Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

World Premiere of STAR WARS FILM CONCERT SERIES

To Feature Iconic Scores Performed Live to Film

John Williams’s Complete Scores Conducted by David Newman September 15–October 7, 2017

NEW YORK COMIC CON To Feature RETURN OF THE JEDI and

THE FORCE AWAKENS as Part of NYCC PRESENTS

“STAR WARS: MUSIC FOR A GALAXY”

With Conductor and Film Score Composer David Newman Moderated by Mark Travis

Part of FREE INSIGHTS AT THE ATRIUM

September 12, 2017

The Philharmonic Presents “Star Wars Film Concert Series Fan Zone” At Each Concert: Meet-and-Greet with Star Wars Characters, Specialty Drinks,

Event-Themed Photo Booth, Commemorative Merchandise, and More

BY HANK REINEKE

With a screenplay penned by an otherwise obscure advertising copywriter named Ceri Jones (adapted from an original story by director Gary Sherman), the premise of Death Line is rather simple. Late night travelers on London’s famed underground tubes have been disappearing with alarming regularity from the Russell Square Tube Station. Two young, unmarried collegians, Alex Campbell (David Ladd) and Patricia Wilson (Sharon Gurney), unwittingly get themselves entangled into the mystery when they find an unconscious, well-dressed fop lying comatose on the lower steps of the station. They alert a wary and hesitant policeman to investigate, but the slumped body – whose wallet had earlier identified the body as Sir James Manfred, O.B.E. - is suddenly nowhere to be found.

We soon learn that Manfred (James Cossins) is merely the latest delicacy in the supper plans of a gruesome character billed only as “The Man.” Even putting his cannibalistic appetite aside, “The Man” (Hugh Armstrong) still cuts a pretty morbid figure. Filthy, ragged, and with skin tone that’s both beyond the pale and ravaged with festering sores (think of the iconic and disheveled – but still healthier appearing - figure that graces the cover of Jethro Tull’s seminal Aqualung LP), this mostly mute subterranean has – somewhat reluctantly - become the last surviving offspring of a band of tunnel dwellers.

There’s a back story here, of course. It seems that during the construction of the South London tube in 1892, there was an unfortunate cave-in that entombed a team of construction workers. The company contracted to build that particular section of this nineteenth century subway went immediately into bankruptcy, coldheartedly making no attempt to rescue those (apparently) mixed-sex workers trapped in the dank and rat infested arc-shaped tunnels.

This was unfortunate as some of those abandoned not only managed to survive, but to reproduce and flourish (more or less) by eating the flesh of their less fortunate comrades. It’s never adequately explained why in the eighty years between the tunnel collapse of 1892 and the film’s current date of 1972, the youngest and last surviving of the mining offspring has lost all of their language skills aside from a grunting, guttural mimic of the rail line’s oft-repeated conductor’s phrase “Mind the Doors.” Likewise, it’s never explained why – while searching out potential future meals on the underground platforms - the “trapped” tunnelers simply didn’t walk up the stairwells and out into the sunshine. Of course, if they had, there would be no drama. Certainly romancing University students Campbell and Wilson wouldn’t have been begrudgingly dragged into the on-going police investigation – much in the manner of Fred and Daphne from the old Scooby Doo cartoon series. To some degree it hardly matters. They’re window dressing. British actor Donald Pleasence is the true star of this vehicle, bringing more than a dollop of churlish intensity to his blue collar character, Inspector Calhoun. Pleasence is a decidedly old-school policeman, a cantankerous, prudish sort who continually badgers his secretary for cups of tea. He also relishes belittling and sneering at young Campbell and his generation’s immoral lifestyles, live-in girlfriends, and hippie mindset. He’s particularly disdainful of privileged middle-class kids dabbling in the political protest movements of the day.

To be fair, Calhoun shows little regard for the more well-heeled citizens of Britain either, tossing more than a few cynical barbs at the newly deceased snob James Manfred, O.B.E. He also possesses an almost pathological antipathy toward M.I.5. He views the organization not as an ally but more as a smug, self-important competitor in his street level fight against crime.

Though horror film icon Christopher Lee gets a feature billing in Death Line, his role is relatively small and the single scene he does appear in does little to move the narrative forward. Producer Paul Maslansky had previously worked with Lee on a number of films (including the very atmospheric and spooky black and white chiller Castle of the Living Dead). It was through Maslansky that Lee was cast as Pleasence’s smirking antagonist, the condescending and derby-topped Stratton-Villiers of M.I.5.

Though the two actors would only share a single scene together – oddly, the pair would only share the briefest of moments seen together on the big screen – Maslansky recalled Lee gladly accepting the small role if only to work with Pleasence, an actor he much admired. The young American actor, David Ladd, was also duly impressed by Pleasence, describing him as the consummate “actor’s actor.” He found working alongside him somewhat “intimidating.” Ladd is the younger brother of Oscar-winning producer Alan Ladd, Jr., and was certainly no leading man in Britain. He had previously worked mostly in the U.S. as a child actor. Though Ladd’s role of Alex Campbell was originally purposed for a British actor, the producers thought having an American in the part might make the film an easier sell in the States.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Stories about troubled cops or ex-cops still have a foothold in movies and TV shows -- almost to the point where you wonder why so these emotionally vulnerable men and women chose a stressful career in law enforcement in the first place.  Private eyes, on the other hand, are almost an extinct species on the screen, after great media popularity in the 1950s and intermittent periods of audience demand since then. Maybe, as fantasy figures who embody power, personal integrity, and social conscience, trenchcoated PIs have been displaced and replaced by superheroes. The hero of Hal Ashby’s “8 Million Ways to Die” (1986), Matt Scudder (Jeff Bridges), begins as a policeman but becomes an unlicensed, free-lance gumshoe in the course of the story. A detective with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office, Scudder serves a warrant on a suspected drug trafficker in the opening scenes of the film. When the suspect attacks another deputy with a baseball bat, Scudder fatally shoots him in front of his wife and children. Either out of remorse for killing the suspect or out of anger for being raked over the coals by Internal Affairs for using his gun (the movie is a little hazy on this point), Scudder quits the force and becomes an alcoholic. Deciding to clean up his act after his wife and daughter move out, Scudder joins Alcoholics Anonymous, where another attendee at a meeting, an attractive woman, slips him a note with a name and phone number. These developments all take place within the first few minutes of the picture.

From the staging, the audience initially thinks that the woman is flirting with Scudder and giving him her personal information. (Nowadays, she’d Tweet -- were the 1980s really that long ago?) But it turns out that the name and phone number belong to the woman’s friend, Sunny (Alexandra Paul), a prostitute. Sunny offers a job to Scudder as a go-between with her pimp, Chance (Randy Brooks). Sunny wants out of the life but she’s afraid to approach Chance herself. Scudder agrees to represent her. Chance tells him that Sunny is free to go: he doesn’t control her and she can do what she wants. But then Sunny is abducted off the street and brutally murdered while Scudder watches helplessly. Scudder goes on a bender, but revenge gives him a motive for going on the wagon again. He’s convinced that Chance was the murderer, and he wants to bring him to justice, but as he confronts Chance and gathers other clues, his suspicions turn to Angel (Andy Garcia), a high-living Colombian cocaine kingpin. Scudder enlists another hooker, Sarah (Rosanna Arquette) to help him get close to Angel. The previous tragedy of a woman horribly murdered while under Scudder’s care threatens to repeat itself. Sarah, a shotgun held under her chin, becomes leverage for Angel as Scudder tries to entrap him by instigating a raid on his multi-million dollar cache of coke.

The story behind “8 Million Ways to Die,” (1986) Ashby’s final, troubled film, arguably is more interesting than the movie itself. The initial script by Oliver Stone, adapted from a 1982 novel by Lawrence Block, went through at least two rewrites, one by an uncredited Robert Towne. As director, Ashby encouraged the actors to improvise many scenes. Some accounts say that Ashby did so in a spirit of creative collaboration, others contend that he’d simply lost interest in the job after ongoing interference by the producers. Many of the scenes stumble around with the actors improvising dialogue that sounds like what might emerge from drama-school tryouts where hopefuls are encouraged to “talk about your character’s feelings.” In a showdown between Scudder and Angel, Bridges and Garcia set a record for the number of F-bombs shouted in a given time period. Ashby’s supporters claim that “8 Million Ways to Die” would have been a good film, rather than an exasperating but sometimes interesting failure, if he’d been allowed to oversee post-production, choose the best of multiple takes from certain scenes, and rearrange the story to better frame it as a journey of redemption as seen through Scudder’s eyes.

Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray edition of “8 Million Ways to Die” is rich in special features, including an informative audio commentary by film historians Howard S. Berger and Nathaniel Thompson, and new interviews with Garcia, Paul, Arquette, and Block. All three actors are collegial and engaged, but Garcia, especially, reminisces about the movie eloquently and warmly; it’s unfortunate that most younger viewers, now, probably know the handsome actor best for his commercials with George Clooney, hawking Nespresso. Block talks about meeting with Stone early on, and wryly notes that the producers had concerns about the logic of retaining the title of the novel. The book had been set in New York City, and the title had been a play on the tagline for the classic, NYC-based Naked City TV series (“There are eight million stories . . .”). But the script relocated the action to Los Angeles, where the population falls short of eight million people. The producers decided to keep the title when they calculated that, if you counted the number of residents in the entire LA metro area, you’d come up with about eight million.

Berger and Thompson note that the film was a commercial flop in initial release (I remember seeing it in a nearly empty theater, the first week it played), but gradually picked up an audience from VHS and pay-cable through the late ‘80s. Is it sexist to wonder whether many of those home-video watchers were guy teens who sneaked the cassette to fast-forward and freeze-frame to Alexandra Paul’s brief, full-fontal nude scene?

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray includes a reversible cover sleeve with alternate poster art on both sides.  The main side reproduces the poster showing Bridges and Arquette against a pastel-neon sunset and a waving palm tree.  The color scheme, I’m certain, was designed to entice fans of TV’s “Miami Vice,” the hottest ticket in pop culture at the time.

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(Fred Blosser is the author of "Pulp Slam: Rip-Roarin' Tales of Mystery, Murder and Mayhem. Click here to order from Amazon) 

BY LEE PFEIFFER

To the surprise of no one, Daniel Craig has confirmed he will be returning as James Bond. It had previously been announced by Eon Productions that the next Bond film is in pre-production with veteran scribes Neil Purvis and Robert Wade working on the script. The film will not be released until November 2019, giving them plenty of time to fine-tune the story line. Craig, in a jovial mood,  appeared last night on Stephen Colbert's show to confirm the news. He did make some more news by confirming that this would indeed be his last performance as Bond and that he looked forward to leaving the series on a high note. He also renounced disparaging comments he made about playing Bond after the release of his most recent 007 film "Spectre", saying that his comments that he would rather "slit my wrists" than play 007 again were "really stupid". Speculation will now go into overdrive in the fan community about whether Christoph Waltz will return as Bond's arch nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld to follow up on the character's appearance in "Spectre". The character of Blofeld had been in limbo for decades due to legal reasons. For more click here.

REVIEW BY ADRIAN SMITH

Published by Headpress

Paperback

229mm x 152mm

340 pages

ISBN: 978-1-909394-46-9

RRP: £14.99/ $21.95

Nigel Kneale, who passed away in 2006 at the age of eighty-four, was responsible for some of early British television’s seminal moments, and is best remembered by popular audiences for scaring the population half to death in 1953 with The Quatermass Experiment, followed over the next few years by Quatermass II (1955) and Quatermass and the Pit (1958). In 1954 he was responsible for adapting George Orwell’s 1984 into a television play starring Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence, a production that was considered so shocking that questions were asked in Parliament. The repeat performance the following week was only allowed to go ahead once word came through that the Queen had liked it.

Despite Kneale’s success at the BBC he had a difficult relationship with the corporation and eventually became an independent writer, spending most of the next few decades writing television dramas and film scripts, as well adapting novels for films. Some of this work was relatively pedestrian, but when he wrote scripts like The Stone Tape (1972), depicting the scientific exploration of a haunted house, or the dystopian nightmare The Year of the Sex Olympics (1968), a world in which television serves up a constant diet of violence and pornography, his legacy as one of the most important writers of horror and science fiction was assured.

Ironically he hated being associated with science fiction and horror, constantly rejecting requests to write for shows like Doctor Who, (1963 – 1989, 2005 –), which he thought was too frightening for children, and in the 1990s he rudely turned down an invitation to contribute to The X-Files (1993 – 2002, 2016 –), stating “This is the worst kind of science fiction,” before going on to denigrate the main cast. This no doubt disappointed the show’s creator Chris Carter who was a big fan. His influence on a new generation of filmmakers and TV producers from the late 1970s onwards meant that Kneale was constantly being offered work, including from Hollywood, where he worked with John Landis on an unrealised remake of The Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) before scripting Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) for John Carpenter. Upon seeing the finished film and how, in his opinion, it had veered drastically from his script, Nigel Kneale was so furious he had his name removed from the credits.

First published in 2006, this vastly updated and expanded edition of Andy Murray’s excellent biography of Kneale is a fascinating insight into one of television’s most influential, important and occasionally belligerent writers. From his childhood on the Isle of Man to his final moments, no aspect of his life has been neglected. The book is built around a series of interviews with the Kneale and his wife, successful children’s author Judith Kerr, as well as with dozens of people who have either worked with Kneale or are fans, including John Carpenter, Russell T. Davies and Mark Gatiss. Andy Murray has also identified many of the references and homages to Kneale’s work in film and television, including, ironically, Doctor Who, the show which Kneale despised so vehemently. Most notably the 1970s stories featuring Jon Pertwee battling alien invasions of Earth alongside UNIT were effectively Quatermass stories under a different name.

Into the Unknown: The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale is a thorough and well-researched read for anyone interested in television history, science fiction, or who might have spent Saturday nights as a child hiding behind the sofa during Quatermass and the Pit, and is highly recommended.

You can purchase Into the Unknown: The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale here: http://www.headpress.com/ShowProduct.aspx?ID=170

There will be a rare big screen showing of the 1967 spoof version of the James Bond film "Casino Royale" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The screening is Thursday, August 17 at 1:30 PM. The film features an all-star cast including Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, David Niven, Deborah Kerr, Woody Allen, William Holden to name just a few. The film's legacy as a debacle in terms of a production that went out of control is well documented and was covered in-depth in Cinema Retro issue #6. Producer Charles K. Feldman employed numerous directors who worked on the movie simultaneously, but never together. The movie went over-schedule and over-budget but still did big business at cinemas. Even those who loathe the movie concede it boasts superb production values, a great musical score by Burt Bacharach and at least a few genuinely inspired moments of comedy. "Casino" may be a mess- but it's a grand, glorious mess.- Lee Pfeiffer

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Bologna in "My Favorite Year".

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Actor and playwright Joseph Bologna has died from cancer at age 82. Bologna and his wife of 52 years, actress/writer Renee Taylor, were nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay they co-wrote (with David Zelag Goodman) for the 1971 comedy "Lovers and Other Strangers". The two collaborated frequently on and off screen. Bologna was noted primarily for his affiliation with comedies. He and Taylor co-wrote 22 plays and also appeared frequently on television but both had successful solo careers as well.  His most memorable big screen role was as King Kaiser, the acerbic TV variety show host who was based on Sid Caesar in the hit 1982 comedy "My Favorite Year". Last month, Bologna attended a 35th anniversary screening of the film. His other feature films include "Made for Each Other" (co-written with Taylor), "The Big Bus", "Blame It On Rio", "The Woman in Red" and "Big Daddy". For more click here. 

BY LEE PFEIFFER

The good folks at the esteemed boutique video label First Run Features are generally known for making available films that relate to important and usually sobering social issues. Every now and then, however, they delve into areas that are considerably more light-hearted in nature. First Run has recently overseen the theatrical release of the acclaimed new documentary "Vince Giordano: There's a Future in the Past" by directors Dave Davidson and Amber Edwards. The film has now been released on DVD. Giordano may not be a household name but he's a living legend among jazz purists who are devoted to the music of the 1920s and 1930s- the kind of upbeat, immortal tunes popularized by Paul Whiteman, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong.  Giordano plays to packed houses at Manhattan venues where he performs with his band, the Nighhawks, which he formed decades ago. Like many creative types, he is eccentric, to be sure. The film's glimpses into his personal life reveals that he lives modestly in two adjoining houses in a middle class neighborhood of Brooklyn. Giordano bought the house next door many years ago to accommodate his ever-increasing collection of sheet music and memorabilia that has obsessed him since childhood. The collection is meticulously cataloged in so many filing cabinets that his house resembles the Library of Congress. Floor-to-ceiling paperwork pertaining to his musical heroes permeates the place. You won't find any evidence in Giordano's abode that indicates the existence of rock 'n roll or even the glory days of crooners like Sinatra and Crosby. He is completely devoted to the golden era of jazz and works tirelessly to keep up with finding gigs that will help him keep his sizable band employed. 

The film opens with the band delighting in audiences at their long-time Manhattan home, the nightclub Sofia's which was located in the historic Edison Hotel off of Times Square (the same venue where Luca Brasi made the ominous walk to his doom in "The Godfather".)  For many years the Nighthawks performed here in the cozy venue, filling the room with the joy of the big band sound. I had seen them there several years ago and, despite not being a jazz enthusiast myself, I couldn't help but marvel at the sheer exuberance of the band. The film follows Giordano's travails as the leader of the Nighthawks- including informing the band members on camera that Sofia's is being forced out of business by landlords who have raised the rent to $2 million a year. Ever-resourceful, he finds them a new home at a club called Iguana- but there are countless  other frustrations involved in moving so many people to so many gigs far and wide. Many band members have been with Giordano for many years, some for decades. They relate how the sheer challenges of keeping on top of all of his responsibilities has sometimes caused him to break up the band, only to reunite them shortly thereafter. Giordano seems to have no other interests in his life than jazz and the Nighthawks. He is like an Evangelist in terms of spreading the word about the music and artists that he so reveres. His efforts are clearly paying off. We see him attract young people at the Newport Jazz Festival and at New York's famed private club for the arts, The Players, where he is one of the headline acts at the New York Hot Summer Jazz Festival. Giordano is part mother hen and part drill instructor to his band members. He refers to himself as "The King of Schlep" in regard to the fact that at age 65 he still loads and unloads the vast amount of equipment necessary for every show, carrying it all around in a rather weather-beaten van. He's like a modern version of Willie Lohman, feeling his age perhaps, but ever-devoted to his profession.  He relies on his right arm, Carol Jean Hughes, to help him keep track of the enormous amount of paperwork and logistical support that goes into running the band. Giordano shows a grumpy side when things go wrong:  a misplaced mouthpiece or a miscommunication that sees him setting up the entire band at the Players only to be told to dismantle everything because another band is scheduled to go on before him. But he's clearly in his element and delighting when playing in front of appreciative audiences. The band's prominence hit new heights with their Grammy-winning work on the HBO series "Boardwalk Empire" and the film includes clips from one of the segments in which the Nighthawks appear on camera. There is also extensive footage of David Johansen rehearsing with the band for the series. Giordano also coordinates a triumphant celebration of the 90th anniversary of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and performs it at the same venue in which it premiered on the exact date of the anniversary in front of a cheering audience. The film also mentions that Giordano has worked with Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen, appearing on camera in musical scenes in their films.

"Vince Giordano: There's a Future in the Past" is a sweet-natured movie that was funded by grants and private donations. Directors Davidson and Edwards wisely allow ample screen time to show the Nighthawks performing- and the interviews with band members are especially interesting, giving a perspective of people who have not gotten rich but clearly enjoy what they do. Vince Giordano comes across as a New York original- the kind of guy you would like to sit down with at a bar for a few hours. However, that seems unlikely since the workaholic musician strikes me as the kind of obsessive who couldn't bring himself to stop studying and playing music long enough to drain down a couple of cold ones. The documentary is terrific on all levels- just like any performance by Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks.  

The DVD boasts an excellent transfer and a trailer gallery of other First Run features available on DVD, though strangely it does not include the trailer for the Giordano film.   

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Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Eon Productions and MGM:

BOND RETURNS TO SÖLDEN

A NEW JAMES BOND CINEMATIC INSTALLATION, COMING SOON

26 July 2017 - A unique James Bond cinematic installation will open this winter at the top of the Gaislachkogl Mountain next to the ICE Q Restaurant, Sölden, Austria. The iconic location was used in Spectre as the Hoffler Klinik and formed part of the snow chase sequence in the film.

Cable Car Companies Sölden is creating a bespoke new building to house the 007 installation, embedded into the top of the mountain, designed and built by award-winning architect Johann Obermoser. The innovative, dynamic space is inspired by the work of visionary James Bond Production Designer Sir Ken Adam.

The concept for the installation has been designed and developed by Creative Director and James Bond Art Director Neal Callow (Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall and Spectre) together with Optimist Inc. Head of Design Tino Schaedler and his team.

Commenting on the announcement, Jakob Falkner, Shareholder and Managing Director, Cable Car Companies Sölden said: "We’re delighted to be partnering with EON Productions and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to bring Bond back to Sölden by creating a truly unique experience in the heart of the Tyrol region. Together with the many exciting and varied activities available in the area, this James Bond installation will strengthen Sölden’s position as a year-round destination for sports and entertainment.”

The name of the cinematic installation and further details about the visitor experience will be released later this year.

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

The LOS ANGELES COMIC BOOK AND SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION presents Classic Movie Poster Artist Robert Tanenbaum, Jean Hale (In Like Flint), Sharyn Wynters (The Female Bunch), and Donna Loren (Bikini Beach) at the AUGUST 20, 2017 Show.

ROBERT TANENBAUM is a Movie Poster Artist with an over 50 year career illustrating every film genre such as Science Fiction, Horror, Comedy, War, Drama and Martial Arts. Robert has illustrated such Classic Movie Posters as A CHRISTMAS STORY, BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES, CUJO, FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH, BLACK CHRISTMAS, SUPER FLY, THE COLOR OF MONEY, MY BODYGUARD, DIRTY MARY CRAZY LARRY, THE IRON CROSS, THE EAGLE HAS LANDED, RANSOM, CLEOPATRA JONES AND THE CASINO OF GOLD, HOT POTATO, MEL BROOKS HIGH ANXIETY and SILENT NIGHT, EVIL NIGHT.  Robert’s art is featured on the first announcement that JAWS was being made into a Movie. Robert also did advertising art such as the JAWS Ride at Universal Studios and celebrity portraits. Robert will have Prints of his Movie Poster Art available for purchase for $25.00 which includes an autograph.  Robert Tanenbaum will appear from 10:00 A.M.-5:00 P.M. and he will also be taking art commissions.

The following Celebrities are appearing for a Henchwomen of the Batman TV Series Villains Theme:

JEAN HALE starred as Polly, Mad Hatter’s Henchwoman in the 1967 BATMAN TV Series two part episode, “The Contaminated Cowl,” “The Mad Hatter Runs Afoul.” Jean’s credits include The Wild Wild West, My Favorite Martian, Hawaii Five-O, McHale’s Navy, Bonanza, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Fugitive, Perry Mason, The Mod Squad and Movies In Like Flint, St. Valentines Day Massacre and The Oscar. Jean Hale makes her very First Convention Appearance to sign autographs from 11:00 A.M.-3:00 P.M.

SHARYN WYNTERS starred as Eenie, the Catwoman’s Henchwoman in a 1966 BATMAN TV Series two part episode, "The Cat’s Meow,” “The Bat’s Kow Tow.”  Sharyn’s other credits include Longstreet, Mannix, Banacek, The Doris Day Show and movies Westworld (1973 starring Yul Brynner) and The Female Bunch (starring Lon Chaney Jr. and Russ Tamblyn). Sharyn Wynters makes her very First Convention Appearance to sign autographs from 11:00 A.M.-3:00 P.M.

DONNA LOREN starred as Susie the Cheerleader, The Joker’s Henchwoman in a 1966 BATMAN TV Series two part episode, "The Joker Goes to School,” " He Meets His Match, The Grisly Ghoul.” Donna's TV series credits include The Monkees, Shindig!, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. and Dr. Kildare.  Donna is a Singer and starred in the famous A.I.P. Beach Movies of the 1960’S which include Muscle Beach Party, Bikini Beach, Pajama Party (all 1964), Beach Blanket Bingo and Sergeant Deadhead (both 1965).  Donna will have available for purchase her new book, POP SIXTIES: SHINDG!, DICK CLARK, BEACH PARTY, AND PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE DONNA LOREN ARCHIVE,  a photographic retrospective of Donna’s career with Behind the Scenes Photos on the sets of Batman, The Monkees and the A.I.P. Beach Movies and much more! Donna Loren signs autographs from 11:00 A.M.-3:00 P.M.

VALERIE KAIRYS starred as Kitty, Catwoman’s Henchwoman in a 1966 BATMAN TV Series two part episode,  “The Sandman Cometh,” “The Catwoman Goeth.” Valerie is billed at the end credits as Valeri Kairys. Valerie starred in 14 episodes of the 1966-1968 TV Series The Monkees playing various characters and in The Monkees Theatrical Movie, Head.  Valerie’s other credits include Vanishing Point, Family Products, The Dazzling Darling Sisters, and Tourbillon. Valerie Kairys signs autographs from 11:00 A.M.-3:00 P.M.

SUSAN SILO starred as Mousey, The Riddler’s Henchwoman in a 1966 BATMAN TV Series two part episode, “A Riddle a Day Keeps The Riddler Away,” “When the Rat’s Away, the Mice Will Play.”  Susan starred in many TV Series such as The Wild, Wild West, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., McHale’s Navy, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Sea Hunt, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Love Boat. Susan is also a Voice Actress and credits include Pryde of the X-Men (Voice of The White Queen),  Darkwing Duck (Neptunia), James Bond Jr. (Phoebe Farragut/Miss Fortune/Pirate Parrot), InHumanoids (Sandra Shore/Stella Blaze/State of Liberty), Biker Mice from Mars (Dr. Karbunkle), Richie Rich (Mrs. Rich), The Tick (Jungle Janet/Jet Valkyrie), W.I.T.C.H. (Miranda Beast), Xiaolin Showdown (Wuya), Curious George (Netti Pisghetti), The Legend of Korra (Yin), Pac-Man (Sue), The Smurfs (Petaluma), Lilo and Stitch (Computer) and many others.  Susan is currently starring in the New Animated series The Micronauts based on the popular Toy Line and Marvel Comic Book from the 1970’s.  Susan Silo signs autographs from 11:00 A.M.-3:00 P.M.

DEANNA LUND starred as Anna Gram, The Riddler’s Henchwoman in a 1967 BATMAN TV Series two part episode, “Batman’s Anniversary,” “A Riddling Controversy.”  Deanna’s TV series credits include Irwin Allen’s Land of the Giants (as Valerie Scott in 51 episodes), T.H.E. Cat, Search, The Waltons, The Incredible Hulk and Movies Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, Hammerhead, Roots of Evil and Hardly Working. Deanna Lund signs autographs from 11:00 A.M.-4:00 P.M.

The LOS ANGELES COMIC BOOK AND SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION will take place SUNDAY, AUGUST 20, 2017 at THE REEF, 1933 South Broadway, in Los Angeles, a mile north of USC College.  Show Hours are 10:00 A.M.-5:00 P.M.  Regular Admission is only $13.00, five years and under are free.  Early Admission is $15.00. All celebrities charge for each autograph. Check website to confirm signing times of all Guests.  The Dealers Room features over one hundred tables full of Old and New Comic Books, Toys, Action Figures, Funko Pop, Trading Cards, Trade Paperbacks, Graphic Novels, DVDs, Movie Memorabilia and many other collectibles! Check www.comicbookscifi.com and www.facebook.com/comicbookscifi for more information!

BY TODD GARBARINI

When a film is as uninspired and as amateurishly made as Lance Lindsay’s Star Crystal (1986) is and ends with the words “Filmed entirely in SPACE” following the end credits, you know that you’re going to wish that you had those 93 minutes of your life back. Unfortunately, science has not gotten us to the point where that is possible just yet. Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) was the first low-budget Star Wars rip-off that I saw theatrically and I was astonished at how unexciting it was. However, it did give us James Cameron, Bill Paxton, and James Horner so it wasn’t all bad. Crystal, also a product of Roger Corman’s low-budget production company, goes much further than Battle did in terms of “borrowing” from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Dark Star (1974), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Alien (1979), E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), The Thing (1982), Xtro (1983), and Lifeforce (1985). Released on VHS in April 1986, Crystal outright steals from these classic films. Crystal lives up to none of the exceptional movie artwork that was used to promote it, which is a shame as the poster is probably the best thing about it (though it hawks the action as taking place in 2035, not 2032 – is there really a difference?), although it does have a fairly decent score by Doug Katsaros.

In the future, remember this is 2032 and not 2035!, two men on Mars extricate a rock from the planet’s surface and, brilliantly, bring it on board the spacecraft. To think that these guys never saw Ridley Scott’s Alien is a little too much to believe. They have it analyzed by a scientist who determines that it’s…a…rock. Yes, it’s a rock that leaks a mysterious white goo (no, I’m not going there…) which a crew member sticks nearly their entire hand into out of curiosity. Apparently, they didn’t see Larry Cohen’s The Stuff (1985) either. It then begins to turn into a pitiful-looking alien. The rock turns into some sort of crystal, and looks not unlike the titular Dark Crystal from that superior film. These events cause the crew to die suddenly. Too bad it didn’t have the same effect on the viewer. All the computers and onboard spaceship equipment look like they were made by Radio Shack. The action (that’s being kind) then flashes forward two months later when Colonel William Hamilton is assigned to find out why the crew died. Maybe they watched the dailies and committed suicide? An attractive blonde flirts with him in typical 80’s fashion. Everyone on the ship has big 80’s hair, a true anachronism in 2032. Onboard the ship (in reality a poorly-disguised shopping mall) is Roger Campbell (C. Juston Campbell) and his right hand man who cracks unfunny jokes like “I’d rather eat my shoe” when referring to the ship’s food. The ship begins shaking when the cinematographer starts shaking it back and forth and crew members run around frivolously. The shopping mall’s escalators are a hilarious prop.

I could go on and on about this film, but I don’t want to ruin the special awfulness of it for the viewer. I will say that the ending is particularly silly and comes out of left field that features an anthropomorphized blob that breathes deeply. The plot is picked out of many sci-fi films and the director does what he can with the ludicrous material. It makes you wonder, however, if the movie was originally written to be tongue-in-cheek or meant to be serious. Coca-Cola appears in a product-placement moment, and the women on the ship are dressed in outfits that make one half expect them all to break into calisthenics. It’s always nice to have a blonde running around screaming, “We’re all gonna die!!” at the first sight of outer space trouble. The gratuitous sex that was a mainstay of such 80’s fare is completely missing from Star Crystal and it makes one wonder who was the intended audience. Exactly ten minutes into the film, a shot from within the mothership reveals a replica of the Millennium Falcon flanking each side of the entrance. Really? Lucasfilm signed off on this? May the Farce Be With You.

If there is anything this film needs, it’s the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment. There is even the dreaded End Credits Song. Why do people think that we want a song at the end of movies like this?

If you’re a fan of this film (no judgment; to each his own), you’ll be happy to know that Kino Lorber has provided a top-notch transfer of the film on Blu-ray. This is the one to get!

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

In the 1960s European cinema went mad for a style of filmmaking called portmanteau, which is a movie that consists of several short stories united by a common theme. One such film was the 1964 release "Les plus belles escroqueries du monde", released in English language nations as "The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers". The charm of such movies was that they generally gathered diverse, well-known filmmakers who contributed individual segments in their own unique style. The Olive Films Blu-ray edition of "Swindlers" showcases the work of four directors in generally whimsical tales that involve men and women who circumvent the law for their own personal gain. First up is a tale set in Tokyo, directed by Hiromichi Horikawa. Future James Bond girl Mie Hama plays a young woman who is frustrated by her "career" of working as a hostess in a bar where her duties are to keep male customers engaged in conversation. When she meets a middle-aged, wealthy eccentric (Ken Mitsuda), who walks around with a fortune in cash in a black bag, she sees an opportunity to exploit him using her sexual charms. She convinces him to allow her into his apartment where the lonely man is immediately entranced by her. However, he is embarrassed when she discovers he wears false teeth- and he makes the mistake of informing her they are extremely valuable because they are made of precious metals. When he conveniently succumbs to a fatal heart attack, the girl realizes that absconding with his cash would make her the obvious perpetrator of a crime, so she steals his dentures before calling the police to report the death. The "sting in the tail" ending, however, may be about dentures but it lacks sufficient bite when the young woman gets her just desserts in an unexpected way. Hama is a charming screen presence and its nice to see her in an early role. Director Horikawa squanders the opportunity to showcase the visual splendors of Tokyo by largely confining the action to interiors. However, the segment is reasonably entertaining. 

Japanese poster that played up the charms of Mie Hama.

The second episode is directed by Ugo Gregoretti and is probably the most satisfying of the lot.  Set in Naples, it involves a prostitute (Gabriella Giorgetti) who has been dumped by her lover and who is now homeless and desperate for money. She is befriended by one of her clients, a shy, kindly law student who devises a scheme in which she can legally marry a poor, elderly man who lives in a city-run shelter. This will provide her with the legal protections she needs to ply her trade and no longer be harassed by police. (The segment dwells on the archaic codes of morality that affected every man and woman who lived in Naples at the time). Things seem to go well until she jilts her ancient "groom" and her slavish law student in order to reunite with her cruel ex-boyfriend, who uses the marriage scheme to set up his own business. Before long, it is thriving as he acts as a manager to set up prostitutes in sham marriages to poor old men. The ironic ending in which poetic justice is meted out to both the hooker and her lover is rather clever and amusing. The third segment, directed by Claude Chabrol involves a team of young, good-looking swindlers ( Jean-Pierre Cassel and Catherine Deneuve among them) who have a chance encounter with a rich, obnoxious German (Francis Blanche), who has an obsession with the Eiffel Tower and who maintains a collection of memorabilia relating to the legendary edifice. They convince him to come to Paris, where they have set up an elaborate phony corporate operation under the pretense that they have been solicited by Parisian officials to find someone suitable to sell the Eiffel Tower to. The gullible German is giddy with glee at the prospect of owning the landmark building. There are some funny moments in which he is guided around Paris by his "business partners" and wined and dined by them, even though he ends up paying the tab for everyone. The segment shows a lot of promise but fizzles out with an abrupt and completely unsatisfactory ending that makes one wonder if Chabrol had run out of film or a brisk wind swept away the last few pages of the script. In any event, the bland finale compromises the amusing scenes that precede it. The final segment, set in Marrakesh, Morocco, is directed by the estimable Jean-Luc Godard and features Jean Seberg as an American journalist who comes into possession of counterfeit money. The police inform her that a counterfeiting ring is wreaking havoc on the local economy. Intrigued, she manages to track down the culprit, who agrees to an being interviewed by her (not a very smart move if you're a wanted man). The counterfeiter (Charles Denner) is a local peasant with a somnambulistic personality who justifies his actions by explaining that he uses his ill-gotten gains to help poor people. The segment starts off intriguingly with some exotic shots of Marrakesh but quickly devolves into pretentious, nearly incomprehensible blather. Godard keeps the entire latter half of the story confined to a back alley and presents the counterfeiter in a series of boring closeups. One can only assume that Godard simply wanted a free holiday in Morocco, as the segment is a complete snooze and ends the film on a bland note.

BY MIKE FORBES

Blending movie making and political intrigue, Glenn Frankel’s “High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic,” is a compelling account of the drama within the drama during the making of the critically acclaimed Gary Cooper film.

With clarity and impressive detail, Frankel’s narrative unravels the attitudes and desperation which pervaded Hollywood during the height of McCarthyism in the early 50s. Speaking to both the film enthusiast as well as the history buff, the book chronicles the film's production against the backdrop of the House Un-American Activities Committee’s oppressive hunt for Communist infiltrators in the film industry. Livelihoods were lost, families wrecked, and friendships destroyed as result of the blacklist. Many in Hollywood were forced to make the agonizing choice between ratting out friends and associates or going to jail.

While Cooper is the star of the film, screenwriter Carl Foreman emerges as a central character in Frankel’s book, as he himself faces the wrath of the HUAC for his former communist ties. Foreman, who wrote the screenplay as an allegory about the blacklist movement was eventually blacklisted himself and moved to England shortly after the film was released in 1952.

Just as many in Hollywood felt abandoned and betrayed by those who named names, the film’s protagonist, Sheriff Will Kane (Cooper) is also abandoned by those he thought he could count on. Rather than flee to safety, Kane faces down his enemies alone in a life or death shootout. Foreman’s script parallels the pervading fear and uncertainty of the time period, a brutal era in American history. Kane thought he could count on his friends in a time of need. But like many in Hollywood who were ensnared in McCarthyism’s vice-grip, fear won out, and his friends let him down. Foreman himself later said he felt betrayed by his partner and the film’s producer, Stanley Kramer, after Kramer denied Foreman producing credit due to his entanglement in the blacklist.

But while the “Red Scare” takes center stage in the book, Frankel also examines Cooper’s early life, as well as his physical and emotional struggles during the filming of “High Noon.”

“High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic” is about a pivotal film and those who bought it to screen. It is also about the often predatory nature of politics and how the paranoid fear of communism virtually turned Hollywood against itself.

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BY DAVE WORRALL

Peter S. Haigh, who was a continuous supporter (and occasional contributor) of Cinema Retro magazine since its inception in 2004, passed away recently aged 91. Anyone worth their salt in the film industry of the Fifties and Sixties will be familiar with Peter's journalistic history.

Leaving school towards the end of World War Two, he joined the advertising department of Bradford's evening newspaper, where there was the bonus of free cinema tickets through collecting the advertisement copy for the city's forty-odd cinemas (yes, that many in one city in those days!). Films also featured in Peter's army service, for he had the good fortune to be posted to Radio SEAC, the forces broadcasting service (in what was then Ceylon), where his duties included writing programmes on film and theatre music among other scripts.

On demob he moved to London and secured a job in the news division of BBC Radio. During that time he also compiled the crossword for the monthly magazine ABC Film Review, which led to him being offered a full-time position on the staff. He remained there for a period of thirty years, the latter half as its editor. Having first started as a promotional magazine for the ABC cinema circuit, Film Review became a popular film monthly, packed with news and information, literate reviews and an emphasis on the pictorial as well as the written word. For sixty years it never lost its initial and essential aim of appealing to film fanatics. Although Peter retired from the publication in the Eighties, he continued to compile the magazine's film crossword. Film Review ceased publication in 2007.

Many of Cinema Retro's readers, especially those in the UK, will remember ABC Film Review, and indeed have countless copies in their collections. For me, it was a must-have purchase every time I went to the cinema, and it was always the name of Peter that was to the fore. When he offered to be part of Cinema Retro back in 2004 it was an honour to have him on board. Peter was a guiding light during the past 14 years, always offering suggestions and advice on every issue. For me, and many cinema-goers of my era, he was a legend. Bless you, Peter. We will miss you dearly.

(In 1997, Peter's novel 'Picture Palace: Fifty Years of Comedy and Drama Both On and Off Screen' was published by Minerva Press (ISBN 1-86106-798-4). It is a family saga spanning from 1927 to 1977 which revolves around a provincial cinema and its staff, in particular the owner-manager and the head usherette who is an incorrigible film fan. The lives of these ordinary people are inextricably linked with the films and their stars. Their fictitious stories are told against a background of cinematic history providing a stimulating and poignant window into fifty years of films.)

The Aero Theatre's "Return of 70mm" film festival opens tomorrow and runs through September 1. Films to be screened include 2001:A Space Odyssey, The Dark Crystal, E.T: The Extraterrestrial, Back to the Future Part II, Steven Spielberg's Always, The Last Action Hero, Hook, Streets of Fire and John Carpenters The Thing. Click here for info. 

BY DANIEL SAVINO

Unlike most cities, when people are talking about Casablanca, they are most likely discussing the 1942 classic movie, not the North African city. Why this one film has become the quintessential example of Golden Age Hollywood filmmaking is the focus of the new book We’ll Always Have Casablanca: The Life, Legend, and Afterlife of Hollywood’s Most Beloved Movie by Noah Isenberg. This excellent work not only tells the story of the genesis of the classic motion picture from unproduced play to the backlot of Warner Brothers, but it’s impact on generations of moviegoers as well. Isenberg does a great job in tracing how Casablanca developed into a staple on the repertory film market, as well as the many short stories, novels, movies and plays that have inspired it. As the Ingrid Bergman quote that starts the book states, Casablanca does have a life of it’s own. Through deep research and a love for classic cinema that is evident from page one, Isenberg weaves a great book that describes that existence.

The book tells the story of how Burnett and Alison wrote the play Everybody Comes to Rick’s, which was then sold to Warner Brothers. It then follows how producer Hal B. Wallis dealt with assigning screenwriters to the script that would become, as many people have recognized, the greatest screenplay ever written. Subsequent chapters deal with the casting process of the film; how Harry and Jack Warner were ahead of other studio bosses in calling out fascism in Europe; the many refugees who played bit parts in the film who were also real-life refugees; how the Rick/Ilsa affair gave the studio trouble with both the Production Code and the Office of War Information. One of the most interesting and important chapters deals with how Casablanca became a fixture at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts after Humphrey Bogart’s death in 1957. Subsequently, the film became the most popular classic movie to be shown on American television. This was the beginning of Casablanca becoming the quotable movie we know and love today. Indeed, Isenberg discusses nearby Harvard students stopping by the Brattle to relieve final exam stress in reciting whole passages from the movie.

This book is an excellent examination of how one movie can seep into the consciousness of an entire country, and arguably, the world. It is the perfect companion to the seventy-fifth anniversary of Casablanca, which premiered in New York City in late 1942. In addition to researchers and libraries, the book is a great read and will be of interest to anyone who loves classic cinema and is interested in how a single film can change the world.

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Campbell and Wayne in True Grit.

Glen Campbell, one of the most popular voices in the history of country western music, has passed away at age 81. Since 2011 he had waged a valiant battle against Alzheimer's disease. He continued to perform even as the ailment took a toll on him physically and mentally. His experience was chronicled in the acclaimed 2014 documentary "Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me". Campbell hit his stride in the 1960s and became a popular country "crossover" artist who appealed to audiences that generally didn't patronize country western music. He sold 45 million records over the course of his career. The telegenic, squeaky-clean, nice guy image served Campbell well. He appealed to both young fans and older audiences and had a popular TV variety series, "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour" that ran between 1969-1972. Campbell's acting debut was a promising one. He co-starred opposite John Wayne in the Duke's 1969 Oscar-winning classic "True Grit" and acquitted himself well enough to earn a Golden Globe nomination, in addition to singing the Oscar-nominated title song. However, the big screen did not appeal to him. His one other feature film, the 1970 movie "Norwood", flopped and he would only be seen in films henceforth playing himself in musical sequences. For more click here. 

BY JOHN M. WHALEN

It is only in the stories others tell about us, the legends they create, that we can achieve any sort of immortality. And even though the stories may not be completely true, it is better to keep them alive than to let them die. For when they die, we die with them. Such seems to be the theme of “Barbarosa” (1982), a sly, subtle film from director Fred Schepisi and screenwriter William D. Witliff, about two men on the run in the desert in Old Mexico. One is Karl Westover (Gary Busey), a young farm boy running from an old man who is determined to shoot him on sight in revenge for killing one of his sons. Karl insists it was an accident. The other is a legendary outlaw who has been at war for years with a Mexican family that gave him the name Barbarosa (Willie Nelson), which means Red Beard in Spanish.

No sooner do the two men meet than a Mexican with a gun charges Barbarosa. The grizzled, bearded outlaw stands calmly as a bullet marks his cheek and puts a hole in the brim of his sombrero. He coolly shoots and kills his assailant, a member of the Zuvalla family. Barbarosa explains he’s managed to survive by killing at least half a dozen male members of the Zuvalla family over the last 15 years. The two men—the farm boy and the outlaw—are in the same predicament, both hunted men. Barbarosa reluctantly decides to take the young, inexperienced fugitive under his wing and teach him the tricks of the outlaw trade.

The pairing of Busey with Willie is unusual casting to say the least, and watching them play off each other is quite a treat. The mercurial Busey, even then notorious for cutting up on the set, manages to keep himself in check long enough to make his farm boy turned outlaw believable, and Willy is just laid-back Willie, perfectly suited to play the laconic bandido.

One of the first things Barbarosa teaches him is how to kill a man with a gun. First, he says, point it like you’re pointing your finger. Second squeeze the trigger gently “like you’re holding your sore pecker.” Third: “Always stand still until you’re done shooting,” he explains. “Nothin’ scares a man more than for you to be standin’ still when you should be runnin’ like a spotted-assed ape.” Barbarosa is a font of such outlaw wisdom. When Carl tells him about his trouble back home, he says, “Well, the Mexicans got a saying – ‘What cannot be remedied must be endured.’”

Meanwhile back at the Zuvalla Rancho, Don Braulio Zuvalla (the great Gilbert Roland in his last film), after learning of the death of the man Barbarosa killed, selects another young member of the family to seek out and kill Barbarosa “Bring me his cojones,” he says. “Bring them to me on a stick.” Young Eduardo (Danny De La Paz) accepts the task, vowing not to return until he’s done as the don has asked.

Screenwriter Witliff, whose other work for the screen includes the “Lonesome Dove” TV series, “The Black Stallion,” and “Legends of the Fall,” slowly pays out Barbarosa’s backstory in small pieces as the action moves forward. It isn’t until midway through the film we hear the Don’s version of what happened between the two men. Barbarosa had been a Texas Ranger who saved the Don’s life and became a family friend but then married the don’s daughter without his consent. Barbarosa’s wife, Josephina, is played by Mexican actress Isela Vega, best known for playing Elita in Sam Peckinpah’s masterpiece “Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia” (1974). Karl and his outlaw partner sneak into the rancho to give Josephina some money. Karl overhears the Don telling the assembled children the story, and learns that Barbarosa had cold-bloodedly shot off the Don’s leg at the knee, and slashed the throats of two of his sons. The Don says the once honey-colored beard was now red with blood. “Barbarosa!” one of the children cries. The Don tells them Barbarosa is the devil himself and as long as they live they must hunt for Barbarosa and one day finally kill him.

When Don Braulio later discovers Barbarosa within his hacienda, the two men face each other. “Damn you for all the misery, you’ve caused,” Barbarosa mutters. “All I ever wanted to do is be a part of this family.” Don Braulio tells him: “And are you not part of this family?” The bitter feud, the endless killing, has bonded the Don and the outlaw together forever.

The second half of the film deals with Karl’s problems with the old man who is gunning for him. Karl returns home to find his father and sister alone and in bad health. There is a confrontation with his pursuer and later Barbarosa shows up and the two team up once again. But young Eduardo is still in pursuit and there is a final showdown with Barbarosa. I won’t reveal the ending, except to say that before the film is over we learn Barbarosa’s version of what happened with the Zuvalla family and we come to understand the violence that happened so many years ago. By the end of the film, Karl has grown from naïve farm boy to experienced outlaw in his own right. The events that transpire at the story’s conclusion give him no choice but to become part of the legend of Barbarosa himself.

Scorpion Releasing has done an excellent job presenting the film in its first-ever wide screen release in the U.S. The 1080 p transfer to Blu-Ray displays the movie in its original 2.35:1 theatrical aspect ratio. The picture is sharp and clear and does justice to director Schepisi’s fondness for long-distance shots of the Mexican landscape in which the characters sometimes appear as mere dots on the screen. The disc contains several bonus features, including interviews with Schepisi, and cast members Alma Martinez and Danny De La Paz. There is also a trailer and a separate audio track for listening to Bruce Smeaton’s music score. “Barbarosa” is highly recommended.

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BY TODD GARBARINI

High school friends Enid Coleslaw (Thora Birch) and Rebecca Doppelmeyer (Scarlett Johansson) absolutely cannot wait to be free of the prison of school, defiantly flipping the bird and squashing their mortarboards following their graduation. Enid isn’t off the hook just yet: her “diploma” is instead a note informing her that she must “take some stupid art class” (her words) if she hopes to graduate. Their fellow classmates are caricatures of everyone we all knew during our adolescence. Melora (Debra Azar) is inhumanly happy all the time and oblivious to Enid and Rebecca’s sense of ennui and contempt. Todd (T.J. Thyne) is ultra-nervous to talk with the insouciant Rebecca at the punchbowl. Another bespectacled student sits off by himself. Enid and Rebecca are at both an intellectual and emotional crossroads. They want to share an apartment; however, they seem unaware of the amount of money they will have to come up with for such a venture. Instead of finding jobs, their post-graduation afternoons are spent meandering through life while frowning upon society, following strange people home, bothering their mutual friend Josh (Brad Renfro) and admiring the Weird Al wannabe waiter at the new 50’s-themed diner which plays contemporary music. Seemingly without a care in the world, the women have no plans to attend college, preferring instead to prank an unsuspecting nebbish named Seymour (Steve Buscemi) who has placed a personal ad in an attempt to communicate with a striking blonde he noticed, with Enid feigning said blonde on Seymour’s answering machine. Rebecca is a dour and solemn counterpoint to Enid’s aloof yet occasionally jovial demeanor. If Holden Caulfield had a girlfriend, she might be someone just like Enid, sneering at the losers and phonies in her midst. Searching out Seymour, they approach him and his roommate at a garage sale where he is unloading old records for next to nothing. His affection for collecting 78 rpms begins to endear him to Enid, who confides in Rebecca that she likes him despite their 25-year age difference. They have some truly funny moments together such as attending a “party” for guys who talk techno mumbo-jumbo, riding in the car together as Seymour screams at people walking through an intersection, and a humorous romp through an adult video and novelty store.

Rebecca grows tired of hearing about Seymour, and presses Enid to get a job but she only succeeds in getting fired repeatedly, even from her position at the concession stand at a Pacific Theatre cinema when she ribs the customers over their choice of movie and their willingness to eat popcorn with “chemical sludge” poured on it. The tone of the film shifts from one of comedic commentary on the world to one of disillusionment as Enid begins to feel her world slowly begin to crumble around her. Her friendship with Rebecca, an anchor in her life for years, is ending and like so many of us at that age, she has no idea where her life is going or what she needs to be doing when she isn’t changing her hair color or her now-famous blue Raptor t-shirt or donning punk rock garb as a sartorial statement. Her summer art teacher (Illeana Douglas) shows her students her personal thesis film Mirror, Father, Mirror which itself is a parody of the pretentious student films submitted to professors. She pushes Enid to create interesting and powerful art when Enid is only interested in drawing the people she knows and Don Knotts. In short, nothing seems to be going well for her. The only person she can rely on is Norman, the well-dressed man who sits on a bench at a bus stop that stopped service a long time ago and holds the key to the film’s long-debated denouement. Enid is almost like an older version of Jane Burnham, the character portrayed by Ms. Birch in American Beauty (1999). In that film, she barely reacted to her father (Kevin Spacey) and here her contempt for her father (Bob Balaban) and his girlfriend Maxine (Teri Garr) is even more perceptible.

Director Terry Zwigoff takes the source material created by artist and writer Daniel Clowes and fashions one of the most brilliantly entertaining and poignant ruminations on adolescence the silver screen has ever seen. Ghost World also boasts excellent use of music, much of it pre-existing, although the main theme by David Kitay is an elegiac piano theme that recalls David Shire’s theme to The Conversation (1974). The film starts with a bang to the seemingly non-diegetic tune of the Mohammed Rafi hit “Jaan Pehechaan Ho” from the 1965 Hindi film Gumnaam, the scenes of which are intercut with images of the apartment complex’s inhabitants. As the camera tracks from the exterior windows of these grotesqueries, it settles upon Enid’s bedroom where the night before graduation she dances to the aforementioned tune which we now see is being played back on a bootleg VHS tape. The beat is frenetic and infectious. Enid, for the first of only a handful of times in the entire film, appears to be in a state of joy as she mimics the moves of the dancers. If only she could always feel this way! With this singular sequence, Mr. Zwigoff achieves something reserved for only the greatest and rarest of filmmakers – re-identifying a popular musical piece with his movie. I can’t hear “The Blue Danube” without thinking of spaceships spinning throughout the galaxy.

Ghost World opened on Friday, July 20, 2001 in limited release in New York and Los Angeles and garnered immediate critical acclaim. Filmed in 2000, the film is a product of a simpler and more innocent time. Before the brutal wake-up call of the September 11th attacks, there is a complete lack of cell phone usage in the film. It makes a great companion to 2001’s other minor masterpiece of adolescent angst, the cult favorite Donnie Darko.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

The year 1967 marked the high point of Sidney Poitier's screen career. He starred in three highly acclaimed box office hits: "To Sir, With Love", "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and "In the Heat of the Night".  The fact that Poitier did not score a Best Actor Oscar nomination that year had less to do with societal prejudices (he had already won an Oscar) than the fact that he was competing with himself and split the voter's choices for his best performance. "In the Heat of the Night" did win the Best Picture Oscar and immortalized Poitier's performance as Virgil Tibbs, a Philadelphia detective who finds himself assigned to assist a redneck sheriff (Rod Steiger, who did win the Oscar that year for his performance in this film) in a town in the deep south that has experienced a grisly unsolved murder. When Steiger's character, resentful for having to work with a black man, refers to Tibbs as "boy" and asks what they call him back in Philadelphia, he replies "They call me Mister Tibbs!", thereby uttering what would become one of the cinema's most iconic lines of dialogue. In the film, Poitier plays Tibbs as a man of mystery. Little is unveiled about his personal life, which adds immeasurably to his mystique. He proves to be highly intelligent, logical and courageous, though refreshingly, not immune from making mistakes and misjudgments. The reaction to the movie was so good that, Hollywood being Hollywood, United Artists became convinced that Tibbs could be brought back to star in a "tentpole" series of crime thrillers. Kino Lorber has released both sequels to "In the Heat of the Night" as Blu-ray editions. 

First up is the 1970 release, "The Call me MISTER Tibbs!" Aside from Poitier's commanding presence as the same character, there is virtually no connection between this Virgil Tibbs and the one seen in the previous film. The screenplay by Alan Trustman, who wrote the winners "The Thomas Crown Affair" and "Bullitt", softens the Tibbs character to the point that he resembles one of those unthreatening TV gumshoes. When we first see him, he is now in the San Francisco Police Department, though Trustman doesn't provide even a single line of dialogue to explain how he got there. He's apparently been there for some time, too, because Tibbs has suddenly acquired a wife (Barbara McNair) and a young son and daughter. The movie opens with the brutal murder of a call girl who lived in a pricey apartment. Evidence points to Tibbs' old friend Logan Sharpe (Martin Landau), a firebrand street preacher and activist who enjoys a wide following and who is galvanizing the community to vote in a politically controversial referendum. Sharpe professes his innocence and Tibbs sets out to acquit him and find the real killer. The trail quickly leads to a confusing mix of motley characters and red herrings, among them Anthony Zerbe and Ed Asner. Poitier is never less than impressive even when playing a watered-down version of a once gritty character. However, his impact is diminished by the sappy screenplay which allocates an abundance of time showing Tibbs dealing with day-to-day family living. He flirts with his wife and offers life lessons to his son that border on the extremes of political incorrectness. When he catches the lad smoking, Tibbs decides to teach the pre-teen a lesson by inviting him to join him in smoking Churchill cigars and drinking some scotch. (Most of our dads would probably have employed methods that were slightly more "conventional".) This domestic gibberish reduces the character of Tibbs to a big screen version of Brian Keith's Uncle Bill from the "Family Affair" TV series. Director Gordon Douglas, normally very underrated, handles the pedantic script in a pedantic manner, tossing in a few impressive action scenes including one in which Poitier chases Zerbe on foot seemingly through half of San Francisco in the movie's best sequence. The scenes between Poitier and Landau bristle with fine acting but they only share a limited amount of screen time. Quincy Jones provides a lively, funky jazz score but the film never rises above the level of mediocrity. 

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Poitier returned to the screen for the last time as Virgil Tibbs in 1971 in "The Organization". Compared to the previous outing, this one is superior on most levels. The script by James R. Webb is just as confusing but there is a grittiness to the production and the character of Tibbs is toughened up a bit. Thankfully, the scenes of his home life with wife and kids are kept to a minimum. The film, well directed by Don Medford (his final production), begins with an inspired caper in which a group of masked men stage an audacious and elaborate infiltration of an office building owned by some shady mob characters. They abscond with millions in cocaine. Tibbs is assigned to the case and is shocked when the culprits secretly approach him and admit they stole the drugs. Turns out they are community activists who wanted to prevent the cocaine from hitting the streets. However, they want Tibbs to know that they did not commit a murder that occurred on the premises of the office. They claim someone else did the dirty deed and is trying to pin it on them. Tibbs believes their story and goes against department protocols by keeping the information secret from his superiors while he works with the activists to crack the case. At some point the plot became so tangled that I gave up trying to figure out who was who and just sat back to enjoy the mayhem. Tibbs' withholding of information from the police department backfires on him and he ends up being suspended from the force. Predictably, he goes rogue in order to take on organized crime figures who are trying to get the drugs back. "The Organization" is fairly good Seventies cop fare capped off by a lengthy action sequence imaginatively set in a subway tunnel that is under construction. The supporting cast is impressive and includes reliable Sheree North, scruffy Allen Garfield and up-and-comers Raul Julia, Ron O'Neal and a very brief appearances by Max Gail and Damon Wilson. Barbara McNair returns as Mrs. Tibbs but her sole function is to provide attractive window dressing. Gil Melle provides a hip jazz score. 

The Kino Lorber Blu-rays look very good indeed. Bonus extras on both releases consist of the original trailers for the three Tibbs films. 

(This article has been updated to correct the music credit for "The Organization". The composer was Gil Melle. We appreciate the correction from eagle-eyed reader Naresh Putra). 

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

S'more Entertainment has released two rare 1965 interviews with Jerry Lewis that appeared on David Susskind's "Open End" chat show. The B&W videotaped broadcasts are shown in their entirety sans original commercials. According to the informative liner notes by Susskind biographer Stephen Battaglio, Susskind, a successful TV film producer of "highbrow" content,  and Lewis had a previous relationship: Susskind had been the agent for Martin and Lewis in the 1950s. Their relationship soured in later years partly because Susskind was critical of actors in general, especially those who dared to produce and direct their own movies. None of that tension comes across in the interview but it still makes for a rather riveting experience. "Open End" was one of many talk shows during the 1960s that appealed to viewers' intellect. The primary objective wasn't to make news, get laughs or have a guest promote his or her latest venture. This is obvious in the Lewis shows- he isn't asked about what he is currently working on nor does he attempt to insert a plug for anything into the interview. Rather, Lewis- who was never lacking in self-esteem when it came to his career accomplishments as a filmmaker- seems to relish the opportunity to show his serious, personal side. Susskind proves to be the perfect interviewer- he asks intelligent questions then shuts up and gives his guest ample time to answer them, uninterrupted. Notably, the camera is rarely on the host and most often on the guest. Such techniques may seem quaint today but one wishes more of them were being employed.

In the first interview Susskind never questions Lewis about his films and only discusses the Hollywood aspect of Lewis's life in big picture terms. Lewis opines that he isn't part of the Hollywood party scene because he was obsessed with it as a young man. Instead, he says he prefers to simply go home and be with his family after leaving the studio.  Lewis does defend Hollywood against its bad reputation, pointing out that the industry is filled with kind and generous people who devote their lives to bringing entertainment to millions of people. It's clear that family was always of paramount importance to Lewis. At the time he had six sons ranging from an infant to 19 year-old Gary, who had recently launched a successful career with Gary Lewis and the Playboys rock band, Jerry stresses in the interview how he and his (then) wife Patty attempt to provide a normal life for them. Susskind challenges him in that regard, pointing out Lewis's penchant for excessive spending and the fact that the family is living in Louis B. Mayer's former home, a 33-room estate that Lewis paid for with a check for $500,000. Lewis grapples with the paradox but admits that it's hard to try to explain why 33 rooms are necessary even for a big family. He says that much of his penchant for big spending is probably a psychological need to rebel against his humble past. Raised in a very modest home in New Jersey, Lewis's mom and dad (both alive at the time of this interview) were hard-working show business people who had a vaudeville act. Lewis remembers the pain of what that lifestyle meant: long hours, constant travel and little money because his father was a poor businessman. Most poignantly, Lewis recalls having attended fifteen schools in his childhood and the on-going pain he still feels from his humiliation at being left back one year in grammar school. (He describes a system that seems intentionally designed to psychologically wound such children.) He confesses to owning hundreds of suits and pairs of shoes but tries to mitigate his compulsion by pointing out he ultimately gives many of his possessions away to charity. At times Lewis comes across as a human paradox. He's humble, he's a bragger, he admits to being an egomaniac but at other times comes across as a sincere, down-to-earth husband and father who ascribes to an old-fashioned ethic of working hard to provide for those who are dependent upon him. Susskind asks him about the challenges of living in an interdenominational marriage (he's Jewish, his wife Catholic). Lewis responds with candor and explains that both he and his wife were patient and understanding with the other's beliefs and try to objectively expose their kids to both religions. (He also makes some comments about his parents' lack of tolerance for the situation which they probably didn't appreciate being broadcast on national television). Given the social mores of the era, it's probably not surprising that Lewis held to a traditional view that the man is the head of the household. He confesses to being insecure about letting his wife be alone for any length of time with another man and prohibiting her from even dancing with anyone but him. "Leave her alone- she belongs to me!" is how he would address any man who dared to inquire about a dance with his wife. Such misogynistic statements would seem outrageous today but in Lewis's defense, they were much more the norm in 1965. 

Here's another batch of rare TV promotional ads, this time from 1966. Highlights include Adam West as Batman pitching savings bonds to kids on behalf of President Johnson so they can help support the Vietnam War (!); The Monkees in an ad for Rice Krispies, Elizabeth Montgomery in "Bewitched", Robert Loggia as "T.H.E Cat" and many more. Enjoy! 

BY DOUG OSWALD

Charles Bronson portrays a veteran secret service agent tasked with protecting the First Lady in “Assassination,” now on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. Jill Ireland is Lara Royce Craig, the First Lady under the protection of Jay “Killy” Killian (Bronson). His assignment to protect her is a bit of a demotion and a disappointment for Killian, but he makes the best of it along with his partner, agent Charlotte Chang (Jan Gan Boyd), who also happens to have a serious crush on Killian.

Killian believes someone is trying to murder the First Lady, but nobody believes him, including Lara. She takes an instant dislike to “Killy” in spite of his saving her life on several occasions, one of which results in her suffering a black eye after a would-be assassin disguised as a motorcycle cop tries to shoot her. Making matters worse for Killian is Lara’s habit of trying to slip away from his protection. Veteran TV and movie actor Michael Ansara is on hand as Senator Bunsen, who may be able to help Killian find the killers.

Killian and Charlotte find time to rendezvous, but their love affair is brief as they continue their search for those trying to murder the First Lady. Eventually Lara comes around and starts to trust Killian after it becomes obvious her life is in jeopardy and the clues may lead all the way to her husband. She departs with Killian to hide out in the country in order to buy a little time and ferret out the killers who also happen to be part of a terrorist conspiracy. The mayhem that ensues includes a motorcycle chase, a helicopter and surface- to- air missiles. In the end, the head of the conspiracy is revealed and the movie comes to a satisfying, if predictable conclusion.

“Assassination” may not be one of the classics in Bronson’s long list of movie credits, but it is typical of the movies that would define the later part of his career in the 1980s. Bronson is unique among movie actors in that he represented his own genre. It must be said, however, that prior to being an action movie icon, he distinguished himself as a supporting actor in prestigious productions such as “The Magnificent Seven,” ,“The Great Escape,” “Battle of the Bulge,” “The Dirty Dozen” and “Once Upon a Time in the West”.

Thankfully, Bronson was busy throughout the 70s, 80s and into the 90s making dozens of action and crime thrillers starting with “Rider on the Rain” (1970) and continuing through the final movie in the "Death Wish" series, “Death Wish V: The Face of Death,” in 1994. Many of these movies- “Chato’s Land,” “The Mechanic,” “Mr. Majestic,” “Death Wish,” “Hard Times” and “Breakout Pass” (to name just a few highlights)- defined action thrillers and westerns during this period and continue to do so to this day, while cementing Bronson’s reputation as one of the actors of the period whose movies garner repeat viewing and discussion.

Bronson also worked with several great and often overlooked directors during this period including Michael Winner, J. Lee Thompson, Peter Hunt, Richard Fleischer, Walter Hill, Richard Donner and Don Siegel. Bronson and the filmmakers he worked with proved to be the right combination for his fan base during this prolific period, even if critics rarely saw much merit to these populist productions.

“Assassination” is the final feature film by Peter Hunt, director of “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” and “Shout at the Devil,” who also worked with Bronson and Lee Marvin on “Death Hunt.” This is also the last of 14 movies Jill Ireland co-starred in with her real life husband, Bronson. Sadly, she died three years later in 1990.

The Kino Blu-ray looks and sounds very good with an 88 minute running time. The disc features trailers for this and three other Bronson titles. “Assassination” is comfort food for Charles Bronson fans and is recommended for fans of 80s action movies.

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BY DOUG OSWALD

Frances McDormand and Brian Cox reveal a “Hidden Agenda” in the political thriller about British brutality in Northern Ireland. The movie opens during a pro-British parade in Belfast as two men describe the details of their torture at the hands of local police. Human rights activists Paul Sullivan (Brad Dourif) and Ingrid Jessner (McDormand) have just completed their investigation and about to return to America after releasing their report. In the early morning prior to their departure, Paul returns a call and meets secretly with a possible IRA terrorist who has evidence of police brutality and a British cover-up. Paul is murdered by members of a British security team who then cover up his death and steal the evidence in his possession, a tape containing details of a conspiracy.

As the shooting death of Paul makes the news along with the possibility that illegal police tactics were used, the British government sends an internal investigative team from England to investigate the local Belfast police. Kerrigan (Brian Cox) leads the investigation and is confronted by local police who are everything but cooperative. He works with Ingrid to unravel the conspiracy which leads back to the British government and the missing tape recording with confessions by those involved.

“Hidden Agenda” was released in 1990 and the viewer is informed that the time and place is “Belfast: A few years ago.” The movie makes brief references to the “Birmingham Six” and “Guildford Four,” innocent people who were recipients of brutal police interrogation techniques in order to obtain what were later revealed as false confessions in the aftermath of a 1974 London terrorist bombing which killed 21 and injured 182. The “Guildford Four” case was dramatized in the 1993 movie “In the Name of the Father” featuring Daniel Day-Lewis as Gerry Conlon. They were all released just prior to and shortly after the release of “Hidden Agenda” which may be why “a few years ago” was included in light of recent actual events in 1990 which unfolded while the movie was in production and prior to its release.

The movie has an almost documentary feel by using what appear to be non-actors in various on-location scenes throughout the film. As the story unfolds, the action sometimes feels like its part of a live news broadcast. The movie was directed by Ken Loach, who is known for using a naturalistic style and encouraging improvisation between his actors to give his films a realistic feel that I think works to great effect.. Much of his work throughout the 1980s prior to “Hidden Agenda” was directing documentaries and those techniques are apparent here.

It’s only when Cox and McDormand appear on-screen that the movie feels less improvised and more like a standard mainstream film. Maybe that’s partly because both actors, while relatively unknown back in 1990, are very recognizable to movie audiences today. “Hidden Agenda” arrived a few years before McDormand’s breakthrough role as Marge in the 1986 thriller “Fargo.” Brian Cox was well known to TV audiences in the UK and as the first actor to play Dr. Hannibal Lector in director Michael Mann’s under-rated 1986 thriller, “Manhunter.” After a memorable supporting part in 1975s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Dourif remains one of the great underrated character actors.

The 24-hour cable news cycle was also relatively new back in 1990 and maybe that has an effect on the way we view a movie like “Hidden Agenda” today, given that we have become accustomed to watching events unfold in our living room on a daily basis. Whether one appreciates Loach’s technique is ultimately for the viewer to decide.

The 108 minute thriller looks and sounds very good and features an understated score by Stewart Copeland. This Blu-ray release by Kino Lorber also includes the trailer.

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Jeanne Moreau, the iconic French actress, has passed away at age 89. Noted film critic Todd McCarthy pays a personal tribute to her life and career through the lens of someone who got to know her well. Click here to read. 

BY JEREMY CARR

Alfred Hitchcock may have directed The Paradine Case, the 1947 adaptation of Robert Smythe Hichens’ 1933 novel, but the film is most clearly a David O. Selznick production. It was his coveted property, he wrote the screenplay (with contributions from Alma Reville, James Bridie, and an uncredited Ben Hecht), and the movie itself discloses far more of its producer’s temperament than it does its director’s. The Paradine Case was, in fact, the last film made by the British-born master as part of his seven-year contract with Selznick, and by most accounts, Hitchcock’s heart just wasn’t in it. Unfortunately, it shows.

But this is no slipshod motion picture. Selznick spared no expense—the completed film cost almost as much as Gone with the Wind—and the entire project is built on quality and class. Set in London, in “the recent past,” The Paradine Case stars an always-dashing Gregory Peck as Anthony Keane, a renowned English barrister enlisted to defend the enigmatic Maddalena Anna Paradine (Alida Valli, in her Hollywood unveiling). Accused of poisoning her wealthy husband, Maddalena accepts the indictment with what Charles Laughton’s sleazy Judge Lord Thomas Horfield calls a “mystic charm.” Mystic or otherwise, her charm certainly works its magic on Keane. Much to the uneasy chagrin of his kindly and patient wife Gay (Ann Todd, in a radiant and undervalued performance), Keane grows obsessed with the case and inordinately besotted with Maddalena; she is “too fine a woman” to be capable of murder. He vainly tries to pin the homicide on the family’s servant, André Latour (Louis Jourdan, also his American debut), but that tactic doesn’t stick. Eventually, Maddalena comes to the defense of the shadowy André (he is literally concealed in shadows during his introduction) and the complex backstory of all involved comes to light.

Starting in a realm of elegance, wealth, and refined manners (before settling mostly in a flavorless courtroom), Valli plays Maddalena with an unnervingly unaffected reserve, suspiciously never losing her composure until the very end. Her inscrutable face reveals little more than trouble, especially for Keane. She is one of the finer ambiguous characters to come from a Hitchcock film; referred to as “no ordinary woman,” Maddalena may not be a classically cool blonde, but she is as icy as they come. By contrast, Peck descends from jovial and spontaneous to fixated and strained.

The Paradine Case is a very talky film, and subsequently, much of its success depends on the aptitude of its cast. While Ethel Barrymore received the film’s only Academy Award nomination, for her disturbing/disturbed supporting turn as Lady Sophie Horfield, the actorly spotlight ultimately falls on Valli and Peck, neither of whom were first choices. Hitchcock wanted Greta Garbo for Maddalena (the actress was also apparently Hichens’ inspiration), but she declined the offer. As did Laurence Olivier, first pick for Keane. Other names for each part were bandied about; Selznick settled on Valli, based on her burgeoning international stardom, and Hitchcock suggested Peck, based on their achievement two years prior with Spellbound.

Hitchcock felt the film suffered from miscasting across the board, yet in the end, among The Paradine Case’s strongest points of praise is the interplay between Valli and Peck. It’s a tragically malicious one-sided infatuation, but to watch his blind emotional descent and her shrewd manipulation is astonishing, particularly when one realizes as much as he may be shaping her testimony, directing her alibi as it were, it is she who holds the guiding hand. However, because The Paradine Case is at its best when focusing on this one-on-one interaction, that there is a murder mystery developing becomes something of an afterthought. Character behavior, as curious as it sometimes is, often usurps the overriding crime at the core of the picture.

Given the ample budget, Hitchcock and cinematographer Lee Garmes (Oscar-winning DP of the stunning Shanghai Express, 1932) fashion a handsomely lit and impeccably framed series of events; close-ups are luxurious, wider shots are perfectly balanced. But while there are moments of devious Hitchcockian touches—cunning glances and jarring movements—the film evokes less filmic tension than his more engaged work. Though he used four cameras during the court sequences, enabling him to experiment with long single takes from a variety of angles, his technical inventiveness is largely restricted, by the scenario and the settings. He wouldn’t let enclosed spaces hinder him in the future (see Rope and Rear Window), but here, even when Keane just goes to visit rural Cumberland, it’s like a breath of fresh air.

The Paradine Case was not a box office hit, and it’s fairly easy to see why. Any Hitchcock film is worth watching, but there are only select titles that demand to be seen. Hampered by glaring issues (an overbearing score by Franz Waxman) and minor annoyances (one character’s needless cross examination play-by-play), this is not one of them.

Featuring a solid audio-visual transfer, The Paradine Case is now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. The disc also includes a commentary with film historians Stephen Rebello and Bill Krohn, excerpts from the famous Hitchcock/Truffaut conversations, an interview between Hitchcock and Peter Bogdanovich, a short piece with Peck’s two children, and “The Paradine Case: Radio Play.”

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Director Sofia Coppola's revisionist version of the 1971 production of "The Beguiled" is winning critical raves.This has inspired writer Mike Scott of the Times-Picayune to look back at the original version of the film which was shot at a historic plantation near Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1970. The film marked the third collaboration between newly-minted superstar Clint Eastwood and his mentor, director Don Siegel. The article provides some very rare on set photos and an overview of the gothic Civil War drama that bombed when it was first released, though its stature has increased among film scholars in the ensuing decades. Eastwood fans who have never seen the movie are advised to do so. It represents a major achievement in his early acting career and he also plays an unsympathetic character, a rarity for him. Click here to read. 

For an in-depth look at the film, order Cinema Retro's special issue "The American Westerns of Clint Eastwood" by clicking here.

HELLS ANGELS ON WHEELS LA Screening with Richard Rush and Sabrina Scharf in Person

By Todd Garbarini

Richard Rush’s 1967 film Hells Angels on Wheels celebrates its 50^th anniversary with a special screening at the Noho 7 Theatre in Los Angeles. Starring Adam Roarke, Jack Nicholson, Sabrina Scharf, Jana Taylor and Jack Starrett, the film runs 95 minutes and is one of several films that Mr. Rush directed Mr. Nicholson in, the others being Too Soon to Love (1960) and Psycho-Out (1968). This is a rare opportunity to see this film on the big screen.

PLEASE NOTE: Director Richard Rush and actress Sabrina Scharf are scheduled to appear in person for a Q & A following the screening.

From the press release:

HELLS ANGELS ON WHEELS (1967)

Thursday, August 3, 2017 at 7:30 PM

A bunch of hairy guys on Harleys are causing trouble again in this, one of the best-remembered examples of the biker flicks of the 1960's. Poet (Jack Nicholson) is a moody gas station attendant who is looking for more excitement in his life. When a gang of bikers roars through town, Poet is intrigued, and after he pitches in to help the Hell's Angels in a bar fight (and pulls a well-timed stick up), one of the gang's higher-ups, Buddy (Adam Roarke) asks Poet to join. Soon Poet is riding with the Angels and living their lifestyle of violent debauchery, but Poet begins to tire of their rootless decadence, and Buddy is none too happy with Poet when he learns they're both in love with the same woman. Hell's Angels On Wheels won a cult following for its agressive but languid atmosphere and the fluid camerawork of cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs (at this point still billed as "Leslie Kovacs"). Richard Rush directed, and legendary Hell's Angels leader Sonny Barger appears as himself.

The Noho 7 Theatre is located at 5240 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91601. The phone number is (310) (310) 478 – 3836.

Click here for tickets.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Explosive Media, the German based boutique video label, has released the 1975 Charles Bronson crime thriller "Breakout" on Blu-ray. Bronson was riding high at the time, coming off the sensational success of "Death Wish". The film was originally supposed to star Kris Kristofferson under the direction of Michael Ritchie but those plans soon fell apart. Bronson took over the lead role with veteran director Tom Gries at the helm. The film finds Bronson well-cast as Nick Colton, a shady businessman/con man/grifter who operates a variety of small time business ventures on the Mexican border with his partner Hawk Hawkins (pre-kooky Randy Quaid.) Nick is living hand-to-mouth when he is approached by Ann Wagner (Jill Ireland) with a proposition to help her husband, Jay (Robert Duvall), escape from a Mexican prison where he has been sentenced after being framed for a murder. Time is of the essence because Jay is in declining health and may well be too weak to help effect his own escape. Colton and Hawk's first attempt to spring him ends disastrously and they barely escape back to America. Colton concocts an audacious plan for a second escape attempt that involves split-second timing. He will arrange for a helicopter to land in the courtyard of the prison and in the inevitable confusion, Jay is to make his way on board and presumably fly away to freedom. In order to pull off the caper, Nick enlists the help of a professional helicopter pilot as well as Myrna (Sheree North), a married ex-call girl who will be used to distract some of the guards when the copter lands inside the prison. When the pilot gets cold feet, Nick is forced to fly the chopper himself despite the fact that he only has minimum experience doing so. Another complication ensues when Jay is confined to the prison hospital and doubts he will be able to be in the courtyard at the precise moment Colton lands. 

"Breakout" was inspired by an incredible 1971 real life escape in which an American was indeed rescued by helicopter from a Mexican prison.  The screenplay has some other sub-plots that are poorly developed and quite confusing, but some of which are obviously related to the actual escape including some rumored involvement by the CIA. In the film,  Jay Wagner's frame-up takes place at the behest of his evil tycoon grandfather, Harris Wagner (John Huston) for reasons that never become clear. Apparently, Harris is concerned that Jay may inherit some control over the company Harris runs with an iron fist, though these plot points remain murky as does the involvement of some CIA characters.  Another potential plot device, which finds Nick and Ann obviously attracted to each other, also goes nowhere. The film has a rushed look to it and there are some unsatisfying aspects caused by the movie's rather abrupt ending. The movie studio, Columbia, apparently felt the film was a rather weak production and thus gambled on a massive ad campaign that probably cost more than the film's modest budget. Ads for "Breakout" were everywhere: in newspapers, on TV and on radio. Additionally, the film opened wide in 1,000 American theaters, which was a big number in 1975. The movie was dismissed by critics with Variety calling it a "cheap exploitation pic", and indeed the main poster artwork and graphics looked surprisingly amateurish considering this was a golden age for film poster designs. Nevertheless, Bronson's appeal seemed to override these negative factors. "Breakout" proved to be a major hit and helped cement his status as a top boxoffice attraction though his clout would gradually diminish henceforth. 

Like a lot of older movies, "Breakout" probably plays better today than it did at the time of its initial release. Bronson is in top form and gives an unusually energetic performance that allows him to stress his rarely-used talent for light comedy. The only other standout member of the cast is Sheree North, as the epitome of the sexy cougar. She's a fast-talking, tough cookie who parades about in sexy lingerie in an attempt to seduce Bronson. (Surprisingly, Bronson's character does not engage in any sexual action throughout the movie.) Robert Duvall is largely underutilized in a low-key role and performance that could have been credibly played by almost any other competent actor.  Huston's presence in the movie is disappointing, also. His role is confined to a few  scattered cameo appearances that probably don't last more than two minutes. Some other familiar faces include Paul Mantee, Alejandro Rey, Roy Jenson and the Mexican cinema's favorite bad guy, Emilio Fernandez. As for Bronson teaming for the umpteenth time with real life wife Jill Ireland, the gimmick was wearing thin. Some screen couples could team without wearing out their welcome. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton made many films together but they were always playing entirely different characters in entirely different scenarios. Bronson and Ireland, despite being competent actors, were no Liz and Dick. It became clear that their films together were largely made possible by Bronson's clout with the studios. Although Ireland always gave credible performances, she never lit up the screen. After a while the sheer predictability of their on-screen teamings probably undermined Bronson's popularity because it constrained him from interacting with other actresses. It was a trap Clint Eastwood also fell into for a period of time when he cast Sondra Locke in the female lead in six of his movies over a period of only seven years. Despite these gripes, it must be said that director Tom Gries keeps the pace moving briskly and there isn't a dull moment. He also knows how to milk some genuine suspense out of the helicopter escape scene, which is exceptionally well photographed by the great cinematographer Lucien Ballard. Jerry Goldsmith also contributes a typically fine score. The movie was shot in a wide number of locations including California, Mexico, Spain and France, where the impressive edifice that serves as the prison is located. 

Scene stealer: Sheree North in posed cheesecake publicity photo for the film.

The Explosive Media Blu-ray looks terrific and contains the original trailer and an impressive stills gallery. The film is presented in either the English or German language versions.  The region-free Blu-ray can be ordered through Amazon Germany or through Amazon UK. 

By Lee Pfeiffer

The tagline for the 1971 crime movie The Last Run reads "In the tradition of Bogart and Hemingway..." That would probably seem preposterous to assign to an action film with most of today's soft-boiled leading men, but it seemed perfectly appropriate at the time for a movie starring George C. Scott. The script by Alan Sharp, who also wrote such underrated gems as The Hired Hand, Night Moves and Ulzana's Raid, is perfectly tooled to Scott's persona. With facial features that look like they were chiseled out of granite, the actor, who had just won the Oscar for Patton, is well-suited to the tough-as-nails character of Harry Garmes. Harry has forsaken a life in crime for a seemingly idyllic retirement in a small Portugese fishing village. Happiness, however, does not follow him. Shortly after their young son died, Harry's wife left for Switzerland to have her breasts lifted only to run off with another man. In one of the film's most amusing lines, Harry says he thought she was having them lifted as part of a surgical procedure. He finds that old adage "Be careful what you wish for- you just might get it" has special pertinence to his life abroad. He has succeeded in establishing the low-key, no risk lifestyle he so badly desired. However, he is now bored and feels out of place. He has a friendship with a local fisherman (Aldo Sanbrell) and a middle aged hooker who genuinely likes him (Colleen Dewhurst), but he feels he'll die of boredom. Thus, he decides to take on one more simple crime run, a seemingly low-risk job that involves transporting an escaped convict over the border to France.

The escape is cleverly planned and goes well, but Harry immediately gets a bad vibe from his passenger, a smart-mouthed, often manic career criminal named Paul Rickard (Tony Musante in a truly unnerving performance.) Ignorant of what the caper is actually all about, Harry is soon disturbed to learn he has to pick up Rickard's sexy young girlfriend Claudie (Trish Van Devere) to accompany them. Harry is the kind of man who doesn't like unexpected developments and his instincts prove correct. Before long, he finds himself wrapped up in a complex situation defined by double crosses and deathtraps. To say much more would ruin some of the more surprising elements of Sharp's gritty script, which is punctuated by smart dialogue. Director Richard Fleischer and the great cinematographer Sven Nykvist fully capitalize on the exotic scenery (the film was actually shot in Spain) and eschew studios to shoot even the interiors in actual locations. The decision adds immeasurably to the atmosphere of the movie, which is tense and engrossing throughout.

The film also benefits from a wonderful score by Jerry Goldsmith and fine supporting performances. From a trivia standpoint, the movie afforded Scott to star on-screen with then-present wife Dewhurst and future wife Van Devere.

The Last Run is an atmospheric crime thriller. It may not have looked like a work of art in its day but today it approaches that status, basically because when it comes to stars like George C. Scott, they just don't make 'em like that anymore.

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Writing for the Film Comment web site, Mark Harris revisits how Antonioni's "Blow-up" helped usher in a bold new era of moviemaking even as it divided audiences. Some felt it was a work of genius while some mainstream moviegoers demanded refunds at the boxoffice. Nevertheless, this much is certain: the film was instrumental in marking a new era of screen realism and sexual freedom from its opening frames to its much-debated final scene. 

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The historic Redford Theatre in Detroit will present two screenings of Stanley Kramer's comedy classic "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" on Saturday, July 29 at 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM. Click here for information. 

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Kino Lorber has been doing yeoman work by releasing first rate Blu-ray editions of obscure films that have largely been lost to time. Case in point: the little-seen "Wolf Lake", shot in 1979 by veteran director Burt Kennedy, who also wrote the screenplay. The production was an oddity for Kennedy, who was primarily known for working within the western movie genre (among his gems: "Hannie Caulder", "The War Wagon", "Support Your Local Sheriff" and "The Train Robbers".) Apparently, Kennedy had an enthusiasm to make this low-budget ($1 million) contemporary suspense thriller. Through his friendship with aspiring producer Lance Hool, Kennedy was able to get the film off the ground with Rod Steiger as the only "name" actor at the time. The story opens at the titular location, a sleepy benign remote location deep in the Canadian wilderness (filming actually took place in Mexico because of investments made by the Mexican government). A group of old friends led by Charlie (Steiger) arrive by seaplane for their annual hunting trip but for reasons never explained, their guide is not waiting for them. As they are helpless to move about the area without him, the men are confined to the lake area and several log cabin lodges that are built to house hunters. The only other people on hand are the new caretaker David (David Huffman), a long-haired, bearded young man that the ultra conservative Charlie takes an immediate dislike to. He taunts the quiet, intense David with typical anti-hippie wisecracks from the era. The vacationing men also discover that David has a live-in girlfriend, Linda (Robin Mattson), whose job is to cook for the men. The situation becomes increasingly tense when the four older men make overtly insulting and sexist remarks about Linda within earshot of the attractive young woman. A confrontation follows and things go downhill from there. Making matters worse, Charlie learns that David is a deserter from the American military- a fact that gnaws at him because he is still mourning his own son who was killed in Vietnam. Charlie and his friends are all WWII veterans and have little sympathy for David's situation, even when he tries to explain that he did not desert because of cowardice, but rather, because of disillusionment when he participated in a massacre of innocent Vietnamese civilians. The briskly-paced script sees Charlie becoming increasingly incensed at David's presence as he attempts to goad him into a violent confrontation. Initially, the other three men are able to keep Charlie from resorting to violence but after a while, he induces them to follow his lead. After encouraging the men to get extremely drunk, he has them break into David's cabin, knock him unconscious and then violently gang rape Linda. In the aftermath, Charlie correctly assumes that David will want vengeance. A shootout occurs in which one of Charlie's friends is killed by a stray bullet. With the gloves now completely off, Charlie and his two surviving partners-in-crime ruthless try to hunt down their younger prey. The finale of the film finds the couple trapped in a hunting lodge as their stalkers try various ways to gain entrance and kill them. 

At first glance "Wolf Lake" is a low-budget rip-off of Peckinpah's "Straw Dogs". The film recreates the Peckinpah movie in many key aspects: the slow-to-anger protagonist, the sexual degradation of his lover and the finale that finds the heroes holed up in an confined space while under relentless siege. However, Burt Kennedy's script does try to introduce an original angle that was very much in the American psyche at the time: the aftermath of the recently-concluded Vietnam War. The character of Charlie is like a combination of Archie Bunker and the title character played by Peter Boyle in the movie "Joe", a hardcore, old-time conservative who laments the changing face of America and increasing tolerance of diversity. Although Charlie is clearly  a venomous personality (he's even nasty to his friends), there at least is some legitimate nuance in that one can understand his resentment of David since he has lost his own son in the war. The movie does have some aspects that stretch reality. Would the sight of a single attractive young women turn a group of otherwise "normal" middle-aged men into sex maniacs? Also, while there is no doubt that mixing drunken men and guns can result in dire consequences, it seems hard to believe that Charlie could turn his gullible companions into cold-blooded murderers. Nevertheless, this is a tightly-scripted thriller that generally works. Steiger, who often has a tendency to chew scenery, never goes over-the-top and gives a genuinely chilling performance. David Huffman is very fine as the object of Steiger's rage (tragically, Huffman was killed in real life in 1985 while trying to thwart a minor crime), and the sparse supporting cast is also very good: Mattson and character actors Paul Mantee ("Robinson Crusoe on Mars", "A Man Called Dagger"), Jerry Hardin and Richard Herd (best known for playing George Constanza's boss, Mr. Wilhelm, on the "Seinfeld" TV series). Director Kennedy doesn't provide anything original in terms of concept or execution but he does wring enough suspense out of the tired premise of humans hunting humans to make the film reasonably entertaining. 

Rich Hardy, writing on the New Atlas web site, explores the resurgence of interest in the long-dormant 70mm film format by today's retro movie-loving directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan. There was a time when Hollywood embraced the magnificent widescreen format for some of the most ambitious epics ever filmed. However the cost of shooting in 70mm made the format virtually extinct until recent years. Tarantino brought 70mm back for "The Hateful Eight" and had to practically move mountains to find a way to have his film projected properly, given that most of the equipment and venues that once were associated with the widescreen process were long-gone. Now Christopher Nolan is presenting his WWII epic "Dunkirk" in 70mm. This article provides  short history of 70mm and some useful information about the various formats the movie is being shown in. Click here to read. 

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Eon Productions has confirmed that the U.S. release of the 25th official James Bond movie will take place on November 8, 2019. The announcement was notable for aspects that were not confirmed, primarily whether Daniel Craig will return in the role. There is also no mention of what studio will be releasing the film, as Eon apparently are still in negotiations to make that determination. The official press announcement also does not mention a director or title, but does confirm that veteran Bond scribes Rob Wade and Neil Purvis will be writing the screenplay. The press release also acknowledges that the film will open first in the UK and other world territories, but does not specify a date. This is possibly due to the fact that the launch of the movie might well be tied in to the traditional gala premiere in London that is often attended by members of the royal family. Given the challenges of planning around logistics involving the royals, it may be that no set date for the UK can be set this early. The film will be produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, thus continuing the long tradition of having the same family oversee production of every Bond film. The four Bond films starring Daniel Craig have been particularly successful. "Skyfall", released in 2012, grossed more than $1.2 billion worldwide. The 2015 release of "Spectre" also brought in enormous grosses totaling $880 million. 

Update: the New York Times  is reporting that Daniel Craig will indeed be returning to the role of Bond according to sources familiar with the negotiations. However, that can't be definitive until Eon confirms in their own official press release. 

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For official press release, click here.  

By Hank Reineke

My earliest introduction to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s immortal Faust was not through the original work of the revered German playwright. Perhaps original work is not the best description of Goethe’s exploratory tragedy. The premise behind its conception – the selling of one’s soul to the Devil for personal rewards and glorified ambition - were based firmly in the tradition of austere Germanic folklore and accompanying Teutonic condemnation. This allegorical fable has formed the basis of so many subsequent films, books, and television scenarios, that the concept has now passed into cliché.

My earliest encounter with a Faustian fable was likely Stephen Vincent Benét’s 1936 celebrated short story The Devil and Daniel Webster. Benét’s tale transported the misguided and tragic exchange of souls from Goethe’s grim, decaying German village to the rugged hills and blue skies of New Hampshire. Benét’s short story was simply one more link in a long tradition. His tale was inspired by an earlier (1824) Washington Irving short story also inarguably Faustian in execution.

One of my favorite films from childhood was RKO’s Academy Award winning production of The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), which featured Walter Huston as the titular demon. If the fresh air setting of The Devil and Daniel Webster was filtered almost completely through a prism of Americana, F.W. Murnau’s silent epic Faust: a German Folktale (1926) is most certainly its grim progenitor, one mirroring the darkest impulses of pre-War Weimar Republic Germany. Working closely from the storyboard charcoal sketches and ink and pencil concept drawings of his imaginative expressionistic set designers Robert Herlth and Walter Röhrig, his production of Faust Murnau would effectively create a visually sodden and nightmarish world.

The film begins with a brilliantly choreographed celestial argument between a gleaming, white-winged Archangel and a series of Devils (the “Three Scourges of Hell”). The former champions the notion that man is essentially righteous and of good will. The Devil’s cynically counter – sadly, perhaps more realistically - that “No man can resist evil.” Choosing to test their argument, the Devil’s wager they can tempt and transform a good man such as the humble, learned Faust into a selfish, self-interested individual, motivated only by his personal pleasures.

Faust (played by Swede Gösta Ekman) is a doctor and a well-intentioned man of science, frail, elderly, and long-bearded. He is spending his golden years in a humble garret, warmed by a hearth and surrounded by the piles of books accumulated over a lifetime. These books, essentially, signify the collective knowledge of man. Though he is also a dabbling alchemist, there’s no notion he’s interested in the accumulation of gold in pursuit of riches and comfort. He’s more interested in the exacting exercise of scientific formula.

BY JOHN M. WHALEN

There was a time once, in the far long ago, when a kid, on any given Saturday, could take a quarter from his allowance and spend an entire afternoon at his local neighborhood movie theater. The “Saturday Matinee”, as it was called, was a weekly event that usually included the showing of a couple of cartoons, a bicycle race, a Three Stooges short, a double feature, a serial and a popcorn fight or two. Serials, in case you don’t know, were short, two-reel chapters of a story that usually ran for 12 chapters, each chapter ending in some kind of a cliffhanger in which the hero of the story seemed to face imminent doom. You’d have to come back the next Saturday to learn how the he got out of it.

Several studios produced serials during the Cliffhanger’s heyday, which spanned the period from the 1930’s to the 1950s. They leaned heavily on newspaper comic strips for their sources. Universal brought Flash Gordon to life in perhaps three of the best serials ever made with Buster Crabbe in the starring role. Columbia released a couple of Batman serials as well as Superman, the Phantom, and Mandrake the Magician. But the studio that produced more serials than any other—and some would argue the cream of the crop—was Republic Studios. In terms of production values, scripts, stunts, and clever cliffhanger chapter endings, no one else came close. And without doubt, one of Republic’s best was “Daredevils of the Red Circle” (1939).

“Daredevils of the Red Circle.” What a great title. Has certain ring to it, doesn’t it? You might wonder how they came up with a title like that. Well, first of all, you need to know that as the story begins a deranged criminal has escaped from prison. Harry Crowl, who refers to himself only by his prison serial number, 39013 (pronounced Thirty Nine-Oh-Thirteen) was sent to prison by millionaire philanthropist Horace Granville (Miles Mander). Crowl has vowed revenge on Granville, and has dedicated himself to destroying all of the wealthy industrialist’s various properties. Crowl is played by none other than Charles Middleton, best known as Ming the Merciless in the Flash Gordon chapter plays. Said to be a really nice guy in real life, Middleton’s craggy face, hollow eyes and deep menacing voice kept him in demand as one of the best movie villains ever to appear on the silver screen.

As the story opens he has already set his sights on the Granville Amusement Center as his next target. It so happens that a trio of circus daredevils is appearing there, including aerialist Gene Townley (Charles Quigley), escape artist Bert Knowles (Dave Sharpe), and strong man Tiny Dawson (Herman Brix). Quigley is a barely known actor who never gained much of a reputation but he does a good job here as a true blue hero. He probably could have been cast as Captain Marvel if he’d had a better agent. Dave Sharpe was one of Republic’s best stunt men, and although he was doubled for some of the more dangerous stunts this time around, in this one he took quite a few flying head-first leaps and had an abundance of fist fights. Herman Brix played Tarzan in an earlier serial filmed in Guatemal and later had a fairly distinguished acting career after he changed his name to Bruce Bennett.

But let’s get back to explaining how they came up with the serial’s title. Thirty Nine-Oh-Thirteen’s men set fire to the Granville Amusement Center which results in a personal tragedy for the trio of acrobats. Now out of a job anyway, they offer their services to Granville to help track down Thirty Nine-Oh-Thirteen and bring him to justice. Granville has a daughter, Blanche, (Carole Landis) who lives in the Granville Mansion with her father. Granville is a sickly old man who can only communicate with visitors by telephone from inside a sanitized room on the other side of a glass barrier. (Did you know Blake Edwards wrote a character like that in one of his scripts for an episode of “Peter Gunn”? Guess he was a Daredevils fan.) There are a couple of big surprises in the first chapter alone, including the fact that Granville isn’t exactly who he appears to be. As the story progresses chapter by chapter, the Daredevils receive help from a mysterious, cloaked, and hooded figure who creeps around the Granville mansion leaving cards with clues and hints written on them, all of them signed by someone calling himself The Red Circle. Thus the title “Daredevils of the Red Circle”.

For 12 thrilling chapters, the daredevils, using their individual skills and strengths, manage to escape Thirty Nine-Oh-Thirteen’s fiendishly clever machinations and death-dealing devices. Among other perils, they avoid drowning in a flooded tunnel, being burned alive, gassed to death, blown up, and disintegrated by a death ray. Will they finally capture Thirty Nine-Oh-Thirteen and discover who is the mysterious Red Circle? You won’t find out until Chapter 12, “Flight to Doom,” where all is revealed.

“Daredevils” was directed by William Witney and John English, the team that turned out 17 of Republic’s 66 serials. This was number 14 for them. Witney handled the action scenes, English did the dialog scenes. The script was by written by five screenwriters including Barry Shipman, Franklin Adreon, and Ronald C. Davidson, all veteran serial writers who were adept at devising clever and believable cliffhanger chapter endings.

Kino Lorber has done another terrific restoration job on the Blu-ray of “Daredevils of the Red Circle,” just as they did with Roy Rogers’ “Sunset in the West,” reviewed earlier. The picture quality of the 1080p transfer from a 4K scan is outstanding. A lot of the serial was filmed outdoors in various locations around Los Angeles, all of which look great in high def. It’s a fascinating look at LA before it was ruined by the freeways, over-development, traffic congestion and overpopulation.

Informative and entertaining commentary on several of the chapters is provided by film historian Michael Schlesinger on a separate audio track. The disc also includes some trailers for other KL Studio Classics releases. I recommend you get this one. Just make sure you have plenty of popcorn and soda pop on hand. I guarantee once you start Chapter One, “The Monstrous Plot,” it will be hard to switch it off. Thirty Nine-Oh-Thirteen and the Daredevils will keep you hooked for the whole three and half hours.

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John M. Whalen is the author of "This Ray Gun for Hire...and Other Tales." Click here to order from Amazon. 

BY DARREN ALLISON

Vocalion have the rare ability to continuously satisfy. Not only does the label re-connect us to the past with essential CD reissues, but also through re-recordings of long forgotten and often overlooked classics. Vocalion’s three latest CD releases continue to exemplify these principles, and all with a certain sense of style.

Themes from The Exorcist (1974) and Flashpoint (1975) are two albums from Ray Davies and the Button Down Brass. As albums, they formed part of an essential collective, an audio treasury that would find their way into the hands of young and enthusiastic kids, particularly of those who displayed an early interest and love of both cinema and TV. They were usually the affordable route; a few weeks pocket money would often result in one of these albums making it into the comforting domain of your bedroom. Sat alongside your Geoff Love compilations, they would provide countless hours of repeated enjoyment.

Themes from The Exorcist and Flashpoint (CDSML 8526) offer a great twofer pairing. Originally released on the Philips label, both albums contain a varied and exciting selection of cuts. Aside from the ‘funky trumpet’ of Ray Davies, his musicians including Alan Hawkshaw on keyboards, Alan Parker on electric guitar, Herbie Flowers on bass guitar and Alf Bigden on drums, can all be experienced here in top form and full flight. Covering the work of composers such as Lalo Schifrin, Quincy Jones, Michael Small, John Williams, Elmer Bernstein and John Barry, the selection is varied and vast. There’s a genuine refreshment to be found in some of these interpretations, take for example Don Ellis’s The French connection (1972) – Davies takes what could arguably be described as a frenzied burst of dissonant trumpet sounds and applies a melody, a theme... Yes, it perhaps lessens the intensity of its original, but instead provides a funky reinterpretation, and one in which I believe works to a large degree. It’s important perhaps to remember that these recordings were never in competition, they’re not competing for supremacy – some are just far too big. Magnum Force (1973) and its screaming, wordless vocals add so much to Schifrin’s original, and any attempt to perhaps try and replicate that is left firmly alone, and for good reason. However, a fresh approach certainly does it little harm, and can be comfortably enjoyed as a separate listening experience and an addition. As previously stated, it’s a really wonderful selection which takes in an eclectic mix from television classics such as Kojak (1973-78) and The Magician (1973-74) to cult movies of the day such as Mr. Majestyk (1974), Gold (1974), Point Blank (1967) and even a couple of Bruce Lee Joseph Koo themes – The Big Boss (1971) and Fist of Fury (1972).

Another high point of this SACD release is that it also contains both the quadrophonic and stereo mixes. These titles were only ever previously available in 4-channel sound through a Japanese release. Vocalion have again produced a dynamic sound in their mastering process and provided a super set of notes which includes an exclusive interview with Ray Davies and his recollections of the people and the places relating to those exciting times. As always, Oliver Lomax provides a fascinating and detailed journey which captures perfectly the essence of yesterday. A great package, a great sound and a great journey; let’s hope there is more of the same to come.

The legendary Ford Mustang driven by Steve McQueen in the famed car chase from the 1968 classic "Bullitt" has apparently been found by accident in a Mexican junkyard. Watch video above for the fascinating story. 

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Olive Films has released the 1963 Jerry Lewis comedy "Who's Minding the Store?" on Blu-ray. The film was made at the peak of Lewis's solo career following the breakup of Martin and Lewis some years before. The movie was directed by Frank Tashlin, who collaborated with Lewis on his best productions. It can be argued that, with the exception of Lewis's inspired "The Nutty Professor" (released the same year as "Store"), his work never reached the heights that he achieved by working with Tashlin, a talented director and screenwriter who never quite got the acclaim he deserved. "Store" is one of Lewis's best movies because it's also one of his funniest. He plays Norman Phiffier, a nerdy manchild who fails at even the most elementary of careers. When we meet him he's trying to make ends meet by running his own dog-walking service, which provides some amusing sight gags as Norman attempts to control about twenty dogs at the same time. Despite being a loser in terms of career, he's landed the right girl: sexy Barbara Tuttle (Jill St. John), an heiress to the famed Tuttle department store chain. Barbara shuns her heritage largely because she is estranged from her overbearing and dominating mother, Phoebe (Agnes Moorhead) and wants to make a career on her own instead of relying on her mother's bribes to live life under her terms. Barbara works at a Tuttles store in the innocuous career of being an elevator operator, working under an assumed last name. Her nice guy father John (John McGiver) plays along with the charade though he, too, suffers from his wife's constant nagging and insults. When Phoebe learns that Barbara is dating a common man with no financial resources, she devises a plan to break up their relationship before they can get married. She instructs her sniveling store manager Quimby (Ray Walston) to hire Norman and then assign him a series of humiliating and seemingly impossible tasks with the intention of having him fail and therefore lose Barbara's respect. However, despite a series of chaotic mishaps, Norman perseveres and frustrates Quimby by using some inventive methods of carrying our his assignments. These scenes are the highlights of the film, with Lewis in top form whether he is inching out on a horizontal flag pole on a skyscraper in order to fulfill a minor paint job or dealing with obnoxious customers who make extravagant demands. (Among them is Nancy Kulp as a legendary female big game hunter whose dictatorial demeanor results in Norman destroying an entire department). In the finale, Norman has to contend with an errant super vacuum cleaner that goes out of control and sucks up everything from women's furs to their pet dogs. It's a marvelously funny and inventive sequence that feature some highly impressive special effects work.

"Who's Minding the Store?" finds Jerry Lewis and Frank Tashlin in top form. The cast of esteemed "second bananas" are all wonderful, especially the great John McGiver who finally gets to find his mojo at the movie's climax. Other familiar faces from the era include Lewis's favorite foil, Kathleen Freeman and Richard Deacon. Francesca Bellini is memorable as Walton's sexpot secretary who is intent on sleeping her way to the top. Most of the comedic scenarios are highly predictable (once you see Lewis handling an appliance, there's no doubt he's going to wreak havoc with it) but predictability is an asset in a Lewis film. Not having seen the movie in many years, I was pleasantly surprised that it still made me laugh out loud.

The Olive Films Blu-ray looks very good indeed but the release continues the company's rather frustrating trend of almost never including any bonus material. C'mon guys, throw in at least a trailer (we'll provide one for you here). Highly recommended.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

Kino Lorber has released a Blu-ray edition of "Tough Guys", the 1986 crime comedy that is best remembered for being the final screen team-up between old friends Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. The film had unusual origins. In the early 1980s, Lancaster and Douglas made a very funny joint appearance on an Oscars broadcast and joked about being beyond their years as matinee idols. Up-and-coming screenwriters James Orr and Jim Criuckshank were greatly amused and began to ponder the possibility of pairing both actors for the first time since 1963, when they co-starred in the Cold War classic "Seven Days in May". Both actors were enthused about the project and Disney gave the film the green light. The movie opens at a penitentiary where Harry Doyle (Lancaster), age 72 and his partner in crime Archie Long (Douglas), age 67, are preparing to enter the free world for the first time since they were convicted in 1956 of committing the last train robbery in American history. Upon being released, they are told by their sympathetic probation officer Richie Evans (Dana Carvey) that they are prohibited from seeing each other for a period of three years, an edict that the men promptly ignore. They find a new world has come about during their years of confinement and getting used to the new technologies and more liberal social attitudes takes quite a bit of adjusting. Both men are committed to staying on the "straight and narrow" but things quickly go awry. Archie lands some menial jobs but balks at the abuse he is forced to take by both employers and customers. Harry ends up being forced to live in a senior citizen home where the meek residents are routinely exploited and belittled by the cruel staff. Before long he gets a reputation as a trouble-maker for instigating the residents to stand up for their rights. Both men do have success in resurrecting their romantic lives. Harry reunites with Belle (Alexis Smith), a former flame who coincidentally also lives in the same senior citizen home. Archie gets picked up by Skye (Darlanne Fluegel), a sexy twenty-something who finds novelty in bedding a much older man who is in such superb physical condition. A running gag in the plot finds Harry and Archie being stalked by Leon B. Little (Eli Wallach), a once-feared hit man who is now virtually blind. Leon was hired thirty years ago by a gangster to carry out a contract on the men but he can't remember why. Nevertheless, he's determined to carry out the task. Archie and Harry also have run-ins with Deke Yablonski (Charles Durning), the obnoxious detective who had them jailed thirty years ago and now stalks them like Javert, warning everyone that he suspects they will resort to crime once again. Ultimately, he's right. Fed up with being disrespected, Harry and Archie decide to live life on their own terms- and this includes pulling off an audacious caper by robbing the old time train they had originally targeted in 1956. 

"Tough Guys" exists solely for the purpose of reuniting two Hollywood legends. If not for the presence of Lancaster and Douglas it would probably have been made as a TV movie. While the screenwriters deserve praise for bringing this reunion to fruition it must be said that their script is never quite as funny as you might expect it to be. The situations tend to be predictable and some of the scenarios play out in an overlong fashion, such as when Archie ends up working in an ice cream parlor and has to contend with an obnoxious kid. While the entire enterprise is consistently amusing, we never get the belly laughs that the various scenarios seem to promise. There's plenty to like about the film, however. Just seeing the gracefully-aged Lancaster and Douglas, dressed to the nines in their suits and fedoras from the 1950s, is a true pleasure- especially when we realize that both men would suffer terribly debilitating health problems in the years to come.  The film benefits from the light touch of director Jeff Kanew, who had previously worked with Douglas on "Eddie Macon's Run". Kanew doesn't go over-the-top in a quest for a yuck and allows the charisma of his two stars to shine brightly. The supporting cast is very good across the board but it's Eli Wallach who steals every scene he is in and provides the funniest moments of the movie. I should point out that the opening credits (remember when movies had them?) are terrific. We see the camera glide over the relics of Archie and Harry's past, frozen in time: custom-made suits, expensive liquor, newspaper clippings of their capers, fine cigars, etc. As the credits unfurl, the sequence is set to a marvelous song, "They Don't Make Them Like They Used To", written by Henry Mancini and Carol Bayer Sager and nicely crooned by Kenny Rogers. It evokes a real sense of past glories even before we're introduced to the characters. The musical score by James Newton Howard is not nearly as impressive, relying on dated synthesizer sounds that sound cheesy today. Some of the more amusing aspects of the movie find our heroes getting used to "modern" society in 1986 when the era looks like ancient history today: girls with big hairdos in spandex involved in the new aerobics craze, not a cell phone in sight, slam dancing and the shocking novelty of accidentally walking into a gay bar. 

The following films were all simultaneously in production at British studios during this week in 1967. Those were the days indeed!

• "The Anniversary" 
• "Attack on the Iron Coast"
• "Inspector Clouseau"
• "Deadfall"
• "Prudence and the Pill"
• "Bedazzled"
• "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter"
• "Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River"
• "Thunderbird 6"
• "Smashing Time"
• "Poor Cow"
• "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush"
• "The Charge of the Light Brigade"
• "Up the Junction" 

BY DARREN ALLISON

In 1973 film critic Roger Ebert described Michael Winner’s The Stone Killer (1973) as a ‘superior example of its type - tough cop against the mob - and probably the best violent big-city police movie since Dirty Harry.'  The Stone Killer certainly does have a lot working in its favour. The film arrived during a period where the tough cop drama was arguably at its peak. One could perhaps argue that, most would follow a particular formula or style, but they fulfilled a demand. The police vs the mob was certainly nothing new but the subject matter was still trending successfully during the early to mid-Seventies. As a police sergeant proclaims to Bronson’s character, ‘nothing changes, only the names.’

Director Michael Winner had certainly turned a corner after completing the western Lawman in 1971. The decision towards making American movies is one that Winner adapted to well. Bronson was considered by some as an awkward actor to work with, but by the time of The Stone Killer, Winner and Bronson had already completed two films together, the revisionist western Chato's Land (1972) and the action thriller The Mechanic (1972). Clearly there was a happy medium between both director and star and the partnership was also proving to be lucrative.

The Stone Killer doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what it is. If 95 minutes of tough, no nonsense action is something you seek, then Bronson delivers the goods - hard and fast.  Bronson plays Detective Lt. Lou Torrey an ex-New York City cop who is side-lined to the L.A. Police Department following criticism over his style of law enforcement. In L.A. he begins investigating a mysterious chain of events involving a violent campaign of murder. The trail eventually leads Torrey to the Mafia and Al Vescari (Martin Balsam). Vescari has hired an outfit of Vietnam veterans to stage an ambush that will wipe out the entire Italian mob leadership, thereby gaining revenge for a series of assassinations of Sicilians on April 10, 1931. 

In general, the plot is somewhat thin, so it’s perhaps not worth spending too long examining it or dissecting it to any major degree. In short, it’s Bronson in a cop thriller with plenty of great action pieces, some great stunts and a whole lot of gun play. Winner’s direction is fast-paced and tight and the whole thing is wrapped up in a superb Roy Budd score which undoubtedly provides extra bite and attitude. The supporting cast also seem to relish their roles, no more so than Paul Koslo as Alfred Langley, a super character actor and the bad guy we all love to hate. Koslo had a knack of carving out these niche roles for himself, appearing in Joe Kidd (1972) and cult classics like  Cleopatra Jones (1973),  Freebie and the Bean (1974) and reuniting opposite Bronson again in Richard Fleischer’s Mr. Majestyk (1974). 

Indicator’s region free Blu-ray marks its UK premiere and an impressive package it is, too. The Stone Killer is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and in 1080p. Sourced from Sony’s HD remaster, the picture quality stands up incredibly well, there is an especially well defined and vivid look about the film, especially in the daylight scenes of which there are plenty. It is an extremely clean picture, with a minor amount of original grain. Its colour retains a nice natural and consistent look which works well. It appears that Sony have appeared to resist the temptation of tinkering and adjusting too much and as a result, the film holds on to its 70s taste and texture. The same can be said for the audio department, which is both clean and true. The DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 mono track is punchy and free from any form of distortion or defects. 

Indicator’s bonus material is led by an audio commentary from journalist and film programmer Nick Pinkerton who examines the history and production of The Stone Killer. It’s an interesting walk through in which Pinkerton clearly demonstrates he has done his homework and keeps the viewer engaged. Keeping with the audio delights, the disc also includes composer Roy Budd’s complete isolated score in stereo. Licensed by way of the Twilight Time Blu-ray release, Mike Matessino’s efforts to make these scores available is always welcome, and of course, appreciated a great deal by soundtrack enthusiasts in general. Roy Budd’s work here is regarded as one of the great retro scores and its inclusion here is close to essential. 

Also included is an audio only recording of Michael Winner’s John Player Lecture. Recorded on September 13th, 1970 and with a running time of 65 minutes, Winner is interviewed by Margaret Hinxman at the National Film Theatre, London. The interview finds Winner in a relaxed, confident and incredibly humorous mood. Always with a plenty to say, he speaks without hesitation and with a ‘take it or leave it’ honesty. He is both entertaining and engaging throughout and often has his audience breaking out in spontaneous laughter. It’s a super find and entirely worthy of inclusion. 

Landau (center) with "Mission:Impossible" co-stars (clockwise) Peter Graves, Greg Morris, Peter Lupus and Barbara Bain.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Oscar-winning actor Martin Landau has passed away at age 89. Landau had originally intended to be a cartoonist before studying at the esteemed Actors Studio in New York City. With his intense looks and persona, he began to be noticed by Hollywood studios. In 1959 he was cast as James Mason's gay henchman in Alfred Hitchcock's classic "North by Northwest". It was Landau who suggested playing the role as a not-so-closeted homosexual, a rather daring strategy for the era. The result made Landau standout in a cast of heavyweights that included Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and Leo G. Carroll. Roles in epic films such as "Cleopatra" and "The Greatest Story Ever Told" followed. Landau also appeared regularly on popular TV programs including "The Twilight Zone", "The Untouchables", "I Spy", "The Wild, Wild West" and many others. Between 1966-1969 he co-starred on the hit spy series "Mission:Impossible", playing Rollin Hand, a master of disguise. His real-life wife Barbara Bain also starred in the show. They both left due to either "artistic differences" or salary disputes with the producers. Between 1975-1977, Landau and Bain co-starred in the cult sci-fi series "Space: 1999". Landau's career went into decline although he never stopped working. It was the quality of the projects that had diminished. He had an unexpected renaissance in 1988 when director Francis Ford Coppola cast him in "Tucker: The Man and His Dreams". Landau received a Best Supporting Actor nomination. The following year he was nominated in the same category for a brilliant performance in Woody Allen's dark comedy "Crimes and Misdemeanors". Landau finally won the award for his performance as actor Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton's 1994 film "Ed Wood". (Ironically, Landau had played a Lugosi-like character in "The Bat Cave Affair", a 1966 episode of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.").

Landau spoofed Bela Lugosi's interpretation of Dracula in an episode of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E" (seen here with David McCallum). In 1994, he would win the Oscar for playing Lugosi in "Ed Wood".

Landau had been nominated for Emmy awards on numerous occasions beginning with "Mission: Impossible" and extending to more recent nominations for "Without a Trace" and "Entourage". Landau had been producer Gene Rodenberry's first choice to play the role of Spock in "Star Trek" but Landau decided to go with "Mission:Impossible". The role went to Leonard Nimoy, who ironically ended up starring in "Mission:Impossible" after Landau's departure from the series. For more click here.

BY TIM GREAVES

Although it was actually his second film, 1988’s Stormy Monday marked the big screen debut of Mike Figgis; his earlier feature, four years prior, was made for television. Given that it was essentially a debut, though, the cast that the director managed to assemble was quite remarkable; Tommy Lee Jones, Melanie Griffith, Sting and Sean Bean (who looks about 18 but was actually 29) headline in a grim tale of corruption set against the nightclub scene in Newcastle. With almost every frame screaming 1980s – from the neon-tube title emblazoned across the screen to Bean’s trousers and Griffiths’ hairdo – the blend of jazz and sax-infused score affords the proceedings a vaguely noir vibe. Unfortunately little of the above provides sufficient grist to save the resulting film from the morass of mediocrity.

In the midst of a week of festivities celebrating everything American, drifter Brendan (Bean) gets a job as a cleaner at the Key Club, a successful jazz nightspot owned by Finney (Sting). Brendan clicks with his employer who quickly identifies the lad as someone he can trust, with more worth to him than someone sluicing vomit off the toilet floor. Finney is currently being harassed by shady American businessman Cosmo (Jones) to sell him the club. As a man whose first tactic is to send in the heavies to mete out a little physical persuasion, Cosmo will clearly stop at nothing to get what he wants. Brendan meets and enters into a relationship with waitress Kate (Griffith), but he's unaware that she's affiliated with Cosmo…

Now, I accept that I’m in the minority, but I should say upfront that I've never been able to engage with Stormy Monday on any significant level. Its pacing is just that little too sedate and it's gloomy to the point of depressing. There’s also a serious dearth of likeable characters; in a film of this ilk there should always be someone to root for, and the absence of sympathetic characters completely undermines a climactic sting (lame pun intentional), robbing it of the dramatic weight and emotional heft it desperately cries out for.

Yet the real stumbling block for me is the insipid performances. Sting is a terrific musician, but I've never found him a particularly compelling screen presence and his dialogue delivery here is shallow and unconvincing. Injuriously though, he's only one among a number of surprising offenders. Jones too – a marvellous actor with a bevy of splendid character performances under his belt – exudes disinterest and proves frustratingly bland. Most disappointing in this respect, however, is Griffith, who I absolutely adored back in the 80s; the same year as Stormy Monday she appeared in The Milagro Beanfield War and Working Girl, the latter for which she was Best Actress Oscar nominated; such a lacklustre turn sandwiched between two such outstanding ones is a bitter pill to swallow. It may well be that these underwhelming performances are a reflection of (what I consider to be) the colourless narrative that the characters populate. I can’t decide, because Bean – in the infancy of what would build into an impressive screen career – is decent enough, with all the signs of a star in the making in evidence and there are also small but memorable roles for Alison Steadman and James Cosmo (as a deliciously simmering psychotic). Bond buffs meanwhile will want to keep an eye open for Clive Curtis, Dulice Liecier (fresh off her glam CIA agent spin in The Living Daylights) and Prunella Gee.

So is there nothing worth dipping in to Stormy Monday for? I honestly feel there isn’t. Roger Deakins' cinematography is suitably moody, and those familiar with Newcastle might glean some pleasure from the extensive location footage of the great City as it looked three decades past. But beyond that, this one’s probably for diehard fans of the actors within and Figgis completists only. Said completists will doubtless be delighted with the fine new hi-definition Blu-Ray release of the film from Arrow Video. Supplements are slender but add value; along with a Figgis audio commentary moderated by Damon Wise, there's a 33-minute retrospective documentary in which critic Neil Young discusses the film at length whilst strolling around some of the film's locations, a stills gallery and the original theatrical trailer. The release includes reversible sleeve art and a limited edition collectors' booklet. 

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

George A. Romero, the maverick independent filmmaker who changed the movie industry forever with his low-budget, high grossing 1968 film "Night of the Living Dead", has passed away at age 77 from lung cancer. Romero represented the true "guerilla filmmaker" when he and his partners cobbled together the meager production budget for "Night of the Living Dead", which was shot locally in Pittsburgh, where Romero had attended college, and used non-seasoned actors in starring roles. The movie, shot in B&W, quickly became infamous for its unprecedented grisly depiction of flesh eating zombies preying upon people trapped in a remote country house. Most critics were aghast but audiences responded with enthusiasm. Romero's film inspired a generation of young horror moviemakers but although it grossed many millions in profits, a snafu regarding the copyright prevented Romero and his investors from fully capitalizing on the phenomenal success of the movie. It was a mistake he would not make again. Romero would go on to make other zombie movies, all with much higher budgets and the copyright situation carefully paid attention to. He also occasionally directed other horror films for mainstream studios including the cult hit "Creepshow" in 1982 that was inspired by the E.C. horror comic books of the 1950s. Romero's manager confirmed that Romero passed away in an almost manner far removed from the world of horror movies: he was listening to Victor Young's score for "The Quiet Man" .

For more about Romero and tributes from film industry colleagues, click here. 

Here is the full length feature film "Night of the Living Dead".

The Guardian has rounded up an eclectic group of directors to weigh in on their own personal choices for the greatest film scenes ever shot. They range from the skeleton battle in "Jason and the Argonauts" to the car chase in "The French Connection". Click here to read the justifications for their choices. 

The TV series Doctor Who premiered in the UK in 1963 and is still a highly popular cultural institution. Fans were shocked when the news was released that the thirteenth actor to portray the doctor will be a female, actress Jodie Whittaker. As you might suspect, the web is alight with debates between those who welcomed the news and feel that Whittaker's casting will be an inspiration to young female fans and those who are aghast that the traditionally male role has now gone "politically correct".  Whittaker will take over the role in January, when the current Doctor Who, Peter Capaldi, retires from the series. For more click here. 

A MIXED BAG IN A BIG BOX

BY DARREN ALLISON

‘I was there; I was in that picture, fighting the Cyclops on the beach, running from the dragon! I was enthralled. It's one of my strongest childhood memories.’ It’s very hard to argue with director John Landis’s vivid account of his earliest memories and the fantasy films of Ray Harryhausen and producer Charles H. Schneer. They seemed to touch us all in an indelible manner and took us into a fantasy realm far beyond our imagination. Indicator has (for the first time in the UK) combined the three Sinbad adventures in one very handsomely produced package. It’s a magical box that has very little trouble in sending us on a journey, and back to a place called innocence…

The Seventh voyage of Sinbad (1958) was something of a revelation back in its day. Ray Harryhausen’s pioneering stop-motion animation had worked so well in films such as The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955) and 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957). However, he was about to enter a new period and face a new set of challenges. Along with his producer Charles H. Schneer, Harryhausen was about to embark on their next collaboration, The Seventh voyage of Sinbad, and it was to be made in full colour.

The story of The Seventh voyage of Sinbad was quite simple and uncomplicated. Sinbad (Kerwin Mathews) and Princess Parisa’s (Kathryn Grant) plans of marriage are interrupted by the evil magician Sokurah (Torin Thatcher). Sokurah insists that Sinbad return a lamp that he lost on the island of Colossa. Sinbad at first refuses, which leads to Sokurah shrinking Parisa and blackmailing Sinbad and his crew on a dangerous adventure in order to save her.

Exciting as the story was, the real magical elements were of course in the monsters and creatures the Sinbad would encounter along the way and was very much were Harryhausen stepped in. Considering its age and taking into account the combination of early colour film and special effects techniques, Harryhausen’s work was nothing less than miraculous. From that startling entrance of ‘the Cyclops on the beach’ that Landis so excitingly refers to, we as an audience are hooked. The blending of an enormous, mythical creature and real life people, seemingly in a real location, was enough to take any child’s breath away and leave them both complexed and in wonder. There was naturally more to come, the giant Roc, the mysterious snake woman, the fire breathing dragon and perhaps most enthralling of all sequences, Sinbad’s sword duel with the living skeleton. The results were not only seamless, but utterly mindboggling.

The new 4K restoration of The Seventh voyage of Sinbad (from the original camera negative) really brings it to life. Colours are both rich and vivid. Certain backgrounds may occasionally look a little grainy, but nevertheless perfectly acceptable and no doubt down to separate film elements used in the film’s original production. The high resolution scan perhaps highlights these limitations to some degree. It’s necessary to also remember, this production was working to a tight schedule and an even tighter budget. However, simply look at the level of detail in close-ups and location shots, and the real revelation of the restoration becomes extremely clear. The audio also sounds marvellous and is presented in both mono and DTS multi-channel.

Speaking of revelations, Indicator’s collection of bonus material is exhaustive – ‘exhaustive’ in the most complementary way I might add. Firstly, we have a commentary track (from 2008) which not only features Harryhausen at the helm, but a whole host of industry wizards. Producer Arnold Kunert, visual effects experts Phil Tippett, Randall William Cook and Bernard Herrmann biographer Steven Smith all provide fascinating insights and their respect towards Harryhausen’s work is undeniable.

Also included are the original Super 8mm cut down versions. As any serious movie fan of a certain age will recall, these were essential, especially if you were growing up in the 70s. Before the introduction of videocassettes, these 200ft spools contained around 8-9 minutes of film and featured condensed sequences or key scenes from the movie. You could buy these in different versions such as b/w silent or colour sound (which were a lot more expensive). Four parts were released for The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad – The Cyclops, The Strange Voyage, The Evil Magician and Dragon’s Lair – which was the reel I owned and watched over and over again. Each of these segments is presented in their raw state, complete with speckles and tram line scratches, but to be honest, I wouldn’t really want them any other way. They are a wonderful, retrospective reminder of those glorious days. I should also point out that parts 1 and 4 are in their colour / sound versions while parts 2 and 3 are in b/w / silent. There is also an option to play individual reels or play all.

The Secrets of Sinbad (11.23) is a featurette with Phil Tippet (in his workshop) recollecting on how he grew up on Harryhausen’s films. He talks about the whole period and Forrest J. Ackerman’s Famous Monsters magazine and how this became a key influence in his own career path.

Remembering The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (23.31) has Harryhausen talking about the struggle in getting the film made. He talks about various elements including the shooting in Granada, Spain, and Majorca. Kerwin Matthews, the building of giant props, his creature designs and his disapproval over the English censoring of the skeleton fight are among the many other subjects discussed.

A Look Behind the Voyage (11.52) is a TV featurette from 1995. It looks to be from a video source, which was being used regularly during this period. This short piece features interviews with both Schneer and Harryhausen and looks back at the early work such as Mighty Joe Young and his fairy tale films. It also looks at the importance of his parents and the role they played, the difficulties in moving from b/w to colour and working to tight budgets. It’s a nice informative, condensed piece.

Music promo (2.34) – Well this is a nice rare little piece and the sort of thing that really grabs my interest. In 1958, Colpix (the record division of Columbia pictures), produced this 7” 45rpm single to be played in cinema lobbies, radio shows and for giving away as kids competition prizes. The song ‘Sinbad May Have Been Bad, But He’s Been Good to Me’ is as cheesy as hell, but oh so wonderful. It’s presented here in beautiful, clear sound and played over a piece of Seventh Voyage poster artwork.

The Music of Bernard Herrmann (26.52) is a fascinating essay on composer Bernard Herrmann. Herrmann biographer Steven Smith presents an insightful and eloquent account of the composer’s love of fantasy films. Smith takes us through his early work including CBS radio, Orson Welles’s Mercury theatre, his innovative instrumentation style and his use of Theremin, Brass and electronics. All of which is fascinating.

Keeping on the subject of Bernard Herrmann, Indicator have pulled off a real treat with the inclusion of Herrmann’s full isolated score. Presented in Stereo, the score is rousing, clean and dynamic, it is also plentiful as Herrmann leaves very few scenes unscored. I believe this marks its debut as an isolated score, but 2009 complete score CD (released by Prometheus) came with a total time of 71 minutes, so expect a lot of great music here.

Birthday Tribute (1.00) features a short birthday tribute to Harryhausen from Phil Tippet’s studio – complete with dancing skeletons.

The Trailer Gallery starts with the original ‘This is Dynamation!’ trailer (3.26). This is a fascinating preview that presents the process of Dynamation and includes some rare behind the scenes footage, effects shots and Kerwin Mathews practising with his fencing coach for the skeleton fight. We then have the same trailer introduced and with a commentary from Trailers from Hell presenter Brian Trenchard-Smith (4.47). Finally, there is the re-release trailer which I believe is from 1975 (1.46).

The image gallery is quite comprehensive and contains approx. 75 steps. This is a little misleading as a great deal of portrait shots are placed side-by-side, so in reality there’s a great deal more. Here you will find original promotional material, Harryhausen drawings, b/w stills, mini lobby cards, comic books and poster art from around the world.

Joe Robinson, 2004. (Photo copyright Cinema Retro. All rights reserved.)

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Joe Robinson, the estimable stuntman, stunt arranger and occasional actor, has passed away in his native England at age 90. Robinson came from a family of wrestlers and he won the European Heavyweight Championship in 1952. Robinson drifted into the film industry initially as an actor, starring in the 1955 movie "A Kid for Two Farthings". Leading man status eluded him but he found a steady career arranging stunts for films and television shows and occasionally acting in them as well. Like many British and American actors, he gravitated to Italy in the early 1960s to appear in some of the "Hercules"-inspired strongman films that were quite popular during that era. He scored small action roles in "Barabbas" and "Ursus" before returning to England, where he had a supporting role in Tony Richardson's classic "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Rnner.  He was a noted judo and karate expert  and helped train Honor Blackman for her action scenes in "The Avengers" TV series and in the 1964 James Bond film "Goldfinger". In 1971 he landed his best-remembered role as smuggler Peter Franks in the James Bond movie "Diamonds are Forever". In the movie's best action scene, he has a bruising battle with Sean Connery inside the tight confines of an elevator.  This writer and fellow Cinema Retro publisher Dave Worrall met him in 1995 when he participated in recording a laser disc commentary track we were producing relating to the elevator fight  along with "Diamonds are Forever" director Guy Hamilton at Pinewood Studios (the track is available on the DVD and Blu-ray versions of the film today). 

Robinson battling Sean Connery in the 1971 James Bond film "Diamonds are Forever".

Robinson was very much a free spirit who would often turn up unexpectedly at events and ingratiate himself with people by discussing his fascinating stories of working in the film industry. He later would appear with the James Bond International Fan Club at various 007-themed events and conventions where he enjoyed meeting his admirers and signing autographs. He once told this writer that many years after filming "Diamonds are Forever", he decided to drop by Sean Connery's estate in Spain. When he rang the doorbell buzzer in the gated community, Connery asked who was there. When he heard it was Joe Robinson, Connery exclaimed "Tiger Joe!", referring to Robinson's nickname in the industry. The two men spent a pleasant afternoon reminiscing about old times. In addition to his other achievements, Robinson and his brother Doug co-authored "Honor Blackman's Book of Self-Defence", a 1965 volume that illustrated their training sessions with Blackman. For more click here.