From the Archives: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)

Kirk Douglas spent a day at Disneyland in 1954 and clowned around with the pirates on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride during a publicity photo shoot for "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" which was Disney's biggest live-action production to date. 

From the Archives is our latest series of posts where we share photos from the Silverbanks Pictures collection. Some of these may have been sold in the past, and others may still be available for purchase at our eBay store: http://stores.ebay.com/Silverbanks-Pictures

The Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie Game

Here's a happy policeman...we know what he is grinning at, but do you? You really don't have to know, all you have to do is guess what film this is from - that's the name of the game, and that's why it is so impossibly difficult! 

As always, if you are not familiar with the rules to the Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie game or the prize, click here!

Midjourney at the Movies

It's been quite a while since we posted our last "Midjourney at the Movies" feature so this time we have quite a few images to share. It is fun creating pictures on Midjourney but it is equally entertaining seeing what other members decided to create with this powerful tool. If you are not familiar with Midjourney, it is one of the leading Ai art generators and v7 was recently released which has definitely made its images more detailed and much more precise to what you input. There are new features that let you upload photos and keep the likeness of what is in the photo, so replicating old Hollywood stars is even easier now (and much more scary-realistic). A few days ago, Midjourney also released video output, so now you can upload an image and get a 5-second video generated. Gadzooks! 

Anyway, here are some images that we discovered over the past few weeks. The captions are our own, so you have to click on the photo itself to be taken to the Midjourney site if you want to obtain the image "prompt" to experiment with for yourself. 

On a side note: please don't leave hateful comments about AI art and its usage. It's only a tool and if you do not like it, just skip over this post. Thank you! 

Leonard Nimoy as Spock in a scene from the TV series "Star Trek"

What is George Washington appeared as a guest on Star Trek? He may have looked like this. 

It looks like this user may have combined Anne Heywood with a scene from The Children's Hour to get a Hollywood scene like this. 

Here's a cute one of a Scarlet O'Hara-ish film still. She looks a bit like Susan Hayward, who was actually offered the part in Gone with the Wind. 

This one is amazing! This handsome heartthrob looks like a blend of Sean Connery, Richard Burton and Guy Madison. Now you have to give him a Hollywood name. 

Click here to see this image "videofied" -it's frightfully good!

Speaking of Sean Connery....what if there was a Bond film set in Greece with Mr. Connery playing 007? One member prompted this. 

If Sean doesn't look quite like himself in the above still, he sure does in this poster rendering. Although, he isn't carrying his favorite Walther PPK. 

Of course, Marilyn Monroe is a popular topic, here she is wearing a frothy low-cut jeweled dress in what looks like a 1950s publicity photo.  

Audrey Hepburn is another popular actress in Ai creations....someone cleverly thought to imagine her as a 5-year old girl. Even "Toto" took on some of Audrey's features. 

Now if Audrey appeared in a black-and-white period film, she may have looked like this. 

This looks like a 1980s TV promo photo with that lovely soft glow....note the extra finger on this woman and her upside down pen. By v8, I'm sure even these small mistakes will be ironed out of Midjourney, it is progressing so fast. 

A Superman publicity photo from 1980 - I wish this fellow had starred in a TV version!

If you prefer Batman - here's a great shot of an Adam West-like actor playing the caped crusader. 

A vintage trading card for a BBC Henry James production from 1968. 

Midjourney can do "character sheets" to give you inspiration....

... and animation "cels" to see what the final result looks like. Nifty. 

Lastly, a book illustration of a 1960s Michael Caine type character in London. 

I've been using Midjourney primarily for book character creations (like the one above) and only today did I try out their new video feature (below). It's like having a book character come to life when you see the illustration "you" created start moving. Exciting! 

Have you experimented with Midjourney? We'd love to hear what prompts you tried out and which ones you are excited to test out soon. 

Weekend with Father (1951)

Today is Father's Day and to celebrate all of the wonderful daddies of the world, we picked a rare but wonderful daddy movie to review - Weekend with Father (1951). This Universal Pictures comedy stars Van Heflin and Patricia Neal and tells the story of widower Brad Stubbs and widow Jean Bowen who meet while taking their children to a summer camp. Even though sparks of love instantly fly between the happy couple, getting their children to accept a blended family proves to be more difficult...but "Daddy Stubbs" gives it his best try to make it work. 

"Mommy, is that Schmoe gonna be our father??"

Yes, unfortunately, Bowen's two boys see their new father as a failure, especially when compared to He-Man Don Adams (Richard Denning), the camp counselor, but Mrs. Bowen knows what a gem she found. Stubbs' two daughters are disappointed with "mother" as well.... they were hoping their dad was going to marry the glamorous TV star Phyllis Reynolds (Virginia Field) whom he has been dating for over a year.

Ironing up the difficulty with their children and trying to shake off the two cardboard idols makes up with the bulk of the film and provides ample opportunity for comedic moments, many of which were provided in Joseph Hoffman's script. Incidentally, this script feels like it was tailor-made for Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert. I wonder if they weren't initially planned to be the stars of this vehicle. Colbert would have been wonderful as Mrs. Bowen, but Patricia Neal does what she can with the role and what she does is rather good. 

Universal released so many entertaining comedies in the late 1940s and early 1950s and just about every actor on their payroll ended up appearing in at least one during their tenure with the studio. Van Heflin and Patricia Neal are generally considered serious actors, but they do a good job with these light-hearted roles.... especially Heflin, who should have gone on to make more comedies. 

Weekend with Father was directed by Douglas Sirk, who was such a versatile director. He made a series of comedies before switching to adventure films and later mushy romance pictures starring Rock Hudson. This film plays out quickly and keeps the laughs going. 

You can't help but feel sorry for both parents as they put up with their children's antics but faced with the same situation, I guess most couples would bend backward trying to get their children to like their newly chosen spouse. It's worth checking out this little-known classic and, to make the film extra special, why not pair this with Walt Disney's short cartoon "Father's Weekend" featuring Goofy?

Happy Father's Day!

Fanthom's Big Screen Classics 2025

Every year, TCM had released a monthly selection of classic films back on the big screen in movie theaters across America as part of their "Big Screen Classics" series. Last year, Fanthom bought this series out and they did a great job of continuing it on. Instead of Ben Mankiewicz introducing each film, Fanthom brought in Leonald Maltin to share his thoughts and give a little behind-the-scenes commentary prior to the picture. 

This year, the Big Screen Classics continues with some interesting selections as well as some old-and-true classics: 

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - June 14, 15 and 18 (Father's Day weekend)

Clueless (30th Anniversary) - June 29, 30

This is Spinal Tap - July 5,7

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (50th Anniversary) - July 13, 16

Sunset Boulevard (75th anniversary) - Aug 3, 4

The Sound of Music (60th Anniversary) - Sept 13, 14 and 17

Rocky IV - Rocky vs Drago - Nov 5, 9

Oddly, there are no films listed for the month of October or December but sometimes they issue a film at a short notice, so check out Fanthom's website to see what the latest releases are. 

From the Archives: Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

 
David Niven and Cantiflas as Phileas Fogg and Passepartout pose for a photograph before embarking on their extraordinary adventure around the world in this scene from Around the World in 80 Days (1956). 

From the Archives is our latest series of posts where we share photos from the Silverbanks Pictures collection. Some of these may have been sold in the past, and others may still be available for purchase at our eBay store: http://stores.ebay.com/Silverbanks-Pictures

Check it Out! - Ciao Italia Archives Online

Every Saturday afternoon for the last 20 years, I've enjoyed the routine of watching cooking shows on PBS. These include Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, Lidia Bastianich, and of course Mary Ann Esposito, who hosted Ciao Italia which ranks as the longest-running cooking show on PBS. 

Ciao Italia first premiered in 1989 and ran for over 35 years...that's a lot of Italian cooking! Since Mary Ann Esposito has cooked so many authentic Italian favorites over the years she has built up quite a library of recipes and cooking footage from the series. If you head over to www.ciaoitalia.com you will find that she has shared many (if not all) of these recipes online in a wonderful database where you can click on any season and any recipe and view the recipe in full along with the film clip from the episode where it appeared. Simply click on "Seasons" and you will find them all. This is such a great site so be sure to check it out! 

Film Albums: Miyoshi Sings for Arthur Godfrey

If you grew up watching the television series The Courtship of Eddie's Father, then you probably best remember Miyoshi Umeki as Mrs. Livingston, the housekeeper to Eddie and his father, but prior to this series she made a name for herself in the films Sayonara, Flower Drum Song, and comedies such as Cry for Happy and The Horizontal Lieutenant. Miyoshi was also a regular guest star on The Arthur Godfrey Show in the 1950s and it was through this show that she was introduced to American audiences...as a singer. Ms. Umeki began her career in Japan as a nightclub singer and she had a beautiful deep sultry voice that was quite unlike the soft speaking voice she used in her films. 

For her first US album (from Mercury Records) she performed some of her personal favorites in a mixture of Japanese and English languages. Personally, I favored her Japanese renditions and was hoping to find an album of hers in Japanese but no such luck...even in the 1950s, Japanese audiences wanted to hear American songs in English!

There are some lovely orchestra arrangements with these songs but what makes them especially wonderful is Miyoshi's rendering of these classics. She puts such heart in her singing. 

Click here to listen to the full album on Youtube. 

Track Listing:

Side A

If I Give My Heart to You

China Nights

I'm in the Mood for Love

My Baby's Comin' Home

How Deep is the Ocean

Slowly Go Out of Your Mind

Side B

Teach Me Tonight

Hanna Ko San

Can't Help Lovin' That Man

S'Wonderful

Over the Rainbow

Sayonara

Top Picks: China Nights, I'm in the Mood for Love, Hanna Ko San, Can't Help Lovin' that Man, Sayonara

To Paris with Love (1955)

Alec Guinness is usually regarded as a serious actor due to his roles in The Bridge on the River Kwai, Tunes of Glory and Star Wars, but he was primarily a star of light comedies throughout the 1940s and 1950s and he made a number of entertaining films... one of which was To Paris with Love, released in 1955. 

In this film, Guinness plays Sir Edgar, a middle-aged Scotsman who is on holiday in Paris with his grown son John (Vernon Gray). He is secretly hoping that his son would find romance in Paris with a young pretty Parisian, while John is hoping his father would find romance with a rich middle-aged woman. They meet Lizette (Odile Versois), a salesgirl at a fashionable boutique, the first day they arrive and Sir Edgar thinks she is ideal for John so he arranges a meeting with her for lunch the next day. Meanwhile, John meets Sylvia (Elina Labourdette), the owner of the same boutique, and thinks that she is ideal for his father so he, too, arranges a meeting with her for lunch the next day. Before they know it, John is dating Sylvia who is twenty years his senior and Sir Edgar is dating Lizette, who is twenty years younger than he! Both found romance in Paris in an unexpected way and how the twosome work out their mixed-up affairs makes up the remainder of this short and delightful Parisian holiday. 

To Paris with Love is another one of those classic British comedies that in recent decades has somehow been overlooked stateside, yet at the time of its release it was quite popular in the U.S. The film was shot in Eastmancolor on location in Paris and the city looked lovely. The characters kept referring to "springtime in Paris" although it was clearly shot in the autumn with the color changes of the trees evident. 

Alec Guinness didn't show much display of emotion in this film yet his feelings for young Lizette seemed genuine and one can easily see how she can find him attractive. He was especially good in his little bits of humor, such as when he got his badminton birdie up in a tree and thought he was agile enough to climb up and get it. That he did...but getting down was a different story! Vernon Gray was the likeable young chap in Now and Forever and he played a similar character here, although this time he found an older woman more attractive than Janette Scott. 

Odile Versois made several good comedies in the early 1950s and this wasn't her first British production. The following year she starred in the entertaining crime drama Checkpoint (1956) with Stanley Baker. In To Paris with Love there is a secondary romance between her and a young postman who is enamored with her and a nice side comedy about her father being a taxi-driver. Also in the cast is Austin Trevor, Jacques Francois, and Claude Romain. 

To Paris with Love is currently available on DVD and it is worth checking out. It is one of those amusing light-hearted comedies that has such a relaxing pace and beautiful Paris setting that you'll end up rewatching it every few years. 

The Student Prince (1954)

In 1954, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer brought the delightful old play "The Student Prince" to the big screen. This lavish production was initially planned as a vehicle for their Italian singing sensation Mario Lanza, but this fun-loving tenor had put on a bit too much weight over the summer and ended up being axed as its star. Instead, the handsome English-import Edmund Purdum took on the lead role and lip-sung the songs that were pre-recorded by Mario Lanza. And it turned out quite well!

Sigmund Romberg musicalized the 1902 Wilhelm Meyer-Förster play "Old Heidelberg" in 1924 and turned it into one of the most popular operettas of the 20th century. The story centers around the young Prince Karl Franz of Karlsberg (Edmund Purdum), who is encouraged by his tutor, the kindly Doctor Engel (Edmund Gwenn), to attend the University of Heidelberg prior to capping the crown on his head. In this charming old German town, Prince Karl falls in love with Kathie (Ann Blyth), the barmaid at the local beerhall where all the students congregate after school. He wishes to marry Kathie but he is pledged to betroth Princess Johanna (Betta St. John), and so his heart is divided between his personal desire and duty for his country.

This simple but engaging plot was interwoven with over 15 glorious Romberg songs, including "Drink, Drink, Drink!", "Golden Days", the beautiful "Serenade", and "Deep in My Heart". Purdum did an excellent job of mimicking a tenor and Ann Blyth, of course, carried her own set of powerful lungs and sang better than she ever did on film. In between their romantic moments, Prinz Franz encountered some drama caused by a rival student (John Ericson), a little humor from the inn-keeper (S.Z. Sakall), and a good dose of paternal advice from his father King Ferdinand (Louis Calhern). Also in the cast was John Williams as the stiff valet Lutz, John Hoyt as the Prime Minister, and Richard Anderson as Franz's newfound friend at the university. 

The film looked beautiful in Cinemascope and the lovely Cedric Gibbons sets transported the audiences to old Germany and the grandeur of the German Empire before World War I began. 

"The Student Prince" was an immediate success upon its Broadway debut in 1924. It became the most popular musical of the 1920s, running even longer than "Show Boat". Hollywood brought it to the screen in 1927 as a silent film (!) starring Ramon Navarro and Norma Shearer and then it was shelved until this production in 1954. I always thought that it would have made an excellent Nelson Eddy-Jeannette MacDonald musical in the late 1930s but that never happened. 

This adaptation proved that a good story lasts for generations. MGM reaped more than double its return at the box-office and it launched Edmund Purdum's career in Hollywood. Shortly after The Student Prince was completed, Purdum went on to star in the epic The Egyptian over at 20th Century Fox. 

From the Archives: Bob Barker and June Lockhart

Bob Barker and June Lockhart pose for this lovely publicity photo to promote the Miss Universe and Miss America pageants of 1967, both of which they were hosting on NBC. 

From the Archives is our latest series of posts where we share photos from the Silverbanks Pictures collection. Some of these may have been sold in the past, and others may still be available for purchase at our eBay store: http://stores.ebay.com/Silverbanks-Pictures

The Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie Game

He may look like your typical antique dealer but look again... he deals in more than antiques! Don't let the obvious fool you, this scene may be trickier than you think. 

