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savant5
Newest Features
Article Index  Review Index
Favorite Discs of 2014

[Savant Links] [Year Five Report]
Write Savant (Glenn Erickson) at
[email protected]!
([email protected])

Saturday September 16, 2017

DVD Savant has moved, and Changed its name.

Glenn Erickson's new CineSavant continues as before. It is up with new reviews at the new URL:

www.cinesavant.com

My new contact email -- please use it -- is

[email protected]

I am keeping my 'DVD Savant' logo as a sub-identity, to avoid confusion.

Please note the link change, change your bookmarks, etc. DVDtalk has been a kind and gracious host for many years, and I still hope to be contributing reviews to the massive DVDtalk review database.

I hope the format of the new page is pleasing. As ever, thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson


Tuesday September 12, 2017

Why is this picture here? CLICK on it.

Savant's new reviews today are:

One Million B.C.
VCI
Blu-ray


 Leapin' Lizards!  The original cavemen vs. dinosaurs saga is a winner -- if viewer involvement trumps visual effects, it's got a narrow lead over the Hammer/Harryhausen remake. Victor Mature, Carole Landis and Lon Chaney Jr. all made career hay out of their weeks spent running in loincloths, out in the desert. And the new is a terrific UCLA Archive restoration, with an informative commentary by Toby Roan. On Blu-ray from VCI.
9/12/17




The Big Sick
Lionsgate
Blu-ray + DVD


 This modern romantic comedy about stand-up comedians generates a genuine warmth about people, the ones-who-need-people kind. Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon's comic dramatization of the way they became a couple is a big winner, with heart-tugging performances from Nanjiani and Zoe Kazan, and fine characterizations by Holly Hunter, Zenobia Shroff, Ray Romano, and Anupam Kher. A Dual-Format edition on Blu-ray and DVD from Lionsgate.
9/12/17




and

The Illustrated Man
The Warner Archive Collection
Blu-ray


 Ray Bradbury adapted to the screen is always something to check out; this Jack Smight- directed trio of stories bound together by a mystery man wearing the graffiti of the title at least works up a little ethereal-cereal excitement. Husband and wife Rod Steiger and Claire Bloom spout ominous dialogue as they face various futuristic threats. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
9/12/17





Hello!

Gary Teetzel links us to the world today, starting with two Metropolis- themed items. A Smithsonian Magazine article by Matt Novak from 2012 takes a look at a vintage explanation of the film's effects: 1927 Magazine Looks at Metropolis, 'A Movie Based On Science'. Then, in Wired Magazine from the same year, Geeta Dyal displays another rare item: Recovered 1927 Metropolis Film Program Goes Behind the Scenes of a Sci-Fi Masterpiece. My only comment is about the method used to create the 'electric bolts' in the machine room -- the article implies that they were shot live on the set, like a foreground miniature, when they were double-exposed at a later time. Just a detail. The second document was for years the main source of technical info on the film, so it's nice that it was so carefully written.

Film collector Wade Williams, over at the Home Theater Forum, is saying that he's contributed a film source to a Warners restoration of the long version of Howard Hawks' The Thing From Another World, a show long in need of a visual reupholstering job. When the show plays on TCM now, the long-version scenes drop to a low-quality 16mm source. It would be nice if a smart new restoration were indeed on the way, but Williams' note mostly clouds the issue. He says he loaned his print to WB ten years ago, and recently as three years ago I was told that WB still lacked decent elements with which to 'fix' the movie -- a collector's print might or might not be good enough, and WB has pretty high standards. When Williams says the film is 'newly restored,' is he saying that something new and unannounced has happened? Only when Warners issues a confirmation will we know.

Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson


NEWEST FEATURE ARTICLES
The Emperor in August

 This great recent Japanese epic is all but unknown here -- and is the kind of adult historical show that we seem incapable of these days. The intense diplomatic storm at the end of WW2 with an Army command willing to sacrifice the country in a national suicide pact, is given an exciting, thoughtful treatment. Tokyo is all but ashes, yet the militarists want to fight on. Directed by Masato Harada, starring Koji Yakusho, Masahiro Motoki and Tsutomu Yamazaki. On Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
9/09/17

