(Photo: Warner Bros.)

CNN is reporting that Paul Reubens, the comedy star who created the iconic Pee-Wee Herman character, has died from cancer at age 70. Reubens had been battling cancer for the last six years. He had pre-written a public statement to be read in anticipation of his death. In the statement, which was read on CNN, Reubens apologized to his fans for keeping his health crisis secret and encouraged the public to continue to fund cancer research. Reuben's show, "Pee-Wee's Playhouse" started off as a spoof of 1950s children's programs and had risque elements to it. However, when Reubens learned that children had gravitated to the show, he made the program more family-friendly. The character became so popular in the 1980s and 1990s that Reubens starred in big screen Pee-Wee Herman feature films. 

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

“THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!”

By Raymond Benson

It was hyped to be another film like The Sting (1973)—a clever heist caper in a period setting with charismatic actors, witty dialogue, and a lively, comical tone. Michael Crichton had written a historical novel, The Great Train Robbery (published in 1975), which was based on the true story of the first train robbery in Britain. In 1855, Britain was engaged in the Crimean War and a large amount of gold was shipped monthly from London to pay the troops. A fellow named William Pierce and his accomplice Edward Agar planned the robbery and pulled it off, much to the dismay of the British authorities.

Crichton was keen on getting a film made based on his book, so he went ahead and wrote the screenplay himself. He also changed the character names to Edward Pierce and Robert Agar and added a lot more “fun” to the proceedings for a romp of a cinematic experience. Dino De Laurentiis picked up the film rights and it wasn’t difficult to get the thing financed and distributed by United Artists. Released first in the U.K., the title was changed, oddly, to The First Great Train Robbery. However, in the United States and rest of the world, the picture bore the simpler title from the book, The Great Train Robbery.

Pierce (Sean Connery) is a man-about-London with high society connections, but he’s also a con man with his own cadre of pickpockets and small time crooks. Among them is Agar (Donald Sutherland), who is adept at lock-picking and copying keys, and Miriam (Lesley-Anne Down), who has the talent to assume several personas—usually, though, that of sexy bait for unsuspecting victims. The bank manager, Fowler (Malcolm Terris), has loose lips and reveals the secret about the gold’s security on the train—the safes can be opened only with four different keys, each carried by different people. Pierce sets about instigating elaborate schemes to first obtain each individual key, making copies of them, and then to infiltrate the train and snatch the gold. Every step of the way, Agar pronounces, “That’s impossible!” to comical effect, only to follow Pierce’s instructions to the letter, succeed, and move forward to the next challenge. To reveal more would certainly be a spoiler!

The movie is entertaining and good enough—but it’s not the equal of The Sting. Much of the film’s strength comes from watching Connery in action in a role that is similar to the certain suave operator we all associate with the actor, only he’s been transported to 1855 England. Dressed in the height of fashion for the time, Connery is charming, dapper, and looks marvelous. There are moments, though, in which it seems that Connery isn’t totally comfortable in the role. This might be due to weaknesses in the dialogue and direction, which sadly do not always rise to the occasion. Sutherland is also winning, although his British accent goes in and out throughout the movie. Perhaps the most engaging performer is Down, an extremely attractive and talented actress who unfortunately didn’t retain the early success of her appearances in the late 70s and early 80s.

The cinematography (by Geoffrey Unsworth), along with the production and costume designs, are all exquisite. However, despite winning an Edgar Allan Poe Award from Mystery Writers of America for the screenplay, it is the dialogue which causes one to wince at its over-the-top instances of risqué innuendo. The direction, too, is of journeyman quality; the picture could have benefited from a Nicholas Meyer or even a Spielberg. That said, Connery allegedly performed the top-of-the-train stunts himself, which, given that revelation, is surprising. While not in the same league as top-of-the-train stunts today (i.e., Skyfall, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning, Part One), for 1978 the stunt work is impressive.

Kino Lorber has issued a new Blu-ray disk that looks gorgeous and contains an archival audio commentary by the late writer/director Crichton. The only other supplements are trailers from other Crichton features and Kino Lorber releases. There is also a reversible artwork sleeve.

The Great Train Robbery is for fans of Connery and Sutherland, and it will hopefully remind viewers of Lesley-Anne Down’s formidable gifts.

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The Bride of Frankenstein

Edited by Emma Westwood

Introduction by Sara Karloff

Midnight Movie Monographs

Electric Dreamhouse (imprint of PS Publishing)

Published January 2023

194 Pages

Black and white illustrations

Hardback

ISBN: ISBN 978-1-78636-880-5

RRP: £20

Review by Adrian Smith

The Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935) is frequently referred to as the greatest horror film ever made, something which Emma Westwood, the editor of this new collection of essays, would not disagree with. In building on the incredible work done on the original Frankenstein (1931) whilst bringing in the dark humour of The Old Dark House (1932), along with key cast member and fellow Brit Ernest Thesiger, director James Whale delivered incredible imagery, dark themes and iconic performances. In doing so, he was establishing the comedy-horror template that would be utilised so effectively for decades to come (An American Werewolf in London (John Landis, 1981) owes it a great debt, for one). It also became perhaps the first example of a sequel being superior to the original, which is still something that does not happen very often. So how did this happen? What is it about The Bride of Frankenstein that has ensured its legendary status for almost one hundred years?

That question is something that this fascinating collection of new essays addresses from a number of angles. This new addition to the Midnight Movie Monographs series from Electric Dreamhouse (previous entries have included books devoted to Spirits of the Dead (Roger Vadim/ Federico Fellini/ Louis Malle, 1968), Plan 9 from Outer Space (Ed Wood Jr., 1959) and Horror Express (Eugenio Martín, 1972)) presents twelve different chapters covering the production, censorship, the astonishing hair, makeup and costume design, the pioneering use of sound, readings of sexuality, the many films over the years which draw on elements of Bride of Frankenstein, including my own personal horror-comedy favourite Bride of Re-Animator (Brian Yuzna, 1990), an examination of star Elsa Lanchester herself, and much more. Who exactly is ‘the Bride of Frankenstein’? is another question to be mulled over; after all, shouldn’t the film have been called ‘The Bride of Frankenstein’s Monster’?

Whether you have a passing interest in the Universal horrors or if The Bride of Frankenstein is your favourite film, this new monograph, with a foreword from Sara Karloff, daughter of Boris, will cause you to think about the film differently, and brings great wit and insight to this endlessly fascinating film from Hollywood’s golden age of horror cinema. In hardcover with a wealth of imagery and a terrific cover design, this is a beautiful book for any serious cinema lover’s library.

By Lee Pfeiffer

The Warner Archive has released a Blu-ray of the 1961 comedy Bachelor in Paradise which features the considerable star power of Bob Hope and Lana Turner. As with most Hope vehicles, this is a low-key affair that was designed to please his core base of fans. If the film doesn't break any new ground for Hope the actor, it at least provides plenty of yucks from his trademark wisecracks. Hope plays Adam Niles,an international playboy and best-selling author who has gotten rich by writing books about the sex lives of different nationalities and cultures. When devastating tax troubles force him to return to America, he reluctantly accepts an assignment to help offset his staggering debt to the government. Niles' publisher concocts a scheme whereby he will go undercover to research and write about the sex lives of Americans. He ends up moving to a suburban community known as Paradise, where he assumes an alias and goes about assessing the love lives of his neighbors. The presence of a single man among so many married couples causes an instant scandal, especially when Niles begins wooing neighborhood wives to his lectures about how to improve their sex lives. (This being 1961, it is unsurprising that his conclusions all revolve around what women can do to entice their men. No reciprocal protocols are expected). Before long, husbands are marching on Niles' home like the villagers storming Frankenstein's castle. His main ally is Paradise manager Rosemary Howard (Lana Turner) who puts her career on the line to defend Niles' right to live in the neighborhood, even as she rejects his heavy-handed attempts to seduce her.

