BY DOUG OSWALD

A rookie cop or soldier arrives at his first assignment and quickly finds they’re in the middle of some serious trouble. This basic plot has been used more times than any movie buff can count and crosses genres like westerns, war movies and cop thrillers. “Pony Soldier” is an odd western in that the action takes place in Canada and involves the Northwest Mounted Police.

It’s 1876 and Canadian Cree Indians cross the border into Montana to hunt buffalo, but are mistaken for Sioux by the U.S. Cavalry and a battle ensues. Known as long knives by the Cree because of their sabers, the Cavalry forces the Cree to retreat. The leader of the Cree kidnaps two white settlers in order to trade them for buffalo and safe passage to Canada.

Constable Duncan MacDonald, played by the ever-youthful Tyrone Power, is briefed on the problem and takes up the challenge to negotiate the freedom of the white captives. He is joined by his half-native scout and side-kick Natayo Smith, played by Thomas Gomez, in an effort to preserve the peace between the Cree, the settlers, the Mounties and the U.S. Cavalry.

MacDonald plays the diplomat cop very well and gains a reluctant friendship with the Cree chief Standing Bear, played by Stuart Randall, while clashing with the Cree soldier Konah (Cameron Mitchell), who seeks a confrontation with the U.S. Cavalry across the border in Montana.

When a mirage appears across the valley showing the ocean and a large ship, MacDonald convinces the Cree of the futility of their efforts and they reluctantly decide to consider his offer to free the white captives. It turns out one of the captives is an outlaw, Jess Calhoun (Robert Horton), who is wanted for murder by the Mounties. The woman captive is pretty Emerald Neeley (Penny Edwards), who has been chosen by Konah to be his bride.

The Northwest Mounted Police seek to maintain the peace by returning their wards, the Cree, back to their home in Canada. Power’s MacDonald is the perfect mix of level-headed constable and diplomat. He even manages to befriend a Cree orphan who wants to be his adopted son. While ever the diplomat, MacDonald is no pushover and asserts himself with the Cree and in a final confrontation with the outlaw Jess.

“Pony Soldier” looks like a typical western of the era with a Cavalry battle, horse riding stunts, shootouts and lush vistas while also presenting the native characters as more than caricatures. Many, if not all, of the native supporting cast appear to be Native Americans with Anthony Numkena, a Hopi Indian, a standout as MacDonald’s adopted son, Comes Running.

The movie is based on a Saturday Evening Post story by Garnett Weston and was directed by Joseph M. Newman. Newman helmed the sci-fi classic “This Island Earth,” the noir cult film “Dangerous Crossing,”  Tarzan, the Ape Man” and several episodes of “The Twilight Zone” and “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.”

While this movie isn’t shot in the gritty adult western style made popular by John Ford, Anthony Mann, George Stevens, John Sturges and Fred Zinnemann in the 1950s; it still manages to be entertaining as a sort of transition between the standard western formula of old Hollywood and the modern westerns being made by independent directors.

According to IMDb, this movie is the film debut of Earl Holliman and features an uncredited performance by Richard Boone. It also features narration at the end of the movie by an uncredited Michael Rennie. The movie ends with MacDonald completing his assignment followed by a contemporary tribute of the Royale Canadian Mounted Police with Rennie extolling the virtues of their continuing mission as peacekeepers.

The movie looks terrific and was filmed in Technicolor on location in the Coconino National Forrest near Sedona, Arizona, and in California’s Red Rock Canyon. The 20th Century Fox production was released in December 1952 on the eve of CinemaScope and it’s a shame this movie was not able to make use of the wide screen process.

The Twilight Time Blu-ray release, which  looks and sounds wonderful, is limited to 3,000 copies and can by ordered via Screen Archives. The score by Alex North is offered as an isolated track on the disc and is the only extra. The release also includes the usual booklet of images spread throughout an informative and entertaining essay by Julie Kirgo. Fans of Tyrone Power and “north” westerns will want to give this movie a view and possibly add a copy to their collection.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

The Warner Archive has released the 1962 political thriller "Guns of Darkness" starring David Niven and Leslie Caron. It's a modestly-budgeted affair, filmed in black and white. The film is set in a fictional South American "banana republic" where local dignitaries are being hosted at a cocktail party at the presidential palace. Among the guests are Tom and Claire Jordan (Niven and Caron), a married couple. Tom is employed as the manager of a major sugar plantation owned and run by Hugo Bryant (James Robertson Justice). The drunken Tom enjoys taunting Bryant and publicly embarrassing him with snide criticisms about his sniveling attempts to appease whoever is in power politically so that his plantation can continue to operate without any impediments. Returning home after the party, it becomes clear that the Jordan's marriage is on the rocks. Claire protests Tom's reckless ways and says his drinking and insolent behavior towards others has resulted in his inability to keep a job very long. Another source of stress on the couple is Claire's inability to conceive the child they both so desperately want. When a military coup deposes the democratic, reform-minded President Rivera (David Opatashu), the Jordan's barely register any interest. As long as Bryant keeps paying off local officials, the plantation doesn't seem to be in jeopardy. However, Rivera, who has been severely wounded in making his escape, is the subject of a nation wide manhunt- and he ends up seeking refuge in Tom Jordan's car. Although apolitical by nature, Jordan feels compelled by humanitarian reasons to assist Rivera. He initially hides him at the Jordan's hacienda but when the manhunt gets too close, Jordan makes the bold decision to attempt to smuggle Rivera over the border. This requires he and Claire to drive over arduous and very dangerous jungle roads. Along the way they confront death at every turn, from natural obstacles to roving bands of police and bounty hunters all intent on murdering Rivera. The new regime has a complex plot to denounce the former President...and the last thing they need is for him to make it to freedom and give the real story to the international press. 

