Why is this picture here? CLICK on it.

Savant's new reviews today are:

In a Lonely Place
The Criterion Collection
Blu-ray
 It's a different Bogart -- a character performance in a Nicholas Ray noir about distrust anxiety in romance. Gloria Grahame is the independent woman who must withhold her commitment... until a murder can be sorted out. Which will crack first, the murder case or the relationship? With Frank Lovejoy and Art Smith, this is indeed one of the top noir titles, a unique picture and one of Ray's very best. With an interview featurette by Gloria Grahame's biographer. On Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
4/30/16

Janis: Little Girl Blue
Filmrise
DVD
 An amazing talent gone way too soon, Janis Joplin is more than her boozy, brash public image. This bio docu has the personal background and the insights of those her knew, plus the Texas and San Francisco context in the Rock breakout of the late 1960s. Director Amy J. Berg strikes a fine balance between Janis' inner thoughts as recorded in her correspondence, and excellent film footage of her performing life and wild times. On DVD from Filmrise.
4/30/16

Where to Invade Next
Anchor Bay
Blu-ray
  Do you know how many hours per week the average Italian works, and what he gets time off for? Do you know what social services the French, the Finns, the Slovenians get for their tax dollars? America's favorite gadfly has made something worth watching -- a European tour of Great Ideas that American would do well to steal outright -- even if many of those ideas originated here. Not that anyone will listen, but Hail the Conquering Hero just the same.. On Blu-ray from Anchor Bay.
4/30/16

and

Julia
Twilight Time
Blu-ray
 One of the best-remembered dramas of the '70s gives us controversial actresses, a lavish production and a story by the even more controversial Lillian Hellman. Director Fred Zinnemann makes it into a suspenseful, deeply affecting experience. Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave top a fine cast in a film structured like a short-story reminiscence, with one very good extended suspense sequence on a train into Nazi Germany. On Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
4/30/16

---

Hello!

A quick note today ... just to see what's in the review hopper: I just realized that I have Criterion's Phoenix here, so I'm going to get into that immediately. Looking at the Calendar, I have ready to roll A Kiss Before Dying (Kino), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Warner Archive), Mustang (Cohen), the 1946 The Chase and Candy (Kino). Also in way before street date from Kino are Shield for Murder, Hidden Fear, and The Magnetic Monster.

Expected presently are What! and That's Sexploitation (Severin), Woman on the Run and Too Late for Tears (Flicker Alley), Dark Passage (Warner Archive) and an attractive batch of Twilight Time releases: I Could Go On Singing, Eureka, Apassionata and Garden of Evil.

I carried some equipment around downtown last Sunday evening to help a photographer friend on his shoot, so am offering this view of the Los Angeles City Hall ... which this week has been specially illuminated in memory of Prince. The picture has not been retouched.

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson

Why is this picture here? CLICK on it.

Savant's new reviews today are:

Theory of Obscurity: A Film About the Residents
Film Movement
Blu-ray
 These are the Eyes that Satirize! Everybody's seen their imagery but few know the story of these anonymous performance artists and their avant-garde music. Their highly creative songs and videos satirize the commercialization of art and music, and they've chosen a real 'you'll never get rich' way to stay clear of the commercial undertow. Don Hardy's feature documentary is accompanied by galleries of uncut videos and samples of unfinished projects. On Blu-ray from Film Movement.
4/26/16

Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street
Olive Films
Blu-ray
 The irrepressible Samuel Fuller takes on a murder and extortion saga for German TV, and comes up with an eccentric mix: old-fashioned hardboiled scripting, free-form direction and odd bits of visual graffiti from the French New Wave. Christa Lang is the femme fatale and Glenn Corbett is the two-fisted American hero, whose name is NOT Griff. And yes, a pigeon does bite the pavement on Beethoven Street, and I tell you, that's one dead pigeon. With Sieghardt Rupp, Anton Diffring and Stéphane Audran. On Blu-ray from Olive Films.
4/26/16

