blog.humaneguitarist.org
HammerFlix
[Sun, 27 Feb 2011 16:09:42 +0000]
Update, November 27, 2011: If you're looking for a live list of Hammer Films [http://www.hammerfilms.com/] streaming on Netflix you can see it here [http://blog.humaneguitarist.org/uploads/HammerFlicks/currentVersion/HammerFlicks.php].
To read more about the HammerFlicks project, click here [http://blog.humaneguitarist.org/projects/hammerflicks/].
...
It's been a while since I've posted ... I'm prepping to leave Tuscaloosa, AL for a new job (more on that later), but I thought I should get myself, as this blog is primarily a reference point for me, up-to-date.
So let me get right to it.
I have Netflix [http://netflix.com].
I use their Watch Instantly feature often.
I use this feature to watch films made by the Hammer Film Productions [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammer_Films] company, often.
Hammer made a lot of great off-beat horror films and they just have a certain style that I love. The films I've seen of theirs feature, more-often-than-not , well-crafted and well-acted tales of strangeness with sympathetic characters and beautiful women - where story, and not spectacle, rules the day.
In fact, my first Hammer Film was Dr. Jeckyll and Sister Hyde [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068502/]. I won't give it away, but I highly recommend it. It has all the traits mentioned above that I associate with Hammer Films.
IMAGE: "source: imdb.com"[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_W3bLkLDR-6o/TNBK1uBeJSI/AAAAAAAAJGM/m6TFBSbeySU/s400/DrJekyllSisterHydeBox.jpg]
Anyway, Netflix, to my knowledge, doesn't allow me to search by production companies. But I want to know which Hammer Films are available on Netflix and if I can stream them. Unless and until Netflix ever allows this search, it seems I'll have to roll my own solution.
The idea is to use the IMDB data files [http://www.imdb.com/interfaces#plain] to get a list of the film titles where Hammer was the production company. Then, using the Netflix API [http://developer.netflix.com/page/resources/sample_php], I can get a report on those titles in the Netflix catalog.
This is a pretty simple idea, but one that I'd personally find very useful.
I've just started working on it and I'll share my work as soon as it's done. I'm not sure if I can offer this sort of searching as a service - there might be some legal issues - but I can at least share the methodology.
Now, if anyone out there knows of a way to already do this, please let me know.