Generally crappy--but still watchable--B noir heist programmer. 20th Century-Fox's Cinema Archives vault of hard-to-find library and cult titles has released Raiders from Beneath the Sea, a cheapo 1964 Lippert production released by Fox, directed by Maury Dexter, scripted by Harry Spalding, and starring Ken Scott, Merry Anders, Russ Bender, Booth Colman, and Garth Benton. A few good lines here and there, the impressive sights of Catalina Island and Merry Anders in a bikini, and more than a few unintentionally silly moments make Raiders from Beneath the Sea an acceptable time-killer for fans of cheapjack 60s exploiters. No extras for this so-so full-screen transfer (more about that below).

Scuba diver and former salvager Bill Harper (Ken Scott), bankrupt and mooching dimes off his hot wife, Dottie (Merry Anders), now works rent-free as an apartment house manage...Read the entire review

THE MOVIE:

Preston Sturges' 1948 release, Unfaithfully Yours, is probably his darkest comedy, but it also has a heart of pure romance.

Rex Harrison (My Fair Lady) stars as Sir Alfred, a temperamental orchestra conductor who, upon returning from a trip overseas, is informed by his obnoxious brother-in-law (Rudy Vallee) that he has evidence that Sir Alfred's wife, Daphne (Linda Darnell, Fallen Angel), might be cheating on him. It seems that, as he was saying good-bye, Alfred made an off-hand comment to the other man to keep an eye on his wife for him. The other man took him literally and hired a private detective...Read the entire review

Loyal readers with way too much time on your hands, gird your loins for the shortest review I've ever written....

20th Century-Fox's Cinema Archives vault of hard-to-find cult and library titles has released 23 Paces to Baker Street, the 1956 British mystery thriller from screenwriter Nigel Balchin and action director Henry Hathaway, starring Van Johnson, Vera Miles, Cecil Parker, Estelle Winwood, and Liam Redwood. Although I've never seen it, 23 Paces to Baker Street, shot in CinemaScope on location in London, looks exactly like the kind of movie I enjoy. Too bad I didn't watch more than two minutes of it, though, because Fox has released this in a grainy, muddy, blown-out, softly-focused 1.33:1 pan-and-scan botch that completely under...Read the entire review

This is getting worse....

20th Century-Fox's Cinema Archives vault of hard-to-find cult and library titles has released Warlock, the 1959 Western from director Edward Dmytryk, beautifully shot in CinemaScope by pro cinematographer Joseph MacDonald, and featuring a sensational cast: Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Anthony Quinn, Dorothy Malone, and Dolores Michaels. As I wrote in my review for 23 Paces for Baker Street, I didn't watch Warlock for longer than a minute past the properly-ratioed credits (I've seen it a million times―an interesting, underrated, Western) because Fox has released this in a grainy, blown-out, softly-focused 1.33:1 pan-and-scan botch that completely undermines the whole point of their Cinema Archives con...Read the entire review

It won't stop....

20th Century-Fox's Cinema Archives vault of hard-to-find cult and library titles has released Tender is the Night, the 1962 romantic drama based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, directed by Henry King (in wide, wide CinemaScope), and starring Jennifer Jones, Jason Robards, Jr., Joan Fontaine, and Tom Ewell. I wanted very much to see this particular drama; it's exactly my cup of tea: lush, expensive, talky, and long. However, as I wrote in my reviews for 23 Paces for Baker Street and Warlock, I didn't watch Tender is the Night for longer than a minute past the properly-ratioed credits because Fox has released this in a grainy, blown-out, softly-focused 1.33:1 pan-and-scan botch that completely underm...Read the entire review

"I never ask anyone permission to do anything. They might say, "No," and they'd be embarrassed."
"Why?""Because I'd do it anyway."

