Savant's new reviews today are:

A Man Escaped
Blu-ray
Robert Bresson's most accessible feature is a nail-biting true account of a resistance officer's escape from a Gestapo jail, all on his own, using tools and ropes made in secret in his cell. It's one of the best escape suspense pictures ever, and a testament to Bresson's unorthodox ideas of a cinema devoid of theatrical trappings. With excellent extras illuminating the theories of France's most prestigious, radical film visionary. In Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
3/30/13

The Red Menace
Blu-ray
The grandaddy of all unintenionally funny Reds-In-Your-Beds exposé dramas, this Republic Pictures pot-boiler has decent acting, interesting characters and a script so daft that making a satirical spoof is completely unnecessary. Nasty commies use date bait to sucker ex-GI's into getting their Party Cards, and then blackmail them into rotten un-American activities. The leading vamp acts and dresses just like Greta Garbo in Ninotchka; the Red rats spend all their time slamming minorities and tormenting their own comrades. Not to be missed . In Blu-ray from Olive Films.
3/30/13

Bewitched
Arch Oboler's first studio feature is an interesting precursor to Psycho about a woman with a dual personality. It's also about sex, murder and crazy psychiatry: "I can't marry you because I hear an unclean voice talking to me... from inside my own head!" Starring Phyllis Thaxter, young Stephen (Horace) McNally, Edmund Gwenn and, as the voice of the demonic Karen, Audrey Totter! From The Warner Archive Collection.
3/30/13

and

Strangers in the Night
Blu-ray
An early feature from the great director Anthony Mann and his first film noir, this mystery concerns a woman in a mansion on an oceanside cliff, a wounded Marine on an amorous search and a lady doctor trying to establish her practice. Lots of Val Lewton vibes in this slightly awkward show, starring Helene Thimig, Virginia Grey, Edith Barrett and William Terry. As it's from 1944, there's no song by Frank Sinatra. In Blu-ray from Olive Films.
3/30/13

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Hello!

Honored associate and Savant advisor Dick Dinman has a full house of Fox-oriented radio shows this week, auditable through web links to his DVD Classics Corner on the Air site. Four new shows in all: Dick speaks with Cecilia Peck about Gentleman's Agreement; with Kathryn Crosby, Peter Graves, Geoffrey Horne and Kim Novak about Otto Preminger, the director of Laura; with favorite producer Stanley Rubin about Otto Preminger on River of No Return; and with Tyrone Power Jr. and Coleen Gray about the Twilight Time release of Pony Soldier.

Over at the always eye-opening Greenbriar Picture Shows, John McElwee gives us the full rundown on MGM's enthusiastic release campaign for (hard to let this subject go) Gorgo. You'll need to do some scrolling, or better yet, reading, down to March 23.

I'm happy to be putting out reviews at a faster pace than I have lately -- and have more notices coming for interesting pix by Luis Buñuel, Edgar G. Ulmer, Sam Wood, Sam Fuller, Jean Renoir, Charlie Chaplin and (thanks to DVDtalk) Roy Ward Baker. The photo immediately above is one of Baker's friendly actresses. Thanks for the notes and corrections! Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are:

The Hudsucker Proxy
Blu-ray
The Coen Brothers' screwball comedy jams together a number of slapstick and verbal comedy styles from the '30s and '40s, but goes one joke too far when it tasks the talented Jennifer Jason Leigh to imitate a fast-talking Katharine Hepburn. Hilariously original 90% of the time, with terrific perfs from Tim Robbins, Paul Newman and Charles Durning. This is the infectiously crazy comedy about a new toy invention so stupid, it's brilliant: "You know, for kids!" In Blu-ray from Warner Archives Collection.
3/26/13

