Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

BURBANK, CA (April 11, 2016) – Just in time for Father's Day and the theatrical release, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will release the long awaited animated series that aired when Saturday Morning Cartoons reigned supreme. Available on DVD on June 14, 2016, Tarzan, Lord Of The Jungle: Complete Season One was created by the Filmation Studio for CBS and follows the animated adventures of Edgar Rice Burroughs' ape man from the 1970's. The two-disc collectors set includes all 16 episodes from the series’ first season, and is priced to own at $19.98 SRP. The DVD has an order due date of May 3, 2016.

As the opening narration explains: "The jungle: Here I was born; and here my parents died when I was but an infant. I would have soon perished, too, had I not been found by a kindly she-ape named Kala, who adopted me as her own and taught me the ways of the wild. I learned quickly, and grew stronger each day, and now I share the friendship and trust of all jungle animals. The jungle is filled with beauty, and danger; and lost cities filled with good, and evil. This is my domain, and I protect those who come here; for I am Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle!"

“Tarzan, Lord Of The Jungle was animated the old fashion way, with many hours of hand drawn stills," said Mary Ellen Thomas, Vice President Family & Animation Marketing and Partner Brands. "They don't make animation like this anymore, and we are really proud to be releasing this timeless classic just in time for the July release of Tarzan in theaters."

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BY TIM GREAVES

You always knew that porridge oats ranked among the world’s sexiest foodstuffs, didn't you? You didn't? Neither did advertising executive Teddy Brown, tasked with devising a promotional campaign to 'sex up' under-performing breakfast product ‘McLaughlin's Frozen Porridge’ in risqué romp Every Home Should Have One (1970, U.S.: Think Dirty). This neglected gem has just been given a new breath of life in the UK via a sparkling Blu-ray and DVD release, a constituent of Network Distributing's ongoing British Film Collection.

Co-written by Marty Feldman (who also stars), Barry Took and Denis Norden, Every Home Should Have One delights in taking a swipe at not only the absurd and superficial nature of the advertising profession but also the hypocrisy of our self-imposed moral guardians (both still valid targets 45 years on, I'd proffer), and the pitfalls of adopting a permissive lifestyle. But most rewarding of all it gives bug-eyed, chaotic-haired comic Feldman a free canvas to do his thing – and he delivers the funnies in spades.

The kernel of the tale concerns the life of ad man Teddy Brown (Marty Feldman). Professionally he's struggling to come up with a sales idea that will please both his boss (Shelley Berman) – whose own dismal ideas include giving away free plastic sporrans – and their client (Jack Watson), a no-nonsense Scot. Privately he's having to deal with his wife Liz (Judy Cornwell) joining a ‘Clean Up TV’ crusade presided over by the local Vicar (Dinsdale Landen). The Vicar happens to have lascivious designs on Liz, and their kleptomaniac son (Garry Miller) who, spurred by a TV play entitled ‘The Fetish’, has developed hobbies that include purloining the panties of the family’s string of au pairs (among them Julie Ege), which he squirrels away between the pages of his stamp album.

Panty raided: Julie Ege.

Every Home Should Have One was produced by Ned Sherrin (also producer on such big screen rib-ticklers as The Virgin Soldiers and Frankie Howerd's ribald Up trilogy) and directed by Jim Clark (who two years on helmed Rentadick – also produced by Sherrin and featuring Ege – but was better known for his skills in the editing room; he scooped the Oscar for his work on The Killing Fields and brought his expertise to The Mission, Charade, Agatha, Marathon Man and Brosnan Bond thriller The World is Not Enough, to name but a few).

Feldman's garish couture might have dated the film a shade, but there’s still a lot of fun to be found here, the plenteous smiles – it seldom evokes belly laughs – proportionate, I’d suggest, to how much you like Feldman. He certainly had a Marmite effect on audiences. For this writer's money, regardless of the fine assembly of players backing him up (beyond those already namechecked there are terrific turns from Francis de la Tour, Penelope Keith, Patrick Cargill, and an uncredited Alan Bennett), Feldman is the crazy-glue who holds the movie together. He effortlessly steals the show, at his most amusing in a clutch of Billy Liar-esque fantasy sequences which pitch him into a horror film (as a voracious vampire), a black-and-white silent movie, a sepia-tinted peepshow loop, a Swedish arthouse film and a zany animation (graphics courtesy of Richard Williams, later-to-be titles animator on several Pink Panther movies and animation director on Who Framed Roger Rabbit).

Network's Blu-Ray release comes highly recommended, delivering a colourful 1.66:1 presentation of the film with nary a trace of grain, its picture so clean that your eye is frequently distracted by faddish 70s set dressing (such as the toy Captain Scarlet vehicle on the sideboard in the Brown household) and minutiae like the nicotine stains on Feldman's fingers. The bonus materials comprise an image gallery (which collects together a selection of lobby cards and poster art), a trailer, a sans-subtitles replay of the Feldman/Ege arthouse movie sketch and some original release promotional material in PDF format. Also available on standard definition DVD.

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Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Paramount Home Media:

NEW YORK – Called “the best looking fantasy series on TV” (IGN) and “damn fine television” (Collider), MTV’s hit show “The Shannara Chronicles” Season One arrives on DVD June 7, 2016. Executive produced and written for television by Alfred Gough & Miles Millar (“Smallville”) and executive produced by Jon Favreau (Iron Man), the lavish fantasy series is based on the 26-volume book series by Terry Brooks. “The Shannara Chronicles” premiere on MTV was viewed 14.6 million times across linear and digital platforms and delivered the best single-week performance on iTunes ever for an MTV series.

Set thousands of years in the future, “The Shannara Chronicles” follows three heroes, Elf-Human hybrid Wil (Austin Butler, “Arrow”), Elvin Princess Amberle (Poppy Drayton, “Downton Abbey”), and Human Rover Eretria (Ivana Baquero, Pan’s Labryinth), as they embark on a quest to stop an evil Demon army from destroying the world. The show also features Manu Bennett (The Hobbit), John Rhys-Davies (The Lord of the Rings), and James Remar (“Dexter”).

Arriving just in time for Father’s Day and graduation gift-giving, the four-disc DVD set includes all 10 episodes from the inaugural season along with more than 30 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage. “The Shannara Chronicles” Season One DVD set has a suggested retail price of $29.99 U.S./$32.99 Canada.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES:

· Behind-the-scenes

· Meet the Characters

· Exploring New Zealand

· Terry Brooks interview

· Making of the Dagda Mor

DVD Release Date: 6/7/16

U.S. Rating: NR

Running Time: 411 min

Format: Widescreen

“The Shannara Chronicles” is written for television by and executive produced by Al Gough and Miles Millar.  Jon Favreau, Jonathan Liebesman, Terry Brooks and Dan Farah also serve as executive producers. The first two episodes were directed by Jonathan Liebesman (“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”).

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Cinema Retro has received the following press release: 

By John M. Whalen

Howdy, pardners. It’s western movie roundup time at Cinema Retro today. Here are a handful of oldie westerns recently released on DVD by the Warner Archive- and which are now available in the Cinema Retro Movie Store. And a rootin’, tootin’, downright interesting bunch of movies they are.

Station West

First up, “Station West” with Dick Powell and Jane Greer. Ever wonder what would happen if private dick Philip Marlowe traveled back in time to the old west and tried to solve a murder case? That’s essentially what you have with Station West, an offbeat western filmed in black and white that plays like film noir, except all the men wear wide-brimmed Stetsons instead of Fedoras, and shoot Colt Peacemakers and Winchesters instead of snubbed nosed .38s. To further mix up the western and detective genres Jane Greer, the most fatale of all femme fatales, is on hand, playing Charlie, a hard-boiled gal who runs a gambling house and just possibly a few things more.

Powell plays Army Intelligence investigator John Haven who arrives in town to find out who killed a couple of cavalrymen who were transporting gold. Powell is his usual, laconic self, cracking wise and engaging in some sharp dialog written by Frank Fenton and Winston Miller. To wit:

Haven sits down at Charlie’s table uninvited.

Charlie: You like to take chances, don't you?

Haven: If I feel lucky.

Charlie: I advise you to try the dice table.

Haven: I'd rather get lucky here.

Charlie [shrugs] Every man has the right to his own funeral.

Released by RKO in 1952 the movie is loaded with a supporting cast made up of veterans of that studio’s numerous noir crime thrillers. Raymond Burr, Regis Toomey, Steve Brodie, Guinn Big Boy Williams, Agnes Moorehead and Burl Ives are all on hand and just right as the shadowy characters that populate this crooked little town. Based on a Luke Short novel, “Station West” provides a diverting 87 minutes of curious, off-beat, entertainment.

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Roughshod

Next up is “Rough Shod” (1949), another RKO black and white western, this one starring Robert Sterling, Gloria Graham, and John Ireland. It starts out with Lednov (Ireland) and his two fellow escaped convicts creeping up on a camp of drovers from a nearby ranch. They kill them in cold blood and steal their horses and clothes. Not far away Clay Phillips (Sterling) and his kid brother, Steve (Claude Jarman of The Yearling) are driving eight head of horses to Sonora to set up a stage line. In town, the sheriff asks if Clay will join the posse to round up the convicts. Clay says no thanks, adding he’s pretty sure Lednov will come looking for him. They’ve got a history.

Also on the road is dancehall gal Mary Wells (Graham) and her three “co-workers” who got kicked out of town by the decent folk. Clay and Steve run into them on the trail when their buggy breaks down and Clay reluctantly agrees to help them by taking them in his wagon to the nearest ranch. The nearest ranch belongs to Ed Wyatt and good old Ed and his wife, never knew it to fail, well, they get paid a visit by Lednov and his friends. Meanwhile Clay and Mary are on the trail and she’s starting to get under his skin. But Clay’s ready to kiss her off soon as they get to the Wyatt place, because all he cares about is dropping her and the other ladies off at the Wyatt place, getting the horses to Sonora and setting up his stage line.

I know you’re thinking, oh boy, Clay, Steve and the dance hall girls are going to ride into a real mess at the Wyatt place. Probably get captured. Clay and Steve probably get beat up, with the leering convicts having their way with the dance hall gals. Well, that’s what would have happened if Anthony Mann had directed “Roughshod.” But this movie was directed by Mark Robson, who made movies like “Bright Victory”, “The Bridges of Toko-Ri,” and “Champion.” He wasn’t into that kinky stuff. Instead, once the convicts get enough to eat, they say goodbye to the Wyatts and ride off! After that build up to nothing, the movie become more or less a soap opera. Mary sees an opportunity to lead a decent normal life with a guy like Clay and sets out to hog tie him matrimonially speaking. There are a couple of subplots involving one of the girls who just happens to be the Wyatt’s daughter, and conflict between Clay and Steve over the roughshod (get it, Roughshod?) way Clay treats Mary. It’s all tied up at the end when finally, after all that romantic folderol, Lednov and his men show up and there’s a pretty well-staged shootout in the woods.

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BY TIM GREAVES

Michael Winner's ribald 1983 reimagining of 1945’s venerated The Wicked Lady gets a long overdue UK DVD release from Second Sight in July. Bristling with star names delivering some of the most cringe-worthy performances of their careers, needless to say it's an essential acquisition.

The beautiful Caroline (Glynis Barber) invites her dearest friend Barbara (Faye Dunaway) to meet her husband-to-be, Sir Ralph Skelton (Denholm Elliott). The manipulative Barbara seduces Skelton and the demure Caroline graciously steps aside allowing them to wed. Quickly tiring of her affluent and influential position as Lady Skelton, Barbara is soon looking for something to spice up her life. One night, desperate to retrieve jewellery that she has carelessly forfeited in a game of cards, she dons attire akin to that of infamous local highwayman Captain Jackson. The adrenaline rush she gets from the experience gives her a taste to continue her nocturnal thievery, but inevitably it isn’t long before she crosses paths with the real Jackson (Alan Bates), an encounter that gives rise to an unexpected turn of events.

German release poster

Based on the novel "The Life and Death of the Wicked Lady Skelton" by Magdalen King-Hall, Winner’s The Wicked Lady was produced by Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, whose production company The Cannon Group spat out literally dozens of films in its heyday, many of them big star vehicles and most of them pretty bad – though, it has to be said, few of them less than entertainingly so. Winner would work with the gregarious producers several times throughout the 80s, taking the helm for Death Wish II and 3, Bullseye (with Golan alone) and Hercule Poirot mystery Appointment with Death.

The director took co-writing credit on The Wicked Lady with the original version's scripter Leslie Arliss. The resulting film has taken a lot of flack throughout the years for its vapidity – and, rest assured, high art it most certainly ain't. But as guilty pleasures go they don't come much more rewarding. I mean, what's not to like about a movie in which Faye Dunaway and Star Trek: The Next Generation's Marina Sirtis get into a gratuitously protracted, BBFC-baiting catfight which evolves into a skirmish with whips during which Dunaway lashes her opponents clothing to shreds? It's something of a star-studded affair too; along with Dunaway, Elliott, Bates and Barber there's substantial input from the likes of John Gielgud, Oliver Tobias, Prunella Scales and Joan Hickson. Performances are uniformly ripe and one or two are camper than a field full of tents…which, perversely, only serves to enhance the film’s entertainment value. Dunaway was actually nominated for a 1984 Razzie as worst actress for The Wicked Lady – and witnessing her overwrought performance in the final scene one could argue a strong case for her having romped it – though she was ultimately trounced by Pia Zadora for The Lonely Lady.

BY DARREN ALLISON

It was always going to be something rather good that would eventually topple Jaws (1975) from the box office number one slot. Sydney Pollack’s compelling political thriller, Three Days of the Condor, achieved that feat. It is a film steeped in speculative government dealings and the shady side of its associations with large business corporations. Three Days of the Condor is arguably one of the greatest thrillers to emerge from the 70s. it arrived directly in the slipstream of the Watergate scandal that had witnessed the toppling of a president and a severe shifting of the United States political arena. The ripple effect from such political scandals bought about a change in American cinema with film directors examining the fringes and paranoia fallout that subsequently evolved. The darker side of American politics had suddenly become the new in-vogue sub-genre. Probing thrillers such as Alan J. Pakula’s All the President's Men (1976) became fascinating exposés as well as enlightening forms of entertainment.

In Three Days of the Condor, Robert Redford stars as Joe Turner; he’s an everyman employed on a clerical level by the CIA in New York City. He’ss smart; an expert of sorts who provides advice and analysis based upon foreign publications and what might be hiding in between the lines. One afternoon he dashes out to the local deli to collect the lunch orders for the office staff. He returns to his office to find that his entire group of colleagues has been massacred. Panic stricken and confused, Turner calls his superiors to request that he be bought in safely. However, the situation is turned on its head when he finds himself being hunted down by the same group that murdered his colleagues- and on the directive of his CIA superiors.

In desperation, and acting on pure adrenalin, Turner abducts Kathy (Faye Dunaway) a photographer. Turner needs to get off the streets and take some time to piece together the mystery. He ultimately wins over Kathy and convinces her to assist him, despite the danger to her own life. Because the twosome is played by Redford and Dunaway, it will surprise no one that they become lovers in the process. Together, Joe and Kathy begin to unravel clues while a sinister, lone assassin (Max Von Sydow) calmly manoeuvres ever closer in their footsteps.

Some 40 years on, Three Days of the Condor still works superbly. Based on James Grady's novel, it is interesting to observe how the passing years have witnessed the author’s fictional elements materialise into accountable elements of fact, a realisation that makes the story that much more chilling. The passing of time deems it almost entirely plausible, which perhaps diminishes the shock value to some degree. Right or wrong, there is almost an acceptance regarding the shady conspiracies that unfold when viewed today, even more so than at the time of the film’s original release.

Redford and Dunaway are both magnetic on screen, two iconic stars that were dominant on the silver screen around the mid-Seventies. Pollack’s direction is tight and tense and keeps the narrative flowing at an even, constant pace. Also noteworthy is Dave Grusin's smooth and funky Jazz score. In recent times it has become something of a legendary soundtrack and one that has rightly been proclaimed as a 70s masterpiece.

Eureka’s 1080p transfer is very nice indeed, Condor (through the various incarnations I have previously owned) has never appeared or stood out as the sharpest of 70s movies. Some scenes tend to have a ‘director’s intent’ soft focus to them. However, its hidden beauty is made apparent with tighter, close up shots, which look superbly detailed and reveal a vivid natural clarity. The film also appears to be rather brighter – especially in night shots. Blacks especially appear to retain just the right balance without falling off into the dreaded, milky grey spectrum. The picture is clean throughout and does not reveal any signs of blemishes, dirt particles or scratches. The film’s audio is provided by way of an English LPCM 2.0 channel and an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 channel mix. The purist in me opted for the 2.0 channel mix, which is both clear and perfectly detailed.

In the bonus features you will find The Directors: Sydney Pollack – an original (and excellent) 60 minute documentary that examines the film-making career of the esteemed filmmaker. It’s a great watch which includes archival interviews and features contributions from Cliff Robertson, Paul Newman, Harrison Ford, Meryl Streep, Julia Ormond and Sally Field. There is also a new video presentation featuring film historian Dr. Sheldon Hall who discusses (in detail) the production history of the movie, the identities of the main protagonists, the evolution of their relationships and Pollack's directing style. As with any piece featuring Sheldon Hall, you know you are in good, intelligent company with a man who knows his subject well. At 22 minutes, it sadly passes all too soon. Also included is the original theatrical trailer, which is generous at around 3 minutes. Included within is a superbly produced 32-page illustrated booklet featuring a new essay by film critic Michael Brooke and an extensive interview with Sydney Pollack. It is apparent that Brooke has obviously researched his subject to the highest standard. Intelligent and hugely informative, Brooke’s writing is supported by an equally impressive array of archival images. The booklet is a lovingly produced piece that almost warrants its admission fee alone.

It’s a shame that Eureka’s Region B package doesn’t include the Sydney Pollack commentary track as this is an addition I would have dearly loved to hear. I can only assume this was unavailable due to copyright restrictions, but as an admirer of Pollack’s work and legacy, I’m sure it would provide a fascinating listen. Nevertheless, Eureka’s presentation pushes all the right buttons and serves as a perfect example of what made 70s cinema so unique and so damn good. Grab it without hesitation. https://www.eurekavideo.co.uk/moc/three-days-condor

BY TIM GREAVES

Two early 1970s Italian Gothic chillers from director Emilio Miraglia have been released in the UK in a dual Blu-ray/DVD box set. Bearing the tantalising umbrella title "Killer Dames", it could equally be looked upon as a Marina Malfatti set, since the actress occupies a prominent role in both of the films contained therein.

A prolific assistant director throughout the first half of the 60s, Emilio Miraglia's fourth spin in the director's chair following a trio of crime thrillers was also his first foray into terror terrain. 1971's The Night Evelyn Came Out of Her Grave (o.t. La Notte Che Evelyn Usci Della Tomba) concerns English aristocrat Lord Cunningham (Anthony Steffan), a man devastated by the passing of his titian-haired wife Evelyn, who he suspected was being unfaithful. Struggling to overcome his grief over her death and rage at her perceived infidelity, Cunningham lures attractive redheaded women to his castle residence on the outskirts of London where he first seduces then tortures them in a dungeon kitted out with S&M gear. Cunningham's doctor (Giacomo Rossi Stuart) convinces him that remarriage is the only way to stem his unravelling sanity, whereafter he meets and falls for the beautiful Gladys (Marina Malfatti). They wed and at first it appears that the doctor's advice was sound. But then the slayings begin...

The screenplay, which Miraglia co-wrote with Fabio Pittorru and Massimo Felsatti, is an intoxicating blend of Gothic mystery and stylish giallo, top-heavy with the staple ingredients of the latter – copious nudity and sadistic killing. In one particularly nasty sequence a victim is thrown into an animal enclosure where the canidae residents rip out her intestines. Director of photography Gastone di Giovanni brings plenty of visual lustre to the show and Bruno Nicolai provides a dreamy cocktail lounge score. Although the pace slackens a tad here and there and the sadomasochistic facet affords it an unnecessarily sleazy vibe, in summation it’s a compelling enough little number which keeps one engaged and guessing up until the last reel – bristling with unpredictable double and triple crosses – and its slightly abrupt conclusion. Steffan makes for a solid leading man, slipping back and forth between cultured sophistication and sweaty paranoia, whilst Malfatti is delightful as the beleaguered heroine.

Miraglia's next film (and Evelyn's bedmate in this set, surely not coincidentally also featuring a key character by that name) was the following year's The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972, o.t. La Dama Uccide Sette Volte, a.k.a. The Lady in Red Kills Seven Times - its onscreen title here).

In the wake of their grandfather's murder by a masked figure cloaked in crimson, two sisters (Barbara Bouchet and Marina Malfatti) inherit his castle abode. But the murders continue, believed by some to be perpetrated by the mythical ‘Red Queen’ who, family legend has it, returns every 100 years to claim seven lives. Could that possibly be the case? Or is there something more insidious going on?

It has to be said that some aspects of Red Queen are a little clichéd (it's one of those films where, when a character utters those guaranteed-death-sentence words "I know who the killer is" you just know they’ll get bumped off five minutes later without having had time to spill the beans) and the otherwise creepy titular killer is slightly undermined by a cartoonish burst of manic laughter accompanying each murder. Nevertheless, in this writer's opinion it's the better film of the pair, slicker paced with a superior narrative that builds to a more satisfying climax, and boasts more imaginative death sequences than its predecessor (one memorably grisly impaling is staged atop a spiked fence). Oh, and it also showcases an early Sybil Danning performance, the Miraglia/Pittorru script ensuring the actress has barely a single scene in which she isn't required to shed her clothing. The director maintains a fine level of ‘who's-doin'-it?’ intrigue that, as with Evelyn, keeps the audience in suspense until the final reveal (though seasoned giallo buffs will have little difficulty seeing through the veritable shoal of red herrings), and there are plenty of standout moments; a stylish nightmare sequence which culminates with Barbara Bouchet strapped to a torture rack will certainly pique the prurient proclivities of her fans. Bruno Nicolai serves up an infectiously chirrupy score (you'll be humming it long after the end credits have rolled) and Alberto Spagnoli's beautiful cinematography ensures that there’s always something on screen to admire, whether it be the atmospheric Gothicism of the castle interiors or the striking décor in the (then) modern apartments.

BY JEREMY CARR

Alfred Hitchcock’s I Confess opens on a desolate Quebec City just before nightfall. Overcast skies, drenched streets, and a still rustling wind suggest the tranquility of a recently concluded storm. The camera moves toward a house, easing through an open window. Inside, a dead body, that of a lawyer named Vilette, lies bludgeoned on the floor. A man in priest’s cassock, which he soon removes, flees the scene under cover of darkness. He is then observed by another priest as he hurriedly enters a rectory. About a minute into this 1953 film, there has been a murder, a passing glimpse of the assailant, and a witness, and a previously serene environment is now the backdrop for a sinister scenario. Thus we have many of the main ingredients necessary to set up a prototypical Hitchcock story.

But this story goes one brilliant step further. Based on the 1902 play by French-Canadian Paul Anthelme, Nos deux consciences (Our Two Consciences), I Confess has the murderer, in actuality a sexton named Otto Keller (O.E. Hasse), tell the real priest, Father Michael Logan (Montgomery Clift), about his deed. The catch, of course, is that Michael cannot reveal what he knows due to the strictures of confidential admission. Even if this wasn’t a perfect murder—Otto only wanted to steal some money—it was a perfect confession.

The murder is more than simply an illegal secret Michael must conceal, however. Visiting the scene of the crime the next day, his own behavior raises suspicion, eventually to the point that he becomes the prime suspect for Inspector Larrue (Karl Malden). And when the unhappily married Ruth Grandfort (Anne Baxter) greets Michael and passionately mutters, “We’re free,” it becomes clear that indeed Michael also has reason for wanting the lawyer dead: he and Ruth harbor a taboo, though presently platonic, love, and only Vilette knew about it. So the question then becomes not how the characters will react to the crime itself, but how they will function following the confession, how all involved will deftly handle the aftermath of this crime that benefits more than just the murderer, and potentially leaves the consequences to fall on an innocent man.

George Tabori and William Archibald are credited with the screenplay of I Confess (one of only two writing credits ever for Archibald), but the film was rumored to have involved nearly 12 writers at various points in its eight-year preproduction. Yet with so many cooks working on the broth, I Confess retains a fair amount of Hitchcock flavor. It is even tempting to further read into it a personal connection for the director, given that he was raised Catholic and identified with the religious setting, appreciating Father Logan’s adherence to his religious principles, for instance.

While Clift’s Method acting background (and his drinking) sometimes ran contrary to Hitchcock’s preference for blindly obedient and unquestioning actors, the two evidently worked well enough to elicit an excellent performance by the astonishing young star, already with two Oscar nominations under his belt and on his way to a third, for From Here to Eternity (1953). To see Clift’s face as Hasse tells him about the murder is an acting master class in close-up. Held in a single take, Clift’s expressive features register his shock at the announcement, his guilty consideration of its advantageous value, his acceptance of its significance, and his return to priestly concern, all with the mere crinkle of a nose, blink of an eye, facial twitch, or furrowed brow. There is no doubt Clift had one of the screen’s more breathtaking faces, but more amazing is what he could do with it, and we see it all in just this one shot. Costars Malden and Baxter fit their roles well, but Clift in general gives a type of nuanced performance rarely seen in a Hitchcock film.

