Savant's new reviews today are:

State of Siege
The Criterion Collection
Blu-ray
  Costa-Gavras tells it like it was in 1970, when Uruguayan Tupemaros kidnapped an American aid worker, an incident still officially on the books as an act of terror by haters of freedom. The trouble is, the Yank was a CIA plant training local cops to use torture, as he'd already had been doing in other Latin American countries. Yves Montand stars in what becomes a gripping political thriller. The film was shot in Chile, where a CIA backed and organized coup would overthrow the democratically elected government the very next year. Special extra bonus: the actual vintage NBC news broadcast reports on the kidnapping, on which the movie is based. On Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
5/30/15

The Island of Dr. Moreau
KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray
  Burt Lancaster plays H.G. Wells' mad doctor as if he were a humorless country veterinarian, and Michael York's shipwreck survivor is too stupid to realize that the new babe he's found might have something to do with the doc's 'funny' experiments. But it doesn't make much difference because this colorful version of what was once a shocking tale of obscene science, is now little more than an action movie with monsters that look like they belong on the funny pages. Nigel Davenport and Barbara Carrera co-star: filmed in the Virgin Islands, the HD scan here looks great. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
5/30/15

and

Magician:
The Astonishing Life & Works of Orson Welles
The Cohen Film Collection
Blu-ray
  Even the title says that Orson's special, as just 'life and times' wouldn't do! Chuck Workman's entertaining docu gives the amazing Orson's fascinating career a spirited once-over, with excellent vintage interviews (many from Orson himself) focusing on some of the main puzzles and controversies of a highly creative life. Good film clips, especially from the rare and unfinished films, and input from everybody from Norman Lloyd to Jeanne Moreau to Steven Spielberg (who sounds like he's reading from Wikipedia). It's laced together with the music from Welles' films, which has come to represent him as well. On Blu-ray from The Cohen Film Collection.
5/30/15

---

Hello!

Correspondent Nicholas McCarthy forwards a nice link to a University of Chicago article by Mark Feeney: What Nixon Saw and When He Saw It. It's a full list of exactly what movies Nixon viewed during his stay at the White House, year by year with exact dates. Just align these popcorn nights with your favorite historical events, and make your own "Tricky Dick got hopped up over a movie" theory, as with Patton and Cambodia.

I was staying neutral until I saw that Nixon actually screened Major Dundee in 1972... in fact, he seemed to be a fan of every American picture about invading other countries. I'm actually rather impressed with his list. I like most of those movies, too!

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are:

Wolfen
The Warner Archive Collection
Blu-ray
  Can Wolfen make a comeback? Set aside amid the more traditional werewolf pictures of the early '80s, Michael Wadley's scary, technically adept adaptation of Whitley Streiber's best seller gives us terrific acting (Albert Finney, Gregory Hines, Diane Venora, Edward James Olmos, Tom Noonan, Dick O'Neill) and superb direction. The soundtrack is still a marvel, contributing mightily to the powerful Wolfen-on-the-prowl scenes. A red herring issue is international terrorism, a theme given an unexpected prophetic quality, what with repeated shots of the World Trade Center. Orion took the picture away and added more explicit monster material -- but it's still Wadleigh's show. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
5/26/15

Shy People
Savant Revival Review
  Andrei Konchalovsky's great, mostly unseen bayou tale sees New York sophisticate Jill Clayburgh journey to a Louisiana backwater where her opposite number, Barbara Hershey, lives in primitive conditions under a harsh pioneer code. The more Clayburgh probes into family matters, the stranger, and spookier, things. Hershey was named best actress at Cannes for this movie -- and then The Cannon Group did not distribute it properly. With a great role for Martha Plimpton and a good one for Mare Winningham, cinematography by Chris Menges and music by Tangerine Dream. Viewed on MGMHD, where it can be seen in proper J-D-C Scope for the first time in 28 years. Not yet on video disc.
5/26/15

