February 29, 2016
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Savant's new reviews today are:
Donovan's Brain
KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray
Lew Ayres wields no surgical magic in this science fiction-horror hybrid, one of the first and most influential about mad surgery: Ayres just yanks the living brain out of a dying millionaire, plugs it into his mad lab gizmos, and tunes in to the know-it-all noggin's telepathic commands to scheme and murder. Gene Evans and Ronald Reagan's wife Nancy assist in Curt Siodmak's creative, compelling tale of possession by mental remote control. A big plus for this HD edition is a fact & opinion- packed commentary by Richard Harland Smith. On
Blu-ray from
KL Studio Classics.
3/01/16
The Hawaiians
Twilight Time
Blu-ray
The sequel to the epic Julie Andrews road show hit isn't as epic, and neither was it a hit, but it tells a great story anyway. Forget the star Charlton Heston, as the show really centers on the penniless Chinese immigrant played by Tina Chen. She subsists against all odds and survives plagues and leprosy to found a family dynasty in a new Hawaii, on its way to becoming part of the United States. Mako and Geraldine Chaplin co-star, but Ms. Chen should have had a big career. Directed by Tom Gries and produced by Walter Mirisch. On
Blu-ray from
Twilight Time.
3/01/16
and
Revolt of the Slaves
MGM Limited Edition Collection
DVD
Let's hear a cheer for the lowly sword 'n' sandal epic. This early Persecute-Them-Christians torture spectacle also takes in the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, the human arrow target from the third century A.D.. The impressively mounted Italian-Spanish production can boast an interesting cast: Rhonda Fleming is the fashion-plate Claudia, supported by Lang Jeffries, Fernando Rey, Gino Cervi, dreamy Wandisa Guida, and as a slimy undercover agent, none other than Serge Gainsbourg. Everybody wears a pleated white skirt, and all roads lead to the killing arena in the Coliseum -- get your tickets now! On
DVD from
MGM Limited Edition Collection.
3/01/16
Hello!
How about those Oscars? Here's an unsolicited, not-particularly original editorial. It's PC city out here, so much so that it's embarrassing to watch grown people make good liberal values into something as base as a litmus test for Hollywood righteousness. I found the host's jokes to be painfully obvious, even when he nailed Hollywood as a sorority, a collection of cliques. The opportunities are so few here that the first rule for those who feel threatened is to slam the door on potential job-stealers. Race is only one of 50 ways somebody can be discriminated against. If the Academy nominates a pack of white-bread movies it's because that's what the studios are making and the public is buying. Of course there should be more 'movies of color,' but the industry is a marketplace, not a Social Reformatory. Nobody's yet figured out how to make enough good movies. Once upon a time the Academy awards were a private club. A publicist told me that in the old days the technical trophies would be divvied out between the top studios, shutting out the small fry, of course. The nominating process is actually pretty reasonable now, but I think the Academy will further dilute its standards if minority actors and productions get a free ride.
These days I've taken to listening to the Oscars show from the next room, and play back the DVR if there's something I need to see. The 'In Memoriam' montages are no longer heartfelt, as Hollywood acting greats are ignored in favor of executives and publicists - and Kirk Kerkorian, destroyer of studios!
Entertainment-wise, last night's show reminded me a bit of the movie Putney Swope, with the majority of the jokes centered on just the one topic... it's the Truth and Soul Awards, folks. Even the media seems cowed by the new call for Color Reform. Why can't we just go back to the innocent days where everybody wore colored ribbons and trotted out their favorite causes? Somebody page Sacheen Littlefeather.
On the other hand, it's a pretty good batch of movies that won this time out -- as if the Academy members, faced with a challenge to their good taste, voted more carefully this year. Let's carry that sanity over to the November election. Great to see the subtle, stylish Ex Machina win the effects prize, over movies that hired more effects personnel than Pharaoh needed to build the pyramids. Nice to see our hero Ennio Morricone, who should have already won six Oscars, take a bow; nice that the quietly ethical Spotlight got the big prize. The show also makes me want to see Mad Max: Fury Road again.
Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson
February 27, 2016
Saturday February 27, 2016
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Savant's new reviews today are:
The Vincent Price Collection III
Scream Factory
Blu-ray
Shout Factory opens the crypt once more, for the last remaining UA and AIP fright movies starring our favorite Vincent Price. He's an aerial Captain Nemo in
Master of the World, a crookback mass murderer in
Tower of London, a French artist possessed by an evil spirit in
Diary of a Madman, and a sadistic, murdering, sex-pervert witch hunter... but with a heart... in
Cry of the Banshee. The label lays on the extras, with Steve Haberman commentaries, episodes of
Science Fiction Theater and an improved encoding of Price's one man show,
An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe. Now where are the Vincent Price
cooking shows? On
Blu-ray from
Scream Factory.
