Since its inception in 2006, Severin Films, the film and DVD company that is responsible for releasing special editions of many well-known films such as Roman Polanski’s What?, Gwendolin with Tawny Kitaen, Patrice Leconte’s The Hairdresser’s Husband and The Perfume Of Yvonne, Richard Stanley’s Hardware, and Enzo Castellari’s Inglorious Bastards to name a few, now adds Lucio Fulci’s directorial swan song to its roster. Fulci, who passed away in 1996, made Door into Silence (Le Porte del Silenzio) in 1991 (not to be confused with Dario Argento’s Door into Darkness, a series of four, one-hour episodes for Italian television in 1973). It stars - of all people - John Savage of The Deer Hunter and Do the Right Thing as a man who buries his father and takes a strange trip through Louisiana behind a hearse in a modern day variation of Steven Spielberg’s Duel, minus the suspense.
I’ve never been a card-carrying member of the Fucli cognoscenti, although Zombi (1979) and The House by the Cemetery (1981) are personal Fulci favorites. And how can you go wrong with The New York Ripper (1982), about a killer who quacks like a duck before he strikes? Argento and Mario Bava are closer to my tastes as I find their films to be intensely cinematic, sporting vertiginous camerawork and labyrinthine plots. Fulci’s work can sometimes come across as television movie-of-the-weekish, and Door into Silence is no exception. Distributed by our friends at Filmirage, a company that was responsible for Fabrizio Laurentis’ La Casa 4 (1988) with (yikes!) David Hasselholf and Linda Blair, and Aristide Massaccesi’s Anthropophagus (1980) with reliable Tisa Farrow, Door into Silence seems culled from better material, among them Rod Serling’s “The Hitchhiker†episode of The Twilight Zone (which itself was adapted from Lucille Fletcher’s story of the same name), and from Ambrose Bierce’s short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,†which has provided the basis for innumerable supernatural stories.
Warner's Clint Eastwood DVD collection contains 34 films and Richard Schickel's new documentary The Eastwood Factor.
By Lee Pfeiffer
There have been precious few film critics with the reputation of Richard Schickel. If he seems an omnipresent aspect of virtually every classic film discussion, it's because he represents the Golden Age of movie criticism. Schickel's long and impressive career has made him a legend in his own right, but his talents extend beyond writing. He's also an award-winning filmmaker. Schickel has occasionally found inspiration in his long-time friendship with Clint Eastwood as the basis for documentaries. His TV special that chronicled the making of Unforgiven was the first in-depth look at how Eastwood approaches filmmaking. Now, Schickel has created a new documentary- The Eastwood Factor - that is available as part of Warner Brothers' new DVD collection dedicated to the iconic star and director. The set contains every film Eastwood has made for Warner Brothers and Schickel's documentary provides the perfect companion piece. The film takes Eastwood on a trip down memory lane, with visits to the Warner's studio lot where he made so many movies. To commemorate the release of the documentary, Warner Home Video arranged an exclusive interview with Richard Schickel.Â
CR: When you first saw the Sergio Leone trilogy in the
1960s, you weren’t very impressed with the films or Eastwood…
RS:Â When I first saw
those films, I didn’t care for them but I now care for them very greatly. Historically
they became incredibly important in the western film genre. I also just like
the movies: they’re smart, they’re
funny, they’re weird. They’re extraordinarily good movies, but I didn’t notice
that at the time because in those days I was a traditionalist.
CR: When did you first meet Clint Eastwood?
RS: In 1976, after the release of The Outlaw Josey Wales. The friendship just developed the way
friendships do. There was nothing magical about it. When I first saw Josey Wales, I thought it was a terrific
movie. I liked the theme of the movie:
the rescue and reconstruction of troubled and hard-pressed people. I had missed
the whole Dirty Harry factor
initially after Pauline Kael had said it was fascist. I think I was kind of misled by that. Instinctively, I liked the movie, but then I
thought “I shouldn’t like this
movie!†(Laughs). I revisited the
film not too long after that and found a lot of virtue in the character.
CR: Ironically, in recent years, you’ve become sort of a
Boswell to Eastwood’s Dr. Johnson.
RS: I don’t know about that. I just like the guy and he
likes me. We get along in a casual, male bonding sort of way. That isn’t to say I don’t admire many of his
films. Unlike most actors, he greatly expanded his range and work in films like
Tightrope and especially with Unforgiven. He also did movies that were
not very commercial like Bird and White Hunter, Black Heart. More
recently, he’s undertaken movies that most directors of his age wouldn’t think
about undertaking – even if they were able to. It’s a classic example of an
older man doing his best work. It’s
certainly unusual in the movie business. Most older directors fall into silence
or irrelevance. Eastwood doesn’t just
screw off. He chooses fairly difficult topics. He proceeds with them in a
rational way. He’s not subject to
“celebrity follies†of one sort or another.
CR: It’s interesting that, like John Ford, Eastwood has acquired somewhat of a stock
company he prefers to work with.
RS:Â Yes, Joel Cox has
been editing for him for twenty years. The same with the cameraman Jack
Green. Eastwood talks about that. He
says it’s much easier to work with someone you’ve known for many years. You
don’t even need to communicate verbally- you just point your finger or give a
nod and the guy knows what to do. When
you’re on one of Clint’s sets, you’re not aware of him doing any heavy duty
directing.  He’s there for the actors, if
they have a question or something like that. He believes that if you have the
right person in the part, you really don’t have to do very much.
In part two of Herb Shadrak's tribute to actor Richard Basehart, his Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea co-star David Hedison reflects on working with Basehart on the popular Irwin Allen TV series.
By Herb Shadrak
Veteran actor David Hedisonis best known for three roles: the
ill-fated scientist Andre Delambre who switches heads with The Fly (1958), CIA
agent Felix Leiter in two James Bond films – Live and Let Die (1973) and
Licence to Kill(1989) [in which he
loses his leg to a shark] – and Captain Lee Crane, who, along with Admiral
Harriman Nelson (Richard Basehart), commanded the high-tech submarine Seaview
on the hit TV series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964-1968), which the
Boston Globe’s TV critic said was “like
Star Trek with fish.†In this exclusive interview for Cinema Retro, Hedison
recalls his admiration for Basehart and the highlights of working with him on
the fondly remembered science-fiction action-adventure series.
Cinema Retro: Why did you want to work with
Richard Basehart?Â
David Hedison: I had admired his film work
for years. He was always so natural on camera and he had passion. You believed
in his very human characters.
CR: Which of his film performances
particularly impressed you?
DH: La Strada was heartbreaking. Moby Dick.
Fourteen Hours. Time Limit. Richard had fabulous range and was always worth
watching in anything he did.
CR: What transpired during your very first
encounter with Richard Basehart?Â
DH: I had asked him to invite me up to his
house. I wanted to meet him off the set, only the two of us and talk. I had
some ideas for the series. Richard graciously agreed. I went up there. We
talked. We hit it off, he had a lot of the same ideas I had and a similar
working style. Richard didn’t take to everyone, but he liked me; my enthusiasm,
I guess. I did want to work with him. He taught me so much during those four
years.
CR: Was Basehart aware of your admiration
for his work?
DH: Not at first, but we found we could
work together easily enough and then we did.
CR: What did you learn from Richard
Basehart in terms of acting technique?Â
DH: Richard had great concentration. At
first, noise, a wrong line, any background distraction would throw me off.
Nothing shook Richard. He was always camera-ready, knew his line reading.
I wanted to be able to do that and after a while, I got better at tuning out
the distractions. He made me work harder, like tennis with a much better
partner. Richard pushed me to be as good as he was and some days I almost was.