and

A Man for All Seasons
Twilight Time
Blu-ray
  Fred Zinnemann's film of Robert Bolt's play holds up as a superior drama in all respects, one of the best historical / costume stories ever. Paul Scofield leads an excellent cast as Thomas More, the man who resisted the will of Henry VIII over an issue of conscience. The political implications are impressive, as More insists on sticking to the law as a way of guaranteeing individual rights -- as his peers and England's institutions bend to Henry's will, he's told more than once, "This isn't Spain, you know." Wendy Hiller, Leo McKern, Robert Shaw, Orson Welles, Susannah York, Nigel Davenport and John Hurt top-line an incredible cast -- this is one 'prestige' picture that's consistently entertaining and truly profound. On Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
5/26/15

---

Hello!

This Tuesday I'm really out of time getting these reviews in -- they needed extra writing attention, I guess.

I have one, actually two links in the hopper, forwarded by Gary Teetzel for the amusement of fans who want to hear what Brian "Quatermass" Donlevy might sound like as a musical star. (Hello?) First we have a scene from How to Stuff A Wild Bikini, which presents the worst song ever about advertising, called Madison Avenue. Brian Donlevy appears as the head of a big ad firm, and Mickey Rooney is one of his top executives. The musical number takes place in the firm's boardroom; Rooney and other ad execs sing Donlevy's praises while Donlevy mostly just sits there... it's not exactly Mad Men quality material. A.I.P.'s editors must have realized how awful it was, and jettisoned the middle stanzas where the portly Donlevy sings -- for someone has found the long version of the same song on the soundtrack album and posted it for our amusement. So if you've ever wondered what it might be like if Professor Quatermass or Sergeant Markoff or The Great McGinty burst into song, here's your chance. Go about forty seconds into the album version of the song and there he is, croaking away. No, there is no lyric about pipes being blocked with human pulp.

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are:

Carla's Song
Twilight Time
Blu-ray
  Ken Loach extends his social realist concern internationally when a Glasgow bus driver (Robert Carlyle) falls in love with a street dancer (Oyanka Cabezas) and follows her halfway across the globe to Nicaragua -- and into the middle of Reagan's Contra War. The excellent characterizations & believable storytelling are highlighted by Loach's spot-on direction and humanistic point of view. Carlyle finds out just how tough things can be for innocents at the receiving end of flawed political policies. Also starring Scott Glenn; with a commentary by director Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty. On Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
5/23/15

Cops and Robbers
KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray
  NYPD cops Cliff Gorman and Joe Bologna decide that life is too short to let crooks shoot at them any longer -- they make a deal with the Mafia and prepare to steal millions of dollars of negotiable securities from Wall Street. Aram Avakian and Donald E. Westlake team up for this funny, more-serious-than-you'd-think story about the pair's daring daylight robbery and their attempt to fleece the mob and escape with a whole skin. The Devil's in the details -- this overtly mainstream movie has quietly subversive things to say about the workingman's dream of the 'big payday.' On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
5/23/15

and

The Best House in London
The Warner Archive Collection
DVD-R
 It's a big-budget name-star sex farce and one of the first "X"-rated studio releases that took cheesy advantage of the new ratings system. Victorian-era conman David Hemmings (in a double role) hoodwinks suffragette Joanna Pettet into procuring the fallen women to staff a glorious house of ill repukes for the wealthy men of London. A huge cast led by George Sanders is on hand, with lots of winking and nudge-nudging, cameo appearances by the likes of Charles Dickens and Sherlock Holmes, and 1001 smarmy sex jokes. It's an absolute mess in every respect, yet one of those MIA pictures collectors want to see. On DVD-R from The Warner Archive Collection.
5/23/15

---

Hello!