2/27/16
Cowboy
Twilight Time
Blu-ray
Delmer Daves' easygoing cattle drive western can't make an action hero out of Jack Lemmon, but it does present a much more adult and thoughtful oater than we expected. Excellent work from co-star Glenn Ford and a stack of good players, plus a convincingly anti-mythological storyline -- no glorious rescues or noble gunfights, and the demure maiden doesn't wait for the handsome cowboy hero. With Brian Donlevy (excellent) and Anna Kashfi; the lively commentary sees Nick Redman, Julie Kirgo and Paul Seydor scrapping over genre interpretations, 'good' Delmer Daves westerns, etc. -- it's just like UCLA again. On
Blu-ray from
Twilight Time.
2/27/16
The Graduate
The Criterion Collection
Blu-ray
It may go in and out of favor but there's no denying that, for better or worse, Mike Nichols and Buck Henry's satire defined 'the generation gap' for the sixties. Dustin Hoffman springs forward from obscurity to major stardom and Katharine Ross is the object of desire. Anne Bancroft's Mrs. Robinson freed the image of the 'complicated woman' from the clutches of the Production Code Stone Age. Okay, okay, so it's an exaggerated set of stand-up routines with a comic book presentation... but it fulfilled audience desires before the audience knew it had them, and it still works beautfully. Great extras on this edition, too. On
Blu-ray from
The Criterion Collection.
2/27/16
and
Key Largo
The Warner Archive Collection
Blu-ray
Bogie and Bacall are back, in a hot-house siege in a rickety Florida hotel, with Edward G. Robinson's oily gangster breathing down their necks -- "Nyah!" What, no nuclear bomb to be defused? Excellent direction (John Huston) and great performances (Claire Trevor) have made this one an eternal classic. And Bacall proves that she do more than act saucy (which was always enough). We want subtitles for whatever Eddie whispered in Betty's ear... A most-requested, or demanded, HD release. On
Blu-ray from
The Warner Archive Collection.
2/27/16
Hello!
A bright Saturday here in Los Angeles. We'll have our cool days between now and June, and maybe even some evidence of the promised El Niño that so far hasn't shown up. But for now it's our quasi-summer out here, which often lasts from Valentine's Day to Thanksgiving.
A fun week last week. Last Tuesday's movie night let us see a Russian disc borrowed from longtime ally Darren Gross, Aleksandr Ptushko's Ilya Muromets, aka The Sword and the Dragon (1956). I'd never seen it except for a few clips on TV back in the early 1960s. It's in Sovscope and is an experience unlike Western epics. Basically a simple fairy tale about yet another early "Rus" hero who repelled a nasty invader, the starts with our big burly hero (think Dan Blocker with lots of silver facial hair) paralyzed. Revived by a the potion of a traveling who-knows-what, he starts routing enemies for the local ruler, and eventually faces off with a nasty Asian foe. Muromets' sweet, virginal but rather beefy lady love is kidnapped at least three times, and rescued and re-rescued by Ilya with her golden braids un-mussed, and in the final battle her son raised by the evil enemy faces off with Muromets, not realizing who he's fighting. Politically, the whole thing is an anthem toward defending Mother Russia... Muromets naturally knows what to do and cannot be defeated, but traitors in the court see him imprisoned for years until the monarch begs him to come forward and oppose the advancing Hun (or Hun-like) horde.
The storyline is jerky, leaping ahead to fulfill the contours of the tale without establishing characterization of any kind. Ilya is dedicated to killing enemies and routing traitors in the court; there are no moral gray areas.
That's the story. We're told that thousands of soldiers were pressed as extras for the battle scenes, so it's difficult to tell when we're seeing 10,000 people on screen, or if some optical trick is being used. One scene on a hilltop at dusk, panning across a distant horizon packed with the campfires of Muromets' army, seems never to end. The AMAZING thing about Ilya Muromets are Ptushko's special effects, some of which are genuinely magical. The sweetheart plays with songbirds, that switch from live birds to little mechanical toys faster than we can keep up. When the evil invader needs to see a few extra miles across the Steppes, he has his horde form a human pile fifty feet high -- a massive pyramid of bodies -- so he can ride to the top and take a good look. The best effect is a Gollum-like troll creature called The Nightingale, a hairy little gnome that puffs up its cheeks and blows forth a hurricane wind that can stop an army.
Finally, the dragon of the title is Gorynich, a colossal three-headed monster that flies through the air to attack
the Russians. It's apparently a full-sized mockup plus at least two smaller 'big' puppets that work in forced-perspective setups with a thousand extras and a huge castle set. It even spews forth flame-thrower blasts of fire that look genuinely dangerous, narrowly missing the knights on horseback. How many people died making this thing?
