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Savant's new reviews today are:

The Before Trilogy
The Criterion Collection
Blu-ray
 Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight.  Who would have thought that a '90s 'slacker' independent filmmaker would make such a strong romantic statement? Well, it's not all romance in the old sense. In what must be a project of love, Richard Linklater examines the ongoing love life of Jesse & Céline, in three movies spread across eighteen years. The conversations are as free- flowing as are the cameras roaming through European back streets. Thanks to the commitment of Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, the in-depth relationship seems real. Criterion, Linklater and the two stars have even more to say in the 3-disc sets's extensive extras. On Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
02/28/17

Framed
KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray
 In the 1970s crime films morphed into sadistic vigilante fantasies about tough-guy heroes avenging terrible crimes against their families. Veteran noir director Phil Karlson directed the bruiser's bruiser Joe Don Baker in a standard tale of violent vengeance, with the violence factor given an extra bloody boost. With Gabriel Dell, John Marley, Conny Van Dyke and Brock Peters; Joe Don Baker's solid performance makes the thing watchable. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
02//17

and

Kiss of Death
Twilight Time
Blu-ray
 This is the ultimate in screen sadism circa 1947, and it's all in the debut film performance of Richard Widmark as Tommy Udo, a too-nasty-for-words hood who likes to shoot people in the stomach. Actually, Victor Mature is not bad in a grim story of a stool pigeon that tries to square himself with the law, and finds himself a target for mob murder. With Colleen Gray, Brian Donlevy and sweet Mildred Dunnock, who in my opinion should have taken the elevator. On Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
02/28/17

---

Hello!

So they're finally sorting out the Sunday night Academy Awards catastrophe, and it the whole fracas turns out to be an uninspiring mistake with an envelope. I was hoping for something juicy, like Emma Stone and Warren Beatty caught necking backstage, and the wrong envelope changing hands. Since Beatty is sort of a beacon of hope for us daydreaming ladies' men, it would have been a coup for his old magic to have worked again, proved live on worldwide TV.

The CBS National News Monday opened with the perfect film clip to illustrate the mistake, taken from Bonnie and Clyde. Outlaws Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway are in bed, and Bonnie asks,

"What would you do if some miracle happened and we could walk out of here tomorrow morning and start all over again clean? No record and nobody after us, huh?"

Very clever.

---

The company ClassicFlix is going into the Blu-ray business, and has announced their intention to release a number of vintage B&W titles, no dates attached. One list that appears to include some former Public Domain titles gives us Another Man's Poison, Miss Annie Rooney, The Crystal Ball, Raw Deal, Stand-In, Sundown, T-Men and You Only Live Once. A second list they've apparently licensed from the MGM/UA library: Tomorrow is Forever, He Walked by Night, Along Came Jones, Casanova Brown, Crime of Passion, The Noose Hangs High, Five Steps to Danger, Nightmare, Tomorrow is Forever and The Killer is Loose.

The six noir greats in there can use a quality upgrade, so I hope some good new HD scans are part of the scheme. Several of the newer pictures need to be widescreen, as well. Good luck to ClassicFlix.

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson

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Savant's new reviews today are:

Edge of Eternity
Twilight Time
Blu-ray
 Ace director Donald Siegel uses superior direction to transform a so-so who-dunnit into a thrilling big screen spectacle, using the Grand Canyon as a backdrop for A multiple murder set in an Arizona mining town in decline. The cameraman focusing on the scenery and the hair-raising stuntwork -- everything we see is real -- is Burnett Guffey. Starring Cornel Wilde, Victoria Shaw, Mickey Shaugnessy, Jack Elam and Edgar Buchanan. On Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
02/25/17

The Tree of Wooden Clogs
The Criterion Collection
Blu-ray
 Ermanno Olmi's three-hour saga is a masterful ethnographic recreation of the long-gone way of life of Italian tenant farmers, virtual slaves working for a landowner. We see the entire agrarian lifestyle, with hints of modern times on the way. An ever-present backdrop of spiritualism and faith keeps the laborers going. Using unprofessional actors and an obsolete dialect, this is listed as one of the great Italian films of the 1970s. On Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
02/25/17

and

Panther Girl of the Kongo
Olive Films
Blu-ray
 Did Republic's serial-makers lose their marbles? This is an endurance test of a thriller, with 12 chapters that refuse to advance a story beyond the same repetitive ambushes and fistfights. It's got monsters in the form of giant crawfish bred to... well, bred for almost no reason at all. With Phyllis Coates and Myron Healey. I tell you, watching this feels like watching an endless loop. But hey, it's quite handsomely filmed! On Blu-ray from Olive Films.
02/25/17

---

Hello!