Some interesting disc news today hit me as one of those exciting things that's really exciting and then you find out that it's not as exciting as you wished it was. I reviewed Koch Media's German Region B Blu-ray of Tarantula a couple of weeks back, and now correspondent Kevin Pyrtle informs me (I'm sure I'm the last to know) that they're releasing a similar disc of 1955's Revenge of the Creature. It says 3-D, but sources confirm that the 3-D version is the old anaglyphic (red-blue) version I saw on TV back in the middle 1980s. Not only that, but my all-region Blu-ray player is not 3-D, so even if it were a full modern 3-D transfer, it would be no-go. So we multi-region folk need limit our enthusiasm to seeing a flat Blu-ray transfer. For German readers, courtesy of Kevin Pyrtle, here's another German page with more info. The newest news we have from Universal about the prospects for newly-tooled 3-D of Revenge (and It Came from Outer Space too for that matter) is that it's "on their radar." Euphemisms... to me that says they're going to 'shoot it down.'

Savant never reneges on a promise: with Criterion's Blu-ray release correspondent and writer Gordon Thomas has revised his Bright Lights essay on Fellini Satyricon. As I stated I would previous, here's a link: Sexual Confusion, the Attractions of Moral Chaos, and the Contrarieties of Personality: Navigating the Vagaries of Fellini Satyricon. Thomas wades right into this utterly confounding movie -- and comes up with one intelligent observation and connection after another.

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are:

1776
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Blu-ray
  I'd still like to read a better explanation of what's in and what's out of this new version of Peter Hunt's cheerful Broadway musical adaptation, but the lavish 4K restoration is a huge improvement over even the good DVD edition. The show is basic U.S. history (with a good '70s-liberal spin) that makes the bewigged18th century John Adams, Ben Franklin and Tom Jefferson amusing and clever, and the jokes aren't so corny as to cheapen things. Howard Da Silva, William Daniels and Ken Howard make for great founding fathers, while Blythe Danner and Virginia Vestoff get wonderful singing opportunities. The music is still inspirational, at least to this junior patriot. With two commentaries, a longer version of a musical number, and an 'extended cut' that's extended by all of two minutes. On Blu-ray from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
5/19/15

Face to Face
and
The Tramplers
Explosive Media & Wild East
DVD
 U.K. correspondent Lee Broughton is back in the saddle again with a pair of separate DVD releases; a German PAL Region 2 disc of a Sergio Sollima Italo-oater with Gian Maria Volonte, Tomas Milian and William Berger, and a curious Albert Band western with Joseph Cotten, Gordon Scott, Franco Nero and James Mitchum, about a westerner refusing to acknowledge that the South lost the war (nothing's changed). Lee has been reviewing for DVD Savant since 2001, mostly Spaghetti westerns... he ought to put these together in a book! On DVD from Explosive Media & Wild East.
5/19/15

and

The First Deadly Sin
The Warner Archives Collection
DVD
  Frank Sinatra's final feature film is a surprisingly sensitive, humanistic and low-key drama -- with its main plot centered on a vicious serial killer. Frank's NYC detective nears retirement, but his wife (Faye Dunaway) is sick; to keep his mind busy he breaks the rules and conducts an unauthorized investigation. Superior to many serial slayer pix that became the rage ten years later, this is a much better movie than I remembered. With Brenda Vaccaro, James Whitmore, Martin Gabel, and a tall stack of 'regulars' from New York movies. On DVD-R from The Warner Archives Collection.
5/19/15

---

Hello!

I have a book review today. It's Tom Weaver's Scripts from the Crypt: Bride of the Gorilla, the third volume in the "Tom Weaver presents" collection after The Hideous Sun Demon and The Indestructible Man. None of these movies made Sight & Sound's top 100 list, but that's not the point. Weaver and Co. have been proving for going on forty years now that readers have an insatiable appetite for this stratum of film production.

Bride of the Gorilla is not the autobio of Jane Goodall, that's Gorillas that I Miss. It's a misbegotten but fascinating 1951 jungle picture starring Lon Chaney, Raymond Burr and the notorious Barbara Payton. This collector's book embellishes a full reprint of writer-director Curt Siodmak's original shooting script with everything relevant to the subject Tom Weaver can get his hands on, starting with a funny but thoughtful John Landis intro about the appeal of Gorilla-suit movies.

