Roger Corman had, over a relatively short period of time,
directed and/or produced more than a
half-dozen pictures since his entry into the movie industry in 1955.His first efforts were modest successes, but
the filmmaker firmly broke into a dependably bankable stride within two years’
time.Though already having helmed two
low budget science-fiction pictures with some success (Day the World Ended (1955) and It
Conquered the World (1956) his reputation in Hollywood - as a budget-minded
money-spinner - was properly recognized following the box office counting of his
1957 chiller combo: Attack of the Crab
Monsters/Not of This Earth.Variety noted the package – each film made
on a “slenderized bankroll of $85, 000,” had brought in an impressive domestic
gross of $800,000.By early November of
’57, that package, distributed through Allied Artists, had earned back the
entirety of its production and marketing costs within twelve weeks of its release.
Through the remainder of the 1950s and well into the early
1960s, Corman continued to grind out a dizzying array of feature films, not all
of the horror and sci-fi variety: there were plenty of exploitative teenage
rock n’ roll pictures and crime dramas offered as well. But from 1960 through
1964, Corman worked primarily – though not exclusively – producing and directing
an impressive slate of upscale horror classics.He had already given fans such soon-to-be low-budget cult favorites as Bucket of Blood (1959) and Little Shop of Horrors (1960).But in 1960 he more famously scored with House of Usher, the first of his iconic and
moody cycle of Poe and H.P. Lovecraft adaptations - many featuring Vincent
Price in roles as both tormentor and tormented.
One of Corman’s most important collaborators in his early
years was screenwriter Charles B. Griffith.Griffith would receive screenwriting credit – or co-credit – on no fewer
than eight of Corman’s earliest films 1956-59.The writer would later recall for Beast
from Haunted Cave he had been commissioned by Corman to essentially rework
the storyline of an earlier film they had crafted together – Naked Paradise (1957) aka Thunder Over Hawaii.Naked
Paradise, of which Griffith was brought on late to the project for a
re-write, was essentially a South Seas crime-drama set in a pineapple
plantation under the umbrella of a glistening sun.
Since that film had done well enough, Corman wanted to revisit
the scenario of Naked Paradise for the
reimagined crime drama titled Beast from
Haunted Cave.There would be a new
twist: the new scenario was to take place in and around a gold mining community
nestled in the dead winter snow of South Dakota’s Black Hills.Oh, and Corman advised Griffith that he also wanted
a genuine cave-dwelling monster thrown in for good measure - that sort of thing
was still selling.That was essentially
all the background material given to Griffith to get started on the project.
Despite its menacing title Beast from Haunted Cave appears more a crime-drama than horror
flick in the course of its 65-minute running time.The story revolves around the criminal doings
of a circle of bandits: chain-smoking mastermind Alexander Ward (Frank Wolff), his
two minions Marty Jones (Richard Sinatra) and Byron Smith (Wally Campo) and
Ward’s oft- inebriated “secretary” Gypsy Boulet (Sheila Carol).The thieves have gathered in the snow-capped
mountain winter of the pioneer town of Deadwood, South Dakota.Their plan is to plant an explosive in an
abandoned cave in the early hours of a quiet Sunday morning.The explosion is set merely as a strategic
ploy to distract authorities for a time, enabling the thieves’ free reign to
steal gold bars from an unattended payroll office of a local gold-mining
company.
Unfortunately, their plans don’t run smoothly.Ward’s dissatisfied and affection-starved
lover-secretary, Gypsy, has a bit of a drinking problem.She complicates matters when she falls hard for
ski instructor and trail guide Gil Jackson (Michael Forest), a swarthy,
dark-haired gentleman of gentle temperament. (As an aside, I occasionally had a
bit of trouble understanding actress Sheila Carol’s dialogue in this film: her
diction seemed a perplexing amalgam of drunken slurred words and a faux
Katherine Hepburn accent).The cold Ward
takes notice of his woman’s wandering eye but is unworried.He has plans to kill Jackson once the skier -
unwittingly - guides this gaggle of crooks on a cross-country trail run to a
remote location.
Ward had plans to rendezvous with a waiting plane to
ferry his gang - and their misbegotten treasure - off to safe sanctuary in
Canada.But this plan too is scuttled by
an unwelcome blizzard passing through the mountains.(As a second aside, Ward’s cross-country ski scheme
is surely the most ineffectual escape route ever mapped by criminals carrying weighted
gold bars in rucksacks.They really would
have done better just hightailing it out of town in their rented car). To complicate matters further – and this is
where the horror finally comes in - their explosive mine charge has awakened
the titular beast, sort of an upright walking, giant spider that collects his victims
by webbing them against cave walls and drinking their blood at his leisure.Let’s just say the moral of the story is a
familiar one: essentially, crime doesn’t pay.
In Corman’s attempt to make their chilly time in the
Black Hills more productive and worthwhile (i.e. profitable), the filming of Beast was to be produced back-to-back on
location in Deadwood with yet another Charles B. Griffith script, Ski Troop Attack.This second film was to be a somewhat more
ambitious project, a snow-bound WWII action-adventure pitting American
ski-troopers against their wintry Nazi counterparts.The Corman team would use the same primary
on-and off screen talents featured in the cast and credits of Beast for Ski Troop Attack.
The scenario of Ski
Troop Attack referentially takes place in the snow-capped mountains of
Germany’s Hürtgen Forest, circa
December 1944.A small American band of
ski-troopers are the only remaining Allied force active in this Nazi-controlled
region, hiding themselves behind enemy lines so they can spy and report on SS
ski-troop movements.The level-head
Lieutenant Factor (Forest), a graduate of the Army’s Officer Candidate School,
wishes to stay clear of engaging in active combat with the enemy.As the only team of Allied forces positioned
inside the Nazi-controlled German-Belgian border, it is Forest’s belief his
outfit should purposely avoid direct contact.He instead wants to concentrate his efforts on secret reconnaissance
missions.By acting as the covert eyes of
the good guys behind enemy lines, his outfit would be able to transmit vital
information on Nazi troop movements back to HQ.
But Factor is at loggerheads
with tough-talking Sergeant Potter (a mustache-less Wolff, again cast in a
“heavy” role).Potter is described by
Factor as an old school “regular army guy,” a man of pure fighting spirit but someone
strategically short-sighted.Potter desperately
wants to engage the Nazi ski-troopers in active combat and is mostly dismissive
of the Factor’s civilian background and wartime decision-making capabilities.Potter does get a number of chances to engage
in hand-to-hand combat.The film actually
offers no shortage of brutal on screen violence with competing ski-troops ambushing
and beating one another with fisticuffs, rifles butts, bayonets, knives and
machine-gun fire.
Ultimately, the American’s
decide to blow up a strategic railroad bridge that Allied air powers are unable
to access and target.But while
attempting to get to the base of the bridge to set off their detonators, they
must first successfully climb an ice-covered vertical cliff side.If this isn’t problematic or dangerous enough,
they must also fend off a team of six pursuing Nazi ski-troopers hot on their
trail.The German skiing contingent,
incidentally, is led by the badly-dubbed Roger Corman himself.The film’s climactic ending is, somewhat surprisingly
for this type of adventure, more bleak than celebratory.
Griffith’s screenplay is
actually far more nuanced than it is given credit for in the film’s original
round of reviews.The sensitively written
dialogue is mature – the scene where soldier Grammelsbacher (Sinatra) sits
around a campfire musing if somewhere out there there’s still “a bullet with my
name on it” – is particularly gripping.The better written dialogue also brings out better acting performances
of all involved – including Shelia Carol who appears midway through the film as
a spiteful German captive of the Americans.
The film does plod a bit.There’s a lot of wartime newsreel footage
interlaced throughout, and no matter how beautiful the mountain settings are
photographed, there’s far too many time-filling shots of ski-troopers silently
trudging cross-country style through the tundra.Having said that that, there’s also some
well-executed ski chase scenes captured on screen, such action-footage surprising
for a film shot on a threadbare budget.The soundtrack of the film is riddled with the sound of machine-gun fire
and a decent score courtesy of composer Fred Katz – though fans of Corman’s
earliest films will surely recognize a good number of Katz’s recycled musical
motifs are in play.
As both projects were to be shot on tight schedules,
Roger’s brother, Gene, stepped in as the de facto producer of Beast.Once a Hollywood agent, Gene Corman was co-founder (with Roger) of their
company Filmgroup, Inc.Gene’s earliest
entries as producer would include a number of exploitative sci-fi efforts such as
Night of the Blood Beast (1958) and Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959).With Roger set to both produce and direct Ski Troop Attack, the directorial duties of Beast were given to first-timer Monte Hellman - whose only previous
film experience was having worked as an apprentice editor at ABC-TV.
In his entertaining memoir, How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime
(Random House, 1990), Roger Corman recalled the wintertime location shooting in
and around snowbound Deadwood as “unbearable” and “a very tough
challenge.”When shooting was to
commence on the peak of Mount Terry, Corman recorded temperatures of a frigid thirty-eight
degrees below zero.In the recollection
of script supervisor Kinta Zertuche, her primary job was simply “to find ways
to keep the film warm enough so it wouldn’t get brittle and crack.” She was
also deigned to find ways of keeping the production cameras from freezing – not
always successfully.
Production assistant Paul Rapp recalled he had been
tasked to drive the parsimonious Corman – and an automobile-filled cache of
film props - from Los Angeles to Deadwood, so the director “could save on
airfare and have an extra car on location.”When filming one downhill ski sequence, Corman accidentally set off a
small avalanche by shouting “Action!” too loudly through a bullhorn.Rapp recalled while the incident scared him
half-to-death, Corman quickly realized the potential visual impact of what the
camera was capturing.So the team was
commanded to continue to roll film, Corman exhorting via bullhorn that his terrified
skiers try their best to “Stay Ahead of the Avalanche!”
In March of 1959, there was a trade announcement that
“Corman’s distributing outfit, The Filmgroup,” was planning to release Beast from Haunted Cave nationally (paired
with The Wasp Woman) as early as June
1, with Ski Troop Attack (to be paired
with Task Force 38) a little more
than a month later, July 13.But neither
of those prospective release dates would actually roll out as planned, even
though the films themselves were
ready to roll.Beast would come closest to realizing its projected release date,
appearing on some screens in July 1959.
As early as February of 1960, Variety reported that the steamroller that was Filmgroup was
optimistically planning to roll out eight feature films a month between March
and June of 1960.Ski Troop Attack was to see release on the very tail end of that
schedule. The Hollywood Reporter suggested Filmgroup’s plan as more ambitious
than even originally announced: the company was planning on issuing no less
than twenty-four features over a
year’s period, with eleven of those titles already in the can and ready to go.
The company was also interested in testing international
markets. It was reported that the usually closed-to-outsiders Soviet film
market was interested in importing four Corman titles – including Beast and Ski – assuming whether or not Irving Allen, president of Canada’s
Astral Films, could finalize a deal while visiting London.Later in May of 1960, it was reported
Filmgroup had sealed another deal to distribute eight films – again, including Beast and Ski - throughout the Philippine islands.Finally, in August of 1960, Continental
Distributors would obtain rights of Filmgroup product for European markets.
But the U.S. market was of most concern to the filmmakers.On March 16, 1960, there was a very belated press
screening of the Beast and Wasp combo at the Hollywood Theatre. Variety was generally impressed with Hellman’s
Beast, but suggested the film’s scenario
was completely illogical.The critic
also pondered that perhaps interest in horror films was generally on the
wane.He opined, audiences were growing
“inured to monsters and hardly blink when this one guzzles its customary quota
of blood.”The review of Wasp was likewise middling in
praise.The trade noted, while the film
was certainly an “exploitable” passable entertainment, “it’s pretty slow and not
very frightening.”
The “official” premiere of Beast from Haunted Cave was to take place at dual locations in
South Dakota:Rapid City’s State Theatre
and the Hile-Hi Drive-in outside of Deadwood: the latter venue was to enjoy a
four day night run of Beast beginning
August 2, 1959.This was obviously a nod
of acknowledgment to the folks living in the area of the Black Mountain Hills
who hosted and assisted the film’s production.But no matter how well-intentioned the “premiere” honor, Beast from Haunted Cave and The Wasp Woman had already been
projected on screens in the mid and southwestern U.S. as early as July of ’59.
Earlier that spring, director Gene Corman had written
Allan “Birdie” Arnold of Deadwood’s Chamber of Commerce City Council, a champion
of the film shoot. “We saw a rough cut of our picture, it is very good and I’m
sure everyone who helped, especially you, will be proud and pleased,” Gene
wrote, adding, “I plan to make it a full length picture and hope to release it
in the summer.”For their assistance,
both Arnold and Mayor Ed Keene of Lead, South Dakota, were given “Technical
Advisor” credits on Beast.
The 1980s was a fun time to be a child. The monster
kids of the 1950s and 1960s may have had Forrest J. Ackerman and his Famous
Monsters of Filmland magazine, but we had full-blown horror content in
films ostensibly made for a young audience, from the melting Nazis in Raiders
of the Lost Ark or the terrifying library apparition in Ghostbusters,
to a melting Stripe in Joe Dante’s equally hilarious and scary Gremlins.
In this new book dedicated to horror films aimed at children, Catherine Lester begins
by drawing on early examples such as Frankenstein’s murder of the little
girl by its titular monster, along with other pre-code horrors that primarily
drew a young crowd, through to its modern, reanimated version, Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie.
The book then takes a deeper look at the ‘horrific’ childlike gremlins who both
commit violent acts and then have violence acted upon them (along with the
aforementioned Stripe, who can forget the gremlin in the microwave?). What
happens to the representation of children in the horror film when children are
the audience? Did the children in the audience take sympathy with the gremlins,
who let’s not forget, just happily sit watching Disney films with childlike
wonder when the adult world just leaves them alone? The violence combined with
the Looney Tunes tone of Gremlins caused some issues for the MPAA,
something which the book also goes into. Ultimately it led to the introduction
of the PG-13, apparently suggested by Steven Spielberg, the film’s producer,
who described the new rating as “PG with a little hot sauce on top.”
Lester also draws on another eighties staple,
The Monster Squad, a sort of The Goonies meets The Lost Boys
via Universal’s horror canon. By introducing the concept of the ‘Crazyspace’, a
space in which child characters are able to be the prime agents in dispatching
evil forces in the complete absence of adult supervision, the book explores the
way in which many films present children as autonomous and often superior to even
the most masculinised models of authority; in this case the kids defeat Dracula
and his fellow monsters before the US Army arrive, something which would have
been very different in the 1950s monster and science fiction movies, where it
was usually the army who saved the day.
Bringing the discussion into the 21st
Century, Lester also looks at the animated children’s horrors ParaNorman (one
of this reviewer’s favourites), Coraline and Monster House, along
with Joe Dante’s return to the children’s horror genre with 2009’s live action The
Hole. By covering almost a century of children's horror films, this book
makes for an insightful and entertaining examination of the horrific child and
the cathartic nature of the genre. For this reviewer, as a child horror was an
escape from the terrors of the real world, and as such it is a rewarding
experience to be able to read this major contribution to the study of these
strange and wonderful films. Horror Films for Children is highly
recommended, both the book and the films themselves!
I
hated William Friedkin’s 1985 police thriller, To Live and Die in L.A., when I first saw it. The mixture of
Eighties-style pop music by Wang Chung and the disreputable characters were, I
felt, meretricious and off-putting. Even the car chase seemed lackluster. I
also hated Dario Argento’s Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1972), James
Toback’s Fingers (1978) and David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986) during
my first viewings. Revisiting these titles soon afterwards made me realize that
I failed to fully appreciate or understand them. My ignorance of film was evident!
To
Live and Die in L.A., which
opened nationwide on Friday, November 1, 1985 to lukewarm notices and
underwhelming box office despite being championed by a four-star review by Roger
Ebert, is a highly stylized, dark, and uncompromising crime thriller that
boasts a then-unknown cast with a story and a pace that feels more suited to
the 1970s. It also contains what I consider to be the greatest car chase ever
filmed and edited for a major motion picture, which took no less than five
weeks to plan and shoot.
Having
seen Mr. Friedkin’s brilliant Oscar-winning East Coast police thriller The French Connection (1971), this West
Coast-based yarn centers on a Secret Service agent, Richard Chance (William
Petersen), whose best friend and partner Jim Hart (Michael Greene) has been
murdered in cold blood by artist/currency counterfeiter Rick Masters (Willem
Dafoe) just days prior to his retirement. This plot device occurred before it
became a familiar film trope, and this
is easily one of the best films of the 1980s. Chance has one goal: to put
Masters away for life with no regard for how he has to do it. Truthfully, he
would prefer to kill him. This causes many issues for his new partner John
Vukovich (John Pankow) whose familial lineage of law enforcement officers and his
“by the book” methodology conflicts with Chance’s no-bullshit headstrong attitude.
Vukovich’s unwillingness to go outside the boundaries of acceptability is
tested when: Chance surreptitiously removes crucial evidence from a crime scene
in order to get to Masters; Chance, without Vukovich’s knowledge, springs a
prisoner friend (John Turturro) of Masters to get him to testify; and most
notably forces Vukovich to go along with a plan to obtain cash needed to get
closer to Masters while nearly dying in what is arguably cinema’s most exciting
getaway car chase sequence. What makes the chase work so well is that it’s
physical, it’s possible (though highly improbable), and it’s not done in a Fast and the Furious, over-the-top sort
of way. Nor is it perfunctory as it comes as a result of an important plot
point, nearly besting the director’s own French Connection subway/car
chase with a headlong ride straight up the 710 Long Beach Freeway while driving
in the wrong direction against traffic.
Chance
also beds a willing parolee (Darlanne Fluegel) who gives him information on
current convicts in return for money to provide for herself and her son
Christopher. Like the inexorable Popeye Doyle in The French Connection who will stop at nothing to put drug dealers
and users away, Chance, like his surname, will stop at nothing to capture and
punish Masters. The difference between the two films is that the former paints
Brooklyn and New York City as gritty and almost despairing cities whereas the
latter bathes the frame in a Los Angeles that we have not seen before or since.
While also gritty, grimy and dark, this is a Lotus Land that is also highly
glossy and enticing, with beautiful people who are about as real as the
counterfeit bills that Masters manufactures. The overall theme and central
conceit of To Live and Die in L.A. is
fraudulence. People use each other for their own personal gains. Masters is an
artist but hates what he paints and burns his work in frustration. Since he
cannot find joy or satisfaction in his own originality, he resorts to copying
others, in this case $20, $50, and $100 bills in a procedure that is
painstaking, difficult, and now archaic.
Like
The French Connection, To Live and Die in LA is also based on a
book of the same name, this one a novel written by former Secret Service Agent
Gerald Petievich. What makes the film remarkable is the opening sequence which
features a martyr who shouts “Allahu Akbar” just before blowing himself up on
the roof of a hotel where then-President Reagan is giving a speech. This scene
made little sense to me upon my maiden viewing but is eerily prescient of the religious
extremism that has made its way to America’s shores.
The
performances are excellent all around. William Petersen, whose film debut was
as a bar bouncer in Michael Mann’s Thief (1981),
is terrific as Chance and plays him as a daredevil whose cowboy nature seals
his fate and makes him a dangerous person to be around. This is established in
an early sequence wherein Chance bungee jumps off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in
San Pedro, CA. In addition to the martyr sequence, this could also be one of
the earliest instances of this now highly popular activity’s depiction in a
film. John Pankow is also quite good as Chance’s conflicted partner. The stand-out
is Willem Dafoe as Masters, fresh from Walter Hill’s 1984 outing Streets of
Fire. His icy expressions and demeanor can change on a moment’s notice
without warning. Darlanne Fluegel, who heartbreakingly left us far too soon
following an early onset of Alzheimer’s Disease, is mysterious as Chance’s muse.
I first saw her in Battle Beyond the
Stars (1980). Debra Feuer is striking as Masters’ girlfriend and
confidante. The late Dean Stockwell is great as Masters’ lawyer - you can
almost see him prepping himself for the role of Ben in David Lynch’s aforementioned
and masterful Blue Velvet the
following year. Steve James is an actor I always liked ever since I first saw
him in the “Night Vigil” episode of T.J.
Hooker in 1984. He started in the industry as a stunt man in films as
diverse as The Wiz (1978), The Wanderers (1979), The
Warriors (1979), Dressed to Kill
(1980), and He Knows You’re Alone (1980)
prior to onscreen acting. Here he plays Jeff, one of Masters’ clients and his
performance, though small, shines. He also appeared in the William Friedkin
TV-movie C.A.T. Squad in 1986, which
was also written by Mr. Petievich. His premature death in 1993 from what is
rumored to be the medical treatment that he received after a cancer diagnosis
is a tremendous loss to the entertainment industry.
To Live and Die in L.A. has been released on home video many
times in the United States and is now available on 4K UHD Blu-ray courtesy of
Kino Lorber. The extras, which are ported over from the 2016 SHOUT! Factory
Special Edition Blu-ray and the 2003 MGM/UA Home Video DVD, are all included
and are as follows:
Disc
One:
-
4K UHD Blu-ray remastered from the original camera negative.
-
Audio Commentary by Director William Friedkin from 2003 – this runs the full length
of the film and is the only bonus to be included on both the 4K UHD disc and
the standard 1080p Blu-ray.
Disc
Two:
-
Standard 1080p Blu-ray down-converted from a 4K remastering from the original
camera negative.
-
Audio Commentary by Director William Friedkin from 2003.
-
Taking a Chance: Interview with Actor William Petersen (20:42, in high definition,
from 2016) – Gary Sinise read for the role of Richard Chance with the casting
director, but the role instead went to William Petersen after he read for it at
William Friedkin’s New York City apartment. A second reading with actor friend
John Pankow solidified their roles.
-
Renaissance Woman in L.A. Interview with Actress Debra Feuer (14:56, in
high definition, from 2016) – Ms. Feuer reminisces about how wonderful the
experience was for her. Despite the sexual angle of the film which made her
uncomfortable, the cast and crew made her receptive and accepted on the set. Her
role is small but important and I would love to see her in more films.
-
Doctor for a Day: Interview with Actor Dwier Brown (08:53, in high
definition, from 2016) – Dwier Brown talks about his excitement over reading
for the film. He would later go on to appear as Phil Sterling in Mr. Friedkin’s
1989 druid-horror film The Guardian, and humorously recalls how the
director forgot that he was in To Live and Die in L.A.
-
So in Phase - Scoring To Live and Die in L.A. Interview with Composers Wang
Chung (12:44, in high
definition, from 2016) – It’s amazing that Mr. Friedkin heard Wang Chung’s 1984
album Points on the Curve, in particular the song “Wait,” and explained
that that was the vibe that he wanted from the album for the film score. While
there is a soundtrack album available for this film, it’s incomplete, and I
hope that one day a full soundtrack album, remastered from the original master
tracks, will be issued. Wang Chung recalls some interesting anecdotes in this
onscreen interview.
-
Wrong Way - The Stunts of To Live and Die in L.A. Interview with Stunt
Coordinator Buddy Joe Hooker (35:39, in high definition, from 2016) – The
famous stunt man discusses the intricacies and challenges of filming one of the
most dangerous car chases ever mounted for a film. The director was all about disorienting
the audience, and that notion comes into play here in how the chase was staged
and ultimately executed.
-
Counterfeit World - The Making of To Live and Die in L.A. Documentary
(29:52, in standard definition, from 2003) – This is a fun look behind the
scenes with mini interviews from many of the cast and crew involved, with
discussions regarding the characterizations as portrayed by the actors and
actresses to filming the famed car chase.
-
Deleted Scene and Alternate Ending with Introductions (13:07) – this is
the ridiculous ending that the director shot to please the studio executives
and thankfully was never used. You won’t believe it when you see it.
As
a kid, I watched “Bourbon Street Beat” (1959-60), a Warner Brothers TV series
starring Richard Long and Andrew Duggan as two private detectives in New
Orleans, Rex and Cal.Even in those days
of generally undemanding audiences, most grown-up viewers probably realized
something I didn’t as a nine-year-old.“Bourbon Street Beat” was produced on nickels and dimes like every other
Warner Brothers PI and Western series of the day, and authentic New Orleans
backdrops were limited to a fleeting street shot of the French Quarter, taken
from stock footage.Everything else was
filmed on the Warners backlot in Burbank, including a partial exterior set
representing the Absinthe House at 240 Bourbon Street where the two private
eyes supposedly held down their office.With a quick switch, the detectives’ window looking out on the Vieux Carre
could be transformed into a window looking out on Waikiki, once this week’s
episode wrapped and filming began tomorrow for “Hawaiian Eye.” The most
authentic element of the show may have been Arlene Howell, a gorgeous model and
former Miss Louisiana who played Rex and Cal’s secretary, Melody Lee.Certainly, she was a better reason to tune in
than the archival footage.
