BY LEE PFEIFFER

Kino Lorber continues its alliance with niche market video label Scorpion Releasing with a Blu-ray edition of the largely forgotten 1969 action/adventure flick "The Devil's 8". The film typifies the kind of movie that simply doesn't exist any more: a low-budget production designed for fast playoff and modest profits. Back in the day, studios depended on movies such as these to be important to their bottom line. It's in stark contrast to today's film industry where seemingly every release is intended to be a blockbuster with production costs so high that some flicks have to gross close to a billion dollars to be considered financially successful. "The Devil's 8" is pretty much what you might expect simply by examining the sleeve. Typical of these types of movies, it presents a cast of reputable character actors who get meatier roles than they usually did in more prestigious productions. The script is yet another in a seemingly endless number of action films that was shamelessly inspired by the success of "The Dirty Dozen". Christopher George is Faulkner, who we are introduced to as a criminal in a work group of convicts doing time in a prison in the deep South. Along with his fellow prisoners, he's performing backbreaking work under the guard of cruel, armed overseers. Faulkner initiates a riot and he and seven other convicts manage to escape. They are soon "rescued" by government officials and learn that Faulkner is actually an FBI agent and the entire scenario was pre-planned. Turns out that the men are being recruited to work under Faulkner as part of an elaborate plot to bring down a local crime king named Burl, who is running a major illegal moonshine operation in the area. The FBI knows that he is being protected by high government and police officials who are paid off with a share of the loot. Faulkner offers them a deal: if they agree to undergo extensive training and help him infiltrate Burl's operation, he'll recommend that they be pardoned and freed. Sound familiar? It's but one of the familiar scenarios blatantly copied from "The Dirty Dozen". The convicts all agree and end up being trained to drive specially-equipped cars that have been reinforced to withstand all sorts of calamities. They must also become proficient in the use of machine guns and demolition work. As you might imagine in a film with a 98-minute running time, this is accomplished fairly quickly. Adding to the "Dirty Dozen" similarities, the men initially fight among each other until Faulkner employs a successful strategy whereby they bond together in their common hatred of him.

The group then pretends to be rival moonshiners who move in on Burl's territory, knowing he'll try to take them out.When their resiliency wins out over Burl's men, Faulkner convinces Burl to allow them to become partners in his operation in the hope of being shown where his illegal stills are located. Burl agrees, but no one is naive to believe the alliance will last. Faulkner and his men know that ultimately, Burl will have them killed. As played by Ralph Meeker, Burl is a stereotypical, cigar-chomping Southern good ol' boy with plenty of charisma to cover up the fact that he routinely uses murder to protect his operation. By the time the double-crosses kick in, Faulkner and his gang are ready to engage Burl and his private army in an all-out battle to the death. Faulkner's group is the usual blend of eccentrics we see in prison films. Each has his own distinct personality from the lone Black convict (Robert DoQui in the Jim Brown "Dirty Dozen" role) to Joe Turkel (reunited with Meeker after having both appeared in Stanley Kubrick's classic "Paths of Glory") as an impulsive team member whose actions threaten to undo the mission (think John Cassavetes in "The Dirty Dozen"). Other members of the group are played by a familiar assortment of character actors including one-time teen idol Fabian, Tom Nardini of "Cat Ballou" and Larry Bishop, who specialized in portraying hippies. Christopher George dominates the film as the tough-as-nails Faulkner. It is puzzling why he never became a bigger star, given his rugged good looks and strong on-screen personality.  Despite starring in the modestly successful WWII TV series "The Rat Patrol", he rarely had a lead role in feature films. His biggest impressions were as the quirky villains in two John Wayne film, ""El Dorado" (1967) and "Chisum" (1970). Sadly, he passed away in 1983 at only 52 years-old. The rest of the cast performs well and each member provides some amusing moments. Leslie Parrish is inserted in the movie to provide some sex appeal as Burl's reluctant mistress. 

"The Devil's 8" was directed and produced by "B" movie king Burt Topper. Much of the action is rather clunky in its staging and the limited budget results in some of the worst and most laughable rear screen projection effects in the history of the medium. But Topper was unpretentious in his goals and execution of his films. He just wanted to make fun movies for undemanding audiences.  The score by Michael Lloyd and Jerry Styner, proteges of the wiz kid Mike Curb, provide a bouncy country score that is appropriate for the story but which rapidly grows weary due to its sheer monotony- and wait until you hear wacky theme song and lyrics by the Sidewalk Sounds that play over the end credits. "The Devil's 8" seems like one of those films that was specifically created to fill the bottom of a double-feature bill, but in fact, it was the main feature in most of its bookings, although in the UK, it was the second feature to "3 in the Attic". Interestingly, the movie proved to be a fertile training ground for screenwriters Willard Huyck and John Milius, who co-authored the script with James Gordon White. Within a few years, Huyck would pen the screenplay for George Lucas's masterwork "American Graffiti", while Milius would go on to write the screenplays for "Dirty Harry" and "Apocalypse Now" and find considerable success as a director. Thus, before we turn our noses up at lowbrow movies such as this, we should pause to remember how many considerable talents emerged from such productions.

The Blu-ray presents the film in the best state possible, given that there probably isn't an abundance of adequate master prints available. Although it's been produced from a new 2K master, the color is sometimes wishy-washy, but that just adds to the "B" movie appeal. Bonus features include a good recent interview with Larry Bishop, who discusses his friendship with Burt Topper and expresses respect for his talents. An original trailer and gallery of other Kino/Scorpion releases is also included. Kino and Scorpion have wisely retained the film's original poster artwork for the sleeve. It's a perfect example of how, in the Golden Age of movie marketing, the status of "B" movies could be considerably improved by employing dynamic graphics. Ironically, in today's industry, movies that cost hundreds of millions of dollars are promoted with poster artwork that is bland, boring and unmemorable. Just another reason to miss those bygone days of low-budget crowd-pleasers. 

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In this special 45-minute retrospective, Daniel Craig candidly reflects on his 15 year adventure as James Bond. Including never-before-seen archival footage from Casino Royale to No Time To Die, Craig shares his personal memories in conversation with 007 producers, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.

BY FRED BLOSSER

“Binge-watching” is a relatively recent addition to our vocabulary, thanks to 24/7 streaming TV channels, but the concept itself isn’t new. On summer weekends in the 1970s, drive-in theatres offered the same opportunity for immersing yourself in cheap, all-night entertainment. There, you’d binge not on multiple episodes of “Peacemaker” or “Walking Dead” but instead on their Disco-era equivalent: triple or quadruple features of B-Westerns, soft-core sex comedies starring ex-Playboy Centerfolds, Kung-fu imports, and populist vigilante dramas.

Back then, one film on the bill in scratchy, tinny celluloid might have been “God’s Gun,” starring Lee Van Cleef. In the 1976 Western, now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber, an outlaw gang led by Sam Clayton (Jack Palance) sweeps into town, demolishes the saloon owned by pretty Jenny (Sybil Danning), and kills a man at the poker table. Jenny is furious when the cowardly sheriff (Richard Boone) refuses to go after the outlaws as they ride out. The local Catholic priest, Father John (Van Cleef), follows instead, and brings back the murderer, Clayton’s nephew Jess, on his own. This provokes more mayhem as the outlaws return, break Jess out of jail, gun down Father John, and go on a further rampage of rape and murder. The sheriff still prefers to keep a low profile, so Jenny’s son Johnny (Leif Garrett) sets off for Mexico. There the boy intends to find Father John’s twin brother Lewis, a retired gunfighter, and bring him back to restore peace in Juno City. Those scenes give Leif Garrett nearly as much screen time as Lee Van Cleef. This was probably welcomed by the young actor’s rising fan base of thirteen-year-old girls in 1976. By Van Cleef’s leathery old fans, not so much.

“God’s Gun” was designed to look like a Spaghetti Western, still a viable if fading genre in the mid-'70s, even to the extent of reuniting Lee Van Cleef with director Gianfranco Parolini (alias “Frank Kramer”) from “Sabata” and “Return of Sabata.” Parolini employs many of the stock techniques from his earlier Westerns, including sudden close-ups when characters are shot, skewed camera angles from the victims’ perspective as they fall dead, and noisy saloon brawls. In reality, the movie was produced in Israel by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, who would later head the Cannon Group in the 1980s. Golan and Globus followed a simple, commercially successful formula — take a popular genre, commission a marginally functional script with plenty of action, headline two or three well-known actors, hire an experienced B-list director, and keep the remaining overhead as low as possible. Many B-movies try to finesse their cheap budgets, but “God’s Gun” doesn’t bother. The Western costumes look like remainders from the Party Store, Van Cleef is burdened with a bad toupee and goatee, one exterior set doubles as two towns, and it’s painfully obvious that neither Van Cleef nor Boone dubbed themselves in post-production. The secondary casting is comparably haphazard. As Alex Cox notes in his audio commentary for the Blu-ray, Palance’s skinny, curly-haired bad guys look more like “a bunch of hippies” than bloodthirsty frontier desperadoes. Not that any of this would have mattered in your 2 o’clock stupor as you watched “God’s Gun” at the bottom of a drive-in triple-feature in 1976.

Kino Lorber presents “God’s Gun” in a remastered 2K edition at a 1.85:1 aspect. The picture looks a little soft, but it’s probably the best the studio could do with the materials at hand. Besides Alex Cox’s droll, savvy commentary, the Blu-ray includes reversible cover art from the original movie posters, as well as the vintage theatrical trailers for “God’s Gun” and other Lee Van Cleef Westerns on Kino Lorber’s backlist. If you’re in a nostalgic mood for a 1970s drive-in experience, you could do worse than select “God’s Gun” and two or three others from the KL catalog.  Augment with a couple of stale hot dogs and watery Cokes, fill your TV room with the heady scent of week-old popcorn, and then sit back and enjoy.

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

Ivan Reitman, the acclaimed director and producer who brought "National Lampoon's Animal House" and "Ghostbusters" to the screen, passed away on Saturday at age 75. This is a sentimental and moving tribute to his life and career. 

“HAT TRICKS”

By Raymond Benson

When Miller’s Crossing was released in 1990, we as an audience were still trying to determine what the Coen brothers were all about. This, their third feature film, was totally different from their previous movie, Raising Arizona (1987), which was radically different from their debut title, Blood Simple (1984). Raising Arizona was a wacky comedy. Miller’s Crossing may have had more similarities to Blood Simple, being that they are both neo-noir crime dramas with a gritty, hard edge but laced with the now-familiar but then-surprisingly unique ingredient of Coen dark humor. Still, Miller’s Crossing, being a period piece that takes place during the Prohibition years, is a more elegant, and certainly more technically accomplished, picture than Blood Simple. Sudden, brutal violence, though, remains a trait of both movies.

In an excellent supplemental interview with Joel and Ethan Coen that appears on the new Blu-ray release from the Criterion Collection, the brothers discuss noir influences in both literature and cinema with author/screenwriter Megan Abbott, and the revelations are both illuminating and hilarious, as one would expect from these guys. They admit that Miller’s Crossing likely owes more to the works of Dashiell Hammett than, say, Raymond Chandler or James M. Cain. They also cite the numerous film noir productions pouring out of Hollywood in the late 1940s and early 50s as influences, although Crossing eschews this stark black and white style for gorgeously rendered color cinematography (by Barry Sonnenfeld) to create a more poetic, art-house rendition of a noir crime drama.

For the first half (or so) of the brothers’ career, the Director’s Guild rules prohibited both names being credited as director, so Joel was usually credited as director and Ethan was credited as producer, and both were credited as screenwriters. Now the brothers share all three credits. When they were writing Miller’s Crossing, they became stuck. The plot is complex, with a hint of Hammett’s Red Harvest within in that the protagonist, Tom Reagan, sets out to play two rival mobs against each other. When the writer’s block became so fierce, the Coens put the script aside and went on to write what would be their fourth film, Barton Fink, a script they finished in three weeks (ironically, it’s about a screenwriter with writer’s block). That break allowed them to come back to Miller’s Crossing afresh, and the screenplay was completed.

In viewing the film, one might think it’s about hats. Fedoras, to be precise. Just about every male character wears one, and Tom, especially, takes great care to always pick up his hat if it falls off or if he gets hit in the face (which occurs multiple times during the course of the movie). In fact, the opening credits focus on a hat on the ground in the forest, and the wind mystically picks it up and carries it away from us—certainly a metaphor for the era depicted in the story that is now gone with the wind. Hat tricks.

Tom Reagan (Gabriel Byrne) is the right-hand man for Irish mob boss Leo O’Bannon (Albert Finney), who “runs the (unnamed) town.” The mayor and police chief are in his pocket. Rival Italian mob boss, Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito), desperately wants to knock Leo off the throne, but his current concern is to bump off Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro), a bookie who has been selling information about Caspar’s fight fixes. Leo won’t allow Caspar to kill Bernie because he's dating Bernie’s sister, Verna (Marcia Gay Harden). Little does Leo know, but Tom and Verna are also seeing each other behind his back. Caspar and his goons strike at Leo, fail in an assassination attempt, but succeed in knocking Leo off his pedestal. Now Caspar is in charge and the mayor and police chief are in his pocket. Leo and Tom fall out over the Verna situation, so Tom goes to work for Caspar. The Bernie problem is still a thing, so to show his loyalty to his new boss, Tom must reluctantly take out Bernie. To reveal more would spoil the twists and turns the tale takes.

The cast, especially Finney and Harden, are excellent. Jon Polito and John Turturro, however, steal the film with over-the-top performances that are Kubrickian in nature. Steve Buscemi makes his first appearance in a Coen brothers’ picture in a small but memorable fast-talking scene. Look for Frances McDormand, making a cameo as the mayor’s secretary, as well as Coen brothers friend Sam Raimi as a gunman.

Carter Burwell’s music is a counterpoint to the action. Burwell had the idea to develop a plaintive, melodic Irish folk tune as the theme; the Coens at first weren’t sure about that, but once they heard it, they agreed it was the way to go.

All of that said, this reviewer finds Miller’s Crossing to be a good, but not great, entry in the Coen brothers’ canon. The overly complicated plot is a little difficult to follow without repeated viewings. It’s also a challenge to empathize with Tom Reagan, which may be due to actor Byrne, who elicits little warmth in the role. Nevertheless, the picture creates a mood and visual beauty that are striking.

The Criterion Collection’s new 2K digital restoration, approved by Sonnenfeld and the Coens, looks marvelous. It comes with a 5.1 surround soundtrack mix, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio. There are English subtitles for the hearing impaired.

There are wonderful supplements on the disk. The aforementioned interview with the Coens is priceless. There are also new interviews with Gabriel Byrne and John Turturro, Carter Burwell and music editor Todd Kasow, Sonnenfeld, production designer Dennis Gassner, and vintage featurette interviews from 1990 with the cast. The booklet contains an essay by film critic Glenn Kenny.

Miller’s Crossing is for fans of the Coen brothers, certainly, as well as cast members Byrne, Finney, Harden, and Turturro. And if you’re an aficionado of mobster flicks—period or modern—then Miller’s Crossing is the hat trick for you.

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With the passing of each year, movie lovers must come to grips with the loss of so many film industry professionals. However, 2021 was especially harsh when it came to alumni of the Western movie genre. The YouTube channel A Word on Westerns presents a moving tribute to 26 talented professionals who were associated with the genre. Sadly, they all left us in 2021 but their memories will live forever through their fine work.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

The niche market video label Code Red continues its distribution alliance with Kino Lorber, which is a very good thing for lovers of obscure retro movies. Case in point: "Story of a Woman", a 1970 drama that I will admit I was unaware of until receiving a review screener. The film is a truly international affair, shot in Europe by Italian director/writer/producer Leonardo Bercovici and starring two American male leads and Sweden's Bibi Andersson as the female protagonist. Andersson was making a name for herself in English-language cinema after having appeared in several of Ingmar Bergman classics. She plays Karin Ullman, an adventurous young Swedish woman who has left her home to study piano at a music conservatory in Rome in 1963. Here, she meets cute with Bruno Cardini (James Farantino), a hunky and charismatic medical student who has the good fortune of inadvertently causing a fender bender with Karin's car in one of the city's notorious traffic jams. All is immediately forgiven once Karin realizes she is hopelessly smitten with Bruno, and vice-versa. Soon, they are enjoying a Hollywood-like romance and Karin considers making their relationship permanent. That is, until she receives a visit from a middle-aged woman, Liliana (Annie Giradot), who explains she is Bruno's long-suffering wife. She says he has long been a serial philanderer and user of women.  Liliana says he is now tired of suffering in silence. It seems Bruno is dependent upon her considerable wealth and she has given him an ultimatum: stop having affairs or lose your financial lifeline. Heartbroken and emotionally shattered, Karin leaves Rome to return to her parent's lake house on the outskirts of Stockholm. Here she finds her family and friends are able to provide her with solace. Things improve dramatically when she once again meets cute with a handsome man, this one American David Frasier. He's the polar opposite of Bruno: he's middle-aged and is the very definition of responsibility, as he is attached to the U.S. embassy in Rome as a high level diplomat. Soon, he and Karin progress from being lovers to a married couple. Life is fun and glamorous for Karin, as she attends parties with international dignitaries and the couple live a relatively high life style. Karin gives birth to a daughter and they move briefly to London where David has been assigned before returning to Rome. Here, things get messy when Bruno has a couple of coincidental meetings with her (seemingly unlikely given the vastness of the Eternal City.) Bruno explains what the viewer has already seen: he and Liliana had a terrible argument while in the car and a resulting accident cost Aliana her life. Bruno is now single and is regarded as one of Italy's top professional soccer players. In fact, he is a national idol. He comes across as repentant and sorry for the pain he previously caused Karin- but makes it clear he wants to resume their relationship. Karin prides herself on being a loyal wife and a good mother. She consistently rejects Bruno's advances...until she ultimately begins to weaken.

In the quaint vernacular of when "Story of a Woman" was made, it would probably have been referred to as "a woman's picture". There is no doubt it's a soap opera, but it's a surprisingly compelling one thanks to an engrossing script and interesting characters. The situation Karin finds herself in poses a question that many people have found it difficult to deal with: is it possible to learn to "unlove" someone from your past, even if you know that seeing them again is wrong in every logical respect? Karin begins to see Bruno to talk things out but David finds out and makes it clear that their marriage is on the verge of a breakdown. However, a darker side of Bruno begins to emerge, making Karin reevaluate her future.

The movie boasts some fine performances. Bibi Andersson is very good indeed as the woman caught in a love triangle. She sincerely loves both men in her life but realizes that once she married David, the honorable decision would be to remain loyal to him. However, her past with Bruno appeals the selfish aspects of every human being's personality. As her much-distressed and ever-tolerant husband, Robert Stack is excellent. Stack was generally relegated to bland characters in big screen dramas, probably because of his long-running role as the humorless Eliot Ness in "The Untouchables". Thus, it's good to see him playing a multi-faceted, interesting personality. The scene in which he loses his seemingly limitless tolerance for Karin's indecisiveness results in him having an emotional eruption. The scene provides a showcase for the finest acting I've seen from Stack, who would get a different kind of exposure for his comedic talents in "Airplane!" (1980).  It should be mentioned that Stack and Andersson share a rather steamy love scene that is erotic, yet tasteful. It was fairly daring for two major stars at the time. Annie Giradot also makes an impact in her limited role as Bruno's long-suffering wife. Alas, James Farantino doesn't fare as well. He gives a perfectly fine performance but its undercut by director Bercovici's decision to have him play this Italian character without the slightest attempt to provide even a quasi-Italian accent. Thus, Farantino's Bruno sounds like he just dropped in from Kansas. As screenwriter, Bercovici could have solved the problem with a minor script rewrite in which Bruno would have explained he grew up in America and moved to Rome later in life. Instead, Farantino is able to look the part of an hunky native of Rome but every time he opens his mouth, it detracts from his performance.

The film features some lush locations, nicely photographed by Piero Portolupi and there's a fine romantic score provided by young up-and-comer John Williams. The Blu-ray presents an excellent transfer that helps reaffirm the film's somewhat exotic appeal. The only bonus feature is a trailer. "Story of a Woman" is undoubtedly sudsy in terms of the melodrama but its consistently engrossing throughout.

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Duke Wayne sure didn't need any pointers when it came to throwing a punch, but even he wouldn't stand up to director John Ford. The behind the scenes photo is from one of Ford's most underrated films, his Civil War adventure "The Horse Soldiers" (1959). Co-star Constance Towers wisely keeps out of the way. 

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

Arriving March 8, 2022, Brand-New Disc Includes Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Footage and Director Commentary

The highly anticipated follow-up to the beloved classic Coming To America makes its Blu-ray and DVD debut when COMING 2 AMERICA arrives March 8, 2022 from Paramount Home Entertainment.

Akeem and Semmi are back for a brand-new, hilarious adventure!  In COMING 2 AMERICA, newly crowned King Akeem (Eddie Murphy) and his trusted confidante Semmi (Arsenio Hall) traverse the globe from their great African nation of Zamunda to the borough of Queens, New York when Akeem learns he has a long-lost son in the United States.  In addition to Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall, the outrageously entertaining film features an incredible cast including James Earl Jones, John Amos, Louie Anderson, Shari Headley, Wesley Snipes, Tracy Morgan, and Leslie Jones.

The COMING 2 AMERICA Blu-ray includes commentary by director Craig Brewer (Dolemite Is My Name, “Empire”) and an exclusive featurette entitled “From Queens to Zamunda,” which includes never-before-seen footage and interviews.

The COMING 2 AMERICA DVD includes the feature film in standard definition.

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Writing on the Literary Hub web site, Adam Scovell presents a fascinating look at how Henry James's classic 1898 novella "The Turn of the Screw" came to inspire numerous film and television adaptations that continue to the present day. Understandably, Scovell devotes a good deal of background information on director Jack Clayton's brilliant and unsettling 1961 feature film version, which is titled "The Innocents" and starred Deborah Kerr in an Oscar-worthy performance. (Don't be put off by the over-the-top aspects of the trailer, which emulated a William Castle "B" schlock horror flick.)  Click here to read.

Click here to order Criterion Blu-ray edition of "The Innocents" from Amazon.

Cinema Retro's 18th season begins with issue #52, which is now shipping  worldwide.

Highlights of this issue include:

• "The Sand Pebbles"- James Sherlock explores the trials and tribulations behind the filming of Robert Wise's epic film which gained Steve McQueen his only Oscar nomination.
• "Dr. Syn: Alias the Scarecrow"- Dave Worrall's in-depth history of the character in film and literature, concentrating on the evolution of the Walt Disney three-part TV episodes starring Patrick McGoohan which would later emerge as a feature film.
  
• "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure"- Nick Anez argues it's the best Tarzan film ever and his analysis might convince you to agree with him. Gordon Scott starred as the King of the Jungle and te gang of villains included young Sean Connery.
• "The Pink Panther"- John LeMay presents the fascinating history behind the first film to showcase Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau.
  
• "The Golden Lady"-  Tim Greaves shines the spotlight on the little-seen and little-remembered spy flick that featured a female James Bond-type character- with Desmond Llewelyn in the supporting cast!
  
• "The Bad News Bears"- Robert Leese celebrates the hit comedy with the unlikely teaming of Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal
• "The Crimson Kimono"- Lee Pfeiffer covers director Sam Fuller's controversial and underrated crime thriller that was packed with racial conflicts.
  
• Plus regular columns by Raymond Benson, Gareth Owen, Darren Allison and Brian Hannan.

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“BEHIND EVERY MAN…”

By Raymond Benson

One of the more popular Hollywood movies of 1954 was The Country Girl, written and directed by George Seaton, adapted from a stage play by Clifford Odets. The Academy liked it well enough to nominate it for Best Picture, Director, Actor (Bing Crosby), Black and White Art Direction, and Black and White Cinematography (John F. Warren). The movie won Oscars for Actress (Grace Kelly) and for the Adapted Screenplay by Seaton.

The Academy sure loves it when a beautiful actress dispenses with any hint of glamour and presents herself in a dowdy, plain, or even “ugly” appearance. And while Grace Kelly could never not be beautiful, her role as Georgie Elgin is not known to emphasize her timeless attractiveness and sensuality. Furthermore, she delivers an outstanding performance that was good enough to surpass the likes of Judy Garland (A Star is Born), Dorothy Dandridge (Carmen Jones), Audrey Hepburn (Sabrina), and Jane Wyman (Magnificent Obsession). Whether or not Kelly deserved the awardr over these four equally superb performances is one of those forever debatable Oscar quandaries.

Besides Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly, The Country Girl features a fine performance by William Holden, who is really the protagonist of the film (oddly placed at third billing). The movie is basically a triangle between the trio, with Kelly’s Georgie as the object of both conflict and adoration between the two men.

Bernie Dodd (Holden) is a successful Broadway theater director, whose new musical, The Land Around Us, has lost its leading man after one week of rehearsals. Scrambling to replace him, Dodd wants Frank Elgin (Crosby), but producer Philip Cook (Anthony Ross) objects. Elgin is allegedly a washed up alcoholic who could no longer carry an entire production. Nevertheless, Dodd gets his way and Elgin is hired. It soon becomes apparent that Elgin is completely dependent on his younger wife, Georgie (Kelly), to give him moral support, prop him up, keep him in line, and dictate what he should do or not do. Dodd interprets the couple’s relationship as detrimental to Elgin, seeing Georgie as the reason for the actor’s decline. Elgin presents a different position—that Georgie depends on him and that he could never leave her. Thus, Georgie accompanies her husband to rehearsals, interferes in production decisions, and annoys both the director and producer in the process. Things come to a head when Elgin succumbs to the pressure and starts to drink again. What happens next would spoil the story, but suffice it to say there is much melodrama, a switcheroo of affections, and backstage intrigue.

Oh—and it wouldn’t be a Bing Crosby vehicle without some songs, so musical numbers were added to the script by Ira Gershwin (lyrics) and Harold Arlen (music) to accompany Victor Young’s somewhat overwrought score.

The Country Girl is pure melodrama, for sure, and all three actors give it their all. Crosby is quite effective as the pathetic and insecure Elgin, Holden is dynamic and forceful as Dodd, and, yes, Kelly is full of surprises as the dowdy woman who in reality is stronger than either man. If anything, the picture is worth seeing for the three actors that carry it.

While any motion picture should be evaluated within the context of when it was made and released, The Country Girl does suffer from being dated in its sensibilities about marriage and the relationships between men and women. Audiences today might cringe at the blatant misogyny, especially exuding from Holden’s character. (In referring to wives, he says they “all start out as Juliets and wind up as Lady Macbeths.”) In short, the movie emphasizes the old adage that “behind every man stands a (fill in the blank) woman.”

Additionally, there is a kiss—and subsequent confession of affection—that occurs at a crucial point in the story that is so unexpected, out of the blue, and unbelievable, that one wonders if some sort of foreshadowing or clue to this development was missed. And therein lies the biggest flaw of the film.

Imprint’s new 1080p high definition presentation in Blu-ray looks quite good, and Warren’s cinematography wonderfully captures the light and dark of a Broadway theater (Georgie: “There’s nothing quite so mysterious and silent as a dark theater, a night without a star.”) The feature comes with a new audio commentary by professor and film scholar Jason A. Ney. A 1987 hour-long documentary, Grace Kelly: An American Princess, is a welcome supplement, along with a photo gallery and the theatrical trailer.

The Country Girl is for fans of Grace Kelly, for sure, as well as Bing Crosby and William Holden, for fans of Broadway theater storylines, and of 1950s Hollywood melodramas.

(Note: this Blu-ray is region-free.)

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By John M. Whalen

It’s a story line that’s been used in dozens of Western films. Two long-time friends who grew up together, later split up and take different paths—one follows the straight and narrow and becomes a lawman and the other turns into an outlaw. Fate decrees that one day they will have to meet in a showdown. It usually ends with the outlaw lying face down in the dirt and the sheriff sad and bitter about it all, wondering if it was all really worth it.

In 1973 two films with that plot were released within a month of each other. In May, Universal released “Showdown” starring Rock Hudson and Dean Martin, the last film directed by veteran helmsman George Seaton (“Miracle on 34^th St.,” “Airport”) and the last western that Martin (“Sons of Katie Elder,” “Rio Bravo”) would star in. A month later, in June, MGM released “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” directed by Sam Peckinpah, starring Kris Kristofferson and James Coburn. It would be Peckinpah’s last turn at a western. While the two films have similar stories, they couldn’t be more different in tone, style, and execution. “Garrett” is a revisionist masterpiece that, along with Peckinpah’s “The Wild Bunch,” changed the western forever. “Showdown,” on the other hand, is a remnant of, and a kind of elegy for, a bygone era of Hollywood moviemaking. Kino Lorber has released a Blu-Ray edition of the film.

“Showdown” tells the story of Chuck Jarvis (Rock Hudson) and Billy Massey (Dean Martin), two guys who grew up together in Cumbres, New Mexico. Chuck is the straight and narrow one, and Billy is something of a gambler and a pretty fair hand with a gun. He likes to play the ocarina too. They get along fine until Kate (Susan Clark), who runs an eatery in town, enters the scene. Screenwriter Theodore Taylor throws a touch of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid into the mix by showing them in a series of flashbacks as three good friends, hanging out, enjoying each other’s company, just like Butch, Sundance and Etta. But when Chuck and Kate decide to get married, Billy packs up his ocarina and splits the scene, eventually winding up on the old Outlaw Trail. Chuck and Kate settle down on the ranch that they bought with money Billy won in a sharpshooter contest, and Chuck eventually becomes the sheriff in Cumbres.

Years later, unaware that Chuck is now the Sheriff in Cumbres, Billy rides back into the territory as part of a gang that robs a train. There’s trouble when the gang divides up the loot and they try to cheat Billy out of his fair share. Billy is forced to kill the brother of gang leader Art Williams (Donald Moffett) and rides off with all the loot. Williams vows to track him down. Back in Cumbres, when Chuck is told that Billy has robbed a train he reluctantly sets out with two Indian guides to track him down. While he’s gone, Billy shows up at the ranch. Kate still has a warm spot for old lovable Billy, and she hides him from the Williams gang until Chuck gets back. In an odd bit of dialogue for a western, at one point Billy tells Kate he thinks she thinks that he doesn’t like her. Kate winces a bit.

“It isn’t that,” she says. “I just stepped in between Damon and Pythias.”

“Who are they?” Billy asks.

Kate replies: “A vaudeville act. They play the better saloons.”

The reference to the Greek legend about two friends who face the ultimate test of friendship seems to go over Billy’s head, but given Dean Martin’s own personal experience of a long term friendship with a certain famous comedian, and the rumors that the reason they split up was because their wives didn’t get along, the theme strikes a strange chord. When Chuck tracks Billy back to his own ranch, the friends are briefly reunited. They concoct a half-baked plan that they think will keep Billy from going to prison and the next morning Chuck takes him to town and locks him up temporarily. Things might have worked out except for an ambitious prosecutor (John McLiam) who is determined to see Billy hang.

“Showdown” wasn’t very well received when it was released. Most critics wrote it off as a tired, cliché-ridden western with two stars who had seen better days. It’s true that both Martin and Hudson are a little long in the tooth for their parts, and they don’t seem to put much energy into their performances. But Martin, at least, had excuses. He was going through a painful divorce during the filming and one of the beloved Andalusian horses that he raised had recently died. So who could blame him if he wasn’t up to par in this film? Hudson was busy with his “MacMillan and Wife” TV series. (He actually filmed an episode of the series on the “Showdown” location with director George Seaton playing himself.) The weariness of the two leads actually gives “Showdown” weight and  significance. It’s like witnessing a Tinseltown version of the twilight of the gods, the end of the old way of making movies and telling stories. This was the end of an era when we had movie stars and big lavish productions in widescreen and stereophonic sound playing on huge neighborhood movie screens all over the country—big movies filmed in real places, not a special effects factory.

Lazlo Kovacs’s cinematography is magnificent. Using Todd-AO 35 cameras, he fills the screen with wide vistas, bright, colorful sweeps of the northern New Mexico scenery, with the Sierra Madre Mountains looming in the distance. Every frame, except some interior shots, is in deep focus with distant mountains and foreground figures in clear, sharp detail. The 2.35:1 aspect ratio makes you feel like you can breathe deeper just looking at it. This is why Blu-Rays matter. This film plays quite often on the Encore Westerns Channel. But it is cropped to 1.85:1. In that format, it makes no impression at all.

The climax of the film is set in a forest fire, with Chuck and Billy and the outlaw gang in pursuit of each other, finally ending in a totally burnt-out, black and charred landscape. What more fitting setting for the death of a genre? It can be argued that the traditional western declined and fell during this period of filmmaking. “Showdown” was one of the final casualties of the genre, however  there would still be a few classics released including "The Outlaw Josey Wales and "The Shootist". 

Kino Lorber’s transfer of “Showdown” to Blu-Ray is excellent. This is a disc you want to own if you just want to show off what your big-screen 4k High Definition TV can do. Colors are rich. None of that monochrome palette that Ridley Scott is so fond of. The sound on the disc is mono, which is too bad. David Shire’s score, featuring a repeated theme played on an ocarina, is wistful, alternately peppy and lonesome. Extra features include an informative audio commentary by film historians Howard S. Berger and Steve Mitchell, and a trailer for “Showdown” and half a dozen other features available on KL discs.

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John M. Whalen is the author of "Hunting Monsters is My Business: The Mordecai Slate Stories" . Click here to order the book from Amazon)

“HITCH, THE UNRELIABLE NARRATOR”

By Raymond Benson

The decade of the 1950s is generally considered to be director Alfred Hitchcock’s most glorious period, stocked with some of his acknowledged masterpieces of cinema (Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, etc.). Those ten years didn’t begin so promisingly, though.

In the late 1940s, Hitchcock had finally broken away from the smothering contract he had under producer David O. Selznick, and he had set out with a partner to form his own production company, Transatlantic. The company made two box office losers—Rope (1948, a failure despite being quite a good movie), and Under Capricorn (1949, no question one of the filmmaker’s weakest pictures). Transatlantic bombed, but Hitchcock continued to work with Warner Brothers, the studio that had distributed these two titles.

Stage Fright was made at Elstree Studios in England and employed an all British crew and cast except for the two female leads, Jane Wyman (under contract at Warners) and veteran star Marlene Dietrich. The male leads were filled by reliable Michael Wilding (who had been in Under Capricorn) and Richard Todd. Stealing the movie in a supporting role, however, is Alastair Sim, the great comic actor who was very popular at the time. Oddly, Sim’s first name is misspelled as “Alistair” in the opening and closing credits of the film!

Eve (Wyman) is a budding young actress, a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, whose friend, Jonathan (Todd) has found himself in a pickle. Eve is sweet on Jonathan, although the relationship is mostly platonic, for Jonathan is in a relationship with the flamboyant star of the stage, Charlotte Inwood (Dietrich). The problem there is that Charlotte is married… until her husband is lying dead on the floor of their house, allegedly killed by Charlotte herself. Jonathan has helped her cover up the crime, but he believes he was seen by Charlotte’s housekeeper, Nellie (Kay Walsh). Jonathan, now the prime suspect, gets Eve to hide him from the police, so Eve enlists her father, the “Commander” (Sim) to help. Despite the Commander’s doubts as to what really happened, he dutifully works with his daughter and Jonathan to avoid suspicion from Detective Smith (Wilding). As the plot unfolds, Eve decides to do some investigating herself and manages to bribe Nellie to go away for a while, and Eve takes her place as Charlotte’s new Cockney housekeeper, “Doris.” Things get complicated when Eve begins to fall for Detective Smith (and he for her). Eventually, of course, the truth is discovered and the real killer is pursued through a theatre building in grand Hitchcock style.

When Stage Fright was first released, it received some criticism because the film begins with a flashback narrated by Jonathan, explaining what happened at Charlotte’s house with footage that “re-enacts” the crime. It’s not a spoiler to say that this flashback turns out to be untrue. Hitchcock deliberately lets us believe events occurred, when they really didn’t. Audiences and critics at the time felt this was something of a cheat. However, this is a perfect example of a trend that has cropped up in film and mystery novels quite often in the last twenty years—the “unreliable narrator.” Is Stage Fright the first instance in which the unreliable narrator device was used in cinema? Perhaps not, but in 1950, it was perceived as new and unsettling. Now, this device is fairly commonplace. It just goes to show how Hitchcock really was ahead of his time!

That said, Stage Fright is only middle-tier Hitchcock. It never reaches the highs of the later masterpieces of the 50s mentioned earlier. The plot is rather unbelievable, especially when Eve pretends to be the Cockney maid and becomes a sleuth on her own. Wyman is fine in the role, but one questions her common sense in sticking with Jonathan and his legal problems. The great Marlene Dietrich performs exactly how one would expect… as the great Marlene Dietrich. She exudes a deliciously sinister subtext to her actions, but we can see right through it from the beginning. Richard Todd is never believable as an innocent man, and this is a stickler. However, Alastair Sim is such a delight as Eve’s crafty father that the movie is worth a watch just for him. Even weak Hitchcock can be good fun.

Warner Archive’s new Blu-ray release is a port-over from their previous DVD edition from several years ago. The feature film looks marvelous in glorious black and white high definition, and the London and English countryside locations are a treat. The supplement “making of” documentary is also ported over from the DVD release, along with the theatrical trailer.

Stage Fright is for fans of Alfred Hitchcock, Jane Wyman or Marlene Dietrich, and especially Alastair Sim.

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Monica Vitti, one of Italy's most honored film stars, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 90. Known for her collaborations and love affair with director Michelangelo Antonioni, Vitti became one of the "it" actresses of the 1960s and her image graced the covers of countless magazines. In the 1960s, Vitti was perfectly poised to be part of the mod generation and was widely photographed in the latest fashions. She was also enlisted in the spy movie craze of the period, starring in the title role in "Modesty Blaise" and in Mario Bava's "Danger: Diabolik".  The above video, created in 2021, provides interesting insights about her life and career. For more, click here.

“UNCHANGING EVOLUTION”

By Raymond Benson

The early 1970s was a time of experimentation and risk-taking in Hollywood. Studios were more willing to allow filmmakers to take a project and run with it, just to see if something thrown at the wall would stick. After all, this was the period of “New Hollywood,” maverick young directors just out of film school, and pushing the envelope when it came to what was permissible on screen since the Production Code was gone and the relatively new movie ratings were in place.

Playboy Enterprises got into the movie making business in the early 70s (see Cinema Retro Vol. 2, issue #5 from 2006 for the magazine’s exclusive interview with Hugh M. Hefner about Playboy’s film productions). After the critical success of Roman Polanski’s Macbeth (1971), Playboy produced The Naked Ape (1973), loosely adapted from Desmond Morris’ 1967 best-selling non-fiction book.

Morris’ book was an entertaining anthropological study of man’s evolution from primates and how social norms and mating rituals, especially between males and females for procreation, have more or less never changed since prehistoric times. Morris had relatively nothing to do with the film adaptation, for the filmmakers decided to make a “hip” comedy out of the concepts in the book, illustrating how “unchanging evolution” still dictated man’s behavior.

The idea probably looked good on paper. Perhaps the box office success of Woody Allen’s loose, comedic adaptation of Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (1972), which was also parodied a best-selling non-fiction book, was an inspiration. However, The Naked Ape, directed by avant-garde filmmaker Donald Driver, does not possess the wit and brilliance of a Woody Allen or a Mel Brooks, who also might have done wonderful things with the material. Instead, The Naked Ape is a head-scratching curiosity that might have played somewhat well as a “midnight movie” for college-age audiences in altered states of consciousness.

Johnny Crawford (who had played Mark McCain in the TV series The Rifleman, now grown up and looking hunky and handsome) is Lee, a college student infatuated with Cathy (Victoria Principal, in an early film appearance), a tour guide in a natural history museum. Through a series of fantasy vignettes, both live action and animated, the film takes us through the couple’s courtship, marriage, and subsequent relationship, as well as Lee’s stint in the army and the pair’s experience in school (they are in an “erotic literature” class together). The animations, usually narrated by Cathy, interrupt the flow of the loose storyline to comment, in a humorous fashion, on the proceedings from an anthropological viewpoint.

Both Crawford and Principal are attractive on screen (yes, there is nudity; after all, this is a Playboy Production), but the script is, frankly, subpar. While the actors do their best, the movie is just not as clever as it thinks it is. The animations, made by Murakami-Wolf Studios, are somewhat interesting (Frank Zappa’s album cover artist, Calvin Schenkel, is one of the animators). Vocal rock songs by Jimmy Webb help liven up the action.

This reviewer became friends with Johnny Crawford (who passed away in 2021) over the years. Crawford was always a kind, soft-spoken gentleman who had numerous stories about his Hollywood years, such as having a studio mailbox right next to Joan Crawford’s and the two of them often accidentally receiving each other’s mail. Whenever The Naked Ape was brought up in conversation, Crawford would simply shake his head, roll his eyes, and smile.

(Photo courtesy of Raymond Benson.)

Kino Lorber has distributed Code Red’s presentation of The Naked Ape in 1080p high definition, and that distinctive 1970s film stock looks good enough. There are English subtitles for the hearing impaired and a theatrical trailer, but otherwise no other supplements.

The Naked Ape is for fans of Johnny Crawford and/or Victoria Principal, early 70s experimental films aimed at the college crowd, and, ahem, amateur anthropologists.

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Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Léa Seydoux, Rami Malek, Jeffrey Wright, Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson and Cary Fukunaga discuss working with the amazing ensemble cast of NO TIME TO DIE, and the emotional conclusion of the film’s final scenes – WATCH NOW

Here is a rare 1969 documentary created by legendary producer Darryl F. Zanuck to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Zanuck, of course, was the driving force behind Fox's 1962 epic blockbuster "The Longest Day", which had been a dream project for Zanuck. In this documentary, which is derived from a French print, Zanuck returns to the beaches with a film crew to discuss the monumental battle in which Allied forces from the U.S., Great Britain and Canada, along with Free French troops, defied formidable weather and heavy German resistance to breach Hitler's "Fortress Europe" and ultimately free the continent. The result, of course, was the beginning of the end of the Nazi regime and the eventual emergence of Germany as a free nation and thriving democracy. The documentary contains many clips from "The Longest Day".  (Thanks to Cinema Retro reader Ted Marsowicz for alerting us to this video.)

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.

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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?

Spurred by Lulu's bestselling single of the title song, the film's soundtrack became a hit, as well. It featured an extended cut of the song heard over the museum montage sequence.

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.