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May 29, 2012
Savant's new reviews today are: Blu-ray 
The first and possibly the best tale of a Mexican migrant worker's misadventures in America, Robert M. Young's PBS-backed independent movie is a gem of fine performances and authentic situations. A new widescreen transfer makes it look better than ever before. With Domingo Ambriz and the participation of Trinidad Silva, Ned Beatty, Julius Harris and Edward James Olmos. Alambrista translates as "wire jumper", or "fence jumper". In Blu-ray (and standard DVD) from The Criterion Collection.
5/29/12
Don't listen to dissenters -- this is a great musical comedy with Fred Astaire and Joan Leslie in top form, singing and dancing great songs, one an enduring standard. With Robert Benchley and Robert Ryan and loaded with witty dialogue. The modest Astaire finds a way to play a "war hero" without wearing a soldier's uniform throughout the whole picture. From The Warner Archive Collection.
5/29/12
and Blu-ray 
Amateurish in execution, Jean Rollin's first feature nevertheless assembles a daring (for its year) hybrid of art-movie pretension and nude exploitation. Awkwardly structured, haphazardly filmed, it's still a significant development in the horror genre. Includes plenty of interesting extra featurettes, etc, including an analytical essay by Tim Lucas. In Blu-ray from Kino Lorber/Redemption.
5/29/12
Hello! 
Nothing much in the way of important disc news this Tuesday, as we're waiting to see if the Warner Archive Collection makes another announcement today. But let me look and see what's here ... U.K. correspondent Lee Broughton contributes a link to an amusing Lee Van Cleef Music Video. Lee Van Cleef + zombies? And if you hadn't heard, the release announcements from Olive Films keep on coming. Four Blu-ray/DVD releases for August: Captain Carey U.S.A.; , Leo McCarey's better-dead-than-Red hate-fest My Son John, Raoul Walsh's psychological film noir Pursued and Don Siegel's police corruption noir Private Hell 36. Thanks for reading! -- Glenn Erickson
May 26, 2012
Savant's new reviews today are: Blu-ray 
John Wayne's best self-produced movie sees him effortlessly playing Louis L'Amour's heroic western scout, opposite Geraldine Page's interesting frontier woman. No, it's not in 3-D but it is presented for the first time in its proper widescreen proportions. With Ward Bond, Lee Aaker, Michael Pate and Rodolfo Acosta. In Blu-ray from Paramount.
5/26/12
Blu-ray 
An almost perfect movie. Ingmar Bergman's story of two disaffected teenagers take off for a boating summer of love is a drama with relevance any time, in any country. Harriet Anderson is the girl who wants to escape duties and responsibilities -- forever. Interestingly, a movie that begs for moral retribution instead receives a balanced treatment that refuses to condemn its young lovers. In Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
5/26/12
Ka Shen's Journey 
This biographical documentary on the remarkable actress Nancy Kwan is full of surprises. Not only is Kwan's life story impressive (she became the first Eurasian actress to receive star billing in Hollywood) but it's told through more than the usual archive films and interview material -- we see Ms. Kwan attending a Hong Kong ballet based on her most famous character, Suzie Wong. From Redwind Productions.
5/26/12
and The Road to Fort Alamo 
UK correspondent Lee Broughton reviews a "Classic Spaghetti Western Double Feature" starring Lex Barker, Pierre Brice, Marianne Koch, Ken Clark, Jany Clair and Michel Lemoine. Fort Alamo is the first of two westerns directed by none other than Mario Bava, under the name John Old. No Spanish vacation for Mario -- a sheet of glass and a few matte paintings converts local Roman locations into the wild, wild West. Released by Wild East.
