Hello! Savant's new reviews today are

Hello again ... just got through with the Godzilla piece and am forging into a new week of discs ... things are pleasant in Los Angeles except for the fact that there must be 25% more auto traffic due to many schools being back in session.

Interesting news: Savant correspondent Gary Teetzel attended the Corman fest at the Egyptian this weekend and reports that Chris D announced that the Cinematheque will at long last present a program they first promised two years or so ago: A two-week retrospective of Russian sci-fi, from the silent era to modern day. Oh boy! Eastern-bloc sci-fi! Somebody hold Savant back!

And a thank you to the many readers (14, actually!) who wrote in to confirm that Universal's Science Fiction Ultimate Collection is a Best Buy exclusive ... we'll be looking for it next month.

Savant welcomes a new reviewer to the DVD Talk stable of talent. Paul Mavis has been writing this column with corrections and suggestions for a long time, and it looks as if he's joining the troublemakers at DVD Talk's vaunted Ministry of Truth, just down Propaganda Avenue from the still-popular Ministry of Fear. Actually, Paul's first review is up and you can read it here; it's on Robert Aldrich's Emperor of the North.

Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson

Greetings! Savant's new reviews today are

Hello again ... Summer is almost over but the heat is still on. Savant received some key disc shipments, along with the surprise of Jigoku from Criterion, which is quite an eye-opener. I hope these reviews get the weekend off to a good start. Thanks, Glenn Erickson

Greetings! Savant's new reviews today are

Hello again -- Haven't much to say for myself except that the GOJIRA-GODZILLA and THIS ISLAND EARTH screeners are on their way. Am also excited by a new disc of HUNGER and Criterion refurbishings of SEVEN SAMURAI, PLAYTIME and AMARCORD that have already found their way here. If I get either of the Sci-Fi movies ahead of schedule, I might be inspired to put out reviews early this week. Thanks -- Glenn Erickson

Greetings! Savant's new reviews today are

Welcome news from Universal: In November, they'll be releasing a Preston Sturges box set with The Great McGinty, Christmas in July, The Lady Eve, Sullivan's Travels, The Palm Beach Story, The Great Moment and Hail the Conquering Hero. Price is $45. These apparently aren't going to be available individually, so we can't just get the ones that haven't been released before, alas.

A site called DVD Review announced some news that may be too good to be true, that Universal's The Classic SciFi Ultimate Collection will be released on September 19. The DVD set is said to contain Tarantula, The Mole People, The Incredible Shrinking Man, The Monolith Monsters and Monster On The Campus. The 3 disc set is expected to have a $29.98 sticker price.

Hopefully this will be confirmed shortly. The announcement has caused a lot of confusion and speculation, since there has been no confirmation by other DVD websites, the title is not up for pre-order, and no information appears on Universal's own home entertainment site. Announcing a release only a month ahead goes against all the industry rules regarding allowing a window for retail pre-orders, etc.. Correspondent Gary Teetzel is cautious but hopeful, noting that the 'Ultimate' set does not include The Land Unknown, which would really benefit from 16 x 9 enhancement, nor The Deadly Mantis. The main cause of anxiety remains aspect ratios. All of the titles would be properly presented enhanced at 1:85 or 1:66 but have always been issued flat. The killer title is The Incredible Shrinking Man, a hard-matted film that has always been shown in a pan-scanned version and really needs presentation at 1:85 or a little wider. We hope Universal is as sensitive to aspect ratio here as they were on their wonderful Hammer Horror set from last fall. Thanks for reading -- Glenn Erickson

Special update, Saturday afternoon: The 'too soon' street date might be explained if the Classic Sci Fi Ultimate Collection is actually a Best Buy exclusive ... see This Link.

Salutations! Savant's All-Noir reviews today are

Hello again. Not much to report except to say that the new noir releases were a nice break from star-oriented boxed sets, which I'll be continuing with shortly with Criterion's Eric Rohmer Moral Tales collection. Looking forward to more big titles (in Savant's estimation): This Island Earth, Gojira, Playtime, Pretty Poison and Jesse James.

There was a minor consumer revolt over at the Home Theater Forum over the supposedly poor treatment given the James Stewart western The Naked Spur by Warners. I can only repeat Robert H. Harris' calming response: Restoring Technicolor movies from scratch (recompositing the original B&W matrices by photochemical or digital means) is prohibitively expensive, like, many times what it takes to put an old negative or duping element through the mill. So far only top tiltles (Oz, Singin' in the Rain) have been done this way and only on an experimental no-profit basis. As I said in my review somebody eventually may come up with an economical process to restore IB Tech films, but until then I'm not calling for vigilante justice when an individual transfer isn't as beautiful as it might be, even when the film is a personal favorite.

