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August 30, 2016
Savant's new reviews today are: KL Studio Classics Blu-ray ![]() 8/30/16
Twilight Time Blu-ray ![]() 8//16
and Olive Films Blu-ray ![]() 8/30/16
Hello!
Along with everyone else I'm sorry to see favorite Gene Wilder go. Back in 1972, when I was an usher at the now-gone National Theater in Westwood, we saw a continuous string of actors -- Alan Alda, Claude Akins, etc.. When I offered Jane Fonda the assistant manager's office to change her baby's diaper, she gave me a really frosty, off-putting "Go away." Hmmph. The same summer the management installed one of the first 'Pong' games, a tall, futuristic-shaped thing with a B&W monitor that played the game up top, and a slot to put a quarter in. I guess Gene Wilder had no patience for the movie he was watching, for he came out and started playing Pong. He got $5.00 worth of quarters and went at it, with a little smile on his face.
Not a lot of additional news today, just stuff I don't expect readers to care that much about, like my last-ditch effort to tame my disc collection. First step: buy some file boxes at Office Depot. We're going to make room in this house, if every 10th disc has to be up in the attic, gathering dust. Just got in Criterion's disc of Jacques Tourneur's Cat People and will be checking it out tonight. It only looks so-so on DVD and the prints I saw back in the 1970s were incredibly subtle, just beautiful. So I hope the restoration will pop. Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson
August 26, 2016
Savant's new reviews today are: The Criterion Collection Blu-ray ![]() 8/27/16
FilmRise Blu-ray ![]() 8/27/16
and Olive Films Blu-ray ![]() 8/27/16
Hello! I got a request this week from a loyal correspondent asking if the Region coding posted for a German disc of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves was accurate. The reliable answer for that particular title was available at Blu-ray.com, so that problem went away. But I sometimes become confused myself, and one doesn't want to order an expensive foreign disc, only to find that it can't be played here. If you want to help out your fellow collectors, and discover that the Region coding for a foreign disc is different than what's on Amazon UK, Amazon DE or wherever, write in and I'll post it here. Semi- not good news -- A while back we were disappointed that a German disc of favorite This Island Earth was such a dog. Our hopes were raised again when a French disc of the same title was announced. Unfortunately, it's been reported to me that DVD Beaver has checked out the French product and found it the same transfer, just given a better bit rate. I guess it's important to be wary of foreign discs of titles owned by domestic studios: Japanese discs of RKOs have been made from secondary, inferior elements, and so have some European Universals. ![]() And other on-site news that promises top review picks at DVD Savant: Olive has confirmed that their upcoming Monster of Piedras Blancas, The Horrible Dr. Hichcock and Commando Cody, Sky Marshall discs will be available for review, along with the promising Cecil B. DeMille silent, The Captive. I've been notified that a Legend of Tarzan 3-D from Warners is forthcoming; and assured that I'll be able to review the new Cinelicious disc of Leslie Stevens' once unavailable Private Property. I'm also positioned to review a big favorite, Rod Serling's 'organization man' drama Patterns, from The Film Detective/Allied. The new bounty of Twilight Times riches has just arrived, and I'm getting right into Arnold Laven's The Glory Guys and Paul Schrader's Hardcore, both of which I'll have a bit of inside info to talk about. The same goes for Kino's American Ninja 3 - Blood Hunt. I don't review too many Cannon pix but I cut the trailer for this Michael Dudikoff title back in 1988, so can't resist. The plan is to use part of the review to talk about the wild and unruly Cannon trailer department, back in its 'Mo & Yo' heyday. Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson
August 22, 2016
Savant's new reviews today are: KL Studio Classics Blu-ray ![]() 8/23/16
Olive Films Blu-ray ![]() 8/23/16
and The Criterion Collection Blu-ray ![]() 8/23/16
Hello! LOTS of positive feedback from Saturday's column reporting from AMIA's The Reel Thing from Hollywood. I have even more input in this follow-up report from our intrepid correspondent Gary Teetzel: "Some interesting presentations today at the first day of AMIA's annual The Reel Thing conference. The highlights for me: ![]() First up was a presentation on the restoration of the American cut of the 1931 version of The Front Page, directed by Lewis Milestone. There is a video about this on the 'net, so this may be old news to all of you. If not, the basic story is: Recently a print of The Front Page from the Howard Hughes estate was studied and, since it was in pretty good shape, was going to be used as the basis for a new restoration. One shot was problematic, so they borrowed the Library of Congress print -- the source of all those Public Domain versions over the decades -- thinking they could use it to fix the one bad shot. Upon closer examination, though, it was discovered that the two prints were totally different. Research revealed that three negatives had been prepared for the film: A U.S. version (which used the best takes and was generally more polished), an English version (now lost) and a General European version assembled from other takes and sometimes eliminating American references in the dialogue. The General European version also has a couple things that could not get by the U.S. censors, like a character giving someone the finger. The Library of Congress print was the European version, having originally been obtained from Europe. The Hughes print was the long-lost American version, unseen for decades. To restore the audio they used original metal stampers that were used to generate sound discs for theaters showing it in the sound-on-disc format. They discovered alternate stampers for Pennsylvania and Ohio, with alterations to comply with local censorship codes. The Hughes collection has also yielded rare prints of some Lewis Milestone silent films; these are currently being restored. Here is a video about the two versions of The Front Page. Joe Dante had this on his Facebook page a little while ago, which is where I first saw it. ![]() Later came a presentation by Criterion's Lee Kline on the remastering of Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller. They had been hoping to work on this with Vilmos Zsigmond, who had been dissatisfied with the way most prints looked and was eager to work with them on it. But Zsigmond passed away shortly after they had completed scanning the film. They started looking at prints for reference, but no two seemed to match, with several having downright odd color choices. With the ninth print, though, they hit pay dirt -- it was a print that Zsigmond had timed himself for a Polish film festival. That became their guide for the color. Another Criterion rep discussed the audio restoration for Don't Look Back, Quadrophenia and A Hard Day's Night. Most of the other presentations were of a more technical nature: a primer on UHD and HDR; a discussion about scanning optical soundtrack negs; a look at a new wetgate scanner; and some highly technical stuff that was beyond my understanding. The evening screening was a new restoration of John Huston's Beat the Devil done by Sony. Grover Crisp said they had put off the restoration for years, trying to locate better-quality materials, especially the original neg. Finally deciding to work with what they had, they began evaluating their elements and discovered that what they thought was a dupe negative contained about 60% of the original neg. They also borrowed a fine grain from Romulus in England, hoping that they might be able to use it for some sections where they did not have the original neg. It turned out to be in excellent condition -- and was an alternate, uncensored version of the film! All the Public Domain versions of Beat the Devil that have been circulating have been of a shorter, re-cut/censored version. Interesting point: Grover insists the film is NOT in the Public Domain. ![]() The differences between the two versions of Beat the Devil: 1. The uncut version is told chronologically. The re-cut version uses a flashback structure and adds some Bogart narration. 2. The uncut version opens with a new scene of Jennifer Jones and Edward Underdown walking through the streets of the small Italian port town. The dialogue sets up some of Jones' flakiness. 3. About 18 minutes into the film there is a scene of Jones and Bogart talking outside, and Jones playfully accuses Bogart of making a pass at her. We then dissolve to a short scene of Gina Lollobrigida bringing the ailing Edward Underdown some tea, which ends abruptly as we dissolve back to Bogart and Jones. In the uncut version, the first scene between Bogart and Jones goes on slightly longer. We see them walking off and then reveal Peter Lorre shadowing them. We then cut to the Lollobrigida tea scene, which is now a little longer. We see her lean in to give Underdown the tea tray, her bosom coming very close to his face as he turns away awkwardly. We then cut back to Bogie and Jones. 4. The re-cut version takes a shot of the ship's captain yelling angrily from later in the film, flops it and inserts it into the scene of the characters boarding the ship. 5. In the scene where Bogart cons the Rita Hayworth-loving Arab policeman with the claims that he knows the actress personally, we see in the uncut version a pin-up of Hayworth in a racy swimsuit. A casual viewer might think she's nude. The re-cut version darkens the whole upper right corner of the screen, creating the effect of a shadow that conceals the pin-up. There may be a couple other small differences, but those are the major ones. The restoration looked and sounded great; it would be nice if we could get a Criterion or Twilight Time release. -- Gary" Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson
August 19, 2016
Savant's new reviews today are: Shout! Factory Blu-ray ![]() 8/20/16
Olive Films Blu-ray ![]() 8/20/16
and The Warner Archive Collection Blu-ray ![]() 8/20/16
