Hello and a big BOO! from Hollywood! Except for the party scene, I'd say Halloween is all but dead in America. Halloween only worked back when everyday life was so secure, dull even, that raising a little noise and fake scares was a worthwhile change of pace. Now I give out candy to the few neighborhood tots the parents carefully escort to a few doors, and that's about it. The cute children are fun to see, though.

First Run Features have outdone themselves with a superlative docu rather inadequately called Fighter. It's sort of a Holocaust story, but not exactly, as it deals with two Czech men who had contrasting destinies through WW2 and the Communist era beyond. Verite Docus always hope to strike gold by finding lucid subjects who open themselves to the camera; Amir Bar-Lev has found two articulate old gentlemen who find the perfect chinks in each other's armor, and provoke a very deep and illuminating diary-like account of two very different men and their stories of survival. The best docu Savant's seen since Startup.Com.

Warners' The Incredible Mr. Limpet is a bizarre children's fantasy that combines the usual klunky kiddie elements with an emotionally weird tone. Loveable Don Knotts turns into a fish, but there's no moral taught or lesson learned - and he doesn't change back, leaving his human life and identity behind. Very surreal big-studio comedy, with excellent animation from some legendary talent.

Savant moves into November with the Fall flood of genre titles mostly behind him; once we catch up with notables like CASTLE OF BLOOD, there'll just be the SPIDERMAN and LORD OF THE RINGS kind of blockbusters that Savant usually doesn't review. But some might sneak through, and I hope the mix stays reasonably eclectic. Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson

The hits keep happening, as the DJ used to say. No E.T., but Savant stays in character by delivering the goods on two intriguing library titles.

MGM has dug deep to bring up another anarchic, apocalyptic Robert Aldrich potboiler, this one a down & dirty Hollywood dirge that raised eyebrows and caused a heap 'o trouble, when Harry Cohn finally figured out that its slimy villain Stanley Hoff was at least partially based on him! The Big Knife is a collision of method fireworks and overwritten dialogue that still packs a punch. Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Wendell Corey, Jean Hagen, Rod Steiger and Shelley Winters are all given meaty roles to chew on.

Firefox is a Cold-War weapon of a movie, sending America's biggest movie star and slickest special effects against the Russkies. Clint Eastwood's combo spy caper and jet attack film is given a great transfer by Warners.

Reviews are stacking up so fast here that I get depressed when a title just eight days old, like The Alec Guinness Collection drops off the 'new' list, with the little graphic and the paragraph, down to the clump of 30 or so recently reviewed discs. The highly-awaited Mysterious Island, for instance, comes out today, but is already not that easy to find. So please check the full page of reviews below before giving up on Savant ... thanks! Glenn Erickson

We kick into Monday with evidence of what Savant did on Sunday: two more reviews of worthwhile movies. Editorial work is piling up, so I'm glad to be able to get so many out so quickly ... trying not to rush anything.

Artisan's Collectors' Editon of John Ford's The Quiet Man is an entertaining show, even if the transfer isn't what it should be. John Wayne gives one of his best performances.

Carlton's DVD of The Railway Children is a warm and engaging family-oriented story of three dispossessed kids whose relationship with the English rail system gives them adventure and solutions to their problems. A charming remake of a 1970 film almost forgotten now. With Jenny Agutter and Richard Attenborough.

Savant's working on films by Robert Aldrich and Clint Eastwood at the moment, with more bizarre entries to come. Thanks for reading. Glenn Erickson

Savant spins two fun entertainments today, a top pre-feminist sex farce, and one of the best war epics ever filmed.

MGM's How to Murder Your Wife is a charming and often hilarious sexy comedy from George Axelrod starring Jack Lemmon, Virna Lisi and a wonderful Terry-Thomas. Savant attempts to sort out what it all means ... and maybe gets in a little over his head.

Roan's Zulu is a letterboxed DVD, and although it beats VHS , it's not really better than Criterion's 13 year-old laserdisc. Stanley Baker and Michael Caine star in this superlative battle epic.

Thanks again for reading, Glenn Erickson

Two reviews to start the new week, but it's really four, seeing how one title is really three films in one.

A.D. Vision's Daimajin Trilogy gives the cautious DVD buyer three films for the price of one. Seen in the U.S. mostly in scanned, dubbed television prints, these Giant Majin spectacles look good in their DaieiScope original screen shape, and do a great job combining a period samurai millieu with a supernatural monster, in the form of a Golem-like, stomping-mad warrior idol that comes to life to redress wrongs and turn Evil Warlords into screaming shishkabobs. Two out of the three films are very good, fairy-tale like fantastic adventures.

Artisan's Collectors' Edition DVD of High Noon is a reasonable copy of the movie, with some lightweight but okay docu extras. Gary Cooper is America's lonely virtuous man in a low-budget Western that won the Best Picture Oscar and convinced decades worth of reviewers that it was a brilliant Liberal Allegory for the McCarthy blacklist. Savant thinks different.

I'm trying to hit on the titles readers might want to read about first, but I'm sure some more exotica like the Daimajin films will sneak into the queue. Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson

Another rushed day, but Savant managed to finish his review of a deluxe DVD set that's been out for a month, but which he's had only since Friday:

Anchor Bay's wonderful boxed set, The Alec Guinness Collection, is five of the funniest comedies ever made, most of them by the famed Ealing Studio of England. Guinness stars in all of them: THE LADYKILLERS, KIND HEARTS and CORONETS, THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT, THE LAVENDER HILL MOB, and a disc exclusive to the box, THE CAPTAIN'S PARADISE. If you don't buy it, they're all heartily recommended rentals.

Back to the grind. Savant has more editing to do, but should be able to get out some good reviews without too much trouble ... thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson

Just one review to round out the week; Savant's working on a couple of boxed sets - eight discs in all to see.

Warners' Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer made a very positive impression early last summer; it's a Hollywood bio of the great dancer, that manages to be incisive without being gossipy, and puts a proper perspective on Kelly's achievements.

A lot of little news; Image is sending out information on its upcoming Russian WAR AND PEACE disc; Kino has announced that its METROPOLIS disc will be available on February 18. Back in a couple days. Glenn Erickson

Blessed with a tall stack of discs to review, Savant has pulled a couple released last month, and reached ahead to one due out in two days, because I just had to watch it first.

Criterion's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp is one of Powell & Pressburger's best, a personal history of a British cartoon character made into a flesh & blood Englishman of the best kind. The backstory and impact of this Technicolor epic, made while bombs were falling on London, is fascinating.

Paramount's No Way to Treat a Lady is a diverting movie about the hunt for a serial killer, made at a time when such things were so unusual that they were appropriate material for a light drama. It's supposed to be Rod Steiger's showcase, but George Segal and Lee Remick are too cute a couple to let that happen.

Night of the Blood Beast is a weak monster movie given a wretched launch on DVD. Savant has no qualms expressing his disappointment at Retromedia's transfer and the contemptous 'liner notes' on the release.

Probably through occasional correspondent Arianne Ulmer Cipes, Savant's been alerted to a three day symposium on fave director Edgar G. Ulmer, to be held at 'The New School', 66 West 12th Street in NYC, from Thursday October 31st to Saturday November 2nd. Information phone# 212 229 5611. Savant thinks the scheduled screenings of THE BLACK CAT, THE GIRL FROM POLTAVA, FROM NINE TO NINE, and especially his last film, THE CAVERN, are too good to miss for interested Big Apple-ites. Besides Arianne, the guest panelists at the discussions will include authors David J. Skal and Tom Weaver. All events are free.

Two nice discs from Image Entertainment today, a kooky Hercules picture from Something Weird, and a Blackhawk Films (presumably David Shepard) double bill of two classic Soviet propaganda epics.