"Guns of Darkness" is ably directed by Anthony Asquith and the script, based on the novel "An Act of Mercy", is literate and intelligent. The film is consistently engrossing largely because Niven excels at playing an every day man who is unexpectedly thrust into death-defying situations. He's scared and often inept but finds his inner courage. In doing so, he gradually earns the respect of Claire. In the film's most chilling sequence, their car becomes trapped in a quicksand bog. Asquith's direction here is terrific, as the extended sequence milks every ounce of suspense imaginable from this scenario. The chemistry between Niven and Caron is excellent but it's Niven's show. He's in top form throughout. David Opatashu is also fine as the victimized president who Tom begins to think may not be the noble crusader that he has risked his life to save.The film represents the kind of movie they don't make any more. It wasn't designed to be a blockbuster, just good, compelling entertainment. In that regard, it succeeds on all levels. 

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After Warner Home Entertainment released all 120 episodes of the classic "Batman" TV series, fans began complaining that a couple of episodes were incomplete. Warner Home Entertainment acknowledges that less than five minutes of footage is missing from a set that presents over 50 hours of episodes and bonus materials. The company has promised to replace the affected discs in January, as well as provide additional bonus materials. For the full story and a link to the form for obtaining replacement discs, click here.  

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton, in an interview with CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria, said that "the president, the press and the public are mistaken" in their belief that Sony had bowed to the demands of cyber hackers by pulling "The Interview" from distribution before the film even premiered. Lynton said "We have not given in. And we have not backed down" in its efforts to find a way to get the film released. However, Lynton placed the blame squarely on theater exhibitors, saying the company could not find a major chain that would agree to show the film. He said that thus far, efforts to find partners who would stream the film or offer it as an on demand title have also not yielded any success. He vowed the company is actively looking for ways to get the movie shown. Some pundits and critics were skeptical of Lynton's statements and suggested that the company should find a way to offer it for free to the public, especially since the company has conceded it has accepted it will take a complete loss on the film, estimated to be in the range of $80 million- $100 million.  On MSNBC, guest host Ari Melber suggested an intriguing idea on the "All In" news program. Melber said that, as this obviously will not be the last time cyber hackers will try to use threats of violence to censor films, the U.S. government should consider opening a bureau specifically designed to ensure that any such project is made available to the public. Meanwhile, Michael Lynton's comments will doubtlessly be put to the test as, inevitably, a distribution source will be found for the film. For example, it is highly likely that at least some independent movie theaters would be willing to show the film simply on the basis of freedom of expression.  So far, Paramount's decision to refuse to rent prints of the 2004 comedy "Team America" have generated little publicity. The studio withdrew the film from theatrical distribution when some theaters announced they would show it as a protest to North Korea, since the plot centers on a take down of the previous dictator of that country. So far, no word on whether theaters are moving to  a Plan C, as some have suggested on line: that is, to screen the 2002 James Bond flick "Die Another Day", which also presents the North Koreans as villains. To view Lynton's interview, click here. 

BY ROD BARNETT

I was completely gob-smacked by this one, folks. From the title and description of this 1980 release, I was expecting a smarmy slasher film that used the holiday season for a cheap backdrop and even cheaper jokes. What I got instead was a very well-made character study reminiscent of Polanski's Repulsion. Although not as good as that classic, it stands proudly beside it as a fascinating picture of a slow descent into madness and murder. If anything, Harry Standling is a more sympathetic main character as we are shown in a brief prologue the genesis of both his fixation on Christmas and the reason for his awkwardness with people. At an impressionable age the young Harry crept downstairs on Christmas Eve to see Santa sexually gratifying his mother. That this Santa was actually his father didn't register and the traumatized boy never really got over the sight of Jolly Old Saint Nick pleasuring Mom. But let me tell you the story.....

Harry Standling (Brandon Maggart) is an introverted middle-aged man whose hobby is all things Christmas. Perfectly in sync with his obsessive regard for the season, he has worked in a toy factory for most of his adult life. Harry's years of experience have finally landed him a management job in the company and he seems to have thought that his new position would allow him to make better toys for kids. With the Christmas season approaching, he finds the hostile anti-holiday attitudes of his co-workers and the disappointment of no longer working directly with the toys getting to him. But what starts off looking like a bout of holiday depression begins to turn nasty.

Clearly sad and disappointed by the adults around him, he begins to focus on the joys Christmas brings to kids. For years Harry has kept detailed written accounts of the actions of the children that live in his neighborhood and bound books listing "bad" and "good" kids line his shelves. As he starts spending more time going through them, adding black & white marks, he becomes more unstable.

In his home workshop he fashions a Santa costume, paints an elaborate mural of Santa's sleigh on the sides of his van and begins to make plans. Learning from a snide PR man of his company's halfhearted stab at charity by donating toys to the local children's hospital, Harry is livid. Dressing as Santa he sneaks into the factory at night, stealing a van load of toys, and on Christmas Eve delivers them to the surprised and happy hospital staff. Elated by this near perfect moment of holiday cheer he tracks the company PR man to a church where he's attending a Christmas service. After waiting outside, a silent Santa, Harry is taunted by some of the churchgoers and stabs two of them to death with a toy solider! Driving away he next goes to the house of a co-worker who has insulted and belittled him repeatedly. After a failed attempt to go down the chimney he finds an open basement window, creeps in and kills the man right in front of his wife. Disturbingly, the dead man's awakened kids wave happily to the departing Santa just as their mother's screams ring out.