The Fury
Blu-ray
Brian De Palma tackles a sci-fi thriller about psychic teens entrapped by John Cassavetes' evil government conspiracy. Some good work by a telepathic Amy Irving is overshadowed by endless, stupid spy chase nonsense with Spartac- Kirk Douglas. With worthy input from Carrie Snodgress amid exploding bodies and just plain awful direction. But the fine transfer puts John William's exemplary music into an Isolated Music Track. In Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
3/26/13

and

Panic in the Streets
Blu-ray
Elia Kazan's nearly perfect filmed-on-location thriller pits doctor Richard Widmark against cheap crook Jack Palance (in his first movie) in a story with a brilliant premise: three criminals have carried the plague virus into New Orleans, leaving Widmark and police captain Paul Douglas with only 48 hours to stem a deadly epidemic. Terrific direction and naturalistic acting by many new faces in gritty, real locations make this a great picture. With Barbara Bel Geddes and a fine dramatic performance by Zero Mostel. In Blu-ray from 20th Fox Home Entertainment.
3/26/13

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Hello!

Warner Home Video is handling Paramount library releases now -- strange world, no? -- and just announced BDs for The Odd Couple and the much-desired Shane for June 4. Shane is original Technicolor. All the videos I've ever seen have looked pretty sad, as did the film prints that survived to show at UCLA in the 1970s. I hope they've done some work on it.

Joe Dante has sent along a link to the absolutely crazy 1941 Universal comedy Hellzapoppin', which has been unavailable for eons -- I've never seen it myself. Apparently it's now in the Public Domain! The copy online looks great, so take a look while it's hot. Hellzapoppin' is the original madcap screwball 40 jokes-a-minute farce, that makes things like Casino Royale look anemic. I hope somebody puts out a good-looking disc. Meanwhile, over at Trailers from Hell, don't miss the coming attractions for Tomb of Ligeia and Gorilla at Large, among numerous other recent additions...

VCI's Creepy Creature Double Features Vol 1 & 2 got pushed back a few weeks; the latest word is that they'll be out on April 2. I'm looking forward to the fun, as I've only seen these ultra - Z monster thrillers on terrible-looking VHS tapes. Volume 1 contains Roger Corman's Monster from the Ocean Floor and Bert I. Gordon's Serpent Island; Volume 2 follows up with The Crawling Hand (Pah Pah Ooo Mau Mau, I believe) and the always soporific The Slime People. My trailer assistant Todd Stribich kept his Slime People poster on the wall of our cutting room... it was our private joke on some of the MGM folk we worked for.

Also, just in from Olive Films, a fistful of desirable Blu-ray titles: John Ford's The Sun Shines Bright, Sam Fuller's China Gate, Sam Wood's The Devil and Miss Jones, Edgar G. Ulmer's Ruthless and even more gems --- back to reviews! Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson

Saturday March 23, 2013

Savant's new reviews today are:

Zulu Dawn
Blu-ray
Yet another Savant super-special favorite -- Cy Endfield's staggeringly impressive epic about the massive Brits-versus-Zulu warriors battle of 1879 that immediately preceded the events of the better-known 1964 epic Zulu. Burt Lancaster, Peter O'Toole, Simon Ward, Bob Hoskins and Denholm Elliott are just the top names in the cast. Severin includes several excellent docu extras, about the battle and its vast re-creation a hundred years later. Looks fantastic in Panavision HD. In Blu-ray from Severin.
/13

Hitchcock
Blu-ray
Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren shine in a retelling of the making of the movie Psycho, investing a lot of interesting events with humor and warmth. But the movie also invents things -- namely a romantic subplot that does no favors to the memory of Alma Reville, and a whole new personality for Alfred Hitchcock, that makes him seem both a pervert and a ghoul. Hitch shares fantasy sequences passing time with the horrible Ed Gein, the mass murderer that inspired the movie. In Blu-ray from 20th Fox Home Entertainment.
3/23/13

and

Chronicle of a Summer
Blu-ray
Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin's experimental, self-referential cinéma vérité experiment from 1960 follows a number of Parisian students, artists and hipsters to determine if a docu can capture human reality, or if the camera always distorts and falsifies the people it records. Fascinating stuff, with smart interviews that transport us back to a specific year in a legendary city. Garnished with an impressive assortment of key-source extras. In Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection .
3/23/13

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Hello!

