“THE DTs IN HIGH DEFINITION”

By Raymond Benson

In 1945, Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend was a big deal. If it wasn’t the first Hollywood movie to portray alcoholism as a serious problem, then it was certainly the most visible and influential one.

In the latter 1940s, Hollywood’s output changed from the sunshine-feel good-entertainments that the Golden Age had produced in the 30s and early 40s. American GIs came home from the war, and many were disillusioned and cynical. The war was the catalyst for Americans to “grow up.” They were ready to accept more serious, darker fare. Thus, we got film noir—crime pictures that were full of angst and betrayals—and we got the “social problem film.” The latter tackled subjects that Hollywood had previously never touched—alcoholism, racism, anti-Semitism, government corruption, and drug abuse. Titles like Gentleman’s Agreement, All the King’s Men, Pinky, and The Lost Weekend, which kick-started the trend.

Starring Ray Milland in a harrowing performance as Don Birnam, a hopeless drunk in Manhattan, the picture presents a “realistic”—for the time—depiction of a weekend bender, a binge complete with DTs and night terrors. Jane Wyman costars as Birnam’s long-suffering girlfriend, Helen. From the get-go, she sympathizes with Birnam and haplessly attempts to help him with his problem. Birnam’s brother, Wick (Phillip Terry), also indulges him, although he’s at the point of giving up.

The movie’s gritty wake-up call was likely the reason it won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay (by Wilder and Charles Brackett, based on the novel by Charles R. Jackson), and Best Actor (Milland).

That said, today The Lost Weekend has problems. Billy Wilder was one of the great Hollywood writer-directors, and his handling of the material is fine. Milland deserved his Oscar win, although he’s often over the top—which perhaps underscored the horror of the film’s subject matter. The difficulty that today’s audiences will have with the film is its naivete. For one thing, Helen must be nuts and a glutton for punishment to stick around Birnam for over three years. The biggest sin is the abrupt “everything’s going to be okay” ending, which will assuredly cause one’s eyes to roll.

In many ways, there’s not too fine a line between The Lost Weekend and some of the better cheap exploitation films about drug abuse and teen sex that were made outside of Hollywood and were exhibited in the manner of a sleazy sideshow. The difference is that Weekend had a big budget, stars, and the benefit of being backed by a major studio and was made in Hollywood. The sensationalism and morality-play aspects, though, are the same.

Kino Lorber’s new high definition restoration looks darned good, despite some visual artifacts here and there. The audio commentary by film historian Joseph McBride delves into the production history and offers interesting anecdotes. The supplements include the complete radio adaptation starring Milland and Wyman, plus a “Trailers from Hell” segment with Mark Pellington narrating. Theatrical trailers for this and other Kino Lorber releases round out the package.

Make no mistake—The Lost Weekend is an important American picture that broke new ground. One must always judge a movie within the context of when it was made and released. Nevertheless, 75 years has not been kind to the film.

For fans of Billy Wilder, cinema history, and a stiff drink.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

British actor David Prowse has died at age 85. Prowse was originally a bodybuilder before he turned to acting. His sizable physique and imposing presence gained him many bit roles, mostly in British films, beginning with an amusing "blink-and-you'll-miss-him" cameo as Frankenstein's monster opposite David Niven in 1967 spoof version of "Casino Royale". He would later appear in a small role in Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange". His most notable role was that of Darth Vader in the original "Star Wars" trilogy. The role allowed Prowse to capitalize on his fame for decades, as he was a popular fixture at fan conventions and autograph shows around the world. However, he ran afoul of LucasFilm when he publicly griped about having had his voice for Darth Vader replaced by that of James Earl Jones. Prowse also implied he had been cheated out of royalties on the films due to "Hollywood accounting". LucasFilm, which owned the series prior to Disney's acquisition of the franchise, banned Prowse from appearing at official "Star Wars" events. Despite this, Prowse continued to attend non-official "Star Wars"-themed shows and events where he was a big draw for fans and autograph collectors.

Prowse's other film appearances include "The Horror of Frankenstein", "Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell" and "Jabberwocky". Prowse would say his greatest career achievement was having been awarded an MBE for his popular persona as Green Cross Code Man, a superhero who appeared in British TV adverts in 1975 to promote road safety to children.

In the 1970s and 1980s, New York was going through some tough times, with spiraling crime and grime afflicting the great city. Director Michael Winner tapped into popular sentiments that society was falling apart and law enforcement was too overwhelmed to protect the citizenry. The resulting film, "Death Wish", was as controversial as it was a populist hit. Years before, the notion of a vigilante searching the streets of Gotham in the hopes of meeting up with would-be muggers would not have hit the emotional cord it did in 1974. Some critics called it fascist, others called it racist (despite the fact that Winner took pains to present a multi-racial depiction of the denizens of society). Yet, audiences responded with enthusiasm every time Charles Bronson (in a very fine, subdued performance) let loose on the villains. New York is going through some hard times again due to the impact of the virus, but it's likely Gotham will return to fine form once the current crisis has passed. Until then, "Death Wish"- along with films such as "Taxi Driver" and "Midnight Cowboy"- still serve as cinematic archaeological artifacts of a more challenging era that brought about plenty of problems in society, but also inspired some memorable films. -(Lee Pfeiffer)

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BY DARREN ALLISON

Austrian label Cineploit continues to steadily add to their impressive list of cult European titles. 2020 has been another successful period for the independent label and they round off this somewhat testing year with a couple of highly enjoyable and much anticipated movies. I must begin with Tecnica di un Omicidio aka The Hired Killer (1966), an incredibly unappreciated film that, in many ways, has escaped general recognition for far too long. From a personal perspective, The Hired Killer has been high on my ‘most wanted’ list for several decades. It was one of those films that first captured my attention by way of a simple poster that caught my eye on an otherwise unspectacular stall at a London film fair back in the 1980s. It was one of those rare instances where you simply made an unconscious link; you just knew this was a film that you were going to connect with. Several years on, I also came across a set of lobby cards and for me, it provided another 8 great images that continued to whet my appetite and raise my expectations. This was all before the days of the internet of course, an eventual pathway that would widen the access of film images to a much easier degree. A very rough VHS would eventually come my way and confirmed my initial anticipation- it was a film I loved.

The superb and much missed Robert Webber plays Clint Harris, an experienced hired assassin who is employed by the Organisation. Tired with the lifestyle, Harris wants to leave the business. The Organisation requires his services for one last job - to eliminate a traitor. Harris is usually a one man outfit. However, on this job he has the added burden of working with a partner and his potential replacement,Tony Lo Bello, is an early role for eventual cult favourite Franco Nero. Their target is proving hard to locate due to plastic surgery as well as several plot twists that undermines Harris’s trust.