Fast-forward
to 1986 and “The Big Easy,” a crime drama with on-location street scenes and
Crescent City atmosphere in abundance.Budgets and audience expectations had come a long way since “Bourbon
Street Beat.”The movie, directed by Jim
McBride, is available from Kino Lorber Studio Classics on Blu-ray.It opens with Detective-Lieutenant Remy McSwain
(Dennis Quaid) investigating the murder of a hit man that he and his fellow
officers in the New Orleans Police Department quickly attribute to a war
between rival organized crime gangs, one commanded by an aging mafia capo (Marc
Lawrence) and the other by a Black kingpin, Daddy Manton (Solomon Burke).The theory begins to unravel when Assistant
District Attorney Anne Osborne (Ellen Barkin) looks into the case and calls
McSwain’s conclusion premature.She is
as strait-laced as the half-Irish, half-Cajun McSwain is uninhibited, and offended
by his offhand acceptance of free meals at restaurants and other gratuities as
perks that go with his badge.So
naturally, in the usual Hollywood formula prizing sexual chemistry over logic,
the two quickly get a thing going.But
duty intrudes.Remy is caught in an
Internal Affairs sting operation, and Anne faces him in court as the chief
prosecutor.Meanwhile, additional mob
gunmen are murdered.McSwain examines
new clues with a more critical eye as they begin to pile up, and he comes to
agree with Anne.A gang war isn’t as
air-tight an explanation as he’d first thought.
Well-cast
with Ned Beatty, John Goodman, and Charles Ludlam in supporting roles, “The Big
Easy” was a respectable hit, even launching a 1996-97 TV series
executive-produced by Daniel Petrie Jr., who wrote the script for the
movie.Quaid and Barkin, both rising
talents, were a big draw, as were McBride’s plentiful scenes of zydeco parties,
crawfish boils, dinner at Antoine’s, and other exotic rituals in those days
before the Mardi Gras Week marathons on the Travel Channel and the Food
Channel. For fans of detective films who want scripts to cut to the chase,
though, there may be too much of Remy’s toothy flirting with Anne and too much
jambalaya in the first half of the movie, which begins to drag. But the pace
picks up in the second half with clever plot twists and a couple of crisply
directed action scenes, in which Quaid appears to do his less dangerous
physical stunts. Full disclosure, I have three degrees of separation from
Dennis Quaid, through someone who knows members of the Quaid family, but fuller
disclosure, I’ve never met the actor and I’m sure, never will.
The
Kino Lorber release of “The Big Easy” presents a rich image at the 1.85:1
aspect and informative audio commentary from Jim McBride, moderated by filmmaker
Douglas Hosdale. McBride offers interesting behind-the-scenes anecdotes,
including an explanation of how the great R&B singer Solomon Burke was cast
as Daddy Manton. Burke is one of two surprise faces in the cast. The other is
former New Orleans district attorney and Kennedy conspiracy theorist Jim
Garrison, who held a Louisiana state appeals court judgeship from 1978 until
his death in 1992. Garrison plays Judge Jim Garrison, who presides over Remy
McSwain’s bribery trial, much as the Beatles, Nicholas Cage, Tommy and Jimmy
Dorsey, Alan Freed, John Malkovich, and others have played “themselves” on the
screen.
The Blu-ray edition
of “The Big Easy” also includes trailers for several other Kino Lorber crime
movies and SDH captions for those of us old enough to remember who Jim Garrison
was.
In 1984, James Cameron’s immortal classic The Terminator—a film about an almost
unstoppable killer cyborg—was unleashed upon an unsuspecting public and it
quickly became a critical and commercial success. Three years later, Paul
Verhoeven’s Robocop—which told the
story of a seriously wounded police officer being put back together with
robotic parts and brought back to active duty—flooded theater screens and, just
like The Terminator, became a
phenomenal success. That same year saw the release of a low budget, sci-fi
actioner titled Programmed to Kill
which not only borrowed heavily from both films, but also pre-dated 1992’s Universal Soldier; a movie with a
similar plot.
Written by Robert Short and directed by Allan
Holzman, Programmed to Kill tells the
tale of ruthless Middle Eastern terrorist Samira (Sandahl Bergman) who, after
completing a horrible mass shooting at a marketplace in Greece, is stopped and
seriously injured by former CIA agent Eric Matthews (Robert Ginty). Samira is
then taken to the United States where she is transformed into an obedient
cyborg killing machine. Programmed to wipe out her elite team, she is then sent
back to the Middle East. However, after completing her mission, Samira regains
her memory and begins violently assassinating her CIA enemies. Is there anyone
who can stop her out-of-control bionic rampage?
Also known as The Retaliator, Programmed
to Kill is a fun, low-budget 80s action film with a gripping, if
derivative, story; a solid cast and exciting action sequences (well-handled by
director Holzman). At a brief 91minutes, the movie never overstays its welcome.
If, like me, you’re a fan of 80s action flicks, Robert Ginty, Sandahl Bergman
or all three, you won’t be disappointed.
Programmed to Kill has been released on
a Region One Blu-ray and is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The
film’s brand new HD master from a 2K scan of the 35MM interpositive looks
fantastic. The special features include an informative audio commentary by
director Allan Holzman (moderated by filmmaker Douglas Hosdale); an interview
with screenwriter Robert Short; an alternate opening credit, and the theatrical
trailer. The Blu-ray also comes with a very cool-looking slipcover, and
reversible artwork featuring the movie’s alternate title The Retaliator. Fun stuff. Check it out.
To hardcore horror fans, the filmmaking team
of Jeffrey Obrow and Stephen Carpenter is well known. The dynamic duo first
appeared on the horror scene in 1982 when they directed the cult slasher film The Dorm That Dripped Blood aka Pranks, a movie that featured the big
screen debut of actress Daphne Zuniga and, thanks to a murder scene involving a
drill, was put on the UK’s infamous “Video Nasty” list. Obrow and Carpenter’s
sophomore effort would be 1984’s The
Power, a supernatural tale about a man who becomes possessed by an evil
Aztec doll. Recently, the creative team’s third film, a creature feature titled The Kindred, was released on Blu-ray.
The Kindred (1987)concerns scientist
John Hollins (David Allen Brooks) who, at the behest of his dying mother—a
molecular scientist played by Kim Hunter—returns to her home with Melissa
Leftridge (Amanda Pays) and several of his friends in order to destroy the
“Anthony Journals”; his mother’s notes detailing her genetic experiments.
However, evil scientist Phillip Lloyd (Rod Steiger) desperately wants the
journals so that he can continue the unholy experiments himself. But there’s
another problem—John’s murderous “brother”, Anthony, a horrible-looking,
tentacled creature born from genetic experimentation, is lurking somewhere in
their mother’s old house and he’s not a happy camper.
Besides once again directing, Obrow and
Carpenter also co-wrote The Kindred
(along with John Penney, Earl Ghaffari and the legendary Joseph Stefano) while
Obrow produced and Carpenter handled the cinematography. Shot in California,
this is a well-made and enjoyable 80s horror flick with lots of amazing, gooey
special effects (one of the main reasons to watch the movie) by Academy Award
winner Matthew Mungle, and a decent-looking creature. The film’s talented cast
also includes Talia Balsam, Peter Frechette and Julia Montgomery, and there’s a
memorable musical score by Oscar nominated composer David Newman.
The Kindred has been released on
a region 1, 2 and 3 Blu-ray by Synapse Films and it is presented in its
original 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The 4K HD remaster of the unrated version is
flawless and it has a new 5.1 English stereo surround remix as well. (The
original 2.0 mono theatrical mix is also included along with optional English
subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.) The disc not only contains an
informative audio commentary by directors Obrow and Carpenter (moderated by
horror journalist Steve Barton), but it also features a terrific, all-new 52
minute documentary titled Inhuman
Experiments-The Making of “The Kindred”; an interesting 18 minute
featurette showing effects artist Michael McCracken Jr.’s never-before-seen
on-set footage, as well as a still gallery, storyboards, trailers and TV spots.
Pure 80s fun. Recommended.
The
following press release was received from The History Press.
“The 007
Diaries: Filming Live and Let Die” (Fine Press Edition) By Sir Roger
Moore KBE
9781803992600
240 pages
4 October 2023, £350
· Will
feature a new foreword from actress Madeline Smith (Agent Caruso in Live and
Let Die) as well as an existing foreword by the late, great David Hedison
(Felix Leiter)
· James
Bond is synonymous with luxury, high-end products, and Bond fans typically seek
these out (see 007store.com for examples)
· Live
and Let Die is a much-loved and iconic Bond film, which lends itself to
this format · Will include some more rare images from the filming of Live
and Let Die
· The book will be individually numbered, beautifully produced, complete
with slipcase
Out of
print for over forty years, The 007 Diaries introduces Roger Moore’s
James Bond Diary to a new generation of fans. To tie in with the release of
his first James Bond film, Live and Let Die, Roger Moore agreed to keep
a day-by-day diary throughout the film’s production, which would be published
just ahead of the premiere in July 1973. From his unveiling as the new 007 in
1972 through to his first scenes on location in New Orleans and his final shot
in New York, Moore describes his whirlwind journey as cinema’s most famous
secret agent. Taking in the sights of Jamaica before returning to Pinewood
Studios, Moore’s razor wit and unique brand of humour is ever present. With
tales from every location, including his encounters with his co-stars and key
crew members, Moore offers the reader an unusually candid, amusing and hugely
insightful behind-the-scenes look into the world’s most successful film
franchise.
AUTHOR
DETAILS
SIR ROGER
MOORE KBE had an extraordinary career that spanned seven decades, from early
television to the golden age of Hollywood and on to international superstardom.
Dashing, handsome and every inch the archetypal English gentleman, he was
unforgettable as the title character in The Saint and as Lord Brett Sinclair in
The Persuaders! But it was as James Bond where he made his mark, playing the
most debonair of the 007s in seven blockbusting films.
Film Masters is a new classic film
restoration and distribution company formed by industry veteran and film
historian Phil Hopkins. The company launched on September 26th with an
impressive, region-free Blu-ray release. For decades, dating back to the humble
early beginnings of the home video cassette, these two public domain favourites
seemed to once flood the market. Often struck and scanned from poor quality
16mm prints, the process and distribution hardly helped the reputation of these
two low-budget slices of fifties science fiction. Of course, there’s no getting
away from the fact that The Giant Gila Monster (1959) and The Killer Shrews
(1959) were ever going to be regarded as stunning examples of quality science
fiction, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that they can’t be considered as
hugely entertaining and enjoyable vehicles.
Both films (directed by Ray Kellogg) were
originally released as a drive-in, double-bill feature in 1959. Bringing both
films together here, each with their own dedicated disc, not only makes perfect
sense, but offers a nice form of symmetry – giving the overall package
additional logic and weight. It’s a decision that also offers a degree of
‘worth’ for fans and collectors. Fans are an appreciative group of people, so
this collective form of package will only help Film Masters in gaining a healthy
reputation and a certain degree of loyalty.
Beginning with what appears to be the leading
feature, The Giant Gila Monster opens with a young couple, Pat (Grady Vaughn)
and Liz (Yolanda Salas), parked in a bleak, rural locale overlooking a ravine.
A giant Gila monster attacks the car, sending it into the ravine and killing
the couple. Later, several friends of the couple assist the local sheriff (Fred
Graham) in his search for the missing teens. Chase Winstead (Don Sullivan), a
young mechanic and hot rod racer, locates the crashed car in the ravine and
finds evidence of the giant lizard. However, it is only when the hungry reptile
attacks a train that the authorities realise they are dealing with a giant
venomous lizard. By this time, emboldened by its attacks and hungry for prey,
the creature attacks the town. It heads for the local dance hall, where the
town's teenagers are gathered for a hop.
Filmed near Dallas, Texas, the film was
budgeted at $175,000 and was produced by Dallas drive-in theatre chain owner
Gordon McLendon who wanted co-features for his main attractions. McLendon shot
the film back-to-back with The Killer Shrews. In exchange for providing the
special effects, Ray Kellogg was allowed to direct the film, while Curtis
allowed his lead Don Sullivan to pick and perform three songs. The reasoning
not only helped in padding out the action but also served in targeting the healthy
teenage market. Don Sullivan, a veteran of several low-budget monster movies,
proves to be confident in both his role and surroundings, while Lisa Simone (a
former French contestant for the 1957 Miss Universe contest) is arguably a
little more wooden and uncomfortable.
For the best part, Ray Kellogg’s special
effects work adequately well. With such a low budget, there was little
consideration for an established name such as Ray Harryhausen and his
stop-motion animation. So instead, a live Mexican beaded lizard was shot against
scaled-down model landscapes and sets. This technique wasn’t anything new, iguanas
and chameleons were also being used the very same year over at 20th
Century Fox for their adaptation of Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959). The Giant Gila Monster (naturally) was not afforded
the same budget, it was simply a locally made film that was marketed and sold
in a very clever way, making sure it received both nationwide and foreign
distribution. But above all, it remains hugely enjoyable and serves as a
reminder of far less serious times in terms of filmmaking on a shoestring.
As for the video’s quality, this new 4K scan
from original 35mm material, looks incredibly good. Sharpness, contrast and
sound are all highly impressive. Film Masters have provided a new level of
respect for this minor league classic, and the results have really raised its
once questionable profile. There is also an option of watching the film in
either a TV ratio (standard 1.33:1) or a theatrical version (1.85:1). I opted
for the theatrical version for reviewing which works perfectly well.
Film Masters have also provided some very
nice bonus features. Heading these is a full-length
audio commentary by Larry Strothe, James Gonis, Shawn Sheridan, and Matt
Weinhold from The Monster Party Podcast. As the name suggests, this is a light-hearted
overview but nevertheless thoroughly enjoyable. The group offer a cheekily
mocking level of critique but never in with a cruel intension. The common
denominator is obviously a shared love for the film. The group manage to unearth
some excellent production detail and history, often quoting from original
source material such as pressbooks and publicity from its time of release.
There is also a restored and remastered
original theatrical trailer and a very enjoyable archival audio interview with
star Don Sullivan (1929- 2018). Asking the questions is author Bryan Senn, who
digs deep in extracting as much detail as possible. Sullivan appears happy to
answer anything he can recall, and the interview is relaxed and unhurried.
Despite the audio quality which occasionally wavers (the source sounds to be
via a telephone) it remains interesting throughout and offers a unique,
first-hand insight.
Next up is The Killer Shrews (1959), again
directed by Ray Kellogg and utilising most of the
same production crew. The story follows a group of researchers who are trapped
in their remote island compound overnight by a hurricane and find themselves
under siege by their abnormally large and venomous mutant test subjects, the
shrews. Captain Thorne Sherman and first mate Rook Griswold deliver supplies by
ship to a research compound on the remote island. The station inhabitants
(scientist Marlowe Craigis, his research assistant Radford Baines, Marlowe's
daughter Ann, her fiancé Jerry Farrel, and a servant Mario) give them a cold
welcome and direct them to unload the ship and leave immediately. Marlowe
explains he has been trying to isolate the genes responsible for growth and
metabolism in order to shrink humans to half their size so as to reduce the
impact of human overpopulation. He uses shrews as test animals due to their
short lifespan, allowing him to track results over multiple generations.
However, Marlowe's experiments have created a batch of mutant wolf-sized shrews
which have escaped. The group barricade themselves inside their compound every
evening before the sun sets due to the creatures' nocturnal feeding habits.
They have not contacted the coast guard so that they can complete their
research, predicting that the shrews will cannibalize each other once they have
consumed all other food on the island.
And so begins this really enjoyable little
romp. Catching up with this film once again reminded me of just how good this
film really is. In fact, I’ll come right out and say it – I still think this is
the superior film when compared to The Giant Gila
Monster. The whole concept of a group of people trapped in a secluded and
isolated locale is one that still proves effective. The film is often compared
to that of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead made some 9 years later in
1968. If you take that concept, replacing the zombies with wild, oversized,
very hungry shrews, then you get the general idea. Yes, one could argue that
(on paper) the whole idea sounds rather ludicrous. But the film has some really
creative and effective moments, especially for 1959. Considering that the ($123,000)
budget for The Killer Shrews was even tighter than that of The Giant Gila
Monster, the results are even more impressive.
Ray Kellogg makes exceptional good use of his
special effects background. OK, so the shrews were in actual fact large coonhound
dogs dressed up with long carpeted hair and Saber fangs. And close-up shots
were nothing more than mere hand puppets! But somehow, the effects still work.
Good use of sound effects also provides an eerie warning of the shrews’ imminent
arrival. Clever quick editing also adds to the film’s overall sense of tension
and drama. In fact, there are also some cleverly constructed jump shock moments
and some particularly gruesome scenes – not to mention a ludicrously ingenious
escape plan! So, The Killer Shrews has a great deal of positives in its favour
and is well worth a re-evaluation – especially in this sparkling new transfer.
As with The Giant Gila Monster, Film Masters have afforded The Killer Shrews with
another equally high-quality transfer. I thought it looked quite faultless
actually, a nice clean, crisp transfer with lovely deep black tones and contrast.
The audio again is also clear and sharp throughout its duration. Again, there
is an option to view in either 1.33:1 or in 1.85:1 aspect ratio.
The bonus features are very enjoyable,
consisting of another full-length audio commentary this time provided by author
Jason A. Ney. This commentary offers a more scholarly, academic approach which
is both informative and enjoyable in equal measure. Ray Kellogg – An Unsung Master
is a fascinating Ballyhoo motion pictures documentary exploring the life and
career of the director. And to round off the disc is a large collection of
original radio spots for each movie courtesy of Gary L. Prange. Inside there is
also a full colour, 22-page booklet with essays by Don Stradley and Jason A.
Ney.
Overall, Film Masters have delivered a very
impressive debut package. With the hope of producing similarly styled releases
on a monthly basis, there’s certainly a great deal more to look forward to and
their efforts should be applauded.
(Darren Allison is the Soundtracks Editor for Cinema Retro.)
Step
up, step up, don’t be shy! Come one, come all, to the fabulous and terrifying
sideshow!
Just
in time for Halloween, Cinema Retro enthusiastically welcomes The
Criterion Collection’s new 2-disk Blu-ray box set release, Tod Browning’s
Sideshow Shockers, which is a triple feature extravaganza containing a highly
anticipated high definition presentation of the classic and controversial 1932
pre-code horror film, Freaks, and two earlier rare silent films, The
Unknown (1927) and The Mystic (1925). All three have in common the
circus/carnival/sideshow milieu in their stories, and all have similar themes
focusing on the concept of “the other.” Interestingly, all three are more
relevant today than ever.
When
approaching this marvelous set of pictures, one must understand a little about
the director, Tod Browning. Thankfully, we have as a supplement the immensely
listenable and entertaining interview with acclaimed author and TV showrunner,
the erudite Megan Abbott, who gives us in thirty minutes a comprehensive
character study of Browning and comments about the three films. As Abbott
explains, Browning was someone who actually did “run away to join the
circus” as a young man, and he spent a great part of his life in that world. It
is no surprise, then, that many of his films deal with that universe and the
beings who inhabit it. Abbott’s presentation here is practically worth the
price of admission… except that we have a three-ring circus of significant and
wondrous motion pictures also in the box.
Freaks, of course, is the
main attraction, as it has never been released on Blu-ray in America or the UK
prior to now (Warner Brothers released a DVD years ago). Considered one of the
most unusual movies ever produced in Hollywood, as well as one that has been
banned in many territories, pulled from release, re-issued, chopped up, and
once held as an example of Tinsel Town’s depravity and exploitative nature, Freaks
is actually a masterpiece of cinema. (Is there anyone who has seen Freaks
who hasn’t ever recited the famous line, “Gooba gobba, gooble gobble, one
of us, one of us!”?)
The
story concerns Hans (Harry Earles), a little person who works in the sideshow
of a traveling circus. He is engaged to be married to another little person,
Frieda (Daisy Earles, in real life Harry’s sister), and he happens to have an
inheritance of some value. Cleopatra (Olga Baclanova) is, as Hans calls her, a
“big person.” She is a beautiful trapeze artist, and Hans has an unrealistic
crush on her, much to Frieda’s displeasure. Cleopatra’s beau, though, is
Hercules (Henry Victor), the strongman. Cleopatra and Hercules conspire to bilk
Hans out of his fortune, first by Cleopatra seducing Hans and getting him to
propose to her. After the marriage, they will poison him, and she will inherit
the money; then Cleo and Hercules can run away together and leave behind the
circus life. Friends of the sideshow people, clown Phroso and seal trainer
Venus (Wallace Ford and Leila Hyams), are a romantic couple (also “big
people”), try to look out for Hans’ interests, but fail. The other sideshow
personnel decide to get revenge for Hans, and the results are not pretty.
Browning,
who knew and worked with real sideshow performers, cast them in the movie.
Besides the several little people, there are a few individuals with microcephaly
(then known by the derogatory term “pinheads”), a “human skeleton,” conjoined
twins, a bearded lady, men and women without limbs, an “intersex” person, and
others. Back in the old days of circus sideshows, audiences paid money to view
these “freaks of nature” to be horrified and thrilled. Sadly, practically the
only way these individuals could make a living was by displaying themselves in
such a fashion.
When
Freaks was first released, the reaction from audiences was exactly what
it would have been at a circus sideshow—one of horror and revulsion. As a
result, MGM, the studio that released the picture, realized that they had a
bomb on their hands and pulled it from release. In the late 1940s, exploitation
film distributor Dwayne Esper bought the rights and re-exhibited it as an
exploitation film, which didn’t help the movie’s reputation. Freaks was
terribly misunderstood for decades and remained so until the 1960s, when the
era of youth rebellion and the collapse of the Production Code allowed for more
freedom of expression in art and from audiences. Once the long-haired young
people began referring to themselves as “freaks” and having “freak outs,”
suddenly a film entitled Freaks had new meaning. The movie was reissued
to play on college campuses and as a midnight movie in art houses—and it found
new life and support.
Browning’s
picture was never really meant to cause disgust in the audience. His intent was
for the audience to empathize and root for the “freaks.” This is a film
in which the actors with disabilities and “otherness” are the heroes, battling
for the dignity and respect they deserve from the conniving and evil “normal”
people who are criminals. Browning simply used the thriller genre as a means to
tell the story. But in 1932, audiences could not get past the sideshow aspect
of what they were looking at. They didn’t get it.
Thankfully,
now we do. Yes, Freaks is hailed as one of the great horror films,
but it is also a respectful look at congenital disabilities and a compassionate,
endearing examination of the human condition (which leads to the question—is it
really a horror film?).
Criterion’s
new 2K digital restoration (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack) looks
gorgeous (except for the final one-minute epilogue, which, due to poor quality
source material, could not be improved). There is a new commentary by Browning
expert and film scholar David J. Skal (different from the one on the former
Warners DVD). Supplements pertaining to Freaks are all of those that
appeared on the Warners disk (an hour long documentary on the making of the
film, a look at the alternate endings, and the excised exploitation-release
prologue), plus a new video gallery of many stills and portraits from the film,
and the 2019 audio podcast of Kristen Lopez’s Ticklish Business.
The
Unknown
was a 1927 silent picture by Browning starring the great Lon Chaney in one of
his most acclaimed performances as a sideshow performer with no arms. His
pretzel-like feats in the film to achieve this illusion are masterful, but we
learn from the commentary and Megan Abbott’s interview that Chaney had help
from a real life sideshow stunt double. Nevertheless, Chaney is marvelous in
this tale about Alonzo, a criminal who is hiding from the law by strapping his
arms underneath a costume and pretending to be armless. He falls in love with
ring assistant Nanon (a young Joan Crawford). Strongman Malabar also loves
Nanon, but she rejects him because she has a phobia about hands touching
her—therefore she is partial to have a platonic relationship with Alonzo.
However, when Nanon finally decides to break free of her fear and marry
Malabar, Alonzo does something drastic—with tragic results.
For
a 1927 silent film with a new piano score by Philip Carli, The Unknown is
quite engaging, especially due to the terrific performances by the entire cast.
Why it’s called The Unknown is a head-scratcher, but the roughly
hour-long picture is riveting. It comes with a new introduction and commentary
by David J. Skal.
The
Mystic, from
1925, is apparently one of the rarest of Browning’s films. Running at 72
minutes, it’s the story of a sideshow fortune teller “mystic,” Zara (Aileen
Pringle), her father, the impresario Zazarack (Mitchell Lewis), and assistant
Anton (Robert Ober). Con man-criminal Michael Nash (Conway Tearle) recruits the
trio to come to America to swindle wealthy patrons. As noted by Abbott, the
plot is very similar to that of the 1947 film noir, Nightmare Alley…
but the visuals, storytelling, and acting are all surprisingly compelling for
this silent picture. The score, by Dean Hurley, vastly helps with the
movie’s allure. David J. Skal also provides an introduction to the film.
Criterion’s
packaging is superb, and the enclosed booklet comes with an essay by film
critic Farran Smith Nehme.
Tod
Browning’s Sideshow Shockers is highly recommended for fans of the
director, Freaks, silent movies, Lon Chaney, and the unique
sensibilities of pre-code Hollywood. Gooba gobba!
Released
on June 29, 1966, “Nevada Smith” was well-received by audiences who still
flocked to A-list Westerns in those days, earning $14 million in ticket
sales—about $132 million in today’s value.Produced by Joseph E. Levine and directed by Henry Hathaway, it starred
Steve McQueen in the title role, as a young half-Indian man, birth name Max
Sand, who determines to track down the three outlaws who murdered his
parents.The movie was a spinoff from a
previous Levine release, “The Carpetbaggers,” a sensational hit in 1964 based
on a Harold Robbins novel.There, in his
final role, Alan Ladd played the older Nevada Smith, a reformed gunfighter
turned B-movie cowboy actor in the 1930s.Thus the 1966 release was a prequel, as we’d now call it, based on a
lengthy section from Robbins’ novel.The
reviews for the 1966 production were mostly positive, except for two opinions
that observers continue to raise in on-line and print discussions about the
film.At 35, they argue, McQueen was too
old and seasoned to play a kid supposedly in his late teens.And with blond hair and blue eyes, nobody
would mistake him for anyone with Native American genetics.Does either point of view stand up to
examination?We McQueen fans would say,
not really.Movies are all about
illusion anyway, in case anyone forgets all those John Hughes films of the ‘80s
starring actors in their twenties as high school kids.At this late date with McQueen’s iconic
status firmly established, it’s impossible to imagine anyone else playing the
part.(Although someone else tried, not
counting Alan Ladd as the older, more sedate Nevada in “The
Carpetbaggers.”Cliff Potts essayed the
role in a 1975 TV production also titled “Nevada Smith,” designed as a direct
sequel to Hathaway’s picture.Filmed as
a hopeful pilot for a TV series, it’s pretty much forgotten now.Cliff Potts was a good actor, usually cast as
charming but devious characters, but he was no Steve McQueen.)