On Christmas Day the cops are running around hunting a killer Santa, even going so far as to put a bunch of them in a line up for witnesses from the church. But an APB on St. Nick on December the 25th isn't exactly the best move and does not net them their guy. Harry has spent the night in his van outside the toy factory and awakens to the realization of his plight. Afraid to go home he breaks into the place and, as if in a fantasy about really being Santa Claus, turns on all the toy making equipment. As news reports stoke the fears of the public Harry's younger brother Philip (Jeffery DeMunn) begins to think his brother is involved. He becomes convinced that his unbalanced sibling is the killer after a rambling phone call from him that afternoon. When night falls on Christmas, Harry ventures out again but ends up being chased through the streets by an actual torch-bearing mob until he escapes to his brother's home. An enraged Philip demands answers, resulting in a family fight that brings the tragic tale to a close.

In a film with many things to praise the first should be the performance of Brandon Maggart. He does a truly brilliant job of getting inside Harry's head, showing us the broken way his mind functions. The moment I knew he was simply not going to make a wrong step was in a sequence midway through his Christmas Eve rounds. He has stopped outside a community house and is watching a neighborhood party through a window. Spotted in his Santa outfit, he's pulled inside and asked to join in the celebration with children and adults alike. It's a beautiful scene that shows what his life could have been like as he happily dances with everyone and enjoys a few drinks. Maggart is note perfect here — he even elicits a chill as he says goodbye to the kids with a stern warning about being good.

Another thing to single out is the exceptionally fine cinematography of the film. For a movie made on such a small budget Christmas Evil looks incredible. From one of the three (!) commentary tracks included in this release I learned that director Lewis Jackson spent a lot his budget to get Ricardo Aronovich as his Director of Photography; his skill certainly makes the film a joy to look at. There are more than a dozen shots here that rival the best Christmas images I've seen captured in the movies, with some of them being heartbreakingly well composed. Jackson points out in brief liner notes that his prime visual inspiration was the Christmas paintings of Thomas Nast and it really shows. That a film of this type can be so beautiful puts to shame the sad Christmas movies pumped out every year by Hollywood.

As much as I liked the movie I have to admit it's not perfect. The last third of the film isn't as sure footed as the beginning It's as if the focus has been lost as Harry parades around the toy factory and it comes dangerously close to derailing as he’s being pursued by the mob of angry parents. But by the time the brothers have fought and credits roll over the haunting final image I found it easy to forgive these small hiccups. Of course, a movie about a murderous Santa Claus isn't going to be an easy sell for 90% of the public but I think plenty of folks would love this were it given a chance.

BY FRED BLOSSER

John Irvin’s 1980 movie version of Frederick Forsyth’s “The Dogs of War” approaches its subject with much the same blunt detachment and minute attention to detail that characterized Forsyth’s bestselling 1974 novel. It’s generally low-key tone and characters seem a far cry from today’s over-the-top action films in which mercenaries and paramilitary agents are usually depicted as aging musclemen (“The Expendables”), manic cokeheads (“Sabotage”), and comic-book caricatures (“G.I. Joe”).

Freelance soldier Jamie Shannon (Christopher Walken) returns home after a failed mission in Central America. He doesn’t have much of a life off the job. Divorced, he lives in a dumpy apartment in Washington Heights, keeping one gun in the refrigerator and another in a desk drawer. His only friend is a kid whom he pays to carry his groceries home; he doesn’t even know the kid’s name. When a mysterious businessman pays Shannon to scout out the military defenses of the insane dictator General Kimba in the impoverished African nation of Zangaro, Shannon takes the assignment and flies to Zangaro, posing as a nature photographer. His cover blown, he is arrested, imprisoned, beaten, and eventually thrown out of the country. Back in New York, Shannon’s reconnaissance having identified holes in Kimba’s defenses, the businessman resurfaces and offers Shannon the job of leading a mercenary coup against Kimba. Shannon recruits three friends from his old team, Drew (Tom Berenger), Derek (Paul Freeman), and Michel (Jean Francois Stevenin), puts together a deal for arms and equipment, and heads back to Zangaro to meet up with and lead a rebel army assembled by Kimba’s corrupt rival, Col. Bobi.

Much of Forsyth’s novel described, step by step, the ways and means of financing, organizing, and executing a military coup. It’s gripping stuff on the printed page, but not very cinematic. The film covers the same ground in about a half hour of running time. Filling out the story for the screen, the script gives Shannon (in the novel, he’s an Irish-born Englishman named “Cat” Shannon) more of a backstory and adds a couple of new female characters. In the novel, Shannon’s recon in Zangaro is uneventful. By putting him through the wringer, the movie punches up the action and gives Shannon a personal reason for agreeing to depose Kimba. Arguably, it also provides a stronger rationale for Shannon’s decision, in both the novel and the movie, to derail his employer’s plan to install the crooked Col. Bobi and instead put Bobi’s honest rival, Dr. Okoye (Winston Ntshona), in the Presidential palace.

The Twilight Time Blu-ray features a handsome transfer of the U.S. theatrical feature as well as the international version, which runs 15 minutes longer but doesn’t add anything of vital substance. There is a handsome souvenir booklet by Julie Kirgo, and the art on the keep case reproduces the U.S. poster art featuring Walken and his unbilled co-star, the impressive XM-18E1R grenade launcher used by Shannon in the climactic attack on Kimba’s compound. The Twilight Time Blu-ray, which is limited to 3,000 copies, is available HERE. 