Readers have been sending me links to Kim Masters' new Hollywood Reporter article about the 'amazing Holy Grail' of missing movies, Otto Preminger's Porgy and Bess. The movie hasn't been seen much since the late 1970's, as it's caught in a rights 'n' restoration bind between the Goldwyn heirs and the Gershwin heirs. It's difficult to know what to say about an article like this. Obviously the movie ought to be made available and restored, even if it isn't a classic: just the confluence of talent associated with it should make it an important item. The article gets deep into stories of shadowy collectors with surviving prints, and rights holders that hate the movie and want to suppress it. But the conflict is really all about money. Buried deep in the last third is the admission that the movie isn't lost, and it's not being suppressed by anything more serious than a commercial dispute. The rights holders expect someone else to foot the bill for refurbishing their movie, but then want to own it, control its distribution, and keep all the money. That's no crime: if you own the only bat and the only baseball, you can sometimes take possession of the whole ballpark.

Porgy and Bess is definitely not a lost film. The Academy has the original elements in reasonable shape. And all this talk about finding decent surviving projection prints is a little odd. According to an associate of mine, while doing research in 1987 he saw the Library of Congress's file copy, in 35mm IB-Tech 4-track stereo. The best praise he could offer for Preminger's film is its beautifully adapted André Previn music score. Even Preminger biographer Foster Hirsch says that much of the movie consists of Dorothy Dandridge and Sidney Poitier lip-synching to operatic voices for minutes on end. I'm sure I'd like it anyway.

Sometimes we hear of fundraising efforts and even crowdfunding to restore movies, which is in theory a great idea. The Hollywood woods are teeming with movies part-owned by original authors or composers or big stars, that require renegotiation when agreements have expired. Due to 'negotiation difficulties' Annie Get Your Gun was unavailable for over 25 years. At MGM I saw the letters from retirees all but begging to see it. When it finally came out on Home Video on 2000, I'd wager that a lot of its audience had already passed away. The Michael Anderson/Edmond O'Brien film of 1984 was suppressed by the George Orwell estate, reportedly because Orwell's widow didn't like it. And I've been told of at least one movie, a favorite -- that exists only in so-so copies, with its negative deteriorating, because its star owns a controlling share. His descendants have the same attitude as do the rights holders for Porgy and Bess -- they want the studio holding the elements to pay for the restoration, while they keep the money. (or, you could interpret it the other way around... perhaps the studio expects them to settle for next to nothing...)

I certainly made a fuss in the past, when a movie I wanted to see was 'unavailable.' After being knocked out by Technicolor screenings of Vertigo at Filmex and the Museum, I had to wait ten years to see it again. It's all about business realities. Hitchcock's family controlled a number of his pictures, and were just waiting for the right time to capitalize on them again, 'delaying' the income they would generate. Nobody accused them of wrongdoing. When I complained in the 1980s that Ted Turner was colorizing films in the MGM library, a studio attorney reminded me that Turner owned that library outright. If a rights holder so desires, they can dump their property in the ocean. A great many pictures now owned by corporations are obscure titles that no longer 'pay their way,' yet must be stored and maintained. I'm sure that there are bean counters that would say, 'just keep the moneymakers and junk the others -- and no more stupid talk about film history.' So I'm happy that Ted Turner bought the MGM library, and not Donald Trump.

Sidney Poitier is still with us, and it would be great to see his movie on a screen again, no matter what its quality. I enjoyed The Hollywood Reporter article. In grabbing the reader's attention it gives the impression that Porgy and Bess is an isolated special case. It isn't.

