Woody+allen

Jazz Icons: Woody Herman features a blistering one-hour concert from 1964 showcasing one of the very hottest line-ups of the “Swinging Herd,” including trumpeter Bill Chase, trombonist Phil Wilson and the amazing saxophonist Sal Nistico on the front line, as well as drummer Jake Hanna, bassist Chuck Andrus and pianist-arranger Nat Pierce in the rhythm section.

Jazz Icons: Woody Herman features a blistering one-hour concert from 1964 showcasing one of the very hottest line-ups of the “Swinging Herd,” including trumpeter Bill Chase, trombonist Phil Wilson and the amazing saxophonist Sal Nistico on the front line, as well as drummer Jake Hanna, bassist Chuck Andrus and pianist-arranger Nat Pierce in the rhythm section.

In the winter of 2003, Legendary Filmmaker Jonas Mekas, moved out of his loft on Broadway, New York, where he had lived for the past 30 years. It was the place where he watched his children grow, and the art scene of Soho become what it was today. It was where Andy Warhol and Allen Ginsberg used to come by for film events and dinner. This film shows Mekas' transition in to a new life living in Brooklyn, and the adventures this entails. Discovering new friends, singing and dancing with his good friend Benn, and their adventures together. Mekas also faces what it is to live along again in Brooklyn, the place where he first lived when he arrived in New York as a misplaced person in 1947 after ww2. A film of Joy, friendship, wine, and song!

This is not only a sequel to the "Second Heimat", but also a chronicle of a very decisive decade for Germany (1989 to 2000). The main couple of the mini-series released in 1992, Hermann Simon and Clarissa Lichtbau (played by the same actors), reunite after almost exactly 19 years. Their last night of love in November 1970 closed the previous series. Now, on November 9th, 1989, when the Berlin Wall falls, Hermann and Clarissa meet each other again by mere chance. Surrounded by celebrations, the former lovers bring each other up to date, and reestablish a relationship. Hermann has become a well known maestro and Clarissa, a respected singer, but both lead solitary lives.

Legendary filmmaker Peter Whitehead was at the heart of Swinging London, chronicling the youth explosion, the burgeoning popular music scene and the counterculture of the 1960s. In March the National Film Theatre hosted a comprehensive retrospective of his work. This DVD features two of his films; Wholly Communion (1965) and Benefit of the Doubt (1967), coupled with a new interview with Peter and additional rare footage. With over three hours of material, Peter Whitehead and the Sixties is a fascinating document of the radical, experimental, literary and theatrical scenes of 60s London.

The greatest variety acts of the past – humorists, bands, vaudevillians, dramatists, dancers and more – return for a second collection of the earliest of the venerable Vitaphone sound shorts. Entertainers from coast to coast, from stage and screen, from the heights of Brooklyn to the valleys of Hollywood, all shared the spotlight as cinema learned to play with sound. Nestled in among 35 Jazz Age gems to be found on this 2-Disc collection are appearances by Edgar Bergen, Fred Allen, Fred Waring, Blanche Sweet, Bert Lahr, Pat O’Brien, Joe E. Brown and a (very) young Natalie Schafer – the future Mrs. Thurston Howell III on Gilligan’s Island.