As one would expect with Weaver, the production history and star bio backgrounds are all annotated with hard sources. When you quote this book for your Master's Thesis, "Simian Semiology in the Semi-Tropics," you can rest assured the research is solid. Weaver even critiques the sources of some of the info! You will know everything humanly possible about the company that filmed and distributed Bride of the Gorilla. This picture played everywhere, and likely made Jack Broder rich.

Weaver brings out every strange detail in a script that appears to have been written with spare parts left over from Curt Siodmak's The Wolf Man. The prominent sidebar investigation delves into the various legends floating around the film's actors. Raymond Burr handled the problem of his sexual identity vs. his public life extremely well, it would seem. Much of the text looks for facts and opinions about Lon Chaney at this time in his career; the overall verdict for Lon is pretty positive. But star Barbara Payton's life was overshadowed by seamy scandal from this point forward. Weaver digs up every career-killing arrest notice and mocking trade paper column. Telling Payton's story also gets us into the lives of big star Franchot Tone and not-so-famous actor Tom Neal, who deep-sixed his Hollywood future with a combo of booze, fisticuffs and Barbara. I was initially put off with the cruel attitude Weaver takes toward Payton, but even the few kind words said about her by others aren't very forgiving. A sexual predator and a serious bad news blonde, Payton suffered perhaps the worst downfall of any actress that performed in big movies with big stars. This all-factual account doesn't pull any punches.

In addition to David Schecter's essay on composer Raoul Kraushaar (from which I learned interesting facts about the score to Invaders from Mars), writers Greg Mank, Scott MacQueen, Dr. Robert J. Kiss and Frank J. Dello Stritto offer analyses of the film and reminiscences of the actors and director Siodmak. Weaver interviews Tom Neal Jr., actor William Phipps and production assistant Herman Cohen, whose duties included minding producer Broder's children. Weaver has once again located every known fact about a movie that has suddenly become a lot more interesting -- I'll have to pull out the old DVD now. Holding this big yellow book (the softcover edition), I'm thinking it's the perfect thing to set out on the coffee table when relatives come over. They'll know better than to make small talk with me, by golly.

---

Cool weather in L.A. ... as soon as we finished the last episode of Mad Men last night, we resolved to watch the whole series again, or at least to start from the beginning to see what the actors looked like back in 2007 or whenever we got on that bandwagon. I know TV is now better than ever, but so far we haven't been captivated by any other series. It's the Real Thing,^™ and I'm suddenly thirsty.

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are:

Jamaica Inn
Entertainment One / The Cohen Collection
Blu-ray
  From deep in the Cohen vault, formerly the Rohauer vault, comes a pristine copy of a vintage Hitchcock film that's existed solely in unwatchable PD prints since longer than this reviewer can remember. It's really a showcase for star Charles Laughton, who controlled production to the extent that, although beautifully directed, the film betrays little or nothing of the Hitchcock touch. But the compensations are plenty. Besides Laughton's marvelous, impish perf we've got Maureen O'Hara in one of her first movies and Robert Newton as the hero. He's young, trim and looks like he's never had a drink in his life. Plus Leslie Banks, Mervyn Johns and a whole gang of swarthy Cornwall pirates that wreck cargo ships and murder their crews for profit. It's a striking production, perfectly preserved -- and how often does one get to see a "new" Alfred Hitchcock movie? On Blu-ray from The Cohen Film Collection.
5/16/15