Italian director Francesco Prosperi’s Italian / French co-production works exceptionally well on many levels. It is far from the typical looking Euro crime thriller and ‘balls to the wall’ action- orientated style that would follow into the 1970s. Regardless of several locations such as Lisbon, Paris and Italy’s Cinecittà Studios in Rome, the film makes good use of the bleak urban landscapes of New York and as a result, retains the look of a more mainstream American production. The film’s pacing also works to its advantage, it’s a cool, slow burner which never wanes but instead gradually builds in a positive way. The Hired Killer can easily be compared with several other films such as Jean-Pierre Melville’s French neo-noir crime film Le Samouraï (1967) or perhaps more closely with Michael Winner’s Charles Bronson action thriller, The Mechanic (1972). However, where The Hired Killer really exceeds is in its depiction of the loneliness associated with the assassin, the discipline of the lifestyle and the removal of any normal form of socialising. The Hired Killer is a bleak observation, a harsh, raw reality check without the aid of Hollywood gloss. Robert Webber is superb. If ever there was a film that reflected his ability to dominate the screen as a leading man, this is it. So often underused in supporting character roles or employed as a Peckinpah heavy sidekick, Webber truly shines as Clint Harris - it’s just a shame that it took a move to Europe to fully confirm this.

Cineploit has delivered a solid transfer of this forgotten gem and marks its worldwide 2K Blu-ray premiere. The colour pallet is muted but natural and fits in perfectly with the film’s overall urban atmosphere. The film is presented in its original 2.35:1 (Techniscope) frame and the DTS-HD 2.0

audio is clean throughout. The film is also presented with optional German and Italian audio with a choice of German or English subtitles. As always, Cineploit has produced another beautiful package. Extras include an exclusive featurette hosted by Eurocrime genre expert Mike Malloy, who examines the contrasting American and European films through the 1960s and 70s. At 13 minutes, it is both fascinating and absorbing and something you could watch for a dedicated hour or so without ever missing a beat. The disc also contains an impressive picture gallery lasting some 10 minutes.

Perhaps best of all, Cineploit have also included (in a separate chapter) Robby Poitevin’s complete film score. Presented in track-by-track or play all options, it’s basically the full CD thrown in for good measure. Poitevin’s score is a great piece of crime jazz in itself, and proves to be an irresistible addition.

All of this is contained within a stylish 28 page hardcover mediabook with UV Spot. The book contains an essay by Udo Rotenberg in German and English and is filled with Italian, French, American and German promotional material and photos. Cineploit’s generous standards are maintained with the inclusion of a double-sided poster with the two Italian locandina poster designs. There is also a choice of four different cover variations including two Italian, one German and one American poster designs - all in a numbered and limited edition of 250, 200, 300 and 250 respectively. A truly inspired choice of film, perfectly executed.

"Bruce", the beloved yet much feared shark from Steven Spielberg's 1975 blockbuster "Jaws", has been acquired by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The 25-foot fiberglass terror will be prominently displayed at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles when it opens in April, 2021, where he will hang suspended 30 feet above ground. In the pre-CGI era, Bruce caused numerous heartaches for the cast and crew and inspired the documentary "The Shark is Not Working" due to its countless malfunctions during filming. For more click here.

BY DOUG OSWALD

A French soldier and spy is sent on a mission to discover the location of a secret German U-Boat base in “Assignment in Brittany,” released on DVD as part of the Warner Archive Collection. Jean-Pierre Aumont plays Captain Pierre Metard, a member of the Free French army serving in Great Britain. He has an uncanny resemblance to a French farmer and soldier, Corporal Bertrand Corlay, a man with Nazi ties who ends up in a British hospital. The British devise a scheme where Pierre impersonates Bertrand and returns home to search out the U-Boat base. He spends weeks studying and memorizing everything known about Bertrand before being flown to and dropped by parachute in to Brittany and makes his way on foot to Bertrand’s family farm.

He runs in to two British soldiers who escaped from a prison camp and are making their way back to England. Pierre/Bertrand sends them to his intended rendezvous point where, when his mission is over, a French Underground member will transport them across the English Channel to safety. Pierre makes it to the farm where everyone is surprised to see him. Not only was he a traitor, but a bit of a cad and not too kind to his mother either.

Bertrand’s mother (Margaret Wycherly) figures out Pierre is not her son because he is more thoughtful and kind than her cold hearted and self-centered offspring. Pierre also meets his/Bertrand’s fiancé, the beautiful Anne Pinot (Susan Peters). It turns out, like Bertrand’s mother, she’s not happy to see him either. Bertrand’s mistress and fellow Nazi collaborator Elise (Signe Hasso) is happy to see him return and is the reason for Anne’s rejection.

Pierre is betrayed by Elise and another collaborator. He’s captured and tortured until he escapes with the help of people in the village while under the cover of a local festival. He quickly recovers and reconciles with Anne, who knows his true identity. With the help of a local villager, he discovers the location of the U-Boat pens and radios the location to the British who soon arrive with torpedo boats and a commando force. The movie comes to a satisfying conclusion with all on the escape boat singing the French national anthem

The film was directed by Jack Conway with a screenplay by Anthony Veiller, William H. Wright and Howard Emmett Rogers, based on a popular espionage thriller by Helen MacInnes. Known as The Queen of International Espionage Fiction, she wrote 21 suspense novels including three others which were adapted into movies; “Above Suspicion” (1943), “The Venetian Affair” (1966) and “The Salzburg Connection” (1972).

Jean-Pierre Aumont gives a very good performance as soldier and spy Pierre/Bertrand. The movie also features George Coulouris as Nazi Captain Hans Holtz and John Emery as Nazi Captain Deichgraber. Both give terrific performances as evil Nazis. Signe Hasso is equally sinister as the Nazi collaborator Elise. A few familiar character actors make appearances in the movie. Reginald Owen is British Colonel Trane, who sends Pierre on his mission. Alan Napier as Sam Wells, is probably most known for his role as Alfred the butler in the 1960s television series “Batman.” Richard Whorf is a villager suspicious of Bertrand’s return, Jean Kerenor. William Edmunds (Mr. Martini from “It’s a Wonderful Life”) is the local French Resistance radio operator Plehec.

Leading lady Susan Peters had a short-lived Hollywood career which came to a sad and tragic end. She was under contract to MGM when, out duck hunting with friends and her husband, actor Richard Quinn, on New Years Day 1945, arifle she picked up accidently discharged and the shot hit her spine, paralyzing her from the waste down. She and Quinn adopted a son in 1946, but they divorced in 1948. Peters continued to work in radio and helped develop a television series which featured her in the lead as a disabled woman in a wheelchair titled “Miss Susan” which broadcast for a single season in1951. The series was ahead of its time in depicting a disabled main character played by a disabled actor. Peters died in 1952 of chronic kidney failure and starvation. It is believed she suffered from anorexia nervosa. Her funeral was attended by many well known actors who were also under contract while she was at MGM.

The film was released by MGM in March 1943 at a time when WWII was still waging in Europe, North Africa and the Pacific. The outcome of WWII was still uncertain and the D-Day invasion of Normandy France was very much a Top Secret and over a year away. The movie is clearly designed to show France and the French people as allies in the war to free Europe from Nazi German tyranny. Filmed in Hollywood, good use is made of light and shadows, which works effectively in this espionage thriller.

This 2019 region-free DVD fromthe Warner Archive Collectionlooks okay, but has plenty of  artifacts. Nevertheless, it's probably as good as we’ll ever see it. The disc contains no extras other than the trailer. The movie is a fun action thriller and well worth a viewing.

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“I HEARD YOU PAINT HOUSES”

By Raymond Benson

It was a long time in gestation. The Irishman, also known as I Heard You Paint Houses (the original title and also the name of the book by Charles Brandt upon which it is based), is Martin Scorsese’s career-defining epic of a gangster film that is, more or less, a “best of” anthology of everything that gave the filmmaker’s crime pictures their buzz. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t unique and full of surprises.