By Howard Hughes

(The following review is of the UK DVD release of the film, on Region 2 format)

‘Just for You’ is a time capsule of the British pop music scene in the early 1960s. It was made and released in the UK in 1964 and the official press release from Network describes the DVD as follows: ‘This ultra-rare musical film of 1966 tells the story of a rock ‘n’ roll hopeful searching for his big break […] Following the young singer as he goes from studio to studio with his girlfriend and attempts to convince radio and TV executives to play his song, ‘Just for You’ becomes a showcase for a host of sixties musical talent’. This is actually the plot of the 1966 American edition of the film, under the title ‘Discotheque Holiday’ (sometimes listed as ‘Disk-O-Tek Holiday’). What Network has released is the original UK release of the film, ‘Just for You’, named after the Freddie and the Dreamers’ song. The UK version was directed by Douglas Hickox and doesn’t include the added US scenes directed by Vince Scarza (with the budding singer played by Casey Paxton).

In the original UK version, we get layabout impresario Sam Costa (played by comedian, disk jockey and singer Sam Costa) lying in bed, his every whim tended by his fully-automated computerised home help, while he entertains himself (and us) by running clips of various pop acts on a projector in his private screening room. Yes, it’s that simple.

The links of Costa smoking a cigar, wisecracking and at one point attempting to eat an animated haggis, are diverting, but are really just that: links. The main point of the film is wonderfully vivid Eastman Colour footage of a mixed bag of guitar bands, individual singers, vocal groups and novelty pop acts performing their songs on a selection of interior and exterior standing sets at Shepperton Studios.

The full set list is:

Faye Craig: ‘Bongo Baby’

The Applejacks: ‘Tell Me When’

Al Saxon: ‘Mine All Mine’

A Band of Angels: ‘Hide ‘n’ Seek’

The Orchids: ‘Mr Scrooge’

The Bachelors: ‘The Fox’

Doug Sheldon: ‘Night Time’

Caroline Lee, Roy Sone and Judy Jason: ‘Teenage Valentino’

Peter and Gordon: ‘Leave Me Alone’

Freddie and the Dreamers: ‘You Were Made for Me’

Millie Small: ‘Sugar Dandy’

Jackie and the Raindrops: ‘Loco-motion’

Mark Wynter: ‘I Wish you Everything’

Johnny B. Great: ‘If I had a Hammer’

Peter and Gordon: ‘Soft as the Dawn’

Faye Craig: ‘Voodoo’

The Warriors: ‘Don’t Make Me Blue’

Louise Cordet: ‘It’s So Hard to be Good’

The Merseybeats: ‘Milk’

The Bachelors: ‘Low the Valley’

Freddie and the Dreamers: ‘Just for You’

What’s most apparent in this film and these performances is that the influence of The Beatles and the jangly Merseybeat sound is everywhere, even in the female singers – from lyrical content and acoustics, to clothing choices and hairstyles. Several of the acts here sport matching black or grey suits. Beatles moptop haircuts are everywhere. Peter and Gordon’s ‘Soft as the Dawn’ closely resembles The Fab Four’s ‘And I Love Her’. The Applejacks and the Merseybeats songs are patterned on Beatles melodies and harmonies. ‘The Orchids’ are a Fab Three, a trio of girls whose snowy rendition of ‘Mr Scrooge’ looks like an outtake from ‘Help!’, with the girls’ black attire and red and white striped scarves, and has a Phil Spector-ish sound. ‘A Band of Angels’ rasping ‘Hide ‘n’ Seek’ has the lads decked out in silver suits and straw boaters, but their sound is defined by sandpaper vocals and jagged rhythms – it’s one of the best songs in the film. ‘Dollybirds’ stare vacantly off into the distance throughout their performance; dressed in leather gear from ‘Continental Fashions’, they look to have wandered in from Antonioni’s ‘Blowup’. During two numbers – one involving a snooker table (the rollicking skiffle shuffle of ‘The Fox’) and another wearing matching grey suits (the ballad ‘Low the Valley’) – the Bachelors demonstrate why they remained single. Doug Sheldon’s low-key ‘Night Time’ has the singer strolling beside a shadowy studio mock-up of the River Thames, while Mark Wynter’s purposeful ballad ‘I Wish you Everything’ is a bit Roy Orbison.

Much livelier are the girls. Caroline Lee and Judy Jason don red Scottish tartan capes and caps to enact ‘Teenage Valentino’, their tale of disinterest in a self-obsessed bloke. Roy Sone is the handsome, narcissistic object of his own desires. The insightful lyrics – ‘Big man, lover boy, teenage Valentino’ – are attributed to Nolly Clapton and Mercy Hump. Quirky Louise Cordet (wearing a Shimmyshake Dress by Alice Edwards) is the party-loving girl trying to behave, but finding ‘It’s so Hard to be Good’ and shrill-voiced Millie’s ‘Sugar Dandy’ is brassy, poppy and ear-splitting. Faye Craig dances exotically to ‘Bongo Baby’ and ‘Voodoo’ (by Johnny Arthey, one of the best pieces of music in the movie, with bongos and guitar). The lovely Jackie and her cardiganed Raindrops perform Goffin-King’s ‘Loco-motion’ among the commuters on a studio-bound train platform.

Lively is also the operative word with Freddie and the Dreamers, probably the biggest act on show. Frontman Freddie Garrity prances around the set and his band join in the synchronised dancing for their most famous hit, the catchy ‘You Were Made for Me’. There’s an Elizabethan theme for ‘Just for You’, with Freddie appropriately dressed as the court jester. Other male artists include Al Saxon, who plays his revolving piano in a party café decked with streamers for the gutsy sax-stacked groove ‘Mine All Mine’. Fellow piano-thumper Johnny B. Great’s snappy cover of Pete Seeger’s ‘If I Had a Hammer’ gets his audience dancing.