David Lynch: the Art Life

 Trailers From Hell's Charlie Largent takes a look at David Lynch's other job: that of the painter in his studio. There are similarities between the canvases and the films and it all adds up to an intriguing portrait of a great artist, by Jon Nguyen, Rick Barnes, and Olivia Neergaard-Holm. Charlie also adds insights to the just-completed Twin Peaks Showtime miniseries. On Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
9/09/17

The Love of a Woman

  Welcome to the world of Jean Grémillon, where adult characters work through adult problems without benefit of melodramatic excess. The impressively directed experiences of Micheline Presle's lady doctor on a storm-swept island opts for a progressive point of view, not sentimentality.Co-starring Massimo Girotti and Paolo Stoppa. A Dual-Format edition on Blu-ray and DVD from Arrow Academy.
9/09/17

Love with the Proper Stranger

 What are two individualistic, highly motivated movie stars supposed to do when faced with an unimaginative studio system eager to misuse their talents? Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen collaborate with a great writer, director and producer for an urban romance with an eye on the sexual double standard. It's a hybrid production: a gritty drama that's also a calculated career move. Street reality guides Robert Mulligan's direction, but he keeps one foot in pure romantic escapism. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
9/09/17

The Lost World (1925)

 It's the wonder movie of the silent era, which pits five intrepid explorers against Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fantastic South American plateau where marvelous animals from the dawn of time still live. Blackhawk Films and Lobster's latest digital restoration includes footage never before seen in its original tints; it's dedicated to film restorer David Shepard. Extras include an excellent commentary by Nicholas Ciccone, and a new restoration of the silent short subject The Ghost of Slumber Mountain. Starring Wallace Beery, Bessie Love and Lewis Stone. On Blu-ray from Flicker Alley.
9/04/17

La Poison

 Yes, Love is Definitely a Battlefield and Charlie Largent reports from the front line. Writer-director Sacha Guitry’s caustic 1951 black comedy is about a bad marriage gone worse, and it appears to be a forerunner of How to Murder Your Wife, but with the gloves off. Starring the great Michel Simon, with Jean Debucourt and Jacques Varennes. On Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
9/04/17

Flipper Season One

 Back in 1964 a lot of people still thought dolphins were fish, but by the time this TV show was finished, we all knew that our happy undersea friend was smarter than the average bear and lives in a world full of wonder. Ivan Tors' grandly successful Florida-shot family show kept a lot of seagoing movie veterans in green seaweed, including both original 'Creature' Gill Men. With Brian Kelly, Luke Halpin and Tommy Norden, plus a long list of guest stars. On Blu-ray from Olive Films.
9/04/17

A 'Close Encounters' Example of Forced Perspective

  -- Savant Article -- 'Close Encounters' awareness is up this week, what with a national mini-release of the 1977 Steven Spielberg hit, so I reached into the bottomless Savant archives for something to show-and-tell. This might be educational for fans of old-school visual effects, in this case, I focus on the miniature-making genius of Gregory Jein.
9/04/17