At approximately 3-1/2 hours with no intermission, The Irishman is not only the longest picture Scorsese ever made, but also the most expensive. The key attraction to audiences is the combination of its powerhouse stars—Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci. Throw in Harvey Keitel, Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Stephen Graham, and even Steven Van Zandt (as crooner Jerry Vale!), then you have the makings of a gangster movie crème a la crème. (There are also some women in it in the form of Anna Paquin and Stephanie Kurtzuba, but they portray decidedly second fiddle players to the boys.)

The Irishman was shown in the U.S. exclusively on Netflix (aside from a few theatrical exhibitions to qualify for Oscar consideration). It was (mostly) critically well-received, but there were audience members who felt it was too long. Not this reviewer. For me it was akin to settling in with an increasingly absorbing novel that revealed its secrets, page by page. Nevertheless, perhaps it might have played more effectively as a three-part mini-series.

It’s the allegedly “true” story of Irishman Frank Sheeran (De Niro), a hitman for the Philadelphia mob run by Russell Bufalino (Pesci). The phrase, “I heard you paint houses,” is a euphemism for “I heard you kill people for money,” and that’s how the two men are introduced. Eventually, Sheeran becomes involved with Teamsters union boss Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino) and they become friends. History plays its deadly hand, though, and the mob ultimately decides that Hoffa is more trouble than he’s worth. Sheeran gets handed the task to betray his friend and whack him.

When all is said and done, The Irishman is about remorse. It’s the story of a man who ignored morality until it is way too late. At a time of his life when he’s seeing the approaching end—when he’s old, alone, and living in a nursing home—that’s when he finally comes to grips with what he’s done.

It’s powerful stuff. The Irishman, when absorbed in a non-rushed, no-distractions environment, is pure Greek drama filtered through an Italian and Irish lens that could only be manufactured in a land called America.

Of course, the performances are what carry the movie. All three main actors are fabulous (Pacino and Pesci received Supporting Actor Oscar nominations, and Pesci, in particular, for this reviewer’s money, steals the movie). The sometimes-maligned digital visual effects that de-aged the actors are actually quite remarkable—the result looks exceptionally better on Blu-ray than it did on Netflix! The film was nominated for a total of ten Oscars, including Picture and Director, but won none.

The Criterion Collection has thankfully been releasing many of the made-for-Netflix movies (the company recently released the same year’s Marriage Story). Criterion’s edition of The Irishman is top-notch. The 2-disk package contains the movie in a beautiful 4K digital master (approved by Scorsese) with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack. An entire disk of supplements contain the roundtable conversation between Scorsese, De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci that originally appeared on Netflix; a fascinating documentary on the making of film featuring all the key personnel in front of and behind the camera; a new video essay by film critic Farran Smith Nehme examining Scorsese’s formal style; Scorsese narrating an Anatomy of a Scene; a featurette on the visual effects; excerpted interviews or film footage of the real Frank Sheeran and Jimmy Hoffa; and the trailer and teaser. An essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien appears in the booklet.

The Irishman is a picture that will become richer with further scrutiny. Don’t let your single viewing on Netflix inform your judgement. It’s one of several Martin Scorsese masterpieces that will get under your skin and stay there, and the new Criterion edition provides the opportunity to explore it in depth.

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BY FRED BLOSSER

In Bryan Forbes’ “The Raging Moon” (1971), a sudden, devastating illness leaves 24-year-old Bruce Pritchard (Malcolm McDowell) a paraplegic. A friend asks if he was stricken by polio. “I don’t know what it is,” Bruce answers. “I can’t pronounce it, but it’s not polio.” Whatever the nature of his life-altering blow, he reacts the same way that most of us would probably react, with stony, simmering self-pity and anger. McDowell is at his intense best in those scenes, calling to mind the all-time master, James Cagney, in portraying a volatile character whose temper threatens to explode through his edgy quiet any moment. Now confined to a wheelchair, Bruce becomes a charity case and moves into an assisted-living facility. There, he sullenly brushes off overtures by the staff and the other residents. “How do you think you’ll like being here?” dutifully asks Reverend Corbett, who manages the church-supported institution. “I’m not going to like being here at all,” Bruce responds with a look that quietly speaks daggers. He remains in his glowering isolation for several months before becoming curious about another resident, Jill (Nanette Newman). Also paralyzed from the waist down, in her case by polio, Jill seems as outgoing and placid as Bruce is bitter.

His initial approach to Jill turns awkward. “I expect you’re glad to finally meet me,” Bruce says, masking insecurity with belligerence -- another fine moment for McDowell, well supported by Newman. Then the couple gradually but believably fall in love, discovering that each gives the other a strength and purpose they lacked individually. The relationship thaws Bruce’s icy resentment in general, and he begins to engage with the other residents. He and Jill decide to marry, but their ambition collides with reality when they’re reminded that the home lacks facilities for married couples. If they want to stay, they’ll have to continue residing in separate rooms. Bruce suggests to Jill that they live on their own. Another resident provides Bruce with a lead on a job that he believes will support them, and Bill the handyman, who works at the home with his wife Sarah, offers to build them a residence with needed accommodations for their disabilities. But even as the characters look ahead optimistically, a worse turn of events awaits.

“The Raging Moon” opened in the U.K. in January 1971 and reached American theaters the following September under a new title, “Long Ago, Tomorrow.” Maybe the studio executives feared that U.S. audiences would mistake a film named “The Raging Moon” for a science-fiction thriller or confuse it with “The Stalking Moon,” a 1969 Gregory Peck Western. A new title track, “Long Ago, Tomorrow,” was added for further appeal to U.S. audiences, written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach, and sung by B.J. Thomas. A retooled ad campaign described the movie as “a different love story,” an obvious pitch to viewers who had recently made “Love Story” a smash hit. Nevertheless, “Long Ago, Tomorrow” passed swiftly through theaters without making a stir, although Malcolm McDowell’s fortunes rebounded in December with the release of “A Clockwork Orange.”

Despite the attempt to link Forbes’ production with “Love Story” as a selling point, American audiences may have found its setting and vernacular too British and its tone too downbeat for their tastes. The institutional culture of the “place for cripples” (as Bruce’s brother thoughtlessly calls the home) is loosely but stiflingly regimented. Table tennis, chess, and basketwork in the recreation room are about the only diversions available for the residents. Reverend Corbett and his assistant, the Matron, seem to be well-meaning but lack anything more than superficial empathy for their charges. It’s a grim reminder that people with disabilities were generally marginalized in that era. Fans of “Love Story” were probably disappointed that Forbes avoids the hazy, feel-good montages and manipulative conventions of the usual four-Kleenex romantic drama. The denouement arrives suddenly, and if on first viewing it seems abrupt and rushed, a second viewing fully and affectingly validates Forbes’ approach.