In the opening sequences of I Confess, Dimitri Tiomkin’s exuberant score pounds to operatic rhythms matched by camera movement and editing, rising to a crescendo of high-pitched tension as all of the above mentioned pieces are put into place. Things calm down not long after this breakneck opening, though, settling to a statelier pace with extensive passages of dialogue, detailed procedural interrogations, and later, a prolonged trial sequence. Even the basic generic tenor switches gear for a time to have its drive be the forbidden romance rather than the murder. Before the 30-minute mark, it is clear that Michael knows too much, Otto and his scheming wife Alma, played by famed German actress Dolly Haas in her only American role, both know he knows too much, and Larrue knows everybody knows more than they’re telling. The main problem with I Confess, as far as its maintaining a consistent interest, is that we too know more than we should. Where I Confess falters is that by this point, not even half way through the picture, everything is more or less explained, except for perhaps how and when the truth will be revealed, and much of what transpires until that moment is simply getting in the way.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

London may have been the epicenter of the sexual revolution in the mid-1960s but that still didn't make it easy to see adult entertainment on the screen. The dreaded Office of the Censor wielded Draconian power as the guardians of British morality. Hence, the only place you could see anything remotely erotic on film was through 8mm "loops", short films that ran only minutes.  The closest mainstream cinemas got to playing films with nudity was through pretentious "documentaries" that exposed the sordid side of London's nightlife or life in a nudist colony. In reality, these denouncements of promiscuous sex existed strictly to capitalize on promiscuous sex and everyone knew it. Pete Walker was an enterprising young entrepreneur who tried to fill the gap for sex-starved Britons by shooting hastily-arranged, no-budget black and white exploitation films that lasted only minutes. Walker had started in the even more staid early part of the decade by hiring well-endowed, free-spirited young woman to "star" in his modest productions. There was no shortage of talent, as Briton did have a booming market in glamour magazines that featured nude models and starlets. Walker would shoot the silent B&W films on 8mm before graduating to 16mm. The final product would be sold in local book shops for extravagant prices. Walker and the store made tidy profits and the consumer could feast his eyes on some bare female flesh. Everyone was a winner.

 In 1969 Walker decided to do something far more ambitious by creating a film with an actual story line and populated by people who could really act. The result was "For Men Only" (AKA "Hot Girls For Men Only"), a ribald comedy that ran a scant 43 minutes but had production values that looked like "Gone With the Wind" compared to his earlier efforts. David Kernan (who played Pvt. Hitch in "Zulu" a few years before) plays Freddie Horn, a young man engaged to marry Rosalie (Andrea Allen). However, she demands that he quit his job as fashion editor for a prominent journal because he is generally assigned to interview beautiful young models who wear barely-there new clothing lines. She's right to be jealous, as Freddie has been living quite the life, indulging in the "fringe benefits" of being around so many willing young women. Reluctantly, he applies for a job as a writer for a bland magazine that will ensure he has no exposure to the fairer sex. He is summoned from London to the countryside to meet his prospective new employer, Miles Fanthorpe (Derek Aylward). He meets Fanthorpe at a local church where he is giving a stern lecture on morality and the decay of society, which he attributes to permissive sex and increasing tolerance of homosexuality. The small crowd responds enthusiastically to his conservative, fire-and-brimstone rant. Freddie is understandably depressed at the prospect of working for such a man but the first clue that not all is as it seems occurs when Fanthorpe gives him a lift back to his manor house- in an Aston Martin DB5. Once at the house, Fanthorpe comes clean. His uses his reputation as a conservative prude to mask his real personality which is that of a sex-obsessed rogue. Fanthorpe then introduces Freddie to his staff, which consists of busty young women of loose morals who spend the entire day romping around in bikinis or sunning themselves while topless. Freddie is understandably delighted to accept the job of writing for one of Fanthorpe's publications that deals with nude models. Within minutes, he is immersed in a virtual orgy- and he understandably forgets a vitally important social engagement for that evening. Seems he has to accompany Rosalie and her parents to a black tie dinner to celebrate their wedding anniversary. The parents can't stand Freddie as it is and have warned Rosalie that he is addicted to skirt chasing. When Freddie doesn't turn up for dinner, Rosalie sets out to trace his whereabouts and ends up at the country manner where she sees the real scenario. Naturally, through happenstance even her prudish parents show up along with a local parson, resulting in a chaotic scene that culminates with a bevy of bikini girls being stuffed into the DB5 for a fast getaway. (Not even 007 enjoyed that privilege.) Although one could term the film as a "sexploitation" title, that doesn't do it justice. "For Men Only" is actually quite amusing and features some very fine comedic performances. The sexual content is quite mild but there is something  erotic about seeing these lovely young actresses cavort about while scantily clad. It's like Matt Helm on steroids. 

The other feature, "School for Sex", also features Derek Aylward in essentially the same kind of role he played in "For Men Only". Here he is an upper-crust type named Giles Wingate who inherited a manor house and a fortune and blew through it all by marrying a series of opportunistic golddiggers.  To pay off his debts, he engages in some dubious financial tactics that end up with him being criminally prosecuted. He's spared a jail sentence and put on probation but still needs to find a way to pay for his lavish lifestyle as well as the salary for his elderly, intensely loyal butler. He comes up with an inspired idea. Since he was snookered by so many lovely young women, he decides to open a "School for Sex" on his premises. The idea is to charge beautiful young women a hefty fee for instructing them how to seduce wealthy men and ensure their financial well-being. In order to carry out the plan, he needs some female assistance. He hires the Duchess of Burwash, a widowed hot-to-trot middle-aged cougar played by Rose Alba, who main claim to fame was her short but memorable appearance as the SPECTRE "widow" who gets socked by James Bond in the opening of "Thunderball". She's a boozy opportunist but she delivers the goods in terms of instructing her students how to seduce naive men. Before long, there are more students than Wingate can accommodate. Rich families are sending their daughters for instruction, thinking they will be attending a finishing school for sophisticated young women. Instead, they will run around naked and engage in sex techniques. The film comes to an ironic conclusion as Wingate becomes a victim of his own success. "School for Sex" is described by Pete Walker as the worst movie he ever made. He blames himself for not getting a professional screenwriter and trying to keep costs down by writing the script himself. Although not as polished as "For Men Only", it still has its amusing moments and there is plenty of eye candy in the form of the lovely young ladies. The performances of Aywayrd and Alba are also very funny.  The film is a bit more daring than "For Men Only"  in that it does include topless sequences and a glimpse or two of full nudity.

Kino Lorber has released both films as a Blu-ray double feature edition. Both remastered prints look excellent and the special features in the package are most welcome. Pete Walker provides a new filmed interview and gives some interesting insights into the world of sexploitation films in England during the 1960s. There are also numerous Walker "loops", the early B&W silent nudie flicks as well as a trailer for "School for Sex" and alternate footage from the film featuring full nudity that was shot for the Japanese market. 

In summary, it's a delightful trip down Mammary Lane for anyone who appreciates the low-brow pleasures of such "naughty" entertainment.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

Among our most popular articles are those pertaining to video availability of vintage erotica (You old perverts!). Vinegar Syndrome, which has rescued countless grindhouse titles from the 1960s-1980s, has just released one of their most ambitious titles yet, "All Night at the Po-No", consisting of three DVDs packed with features and shorts that all played at the Po-No Theatre in L.A during the 1970s. Don't be immediately dismissive of all of these films, as some do show  talent in the construction of reasonably compelling story lines. Surprisingly, when given an actual script to follow, some of the performers also show  skill in terms of acting ability, so you can at least assure your significant other that you are watching these only for their artistic merits. 

Here is the official press release:

Vinegar Syndrome presents its new ‘Storefront Theatre Collection’, which celebrates both the strange and often homegrown productions that played in ‘mini-theatres’ of the 70s. This special-edition 3-disc set is uniquely packaged in 100% recycled card stock and features a heavy-duty slipcase.

Throughout the early to mid 1970s, the most common way to see underground feature films was to visit a ‘storefront theatre.’ Sometimes referred to as ‘mini-theatres’ or ‘shoebox theatres,’ these small venues were often converted retail stores armed with nothing more than a couple projectors and nailed down folding chairs. And, unlike larger houses like the Pussycat chain, the films screened in these small and cozy spaces were low-budget 16mm efforts, affectionately known as one-day-wonders.

Hundreds of these theatres dotted the American landscape, and with them, the most truly independent and underground filmmakers found a place to exhibit their work.

In this first volume we focus on Los Angeles’ PO-NO Theatre with 12 examples of LA made films, produced between 1970 and 1973. Included titles are Huck Walker’s unrelentingly ALL AMERICAN HUSTLER, Anthony Spinelli’s bizarre vampire comedy SUCKULA, Rik Tazi’ner’s low rent costume saga, THE EROTIC ADVENTURES OF HERCULES, as well as anonymously directed efforts like CARNAL-GO-ROUND, SEX BEFORE MARRIAGE, HOMER THE LATE COMER, and the experimental subjective-camera feature, EROTIC POINT OF VIEW, in addition to five more surprise feature films featuring early genre stars like Rene Bond, Sandy Dempsey, John Holmes, and more. All films have been scanned in 2k from rare original theatrical prints to re-create the experience of stumbling into the PO-NO late one evening and not leaving until dawn the next day.

Directed by: Various
1970-1973 / 740 minutes / Color / 1.33:1
Actors: Rene Bond, John Holmes, Sandy Dempsey, etc, etc…

Features Include:

• All films scanned and restored in 2k from ultra-rare 16mm prints
• Features two bonus short films

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BY DOUG OSWALD

James Cagney is Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., USN in “The Gallant Hours,” available on Blu-ray for the first time by Kino Lorber. Affectionately known as “Bull” Halsey, the  movie is a biography of Halsey told in a semi-documentary style with most of the narration provided by Robert Montgomery, who introduces people, locations and explains the action occurring off stage. Montgomery, a distinguished Us Naval officer in WWII, also happens to be the director of the movie and this is his final effort on film.

The movie opens at Halsey’s retirement ceremony, incorrectly stated as 22 November 1945 (Halsey retired from active duty in March 1947). Reflecting in his cabin with his steward, retiring Chief Petty Officer Manuel Salvador Jesus Maravilla (Leon Lontoc), the movie flashes back to the Battle of Guadalcanal as Halsey takes command of American forces in the South Pacific on 16 October 1942. Once he arrives on board his flag ship, Halsey forms staff and they come up with a strategy for holding the island and defeating the Japanese. Halsey is a commanding, straightforward man making the best of grim circumstances, but he’s earned the respect of the men he commands. At the time the Japanese were still in a strong position to win the war, but in spite of the odds against them, American forces prevailed at Guadalcanal making the American victory in the Pacific a turning point in the war against the Japanese Empire.

The movie is unusual in a number of different ways. It has an unconventional score composed by Roger Wagner, using a choir rather than an orchestra. There is some incidental music, but according to IMDB, there was a musicians strike during production and the score is largely sung by the Roger Wagner Chorale. The movie predates other WWII movies like “Tora! Tora! Tora!” by depicting key figures on the opposing side in their preparations for battle, which humanizes them in a thoughtful and sincere way. The movie is unique for a WWII drama as it contains no actual battle scenes, has no action scenes and relies heavily on the characters and narrator explaining to the audience what’s going on. Suspense is created via the radio transmissions and the actions of Halsey and his staff as they react to the battle. Most of the scenes take place on sets recreating aircraft and ship interiors with location shooting in San Diego standing in for Guadalcanal and ship deck scenes. Somehow, it all works and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.

The film benefits from beautiful black and white photography by Joseph MacDonald which is filled with scenes of self reflection by Halsey in his spartan quarters as he listens to radio messages and reacts to news. Cagney gives an outstanding performance as the grizzled and outspoken Halsey and the movie includes a wonderful cast of supporting actors with Dennis Weaver in a memorable performance as Halsey’s aid and pilot, Lieutenant Commander Andrew Jefferson Lowe III. Richard Jaeckel is also on hand in a brief role as battle weary pilot, Lt. Commander Roy Webb.

Released in June 1960 (less than a year after Halsey’s death) by United Artists, the movie would be one of the last for Cagney. It has been criticized by nit-pickers for several historical inaccuracies and the viewer should be aware that the movie takes a few liberties, but these are minor and do not detract from the story. The film has a 115 minute running time and the Kino Lorber Blu-ray looks beautiful and sounds terrific. The disc contains the trailer for this and two other movies as the only extras.

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THIS FILM IS ALSO AVAILABLE ON DVD FROM MGM. CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM THE CINEMA RETRO MOVIE STORE.

BY DOUG OSWALD

Spaghetti Westerns exist in a surreal alternate universe filled with new landscapes, new faces, new music, extreme violence and a slightly askew version of the Hollywood western story that veered into new territory literally and figuratively. The Spanish desert locations are unfamiliar and surreal filled with gunshots that ricochet, echo and often sound like cannons. Good and bad men are not as we may perceive them and behave in unexpected ways. Women and children are treated harshly and often come to an early demise. Anachronistic cowboys, lawmen, gunslingers, bandits and outlaws use guns and ammunition that may not have existed during the period, but somehow it doesn’t really matter. We accept the juxtaposition whether we are aware of it or not because Spaghetti Westerns are a fantasy version of the fantasy west created by Hollywood. Hundreds of Spaghetti Westerns followed the release of Sergio Leone’s “A Fistful of Dollars,” “For a Few Dollars More” and “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” and changed our expectations for the genre.

Gian Maria Volonte and Thomas Milian team up as unlikely allies in “Face to Face,” a 1967 Spaghetti Western available on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber. The movie opens with history professor Brett Fletcher (Volonte) announcing to his students that he’s leaving for Texas due to poor health. In his new life in the desert, Fletcher looks pale and sickly, spending his days relaxing in the sun with his mistress (Linda Veras). A stagecoach stops at his hotel with two sheriff deputies escorting the bandit Solomon “Beauregard” Bennet (Milian). Fletcher takes pity on Bennet, who takes advantage of the diversion and holds Fletcher as his hostage and is shot during the escape. When he passes out from his wound, Fletcher continues to help him escape.

Pinkerton agent Charlie Siringo (William Berger) runs into Bennet and Fletcher and seeks to infiltrate Bennet’s Raiders by pretending to be an outlaw himself and eventually succeeds. Fletcher is sent away by Bennet and convinced to return back home in the East. While waiting for his train in Purgatory City, he sees Bennet ride into town. Fletcher saves Bennet in a gunfight with about a dozen men seeking Bennet’s bounty. Joining up with Bennet, they meet up with former members of Bennet’s Raiders. Bennet is a sort of Robin Hood and the leader of a large group of people, including women and children, living in the desert. The women in the group vary from the beautiful Maria (Jolanda Modio) to Cattle Annie (Carole Andre) who also happens to have a crush on Bennet, but both women have very little to do other than to represent the Hollywood western tropes of a mistress and the girl who dresses like a boy. They live a harsh life and are treated badly, but stand by Bennet and Fletcher.

Fascinated by the group and their way of life, Fletcher takes an active role as the raiders rob a train and the passengers. Fletcher comes up with a bank robbery plan that results in the capture of Bennet, but reveals Siringo as a traitor. Fletcher takes over the gang running it with an intellectual ruthlessness, his health improving as his character becomes more outlaw than professor. He leads the group on a trek across the desert where many are killed by bounty hunters. Bennet escapes his captors with Siringo hot on his trail and they eventually meet up with Fletcher for a final showdown.

While “Face To Face” takes place during the American Civil War, the movie does not depict the war in any way other then making reference to it in a few scenes. Charlie Siringo was a real man and a Pinkerton agent, too, but I suspect the similarities end there. The movie has political overtones dealing with race, class, gender and fascism and the 1967 release hints at the escalation of the Vietnam War, but it can be enjoyed on its own merits as an engaging western.

Directed by Sergio Sollima (“The Big Gundown,” “Run Man Run”), the movie didn’t receive a theatrical release in America until 1976 which is a pity because it is one of the better entries in the genre. Fortunately, “Face To Face” is available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber and it looks and sounds very good. Volonte is terrific and so are Milian and Berger. The opening credits are reminiscent of those for “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and the movie includes an outstanding score by Ennio Morricone. The extra features on the disc include a trailer for another Kino Lorber release and an option to watch the movie in the original Italian. The Italian version is not in HD and looks its age, but includes English subtitles and is a welcome feature for fans of the genre.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

Carlos Tobalina was among the most prolific of adult film directors. From the late 1960s through the late 1980s, Tobalina ground out dozens of grind house porn flicks and, no fool he, appeared in any number of them as well, though often not in the sex scenes. What set Tobalina's films apart was the fact that he at least tried to instill some quality and occasional social messages into what was otherwise undistinguished fare. Tobalina, who died at age 64 in 1989, would probably have appreciated the fact that Vinegar Syndrome has been releasing quite a few of his titles in remastered DVD editions that probably look better than they did back in the day. Among these releases is a Tobalina double feature that he directed under one of his alter ego names, Troy Benny. Both of the movies have a common theme in that they star one William Margold, who apparently was quite influential in the adult film industry of the 1980s and is still appearing in sleazy movies today even though he is in his seventies. He is also a social activist, having founded the Free Speech Coalition and established a charity to look after down-and-out veterans of the porn industry. First up in the double feature is "Lust Inferno", a 1982 production in which Margold appears as a corrupt TV evangelist (is there any other kind?). Margold, who is curiously billed as "Mr. William Margold" (not even Orson Welles had that much clout), stars as Rev. Jerry, a charismatic preacher who rips off the suckers in his audience by indulging in the usual fire-and-brimstone sermons. He also "cures" invalids who he pays off in cash backstage after the event. At home, Rev. Jerry is very much a family man, but it's probably not the kind of family most of us could relate to. His wife (Rita Ricardo) is frustrated that the Rev won't indulge in intercourse with her because he believes the act is only for procreation. He does indulge in some other sexual activities with her that are entirely for his satisfaction. Consequently, she goes off to "group therapy" sessions that are actually bi-sexual orgies. Rev. Jerry's oldest daughter, Dora (Tamara Longley) does the same with her teenage friends because dad won't allow her to date anyone. (The effectiveness of that strategy seems to be dubious, at best.) Meanwhile, the youngest daughter, Lucy  (Marguerite Nuit) is also finding it hard to deal with her raging hormones. She asks for- and receives- her mother's permission to adopt a disguise and seek work in the local bordello that is run by Madame Blanche (Lina Spencer). What Lucy and no one else in the family knows is that her father is Madame Blanche's best customer. He pays thousands of dollars for S&M sex sessions with Blanche's young hookers. This plot development leads to the film's ironic conclusion in which Reverend Jerry finally pays a terrible price for his immorality- but it also results in a major "Yuck" factor for the viewer. The hardcore scenes are pretty standard for the era with nothing particularly inventive going on but at least director Tobalina attempts to make a statement about the craze for supporting corrupt TV preachers. In fact, he was a bit ahead of his time. Within a few years some of the best-known televangelists would be brought down in their own sex scandals. 

The most enjoyable aspect of the presentation is the recent interview with William Margold on a commentary track. Margold describes himself as a blowhard and its difficult to take issue with him. We're all for admiring anyone who takes pride in their work but Margold discusses "Lust Inferno" as though it's a major achievement. He indicates that he based his interpretation of the Reverend on Richard Brooks' 1960 film version of "Elmer Gantry" and says that back in the day he even met Burt Lancaster and correctly predicted he would win an Oscar for the role. The most amusing aspect of the commentary track has Margold, who was obviously watching a sub-standard VHS version prior to the film's restoration for DVD, complain constantly about the poor quality of the tape. He also rails against the fact that the version they are watching is missing key sequences, only to have him proven wrong when they turn up later. Margold,  like most of the leading men in this peculiar branch of the film industry, was probably chosen more for his physical attributes than his acting abilities, but he seems to think that his work here is top-notch both. In fact, his performance is par for the course for porn films and there is no indication he possessed any admirable skills outside of the boudoir. Speaking of which, Margold waxes nostalgic about some of his sex partners in the movie, including one woman who became his wife and another who he continues to pine away for because he never appeared in a sex scene with her, sort of like the fisherman who gripes about "the one who got away".  Regarding stock footage in the film of real life audiences at televangelist events, Margold chuckles and wonders if they ever knew they would end up in a porn film. It's also quite eye-opening to listen to Margold give the play-by-play for his on-screen antics and to provide opinions about his personal techniques for self-pleasure. Margold may indeed be a blowhard but he makes for an entertaining commentator.  You have to admire Vinegar Syndrome for creating some value-added content that is both funny and insightful because it gives you an idea of what the adult film industry was like from the viewpoint of one of its veterans. 

The second feature on the DVD is "Marathon", a lazy production even by the low standards one would have expected for the genre. Shot in 1982, it's a quickie that features a lot of major stars from the industry including Ron Jeremy, Jamie Gillis. Sharon Mitchell and John Holmes. The "plot" simply features a large group of swingers who attend a costume party at Gillis's apartment. Everyone is getting it on while attired in crazy costumes when a phone call alerts them that a friend (William Margold) and his wife have been injured in a skiing accident and they are both in the hospital. Deciding to provide the kind of bedside companionship that no doctor would, they all barge into the hospital suite where Margold and his wife are being treated. Here, while still in costume, they resume the orgy. The therapy works as both patients join in the action. The film is played entirely for laughs and is therefore about as erotic as a dip in a pool of ice water.

The transfers of both features look very good with vibrant colors and enough original film stock grain to make you nostalgic for the era.  

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By John  M. Whalen

Cornell Woolrich is a writer whose work was much loved and cherished by fans of film noir. The Internet Movie Database lists 102 credits for him for both film and TV shows—titles including “Rear Window,” “The Bride Wore Black,” “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes,” “Black Angel,” “Fear in the Night,” and “Phantom Lady,” He didn’t write any screenplays that I know of. The films and TV shows were all adapted from a prolific output of stories written under his Woolrich and William Irish pseudonyms, and under his real name, George Hopley.

While Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and James M. Cain make up the Big Three in noir fiction, Woolrich carved out a special niche for himself. Chandler, and Hammett wrote about tough guy heroes who usually overcame the web of evil they encountered. Cain’s heroes weren’t always so lucky, but at least they had a toughness about them that gave them a fighting chance. Woolrich’s protagonists, on the other hand, were just the opposite. They were guys or gals not really equipped by experience or temperament to handle what fate had in store for them, but who tried to do the best they could to keep their heads above water. There was always a sense of impending, irrevocable doom, and a surrealistic atmosphere that set his tales apart from the others.

Nowhere was that surreal quality more prominent than in one particular low-budget feature from Nero Pictures called “The Chase “(1946). Directed by Arthur D. Ripley and adapted by screenwriter Philip Yordan from Woolrich’s story “The Black Path of Fear,” “The Chase” stars Robert Cummings as Chuck Scott, a man down on his luck in Miami who finds the wallet of rich gangster, Eddie Roman, played menacingly by Steve Cochran. When Chuck knocks on the door of Roman’s mansion to return the wallet, you’d think he might have been a little leery when a peep hole opens and we get a glimpse of an eyeball peering out, and we hear Peter Lorre’s unmistakable voice asking, “What do you want?” Lorre plays Gino, Roman’s right hand man.

Chuck is the proverbial fly stepping into the spider’s parlor. For being such an honest guy, Roman hires him as his chauffeur. While under Roman’s employ he meets the gangster’s wife Lorna, a sad blonde played by French actress Michelle Morgan. Roman is a mean guy who slaps his wife around and likes to inflict psychological cruelty, like a kid tearing the wings off of flies. He likes to be in the driver’s seat too. Literally. In a bit of weirdness concocted by Yordan, Roman has separate brake and accelerator pedals in the back of his limo so he can take over when Chuck’s behind the wheel. He tests Chuck’s tolerance for mental torture by driving the speedometer past 120, while trying to outrace a train on the tracks ahead. Chuck remains cool and at the last minute Eddie hits the brake. Roman turns to Gino, who’s looking a little green around the gills, and says: “Hey, he’s alright.”

Chuck’s main job seems to be chauffeuring Lorna around on long drives at night. She likes to stop at the beach and go out on a pier and stare out over the water. Chuck feels sorry for her and besides, she ain’t bad to look at. She asks Chuck what’s out there and he tells her Cuba, and she says “Take me.” Despite his fear that Eddie is suspicious, he takes her to Cuba by ship and no sooner do they stop in a Havana bar for a drink and a quick dance, when Lorna collapses in his arms with a knife in her back. He’s suspect No. 1, naturally, but a Cuban cop (Alexis Minotis) gives him a chance to try and explain his way out of it. And, of course, all he does is get himself into further trouble. He knows Eddie or Gino did it, but he’s got to get some evidence. He has to make a break for it. All of this leads up to a really strange midpoint in the story where suddenly everything takes a wild, unexpected twist.

Yordan’s screenplay for “The Chase” plays fast and loose with Woolrich’s original story, and how much you’ll enjoy the movie may depend on how much of a Woolrich purist you are. Yordan and producer Seymour Nebenzal changed the structure of the book. The novel opens with Lorna’s murder and Chucks’ attempts to clear himself. He finds an ally in a Cuban woman whose husband was killed by cops, and the Miami portion of the story is told in flashbacks. The restructuring and the new ending that Yordan came up with changed the story considerably, but by providing a new background element showing Chuck to be a returning WW II veteran with some psychological problems, it probably seemed more plausible to audiences in the post- war America of the mid-forties. The returning vet unable to adapt to a corrupted civilian life became a basic trope of the genre. “The Chase” is not pure Woolrich but in its own way, it provides an even more nightmarish finish than the original.

“The Chase” is one of those obscure little movies that until now has only been available in very poor copies on VHS and DVD. The picture was so dark and murky you could hardly make out the action in the night scenes and dialogue was obscured by noise on the soundtrack. But Kino Lorber has released a newly restored Blu-ray mastered from 35 mm elements preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. The restored picture is excellent. Contrast and clarity are first rate, with very few flaws. Franz Planer’s impressionistic black and white photography is shown off to great effect. The only complaint might be that some of the interior shots inside Roman’s mansion are now a little too bright—somewhat jarring for a movie that takes place in the twilit world of dreams and nightmares. The soundtrack is crystal clear, however, allowing Michel Michelet’s lush soundtrack to be heard to full advantage.

The 1920 x 1080p disc presents the film in 1:33 full-screen aspect ratio, and has an informative audio commentary track by Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin. (Maddin’s only error is to misidentify Jack Holt, who plays an Army shrink, as Bruce Cabot). Also included are two radio adaptations of “The Black Path of Fear,” one starring Cary Grant. Overall, Kino Lorber gets high marks for “The Chase.” It should be in every film noir lover’s collection.

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

“ANGER MANAGEMENT ISSUES”

By Raymond Benson

A character makes an excuse for the bad behavior of Dixon Steele, a Hollywood screenwriter played by Humphrey Bogart, by saying, “He’s a writer—people like him can afford to be temperamental.”

Released in the same year as Billy Wilder’s acerbic film noir attack on Tinsel Town, Sunset Boulevard, and Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s similar assault on show business, All About Eve, Nicholas Ray’s In a Lonely Place was nowhere near as popular—but it was just as scathing. It may not have been a box office success, but the picture’s reputation has grown considerably over the decades, mainly because Bogart’s performance as a bitter, angry movie scribe ranks among his best onscreen personas. But it’s not pretty. The guy has anger management issues, the likes of which probably had not been seen in a mainstream film prior to the picture’s release. Dixon Steele is a tinder box ready to explode, and of course he does, more than once, during the course of the story. Bogart isn’t afraid to expose a dark side of himself in his portrayal of a man who has, as his love interest observes, “something wrong with him.”

The woman is Laurel, played by Gloria Grahame (who, at the time, was married to the director). At first she provides an alibi to the police for Steele, who might be a suspect in a young woman’s murder. After Dixon and Laurel fall in love, their relationship is a stormy one. As outlined in one the supplements contained on this new Criterion disk, the “romance” mirrors that of Nicholas Ray and Gloria Grahame’s—they also had a tempestuous bond. It was so sticky that Grahame had to sign a contract stating she would agree to follow Ray’s direction during the making of the film. (And talk about sex scandals... Ray later caught Grahame in bed with his thirteen-year-old son from a previous marriage. Grahame eventually married the step-son after her divorce from both Ray and another spouse in-between!)

While the tale revolves around an unsolved murder investigation, In a Lonely Place is really about two lost souls trying to connect. It’s more of a melodrama than a film noir, although the stylistic traits of the latter certainly abound. This is not a pleasant movie; in fact, it’s quite disturbing for a picture from 1950. Bogart’s Dix Steele is not a likable guy, and yet we watch the train wreck that is his life with morbid fascination. Why Bogie wasn’t nominated for a Best Actor Oscar that year is a mystery—perhaps it was because audiences may have been turned off by the character’s mean-spirited nastiness. Nevertheless, Lonely Place is a remarkable piece of work, not only from Bogart, but also from Grahame and director Ray.

The Criterion Collection’s new Blu-ray release features a 2K digital restoration with an uncompressed soundtrack and a new audio commentary with film scholar Dana Polan. The noteworthy supplements include a 40-minute excerpt from I’m a Stranger Here Myself, a 1975 documentary about Ray; a revealing new interview with Grahame’s biographer, Vincent Curcio; a 2002 piece on the making of the movie, featuring filmmaker Curtis Hanson; a radio adaptation from 1948 of the original Dorothy B. Hughes novel and starring Robert Montgomery; and the theatrical trailer. An essay by critic Imogen Sara Smith appears in the booklet.

If you like your film noir tough, mean, and nasty, then In a Lonely Place should be right up your sleazy alley. At the same time, the tortured romance should appeal to love-cynics everywhere. It’s so dark, it makes a Bogart/Bacall movie look like a Tracy/Hepburn flick.

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BY TIM GREAVES

Numerous actors have occupied the role of Sherlock Holmes over the decades, some more suited to the shoes of author Arthur Conan Doyle's famous consulting detective than others. One of the finest portrayals is that by Ian Richardson. Yet, sadly, his is also one that is often overlooked, not leastways because he played the character just twice (in a pair of 1983 films made for television), but also because his light was to be quickly eclipsed a year later by the arrival on TV screens of Jeremy Brett, whose interpretation of Holmes is considered by many to be the definitive one.

Sy Weintraub – who produced several Tarzan movies throughout the 60s and was executive producer on the popular long-running Ron Ely TV series –teamed up with Otto Plaschkes (whose producer credits include Georgie Girl and The Holcroft Covenant) with the intention of making several Holmes adventures headlining Richardson. But when it became apparent that Granada TV was to launch its own series starring Brett, their plans were abandoned in a rights furore that resulted in a substantial out of court settlement in Weintraub’s favour. The two films that Weintraub and Plaschkes did bring to realisation were The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Sign of Four, two of only four full-length Holmes novels written by Conan Doyle. Both were shot on exquisite sets constructed at England's Shepperton Studios and include some splendid location work utilising the likes of Devonshire country house Knightshayes Court (doubling for Baskerville Hall) and London's River Thames (with some canny employ of theatrical smog to abet the disguise of non-period background architecture).

The Hound of the Baskervilles is probably the most famous of all Holmes's adventures and one of the most filmed. Yet it is also one that largely sidelines the great detective from the action for its middle third. The familiar plot finds our detective investigating death believed connected to a centuries old family curse and the legend of a demonic canine that allegedly haunts the eerie fog-wreathed moorlands surrounding the Baskerville estate.

Scripted by Charles Edward Pogue (whose later work included David Cronenberg’s remake of The Fly) and directed by Douglas Hickox (whose CV includes such 70s screen favourites as Brannigan and Theatre of Blood), like many before and since this isn't verbatim Conan Doyle. But that certainly doesn't detract from its worth as a cracking piece of entertainment. It's handsomely staged (the foreboding moors, awash with swirling fog, are at night as effectively nightmarish a Grimpen Mire as ever brought to the screen), with lush production values that completely belie its TV movie origins. It also boasts hands down the best depiction of the spectral, yellow-eyed titular beast to date.

Crucially, however, it benefits from an endearingly charismatic central performance from Ian Richardson; in many scenes the actor bears a startling resemblance to this writer's favourite Holmes, Basil Rathbone. Donald Churchill's interpretation of faithful ally Dr John Watson leans towards a bumbling nature that irks purists and doesn't rank as one of the more noteworthy, while Martin Shaw's Sir Henry Baskerville is hindered by horrible dubbing. Nevertheless, add in a marvellous assembly of supporting players – including Denholm Elliott (who'd previously appeared in 1978's woeful spoof version of the story), Glynis Barber, Ronald Lacey (as Inspector Lestrade), Eleanor Bron, Connie Booth, Brian Blessed and Edward Judd – and Hickox's film is markedly one of the most star-spangled versions of the supernatural-tinged tale.

The Sign of Four is comparatively a slightly more grounded and sedate affair, though at least Richardson's Holmes get more screen time. Again adapted from Conan Doyle’s novel by Charles Edward Pogue, more so than Hound it takes dramatic liberties with its source narrative (rearranging events and introducing new, slightly superfluous material), yet also in keeping with its predecessor it is hugely enjoyable. Directed by Desmond Davis (Clash of the Titans), this one finds Holmes following a trail of murders born of a broken pact between thieves relating to a treasure of precious gemstones and jewellery.

David Healy steps in as a fine Watson (though again the character is played as a little more maladroit than his literary self) and there are strong turns by Thorley Walters (who previously played Watson twice, opposite Christopher Lee’s and Douglas Wilmer’s Sherlocks respectively, in 1962’s The Valley of Fear and 1975 screwball comedy The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother) and Cherie Lunghi as the delectable Mary Morstan (who, in the novel – but not here – gets engaged to Watson). But overall this is a less starry affair than Hound. All the same, there are nice performances from Terence Rigby as Inspector Layton (a curious name switch, for he's clearly meant to be Lestrade), Joe Melia as the despicable peg-legged villain of the piece and John Pedrick as his savage sidekick.

Like Hound before it, The Sign of Four boasts a rich cinematic mien that bests many actual big screen Holmes adventures.

While one can certainly lament that Ian Richardson made only these two Holmes movies, that they're both exceptionally good is reward enough. And both are now available on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK from Second Sight, each with a bonus audio commentary from Holmes enthusiast David Stuart Davies. The 4K restoration for the Blu-rays is quite honestly breathtaking; one can scarcely believe that 33-year-old TV movies could look so good. There is, however, a caveat: the 1.78:1 aspect ratio presentation of the two films. Back in 1983 they were shot for then-standard 4:3 television format and the decision to force fit the image to modern widescreen TV sets has played merry havoc with the composition in some shots, at its most injurious when the tops of heads are rudely shorn off. It’s more noticeable in The Sign of Four than in The Hound of the Baskervilles but it’s a frequent distraction just the same. This disappointment aside though, these releases can't come more heartily recommended, both to Holmes fans (who will snap them up regardless of any perceived shortcomings remarked upon here) and those who simply enjoy a good solid evening’s entertainment.

A shot from The Sign of Four in its original 4:3 aspect ratio.

The same shot as presented on Second Sight’s 1.78:1 aspect DVD and Blu-ray release.

It should be noted that the Blu-ray release is coded Region B and the DVD is Region 2. The films are also being made available for download and on-demand in both standard and high definition.

By Lee Pfeiffer

MGM has released the 1970 Western Cannon For Cordoba as part of their burn-to-DVD line. This is yet another film that was written off as "run of the mill" at the time of its initial release but probably plays far better today when Westerns are scare commodities. The film is clearly designed to capitalize on movies such as The Professionals and The Wild Bunch, and while it certainly isn't in the league of those classics, it's a consistently engrossing and highly entertaining horse opera.  Set in 1916, when the US was embroiled in assisting the Mexican government in suppressing "revolutionaries" who were really bandits, the plot centers on a crime kingpin named General Coroba (well played with charm and menace by Raf Vallone), who launches an audacious raid on American General Pershing's troops and succeeds in stealing a number of valuable cannons that will make him almost invulnerable to attack once they have been installed at his remote mountaintop fortress retreat. George Peppard is Captain Douglas, a hard-bitten and insolent cavalry officer in Pershing's command who is sent on a virtual suicide mission to infiltrate Cordoba's compound, blow up the cannons and kidnap the general. Imagine The Guns of Navarone with sombreros. He takes along the standard rag-tag team of tough guys which includes Peter Duel and the always-reliable Don Gordon, seen here in one of the most prominent roles of his career. That old chestnut of a plot device is introduced: Gordon has sworn to kill Peppard at the end of the mission for allowing his brother to be tortured to death by Cordoba.

The group pretends they are American sympathizers to the revolution and succeed in infiltrating the compound with the help of Leonora (comely Giovanna Ralli), who intends to seduce the general and then betray him in revenge for having raped her years before. The film is as gritty as it gets, and as in the Sergio Leone Westerns, there is a very thin line that separates the villains from the heroes. Peppard is in full Eastwood mode, chomping on omnipresent cigars and saying little. He betrays no sentiment and is almost as cruel as the criminal he seeks to bring to justice. 

Director Paul Wendkos keeps the action moving at a fast clip and there is at least one very surprising plot device that adds considerable suspense to the story. The action sequences are stunningly staged and quite spectacular, and it's all set to a very lively and enjoyable score by Elmer Bernstein. Cannon for Coroba may not be a classic, but it's consistently well-acted and will keep you entertained throughout. 

The DVD contains the original theatrical trailer

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By Lee Pfeiffer 

Sony has released Walter Hill's 1975 directorial debut, Hard Times, on on DVD through their Sony Choice Collection. Hill was an up-and-coming screenwriter with Peckinpah's The Getaway to his credit as well as solid thrillers like The Drowning Pool, The Mackintosh Man and Hickey and Boggs. There is no evidence in Hard Times that Hill was a novice behind the camera, either. This is one of my favorite films of the period, though many retro movie fans probably haven't seen it. The story is set in 1933. Chaney (Charles Bronson) is a middle-aged drifter who ends up crossing paths with Speed (James Coburn), a fast-talking promoter of "street fights" (no holds barred matches between local tough guys with no rules or regulations). Needing some quick cash, the soft-spoken, low-key Chaney forms a partnership with the mercurial Speed. In his first match, they win big when Chaney knocks the local champ out cold with one punch. They gravitate to New Orleans where Speed can put together some high stakes fights. They are joined by Poe (Strother Martin) an amiable quasi-doctor (he had two years of medical school) with a penchant for opium but who is skilled at patching up bruised and beaten fighters. Chaney quickly becomes a local legend and draws the attention of a local fight promoter/kingpin who insists that Chaney fight a seemingly invincible slugger he has imported from Chicago. When Chaney refuses, the kingpin kidnaps Speed and holds him hostage until Chaney shows up for the high stakes fight. The script, co-written by Hill, is a prime example of how less can be more, at least in terms of dialogue. Bronson says very little during the film, but conveys much emotion with a nod of the head, the blinking of his eyes or a wry smile. This is evident in Chaney's relationship with a local down and out woman (Jill Ireland), who he basically sees for easy sex. When she presses him to convert their trysts into a meaningful relationship, Chaney simply walks out. No drama. No speeches. Similarly, the superb performances of Bronson, Coburn and Martin seem inspired by the Sam Peckinpah school of men sticking together no matter what. When Speed is kidnapped, Chaney initially refuses to help him. He correctly points out that Speed is responsible for his own reckless behavior that sees him make enemies of the wrong people and foolishly gamble away money as fast as he earns it. Yet, in a crunch, Chaney comes to his partner's aid. There is no fanfare between Chaney and Speed, who knows that, by appearing for the bout, Chaney has saved his life. Instead, just a quick handshake a "thank you." By de-emphasizing overtly sentimental gestures and dialogue, Hill makes the relationship between the trio even more moving. 

Hill and his co-writers pack a lot of memorable scenes into the film's scant 93 minute running time. Aided by editor Roger Spottiswood (another future director) and cinematographer Philip Lathrop, Hill makes every frame of the film count. There isn't a slow moment or a meaningless line of dialogue. Clearly the highlights are the action sequences. This is Fight Club for the Baby Boomer generation. Bronson, who was in his 50s at the time, performs all of his own gut-wrenching fight scenes, along with co-stars Robert Tessier and Nick Dimitri. They are brutal affairs that will quickly convince you that these men are actually beating each other up. The stunt coordination is among the best I've seen in any film. The film's more whimsical sequences are aided immeasurably by Barry DeVorzon's addictive score. 

With Hard Times, Bronson reached the pinnacle of his acting career. It's wonderful to see him reunited with Coburn, his co-star from The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape. However, Coburn became even more interesting as an actor as he grew older whereas Bronson grabbed for the low-hanging fruit and began to concentrate primarily on by-the-numbers action movies. The film remains a testament to his abilities as an actor- and credit Walter Hill for bringing those out in full force.

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BY DOUG OSWALD

Gregory Peck is a Canadian fighter pilot serving with the British RAF in WWII Burma in “The Purple Plain,” a 1954 military drama available on Blu-Ray for the first time by Kino Lorber. After losing his wife (Josephine Griffin seen in flashbacks) during an air raid by the German Luftwaffe in London, Squadron Leader Bill Forrester (Peck), displacing his grief with a death wish, begins a mission to kill as many of the enemy as possible, flying every dangerous bombing run he can against the Japanese. He doesn’t care if he lives or dies and has developed a reputation by members of his group as being unstable and prone to get others killed. He insists on a short turnaround with repairs to his Mosquito Bomber so he can return to combat as soon as possible. Time off consists of sweating from the relentless heat and fever dreams brought on by countless combat missions.

Battle fatigued, but with an outstanding record of success, Forrester gets the attention of his senior officer, Group Captain Aldridge (Anthony Bushell), and the flight doctor, Dr. Harris (Bernard Lee) who believe Forrester is nearing a breakdown. They decide Forrester should have some time off and Dr. Harris takes him to a local village where he checks on the medical care of some of the people and brings them food. Harris introduces Forrester to an eccentric missionary, Miss McNab (Brenda de Banzie), and her assistant, the beautiful Anna (Win Min Than), a local Burmese woman. Both women run the school and help the local people with medical care, food rations and anything else they can offer. Anna is drawn to Forrester as he shares his painful past, he begins making regular trips to see Anna. Ultimately, they fall in love.

Back at the base we meet Blore (Maurice Denham) who shares Forrester’s tent and they are joined by Forrester’s new navigator, Carrington (Lyndon Brook). Blore is an annoying man who shares all his opinions on everything including Forrester’s reputation as a man who gets others killed. Forrester is harsh with others including his mechanics and the newly arrived Carrington. Their first mission together is rather routine, flying Blore to his new assignment. Forrester has a reason to live again and longs to rejoin Anna. The movie gets interesting and takes a turn as a survival tale after both engines catch fire and their plane crash lands behind enemy lines. Carrington is badly burned and must be carried in a stretcher, but with a new found will to live, Forrester is determined to get all three of them to safety. With no food and little water, they cross the desolate plains of Burma by night and sleep by day.

Blore insists they should have remained at the sight of the crash in the hope they will be rescued. He maintains Forrester is taking another risk and is going to kill all of them. The crossing is incredibly treacherous and the landscape is desolate with nothing to offer other than relentless heat, craggy cliffs and little shade. Blore grumbles and complains, but continues to carry on until he slips down a cliff and breaks his collar bone. After seeing a plane fly over, Blore departs while Forrester and Carrington are sleeping and heads for the wreckage of their crashed plain to await rescue. Forrester heads out to find Blore and return him before nightfall, but finds Blore has suffered a tragic fate. He returns and carries Carrington on his back, more determined than ever.

“The Purple Plain” is an outstanding mixture of survival story, love story and WWII adventure in exotic Burma. We never see the enemy, but the real conflict is within Forrester and Peck is very good at doing battle with himself. We see his change from battle fatigued suicidal risk taker, to a man who discovers life is worth living. Bernard Lee is a welcome supporting player bringing a nice balance to the movie and Brenda de Banzie is memorable as Miss McNab. Maurice Denham is good as the doomed Blore and Lyndon Brook is also impressive as Carrington. Win Min Than is beautiful as Anna, but I never quite understood her attraction to Forrester other than her desire to nurture him. She always looks as though she’s on the verge of tears and is almost too serious and morose at times, but this is a minor concern. After all, she has experienced her own battle fatigue.

A Rank production released in the US by United Artists, the movie was directed by the able Robert Parrish with outstanding cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth and editing by soon-to-be director Clive Donner. The movie was filmed on location in Sri Lanka, standing in for Burma. This film is a gem which rarely played on TV when I was discovering classic movies and is a welcome release in HD. The movie looks and sounds very good and extras include the trailers for three other Kino blu-ray releases including Peck’s “On the Beach” and “Billy Two Hats” as well as another Parrish effort, “The Wonderful Country.”

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UNBRIDLED PASSION by Howard Hughes

Following the release in March of ‘A Man Called Gannon’ (1968), Simply Media in the UK continue to release more Universal-International westerns, this time of 1940s and ‘50s vintage. The new releases, out on 18 April, are ‘Calamity Jane & Sam Bass’ (1949), ‘Cattle Drive’ (1951) and ‘Black Horse Canyon’ (1954). This trio of films are literally ‘Horse Operas’, with the accent on thoroughbred steeds and their importance and role in the working west. Be they cattle drovers, stock breeders or outlaws, where would any of them be without the horse? The answer, of course, is walking.

I’ll review the DVDs in the order I watched them. First up is ‘Cattle Drive’, a 1951 western directed by Kurt Neumann. Chester Graham Jnr (Dean Stockwell), the spoilt, arrogant son of railroad magnet Chester Graham Snr (Leon Ames), is accidentally left behind when the train he is travelling on makes a water stop. Lost in the arid desert, he is rescued by Dan Mathews (Joel McCrea), the ramrod on a cattle drive to Santa Fe. The boy joins the trek, reluctantly at first, and eventually learns to respect his elders, whilst also learning how to become a proficient cowhand and bronc buster. When they arrive at the trail’s end, the boy – who has been christened Chet by the drovers – has become so enamoured of Dan and life on the range that he’s reluctant to re-join his father and civilisation.

As you’d expect from the material, there are similarities here with such films as ‘Red River’ (starring John Wayne and Montgomery Clift) and ‘Cattle Empire’ (also starring Joel McCrea) and the television series that grew out of the latter, ‘Rawhide’, which made a TV star of Clint Eastwood. On the cattle drive, there’s a chuck wagon stocked with vittles driven by an irascible cook (was there any other type on cattle drives?) as played by Chill Wills, as ‘old pot walloper’ Dallas. There’s a sense of the workaday west, with the drovers routine depicted romantically, but also to a degree realistically. The trail drivers diet of beans and more beans will make you think of the famous campfire scene in ‘Blazing Saddles’ (1974). In a rather fanciful moment, a rogue black stallion runs off the remuda, the herd of horses the drovers use as their steeds. But there’s nothing fanciful about the scene where the destructive power of a cattle stampede is depicted, after one drover accidently spooks the steers with a rifle shot.

Unusually for a 1950s western, there’s no female lead – in fact there are no women in ‘Cattle Drive’ at all. McCrea, always a reliable screen cowboy, and young Stockwell (perhaps known to most from the sci-fi TV series ‘Quantum Leap’) make an appealing team. Though Dan is the ramrod, Cap (Howard Petrie) is trail boss. Among the drovers are troublemaker Jim Currie (Henry Brandon – Chief Scar in ‘The Searchers’) and Charlie Morgan aka Careless (B-western star Bob Steele). Other drovers were played by reliable stuntmen Emile Avery, Carol Henry, James Van Horn and Chuck Roberson, who handle the ridin’ and ropin’ with aplomb. The film was shot in spectacular Technicolor on location in Death Valley National Park, California, and also in the distinctive hilly backdrop and red dust of Paria, Utah, which has been used as the memorable setting for such westerns as ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales’, ‘Ride in the Whirlwind’, ‘Sergeants 3’ and ‘Duel at Diablo’. Listen out for the traditional cowboy ballad ‘Ten Thousand Cattle Gone’ at various points in the film, either in orchestrations, or whistled, sung or hummed by the cowhands. This was reputedly one of McCrae’s favourites of his own films and his easy-going, hard-riding Dan is the epitome of a 1950s Hollywood western hero. At one point, Dan races his horse Blaze against Currie’s steed Lightning, but it’s Dan’s pursuit and taming of jet-black wild mustang Outlaw that provides the film with its best moments. Outlaw himself was played by Highland Dale, who as we shall see had a busy schedule in the 1950s.

George Sherman’s ‘Calamity Jane & Sam Bass’ (1949) also features horse racing as a key plot component. Sam Bass (Howard Duff), a farm boy from Indiana, arrives in the Texan town of Denton and wins a stake by betting on Calamity Jane’s horse Thunderbolt, against the seemingly invincible Denton Mare in a big horse race. This supposed biopic is as romanticised and inaccurate as they come, as it depicts Bass’s descent in outlawry. After the race, Sam manages to buy the Denton Mare and joins a cattle drive to Abilene. En route Sam races the Mare against various cowboys’ steeds and wins money, but in Abilene town tyrant Harry Dean (Marc Lawrence) wins a high-stakes horse race by poisoning the Mare. The drovers have put their entire savings, plus all the proceeds they had from the cattle sale, on the Denton Mare to win. When they realise they have been tricked, Sam and his friends hold up the stage that Dean is travelling on, to take back their money and an outlaw gang is born.

Throughout the story, Sam is torn between two women – lovely storekeeper Kathy Egan (Dorothy Hart), the sister of Denton sheriff Will Egan (Willard Parker) and altogether livelier Calamity Jane, as colourfully played by Yvonne De Carlo. De Carlo looks tremendous when she arrives on screen here, in a fringed buckskin outfit and wearing bright red lippy. She reappears at various points in Sam’s life, even saving him from jail and lending him her horse to make his escape, as he becomes a fugitive – albeit as an innocent victim of injustice. It’s a shame she’s not onscreen more, as Calam is the film’s best ingredient, predating Doris Day’s more famous portrayal of the frontierswoman by four years. Despite occasional flashes of realism, this is an idealised Hollywood western, with colourful costumes and perfect landscapes highlighted in magnificent photography. The big race in Abilene was filmed at Kanab Rodeo Grounds (aka Kanab Racetrack) in Utah, with many sequences filmed in the Kanab landscape, including Kanab Canyon and the sets at Kanab Movie Ranch. Other scenes were filmed at the Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth, California (the bank robbery scene) and Red Rock Canyon State Park, at Cantil, California. In supporting roles, Lloyd Bridges played cattle trail boss Joel Collins, Houseley Stevenson was irascible cook Dakota and Norman Lloyd was Sam’s eventual betrayer Jim Murphy (that morsel at least was based on fact). Some of the cattle drive sequences are very familiar, as it’s stock footage lifted from ‘Cattle Drive’.