The Network DVD has excellent picture quality and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1 (that’s black bars at the sides of the picture for 16:9 screens). The original trailer and an image gallery are included as extras, plus a pdf of promotional material. If you can track down the American edit, ‘Discotheque Holiday’, you’ll find it features additional performances for US fans, including The Chiffons, Rockin’ Ramrods and The Vagrants. ‘Just for You’ is a pop nostalgia-fest showcasing the great, the good, the overlooked and the somewhat forgotten of 1964. The rare clips will be lapped up by anyone with an interest in the music and style of the era. It’s fab and gear.

DVD format: Region 2

Rated: PG

RRP: £9.99

Screen ratio: 1.66:1

61 mins Eastman Colour

Text © Howard Hughes/Cinema Retro 2014

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In time for the holidays, Warner Brothers Home Entertainment has released a 75th anniversary commemorative Blu-ray boxed set for "Gone With the Wind". This collector's edition includes the extensive previously released bonus extras as well as some exciting new features. See official press release below:

WBHE honors one of the most celebrated motion pictures of all time with the Gone with the Wind 75^th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition on Blu-ray™ and Digital HD with UltraViolet. This “must have” for classic film collectors will be fittingly presented in limited and numbered sets, with new collectible packaging, new enhanced content and new collectible memorabilia. The memorabilia includes a replica of Rhett Butler’s handkerchief and a music box paperweight playing Tara’s theme with an image on top of the Rhett-Scarlett kiss. Also included is a 36-page companion booklet featuring a look at the immortal style of Gone with the Wind, written by New York fashion designer and Project Runway fan favorite, Austin Scarlett. The new special features include footage of Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh attending the original movie premiere in Atlanta and Old South/New South, a journey through today's South, revisiting the real-life locations depicted to see how the world of the Old South continues to inform life in the New South’s cosmopolitan world.

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By Lee Pfeiffer

Bill Cosby has been in the news a lot lately, though undoubtedly not in a way he would prefer. Lost in the on-going debate about his career as a legendary comedian and sitcom star and how this affects allegations of sexual assaults, is the fact that Cos at one time showed considerable skill in rare dramatic roles. One such case was a now relatively obscure 1972 detective flick he starred in for United Artists. Largely forgotten by the general public due to very limited exposure since its release, Hickey & Boggs has been released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber. (It was initially released a few years ago on DVD by MGM's burn-to-order division.)  The film's primary merit is that it reunited I Spy co-stars Bill Cosby and Robert Culp (though by this time, Cosby's fame had eclipsed Culp's, thus resulting in his receiving top billing). In their classic TV show, Culp and Cosby played a tennis pro and his trainer who were actually secret agents. The glitz of the tennis world allowed them to live Bondian lifestyles while they thwarted bad guys. Intriguingly, Hickey & Boggs goes in a very different direction. Resisting the temptation to revive their wise-cracking I Spy personalities, Culp and Cos are seen as down-and-out private investigators in Los Angeles. Both are divorced but pine away for their ex's; they can't pay the office phone bill and they ride around in cars that look like they barely survived a demolition derby. As the TV spots for the film said at the time, "They have to reach up to touch bottom." On the brink of financial disaster, the men finally get a case: they are hired by a mysterious man to find an equally mysterious woman he wants to locate. The money is good, but the seemingly mundane case soon turns deadly with Hickey and Boggs dodging mob hit men, black radicals and unfriendly police brass.

BY  LEE PFEIFFER

Twilight Time has released the delightful 1962 hit comedy "Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation" as a limited edition (3,000 units) Blu-ray release. The film is the very definition of old Hollywood star power, with James Stewart and Maureen O'Hara top-lining a cast that includes some first-rate character actors. Stewart plays Roger Hobbs, a burned out banking executive who is introduced to as he makes the daily grind of a commute amid traffic-choked, smog-filled roads. He narrates the story as a flashback, relating how he had planned a romantic getaway for he and his wife Peggy (Maureen O'Hara). She put the kabosh on his plans to tour London and Paris in favor of bringing their kids on a family vacation at a California beach house an acquaintance has offered them for free. Roger is less than enthusiastic about the idea. It will mean bringing along their insecure teenage daughter Katey (Lauri Peters) and her younger brother Danny (Michael Burns), a kid who rarely leaves the confines of his bedroom where he is obsessed with watching TV Westerns. (This was 1962, after all, when seemingly every other TV program was a Western!) Also invited are the Hobbs' grown daughters Susan (Natalie Trundy) and Janie (Lili Gentle), both of whom have more issues than Time magazine. Susan's and her husband Stan (Josh Peine) are parents to small children and are clearly embittered in their relationship due to the fact that Stan has been secretly unemployed for an extended period of time. Janie and her husband Byron (John Saxon, playing against type in a very amusing performance) have a young son and Roger can't stand being around them for any extended period of time. Byron is a pompous intellectual with a superiority complex and the couple's son, for whatever reason, hates grandpa Roger. All of these problems are just the undercurrent for what is shaping up to be a disastrous vacation from minute one. The lovely beach house Peggy has envisioned turns out to look like the set from "House on Haunted Hill", a once-stately home that has fallen into complete disrepair. Roger's first challenge is to get a complex water pumping system working, which leads to an amusing running gag about man vs. machine. 