A complete and utter delight. 20th Century-Fox's own M.O.D. (manufactured on demand) service, the Fox Cinema Archives, which caters to movie lovers looking for those hard-to-find library and cult titles, has released Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell, the 1951 comedy from Fox starring Clifton Webb in his third and last big-screen appearance as imperious, hedonistic, waspish...and kind-hearted author, Lynn Belvedere. Costarring Joanne Dru, Hugh Marlowe, and Zero Mostel, along with a collection of cutie-pie old codgers (Billy Lynn, Doro Merande, Frances Brandt, Kathleen Comegys, Jane Marbury, Harry Hines), Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell expertly blends hilarity and a gentle sweetness into a memorable little comedy you won't...Read the entire review

Breezy, nicely-played romantic screwball comedy. Newcomer to the M.O.D. (manufactured on demand) market, 20th Century-Fox's Cinema Archives, has released Love is News, the 1937 comedy from 20th starring Tyrone Power, Loretta Young, Don Ameche, and lots of fun supporting players. Now...to be honest, I'm a little perplexed at the choice of Love is News as one of the first offerings from Fox's Cinema Archives since it was already released in 2008's Tyrone Power Matinee Idol Collection...and bundled up with its remake, 1947's That Wonderful Urge, no less. In my book, the whole purpose of these M.O.D. services is to get titles out that are hard-to-find, so....Still, if there's someone out there who just wants this Ty Power title alone, this good-looking (but bonus-less) transfer fits the bill.

Crackerjack smartass and big-city newspaper reporter Steve L...Read the entire review

Frontier Marshal (1939) may be among the least historically-accurate films about Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral but, on its own terms, it's still an impressive, interesting film. It was based on Stuart N. Lake's biography (much of it fabricated) of the same name, which later was also the starting point for John Ford's My Darling Clementine (1946), though despite claims that Ford's film virtually remakes Frontier Marshal, in fact the two are quite different.

Frontier Marshal, announced as "Wyatt Earp - Frontier Marshall" until Earp's widow, unhappy with the script, threatened to sue, was directed by Allan Dwan. It's memorable mainly for its great cast, including even the minor roles. Randolph Scott is a good Wyatt Earp, though the script slights him somewhat, depicting Earp as little more than the standard, stalwart and incorruptible town mar...Read the entire review

Nein! Nein!

On his long-running TV show with Roger Ebert, the late Gene Siskel said something that's become one of my mantras of movie-watching. "You can only see a film for the first time once." Think about it. Watching Lawrence of Arabia in 70mm on a 60-foot screen in a restored 1920s movie palace is going to effect you in ways that are different from experiencing it for the first time on YouTube, or on an iPhone on a bus to Pittsburgh. Issues of, as film theorists call it, "spectatorship," from watching movies interrupted by commercials every ten minutes to rude moviegoers taking cellphone calls unavoidably influences one's perception about films and, in the broader sense, its reputation among film historians and audiences.

For this reason Read the entire review

Part of Fox's first wave of titles as it enters the manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD market, Dangerous Years (1947), a 63-minute juvenile delinquency melodrama/social problem film, doubtlessly was chosen because it features Marilyn Monroe in her screen debut.

Monroe's uncredited voice was heard but her face not shown in The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947), while another film sometimes cited as her debut, Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!, was actually released several months after this, and anyway she wasn't credited in that one, either. In Dangerous Years however, Monroe is billed third from the bottom but billed she is, and though it's a tiny role, she's visible in several early scenes and even has a couple of lines as Evie, a waitress. Just twenty-one, she's very young and naturally beautiful here. It's nice to see her prior to her (over-) transformation by Fox into Sex Goddess. Read the entire review

THE FILM:

Twentieth Century Fox's new "Cinema Archives" collection is a welcome companion to the manufactured-on-demand offerings from Sony and Warner Brothers, and promises to allow cinephiles access to many unreleased titles from the Fox vault. As with other MOD programs, each Cinema Archives title comes on a DVD-R and is pulled from the best available source. The first wave of titles includes They Came to Blow Up America, a 1943 war thriller starring George Sanders as a U.S. double agent in deep with the Nazis. Long-unreleased on any home video format, the film is an entertaining pro-U.S. thriller with ample humor and a pleasantly twisty plot.

Mining engineer Carl Steelman (Sanders) tells his adoring parents that he is part of a German-...Read the entire review