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DVD SAVANT


Articles and Essays

On This Page:

[ General Essays ]
[ Essays on Individual Films ]
[ Formats & Technical ]   [ Restorations ]
[ Jump Cuts ]

Scroll Down! Dozens of Articles Here!



GENERAL ESSAYS


The HANGING Munchkin Articles
-- A fast link to all of Savant's THE WIZARD OF OZ articles.

Military Boomer Movie Confessions: an Autobiographical Tale
-- Savant relates his atypical upbringing as a U.S. Air Force dependent, growing up discovering movies in a theater system that showed everything, on military bases where I could walk to shows by myself at age seven. I hadn't seen anything written anything about the military movie system but I've already connected with some folk that grew up the way I did. The article contains humiliating photos, too.
2.15.14

Savant Q&A Interview with Greg Kintz of The 3-D Film Archive on Man in the Dark
-- Savant reviewed Twilight Time's 3-D of Man in the Dark but there were more questions to be answered about the film's production and the real state of 3-D at the beginning of the '50s craze. The experts at the 3D Film Archive put me in touch with Greg Kintz, their Technical Director. As could be expected, Greg makes with plenty of illuminating information, and also corrects a couple of oft-repeated false factoids about Columbia's first 3-D hit.
7.28.14

DVD Savant correspondent Darren Gross interviews Helen Samuels on Major Dundee
-- Teen actress Helen Samuels, the 'mystery ghost' in the deleted Massacre Prologue to the Sam Peckinpah movie, talks all about filming scenes that film historians believed were never shot. Darren Gross makes Peckinpah research history at DVD Savant.
4.20.13

Glenn Erickson Talks About Sci-Fi Savant -
Classic Sci-Fi Review Reader

-- Savant correspondent and colleague Stuart Galbraith IV interviews -- me -- about my book of essay reviews on the Sci-Fi Genre.
5.19.12

Steve Stoliar Talks About Raised Eyebrows -
My Years Inside Groucho's House

-- Savant correspondent and colleague Stuart Galbraith IV interviews Steve Stoliar, the author of an autobiographical account of the last years in the life of the most famous Marx Brother.
7.30.11

Steven Bingen Talks About MGM: Hollywood's Greatest Backlot
-- Savant correspondent and colleague Stuart Galbraith IV interviews Steve Bingen, the author of a new book examining the legendary acres of movie history that once stood in the middle of humble Culver City.
7.30.11

Metropolis: Notes on the 2010 restoration from Thomas Bakels
-- A Savant Special! Digital Film restorer Thomas Bakels discusses the development of the software tool that enabled the resurrection of the "reamed, thrashed, not-ready-for-the-public" recovered new scenes for Fritz Langs restored masterpiece.
5.15.10

DVD Savant interviews Joe Dante on Matinee
-- An interview with director Joe Dante, discussing the making of Matinee and the challenge of re-creating a 1950s BIg Bug movie, complete with a giant, voracious ant who answers to the name "Bill". Dante also addresses the new DVD's disappointing lack of extras.
5.15.10

Stuart Galbraith IV interviews Bill Warren
-- Background and context from the author of Keep Watching the Skies!.
1.08.10

Glenn Erickson interviews Steve Ryfle & Ed Godziszewski
-- The two authors answer questions about Sony's new Icons of Sci-Fi: Toho Collection disc set.
8/15/09

Celebrating Michael Powell
-- Savant's article provides a quick overview of the career of what may be England's most creative and artistic film director, on his own and with his Archers partner Emeric Pressburger.
1/24/09

Bond Blu-ray Trouble
-- A Guest Editorial by Stuart Galbraith IV ... about a nagging problem in Blu-ray discs that don't play in all machines, with the burden of making them function placed on the consumer.
10.25.08

Inside the Cinerama Dome
-- Savant gets a peek at the complicated technology of Cinerama, at a special original-format screening of How the West Was Won.
Reprinted from Film.Com. 9.27.08

When DVD Menus Attack!
-- Savant pans and praises the various graces and frustrations of the DVD interface ... Anti-piracy promos, anyone?
Reprinted from Film.Com. 9.09.08

Remakes of Remakes of Remakes
-- Keanu Barada Nikto? A new tale of Klaatu prompts a look at Hollywood's Sci-Fi remakes.
Reprinted from Film.Com. 8.26.08

Neck Deep in Discs, or, the Practical Pitfalls of DVD Collecting
-- Big collections are peachy keen, but what do we do with all those discs?
Reprinted from Film.Com. 8.23.08

Whatever Happened to Great Fight Scenes?
-- Savant surveys qualities that are disappearing from modern action pictures.
Reprinted from Film.Com. 8.12.08

Babylon in Hollywood
-- Shades of D.W. Griffith! The Walk of Fame is going to have a new landmark.
With Photos! 6/10/01

Sullivan's Corpse
-- Bill Blackwell finds a weird movie anomaly, this time in a classic comedy by Preston Sturges.  2/11/01

Random Notes of a Region 2 Neophyte
-- Author Stuart Galbraith IV gives us a rundown on the Tokyo DVD scene. 1/25/02.