Roger, who is clearly not the typical dad found in sitcoms of the era, tries mightily to control his anger as his self-centered family members burden each other with their problems and emotional conflicts. It's a joy watching Stewart engage in his "slow burn" routine, barely able to restrain himself from exploding. Adding to the pressure is the arrival of an eccentric couple (the marvelous character actors John McGiver and Marie Wilson), who may be prospective employers for Stan- if they enjoy their stay at the beach home. This is the most amusing part of the movie as Roger finds himself valiantly trying to entertain this boring, prudish couple who on the surface seem to have no vices but who are secretly hiding a lifestyle of heavy drinking and sexual frustration. The sequence in which Stewart and McGiver go bird-watching is full of genuine belly laughs. 

As film historian Julie Kirgo writes in the very perceptive liner notes in the accompanying booklet, "Mr. Hobbs Takes a  Vacation" is much deeper than the standard family comedy you might assume it to be. It reflects the changing attitudes of 1960s society and hints at the blossoming rebellion of young people in regard to parental authority. It also takes a much franker look at discussions and representations of sex. Roger and Peggy are aghast when Janie shamelessly announces she intends to start in on the process of having another baby immediately. Roger must contend with a busty, air-headed seductress (Valerie Varda) who cozies up to him every day on the beach in an overt attempt to lure him into bed. Finally, there is the only solace Roger can find at the end of a long, frustrating day: cozying under the sheets with Peggy. During this time sitcom married couples may still have been sleeping in separate beds, but big screen couples had matured to a more natural setting. The film makes quite clear that the Hobbs still enjoy an active love life (how could Roger ever resist a wife who looks like Maureen O'Hara?)  Kirgo also points out that this was one of the first films to depict the gradual disintegration of the American family unit. Everyone seems to want to be in their own space doing their own thing- and this was decades before cell phone and video games. In an extended and highly prescient sequence, Roger attempts to gather the entire clan in the living room for a simple toast. However, he is interrupted by numerous mini-crisis that ultimately leave him entirely alone with a full glass in his hand. 

Under the expert direction of Henry Koster, who also directed Stewart in his signature starring role in "Harvey", the pace is brisk and the script by noted scribe Nunnally Johnson provides plenty of funny quips that flow naturally and believably from the characters. The movie mixes laughter with some emotionally touching sequences. Roger takes his estranged son Danny on a simple boating trip only to experience the terror of being caught in a heavy fog and drifting far from shore. Stewart is excellent in this sequence. Roger is  clearly frightened to death but manages to retain his calm in order to convince his son that he has the situation under control. The experience finally bonds both father and son. Roger also tries to help 14 year-old Katey cope with the insecurity of feeling unattractive because she wears braces. He brings her to a local dance for teens only to find her sitting as a wallflower. He bribes a young man (then teen idol Fabian) to show some interest in her, and the boy movingly returns the money to Hobbs because he genuinely likes her. (In the film's worst scene, Fabian croons a sugary love song to his new flame, which was  due to an obvious contractual clause designed to sell some records.) Gradually, the frustrations of Roger's vacation week begin to resolve themselves and there is the expected happy ending. However, the film has a certain bite that was lacking in most family comedy features until that time. Roger Hobbs clearly loves and cares about his family but he's also not ashamed to be a bit self-indulgent in his desire to put his needs first occasionally. 

The Twilight Time release boasts an excellent transfer, an isolated music track for Henry Mancini's score, the original theatrical trailer, an illustrated collector's booklet and a brief Fox Movietone News segment that goes behind the scenes on the set.  

Highly recommended.  

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BY JOHN M. WHALEN  

One of the hallmarks of Don Siegel’s “Dirty Harry” (1971) was the way the director shot the film on location in San Francisco. From the rooftops of Nob Hill to the streets and alleys of the Tenderloin, Siegel made the location as much a part of the story as Harry and the maniacal killer he pursues. But this skillful use of location was nothing new for Siegel. He had long since mastered that technique back in the late fifties in films like “The Lineup,” filmed in San Francisco in 1958, and “Edge of Eternity,” shot in Arizona near the Grand Canyon a year later.

In “The Lineup” Siegel and screenwriter Stirling Silliphant concocted a brilliant tale with off-beat characters and off-the-wall dialog, and gave movie goers a breathtaking tour of San Francisco, most of which, sadly, is no longer there. In “Edge of Eternity,” he had a less compelling script to work with, but the Technicolor and Cinemascope photography of the Grand Canyon and Lake Mead by Burnett Guffey more than compensates.

The opening shots of “Edge of Eternity” show a car stopping near the edge of the canyon. A man in a suit gets out of the car. Another man dressed in work clothes appears and tries to throw him over the edge. A fight ensues, the car falls into the canyon and in the movie’s first surprise, it’s the second man, the would-be murderer, who goes over after it.

Cut to Deputy Sheriff Les Martin (Cornell Wilde). Driving around the canyon on patrol, he comes across the caretaker of an abandoned gold mine who tells him about the man we saw escape death at the canyon, who’s all beat up and asking for help from the police. At that moment, Janice Kendon (Victoria Shaw), daughter of a wealthy mine owner, races past them recklessly in her gorgeous canary yellow 1958 Thunderbird. Martin ignores the old timer (it seems he’s kind of a coot, who cries wolf a lot) and pursues Janice.

Turns out while he’s busy writing a ticket and flirting with her, the man who got beat up at the canyon is being murdered back at the old timer’s place. So who killed him and does it have anything to do with the $20 million we’re told lies in the mine the government shut down during the war?

Those are the main plot questions, but who cares? The contrived story isn’t what really matters in Edge of Eternity. It’s the real-time, real-place feeling that Siegel manages to put on film that makes this little-known movie worth watching. Seeing Wilde and Victoria Shaw playing their parts with the Grand Canyon in the background, you hardly pay attention to the dialog anyway. All you know is there’s a murder to be solved, some back story guilt to be healed by Wilde, and a love story to be brought to a happy conclusion. Naturally, Siegel pulls it off with his usual workman-like skill.

