DVD Talk
Reviews & Columns
Reviews
DVD
TV on DVD
Blu-ray
International DVDs
Theatrical
Reviews by Studio
Video Games

Features
Collector Series DVDs
Easter Egg Database
Interviews
DVD Talk Radio
Feature Articles

Columns
Anime Talk
DVD Savant
HD Talk
Horror DVDs
Silent DVD

discussion forum
DVD Talk Forum

Resources
DVD Price Search
Customer Service #'s
RCE Info
Links

Columns




December 30, 2011

Savant's new reviews today are:

Safe in Hell

Ever wonder just how sordid a Hollywood film could get in the pre-Code era? This William Wellman shocker from 1931 might just take the prize. Running from the police, call girl Dorothy Mackaill takes refuge on a bug-infested Caribbean island with no extradition. It turns out to be a hole-in-the-wall for a group of incredibly sleazy criminals, all of whom want the blonde fugitive in their beds. Mackaill is terrific as a tough but essentially decent woman who runs out of options. From the Warner Archive Collection.
12/31/11

Milestones / Ice

Directors Robert Kramer and John Douglas present two of the best filmic works from the radical left in the early 1970s. The touching and thoughtful Milestones is a semi-documentary about '60s activists left behind when the movement faded. Ice is a legendary alternate-future drama about urban guerilla revolutionaries struggling to overthrow a U.S. that has become a fascist state. Rare political filmmaking restored in good quality on DVD. From Icarus Films.
12/31/11

and

Nothing Sacred
Blu-ray

William Wellman strikes again! One of the funniest and most famous screwball comedies sees terminally-ill Hazel Flagg (Carole Lombard) feted in New York City as a brave woman facing certain doom. Little does reporter Fredric March know that he's being fooled again, after having already involved his newspaper in a humiliating fraud. In early Technicolor, and rescued from inferior Public Domain prints. In Blu-ray from Kino Classics.
12/31/11




Greetings!

With the year fading fast, I'd like to make a special note of thanks to the friends and correspondents of this column. Frankly, my reward for the work (work?) involved is meeting so many talented and intelligent people, all of whom seem to be both interested in my kind of films and are sane personalities. Back in the pre- Information Age I was darn lucky to find two or three people who shared my interests; in some cases friendship had to come later. The Internet has cast a web of connectivity to all corners of the world (no names here). I enjoy notes from Spaniards and Peruvians; major collectors in Australia and Arizona; Sergio Leone fans in Austria, Italy, England and Kansas; Godzilla fans from everywhere. A retired English projectionist sends me interesting facts about his experiences and a Sweden-based enthusiast seems to know every fact about arcane new releases everywhere in the world. Contacts in Czechoslovakia and Germany have helped me figure out the histories of Eastern-bloc science fiction films for which no information was available here; a college archivist in Massachusetts has put me on her mailing list for even more rarities from East Germany. Most of these people know much more about their chosen interests than I do and all write really engaging notes and letters. I wish I could print them all.

Add to that my "UK correspondent" Lee Broughton, who contributes reviews monthly; I think he's been doing that for going on ten years now.

And there's my good friend Gary Teetzel, who helps steer DVD Savant from disaster weekly with his advice and encouragement. We met at MGM almost 20 years ago and have been hosting regular disc screenings for at least twelve years. Gary has been a major impetus in getting my books written, as well.

In the last few years I've met more film writers. Some do reviews but quite a few are established authors, journalists and scholars. More than one contact has sent me terrific letters discussing Metropolis, in some cases sharing impressive research and unpublished papers. Some teach by day and write film criticism by night; I'm flattered to hear from them. Closer to home my L.A. based writer friends are all doing well. We lean on one another for publicity help, or contact info for ever-tighter review screener privileges. It was thanks to one of these connections that I became a member of the Online Film Critics Society ten years ago. That association confers both prestige and a healthy selection of Academy Screeners every November.

Finally, I want to thank the thoughtful watchdogs that help me correct my often wild mistakes. The name "DVD Savant" was always meant to be a silly exaggeration, and I've been pleased that only a couple of writers have asked me how I could be so conceited to call myself a savant. I once had a reputation as a veritable encyclopedia of film information, but it was really only within my range of interest. You read Andrew Sarris' The American Film for literally 40 years, until you've highlighted all the titles you've seen and the pages fall apart, and you're bound to memorize part of it. But since I started writing I've learned that, a) I only THOUGHT I was a really good speller; b) I tend to think one word and write another. That's how I've somehow written Eleanor Powell for Eleanor Parker umpteen times. Proofread? I think my brain must just fill in the correct word as it scans. I say all this to thank the people who write in to tell me that I've mixed Bernardo Bertolucci up with Michelangelo Antonioni, or vice versa. I'm grateful for this help. For those who write in, be sure to poke fun -- my friends do, without mercy. I not only deserve it, it amuses me. The honor is in knowing that someone cares!