and

When You're Older, Dear Adam
&
Berlin Around the Corner
Separate Releases
The DEFA Film Library
DVD
 East German filmmakers literally toed the Party line for 44 years of Communist rule, but there were those that dared to leave the confines of social realism. From 1966 come two productions that were banned and shelved before they could be finished -- and weren't seen until they were patched together 25 years later. One color fantasy is about a boy who finds a flashlight that makes liars float in the air. The second is a terrific drama about a disenchanted 20-something factory initiate who has trouble with his bosses, his union, his to-die-for new girl friend, and the fact that he and his best pal regularly pull off petty crimes. Think that might get your movie banned in East Germany? Separate Purchases on DVD from The DEFA Film Library.
4/26/16

---

Hello!

I've got an interesting international update from correspondent Stefan Andersson:

"Hi Glenn! Some news I've found: Milestone Films will release Daughter of the Dawn (1920), a silent drama starring two of Chief Quanah Parker's children. Mysteriously, the film was only shown in a couple of previews and never released. Milestone also has Vol. 4 of their Shirley Clarke project upcoming, including short films, dance films, her Robert Frost docu and much more.

---

Most of the rest will presumably be formatted Region B.

Regarding restored Universal monster films, Elephant Films of France has both The Son of Frankenstein and Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman out on Blu, though I'm not sure the masters are from the most recent restorations. Elephant also has a bunch of Douglas Sirk titles released, or upcoming, on Blu:

Thunder on the Hill, Sign of the Pagan, All That Heaven Allows, Imitation of Life, Written on the Wind. They also have upcoming Alexander Korda's Jungle Book, plus David Lean's Blithe Spirit, This Happy Breed and The Passionate Friends on Blu.

---

A special note, Marcel Pagnol's Marseilles Trilogy: Marius, Fanny, César is now restored and released on Region B Blu w/ English subs. Always wanted to see that, but it looks really pricey...

---

And not a disc announcement but of great interest is the large slate of restorations 'premiering' at Cannes this year : Marlon Brando's One-Eyed Jacks, (Film Foundation), Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu, Roger Corman's Pit and the Pendulum, Jindrich Polák's Ikarie XB 1 (!!!), Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris, Jean Grémillon's Gueule d'amour, Jean Luc Godard's Masculin-Féminin, Jacque Becker´s Rendez-vous de juillet. Best, Stefan"

---

You know, I couldn't watch this all the way through, and I'm not sure why. Joe Dante has circulated a link to an Atlas Obscura page with a short but truly horrendous Workplace Safety Video. I've been this route before, with Fantoma's Safe, Not Sorry and Bret Wood's Hell's Highway, but now my tolerance for workplace horrors has gone way down. The likelihood of my being mangled in an industrial machine is really low. What's my problem, awareness of mortality?

---

Gary Teetzel steers us in the direction of a Museum of Modern Art Calendar for a season of new Universal Pictures: Restorations and Rediscoveries, 1928-1937 to be screened in New York in May and June. It includes just about every early Universal title we've read about but not seen, with restored titles by Edward L. Cahn, Paul Fejos, John Ford, Frank Borzage, William Wyler, John M. Stahl, Tay Garnett, Monta Bell, Lew Landers and James Whale. Make that four full features by James Whale, including two different versions of the elusive The Road Back (1937). Even I'd get out to the museum for a few of those.

---

And finally... For a long time I've been wondering about the source of a lot of footage of people running in fear in the 1957 science fiction movie Kronos, a B&W 'Regalscope' movie. The fleeing citizens are supposed to be Mexicans, but they looked like Hawailans to me, and in my old review I noted that a shot of what had to be pineapple fields showed Kolekole Pass, on Oahu, with Kronos and his force waves matted in. I thought, what Cinemascope Fox movie could have been the source of this stock footage? I wondered about this back in my original Kronos review from 2000.

I found it last night -- it's Fox's The Revolt of Mamie Stover, from the year before, 1956. All the Kronos shots are there in the movie's Pearl Harbor attack scene -- the wide views of the valley with the pineapples (above, in B&W and with Kronos added), and shots of panicky people running in the Honolulu hill streets. There's even the down angle in the middle of a city street. In Kronos, they matched the street shot to show the giant robot's foot squashing some people.