The really fascinating thing about this movie, though, is the setting used for the movie’s climax. When the film was made there was a company known as the U.S. Guano Corp. The company had found a cave on the far side of the Canyon that was believed to contain 100,000 tons of bat guano that was rich in nitrogen and could be sold as fertilizer. The company built an expensive cable car system that ran a span of 7,500 feet to the cave.

Of course Deputy Martin and the bad guy (you’ll never guess who it is, wink, wink) have a big fist fight on the “dancing bucket” as it was affectionately known, 2,500 feet above the canyon bottom, with Janice holding on for dear life. Some of the close ups are obviously done with rear projection, but there are a couple of long shots that make you hold your breath at least for the stunt men. Overall, it’s an entertaining film with good performances, but I kept wondering what Stirling Silliphant would have done with a set up like that.

Although the copy of the film I watched was on DVD and not BluRay, Columbia Classic’s video release is extremely good. The vistas are pretty sharp and the color bright. The music by Daniele Amfitheatrof is suitably majestic and well recorded. Edge of Eternity is definitely worth watching.

As for the bat guano operation, in real life the thing turned out to be a bust when they found there was only 1,000 tons of bat doo-doo, not 100,000 tons and the site was closed down. Nonetheless it was in operation at the time of filming, and the producers, Siegel being one of them, ran a credit thanking U.S. Guano for its assistance in making the movie. That may be the first and only time Hollywood acknowledged the debt it owes to those who also wield shovels. Credit where credit is due.

(John M. Whalen is the author of "Hunting Monsters is My Business: The Mordecai Slate Stories" . Click here to order the book from Amazon 

BY FRED BLOSSER

“Souls at Sea” (1937) is old-school Hollywood at its best -- beautifully directed by Henry Hathaway, great performances by Gary Cooper, George Raft, and Frances Dee, wonderful support from a first-rate cast of character actors, and fine Paramount production values. The script casts a wide net over at least six genres, including maritime adventure, disaster saga, love story, spy thriller, costume drama, and courtroom mystery. Imagine “Amistad” (1997), “Titanic” (1997), and “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” (2003) combined, with a little music and comedy added in. It sounds like it should be a mess, but a strong script by old pros Grover Jones and Dale Van Every pulls it all together seamlessly.

Michael “Nuggin” Taylor (Cooper), an American seaman and sometimes ship’s officer, faces charges of murder in a Boston courtroom in 1842 in the deaths of 18 fellow passengers during the sinking of the transatlantic brig William Brown. Taylor is accused of commandeering a lifeboat, ejecting other passengers and leaving them to drown, and killing a fellow traveler, British naval Lt. Tarryton, with whom he had been on strained terms (Henry Wilcoxon). Taylor refuses to speak in his own defense, and his blemished reputation as a career slaver seems to substantiate the prosecution’s depiction of a coward and opportunist. The few survivors assembled in the courtroom plead on Taylor’s behalf, describing a different sort of man, but there is one dissenting hold-out among them. Tarryton’s embittered sister Margaret (Dee) supports the prosecution, even though she was one of the people Taylor rescued. The jury returns a guilty verdict, and then, as Taylor is led away, a British government official (George Zucco) rushes into the courtroom and reveals the true story.

The sadly underrated Henry Hathaway is best remembered now as a director of Westerns who, like his contemporary John Ford, was known for bullying good performances out of his casts. “Souls at Sea,” like his earlier Paramount classic with Cooper, “Lives of a Bengal Lancer” (1935), works perfectly fine as an action drama, but Hathaway also invests it with great sensitivity in romantic scenes between Cooper and Dee, and between George Raft as Taylor’s friend Powdah and Olympe Bradna as a winsome lady’s maid who seeks a new start in America. Cooper and Raft also click as mismatched but loyal buddies, Cooper crossing the frame with a long-legged outdoorsman’s walk, Raft matching him with a subdued dancer’s swagger. The climactic scenes dramatizing the explosion and sinking of the doomed ship use state-of-the-art 1930s FX, chiefly miniatures and special sets simulating the burning, tilted ship’s deck. Younger fans accustomed to CGI may not be impressed, but these old-time FX have their own charm for us older viewers.

The Universal Studios Home Entertainment/TCM Vault Collection DVD is a manufactured-on-demand DVD-R. There’s no chapter menu and no extras, but the 1.33:1 full frame transfer is acceptable. 

Available through most major on-line retailers.  

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Kino Lorber has released the relatively forgotten 1954 murder thriller "Witness to Murder" on Blu-ray. The flick is film noir in the best tradition: modest budget, creative lighting and cinematography, an inspired cast and a compelling story. Barbara Stanwyck stars as Cheryl Draper, an independent, career-minded woman who has the misfortune to look out the window of her apartment late one windy evening only to observe a murder being committed across the street in another apartment. She is horrified to see an attractive young woman being strangled to death by a well-dressed, middle-aged man. She phones the police and is visited by two detectives: Lawrence Matthews (Gary Merrill) and Eddie Vincent (cigar-chomping Jesse White), who dutifully take the details and head over the apartment where the crime was committed. The murderer is Albert Richter (George Sanders), a snobby author of some repute who has had time to hide the body of the young woman in an adjoining empty apartment. When the detectives arrive to question him, he puts on a masterful performance, pretending he has been awakened from a sound sleep. He convinces the cops that Cheryl must have been dreaming or the lights may have played tricks with her vision. Convinced of his innocence, the cops inform Cheryl they are convinced no crime has been committed, despite her fervent protests that she was not mistaken. Now Cheryl realizes that her own life is in danger. In true film noir fashion, she plays Lois Lane and begins nosing around the building where Richter lives. She even gains access to his apartment when he is out , on the pretense of wanting to rent a similar unit. Before long, she and Richter and locked in a psychological cat-and-mouse game with Richter holding most of the cards. He enacts an elaborate scheme to discredit Cheryl, making it seem as though she suffers from psychological delusions. He even gets her temporarily committed to an asylum. Meanwhile, Cheryl has begun dating Det. Matthews, but still cant convince him that Richter is a murderer- even when it is revealed his is a "reformed" former Nazi.

