A marvelous, underrated and intelligently scripted epic, the 1966 production of Cinerama's "Khartoum"  seems be more appreciated by movie fans today than it was back in the day. Superb performances and fine direction by the equally underrated Basil Dearden, along with Frank Cordell's magnificent score, make it a marvelous cinematic experience. 

The making of the film is covered in detail in Cinema Retro's special issue devoted to epic films of the 1960s and 1970s. It includes transcriptions of rare interviews with Heston and Olivier.

By Doug Oswald

Oliver Reed, Candice Bergen and Gene Hackman are on opposing sides of “The Hunting Party,”a 1971 Western released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber. Reed is Frank Calder who kidnaps school teacher Melissa Ruger (Bergen). The plan is to hold her for a ransom, but Frank also wants Melissa to teach him to read. Frank and his gang are pursued by Melissa’s sadistic husband Brandt Ruger (Hackman), a wealthy and powerful rancher. The film opens with Frank and his gang killing and butchering a cow from a heard of cattle and cutting out chunks of meat which they eat raw. The scene is disconcerting and is juxtaposed with a scene of Brandt forcing himself on Melissa, who is not enjoying his actions which border on rape and clearly involve the infliction of pain.

Frank’s gang are warned by lawmen to stay away from their town. They ride past the town bank which is heavily guarded and pass through town to the school. There they grab Melissa after her husband departs on a hunting trip with friends on his private train. Brandt and his friends also have several prostitutes and we witness Brandt’s sadism as he employs lit wax candles on the prostitute in his bed. When notified of his wife’s kidnapping the next morning, Brandt and his friends begin their pursuit of Frank and his gang along with his new high caliber hunting rifles with scopes. His friends think they are on a rescue mission, but they learn Brandt is less interested in getting his wife back than getting revenge.

Meanwhile, Frank tries forcing Melissa into teaching him to read, but she refuses and tries to escape several times. Frank rapes her and soon after she nearly shoots him. Frank gives her the ultimatum of teaching him to read or starving to death. Melissa succumbs during the only lighthearted scene in the movie in which she is tempted by Frank with a jar of peaches. Melissa is drawn to Frank and a romance develops between the two. Frank is an outlaw, but a man she is willing to be with and betray her sadistic husband. Brandt and his men soon catch up with Frank and his gang and starts picking them off like snipers, as they can kill at a great distance. One by one, Brandt’s men lose interest when they realize Brandt is less interested in rescuing his wife than killing Frank and his gang like animals. In one scene he even stacks the dead men along side the pond where they were killed, to the disgust of Brandt’s men who soon recognize their friend has gone mad.

Apart from the female lead, there are no “good guys” in this Western. They are all cutthroats, thieves and rapists or psychopaths. The movie is a blend of the Spaghetti Western and the new Hollywood action movie violence of the late 60s and 70s. Candice Bergen gives a terrific performance in an otherwise bleak and nihilistic movie, providing moments of hope that the story will turn in a different direction. She’s raped or nearly raped several times in the movie and her performance is a great follow up to her equally good performance in “Soldier Blue” from 1970. Gene Hackman gives a nasty performance,which is a forerunner to roles in other movies such as “Unforgiven” in 1992. Oliver Reed is understated for the most part and has an effective American accent in his only Western. It’s hard to figure out Frank Calder and his motives. Is he a bad guy? For sure, but he also gains our sympathy if only because the businessman Brandt Ruger is far worse than Frank and his gang members.

Familiar faces round out the cast with the likes of Simon Oakland, Mitchell Ryan, L.Q. Jones and William Watson to name just a few. Directed by Don Medford, the movie was filmed on location in Spain, which was irresistible for Hollywood productions trying to take advantage of the popularity of the Spaghetti Western craze and the Spanish vistas still largely unfamiliar to most movie-goers in America at the time. Known mostly for working in television where he had a prolific career, Medford directed this and the second “In the Heat of the Night” sequel, “The Organization,” which were both released in 1971 and remain his only big screen credits. Well, almost. In addition to the dozens of television credits as director from 1951 through 1989, he also directed the first episode of “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” (“The Vulcan Affair”) which was edited and released theatrically as “To Trap a Spy” in 1966. Thus, Medford could lay claim to three theatrical features depending on how one categorizes them. The screenplay is credited to William W. Norton, Gilbert Ralston and Lou Morheim, who may have crossed paths with Medford in television. The movie has a score by Italian composer Riz Ortolani ,who may be best known for his score to “The 7th Dawn” and more recently for three Quentin Tarantino films: “Kill Bill,” “Inglorious Basterds” and “Django Unchained.”

One of the problems with the movie is that it is very bleak with only the previously mentioned levity which seems out of place compared to the rest of the rest of the movie. While the film is unsettling, it is very good with fine performances by the three leads and the great supporting cast. This isn’t the kind of Western the Duke appeared in during this time period and one can debate which style was better: the extreme violence or the more traditional off-screen blood and violence. I appreciate both and I think there’s room for this variety, but there’s no doubt we were seeing one of the last gasps of the Hollywood Western.

The movie looks great on Blu-ray and I suspect it’s as good as it’s ever looked on home video, having being released previously on DVD and VHS. The disc has an audio commentary by Howard S. Berger and Nathaniel Thompson which I found very informative. Other extras include a 12-minute interview with actor Mitchell Ryan who shares his recollections while working on the film. The disc includes the trailer for this and other Kino Lorber releases and reversible cover art. Forget what you’ve heard or read about this movie, “The Hunting Party” may not be for everyone, but is recommended for Western fans due to the terrific cast of leading and supporting players.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

The 1970s was the Golden Age of American TV movies and mini-series. Fortunately, many of these long unseen titles have been surfacing again on home video and streaming services. I'll admit that memories of the very good ones had somewhat romanticized my recollection of the TV movie genre in general. Upon viewing some of the titles today, they don't hold up as well as I had hoped, but even the weakest remain quite entertaining. "One of My Wives is Missing" is definitely a lesser entry in the TV movie cycle. In fact, I had never heard of it until I came across the title on Amazon Prime and decided to give it a go. The film was telecast in 1976 and has a good deal of talent associated with the production. The show was produced by the powerhouse team of Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg. The screenplay was by Peter Stone, who used the nom-de-plume Pierre Marton, and the director was Glenn Jordan, an established TV veteran with a long line of credentials. The cast was also impressive: James Franciscus, Jack Klugman and Elizabeth Ashley. 

The film starts out with Franciscus as Daniel Corban, a rich New York City executive frantically calling police numerous times to find out about any progress made relating to his previous report of his new wife as a missing person. Corban and she were enjoying their honeymoon at a lake resort in upstate New York when he claims she went out in her car and never returned. Corban is increasingly frantic to find out where she is. Finally, the local police chief, Murray Levine (Jack Klugman) meets with him to get more facts. Corban is frustrated by Levine's unorthodox police methods and feels that the small department he oversees is not up to solving the mystery. Corban tells Levine that his wife is even wealthier than he is and that they are a devoted couple. When Levine leaves, things start to get weird. An attractive young woman arrives at the house and makes herself at home, claiming she is Corban's wife Elizabeth. As played by Elizabeth Ashley, she's attractive, intelligent and has a habit of sauntering around the rented house in an array of provocative outfits that are cut down-to-there. Corban is stunned and claims he has no idea who she is and why she is posing as his wife. Still, she goes about her business, saying that he must be delusional due to stress. Things get even weirder with the arrival of a local priest, Father Kelleher (Joel Fabiani), who backs up Elizabeth's story and verifies that Elizabeth is indeed the real Mrs. Corban.

The central premise of the plot is the movie's weakest point. It's patently absurd because anyone could have easily be able to prove or disprove the real identity of a spouse even back in 1976 in the pre-internet era. The fact that Chief Levine can't achieve this simple task is explained away by the fact that it's the Labor Day weekend holiday and everything is closed, as though New York City police resources would simply shut down as though they were a local coffee shop. As screenwriter, adapting the Robert Thomas stage play "Trap for a Single Man", Peter Stone allows most of the action to take place in a living room before opening things up a bit in the climax. As with all whodunnits of this type, the less plot revelations, the better. Suffice it to say that the script veers increasingly into the realm of the unbelievable before Stone redeems himself by providing some cracking good plot surprises in the last fifteen minutes. Stone's presence on the low-brow TV movie is a bit of surprise, given that he had written such esteemed feature films as "Charade", "Father Goose" and "The Taking of Pelham One-Two-Three". Perhaps that's why he used an assumed name. A near fatal error is director Jordan's handling of the pivotal role of the priest.  Joel Fabiani is miscast in the part and Jordan has him using a cliched Irish accent that makes him sound as though he's channeling the ghost of Barry Fitzgerald. Franciscus is good, if a bit hammy at times, as the bewildered and exasperated husband. Klugman, always a pleasure to watch, is in full Columbo mode, exhibiting plenty of disarming tactics to mask the fact he is more competent than he seems. Ashley oozes sensuality and is quite effective as the woman who holds the key to the mystery. In all, it adds up as satisfactory, if unexceptional, trip back in time to the era of the "ABC Movie of the Week" series. 

The Amazon Prime streamer is presented "as is" with from a source that has not been enhanced in any manner. The film had been released on VHS and as a low-rent public domain DVD. The latter probably served as the source for the streaming presentation.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's timeless 1902 Sherlock Holmes novel "The Hound of the Baskervilles" is said to be the most often-filmed adaptation of a book. I don't know if that's true but it's quite clear that over the decades, the tale has indeed inspired many adaptations for the cinema and television. The 1939 classic introduced audiences to the teaming of Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Holmes and Watson. The 1959 Hammer Films version was the first Holmes movie made in color and starred Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in another highly impressive adaptation. By the1970s, revisionist versions of Holmes stories were all the rage in cinema and on television, as evidenced by films such as "The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter ", "They Might Be Giants", "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution" and "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes". Thus, the famed comic duo of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore opted to bring a satirical version of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" to the big screen with a cast of highly respected British character actors that included Terry-Thomas, Joan Greenwood, Kenneth Williams, Hugh Griiffith and Roy Kinnear. What could possibly go wrong? Plenty, as it turned out. The first mistake was hiring Paul Morrissey to direct. Morrissey's track record in cinema consisted primarily of directing edgy, avant-garde cult films in conjunction with Andy Warhol. This would be his first foray into mainstream filmmaking. He also co-authored the script with Cook and Moore. Few could have predicted that the film would be  little-seen and much-reviled by those who had the misfortune of viewing it. If you're a fan of misguided, bad movies, your ship has come in with the new Blu-ray release.

On the surface, the script follows the basic plot of the novel. Sir Henry Baskerville (Kenneth Williams) is heir to a remote mansion house located just off the eerie and dangerous moors. However, it appears as though the previous male heirs met with foul fates due to their misdeeds- and some have fallen victim to a legendary murderous hound who stalks them. Holmes and Watson are enlisted to visit Baskerville Hall to protect Sir Henry while they investigate who has made attempts on his life. As in the novel, Holmes disappears from the mid-section of the story, leaving the sleuthing to Watson. As depicted by Cook and Moore, Holmes and Watson are two inept idiots who have gained reputations as great detectives largely through solving cases through the insights of others and by good fortune, when their blundering methods accidentally produce results. Both Cook and Moore play their characters with bizarre, undefined accents that are more annoying than amusing. Cook portrays Holmes as an effeminate fop and Moore's Watson is more Inspector Clouseau than Victorian era sleuth. Moore plays multiple roles in the film including a female character, which only reminded me that aside from "Some Like It Hot" and "The Birdcage", female impersonation tends to be more amusing in theory than execution on the silver screen. The movie lumbers from one unfunny bit to the next and the running time of 85 minutes begins to feel like a double feature of "Ben-Hur" and "Doctor Zhivago"; the cinematic equivalent of water torture as you wait for the next bad joke to drop. Making matters worse is the monotonous piano score "composed" by Dudley Moore which is annoying after several seconds yet is played throughout the entire film. It's like being trapped in a room for 85 minutes with a young piano student who only knows how to play "Chopsticks".

The high profile cast of esteemed character actors is largely wasted. Who would hire one of Britain's great clowns, Terry-Thomas, and cast him in a humorless role? The great Denholm Elliott suffers the indignation of having to carry around a puppy who pees all over everyone he meets (a gag that is repeated numerous times.). Similarly, Oscar winner Hugh Griffith's talents are also wasted but his role is mercifully brief. Kenneth Williams of the "Carry On" films plays Sir Henry with over-the-top stereotypical gay characteristics.The most sympathetic victim is Joan Greenwood, whose portrayal of an upper crust lady-of-the-manor sees her subjected to scenes that spoof "The Exorcist" - five years after that film was released and seemingly every conceivable rip-off of it had already been released. It's the equivalent of making a comedy today that tries to connect with viewers by spoofing "Saturday Night Fever". The exorcism scenes are elaborately staged, given the film's meager production budget, but they are as bizarre as they are grotesque and interminable. You simply have to see it to believe it. One hopes that Ms. Greenwood never saw the final film. Much of the blame for the pacing and erratic nature of the film must be placed squarely with director Morrissey, who is out of his element here. The scenarios are played out in a clunky manner and subtlety is not on the menu, as Morrissey employs a chainsaw instead of a scalpel. Because I'm an eternal optimist, I kept hoping that there would be at least one amusing moment delivered during the course of the film and-Voila!- the hope became a reality. It occurs in Spike Milligan's cameo as a constable who suffers a groin injury from the bumper of a car, causing him to utter a remark that actually woke me from my stupor for a few seconds to emit a genuine laugh. But the tradeoff was hardly worth it: ten seconds of amusement in return for 85 non-retrievable minutes of my diminishing life span. Fortunately for all involved, the movie was a bomb and, thus, the debacle was not witnessed by many. Consequently, everyone's reputation remained intact and Moore's clout rose appreciably after his acclaimed supporting role in the comedy thriller "Foul Play", which was released the same year and overshadowed "The Hound of the Baskervilles".

Code Red has released "The Hound of the Baskervilles" on Blu-ray with a very nice transfer. It's fairly bare bones with only the original trailer included as a bonus. I have to salute the company for bringing out this title, as even bad movies should be preserved and made available for easy access. After all, this review is only one person's opinion. ('lest you suspect that I'm too high brow to enjoy low brow comedy, I consider the Three Stooges to be hilarious. So there.) There may be others who view the film and howl with laughter, but speaking personally, I found this "Hound" to be a real dog. 