In
Hathaway’s movie, three drifters, Fitch, Bowdre, and Coe, ride up to young Max
Sand and claim to be friends of his father’s.The actors in the roles were Karl Malden, Arthur Kennedy, and Martin Landau.Try to find a trio of that caliber in any
2023 release.Helpfully, Max tells the
strangers to find the homestead, immediately getting a bad feeling when they
speed off, yelling and firing their pistols.The three drifters know the elder Sand all right, but they’ve really
come to demand the gold they believe he’s found in a nearby mine.When he says the mine is worthless, and all
it ever yielded was a $38 nugget, the intruders don’t believe him and work
themselves into a rage.Coe draws a
knife, cold-bloodedly cuts Sand’s Kiowa wife, and threatens to skin her alive
if the miner doesn’t tell them where he’s supposedly hidden his riches.By the time Max reaches the cabin, he finds
his parents’ mangled corpses, and the killers are long gone.
Max
sets out to avenge the murders, but inexperienced and naive, he isn’t cut out
for the job—at first.“If you want to
find those men, you’ll have to look in every saloon, hog farm, and whorehouse
you come to,” warns a chance acquaintance, Jonas Cord (Brian Keith), a friendly
traveling gunsmith.“You’ll have to
become what they are, and wallow in the same garbage they do.”Realizing he can’t persuade Max to call it
quits, Jonas teaches him the essential skills he’ll need to survive: draw fast
and shoot straight, learn to play poker, do everything you can not to give
yourself away, and don’t trust anybody, “not even your friends.”Working his way up through Coe and Bowdre,
he finally locates Fitch.Calling
himself “Nevada Smith,” he joins the outlaw’s new gang in a plan to rob a gold
shipment, bringing the story, neatly, full circle.Fitch knows Max Sand is after him, but he
doesn’t remember what Max looks like; regardless, he grows suspicious and
paranoid about Nevada Smith as the day of the robbery approaches.
Filmed
at locations in California and Louisiana (where Max robs a bank to get himself
sentenced to a prison farm, next to Bowdre), “Nevada Smith” impressed audiences
in 1966 with McQueen’s athletic performance againstscenic outdoor backdrops, beautifully
composed by Hathaway and his cinematographer, Lucian Ballard.This may not seem to be a remarkable
achievement until you revisit the old TV Westerns of the ‘60s, which still run
every day on streaming platforms like GritTV and Cinevault Westerns, and
remember their tired stock-in-trade of aging stars, repetitive storylines,
meager action, and generic backlot sets standing in for Dodge City, the
Ponderosa, and the Big Valley.A new
Blu-ray edition of “Nevada Smith” from Kino Lorber, in a 4K scan of the
original camera negative, reproduces the vistas in stunning detail and
richness, a long overdue boost for viewers who may have seen the movie only in
edited, pan-and-scan TV prints.C.
Courtney Joyner, Mark Jordan Legan, and Henry Parke offer a fine ensemble audio
commentary, pointing out—among other elements—the legion of fine character
actors in the supporting cast.Normally,
I pride myself on that sort of Hollywood trivia, but Joyner, Legan, and Parke
put me in my place.They pointed out
some faces I would have missed otherwise.
Something
happened to me while watching John Cassavetes’s film Gloria that, to my
knowledge, has never, ever happened before and probably will never, ever happen
again. Towards the end of the film, the titular heroine exits a cab and asks
the cabbie for the time, and she replies, “It’s 9:20.” Unbelievably, this was
the exact time of day that it was on my clock as I watched the film in the
evening. In films, people give the time to others when asked (Charles Martin
Smith is told that it’s “a quarter to twelve” when attempting to purchase
alcohol in George Lucas’s 1973 film American Graffiti), but the
phenomenon of the onscreen reel time being in synch with the offscreen real
time is something that I have not experienced before, and it got me to thinking
about how certain things happen by mere happenstance.
The
cinema of John Cassavetes is an acquired taste as he was a maverick who made many
films on his own terms. If the general audience loved his work, it would
infuriate him and he would recut the film, as was the case with 1970’s Husbands,
a film that was released, critically acclaimed, pulled out of release and
re-cut into a completely different film, culled from roughly 240 hours of raw
footage. Co-star Ben Gazzara stated that his favorite version of the film ran
four-and-a-half hours. The director often employed members of a small but loyal
acting troupe headed by his wife, Gena Rowlands, who portrays the titular
heroine in this film, shot between July and September 1979 and released in New
York on Wednesday, October 1, 1980. She received her second Oscar nomination
for her performance here, the first being for A Woman Under the Influence
in 1974, also under the direction her husband.
Gloria is a film mired in Manhattan, Harlem
and the Bronx in New York. The film opens with nighttime establishing shots of
the New York skyline to the music of Bill Conti best known for the theme to Rocky
(1976). The Statue of Liberty and several bridges are luminescent and invoke Richard
Donner’s Superman: The Movie filmed there two years earlier. The
daylight exposes the filthy streets and the people who inhabit them. A six-year-old
Puerto Rican boy, Phil Dawn (John Adames), narrowly escapes being killed by the
Mafia following his mob accountant father’s (Buck Henry of all people) involvement
with them turned sour. Phil is saddled with a copy of the Bible, which in
reality is incriminating evidence that the Mafia wants back in their hands. His
parents and siblings all become collateral damage as he and the family friend,
Gloria, bolt and attempt to get away. Gloria is part of the Mafia. She
possesses street smarts and packs heat, unflinchingly firing upon her enemies
in broad daylight, though no cops appear to be anywhere in sight. Like the
interior of Marcellus Wallace’s suitcase in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction
(1994), this Bible proves to be a MacGuffin to keep Gloria and Phil on the run.
Initially,
Gloria and Phil cannot stand one another, and the former appears to be
reluctant to be saddled with the latter despite her promise to Phil’s parents
to take care of him. Eventually, they grow on one another and, dare I say it,
even develop a mutual affection. John Adames proves himself to be a capable
actor though, to my knowledge, this is his sole screen credit. The film,
despite reportedly being disparaged by its director (who probably would have
been happy to completely recut it), is a showcase for its leading actress, who
is always fascinating to watch.
Gloria was released on Blu-ray in August 2018 by
Twilight Time and that pressing contained an isolated musical score. There is a
new pressing of the film, this time by Kino Lorber, and the results are
unspectacular. This is not a carp about Kino,since they always do a bang-up job
on their Blu-ray releases. The
film image is dark at times, especially in the beginning scenes in the
apartment building (look fast for Tom Noonan as a Mafia soldier), and it looks
as though it was transferred from a theatrical print, minus the reel-change cue
marks. I am only assuming this to be the case (though I am probably incorrect),
or perhaps this was how it was either photographed or developed as the liner
notes are absent of the usual declaration boasting a high-definition transfer
from the film’s original camera negative.
The only extras to speak of on this pressing
are theatrical trailers for Gloria, Sidney Lumet’s Gloria remake
from 1999, Gorky Park (1983), 52 Pick-Up (1986), Code of
Silence (1985), Number One with a Bullet (1987), and Lonely are
the Brave (1962).
The fifth
season of 'Icons Unearthed' will focus on Bond, James Bond.
Directed by
Brian Volk-Weiss (The Toys That Made Us, The Movies That Made Us, Behind the
Attraction), Alyssa Michek (Icons Unearthed), and Ben Frost (Icons Unearthed),
the documentary series features exclusive, candid interviews with the people
that helped make the franchise popular.
Appearances
include George Lazenby, Gloria Hendry (who will also narrate the
series), Caroline Munro, Catherine Schell, Terence Mountain, Andreas
Wisniewski, Trina Parks, Vic Armstrong, John Glen, Jeffrey Caine, Norm
Wanstall, Lee Pfeiffer, Ajay Chowdhury, and Matthew Field.
MI6 can
confirm the following episode titles and premiere dates:
Icons
Unearthed: James Bond
Episode 1: A Spy Is Born - Wed, Oct 4, 2023
Episode 2: The Man Who Wouldn't Be King - Wed, Oct 11, 2023
Episode 3: James Bond-Changing Times - Wed, Oct 18, 2023
Produced by The Nacelle Company, 'Icons Unearthed: James
Bond' will broadcast on VICE TV.
Filmmaker
Nicolas Roeg always managed to challenge cinematic norms. Even his most
accessible and popular film, Don’t Look Now (1973), still had what some
might call “arty” shots and experimental editing. Roeg was a director who loved
the images the camera caught, but he also enjoyed manipulating the narrative of
his pictures with the kind of radical editing likely inspired by the French New
Wave, but probably more by the so-called New American Cinema movement that included
revolutionary filmmakers such as Andy Warhol, Stan Brakhage, and others.
Roeg
began his work in film as a cinematographer—and a very good one, too (second
unit on Lawrence of Arabia, The Masque of the Red Death, Far
from the Madding Crowd, and more). After a co-directing (with Donald
Cammell) debut of Performance (1970), Roeg struck out on his own and
made a name for himself as a director of provocative art house fare.
First
out of the gate was Walkabout (1971). It was Australia’s official entry
to the Cannes Film Festival that year, despite it being primarily a British
production (and Roeg himself being English). It was based on the 1959 novel by
James Vance Marshall (a pseudonym of Donald G. Payne), which was first
published as The Children but subsequently renamed Walkabout.
Roeg had apparently wanted to adapt the book into a film for years, and he
finally got the chance to do it with only a million dollar budget. Producers
Max L. Raab and Si Litvinoff (both known primarily as executive producers of
Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, because they had initially owned the film
rights) provided the funding for what was essentially an independent
production, eventually released by 20th Century Fox. Playwright Edward Bond wrote
a treatment that acted as the screenplay, but most of the picture was
improvised on the go.
Taking
a minimal crew and a cast of unknowns into the Australian outback, Roeg gave us
a haunting, enigmatic, gorgeous-to-look-at, existential treatise on innocence,
the loss of it, and the importance of communication.
“Girl”
(a young Jenny Agutter, who was sixteen when the film was made) and “White Boy”
(Nicolas Roeg’s son Luc Roeg, credited as Lucien John, who was age seven during
production) are siblings who live what appear to be “normal” lives with their
parents in Sydney. One nice, sunny day, “Father” (John Meillon), takes the two
children to the desert for a picnic. There, he attempts to shoot them, but Girl
protects her younger brother and they hide. Father kills himself and sets the
family car on fire. The two kids are now stranded in the outback. Lacking
survival skills, they manage to make it through a few days (but time is never
clear in the film). Then they meet a young “Black Boy” (Australian and Yolngu
actor David Gulpilil, whose age was unknown at the time but since estimated to
be about eighteen when cast) who is out in the wilderness alone. He befriends
the two, regardless of a language barrier, and effectively saves the white
kids’ lives by teaching them how to find water and hunt for game to eat. Interestingly,
it is White Boy who is able to communicate with Black Boy through mime and
playful gestures; Girl seems to be at sea when dealing with the human who is
totally foreign to her. Days pass as the trio travels across the striking
landscape, culminating in a moment in which the physical adolescence of Girl
and Black Boy follow a natural course to sexual tension. Black Boy performs his
native “courtship ritual” dance in tribal makeup and clothing for Girl. Not
understanding what he’s doing and fearful of him, Girl rejects him. Revealing
the rest of the tale would certainly be a spoiler.
A
“walkabout” is a rite of passage in Australian Aboriginal society. Adolescent
males must spend six months in the wilderness and survive—or not—to became an
adult. Hence, while Black Boy is likely enacting his own walkabout, the film
becomes a walkabout for Girl and White Boy. There’s a lot going on underneath
the surface here, including an examination of race and class differences in a
land where the British Empire encroached on an indigenous people, sexual mores
and taboos, and how one’s social environment dictates how one behaves.
Walkabout
is a
fascinating film, and it was highly praised by critics upon release—but, sadly,
it was a box office failure. It has since become a cult classic and a cinephile
favorite. There was some criticism (still is) of the picture’s display of
nudity of all three leads, seeing that, technically, Agutter and young Roeg
were underage. Some bits were cut for the initial release, but footage was
restored in the 1990s. The British Board of Film Classification, though,
determined that the film was not “indecent.” Agutter herself has contemporarily
defended the nude scenes and says that they are essential to the themes of the
movie.
The
Criterion Collection released the film on DVD and Blu-ray years ago, but now
the company has issued a new 4K UHD edition containing two discs. A 4K UHD digital
master in Dolby Vision HDR occupies the first disc, while a Blu-ray of the film
plus special features are on the second. The visuals are, naturally, stunning. An
audio commentary featuring both Nicolas Roeg and Jenny Agutter accompanies the
film. Special features include vintage interviews with Luc Roeg and Agutter, an
hour long documentary on the life and career of David Gulpilil, and the
theatrical trailer. An essay by author Paul Ryan is in the booklet.
With
John Barry’s lush score, Roeg’s own striking cinematography, the sweeping
panoramas of the Australian outback, and the likable, honest performances by
the cast, Walkabout is a highly recommended must-see.
Shocking Cinema of the 70s was
a collection of essays originally published in 2002, and the intention here was
to republish those alongside some new chapters. However, the field has changed so
much in the following twenty years that instead we get an entirely new
collection of essays covering a wide range of fascinating and important topics
related to this influential, shocking decade.
The book tackles films that
have been considered controversial, or that dealt with difficult subject matters.
Whereas the first volume primarily covered horror, which is still represented
here, this new collection also includes chapters on Japanese ‘Pinky Violence’
films, rape-revenge TV films, women in prison, films about the Manson Family
and the hardcore ‘roughie’, porn films with a focus on S&M, kidnapping and
sexual abuse. There is also a broader international approach, with chapters on
Polish auteur Walerian Borowczyk and an in-depth examination of
‘Canuxploitation’, the exploitation cinema of Canada which was in part funded
by taxpayers, of whom David Cronenberg was perhaps its most high-profile filmmaker.
It is not only the films
which caused a stir amongst more conservative audiences which are included here:
Death Wish (Michael Winner, 1974) and Dirty Harry (Don Siegel,
1971) both came across to some liberals as celebrating a form of vigilantism
and outraged the left-wing, and whilst we may appreciate those films now as
classics of the decade, it is fascinating to consider their initial reception.
The book also looks at the murderous child, such as Jodie Foster’s character in
The Little Girl Who Lived Down the Lane (Nicholas Gesner, 1976), who
kill adults because it’s fun; it’s play. Still as disturbing a concept today as
it was in the 1970s.
Shocking Cinema of the 70s offers
a range of opinion and insight on films which caused public outcry, upset the
critics, or troubled governments. Whereas some of these films, looked at almost
fifty years later, might make that seem like an overreaction, others might
still make for uncomfortable viewing today. This collection enables us to
understand what a ‘Shocking’ film is, and what there still is to learn from
them. Highly recommended.
These
four words…sorry, this single word spoken four times…by the inimitable Ben
Stein in the late John Hughes’s highly popular teen comedy Ferris Bueller’s
Day Off while reading off the attendance roster to his near catatonic high
school class has worked its way into the American lexicon to the point that it
has become recognizable to anyone even remotely familiar with the film. Like its
predecessors, the “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” ad-lib from Steven
Spielberg’s Jaws (1975), and Jack Nicholson’s quirky yet somehow
terrifying “Here’s Johnny!” from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980),
one need not have seen the film to know from where it originated. The adults in
this film are all depicted as somehow less smart than their adolescent
counterparts and all seem to be easily duped and manipulated. Why are they
depicted this way? Was the director, who was also the writer of Mr. Mom
(1983), National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983), Sixteen Candles(1984), The Breakfast Club
(1985), Weird Science (1985) and Pretty in Pink (1986), simply
not a fan of the adult world, a modern-day J.D. Salinger?
Ferris
Bueller, the titular hero, is a Northbrook, Illinois high school student two
months shy of his high school graduation and commits a crime that all students
have at one time or another – he feigns serious illness to stay home from
school. However, it is not for nefarious purposes: he wants to get his best
friend, Cameron (Alan Ruck), out of the doldrums. His parents are complete
dolts for believing him, though his sister Jeanie (Jennifer Grey) and Principal
Rooney (Jeffrey Jones) both see right through this common ploy and the latter,
whose small-mindedness and lack of stature outside of his role of an
authoritarian, drives him to catch Ferris in the act at any cost. He goes to
great lengths to catch Bueller, breaking the rules, and even some laws, that
find him in the Bueller household, face-to-face with a vicious dog.
Playing
hooky for the day with a reluctant Cameron and Ferris’s girlfriend Sloane (Mia
Sara) whom he gets out of school posing as her father in a get-up not
dissimilar from the accoutrements he would later don as the titular Inspector
Gadget he would play in the 1999 film of the same name. The trio finds
themselves in a series of misadventures throughout Chicago via Cameron’s
upscale father’s 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder which occupies much of
the film’s running time, the most significant of which is the film’s famous and
highly celebrated moment when Ferris commandeers a float during a parade and
leads the onlookers through an impromptu lip-synch of The Beatles hit “Twist
and Shout.” It is not all fun and games, however, when we learn of Cameron’s contempt
for his father’s car which the latter supposedly cares more about than his own son.
He sublimates his anger in a highly volatile and emotional scene that proves
cathartic for Cameron and, in a way, for Ferris as well. It would explain why
Cameron is always uptight and unable to relax, something that the carefree
Ferris hopes to change. In many ways, Cameron and Jeanie are not dissimilar
from one another, as they both find teen life to be insufferable, and that
makes them the most realistic characters in the film.
Ferris
is unusual in that he is not only a free spirit, but just about everyone in his
high school, regardless of their grade level, likes him. Why? He has proven
that he can get away with just about anything. He’s also willing to help others
out of their predicaments. This mindset is what makes him elusive from
Principal Rooney, a self-appointed Truancy Officer determined to catch Ferris
in the act of cutting school because Rooney’s identity outside of high school
appears to be non-existent. He is the Coyote to Bueller’s Road Runner, and he
takes the whole situation personally.
The
film, which opened nationwide on Wednesday, June 11, 1986, differs from most
comedies in that it breaks the fourth wall in the tradition of Woody Allen’s
great Annie Hall (1977) when Ferris addresses the audience directly
during much of the action. In the pantheon of teen comedies, Ferris Bueller
is clearly de rigueur viewing and, given that it was lensed between
September and November in 1985, feels very Eighties and inspired by Matthew
Broderick’s David Lightman computer geek from John Badham’s entertaining 1983 film
WarGames with Ferris’s ability to remotely change his sick days in the
high school computer right before his principal’s very eyes. Ferris rigs his
room and front door intercom with an ingenious array of general solutions
anticipating most common eventualities that could undo his plan to keep his
parents thinking that he is sleeping off illness.
Ferris
Bueller did exceptionally
well at the box office, easily becoming an iconic Eighties Comedy, the film
that essentially made Mr. Broderick a star following his screen debut in Herbert
Ross’s Max Dugan Returns several years earlier and playing opposite
Michelle Pfeiffer in Richard Donner’s Ladyhawke (1985). Cameos abound by
a fifteen-year-old Kristy Swanson just before she became Wes Craven’s Deadly
Friend, Richard Edson, Charlie Sheen just before he made Platoon
with Oliver Stone, and comedian Louie Anderson. With the exception of some
on-set studio shots in Los Angeles and Ferris Bueller’s house location in Long
Beach, CA (eight houses away from the home that Richard Kelly’s 2001 cult
classic Donnie Darko is set in), the film is shot nearly entirely in
Illinois, the director’s home state.
Ferris
Bueller’s Day Off has
been released on 4K UHD Blu-ray by Paramount Home Video. This is the best that
the film has ever looked on video, easily besting all previous releases. It
also comes loaded with previously released extras:
There
is a feature-length audio commentary by director Hughes, the only one that he
ever recorded for his any of his films, ported over from the 1999 DVD release. Glaringly
missing from subsequent DVD and Blu-ray editions of the movie (reportedly at
the behest of the director who probably got tired of Hollywood and moved back
to his home state to keep a low profile), its inclusion here is welcome,
appreciated, and more than likely included for two reasons - a response to the
director’s untimely demise and to compel die-hard fans to fork over their
disposable income for this latest upgraded edition. It is pretty much
scene-specific with very minor tangents. It stays on-topic, and Mr. Hughes had
a very monotone and droll delivery.
The
following are all ported over from the 2006 special edition DVD
“Bueller…Bueller” and 2009 Blu-ray editions:
Getting
the Class Together: The Cast of Ferris Bueller's Day Off – this piece runs 27:45 in standard definition
and the interviews were shot in 2005. The film’s casting directors, Jane
Jenkins and Janet Hirshenson, begin this piece feeling that Matthew Broderick or
John Cusack would be great in the lead role. Mr. Broderick was in Biloxi
Blues on Broadway with Alan Ruck when he was offered the role and their
chemistry transferred over from real life to the stage, and then to the
audition when the latter was offered Cameron. Mia Sara, Jennifer Grey, Lyman
Ward, Cindy Pickett, Jeffrey Jones, Edie McClurg, Ben Stein (a very humorous
tidbit), Richard Edson, Kristy Swanson, and Jonathan Schmock all add their two
cents on their experiences.
The
Making of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
runs 15:29 and really should be much longer and for what it is, it includes
some footage shot during the filming in addition to recent interviews taking a
look back at the film, such as Jeffrey Jones and Edie McClurg and their “Help,
Hinder” game; Alan Ruck talks about the Ferrari and how three replicas were
made for the film; Matthew Broderick talks about the parade sequence and how it
was a one-shot deal and how knee surgery from years earlier affected him in the
sequence.
Who
is Ferris Bueller? runs 9:12
and collects cast members and their responses to the question from 1985-87 and
2005. Alan Ruck talks about the wardrobe fittings and how there was no
chemistry between the characters and being put at ease by the director. Ferris
is a guy who does whatever he wants and has the self-confidence that his
friends lack.
The
World According to Ben Stein
runs 10:50 and is comprised of comments from Mr. Stein in 1986 and 2005 talking
about his experiences following the success of the film, with funny tidbits
about Kurt Cobain and even President Bush (the first one) having seen the film
on Air Force One.
Vintage
Ferris Bueller: The Lost Tapes
runs 10:16 and provides outtakes from the expurgated restaurant scene of Cameron
ordering pancreas that the director refers to in his commentary.
There
was a Class Album gallery that appeared in the previous releases, but it
is inexplicably dropped from this release.
The
film’s original theatrical trailer is also missing for unknown reasons, though
you can see it here
and a later trailer to promote the Blu-ray at the time.
The
ending of the film recalls Paul Brickman’s Risky Business from 1983
(think of Tom Cruise landing on his parents’ couch when they walk in from their
trip) when Ferris makes it home just in time to get into bed as his parents
head into his room. Ferris, addressing the audience, says, “Life moves pretty
fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
This line, which is far more upbeat than the plaintive final sentences of J.D.
Salinger’s classic novel of adolescent angst The Catcher in the Rye
(1951), rings true for people more today than it did when it was filmed. Social
media, computers, and cell phones all conspire to divert our attention from the
meaningful things in life.
One
can only imagine what sort of mischief Ferris would create today with the World
Wide Web and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Perhaps a remake is in order?
"Warner Bros.: 100 Years of Storytelling” by Mark A.
Vieira (Running Press; $40) 368 Pages, Illustrated (B&W and color);
Hardback. ISBN: 9780762482375"
Review by Lee Pfeiffer
Running Press, in association with Turner Classic Movies,
has released a glorious tribute to a legendary studio with “Warner Bros.: 100
Years of Storytelling” by noted author and film historian Mark A. Vieira. The
book features an insightful foreword written by (appropriately enough) Ben
Mankiewicz, one of the popular hosts of TCM movie presentations and a member of
the Mankiewicz family of Hollywood legend. The studio introduced sound
to the movie-going experience with the release of The Jazz Singer in 1927,
and as the press releases points out, would later “put the noir in film”
through countless crime classics that saw the rise of James Cagney, Edward G.
Robinson and Humphrey Bogart to legendary status.
The handsome coffee table
book is broken down by decade up through films released in 2021. Vieira
provides lengthy and informative introductions to each decade beginning with
the founding of the studio through the breakthroughs in new screen freedoms in
the 1960s and 1970s. However, this is a celebration of Warner Bros. that relies
primarily on photographs, reproduced in gorgeous B&W and color. There is a
photo and caption for every single film and simply flipping through the volume
is a marvelous trip down memory lane. Vieira completed the book before the studio
underwent a number of high-profile controversies in the last year that resulted
in layoffs that included the top staff of TCM itself- an act that saw major
filmmakers such as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese go public
with a joint demand that TCM should remain the beloved jewel it has always
been. Whatever the future holds for WB, no one can change its monumental past
and this book is a fitting tribute to its legacy.