A new Blu-ray edition of “The Raging Moon” from Kino Lorber Studio Classics presents the film in its original 1.85:1 format with fine audio commentary by film historian and filmmaker Daniel Kremer. Kremer discusses the movie’s origins in a 1964 semi-autobiographical novel by British author Peter Marshall, the film’s production history, its place in a long succession of dramas about people with disabilities, and Bryan Forbes‘ cinematic style. Bernard Lee’s name appears in the credits as Bruce’s uncle, and yes, it’s that Bernard Lee in a peripheral but welcome appearance. It’s amusing to see 007’s formidable M fiddling impatiently with a cheap instant camera at a family gathering, a rare but not singular comic touch that helps balance the generally somber mood of the story.

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(Fred Blosser is the author of "Sons of Ringo: The Great Spaghetti Western Heroes". Click here to order from Amazon)

BY LEE PFEIFFER

The darkest period of modern French history was the nation's humiliating defeat by Germany in 1940. France boasted of having the greatest army in Europe but was led by inept leaders who mistakenly used tactics of WWI. The French squandered the opportunity to strangle Hitler's rising armies, preferring to simply protest the building up of his armed forces in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. France and England declared war on Germany after Hitler's invasion of Poland in September 1939. However, a period of inaction followed, leading many to call the conflict "The Phony War". Although France had ample time to come up with strategies, its armed forces decided to fight a defensive war on French soil. The plan proved to be woefully inept in the era of the Blitzkreig. The fall of France in 1940 led to a period of political discontent that is still being debated today. In the aftermath of the war, General Charles DeGaulle, leader of the free French forces fighting from England, successfully marketed the notion that his nation was filled with patriots who consistently did all they could to resist their German occupiers. In fact, countless French patriots did indeed sacrifice their lives in order to do so - both on the battlefield and through the Resistance. Paris was liberated prior to to arrival of Allied forced by brave men and women who rose up to violently resist the most feared army on earth. Nevertheless, collaboration was the order of the day in occupied France. Hitler installed the WWI hero Marshall Petain as the head of state in Vichy, a region that was supposed to be free of German occupation. However, the world recognized it was a puppet state with Petain acting as a toady for his German masters. Petain and his co-collaborator Pierre Laval, maintained that appeasement of Germany was the only practical way for France to maintain some measure of independence. Indeed, France did avoid many of the atrocities committed in other occupied countries. However, the price of peace was full compliance with the Reich's obsessive oppression against Jews and any other group that was deemed a threat. Consequently, Petain and Laval capitulated by willingly complying with orders that meant certain death for countless French citizens. 

The subject of French collaboration was deemed so sensitive that Marcel Ophul's landmark 1969 documentary The Sorrow and the Pity could not be shown in the nation for years because it addressed the issue in a devastating way. In 1993, acclaimed director Claude Chabrol made his own statement on the subject with the release of his documentary The Eye of Vichy, which consisted entirely of French propaganda newsreels released during the German occupation. It's a fascinating glimpse into life in a totalitarian state. On the surface, Germany rewarded France for collaborating by allowing the niceties of every day life to go on as usual. The opera houses and movie theaters were packed and the elegant shops and cafes were doing brisk business. Behind the scenes, of course, the Resistance movement was being brutally suppressed and the nation was subject to a massive propaganda campaign designed to show the folly of siding with the "barbaric" Allies. Petain was given audiences with Hitler himself in order to propagate the falsehood that he was the leader of an independent nation.

“HEY NONNY NO, NANNY NINNY NO”

By Raymond Benson

The Christopher Guest “Ensemble” was on a roll after the success of the wonderful Best in Show (2000), which in turn was the follow-up to the brilliant Waiting for Guffman (1996). I informally call it the “Ensemble” because actor/writer/director Guest tends to make ensemble pictures featuring a stock company of ridiculously talented comic actors. Not all the actors appear in each Christopher Guest movie, but familiar faces are in every title.

It all began, really, with This is Spinal Tap (1984), which Guest did not direct (Rob Reiner did), but Guest and his partners in comedy, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, were likely the driving forces behind this “mockumentary” about a fictional rock band. The mockumentary genre, of course, is a comedy that is presented as if it’s a documentary. Spinal Tap was a massive hit and became a cult movie. It wasn’t until a little over a decade later that Guest pulled together some of the same creative team to make Guffman, which was about a small town community theatre (McKean and Shearer do not appear in it, but they co-wrote the songs with Guest). More importantly, the film featured the fabulous SCTV alumni Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara, who are today basking in the deserved success of their TV show Schitt’s Creek. Other Guest stalwarts were in the cast as well, such as Fred Willard, Parker Posey, and Bob Balaban.

Best in Show was next, and this time McKean was back along with Levy, O’Hara, Posey, Willard, and others. This one, about the world of dog shows/competitions, was extremely popular, and it paved the way for A Mighty Wind, a send-up of the folk music scene of the 1960s. Interestingly, the Coen Brothers tackled the same subject a decade later with Inside Llewyn Davis in a more serious vein, but the brothers put together an authentic live concert featuring many real folk acts in much the same way that A Mighty Wind brings together several fictional folk acts for a contemporary reunion concert in the film.

The Spinal Tap boys are back (Guest, McKean, Shearer) as The Folksmen. The New Main Street Singers is a parody of a New Christy Minstrels-style large ensemble group and feature John Michael Higgins, Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, Paul Dooley, and others. Finally, the duo Mitch & Mickey (Levy and O’Hara) were a couple back when they made records, but there was a painful breakup. They haven’t spoken in decades—but they’ve agreed to perform again for the reunion concert being mounted by the promoter and son (Balaban) of the bands’ deceased music producer.

All of Guest’s films are improvised by the cast. In many ways, Guest is the Robert Altman of comedy. Every performer here nails his or her character—and they’re all excellent singers and musicians to boot! The songs are clever and hilarious, especially those by The Folksmen. Mitch & Mickey’s love ballad, “A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow,” is such a crowd-pleaser that it was nominated for Best Song at the Oscars (written by McKean and Annette O’Toole) and both Levy and O’Hara performed it at the Academy Awards ceremony of 2004.

The Warner Archive has ported over their original DVD to high definition, and it looks great. All of the supplements from that edition are present, too—a wonderful audio commentary by Guest and Levy; loads of deleted and additional scenes; the complete reunion concert without edits; the complete “vintage TV appearances” by the bands, of which only excerpts are seen in the finished film; and the theatrical trailer. This reviewer especially likes the deleted scene in which The Folksmen argue about the lyrics to a song that contains the phrase, “Hey Nonny No, Nanny Ninny No”—or is it “Hey Nonny No, Nonny Ninny O”? (Apparently there’s an iron clad rule—Nonny comes before Ninny!) Oddly, the only supplement from the DVD that does not appear here are the “biographies” of the bands that were static screen text displays, but this being missing is negligible.

A Mighty Wind is well worth the upgrade to Blu-ray. The movie is a heck of a lot of fun, full of laughs and charm, and you’ll find yourself humming the tunes later. Highly recommended.

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“ANOTHER MANHATTAN VALENTINE”

By Raymond Benson

For a while, it didn’t look like we’d get to see Woody Allen’s most recent film, A Rainy Day in New York. Amazon Studios had been the company behind it, but when the #MeToo movement exploded in 2017 while the movie was in production, decades-old allegations against the filmmaker resurfaced, and Amazon dropped the picture. It had originally been slated for a 2018 release, but the search for a new distributor took another year. Finally premiering in Poland in 2019, and ultimately in the U.S. in 2020, A Rainy Day brought Woody fans back to an alternate universe Manhattan that exists only in the pictures of Woody Allen.