Ptushko's show drops characters and has major issues with continuity, yet when its over we feel we've really seen something. I bought my daughter a copy of Ptushko's Sadko (The Magic Voyage of Sinbad) a few years back; it has a different kind of magical charm, with our hero dancing with the king of the ocean at the bottom of the sea, and climbing into a forbidden Indian tower to confront one of the best fantasy creations in the movies, a strange woman-bird that weaves a hypnotic spell. Next up Darren may be loaning us Sampo, the show most famous here from being lampooned on MST3K: "Aw, I wish I had my Sampo back..." Released here as The Day the Earth Froze, it always looked terrible but I'm assured that in its original version it's a thing of beauty.
And that's the big report ... I'm certain that a bunch of Savant readers are Ptushko experts better informed than I am. I just remember at age 12 being unable to see The Sword and the Dragon, but realizing in a review that the critic was prejudiced against Soviet productions, calling it incompetent and dissing the color process employed as, 'color by Crayola.' That slam stuck so well that I've stolen it many times since.
Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson
February 23, 2016
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Savant's new reviews today are:
Childhood's End
Universal / Syfy
Blu-ray
Well, it only took 63 years but somebody took a crack at Arthur C. Clarke's monumental sci-fi novel. This interpretation throws the emphasis way out of whack -- lots of emotional soap subplots, less futuristic and philosophical detail -- but it succeeds too frequently to ignore. Charles Dance is the alarming Overlord Karellen, who comes from the stars to shepherd humanity to its next stage of development... and to ring down the curtain on our present reality. Not bad, considering that all of the book's component parts and concepts were ripped off decades ago. Six hours long, two Blu-rays, with ample deleted and extended scenes. On
Blu-ray from
Universal / Syfy.
2/23/16
The Black Sleep
KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray
We rabid classic horror fans (gooble-gobble) couldn't wait to catch up with this All Star monster rally -- Lon Chaney Jr.!, John Carradine!, Bela Lugosi!, Basil Rathbone!, Tor Johnson! -- only to discover that the story was limp and our favorite ghouls woefully underused. Akim Tamiroff's in there pitching but the direction and production are just not up to snuff. It's considered a must-see picture, just the same, and this HD presentation is nothing to sniff at. Added bonus: a Tom Weaver commentary. Da man knows where the skeletons are buried on this one. On
Blu-ray from
KL Studio Classics.
2/23/16
5 Dolls for an August Moon
Arrow Video (UK)
Region B Blu-ray + PAL DVD
A "lesser" Mario Bava thriller is still a fountain of great filmmaking; and this annihilating melodrama sees a score of ambitious businessmen and their wives & sweethearts wiped out at an island retreat, for fun and profit. Done on the cheap but shot through with Bava's visual imagination, it shows him working without much support save for an eager cast, including William Berger and Edwige Feneche -- and coming through with a sexy, memorable murder thriller. With some good extras, and Tim Lucas' authoritative audio commentary. On
Region B Blu-ray and
PAL DVD from
Arrow Video (UK).
2/23/16
and
Oh! What a Lovely War
The Warner Archive Collection
DVD
A pure-gold Savant favorite is back in print. Sir Richard Attenborough's first feature as director is an enormous concept musical -- a stylized pacifist epic of the insane tragedy of WW1, told through contemporary songs, with the irreverent lyrics given them by the soldiers themselves. It's a gauntlet thrown down before the establishment, starring practically the full roster of English acting nobility from Laurence Olivier on down. And one will not want to miss a young Maggie Smith's music hall performance -- luring young conscripts to doom in the trenches. And Vanessa Redgrave is gripping as a blood and thunder anti-war activist, circa 1917. It's the strangest pacifist film ever, done in high style. On
DVD from
The Warner Archive Collection.
2/23/16
Hello!
I sort of over-extended myself writing eight reviews instead of six this week, so I'm compensating by short-changing today's column. See, honesty prevails, no matter how much of a crook I am. Just received the Vincent Price III box from the great folks at Scream Factory, and can't wait to wade once more into my favorite film at 9 years of age -- Master of the World. I think it was my first exposure to the Great Vincent, and I still like his performance -- it's a powerful take that doesn't allow Robur the Conqueror to become a hammy joke.
Plus, several of this month's Twilight Time pix came in, and ALL of them are desirable review possibilities.
And finally, I've been tipped off (like I ever get news early) that the Warner Archive disc program will be putting out a Blu-ray of the RKO Frank Tashlin comedy Susan Slept Here, with Dick Powell, Debbie Reynolds, Anne Francis and an entire year's output of bright primary Technicolor hues. It's an unexpected choice but I like it -- the movie is totally weird.
Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson
February 20, 2016
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Savant's new reviews today are:
L'Inhumaine
Flicker Alley
Blu-ray
Here's something for hardcore classic cineastes -- we've read about Marcel L'Herbier's avant-garde silent feature for decades, without having access to a decent copy. This French restoration makes the 1924 show look practically brand-new. The weird story follows a Swedish engineer who seeks to win the hand of famous singer by demonstrating a machine that can revive the dead. Designed by score of famous architects and art notables, and directed with amazing fluidity by L'Herbier, the show is a revelation from beginning to end: it seems to have inspired the visuals of both
Metropolis and
Frankenstein. On
Blu-ray from
Flicker Alley.