As the New Year begins I'm looking forward to the post-holiday calm to enable me to catch up on writing work. It's important to make good on commitments to my very tolerant disc providers. There is also more publicity work to be done getting the word out for my new book Sci-Fi Savant. Incidentally, I have a few copies here that I can autograph-inscribe and sell directly, should there be interested collectors. With all the self-promoters on the web, my instincts tell me that my readership likes Savant precisely because I'm not constantly selling something. Although the idea of my own DVD Savant coffee cup sounds great!

Let's hope for a great New Year for all of us!

Best,
Glenn Erickson



December 28, 2011



Greetings!

Is this a vacation? I'm not sure. But getting writing done with houseguests isn't working out too well. Rather than stumble out with two reviews that need proofreading, I'm offering some fun links today, courtesy of helpful Savant readers. The reviews will be back in two -- three days?

After feeling so guilty dissing Woody Allen's new film, I'm getting plenty of notes from people who noticed the same issues, even if they enjoyed the film more than I. Stephen Cooke sends this link to a hilarious Woody Allen standup routine from decades ago that pretty much describes the basis of Midnight in Paris. Stephen wrote, "You might want to toss a link to this routine into your review, so folks will know just how long this idea has been tumbling around inside the Woodster's noggin."

Friendly UK reader Dave Carnegie offers a link to a nicely produced BFI featurette about Magic Lanterns. Lovers of the new film Hugo will appreciate the mechanics of these pre-motion picture visual shows.

And fearless Savant associate Gary Teetzel steers us toward a Vincent Price pledge drive video that co-opts ideas from, of all things, Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. It was made in 1988, when Price was becoming fairly frail. We still miss him!

On the disc front, positive early reviews have been posted for Criterion's restored Godzilla, which is good news indeed. AIP's Witchfinder General is already out in the UK in a non-region coded Blu-ray. Semi-announcements or glorified rumors say that Lawrence of Arabia is slated for Blu-ray next year, and It's also been claimed that a new Blu-ray for the original Hammer The Curse of Frankenstein is in the hopper, based on the recording of an audio commentary. I certainly hope that these announcements pan out. Severin still promises Zulu Dawn for next year, so my radar is on alert for that one.

Thanks for reading! -- Glenn Erickson



December 24, 2011

Savant's one article tonight is:

DVD Savant picks the
Most Impressive Discs of 2011




Savant sifts through the months and comes up with a subjective selection of favorites from 2011, DVDs and Blu-rays that tend to stay at the front of the shelves where I can get at them quickly. Fifteen key favorites and (this time) a shorter list of great restorations, discoveries and movies clearly released by companies that care.
12/24/11






Greetings!

Meet the "Christmas Raccoon". He doesn't come down chimneys, but I now have photographic proof that he takes nighttime strolls down our backyard fence. With the family here for the holidays, my daughter spotted him about 8pm last night while taking her dog out for a walk. Mr. Raccoon didn't seem bothered by much of anything and just sat there until I got close enough to snap his picture. He then slowly walked away down the fence. Fifteen years ago we had plenty of loose cats wandering through the neighborhood, you know, the kind that choose to stage loud fights outside your bedroom window at 3am. With the cats gone, squirrels started showing up, and then an occasional opossum. But this is our first raccoon sighting. We're in the middle of a vast city, and nowhere near any undeveloped areas. We don't even see any rats in this neighborhood. Is our Christmas raccoon an omen, and if so, what kind?


Without apologies, I offer my yearly 'best of' list tonight. You try and write with a lot of house guests all at once ... too many pleasant distractions. I did give the list some thought, however. As the library product coming out these days steers into uncharted waters, away from the 500 or so films everybody already knows about, more hidden treasure and pleasant discoveries are showing up. I sincerely hope that some of the films in this list are titles you've never heard of before.