As always, if you are not familiar with the rules to the Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie game or the prize, click here!

GAME OVER. 

Congratulations to The Tactful Typist for identifying this screenshot from the MGM spy-comedy "Cairo" (1942) starring Robert Young and Jeanette MacDonald. In this scene, Eduardo Ciannelli is preparing his radio-control equipment when Robert Young suddenly enters his shop in Egypt. 

Magic Shadows with Elwy Yost

Whilst browsing the ever-expanding library of classic films and television shows on Youtube, I came across a wonderful channel called Retrontario that focuses on forgotten programs that once aired on television networks throughout the Ontario area. One of the programs that Retrontario had clips from was Magic Shadows featuring the marvelous Elwy Yost. 

Yost was the Canadian edition of Roger Ebert or Robert Osbourne. He was a very personable man with a kindly face, a warm chuckle, and a wealth of knowledge on films and stars of the golden era of Hollywood. Between 1974 and 1987 he was the host of Magic Shadows, a half-hour program that ran weekday evenings at 7:30pm right after Doctor Who. Each Monday, Elwy would introduce a classic film that was serialized in 15-20 minute segments for the rest of the week. Between the commercial breaks and openings and closings, he would share information about the stars, director or making of the film... sometimes he brought in people to interview as well. It was a great idea for an evening series and - if you liked the film - it kept you coming back night after night. 

Since many films would not run an entire week's length, Thursday or Friday evenings would often feature segments from a classic serial such as The Adventures of Captain Marvel, Zorro Rides Again or Buck Rogers to fill in the gap. 

As wonderful as it was tuning into an engrossing film night after night, it was Elwy's down-home personality that made the show so relaxing and appealing to watch. The set of Magic Shadows was a comfy living room/study of a colonial-style house where Elwy could be found sitting in his favorite recliner smoking his pipe and waiting for you, his friend, to come and enjoy a movie with him. Next to him would be an old projector which he always turned on to run the current film. While the screen faded into darkness, "like magic" we would be transported to the land of Hollywood. 

"Ride upon a silver screen where pictures seem to flow....like Magic, Magic Shadows"

The opening theme by Harry Forbes and the psychedelic cartoons illustrating it were as memorable as Mr. Yost with squiggly drawings of the Marx Brothers and King Kong playing out slide by slide with strange octopus-headed men and a tiger in a striped suit. 

Yost's infectious enthusiasm for old movies made you wish you were a cinephile even if you never saw a movie in your life and his show fostered film appreciation to many a child who watched it with their parents. After the series ended, Yost continued hosting Saturday Night at the Movies on OntarioTV up until 1999. 

Film Albums: Theme from King of Kings and Other Film Spectaculars

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and what better way to get into the Easter spirit then to listen to some soul-stirring religious music. This album - Theme from King of Kings and Other Film Spectaculars - could not be classified as religious music strictly speaking, but it features lovely songs from some of the best religious films ever made...including Ben-Hur and The Robe. 

My sister and I picked up this album at a second-hand store when we were teenagers and loved it instantly. It's been played countless times in our house and it was this album that introduced us to films such as The High and the Mighty, The Sundowners and Francis of Assisi. 

The music is arranged and performed by Frank Chacksfield and his Orchestra and he does a "spectacular" job as usual. Chacksfield was the Mantovani of Great Britain and released a large number of albums throughout the 1950s-1970s. His film theme albums are the best and the sound on these London Records LPs are marvelous. This one is "LL3275" and it was issued in several variations in 1962 and 1963. 

Chacksfield and his orchestra implemented instruments that brought the ancient eras alive in this album, such as timpanis, tambourines, piccolos, and French horns. Not to miss themes include the scrumptious Song of Delilah from Cecil B. DeMille's epic "Samson and Delilah" (1949), the melancholy love song to "The Robe", the lovely "Francis of Assisi" theme played with piano and strings, and of course, the love theme to "Ben-Hur". 

Click here to listen to the full album on Youtube. 

Track Listing:

Side One

Theme from "King of Kings"

The Song of Delilah from "Samson and Delilah"

Love Theme from "The Robe"

Love Theme from "Quo Vadis"

The Green Leaves of Summer ("The Alamo")

Theme from "Exodus"

Side Two

Parade of the Charioteers ("Ben-Hur")

Theme from "Francis of Assisi"

Love Theme from "Ben-Hur"

The High and the Mighty

Love Theme from "The Prodigal"

Theme from "The Sundowners"

Top Picks: King of Kings, The Song of Delilah, Love Theme from The Robe, Theme from Francis of Assisi, Love Theme from Ben-Hur

From the Archives: The Happy Road (1957)

 

These two wide-eyed youngsters are runaways from a Swiss boarding school, both of whom are trying to get to Paris to reunite with their father and mother in the delightful comedy "The Happy Road". Bobby Clark, the little brown-haired boy, plays the son of Gene Kelly while Brigitte Fossey plays the daughter of Barbara Laage. 

From the Archives is our latest series of posts where we share photos from the Silverbanks Pictures collection. Some of these may have been sold in the past, and others may still be available for purchase at our eBay store: http://stores.ebay.com/Silverbanks-Pictures

Mardi Gras (1958)

Mardi Gras occurred a few weeks ago and if you are like most people, you probably didn't realize that there were a handful of classic films set during the Mardi Gras in New Orleans (as well as a bucketload of television episodes). 

Mardi Gras, released in 1958, is a Cinderella story aimed at a teenage audience. It is a little-seen color romance-musical starring Pat Boone and, honestly, it is not half-bad. It doesn't quite rank up there with April Love, but it has its moments. Pat stars as a Virginia Military Institute cadet who gets roped into participating in a raffle to win a date with a movie star - Michelle Marton (played by French import Christine Carere). Being the clean-cut country boy that he is, he never even heard of her before the raffle but ends up winning. After a few failed attempts to see her at her hotel, he gives up and instead asks a pretty young woman in the lobby for a date. Surprise! This happens to be Michelle herself.... she decided to don a Mardi Gras mask and enjoy a few hours vacation from the press. Naturally, they fall in love but then her publicity agent (Fred Clark) gets in the way and sees their romance as "great publicity" which causes a number of complications for both of them. 

Mardi Gras was a surprising hit upon its release and stayed at the top of the box-office charts for a number of weeks where it easily recouped its initial investment. Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter and Tony Randall were initially set to star as the three cadets from VMI with Mitzi Gaynor playing the Hollywood actress. Later, Boone was cast with Shirley Jones as his co-star but then Shirley had to drop out due to being pregnant with her first son, Shaun Cassidy. Christine Carere had recently made a splash with her first American picture - A Certain Smile - so she was then cast and did a good job. She is like a French edition of Sonja Henie and is quite charming. 

Jerry Wald produced the film, which was directed by Edmund Goulding (Dark Victory, The Razor's Edge). The bare stone walls of the Virginia Military Institute didn't make the most colorful setting so the New Orleans shots had to make up for it...and those didn't seem all too good either. Nevertheless, Pat Boone's handsome looks and charisma and Carere's cuteness made up for the lack of scenery. The musical numbers throughout the film are quite good but, unfortunately, there were one or two too many and they stretch the picture to nearly two hours. The best of the songs was "I'll Remember Tonight" which became a hit for Pat Boone in 1958. 

Costarring with Boone as the cadets are Tommy Sands, Dick Sargeant, and Gary Crosby who was the spitting image of his papa, Der Bingel. Also in the cast is the beautiful Sheree North (sporting brunette hair) in a secondary role that wastes her talent and the dancer Barrie Chase. 

Mardi Gras is currently available on DVD as well as through Youtube. 

The Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie Game

"Get your tickets! Get your tickets!"....Tickets for what? That's what you have to try to remember before you have an inkling of what film this screenshot is from. ;-)

As always, if you are not familiar with the rules to the Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie game or the prize, click here!

Rob Roy: The Highland Rogue (1953)

The setting is Scotland in the 18th century. A German has inherited the throne of England and Scotland and will rule as king. The appointment of King George I upsets many of the Scottish people and the highlanders especially who gather their clans together and rise up against the English troops occupying Scotland. The Duke of Argyll has quenched most of these rebel uprisings, except for a small but stubborn band of highlanders of the McGregor clan led by Rob Roy "the Highland rogue".His fight for Scottish independence leads him on a road to the gallows in London... and eventually, face to face with King George I himself. 

Walt Disney made a number of excellent adventure films in the 1950s and Rob Roy ranks as one of the best. It has all of the sweet ingredients for a rousing good adventure: highland rebels, romance, swordplay, beautiful locations, stirring music, and a grrraaand story. Technicolor filming and a cast of seasoned actors bake the cake. 

Richard Todd, who starred as the heroic Rob Roy, had just completed two period costume adventure films for Walt Disney Studios - The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men and The Sword and the Rose - both of which were popular with UK audiences and Rob Roy proved to be a box-office hit as well. Unfortunately, these films did not do as well stateside and Disney decided not to pursue more costume films. This was also the last picture Disney released through RKO for shortly afterwards all of his productions were released through his own distribution company, Buena Vista.  

Rob Roy gathered together some excellent actors from throughout the United Kingdom including Irish-born (!) Richard Todd, Welsh actress Glynis Johns, James Robertson Justice of Scottish ancestry (who looked especially handsome donning long blonde hair), English character actors Michael Gough and Geoffrey Keen, and one of the most famous Scottish film actors to have ever lived: Finlay Currie. 

Rob Roy is a simple story of a rebel but he is one like Zorro or Robin Hood, where the audience takes sides with him and is pleased to see justice done in the end.The story was, in Disney's words, "based on history and legend" and written by one of his most dependable scriptwriters Lawrence Edward Watkin, who specialized in adapting adventure stories such as Treasure Island and The Story of Robin Hood.  

Location filming took place in Scotland around Corriegrennan and Aberfoyle and this Highland scenery was beautifully shot by legendary cinematographer Guy Green. What scenes they could not film were painted in by matte artist Peter Ellenshaw. Today, one can view Rob Roy and its colorful filming through Disney's subscription streaming service Disney + or by purchasing it on DVD. 

Streaming Picks for the Month of April

This spring there is a slew of wonderful films available through Tubi, the Roku Channel, and Pluto. We've sifted through them and are sharing with you the best of the bunch. Like usual, these films are only available for a few months at a time so watch them while you can because you never know which day they will disappear! 

Tubi

The Mark of Zorro (1925)

Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928)

The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) 

The 39 Steps (1935)

The Mark of Zorro (1940)

Dressed to Kill (1946)

A Night in Casablanca (1946)

The Glass Mountain (1949)

The Passionate Friends (1949)

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)

Bell, Book and Candle (1956)

The Vikings (1958)

Roku

A Canterbury Tale (1943)

Brief Encounter (1945)

The Red Shoes (1947)

Abandon Ship! (1957)

The Key (1959)

Sissi - Forever My Love (1959)

The Onedin Line (1970s TV Series)

The Belstone Fox (1973)

Matilda (1978)

Old Enough (1984)

LadyHawke (1985)

Pluto

Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933) 

I Know Where I'm Going (1945)

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Black Narcissus (1947)

The Quiet Man (1951)

Scared Stiff (1953)

The Kentuckian (1955)

The Vikings (1955)

The Rainmaker (1956)

Another Time, Another Place (1958)

The Buccaneer (1958)

Fear Strikes Out (1959)

Houseboat (1958)

Boeing Boeing (1965)

The Miracle Worker (1965)