Bachelor in Paradise, directed by Jack Arnold and boasting a score by Henry Mancini, is a surprisingly racy premise for a Hope movie. Released during an era when the terms "suburbs" still conjured up images of wife-swapping and orgies, the movie looks positively quaint by today's standards. Women prance around in house dresses as they endlessly ponder what more than can do to please their hard-working hubbies. Some of Hope's zingers still connect and his chemistry with Turner is considerable. The movie also benefits from a terrific cast of supporting actors including sexy Paula Prentiss, Jim Hutton, Janis Paige (as the neighborhood nymphomaniac), Don Porter and the always wonderful John McGiver. The film isn't a comedy classic but provides enough genuine laughs to merit viewing. An original theatrical trailer is included.

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Here's a fun video essay from Turner Classic Movies about sci-fi movies that are regarded as "camp". The emphasis is on some obvious choices: "Plan 9 from Outer Space", "Queen of Outer Space" and "Barbarella"- but it also covers the lesser known cinematic disaster, "The Apple". The video addresses the debate over whether a film can be intentionally designed as "camp" or if that designation only comes about as an unintentional consequence.

By Hank Reineke

There were passing moments when watching this gorgeously curated Blu-ray of Phil Tucker’s cult 3-D masterwork Robot Monster (1953) that I mulled its reputation as cinema’s most fabled wreck was undeserved. Surely, I thought, I’ve cringingly sat through worse sci-fi films produced before and since. But then some particularly awful line of dialogue (delivered woodenly, of course), or a bizarre plot turn, or a not-so-special effect, or an inexplicable episode of dinosaur wrangling would interrupt my musings, causing a return to sober reality. Phil Tucker’s low-low-low budget monster-piece is a crazed vision, to be sure. But acknowledging that, Robot Monster is most certainly not one of the world’s worst films: it’s too entertaining to be dismissed as such. On the same token, it’s undeniably one of the most desperate and unhinged cinematic artifacts lensed by an indie Hollywood film-outfit of the ‘50s.

The sullied reputation of Robot Monster is the result, no doubt, due to the merciless flailing of the production by the smirking Medved brothers - Michael and Harry – who infamously skewered the film in their pop-culture, eminently readable and caustic tomes The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (1978) and The Golden Turkey Awards (1980). Still the film’s space helmet and gorilla-suit sporting “Ro-man” (as listed in the film’s end credits) – has somehow managed to become as visually iconic a totem of 1950s sci-fi as the gigantic robot Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still (2oth Century Fox, 1951) or the Metaluna monster in This Island Earth (Universal-International, 1955).

As is so often the case, the backstory to the creation of Robot Monster is perhaps more interesting than the artifact produced. The screenplay was written by Wyott “Barney” Ordung. The Californian was trying desperately to break into the film business, initially as an acting student working occasionally in walk-on roles, often uncredited. In a 1983 interview with the late film and 3-D historian Ray Zone, Ordung recalled it was in 1952 when he was approached by Tucker – who he’d known casually from working on a previous picture – to write the script for Robot Monster. Ordung recalled he was originally tasked to play the role of the “Ro-Man” – at least in earliest test footage photography.

Ordung’s script for Robot Monster would serve as his springboard into the world of professional filmmaking. Following that film’s release, the Californian would script the war film Combat Squad (1953) as well as another sci-fi guilty pleasure Target Earth (1954). Still (mercifully) unproduced is the script Ordung wrote directly following the release of Robot Monster. That prospective film was, according to Sun Valley’s Valley Times, to feature Ordung’s “3-D comedy” scenario based on “Mildred Seamster’s Hollywood beauty salon.” The plot would “deal with the varied individuals who patronize a beauty salon and their interesting escapades.” Oy.

That film would not materialize, but it was of little matter as Ordung would soon receive his first directing credit when Roger Corman tapped him to helm Monster from the Ocean Floor (1954). Though Ordung had not previously helmed any sort of film production, it was an offer and partnership of economic necessity. Corman agreed to allow Ordung to direct on the condition he contribute $2,000 of his Robot Monster earnings to the new film’s budget and work for “a piece of the picture.” Hey, a break’s a break.

First-time director Phil Tucker too was looking for his first big break in the film industry and was of the mind that Robot Monster just might be the ticket. But his experience working on Robot Monster was, alas, bittersweet. Less than two months following the release of that film, Tucker was found in Fairbanks, Alaska – of all places - shooting his non-union follow-up epic: the seventy-five minute Venusian “science-fiction thriller” Space Jockey – a film never released and now thought lost. Tucker grudgingly told a journalist in Fairbanks that with only Robot Monster to his credit, he had already soured on the politics of Tinseltown.

“The movie industry is stifled in Hollywood,” he director complained. “They tell you what to write, how to produce it, when to direct it, who [to] put in it and when to try to sell it. It’s a tight little island of rulers and it’s a hard place in which to breathe free.” Tucker did confess he wasn’t trying to be a true auteur in any sense of the word: “I’m not trying to create art. I’m trying to make money,” he offered plainly.

The primary stumbling block to Tucker’s earning any monies was New York-born Al Zimbalist, the executive producer and guiding hand of Robot Monster. The movie was the first of the films Zimbalist would oversee as producer – and occasionally as “writer,” though that was mostly as concoctor of “original stories” and little more. Throughout the 1950s and a bit beyond, Zimbalist delivered such bargain-basement fare as Cat-Women of the Moon (1953), Miss Robin Crusoe (1953), King Dinosaur (1955) and Monster from Green Hell (1957) to the pleasures of a mostly undiscerning cinema-going audience. It was also Zimbalist who steered Robot Monster to go the then popular 3-D filming route. It was an unusual decision for an indie film to be shot on a shoestring budget.

It made some sense. Hollywood’s production of 3-D films was at its zenith in 1953. Box Office would note in April of 1953 that no fewer than sixty-two films to offer the 3-D treatment were either completed, in production or in the planning stages. Practically every major studio was readying a slate of 3-D cinematic fare: Columbia, Paramount, RKO Radio, United Artists and Warner Bros. among them. By far, 20^th Century Fox was leading the way with a scheduled twenty-two 3-D films on the drawing board. There were only a couple of independents in the mix, having chosen to dip their toe in the 3-D pool. Al Zimbalist and Phil Tucker’s “newly organized” Third Dimension Pictures was one of them.

The trades reported on March 21, 1953 that Zimbalist was to employ a unique “Tru-Depth system of 3-D” photography for his in-the-works Robot Monster project. Then, a mere week following the start of the film’s production, Box Office noted that Robot Monster had completed shooting… though no release date had yet been set. Zimbalist was so pleased with the results of the “Tru-Depth” system, that in April of ’53 the Hollywood maverick announced the formation of his “Tru-Stereo Corporation.” The company would “make available a stereoscopic 3-D system to independent producers.” “Tru-Stereo” would serve as an affordable, budget-conscious alternative to the more expensive 3-D systems used by the Hollywood majors.

In fact, there were no fewer than twenty-two competing 3-D systems being used by filmmakers by late spring of 1953. (“Tru-Depth” had since been rechristened as “Tru-Stereo.)” The Tru-Stereo 3-D was proffered as being similar to the others: it too employed two cameras to create the three-dimensional effect. But the system also boasted “an authentic interlocking control which is said to insure against faulty synchronization.” Robot Monster had also boastingly employed “a newly developed stereophonic sound system devised by the Master-Tone Sound Corporation.”

The first casting notices for Robot Monster were announced in March of 1953. Handsome leading man George Nader was reportedly hired to play the role of “Roy” following his appearance in the still unreleased pic Miss Robin Crusoe. Nader’s performance in that film impressed Zimbalist who worked on the same as associate producer. Roy’s love interest, Alice (Claudia Barrett) hadn’t much big-screen experience, but had been steadily working on any number of early television series. The film’s egghead professor would be played by the long-working Ukrainian actor John Mylong, his children, Johnny and Carla, by stage-kids Gregory Moffett and Pamela Paulson, respectively.

The role of the professor’s wife went to Selena Royle, an actress with a familiar face due to her long run as a dependable player at MGM. Royle was happy to get the role – any role – as she had recently been blacklisted in the pages of Red Channels, “the American Legion’s list of 200 motion picture workers suspected of communist leanings.” Her crime was the organizing and serving of free meals to the un-and-under employed actors in and around New York City during the throes of the Depression. Royle vowed to fight the accusations, telling journalist her post-blacklist acting income had dropped from six figures to a mere three figures by mid-summer of 1952. Robot Monster would be one of her two final feature film appearances, Royle and her husband choosing to immigrate to Mexico in 1957.