Hello! Some fun announcements today. First up, it appears that a 3-D Blu of the '50s Sci-fi classic It Came from Outer Space will be available on October 4, and can be pre-ordered now as a Best Buy exclusive. The good news? It's listed at really cheap price point. Universal did a full-on restoration of The Creature from the Black Lagoon of several seasons ago; this disc was restored by the 3-D Film Archive. I hope it's as good as the Archive's other great 3-D disc releases. ![]() And Criterion has announced a November release for a Blu of Marlon Brando's One-Eyed Jacks, which I remember as one of the most stunning Technicolor-VistaVision presentations I've ever seen. A friend saw the film restoration at AMIA's The Reel Thing just last night. He reports that "The results look great--sharp, detailed with excellent color. Sourced from a DME mag [dialogue, music effects], the audio was also superb. A Universal exec said the original negative suffered from fading in the blue layer, so one of the separations on file was used to help recover the color. They had three vintage prints to look at for reference. Scorsese and Spielberg were active participants, providing a lot of feedback as the restoration progressed. At one point Spielberg showed Scorsese images from the film on his iPhone by long distance, as it screened. Scorsese appears in a video introduction before the film, mostly discussing its production and history. The intro will presumably be on the Criterion disc. Those of you who like the film should be very pleased." I got in contact today with the Foreign Exchange Blu-ray Imports store in Culver City, which imports Region B Blu-rays for greedy all-Region collectors like myself. The company now has a new web sales site up, which the happy owner tells me is doing a great business! Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson
August 15, 2016
Savant's new reviews today are: The Criterion Collection Blu-ray ![]() 8/16/16
and KL Studio Classics Blu-ray ![]() 8/16/16
Hello! It's a Brit New Wave and Fox Noir day today ... with things in a rush due to a TCM deadline and family events --- it's been a different kind of summer, that's for sure. I'm eager to get to Chimes at Midnight and interesting titles from Twilight Time, Kino, Shout! Factory and Olive Films. One Olive disc of a Cannon ninja film will give me the excuse of writing more about my time in that company as a promo and trailer editor. And one nice new discovery is Tale of Tales, a wonderful European fairy tale fantasy for adults, that I believe received a short and unheralded release here last year. An engaging, dead-serious literal reading of fairy tale fantasies by a 17th century folklorist, it's been made in the tradition of Brotherhood of the Wolf and perhaps The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec . Its weird charm probably couldn't compete with Marvel comics and other marketing juggernauts at the big studios that have the theaters all tied up. Yet I found that its surprises really grabbed me. Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson
August 12, 2016
Savant's new reviews today are: Arrow Video Blu-ray + DVD ![]() 8/13/16
Kino Classics Blu-ray ![]() 8/13/16
and The Criterion Collection Blu-ray ![]() 8/13/16
Hello! Are you an Orson Welles fan hurting because you have to wait for Criterion's Chimes at Midnight? Gary Teetzel points us to a YouTube link to a rare 1953 Italian comedy starring Toto', with our own Orson: L'Uomo, La Bestia e La Virtù. Yep, he's dubbed into Italian. Gary also tells me that the Cohen Film Collection has announced a Douglas Sirk double feature on September 27. I've never seen the recommended A Scandal in Paris, while Lured is a pretty good thriller that stars Lucille Ball and Boris Karloff. Correspondent Lee Broughton has been writing on westerns here at Savant for almost sixteen years. He now has a new book on European Westerns - The Euro-Western: Reframing Gender, Race and the "Other" in Film. The book analyzes and compares individual films to argue that West German, Italian and British Westerns consistently featured progressive representations of the Wild West's "Others" (Native Americans, African-Americans and strong women) years ahead of Hollywood's output. The Euro-Western can has been given a pre-release price break when purchasers use the promo code BUFFY at the publisher's sales website. Finally, a TCM movie alert -- if you get this in time: On Saturday morning TCM is screening Carol Reed's rarely shown Outcast of the Islands, with Trevor Howard, Ralph Richardson, Robert Morley and Wendy Hiller. It's a very good, very strange Joseph Conrad story structurally similar to other Conrad tales about white men who find themselves way up a river, banished from civilization, with nowhere to turn. Trevor Howard is better as an utter heel than he ever was as an upstanding citizen. I realize that not everyone has TCM but if a couple of readers catch it, my conscience will be clear. I should have blabbed about this last week. And before I forget: producer Michael Schlesinger will be the newest 'guru' at Trailers from Hell. It's an inspired choice. Michael gave the most entertaining, hilarious and informative intros to the TCMfests I reported from several years back, earning cheers at screenings of One, Two, Three and Johnny Guitar. And every time my mind wanders while watching the Criterion disc of It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, listening to his (shared) commentary is a major pick-me-up. I'm sure he'll be one of my TFH favorites. Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson
August 09, 2016
Savant's new reviews today are: KL Studio Classics Blu-ray ![]() 8/10/16
The Warner Archives Collection DVD ![]() 8/10/16
and The Criterion Collection Blu-ray ![]() 8/10/16
Hello! A tip of the hat to Savant associate Sergio Mims, whose own review of Kino Classics' Pioneers of African-American Cinema is viewable over at Roger Ebert.com. This is no favor between pals; Sergio has a unique perspective and is highly knowledgeable on the subject. Hey, the Savant blurbs work! I received two notes from New York readers that read my announcement about the Joe Dante film fest at BAM in time to catch the screening of The Movie Orgy. So my great work hasn't been entirely in vain for nothing. ![]() And next week should be fun, I hope. Arrow Video has sent me a review disc of the triple-Z horror feature Microwave Massacre, a movie that I've never seen, but that I helped out for a few minutes on the set, way back in 1978. My college friend Steve Nielson edited Microwave Massacre, and my plan is to share his thoughts on the film and its filmmakers. The director is on record as saying he had a big input into the cutting... so maybe I'll get some interesting answers. ![]() Also, more Criterion discs have arrived including Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight, which I haven't seen since 1974. I can't say that I've ever really heard it -- the soundtrack on the print I saw was unintelligible. The disc has subtitles, so maybe this time I'll understand what's going on. Even without hearing the soundtrack properly, I thought the movie was one of Welles' very best. Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson
August 05, 2016
Savant's new reviews today are: Kino Classics Blu-ray ![]() 8/06/16
Kino Classics Blu-ray or DVD ![]() 8/06/16
and Olive Films Blu-ray ![]() 8/06/16
Hello! You! You out there! Do you still believe that GORE cinema began with Herschel Gordon Lewis or those Mexican medical horror pix? Tim Lucas has alerted us to this stunning YouTube iteration of what's described as a silent Italian student film from ... wait for it ... 1936. Il caso Valdemar is a take on the Edgar Allan Poe story in a heavy expressionist mode -- if you have problems with vertigo, beware the plethora of canted, Dutch angles in this thing. It's quite well done, in an agreeably mannered style that reminds me of Gustav Machatý, except with a rotting corpse in place of nudes. I'm curious to hear what Craig Reardon thinks of this ... it's pretty powerful. ![]()
In other essential news, New York is being blessed with a full-on Joe Dante movie festival starting this weekend at BAM (the Brooklyn Academy of Music). Director Dante will be presenting his own films plus a selection of titles that most influenced him. The totally off-the-wall stunner event, that I recommend every fan of eccentric film humor see at least once before they die, is Dante's The Movie Orgy, a four- or five-hour marathon of crazy clips, ads, and feature excerpts from his and John Davison's teenage film collections. It presents more strange, sick, culturally unthinkable laughs than are good for one's health. The Andy Devine kiddie show excerpt is the most un-intendedly wicked thing I've ever seen. I guarantee that you'll walk out brain-damaged, repeating the immortal words, "And don't crowd me." I Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson
August 02, 2016
Savant's new reviews today are: The Criterion Collection Blu-ray ![]() 8/02/16
The Warner Archive Collection Blu-ray ![]() 8/02/16
and Shout Selects Blu-ray + DVD ![]() 8/02/16
Hello! To my UK readers, another announcement regarding Savant correspondent and reviewer Lee Broughton's cult film season at Screen Seven in Leeds: it continues this month with three likely titles, only one of which I've seen. Monte Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) screens on the 6th of August, Barney Platts-Mills' Bronco Bullfrog (1969) gets the nod on the 18th August and Wisit Sasanatieng's Tears of the Black Tiger (2000) arrives on 24 August. I can't doubt that the second two films qualify as cult, for I've never heard of them! Further information can be found at this 'Seven Leeds' link. ![]() And going a bit farther east, mein deutscher Freund Ulrich Bruckner of Explosive Media will be visiting Los Angeles soon. I met him way back fifteen years or so, when rounding up Sergio Leone experts. Now his disc company licenses plenty of westerns for German release, often with Region-Free encodings. I'm looking forward to reviewing his discs of Budd Boetticher's Comanche Station ("Einer Gibt Nicht Auf") and Robert Parrish's The Wonderful Country ("Heise Grenze"). Ulrich's organized website is very welcome; now I can tell exactly what titles he covers. It has its own Spaghetti western-related blog pages. And finally, Bob Furmanek just told me that the Kickstarter campaign to raise money for the restoration of the 1960 3-D movie September Storm has reached its initial $25,000 goal. An update is expected soon at the 3-D Film Archive Thanks for reading! --- Glenn Erickson
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