BY DOUG OSWALD

James Woods plays a down on his luck con artist who teams up with retired fighter Louis Gossett, Jr. to score a huge win against a local mob boss in a high stakes boxing match in “Diggstown,” now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. Michael Ritchie directs an impressive cast in this entertaining 1992 comedy. However, the MGM release never found its audience and underperformed at the box office upon its release.

The movie opens in Winfield Prison, Olivair County Georgia, where a fight is taking place in the common area with the full knowledge of the prison guards and Warden Bates (Marshall Bell). Wolf Forrester (Randall “Tex” Cobb) is fighting Minoso Torres (Alex Garcia) as Gabriel Caine (Woods) helps an inmate escape. Wolf ends up in the prison hospital after losing the fight and he and Gabe discuss their plans as fighter and promoter after they’re released. The warden threatens Gabe after the escape, assuming correctly that Gabe had something to do with it, but he has no proof. The warden and Gabe trade insults as Gabe is released from prison.

Gabe meets with and makes a deal with mobster Orestes Matacena (Victor Corsini) who agrees to back Gabe in a con aimed at local Diggstown businessman John Gillon (Bruce Dern) in a high stakes boxing match. Gabe’s pal and fellow con artist Fitz (Oliver Platt) sets the stage for the con at a local Diggstown pool hall by winning a bet including the classic Corvette belonging to Gillon’s son, a recent gift from his father. Fitz, seeing a poster of the town’s namesake Charles Macum Diggs, brags that Diggs pales in comparison to “Honey” Roy Palmer which predictably angers the locals. It turns out Diggs is well known not only as a boxing champ, but for defeating five men in one day. Gillon turns up as does Gabe who bets “Honey” Palmer can defeat 10 men in one day.

The problem now is for Gabe to convince “Honey” Palmer (Louis Gossett, Jr.), a 48-year old retired fighter, to commit to the fight. He agrees and the bet jumps to a quarter million dollars as Gabe and Gillon agree on the terms. “Honey” will fight 10 men in 24 hours, and all his opponents must reside within Olivair County.

Gabe has other unfinished business in town and has to pay a promised visit with Wolf’s dogs. He also meets Wolf’s sister, Emily Forrester (Heather Graham in an early movie), who is suspicious of Gabe and quickly figures out his con. In the days before the fight, Wolf arrives in town dead, delivered by the prison in a wooden crate. The bet jumps as “Honey” completes his fight training and the fighters and spectators assemble for the big event. Near the end of the fight the bet jumps to a million and a half with the property owned by Gillon on the table.

The fights are predictable with easy and hard fought wins as “Honey” wins against guys with names like Tank Miller and Hammerhead Hagen. By the final fight a ringer is brought in by the prison warden, Minoso Torres, who is eager to see Gabe lose. Gillon isn’t above using his own son to win the bet and the movie comes to a satisfying, if predictable, conclusion.

The movie is based on the novel “The Diggstown Ringers” by Leonard Wise with a screenplay by Steven McKay. The original title of the film, “Midnight Sting,” appears during the opening credits on this disc. My suspicion is that the studio didn’t quite know how to market this comedy which is equal parts boxing comedy and con artist thriller.

Graham has very little to do in the film other than look good in shorts and disappears completely 76 minutes into the 98 minute movie after being asked to take a recent victim of Gillon’s thugs to the hospital. Platt has little screen time after his comic turn setting the stage for the con in the pool hall and the movie is basically a three man showcase for Woods, Gossett and Dern.

The Kino Lorber release looks and sounds terrific with a nice score by James Newton Howard. Extras on the disc include a making of featurette and trailers for this and another Ritchie comedy, “The Couch Trip.” This easy going comedy is predictable and may have benefitted from a larger role for Heather Graham, but is recommended for the enjoyable cast.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

The first African-American to direct a major film for a Hollywood studio was Gordon Parks, whose feature film debut "The Learning Tree" was released in 1969. Parks may have shattered the glass ceiling but there wasn't a tidal wave of opportunities that immediately opened for other minority filmmakers, in part because there were so few with any formal training in the art. One beneficiary of Parks' achievement was Ossie Davis, who was internationally respected as a well-rounded artist. He was a triple threat: actor, director and writer but his directing skills had been relegated to the stage. In 1970 Davis co-wrote the screenplay for and directed "Cotton Comes to Harlem", a major production for United Artists. The film was based on a novel by African-American writer Chester Himes and proved to be pivotal in ushering in what became known as the Blaxploitation genre. In reality, it's debatable whether "Cotton" really is a Blaxploitation film. While most of the major roles are played by black actors, the term "Blaxploitation" has largely come to symbolize the kinds of goofy, low-budget films that are fondly remembered as guilty pleasures. However, "Cotton"- like Gordon Parks's "Shaft" films which would follow-  boasts first class production values and top talent both in front of and behind the cameras. Regardless, the movie had sufficient impact at the boxoffice to inspire a seemingly endless barrage of Black-oriented American films that were all the rage from the early to mid-1970s. The Blaxploitation fever burned briefly but shone brightly and opened many doors for minority actors. 

The film was shot when New York City was in the midst of a precipitous decline in terms of quality of life. Crime was soaring, the infrastructure was aging and the city itself would be on the verge of bankruptcy  a few years later. Harlem was among the hardest hit areas in terms of the economy. The once dazzling jewel of a neighborhood had boasted popular nightclubs, theaters and restaurants that attracted affluent white patrons. By the mid-to-late 1960s, however, that had changed radically. Street crimes, organized gangs and the drug culture spread rapidly, making Harlem a very dangerous place to be. It was foreboding enough if you were black but it was considered a "Forbidden Zone" for most white people, who spent their money elsewhere, thus exacerbating the decline of the neighborhoods. "Cotton Comes to Harlem" serves as an interesting time capsule of what life was like in the area, having been shot during this period of decline. Director Davis was considered royalty in Harlem. Despite his success in show business, he and his equally acclaimed wife, actress Ruby Dee, never "went Hollywood". They stayed in the community and worked hard to improve the environment. Thus, Davis was perfectly suited to capture the action on the streets in a manner that played authentically on screen. Similarly, he had a real feel for the local population. As with any major urban area, Harlem undoubtedly had its share of amusing eccentrics and Davis populates the movie with plenty of such characters. 

The film opens with a major rally held by Rev. Deke O'Malley (Calvin Lockhart), a local guy who made good and who is idolized by the population of Harlem. O'Malley is a smooth-talking, charismatic con man in the mode of the notorious Reverend Ike who uses religion as a facade to rip off gullible followers. This time, O'Malley has launched a "Back to Africa" campaign for which he is soliciting funds. It's based on the absurd premise that he will be able to finance disgruntled Harlem residents back to the land of their ancestry. The hard-working, semi-impoverished locals end up donating $87,000 in cash but the rally is interrupted by a daring daytime robbery. An armored car filled with masked men armed with heavy weaponry descend upon the goings-on, loot the cashbox and take off. They are pursued by two street-wise local cops, "Grave Digger" Jones (Godfrey Cambridge)  and his partner "Coffin" Ed Johnson (Raymond St. Jacques). Davis provides an exciting and colorful car chase through the streets of Harlem, as the cops fail to snag the robbers. They also discover that O'Malley has gone missing, leading them to believe that he orchestrated the heist himself so he could keep the proceeds raised at the rally. The plot becomes rather convoluted, as Jones and Johnson learn that a bale of cotton has arrived in Harlem and its somehow connected to the crime. They assume that the stolen money has been stashed in said cotton bale, which quickly changes hands among the most unsavory characters in the community. Getting in on the action is a white mob boss and his goons who are also trying to recover the cotton bale. The cotton itself is resented in Harlem because of its historical links to slavery and by the end of the film, the bale ends up in a stage show at the famed Apollo Theater where it is used as a prop in a bizarre production that involves historical observations about the black experience intermingled with a striptease act! Through it all, Jones and Johnson doggedly chase any number of people through the streets, engage in shoot-outs and car chases and come in and out of contact with Rev. O'Malley, who professes his innocence about being involved in the robbery. The Rev isn't so innocent when it comes to other unscrupulous activities such as chronically cheating on his long-suffering girlfriend Iris (Judy Pace) and manipulating other women in a variety of ways. 

The most delightful aspect of the film is the showcasing of some very diverse talents of the era. Godfrey Cambridge (who made it big as a stand-up comic) and Raymond St. Jacques enjoy considerable on-screen chemistry even if the script deprives them of the kind of witty dialogue that would have enhanced their scenes together. They make wisecracks all the time and harass some less-than-savory characters but the screenplay never truly capitalizes on Cambridge's comedic potential. The film's most impressive performance comes from Calvin Lockhart, who perfectly captures the traits of phony, larger-than-life "preachers". He's all flashy good looks, gaudy outfits and enough narcissistic behavior to make Donald Trump look humble by comparison. Lockhart seems to be having a ball playing this character and the screen ignites every time he appears. There are some nice turns by other good character actors including pre-"Sanford and Son" Redd Foxx, who figures in the film's amusing "sting-in-the-tail" ending, John Anderson as the exasperated white captain of a Harlem police station that is constantly on the verge of being besieged by local activists, Lou Jacobi as a junk dealer, Cleavon Little as a local eccentric, J.D. Canon as a mob hit man and Dick Sabol as a goofy white cop who suffers humiliation from virtually everyone (which is sort of a payback for the decades in which black characters were routinely used as comic foils).  The film has a surprisingly contemporary feel about it, save for a few garish fashions from the 1970s. It's also rather nostalgic to hear genuine soul music peppered through the soundtrack in this pre-rap era. Happily, life has not imitated art in the years since the film was released. Harlem has been undergoing the kind of Renaissance that would have seemed unimaginable in 1970. The old glory has come back strong and the center of the neighorhood, 125th Street, is vibrant and thriving once again. These societal perspectives make watching "Cotton Comes to Harlem" enjoyable on an entirely different level than simply an amusing crime comedy. 

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray contains the original trailer and the sleeve is adorned with the great Bob Peak's superb poster art.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

By the late 1960s the Spaghetti Western genre was no longer a magnet for second-rate American actors. As with the Bond-inspired secret agent rage of a few years before, many big stars were burning up phone lines demanding that their agents get them over to Europe to cash in on the craze. Among them, apparently, was James Garner, whose credentials as a major and respected international star certainly provided an indication about how lucrative and popular the once lonely Euro Western productions had now become. In fact such Westerns had existed prior to the Clint Eastwood/Sergio Leone trilogy of the mid-1960s but it was definitely those "Man With No Name" films that shot the genre into over-drive. In fact they were a producer's dream: a compliant host government eager to get some Hollywood glamour and providing lucrative tax breaks, pre-exisiting desert towns that minimized the need to build opulent, expensive sets and efficient Italian producers who generally oversaw production and could ensure that films wrapped up on time and within budget. Garner's first and only foray into the realm of Spaghetti Westerns occurred in 1970 when he starred in "A Man Called Sledge", a film that is largely unremarkable except for Garner's presence and the fact that he plays against type as a rather despicable anti-hero.

The story opens with Sledge (Garner) and some cohorts robbing a stagecoach. The robbery goes awry when a guard on the stage is accidentally killed by a shotgun blast. Now wanted for murder, Sledge and his men rendezvous in a nearby saloon to talk strategy. His two main confederates are Ward (Dennis Weaver) and Hooker (Claude Akins). Sledge also brings along someone he refers to as the Old Man (John Marley), an aging ex-con who has informed him about a fantastic hoard of gold that is occasionally stored in a local prison camp where he had once served time. The Old Man says that periodically the gold shipment, which is heavily guarded, passes through the area and is locked up overnight so the guards can get some rest. Sledge and his men immediately begin to plan an audacious scenario in which they will cause a riot at the prison and steal the gold. In order to do so, Ward poses as a U.S. Marshal and "arrests" Sledge on the murder warrant. He brings him to the prison where Sledge has only a few hours to find a way to overcome a guard, steal the keys, liberate the other prisoners, locate the gold in the confusion and, with the Old Man's help, access the treasure behind a seemingly impenetrable vault. Although the stern, humorless Sledge fancies himself to be a criminal mastermind, most of his major decisions run into snafus. Once the riot ensues, he and his cohorts manage to access the gold, but in "Treasure of Sierra Madre" style, this only ensures that greed and paranoia now overtake the group and the thieves start killing each other off.

The film was directed by actor Vic Morrow, who does a reasonably good job of keeping the action moving at a brisk pace. The film has a more polished look than most European westerns largely because a major producer- Dino De Laurentiis- provided a larger-than-normal budget that afforded the hiring of Garner, Weave and Akins. IMDB reports that the film was shot in Italy but I'm skeptical if only because several of the locations resemble where sequences from Spanish-based westerns of era were filmed. The village where the finale takes place (atmospherically set during the Day of the Dead festival) looks an awful lot like the setting for "For a Few Dollars More". The biggest drawback with the film is that all of the characters are villains. Unlike the Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name, who was a rogue with at least a semblance of conscience, Garner's Sledge is an irredeemable bad guy whose only human quality is a genuine love for a local hooker (Laura Antonelli). He's responsible for the deaths of innocent people and he uses violent threats even against the Old Man to get what he wants. In his memoirs, The Garner Files, the actor wrote about the film: ""One of the few times I've played a heavy and one of the last. I wish I could remember why I let Dino De Laurentiis talk me into this turkey, The poster says "Not Suitable for Children". It should say "Not Suitable for Human Consumption.". That's a bit harsh. The film is consistently entertaining and boasts some exciting action sequences, even if Garner's considerable charisma is completely absent due to the morbid screenplay. It's also good to see Garner in the company of Dennis Weaver, Claude Akins and John Marley, all of whom provide solid supporting performances. 

"A Man Called Sledge" has been released on Blu-ray by German-based Explosive Media. Their DVDs are primarily available on Amazon Germany's site but imports often pop up on Amazon USA and eBay. The film has an excellent transfer and a selection of trailers and TV spots from the film- but make sure you don't watch them before viewing the main feature, as they give away every plot surprise.  

BY LEE PFEIFFER

If "Another Time, Another Place" is remembered at all, it's probably for all the wrong reasons. The 1958 film afforded Sean Connery his first major leading role, even though he gets killed off a little more than half-an-hour into the story. I'm not giving away a spoiler here...you can see it telegraphed from the early moments of the movie. Connery was given "Introducing" billing, a common fallacy on the part of studio marketing departments that implied an actor or actress was making their big screen debut. In reality, Connery had been kicking around the British film industry for a couple of years prior to making this movie, but only in supporting roles. The other bit of trivia for which this film is remembered is due to a tragic real-life scandal. While co-starring with Lana Turner, Connery began to spend a lot of his free time with her off set. This didn't set well with Turner's jealous boyfriend, a mobster named Johnny Stompanato, who tried to bully Connery into staying away from Turner and got punched out by the Great Scot. Stompanato let it be known that Connery was a marked man. When filming was done, the future 007 didn't tempt fate by hanging around with Turner any longer, though things could hardly have been worse if he did. Shortly after the production was completed, Turner was being physically menaced by Stompanato and her teenage daughter Cheryl Crane stabbed him to death in order to defend her mother. The result was one of Hollywood's great scandals. The studio brass were ever opportunistic and were said to have expedited the release of "Another Time, Another Place" in order to capitalize on the sensational trial of Crane, who was exonerated on the basis of justifiable homicide.

As for the film itself, it defines what used to be quaintly termed as "a woman's picture". It's basically a feature film length soap opera set in 1945  London during the waning days of WWII. We first see Connery as daring war correspondent Mark Trevor, whose on-the-scene radio reports from hot spots around the globe leave listeners mesmerized. Among his admirers is Sara Scott (Lana Turner), a sassy New York newspaper columnist who works out of the bureau's London office. Sara is very much the liberated lady, having made a name for herself in an industry that was then dominated by men. We soon see that she and Mark secretly carrying on a torrid love affair. A complication arises when Sara's lover Carter Reynolds (Barry Sullivan) arrives from the States. Reynolds is not only engaged to Sara, but he is also her employer, as he owns the newspaper she works for. She breaks the news to him that she is now in love with another man but Reynolds seems dismissive of her statement and feels she will ultimately come to her senses and return to him. On the eve of Mark leaving for Italy, Sara informs him that she had been engaged to another man but now that won't matter- she wants to spend her life with him. Mark, however, drops a bit of a bombshell himself. Turns out he's married with a young son and intends to return to his family. Both he and Sara are clearly in love and both are heartbroken by the circumstances. Sara tries to persuade Mark to leave his wife and child to be with her. He sends mixed signals, originally rejecting the overture but later implying he would do so. With that, he leaves for Italy with his assistant, Alan Thompson (Terence Longdon), the only one in his life who knows about his affair with Sara. The following night Sara is listening to the radio when she learns that Mark has been killed in a plane crash en route to Italy, although Alan has managed to survive. Wracked with grief, Sara is inconsolable. She makes a dramatic decision to visit Mark's village in Cornwall and see the house he lived in. While doing so, she has a chance encounter with Mark's son Brian (Martin Stephens), who, in turn, introduces her to his mother, Kay (Glynis Johns). The odd and awkward encounter results in Sara becoming Kay's house guest and helping her write a book about her husband's career. The two women become fast friends, though only Sara knows they are both grieving for the same man.  This is where the film is elevated from standard tearjerker to a rather compelling drama that examines the effects that infidelity can have on all of the parties involved. Both Alan and Carter Reynolds track down Sara, who- in one of the film's weakest sequences- attempts suicide off camera, apparently in an attempt to drown herself. As Kay nurses her back to health, Alan and Reynolds try to reason with her and convince her to return to New York, 'lest Kay learns that her new best friend was her husband's secret lover. Things come to a boil when Sara decides to spill her soul to Kay and tell her everything. 

"Another Time, Another Place" is primarily a showcase for Lana Turner, who- under the competent, if uninspired direction of Lewis Allen- gives an earnest performance that is still overshadowed by her supporting cast members. The biggest knock about Turner's presence in the film is that she looks too glamorous. Her hair is perfect, her mannerisms are perfect and -in the film's most absurd sequence- she is fished from bay after a suicide attempt and brought to Kay's cottage for medical attention, yet she still looks like she just stepped out of a fashion display in Harrods window.  Much is made over her character being a tough woman able to exist in a man's world (she even plays poker with the boys), but in reality she's just another heroine of the era who cannot seem to function without a man in her life. Turner delivers a competent performance but is hampered by the fact that she came to stardom in an era in which very mannered acting methods were in vogue, especially among the Hollywood sex symbols. In terms of portraying a realistic character, she is out-shown by the more natural acting style of Glynis Johns. The male supporting leads are also adequate, if unexciting. The major "find" of the production was Sean Connery, whose impact is somewhat hampered by  the fact that he has relatively little screen time. There is little to suggest that he was a superstar in the making and he spends most of his time cooing words of love to the smitten Turner. His character does develop a bit of an edge when we learn that, at heart, he is actually a cad who is cheating on his adoring wife. He develops a conscience and sense of guilt and tries to terminate the affair but is locked into the frustrations of the age-old meange-a-trois dilemma. 

"Another Time, Another Place" was shot on an obviously low budget with scenes of wartime London relegated to the back lot. Things open up a bit with some on-location shooting in Cornwall but the majority of the action takes place in living rooms, offices and kitchens. Despite the movie's flaws, it's a reasonably compelling story about inherently good people who become involved in an immoral love affair. For Connery fans, the movie affords them the opportunity to see how his raw talent was rather quickly developed into a very distinctive acting technique that would ultimately make him one of the true icons of international cinema. "Another Time, Another Place" performed disappointingly at the boxoffice and Connery seemed headed toward oblivion. A Fox contract didn't go far but he was loaned out to Disney to star in "Darby O'Gill and the Little People".  Ironically it was through viewing that film that producer Cubby Broccoli's wife Dana was impressed by his raw masculinity. That would pay off for him a few years later when he sought to play the role of James Bond. The rest, as they say, is history. 

The Warner Archive has re-issued the exact DVD transfer that was once available through Paramount- right down to identical packaging. The transfer is very good but there are no bonus extras. 

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

It's probably a safe bet that most adults have seen at least some of the notorious film footage shot during the liberation of Nazi concentration camps. However, no one has ever seen the definitive denouncement of these camps for genocidal practices because the project was stopped in its tracks in the immediate aftermath of WWII. When British, American and Soviet troops stumbled upon the seemingly endless number of concentration camps in the final days of the war, they were not prepared for what they saw. There had been frantic warnings from the Jewish community about the barbaric nature of what was occurring in these hell holes but they were generally thought to be overstated, if not impossible to believe. Such were the mind-boggling horrors that greeted them that the Allied high command ordered that the places be filmed in order to capture for posterity the types of acts that future generations would not otherwise be able to imagine. The camps were always terrible beyond description but they got even worse when it became clear that the German defenses were collapsing and Allied troops were inevitably overrunning what was left of the retreating Third Reich. Even at this late date, with defeat inevitable, the Nazi brass was determined to fulfill Hitler's extermination policies. Tens of thousands of half-dead prisoners were forced on torturous marches to other camps. It was a journey most did not survive. Those who were deemed too weak to move were often systematically murdered often just days or hours before their liberation would have occurred. However, even these barbarians could not succeed in executing the sheer number of these hapless souls and so it was that many were still alive when Allied troops marched into the camps. Even the most battle-hardened troops could scarcely believe the panorama of human misery that greeted them. Surviving prisoners, too weak to stand, had been haphazardly tossed into mountains of corpses. The ovens that incinerated others were still warm and filled with bones and ash. Warehouses of personal possessions from the doomed prisoners dotted the camps, filled to the roofs with items that were to be recycled. The ever-efficient and cost-conscious Reich even ground up the bones of the cremated and sold them wholesale to local farmers as fertilizers. Such was the horror that even General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of Allied forces in Europe, personally felt  the need to witness these horrors. So, too did General George S. Patton. 

A joint decree by the Allies resulted in British, American and Soviet cameramen frantically filming the horrors as they unfolded. The dead and dying seemed to film every frame but there was also indescribable joy on behalf of those who knew that, with proper care, they would most likely survive.  Ultimately the task of coordinating all of this footage fell to Sidney Bernstein of the British Ministry of Information. The Allies decided that a feature film should be created by Bernstein with the intention of having it widely shown to citizens of Germany to reinforce their feelings of guilt over what had been done in their name. Bernstein's vision went beyond simply providing a cinematic chamber of horrors and he wanted to construct the movie as professionally as possible. Thus, he reached out to Alfred Hitchcock to assist him as a creative consultant. Hitchcock had already left his native England for Hollywood, where he was finding great success. However, he heeded the call to return to England to work on the project partly out of frustration that he had been "too old and too fat" to have served in the British military. He viewed this as an opportunity to contribute to the war effort even though the war was now over. Hitchcock and Bernstein labored over the film project for months as the British military became increasingly frustrated. They wanted speed, not artistry. Ultimately the decision was made to take the film away from Bernstein. This was due to a number of factors. One was based on the premise that it became clear that the German  public, by and large, was being sufficiently contrite over the war time crimes of the Nazis. The nation was a bombed out wreck in urban areas and the Allies wanted to rally the public to help rebuild their land. Forcing them to watch films of atrocities that many had witnessed when they were made to visit the camps after liberation was now being seen as rubbing salt in their wounds. There was also a political factor, however. Before the war had even ended, it became clear to Britain and America that the Cold War was starting with the Soviet Union. Stalin, emboldened by FDR's death and the shocking loss of Winston Churchill in elections to comparatively weak Clement Attee, was ratcheting up his drive for land grabs in eastern Europe. Britain and America needed to ensure that all of Germany didn't fall into the Soviet orbit. It was decided that attempting to drive home the subject of war crimes would only alienate the public at large. Ultimately Germany would suffer being divided into two separate nations, with the Soviets taking control of the eastern portion of the country and subjecting its citizens to another cruel dictatorship. Still, the footage of the concentration camps had to be seen somewhere, somehow.  Director Billy Wilder, himself an immigrant from Germany who got out during the rise of Hitler, was approached to now helm the project. Uncredited, he oversaw production of what became known as "Death Mills". The film ran a scant 22 minutes and was originally made with a German soundtrack, as it was to be screened for select audiences in Germany and Austria. Although not long in terms of running time, it's hard to imagine that even an elongated version would better convey the stomach-turning tortures meted out by the Nazis. Wilder's film didn't bother with artistry or nuance. It was the antithesis of what Bernstein and Hitchcock had envisioned- a non-stop depiction of cruelties with no pretense of having been made by professional filmmakers. 