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson

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Savant's new reviews today are:

Deluge
KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray
 Do rediscovered 'lost' movies always disappoint? This Depression-era pre-Code science fiction disaster thriller was unique in its day, and its outrageously ambitious special effects -- New York City is tossed into a blender -- were considered the state of the art. Sidney Blackmer and a fetching Peggy Shannon fight off rapacious gangs in what may be the first post-apocalyptic survival thriller. Also with Lois Wilson. The disc is given a fact-filled commentary by Richard Harland Smith, as well as a complete second feature attraction with Peggy Shannon. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
02/21/17

3 Classic Films by Claude Chabrol
The Cohen Collection
Blu-ray
 Being called the French Hitchcock does Claude Chabrol a disservice, as his dark thrillers approach mystery and suspense almost completely through character, not cinematics. These three very good 1990s productions are completely different in tone and approach, and each showcases a stunning French actress. Marie Trintignant is a fallen woman in Betty, Emmanuelle Béart is the target of an insanely jealous husband in Torment (L'enfer), and Isabelle Huppert is a confidence crook up to her ears in trouble in The Swindle (Rien ne vas plus). With a pair of commentaries, and other extras. On Blu-ray from The Cohen Collection.
02/21/17

and

By Sidney Lumet
FilmRise
Blu-ray
 A lengthy talk-fest interviews the underrated filmmaker, who takes us through his life story as a personal journey, not a string of movie assignments. Sidney Lumet seems to attract a lot of criticism, and so did this docu for not challenging his opinions or rubbing his nose in his less admirable movie efforts. The docu is just Lumet's thoughts, and the words of a man of integrity are always inspiring. Of special interest is Lumet's experience as a child actor in the Yiddish Theater and on Broadway. With deleted interview sequences and a separate interview with Treat Williams. On Blu-ray from FilmRise.
02/21/17

---

Hello!

What's new in the review hopper? Up and itching to be reviewed are Kino's 23 Paces to Baker Street, A.P.E. (in 3-D), Orson Welles in Prince of Foxes and Joe Don Baker directed by Phil Karlson in Framed; Olive's Evelyn with Pierce Brosnan, Maurice Pialet's Police with Gérard Depardieu, and Panther Girl of the Kongo, the Republic serial with the crawfish monsters; Criterion's The Before Trilogy -- Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight and Ermanno Olmi's The Tree of Wooden Clogs. I also have a Kit Parker/The Sprocket vault DVD of Douglas Sirk's Summer Storm that I can finally screen.

On the horizon but not yet in-house are the February Twilight Times -- Chilly Scenes of Winter, Edge of Eternity, Interiors and Kiss of Death, and leaking into March, Kino's Lifeboat, Compulsion, Lovers on the Bridge and The Skull; Criterion's 45 Years, Arrow Academy's Ludwig, Property is No Longer Theft and Story of Sin; the Warner Archive Collection's The Valley of Gwangi; and the March Twilight Times, Our Man in Havana, Peyton Place, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson

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Savant's new reviews today are:

The Boy Friend
The Warner Archive Collection
Blu-ray
 It's hard to think of a musical that would benefit more from a Blu-ray boost than Ken Russell's kaleidoscopic all dancing, all singing send-up of theatrical clichés on the music hall stage circa 1925. We're just happy that the adorable Twiggy got to be put in a film like this, to be enjoyed forever. Gosh! The Russell crowd is all aboard, led by Glenda Jackson and Murray Melvin. Also featuring Christopher Gable, Max Adrian, Georgina Hale, Sally Bryant, Vladek Sheybal and Tommy Tune. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
02/18/17

