Note: I have read the 1947 revision, not the original novel, so this is not a review of the original and I cannot comment on the changes between the original and this version.
Category: 1947
Brute Force (1947, Jules Dassin)
This prison escape film has dated rather horribly in the ensuing years and so I can’t really recommend it, though there is nothing particularly bad about it (for the most part).
Symphony No. 3 “Simfoniya-poema”; Triumphal Poem / Caucasian Sketches (1994) by BBC Philharmonic conducted by Fedor Glushchenko
This is a bizarre pairing of a Khachaturian symphony, one of his symphonic poems and an orchestral suite from another Russian composer from the 1890s. The fact that they don’t sound so out of place together suggests how conservative Khachaturian was as a 20th century composer.
The Portable Chekhov (1947), edited and translated by Avrahm Yarmolinksy
This is a pretty great collection of selected short stories from Chekhov, plus two plays (one major, one minor) and a few letters. I am not a man who cares about an author’s letters, so I won’t be discussing those.
The Definitive Collection (2008) by Billie Holiday
Full disclosure: I do not like vocal jazz (as you know). This is a compilation of 22 tracks over the course of Holiday’s career. I have no idea how definitive it actually is, as I do not know her at all, beyond her reputation as one of the great singers of the century, and “Strange …
Fahrenheit 451 [et al.] (1995) by Bernard Hermann, performed by Seattle Symphony Orchestra conducted by Joel McNeely
This is another Bernard Hermann compilation, a kind of scattershot one.
The Complete New York Town Hall and Boston Symphony Hall Concerts (1947, 2006) by Louis Armstrong and his All Stars
So this box includes both the complete concerts of the title and some additional performances from around the same time, including a performance held before a movie premier for a movie Armstrong was starring in, and some other miscellaneous recordings Armstrong features on that don’t really feel apiece.