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Savant's happy to have received a number of interesting emails about The Night The Raided Minsky's. I've appended most of them to the bottom of the review. I've also noted that newspaper reviewers and even magazines like The New Yorker have picked up big time on Criterion's The Furies -- that's more attention than Anthony Mann's picture got when it was new. My review is up at film.com and will be here at DVD Savant in a few days. Next up: Saul Bass' Phase IV.

After receiving less than complimentary remarks about the cover art on their Icons of Adventure boxed set, Sony has adopted a web board ploy used by boutique DVD producers, and set up a polling place for consumers to vote for the cover art for their upcoming Icons of Horror: Hammer Films set at Amazon. I like two out of three of the attractive-looking covers.

Sony's Michael Schlesinger has dropped the hint that a proposed Toho - themed DVD set is "80% certain" for 2009: Mothra, Battle in Outer Space and The H-Man. That's an unusual claim considering the unstable world of DVD release schedules, but Savant is certainly bullish on the idea. Sony has restored a full subtitled Japanese version of Mothra (it's a beauty) but the last I heard, they only had the American dubbed versions of the other two, which also suffered unfortunate picture and music changes. And will Sony favor us with dual language version releases, as pioneered by Classic Media and Media Blasters? I certainly hope so. Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson

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Greetings! A heavy-pressure week, so no notes tonight. As you can see, I've finally reviewed The Night They Raided Minsky's; I wish I'd been able to write it this favorite up much earlier. Oh -- I've also revised the 2008 DVD Savant Wish List -- and moved the revision date notice to the top, for easy reference. Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson

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Greetings! I'm still digesting reader information about The Stranglers of Bombay -- there are a number of very well informed correspondents out there -- and am working up the proper way to write it all up. In the meantime, I've received several worthwhile links I'd like to pass on.

Reader Jim Donahue tipped me to an Amazon listing for Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death (Stairway to Heaven). Amazon had cover art but no exact release date. I brought it to the attention of Sony, who said that the notice of the release is premature. Today the listing reverted to "unavailable." So the title is still out there waiting; I'm hoping that Powell's wonderful Age of Consent with a young Helen Mirren will eventually be coming as well, in a restored cut.

Very happy to have a Hammer Horror review today, from Legend Films. Reader Chuck Shillingford & correspondent Gary Teetzel passed the word along that more will be coming this Fall. On October 14, Sony Home Entertainment will release Icons of Horror: Hammer Films. The titles are all reasonably rare and much-desired: The Two Faces Of Dr. Jekyll, The Curse Of The Mummy's Tomb, The Gorgon and Scream of Fear. Savant has never seen the Dr. Jekyll movie and the other three are all recommended. Scream of Fear aka Taste of Fear, with Susan Strasberg is one of the few post- Psycho thrillers that really works.

Esteemed correspondent Brad Caslor sent me a couple of amusing links: Garfield minus Garfield is a New York Times article about an artist making existential statements just by dropping a certain cat from artwork panels of a certain cartoon.

And There will be Bud is a dead-on movie spoof of uncommon wit, at least for the first 3/4 of its running time.

New this week is a restored DVD of The Gang's All Here, replacing the off-hue DVD put out just a year ago. Savant hopes to secure a review copy soon. Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson

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Greetings! Another busy week, capped by an interesting Email about Savant favorite The Stranglers of Bombay. If you're not tired of hearing about that picture, read on.

Reader Richard Villa brought my attention to an online post by Gary McMahon about the film:

"Here is an update to the Region 1 DVD latest Hammer Film collection, Icons of Adventure. The Stranglers of Bombay featured in that collection is cut.

The BFI also possesses a script that I've consulted for a PhD I'm working on about femmes fatales in 20th century British cinema. The script directions for Devereaux's character suggest, during a strangling,

"KARIM looks on leeringly, and kneels at PRIEST's feet, her hand reaching for his leg."
Or, during a branding scene, "she leans forward eagerly, feasting her eyes."

So Hammer fans will have to hope that a future British DVD release might render this censored R1 release redundant."

In a second note McMahon added, "the original version has been shown uncut on British TV several times, though not for many years."

Well naturally, this is interesting news, although it doesn't answer a number of questions. My information is that Sony's video versions of Stranglers were sourced from the film's original negative. The records show no discrepancy in the tracks, etc., and no indication that Sony/Columbia, which controls the film both in the US and the UK, had altered the film. Assuming that McMahon's information is accurate, the uncut BFI print that McMahon mentions could be a one-of-a-kind item, unless uninventoried fine-grains of the film are languishing in some UK vault.

The British Board of Film Censors lists the film's original length (after cuts) to be 80m 41s, almost a minute longer than Sony's new R1 disc, which runs exactly 79m 44s. The BBFC lists the mentioned 1996 British video version that, at PAL speed, 76m 25s. It is said to have seven seconds cut out.