The Mamie Stover cuts are all in bright color! All those Hawaiian shirts... the reason they fixated on citizens fleeing the Japanese attack is to motivate the panic selling of real estate, which the character Mamie Stover (Jane Russell) invests in and becomes rich.

Another arcane sci-fi matinee mystery solved. Maybe I'll get an attaboy from Bill Warren.

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson

Why is this picture here? CLICK on it.
What is it? It's my view every time I go to the grocery store,
courtesy Frank Lloyd Wright and tangentially, William Castle.

Savant's new reviews today are:

In the French Style
Twilight Time
Blu-ray
 It's a genuine forgotten gem: American student Jean Seberg's five-year adventure in Paris is a period of romantic frustration and personal discovery. Irwin Shaw and Robert Parrish's look at the problems of a pre-feminist independent woman is remarkably insightful; the chronically miscast and underused Ms. Seberg is luminous, enchanting. With an impressive performance by Stanley Baker, and beautifully filmed in the City of Light. On Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
4/23/16

Three Brothers
Arrow Academy U.K.
Region B Blu-ray + PAL DVD
 Italian director Francesco Rosi's warm, thoughtful tale sees a family gathering observe grievous modern problems -- in the midst of so much violence in Italian politics people are still seeking humanistic solutions. The conflict is in the gap between their dreams and daily reality. Philippe Noiret heads a great cast in this mellow reflection on 'the things of life:' Charles Vanel, Michele Placido, Vittorio Mezzogiorno. On Region B Blu-ray and PAL DVD from Arrow Academy U.K..
4/23/16

and

The Second Civil War
Savant Second Look
HBO Video
DVD
 Is satire obsolete? Appalling present realities have surpassed some of the wildest jokes in director Joe Dante's 'exaggerated, outrageous' 1997 cable movie, which is why I'm reviewing it now. An immigration squabble snowballs until a renegade state governor closes his border and threatens to secede from the Union. The big-scale political disaster comedy stars Beau Bridges, Elizabeth Peña, James Coburn, Phil Hartman, Dan Hedaya, Joanna Cassidy, James Earl Jones, Kevin Dunn, Denis Leary and Ron Perlman. On DVD (2005) from HBO Video.
4/23/16

---

Hello!

A great week in warm California, where things aren't as fuzzy as the photo above... I just don't have the desired long lens for my camera. I almost had a fourth review finished for today, but had to hold it for next time.

Gary Teetzel forwards some odd links: Does the idea of a 2/3 scale Psycho House atop the Metropolitan Museum of Art appeal to you? The illustrated story by the Wall Street Journal is right here. Now all they need is a 4-and-a-half foot Anthony Perkins.

And 'Toy Ranch' has unearthed some Monster Heads used to promote Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman from back in 1943. That fully illustrated rundown is viewable at the Universal Monster Army Forum.

Thirdly, Gary points us to a full album of Vincent Price Souvenir Audio, taken from a 1962 recording to promote the Seattle World's Fair. Vincent reciting airy futuristic wish fulfillment ... he's pretty effective, even if it sounds like he's speaking from inside a crypt.

And thanks to Facebook, I also connected with artist Mark Maddox, an accomplished illustrator who seems to share both my background as a military dependent, and that youthful love of good old monster movies. I've swiped thumbnails of two of his colorul paintings; you can see more of Mark's arresting graphics at his page, Maddox Planet - The Art of Mark Maddox.

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson

Why is this picture here? CLICK on it.

