Savant's new reviews today are

Greetings ... Geoffrey Kleinman has given a slightly different look to the Savant main page as of last Wednesday. I think it makes better use of the space at the top of the column.

Gary Teetzel passed on this link to a Paramount Studios Preservation Website that actually shows what they've been working on. I'm told that they've deleted a lot of interesting detail that used to be posted, but it's still interesting to see. Paramount controls a big piece of the old Republic library but there are no entries for Invasion of the Body Snatchers or Johnny Guitar, darn it.

My editor friend Les Kaye (an Emmy winner for the old Pee Wee Herman's Playhouse) has had a pretty amazing gig for the last year, especially if one likes new music -- he's cutting special videos for a company that runs a futuristic rehearsal hall for top acts. The whole place is wired for robot HD cameras, providing the editors with a full multi-cam feed, and the stages are big enough to jam in a couple of hundred audience members for taping impromptu concerts. With the moving cameras up out of the way on the ceiling, the talent and the audience aren't distracted. The company has a new website with a lot of video samples and other goodies; I'm probably not as attuned to this as some of my readers, but it can all be checked out at Rehearsals.com.

Am splitting my time between writing reviews and filling out insurance papers about the big 'accident' last Monday; I'd put up a shot of the empty driveway where (sniff) my car used to be, but the object of DVD Savant is not to make people cry. See you on Tuesday, if I can get enough reviews done! Thanks, Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are

Savant usually gets his Tuesday update up promptly on Monday, but a funny thing happened today, ha ha ... a three-car family is back to being a two-car family. A supermarket employee went on an out-of control jag in her car, hitting two vehicles in the parking lot before smashing into my Aerostar and pushing it into four other vehicles! The cops were busy for two hours sorting out this one. Luckily Mrs. Savant was in the market at the time, but had a surprise when she came out to find our car half in the air. Although we're happy the employee didn't kill anybody, the car was our best and favorite (naturally) and we'd hoped it would last a few more years!

Readers in rural jurisdictions may think Los Angeles is a place for gunfire and ducking maniac killers, which is unfair but hard to refute by today's experience. But Savant will prevail against all odds - the reviews must get through! -- Thanks, Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are

Hello from L.A. ... where we're taking steps to avoid future computer mishaps with a proper data backup system here! That's why I'm posting Saturday's instalment so early ... my computer might be in the shop for a day or two, in which case I'll be writing ....(gasp) with pen and paper. I don't know about you, but my handwriting has reverted to grade-school quality for lack of practice.

DVDTalk Fearless Leader Geoffrey Kleinman informs me that my screener of the new King Kong won't arrive until a couple of days past street date, so I'll try to work on the review a little early.

I don't know if they meant to do it, but The American Cinematheque has announced Warners' new Film Noir titles for the summer: Border Incident, His Kind of Woman, Lady in the Lake, On Dangerous Ground and The Racket. If last year was the Lawrence Tierney year, this one seems to go to Robert Ryan ... but they're all good pictures.

Take care ... Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are

Let me direct your attention to another DVDTalk reviewer, Svet Atasanov, who has given us a looksee at a rare French political sci-fi fantasy, Mister Freedom. I've read about this scathing Anti-Yankee farce since the 1960s when it showed up on the cover of the French magazine Midi-Minuit Fantastique and never thought it would be made available.

It apparently is available from Xploited Cinema, an online seller that specializes in desirable imports. Savant readers have been writing all week to say that the company is fast and reliable and that they've never had a problem with it. Xploited Cinema also stocks the rare Czech film I reviewed last week, Ikarie XB 1. I hope to be hearing back from readers soon to find out if any of them like Ikarie as much as I do! -- Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are

Hello -- Savant has a mix of the sacred and the profane this weekend. We have a distinguished Biblical tale, Disney's first genuine "Shook Up Shopping Cart" comedy, an orgy of 1930s pre-code musical sensuality and a completely unexpected political satire from South Korea, kind of a JFK Meets Scarface.

A few fun future announcements if you haven't already heard: Fox's Noirs for June are House of Strangers, I Wake up Screaming and Boomerang! Fox also has the Valley of the Dolls movies for those who like 'em, Emperor of the North and three new Betty Grable pix. Anchor Bay will be bringing us Cemetery Man (Dellamore Dellamorte), The Quiet Earth and (much sooner) a special edition of The Long Good Friday. And Warners will bless us with the hard to see Petulia, The Loved One and A Fine Madness, the picture that starts with Sean Connery chainsawing an office desk in half.

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are

This is the equivalent of sending jokes around, but my daughter thought this was the cleverest 'fan trailer' she'd yet seen and I agree: Jack Torrance, warm and fuzzy. Whoever put this together could have talked himself into an editing job at the best trailer-cutting house in L.A. in the late 1980s. Apparently the URL circulated months ago, but it felt fresh enough to include here for folks who may have missed it.

Tim Lucas wrote to tell me that an online outfit called Xploited Cinema is offering the Czech R2 disc of Ikarie XB 1 for sale. I've heard of it and don't know whether or not to recommend it, so am just mentioning it here in passing. A lot of positive response from that review. Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are

Savant happily writes about Ikarie XB 1 today, a rare Czechoslovakian science fiction film that is probably the most serious space picture before 2001: A Space Odyssey. I've indulged myself by writing up my personal history with the picture, which I hope won't be too annoying. Savant tries to keep DVD Savant about The Movies, which this digression mostly is. The biggest trap in writing about films is falling into the illusion that it's all about me ... I think I've mostly avoided that, even after Major Dundee.

Last minute news relayed by Gary Teetzel: USA Today reports that Classic Media will release a $22 two-disc set, for the first time in the USA, of the complete and uncut 1954 Japanese film Gojira and the revised 1956 U.S. version, Godzilla: King of the Monsters. The announced release date is September 5. Classic Media has a dedicated website for the release. The mention of a 'widescreen format' reportedly applies to other Godzilla releases, as the original is a flat 1:37 picture. If anyone is wondering what the "6 sequels" are that CM is releasing, they should be Godzilla Raids Again, Godzilla vs. The Thing, Ghidrah the 3-Headed Monster, Monster Zero, Godzilla's Revenge and The Terror of Mecha-Godzilla.

A while back reader David Valentini wrote in to ask if I had any ideas where copies of the terrific Kevin Brownlow / Andrew Mollo movie It Happened Here could be found; I contacted Milestone's Dennis Doros for David and was informed that Image's disc from 2000 had been out of print for some time. When I reviewed a new edition of Brownlow's book How It Happened Here last year, readers interested in the movie couldn't find the DVD either. David wrote back yesterday to say that Dennis had saved his information, and written him back to tell him that the DVD is available again at Amazon and also directly through the Milestone website.

I'll have a review of Peter Watkins' The Gladiators up next time around; this provocative still of a Red Chinese soldier captured in a futuristic computer-controlled "Peace Game" is the new DVD's key art. Project X's previous Punishment Park and Edvard Munch were highly stimulating films, and I hope the line will continue with Watkins pictures I haven't seen (Culloden) as well as ones I have (The War Game).

Good Night, and Good Luck should arrive today, along with some Fox Bible epics, a Billy Wilder comedy and Warners' next massive boxed set, a Busby Berkeley Collection loaded with great-sounding extras. I'll be listening for the mailman today. --- Thanks, Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are

Not too excited about last night's Oscars. The stars seem like more of a social clique than members of a glamorous dream world, and the mocking tone of the 'host' defeats the whole purpose of the gathering. If it's all just another glitzy TV show, I'm not interested. Even the montages were dull and witless, and filled with PC attitudes. Yes, Richard Pryor gets top billing among the deceased. I've taken to listening to the Oscars from the next room and walking in whenever something threatens to be interesting, which happens less and less.

And what about that guy coming out to tell us how wonderful the theatical experience is, "sharing an emotional experience with hundreds of strangers?" I wanted to laugh. I doubt he sees movies at the multiplex with half an hour of ads that make us feel like consumer suckers, completely out of the mood for a communal experience. My 'wonderful' movie experiences rarely if ever happen in a commercial theater anymore.

I'm not much of a Jerry Lewis fan, but if you are and you haven't seen it yet, you might want to run over to The Day The Clown Cried, a website devoted to the film that has stills, links to scripts and various articles, and even some film clips. Several friends list this as their 'most wanted' unseeable film, and this might be the closest we get to it. And we wondered if Life is Beautiful was in questionable taste! -- Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are

Savant was handed an honest no-BS scoop yesterday afternoon, at a real J.J. Hunsecker-type lunch social: According to a company insider, Anchor Bay has licensed Mario Bava's Erik the Conqueror (Gli invasori) to be part of its slate of remastered Mario Bava films, now being outfitted with new extras and featurette docus. No release date has been announced for the Conqueror disc (or any of the Anchor Bay Bavas, to my knowledge) but the title has definitely been secured and will go into DVD production.

Originally made by Italy's Galatea Films, 1961's Erik the Conqueror is a Viking epic. It stars Cameron Mitchell, George Ardisson and Andrea Checci and is known for its intense use of color and creative stretching of a modest budget.

Today's look at Cross of Iron is a month before street date, but I've already had the screener for five weeks, so it's about time to get the review out. Thanks for all the corrections and help! -- Glenn Erickson