inspired Andrew Sarris (The Village Voice) to proclaim, "You may find yourself moved as you have never been moved before". As a wealthy Swedish family celebrates the birthday of their patriarch Alexander (Erland Josephson, Cries and Whispers), news of the outbreak of World War III reaches their remote Baltic island - and the happy mood turns to horror. The family descends into a state of psychological devastation, brilliantly evoked by Tarkovsky's arresting palette of luminous greys washing over the bleak landscape around their home.

Finding himself in considerable debt, Chris a Texan drug dealer, decides the only solution is to murder his mother to collect the insurance money. Getting together with his father, the ex-husband of Chris' mother, they decide to hire Joe Cooper a contract killer, who also happens to be a police detective. The plan is that the money will go to Chris' sister Dottie. However due to the size of the contract fee, Chris agrees that Joe can take Dottie as a retainer until the insurance comes through.

Filmed with a strong sense of compassion for the impoverished and an underlying hatred for the injustice which forces them into the lives they must live, this is one of the first works from Brazil's Cinema Novo. A poor Brazilian family struggle to earn a living when they take a job overseeing the livestock of a wealthy rancher. They move into an abandoned house, and their fortunes begin to take an upward turn. The father is duped into a card game with a crooked local policeman. The ranch hand protests, and a fight ensues that results in his beating by the cop. Despite being the victim of injustice, the man believes there should be some semblance of law and order and makes no protest about the incident. A severe drought has the man moving on from the ranch with his family to earn their living elsewhere.

Murat is a sound recordist who lives in Istanbul. He makes an unexpected connection in his records between a grandmother and a grandchild, which becomes a trip to the family's past to strengthen their ties.

Audiences at the October 6, 1927, premiere of the first film with spoken dialogue were electrified by what they could now see and hear when star Al Jolson (born Asa Yoelson, 1886-1950), in the film's best-remembered line, proclaimed: "Wait a minute, you ain't heard nothing yet!" To watch this historical movie from the man who was known as The World’s Greatest Entertainer, today is to relive that exciting event. In our edition we have included as bonus tracks the two first movie performances by Al Jolson: two songs recorded in September 6, 1926, at New York’s Manhattan Opera House for a one-reel film entittled A Plantation Act.

he Samurai Trilogy, directed by Hiroshi Inagaki and starring the inimitable Toshiro Mifune, was one of Japan’s most successful exports of the 1950s, a rousing, emotionally gripping tale of combat and self-discovery. Based on a novel that’s often called Japan’s Gone with the Wind, this sweeping saga fictionalizes the life of the legendary seventeenth-century swordsman (and writer and artist) Musashi Miyamoto, following him on his path from unruly youth to enlightened warrior. With these three films—1954’s Oscar-winning Musashi Miyamoto, 1955’s Duel at Ichijoji Temple, and 1956’s Duel at Ganryu Island—Inagaki created a passionate epic that’s equal parts tender love story and bloody action.

Inspired by a true story. Jun Shik (Dong-gun Jang) works for Tatsuo's grandfather's farm while Korea is colonized by Japan, but he has a dream to participate in Tokyo Olympics as a marathon runner. Tatsuo also aims to become a marathon runner, so the two are in rivalry. But war breaks out and they both are forced to enlist in the army. Tatsuo becomes the head of defense in Jun Shik's unit and he devises a scheme but fails. Jun Shik and Tatsuo are captured by the Soviets. They run away but soon are captured by Germans and forced to separate. In 1944, they meet again at the shores of Normandy.

Life is hard in a Welsh mining town and no less so for the Morgan family. Seen through the eyes of the family's youngest, Huw, we learn of the family's trials and tribulations. Family patriarch Gwyllim and his older sons work in the mines, dangerous and unhealthy as it is. Gwyllim has greater hopes for younger son how to honor his hard working parents. Huw who has his own ideas on how to honor his father. Daughter Angharad is the most beautiful girl in the valley and is very much in love with Mr. Gruffydd who isn't sure he can provide her the life she deserves. Times are hard and good men find themselves out of work and exploited by unseen mine owners.

In the 25 years since 1978, Varese Sarabande Records has released well over 1000 albums. Of those, nearly 900 are film scores. Averaging over fifty new soundtrack releases a year, Varese Sarabande's catalog features virtually every great name in film music: Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, Elmer Bernstein, John Barry, Thomas Newman, Alan Silvestri, Howard Shore, Randy Newman, Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman, James Newton Howard, Mark Isham, Graeme Revell, Trevor Rabin, Georges Delerue, Henry Mancini, Patrick Doyle, James Horner, Carter Burwell, Rachel Portman, Randy Edelman and Marc Shaiman along with countless others and all the legendary composers of Hollywood's Golden Age. There are far too many titles to assemble any compilation even remotely comprehensive, but we did want to pause in our release schedule to take a moment to remember just a few of our favorites. This four CD set features a total of five hours of music and becomes the biggest compilation we've ever assembled.