Savant's new reviews today are:

Father of the Bride
The Warner Archive Collection
Blu-ray
  This is one of Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor's best, written and directed by the classy MGM team of director Vincente Minnelli and writers Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett. It inspired a decade's worth of TV family sitcoms and set the benchmark for weddings for generations. Great fun and solid sentiment without mugging or exaggeration. With Joan Bennett and Don Taylor, plus Leo G. Carrol as a wonderfully officious wedding planner. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
4/19/16

Cutter's Way
Twilight Time
Blu-ray
 "Sorry, I just slashed my wrists." "Well, tape 'em!"   This is the aftermath of the '60s protest movement. Ivan Passer's riveting murder mystery of flakes and losers in sun-drenched, guilty Santa Barbara expresses the rage of radicals faced with the growing class divide, and the arrogance of the wealthy. Plus great roles for Jeff Bridges, John Heard and Lisa Eichhorn. It's an incredible character study and one of the few pure expressions of radical alienation in early '70s California. Glowing cinematography by Jordan Cronenweth and truly strange, brilliant music by Jack Nitzche -- listenable on an Isolated Music Track. On Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
4/19/16

and

Dillinger
Arrow Video U.S.
Blu-ray + DVD
 Guns! Guns! Guns! John Milius' rootin' tootin' bio of the most famous of the '30s bandits has plenty of good things to its credit, especially its terrific, funny cast, topped by the unlikely star Warren Oates. The battles between Dillinger's team of all-star bank robbers and Ben Johnson's G-Man aren't neglected, as Milius savors every gun recoil and Tommy gun blast. With Ben Johnson, Harry Dean Stanton, Michelle Phillips, Geoffrey Lewis, Steve Kanaly, and as Baby Face Nelson, s baby-faced Richard Dreyfus. Also, some good interview extras. On Blu-ray and DVD from Arrow Video U.S..
4/19/16

---

Hello!

Good news -- Criterion just announced its July lineup, which includes Terrence Malick's The New World, Alain Resnais' Muriel & Night and Fog, the wild-card inclusion The In-Laws, and -- and -- Herk Harvey's haunting Carnival of Souls. Bill 'Kansas' Shaffer turned me on to the finer points of Carnival, and I pull the old Crit DVD out at least once a year. We love Candace Hilligoss!

Correspondent Stefan Andersson reports that Scorpion Releasing has announced the oddball crime pic 92 in the Shade, which I've never seen. Does anybody have the straight dope on the differences between the original release, and the revised version that soon took its place?

Finally, Stefan also says that Kino has new Fox titles coming: Jean Negulesco's Road House, Henry Hathaway's Rawhide, John Ford's 3 Bad Men (George O'Brien!) and a reportedly restored Robert Siodmak Cry of the City. Kino is also said to be set to release a Buster Keaton Shorts box, featuring new 2K restorations: all 19 shorts from the previous edition, plus 13 shorts teaming Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle. Some of those Keaton-Arbuckle films are the funniest things I've ever seen.

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson

Why is this picture here? CLICK on it.

Savant's new reviews today are:

Try and Get Me!
Olive Films
Blu-ray
 This noir hits with the force of a blast furnace -- Cy Endfield's wrenching tale of social neglect and injustice will tie your stomach in knots. Sound like fun? An unemployed man turns to crime and reaps a whirlwind of disproportionate retribution. Frank Lovejoy falls in with Lloyd Bridges' psychotic armed robber and the horror begins, capped with a scene of mob violence guaranteed to make you squirm. There's no law against what's right! With Kathleen Ryan, Richard Carlson, Adele Jergens, Katherine Locke, Art Smith and Renzo Cesana. It's surely the most powerful of all filmic accusations thrown at the American status quo. A great disc release, on Blu-ray from Olive Films.
4/15/16

The Kennedy Films of Robert Drew & Associates
The Criterion Collection
Blu-ray
 Take a look at the roots of American campaign image consciousness, and the then-new techniques of cinéma vérité to bring a new 'reality' for film documentaries. Four groundbreaking films cover the Kennedy-Humphrey presidential primary, and put us in the Oval Office for a showdown against Alabama governor George Wallace. Filmed by a vérité dream team: Richard Leacock, Albert Maysles, D.A. Pennebaker. With terrific extras, about the filmmakers and President Kennedy. On Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
4/15/16

and

The Gallant Hours
KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray
 Director Robert Montgomery's last is a war movie like no other, a study in leadership and command with no combat scenes. James Cagney leads a huge cast to tell the story of Admiral Bull Halsey, the commander who turned the tide of the war in the Pacific. Removed from typical war-movie action, the film becomes a rumination on the caliber of great men doing a desperate, crucial job. Cagney uses none of his standard personality mannerisms; the result is something very affecting. And that music! You'll think the whole show is the memory of a soul in heaven. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
4/15/16

---

Hello!

Some fun links! Correspondents Gary Teetzel and Bart Steele have tipped me off to a big news flash from Loch Ness -- they've found the sea monster prop lost by Billy Wilder back in 1969, the one made for his The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Did Wilder not follow the advice of his staff because he was impatient -- or did he perhaps not like the prop, and wanted to get rid of it? The parts of the story we know are in this Loch Ness Monster story from the BBC's Scotland Highlands Reporter Steven McKenzie. What a great job -- he gets to flash a jaunty smile and say, "I'm the Scotland Highlands Reporter from the BBC, Laddie."

Trailers from Hell has some new atom-themed coming attractions up this week: Fail-Safe, Doctor Strangelove and The Day the Earth Caught Fire today.

I'm getting antsy -- Twilight Time's Blu of the Henry Hathaway - Bernard Herrmann Garden of Evil is due out May 10. I just received some of their April discs and am getting into them right away.

And don't forget -- the 17th Annual Los Angeles Noir City Film Festival begins today at Hollywood's Egyptian Theater, and will run to April 24. The full schedule is posted online!

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson

Just back from back East, attending a close in-the-family wedding in Baltimore. A few hours in I remembered that Baltimore is Edgar Allan Poe country; they told me his grave is a few minutes out of town. Saturday was very cold, and one of my son's friends who drove us to a rehearsal dinner took me on a mini- John Waters tour. Evidently Waters is still very much a local resident, and is well known to the art students and the local hipster scene. So we saw a couple of the director's hangouts. Who'd've thunk it? John Waters a neighborhood guy. At least that's the story I was told. And the neighborhood even looked familiar from his movies.

So I'm starting off the new week badly... as I had TCM work to do today. The plan is to get a couple of reviews up in the next day or so, and then get back on schedule. Thanks for your patience.

If you don't know already, this year's Turner Classic Movies Festival will be 'premiering' Universal's restoration of Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman with Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr.. I have it under good authority that the restoration has been done at a full 4K, so I'll be interested in finding out what it looks like on a big screen (should a reader attend). If they indeed project it at 4K, it may look as good as Taxi Driver and Breakfast at Tiffany's looked at earlier TCMfest screenings. Alas, no news of any new Blu-ray remasterings of vintage Universal goodies, besides a Doris Day package that came out recently.

On the other hand, the Mill Creek company has a pair of William Castle double bills coming out on Blu. A couple of months back collectors were complaining that Mill Creek's DVDs of Hammer titles weren't going to make it with fans that already had them from earlier pressings... and I didn't pay much attention when the company said that they'd look into licensing more fantastic fare for HD. But perhaps this is their response. The double-bill angle is a smart one, as two titles for a reasonable price will snag many of the buyers that balk at Blu-ray prices aimed at collectors. The pairings are Homicidal & Mr. Sardonicus, and 13 Ghosts with 13 Frightened Girls. No mention if 13 Ghostswill do anything with the "illusion-O," for which Sony's first DVD release provided special glasses. More vintage Blu-ray product 'at popular prices' is a good combination.

Correspondent Ken Camp has alerted me to a company called 3-D Blu-ray Rental. It sounds a bit pricey, but here's Ken's note:

"I have noticed that Netflix often does not upgrade their DVDs to Blu-ray when they become available. So often you cannot rent the Blu-ray version of an older film from Netflix. I have been a member of this 3D Blu-ray rental club for a couple years now, and I have noticed that many of the Blu-rays and specialty Blu-rays you review are not available at Netflix, but they are available at the 3D Blu-Ray Rental Club. Mission accomplished.

For me the 3D Blu-ray Rental Club charges approximately $16.00 per month, and recently they upgraded my account so that I can have five Blu-rays out at one time. As you know, many 3D movies are not so great, so this club makes up for that by renting so many specialty or hard-to-find Blu-rays to the public."