It's a fast night tonight, for I need to get back to review writing ASAP (or, as we said back in my film-finishing days, AZAP!). Jack Theakston and Bob Furmanek would like me to spread the word that a third World 3D Expo is coming back to the Egyptian theater this September 6-15. It's by the same organizers as the earlier smash success expos. The way film exhibiition is going, it may be the last chance we'll have to see some of these pictures in real 3D.

Several years ago Sci-Fi enthusiast and blogger Kevin Pyrtle clued this grateful writer to Abel Gance's fantastic astral collision epic La Fin du Monde. Well, Kevin is back with another lost-and-found Sci-Fi subject, Toei's 1960 The Final War -- not Toho's The Last War but the B&W film that's been MIA in the United States since the late 1960s. Kevin has two articles on the picture, the original piece and a second article documenting a photo spread published in LIFE magazine. As Kevin has put Japanese characters in his URLs that my computer won't crunch, you'll have to go directly to his blog Exploder Button and look in the directory on the right. (The second article is presently the current front page.) A clip of the film's atomic attack sequence is included.

Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are:

Gorgo
Blu-ray
"Like Nothing You've Ever Seen Before!" Mother Nature arises from the Irish deep in the form of a 200-foot water dragon, stomping through London to retrieve her stolen offspring. Like a prayer answered for '50s kids, we now have an acceptable video version of this relatively lavish, exciting, and almost universally popular giant monster saga. With Bill Travers and William Sylvester; directed and designed by Eugène Lourié, and filmed by Freddie Young. Savant pores over the HD release's ample extras, and gets his kicks interpreting the curious editorial evidence in the release version. In Blu-ray from VCI Entertainment.
3/19/13

and

Wilson
"Zanuck's Folly" looks pretty good now, with its level-headed celebration of a visionary idealist president who took office a hundred years ago. Alexander Knox gets his big starring role as Woodrow Wilson, the man who kept America out of WW1 as long as possible, and who tried to sign us up with the new League of Nations, to prevent further wars. The story of an American dreamer is decked out with an impressive Technicolor production and a horde of effectively-used character actors. The unheralded Geraldine Fitzgerald plays Wilson's second First Lady, Edith Galt. A DVD-R MOD disc from 20th Century Fox Cinema Archives.
3/19/13

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Hello!

I have no contact at Fox and no way to report my review coverage to them, but I'm still grateful for the large box of screeners just received for their Screen Archives series. Anybody want a particular title covered? Let me know.

This is a good day for a favored sites Savant roundup... just a few recommendations. Over at Greenbriar Picture Shows, John McElwee has just finished a nice two-part article about the distribution of Hitchcock's 1934 The Man Who Knew Too Much.

At Shadowplay, David Cairns has been talking about Republic's limp horror offering The Catman of Paris (whoever wrote 5 words about that turnip?) (March 16) and has a dandy think-piece up about the new Oz picture. It includes an observation about The Wicked Witch of the West that perhaps does prequel-harm to the 1939 classic. (March 15) These gentlemen have very distinctive writing styles; after a couple of reads, it's like reading a letter from a best friend.

Finally, over at the dependable, impressive Mondo Digital, Nathaniel Thompson reviews plenty of weird discs Savant doesn't. I always check up on his opinions, often comparing them with my own. You think I'm prolific? He tosses off good articles with ease.

Next time I'll have last year's Hitchcock movie. I saw it a second time and enjoyed it more... but hey, it sure plays fast and loose with the facts!

And one last bit of news -- Criterion just announced H.G. Wells' and William Cameron Menzies' Things to Come for the full Collection treatment. Savant has snapped up every disc available so far, and none of them have been totally satisfying ... but now, I've got another sci-fi favorite to wait and hope for. It's due on June 18. Thanks for reading! -- Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are:

She Devil
Blu-ray
Kurt Neumann's cheapie double bill partner for Kronos is a real find, a howlingly funny, conceptually outrageous sci-fi horror thriller about two doctors that save a dying beauty with a new serum, and unwittingly create a conscienceless murderer. Gorgeous Mari Blanchard is the emancipated She Devil, who refuses to let moral considerations keep her from what she wants. Naturally, the paternalistic doctors decide thattheir 'moral obligation' is to rein her in. Albert Dekker and Jack Kelly are two of the most unethical medicos in film history! Not to be missed. In Blu-ray and rare Regalscope from Olive Films.
3/16/13

and

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Blu-ray
One of Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger's most accomplished and original movies, this saga charts the life of a Brit Army officer, starting as a irrepressible patriot during the Boer war and following him all the way to his dotage in WW2. The critique of English military tradition and the inclusion of a sympathetic German character (Anton Walbrook) made the whole enterprise controversial, as Blimp is a lavishly expensive Technicolor production made right in the middle of the war. It's also the functional film debut of Deborah Kerr, in three roles! In glorious Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
3/16/13

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Hello-- a busy week!

Gary Teetzel forwards a great i09 article on space-themed artist Chesley Bonestell, The Artist Who Helped Invent Space Travel. If you're my age and male, you probably spent hours staring at Bonestell's picture books glorifying future space exploration. The article is packed with beautiful reproductions of Bonestell's art, including his designs for Howard Roarke's skyscrapers in The Fountainhead and (B&W) reproductions of the final pan shot in George Pal's epochal When Worlds Collide. Remember the 'hint' of a possible sequel, when the pan revealed pyramids in the distant Zyran landscape? An alternate painting for the pan shot shows a porcelain highway, which readers of the original Collide books will recognize as an even more specific detail.

Just got in the newest Criterion and Twilight Time releases, so will be spending the weekend watching and writing... thanks for the corrections and comments ... ! Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are:

The Voice of the Turtle
What? It's yet another good movie starring Ronald Reagan. That may make only four or five titles, but Mr. Future Drug Store Truck Driving Man again proves that he can be quite good when well cast. Eleanor Parker and Eve Arden co-star in an adaptation of a long-running Broadway comedy, here made into a more dramatic-romantic comedy. Some nice touches in Irving Rapper's direction, and hints of the reportedly saucier stage version poke through as well. From The Warner Archive Collection.
3/12/13

and

College
Blu-ray
Buster Keaton's least silent feature is still a superior knockabout comedy. Taking a page from the Harold Lloyd playbook, Buster is this time a college freshman trying his darndest to succeed in athletics and win his girl. A small scale film with Keaton's physical gags front and center. Includes the actor-director's final film, a Canadian short subject about workplace safety. In Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.
3/12/13

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Hello!

My Zulu Dawn Blu-ray review is finished but it will be posted at TCM Online first, so I'll put a link here as soon as I see it. Hint: the disc is highly recommended. The same goes for my review of Olive Films' marvelous sci-fi / horror picture She Devil, which is due here at the Savant pages after the Ides of March. But enterprising readers can read it now. The link: TCM-Savant She Devil review. Author Tom Weaver helped me with some needed information on the film's interesting producer.

DVDtalk is sending along the new Blu-ray of Hitchcock, the Anthony Hopkins movie, for a review ... which will be fun. The show is clever, spirited and even involving ... but is it just me, or is practically every fact presented about Alfred H. and the making of his Psycho either dead wrong or a speculative fantasy? It'll be a difficult review to write, as just poking the movie full of holes is hardly worth the effort.

Also close to completion are reviews for a couple of Fox Cinema Archives titles, and Blu-rays of Criterion's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and Badlands. Thanks to readers Tom Giegel, Kenneth Von Gunden, Ian Whittle, Kenneth Henderson, Jeff Nelson and Jason Comerford for their informative notes about the Christine Blu-ray woes.

Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are:

On the Waterfront
Blu-ray
This time out we get not one, not two, but (count 'em) three different aspect ratios of this '50s classic about union racketeering and moral atonement on the New York docks. Marlon Brando and Eva Marie Saint are one of the hottest couples of the decade, and Elia Kazan's powerful direction pulls a moving drama out of a rather confused story. Extras include an appreciation of Leonard Bernstein's music, which if I heard correctly is the composer's only original motion picture score. In Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
3/09/13

Zero Dark Thirty
Blu-ray + DVD + Ultraviolet
Kathryn Bigelow brings a uniquely non-macho sensibility to the violent story of the ten-year manhunt for Osama bin Laden. The detached, non-judgmental approach lays out the facts and the contradictions without drawing conclusions for the viewer. Jessica Chastain is excellent as the obessed C.I.A. agent who interrogates suspects and struggles against the entrenched intelligence bureaucracy to keep the mission focused on the top al-Quaeda target. A good account of a tough subject; the "controversial" doubts about its accuracy in the news are nonsense. In Blu-ray + DVD + Ultraviolet from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
3/09/13

and

Pfitzner: Palestrina
Blu-ray
This rare opera by Hans Pfitzner is a mixed bag. Music-wise the production is flawless, enabling opera fans to appreciate what is an unusually complex musical composition. But although the story is a period-set piece about a composer's difficulties with the Vatican's patronage, the modern/abstract re-interpretation is a major distraction. Papal delegates arrive in a stretch limo and all costumes and sets are painted like rejects from Pee Wee's Playhouse. Great to listen to (the star singing talent is impressive in itself) but rather tiring to watch. In Blu-ray from Euroarts / Unitel Classica.
3/09/13

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Hello! A few fun links today ---

Gary Teetzel circulated this interesting link about the astral collision matinee thriller Gorath. The (German, I think) website MovieCensorship.com has attempted a breakdown comparison of the Japanese and American versions of the 1962 sci-fi picture, here. The page's format is difficult to understand but their comparison is fairly accurate. For people that have never seen the show, it has some rare images. Gorath is the last classic-era Toho space spectacular not yet available on disc in the U.S..

Daniel Erickson directs us to a 101 year-old News Flash about the true nature of the red planet Mars! Here's proof of superior journalism up Salt Lake City way: Mars Peopled by... I also dig the Tribune's hand-lettered headline. The main site is Ptak Science Books, which has a fun & educational main column. (note: I've been browsing and wish to amend this note -- it's a great column and is going straight to my weekly visit list.)

Various readers have directed me to crazy posts against the company Twilight Time on various disc forums. It seems that the Blu-ray for the Stephen King adaptation Christine sold out before street date, and some vociferous fans are furious. Twilight Time has explained its business model more than once but these people still persist in accusing them of various unforgivable sins. To the extent that I'm read I'd like to defend TT. They license studio pictures under a strictly limited deal that only allows them to make 3,000 copies, as collector's discs. It isn't a general release, nor can Twilight turn around and make more of the demand goes higher: "Limited Edition" means just that. Fox and Sony won't let them sell more, get it? It's called a business contract. The discs are sold only through one online retailer and maybe there are ways that Screen Archives Entertainment could improve its ordering process. But that's not TT's fault.

People screaming that they've been denied their 2nd Amendment right to a copy of Christine don't necessarily need to grow up, but waxing rabid at Twilight Time for this crime is just plain boorish behavior. If anything, this will prove to Sony that there's a market for Christine, for future standard release plans.

I should add that no reviewer copies were sent out for Christine, as it clearly no longer needs a publicity push. I certainly accept that, and not just because this particular picture doesn't interest me. When a Twilight Time disc of a movie I really don't want to miss is announced (see graphic) I'll make appropriate plans.