2002 Wait and Want List
-- Savant indulges a DVD fantasy. 1/9/02.

Thoughts on AMERICAN BEAUTY
-- Savant's look at last year's big winner might explain Bush's continued popularity.  10/28/00

The Spaghetti Western Genre
-- Correspondent Lee Broughton's encyclopedic survey of the Italian Western ... a genre sorely lacking on DVD.  4/29/00

DVD Grumbles - The HOT DOG Theories
-- Why don't studios answer email? Why don't they release what we want to see? Introducing the annoying HOT DOG analogy.  1/14/00

Transfer Trouble: Formats and Video Fudging
-- Or, How Dare They Mess up the Transfer of My Favorite Film! CORRECTED  10/08/99

The Hollywood Children of Ray Harryhausen
-- A rundown on thirty years' worth of stop-motion animators.  9/21/99

Foreign Intervention and the American Western
Part One-- VERA CRUZ and THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN.  8/26/99
Part Two-- MAJOR DUNDEE, THE WILD BUNCH, and THE PROFESSIONALS.  8/26/99

WHERE ARE THE BIG TITLES?
-- Savant's thoughts on why the DVD's everyone wants, ain't to be found on them store shelves.  8/2/99

Bronson Caverns: The Hidden Hollywood Location
-- Film History's Most Recognizable spot? See THE SEARCHERS' distant location - 5 minutes from Hollywood and Vine.  7/15/99

GREASE and the curse of Product Placement
-- The story behind the dancing mattes.  5/30/99

COLOR Experiments
Part One-- An Overview of Selected Color in B&W movies.  5/30/99
Part Two-- SCHINDLER'S LIST: The gap between gimmick and cinematic excellence.  5/30/99

Blu-ray Satisfaction Survey
-- Reader Feedback on the new format.  3.17.09

The Underworld of Film Collecting
-- They're out there ... and their treasures are needed!  9/27/99

Those ASTRAL COLLISION Movies
-- It's the end of the world as we know it. Are you ready?  5/30/99; 11/06/99

Odd Title and Credit MANGLINGS
-- More esoteric Savant phenomena to look for in video!

The FLASHBACK Story
Part One-- from D. W. Griffith to Wayne's World.
Part Two-- These flashbacks are everywhere! You're next!

Film Blanc and WHAT DREAMS MAY COME
-- Angels and heavenly bus stations.

AUDIO on Video - Clearing up Noisy Misunderstandings.
--Digging through the world of DVD Dolby 5.1 Quadra Mag Perspecta Dimension 180 DDS and RSVP.

MOVIE SCRIPTS as Research Tools
-- What 150 pages of brass-bound text tell you, and what they don't.  4/7/98; 10/31/99

Subliminal Advertising - The Real Thing
-- Selling a Science Fiction flick with Mind Control.  3/10/98

Looking For JAMES BOND: Predecesors, Antecedents, and Inspirations
-- Observations on the genesis of the world's most popular screen hero.  4/20/98

Arianné Ulmer Cipes: "The Daughter of Director Ulmer".
-- A woman on a mission of preservation.  6/4/98; 3/9/99

Where Do All The Movie Prints Go? Can We Buy Them?
-- Once again Video Savant tells the truth, as only he can tell it.  10/15/97

Rights Issues And Unreleased Or Edited Videos
-- The hard facts why some films stay in Video Limbo.  2/25/98

JAMES BOND Movies, an Accurate Count.
-- Official versus unofficial Bonds.  3/10/98

Three Men and a GHOST
-- A Ghost in the Bassinet? The rumors fly on 3 MEN AND A BABY.  5/30/99



ESSAYS ON INDIVIDUAL FILMS
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1941 - A Giant Comedy, Only with Guns!
-- A production onceover, with some new, true tales of the making of a legendary lopsided Epic.  5/30/99

1941 - Reunion at the American Cinematheque
-- The cast and crew of the comedy epic spectacular gather for a special screening, March 22, 2015.  5/30/99

The Lizzie Borden Mystery Solved! ... on Video.
Correspondent Bob Gutowski finds the secret of an odd visual in the 1975 TV Movie.  : 8.05.08

The James Karen Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster Interview
Correspondent Bill Shaffer interviews the actor on his first film assignment, in Puerto Rico, 1964.  : 5/30/06

Women on the Verge of a Gothic Breakdown:
The Horrible Doctor Hichcock

-- Savant's original essay on a rare Euro Horror title.  4/6/97

The Bernard Herrmann Soundtrack for Torn Curtain
-- Robert Swarthe reports on a synch controversy.  5/20/01

The Ultimate INVADERS FROM MARS
-- The full story of a unique Dream Film.  12/14/99

Little Shop of Reshoots, I mean, HORRORS
-- Full rundown on the alternate ending of the recalled DVD.  11/20/99

Film Fear and THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
-- Scary movies and that strange feeling when movie fear grips you ...  11/01/99

BLUE VELVET Mysteries
-- Details of a Savant vault search, plus rare unpublished images from deleted scenes!  10/25/99

METROPOLIS and STAR WARS.
-- Sorting out the Pulp: Cousin Films Made Half a Century Apart.  7/26/99

PARALLAX VIEW: The Incredible Montage
-- A DVD Debut of a Stunning Piece of Cinema.  6/20/99

SOME LIKE IT HOT and Legendary vocal talent Paul Frees
-- Reader Bob Gutowski writes in with a Tony Curtis tale.  6/22/99

DUNE and David Lynch: Missing Videos and Mysterious Versions
-- Some info on a curious video no-show.  6/2/99; 7/30/00

DANGER: DIABOLIK - The Guiltiest Pleasure of Them All!
-- Savant's obsession with a classy comic book movie gets a web workout.  5/30/99

The Hidden Stanley Kubrick Feature: FEAR AND DESIRE
-- Some thoughts on self-suppression, and the rights of genius.  5/30/99

The Legendary APOCALYPSE NOW Rough Cut
-- Six hours of footage? You bet. And Savant's seen it.  5/30/99

The Things That Came Out of THINGS TO COME
-- A Longer Cut of a Timeless Classic.  7/4/99

Indiana Jones: The Connect-the-Dots Game
-- "I'm getting a familiar feeling about this!" : 6.14.08

West Side Histories
-- some interesting facts about one of the best musicals ever filmed.

Volcanoes and Lightning Bolts
-- A fun pattern puzzle in JOE VERSUS THE VOLCANO  3/17/00

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE - or: It's A Wonderful Recut?
-- Was everyone's favorite Christmas film an editorial save-job?  8/19/98

Censorship for a celebrated Horror Film: BLACK SUNDAY.
-- How LA MASCHERA DEL DEMONIO survived the censors (or didn't). 8/12/98

An Odd Note About the Restored PSYCHO shower scene.
-- Universal's new release clears up an old Savant mystery.  6/15/98

THE ANGRY RED PLANET: A Space Fantasy With a Pre- Psychedelic look.
-- Celebrating the Movie Miracle of CINEMAGIC!  7/16/98

THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS: A Tale of Two Versions
-- Mutilated, forgotten, rediscovered and restored - Ten Years before Home Video!  5/5/98; 12/08/99

Revisiting a Rare and Exotic Treat - THE MYSTERIANS!
-- Why are many of us video crazy? To recapture childhood wonders!  3/10/98

MAN OF THE WEST - A Western We Want To See
-- A favorite needs a push to become a letterboxed release.  8/27/98

Where's the Stars, Stanley? A 2001 beef.
-- Simple questions deserve simple answers.  1/20/98

QUATERMASS who?
British science fiction classics, for those ready to Xperiment.  8/27/98

The Strange Case of UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD
Part One. -- A colossal yet intimate epic: one movie or three? Or a miniseries?  8/12/98 REVISED 7/3/99
Part Two. -- dedicated artists, clone concepts, and another Savant mystery to ponder.  8/19/98

The Whereabouts of "The Big W" of IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD.
-- Don't kick the bucket, it's easy to find.  3/6/98

RASPUTIN and the Libel Lawyers
Or, what do a Princess in exile, the Bolshevik revolution, and a famous legal case have to do with the movies?  8/27/98

A Scene Missing From FORBIDDEN PLANET?
-- Why Savant never trusts mere movie memory.  3/10/98

Working With Cronenberg on CRIMES OF THE FUTURE
-- Guest Contributor Jon Lidolt offers a personal reminiscence.  12/03/05


FILM AND VIDEO FORMATS AND NONTECHNICAL TECHNICAL ARTICLES
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CINERAMA 2000
-- Revivals, restorations, and a startling documentary full of interesting facts on the 3-Screen Movie Miracle.  5/13/00

What is CINERAMA?
--Famous format makes a theatrical comeback!  10/31/97

DVD versus 16:9 -- Huh?
-- Letterboxed Widescreen movies better than laserdisc!  8/27/98