This sounds great if you're crazy for more 3-D in your life. Maybe somebody should start a company renting Region B discs…?

Gary Teetzel chimes in with good news for 3-D fans, especially after that scare two months ago about manufacturers quitting the production of 3-D Blu-ray monitors --- the fine print said the 3-D would be dropped from lower-priced sets, and no 4K set can be described that way, at least not yet. Anyway, Twilight Time has confirmed that they will be releasing Columbia's The Mad Magician with Vincent Price, on Blu-ray 3-D. This comes on the heels of the announcement that TT's Miss Sadie Thompson with Rita Hayworth will be 3-D as well. When you combine that with the ongoing releases reportedly coming through the 3-D Film Archive, home video 3-D is still going strong.

On the subject of Twilight Time I have to say I am knocked out by their July & August release announcements. Besides the 3-D Miss Sadie Thompson, they've got Woody Allen's Zelig, The Glory Guys, Damiano Damiani's The Most Beautiful Wife, Paul Scrader's Hardcore, Vincent Price in Theater of Blood, Frank Sinatra in Lady in Cement and a re-issue of Sam Peckinpah's Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia.

Back soon with reviews -- thanks for reading -- Glenn

---

Saturday April 9, 2016

Why is this picture here? CLICK on it.

Savant's new reviews today are:

Exodus
Twilight Time
Blu-ray
 "This land is mine, God made this land for me." Those are just song lyrics, while Otto Preminger's politically daring 70mm mega-production is a lot more subtle in its presentation of the 'Palestinian problem' that led to the formation of the State of Israel. It's all a bit ponderous, but Dalton Trumbo's screenplay avoids the pitfalls -- 56 years later, the story is still relevant. Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint and Sal Mineo head an enormous production filmed where it happened, on Cyprus and Israel. On Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
4/09/16

City of the Dead
VCI
Blu-ray
 This horror almost classic has Christopher Lee and great atmosphere. Keep a sharp lookout for All Them Witches: they're not easy to spot... especially if you're as unobservant as Venetia Stevenson's sexy grad student. If she were studying sharks, this girl would wrap herself in fresh meat and jump into the middle of a mess of 'em. Betta St. John and Patricia Jessel mix it up with Chris in the haunted burg of Whitewood. Bring your hood and sacrificial knife! On Blu-ray from VCI.
4/09/16

and

Suspicion
The Warner Archive Collection
Blu-ray
  Alfred Hitchcock assembles all the right elements for this respected mystery thriller. Joan Fontaine is concerned that her new hubby Cary Grant plans to murder her. But Hitch wasn't able to use the twist ending that attracted him to the story in the first place! The beautiful RKO production makes the show look as attractive as Rebecca, and the extras include an in-depth making-of documentary. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
4/09/16

---

Hello!

What, no column today? Well, Savant is actually on the road and everything you see here was written about a week ago... so I hope it's okay. But I have plans to be back shortly, with more reviews than normal. Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson

Actual display at local Trader Joe's.

Savant's new reviews today are:

Blue Denim
20th Century Fox Cinema Archives
DVD
 Hollywood tackles the big issues! This adapted play about an unwanted teen pregnancy is actually quite good, thanks to fine performances by Carol Lynley and Brandon De Wilde, who convince as cherubic high schoolers 'too young to know the score.' Even though it's dated, and somewhat muted to please the Production Code, the central conflict is not compromised - although between you, me and the Supreme Court, the subject is a bigger powder keg than ever. With Macdonald Carey, Marsha Hunt and Warren Berlinger. And hey, the teen trauma is set to an intense music score by Bernard Herrmann. On DVD from 20th Century Fox Cinema Archives.
4/05/16

Panic in Year Zero!
KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray
 Hey, we're having a NUCLEAR family crisis, so prime your shotgun, grab the grenades and head for the hills, stealing what you need as you go. Vacationers find out that they've left Los Angeles just before those pesky nukes blast the whole city sky high; in the ensuing CHAOS! and PANIC! they must bend the rules of decorum... it is now permissible to ignore traffic rules, and also shoot people. Ray Milland's tense tale of doomsday survival shook up a lot of folks with its endorsement of ruthless violence. Milland directs and stars, with Jean Hagen, Frankie Avalon, Mary Mitchel and Joan Freeman. Rough stuff for its year: fortunately for us, the worst never happened, and we can still ask, "Where were you in '62?" On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
4/05/16

and

The Stuff
Arrow Video (US)
Blu-ray
 Forget Caltiki and forget The Blob: 'The Stuff' doesn't eat you, you eat it! Larry Cohen takes a page from the playbook of Professor Quatermass for this satirical slap at blind consumerism and unregulated commerce, in a thriller packed with ooky glob-monsters and people hollowed out like Halloween pumpkins. And fave Cohen actor Michael Moriarty is back with another eccentric character, aided by Andrea Marcovicci, Garrett Morris and an under-praised Scott Bloom. It's the smart side of '80s sci-fi: that rascal Cohen knows how to make the genre sustain his anti-establishment themes. On Blu-ray from Arrow Video (US).
4/05/16

---

Hello! We've got links today --

"tree! ... dvah! ... ah-DEEN!"

Esteemed correspondent Marshall Crawford sends in a winner, a YouTube link to the entire Soviet science fiction feature Road to the Stars. Made in 1957, it's the Russki equivalent of Disney's Tomorrowland: Man in Space, an optimistic primer about the dawning age of space travel, from the visionary Tsilkovsky to sci-fi projections of bases on the moon and a mission to Mars. Crawford's note was correct, in that Stanley Kubrick may have gotten some of his ideas for 2001 from this show, including the curved floors in the spinning space station interior. There's just one hitch, comrade... brush up on your Russian first 'cause there ain't no subtitles. Actually, the story is so clear they're hardly needed.

Fargo spoofery.

For those that haven't seen it, Savant correspondent Bill Migicovsky sends in this link to a late-night Colbert talk show mini-movie clip, where Steve Buscemi plays John Kasich. It's funny far beyond political considerations... I'm just responding to the Fargo- related content.

No Fish Is Safe

Always on the lookout for the newest and most coveted disc releases, Savant advisor and cohort Gary Teetzel tips us off to the DVD people have been clamoring for, ever since I became interested in movies. Horror legend John Carradine stars in the heretofore unknown classic, John Carradine Goes Fishing. It's directed by the great F. Herrick Herrick, too! Sorry, street date is still a full seven days away, so you'll just have to pre-order, curb your enthusiasm and watch the mailbox. This is a limited edition of only 21,000 units, and when they're gone they're gone. Nothing but the best here at DVD Savant.

Noir Strikes Back

On the screening home front, the 17th Annual Los Angeles Noir City film festival will hit Hollywood's Egyptian Theater a month from now, running from April 15 to April 24. The full schedule is already up, with details about other events, the Noir City party, etc. These people work up some fun special events, with costumes, vintage cars, etc. Co-host Alan K. Rode is always there in person, sometimes even in a pinstripe with matching fedora, greeting new noir fans. I'm interested in the first show on the schedule, the Film Noir Foundation's revival of the Argentine thriller Los tallos amargos (The Bitter Stems). Last year we saw the Argentine reworking of Fritz Lang's "M" called El Vampiro and it was great. Everything else this year is vintage Hollywood, with an accent on Universal releases. I like most of the titles but favor the unusual All My Sons and items I've never seen, like Flesh and Fury and Anthony Mann's Dr. Broadway.

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson

Saturday April 2, 2016

Why is this picture here? CLICK on it.