5/26/12
Hello! One short link and a bit of arcane film rediscovery news today ... I'm told that this is actually not a bad movie, for an Indian murder mystery musical ... and it's the source of the wild, brain-numbing dance number featured in the opening titles of Ghost World. So behold the fabulous original coming attractions trailer for the incredible Gumnaam (1965). Love those giant old-fashioned text titles: "Shanker Jaikishan's Magical Music that sent India a-dancing!" The six-minute isolated dance number is here -- the one with the girl in the gold dress and the lead singer for "Ted Lyons and His Cubs" who looks like a demented John Waters. Well he does when he's wearing his black mask. Who can resist the blaring trumpets and the surf guitar riffs at the glamorous "Jubilee Club"? Some interesting news from Film restoration-land. Normally I'm unable to report items like this, as they're all confidential. But the cat's already out of the bag and on the Internet through friend Stuart Galbraith IV. About 14 years ago, Stuart was taking time out from writing to work for a film studio, trying to retrieve misplaced film elements. One of the blanket 'do you have?' lists he sent to major labs came back positive on a particular title -- a local lab had for 40 years been storing reels of 35mm printing elements for an old American-International release. The movie was the 1960 Beyond the Time Barrier, a science fiction-time travel tale directed by the famed Edgar G. Ulmer and produced and starring Robert Clarke. It hadn't been screened in a decent version for ages. 
But Time Barrier never made the DVD disc release schedule. Stuart Galbraith left the studio without realizing that nobody had moved to recover the elements. It was only several weeks ago that other studio employees remembered the title and were surprised to find out that nothing had happened. A few emails and negotiations later, Beyond the Time Barrier is back home again. That's the good news. There's also some really good news, and some not-so-good news. I'll start with the not-so-good news first. There are no present plans to work with the elements at the moment, for a number of reasons. Don't expect a disc release anytime soon, and for heaven's sake don't blame the restorers -- they have no say in such decisions. I repeat -- no new transfer is yet on the schedule. I've never seen Beyond the Time Barrier all the way through, as the old Sinister Cinema tapes were not things of beauty. Leaders on the recovered film elements bear an alternate title: "The Last Barrier", confirming information found in books by Tom Weaver and Bill Warren. The Really Good News is that the reels delivered to the studio contain something we Sci-Fi fans have heard about, but couldn't confirm: a racy Foreign Version of reel 3A. In a swimming sequence set in the far future of 2024, leading lady Darlene Tompkins is replaced by a body double for a couple of nude shots, doing the back-stroke and climbing out of the pool into a towel. Anything to get a booking in Paris, I suppose. Tom Weaver and Bill Warren reported that the nude scenes were filmed in Robert Clarke's backyard swimming pool in L.A.; just last week Ulmer's daughter Arriané Ulmer Cipes -- who plays a leading role in the movie as well -- said that she was present at the filming. It's rare that I can divulge even this much of the kinds of arcane news bits I hear about from the studios -- so I hope this will be taken in the right spirit. I also hope that Beyond the Time Barrier will be resurrected from the Pit of Forgotten Cinematic Curiosities, sooner than later. Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson
May 21, 2012
Savant's new reviews today are: 
If not for a few deviations from the format, this early talkie (1930) would be included in the list of great original gangster pictures. Lew Ayres is the cocky bootlegger-millionaire who thinks he can retire in peace, and in his second film James Cagney gets all the attention as a racketeer named "Mileaway". Cagney's free 'n' easy dialogue delivery shows how Warners would win the loyalty of the movie audience. The mostly tough and cynical story has a chilling, almost poetic ending. From the Warner Archive Collection.
5/22/12
Blu-ray 
James Cagney approaches his career sunset in a VistaVision and Technicolor western that makes him the surrogate father of an untamed and unprincipled young delinquent, John Derek. Viveca Lindfors co-stars but the movie is stolen by Daniel Fapp's glorious cinematography of the Colorado Rockies. Directed by Nicholas Ray. In Blu-ray from Olive Films.