I noticed the longer running time listed in the Phil Hardy Encyclopedia of Horror Films, but have never seen tell-tale signs of cuts -- picture jumps or audio splices -- that would have occurred if the changes were made late in post production. And it's true that original reviews and treatises by Robin Wood and Raymond Durgnat emphasize the role of the 'cult girl' Karim played by Marie Devereaux. She's describing as leering at the cult's victims of torture and mutilation. Much footage of that kind is still there, but only when Karim takes an active role, such as when she feeds a pair of caged men who have been blinded, and their tongues cut out. It would be relatively easy to snip out additional 'passive' cutaways to Devereaux gloating over the victims. If the BFI has a longer print, it may be a pre-censorship version shown only at BFI screenings that critics might have attended.

This doesn't jibe with McMahon's conclusion that the changes occurred around 1996. If that's so, we wonder why there aren't more full-length copies of the film around, and why the original negative has been changed. McMahon says that the American version was censored, but in practice the American cuts of Hammer films were usually longer. In this case McMahon states that the violence was retained, while the content relating torture to sex was excised. The Kali cult could be shown mutilating its victims, but Kerim's sexually-aroused reactions had to go: Male sadism Good; female sadism Bad.

If McMahon's information is all true -- he says he went to England and saw the BFI's print -- this would be a worthy note to place in the title's restoration file, for future investigation. I've been trading emails with McMahon and other 'restoration contacts' all afternoon, and so far McMahon's story holds up. Anyone out there have a longer cut of Terence Fisher's gruesome thriller hiding in their basement? A longer version would be something to look forward to in ten years, maybe! The present Stranglers of Bombay is still a sadistic revelation.

A much less complicated note: We can now visit a website promotiong the Howard Shore - David Cronenberg Opera based on the 1986 movie The Fly! Here's the link. Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson

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Greetings! Savant is gearing up for a marathon review-writing weekend. Hmm, I just noticed that all three reviews today are of Paramount pictures. Poor planning strikes again. Some news for you:

We're told that Warners is releasing Albert Lewin's The Picture of Dorian Gray on October 7. The celebrated horror classic is the one with the frightening Technicolor insert of the titular painting. Star Angela Lansbury is said to have contributed a commentary track.

This may be too late for people who don't see this before Saturday, but those who get the Turner Classic Movies cable channel and are stuck for late night entertainment, The Italian gangster film Machine Gun McCain is just the ticket. It stars John Cassavetes (probably earning molte lire to finance his own pictures) and features a killer Ennio Morricone score.

Trailers from Hell has two new titles: Repulsion and Mad Love. The Mad Love trailer has a hilarious "interview at home" with Peter Lorre, who is obviously having a jolly time.

And finally, I recently researched (read: asked questions) the video restoration of the first Hammer Quatermass film, The Quatermass Xperiment. It was really an excuse to attend an audio layback session, and so see how well this 50 year-old classic would look in HD. (answer: great). The article, which just became live at film.com, is called Before Dr. Who, there was Quatermass! -- Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson

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A bright June day it is, with one of Savant's most desired titles arriving on DVD, Terence Fisher's The Stranglers of Bombay.

Savant's catching up on his reviews but is still a bit behind. DVDs coming very soon will be The Fire Within, Lost Colony, The Night They Raided Minsky's, High Noon, Classe Tous Risques, The Furies and The Busy Body; Blu-rays on the way are There Will Be Blood, Cloverfield, Patton and The Professionals. My apologies for the delay.

A bit of consumer advice. I almost got Sony's James Stewart: Columbia Screen Legends Collection box as a way of acquiring Anatomy of a Murder in a remastered enhanced transfer. Savant reader Patrick Miller reports that the packaging is mistaken as to aspect ratio and format: the new disc is really the same old open-matte 1:33 transfer from seven or eight years ago. The box has been out for a long time, so this probably won't help too many buyers. Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson

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Hello again ... another busy week in the Savant City ... In case you missed the news, Classic Media will release a 2-disc set with Rodan and War of the Gargantuas on September 9. Both U.S. and Japanese versions will be included. No commentaries this time, but Steve Ryfle's new hour-long kaiju docu will be included.

Also, September 9 will bring us a Fox Horror Classics 2 box, with Lugosi's Chandu the Magician, Dr. Renault's Secret and Vincent Price in Dragonwyck.

Fans of The Misfits and Marilyn Monroe, get out your checkbooks: This Link explains all .... Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson

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Let's see, what's cookin? Apparently the Universal Studios back lot, some of which burned down last night, taking a few rows of façades and the stage housing the King Kong ride with it. Also burning -- one of Universal's video vaults. Uh oh.

Wayne Schmidt sent me this link to a truly amazing Argentinian short animated film that's difficult to describe: Muto. Anyway, you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it. It's the most impressive filmed artwork I've seen this year. The labor involved moggles the bind ... well, you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it.

I'm making headway on the reviews, taking my vitamins and focusing on keeping the verbage percolating while working elsewhere as well. This always happens in the prettiest weeks of the year, when the trees are blooming, etc.

Over at Film.dom they've uploaded my piece on Sony's Icons of Adventure disc set. I'm particularly obsessed with The Stranglers of Bombay (above), a movie with plenty to say about the relationship between colonials and the colonized, occupiers and the occupied, and Crime and Terrorism.

Am also having more fun with new Blu-ray discs, and will be following up with more Blu-ray reviews shortly. I don't feel quite so "pinned down", and am "staking my hopes" that all this effort won't be in vain for nuthin'. -- Glenn Erickson