It's variety time, on the first day of the middle month of 2003. A pleasant surprise of a horror film, a fun John Wayne romp, a rather pompous soap opera, and a really crummy war film - something for everyone.
Elite Entertainment hasn't received the attention it deserves at this site, and I'd like to point out their excellent DVD of the notable horror film, Strange Behavior. It's a quirky chiller that's not entirely successful but stands out immediately from the slasher pix of its time - due to an intelligent script and sensitive direction. It's quirky, as in Blue Velvet - odd but not perverse. A top cast creates people we care about - Michael Murphy, Louise Fletcher, Dan Shor, Fiona Lewis, & Dey Young. With an entertaining and informative commentary track.
Fox's North to Alaska is a sturdy DVD of the John Wayne vehicle, the one that begins with the radio hit song. Adventure in the Gold Country is mostly a series of farcical reverses, with Capucine playing a French callgirl enlisted as a consolation prize for a heartsick miner. With Stewart Granger and Fabian.
Fox's From the Terrace is a perfectly adequate soap opera, but its slippery values and pious glee for commercially-exploitable sin rubbed Savant the wrong way. Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward lend their considerable talents to this glossy, entertaining mess.
But hey, it's better than Mosquito Squadron, a very lame air combat film that crams lots of unbelievable action into a script that nobody seems to have faith in. It's with David McCallum, and tons of stock footage from earlier films - including a scene lifted intact from Operation Crossbow.
Savant's ready for another wave of exciting vintage titles, plus Roman Polanski's newest masterpiece. Thanks for the letters, and of course, especially all of the corrections. Glenn Erickson
Posted by DVD Savant at June 01, 2003 05:17 PM