download Audrey Hepburn films cheaply and legally

Recently Amazon launched a new program called Unbox. I blew it off at first because I was sure they would only have newer films for download, but as it turns out, they already have about 10 Audrey films up for grabs! What's even better is that they have some rarities that new fans don't usually get to see. There's the old standards: Breakfast at Tiffany's, Sabrina, Roman Holiday, but there's also some more dramatic, lesser known films everyone should know, such as The Nun's Story and The Children's Hour. There is even an episode of Great Romances of the Twentieth Century all about her relationship with first husband Mel Ferrer, which I haven't even seen and have been trying to get a hold of for ages!

This program is great because you can either download and rent a film for 24 hours for about $1.99, or you can buy the downloaded film for about $9.99, keep the film forever, and even legally download it to another computer or program it in to your TiVo. Pretty cool, huh? You can see the complete list of Audrey Hepburn items currently available through Unbox here, and I will definitely keep an eye on these and share any new goodies that may come up!

Note: this appears to only be available to residents of the US for the time being.

an interview with the author of Audrey Hepburn: The Paramount Years

Tony Nourmand is not just an author; he's also an avid cinephile and co-owns The Reel Poster Gallery, which has a fantastic collection of vintage Audrey Hepburn cinema posters. There's an interview with him today at Payvand.com in which he talks about his previous books and how Audrey is very different from other cinema stars and his previous book subjects. You can read the whole interview here, and look through Audrey Hepburn: The Paramount Years here.

Audrey Hepburn cancer awareness

A couple of days ago, I received a letter from a doctor in India about Audrey. An introduction isn't really necessary, so here is the letter in full:

Hello,

There is something common in our interest..like Audrey Hepburn. I am always the Fan of Lady Audrey Hepburn. Great charity is done by Hepburn team.

I stumbled on your site while I was surfing the net. .

It is a meticulously prepared site.Congratulations.

Audrey died of advanced colon cancer. It made me think a lot. Colon cancer is one of the cancers which has best prognosis if treated early. Still many patients reach the expert medical aid at little later stage. I felt this is happening because of less awareness.

It is always admirable if intelligent proactive persons from community get organised for noble cause. Nothing is more precious than life. Every saved life is an achievement. We can educate masses regarding early diagnosis of cancer. Info should make people aware of the apparent low profile presentation of the disease. If the rational decisions are taken quickly, the results are quite good.
Knowledge Helps. .
Let us join hands to fight cancer.

We must thank film industry and Audrey Hepburn for providing us beautiful moments with so many films like Roman Holiday, Sabrina and many others.

Regards

Dr. Shriniwas Deshpande

Surgeon, Samarth Gastroenterology

Pune

India

The letter is deeply touching and, I feel, very important. Most types of cancer can be easily treated and possibly cured completely if caught early enough, and all it takes is a little extra awareness. We lost a beautiful person to this affliction, but maybe with a little effort we can keep others from succumbing to this disease.

Interestingly enough, another Audrey Hepburn tie-in with cancer awareness came to me today. The Smoking Gun has recently added a film clip archive section to their site and there are a couple of Audrey clips worth noting. The first is a public service announcement she and Mel Ferrer did backstage during the run of Ondine, and is for cancer research. You can view the whole film here. I'm not sure if the full announcement has ever been widely available before -- I've only ever seen the first 30 seconds or so myself.

The other clip worth mentioning is a film reel about the 1965 Oscar ceremonies, when Audrey presented My Fair Lady co-star Rex Harrison with the Best Actor statue, which you can see here.


Last for today, there's a new shoe shop in Ireland that is very Audrey inspired. Called The Shoe Gallery, its walls are covered in pictures of Audrey Hepburn and even the merchandise itself is inspired by her taste in clothing, according to The Athlone Advertiser. It sounds like it would be great fun to shop there!

My Mother Thought She Was Audrey Hepburn

Always looking for something new and amusing for your reading pleasure, today I've stumbled across two videos that sound interesting. The first is actually a short, 17-minute film seemingly made just for Asian-American studies, and it's called My Mother Thought She Was Audrey Hepburn. It's about a Chinese family living in San Francisco, and the mother of the family tries to make herself look all-American by emulating Jackie Kennedy and Audrey Hepburn. I really wish there was more information on this featurette, or that it was more widely available (unless someone out there really wants to buy a copy for $225, or rent it for $50). You can find a little more information on the film here, if you'd like.

The second rarity for today is called Audrey Hepburn: A Waif in Hollywood, and I really can't find one thing on this video, besides the fact that it's apparently a 50 minute biography that was possibly made for educational purposes. It doesn't seem to be available for sale anywhere, either. Has any one ever heard of or seen this film, or know if it's any good? I'm rather curious.