At the end of 2015, my husband alerted me, via Facebook, to the Paramount Vault YouTube channel:
The official description states that the project “showcases a collection of Paramount full-length films and clips including selections that range from black-and-white to color, comedy to horror, and everything in between. Viewers are invited to explore the vast landscape of cinema’s history, share their favorite films, and discover new ones through this official channel created by Paramount Pictures.”
That’s right, Paramount is uploading select full-length films and short clips to “The Paramount Vault” YouTube channel. At the start of 2016, there were 175 films available for viewing. (One caveat: it appears you can only watch them in the United States.)
So OF COURSE I set about browsing through the list for any reel librarian titles, and I have discovered at least two titles that I can now watch online, including:
A Girl Named Tamiko (1962):
I am VERY excited about finally being able to see this film. I had written about A Girl Named Tamiko back in Sept. 2012, in my “Have you seen this movie?” post, highlighting films I hadn’t yet been able to track down copies of.
The title character of Tamiko (played by France Nuyen), who is from a wealthy Japanese family, works as a librarian for the Foreign Press Club in Tokyo. Apparently, her occupation is not that important to the film, but there are a couple of scenes set in the Foreign Press Club library.
It’s based on a book of the same name by Ronald Kirkbride. A used copy of the book is available from Amazon.com, but the DVD was out-of-print.
Ironweed (1987):
In 1938, a homeless drifter (Jack Nicholson) returns to his home town and meets a ex-radio singer (Meryl Streep) who is sick and homeless. Both Nicholson and Streep were nominated, for Best Actor and Best Actress respectively, for Ironweed. It is based on a novel by William Kennedy, who also wrote the screenplay.
In one scene, Streep tries to sleep in the library and then gets into an argument with a woman who recognizes her. The librarian, played by Bethel Leslie, shushes her and then ejects her from the library.
I saw this film years ago, and I did take notes about the short library scene at the time. However, I haven’t revisited the film yet for this blog — but that will be forthcoming! 😀
There are many more feature-length films available on The Paramount Vault YouTube channel besides reel librarian films, and I hope Paramount keeps adding new films to the channel. Is The Paramount Vault on your list to check out? Please leave a comment and let me know!
Sources used:
- A Girl Named Tamiko. Dir.John Sturges. Perf. Laurence Harvey, France Nuyen, Martha Hyer. Wallis-Hazen, 1962.
- Ironweed. Dir. Hector Bobenco. Perf. Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Carroll Baker, Fred Gwynne, Tom Waits. TriStar, 1987.
REEL LIBRARIANS 