The Gate
Lionsgate / Vestron Video
Blu-ray
 Screen horror gets a fun-ride boost as a trio of home-alone kids squares off against demons from 'right in their own back yard.' Creative, expertly daring special effects heighten a perfect spook thriller for young kids, that's has more and better 'Boo' moments than most of the hardcore genre classics of its decade. A backyard excavation may lead to Hell, while impish 'Minions,' a cadaverous Work Man, and a monstrous grub-demon worm their way into the house. A wealth of extras explains how it was all done, before the advent of CGI. On Blu-ray from Lionsgate / Vestron Video.
02/18/17

and

Breakout
Koch Media / Explosive Media (De)
Blu-ray
 Charlie Bronson cashed in big with this lightweight action thriller co-starring Jill Ireland and Robert Duvall. It's the true story of the first major prison breakout using a helicopter. Did Duvall get involved because the original concept was a serious look at political scandals between big business, the CIA and Chile? The clues from the real source story are still there. With Randy Quaid, Sheree North, John Huston, Jorge Moreno, Paul Mantee, Emilio Fernandez, Alan Vint, Roy Jenson, John Huston. On Blu-ray from Koch Media / Explosive Media (De).
02/18/17

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Hello!

It's raining Spaniels and Siamese out there, which made it amusing to come back from an errand to find a new batch of Kino discs had arrived -- including the much-coveted new disc of the 1934 Deluge, starring Sydney Blackmer. I'd listen to your commentary first, Richard Harland Smith, but I've never seen the movie... which should be a common thing since it's been lost for 83 years.

Of prime interest tonight is John McElwee's new book The Art of Selling Movies, which goes on sale next Monday. I've been a huge fan and constant reader of John's website Greenbriar Picture Shows since its inception, and his previous tome Showman Sell It Hot! was a big hit a few seasons back. That book concentrated on the marketing of famous movies, whereas this one is a fascinating collection of print ads for films going back to the early silent days, showing trends, styles, themes and various attention-getting tricks of the exhibitor's trade to get patrons to choose their movie over the next one down the street. It's packed with John's attention to detail, his specialized (specialized is not a good enough word) knowledge of this terrain, and his grasp of the showman's mindset down through the decades. We see films being promoted in all kinds of strange ways, plus we get a good idea of what a mid-sized town had to offer on an average weekend -- a chosen full newspaper spread from 1956 heralds The Searchers, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Our Miss Brooks, Sins of the Borgias (with Martine Carol, but surely not topless), The Violent Years and the French thriller Diabolique! We also see that big city first run bookings usually bracketed the main feature with a live theater show, with big talent, as well as a raft of short subjects. John's text makes it all fascinating.

It's an attractive gift book with excellent reproductions of all the art -- going back to the 'teens -- printed on heavy, glossy paper and handsomely bound. So there's a plug for a worthy product.

In other news, after my whining about my favorite Ray Harryhausen movie being unreleased on Blu-ray, The Warner Archive collection just announced a disc of 1969's The Valley of Gwangi. The terrific dinosaur romp is wedded to a storyline that's watchable mainly because of the exciting music score by Jerome Moross. It's promised for March 14.

On the 3-D front, the 3-D Film Archive's restoration of the musical Those Redheads from Seattle is going to premiere at this year's TCM Film Festival, coming up shortly. And the Archive's restoration of the CinemaScope and 3-D September Storm has been given a hard release date -- Kino Classics has it down for March 28. That, and the Archive's Bob Furmanek is dropping hints that he has another, yet unannounced restoration in the works. Bob had better slow down or he's going to run out of 'fifties classics. Just kidding, full speed ahead.

A couple of horror announcements came down the pike... Gary Teetzel reports that Terence Fisher's Island of Terror with Peter Cushing is set for a Blu-ray release from Scream Factory, early this Summer. Severin is touting an upcoming Blu of the '80s gore shocker Cathy's Curse in an uncut state. A trailer has been posted on YouTube.

And just in from Twilight Time is their release schedule for May and June... and it's got some big favorites. On May 16 come The Man in the Moon, Who'll Stop the Rain, Inferno 3-D, The Stone Killer and Brutal Tales of Chivalry aka Showa Zankyo Den. On June 13th arrive The Bridge at Remagen, The Quiet American, Hell and High Water, The Valachi Papers and Snake in the Eagle's Shadow/Drunken Master. Not shabby at all ... I count several favorites and two or three I've been whining to see since Blu-ray first appeared.

Plus, now I can slap myself for springing too early for a foreign disc... I just just got finished reviewing a Brit release of Inferno 3-D. I shoulda listened to Robert Ryan.

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson

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Savant's new reviews today are:

Arrival
Paramount
Blu-ray + DVD
  Yep, a fleet of giant alien spaceships are on the way, just as seen in several other science fiction spectaculars. But Denis Villeneuve's movie is not your garden variety invasion fantasy. Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner have a limited time to figure out how to communcate with alien creatures whose intentions are a complete unknown. It's a rare sci-fi thriller that succeeds on a personal and emotional level -- while teaching us how to converse in coffee stain hieroglyphics. A Dual-Format edition on Blu-ray and DVD from Paramount.
02/14/17

A Walk in the Sun
The Sprocket Vault / Kit Parker
DVD
 Lewis Milestone's poetic character study of an infantry landing in Italy gives us a full dozen non-cliché portraits of men in war, featuring a dramatic dream team of interesting character actors. Dana Andrews was the only big star in the cast, joined by hopefuls Richard Conte, Lloyd Bridges and John Ireland; the standout crew includes Sterling Holloway, Norman Lloyd, Steve Brodie and Huntz Hall. On DVD from The Sprocket Vault / Kit Parker.
02/14/17

and

Loving
Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Blu-ray + DVD
 The story of Mildred and Richard Loving could easily have become a sledgehammer epic about social injustice. Writer-director Jeff Nichols instead sticks to the facts and recounts their ordeal with a quiet subjectivity that neither exaggerates nor sanctifies. The result is a marvelously affecting demonstration of how a civilized, progressive America rights a wrong. Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton are terrific as just plain folks oppressed by an obsolete law. A Dual-Format edition on Blu-ray and DVD from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
02/14/17

---

Hello!

It's Valentine's Day, and a time crunch is holding up my reviews... so forgive me if I'm late. I have some links in hand plus an attractive new book to report on, but maybe I'll hold off 'til next time for them, just to chase the schedule.

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson

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Savant's new reviews today are:

The Edge of Seventeen
Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD
 It's another teen angst drama with fine writing & direction (courtesy Kelly Fremon Craig) and bright performances from a charming cast. Unhappy sophomore Hailee Steinfeld is so bummed out over her family situation, her best friend's defection and her life in general that she's making some really bad decisions. Will her inattentive mom (Kyra Sedgwick) completely blow a fuse? A patient but surly teacher (Woody Harrelson) may be the only barrier against Steinfeld's losing her self-respect. The bright and funny show is sometimes a bit too clever, but it also has a big heart. With Haley Lu Richardson, Blake Jenner, Hayden Szeto and Alexander Calvert. A Dual-Format edition on Blu-ray and DVD + Digital HD from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
02/11/17

Manchester by the Sea
Lionsgate
Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD
 A top contender for various Oscars gives us a sober, intense story of an ordinary man who cannot reconcile a personal tragedy -- a social pariah, he can barely live with himself. It's a fair account of how an imperfect man deals with human / emotional wreckage. Casey Affleck and Lucas Hedges are compelling as an uncle and nephew trying to go forward under difficult conditions; the script and direction are remarkably sensitive to the terrible misfortunes that can befall people like you and me, knock on wood. With Kyle Chandler, C.J. Wilson, Gretchen Mol, Michelle Williams and Matthew Broderick. Contrary to some reports, I didn't find this movie to be depressing. A Dual-Format edition on Blu-ray and DVD + Digital HD from Lionsgate.
02/11/17

and

Hacksaw Ridge
Summit Entertainment
Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD
  Mel Gibson wants it both ways -- it's the deeply sensitive pro-Faith story of a conscientious objector, but also an obscene war comic with bloody gore for the action crowd, leading a rah-rah cheer for military glory. Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Hugo Weaving and Vince Vaughn do great work, while director Gibson shows us more of his schizophrenic passion for extreme gristle 'n' grue carnage. Why is so much of what Gibson directs so aesthetically and morally bankrupt? All the cartoonish mayhem looks great on this dual-Format edition on Blu-ray and DVD + Digital HD from Summit Entertainment.
02/11/17

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Hello!

Yes, you're reading this right, all three reviews this weekend are 2016 releases -- I'll be back with more vintage library titles on Tuesday.

Little bits of desirable news to report today, much of it passed on by the valued Savant correspondent, Gary 'Trusted' Teetzel. The Warner Archive Collection has announced its March Blu-rays: Demon Seed, Finian's Rainbow, S.O.B. and World Without End. Those first three titles are pretty classy, so why does my attention default to the somewhat cheesy Allied Artists sci-fi opus?

Kino Lorber has made a deal to release some Disney holdings on Blu-ray... not anything from the studio itself and nothing that Disney has already released on its own label, but other shows from the libraries of ABC Pictures (Charly? Too Late the Hero? Song of Norway? Zachariah? The Grissom Gang? The Last Valley?), the Selznick Studio (Duel in the Sun? Portrait of Jennie?), Touchstone and Hollywood Pictures. I'd need an expert like Mark Edward Heuck to figure out exactly what titles this really might entail. And will Disney be providing Kino with improved transfers?

On or around March 11, Universal is releasing a 50th Anniverary Blu-ray of François Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451 as a Walmart Exclusive. Although it's actually a year late for the 50th, I'll take Julie Christie, Oskar Werner and Bernard Herrmann any time they're offered.

Scream Factory isn't afraid to call this fistful of titles 'obscure,' yet some of us completist diehards will welcome at least a couple of these announcements for Blu-ray release sometime in the Summer. I'm not too optimistic about Alienator and Vicious Lips, and am willing to give The Bat People a fair shake. I'm especially enthusiastic, however, about Edgar G. Ulmer's great The Man from Planet X and Eddie Cahn's The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake. I'll have you know that at age seven I saw Four Skulls new in a theater. Believe me, under those conditions it seemed the most exciting, suspenseful and scary thing ever made. Actually, the Ecuadorian headhunter with his lips sewn shut is still a good visual.

Over at the passionate moviegoer, Joe Baltake points fingers and assesses the crimes of the web reviewers he calls Poseurs, Amateurs and other Movie Buffs. I acknowledge that there's a lot of strange content out there, but just the same I encourage anybody who wants to write about film to do so. Go and invent an Internet that allows an all-inclusive way for everyone to disseminate thoughts and opinions, and this is what happens. Do I read my own stuff? Sure do, and enjoy most of it too. It's my own crazed typos, crippled syntax and occasional incoherence that make me grit my teeth. But the goofs are surely not my doing. The only explanation is that the known troublemaker Gary 'Mabuse' Teetzel has somehow stolen my access codes, and is sneaking online to scramble things while I sleep. It's clearly a conspiracy to drive me crazy.

Finally, for fans of Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist, on this Monday the 13th at the TCL Chinese Theater, an outfit called Mad Monster is presenting a 35th Anniversary theatrical screening. The show starts at 9pm, after an introduction by the film's makeup designer Craig Reardon. By all means say hi when you see Craig as he's still a madman about movie monster makeup, a terrific raconteur and a friend. The official details for the screening are here.

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson

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Hi... more reviews today than normal because I'll be out of contact most of next week, and I wanted to get some extra notices up while I could. Remember, Savant reviews are a limited resource that needs to be conserved. I hope. The five new titles for today are:

Valkoinen Peura
VLM Media (Finland)
Blu-ray
 The White Reindeer. This gloriously uncomplicated folk tale from the past in Lapland visits a theme familiar to other primitive cultures -- an unhappy woman makes a diabolical pact, which changes her into a shape-shifting vampire. The movie has a classic European look, but star Mirjami Kuosmanen has a look and manner that predate Hammer horror: she's a sensual seducer with a horrid secret to hide from her husband. This may be the first film in which a vampire is seen to sport visible fangs... and they're very effective. Film art from Finland, in 1952, on an imported Region B Blu-ray. On Blu-ray from VLM Media (Finland).
02/04/17

