Savant's new reviews today are

George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journal Warners
George Stevens: D-Day to Berlin Warners and
Thunderbirds Universal

Well, Savant is back after his holiday break ... with some key work finally turned in I can focus on reviews again. By the end of next week I should be back up to full steam. January has a lot of interesting product to review, and it's time to catch up on some tardy reviews. Screeners only arrived over the holidays for some discs that came out as long ago as October.

An interesting public notice appeared in the LA Times last week, of a class-action suit against MGM for, of all things, putting those inaccurate widescreen graphic representations in their old DVD inserts, the ones that often gave the impression that widescreen movies were much wider. The notice is unclear whether the suit was won or lost or is being settled preemptively, but there's mention of an exchange of seven dollars or a replacement disc for certain titles purchased between 1998 and 2004.

In my opinion, this is the kind of thing that makes DVD companies distrustful of consumer gripers and web critics. The annoyingly inaccurate diagrams were obviously meant to be generically informative and not literally accurate. That it could mislead more informed fans and give a false impression of the image on the disc is true, and was worth noting in DVD reviews. But from the facts presented here, I doubt that any real harm was done anyone. If the lawsuit thinks it can hold DVD companies accountable to strict truth-in-advertising for the often fuzzy facts of how movies should be presented on DVD - aspect ratios, "original versions", etc., it's a joke. To avoid future hassles, the companies could easily use a lawsuit like this to rationalize adding a 'formatted to fit your TV screen' disclaimer, put everything out in a one-size-fits-all flat format, and be done with it.

The suit is called Eallonardo, et al. v. MGM, et al. and has an informational website at This web address.

While I still have your attention, let me point you once more to the DVD Savant 2004 Favored Disc Roundup and also get in a last 2004 plug for the incredibly entertaining and highly fashionable DVD Savant Book.

Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are

Fanny and Alexander Criterion and
I Remember Mama Warners

My last two reviews before Christmas turn out to be family themed, and one opens with a grand Swedish Christmas celebration from 1910. By the time you're reading this I should have my own full family home - the real Christmas gift, surely. Savant will probably not do any serious writing until after the 25th, and the column won't be back to speed until after the New Years'. But I'll certainly be answering and writing Emails, so if the eggnog is sour, don't be afraid to write and complain. (You need to get enhanced, widescreen eggnog, of course.)

Don't forget that there's still the DVD Savant 2004 Favored Disc Roundup, for those of you having trouble sleeping. It was a great year for DVDs and 2005 promises to be even better. If things get slow the beginning of next month - I see a yawning dry spell for editorial work coming up - I'll really strain my welcome with a 7th year report ... what I did on my DVD vacation from 1997 to 2004. Thanks again, write and say hi, and have a great holiday! Glenn Erickson

Savant's new review today is

Mikey and Nicky Home Vision
and there is also his yearly
DVD Savant 2004 Favored Disc Roundup.

Hi ... yes, just the one review in addition to the big roundup. The holiday pressure just squeezed away what extra time Savant had; I have seen three more George Stevens discs along with THE DECEIVERS and ANIMAL LOVERS but can't keep up with the writing. I'd still rather do what I can instead of announce a Christmas break or something; perhaps I'll get those unfinished reviews finished. Some of you asked how Savant writes so many reviews per week and I guess the answer is that his life normally allows him the time!

Thanks again for all the support with the column and now the book; I'll be checking in again in a couple of days. According to DVDTalk, two more of those Universal Monster sets are on the way ... gee, they'll only be 60 days after street date! Thanks, Glenn Erickson

Savant's going late to keep the column going for the next week or so, with long work days leaving little writing time. Instead of getting chintzy with the reviews, I'm writing fewer of them. The new reviews today are

Mary Poppins 40th Anniversary Edition Disney and
Gunga Din Warners

It was fun reviewing GUNGA DIN as it relates closely to two other fascinating movies sharing the same subject, sort of. The Thugee cult made fun of in the George Stevens film became the focus of a Hammer horror called THE STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY, a movie so relentlessly sadistic that it influenced a repressive wave of censorship in England in 1959. Also, the Merchant-Ivory THE DECEIVERS, starring Pierce Brosnan is a more realistic account of the Thuggee crimes and will be released about a month from now by Home Vision Entertainment. I'm looking forward to discussing the whole subgenre of crazed cult stranglers in that review, as the Hammer film is not yet out in any form.

Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are

Roseland Home Vision
Tanner on Tanner Showtime and
A Star is Born Image

A light Saturday for reviews ... I'm working 7 days a week at the moment, which leaves only four hours or so to do anything ... but that shouldn't go on too long.

Thanks for the support on the DVD Savant Book. I'm working on the Savant picks of the year ... Just got in an early check disc of a film from January I really wanted to see ... I'll find out how soon I can review it without making the distributor angry!

Thanks! Glenn E.

Some good titles to talk about on this Day of Infamy, 65 years later:

"M" Criterion (Reissue)
Short Cuts Criterion
Racing with the Moon Paramount and
The Frank Sinatra Show with Ella Fitzgerald Quantum Leap

Well, the banners are up for the DVD Savant Book, so all seems to be well with the world. I just learned that in a couple days I'll be working straight until Christmas without even weekends off, so I'd better get to work on my so-called ten best list for the year. It's always fun choosing titles. Much harder will be choosing this year's Online Film Critics Society list of picks, but that's another story.

I'll tell you though, that he first couple of years of DVD Savant were very slow, work-wise, and I'd be crazy not to be grateful that I'm busy now. I wish it were the kind of luck that could be passed around.

Coming up, (if it ever gets here in the slow holiday mail) will be Mary Poppins, Tanner on Tanner, I Remember Mama, and King of Kings; I already have January titles Random Harvest, Ivanhoe and Ice Station Zebra but have to wait until two weeks to street date to post reviews without having Warners gunning for my hide (which is still smarting from Mildred Pierce).

Heard a hopeful rumor about Criterion. Among the films proposed for the Criterion treatment in 2005 are the Fitzcarraldo doc Burden of Dreams and Powell and Pressburger's A Cantebury Tale.

Thanks Again! Glenn

Yours truly takes pleasure in announcing the publication of the first DVD Savant book, entitled

DVD SAVANT: A Review Resource Book.
I've been hoping for this opportunity for a long time, and from what I've seen of the results, I'm more than pleased.

I went over it again the other night for the first time in a while, and I still like the choice of reviews compiled from the 1374 that I've written for the column. I have a few review books I return to every once in awhile and I think I'd like this one too. It's called a "resource book" because someone drawing a blank on what to rent or buy could discover a great title here they might otherwise never find out about. At least, that's the brilliant idea; it always makes me feel good when someone lets me know I've led them to a movie they really liked.

I've put up a promotional page for the item with a little more information, and the expected links to where it can be ordered online. DVDTalk is fully behind the book and should have some banners up shortly to promote it.

Let me also say that I'm very grateful for the popularity of DVD Savant (you know, that review person who never ever makes mistakes or typos) and hope to keep up this fun writing for the foreseeable future. Thanks for everything.

Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are

Late Night Shopping Home Vision
The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection Universal
A Farewell to Arms Image and
Once Upon A Time in Mexico - Superbit Columbia TriStar

Racing toward the holidays, Savant has a couple of days off to address some neglected discs and think about my 'best of 2004' article, It was a year with lots of goodies but few socko, life-altering releases, an interesting problem, luggage-wise, as they say. Lots of fun things happening on various fronts, some of which I can talk about. Criterion just announced their disc of Jules Dassin's NIGHT AND THE CITY, which will reportedly have my second attempt at an audio commentary. This one has a lot more research put into it; even though I was chosen on the basis of a chapter I wrote about the movie in the first FILM NOIR READER, there was a lot about NIGHT AND THE CITY to be learned, such as the existence of a substantially different English version. Noir guru Alain Silver contributed a commentary to a second Dassin film being released at the same time, THIEVE'S HIGHWAY, and I'll be curious to see what he has to say about it.

Thanks for reading as ever, and especially for the corrections! Glenn Erickson