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By Giacomo Selloni

It bodes ill when a film opens with the lead character sitting in his therapist's office complaining about something that has happened in the very recent past. The viewer already has the feeling that they missed something. That they're not in on a joke, a story, a fairy tale. Catching up with the tale may be "Inconceivable!" Sorry. I just had to sneak that in. In Rifkin's Festival the "annoying neurotic" is back. Here, not portrayed by Woody Allen in the role but by great character actor Wallace Shawn (hence the "Princess Bride" reference). He does the genre proud.

Reminiscent of "Manhattan", the film centers around the relationship between Mort Rifkin (Wallace Shawn), a failed novelist who pines over the days he was happiest - teaching cinema, and the much younger, former student he's married to - Sue (Gina Gershon). The action takes place at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain. Sue, a publicist, represents a much-lauded French film director, Philippe (Louis Garrel), who's new film is the talk of the festival. One can't help but think about another Allen film "Stardust Memories" wherein Allen, as director Sandy Bates, attends a retrospective festival of his films, complains the whole time and has his hands full with multiple women and memories.

One of this film's problems was just described. Much of what we see and hear we've heard before from this director. I don't think there are many poor Woody Allen films but this just doesn't stand up. The characters are caricatures. Philippe is a handsome, charming, shallow, lothario. A reporter at the post- screening Q&A states: "There's a rumor that you had an affair with the French Minister's wife." Philippe replies: "I heard that same rumor, yea" to the laughter of the female reporters.

Philippe and Mort do not get along. Mort suspects his wife has a "crush" on her client. Mort is ignored during the uncomfortable times the three spend together. Running into an acquaintance at the festival, he discovers his wife lied to him about what she was doing and was seen by the acquaintance walking on the beach with Philippe.

Eventually the stress scares Mort into thinking he may be having a heart attack. Another acquaintance gives him the phone number of a cardiologist and Mort makes an appointment. To Mort's surprise, Dr. Jo Rojas turns out to be a gorgeous woman (Elena Anaya) whom Mort develops a crush on. And off we go. He finds every excuse he can to get to the lovely doctor's office and avoid his wife and Philippe.

Likeable characters here are few and far between. It's a film festival; what's to be expected? An early scene when Sue and Mort arrive in time for Philippe's post-screening Q&A is peppered with quick bon mots such as this between a director and a lovely actress: "In my new movie about the Eichmann trial you would be PERFECT to play Hanna Arendt." Two gentlemen: "You know tonight at eight o'clock there's a special screening of an old Three Stooges movie. The director's cut." Female reporter to a porn star: "In the movie were all your orgasms special effects?"

Philippe is asked by a besotted female reporter: "...War is hell; and you came out and said it." To which the vapid director replies: "Well you know, some wars are good and some wars are bad, and sometimes wars are justified." When asked what his next film will be he responds: "Well, in my next film I'm taking on the turmoil in the Middle East... and, uh, (crossing his fingers) hopefully, uh, offer some solution for reconciliation between the Arabs and Israel." Yikes!

Woody Allen hasn't lost his sense of irony or his desire to tilt at the windmills of hypocrisy, deflate over inflated egos and rage against the tripe that movie-goers will rave over. He's kind of misplaced his through line however. Maybe, and I may be wrong, he's taking a poke at all of today's blockbusters. With them there's barely a plot, no subplot, only a couple of lines of dialogue to get to the violent (but bloodless) action. Music video directors suddenly becoming the latest "artiste" or "enfant terrible." Yes, MCU and DC, he's aiming at you.

This film is predictable by half. However, there are some great moments; i.e. when Dr. Jo gives Mort a tour of San Sebastian. Her car gets a flat. There's no spare. They walk and hitch to the home/studio she shares with her philandering artist husband Tomás (Enrique Arce) to catch him in in flagrante delicto with one of his models. Arce's breakdown is a treat to watch.

Terrific performances in short roles and scenes are offered up by Richard Kind and Nathalie Pozza as Mort's parents and Christoph Walz as Death with a chessboard. Yea... Ingmar Berman makes an appearance in another Woody Allen film. As I've related; we've seen a lot of this stuff before.

Despite the film’s flaws, there are worse ways to spend ninety minutes. Like most Woody Allen films, this is well cast and well performed. In a case of life imitating art (or possibly the other way ‘round), "Rifkin's Festival" was first screened at the San Sebastian Film Festival in September of 2020 and released in Spain a few weeks later.

("Rifkin's Festival" will open in theaters and on-demand on January 28.)

By Lee Pfeiffer

Among the many gems released by the Warner Archive is the obscure Girl of the Night which afforded Anne Francis a rare starring role in a theatrical feature. The 1960 modestly-budgeted movie purports to examine the pitfalls of a young woman who becomes a high-priced call girl. Francis plays Robin Williams (not the hairy guy from Mork and Mindy), a charismatic 24 year-old trying to carve a life for herself in New York City. She soon falls in love with Larry Taylor (John Kerr), a charismatic cad who pretends to love her while acting as her pimp. For a while, Robin seems content. She's pulling in enough loot to maintain a high lifestyle for herself and Larry, taking "appointments" from floozy madame  Rowena (Kay Medford.) When she learns Larry has been cheating on her, she despairs and seeks advice from psychiatrist Dr. Mitchell (Lloyd Nolan in typically stoic Lloyd Nolan mode.) Much of the story unfolds as Robin relates to Dr. Mitchell how a troubled childhood of abuse and neglect led her to prostitution. Mitchell tries to convince her she is still being used and abused by Larry, who she consistently forgives, against her better judgment.

Despite the obvious opportunity to present the subject matter in a sexploitation format, Girl of the Night is actually a highly engrossing film, intelligently written with a superb performance by Francis that should have been considered for an Oscar nomination. The fact that she never became a full-fledged star of the big screen is puzzling, though she did gain a loyal following based on her Honey West TV series in the 1960s. The film pulls its punches in terms of sanitizing prostitution (the word "sex" is used only once) and consequently, the worst aspects of the profession seem to be dealing with a few kinky customers and an unchivalrous boyfriend. However, director Joseph Cates handles the story very competently and takes advantage of some prime New York City locations. The film's supporting cast is quite engaging, with Kerr particularly good playing against type as a villain. The movie was produced by Max Rosenberg, who would soon go on to produce some of the most popular horror films of the 60s and 70s. In summary, Girl of the Night is a fine tribute to the talents of the under-appreciated Anne Francis.

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Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

Relive the Hilarious Exploits of Wayne and Garth with a Limited-Edition Blu-ray™ SteelBook® on February 1, 2022

Celebrate the world’s most endearing slackers when WAYNE’S WORLD arrives in a Limited-Edition Blu-ray SteelBook on February 1, 2022, just in time for the film’s 30^th anniversary. 

Originally released on February 14, 1992, WAYNE’S WORLD marked the feature film debut of Wayne and Garth, the wildly popular characters originated by Mike Myers and Dana Carvey on “Saturday Night Live.”  A hilarious send-up of pop culture, the film also features Rob Lowe, Tia Carrere, and Alice Cooper (we’re not worthy!). 

Directed by Penelope Spheeris and written by Mike Myers and Bonnie Turner & Terry Turner, WAYNE’S WORLD follows Wayne and Garth as they try to promote their public-access cable show.

A hit with both critics and fans, WAYNE’S WORLD ultimately earned over $183M at the worldwide box office and spawned the sequel Wayne’s World 2.  A double feature of the two films will also be available on Blu-ray with access to digital copies on February 1.

The WAYNE’S WORLD Blu-ray SteelBook includes access to a digital copy of the film.

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BY DARREN ALLISON

The Film Detective has released one of their most ambitious film sets to date with The Sherlock Holmes Vault Collection. The set features three of the five films made between the years 1931-1937 starring Arthur Wontner as world’s greatest super sleuth. Having been told he resembled Doyle's creation for years, Wontner was finally cast in the role for The Sleeping Cardinal (released under its American title as Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour in this box set) in 1931. Produced by Twickenham Studios, Fatal Hour was loosely based on "The Adventure of the Empty House" (a short story written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) with the noticeable change that in the film version, Ronald Adair is a card cheat. Wontner was joined by Ian Fleming as Doctor Watson and Philip Hewland as Inspector Lestrade. Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour played rather well and was considered a success. As a result, little time was wasted when producer Julies Hagen quickly rushed a second film into production. The Missing Rembrandt (1932) reunited director Leslie S. Hiscott with Wontner, Fleming, and Hewland. Unfortunately, it is not included within this collection, as sadly it is considered a lost film - and naturally there isn’t much The Film Detective can do about that. The collection is also missing Wontner’s third outing as Holmes, The Sign of Four: Sherlock Holmes' Greatest Case, also made in 1932.

However, there is still plenty here to enjoy in this nicely compiled collective. The series of films picks up again with Wontner’s fourth movie, The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935). The story sees Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson come out of retirement to investigate a mysterious murder. They find that an American criminal organisation called The Scowrers has asked evil mastermind Professor Moriarty to wreak vengeance on John Douglas, the informant who sent them to prison. Again, the film did very well and received a great many positive critical reviews.

Wontner was by now fifty-nine years old, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to hide his age. Wontner's final Holmes film, Silver Blaze (1937) had Ian Fleming return for a final turn as Dr. Watson, as did Lyn Harding as Moriarty while John Turnbull became the third actor to play Inspector Lestrade. The production notably injected Sir Henry Baskerville from The Hound of the Baskervilles into this adaptation. The film wasn't released in the U.S. until 1941 by which time it had undergone a title change to Murder at the Baskervilles, probably due to the overwhelming success of Basil Rathbone s The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939).

Whilst this set is clearly not the definitive Wontner collection, The Film Detective has also included a bonus film to round out the set. A Study in Scarlet (1933) was an American Pre-Code mystery thriller directed by Edwin L. Marin and starring Reginald Owen as Sherlock Holmes and Anna May Wong as Mrs. Pyke. Despite her billing, Anna May Wong only appears on screen for some ten minutes. Reginald Owen had played Dr. Watson in Sherlock Holmes (1932) and as such, became one of a small number of actors to play both Holmes and Watson. A Study in Scarlet remains a nicely made movie, dripping with atmosphere and rife with coded messages, villains and secret passages. The film also opens with the original BBFC U certificate card.

Each of the four films (individually cased) in this collection come with an impressive set of extra material. All four films include an audio commentary: Fatal Hour (Jennifer Churchill), The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (Jason A. Ney), Silver Blaze (Phoef Sutton & Mark Jordan Legan) and A Study in Scarlet (Peter Atkins & David Breckman). All commentaries are informative and enjoyable. The history of Holmes is explored over 3 parts and 3 discs in The Adventures of Sam Sherman, and lasting around 20 minutes in total. There are also a number of original shorts dating way back to the 1900’s. In fact Sherlock Holmes Baffled (1900) may only run for around 30 seconds, but is still acknowledged as the earliest known film to feature Arthur Conan Doyle's detective character. The quality of these shorts varies, from excellent to the bad beyond compare. A Black Sherlock Holmes for example is barely watchable, there is so much damage - but considering its historical and social importance alone, it certainly warrants its inclusion here. Also included is a reconstructed Radio adaptation of Sherlock Holmes and the Blue Carbuncle, a Felix the Cat cartoon Sure Luck Holmes (1928). Elementary Cinema: The first cinematic adventures of Sherlock Holmes, is an original documentary lasting 27 minutes plus a full episode (Blind Man’s Bluff, 26 minutes) of the Ronald Howard Sherlock Holmes TV series is also a welcome addition. The episode (filmed in black and white) has been mastered rather nicely too, although wrongly dated as 1964 instead of 1954.

So there is certainly plenty here for any Holmes fan to enjoy. However, it is in the quality of the feature films where this set falls short. All of these films were low budget productions, and were never going to compete with the Basil Rathbone movies which were classy and altogether more prestigious in their presentation. But that doesn’t mean that these films still shouldn’t look good. Sadly, it looks as if all of these films were struck from grainy 16mm prints, and it shows. In the case of Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour (albeit, the earliest film here), I found myself stepping down on the sharpness control, just to eliminate the heavy graininess of the picture. I have no doubt at all that The Film Detective has probably worked with the best possible sources that were made available to them.

If these films are new to you and first-time purchases, then I dare say they will fit perfectly in your collection. But for the more travelled Holmes fan it might be worth checking out your existing versions again first, and ask yourselves if it is worth the overall upgrade?

The packaging has been nicely put together, a nice leather look brown slip case holds all 4 individually cased movies, each of which comes with a postcard-sized art card and an informative booklet containing history and essays for each of the films. I certainly can’t fault the effort here; it’s just a shame that the quality of the films doesn’t quite hit the mark.

(Darren Allison is the soundtracks editor for Cinema Retro. Read his column in every issue.) 

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

When they say "They don't make 'em like that anymore", it might well be in reference to Bernardo Bertolucci's "Last Tango in Paris", one of the most controversial films of all time. Released by United Artists, the movie was basically an art house niche market production that became a major sensation thanks to the presence of Marlon Brando, who had just made one of the great Hollywood comebacks of all-time with his towering performance in "The Godfather". However, it was the raw sexual content of the movie that resulted in people standing in line for hours to obtain tickets to what was, in reality, anything but a populist film. Prior to the movie's American release in 1973, the Italian government issued arrest warrants for Bertolucci, Brando and female lead Maria Schneider on charges of obscenity- which, of course, only increased the public's desire to see it. United Artists' head of production David V. Picker wisely mandated that the movie initially only played at a limited number of small cinemas, therefore ensuring media coverage of frustrated movie-goers who complained they couldn't obtain a ticket for love or money. Some critics called the movie a masterpiece while others derided it as pretentious, high class pornography disguised as a "message" movie. One aspect all critics agreed on was that Brando gave one of the great performances of his career as a middle-aged American ex-pat living in Paris who tries to cope with his wife's suicide by initiating a series of kinky and anonymous sexual encounters with a young woman. Brando earned a well-deserved Oscar nomination for Best Actor despite having insulted the Academy by refusing to pick up his "Godfather" Oscar due to his disgust with how Hollywood portrayed Native Americans in films.

"Last Tango" has had its reputation damaged due to the late Maria Schneider's accusations that both Brando and Bertolucci took advantage of her naivete when she starred in the film at the age of 19. Much of the movie was improvised including some last minute scenes of a sexual nature that caught her off guard and which she said she would later regret having filmed. One thing is certain, however, the movie is unique in concept and execution. With today's sterilized film productions, adult sexual situations and nudity have generally gone the way of the dodo bird. Love or loathe "Tango", it represents a time when a major studio could release an "X"-rated title and have it find critical acclaim.