5/22/12
and 
John Huston shows that his maverick sensibility is perfectly attuned to a story about an alcoholic loser. Has-been boxer and sometime farmworker Stacy Keach is backed up against the ropes by a shrill barfly that picks him up in a bar. Susan Tyrell is utterly fantastic as the woefully broken-down but screechingly demanding Oma. The other major attraction is Jeff Bridges as an aspiring pugilist who gets his nose flattened in his very first bout. With Candy Clark, just for good measure. From the Sony Pictures Choice Collection.
5/22/12
Hello! As many outlets have, I received the official Fox/MGM announcement for their monstrous 22 Blu-ray box of James Bond movies this morning. It retails for $300 but is pre-selling at Amazon for $200. I think that even if I didn't already own several Bond BD discs, I'd still balk at the big investment; I guess the idea is that it's a perfect 'big gift' for someone for Christmas. Video companies keep looking for the big score, which I suppose is only natural. For the rest of us, we're all wondering when the titles will appear as individual buys. I have to say that there are only a few more Bonds that interest me personally, but a couple of them I really wish I could see in Blu-ray tonight. But please, I have no idea when they'll be sold individually! 
My Saturday post on The Lawless (which I've fixed now, a typo-ridden copy went up on Saturday) did get a response from the alert John McElwee of Greenbriar Picture Shows. John reports that he's looking into writing one of his researched articles about the movie, to see if any evidence surfaces that the film's political content had any bearing on its scarcity on screens and on TV over the last 50 years. I'll definitely direct Savant readers to Greenbriar if the article appears! Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson
May 19, 2012
Savant's new reviews today are: 
Joseph Losey's furious exposé reveals the rampant racial/ethnic prejudice lurking behind the surface of small town America. Newspaperman Macdonald Carey tries to stop a mob from killing an accused Mexican-American boy, while his fellow journalists see opportunity in demonizing the suspect. Also starring the impressive Gail Russell, this is one of a handful of mid-century social dramas that can be called truly daring and courageous. From Olive Films.
5/19/12
Blu-ray 
George Lucas's personal ode to the Tuskeegee Airmen is well intentioned and reasonably exciting old-fashioned hero worship. But it's also an historical insult, from its gross inaccuracies and mischaracterizations of the Army Air Corps, to its insipidly benign view of racial tensions in the services. A good cast of handsome actors, however. In Blu-ray from Lucasfilm/Fox.
5/19/12
and Interviews Glenn Erickson 
Who, Me? An earlier DVDTalk interview on the Sci-Fi genre, fandom across the decades and my book SCI-FI Savant moves home to the Savant archives. As my Egregious Self Promotion pages aren't quite ready yet, this will live on the Articles page, among author Stuart Galbraith IV's other incisive interview features. And that Erickson guy, he's brilliant!
5/19/12
Hello! Pat Boone (left) would say hello too, but he's examining a residual check from a movie he made back in 1959 ... I would like to have gotten today's Savant column posted earlier, but let me instead take the time to add a couple of good links... Dick Dinman has been busy producing a trio of radio shows that he calls Dick Dinman's Journey to the Center of Pat Boone. With an assist from Arlene Dahl, Dinman devotes three shows to a Pat Boone interview that covers all aspects of Journey to the Center of the Earth, just out in Blu-ray from Twilight Time. We're promised the lowdown on James Mason, Marilyn Monroe (no, she didn't play the duck), an accident in Carlsbad Caverns and Boone's odd path to becoming a co-producer on the show. Here are the links -- Part One, Part Two and Part Three. Dinaman says that Mr. Boone also "sheds new light on the oft-repeated story about his "refusal" to kiss co-star Shirley Jones and frankly reveals why he later in his film career accepted the against-type role of an initially immoral character and the previously unscripted demands of that role which almost caused him to walk off the film." And I thought my personal moral dilemmas were difficult. 