2/20/16
Spotlight
Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD
One of the best pictures of 2015, an accurate and relevant movie about a horrible, difficult subject. Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, Brian d'Arcy James, John Slattery and Stanley Tucci lead an impressive ensemble in the effort to uncover systematic child abuse and cover-ups by the Catholic church in Boston. I don't think I've ever seen such a complicated story told with such clarity, and so entertainingly. By the end the suspense is such that we wonder if the investigators are going to be murdered by a power structure that's been looking the other way for forty years. Highly recommended. On
Blu-ray +
DVD + Digital HD from
Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
2/20/16
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Twilight Time
Blu-ray
Otto Preminger delves into a police corruption story decades before the Production Code would allow anything realistic about American law enforcement to be honestly portrayed on film. This classy noir tale of a rogue cop stars Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney, and is a beautifully directed slick production with excellent dramatic values. Yet it dodges the implications of the violent interrogations and 'expedient' brutality, by carefully keeping all such events off-screen. With Karl Malden and Gary Merrill. The B&W video is terrific. On
Blu-ray from
Twilight Time.
2/20/16
and
Millennium / R.O.T.O.R
Scream Factory
Blu-ray
Two 1980's science fiction efforts from the holdings of MGM.
Millennium is an expensive adaptation of a popular novel, with Kris Kristofferson and Cheryl Ladd navigating a time travel story about body snatchers from the future.
R.O.T.O.R is a direct to video lemon from the bad end of the lemon grove. Oh, the agony… don't ever say that Savant writes only good reviews. However, both films surely have lessons to teach the budding filmmaker who thinks moviemaking is easy. On
Blu-ray from
Scream Factory.
2/20/16
Hello!
I have a report from a special screening held at Paramount last Thursday night, in their massive main theater just a few blocks from Savant Headquarters: a 'Special Effects Rewind' screening of the studio's 1953 Academy Award winner for visual effects, George Pal's The War of the Worlds.
The screening was attended by a number of notables, film collector friends, familiar producer friends and restoration staff from other studios. Critic Leonard Maltin, makeup man Rick Baker and director John Landis were in attendance, as well as Joe Abdo, a former child actor who appeared in the film. It was a reasonably good DCP of the feature, not a film print.
The hosts / speakers for the evening were the noted film audio expert Ben Burtt, and the special effects author Craig Barron, who have appeared on more than a few Blu-ray special editions explaining special effects and other technical issues. Their presentation brought up some interesting stories from Burtt and Baron's research on the film.
At the Academy library, they explained how they found some publicity photos of Ann Robinson dressed up in a 'Martian' get-up designed by Edith Head. They asked Robinson about it; she said she recalls they got her into the outfit and took her around to the offices of various executives for publicity photos, and that was it. Another publicity photo showed Gene Barry bicycling around the lot. They discovered studio paperwork recording a Personal Injury Report saying that Barry fell off the bike during the photo shoot and suffered a "bruised posterior." They also found a Personal Injury Report for legendary stuntman Harvey Parry for the fire gag in the film.
The scream heard when the soldier catches on fire? Ben Burtt jokingly referred to it as the 'Paramount Wilhelm' -- in other words, the Paramount equivalent to the famous Wilhelm scream. He traced it to actor Douglas 'Keep watching the skies!' Spencer from Paramount's The Lost Weekend. In that film Douglas plays a screaming man in the Bellevue drunk ward where Ray Milland ends up. It was used in dozens of Paramount films.
Some special effects outtakes were shown, including: various tests with Kenneth Strickfadden's equipment; the L.A. City Hall exploding without the Heat Ray overlay; an unused take of a Martian machine in downtown L.A.; and the discrete "force field blister" element, which was shot on a miniature set with pyro effects going off.
Both Barron and Burtt were interested in how the look and sound of the 'skeleton beam' was created, but could find no conclusive documentation. It apparently was not cel animation. A file reference to a fan being used on some of Strickfadden's electrical equipment gave them a clue, and they did some experiments to test their theory. They believe that a Jacob's Ladder-type device was filmed at an angle, with a fan blowing on the electrical discharges to distort them. This would be tinted green and possibly doubled up to increase the intensity of the 'beam.' They superimposed a test they did over one of the effects outtakes, and it did look like a pretty good match for what we see in the film -- organic-looking green 'plasma blobs.' As for the accompanying sound effect, Burtt believes it was recorded by striking an elongated spring, a piece of coiled metal rather like a Slinky toy. Burt had one set up in the theater and gave a live demonstration. After a couple of false starts, he was able to produce a satisfying 'twang' sound to go with the 'skeleton beam.'