The Confession
The Criterion Collection
Blu-ray
  Costa-Gavras and French leftist actors Yves Montand and Simone Signoret make a film about communist Czechoslovakia, but the subject is a surprise: it's a factual, scathing dramatization of the imprisonment plus psychological torture of a loyal high-ranking party member, as part of a huge purge of Franco and Hitler-era anti-Fascists. Montand's bureaucrat is given the works for months, until he 'voluntarily' confesses a litany of false traitorous acts, all so that the party can put on a grossly unjust but power-affirming show trial. The lesson in political reality is all the more convincing coming from the left itself; the many extras begin with a behind-the-scenes docu directed by Chris Marker. On Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
5/16/15

and

Hombre
Twilight Time
Blu-ray
  Martin Ritt directs and Paul Newman stars in an impressive adaptation of a book by Elmore Leonard, a western tale that seems a political update of Stagecoach: racism is the new ingredient, and society is so screwed up that this new stagecoach never reaches its destination. Newman isn't really a blue-eyed Apache, merely a white captive.His performance is excellent, as is that of every member of a quality cast: Fredric March, Diane Cilento, Richard Boone, Barbara Rush, Martin Balsam, Frank Silvera. Plus we've got ace cinematography by the great James Wong Howe. It's a quality oater distinct from the trends of its year. On Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
5/16/15

---

Hello!

The links! Da links! Gary Teetzel directs me toward this brief YouTube featurette with sound expert Ben Burt, who before our very eyes and ears recreates the Electronic Tonalities of Forbidden Planet on old fashioned hi-fi equipment. Pretty interesting!

Some great stuff just flew into Savant central and is being readied for review: Warners' Wolfen, Sony's 1776, Criterion's State of Siege, Olive's Kings of the Sun, and just in from Kino, The Boys in the Band, Harry in Your Pocket, Cops and Robbers, Malice, The Onion Field and The Island of Dr. Moreau (which I've never seen). Busy times ahead!

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are:

Moonlighting
B2MP
Blu-ray + DVD
  Jerzy Skolimowski's slightly absurdist tale is a blindingly apt metaphor for Poland's unhappiness with Communist State rule. Foreman-carpenter Jeremy Irons leads three Polish fellows to defy labor laws and secretly refurbish a London townhouse for a rich Pole. Hiding out as they work raises tensions, until a coup back in Warsaw cuts them off entirely. To get the job finished, Irons lies to his comrades, keeping them isolated and uninformed - as problems like how to eat without sufficient funds grow more acute. The quality disc has comments from star Irons; it's a dual-Format edition on Blu-ray and DVD from B2MP.
5/12/15

Thank Your Lucky Stars
The Warner Archive Collection
Blu-ray
  Warner's first all-star wartime ode to the troops is a comedy variety spectacular that gathers every name actor on the payroll. Everybody does something unusual, with John Garfield and Errol Flynn singing; Alexis Smith, Olivia de Havilland and Ida Lupino dancing and Bette Davis spinning in circles in a jitterbug dance. Eddie Cantor plays two roles and Humphrey Bogart shows up for a cowardly cameo. "Ice Cold Katy" is a stomping jive swing all-black production number with Hattie McDaniel and Willie Best, about a black soldier getting married before shipping out. With a pile of new extras including newsreels and new HD transfers of Bugs Bunny cartoons. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
5/12/15

and

Tarantula
Koch Media GmbH
Region B (Germany) Blu-ray
  This disc has been available for eleven months but a copy finally drifted my way... so here's my enthusiastic "hey it's brand new!" review. The biggest big bug movie of them all sees melting-face biologist Leo G. Carroll let loose a King Size Arachnid on the wild open spaces of Arizona. It's bigger than the Astrodome yet manages to stay hidden in the wide-open spaces, while John Agar and Mara Corday fuss and fret. Jack Arnold's basic-black humungous monster movie is a study in scale and surreal vistas; when the spider walks across the desert, all we need is a giant melting wristwatch for the foreground. Also starring Clint Eastwood's voice, eyes, and the bridge of his nose. This German (not playable in U.S. machines) disc comes in two aspect ratios and accompanied by good extras. On Region B (Germany) Blu-ray from Koch Media GmbH (DE).
5/12/15

---

Hello!

Gary Teetzel tells us to check this out while it's still there: somebody posted a boot of the legendary, rare alternate ending montage sequence for Saul Bass's Phase IV in fairly decent quality on YouTube. How did I miss this before? -- I'm the 28 thousandth person to check it out.

