Director Nicholas Ray's 1955 classic Rebel Without a Cause has been restored by Martin Scorsese's Film Foundation. Cinema Retro L.A. correspondent Mark Cerulli attended the recent premiere. Here is his report:

On November 1^st, Warner Bros. unveiled a loving restoration of the James Dean classic, Rebel Without A Cause at a special screening at the Los Angeles Museum of Art. The project was funded by the Italian fashion house Gucci, which also threw a cocktail party at LACMA’s Japanese Pavilion before the show. Their party was attended by some of LA’s glitterati including actress Camilla Belle and original Rebel cast member Jack Grinnage (“Moose”).

Premiere cocktail party. (Photo copyright Mark Cerulli. All rights reserved.)

Since this restoration was supported by Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation, the director was supposed to introduce the film personally. Work commitments kept him elsewhere, but he came up with a crowd pleasing last minute substitute – his frequent collaborator, Leonardo DiCaprio. The actor seemed relaxed and genuinely excited to be there as he read Scorsese’s statement about how the film was instrumental in fostering his interest in and love of movies – especially its palette of rich and vivid colors. (And unlike most celebrity presenters who duck out of events as soon as the lights go down, DiCaprio took an aisle seat and stayed for the entire film!)

DiCaprio introduces the restored movie classic. (Photo copyright Mark Cerulli. All rights reserved.)

It goes without saying that the film looked and sounded spectacular. The colors popped and Dean’s iconic screen presence, Natalie Wood’s fragile beauty and Sal Mineo’s haunting performance all came across as poignantly as they did on the day of release in 1955. According to Scorsese in the premiere program, “the original color negative was scanned at 8K resolution” and the sound had to be digitally sourced and cleaned from the original release print.

Although the film came out of director Nicholas Ray’s wish to portray “young people growing up”, it remains a timeless snapshot of 1950s America and a showcase for the raw power of James Dean.

BY TODD GARBARINI

Does the world really need another documentary about George A. Romero’s watershed 1968 zombie film Night of the Living Dead? After having watched a new documentary directed by Rob Kuhns called Birth of the Living Dead, the answer is a resounding “Yes!” Horror films have arguably never been more popular than they are now. The Internet and compact digital devices such as iPads and cell phones have permitted people who normally would not be able to afford the type of equipment necessary to make a film the ability to do so. Consequently, “found footage” films and zombie epics like 28 Days Later (2002) prosper. Digital video and the explosion of computers and digital editing capability have become a filmmaker's best friend. This is a far cry from the conditions under which Mr. Romero and company made Night.

What Birth of the Living Dead does so well is pinpoint that exact moment in history, in this case October 1968, when Mr. Romero’s seminal film was unleashed upon an unsuspecting world. Prior to this, Mr. Romero, who was born in the Bronx prior to moving to Pittsburgh, cut his teeth five years earlier by creating a company called the Latent Image and produced hundreds, if not thousands, of commercials. Sir Ridley Scott similarly produced some 3000 commercials prior to his film debut, 1977’s The Duelists. Mr. Romero comically mentions having shot footage for Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and maintains even that wound up being frightening!

There are many ways in which film can be ruined and when shooting on celluloid, invariably footage can end up over or under exposed. In the case of some of the commercials that Mr. Romero worked on, a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into shooting footage that would end up plagued by mistakes made in the lab. This is simply a fact of life and similar problems of shooting digitally are rife with issues that plague filmmakers even today. USB devices get lost, hard drives crash, digital videotape is accidentally erased, etc. Mr. Romero has seen it all.

The average filmgoer probably believes that Night was Mr. Romero’s very first film. While this is true in terms of having a film released, he actually attempted to make an Ingmar Bergman-like drama prior to it. With money obtained and saved through making commercials, he purchased a 35mm Arriflex film camera and began work on a film entitled Whine of the Fawn, sort of a variation on Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring (which, ironically enough, influenced Wes Craven’s notorious Last House on the Left in 1972). The film proved to be difficult to make and seemed pretentious and was mercifully abandoned. While reading the novel I Am Legend by famed author Richard Matheson, Mr. Romero wrote his own story and screenplay about a zombie outbreak. It went before the cameras under the title of Night of the Flesh Eaters. This was 1967, the era of Vietnam, racism, civil rights movements, anger, and rioting. The country was exploding as a result of class differences and racial injustice. Mr. Romero’s film was seminal in that there was a new revolution at hand: the dead were coming back to life en masse. Rechristening the Latent Image as Image Ten, Night of the Flesh Eaters became Night of the Living Dead - without a copyright trademark which was left off due to an oversight, resulting in unknown amounts of money lost as the film became public domain. Mr. Romero shot and edited the film himself. The budget was so small that the cast and crew of Night pulled double duty behind and in front of the camera. This film is really the very definition of a team effort and at this time independent cinema was fairly new. In New York Martin Scorsese was just starting out; in Toronto, David Cronenberg was shooting his short films Transfer and From the Drain; John Carpenter was in film school at the University of Southern California; Wes Craven was teaching and trying to get his film career off the ground; Dario Argento was writing film criticism for a newspaper in Rome and preparing to shoot his first movie. It was an exciting era.

It is hard for contemporary audiences to imagine what it must have been like to see a film like Night in 1968. Birth gives us a graphic insight to those troubled times. Mr. Romero admits in Birth that most people on the crew didn’t even believe that the film would get finished. Birth offers the opinions of a whole host of people in the industry about their experiences having seen Night. One of them is Gale Anne Hurd, the producer of The Terminator, Aliens, and The Abyss, and who is now an executive producer on AMC’s extremely popular and successful series The Walking Dead. It is amazing to see that 45 years after the release of Night, it is obvious that Mr. Romero is responsible for the zombie genre.

Birth also very carefully examines the casting of the late African American actor Duane Jones as Ben, the hero of the film. Most people thought that Mr. Romero was making a statement about white and black relations by casting Mr. Jones. The truth is, he was the best person to audition for the role. Just as simple as that. There is no mention in Night nor is there any sort of reference to Ben’s color. It's basically a non-issue.

It is also interesting to point out that film criticism at the time wholeheartedly embraced Night. Many well-regarded publications such as Positif analyzed the film under a microscope and interpreted it from the standpoint of serious film theory. This gave the movie an air of prestige never imagined.

Overall, this is an excellent and insightful look at the effect that this low-budget American film had on the motion picture industry. Even if you are not a fan of horror or of Night, I would recommend that you see it to appreciate and be familiar with Night’s cultural significance. An excellent companion piece to this film is Ben Harvey’s BFI Film Classics book on Night which can be purchased here from Amazon.com.

Birth of the Living Dead begins its theatrical engagement at New York’s Independent Film Center (IFC) at 323 Sixth Avenue at West Third Street on November 6, 2013. Fitting, as the IFC is the former Waverly Theater where Night premiered in 1968.

Who knew?

Click here for the film’s official website.

There's great news for Dean Martin fans and lovers of classic comedy. Star Vista Entertainment/Time Life have released the entire broadcast collection of Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts. These shows were "must-sees" in their original telecasts in the 1970s, as an astonishing array of Hollywood and political legends came together on stage to roast the man or woman being "honored". Taking on the format of a Friar's Roast (without the obscenities), the shows became extraordinarily popular as off-shoots of Dean Martin's long-running variety hour on NBC. Each roast was held before a large live audience in Las Vegas and no "honoree" emerged unscathed. The packaging warns that in today's politically correct society, much of the racially-charged humor might seem shocking but keep in mind, this was the norm in the day with comedians, both black and white, taking good-natured pot-shots at each other. Additionally, people who were arch political rivals would engage in very funny by-play. Try imaging that in today's crazy, polarized political environment. Each roast is seen complete and uncut, a refreshing change from those vidoe releases which frustratingly only offer "highlights" or "Best of..." selections. The beautifully mastered DVDs come in two versions: a selection of 18 roasts plus new bonus featurettes and two vintage Dean Martin Variety Hour programs featuring the likes of Bob Hope, John Wayne and Rodney Dangerfield. You also get a great 44 page commemorative souvenir program.  The deluxe version comes in a handsome gift box and features all 54 roasts, the aforementioned bonus materials, four vintage Dean Martin TV specials and an exclusive commemorative figurine of Dino. Looking over the collection, it seems hard to believe that there once was a time where you could see people like Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Henry Fonda, Orson Welles, Ronald Reagan, Don Rickles, Jackie Gleason and so many others sharing the same podium. This massive collection might take you a very long time to get through, but there's simply no better way to brighten your day than to take this delightful trip down Memory Lane.

See press release below for more information.

The sets are available exclusively from www.deanroasts.com

THE DEAN MARTIN CELEBRITY ROASTS: COMPLETE COLLECTION($249.95)follows StarVista Entertainment/Time Life's best-selling releases of "The Dean Martin Variety Show" and marks the first time that most of these classics from the Golden Age of TV will be released on DVD in a single collection.  Featuring all 54 roasts from both "The Dean Martin Show" and "The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts," the program's notable roastees included many of the 20th century's most accomplished performers and athletes, politicians and personalities including: Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Carson, Sammy Davis Jr., Jack Benny, Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, George Burns, Don Rickles, Kirk Douglas, Danny Thomas, Gabe Kaplan, Hank Aaron, Wilt Chamberlin, Joe Namath, Muhammad Ali, Ronald Reagan and Dean Martin himself.  

Featuring over 40 hours of top-shelf comedy from hundreds of celebrities including Phyllis Diller, Jonathan Winters, Dick Martin, Joey Bishop, Henry Fonda, Gene Kelly, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Redd Foxx, Ruth Buzzi, Flip Wilson, John Wayne, Angie Dickinson, Billy Crystal and many more, the collectible set also contains over fifteen hours of bonus programming including comedy sketches from "The Dean Martin Show," rare Dean Martin TV specials that have not been seen since the original broadcast and exclusive interviews with roasters and roastees.  The set also contains 11 specially-produced featurettes, rare home movies with Dean, family and friends, a 44-page collector's book loaded with behind-the-scenes photos, classic quotes and production materials and a limited-edition 7.5" hand-painted Dean Martin "at the dais".  Adding hours of classic comedy to this superlative collection, also included are two bonus DVDs featuring seven episodes from "The Dean Martin Variety Show".

By Lee Pfeiffer

When it opened in 1970, director Lewis Gilbert's film version of Harold Robbins' best-seller The Adventurers was reviewed by New York Times, which referred to the production as "a spectacular blast-furnace lulu of human waste". Indeed, Gilbert himself said of the film a few years ago that it was "terrible" and that he regretted having been involved with it. With such a reputation, it's no wonder that even retro movie lovers such as myself have never made the effort to watch the movie. However, the Warner Archive has just re-issued Paramounts original DVD release of the film and, upon receiving the screener, I had enough morbid curiosity to give it a try. How, after all, could a film by a major director and featuring a big all-star cast go so completely wrong? The answer is: it didn't. The Adventurers is not high art, but it doesn't deserve its place in the Razzie book of ten worst films of all time. The worst that can be said of it is that it is a relentlessly downbeat affair that goes on for three hours with nary an iota of humor or anything, in fact, to relieve the consistent depiction of human suffering. At times, it makes Sophie's Choice look like It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Gilbert, who had recently come off the double-barreled successes of Alfie and You Only Live Twice, had envisioned directing the screen adaptation of Oliver! When that project went to Carol Reed, he ended up with The Adventurers. 

The movie opens with an unsettling sequence set in a fictional South American country (it was filmed in Colombia). A young boy named Dax Xenos watches in horror while a group of soldiers invades his family compound and systematically rape and kill all of the women, including his mother and sister. Dax barely escapes and rescues his friend, a girl Amparo. Together they survive an arduous trek across the desert and are reunited witih Dax's father (Fernando Rey) who is a prominent rebel leader trying to depose the nation's dictator. Ultimately the rebels win and install a new leader, General Rojo (Alan Badel), who promises to initiate democracy but who proves to be as ruthless and greedy as his predecessor. (The parallels to Castro are probably no coincidental).  Dax's father is named a prominent diplomat and over the years, the two become closer than ever. With Dax now a handsome young man and playboy, he is thrust into the political limelight when his father is assassinated, ostensibly by rebels now trying to oust Rojos, but in reality the command was given by Rojos himself. The story traces Dax's rags-to-riches-to-rags-to-riches life as he tries to preoccupy himself by opening up a fashion studio with some old friends. However, he is repeatedly drawn to efforts to oust Rojos back in his home country. He ultimately uses his social contacts among the rich and famous to raise capital to finance arms to the guerrillas and ultimately ends up helping to lead a massive assault on the presidential compound. Intermingled with these action sequences, we follow Dax's busy love life as he romances rich cougars (Olivia De Havilland among them) and enters an ill-suited marriage with the world's richest young woman (Candice Bergen.)  Dax, who is nominally the hero of this film, comes across as a cad. When his wife suffers a miscarriage in an accident and finds she can no longer bare children, he basically says, "Adios" and goes on his lustful way to find other women. He eventually is reunited with Amparo (Leigh-Taylor Young), who is the daughter of Rojos. The two have an on-again, off-again affair. (Only Harold Robbins or Sidney Sheldon could envision such complicated love lives).

The three hour movie is consistently engrossing and the locations, which include Rome and New York, are exotic, to say the least. This was one hell of an expensive production and it must have originally been envisioned for a road show release (it has an intermission.) The battle scenes are massive in scale and superbly staged and the entire film is stunningly photographed by the great Claude Renoir. The music by Antonio Carlos Jobim is also an impressive asset. Bekim Fehmiu, who was then a largely unknown Yugoslavian actor who was plucked from obscurity, meets the physical requirements of the role in that he has a calendar model's good looks and appears very Bondian in a tuxedo. Critics called his performance wooden and dull but he is supposed to be playing a man so scarred by boyhood traumas that he finds it almost impossible to show overt emotion. A film of this magnitude certainly called out for a major star in the lead role, so Fehmiu's lack of clout with audiences clearly hurt the boxoffice potential. However, there are any number of other good actors in supporting roles including Ernest Borgnine (very good as Dax's only true friend), the aforementioned Ms. De Havilland and Bergen, Charles Aznavour, Rosanno Brazzi, Leigh-Taylor Young, John Ireland and the always great Fernando Rey. (Even 007's Miss Moneypenny, Lois Maxwell, shows up in a blink-and-you'll-miss-her cameo.) Gilbert's direction is assured and and he keeps the lengthy story running at a fast enough pace that there is nary a dull moment.

The Adventurers doesn't represent anything like the best films of its era. However, it is also not the shameful mess even its director has labeled it as. Huge in scope and featuring rich production values, the movie has some shots that feature enough extras to rival Cleopatra. It's a pretty grim affair throughout but retro movie fans should ignore conventional wisdom and form their own opinions about its overall merits. Recommended. 

The Warner Archive DVD features an excellent transfer but no bonus extras.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Last evening I attended a rather remarkable event: the world premiere screening of the new highly-touted National Geographic Channel TV movie Killing Kennedy. (The program will be telecast on November 10.) What made the evening remarkable was the fact that, instead of premiering the film in a New York or L.A. prestigious venue, National Geographic in association with Cablevision, chose Greenbriar, a senior citizens community in the central New Jersey town of Marlboro. It seems the channel is taking a populist approach to publicizing their most prestigious productions and it was decided to premiere the Kennedy film before an audience of people who were alive during the events recounted on screen. Several politicos were on hand (there is an election in New Jersey next week, after all) including Jonathan Hornki, the mayor of Marlboro -who used some clout to get the event held at Greenbriar- and state  senator Joe Kryllos (R). Also in attendance was Charlie Parsons, one of the executive producers. Discussing historical facts among senior citizens who lived through the actual events is generally a risky business. I taught classes about films pertaining to the Cold War to adult ed students at NYU and found that I learned as much from the class as they did, thanks to their personal insights. Thus, National Geographic felt very confident that they had a good product with this high budget, slickly made recreation of the events that unfolded  50 years ago on that somber day in Dallas.

Rob Lowe and Ginnifer Goodwin as JFK and Jackie Kennedy.

There are plenty of landmark moments in American history that have taken place over the last century, but few that can be called genuinely seminal. I would list the attack on Pearl Harbor, D-Day, the moon landing, the 9/11 terrorism acts and certainly the assassination of John F. Kennedy. With the 50th anniversary upon us, there is no shortage of beings and entities that are trying to exploit this dreadful day in U.S. history. Some are motivated purely by profit others by profit and a desire to enlighten people. The National Geographic Channel falls squarely into the latter category. Producer Parsons explained that the channel prides itself on presenting fact, not fiction or speculation. He also said the decision was made to go with the traditional theories about the assassination (i.e, Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.) This is, in itself, refreshing. The two most prominent major feature films made about the death of Kennedy- Executive Action (1973) and Oliver Stone's  JFK (1991)- both propagated conspiracy theories. Parsons didn't endorse or dismiss such theories but simply said that, had the project delved into those waters, the film would have been too large in scope to cover the key events effectively in an 88  minute time slot. There are plenty of intelligent people who believe in the conspiracies and others who are genuine nutcases...the kind of folks who believe President Bush orchestrated the destruction of the World Trade Center and that President Obama is a Marxist illegal alien from Kenya. The channel will take a lot of heat from this crowd for presenting a straight-forward view that Oswald alone killed Kennedy; in essence presenting the Warren Report version of events. However, it is now unusual to see this traditional interpretation of the assassination being put forward since conspiracy-oriented films and TV show have been sucking up all the oxygen on the subject for the last couple of decades. 

National Geographic Channel had a major success with their February airing of Killing Lincoln, a truly outstanding production that rightly earned the highest ratings in the channel's history. That film was based on a best-selling book by Bill O'Reilly (yes, that Bill O'Reilly) and his co-author Martin Dugard. The success of the book led to the two collaborating on Killing Kennedy and-most recently- Killing Jesus. Whether you love or loathe O'Reilly for his controversial political punditry on Fox News (and there is no middle ground), you have to credit him for bringing historical events back into the public mainstream through his books. In an increasingly dumbed-down world, anyone who helps elevate interest in history is to be commended. The new Killing Kennedy production represents new ground for National Geographic: it's the channel's first scripted docudrama. (In the parlance of the 1970s, it would be called a "TV movie".) That is, is has no narration and the scripted project stars professional actors. This is a bit risky for a venture that prides itself on historical accuracy as scripted dramas always run the risk of reflecting the biases of the screenwriters. While I don't profess to be a JFK assassination scholar, it seemed to me that overall production was accurate based up on what we know, not supposition.  (There is some clunky ambiguity about JFK's removal of missiles from Turkey in order to give Kruschev a fig leaf to end the Cuban Missile Crisis, but that's a minor criticism.)

Will Rothhaar as Lee Harvey Oswald

The film traces parallel story lines involving the rendezvous with destiny that both John F. Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald were approaching from disparate paths. The movie presents interesting insights into Oswald's defection to the Soviet Union and his ultimate disappointment about living in the decrepit "Worker's Paradise". He ultimately returns to America with his Russian wife with the dream that he will somehow be the center of a major news story. When that fails to happen, his life rapidly disintegrates. His marriage begins to unwind, his wife and children move out and he is relegated to a menial job in the Dallas school book depository from which the deadly shots were fired. Meanwhile, JFK is nursing his wounds over his bungling of the Bay of Pigs invasion and trying to prevent all out nuclear war when the Soviets move missiles into Cuba. The President is very well-played by Rob Lowe, who opts to capture the essence of the character as opposed to attempting a flat-out imitation of the man. It's a wise move. Lowe conveys Kennedy's charm, intelligence and swagger but also reveals his self-centered side through his dalliances with other women (as aspect of White House life that is conveyed strongly, but briefly.) JFK becomes a more mature and thoughtful person following the tragic death of his infant son. Jackie Kennedy (played by Ginnifer Goodwin as a sympathetic and tolerant figure) finally sees her husband becoming the man she knew he could be- but, of course, tragedy will cut short this transformation. Oswald's marriage is also delved into in a detailed way with Michelle Trachtenberg outstanding as his long-suffering Russian immigrant wife. (Impressively, Trachtenberg learned how to speak Russian phonetically from her mother, who was born in the Soviet Union.) As Oswald comes to the realization that his dreams of grandeur are destined for failure, he makes a rather spontaneous decision to make history by assassinating the president. As Oswald, newcomer Will Rothhaar gives a very impressive performance, avoiding the types of pretentious quirks or overt signs of villainy that one might have anticipated. Instead, he plays Oswald as a somewhat sympathetic loser; a man who is capable of having genuine empathy for the civil rights movement, yet is equally capable of manhandling his wife in a rage. Other key historical figures such as LBJ, Jack Ruby and Bobby Kennedy remain peripheral characters out of necessity due to time constraints but every supporting performance is played to perfection. The film actually gets better as it nears its inevitable and tragic conclusion. It's hard to ring suspense out of a drama when we all know how it ends. Fred Zinnemann achieved this with his brilliant 1973 film The Day of the Jackal about a fictitious plot to assassinate Charles de Gaulle and director Nelson McCormick manages to do the same with Killing Kennedy. Production values are top-notch as is the editing and cinematography. None of this is surprising given the impressive talent behind the scenes (both Ridley Scott and David Zucker are among the executive producers.) Oliver Stone may get his knickers twisted when he sees this non-conspiratorial view of the JFK assassination but the truth is that no one can say they really know the truth. Despite compelling questions, mysteries and inconsistencies regarding key aspects of the Warren Report, no one has ever produced definitive evidence of a plot that went beyond the mad act of a desperate man who wanted to known for making some kind of mark on society, even if it were to be a tragic one. 

Killing Kennedy is sure to get a huge audience when it is broadcast on November 10 (a DVD release will follow shortly thereafter). Hopefully, an enthusiastic response to a production this good will only encourage the National Geographic Channel to continue to elevate the standards of historical dramas with similarly-themed programming. Everyone involved should take a well-deserved bow. 

Unseen blooper reel footage has surfaced from the 1976 filming of the original Star Wars movie. Before anyone gets carried away, the snippets are disjointed and only moderately amusing. Nevertheless, any footage that we haven't seen is more than welcome. The blooper reel is being included in a new interactive book, The Making of Star Wars.  To view the reel (some of which has no audio) click here

To order the book discounted from Amazon click here

A couple of years ago we met director Tom Donohue and his colleagues, who were in the beginning stages of their documentary Casting By, which explores the generally neglected contributions of casting directors to major motion pictures. In the ensuing months, Tom and his team have interviewed a remarkable number of prominent directors, actors and producers for their film including Woody Allen, Robert Duvall,  Robert Redford, Al Pacino, Robert De NiroMartin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood. The film, which is being touted as a strong Oscar contender, has just opened theatrically in New York. Additionally, Woody Allen, who generally keeps a low profile, was inspired by the film to write an open letter to the movie industry extolling the virtues of casting directors. (To read the letter click here)

Here is a synopsis and play dates for the film:

"Casting is 95% of directing a picture," Martin Scorsese says at the start of Casting By, a "scintillating (THR)", fascinating (NYT)" and "wildly entertaining"(Indiewire) look at an important and vastly under-appreciated craft that will never let you look at movies quite the same way again. Director Tom Donahue focuses his lens on the pioneering contributions of Casting Director Marion Dougherty whose keen eye and gut instincts almost singlehandedly created a profession from the ashes of a dying studio system and helped give birth to the golden era of the New Hollywood. The film combines "the greatest assemblage of talking-head star power in any documentary ever made" (Back Stage) with a rich treasure trove of archival to craft a fun and revealing journey through the last half century of Hollywood. "More than a must-see. It’s a brisk, breezy, enjoyable and often endearing experience." -Film School Rejects

By Lee Pfeiffer 

The three Harry Palmer feature films (The Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain) have had a rather cluttered history in terms of their video releases. Surprisingly, producer Harry Saltzman didn't stick with one studio in terms of their theatrical releases, as he did with the James Bond films which he co-produced with Cubby Broccoli. Instead, each of the Palmer films was financed by and released by a different studio. Thus, in the ensuing decades, the video rights to these films have been convoluted. The titles have remained consistently available to consumers in some countries, while in others (including the USA), they have appeared and disappeared from the marketplace for years at a time. Now the Warner Archive has reissued Paramount's original DVD version of Funeral in Berlin as a burn-to-order title. The original film, The Iprcress File, was internationally acclaimed as the "thinking man's 007" movie. Caine's Harry Palmer, replete with Cockney accent, was the working man's secret agent. He does not have a big expense account, he lives in a modest apartment and he is basically disdainful of authority figures. (Bond is, too, but generally only in a playful sense.) Two qualities that Bond and Palmer do share is that they are both incorruptible and are prone to bedding a parade of beautiful women they encounter both socially and on the job. Funeral in Berlin seems intent on emphasizing the independent nature of Harry Palmer. He reluctantly follows orders given to him by his grim, unsmiling boss Ross (Guy Doleman), but  he clearly disdains the man and the bureaucracy he represents. Palmer is on some kind of probation with MI6 and Ross dangles his termination as a constant threat. Palmer is so financially impoverished that he can't even afford a car (Ross won't extend a loan to him) and he must commute about London via public buses. 

Ross summons Palmer to his home and informs him he must leave abruptly for West Berlin. It seems an influential Soviet general named Stock (Oscar Homolka) has made it clear that he wants to defect to the West. Palmer is immediately skeptical but Ross can't pass up the opportunity to bring Stock "in from the cold", so to speak. Palmer arrives in West Berlin and is greeted by his local contact with German intelligence, Johnny Vulcan (Paul Hubschmid). Like Palmer, he's young, charismatic and good looking and in the course of business, they enjoy the local bar scene as well as some willing beauties. Among them is Samantha Steel (Eva Renzi), a vivacious young woman who boldly seduces Palmer. Harry's suspicions that she is a spy are borne out when he learns she is with Israeli intelligence. The complicated plot, based on the Len Deighton novel, next finds Palmer in East Berlin where he meets with General Stock. As played by Oscar Homolka, the character comes across like a Soviet version of Henny Youngman, constantly cracking jokes and tossing insults. Nevertheless, the chemistry between Caine and Homolka is one of the main assets of the film and the character of General Stock was brought back in Billion Dollar Brain. Palmer suspects that Stock is lying about his desire to defect and this sets in motion plot devices that are so convoluted that the movie gets extremely confusing. After a while, it's hard to follow who is trying to accomplish what and the motivations and allegiances of the characters are also blurred. At some point, I just gave up and sat back to enjoy the performances and the assured direction of Guy Hamilton, who impressively capitalizes on the West Berlin locations. (Hamilton, who had previously directed Goldfinger, is not the only 007 luminary brought into the production. Producer Saltzman also has legendary production designer Ken Adam on board.) The film is drenched in the sullen mood of the Cold War era but there are some funny witticisms uttered by the bespectacled Palmer. In one of the film's most amsuing on-going sight gags, every time Palmer enters or leaves Samantha's apartment, he walks past some ancient stone decorations that look exactly like erect phallus symbols, a master touch by Ken Adam. 

Caine is in virtually every frame of the film and dominates the production with his low-key performance. Paul Hubschmid is very good as an ally whose allegiance is called into question. Eva Renzi acquits herself well as the femme fatale, equally adept with a machine gun in hand or walking seductively through opulent settings in head-turning wardrobe. One of the delights of any Palmer film is the strained byplay between Palmer and Ross, who is expertly played by another Bond film veteran, Guy Doleman (he played the villain Count Lippe in Thunderball). In fact, Ross is such a stick-in-the-mud that he makes Bernard Lee's "M" look like a towel-snapping prankster. Their scenes in this film bristle with wit and tension. It should also be mentioned that John Barry's moody, acclaimed score for The Ipcress File has been left out of this film with new themes by composer Konrad Elfers, who emphasizes traditional bombastic German music that might seem more fitting in a military epic but somehow is interwoven sensibly into the action. 

Many retro movie lovers consider Funeral in Berlin to be the best of the Palmer feature film trilogy (Caine revised the character many years later in a couple of ill-conceived TV productions.). I still vote for Iprcess as the best of the lot, but this film has so many merits that it can be enthusiastically recommended. The transfer from the previous Paramount DVD edition is identical and of high quality. (Even the packaging is identical, save for the notation that the new release is through the Warner Archive).  The only extra is a trailer that seems to have been struck from an unfinished work print, as it lacks any titles or graphics and doesn't even mention Michael Caine's name. Kudos to the Warner Archive for making this Harry Palmer title accessible once again. Let's hope The Ipcress File and Billion Dollar Brain reappear soon in the American market, too. 

Click here to order. 

Here's a great way to kick off Halloween...watch Ted Cassidy's 1965 appearance on Shindig in which he leads a groovy rendition of "The Lurch", the song he immortalized on The Addams Family. Cassidy even cut a hit 45 RPM of the song!

Click here to view 

By Raymond Benson

It’s not a title that readily pops into one’s head when recalling the great horror films throughout the decades. A British production released when Universal Pictures’ line of horror franchises had declined and Val Lewton’s minimalist RKO productions had reached their height, The Uninvited has remained fairly obscure, in the U.S. anyway, but has also consistently maintained a solid reputation as one of the great, classic haunted house pictures. In fact, The Uninvited could be the first film to treat ghosts seriously rather than as an instrument for humor.

Directed by Lewis Allen and starring Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey and gorgeous Gail Russell in her first film role, the motion picture was released by Paramount in early 1944. Milland was a minor star at the time who would shoot to super-status the following year by winning a Best Actor Oscar for The Lost Weekend. Russell, as described by filmmaker Michael Almereyda in a visual essay extra, was a tragic case of Hollywood Chew-‘Em-Up and Spit-‘Em-Out Syndrome. Remarkably beautiful, Russell had nonetheless suffered from severe stage fright and yet Paramount kept casting her in films over the next dozen years or so in an attempt to make her a star—until alcoholism took over and she died young at the age of thirty-six. However, Russell’s performance in The Uninvited is an impressive debut, and one can easily see why the studio had faith in the actress. Her nervous, yet vulnerable delivery—which apparently was her career downfall in later years—works well with her character in the picture, i.e., a young woman tormented by the ghost of her mother, who died violently by falling off a cliff to the sea—or was she pushed? And is it really her mother?

Milland and Hussey play siblings who buy a creepy old abandoned mansion that sits on the precipice of an English coastline. The previous owner, and Russell’s grandfather in the story, is the inimitable Donald Crisp. Shortly after the couple moves in, the ghost makes its presence known with spooky sobbing, moving things about, and eventually materializing as surprisingly well-done animated ethereal figures. But wait! There is evidence to suggest that there are rival ghosts haunting the couple and the alleged daughter of one of the spirits. Who is the other ghost?

There’s no doubt about it—this is great stuff. It’s English, it’s gothic, it’s romantic, and it handles the subject matter with respect; Lewis really does want to creep out the audience, and he succeeds. Beautifully shot by Charles Lang (Oscar nominee for Black & White Cinematography), The Uninvited is old-fashioned intelligent movie making at its best. Also of note is that the jazz standard “Stella by Starlight” was written by Victor Young for the movie and would be covered by a multitude of artists after lyrics were added to the tune a couple of years after the picture’s release.

The Criterion Collection’s new Blu-ray edition of The Uninvited upholds the label’s long tradition of quality work and presentation. The film looks gorgeous in its new 2K digital restoration. Extras include the aforementioned informative and interesting visual essay, two radio adaptations from 1944 and 1949, both starring Ray Milland, a trailer, and the substantial booklet with an essay by critic Farran Smith Nehme and a 1997 interview with director Allen.

The Uninvited is a perfect Halloween movie. Tell the trick-or-treaters to go away for an hour-and-forty-minutes, get comfortable, turn out the lights, and watch it. You will be spooked

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The last known photograph of Doris Day, taken in 2008. The screen legend is now largely relegated to staying indoors.

In an interview with a former assistant to Doris Day, the Daily Mail reveals that there are concerns that the 91 year-old screen legend may be in a precarious state. Ms. Day has always been the most reluctant of superstars. Despite being a chart-topping singer and one of the most popular actresses of her era, Ms. Day has worn the mantle of fame and fortune very modestly. Her life has been beset by tumultuous marriages, deaths and estrangements. Like Cary Grant, she walked away from the motion picture business in the 1960s (her last film was released in 1968). She had a successful TV sitcom in the early 1970s and would periodically appear in the medium from time to time. She spent most of her life in a rather secluded manner, having sworn off relationships with men. Most of her efforts in her post-acting years were devoted to helping injured and stray animals. Rumors have abounded that Ms. Day was a total eccentric but friends and neighbors said that wasn't true. She would often be seen around her home town of Carmel, California, shopping or running errands. She also prided herself on answering fan mail personally. Now, however, it is feared that her health is deteriorating and that the quality of her life has been compromised by caregivers who are allegedly little more than adequate. For more click here 

By Lee Pfeiffer 

I will confess to being almost totally ignorant of the late, lamented Spanish director Jess Franco's work. Franco (also billed as Jesus Franco), who died in 2012, was known to be a prolific director of cult movies, many of which accentuated bizarre sexual practices. Franco was an enthusiast for the works of the Marquis de Sade and literature that was inspired by or devolved from his erotic stories. In addition to directing, Franco also wrote many films and provided the musical scores as well. If nothing else, you have to admire the sheer quantity of his work, if not the quality. During 1973 alone, he directed at least a dozen movies and perhaps a couple more that never saw completion (like most independent filmmakers, he was always scrambling to find funding from unreliable sources.) Franco would often complete production on one movie then immediately move the same cast and crew onto location for a completely different film. His "stock company" alternated between leading roles and supporting performances but for the most part they remained loyal to him and many worked on his films for many years.

The Mondo Macabre label has released a special edition DVD of Franco's 1974 film Plaisir a trois under its rather absurd English title How to Seduce a Virgin, which makes the movie sound like its one of those low-rent British sex comedies of the era. It's anything but. The film is a disturbing but mesmerizing thriller that centers on an attractive young French married couple. Martine (Alice Arno) is a blonde bombshell who we first meet as she is about to be released from an extended stay in a mental asylum where she has been committed for unspecified reasons. Upon returning to her opulent country manor house in the South of France, she is greeted by her loving husband Charles (Robert Woods), a handsome man who immediately makes up for lost time by bedding his seemingly insatiable wife. (I believe most men do the same whenever their wives are released from extended stays in mental asylums.) He informs Marlene that she has avoided a jail sentence only because he paid off local officials. A hint of what crimes needed to be covered up comes when Marlene lures a local hooker to the mansion. She brings her to the basement where the hapless woman finds herself in a real life chamber of horrors. It seems Marlene and Charles "collect" beautiful men and women by subjecting them to extreme sexual torture then murdering them. Their bodies are preserved as they look at the precise moment of death. With another victim now added to their "collection", the murderous couple make plans for their most ambitious undertaking. Charles has befriended a local diplomat and his wife and convinced them to allow their 21 year old daughter Cecile (Tania Busselier)  to stay with them while they are abroad. Upon seeing her for the first time, the bisexual Marlene is driven to virtual insanity by desire to seduce the young woman, who is a virgin. The couple secretly spy on Cecile, who conveniently has a knack for parading in front of her bedroom window scantily clad before she indulges in long sessions of masturbation. Upon arriving at the couple's house, Cecile is a willing student in Charles and Marlene's sexual capers and is soon participating in orgies with the couple's live-in mistress Adele (Lina Romay), a comely teenager who is inexplicably mute and is obviously mentally challenged but who is all too willing to please her hosts. Despite the fact that Charles and Marlene are equally smitten by Cecile, they nonetheless make plans for to add her as their ultimate trophy to their ghastly collection of former lovers. 

How to Seduce a Virgin is one of Franco's most controversial films. It is richly photographed and well-acted and directed. The film is as mesmerizing as it is distasteful and features a sting-in-the-tail ending worthy of Agatha Christie. Franco's cast performs gamely, doffing their clothes and engaging in extended sex sequences that come as close as you can get to hardcore. Despite the emphasis on sexual violence, Franco is surprisingly restrained in the sex scenes, emphasizing an erotic mood over anything shocking. He is particularly sensitive in filming the numerous scenes of lesbian lovemaking. Nonetheless, a Franco film would apparently not be a Franco film without bizarre elements being stressed. There is no background information given on Charles and Marlene or any of the other characters. This intention to be opaque only makes them all the more interesting. It's as though they exist in their own world. There are few outsiders scene in the story: a psychiatrist, Cecile's parents and the ill-fated hooker are the only people not to live in the house of horrors. A crazy old gardener (Alfred Baillou)  and a loyal chauffeur (Howard Vernon) serve the murderous couple without making any moral judgments against them...although the gardener does attempt to warn Cecile what is in store for her.

The DVD boasts a gorgeous transfer and features interesting and informative biographies of each cast member. (Lina Romney appeared in many of Franco's films and eventually became his wife.) There are also recent interviews with the film's screenwriter Alain Petit and Franco scholar Stephen Thrower. In all, a very impressive release of a bizarre film that will haunt you long after the first viewing.  

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Needham in 1980.

Stuntman-turned-director Hal Needham has died from unspecified causes at age 82. Needham had a long history as one of the best stuntmen in feature films and television before he moved into directing movies. Needham's films were hardly the stuff of art house theaters. He specialized in testosterone-packed action sequences designed to appeal squarely at male audiences. Along the way, he was also credited with developing methods that reduced the risk for the many stuntmen who populated his films. Needham made his directorial debut in 1977 with Smokey and the Bandit starring his old friend Burt Reynolds. Critics scoffed at the cornball humor and endless car stunts and the film laid an egg in urban play dates. However, it resonated with its intended audiences in rural areas and eventually the grosses brought to blockbuster status. The movie not only cemented Reynolds as a genuine superstar but gave new life to the careers of his co-stars Sally Field and Jackie Gleason. Needham and Reynolds collaborated a few years later on another film, Hooper, that was accentuated by stunt work. He teamed with Reynolds again for the all-star comedy hit The Cannonball Run in 1981. The film spawned an ill-conceived sequel a few years later.  He also directed Arnold Schwarzenegger in one of his first starring roles in the Western comedy Villain. Needham had no reservations about alternating between directing films and serving as a stunt coordinator. However, his association with Reynolds seem to mirror his own fate in the film business. As audiences tired of Reynolds' stunt-packed action films, grosses fell and Needham found himself less in demand. However, in 2012, he did have the satisfaction of receiving an honorary Oscar for his contributions to stunt work in the film industry. The characteristically modest man was well-liked and greatly respected for the impressive number of major films on which he performed stunts. These include Little Big Man, French Connection II, The Longest Yard, Camelot and A Star is Born. He was also a favorite of John Wayne, who learned a thing or two from Needham about how to throw convincing punches. Wayne used him as a stunt man or stunt coordinator on his films Rio Lobo, Chisum, The Undefeated and McQ. For more click here  

By Lee Pfeiffer 

Despite its hokey title, the 1958 sci fi cult favorite I Married a Monster From Outer Space is a few notches up the totem pole in comparison to other "B" movies of the period. Produced and directed by Gene Fowler, Jr. and theatrically released by Paramount, the film has been out of print on DVD for a number of years. The Warner Archive has just released it as a burn-to- order title. The film stars Gloria Talbott as Marge Bradley, a small town girl who is engaged to local hunk Bill Farrell (Tom Tryon). However, just prior to their wedding day, Bill encounters an alien from outer space on a back country road and the being takes over his physical body. While the "new" Bill looks the same, his actions and mannerisms change radically. The once fun-loving young man becomes sullen and quiet, leading Marge to speculate what has caused these mood changes. Nevertheless, the couple gets married on the designated day, though Marge finds her wedding night to be anything but romantic, with Bill seemingly disinterested in his new bride. As the days go by, Marge becomes increasingly alarmed by Bill's behavior. Making matters more frustrating is her inability to conceive a child. (Maybe the fact that the dreaded production code at the time mandated that even husbands and wives sleep in separate beds might have had something to do with this particular problem.) Ultimately, Marge discovers a shocking secret: not only has Bill's body been taken over by an alien but the same dilemma has befallen many of the other men in town. In fact, Marge finds it impossible to escape or even to call outside the town for help. She finally manages to round up a posse of "real" men who set out to take on the invaders- only to find they are impervious to bullets. Seems the rather benign beings from another world have the same problem most cinematic space aliens have: their world has been threatened by a natural catastrophe. In this case, all of the women on their planet have died. Not only does this panic the male population, but it probably also caused sales to plummet in local nail and waxing salons. Realizing they must mate or face extinction of their race, the aliens sample numerous planets before deciding on taking over the male population of earth. Once achieved, they intend to figure out how human females will be able to produce their offspring...though their intent is to revert to their normal ghastly physical appearances. As space invaders go, these guys are fairly lame. They seem reluctant to utilize their abilities to use death rays to reduce their opponents into a pile of ashes. In fact, they seem to dig their faux human alter-egos especially since they discover that sex can actually be fun, especially with attractive earth girls. (On their home planet, sex was only for procreation purposes, an understandable policy especially if the women looked like the men.) It is revealed that the "real" men are being kept alive in a space ship while their dopplegangers have been wreaking havoc. Thus, it becomes a race against time to thwart the aliens before the few remaining human males fall victim to an identical fate. 

The film is a blatant rip-off of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, although director Fowler doesn't show similar restraint in making the terrors largely unseen. Instead, the film makes liberal use of special effects and monster costumes, but they aren't half-bad when compared to most B sci-fi flicks of the era. The acting is also above par with Talbott achieving the rare distinction of being a '50s sci-fi heroine who doesn't turn in a laughable performance, though she does comply with the now mandatory act of tripping and falling in the woods while being pursued by the villains. Similarly, Tom Tryon plays it straight and emerges with dignity intact, thus not deterring him from becoming a successful leading man a few years later in major studio productions. (He would also become a bestselling author whose work includes the eerie classic "The Other"). In all, despite its hokey title, I Married a Monster From Outer Space remains one of the more enjoyable B movies of its era. 

The Warner Archive DVD is identical to Paramount's out-of-print previous release. The transfer is crystal clear but, as with most Paramount titles of the period, there are no extras whatsoever.  

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Network Distributing is pleased to announce the next batch of titles within “The British Film” range which will be available in the UK later this year. Each feature once again benefits from a new transfer, an instant play facility and will be presented in special slim-line space-saving packaging.  Some of the highlights from October are a documentary about the body narrated by Vanessa Redgrave with music from Roger Waters, more gems from the vaults from Ealing Studios, classic horror, British musicals and a courtroom drama starring Richard Attenborough.

7 October

THE BODY £9.99

Vanessa Redgrave and Frank Finlay narrate an intimate and innovative documentary from the seventies about the human body cut to music from Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters. Commentary by poet and playwright Adrian Mitchell.

THE FINAL PROGRAMME £9.99

Cult director Robert Fuest’s dystopian sci-fi thriller. Robert Finch stars as Jerry Cornelius, a Nobel Prize winning physicist and playboy who must battle his drug-addicted brother for the code that will move humanity to a higher level of creation with an immortal being.

14 October

THE EALING STUDIOS RARITIES COLLECTION VOLUME 7 £9.99

Four more films from the vaults of Ealing Studios  - mining drama Eureka Stockade (1949) directed by Harry Watt, musical extravaganza Take a Chance (1937); serial-killer drama The Gaunt Stranger (1938) and screwball comedy Play up the Band (1935).

21 October

EDGAR WALLACE PRESENTS THE GAUNT STRANGER £9.99

Sonnie Hale and Wilfrid Lawson star in a crime thriller adapted by Sidney Gilliat about a mysterious serial killer known as ‘The Ringer’ that Scotland Yard must bring to justice.

THE NIGHT WE GOT THE BIRD £9.99

A comic crime caper starring Sir Brian Rix and stand-up Ronald Shiner about forging antiques and then flogging them. What could go wrong?

28 October

THE HEADLESS GHOST £9.99

From the creator of I Was a Teenage Werewolf, this horror is about three thrill-seekers who visit a haunted castle. Clive Fevill stars in an early screen role alongside Josephine Blake.

THE 14 £9.99

Oliver! star Jack Wild leads a throught-provoking drama about 14 siblings who struggle to stay together following the death of their single mother.

4 November

THE EALING STUDIOS RARITIES COLLECTION VOLUME 8 £9.99

Films in this set are The Feminine Touch (1936)  - about the challenges of being a nurse in the NHS starring George Baker and Diana Wynard. One of the last films to be made by Ealing Studios; Young Man’s Fancy (1939) a music hall drama starring Griffith Jones and Anna Lee Seymour; There Ain’t No Justice (1939) stars Jimmy Hanley as a young boxer whose family face financial difficulty and The Silent Passenger (1935) sees Lord Peter Wimsey, Dorothy L Sayer’s amateur sleuth in his first silver screen escapade. Stars John Loder.

THE BRAIN MACHINE £9.99

Patrick Barr and Russell Napier star in a fifties sci-fi thriller about a machine that can reveal abnormalities in the brain…

EIGHT O’CLOCK WALK £9.99

Richard Attenborough stars in a courtroom drama about a taxi-driver wrongly accused of murder.  Co-stars Cathy O’Donnell and Maurice Denham.

11 November

EDGAR WALLACE PRESENTS: COASTS OF SKELETONS £9.99

Heading an international cast – including German ‘krimi’ veteran Heinz Drache – Dam Busters star Richard Todd reprises his role as insurance investigator Harry Sanders in this rare crime adventure based on Edgar Wallace’s 1911 novel Sanders of the River.

BRITISH MUSICALS OF THE 1930S VOLUME 1 £9.99

A new, multi-volume collection of musicals from the 1930s.  Contains Harmony Heaven (1930) starring Polly Ward; The Song You Gave Me (1933) starring Bebe Daniels; Music Hath Charms (1935) starring Henry Hall and his Dance Band andOver She Goes (1937) starring Stanley Lupino.

THE GOOD COMPANIONS £9.99

A musical comedy based on a JB Priestley novel starring John Fraser, Rachel Roberts, Thora Hird and Hugh Griffiths.

LIFE IS A CIRCUS £9.99

The Crazy Gang star in a comedy about a struggling circus also starring Goldfinger icon Shirley Eaton.

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By Lee Pfeiffer 

The niche market DVD label Mondo Macabro has released a little-known 1976 film titled In Hell, known variously as La tortura and Gloria Mundi. The movie is the creation of the late Greek director Nikos Papatakis, who obviously felt he had a significant left-wing political statement to make in this bizarre and unpleasant blending of radicalism and sexual humiliation. The film's one saving grace is an astonishingly brave performance by lead actress Olga Karlatos, who we are introduced to in a provocative, if cringe-inducing sequence in which we observe her sitting in a bathtub and attaching electrical wires to her nipples and genitals then torturing herself by turning on the current. Why is she doing this? It seems that her character, Galai, is an attractive young Algerian immigrant living in Paris. She has fallen under the spell of a mysterious and unseen political anarchist named Hamdias, who wants to wreak havoc against French colonialism in Algeria. This is to be achieved through terrorist acts that he is grooming Galai to carry out via instructions on the phone and cassette tapes. He also fancies himself an important filmmaker and is trying to raise funds for a political thriller starring Galai in the leading role. The film runs into the usual dilemma that real life independent producers must endure: the funding keeps running out but Galai becomes obsessed with ensuring that the movie is completed. Hamidias envisions incorporating perverse sexual abuse into the story line and he finds a willing leading lady in Galai, who enthusiastically submits herself to self-imposed "training sessions" in which she performs torture on her own body, all the better to please her producer/director/lover by giving the most genuine performance possible. The graphic opening sequence of this abuse is difficult to watch but the film quickly delves into a virtually incomprehensible look at the psychological tortures Galai is facing. Seems that Hamdias enjoys playing head games with her psyche and issuing increasingly dangerous demands including carrying out dry runs for terrorist bombings. She constantly vents to herself about her disdain for him, but it becomes clear that not only is she completely submissive to his whims, he is also holding their child as a virtual hostage to ensure she carries out his demands. That's about all I could ascertain from the confusing story line which at times is completely incomprehensible. There are films within films, sarcastic scenes that denounce the French elite and occasional sequences in which Galai is subjected to sexual abuse at the hands of military captor. There is abundant full female nudity but none of it is presented in an erotic manner and in one particularly awful scene one of Galai's would-be lovers vomits on her bare chest.

Papatakis might have thought he was making a poignant political statement but he comes across as a bargain basement imitation of Costas-Gavras. In fact, one suspects that all he really wanted to do was make a dirty movie but provided himself with a pseudo intellectual cover. (In one prolonged film-within-a-film sequence, a despicable French military officer engages a prostitute to engage in bizarre practices that include using a rather difficult and innovative method of opening champagne bottles.)

The scene in which a prostitute finds an innovate method of opening champagne bottles. (Ladies, please do not try this at home.)

The DVD features one of the worst transfers I've seen in recent years. It is grimy, dirty and filled with splice marks and awkward jumps. It looks as though an old VHS transfer has been used. In any event, the print utilized is certainly not ready for prime time. Mondo Macabro is releasing some first rate editions of cult movies but this is not one of them. The DVD also boasts deceitful packaging, implying that it is a lesbian-themed S&M film when, in fact, there is no such sequence in the movie. The only extra is a short but interesting gallery of Italian posters relating to the film.

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By Todd Garbarini

During the 1980s and 1990s I became disillusioned with television shows in general.  Most of the series airing at the time seemed derivative and predictable with little regard for the audience and more for the commercial breaks. All of that changed in 2001 when I began watching HBO’s The Sopranos on a free HBO weekend, the first show that I can confess to binge-viewing (the act of watching numerous episodes back to back with no break) and easily the best television series that I have seen thus far. What was remarkable about it was the ability of the writers to take their time and develop not only characters but significant plot points, all without the annoying constraints of network television and the need to get to the next conflict. This is not to infer that network television is completely without merit as that would be a gross and unfair oversimplification. Fox Network's 24, a show that I initially was at first reluctant to watch, sucked me in when its first season debuted on DVD. I have never been so addicted to a storyline before and could not wait for the next episode and then the next season. I have watched all eight seasons at least three times.

The Fox network has a sister network, Fox Extended or FX for short, and like most other cable networks it has its fair share of exclusive programming (and commercials, sigh), a maneuver that appears to be the norm for networks if they are to survive. Even Netflix has learned this with their highly acclaimed series House of Cards. FX’s most successful show, Sons of Anarchy, is now airing its penultimate and sixth season. The series has been heavily criticized for its use of brutality and profane language, though I’m not sure that a motorcycle gang would speak any other way (as of this writing you cannot drop “F” bombs, at least not yet, on this network). Despite these complaints, however, SOA, as it is known to its most zealous adherents, remains a rich dissection of the human condition and how people deal with problems and try to solve them. They aren’t necessarily people you would want to live next door to, but nefarious characters are infinitely more interesting than real life. For one thing, they make us think about how we would act if we found ourselves in their circumstances. In Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan's brilliant AMC series about high school science teacher Walter White (played stupendously by Bryan Cranston) who becomes a manufacturer of methamphetamine after he is diagnosed with lung cancer, people who normally otherwise would not resort to violence or murder end up making those choices when pushed to the brink and see no other options. In SOA, murder seems to be a way of life and there is the Shakespearean element at work, though it is covert; critics have cited Hamlet as an obvious influence. Each season of the show consists of 13 episodes, and season five is now newly available on DVD and Blu-ray.

In the fictional town of Charming, CA, the Teller-Morrow family heads up the original and founding chapter of the Sons of Anarchy Motorycle Club, Redwood Original (aka SAMCRO for short). At the end of season four, Jackson Teller (Charlie Hunnam) has become the president of the club, with his future wife Tara (Maggie Siff) at his side. Season five opens with the introduction of the father of a young woman accidentally killed by the recklessness of Tig (Kim Coates), one of the Sons’s members. Unfortunately for Tig, his victim’s father is a drug lord and the most dangerous gangster in Oakland, CA, who catches up with Tig and enacts the old “an eye for an eye” principle against one of Tig’s two daughters in one of the most harrowing and upsetting sequences in the show’s history. This action propels forward a plotline that ends up with Clay (former president of SAMCRO, played by Ron Perlman) in jail for a murder he didn’t commit in the final episode. Along the way, a major character dies in a brutal way, and the show follows the axiom that no one is safe when it comes to violent storylines. Jackson constantly has to make difficult choices for the sake of his family and the club he presides over while trying to placate his vice president Bobby (Mark Boone Junior). In some ways, he is like 24’s Jack Bauer as he is sucked into danger and has to use his wits to extricate himself and his club members. More often than not he is trying to convince his mother and Tara that things are going to be different and that everything will be all right; though noble, it doesn’t appear to be realistic.

Creator and executive producer Kurt Sutter, who pulls double duty playing “Big Otto” Delaney, has amassed a phenomenal cast. The performances are universally excellent. My personal favorite is Mr. Sutter’s real-life wife, Katey Sagal, who won a well-deserved Golden Globe Award in 2011 for her brilliant portrayal of Gemma, Jackson’s mom. I always liked Mrs. Sagal as Peg on Married…with Children, and her banter with Ed O'Neill, her slovenly husband Al. I never would have thought of her as a choice to play a character like Gemma, however she has blown me away with the depth of her characterization of this woman who will stop at nothing to keep her family intact.

The Blu-ray looks absolutely gorgeous in high definition and the sound is crystal clear. If you pump it through a stereo, be prepared to mistake some of the sound effects for real-life sounds: several times I thought my phone was ringing– and my phone vibrates, I don’t even use a ringtone!

There are also some nice extras to go around. Some of the episodes have some extended scenes. There are also deleted scenes and a few commentaries on select episodes. The best feature, in my humble opinion, is the ability to run the episodes continuously without having to go to the main menu and select the next one if you decide to watch more than one in a row. It actually encourages binge viewing!

Another winning release for fans of this terrific show.

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By Lee Pfeiffer

It was the last remaining Mecca for movie memorabilia collectors in New York City. Jerry Ohlinger's Movie Memorabilia Store at 253 W. 35th Street in Manhattan will close it's doors and sell goods only on line. There was a time when New York, like most major city, had numerous major outlets selling movie stills, photos, magazines and other goodies. Rising rents and lack of interest in collecting among the new generation combined to force these wonderful places to close. In New York, Mark Ricci's old Memory Shop contained the stuff dreams were made of. But with Ricci's death many years ago, there was no heir apparent to carry on and much of his stock was purchased by friendly rival Jerry Ohlinger. There was also the long-standing Movie Star News, which had morphed into a rather antiseptic place characterized by neatly arranged, bland filing cabinets that somehow violated the unwritten rule that memorabilia shops should be cluttered, friendly places. Movie Star News finally closed its doors last years. Back in the 1970s and 1980s the Cinemabilia book shop and collector's store was the place to keep up with movie books and collectibles prior to the advent of the internet. They were the first major New York venue to close. Along 8th Avenue, minor memorabilia stores would open and close throughout the years, but Jerry Ohlinger's persistently survived even in the face of a changing marketplace. Finally, rent of $9,000 a month put the kabosh on his ability to maintain a store five days a week. The good news is that Ohlinger will continue his mail order and eBay sales- and it will also be possible for customers to make appointments to review memorabilia in person, but this will have to be done by appointment, according to Dollie Banner, a long time employee of Ohllinger and a contributing writer to Cinema Retro. 

On a personal level, this announcement really hurts. I've know Jerry Ohlinger since 1971 and have acquired countless items from his store. His inventory has always been helpful in the publishing of Cinema Retro. Whenever I walk through mid-town Manhattan, I inevitably stop by to pick up some hard-to-find stills and chat with Dollie. Jerry still holds court there, his trademark soggy, unlit cigar dangling from his mouth. He has had several different locations over the years in Manhattan. The one I have the fondest memories of was located in Greenwich Village way back when. Those were the days when the store acted as something like a neighborhood barber shop for local movie fans who would gravitate there to to discuss and debate cinema. I'm glad Jerry is still hanging in there, even on a virtual basis, but I'll sure miss the human element as New York's last great memorabilia shop closes its doors. Thanks for the memories, Jerry.   

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By Todd Garbarini

Julian Richards’s Shiver opens at a Cadillac Jack’s diner in Sunland, CA (in reality, this location is part of a movie set that includes an adjacent Pink Motel situated at 9457 San Fernando Road in Sun Valley, CA) amid electrical towers and pylons. A nerdish middle-aged man named Franklin Rood, played expertly by Aussie John Jarratt whom genre fans will remember from 2005’s stomach-turning Wolf Creek and its forthcoming sequel, stumbles nervously to the counter and cannot help but notice the waitress, Kathy (Nikita Sesco), who is clearly half his age. He fantasizes about having his way with her and shortly storms out after she quickly declines his offer to take her to a movie. His adolescent-minded feelings are shattered, and he doles out a head bashing in the parking lot after she locks up the diner for the night, leaving her dead.

Twelve years later in Portland, Oregon, the city is on edge due to a serial killer being on the loose. Wendy Alden (scream queen Danielle Harris) is pestered by her mother (Valerie Harper) to ask her boss for a raise since she can no longer help support her daughter. He friend Jeffrey (Shane Applegate) has more than a platonic interest in her and she doesn’t exactly push him away, either. It would be foolish of her to, considering someone is out there murdering young women. When Jeffrey takes the initially reluctant Wendy out to dinner and offers that she stay with him that night, she attempts to assure him that she will be fine. Any seasoned horror film fan will know right away that she is about to receive a visit from lunatic Franklin. When Franklin arrives in her home and surprises her, he reconsiders killing Wendy as she begins to behave in a way that he is not used to. She evinces a disposition that is different from all of the young women he has killed up to this point. Like most serial killers, Franklin suffered bullying and humiliation during his childhood and blames others for his failures. But Wendy seems different to him, and through his own delusional method of thinking, he believes that he can persuade her to love him. The rest of the film consists of the police and their failure to adequately protect Wendy (it features two of the dumbest police officers in recent movie memory, who are both mercifully offed by Franklin within a minute of each other; Casper Van Diem (from Starship Troopers) is the lead detective and Rae Dawn Chong appears as his partner, though she is given very little to do). In the midst of Wendy’s attempts to escape Franklin’s clutches he hatches a hair-brained scheme to get her to play house with him.

While I would not consider the film to be anywhere near as suspenseful as the ads would lead you to believe, it is always interesting, though were it not for the central performance by Mr. Jarratt as Franklin, it would have been no different than the recent horror outings such as Choose (2010) and ATM (2012). Shiver is a step above these films and keeps you focused until the final frame. There are moments that make you want to scream and reach through the screen to choke the characters in frustration over their actions, but for the most part the film succeeds in its quest to entertain. It does require a suspension of disbelief to succeed. Mr. Jarratt has a unique ability to play unrepentant psychopaths. His turn as Mick Taylor in Greg McClean’s aforementioned Wolf Creek brought to life one of the most frightening and vicious psychos that the cinema has seen in quite some time. Here he is also mean, but for different reasons. In Wolf Creek, he seemed bent on inflicting pain on others for his own pleasure. Here, his Franklin is a rejected and unhappy soul trying to connect with someone and goes about it in a terrible and bizarre fashion. Valerie Harper gives a feisty performance as Wendy’s mother, although she only appears in two scenes. I almost see her as a divorced Karen Hollis from Blame It on Rio (1984) some 30 years later, nagging her daughter. Danielle Harris is also quite good and proves a great nemesis for Franklin. The score is by Richard Band, brother of Charles Band and veteran of over 80 films. At times, the music is oddly reminiscent of Philip Glass’s score to Errol Morris’s The Thin Blue Line (1989), but it is effective for the most part. The location filming in Portland, Oregon is a nice change of pace and showcases Southeast Milwaukee Avenue, home to Franklin’s day job as a jeweler and the common denominator between all of his victims that the detectives notice and set them on his trail. The Moreland Theatre several doors down reads simply Harry Potter, as though they didn’t receive permission from Warner Brothers to put a full title on it.

The DVD itself is bare-bones and contains trailers for Aberration and The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh.  I would have liked some interviews and a commentary with Ms. Harris who is always so fun and bubbly when talking about her career and the onscreen action.  All in all, definitely worth seeing for Mr. Jarratt and Ms. Harris completists. 

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Gregory Peck in the screen version of To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee, the reclusive 87 year old author of the American literary classic To Kill a Mockingbird, is taking legal action against the Monroe Heritage Museum, located in Lee's hometown in Alabama. Lee acknowledges that her novel, which was adapted into the classic 1962 film starring Gregory Peck in an Oscar-winning performance, has had a significant cultural impact. However, she maintains that the Museum is crossing the line and profiting by using her work and image for purely commercial purposes including running a gift shop that capitalizes on her work. The Museum denies all allegations and attributes the suit to the greed of Lee's "handlers".  Like Margaret Mitchell, author of another American classic, Gone With the Wind, Harper Lee never wrote another novel after her first great success, which directly addressed the shameful racial practices taking place in the segregated American South. For more click here 

Noel Harrison as agent Mark Slate in The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.

Noel Harrison, who rode the wave of "British Invasion" music to U.S. shores in the 1960s, has died at age 79. The son of legendary actor Rex Harrison, Noel took a different path than his famed father. At the height of his career, he dropped out of show business to do construction work because he disdained living the life of a celebrity.  He was also a championship skier at one time. At his peak, Harrison's well-received folk songs won him loyal followers and some of the songs charted as hits. His biggest splash came when he recorded "The Windmills of Your Mind", the classic title song for the 1968 film "The Thomas Crown Affair" starring Steve McQueen. The song won an Oscar and is still "covered" by artists today. In terms of acting, Harrison only dabbled in the field. He had minor roles in 1960s films like "Agent 8 3/4", "The Best of Enemies" and "Where the Spies Are". He became a heart throb for teenagers during his co-starring role opposite Stefanie Powers in "The Girl From U.N.C.L.E."  He also guest starred on numerous prominent TV series.  Harrison resumed his career as a folk singer and found his audience was still enthused about his work. He cut an acclaimed album in 2002.  Upon hearing of his death, Stefanie Powers issued this statement:"My darling friend Noel Harrison passed last night. Let us all light a candle to speed him on his way - he deserves to fly with the angels." For more click here Click here to visit the Noel Harrison web site. 

Eastwood and Siegel on the set of Dirty Harry in 1971.

They made five films together and all of them have stood the test of time. Clint Eastwood and his mentor, Don Siegel, gave us Dirty Harry, Coogan's Bluff, Two Mules for Sister Sarah, The Beguiled and Escape From Alcatraz. Each of these movies were not only highly entertaining, some have become classics of their respective genres. It was Siegel who encouraged Eastwood to make his directorial debut in 1971 with Play Misty For Me, and Eastwood would follow Siegel's penchant for shooting fast, efficiently and under-budget. Eastwood was a bit nervous about the prospect and persuaded Siegel to play a supporting role in the film simply so he would be on hand in case any problems arose behind the camera. The rest, as they say, is history. Eastwood would go on to dedicate his Oscar winning 1992 film Unforgiven to both Siegel and his original mentor, Sergio Leone. Den of Geek web site writer Aliyea Whiteley takes a look back on the collaborative films made by Eastwood and Siegel. Click here to read. 

(For Cinema Retro's tribute to the original Dirty Harry films, see issue #9) Limited copies left: $30 includes postage)

Natalie Wood meets Steve McQueen for pre-production talks for Love With the Proper Stranger (1963)

Life magazine presents a selection of stunning photos of Natalie Wood in the 1950s and 1960s, many of them candids that have never been published before. Click here to view  

Writing on the Diabolique magazine web site, Cinema Retro contributor Harvey Chartrand takes a look at the UK Blu-ray release of the long-lost horror film and "social satire" Sleepwalker by British director Saxon Logan. Click here to read the fascinating story behind this film that has just been resurrected by the British Film Institute. 

Click here for the fascinating story of how one determined man managed to restore the original Volvo P1800 driven by Roger Moore in The Saint TV series. The car had been abandoned and had been relegated to the status of a complete wreck. Kevin Price found the car neglected in a field in North Wales but it still took six years for him to persuade the owner to sell it to him. Price then spent a decade tracking down replacement parts and six more years to restore the vehicle, which is the original one driven by Moore in the series. The car is now a star in its own right at UK auto shows. 

Ed Lauter, the popular character actor who specialized in playing tough guys, has died at age 74. Lauter was one of those familiar faces who was recognized by audiences even though many viewers did not know his name. For movie buffs, however, Lauter was well known and highly respected. He had dabbled with being a standup comic in the 1960s before  trying his hand at acting. Lauter quickly gained a reputation as a reliable character actor and he became in-demand during the 1970s. Among his most memorable roles were a ruthless prison guard in director Robert Aldrich's 1974 hit The Longest Yard and as Ann-Margret's ill-fated husband in Richard Attenborough's 1978 thriller Magic. Other prominent roles included Hitchcock's final film Family Plot, The Magnificent Seven Ride!, Breakheart Pass, French Connection II, Hickey& Boggs, Death Wish 3 and, most recently Trouble With the Curve and the 2011 Best Picture Oscar winner The Artist.He also appeared extensively on television and co-starred in the acclaimed TV movie The Jericho Mile.  For more click here

It's one of our favorite comedies of all time. We were delighted to find this Youtube footage from Hollywoodbackstage.com showing the star-studded 1963 premiere of Stanley Kramer's epic comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World at the Cinerama Dome Theatre in L.A. The guest list included stars of the film such as Milton Berle, Edie Adams and Terry-Thomas along with George Burns, Barbara Rush, Maureen O'Hara, James Garner and Rhonda Fleming.

Writer Kara Kovalchick takes a look at those vanishing elements that used to make movie-going so enjoyable but which now seem relegated to the distant past. From red velvet curtains to free dishes to uniformed ushers, these are reminders of how an evening at the movies used to be a special night out. It recalls an era when people didn't have the ability to disrupt their fellow viewers by texting and chatting on mobile phones!  Click here to read

Director King Vidor's follow-up film to his massive success The Big Parade, was a relentlessly downbeat silent film titled The Crowd. The film was extremely ambitious and boasted superb production design in its cynical depiction of how big city life seems to work relentlessly against an ambitious young man and his new bride. The film's downbeat story line alienated many viewers during its initial release in 1928, but the movie foreshadowed the onslaught of unexpected misery that would envelop America the very next year with the onset of the Great Depression. In a column on TCM's Move Morlocks blog, writer R. Emmet Sweeney looks at the background of this fascinating film and reveals that it's eventual release on home video is dependent upon sales of Warner's forthcoming The Big Parade DVD. (TCM recently ran a rare broadcast of the film.) He also discusses the tragic fate of the movie's star, James Murray. Click here to read 

For a brief shining moment she was the "it" girl. In the 1940s, gorgeous Veronica Lake took Hollywood by storm. With her blonde mane done up in a distinctive style that is still very much in-vogue, Lake had the makings of an enduring sex siren. However, poor career choices coupled with a troubled personal life led to an equally rapid decline and an early death in relative obscurity. Writer Shawn Dwyer looks at the rise and fall of this Hollywood legend. Click here to read

Original release lobby card for Caddyshack

We admit to not being among those who think Caddyshack is up there with the great Charlie Chaplin comedy classics. We might agree that it merits inclusion with the greatest work of nightclub comic/actor Charlie Callas, but there is no denying we're in the minority on this one. We actually prefer the comparative sophistication of Rodney Dangerfield's other starrers, Easy Money and Back to School. Yet, Caddyshack has spawned a fanatical following since its release in 1980 and the fan movement seems to only increase with every year. Count Tiger Woods among those who consider it their favorite comedy. Bill Murray's role as goofy groundskeeper Carl Spackler is probably his most popular screen character -though he is continuously upstaged by Mr. Gopher. The gopher scenes were ironically shot after most of the main photography had been completed. Director Harold Ramis experimented with using a live animal as Murray's on-screen nemesis but opted for a modular critter when the real gopher proved to be too unreliable (you know how actors are!) Special effects wizard John Dykstra built the immortal rodent who has earned his own place in the movie comedy hall of fame.

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The story of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet had been filmed many times prior to director Franco Zeffirelli's acclaimed 1968 version. Earlier versions were hampered by the casting of actors in the title roles who were old enough to be in nursing homes. However, Zeffirelli cast actual teenagers in the parts: 17 year old Leonard Whiting and 16 year old Olivia Hussey. Zeffirelli also took advantage of the artistic freedoms afforded filmmakers in the 1960s and depicted for the first time the sexual desires of the two lovers.The result was a box-office hit that appealed not only to critics but also to a younger generation that could finally identify with the actors cast in the key roles. (For actor Michael York's exclusive interview about co-starring in Romeo and Juliet, see Cinema Retro issue #6)

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Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey: Romeo and Juliet for a more liberated generation

RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST FROM CINEMA RETRO'S ARCHIVES

(This article originally ran in June 2007)  

The latest sci-fi special edition release from Fox is the eagerly-awaited Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. The TV spin-off series from the mid 1960s has built such a devoted cult following that many people forget it was based on a major big screen feature film produced by Irwin Allen. The eccentric producer has always been marginalized by the lifted pinky crowd for being the schlockmaster supreme, but Allen was a dedicated craftsman who cared not a whit about the critical establishment. He had an uncanny sense for reading the mood of moviegoers and providing the precise type of entertainment they craved at any particular time. By the time his instincts began to fail him in the late 1970s, he had already produced some of the most popular and highest-grossing motion pictures of all time, to say nothing of cult TV classics like Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants and of course, the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea spin-off.

RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST FROM THE CINEMA RETRO ARCHIVES

I've got to admit that when I received this screener from Fox I forestalled watching it. The 1973 film was only vaguely familiar to me and I kept putting off viewing it in order to handle more important priorities: like working on my 6-foot decoupage tribute to Lorne Greene. When I finally did watch The Neptune Factor I was pleasantly surprised at how competently it was made and how engrossing the story is. Fox has given this little-seen adventure film a quasi-deluxe release to tie it in with similarly-themed titles like Fantastic Voyage and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. The film is inferior to Fantastic Voyage but I enjoyed it far more than the latter film, which has dated noticeably.

The next time you think you've got too much time on your hands, consider Canadian artist Kristan Horton,who professes not to own a TV, but somehow became so obsessed with Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove that he's recreated some of the most iconic sequences from the film using everyday household objects. This is the kind of time-consuming diversion one would think was last practiced by inhabitants of the Bastille, yet we have to admit Horton has fashioned some remarkable images. We can't wait to see his tribute to General Jack D. Ripper's "precious bodily fluids"! The web site www.cinematical.com uncovered this bizarre tribute. To indulge yourself click here.

"MEIN FUHRER, THEY'VE MADE A TRIBUTE TO ME USING CLOTHESPINS AND DINNERWARE!"

Ever wonder why the plot lines and even trailers of today's action movies often seem indistinguishable? Well, the truth is that they are intentionally made to be indistinguishable.Slate writer Peter Suderman reveals that the late author Blake Snyder's book Save the Cat! was designed to give aspiring screenwriters some tips about producing scripts with commercial appeal. However, the self-help scenario worked too well. The book has been used as a formula by studio executives to commission big budget action movies that never stray far from some basic plot devices. It's as generic as you can get, with only the characters distinguishing one story from another. The article explains why Hollywood is so devoid of creativity: if one Iron Man movie makes a ton of money, just make ten more movies just like it. The strategy works theoretically, but not always financially. Audiences often know they are being served warmed over, recycled fare and this often results in such "sure-fire" hits bombing at the box-office. Click here to read 

The Total Film web site provides a useful guide to 50 cinematic gems that have not received the recognition they deserve. Although there is a heavy concentration on horror movies, the list does include other genres as well. Click here to view  

By Adrian Smith

(The following review pertains to the UK-Region 2 DVD release) 

This film is a true oddity, and one that will most likely escaped the attention of even the most avid Orson Welles fans. Three Cases of Murder is an anthology film featuring three short stories, each by a different director, linked by British television personality Eamon Andrews, who appears to have just got home from a night at the theatre. The only loose connection is that each is about, well, murder, and each segment also features Alan Badel. a British character actor who was better known at the time for his theatre work, but is superb here.

"The Picture" is set in an art gallery, where the glass over a painting has been mysteriously smashed, and several items have been stolen. Despite these nefarious goings on no culprit has ever been caught. The museum tour guide meets an oddly dressed gentleman (Badel) who engages him in conversation about this painting, a large portrait of a gothic, fog-enshrouded manor house. Before he knows quite what has happened to him, our tour guide finds himself actually inside the house itself. This strange man reveals himself to have been the artist who painted the picture. He had died before it was completed. It transpires that all the pictures in the gallery act as a form of afterlife limbo, where the dead are forced to live inside the paintings, stealing whatever they can from the gallery. Also living in the house are a sinister, attractive young woman and a truculent old taxidermist, obsessed with collecting butterflies.

This first story is by far the best of the bunch, and plays out like a missing Twilight Zone episode, with its stark lighting, fantastical story, weird camera angles and sickening twist ending. Of particular interest is that this segment was directed by Wendy Toye, who was that most rarest of people: a female director in the 1950s British film industry. She had begun her career as a dancer and actress, before moving into theatre and then film direction. At that time there was only one other female director in the country, Muriel Box, showing just what a difficult industry it was for women to rise beyond the traditional production jobs on offer; script girl, wardrobe or makeup. The fact that "The Picture" is the best, most inventive part of Three Cases of Murder is testament to what a great talent she had, a talent that was greatly underused in British cinema.

The second story, "You Killed Elizabeth", is a mini-Hitchcock thriller regarding two best friends who fall out over a girl. Murder and drink-fuelled amnesia lead to another surprise twist where we learn the true cost of betrayal. Compared to the inventiveness of the first segment, this story comes across a little flat. It was directed by David Eady, his first contribution to a feature film. He went on to have a minor directing career in British television and B pictures.

The final story is "Lord Mountdrago", and casts Orson Welles as a pompous foreign secretary in the old boys network of British politics. Although the story was directed by George More O'Ferrall, who had a long career in television, it is claimed Welles himself took over most of the directing. This is only a rumour, but it is not hard to believe given his reputation.

Welles plays the titular Lord Mountdrago, who after publicly humiliating a rival politician (Alan Badel again) begins to suffer from nightmares, where he is himself repeatedly humiliated by this same politician. After receiving psychiatric counselling he refuses to acknowledge that a simple apology to the man he had wronged would solve the problem. Instead he begins to believe that murder is the only way to restore his sanity.

This story shares a similar Twilight Zone feel to "The Picture", but is largely played for laughs. Welles, who was appearing here whilst working in theatre, throws himself into the role with gusto, unafraid of making Lord Mountdrago look increasingly ridiculous, including an appearance at a party where he has forgotten to put on his trousers!

Three Cases of Murder is an odd little film, but is certainly worth revisiting in this new release. It deserves to be given some attention, and serves a reminder of just how creative even low budget B films could be. This DVD from Odeon Entertainment includes a booklet which mostly focuses on Orson Welles. The most significant extra is the inclusion of the short film Return to Glennascaul, an Irish ghost story also featuring Welles which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1953. It is a creepy warning on the perils of picking up hitchhikers, and is worth the purchase of this DVD alone.

Cartoonist and film book author Sophie Cossette pays tribute to the late, great British director Ken Russell, calling him "The Mad Hatter of British Sinema" and examining the stories behind Russell's controversial films. There's also her unique cartoons that enhance the very enlightening analysis. Click here to view 

By Todd Garbarini 

Marc Hall (Israel Broussard) is a shy, introverted teenager who is transferred to Indian Hills High School in Calabasas, CA because he played hooky too many times at his previous school and needs to be set on the straight and narrow. After shuffling awkwardly from class to class, he becomes friends with Rebecca Ahn (Katie Chang), a peer who dresses well, pays him attention, and is obsessed with celebrities and who loves to party. When they aren't in school, Marc accompanies Rebecca as she looks through unlocked vehicles for cash and anything valuable that she can resell. Mark later happens to mention in passing that a friend of his is currently out of town; naturally, he and Rebecca gain entrance to the friend’s house and search through the belongings. Mark is visibly nervous and wants to leave. Rebecca pilfers the keys to a Porsche and they go joyriding. Her attitude towards this behavior is troubling in the carefree and apathetic way that she conducts herself. She seems to have absolutely no problem taking other people’s property, even in broad daylight, and using it for how own amusement and gain. Rebecca begins to get restless and more daring, and while she and her friends are out socializing at a famous club also attended by Paris Hilton and Kirsten Dunst, she gets the idea to rob Ms. Hilton's home. Using all social media and mapping websites to her advantage, she locates the real home addresses of her favorite celebrities and, with Marc and several friends in tow (one of whom is Nicki, played by Emma Watson), goes on a massive five-finger discount that includes purses, expensive shoes, jewelry, Rolex watches, and thousands of dollars in cash. What is all the more amazing is that despite Marc’s hesitance and obvious reluctance, no one even thinks for a minute that they are being watched by closed-circuit security cameras.

If this story sounds familiar, it should. Based upon Nancy Jo Sales’s article The Suspects Wore Louboutins that was published in the March 2010 issue of Vanity Fair magazine, The Bling Ring (2013) is director Sophia Coppola’s fifth feature film (a made-for-Lifetime movie of the same name and about the same subject aired in 2011). Loosely based upon the true story of a pack of young celebrity gawkers who go to extreme lengths to emulate the style and fashion sense of Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Miranda Kerr and anybody else they deem worthy of adulation and emulation was highly publicized some years back. As depicted in the film, these young adults don't appear to be inherently bad people. They are simply caught up in the excitement of the 24-hour a day, seven-day-a-week celebrity reporting that is constantly aflutter on the Internet; they give in to their temptation to break the law. Why they do what they do is not so apparent. They seem to want to be famous, just like the people they look up to. Several of them foolishly take photos of themselves at the scenes of the crimes and post them on their walls on their Facebook pages. It never occurs to them that what they are doing is wrong. They all seem to have the idea that the people’s houses they are burglarizing are so rich that they won’t even notice that most of these lavish items are missing. By the end film, however, the house of cards comes crashing down when the police get involved and they are all arrested and given prison sentences.

In some ways, The Bling Ring is the flip side of Mrs. Coppola’s previous film, 2010’s Somewhere, which was an introspective look at the life of a very famous actor miserable in his existence of fame and fortune. Somewhere, and 2003’s Lost in Translation, both were eloquent studies in loneliness (the former in one’s own surroundings and the latter in a foreign environment) and a case can be made for Marc in The Bling Ring. He’s a teenager who feels like an outcast; he’s a nobody desperately trying to be a somebody.

Mrs. Coppola imbues the film with humor, too. The character of Nicki and her home life is not a fabrication. She is based upon Alexis Neiers, a young model and actress wannabe who was the subject of the “reality” series Pretty Wild, which lasted nine episodes and depicted her home life and relationship with her sisters and mother. Alexis’s mom, one-time Playboy model Andrea Arlington, does her best under the circumstances trying to raise these young women, however she seems to rely on Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret a little too much in scenes that induce interior smiles. Her mom During the course of filming the show, Alexis was arrested for her participation in the burglaries.

Mrs. Coppola continues to bifurcate audiences into the love it or hate it camps. Unlike Somewhere (my vote for her best film so far), which illustrates the director’s love of Michelangelo Antonioni’s work, The Bling Ring is a far more audience-friendly film.

The extras, all in high definition, on the disc contain:

Making The Bling Ring: On Set with Sofia, the Cast and Crew featurette (22:51) is exactly what the title entails. The filmmakers talk about how the project came about (Mrs. Coppola read the Vanity Fair article on a plane and assumed that it was already optioned for a film), how the film was cast (the ringleader was the most difficult to cast), and some of the actors weigh in with their views of the film.

Behind the Real Bling Ring (23:46) is a very interesting featurette that discusses the actual case and the real names of those involved in the 2008/2009 events.

Scene of the Crime with Paris Hilton (10:37) Ms. Hilton gives us a tour of her house where the film was shot and bemoans the fact that most of her stolen jewelry consisted of irreplaceable pieces handed down throughout the years in her family. A humorous bit includes a mini tour of her mini doghouse for her seven pooches.

The theatrical trailer is also included and runs just shy of two minutes.

My only complaint is the lack of an audio commentary, something that Mrs. Coppola perhaps does not have an interest in doing, a trend that I hope she reverses.

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Bergman Meets Bergman

By Raymond Benson

It was the first and only time two famous filmmaking Swedes worked together—the enigmatic, existential, and brilliant director Ingmar Bergman, and the glamorous, international star of Hollywood, Ingrid Bergman (no relation). According to Ingmar in a filmed introduction he made in 2003, he and Ingrid had met and agreed that one day she would act in one of his films. Then, apparently he and Ingrid met again at a film festival in the mid-70s. She reminded him of their promise; he told her about the script he was working on, in which Liv Ullmann would play the daughter, but he hadn’t cast the mother yet. Done deal. But, in a recently-filmed interview, Ullmann relates how the two Bergmans did not get along very well for the longest period. Ingrid wanted to do it one way, Ingmar another—and he had never dealt with such a headstrong Hollywood personality before. In the end, though, Ingrid capitulated to the director, eventually admitting that he was right. He must have been, for she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar and picked up a slew of other awards in 1978, and sadly, it was to be her final feature film.

Autumn Sonata is a chamber piece and feels as if it could be a stage play; indeed, it has been adapted to the stage after the fact. The story is simple—a world-famous concert pianist in her sixties stops touring for a moment to visit her estranged forty-something daughter and husband in Norway. Both of them seem to know that they’re going to come to blows at some point during the stay, and they do. The last act is a painful, cathartic angst-fest, as both women—mother and daughter—have it out with what went wrong with their relationship. Oh, and to complicate things, the mother’s other daughter is at the house, too—and she suffers from a severe disability (possibly Multiple Sclerosis). By the end, the actresses will be exhausted and spent—and the audience will be as well. This is serious, heavy-hitting Bergman (the director), and it displays just how effortlessly—it appears—he could dig deeply into the emotional psyches of two very gifted actresses, more so than we have ever seen before. It’s not a particularly “fun” time at the movies, but it is a powerful exercise in acting and directing. Serious fans of the theatre, and with the Bergmans—both of them—will surely find this to be a stunning little drama.

Sven Nykvist’s color cinematography is gorgeous in its new 2K digital restoration. The Blu-ray exhibits some natural graininess, but the improvement over Criterion’s earlier DVD release of the film is substantial. Extras include the previously mentioned Introduction by Bergman himself; audio commentary by Bergman scholar Peter Cowie; the Liv Ullmann interview; a vintage interview between Ingmar Bergman and critic John Russell Taylor at the National Film Theater in London in 1981; and, astonishingly, a three-and-a-half-hour “making of” on-set documentary. That’s more than twice as long as the movie itself. The film chronicles the entire production—initial readings, rehearsals, dress rehearsals, filming—it certainly gives you a feel for how Bergman worked. The usual classy booklet (with an essay by critic Farran Smith Nehme) and packaging, hallmarks of The Criterion Collection, make Autumn Sonata a terrific addition to the home collection.

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Cinema Retro has received the following announcement from Space Monsters magazine:

""Popular horror actress and presenter Emily Booth has joined new genre magazine ‘Space Monsters’ as a regular columnist and reviewer.

As well as appearing in cult movie hits including Evil Aliens, Doghouse and Inbred, Booth is a regular guest at FILM4 Frightfest and a presenter on the Horror Channel.

‘Space Monsters’ magazine is aimed at fans of classic horror, sci-fi and fantasy movies and television with an emphasis on scary monsters, B-movies and sexy space babes. 

Issue one launched this summer and is already building a large and enthusiastic fan-base around the world.

Booth is joined by Brighton-based journalist, actor and artist Billy Chainsaw, another regular on the horror film scene who also writes for “Bizarre” and “Shock Horror Magazine”.

Editor Richard Gladman, founder of the Classic Horror Campaign and Frighten Brighton Film Festival says:

“I’m delighted to welcome both Emily and Billy to our team of talented writers and artists.  Horror fans are really in for a treat this Hallowe’en with our special “space vampires” issue!”

‘Space Monsters’ can be ordered directly from the Classic Horror Campaign website (www.classichorrorcampaign.com/space-monsters-magazine/) and is also available from Hemlock Books, The Cinema Store, The Psychotronic Store, Scary Monsters Scare Store and other outlets.

Space Monsters Digital is available from the Dead Good Newstand (www.spacemonstersofficial.blogspot.co.uk/)

Space Monsters website: www.spacemonstersmag.wordpress.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/SpaceMonstersMagazine

Emily Booth : www.emilybooth.co.uk

For all advertising and sales enquiries email spacemonstersmag@yahoo.co.uk."

Italian screenwriter Luciano Vincenzoni has passed away at age 87. Vincezoni was best known for his work on the Sergio Leone Western classics "For a Few Dollars More" and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", both starring Clint Eastwood. Vincenzoni was rather dismissive of his work on these films, saying that he knocked off his writing contribution in a matter of days. In the case of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" he improvised and created a plot outline on the spot in order to win financing from United Artists. Vincezoni said he was most proud of other films that he worked on that were honored on the film festival circuit. Indeed, although regarded as classics today, the Leone Westerns were largely despised or ignored by the critical establishment in the 1960s. Vincenzoni once told Leone biographer Sir Christopher Frayling that one of his great regrets was allowing a feud over money to break his relationship with the legendary director. When Leone died, Vincenzoni, with more than a hint of amusing ego, took the blame saying, "As the more cultured man, I should have known better." For NY Times obituary click here

By Lee Pfeiffer 

When F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote "There are no second acts in American lives", he would have missed the boat when it comes to actor Robert Davi. He's been a familiar face on the big screen and TV for decades and is known as one of the most memorable James Bond villains. Davi was generally regarded as a reliable and talented character actor. When I made his acquaintance some years ago, we instantly bonded. He is a regular guy with a New York attitude, no ego and a mutual love of exchanging ball-busting jokes with any other guy in his orbit. We share a love of good cigars and stories of old Hollywood but the difference, of course, is that Davi's stories are based on personal experience. His first major role came about when Frank Sinatra personally chose him as a co-star, despite his lack of experience. That was the basis of a long-time friendship and Davi always spoke reverently of Sinatra, s grateful for the break he gave him. A few years back, we were conversing over some stogies and arguing politics (we're on opposite sides but love debating the issues),when Davi told me he was determined to embark on a second career as a crooner of Sinatra's songs. In my typically gentle way of offering advice I told him he was crazy. I told him no one would go to a concert to see a guy who never sang a note on screen. Then shortly thereafter, Robert starred in a directed a little-seen independent movie called The Dukes, about an over-the-hill group of doo-woppers who were attempting to make a comeback. He did all of his own singing and was quite brilliant. The next thing I knew, he was being acclaimed as one of the best Sinatra tributes act ever. Davi is now the toast of the town, taking his show on the road around the country to packed houses. He's now fulfilling another dream by combining his singing talents on stage with Don Rickles, one of Sinatra's best cronies. In a review on The Huffington Post, writer Ellen Sterling calls him "A legend in the making". Sometimes nice guys do finish first. For more click here

By Todd Garbarini 

Not too long after The Little Mermaid was released on Friday, November 14, 1989, I saw it at the Guild Theater (aka the Guild 50^th) next door to Radio City Music Hall in New York. It was a decent-sized theater that showed films from 1938 until 1999 when it was gutted and replaced with a Nautica store (The Little Mermaid’s Ariel would have felt at home here), and it is now an Anthropologie branch for women. Thinking about the Guild Theater made me miss the single screen showcases of New York such as the Biograph, the Festival, the Carnegie Hall Cinema, the 8^th Street Playhouse, The Beekman, the Cinema I and Cinema II, and the 68^th Street Playhouse to name a few (the Paris on 57^th Street is one of the few remaining such theaters). They were decent-size auditoriums and you had a very good chance of seeing something special there in limited release.

The Little Mermaid is one such film. It had been years since I had seen a Disney film exhibited theatrically and, like most of us, had very little inkling that the studio would be releasing a whole new slate of inspired and financially successful animated features in the years to come (especially The Lion King, which I originally saw in the form of an unfinished workprint at the Walter Reade Theater in New York in early 1994). Originally published as Den lille havfrue (The Little Sea Lady) by Hans Christian Anderson on April 7, 1837 in Fairy Tales Told for Children, The Little Mermaid tells the story of Ariel, a sixteen year-old mermaid who, like human females of that age, becomes restless living under the watchful eye of her father, King Triton, who only has her best interests at heart. Ariel is cautioned about humans and sternly told not to mingle with them. Of course, this only compels her to seek them out. Along with her friends Flounder and Scuttle the Seagull, she surfaces and sees a handsome man named Prince Eric on a ship that enters a dangerous storm. She is instantly smitten, and saves Eric’s life, singing to him and disappearing just before he awakens. Having heard her voice, Eric wants to find Ariel who, in turn, wants to be a part of the human world.

King Triton is suspicious of Ariel and he drills Sebastian (the most memorable character in the film, though it is up for debate if he is a crab or a lobster) for information about his daughter’s sudden change in behavior. When it comes out that she is in love with a human, her father reacts in rage and loses his mind. At the urging of two eels (Flotsam and Jetsam), Ariel goes to see a sea witch named Ursula to find out how she can be with Eric. Ursula is not out to help Ariel out of kindness, mind you. She wants Ariel’s voice, and convinces Ariel to allow her to make her human for three days in exchange for her voice. The plan is to get Eric to kiss Ariel before the designated time runs out, or else she will become a mermaid again and have to answer to Ursula (notions of Cinderella spring to mind!).

All of this action is set to some truly enjoyable songs, the most recognizable and popular of which are arguably “Part of Your World”, “Under the Sea”, and “Kiss the Girl”. It’s hardly a surprise that “Under the Sea” won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song, while the film also won both awards for Best Original Score. These are the kinds of songs that are very memorable, even to people who have just heard them and have not seen the film. Twenty-five years later, The Little Mermaid is one of the most well-known of the Walt Disney cartoons, gaining in popularity among young children thanks in no small part to its availability on home video. New generations of fans who were born years after the release of the film have sprung up and still dress up as the characters for Halloween, with Ariel and Sebastian being top favorites.

The new Blu-ray is comprised of an all-new, digitally restored picture. The image is a marked improvement over previous versions and just pops off the screen at you; this is clearly the best the film has looked on home video (I remember seeing it on VHS and most of the image’s detail was completely lost). While The Little Mermaid has been available on DVD in 1999 in a movie-only edition and in 2006 in a 2-disc Platinum Edition with a wealth of extras, those extras have been ported over to the Blu-ray in a special section called Classic DVD Bonus Features. In addition, the Blu-ray contains brand-new, exclusive extras shot in high definition and they are comprised of:

Part of Your World music video featuring Carly Rae Jepsen (3:39)

@Disneyanimation (10:45), a nice look at some of the many faces who have been working for years at Disney, such as John Musker and Ron Clements, in addition to more recently employed animators who were inspired by The Little Mermaid to follow animation as their career path. This is one featurette I would have liked to have seen last at least half an hour or more as I love hearing about what motivates these artists.

Deleted Character - Harold Merman (2:05) is a quick look at a character that was cut from the film. This segment is presented in sketch form.

Under the Scene - The Art of Live Action Reference (13:13) is a look at how the animators use real-life stand-ins who go through the motions of the main characters in the film, and then draw the movements of the performers to get the nuances of the animated characters. Animators John Musker and Ron Clements spoke to actress Kathryn Beaumont about her experiences acting out Alice in Alice in Wonderland and Wendy in Peter Pan to get an idea of how to draw the characters in The Little Mermaid. Ruben Aquino, the directing animator, talks about the challenges of making moving images into living and breathing characters that exude emotion. They also interview the real-life performers who acted out the lead animated roles for Eric and Ariel in footage shot in 1988.

Howard’s Lecture (16:27) is a look at the late Howard Ashman and his contribution to the film.

Part of Her World: Jodi Benson’s Voyage to New Fantasyland (4:45) smacks a little of self-promotion, but it offers up an exuberant Jodi Benson taking us through Disney’s New Fantasyland which showcases many of the later Disney characters.

Crab-e-oke Sing-Along is a cleverly-titled section that allows you to sing along with a handful of the film’s best-known songs.

The aforementioned Classic DVD Bonus Features (in standard definition) is here, too and it includes: deleted scenes; backstage Disney; music and more; an audio commentary with John Musker, Ron Clements, and composer Alan Menken; Disneypedia: Life Under the Sea; Behind the Ride That Almost Wasn’t; and Under the Sea Adventure: A Virtual Ride Inspired by Disney Imagineers.

This 2-disc diamond edition contains a standard DVD of the film and a digital copy. The bonus features included are: Part of Her World: Jodi Benson’s Voyage to New Fantasyland, classic deleted scenes, an alternate version of “Fathoms Below,” and a Fight with Ursula/alternate ending.

All in all, this is a great package of a now classic film, making the upgrade to Blu-ray well worth it. A great idea for Christmas!

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FremantleMedia

Home Entertainment

is proud

to announce

The World at War

40th Anniversary release

Available to buy

on DVD & Blu-ray

from 31st October 2013

“Spectacular series”

Director Oliver Stone

This ‘jewel in the nation’s crown’ is being re-released to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of its first broadcast which took place on 31st October 1973

The World at War is regarded by many to be one of the greatest documentary series of all time. This BAFTA and Emmy Award winning documentary series, which was first broadcast 40 years ago, was the first factual series of its kind to document the full history of World War II. The series was memorably narrated by legendary screen actor and stage icon

Sir Laurence Olivier.

The World at War has been inspiring film makers and historians for the past 40 years including such programmes as the BBC’s ‘Nazis a Warning from History’, produced by Laurence Reece, and more recently Oliver Stone’s ‘Untold History of the United States’ , both series creators’ laying claim to being inspired by The World at War.

Available now to buy from Amazon

Synopsis

The World at War was conceived and produced by Sir Jeremy Isaacs and was first broadcast on the ITV Network on the 31st October 1973. Making use of of rare black and white and colour film archive footage supplied by the Imperial War Museum, this 26 part documentary series investigates the events surrounding World War II and features interviews with major members of the Allied and Axis campaigns, including civilian eyewitnesses, enlisted men, officers, government advisors and politicians, to create what is widely agreed to be the definitive history of World War II and a landmark in British television history.

In 2010 the series went through a major digital restoration upgrade to HD - the archive film used in the series is the only World War II footage of its kind to be restored and remastered to HD 16.9 and 5.1 Sound.

Lord Olivier provided brilliant narration for the series.

DVD & Blu-ray Specifications

RRP: DVD Price: £79.99

RRP:  Blu-ray Price: £99.99

Certificate: E

Discs: DVD 11

Discs: Blu-ray 9

Running time: DVD 739mins

Running time: Blu-ray769mins

Catalogue No:   DVD FHEDWAR2

Catalogue No:   Blu-ray FHEBWAR2

Barcode: DVD 5030697017918

Barcode: Blu-ray 5030697017925

Region: 0 for both DVD & Blu-ray             

The World at War 40th Anniversary release is distributed by FremantleMedia Home Entertainment and is available from all good DVD

stockists online and in store from 31st October 2013.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Cinema Retro mourns the passing of director Richard C. Sarafian, who has passed away at age 83. Sarafian may not be a household name but in the film industry he was held in great regard, especially by maverick younger directors like Quentin Tarantino who emulated his work and style. Crusty, outspoken and often littering his sentences with curses that would make a longshoreman blush, Sarafian was an uncompromising man when it came to his personal visions of how his movies should be constructed. He started off directing episodes of classic TV series including I Spy and Batman and his best known work from the 1960s is the eerie "Living Doll" episode of The Twilight Zone in which Telly Savalas as a cruel stepfather gets his comeuppance at the hands of possessed toy doll. Sarafian graduated into feature films and directed the movie which gained him fame, if not fortune: Vanishing Point, the 1971 action film that included ground breaking car chases that influenced action films for decades to come. (Like most superior works, it spawned an inferior remake.) In interview with Cinema Retro for issue #12, Sarafian said the experience of making the movie was not a happy one. Studio brass insisted on re-editing the movie and taking most of the nuance out of the story. He was also dissatisfied with having to cast Barry Newman in the lead, as he had been hoping the studio would sign either George C. Scott or Gene Hackman.  The film laid an egg at the boxoffice but with the advent of home video it became a cult classic. Sarafian had more troubles on the set of the 1973 Western The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing starring Burt Reynolds. During production, a mysterious murder took place on the set that gained the production notorious headlines around the world. Sarafian was more satisfied with Man in the Wilderness starring Richard Harris and John Huston. He also directed the 1976 Sean Connery thriller The Next Man. By 1988, however, his career was in decline due to his refusal to toe the line with studio executives and the fact that some of his films were not successful. He hoped a high profile disaster movie titled Solar Crisis would reignite his career but he went over budget and once again clashed with the studio. Sarafian called the finished film a mess and had his name removed from the credits. In more recent years, he dabbled in acting, playing small character roles in high profile movies.

On a personal note, Sarafian was a great fan of Cinema Retro and would occasionally call this writer to discuss specific issues.Even when he praised an article, it was with plenty of expletives attached. A refreshing aspect of Sarafian's personality is that, while he detested studio "suits", he also didn't shy away from taking personal responsibility for some films he deemed to be artistic failures.  Needless to say, he was a one-of-a-kind talent and movie lovers everywhere will mourn his passing.  

Author and screenwriter William Boyd is the latest noted author to take a crack at writing a one-shot James Bond novel. Solo is set in 1969 and involves the adventures of a 45 year old 007. Boyd says his story ideas caused some controversy among members of Ian Fleming's family, which still retain rights to his work. Boyd admires Fleming's writing style but feels says that the original novels are now a bit cringe-inducing to read in terms of their treatment of women and minorities. He says that Solo reflects a more modern attitude and avoids sexism and racism. The novel is due to be released this week. Click here to read more.

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