Imprint, the Australian-based video label, has announced some more forthcoming releases. All Blu-rays are region-free. Please keep in mind that prices quoted are in Australian dollars. Use a currency converter to see what the price is in your local currency. 

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In this excerpt from the 1975 Academy Awards broadcast, director Howard Hawks receives a lifetime achievement Oscar, presented (fittingly enough) by John Wayne. Curiously, Wayne cites all of the films that he collaborated with Hawks on but by accident or design omits their final collaboration, "Rio Lobo" from 1970. Given the fact that the film was made only a few years before this presentation, it's a puzzling omission. Nevertheless, Hawks lives up to his reputation as a quiet, humble man of few words.

CINEMA RETRO #56

Highlights of issue #56 include:

Simon Lewis and Dave Worrall go behind the scenes of "A Bridge Too Far" in an 18-page "Film in Focus".

Nicholas Anez explores the two versions of "The Cincinnati Kid" starring Steve McQueen.

John P. Harty revisits the trials and tribulations of bringing "55 Days at Peking" to the big screen.

Lee Pfeiffer revisits the infamous bomb "The Legend of the Lone Ranger"..was it really that bad?

Brian Davidson celebrates the sexy but-short-lived stewardess-ploitation films.

Tim Greaves recalls how Sophia Loren made a splash in her first Hollywood film, Boy on a Dolphin.

SORRY- THIS ISSUE IS NOW SOLD OUT. 

By Ernie Magnotta

Long before his film The Accused (1988) helped earn Jodie Foster an Academy Award and even longer before receiving Emmy Nominations for his work on TV’s ER, talented producer/director Jonathan Kaplan made some very entertaining drive-in/exploitations films. His first, a 1972 sexploitation classic called Night Call Nurses, was done for the immortal Roger Corman’s legendary New World Pictures. The last of Corman’s “Nurses Trilogy”, Night Call Nurses, which was made for a measly $75,000 and brought in over a million at the box office, jumpstarted Kaplan’s filmmaking career as Corman immediately offered Kaplan The Student Teachers; a movie with basically the same formula as the “Nurse” films (except with schoolteachers). Released in June of 1973, Teachers was another huge success for New World, so, impressed with Kaplan’s newest work, Corman’s brother, Gene, hired him to direct the Jim Brown-starring heist/prison flick The Slams (also 1973). This led to Kaplan being approached by legendary production company American International Pictures to helm the enjoyable 1974 “Blaxploitation” film Truck Turner starring the late, great Isaac Hayes. Due to the success of this action-oriented film, Kaplan was hired by Columbia Pictures to direct (and co-write) another actioner which would be the biggest hit of his career so far: 1975’s White Line Fever, which is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

War hero Carrol Jo Hummer (Jan-Michael Vincent, Big Wednesday) returns home to Tucson, Arizona and marries his sweetheart, Jerri (Kay Lenz, Breezy). He then gets a bank loan and uses it to buy a rig named “The Blue Mule.” Anxious to start a family, Carrol Jo begins work at Red River Shipping where his job is to haul produce. CJ soon discovers that he is also expected to haul illegal cargo such as untaxed cigarettes and slot machines. He refuses and gets his ribs broken by several Red River employees. Once healed, CJ attempts to find work at other shipping companies, but, due to being blackballed by Red River, cannot get hired. An enraged CJ returns to Red River and holds his superiors, Duane Haller (Slim Pickens, 1972’s The Getaway) and Buck Wessler (L.Q. Jones, The Wild Bunch) at gunpoint until Buck agrees to let CJ do things his way. The men do agree, but once CJ goes back to work, he is attacked by more Red River thugs who he manages to successfully fight off. CJ eventually discovers that Red River is owned by a huge corporation called Glass House which is not only run by a man named Cutler (Don Porter, TV’s Gidget), but also has ties to organized crime. The more CJ tries to do what’s right, the more he’s attacked, with devastating consequences to his friends and family. Enraged, CJ grabs his shotgun, jumps inside the Blue Mule and heads for Glass House. But can one man stand up to the corrupt corporation and win?

Directed with a sure hand by Kaplan, White Line Fever is not only a modern western with trucks instead of horses, but, according to the director, a Sam Peckinpah-influenced western which, beside the fact that they are fabulous actors, would explain why Peckinpah regulars like Slim Pickens, L.Q. Jones and R.G. Armstrong (Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid) are in the film. (Peckinpah would soon direct his own action/trucker film; 1978’s enjoyable Convoy.) A well-done addition to the revenge/man against the system formula, White Line Fever, as stated by co-writer Ken Friedman (Cadillac Man), is similar in story/structure to Phil Karlson films like Walking Tall or The Phenix City Story except with a major twist at the end. The well-made film also benefits from some wonderful cinematography by the Oscar nominated (for Patton) Fred Koenekamp as well as extremely well-written, multi-dimensional characters and terrific, believable performances from Jan-Michael Vincent, Kay Lenz, Slim Pickens, L.Q. Jones, Sam Laws, Don Porter and R.G. Armstrong; not to mention an early appearance by the always welcome Martin Kove (Steele Justice) as one of the Red River thugs and, last, but certainly not least, the legendary Dick Miller (A Bucket of Blood, The Howling, Gremlins) as one of CJ’s fellow truckers.

White Line Fever has also been released as a Region-Free Blu-ray by the German video label Explosive Media and is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The beautiful transfer is sharp, colorful and has perfect sound. The disc also contains two theatrical trailers (one in English and one in German); a still gallery which features the film’s posters and lobby cards; an introduction by director Kaplan and an almost hour-long featurette with co-writer Ken Friedman who reminisces about many different aspects of the film including working with screen veterans like Slim Pickens and Don Porter as well as discussing the film’s darker, more realistic ending. The Blu-ray can be ordered from Amazon Germany.The film is also streaming for free on YouTube (with advertisements.)

If you’re looking for a well-made, enthralling and realistic trucker movie, White Line Fever is definitely the way to go.

Corman/ Poe: Interviews and Essays Exploring the Making of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe Films, 1960-1964

By Chris Alexander

Foreword by Roger Corman

Headpress paperback
Size: 235mm x 191mm
Pages: 150
105 colour and B&W stills images

ISBN: 978-1-915316-07-3

Retail Price: UK £22.99 / US $27.95

Review by Adrian Smith

The early 1960s was a boom time for gothic horror films. Spurred on by the Hammer Films one-two punch of Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula (1958), film companies around the world fell over themselves to produce films set in cobweb-strewn castles and mist-enshrouded graveyards. Directors such as Mario Bava and Antonio Margheriti made several Italian gothics, frequently starring Christopher Lee or Barbara Steele, but no one director had such a successful run as Roger Corman, who in the space of five years brought us an incredible series of eight films adapted from the disturbed writing of Edgar Allan Poe: The Fall of the House of Usher (1960), The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), Premature Burial, Tales of Terror, (both 1962), The Haunted Palace, The Raven (both 1963), Masque of the Red Death and The Tomb of Ligeia (both 1964). All but one starred Vincent Price, and they also featured the talents of Ray Milland, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone, Barbara Steele (again, proving she was a gothic icon on both sides of the Atlantic), Hazel Court, and even a young Jack Nicholson.

In this new book, the first dedicated solely to these films, Fangoria's Chris Alexander has interviewed Roger Corman (a mere 97 years old, with a pin-sharp memory) at length on each one of these low- budget gems, discussing the themes, the productions, his love-hate relationship with American International Pictures, the cast and crew, and much more. He reflects thoughtfully on his collaborative relationship with Vincent Price, who he rightly describes as a “brilliant actor,” and he is not too proud of his own achievements to acknowledge the important contribution of others, including writer Richard Matheson, who he says was, “One of the finest writers I’ve ever had the chance to work with,” crediting him “for much of the success of those early Poe pictures.” Also featured in the book is a critical appraisal for each film and a wealth of archival material, including a full-colour international poster gallery and censorship documents related to the most controversial of them all, Masque of the Red Death.

Roger Corman is one of the most prolific directors and producers we have ever had, and as such there is always more to be said about his work. Corman/ Poe is an essential addition to the growing Corman library.