Hey, thanks to poster SWAC44 at TCM's Movie Morlocks site, I have a great link to The Goon Show, the 1950s British comedy radio show with Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers. The show in question is an elaborate, rather lengthy goofball takeoff on the BBC TV serial Quatermass and the Pit. It's weird, it's strange, it's sometimes hard to follow. But the direct take-offs on pompous BBC voices and attitudes are even crazier than what we are accustomed to with the later Monty Python crew. Sample: "This is the terror-stricken service of the BBC. Today at approximately this afternoon, a discovery was made on the site of the Notting Hill Gate site of the government's new dig-up-the-roads-plan-for-congesting-traffic scheme." These guys are in love with silly noises and silliness in general. Don't stop when you hear the musical interludes, it's hard to say what's exactly happening then. As an aid to understanding, they also provide a link to the full text of the script. If you have the capability, I recommend reading along while listening. I was constantly Googling oddball topical references made in the script, to find out what the Goonies were talking about. Enjoy! Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson
May 14, 2012
Savant's new reviews today are: Blu-ray 
Jon Voight disguises himself as an older SS sargent to help track down a Nazi war criminal. Good direction by Ronald Neame, fine performances by German actors and excellent cinematography on European locations make this fanciful thriller worthwhile -- that and the fact that it helped bring about the end of the real escaped SS man it was based on. In Blu-ray from Image Entertainment.
5/15/12
Blu-ray 
Fritz Lang's furious film noir cop saga sees Glenn Ford as a hell-bent avenger out to bring down an entire syndicate for the death of a loved one. Gloria Grahame is an alluring playgirl in what might be her best role, alongside Lee Marvin, Jocelyn Brando and Alexander Scourby. A top-rank noir considered by many to be Fritz Lang's best American film. In Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
5/15/12
Blu-ray 
Do you enjoy colorful, romantic, unpretentious westerns? Edmond O'Brien stars with Yvonne De Carlo in an action-ful, intelligent thriller about thieves and cheats in a Colorado mining camp. With Kasey Rogers, Barry Fitzgerald and Richard Arlen; directed by the capable Byron Haskin. In Blu-ray from Olive Films.
5/15/12
and Blu-ray 
Sony's new disc of the Pythons' funniest film gives the wild comedy a terrific HD transfer; an excellent set of extras does the rest. Co-directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, who also make silly faces with all of the key Pythons at the top of their form: John Cleese, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle. Remember to watch out for Moose bites. In Blu-ray from Sony.
5/15/12
Greetings! Craig Reardon forwards something truly fantastic. It's a demonstration of a camera that takes digital pictures that re-focus wherever you want them to. If that explanation isn't good enough, the brief text and the demo picture at The Next Digital Revolution will make it clear. I don't know about you, but this really excited me. I've had dreams in the past about a fantasy device that "refocuses" out-of-focus negatives. This invention doesn't do that, but it does go partway to being the fantastic omni-view camera from Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. 
When writing about my new all-region BD player, I mentioned having only one actual Region-B disc to play on it. I was wrong -- a reader's suggestion reminded me that I had been given a French BD of Matinee a couple of years ago, called Panic sur Florida Beach. I don't get the title change, isn't "matinee" a French word? I had accepted that the disc would remain a handsome souvenir, a reminder that the U.S. DVD had no extras. Now I can actually look at it. This French pressing has attractive designs and a humorous presentation that remind me of American discs made ten years ago, when even ordinary releases tried to look like special collectables. Not only does the film look great in HD, the extras include the entire uncut "Mant" mini-movie glimpsed in fragments during the feature itself, along with a lengthy (31 minute) interview featurette with director Joe Dante. Just cancel out the French sous-titres and you're there. Let me ask: U.K. correspondent Lee Broughton already reviews titles not available here, and I've received no complaints from readers, just thanks. I have a new Arrow horror film that I might cover -- should I fully review it or just write it up like this in the Savant column? I hope the Savant reviews lately point out pictures you might not have heard of, and want to give a try ... in the next week I'll have a couple more "Savant obsessive" titles -- and pressed by Craig Reardon, I'm going to plunge into another Jerry Lewis / Frank Tashlin comedy. Thanks for reading! Glenn
May 12, 2012
Savant's new reviews today are: Blu-ray 
John Cassavetes' all but forgotten excellent jazz-world drama combines the director's talent with actors, with an ensemble of terrific performances. Bobby Darin is quite good as a bandleader-composer with personality issues; Stella Stevens has her best role ever as a woman convinced that she has nothing to offer men but "a good time". Intense relationships among a group of jazz musicians reach the breaking point, in the night world of " the drifters and dreamers, the floaters, the chicks, the smilers, the hangers-on, the phonies." A powerful show hot for rediscovery, in Blu-ray from Olive Films.