A
few years ago, actress-turned-playwright Carol Hollenbeck had a Zoom meeting
with a theatre group and mentioned this fabulous red-carpet premiere in her
hometown for a movie she made in the sixties. About a month later, the group
met again on Zoom and one of the group members said to Carol, “By the way, I
found your movie.’ She quickly asked, “What movie?’ “Eden Cried,” he replied.
Carol was flabbergasted. That film had been lost for almost fifty years and from
her perspective it should have remained lost.
Carol
Hollenbeck was a starstruck teenager who had been fascinated with Hollywood
from a young age. She candidly admitted, “I didn’t want to become an actress. I
wanted to be a movie star.”
Arriving
in Hollywood in the early 1960s, she unfortunately suffered the pitfalls many
naïve young women fell victim to. However, using the stage name of Carole
Holland, she did have some small successes greatly aided by the fact that she
was a beautiful, shapely, baby doll blonde.
Carol’s
looks and poise no doubt helped her land a job as a showgirl in a stage
production of Irma La Douce, starring Juliet Prowse at the Riviera Hotel
in Las Vegas. Carol recalls, “Juliet was engaged to Frank Sinatra at the time.
She was very outspoken and yelled a lot.” She donned bikinis for a few of the
non-AIP beach movies such as The Girls on the Beach. And her adoration
of Jean Harlow gave her an indirect connection to Joseph E. Levine’s Harlow
starring Carroll Baker and a direct connection to Bill Sargent’s rival Harlow
starring Carol Lynley. She actually met with Sargent to discuss her
possibly playing the thirties sex bomb. Alas, it did not come to be. [Carol
discusses her Harlow experiences in my upcoming book Dueling Harlows: The Race
to Bring the Actress’s Life to the Silver Screen from McFarland and Co.]
What
did materialize was the female lead in the low-budget oddity, Eden Cried,
which was also known as In the Fall of ’55 …Eden Cried. It was shot
in 1965 but not shown until 1967—two years after Frankie and Annette had hung
up their surfboards. It was a sort of adult, soap opera-ish Beach Party,
set in Malibu supposedly during the mid-1950s (but everything from the costumes
to the beach scenes to dance moves scream 1960s), that showed what life was
like for teenage beach denizens off the sand. There is a fair amount of surfing
footage and scenes of young people partying on the shore.
To
alleviate all the histrionics, there is narration (that was not in the movie
when it premiered) provided by a Jack Nicholson sound-alike who makes a lot of amusing,
sardonic remarks about the characters and put-downs about Southern California
living in general. It is done in a way that evokes those dead serious 1950s
documentaries where they warned viewers about juvenile delinquency or impending
bomb threats or predatory homosexuals. It also connects scenes due to missing or
excised footage.
Carol
has some good dramatic moments as rich girl Lorraine Parker (a sexy blonde with
a big bouffant and a bad reputation) new to her high school. She falls for
rebellious senior Skip Galloway (Tom P. Pace), a surfer and grease monkey with
a bitchin’ hot rod. Pace, who was in his thirties at the time but looked
forty-five, is so miscast that it is off-putting seeing him romance the more age-appropriate
Carole or confiding to Larry Reimer as his best friend Rich or just hanging on
the sand with the teenage beach and surfing crowd. Lorraine and Skip have a
tumultuous, up-and down-relationship fueled by a drag race that ends in tragedy;
her disapproving father (Victor Izay); infidelity (tired of taking it slow,
Lorraine has sex with Rich); a suicide attempt (Lorraine downs some dolls after
Skip leaves her) that leads to a quickie marriage, and an unwanted pregnancy
that breaks the couple up. This is where the film abruptly ends without the
requisite happy ending. It also promises a sequel that never came to be—thankfully.
After
its 1967 premiere in Newburgh, Eden Cried was not released theatrically.
Unbeknownst to Carol, it surfaced in January of 1972 (it is speculated the
narration was added at this point) and was screened in a few theaters in Los
Angeles. Then in April, it popped up in Atlanta before falling back into
obscurity. In both cities, the nostalgia appeal for the fifties/early sixties
was highlighted in its print ads to draw audiences. This was just ahead of the Broadway
stage musical Grease and George Lucas’ film American Graffiti—both
of which became box office hits.
As
far as Carol knows, after being shown in Atlanta, Eden Cried was never
televised and remained a lost film until a few years ago when it surfaced on
DVD (from Video Screams). It has now become a cult curio especially for fans of
1960s drive-in movies. Carol recently appeared at a screening of the movie and
is planning on attending more of them.
Cinema
Retro: How were you
cast in Eden Cried?
Carol
Hollenbeck: I blocked
it out regarding how I was cast. I really do not know. However, if I was to
venture a guess, it was because of all the publicity I was getting at the time.
My press agent was grooming me to be the next Marilyn Monroe. The media dubbed
me “Hollywood’s Mystery Girl” because I was being photographed at discotheques
and movie premieres. My face turned up in many newspapers.
CR: Do you know what the title means?
CH: It comes from the lyrics to the
movie’s theme song [written by John Bambridge, Jr. and sung by Walter Rowen]. I
felt that the title meant young love gone wrong...
CR:
What did you think of
the ridiculous casting of Tom P. Pace as your seventeen-year-old boyfriend?
CH:
Tom was almost
thirty-five. But it is Hollywood’s mentality. I will tell you why. Everybody
knew he was too old. Somebody—probably one of the producers—said, ‘I want him.
I don’t care how old he looks, I want him.’ And that was it. He was not
physically right for the part, but they wanted him anyway. With me I was a few
years older than seventeen but I did have an appropriate California blonde
beach look. The public is fixated on that American blonde image. It has always
fascinated me about the blonde myth, the blonde fantasy—the Marilyn
Monroe-type.
CR: What do you recall about the film’s
director and screenwriter, Fred Johnson?
CH: Fred was very young. We were all
young—well except for Tom Pace. I think Fred did the best he could and was a
good writer.
CR: How did it come about that Eden
Cried had its premiere in your hometown of Newburgh, New York?
CH:
I believe someone
from Walter Reade Distributors thought of it.Eden Cried had its
premiere on June 10, 1967.They flew me
from Hollywood to New York. I was treated like a star. In Newburgh, they named
a street after me called “Carole Holland Way,” but it was only for two weeks. I
was so nervous that I didn’t go into the theater to watch it. My family and
friends knew it was not very good but did not come right out and say so. They
were nice about it.
CR: Do you know why it did not get a
national theatrical release at that time?
CH: It got caught up in some kind of
squabble between Walter Reade and the producers, so it ended up being shelved.
CR: What were your feelings like after
hearing that the film was never going to be seen?
CH: Even though the film was not great, I
thought I did a fairly decent job and it could have helped me get other roles.
But I did not stay in Hollywood long enough to promote myself and get the film
footage out, so people could see it. I just chose to dislike it and put it out
of my mind. So, when it got lost and nobody saw it, I didn’t care because I
didn’t believe it was going to take me anywhere. I walked around for many years
with shame for making this film. It didn’t seem to bring me any happiness.
CR: What did you do after leaving
Hollywood?
CJ: I moved to New York and continued
acting for a bit. I did commercials and had day parts on soap operas such as Love
Is a Many Splendored Thing and As the World Turns. I appeared in a
number of Off-Broadway plays and a few movies, most notably Tootsie
where I played an autograph hound in a scene with Jessica Lange. In the
nineties, I began writing for local newspapers and then the National
Enquirer. I then joined a women’s ensemble group and began playwrighting.
Two of my plays, Funky Fifties and The Lifters, were nominated
for the Samuel French Best One Act Plays Award.
CR: Did you ever try to find Eden
Cried?
CH: In 2017, we did a reading of my
play Hometown Premiere at the Ritz Theatre in Newburgh, where
the film premiered. The staff of the theatre searched for Eden Cried because
they wanted to use a clip of it in the staged reading, since the play was
loosely based on the film’s premiere. It could not be found. I thought
then, ‘Perhaps I should accept that I did the movie, but I won’t ever find it,’
CR: When Eden Cried finally
surfaced on DVD what was your reaction?
CH: It was being sold on DVD by
Sinister Cinema.com and I
purchased a copy. What they did to salvage the film, is they added a narration
that pokes fun of the sixties’ era. I really liked that. The film is so corny
that it’s funny. The narration gives the film a Mystery Science Theater touch.
CR: After watching fifty years later,
what surprised you the most?
CH: That I had so many costume changes.
CR: What are your feelings today toward
the movie today?
CH: I have done a 180-degree turnaround. It
is like a cult film. Now everything in my apartment is Eden Cried. The
framed movie poster is on my wall. There are twenty-four products with the Eden
Cried poster on it—t-shirts, tote bags, coffee mugs, hoodies, pillows, etc. When
I couldn’t find it, I was glad I couldn’t. But when I found it, I was glad I
did. I have embraced it and absolutely love it.
It’s
easy to lose track of time in the Bahamas – every day is sunny and beautiful
just like the day before it… and yet things DO change, especially in the almost
six decades since the EON film crew took the island by storm to shoot their
James Bond masterpiece, Thunderball.Back then it was a sleepy tropical island for the occasional cruise ship
and small numbers of tourists making the short hop from Miami. Aside from the port
city of Nassau, much of the island was undeveloped.
(Paula might be in there...)
Today
the Bahamas is a thriving tourist destination attracting almost one million
visitors annually.On most days, Nassau
hosts multiple cruise ships disgorging thousands of passengers who storm the
downtown shops and restaurants.Although
the Thunderball era is long gone, there are still remnants of it
throughout the island.With just a
couple of days, no way could I have done the deep dive that Simon Firth did in
his definitive Filming James Bond in the Bahamas, but I could visit some
of the key destinations still around after 58 years.
(Site of the original Cafe Martinique on the Atlantis property.)
Mention
James Bond and almost everyone you meet has a story – from encountering Sean
Connery to talking about Thunderball.“I used to work in that liquor store,” our airport driver said as we
rolled past a strip mall on the way to our hotel. “Mr. Connery would come in
and buy wine. He was always very nice.”As we passed a small plaza he pointed “And right there he’d have a
coffee and read a book most mornings.”It’s easy to see why Sir Sean settled in Nassau – the locals treated him
as just another resident, not the iconic film star he actually was.No autograph or photo requests, just the
famous Bahamian hospitality which gave him what all celebrities crave –
anonymity.
Still
bummed at missing the great fan-organized tours for one reason or another, this
was about as close as I was going to get…
LOVE
BEACH
In
Thunderball, the beach appeared remote and untouched, filled with palm
trees, most noticeably the one Bond spears Vargas to while delivering that
classic line, “I think he got the point.”
(Channeling Vargas on Love Beach.)
Today
Love Beach is still beautiful but now there are private homes where the lush
woods that Vargas strode through once were.I also read it took a hard hit from a hurricane some years back.The only easy access point is through a
surfside bar called Nirvana Beach which charges $5 per person for
admittance.I got the impression the
place was hopping at night, but during a weekday, there was hardly anyone.After a blazing hot walk on the beach trying
to find “THE” spot where the spear-gunning took place, I settled for a random
palm tree and my VERY patient wife took the obligatory photo before saying “I’m
f---ing melting here.”Further
exploration now out of the question, we made tracks back to the Nirvana bar for
a couple of ice-cold Kalik beers.I
mentioned that a Bond epic had been filmed at this lovely spot.“Oh, really?” was the female bartender’s
response, adding, “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.” Ok, so perhaps not
everyone is a rabid fan…
DOWNTOWN
NASSAU
We
managed only a quick trip in to pick up some souvenirs and were lucky that only
one mammoth cruise ship was in port. I went over to Rawson Square which, in our
favorite film, Bond and Paula are seen walking across heading for Pinder’s
staging area.Along with a busy market,
an old government building – Churchill House – is clearly visible.Sadly, Churchill House is no more – a parking
lot now sits where it once stood.As
Joni Mitchell sang, “They paved over paradise and put up a parking lot.”
THE
SEAWALL
In
1965 this breakwater was off a sleepy beach road on Paradise Island.Here Bond infiltrates the Spectre dive team
as they suit up to move their stolen nuclear bombs. Today it’s an architectural
relic located on Cabbage Beach, now part of the massive, 154-acre Atlantis
Resort.Few if any of the guests
enjoying the beach even know it’s there!Bond aside, there are tons of things to do and see in Atlantis so buying
a day pass ($190 for adults, $95 for kids) might be worth it.Along with pools, rides, restaurants you can
also walk up to the sea wall.I reached
out to the resort a few weeks out from my trip and their PR department graciously
responded, allowing me a visit and assigning me a very personable guide named
Kool Aid who knew everything about the resort and had an impressive knowledge
of the island’s Bond locales.
We
walked from the hotel lobby through Atlantis’ underground aquarium which
boasted a variety of marine life – from huge groupers to moray eels, sharks and
more, all living in crystal-clear water pumped in from the nearby ocean.As part of “The Blue Project”, Atlantis also
operates a coral nursery where they grow this vital organism (on lengths of PVC
pipe) to replenish ailing reefs.As ocean
temperatures rise, programs like this will become more and more important so
good on the resort for stepping up.And
then we walked over a causeway to Cabbage Beach.Fifty-eight storm seasons had taken a toll on
the concrete, but the seawall was still there and looked much as it did in the
film.To say I took some photos
would be an understatement.
(CR’s Mark Cerulli with Atlantis PR rep Kool Aid - the breakwater is in the background.)
On
the way out, Kool Aid asked if I wanted to see the location of the ORIGINAL
Café Martinique.Why, yes… yes I
would!We went back through the
lobby and he pointed to a take-out pizza restaurant in a pink tower which is
where the legendary restaurant once operated.Again, it was difficult to picture the elegant and romantic Café from
the film in light of the area’s total transformation. Perhaps in a nod to the
island’s history, the resort did create another Café Martinique nearby.
On
my next to last day, I got to see (for me) the Crown Jewel of Bahamian Bond
locations –Palmyra…
LARGO’S
HOUSE
For
many years it’s been owned by a prominent Bahamian family and its local name is
“Rock Point.” Most islanders know it as “The Bond House.”The owners kindly allowed me access to the grounds.(Unoccupied for a number of years, the house
itself is firmly boarded up and there is a 24-hour guard.)Yes, it’s run down, but here it was easy to
picture it from the film – the balcony where Largo and Fiona shot clay targets is
different from 1965 but still hints at the home’s grandeur – and the ocean view
is mind-blowing.The basement doors that
Connery used to access Palmyra actually lead to the pool’s pump room - the swinging
doors themselves are long gone, but the structure is still there.
The
huge swimming pool where Bond escapes hungry sharks is intact but filled with
brackish water. Even this rabid Thunderball fanatic didn’t want to do a
lap in it – although I couldn’t resist wearing my Orlebar Brown Thunderball camp
shirt! I also noticed the pool’s cement cutout where the controls for the metal
grating used to trap Bond underwater once were.
The
circular Shark Pool where the Golden Grotto sharks were kept is still there,
but part of the outer wall has collapsed allowing ocean water to flow in and
out.Still, it would be a relatively
easy fix to restore. The estate also boasts a gorgeous private beach.The owner’s son said the family was talking
over various plans to rehabilitate the property and bring it back to its former
glory.The bones are all there – the
house appears to be structurally sound, and a coat of paint would make it look
as it did when Terence Young’s cameras were rolling.In this writer’s mind, there’s no reason it
couldn’t become another GoldenEye type destination – or the best 00 bar this
side of Duke’s!
(Casino Royale location - the former One & Only Resort.)
As
a bonus I managed to hit two more Bondian locations – The Four Seasons Resort Ocean
Club (formerly the One and Only Resort) seen in Casino Royale and
Solemar Restaurant – formerly known as Compass Point.This was a happy coincidence as we and our
friends just happened to go there for dinner.The restaurant was never in a Bond film but it was a favorite of Sean
and Micheline’s.Apparently, he used to like
their lamb chops so that’s what I had. Yesh, they were great!
(A lovely memento of Thunderball at the former One & Only Resort - now a Four Seasons.)
Many
kind thanks to Simon Firth and Jaime Ciaccia for location tips and
pointers.
(All photos copyright Mark Cerullli. All rights reserved.)
Frank
Lovejoy, Richard Carlson and Rusty Tamblyn are United States Marines sent to South
Korea in the early days of the Korean War in the 1952 film “Retreat, Hell!,” available on DVD
and Blu-ray from Olive Films. The movie follows the fictionalized exploits of a
Marine battalion during America’s “forgotten war,” one often overlooked in film
as well as in our collective memories. We follow these Marines from training at
Camp Pendleton, California, to the 1950 landing at Inchon, South Korea, followed
by their battles with North Korean and Chinese soldiers through a bitterly cold
winter. Everything goes as planned until faced with the unexpected overwhelming
response by the enemy.
The
film features a fine performance by Richard Carlson as Captain Paul Hanson.
He’s a married reserve officer and WWII veteran recalled to active service. He balances
family and the needs of the military including military deployments. Carlson’s
Captain Hanson is not happy about being recalled to active duty and moving his
family to California. Soon after arriving, he’s informed he and his men will be
spending all their time in the field training which ratchets up his resentment because
he’s not able to spend any time with his family prior to deploying to Korea.
This creates conflict between Hanson and his commanding officer and mistrust of
his leadership skills. Frank Lovejoy is his commander, Lt. Colonel Steve
Corbett, who places duty above all else.
Captain
Hanson’s wife, Ruth, is played by Anita Louise. Louise is an actress remembered
today for her work in television after she made this film. She isn’t given much
to do here with only a couple of scenes as a supportive wife and mother, but
does the best she can given the limited time to develop her character. Lovejoy is
an actor who dies too young at age 50 in 1962. He’s best remembered for a wide
variety of credits on stage, screen and television often specializing as
military men, cops and detectives. He’s very good here as the Marine commander
holding his men together as they retreat after facing overwhelming Chinese and
North Korean troops.
Carlson
is best remembered today for his work in the sci-fi classics “It Came from
Outer Space,” “Creature from the Black Lagoon” and “The Valley of Gwangi.” He appeared
in another Korean War drama, “Flat Top,” as well as the Bob Hope comedy “The
Ghost Breakers,” the 1950 version of “King Solomon’s Mines,” the Elvis drama “Change
of Habit” and scores of television series and movies. According to IMdb, John
Wayne was scheduled to appear in the movie, but backed out due to other movie
commitments. It certainly would have changed the movie, depending on the role,
if the Duke would have been cast.
Rounding
out the cast is Russ Tamblyn (billed as Rusty Tamblyn) as Private Jimmy
McDermid, fresh from basic training. Tamblyn is undoubtably the best remembered
of the cast today for his role in the David Lynch cult classic “Twin Peaks.” He
also appeared in countless classic movies including “The Haunting,” How the
West Was Won,” “The Long Ships,” “Peyton Place,” “Seven Brides for Seven
Brothers,” “Tom Thumb,” “The War of the Gargantuas” (if you haven’t seen it,
you must!), “West Side Story,” “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm” and
countless other movies and television series. Tamblyn remains one of the great
underrated talents in film and television.
The
movie’s title comes from a statement made by Major General O.P. Smith,
commanding general of the First Marine Division at the Battle of Chosin
Reservoir, who was asked if he was ordering his men to retreat. The general
replied, "Retreat, Hell! We're not retreating, we're just advancing in a
different direction." In the movie, the line is spoken by Frank Lovejoy.
The phrase, “Retreat, Hell!,” is common among Marines to this day. “Advancing
in a different direction” is a phrase often repeated by military troops in all
branches.
A
co-production of United States Pictures and Warner Bros., the movie was
released in February 1952 by Warner Bros. The movie could be easily mistaken
for propaganda as it was released during the Korean War and opens with the
Marine Corps song over the titles in a score by William Lava which plays
throughout the movie. Filmed with the approval of the Marine Corps, the drama is
apolitical with a focus on the personal drama of the men caught in
extraordinary circumstances. The movie was directed by Joseph H. Lewis with a
screenplay co-written by Milton Sperling and Ted Sherdeman. All three have a
variety of big and small screen credits from low-budget thrillers to television
into the 1960s.
The
film is lacking by the obvious California locations standing in for Korea which
was commonly used in military dramas and a score which consists mostly of
variations on the Marine Corps song But the movie stands out as a small gem about
the Korean War with fine performances by Carlson, Lovejoy and Tamblyn.
Prior
to the film’s release in San Antonio, Texas, the title was changed to “Retreat,
Heck” in local radio ads because the original title was deemed offensive. Both
the DVD and Blu-ray look terrific in glorious black & white in this disc
released by Olive films. The movie clocks in at 95 minutes in a 1.37:1 aspect
ratio. Unfortunately, there are no extras on the DVD or Blu-ray. I recommend
picking up the Blu-ray, but you can’t go wrong with the DVD version if that’s
your format of choice. In both cases, the movie looks and sounds terrific, although there are no bonus features.. “Retreat,
Hell!” is recommended for fans of military movies.
(Note:
It has been announced that Olive Films has unfortunately ceased operations.
However, this video is still available on Amazon.)
Cinema Retro has received the following press release:
ENTER THE DRAGON COMES TO 4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAYTM AND DIGITAL.
TO CELEBRATE THE ICONIC FILM’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY, ENTER THE DRAGON WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST
TIME IN 4K RESOLUTION HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE (HDR)
Purchase the film on 4K Ultra HD Disc and Digital on 8/8/23
As part of the year-long
centennial celebration for the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros.
Studio, the iconic martial arts film Enter the Dragon will be
available for purchase on 4K Ultra HD Disc and Digital this August.
Celebrating
the 50th anniversary of its 1973 release, on
August 8 Enter the Dragon will be available to purchase on Ultra
HD Blu-ray Disc from online and in-store at major retailers and available for
purchase Digitally from Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu and
more. Enter the Dragon is considered one of the most
influential action films of
all time and is credited with bringing interest in the Asian martial
arts genre to mainstream Western cinema.
The
Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc includes both the theatrical
version of the film and the Special Edition of the film which features three
additional minutes of footage.
Directed
by Robert Clouse, Enter the Dragon stars Bruce Lee in his final
completed film role. Lee is widely regarded as one of the most influential
martial artists of all time and was a pop culture icon of the 20th
century. In addition to Lee, the film also stars John Saxon, Ahna Capri,
Bob Wall, Shih Kein, and introduces Jim Kelly. It was written by Michael
Allin and produced by Fred Weintraub, Paul Heller, and Raymond Chow with a
score by honorary Academy Award recipient Lalo Schifrin.
In 2004, the United States Library
of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National
Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or
aesthetically significant". In 1999, Bruce Lee was listed in Time
magazine’s “100 most influential people of the century.”
Enter the Dragonwill be
available on Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc for $24.99 ERP and includes an Ultra HD
Blu-ray disc with the theatrical version of the feature film in 4K with HDR,
the Special Edition version of the film in 4K with HDR, and a Digital download
of both versions of the film. Fans can also own Enter the Dragonin 4K
Ultra HD via purchase from select digital retailers beginning on
8/8/23.
About
the Film
Bruce Lee explodes onto the screen in the film that rocketed him
to international superstardom, Enter The Dragon. Lee plays a
martial arts expert determined to take down the ruthless gang leader, Han, who
was responsible for the death of his sister. Recruited by an intelligence
agency, he poses a student and attends a tournament at a remote island
fortress. His goal is to gather evidence that will prove Han’s involvement with
drug trafficking and prostitution. With one man focused on crime and the other
bent on revenge, the two engage in the now-classic fight-to-the-death finish.
They both enter a mirrored maze and deadly battle. Only one will exit.
Enter the DragonUltra HD
Blu-ray disc and Digital the following previously released special features:
·Introduction by Linda Lee Cadwell (run time: 2:17 minutes)
·Commentary by Paul Heller and Michael Allin (run time: 110
minutes)
Cinema Retro has received the following press release from the BFI concerning their new Region 2 Blu-ray of "Brannigan", which can be pre-ordered for 21 August release.
“The Duke is
in London, and London will never be the same!”
Veteran
Chicago detective Jim Brannigan (John Wayne, The
Searchers) is dispatched to London to bring back notorious gangster
Ben Larkin (John Vernon, Dirty
Harry), and is assured that the whole operation will run smoothly.
However, when things don’t go to plan, Brannigan finds himself in the
crosshairs of Larkin’s thugs. Reluctantly teaming up with by-the-book Commander
Swann of Scotland Yard (Richard Attenborough, The Great Escape), but determined to
recapture Larkin no matter what, Brannigan tears through London, leaving a
trail of destruction in his wake.
Boasting
incredible stunts, powerful punch-ups, dry dialogue and panoramic views of
1970s London shot by cinematographer Gerry Fisher (The Go-Between, Highlander), as well as a
superb supporting cast including Judy Geeson and Mel Ferrer, Brannigan still
stands tall as an explosive, action-packed, highly entertaining and peculiarly
British excursion for the legendary John Wayne.