My daytime work project goes well and I hope to do a lot of catching up with my writing responsibilities in the next six days of holiday break. Right now I'm showing my houseguests VCI's disc of the hilarious Miranda. I've been checking out Academy screeners of Margin Call (very good but cold around the edges), The Descendents (excellent), The Debt (very good) and The Artist (cute but on the light side). The year's big dinner is being cooked downstairs, so I'd better join them as soon as I can.

A happy holiday to you and yours, as they say, and thank you for checking in at DVD Savant! -- Glenn Erickson



December 19, 2011

Savant's new reviews today are:

The Constant Nymph

It has a great cast -- Joan Fontaine, Charles Boyer, Alexis Smith, Peter Lorre, Brenda Marshall -- and a superlative music score from Erich Wolfgang Korngold. This top Warner Bros. production has been barred from public exhibition for fifty + years, but is finally out for all to see. It's like discovering a lost Berkely musical or Errol Flynn swashbuckler, only this is one of the better romantic tragedies of the '40s. A Remastered Edition from The Warner Archive Collection.
12/20/11

Midnight in Paris
Blu-ray

Savant's preparing for a reader backlash, but I had to be honest. Woody Allen's celebrated fantasy about a time-tripping fan of 1920s Paris left me deeply unsatisfied. A good skit in a bad sitcom, this stars Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard, Kathy Bates and Michael Sheen. I'm dissing the great Woody Allen -- surely some hideous form of karmic punishment is headed my way. In Blu-ray from Sony Home Entertainment.
12/20/11

A Farewell to Arms
Blu-ray

Thanks to The George Eastman House we get a beautiful restoration of Frank Borzage's stunning adaptation of the Hemingway novel, starring Helen Hayes and Gary Cooper. An ambulance driver and a nurse on the Italian front in WW1 commence a forbidden love affair that becomes a tragic amour fou. Hot stuff indeed, in all its pre-Code glory -- the picture expresses attitudes about sex out of wedlock that wouldn't be broached in another American movie for thirty years. In Blu-ray from Kino Classics.
12/20/11

and

The Lady Vanishes
Blu-ray

Hitchcock's most entertaining English spy chase movie sees the clever director nailing his most successful formula -- the dead-serious thriller enlivened by a wicked, ironic sense of humor. Margaret Lockwood swears that a murderous conspiracy is afoot on a European train, just as a declaration of war is expected; only the teasing music student Michael Redgrave will believe her. With the inspired deadpan comedy duo of Naughton Wayne and Basil Radford, and Paul Lukas as a sinister brain surgeon. Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
12/20/11




Greetings!

I'm still getting interesting mail about the 1956 English animation brought to my attention by Ian Whittle, the brief but frightening A Short Vision. Just when I think I've at least read about every arcane classic-era Sci-Fi or End-of-the-World film, something pops up on video or on the Internet. I guess that's what the Information Age is all about ... if something exists, there's bound to be a webpage on it. The Internet can have mistakes (I've contributed my share) but it also offers an astounding wealth of good research. I attract readers from countries I'll probably never be able to visit, but I also pore over Italian and French websites with my primitive language skills, looking to learn more about my favorite subjects. It's a terrific new world out there for the curious, I tells ya.

From faithful reader Rob comes a link to an amusingly nasty little holiday-themed horror, A Krampus Carol by Anthony Bourdain. Who says I ain't go no Christmas spirit? Go get 'em, Krampus!

Hey, it's almost week-off-for-holidays time. I'm a clock-punching guy this particular December, and looking forward to the fun! Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson



December 17, 2011

Savant's new reviews today are:

Savant Book Interview:
Steve Stoliar and Raised Eyebrows -
My Years Inside Groucho's House

Savant correspondent Stuart Galbraith IV interviews author Steve Stoliar, who worked as Groucho Marx's personal secretary and archivist in the star's later years. The writer has plenty of interest to say about the great comic, from his house high in Beverly Hills, to troubles with his heirs, to the puzzle of Groucho's final companion Erin Fleming.
12/17/11

The Seventh Cross

Fred Zinnemann's third Hollywood feature makes Spencer Tracy an escapee from a 1936 German concentration camp, struggling to reach the safety of Holland. With Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Ray Collins, Agnes Moorehead and a large supporting cast that includes many refugees from German film and theater. From the Warner Archive Collection.
12/17/11