The movie certainly has star power. Timothée Chalamet is Gatsby, this title’s Woody surrogate character, and he plays a Yardley college student from a wealthy Manhattan family who is more interested in living a Bohemian, artist lifestyle than staying in school. Elle Fanning is Ashleigh, Gatsby’s girlfriend and wannabe journalist. They plan a few days’ vacation back in Manhattan around Ashleigh’s assignment to interview cult filmmaker Roland Pollard (Liev Schreiber). While Ashleigh’s off doing her work, Gatsby meets Chan (Selena Gomez), the sister of an ex-girlfriend, and there is some spark between them. Meanwhile, Ashleigh is taken with Roland, but also with popular Hispanic actor Francisco (Diego Luna), as well as Roland’s screenwriter, Ted (Jude Law). Ashleigh is bouncing between almost-dalliances with the three men while Gatsby is trying to make sense of his life and figure out why his relationship with his mother (Cherry Jones) is awkward, as well as the quandry of what he wants in romance.

It’s very typical Woody Allen stuff, yet another valentine to his beloved city. In fact, for fans of the filmmaker’s work, in many ways it’s a somewhat refreshing return to a milieu of decades past in which a new picture by Allen would evoke the illusion that we’re in a Manhattan that exists only in the universe of Woody Allen movies. A Rainy Day in New York is about upper class, snobby, intellectual young people who seem to have stepped out of the 1970s and into today. Therein lies the rub, as one might find these characters a little difficult to believe as real in the year 2020.

Nevertheless, it’s decent middle-of-the-road fare for Woody Allen. Since the New Millennium, the director’s output has been hit and miss (and more miss). This is an in-between. It’s enjoyable and will bring back much of the vibe that admirers of Allen’s work once felt when viewing his movies. For those who have turned their backs on the filmmaker, it will likely be a turn-off.

The actors are winning and attractive, even if their characters and dialogue are out of another era. The script may be phone-in Woody, but there are some funny lines and charming, sweet sequences that typify his pictures. Vittorio Storaro’s cinematography provides a gorgeous view of the city, and there’s no question that this is indeed a handsome, feast of a visual production.

MPI’s Blu-ray release is a no-frills package with no bonus features, but it looks marvelous. If you’re a fan, you’ll probably have a pleasant hour-and-a-half with A Rainy Day in New York. It will remind you of a time when a new Woody Allen film was an event, and the bittersweetness of the nostalgia will permeate your viewing. It’s too bad that the movie has so much… baggage.

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Four Newly Remastered Eddie Murphy Favorites Coming to Disc & Digital

Coming To America, Beverly Hills Cop, Trading Places and The Golden Child Arrive December 1, 2020, Before the Highly Anticipated Debut of Coming 2 America

Relive some of Eddie Murphy’s most hilarious films at home before Coming 2 America debuts! 
Own the following from Paramount Home Entertainment on December 1, 2020:

COMING TO AMERICA

Newly remastered in 4K with HDR from a supervised restoration by director John Landis, COMING TO AMERICA is an essential comedy-classic for your collection.  Available for the first time on 4K Ultra HD with Digital copy, in a limited-edition 4K Ultra HD Steelbook with Digital copy and themed mini poster, or on 4K Ultra HD Digital.

Join Eddie Murphy on an unforgettable comic quest to the New World.  As an African prince, it’s time for him to find a princess... and the mission leads him and his most loyal friend (Arsenio Hall) to Queens, New York.  In disguise as an impoverished immigrant, the pampered prince quickly finds himself a new job, new friends, new digs, new enemies and lots of trouble. Keep an eye out for both Murphy and Hall in some unforgettable cameo roles!

The 4K Disc presentations include the following previously released special features in HD:

·         Prince-ipal Photography: The Coming Together of America

·         Fit For Akeem: The Costumes of Coming to America

·         Character Building: The Many Faces of Rick Baker

·         Composing America: The Musical Talents of Nile Rodgers

·         A Vintage Sit-Down with Eddie & Arsenio

·         Theatrical Trailer

·         Photo Gallery

Click here to pre-order from Amazon. 

BEVERLY HILLS COP

This action-comedy classic has been remastered in 4K with HDR and will be available in a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo with Digital copy and is available now on 4K Ultra HD Digital.

BEVERLY HILLS COP follows the one-and-only Axel Foley, a street-smart cop from Detroit.  Tracking down his best friend's killer in Beverly Hills, Axel smashes through the local barriers in a hilarious, high-speed pursuit of justice. 

The 4K Combo includes the following previously released special features:

·         Commentary by director Martin Brest

·         Beverly Hills Cop—The Phenomenon Begins (SD)

·         A Glimpse Inside the Casting Process (SD)

·         The Music of Beverly Hills Cop (SD)

·         Deleted scenes (HD)

·         Behind-the-scenes featurettes incorporating vintage 1984 interviews (HD)

·         An isolated audio track of the original score by Harold Faltermeyer

·        “BHC Mixtape ‘84”, which allows viewers to go directly to the scenes featuring the hit songs “The Heat Is On,” “Neutron Dance,” “New Attitude,” “Stir It Up,” “Do You Really,” and “Nasty Girl.”

·         Location Map

·         Theatrical Trailer (HD)

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TRADING PLACES

One of the funniest, most outrageous comedies of the 80s arrives on Blu-ray as part of the Paramount Presents line.  Newly remastered from a 4K film transfer supervised by director John Landis, TRADING PLACES cemented Eddie Murphy’s star status.  The limited-edition Paramount Presents Blu-ray Discâ„¢ is presented in collectible packaging that includes a foldout image of the film’s theatrical poster and an interior spread with key movie moments.  The film will also be available on 4K Ultra HD Digital.

The very rich and extremely greedy Duke Brothers (Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy) wager over whether “born-loser” Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy) could become as successful as the priggish Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Akroyd) if circumstances were reversed.  Alongside the street-smarts of Ophelia (Jamie Lee Curtis), Winthorpe and Valentine are a trio ready for a riotous revenge that culminates on the commodities trading floor in New York City.

The Paramount Presents Blu-ray includes a new Filmmaker Focus with John Landis, access to a Digital copy of the film, as well as the following previously released bonus content:

·         Deleted Scenes

·         Insider Trading: The Making of Trading Places

·         Dressing the Part

·         The Trade in Trading Places

·         Trading Stories

·         Industry Promotional Piece

·         Theatrical Trailer

Click here to pre-order from Amazon

THE GOLDEN CHILD

Newly remastered from a 4K film transfer under the supervision of director Michael Ritchie, this hit action-comedy comes to Blu-ray for the first time as part of the Paramount Presents line. The limited-edition Paramount Presents Blu-ray Disc is presented in collectible packaging that includes a foldout image of the film’s theatrical poster and an interior spread with key movie moments. The film will also be available on 4K Ultra HD Digital.

Eddie Murphy is “the Chosen One,” a social worker on a madcap mission to find “the Golden Child,” a young boy possessing mystical powers. Joined by Kee Nang (Charlotte Lewis), they’ll battle the countless henchmen of Sardo Numspa (Charles Dance), the mysterious and evil cult leader holding the boy captive. It’s a dangerous quest, complete with obstacle courses and a mythical amulet, sharply combining Murphy’s wit with eye-popping special effects for an unforgettable adventure.

The Paramount Presents Blu-ray includes a new featurette on the Making of The Golden Child, as well as access to a Digital copy of the film and the theatrical trailer.

Click here to pre-order from Amazon

“LIGHT AND DARK SIDES OF TINSEL TOWN”

By Raymond Benson

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) has lately been getting into the publishing business with such tomes as The Essentials (two volumes) and now this handsomely-designed and intricately-researched book on some of the lesser known, somewhat sensational stories from Hollywood’s past.

Written by popular Instagrammer Carla Valderrama (@thiswashollywood and @thiswasfashion), This Was Hollywood—Forgotten Stars & Stories (published by Running Press) presents a bundle of Tinsel Town tales that have a slightly tabloid feel to them, and yet they are as irresistible as a sighting of your favorite star at Hollywood and Vine. Many of these accounts come from the long, lost vaults of movieland history.

For example, the book opens with the early beginnings of the town of Hollywood and how the “movies” (as the people in the budding film industry were called by the locals) took over and turned the sleepy community into one of the world’s most well-known cities. There’s a piece on the first movie star, Florence Lawrence, who was so popular that when she moved from Biograph Studios to IMP, she was promised that she would receive an actual billing of her name on screen. You’ll learn the remarkable story of how Rin Tin Tin was found, brought to America, and trained to be one of the biggest stars of the silent era.

Some of the stories you might know. There will be more that you didn’t. Clark Gable’s love child. Sessue Hayakawa’s years as a “sex symbol.” Olivia de Havilland’s lawsuits against Warner Brothers. Marni Nixon and her “ghost-singing” for famous actresses in musicals. And much, much more.

The hardcover edition comes with a lovely jacket that feels remarkably nice in one’s hands. Kudos to the designers of both the exterior and especially the interior, which is lavishly illustrated.

In short, there is enough silver screen archaeology and anthropology here to make any Hollywood history enthusiast salivate.

Also available in e-book and audiobook formats (although the latter would surely be missing the great visuals), This Was Hollywood is highly recommended.

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Writing on the Filmlink web site, Cinema Retro contributor Stephen Vagg provides an insightful look into yet another fine writer/director who never got the acclaim he deserved: Ken Hughes, who directed a wide variety of fine British films ranging from notable "B" movies to big budget gems such as "Cromwell" and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". Click here to read.

‘Directors have needed a book like this since D.W. Griffith invented the close-up’, wrote legendary director John Frankenheimer about John Badham’s first book, ‘I’ll Be in My Trailer’. ‘We directors have to pass along to other directors our hard-learned lessons about actors. Maybe then they won’t have to start from total ignorance like I did, like you did, like we all did.’

Along with Frankenheimer, there were names like Oliver Stone, Michael Mann, Richard Donner and Steven Soderbergh weighing in from the directors’s corner. Giving the actors’s side of events, such luminaries as Mel Gibson, Frank Langella, Richard Dreyfuss, Jenna Elfman, Dennis Haysbert and Martin Sheen.

Badham had gathered some of the most celebrated creatives in Hollywood to give us the benefit of their on-set experiences, and to offer advice about how these two very different artistic types can work together successfully on a picture. Of course, there was also plenty of anecdotal evidence that a film-set can be highly combustable work environment if director and actor are not particularly simpatico.

He told me, ‘The first book came about after a talk at the AFI when one student asked “What do you do when an actor won’t do what you want him or her to do?” And the entire room of fifty, sixty people suddenly sat up straight, and I thought, “There’s a book here!”’

His second book, ‘On Directing’, presented his own hard-won experiences learned over a 50 year- long career as a guide for budding young directors who may have all the technological know-how, but haven’t yet learnt that building a good relationship with your actors is the most important skill of all.

John Badham should know. Taking off like a rocket following his second feature, Saturday Night Fever, his name became synonymous with success after a long run of big movie hits like Dracula, WarGames, Short Circuit, Blue Thunder and Stakeout. In amongst those were smaller critically acclaimed films like Who’s Life is it Anyway? and American Flyers. By the 1990s, he had built up a formidable reputation as both a hit maker and an ‘actor’s director.’

A second edition of the book, released in October has been expanded to include Badham’s more recent experiences as a TV director; a resumé which boasts titles like ‘Arrow’, ‘Psych’, ‘Supernatural’, ‘Heroes’ and ‘Sirens’. The new edition brings in new voices like Allan Arkush, Paris Barclay, Ryan Murphy and Michelle MacLaren, who give their own no-holds-barred battle stories from the front line of blockbuster TV in the 21st Century.

Despite his brawny, all-American back catalogue, Badham is actually a Brit by birth, making his debut in Luton while his father served here in World War II. Moreover, he spent many months as a child staying with his grandparents in my own neck of the woods, North Wales. I chatted with this highly respected Hollywood veteran (and honorary Welshman) about his book, and about his 1991 hit The Hard Way, which has just been released as a special edition on BluRay by Kino Lorber.

As well as still directing hit TV shows, Badham is a Tenured Professor at Chapman University in Orange, California teaching Film Studies. ‘I’m teaching directing remotely which is fun. I’ve got people doing scenes on Zoom - I’m getting very good at Zoom.’

You’re the ideal candidate to have written a book about the relationship between actor and director because you’ve always had a reputation as an ‘Actor’s Director.’ It’s often the first thing any article about you says, including this one. What do you think makes you so good at coaxing great performances out of actors?

JB. Well, my earliest training was at Yale University as an undergraduate and later a director at the drama school. As you can imagine, theatre is extremely actor-oriented and working with actors is one of the key skills that you have to learn as a director. A lot of film directors never really get that initial training with actors. They’re great with machinery, cameras, lights, microphones: that all does what you tell it to do but unfortunately actors have this annoying way of being human beings! And they have ideas - at least a microphone has no ideas and won’t answer back. So, this is just something that I learned early on.

Was it a help being the son of an actress and the brother too? Did that give you something of an inside track on how actors tick?

JB Somewhat. I think I have some acting genes in me, I just didn’t get the best set, my sister did. (His sister, Mary Badham was nominated for an Academy Award for her role as young Scout Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird (1962).) But I still love acting. I love to do it when I get to an opportunity, and every single time it makes me appreciate how difficult and how stressful it is for an actor, especially the poor guy with one line. How can you screw up one line? Well, I’ve seen it more times than you can say.

Hence your advice in the book, recommending that you take as much time to chat to and encourage the guy with one line as much as your main cast.

JB That’s right, he or she is the most terrified one out of everybody! The guys with big parts have probably long since gotten over their fears. They’re probably less needy than the poor guy who’s come in for one day, who doesn’t know any of the players, who hasn’t had a job in a while. Acting, you know, if you’re not doing it regularly you can get rusty pretty fast.

I think you’re especially good at getting very naturalistic performances out of actors. I look back on films like Blue Thunder and Saturday Night Fever, and no one seems to be acting at all. Is that a style that you favour?

JB. I do. I want to really believe these people and in those two particular films, I used a kind of quasi-documentary technique in the acting scenes in particular. I always encourage the actors to improvise and ad lib, and they know they have the freedom to try anything which is very liberating. On Saturday Night Fever, the young cast were just thrilled to be able to improvise. Many of the scenes that have become kind of famous were just wonderful improvisations going on in the middle of a written scene. So we weren’t being quite as stickler about the text as we would have been had we been doing Shakespeare or Ibsen.

It does show that you have an innate instinct for what makes a great screen performance, as opposed to a theatrical performance. It reminds me of the story of Frank Langella giving an all-guns-blazing performance opposite Olivier in Dracula, until you showed him what it looked like in the rushes and he redid the entire scene.

JB Oh yes, and it took him a while because he’s so skilled as an actor on stage but he was trying to change a performance that he had been giving for eight months on Broadway, y’know six or eight times a week. Trying to change that is really tough. It’s like trying to teach a golfer a new swing; their muscles only go one way after time.

You talk a lot in the book about a natural animosity that exists between directors and actors - something that for the most part you’ve managed to avoid. That surprised me. I would have thought there was if anything a mutual inter-depencency. Why do you think this relationship is so fraught?

JB I think that many actors have just had bad experiences with directors who don’t know how to talk to actors, who speak in terms of results - ‘Be happier, let’s have more fun with this scene,’ and the actors privately, or publicly roll their eyes and they think that this director has nothing to tell me.

Some actors, like Brando, like to test their director on the first day of shooting, just to see what they are going to have to work with. Brando would give the director two variations of a performance, one of which he knew to be terrifically dreadful, and see what the director did. And if he didn’t pick the right one, in Brando’s mind he was done for the rest of the film. He told Richard Donner he wanted to play Jor-El as a giant tomato! Before he’d even visited the set of Superman, he went to visit Richard Donner and the writer Tom Mankiewicz and shocked them with this, and it took them a while to find a way around the idea!

BY FRED BLOSSER

In Paramount Pictures’ 1939 comedy-thriller “The Cat and the Canary,” six distantly related people converge on a creaky old mansion in the swamps. You know the kind. Secret panels in the walls, hidden passageways, dour oil portraits that watch you with real eyes, flickering lights. The six have gathered to hear attorney Crosby (George Zucco) read the will of eccentric Cyrus Norman, who died ten years before. There isn’t much family warmth in the group, since each person has fingers crossed that he or she will be the sole beneficiary of Uncle Cyrus’ rumored fortune. The spooky housekeeper Miss Lu (Gale Sondergaard) ratchets up the tension by claiming that the place is haunted. Meanwhile, a guard from a nearby mental institution shows up to report that a deranged murderer, “The Cat,” has escaped from his cell and lurks in the vicinity: “He’d just as soon rip you open as not.” Night is coming on, and there’s no transportation off the bayou until the next morning.

What could possibly go wrong?

Originally a popular 1922 Broadway play, “The Cat and the Canary” had already served as the basis for two films, “The Cat and the Canary” (1927) and “The Cat Creeps” (1930), before Paramount crafted its remake as a vehicle for two of its rising stars, Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard. It marked Hope’s seventh film for the studio and it was a critical and commercial hit. Moreover, it served as the template for many of the comic actor’s roles to follow. Wally Campbell, Hope’s character, captures the affections of vivacious Joyce Norman (Goddard) even though he’s openly nervous about the creepy goings-on around them, admitting, “Even my goose pimples have goose pimples.” A radio comic and former vaudeville headliner (already, Hollywood was tailoring its scripts to Hope’s real-life resume), Wally channels his trepidation into a running stream of one-liners. Thanks to Hope’s razor-sharp delivery, they’re still funny even if the frame of reference will escape younger viewers. On the way by canoe to the Norman mansion through the ‘gator-infested marsh, Wally cracks a joke that fails to amuse his poker-faced Indian guide (Chief Thundercloud). “What’s the matter, don’t you get it?” Wally asks. “Um,” the guide responds. “Heard it last year. Jack Benny program.”

The Benny allusion leads you to expect that Wally will riff on the “Crosby” name when he arrives at the mansion and meets Zucco’s character. The quip almost writes itself: “Hey, when they said Crosby was here, I thought they meant Bing.” But no, the name is coincidental. No Bing jokes in Wally’s repertoire. The comedian and the crooner had not yet teamed up on their iconic “Road” movies. Hope shares several droll scenes with veteran actress Nydia Westman, who serves alternately as the star’s comic foil and junior partner, much like Martha Raye and Phyllis Diller in other Bob Hope features and skits over the years. Like Hope, Westman had a long career in films and TV. For those of us who knew her as a familiar, fluttery presence on 1960s sit-coms, it’s somehow comforting that she’s equally recognizable now to our grandkids. Decades later, they’re watching endless reruns of the same shows on cable channels and streaming platforms.

The debut of “The Cat and the Canary” on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics presents the movie in the standard 1.37:1 screen aspect and richly defined black-and-white. The sharp image is especially welcome as endangered Joyce walks through the secret passageways of the Norman mansion with the Cat ready to pounce from the shadows. The old TV prints were usually murky, blunting the intended suspense of those scenes. Special features on the disc include the theatrical trailer and instructive audio commentary by Lee Gambin.

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(Fred Blosser is the author of "Sons of Ringo: The Great Spaghetti Western Heroes". Click here to order from Amazon)

BY HANK REINEKE

On 14 April 1940, W. Ray Johnston, the President of Monogram Pictures Corporation, was resting at the Baker Hotel in Dallas, Texas. On the following day he was to meet with MPC’s company shareholders in the hotel’s ballroom. The New York Herald Tribune would report that Monogram, later lovingly christened the most famous of Hollywood’s “Poverty Row” studios, was to announce their ambitious 1940-1941 program of fifty films: twenty-six features and twenty-four westerns. One of the films announced for imminent production was The Ape, an adaptation of the Adam Hull Shirk 1927 stage play.

Johnston announced that big screen’s preeminent boogeyman, Boris Karloff, was to star in their horror new vehicle. Karloff would be cast as an obsessed scientist driven to madness and murder in pursuit of an otherwise noble goal. For Karloff’s fans, there was something familiar with this scenario. The actor was, once again, cast as a generally well-meaning, good-hearted soul whose medical ethics would be expeditiously abandoned in the course of research. If you’ve already screened The Man They Could Not Hang (Columbia, 1939), Black Friday (Universal, 1940), The Man with Nine Lives (Columbia, 1940), or Before I Hang (Columbia, 1940)… well, then you’ll know what to expect here. Except this time we also get an escaped and possibly murderous circus ape for diversion.

1940 had been a busy year for Boris Karloff, the actor having already appeared in several far more polished productions for the bigger studios: Universal, Warner Bros., Columbia and RKO. The Ape would the last of the films Karloff would make for the more austere Monogram in the 1930s and 1940s: his previous entries were all in the studio’s “Mr. Wong” series of atmospheric detective mysteries. The Ape, which the Hollywood Reporter would report was scheduled to commence shooting on 15 July 1940 was to be something of a summer vacation for Karloff. The film’s production was planned to be wrapped in a mere week’s time.

That start date was apparently delayed. As the date of shooting neared, it was obvious that production would have to be pushed back. On 10 July 1940 the Reporter scribed that “Kurt” Siodmak (who would soon pen Universal’s iconic The Wolfman) had been signed “yesterday.” If true, then that “yesterday” was a mere six days prior to the original announced first-day-of-shooting allotted to Siodmak to actually write the script. The newssheet also promised that the latest thriller from Monogram would “carry a top budget,” that being a “top budget” if measured by Monogram’s parsimonious standard. Shortly following the Siodmak announcement, the Hollywood papers would report that actress Maris Wrixon had been “borrowed from Warners” to appear as the film’s wheelchair-bound heroine, actor Gene O’Donnell also signed to play her romantic paramour. Sadly, The Ape mostly wastes Wrixon’s talent - and her arresting physical attributes - as she’s mostly confined to a wheelchair throughout the film, a blanket draped over her no doubt elegant legs.

Though Siodmak had already shown talent for writing the scripts on such screen-thrillers for Universal’s Invisible Man series, Monogram wasn’t terribly enthused with the draft turned in. It’s likely the producer’s balked at some of the “too-expensive-to-reproduce-on-the-cheap” foreign location settings that Siodmak’s draft would call for. So a second writer was quickly brought onto the project to tighten things up. A New York Daily News gossip columnist wrote on 22 July that he had recently enjoyed a luncheon with the writer Richard Carroll who “has just finished a Boris Karloff script. Something about an ape.” In the film’s credits, Siodmak was credited for his adaptation of Shirk’s play, and perhaps more generously as co-writer of the screenplay. Siodmak would later rue that little of his original story was brought to the screen.

Box Office would further report on 29 July that William Nigh was hired onto the project as the film’s director. Tom Weaver, who would write the definitive study on these low-budget horror films, Poverty Row Horrors!: Monogram, PRC and Republic Horror Films of the Forties (McFarland, 1993) suggests filming did not actually start until early August… which was really pushing things: theater programmers planning on booking The Ape were given a hard release date of 13 September 1940. Weaver, who along with Richard Harland Smith, provides a commentary to Kino Lorber’s Blu ray of The Ape, is one of the principal reasons to purchase the disc. This musty old film, more sci-fi than horror really, has been kicking around the public domain almost since the beginning of home video, but has never looked better than it does here.

If you’re a fan of Karloff or of these old Monogram horror films of the 1940s, this Kino Lorber Blu-rayis certainly the edition to get. Aside from a few emulsion scratches here and there, this film has never appeared looking as fine, having been sourced from a 2K master held by the Library of Congress. The print used in the transfer is from the British release, distributed in 1940 by England’s Monarch Film Corporation. It’s presented here complete with the British Board of Censors title card on the film’s front end.

As much as I love Boris Karloff, this is, in all honesty, one of his less memorable films. Upon its release in 1940 the Los Angeles Times was kind to Karloff’s performance if not thrilled with the film in general. Of Karloff, the review conceded, “No matter how farfetched the story, he always makes it believable.” The Hollywood Reporter thought Shirk’s original stage play was far more thrilling as a horror vehicle: “In wise realization that horror, as such, no longer holds its former popularity on the screen, most of the obvious chills have been removed from the screen version.” Variety thought the resulting film totally dire, with the “Ultimate weight of the flick as a suspenser is nil and most of the footage is extremely boring.”

The sixty-two minute film didn’t make much of public splash upon release, curiously playing first on co-bills alongside non-genre efforts as Gene Autry westerns. Occasionally, The Ape was, on its second and third turns, more fittingly paired with another Monogram effort The Revenge of the Zombies (1943, featuring John Carradine) on programmed midnight “Spook Frolics.” Such midnight screenings were probably the best setting in which to enjoy The Ape. While I personally love these sort of horror-cheapies of the 1940s, they are, admittedly, not everyone’s cup of tea. Most fans of vintage-classic horror much prefer Bela Lugosi’s poverty-row efforts for Monogram as – by intention or not – they all seem to have a deliriously looney vibe about them that rackets up the entertainment value. The mad scientist in The Ape might be crazed, but compared to Lugosi’s madder-than-Hell and far more sinister Dr. Paul Carruthers in The Devil Bat (1940), Karloff’s Dr. Adrian comes off as bland and dangerous as… well, as television’s Dr. Marcus Welby M.D.

This Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu-ray of The Ape is presented here in a 1.37:1 aspect ratio and in 1920x1080p with a monaural DTS sound and removable English sub-titles. The set also includes several bonus features including two separate audio commentaries: the first by author Tom Weaver, the second by film historian Richard Harland Smith. The set also features a Poster and Image Gallery, and the theatrical trailers for Black Sabbath, The Crimson Cult (both featuring Karloff) and The Undying Monster.

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Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Focus Features:

Since its founding in 2002, Focus Features has been synonymous with innovative and critically acclaimed film-making. The iconic studio presents their renowned films that illuminate some of Hollywood’s greatest writers, directors, and actors in the Focus Features:10-Movie Spotlight Collection! Totaling an impressive 7 Academy Awards® and 11 Golden Globes® wins, the film set includes Lost in Translation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Pride & Prejudice, Brokeback Mountain, Atonement, Burn After Reading, Moonrise Kingdom, The Theory of Everything, On the Basis of Sex and Harriet. With films from acclaimed directors such as The Coen Brothers, Sophia Coppola, Ang Lee and Wes Anderson, this collection is loaded with bonus features including filmmaker feature commentaries, cast interviews, deleted scenes and more!

(Continue to next page for list of bonus features.) 

EXCLUSIVE: AUTHOR DANA SCHOEL ON HIS BOOK "YOUNG STEVE MCQUEEN: HIS INCREDIBLE LIFE BEFORE STARDOM".

REVIEW: "NEWMAN'S LAW" (1974) STARRING GEORGE PEPPARD; KINO LORBER BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION

OUT OF THE PAST: WATCH THE ORIGINAL TRAILER FOR "DR. NO"

REVIEW: "NEVER STEAL ANYTHING SMALL" (1959) STARRING JAMES CAGNEY; BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION

REVIEW: DAVID CRONENBERG'S "SHIVERS" (1976); BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION

REVIEW: "PIMPERNEL SMITH" (1941) STARRING LESLIE HOWARD; OLIVE FILMS BLU-RAY RELEASE

"JACK PALANCE: HIS EXTRAORDINARY LIFE": A DOCUMENTARY BY JERRY SKINNER

REVIEW: "DEATH ON THE NILE" (2004) STARRING DAVID SUCHET; BLU-RAY RELEASE

STREAMING REVIEW: "WILD WILD COUNTRY" (2018) (NETFLIX)

REVIEW: "BLUE MONEY" (1972) STARRING ALAIN PATRICK AND BARBARA MILLS; BLU-RAY/DVD SPECIAL EDITION FROM VINEGAR SYNDROME

IN PRAISE OF FRED MACMURRAY

OUT OF THE PAST: PETER 'OTOOLE RECEIVES HONORARY OSCAR IN 2003

WATCH CHARLES CHAPLIN ACCEPT HONORARY OSCAR

REVIEW: "THE FU MANCHU CYCLE" STARRING CHRISTOPHER LEE; 5 DISC BLU-RAY RELEASE FROM POWERHOUSE (REGION "B" PAL FORMAT)

KINO NOW OFFERS FREE FILMS TO STREAM

PARAMOUNT RELEASING ROBERT ALTMAN'S "POPEYE" 40TH ANNIVERSARY BLU-RAY