Extras
Presented in High Definition
Audio commentary by Steve Mitchell and critic
Nathaniel Thompson (2017)
A Duke Out of Water (2023, 37 mins): reminiscences from the people
who made Brannigan
Frank Henson on Brannigan (2021, 4 mins): the veteran stuntman looks back
on doubling the Duke
Take It to the Bridge (1905-1956, 23 mins): historical glimpses of the
Thames, Tower Bridge and other Brannigan locations
A Policeman’s Lot (1896-1973, 35 mins): a copper’s clutch of films
concerning crimefighters and crooks, proceeding from the very earliest
days of cinema towards the Brannigan era
The Guardian Interview: Richard Attenborough (1983, 89 mins, audio only): the award-winning
actor and director, and John Wayne’s Brannigan co-star, reflects
upon his illustrious career
An extensive selection of location photographs,
featuring cast and crew
Original trailer
**FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet with
new essays by Johnny Mains and John Oliver, notes on the special features
and credits
We film collectors are a spoiled lot: and, yes, I include
myself in that assessment.When Australian
video label Imprint first announced their seminal Silver Screams Cinema collection in 2021, I was ecstatic.Though the now defunct U.S. based Olive Films
had already given us Blu-rays of three titles soon-to-be featured on the
Imprint set (Return of the Ape Man
(Monogram, 1944) She Devil (1957) and
The Vampire’s Ghost (Republic, 1945),
it was the Aussie’s inclusion of several long-neglected films from the vault of
Republic Pictures - Valley of the Zombies
(1946), The Phantom Speaks (1945) and
The Lady and the Monster (1944) -
that compelled one to pre-order.
The Imprint set contained almost every title a fan of
Republic’s horror-mystery offerings might desire… with one notable
exception.Where was Lesley Selander’s The Catman of Paris (1946)? It was the
one Republic horror flick I had been wishing on the longest.Decades ago I gave up hope of ever seeing any
sort of legitimate home video issue. So I sought out the serviceable – if scratchy
and hazy - gray-market bootleg long making the rounds on the collector’s market.So the exclusion of The Catman of Paris from Imprint’s otherwise magnificent Silver Screams set was a bit
frustrating.
So it was with great anticipation when Imprint’s
single-disc Blu-ray of The Catman of
Paris recently arrived.I’m pleased
to report that the release not only looks great but also arrives with a couple
of bonus features.But while this film’s
arrival on Blu-ray brings with it a satisfying sense of closure, I think it’s best
to acknowledge that The Catman of Paris
is by no means a riveting lost classic of horror cinema.Though the film holds a certain charm in my personal
nostalgia bank, The Catman of Paris often
plods along for most of its hour or so running time.But I’m still a fan.
Republic Pictures was, of course - unfairly, in my mind –
deemed a Hollywood “Poverty Row” studio.But the production values of the studio were often of high-caliber
despite meager budgets, the studio producing more than a thousand features and
serials from its inception in 1935.Though associated with Monogram Pictures – a purveyor of a number of
1940s low-rent horror and mystery pictures (which often featured the likes of
genre stars Bela Lugosi, George Zucco, Lionel Atwill and John Carradine),
Republic was late in getting on the exploitative horror-film train.I suppose it can be argued that they nearly missed
the train entirely.The studio only really
began to test the horror-picture market when public interest in such fare was clearly
on the wane.
But the studio’s first horror pic The Lady and the Monster (1944), featuring Erich von Stroheim as a cold
and humorless mad scientist, did well enough for the studio to greenlight a
double-dose of new horror in 1945:The Vampire’s Ghost and The Phantom Speaks – two films which
we’ll get to in a moment.Generally
speaking, the Republic horrors were of similar construct to Monogram’s.But unlike the Monogram films – which have
been mostly available over the years on home video due to their public domain
status – the Republic horror pics have been, until recently, almost entirely commercially
inaccessible to students of the genre.
It’s possible the Republic horror pics have been glossed
over due to the fact that, unlike the studio’s western film counterparts – which
featured such star-spangled stars as Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and John Wayne –
their horror pics offered no similar
marquee attraction.Perhaps if the
Republic horror and mysteries features offered such boogeymen as Lugosi or Boris
Karloff there might have been more of a commercial interest in getting these
out to fans and collectors.But
Paramount Pictures, the company that ultimately absorbed the Republic catalog,
seemed mostly disinterested in making available that studio’s horror film efforts.
To be fair, Republic wasn’t Universal: there actually wasn’t
a great deal of true “horrors” to choose from.In 1999, film historian Tom Weaver examined some of the Republic titles
in his tome Poverty Row Horrors!:
Monogram, PRC, and Republic Horror Films of the Forties (MacFarland).A decade- and -a -half later author Brian McFadden
published his Republic Horrors: The
Serial Studio’s Chillers.Both books
were welcome additions to the film scholar’s personal libraries.But while McFadden’s effort seemed to promise
a deeper-dive into the Republic’s long-neglected horror catalog, it mostly reminded
readers that the studio actually released very few true horror pictures during the Golden Age of the 1940s.Of the ten films chosen for examination by McFadden,
only five could justify being classified as genuine “horrors.”The remaining five titles selected were simply
mysteries with woven eerie elements.
But if Universal’s reign as the preeminent horror-movie
studio was beginning to wind down by the mid-1940s, Republic’s was just
beginning to rev up.In early May of
1945, the Los Angeles Times reported
that executives at Republic Pictures, “encouraged by the current success of The Vampire’s Ghost and The Phantom Speaks,” were already planning
a pair of thrillers of similar design.Under the watchful eye of producer William O’ Sullivan, Republic’s
newest horror pics, titled The Catman of
Paris and The Valley of the Zombies,
was to “be sold to exhibitors as a pair.”
Associate producer Marek M. Libkov told the Hollywood Reporter that their newest, The Catman of Paris, would have a
provisional start date of September 20, 1945 with casting to “start
immediately.”In fact, most of the
principal casting was already in
place by early September, though casting notices for small roles were still being
announced as late as October 5.It was also
later reported that the film’s start date would be pushed to September 22.The film’s presumed co-feature – Phil Ford’s Valley of the Zombies – was already just
shy of two weeks into production with production on The Catman of Paris set to follow immediately on its heels.But even the revised start date of September
22 is in doubt.On September 24, 1945,
the Los Angeles Times noted
production on Lesley Selander’s The
Catman of Paris was, at long last, to start “today at Republic.”
It’s of some interest that the two primary cast members
of The Catman of Paris, Carl Esmond
and Lenore Aubert, were both born in Vienna, Austria.Though neither had ever appeared in a horror
film, both already would share near-miss flirtations with real-life
horrors.Esmond left for the U.S. as
early as 1938 at the behest of MGM’s Louis B. Mayer.The actor had been performing with a touring
company in London when Nazi troops swept into Austria in March of 1938.Esmond reflected to Hollywood scribe Maxine
Garrison that Mayer dangled an MGM contract before him, warning ‘You would be
foolish not to come [to America].Europe
will be lost in war before long.”Esmond
admitted, “I had not thought of it that way, but he was right.”
Aubert too left Vienna, choosing travel to Paris.But with German troops already occupying the
City of Light, the actress also made the decision to immigrate to America.(Ironically, Aubert’s first screen credit was
for a performance as a villainous Nazi spy for Samuel Goldwyn’s They Got Me Covered (1943), an early Bob
Hope and Dorothy Lamour comedy).Though
not a household name to most cinephiles, the darkly beautiful Aubert is likely
best remembered for her performance as the sinister Dr. Mornay in the
time-tested Universal classic Abbott and
Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).
The Hollywood trades were reporting a lot of activity on
the Republic Studios lot that first week of October of 1945… but most interest
was fixed on producer-director Frank Borsage’s ambitious and expensive Technicolor
effort Concerto.But a wandering journalist noted that only
“two stages away,” Republic’s dual monochrome horror pics, The Catman of Paris and Valley
of the Zombies, were being shot concurrently for a provisional
double-feature release.“On both sets,
the visitor must have nerves of steel,” it was reported, “to withstand sudden
appearances of perambulating cat people and corpses.”
By Thursday, October 11, 1945, the Hollywood Reporter noted that production on The Catman of Paris had wrapped on the night previous, when
“final exterior scenes were filmed on the studio’s back lot.” The report also indicated
that co-feature Valley of the Zombies
had finished shooting a mere “one day before Republic started rolling Selander’s
picture.”If true, the earlier reportage
of dual-picture sightings of “perambulating cat people and corpses” was little
more than promotional ballyhoo.
So who was this sinister cinematic Catman of Paris? Parisian police detectives are of the belief
that it’s none other than the best-selling, dashingly handsome French novelist
Charles Regnier (Carl Esmond).The
popular-selling author has recently returned to Paris following two years of
international travel – including a possibly fateful visit to the tropics.Not everyone has enjoyed his most recent
book.Regnier’s fiction-novel Fraudulent Justice has come to the
attention – and annoyance – of the French government.It seems Regnier’s narrative appears to have
been based on a true-life crime and trial: the details of which were never brought
to public scrutiny and the judicial outcome now thought a travesty of
justice.So how was it that Regnier
could accurately account so much about a secretive government trial?
Regnier has also returned to Paris to wrestle other demons.The writer suffers headaches which bring
about unexplainable subsequent episodes of amnesia.During such sessions Regnier is visited by
images of violent weather disturbances and of a mysterious black cat.Regnier’s moneyed patron, Henri Borchard
(Douglas Dumbrille), suggests Regnier’s fragile mental state is due to his having
contracted some sort of fever when visiting the tropics.There’s also a measure of astrological hokum
in the scripting mix as well.
Both Bouchard and Regnier’s publisher Paul Audet (Francis
Pierlot) are concerned that following two gruesome murders of which Regnier is
at least tangentially involved, the author’s book sales might plummet and
bankrupt the publishing house.And circumstantial
evidence of Regnier’s involvement in the murders continues to mount.The Catman’s most recent victim - Regnier’s
high-society fiancé Marguerite Duvall (Adele Mara), was recently jilted so the
author might enjoy a new romance with publisher’s daughter Marie (Lenore
Aubert).Having completely fallen for
the dashing author, Marie Audet is completely convinced of Regnier’s innocence…
until she herself is chased through a misty evening garden by a cloak and
top-hatted Catman on the prowl for her blood.
Though the film would eventually pair with Valley of the Zombies, The Catman of Paris was initially paired
on release with John English’s somewhat better-received ice-skating
musical-mystery Murder in the Music Hall.The first wave of reviews of The Catman of Paris were generally fair -
if mostly unfavorable.The Hollywood Reporter ignobly described the
film as an “absurdity,” a career embarrassments to all involved.The lugubrious screenplay of Republic scenarist
Sherman L. Lowe was decried as far too “wordy… every character uttering
editorials instead of dialog.”
There were complaints – also not unfair - that the film
displayed a curious lack of “physical action.”Variety was a bit more forgiving in its assessment,
calling the Valentine’s Day preview of The
Catman of Paris “a cross between a garden-variety whodunit and a
Jekyll-Hyde horror-meller […] that taxes belief to the breaking point.”The Christian
Science Monitor dismissed the film outright as a “routine horror story
based on far-fetched thrills.”
Despite the lukewarm reviews of both Murder in the Music Hall and The
Catman of Paris, the package managed a successful earning of $35,000 in its
first week.Which, at the very least, guaranteed
a second week of booking.Republic, presumptively
optimistic and encouraged by strong initial returns, inked producer Libkov to a
contract of three additional pictures. Though there was the inevitable revenue
fall-off in the second week of release, the trades were reporting box office
tallies in and around Los Angeles remained “good” if not showing signs of
sustained momentum. But by week three,
the box office receipts were down to disappointing four figure earnings.As the Catman
creeped regionally across the U.S. through autumn of 1946, local reviewers and small-town
theater managers found the film a mild mystery offering at best.Subsequently, four-figure weekly returns were
now the norm.
Frank
Sinatra made his directorial debut with the World War II drama “None But the
Brave,” available on Blu-ray via the Warner Archive Collection. An American C-47
carrying Marines and a Navy Corpsman, crashes on a Pacific island in the Solomon
Islands chain. The island is occupied by a small force of Japanese soldiers who
have been stranded and forgotten. The C-47 radio is damaged in the crash and
the Americans have a limited supply of food, water and ammunition. The Japanese
control the only source of fresh water on the island, grow food, fish and have
built a boat.
The
Americans have a Navy corpsman and the Japanese have an injured soldier. The
Americans also have a hot-headed Marine Lieutenant itching to kill Japanese.
Fortunately, the senior ranking American is the cool-headed Army Air Corp pilot
of the downed C-47 and he keeps the Lieutenant and his men in check. The
Americans and Japanese form a temporary truce; food and water in exchange for
medical care for their injured soldier.
The
movie is part of a sub-genre of WWII movies about adversaries who become
stranded and must survive within enemy territory until rescued. “No Man is an
Island” (1963) and “Hell in the Pacific” (1968) are examples. While its
doubtful American and Japanese ever created such a truce, the concept does make
for interesting story telling. There have even been sci-fi versions of this
premise such as “Robinson Crusoe on Mars” (1964) and “Enemy Mine” (1985).
William Dafoe’s “Robinson Crusoe” is a clear literary source for this genre.
When
a typhoon hits the island, the Americans and Japanese have to work together to
save the fresh water pond. The Americans repair the radio and rescue is at hand,
bringing everyone to the brutal conclusion. The movie ends with a preachy
epitaph, “Nobody Ever Wins,” which comes out of nowhere and makes no sense.
Sinatra and the writers may have been making an early statement about the
Vietnam War at a time when American audiences were still eager to see WWII
action movies like “The Great Escape,” “The Dirty Dozen” and his own “Von
Ryan’s Express.” “None But the Brave” is a good WWII movie with a great cast,
but I think Sinatra may have picked the wrong war to send an anti-war message. Perhaps disillusioned, he never directed another film.
Sinatra
co-produced the movie and receives star billing in what is essentially a co-starring
role as Maloney, a cynical Navy chief who drinks too much. Clint Walker is at
his best as the Army C-47 pilot, Captain Dennis Bourke, who has a history with
Maloney. His Japanese counterpart is Lieutenant Kuroke played by Tatsuya Mihashi.
Tommy Sands is the hot-headed Marine, 2nd Lieutenant Blair in a performance that
is a bit over-the-top, and Takeshi Kato as his equallyhot headed Japanese
counterpart, Sergeant Tamura. Other familiar faces in the American cast include
Brad Dexter as Sergeant Bleeker and Tony Bill as Keller, the C-47 radio
operator. Hisao Dazai appears as Corporal Fujimoto and may be familiar to fans
of Godzilla movies, as he featured in several Toho monster movies. Laraine
Stephens, one of only two women in the movie, appears uncredited in a flashback
scene as Lorie.
Sinatra
gives his typical easy-going performance as Maloney and his direction is
equally easy-going, making use of the tropical location with Kaua'I, Hawaii,
filling in for the South Pacific island. The Japanese-American co-production
has a screenplay co-written by John Twist and Takeshi Kato and is based on a
story by Kikumaru Okuda. There’s unconvincing model work used in the plane
crash scene at the start of the movie with a model Japanese Zero shooting down
the C-47 and an American fighter. The main sets include the freshwater pond,
the C-47 hulk and the Japanese Army compound. I’m sure the cast and crew
enjoyed their time in Hawaii.
The
movie was released in February 1965 by Warner Bros. and clocks in at 106 minutes.
The Warner Archive region-free Blu-ray looks very good and sounds great, with an
early score by John Williams. The only extra on the disc is the trailer which is
interesting because it shows Sinatra acting as both director and star. The
English subtitle option is welcome, especially during the Japanese scenes. The
movie is not perfect, but it is an enjoyable afternoon movie recommended for Sinatra
fans and WWII military adventure.
Click here to order from the Cinema Retro Movie Store
From
the vantage point of 2023, the domestic and professional situations depicted in
Mervyn Le Roy’s “Moment to Moment,” a romantic melodrama released on January
27, 1966, might as well be a portrait of an alien society.Kay Stanton (Jean Seberg) lives in a charming
rented villa in Cannes, France, thanks to her husband Neil’s sabbatical from
his tenured position as an eminent professor of psychology at Columbia
University.If you ask a professor
nowadays if he or she ever expects to receive a year’s paid leave on the French
Riviera complete with housing, the answer is likely to be, “Sure, in your
dreams.”In today’s penny-pinching,
increasingly conservative institutions of higher learning, most professors are
lucky to get tenure.
Kay
has no visible interests or pursuits outside of her role as a housewife, and
even the chores of cooking, cleaning, and supervising the couple’s well-behaved
ten-year-old son are fulfilled by paid help.Today’s overworked, stressed-out soccer moms would pant with envy, but
Kay is lonely.Neil (an archetypal
Arthur Hill role played here by . . . Arthur Hill!) is a loving husband, but he’s
on the road most of the time, happily accepting offers to lecture in London and
Edinburgh.In that pre-IT age, he and
Kay don’t even have the luxury of seeing each other on FaceTime.The best Kay can expect is a hurried call on
her landline as Neil rushes off to an appointment, and the most excitement she
can muster are the afternoon cocktails with her impish, divorced neighbor
Daphne (Honor Blackman).Daphne is as
happily promiscuous as Kay is strait-laced, offering a perpetual open house to
randy gangs of officers on leave from a nearby American Navy base.Despite her good-times facade, we eventually
learn that Daphne’s objective is as middle-class as they come, hoping
eventually to land Mr. Right in the form of a well-to-do, well-connected
commander or admiral.
For
Kay, temptation enters as she encounters Mark Dominic (Sean Garrison), a
handsome Naval ensign with ambitions as an artist.They meet when her son Timmy notices Mark
painting at an easel in town, and from there they drift into a relationship when
she offers to drive him around to scout out potential backdrops at quaint
village plazas and cafes.In the best
Soap Opera tradition of smart people who do stupid things against their better
judgment — not unlike real life, come to think of it — Kay goes to bed with
Mark one night when her son is sleeping over at a friend’s house and the
housekeeper is on vacation.Next
morning, Kay suffers remorse and tells Mark it’s over.Mark reacts angrily, a gun is brandished and
goes off, and he drops to the floor, apparently dead.Kay compounds one stupid act with another
when she convinces Daphne to help her dispose of the body.
At
that point, the movie finds its surest footing as a suspense thriller.Kay calls the police anonymously to tell them
where to find Mark, and soon the shrewd Inspector DeFargo (Grégoire Aslan) is
on the case.He suspects Kay of being
the culprit, and begins to tighten the screws by asking Neil, newly arrived
home not knowing about Kay’s infidelity, to help treat a young man with amnesia.The patient is Mark, alive but suffering a
total loss of memory beginning with the morning he met Kay.In scenes of sadistic comedy that nearly
rival Alfred Hitchcock’s best, DeFargo engineers a series of meetings with
Neil, Kay, and Mark in which various visual and acoustic clues threaten to jog
the young officer’s memory.Kay cringes,
Neil is oblivious, and DeFargo watches like a spider contemplating a fly in its
web.To say the least, it’s unorthodox
police procedure.At least he doesn’t
propose the old Hollywood remedy of smacking Mark on the head again to see if
that does the trick.Maybe he found it
more amusing to torment Kay.
“Moment
to Moment” was the final film of Melvyn Le Roy’s long and versatile career,
except for uncredited assistance on John Wayne’s “The Green Berets,” and it is
largely forgotten today even as new generations of movie buffs rediscover “Little
Caesar,” “Gold Diggers of 1933,” “The Bad Seed,” and “Gypsy.”In part, it was probably a matter of having a
B+ cast instead of an A cast.Jean
Seberg was a well-established actress, but not a proven box-office draw like
Audrey Hepburn or a rising luminary like Faye Dunaway.Sean Garrison co-starred in a short-lived TV
Western, “Dundee and the Culhane,” and then drifted into a busy but low-key
career as a supporting actor.He had the
misfortune of entering the business at the same time as dozens of other young,
good-looking hopefuls, and unlike James Brolin, Chad Everett, Harrison Ford,
Lee Majors, and Robert Redford, he never quite had the charisma or lucky break
needed to surface above the pack.
But
the main jinx for the movie was bad timing.Released the same year that “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and “Blow-Up”
began to shake Hollywood’s taboos against explicit language and nudity, “Moment
to Moment” struck critics and probably most viewers as glossy, old-fashioned
entertainment not much racier than the TV Soap Operas of the era.Today, that very quality is likely to work in
its favor among viewers who weren’t even born in 1966.Who wouldn’t be curious about a world in
which a thirty-something woman lounges around the house in Yves Saint Laurent
dresses instead of yoga pants and a sweatshirt?The plot about marital infidelity and attempted murder is mirrored now
by true-crime podcasts and “NBC Dateline Two-Hour Events,” although the
culprits there are usually less attractive and a lot less classy than Kay
Stanton, and the cops less idiosyncratic than Inspector DeFargo.
A
new Blu-ray edition of “Moment to Moment” from Kino Lorber Studio Classics
presents the movie in a sharp, 1.85:1 image much richer than the old prints
that used to run on local TV stations in the 1980s, before “Dr. Phil” and “The
View” claimed their time-slot.Special
features include an amusing, informative audio commentary by Howard S. Berger
and Nathaniel Thompson, and a short 1966 featurette, “Moment to Moment with
Henry Mancini.”The featurette, actually
a slightly extended trailer, intercuts shots of the composer conducting his
lush score for the picture with quick scenes illustrating how the music
underlines Le Roy’s moods of romance and suspense.Would that we had more composers now as
talented as Henry Mancini, and more directors with Mervyn Le Roy’s versatility,
sharp sense of composition, and confident pace.
It
was hyped to be another film like The Sting (1973)—a clever heist caper
in a period setting with charismatic actors, witty dialogue, and a lively,
comical tone. Michael Crichton had written a historical novel, The Great
Train Robbery (published in 1975), which was based on the true story of the
first train robbery in Britain. In 1855, Britain was engaged in the Crimean War
and a large amount of gold was shipped monthly from London to pay the troops. A
fellow named William Pierce and his accomplice Edward Agar planned the robbery
and pulled it off, much to the dismay of the British authorities.
Crichton
was keen on getting a film made based on his book, so he went ahead and wrote
the screenplay himself. He also changed the character names to Edward Pierce
and Robert Agar and added a lot more “fun” to the proceedings for a romp of a cinematic
experience. Dino De Laurentiis picked up the film rights and it wasn’t
difficult to get the thing financed and distributed by United Artists. Released
first in the U.K., the title was changed, oddly, to The First Great Train
Robbery. However, in the United States and rest of the world, the picture
bore the simpler title from the book, The Great Train Robbery.
Pierce
(Sean Connery) is a man-about-London with high society connections, but he’s
also a con man with his own cadre of pickpockets and small time crooks. Among
them is Agar (Donald Sutherland), who is adept at lock-picking and copying keys,
and Miriam (Lesley-Anne Down), who has the talent to assume several
personas—usually, though, that of sexy bait for unsuspecting victims. The bank
manager, Fowler (Malcolm Terris), has loose lips and reveals the secret about
the gold’s security on the train—the safes can be opened only with four
different keys, each carried by different people. Pierce sets about instigating
elaborate schemes to first obtain each individual key, making copies of them, and
then to infiltrate the train and snatch the gold. Every step of the way, Agar
pronounces, “That’s impossible!” to comical effect, only to follow Pierce’s
instructions to the letter, succeed, and move forward to the next challenge. To
reveal more would certainly be a spoiler!
The
movie is entertaining and good enough—but it’s not the equal of The Sting. Much of the
film’s strength comes from watching Connery in action in a role that is similar
to the certain suave operator we all associate with the actor, only he’s been
transported to 1855 England. Dressed in the height of fashion for the time,
Connery is charming, dapper, and looks marvelous. There are moments, though, in
which it seems that Connery isn’t totally comfortable in the role. This might
be due to weaknesses in the dialogue and direction, which sadly do not always rise
to the occasion. Sutherland is also winning, although his British accent goes
in and out throughout the movie. Perhaps the most engaging performer is Down,
an extremely attractive and talented actress who unfortunately didn’t retain the
early success of her appearances in the late 70s and early 80s.
The
cinematography (by Geoffrey Unsworth), along with the production and costume
designs, are all exquisite. However, despite winning an Edgar Allan Poe Award
from Mystery Writers of America for the screenplay, it is the dialogue which
causes one to wince at its over-the-top instances of risqué innuendo. The
direction, too, is of journeyman quality; the picture could have benefited from
a Nicholas Meyer or even a Spielberg. That said, Connery allegedly performed
the top-of-the-train stunts himself, which, given that revelation, is
surprising. While not in the same league as top-of-the-train stunts today (i.e.,
Skyfall, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Mission:
Impossible—Dead Reckoning, Part One), for 1978 the stunt work is
impressive.
Kino
Lorber has issued a new Blu-ray disk that looks gorgeous and contains an archival audio
commentary by the late writer/director Crichton. The only other supplements are trailers
from other Crichton features and Kino Lorber releases. There is also a reversible artwork sleeve.
The
Great Train Robbery is
for fans of Connery and Sutherland, and it will hopefully remind viewers of Lesley-Anne
Down’s formidable gifts.
The
Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935) is
frequently referred to as the greatest horror film ever made, something which
Emma Westwood, the editor of this new collection of essays, would not disagree
with. In building on the incredible work done on the original Frankenstein (1931)
whilst bringing in the dark humour of The Old Dark House (1932), along
with key cast member and fellow Brit Ernest Thesiger, director James Whale
delivered incredible imagery, dark themes and iconic performances. In doing so,
he was establishing the comedy-horror template that would be utilised so
effectively for decades to come (An American Werewolf in London (John
Landis, 1981) owes it a great debt, for one). It also became perhaps the first example
of a sequel being superior to the original, which is still something that does
not happen very often. So how did this happen? What is it about The Bride of
Frankenstein that has ensured its legendary status for almost one hundred
years?