Correspondent Bart Steele wrote in with the link to the TCM Movie Morlocks "Subliminal Advertising" article from 2010 that I requested at the conclusion of my It! The Terror from Beyond Space review: it's called Secret Messages and is written by producer-director Bret Wood. I lived all my life with rumors and apocryphal info about this craze, and it's great to see it all straightened out so clearly.

And lastly, I got a 20th Fox Home Entertainment news blip today about new DVD-Rs coming out from the Fox Cinema Archives and MGM Limited Edition collections -- Fox distributes both of them. New titles that I'd want to review are Michael Sarne's Joanna (1968, record album pictured), Renée Taylor & Joseph Bologna in Made For Each Other (1971), producer Richard E. Lyons' The Sad Horse (1959), Philip Kaufman's Fearless Frank (1967), and Jerzy Skolimowskis' The Adventures Of Gerard (1970).

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are:

It! The Terror from Beyond Space
Olive Films
Blu-ray
 Edward L. Cahn's micro-budgeted space suspense tale has a lot of new fans now, not just through the Alien connection but because it's a well done tale of astronauts fighting a monster in the confines of their tiny spaceship. Marshall Thompson, Shawn Smith and Paul Langton lead the effort to kill Paul Blaisdell's unkillable Martian. This one's deserving of some close analysis, as the makers at least paid attention to the screenplay by sci-fi writer Jerome Bixby. So what do you think -- how many levels of the spaceship did the production really build? On Blu-ray from Olive Films.
5/09/15

Ladyhawke
The Warner Archive Collection
Blu-ray
  Richard Donner and story writer Edward Khmara energize this medieval fantasy with a high-concept idea worthy of a classic fairy tale -- this Knight and lady are --- I don't give it away for the benefit of the five people out there yet to see this show unspoiled. Young Matthew Broderick is likeable as the 'kid interest' in a classic fantasy romance between Rutger Hauer's noble knight Navarre and Michelle Pfeiffer's Fair Lady. Both have this transformation problem left by the curse of a necromancing Bishop. Vittorio Storaro's glowing cinematography is entertaining in itself, and contributes much of the film's fantastic beauty. Plus there's all that great photography of a hunting hawk, a black wolf and a really beautiful horse. Teach your kids that all animals are magical!. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
5/09/15

and

The Midnight Special
Time Life / Star Vista
DVD
  It's a 3-disc set of highlight performances from the 1 a.m. show that ran from 1972 to 1981, with a tall stack of fun performers. The '70s fashions and hairstyles are entertaining in themselves, but so is the nostalgic fun of seeing all these famous folk looking younger than springtime and eager to please as performers. The production values of the show are good, too -- the performances are live, with no playback tricks (I think). Just to mention some favorites, the musical talent includes Jim Croce. Elvin Bishop. Carlos Santana, Linda Ronstadt, Earth, Wind & Fire, Aretha Franklin, Seals & Crofts, REO Speedwagon, Steely Dan, Glen Campbell, Stephen Bishop, Dolly Parton, Yvonne Elliman, Donna Summer; plus comedians Billy Crystal, George Carlin, Steve Martin, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Joan Rivers, Jimmie Walker, Robert Klein and Andy Kaufman. Note: bigger DVD sets (10- and 20-discs) are available as well. On DVD from Time Life / Star Vista.
5/09/15

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Hello!

I know that I've already pointed readers to Trailers from Hell's David Cronenberg celebration this week, but Friday's offering of the 1986 The Fly with director Katt Shea is not to be missed. Ms. Shea is not only funny, she graces us with a truly creepy-crawly description of two scenes from the film that were too disgusting to make it into the final cut.

---

And now for something really evil -- I'll abuse the privilege of this column to ask about TELEPHONE SOLICITORS. As the last person on the planet with a landline -- same phone # since 1976 -- I've heard them all. But a new generation of insidious telephone soliciting vermin has forced me to screen all calls with an answering machine. We resisted that forever, as it seems so much friendlier to answer in person, not make callers wait, etc.. The constant bombardment of solicitors made that untenable. I felt worse hanging up on them, sometimes two or three an hour, than making everyone sit through an eight second message. But they became too many and too hostile.