One Million Years B. C.
KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray
  The best prehistoric monster vs. cavemen epic is still a little bit of a slog, dramatically speaking. But the ingredients are first-class: ornery dinos courtesy of Ray Harryhausen, the breathtaking primitive vistas of Las Islas Canarias, and the dazzling Raquel Welch as a prehistoric blonde beach bunny with a great... personality. Those Rock people and Shell people preach different philosophies of living, but a irate volcano levels their karma equally, ending the debate over 'loser' ideas like peaceful coexistence. And did I mention the dinosaurs? A cranky Allosaurus is the technical champ, but a gentle giant sea turtle called Archelon is the sentimental favorite at the betting window. Directed by Don Chaffey, and given a wailing music score by Mario Nascimbene. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
02/04/17

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth
The Warner Archive Collection
Blu-ray
 Hammer revisits One Zillion B.C., this time with director Val Guest, sexy Victoria Vetri and the special effect talents of Jim Danforth. It's a second dose of violence and bigotry perpetrated by those zany cave-dwelling deplorables, back when the beach was crawling with colossal crabs and ferocious dinosaurs. The political problem this time is religious mania -- something screwy with a new moon is happening in the sky, and the enlightened Faith-based solution is to sacrifice gorgeous blondes to the sun god. A gigantic mama dinosaur mistakes Vetri for a dino baby, leading to some amusing scenes that mirror Gertie the Dinosaur. Those ridiculous stone-age bikinis average at least one wardrobe malfunction per minute, but that's okay because this is the unrated English cut, with ample nudity to satisfy as a girly show for Lonely Guys among us. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
02/04/17

Inferno
Panamint Cinema (UK)
3-D Blu-ray
  Since I see no domestic disc on the horizon, here's a plug for this 3-D gem from England, which is fully compatible with Region A Blu-ray players. Despicable Rhonda Fleming and her greedy lover abandon husband Robert Ryan in the desert, but even with a broken leg the wealthy man doesn't die according to plan, and they have to go back to finish the job. Lucien Ballard's 3-D desert cinematography is excellent, and some of the 3-D shots of Ms. Fleming are so stunning, it's as if she's right there in front of us. A note from 3-D expert Bob Furmanek tells us some of the background of the disc - until a timely intervention, it was planned to use the inferior red / green analglyphic format. With William Lundigan and Henry Hull. On 3-D Blu-ray from Panamint Cinema (UK).
02/04/17

and

Gabriel Over the White House
The Warner Archive Collection
DVD
  Savant doubles back to revisit this bizarre, frightening political fantasy from the dark past, 1933. The buzz on the web now is to re-read 1984, but this story is far more relevant to our present situation. Inspired by heaven, a President seizes control of the country like a European Fascist, which the movie approves of enthusiastically. Walter Huston is the playboy president who undergoes a spiritual rebirth; Karen Morley and Franchot Tone are his aides. A key scene is a drive-by gangland machine gun attack -- on The White House. Weirdly, one read of the movie is that the 'inspired' president is a literal zombie, kept alive by the Will of God. On DVD from The Warner Archive Collection.
02/04/17

---

Hello!

A quick column today. You're looking at five reviews because I won't be posting on Tuesday, but I didn't want to fall behind, what with an exciting variety of discs to check out. Two new arrivals are the Oscar contenders, Manchester By the Sea, and the science fiction thriller Arrival, which scores pretty high on Savant's fussy scale of sci-fi snobbery.

Gary Teetzel reminds me to mark my calendar and set my DVR: on February 16 at 1:00 AM, MeTV will cablecast the Alfred Htichcock Hour adaptation of the John Wyndham story "Consider Her Ways", scored by Bernard Herrmann. Now the only question is, do I receive MeTV?

Foreign Exchange Blu-ray Imports has been looking out for us, on the subject of an anticipated Region B Blu-ray of the much-desired Czech science fiction picture Ikarie XB 1: "It seems that January came and went with no Czech Ikarie XB 1 release. My Finnish connection told me that his Czech guy told him there's been no new release date; I did a quick run-through of my Czech e-tailers and none of them even had a listing, much less a date. I'll let you know if I hear or see anything."

My response to that is 'fudge' in a Czech accent, but it's good to know that the right man is on the case. Thanks, FEBI.

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson