It's Turkey day, and we're rebelling in the Erickson burrow by making Jumbo Shrimp! Today I have a pair of superior stage play adaptations to review.

Artisan comes through with a terrific Special Edition of Glengarry Glen Ross, with two razor-sharp transfers and some well-chosen extras. Ten years after its release, the ensemble cast is still a standout set of performances.

MGM's The Children's Hour is a good presentation of a film about scandal and sex, that means well but is still slightly dated in outlook. Audrey Hepburn has hunky James Garner in tow, to constantly remind us that she's not interested in iffy costar Shirley MacLaine. A good film, nonetheless.

Savant's received seven (!) helpful notes from people telling me that the weird instrument used by Bernard Herrmann in JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH was called a Serpent. I'm happy that the Savant sphere of appeal coincides with so many Herrmann adepts - he attracts intelligent people! Thanks for writing and reading - my many friends and contacts through DVD Savant are near the top of my list of things to be thankful for today. Glenn Erickson

Some nice announcements this week, with Fox finally setting a date for THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL and JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH. I've been asked by nervous fans to investigate JOURNEY, which is listed as mono when the earlier VHS's and laserdiscs have been in very good stereophonic sound. Hopefully this is just a marketing oversight, but if it's not, maybe someone who reads this can tip off a Fox insider. We want our Bernard Herrmann contra-bassoons (and that weird archaeic instrument he also used) in 5.1 from the original theatrical stereo mix!

One more review to slip in this week. MGM's The Decameron is basically a dirty movie from the 14th century, presented with such purity of style that it plays as honest, and sometimes beautiful. 3-score bawdy tales from Boccacio unspool in Pier Paolo Pasolini's tapestry of lust and good humor.

Coming up shortly: GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS, and more interesting rarities. Thanks! Glenn Erickson

Another gloomy day in LA, where we seem to be alternating days with sunshine and fog ...

Image Entertainment has delivered a fine disc of Blockade, a not-very-astute thriller of wartime intrigue purportedly produced to promote sympathy and aid to the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. Ten years later, it would be the centerpiece in the 'evidence' that Hollywood Ten acusee John Howard Lawson had used his screenwriting job to foment pro-Soviet Propaganda. With Madeleine Carrol and Henry Fonda.

MGM's A Kiss Before Dying pits Robert Wagner against decent society, as a scheming social climber who resorts to diabolically clever murders to get rich quick. Virginia Leith and Joanne Woodward stand out in this pulpy, slick potboiler.

Not much news, after yesterday's report on two screenings Savant caught last week. Criterion wants us to to know that the Chicago International Dinner and a Movie program will recommence on December 10, with a screening of RASHOMON. Full details can be had at this site. Thanks for reading! Glenn

Savant can't seem to decide whether he's getting sick today, but it's not slowing down the writing too badly ... not with the quality of discs that are showing up. To answer a lot of mail I'm getting, I don't know of any DVD release of RYAN'S DAUGHTER on the way. The special restoration screenings are produced by entirely different departments of the studios, so the fact that the LEAN picture is being restored means little one way or the other, DVD wise.

I did see two very good movies in advance screenings last week. Pedro Almodóvar's TALK TO HER was another step in his increasingly warm and life-affirming movies - with, of course, his Spanish surreallism intact. This time around, there's a brief movie within a movie that plays like a silent version of THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, only this time with for strangely obscene purposes. Politically Correct, Pedro definitely is not, and the quirks and twists in this story of a comatose beauty are unlike anything seen outside of a horror film like THE HORRIBLE DOCTOR HICHCOCK.

The other screening was Roman Polanski's THE PIANIST, the holocaust memoir of an acclaimed Polish radio and concert pianist named Wladyslaw Szpilman, who survives the Warsaw ghetto through a harrowing 6-year ordeal of waiting, hiding, trusting in others and just plain luck. It's the best 'holocaust' movie Savant has seen; a first-person account instead of a spectacle or a history lesson like SCHINDLER'S LIST. The cruelties and horror aren't laid on as thick, yet we're just as aware of the atrocities being committed on all sides. Adrian Brody is excellent in the title role, and Polanski sublimates any personal style to a straight telling of Szpilman's strange tale of survival. The show is free of pandering, hype, special pleading or moral outrage. Hints of Polanski's similar background crop up, as when we see small boys risking their lives by smuggling contraband through the ghetto wall, just as did the director. I don't think this one is being released for a while, but it's worth waiting for.

