RETRO-ACTIVE: FROM THE CINEMA RETRO ARCHIVES

By Lee Pfeiffer

Although I have a weak spot for Italian westerns of the 1960s and 1970s, most can be appropriately evaluated by paraphrasing Longfellow: "When they were good, they were very, very good, and when they were bad, they were horrid." "Blindman" is a curiosity from 1971 that I previously panned after viewing an allegedly "remastered" DVD edition that looked barely better than a VHS transfer.  The film fits rather comfortably into the latter part of Longfellow's famous nursery rhyme. Although the movie has a devoted fan base, when I first reviewed it I call it "a pretty horrid experience and inexcusably amateurish in execution, given the well-seasoned people involved". The good news is that Abkco Films has released a truly remastered DVD version that considerably improves one's perception of the film. As the title implies, it's about...well, a blind man. He's played by Tony Anthony, who did rather well for himself as a sort of Clint Eastwood Lite character known as The Stranger in a series of Euro Westerns (Any similarity to Eastwood's Man With No Name must have been purely coincidental). Anthony went on to star in any number of lucrative, low-budget action films, the most notable being "Comin' At Ya!, a 3-D flick that has also built a loyal cult following.  His co-star in "Blindman" is Ringo Starr. More about him later. The film was based on a Japanese movie titled "Zatoichi" about a blind samurai hero. As with "The Magnificent Seven", which was based on Kurasawa's "Seven Samurai", the story has been transplanted to the American west. When we first see the Blindman (whose name is never mentioned), he rides into a one-horse town and confronts his former partners. Seems they had a lucrative contract to deliver 50 mail order brides to some horny miners. However, a better offer was made from a Mexican bandito named Domingo (Lloyd Battista), who has exported them South 'O the Border to force them into prostitution. Blindman apparently has a sense of honor in terms of fulfilling the original contract. He manages to kill his former partners and sets off to Mexico to rescue the women, presumably so they can sold into another form of prostitution. At first the premise of this film intrigued me. How, after all, can you logically present a story about a blind gunslinger? The answer is you apparently can't. You could get away with it if the film was a satire, but there is surprisingly little overt humor in "Blindman". Yes, in true Eastwood fashion, the hero sometimes makes some snarky quips before, during and after dispatching his adversaries, but for the most part, the film takes itself far too seriously. 

How does the Blindman find his way around? Well, he has his own "wonder horse" who seems more like a companion than a beast of burden. The hoofed hero is always at his disposal and seems to be able to do everything but read a map for him. Speaking of maps, Blindman gets to various destinations by running his finger over maps that engraved in leather...sort of a braille system. Given the fact that he has to navigate the state of Texas, then Mexico, one would think he would require maps the size of rolls of kitchen linoleum, but somehow he gets by with navigational tools that fit neatly into his pocket.  When Blindman arrives in Mexico, he has numerous confrontations with the brutal Domingo and his army of thugs. He suffers the ritualistic beatings of any hero in the Italian western genre, but always manages to get the better hand by his deadly use of the rifle that he uses as a walking stick. Somehow the Blindman can use instinct and an uncanny hearing ability to gun down his would-be assassins with uncanny precision, though occasionally he does impose on some allies for advice. He also confronts Candy (Ringo Starr), Domingo's equally sadistic brother, who is keeping a captive woman as his mistress. What follows is a seemingly endless series of  chases, confrontations and the obligatory imitation Morricone score, all of it under the pedestrian direction of Ferdinando Baldi, who has a revered reputation with some fans of the genre and does manage to set off some impressive explosions. (Amusingly, the concept of showing the "50" mail order brides must have taxed the limited budget so we only get to see them in small clusters.). There are a couple of sequences that stand out in terms of creativity. One involves the surprise slaughter of a barroom filled with Mexican soldiers. The other has a bit of suspense as the Blindman is served a food bowl that he doesn't realize contains a deadly snake. The finale of the film finds Blindman wrestling with Domingo, who has been blinded by a cigar! (Don't ask...) It's supposed to be a tense confrontation, but the sight of the two blind guys rolling around in the dirt looks like an outtake from a Monty Python sketch.  The most intriguing aspect of the film is what led Ringo Starr into appearing in it. He had considerable on-screen charisma that he parlayed into a successful acting career. Here, however, his role is colorless and bland. He doesn't even play the main villain, but rather a supporting character who disappears from the story before the movie even reaches the one-hour mark. Starr supposedly was looking to jump-start his film career and worked with Tony Anthony to develop this production. While he acquits himself credibly, he might have at least given his character some memorable lines or characteristics. 

The previously reviewed version of the film pointed out that the packaging had indicated the film had a running time of 105 minutes, which matches with the original timing cited on on the IMDB site. However, the screener we reviewed ran only 83 minutes and it looked like it had been edited with a meat cleaver. The ABCKO version is the actual 105 minute cut and the transfer is excellent, a vast improvement over the muddy mess we had previously reviewed. Seeing "Blindman" again under these conditions has allowed me to reevaluate my opinion of the film. While it certainly never rises to the standards of a Sergio Leone production, the movie's quirky premise and the amusing performance by Tony Anthony made the experience far more enjoyable the second time around. 

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Thanks to the Criterion Collection for making us aware of this shoebox arthouse cinema in Juneau, Alaska, which provides creative and diverse programming to grateful local residents. All movie lovers will wish they had a similar venue in their hometown!

We congratulate David McCallum on his milestone 90th birthday....and not showing any signs of slowing down! David has always been there for Cinema Retro, making numerous contributions over the last 20 years. Aside from his acting talents, David is also the epitome of a true gentleman.  

By Lee Pfeiffer

In the wake of their success co-starring in John Huston's The Maltese Falcon, Warner Brothers realized they had captured lightning in a bottle with the teaming of Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. The studio quickly paired the two character actors again in the Bogart films Casablanca and Passage to Marseilles. In 1944, Warners decided to give Greenstreet and Lorre what amounted to starring roles in the thriller The Mask of Dimitrios, based on the Eric Ambler novel and set in pre-WWII Europe. (Lorre received fourth billing in the film behind Greenstreet, Zachary Scott and Faye Emerson, but in terms of screen time, he is the star of the movie.) Lorre plays Cornelius Leyden, a mild mannered crime novelist who is visiting Istanbul, where he becomes intrigued by the murder of a man named Dimitrios, who was a local legend in terms of his criminal activities. Dimitrios's body has washed ashore, as shows evidence that he has been stabbed to death. Sensing a good story in the murder, Leyden pursues the man's background and finds out he was known throughout Europe for his audacious crimes. Leyden decides to track down those who interacted with Dimitrios, including jilted partner and abandoned girlfriends. All agree that he was a charismatic cad who worked his way up from petty crimes in Istanbul to being an integral part of Europe's pre-war espionage activities. Leyden is followed in his footsteps by Peters (Sydney Greenstreet), an affable man of mystery who is also obsessed with tracking down Dimitrios's acquaintances and activities leading up to the man's death. After a rocky introduction at the point of Peters' gun, the two men forge an alliance and travel through Turkey, Yuguoslavia and finally Paris in their quest. Along the way, they determine that Dimitrios is very much alive and well, having used another man's murder as an opportunity to fake his own death. Peters is determined to use that information to blackmail Dimitrios and thus ensure acquiring enough money to afford a comfortable retirement. 

Much of the story is told in flashbacks as various individuals relate their experiences with Dimitrios to Leyden and Peters. As played by Zachary Scott, Dimitrios lives up to his legend as handsome womanizer and persuasive businessman, though each of his friends and partners ends up being abruptly jilted in some manner, as Dimitrios moves on to his next scam. (Jack Warner had high hopes for Scott becoming the studio's next great leading man, but his interest in promoting Scott seemed to wane and the actor never really acquired the stardom that his role in this film would seem to have assured.) Leyden and Peters also meet Irana, an entertainer in a squalid Istanbul cafe, who relates how Dimitrios became her lover and ensured that her fortunes improved. However, when she loaned him her savings, he abandoned her, never to be heard from again. Although nursing a broken heart and bearing resentment for the man on one level, she admits she still carries a torch and his abandonment of her left her in a depressed state of mind that still continues. (Apparently, once you've experienced Dimitrios, no other man comes to close as a lover.) As Leyden and Peters close in on their prey, the stakes become higher - and they realize their lives are very much at risk.

The Mask of Dimitrios, ably directed by Jean Negulesco, is a joy to watch. It doesn't have the artistic pretensions of The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca, but it is a thoroughly entertaining movie. Lorre and Greenstreet's "Mutt and Jeff" act continues to present them as essentially the same character in film after film, but that doesn't in any way compromise the delight of watching these two eccentric actors at the peak of their careers. The supporting performances are also equally delightful and the film bares all the rich artistic hallmarks of a WB release from the era. 

The Warner Archive has released the film on DVD. The transfer is excellent. An original trailer is included that features specially-filmed footage of Greenstreet and Lorre addressing the audience. The DVD is region free but it's time for a Blu-ray release! 

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Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Paramount:

Hailed as “the biggest and best action movie of the year” (Screen Rant), the edge-of-your-seat, non-stop thrill ride MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE—DEAD RECKONING Part One becomes available to buy on Digital for fans to watch at home starting October 10, 2023.  The blockbuster hit will debut on 4K Ultra HD SteelBook^™, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray™, and DVD on October 31^st.

“Tom Cruise is at the top of his game” in “the best ‘Mission’ ever” (KTLA-TV) that’s loaded with “next level action and thrills” (Entertainment Weekly).  Certified Fresh with a stellar 96% critic score^* on Rotten Tomatoes,® MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE—DEAD RECKONING Part One received widespread acclaim and a coveted “A” CinemaScore from fans.

Fans who purchase the film on Digital can go deeper into the mission with extensive, action-packed bonus content.  Get an inside look at how Tom Cruise and the filmmaking team pulled off multiple breathtaking stunts, go behind-the-scenes of the exotic filming locations, delve into spectacular footage not seen in theatres, learn about the intricacies of the filmmaking process with director Christopher McQuarrie and editor Eddie Hamilton, and more!  Bonus content is detailed below:

• Commentary by director Christopher McQuarrie and editor Eddie Hamilton—McQuarrie and Hamilton take viewers through each compelling scene with in-depth commentary.

• Abu Dhabi—Explore the exotic filming locations in the desert and at the international airport and discover how each thrilling sequence was shot.

• Rome—Take a behind-the-scenes look at the thrilling car chase through Italy's historic capital, as Tom Cruise's driving skills are pushed to the limit while handcuffed to Hayley Atwell!

• Venice—See the breathtaking city of Venice as it's never been shown on film.  Plus, witness the cast's dedication and commitment to their training as they prepare to get "Mission Ready."

• Freefall—An extended behind-the-scenes look at one of the biggest stunts in cinema history.  Watch never-before-seen footage of the rigorous training as Tom launches a motorcycle off a cliff.

• Speed Flying—Join Tom and the crew as they explain the various training techniques involved in pulling off the dangerous speed flying stunts in the film.

• Train—See how the climactic train sequence was captured on film.  From building an actual train from scratch to crashing it using practical effects, you don't want to miss this!

• Deleted Shots Montage—Director Christopher McQuarrie and editor Eddie Hamilton share some of the breathtaking, never-before-seen footage that didn't make the final film.

• Editorial Featurette: The Sevastopol—Director Christopher McQuarrie and editor Eddie Hamilton take viewers through the intense opening scene.

Synopsis

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With the fate of the world at stake, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than his mission - not even the lives of those he cares about most.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE—DEAD RECKONING Part One is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some language and suggestive material.

PARAMOUNT PICTURES and SKYDANCE Present

A TOM CRUISE Production TOM CRUISE “MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING PART ONE”

HAYLEY ATWELL VING RHAMES SIMON PEGG REBECCA FERGUSON VANESSA KIRBY

and HENRY CZERNY Casting by MINDY MARIN, CSA

Music by LORNE BALFE Costume Designer JILL TAYLOR Film Editor EDDIE HAMILTON, ACE

Production Designer GARY FREEMAN Director of Photography FRASER TAGGART

Executive Producers DAVID ELLISON DANA GOLDBERG DON GRANGER

TOMMY GORMLEY CHRIS BROCK SUSAN E. NOVICK

Produced by TOM CRUISE CHRISTOPHER McQUARRIE

Based on the Television Series Created by BRUCE GELLER

Written by CHRISTOPHER McQUARRIE & ERIK JENDRESEN

Directed by CHRISTOPHER McQUARRIE

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Time magazine writer Stephanie Zacharek visited Martin Scorsese and reports on the 80 year-old Oscar-winning director's mood, plans and inspirations in a revealing article. Scorsese talks about his forthcoming production "Killers of the Flower Moon", which opens in October, as well as the need to preserve film classics. He's also not optimistic about the future of the movie industry. Click here to read.

“NICE DAY FOR A PICNIC”

By Raymond Benson

Filmmaker Nicolas Roeg always managed to challenge cinematic norms. Even his most accessible and popular film, Don’t Look Now (1973), still had what some might call “arty” shots and experimental editing. Roeg was a director who loved the images the camera caught, but he also enjoyed manipulating the narrative of his pictures with the kind of radical editing likely inspired by the French New Wave, but probably more by the so-called New American Cinema movement that included revolutionary filmmakers such as Andy Warhol, Stan Brakhage, and others.

Roeg began his work in film as a cinematographer—and a very good one, too (second unit on Lawrence of Arabia, The Masque of the Red Death, Far from the Madding Crowd, and more). After a co-directing (with Donald Cammell) debut of Performance (1970), Roeg struck out on his own and made a name for himself as a director of provocative art house fare.

First out of the gate was Walkabout (1971). It was Australia’s official entry to the Cannes Film Festival that year, despite it being primarily a British production (and Roeg himself being English). It was based on the 1959 novel by James Vance Marshall (a pseudonym of Donald G. Payne), which was first published as The Children but subsequently renamed Walkabout. Roeg had apparently wanted to adapt the book into a film for years, and he finally got the chance to do it with only a million dollar budget. Producers Max L. Raab and Si Litvinoff (both known primarily as executive producers of Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, because they had initially owned the film rights) provided the funding for what was essentially an independent production, eventually released by 20th Century Fox. Playwright Edward Bond wrote a treatment that acted as the screenplay, but most of the picture was improvised on the go.

Taking a minimal crew and a cast of unknowns into the Australian outback, Roeg gave us a haunting, enigmatic, gorgeous-to-look-at, existential treatise on innocence, the loss of it, and the importance of communication.

“Girl” (a young Jenny Agutter, who was sixteen when the film was made) and “White Boy” (Nicolas Roeg’s son Luc Roeg, credited as Lucien John, who was age seven during production) are siblings who live what appear to be “normal” lives with their parents in Sydney. One nice, sunny day, “Father” (John Meillon), takes the two children to the desert for a picnic. There, he attempts to shoot them, but Girl protects her younger brother and they hide. Father kills himself and sets the family car on fire. The two kids are now stranded in the outback. Lacking survival skills, they manage to make it through a few days (but time is never clear in the film). Then they meet a young “Black Boy” (Australian and Yolngu actor David Gulpilil, whose age was unknown at the time but since estimated to be about eighteen when cast) who is out in the wilderness alone. He befriends the two, regardless of a language barrier, and effectively saves the white kids’ lives by teaching them how to find water and hunt for game to eat. Interestingly, it is White Boy who is able to communicate with Black Boy through mime and playful gestures; Girl seems to be at sea when dealing with the human who is totally foreign to her. Days pass as the trio travels across the striking landscape, culminating in a moment in which the physical adolescence of Girl and Black Boy follow a natural course to sexual tension. Black Boy performs his native “courtship ritual” dance in tribal makeup and clothing for Girl. Not understanding what he’s doing and fearful of him, Girl rejects him. Revealing the rest of the tale would certainly be a spoiler.

A “walkabout” is a rite of passage in Australian Aboriginal society. Adolescent males must spend six months in the wilderness and survive—or not—to became an adult. Hence, while Black Boy is likely enacting his own walkabout, the film becomes a walkabout for Girl and White Boy. There’s a lot going on underneath the surface here, including an examination of race and class differences in a land where the British Empire encroached on an indigenous people, sexual mores and taboos, and how one’s social environment dictates how one behaves.

Walkabout is a fascinating film, and it was highly praised by critics upon release—but, sadly, it was a box office failure. It has since become a cult classic and a cinephile favorite. There was some criticism (still is) of the picture’s display of nudity of all three leads, seeing that, technically, Agutter and young Roeg were underage. Some bits were cut for the initial release, but footage was restored in the 1990s. The British Board of Film Classification, though, determined that the film was not “indecent.” Agutter herself has contemporarily defended the nude scenes and says that they are essential to the themes of the movie.

The Criterion Collection released the film on DVD and Blu-ray years ago, but now the company has issued a new 4K UHD edition containing two discs. A 4K UHD digital master in Dolby Vision HDR occupies the first disc, while a Blu-ray of the film plus special features are on the second. The visuals are, naturally, stunning. An audio commentary featuring both Nicolas Roeg and Jenny Agutter accompanies the film. Special features include vintage interviews with Luc Roeg and Agutter, an hour long documentary on the life and career of David Gulpilil, and the theatrical trailer. An essay by author Paul Ryan is in the booklet.

With John Barry’s lush score, Roeg’s own striking cinematography, the sweeping panoramas of the Australian outback, and the likable, honest performances by the cast, Walkabout is a highly recommended must-see.

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By Lee Pfeiffer

When Lillian Helllman's "Toys in the Attic" debuted on Broadway in 1960, it was not unanimously acclaimed but it did win enough acclaim to secure major Tony nominations and enjoy a healthy run that lasted over one year. The show was an important career boost for up-and-coming Jason Robards, who played the male lead. In 1963, United Artists brought the play to the screen, directed by future Oscar winner George Roy Hill. It was Hill's second major film following "Period of Adjustment" the year before. In the 1950s and early 1960s, studios were enamored of moss-dripping family dramas set in the deep South. That's because this sub-genre often derived from the works of acclaimed authors such as Hellman, Tennessee Williams and William Inge. Some memorable films resulted: A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Baby Doll and The Long Hot Summer among them. Although these stories diverge in terms of plot, there is a commonality: they generally deal with an emotionally-wrought woman or women who are devoted to a manipulative and generally charismatic cad."Toys in the Attic" is firmly entrenched in this scenario. Dean Martin plays Julian Berniers, a ne're-do-well hunky young man who returns to his family home in New Orleans with his new bride, Lily (Yvette Mimieaux). The house is occupied by Julian's two spinster sisters, Carrie (Geraldine Page) and Anna (Wendy Hiller), both of whom live in self-imposed isolation, largely removed from the outside world. Julian's reputation as a man with big dreams and small results precedes him. He has lost a valuable factory and is presumed in bankruptcy. However, he appears in a jubilant mood bearing expensive gifts for his bewildered sisters. Carrie is especially overjoyed to see him, having harbored incestuous feelings for Julian for many years. She takes an instant dislike to the affable but naive Lily, largely due to personal jealousy. Julian is loaded with cash after concluding a mysterious $150,000 business deal that he won't reveal the details of. He assures his sisters that their days of financial challenges are over and even books them on a European cruise. However, there are consequential aspects to the secrets that Julian keeps and as they are eventually unwoven, a web of lies, deceit and betrayal are unveiled with devastating consequences for all.

"Toys in the Attic" probably works better as a stage production. Director George Roy Hill, confined by a modest budget, doesn't try to "open up" the tale, as there are very few exterior shots in the film. In some cases, this proves to be a wise choice when transferring a stage production to the screen, as evidenced by "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?". However, "Toys in the Attic" simply looks like a cheapo production despite the impressive cast. Dean Martin registers well in the role of Julian, a serial exaggerator and braggart who is finally trying to elevate himself from being known as a loser. Martin had already established himself as a serious actor in the wake of his breakup with Jerry Lewis, giving powerful performances in "The Young Lions" and "Some Came Running". Nevertheless, critics were rather cruel to him in regard to his casting in this film, but no one emerged unscathed except for Wendy Hiller, who is the only cast member whose performance is somewhat understated. Mimieux radiates wide-eyed innocence as Julian's child-like bride, but her whining and dependency grow weary to view. Coming off worst is Geraldine Page, who director Hill encourages to play her character in an over-the-top manner that comes close to Piper Laurie's lunatic mother in "Carrie". Gene Tierney makes a brief appearance as Lily's rich-but-shallow mother who Lily suspects of having paid Julien to marry her. There's also an interracial romance hinted at  between Tierney's character and her Black servant, played by Frank Silvera. Apparently, this relationship was watered down from the stage production version. James Poe's screenplay is a muddled affair filled with some many eccentric characters concerned about so many scandals that the story becomes difficult to follow. New York Times critic Bosley Crowther wrote "With an eye for more melodramatics than for contours of character that might make plausible its story of two spinster sisters' odd devotion to their brother, Mr. Hill has allowed this turgid drama and his avid actors to get completely out of hand and run wild in a baffling confusion of theatrical bursts and attitudes." Other critics followed suit and the movie was a financial failure that seemed to diffuse Hollywood's belief that films about Southern scandal-scarred families meant good results at the boxoffice. Fortunately, all involved would move on to more impressive work.

"Toys in the Attic" is available on DVD through MGM.There are no bonus extras. Click here to order DVD from Amazon.

From the New York Times archives: movies playing in Manhattan on October 5, 1962.

Australian-based video label Imprint is release the complete TV series of "Mission: Impossible" in a Blu-ray boxed set in October. The set is region-free and contains 46 discs. It is now available for pre-order.

(Prices are in Australian dollars. Use  a currency converter to see what the price is in your local currency.)

Bloomsbury Academic

June 2023

Paperback

Illustrations, 26 bw images

ISBN: 9781350194489

RRP: £28.99

Review by Adrian Smith

Shocking Cinema of the 70s was a collection of essays originally published in 2002, and the intention here was to republish those alongside some new chapters. However, the field has changed so much in the following twenty years that instead we get an entirely new collection of essays covering a wide range of fascinating and important topics related to this influential, shocking decade.

The book tackles films that have been considered controversial, or that dealt with difficult subject matters. Whereas the first volume primarily covered horror, which is still represented here, this new collection also includes chapters on Japanese ‘Pinky Violence’ films, rape-revenge TV films, women in prison, films about the Manson Family and the hardcore ‘roughie’, porn films with a focus on S&M, kidnapping and sexual abuse. There is also a broader international approach, with chapters on Polish auteur Walerian Borowczyk and an in-depth examination of ‘Canuxploitation’, the exploitation cinema of Canada which was in part funded by taxpayers, of whom David Cronenberg was perhaps its most high-profile filmmaker.

It is not only the films which caused a stir amongst more conservative audiences which are included here: Death Wish (Michael Winner, 1974) and Dirty Harry (Don Siegel, 1971) both came across to some liberals as celebrating a form of vigilantism and outraged the left-wing, and whilst we may appreciate those films now as classics of the decade, it is fascinating to consider their initial reception. The book also looks at the murderous child, such as Jodie Foster’s character in The Little Girl Who Lived Down the Lane (Nicholas Gesner, 1976), who kill adults because it’s fun; it’s play. Still as disturbing a concept today as it was in the 1970s.

Shocking Cinema of the 70s offers a range of opinion and insight on films which caused public outcry, upset the critics, or troubled governments. Whereas some of these films, looked at almost fifty years later, might make that seem like an overreaction, others might still make for uncomfortable viewing today. This collection enables us to understand what a ‘Shocking’ film is, and what there still is to learn from them. Highly recommended.

You can order Shocking Cinema of the 70s from Bloomsbury: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/shocking-cinema-of-the-70s-9781350194489/

By Lee Pfeiffer

If there is any doubt that Richard Burton was one of the world's great orators, just experience this marvelous clip from a testimonial event for Frank Sinatra. I became mesmerized by Burton and his inimitable speaking style when I was just seven years-old. My parents took me to see Burton and Peter O'Toole in "Becket", a talky, non-action film that greatly impressed me largely because of Burton's command of the screen.  A few months later, my parents took me to see John Huston's film version of "The Night of the Iguana".  Like "Becket", an adaptation of a quirky Tennessee Williams play was hardly deemed to be popular fare for a young kid, but fortunately my parents never followed the norms when it came to exposing me to a wide range of cinematic fare. Richard Burton's skills as an actor fascinated me at this early age and my enthusiasm for his work only increased over the years from his triumphant performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" through some of his lesser films, which he always elevated the quality of. I did have the pleasure of seeing him on stage in the revival of "Camelot" at Lincoln Center in the early 1980s. It was a truly a thrill to experience his work in a live theater setting.

In this beautifully written and delivered tribute to Frank Sinatra's humanitarian work, it's all there on display.

In this 1997 appearance on American comedian Conan O'Brien's chat show, Richard Harris demonstrates why he was regarded not only as a great actor but perhaps the film industry's wittiest raconteur. Here, Harris- in his inimitable style- covers his penchant for excessive drinking and the tales involve Peter O'Toole, a private detective and "MacBeth"!

In this January, 1976 episode of "The Tonight Show", Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon experience a surprise visit from John Wayne, who was about to start filming his final movie "The Shootist".

Warner Bros. provides this half-hour documentary about the making of director Ridley Scott's science fiction classic, which was considered to be a boxoffice disappointment when it opened in 1982.

"BLAST FROM THE PAST: FROM THE CINEMA RETRO ARCHIVES"

By Lee Pfeiffer

"Saturday Night Live" spawned many a memorable comic character, some of whom were exploited in feature films. While "The Coneheads" proved to be  popular on the big screen, other TV-to-cinema transfers of iconic "SNL" pop culture figures proved to be duds. Al Franken's memorable incarnation of Stuart Smalley was the subject of "Stuart Saves His Family", a 1995 production directed by Harold Ramis that received some surprisingly favorable reviews but ended up with a North American boxoffice gross of less than $1 million. That ranks as a major success compared to "It's Pat: The Movie", released the prior year and starring Julia Sweeney as the androgynous character that proved to be a popular staple of "SNL" during this period. Pat was a visually unattractive figure with an obnoxious manner of speaking that repulsed his/her coworkers, who were constantly striving to discover whether Pat was a male or female. Inevitably, Pat would provide unintentionally ambiguous answers to leading questions that would only heighten the mystery and thwart those who were seeking to unveil Pat's genetic makeup. As the subject of five-minute comedy sketches the concept worked great and Sweeney's Pat became a popular staple of the show. Then Hollywood came knocking. Fox approached Sweeney to turn the concept into a feature film. Sweeney admitted she couldn't envision how Pat could remain interesting to viewers in any format other than TV skits. After putting some development money into the film, Fox agreed and backed off only to have Disney's Touchstone Pictures ride to the rescue and give the production the green light. The result was a disaster. The film was given some sporadic openings only to be pulled within a week due to complete rejection by audiences. The movie's boxoffice gross in North America stands at $61,000. Although modestly-budgeted, the movie still had cost more than $10 million to make. Time has not been kind to dear Pat, as it boasts a Rotten Tomatoes score of 0%. Now those brave souls at Kino Lorber have released a Blu-ray of "Pat: The Movie" and, consequently, it's time to revisit the film.

The plot (such as it is) opens with Pat alienating everyone in his/her orbit with obnoxious behavior. A local store owner gives Pat items for free just to expedite his/her departure. Pat tries various career moves but inevitably loses every job due to ineptness. Just when things seem hopeless, Pat finds love with Chris (Dave Foley in a role originated by Dana Carvey on "SNL"), another androgynous individual. The two set up house together and live as a normal couple, though both seem blissfully unaware that their sexuality is a mystery to those around them. Are they a straight couple? A gay couple? Two men? Two women? A subplot is introduced in which a hunky new neighbor, Kyle (Charles Rocket) and his wife Stacy (Julie Hayden) find their lives disrupted by Kyle's increasing obsession with Pat. He is sexually attracted to him/her, much to the alarm of Stacy, and that attraction turns into a psychological mania that finds Kyle dressing like Pat and even stroking a doll that resembles him/her. Meanwhile, the hapless Pat blunders into some successful career steps by making an appearance with a rock band that leads to him/ her becoming a media sensation. When he/she drops by a radio station to visit a friend, Kathy (Kathy Griffin), who hosts a popular romantic advice show, Pat unintentionally upstages her and gets the hosting gig. Pat's success has alienated Chris, who breaks up the relationship and decides to move abroad. The finale finds Pat coming to grips with his/her faults and making a mad dash to a cruise ship line to prevent Chris from leaving the country.

The animosity extended to "Pat: The Movie", which was directed by Adam Bernstein, is a bit difficult to understand. It isn't very good, to be sure, but it's amusing at times and never veers into the overtly offensive gross-out humor that characterizes many of today's comedies. One of the main problems with the film is that there are no sympathetic characters. I don't recall Pat being an overt narcissist on the "SNL" sketches but here the character is mean-spirited, self-centered and devoid of any likable behavior. Kyle is even more repulsive and barely looks up when his wife leaves him. Now this is an absurdist comedy, to be sure, but the best comedies allow the audience to relate to the protagonists on some level. Jerry Lewis and Jim Carrey played klutzes but they were klutzes you could cheer for. Not so with Sweeney's Pat. Additionally, Sweeney's fears that the one-note concept could not be sustained over the course of a feature film proved correct. Even with the running time of 77 minutes, the movie plods. Still, there are some genuine laughs, most of them centered on the traditional gag of those around Pat becoming increasingly frustrated by their failure to determine his/her sex. When Pat and Chris are presented with a gift of a sexy corset, they both smile wryly and say "We'll enjoy this!" There is also some genuine amusement in Pat's physical appearance, a kind of grotesque version of Jerry Lewis's Prof. Kelp from "The Nutty Professor". But the laughs are too few even for the abbreviated running time. There also some annoyances that are due to simple sloppiness: when Pat tries to escape a pursuer, she randomly enters a building only to find the place is a night club hosting a packed, on-going, ear-splitting rock concert taking place apparently in the middle of the afternoon. Such absurdities leave one to think that the film was slapped together quickly in order to make a fast buck.

Julia Sweeney tragically faced more challenges than the complete failure of "It's Pat" with critics and the public. Around the time of the film's release, her brother was diagnosed with a terminal illness. After caring for him, she was diagnosed with cancer. Sweeney beat the disease and made lemonade from the lemons life had handed her when she wrote and starred in her acclaimed one-woman play, "God Said Hah!" which chronicled her personal trials and tribulations through a comedic lens. (The play would later be the basis for a documentary.) Her co-star Charles Rocket fared worse, committing suicide in 2005. However, most of those associated with the debacle of "It's Pat" found their careers survived. Director Adam Bernstein went on to a highly successful career in television. Dave Foley continues to work steadily in TV and films and Kathy Griffin emerged as a popular standup comedienne and pundit on CNN until her increasingly foul-mouthed rants backfired, topped by sending around an image on social media depicting her holding the bloody, severed head of President Trump. That stunt achieved the distinction of being denounced by even the president's most ardent critics and Griffin lost her CNN gig.

"It's Pat" opened and closed before the age of E mail and social media had taken the world by storm. It's failure today would have been the stuff of snarky jokes and cynical criticisms of all those involved. However, because the film wasn't highly anticipated, it's failure occurred without much notice or damage to anyone's personal reputation. There's plenty of laughs left in dear Pat but they can mostly be found in the original "SNL" skits. Ironically, with transgender issues now the topic of current debates, the film might have found a more receptive audience today.

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray has an impressive transfer, a teaser trailer for the film and a gallery of other comedies available through the company.

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Review of Clint Eastwood in "Dirty Harry" from the Independent Film Journal trade magazine, December 23, 1971. As was the custom in that era, the reviewers toiled anonymously and didn't receive a byline.

Here's a bizarre film clip of Paul Newman being interviewed by co-star Barbara Rush on the set of their 1967 Western classic "Hombre". It's humorous and largely uninformative but fun to watch.

Here's a blast from the past: a spoof of "Becket" if it had starred Peter O'Toole, Richard Burton, Richard Harris and Katharine Hepburn, all courtesy of the Second City TV cast.

The Matt Helm Movie Classics special edition is now sold out! Thanks to so many of our loyal readers for making this the fastest selling issue since we began publishing.

In this clip from the 1970 Academy Awards ceremony honoring films from 1969, glamorous Elizabeth Taylor announces the controversial choice of "Midnight Cowboy" as the Best Picture, the only X-rated film to be so honored. Producer Jerome Hellman gives one of the shortest acceptance speeches on record, using his time to thank United Artists head of production David V. Picker, who provided financial backing for the film when other studios wouldn't.

Kevin Costner's "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves" was a major hit in 1991, though enthusiasm for the film has not been especially enduring over the ensuing years. Nevertheless, at the time of initial release, there was a line of officially licensed toys. Here's a vintage advertisement for the Robin Hood action figures and Sherwood Forest play set.

Here is a brief newsreel of the festivities taking place at the 1962 New York premiere of MGM's "Mutiny on the Bounty", a magnificent epic even though there were almost impossible obstacles to overcome in bringing it to the big screen. (See Cinema Retro's Movie Classics roadshow epics issue for full coverage). Despite causing controversies during filming, Marlon Brando was induced to attend the premiere, a practice he was usually adverse to. Note the theater marquee across the street showing John Frankenheimer's "The Manchurian Candidate".

In this vintage clip from "The Dick Cavett Show", Henry Fonda discusses his rare screen appearance as a villain in Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West", a film that was underappreciated in its day but which many now consider to be a masterpiece. Surprisingly, Cavett, who is one of the best-informed and astute interviewers, is unaware of the film's existence.

Following the enormous success of his variety show, NBC signed Dean Martin to a new series: celebrity roasts. These became "must-see" telecasts for millions of American viewers. The format was clearly based on the famed Friars Club roasts, minus the expletives. The "honoree" is subjected to a barrage of insults from friends and colleagues in front of a live audience. This telecast, provided by Shout! Factory, illustrates the last hurrah of the golden age of comedy with a dais consisting of the likes of Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Rich Little, Ruth Buzzi, Ginger Rogers, Foster Brooks, Henry Fonda, Totie Fields, Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller Rowan and Martin, Nipsey Russell, Don Rickles and Lucy's long-time friends and co-stars Gale Gordon and Vivian Vance.  After being roasted mercilessly, Lucy exacts her "revenge" on those who took potshots at her. The show harkens back to a time when people were more open to laughing at themselves. Much of the humor would be considered to be politically incorrect today, and younger viewers would undoubtedly be appalled. But those who grew up in a different era may find it very amusing, as race, age, weight, physical appearance and drinking habits are all fair game because everyone knew it was all in fun.- Lee Pfeiffer

Here's the 1973 trailer for the second of five Dirty Harry films starring Clint Eastwood, "Magnum Force". It was an era for renegade cop movies. Only a couple of months later, John Wayne's "McQ" would open, which also featured our hero battling corruption in the police department. 

Here is rare footage from the 1962 Oscars ceremony in which the winners for Best Original Screenplay and Adapted Screenplay are awarded by "Days of Wine and Roses" co-stars Lee Remick and Jack Lemmon.

By Lee Pfeiffer

"A Twist of Sand" is a 1968 production currently streaming on Amazon Prime. You can be forgiven if you are not familiar with the film, as it was one of many made in this era that was not intended to be a blockbuster or win awards. It was made on a modest budget with the expectation of making a modest profit. The plot is the same time-worn scenario that had been seen in countless films: a group of misfits band together on a dangerous quest for gold. Even by 1968, the concept had enough moss on it to make penicillin but there is a reason the concept has repeatedly been recycled: it works. There is always dramatic tension among the participants and this particular tale is no exception.

The film opens with gunrunner Geoffrey Peace (Richard Johnson) and his partner and first mate David Garland (Roy Dotrice) smuggling a large batch of valuable rifles through the straits of Malta. They are intercepted by a British patrol boat and forced to dump the weapons into the sea to avoid arrest and prosecution. The ploy works but they are now destitute with their boat as their only asset. Along comes Harry Riker (Jeremy Kemp), a German fortune hunter who is accompanied by Johann (Peter Vaughan), a hulking, largely mute henchman. Riker spins a tale about having information that might lead them to a cache of priceless diamonds that is buried in an old shipwreck from hundreds of years ago. The shifting of the sands has now placed the vessel somewhere in the middle of the desert off the Skeleton Coast in South West Africa. Peace has an immediate dislike for the men but is desperate enough to agree to the expedition- and they are accompanied by Julie Chambois (Honor Blackman), whose late husband was a prospector who claimed to have unearthed and hidden the diamonds, revealing to her the exact location on the wreck. Adding to the drama is a sub-plot that reveals in flashback that Peace had been commanding a British submarine off the Skeleton Coast during WWII. A German U-Boat was disabled in a firefight and the crew was slaughtered by an errant member of Peace's submarine command who wielded a machine gun to kill all but one man, Johann, who has sworn to somehow take vengeance on the British sub commander. This rather contrived plot point is intended to add tension to the story but we all know that simply by introducing it, Johann will ultimately discover the truth and square off against Peace. 

The disparate group of fortune hunters navigate through the treacherous waters off the Skelton Coast and director Don Chaffey manages to ring some momentary tension out of these scenes. I kept waiting for the cliched scenario that inevitably arises in any of these desert adventure films in which a lone attractive woman causes sexual tension among her male companions. However, screenwriter Marvin H. Albert keeps the characters rather disappointingly chaste. There's more lust to be found in an old Tarzan film than there is here. The movie improves when the motley group lands on the African coast and discovers the wreck of the ancient ship they are looking for now firmly settled into the desert sands. These are the movie's best scenes as the men desperately dig inside the wreck, facing death from being buried by sand or struck by a falling timber. The production design by John Stoller is especially impressive. Naturally, this part of a treasure hunter adventure is always when the double-crosses are introduced and this is no exception. 

The script never directly divulges what year the story is taking place in, thus the viewer would be forgiven for thinking it was in contemporary times. I wondered how we were to believe that the characters would not have aged at all over a period of about 25 years. However, late in the film there is a reference to the fact that it is six years after the war, which would place the timetable sometime in the early 1950s.  The rights to  the novel "A Twist of Sand"  by Geoffrey Jenkins had originally been obtained by Nunnally Johnson, who intended to write the script for a production starring Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr but for some reason the production never materialized. Instead, the film would eventually be made as this "B" movie production. Director Don Chaffey does a decent job, considering the budget constraints and he has a good cast. Richard Johnson plays against type as a grumpy and humorless protagonist. In real life, Johnson was one of the most humorous and charismatic people this writer has ever known. Jeremy Kemp steals his scenes as his scheming partner. Honor Blackman has very little to do and was obviously cast simply to add a bit of sex appeal. 

"A Twist of Sand" is the kind of movie from this era that a I have a soft spot for. These films were competently made and entertaining, if rather forgettable. To my knowledge, the film has never been released on video in the USA, so its presence on Amazon Prime is especially appreciated. 

1000 copies only!

The next four Carry On Films come to Blu-ray in one Limited Edition Box, with an exclusive 112 page booklet featuring reproductions of the original pressbooks for the first twelve films. 

Includes the worldwide Blu-ray premiere for Carry On Spying!

Carry On Spying (1964)

Worldwide first on Blu-ray! Carry On favourite Barbara Windsor makes her debut in this outrageous send-up of the James Bond movies. Fearless agent Desmond Simpkins and Charlie Bind, aided and abetted by the comely Agent Honeybutt and Agent Crump, battle against the evil powers of international bad guys STENCH and their three cronies.

Carry On Cleo (1964)

Two Brits—inventor Hengist Pod, and Horse, a brave and cunning fighter—are captured and enslaved by invading Romans and taken to Rome. One of their first encounters in Rome leaves Hengist being mistaken for a fighter, and gets drafted into the Royal Guard to protect Cleopatra.

Carry On Cowboy (1965)

Stodge City is in the grip of the Rumpo Kid and his gang. Mistaken identity again takes a hand as a ‘sanitary engineer’ named Marshal P. Knutt is mistaken for a law marshal. Being the conscientious sort, Marshal tries to help the town get rid of Rumpo, and a showdown is inevitable. Marshal has two aids—revenge-seeking Annie Oakley and his sanitary expertise.

Carry On Screaming! (1966)

The sinister Dr Watt has an evil scheme going. He’s kidnapping beautiful young women and turning them into mannequins to sell to local stores. Fortunately for Dr Watt, Detective-Sergeant Bung is on the case, and he doesn’t have a clue! In this send up of the Hammer Horror movies, there are send-ups of all the horror greats from Frankenstein to Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde.

Special Features:

• Limited Edition 112-page booklet containing reproductions of the original pressbooks of the first 12 films (1000 copies)
• Carry on Spying Audio Commentary by Bernard Cribbins and Dilys Laye
• Carry on Cleo Audio Commentary by Amanda Barrie and Julie Stevens
• Carry on Cowboy Audio Commentary by Angela Douglas
• Carry on Screaming Audio Commentary by Angela Douglas and Fenella Fielding
• Carry on Spying Textless Titles
• Theatrical Trailers
• Photo Galleries
Imprint limited editions tend to sell out quickly. Click here to  PRE-ORDER. (Prices are in Australian dollars. Use  a currency converter to see what the price is in your local currency.) The Blu-ray set is Region-Free. 

PASOLINI 101—a monumental collection of nine films by one of the most original thinkers of the 20th century. Collected together for the first time in celebration of the Italian iconoclast’s daring vision of cinema as a form of resistance.

One of the most original and controversial thinkers of the twentieth century, Italian polymath Pier Paolo Pasolini embodied a multitude of often seemingly contradictory ideologies and identities—and he expressed them all in his provocative, lyrical, and indelible films. Relentlessly concerned with society’s downtrodden and marginalized, he elevated pimps, hustlers, sex workers, and vagabonds to the realm of saints, while depicting actual saints with a radical earthiness. Traversing the sacred and the profane, the ancient and the modern, the mythic and the personal, the nine uncompromising, often scandal-inciting features he made in the 1960s still stand—on this, the 101st anniversary of his birth—as a monument to his daring vision of cinema as a form of resistance.

NINE-BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION COLLECTOR’S SET FEATURES

• Nine feature films: Accattone, Mamma Roma, Love Meetings, The Gospel According to Matthew, The Hawks and the Sparrows, Oedipus Rex, Teorema, Porcile, and Medea
• New 4K digital restorations of seven films and 2K digital restorations of Teorema and Medea, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
• Two shorts made by director Pier Paolo Pasolini for anthology films: La ricotta (1963) and The Sequence of the Paper Flower (1969)
• Two documentaries made by Pasolini during his travels
• New program on Pasolini’s visual style as told through his personal writing, narrated by actor Tilda Swinton and writer Rachel Kushner
• Audio commentaries on Accattone and Teorema
• Documentaries on Pasolini’s life and career featuring archival interviews with the director and his close collaborators
• Episode from 1966 of the French television program Cinéastes de notre temps
• Interviews with filmmakers and scholars
• Trailers
• New English subtitle translations
• PLUS: Deluxe packaging, including a 100-page book featuring an essay and notes on the films by critic James Quandt, and writings and drawings by Pasolini

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Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Fabulous Films regarding the Region 2 Blu-ray and DVD releases of "Manhattan" and "Hannah and Her Sisters", which are being released on 28 August. 

One of Woody Allen’s best-loved films, Hannah and Her Sisters, won three richly deserved Oscars and is considered a joy from start to perfectly-judged finish.

The films ensemble cast includes Max von Sydow, Carrie Fisher, Sir Michael Caine, Diane Wiest, Lloyd Nolan (who died 4 months before the film's release), Mia Farrow and Daniel Stern. Caine won the Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role while Wiest won Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Allen won Best Screenplay (beating Crocodile Dundee, My Beautiful Laundrette, Platoon and Salvador). Max von Sydow and Barbara Hershey received a standing ovation from the crew after they finished filming their characters' break-up scene.

The film has some great one-liners, with a philosophical discussion about the nature of good and evil getting shot down with “How should I know why there were Nazi’s, I don’t even know how the can opener works”

Synopsis: Hannah (Mia Farrow) is a devoted wife, loving mother and successful actress. She’s also the emotional backbone of the family, and her sisters Lee (Barbara Hershey) and Holly (Dianne Wiest) depend on this stability while also resenting it because they can’t help but compare Hannah’s seemingly perfect life with theirs. But with her husband Elliott (Michael Caine) becoming increasingly interested in Lee, it’s clear that Hannah might have problems of her own.

Cast: Woody Allen, Michael Caine, Mia Farrow, Carrie Fisher, Barbara Hershey, Lloyd Nolan, Maureen O’Sullivan, Daniel Stern, Max von Sydow, Julie Kavner, Richard Jenkins, Fred Melamed, Lewis Black, Joanna Gleason, John Turturro, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Dianne Wiest.

Extras: Theatrical Trailer

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“One of (Woody) Allen’s most enduring accomplishments” - BoxOffice

Nominated for two Academy-Awards® Manhattan is a wry, touching and finely rendered portrait of modern relationships set against the backdrop of urban alienation. Sumptuously photographed in black and white (Allen’s first film in that format) and accompanied by a magnificent Gershwin score which includes Rhapsody in Blue.

Released in 1979. Manhattan won Best Film and Best Screenplay at the BAFTAs. Mariel Hemingway aged 16 years old earned a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards for her performance. Woody Allen and Marshall Brinkman were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. In 2001, the United States Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Synopsis: Forty-two-year-old Manhattan native Isaac Davis (Allen) has a job he hates, a seventeen-year-old girlfriend, Tracy (Mariel Hemingway), whom he doesn’t love, and a lesbian ex-wife, Jill (Meryl Streep), who’s writing a tell-all book about their marriage...and whom he’d like to strangle. But when he meets his best friend’s sexy intellectual mistress, Mary (Diane Keaton), Isaac falls head over heels in lust! Leaving Tracy, bedding Mary and quitting his job are just the beginnings of Isaac’s quest for romance and fulfilment . In a city where sex is as intimate as a handshake - and the gateway to true love...is a revolving door.

Cast: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Michael Murphy, Mariel Hemingway, Meryl Streep, Anne Byrne.

Extras: Theatrical Trailer

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Please note: the U.S. office of Cinema Retro will be closed for vacation between August 21-September 7. You can place orders as you normally would and shipments will resume when we reopen. Thank you. 

By Hank Reineke

If we are to use history as a guide – as we should – Earl Derr Biggers’ creation of Charlie Chan marked the first occasion of a fictional Asian detective (Chinese-American to be precise) to be received warmly by not only a U.S. audience but by filmgoers worldwide. Biggers had published no fewer than six Chan mystery novels in the years 1925-1932. The author may have even continued the series had he not died young, age 48, in the spring of 1933. Though there had been preceding Chan film adaptations – the first being a 1926 serial - it wasn’t until Swede Warner Oland’s assumption of the role in 1931 that the character became an iconic totem of detective cinema.

Though Oland had a clear lock on the public’s perception of the inscrutable, unflappable Asian detective, the literary Chan was now moribund. Sensing a vacuum, yet another American author, John P. Marquand, would create the friendly (and obviously pre-war) Japanese spy Mr. Moto. The missions of that character were first serialized in issues of the Saturday Evening Post (1935-1938), those stories soon turned into novels by Boston’s Little Brown & Co. Following Daryl F. Zanuck’s licensing of character rights for 2oth Century Fox in July of 1936, the studio issued no fewer than eight Mr. Moto mystery films (featuring Peter Lorre) in the years 1937-1939.

Whether it was Lorre who chose not to renew his Fox contract, or whether Fox decided the series had simply played out or whether it was the actions of an increasingly belligerent and aggressive Japan (who would formally align with the Axis Powers in September of 1940), Mr. Moto’s final pre-WWII film adventure, ironically titled Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation, was released in summer of 1939. Whatever the reason, it was the success of the Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto series that allowed Colliers magazine to coattail introduce Hugh Wiley’s Chinese-American James Lee Wong series of detective stories in 1934.

In September of 1938 a California newspaper reported that author Wiley had “just sold four of his detective stories, centering about the character of James Lee Wong, to Monogram Pictures.” The proposed film series was purportedly to feature Boris Karloff – just off production of Son of Frankenstein (Universal) – as the film’s title character. Technically, this character licensing report was old news. In February of 1938, there were already reports that Monogram’s Scott Dunlap was looking for the right actor to cast as Mr. Wong. There was one sensible suggestion that the studio was hoping to find a “Keye Luke” type. Luke was now approachable as Oland’s incarnate of Charlie Chan had recently come to an abrupt, sad end. When Oland passed in August of 1938, Luke was passed over for consideration as a successor. The part ignobly went to Sidney Toler, yet another actor of European ancestry.

Keye Luke was already a familiar figure to cinemagoers – he popularly played the “Number One Son” to Oland’s Chan in a number of films in that popular series. Luke chose to exit the Chan franchise following Oland’s passing: but while now available to Monogram he was not considered a guaranteed box office draw. The Los Angeles Daily News reported on April 14, 1938 that, following negotiations on a long-distance phone call, Dunlap had secured the promise of Boris Karloff, age 50, to star in the proposed series. Shortly following that news, snippy Hollywood gossiper Louella Parsons sniffed that Karloff was exhibiting more than a bit of courage should he expect to “muscle in on the territory so triumphantly held by Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto.”

On April 26, 1938, Variety reported that the Monogram president had been “conferring” with producer Scott R. Dunlap, looking to rush into production for the “1938-1939 releasing season” four new feature films, one of which was Mr. Wong, Detective. On 10 May Variety reported that Richard Weil, “the author of the Charlie Chan radio adventures” had been tasked to write the screenplay for the film. But whether due to a “conflict of interest” concern or simply a scheduling issue, Weil soon fell out and scripting duties went to Houston Branch, a Monogram dependable. In any event, it wasn’t until late August of 1938 that the trades announced that Monogram’s Mr. Wong film - suggested as the “first of four whodunits” all to star Boris Karloff - was to go into production in a week’s time. Industry trade Box Office made further note that the four Wong serial mysteries slated for production were Mr. Wong, Detective, Mr. Wong at Headquarters, Mr. Wong in Chinatown and The Mystery of Mr. Wong.

There would be no shortage of Asian detective melodramas in 1938. Monogram’s Mr. Wong was to compete directly against 20^th Century Fox’s Mr. Moto series and the Chan films still touring the regional circuit. And all three would feature non-Asian actors as the title characters. Karloff, of course, was no stranger to accepting East-Asian roles, having already appeared in such films as The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) and, more recently, West of Shanghai (1937). On June 20^th, the Los Angeles Evening Citizen News offered while a complete script had not yet been turned in, cameras were set to roll on Mr. Wong, Detective in three weeks’ time. That deadline was apparently missed, as the first day of shooting on Mr. Wong, Detective would not start until late August (the 25^th according to one contemporary newspaper accounting, the 24^th according to this film’s audio commentary).

We do know that on 3 September 1938, a journalist visited Monogram’s Mr. Wong set. The writer had chosen to sit through a portion of Karloff’s grueling three-and-a-half hour session in the makeup chair of Gordon Bau. Karloff was no stranger to make-up applications, but admitted to the reporter that such wearying sessions weren’t the favorite part of his day. “It’s lovely to get up and go to the studio at 6:00 A.M., stretch out in a barber chair and have somebody with hobnailed boots crawl in and out of your eyes.” Bau defensively parried that such applications were necessary evils, admitting his work on applying rubber cement near Karloff’s eyes to create epicurean folds proved the most challenging part of the actor’s physical transformation.

Karloff agreed the eye make-up applications were the most wearying to endure. “By the time you get done,” Karloff sighed, “my eyeballs are pressed, my vision is off focus and I walk around all day in a haze.” Turning his attention to the visiting journalist, Karloff sniggered, “And when finally he gets through with me, he’s proud of what he’s done. He thinks it is a work of art.” For the most part, Karloff’s reimaging is surprisingly subtle: a slick of pressed black hair, a slim moustache and thickened eyebrows, slight eye folds often disguised behind a set of reading glasses.

If Bau’s reasonably understated make-up appliance was a work of art, critics were divided on whether or not Mr. Wong, Detective was. The story itself concerns a cabal of spies working in interest of an unnamed foreign power and trying to steal a poison gas formula for nefarious ends. The first of Monogram’s Mr. Wong pictures, shot in a mere few weeks’ time, was set for October 5, 1938 release – a mere month following Karloff’s session in Bau’s make-up chair.

Upon the film’s release Variety couldn’t help but comment on the film’s rushed, bargain basement appearance, citing the production as ranging at best from “standard to skimpy.” The Variety critic blamed director William Nigh and scripter Houston Branch for the film’s shortfalls: “First picture suffers from directorial and writing troubles, plus a combination of careless acting and haphazard casting,” the reviewer sighed. Despite such criticism, it was noted that Karloff did the best with the lackluster material given. Fighting “vigorously” against the odds, the scribe conceded that Karloff had at the very least proven his utility as an actor: his presence was enough to prove he needn’t have to affix “grotesque makeup to register.”

Other reviews were kinder. London’s Picturegoer was less critical of the picture, describing Karloff’s Mr. Wong as “a serious rival to Charlie Chan.” But exhibitors were more cautious, split in their opinion of the film’s merit: when one described Mr. Wong Detective, “Worthy of a top spot on a double,” a second complained, “Where does Monogram get the idea this is good? Awful – slowest moving thing I have seen in years.”

Slow or not, by late January of 1939, Monogram was already into production of the second of the series, The Mystery of Mr. Wong. W.T. Lackey took over producing duties from Scott Dunlap, and scripter Branch was relieved of scenario duties, screenwriting credit given to W. Scott Darling. Darling had been the screenwriter of Charlie Chan at the Opera (1936) which, interestingly, pitted Oland’s detective against a villainous Boris Karloff.

This second Wong was more of a pedestrian and routine parlor murder mystery, one concerning the theft of a rare and expensive sapphire. By March of 1939, The Mystery of Mr. Wong was already reported as being in the “cutting room.” The film would be released in April of 1939. Though this second entry of the series fared a wee better than its predecessor in critical analysis, this sophomore effort too was faulted for its “lack of action,” the weaving of too many obvious red herrings into the script, and an appreciable number of wooden performances by the cast.

The lukewarm reviews were of little consequence. That same April, it was announced that scripter Darling was to return and write the series’ third entry, Mr. Wong in Chinatown (aka Mr. Wong’s Chinatown Squad). At Monogram’s sales convention at Chicago’s Drake Hotel in spring of 1939, it was evident - despite the lackluster reviews - that studio bosses were pleased with the box office takes of the first two Wong serials. They promised four more titles were already in the pipeline: Mr. Wong Vanishes, Mr. Wong in Havana, Mr. Wong’s Chinatown Squad and Mr. Wong in New York.

By June of 1939 Mr. Wong in Chinatown was already well in production, screenwriter Darling reported mid-month to have already begun scripting duties on what would be the fourth of the series, Mr. Wong at Headquarters. The scenario for Mr. Wong in Chinatown concerns his investigation into the murder of a royal princess who had been visiting the United States on a mission to purchase airplanes for defense of her country against a hostile nation-state.

When Mr. Wong in Chinatown was previewed in July of 1939, the reviews remained consistent with the first two, tagging the film a “slow whodunit.” Though the picture was lacking in any appreciable action, there was a concession that enough, “color and mystery [was] attached to the proceedings to attract fair trade” – well, if exploited properly. One exhibitor agreed, reporting good box office receipts and anointing Mr. Wong in Chinatown, the “Best of the Wong series” to date.

The blandly titled Mr. Wong at Headquarters went into production in November of 1939, and was already in the cutting room by December’s end. By January of 1940 the film’s working title was officially changed to the more mysterious and exotic The Fatal Hour and scheduled for a January 15, 1940 release. This time Wong is called to investigate the waterfront murder of a fellow detective, the scenario intertwined with a bit of a smuggling subplot. New York’s Daily News thought it a not particularly “absorbing of murder mysteries, although it is filled with enough complications to make a Philadelphia lawyer’s head spin.”

In late January of 1940, the Los Angeles Times reported, erroneously, that a fifth Mr. Wong serial - tentatively titled Chamber of Horrors – was in the works, Dorothy Reid cited as readying a script. Some months later the trades reported, far more reliably, that William Nigh was, for a fifth time, signed to direct a Mr. Wong mystery. Though Reid would not be associated with this final Karloff Mr. Wong effort, there was no reason to disbelieve the Times initial report: Reid had served as a producer and writer at Monogram and had previously collaborated with Nigh on such productions as A Bride for Henry (1937) and Rose of the Rio Grande (1938). There was in fact a Monogram horror flick titled Chamber of Horrors produced in 1940, but this was a Norman Lee film, based on the creaky Edgar Wallace novel of 1926, The Door with Seven Locks. Neither Reid nor Nigh was publically connected to that film’s production.

When the final Karloff Wong film, Doomed to Die (aka Mystery of the Wentworth Castle from a script penned by series’ newcomer Ralph G. Bettinson), played Manhattan’s Rialto Theatre, the Hollywood Reporter caustically reported the picture was, if nothing else, “aptly named for it died within a few days” of its showcase. The Baltimore Sun coldly piled on with a bad notice of its own: “The direction, writing and acting are slipshod beyond the limit of that large tolerance accorded this extravert type of drama.” Still more harsh criticism of the picture lie ahead. “Charlie Chan would shake with professional pity,” wrote the New York Herald Tribune, sighing that the great Karloff “has never had a duller, more unexacting role.”

It was the last of Karloff’s involvement in the Mr. Wong series. There was really no reason for the actor to continue on in the role as he certainly did not need the work – nor did he need the piling on of bad notices that continued to accumulate. In 1940, the year that Doomed to Die was released, Karloff would star in no fewer than nine additional features for Columbia, Warner Bros., Universal, RKO Radio and Monogram. He would certainly survive his departure from the role. But would Mr. Wong?

That question was answered in June of 1940 when Monogram announced Keye Luke as Karloff’s successor in the role. It was a sensible progressive move on Monogram’s part, a UPI correspondent writing a glowing tribute to Keye Luke who would now serve – at long last – as “cinema’s one and only genuine Oriental detective.” Though Monogram signed the actor to a four-picture “Mr. Wong” deal, the only entry produced with Luke in the detective role was Phil Rosen’s Phantom of Chinatown, released in November of 1940. The change of actor (and director) was mostly seamless and arguably refreshing: Luke did bring a bit more energy and excitement to the role. (Karloff was often cited by critics as a miscast who, largely unchallenged, chose to sleepwalk through the role). Most reviews of Luke’s Wong were complimentary, echoing those of a Variety critic who thought Phantom of Chinatown “worthy of the average ‘B’ thriller of this type.”

There was some industry talk in January of 1941 that Paul Malvern (an associate producer of Doomed to Die and the producer of Phantom of Chinatown) was preparing Luke’s return as Mr. Wong for the actor’s second outing, provisionally titled Million Dollar Mystery. Had that film been produced, it would have been the seventh in the Monogram series. But no such film was greenlit (perhaps due to Malvern’s 1941 defection to Universal) making Phantom of Chinatown the last of Monogram’s Mr. Wong series. Luke would fulfil his four-pic Monogram contract in a waste of his talent making small appearances in The Gang’s All Here, Bowery Blitzkrieg and Let’s Go Collegiate, all released in 1941.

It’s of some disappointment that Phantom of Chinatown was excluded from this new Kino Lorber Blu-ray collection. Perhaps Kino is planning a standalone release of the title sometime in the future… at least I hope so. In the meantime, I suppose sad Completists will have to hang on to their copies of VCI’s Mr. Wong Detective: The Complete Collection DVD set for a bit longer. (Luke’s Phantom of Chinatown can be found on that 2008 set in far better quality than you can find any of those bargain-priced PD multi-film “mystery collection” type collections… although the DVD issued by Film Detective in 2015 is also a worthwhile seek out).

The five films featured on this Kino Lorber Studio Classic Blu-ray issue of their Boris Karloff: Mr. Wong Collection are all presented in 1920x1080p, in 1.37:1 aspect and DTS monaural sound. The films have been sourced from new Hi-Definition masters made from 2K fine grain scans. The films are not visually perfect. There are moments of flickering, and scratches and print damage, but this is likely the best we’ll ever get of these dimly-recalled throw-away programmers. I’m certainly not complaining.

Other than the usual removable English subs, the Kino set includes only a single feature – an audio commentary for Mr. Wong, Detective courtesy of Tom Weaver and Larry Blamire. On first pass, it might seem the inclusion of only a single commentary on a five-film set is sparse and ungenerous. But the behind-the-camera artisans of Wong series were a particularly insular if clever and creative cabal: William Nigh, director of all five Karloff entries, actor Grant Withers as “Captain Street” in all five as well, William Lackey, an associate producer of four, and W. Scott Darling the screenwriter of three. The contributions of these and others in front of and behind the camera are duly noted on this set’s single but informative and engaging commentary.

Weaver suggests at the commentaries front end that his plan is to “keep things fun,” and he most certainly does. Both Weaver and Blamire have done their homework, digging out practically every morsel of historical information they could source for these uncelebrated Monogram quickies: this includes their deep dig into (less reliable) information gleaned from ballyhoo appearing in the film’s pressbook and other publicity materials, alongside contemporary reviews from the Hollywood trades and newspapers. Blamire has really gone the extra mile, choosing to preemptively read twelve of the twenty Hugh Wiley’s Mr. Wong short-stories so he might pick out the moments and small bits the filmmakers used for the series.

I wasn’t as admiring of the “actor re-creations” of interview transcripts of Karloff and others scattered about the commentary. It seems unnecessary and distracting - a simple “quote/unquote” recitation of such material is preferable to badly-mimicked vocal imitations. The (thankfully) occasional insertion of MST3K-style sound effects and dubbed-in jokey one-liners were also unnecessary IMHO, but I’m admittedly a grouch. If you prefer your Wong with a dash of irreverence then have at it. Weaver and Blamire also sidecar their commentary with several detours touching on the Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto series, all fair game. All in all, the commentary track serves as an excellent primer for fans wishing to learn a bit more about Mr. Wong on page and film. To summarize, this excellent package from Kino Lorber is a “must-have."

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Here's a regrettably grainy but ultra-rare shot from the Cinema Retro archive, circa June 1966. It depicts a chance meeting of two major spy movie stars of that year, as Michael Caine bumped into George Segal on location in Berlin. Caine was reprising his Harry Palmer in Funeral in Berlin while Segal was shooting The Quiller Memorandum. Remember, every issue of our magazine edition is packed with rare photos and production ads you've never seen, so subscribe today!

VISIT THE HARRY PALMER WEB SITE. CLICK HERE!

By Todd Garbarini

“Bueller…Bueller…Bueller…Bueller…”

These four words…sorry, this single word spoken four times…by the inimitable Ben Stein in the late John Hughes’s highly popular teen comedy Ferris Bueller’s Day Off while reading off the attendance roster to his near catatonic high school class has worked its way into the American lexicon to the point that it has become recognizable to anyone even remotely familiar with the film. Like its predecessors, the “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” ad-lib from Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975), and Jack Nicholson’s quirky yet somehow terrifying “Here’s Johnny!” from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980), one need not have seen the film to know from where it originated. The adults in this film are all depicted as somehow less smart than their adolescent counterparts and all seem to be easily duped and manipulated. Why are they depicted this way? Was the director, who was also the writer of Mr. Mom (1983), National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983), Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), Weird Science (1985) and Pretty in Pink (1986), simply not a fan of the adult world, a modern-day J.D. Salinger?

Ferris Bueller, the titular hero, is a Northbrook, Illinois high school student two months shy of his high school graduation and commits a crime that all students have at one time or another – he feigns serious illness to stay home from school. However, it is not for nefarious purposes: he wants to get his best friend, Cameron (Alan Ruck), out of the doldrums. His parents are complete dolts for believing him, though his sister Jeanie (Jennifer Grey) and Principal Rooney (Jeffrey Jones) both see right through this common ploy and the latter, whose small-mindedness and lack of stature outside of his role of an authoritarian, drives him to catch Ferris in the act at any cost. He goes to great lengths to catch Bueller, breaking the rules, and even some laws, that find him in the Bueller household, face-to-face with a vicious dog.

Playing hooky for the day with a reluctant Cameron and Ferris’s girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) whom he gets out of school posing as her father in a get-up not dissimilar from the accoutrements he would later don as the titular Inspector Gadget he would play in the 1999 film of the same name. The trio finds themselves in a series of misadventures throughout Chicago via Cameron’s upscale father’s 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder which occupies much of the film’s running time, the most significant of which is the film’s famous and highly celebrated moment when Ferris commandeers a float during a parade and leads the onlookers through an impromptu lip-synch of The Beatles hit “Twist and Shout.” It is not all fun and games, however, when we learn of Cameron’s contempt for his father’s car which the latter supposedly cares more about than his own son. He sublimates his anger in a highly volatile and emotional scene that proves cathartic for Cameron and, in a way, for Ferris as well. It would explain why Cameron is always uptight and unable to relax, something that the carefree Ferris hopes to change. In many ways, Cameron and Jeanie are not dissimilar from one another, as they both find teen life to be insufferable, and that makes them the most realistic characters in the film.

Ferris is unusual in that he is not only a free spirit, but just about everyone in his high school, regardless of their grade level, likes him. Why? He has proven that he can get away with just about anything. He’s also willing to help others out of their predicaments. This mindset is what makes him elusive from Principal Rooney, a self-appointed Truancy Officer determined to catch Ferris in the act of cutting school because Rooney’s identity outside of high school appears to be non-existent. He is the Coyote to Bueller’s Road Runner, and he takes the whole situation personally.

The film, which opened nationwide on Wednesday, June 11, 1986, differs from most comedies in that it breaks the fourth wall in the tradition of Woody Allen’s great Annie Hall (1977) when Ferris addresses the audience directly during much of the action. In the pantheon of teen comedies, Ferris Bueller is clearly de rigueur viewing and, given that it was lensed between September and November in 1985, feels very Eighties and inspired by Matthew Broderick’s David Lightman computer geek from John Badham’s entertaining 1983 film WarGames with Ferris’s ability to remotely change his sick days in the high school computer right before his principal’s very eyes. Ferris rigs his room and front door intercom with an ingenious array of general solutions anticipating most common eventualities that could undo his plan to keep his parents thinking that he is sleeping off illness.

Ferris Bueller did exceptionally well at the box office, easily becoming an iconic Eighties Comedy, the film that essentially made Mr. Broderick a star following his screen debut in Herbert Ross’s Max Dugan Returns several years earlier and playing opposite Michelle Pfeiffer in Richard Donner’s Ladyhawke (1985). Cameos abound by a fifteen-year-old Kristy Swanson just before she became Wes Craven’s Deadly Friend, Richard Edson, Charlie Sheen just before he made Platoon with Oliver Stone, and comedian Louie Anderson. With the exception of some on-set studio shots in Los Angeles and Ferris Bueller’s house location in Long Beach, CA (eight houses away from the home that Richard Kelly’s 2001 cult classic Donnie Darko is set in), the film is shot nearly entirely in Illinois, the director’s home state.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off has been released on 4K UHD Blu-ray by Paramount Home Video. This is the best that the film has ever looked on video, easily besting all previous releases. It also comes loaded with previously released extras:

There is a feature-length audio commentary by director Hughes, the only one that he ever recorded for his any of his films, ported over from the 1999 DVD release. Glaringly missing from subsequent DVD and Blu-ray editions of the movie (reportedly at the behest of the director who probably got tired of Hollywood and moved back to his home state to keep a low profile), its inclusion here is welcome, appreciated, and more than likely included for two reasons - a response to the director’s untimely demise and to compel die-hard fans to fork over their disposable income for this latest upgraded edition. It is pretty much scene-specific with very minor tangents. It stays on-topic, and Mr. Hughes had a very monotone and droll delivery.

The following are all ported over from the 2006 special edition DVD “Bueller…Bueller” and 2009 Blu-ray editions:

Getting the Class Together: The Cast of Ferris Bueller's Day Off – this piece runs 27:45 in standard definition and the interviews were shot in 2005. The film’s casting directors, Jane Jenkins and Janet Hirshenson, begin this piece feeling that Matthew Broderick or John Cusack would be great in the lead role. Mr. Broderick was in Biloxi Blues on Broadway with Alan Ruck when he was offered the role and their chemistry transferred over from real life to the stage, and then to the audition when the latter was offered Cameron. Mia Sara, Jennifer Grey, Lyman Ward, Cindy Pickett, Jeffrey Jones, Edie McClurg, Ben Stein (a very humorous tidbit), Richard Edson, Kristy Swanson, and Jonathan Schmock all add their two cents on their experiences.

The Making of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off runs 15:29 and really should be much longer and for what it is, it includes some footage shot during the filming in addition to recent interviews taking a look back at the film, such as Jeffrey Jones and Edie McClurg and their “Help, Hinder” game; Alan Ruck talks about the Ferrari and how three replicas were made for the film; Matthew Broderick talks about the parade sequence and how it was a one-shot deal and how knee surgery from years earlier affected him in the sequence.

Who is Ferris Bueller? runs 9:12 and collects cast members and their responses to the question from 1985-87 and 2005. Alan Ruck talks about the wardrobe fittings and how there was no chemistry between the characters and being put at ease by the director. Ferris is a guy who does whatever he wants and has the self-confidence that his friends lack.

The World According to Ben Stein runs 10:50 and is comprised of comments from Mr. Stein in 1986 and 2005 talking about his experiences following the success of the film, with funny tidbits about Kurt Cobain and even President Bush (the first one) having seen the film on Air Force One.

Vintage Ferris Bueller: The Lost Tapes runs 10:16 and provides outtakes from the expurgated restaurant scene of Cameron ordering pancreas that the director refers to in his commentary.

There was a Class Album gallery that appeared in the previous releases, but it is inexplicably dropped from this release.

The film’s original theatrical trailer is also missing for unknown reasons, though you can see it here and a later trailer to promote the Blu-ray at the time.

The ending of the film recalls Paul Brickman’s Risky Business from 1983 (think of Tom Cruise landing on his parents’ couch when they walk in from their trip) when Ferris makes it home just in time to get into bed as his parents head into his room. Ferris, addressing the audience, says, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” This line, which is far more upbeat than the plaintive final sentences of J.D. Salinger’s classic novel of adolescent angst The Catcher in the Rye (1951), rings true for people more today than it did when it was filmed. Social media, computers, and cell phones all conspire to divert our attention from the meaningful things in life.

One can only imagine what sort of mischief Ferris would create today with the World Wide Web and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Perhaps a remake is in order?

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Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Turner Classic Movies.

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will celebrate the life and career of director William Friedkin with a programming tribute this September and November. Friedkin, who died August 7 at the age of 87, started his career by directing one of the last episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. He went on to be known as one of the iconic directors of New Hollywood in the 1970s with such hits as The Exorcist (1973) and The French Connection (1971), which won him the Academy Award® for Best Director. William Friedkin was a great friend to Turner Classic Movies and he attended the TCM Classic Film Festival several times, most recently in April 2023.

TCM Remembers William Friedkin Part 1 – Thursday, September 14
8:00 PM – The French Connection (1971) – Two New York narcotics cops set out to bust a French drug smuggling ring.
10:00 PM – To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) – A Secret Service agent becomes obsessed with tracking down a notorious and dangerous Los Angeles counterfeitor.
12:15 AM – The Boys in the Band (1970) – A gay birthday party turns into a night of soul-searching when the host's straight college roommate turns up by mistake.

TCM Remembers William Friedkin Part 2 – Sunday, November 26
8:00 PM – Friedkin Uncut (2018) – TCM Premiere – In this documentary, William Friedkin is interviewed about his career, alongside a number of his colleagues and industry admirers.
10:00 PM – The Exorcist (1973) – A priest battles to save a young girl possessed by demons.

Here is a special treat: Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz interviews director John Boorman and cast members Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds and Ned Beatty about the making of the 1972 classic "Deliverance"

In this vintage clip from the April 28, 1968 "Ed Sullivan Show", Richard Harris reprises his performance of "Camelot". Harris has played King Arthur in the big-budget film version the previous year and would go on to appear in various productions in live theater throughout his career.

"Warner Bros.: 100 Years of Storytelling” by Mark A. Vieira (Running Press; $40) 368 Pages, Illustrated (B&W and color); Hardback. ISBN: 9780762482375"

Review by Lee Pfeiffer

Running Press, in association with Turner Classic Movies, has released a glorious tribute to a legendary studio with “Warner Bros.: 100 Years of Storytelling” by noted author and film historian Mark A. Vieira. The book features an insightful foreword written by (appropriately enough) Ben Mankiewicz, one of the popular hosts of TCM movie presentations and a member of the Mankiewicz family of Hollywood legend. The studio introduced sound to the movie-going experience with the release of The Jazz Singer in 1927, and as the press releases points out, would later “put the noir in film” through countless crime classics that saw the rise of James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart to legendary status.

The handsome coffee table book is broken down by decade up through films released in 2021. Vieira provides lengthy and informative introductions to each decade beginning with the founding of the studio through the breakthroughs in new screen freedoms in the 1960s and 1970s. However, this is a celebration of Warner Bros. that relies primarily on photographs, reproduced in gorgeous B&W and color. There is a photo and caption for every single film and simply flipping through the volume is a marvelous trip down memory lane. Vieira completed the book before the studio underwent a number of high-profile controversies in the last year that resulted in layoffs that included the top staff of TCM itself- an act that saw major filmmakers such as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese go public with a joint demand that TCM should remain the beloved jewel it has always been. Whatever the future holds for WB, no one can change its monumental past and this book is a fitting tribute to its legacy.

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By Tom Lisanti

A few years ago, actress-turned-playwright Carol Hollenbeck had a Zoom meeting with a theatre group and mentioned this fabulous red-carpet premiere in her hometown for a movie she made in the sixties. About a month later, the group met again on Zoom and one of the group members said to Carol, “By the way, I found your movie.’ She quickly asked, “What movie?’ “Eden Cried,” he replied. Carol was flabbergasted. That film had been lost for almost fifty years and from her perspective it should have remained lost.

Carol Hollenbeck was a starstruck teenager who had been fascinated with Hollywood from a young age. She candidly admitted, “I didn’t want to become an actress. I wanted to be a movie star.”

Arriving in Hollywood in the early 1960s, she unfortunately suffered the pitfalls many naïve young women fell victim to. However, using the stage name of Carole Holland, she did have some small successes greatly aided by the fact that she was a beautiful, shapely, baby doll blonde.

Carol’s looks and poise no doubt helped her land a job as a showgirl in a stage production of Irma La Douce, starring Juliet Prowse at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas. Carol recalls, “Juliet was engaged to Frank Sinatra at the time. She was very outspoken and yelled a lot.” She donned bikinis for a few of the non-AIP beach movies such as The Girls on the Beach. And her adoration of Jean Harlow gave her an indirect connection to Joseph E. Levine’s Harlow starring Carroll Baker and a direct connection to Bill Sargent’s rival Harlow starring Carol Lynley. She actually met with Sargent to discuss her possibly playing the thirties sex bomb. Alas, it did not come to be. [Carol discusses her Harlow experiences in my upcoming book Dueling Harlows: The Race to Bring the Actress’s Life to the Silver Screen from McFarland and Co.]

What did materialize was the female lead in the low-budget oddity, Eden Cried, which was also known as In the Fall of ’55 … Eden Cried. It was shot in 1965 but not shown until 1967—two years after Frankie and Annette had hung up their surfboards. It was a sort of adult, soap opera-ish Beach Party, set in Malibu supposedly during the mid-1950s (but everything from the costumes to the beach scenes to dance moves scream 1960s), that showed what life was like for teenage beach denizens off the sand. There is a fair amount of surfing footage and scenes of young people partying on the shore.

To alleviate all the histrionics, there is narration (that was not in the movie when it premiered) provided by a Jack Nicholson sound-alike who makes a lot of amusing, sardonic remarks about the characters and put-downs about Southern California living in general. It is done in a way that evokes those dead serious 1950s documentaries where they warned viewers about juvenile delinquency or impending bomb threats or predatory homosexuals. It also connects scenes due to missing or excised footage.

Carol has some good dramatic moments as rich girl Lorraine Parker (a sexy blonde with a big bouffant and a bad reputation) new to her high school. She falls for rebellious senior Skip Galloway (Tom P. Pace), a surfer and grease monkey with a bitchin’ hot rod. Pace, who was in his thirties at the time but looked forty-five, is so miscast that it is off-putting seeing him romance the more age-appropriate Carole or confiding to Larry Reimer as his best friend Rich or just hanging on the sand with the teenage beach and surfing crowd. Lorraine and Skip have a tumultuous, up-and down-relationship fueled by a drag race that ends in tragedy; her disapproving father (Victor Izay); infidelity (tired of taking it slow, Lorraine has sex with Rich); a suicide attempt (Lorraine downs some dolls after Skip leaves her) that leads to a quickie marriage, and an unwanted pregnancy that breaks the couple up. This is where the film abruptly ends without the requisite happy ending. It also promises a sequel that never came to be—thankfully.

After its 1967 premiere in Newburgh, Eden Cried was not released theatrically. Unbeknownst to Carol, it surfaced in January of 1972 (it is speculated the narration was added at this point) and was screened in a few theaters in Los Angeles. Then in April, it popped up in Atlanta before falling back into obscurity. In both cities, the nostalgia appeal for the fifties/early sixties was highlighted in its print ads to draw audiences. This was just ahead of the Broadway stage musical Grease and George Lucas’ film American Graffiti—both of which became box office hits.

As far as Carol knows, after being shown in Atlanta, Eden Cried was never televised and remained a lost film until a few years ago when it surfaced on DVD (from Video Screams). It has now become a cult curio especially for fans of 1960s drive-in movies. Carol recently appeared at a screening of the movie and is planning on attending more of them.

Cinema Retro: How were you cast in Eden Cried?

Carol Hollenbeck: I blocked it out regarding how I was cast. I really do not know. However, if I was to venture a guess, it was because of all the publicity I was getting at the time. My press agent was grooming me to be the next Marilyn Monroe. The media dubbed me “Hollywood’s Mystery Girl” because I was being photographed at discotheques and movie premieres. My face turned up in many newspapers.

CR: Do you know what the title means?

CH: It comes from the lyrics to the movie’s theme song [written by John Bambridge, Jr. and sung by Walter Rowen]. I felt that the title meant young love gone wrong...

CR: What did you think of the ridiculous casting of Tom P. Pace as your seventeen-year-old boyfriend?

CH: Tom was almost thirty-five. But it is Hollywood’s mentality. I will tell you why. Everybody knew he was too old. Somebody—probably one of the producers—said, ‘I want him. I don’t care how old he looks, I want him.’ And that was it. He was not physically right for the part, but they wanted him anyway. With me I was a few years older than seventeen but I did have an appropriate California blonde beach look. The public is fixated on that American blonde image. It has always fascinated me about the blonde myth, the blonde fantasy—the Marilyn Monroe-type.

CR: What do you recall about the film’s director and screenwriter, Fred Johnson?

CH: Fred was very young. We were all young—well except for Tom Pace. I think Fred did the best he could and was a good writer.

CR: How did it come about that Eden Cried had its premiere in your hometown of Newburgh, New York?

CH: I believe someone from Walter Reade Distributors thought of it. Eden Cried had its premiere on June 10, 1967. They flew me from Hollywood to New York. I was treated like a star. In Newburgh, they named a street after me called “Carole Holland Way,” but it was only for two weeks. I was so nervous that I didn’t go into the theater to watch it. My family and friends knew it was not very good but did not come right out and say so. They were nice about it.

CR: Do you know why it did not get a national theatrical release at that time?

CH: It got caught up in some kind of squabble between Walter Reade and the producers, so it ended up being shelved.

CR: What were your feelings like after hearing that the film was never going to be seen?

CH: Even though the film was not great, I thought I did a fairly decent job and it could have helped me get other roles. But I did not stay in Hollywood long enough to promote myself and get the film footage out, so people could see it. I just chose to dislike it and put it out of my mind. So, when it got lost and nobody saw it, I didn’t care because I didn’t believe it was going to take me anywhere. I walked around for many years with shame for making this film. It didn’t seem to bring me any happiness.

CR: What did you do after leaving Hollywood?

CJ: I moved to New York and continued acting for a bit. I did commercials and had day parts on soap operas such as Love Is a Many Splendored Thing and As the World Turns. I appeared in a number of Off-Broadway plays and a few movies, most notably Tootsie where I played an autograph hound in a scene with Jessica Lange. In the nineties, I began writing for local newspapers and then the National Enquirer. I then joined a women’s ensemble group and began playwrighting. Two of my plays, Funky Fifties and The Lifters, were nominated for the Samuel French Best One Act Plays Award.

CR: Did you ever try to find Eden Cried?

CH: In 2017, we did a reading of my play Hometown Premiere at the Ritz Theatre in Newburgh, where the film premiered. The staff of the theatre searched for Eden Cried because they wanted to use a clip of it in the staged reading, since the play was loosely based on the film’s premiere. It could not be found.  I thought then, ‘Perhaps I should accept that I did the movie, but I won’t ever find it,’

CR: When Eden Cried finally surfaced on DVD what was your reaction?

CH: It was being sold on DVD by Sinister Cinema.com and I purchased a copy. What they did to salvage the film, is they added a narration that pokes fun of the sixties’ era. I really liked that. The film is so corny that it’s funny. The narration gives the film a Mystery Science Theater touch.

CR: After watching fifty years later, what surprised you the most?

CH: That I had so many costume changes.

CR: What are your feelings today toward the movie today?

CH: I have done a 180-degree turnaround. It is like a cult film. Now everything in my apartment is Eden Cried. The framed movie poster is on my wall. There are twenty-four products with the Eden Cried poster on it—t-shirts, tote bags, coffee mugs, hoodies, pillows, etc. When I couldn’t find it, I was glad I couldn’t. But when I found it, I was glad I did. I have embraced it and absolutely love it.

(Look for Carol Hollenbeck’s upcoming novella, A Moment of Blonde Madness and Tom Lisanti’s upcoming books, Ryan’s Hope: An Oral History of Daytime’s Groundbreaking Soap from Citadel Press/Kensington Books and Dueling Harlows: The Race to Bring the Actress’s Life to the Silver Screen from McFarland and Company.)

(Photos courtesy of Tom Lisanti and Carol Hollenbeck.)

"IN SEARCH OF 'THUNDERBALL'": CINEMA RETRO'S MARK CERULLI VISITS FILM LOCATIONS IN THE BAHAMAS

THEATRE REVIEW: "THE SHARK IS BROKEN" (GOLDEN THEATRE, BROADWAY)

REVIEW: "RETREAT HELL!" (1952) STARRING FRANK LOVEJOY AND RICHARD CARLSON; OLIVE FILMS BLU-RAY AND DVD

THOSE GLORIOUS OLD MOVIE ADS

"ENTER THE DRAGON" COMES TO 4K AND DIGITAL

WILLIAM FRIEDKIN, OSCAR-WINNING DIRECTOR, DEAD AT 87

BFI RELASING "BRANNIGAN" STARRING JOHN WAYNE AS REGION 2 BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID: "DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER" (1971)

REVIEW: "THE CATMAN OF PARIS" (1946); IMPRINT BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION

AL PACINO INTERVIEWED ABOUT THE ACTORS STUDIO