Widescreen Epics and Small Screen Favorites

February roars in like a lion as we discuss a scintillating septet of titles from the worlds of cinema and TV. We start off in high literary, high definition style as we artfully examine John Schlesinger's adaptation of Thomas Hardy's epic of romance in the rural districts, FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD (1967) starring Julie Christie with cinematography by Nicholas Roeg. Then we move close to the MGM crowd for a trio of pictures featuring two of Tinseltown's most legendary stars, Spencer Tracy and James Stewart. First up, Tracy stars alongside Franchot Tone in the riveting tale of wartime courage and peacetime crime in THEY GAVE HIM A GUN (1937). Then a young James Stewart shares the screen (briefly!) with Tracy in the HOW/WHO/WHYdunnit THE MURDER MAN (19excitement of 201435) and then Stewart begins his rapid rise to stardom with his first headlining role in the racecar drama SPEED (1936). The we fire up boob tube for a look at a pair of TV faves, BRONCO: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON (1960-61) and ROAD ROVERS: THE COMPLETE SERIES (1996), the its time for an Adult Swim sidebar as we take a sneak peek at a pair of upcoming releases, SQUIDBILLES VOLUME 6 (2011) and Paul Scheer's NTSF:SD:SUV: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON (2011).