That was about a year ago. NOW in the last few weeks they've upped the ante. Instead of giving up, they play a really insidious message. It begins with Muzak, as if I originated the call, and I am on hold. Sometimes a recorded voice breaks in to tell me that I'll be able to talk to somebody as soon as a line is free (not my line, which is tied up by this &%#@ incoming call). Finally, about fifteen seconds later, a live person comes on the line, saying just my first name: "Glenn? Glenn?" Nothing more. The zombies know my name ... it's like hearing a chant of, "Morgan -- come out!"

All I can figure is that these cockroaches are hoping to snag a slightly more fuzzy-headed elderly person, the kind that religiously answer their land line and may actually be confused by the 'waiting on hold' baloney, thinking that they made the call, not the solicitor. And confused people have less resistance to solicitation. I'm not really angry or frustrated, just curious. Is this a widespread phenomenon? I presently get this particular message/strategy, with different live voices, at least three times a week. Someone clue me in and I'll link to the appropriate site that confirms either my sanity or my paranoia.

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are:

Make Way for Tomorrow
The Criterion Collection
Blu-ray
  Leo McCarey knew it wouldn't sell tickets but he made it anyway -- an uncompromising look at the problem of 'what to do with the old folks.' Beulah Bondi and Victor Moore are temporarily separated when none of their adult children can make the space for them. The heads of the family are suddenly an unwanted burden, and for the younger generation convenience outweighs responsibility. This beautifully acted drama doesn't cheat to wring tears from the audience, but don't be surprised if they come anyway, in a conclusion that gives the old couple a few hours to spend together in the place they were married fifty years before. With insightful extras and discussion. On Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
5/05/15

Seven Angry Men
The Warner Archive Collection
DVD
  Stern, wild-eyed Raymond Massey plays abolitionist rebel John Brown for the second time in 15 years, and this one's a little kinder and gentler -- although the bearded fundamentalist retains his bad habit of executing pro-slavers, claiming he's carrying out the will of God. Allied Artists' script tries to get it right but avoids every issue connected to this controversial -- and weirdly topical -- maniac/martyr from American history. And the production's barely bigger than a one-horse western. Debra Paget plays the upset wife of Jeffrey Hunter, one of Brown's sons: "That man promised he'd stop going out on murder raids! I told him it's me or armed insurrection, but not both!" (Paget doesn't really say that.) A strange '50s historical drama, on DVD-R from The Warner Archive Collection.
5/05/15

and

The Beyond
Grindhouse Releasing
Blu-ray
  It's gross, it's disgusting, it has little or no redeeming social content (liberals once liked that phrase). The main subject at hand is the sadistic mangling of human flesh, all close up and gooey. But Savant responds to the way the story looks and the way it's told -- building an uncanny mood is to be commended, and the payoff does indeed make us feel as if we've stepped beyond some weird barrier in the mind. No excuses, but I like this one. Catriona MacColl and David Warbeck star in Lucio Fulci's third or fourth tale about unlucky folk that stumble on a direct conduit to hell. This time Fulci got it right. With beaucoup extras, including a full soundtrack CD. On Blu-ray from Grindhouse Releasing.
5/05/15

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Hello!

I've received a couple of notes from readers mindful of the new surge in Star Wars interest, that ask why I haven't reviewed any of the movies and don't discuss them much. I was 25 when the first Star Wars came out and was as dazzled by it as much as anyone else; I had some contact with the original Van Nuys ILM shop while it was being made and remember a few of the young art students / craftspeople / camera geniuses / effects inventors very well. Now of course, the Dees-Nay Empire has gained control of the franchise. I'm hearing rumors (I hope they're more than rumors) that the original unaltered versions of the first three films will finally make it to Blu-ray sooner than later. If so I'll jump in with both feet to cover them. We '70s film students were split by the wholesale takeover of the culture by LucasLand, followed by SpielbergRama. it was exciting to see big audience pleasers being made again, and also to see new Science Fiction fantasies that weren't 100% stupid, like Logan's Run (apologies to little kids who loved it). On the other hand, another part of the 1977 film student demographic judged Star Wars and its ilk as junk, a distraction, as cinematic Kudzu that crowded out the great director-oriented innovations of earlier in the decade. I'm not so sure about that.