"Witness to Murder" bares some startling similarities to the work of Alfred Hitchcock, notably "Rear Window", with some doses of "Vertigo" and "North By Northwest" thrown in. However, before you dismiss this film as another pale imitation of The Master's work, keep in mind that it was released before any of those cinematic classics. Director Roy Rowland keeps the suspense rising throughout until the final, nail-biting (if somewhat melodramatic) climax in which Cheryl finds herself menaced by Richter atop a high rise construction site. 

The performances are uniformly excellent with Stanwyck playing that rarity in Hollywood movies of the era: a gutsy, intelligent and independent woman. Sanders is in full sneer mode and demonstrates why no one could play a cad like him. He's charming even when he informs you he's about to kill you. The only weak spot is a brief scene that tries to tie Richter's motive for murder into an improbable plan to revive the Third Reich! Beyond that, however, "Witness to Murder" is top notch film noir and is highly recommended.

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray contains a great deal of grain, but that could have been from the original film negative. In any event, it unintentionally adds a bit of extra atmosphere to the black-and-white intrigue. The Blu-ray also contains an original trailer.  

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BY FRED BLOSSER

Today, moviegoers who want to immerse themselves in two hours of bittersweet romantic misery are likely to go see “The Fault in Our Stars,” “If I Stay,” or “The Best of Me.” In 1955, the comparable ticket was “Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing,” based on Han Suyin’s bestselling 1952 book. Thanks to Twilight Time’s limited-edition Blu-ray of the 20th Century Fox film, today’s devotees of Nicholas Sparks and John Green have an opportunity to see what made their grandmothers cry as twenty-somethings in the Eisenhower era, while veteran fans of, uh, more mature age can enjoy Han’s tragic love story again in beautiful hi-def CinemaScope and Color by DeLuxe.

Han’s fictionalized memoir related the story of her love affair with a war correspondent, whom she called Mark Elliott, in 1949 Hong Kong. The circumstances of the affair were provocative for the time. The widowed Han, a medical resident at the crown colony’s Victoria Hospital, had mixed-race parentage (Chinese father, Belgian mother). Elliott was a married American, although the marriage was strained and he and his wife lived apart. How times have changed, in real life as in the movies. In 2014, neither the one partner’s race nor the other’s marital status would pose much of a challenge in most social circles. If you’re a 20-year-old viewer today, you may have to check your instinct to judge the story by those more tolerant standards, in which race isn’t a game-changer at all. Nowadays, in the rare event that a cultural difference between lovers is needed as a dramatic complication in a movie or TV show, it’s likely to be expressed in terms of supernatural fantasy, not race. By that measure, you may care that one partner is human and the other is a vampire. But that one sweetheart is part Asian and the other Caucasian? Not so much.

Another convention of the time isn’t merely irrelevant in today’s ethnically diverse cinema -- it’s embarrassing. In the movie, Suyin is played by a fully Caucasian actress, Jennifer Jones, who doesn’t look particularly Asian, even with make-up. Suyin has a younger sister in China, Suchin, played by Donna Martell, who appears even less Asian than Jones. A friend in Hong Kong also of mixed parentage, Suzanne, portrayed by Jorja Curtright, looks less Asian yet. There are plenty of Asian actors in the film, including such familiar and welcome faces as Richard Loo, Philip Ahn, Beulah Quo, and James Hong, but they’re relegated to supporting roles. It’s true that the movie could hardly have been green-lighted as a major production in 1955 without a star like Jones in top-billing, and that Asian actresses with that sort of clout were non-existent then. But still. Jones also tends to play her scenes in somewhat stilted, old-school style, yet another thing that today’s younger viewers may have to adjust to. William Holden, at the top of his game as Mark, brings a more relaxed method of acting, but even his dialogue becomes a little pompous at times: “That reminds me of a line in that poem by Thompson ...”

20th Century Fox dressed up the movie with all the amenities that A-picture budgets could provide in 1955. These values remain impressive almost 60 years later: a stirring score by Alfred Newman, which also yielded the hit title song as a chart-topper by the Four Aces (another sign of changing times -- can you imagine the Four Aces on the 2014 charts alongside Robin Thicke and Jay Z?), exotic on-location exterior shots in Hong Kong, and ravishing color design. The Twilight Time Blu-ray, limited to 3,000 units, includes a sharp 1080p transfer, an isolated music track, a souvenir booklet by Julie Kirgo, and a fine commentary track by Jon Burlingame, Michael Lonzo, and Sylvia Stoddard. Fox Movietone News clips from 1955 show Holden and producer Buddy Adler accepting honors at a couple of industry award ceremonies, reminding us that Hollywood loved to celebrate itself long before “Entertainment Tonight” and “Access Hollywood” came along.

The Twilight Time Blu-ray limited edition of “Love is a Many-Splendored Thing” can be ordered HERE.