5/12/12
A favorite show for many, this comedy about a jolly embezzler both stars and was co-written by the great Peter Ustinov. Playing opposite is Maggie Smith as the clumsy Cockney who captures his heart. An accounting genius bluffs his way into Karl Malden's big corporation and programs a supercomputer to steal. Filmed in London, ripe with nods to the Mod era but also very witty and endearing. From the Warner Archive Collection.
5/12/12
and 
Mickey Rooney tries to out-do James Cagney in this ultra-nihilistic remake/update of the 1930 Broadway play. "Killer" Mears leads his Death Row cellmates on a murderous revolt against the sadistic prison guards. Rough stuff for 1959, and fairly uncompromising -- and Rooney carries the show with his violent rage. Also with Frank Overton as a grim priest; from the MGM Limited Edition Collection.
5/12/12
Hello! Well, I never thought this would happen... I mentioned buying an all-region BD player a couple of instalments ago, and so far I've received 9 requests asking which one and where. I have a mind to ask the company for a finder's fee! Or, a better idea might be to remind Savant readers that I simply bought a player recommended by a friend, and that I am not an expert of any kind on video hardware. If my new player drops dead in two weeks, I'd rather not have angry mob at my door. Oh, and I have exactly one foreign-region Blu-ray to play! When Olive Films announced Invasion of the Body Snatchers last week, I took it as very encouraging news. I think the first thing I wrote was a list of other Viacom/Republic-owned pictures that might come out, which included Nicholas Ray's Johnny Guitar. And whattaya know, the title shows up not five days later in an Olive Email, set for a July 7 release. The only question is what aspect ratio it will have. I've kept a TCM HD cablecast copy that's open-matte 1:33, when the main titles and other clues suggest it should be 1:85. However, the movie looks really good at the Academy ratio as well. Perhaps AR authorities Bob Furmanek or Jack Theakston (they've done the research) can answer the question -- did Republic hold out longer than other studios against the new widescreen framing? Coming up, more Jean Rollin from Kino, Byron Haskin from Olive, and a top early gangster show from the Warner Archives collection. Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson
May 08, 2012
Savant's new reviews today are: Region B Blu-ray 
Vittorio De Sica's Neorealist fantasy (the terms aren't contradictory in this case) fairy tale about the fate of the poor works like a sentimental Charlie Chaplin movie -- funny, tragic and suffused with humanity. "The Good Totó" inspires the homeless to form a community, and then defends it from the business world -- with magic. Strange, funny, and incredibly touching. With Brunella Bovo and Paolo Stoppa. This Region B European Blu-ray is unplayable in standard U.S. machines. From Arrow Video UK.
5/08/12
In their first American movie Austrian Paul Henried and French Michèle Morgan generate plenty of romantic sparks. He's a downed Free French flyer and she's an ordinary girl who prays to St. Joan for the deliverance of her country; together they try to evade the clutches of the suave Gestapo chief --- Laird Cregar! With Alan Ladd and Thomas Mitchell. From the Warner Archive Collection.