That
question is something that this fascinating collection of new essays addresses
from a number of angles. This new addition to the Midnight Movie Monographs
series from Electric Dreamhouse (previous entries have included books devoted
to Spirits of the Dead (Roger Vadim/ Federico Fellini/ Louis Malle,
1968), Plan 9 from Outer Space (Ed Wood Jr., 1959) and Horror Express
(Eugenio Martín, 1972)) presents twelve different chapters covering the
production, censorship, the astonishing hair, makeup and costume design, the
pioneering use of sound, readings of sexuality, the many films over the years
which draw on elements of Bride of Frankenstein, including my own
personal horror-comedy favourite Bride of Re-Animator (Brian Yuzna,
1990), an examination of star Elsa Lanchester herself, and much more. Who
exactly is ‘the Bride of Frankenstein’? is another question to be mulled over;
after all, shouldn’t the film have been called ‘The Bride of Frankenstein’s
Monster’?
Whether
you have a passing interest in the Universal horrors or if The Bride of
Frankenstein is your favourite film, this new monograph, with a foreword
from Sara Karloff, daughter of Boris, will cause you to think about the film
differently, and brings great wit and insight to this endlessly fascinating
film from Hollywood’s golden age of horror cinema. In hardcover with a wealth
of imagery and a terrific cover design, this is a beautiful book for any
serious cinema lover’s library.
You can order a copy direct
from PB Publishing by clicking here.
There were passing
moments when watching this gorgeously curated Blu-ray of Phil Tucker’s cult 3-D
masterwork Robot Monster (1953) that
I mulled its reputation as cinema’s most fabled wreck was undeserved.Surely, I thought, I’ve cringingly sat
through worse sci-fi films produced before and since.But then some particularly awful line of dialogue
(delivered woodenly, of course), or a bizarre plot turn, or a not-so-special
effect, or an inexplicable episode of dinosaur wrangling would interrupt my
musings, causing a return to sober reality.Phil Tucker’s low-low-low
budget monster-piece is a crazed vision, to be sure.But acknowledging that, Robot Monster is most certainly not
one of the world’s worst films: it’s too entertaining to be dismissed as such.On the same token, it’s undeniably one of the
most desperate and unhinged cinematic artifacts lensed by an indie Hollywood film-outfit
of the ‘50s.
The sullied reputation of Robot Monster is the result, no doubt, due to the merciless
flailing of the production by the smirking Medved brothers - Michael and Harry –
who infamously skewered the film in their pop-culture, eminently readable and
caustic tomes The Fifty Worst Films of
All Time (1978) and The Golden Turkey
Awards (1980).Still the film’s space
helmet and gorilla-suit sporting “Ro-man” (as listed in the film’s end credits)
– has somehow managed to become as
visually iconic a totem of 1950s sci-fi as the gigantic robot Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still (2oth
Century Fox, 1951) or the Metaluna monster in This Island Earth (Universal-International, 1955).
As is so often the case, the backstory to the creation of
Robot Monster is perhaps more
interesting than the artifact produced.The
screenplay was written by Wyott “Barney” Ordung.The Californian was trying desperately to
break into the film business, initially as an acting student working
occasionally in walk-on roles, often uncredited.In a 1983 interview with the late film and
3-D historian Ray Zone, Ordung recalled it was in 1952 when he was approached
by Tucker – who he’d known casually from working on a previous picture – to write
the script for Robot Monster.Ordung recalled he was originally tasked to
play the role of the “Ro-Man” – at least in earliest test footage photography.
Ordung’s script for Robot
Monster would serve as his springboard into the world of professional
filmmaking.Following that film’s
release, the Californian would script the war film Combat Squad (1953) as well as another sci-fi guilty pleasure Target Earth (1954).Still (mercifully) unproduced is the script Ordung
wrote directly following the release of Robot
Monster.That prospective film was,
according to Sun Valley’s Valley Times,
to feature Ordung’s “3-D comedy” scenario based on “Mildred Seamster’s
Hollywood beauty salon.”The plot would
“deal with the varied individuals who patronize a beauty salon and their
interesting escapades.”Oy.
That film would not materialize, but it was of little
matter as Ordung would soon receive his first directing credit when Roger
Corman tapped him to helm Monster from
the Ocean Floor (1954).Though Ordung
had not previously helmed any sort of film production, it was an offer and
partnership of economic necessity.Corman agreed to allow Ordung to direct on the condition he contribute
$2,000 of his Robot Monster earnings
to the new film’s budget and work for “a piece of the picture.”Hey, a break’s a break.
First-time director Phil Tucker too was looking for his first
big break in the film industry and was of the mind that Robot Monster just might be the ticket.But his experience working on Robot Monster was, alas, bittersweet.Less than two months following the release of
that film, Tucker was found in Fairbanks, Alaska – of all places - shooting his
non-union follow-up epic: the seventy-five minute Venusian “science-fiction
thriller” Space Jockey – a film never
released and now thought lost.Tucker grudgingly
told a journalist in Fairbanks that with only Robot Monster to his credit, he had already soured on the politics
of Tinseltown.
“The movie industry is stifled in Hollywood,” he director
complained.“They tell you what to
write, how to produce it, when to direct it, who [to] put in it and when to try
to sell it.It’s a tight little island of rulers and it’s
a hard place in which to breathe free.”Tucker did confess he wasn’t trying to be a true auteur in any sense of the word: “I’m not trying to create
art.I’m trying to make money,” he
offered plainly.
The primary stumbling block to Tucker’s earning any
monies was New York-born Al Zimbalist, the executive producer and guiding hand
of Robot Monster.The movie was the first of the films Zimbalist
would oversee as producer – and occasionally as “writer,” though that was mostly
as concoctor of “original stories” and little more.Throughout the 1950s and a bit beyond,
Zimbalist delivered such bargain-basement fare as Cat-Women of the Moon (1953), Miss
Robin Crusoe (1953), King Dinosaur
(1955) and Monster from Green Hell
(1957) to the pleasures of a mostly undiscerning cinema-going audience.It was also Zimbalist who steered Robot Monster to go the then popular 3-D
filming route.It was an unusual decision
for an indie film to be shot on a shoestring budget.
It made some sense.Hollywood’s production of 3-D films was at its zenith in 1953.Box
Office would note in April of 1953 that no fewer than sixty-two films to
offer the 3-D treatment were either completed, in production or in the planning
stages.Practically every major studio
was readying a slate of 3-D cinematic fare: Columbia, Paramount, RKO Radio,
United Artists and Warner Bros. among them.By far, 20th Century Fox was leading the way with a scheduled
twenty-two 3-D films on the drawing
board.There were only a couple of
independents in the mix, having chosen to dip their toe in the 3-D pool.Al Zimbalist and Phil Tucker’s “newly
organized” Third Dimension Pictures was one of them.
The trades reported on March 21, 1953 that Zimbalist was to
employ a unique “Tru-Depth system of 3-D” photography for his in-the-works Robot Monster project. Then, a mere week
following the start of the film’s
production, Box Office noted that Robot Monster had completed shooting… though no release date had yet been set.Zimbalist was so pleased with the results of
the “Tru-Depth” system, that in April of ’53 the Hollywood maverick announced
the formation of his “Tru-Stereo Corporation.”The company would “make available a stereoscopic 3-D system to
independent producers.” “Tru-Stereo” would serve as an affordable,
budget-conscious alternative to the more expensive 3-D systems used by the
Hollywood majors.
In fact, there were no fewer than twenty-two competing 3-D systems being used by filmmakers by late
spring of 1953.(“Tru-Depth” had since been
rechristened as “Tru-Stereo.)”The
Tru-Stereo 3-D was proffered as being similar to the others: it too employed
two cameras to create the three-dimensional effect.But the system also boasted “an authentic
interlocking control which is said to insure against faulty
synchronization.”Robot Monster had also boastingly employed “a newly developed
stereophonic sound system devised by the Master-Tone Sound Corporation.”
The first casting notices for Robot Monster were announced in March of 1953.Handsome leading man George Nader was reportedly
hired to play the role of “Roy” following his appearance in the still
unreleased pic Miss Robin Crusoe.Nader’s performance in that film impressed
Zimbalist who worked on the same as associate producer.Roy’s love interest, Alice (Claudia Barrett)
hadn’t much big-screen experience, but had been steadily working on any number
of early television series.The film’s
egghead professor would be played by the long-working Ukrainian actor John
Mylong, his children, Johnny and Carla, by stage-kids Gregory Moffett and
Pamela Paulson, respectively.
The role of the professor’s wife went to Selena Royle, an
actress with a familiar face due to her long run as a dependable player at MGM.Royle was happy to get the role – any role –
as she had recently been blacklisted in the pages of Red Channels, “the American Legion’s list of 200 motion picture
workers suspected of communist leanings.”Her crime was the organizing and serving of free meals to the
un-and-under employed actors in and around New York City during the throes of
the Depression.Royle vowed to fight the
accusations, telling journalist her post-blacklist acting income had dropped
from six figures to a mere three figures by mid-summer of 1952. Robot
Monster would be one of her two final feature film appearances, Royle and
her husband choosing to immigrate to Mexico in 1957.
Long before his film The Accused (1988) helped earn Jodie Foster an Academy Award and
even longer before receiving Emmy Nominations for his work on TV’s ER, talented producer/director Jonathan
Kaplan made some very entertaining drive-in/exploitations films. His first, a 1972
sexploitation classic called Night Call
Nurses, was done for the immortal Roger Corman’s legendary New World
Pictures. The last of Corman’s “Nurses Trilogy”, Night Call Nurses, whichwas
made for a measly $75,000 and brought in over a million at the box office,
jumpstarted Kaplan’s filmmaking career as Corman immediately offered Kaplan The Student Teachers; a movie with
basically the same formula as the “Nurse” films (except with schoolteachers).
Released in June of 1973, Teachers
was another huge success for New World, so, impressed with Kaplan’s newest work,
Corman’s brother, Gene, hired him to direct the Jim Brown-starring heist/prison
flick The Slams (also 1973). This led
to Kaplan being approached by legendary production company American
International Pictures to helm the enjoyable 1974 “Blaxploitation” film Truck Turner starring the late, great
Isaac Hayes. Due to the success of this action-oriented film, Kaplan was hired
by Columbia Pictures to direct (and co-write) another actioner which would be
the biggest hit of his career so far: 1975’s White Line Fever, which is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
War hero Carrol Jo Hummer (Jan-Michael
Vincent, Big Wednesday) returns home
to Tucson, Arizona and marries his sweetheart, Jerri (Kay Lenz, Breezy). He then gets a bank loan and
uses it to buy a rig named “The Blue Mule.” Anxious to start a family, Carrol
Jo begins work at Red River Shipping where his job is to haul produce. CJ soon
discovers that he is also expected to haul illegal cargo such as untaxed
cigarettes and slot machines. He refuses and gets his ribs broken by several
Red River employees. Once healed, CJ attempts to find work at other shipping
companies, but, due to being blackballed by Red River, cannot get hired. An
enraged CJ returns to Red River and holds his superiors, Duane Haller (Slim Pickens,
1972’s The Getaway) and Buck Wessler
(L.Q. Jones, The Wild Bunch) at
gunpoint until Buck agrees to let CJ do things his way. The men do agree, but
once CJ goes back to work, he is attacked by more Red River thugs who he manages
to successfully fight off. CJ eventually discovers that Red River is owned by a
huge corporation called Glass House which is not only run by a man named Cutler
(Don Porter, TV’s Gidget), but also
has ties to organized crime. The more CJ tries to do what’s right, the more
he’s attacked, with devastating consequences to his friends and family. Enraged,
CJ grabs his shotgun, jumps inside the Blue Mule and heads for Glass House. But
can one man stand up to the corrupt corporation and win?
Directed with a sure hand by Kaplan, White Line Fever is not only a modern
western with trucks instead of horses, but, according to the director, a Sam
Peckinpah-influenced western which, beside the fact that they are fabulous
actors, would explain why Peckinpah regulars like Slim Pickens, L.Q. Jones and
R.G. Armstrong (Pat Garrett and Billy the
Kid) are in the film. (Peckinpah would soon direct his own action/trucker
film; 1978’s enjoyable Convoy.) A
well-done addition to the revenge/man against the system formula, White Line Fever, as stated by co-writer
Ken Friedman (Cadillac Man),is similar in story/structure to Phil
Karlson films like Walking Tall or The Phenix City Story except with a
major twist at the end. The well-made film also benefits from some wonderful
cinematography by the Oscar nominated (for Patton)
Fred Koenekamp as well as extremely well-written, multi-dimensional characters
and terrific, believable performances from Jan-Michael Vincent, Kay Lenz, Slim
Pickens, L.Q. Jones, Sam Laws, Don Porter and R.G. Armstrong; not to mention an
early appearance by the always welcome Martin Kove (Steele Justice) as one of the Red River thugs and, last, but
certainly not least, the legendary Dick Miller (A Bucket of Blood, The Howling, Gremlins) as one of CJ’s fellow
truckers.
White Line Fever has also been
released as a Region-Free Blu-ray by the German video label Explosive Media and is
presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The beautiful transfer is sharp,
colorful and has perfect sound. The disc also contains two theatrical trailers
(one in English and one in German); a still gallery which features the film’s
posters and lobby cards; an introduction by director Kaplan and an almost hour-long
featurette with co-writer Ken Friedman who reminisces about many different
aspects of the film including working with screen veterans like Slim Pickens
and Don Porter as well as discussing the film’s darker, more realistic ending. The
Blu-ray can be ordered from Amazon Germany.The film is also streaming for free on YouTube (with advertisements.)
If you’re looking for a well-made,
enthralling and realistic trucker movie, White
Line Fever is definitely the way to go.
Corman/ Poe: Interviews and Essays
Exploring the Making of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe Films, 1960-1964
By Chris Alexander
Foreword by Roger
Corman
Headpress paperback
Size: 235mm x 191mm
Pages: 150
105 colour and B&W stills images
ISBN:
978-1-915316-07-3
Retail Price: UK£22.99 / US $27.95
Review by Adrian
Smith
The early 1960s was a
boom time for gothic horror films. Spurred on by the Hammer Films one-two punch
of Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula (1958), film
companies around the world fell over themselves to produce films set in cobweb-strewn
castles and mist-enshrouded graveyards. Directors such as Mario Bava and
Antonio Margheriti made several Italian gothics, frequently starring
Christopher Lee or Barbara Steele, but no one director had such a successful
run as Roger Corman, who in the space of five years brought us an incredible
series of eight films adapted from the disturbed writing of Edgar Allan Poe: The
Fall of the House of Usher (1960), The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), Premature
Burial, Tales of Terror, (both 1962), The Haunted Palace, The
Raven (both 1963), Masque of the Red Death and The Tomb of Ligeia
(both 1964). All but one starred Vincent Price, and they also featured the
talents of Ray Milland, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone, Barbara
Steele (again, proving she was a gothic icon on both sides of the Atlantic),
Hazel Court, and even a young Jack Nicholson.
In this new book, the
first dedicated solely to these films, Fangoria's Chris Alexander has interviewed
Roger Corman (a mere 97 years old, with a pin-sharp memory) at length on each one
of these low- budget gems, discussing the themes, the productions, his love-hate
relationship with American International Pictures, the cast and crew, and much
more. He reflects thoughtfully on his collaborative relationship with Vincent
Price, who he rightly describes as a “brilliant actor,” and he is not too proud
of his own achievements to acknowledge the important contribution of others,
including writer Richard Matheson, who he says was, “One of the finest writers
I’ve ever had the chance to work with,” crediting him “for much of the success
of those early Poe pictures.” Also featured
in the book is a critical appraisal for each film and a wealth of archival
material, including a full-colour international poster gallery and censorship
documents related to the most controversial of them all, Masque of the Red
Death.
Roger Corman is one
of the most prolific directors and producers we have ever had, and as such
there is always more to be said about his work. Corman/ Poe is an
essential addition to the growing Corman library.
Richard
Loncraine’s The Haunting of Julia (aka Full Circle, 1977) is a chilling,
emotionally charged ghost story shot in London in 1976 with Canadian funding
which fell into a legal limbo and was destined to remain largely forgotten
until film historian and writer Simon Fitzjohn began researching the film for a
magazine article in 2016. The rabbit hole grew deeper and he became a man on a
mission to bring the film back to the public. The years of struggle paid off
and the film has now been restored and released around the world on Blu-ray and
UHD, so Cinema Retro sat down with him to find out how it all happened.
Cinema
Retro – How does it feel to finally be at the end
of this epic journey?
Simon
Fitzjohn - We had a screening at the BFI in London
recently which was a massive thrill. There was a good audience and we got quite
a few of the crew along as well as Richard Loncraine, the director. It was a
bit of a party, to be perfectly honest with you, a fantastic experience.
CR
– So how did this all start?
SF
- I read a BFI article at Halloween in 2016 called ‘Forgotten British Horror
Films of the 1970s,’ and I thought, “Right, okay, I'm pretty sure I'm just
going to tick everything off this list.” So I went through them all and it was
Pete Walker's Frightmare, things like that. And then there was Full Circle,
or The Haunting of Julia and this picture of Mia Farrow with her arms
out. I thought “I don't think I've seen that one.” I took it as a bit of an
affront really that I hadn't seen it. That was when I then found out that it
wasn't available commercially at all, no DVD release, however, there was a
version of it on YouTube as they'd shown it on the Sony Movie Channel in 2011.
So I watched it and I was floored by it. You know, I remember when it ended and
I just sat there in silence for about 15 minutes trying to sort of process it
and thinking, ‘Oh, my God, this is just such a sad film. How has this film been
allowed to disappear?” You know, why is this not heralded as an amazing British
horror film?
CR
– You would think it would be better known, particularly because it starred Mia
Farrow.
SF
- Originally my idea was just to write about it, so the first person I reached
out to was Peter Fetterman, who was the producer on it, and he said, “Well, I'm
still friends with Richard Loncraine, I'll give him your number.” So I had a
call with Richard, who was quite bewildered, as he always is. When anybody says
they love the film, he hates it! He seems flabbergasted, because he doesn't
think it's a good film. I think a lot of that was down to all the pressures
from the external people when they were making it, certainly the Canadian side
of it, who wanted this Omen-style bloodbath, whereas Richard wanted this
more ambiguous, psychological film. Then he put me in touch with Peter Hannon,
who was the director of cinematography on it, and then we found out that Technicolor
had found the negative, so Richard and I thought, “Right, here we go!” We needed
to get that negative, get it restored and get it rereleased.
CR
- Were there rights issues? Is that one of the reasons why it had fallen out of
circulation?
SF
- Yes. It wasn't that the negative was missing. The last known owner of it was
a guy called Julian Mills who was the exec producer on the film. Technicolor
had documents for Full Circle with Julian Melzack at Albian Films, and he
obviously didn't care about the film because he never bothered to release it
himself, and then he died in early 2016. So we had to somehow jump through all
these hoops to prove that he hadn't passed the film on to anybody else before
he passed away, so that we could prove an ownership chain. It was about six
years of working with Technicolor, Companies House, solicitors, Julian Melzack's
daughter, all these people going round and round trying to find paperwork. It
was just exasperating, to be perfectly honest with you, and there were numerous
times where we just thought it wasn’t going to happen because we would answer a
question and then they would give us another obstacle and we would jump over
that, and then they'd give us another obstacle. There were times when I
flagged, but then I would get people messaging me on the Twitter account I had
(@full_julia), saying, “Keep going, keep going!” Eventually we were able to do
it.
CR
– Who funded the restoration?
SF
- It was Shout! Factory, but there were numerous people that worked together on
this. Shout! Factory sorted the restoration, but the BFI now keep the negative,
that was the deal. It was done at Silver Salt in London. Richard Loncraine was
involved in that as well.
CR
- You've also been heavily involved in the release, with a commentary track
(with the director) and some of the extra features for the BFI release.
SF
- It was great, because I'd always said right from the start that the key for
me was that the film was going to be back out there. It deserves to be talked about,
it deserves to be celebrated. But it was still really nice when the BFI came to
me straight away and said we want you front and centre on this because Richard
said, "Look, if you don't involve Simon, I'm not getting involved.” I was
able to help as well because I was in touch with so many people, so Tom Conti
was interviewed as was Samantha Gates, who plays Olivia in the film. I've been
reading some very positive comments about it in reviews. It was fun, it was a
great thrill.
CR
– There are rumours that something is missing from the film, specifically a
graphic tracheotomy scene, which of course is the tragic event at the beginning
of the film [Julia’s daughter is choking to death, and in a last desperate
attempt to save her she attempts a tracheotomy which fails and the daughter
dies]. What do you know about this?
SF
- There was this guy and he would constantly
message me on Twitter to ask, “Have you found the tracheotomy scene?” And he
was the one that apparently somehow added it to IMDb that this was missing, but
nobody has it because it doesn't exist. Why would they randomly have had this
blood- spurting tracheotomy? That was never the intention for the film. I've
read the BBFC censors report when they classified the film, and they referenced
the fact that there was no blood in it. They gave it an AA certificate because
it was so tame. So there was never anything filmed, but when they were filming
that scene Alfred Pariser, who was the Canadian producer on it, he wanted it to
be bloody so he had a cup of stage blood. When Mia stabbed Sophie Ward with the
knife, he threw the cup of blood over them. Mia Farrow just got up and ran out
screaming because she thought she had cut Sophie Ward's throat! But they
obviously didn't use that footage. They weren't interested in having anything
like that.
CR
– Fantastic. And your commentary track with Richard Loncraine is packed with
stories like that. Congratulations on what must feel like such a tremendous
achievement.
SF
– Thank you. And I ended up somehow randomly getting a Rondo Award too!
The
Haunting of Julia/ Full Circle is
available on Blu-ray and UHD in the States from Shout! Factory, in Australia
from Imprint, and on Blu-ray and UHD in the UK from the BFI. Each edition
shares some bonus features whilst also having some which are unique. The
Imprint release comes in a beautiful hardbox with a lenticular cover, a book
discussing the adaptation from Peter Straub’s novel Julia, and best of
all a CD with the full remastered Colin Towns soundtrack including some tracks
which were never used or included on the original vinyl release.
Tom
Johnson, noted Hammer Film expert and longtime friend of many a Hammer star,
passed away at his home in Shillington, PA on July 11th. He was 76.
Tom’s
best-known work was his 1995 book, Hammer Films – An Exhaustive Filmography
(co-written with Debra Del Vecchio) and exhaustive it was with over 400 pages
covering every film the studio made from the 1930s onward.He wrote other books like The Christopher
Lee Filmography (co-written with Mark A. Miller and Jimmy Sangster), The
Films of Oliver Reed (with Susan D. Cowie) and The Mummy in Fact and
Fiction (with Susan D. Cowie) and others.His 2015 tribute to Christopher Lee for Little Shoppe of Horrors –
“Christopher Lee – He May Not Have Been… Who You Thought He Was” won the Rondo
Award for Best Horror Article.
I
met Tom when I covered the 1997 Midnight Marquee Hammer Convention for
Cinemax.Along with spending time with
Caroline Munro, Freddie Francis and Jimmy Sangster, I got to know Tom.Very smart, with a dry wit and an
encyclopedic knowledge of cinema, he was easy to befriend. Tom was close to
many Hammer actors and filmmakers, most noticeably Christopher Lee and Peter
Cushing.I will forever be in his debt
for his getting Lee to sign my UK one-sheet to Scars of Dracula.Tom said when he unfolded it for the star,
Lee rolled his eyes and mumbled, “Oh my God.” The Count, it seems, was not a
fan of the film!
Along
with his literary efforts, Tom taught and coached high School track. (He was a
medal-winning runner himself back in the day.) An avowed Luddite, Tom didn’t own a computer,
never had an e-mail account and never once browsed the web. I remember telling
him how great it would be if he got an email address.His response?“Nah.” Old school to his core, he
would write his books by hand and his wonderful British writing partner Sue
Cowie would type them up and bring them into the 21st Century.
(Tom with Joyce Broughton, Peter Cushing's long-time secretary and personal assistant.)
As
years went by, Tom’s health got worse and he seldom ventured far from his PA
home, but we would talk on the phone.He
took great delight in my collecting tales – the items that got away and also the
things I managed to get, especially anything expensive. Tom laughed uproariously when I told him about
buying a rather large helicopter model from You Only Live Twice sight
unseen and my wife’s less than enthusiastic reaction.He made ME laugh when he recounted buying an ultra-rare
window card for 1935’s Mad Love at an antique store, putting it under his
mattress to “straighten it out,” then FORGETTING it for years!When he finally removed it, the brittle paper
was in tatters. Ouch.
Tom
stoically faced his mounting health problems with his sense of humor and
curiosity unchanged.He was a kind and
gentle man who truly loved the art of filmmaking and was unrivalled in his
knowledge of the entire Hammer canon.He
leaves behind seven books, countless articles and an army of people who will
truly miss him.Thank you, dear Tom.