Back to the reviews ...

Criterion's Solaris is one of the classier science fiction movies, a humanistic musing on the capacity of humans for grasping the unknown mysteries of the universe, when we cannot properly relate to each other or take care of our own planet. The shape-shifting, mental clones that haunt the scientists on the Solaris orbiting platform, are a riddle that cuts through genre categories.

MGM's Miami Blues is a hip and gritty crime tale about an overachieving, overreaching crook who tries to con a childlike hooker, and usurp the identity of a grungy, loveable detective. Alec Baldwin, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Fred Ward make this a memorable crimer from dependable George Armitage.

Besides the usual number of corrected typos and errors, the right time to read Savant reviews would seem to be 3 or four days after they're up. Both The Thief of Bagdad and The Day Reagan Was Shot have been amended with substantial rebuttal letters from Savant correspondents that amplify the info, or correct grievous errors in the original articles. Thanks! Glenn Erickson

It's Ronald Reagan day at DVD Savant, where he has a 'supporting role' in both a docu and a cable feature. Both end up as great entertainments, for opposite reasons.

First Run Features' Berkeley in the Sixties is a vastly educational look at 60's 'radicalism' that makes one think about the strange state of affairs today, when any group that demonstrates is assumed to be troublemakers, and the press and elected officials maintain a false sense of consensus by pretending the country is all in agreement. They made a lot of foolish choices, but the activists interviewed in this exceedingly fair docu come off as world-class patriots, as idealistic as the men who founded our country.

Paramount's The Day Reagan Was Shot is a real surprise, a cable movie that's the equal in writing and execution of most feature fare. An excellent script details the often hiliarious truth about the the back stage maneuverings and petty power plays that occurred when the President was incapacitated by a bullet in 1981. Richard Dreyfuss and Richard Crenna top a cast that impersonates famous people without lampooning them. (Note, 11/22: I've amended the review with a note from 'Hank' about this film's falsification of historical facts ... yes, I was 'had'.)

A free weekend looms to try and catch up with more reviews, including the Criterion SOLARIS which just arrived. Thanks for hanging in there! Glenn Erickson

Monday looms anew in Hollywood, where Savant has two biggies from legendary directors to wave before you.

Billy Wilder's Sunset Blvd. is a real beauty of a DVD and one to grab for sure. The picture looks great and the extras contain some rare outtake material. This cynical look at Hollywood madness hasn't dated one bit. With William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim, and Nancy Olson.

Alfred Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief gets raked over the coals by Savant. Blatant masher Grace Kelly charms Cary Grant but not this reviewer - and Hitchcock's sexy thriller is mostly a lazy vacation movie.

Image just sent me some more check discs of upcoming product, which I'll be looking at right away! Thanks for all the fun mail ... Glenn Erickson

Saturday night in Savant Land ... last night's Academy screening of Ryan's Daughter in 70mm and 6-track audio was sensational. The Academy's theater in Beverly Hills is one place with virtually flawless projection. Dick May of Warner/Turner introduced the picture and told us it was a work in progress (just two short shots were mistimed) with the audio synchronized on a separate machine. He also introduced Ms. Juliet Mills in the audience - Hayley's sister, John's daughter, the star of Avanti!. Going to see a show at the Academy is always a classy experience. On to the reviews ...

From the new DVD company Plexifilm comes Ciao! Manhattan, the controversial feature built around the celebrity of Edie Sedgwick, the young-to-die centerpiece of Andy Warhol's group of chi-chi counterculture Superstars. By itself, this rambling picture doesn't make much sense, but Plexifilm's excellent extras include informative text and commentaries from the makers, more interviews, and a lengthy set of outtakes from the 1967 New York shoot.

MGM's DVD of Alexander Korda's The Thief of Bagdad won't be out until December 3, but Savant couldn't resist reviewing it right away. The color is splendid in this all-time favorite Arabian Nights adventure. With Sabu, Conrad Veidt, Miles Malleson, and Rex Ingram as the Genie from the Lamp.

Savant's now in Screening mode - the studios are beginning to invite critics en masse to see their winter Oscar-hopeful output. And disc Screeners are starting to show up as well. I'll try to keep a running commentary on what I see and what I like on this Savant main page. Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson

Good evening! Only one review tonight (not getting enough sleep!) Last night's Monterey Pop screening for Criterion was a successful and fun evening, with an appreciative crowd enjoying the feature projected on a big screen and applauding where they always did, for Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Ravi Shankar. Savant had a good time introducing the show, and meeting some of the Criterion and Home Vision people, in person!

Cult Epics' ¡Viva la muerte! is of limited appeal, but is an historically significant shock political art film about Fascist Spain, a surreal film from the poetic gamester Fernando Arrabal. Disturbing and sometimes disgusting, it can only be described as a cinematic scream against political oppression -and complacent comfort.

Savant just got in his new batch of hot titles (hot to Savant that is) and hopes to get back on a more normal schedule soon ... thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson

Today's even hotter than yesterday in Los Angeles, and as I get ready for a new week of reviews, I have one more very special disc to talk about ...

Image Entertainment's Mauvaise Graine is Billy Wilder's really rare French feature film, made in 1934. Yet there's enough in this comedy-drama about Parisian car thieves that make it unmistakably Wilder's. As a lot of it is filmed on the streets of Paris (with some very sophisticated car-mounted cameras) it's also an amazing time capsule.

Tomorrow night, Wednesday, November 13, there's going to be a free screening of Criterion's new The Complete Monterey Pop DVD set in Hollywood at Laemmle's Sunset 5. Savant has been tapped to introduce the famous rockumentary, and it promises to be a big event. The screening is open to the public, but it's one of those things where you need to come early - admission is via an online ticket you print out and bring to the door. More info and the ticket to print are at this address; the Monterey Pop promotion is about halfway down the page. Thanks! Glenn Erickson

Another Monday, this a Veteran's day, rolls around in Los Angeles, where the sun is shining again like the 4th of July. Two eccentric discs to review today ...

All Day's All Monsters Attack! is a dizzying marathon of titanic terrors stomping cities, screaming mobs, and miniature buildings, all sold with the hype-pedal pushed to the floor. It's a great nostalgic ride ... Savant remembers seeing the trailer for The Beginning of the End at age 5 and being nailed to his seat.

Columbia TriStar's The Road to Wellville is a curious look at a fascinating point in American history, when the idle rich turned to quack health gurus. But the comedy is too broad to take seriously, so what we're left with are a lot of grotesque situations, flatulence jokes and sexual hysteria. Anthony Hopkins is pretty amazing to see, however, as the buck-toothed Cornflake King, a doctor turned quack-cure millionaire.

Thanks! Glenn Erickson

Greetings from a very rainy but pleasant Los Angeles, where the Hollywood sign is hidden behind the mist! Two very different reviews from Image Entertainment today.

Making the Misfits is a comprehensive and insightful look at the filming of John Huston's The Misfits, a great picture that was never a hit. The set was kind of a cultural Ground Zero. Besides Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable each making their last film, Montgomery Clift, Eli Wallach, and Huston were there, and 9 world-class still photographers documented the whole thing. Key interviews from Arthur Miller and Eli Wallach help explain the concentration of ill-fated superstars. A superior Hollywood docu.

Jess Franco's Eugenie ... the story of her journey into perversion takes Savant into territory he should probably stay clear of - it's the best Franco I've yet seen, yet still nothing I'd ever develop an aesthetic liking for. An impressive Christopher Lee appearance helps, along with some good camerawork, but it's still pretentious, softcore sleaze, folks. Apologies to the legions of online Francophiles.

Thanks! Glenn Erickson

Another pleasant Guest reviewer gives DVD Savant a boost today - author Stuart Galbraith was tickled by Anchor Bay's new Carry On boxed set enough to sort them out in one big review.

Anchor Bay's The Carry On Collection contains over a dozen features in what was one of the longest-running comedy series of all time. From Guest Reviewer Stuart Galbraith IV.