For an exclusive hardback edition go to https://headpress.com/product/corman-poe/

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Turner Classic Movies presents "Gangster Movies and the Legacy of Warner Brothers".\

As Warner Bros. celebrates its 100th anniversary, we examine the studio's key role in the creation of the gangster genre with classics like 'Little Caesar' (1931) and 'The Public Enemy' (1931) and how they connect to the studio's modern efforts like 'Goodfellas' (1990) and 'The Departed' (2006).

Enjoy the full presentation of the 1967 crime comedy "Eight on the Lam" which teams Bob Hope with Phyllis Diller, Jonathan Winters and two Bond Girls: Shirley Eaton and Jill St. John. (To watch the film in full screen mode, click on "Watch on YouTube.")

BY LEE PFEIFFER

The old adage that good things come in small packages applies to movies, specifically "B" movies. They were once a valued staple of the film business during the eras in which local theaters generally showed double features. "B" movies were sometimes the top-billed feature but more often than not they were produced simply to provide programming for the bottom half of the bill at a low cost. This is not to diminish their worth. Most of these productions were quite entertaining and some have gone on to be regarded as cult classics. "The Gun Runners", a 1958 United Artists film, is not a cult classic but it is a "B" movie and it is quite good, largely because this story about a deep sea fisherman has director Don Siegel's firm hand on the tiller. The screenplay is derived from two Ernest Hemingway sources: a 1934 short story, "One Trip Across" and his classic novel "To Have and Have Not" which was brought to the screenin 1944 by director Howard Hawks and star Humphrey Bogart. Only a few years later, it had been remade as "The Breaking Point" starring John Garfield. For whatever reason, the producers assumed there was still fertile ground to be exploit in Hemingway's tales and this loose adaptation also owes some obvious inspiration to John Huston's 1948 classic "Key Largo". Despite the hodgepodge nature of its source material and a micro budget, "The Gun Runners" is engrossing throughout.

Audie Murphy stars as Sam Martin, a down-on-his-luck deep sea fisherman who operates a charter boat out of Key West. Sam is happily married to Lucy (Patricia Owens), a devoted wife whose passion for her husband results in the film having a somewhat edgy content in terms of sexual innuendo, as the young couple can barely keep their hands off each other. Sam's home life may be blissful but he's in deep debt due to slumping rentals of his boat. On an excursion to Havana during the midst of the revolution (which was in progress when the movie was filmed, though California locations are stand ins for Cuban locales), Sam is approached by a couple of shady revolutionaries who want to employ his boat for illicit purposes. Sam rejects their overture but within seconds, he witnesses an inquisitive police officer brutally murdered by the men. He flees Cuba before anyone can place him as an eyewitness. Back home, his fortunes continue to decline and he fears having his boat foreclosed on. Good fortune seems to smile upon him when a wealthy man named Hanagan (Eddie Albert), accompanied by his beautiful young mistress Eva (Gita Hall), wants to pay to charter Sam's boat for a princely sum- with the caveat that they make an unauthorized nighttime visit to Havana without getting a travel permit. Sam takes an immediate dislike to the perpetually jovial Hannigan and doubts his story that he and Eva simply want to sample the nightlife in Havana. Sam reluctantly agrees out of financial desperation. Once in Cuba, however, Hannigan is actually secretly meeting with revolutionaries, who pay him a large sum of cash in return for promising to deliver a cache of weapons to them on his next visit. Things get hairier from there when Hannigan uses financial blackmail to force Sam into making a return visit to Cuba in order to drop off the weapons. In the "Key Largo"-like finale, he finds himself on board the small vessel with Hannigan and his gang of cutthroats (including sadistic Richard Jaeckel) who have every incentive to kill him once the mission is complete. Of particular interest is the screenplay's attempts to remain politically ambivalent in dealing with the Cuban revolution, though the writers clearly seem to paint the rebels in an unfavorable light. (Only a few months after the film's release, the Batista regime would fall to Castro's forces.)

Director Siegel was known for making his films lean and mean and this is no exception. Working with a threadbare budget, he manages to squeeze considerable suspense out of the scenarios with nary a wasted frame of film or a superfluous line of dialogue. Audie Murphy suffices in the lead role, but the part calls out for someone with a harder edge. The film benefits from a marvelous cast of supporting actors with Everett Sloane especially good as Sam's elderly, wino first mate who he keeps on simply out of sentiment. There are also bit parts by Jack Elam and John Ford regular John Qualen. The two female leads are very good but Gita Hall steals the show in the traditional role of glamorous femme fatale, a young woman who is mortgaging her future for the trappings of luxury by serving as Hannigan's mistress. (If she were in a higher profile film, she may have gone on to stardom.) By far the best performance is given by Eddie Albert, who makes for a larger-than-life, smarmy villain. The diversity of this actor is often overlooked. He could play light comedy (he was great in "Green Acres") with exceptional skill while also delivering dramatic performances that are equally impressive.

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray features the original trailer with an English track but Italian titles (go figure) and some bonus trailers. I don't want to overstate the merits of "The Gun Runners" but as a "B" movie it exceeds expectations. Recommended.

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In this clip from an American Film Institute interview, Robin Williams recalls the influence of Peter Sellers in "Dr. Strangelove".

Retro-Active: From the Cinema Retro Archives

The 1961 MGM Western A Thunder of Drums has been released by the Warner Archive. The film was regarded as a standard oater in its day but has since built a loyal following who have been eager to have the movie available on the home video market. What sets A Thunder of Drums apart from many of the indistinguishable Westerns of the period is its downbeat storyline and intelligent script, which was clearly geared for adults as opposed to moppets. There's also the impressive cast: Richard Boone, George Hamilton, Charles Bronson, Arthur O'Connell, Richard Chamberlain and Slim Pickens among them.The film opens with a sequence that was very unsettling and shocking for its day: an Indian attack on a tranquil homestead. A little girl is forced to witness the gang rape and murders of her mother and teenage sister. The plot then shifts to the local fort where commandant Boone is overseeing an understaffed cavalry contingent that has to find and defeat the marauding tribe, which has already slaughtered numerous settlers and soldiers. The Indians are window dressing in the story: nameless, faceless adversaries who are not given any particular motivation for their savagery. (These was, remember, far less enlightened times and such conflicts were generally presented without nuance.)

George Hamilton is the by-the-book West Point graduate assigned to the fort as Boone's second-in-command. He gets a frosty reception from minute one. Boone tells him he doesn't meet the requirements of a seasoned officer who can survive in the hostile environment. The two men spend a good deal of their time in a psychological war of wills. Adding to Hamilton's discomfort is the discovery that his former lover, Luana Patten, is not only living at the remote outpost, but is engaged to one of his fellow officers. The two rekindle their own romance and this leads to scandalous and tragic results. 

The film is based on a novel by popular Western writer James Warner Bellah and probably represents the career high water mark of director Joseph Newman, who was destined to toil for decades helming B movies. He gets vibrant performances from his cast. The ever-watchable Boone is in his predictably crusty mode, cynically second-guessing his officers and men, tossing out insults and sucking on an omnipresent stogie. Boone was so dominant in every role he played, one wonders why he never reached a higher status as a reliable box-office figure. Hamilton is in his standard pretty boy mode, but holds his own against macho men Boone and Charles Bronson, who is cast against type as a somewhat dim-witted character of low scruples. Singer Duane Eddy, who was a teenage pop star at the time, made his film debut here with a degree of fanfare, but it was obviously last minute stunt casting as Eddy is given virtually nothing to do except strum a few chords on his guitar. The film boasts some magnificent scenery and some rousing action sequences that are more realistic than those found in  most Westerns of the time. A Thunder of Drums isn't art or even a great or important Western - but it is fine entertainment and the Warner Archive edition looks terrific. A Blu-ray edition is overdue! The only bonus feature is the original theatrical trailer is included (the one seen above is of inferior quality to the trailer featured on the disc, but it does give a good overview of the film).

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Birkin in the 1969 cult film "La Piscine". (Photo: Cinema Retro Archive.)

By Lee Pfeiffer

Actress and singer Jane Birkin has died at age 76. A cause of death did not accompany the announcement. Birkin was one of the "It Girls" of the mod period of the mid-to-late 1960s when censorship boundaries were removed and sexual behavior became celebrated rather than condemned. Because Birkin had been so closely associated with France, many people thought she was French by birth. Indeed, in commenting on her passing, President Macron referred to her as a "French icon". But Birkin was British by birth and came of age during an era of social rebellion that afforded her liberated attitudes to be celebrated in the arts. She first appeared in bit roles in "The Knack...and How to Use It", "The Idol",, "Kaleidoscope" and, more importantly, in a memorable nude scene in director Michelangelo Antonioni's bizarre but acclaimed 1966 "Blow-up". She also starred in the 1969 French film "La Piscine" with Alain Delon, which has become a popular cult film in recent years. She married British composer John Barry, whose own popularity was exploding due in no small part to his association with the James Bond films. The marriage didn't last and Birkin went to France to appear in a film. There she met and fell in love with songwriter and actor Serge Gainsbourg. Their relationship became the stuff of gossip columns after the couple recorded the smash hit, provocative record "Je t'aime...moi non plus". She and Gainsbourg stayed together for ten years. In addition to her concert appearances, Birkin was also known for inadvertently inspiring a top-end handbag design manufactured by Hermes, after an executive for the company overheard her complain that they needed to create a larger bag.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

With Russia currently dominating world news in an unfavorable way and authoritarian political figures making headlines even in democracies, it's relevant to look back on the 1983 crime thriller "Gorky Park", which has been released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber. The film was based on Martin Cruz Smith's international bestseller and was unique in its day because it centered on subterfuge within the Soviet law enforcement system and was set primarily in Moscow. Director Michael Apted had hoped to be the first major Hollywood studio production to shoot within the Soviet Union but unsurprisingly he was turned down due to the fact that the story dealt with systemic corruption throughout every layer of the government. Apted settled for the next best thing, shooting in Finland and Sweden, both of which make convincing substitutes for the USSR. Transforming the lengthy, complex novel to a screenplay could have been no easy task, even for acclaimed screenwriter Dennis Potter ("Pennies from Heaven"). Although the film has a leisurely running time of 128 minutes, there are still some portions of the story that are not fleshed out enough to be easily understood.

The movie gets off to a gripping start when three young people drift away from the crowd at a winter festival in Moscow's Gorky Park. They are shot dead shortly thereafter, although we don't know why or by who. Police detective Arkady Renko (William Hurt) is first on the scene and he discovers that the snow-covered bodies have been horribly mutilated with their fingers removed and their faces skinned so that their can be no recognition of the victims. This leads to some particularly gory scenes in which a pathologist skillfully manages to recreate their facial features using synthetic skin. In a country and political system in which everyone is justifiably paranoid, Renko begins to suspect that the KGB might have been behind the killings and are looking to set him up as a fall guy. An interesting cast of characters is gradually introduced. Irina Asanova (Joanna Pacula in her screen debut) is a glamorous actress who was a friend of the victims. Renko cannot persuade her that they are dead, as she has been assured that they escaped into exile by Jack Osborne (Lee Marvin). He's a well-connected, rich American businessman who deals in the lucrative trade of sable furs. Renko is immediately suspicious that Osborne, with his bought-and-paid for allies in Soviet law enforcement, is somehow tied to the murders. This results in a few of those scenes moviegoers love in which the hero and villain banter words, using euphemisms to represent their actual thoughts as they engage in a duel of wits. The more dedicated Renko becomes in solving the crime, the more he realizes his is putting his own life in danger. He later gets assistance from an American visitor, William Kirwill (Brian Dennehy), a detective who is in Moscow to try to solve the murder of his brother, who was one of the three victims. Together, he and Renko begin to unravel a tangled web of corruption, deceit, betrayal and more murders. 

"Gorky Park" enjoyed good reviews at the time of its release but it was a boxoffice disappointment. Viewing the new Blu-ray, I found it more intriguing and enjoyable than I had previously- even though the plot gets very complicated and so many characters are introduced that by the end of the movie, I can't say for sure why the original three murder victims were killed. The movie was an important early starring role for William Hurt and he's adequate in the role but rather bland at times, although he and Pacula engage in the kind of steamy sex scene that was de rigueur at a time before movies became largely devoid of eroticism. Pacula gives a very fine performance that earned her a Golden Globe nomination and Dennehy steals every scene he's in, although the premise of an American detective thinking he will have free reign to operate in one of the most oppressive societies in the world is a bit of a stretch. Ian Bannen is a welcome presence as Renko's superior officer, who may be in the pocket of Osborne. As the American fur trader, Lee Marvin is terrific in a marvelous late-career role. It must be said that the largely British cast of supporting actors retain their natural accents, which proves to be a distraction since they are supposed to be playing Russians. Hurt supposedly complained about this because, for the sake of consistency, it forced him to adapt his own version of a British accent, which seems like a hybrid with American English. It doesn't work at all and it's surprising that a skilled director like Apted didn't simply encourage his cast to adopt Russian accents. The production design is rich and expensive-looking but James Horner's score, which was acclaimed in some quarters, sounds dated and very much from an era in which synthesizers were employed ad nauseum.

For those of who came of age during the Cold War period, the film is a reminder of how every aspect of Soviet life was put under scrutiny, with paranoia instilled in citizens to keep everyone off-balance and reluctant to trust anyone else. Despite the Putin regime's quashing of many societal freedoms, today's Russia still enjoys far more freedoms and prosperity than it did when "Gorky Park" was made. Michael Apted's direction is first-rate. Dennis Potter's screenplay excels at showing what life is like in an authoritarian state, where the trappings of democracy are undermined by the fact that everyone knows that there are people who follow the people who follow them. What I found surprising and refreshing is that Renko, who is aware of and frustrated by the Orwellian aspects of his country, remains a dedicated law enforcement official who proudly serves the Soviet state. "Gorky Park" is not a classic but it is a compelling and offbeat thriller that holds up today. 

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray looks very good, indeed. Cinematographer Rolf D. Bode's cinematography really impresses, as he shot the film in a rather washed out, colorless manner to reflect the blandness of the Soviet state. The release is one of the few from KL that doesn't include a commentary track, but there is an excellent 16-minute recent interview with Michael Apted, who says he rarely revisits his own films but did so in this case. He says he was surprised at how well the film has held up but expresses his frustration that, despite good reviews, the movie was not successful at the American boxoffice, though it did well internationally. Apted recalls the challenges of trying to replicate Moscow in Helsinki and speaks well of his cast and crew. He says that Lee Marvin, though appearing healthy on screen, was in intensive care in a hospital just prior to filming, as he suffered from emphysema. He relates that Marvin was especially enthused about the film because it gave him a rare opportunity to play a character who was sophisticated and highly cultured. The Blu-ray also includes the original trailer, a teaser trailer and TV spots for "Gorky Park" and an extensive number of trailers for other action films available from KL.

A personal observation: it should be noted that the interview segment with Michael Apted was produced by Walter Olsen, co-founder with his brother Bill of the Scorpion Releasing video label. Scorpion had partnered with KL in recent years to release many under-radar-films on Blu-ray. Walter passed away in May just months after his brother died. Those of us who value their contributions to the home video industry mourn their passing. 

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By Adrian Smith

Richard Loncraine’s The Haunting of Julia (aka Full Circle, 1977) is a chilling, emotionally charged ghost story shot in London in 1976 with Canadian funding which fell into a legal limbo and was destined to remain largely forgotten until film historian and writer Simon Fitzjohn began researching the film for a magazine article in 2016. The rabbit hole grew deeper and he became a man on a mission to bring the film back to the public. The years of struggle paid off and the film has now been restored and released around the world on Blu-ray and UHD, so Cinema Retro sat down with him to find out how it all happened.

Cinema Retro – How does it feel to finally be at the end of this epic journey?

Simon Fitzjohn - We had a screening at the BFI in London recently which was a massive thrill. There was a good audience and we got quite a few of the crew along as well as Richard Loncraine, the director. It was a bit of a party, to be perfectly honest with you, a fantastic experience.

CR – So how did this all start?

SF - I read a BFI article at Halloween in 2016 called ‘Forgotten British Horror Films of the 1970s,’ and I thought, “Right, okay, I'm pretty sure I'm just going to tick everything off this list.” So I went through them all and it was Pete Walker's Frightmare, things like that. And then there was Full Circle, or The Haunting of Julia and this picture of Mia Farrow with her arms out. I thought “I don't think I've seen that one.” I took it as a bit of an affront really that I hadn't seen it. That was when I then found out that it wasn't available commercially at all, no DVD release, however, there was a version of it on YouTube as they'd shown it on the Sony Movie Channel in 2011. So I watched it and I was floored by it. You know, I remember when it ended and I just sat there in silence for about 15 minutes trying to sort of process it and thinking, ‘Oh, my God, this is just such a sad film. How has this film been allowed to disappear?” You know, why is this not heralded as an amazing British horror film?

CR – You would think it would be better known, particularly because it starred Mia Farrow.

SF - Originally my idea was just to write about it, so the first person I reached out to was Peter Fetterman, who was the producer on it, and he said, “Well, I'm still friends with Richard Loncraine, I'll give him your number.” So I had a call with Richard, who was quite bewildered, as he always is. When anybody says they love the film, he hates it! He seems flabbergasted, because he doesn't think it's a good film. I think a lot of that was down to all the pressures from the external people when they were making it, certainly the Canadian side of it, who wanted this Omen-style bloodbath, whereas Richard wanted this more ambiguous, psychological film. Then he put me in touch with Peter Hannon, who was the director of cinematography on it, and then we found out that Technicolor had found the negative, so Richard and I thought, “Right, here we go!” We needed to get that negative, get it restored and get it rereleased.

CR - Were there rights issues? Is that one of the reasons why it had fallen out of circulation?

SF - Yes. It wasn't that the negative was missing. The last known owner of it was a guy called Julian Mills who was the exec producer on the film. Technicolor had documents for Full Circle with Julian Melzack at Albian Films, and he obviously didn't care about the film because he never bothered to release it himself, and then he died in early 2016. So we had to somehow jump through all these hoops to prove that he hadn't passed the film on to anybody else before he passed away, so that we could prove an ownership chain. It was about six years of working with Technicolor, Companies House, solicitors, Julian Melzack's daughter, all these people going round and round trying to find paperwork. It was just exasperating, to be perfectly honest with you, and there were numerous times where we just thought it wasn’t going to happen because we would answer a question and then they would give us another obstacle and we would jump over that, and then they'd give us another obstacle. There were times when I flagged, but then I would get people messaging me on the Twitter account I had (@full_julia), saying, “Keep going, keep going!” Eventually we were able to do it.

CR – Who funded the restoration?

SF - It was Shout! Factory, but there were numerous people that worked together on this. Shout! Factory sorted the restoration, but the BFI now keep the negative, that was the deal. It was done at Silver Salt in London. Richard Loncraine was involved in that as well.

CR - You've also been heavily involved in the release, with a commentary track (with the director) and some of the extra features for the BFI release.

SF - It was great, because I'd always said right from the start that the key for me was that the film was going to be back out there. It deserves to be talked about, it deserves to be celebrated. But it was still really nice when the BFI came to me straight away and said we want you front and centre on this because Richard said, "Look, if you don't involve Simon, I'm not getting involved.” I was able to help as well because I was in touch with so many people, so Tom Conti was interviewed as was Samantha Gates, who plays Olivia in the film. I've been reading some very positive comments about it in reviews. It was fun, it was a great thrill.

CR – There are rumours that something is missing from the film, specifically a graphic tracheotomy scene, which of course is the tragic event at the beginning of the film [Julia’s daughter is choking to death, and in a last desperate attempt to save her she attempts a tracheotomy which fails and the daughter dies]. What do you know about this?

SF - There was this guy and he would constantly message me on Twitter to ask, “Have you found the tracheotomy scene?” And he was the one that apparently somehow added it to IMDb that this was missing, but nobody has it because it doesn't exist. Why would they randomly have had this blood- spurting tracheotomy? That was never the intention for the film. I've read the BBFC censors report when they classified the film, and they referenced the fact that there was no blood in it. They gave it an AA certificate because it was so tame. So there was never anything filmed, but when they were filming that scene Alfred Pariser, who was the Canadian producer on it, he wanted it to be bloody so he had a cup of stage blood. When Mia stabbed Sophie Ward with the knife, he threw the cup of blood over them. Mia Farrow just got up and ran out screaming because she thought she had cut Sophie Ward's throat! But they obviously didn't use that footage. They weren't interested in having anything like that.

CR – Fantastic. And your commentary track with Richard Loncraine is packed with stories like that. Congratulations on what must feel like such a tremendous achievement.

SF – Thank you. And I ended up somehow randomly getting a Rondo Award too!

The Haunting of Julia/ Full Circle is available on Blu-ray and UHD in the States from Shout! Factory, in Australia from Imprint, and on Blu-ray and UHD in the UK from the BFI. Each edition shares some bonus features whilst also having some which are unique. The Imprint release comes in a beautiful hardbox with a lenticular cover, a book discussing the adaptation from Peter Straub’s novel Julia, and best of all a CD with the full remastered Colin Towns soundtrack including some tracks which were never used or included on the original vinyl release.

Shout Factory: https://shoutfactory.com/products/the-haunting-of-julia-collector-s-edition

Imprint: https://viavision.com.au/shop/the-haunting-of-julia-1977-imprint-collection-218/

BFI: https://shop.bfi.org.uk/full-circle-the-haunting-of-julia-flipside-046-4k-ultra-hd-blu-ray.html

(Tom with the legendary Christopher Lee.)

By Mark Cerulli

Tom Johnson, noted Hammer Film expert and longtime friend of many a Hammer star, passed away at his home in Shillington, PA on July 11^th. He was 76.

Tom’s best-known work was his 1995 book, Hammer Films – An Exhaustive Filmography (co-written with Debra Del Vecchio) and exhaustive it was with over 400 pages covering every film the studio made from the 1930s onward. He wrote other books like The Christopher Lee Filmography (co-written with Mark A. Miller and Jimmy Sangster), The Films of Oliver Reed (with Susan D. Cowie) and The Mummy in Fact and Fiction (with Susan D. Cowie) and others. His 2015 tribute to Christopher Lee for Little Shoppe of Horrors – “Christopher Lee – He May Not Have Been… Who You Thought He Was” won the Rondo Award for Best Horror Article.

I met Tom when I covered the 1997 Midnight Marquee Hammer Convention for Cinemax. Along with spending time with Caroline Munro, Freddie Francis and Jimmy Sangster, I got to know Tom. Very smart, with a dry wit and an encyclopedic knowledge of cinema, he was easy to befriend. Tom was close to many Hammer actors and filmmakers, most noticeably Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. I will forever be in his debt for his getting Lee to sign my UK one-sheet to Scars of Dracula. Tom said when he unfolded it for the star, Lee rolled his eyes and mumbled, “Oh my God.” The Count, it seems, was not a fan of the film!

Along with his literary efforts, Tom taught and coached high School track. (He was a medal-winning runner himself back in the day.) An avowed Luddite, Tom didn’t own a computer, never had an e-mail account and never once browsed the web. I remember telling him how great it would be if he got an email address. His response? “Nah.” Old school to his core, he would write his books by hand and his wonderful British writing partner Sue Cowie would type them up and bring them into the 21^st Century.

(Tom with Joyce Broughton, Peter Cushing's long-time secretary and personal assistant.)

As years went by, Tom’s health got worse and he seldom ventured far from his PA home, but we would talk on the phone. He took great delight in my collecting tales – the items that got away and also the things I managed to get, especially anything expensive. Tom laughed uproariously when I told him about buying a rather large helicopter model from You Only Live Twice sight unseen and my wife’s less than enthusiastic reaction. He made ME laugh when he recounted buying an ultra-rare window card for 1935’s Mad Love at an antique store, putting it under his mattress to “straighten it out,” then FORGETTING it for years! When he finally removed it, the brittle paper was in tatters. Ouch.

Tom stoically faced his mounting health problems with his sense of humor and curiosity unchanged. He was a kind and gentle man who truly loved the art of filmmaking and was unrivalled in his knowledge of the entire Hammer canon. He leaves behind seven books, countless articles and an army of people who will truly miss him. Thank you, dear Tom.

You can buy Tom’s books at https://mcfarlandbooks.com/?s=Tom+Johnson&search_id=product&post_type=product

Photos kindly supplied by Dick Klemensen at Little Shoppe of Horrors.

“The Exorcist Legacy: 50 Years of Fear” by Nat Segaloff (Kensington Publishing, $28) 304 pages, Illustrated (B&W), Hardback, ISBN: 978-0-8065-4194-5

By Todd Garbarini

As long as there are films and film criticism, one of the most debated aspects of recent memory is whether or not film director William Friedkin’s 1973 masterwork The Exorcist is a horror film or not. The very question could perplex average readers who might feel that that the inquiry itself is completely ludicrous and make one ponder how the image of a young girl vomiting pea soup from her bed or the face of a white-faced demon flashing manically before our eyes could be considered anything but horror. Despite this, neither did the novel’s author William Peter Blatty, nor the film’s director set out to make a horror film at all. Instead, The Exorcist, largely considered by many to be one of the most (if not the most) terrifying films ever made, was fashioned to be a serious study about the mystery of faith.

Coming upon the fiftieth anniversary of the film’s release – yes, you read that right – a new book entitled The Exorcist Legacy: 50 Years of Fear is now available and places the story about the phenomenon of the novel, the controversial film and their inevitable sequels and prequels, definitively and squarely in our laps. Penned by longtime Friedkin champion and prolific author of many other film books Nat Segaloff, who wrote the excellent Hurricane Billy: The Stormy Life and Films of William Friedkin (1990), The Exorcist Legacy is an absolute must-read for adherents of the novel and film. With a foreword by horror film writer John Russo of Night of the Living Dead fame, author Segaloff takes us back to the beginning on how a 1966 meeting between Friedkin and director Blake Edwards – and the former’s vituperative assessment of a Peter Gunn screenplay – led to an introduction to and lifelong friendship between Friedkin and Blatty; Warner Brothers and their initial reluctance to hire Friedkin until the release of his brilliant The French Connection in 1971 garnered sudden critical and financial success and changed the game completely; the original 1949 real-life case of an ostensibly possessed Maryland boy; Blatty’s writing of the novel; the making of the film; a multitude of issues that beset the film’s production giving way to the supposed “curse” on the set; the controversy surrounding the release of the film; in-depth looks at the much-maligned Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) and the superior The Exorcist III (1990), the latter both written and directed by Blatty; and the prequels and television series.

Segaloff, who was Publicity Director for the Sack Theater chain in Boston, provides personal insights into the marketing challenges pertaining to the film, as he worked with Friedkin and Warner Brothers to open the film at the showplace Cinema 57, one of only 22 theatres that initially played the movie nationwide. Writing in a very down-to-earth style with new interviews and meticulously researched details, The Exorcist Legacy is simultaneously entertaining and informative and is the new go-to reference book for all things related to the phenomenon with a fresh look from real life to reel life.

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By Ernie Magnotta

Italian writer/director Fernando Di Leo has had quite a prolific career. Between 1964 and 1985, he directed 17 films (including 1971’s Slaughter Hotel, 1972’s Caliber 9 and 1973’s The Boss) and wrote/co-wrote many screenplays (including contributions to Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More). Recently, one of his last directorial efforts, The Violent Breed, was finally released on Blu-ray.

The Violent Breed aka Razza Violenta follows ‘nam vet Mike Martin (Harrison Muller, 2020 Texas Gladiators) who is sent to Southeast Asia by CIA head Kirk Cooper (Henry Silva, Sharkey’s Machine) in order to take out a dangerous drug lord named Polo (Woody Strode, Sergeant Rutledge).

Solidly directed by Di Leo (who also co-wrote with Nino Marino), The Violent Breed, although not in the same league as similar films by action icons Schwarzenegger, Stallone and Norris, is an enjoyable 80s action film which is definitely worth checking out. The movie also features the lovely Carole Andre (The Bloodstained Butterfly), and a memorable score from Paolo Rustichelli (Urban Warriors).

The Violent Breed has been released on a region one Blu-ray, comes from a brand new 2K master, and is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The disc boasts clear images (but the audio is a bit low in a few spots) and also contains English subtitles, the original theatrical trailer as well as trailers for the films The Last Hunter; The Violent Professionals; Street Law; Seven Blood-stained Orchids and Blastfighter.

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On September 27, the Australian video company Imprint/ViaVision will release a 4-film box set showcasing films starring George Peppard. Here are the details:

With his dashing good looks and irresistible charm, George Peppard became one of the most iconic actors of the 1960s. 

Enjoy four forgotten gems from his prolific career for the first time on Blu-ray in Australia:

• P.J. (1968)
• Pendulum (1969)
• The Executioner (1970) – Worldwide first on Blu-ray!
• Newman’s Law (1974)

Limited Edition 4-Disc Hardbox. 1500 copies only.

P.J. (1968) – Imprint Collection #252

Peppard faces off against Raymond Burr (Rear Window) when he becomes entangled in an affair with deadly consequences in P.J.

Private eye P.J. Detweiler is reluctant to protect the mistress of a millionaire from attacks by his client’s wife and greedy family. In truth, P.J. is walking into a deadly intrigue in which he is to play a central part. 

Special Features & Technical Specs:

• 1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray from a 2K scan
• NEW Audio Commentary by film historian & author Toby Roan
• Audio Commentary by critics Howard S. Berger and Steve Mitchell
• NEW Interview with author & screenwriter Courtney Joyner on the career of director John Guillermin
• NEW Video essay on George Peppard & John Guillermin 
• Theatrical Trailer
• Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
• Audio English LPCM 2.0 Mono

Pendulum (1969) – Imprint Collection #253

George Peppard embarks on a relentless quest for justice in this thrilling classic.

Cynical Washington, DC, police captain Frank Matthews risked his life to catch a young rapist and murderer. But the psychopath is set free when a civil liberties’ attorney proves to the Supreme Court that Matthews never read the killer his rights. When Matthews’ wife is found murdered alongside her lover, and he becomes the prime suspect, Matthews decides his best option is to capture the real killer himself.

Special Features & Technical Specs:

• 1080P High-definition presentation on Blu-ray
• Special Features TBC
• Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
• Audio English LPCM 2.0 Mono

The Executioner (1970) – Imprint Collection #254

Worldwide first on Blu-ray!

Joan Collins, Keith Mitchell and Judy Geeson also star in The Executioner, the nail-biting thriller and worldwide first on Blu-ray.

When a covert operation in Vienna goes awry, British Intelligence operative John Shay suspects his colleague, Adam Booth, may be a double agent. Appointing himself executioner, Shay kills Booth and then assumes his identity to obtain conclusive evidence that Booth was a traitor.

Special Features & Technical Specs:

• 1080P High-definition presentation on Blu-ray
• Special Features TBC
• Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
• Audio English LPCM 2.0 Mono

Newman’s Law (1974) – Imprint Collection #255

The creator of Banacek, Anthony Wilson, and George Peppard reunite in the gritty police drama Newman’s Law.

When a hard-nosed LA cop is booted from duty after being falsely accused of extortion, he goes rogue to investigate an organised crime case, uncovering a conspiracy that might extend to the highest levels of his own department. 

Special Features & Technical Specs:

• 1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray from a 2K scan
• NEW Audio Commentary by film historian Steve Mitchell and producer/screenwriter Cyrus Voris
• NEW Interview with director Jeff Burr on the career of director Richard T. Heffron
• Radio Spots
• Theatrical Trailer
• Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
• Audio English LPCM 2.0 Mono

Any pre-order titles will be dispatched in the week leading up to its aforementioned release date. Special features and artwork are subject to change.

Imprint limited editions tend to sell out quickly. Click here to pre-order. (Prices are in Australian dollars. Use  a currency converter to see what the price is in your local currency.) The Blu-ray set is Region-Free. 

In this lighthearted but highly informative short, Turner Classic Movies recalls the rise and fall of the "B" movie, a genre which has regained popularity in recent years with retro movie buffs.  

By Lee Pfeiffer

A quaint relic of the past, "open-end" interviews were widely used in the entertainment industry to deceive radio listeners into believing that a local entertainment personality was actually interviewing a big star. The reporter would be supplied with a vinyl record with "cuts" of pre-recorded interviews with the subject or subjects. They were also provided specific questions that they would record in their own voice. These would be inserted into the "interview" to give the impression that the reporter was actually speaking with the star or stars. Big city personalities didn't have to rely on such deceitful gimmicks, as they generally had access to the big names through press junkets or, if their media employer was impressive enough, a one-on-one exclusive interview. The open-end programs allowed reporters in smaller, often rural markets to pretend they were in the presence of the stars. How many people fell for this, we'll never know. It would seem unlikely that someone from the town of Nowhere would be able to pull off convincing listeners that he was at the top of the Swiss Alps for the filming of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", but some actually tried, as that film provided open-ended "on location" interview records from that glamorous location. Here we present an open-end disc with rare interviews with George C. Scott and Peter Sellers, two people who were generally adverse to giving interviews. The subject is "Dr. Strangelove" and we suppose they both felt more comfortable with a studio hack asking mundane, impersonal questions. Not much is revealed in Scott's interview, but Sellers is a bit more forthcoming and provides some humorous examples of his expertise in impersonating different accents from diverse areas of England. Strangely, he gives the interview in the same perfect American accent he used in the film. 

By Todd Garbarini

Anyone going into Dutch film director Rene Daalder’s 1976 film Massacre at Central High might very well be expecting an all-out slasher film. While the poster art might give this impression, audiences will be sorely disappointed as it is essentially a variant of Agatha Christie’s 1939 novel Ten Little Indians but with a much different tone. The opening credits and the strains of an inappropriate and perfunctory title song Crossroads (which is better suited to a made-for-television movie of the period) demanded by producer Harold Sobel to the consternation of the director immediately sends the wrong message to the viewer. Much of what has been written about the film over the years demonstrates the consensus that Massacre, the title of which appears to want to capitalize on the Tobe Hooper horror film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre from two years earlier, is a political allegory, and one can certainly analyze the film from that perspective, though it is doubtful that audiences at the time, especially those seeing the film at a drive-in of all places, looked so deeply into a film that on the surface looks to be a story about simple revenge.

Set inside the battleground of Central High School in Southern California, David (Derrel Maury) is the new student and therefore automatically becomes a mark. He is no stud, but certainly not a pushover either. Mark (Andrew Stevens from Brian DePalma’s The Fury from 1977) is an old friend who owes David a favor from his past, one that we are not privy to, and appears to be willing to do whatever it takes to make David feel welcome. The ground rules for making it through Central High are simple: you’re either a somebody or you’re a nobody, to quote American Gangster’s Frank Lucas. Mark’s clique includes Bruce (the late Ray Underwood from Brice Mack’s Jennifer from 1978, another film about high school revenge), Craig (Steve Bond from Joel Bender’s Gas Pump Girls from 1979), and Paul (the late Damon Douglas of John D. Hancock’s Baby Blue Marine, also from 1976). These three bullies, for lack of a better word, essentially rule Central High which is presented as a seemingly insular world of jocks, jerks, and losers. For the first hour and a quarter of the film, adults are only spoken of and never seen onscreen. It is worth noting that Mark walks a tightrope in this film – his allegiance to David makes him hesitant to be included completely with this terrible triumvirate who harass pretty much anyone they want without fear of reprisal.

David is subjected to seeing other students mercilessly harassed by the bullies, especially Mary (the late Cheryl Lynn “Rainbeaux” Smith) and Jane (the late Lani O’Grady) who are practically raped in a despicable sequence. David comes to their rescue and beats up their harassers, only to be partially crushed under his car by the group in an “accident” soon afterwards. Enraged, David single-handedly kills all three bullies in a fantasy right out of today’s high school killer headlines by sabotaging one’s hang-glider, one’s Dodge Tradesman 300’s brakes, and exploiting an empty swimming pool in a sequence almost too ridiculous to believe.

This scenario creates an interesting situation at the school as the once oppressed and harassed “losers” see the existence of a power vacuum and seize it, becoming bullies themselves and embodying everything they hated about their tormentors, Apparently, David is also well-versed in the art of bomb-making! What a coincidence. There is no mention of how he developed these skills (The Anarchist’s Cookbook, perhaps?), but he manages to come up with some fairly ornate methods of blowing away the new bullies, and they all go off without a hitch: (spoiler alerts!) one is blow away while at his locker; another is blown to Kingdom Come a la Sam Rothstein at the start of Martin Scorsese’s Casino (1995) but, unfortunately, no St. Matthew Passion for this guy; and last but not least Mary, Jane and their friend (Robert Carradine) are crushed by a rock in the middle of a threesome while in a tent (it comes out that police believe that they were involved in the killings – how convenient). I suppose this sequence gives new meaning to the term “die hard.”

Despite all this mayhem, the school still moves ahead with a dance(!), and now the adults and police show up. David gets the idea to blow up the school – until Mark and his girlfriend Theresa (Kimberly Beck of television series fame), whom David fancies, tell him they are going to the dance. When he gets wind of this, David retrieves the bomb from the boiler room and, straight out of a James Bond film, makes it to the front lawn to save the day, but not without paying a price for his actions.

There seems to be a need to prop the film up in a bright light and look at it for evidence of it being a highly political film that is making a commentary on society and the members who dwell in it. I am unsure if that was the real motivation behind the film, however if one chooses to view it that way, the film is an interesting social commentary on what creates a bully or an oppressor, and how the oppressed end up taking over the positions of the long-gone bullies. The script is schematic, and the film is not particularly well-acted, but to be fair the director and crew had a 20-day shooting schedule on a modest $400,000 budget, so he certainly had his work cut out for him. The fight scenes suffer from performer restraint and the bullies are so annoying that the audience can only hope for a miserable end for all of them but when they come, the releases are more of a whimper than an all-out rise out of the seats that one would experience at the end of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) when the shark is finally killed.

Synapse Films released a steelbook edition of this film in November 2020 and now it is available in a Standard Edition from the same company. The following extras are included:

The Projection Booth Podcast Interviews with Cast Members (87:00) – this is an audio playback that needs to be selected on the audio menu to access it and it can be listened to through the entire length of the film. This is a great listen as I was initially disappointed to see the absence of a commentary, but this is the next best thing. It is hosted by Mike White who speaks to Derrel Maury, Andrew Stevens, Robert Carradine, and Rex Sikes over the phone.

Audio Interview with Director Renee Daalder (25:00) – likewise, this is an audio playback that needs to be selected on the audio menu to access it and it can be listened to through the first 25 minutes of the film, after which the film audio resumes. It is an audio interview with the director conducted by writer Michael Gingold and it is a wonderful record of their discussion as Mr. Daalder sadly passed away in 2019.

Hell in the Hallways (42:27) – this is a really nice look back at the making of the film, shot in high definition, with Derrel Maury, Tom Logan, Rex Sikes, Robert Carradine, Andrew Stevens, and Jeffrey Winner, in addition to some behind-the-scenes crew members who discuss how much fun and also how challenging it was to make. Tragically, Cheryl “Rainbeaux” Smith and Lani O’Grady both died way before their time. I recall seeing Lemora, A Child’s Tale of the Supernatural (1973) on October 24, 2002, as part of a “scary movies” retrospective at the Walter Reade Theater in New York, and wishing that I could interview Ms. Smith about her starring role in the film. Unbelievably, she passed away the very next day at age 47. Ms. Smith was 21 when she appeared in Massacre and is heartbreakingly beautiful, completely naked in her death scene that arrives 70 minutes into the film. She was a free spirit and appeared in some of the most interesting films of the 1970s and her presence brought something special to those films. Along with Candace Rialson, another performer from the 1970s who sadly died way before her time, they are two of my favorite actresses from this era.

Original Theatrical Trailer (2:23) – this is in full-blown high definition and looks culled from the new master. The same cannot be said for the TV Spot (00:33), however, which is framed 1.33:1 and looks its age, beat up and contrasty. There is also a great-sounding Radio Spot (00:27) as well as a nice Still Gallery (3:14).

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