THE MOVIE

Why is a British TV movie from 1985 being released now? I'll give you a hint: Colin Firth gets second billing in the movie, but he gets first billing on the DVD case!

Yes, "Dutch Girls" is an attempt to cash in, however minutely, on the fame of Colin Firth, who appeared very early in his career in this "Porky's" rip-off. It was written by William Boyd and directed by Giles Foster, both of whom have several credits in the realm of British television, some of which are surely more distinguished than this one.

For you see, this sex comedy about a Scottish boys' school field hockey team traveling to Amsterdam for a tournament, and their attempts to find adventure in the big city, delivers neither sex nor comedy. It has enough profanity and vulgarity to warrant an R rating, yet no sex or even nudity. (Exception: One brief glimpse of a locker room shower ... where we see a na...Read the entire review

"I am Pippi Longstocking if you say it fast it's funny! Pippi, Pippi Longstocking how I love my happy name!" (from the Theme Song)

Annika: "I don't think Mommy would like this."

Tommy: "I don't think Dad would think much of it, either!"

This reviewer remembers the television spots for the various Pippi Longstocking movies that seemed to be in constant release throughout the 1970s: Pippi Longstocking (1973), Pippi in the South Seas (1974), Pippi Goes on Board (1975), and Pippi On the Run (1977). They were part of that outer rim of family entertainment and four-wall movie distribution particular to the decade, a period that included such (now mostly forgotten) films as In Search of Noah's Ark, The Adventures of the Wilderness Family, Hanger 18, and Godzilla on Monster Island.

The Pippi movies were actually re-edited epi...Read the entire review

The Movie:
Outrageous is a campy independent comedy/drama made way back in 1977, and focusing on a drag queen and his roommate—a woman who has just escaped from a mental hospital! Can it live up to more recent drag flicks, or does it show its age?

The Story:
The late, multi-talented drag performer Craig Russell (who can magnificently impersonate the likes of Carol Channing, Barbra Streisand, and Liza Minnelli, and does all his own singing!) plays Robin, a hairdresser by day who is struggling to make it big by night. Back into his life walks Liza (Hollis McLaren), who is actually in hiding—because she just escaped from a mental ward. It should be noted that this movie is based on the autobiographical writing of Margaret Gibson, a woman who lived with star Craig Russell while recovering from a schizophrenic breakdown. This helps make this film a good curiosity piece, con...Read the entire review

"My name is Drummond. Bulldog Drummond." Doesn't quite work, does it? And neither does Deadlier Than the Male (1967), a not-bad but generally flat ersatz spy film attempting to update H. Cyril McNeile's 1920s hero to the 007 age. To its credit, the picture captures the look of the early Bond films better than tacky American imitators like Our Man Flint and The Silencers. But where those films were flamboyant and jokey without really understanding the appeal of Bond, Deadlier Than the Male is staid when a little audaciousness would have helped, and infrequently over-the-top in the wrong ways.

The title refers to pair of bikini-clad female assassins, Irma (Elke Sommer) and Penelope (Sylva Koscina), who work for a mysterious, Blofeld-like megalomaniac who has the girls bump off anyone standing in his way. Enter Bulldog Drummond (Richard Johnson), British adventurer who, with...Read the entire review

The Movie:

The Company of Wolves is one of the oddest yet most interesting films in the werewolf genre. A blend of fairy tale with Howling-American Werewolf-style make-up achievements, it's really a chick flick, but if Anne Rice had picked this genre as her next subject.

In fact a woman did write The Company of Wolves. A British highbrow fantasist, the late Angela Carter wrote the source story and co-wrote the screenplay with director Neil Jordan. A proponent of what she called the Sadeian Woman, Carter is a cult figure among horror readers, especially after the release of this film in 1984, which finally enjoys DVD release via Hen's Tooth (if the IMDBPro is any guide, this is its first DVD release in region 1, and there has been no laser disc).

The Company of Wolves is probably something of a puzzle if ...Read the entire review