Paramount's old, fairly good-looking DVD of The War of the Worlds came out eleven years ago, but fans have naturally been hoping for a fancy restoration. Paramount has been doing very high quality restorations of other tent-peg studio productions like Sunset Blvd. and Breakfast at Tiffany's. But the screening was just for the special effects presentation, and there was no word about any restoration being in the works. We did learn that they have done preservation work on the title. Both War and George Pal's other Paramount Oscar winner When Worlds Collide are 3-Strip Technicolor productions.
It was a long time ago that I saw The War of the Worlds in 35mm, at 1975's Filmex Science Fiction Marathon. Back then the studio still had a pristine 35mm Technicolor print, and it was incredible looking. Even more impressive was the aural onslaught of those terrific sound effects. At the time I believed what I heard was in stereo, an impression amplified by the knowledge that some original prints were in three-track stereophonic sound. I've since been corrected (by Joe Dante, I think) that the print I saw had to be monaural.
In general the big studios do surprise us from time to time with miraculous restorations, as with Paramount's own silent movie Oscar winner Wings. I should think that War of the Worlds should hold a pretty high roost in the studio's remaining in-house library. (If you recall, a 1950s deal saw Paramount selling almost its entire pre-1948 library to MCA-Universal.)
And just because a great digital restoration is done for a particular movie, that doesn't mean that it will be released on home video. At AMIA's The Reel Thing in 2011, an incredible restoration of DIsney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was premiered for film archivists. It looked amazing; they fixed some shots and even used extra image 'real estate' behind the soundtrack area to eliminate the 'CinemaScope Mumps' in a few shots. I wrote it all up in an old DVD Savant Column (scroll down to August 19). Yet the expected Blu-ray release never materialized. Perhaps Disney is saving it to accompany a possible remake? 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is due to be screened on TCM on Wednesday, March 9. I'll be DVR'ing the presentation, just in case it's in HD -- perhaps it will be sourced from what we saw five years ago.
Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson
February 16, 2016
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Savant's new reviews today are:
The Vikings
KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray
The best Viking action movie bar none is Richard Fleischer's historically accurate vehicle for three stars: grinning one-eyed Kirk Douglas, sullen one-handed Tony Curtis and heavy-breathing, two-breasted Janet Leigh. Beautifully filmed by Jack Cardiff in the fjords of Norway, by golly: great scenery, lean and mean Viking ships, and a brain-bashing acrobatic castle assault designed to out-do Burt Lancaster. With Ernest Borgnine (
"OHHH-DINNNN!!"), James Donald and Alexander Knox. And as the old song goes, it don't mean a thing if it ain't got Frank Thring. Mastered from original Technirama elements. On
Blu-ray from
KL Studio Classics.
2/16/16
Inside Llewyn Davis
The Criterion Collection
Blu-ray
Joel and Ethan Coen drop most of the sarcasm for their deeply felt character study of a folk singer tryin' to keep the customers satisfied in a cold New York winter, 1961. Everything's a big problem, including a girl (Carey Mulligan), various agents, fellow performers, and a cat. It's usual for a self-involved serious artist in a movie to be a serious pain in the tail, but I find Oscar Isaac's Llewyn to be wholly sympathetic. Even when he's given a break, the guy just can't get a break. Marvelous re-created music from the music-culture
tregua just before Bob Dylan arrived. And that cat business is deeper than it looks. Plus terrific extras including a complete concert docu. On
Blu-ray from
The Criterion Collection.
2/16/16
and
All Things Must Pass:
The Rise and Fall of Tower Records
FilmRise
DVD
Remember Tower Records? Ever frequent the place? If so this new docu by Colin Hanks will be doubly fascinating. The rise and fall of the massive brick & mortar music retailer makes for a great story, with marvelous characters -- the staff and owners of a freewheeling, naturally positive company that for thirty years rarely took a misstep. And we love the stuff about 'Hand Truck Fuel.' When you meet founder Russ Solomon it becomes obvious why the store clicked -- the guy knew how to turn music-brained hippies into motivated collaborators. With good extras... this docu generates genuine Good Vibes. On
DVD from
FilmRise.
2/16/16
Hello!
A quick back-pedal maneuver today, prompted by a funny, helpful note from correspondent and friend Bill Warren. In my review of Warners' Blu of The Big Sleep I wrote,
"A much-quoted anecdote says that Bogart and Hawks called Raymond Chandler during the shooting of a scene, to get the right answer for a story detail, just so they'd shoot things right: "Who exactly shot a certain victim?" Chandler's answer, that he didn't know himself, sounds very much like one of those apocryphal stories invented for publicity."
Bill Warren read the review and wrote me shortly thereafter to straighten out a point or two. Bill has had meaningful contact and discussion with a lot of interesting film people in his career -- his stories about Fritz Lang and Jacques Tourneur are fascinating -- and he's always offering good corrections or illuminating information. This time Bill has the precise answer to my (vague) inquiry about that questionable bit of Big Sleep trivia. Bill talked at length with Leigh Brackett, a screenwriter on The Big Sleep (and 35 years later, The Empire Strikes Back), and here's what he heard when he asked about the phone call incident regarding what character killed the chauffeur, who died in the car that plunged off the Malibu Pier:
"Leigh Brackett told me that when she and her co-writer William Faulkner couldn't figure out who killed the chauffeur, they called author Raymond Chandler for a clarification. Chandler angrily said that it's RIGHT THERE IN THE BOOK!!! So they resumed poking around in the book, but still didn't come up with an answer. Eventually Chandler called back. He said he couldn't figure who did it either, and that therefore they could decide for themselves."