“The
Exorcist Legacy: 50 Years of Fear” by Nat Segaloff (Kensington Publishing, $28)
304 pages, Illustrated (B&W), Hardback, ISBN: 978-0-8065-4194-5
By
Todd Garbarini
As
long as there are films and film criticism, one of the most debated aspects of
recent memory is whether or not film director William Friedkin’s 1973
masterwork The Exorcist is a horror film or not. The very question could
perplex average readers who might feel that that the inquiry itself is completely
ludicrous and make one ponder how the image of a young girl vomiting pea soup
from her bed or the face of a white-faced demon flashing manically before our
eyes could be considered anything but horror. Despite this, neither did the
novel’s author William Peter Blatty, nor the film’s director set out to make a
horror film at all. Instead, The Exorcist, largely considered by many to
be one of the most (if not the most) terrifying films ever made, was
fashioned to be a serious study about the mystery of faith.
Coming
upon the fiftieth anniversary of the film’s release – yes, you read that right
– a new book entitled The Exorcist Legacy: 50 Years of Fear is now
available and places the story about the phenomenon of the novel, the controversial
film and their inevitable sequels and prequels, definitively and squarely in
our laps. Penned by longtime Friedkin champion and prolific author of many
other film books Nat Segaloff, who wrote the excellent Hurricane Billy: The
Stormy Life and Films of William Friedkin (1990), The Exorcist Legacy
is an absolute must-read for adherents of the novel and film. With a foreword
by horror film writer John Russo of Night of the Living Dead fame, author
Segaloff takes us back to the beginning on how a 1966 meeting between Friedkin
and director Blake Edwards – and the former’s vituperative assessment of a Peter
Gunn screenplay – led to an introduction to and lifelong friendship between
Friedkin and Blatty; Warner Brothers and their initial reluctance to hire
Friedkin until the release of his brilliant The French Connection in
1971 garnered sudden critical and financial success and changed the game
completely; the original 1949 real-life case of an ostensibly possessed
Maryland boy; Blatty’s writing of the novel; the making of the film; a
multitude of issues that beset the film’s production giving way to the supposed
“curse” on the set; the controversy surrounding the release of the film; in-depth
looks at the much-maligned Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) and the
superior The Exorcist III (1990), the latter both written and directed
by Blatty; and the prequels and television series.
Segaloff,
who was Publicity Director for the Sack Theater chain in Boston,provides personal insights into the marketing
challenges pertaining to the film, as he worked with Friedkin and Warner
Brothers to open the film at the showplace Cinema 57, one of only 22 theatres
that initially played the movie nationwide. Writing in a very down-to-earth
style with new interviews and meticulously researched details, The Exorcist
Legacy is simultaneously entertaining and informative and is the new go-to reference
book for all things related to the phenomenon with a fresh look from real life
to reel life.
Italian writer/director Fernando Di Leo has
had quite a prolific career. Between 1964 and 1985, he directed 17 films
(including 1971’s Slaughter Hotel,
1972’s Caliber 9 and 1973’s The Boss) and wrote/co-wrote many
screenplays (including contributions to Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars and For
A Few Dollars More). Recently, one of his last directorial efforts, The Violent Breed, was finally released
on Blu-ray.
The Violent Breed aka Razza Violenta follows ‘nam vet Mike
Martin (Harrison Muller, 2020 Texas
Gladiators) who is sent to Southeast Asia by CIA head Kirk Cooper (Henry
Silva, Sharkey’s Machine) in order to
take out a dangerous drug lord named Polo (Woody Strode, Sergeant Rutledge).
Solidly directed by Di Leo (who also co-wrote
with Nino Marino), The Violent Breed,
although not in the same league as similar films by action icons Schwarzenegger,
Stallone and Norris,is an enjoyable
80s action film which is definitely worth checking out. The movie also features
the lovely Carole Andre (The Bloodstained
Butterfly), and a memorable score from Paolo Rustichelli (Urban Warriors).
The Violent Breed has been released on
a region one Blu-ray, comes from a brand new 2K master, and is presented in its
original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The disc boasts clear images (but the audio is a
bit low in a few spots) and also contains English subtitles, the original
theatrical trailer as well as trailers for the films The Last Hunter; The Violent
Professionals; Street Law; Seven Blood-stained Orchids and Blastfighter.
On September 27, the Australian video company Imprint/ViaVision will release a 4-film box set showcasing films starring George Peppard. Here are the details:
With his dashing good looks and
irresistible charm, George Peppard became one of the most iconic actors of the
1960s.
Enjoy four forgotten gems from his
prolific career for the first time on Blu-ray in Australia:
P.J. (1968)
Pendulum (1969)
The Executioner (1970) – Worldwide first on
Blu-ray!
Newman’s Law (1974)
Limited Edition 4-Disc Hardbox. 1500
copies only.
P.J.
(1968) – Imprint Collection #252
Peppard faces off against Raymond Burr
(Rear Window) when he becomes entangled in an affair with deadly
consequences in P.J.
Private eye P.J. Detweiler is
reluctant to protect the mistress of a millionaire from attacks by his client’s
wife and greedy family. In truth, P.J. is walking into a deadly intrigue in
which he is to play a central part.
Special Features & Technical
Specs:
1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray from
a 2K scan
NEW Audio Commentary by film historian & author Toby Roan
Audio Commentary by critics Howard S. Berger and
Steve Mitchell
NEW Interview with author & screenwriter Courtney Joyner on the
career of director John Guillermin
NEW Video essay on George Peppard & John Guillermin
Theatrical Trailer
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
Audio English LPCM 2.0 Mono
Pendulum
(1969) – Imprint Collection #253
George Peppard embarks on a relentless
quest for justice in this thrilling classic.
Cynical Washington, DC, police captain
Frank Matthews risked his life to catch a young rapist and murderer. But the
psychopath is set free when a civil liberties’ attorney proves to the Supreme
Court that Matthews never read the killer his rights. When Matthews’ wife is
found murdered alongside her lover, and he becomes the prime suspect, Matthews
decides his best option is to capture the real killer himself.
Special Features & Technical
Specs:
1080P High-definition presentation on Blu-ray
Special Features TBC
Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
Audio English LPCM 2.0 Mono
The
Executioner (1970) – Imprint Collection #254
Worldwide first on Blu-ray!
Joan Collins, Keith Mitchell and Judy
Geeson also star in The Executioner, the nail-biting thriller and
worldwide first on Blu-ray.
When a covert operation in Vienna goes
awry, British Intelligence operative John Shay suspects his colleague, Adam
Booth, may be a double agent. Appointing himself executioner, Shay kills Booth
and then assumes his identity to obtain conclusive evidence that Booth was a
traitor.
Special Features & Technical
Specs:
1080P High-definition presentation on Blu-ray
Special Features TBC
Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
Audio English LPCM 2.0 Mono
Newman’s
Law (1974) – Imprint Collection #255
The creator of Banacek, Anthony
Wilson, and George Peppard reunite in the gritty police drama Newman’s Law.
When a hard-nosed LA cop is booted from
duty after being falsely accused of extortion, he goes rogue to investigate an
organised crime case, uncovering a conspiracy that might extend to the highest
levels of his own department.
Special Features & Technical
Specs:
1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray from
a 2K scan
NEW Audio Commentary by film historian Steve Mitchell and
producer/screenwriter Cyrus Voris
NEW Interview with director Jeff Burr on the career of director Richard
T. Heffron
Radio Spots
Theatrical Trailer
Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
Audio English LPCM 2.0 Mono
Any pre-order titles will be
dispatched in the week leading up to its aforementioned release date. Special
features and artwork are subject to change.
Imprint limited editions tend to sell out quickly. Click here to pre-order. (Prices are in Australian dollars. Use a currency converter to see what the price is in your local currency.) The Blu-ray set is Region-Free.
Anyone
going into Dutch film director Rene Daalder’s 1976 film Massacre at Central
High might very well be expecting an all-out slasher film. While the poster
art might give this impression, audiences will be sorely disappointed as it is
essentially a variant of Agatha Christie’s 1939 novel Ten Little Indians
but with a much different tone. The opening credits and the strains of an inappropriate
and perfunctory title song Crossroads (which is better suited to a
made-for-television movie of the period) demanded by producer Harold Sobel to
the consternation of the director immediately sends the wrong message to the
viewer. Much of what has been written about the film over the years demonstrates
the consensus that Massacre, the title of which appears to want to
capitalize on the Tobe Hooper horror film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
from two years earlier, is a political allegory, and one can certainly analyze
the film from that perspective, though it is doubtful that audiences at the
time, especially those seeing the film at a drive-in of all places, looked so
deeply into a film that on the surface looks to be a story about simple revenge.
Set
inside the battleground of Central High School in Southern California, David
(Derrel Maury) is the new student and therefore automatically becomes a mark.
He is no stud, but certainly not a pushover either. Mark (Andrew Stevens from
Brian DePalma’s The Fury from 1977) is an old friend who owes David a
favor from his past, one that we are not privy to, and appears to be willing to
do whatever it takes to make David feel welcome. The ground rules for making it
through Central High are simple: you’re either a somebody or you’re a nobody,
to quote American Gangster’s Frank Lucas. Mark’s clique includes Bruce (the
late Ray Underwood from Brice Mack’s Jennifer from 1978, another film
about high school revenge), Craig (Steve Bond from Joel Bender’s Gas Pump
Girls from 1979), and Paul (the late Damon Douglas of John D. Hancock’s Baby
Blue Marine, also from 1976). These three bullies, for lack of a better
word, essentially rule Central High which is presented as a seemingly insular
world of jocks, jerks, and losers. For the first hour and a quarter of the
film, adults are only spoken of and never seen onscreen. It is worth noting
that Mark walks a tightrope in this film – his allegiance to David makes him hesitant
to be included completely with this terrible triumvirate who harass pretty much
anyone they want without fear of reprisal.
David
is subjected to seeing other students mercilessly harassed by the bullies, especially
Mary (the late Cheryl Lynn “Rainbeaux” Smith) and Jane (the late Lani O’Grady)
who are practically raped in a despicable sequence. David comes to their rescue
and beats up their harassers, only to be partially crushed under his car by the
group in an “accident” soon afterwards. Enraged, David single-handedly kills
all three bullies in a fantasy right out of today’s high school killer headlines
by sabotaging one’s hang-glider, one’s Dodge Tradesman 300’s brakes, and
exploiting an empty swimming pool in a sequence almost too ridiculous to
believe.
This
scenario creates an interesting situation at the school as the once oppressed
and harassed “losers” see the existence of a power vacuum and seize it, becoming
bullies themselves and embodying everything they hated about their tormentors, Apparently,
David is also well-versed in the art of bomb-making! What a coincidence. There
is no mention of how he developed these skills (The Anarchist’s Cookbook,
perhaps?), but he manages to come up with some fairly ornate methods of blowing
away the new bullies, and they all go off without a hitch: (spoiler alerts!)
one is blow away while at his locker; another is blown to Kingdom Come a la Sam
Rothstein at the start of Martin Scorsese’s Casino (1995) but,
unfortunately, no St. Matthew Passion for this guy; and last but not
least Mary, Jane and their friend (Robert Carradine) are crushed by a rock in
the middle of a threesome while in a tent (it comes out that police believe
that they were involved in the killings – how convenient). I suppose this
sequence gives new meaning to the term “die hard.”
Despite
all this mayhem, the school still moves ahead with a dance(!), and now the adults
and police show up. David gets the idea to blow up the school – until Mark and
his girlfriend Theresa (Kimberly Beck of television series fame), whom David
fancies, tell him they are going to the dance. When he gets wind of this, David
retrieves the bomb from the boiler room and, straight out of a James Bond film,
makes it to the front lawn to save the day, but not without paying a price for
his actions.
There
seems to be a need to prop the film up in a bright light and look at it for
evidence of it being a highly political film that is making a commentary on society
and the members who dwell in it. I am unsure if that was the real motivation
behind the film, however if one chooses to view it that way, the film is an
interesting social commentary on what creates a bully or an oppressor, and how
the oppressed end up taking over the positions of the long-gone bullies. The script
is schematic, and the film is not particularly well-acted, but to be fair the director
and crew had a 20-day shooting schedule on a modest $400,000 budget, so he
certainly had his work cut out for him. The fight scenes suffer from performer
restraint and the bullies are so annoying that the audience can only hope for a
miserable end for all of them but when they come, the releases are more of a
whimper than an all-out rise out of the seats that one would experience at the
end of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) when the shark is finally
killed.
Synapse Films released a steelbook
edition of this film in November 2020 and now it is available in a Standard
Edition from the same company. The following extras are included:
The Projection Booth Podcast
Interviews with Cast Members
(87:00) – this is an audio playback that needs to be selected on the audio menu
to access it and it can be listened to through the entire length of the film.
This is a great listen as I was initially disappointed to see the absence of a
commentary, but this is the next best thing. It is hosted by Mike White who
speaks to Derrel Maury, Andrew Stevens, Robert Carradine, and Rex Sikes over
the phone.
Audio Interview with Director Renee
Daalder (25:00) – likewise, this is an audio
playback that needs to be selected on the audio menu to access it and it can be
listened to through the first 25 minutes of the film, after which the film
audio resumes. It is an audio interview with the director conducted by writer
Michael Gingold and it is a wonderful record of their discussion as Mr. Daalder
sadly passed away in 2019.
Hell in the Hallways (42:27) – this is a really nice look
back at the making of the film, shot in high definition, with Derrel Maury, Tom
Logan, Rex Sikes, Robert Carradine, Andrew Stevens, and Jeffrey Winner, in
addition to some behind-the-scenes crew members who discuss how much fun and
also how challenging it was to make. Tragically, Cheryl “Rainbeaux” Smith and Lani
O’Grady both died way before their time. I recall seeing Lemora, A Child’s
Tale of the Supernatural (1973) on October 24, 2002, as part of a “scary
movies” retrospective at the Walter Reade Theater in New York, and wishing that
I could interview Ms. Smith about her starring role in the film. Unbelievably,
she passed away the very next day at age 47. Ms. Smith was 21 when she appeared
in Massacre and is heartbreakingly beautiful, completely naked in her
death scene that arrives 70 minutes into the film. She was a free spirit and
appeared in some of the most interesting films of the 1970s and her presence
brought something special to those films. Along with Candace Rialson, another performer
from the 1970s who sadly died way before her time, they are two of my favorite
actresses from this era.
Original Theatrical Trailer (2:23) – this is in full-blown high
definition and looks culled from the new master. The same cannot be said for
the TV Spot (00:33), however, which is framed 1.33:1 and looks its age,
beat up and contrasty. There is also a great-sounding Radio Spot (00:27)
as well as a nice Still Gallery (3:14).
Chuck Norris is an American icon. His resume
is amazingly impressive—undefeated world karate champion, celebrity trainer,
best-selling author, television personality, and action movie superstar. Many
remember him from his eight season stint on the TV favorite Walker, Texas Ranger as well as in action movie classics Missing in Action, Code of Silence,
Invasion U.S.A. and The Delta Force.
However, some forget about Norris’s earlier efforts like Slaughter in San Francisco (1974), Breaker! Breaker! (1977) and Good
Guys Wear Black (1978); films where the talented athlete-turned-actor was
just starting his long, cinematic career. In 1979, Norris headlined A Force of One; a film which,
appropriately enough, cast him as a competitive martial artist.
A Force of One follows karate
champion Matt Logan (Norris) who, while rigorously training to defend his title
in an upcoming match, is contacted by the local police in order to aid them in
their current investigation. It seems that several officers have been murdered
by an assassin who the cops are convinced is a well-trained martial artist.
Matt agrees to help, but doesn’t realize that the killer is someone very close
to him.
Written by Academy Award winner Ernest
Tidyman and 9th degree black belt Pat E. Johnson, A Force of One was directed by Paul
Aaron; filmed in San Diego, California and released on May 18, 1979 by American
Cinema Releasing.
The very entertaining and well-written film,
which functions as an engaging police investigation/murder mystery, boasts solid
direction by Aaron, who more than competently handles the exciting martial arts
and action sequences. We are also given several well-drawn characters that are
brought to life by the talented cast. Naturally, Chuck Norris is totally
believable as the low-key, laid back, but extremely focused karate master Matt
Logan. Norris also brings a bit of humor to this somewhat biographical role.
Next, we have the beautiful Jennifer O’Neill conveying toughness, intelligence,
humor and sensitivity as dedicated undercover cop Amanda Rust. The late, great
Clu Gulager shines as a concerned police captain as does the always welcome Ron
O’Neal, who plays one of the undercover team searching for the killer. Last,
but not least, Eric Laneuville is extremely likeable as Norris’s adopted son,
Charlie.
Adding to the fun and captivating film are a
bunch of incredibly talented character actors/familiar faces such as James
Whitmore, Jr., Ray Vitte, Clint Ritchie, Pepe Serna, Taylor Lacher, Charles
Cyphers, Lisa James, Mel Novak and G.W. Bailey.
Lastly, we have the impressive acting debut
of undefeated middleweight karate champion Bill “Superfoot” Wallace; a brief
appearance by two-time Golden Gloves champion Edwin “Chu Chu” Malave, and Chuck
Norris’s younger brother, Aaron Norris, who does quadruple duty by being stunt
coordinator, performing stunts, choreographing fight scenes (with his brother),
and playing Chuck’s corner man.
In addition to all this goodness is a
wonderful, thriller-type musical score by composer Dick Halligan which, when
combined with everything else, makes A
Force of One a very enjoyable 90 minutes.
A Force of One has been released on
Blu-ray in anamorphic (1.85:1) widescreen from a brand new 2K transfer and the
movie, which I always remember looking a bit washed out, now looks crystal
clear and vibrant. This film has always been a favorite of mine and I’ve never
seen it look this good. The Region 1 disc also contains two audio commentaries;
one with director Paul Aaron, and another with action film historians Brandon
Bentley and Mike Leeder. We are also given the featurette“The Making of A Force of One”
as well as the original theatrical trailer, TV spots, radio spots, a trailer
for The Reincarnation of Peter Proud
(which also stars Jennifer O’Neill) and trailers for five Chuck Norris action
classics: Good Guys Wear Black, The
Octagon, An Eye for an Eye, Code of Silence and Hero and the Terror.
If,
like me, you’re a fan of this Chuck Norris martial arts classic, I highly
recommend picking up a copy of this Blu-ray.
Action film icon Charles Bronson did it all.
He made westerns (The Magnificent Seven,
Once Upon a Time in the West), war films (The Great Escape, The Dirty Dozen), lone cop movies (The Stone Killer, 10 to Midnight) and
vigilante films (Death Wish series).
Just to name a few. Between 1968 and 1972, after mostly being a supporting
actor in Hollywood movies and before become a Hollywood leading man due to
films like Mr. Majestyk and Death Wish (both 1974), Bronson did a
lot of great work in Europe and starred in many different roles; cop (Rider on the Rain aka Le passager de la pluie), thief (Farewell Friend aka Adieu l'ami), gangster (The
Valachi Papers), etc. In 1970, he played a hitman (two years before playing
a similar role in Michael Winner’s fantastic
The Mechanic) in the underrated Italian-French co-production Violent City.
While vacationing with his lover Vanessa
(Jill Ireland, Love and Bullets),
professional hitman Jeff Heston (Bronson) is shot and left for dead. Heston
survives, however, and tracks the killer down. After murdering him, Jeff
decides to retire and live happily with Vanessa. But before the couple can
leave town, Heston is asked by crime boss, Al Weber (Telly Savalas), to come
work for him. Heston refuses, but Weber produces evidence of Heston’s previous
murder. Jeff must now figure out a way to obtain the evidence from the
dangerous crime boss and escape unharmed with the lovely Vanessa. However, Jeff
is unaware that there are much more sinister forces conspiring against him.
Very well-directed by Sergio Sollima (The Big Gundown aka La resa dei conti, Revolver) from a thoroughly enjoyable script
co-written by Lina Wertmüller (Seven
Beauties), Violent City (aka Città violenta), is a well-done,
entertaining piece of action cinema as well as one of the first examples of the
subgenre called Poliziotteschi (Italian crime and action films of the 1960s and
70s which featured car chases, corruption, graphic violence, etc. as well as
lone heroes who stood up to the system). Sergio Sollima does a wonderful job directing
intricate, entertaining action sequences; most notably a Bullitt-like car chase Sollima swears was ripped off from one of
his previous films and not from the 1968 Peter Yates/Steve McQueen action
classic.
The adrenaline-charged script not only gives
us plenty of action, but also a number of unexpected twist and turns;
especially the ending. The well-written characters are made convincing by the estimable
talents of Bronson, Savalas and Ireland. Through another terrific, mostly
low-key performance, steely-eyed Bronson shows us that not only can he take
care of business, but that his character possesses a softer side when necessary.
Telly Savalas infuses his vicious character with quite a bit of humor, and the
beautiful Jill Ireland gives several dimensions to Vanessa.
Violent City features even more
great acting talent such as Michael Constantin (Cold Sweat, 1978’s The
Inglorious Bastards), Umberto Orsini (The
Damned), and Telly’s brother, George Savalas (The Slender Thread, Kelly’s Heroes).
Last, but not least, the engaging film, which
was shot in the United States and distributed (in Italy) by Universal Pictures,
benefits from a great musical score by the immortal Ennio Morricone (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The Bird
with the Crystal Plumage, Once Upon a Time in America).
Although it’s not one of Bronson’s more
well-known titles, that shouldn’t stop you. I enjoyed Violent City very much. It’s an entertaining action-thriller with a
solid cast and an interesting story. I highly recommend checking it out.
Violent City has been released on
a Region 1 Blu-ray from the always reliable folks at Kino Lorber. The
wonderful-looking transfer is presented in the film’s original 2.35:1 aspect
ratio and the disc also contains a highly informative audio commentary by Paul
Talbot, author of the “Bronson’s Loose!” books; a terrific interview with director
Sergio Sollima and the original theatrical trailer. We are also treated to a
second disc which features Città violenta,
the Italian print of the film as well as the 1973 U.S. cut known as The Family. Lastly, both discs feature
exciting trailers to many different Bronson films.
Kino Lorber has released a new Blu-ray special edition of director Marcel Ophuls' landmark 1969 documentary "The Sorrow and the Pity". Here are the official details:
From its
first release at an underground theater in Paris, this account of France’s
occupation under the Nazi regime has been acclaimed as one of the most moving
and influential films ever made. Director Marcel Ophuls interviewed the
residents of Clermont-Ferrand who remembered the occupation, as well as
government officials, writers, farmers, artists, and German veterans. Here, in
their own words, is the story of how ordinary citizens and leaders alike
behaved under military siege. Originally refused by French TV, the film
garnered international success and acclaim – including an Oscar nomination for
Best Documentary – while shattering the myth of an undivided and universally resistant
France under the Vichy government. A triumph of on-the-ground filmmaking, The
Sorrow and the Pity (1969) remains gripping, appalling, and exhilarating for
its unflinching view of humanity.
In 1979, Chuck Norris’ karate classic, A Force of One was released to cinema
screens. The enjoyable and
action-packed film became a box-office success which left the fans screaming
for more. Never one to disappoint, the six-time, undefeated world karate
champion went right to work on his next project; a hard-hitting action
extravaganza called The Octagon (1980).
After her father is killed by terrorists who
have been trained in ancient Ninja techniques, Justine Wentworth (Karen Carlson)
hires retired karate champion Scott James (our man Chuck) and a mercenary named
McCarn (Lee Van Cleef) to take out the organization’s deadly leader, Scott’s
adopted brother Seikura (Tadashi Yamashita).
Directed by Eric Karson and written by Leigh
Chapman (from a story by Chapman and Paul Aaron), The Octagon, which was shot in Los Angeles, California and released
by American Cinema Productions on August 8, 1980, is a very entertaining
action/martial arts film. It contains an engaging story, solid direction,
decently fleshed-out characters and a strong cast.
To begin with, we have the always convincing
Chuck Norris as the caring, mellow, but, when necessary, lethal hero Scott
James. Norris, who also brings a touch of subtle thoughtfulness to his
character, is ably supported by fellow cast members Lee Van Cleef and Karen
Carlson. The great Van Cleef plays mercenary McCarn as a tough, but happy
character who loves what he does, while the beautiful Karen Carlson gives her
mysterious role a bit of quiet fear and desperation.
The Octagon features more impressive
talent such as Art Hindle, Tadashi Yamashita, Richard Norton, Kim Lankford,
Jack Carter, Ernie Hudson, Yuki Shimoda, Larry D. Mann, John Fujioka, Brian
Tochi, Tracey Walter, Brian Libby, Carol Bagdasarian, Kurt Grayson, and Chuck
Norris’s brother Aaron Norris. Fun fact: During flashback scenes, Chuck Norris’s
son, Michael Norris, plays Scott James as a teenager. The fun film also
benefits from a terrific musical score by Blood, Sweat & Tears founder Dick
Halligan, and some wonderful editing by Dann Cahn, known for editing I Love Lucy.
The Octagon has been released on
Blu-ray by Kino Lorber in anamorphic (1.85:1) widescreen from a brand new 2K transfer and the
movie has never looked better. The Region 1 disc also contains two very
informative audio commentaries: one with director Erik Karson and another with
action film historians Brandon Bentley and Mike Leeder. There is also “The
Making of The Octagon” featurette, the
original theatrical trailers, TV spots, radio spots, a trailer for Lee Van
Cleef’s Death Rides a Horse, as well
as trailers for five Chuck Norris movies:
A Force of One, Good Guys Wear Black, An Eye for an Eye, Code of Silence
and Hero and the Terror. Recommended.