Savant's new reviews today are:

Alexander the Great
Twilight Time
Blu-ray
 Do you like sword 'n' sandal costume pictures, but get depressed because so many are so stupid? Robert Rosson's all-star tale of the charter founder of the Masons is a superior analysis of political ambition and the ruthless application of power. Yeah, he's wearing a blond wig, but Richard Burton captures the force of Alexander without camping up Asia Minor. There's also great support from a cast as varied as Claire Bloom, Fredric March, Danielle Darrieux, Harry Andrews, Stanley Baker, Niall MacGinnis, and in a great role, Peter Cushing. Beautiful production, too, in early CinemaScope. On Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
4/02/16

Journey to the Seventh Planet
KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray
 What horrors will we find on the planet Yoo-rah-nuss? A cyclopean dinosaur? Nasty spider monsters? A megalomaniac cerebellum that can turn our X-rated sex fantasies into flesh and blood people? Let's go! Sid Pink's flashy, slightly idiotic adventure stars space cadet John Agar as an average guy willing to have sex with a phantom from his own imagination. Say, doesn't Woody Allen make dirty jokes about that? After Rep-tickle-us, it's only the second Danish Sci-fi film made since the silent era. Get ready for clay-animation space scenes and some attractive stop-motion animation from a young Jim Danforth. With Greta Thyssen, Ann Smyrner and an alien brain with a dirty mind. Oh -- and Kino's transfer is nigh perfect. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
4/02/16

and

"Manos" The Hands of Fate
Synapse Special Edition
Blu-ray
 Auteur Harold P. Warren puts the Pee back in showmanship! If a modern celebrity can have zero talent or accomplishments beyond a sex tape, why can't a terrible horror movie take the prize as the worst of all time to receive a really tiny theatrical release? After seeing this frightless Texan fright show you'll want to nominate Ed Wood for a posthumous Oscar. It's popular beyond all comprehension. The intrepid disc producers provide great extras, but can't quite make us understand WHY it is the Landmark Lemon of all time. Starring that wacky demonic delinquent Torgo... And wait 'til you see the scene where they kill the cute dog! On Blu-ray from Synapse.
4/02/16

---

Hello!

First up today is a steer to an article from Greenbriar Picture Shows, a little earlier in the week. There's a nice piece up top there right now about Gow, The Headhunter, but scroll down to Monday, March 28 and you'll see Monsters Turned Loose on 1959, an appreciation of the old Gigantis The Fire Monster / Teenagers from Outer Space double bill. I remember seeing the big theater displays for this duo in downtown Honolulu, near the 'Hell's Half Acre' district, and wishing I could go... another theater nearby was playing the Vincent Price movie The Bat, which I haven't seen and have been told I didn't miss anything. BUT, a couple of months later I got to see both Gigantis and Teenagers separately at the Hickam AFB neighborhood theater, only about a block from our house on 9th street. Great shows -- it was my first exposure to the fire-breathing Gigantis/Godzilla, so I had bragging rights the next day on the 2nd-grade school playground. But I must also confess that at age seven, I thought Teenagers was a touching drama. Like, it made my eyes misty. And I think the lovesick hero was named Eric, or something like that. Anyway, John McElwee's illustrated report on the double bill is another of his fun distribution/exhibition- related pieces. Nyah Nyah John, I saw 'em and you didn't.

New titles just in: The Stuff from Arrow, The City of the Dead from VCI, Phoenix, Barcelona, Only Angels Have Wings, Brief Encounter and The Kennedy Films of Robert Drew & Associates from Criterion, Shadows of Liberty from Bullfrog Films, Exodus, Lilies of the Field and 10 Rillington Place from Twilight Time, and Panic in Year Zero and The Gallant Hours from Kino Lorber. There's also a DVD of Blue Denim from 20th Fox Cinema Archives. Filmed in CinemaScope and featuring music by Bernard Herrmann, the Blue Denim transfer is in enhanced widescreen. I've seen the first ten minutes, and so far it sounds and looks fine.

Over at Trailers from Hell today is commentator-trailer guru John Landis too impressed by Bonnie and Clyde to make too many jokes -- he instead dishes out the praise, while showing us the awful original release trailer, that somehow sought to sell the show as ... what? Psychedelic? Makes me want to see the picture again.

Also ... if any reader sent me an important Email during the day on Thursday, March 31.... could you send it again? I didn't realize that my Email in-box was blocked. A thousand pardons.

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson