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January 31, 2009

Savant's new reviews today are

Edge of the City
part of the Sidney Poitier Collection
Warner Home Video


and
Far from the Madding Crowd
Warner Home Video

Hello again! I've got a few fun links, but am starting with a question today:

Warners' fine new DVD of Far from the Madding Crowd is said to have three additional minutes that constitute an International Version. I hadn't figured out what the three minutes are, and emails have been coming in from equally curious readers. I've just amended a footnote to the review with an explanation from George Feltenstein of Warner Home Video ... and the answer is more complicated than I thought it would be. A beautiful trailer for the film plays in TCM's Media Room, in Panavision.

Gary Teetzel found a fun link on the Mobius Home Video Forum: Joe Nicolosi and Amanda Boone's Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it). It's pretty amusing.

Writer Stuart Galbraith IV points us to this story from The Onion about North Korea's plan to "capture the moon".

Correspondent Matthew Rovner has written a great article, What Ever Happened to Arch Oboler? for the website Parallax View; it has plenty of information I never knew before, including a backstory on the rare Science Fiction film Five, coming out next Tuesday, February 3 from Sony.

Craig Reardon offers a link to something that parents, ex- parents or parents-to-be will enjoy, a self-explanatory 2 minute video called Time lapse of a baby playing with his toys. It's a delight.

And my review of Warners' six-title Natalie Wood Signature Collection is now up over at Film.com. Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson



January 26, 2009

Savant's new reviews today are

El Norte
Blu-ray
Criterion

Who Killed the Electric Car?
Sony

and
Getting Straight
Martini Movies
Sony

Greetings! Another fast weekend and the month's already all but gone. Also, my deadline his here so this column will be one of my extra-special content-challenged editions. My Who Killed the Electric Car? review has already attracted a number of emails based on its appearance at the Film.com site, so if you haven't yet heard of the docu, take a look.

Helpful readers have already helped me identify and correct a number of goofs in my review of Our Man in Havana. It's always good for the soul when a Sony executive writes to say that I've listed a B&W film as being in Color. Do I hang my head in shame, or take pride that I'm attracting such an industry readership? As much as I like the idea, I can't quite visualize Home Video companies waiting nervously to read what DVD Savant has written about their products. Maybe next week.

Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson



January 23, 2009

Greetings! Savant's new reviews today are

Warner Bros. Romance Classics Collection
Parrish, Susan Slade,
Rome Adventure, Palm Springs Weekend
Warner Home Video

Our Man in Havana
Martini Movies
Sony


and
Celebrating Director Michael Powell
Savant Article
Kino, Criterion, Sony

The interesting links and tips are coming in regularly now. But I found this on the Classic Horror Film Board, the entire documentary Final Cut, the Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate. It's fascinating, has great interviews and makes me want to see the movie again!

Correspondent Dean Blake reports that on March 31, VCI will release a double bill of two very good quasi-noir pictures. Reign of Terror (aka The Black Book) is a terrific mini-epic about the French Revolution, filmed on a tiny budget by Anthony Mann and clearly a major statement about the HUAC & blacklist years. The Amazing Dr. X is a fine thriller about a fake spiritualist that features masterful lighting by John Alton. I reviewed a pretty beat-up disc of this a few years back and can't wait to see a copy from better materials.

Warner Home Video has a new branded line called Turner Classic Movies Greatest Classic Films Collection. Each 2-disc set contains four famed titles; for instance, "Best Picture Winners" has Casablanca, Mrs. Miniver, An American in Paris and Gigi. They're perfect gifts, especially for a movie lover who doesn't want to amass shelves of DVD boxes. More information can be found on the (content-rich) Turner Classic Movies Online website.

Apparently Universal is tapping into the hot Pre-Code DVD market. On April 7 a six-title disc set called the Pre-Code Hollywood Collection - Universal Backlot Series, containing the pre-censorship attractions The Cheat, Merrily We Go to Hell, Hot Saturday, Torch Singer, Murder at the Vanities and Search for Beauty. As the "woo-hoo" Pre-Code pictures were rarely shown on television, they tend to be fresh and different -- and often very good.

Correspondent Robert Richardson gives us a link to a Vancouver Sun article about on Joe Dante making a new horror movie in 3D in Vancouver. It sounds very promising! Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson.



January 20, 2009

Happy Inauguration Day! Savant's new reviews today are

Michael Powell Double Feature
A Matter of Life and Death (Stairway to Heaven),
Age of Consent
Sony

Magnificent Obsession
(1935 & 1954)
Criterion


Zodiac
Blu-ray
Paramount

and
King Kong (2005)
Blu-ray
Universal



Hello -- some fun links while you're descending from the jubilation in the Nation's capitol. Here's a fresh photo of Savant's old flag -- which hasn't seen daylight since May of 2003.

Joe Dante steers us to an interesting Funny or Die page that unveils a "stealth remake" of Forrest Gump. I'd like to see somebody focus this same trick on Get Shorty and Be Cool.

David Cairns at his entertaining Shadowplay is working his way through essays on Severed Head movies (Drop down to his January 17 entry). I thought my old review of The Brain That Wouldn't Die was funny, but Cairns is a riot.

But this is the clincher: Correspondent Steven Nielson forwards a link to "help us understand the 1960s". It's the funniest thing I've seen so far this year. And to think I once believed I knew those lyrics! -- Thanks for reading and God Bless, Glenn Erickson



January 16, 2009

Savant's new reviews today are

Election
Blu-ray
Paramount

Caligula
Blu-ray
The Imperial Edition
Image


and
Father of the Kamikaze
AnimEigo

Greetings! I'm impressed by Warner Home Video, which seems to be running at full capacity this month. Their library title dance card is full: January 27: Cannery Row, Far from the Madding Crowd (a slightly longer cut), Goodbye Mr. Chips (1969), The Yellow Rolls Royce and Waterloo Bridge (1940). Also on the 27th are a "Romance Classics" box with Palm Springs Weekend and three Delmer Daves / Troy Donahue soapers, Parrish, Rome Adventure and Susan Slade --- and a Sidney Poitier box with Edge of the City, Something of Value, A Warm December and a reissue of A Patch of Blue.

Just a week later comes a Natalie Wood box containing Inside Daisy Clover, Bombers B-52, Sex and the Single Girl, Gypsy and Splendor in the Grass. Brainstorm is being issued separately. Finally, on February 17 comes a Paul Newman box, with The Helen Morgan Story, Rachel Rachel, The Silver Chalice, The Outrage, and everyone's favorite bad disaster film, When Time Ran Out. There's a lot of good stuff there, in the space of just one month.

My review discs are coming in too. On the way are Savant Blu-ray reviews of King Kong ('05), Zodiac, Being There and El Norte, and DVD notices for The Whole Shootin' Match, Michael Powell Double Feature, Who Killed the Electric Car?, George Wallace, Magnificent Obsession, Getting Straight and Our Man in Havana.

Finally, the kind people at Midnight Choir have promised me a screener of their Barbara Steele double bill of the rare The Long Hair of Death and An Angel for Satan. I've only seen them in near-unwatchable old VHS tapes, so I hope the quality is good! -- Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson



January 13, 2009

Savant's new reviews today are

Breakfast at Tiffany's
Centennial Collection
Paramount

The Truman Show
Blu-ray
Paramount

and
Chungking Express
Blu-ray
Criterion

Greetings! A couple of brief announcements today for Savant articles debuting over at Film.com. One major step out of our economic doldrums is suggested by a reissue of a 2006 docu, Who Killed the Electric Car?, a movie that should be required viewing for all politicians.

I've also written a cursory overview article on the career of Michael Powell of the legendary Powell-Pressburger "Archers" creative team. I've eagerly reviewed almost every one of their DVD releases and am hungry for more! Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson



January 10, 2009

Savant's new reviews today are

Funny Face
Centennial Collection
Paramount


The Last Emperor
Blu-ray
Criterion

and
The Man Who Fell to Earth
Blu-ray
Criterion

Greetings! Some fun links today. On a post on the Classic Horror Film Board, correspondent Gary Teetzel found an interesting color trailer for the blistering Japanese nuclear holocaust movie The Last War, in Tohoscope. It comes complete with hand-lettered English text in strange syntax, etc. "Here is the picture it took courage to make!" "Destruction goes apace!" The 1962 movie mixes Eiji Tusburaya's special effects with On the Beach- like personal tragedy. I still haven't heard what happened to Toei's almost identical (but B&W) The Final War, made barely a year before. All we monster fans saw of it was a Famous Monsters photo spread showing world capitols being blasted with H-bombs.

Joe Dante forwards this optimistic article by Mark Cole about rare Sci-Fi pictures that need to be on disc, from the The Internet Review of Science Fiction. Any article that links to DVD Savant can drink from my canteen any day! More rare Sci-Fi titles appear in an online program for the 22nd Braunschweig Film Festival. Some of the film descriptions give themes and situations from well-known Science Fiction films, but made years earlier.

Correspondent Sergio Mims just informed me that Richard Fleischer's interesting noir Violent Saturday can now be viewed on-line on Hulu.com. Rerouted from Hulu, it's also at Fancast.com. Both websites show a good CinemaScope copy of the film with what's touted as "limited commercial interruption." Hopefully a Fox Film Noir disc isn't an impossibility.

Lastly, fellow reviewer Jeremy Arnold has steered me to a great site for fans of Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger.The National Film Board of Canada has posted seven newsfilm clips from the set of A Matter of Life and Death, apparently taken when a group of Canadian soldiers visited the set. The clips have no sound but are fascinating nonetheless. Michael Powell, David Niven, Raymond Massey and Kim Hunter are all prominent. Also the huge Technicolor cameras and lights. Quite a treat! Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson



January 06, 2009

Savant's new reviews today are

Short Films by Werner Herzog
The Dark Glow of the Mountains,
Ballad of the Little Soldier,
Precautions Against Fanatics
New Yorker


and
(Breaking) The Sound Barrier
Belated Release Review
Lionsgate

Greetings! A bit of a lull in post-holiday discs, but what we have in hand is nothing to sniff at: Criterion's Blu-rays of The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Last Emperor, El Norte and on DVD, The Taking of Power by Louis XIV. I'm also looking at a disc of Ernie Kovacs comedy material from his old TV show, and it's very promising. Coming soon will be reviews of The Truman Show (BD), Father of the Kamikaze and hopefully the new Michael Powell Stairway to Heaven (A Matter of Life and Death) / Age of Consent double bill from Sony.

Today's review of (Breaking) The Sound Barrier is from a 2008 disc that I didn't catch up with until months after it was released, but I hope you will find it worth your while.

I'm getting a steady stream of 2009 Savant Wish List suggestions, and annotating the list as they come in. Let's hope the days ahead bring us more exciting announcements about new releases!

Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson



January 02, 2009

Happy New Year!

DVD Savant's 2009 Wish List
What film do you want to see on DVD or Blu-ray?

Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
Original Director's Cut
New Yorker


Cimarron (1960)
Belated Release Review

and
Last Holiday
Blu-ray
Paramount

And so begins a new year. Over at Film.com, I have a new article up on the The Truman Show Blu-ray, entitled When Reality Bites, You Bite Back.

I've reshuffled the 2009 Savant Wish List , which is up and ready for perusal as well.

My review of the 1960 Cimarron is only four months late! Warners is extremely generous with screeners but their interesting Warner Home Video Western Classics Collection box didn't materialize, so a few weeks passed before I bought a copy of my own. I was going to review it right away but couldn't find the time. I have two other titles from last year that I'll be slipping into the mix if the schedule permits.

And my review of the 1951 Day the Earth Stood Still has been updated with an extra footnote, a discussion with Bill Warren on the film's religious motif -- did Robert Wise really not know his own movie was a Christ allegory?

Frequent correspondent Ted!!! Haycraft has given me a link to one of his 14WFIE.com televised movie break film and DVD reports --- it's very good!

I have to get serious about my Online Film Critics Society voting now ... here's how I felt about the new pictures I've seen so far:

Happy-Go-Lucky, Che, Doubt, Milk Terrific

Slumdog Millionaire Good

Defiance, Revolutionary Road So-So.

See you next Tuesday! Glenn Erickson


Don't forget to write Savant at [email protected].

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