Hercules Against the Moon Men is pretty dreadful as muscleman movies go, but Something Weird has a beautiful transfer to show off, and hours of extras. The Witch's Curse is billed as a second feature, and there are sizeable hunks of two more Hercules pictures (hunks of hunks?) and a raft of trailers.

The End of Saint Petersburg & The Deserter are a treasure trove for film students to pore over, as Vslevolod (try spelling that name the same way twice) Pudovkin puts his camera behind his film theory and uses the cinema god Montage to create two epics of Soviet propoganda out of that communist tool, the creative editor's cut. The second film is an early talkie, where the theories begin to look dated, but the two pictures are great film junkies' fodder, and politically debatable too.

Lots of fun stuff to review. A favorite, THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP, just came in from Criterion. See you on Saturday! Glenn Erickson

Popular demand and the fact that it was a breeze to write forced Savant to take extreme measures by reviewing a disc the studio didn't send him! Don't let this get around. It's a guilty favorite, what could I do?

MGM's Casino Royale used to be Columbia's Casino Royale, but here it is on DVD looking terrific and graced with a director interview that provides some very welcome explanations of how this crazy mess got this way. Woody Allen steals the show in this disorganized but musically magical sendup of 007.

Savant saw a preview of THE RING last night, and has to conclude that it was exceptionally good. I was nervous and on the edge of my seat most of the way through, not always a pleasant feeling. The slight but gripping story was as intelligent as a basically unexplainable horror premise can be. Graphically it was excellent - there's a movie in a movie here that's creepy beyond belief. Excellently directed, free of cloying sentimentality or gotcha! tricks, there was always a surprise on the way. Also a lot of perfectly judged allusions to (as opposed to lifts from) previous horror films - the shack of THE EVIL DEAD, etc. There's even a digital nod to the uncanny jumpcuts in the 1922 NOSFERATU! The whole movie has a clammy terror around it. Because it's really disturbing, I think THE RING is far too intense to be rated PG-13. Can't compare it to the foreign original, which I haven't seen. Opens Friday. Glenn.

These two reviews practically wrote themselves, the movies were so enjoyable. The public that only waits for the blockbuster releases of what they just saw 6 months ago in the theaters is short-changing itself by not taking in the great old movies too. (Bearded man steps off soap-box) Hope you enjoy them.

MGM's The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming is a mad panic & hysteria movie kept in control by a superior script and sensible direction. Alan Arkin is just terrific as a beached Russian submariner at the mercy of an island-ful of Cape Cod crazies. It's a beloved family film, too.

Warner digs way back in the files and pulls out the MGM hit of 1934, W.S. Van Dyke's slick comedy thriller The Thin Man. William Powell and Myrna Loy made one of Hollywood's most successful romantic pairings, and their charm has not diminshed. With Asta, the dog. Any mention of this show has to say the dog's name, it's the law.

I was pleased by the response to people asking me to yank MYSTERIOUS ISLAND out of line and review it early; now I have a borrowed copy of CASINO ROYALE but was trying to hold out for a review copy to keep faw my vewwy own. Since that doesn't seem to be happening, I'm willing to give it a toss, should anybody care ... ? Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson

Saturday night and Savant's out on the town! ... no, he's at home holding down the fort and writing more reviews. A couple of interesting titles tonight, one a European classic, and another a nostalgic fantasy from childhood.

Mysterious Island is Ray Harryhausen's imitation of a Bert Gordon film - big bugs, big crabs, big birds! Isn't there a joke about the birds, the bees, and the crabs? Columbia TriStar does its best to make what must be desperation-time elements look as good as possible. With Herbert Lom and one of Bernard Herrmann's most thunderous scores.

Image's Germany Year Zero is a hard-hitting, socially conscious story of a hapless boy living in the ruins of a Berlin just beginning to rebuild from the bombings of WW2. Good viewing for those who think bombing civilians accomplishes something. Italian Roberto Rossellini took his neorealist camera to Germany, and shot this with a cast of non-actors.

Well, I answered some emails and pulled MYSTERIOUS ISLAND out of order and reviewed it first. But there are still newer and bluer DVDs to peruse ... Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson

It's romance day for Savant, with a classic oldie and a Danish import that made the perfect date movie last January.

Miramax's Italian for Beginners is an old-fashioned love soap told from within the Dogme 95 discipline, and comes off exceedingly well. With a cast of 12 or so really charming Danes.

Warner/Turner's The Shop around the Corner is a Hollywood classic from Ernst Lubitsch and screenwriter Samuel Raphaelson that's a beauty on all counts. Indeed, the kind they don't make anymore, in Hollywood, at any rate. With James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan.

Let's see here, what's new? Among the backlog, I have the new MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, which I'll take out of order and review early if anybody would like me to ... and it looks like the Alec Guinness movies I expected to see a month ago are coming in. Late but never too late: I'll have fun writing on those ... what else? I'm being told to get off my ... chair, and to go see an amazing Anime playing in digital projection at the El Capítan, which I just might do. Besides that, up next will be THE THIN MAN .... Thanks, Glenn Erickson

Savant's excited by a new pack of DVDs arriving soon - the stack was running low, horror of horrors. Among them are some obscure, desirable discs that I didn't even know about until they showed up on a DVDTalk orphaned screeners list. So there'll be some extra enthusiasm in the writing, perhaps.

Today from Miramax I have Stephen Frears' superior noir thriller The Grifters. This one's really unique; there have been a lot of Jim Thompson adaptations but this is the best one to capture the full depth of Thompson's depraved misanthropy, served up in his cynical crime tales. It's a recycle job, a Collector's Series entry that improves on an older HBO disc with a couple of well-conceived docus. Starring Anjelica Huston, John Cusack and Annette Bening.

Back soon with more discs you didn't think anyone would review! Glenn Erickson

Five titles in two reviews to cover tonight ... Savant's pretty exhausted! And a new week of work starts tomorrow ...

Kino's deluxe German Horror Classics Boxed Set includes two titles that have been out before (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu) and two newbies to the DVD realm (Waxworks and The Golem). Each comes loaded with extras.

Blue Underground's Grand Slam is a lighthearted international caper film, a light classic with Janet Leigh and Edward G. Robinson up to their necks in a Rio de Janeiro jewel heist - that happens during the Carnival celebrations.

October's levelling off a bit, waiting for the heaps of genre goodies coming in from MGM, Synapse, Columbia and Criterion. Have a nice beginning of the week! Glenn Erickson

Savant happily spun the new pair of Warner Hammer discs and took his time over his reviews. Hammer fandom has become so widespread that the basic appeal of their classics can use some restating, which is what I've done here.

The Curse of Frankenstein may no longer turn every head, but it almost singlehandedly restarted the horror genre worldwide, and revived the British film industry as an export leader, before the Beatles or James Bond. It still has some classic moments of shocking gore, too, starting with Christopher Lee's mangled face.

Horror of Dracula is the most satisfying horror film Savant's seen: cynics who start by jeering at the old-fashioned Gothic situations are soon cheering when the mood sinks in and the solid jolts commence - "Arthur, dear brother ..." Terence Fisher's masterpiece is one of the best battles between Good and Evil on film, and Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee's conceptions of their characters haven't been bested, no matter what Francis Coppola may have said. This is the one to get.

The news has probably circulated by now, but the word from Image is that Invaders from Mars, the 1953 classic that's never seen a decent video version (see Savant's impassioned article on the subject), will be given a new release this December. Previously we've seen one horrible early DVD, and collectors still grumble about the poor quality of the 1992 special edition laserdisc. The new release is said to have new transfers (?) of the American and English cuts, along with added value items that sound like a reformatting of the old laser extras. Can't wait! Thanks, Glenn Erickson