Sam
Peckinpah’s The Deadly Companions
starring Maureen O’Hara and Brian Keith has never been released in Germany in
any form other than being shown on television, so Retro ‘regular’ Mike Siegel,
one of the world’s foremost experts on the renegade director, was more than
pleased when his friend Ulrich Bruckner of Koch-media asked him to co-produce a
special edition DVD for the German/Austrian market. Koch-media also specialize
in rare and niche titles on DVD, with titles including The Sergio Sollima
Western box set, Blindman, and
special editions of certain Hammer films, to name but a few.
Siegel
had just completed and co-produced the very successful German 2-disc special
edition on Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs. Although
Bruckner has since left Koch-media, the label owned the rights to The Deadly Companions and Siegel agreed
to supply the bonus materials for this new release, for which a superb new
widescreen transfer was utilized. (The same print had been used for the
Japanese release DVD, which unfortunately, did not contain any bonus
materials).
Siegel
produced all the supplements, including a 28-minute featurette about Peckinpah’s
early days; Passion & Poetry: The
Early Sam, a 16-page booklet, and an extensive gallery featuring over 130
rare posters, lobby cards, stills and pressbooks. He also provided material for
the artwork and recorded an audio-commentary. However, the latter is in German
only, unlike the featurette, which has an English track.
This
new DVD marks the only really worthwhile DVD release of Peckinpah’s debut film
as a director, and fans will certainly want to add it to their collections. It
is currently available from Amazon.de and various online dealers.
Sony continues to release Hammer horror and suspense classics, much to the delight of fans. Here is the official press announcement for the latest release.
CULVER CITY, CALIF. (January 20, 2010) – On April 6th,
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) opens the doors to the Hammer
vault
with the release of six films making their DVD debuts in The Icons of Suspense
Collection
Presents Hammer Films. Hammer Films made their name with
monsters and vampires, but this third compilation from SPHE proves they
could
frighten the public without them. Topping the set is the uncut version
of the
futuristic classic These
AreThe
DamnedThe
Damned,
1963), directed by the legendary Joseph Loseygr. Peter Cushing and Andre
Morell
match wits in Cash
on
Demand (1961). Oscar®-winning cinematographer
Guy
Green directed The
Snorkel (1958), about a young girl who can’t convince
anyone her stepfather is a murderer. The renowned Val Guest directed the
startling psychodrama Stop
Me Before I Kill! (aka The
Full Treatment, 1960). Kerwin Matthews finds himself in the
middle
of a strange mother/daughter threesome in the Jimmy Sangster-written Maniac (1963).
Plus,
this ultimate rarity: Cyril Frankel’s astounding Never Take Candy from a
Stranger
(aka Never Take Sweets from a
Stranger, 1960),
a serious, and still horrifyingly timely, chiller about a small town
terrorized
by an elderly child molester. You won’t do better than this impeccable
collection from the darkest corners of the Hammer imagination, which
will be
available for $24.96 SRP.
DVD Special Features Include:
·Digitally Remastered Audio and
Video,Full Screen Presentation, original theatrical trailers
RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST FROM CINEMA RETRO'S ARCHIVES
Movie producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein have honored their late mother by establishing a new video company in her name. The Miriam Collection, released through the Genius Products video label, will issue vintage films on DVD in special collector's editons. It wouldn't be accurate to call each of the forthcoming releases a classic, but it would be safe to say that movie fans will be over the moon about the availability of some long-desired gems that had never been released on DVD previously. The most exciting news for Cinema Retro readers is the fact that the Weinsteins have the rights to the films of producer Samuel L. Bronstron and their initial release, the 1961 epic El Cid is first rate in every conceivable way. Bronston was a man who didn't know how to think small - his appetites were big and so was his love for the film industry. He shot epic movies on relatively economical budgets by establishing a studio in Spain. By doing so, he took advantage of the dictator Franco's desire to improve his nation's discredited image by luring heavyweight Hollywood producers to do business in Spain. Bronston found not only favorable financial and climate conditions there, but Franco also gave him a literal army of unpaid extras through use of, well, the Spanish army.
One of six commemorative mini-lobby cards included in the set
Bronston planned to finanace his next film with the profits from the previous one. The idea worked well initially. El Cid, which tells the story of Spain's greatest hero - Rodrigo de Bivar, who united disparate factions of his countrymen in a common goal to defeat an invasion of Islamic religious fanatics- was a box-office and critical triumph. However, Bronston, who was a poor businessman, found his luck had run out on future productions such as 55 Days at Peking, Circus World and The Fall of the Roman Empire. Each bombed at the boxoffice and left him in staggering debt. He ultimately lost the "empire" he had built.