Sabu!
Eclipse Series 30

Alexander Korda found Sabu tending elephants (what else?) in India, and made him into an international star. Sabu's early features show exactly why he appealed to every boy's dreams of adventure, all around the world: . Elephant Boy, The Drum and Jungle Book. Seeing the tiny Sabu interact with elephants is a liberating experience. The other two films bring forth grand visions of Colonial warfare, and magical mystery in Rudyard Kipling's Technicolored jungle. Eclipse Series 30.
12/17/11

and

Where the River Runs Black

A rather special ecologically-minded Third World fable from director Christopher Cain. A feral child lives deep in the Amazon rain forest, protected by a pair of pearl-white freshwater dolphins. He's taken to the city for 'civilizing', but breaks free to seek vengeance on the villain that made him an orphan. Very different, and not a children's film, this interesting picture is now almost an obscurity. With Charles Durning, Peter Horton and Conchata Ferrell; from the MGM Limited Edition Collection.
12/17/11




Greetings!

Criterion has some great titles coming for March: Blu-rays of the best Titanic movie A Night to Remember, Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus's docu The War Room, and the Soviet adventure film Letter Never Sent. Also premiering will be a boxed set of David Lean / Noel Coward collaborations: In Which We Serve, This Happy Breed, Blithe Spirit and Brief Encounter. A Night to Remember has been remastered; I hope they've recovered the pmissing footage described in a 1999 Savant Jump Cut article. Hopefully that Savant page will soon be completely obsolete.

Correspondent David J. Schow informs Savant central that the Chiller cable channel will be showing a 24-hour Outer Limits Marathon this Christmas Day. Knowing I'm a die-hard fan of the original series, David let me know right away, with a friendly steer to his OL blog, We Are Controlling Transmission (no, "we" is not the flywheel clutch).

It may not exactly be in the Yuletide spirit, but I can't resist this next little horror, which I've never even heard of before. Helpful correspondent Ian Whittle sends this YouTube link to a brief but frightening 1956 English animation called A Short Vision. It dates from the "Ban the Bomb" era marked in England by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and its purpose is clearly to terrorize people -- in a poetic way, of course: "One night I looked out through the window and saw it approaching from the deep, blind sky." It's from John and Joan Foldes, and is filmed in a style reminiscent of Halas and Bachelor animations. Believe it or not Ed Sullivan showed this shocker on his TV show on May 27, 1956. The movie and the broadcast are documented in detail at this Knol page written by Bill Geerhart. Enjoy, and prepare to shiver!

Finally, TCM's yearly obituary montage for 2011, TCM Remembers is up. It's a beauty that concentrtes on the many "lesser" but personally memorable stars and personalities. Plenty of heart-tugs here, in an emotional and respectful presentation.

Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson



December 12, 2011

Savant's new reviews today are:

Seven Chances
Blu-ray

Buster Keaton is Jimmy Shannon, a man who must be married by 7 0'Clock to inherit 7 million dollars -- but how can he find a woman to wed in just a few hours? Panic and chaos ensue when his classified ad brings hundreds of prospective brides to the church, all wanting a piece of Jimmy's hide. Crazy proposals are followed by one of the most insane comedy chases in silent film history. With a restored color sequence. In Blu-ray from Kino Classics.
12/13/11

Fright Night
Blu-ray

Vampire Chris Sarandon is running amuck, and Roddy McDowall's has-been movie actor and TV horror host is the only person who knows how to wield a crucifix and wooden stake. A tame Teen Sex comedy blossoms into an all-out horror thriller, thanks to terrific special effects and macabre makeup designs. In Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
12/13/11

and

Tora! Tora! Tora!
Blu-ray

All the resources of 20th Fox, the U.S. Navy and special effects pro A.D. Flowers recreate the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in awesome detail and scope, using real planes and ships at the original location. Fascinating true-history docu-drama puts forth a lot of exposition, but follows up with one heck of a traumatic battle. In Blu-ray from Fox Home Video.
12/13/11




Merry Christmas, you Titanic Terror from the Dawn of Time, you!

It's getting time to put together my 'end of year' lists, and with the added time pressure I hope I can follow through. Despite what they say about the decline of home video discs it was a very good year for collectors. Either that, or the disc companies just happened to hit a record number of Savant favorites.

The monster fan contingent has been checking in asking about Criterion's upcoming disc of the Japanese Gojira and the American re-cut Godzilla, King of the Monsters. We saw a very good DVD set a few years ago, followed by a fairly useless Blu-ray of the Japanese version only that did not represent an improvement in quality. So for those that don't have their ears glued to the Kaiju fan sites, we understand that Criterion is doing their own transfer of both films, and that the American version will be coming from a so-far unused B&W fine grain printing master. So we're expecting something very special and different, quality-wise.

Midnight in Paris just came in, along with today's disc of Tora! Tora! Tora!, which I jumped on immediately. If I miss street dates on titles, please remember that I often get screeners after street date, and notices I post for other venues sometimes slow up the appearance of a review here. Not a big issue, and no one has complained so far, but I feel guilty anyway. If you think I have a disc and you're really desperate for information, write -- I'll be happy to tell you what I know. For that matter, if you read about some disc I've reviewed and have a question, write as well. If it's a disc I get to keep, I'll still have it.

Finally, Joe Dante sends a rather cynical, but all too telling advertisement. Knowing that film projection is being phased out for theatrical presentations, just imagine your favorite classics being made useful again, like this.

Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson



December 10, 2011

Savant's new reviews today are:

The People Against O'Hara

Spencer Tracy plays a broken-down attorney returning from retirement to defend accused murderer James Arness, in a case that reeks of a mob set-up. John Sturges directs, with John Alton's great lighting camerawork; Savant makes the case for MGM "neutered" film noirs. With Diana Lynn and John Hodiak; from The Warner Archive Collection.
12/10/11


Quigley Down Under
Blu-ray

Tom Selleck journeys to Australia to hire out his sure-shot skill with long rifle, only to rebel when land baron Alan Rickman tells him his job is to exterminate native Aborigines. A big-scale, pleasing modern Western costarring Laura San Giacomo as well as a pack of wild dingoes. In Blu-ray from MGM/Fox.
12/10/11


and

Kuroneko
Blu-ray

Director Kaneto Shindo puts claws in this Japanese ghost cat fable that mixes beautiful B&W Tohoscope widescreen imagery with disturbing, hallucinatory visions. Two welcoming women entice traveling samurai to a bloody death in their haunted forest, until they're finally visited by a special samurai from their past, the man they both love. In Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
12/10/11




Greetings!

Heh, heh, I have a line of packages to finish wrapping and get mailed, and if I can find the energy the holidays might actually happen at Savant Central. But that's secondary to the disc reviewing going on around here... expect a surge in the next week and a half and then a relaxed couple of weeks as I get out my unreasonably subjective 'Best of' list, and renew the Wish List for the coming year. The Wish list is probably more of an aid for me than a big help to Savant readers, but so far I've kept up (more or less) so I think I will continue it.

Rob sends a link to what might be the oldest Werewolf Movie in existence, viewable at Archive.org. The description is certainly interesting: the unlucky Lycanthrope-to-be is tainted via a wolf-to-man blood transfusion. This comes about half a year to late to be a Charlie Sheen joke.

After about 22 years, West L.A.'s Laser Blazer store is closing down. It weathered the transition from lasers to DVDs when other shops fell out, including Dave's The Laser Place which folded almost a decade ago. There were once record shops on every corner, often with trade-in movie disc bins. But now I don't know if any remain in this city. That's the power of the Internet, I suppose.

I'm hoping that the Sci-Fi Savant Classic Sci-Fi Review Reader continues to do well. Having the product out in time to make the holiday shopping weeks makes a big difference. Wish me luck -- !

Thanks for reading! -- Glenn Erickson



December 05, 2011

Savant's new reviews today are:

The Rocketeer
Blu-ray

Air racer Cliff Secord takes to the skies in a nifty rocket pack, to save his girls from gangsters, Nazi agents, and oveager FBI guys. Joe Johnston's nostalgic tribute to Republic serials stars Bill Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Timothy Dalton and Alan Arkin. You will believe a man can ride a rocket without roasting his own legs. In Blu-ray from Disney .
12/06/11

The Help
Blu-ray

The remarkable surprise summer hit is an absorbing, startling and frequently hilarious drama about a Southern women who decides to write a book about the true lives of black maids -- an effort pointedly outlawed in Mississippi. Perhaps the most effective "Liberal Issue" film ever, this hugely enjoyable show is too entertaining to be merely a message movie. With Emma Stone, Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer. In Blu-ray from DreamWorks / Touchstone.
12/06/11

and

Welcome to L.A.