September 2017
 Krakatoa East of Java  Blu-ray  Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) by Charlie Largent  Blu-ray  The Law and Jake Wade  Blu-ray
August 2017
 Kid Galahad  Blu-ray  Red Line 7000  Blu-ray  Festival: Rock Music at Newport, 1963-1966  Blu-ray  Certain Women  Blu-ray  Visit to a Small Planet by Charlie Largent  Blu-ray  The Noose Hangs High  Blu-ray  The Stranger  Blu-ray  The Long, Hot Summer  Blu-ray  Held for Questioning (Der Aufenthalt)  DVD  Pizzi's Honor  Blu-ray  Stalker  Blu-ray  The Man with Two Brains  Blu-ray  Tobor the Great  Blu-ray  Night Moves  Blu-ray  Ronin  Blu-ray  Bob Hope on Blu-ray: Road to Rio, My Favorite Brunette, Road To Bali, The Lemon Drop Kid, Son of Paleface by Charlie Largent  Blu-ray  Duel in the Sun  Blu-ray  The Good, The Bad and The Ugly 50th Anniversary  Blu-ray  Meantime  Blu-ray  The Crimson Kimono  Blu-ray  Re-Animator  Blu-ray By Charlie Largent  Beggars of Life  Blu-ray  Freebie and the Bean  Blu-ray  The Dinner  Blu-ray  Hopscotch  Blu-ray  Silkwood  Blu-ray
July 2017
 Night People  Blu-ray  You Only Live Once  Blu-ray  Terror in a Texas Town  Blu-ray  Where the Boys Are (1960)  Blu-ray  Lost in America by Charlie Largent  Blu-ray  The Breaking Point  Blu-ray  Kong: Skull Island  3-D Blu-ray  The Battle of the River Plate  Region B Blu-ray  The Sea Chase  Blu-ray  Shalako  Blu-ray  The Quiet American  Blu-ray  Straw Dogs  Blu-ray  The Valachi Papers  Blu-ray  Obsessions 1969  Blu-ray  The Angry Red Planet  Blu-ray  The Lost City of Z  Blu-ray  Blood Alley  Blu-ray  Ikarie XB 1  Blu-ray  Varieté  Blu-ray  Free Fire  Blu-ray  The Bridge at Remagen  Blu-ray  Ugetsu Monogatari by Charlie Largent  Blu-ray  L'argent  Blu-ray
June 2017
 The Savage Innocents  Blu-ray  Hell and High Water  Blu-ray  Hell in the Pacific  Blu-ray  They Live by Night  Blu-ray  Running on Empty  Blu-ray  Comfort and Joy  Region B Blu-ray  Brother Can You Spare a Dime  DVD  The Bird with the Crystal Plumage  Blu-ray  Roberto Rossellini's War Trilogy: Rome Open City, Paisan, Germany Year Zero  Blu-ray  The Man from Planet X  Blu-ray  Marcel Pagnol: The Marseille Trilogy: Marius, Fanny, César  Blu-ray  8 Million Ways to Die  Blu-ray  Death Line  Blu-ray  The Lodger (1927)  Blu-ray  Good Morning (ohayo)  Blu-ray  The Man in the Moon  Blu-ray  Blast-Off  Blu-ray  Joe Versus the Volcano  Blu-ray  Le désordre et la nuit  All-Region Blu-ray  The Paradine Case  Blu-ray  Spotlight on a Murderer  Blu-ray + DVD  The Picasso Summer  DVD  The Gumball Rally  Blu-ray
May 2017
 Dracula Complete Legacy Collection by Charlie Largent  Blu-ray  The Mummy Complete Legacy Collection by Charlie Largent  Blu-ray  The Ballad of Cable Hogue  Blu-ray  Trespass  Blu-ray  Inferno  3-D Blu-ray  One, Two, Three  Blu-ray  Ghost World  Blu-ray  Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project 2: Insiang, Mysterious Object at Noon, Revenge, Limite, Law of the Border, Taipei Story  Blu-ray + DVD  Things to Come (2016) Blu-ray  Who'll Stop the Rain  Blu-ray  Rescuing the Runes: The Almost-Lost Original Long Cut of Night of the Demon Guest Article by Wayne Schmidt  Those Redheads from Seattle  3-D Blu-ray  Night of the Demon (Rendez-vous avec la peur)  Region A+B Blu-ray + DVD  Decoy (TV Show)  DVD  The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers  Blu-ray  Pelle the Conqueror  Blu-ray  Kiss Me Deadly Restoration Savant Article  Blu-ray  The Walerian Borowczyk Short Film Collection  Blu-ray  Marjorie Morningstar  Blu-ray  The Assassin  Blu-ray + DVD  The Loved One  Blu-ray  Broken Arrow  Blu-ray  The Mephisto Waltz  Blu-ray  100 Girls by Bunny Yeager  Blu-ray  Seven Days in May  Blu-ray  How to Steal a Million  Blu-ray  The Indian Fighter  Blu-ray  The Young Girls of Rochefort  Blu-ray  I Am Not Your Negro  Blu-ray  The Accidental Tourist  Blu-ray
April 2017
 The Day of the Jackal  Blu-ray  I Bury the Living + The Screaming Skull by Charlie Largent  Blu-ray  You'll Never Get Rich  Blu-ray  A Farewell to Arms  Blu-ray  The Salesman  Blu-ray  Rumblefish  Blu-ray and  Edgar Wallace Collection Edition 1: The Face of the Frog, The Mysterious Magician, The Hound of Blackwood Castle  Blu-ray by Charlie Largent  Donnie Darko  Blu-ray  Ophélia  Blu-ray  Caltiki, The Immortal Monster  Blu-ray + DVD  The Scar (Hollow Triumph)  Blu-ray  The Rounders  Blu-ray  Buena Vista Social Club  Blu-ray  Chamber of Horrors &  A Game of Death by Charlie Largent  Blu-ray  The Delinquents  Blu-ray  Fahrenheit 451  Blu-ray  The Umbrellas of Cherbourg  Blu-ray  Sunset in the West  Blu-ray  From Hell it Came  Blu-ray  36 Hours  Blu-ray   (The Saga of) Anatahan  Blu-ray  Eyes without a Face UK import  Blu-ray + PAL DVD  Electric Boogaloo  Blu-ray  Property Is No Longer a Theft  Blu-ray + DVD  Lifeboat  Blu-ray  Story of Sin  Blu-ray + DVD  Being There & After the Fox by Charlie Largent Blu-ray  Ride The High Country  Blu-ray  The Russians are Coming and  Career  DVD  The Vampire Bat  Blu-ray  The Skull  Blu-ray  'How to Succeed' -- Take 2  Savant Article
March 2017
 Invisible Ghost  Blu-ray  Blow-Up  Blu-ray &  Elle  Blu-ray by Charlie Largent  Julieta  Blu-ray  Peyton Place  Blu-ray  How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying  Blu-ray  Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them  3-D Blu-ray  23 Paces to Baker Street  Blu-ray  Tower  Blu-ray  Multiple Maniacs by Charlie Largent  Blu-ray  Fences  Blu-ray  Phaedra  Blu-ray  Our Man in Havana  Blu-ray  Film / Notfilm separate releases  Blu-ray  Summer Storm  DVD  World Without End  Blu-ray  September Storm  3-D Blu-ray  Cinema Paradiso  Blu-ray  Compulsion  Blu-ray  We Are the Flesh & Lovers on the Bridge by Charlie Largent  Blu-ray  RoboCop 2 Collector's Edition Blu-ray  45 Years  Blu-ray  The Valley of Gwangi  Blu-ray  The Man Who Could Cheat Death  Blu-ray  Finian's Rainbow  Blu-ray  Chilly Scenes of Winter  Blu-ray  A*P*E  3-D Blu-ray
February 2017
 The Before Trilogy: Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight  Blu-ray  Framed  Blu-ray  Kiss of Death  Blu-ray  Edge of Eternity  Blu-ray  The Tree of Wooden Clogs  Blu-ray  Panther Girl of the Kongo  Blu-ray  Deluge  Blu-ray  3 Classic Films by Claude Chabrol  Blu-ray  By Sidney Lumet  DVD  The Boy Friend  Blu-ray  The Gate  Blu-ray  Breakout / Der Mann Ohne Nerven  Blu-ray  Arrival  Blu-ray + DVD  A Walk in the Sun  DVD  Loving  Blu-ray + DVD  The Edge of Seventeen  Blu-ray + DVD  Manchester by the Sea  Blu-ray + DVD  Hacksaw Ridge  Blu-ray + DVD  Valkoinen Peura The White Reindeer  Region B Blu-ray  One Million Years B.C.  Blu-ray  When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth  Blu-ray  Inferno  3-D Blu-ray  Gabriel Over the White House (revisited)  DVD
January 2017
 Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown  Blu-ray  Love in the Afternoon  Blu-ray  What a Way to Go!  Blu-ray  Mildred Pierce  Blu-ray  The Lair of the White Worm  Blu-ray  Dr. Orloff's Monster  Blu-ray  The Yakuza  Blu-ray  Wagon Tracks  Blu-ray  The Sicilian Clan  Blu-ray  No Highway in the Sky  Blu-ray  Seddok, l'erede di Satana  Region 2 PAL DVD  Stanley and Iris  Blu-ray  Who?  Blu-ray  Two for the Road  Blu-ray  Gas-s-s-s –Or– It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It  Blu-ray  The Mad Magician  3-D Blu-ray  Revenge of the Blood Beast  Blu-ray  David and Bathsheba  Blu-ray  Something Wild  Blu-ray  The Accountant  Blu-ray + DVD  The Keys of the Kingdom  Blu-ray  The Barefoot Contessa  Blu-ray  The Internecine Project  Blu-ray  Battleground  Blu-ray  The People vs. Fritz Bauer  Blu-ray  His Girl Friday &  The Front Page  Blu-ray  The Driller Killer  Blu-ray


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... and for 2013 ... 2012 ... and 2011
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