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What's new is old in San Bruno
Oakland Tribune, Apr 19, 2004
PEOPLE keep asking me where to find copies of old movies and I keep telling them to try the Web -- at ebay.com, amazon.com, facets.com or reel.com -- or call Nothing's New in San Bruno.
I tell them to call Nothing's New -- An Emporium of Vintage Entertainment because the store contains more than 9,000 titles, mostly from the 1890s to the 1970s, on VHS. (It doesn't carry DVDs.)
After Marilyn W. of Fremont ran into brick walls everywhere she looked for 1948's "Tap Roots" and 1938's "I Met My Love Again," I sent her to Nothing's New. To her delight, owner Roger Hill found a copy of "Tap Roots."
And when it comes to finding old titles, one out of two is smokin'.
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Nothing's New, which rents and sells tapes, "should not be considered a retail store, it should be considered a museum, because it has such a vast array of material," says Ed Malloy, the San Carlos reader who first turned me on to the place.
"I'm there almost every week. It's a great trip down memory lane to find these movies I never expected to find anywhere -- Bing Crosby, James Cagney, Charlie Chan, Dick Tracy, Dr. Kildare, Ma and Pa Kettle, Michael Shane, Nancy Drew, Nick Carter, The Saint. That's barely the tip of the iceberg."
Beside movies, serials and animated films, the store offers videotapes of more than 2,000 TV shows, mostly from the 1940s to the 1970s, and audiotapes of approximately 22,000 radio shows.
But old movies are Hill's staple and have been for the nine years he's been in the business.
"I've always enjoyed old films," says Hill, who also teaches human biology at City College of San Francisco. "I liked the acting, the dialogue, the fact that they were clean. It bothers me to go to a movie and hear 'damn,' (expletive) and (different expletive). That doesn't add anything for me.
"I don't think the acting's that great in these movies that rely on computer effects, car chases ... and all of that violence. How many times do you have to see slow motion at every angle? It's just boring. It doesn't carry a story line."
Hill, 65, says he likes the
morality of older movies where people got "what they deserved." For instance, films "like 'Casablanca' and 'It's a Wonderful Life' have timeless values," he says. "Good is rewarded, bad is punished." Then there's the matter of sex. "To me, sex is not a spectator sport, it's something between two people," Hill says. "It should be left to the imagination. (In older films) writers had to be more creative, more inventive when they had to get something past the censors."
The store's most popular title lately has been the 1955 version of "The Ladykillers," no doubt because of the recent Tom Hanks update.
Rentals are $2 per film. A $20 store membership includes newsletters and stock updates. If Hill can find a movie you want to buy, he generally charges $10 for members, $13.95 for non-members.
His store is at 711 San Mateo Ave. Call (650) 871-6063, or e-mail Hill at nothingsnewvid@aol.com . His Web site, which has not been updated in a while, is members.aol.com/henning7/nothingsnew.html
Frat-life film found ... Several of you identified 1951's "Take Care of My Little Girl" as the 1950s film about culture clash, social class, frat life and "the hardest Hollywood punch I ever saw" that Gerald S. was searching for.
"It ... starred Jeanne Crain as a small-town girl going to college and trying to fit into sorority life," Ben F. of Pleasanton writes. "The arch-bitch of the sorority was played by Jean Peters, who later married Howard Hughes, and the 'best friend' was played by Mitzi Gaynor. The punch was thrown by Dale Robertson, who was playing a G.I. Bill student disgusted by fraternity/sorority life, and the punchee was Jeffrey Hunter."
Mitzi Phillips of Portola Valley writes, "After a sweet but shy girl is blackballed, she continues her hazing in hopes the sorority members will change their minds ... After counting all the bricks in a campus building during a rainstorm she comes down with pneumonia. Disheartened by the snobbishness and cruelty, Crain depledges and moves into the freshman dorm with other 'rejects.'"
Tom T., Gloria E., Don A., Jim K. of San Mateo and Barbara D. of Redwood City also named that film. Quoting the Internet Movie Datebase, Barbara D. writes, "It's a film that Martin Scorsese appreciated before making his own. ..."
Jean Negulesco directed. Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein wrote the screenplay.
Out Tuesday on DVD ... "As Young as You Feel," "Call Me Madam," "Casa de los Babys," "Clifford's Puppy Days: New Friends & Little Puppy, Big Adventures," "Detonator," "Fool for Love," "For the Moment" (with Russell Crowe), "The Haunted Mansion," "A High Wind in Jamaica" and "The Ingmar Bergman Collection. " Also: "Killer Buzz," "King of New York," "Let's Make It Legal," "Love Nest," "Man of La Mancha," "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," "Phase IV," "Pirates of Tortuga," "The Playboys," "Reefer Madness" (colorized and restored), "Recipe for Disaster," "Roxie Hart," "Star!", "Step Into Liquid," "Stranded," "Wasted," "We're Not Married" and "Win a Date With Tad Hamilton!"
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