An exciting week for new releases ... with Captain Nemo hitting the shelves on Tuesday. Savant's trying to keep up, and leads with some good titles ...
Fox Home Entertainment's Sink the Bismarck! is an enormously satisfying epic of the pursuit of the giant German warship, just before America came into WW2. Kenneth More and Dana Wynter plot the strategies, while the battle is shown with a combination of stock footage and wonderfully-executed miniature ships.
Anchor Bay brings out a treasure with The Railway Children, actor-turned director Lionel Jeffries' 'family' masterpiece. Jenny Agutter is unforgettable as a teen coping with the mysterious disappearance of her father, in the English countryside of 1905. One of the very best of its kind.
Facets Video offers a rare European treat, Miklós Jancsó's Electra, My Love. More of an abstract dance film than a story, we watch hundreds of actors moving in rhythmic patterns in unbroken long takes of astounding complexity. A puzzling picture for story, that pays off in cinematic invention.
MGM's The Battle of Britain drops the ball as a drama, but compensates with two solid hours of aerial combat between real vintage aircraft from both sides of the conflict. The all-star cast mostly gets in the way, but is good for star-spotting.
MGM's The Indian Fighter is a square-but-vigorous wagon train western enlivened by sexy interludes with Indian Maid Elsa Martinelli, who makes her obligatory nude bathing scene more realistic than usually allowed in 50s films! With Walter Matthau as a villain. He keeps his clothes on.
DVD Savant is having a good time spinning these entertaining discs, with more to come ... with so many reviews coming out so fast, check out the entire main page before moving on .. Glenn Erickson
Posted by DVD Savant at May 18, 2003 01:14 PM