Following closely on the heels of its acquisition of George C. Scott’s “Mussolini: The Untold Story” mini-series, BoPaul Media Worldwide announces purchases of two other vintage television movies from the archives of the estate of famed producer Raymond Katz.
They are: “The Miracle Worker”, starring Patty Duke Astin as Annie Sullivan and Melissa Gilbert (“Little House on the Prairie”) as her pupil Helen Keller. Telecast on NBC, it won an Emmy Award for best movie of 1979. The original theatrical film starred Duke as Helen Keller, the blind, deaf-mute child whose world was as savage as it was pitiful; she won the Academy Award for that performance. This production’s teleplay was written by William Gibson and based on his classic Broadway play “The Miracle Worker”. Both the theatrical play and the two award-winning films have been shown with critical acclaim in virtually every country of the world.
Also “Miss America: Behind the Crown,” a look behind the Miss America crown of Carolyn Sapp, playing herself in the story of her abusive relationship with a professional football player. The subject matter is very much relevant to today’s epidemic of similar treatment of women by athletes and other celebrities. The 90-minute film was telecast originally in 1992 on NBC in the U.S.
BoPaul Media is planning to convert the series to HD to meet today’s broadcast standards and requirements.
In June, BoPaul Media acquired from the Katz estate “Mussolini: The Untold Story”, starring Academy Award-winner Scott as Benito Mussolini. The 7-hour mini-series was telecast on NBC in the U.S. in November 1985 and in more than 100 countries. The balanced story spans “Il Duce’s” beginnings in 1922 when he gathered power through his Black Shirt militia in Italy and winds its way through his many military and political accomplishments and failures. Unlike other filmed accounts of the man, this version equally focuses on him as a dedicated husband, devoted father, and passionate lover. It ends with his and his mistress’ demise at the hands of an angry mob on a roadside near Milan in 1945. Also stars Robert Downey, Jr., Academy Award-winner Lee Grant, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Raul Julia, Gabriel Byrne, and Virginia Madsen as his mistress. The script was written by Stirling Silliphant (Academy Award for “In the Heat of the Night”) and directed by Billy Graham (“21 Hours Over Munich”).