I'm just flattered that people like Bill Warren read DVD Savant.
And finally from Gary Teetzel, for fans of the fruity classic horror icon Ernest Thesiger, now you can see a short featurette about his personal hobby at home... as a veddy veddy polite British Pathé Newsreel. As always, Ernie is most accommodating, even if he doesn't ask us if we'd like a po-tay-to.
Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson
February 13, 2016
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Savant's new reviews today are:
The Big Sleep
The Warner Archive Collection
Blu-ray
We've waited long enough: Bogart's take on Raymond Chandler's tough guy Philip Marlowe is finally on Blu-ray, with Lauren Bacall hyped as his provocative leading lady. As an extra, the 1945 pre-release version is present, with an
uncut copy of Bob Gitt's UCLA Film Archive versions comparison docu. Shawn Regan! Eddie Mars! Canino! Joe Brody! Carol Lundgren! They're all here, along with a powerfully remastered Max Steiner music score. On
Blu-ray from
The Warner Archive Collection.
2/13/16
The Emigrants / The New Land
The Criterion Collection
Blu-ray
Jan Troell knocks us for a loop with his masterful intimate epic of a Swedish farming family in the 1840s, that decides the only hope for a future is to come to the promised green acres in frontier Minnesota. Max Von Sydow and Liv Ullmann are heartbreakingly deserving and hopeful; the dreamers and the devout and the intolerant come too. Everything is told in simple terms: big scares, disappointments, joy and horror. From a famous Swedish novel, the two-film, six-hour saga is a faithful and politically neutral account of what it must have been like for these hardy immigrants. On
Blu-ray from
The Criterion Collection.
2/13/16
and
The Happy Ending
Twilight Time
Blu-ray
Richard Brooks fashioned this prescient, intense drama for his talented wife Jean Simmons. The original frustrated, abandoned Mad Housewife runs away from a 'dream marriage' in search of something more fulfilling. Most of the excellent cast is used very well: John Forsythe, Shirley Jones, Teresa Wright, Dick Shawn, Nanette Fabray, Tina Louise, Lloyd Bridges, Bobby Darin. It's pretty uncompromising and adult. Plus, the soundtrack uses Michel Legrand's incomparable song
"What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" On
Blu-ray from
Twilight Time.
2/13/16
Hello!
A brisk week, with holidays both national and personal. It's good to be back writing!
Gary Teetzel sends in this self-explanatory link, on Vimeo, where our favorite giant monkey shills for a phone company.
Some alarming news, considering that I'm a budding fan of home video 3-D. Maybe everybody that buys into the format, buys what these people are calling a 'high end TV.' I hope so. I only hope that disc companies don't discontinue their production... I was hoping it would expand. Whatever happens, I don't appreciate writer Alistair Charlton's alarmist choice of title -- I've been reading similiar scare stuff about Blu-ray and DVD for ten years now. The article: 3D television is dead: Samsung and LG cut back on 3-D TV production. I just got back from helping a friend look for a 4K passive glasses 3-D TV... and found that only LG makes the passive ones. As the cheapest set is $2,100, I'm hoping that those aren't considered 'low end.' Also, the article is from England, and doesn't specifically say that the discontinuation is international. Just being optimistic, there.
The article made me mad enough to prompt an online order of the 3-D discs of The Wizard of Oz and John Carter. I looked at Oz a bit last night -- it's delightful and fun as ever, and the 3-D is pretty cute too.
Finally, over at Trailers from Hell, Joe Dante gives us the lowdown on the scarce Al Zugsmith picture College Confidential, a Mamie Van Doren special. I've never seen it, but it looks like one of Al's fun-sleazy inverted classics. Hear Joe use words like 'smarmy,' and 'smut'! ...so this must be a sure-fire Valentine's Day movie.
Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson
February 10, 2016
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Savant's new reviews today are:
GOG 3-D
KL Studio Classics
3-D Blu-ray +
A fascinating classic-era Sci-fi gem is reborn, viewable again in beautiful
3-D after 62 years. Scientists are being murdered in a secret underground laboratory overseen by a super-computer and two robots, Gog and Magog. Can Richard Egan, Herbert Marshall and Constance Dowling find the killer before more eggheads cash in their slide rules? The story of the film's restoration adds to the interest. Director Herbert L. Strock, cameraman Lothrop B. Worth, 3-D gurus Bob Furmanek and Greg Kintz and commentator Tom Weaver figure in the extras. The year is young, but this is an early favorite. On
3-D Blu-ray from
KL Studio Classics.
