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By Peter Covino Entertainment Editor Quadrophenia just may be my favorite album of all-time. Created by Pete Townsend and released by The Who in 1973, it was conceived by Townsend as a complex rock opera that focused on the personalities of the band's original band members (Townsend, Roger Daltry, John Entwistle and Keith Moon.
But a new DVD (release date Nov. 17 from MVD Entertainment Group) explains it all so much better. The documentary The Who, The Mods and The Quadrophenia Connection is a must have for anyone who loves The Who and the album/film/film soundtrack Quadrophenia.
The documentary explains the origins of the album and its links with a movement/phenomena that was big in the United Kingdom, but not here, The Mods. The Mod movement, a trend/rebellion and the early days of The Who, were very much intertwined with The Who of the 1960s. If you were a Mod, a scooter-riding, counter-culture kind of guy, you were a Who fan. The documentary lays it all out for you with interviews and rare footage, but much more importantly, it includes much of the original Who soundtrack in clips from the film, Quadropenia, as well as the band in concert in those early days. There are also cuts from other Mod bands such as The Jam, Georgie Fame, Booker T. and the MGs and more. oooo Remember the King Family? If you were watching TV in the 1960s and early 1970s, it was hard to avoid this over-sized singing group who actually needed a 50-inch TV screen to get all the aunts, uncles and cousins in the frame. The whole King family is back, on DVD at least, in Christmas with the King Family (Infinity Entertainment Group). Looking back, it is kind of easy to categorize the Kings with Lawrence Welk, but this DVD is a nostalgic look back, and the numerous holiday songs included, make it a nice choice to have playing on the TV while you are wrapping presents or trimming the tree. The DVD debut also marks the 45th anniversary of the family on ABC TV. If you are a Big Band Era fan, The King Sisters were one of the more popular vocal groups of their time. On TV, the sisters, husbands and kids and the rest of the clan made such an impact, they got their own series. They also did a number of holiday specials and this disc includes the 1967 telecast in its entirety as well as the main event — a newly-remastered show featuring a “best of” three Christmas specials, as well as interviews with King family members including surviving King sister Yvonne, who is now 90. You may also recognize “King cousin” Tina Cole, who also spent several years on My Three Sons as the wife of son Robbie (Don Grady). oooo Hide the Magic Markers and the bedsheets — Zorro is back. The Disney classic of the man “who marks a Z for his name, the Z that stands for Zorro” is back on DVD in two complete collections from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. If you were a kid in the late 1950s-60s, Zorro was the man. Guy Williams (Lost in Space) played the duel role of Zorro/Don Diego in this great adventure series that caused many a “Z” to be carved on walls, desktops and similar places by boys all across America. Zorro's tale has been told many times, but it has never captured the imagination as the Disney version. On the introduction in collection one (the complete first season) film critic Leonard Malten talks about how pervasive Zorro was at the peak of the show's popularity. With no cable and Internet, the TV show captured the majority of all viewers during its time slot on the ABC network. Disney's released both season 1 and season 2 (the complete series) as part of its Walt Disney Treasures Series. Each complete season set comes in a metal keepsake numbered tin case. (each with six discs). The combined 78 episodes are fully-restored and look a whole lot better now than they ever did on the 1959 TV screen. Each set also includes an authenticity certificate, exclusive lithograph and a collectible pin. One of the unique ideas associated with Zorro (he was the son of a wealthy Californian, who was summoned home from Spain after a greedy commandant took over) is that it was sort of a serial within a series. Episodes would link together to tell a complete story. Walt Disney favorite Annette Funicello, for instance, was featured as part of a five-part story in the second season collection box. The guest starring role was a birthday present to Annette from Walt himself, who was one of Disney's favorites. Another great aspect of the show was the assistance of the Disney animation team, who often supplied realistic backdrops for stories that aided in the show's special effects. There are some nice bonuses as well, featuring some seldom, if ever seen, Zorro episodes that were not part of the original series. Featured in the first season set is a two-part story originally airing in 1960 on the Disneyland television show; Featured in the second season set are two one-hour specials, also airing on the Disneyland show. oooo Also new from Disney is the Blu-ray and regular DVD release of Tinkerbell, in her own full-length animated film. Tinker Bell: and the Lost Treasure is a new adventure, featuring Tink and her fairy friends in a secret hideaway in Never Land. The new DVD shows Tinker Bell in her pre-Peter Pan days and she and her fairy friends reveal some of their most closely guarded secrets including how they got their magic light and how they make flowers grow. She also runs into a bit of trouble, of course, in this nicely made computer generated animated film. New fairies that we meet in Pixie Hollow include her friends Fawn, Iridessa, Rosetta and Silvermist. Tinker Bell is the first in a series of films featuring the Disney Fairies. In addition to the film, the DVD includes several bonus features on the making of the film; a live network connection, that allows for instant messaging, online shopping and more; With the Blu-ray version, you can win Movie Reward Points by playing the Tinker Trainer Game. Points can be redeemed for Tinker Bell wallpaper and virtual jewelry. Other bonuses include the Magical Guide to Pixie Hollow and Ever Wonder, a guide to how the fairies put the “wonder” in natural wonders. oooo I am not a Sandra Bullock fan and The Proposal (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment) is really not going to change that much. But Bullock is at her best here in this new DVD release with Ryan Reynolds in a film that has a lot of the old-fashioned charm of a Rock Hudson/Doris Day movie. Bullock plays Margaret Chase, the first-class witch and executive editor at a New York publishing firm. Reynolds is her flunky assistant, anticipating her every need. The whole office hates her and has an early warning messaging system on their computers when “the witch is on her broom.” Reynolds hates her too and is a frequent user of the message system. They would continue in these roles forever if this were not a Hollywood film where Bullock needs a proposal. Margaret is Canadian born and she is about to be deported back to Canada. To save her job and lifestyle, she blackmails her flunky into marrying her. And for show (to fool immigration authorities) she goes off with him to a family weekend to meet his relatives in Alaska. They fight, bicker and, of course, eventually fall in love, but not without the usual complications in this sort of story. It's Rock and Doris, all over again, but Rock and Doris never got a PG-13 rating. The Proposal is available in both Blu-ray and standard DVD and either version includes a digital copy for your home computer or other portable devices such as an iPhone. The Blu-ray also includes an alternative ending. Other bonuses include commentaries by cast and crew and deleted scenes. oooo It helps to be British and it also helps to be a big fan of action films such as Bad Boys, Lethal Weapon and Supercop, but Hot Fuzz, an action comedy by the same UK team responsible for Shaun of the Dead definitely delivers on its own. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost who co-starred in Shaun, and director Edgar Wright reunite and Hot Fuzz (Universal Studios Home Entertainment), available for the first time in Blu-ray, mostly works. It seems a bit long at 116 minutes, and has a slow start, but once it gets going, Hot Fuzz is big on both comedy and action. Pegg plays a bit of a super cop who lives in London and keeps solving all the big crimes with a gung ho attitude, so much so that his superiors want him to leave the city because he is showing up the rest of the force. So he gets a promotion and a transfer to a quiet village where there is no crime at all, at least so it appears. He is teamed up with seemingly one of the more hapless members of the force (Frost) and together learn that a bunch of gruesome “accidents” in town aren't accidents at all, but the work of some kind of serial killer or killers. The killings are pretty gruesome, but it is done more for comic effect to parody the buddy cop movie genre, than for shock value. If you are a fan of the genre though, you will recognize several scenes that are patterned almost exactly after films such as Tango & Cash etc. Funnier than the movie is the excellent bonus “home movie” feature that features all three men on a tour promoting the film. You can watch it as a feature or with some great commentary by Pegg, Frost and Wright. The Blu-ray quality is better than average, even though this is a film that doesn't necessarily scream “buy me on Blu-Ray.” There is also a director/co-writer/actor commentary by Pegg and Wright throughout the film as well. The colors are vibrant, and lots of fine detail throughout.
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