Alan Rudolph comes forward with the prime candidate for laid-back hipster decadence in the City of the Angels. A mellow ensemble drifts in and out of bed while digging the limp lyrics of Richard Baskin: Keith Carradine, Sally Kellerman, Viveca Lindfors, Geraldine Chaplin, Harvey Keitel, Sissy Spacek, Diahnne Carroll, Lauren Hutton. It's all about making the right "scene". From the MGM Limited Edition Collection.
12/06/11




Greetings!

I'm squeaking this column online before I fall asleep ... and I hope tonight's reviews are in a decent shape. The "good stuff" keeps coming in, and I'm determined to keep up with the flow: today brought The Rapture and Fright Night from our busy discmakers at Twilight Time.

Thanks for looking in, and for all the helpful corrections and added information -- take care, Glenn Erickson



December 03, 2011

Savant's new reviews today are:

12 Angry Men
Blu-ray

The late Sidney Lumet hits a home run in his first feature, which stars a full roster of acting talent headed by producer Henry Fonda. The celebrated TV play undergoes a number of small but telling changes on its way to the big screen, but Lumet handles the main problem beautifully: how to play out an entire picture in one drab room, with a dozen unhappy, irritable jurors at each others' throats? In Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
12/03/11

Doctor Blood's Coffin

Nobody understands the 'creative' surgeon Dr. Blood, who cuts the organs from living (and conscious!) victims in a cockamamie attempt to, uh, we aren't sure just what he's trying to accomplish. And darned if the local policeman and his own father aren't opposed to Blood's lone wolf medical antics. A colorful, bloody exercise in gross-out mediocrity, 1962-style, directed by Sydney J. Furie. As a rather perplexed nurse, scream queen deluxe Hazel Court makes it all worthwhile. From The MGM Limited Edition Collection.
12/03/11

and

The Rules of the Game
Blu-ray

The say that Jean Renoir's masterpiece had to be reassembled from dupe elements, but this new HD transfer looks and sounds fantastic. A comedy of manners country retreat for wealthy Parisians reveals a barbed criticism of French complacency and petty cruelties. Although never mentioned, the specter of the coming war seems to be waiting in the wings. One of the most sophisticated comedies ever about the "quaint corruption" of the rich. In Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
12/03/11




Greetings!

It's a panic week, with hardly enough time to get anything done properly. This explains why this Saturday post has shown up on Saturday instead of the usual Friday. Hopefully my typos and transpositions, missing words and missing wit are under control.

Just a few announcements. Kino Lorber is on a roll, as they've added a Blu-ray of Fritz Lang's Scarlet Street (left) to their schedule for late February, as well as a restored DVD of Lang's The Spiders. I hope Kino continues with more HDs of their excellent Lang silent restorations.

The MGM Limited Edition Collection has the Carroll Baker/Ralph Meeker Something Wild coming out in a couple of days; this is the psychological thriller with the music score by Aaron Copland. Also up is Ivan Tors' The Magnetic Monster, the second of three Ivan Tors science fiction efforts in the early 1950s. As usual with the MGM Limited titles, I won't be able to review these until weeks later. Today's Doctor Blood's Coffin was a Halloween release.

Milestone films is releasing its first Blu-ray disc on Feb. 7, Lionel Rogosin's much-honored documentary On the Bowery. Much sooner than that, Icarus Films will be giving us two pictures by Robert Kramer, filmed when the AFI was brand new. One of them is Ice. I've never heard of this show being screened anywhere, although it's frequently written up in Science Fiction Film literature. ice imagines America as having been taken over by a Fascist government, while a secret society of rebels plots guerilla warfare tactics while in hiding in New York City. I'll be interested to find out if the show romanticizes its "revolution" or has some deeper insights on the issue.

Dick Dinman is back with more radio shows. This time the subject is Blu-rays of ancient epics. For Ben-Hur is Blu! Dick discusses the years of restoration work on the 65mm show with Warners VP George Feltenstein. Twilight Time for a Blu The Egyptian sees Dick interviewing Twilight's disc producer Nick Redman and writer Julie Kirgo. The controversial casting of Bella Darvi and Marlon Brando get a heavy emphasis, as does the Bernard Herrmann score. A file interview with Richard Widmark dishes up more opinions about the unlucky Ms. Darvi, (who in my book did just fine in The Egyptian. The full archive of DVD Classics Corner radio shows with Dick Dinman is available at this link.

Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson


Don't forget to write Savant at [email protected].

Advertise With Us

Review Staff | About DVD Talk | Newsletter Subscribe | Join DVD Talk Forum |
Copyright © DVDTalk.com All rights reserved | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information