2/10/16
and
Woman in the Moon
Kino Classics
Blu-ray
Die frau im mond. Fritz Lang tries a pure sci-fi story -- but despite the rigorous realism and excellent science in the design of his moon rocket, Thea von Harbou's sentimental story is slow going. It may be for fantasy fans only -- and those impressed by a NASA-like moon rocket forty years before the reality -- but it's also quite a beautiful picture. The action on the moon is pure green-cheese fantasy, with breathable air, deposits of gold and evidence of a human civilization. Gerda Maurus and Willy Fritsch are more attractive versions of Lang and von Harbou, and Fritz Rasp is an industrial secret agent representing the corporate syndicate that seizes control of the rocket from our intrepid heroes. And don't forget the little stowaway kid, every space trip needs one. On
Blu-ray from
Kino Classics.
2/10/16
Hello!
I'm late but with an excellent excuse -- we ran away from The Super Bowl, television, movies and everything else for a couple of days. No guilt, no remorse, just fun. I came back ready to write up the (fairly sensational) disc of GOG 3-D. It's a keeper from the early years of the sci-fi boom, when the genre couldn't decide if it was for children or adults, or whether it was to be
educational or scary or if it needed a monster. The 3-D Film Archive has really outdone itself with this project, making it possible to view the feature in 3-D for the first time in half a century.
Boy, do I have some good discs to review: Criterion's I Knew Her Well, The Emigrants/The New Land, Inside Llewyn Davis and The Graduate; Flicker Alley's L'Inhumane; Shout Factory's Millennium and R.O.T.O.R. double bill; Universal's Spotlight; Gravitas Ventures' All Things Must Pass; Twilight Time's Bound for Glory and The Happy Ending; Kino's Spies, Donovan's Brain, After the Fox, The Black Sleep and The Vikings. And that's not counting Warner Bros. -- I have their WAC titles Roughshod, The Safecracker, The Strangler and Her Majesty, Love still in hand, plus the new Blu-ray restorations of Key Largo and The Big Sleep. So I'd better get down to the reviewing!
Thanks for reading --- Glenn Erickson
February 05, 2016
Hi --
just got back from a couple of days off. Let me see if I can get a review or two out for Tomorrow, Wednesday!
Glenn
Saturday February 6, 2016
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Savant's new reviews today are:
Deep Red
Arrow Video UK
Region A+B Blu-ray
Stabbings, scaldings, hideous lacerations from broken glass and even more brutal manglings for our sanguinary delectation! Dario Argento's beautifully photographed and smartly directed murder mystery gives us David Hemmings as a jazz man in Rome, studying not photographic blowups but the hidden artwork of a disturbed child. This multi-disc set may be the ultimate version of the '70s giallo classic. With Daria Nicolodi, Clara Calamai, music by Goblin and striking Techniscope imagery by Luigi Kuveiller. On
Region A+B Blu-ray from
Arrow Video UK.
2/06/16
Station West
The Warner Archive Collection
DVD
Army secret agent John Haven is out to catch some crooks, and he uses stealth, his wits and a limitless supply of marvelous hardboiled dialogue to do it. Dick Powell trades a trench coat for a cowboy hat, and luscious Jane Greer swaps a .38 snubnose for a dance hall dress -- one look at her dark, deep eyes, any you'll never fully accept the appeal of a modern actress-siren. A great cast, a witty script and Burl Ives' singing voice make this a delightfully different noir-inflected oater, apparently an attempt to transfer the sassy proto-hipster dialogue of
Out of the Past to a different genre. Also with Agnes Moorehead, Raymond Burr and Steve Brodie. On
DVD from
The Warner Archive Collection.
2/06/16
and
Harlock: Space Pirate 3D
Twilight Time
3-D and 2-D Blu-ray
Ray guns! Space armadas! Storm troopers! Toei's manga turned animé TV show and then TV miniseries became a pricey 3-D animated motion capture epic just three years ago, but was denied a release stateside. This collector's disc gives us two versions of this collection of rude 'n' raucous space battles, along with a pirate's bounty of original Japanese extras. The 'dark' story follows the dark matter-powered spaceship
Arcadia on a mission to reverse the destruction of Earth by going back in time. With big bombs, something like that. Don't worry, the visuals are excellent. On
3-D and
2-D Blu-ray from
Twilight Time.
2/06/16
Hello!
It's time again for a great trailer commentary by Brian Trenchard-Smith, who, we discover in his latest host stint on the Trailers from Hell coverage for Peter Weir's The Last Wave, was a trailer-maker himself. No wonder I identify with the man -- I want him to comment on my trailer for Reggio's Powaqqatsi! Mr. T-S takes us through his mental process constructing an impactful trailer for a moody film, without misrepresenting its power. We shared no such standards in the Cannon trailer department, I can tell you in no uncertain terms.
