Obviously, I Watch Too Many Dvd's... Or Not Enough! Also, We Mourn The Passing Of A Seventies Game Show Legend...

I had the original Criterion dvd of this classic post-WW II film noir and it was pretty great... so why the upgrade?

Well, just look at this description of the Special Features, with additions emboldenedtm-

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES
-All-new, restored high-definition digital transfer
-Video introduction by writer-director Peter Bogdanovich
-Two audio commentaries: one by filmmaker Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Tony Gilroy, and one by film scholar Dana Polan
-Shadowing "The Third Man" (2005), a ninety-minute feature documentary on the making of the film
-Abridged recording of Graham Greene’s treatment, read by actor Richard Clarke
-"Graham Greene: The Hunted Man," an hour-long, 1968 episode of the BBC's Omnibus series, featuring a rare interview with the novelist
-Who Was the Third Man? (2000), a thirty-minute Austrian documentary featuring interviews with cast and crew
-The Third Man on the radio: the 1951 “A Ticket to Tangiers” episode of The Lives of Harry Lime series, written and performed by Orson Welles; and the 1951 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of The Third Man
- Illustrated production history with rare behind-the-scenes photos, original UK press book, and U.S. trailer
- Actor Joseph Cotten’s alternate opening voice-over narration for the U.S. version
- Archival footage of postwar Vienna
- A look at the untranslated foreign dialogue in the film
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by Luc Sante, Charles Drazin, and Philip Kerr
Also: a web-exclusive essay on Anton Karas by musician John Doe

Ever with the pop culture OCD, I press on with the dvd upgrades. Also, I love that with this commentary, the commentary on "Point Blank", and "Catch 22", Steven Soderbergh is in danger of becoming this generation's Peter ("Will Do Commentary For Food") Bogdanovich. Hopefully, "Ocean's Thirteen" will buy him some more "do little artistic things that no one sees" time.

REMEMBERING ONE OF THE GREATS....

Charles Nelson Reilly passed away, depending on which news service you listen to, on 5/25 or 5/27. He (like Mike Douglas) was a big inspiration for me, show biz-wise and I wanted to remember him today. When I moved to LA in 1996, one of the things I wanted to try to do was take on his acting classes. I think I would try to play this off as a kitch-thing to friends, but really, the guy had chops and experience, and it would have been great to learn from him. As it would happen, I could only afford to take Groundlings classes or acting classes with him and I chose The Groundlings.

I'm still not sure it was the right choice.

From the CNN article from The AP, in italics...

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Charles Nelson Reilly, the Tony Award winner who later became known for his ribald appearances on the "Tonight Show" and various game shows, has died. He was 76.

Reilly died Sunday in Los Angeles of complications from pneumonia, his partner, Patrick Hughes, told the New York Times.

Reilly began his career in New York City, taking acting classes at a studio with Steve McQueen, Geraldine Page and Hal Holbrook. In 1962, he appeared on Broadway as Bud Frump in the original Broadway production of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." The role won Reilly a Tony Award.

He was nominated for a Tony again for playing Cornelius in "Hello, Dolly!" In 1997 he received another nomination for directing Julie Harris and Charles Durning in a revival of "The Gin Game."

After moving to Hollywood in 1960s he appeared as the nervous Claymore Gregg on TV's "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" and as a featured guest on "The Dean Martin Show."

He gained fame by becoming what he described as a "game-show fixture" in the 1970s and '80s. He was a regular on programs like "Match Game" and "Hollywood Squares," often wearing giant glasses and colorful suits with ascots.

His larger-than-life persona and affinity for double-entendres also landed him on the "Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson more than 95 times.

Reilly ruefully admitted his wild game-show appearances adversely affected his acting career. "You can't do anything else once you do game shows," he told The Advocate, the national gay magazine, in 2001. "You have no career."

His final work was an autobiographical one-man show, "Save It for the Stage: The Life of Reilly," about his family life growing up in the Bronx. The title grew out of the fact that when he would act out as a child, his mother would often admonish him to "save it for the stage."

The stage show was made into the 2006 feature film called "The Life of Reilly."

Reilly's openly gay television persona was ahead of its time, and sometimes stood in his way. He recalled a network executive telling him, "They don't let queers on television."

Hughes, his only immediate survivor, said Reilly had been ill for more than a year.

No memorial plans had been announced.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Oops. Well, hopefully, this won't be the big lawsuit that takes food out of Future's mouth.