In
the history of cinema, it is a known fact that the producers and director of a
film all have their own opinions about what a finished film should be titled.
Movies generally use a working title which rarely ends up being used upon
release. Even the film’s own writer invariably believes that it is his/her
title that should be used with consideration given to no one else. One can only
wonder how Steven Spielberg’s E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) would
have fared at the box office had it been marketed under its original title, A
Boy’s Life. Ridley Scott’s initially panned and now revered science fiction
masterpiece Blade Runner (1982), its title taken from a 1979 novella by
William S. Burroughs, would have found difficulty being displayed on movie
marquees had it gone by the jaw-breaking title of the 1968 Philip K. Dick novel
upon which it was based, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The
Satanists was one of the
original titles considered for the film that would eventually be called Let’s
Scare Jessica to Death, a beautifully understated piece of filmmaking shot
in October 1970 in Connecticut and released in New York on Friday, August 27, 1971
two months prior to a rollout in suburban theatres and drive-ins and its
eventual ABC-TV premiere on Friday, March 11, 1977 before becoming a staple of
late-night television airings. The 1970s are a by-gone era which followed the
end of the studio system of contracts and obligations and gave way to films
that defined originality of thought and style, permitting both novice and
seasoned filmmakers the freedom to make the kinds of films that they wanted to for
distribution through major studios. This maneuver was driven by two factors: the
desire to make money and film studios not knowing what would bring in the
crowds.
Inspired
by the 1898 novella The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (which itself
inspired the wonderful 1961 Jack Clayton adaptation The Innocents with
Deborah Kerr), Jessica thrives on moments where the audience is forced
to ask themselves if what is happening is really happening, or if it’s only
happening in Jessica’s mind. The film benefits from a slow and deliberate build-up
of mood and atmosphere. Orville Stoeber provides a wonderfully creepy score
which, like Stephen Lawrence’s brilliant music for Alfred Sole’s masterful Communion/Alice,
Sweet Alice/Holy Terror (1977) is unfortunately still not available on a
soundtrack album. Cinematographer Robert M. Baldwin bathes the film frame in
autumn foliage and employs the use of slow camera moves to enhance the film’s
overall mood. The film is far too slow for today’s audiences, but for those
with a mindset for 1970s horror, Jessica fits the bill.
Jessica is one of those titles I have been
wanting to see in a much-needed home video upgrade. A bare-bones DVD was
released by Paramount Home Video in 2006 and now the amazing people at Scream
Factory (an imprint of Shout! Factory) have released the film on Blu-ray with a
considerably improved transfer. There is a welcome feature-length audio
commentary with producer Bill Badalato and director John Hancock, who is arguably
best known for the Robert De Niro vehicle Bang the Drum Slowly (1973). They
offer many memories about the making of the film, one of which is Mr. Hancock’s
recollection of lifting the voiceover device of Eleanor Lance (Julie Harris) in
Robert Wise’s The Haunting (1963) to make the audience identity more
with Jessica. The other extras include:
Art
Saved My Life: Orville Stoeber on Let’s Scare Jessica to Death – this runs 16:25 and consists of an
interview with the film’s music composer who describes growing up all over the
world and how his family influenced his musical impressions.
Scare
Tactics: Reflections on a Seventies Horror Classic – runs 23:44 and is an interview with author
and critic Kim Newman who explains why Jessica is his favorite horror
film.
She
Walks These Hills: Let’s Scare Jessica to Death Locations Then and Now – this runs 6:48 and takes us to the
First Church Cemetery in East Haddam, CT; the “Selden III†Hadlyme Ferry in
Chester, CT; the Pattaconk Reservoir in Chester, CT; the Bishop House in Old
Saybrook, which is beautiful but completely dilapidated, even more so than when
I visited it in 2006. I really wish that someone would buy it and restore it; and
Main Street and Maple Street in Chester, CT (Devoe Paints was still there in
2006, but gone now and the building is for rent).
Theatrical
trailer – a very creepy promo for the film that runs three minutes
Television
spot – this runs 53 seconds and, like the theatrical trailer, gives away much
of the plot while trying to be creepy.
Radio
spot – this is derived from the mini record that was dispatched to radio
stations to play over the air and runs 60 seconds. Creepy!
Thankfully,
the film’s creepy original key art has been reinstated for the cover of the
Blu-ray, unlike the 2006 DVD cover.
Jessica is a film that is bathed in moments of
eeriness and supernatural detachment thanks in part to screenwriter Lee
Kalcheim whose former student, film director Bryan Norton, tipped his hat to
the film by making the movie’s title the byline for his nifty short film Penny
Dreadful (2005).
During my formative years – as I sat before a steady
procession of unforgettable movies, my passion for cinema intensifying with the
discovery of the diverse emotions that films proved capable of stirring within me
– there were several behind-the-camera names that would show up on opening
titles sequences which I started to recognise, people whose involvement in any
given picture became synonymous with a fine evening’s entertainment. One of
those names was Elliott Kastner. The producer behind dozens of films, from
big guns such as the fabulous wartime actioner Where Eagles Dare and Charles
Bronson western whodunnit Breakheart Pass, to less remembered gems the like of
beautifully melancholic heartbreaker Jeremy and psychological thriller Death
Valley, if Elliott Kastner's name was attached to it then, for me, that was a
cast-iron guarantee that I wasn't going to come away disappointed.
Which brings us to director Anthony Page's 1978 clerical
mystery Absolution starring Richard Burton, which Kastner co-produced
(alongside four-times collaborator Danny O'Donovan) and which somehow bypassed
me for years until I finally caught up with it recently courtesy of Kino
Lorber's new Blu-ray disc.
Benjie Stanfield (Dominic Guard) is the most promising
pupil at a Catholic public school. Feeling the pressure of permanently having
to act the model student he starts to develop a rebellious streak. Much to the
dismay of his austere housemaster, Father Goddard (Richard Burton), Stanfield
begins associating with ne’er-do-well traveller Blakey (Billy Connolly) who's
set up camp in the woodland adjacent to the school and whose bohemian lifestyle
strikes the young lad as idyllic. Furthermore, Stanfield starts to spin
outrageous fictions to Goddard which, bound by the seal of the confessional,
the incensed priest is powerless to punish him for. Then, following an argument
with Blakey, the distraught Stanfield confesses to Goddard that he lost his
temper and killed the man. Is he telling the truth, or is it just more
mischief? And when he confides that he'd like to do away with irritating fellow
pupil Arthur Dyson (David Bradley), can the poor, beleaguered Father Goddard
manage to stop him?
I don't think I've ever seen a disappointing Richard
Burton performance – even in those occasionally questionable projects (which,
with hindsight, he himself might have conceded were poor judgment calls) he was
always the dominating presence – and with Absolution arriving the same year as The
Medusa Touch and The Wild Geese we can certainly be thankful to 1978 for
its delicious crop of Burton victuals. His exemplary performance here as
Father Goddard, which came towards the end of a career cut tragically short by
his premature death in 1984, is spellbinding; the character's burgeoning air of
desperation and despair is relayed to perfection. Just as he should be, Dominic
Guard is irksomely smirky and objectionably arrogant as Stanfield, the
blue-eyed boy gone bad who's holding the whip hand and seemingly relishing
every moment of it. David Bradley (probably best known for his starring role in
Kes, credited here as Dai Bradley) garners audience empathy as
underdog Dyson, the gawky target of Stanfield's disdain. Billy Connolly
meanwhile is first-rate in his film debut, revealing a talent that stretched
far beyond the stand-up comedy for which, back in 1978, he was almost
exclusively renowned. The supporting cast includes a typically gruff Andrew
Keir as the school's headmaster, Brian Glover as a thuggish policeman and the
always engaging Hilary Mason, Oh, and unless I'm very much mistaken, Linda
Robson puts in a single shot cameo as a school dinner lady.
As tales of priests vexed by the sanctity of the confessional
go, Absolution would make for a very fine double-feature companion to gripping
Hitchcock drama I Confess. And where with films such as this the words
"don't watch the trailer before you've seen the film" are a fairly
mandatory warning, in Absolution's case it's imperative one take heed. I
mention this specifically because the original trailer is included among the
bonus features on Kino Lorber's Blu-ray release and it recklessly throws away a
key moment from the climax. If the disc’s menu screen sets off alarm bells with
its excessively grainy still image of Richard Burton, it shouldn't be cause for
concern; the 1.85:1 transfer of the feature is almost impeccable, faltering
only at the tail end of the closing credits with evidence of some minor print damage.
The aforementioned "avoid at all costs" trailer aside, the disc’s all
too sparse supplements comprise just a pair of thematically-associated trailers
(for Donald Sutherland vehicle The Rosary Murders, and True Confessions
starring the two Roberts, De Niro and Duvall).
In the pre-credits sequence for the 1967 James Bond film "You Only Live Twice", an astronaut dies while on a spacewalk, his body left to drift for eternity in the Great Beyond. I saw the film at age ten when it first opened and that scene continued to haunt me through repeated viewings over the decades because the possibility of someone dying in a similar fashion was very real, especially during the era of the U.S.- Soviet space race. I often wondered what the possibilities were for addressing such a death in space. Countless movies and TV series have focused on the concept of astronauts in crisis ranging from "B" sci-fi movies of the 1950s to marvelous schlock such as the "Lost in Space" TV series to esteemed feature films like "Apollo 13" and "Gravity" and now the Netflix sensation "Away". In many of the scenarios, astronauts die while on a mission. But what happens when someone really dies while exploring space? The answers are not very glamorous and they range from attempting to bring the body back home (not very practical) to allowing it to drift forever in space to the most unpalatable consideration: cannibalism, if the crew finds itself stranded and starving. Shannon Stirrone, writing on the Popular Science website, presents the cold, unsentimental scenarios that all astronauts must consider- even if they never openly discuss them. Click here to read.
Horror films have long been the inspiration for big screen comedies, though precious few have mined enough genuine laughs to gain status beyond the "B" movie level. For every "Young Frankenstein", there are ten "Hillbillies in a Haunted House". Screenwriter and actor Rudy De Luca, who had written the marvelous screenplays for Mel Brooks' "Silent Movie" and "High Anxiety", was eager to take the next logical career step and try his hand at directing. The property was his own invention, a contemporary horror spoof titled "Transylvania 6-5000", a play on the classic Glenn Miller song "Pennsylvania 6-5000". He secured a very modest budget of $3 million with the unusual proviso that he had to shoot the film on location in Yugoslavia (this was apparently due to financial considerations held by backers of the production.) De Luca secured the services of some up-and-coming young talent and was off on his quest to make a hit. De Luca's script finds Jack Harrison (Jeff Goldblum) and his colleague Gil Turner (Ed Begley, Jr.) as "journalists" for a National Enquirer-like exploitation rag. Their grumpy boss (Norman Fell in a cameo) sends the reluctant duo off to Transylvania to pursue alleged sightings of Frankenstein. It makes no difference whether there is any evidence of these sensational claims, as the boss just wants a big story that will appeal to gullible readers. Once in Transylvania, the writers immediately cross paths with a variety of eccentric and/or menacing characters that lead to increasingly incredible adventures involving a mad doctor (Joseph Bologna), a snarky hotel manager (Jeffrey Jones), a femme fatale (Geena Davis, wearing a Vampira-like costume throughout), a female accomplice (Carol Kane) and some kooky servants (Michael Richards and John Byner). The evidence leads to suggestions that Frankenstein may exist, along with the Wolfman, but getting to the explanation requires the viewer to sit through endless manic, but unfunny comedic setups. There may be an occasional guffaw along the way but, in general, the film is a total misfire.Seldom have so many formidable talents been so squandered.
Kino Lorber has released a Blu-ray edition of the movie that includes a commentary track by De Luca and Steve Haberman, who was a visual consultant on the movie. Here's where things become interesting. While the film itself is a dud, having De Luca and Haberman return to the scene of the crime, so to speak, makes for a highly enjoyable and candid commentary track. De Luca and Haberman don't regard the film as an artistic failure and point out that it made a slight profit and seems to have built a cult following over the years. But De Luca reflects on the obstacles he had to overcome as a first-time director, including having to fire his first assistant director shortly after filming began. He also says that the movie didn't benefit much from the Yugoslavian locations except for the presence of some imposing ancient buildings. (Haberman correctly points out that the village they shot most of the movie in actually looked as phony as a theme park setting.) De Luca had to commit to completing the entire movie in only 30 days, which would be a Herculean task for even a seasoned director. He had to get many complex scenes done on the first or second take, no matter how unsatisfying the result was because the budget wouldn't support the normal number of takes. He had no access to a studio and had to make due with existing interiors in local buildings that were often ill-suited to the action he had to film. Additionally, he had some temperamental actors, with Begley griping about his directorial choices and Carol Kane forming a dislike for Joseph Bologna because he manhandled her roughly in a key scene. He also had to contend with employing many local actors for small roles who could not speak English. As he comments on the film, he points out that some scenes that were to have been shot at night in a shroud of fog had to be filmed in broad daylight, which was obviously not very atmospheric for a monster movie. The commentary track is especially useful for aspiring young filmmakers who are given fair warning about the factors they will have to overcome when making a movie for a major studio. Happily, De Luca and Haberman survived the experience and went on to bigger and better things, including future collaborations with Mel Brooks, although De Luca has not directed another film since. Still, upon learning the background of the troubled production, you have give the man kudos for finishing the movie on time and on budget.
The Kino Lorber Blu-ray looks very good indeed and also includes the two original trailers, several TV spots and a gallery of trailers for other KL releases. This is one title that is dispensable as a main feature, but worth getting due to the merits of the commentary track.
The IMDB plot summary provided for the 1969 film "Before Winter Comes" refers to the movie as a comedy. One can only imagine the knee-slappers the writer must have enjoyed while watching "Schindler's List". Most assuredly, "Before Winter Comes" is not a comedy. It has a few fleeting moments of levity but it's primarily a serious examination of desperate people in desperate circumstances. The film opens in Austria, shortly after the surrender of Germany in WWII. David Niven plays British Major Burnside, who has just been assigned the thankless task of establishing a camp for displaced persons at a time when the continent is teeming with people who have either fled or who were forcibly taken far away from their homes. Burnside, assisted by his young adjutant, Lt. Pilkington (John Hurt) have to establish order in the rudimentary camp and find an orderly way to process people back to their nations of origin. He has a political problem straight away- half of the camp is run by Soviet troops under the command of Captain Kamenev (Ory Levi) and relations between the Brits and Russians are already strained, with the Cold War having broken out even before the conflict with Germany had ended. Kamenev is aware that few Russian refugees are eager to return to Stalin's murderous autocracy and he wants to ensure that Burnside doesn't intentionally allow Soviet citizens to immigrate to western democracies. Burnside must also deal with the confounding logistics of communicating with masses of people who speak different languages and dialects. A camp refugee, Janovic (Topol) speaks virtually every language and makes himself indispensable to Burnside and Pilkington. He's larger-than-life, humorous and acts as a Mr. Fix-It for problems large and small. In return for his services, Burnside makes it clear he will pull some strings to assure Janovic gets preferential treatment when it comes to his immigration destination.
The film takes a detour with a subplot involving Maria (Anna Karina), a beautiful young woman who owns an inn that has the unfortunate fate of sitting precisely between the British and Soviet sections. Burnside and Kamenev come up with a sensible solution: they divide the dining hall in half with a chain. It doesn't stop the Brits and Russians from taunting each other over vodka-fueled feuds but it does prevent violence from breaking out between soldiers from two nations who were recently allies against Hitler. Much of the running time is devoted to Maria's romantic flings with both Burnside and Janovic, neither of whom knows the other is her lover. Both men fall madly in love with her and allow themselves to dream of reuniting with her in the years ahead but Maria is more pragmatic. She likes both of them but sleeps with them mostly out of pragmatic reasons, primarily to ensure she is protected and receives favors, though satiation of sexual frustrations may also play a role in her motives. Ultimately, both Burnside and Janovic find out the other is involved with Maria, as they compete for her affections. The pace of the movie is leisurely, to say the least. Some might say it's pedantic but I never found it boring or uninteresting. The only real drama is introduced late in the movie when Janovic is discovered to be a deserter from the Russian army. The Soviets insist that Burnside hand Janovic over to them, which would result in a certain death sentence for him. Burnside is conflicted: he has been ordered to comply with the demand by his superior officer, General Bewley (Anthony Quayle having a good time playing a caricature of an old world British general), yet on a humanitarian basis, he can't send this good man to his death. Burnside's agonizing decision provides the only suspense in the film and leads to an ambiguous, but intriguing ending that some viewers may find unsatisfactory.
"Before Winter Comes" was directed by the underrated J. Lee Thompson, who is a bit out of his element here in relation to the genres he specialized in, namely thrillers and action films. The movie's most interesting aspect is the unusual concentration on the plight of the displaced populations in the aftermath of WWII in Europe, a problem that required a Herculean effort by the Allies to provide for these poor souls. The primary pleasure of the film is the performances of the three male leads. Niven is typically excellent as the career army officer trying to rebuild his reputation and Topol displays the kind of unique charisma that allows him to steal every scene in every movie he's in. They are both complimented by freckle-faced young John Hurt, who demonstrates the acting skills that would ultimately make him internationally acclaimed. The film also features a fine, innovative score by Ron Grainer. The Sony region-free DVD presents a decent transfer but unfortunately there are no extras.
"Before Winter Comes" can be recommended to Cinema Retro readers, who tend to enjoy discovering worthy films of the 1960s that have been largely forgotten.
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Whether
he was acting as a producer or as a director, Stanley Kramer was always at the
forefront of social issues embedded within motion pictures that were ultimately
entertaining and popular. He was producer of many outstanding movies during the
early half of his career, and then went on to direct more high-profile
Hollywood “message pictures.â€
The
esteemed and beloved High Noon, an “anti-western†released in 1952, was
a production Kramer oversaw with his then associate Carl Foreman, who penned
the screenplay. In a much publicized and analyzed split, the two men “divorcedâ€
during production of the film, mainly because Foreman was called before the
House Un-American Activities Committee, admitted he had once been a member of
the Communist Party, and refused to name names. Before he could be blacklisted,
Foreman left the United States and moved to Britain. He agreed to have his name
removed from High Noon as Associate Producer; but he still received
credit for the screenplay, which may or may not have been based on a short
story called “The Tin Star,†by John W. Cunningham. (Kramer had purchased the
rights to the story because it had a similar premise, and he was likely
covering his bases.) Astonishingly, Foreman still received an Academy Award
nomination for his script, even when many of his writing colleagues in
Hollywood had to use “fronts†on their work, or they couldn’t get jobs at all.
Setting
aside all that drama, perhaps the real credit for the success of High Noon should
go to director Fred Zinnemann, who was the up and coming talent and future
two-time Oscar winner, and star Gary Cooper, who won the Oscar for Best
Actor for his performance as Will Kane, the retiring marshal of the small New
Mexico town of Hadleyville. The film also won for its dynamic and extremely
important editing (by Elmo Williams and Harry W. Gerstad) that gave audiences
the sense that they were viewing the suspenseful action in real time, and two
trophies for music—the score by Dimitri Tiomkin, and for the song by Tiomkin
and Ned Washington (“High Noon,†performed by Tex Ritter, although it is known
in popular circles as “Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin’â€). High Noon received
nominations not only for the Screenplay, but for Director Zinnemann and for
Best Picture.
Most
of you know the story. Marshal Kane (Cooper) has just gotten married to Amy
(Grace Kelly; never mind that she’s about 30 years younger than Cooper), when
he learns that bad man Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald) has been paroled and is on
his way to town to kill Kane. He will arrive on the noon train, and his three equally-bad
cohorts (Lee Van Cleef in his first screen appearance; Sheb Wooley, who years
later gave us the novelty song, “The Purple People Eaterâ€; and Robert J. Wilke)
are at the station waiting for him. Kane desperately attempts to round up
supporters to help him fight Miller and his gang, but no one in the town will step
up to support their marshal (the outstanding supporting cast includes Thomas
Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges, Lon Chaney, Katy Jurado, Otto Kruger, and Harry
Morgan). Cowards all. Even Amy leaves her new husband because he won’t run out
on his responsibility. Meanwhile, we are made aware of every clock in the town
as the ticking progresses closer to high noon. The pendulums swing, the big
hands move closer to 12, and the tension mounts. Kane is left alone to face the
killers…
Of
course, we all know now that High Noon is an allegory for the Hollywood
blacklist. It was Carl Foreman’s treatise on what was happening in Tinsel Town
at the time. The townspeople, who were the marshal’s friends, turn their backs
on him and leave him to “face the music†alone. John Wayne famously rejected
the role of Kane when it was first offered to him, and he went on the record,
along with director Howard Hawks, calling High Noon a “Commie picture.â€
Ironically, Gary Cooper was not in town when he was awarded his Oscar—and Wayne
accepted the trophy for his pal on the night of the ceremony.
Olive
Films’ spectacular Blu-ray is absolutely gorgeous in its glorious black and
white. It is a new 4K restoration that is crystal clear, giving one the
impression that the movie was made yesterday.
There
are nice supplements included. A piece on the editing of the film illustrates
how the ticking clocks are so important for the pace of the picture. Film
historian Michael Schlesinger enthusiastically presents a featurette on
producer Kramer. Blacklisted screenwriter Walter Bernstein and film historian
Larry Ceplair talk about the Hollywood blacklist and its relation to High
Noon. Anton Yelchin narrates a visual essay of rarely seen archival
elements on the production history of the film. Finally, there is an original
essay (on screen and in the enclosed booklet) by Sight & Sound editor
Nick James, along with the theatrical trailer.
High
Noon exists
on Blu-ray distributed by other companies, but the Olive Films presentation is
top-notch. A classic masterpiece is always worth an upgrade.
The 1963 comedy Sunday in New York comes to Blu-ray through
the Warner Archive. The movie is based on Norman Krasna's 1961 play
which was a modest hit on Broadway starring young Robert Redford. Krasna
also provides the screenplay for the film version, which was directed
by Peter Tewksbury. The film was somewhat of an eyebrow-raiser at the
time, with its relatively bold approach to modern sexuality among young
people. The movie's major asset is its engaging cast of lead characters:
Cliff Robertson, Jane Fonda, Rod Taylor and Robert Culp. Fonda plays a
frustrated 22 year-old virgin who is made to feel guilty about her
sexual urges. She is going out with millionaire society boy Culp but is
frustrated by his lack of romantic aggressiveness. Fonda makes an
unannounced visit to her brother, airline pilot Robertson, in order to
seek advice out the wisdom of a girl keeping her virginity until
marriage. Robertson piously counsels her that only 'good girls' get the
best husbands, but secretly hides his own life as a playboy. His
Manhattan bachelor pad needs a revolving door to handle his liaisons
with tempting airline stewardesses.
While exploring the
sights of New York City, Fonda meets cute with
handsome writer and man of the world Rod Taylor. A clumsy near-seduction
turns disastrous and sets up a convoluted set of comic circumstances in
which misunderstandings and confusions of identity thrust the
characters into emotional turmoil. The antics are quite dated today but
provide a fascinating insight into how female sexuality was repressed
during this era. It was permissible for men to lead Hugh Hefner-inspired
lifestyles, but even the hint of an urge on the part of a young woman
would leave her branded as a slut. Nevertheless, the four leads are in
top form and provide plenty of genuine laughs, even if some of the
comedic situations are as predictable as they are contrived. Fonda is
perfect as the somewhat liberated woman who is fighting society's
conventional attitudes. It's ironic that within a few short years, Sunday in New York would
look as a dated as an Oscar Wilde comedy of manners and Fonda would be
playing the intergalactic sex goddess Barbarella. Robertson and Taylor
prove once again that they could not only credibly play men of action,
but were also excellent performing light comedy. Culp, who would go on
to
stardom the following year in I Spy, should have emerged as a much bigger star on the silver screen.There are also some fine supporting turns by Jo Morrow and Jim Backus.
Although much of the film is somewhat claustrophobic due to its
origins as a play, Tewksbury opens up the action considerably by
shooting in some of New York's most legendary locations. It's a joy to
see the city during this era, from the ice skating rink at Rockefeller
Center to the famed rowboats in Central Park. There are also some
nostalgic ads visible on buses including one that promotes nickel rides
at New Jersey's legendary Palisades Amusement Park.There is an extended
sequence in which jazz great Peter Nero performs in a nightclub,
complete with a solo by Leslie Uggams. (Nero wrote the score for the
film, including the title theme which is sung by another hipster, Mel
Torme).
It's easy to dismiss Sunday in New York as a quaint look at
sexuality, but it also affords the viewer the opportunity to spend time
with the kind of leading actors who retro movie lovers revere.
The
region-free Warner Archive Blu-ray is up to the company's high
standards and is a considerable upgrade to the DVD release. The only
bonus feature is a trailer.
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Here is rare footage filmed at a press junket in Yugoslavia on the set of "Kelly's Heroes". Don Rickles is in rare form and there are appearances by Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas and director Brian G. Hutton, who shows up late in the footage (he's wearing a hat). During filming, the movie was still under its original title, "The Warriors".
Hard to believe but Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman at one time paid the bills by hawking cars in TV commercials and John Travolta featured in a promo spot for the U.S. Army. Kim Basinger and Lindsay Wagner promoted shampoos and Cybill Shepherd was known for promoting makeup. Enjoy these blasts from the past.
Cinema Retro has received the following press release:
On the occasion of 40th Anniversary of the movie icon’s
untimely death, Steve McQueen: In His Own Words, serves up the
most credible and thought-provoking insights of ‘The King of Cool,†spoken by
the man himself using more than 450 quotations from McQueen, all drawn from
more than five decades of media coverage, memorabilia and detailed research.
In Steve McQueen In His Own Words, we hear directly
from McQueen through the widest array of sources: interviews, published
articles, personal letters and audiotapes, creating the most intimate picture
yet available of McQueen as an actor, filmmaker, racer, pilot, husband and
family man in his own words and from his own perspective. The portrait that
emerges is not a saint, not a sinner, nor a martyr, but a complex,
contradictory man who became one of the greatest icons of cinema.
Accompanying the 450 quotes are more than 500 photographs,
personal documents and memorabilia, many of which are seen here for the first
time. They illustrate McQueen’s early life and movie career, as well as his
passion for automobiles, motorcycles and antique planes.
Steve McQueen, the global superstar and box office champion of the
1960s and 1970s, remains an enduring mythical figure of alpha-male coolness and
has left behind a body of work that only a few will attain in motion picture
history. His hell-bent-for-leather take on life and pitch-perfect performances
are legendary and he is arguably more popular in death than he was in life.
Surprisingly, the laconic actor who was known for his economy of
words in film, had plenty to say in real life. He spoke freely regarding topics
such as fame, cinema, money, sex, racing, popular culture, and had a
forward-thinking approach on the environment.
Steve
McQueen: In His Own Words is the perfect book for
everyone interested in this American original.
# # #
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
Author
Marshall Terrill is a film, sports and music writer and the author of more than
25 books, including best-selling biographies of Steve McQueen, Elvis Presley,
Johnny Cash, Billy Graham and Pete Maravich.
The
1940s and 1950s were Bob Hope’s prime decades, and many of his most popular—and
arguably “goodâ€â€”movies were made during these years. When he wasn’t teaming up
with Bing Crosby for the Road to… pictures, he was soloing in farces in
which he displayed his unquestionable talent in delivering one-liners with
impeccable timing, singing alone or with a partner (usually a female costar),
and sharing the “joke†with the audience through fourth wall breaking.
Hope
has several classic comedies in his filmography, but just as many or more that
might induce face-palming. Some are downright dumb. The Lemon Drop Kid,
from 1951, is one of the better ones, although it often slips into slapstick
silliness during its 91-minute runtime. This is due, in part, to the uncredited
direction of Frank Tashlin, who co-wrote the screenplay (with Edmund Hartmann
and Robert O’Brien). Tashlin worked for many years in cartoons, including the
Looney Tunes outfit for Warner Brothers, so his approach to comedy had a
similar sensibility. Sledgehammer comedic action, trick photography, and
gimmicks tend to populate Tashlin’s work. The credited director of Lemon
Drop is Sidney Lanfield, but Hollywood scuttlebutt asserts that Tashlin
finished the picture.
The
movie is based on Damon Runyon’s short story. “The Lemon Drop Kid†is Hope, of
course, and although we never know his real name, everyone calls him “Kid.†He
earned the moniker because he’s addicted to lemon drops, boxes of which he always
carries. Kid is a con-man and swindler who illegally touts horses at the track,
among other schemes. Unfortunately, he runs afoul with gangsters Moose Moran
and Oxford Charlie (Fred Clark and Lloyd Nolan, respectively). His
sometimes-girlfriend, Brainey (Marilyn Maxwell), is also a moll for Charlie,
but one senses that her heart is more in line with the Kid. When a con goes bad
and Moran loses money, he gives the Kid a deadline to come up with the dough he
lost (ten grand) or it’s curtains. The Kid then begins a series of questionable
money-making plots at Christmas time that involve a gang of ne’er-do-wells
(played by such character actors as William Frawley, Jay C. Flippen, Tor
Johnson, and others) dressed as Santa Claus, and an “old ladies home,†where
his friend Nellie (Jane Darwell) is trying to reside. One memorable set piece
in the final reel is Hope disguising himself as one of these old ladies and
performing in drag.
There
is much to admire, especially from the likes of the supporting cast, and Hope
is genuinely funny and winning in the picture (in some of his movies he can be
rather annoying, in this reviewer’s opinion). Perhaps the biggest legacy of The
Lemon Drop Kid is the introduction of the Christmas perennial classic song,
“Silver Bells†(by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans).
Kino
Lorber’s new Blu-ray release looks quite good in its 1920x1080p high definition
restoration. Alas, there are no supplements included with the disk.
If
you like Christmas movies with laughs, or are a Bob Hope aficionado, then The
Lemon Drop Kid is for you.
Mill Creek Entertainment has released a Blu-ray double feature of "Dad" starring Jack Lemmon and "I'm Not Rappaport" starring Lemmon's long-time pal and frequent co-star Walter Matthau. Of the two, "Dad" is the vehicle that was aimed at mainstream audiences, while "Rappaport" seems to have been created for its intended audience, the big city art house cinema crowd. "Dad" stars Lemmon, playing older than his actual years, as Jake Tremont, a retired blue collar worker who resides with his wife, Bette (Olympia Dukakis). Like most older couples, the Tremonts have long adjusted to a routine lifestyle. In this case, Bette wears the pants in the household, to coin an old phrase. She loves and cares for Jake, but displays all the warmth of a Marine drill instructor, as she orders her meek husband about and makes virtually every decision. Jake is comfortable with this, as he is a low-key guy who long ago decided to allow Bette to establish a matriarchy in the household. When Bette is stricken by a heart attack and hospitalized, Jake is a like a fish out of water. His somewhat estranged son John (Ted Danson), a high-powered self-employed financier, has to reluctantly leave his workaholic lifestyle to look after Jake, with some limited assistance from his sister (Kathy Baker), who is busy raising her own family. In a predictable fashion, the high-strung John tries to connect with his father and bridge the chasm between them that has existed for decades. However, when Jake suffers his own medical problems, John takes a leave of absence, moves in permanently and gallantly assumes all of the household duties as well as medical care for his ailing father. The surprise arrival of his own estranged son Billy (Ethan Hawke), who adores his grandfather, gives the male family members the opportunity to patch up old feuds even while they deal with the deteriorating conditions of Jake and Bette.
There's a lot more to the tale than the above synopsis but we wouldn't
want to divulge spoilers. "Dad" was the feature film directorial debut
for Gary David Goldberg, who also wrote the screenplay (based upon
William Wharton's novel) and produced, as well. Goldberg was primarily
known for directing TV sitcoms and that experience comes close to
undermining the dramatic impact of "Dad", with some over-the-top cutesy
scenes that are straight out of a Hallmark Channel TV movie. However,
Lemmon's marvelous performance serves as an anchor for the main plot and
all of the supporting cast members (including Kevin Spacey) give
impressive performances. Most of all, the movie speaks truth to anyone
who has had to face the seemingly insurmountable challenge of caring for
an aging parent. "Dad" is at times mawkish but in the end, its
attributes outweigh its flaws.
“Son
of Ali Baba,†a 1952 Arabian Nights programmer from Universal-International
Pictures, is available in a Blu-ray edition from Kino Lorber Studio
Classics.The 1080p
MPEG-4 AVC encoded
transfer displays the film’s beautiful Technicolor photography to impressive
effect.In the story, the title
character, Kashma (Tony Curtis), is enrolled as a cadet at the Imperial
Military Academy in medieval Persia.Life at the academy combines the glamor of West Point, Animal House, and
the 1970s Playboy Mansion.After a day
of practicing cavalry maneuvers, the cadets retire to Kashma’s lavish villa to
get drunk and fool around with beautiful girls.The Caliph’s son, Hussein, crashes the party without an invitation, gets
into a fight with Kashma, and winds up in young Baba’s ornamental pool.He doesn’t take the humiliation
lightly.Already on the outs with
Kashma, he swears to get even.Hussein
is played by Hugh O’Brian, who was cast as bad guys as often as good guys in
this early stage of his career, before becoming TV’s Wyatt Earp.In the meantime, the equally malicious Caliph
(Victor Jory) hates Ali Baba (Morris Ankrum) as vehemently as his son despises
Kashma.Envying Ali Baba’s fortune, he
schemes to discredit the venerable hero and seize his wealth for himself.The chance comes when a mysterious young
woman (Piper Laurie) sneaks into Kashma’s villa and identifies herself as Kiki,
a runaway slave girl.When that story
comes into question, she admits that she’s actually a royal, Princess Azura of
Fez.Either way, she claims to be a
fugitive from the Caliph’s harem.Kashma
helps her get away and takes her to Dad’s estate.“There is my father’s palace, and yonder lies
the Valley of the Sun,†he says as they approach their destination, a line
immortalized if widely misquoted as, “Yondah lies the castle of my fadduh, the
king.â€
Unknown
to Kashma, the situation plays into the Caliph’s plans for a hostile takeover
of Ali Baba’s riches.As the Caliph
hatches a scheme that puts Ali and Kashma at odds with the all-powerful Shah of
Persia, the lines of allegiance are drawn.On one side are the bad guys -- the Caliph, Hussein, and their private
army; on the other are the good guys, who wouldn’t be out of place on a modern
teen-oriented TV series like “Stargirl†or “Riverdaleâ€-- Kashma, his best buddy Mustapha (William
Reynolds), and his childhood friend Tala (Susan Cabot), an expert with the bow
and arrow.Thanks to the need to fill
out 75 minutes of running time, it isn’t clear which side Princess Azura is
actually on.Once Tala appears, we’re
led to wonder (although not too strenuously) which beauty will end up in
Kashma’s arms, Azura or Tala.
At
the high tide of the Hollywood studio system in the early 1950s, pictures like
“Son of Ali Baba†were produced by the score with two goals in mind.One purpose was to provide moviegoers with an
evening’s worth of light entertainment unlikely to tax anyone’s intellectual
capacity.Names like Ali Baba, Sinbad,
Monte Cristo, and Robin Hood on the theater marquee promised escape from
worries about bills, mortgages, and the Bomb, at least for 90 minutes or
so.The second goal was to showcase
young actors like Tony Curtis whose fan clubs could be counted on to fill
theater seats.Since Curtis was
essentially hired help at U-I as a contract player, the studio stood to benefit
as much as the actor, if not more so, by courting that segment of the
population.And so at the outset, Gerald
Drayson Adams’ script for “Son of Ali Baba†mostly serves up scenes in which
the exuberant Curtis flirts with, charms, embraces, and kisses various young
actresses in harem costumes.A slide
show of publicity photos could have served the same purpose, at least for the
actor’s most devoted female fans of the high-school persuasion (and maybe, in
closeted Eisenhower-era small towns, not a few male ticket-buyers as
well).
Once
the plot picks up momentum about half an hour in, “Son of Ali Baba†becomes a
pleasant enough Arabian Nights adventure.As Hussein and his gang burn down Ali Baba’s country estate and haul him
off to the Caliph’s dungeon, Kashma evolves from a carefree, privileged playboy
to inspirational avenger.If that
strikes you as a corny conceit that wouldn’t fly with today’s jaded audiences,
you must not have seen any of Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man movies over the past
decade.At this juncture, too, director
Kurt Neumann begins to show some interest in his dramatis personae,
particularly when Tala enters the story.Neumann (1908-58), a German emigre mostly relegated to B-movies in
Hollywood, seemed fascinated by disruptive, unpredictable, and often doomed
characters.Since her heart is in the
right place, Susan Cabot’s steely Tala isn’t quite as unsettling as Neumann’s
crowning example of the type, Mari Blanchard’s ruthless Kyra Zelas in “She
Devil†(1957), but she gives the story a welcome edge anyway when she shows
up.The picture’s most visceral scenes
of violence result from Tala’s archery and not Kashma’s sword fights.Even Kashma’s airheaded groupies Calu (Alice
Kelley) and Theda (Barbara Knudson) -- inseparable from the other eye candy in
the early scenes -- come to life with some amusing business toward the
end.Despondent because all the cadets
have been confined to barracks during Kashma’s uprising against the Caliph,
they’re overjoyed when the troop is released to help the hero.Hurrying over to the academy, they try to
catch the cadets‘ attention as the guys rush past with more pressing business
at hand.“Boys, boys, here we are!†they
call hopefully, like contestants today on “Love Island†and “The Bachelor.â€Even kids of the Tik Tok generation are
likely to experience an amused shock of recognition, whatever their interest in
the Arabian Nights or lack thereof.
Special
features on the Kino Lorber Blu-ray include the original theatrical trailer
(“Not even Aladdin’s Lamp could deliver entertainment as spectacular as . . .
‘SON OF ALI BABA’!â€) and perceptive audio commentary by Lee Gambin that points
up, among other observations, the sleek studio production values that
unsympathetic critics usually overlook in unassuming pictures like “Son of Ali
Baba.â€
Paramount has released a superb, newly restored Blu-ray edition of William Wyler's delightful classic "Roman Holiday" starring Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn (in her star-making role) and Eddie Albert. Paramount Home Video recently held a press conference with film historian Leonard Maltin and the studio's Head of Archives Andrea Kalas, who detailed the painstaking time and effort that went into making the film look better than ever. She explained the during filming, the laboratory in Rome caused damage to the original negative. With the crude technology of the era, the final release prints were not able to eradicate all of the flaws. Today, however, the situation is far better and "Roman Holiday" has never looked so good. The movie was one of the first major Hollywood productions to be shot entirely abroad and the on-location aspect in Rome allows the film to capture the flavor and delights of "The Eternal City". Best of all are the three stars, with Peck, Hepburn and Albert all adding immeasurably to the movie's status as a classic. Don't miss this one. Kudos to Paramount for putting so much time and expense into preserving a true cinematic gem.
Here is the official press release:
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – The treasured and enduring
classic ROMAN HOLIDAY debuts on Blu-ray for the first time ever
as part of the Paramount Presents line on September 15, 2020 from Paramount
Home Entertainment.
The exquisite Audrey Hepburn lights up the screen in her first
starring role opposite the charismatic Gregory Peck in this funny, beautiful,
and intoxicating romantic comedy. Ranked as the #4 greatest love story of
all time by the American Film Institute, ROMAN HOLIDAY earned 10
Academy Award® nominations, including Best Picture, and won Best Actress for
Hepburn, Best Costume Design for legendary designer Edith Head, and Best
Writing for Dalton Trumbo.
About the Film
Director William Wyler’s 1953 fairy tale was one of Hollywood’s
first on-location motion pictures and memorably captures the bustling streets
and iconic sites of Rome. ROMAN HOLIDAY expresses the
exhilaration of joyously breaking free as the lead character escapes her royal
obligations against the backdrop of post-war Europe embracing long-awaited
peace.
Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo was blacklisted for refusing to
cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee and his name was not
included in the film’s original credits. In 1992 the Board of Governors
of the Academy voted to finally credit Trumbo for the “Story Writing†Oscar and
his widow received a statuette in 1993. In 2011, the WGA restored
Trumbo’s name to the screenwriting credits. This is the first physical
home entertainment release to correctly credit Dalton Trumbo with both the
screenplay and story by credits both on packaging and the film itself.
About the Restoration
The original negative was processed at a local film lab in Rome
and was unfortunately badly scratched and damaged. The film had to be
pieced back together, but the splices were so weak due to the damage that
extensive amounts of tape had to be used to allow the negative to make it
through a printing machine. Because of the fragile state of the negative,
a Dupe Negative was made and then blown up a few thousandths of an inch to
cover all the splice tape that held the original negative together.
In anticipation of this new Blu-ray release, the film was
digitally restored using the Dupe Negative and a Fine Grain element to capture
the best possible image. Every frame was reviewed, and the film received
extensive clean up to remove thousands of scratches, bits of dirt, and other
damage. Because audio elements to properly up-mix to 5.1 do not exist,
the original mono track was remastered, and minor anomalies were
corrected. The result is a film returned to its original vibrancy and
beauty that remains true to director William Wyler’s vision. (Click on YouTube video below for excerpts from the restoration press conference.)
About the Release
The limited-edition Paramount Presents Blu-ray Discâ„¢ is presented
in collectible packaging that includes a foldout image of the film’s theatrical
re-release poster, and an interior spread with key movie moments. Newly
remastered from a 4K film transfer, the ROMAN HOLIDAY Blu-ray
also includes a new Filmmaker Focus with film historian Leonard Maltin,
access to a Digital copy of the film, as well as previously released
featurettes on Academy Award®-winner Audrey Hepburn, Edith Head’s
Oscar®-winning* costumes, the blacklisting of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, and
much more.
Bonus Features:
-
Filmmaker Focus: Leonard Maltin on Roman Holiday
-
Behind the Gates: Costumes
-
Rome with a Princess
-
Audrey Hepburn: The Paramount Years
-
Dalton Trumbo: From A-List to Blacklist
-
Paramount in the '50s: Remembering Audrey
-
Theatrical Trailers
-
Four Photo Galleries: Production, The Movie, Publicity, The Premiere
-
About Paramount Presents
This collectible line spans celebrated classics to film-lover
favorites, each from the studio’s renowned library. Every Paramount
Presents release features never-before-seen bonus content and exclusive
collectible packaging. Additional titles available in the Paramount Presents
collection on Blu-ray include: Fatal Attraction, King Creole, To
Catch a Thief, Flashdance, Days of Thunder, Pretty In Pink,
Airplane! and Ghost.
*Winner:
Best Actress (Audrey Hepburn); Best Writing (Motion Picture Story, Dalton
Trumbo); Best Costume Design (Black & White, Edith Head), 1953. Additional
nominations: Best Picture; Best Directing (William Wyler); Actor in a
Supporting Role (Eddie Albert); Art Direction (Black & White);
Cinematography (Black & White); Film Editing; and Writing (Screenplay).
“ACADEMY
AWARD†and “OSCAR†are the registered trademarks and service marks of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Australia during COVID is largely a nation in
lockdown, some States worse than others, with State borders closed to travel,
or exemptive paperwork checked as you cross. The national death toll has now
exceeded 700, and the State that has suffered most is Victoria. The comedian Ross
Noble has commented that Australia is currently like a Spice Girls reunion –
everyone’s trying really hard, but Victoria keeps letting us down. Ouch…
The capital of Victoria is Melbourne, the one Australian
city that rivals Sydney in size and appeal, and probably exceeds it in
cosmopolitanism. With the city under curfew, the newspapers daily feature
disturbing photographs of the streets standing empty and bleak. The images
suggest the end of the world, but Melbourne has already been there. In the
movies.
These same streets were rendered deserted once before …by
Hollywood…for the filming of Stanley Kramer’s apocalyptic movie “On the Beachâ€
in 1959. The contemporary newspaper shots bear a chilly resemblance to the
production stills from that film. Did Hollywood get it right again? Was Stanley
Kramer more prescient than he could ever have believed?
A final shot in the movie - again filmed in a
Melbourne Street, outside the Victorian Parliament House from where today the
Premier fights a valiant battle against COVID - features a Salvation Army banner
reading “THERE IS STILL TIME…BROTHERâ€; while the usual overblown publicity
called it “The Biggest Story of Our Timeâ€, warning that “If you never see
another motion picture in your life, you MUST see ‘On the Beach’.†For once,
was the hyperbole deserved? Double Nobel prize-winning scientist Linus Pauling
said: “It may be that some years from now we can look back and say that ‘On the
Beach’ is the movie that saved the worldâ€. That’s some commendation.
Kramer was big on messages: “High Noonâ€, “Judgement at
Nurembergâ€, “Inherit the Windâ€, “Ship of Foolsâ€, “The Defiant Onesâ€, “Guess
Who’s Coming to Dinner†– yes, it’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world. “On the Beachâ€
was another of Kramer’s warnings, a more than appropriate one at a time when
the Cuban Missile Crisis was just around the corner.
“On the Beach†is a movie depicting the last days of a
dying world; dying from fallout caused by a nuclear war in the Northern Hemisphere.
It seems that some “horrible misunderstanding†launched such a war. “Fail Safeâ€
and “Dr Strangelove†were still to come; horrible misunderstandings, it seems,
were to become de rigueur as a means of triggering an apocalypse. After all, how
else would a nuclear war begin? Life in the North has largely disappeared. The
Antipodes have been untouched by the actual war, but guess what, folks…the
radiation is on the way, and death is inevitable. Hence those damning empty
streets, once cleared for filming, now eerily empty for real.
“On the Beach†was based on a novel by Nevil Shute
published in 1957. Shute was a British engineer who worked on the first British
airship and helped the Royal Navy develop experimental weapons for D-Day.
Following the old story of the insider being the one to see the dangers, he
soon began to warn the post-war world of the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
The scientist in the movie…one Mr Fred Astaire…yes, that one…explains: “The
devices outgrew us. We couldn’t control them. I know. I helped build them, God
help me.†The novel is prefaced by the now-familiar T.S. Eliot quote: “This is
the way the world ends…not with a bang but a whimperâ€. The theme, it seems, was
self-evident after that.
Shute had started writing adventure novels at night,
and was extremely prolific. While his style was highly criticised, he was a
top-selling author for some decades, remembering this is the era of such
prosaic but successful authors as Alistair MacLean. “On the Beach†is said to
have sold over four million copies world-wide, and is reputed to have knocked
“Peyton Place†from Number One sales position in the U.S. How did that happen?
Critic Gideon Haigh claims that with this novel “Shute had published arguably
Australia’s most important novel…confronting (an) international audience to the
possibility of…thermonuclear extinctionâ€. So what’s the Australian connection?
Post-war, Nevil Shute had visited Australia and saw in
it a place of greater refuge perhaps than war-torn Europe. He moved with his family
to Melbourne and proceeded apace with his literary career. Another best-seller
of Shute’s was “A Town Like Aliceâ€, the town being Alice Springs in the
Northern Territory. This was filmed in 1956 starring Virginia McKenna and Aussie
Peter Finch, and re-made as a television mini-series in 1981 with Bryan Brown
and Helen Morse. Incidentally, Bryan Brown also starred, along with his wife Rachel
Ward and Armand Assante (in the lead role), in the 2000 television series of
“On the Beachâ€. Brown played the Fred Astaire role of the scientist!
Kramer had a number of problems getting “On the Beachâ€
to the screen, not the least of which was Nevil Shute who disowned the
soft-soaping of such an important theme, and the immorality of the screenplay
with its suggestion of adultery. United Artists also saw problems, requiring
the film to be tamed for wider public consumption. There was, after all,
explicit reference to euthanasia as a major plot element, and though radiation
was the killer here, the film certainly avoids anything like nasty blistering
and any other physical deformity. The U.S. Navy was in no mood to supply the
nuclear submarine required for the film. A British diesel sub, HMS Andrew, on
loan to the Australian Navy, was dressed up for the part, while the Australian
Navy had no problem with allowing filming on board the aircraft carrier HMAS
Melbourne.
David
Lynch is one America’s national treasures as an artist. He is mostly known as a
filmmaker, of course, but he is also a painter and sculptor, a musician, and an
author. At the time of writing, Lynch is 74 years old. His filmmaking output
has slowed down considerably and these days he concentrates mostly on the fine
arts. Nevertheless, he is arguably the heir apparent to Luis Buñuel
as the foremost surrealist of our time.
And
to think… Lynch owes it all to Mel Brooks.
Okay,
maybe that’s an exaggeration. Lynch’s talent likely would have broken through
the barriers of Hollywood for him to become David Lynch in perhaps other
ways, but there is no question that Mel Brooks gave Lynch his first big break
in cinema.
Lynch
had made one feature film, Eraserhead (1977), a low-budget, bizarre,
surreal horror-comedy about fatherhood that became a darling of the “Midnight
Movie†phenomenon of the late 70s and early 80s. Then, as the story goes,
producer Jonathan Sanger got the rights to a screenplay by Christopher De Vore
and Eric Bergren about the life of John (in real life his name was Joseph)
Merrick, the so-called “elephant man.†Merrick suffered unimaginable physical
deformity from birth, lived in poverty in Victorian London, worked in “freakâ€
sideshows, and tolerated horrible abuse and exploitation. Ultimately, he was
“rescued†by Dr. Frederick Treves, who was able to get him a permanent home
inside the London Hospital until Merrick’s untimely death at the age of 27.
That’s the story in a nutshell.
Sanger
approached his friend and colleague Brooks about the script. Brooks was in the
process of forming a production company, Brooksfilms, which would make other
pictures besides his own comedies. Brooks liked the script and decided that The
Elephant Man would be the first feature from Brooksfilms. But who would
they get to direct it?
Another
mutual friend, Stuart Cornfeld, suggested to Sanger that he see Lynch’s Eraserhead.
This led to Sanger and Lynch meeting, and Lynch becoming enthusiastic about the
project simply because he liked the title. Brooks screened Eraserhead,
after which he told Lynch, “You’re a madman! You’re in!â€
Thus,
David Lynch found himself at the helm of a Hollywood picture budgeted at $5
million to be shot in England, and featuring such classic thespians as Anthony
Hopkins, John Hurt, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, and Anne Bancroft (Brook’s
wife)! Not bad for a man in his early thirties whose favorite expression was
“Peachy keen!â€
The
Elephant Man is
a landmark, powerful movie that is easily one of the significant pictures of
the 1980s. Despite its grim subject matter, it was a commercial and critical
success, garnering eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture,
Best Director, Best Actor (Hurt), and Best Adapted Screenplay. It’s a
monumental achievement, and it went a long way to show the entertainment
industry that David Lynch knew what he was doing.
The
movie is simultaneously harrowing, horrific, surreal, and beautiful. Shot in
glorious black and white, the “Lynchian†touches are ever-present, especially
in the dreamlike prelude and ending. At the time of release, fans of Eraserhead
could immediately see that the same director was in charge; for everyone
else, he was obviously a new talent to be reckoned with. While the film might
not be one of Lynch’s personal pictures as writer/director (he did co-write the
script with De Vore and Bergren), his stylistic signatures are all over it.
Additionally, the acting is superb. John Hurt, in the title role, is brilliant
and heartbreaking. Anthony Hopkins otherwise carries the film as protagonist
Dr. Treves. Anne Bancroft, as the stage actress Madge Kendal, is also winning.
Mel
Brooks did not put his name anywhere in the credits for fear that audiences
would expect The Elephant Man to be a comedy. Nevertheless, Brooks
deserves a great deal of credit for getting the picture made.
The
Criterion Collection presents a magnificent new 4K digital restoration with an
uncompressed soundtrack. The supplements are plentiful. Lynch and co-author
Kristine McKenna read (on audio) an engrossing lengthy section from their Lynch
biography, Room to Dream. (Room to Dream, by the way, is an excellent
book… it is a potent treatise on art, creativity, and life.) There are
archival interviews from various decades with Lynch, Brooks, Sanger, director
of photography Freddie Francis, makeup artist Christopher Tucker, and stills photographer
Frank Connor. Another audio recording from 1981 of a Lynch interview at the AFI
is a treat, but even better is the video interview of Lynch from 2006 conducted
by filmmaker Mike Figgis. There’s also a 2005 documentary on the life of the
real Joseph Merrick, a 2001 documentary on the making of the film, and trailers
and radio spots. The booklet contains an excerpt from the book Lynch on
Lynch and a reprint of an 1886 letter to the London Times by Francis
C. C. Gomm (played by John Gielgud in the film) about Merrick.
The
Elephant Man sees
its first official Blu-ray release in the USA with this must-have edition from
Criterion. David Lynch fans will rejoice, to be sure, but The Elephant Man is
also an accessible, moving piece of art that any lover of cinema should see.
$70,000
is hidden somewhere on the Fleagle family farm and everyone wants to find
it.Kino-Lorber has released a Blu-ray
of the madcap comedy Murder, He Says from Paramount in 1945 wherein a wild cast
of crazies will do just about anything to find the loot.
Fred
MacMurray plays pollster Pete Marshall who is searching the highways and byways
of rural Arkansas looking for a fellow employee of his company, Trotter
Polls.After he gets lost on a dark road
one night he meets the Fleagle family led by the whip-snapping matriarch Mamie
Fleagle Smithers Johnson (Marjorie Main).Aided by her twin sons Mert and Bert (Peter Whitney), Mamie believes
that Pete knows where the booty from a bank holdup that their sister, Bonnie
Fleagle (Barbara Pepper), hid on the grounds before she landed in the
slammer.Add in Elany (Jean Heather),
another Fleagle sister who is “touchedâ€, Mamie’s third husband (Porter Hall),
Helen (Clair Matthews), a member of a neighboring family who was wronged by the
Fleagles, Grandma Fleagle (Mabel Paige), who knows where the money is hidden
and finally, the many assorted Fleagle farm animals, and you have a wild
90-minute chase in the same vein as It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
Director
George Marshall, a fifty-year veteran from the silents to John Wayne’s Big Jake
in 1971, keeps a lid on the festivities and allows the story to unfold in real
time.There is much physical humor
including a classic scene where Mamie serves a meal to everyone at a lazy Susan
table.Everyone knows that one of the
servings is poisoned, but no one will admit it.The table swings around so many times that the lethal serving gets lost
among the plates.Another set-up
involves a crazed baling machine that ties up all the characters into large
bundles of hay.These scenes are played
without any background score as laughs are piled upon laughs and the gags just
don’t quit.The entire film is devoid of
music with the exception of a nursery-like tune that holds clues to the whereabouts
of the stolen cash.Elany continues to
sing this silly melody throughout the movie to the extreme annoyance of the
other characters.
Fred
MacMurray is terrific as the put upon Pete, constantly frustrated in his
attempts to locate both the money and his missing co-worker.One is reminded of his later performances in
the live action Disney comedies of the ‘60s and his role in the television show
My Three Sons.This film was released a
year after MacMurray’s turn as the duped insurance salesman in Double
Indemnity, which demonstrated the range of his acting skills.He would go on to play a real cad as Thomas
Keefer in The Caine Mutiny in 1954.
Murder
He Says was actually produced in 1944, the same year as Double Indemnity, but
held back by Paramount for a year.It
was felt by studio executives that a comedy could wait until the expected end
of the war in 1945.The studio still had
military pictures in the pipeline that it wanted to get released first.Ironically, it was service personnel returning
to the U.S. on the Queen Mary who got the first look at this film.
Marjorie
Main, an audience favorite from film and radio, is at her best playing Mamie,
the tough as nails leader of the family.She keeps her twin sons in line as she beats on them constantly when
they disobey her.Peter Whitney’s dual
role as Mert and Bert is flawless as many moviegoers at the time assumed the
actors were also twins.Brilliant
staging by director Marshall and the matte magic of Gordon Jennings allowed
Whitney to slip easily between the two characters.This is not the split screen of 60s
television with Patty Duke.The matte
lines here are completely invisible and the clever use of a body double make
you forget it is only one actor.Today’s
audiences might recognize Whitney as one of Rod Steiger’s deputies from In the
Heat of the Night. Claire
Matthews plays Helen, who spends most of the movie masquerading as the Fleagle
sister who robbed the bank.She plays
foil to Pete in their efforts to escape this house of humorous horrors.
The
rest of the cast is equally skilled although special mention needs to be given
to Porter Hall as the somewhat creepy inventor husband of Mamie.He creates a potion that makes people and
animals glow in the dark.Why?Because he’s just a little off his nut, like
everyone else in this loony story.The
scenes with this ghostly effect are also noteworthy for the work of Jennings
and his assistant, Paul Lerpe.
This
edition from the folks at Kino-Lorber is taken from a 4K master and the results
are beautiful.Black and white
photography responds so well to restoration and, along with the noir style of
lighting and photography, allows the picture to almost jump off the screen.
If
you are a fan of the dark humor of Arsenic and Old Lace, then Murder, He Says is
right up your alley. As with all clever comedies, this film needs to be watched
intently so as not to miss any of the witty dialogue.It would be funniest if viewed in a group as
many of the sight gags present repeated laughter as they build to a
climax.
Besides
the striking print of the movie, Kino-Lorber has including a feature length
commentary by filmmaker/historian Michael Schlesinger and film archivist Stan
Taffel.These two gentlemen know this
film inside out and they share many funny anecdotes concerning the cast and the
production.They themselves are funny
guys and this track is almost as enjoyable as the movie itself.Also included is the theatrical trailer.
During
these trying times we really need the opportunity to laugh and forget all of
our concerns.I recommend buying this
disc and getting comfortable for a clever and screamingly funny entertainment.
“Casablanca - Classic Film
Scores for Humphrey Bogart†(CDLK4639 ) was originally
recorded on September 6th & 7th, 1973 and released on vinyl (on both the
RCA Gold and Red Seal label in 1974). It was also released on a Quadraphonic LP
the same year. The album masters were remastered at BMG Studio D on August 18,
1989 and from that came the CD for which we are probably most familiar (a
successful series which came in a dark blue coloured tray and recognised by the
silver film strip across the top right of the cover of the 20 page booklet).
The recordings by Charles Gerhardt and The National Philharmonic Orchestra are
quite spectacular, from the opening Warner Bros logo and the superb suite from
Casablanca (1942) to Passage to Marseille (1944) to The Treasure of the Sierra
Madre (1948)… in fact, name just about any Bogart classic and it’s likely to be
included here. The vast range of featured composers varies from Max Steiner, Miklós
Rózsa, Victor Young, Franz Waxman and Frederick Hollander.This album always sounded good, and the truth
is, it still does. Vocalion have of course improved upon it once again to a
spectacular, higher level of clarity – thanks largely to the remastering from
the original analogue tapes by Michael J. Dutton.They have also added to the original playlist
by including the Main Theme to Peyton Place (1957), again performed by Gerhardt
and The National Philharmonic. Being the purists that Vocalion are, they have
also reverted back to the original 1974 artwork, instead of the later, lighter
RCA Victor CD. It’s a lot darker and slightly broodier – but for its
retrospective, attention to detail accuracy, it works on just about every
level. It’s a classic and a corker, and the tracks are as timeless as the
movies themselves. If you felt it was about time to add this one to the
collection, you can’t really go far wrong with this latest edition.
“David Raksin Conducts His
Great Film Scores†(CDLK4641) is another on
equal par with the Classic Film Scores for Humphrey Bogart. It was another of
RCA Red Seal’s Quadrophonic releases, this time emerging in 1976. Recorded in
England, David Raksin conducted the New Philharmonia Orchestra whilst Charles
Gerhardt served as producer.Opening
with the beautifully orchestrated Laura (1944), the CD is then separated into
two sections - (Scenarios from) The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) and finally a
suite of some 25 minutes from Forever Amber (1947). Again, this was another in
the same RCA Victor ‎/ BMG Classics which
saw a CD release in 1989. As above, this new edition from Volcalion’s SACD, Hybrid Multi-channel
series really advances the purity and production levels to grand new heights. The
quality is such, that you would be pushed to argue that this wasn’t recorded
earlier this year – in fact, I’ve heard more modern recordings that don’t even
get close. Again, this has to be attributed to the remastering of Michael J.
Dutton. When the man comes into contact with those original analogue tapes and
the magic in the fingers touch the soundboards, gold dust seems to emerge.True to their traditional values, Vocalion
have reverted to the original Quadrophonic artwork and provided a lovely,
detailed book. I can only hope that Vocalion keep coming up with the
spectacular; they remain arguably the best in the business. Both highly
recommended.
The
fifth Bing Crosby and Bob Hope picture in the extremely popular Road to… series
begins over the main titles, appropriately, with a lively instrumental
rendition of the classic “Brazil,†a tune by Ary Barroso and Bob Russell.
Animated stick figures representing the leads (along with Dorothy Lamour, who
was the duo’s perennial co-star in all but the final Road title) dance a
samba and set the tone for another globe-hopping “exotic†comedy-adventure,
this time landing in Rio de Janeiro.
The
Road to… series began in 1940 with Road to Singapore, which teamed the dueling popular radio personalities
for the silver screen. Road to Rio continues the successful formula. Two
playboys (Crosby and Hope, whose character names change with each movie,
although their “characters†are always the same) find themselves traveling to
some exotic locale in order to either escape a woman, gangsters, or pursue some
con job, only to get mixed up in a farcical plot with an equally exotic woman
(always Lamour). There are a few songs performed by both men or solo or with
Lamour, comic hijinks (especially from Hope), and even some action and
adventure.
This
time around Crosby and Hope are big band musicians named, respectively, Scat
and “Hot Lips†(because Hope’s character plays trumpet). The movie begins
exactly like Road to Zanzibar—the boys are working in a traveling
carnival and accidentally cause a fire that burns down the outfit. The
organizers are out for blood, so they chase our hapless heroes to the Louisiana
pier, where they stowaway on a ship to Brazil. On the boat, they meet Lucia
(Lamour), a wealthy young woman who is controlled by her conniving Aunt
Catherine (Gale Sondergaard). Catherine wants to marry Lucia to her brother,
which somehow will transfer Lucia’s fortune to her because of some mysterious
“papers†(the MacGuffin of the plot; they are always called “the papers†and
become ludicrously significant, and yet no one knows their contents!). To get
Lucia to do her bidding, Catherine uses hypnotism (apparently a faddish plot
device in movies of the period). Scat and Hot Lips both fall in love with Lucia
and she falls in love with first one of them and then both—just like in all the
other Road to… movies. Ultimately, the goal is to rescue Lucia from the
aunt and her goons.
There
are funny bits, to be sure, but if one is watching the series in chronological
order, Road to Rio seems a little tired. It’s as if we’ve seen it all
before—which is probably intentional—but we can feel them reaching for laughs.
Two highlights are the a) the musical number with the Andrews Sisters, who have
a wonderful cameo; and b) the antics of the zany Wiere Brothers, Eastern
European comics patterned after the Three Stooges who, in this case, play
Brazilians. Look for Hope sidekick Jerry Colonna is another funny bit during
the climax of the movie (“Isn’t it exciting?†he asks the audience, breaking
the fourth wall).
Kino
Lorber’s new Blu-ray release looks good in its 1920x1080p restoration. Alas,
there are no supplements included save for trailers of other Kino Lorber
releases.
Road
to Rio is
for fans of the Crosby-Hope series, the actors, or musical-comedies in general.
The rest of the world will be amused for 100 minutes, after which they’ll
forget it or likely confuse it with other Road to… titles they may have
seen.
Dame Diana Rigg, one of Britain's most esteemed actresses, has died from cancer at age 82. In the course of her career, Rigg conquered the mediums of stage, screen and television. She studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London and received praise for her work in classic theater. Perhaps improbably, she became a pop culture icon when she replaced Honor Blackman on the iconic British TV series "The Avengers" in the 1960s. When Blackman left the show to star as Pussy Galore in the 1964 James Bond film "Goldfinger", Rigg introduced the character of Emma Peel, playing opposite Patrick Macnee's John Steed. She became the most notable early female action star on television, practicing martial arts and often attired in provocative leather outfits. In 1969, Rigg followed in Honor Blackman's footsteps by appearing as the female lead in a James Bond film, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" opposite George Lazenby's 007. The film, considered one of the best of the series, cast Rigg as a countess who marries James Bond, only to be murdered on their wedding day. The movie was notable for its realistic and downbeat ending. Rigg's other feature films include "The Hospital", "The Great Muppet Caper", "Evil Under the Sun" and "Theatre of Blood", a comedic horror film in which she and Vincent Price were memorably co-starred. She thrived on television over the decades, gaining numerous Emmy and BAFTA nominations and winning an Emmy in 1997 for her performance as the evil Mrs. Danvers in "Rebecca". She also won acclaim for her role in the TV production of "Mother Love" opposite David McCallum in 1989. Rigg found late career success on television with an Emmy-nominated role in "Game of Thrones". In theater, she often concentrated on the classics, packing houses on Broadway and the West End. She won a Tony Award in 1994 for her starring role in "Medea".
The
Warner Archive has released Robert Mulligan’s Inside Daisy Clover on Blu-ray
and this new edition is a winner.
15
year-old Daisy Clover is a Depression era resident of Angel Beach, CA where she
lives with her mother (Ruth Gordon) in a trailer on the boardwalk.She scratches out a living selling
autographed photos of Hollywood stars that she signs herself.Daisy dreams of becoming a singer and enters
a contest sponsored by mercurial studio owner Raymond Swan (Christopher
Plummer).
Daisy
auditions for Swan, wins a contract with the studio and is immediately put to
work in a Busby Berkley style musical.With the help of Swan’s wife, Melora (Katharine Bard), Daisy is primed
to become America’s newest movie sweetheart.This includes removing her from her mother’s care and allowing her
obnoxious sister (Betty Harford) to become her guardian.Daisy, a rebellious sort, initially resists
these edicts from producer Swan, but capitulates at the insistence of Melora
who tells her it is best for her career.
Along
the way Daisy meets and marries the handsome Wade Lewis (Robert Redford),
although the union quickly fades as her new husband is incapable of commitment
and has a sexual preference for young men.Daisy’s mother is placed into a sanitarium and soon dies which takes a
toll on the young starlet causing a breakdown.Swan becomes impatient when Daisy’s recovery delays the completion of
her second film.In a fit of rage he
slaps her saying: “You don’t cost me money, you make it!â€He further threatens her future in Hollywood
if she doesn’t return to work within the hour.Daisy must now decide if the prospects of being a successful actress are
worth the pain and indignities she must endure.
“Inside
Daisy Clover†was directed by Robert Mulligan, who began his career helming
live television dramas during the 1950s.Later on he became known for several successful collaborations with
producer Alan Pakula.Audiences today
will recognize his work on classic films such as “To Kill a Mockingbirdâ€, “The
Stalking Moon†and “Summer of ’42â€.He
especially excelled at American period dramas and in working with ensemble
casts.The screenplay for “Inside Daisy
Clover†was written by Gavin Lambert, which he based upon his own novel.
I
developed a junior high crush on Natalie Wood after watching the television
premiere of “West Side Story†in 1972 and have enjoyed all of her films since
then.Although she was 27 at the time,
she was quite believable as a streetwise teen in this film.Miss Wood’s energy, spirit and naivete as
Daisy allow the audience to forget the age gap between character and actor.
Ruth
Gordon is in fine form as Daisy’s comical and somewhat distant mother who means
well, but doesn’t always do right by her daughter.She got a big laugh from me when a cop
answering her call asks: “You waited seven years to report your husband
missing?†“Wellâ€, she replies, “I didn’t miss him until today.â€
Christopher
Plummer, in an about face from his other major role in 1965 as the Captain in “The
Sound of Musicâ€, is simply decadent as Raymond Swan.He will sleep with the underage Daisy and
then toss her aside when she no longer contributes to the studio’s bottom
line.To Swan, actors are simply a
commodity.
An
early performance by Robert Redford demonstrates his ability to play a total
cad as Wade Lewis, the young star who seduces and abandons Daisy.Roddy McDowall is all prim and proper as
Swan’s assistant Walter Baines, Katherine Bard is the put upon wife of studio
head Swan and watch for a young, almost unrecognizable Harold Gould as an Angel
Beach cop.
Gavin
Lambert’s novel and script are an indictment of the early Hollywood studio
system and the harsh treatment of the acting community.While a complete work of fiction, there are
some characters and events that may have been based upon real life.Raymond and Melora Swann are not too far
removed from 20th Century Fox chief Darryl F. Zanuck and his wife
Virginia.Although it occurred during
the 1950s, Zanuck sponsored an unknown actress from Poland whose stage name was
Bella Darvi.Ms. Darvi, her surname a
combination of Darryl and Virginia, was a beautiful woman with little acting
talent.While molding her into Fox’s
newest international star, Virginia learned of the affair between Darvi and
Zanuck and soon sent the actress packing.
Wade
Lewis was a closeted homosexual, a fact that Swan kept hidden from the public
for fear of destroying the young actor’s career.This was very similar to what Universal and
other studios did for Rock Hudson.Even
Swan’s disdain for performers as nothing more than product could be likened to
Alfred Hitchcock’s alleged comment about actors as cattle.
“Inside
Daisy Clover†measures up to the usual standard of excellence we have come to
expect from Warner Archive.This is a
solid transfer of the film that captures all of the color and excitement of
Charles Lang’s original Panavision cinematography.Natalie Wood’s clown make-up in an on-set
scene with Robert Redford is striking in its clarity.The mono sound is bold and balanced with the
music sounding especially clean.
Composer
Andre Previn and his wife Dore wrote a terrific number for Daisy’s character, “You’re
Gonna Hear from Meâ€, which is beautifully staged by Herbert Ross.It begins as a film clip a preview audience
is viewing on small screen that enlarges to fill our entire field of view.It incorporates animation and is very much in
the style of a 1930s selection with Ruby Keeler or even Shirley Temple.“You’re Gonna Hear from Mâ€e is much better
than a lot of actual stage musical selections.The Motion Picture Academy messed up, in my opinion, for not including
it in their list of nominated songs in 1965.
“Inside
Daisy Clover “is a fine melodrama for those who enjoy backstage politics and
backstabbing.It has great acting and
characters you will love, and some you will love to hate.It might make an interesting double feature
with 1966’s potboiler “The Oscarâ€.Although it is thin on extras, which include a trailer and the animated
short “War and Piecesâ€, it is a worthy addition to your home library.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM THE CINEMA RETRO MOVIE STORE
Since the release of Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas" in 1990, it seems that every American crime movie has emulated elements of this masterpiece in some way or another. Who can blame the filmmakers? If you're going to crib, you might as well crib from the best. The "Goodfellas" wannabes are often undone by the pretentiousness of the homage to Scorsese's film while others successfully capture certain elements that don't overwhelm their own unique qualities. Falling squarely into the latter category is "Kill the Irishman", a 2011 production that preceded Scorsese's much-lauded 2019 film "The Irishman". 'lest you suspect that this was a case of the master cribbing from another film, think again. They are two completely different stories involving two completely different Irishmen. Had the 2011 film made any kind of cultural impact, chances are Scorese wouldn't have used the title "The Irishman" (which was chosen because the book it was based upon, Charles Brandt's "I Heard You Paint Houses" certainly didn't evoke visions of it clicking with movie audiences.) Chances are, you've never heard of "Kill the Irishman". The only reason it had any name recognition for me was because a friend of mine, actor Robert Davi, told me at the time that he had been hired to appear in the film. He mentioned it would have a good cast. The movie ultimately suffered the fate of so many other productions that were shot without major budgets or big box office names- it basically went straight to video after a brief, limited theatrical run that saw it gross less than $2 million. Recently, it's been getting some buzz from crime movie fans who streamed it on Amazon. After getting a couple of recommendations, I decided to check it out, expecting to see a "B" crime flick with a few memorable moments. In fact, "Kill the Irishman" is an exceptionally good movie on all levels and ranks among the better crime films I've seen in many years.
The film is another "ripped from the headlines" scenario based on real life events. However, because this particular crime movie isn't centered in New York, L.A., Chicago or London, the average person probably won't be aware of them unless you lived in or around Cleveland, Ohio, where most of the action takes place. (The movie was actually shot in Detroit.) It tells the tale of Danny Greene (Ray Stevenson), a proud Irish-American, who came into prominence in the 1970s. Greene was just another local blue collar longshoreman trying to feed his wife and kids by working at backbreaking menial labor under appalling conditions while his corrupt union boss lives like a Roman emperor. Fed up, Danny ignores conventional wisdom and takes on the union president, rallying the rank-and-file behind him. Danny's thuggish ways and willingness to personally dispense violence sees him win an improbable victory and become elected as the new leader of the union. For a while, things are good. He improves conditions and job opportunities for the members but soon becomes addicted to power and money and ends up being as corrupt as his predecessor. He gets into legal trouble, is banned from the union and ends up penniless and unemployed. The film chronicles Danny's Lazarus-like rise back to power, this time through brutality and corruption. Before long, he's the crime king of Cleveland and presides over a city besot by enough gang wars, bombings and shootouts to rival Chicago in the Al Capone era. He survives numerous assassination attempts, the departure of his wife and family and the betrayal of close friends. However, he makes a major error by taking out a large loan from the Gambino crime family in New York. When he can't pay it back, it leads to all-out war.
"Kill the Irishman" is directed with flair and skill by Jonathan Hensleigh, who captures the feel of the great Coppola and Scorsese crime movies, a job made easier by his own compelling script, co-written by Jeremy Walters. The centerpiece of the production is a towering performance by Ray Stevenson as Danny Greene, who brings depth and complexity to the role. Danny is a murderous thug at heart, but he also lives by a code of honor and truly cares about the ordinary working stiff. He's brash and courageous to the point of recklessness, surviving numerous attempts to kill him. (The film's remarkable and gripping opening scene depicts one such scenario.) Stevenson, best known for playing the comic book superhero The Punisher, deserved an Oscar nomination for his work here. The movie boasts an extraordinary cast of supporting actors : Christopher Walken in a small role as a Jewish crime kingpin, Linda Cardellini as Danny's long-suffering wife, Val Kilmer as an F.B.I. agent and childhood friend of Danny's, Vincent D'Onofrio as the only friend Danny can truly trust, Paul Sorvino and Tony Lo Bianco as Gambino crime family bosses and the aforementioned Robert Davi as an ultra creepy assassin. The production values are strong and the film looks far more expensive than its $12 million budget.
"Kill the Irishman" deserved a better fate. However, its availability on streaming gives yet another fine movie the opportunity to be discovered by a wider audience. Highly recommended.
(The film can be streamed for free by Amazon Prime members or can be rented or purchased for streaming by non-members.)
(A Blu-ray special edition can be ordered from Amazon by clicking here.)
101
Films will release The Deep (1977) on Blu-ray on 14th September 2020. A
lavish, suspense-filled adventure, directed by Peter Yates (Bullitt) and
adapted from Jaws writer Peter Benchley’s best-selling novel, this UK Blu-ray debut
includes a new commentary, a new interview with the underwater art director
Terry Ackland-Snow.
Included in-pack is a Cinema Retro mini-magazine,
covering the making of the film.
Gail Berke (Jacqueline Bisset) and David Sanders (Nick
Nolte) are on a romantic holiday in Bermuda when they come upon the sunken
wreck of a WWII freighter. Near it, they find an ampule of morphine, one of
tens of thousands still aboard the wrecked ship. Their discovery leads them to
a Haitian drug dealer, Cloche (Louis Gossett), and an old treasure hunter,
Romer Treece (Robert Shaw). With Cloche in pursuit, Gail, David and Treece try
to recover the sunken treasure.
Special Features
Cinema Retro
mini-magazine: The Deep 'Film in Focus' Special
Commentary with
film critic Kevin Lyons (NEW)
Interview with
Underwater Art Director Terry Ackland-Snow (NEW)
The Making of
the Deep
Select Scenes
from the 3 hour Special Edition
NOTE: This is a UK Region B/ Region 2 Blu-ray and requires a PAL format player or a region-free player to view.
Here's the original trailer for director Norman Jewison's Best Picture Oscar winner for 1967. "In the Heat of the Night" also won Rod Steiger a Best Actor Oscar. Sidney Poitier's Virgil Tibbs proved to be so popular that United Artists brought him back in the sequels "They Call Me Mister Tibbs!" and "The Organization".
CLICK HERE TO ORDER CRITERION BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FROM AMAZON
Of
all the filmmakers throughout the years in which we’ve had cinema, two have had
more books written about them than any other director. The first would be
Alfred Hitchcock. The second is Stanley Kubrick. The number of tomes that exist
for both is overwhelming. For Hitchcock, one can understand the depth of
material that can be mined, seeing that Hitchcock made over fifty films.
Kubrick, on the other hand, made only thirteen. One would think that no more
could be said about the genius Jewish kid from the Bronx who made good… but
that would be wrong.
Most
of the books about Kubrick deal exclusively with his work, because that’s
pretty much all we know about him. Stanley Kubrick was an intensely private
person, a family man who carved out a unique life for himself after moving to
the U.K. in the 1960s and making his movies there beginning with Lolita (1962).
He lived minutes away from the studios where his pictures were shot. Both pre-
and post-production was accomplished at his home. Craftsmen, writers, actors,
designers—they all came to him for meetings. Kubrick’s movies were
family affairs, in that members of his immediate family (his wife and three
daughters) all worked at one time or another on the movies, and he kept a
close-knit circle of employees who were considered “family.†There were no
scandals or personal controversies associated with Kubrick; hence, no
“tell-all†hatchet jobs are available. What “biographies†of his personal life
that do exist again end up focusing more on the films he made than what he did
from day to day.
David
Mikics, a Moores Distinguished Professor of English at the University of
Houston and columnist for Tablet magazine, has now presented the most
recent study of Kubrick’s work. How it differs from previous scholarly
publications is that it does include more recent discoveries from the
director’s archives that were unearthed since his death in 1999 and the
subsequent cataloging of his “stuff†by the University of Arts London and the
traveling exhibition that has enjoyed success around the world. For example,
there is more discussion about started-and-abandoned projects—at least more
titles than this reviewer has seen mentioned before in books (and this reviewer
considers himself quite knowledgeable in the subject). Among these titles are
H. Rider Haggard’s Viking epic Eric Brighteyes and a film about the game
of chess entitled Chess Story.
Mikics
does go through Kubrick’s filmography chronologically and offers insightful interpretations
of the works mixed with some production histories. Kubrick aficionados who have
read other books on the subject may not learn much new, but Mikics manages to
come up with some thoughtful analyses. Perhaps the most potent part of the new
book is Mikics’ chapter on Eyes Wide Shut, Kubrick’s last and arguably
most misunderstood final film. Very little has been written about this complex
and engrossing picture that still polarizes audiences (arguably, undeservedly!).
What Mikics fails to mention—like all other critics of Eyes Wide Shut—is
that the movie is an unfinished film. Think about it. Kubrick assembled the
completed cut of the film and viewed it for its stars, Tom Cruise and Nicole
Kidman, and a couple of Warner Brothers executives. Their responses were
extremely positive. Then… Kubrick suffered a massive heart attack and died only
a few days after the screening. At this point, the release date for the movie
was still four and a half months away! Anyone who has studied Kubrick and his
films knows that he edited his pictures up to the day of release and often
beyond it (he edited twenty minutes out of 2001 following the premiere,
and he edited a coda from The Shining after its opening weekend in North
America—and then deleted 25 minutes from it for the U.K. and European release a
couple of months later!). This reviewer has no doubt that Kubrick would have
continued to work on Eyes Wide Shut, tightening it, trimming it, and reducing its runtime by possibly as much as twenty to thirty minutes.
Still,
Mikics offers some interesting interpretations of this final work and how it is
indeed such a defining piece of celluloid in Kubrick’s life. He had wanted to
make the movie since the 1950s, but he was always being dissuaded (by his third
wife, Christiane, for instance) because he “wasn’t old enough yet.†At one
point, she is quoted as saying that Kubrick was “frightened of making the filmâ€
because it would hit close to his heart. Apparently, it did.
Stanley
Kubrick: American Filmmaker is recommended for cinema students and fans
of thisiconic filmmaker.
Director Robert Aldrich's underrated 1972 Western "Ulzana's Raid" is brutal but highly engrossing and presents Burt Lancaster in a terrific performance. It was one of several Westerns Lancaster did in this period that still resonate today: "Valdez is Coming" and "Lawman" remain at the top of the list along with "Ulzana's Raid".
Director Martin Ritt's 1963 classic "Hud" depicts a charismatic heel played with stunning brilliance by Paul Newman. The film featured Oscar winning performances by Patricia Neal and Melvyn Douglas and a gem of a supporting turn by Brandon De Wilde.
Director/co-writerLarry
Charles acknowledges it was an employer - the curmudgeon-comedian Larry David, who
unwittingly served as the midwife of the Masked
and Anonymous project.David’s disinterest
in popular music – and rock n’ roll music specifically - was no secret.Cornered and trapped in a one-sided
conversation with the passionate and gregarious television writer and music fan
Eddie Gorodetsky, the co-creator of Seinfeld
and Curb Your Enthusiasm was anxious
to escape the conversation.He suggested
to Gorodetsky his interest in discussing the vagaries of Bob Dylan’s mercurial career
- and the rock n’ roll world in general - would be better served by engaging in
a chat with Curb writer-director Charles.Gorodetsky did just that.He soon discovered both he and Charles were
huge Dylan fans, the two discussing the often mysterious singer-songwriter’s
career at length.
Although an ardent admirer of Dylan’s music, Charles admitted
to sharing no personal relationship with the artist.So it came as some surprise when some time
later he would receive a call from one Dylan’s representatives.He was told that the peripatetic troubadour
was interested in involving himself with a potential TV project and would he be
willing to discuss?Dylan was no
stranger to the film business, though the films in which the bard exercised
control tended to be artsy mish-mashes of varying interest.Only the D.A. Pennebaker-ministered and celebrated
documentary of Dylan’s 1965 tour of England, Dont Look Back (1967), had received any measure of critical and
commercial success.
Just as Dylan had subverted Tin Pan Alley song-craft with
his folk-song homilies, Dylan’s unreleased television film Eat the Document (1972) and his big screen epic Renaldo & Clara (1978) would
playfully toy with the film medium’s editing and writing processes and his own
self-created mythos.Charles would describe
Dylan as a “protean personality,†someone who realized early on in his life the
notion of “self is a construction.â€He
suggests “Bob Dylan†is simply a self-invented character, one that the singer
(born Robert Allen Zimmerman) would shed in personal social interactions.
Charles eagerly agreed to a meeting with Dylan.When the two decided to sit down together to
hash out ideas and write, Charles was a bit surprised by Dylan’s interest in
conceiving what he described as a “Buster Keaton-style†series of slapstick
television programs.As the notorious
road-warrior rock legend was playing in excess of one hundred concerts a year
between 2000 and 2002, Charles allowed that his interest was not as unusual as
it might sound: Dylan would pass a lot of his travel time on his private coach
by watching old Jerry Lewis films on the buses’ VHS player.But the idea that Masked and Anonymous was originally conceived as a “Bob Dylan
slapstick comedy,†is an interesting one given the singer’s somewhat dour and
humorless public persona.
In any event it was this premise that Charles and Dylan
would bring to Chris Albrecht, the Chairman of the Board at HBO.Though Albrecht would green-light the project
with a measure of enthusiasm – having someone of Bob Dylan’s stature associated
with your brand guaranteed a measure of residual hip prestige - the notoriously
capricious Dylan almost immediately deferred.Dylan informed Charles that his interest in the slapstick series had passed.He instead offered an idea for a
feature-length film project that he suggested they instead write together.Charles was game, acknowledging that anyone
deigned to “ride the Bob Dylan train,†was sure to encounter ups and downs due
to the songwriter’s mercurial creative shifts.When the pair finally finished their screenplay for Masked and Anonymous, the aforementioned titular masks went on from
the very onset. For starters, the pair had to convince the Writer’s Guild to
permit the masking of their scripting authorships:Dylan chose the pseudonym “Rene Fontaine,â€
Charles choosing “Sergei Petrov.â€
This new Shout! Factory Blu ray set of Masked and Anonymous generously features
a number of Special Features.The most
interesting of these are the insights shared by Charles in the 2020 featurette,
Behind the Mask: a Look Back at Masked
and Anonymous with Director and Co-writer Larry Charles.The passing of time has allowed Charles to
ruminate and assess the impact of the often-critically savaged film from a less
defensive –well, perhaps a better descriptive would be “protectiveâ€
–posturing.Charles would describe Masked and Anonymous, not unreasonably,
as “an apocalyptic, sci-fi, spaghetti-western, musical-comedy.†In his reminiscence, Charles allows that the
script’s “formal language†and portrayal of a future dystopian America might
have been too challenging a plow for general audiences. When the film was first released in 2003, the notion
of an economy-wrecked U.S.A. on the brink of collapse and in police-state mode
seemed wildly fanciful.Sadly, in 2020,
this premise sadly seems a more plausible concept.
Mostly ravaged by critics upon its release, the occasionally
self-indulgent Masked and Anonymous
nevertheless has its moments.There’s
little doubt that obsessive Bob Dylan fans will better relate to the anarchic, choppy,
and occasionally ponderous circus-atmosphere of the film.In many circumstances, the film serves as a type
of celluloid mirror to Dylan’s often bleak song settings and dystopian worldview.Charles believes we can see many of Dylan’s
fabled “masks fall†in the course of the film, and some level this is
true.But as one critic from Vanity Fair once astutely noted, “Bob
Dylan rigs every performance, no matter how direct, with decoys and trip
wires.His welcome mat is set above a
trapdoor.â€
Cinema Retro has received the following press release:
Joining in the international celebration of Federico
Fellini's 100th birthday, Criterion is thrilled to announce Essential
Fellini, a fifteen-Blu-ray box set that brings together fourteen of the
director's most imaginative and uncompromising works for the first time.
Alongside new restorations of the theatrical features, the set also includes
short and full-length documentaries about Fellini's life and work,
archival interviews with his friends and collaborators, commentaries on six of
the films, video essays, the director's 1968 short Toby Dammit, and
much more.
The edition is accompanied by two lavishly illustrated
books with hundreds of pages of notes and essays on the films by writers
and filmmakers, as well as dozens of images of Fellini
memorabilia. Essential Fellini is a fitting tribute to the maestro of
Italian cinema!
FIFTEEN-BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION COLLECTOR'S SET FEATURES
New 4K restorations of 11 theatrical features, with
uncompressed monaural soundtracks for all films
New digital restorations of the short film Toby Dammit
(1968) and the television film Fellini: A Director's Notebook (1969), with
uncompressed monaural soundtracks
Feature documentaries Fellini: I'm a Born Liar (2002)
and Marcello Mastroianni: I Remember (1997), the latter presented in its
193-minute version
Four behind-the-scenes documentaries: Reporter's Diary:
"Zoom on Fellini" (1965), Ciao, Federico! (1969), The Secret Diary of
"Amarcord" (1974), and Fellini racconta: On the Set of "And the
Ship Sails On" (1983)
Fellini racconta: Passegiatte nella memoria, a 2000
documentary featuring interviews with a late-in-life Fellini
Giulietta Masina: The Power of a Smile, a 2004
documentary about Fellini's wife and frequent collaborator
Once Upon a Time: "La dolce vita," a French
television documentary about the film
Audio commentaries on six of the films
Program from 2003 on Fellini's 1980s television
advertising work
Archival audio interviews by film critic Gideon
Bachmann with Fellini, Mastroianni, and Fellini's friends and family
Video essays, trailers, and more
PLUS: Deluxe packaging, including two lavishly
illustrated books with hundreds of pages of content: notes on the films by
scholar David Forgacs, essays by filmmakers Michael Almereyda, Kogonada, and
Carol Morley; film critics Bilge Ebiri and Stephanie Zacharek; and novelist
Colm TóibÃn, and dozens of images spotlighting Don Young's renowned collection
of Fellini memorabilia
Universal and Eon Productions have just released the new trailer for "No Time to Die" starring Daniel Craig. The film opens internationally in November.
Enjoy these vintage U.S. TV spots promoting American films released mostly in the 1970s and 1980s. We won't divulge the titles so you'll have some surprises!
We pay tribute to the eternal cinematic love story Somewhere in Time starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. Cai Ross provides an exclusive interview with the film's director, Jeannot Szwarc.
Simon Lewis provides a 12-page "Film in Focus" article detailing the trials and tribulations of making David Lean's ill-fated Irish romance, Ryan's Daughter.