5/08/12
and (1932) Blu-ray 
One of the hottest of the Pre-Code wonders, this King Vidor production was partially filmed in Hawaii. Dolores del Rio is the island princess who chooses sailor Joel McCrea for her man, but clashing cultures and a menacing volcano intervene. An added thrill are racy scenes of the kind that would be outlawed out two years later by the incoming Production Code. This film is credited as the first fully-tracked original orchestral film score, by the great Max Steiner. A rare archival print was used to make this new Blu-ray, from Kino Classics.
5/08/12
Hello! Well, I broke down and bought an all-region Blu-ray player, as too many good things are coming out overseas. I'm more excited about foreign BD than I was about DVD because foreign DVDs were often time-compressed, which I can usually detect and don't like. I know that I will probably purchase very few discs. But the new player will be convenient when friends come from Holland and Germany, and it's always good to be prepared. And, actually, this machine replaces an ultra-cheap ordinary deck that I never should have gotten in the first place. Three more Kino / Redemption Jean Rollin pictures came in. I'm going to give Rape of the Vampire a shot because it's the first one, and I've read so much praise for it over the years. Not much else is hopping in the news hopper -- work has really heated up, however -- so I'll get these notices out. Two correspondents wrote to ask semi-urgent questions about Bird of Paradise, so here's the review --- Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson
May 05, 2012
Savant's new reviews today are: Blu-ray 
James Mason and Pat Boone -- in his one lasting star vehicle -- explore the interior of the earth and find monsters, mushrooms, massive oceans and the lost city of Atlantis. Writer-producer Charles Brackett broke fresh ground with this big-scale studio fantasy hit, a treasured memory of baby boomers. With a superb sterophonic music score by Bernard Herrmann, auditable in an Isolated Music Track. In Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
5/5/12
Blu-ray 
The studio celebrates its 100th anniversary with a fancy restoration (+ DVD + Digital copy) of the fresh and witty Doris Day - Rock Hudson sex comedy that changed the direction of screen romance. Day falls for a devastatingly handsome gentleman, not realizing that he's really her obnoxious party line partner, seeking to seduce her to settle a personal grudge. With Tony Randall and Thelma Ritter, and packed with extras. In Blu-ray from Universal.
5/5/12
Blu-ray 
Like a vacation from Vertigo, Kim Novak and James Stewart are transmogrified into trendy New Yorkers. A publisher falls in love with the owner of an art gallery, not realizing that she's a practicing witch, complete with a cat-familiar named Pyewacket. So who's perfect? Jack Lemmon, Janice Rule, Elsa Lanchester and Ernie Kovacs complete the comedy ensemble but audiences were charmed by the cozy make-out scenes with Novak and Stewart. In Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
5/5/12
and 
It must have been the money. Dustin Hoffman journeyed to Italy to film this energetic but frustrating marital comedy that's long on aggravating situations (and a seeming negative attitude toward women in general) and short on actual laughs. Hoffman is a milquetoast who meets the voracious Stefania Sandrelli the way squirrels meet trucks on the interstate -- we watch him suffer from one end of the movie to the other. The film's only message seems to be that women are no damn good! From Mya.
5/5/12
Hello! Interesting disc announcements this week, of older titles. Olive Films is becoming a major provider of quality Blu-rays of gems from the Paramount & Viacom-related libraries, meaning primarily Republic. This week they sent out fliers promoting the noir classics Body and Soul and Force of Evil (July 31) as well as the newer (1984) domestic thriller Firstborn. I've seen Force of Evil in HD and hope that these new discs will look as good -- who else is releasing Blu-ray product of such exotic titles? Olive has me checking the calendar for The Lawless, High Noon and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, already announced. This is a great trend -- can Republic's Johnny Guitar, Plunder Road and Try and Get Me? be next? Paramount has Sunset Blvd. for November 6, but frankly they should have been putting out their top titles on BD three years ago. Twilight Time announced High Time and Bye Bye Birdie for August 14, which conjures happy images of Ann-Margret gyrating every which way in HD. Coming sooner from TT are the aviation comedy Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines and the Gene Kelly - Rita Hayworth - Stanley Donen Cover Girl (both July 10). Not far away is a Synapse release of Twins of Evil (July 10) -- I know several Hammer fans eagerly awaiting the sexed-up vampire tale. And we just heard that, even sooner (June 26) Flicker Alley is releasing a Blu-ray double bill of the Pre-Code thrillers The Most Dangerous Game and GOW. Perhaps they're responding to the popularity of The Hunger Game. I'm hoping for a better copy of the Public Domain title Most Dangerous; even Criterion's old DVD is on the lackluster side. As a parting word, let me offer some thoughts about the new trend of boutique disc companies releasing Blu-rays of formerly Public Domain titles, movies for which original rights have expired and for which good original pre-print printing elements may be tied up, or no longer in existence. I've received a couple of notes about my favorable quality assessment of HD Cinema Classics' The Red House. Yes, the transfer may show signs of overuse of DNR noise reduction, but I have to say I was very pleased with the presentation and I think that most viewers will be pleased as well. I've been trying to see The Red House for at least thirty years, and all that has surfaced have been unwatchable dupes of dupes, with audio so bad you can barely understand what's being said. I don't compare every picture to a perfect modern presentation, or even a perfect vintage restoration, to come up with a quantifiable value judgment. I deem The Red House as acceptable at the same time that I suspect that Mya's Alfredo, Alfredo is a cheap copy of a title for which better elements exist. Yes, it's a subjective viewpoint. Right now I'm watching Kino's new Blu-ray of King Vidor's Bird of Paradise. It's rough, yet is still the best copy I've seen, much better than even the spliced-up copies that turn up infrequently on TCM. This will be the first time I've gotten through the whole film, in fact. I don't think it will get an Excellent rating on video quality (how I hate rating these things) but unless it falls apart I'm not going to condemn it either. Experience-wise, so far it's a great show! Cheers and thanks for writing! -- Glenn Erickson
May 01, 2012
Savant's new reviews today are: Blu-ray 
Marcello Mastroianni advises a group of striking textile workers in Mario Monicelli's faithful, fascinating recreation of 1890s Turin. At a time when brutal hours and egregiously unsafe working conditions were the norm, just asking to have the 14-hour work day reduced by a few minutes is too much to ask. Insights, amusing characters and unexpected situations abound in this entertaining winner. Also starring Folco Lulli, Renato Salvatore, Rafaella Carrà and Annie Girardot. In Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
5/01/12
MGM's big epic drama from 1947 sends Lana Turner around the globe to marry a man, an arrangement intiatied by mistake. Van Heflin is the rough lumberman who really loves her, and Donna Reed the quiet sister living in Lana's shadow. Shot through with crazy soap opera reversals and ironies, and garnished with a native revolt and an Oscar-winning special effects earthquake and flood sequence. And somebody tell me if I'm too sarcastic in my review! From the Warner Archive Collection.
5/01/12
and Blu-ray 
Jeff Chandler is the Kansas Napoleon who seeks to found an empire with terror tactics. Sent to bring him to heel is convict Fess Parker, who finds himself drawn in by Chandler's mad scheme. Plenty of town-burning, double-crossing and two-gun jeopardy. It's all historically spurious and energetically filmed in VistaVision and Technicolor. With Nicole Maurey and Henry Silva. In Blu-ray from Olive Films.
5/01/12
Hello! -- besides being May Day (Fidel and Ché are due over for popcorn and marshmallows any minute now), I'm up against the wall with work commitments, so no clever column tidbits tonight -- what's that I hear, applause? I'm almost caught up with reviews, and if I could just squeak by a couple extra each week, I wouldn't feel so remiss. But I think I'm hitting the most interesting titles. Thanks for reading -- see you Saturday! Glenn Erickson
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