A pleasure to watch and write about, MGM's The World of Henry Orient is a rare picture about kids that expresses what being a kid is actually like. Two adolescent girls stalk their dream date, oily pianist Peter Sellers, while dealing with parental woes. Paula Prentiss and Angela Lansbury star, but the show is stolen by young Merrie Spaeth and Tippy Walker.

Thanks! Glenn Erickson

Today brings two films for which Savant had high hopes, and was kind of disappointed; I can at least say that both are quality transfers:

Anchor Bay does another beautiful job on a Hammer title with To the Devil a Daughter, a horror film with some reputation but mostly kept popular by fan-boy slobbering over Nastassja Kinski's full frontal nudity. Desperation and company cluelessness might be responsible for the lurid, trashy tone; Anchor Bay's transfer and extras (including a docu with a Chris Lee interview) are up to their high standard.

Vanguard Cinema brings a good number of interesting Latin American titles to DVD, but Tarea, o de como la pornografia salvo del tedio y mejoró la economía de la familia Partida, aka Homework is a soft-porn stunt picture that promises deep insights and delivers a rather cheap gag instead. 99% of the picture is shot from one camera angle, a gimmick that works better than it should, until we realize the only reason we're sticking around is to wait for things to get steamy.

To the Devil a Daughter is the second-to-last major horror film released in the Fall genre rush; the only outstanding title I wanted to review is Synapse's promising Castle of Blood. What kinds of upcoming product get Savant's motor running? Well, there's Ruscico's long, long War and Peace; Image's Mauvaise Graine (Billy Wilder's French movie); Anchor Bay's Hell is a City, The Frightened City and The Criminal; Artisan's The Hit; Criterion's Solaris and Contempt; Paramount's The Duellists, Sunset Blvd. and Serpico, Columbia's Fat City; and MGM's Miami Blues and The Thief of Bagdad. Add to that titles suggested by DVDTalk's Geoffrey Kleinman, and we should have a pretty good pre-Christmas rush. Glenn Erickson

Hello from California, where the sun came out a little bit today ... A guest review from afar rubs shoulders with some vintage silent laughs in today's reviews.

Lee Broughton reviews Pagan's Region 2 PAL discs of The Vampires' Night Orgy by Leon Klimovsky, and Zipang, a difficult-to-describe costume fantasy from Japan, directed by Kaizo Hayashi. Sounds like they're beginning to get some desirable exclusives in Region 2.

Image's The Best Arbuckle Keaton Collection is producer/restorer David Shepard's compendium of the 12 hilarious two reelers made by Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle from 1917 to 1919 - the ones that introduced and developed the amazing genius of Buster Keaton. It's hard to tell who's funnier as they're a comedy team of considerable talent - and Arbuckle has got to be the great usung silent comedian, period. With the American copies of Fatty's work all destroyed, Shepard collected these good-to-very good prints from European archives.

Knowing a good thing when he sees it, Savant ran down to the Academy building and bought some tickets to November 15th's Academy Standards screening of RYAN'S DAUGHTER - in 70mm. Savant saw a private 35mm print of this twenty years ago and it looked great, and can't wait to see how it looks on the Academy's definitive screen. Thanks! Glenn Erickson

A new month and more fun here, in the form of more interesting and sometimes oddball discs to review.

Criterion's The Complete Monterey Pop Festival is an extremely satisfying package that not only serves up the landmark 1968 Rock Documentary in fine shape, but adds almost 3 hours of unseen performances. The text and commentary extras are an education unto themselves; the sixties music scene comes alive here. A very desirable 3-disc package.

MGM's The Angel Levine is almost as woebegone as the lost angel of its title, played by Harry Belafonte. An artsy bit of drama and fantasy, it presents Zero Mostel in a very un-Fiddler, un-Producers role, and thus was almost guaranteed not to get a release when new. Does it work, or even make sense? Some endearing performances can't keep this quirky pic from being a mystery.

Savant's looking forward to some advance discs he just got from Image, including Billy Wilder's long-forgotten French film, and the 5.5 hour Mahabarata. And for those of you who get the Turner Classic Movies cable channel, this month they're showing hundreds of classic Westerns. If you've never seen Robert Mitchum in The Wonderful Country, or Gary Cooper in Man of the West (in CinemaScope), or Sam Peckinpah's Major Dundee (in Panavision), here's your opportunity. Thanks, Glenn Erickson