In 2014 director released "Night Will Fall", a documentary made for Britain's Channel 4 and which ultimately would be telecast in America on HBO. Singer had amassed the disparate footage from the aborted Bernstein/Hitchcock project and combined it with "Death Mills", which had been created from the same pool of British, American and Soviet films.  Singer went the extra mile, tracking down elderly death camp survivors who, to great emotional effect, are interviewed on screen, in some cases viewing footage of themselves being liberated from the camps. Cinema doesn't get much more emotional than this. The only reason some of these people survived was because they were twins and caught the eye of the notorious Dr. Josef Mengele, who had a mad passion for conducting horrendous "medical experiments" on them. Mengele was obsessed with seeing if science could manipulate hereditary features through experimentation on twins. Most ended up dying and others were executed when Mengele tired of them, but some survived and were captured on screen as Allied soldiers freed these helpless children from certain death. Singer's film also puts into context the Hitchcock and Wilder associations with the project and combines a coherent time line about the use of the footage. His film also describes the sense of disbelief on the part of American, British and Soviet soldiers who generally entered these camps without the slightest idea about what they were about to experience. The effort to care for survivors was immediate and intense but many of the prisoners died even after liberation because of the sheer neglect they had suffered. Eisenhower ordered that local residents be forced to personally visit the camps. It became clear that many really didn't know the full extent of the horrors. Footage shows hundreds of villagers jovially walking down country lanes en route to a camp. The narrator points out they appear to be on the way for a pleasant day in the country. Upon seeing the thousands of dead and dying, however, most are moved to shame and tears. Bulldozers are used to control typhus outbreaks by burying piles of men, women and children in mass graves, denying them even the dignity of being identified. Children who survive often have forgotten their names and refer to themselves only by the numbers tattooed on their arms. For this viewer the most unbearable aspect was to watch scenes that don't involve people but object that represent people. In a warehouse filled to the roof with eyeglasses from victims that were to be recycled for the Reich, the narrator aks that even if one in ten prisoners needed glasses, how many had to be killed to amass such a supply.  In another storage building sacks are opened containing women's hair which was being packaged and sold to German industries. There are house decorations such as lampshades made from tattooed human skin. Even shrunken heads were deemed as novelty items by SS brass.  Perhaps saddest of all are the mountains of toys confiscated from children to be sent to other children in the Reich. These ghastly souvenirs bare silent witness to the cruel fates that befell the Nazi's youngest victims. In other particularly moving scenes, Soviet doctors examine victims in a vain attempt to save them. One is a young man who was shot in the head because he was caught sharing a crust of bread with another man. A young girl of about eight years old was forced to stand all day barefoot in ice and snow because her productivity was deemed to be disappointing.  I fully confess to averting my eyes from the screen during much of the footage shown. 

An inmate who thought she was doomed expresses her thanks to a British soldier.

"Night Will Fall" is an important and mesmerizing film and its getting additional exposure through its recent release on DVD by the Warner Archive.  It's message is essential and should be required deemed viewing for any thinking, rational person. One of the reasons the Allies were intent on documenting these atrocities is because they predicted in years to come, some people would try to deny they ever occurred. Sadly that has proven to be the case. The internet, in particular, has given voice to fringe groups and kooks worldwide who have no trouble attracting fellow conspiracynuts. Some may be harmless eccentrics, such as people who still believe the moon landing was a hoax. Others, however, deal in far more dangerous beliefs such as denial of the war time atrocities inflicted by Hitler and his madmen. The existence of such people make the continuation of genocide possible and the practice is alive and well today in various parts of the world. However, we can never prove how many people were positively influenced by films such as "Night Will Fall". Clearly the majority of the world's population has thus far thwarted the rise of another Hitler, even if such dictators exist within their the confines of their own borders. It is imperative that good people everywhere keep the truth alive. Perhaps we should all heed the warning that "Those who neglect history are compelled to repeat it."

The Warner Archive DVD contains bonus extras including Billy Wilder's "Death Mills" film, the Soviet film "Auschwitz", which chronicles the liberation of the camp and the atrocities that were uncovered, and an extended contemporary interview with Prof. Rainer Schulze on the premises of the notorious Bergen-Belsen death camp where he discusses the events that transpired there.  

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By John M. Whalen

“Robber’s Roost” (1955), a colorful western filmed in Durango, Mexico with George Montgomery, and a host of other familiar faces from the fifties, was a movie a decade ahead of its time. Based on a Zane Grey novel, it tells the story of a mysterious stranger known only as “Tex” (Montgomery) who rides into the town of Junta Grande, and joins one of two gangs working for crippled rancher “Bull” Herrick (Bruce Bennett). Hank Hays (Richard Boone) is the leader of one gang, and Heeseman (Peter Graves) heads up the other. Herrick believes the best way to protect his herd of 6,000 cattle from rustlers is to hire the two rival gangs to keep an eye on each other. “There’s an old saying,” he says. “Set a thief to catch a thief.” Well, that sensible adage proves to be unworkable here. Who in his right mind would hire a bunch of cattle thieves to guard his herd? It’s explained that Bull injured his spine when his horse rolled over on him and put him in a wheelchair. Maybe they left out the part where he suffered some brain damage as well.

Nevertheless, Herrick hires Tex as part of Hays’ outfit, but somehow this tall stranger with two six-guns and an extra-wide brim hat doesn’t really seem to fit in. For one thing, he asks too many questions. He’s especially interested in the “Circle K” brand on the horses Hays and his men are riding. Herrick’s sister Helen (Sylvia Findley) arrives from back East to provide some love interest in a film overcrowded with male actors and tries to convince Bull to sell the ranch and get his spinal injury tended to. Bull, who got his nickname by being bull-headed, tells her he won’t leave until he gets his cattle to market. Add to this mix Robert Bell (William Hopper) a wealthy rancher who wants to marry Helen and you’ve got the full cast of characters. And a full cast it is, indeed, with anywhere from six to a dozen characters on screen in most of the scenes. Director Sydney Salkow must have needed a traffic director to keep them from bumping into each other.

But it’s the constant butting of heads between two gangs that hate each other, as they wait for the chance to double cross Herrick and steal his cattle, and the mystery surrounding Tex and what he’s doing in the middle of all this, that makes “Robber’s Roost”, in its own weird and unusual way, rather interesting to watch. One of the more bizarre aspects is the character played by Richard Boone, who is good as usual playing a hard case. But for some odd reason he keeps curling his lip up over his front teeth as if he were sucking on a lemon. Hard to know if he had just been fitted with a bad set of caps or he thought he had to keep snarling to look tough. Fortunately for him and us it is a distracting mannerism that he never repeated throughout the rest of his career.

As the film progresses we learn, of course, that Tex isn’t an outlaw like all the others, despite a wanted poster that Helen discovers, but has tracked Hays and his gang to Junta Grande in pursuit of the unknown men who raped and killed his wife. With so many bad guys, and Helen thinking he’s one of the baddies, Tex has his hands full trying to bring them to justice and save “Bull” Herrick’s herd, especially after Hays and Heeseman finally realize their best course is to stop fighting each other, steal the whole herd and split the profits. Golly! I guess Bull never thought that would happen. The final climax takes place in the mountains of Durango, complete with a lookout post that features a boulder balanced on a rocky spire, which I suppose must be the titular Robber’s roost.

Despite the oddball touches and the somewhat implausible plot, “Robbers Roost” is fun to watch. And, as noted at the beginning of this review, there are two things that make this movie prophetically ahead of its time. One is Herrick’s idea of pitting two rival gangs against each other to serve his own purposes. It’s more like a plot from a gangster movie and I can’t think of any westerns up until then that have a similar story line. However, nine years later Sergio Leone’s “A Fistful of Dollars,” (1964) would serve up the same idea although in a slightly different and more believable way. Of course, “Dollars” is an adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s “Yojimbo,” which was supposedly inspired by Dashiell Hammett’s “Red Harvest.” Zane Grey wrote “Robbers Roost” in 1932, three years after “Red Harvest” was published. Perhaps “Robber’s Roost” can be counted as one more film ultimately inspired by Hammett, who knows?

The other thing that sets “Robbers Roost” apart from the films of it time is the fact that except for Tex, Herrick and his daughter, just about all the main characters, especially Hays and Heeseman are really bad men. They cheat, steal and kill without qualm. They would have been right at home in a Leone or Peckinpah film, but they were far from the usual black and white hats that populated westerns in 1955.

In addition to an unusual story line, “Robber’s Roost” benefits by having been filmed on location in Durango, Mexico. As usual in a Zane Grey story, the landscape is as important an element as the characters. Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray transfer presents the 1.85:1 theatrical print in good condition, with vibrant color and impressive detail, giving the rugged Mexican mountains landscape real depth and beauty. The film shows some signs of wear and tear and the original mono soundtrack is a bit on the rough side. But somehow, it gives the movie a rugged authenticity.

Kino Lorber Studio Classics deserves kudos for presenting films like “Robbers Roost” in high definition, giving modern day viewers a chance to see them the way they were originally seen in neighborhood theaters. It’s far from being a classic western on the order of “Shane” or “The Wild Bunch,” but viewed as a film spanning the transition from the standard western fare of the mid-fifties to the “adult” westerns of the sixties, it’s certainly worth catching. And you don’t want to miss Boone’s final dying words, as he sucks on his front teeth and makes a clean breast of everything, including killing Tex’s wife. “I’m not trying to horn in with the almighty,” he says. “I just want an edge when they line up for the last showdown.”

What more is there to say after that?

Kino Lorber Studio Classics presents “Robber’s Roost” with no frills, although there are previews for three other Blu-rays including “The Gunfight at Dodge City” with Joel McCrea.

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(John M. Whalen's latest book is "The Big Shutdown". Click here to view promotional trailer. Click here to order from Amazon.) 

BY LEE PFEIFFER

"Young Billy Young" is the kind of film of which it can be said, "They don't make 'em like that anymore". Not because the movie is so exceptional. In fact, it isn't exceptional on any level whatsoever. Rather, it's the sheer ordinariness of the entire production that makes one pine away for an era in which top talent could be attracted to enjoyable, if unremarkable, fare such as this. Such films, especially Westerns, were churned out with workmanlike professionalism to play to undemanding audiences that didn't require mega-budget blockbusters to feel they got their money's worth at the boxoffice. Sadly, such movies have largely gone the way of the dodo bird. In today's film industry, bigger must always be better and mid-range flicks such as are no longer made. However, through home video releases such as Kino Lorber's Blu-ray of "Young Billy Young", it's possible to still enjoy the simple pleasures that such movies provide.  

The story opens with botched robbery in Mexico committed by Billy Young (Robert Walker) and some cohorts including Jesse (David Carradine). The plan to steal horses from the Mexican military goes awry and Billy is forced to split from his fellow robbers with the army in hot pursuit. Making his way back across the border to New Mexico, he is penniless and desperate. He has a chance encounter with Ben Kane (Robert Mitchum), a tough, sarcastic older man who he encounters again in a nearby town. Here, Billy is being cheated at cards by the local sheriff, who goads him into a gunfight. Billy ends up killing him but stands to be framed for the sheriff's death. He's saved by Ben, who rides along with him to another town where Ben has agreed to take on the job of lawman. Ostensibly he is there to keep order and collect back taxes from deadbeats but in reality, he is on a mission of revenge. Some years before, Ben's son had been gunned down by a criminal named Boone (John Anderson) and Kane has learned that Boone is a presence in the new town and that he is being protected by a local corrupt businessman, John Behan (Jack Kelly). Ben makes his presence known immediately by enforcing the law in a strict manner. He's confronted by Behan, who tries to intimidate him. This results in Behan being slapped around by Kane. Behan also grows to resent the new lawman because he is flirting with his mistress, saloon entertainer Lily Beloit (Angie Dickinson). When Behan abuses her as punishment, he gets another beating from Kane. Meanwhile, Billy runs into Jesse and accuses him of having deserted him in Mexico. The two men fight it out and Jesse is later involved with the accidental shooting of the town's beloved doctor while in the employ of Behan. Kane learns that Jesse is Boone's son and holds him in jail as bait for Boone to come out of hiding. The plan works all too well. Boone turns up with a small army and lays siege to the jailhouse where Kane and Billy are holed up. 

Original French lobby card.

"Young Billy Young" was compared to a TV show by New York Times critic Howard Thompson on the basis that it contains so many standard elements of westerns from this time period. There is the bad girl with the heart of gold, the evil business tycoon, the brash young gun and his wiser, older mentor, the heroes outnumbered by superior forces and a lovable old coot (played against type by Paul Fix in full Walter Brennan/Gabby Hayes mode.) Yet somehow it all works very well, thanks mostly to Robert Mitchum's stalwart presence. With his trademark ram-rod stiff walk and cool persona, Mitchum tosses off bon mots like a frontier version of 007. Even the Times acknowledged that "Mitchum can do laconic wonders with a good wise-crack". He has considerable chemistry with Dickinson, though the action between the sheets is more implied than shown. Robert Walker Jr. acquits himself well in the title role and David Carradine makes an impression even with limited screen time. The film was directed by Burt Kennedy, an old hand at directing fine westerns in reliable, if not remarkable, style and it all culminates in a rip-snorting shoot-out that is genuinely exciting. The fine supporting cast includes Willis Bouchey, Parley Baer and Deanna Martin (Dino's daughter) in her acting debut.  One oddball element to the film: Mitchum croons the title song over the opening credits. If this sounds strange, keep in mind that Mitchum improbably once had a hit album of calypso music.  

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray includes the original trailer as well as trailers for other westerns, "Support Your Local Sheriff", "Support Your Local Gunfighter" and "The Wonderful Country", which also stars Mitchum.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

The seemingly promising teaming of Rock Hudson and Claudia Cardinale, both at their most glamorous back in 1968, goes hopelessly astray in the comedy/crime caper film "A Fine Pair". The movie is the kind of lazy effort that makes one suspect the only motives for the stars' participation were quick, sizable paychecks and the opportunity to enjoy some exotic locations at the studio's expense. (Think "Donovan's Reef" without the fun.) The film opens in New York City and we find Hudson as NYPD Captain Mike Harmon, a conservative, no-nonsense career police officer who runs his precinct with the same strong-arm tactics that General George S. Patton employed to keep his troops in line. Out of nowhere pops Esmeralda Marini  (Cardinale), a glamorous and almost annoyingly perky young woman who has arrived unannounced from her native Italy. Turns out she has known Harmon most of her life as he was a good friend of her late father, who was an Italian police captain. It's never adequately explained how the two law enforcement officer's professional careers intersected but it turns out that Harmon became close enough to the Marini family that Esmeralda has long considered Harmon like a favorite uncle. The absurdities start almost immediately as Esmeralda confesses that she has possession of some stolen jewels that she has stolen from a prominent Italian family, the Fairchilds, who are now on holiday in New York.  She says that she has regrets about having participated in the crime and wants to break into the Fairchilds' fortress-like chateau in Austria so that she can return the jewels before they find they are missing. One would think that a streetwise New York City police captain would see this as a rather bizarre and implausible yarn, but not Harmon. On a moment's notice he decides to take a leave from his job and flyoff for Austria with Esmeralda in a quest to undo the wrong she committed by stealing the jewels. Oh, did I mention that Harmon is also married? He dismisses this by saying that he was simply vague about his reasons for taking off suddenly for a week in Austria. I'd be curious to hear about the outcome of any married man who decides to employ the same tactics. 

Once in Austria, Harmon is alternately bemused and annoyed by Esmeralda's party-hearty lifestyle. She is a magnet for eccentric young men of the counter-culture, who she beds with guilt-free abandon. However, it doesn't take long before conservative Harmon is joining in the partying but there is still the slight problem of breaking into the Fairchild's estate. Harmon uses a false scenario to convince the local police chief (the marvelous character actor Leon Askin)  to give him a tour of the security devices inside and around the perimeter of the mansion. While it might be a professional courtesy to share such information with a fellow police captain, one would have to wonder how the absent family would feel about strangers treading around their private property and discussing all their top-secret burglar alarm devices. Harmon is stunned by the sophistication of the anti-theft system and concerned that the mission of breaking into the home will be impossible- and Esmeralda is vague about how the original theft was originally orchestrated except to say that her accomplice managed to pull it off. Against all logic, Harmon decides to risk his life and career in order to carry on with the plot. In some of the most absurd scenes, he becomes a poor man's "Q" Branch by devising ways to use ordinary objects such as champagne bottles and mingle them with chemicals in order to gain access to the house and neutralize the alarm system. It's a plan that would have challenged Einstein, but Harmon feels secure enough to continue with the caper. He and Esmeralda decided to undertake the top secret and illegal task of mixing dangerous chemicals by doing so in the communal toilet of the tiny bed and breakfast lodge they are staying at. Even Inspector Clouseau wouldn't be that careless.

Harmon's plan requires artificially raising the interior temperature of the room the Fairchilds' safe is in to a scorching 194 degrees Fahrenheit because somehow he has figured out that this will prevent the alarms from being triggered. The entire sequence is ludicrous and seems designed simply as an excuse for Cardinale to strip down to her bra and panties, which provides the only break in the tedium. It doesn't take much skill to make a caper film sequence suspenseful but director Francesco Maselli (who also committed the sin of co-writing the screenplay) manages to bungle even this "can't miss" opportunity. There is no tension whatsoever and the scene ends prematurely with the caper successfully carried out. However, Esmeralda now has a second break-in she wants Harmon to help with. By this point, he is smitten with her and they become lovers. Given the fact that he has been a de facto "uncle" to her, the "Yuck" factor kicks in right away. Before long Harmon has changed his entire personality, ditching his conservative lifestyle for the free-wheeling, anything-goes philosophy of Esmeralda. Harmon's transformation is as likely as someone entering the voting booth with the intention of voting for Ted Cruz and suddenly deciding to pull the lever for Bernie Sanders. The remainder of the film concerns this second, equally implausible, crime plan. By this point Harmon has discovered that he has been played for a sucker by Esmeralda, who had him place worthless jewels in the Fairchild safe. While he was preoccupied doing so, she used the opportunity to steal real jewels. In fact, she had never been inside the mansion before and had conned him into giving her access. Got all that? Then please explain it to me. Harmon is so enamored that this career police captain with a distinguished career in law enforcement decides to become a professional jewel thief and give up his profession. In a "Oh, by the way..." moment he conveniently also explains that he phoned his wife and requested a divorce, which she immediately complied with.  Before long, the happy couple is off to Rome for their next caper. Not even Jules Verne could come up with such fantastical scenarios.

"A Fine Pair" has more problems than poor direction and a terrible script. It's perhaps the worst-photographed major film release I've ever scene. Cinematographer Alfio Contini has a distinguished record in the movie industry so maybe this was an aberration. However, he employs some amateurish techniques that make it appear the film was photographed by an amateur who stumbled onto the set while he was on his lunch break. There are head-spinning swirls and dreadful use of the zoom lens. Contini also squanders the early sequences in New York by focusing on tight close-ups of the actors instead of the city's exotic locations. The choppy editing doesn't help and we're left with an upbeat, jaunty score by Ennio Morricone as the film's sole asset. While I've always enjoyed Rock Hudson's work in movies, he gave very few truly impressive performances ("Giant" and "Seconds" among them.) He was best suited for light comedies which he had a natural flair for which is why it's a telling sign that he's pretty awful in this film. You can almost see a thought bubble above his head with the question "What the hell am I doing in this mess?" He gives a listless and  uninspired performance throughout. Cardinale is at least lively but her character is poorly written and completely unbelievable. Regarding their performances, New York Times critic Roger Greenspun  astutely wrote at the time, "...the film at times seems like "Mission: Impossible" performed by the cast of "Captain Scarlett and the Mysterons"- with facial expressions that cleverly imitate life."  

The Warner Archive DVD was mastered from the best elements available. Fittingly they are awful and, thus, so is the transfer. The color quality varies wildly and some scenes are so dark that it feels as though you are staring into an inkwell. Not helping matters is that the movie suffers from bad dubbing and sound mixing so that even Rock Hudson sounds like he is being dubbed by a different actor. The movie is of primary interest to loyal  fans of Hudson and Cardinale and those who get a kick out of watching promising cinematic premises that turned into disasters.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

We at Cinema Retro like nothing more than to make our readers aware of emerging new talents in independent film making. Two of the most impressive young movie creators whose work we've experienced recently are Steven Piet and Erik Crary, two personal friends who teamed up to fulfill their dream of making their own feature film. The duo wrote the screenplay for "Uncle John" and Piet made his directorial debut with the movie, as well.  The film is a highly stylized, oddball concoction that blends two seemingly disparate storylines that intersect logically as the movie proceeds. The story grabs you from the opening frames in which we see Dutch (Laurent Soucie), a hulk of a man staggering in a dazed condition on the dock of remote lake in Wisconsin. We see he is being followed by another man, John (John Ashton), who is wielding the oar of a rowboat that he has apparently just slammed Dutch in the head with. He's about to administer the coup de grace when Dutch falls into the shallow water and conveniently drowns. We then watch John, a man in his late sixties, struggle mightily to cover up evidence of the murder. He wraps Dutch in an improvised body bag and painstakingly drags him to his truck, loads him into it and drives to an isolated field where local farmers burn brush. Here, he buries the body under a mound of branches and pours some gasoline on top, making for a gruesome bonfire. Who are these men and why has one murdered the other? The answers are given but not until much later in the story. Meanwhile, we see that John isn't a madman. Rather, he's well-established in the small farming community and respected for his low-key personality and slow-to-anger temperament. He earns a modest living on his farm, which he's converted to a woodworking shop where he does freelance carpentry jobs for local residents. About the only excitement in his day-today activities is getting together each morning with a group of local good ol' boys for coffee at the local diner where they discuss gossip and the affairs of the day. It doesn't take long before word gets around that Dutch has gone missing. Apparently Dutch has been a loose cannon and troublemaker for decades. Recently he's found Jesus and decided to repent. As part of his self-imposed penance, he's been visiting the locals and confessing to various misdeeds he's done against them and begging for their forgiveness. As the days pass with no sign of Dutch, the group begins to speculate that maybe someone didn't decide to forgive him for a specific transgression. Through it all, John keeps a poker face and pretends he is ignorant of Dutch's fate. But as the local sheriff keeps digging around, he becomes increasingly uncomfortable and perhaps is coming to regret having committed the murder. 

The script cleverly presents a completely parallel and seemingly unrelated plot that centers on Ben (Alex Moffatt), a 29 year-old designer in a hip marketing studio in Chicago. A new employee, Kate (Jenna Lyng) has been brought on board to oversee projects. On one level he resents the hiring of this new supervisor but on the other hand he's understandably smitten by her charm and good looks. Before long they begin a romantic relationship. The two stories blend later in the film when we learn that Ben was raised by "Uncle John" when his mother died and his father deserted him. He decides to visit John and introduce him to Kate. The timing of the visit couldn't be worse for John, who is becoming increasingly concerned about being unveiled as a murderer. Adding to his woes is the nagging presence of Dutch's brother Danny (Ronnie Gene Blevins), who is all-too-obviously suspicious that John is hiding a terrible secret. Danny, like Dutch, is a local trouble maker with a short-fuse and a penchant for drinking. He drops by John's farm during the visit by Ben and Kate, who remain oblivious to the uneasy banter between the two men. Director Steven Piet ratchets up the tension in this marvelously-constructed sequence in which John and Danny enact a sequence that reminds one of a Bond movie in that the protagonist and villain talk politely to each other but barely mask their hatred for one another. John knows the noose is getting tighter and fears that Danny will take matters into his own hands if he doesn't stop him first. Worse, Danny make seek to avenge his brother's murder by making Ben and Kate his victims. The only element of the film I found somewhat disappointing is the final scene which has sense of irony about it but doesn't quite deliver the payoff I had hoped for. Nonetheless, "Uncle John" is a real winner in every respect. If you enjoy Hitchcock thrillers, give this one a try. In fact, the film reminded me of Hitchcock in the sense that the Master always tried to show just how difficult it is to kill a human being and dispose of a body. In "The Trouble With Harry", the titular corpse keeps popping up around town to the dismay of the locals. In the kitchen murder sequence of "Torn Curtain" we see exactly how ill-equipped an everyday person is to kill someone else. "Uncle John" explores this territory by showing us the pain, tension and aggrevation John must endure to cover-up his misdeed.

The sheer intelligence of the screenplay of "Uncle John" is what impressed me the most. The film doesn't rely on violence or gruesome scenes of bloodletting. Instead we get realistic characters talking in a realistic manner. Uncle John is one of those complex characters we've seen in films of this type before. On the surface he is the villain who has committed a deplorable deed. However, you end up inadvertently admiring his creativity and resolve in avoiding being detected as a murderer. He is played with enormous skill by character actor John Ashton, who finally gets a well-deserved starring role. Ashton's performance is award worthy, as he captures the essence of a very complex character and makes him sympathetic even though we can't condone what he has done. He is the consummate professional, bringing both pathos and cringe-inducing murderous instincts to his portrayal. He's matched by equally excellent performances by Alex Moffatt, Jenna Lyng and Ronnie Gene Blevins, all of whom should have promising futures in the film industry. The same goes for Steven Piet, whose debut as director is rather remarkable. He has a real eye for how to set up a scene and milk it for all its worth. I should mention that the casting of the film is outstanding. Even the smallest role is expertly played.  Kudos to cinematographer Mike Bove, who does wonders with lighting elements that add immeasurably to the foreboding atmosphere. There is also a fine musical score by Adam Robbi and Shawn Sutta.

The Kino Lorber DVD includes a montage of scenes from the film set to the soundtrack music, a teaser trailer, original trailer and a rather clever interview with the filmmakers conducted by their own moms. In it, they discuss the trials and tribulations of making films such as these on micro-budgets. They may not have made much money from this project but it's far superior to most of the over-produced, overly-costly mainstream fare churned out by the major studios. 

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BY JOHN M. WHALEN

“Kill or Be Killed” (2015) aka “Red on Yella, Kill a Fella,” is a low budget horror-western released on DVD by RLJ Entertainment that also attempts to be a tribute to the spaghetti westerns of the 60s and 70s and Sam Peckinpah’s “The Wild Bunch.” The plot is about a gang of outlaws in the year 1900 traveling 500 miles through Texas to get to a stash of gold that’s hidden at the bottom of a well in the sand dunes of Galveston Beach. The group is hounded on their journey by a mysterious being and one by one the gang members get picked off.

Like Peckinpah’s Wild Bunch these outlaws are a motley crew. Their leader, Claude “Sweet Tooth” Barbee, played by co-writer/director Justin Meeks, is very loosely based on real-life outlaw Sam Bass. As Meeks portrays him, Barbee is a man obsessed with recovering the hidden loot from a previous robbery. He’ll stop at nothing to get it. He’s abetted by a gang of cutthroats capable of anything, and he’s willing to overlook their bloody crimes if it will help him get to the gold. He’s even willing to go as far as looking the other way when one of his men, a hulking brute called Blocky (Gregory Kelly), brutally rapes and murders a girl in her early teens.

Meeks explains in the DVD’s audio commentary that Barbee needs Blocky’s muscle, so he’ll overlook what he did. But it turns out he’s even willing to go farther than that. When the girl’s father pulls a shotgun on Blocky to give him his just desserts, Barbee shoots the father in the head. Meeks points out however, that as bad as that seems, Barbee, at least, has a line he won’t cross. He doesn’t allow the girl’s mother and little brother to be killed. Well, I guess...

Meeks and his co-writer/director Duane Graves, came up with a script that tries to outdo the violence and sadism of the films that inspired it. They set out to show bad men being bad and paying for it all in the end. The addition of the horror element provides for a little extra gore. As far as it goes, it’s not a bad premise for a movie. But the question is how far across the line can you let your characters go before they become so reprehensible that the audience cannot relate to them? Peckinpah’s bunch were men on the wrong side of the law, but he gave them a sense of honor. They were bad but not as bad as the posse of degenerates pursuing them, or Mapache, the bandit chief they rob a train for. Barbee and his men, on the other hand, are on a level even lower than that.

In another scene that comes out of nowhere, our anti-heroes try to rob a black man (whom Barbee calls “Jimmy”) with a wagon of furs, but when they find out he has no money, Barbee tells his men to get a rope and “put his boots in the trees.” Smells like a lynching to me. But who can tell? The scene ends with one of the gang coming toward the man with about three feet of rope in his hands. How do you hang somebody with three feet of rope? Were they just going to tie him up? I went to the audio commentary hoping the filmmakers would shed some light on what was going on and why they included such an unnecessary and repugnant scene in the first place. But instead all they discussed was how much they spent on the props, including a gold coin they bought on eBay. It’s just one example of the confused direction and writing in this film.

Meeks and Graves also seem to be fond of throwing red herrings at the audience. As the members of the gang are killed one by one in mysterious ways, there are scenes involving a giant savage with flaming eyes, which we’re told in the commentary, is some kind of Viking who appeared in one of their earlier shorts. Exactly why he’s in this film isn’t explained. He only appears in Barbee’s dreams, but how can a dream image manage to slit at least one character’s throat while he’s sleeping? Turns out he didn’t. The explanation of who the real killer is pretty fantastic. Like really unbelievable, man.

The cast is full of indie movie players including Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes), Edwin Neal (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre), Arianne Martin (Don’t Look in the Basement 2), Luce Rains (No Country for Old Men) and Paul McCarthy-Boyington (The Human Race). Veteran character actor Pepe Serna (Black Dahlia) is credited with being one of the producers and also has a part in the picture. He plays a man named Rudy Goebel who, with his wife and son or sons (not immediately clear), runs a ramshackle boarding house. We find him drugging his latest boarder and then shooting him in the head when he suspects his soup has been doped. When his hysterical wife asks him how long he can keep doing this, he smashes her head on the wooden table top several times, killing her, and throws her, the boarder, and one son into a root cellar. What the hell? I don’t know. You explain it to me. There are a lot of unexplained things in “Kill or Be Killed.”

Near the end of the DVD audio commentary Meeks remarks that it’s always “good to leave a few questions unanswered at the end of a film, just enough so if you watch maybe a second of third time it might link some of the gaps.” It’s too bad Meeks and Graves didn’t take the trouble to fill in the gaps themselves. If they had, and if they had written a script that had some sort of morality to it, “Kill or Be Killed” might have been an impressive entry in the weird west sub-genre category. But this is the 21st century and in the world of indie films anyone with a camera can throw anything they want up on the screen and call it a movie. As it is, it’s a somewhat pathetic example of ambitious indie film making swinging for the bleachers and coming up with a foul to left field.

The RLJ Entertainment DVD presents “Kill or Be Killed” in a widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio, which does justice to Brandon Torres’ cinematography. He captures some nice views of the West Texas country. The soundtrack by John Constant is imitation Ennio Morricone, but has some merits of its own. The disc contains the usual extras, including audio commentary, interviews and deleted scenes. I’m sure there is some sort of audience for films like this. The gore and horror reviewers on the web seemed to like it. It’s definitely not for everyone.

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BY DOUG OSWALD

Three teenage boys discover a gunshot outlaw and nurse him back to health in “The Spikes Gang,” a 1974 western directed by Richard Fleischer available for the first time on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber. Lee Marvin plays Harry Spikes, an outlaw who inspires Gary Grimes, Ron Howard and Charles Martin Smith to join him as outlaws. Harry is calm, cool and calculating, endearing himself to the boys who have romanticized his life as an outlaw.

Will (Grimes), Les (Howard) and Tod (Smith) are farm boys seeking excitement and adventure and find it in Harry who recovers from his wounds with the boy’s help. The three boys are bored with the farm life as well as the harsh treatment they receive from their parents. Harry offers the boys a reward for helping him, but they turn him down instead asking to join Harry who declines their offer. The boys, determined to get away from their life as farmers, depart on what they believe will be a life as successful outlaws. They attempt a bank robbery in the first town they arrive, but things go terribly wrong as they end up killing a man.

Now wanted outlaws with no money or food, the boys flee to Mexico where they find menial work cleaning and washing dishes. Life on the run is dusty, dirty and bleak and the boys bump into Harry who takes pity on the boys who want to join him. He feeds them, buys them new clothes, gives them money and says goodbye. The boys press their request and Harry relents. He puts them through a sort of outlaw training camp and is impressed with the boys shooting skills and ability to follow instructions. When they ask Harry if they will rob the town’s bank, he states that his money is in that bank. They plan their robbery across the border back in the U.S. However, tragedy intervenes, leading to unexpected deaths and Will’s confrontation with Harry, the man he had idolized.

Grimes, Howard and Tod are very good as the misguided boys seeking adventure only to find death and betrayal. They give performances full of hope for the adventure that never happens in this gritty and realistic western. Lee Marvin is very likable and easy going as Harry Spikes and although I wanted the boys to find adventure with him, he’s like a scorpion. His true nature as a ruthless outlaw is what drives him, not loyalty, friendship. or helping three farm boys find their vision as romantic outlaws. The boys want a safe adventure with money and success, but that only happens in the dime novels and newspaper stories they probably read.

Based on the novel “The Bank Robbers” by Giles Tippette, the screenplay was written by Irvin Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. who collaborated on several movies together including “The Long, Hot Summer,” “Hud,” “Hombre,” “The Reivers,” “The Cowboys,” “The Carey Treatment,” “Conrack” and “Norma Rae.” The story reminded me a bit of “The Cowboys,” if only because of the surface similarity in both stories of an experienced man leading boys to become men. In this case the wrong kind of man.

The music by Fred Karlin is familiar as it resembles a few of the cues from his work on “Westworld” which was released the year before in 1973. The score doesn’t quite work in this movie and is a little too cheerful. What does work is the cinematography by Brian West, emphasizing the bleak dusty landscapes as he did in the Australian classic “Wake in Fright.” Richard Flescher’s direction is top notch, emphasizing Harry’s charm and charisma with a brilliant performance by Lee Marvin.

The United Artist release was co-produced by Walter Mirisch and also features Arthur Hunnicutt and Noah Beery Jr. There’s also a credited performance by Robert Beatty (Carnaby in “Where Eagles Dare”) as the sheriff, but his scenes were obviously deleted from the final cut, a not uncommon occurrence that actors have to face. The picture looks good and plays very well on the small screen, clocking in at a brisk 96 minutes. The only bonus feature on the disc is the trailer for this and two other movies. Whether you’re a fan of Lee Marvin, Richard Fleischer or revisionist 1970s westerns, this movie is well worth a look.

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By Lee Pfeiffer

Kino Lorber has released a Blu-ray edition of Richard Lester's zany 1967 military comedy How I Won the War. The film has long elicited debates among those who consider it a scathing and witty denouncement of militarism and those who dismiss it as a pretentious train wreck of a movie. Count this writer among the latter. The film plays like an extended  Monty Python sketch - with all the energy and talent, but none of the laughs. To be fair, one must take the movie into the context of the era in which it was released. Shot in 1966, the movie is seen by many as a protest against the increasing U.S. military presence in Vietnam. Although the anti-war movie didn't get into full gear until 1968, this premise is not unfounded because one of the characters makes a blatant reference to Vietnam by name. Set in WWII, the film follows the misadventures of a small unit of British soldiers stationed in North Africa. The central target of screenwriter Charles Wood, writing from a far more traditional novel by Patrick Ryan, is that the common soldier is used as cannon fodder for elitest, unqualified officers, who are uniformly presented here as ignorant dilettantes. This notion is personified by the character of Lt. Goodbody (Michael Crawford), a young man of privilege who seems blatantly jubilant about the prospect of heading into war. His ludicrous optimism makes him blind to the fact that he is hated by his own men.

The film is basically a well-photographed, but emotionally uninvolving series of juvenile gags and slapstick humor. Unlike films like M*A*S*H  and Catch-22, How I Won the War suffers from being completely surrealistic on every level, thus removing the audience from any real empathy with the characters. Goodbody talks directly to the audience, soldiers appear inexplicably in bizarre costumes and props appear out of nowhere to help set up a joke. The dialogue is so rapid-fire and spoken with such thick British accents that I could barely understand a word - and I've spent a good deal of my life traveling around England. Director Lester, whose lesser works I've often defended, squanders an excellent cast that includes Roy Kinnear, Michael Hordern and John Lennon, whose appearance here represents his only work in a non-Beatles film. That pop culture footnote actually makes more of his appearance than is merited. Although he acquits himself very well, Lennon does not have any stand-out scenes and his role could have been played by virtually any other actor.

The confusing story line, such as it is, follows the platoon from North Africa to Europe. Though at one point it implies they are part of Montgomery's disastrous invasion of Holland, the platoon suddenly appears near the Remagen Bridge in Germany. The latter part of the film plays better because Lester includes some semi-realistic battle scenes that are actually quite exciting. There is also an interesting sub-plot involving Goodbody being captured by the enemy and making friends with a German officer who is equally immune to the horrors of war. However, these factors are bit "too little, too late" to salvage the overall movie. One of the reasons the film didn't resonate with audiences at the time is likely because the British public could hardly relate to WWII as one of those useless, unnecessary conflicts. While it is true that Britain's involvement in the war was one of choice, the price of staying out of it would have meant the country would have existed only as a lapdog for a Europe completely dominated by National Socialism. Thus, using "The Good War" as a metaphor for a more controversial conflict such as Vietnam seems somewhat ill-advised in retrospect. Robert Altman's M*A*S*H succeeded using the Korean War as a backdrop because it was a situation the average  person never adequately understood or supported and it made for a more direct comparison to Vietnam.

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray is most welcome but that doesn't mitigate the fact that this particular film is definitely for Lennon and Lester purists only.  

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By Lee Pfeiffer

Twilight Time has issued a new Blu-ray edition of Fritz Lang's classic 1953 film noir The Big Heat as a limited edition (3,000 units). The movie ranks among the top films in the noir genre and time has only increased its appeal. Glenn Ford is Dave Bannion, a dedicated police detective who begins to suspect that the apparent suicide of a fellow cop might be linked to department-wide corruption. His hunch proves correct as it becomes evident that virtually the entire police department, right up to the commissioner, is controlled by local crime kingpin Mike Lagana (Alexander Scourby).  When Bannion receives warnings to lay off the investigation, he ignores them and continues to pursue leads. Before long, not only he but his beloved wife (Jocelyn Brando) and daughter are targeted for death. Lang's penchant for creating a dark, foreboding atmosphere is on display here. Most of the scenes are interiors or dank, dangerous locations. The film's central plot is mesmerizing from the shocking opening frames. As a leading man, Ford could usually be described as handsome, affable and reliable but "dynamic" would hardly be associated with his screen persona. In The Big Heat, however, Ford gives what is arguably the best performance of his career. As the gangsters take their toll on him, he becomes a man obsessed, menacing men and women alike. His only ally is Debby Marsh (wonderfully played by Gloria Grahame), a ditzy but lovable gun moll who suffers terribly from her attempts to aid Bannion. Director Lang brings real pathos to the proceedings. Bannion is the ultimate family man-- and he has a sexually playful relationship with his wife, something refreshing for a film from this period. When his wife and kid are menaced, Bannion's rage brings him to the brink of committing murder himself. Supporting characters are tortured, scalded, and even children are threatened. 

There are many memorable scenes in the film and most feature an impressive array of terrific supporting actors including Lee Marvin outstanding as a charismatic, but vicious thug who squares off with Bannion in the action-packed finale. Lang loved his adopted country, America, ever since he had fled Nazi Germany rather than serve as one of their propagandists. However, he was always dismayed by instances of injustice and often reflected these concerns in his films. The Big Heat might well have been the most daring expose of police corruption seen in any film until that time. The film remains a mini-masterpiece of its kind and all retro movie buffs should have it in their movie libraries. 

The Twilight Time Blu-ray presents a terrific transfer that does full justice to the outstanding camerawork of Charles Lang. The package includes the usual informative collector's booklet written by Julie Kirgo, but don't read it before watching the film as it is filled with spoilers. New features include on-screen separate  interviews with director Martin Scorsese and Michael Mann, who both provide valuable insights into why they consider this to be one of the greatest of film noirs. An original trailer is also included.  

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

Occasionally we at Cinema Retro like to demonstrate that our interest in films doesn't end in the era when scripts had the fingerprints of Steve McQueen or Henry Fonda on them. Regular readers know that we try to promote worthy independent films by up-and-coming directors. Case in point: "The Heart Machine", an intriguing mystery that marks the feature film debut of  director/screenwriter Zachary Wigon. His film, originally released in 2014, is now available on DVD from Kino Lorber, a company that also tries to expand awareness of worthy indie films. The movie grabs you within the first few minutes, a necessary ingredient for any mystery. Cody (John Gallagher Jr.) is a 29 year-old, average guy who makes a modest living as a freelance writer. He lives in Brooklyn, which is now the center of the universe for hipsters. When we first see him he's engaging in a Skype video chat with Virginia (Kate Lyn Shiel), an attractive young woman his own age who resides in the same neighborhood he does.  The two make small talk and it seems they are in a committed relationship and that she is on a trip to Germany. We soon learn that they have actually never met although they consider themselves to be boyfriend/girlfriend. Virginia is ostensibly studying for six months at an institute in Berlin. Their flirtatious remarks inevitably lead to some graphic phone/video sex via Skype. (Thus demonstrating an unintended benefit of the advances in technology). Cody is clearly not only smitten but madly in love with Virginia and they talk about their impatience at having to wait months before finally meeting in person.  However, some disturbing suspicions enter Cody's mind. They begin when he hears an ambulance siren in the background on Virginia's Skype feed. He has recorded the chat and goes back to research what German ambulance sirens sound like (the wonders of Google!). He's even more disturbed to find that they sound nothing like what he has heard in his chat session with Virginia. The next day he is on a subway train to Manhattan and sees a young woman sitting opposite him who is an exact ringer for Virginia. She doesn't make eye contact with him but when he later mentions that he's seen her virtual twin on a train, Virginia acts a bit uncomfortable. Cody begins to suspect that the woman he saw was indeed Virginia and from here the plot segues into  a Gen X version of "Vertigo". Cody becomes increasingly determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. If Virginia isn't in Germany, what is her motive for carrying out his elaborate hoax? 

In his conversations with Virginia he maintains that everything is normal. However, when he throws out a couple of phrases in German and tells her he is studying the language she becomes inexplicably angry. Cody then begins an odyssey to try to prove that, like Sheila Levine,  she is indeed alive and well and living in New York. He becomes an amateur detective and uses his skills with social media to track her movements through old Facebook posts. He becomes obsessed with his quest and begins to frequent places she might have visited, hoping to find people who know her. (The film is certainly a cautionary tale reminding us that the price we pay for technology is an almot complete loss of privacy.) The story builds in suspense because the viewer doesn't know any more than Cody does at one particular time. However, Zachary Wigon, the screenwriter, does a disservice to Zachary Wigon, the director by tipping us off way too early regarding a key plot point. It certainly doesn't entirely ruin the sense of suspense but it surely diminishes it. Alfred Hitchcock made the same mistake with "Vertigo", at least in this writer's opinion, by letting us in on the fact that the woman who is the exact double of his former lover is indeed the same woman. I always thought that it would have been more effective for the script to hold that relevation until a bit later in the story. Nevertheless, if Hitchcock could make such a misstep, one can hardly blame novice filmmaker Wigon for doing the same. The problem with reviewing mysteries is that the reviewer must tread carefully so as to not reveal too much. "The Heart Machine" can't actually be termed a thriller. At no time is anyone is any real danger, but Zigon shows an admirable skill for generating legitimate suspense from seemingly nondescript situations. When Cody gains entrance to a young woman's apartment by feigning interest in her, his real quest is to confirm that she is a friend of Virginia's. When she goes to another room, Cody accesses her laptop and begins to scroll through her personal messages. The sequence is especially intense in terms of being nerve-wracking for both him and the viewer. Zigon also has the knack for capitalizing on the New York locations, thus giving the movie an air of authenticity. Rob Leitzell's stylish cinematography aids immeasurably.  Best of all are the performances. John Gallagher Jr. is gives a finely-tuned performance an everyday guy caught up in an extraordinary quest caused by his increasing obsession with a desirable woman (much like James Stewart in "Vertigo"). Gallagher is so good, in fact, that he loses himself completely in his character. His performance is quite remarkable. Although we see the object of his desire, Virginia, primarily through video chat screens, Kate Lyn Sheil is every bit his equal. She manages to be alluring, innocent and yet somehow foreboding all at the same time. You can well understand why Cody becomes obsessed with her. The supporting cast is peppered with fine performances from some very impressive young actors. The movie's conclusion and the resolution of Cody's quest is a bit unsatisfying in its ambiguity. Nevertheless, as both director and screenwriter, Zachary Wigon displays a great deal of promise. Here's hoping that in the "dog eat dog" world of indie filmmaking, he gets his chance to capitalize on that promise. I, for one, am very much looking forward to his future work. 

The Kino Lorber DVD has an excellent transfer and a brief trailer. Here's hoping they will one day issue a Blu-ray release with commentary track.

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BY FRED BLOSSER

Kino-Lorber has released John Frankenheimer’s “The Holcroft Covenant” (1985) in new Blu-ray and DVD editions, superseding a previous DVD release on the MGM label in 1999. Frankenheimer fans will be pleased to see this relatively obscure title available in remastered Hi-Def. Privately, even they may have to admit that it’s deservedly obscure because it’s a clunker, marking a sad decline from the excellence of “The Manchurian Candidate” two decades before. With that 1962 masterpiece, Frankenheimer and scenarist George Axelrod benefited from superlative source material, Richard Condon’s razor-sharp Cold War political thriller. “The Holcroft Covenant” was adapted from lesser stuff, a bestselling but stumble-footed 1972 suspense novel by Robert Ludlum. Multiple screenwriters are credited: George Axelrod, Edward Anhalt, and John Hawkins. The problems with the movie suggest a combination of Ludlum’s lame storytelling to begin with, additional troubles in trying to turn the rambling, 528-page potboiler into a leaner, 100-minute-long movie, and questionable choices by Frankenheimer himself.

Noel Holcroft, a German-born New York architect, learns that he is the main trustee of a covenant drawn up 40 years before, in the last hours of the Third Reich, by three officers of the Nazi High Command. One of the officers, General Clausen, was Holcroft’s father. Once it’s signed by Holcroft and the children of the other two officers, the covenant will release $4.5 billion from a secret Swiss account, a fortune accrued over four decades from Nazi funds diverted by the three officers during the war. Clausen’s posthumous directive specifies that the trustees are to spend the fund for beneficent purposes, to atone for Hitler’s atrocities. Holcroft must locate the other trustees -- the son and daughter of General Tiebolt and the son of General Kessler -- so that the covenant can be activated. His mother Athene (Lilli Palmer), who had fled Clausen and Germany early in the war, cautions Holcroft to walk away from the arrangement because his father couldn’t be trusted and neither can the directive: “He was a Nazi through and through.” But Holcroft idealistically proceeds anyway, joining in Berlin with the Tiebolt brother and sister, who have taken the name Tennyson, and the Kessler son, a symphony conductor now calling himself Maas. Mysterious characters enter the story in Zurich, New York, London, Berlin, and finally Zurich again, seemingly intent on derailing the covenant, as bodies begin to pile up around Holcroft.

Did I mention that Holcroft is played by Michael Caine, because, well, if you need an actor to play a German-born New Yorker, you want Michael Caine? As Frankenheimer notes in a director’s commentary track repeated from the 1999 DVD, the “New York” scenes in the film were actually shot in London, so why not simply transfer the phony U.S. setting to the U.K., ignore the character’s New York upbringing from the novel, and make him a German-born Londoner to match Caine’s accent? Reportedly, Caine was a last-minute replacement for James Caan, who walked off the movie, so Frankenheimer may not have had time even for minor script adjustments. A good trouper, Caine honestly appears to invest a lot of energy in the part, accent aside. But it hardly matters because Holcroft is a dolt who does anything he’s asked to do without a second thought, no matter how inconvenient, nonsensical, or dangerous. Drop everything and fly to Zurich at the behest of a total stranger who claims to be a representative from an international bank? Wouldn’t you? Hop over to London at the request of another total stranger and agree to meet yet a third stranger in Trafalgar Square at 5 p.m. tomorrow? (“And don’t look for him. He’ll find you.”) Sure, why not. Rendezvous at a church with a mysterious woman in a bad disguise, and then hide out with her in a sleazy Berlin brothel to avoid the bad guys? I’m on it.

Speaking of the Berlin brothel, Frankenheimer clutters several scenes with unnecessarily eccentric background details. The brothel business leads to a chase in and out of a nighttime street festival of prostitutes and cross-dressers. In his commentary, Frankenheimer says he wanted to use the brothel and the street festival, which provide an excuse for some unattractive, R-rated nudity, to evoke classic novels and films about the decadent Berlin of the 1930s. Instead of distracting the viewer so you’re less likely to notice that the scene itself makes little sense, the clutter only underscores the absurdity. When Holcroft first meets his fellow heir Maas (Mario Adorf), Maas is conducting a symphony rehearsal -- because, Frankenheimer says, he always wanted to film a scene of a symphony orchestra performing. Simpler would have been better, had Frankenheimer merely told his actors hit their marks, deliver their lines, and move on. It doesn‘t help that Adorf is miscast as a conductor (physically, he looks about as much the part as Jack Black or John Goodman would), and that most of the other actors are undistinguished. Only Victoria Tennant and Anthony Andrews emerge relatively unscathed, even though Andrews enters with an unflattering mustache that seems to be part of a disguise, except that he never gets rid of it. It took me a while to realize that, more than likely, it was an attempt to make Andrews look older so that the age difference between him (37) and Caine (52) would not be so obvious, since their characters are supposed to be contemporaries.

The story turns on a “surprise twist” about the real purpose of the covenant and the real motives behind Andrews‘ and Tennant’s characters. I saw it coming about 20 minutes into the picture, without even trying. Frankenheimer stages the climactic scene in Alfred Hitchcock fashion, with Holcroft and the chief villain struggling over a revolver in a chaotic crowd setting, in this case a press conference. There’s even a Hitchcockian close-up of Caine’s hand clamped desperately over the cylinder of the gun to keep it from turning, inter-cut with shots of the two men struggling and the crowd surging around them in panic. It’s the only scene in the film that comes even remotely close to the gripping visual style of “The Manchurian Candidate.”

Younger viewers (admittedly, not a likely audience demographic) may smile when the characters marvel over the $4.5 billion in the covenant. It was probably an impressive sum in 1985 but now it seems like pocket change next to Bill Gates’ $77.7 billion bank account. I’m reminded of Dr. Evil’s comment in one of the Austin Powers movies, “Why make trillions when we can make . . . billions?” The bad guys‘ ulterior purpose for the $4.5 billion? “To consolidate every terrorist group in the world into one cohesive, overwhelming force to create international crises and chaos . . . until the world is reduced to a state of anarchy, ready to accept a strong new leader who can restore order and take command.” Given the past 15 years’ experience of 9/11, the global economic meltdown, unending catastrophe in the Middle East, the growing chasm between the haves and have-nots in the United States, and the rancid tenor of the 2016 Presidential campaign primaries, reality has left Ludlum’s and Frankenheimer’s pulp fantasy in the dust. Never mind a neo-Nazi conspiracy. Our perfectly legitimate financial, political, judicial, and military systems have brought us nearly to the same end.

The Kino-Lorber Blu-ray disc’s 1920x1080p image is less than pristine but acceptable. In addition to the director’s alt-track commentary, there is a trailer gallery and menu, but unfortunately no English captioning for the hard of hearing. Given that any audience for the film is likely to fall into the age range for which captioning is a welcome bonus, this is an unfortunate omission.

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MAN ON A WIRE By Howard Hughes

One of seemingly dozens of Universal westerns released in the 1960s and early ‘70s, ‘A Man Called Gannon’ is a remake of the tough Kirk Douglas western ‘Man Without a Star’ (1955). Rather than using Dee Linford’s novel of the same name as its source, the film uses the screenplay by D.D. Beauchamp and Borden Chase from the 1955 version, with additional writing from Gene R. Kearney. Tony Franciosa stars as Gannon, a drifting cowboy without a horse. While riding the rails west by locomotive cattle car, he meets young Easterner Jess Washburn (Michael Sarrazin). The pair end up working as cowhands on the Cross Triangle ranch, where the tough old hand teaches the tenderfoot from Philadelphia how to ride and shoot like a pro. They both become romantically involved with the ranch’s owner, Beth Cross (Judi West), which causes friction, while Jess also clashes with the ranch’s bullying ‘top hand’ Capper (John Anderson). The open range is being fenced in by the cattlemen and with the arrival of a massive consignment of barbed wire, Gannon and Jess end up facing each other on opposite sides of the fence.

It’s unfair to compare the film to ‘Man Without a Star’, which benefits from Frankie Laine’s snappy title song and a cast filled with memorable, seasoned performers like Jeanne Crain (as rancher Reed Bowman), William Campbell (as greenhorn Jeff Jimson), Richard Boone, Jay C. Flippen, Mara Corday, Sheb Wooley, Paul Birch, Roy Barcroft and the great Jack Elam. In ‘A Man Called Gannon’, Tony Franciosa is good in the title role, as a drifter ‘ex of Texas’, aimlessly wandering the range. Like Kirk Douglas’ Dempsey Rae, Gannon is tormented by his bad experiences of barbed wire – his little brother Jim was killed when he was caught on a fence in a cattle stampede – which allows Franciosa a grandstanding ‘drunken trauma’ scene. I like Franciosa. He was an agreeable screen presence in everything from the Raquel Welch spy vehicle ‘Fathom’ (1967), to Dario Argento’s bloody giallo ‘Tenebrae’ (1982). My favourite of his roles is the wily cutthroat Rodriguez in the gunrunning western ‘Rio Conchos’ (1964) and you can see why he was reputedly up for the role of Manolito in ‘The High Chaparral’ TV show (he lost out to Henry Darrow).

There are some familiar faces in the ‘Gannon’ cast – such as Sarrazin, Anderson, James Westerfield and Gavin MacLeod – but otherwise it’s not the best-known cast. Emmy-award-winning TV director James Goldstone uses trippy overlaid double exposures for some scenes (in the manner of Peter Fonda’s acid western ‘The Hired Hand’) and also rapid cross-cutting in moments of tension, like a spaghetti western. According to Judi West, who played rancher Beth Cross, Goldstone had her voice dubbed, even though she was an accomplished actress who had numerous film, TV and theatre credits and had taught acting classes. The jaunty cowboy title song ‘A Smile, a Mem’ry and an Extra Shirt’ was sung by Dave Grusin. The narrative ballad ‘commenting’ on Gannon’s adventures is very 1950s in method, if folksy 1960s in style. Grusin also worked on ‘The Graduate’ (1967) and wrote the narrative ballad ‘Code of the West’ for the James Coburn comedy western ‘Waterhole #3’ (1967).

BY HOWARD HUGHES

New to DVD in the UK is ‘Arabella’, an Italian period comedy set in that hotbed of hilarity, pre-WWII fascist Italy. Virna Lisi stars in the title role – known variously in the film as Arabella Danesi and Arabella Angeli – who determines to save her grandmother from destitution by finding ingenious ways to pay off her elderly relative’s crippling tax bill.

The film is structured rather like those 1960s Italian portmanteau comedy-dramas, such as ‘Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow’, ‘The Witches’ or ‘Woman Times Seven’. Such films were intended as vehicles for one female star, be they Sophia, Silvana or Shirley, to demonstrate their versatility in a variety of roles. But instead of separate stories, with different characters, ‘Arabella’ has one continuous story arc, with Lisi’s sexy heroine adopting various costumes, personas and wigs to seduce and blackmail her way through a string of lovers, who are then conned out of cash to pay off granny’s debts. Some of her victims are played by Terry-Thomas. It is he who gets to show off his comedy skills in a variety of roles, though despite costume and make-up changes, they all resemble Terry-Thomas – there’s no disguising that tooth gap. He plays a girdle-wearing, monocled British general Sir Horace Gordon, an Italian hotel manager angered by the installation of a public urinal in the street outside his swanky establishment and the rich duke who hires Arabella to ‘cure’ his gay son Saverio. Terry-Thomas and Lisi had already worked together to great success on the Hollywood black comedy ‘How to Murder Your Wife’ (1965) and he’s clearly enjoying himself here in the various roles.

The cast of this Italian-UK co-production – shot in Rome, Naples and Venice – is an interesting one. Margaret Rutherford plays Arabella’s debt-ridden granny, Princess Ilaria, James Fox is Arabella’s mysterious, louche shadow Giorgio, and Rutherford’s old partner Stringer Davis from the big-screen 1960s Miss Marple films shows up in an amusing cameo as Ilaria’s gardener, Nazzareno. Giancarlo Gianni played Saverio, who pretends to be gay, so that his father continues to send in alluring women to try to ‘cure’ him. Familiar Italian supporting players appear, too – Renato Romano played General Gordon’s batman, Renato Chiantoni is one of the tax inspectors hassling Ilaria, Giuseppe Addobbati is a hotel guest and Ugo Fangareggi is a policeman.

‘Arabella’s disjointed, jumpy plotting bears the signs of considerable cutting for international distribution and it eventually falls to pieces as a movie – in exactly the same way so many very good 1960s Italian films that have been edited and dubbed for international audiences fall to bits. The film was released internationally by Universal Pictures and its associate producer was Dario Argento’s father, Salvatore, before he began producing his son’s legendary gialli thrillers. The big plusses are the art direction (by Alberto Boccianti) and superb 1920s period costumes by Piero Tosi (Visconti’s designer on ‘Death in Venice’ and ‘The Leopard’), so visually the film is splendid. Of most interest to me was the chance to hear one of Ennio Morricone’s many little-heard scores of this period. ‘Arabella’ was directed by Mauro Bolognini, whose dramas ‘He and She’ (1969 – ‘L’assoluto naturale’), ‘Un bellissimo novembre’ (1969 – ‘That Splendid November’) and ‘Metello’ (1970) are all worth a look, or rather a listen, for their memorable Morricone scores. Bolognini also directed the erotic period drama ‘La Venexiana’ (1986), aka ‘The Venetian Woman’ starring Laura Antonelli and Jason Connery, which also benefits from a lovely Morricone score. The maestro’s score here is a mixture of lush period orchestrations and comedic, clockwork themes which resemble early drafts of Morricone’s title cue to ‘Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion’ (1970). The descending flute trill from ‘A Fistful of Dollars’ makes a brief appearance, but in the main, this is a playful score, befitting the material, with a lovely violin theme for the Venetian scenes towards the end of the movie.

The Region 2 DVD from Simply Media is presented in 4:3 screen ratio, which looks cropped at the sides. This seems to be the case, as the IMDB lists the aspect ratio as 1.85:1. The film was 105 minutes in Italy, but cut drastically to 88 minutes for US release. Simply Media’s habit of printing the US running time in promotional material continues here, as the UK DVD actually runs 84 minutes. The picture quality has nowhere near the sharpness and clarity of some of Simply Media’s other releases – notably its Universal westerns such as ‘A Man Called Gannon’ and ‘Calamity Jane and Sam Bass’. ‘Arabella’ is rated 12 (for ‘moderate sex references’). 

For 1960s Commedia all’Italiana, Terry-Thomas and Morricone completists this is worth a look, but others might find it hard going. A definite curio however and a long-lost one at that.

By Hank Reineke

Though this welcome Scream Factory issue marks the first time Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971) and The Dunwich Horror (1969) have been made available on domestic Blu-ray, both films enjoyed a previous release on DVD as part of MGM’s long-suspended “Midnite Movies” series. Rue Morgue was first paired with Cry of the Banshee (1970) in 2003, with Dunwich and Die Monster Die! (1965) following in 2005. Though both of these earlier sets are now technically out-of-print, copies remain generally available. Regardless, the more discerning horror-film aficionado would be well advised to seek out this new Blu edition. Not only does Scream Factory’s HD master offer a significant upgrade in visual presentation, the studio has also restored bits of censored footage missing from the Y2K releases.

H.P. Lovecraft’s short story The Dunwich Horror was written in the summer of 1928 and first published in the April 1929 issue of the appropriately titled Weird Tales magazine. It’s likely the best known of the celebrated author’s horror tales, having been recollected and reissued throughout the 20th and 21^st century in any number of literary horror anthologies. Though A.I.P. and director Daniel Haller (a well-tested art director on many previous films for the company) have taken a number of liberties bringing Lovecraft’s original tale to the screen, the author’s basic premise is mostly preserved.

Wilbur Whateley (Dean Stockwell) is the great-grandson of Oliver Whateley. The elder Whateley was a practitioner of the black arts who, two generations earlier, had been hanged for his heresy by vigilantes in the otherwise sleepy village of Dunwich. The Whateley’s have long been a bane to the frightened residents of the ocean-side community, shunned and ostracized as devil-worshippers. Technically, this is a misunderstanding as the family worships neither God nor Satan. They spend most of their nights secluded in a creepy cliff-side home on an otherwise postcard-pretty coastline. The Whateley’s mostly putter about the old house trying to summon the “Old Ones” who, we are told, are an amorphous super-race of beings from another dimension that will bring an end to mankind.

Wilbur’s grandfather (Sam Jaffee) has actually backed-off a bit on the family’s over-zealous determination in this regard. He’s understandably wary as his own quarter-century old attempt at summation – one which involved Wilbur’s mother, Lavinia –had gone horribly wrong. The strange and dangerous rumblings of a creature still imprisoned behind a locked closet door will attest to that. But Lavinia’s surviving twenty-five year old progeny, Wilbur, has not gone soft; he’s determined to succeed where his ancestors have failed. The young man needs only two components to achieve his goal. He first requires access to the Necronomicom, an ancient and priceless book of which only two copies survive. Conveniently, one copy sits in a not terribly protected glass display case in the University library in Arkham, only a mere forty miles up the road.

More problematically, Wilbur requires a female virgin; and good luck trying to find one in the summer of 1969. This is where Bayonne, New Jersey’s own Sandra Dee, best known for her healthful and morally salutary screen-image, comes in. It seems only a pure virgin can serve as the conduit through which the “Old Ones” can, at long last, emerge. With her post-Gidget acting career stagnant, Dee was desperate to hone a new screen image at decade’s end. Here she is effectively cast both with and against type as the beleaguered Nancy Wagner. Not all of the former teenage star’s innocent ways were so easily expunged. The actress had her limits and was modestly body-doubled in a number of brief nude scenes. Her antagonist is the wild-eyed, nearly non-blinking Wilbur Whateley, and Stockwell plays him as a complete nutcase, mysterious, emotionally remote, and not particularly charming. It’s somewhat difficult to believe that Nancy would fall for him so hard though it’s suggested a combination of hypnotism and drug-laced tea keep the young woman in tow. The drugging would also explain the trippy, psychedelic dreams she suffers following her first share of the teapot with weird Wilbur.

It’s actually the addition of this central damsel-in-distress element that causes Haller’s film to deviate wildly from the original Lovecraft tale. With the exception of the aforementioned Lavinia, there’s nary a central-character female present in the original short story. The movie’s climatic birthing of the “Old Ones” on a sacred altar atop the cliff-side “Devil’s Hop Yard” is a near complete invention of the filmmakers. In what was an already a customary A.I.P. tradition, executive producer Roger Corman, and producers Samuel J. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson were no doubt hoping to exploitatively piggy-back off of the surprising success of Polanski’s classic Rosemary’s Baby (1968).

As was the studio’s modus operandi, A.I.P. rolled out The Dunwich Horror in a sweeping west-to-east geographic fashion, supporting this new release at drive-ins and theaters with one or two other fiendish films from the company catalog: The Tomb of the Cat (a more pronounceable re-title of Roger Corman’s The Tomb of Ligeia), The Oblong Box (1969), and even Destroy All Monsters (the legendary 1968 production of Japan’s Toho Productions, but issued in the U.S. by A.I.P. in the late summer of 1969.)

BY LEE PFEIFFER

In addition to being a reliable and fairly popular leading man, Ray Milland also showed some talent as a film director. In total, he directed five movies- among them "The Safecracker", a 1958 low-budget British film noir made by MGM.  The fast-moving story concerns one Colley Dawson (Milland), an expert safecracker who uses his skills for a home security company. He is hired out to design safes for wealthy clients that can be deemed impossible to crack. Although regarded as a genius in his field, Colley is in a deep funk. He's in his fifties, has no home to call his own and still lives with his doting, aging mother (Barbara Everest) in a small home in a nondescript street in London. When Colley lands a major, lucrative contract for his company, his skinflint boss "rewards" him with a bonus of a measly five pound note. Colley's fortunes change when he is contacted by Bennett Carfield (Barry Jones), a wealthy man who divulges that he earns his income through trading in stolen antiques. He entices Colley to use his safecracking skills to form a criminal partnership with him in return for 50% of the profits. Colley doesn't need much persuasion. Feeling he is on the road to nowhere, he is eager to finally enjoy the finer things in life and has no ethical reservations about how to acquire them. Before long he is sneaking into affluent people's homes and relieving the owners of prized possessions. He adopts a dual identity. During the work week, he remains the wimpy employee of an ungrateful boss. On weekends, however, he tools around in a fancy sports car, dates a glamorous, sexually-charged minor actress and bets extravagant sums on horses. Things come to a crashing halt, however, when Scotland Yard gets wind of his activities. Carfield urges him to stop his safecracking because he is under suspicion but the arrogant Colley insists on pulling off one more caper- which he does with disastrous consequences. He soon finds himself in jail facing an eight year sentence. However, two years into his term, England is at war with Nazi Germany. He is approached by military intelligence with a tempting offer: accommodate a team of commandos on a highly dangerous mission in occupied Belgium in return for a full pardon. The plan revolves around a list of German secret agents in England that is being stored in safe inside a heavily guarded country chateau. The plan is to infiltrate the house, have Colley and the team penetrate the safe and photograph the list. If it works, the Nazis will be none-the-wiser that their agents' identities are now known. Colley agrees to go but proves to be a handful for the unit in which he will serve. He's not only long in the tooth, he's got tusks. Still, he completes a crash course in parachuting techniques and before long finds himself behind enemy lines but separated from his companions. From this point, the plot revolves around Colley meeting up with his team because their mission is useless without his participation. As director Milland manages to milk some occasional suspense out of the proceedings and sensibly turns his age into an asset. He can't keep up with his younger companions and his newly-found playboy lifestyle intrudes when his attempts to romance a Resistance girl almost compromises the mission. The final scenes of the film, set inside the chateau, are handled well and the ironic ending is rather moving. 

"The Safecracker" is definitely "B" movie fare, but that isn't meant as a knock. It's quite entertaining throughout and Milland gives a highly amusing performance as a rogue who finds himself serving his country's war effort with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. The film features a fine cast of British character actors with Barry Jones particularly impressive. The Warner Archive release features considerable artifacts but they are a minor distraction. Most annoying is the fact that the night footage (much of it derived from newsreels) is so dark that you feel as though you are peering into an inkwell. Still, this is consistently entertaining film that will have cross-over appeal for lovers of crime movies, spy flicks and WWII films. A weather-beaten original trailer is also included. The DVD is region-free.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

The Vinegar Syndrome video label continues to unearth obscure examples of 1960s erotica. None is more bizarre than "Infrasexum", a 1969 concoction by director/actor Carlos Tobalina, who would ultimately be regarded as one of the more prolific hardcore filmmakers. Back in '69, however, it was still difficult to get theatrical showings of hardcore films, which were generally relegated to 8mm film loops sold in adult book stores. Tabolina tried to push the envelope with "Infrasexum" but was still confined by the dreaded "community standards" obscenity laws that mandated only soft-core movies could generally be shown without causing a major legal flap from local conservative groups that had routinely declared war on pornography.  "Infrasexum" (I have no idea what the title means and apparently neither did Tobalina) attempts to tell a poignant story about the toll the aging process takes on sexual libido. The film opens in the offices of Mr. Allison (Eroff Lynn), a fifty-something successful business executive who is despondent over the routine lifestyle he is leading. He has money galore but exists in a gloomy state of mind. He's also depressed (in this pre-Viagara era) about his inability to perform sexually with his bombshell wife (Marsha Jordan), who prances about their penthouse clad in a see-through nightee. Determined to start a new life, Allinson sends his wife a goodbye letter, turns the control of his company over to two trusted employees and takes off for parts unknown. He immediately feels liberated from the day-to-day grind. He ends up in Las Vegas and almost reluctantly wins $250,000 in cash. He doesn't need the money but for the first time in ages he feels he's on a winning streak. He drives to L.A. where he has a chance encounter with Carlos (Carlos Tobalina), a somewhat kooky but charismatic man who routinely grubs money from him but also introduces him to a new lifestyle with his hippie friends. Before long, Allison is taking in rock shows in discotheques on the Sunset Strip and experimenting with pot. Carlos tries on several occasions to cure Allison's sexual problems by setting him up with willing young women but the result is always frustrating failure to launch. At one point an unrelated sub-plot is introduced in which Allison is kidnapped by two thugs who threaten his life and shake him down for big money. They also murder a helpless young woman in his presence. In one of the lamest action sequences ever filmed, Allison breaks free and kills both men in an unintentionally hilarious manner. Allison treats this presumably life-altering incident as though it's a minor distraction and before long is taking up his lifetime's goal of becoming a painter. An admiring young woman invites him back to her house but, once again, Allison can't seal the deal between the sheets and he has to call Carlos over to act as his stand-in!

It's difficult to say exactly what Tobalina expected to accomplish with this film. Is it an attempt to present a poignant look at the frustrations of the aging process with some full-frontal nudity tossed in? Or did he intend to simply dress up a sexploitation film with some legitimate dramatic story line aspects? In either case, the result is downright weird.  Tobalina's insertion of a gruesome murder also seems like an after-thought designed to appeal to horror movie fans. It's got plenty of gore but is so unconvincingly shot and directed that the sequence elicits more laughter than chills. Whatever early talent Tobalina might have conveyed on screen is compromised by the bare bones production budget, which was probably close to zero. Technical blunders abound. In some scenes you can see the shadow of the cameraman in center frame. In others, people's voices are heard even though their lips aren't moving. Still, the film at least aspires to be superior to most soft-core grind house fare of the era. As a trip back in time, it has merit. It presents some wonderful, extended views of the Las Vegas Strip, for example, and we can relish the marquees extolling such performers as Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Durante, Don Ho and Little Richard. Tobalina also gets out of the bedrooms long enough to take us on a scenic tour of local L.A. sites as well as the Sierra Nevadas. Tobalina is at his best when he gets out of the boudoir and shows us travelogue-like footage.  On a coarser level, the film also provides an abundance of good looking young women who romp around starkers. The movie would be primarily of interest to baby boomer males who want a trip back in time to an era in which such fare was considered daring and controversial. It's bizarre qualities will also appeal to fans of cult sexlpoitation films. 

The Vinegar Syndrome release looks great and the remastered print even shows us the grit and dirt that occasionally appeared on the camera lens.  An original trailer is also included that is truly a laugh riot, in that a God-like voice virtually commands us to see "Infrasexum" because it's a "classic". 

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

The dividing line between a film being an homage and a rip-off is sorely tested with "Forsaken", a 2015 Canadian Western by director Jon Cassar, who is best known for his acclaimed, award-winning work in television. This is a rare venture into feature film making for him and the result left me with decidedly mixed emotions.  The film marks another collaboration between Cassar and actor Kiefer Sutherland, who starred in Cassar's wildly successful TV series "24". That the two men are comfortable with each other's style is immediately apparent from the first frames of the film. We want to extend kudos to them for bravely venturing where few in the movie industry dare to tread any longer: the realm of the Western, a genre that has been routinely neglected for decades. Despite the success of Westerns such as "Unforgiven", "Dances With Wolves" and "Open Range", studio chiefs can't seem to get over the ""Heaven's Gate" syndrome, the monumental 1980 Western that almost sunk United Artists. Even hardened criminals are punished less time than the poor Western genre,so we extend our respect to anyone who tries, no matter modestly, to revive it. The problem with "Forsaken" is that a lot of talented people are doing fine work in a film that is so blatantly inspired by Clint Eastwood's Oscar winning "Unforgiven" that it comes close to bordering on parody. The initial blame begins with screenwriter Brad Mirman, who depends far too heavily on elements from Eastwood's magnificent production. Let's start with the title, which is a transparent attempt to evoke "Unforgiven". (In fairness, Eastwood himself was less-than-original in his use of this title. He changed the film's title from "The William Munny Killings" and replaced it with the name of an unrelated John Huston Western from 1960, "The Unforgiven".) Then there is the movie's protagonist, John Henry Clayton (Kiefer Sutherland), who carries similar baggage to Eastwood's William Munny. He is haunted by a violent past and a penchant for committing bloodshed. He has returned to his hometown after a period of years and hopes to live his life as a pacifist, a lofty goal that the viewer will recognize as being doomed from the get-go. He soon finds that the town is populated by cowardly people who are letting a greedy land baron, James McCurdy (Brian Cox) use a mercenary gang to intimidate or even kill any homesteader who refuses his offer to buy their land. As in "Unforgiven", our hero is initially slow to anger and resists his inner demons. In Clayton's case, he is routinely abused, insulted and beaten by the mercenaries, who are led by Frank (Aaron Poole), who is so vicious that he even gets chastised by his employer, McCurdy. I kept waiting for a character to appear who would emulate Richard Harris's English Bob, the aristocratic gunslinger from "Unforgiven". Sure enough, along comes Gentleman Dave Turner (Michael Wincott), who displays the wit and gallows humor of dear ol' English Bob. Not helping matters is director Cassar, who aids and abets this pantomime by insisting that Sutherland pretentiously pose like Eastwood in "Unforgiven", as well as speak like him (distinctive, barely audible voice) and dress like him (he even wears a hat that is more than coincidentally similar to Eastwood's from that film). The "homage" syndrome goes into overdrive in the film's violent conclusion, which- to the surprise of no one familiar with "Unforgiven"- also takes place in a saloon, where a heavily-armed Clayton enters and engages a small army of bad guys in a one-man massacre. At times, it appears to be a frame-by-frame remake of the Eastwood film.(In fairness, Cassar does dip a bit outside of the "Unforgiven" pool long enough to replicate a sequence from the climactic barroom shootout from "The Shootist".)  The epilogue imitates "Unforgiven" in an unforgivable manner, with scenes at an isolated grave while a narrative fills us in on the fate of the main characters.

Despite all of these reservations, it may come as a surprise to you that I liked and admired "Forsaken" very much. The script does introduce a few original elements. When Clayton returns home many years after experiencing the horrors of the war, he discovers that his former lover, Mary-Alice (Demi Moore), had presumed he was dead and ended up marrying a local man. They now have a small son and although Mary-Ellen professes to be perfectly happy, it's quite apparent there is still a spark between she and Clayton. More intriguingly, there is Clayton's relationship to his father, William (Donald Sutherland), the local reverend, who welcomes his estranged son back by informing him that his mother died and that her last hope was to see him but he never came. The two men settle into a tense domestic situation until John finally unburdens himself about a terrible secret that has been haunting him and that has inspired him to renounce violence. He also blames himself for the accidental death of his brother when they were kids. Ultimately, the clearing of the air leads both father and son to form a close bond but it is threatened by McCurdy and his men- and we know it will only be a matter of time until  John takes up arms again. This plot element (the reluctant gunslinger) has been a staple of the Western genre for many years. (Think "The Gunfighter", "Shane", "The Shootist") but it still provides ample dramatic circumstances for a good director to capitalize on- and Jon Cassar is a good director. He has a real feel for the Western genre and elicits uniformly excellent performances from his entire cast, including Demi Moore who is refreshingly cast in a mature, non-glam role. To credit screenwriter Mirman, he capitalizes on the first screen teaming of both Sutherlands by providing realistic and engrossing situations and dialogue. The two actors bring a certain emotion and pathos to their on-screen relationship that is obviously enhanced by their real-life status as father and son. The movie is also gorgeously photographed by Rene Ohashi and features a fine score by Jonathan Goldsmith. Perhaps because I've seen "Unforgiven" so many times and have written about it extensively, I may be more sensitive to the similarities between the films, which I did find admittedly distracting. More casual viewers will probably not encounter this dilemma and enjoy "Forsaken" for what it is: a superior entry in the Western genre.

The Blu-ray from Entertainment One features only one bonus extra: a "making of" documentary which consists of the usual bland observations by people who were interviewed while a movie is still in production. (Who is going to say anything negative when they have to still work with each other?) Although director Cassar and Kiefer Sutherland acknowledge they emulated the traditional Western film elements in the making of the movie, neither man comes clean by mentioning "Unforgiven" specifically, which is a little like ignoring the 800 pound gorilla in the saloon.

There have been a few effective "non-traditional" Westerns of recent vintage, "The Hateful Eight" being the most prominent but I would also highly recommend the Kurt Russell-starrer "Bone Tomahawk". However, if you have been starving for a Western that sticks with basic elements, this is the best I've seen in a number of years.  

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BY DOUG OSWALD

Rock Hudson is an American commando sent to blow up a dam in “Hornets’ Nest,” a 1970 WWII action adventure set in 1944 Italy as the Allies advance on the German occupation force. Directed by Phil Karlson (“Hell to Eternity,” “Kid Galahad,” “The Silencers,” “The Wrecking Crew” and “Walking Tall”), the movie was an American-Italian co-production filmed in Italy with a mostly all Italian cast and crew.

The movie opens as the residents of Reanoto are massacred by German soldiers after they refuse to give up the location of Italian resistance fighters. Meanwhile, American commandos parachute in on a mission to blow up a nearby dam, but all are killed except for Capt. Turner (Hudson). A group of boys hiding in the hills when the German’s murdered their families rescue Turner and hide him from the Germans. Turner is running a fever from his wounds and the boys convince a local doctor, Bianca (Sylva Koscina), to help Turner. Von Hecht (Sergio Fantoni) is the officer in charge of a local contingent of German soldiers searching for Turner.

Mark Colleano is Aldo, the leader of the boys. He’s understandably angry and wants revenge against the Germans who murdered his family and the families of all the other children. The boys form a band of partisans seeking to convince Capt. Turner to teach them to shoot so they can kill Germans. They have guns and ammunition hidden in a cave in the hills where they’ve been hiding. Turner convinces the boys to help him retrieve his radio in order to contact his headquarters and then complete his mission of destroying the dam. It’s not precisely clear why the dam needs to be destroyed because the American forces link up with him within minutes after the dam is blown up.

Italian actor Sergio Fantoni (with dyed blonde hair) is unconvincing and miscast as Von Hecht, but he’s a familiar face to fans of a pair of classic WWII movies from the era. He was Capt. Oriani in “Von Ryan’s Express” and Capt. Oppo in “What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?” It’s odd seeing him as a German officer in “Hornets’ Nest” and it doesn’t really work. It’s also not quite clear if Koscina is supposed to be playing a German doctor or an Italian doctor in service of the Germans, but that’s quickly forgotten soon after she’s taken prisoner by the children and joins Turner in blowing up the dam. Koscina was cast after Sophia Loren passed on the movie.

Another obvious criticism of the film is one I have for other movies and TV series from the period. Hudson’s hair is too long and the sideburns and handlebar mustache, while stylish in the 1970s, would not have been acceptable for military service during WWII through to today. Koscina’s big hair, like Hudson’s hair, is strictly from the late 60s and early 70s and the boys look like they were plucked off the streets of Rome circa 1970 and wear the clothing they had hanging in their closets at home.

The movie moves at a brisk pace with plenty of action and Colleano is sympathetic as Aldo. Hudson is good as Capt. Turner and this would be his final military action role before settling into the successful TV series “McMillan & Wife” which ran from 1971-1977. Koscina is beautiful and gives an acceptable performance as Bianca, but she has little to do other than react to the boy’s vengeance driven behavior, a rape attempt, having her clothing ripped, nurture the small children and look enticing. Apart from Hudson, Apart from Colleano (American father and English mother) and Karlson, the rest of the cast and crew are made up of Italians and Yugoslavians. Italian second unit director Franco Cirino even received a co-director credit on Italian prints of the movie.

The story, written by S.S. Schweitzer and Stanley Colbert, was based on an actual incident during the American advance in Italy. The screenplay is standard fare for the era and among the last of this type of war movie. Critics at the time disliked the depiction of children killing, being killed and participating in war. I remember seeing this movie as a kid and I loved every minute of it. As a fan of WWII movies and TV series, I wanted to be one of those boys fighting the Nazis.

The Kino Lorber release is the first time on Blu-ray for “Hornets’ Nest” and features the trailer for this and two other Kino military- themed releases as the only supplements. The movie clocks in at 110 minutes, looks and sounds great with an outstanding score by Ennio Morricone. Originally released in theaters by United Artists in September of 1970, the movie became a must see movie for me when it turned up on TV throughout the 70s.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

No matter what you think of the porn films created in the old days, their producers had an instinct for capitalizing on the hottest trends in mainstream movies. Take for example "Sensual Encounters of Every Kind", which was released in 1978, a year after Steven Spielberg's blockbuster "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". The film was promoted with marketing materials that implied it would be a sci-fi spoof but, alas, that promising premise ended with the posters. In fact the movie only has only a dotted line link to a supernatural premise. The plot centers on an ancient necklace that has the power to make its owner sexually irresistible to those around him or her. The caveat is that it only works once and then it must be passed on to another unwitting owner. Good thing it only works once because the benefits of the necklace might well result from death by exhaustion if the sexual action were to be engaged in on a regular basis. The plot line, such as it is, consists of several humorous vignettes loosely linked by the aforementioned premise. First up is a young, wealthy and bored young beauty (Lesile Bovee) who is bemoaning her dormant love life. Fortunately, the benefits of the necklace kick in just as three hunky gardeners are working at her estate. When they start to show a communal interest in her, she resists their advances but since this is a male-oriented porn flick she quickly has a change of heart and ends up having the time of her life with all three simultaneously. The next story centers on genre legend Georgina Spelvin ("The Devil in Miss Jones") as a tutor for teenage brother and sister who are spoiled rotten and prove to be snarky and disrespectful. Adding to their bizarre sense of "family relations" is their sexual relationship with each other, which they demonstrate in front of their tutor who predictably can't resist participating. Another vignette is the broadest in terms of comedy with a U.S. senator carrying on with his sensuous secretary (Serena) when his wife returns home unexpectedly. The belabored premise might work well with Peter Sellers or David Niven as the protagonist, however, it's as flat as a pancake here- and just as erotic. The final chapter has porn veteran Jamie Gillis as the male coach of a female college athletic team who is seduced in a gym by two of his students. The film's premise of an anthology of stories connecting diverse characters around the same object could have worked. (Think "The Yellow Rolls Royce" with hardcore orgies thrown in.) However, the comedic aspects are undone by weak writing and generally poor performances with only Spelvin delivering something akin to a performance (she had Broadway training and appeared in "Funny Girl"!) On the plus side, the real raison d'etre for the film is the sex scenes and the director, Richard Kanter, at least has the instinct to generally cut the lame jokes during these scenes and manages to make them quite erotic. 

Vinegar Syndrome has released the film on DVD and it boasts a pristine transfer that probably makes it look better than it did at the time of its original release. An interesting bonus is a rather garbled phone interview with porn actor Jon Martin, who appears uncredited in the film.  His conversation is feature-length and he provides some interesting insights, not only about the porn industry of the era, but his own career as well. (He studied with Stella Adler and Uta Hagen, though it's doubtful those legendary acting teachers envisioned exactly how he would end up employing his talents.) In all, another winning package from Vinegar Syndrome. 

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Cinema Retro has received the following press release regarding the film “Culloden” and “The War Game”.

These startling and controversial films by Peter Watkins, first broadcast on BBC TV, have been newly remastered to High Definition and will be released on Blu-ray for the first time on 28 March 2016, presented together in a Dual Format Edition (contains Blu-ray and DVD discs). An array of special features includes a new interview by film editor Michael Bradsell, who worked with Peter Watkins at the BBC, audio commentaries for both films and short films about each one.

Hailed as a breakthrough when it was first broadcast in 1964, Culloden â€“ which brilliantly reconstructs the famous battle of 1746 – stunned viewers by approaching its historical subject matter in the style of contemporary TV news coverage.

Watkins’ The War Game, about a limited nuclear attack on Kent, blended fact and fiction to create a disturbing vision of the personal and public consequences of such an attack. Banned from TV screens for twenty years, it was through its cinema release in 1966 – and its Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1967 – that it gained a loyal and vociferous following.

Special features

Newly remastered and presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition

Michael Bradsell Interview (2015, 21 mins): the film editor talks about working with Peter Watkins at the BBC

John Cook audio commentary on Culloden (2002)

Culloden on Location (Donald Fairservice, 1964, 8 mins): colour footage of the cast and crew during the filming of Culloden, with a 2002 commentary by John Cook

Patrick Murphy audio commentary on The War Game (2002)

The War Game: The Controversy (2002, 19 mins): Patrick Murphy charts the production history, banning and eventual distribution of The War Game

The War Game book: on-screen gallery of the complete 1967 book, published to accompany the film

Illustrated booklet with new essays by John Cook, David Archibald and William Fowler, and full film credits

By Lee Pfeiffer

Twilight Time has released a Blu-ray edition of "The Hawaiians", which was released in England under the title Master of the Islands. The 1970 big budget movie was a critical and commercial failure in its day, but evaluating it after all these years leads the viewer to accentuate its many positive elements. The story is actually an official continuation of James Michener's Hawaii, which was made into a major film in 1966 that curiously also underwhelmed critics and public. This sequel doesn't have the epic proportions of its predecessor, but it does boast some impressively lush production values and a typically enticing score by Henry Mancini. For this film, Heston reunited with director Tom Gries, with whom he made the vastly under-appreciated 1968 Western "Will Penny" which Heston regarded as one of his most satisfying artistic accomplishments. He is cast against type here in a somewhat unsympathetic role during a period of his career in which he was typically cast as a stalwart heroic figure. Heston plays Whip Hoxworth, a hard-nosed sea captain who transports luckless Chinese immigrants to Hawaii where they become cheated, abused and enter into what amounts to indentured servitude. The opening sequence finds the Chinese crammed into the sweltering hold of the ship and falling victim to illness and malnutrition. Hoxworth only adds to their misery by applying beatings and coldly calculating his human cargo in terms of acceptable deaths, 'lest his ultimate profits fall short of expectations. Hoxworth is the black sheep of a wealthy family. He is cut out of his father's will and has a contentious relationship with his siblings, who have little use for him. Barred from further sea duties, he is relegated to a failing plantation which he is determined to turn into a success, if only to spite his relatives. Geraldine Chaplin is his half-Hawaiian wife, whom he adores but who, for reasons never satisfactorily explained in the script, turns frigid after their son is born.

The film tells a parallel story about the plight of two immigrants who work on his plantation: Nyuk Tsin (Tina Chen) and Mun Ki (Mako), two people who, through necessity, live as man and wife even though Mun Ki tells Nyuk Tsin that the children she has borne him will not be considered hers. Instead, Chinese tradition dictates that they will ultimately return to China where his wife will assume the mantle of mother and Nyuk Tsin will be relegated to the status of an aunt. The couple's hard work appeals to Hoxworth's generally dormant sympathies and he allows them to prosper financially, especially when they successfully grow the first pineapples on Hawaii - a development that makes Hoxworth rich. However, the film piles crisis upon crisis on each of the major characters, including political intrigue, armed revolution and, in particulalry affecting sequences, outbreaks of leprosy and plague. John Phillip Law appears late in the 134-minute film as Heston's grown son, whose humanitarianism brings him into direct conflict with his father's Machevellian ways.

The Hawiians is big-budget soap opera at every level, but it's a consistently engrossing one. Heston excels playing part that takes him into new territory as an actor. The supporting cast is equally good, with both Mako and Tina Chen giving outstanding performances. It can't be said that the film is an unqualified success, but it's never boring and it probably seems more impressive today than it did at the time of its initial release.  It should be mentioned that the movie has a fine score by Henry Mancini. There are worse fates than spending a couple of hours with Heston under any circumstance.

The Twilight Time limited edition Blu-ray (3,000 units) is right up to the company's high standards. It includes a trailer and the usual informative liner notes by film historian Julie Kirgo. 

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By Todd Garbarini

In the mid 1980’s, I caught ABC-TV’s premiere broadcast of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) and it changed me forever. I became a huge fan of both Stanley Kubrick’s and Stephen King’s work, as well as classical music. Despite the protestations of many a film reviewer regarding the casting of Jack Nicholson, I greatly admired his performance in the film, and eagerly sought out all of his films that I could find on home video and television at the time. Among them was a film that I had not heard of before, the story about two Navy lifers transporting a convict to the “brig”, a military prison, for having stolen $40.00 out of the Polio contribution box (the Commanding Officer’s wife’s favorite charity – oops!!). Hal Ashby’s The Last Detail (1973), which opened in New York on Sunday, February 10, 1974 (having premiered in L.A. in December of 1973) , contains my favorite film performance by Jack Nicholson, which is saying a lot considering that his turn as R.P. McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) is the role that most critics think of when they discuss his work. Here he plays Billy "Badass" Buddusky, a U.S. petty officer who, along with Richard "Mule" Mulhall (the late Otis Young), is tasked with escorting a sailor, Larry Meadows (Randy Quaid), from their home base in Norfolk, VA to Portsmouth Naval Prison up in Maine. On the surface, this looks like a fairly routine affair as Buddusky and Mulhall go through the motions of taking Meadows by train to his final destination. Initially by-the-book and aloof, they begin to feel sympathetic towards the nebbish Meadows following a shoplifting episode. He’s obviously a kleptomaniac and, even though he’s only 18, probably feels as though his life is over. Along the way, they start to think of the things that Meadows will miss out on – his first sexual experience, having his first beer, and getting into all sorts of fun trouble. Buddusky takes on the role of the leader, and he sets out to show Meadows a good time. They break into laughter following Buddusky’s outburst at a bartender (the language his uses in this scene could very well have been a first for the time) and Meadows looks like a kid rang someone’s doorbell, ran off and has gotten away with it. He’s obviously enjoying himself with his newfound “friends”. They get beer on their own and get drunk, then spend the night in a hotel room and laugh to their heart’s content.

As time progresses, Buddusky and Mulhall cannot help but take a liking to Meadows, and eventually start to feel sorry for him, feeling that he got a raw deal. They take time to seek out his mother during a stop in Philadelphia (they don’t find her), and then they watch him attempt to ice skate in Rockefeller Center in New York and fight with Marines at Penn Station (which looks completely different than it does today). In Boston, they take Meadows to a whorehouse for his first sexual experience (Carol Kane plays the prostitute). Michael Chapman, the cinematographer who shot the movie, plays the taxi driver who gives the boys a ride (Mr. Chapman would go on to shoot Taxi Driver for Martin Scorsese in the summer of 1975, and actually appears as a cab fare in that film). They also sit it on a session with Nichiren Shoshu Buddhists and Meadows attempts to put into use the chant that he is taught in order to obtain good fortune. The late Luana Anders makes an appearance in this scene, as does the late Gilda Radner; they both died of cancer in 1996 and 1989 respectively. Another party they end up at features a very young Nancy Allen, who is told by Jack Nicholson in a very funny speech about why he loves his uniform. Even director Ashby shows up: he can be seen sitting at the bar in the dart-throwing sequence, sporting glasses and his trademark white beard. By the end of the film, we know that inevitably they must follow their orders, and it’s painful to see Meadows incur Buddusky’s wrath following a failed attempt to escape. The ending is poignant, but a far cry from the tremendous downer that ends the novel of the same name by Daryl Ponicsan upon which the film is based. Thankfully, the film is a tad more upbeat.

By Hank Reineke

There are, at a minimum, three important lessons gleaned from the outrageous 1970 sci-fi thriller The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant. The first and most obvious lesson is that the adage “two heads are better than one” is simply not necessarily true. The second is that mad scientists, the most bitter and misunderstood members of the medical profession, tend to a more liberal interpretation of the Hippocratic Oath they’re sworn to. The last and perhaps most important lesson: if you and your best gal find yourself necking in an automobile on a remote lover’s lane, it might be best to spoon under a good-old fashioned hardtop. Convertibles are too easily shredded by two-headed maniacs.

Let’s be frank. Anthony M. Lanza’s The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant is one weird movie. It’s not without merit, but it’s surely a film that invites parody and guffaws over a Coke and tub of hot popcorn. This, I imagine, is the reason Kino Lorber has offered the choice of a genuine “RiffTrax” audio commentary as an optional supplement. In the interest of full disclosure, I didn’t listen through the mocking supplement in total. Truth be told, while I enjoy a cheap laugh or a well chosen barb as much as anyone, I’ve never been a big fan of the “Mystery Science Theater 3000” or “RiffTrax” phenomenon. It’s not that I don’t find such commentaries humorous or even, on occasion, insightful… at least when enjoyed in the privacy of one’s own home. But one can’t ignore that such burlesque has inspired several generations of idiots to ruin public theatrical screenings with lame attempts at imitation.

Though a genuine 1970s drive-in theater-exploitation-horror movie in nearly every regard, The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant differs from most as it offers not a single spooky nighttime scene. This might be the only horror film that I know of that takes place entirely in broad daylight. Co-screenwriter James Gordon White conceived the film “as a tongue-in-cheek take off on Frankenstein,” but I suppose that can be said of practically any horror/sci-fi film featuring a body on an operating gurney. In some ways the film, reportedly shot on a budget of $350,000 and a money-spinner for A.I.P. within six months of release, is an oddity even among that studio’s deep-catalog of low-budget horrors. Writer White sees the film as a classic “B” production, while star-player Bruce Dern has infamously dismissed it as a “Z” picture.

It must be said that nearly everything about the film is schizophrenic, and this extends to the movie’s soundtrack. There’s an early dash of background instrumentation that offers a Seventies ghetto-soul vibe. But this then contemporary musical element seems somewhat out of place when juxtaposed against the film’s entirely tranquil Californian countryside setting. Odder still is the film’s main title song, “Incredible,” a pleasant but out-of-sync bossa nova vocal number sung by the otherwise obscure singer Bobbie Boyle. Both interludes start the film off on a weird, discordant note.

Screenwriter White (The Glory Stompers. The Mini-Skirt Mob) admits that while writing the non-union scenario for American-International, he had visualized horror-film maestro Vincent Price in the role of the crazed Dr. Roger Girard: the part, for whatever reason, went to a young, lithe Bruce Dern instead. A great actor by any standard, Dern turns in an uncharacteristically aloof and workmanlike performance in The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant. In his memoir Things I’ve Said but Probably Shouldn’t Have, Dern admits he wasn’t at all thrilled about the role, but the offer of $3,500 for ten days work was enough for him and his fiancé to get married on so he signed up. Regardless of the star’s dubious commitment to the project, director Anthony M. Lanza keeps the film moving along at a good clip, and it must be said the movie suffers no moments of padding.

The film certainly wastes no time in getting one involved. We’re instantly transported to a suburban home where a ghastly act of violence is in progress. With several bloodied bodies littering the floor, a crazy-eyed psychopath – one with an unfortunate propensity for sexual violence - is in the process of lasciviously terrifying a young girl. Thankfully, she’s saved from a lurid fate at the last minute when the police arrive and subdue the madman. Though a prudent judge commits the murderous rapist, Manuel Cass, (played with wild, eye-rolling fervor by Albert Cole) to a mental institution “until sanity is restored,” there’s little chance of that happening anytime soon. It’s not long after his confinement that Cass murders an attendant and drives off into the countryside in a sporty 1961 Dodge Comet.

The scene shifts to a seemingly more tranquil environment. Though wife Linda is adamant that her husband is a “fine surgeon” who could very well enjoy a thriving “marvelous practice” if only he… well, put his head to it, Dr. Roger Girard (Bruce Dern) seems pretty determined to remain less than respectable. Dr. Girard is a man obsessed: he’s single-minded in his determination to transplant a second head on a human subject. He’s also pretty confident in his ability to accomplish such a task. He’s already succeeded in this endeavor - as any number of twin-headed caged animals and serpents kept in his home laboratory can attest. For what purpose, you might ask? Well, the doctor’s preoccupation in this matter is never adequately explained. He’s obviously self-interested in creating an unassailable reputation as one of the scientific greats, but as for the moral complexities of his twin-head experimentations… well, “future generations” can sort it all out. The doctor’s suspicious, cagey elder mentor-assistant Max (Berry Kroeger) mutters something early on about his protégé being the only one who can restore his damaged hands “and the body needed to go with them,” so there’s some surgical motive there as well. Dr. Girard, at least at first, doesn’t come off quite as crazy as Max, but he too is something of a nut case, quick to impart bitter, disparaging missives on the small-minded dullards he once worked beside at the local hospital.

Not counting the paying audience, the true victims of The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant are Pat Priest’s beleaguered Linda Girard and John Bloom’s Danny. As the not-so-good doctor’s luscious wife, any on-screen appearance of Priest, the lovely and curvaceous former Marilyn Munster, is welcomed. Sadly, without the kindly Uncle Herman or Grandpa to watch over and afford her a measure of familial protection, Priest’s lonely afternoon of poolside sun-bathing is interrupted when she’s spied upon, kidnapped and near-sexually assaulted by the psychopathic escapee. Her preoccupied husband didn’t hear her screams as he was, as usual, puttering away with bad intent in his hacienda-home laboratory. As awful as Cass manhandles Priest during the kidnapping, it must be said that the treatment she receives from her own husband is barely better. In the course of the film Dr. Girard (all in the interest of scientific secrecy, of course) locks his wife in his laboratory, gags her mouth, ties her to a bed, performs a needle injection against her consent, feeds her tranquilizers, and imprisons her inside a large steel cage… and this is not to mention the not inconsequential emotional abuse she’s made to endure. But the doctor promises his wife a nice vacation (“anywhere you want”) after he finishes up his experiments, so all is good.

Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Anchor Bay:

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – (March 22, 2016) â€“ Award-winning filmmaker Alejandro Amenábar’s (The Others, The Sea Inside) latest psychological thriller Regression arrives May 10 on Blu-rayâ„¢ and DVD from Anchor Bay Entertainment and Dimension Films, and Digital HD and On Demand from Starz Digital. Regression features an ensemble cast led by Academy Award® nominee Ethan Hawke (Boyhood, Training Day, The Purge), and Emma Watson (Harry Potter, Perks of Being a Wallflower). Hailed as a “carefully-crafted tale of collective psychosis” by the Hollywood Reporter, Regression also stars David Thewlis (Harry Potter,Anomalisa), Dale Dickey (“True Blood”) and Devon Bostick (“The 100”, Diary of a Wimpy Kid).  

Minnesota, 1990. Detective Bruce Kenner (Ethan Hawke) investigates the case of young Angela (Emma Watson), who accuses her father, John Gray (David Dencik), of an unspeakable crime. When John unexpectedly and without recollection admits guilt, renowned psychologist Dr. Raines (David Thewlis) is brought in to help him relive his memories and what they discover unmasks a horrifying nationwide mystery.

Regression will be available on Blu-ray and DVD from Anchor Bay Entertainment for the suggested retail price of $26.99 and $22.98, respectively.

To learn more about the film, please visit www.anchorbayentertainment.com. 

(Cinema Retro readers: click here to order from Amazon) 

BY DAWN DABELL

If you were going to write a script following the further adventures of two Shakespearean characters, it's a safe bet Rosencrantz and Guildenstern wouldn't be the first names to spring to mind. For those who don't know, they are two minor characters from Shakespeare's Hamlet. They become the focus of Tom Stoppard's 1966 play Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead, adapted for the big screen in 1990. The title is taken directly from a line spoken in Hamlet.

It is a fairly shapeless, existential film. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (Gary Oldman and Tim Roth) travel around the wilderness, partaking in nonsensical debates about fate, chance, life and death. They seem unsure of where they are going or why, and often muddle up their own names as if they are not entirely certain of their identity.

They stumble across a travelling acting troupe fronted by the Lead Player (Richard Dreyfuss). He gives them cryptic hints about their place in the bigger picture, but much of his meaning is lost on them. Occasionally, they find themselves flitting into the events happening at the Danish castle of Elsinore, where young Prince Hamlet (Iain Glen) is descending into madness following the death of his father and the subsequent marriage of his mother (Joanna Miles) to his scheming uncle, Claudius (Donald Sumpter). When involved in the fineries of Hamlet's story, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern suddenly become different men - they become more articulate and purposeful, and have a better understanding of their place in the world. When the action moves away and they are left alone once more, they slip back into nonsensical and often stupid character traits, as if they have been stripped of their personality and understanding.

The film often focuses on the off-stage aspects of Hamlet, wherein Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are mostly confused by the small snippets of information they glean from their position at the edge of the main action. They try hopelessly to piece together what is happening in Hamlet's life (and the lives of other characters) during their absence, but only come up with fanciful theories to explain situations which lie beyond their grasp. The technique raises an important question for the audience: what role do we play in other people's lives? Our friend's lives, our family's lives, don't cease to exist just because we aren't present - yet we don't know what is happening to them or what they are experiencing at any given time unless we are there to bear witness. Ultimately, lives carry on regardless and our understanding of any situation is dictated and shaped by whatever snippets we see for ourselves.

It's a clever device which enables us to relate to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. We see that, like them, we are merely minor characters on a much larger stage - called 'Life'. The two main characters are constantly mistaken for each other by those around them; even between themselves they often forget which one is Rosencrantz and which is Guildenstern. In some ways, Stoppard is mocking the way they are written in the play, indicating they are so similar that they might as well have been rolled into one, since there is not enough discernible difference between them.

One can imagine that adapting the play for the big screen would present a daunting prospect for many directors. It comes as little surprise, then, that Stoppard himself directed the film version. As he pointed out in an interview with the Los Angeles Times: "It began to become clear that it might be a good idea if I did it myself—at least the director wouldn't have to keep wondering what the author meant. It just seemed that I'd be the only person who could treat the play with the necessary disrespect." He does a commendable job here, and it seems surprising this was his one and only film directing assignment. With over 40 writing credits to his name, it would have been interesting to see him adapting and directing one of his other plays.

During the casting stages, Stoppard approached Sean Connery to play the Lead Player. Once Connery's name was associated with the production, Stoppard was able to secure funding for it. Unfortunately, around this time Connery was having problems with his throat, leading him to visit a specialist who discovered abnormal cells which had to be surgically removed. Connery pulled out of the feature to concentrate on his health. Stoppard reacted angrily, informing the actor he had committed to the film and the producers would take the matter further. In the end, Connery settled the matter out of court. It's not difficult to visualise Connery in the role: he would have had fun with the character and his voice would have suited the prose beautifully, but alas it was not to be. Richard Dreyfuss makes a perfectly worthy replacement, full of energy and mischievous humour in the flamboyant role.