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).
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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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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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.
$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.
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.
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€
“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.
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.