I also just came across a booklet I edited for an old Filmex fantasy marathon back in 1985, where I wrote up The Empire Strikes Back. I was rewarded when director Irvin Kershner told me that by his estimation, I got it exactly right. It had to happen once. It will be fun to try and recap what made Star Wars so much fun for its first batch of fans. It's a case of nostalgia, I guess... when these movies hit back in 1977 it felt as if the the biggest, most important pictures were suddenly being made for an audience just like me.

---

This week at Trailers from Hell is David Cronenberg week. Today's coming attractions + commentary gives us Mick Garris on the gynecologically warped Dead Ringers. By Friday we'll have Josh Olson on The Brood and Katt Shea on The Fly. Hope I learn something new!

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are:

Richard III
Twilight Time
Blu-ray
  What a trip! Ian McKellen co-wrote and stars in a wildly imaginative, visually energized version of Shakespeare's play, relocating the action to a fantasy fascist England in the 1930s. The crookback S.O.B. schemes and murders his way through the royal family, getting more fun out of pure malicious villainy than anybody since the Devil himself. The murders are as horrible as in any giallo, yet we realize that the evil we see here comes part and parcel with the ambition for power, at least historically speaking. McKellen is joined by an incredible cast of actors, all of whom nail their dynamic roles: Annette Bening, Jim Broadbent, Robert Downey Jr., Nigel Hawthorne, Kristin Scott Thomas, John Wood, Maggie Smith, Edward Hardwicke, Adrian Dunbar, Dominic West, Tim McInnerny, Bill Paterson. On Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
5/02/15

The Premature Burial
KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray
  Roger Corman's solitary non-Vincent Price Poe feature doesn't get half the love it deserves, but this HD presentation is a vast improvement on earlier home video editions. A rich man can't make up his mind whether to make hay with his new wife or mope about because his ancestors have had a bad history of succumbing to cataleptic trances and being buried alive. That never seems to happen to the right people. Ray Milland and Hazel Court are respectively ultra-morbid and warmly gorgeous in the restored color, and the film's central dream sequence with Milland locked in the crypt, all of his escape devices failing him, touches very basic fears. With a new intro by Joe Dante. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
5/02/15

and

The Long Good Friday
Arrow Video (UK)
Region B Blu-ray + PAL DVD
  Bob Hoskins' London mob boss Harold Shand thinks he's putting across the biggest legit real estate development deal of all time, but as he closes the deal an unknown force begins blowing his organization to bits. John Mackenzie's ferocious, classic-level gangster tale has great performances from (sigh) Helen Mirren, Eddie Constantine, Paul Freeman, and an amazing bit by Pierce Brosnan in his first movie. Like a doorway to the greed-fueled 1980s, the movie shows London ripe for 'gentrification' by mobsters -- as apt a metaphor for big business as the old-time tales of prohibition. With Anchor Bay's excellent long-form making of documentary. On Region B Blu-ray and PAL DVD from Arrow Video (UK).
5/02/15

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Howdy! I just received a screener of Olive's It! The Terror from Beyond Space (due May 19) and popped it into play to make sure the aspect ratio called out on the package (1.37:1) is wrong. Happily, the disc itself is formatted at a proper 1:78 widescreen. What a great little movie -- especially when correctly formatted.

Correspondent Craig Reardon forwards a weird English TV spot from the 1960s -- a Lux Soap Ad with famous makeup man Perc Westmore and bouncy star Jane Fonda smushing soapsuds into her face. Way to go Jane, we wouldn't see you doing that in the states.

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson