Savant thinks he's found his favorite disc so far this year. 2001 had a miracle every month, but 2002 seems to be saving its DVD revelations for the last half. It's a big article (no efficient, fast reads here, by golly) but has the full dope on a Horror classic that's not all that well known.
It's Columbia TriStar's Curse of the Demon / Night of the Demon double bill, and it's an eye-opening great disc, containing both the original English and cut-down American versions of what Savant thinks is the best supernatural movie of all. He also has some backstories to its 'restorations' in 1987 and 2000.
Columbia also scores with a square masterpiece, George Sidney's The Eddy Duchin Story. The music (Duchin popularized the song 'Brazil') and the nostalgic vistas of New York are enchanting, and Kim Novak and Tyrone Power aren't hard on the eyes either. Includes a typical Savant dig into the Musical Biography sub-genre.
Savant is editing again, but should be able to keep new reviews up at his usual stumbling pace. Don't forget Criterion's Classic movie nights, Saturday and Sunday at 9 on the Sundance cable channel. This week's films are the Czech comedy Loves of a Blonde (July 27) and the Russian romance The Cranes are Flying (July 28). Thank you! Glenn Erickson
Posted by DVD Savant at July 25, 2002 08:26 AM