Gary Teetzel tipped me to some new info from Kino Lorber, posted on their Facebook page and also at (credit where credit is due) the Blu-ray.com Forum: the Top 40 Best Selling Blu-rays in Kino's KL Studio Classics branded line. Here they be:
1. Witness For the Prosecution 2. The Long Goodbye 3. The Quatermass Xperiment 4. The Party 5. The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming 6. Run Silent, Run Deep 7. The Great Train Robbery 8. The Satan Bug 9. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum 10. On the Beach 11. Miracle Mile 12. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes 13. House of the Long Shadows 14. Tales of Terror 15. Burnt Offerings 16. Cherry 2000 17. Planet of the Vampires 18. Breakheart Pass 19. Convoy 20. Elmer Gantry 21. Running Scared 22. White Lightning 23. The White Buffalo 24. X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes 25. The Oblong Box 26. Prime Cut 27. Black Sabbath (AIP) 28. F/X 29. 52 Pick-up 30. Gorky Park 31. The Emerald Forest 32. Pocketful of Miracles 33. Revenge of the Ninja 34. The Premature Burial 35. Needful Things 36. The Premature Burial 37. Monte Walsh 38. The Hurricane 39. Madhouse 40. The Land That Time Forgot.
We're not sure why The Premature Burial is represented at both #34 and #36 positions, but we did like that disc enough to watch it twice. The present custom at Facebook is for disc commentators to leap to point to any distinction foisted upon a disc they've contributed to. In my case, both #3 The Quatermass Xperiment and #8 The Satan Bug landed in the top ten; I have a set of featurettes on one and a commentary on the other. We all know that the discs were purchased for other reasons, but it's still a source of pride; the Quatermass Xperiment disc also got some kind of 'best disc of the year' distinction, probably earned by Marcus Hearn's excellent interview and commentary. As for Satan Bug I would imagine the huge fan base for vile germs bought the disc, not caring who yakked on the commentary track. Well, it's better that I display my false modesty here than splash it over Facebook, where my adored sister (and people just as discerning) will read it.
Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson
February 02, 2016
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Savant's new reviews today are:
Crimson Peak
Universal/Legendary
Blu-ray + DVD
Here's where angels sit down to weep next to devils -- the often-brilliant Guillermo del Toro's big Gothic romance / gory ghost epic looks mighty fancy but is a mess on all other counts -- even the fine actors Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain and Tom Hiddleston have difficulties with it. And what's with that English mansion built on a lake of red goop? I kept hoping that would amount to something. You're a great filmmaker Guillermo, say it ain't so. On
Blu-ray and
DVD from
Universal/Legendary.
2/02/16
Bridge of Spies
Touchstone
Blu-ray + DVD
Steven Spielberg's entertaining true life account of a tense chapter in the Cold War sees Tom Hanks' brave attorney going way out on a limb to conduct a crucial negotiation in East Berlin. I try to express my reservations with Spielberg's approach - not a big gripe, but a nagging 'narrative undertow.' Hanks is great, and so is the production. On
Blu-ray and
DVD from
Touchstone.
2/02/16
and
Death by Hanging
The Criterion Collection
Blu-ray
You want radical? Look no further. Nagisa Oshima's near-legendary experimental drama is a wickedly frightening protest against the death penalty, but then it proceeds into formal abstraction and the endorsement of a violent political position. Formally, you can't find a radical 'gauntlet picture' as jarring or as potent as this one. With a rare Oshima short subject and a (really helpful) featurette with critic Tony Rayns. On
Blu-ray from
The Criterion Collection.
2/02/16
Hello!
Let's see here -- after writing last Saturday about Joseph Losey's once-scarce "M" possibly coming out on a European disc, correspondents Gene Zombolas, Tim Hewitt, Charlie Fulton and Dick Dinman have written in to tell me that TCM is going to be showing "M" on March 10. They showed it on January first as well. That's something to mark down on the calendar.
Meanwhile, Olive Films' new releases for April 19 gives us some very desirable titles. Debuting that day is Samuel Fuller's Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street, at its full length and accompanied by video & text extras. With it comes Costa-Gavras' Betrayed with Debra Winger and Tom Berenger. On the same day Olive premieres two films by the Russian Yuri Bykov, The Major and a Dostoyevsky adaptation, The Fool.
Then, of prime importance to this writer, we're going to get Blu-ray and DVD release of the long-delayed Try and Get Me!, Cy Endfield's scorcher of a film noir starring Frank Lovejoy, Lloyd Bridges and Kathleen Ryan. I saw this projected at a Noir City screening last year, and you could almost hear the audience's stunned reaction. This gets a major entry on the calendar too.
The other semi-hot Savant news is that the GOG 3-D disc from Kino and The 3-D Film Archive is due out in just one month. The blog Once Upon A Screen has seen the restoration and reports briefly on it here; and a video comparison demonstration of the 3-D Film Archive's restoration is viewable here. I'll report myself on the disc as soon as I see it.
Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson