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The pandemic has taken a toll on big budget spy movies. The oft-moved James Bond film "No Time to Die" was originally supposed to premiere in March of 2020 but did not reach theater screens until September, 2021. Now the omnipresent virus has caused Paramount to push back the release date of "Mission: Impossible 7" to July of 2023, which means the film will debut almost two years after its previously announced premiere date of September 30, 2022. Consequently, the eighth installment of the long-running series starring Tom Cruise will be pushed back to June of 2024. The seventh film in the series has been shooting for what must seem like an eternity for those involved, with multiple exotic international locations affected in different ways by the impact of the pandemic.  Meanwhile, Cruise's sequel to "Top Gun", which has already seen its release date delayed, still appears to be penciled in for a May 27, 2022 opening.  For more, click here.

BY TODD GARBARINI

I have long considered Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation to be his greatest film. The story of a tortured sound recordist, Harry Caul (Gene Hackman in arguably his greatest screen performance), a man who is disturbed by the morality and ethics of his profession. He is secretly recording private citizens in exchange for payment from companies with a vested interest in doing so and whose actions have resulted in several deaths. The film was a long gestating project that came about during a 1967 discussion the director had with fellow director Irvin Kirshner about wiretapping and privacy intrusion. Following the instant success of the release of The Godfather in March 1972, Mr. Coppola was only given the green light to make The Conversation for Paramount Pictures after they begged him to direct The Godfather Part II. One month after the public announcement was made about Mr. Coppola’s mysterious next film, the Watergate burglary took place. It then came to light that then-President Richard Nixon had knowingly recorded conversations in the White House, specifically the Oval Office, as well as over the telephone, of everything regarding news coverage of the burglary! Who could the public trust? The Conversation would go on to win the Palme d’Or at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival and opened in April 1974 in New York.

Alan J. Pakula’s The Parallax View, released in New York on Wednesday, June 19, 1974, was one of several films, like The Conversation, to be released during the post-Watergate era that dealt with systemic national paranoia concerning the government. In the month of June alone, moviegoers were treated to Blake Edwards’s The Tamarind Seed, Roman Polanski’s Chinatown, and this thriller which concerns the mysterious workings of a faceless corporate entity known as The Parallax Corporation which appears to be behind the assassinations of political nominees regardless of which side of the aisle they sit on. It is 1971 and Charles Carroll (William Joyce) is campaigning while at a luncheon atop Seattle’s Space Needle. Lee Carter (Paula Prentiss) is covering the event for a television news story and her ex-boyfriend, newspaper reporter Joe Frady (Warren Beatty), attempts to gain access to the event but is denied entry when Carter shrugs him off. An associate of Carroll’s, Austin Tucker (William Daniels), speaks with Carter in a short on-camera interview. Two sinister-looking waiters (Bill McKinney and Richard Bull) serve food when suddenly the former shoots and kills Carroll in front of shocked and horrified guests. A stomach-churning chase ensues atop the Space Needle and the “waiter” falls to his death.

Three years later, a shaken Carter goes to Frady and unleashes a tale of paranoia, revealing that no less than six witnesses at the luncheon have all died under mysterious circumstances. Frady initially brushes off her concerns until Carter is found dead less than 24 hours later. Out of guilt, he begins to investigate the deaths and in a major scene lifted straight from the novel, he nearly dies himself, outsmarting a sheriff who sets Frady up to be drowned at the hands of a deluge running out from a dam (in the novel it’s a “helpful hotel manager”). Frady manages to secure documents concerning the Parallax Corporation from the sheriff’s house and tries to convince his skeptical editor, Bill Rintels (Hume Cronyn), of the links to the deaths. Frady then turns his attention to Austin Tucker and accompanies Tucker and his aide/lover on a yacht ride to discuss the assassinations – until a bomb onboard kills both men and Frady narrowly escapes by jumping overboard. It seems that wherever Frady goes, a Parallax minion is not too far behind. This sets in motion a series of near logic-defying events which results in an ending of ambivalence.

To fully appreciate this film in 2022, one needs to be aware of the climate of fear and panic that must have pervaded the zeitgeist in the 1960s and 1970s when seemingly no one could be trusted (John Frankenheimer’s 1962 outing The Manchurian Candidate, based on Richard Condon’s 1959 novel, was eerily prescient as was his 1964 classic Seven Days in May, which centered on a coup attempt to topple the U.S. government). After the assassinations of John F. Kennedy in November 1963, Malcolm X in February 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in April 1968, and Robert F. Kennedy in June 1968, who really could be trusted? The film was shot in the Spring of 1973 while the country was mired in the Watergate scandal, and it points to evil forces at work that Frady hopes to uncover. In the novel, Frady’s name is Malcolm Graham and he works in tandem with Austin Tucker, one of the men who perish on the boat.

The late author Loren Adelson Singer, who passed away in 2009, had published several novels, among them That’s the House, There (1973), Boca Grande (1974), and Making Good (1993). His first work was 1970s The Parallax View, published by Doubleday. It was written as an answer to his disdain for the printing business he worked at with his father-in-law and proved to be enough of a success to permit him to become a paid author. The inspiration for the book came from the covert operations he assisted in while training with the Office of Strategic Services and was penned following the high-profile political assassinations of the 1960s. It also provided the blueprint for the film which is the second of Mr. Pakula’s informally named “paranoia trilogy,” bookended by Klute (1971) and All the President’s Men (1976). All three films were photographed by the late Gordon Willis. While the first two were shot in anamorphic Panavision (2.35:1), the third film was shot flat (1.85:1).

Conspiracy thrillers of this era concerned with Everyman against the Establishment often possessed creepy, minimalist musical scores and The Parallax View is no exception. Michael Small provides an excellent theme on the heels of his work for Klute prior to passing the baton to David Shire on All the President’s Men (Mr. Shire coincidentally scored The Conversation for his then brother-in-lawFrancis Coppola). It is reminiscent of the music he would later write for John Schlesinger’s Marathon Man (1976), yet another terrific film about paranoia.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Actress Yvette Mimieux passed away on Tuesday from natural causes. She was 80 years old. Mimieux rose to fame starring opposite Rod Taylor in George Pal's 1960 screen adaptation of H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine". Prominent roles in major films soon followed and she won acclaim for her abilities primarily in dramas, although the1960 film "Where the Boys Are" combined comedy with tragedy and Mimieux's star rose further when the movie became a boxoffice hit with teenagers. In 1962, she teamed again with George Pal for his Cinerama classic "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm".  Other major films in which she starred included "The Light in the Piazza", "Toys in the Attic", "Diamond Head", "The Reward" and the Disney hit "Monkeys Go Home!". In 1968, she reunited with Rod Taylor for "Dark of the Sun" (aka "The Mercenaries"), a brutal but well-made adventure film centering on social unrest and revolution in the Congo.

Many of her films from this era were less-than-stellar, however, but she did score a major hit in 1972 starring opposite Charlton Heston in "Skyjacked". In 1976, she starred in the exploitation/sexploitation crime drama "Jackson County Jail", which has become a cult favorite from the era. Her last role in a major film was in Disney's 1979 sci-fi movie "The Black Hole". She had been active in television since 1959 and continued to appear in the medium while simultaneously starring in feature films. Her last screen credit was the TV movie "Lady Boss" in 1992, after which she retired from acting. She had been married three times including a 13 year union with director Stanley Donen. She had no children. The web site Deadline reports that no memorial services are planned, keeping true to her penchant for privacy in her personal life. For more, click here.

Deadline reports that MGM and Eon Productions will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the James Bond film franchise with special IMAX screenings at theaters in the USA this Friday, January 21. Select theaters will also present a filmed Q&A session with Daniel Craig, producers Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson and director Cary Joji Fukanaga. The screening will also debut the new Bond 60th anniversary logo. Check your local IMAX theater listings to see if they will be showing the film. At this time, no information was given regarding how theaters showing the Q&A session can be identified.   Click here for more details.

Cinema Retro has received the following press release from The History Press. 

THE ART OF FILM

Designing James Bond, Aliens, Batman and More

24 March 2022 | 9780750997423 | HB | £25

TERRY ACKLAND-SNOW WENDY LAYBOURN

Legendary Art Director Terry Ackland-Snow lifts the lid on his extraordinary career in cinema.

Features many unpublished images and production sketches, and a wealth of amusing and revealing anecdotes. Terry Ackland-Snow has been a legendary figure in the film / TV industry for more than 40 years. Having worked on over 80 feature films, including two James Bond (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and The Living Daylights), Aliens, Batman, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Labyrinth and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, he reveals in The Art of Film the stories behind the making of these iconic productions. With behind-the-scenes photographs and Terry’s own production sketches, many of which are published here for the first time, this is an essential read for lovers of classic cinema.

Terry Ackland-Snow has been in the film and television industry for more than 50 years. Having worked on over 80 feature productions, he has amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience, all of which he now teaches on his art direction training courses based at Pinewood Studios.

Wendy Laybourn has worked in the film industry since the early 1970s and has spent the past few years helping the future generation of filmmakers to understand the skills and crafts involved.

THE WHISTLE AT EATON FALLS
 Flicker Fusion Blu-ray Disc Edition
SPECIAL PRE-ORDER SALE PRICE: $19.95 (M.S.R.P. $24.95)

The Whistle at Eaton Falls / 1951 / Directed by Robert Siodmak / 96 minutes
USA / UPC: 6-17311-60629-8

(Los Angeles, CA–January 14, 2022) -- Flicker Alley and LdR Films, in association with the Library of Congress, proudly present a new restoration of Robert Siodmak’s labor drama, The Whistle at Eaton Falls (1951), in a replicated media publication as part of Flicker Alley’s new “Flicker Fusion” Blu-ray disc series.

Flicker Alley invites you to discover The Whistle at Eaton Falls, a rarely seen 1951 film by renowned filmmakers Robert Siodmak and Louis de Rochemont, featuring Lloyd Bridges, Ernest Borgnine, Murray Hamilton, and Dorothy Gish (in one of her rare later screen appearances). Making its home video debut, this superb quasi-documentary labor drama has been brilliantly restored, utilizing 2K scanned materials from the Library of Congress. Shot on location in New Hampshire and set during a post war economic crisis, The Whistle at Eaton Falls follows the newly appointed manager of Doubleday Plastics, Brad Adams (Lloyd Bridges), and the labor union that represents their factory workers. Brad, a former factory worker and union president, is tasked with the unfortunate responsibility of laying off employees and friends to ease the company’s financial struggles. Despite his relentless commitment to protect the workers, Brad must find a way to keep the company on its feet and thereby ensure the stability of the local economy. This brand new 2K restoration was undertaken by the Louis de Rochemont estate and spearheaded by Tom H. March and David Strohmaier, the same team behind the stunning Cinerama and Cinemiracle films also published by Flicker Alley. With negative scanning by FotoKem Industries through the Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division facility in Culpeper, Virginia. Bonus Materials Include: Audio Commentary Track – by author and film historian Alan K. Rode “Louis de Rochemont Remembered” – a personal reminiscence from grandson Pierre de Rochemont Insights into the Restoration – a demonstration of the digital restoration and reconstruction process Isolated Soundtrack – the original 1951 orchestral score used for the film, sourced from rare archival recordings Carleton Carpenter Sings – archival audio recordings of "Ev'ry Other Day" and “It’s a Million to One You’re in Love” Image Gallery – slideshow presentation featuring the original script, budget details, and promotional materials from the Louis de Rochemont Special Collections at Keene State College Original Theatrical Trailer Booklet Essay – an excerpt from Richard Koszarski’s "Keep 'em in the East"  Kazan, Kubrick and the Post-War New York Film Renaissance, that covers Louis de Rochemont’s career during the time The Whistle At Eaton Falls was produced (Columbia University Press).

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About Flicker Fusion

This is the second title in Flicker Alley’s “Flicker Fusion” series, a publication line that brings new projects, lesser known rarities, and archival restorations to light. With a nod to the steady stream of images that motion pictures utilize in creating the magic of moving images, our “Flicker Fusion” series will be an ongoing way to offer high quality, pressed Blu-ray Disc publications at an affordable price. Look for more titles to be announced soon.

About Flicker Alley, LLC

Flicker Alley, LLC was founded in 2002 by Jeff Masino. Each Flicker Alley publication is the culmination of hundreds of hours of research, digital restoration, graphic design, music composition and scoring. Collectively, they reflect the creativity, expertise, and shared passion of many talented collaborators. The Flicker Alley brand has grown to enjoy national and international critical acclaim. The company is a four-time recipient of the National Society of Film Critics Film Heritage Award for publishing "rare early U.S. and foreign silent film."

From the Cinema Retro archives: the opening of a new Cinerama theater in Las Vegas in January, 1965. First attraction: producer Samuel Bronston's "Circus World". 

BY DOUG OSWALD 

A concentration camp survivor returns home after the war only to find betrayal and deceit in “Phoenix,” a Blu-ray release from Criterion. Nina Hoss is Nelly Lenz, a German Jew returning to Berlin in 1945 both physically and psychologically damaged after years in concentration camps including the notorious Auschwitz death camp. A successful nightclub singer prior to the horrors of Nazi Germany, she returns home with a disfigured face hidden under bandages when we first meet her on screen. Nelly is aided by her friend Lene Winter (Nina Kunzendorf), a fellow German Jew who fled to England before the war. Nelly receives reconstructive surgery on her face which alters her looks, although we never see what she looked liked prior to her facial disfigurement. We first see her after the bandages are removed post surgery.

Nelly wants to be reunited with her husband, she married shortly before being taken by the authorities to a Jewish detention camp. She finds her husband, Johnny Lenz (Ronald Zehrfeld), who had not been arrested because he is not Jewish, working at a local restaurant. He doesn’t recognize her when they talk and it appears he is oblivious to who she is. Johnny returns to her the next day with a request. He asks if she will pretend to be his (presumably) dead wife so he can make a claim for her estate and then he’ll share some of the money with her. Nelly agrees to the ruse if only to be with her husband even though it is play acting on his part.

The psychological scars are deep for both Nelly and Lene, who has survivor’s guilt from avoiding internment. Those scars are deeper than the physical scars for Nelly which prevents her from revealing her true identity to her husband as she learns more about him. Nelly hopes her husband will somehow come to recognize her as the real Nelly, but plays things out maintaining the ruse in an attempt to learn how he survived throughout the war. The climax is chilling, as it is revealed how Nina was betrayed and by whom. These developments are played out in flashback.

Nina Hoss and Ronald Zehrfeld are excellent as Nelly and Johnny. as is Nina Kunzendorf as Lene. Directed by Christian Petzold with a screenplay co-written by Petzold and Harn Farocki,, the story is based on “motifs” from the novel “Le retour des cendres” by Hubert Monteilhet. I found it fascinating to watch as Johnny teaches Nelly how to act like Nelly, dress like Nelly and sign her name like Nelly in order to “fool” her own family and friends who survived the war. The movie has a definite “Vertigo” vibe going for it, almost as though we are experiencing a lucid daydream.

Nina Hoss may be familiar to fans of the television series “Homeland”, wherein she played Astrid in 13 episodes of the Showtime series from 2014 to 2017. She was also in the Showtime 2020 series “The Defeated.” Her co-star, Ronald Zehrfeld, is also terrific and convincing as the “widowed” husband who does not recognize his own wife, but knows this “other” woman looks close enough to hopefully fool everyone and claim Nelly’s estate. Zehfred appears in mostly German productions, but does appear in the 2020 Netflix series “Barbarans” as Berulf.

If the basic plot of “Phoenix” sounds familiar, as it did to me while I first viewed the Blu-ray, it’s because the same novel was adapted for the 1965 thriller, “Return from the Ashes,” which is also the English translation of the novel. That movie, directed by J. Lee Thompson and adapted by Julius Epstein, features Maximilian Schell, Samantha Eggar and Ingrid Thulin. I’ve never read the original novel, but a quick check on the web revealed “Return from the Ashes” is the more faithful while “Phoenix” focuses on “motifs” lifting the basic plot of the inheritance claim and changes the location from post- World War II France to Germany and adds the plastic surgery subplot.

“Phoenix” was released in September 2014 in Germany and found an audience as an American film festival and art house release throughout 2015. While not a blockbuster, the film did brisk business and deserves a fresh viewing. The movie is 98 minutes and filmed in German language. The Criterion Collection Blu-ray of “Phoenix” looks and sounds terrific in the original German with English subtitles. The disc also includes a making of documentary, interviews with the director, cinematographer, cast and also the trailer. There’s also an informative booklet with an essay about the film by Michael Koresky included with the disc packaging. The movie is highly recommended and makes a great double feature with “Return From the Ashes.”

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“BOB THE BARBER”

By Raymond Benson

One of actor/comedian Bob Hope’s most cherished films is Monsieur Beaucaire, a 1946 remake of a Rudolph Valentino silent picture from 1924, both of which are based on a 1900 novel by Booth Tarkington. Hope’s version, directed by George Marshall, is certainly a loose adaptation because it turned what was a historical romantic drama into a flat-out comedy.

Woody Allen has been known to cite early Bob Hope movies as an inspiration for his onscreen persona in the director’s early “zany” comedies like Bananas and Sleeper. When one views something like Monsieur Beaucaire or My Favorite Blonde (1942), the comparison is strikingly apt. Hope creates a persona of nervous mannerisms, lack of self confidence masked by bravado, clumsy but endearing interaction with the opposite sex, and witty one-liners. Beaucaire exhibits Hope in fine form, producing a good deal of laughs as well as swashbuckling action.

The tale is set sometime in the 1700s. Beaucaire (Hope) is the royal barber to King Louis XV (Reginald Owen). King Philip V (Howard Freeman) of Spain has suggested a solution to prevent war between their two countries—marrying off Princess Maria (Marjorie Reynolds) of Spain to a suitor of Louis’ choosing. Louis decides that Duc le Chandre (Patrick Knowles), a dashing swordsman and lady’s man, to be the lucky groom. Actually, Louis wants le Chandre out of France because they both have eyes on the same woman, Madame Pompadour (Hillary Brooke). Never mind that Louis is still married to the queen (Constance Collier). Beaucaire is in love with scullery maid Mimi (Joan Caulfield), but Mimi has loftier goals of seducing the king himself and being one of his mistresses. After a series of mistaken identities, the king banishing both Mimi and Beaucaire to Spain for something they didn’t do, and le Chandre being forced to go into hiding because of another mix-up, the duke and Beaucaire trade places and travel together while impersonating one another. In Spain, nasty Don Francisco (Joseph Schildkraut) is determined to stop the marriage between Maria and le Chandre because he wants war between Spain and France so that he can usurp his king. Once in Spain, Beaucaire—as le Chandre—must juggle several risky situations to keep up the subterfuge, help le Chandre and Maria (who do end up falling in love), and finally win over Mimi.

As with most Bob Hope vehicles, there are musical numbers, slapstick routines, and, here, some swashbuckling set pieces, all in period costumes with those wacky powdered white wigs (in fact, one early comic piece involves Beaucaire, the king, and the powder). Joan Caulfield is a worthy foil for Hope, and Patrick Knowles provides adequate straight man/dashing hero duties. The always reliable Joseph Schildkraut makes a good slimy villain, and there are plenty of other supporting folks who add merriment to the proceedings. Director Marshall keeps the picture moving at a brisk pace, and the script by Hope regulars Melvin Frank and Norman Panama is clever and sharp.

Kino Lober’s new Blu-ray release is a high definition transfer that looks good and does the job. Unfortunately, there are no supplements on the disk apart from theatrical trailers from this and other Bob Hope titles.

Monsieur Beaucaire is for fans of Bob Hope, Hollywood comedies of the 1940s, and excuses to while away approximately 90 minutes with a smile on the face.

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(In light of Sidney Poiter's recent passing, we are re-running this article by Eve Goldberg that was originally posted in May, 2021.) 

BY EVE GOLDBERG

To Sir, With Love (1967) is a classroom drama set in London’s working-class East End during the swinging 1960s. It’s a well-scripted, well-acted, and well-directed film of the “good teacher vs unruly students” subgenre. But, more than anything else, To Sir, With Love is a Sidney Poitier film. It’s Poitier’s persona and charisma, his decency and humanity, that shine through in every scene. And, it’s Poitier at the apex of his acting career—In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner were also released that same year. The film has aged surprisingly well, and is still enjoyable to watch. But it’s as an artifact of the Sidney Poitier oeuvre that To Sir, With Love earns its historical significance.

Class Struggle

In To Sir, With Love, Poitier plays Mark Thackeray, an unemployed engineer who takes a job teaching in a rough London high school while looking for work in his chosen field. From the beginning, the students give him a hard time. Led by rebellious Bert Denham (Christian Roberts), the teens are disrespectful and rude. Despite Thackeray’s patience, he fails to reach them. Eventually, he ditches the academic curricula and decides to engage the students around issues of personal ethics, survival skills, and everyday reality. “Life, love, death, sex, marriage, rebellion—anything you want,” he tells them. Thackeray opens up about his own hard-scrabble childhood in British Guiana. He demands that the students treat him, and each other, with respect. At one point, he takes them on a field trip to a museum, which proves to be a breakthrough scene as they experience life, and themselves, in a new way.

As the students grow and change, new challenges emerge for Thackeray: a female student (pretty blonde Pamela, played by Judy Geeson) develops a crush on him; he guides another student to cope with a humiliating situation in a more mature way. Towards the end of the movie, the students surprise Thackeray when they overcome their racism to attend the funeral of a mixed-race classmate’s mother.

In Poitier’s own words, his character “taught manners to kids who hadn’t understood what manners were… He also taught about self-respect, dignity, integrity, and honesty… He taught them integrity largely by showing them integrity. He offered himself as a friend, and until they were able to understand the offer and accept it, he endured an awful lot. He was driven to anger. He was humiliated… In the end, though, he succeeded in helping his students to see themselves in this new life as valuable, useful human beings with impressive potential.”

At the conclusion of the film, Thackeray receives the engineering job offer he was hoping for. But he tears up the job offer letter, realizing that he has found his calling as a teacher.

Race Takes a Back Seat

Despite several nods to issues of racial prejudice—in addition to the funeral subplot, Thackeray must deal with sporadic racists comments made by a fellow teacher and by the students—To Sir, With Love is more about class than race. Thackeray is educated, sophisticated, of the professional class and upwardly mobile. His students—almost all of them are white—are hard-core working-class, aware that they face a bleak economic future. When Thackeray throws out the text books in favor of teaching practical life lessons, he is in fact choosing to instruct the students in middle-class values and behavior.

But for all that class trumps race in this film, there is not a single moment when an American viewer in 1967 would not have been acutely aware that this is a black man teaching white kids. This is a black man counseling a student to disavow violence and turn the other cheek. This is a black man who might or might not become romantically involved with a white teacher. This is a black man who is intelligent, resourceful, self-restrained, and kind.

And that was a big part of the movie’s draw.

“I’m the only one”

In 1967, Sidney Poitier was the only black movie star in America. There was no Will Smith. There was no Denzel Washington. There was no Halle Berry, no Eddie Murphy, no Viola Davis, no Jamie Foxx, no Angela Bassett.

In 1967, movies were still at the center of the American cultural universe. When Newark and Detroit erupted in riots, when issues of race were daily front page news, when the more radical factions of the civil rights movement were verbally duking it out with the more moderate groups, Poitier was under pressure to be a spokesperson for all of black America.

“I’m the only one,” Poitier stated in an interview from that time. “I’m the only Negro actor who works with any degree of regularity. I represent 10,000,000 people in this country, and millions more in Africa.”

With the release of To Sir, With Love, In the Heat of the Night, and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, he also became the top-grossing box office star in the country. His ascent to this rarefied position was a matter of talent, hard work, and the guts to take on challenges and risks.

Sidney Poitier’s life journey began in 1927. He grew up on Cat Island in the Bahamas, population 1,000. His parents were tomato farmers; their house had no electricity or running water. He saw his first automobile at age 10 when the family moved to Nassau. When he was 15, Poitier went to live with his older brother in Miami. A year later, he moved to New York where he worked as a dishwasher, took acting lessons, and joined the American Negro Theater. A fellow restaurant worker helped him improve his reading skills by pouring over the daily newspaper together.

Eventually, the actor began to get parts in theater, film, and television. His breakout movie role came in 1955 when he was cast as an angry, rebellious student in Blackboard Jungle. From there, he went on to leading roles in The Defiant Ones, A Raisin in the Sun, Lilies of the Field, and A Patch of Blue. He was the first black person to win a Best Actor Oscar—for his role in 1963’s Lilies of the Field.

Poitier’s star was rising at the exact time the civil rights movement was making its enormous impact on mainstream America. He became active in the movement, traveling to the south for Freedom Summer, and participating in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1964 March on Washington. (Other stars who attended the march included Marlon Brando, Charlton Heston, Paul Newman, and Burt Lancaster.)

As an actor, Poitier became an icon in the struggle for racial equality. He refused to play roles that did not embody dignity and strength. In an interview, he described his relationship to the history of black people in cinema: “The kind of Negro played on the screen was always negative, buffoons, clowns, shuffling butlers, really misfits.… I chose not to be a party to the stereotyping … I want people to feel when they leave the theatre that life and human beings are worthwhile. That is my only philosophy about the pictures I do.”

Fortunately for Poitier, he was not the only one in Hollywood concerned with breaking these old stereotypes. “The explanation for my career,” he writes in his memoir, “was that I was instrumental for those few filmmakers who had a social conscience. Men like Daryl Zanuck, Joe Mankiewicz, Stanley Kramer, the Mirisch brothers, Ralph Nelson, Mike Frankovich, David Susskind—men who, in their careers, felt called to address some of the issues of their day.”

In 1966, Poitier was cast as Virgil Tibbs, a Philadelphia police detective investigating a murder in a small southern town, in Norman Jewison’s In The Heat of the Night. While waiting for production to begin, he traveled to London to star in a modestly-budgeted film about a teacher and his students, based on a property that had been kicking around Hollywood for years.

Iconic

To Sir, With Love began as a 1959 autobiographical novel by Guyanese writer E.R. Braithwaite. Columbia Studios owned the film rights but executives worried that it wouldn’t be a money-maker. They fretted that both its London setting and its interracial romance between Thackeray and a white teacher would alienate American audiences. So the book just sat.

Eventually however, Poitier’s agent Marty Baum put together a deal that offset the studio’s concerns.

Baum was also the agent of writer James Clavell (of later Shogun fame) who had scored a big success with his book and movie King Rat. Clavell had done a bit of screenwriting and directing and was eager to do more. He signed on as writer-director of To Sir, With Love. Baum structured a deal in which Poitier would get only a small up-front salary—much less than he would normally command—plus 10% of the film’s gross earnings. Clavell agreed to work for a percentage of the net. The film’s total budget would be $640,000. By way of comparison, the budget for In the Heat of the Night was $2,000,000 and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner’s budget was $4,000,000. Taking on only a minimal financial risk, Columbia greenlit the film.

To Sir, With Love was shot on location in London and at England’s Pinewood Studios. It was released in June, 1967, and quickly became a smash hit. Studio executives were surprised: they didn’t know that Poitier was such a huge box office draw.

Teenagers (including 13-year-old yours truly) were among those who flocked to the movie. It had rebellious youth; it had Mod clothing, rock music, and pop star Lulu’s catchy hit “To Sir, With Love.” (Nineteen-year-old Lulu also has a part as one of the students.) The title song plays three times in the film, most notably as the soundtrack for an unusual scene that sticks out in an otherwise conventionally styled move: The class field trip to the museum is presented as a montage of still photos set to the title tune (a slightly longer version than was heard on the radio or on the 45 RPM record.) Is the montage a nod to hip, avant garde filmmaking such as A Hard Days’ Night? Or was it a necessity due to the film’s limited budget? Either way, it works.

Another plus for teenage audiences is the school’s end-of-the-year dance at which live entertainment is provided by real-life British rock band The Mindbenders.

But most of all, the movie had Sidney Poitier. Who wouldn’t want a teacher as handsome, understanding, compassionate, and smart as Mr. Thackeray?

Reviews of the movie were mixed.

The New York Times’ Bosley Crowther called it, “a cozy, good-humored and unbelievable little tale of a teacher getting acquainted with his pupils, implying but never stating that it is nice for the races to live congenially together.”

“If the hero of this Pollyanna story were white, his pieties would have been whistled off the screen,” Penelope Gilliatt wrote in The New Yorker.

Pauline Kael in The New Republic—she had not moved to The New Yorker yet—was sympathetic to the double bind Poitier found himself in: “Poitier has been playing the ideal-boy-next-door-who-happens-to-be-black for so long that he’s always the same…[but] What can he do? He can’t pass as a white man in order to play rats or cowards or sons of bitches, and if he plays Negro rats or cowards or sons of bitches he’ll be attacked for doing Negroes harm.”

The black press, which generally applauded Poitier and his pioneering contributions to civil rights, was mostly enthusiastic about To Sir, With Love. It was noted in Ebony, however, that the book’s interracial romance between Thackeray and fellow teacher Gillian Blanchard (Suzy Kendall) had been deleted in the movie. “Had Thackeray been white, the Thackeray-Gillian relationship would have been a love affair.”

Despite these mixed reviews, the public kept buying tickets. Loads of them. Month after month. Soon, To Sir, With Love became Columbia’s biggest hit since Lawrence of Arabia.

Eclipsed

In the Heat of the Night opened just two months after To Sir, With Love. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner opened several months after that. These latter two films were prestige projects, centered around issues of race, with multiple Academy Awards nominations and wins. All three movies were giant box office hits. By any measure in Hollywood, 1967 had shaped up as The Year of Sidney Poitier.

However, the peak of his acting career was short-lived. Social and political currents were shifting, and the tide turned amazingly quickly against his film persona.

According to the actor, “The issue boiled down to why I wasn’t more angry and confrontational. New voices were speaking for African-Americans, and in new ways. Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, the Black Panthers. According to a certain taste that was coming into ascendancy at the time, I was an ‘Uncle Tom,’ even a ‘house Negro,’ for playing roles that were nonthreatening to white audiences, for playing the ‘noble Negro’ who fulfills white liberal fantasies. In essence, I was being taken to tasks for playing exemplary human beings.”

Already in 1967, Poitier sensed that his career as a leading man on screen was coming to an end. And he was right. He made more movies, as an actor and director—he directed Uptown Saturday Night and Stir Crazy among others—but the height of his cultural influence was over.

Today, Sidney Poitier may be most remembered for his role as detective Virgil Tibbs in In The Heat of the Night. But let’s not forget that it was a little movie about a teacher and his students that launched the great actor’s star into the stratosphere.

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BY TIM MCGLYNN

Kino Lorber has released a Blu-ray edition of the 1966 drama A Man Called Adam, starring Sammy Davis Jr. Directed by Leo Penn, this look into the world of jazz music and race relations in America during the turbulent ‘60s features an all-star cast including Louis Armstrong, Cicely Tyson, Ossie Davis, Mel Torme, Peter Lawford and Frank Sinatra, Jr.

Adam Johnson is a legendary jazz trumpeter in the mold of Miles Davis. He’s confident, moody and somewhat distant from his fans and fellow musicians. He doesn’t play by the rules and doesn’t take the advice offered to him by his best friend Nelson Davis. When we first meet Adam, he’s walked off the stage at a Cincinnati club after getting razzed by a drunken patron for not playing more upbeat music.

Adam Johnson is an alcoholic who doesn’t try to keep his addiction a secret. He often performs while intoxicated and displays an attitude of arrogance towards those who support him. His drinking is linked to an auto accident ten years earlier that killed his wife and daughter as well as blinded his pianist. He often becomes morose when his colleagues try to convince him the car crash was not his fault.

Adam Johnson is a lonely man who won’t allow anyone to get close. When he returns to his apartment after the incident in Cincy, he finds that Nelson has loaned out his apartment to established jazz icon William “Sweet Daddy” Ferguson. Adam angrily throws Ferguson out into the hallway, not realizing who the old gentleman is. After things cool down, Adam is introduced to Ferguson’s beautiful granddaughter Claudia, who is an ardent follower of Martin Luther King, Jr. and adheres strongly to his teachings of non-violent protests. Adam will test her beliefs as he and Claudia enter into a passionate and stormy relationship.

Due to his bad temper on stage, Adam is forced to take a job fronting a tour through the American South set up by his agent Manny. This happens after Adam capitulates to Manny in a humiliating scene at a restaurant. Realizing he has few alternatives, Adam cooperates in an attempt to impress Claudia. For most of the concert dates Adam plays by the rules and is supportive of his young trumpet protégé Vincent. In one poignant scene, the two musicians realize that all of the Black audience members at a performance have been relegated to the balcony. They point their trumpets up to these appreciative fans, which raises the ire of several whites on the main floor. After the concert Vincent, who is also white, is savagely beaten by a group of racist thugs.

The remainder of the film documents Adam’s decline, as he’s unable reconcile his feelings toward his music and his love for Claudia. The civil rights movement was coming to a boiling point at this time in America and Adam has witnessed first hand some of the ugliness running rampant in the South. At this point many viewers may be reminded of 2018’s Best Picture winner Green Book, wherein a New Jersey wiseguy escorts a Black concert pianist through the South on a concert tour during the late 60s. Adam experiences some of the same emotions in that he isn’t able to satisfy the expectations placed upon by him by both whites and Blacks.

Director Leo Penn, father of actor Sean, cast many well-known jazz greats for the sake of authenticity. While Louis Armstrong plays a fictional character, the rest of the players are the real deal. The music score was arranged by saxophonist/bandleader Benny Carter. His great song, All That Jazz, is heard over the titles as well as a party scene where Mel Torme provides a smooth as silk rendition. For younger viewers, Mel Torme may be the singer Harry Anderson’s character worshipped on the television classic Night Court. Here he was at his absolute peak as he works the room with his vocal prowess. Other greats include Vincent Favata, Kai Winding, Roy Glenn, George Rhodes and Lester Williams. Nate Adderly covered the solos for Sammy Davis, Jr. While not musicians, keen-eyed viewers may be able to spot George Kirby and a very young Morgan Freeman as party guests during the All That Jazz sequence.

The script by Les Pine and Tina Rome is tight and doesn’t waste a scene or character in this story. As the film was made in 1966, profanity is not heard and to be honest, this film doesn’t need it. The actors convey their emotions with body language and facial expressions that communicate what we need to know. It may be because most of director Penn’s experience was in television that we see a lot of close-ups that fill the screen with the faces of his actors. This film had to be striking on the big screen.

The mono sound mix is clear and features a bit of bass that is readily apparent during the music numbers. This Blu-ray was sourced from a print free of any scratches and presents the black and white images in stark contrast. The nightclub scenes are starkly lit and the ever-present cigarette smoke is easily seen.

A very enthusiastic commentary track is provided by film critic/historian Sergio Mims who displays his knowledge of both film and jazz. While A Man Called Adam is set during the 1960s era of cool jazz, one does not have to be a fan to enjoy this film. Just know that the character of Adam Johnson is one of the best in the business.

As a kid growing up in the ‘60s in the Chicago area, I was actually pretty well-versed in this style of music. My father was a musician and a real jazz aficionado who played in area clubs and juke joints. He listened to his records all the time at home and I learned the players and the styles by osmosis, if nothing else. While not my favorite kind of music, I certainly developed an appreciation for the technique and improvisational skills these musicians possessed. Names like Oscar Peterson, Coleman Hawkins and Wes Montgomery were as well known as the Beatles in our house. It would be a very rare event that we as a family would make the journey to Chicago’s Loop to catch a movie at the first-run theaters on State or Randolph Streets. I remember two: Walt Disney’s Mary Poppins at the State-Lake and A Man Called Adam at the Roosevelt.

A theme covered in this film is the fact that most of these great musicians were Black, yet the money behind them came from white agents and club owners. This story was an early attempt to place the Black performers front and center. It’s interesting that the advertisements for the movie still list the white actors first.

Kino Lorber’s edition of this great film is presented in the original aspect ratio of 1.66:1 and includes English subtitles. The original trailer is also included.

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“WHADDAYA HEAR? WHADDAYA SAY?”

By Raymond Benson

One of the defining Hollywood gangster movies of the 1930s is the magnificent Angels with Dirty Faces, directed by the versatile Michael Curtiz, and starring the inimitable James Cagney in a signature role. For years afterwards, impressionists would perform Cagney’s twitching mannerisms along with the oft-repeated line in the film, “Whaddaya hear? Whaddaya say?” Cagney would never live it down.

Interestingly, Cagney nearly didn’t make the film. He had been afraid that he would be typecast forever in “tough guy” roles, when at heart he was really a song and dance man. He had already revealed his diversity to the world after his big breakthrough in 1931 (The Public Enemy) by appearing in some musicals like Footlight Parade (1933). However, even pictures like G-Men (1935), in which Cagney played a law enforcement officer, was still a tough guy outing for the actor. After some contract and studio conflicts, walking away from Warner Brothers, further haggling, and the actor’s eventual return, Cagney finally accepted the part of Rocky Sullivan.

In the story’s ending, Sullivan is to be executed in the electric chair, and his Catholic priest best friend, Father Jerry Connolly (Pat O’Brien) convinces him to “act like a coward” so that his influence on younger hoodlums (played by the “Dead End Kids”) would be broken and they would no longer emulate him. At first Cagney didn’t think that was a good idea for his tough guy image on screen, even though he really wanted to get away from it. Then he came to his senses and realized this was an opportunity to stretch his acting chops and show the audiences yet another side of James Cagney—emotion and tears. As a result, the actor received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for Angels with Dirty Faces.

Rocky and Jerry are juvenile delinquents in the early 1920s (uncannily cast by younger lookalike actors Frankie Burke and William Tracy, respectively). Rocky gets sent to reform school and then later is arrested for armed robbery. His co-conspirator in that job was lawyer/gangster Jim Frazier (Humphrey Bogart, in one of his pre-star gangster roles) who convinces Rocky to take the rap. Frazier promises to give him $100,000 of the stolen money upon Rocky’s release. Now, years later in the 30s, Rocky is free and he wants his money. Jerry has become a priest who oversees the parish where the Dead End Kids (Billy Halop, Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, Gabriel Dell, Huntz Hall, and Bernard Punsly) are teenagers on their way to become professional gangsters. Rocky becomes a mentor to them, much to Jerry’s chagrin. Also in the mix is Laury (Ann Sheridan), Rocky’s love interest who has known him since they were kids and is now his landlady. When Rocky goes to Frazier to get his money, trouble ensues, for Frazier has become more corrupt. Rather than give Rocky the money that he was promised, Frazier would rather bump off the guy. Rocky, despite pleas from Jerry and Laury, declares war on Frazier and his underground syndicate.

Angels with Dirty Faces is successful on all counts, from the casting and acting, the direction, and the writing (by John Wexley and Warren Duff, from a story by Rowland Brown). As mentioned, Cagney received a Best Actor Oscar nomination. Curtiz received a Best Director nomination and had to compete with himself, for he was also nominated for Four Daughters the same year! These were Curtiz’s first official nominations—he had been a “write-in” candidate in 1935 for Captain Blood. Rowland Brown also received a nomination for Best Story (a category that no longer exists). For this reviewer’s money, the movie itself should have been a Best Picture nominee.

A word about the Dead End Kids… These talented young actors got their start in Sidney Kingsley’s 1935 Broadway play, Dead End, which was made into a film in 1937 by United Artists. Because the actors were troublemakers on the set, their contract was sold to Warner Brothers, where the boys made six features in two years, including Angels with Dirty Faces. In 1939, Warners kicked them out because of more destructive antics on the sets. This didn’t end their careers, though. Other studios picked them up in various configurations and names—the Little Tough Guys, the East Side Kids, and the Bowery Boys. In total they made 89 feature films!

The new Warner Archive Blu-ray is a direct port-over from the studio’s previous DVD edition, except that the feature film is in high definition and looks marvelous in glorious black and white. It comes with a commentary by film historian Dana Polan. The supplements are one of Warner’s Leonard Maltin-hosted “Night at the Movies” compilation that mimics what audiences might have seen in 1938 when going to the theater. It begins with a newsreel, followed by a musical short (“Out Where the Stars Begin”), a cartoon (“Porky and Daffy”), a theatrical trailer, and finally the feature film. There is also a featurette about the movie, and an audio-only radio production with the film’s two stars.

Angels with Dirty Faces is grand entertainment, a representation of the Golden Age of Hollywood at its best, with a magnificent James Cagney performance, and exciting, riveting gangster flick action. Don’t miss it.

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BY ADRIAN SMITH

In an isolated theatre, a group of young performers is being drilled by a tyrannical director with a passion for the dark and twisted. This new production appears to be an all-dancing musical extravaganza filled with rape, murder, and saxophone solos. Unknown to everyone involved however, the lead actor under the giant owl head (don’t ask) has been offed and replaced by an actual crazed serial killer who then proceeds to pick off the attractive cast and crew one by one whilst they search helplessly for a way out of the theatre to alert the police outside. Think the Friday the 13^th franchise meets the kids from Fame .

This suspenseful, entertaining slasher from Italy (but shot entirely in English and presented as though this is happening New York) was something of a staple in the VHS days and now a new audience will be able to discover it thanks to this 4K director-approved restoration from Shameless Screen Entertainment.

Also known as Aquarius or Deliera, Stagefright was the feature directorial debut of Dario Argento acolyte Michele Soavi, who had a run of spectacular and operatic horror films during the last gasp of the Italian genre film industry in the tail end of the 1980s. He was seen as something of a natural successor to Argento. Having worked as an actor and assistant director on a number of hit Italian genre films like City of the Living Dead (1980, Lucio Fulci), Phenomena (1985, Dario Argento) and Demons (1985, Lamberto Bava), as well as on the epic Terry Gilliam production The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), Soavi was well experienced in putting the grotesque and the fantastical onto the big screen. The success of Stagefright enabled him to move onto bigger, weirder and more ambitions films like The Church (1989), The Sect (1991) and Cemetery Man (1994) [which are also all available on Blu-ray from Shameless] and he continues to work today in a very successful television career in Italy.

As well as a spectacular visual and audio restoration, this new Blu-ray (with an O-ring and reversible sleeve featuring two kinds of original artwork) also features a long and insightful interview with Michele Soavi himself, as well as interviews with Irish star David Brandon, no stranger to Italian genre cinema during his long career, and Italian supporting actor Giovanni Lombado Radice, who has possibly had more gory onscreen deaths than any other actor of his generation. All three of these interviews are as entertaining as Stagefright itself.

Produced by Joe D’Amato and written by George Eastman, with a score featuring Guido Anelli and Stefano Mainetti, this film is Italian through and through yet still captures something of that 1980s New York off-Broadway spirit in its pretentious director and young cast’s highs and lows, where the backstage dramas threaten to overshadow the show itself even before the crazed owl-headed killer turns up with an attitude and a chainsaw.

Stagefright is available now. Click here to order. (Please note: this is a Region 2, PAL format release.)

“SILENCE AND MUSIC”

By Raymond Benson

Jane Campion’s 1993 masterpiece, The Piano, is a singular motion picture unlike any other, except for perhaps other pictures by Campion (her most recent, The Power of the Dog, manages to evoke much of the same mood and atmosphere, albeit within a totally different setting and context).

Campion was the second woman to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar for The Piano and the first to have the same title nominated for Best Picture. While she failed to win in these two categories, she did justly win for Best Original Screenplay. Holly Hunter won Best Actress, and little Anna Paquin, in her debut film appearance, won Best Supporting Actress, becoming the second-youngest performer ever to win an Oscar (she was nine and ten during the making of the film, and was eleven when she received the trophy). The Piano was also nominated for Cinematography (Stuart Dryburgh), Costume Design (Janet Patterson), and Editing (Veronika Jenet). Astonishingly, Michael Nyman’s heartbreakingly beautiful score, vitally important to the film in that the music is practically a character in the story, was not nominated. Nyman was nominated, however, for nearly every other film award and won several of them.

The Piano is not an ordinary movie. It is a perfect art-film, an extremely personal meditation on the role of women (and men) not only in 19th Century New Zealand, when the story takes place, but it is also a comment on contemporary dynamics between the sexes. Campion’s work might remind viewers of the films of Terrence Malick, in that the landscapes of location and Mother Nature are just as important as the inner “voices” of the characters in a tale that is more about atmosphere and feeling than it is “plot.” Campion, in an interview in a supplement on this new Criterion disk, says she looks for the broad vista with tiny figures placed within, like Lawrence of Arabia—so perhaps she has taken a cue from David Lean, too. The difference is that Jane Campion’s point of view and sensibility is decidedly feminine and provocatively feminist.

It’s the late 1800s. Ada (Hunter) is mute by choice (but she can hear and play the piano exquisitely) with a young daughter, Flora (Paquin), who was apparently born out of wedlock (interestingly, Flora’s name is never uttered in the picture). Flora acts as Ada’s mouthpiece as they use sign language to communicate, and then Flora interprets to other people. Ada’s father has sold her into a marriage to Alisdair (Sam Neill), a wilderness-man of sorts living in the New Zealand wild among the Māori people. Ada and Flora arrive by sea, complete with a piano in a crate, and they must wait on the expansive beach of dark sand for Alisdair and the Māori porters to fetch them the next day. Alisdair refuses to bring the piano, which he wasn’t expecting. This immediately causes a rift between Ada and Alisdair, for the piano is Ada’s heart and soul. Baines (Harvey Keitel) is a foreigner who has adopted the ways of the Māori, and he is immediately attracted to Ada. He arranges for the piano to be brought to his home and makes a deal with Alisdair for Ada to teach him how to play it. In private, Baines bargains with Ada, telling her that he’ll trade the piano back to her key-by-key if she will do “favors” for him. These requests become sexual in nature. At first Ada resists, but then she finds the man is much more appealing than her stern and unimaginative husband. How long can Ada and Baines hide their affair from Alisdair, especially when Flora and other Māori people are always around? Eventually, the situation explodes, and the violence that ensues will change the life of each principal character.

This is powerful, sensual stuff. The sex scenes between Hunter and Keitel were shocking when The Piano was first released in 1993, and they are still potent and moving. This reviewer can recall women saying about the film that they “never knew Harvey Keitel could be so sexy!” The Piano is a story of a woman’s journey from “silence,” in every sense of the word, to “music,” the awakening of sensuality and the escape from being controlled. Ada’s piano playing, through Michael Nyman’s pieces, express her thoughts and emotions when she is unable to convey them by voice. Hence, the piano itself becomes a symbol of Ada’s freedom. (It should be noted that Holly Hunter herself played the music in the movie.)

Both Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin deserved their Oscars. Hunter’s performance is remarkable, one of visceral intelligence and passion. Many viewers raised eyebrows when young Paquin won the award, but in retrospect, it is clear that her accomplishment is truly extraordinary. As someone who had never acted professionally, Paquin’s command of character, mood, and presence is nothing short of a miracle.

The Criterion Collection’s new Blu-ray (also available in 4K Ultra) is a package worthy of its content. The film itself is a new, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised and approved by Campion and DP Dryburgh. It looks marvelous. There is an informative audio commentary by Campion and producer Jan Chapman, and the picture comes with a new English subtitle translation for the deaf and hearing impaired (and for the Māori dialogue).

Supplements abound. There are new and/or recent interviews with Campion, Hunter, production designer Andrew McAlpine, Māori advisor Waihoroi Shortland; vintage interviews with Nyman and costumer Patterson; a new conversation between Campion and producer Chapman; a vintage featurette “Inside The Piano”; Campion’s 2006 short film The Water Diary (starring Campion’s daughter, Alice Englert); and the theatrical trailer. The booklet comes with an essay by critic Carmen Gray.

The Piano is easily one of the great cinematic achievements of the last thirty years. For fans of Jane Campion, the main cast members, New Zealand beauty, exceptional music scores, and art house drama of the highest quality. Enthusiastically recommended.

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BY EVE GOLDBERG

Are you now or have you ever been a Beatles fan? Would you like to be a fly on the wall, witnessing the most important and influential rock band in history create their art? Or do you simply enjoy watching musical brilliance at work? If you say yes to any of the above, you’ll want to watch Get Back. This three-part, seven and a half-hour documentary mini-series chronicles three weeks in the musical life of the Beatles as they write, rehearse, discuss, noodle around, and perform the songs for their final album, Let It Be.

The original footage was filmed with multiple cameras in January, 1969, by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg for the 1970 film Let It Be. More recently, Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson restored the original uncut footage and shaped it into Get Back, which he calls “a documentary about a documentary.” This description is a bit misleading, because while the 1969 film crew is a presence in the new series, mostly Get Back is not about making a film; it’s an intimate glimpse at the Beatles’ creative process.

I watched every second of Get Back and was riveted the entire time. I felt privileged to witness this amazing, extended close-up of such a significant moment in pop culture history.

Three things in particular stood out to me:

First, at this time in the life of the Beatles, Paul is unmistakably the driving force. John, certainly Paul’s creative and intellectual equal, and in the past his co-leader, seems to be semi-checked out. With Yoko at his side—she literally spends almost every minute sitting next to John, often physically touching in some way—John seems only half-present for much of the group’s discussions and casual jamming. However, he does seem to fully engage when they are actually recording or performing.

Secondly, I was struck by the utter lack of toxic masculinity in the room. These four immensely talented, powerful, wealthy guys just want to play music together. The way their talents and personalities mesh, how they respect each other and give each other space, and most of all how their creativity flows is awesome to observe. At one point Paul and George bump up against each other about how to play something, but the conflict is muted and civil and quickly resolved as George acquiesces to Paul’s vision. George seems to accept his place in the group dynamic—until at one point he doesn’t. Which leads to by far the most dramatic and tension-filled portion of the film.

And finally, Yoko. I found her constant presence very peculiar. She’s at John’s side, smack in the middle of the Beatles’ tight circle of creativity, for nearly the entire film. She doesn’t participate, she doesn’t interfere, she’s just there. Once in a while she does her own thing—she reads a fan magazine, paints, sews—but mostly she does nothing. I found myself annoyed by her presence. I kept wondering: Why is she there? Doesn’t she have her own life to attend to?

If you’re curious about the myth that “Yoko broke up the Beatles,” this documentary will fascinate on that level alone. The simple answer is No. The complicated answer is that throughout the film it’s apparent that the Beatles are drifting apart, and John and Yoko’s relationship is just one of many factors in that drift. Looking back on the blame-Yoko phenomenon, it’s easy to see how racism and sexism and the fact that she doesn’t fit into the traditional role or image of a “musician’s wife” all played a part in her demonization.

Not to be lost amidst all the personality dynamics is the pleasure of watching the Beatles create. In one astonishing sequence, Paul starts by strumming a few chords on his guitar as Ringo and George look on. A few seconds in, the chords change a bit and take on a shape that sounds a bit familiar. Soon Paul begins to add in some vaguely mumbled, improvised words. Within a span of two minutes—two minutes!!—he has come up with the music and lyrics to the Beatles’ hit tune “Get Back.”

* * *

For a deeper look at John and Yoko’s relationship, and to learn more about who they were as individual human beings, check out the documentary, John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky. Produced in 2018, this film centers around the making of John’s Imagine album, which he recorded at his home studio in 1971.

Like Get Back, Above Us Only Sky incorporates old session footage of John and his band rehearsing and recording. In this case the session material was shot for a film that John released alongside the Imagine album. But, unlike Get Back, the studio footage in Above Us Only Sky is just one element among many. We also observe John and Yoko’s domestic life together; we see them reading the newspaper and smoking in bed; we see them goofing off around their rambling Tittenhurst Park estate in Ascot, England; we see footage of John’s young son, Julian, and his friends playing on the estate grounds.

One of the most memorable—and chillingly prescient—scenes is when an emotionally disturbed Vietnam vet shows up at John’s estate. The police want to arrest him, but John nixes that idea. Standing in the doorway, he talks to the vet: “Don’t confuse the songs with your own mind,” John counsels the man. “I mean they might have relevance to your mind, but a lot of things do…I’m just a guy who writes songs. We can only say ‘hello’ and what else is there?” Then he feeds the guy lunch.

But Above Us Only Sky is much more than a verité glimpse of John and Yoko’s life in 1971. The film also delves into their childhoods; their personal, political and artistic development; their anti-war activism; what brought them together; and why they fled London for their bucolic estate. New interviews with Yoko, Julian Lennon, bassist Klaus Voormann, and members of John and Yoko’s personal staff are woven throughout the verité and archival footage to provide context and perspective on the lives of two remarkable people.

Taken together, Get Back and Above Us Only Sky compliment each other and fill in each other’s blanks in telling the story of John, Yoko, the Beatles, and a seminal slice of our cultural history.

(Get Back is currently streaming on Disney+. Above Us Only Sky is currently available on Netflix.)

(Eve Goldberg is a writer and filmmaker.  Her articles have appeared in Hippocampus, The Gay & Lesbian Review, The Reading Room and AmericanPopularCulture.com.  Her film and television credits include Emmy-nominated Legacy of the Hollywood Blacklist, and Cover Up: Behind the Iran-Contra Affair.  Her first book, Hollywood Hang Ten, is a mystery novel set in 1963 Los Angeles. See a sampling of her short films on her web site at https://eve-goldberg.com/  )

Cinema Retro has received the following notification from MI6 Confidential magazine:

 

Special Issue #5

In 2017, after ten years of service, MI6 Confidential introduced a new special format: a limited-run 100-page perfect bound issue of the magazine taking a deep dive into one particular facet of the franchise. The fifth release hands the microphone back to long-serving Bond director, John Glen taking a look back at his ultimate film as helmsman, Licence To Kill.

Other directors came and went from the franchise in the blink of an eye, but Glen earned his place as one of the most trusted, influential and creative confidants to producer Albert R. 'Cubby' Broccoli. In this special issue of MI6 Confidential magazine, we invited the director to reminisce on his final Bond film. To date he has helmed the greatest number of Bond pictures, and whilst Licence To Kill was one of the least commercially successful Bonds, it is undergoing something of a renaissance and reassessment with enthusiasts. Its simple story of revenge appealed to star, Timothy Dalton, and is – in a sense – timeless. Dalton was able to influence some more of the characterisation, and even costuming, helping to make him happier and more assured in the role.

In This Special Issue

• 100 page special magazine; professionally printed; perfect bound
• Foreword by Robert Davi
• John's memories of the pre-production process, including recces in China
• Rarely-seen art from pre-production
• Script history and last-minute character changes
• Dozens of behind the scenes stills from Glen and other collectors

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

Sidney Poitier, a man who rose from humble beginnings to become one of the biggest boxoffice stars in Hollywood history, has passed away at age 94. He grew up in poverty in the
Bahamas and had to quit school at age 13 to do manual labor. As a young man, he immigrated to America with the hope of pursuing a career in acting. He auditioned for the American Negro Theater in New York but was initially rejected. Relegated to washing dishes in a restaurant, Poitier befriended an older Jewish man who taught him to read properly. Poitier attributed that training to his ultimately joining the theater company and launching his career on stage and screen. He first gained attention with a prominent supporting role in the 1955 film "Blackboard Jungle" in which he played one of a group of delinquent students who defy high school teacher Glenn Ford. From that point, he was launched into starring roles in films with racial overtones such as "No Way Out", "Edge of the City" and the 1958 classic "The Defiant Ones" in which he and Tony Curtis played escaped convicts who are handcuffed together, with Curtis portraying a racist.  Poitier was nominated for Best Actor, breaking racial barriers. In 1961, he had the starring role in the film version of "A Raisin in the Sun", giving a magnificent performance as an earnest but flawed young man determined to get his family out of poverty by any means necessary. Poitier had earned a Tony nomination for his performance in the 1959 Broadway production. A few years later he would defy the odds and win the Best Actor Oscar over favorite Paul Newman for "Hud", based on his performance in the low-budget, but highly popular comedy "Lilies of the Field" in which he played a drifter in the desert who helps German nuns build a small chapel. He became the first Black male actor to win an Academy Award.

Poiter's fame skyrocketed just as the civil rights movement was heading into high gear in America. He found himself in the uncomfortable position of being a reluctant symbol of his race, much as Jackie Robinson had been when baseball had been desegregated. Nevertheless, he was more than symbol. Stated simply, he made good movies. White audiences flocked to his films and in 1967 he was arguably the top boxoffice star in the world. In that pivotal year, a career highlight for Poitier, he starred in three massive hits: "In the Heat of the Night", "To Sir, With Love" and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner". In director Norman Jewison's "In the Heat of the Night", Poitier introduced the character of  Virgil Tibbs, a Philadelphia police detective who is assigned against his will to help a racist sheriff solve a murder case in the deep South. Rod Steiger won an Oscar for his performance as a the sheriff but Poitier was not nominated for any of the three key roles he played in 1967. This probably had less to do with racial prejudices than the fact that he likely canceled himself out by splitting the votes of Academy members who wished to nominate him for different films.

Poitier found himself the unlikely target of criticism from activists and academics in the Black community who accused him of playing "Uncle Tom"-like roles in order to appeal to white audiences. Poitier bristled at the accusations and reminded his critics that he was carrying an unwanted burden. He also said that he had never- and would never- play a role that was demeaning to his race. Indeed, for a number of years, Poitier was the only bankable Black star in Hollywood. Football legend Jim Brown joined the ranks by the mid-1960s and many other actors would break down the barriers, but Poitier was largely on his own until audiences became more receptive to Black actors in leading roles.

Poitier continued to diversify his career by becoming a director, mostly of comedy films. He directed nine films including such hits as "Uptown Saturday Night", "Let's Do It Again" and "A Piece of the Action" in which he also co-starred with Bill Cosby, and "Stir Crazy", which teamed Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. In later years, Poitier seemed to lose interest in starring in films. He occasionally appeared onscreen in largely unmemorable films. He rejected starring roles in "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Driving Miss Daisy". His self-imposed retirement didn't diminish his popularity or reputation. In 1974, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. In 2002, he was awarded an honorary Oscar to commemorate his entire career and in 2009, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. For more about his remarkable life and career, click here.

By Giacomo Selloni

The Real Charlie Chaplin opens in a manner most apropos for the last silent film star to embrace the new sound medium - with a title card. "Enjoy any Charlie Chaplin you have the good luck to encounter, but don't try to link them up to anything you can grasp. There are too many of them." - Max Eastman, writer and friend of Charlie Chaplin.

Before there was Beatlemania in 1964, there was the "Chaplin Craze," "Chaplin Fever," "Charlie-Mania," and my favorite: "Chaplin-oia." "Chaplin-itis has swept across America" reads one paper's headline. It is December, 1916 and in railroad stations across the United States, and at the same hour, people wait for his arrival.

Look-alike contests sprung up around the world. Chaplin himself allegedly entered one and finished twentieth! The character that propelled Chaplin to fame had many names; "The little man," "The little fellow," and of course, "The Tramp." Often imitated, and lawsuits often followed, no one quite had the same appeal, the same je ne sais quoi. Perhaps it was the way he looked directly into the camera at us.

Perhaps it was that crooked smile, the naughtiness behind those eyes, pathos, or just the Everyperson's need to root for the underdog. Charles Spencer Chaplin understood that role. He lived it. "In a society sharply defined by class, the Tramp not only stands up to the man. He gives him a kick up the arse for good measure."

Before I go on I must mention the narrator. It is Pearl Mackie. Possibly known to you Doctor Who fans as Bill Potts, the final companion of the 12th Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi. She is amazingly deft at nuance and possesses the right amount of gravitas to make things compelling while moving the tale along.

Chaplin was born on in 1889. An auspicious year that began with a total eclipse of the sun. Charlie was born on April 16. Four days later in Austria-Hungary his doppelganger, Adolf Hitler is born. Coincidence? Fate? The Eiffel Tower was opened to the public. Jack the Ripper is still at large while London installs electric street lamps. In Kyoto, Japan, a playing card manufacturing company, Nintendo (yes, THAT Nintendo. Do your own research here...) is formed. It is the early, beginning days of both film and sound recording.

One can say Chaplin and film grew up together. Both he and film grew to be among the most famous icons on Earth. "The Tramp will make Chaplin more famous than any King, Queen or Emperor. More famous than any philosopher, artist or religious figure. Famous in a way no one has been before."

His parents were in the "Variety business." His father ran away with a chorus girl, abandoning his wife,

Charlie and his older half-brother Sydney. They lived in a four-wall flat on Fitzalan Street until his mom was sent to a mental home and he was sent to the Lambeth Workhouse.

It's here where we meet Effie Wisdom. She grew up with Chaplin and her interview, with historian Kevin Brownlow, when she was 92 in 1983 informs us about the retched conditions Chaplin grew up in. The scenes are recreated from the actual recordings.

At fifteen, he joined Fred Karno's Mumming Birds troupe where he learned the essentials of physical comedy - how to take a trip, a punch, to fall down stairs. In 1910, with the Troupe, he came to America. In between 3-a-day shows he teaches himself the cello, Greek and yoga. When Mack Sennett loses his lead Keystone Cop, Ford Sterling, he hires the Brit Chaplin away from Karno at a salary of $150 per week, three times his current salary. He decides he'll try it for a year.

Eventually, we learn of Chaplin's dark sides. The insecurities, the abuses, the predatory behavior towards underage girls (see: 'Chaplin' the 1991 film directed by Richard Attenborough starring Robert Downy Jr. for more on that), the lawsuits, the abortions, Communist sympathies, expulsion from America, life in Switzerland with Oona O'Neill and his triumphant return at the 1972 Oscar ceremony.

Much of the information we receive comes from a 1966 interview he did with Life Magazine, one of the few times he spoke to a reporter with a tape recorder running. Again, some of it recreated but with photos taken from the interview itself.

Not all his ex-wives stories are here. His second wife, Lita Grey Chaplin's story is touched upon. I won't get into it here. It's not pretty. There are interviews with some of his and Oona's children done after Chaplin passed. No mention of his being a Romany Gypsy is here, which I found strangely conspicuous.

Judge for yourself what Chaplin's life was. There's no denying the man's genius and abilities; he was a one-man wrecking crew who oversaw EVERY aspect, every shot of his films. For example, it took him 534 days of shooting, with multiple actresses (only to rehire the original), to get one scene right for City Lights, his silent opus in the beginning days of sound. "Talking is an artificial thing," he said, "whereas movement is as near to nature as a bird flying. The voice is very beautiful but it is not as great as the silence of somebody just looking." 50,000 people showed up for the premiere of the film.

Chaplin was once the most famous man in the world. The highest paid actor. Eventually, his public fall from grace and closet skeletons defined how he was perceived. The film is full of archival footage including home movies of family life in Switzerland. With features such as these and never-before- heard recordings a Chaplin is revealed that the world has never seen before.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Noted director and film historian Peter Bogdanovich has passed away from natural causes at age 82. Bogdanovich grew up idolizing the legendary actors and directors of his youth and would later enter the film industry working for Roger Corman on the 1966 hit "The Wild Angels". Corman saw potential in him and allowed him to direct a "B" movie titled "Targets" in 1968, which Bogdanovich and his wife Polly wrote very quickly. The atmospheric film was widely praised and it provided a fictional interpretation of a notorious mass shooting in 1966 that had horrified the nation. Bogdanovich also managed to logically intermingle a parallel story relating to a once-legendary horror actor played by Boris Karloff in his last great role. Bogdanovich next gained acclaimed with his 1971 B&W drama "The Last Picture Show" which received international honors. He seemed to be on a non-stop juggernaut towards success, as more hits followed: "What's Up, Doc?" and "Paper Moon". However, after Bogdanovich began an affair with Cybill Shepherd, who had appeared in "The Last Picture Show", his personal life became increasingly chaotic. His marriage ended and his next film, "Daisy Miller" starring Shepherd was a notorious bomb. This was followed by another starring vehicle for Shepherd that paired her with Burt Reynolds, "At Long Last Love", a tribute to musicals of the 1930s. When that film proved to be an expensive failure, Bogdanovich's reputation as a "Golden Boy" was diminished.

Over the years, he was in the news, not because of his film achievements, but because of his love life. After he and Cybill Shepherd broke up (but stayed on amicable terms), Bogdanovich became obsessed with Playboy Playmate of the Year, Dorothy Stratten, who was married. On the evening she was going to tell her husband she was leaving him for Bogdanovich, he brutally murdered her in a jealous rage and then committed suicide. (Bob Fosse would later make a film about Stratton, "Star 80", that recounted her love affair with Bogdanovich.) Bogdanovich remained haunted by the tragedy for the rest of his life and would he would later marry Stratten's 20 year-old sister Louise. He was 49 at the time. The marriage didn't last but Bogdanovich continued to live with Louise and her mother. 

Professionally, Bogdanovich would continue to make films occasionally. He received critical acclaim for the 1979 arthouse film "Saint Jack" starring Ben Gazzara but his much-anticipated 1981 comedy "They All Laughed" in which Dorothy Stratton had a major role, proved to be a boxoffice bomb when it was released shortly after her death. Bogdanovich didn't like the studio's marketing campaign for the movie and bought back the rights at a cost of most of his assets. He believed he could distribute the film himself but reviews were tepid and he could find few theaters that would play the movie. He rebounded and a modest boxoffice success in 1985 with "Mask" starring Cher.

In later years, Bogdanovich was often sought-out for his first-hand knowledge of old Hollywood. As a young man, he had the foresight to interview prominent actors and directors and used the original tapes to launch his own podcast. Bogdanovich had befriended his idol Orson Welles in the 1960s and Welles served as his adviser and mentor. However, Welles was often the victim of his own ego and excesses and fell out of favor in Hollywood. At one point, he was living in Bogdanovich's house as he tried to raise funds for his final film "The Other Side of the Wind". Welles worked on the project for many years but died before finishing it. Bogdanovich, with support from Netflix, finished the movie using Welles's own scripts and notes. Bogdanovich would also occasionally accept roles as an actor and proved be quite effective. He had a recurring role on "The Sopranos" and appeared in supporting roles in many feature films.  

In 2021, he consented to participate in Turner Classic Movie's podcast "The Plot Thickens" and afforded a series of remarkably insightful and brutally honest interviews that didn't reflect well on the decisions he made as a much younger man. In the podcast, hosted by Ben Mankiewicz, Bogdanovich comes across as a man who is proud of his successes but regretful about many aspects  of his personal life and how it adversely affected his career.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Charlton Heston fans will appreciate the fact that one of his most underrated films has finally made it to Blu-ray through a joint release by Kino Lorber and Scorpion Releasing. "Number One" (released in certain countries under the title "Pro") is an off-beat vehicle for the superstar, who was then at his peak of popularity. The fact that the movie under-performed at  the box-office and failed to score with critics didn't diminish Heston's status as a leading man. He would go on to star in such hits as "The Omega Man", "Skyjacked", "Soylent Green" "Earthquake", "Midway"and "Airport '75"- with cameos in the popular "The Three Musketeers" and "The Four Musketeers". The poor response to "Number One" doesn't diminish its many merits - and the fact that Heston was willing to play against type in a largely unsympathetic role. For the film, he reunited with director Tom Gries, with whom he made the acclaimed 1968 Western "Will Penny".  Curiously, both movies center on the same theme: a macho man who can't come to grips with the fact that he is aging and, therefore, his chosen way of life is threatened. In "Will Penny", Heston played the title character: a middle-aged cowboy who feels the inevitable aches and pains of trying to maintain a career that is clearly suited for younger men. Similarly, in "Number One" he plays "Cat" Catlan, a star quarterback for the New Orleans Saints football team. Catlan has seen plenty of fame and glory as the team's Golden Boy and the idol of the crowds. But now he is 40 years old and, although still in Herculean physical condition compared to most men his age, he's fallen victim to the constant brutalities he suffers on the field.

The film opens on a particularly disastrous game in which Catlan makes some serious misjudgments about plays and bungles some key passes. The result is an embarrassing loss for the team. The Saints' gruff coach Southerd (John Randolph) isn't ready to give up on Catlin but seemingly every other team member is. Catlan is subjected to some cruel jokes and he has to contend with the fact that a much younger player (Richard Elkins) is breathing down his neck, hoping to replace him as quarterback. Things aren't much better at home for Catlan. His long-suffering wife Julie (Jessica Walter) patiently endures his mysterious absences, unpredictable mood swings and volatile temper. She is a very successful fashion designer but Catlan is "old school" when it comes to the role of wives. He wants Julie to stay home and cater to his needs. In the midst of one of their frequent fights, he even stoops so low as to cruelly tease her about her inability to conceive a baby. Still, she sticks with him even when he confesses to having an affair with an attractive, self-made woman, Ann (Diana Muldaur). Faced with the fact that his career is winding down, Catlan reluctantly explores his options for his post-NFL life. They aren't very enticing. His best friend Richie (Bruce Dern), is an obnoxious former Saints player who brags about having gotten out of the game at age 34. He now runs a very successful car leasing business and lives a playboy lifestyle. He wants Catlan to work for him, a prospect that doesn't sit well with the aging quarterback. He also gets an offer from a computer company to work for them but the idea of dealing of being surrounded by machines in the confines of an office is repugnant to him. Ultimately, Catlan is inspired by his wife to go out on a high note. During one of their rare moments of domestic detente, she convinces him that he still has some good games in his future if he can shake off the funk and get his confidence back. The film's climactic game is the very definition of mixed emotions. Catlan performs well and has his mojo back but the movie's ambiguous final shot is anything but uplifting.

Tom Gries was a good director for Heston. He somehow managed to tamp down Heston's larger-than-life personality and afford him the opportunity to play everyday men. In "Number One", Heston is subject to the sorts of problems that plague most middle-aged men. He's nervous about his future. He often takes his frustrations out on the people closest to him. He tries to reassert his youth by exerting his sexual prowess through having an affair. Throughout it all, Heston admirably does not try to make Catlan into a hero. There is a level of sympathy accorded to him because of the emotional and physical stress he is under but his sheer disregard for others makes him more a villain than a hero. (He even refuses to give fans his autograph). Even worse is his sheer selfishness in how he deals with his wife's needs. He feels threatened by the success she is enjoying in her own career and therefore diminishes her achievements. Heston gives one of his finest performances, ironically, in what was one of his least-seen films.He gets able support from the woefully-underrated Jessica Walter, whose performance a couple of years later in "Play Misty For Me" should have assured her of major stardom (and an Oscar nomination). Director Gries also utilizes the talents of real-life football players, some of whom exhibit impressive acting skills. Diana Muldaur also excels as the siren who lures Catlan into her bed. There is an air of authenticity to the film, primarily because Gries shot much of it in front of packed stadiums. (Cinematographer Michael Hugo's work is especially impressive). Gries also captures the feel of New Orleans back in the day, capitalizing on the local scenery, jazz clubs and even getting the great Al Hirt to perform a number and do a bit of acting. About the only dated aspects of the film concern the off-the-field activities of the NFL players. Catlan complains that they are paid like peasants, which was probably true in 1969, but is a rather laughable notion today. Also, the NFL team is required to wear jackets and ties when traveling to or leaving the stadium, another rule that would be virtually unenforceable by contemporary standards. 

"Number One" never found its audience in 1969 but hopefully the impressive Blu-ray transfer will help retro movie lovers appreciate its merits, even if it lacks bonus extras except for a single trailer. The film did have at least one critic who appreciated the movie and Heston's performance. Writing in the New York Times, critic Howard Thompson wrote: "Charlton Heston, minus a beard, a loincloth, a toga or the Red Sea, tackles a starkly unadorned role in one of the most interesting and admirable performances of his career…If Heston could have been better, we don’t know how." Our sentiments exactly. 

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“PLAN? WHAT PLAN?”

By Raymond Benson

The mid-1960s were full of motion pictures that capitalized on the exotic, globe-trotting James Bond adventures. Even if they weren’t particularly spy films, they had the same flavor, or at least they attempted to capture a similar magic. Cinema Retro has reviewed several of these movies in recent weeks (e.g., Masquerade, Arabesque), and Gambit, released in 1966, is another one.

Directed by Ronald Neame, Gambit is a top notch caper flick, and a clever one to boot. Written by Jack Davies and Alvin Sargent, from a story by Sidney Carroll, the film might remind viewers of the excellent Topkapi (1964), which was also an international heist tale.

Shirley MacLaine receives top billing over the up-and-comer Michael Caine, whose star was rising rapidly in those days. They make a wonderful pair, and the film’s electricity derives solely from their chemistry together. Add the shrewd script, Neame’s able direction, a lively score by the great Maurice Jarre, and beautifully faked foreign locations (the movie was made in Hollywood, despite a few second unit establishing shots), and the results are a winner.

One of the more unique things about the script is that the first twenty minutes or so depict the caper as it is planned to work. The entire heist is acted out without a hitch, and our protagonists get away with a priceless antiquity. But all that was only Harry’s (Caine) plot, being told to his accomplice, Emile (John Abbott). The rest of the movie is the enactment of that plan, which of course, goes wrong every step of the way. This is a movie about being forced to throw the plan out the window and improvise, with the stakes much higher and more dangerous.

Harry wants to steal an ancient Chinese sculpture of a woman’s head. It just so happens that Nicole (MacLaine), an exotic dancer in Hong Kong, looks exactly like the face of the woman. The owner of the relic is allegedly the “richest man in the world,” Shahbandar (Herbert Lom), who lives in a fictional Middle Eastern country not unlike Egypt. It also just so happens that Shahbandar’s deceased wife greatly resembled the statue, and thus, Nicole, too. Harry promises Nicole a payment of $5,000 and a British passport if she will cooperate in his scheme. Nicole is to dress in flashy Middle Eastern garb and pose as Harry’s wife, and Harry fenagles a visit with Shahbandar. Harry is counting on the rich collector to be so entranced by Nicole’s looks that Harry will be able to case the house, steal the statue, and escape in less than a day. Unfortunately, Shahbandar is not the pushover Harry thinks he is. The man is one step ahead of the thieves, and Harry must quickly alter his scheme on the fly. And, naturally, neither Harry nor Nicole expected to fall in love with each other, either!

This is fun stuff, and it’s all presented in a playful, tongue-in-cheek manner that is characteristic of the genre and the era in which these types of movies were made. The heist sequence is especially smart. Who knew Shirley MacLaine was so flexible? (You’ll have to see the movie.) Incidentally, the film was nominated for three Oscars: Art Direction, Sound and Costume Design.

Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray showcases Clifford Stine’s colorful cinematography, and it looks lovely. The movie comes with two different audio commentaries—one an archival track by director Neame, and a newer one by film historians Howard S. Berger, Sergio Mims, and Nathaniel Thompson. The theatrical trailer is included, along with other Kino Lorber trailers.

Gambit is for fans of Shirley MacLaine, Michael Caine, 1960s-era crime adventures, and old-fashioned romps at the movies.

(Note: the film inspired a quasi-remake in 2012 starring Colin Firth, Cameron Diaz and Alan Rickman.-Ed.)

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Here is Turner Classic Movies' annual tribute to the artists in the film industry who passed away during the year. As usual, it's beautifully constructed and very moving. It must be said that it's far superior to the annual similar segment shown at the Oscar ceremonies, which has increasingly neglected prominent people in each successive year's commemoration. At some point, they even neglected to include people who were actually nominated for an Oscar. Memo to the Academy: the TCM tribute is more inclusive and still runs less than five minutes. It seems that the Oscars could achieve the same feat if it trimmed a bit of the extraneous material that clutters up each year's telecast. It's a simple matter of priorities.- Lee Pfeiffer

BY TODD GARBARINI

The inmates are running the asylum in Jack Sholder’s directorial debut Alone in the Dark (1982) which opened in New York on Friday, November 19, 1982 among a smorgasbord of horror outings that included midnight showings of George A. Romero’s then-notorious Dawn of the Dead, Trick or Treats (which, contrary to my original recollection, did play in my area, a fact that could have been easily confirmed with a quick consultation of an archival copy of my local newspaper – my bad!), the Canadian horror outing Funeral Home, the comic book pairing of George A. Romero and Stephen King in the fun-thrilled Creepshow, the mis-marketed Halloween III: Season of the Witch, and John Carpenter’s then-maligned but now rightly revered The Thing. While the marketing for Alone may hint at buckets of gore, it’s actually a fairly mild affair by today’s (arguably low) standards. It primarily focuses on the scenario at hand which features a group of then-unknowns pitted against an all-star cast in what can be described as a mixture of social commentary and a send-up of killer-on-the-loose movies. The lead characters play their roles straight despite having to utter some truly silly dialogue worthy of anything penned by Franco Ferrini and Dario Argento.

Dr. Dan Potter (Dwight Schultz) moves his family into a large new house after he goes to work for Dr. Leo Bain (Donald Pleasence) at the Haven Asylum, taking over the position from the previous Dr. Merton. Dr. Bain, whose last name cannot help but draw smirks from those who notice the absence of the letter “r” from his name, could easily be mistaken for one of the patients that Haven houses, as he seems more off-the-wall than they are. He smokes from a marijuana pipe and refers to the inmates as “voyagers”. One of the “voyagers” makes the comical statement that “There are no crazy people, doctor. We’re all just on vacation!” Yikes! It’s tough not to get a kick out of a film that boasts a nightclub scene featuring a band called the Sick F*cks who sing a song that has lyrics consisting solely of “Chop chop, chop up your mother!” recited over and over again. Dr. Potter hilariously remarks over the loud music, “I have enough insanity in my life. I don’t wanna pay for it!”

While a far cry from the “Do not touch the glass, do not approach the glass” severity of Hannibal Lecter, several of the inmates – sorry, voyagers – specifically Hawkes (Jack Palance), Preacher (Martin Landau), and Fatty (the late Erland van Lidth, unrecognizable from The Wanderers (1979) and from 1980’s Stir Crazy as the huge bald inmate), had been close to Dr. Merton and erroneously believe that his absence is a result of having been murdered by Dr. Potter. The poor doctor is now the target of termination by the triumvirate of terrors. They manage to have their day of reckoning when a power outage befalls the hospital and the loss of electricity causes their normally locked cells to now be conveniently opened, thus beginning their reign of terror. Fault tolerance was obviously not part of the institution’s budget. Oops!

Martin Landau is very amusing as Preacher. He looks like Fred Flintstone at the end of the “A Haunted House is Not a Home” 1964 episode when Fred flips his lid and sports a meat cleaver, laughing maniacally and chasing his relatives. I never would have expected Landau to deliver the impressive performance he gave Woody Allen in Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) years later. When Potter realizes the reality of the situation, he holes up his family in his house to save their lives, but not before his precocious young daughter’s (Elizabeth Ward) sexy, Playboy-like babysitter Bunky (Carol Levy) is attacked after her boyfriend is killed. The scene of a huge knife menacing her on the bed is creepy and decidedly phallic. They all do their best to outwit the escapees.

The film’s ending is a bit bloody, however there is more to it than meets the eye, which is to say that it’s more than just a slasher film in that it posits questions about “who is crazy?” along the same lines as Milos Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975).

Originally released on DVD in 2005, the new Blu-ray from Scream Factory has a beautiful HD transfer and ports over the extras from that release, minus the liner notes by horror film authority Michael Gingold (a shame), while adding new ones. Up first is a feature-length audio commentary with the film’s director who discusses Ronald David Lang, who ran a famous psychiatric hospital and said that crazy people were saner than the “normal” people- they had just adjusted to it. This reminds me of Claire Bloom’s line to Julie Harris in Robert Wise’s The Haunting (1963): “You really expect me to believe you’re sane and the rest of the world is mad?” He also talks in-depth about the choices made by some of the actors; the challenges he encountered working with Jack Palance; Lyn Shaye’s cameo at the film’s start; how New Line Cinema was originally a distribution company and moved into the production end of the business, and an interesting tidbit about Matthew Broderick auditioning and the director, who rejected him because he thought he was too good!

Out of the Dark – Interview with Jack Shoulder – A very interesting 40 minutes with the film’s director talking about his humble beginnings and the difficulties he ran into making films in his early days.

Mother Choppers – The Sick F*cks Remember Alone in the Dark – For over nine minutes, Snooky, Tish and Russell discuss their experience working on the film.

Sites in the Dark – The Locations of Alone in the Dark – Alone was filmed in sections of northern New Jersey in November 1981. As you can imagine, much of the locations have changed in 40 years. At just under 12 minutes, this is a brand-new, HD-lensed tour hosted by Michael Gingold, who did a great job with his tours of Alice, Sweet Alice (1977) and The Changeling (1980), to name a few. For the benefit of New Jersey readers, this time he takes us to the Skyland Manor, the Rockland Psychiatric Center, Route 46 and Bergan Turnpike, Hillsdale Plaza, Closter Plaza where the Bleeder wears a hockey mask before Jason Voorhees did in 1983’s Friday the 13^th Part 3 In 3-D, the Englewood Police Department, Oradell, NJ (specifically the intersection of Midland Road and Commander Black Drive where Preacher obtains his mailman’s hat), and the Potter Family house, which is a private residence that forbade them from filming on the property. I always love horror film locations and this is a great piece.

Bunky Lives! – Interview with Carol Levy – Now a successful real estate agent in New York, Carol did a lot of toothpaste commercials in her early career. She also talks about the few other films that she appeared in. I appreciated her taking the time to do this, which is something she clearly didn’t have to considering her current profession. This runs over 16 minutes.

Still F*cking Sick – Catching Up with the Sick F*cks – At 16 minutes, this is a piece that is ported over from that 2005 DVD. Great for fans of this group.

Rounding out the extras are a theatrical trailer, a TV Spot, two creepy radio spots (I miss those!) and an extensive stills gallery.

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Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Cult Epics:

Cult Epics presents SYLVIA KRISTEL 1970s COLLECTION

Includes 4 films premiering on Blu-ray & DVD on December 14, 2021

Los Angeles, CA (November, 2021)

Synopsis: Cult Epics proudly presents the Sylvia Kristel 1970s Collection, featuring four of the legendary Dutch icon's most diverse films in new 2K transfers and entirely uncut, for the first time on home video in the United States. 

Released in 1975, Alain Robbe-Grillet's surreal, absurdist sado-masochistic drama Playing with Fire (Le jeu avec le feu) features Sylvia in one of her most challenging roles alongside Jean-Louis Trintignant, Anicée Alvina and her Emmanuelle co-star Christine Boisson. The set's two Dutch films are co-starring Rutger Hauer, and Sylvia at the peak of her career. Submitted for the 1978 Academy Awards — Best Foreign Film, Wim Verstappen's Pastorale 1943 is a war drama centered on the Dutch resistance during World War II, and features also the debut of Renée Soutendijk. Painter turned director Paul de Lussanet’s romantic psychological drama Mysteries, based on the world famous novel by the Norwegian nobel prize winner Knut Hamsun and shot by renowned cinematographer Robby Müller, also stars Rita Tushingham and David Rappaport. Filmed and released right after Sylvia became one of the world's biggest stars as Emmanuelle (1974), Sigi Rothemund's 1974 film Julia is a German sex comedy drama, with Sylvia as a young boy’s first love, foreshadowing her later U.S. commercial hit Private Lessons.

SYLVIA KRISTEL 1970s COLLECTION 4xBlu-ray / 4xDVD

Price:              $99.95 / $79.95

Street Date:          December 14, 2021

Production Year: 1975/1978/1978/1974

Country: France/Netherlands/Germany

Video run time:         Approx. 429 Mins

Language: French, Dutch, German & English language w/optional English subtitles

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1/1.66:1

Audio: LPCM 2.0 Mono, DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono / LPCM 2.0 Mono, Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono

Label: Cult Epics

Distributor: CAV

Blu-ray/DVD Cat.no. CE188/189

BD/DVD UPC 881190018897 / 881190018996

Rating:                         Not Rated

Region: Region Free

Sylvia Kristel 1970s Collection from Cult Epics on Vimeo.

SPECIAL FEATURES

New 2K HD Transfers (from original 35mm film elements) and Restoration

Original LPCM 2.0 Mono.

New DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono

Audio Commentaries by Tim Lucas, Jeremy Richey, and Peter W. Verstraten

New and Vintage Interviews with Cast & Crew

Poster & Photo Galleries

Original Theatrical Trailers

Limited numbered Edition of 2500 copies made (Blu-ray) includes 40-Page illustrated booklet written by Jeremy Richey and Poster with Art by Gilles Vranckx. DVD Ltd. Edition of 1000 includes booklet and poster

Cult Epics website exclusive includes an additional DVD with Interview with director Just Jaeckin on Sylvia. Limited to 200 copies www.cultepics.com

In conjunction Cult Epics will release Sylvia Kristel: From Emmanuelle written by Jeremy Richey as a Hardcover book, on January 17, 2020 (new release date). 352 Pages, fully illustrated, 12x10 inches.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

We're delighted that Joe Dante's addictive "Trailers from Hell" site has revisited Stanley Kramer's "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". All comedy is subjective. It's pointless to try to convince someone they should find a film funny or not funny because it appeals to our basic instincts: if you find it funny, you can't help but laugh. Conversely, if you don't find it amusing, no amount of persuasion can convince you otherwise.

The trailer for this Cinerama comedy epic is narrated by the "Dean of Classic Film Distributors", Michael Schlesinger, who makes the argument that the film isn't just the greatest comedy of all time, the greatest movie of all time! We wouldn't quite go that far but we agree with Schlesinger that every frame of the film fills us with delight. Strangely enough, the late great David V. Picker, who greenlit the film as head of production at  United Artists, always loathed the movie because it's excessive budget caused him to fall out with Stanley Kramer, a man he respected greatly and who he worked with on numerous occasions. He forced Kramer to make substantial cuts to the roadshow version before it went into wide release. Some of the missing footage was later found and restored for home video release. The rift between Picker and Kramer was unfortunate but David told us that he felt he had to insist on the trims for commercial reasons. He said the first cut Kramer showed him ran an astounding 4 hours and one minute! Regardless of the controversies surrounding the film, we agree it's certainly a triumph of widescreen cinema.