Al Pacino's artfully shot coffee commercials

The pride of New York, Alfredo Pacino, isn't only one of the greatest actors of his generation on film. He makes great coffee commercials.

A few years ago he acted in a series of commercials for Vittorio coffee, and each is an artfully shot (in glorious black and white!) short film in which Pacino describes his love for coffee. 

You can see them by clicking the photo above, or here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZILy1qRZTU

If, like me, you love the black-and-white montage of New York street cityscapes set to Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" that opens Woody Allen's "Manhattan." you will dig these 30-second commercials. Everything--the shot framing, the contrast, the voiceover--is created in a way that would easily get these commercials on the schedule at the Tribeca Film Festival.

BBC "The Woman in Black" now on YouTube

Forget the effects-heavy 2013 film with Daniel Radcliffe. This is the one you want to watch.

Based on the excellent novel by British author Susan Hill, (and, by the way, the second-longest running play in the West End's history)  the 1989 BBC version of "The Woman in Black" has a late-night chiller theater feel to it. A young attorney is dispatched to a remote rural village to check out an empty house so the estate settlement can take place. While there, he keeps seeing a mysterious, ghostly woman.

Watch the film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFWgz4nRe0Q

The Scarecrow Rides Again!

If you were around in 1964, you might remember this film. Shown on the Sunday night "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" as a three-part story, "The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh" starred Patrick McGoohan as an English vicar by day, Robin Hood-type character by night. As Dr. Christopher Syn (the vicar), he ministered to his church community. As the Scarecrow, he and his entourage robbed from smugglers and gave the gold to the poor. 

Here's the full story on Disney's D23 website: https://d23.com/the-scarecrow-of-romney-marsh/

Many baby boomers who watched the movie on TV as children searched everywhere for a video copy of it as adults. It took me a long time, but several years ago I found a VHS copy on eBay. It had been released, then went out of print.

A few years ago, Disney Treasures released a limited-edition DVD of the film, which, of course, sold out immediately. I bought a copy as soon as it hit the store shelves. I don't know why Disney has been keeping it scarce; the company could make lots of money just by making the DVD widely available.