3-D : Hollywood's Most Misunderstood Miracle
--A lion in your lap! Ann Miller in your arms! Funny glasses on your face!  2/25/98

The Art of Invisible Matte Paintings. - How special effects improve on reality in RAIN MAN.  4/5/98

"65mm, 70mm, Whatever it Takes"
-- Clearing up a confusion about bigscreen formats.  3/10/98

Changeover Cues: Trivial Marks or Strange Phenomena?
-- What arethose little round marks that pop up in the upper right corner?  4/3/98


RESTORATIONS- PUT 'EM BACK, THE WAY THEY WAS
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To Hi-Def with Love: Restoring 007
-- Savant looks at Lowry Digital, the filmic reshapers of the James Bond library 11.15.08

Film Restoration and Preservation 2010
-- Author and filmmaker Richard W. Haines drafts an overview of the history of preserving motion pictures, from nitrate to digital. Savant Guest Article.
5.20.10

The Restoration of The Quatermass Xperiment
-- Savant visits a layback session for an HD version of the Val Guest Classic.  6/28/08

METROPOLIS and the Frame Rate Issue
-- Savant puts a lid on his 2002 frame rate tantrum over Fritz Lang's newly-restored classic, with help from correspondents Filip Jensen and Aitam Bar-Sagi. 5.04.10

Fritz Lang's Lost METROPOLIS Rediscovered
-- An amazing find from Argentina, home of the Tango, fugitive Nazis and lost masterpieces of cinema art. 7.21.08

The Restoration of KISS ME DEADLY
-- Savant recaps the correction of Robert Aldrich's Mike Hammer film, ten years later. 9.11.07

The COLOR of PETER PAN
-- Savant correspondent Benoît A. Racine looks at Disney color revisionism. 3.22.07

The 2003 Restoration of THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY
-- John Kirk does it again. 3/05/03.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE RESTORED (1998)
-- A full-detail recap of the restoration of the missing scenes to the DVD.  2/25/98; 8/8/99

RESTORING Versus REVISING Famous Movies.
-- Or: How not to mangle movie history.  2/25/98

Where Are All Those Hidden Director's Cuts?
-- Why not a 'Special Edition' for every film?  3/10/98

Restored YELLOW SUBMARINE DVD to contain missing HEY BULLDOG scene!
-- Savant reports first details of September release of Beatles milestone movie.  6/1/99

A Restored Ending for Louis Malle's VIVA MARIA!
-- John Kirk puts a fun French frolic back together.  3/9/98

A FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE - Another Leone Restoration.
-- DUCK YOU SUCKER can finally raise its head again.  5/3/98

Restoring Prime HAMMER HORROR - Nudes and Gore Galore!
-- Explicit carnage returns to THE VAMPIRE LOVERS.  6/30/98; 5/1/99

Another Restoration from MGM: MISSISSIPPI MERMAID.
-- 13 minutes go back into Francois Truffaut's tale of murder.  8/27/98

Find The Missing Musical Number - Is It Lost Forever?
-- The story behind an appeal to help locate a piece of HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING.  3/6/98

Ridley Scott Shows All And Tells All
-- DVD reveals alternate ending for THELMA & LOUISE.  8/27/98

Two films shot in two
Completely Different Versions:

BRIGADOON
SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS  2/25/98

Unmasking THE MASK OF FU MANCHU
-- A restoration offers a racist revelation.  3/6/98; 10/31/99

Twins Separated at Birth - THE BIG SLEEP
-- Announcing the release of a real 40's rarity.  2/25/98; 3/7/00


JUMP CUTS - ODD PHILM PHENOMENA
Return to Top of Page

Jump Cut 1 -
FORBIDDEN PLANET
-- The Jump Cut only 1 out of 10 viewers perceive.  3/6/98

Jump Cut 3 -
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
-- The British censorship story from research by Gavin Salkeld 7/23/06 & 3/10/98

Jump Cut 4 -
POLTERGEIST
-- It's them pesky poltergeists, they must've dunnit.


Jump Cut 5 -
A NIGHT TO REMEMBER
-- A telling detail clipped from this, THE Titanic movie.

Jump Cut 6 -
WHAT'S NEW, PUSSYCAT?
-- The sexy scene a million Playboy Readers didn't see.  9/12/99

Jump Cut 7 -
HANGMEN ALSO DIE!
-- Nobody seems aware of this crucial cut.  9/13/00



DVD Savant Text © Copyright 2007 Glenn Erickson

Go BACK to the Savant Main Page.
Reviews on the Savant main site have additional credits information and are more likely to be updated and annotated with reader input and graphics.

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