Back to the fun: Correspondent Aitam Bar-Sagi pointed out this Russian Music Video "Vot tak" that uses generous film clips from Metropolis, including one shot he says is not in any present restored version. Note: The shot is at 52 seconds; it's mostly blocked by a matted figure but shows flames billowing out of the Moloch machine. I fully expect Aitam to start tracking down the film source for the music video -- his collection already includes many stills and even a shot or two not restored to the usual versions of the film! -- Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson

Hello! Savant's new reviews today are

Savant offers a couple of rewarding websites to check out. John McElwee's Greenbriar Picture Shows has a great entry (August 9) on Howard Hawks' The Thing from Another World including some great pub art images, and a nice nod to Ted Newsom, who wrote an often-cribbed original article on the movie for Cinefantastique back in 1982.

Tom Sutpen, on his incomparable blogsite If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats has posted a chilling short film from 1973 called Television Delivers People that itself delivers a kick comparable to the best of Philip K. Dick and Peter Watkins ... it's Marshall McLuhan elevated to sinister levels of mind control. It's a "just the facts" litany from filmmakers Richard Serra and Carlotta Fay Schoolman. To find it you need to scroll down a bit to August 8, past some of ICPWAGTBAWLODC's dynamite cultural images.

Finally, helpful pal Gary Teetzel offers a tip on a real rarity, for readers who mark their calendars months ahead for oddball film opportunities. The movie is the largely unseen and forgotten The Devil with Hitler, reportedly a crazy and somewhat rude movie made in 1942. Check out the description, cast and other details at the IMDB entry for The Devil with Hitler. TCM (Turner Classic Movies) is listing it on their schedule for October 2.

Greetings! Just one review tonight -- or six, if you really think about it:

Savant's had these discs for less than 24 hours and was only able to write the reviews in time because he wrote on the titles he already knew before seeing them again. I'm well stocked for next time out, when I'll will have more coverage of the new Warner Boxed sets. Thanks -- Glenn Erickson

Greetings! Savant's new reviews today are

Hello again ... just getting back into the reviewing work while still pretending I'm on vacation -- the long naps are just to catch up with my sleep! Warners just announced lavish boxed sets for the fall with Paul Newman (Harper, The Drowning Pool, The Left-Handed Gun, The Mackintosh Man, Pocket Money, Somebody Up There Likes Me, The Young Philadelphians), Gary Cooper (Sergeant York, The Fountainhead, Springfield Rifle, The Wreck of the Mary Deare, Dallas) and Marlon Brando (Mutiny on the Bounty, Julius Caesar, The Formula, Reflections in a Golden Eye, Teahouse of the August Moon), whch are bound to keep us busy. We're hoping that Mutiny on the Bounty will have some cut scenes that were shown on one of its network television airings, and sad that one of the best Westerns ever, The Hanging Tree was not included in the Gary Cooper box. Perhaps it's being saved for something special, like Newman's The Silver Chalice. Just kidding. Glenn Erickson

Greetings! Savant's new reviews today are

Savant is back from his Odyssey across about half the country, which I have to say is looking better than ever - and those 75mph speed limits help to keep the scenery moving. This is me communing with the spirit of Mose Harper on the Arizona / Utah border. Back here in Savant reality, I have to catch up with my reviews, which means redoubling efforts in the next week ... I just got in Criterion's Eric Rohmer boxed set and it looks like it will be the revelation of the summer.

To augment the paltry pair of reviews for today, I'm passing along some great little links from readers and correspondents. These serious web steers from David Rutsala and Steven Averett are follow-ups to Savant's Koko, a talking gorilla review:

Glenn --- The Maui Gorilla preserve still hasn't happened, but Dr. Patterson is still raising money for it. Here are a couple of links that might answer your other questions:

But whether apes have any true sense of language remains unclear. The anecdotal evidence is certainly suggestive, but it isn't conclusive. And experts in linguistics tend to dismiss it totally. -- David Rutsala

And

Hi Glenn, Enjoyed your review of this title. For a more recent documentary about Koko, you should check out this, shown as part of the PBS series Nature a few years ago. It will fill you in on what has happened with Koko (and Michael) in the 20+ years since A Talking Gorilla. More info here:

-- Steven Averett

With the academic content out of the way, here comes the fun. From "Dave" ... a subject close to my heart:

Hey Glenn, I know how much you just love the anti-piracy PSA, so I thought you'd really enjoy this:

Keep up the great work! Dave

Correspondent Glen Grant offers this link to an oddball page that makes a case for NASA (or pre-NASA) leaking secret knowledge of extraterrestrials ... through TV sci-fi entertainment and Disney docus?:

I had to skim this because it's long and the font color makes it hard to read, but really, it's at least worth a glance. They do find this stuff everywhere.

Who knew? Apparently, Tom Corbett did. Glen Grant

And finally, from the dependable Gary Teetzel comes this bracing production for fans of march music -- and Akira Ifukube:

The Japanese Army Marching Band plays themes from Godzilla, Battle in Outer Space & Destroy All Monsters

Thanks! Glenn Erickson