Thanks for reading! -- Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are:

Ministry of Fear
Blu-ray
Fritz Lang's paranoid spy thriller frees Ray Milland from an asylum to match wits with a ring of Nazi agents in London during the blitz. Dan Duryea is a mysterious character that dies early in the picture, yet .... enough of that. From the novel by Graham Greene, the story's neurotic hero has to solve the mystery to preserve his own sanity. In Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
3/05/13

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Hello ... I must be going!

I've got family in town this week and had planned to just pull the shades and keep the lights low at Savant this week ... but I did have this one review ready. DVDtalk is sending me Zero Dark Thirty, which promises to be interesting! Criterion's Badlands and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp Blu-rays have already come in, so I'll be working on those as well ... and I'll try to be back with more readables on Saturday!

Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson

Savant's new reviews today are:

The Thief of Bagdad
(1924)
Blu-ray
Douglas Fairbanks' wonder picture put high budget fantasy on a paying basis -- the lavishly produced picture has sets and action bigger than anything seen before and the public ate it up. Incredible, enormous sets by William Cameron Menzies, costumes by Mitchell Leisen and dazzling special effects are just window dressing for the bigger-than-life Fairbanks. In a marvelous restoration, in Blu-ray from The Cohen Media Group.
3/02/13

and

Zubin Mehta -
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Blu-ray
The distributors of concerts and operas Euroarts offers this vintage concert from 1977, with the conductor helming renditions of Mozart, Bartok and Dvorak. The audio quality is remarkable, even if the image is a compromise, older PAL color re-formatted for wide screen. Up-rezzed to Blu-ray; from Unitel Classica.
3/02/13

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Hello!

I've seen .... a check disc of VCI's new Gorgo release! The movie is just as good as I remember and the disc looks very good. The nighttime big destruction scenes are spectacular in Blu-ray. A full review of final product will follow closer to the release date, but I will remark on the disc's elaborate extras, most of which seem to be the work of Daniel Griffith and Lee Kaplan, with major on-screen input from Ted Newsom. The extras are a real fan round-up -- and the participants are given a special on-screen credit. The galleries appear to have rounded up every poster, lobby card and photo ever released of the film. And they have a couple of BTS stills of the Gorgo head costume, and the elaborate hydraulic rig that the monster suit mime had to wear.

I was as happily surprised as anyone back in late 2011 when VCI announced that it was going to access the original printing elements stored by MGM in a midwestern salt mine. Gorgo has been impossible to see in a really satisfying form for decades, and VCI's disc replicates the jaw-dropping matinee experience for a certain stratum of baby boomers like myself. At the moment the disc's official release date is March 19, and frankly, the price is right as well.

Also in the door are a fistful of desired titles: Severin's Zulu Dawn, and a pack of goodies from Olive Films: She Devil, The Red Menace, Anthony Mann's Strangers in the Night, Michelangelo Antonioni and Wim Wenders' Beyond the Clouds, Jean Renoir's Diary of a Chambermaid.

Thanks for the positive notes about the reviews for Schindler's List and Nicholas and Alexandra. I've always liked the Schaffner film despite its flaws. And the notes about Savant's review for The Blob are also welcome -- I heard several interesting 'alternate' theories for what the space blob really represented. "Mark" wrote in to remind me of Phoenixville Pennsylvania's Colonial Theater... their annual Blobfest is due to go on as scheduled this July. It seems they recreate the panicky "running out" stampede scene every year, like Pamplona but without the bulls.

I also want to apologize for the strange "infolink" marketing links suddenly applied to individual words on my reviews, and presumably to all text at DVDtalk. It messes up the formatting. It's an annoying way to squeeze money from unpaid web content, and I wish it weren't happening. Perhaps it is just an experiment and will stop in a day or two.

Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson