BY LEE PFEIFFER

In 1986, Paul Hogan rocked the film world, coming out of nowhere in the Australian independent comedy "Crocodile Dundee". Shrewdly marketed to international audiences, the film became a blockbuster worldwide and catapulted Hogan to major stardom overnight. He had already been a very popular personality Down Under but his genial comedic skills were largely unknown to most of the world. Hogan found himself to (briefly) be the toast of the film industry as well as an unofficial goodwill ambassador for his native country. Two years later, a sequel to the film would also be deemed a major success but by the time a third Dundee movie was released in 2001, the bloom was off the rose. Hogan didn't have viable follow-up plans for a post-Dundee film career that would appeal to international audiences, even while he has remained revered in Australia. Thus, it must have seemed like a good idea to revisit Hogan and his Dundee persona in a mockumentary-style film that would show the world what he has been up to in recent years. The result is "The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee", directed by Dean Murphy and co-written by Murphy and Robert Mond.

The film presents Hogan living a very comfortable lifestyle in Hollywood, sharing his home with his party boy son (Jacob Elordi), when he is invited to a studio meeting to discuss making another sequel to "Crocodile Dundee". Hogan is old school, set in his ways and out of step with contemporary society. During the pitch meeting with the studio executives, Hogan is shocked to find they intend to cast Will Smith as his biological son. When he tries to point out that this would be an absurdity, he is quickly labeled a racist and his name is back in the news for all the wrong reasons. The film follows the beleaguered Hogan as his innocent statements and good deeds are misconstrued and his reputation continues to suffer, endangering a possible knighthood from the Queen (who is unnecessarily referred to as "The Queen of England") The meandering script never has a central focus, just unconnected vignettes peppered by cameos from well-known stars. Some of them are moderately funny. Chevy Chase appears a couple of times and the joke is that he is widely beloved by his peers in the entertainment industry, when, in fact, his real-life reputation is somewhat less than sterling. Olivia Newton-John convinces Hogan to fill in at the last minute for John Travolta for a "Grease" reunion charity benefit with predictably disastrous results. Wayne Knight becomes an uninvited house guest of Hogan's as he manically tries to hide from his wife. Most amusing is a financially-strapped John Cleese who is making ends meet as an Uber driver without a license. But Hogan's image as a nonplussed personality results in his performance being virtually lifeless. One can appreciate his ability to indulge in self-deprecating humor and one wishes certain prominent political figures might possess the same attribute. However, the film is largely a misfire that seems to have been improvised rather than scripted. The tossed salad scenario drifts between sight gags and mushy sentimentalism as Hogan connects on Facetime with his granddaughter in Oz. A particularly unfunny aspect is a plot device that sees him befriend a comically inept paparazzi. Director Dean Murphy doesn't help by encouraging his cast to play to the rafters and overact at every turn.

One hates to be a grump about a Paul Hogan comeback movie, but the movie squanders its comedic possibilities as we observe Hogan treading and plodding the streets of L.A. (some of which is doubled by location shooting in Melbourne) and encountering the requisite weirdos. There are some (almost) saving graces. While the film remains refreshingly free of smutty humor and overt political statements, it does take a couple of pot shots at contemporary society, mostly aimed at a "woke" Hollywood culture that is all-to-eager to crucify anyone who doesn't meet its standards of inclusiveness. There are also some humorous observations about the gullibility of the public to believe all manner of absurdities: a portly street impersonator of Crocodile Dundee is deemed to be more believable than Hogan, who tries to convince him that his recitation of a key line of the film's dialogue is being misquoted. Chevy Chase has convinced the public that he is an Oscar winner, despite Hogan's attempts to correct the record.The point being that if a lie is told often and sincerely enough, vast numbers of people will believe it even in the face of opposing facts, an observation that certainly is especially relevant today.

The Lionsgate DVD offers a crisp, clear transfer and includes a very brief "behind the scenes" featurette and a trailer. The film bypassed theaters due to the virus epidemic and is also available for viewing on Amazon Prime. Stay through the end credits because you'll catch a glimpse of Hogan in his Dundee attire. It only makes you wonder why he didn't simply choose to return as the legendary character in another sequel. It would have been interesting to see his take as an 80 year-old screen hero.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

Released in 1962, Boys' Night Out was considered to be a rather racy comedy that touched upon sexual infidelity in the era when June and Ward Cleaver represented the average American household. The story centers on four businessmen- James Garner, Tony Randall, Howard Duff and Howard Morris- who indulge in a weekly night out that consists of nothing more daring than having some drinks and discussing sex. In a moment of deviancy, they decide to chip in and rent a plush Manhattan apartment, with Garner- the only bachelor of the group- acting as the beard and putting the lease in his name. They then intend to hire a hot blonde to service them on different nights of the week. The plan seems to work swimmingly. The apartment is rented and the requisite blonde (Kim Novak) appears ready, willing and able to indulge. What they don't know is that Novak is actually a student working on a thesis about sexual habits of the typical suburban male. She concocts various ways to ensure that each of her paramours never consummates the relationship, yet all the while maintaining the persona of a woman of easy virtue.

The plot becomes as predictable as yesterday's news as each of the men tries to con his friends into thinking he's had sex with Novak, when, in fact, the relationships remain completely chaste, as was the norm with these sexless sex comedies of era. Complications occur when Garner falls head over heels for Novak, but believing she is a prostitute, can't bring himself to become seriously involved with her. Although the men are paper tigers in the lovemaking department, they are deceiving their wives and families about the boys' night out, which leads to feelings of guilt and remorse. What elevates this above standard sitcom fare of the era is the remarkable cast. Aside from the charismatic leads, the supporting players include Jim Backus, Fred Clark, Oscar Homolka, Jessie Royce Landis, William Bendix and Patti Page, whose warbling of the catchy title song became a major hit on the charts at the time. It's a fun romp, despite the cliches, and Howard Morris, in his big screen debut, is most amusing in the role of an everyday guy. Henceforth, he would primarily play wacky eccentrics on TV and in film as well as earn a reputation as a top comedy director. Novak is stunningly beautiful, and the fashions she wears accentuate the reason she became a Hollywood glamor icon.

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Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

Celebrate the 40^th Anniversary of Raiders of the Lost Ark with All Four Indiana Jones Movie Adventures on 4K Ultra HD for the First Time

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (March 15, 2021) – Relive the unforgettable exploits of world-renowned, globetrotting hero Indiana Jones in spectacular 4K Ultra HD when the INDIANA JONES 4-MOVIE COLLECTION arrives in a new 4K Ultra HD set June 8, 2021 from Lucasfilm Ltd. and Paramount Home Entertainment.

The cinematic classic that started it all—Raiders of the Lost Ark—celebrates its 40^th anniversary this year, having first introduced audiences to the man with the hat on June 12, 1981.  Forty years later, the legendary hero continues to captivate new generations of fans.

Now, for the first time ever, all four films are available together in 4K Ultra HD with Dolby Vision^® and HDR-10 for ultra-vivid picture quality and state-of-the-art Dolby Atmos^® audio^*.  Each film has been meticulously remastered from 4K scans of the original negatives with extensive visual effects work done to ensure the most pristine and highest quality image.  All picture work was approved by director Steven Spielberg.

In addition, all four films were remixed at Skywalker Sound under the supervision of legendary sound designer Ben Burtt to create the Dolby Atmos^® soundtracks.  All original sound elements were used to achieve the fully immersive Dolby Atmos^® mixes while staying true to each film’s original creative intent.

The INDIANA JONES 4-MOVIE COLLECTION includes a collectible booklet with behind-the-scenes images from all four films.  Each film is presented on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc with original theatrical trailers and access to digital copies.  The set also includes a Blu-ray^â„¢ with seven hours of previously released bonus content as detailed below:

·         On Set with Raiders of the Lost Ark

·         Making the Films

     Behind the Scenes

   The Stunts of Indiana Jones

   The Sound of Indiana Jones

   The Music of Indiana Jones

   The Light and Magic of Indiana Jones

   Raiders: The Melting Face!

   Indiana Jones and the Creepy Crawlies (with optional pop-ups)

   Travel with Indiana Jones: Locations (with optional pop-ups)

   Indy’s Women: The American Film Institute Tribute

   Indy’s Friends and Enemies

  Iconic Props (Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) (HD)

  The Effects of Indy (Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) (HD)

  Adventures in Post Production (Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) (HD)

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

Alan R. Trustman wrote the screenplay for the 1968 version of "The Thomas Crown Affair", which presented Steve McQueen as a master crook who becomes romantically involved with Faye Dunaway as the insurance investigator who is trying to bring him to justice. In the 1973 film "Lady Ice", Trustman co-wrote the screenplay that presents Donald Sutherland as an insurance investigator who becomes involved with master criminal Jennifer O'Neill, who he is trying to bring to justice. Clearly, the acorn hadn't fallen far from the tree. "Thomas Crown" had been a major success but, alas, few remember "Lady Ice" in spite of- or perhaps because of the plot similarities between the two films. Nonetheless, it's a reasonably entertaining and stylish caper film directed by the often underrated Tom Gries.

O'Neill plays Paula Booth, who, along with her lover Eddie Stell (John Cypher) and her widowed father Paul (Patrick Magee), operate a daring, highly successful jewel theft operation out of Miami. The buy high end stolen gems and then convert them to unrecognizable pieces which are fenced to buyers at eye-popping prices. Sutherland is Andy Hammon, a mysterious and somewhat ethically challenged freelancer employed by insurance companies to thwart crimes and recovered stolen loot. He successfully retrieves a priceless necklace from a courier before he can sell it to the Booths. The mob in Chicago assumes the hapless man has stolen it for himself and assassinates him. Hammon makes it known to the Booths and Stell that he has the precious necklace and a cat-and-mouse game ensues in which we are never sure what Hammon's motivations or allegiances are. There are double crosses and shady characters in abundance, as the self-assured Paula carries on relationships with Eddie Stell and a secret lover in the smuggling racket, Peter Brinker (Eric Braeden), all the while flirting with Hammon. There are plenty of car chases, beatings and a driving 70s score by Perry Botkin Jr. The plot becomes a bit confusing and convoluted but it moves at a brisk pace and the locations in Miami, Chicago and Nassau are marvelously photographed by the great Lucien Ballard. Sutherland is always a joy to watch and he is well-tailored to the role he plays here. Jennifer O'Neill provides the glamour and a very good performance, which makes it all the more distressing that chaotic developments in her personal life largely compromised her promising career in feature films. One gripe: Robert Duvall is largely wasted in a bland, colorless role as a Miami police detective who butts heads with Sutherland.

The Scorpion Blu-ray is of superb quality. Bonus extras include a recent, interesting interview with composer Perry Botkin, Jr and a gallery of trailers for other Scorpion video releases.

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Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

Debuting May 25, 2021, 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Includes Over Two Hours of Bonus Content

Relive the romance, music, and comedic charms of the indelible classic MY FAIR LADY, debuting on 4K Ultra HD May 25, 2021 from Paramount Home Entertainment.

Winner of eight Academy Awards*, including Best Picture, MY FAIR LADY also won the Best Picture Golden Globe and was selected for the Library of Congress National Film Registry.  Adapted from the Broadway stage hit, the film stars Rex Harrison as Professor Higgins, a role that earned him the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and Audrey Hepburn as the unforgettable Eliza Doolittle.

The 4K Ultra HD release features stunning picture quality courtesy of a recent 8K film transfer, as well as English 7.1 Dolby TrueHD sound for the finest home presentation.  The 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo also includes access to a digital copy of the film and more than two hours of previously released bonus content as detailed below:

4K Ultra HD Disc

·         Feature film in 4K Ultra HD

Blu-ray Disc

·         More Loverly Than Ever: The Making of My Fair Lady Then & Now

·         1963 Production Kick-Off Dinner

·         Los Angeles Premiere 10/28/1964

·         British Premiere

·         George Cukor Directs Baroness Bina Rothschild

·         Rex Harrison Radio Interview

·         Production Tests

o   Lighting

o   Wilfred Hyde White make-up

o   Rain/set

o   Covent Garden lighting test

o   Alt. Higgins/Pickering screen test

·         Alternate Audrey Hepburn Vocals

o   Show Me

o   Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?

·         Galleries

·         Comments on a Lady

o   Andrew Lloyd Webber

o   Martin Scorsese

·         Theatrical Featurettes

·         Story of a Lady

·         Design for a Lady

·         The Fairest Fair Lady

·         Trailers

·         Theatrical Reissue: Poster Illustration

·         Theatrical Reissue: Poster Illustration Reserved Seats Trailer

·         Theatrical Reissue: Poster Illustration Awards

·         Theatrical Reissue

·         Awards

o   Rex Harrison BFI Honor

o   Rex Harrison Golden Globe Acceptance Speech

o   Academy Awards Ceremony Highlights 4/5/65

Synopsis

This beloved adaptation of the Broadway stage hit stars Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle, a sassy, working-class London street vendor, and Rex Harrison as the elitist Professor Higgins, who attempts to turn Eliza into a sophisticated lady through proper tutoring. But, when the humble flower girl blossoms into the toast of London society, her teacher may have a lesson or two to learn himself.

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BY GIACOMO SELLONI

You may be aware of the fact that Christopher Columbus was not the first European to reach the Americas. Do you also know that he was not Italian? He couldn't read, write or even speak the language. He was either a "Converso" - a Jew who converted to Christianity to avoid Ferdinand and Isabella's Inquisition, or hid his Judaism. He spoke Spanish among other languages including Greek, Latin and, most telling, Ladino - the Spanish equivalent of Yiddish. Letters to his son were written in this language, and the pages contained coded Jewish references. He also knew the world was spherical (most sailors, by his time, were aware of this), his first voyage had calm seas, not dangerous ones and the crew weren't mutineers. [See: Lies My Teacher Told Me - James W. Loewen, The New Press 2nd Edition ©2007 and https://www.aish.com/jw/s/Christopher-Columbus-Secret-Jew.html]

You may be asking "what does this have to do with a review of a film documentary?" The reason is most historians are lazy and habitual plagiarists. When adding something new to the historical record they often reprint the same falsehoods that were disseminated generations earlier. Not unlike many superstitions, tall tales, and mistaken attributions. Cary Grant never said: "Judy, Judy, Judy..."

And thus were the accomplishments of Alice Guy-Blaché, arguably the first storytelling film director of all time, were glossed over, ignored or attributed to someone else; to all men, by the way. Her story is told in the documentary “Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché”, directed by Pamela B. Green and narrated by Jodie Foster. The film is now available on DVD from Kino Lorber.

Yes, Edison and the Lumière Brothers made the first moving pictures but what did they give us?

Edison: The Sneeze - a four second film starring assistant Fred Ott. The Kiss - an 18-second long reenactment of the kiss between May Irwin and John Rice from the final scene of the stage musical The Widow Jones.

The Brothers Lumière: - Their first films were of such exciting subjects as: "The exit from the Lumière factory in Lyon," "The disembarkment of the Congress of Photographers in Lyon," and the riveting "Jumping onto the Blanket." Along with seven other films, all lasting between 38 and 49 seconds (approximately what a filmstrip of 17 meters long would run hand cranked through a projector) they were screened before a paying public in December of 1895 in Paris. Were these pioneers’ first efforts "Films" as we know them? Not to this reviewer. Moving pictures are not FILMS. They can be called films only by the fact that film was the medium they were created and distributed upon.

Nine months earlier, on March 22, 1895, The Lumières demonstrated their new invention, the Cinématographe, beating Edison to the market with the first reliable method to project motion pictures, in front of a small audience of friends and colleagues.

Among those in attendance were Léon Gaumont, then director of the company the Comptoir Géneral de la Photographie and his 22 year-old secretary Alice Ida Antoinette Guy (later Guy-Blaché). "Something better can be done than documenting daily life. Why not tell stories through film?" she thought at the time.

With the approval of her boss, in 1896 she writes, directs and produces what is generally thought to be the first narrative film ever made – “La Feé Aux Choux" or "The Fairy of the Cabbages" that brought to life the story parents told their younger children about where babies come from. The success of this film led to her becoming the lead director and Head of Production for Gaumont Studios. She was one of the first to use many film techniques such as close ups, hand-tinted color, stop action, reverse cranking of the camera and synchronized sound. Her success as a filmmaker helped add to Gaumont's success which enabled them to build the biggest studio stage in the world.

Alice Guy produces and directs the first film shot in the new studio. “La Esméralda”, based on Victor Hugo's “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame”. While hiring new directors and set designers for the company she continues to write and direct her own takes on fashion, children, parenthood, even child abuse. She wrote roles for children when no one else was doing so.

She made comedies of seduction, chase films, utilizing methods she had learned at Gaumont from her mentor, Frédéric Dillaye.

Writer/Director Peter Farrelly on “The Gamekeeper's Son” - "I was tense watching it, afraid for the kid. The father died, it was heartbreaking, and that she could tell that kind of story in four of five minutes and get you at the edge of your seats was incredible."

Alan Williams, film historian/author - "She was the first great comic director. Most of her comedies have just absolute perfect comic timing. The timing on “The Drunken Mattress” is really astonishing." "Whoever that was who kept picking up that mattress should get an Academy Award. I've never seen anybody fall down so much." - Peter Bogdanovich.

Many of her comedies were "raunchy films," especially for the times. See “The Sticky Woman” for example. Her 1906 “The Consequences of Feminism” is described by Bogdanovich: "I think is very witty. It's a satirical comment on male fear of feminism." Julie Taymor: "Still to this day I haven't seen anything like that, where she has women in women's clothes and men in men's clothes, these men are acting like women and the women are acting as men. It's revolutionary." She was making great comedies more than a decade before anyone heard of Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd or the Keystone Cops.

In his memoirs, Sergei Eisenstein recalls that he saw this film at eight years old. "The women rebelled. They started frequenting cafes. talk politics, smoke cigars, while their husbands sat at home doing the washing." Eisenstein named it his main influential film which can be seen in his 1928 film, “October”.

Guy uses the Tissot Bible as reference material for her largest production to date, “The Passion”. She creates 25 episodes with about 300 extras to tell the story of the life of Christ. The series contained some very early special effects. In one case Jesus rising out of the cave.

BY FRED BLOSSER

In “Stiletto,” a 1969 release from Joseph E. Levine’s Avco Embassy Pictures, Cesare Cardinali (Alex Cord) enjoys a jet-setting lifestyle rivaling and maybe even surpassing those of his real-life contemporaries in the “Playboy” era. He resides in a lavish Midtown Manhattan penthouse, hobnobs with movie stars and minor European royalty at red-carpet parties, races cars on the international circuit, and romances two beautiful girlfriends. But he’s increasingly uneasy about what he has to do to keep the money coming. On the books, he earns his millions through a lucrative importing business. In reality, he’s on the Mafia’s payroll through his patron, crime boss Ettore Matteo (Joseph Wiseman). Whenever a particularly important murder contract is ordered, Cesare is called in to do the job. His specialized tool is a medieval stiletto, and although he’s good at what he does, he’s begun to worry that, sooner or later, as all those knife-punctured bodies pile up, the law will trace the murders to him. When he tells Matteo that he wants to retire before that happens, reasoning that he has more than repaid the Mafia for its support, Matteo and the big Boss in Sicily, Don Andrea (Eduardo Ciannelli), decide that the hit man has become more a liability than a valued asset. Their fears are underlined when a tenacious detective, Baker (Patrick O’Neal), finds circumstantial evidence linking Cardinali to two recent murders ordered by Matteo. With the clock ticking to bring a case against the Mafioso, Baker sends word that he’s closing in.

“Stiletto” was one of five high-profile films executive-produced by Joseph E. Levine from the best-selling novels of Harold Robbins, back in the days when people devoted as much time to light, leisure reading as they now spend on Facebook and Netflix. As movie historian David Del Valle and filmmaker David DeCoteau observe in an excellent audio commentary on a new Blu-ray edition of “Stiletto” from Kino-Lorber Studio Classics, Robbins and Levine maintained an association for several years that nearly bordered on symbiosis. One partner thrived on the other. Robbins wrote trashy but shrewdly crafted pulp novels like “The Carpetbaggers” and “The Adventurers,” and tirelessly promoted them through TV and press interviews in those ancient days before social media. Levine then processed them into equally highly publicized movies, each branded with the Robbins name, promising viewers a level of sex and glamor that they couldn’t find in the staid TV shows of the time. In turn, the movies primed audiences for Robbins’ next book. Even after the careers of Levine and Robbins eventually diverged, the novelist pursued the same strategy with other producers on properties like “The Betsy” and “The Lonely Lady.”

If you’ve forgotten “Stiletto” or never heard of it in the first place, there are many plausible reasons why, as Del Valle and DeCoteau discuss in their commentary. As a traditional, mid-list studio release, it had the misfortune to appear in theaters in the pivotal year of 1969, when studios, critics, and audiences were focused instead on game-changing arrivals like “Midnight Cowboy,” “Easy Rider,” and “The Wild Bunch.” The cast was competent but unexciting, the direction by TV veteran Bernard L. Kowalski plodding and uninspired, and fans may have been disappointed that the production didn’t really deliver the promised goods of sex and nudity. The movie’s only topless scene occurs early on, when an enthusiastic casino patron momentarily spills out of her low-cut dress. The lady’s bare breasts appear so briefly that the scene itself readily qualifies as a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, to borrow a phrase that my brother in law likes to use. As Cesare’s girlfriends, Britt Ekland and Barbara McNair remain more or less fully clothed, and the bedroom scenes go to fade before anything becomes explicit.

Still, as with any obscure movie, there’s always the chance that new viewers will find something to like that eluded the rest of us. On that count, it’s encouraging to see “Stiletto” given new exposure on Blu-ray. Fashionistas will enjoy the garish Age of Aquarius clothing styles on display in a party scene, and there’s a nighttime escape through Midtown traffic on a motorcycle at night, with the old Hotel Manhattan looming briefly in the background, to remind us that movies didn’t always depend on computer-generated scenery. Producers used to spend money to film on actual locations. In their commentary, the two Davids have fun spotting various Cinema Retro-era actors in supporting roles who would shortly go on to bigger credits, including Charles Durning, Olympia Dukakis, Raul Julia, and as Matteo’s oily lawyer, Roy Scheider. In fact, the droll, informed exchanges between Del Valle and DeCoteau are worth the purchase price of the Blu-ray alone. Their anecdotes about Robbins, Levine, the glitzy trash literature of the ‘60s, and the downslope careers of once-famous actors suggest that a movie about the making of “Stiletto” would be more enthralling than “Stiletto” itself.

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

Cinema Retro has received the following press release relating to the Region 2 UK release:

Eureka Entertainment to release a 1970s Killer creature double feature of NIGHTWING & SHADOW OF THE HAWK, on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK, presented as part of the Eureka Classics range from 15 March 2021. The first print run of 2000 copies will feature a Limited-Edition Collector’s Booklet.

Are a wave of mysterious deaths on a Native American reservation being caused by killer vampire bats, or a curse from beyond the grave? Featuring special effects work by Carlo Rambaldi (Alien, E.T. the Extra Terrestrial), Nightwing was one of many creature features produced to cash in on the success of Jaws, but director Arthur Hiller (Love Story) also imbues the film with a humanitarian edge. Described in recent years as an “eco-gothic Western”, and “a great exploration of social change and race relations”, Nightwing comes to Blu-ray for the first time ever in the UK. 

An ageing medicine man (Academy Award nominee Chief Dan George; The Outlaw Josey Wales) recruits his sceptical grandson (Jan-Michael Vincent; Airwolf, The Mechanic) to aid him in a spiritual battle against evil spirits and black magic. Filmed in the forests of British Columbia to stunning effect, Shadow of the Hawk features a number of eerie and effective sequences of supernatural terror, and Eureka Classics is proud to present the film on Blu-ray for the first time ever on home video in the UK.  

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

J.B. Priestly's much-loved play "An Inspector Calls" premiered in 1945. It went on to be a perennial on the stage in London's West End and even enjoyed two productions on Broadway. Additionally, it was brought to the screen in 1954 under the direction of Guy Hamilton with Alastair Sim in the titular role of the inspector. The BBC's well-received 2015 adaptation of the play is now available for streaming on Amazon Prime. It boasts an outstanding cast, a fine script and admirable direction by Aisling Walsh. To a degree, the story plays out very much in the style of a traditional Agatha Christie mystery in that it concerns the arrival of a detective to interrogate a group of rich snobs about the recent death of an indigent young woman. However, the play isn't a whodunnit because we learn early in the story that none of the snobs being interrogated murdered her, as she committed suicide. Then what is the angle here? Ah, that would be telling. As with all films of this type, the less said in terms of providing details, the better it is for the viewer. Thus, here are basics: the story is set in London in 1912. Arthur Birling (Ken Stott) is a rich industrialist who has heard he is on the short list for knighthood. He is throwing a dinner party in honor of his daughter Sheila's (Chloe Pirrie) engagement to her equally rich beau, Gerald Croft (Kyle Sotter). Also in attendance is the family matriarch, Arthur's wife Sybil (Miranda Richardson) and their son Eric (Finn Cole), who is Sheila's younger brother. The family is in a jovial mood. Business has been good and Arthur assumes it will be even better once his daughter marries Gerald, whose father is a potential business partner. The wine is flowing and the cigarettes and cigars are being passed when the maid announces the inexplicable late night appearance of a new local police inspector, Goole (David Thewlis), who announces he is there to interview all present about the tragic suicide of Eva Smith (Sophie Rundel). Each of the party attendees professes ignorance of her existence but as the dour inspector presses on, shocking information is revealed that will quickly dispel the upbeat atmosphere and thrust the family into a potentially ruinous crisis. Unlike a Christie tale, however, this one contains a criticism of societal inequities that one might associate with the works of Dickens. However, it never becomes preachy, just thought-provoking.

Director Walsh wisely minimizes exterior sequences and confines most of the action to the dining room where the increasingly tense and uncomfortable evening plays out. Each member of the cast is excellent but David Thewlis is mesmerizing as the unorthodox detective and Ken Stott is a standout among standouts as the snooty, blustery patriarch. The film ends on a note that may seem unsatisfying to some and seems tailored to make you debate what you just saw with a fellow viewer. It's ambiguity turns out to be an asset, once reflected upon.

BY TIM MCGLYNN

“What does he care if the land ain’t free?”

The Warner Archive has done itself proud with their new release of MGM’s splendid 1951 production of Showboat. This Technicolor spectacular is actually the third film version of the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein classic, which is based on a novel by Edna Ferber. The Freed unit at MGM pulled out all the stops for this effort and cast Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ava Gardner, Joe E. Brown, Agnes Moorehead, Marge and Gower Champion and William Warfield in this turn- of -the last century story set in the deep South.

Cap’n Andy and his wife Parthy use their paddle Wheeler, the Cotton Blossom, to put on shows up and down the Mississippi River. Their daughter, Magnolia, dreams of playing a part but is discouraged by her strict mother. One day a charming, but down and out gambler named Gaylord comes looking for work as an actor. He and Magnolia immediately fall in love.

At first there is no work, but a spurned lover turns in leading lady Julie, who has been passing as white, on a miscegenation charge. She and leading man Steve, her husband, are forced to leave the show. And now, in the type of plot twist that can only happen in musicals, Gaylord and Magnolia become lovers both on and off stage. As Joe maintains the Cotton Blossom, we are treated to a plot of money won and lost, the birth of a child, the effects of alcoholism and the heartbreak of loss and redemption.

Under the guidance of veteran director George Sidney, working from a script by John Lee Mahin, this version of Showboat concentrates on the love story and glosses over many of the racial undertones of the previous films.

In 1936 Universal produced a black and white version of Showboat that adhered more closely to the stage play. Directed by James Whale and produced by Carl Laemmle, Jr. and starring Irene Dunne, Helen Morgan, Paul Robeson, Allan Jones and Hattie McDaniel, this earlier film presented more of the harsh reality of the racial divides of that era. At one point Ms. Dunne, as Magnolia, performed Gallavantin’ Around in blackface as part of the onboard show.

George Sidney’s Showboat, true to the MGM musical formula, celebrates the Kern/Hammerstein songs and the extravagant production numbers choreographed by Robert Alton. Several of these dances featured future choreographer and director Gower Champion and his very talented wife Marge. Life Upon the Wicked Stage is an especially impressive effort by these two.

With the exception of a few riverfront scenes staged near Nacthez, MS, all filming took place at the studios and backlots of MGM. A working paddle wheeler was constructed and launched into the lake that was once used for the Johnny Weismuller Tarzan movies. Built on top of a barge, the boat was towed by underwater cables allowing it to stop on a mark for the dance numbers.

The costumes, production numbers and sets burst forth with all of the brightness that Technicolor consultant Henri Jaffa would allow. The sharpness of the Blu-ray edition brings out amazing detail in the texture of the clothing and backgrounds. The eyes of the actors sparkle in a fashion we have not seen prior to this release. The happiness and optimism of Kathryn Grayson as Magnolia, the world-weary look of Ava Garner’s Julie and the seen-it-all soulfulness of William Warfield as Joe are apparent in their faces and their eyes.

The sound is clear and full ranged during the musical numbers with all dialogue and singing mixed loud enough to hear even at lower volumes. Although not indicated on the Blu-ray sleeve, this edition of Showboat has two sound options. The original mono track as heard in the original theatrical release, and there is a second 2.0 stereo mix, as well. As noted on the Rhino/TCM release of the CD soundtrack, several microphones were employed for the orchestra during the recording sessions and discrete channels were produced from each. These separate tracks were mixed to create a wrap around stereo effect for the orchestral score and accompaniments for the songs.

William Warfield noted in his autobiography, My Music & My Life, that for the recordings the orchestra was not set up in traditional concert formation. Instruments were placed in small groups around mics to best achieve a proper balance for the soundtrack. He also commented on the process of filming with pre-recorded music on set. “To lip-synch convincingly onscreen, you have to show the same physical strain – the same veins, the same tendons, the same air pressure in the cheeks, the same flair of the nostrils – as you’d see with a singer really singing the song.” This was very apparent in his rendition of the classic song Ol’ Man River as the last verse is presented with a very slow tracking shot closing in on his face.

I found it interesting that playback for all musical numbers during filming was accomplished by the use of 78 rpm records.

Another aspect of lip-synching was filming a music selection sung by someone other than the actor. Ava Gardner pre-recorded her song Can’t Help Loving That Man of Mine, but at the last minute the producers switched her voice for Annette Warren’s. While the reason wasn’t clear, it made filming a challenge for Ms. Gardner as she had speaking lines within the song and had to adjust accordingly. Curiously, the MGM soundtrack album for Showboat utilized Ms. Gardner’s version of this song and her other number, Bill.

BY JOHN M. WHALEN

In “Wings of the Hawk” (1953), Van Heflin stars as Irish Gallagher, an American mining for gold down in Mexico. He and his partner Marco (Mario Siletti) are ripped off by local military ruler Coronel Paco Ruiz (George Dolenz), who takes over the mine and kills Marco. Irish barely manages to escape on horseback and is rescued by insurrectionists led by Raquel Noriega (Julia Adams), who gets a bullet in the shoulder for her trouble. Irish patches her up in exchange for his freedom and romance rears its ugly head. Jealousy also flares when revolutionary leader Arturo Torres (Rudolpho Acosta), who had been her lover, sees what’s going on. Enter Pascual Orozco (Noah Beery, Jr.) who asks for Arturo’s help in taking Ciudad Juarez. They’ll need $5,000 to buy 200 rifles but the revolutionaries have no money. However, they come up with a brainstorm. They’ll steal $5,000 in gold from Irish’s mine, which is now under Coronel Ruiz’s control. Irish must be gaga over Raquel because he agrees to go along with it, “as long as I get my money back later.” There’s a lot of shooting after that, chases on horseback, and a firing squad kills some villagers.

It’s all crammed in to a fast-paced 81 minutes, leaving little time for reflection or character development for that matter. Julia Adams, most famous as Kay, the beauty who lures the Creature out of the Black Lagoon, is always a delight to see on screen, but her performance as Raquel goes no deeper than the Mexican makeup painted on her face and the black hair pieces tacked on her head. Heflin gives his usual solidly rugged performance as the Irish miner-turned-revolutionary, and George Dolenz (father of Monkee Micky Dolenz) is sufficiently snide as the local gendarme, but there is little heat generated by any of them in the on- screen proceedings.

This is not to say that “Wings of the Hawk” should be dismissed as just another run-of-the-mill fifties western. Kino Lorber’s Blu-Ray is noteworthy for several reasons. First of all, historically, it was only the second feature film to be released by Universal International in 3-D, and the first to adopt the 1.85:1 aspect ratio, which became the standard for all non-Cinemascope films made since then. It’s also one of the first “Mexican Westerns,” that is, a western about an American cowboy caught in the midst of the Mexican Revolution. Other such include “Vera Cruz,” “Viva Villa,”, “The Professionals” and the most notable of them all, “The Wild Bunch.” It was also the last of nine films that Cult Director Budd Boetticher did under contract for Universal between 1952 and 1953. Boetticher achieved his cult status for a series of seven westerns he did later for Columbia shortly after that, between 1956 and 1960. Known as the “Ranown Cycle” of films, because they starred Randolph Scott and were produced by Joe Brown. “Seven Men from Now”(1956), “Ride Lonesome” (1959), “The Tall T” (1957), and “Comanche Station” (1960), among others, are some of the greatest cinematic achievements of this or any other time. Not just films, they are truly works of a certain kind of art.

“Wings of the Hawk,” is not filmmaking on that level. Boetticher had not yet perfected his vision, nor achieved the clout to make films his own way. But as the jumping off point from turning out formulaic studio fare to creating individualistic masterpieces, glimmers of what was to come are evident. Most prominent are the relationships between the three male characters. In all of Boetticher’s best films there is a contest between what can best be described as “men of stature. In “The Tall T” Randolph Scott is pitted against Richard Boone. The two stand out against the weaker men in the story, including Boone’s outlaw gang, and the cowardly fiancé of one of the female passengers on a stagecoach. In “Seven Men from Now” Scott faced Lee Marvin, the baddest of the bad. In “Comanche Station” Scott faced off against Claude Akins, who stood taller than either of the two gunmen who rode with him. As film historian Jeremy Arnold notes in his audio commentary provided on a separate audio track, in all of these films, the Randolph Scott character could just as easily switched places with his antagonist. They’re both the same kind of man. Arnold says the difference is that one is weak and the other strong. I disagree with that assessment. I think the difference is that one has maintained his stature as a man to be looked up to, and the other has let himself down somewhere along the way.

In “Wings of the Hawk,” Boetticher did not really develop the conflict between Irish, Ruiz and Arturo as fully as he would with the antagonists in the later films, but elements of it are there, if you look close enough. It’s interesting to see the embryonic Boetticher at work.

Kino Lorber’s Blu Ray contains both 2-D and 3-D versions of the movie from 2K Scans of the left and Right Eye Interpositive. The picture is generally good, but some scenes are too dark, and others a bit too grainy. Color is by Technicolor and the transfer goes a good job preserving the original look of the film. Clifford Stine’s 3-D cinematography is rather stunning in the way it emphasized picture depth over the gimmicky hurling of stones, and bodies at the 3-D audience. Many action shots feature deep focus of riders on horseback coming toward the camera from a great distance, while actors and stunt men move about at various distances in between riders and camera. Another impressive shot has a knife being lowered slowly on a rope from a skylight. Even at 2-D the knife almost seems to float out from the screen.

Frank Skinner’s soundtrack has a lot of Mexican flare, and is presented on the disc in what is described by KL as “High Dynamic Range Theatrical Mix plus 5.1 Surround Sound.” Bonus features include the audio commentary by Jeremy Arnold (which I can’t recommend highly enough, for all the detailed information he imparts), and a 3-D Woody Woodpecker cartoon. “Wings of the Hawk,” is another important film restoration by Kino Lorber of a bygone era of filmmaking, the likes of which we’ll never see again.

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(John M. Whalen is the author of "Vampire Siege at Rio Muerto". Click here to order from Amazon.)

BY FRED BLOSSER

“Man of the East,” a comedic Italian Western starring Terence Hill and directed by Enzo Barboni as “E.B. Clucher,” opened in U.S. theaters on May 1, 1974, as a release through United Artists. I saw it at the old Turnpike Cinema in Fairfax, Va., now long gone. Come to think of it, United Artists is long gone too, at least in its 1974 form. The poster outside the theater carried comic artwork of Hill in a goofy pose on horseback. The tagline read, “The Magnificent One!,” an abbreviated version of the original Italian title, “. . . E poi lo chiamarono il magnifico,” which translates more or less as, “Now They Call Him the Magnificent.” The advertising team at UA didn’t have to look far for a catchy phrase that might remind fans, however subliminally or satirically, of “The Magnificent Seven.” Most devotees of Italian Westerns look down on the comic offshoots of the genre like “Man of the East,” but on its own terms, Clucher’s picture is a better-than-average example of its type. It even holds its own against Hollywood’s feeble comedy Westerns of the same era, like “something big” (1971), “The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean” (1972), and “The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday” (1976).

In “Man of the East,” now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, Hill’s character, Sir Thomas Moore, travels to Arizona in 1880 at the final behest of his wealthy, free-spirited father, recently deceased after fatally suffering “a stroke in a bawdy house.” The elder Moore had rejected the conformist life of a peer in Queen Victoria’s Court to drift through the American West in company with three rambunctious pals, Bull, Holy Joe, and Monkey (Gregory Walcott, Harry Carey Jr., and Dominic Barto), as “The Englishman’s Gang.” Tom intends to homestead on the land where his father built a cabin, and wants to retain Bull, Holy Joe, and Monkey as his ranch hands. The three galoots have their own marching orders from their deceased friend: “Tom is still a green kid. Make a man of him, and then -- hit the saddle.” The trio feel civilization crowding in on them as the frontier shrinks, the dominant theme of Westerns in the 1970s, American and Italian alike. They agree to stay around long enough to toughen up their friend’s soft-spoken son by teaching him to fight, shoot, trade his bicycle for a horse, and change out his tweeds for his father’s old cowboy outfit. Then they’ll keep drifting West, trying to stay one step ahead of the railroad, which for them embodies the unwelcome idea of “progress” as it did for the characters in various Sergio Leone movies. Leone had sufficient budget to include real trains in his films; Clucher makes do with stock footage of the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad under the opening credits.

Tom’s plans run afoul of domineering cattle baron Austin, who wants the newcomer’s property. The big rancher employs his gunslinging foreman, Clayton (Riccardo Pizzuti), to intimidate the tenderfoot into selling out and leaving. Clayton has ambitious eyes on his boss’s fortune through Austin’s pretty daughter Candida (Yanti Somer), but she and Tom become romantically attracted to each other. This gives the rancher and his henchman added incentive to drive the greenhorn out of the territory. These elements in the script (written by Clucher) lift a little of this and a little of that from several John Ford classics, including Ford’s sentimentality. Harry Carey Jr., billed here simply as Harry Carey, had appeared right before “Man of the East” in Clucher’s “Trinity Is Still My Name” (1971), but not coincidentally, he was also one of Ford’s famous stock company of players. Clucher magnifies the slugfests from “Donovan’s Reef” (1963) and other Ford pictures into two big, extended saloon brawls where dozens of stuntmen crash through windows and have their heads slammed into breakaway tables. As in most American Westerns, the fights end with the participants stretched out on the floor or staggering away woozily, but not critically injured. Hospital ERs probably wish that drunken bar fights ended that harmlessly in real life.

The movie’s violence is strictly PG, going no further than the hammy melees. Although the characters occasionally draw and fire their guns, the only things that get riddled with bullets are a hat and a tin can. “This is the first Italian Western I’ve seen, the first Western I’ve seen, where no one gets killed -- no one gets shot!” Alex Cox marvels in his audio commentary for the Kino Lorber Blu-ray. This would have been a selling point on movie night in 1974, when parents searched the listings for a family-friendly Western that they could watch with their nine-year-olds. Nowadays it may be a moot point. The nine-year-olds I know are busy competing against each other on Fortnite, to see who can rack up the highest body count in simulated search-and-destroy missions. Still, small kids may be amused by Clucher’s broad humor, including Hill’s daffy faces, longjohns, and hop-frog jumps during Tom’s morning exercises. If you think Steve Martin and Will Ferrell invented the gimmick of a normal-looking guy who gets laughs by acting wacky, meet Hill and Clucher. There’s a gag about horse poop, ongoing verbal confusion where the unsophisticated characters misunderstand long words, and a fleeting gay joke. The latter is so benign that anyone inside or outside the LGBTQ community would be hard pressed to take offense. Even Spaghetti Western enthusiasts who disdain comedies like this may smile in a scene where Clucher pokes fun at Leone’s theatrics. Two bounty hunters in black (genre regulars Sal Borgese and Tony Norton) ride up to the ominous cello chords of Ennio Morricone’s showdown theme from “A Fistful of Dollars.” Then, straight-faced, the two slowly dismount in perfect unison like synchronized swimmers.

BY HANK REINEKE

On Disc two of the Warner Archive’s new and essential Blu-ray release of The Curse of Frankenstein - the first Hammer horror classic - Richard Klemensen, publisher of Little Shoppe of Horrors magazine, offers a succinct examination of the nuts and bolts of the film’s production history. The Klemensen segment is only one of several generous and informative featurettes included on the set. In the course of The Resurrection Men: Hammer, Frankenstein and the Rebirth of the Horror Film, the publisher explains that Hammer was a small, struggling indie studio that had churned out B pictures and modest second features since its 1934 inception. The studio’s fortune – and existence - was threatened in the early 1950s when television upended the British film industry. Ironically, it was during this same period that Hammer would lens one of their most significant big screen splashes: a sci-fi property adapted from British TV titled The Quatermass Xperiment.

That film would signal the studio’s first successful entry in the theatrical sci-fi/horror genre: even though the picture was a far cry from the Gothic horrors to which the studio would soon be most associated. The public’s interest in Gothic horror had waned in the late 1940s, as enthusiasm for Universal’s famed cycle of Dracula and Frankenstein and Mummy films had peaked and passed. The movie-going public with a penchant for the mysterious had since turned their attentions to flying saucers and alien visitors, of giant radioactive insects, of Ray Harryhausen’s celebrated animated monster-mutations.

So it was an odd time for Hammer to invest money in restages of such literary monsters as Shelley’s Frankenstein Monster and Stoker’s Count Dracula. The initial script for the first of Hammer’s Frankenstein cycle films would come to company producers via two gentleman who would eventually become competitors: Milton Subotsky and Max J. Rosenberg, the two principal founders of Amicus Productions. Hammer execs would ultimately reject that script and scenario, but the idea of producing of a Frankenstein film was not dismissed. The studio’s interest in reviving the franchise was ultimately left to screenwriter Jimmy Sangster.

Hammer’s decision to resurrect the monster was not met with enthusiasm by Universal Pictures. As the creators of the original series of Frankenstein films (1931-1948), the studio was very protective of their interests. They would do their best to make certain that no Universal-conceived elements would be co-opted by this British up-start. But as Mary Shelley’s property had long been in the rights-free Public Domain, Universal could not claim copyright to any characters that appeared in the original novel of 1818.

In truth, Hammer had no intention to overlap with the celebrated Universal film series. For starters, there would be no iconic armies of torch and pitchfork toting angry villagers chasing the monster. This wasn’t an artistic choice or due to any executive decision to not shadow Universal’s tropes too closely. The modest budget they set aside for the production of The Curse of Frankenstein simply wouldn’t allow for the employment of that many extras. The use of Jack Pierce’s iconic flat-top Frankenstein monster make-up, replete with neck bolts and callow cheeks was also taboo. Hammer’s make-up wizard Phil Leakey would conjure up an admittedly less iconic - but certainly far more gruesome – set of make-up for Frankenstein’s creation, all boils and melted flesh and cloudy eyes.

Gruesome and bloody would be the order of the day. As the first Frankenstein film to be shot in color, the filmmakers were able to take advantage of relaxed contemporary standards of what was deemed acceptable to show on screen. The resulting film was certainly far more graphic than previously seen, dressed as it was with ample amounts of blood-letting and gory visuals. That’s not to say the censors were happy with the film’s content when submitted for review. The film would receive an “X’ rating in Great Britain. This wasn’t only due to the graphic content and violence as presented, but also due to Hammer’s introducing an element of lurid sexuality and provocative peeks of Hazel Court’s ample cleavage.

Hammer would also wisely make Shelley’s Baron Victor Frankenstein the series central character. Actually, it was the Baron’s lack of character that would make him the series’ central villain. Peter Cushing’s Frankenstein remained as obsessed as ever in his desire to create new life from dead tissue. This ambition was a hallmark of all his mad scientist predecessors at Universal: Colin Clive, Lionel Atwill, Patrick Knowles, Onslow Stevens and even Boris Karloff himself. But Cushing’s Frankenstein was more ambitious in his creating of new monsters. The actor’s Dr. Frankenstein was the monster, producing a series of woeful, tortured creatures in the course of his experimentations.

The Curse of Frankenstein would bring together several members of the production crew whose work would soon become synonymous with Hammer’s brand of horror. Director Terence Fisher was a dependable figure to helm the project. He had creating serviceable thrillers for the studio’s producers since 1951. Despite working with penny-pinching budgets, Production Designer Bernard Robinson was able to create a sense of luxurious, visual ambiance with his opulent set decorations. This was no small feat as most of the films he would design for Hammer were shot within the cramped confines of Bray House on the Thames.

Then there was Jack Asher, whose moody lighting was never short of brilliant. His work became even more nuanced and image-invoking when the success of Curse at the box office convinced the studio to loosen the purse strings… a bit. This decision allowed the studio to invest in bigger budgets and to unleash their creative energies on other horror film properties once the sole domain of Universal. Between 1957 and 1974, Hammer would give us no fewer than seven Frankenstein films, nine Dracula movies, four Mummy pictures and even a one-shot Spaniard Werewolf epic. This in addition, of course, to an impressive number of original monsters and adherents of Satan they would conjure on their own.

I’m preaching to the choir here. If you are a fan of vintage horror movies, you are already acquainted with this classic. Warner’s Blu ray edition of The Curse of Frankenstein provides film fans with beautiful transfers of this 1957 horror classic with the choice of enjoying it in 1.85:1, 1.66:1, and 1.37:1 Open-Matte versions, all restored and remastered from 4K scans. The set also offers a generous amount of supplemental materials providing dedicated fans with backstories on its production. Asher’s contributions are featured in the set’s featurette Torrents of Light: The Art of Jack Asher, with cinematographer David J. Miller (A.S.C.) bringing to the fore the elements that made Asher’s photography so distinctive and compelling. Miller describes Asher as a “perfectionist” and the preeminent “architectural lighting director,” and makes a convincing case of such an honor.

Though the phrase “painting with light” has become an overused stock-phrase to describe the art of cinematography, Miller suggests that Asher’s work is particularly deserving of such accolade. He describes the atmospheric visual imagery as captured by Asher as “an oil painting come to life.” Miller also suggests, not unreasonably, that Asher not only set the template for Hammer’s visual style, but that his work had clearly influenced the styles of cinematographers in Italy and France, the great Mario Bava being the most notable. He also suggests that Asher had freedom to creatively contribute to the “Hammer style” as he had previously worked extensively with Fisher and Production Designer Robinson. Such familiarity and trust with the core creative team was an essential component to the film’s visual flair.

Another figure whose work for Hammer is now considered essential to the Hammer brand was that of composer James Bernard. The composer’s dramatic, string-soaked arrangements would serve as a perfect complement to the often wild melodrama unfolding on screen. Bernard’s contribution to the Hammer legacy is examined in detail in yet another featurette Diabolus in Musica: James Bernard and the Sound of Hammer Horror, moderated by composer Christopher Drake.

Most famously, The Curse of Frankenstein would first pair two names that eventually would forever remain associative with the Hammer Film legacy: actors Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Cushing was a well-known figure to television audiences in Britain when he accepted the role of Victor Frankenstein in Curse. The actor’s feature film work prior to his work with Hammer was less celebrated, though never short of brilliant. In 1956 Christopher Lee wasn’t yet a film star of any magnitude, at least not a household name. He had been a difficult actor to cast due to his height. He dwarfed the lead actors he worked alongside, which no doubt rankled his better-known male co-stars and caused frustrating framing issues to cinematographers. In his casting of the creature in Curse, his height would finally work to his advantage. But ultimately he was cast not due to his towering presence alone. He also impressed with his abilities to communicate effectively as a mime.