John P. Harty examines the merits of another high profile boxoffice misfire, Richard Brooks' Lord Jim starring Peter O'Toole.
Mark Mawston entices actor John Leyton to give a rare interview in which he discusses his successful career as a rock 'n roll heartthrob and, as an actor, filming The Great Escape.
Dave Worrall shines the spotlight on Helen Mirren's breakthrough film, Age of Consent.
Gareth Owen's "Pinewood Past" column
Brian Hannan looks at boxoffice performance of retro film releases
Darren Allison reviews the latest soundtrack releases
Thomas Hauerslev celebrates the recent restoration of MGM's Cinerama classic The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm
Lee Pfeiffer looks at the dark side of director Blake Edwards' films with Experiment in Terror starring Lee Remick, Glenn Ford and Stefanie Powers.
Plus regular columns by Raymond Benson, Gareth Owen, Darren Allison and Brian Hannan.
EVERY ISSUE CONTAINS:
64 FULL COLOR PAGES
RARE STILLS AND MOVIE POSTER ART
EXCLUSIVE FILMMAKER INTERVIEWS
STAFF REPORTS ON FILM EVENTS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE
“Barton Fink†(1991), now available from Kino Lorber on
Blu-Ray, is the Coen Brothers’ version of the old, familiar story of what
happens to idealistic young writers when they go to Hollywood. Barton Fink
(John Turturro) is a New York playwright in the 1930s whose play about the
plight of the common man is a big hit. He’s Joel and Ethan Coen’s version of
Clifford Odets, and his agent convinces him to accept an offer from Capital
Pictures to go west and write screenplays for $1,000 a week. Full of his own
sense of self-importance, the naïve Fink believes he can go to Hollywood and
start a whole new movement of films dealing with the everyday struggles of the
working man.
Eschewing lodgings in a typical Hollywood hotel, Fink
choses the seedy and downright spooky Hotel Earle, whose only two employees are
Chet (Steve Buscemi), who mans the front desk, and Pete (Harry Bugin) the
elevator operator. He finds his room on the sixth floor in the middle of an
endless corridor lined with shoes left by guests who never make an appearance.
It’s perfect for his ascetic purposes. He sits his Underwood typewriter on a
desk with a picture on the wall above it of a girl sitting on a blanket at the
beach. Befitting his wanted need for isolation, she has her back to Barton.
The next day Barton meets his new boss at Capital
Pictures, Jack Lipnick (Michael Lerner).Lipnick is basically a composite of Louis B. Mayer and Harry Cohn, two
of the legendary studio heads of bygone days, and Lerner plays him as ruthless,
dictatorial, and crass. Lipnick informs Barton he’s been assigned to write a
wrestling picture that will star Wallace Beery. He tells him it’s got to have
plenty of action, but, of course, still have “some of that Barton Fink feeling.
Not too fruity. You’ll work it out.â€
Back in his hotel room, Barton starts to write the first
lines of the story about the dawn coming up over the tenements. But his
concentration is broken by the muffled sounds of a grown man sobbing in the
next room. He calls Chet to complain. A minute later there’s a knock on his
door. It’s the guest from the next room, none other than big, burly Charley
Meadows (John Goodman), asking if he had complained about him. What starts out
to be a tense confrontation soon turns friendly when Charley breaks out a
bottle of hooch, and the two men engage in some conversation. Barton soon
discovers that the common man he wants to write about lives right next door.
Charley is impressed when he learns that Barton is “writing for the pictures,â€
and apologizes for disturbing him. “So you’re a writer,†he says. “If you need
any help, let me know. I got stories I could tell you.â€
Charley offers his help several times in the course of
the story, but Barton is so full of his own glorious vision of starting a new
literary movement he never stops to listen. And then a peculiar thing happens.
After Charley leaves he sits down at the typewriter to write but is again
disturbed, this time by the sound of the wall paper starting to peel off the
walls. He stands up on the desk to press the dripping paper back on the wall
and hears more disturbing sounds—a couple upstairs engaged in what sounds like
some kinky kind of sadistic sex.
A major motif of “Barton Fink†is the use of grotesque
sound imagery coming through walls. It’s as though we’re allowed to eavesdrop
on the madness and suffering being endured in individual private hells. The
next such instance comes in the men’s room at the movie studio. Barton washes
his hands at the sink and hears a man vomiting violently in one of the stalls.
He’s shocked a few moments later when famous author William Mayhew (John
Mahoney) comes out of the stall. Mayhew is obviously based on William Faulkner,
with Mahoney playing him as a waste out alcoholic who once wrote great novels,
but is now working on the Capital Pictures assembly line. Barton asks him if
he’d ever written a wrestling picture. Mayhew assures him that there isn’t any
type of story that he hasn’t taken a crack at and invites Barton over to his
office that afternoon to talk about “wrestling stories and other literary
things.â€
Barton saunters over to his office later only to be
greeted at the door by his secretary Audrey Taylor (Judy Davis), who says he’ll
have to come another time. In the background we hear Mayhew behind the door,
ranting and screaming in a drunken rage—another sound bite from hell.
A new poster design for the next James Bond movie, "No Time to Die" starring Daniel Craig has been released. It seems to reaffirm that the producers are sticking with their plans to release the film internationally in November, after having postponed its original March premiere due to the Coronavirus. The studio is obviously gambling that the worldwide movie-going situation will continue to improve by the time the movie is released. Some other high profile films have either been postponed until 2021 or gone direct to streaming. "No Time to Die" will mark Daniel Craig's final Bond film, as he has vowed to retire from the series after this entry.
One of the most popular and enduring sitcoms of its era, "McHale's Navy" ran from 1962-1966. The premise centered on Lt. Commander Quinton McHale (Ernest Borgnine), a PT boat skipper stationed in the South Pacific (later transferred to Italy) during WWII along with a motley but lovable crew of swabbies. McHale and his men are unconventional, to say the least, and routinely disregard basic military discipline. They are so unruly that they have been relegated to their own tiny island, which suits them just fine. Here they brew booze, entertain young women and run about dressed in party attire. They also manage to "adopt" a genial Japanese prisoner-of-war, Fuji (Yoshio Yoda), who manages to stay hidden despite indulging in all the excesses of McHale and his crew. McHale's antics are to the chagrin of their superior officer, Capt. Binghamton (Joe Flynn), who is constantly devising schemes to catch McHale and his men in a major infraction and have them court martialed. Inevitably, just in the nick of time McHale and his crew distinguish themselves in some sort of military action that brings them praise from the top brass instead of ending their careers.
The series proved to be so popular that is spawned two feature films that have now been released as a double-feature DVD by Shout! Factory. "McHale's Navy" was certainly not the first TV series to have a cross-over to the big screen. In the 1950s Walt Disney edited together several episodes of his immensely popular "Davy Crockett" series starring Fess Parker and released them as the feature film "Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier". During the 1960s and 1970s, the same process was used to release previously-seen TV episodes as feature films, though many were seen only in European markets. These included "Mission Impossible Vs. The Mob", "Mission: Monte Carlo" (based on "The Persuaders") and most notably, eight entire feature films derived from two-part episodes of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.". "McHale's Navy" was a more ambitious venture because, like the big screen versions of "Batman" and "The Munsters" ("Munsters Go Home!"), it at least consisted of entirely new material shot specifically for the theatrical version. The real thrill for fans of such shows was the ability to see their favorites on the big screen in color during an era in which precious few homes boasted color TVs.
The plot of the first film is reed-thin. McHale crew member Gruber (Carl Ballantine) tries to raise funds for an orphanage by devising a massive betting scheme predicated on the outcome of a horse race in Australia that has already been completed. However, the bettors won't legitimately know the results of that race until the newspaper is delivered by mail drop a week after the race's conclusion. Thus a large number of servicemen converge on McHale's island to engage in the betting. The trouble is that almost everyone is betting on the favorite: Silver Spot. When the newspaper arrives, Gruber discovers to his horror that Silver Spot has indeed won- and now the pot isn't big enough to pay off the bettors. McHale and Gruber stall for time and buy a week during which they must come up with the money to pay off the bettors. McHale and his men sail their PT 73 to New Calendonia where McHale reunites with a former lover, Margot (Jean Willes), a local saloon owner who he hopes will lend him the funds. She agrees to do so but only for a steep price: he must consent to marry her. Meanwhile, McHale's bumbling executive officer, Ensign Parker (Tim Conway) attempts to rescue a local French beauty, Andrea (Claudine Longet) from a bothersome local wolf, a rich businessman, Le Clerc (an unrecognizable George Kennedy). He earns her respect and his wrath but he also accidentally launches a depth charge that destroys one of the docks owned by Le Clerc. Now McHale and his men must come up with money for damages or risk being imprisoned. In a plot device that is as improbable even by sitcom standards, it turns out the valuable Silver Spot has gone missing and the crew of the PT 73 just happens upon him on a remote island. They attempt to win the money they need by disguising the horse and running him in another race under another name. The "Day at the Races"-like scenario falls apart, exposing the crew's deceitful tactic- but when McHale and his men thwart a Japanese submarine attack, all is forgiven and they are rewarded with enough cash to pay off all their debts. The film provides some pleasant entertainment and manages- ever so slightly- to spice things up compared to the TV series. (It's clear that McHale and Margot enjoy a pretty steamy past.) Also, the ever-virginal Ensign Parker finds himself uncomfortably close to Andrea as she tries to change out of wet clothing. Much of the fun derives from watching the great Joe Flynn and Tim Conway interact with impeccable comedic timing. The direction by Edward J. Montagne is well-paced. Montagne, who also produced the TV series, was an underrated talent, having helmed and/or produced the terrific Don Knotts feature films of the era including the cult classic "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken".
Edward Montagne was also in the director's chair for "McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force", released in 1965 on the heels of the first film's success. This time, however, Ernest Borgnine is nowhere to be seen. Borgnine told this writer years ago that he never got a clear explanation for why the film was made without him but said that theater owners leveled criticism at him, thinking he refused to be in it. In fact, Borgnine said he was flabbergasted that he had never been asked to appear in the movie. There were probably two motives for by-passing him. The first was money. By eliminating the highest paid cast member, Universal could keep production values low. Second, the studio might have wanted to give unrestrained screen time to the antics of Joe Flynn and Tim Conway, who were becoming an enormously popular duo through the TV series. In any event, Borgnine's absence is initially glaring but the as the film gets underway it turns out this sequel is superior to the original. The plot is more ambitious and the antics of Conway and Flynn are unrestrained. This film also affords McHale's crew- which consists of some wonderful character actors like Billy Sands, Gavin MacLeod and Carl Ballantine- to appear as something more than mere window dressing. This time around the plot revolves around a case of mistaken identity. Cutting through the clutter, it boils down to Ensign Parker first being mistaken for defecting Soviet officer and being arrested by KGB agents (one of whom is played by Len Lesser, who went on to appear as Uncle Leo in the "Seinfeld" series). Parker bumbles his way out of that but then becomes mistaken for a high profile Army officer (Ted Bessell), who has a reputation for being quite the lady's man. A lot of the fun revolves around the hapless, innocent Parker becoming a chick magnet for the likes of willing young women played by Susan Silo and Jean Hale, among others. Since the Army Air Corps officer Parker is impersonating is also a master pilot, he is forced to act as navigator aboard a bomber. Through a convoluted series of events, Binghamton ends up aboard the plane with him and the two wreak havoc before tumbling out of the plane on a jeep that is suspended from the cargo hull by a parachute. Flynn and Conway are like a modern version of Laurel and Hardy and I must admit that, despite the sheer predictability of their routine, I ended up chuckling out loud at numerous points. Meanwhile, McHale's crew gets some screen time when they switch uniforms with Russian sailors in order to sneak off PT 73 and go into town to get drunk. This, of course, turns out to have disastrous unforeseen consequences. The film also benefits from some other familiar character actors of the era including Henry Beckman, Tom Tully and Willis Bouchey, all of whom are marvelous to watch. Both films also feature the deft comedic turns by series regular Bob Hastings as Binghamton's ever-present aide and boot-licker, Lt. Elroy Carpenter, whose devotion to his unappreciative boss borders on the homo erotic. (I'm convinced the Mr. Burns/ Smithers relationship in "The Simpsons" is directly based on the Binghamton/Carpenter characters in "McHale's Navy"). As with the previous film, this one is a bit more mature in terms of sexual content, though it remains firmly in the category of family entertainment. The women's sexual aggressiveness would never have made it in the TV series (Jean Hale's character in particular makes it clear she can't wait to bed the legendary Romeo that Parker is impersonating). In another scene, Parker and Binghamton uncover a shipment of brassieres and both of them are clueless as to what they are.
Both of the Shout! Factory transfers are completely pristine and make for a highly enjoyable afternoon of "McHale" bing-watching. Unfortunately, there are no bonus extras.