Bursting on to the scene with UFO
Target Earth in 1974, with a style clearly inspired
by Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), it’s a documentary
format-film wherein interviewees discuss their “experiences” with UFO’s. An early
entry in the history of computer-generated imagery (CGI) following Michael
Crichton’s Westworld the year before, UFO Target Earth showcases
the first time that CGI, albeit 8-bit, was used to create an alien for a motion
picture, an accomplishment that Mr. de Gaetano was very proud of. The film also
makes expert use of Krzysztof Penderecki’s “De Natura Sonoris No. 2” years before
Stanley Kubrick employed it in The Shining (1980). UFO Target Earth
is a nifty bit of Seventies nostalgia complete with rotary phones, telecommunications
mechanical relay-switching equipment, AMPEX reel-to-reel recorders, and mainframe
computers, all of which are arguably unidentifiable objects to members of
Generation Z.
His second film was Haunted,
which starred Virginia Mayo and Aldo Ray. It concerned the descendants of a
woman’s accusers of her being a witch meeting a violent end after rumors abounded
of her returning as an evil spirit. The comedy Scoring, featuring
Laurene Landon about a female basketball team against a men’s team, was released
in 1979. 1989’s Bloodbath in Psycho Town, 1995’s Project: Metalbeast,
and 1996’s Butch Camp with Judy Tenuta followed.
At the time of his death, Mr. de
Gaetano was developing a script for actress Vanessa Redgrave to star in called Red
Gold.
CinemaRetro.com would like to extend to
Mr. de Gaetano’s family our condolences upon his passing.
THE
DC COMICS SUPERHERO COMES TO LIFE IN WES CRAVEN’S CULT CLASSIC FILM, MAKING ITS
DEBUT ON 4K ULTRA HD!
Deep
in Florida's darkest everglades, a brilliant scientist, Dr. Alec Holland (Ray
Wise, Robocop) and a sexy government agent, Alice Cable (Adrienne Barbeau, John
Carpenter’s The Fog) have developed a secret formula that could end world
hunger and change civilization forever. Little do they know, however, that
their arch nemesis, Arcane (Louis Jourdan, Octopussy) is plotting to steal the
serum for his own selfish schemes. Looting the lab and kidnapping Cable, Arcane
douses Holland with the chemicals and leaves him for dead in the swamp. Mutated
by his own formula, Holland becomes “Swamp Thing” - a half human/half plant
superhero who will stop at nothing to rescue the beautiful Cable and defeat the
evil Arcane... even if it costs him his life.
DISC
1: 4K ULTRA HD SPECIAL FEATURES:
2023 4K
Restoration (16-Bit Scan of the Original Camera Negative) of both the US
Theatrical PG Version and Unrated International Version of the film
presented in its original 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio in Dolby Vision / HDR
Audio: DTS-HD
Master 2.0 Mono, Spanish Mono
Optional English
Subtitles
Audio Commentary
with Writer/Director Wes Craven moderated by Sean Clark (Theatrical / PG
Version)
Audio Commentary
with Makeup Effects Artist William Munns moderated by Michael Felsher
(Theatrical / PG Version)
Collectible “4K
LaserVision” Mini-Poster of cover art
DISC
2: BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES:
2023 HD
Restoration of both the US Theatrical PG Version and Unrated International
Version of the film presented in its original 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio
Audio Commentary
with Writer/Director Wes Craven moderated by Sean Clark (Theatrical / PG
Version)
Audio Commentary
with Makeup Effects Artist William Munns moderated by Michael Felsher
(Theatrical / PG Version)
Audio: DTS-HD
Master 2.0 Mono, Spanish Mono
Optional English
Subtitles
"Tales From
the Swamp" (Remastered) with Actress Adrienne Barbeau (HD, 16:56)
"Hey
Jude" with Actor Reggie Batts (HD, 14:30)
"That Swamp
Thing" with Len Wein, Creator of Swamp Thing (HD, 13:19)
"Swamp
Screen: Designing DC's Main Monster" featurette (HD, 20:32)
"From Krug
to Comics: How the Mainstream Shaped a Radical Genre Voice"
featurette (HD, 17:34)
Posters &
Lobby Cards - Photo Gallery
Photos from the
Film - Photo Gallery
William Munns’
Behind the Scenes Pictures - Photo Gallery
Behind the
Scenes Photos by Geoffrey Rayle – Photo Gallery
Theatrical
Trailer (HD, 1:31)
* Special
Features May Not Be Rated, Closed Captioned Or In High Definition.
This title will be released on July 25. Click here to order from Amazon and save 30%.
Rightfully or wrongfully, I’m going to concentrate this
review of Mill Creek’s Sci-Fi from the
Vault Blu on two of this Blu-ray set’s decidedly lesser films:Creature
with the Atom Brain (1955) and The
Thirty Foot Bride of Candy Rock (1959).This is partially due to the fact that the set’s two most prominent
titles, 20 Million Miles to Earth and
It Came from Beneath the Sea, were
previously issued by Mill Creek back in 2014 on their twofer Ray Harryhausen Creature Double Feature
from the same transfers. Though Creature with the Atom Brain is making
its U.S. Blu debut on this set, the film has seen a previous Blu issue on the UK
import Cold War Creatures: Four Films
from Sam Katzman.So only The Thirty Foot Bride of Candy Rock is making
a worldwide debut on Blu with this set.
All four films in this new set come, as per the title,
from the vaults of Columbia studios. Creature
earlier appeared on the commentary-free DVD set Sam Katzman: Icons of Horror Collection (2007).As I am not privy to the sales figures of
that set, I can only surmise should Mill Creek release a Sci-Fi Vault Vol. 2 on Blu, we might see the “missing” Katzman titles
sprinkled into a future U.S. set.This Mill
Creek set is not an “all Katzman” edition (ala Icons).The workhorse
producer has no connection to either 20
Million Miles to Earth or The Thirty
Foot Bride of Candy Rock.
It’s with no disrespect to the late, great special
effects wizard Ray Harryhausen that I’m not going to do a deep dive into 20 Million Miles to Earth and It Came from Beneath the Sea.Though these two films are genuine and iconic
sci-fi classics, both have previously gotten the Mill Creek Blu treatment and
also received transatlantic Blu releases as well.So I can’t imagine anyone interested in these
Harryhausen-associated titles not already in possession of copies.Fair to say, if you own Mill Creek’s previously
published twofer, their reappearances here are redundant.
This new set, priced at an MSRP of $29.99, is – happily -
available far less expensively from any variety of on-line retailers.In some sense, it’s a bargain.This recent edition does offer a new and informative audio commentary on It Came from Beneath the Sea, courtesy
of Justin Humphreys and C. Courtney Joyner.So if you’re an enthusiast of commentary tracks, that’s a checkmark in
the plus column.On the other hand,
there’s no audio commentary included on 20
Million Miles to Earth, a film no less deserving of annotation.So that’s a checkmark lost.
Oddly, Edward L. Chan’s Creature with the Atom Brain (1955), an arguably less-deserving
film, does come with a commentary
track – this time courtesy of film producer-writers’ Phoef Sutton and Mark
Jordan Legan.It’s nice to have a
commentary supplied by two established screenwriters since Creature producer Sam Katzman had conscripted the great Curt
Siodmak (The Wolf Man) to script his low-budgeter.The often curmudgeonly Siodmak was a pretty
productive scripter, memorably knocking off no fewer than nine sci-fi/horror programmers
for Universal 1940-44 – and many other original scenarios for other studios.
Though Siodmak provides a decent enough script for Creature, director Kahn’s film proves a
B-film guilty pleasure a best.On their
commentary, Sutton and Legan provide a breezy, lighthearted narration filled
with the usual, occasionally colorful, anecdotes, often based on their rattling
off resumes of the film’s various cast and crew member.To their credit, the two honestly acknowledge
the film’s shortfalls, mulling that “the first four and a half minutes are the
best thing about it.”The film is a bit
of slow-going unless one has a sense of nostalgia about it.
It was late October 1954 when Variety reported that Katzman had tapped Kahn to direct Creature, the first of the producer’s
first sci-fi feature film forays. News
of actor Richard Denning signing on to star was reported the following week.Similar to Katzman, Kahn was a film industry
workhorse, a director not identified with any one particular genre.In the 1950s, Kahn helmed war films,
westerns, gangster pics and teenage melodramas. But he also managed to put the
fright into the “Frightened Fifties,” cranking out no fewer than eight serviceable
sci-fi pics in a four-year period:beginning
with She Creature (1956) and finishing
with Invisible Invaders (1959).Actor Denning provided a face familiar to
50’s sci-fi fans: the actor had lead roles in The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Target Earth and The Black
Scorpion, to name only a few.
It was Columbia’s intention to bill the more pedestrian Creature as the supporting feature to It Came from Beneath the Sea.In June 1955 it was reported the double-bill was
to be first rolled out to thirty-one theaters in and around the Los Angeles
area.Both films would be produced under
the aegis of Katzman’s Clover Productions.Though Kaufman’s low-budgeted independent offerings weren’t expected to
bring in boffo box-office numbers,
Columbia’s accountants were aware the absence of big name stars and inflated
production costs brought better returns on investment.
A trade paper reported bluntly that Columbia, “feels it’s
better to make a 15% to 25% profit on a picture than to stand to lose 50% to
75% on a wholly-made studio picture.”While
Katzman’s pictures for Columbia (Creature
with the Atom Brain, The Giant Claw, Zombies of Mora Tau and The Werewolf) might not have produced
great art, they did bring in worthwhile returns on investment. It Came
fromBeneath the Sea, the far stronger
film (with a bigger budget) managed great
business, helped in part by a combination of Harryhausen’s screen magic, word-of-mouth
excitement and a supportive radio-television-print campaign of $250,000.Though It
Came fromBeneath the Sea was not
the first “giant” monster movie of the 1950s, it was among the earliest, and
this monstrous sci-fi sub-genre would blossom throughout the 1950s and well
into the 1960s.
Which leads us into our discussion of the final “giant” film
offered on this set.The working title
of Sidney Miller’s The 30 Foot Bride of
Candy Rock was originally titled The
Secret Bride of Candy Brock.The
film’s co-screenwriter, Arthur Ross, was familiar writing for films featuring
gargantuan(s): he had already helped craft the screenplay for Columbia’s The Three Worlds of Gulliver, a soon-to-be-
released pic in 1960.But Candy Rock was to serve primarily as a
vehicle for comedian Lou Costello.Though
his 1940s heyday was behind him, the roly-poly actor had been introduced to a
new generation of fans in the ‘50s through airings of The Abbott and Costello Show television series.
The
30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock was to be the comedian’s first feature
film project following the dissolution of his partnership with Bud Abbott in
July of 1957.That pair’s final film, the
saccharine comedy-drama Dance with Me,
Henry (United Artists, 1956) was generally dismissed as a tired re-play of
routines long gone cold.Now, as a solo
player, Costello was hoping that Bride
might reestablish his box-office prowess.This indie production, shot on the Columbia studios lot, saw Costello’s
manager, Eddie Sherman, serving as the film’s executive producer.With such leverage Costello was even able to
gift a small role to daughter Carole.
Producer Lew Rachmil suggested to a reporter from London’s
Picturegoer that Costello’s titular
bride, Dorothy Provine (a 22 year-old blonde that stood 5’ 4” tall), was a
“born comedienne – nearly as funny as Lou at times.”Provine was a relative newcomer to Hollywood,
having worked only two studio soundstages, one for The Bonnie Parker Story and for a two- episode role as a twelve
year old (!) on TV’s Wagon Train.Provine told gossiper Erskine Johnson that
she hadn’t “missed a day’s work since I arrived in Hollywood, but I was always
scared about every job being my last job.”She needn’t have worried, following Bride
the actress was picked to star alongside Roger Moore as a regular character on the
television series The Alaskans and
would also have a prominent role in the 1963 Cinerama comedy It’s a Mad,
Mad, Mad, Mad World.
In conception, Bride
seems little more than Lou Costello’s attempt to lampoon the popularity of the ongoing
“giant monster” craze.Whiling away his
days in an amateur laboratory, Costello’s rubbish collector and would-be inventor
Artie Pinsetter (‘a world-famous scientist who’s not famous yet”) is determined
to unravel secrets: primarily he wishes to learn how the prehistoric beasts that
once roamed a local region known “Dinosaur State Park” had achieved gargantuan
sizes. He’s investigating an ancient Native American belief that these
creatures achieved such measurement due to a mysterious stream of steam
emissions emanating from a canyon cave.
To this end he has constructed an elaborate electronic contraption
that he calls “Max.”His invention is part
time machine – due to its ability for “changing time curves” - and part
straight man.Pinsetter hadn’t needed to
go through all the trouble of mechanical tinkering.Walking through the canyon, girlfriend Emmy
Lou (Provine), accidentally walks through a plume of canyon steam and finds
herself having gained an additional 25 feet in height.The steam, we are told, is the castoff of atomic
energy escaping from the bowels of the earth.
To make matters worse for Pinsetter, we learn Emmy Lou is
the niece of the town’s self-involved and self-important bank president/gubernatorial
hopeful Raven Rossiter (Gale Gordon, of Our
Miss Brooks fame).Rossiter doesn’t
care much for Pinsetter, and his ill-tempered behavior provides much of the
film’s lukewarm comic tension.But ultimately,
the film’s concentration is whether or not the townies – and alarmed Pentagon
officials – can escape the problems wrought by Costello’s foolish inventions or
of his skulking thirty-foot bride.
Shot in the fanciful descriptions of “Wonderama” and
“Mattascope,” Bride is not a great
film by any measure.But having said
this, it’s an innocuous 73-minute nostalgia trip that admittedly brought a
number of head-shaking smiles to my face.The film is an innocent bit of nonsense, a “family-friendly” movie that
I’m certain brought fun to kiddie audiences of its day.My favorite time capsule moment occurs when
an airborne Costello nearly collides with the Soviet Union’s recently launched Sputnik 1 satellite.
Sadly, Lou Costello would not live to see the finished
film released to the public.The
legendary film star would die of a heart attack, just days shy of age 53, on
March 3, 1959 – a mere ten weeks following his first day of shooting on Bride in November of 1958 (production wrapped
a mere month later).On March 24, 1959,
executives at Columbia announced the aforementioned title change.The film was still in editing by June of 1959
– as was the Three Stooges’ sci-fi comedy Have
Rocket, Will Travel. In July Columbia shared plans to package Bride as a late summer trip bill of such
other family fare films as Rocket and
Ted Post’s The Legend of Tom Dooley.
There were studio previews as early as July 7, but when Bride finally was unleashed on movie
screens it was not as one-third of the aforementioned package as scheduled - but
rather as the under bill to Disney’s Darby
O’ Gill and the Little People or Have
Rocket, Will Travel.Though there
were no critical raves for Bride –
truthfully the film was undeserving of such praise – most reviewers found the
film harmless and wholesome family entertainment.Which it was.I suppose it would have been in poor taste to completely dismiss the value
of the final film of one of Hollywood’s most beloved – and successful –
actor-comedians.
In any event, Mill Creek’s Sci-Fi from the Vault collection has made The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock available for the first time on Blu-ray.Previously the film had only appeared on VHS
by Columbia/Tri-Star in 1986 and – with a far lesser transfer - on the cheapie
Good Times label in 1988.Its first
digital appearance was a 2010 release as a DVD MOD from Sony/Columbia Screen
Classics.So, regardless of merit, it’s
nice to get this one on Blu.Its
appearance here should interest fans of both Abbott and Costello-related
productions as well as collectors of vintage 50s Silver Age sci-fi.There’s also a light-hearted but informative
audio commentary for Bride provided
by the Monster Party Podcast team.Think
of a few wise-cracking - but informative - movie-buff friends sitting on the
couch alongside you.The commentary adds
a bit of color to an otherwise monochrome film.
To its credit, the set also includes two bonus features
well worth a look:Daniel Griffith’s 25-minute
doc They Came from Beyond: Sam Katzman at
Columbia as well as his 14:30 minute doc Fantastical Features: Nathan Juran at Columbia.The former gives us a thumbnail tracing of
Katzman’s career in film.The producer
knocked out dozens of serials for Victory and Columbia - including Superman (1948) and Batman and Robin (1949) - from the mid-1930s on.He later moved on to producing features for Monogram
– a studio described here as Hollywood’s “lowest echelon” - where he enjoyed
the first of his feature film successes.
Katzman’s films for Monogram and others were usually made
on shoestring budgets with tight shooting schedules.The producer didn’t necessarily favor the
horror sci-fi genre during his 40+ years working in Hollywood.But having employed Bela Lugosi on the 1936
serial Shadow of Chinatown, Katzman
managed to bring the now underworked and underappreciated actor to Monogram for
a series of guilty pleasure, fan-favorite cheapie horror-melodramas.But Katzman was not shy on capitalizing on whatever
fad was capturing public fancy. His filmography included everything from ghetto
dramas, gangster pics, East Side Kids/Bowery Boys comedies, westerns, sword and
sandal epics, early rock n’ roll pics – even a couple of Elvis Presley films (Kissin’ Cousins (1964) and Harum Scarum (1965) .
In the mid-1950s, sensing sci-fi was proving popular with
audiences, Katzman scored big as the Executive Producer on such less penny-pinching
epics as It Came from Beneath the Sea
and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
(1956).Both of these films featured the
completely amazing stop-motion special effects of the great Ray Harryhausen,
with whom Katzman was happy to collaborate.In all likelihood, it’s the appreciative audience of so-called “Monster
Kids” that continues to stoke interest in Katzman’s work.
The second bonus doc, Fantastical
Features, has C. Courtney Joyner and Justin Humphreys taking a brief look
at the films of the fast-shot flicks Nathan Juran directed for Columbia.Though not necessarily a horror/sci-fi film
director, Juran had previously helmed The
Black Castle (1952) for Universal and, more importantly, for that studio’s
great giant insect epic The Deadly Mantis
(1957).Once moving to Columbia, Juran
managed a number of sci-fi/fantasy epics including such cinematic touchstones
as 20 Million Miles to Earth, Attack of
the 50 Foot Woman (1958) and The 7th
Voyage of Sinbad (1958).
For the most part, all of these black-and-white films
look great for their age, though they’re not entirely pristine: one can expect
a few not terribly distracting scratches or speckling throughout.Personally, I’m not sure how many more times
I will revisit Creature with the Atom
Brain or The 30 Foot Bride of Candy
Rock – they’re not great films - but it’s still nice to add these titles to
my ‘50s sci-fi film collection.You’ll
have to decide if they’re worth adding to yours.
Click here to order from Amazon and save 50% off SRP.
The working title of the Universal-Jewel silent
six-reeler The Trap (1922) was Wolf Breed – for reasons that will soon
become apparent.Lon Chaney’s feature
role casting was reported during the first week of September 1921, the film
reportedly to be based on a scenario by Lucien Hubbard. The film was apparently
still in production during late September/early October of 1921.Newspapers were reporting that immediately following
Chaney’s completion of Wolf Breed, the
actor “will appear in The Octave of
Claudius for Goldwyn.” That film would in fact be made, but released as The Blind Bargain (1922), directed by
Wallace Worsley - who would later helm Chaney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame.Along with London after Midnight
(1927), The Blind Bargain is
inarguably the most sought after of the actor’s lost films.
The
Trap,
by any measure, is a more modest effort than any of the aforementioned trio of
films.The photoplay features Lon Chaney
as Gaspard the Good.His character is so
named as he is a kind and gentle soul.He’s a simple-living, always smiling, bubbly effervescent personality - a
man of good-standing in the small idyllic French Canadian mountain village of
Grand Bellaire.But Gaspard’s usual pleasant
demeanor will soon sour.Returning to
the village from a recent trip, Gaspard discovers that he has not only lost his
girlfriend Thalie (Dagmar Godowsky) to a seemingly well-to-do carpetbagger
named Benson (Alan Hale), but also to his unregistered claim to his pappy’s
hyacinth gemstone mine. Gaspard tries his best to sublimate his personal sorrows,
one title card noting while “The morning sun was no more radiant,” the broken-spirited
Gaspard managed to hold “no malice” within his heart.For a time, anyway.
But things change in the intervening span of seven – yes,
seven – years.The cad Benson has suffered several reversals
of fortunes, beginning with a calamitous cave-in dooming his mining
operation.We also learn Benson has not
been a particularly loving husband to sweet Thalie who we watch as she succumbs
to a fatal illness.Her husband coldly
dismisses his wife’s deathbed lethargy to “laziness.”Sitting astride Thalie’s bedside is her grieving
five-year old son with Benson, “The Boy” (Stanley Goethals).Gaspard too has suffered a shocking reversal
– a shift in personality as the last few years events have left him bitter.Though Benson’s recent streak of bad breaks
should have brought Gaspard a measure of satisfying yin and yang closure, it’s
simply wasn’t enough to erase the sting of his personal anguishes.
So seeking a more punishing revenge on Benson, Gaspard
convinces a local tavern tough that the carpetbagger has been saying awful
things about him.The enraged brute
attempts to assail Benson who unexpectedly defends himself with a pistol shot –
a crime for which he is sentenced to the gallows.But this sentence is later commuted to a
prison sentence when the brute survives the shooting.In the interim, and as per Thalie’s deathbed
wish, Gaspard has taken custody of her son - for whom the bitter ex-lover intends
to administer a misplaced vengeance.But
in short time the innocent “wee waif” reawakens the good in Gaspard’s heart who
becomes a doting model foster parent to the child. But when Gaspard is informed that Benson has
been released from prison with plans to collect his biological son, a
distraught Gaspard - fearful of losing the boy - sets up a diabolical snare involving
a trap door and a starving wolf lying in wait.
It’s a melodrama for sure.In its review of May 20, 1922, Billboard suggested while the storyline
of The Trap was overly “trite,” the
film itself was visually appealing with “most picturesque locations” and
“photography showing some rare and perfect gems of outdoor beauty.”(The film was actually photographed not in
the Canadian wilderness but in the tranquil and majestic canyons of Yosemite
National Park).Chaney’s “remarkable
impersonation” of the French-Canadian Gaspard was noteworthy, even though the
review concedes “the vehicle is not sufficiently strong to do justice to the
ability of the star.”This contrasts
with the view of Variety’s critic who
thought director Robert Thornby’s excessive use of full-frame close-ups of
Chaney – which allowed a bit too much melodramatic over-emoting on the actor’s
part – was nothing if not “tiresome.”Personally,
I disagree with this assessment.Though
there are no shortage of such close-ups, Chaney’s facial expressions on screen enable
the actor to convey emotions of sorrow, joy, malice and anger in a visual manner
that no title card could ever convey as successfully.
That said, The Trap
was an idiosyncratic picture in some sense, and certainly an archetype of the
tortured character roles Chaney would more famously play in the future.Many silent pictures of the day were structured
around romantic angles in their scenarios.But following Gaspard’s loss of both mine and sweetheart Thalie (the
actress being the daughter of the famed Lithuanian-American classical pianist
Leopold Godowsky), the film drops any pretension of romantic conciliation or
renewal.The movie instead focuses on
Chaney’s dark, methodically-plotted and coldly calculated plan of revenge.
Cinema Retro has received the following press announcement:
FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF, in
all of its brilliant glory, arrives for the first time on 4K Ultra HD digital
and disc August 1, 2023 from Paramount Home Entertainment.
Writer/director John Hughes’ seminal comedy about a high
school student’s wild adventures in the Windy City during a single, magnificent
day off continues to be enjoyed, quoted, and revered. The enduring
classic captures the uproarious antics of Ferris and his friends as they relish
the freedom of being not quite grown up.
This remastered 4K Ultra HD release features Dolby
Vision™ and HDR-10, as well as Dolby Atmos® audio for a wonderfully immersive
and liberating experience*. The release also includes John Hughes’
original director’s commentary, which has not been available on disc since the
first DVD release in 1999, along with access to a digital copy of the film and
the following legacy bonus content:
Commentary with Director John
Hughes
Getting the Class Together: The Cast of Ferris Bueller's
Day Off
The Making of Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Who is Ferris Bueller?
The World According to Ben Stein
Vintage Ferris Bueller: The Lost Tapes
Matthew Broderick stars as the delightfully charming
Ferris who, with his girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) and best bud Cameron (Alan
Ruck), ditches school to enjoy one perfect day as a kid with no
responsibilities. In 2014, FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF was added to the
Library of Congress’ National Film Registry, which serves as a compendium of
films that have been judged to be culturally, aesthetically or historically
important.
*Dolby Atmos enabled devices are also required to
experience Dolby Atmos at home. To experience Dolby Vision on 4K Ultra HD
Blu-ray Disc, a Dolby Vision enabled TV is required with a Dolby Vision enabled
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player.
*Dolby Atmos enabled devices
are also required to experience Dolby Atmos at home. To experience Dolby Vision
on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc, a Dolby Vision enabled TV is required with a Dolby
Vision enabled 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player.
These
days, filmmaker Joseph Losey doesn’t get the acclaim he deserves. An American
who showed great talent in Hollywood in the early 1940s and was well on his way
to a lucrative and respectable career, got sidelined by HUAC—the House
Un-American Activities Committee. Because Losey had ties with the early
Communist Party in the U.S., he, along with many, many other artists working in
Tinsel Town, was blacklisted. He fled his native country to the United Kingdom,
where he remained until his death. Losey made films in England and France, many
of which are admired films noir. In the 1960s and beyond he moved toward
making provocative art films, working with writers such as Harold Pinter and
generally pushing the envelope in the cinema.
The
Servant (1963)
is one of those art films that Losey made, and it was his first collaboration
with playwright Pinter (they did three pictures together). Based on a 1948
novella by Robin Maugham, The Servant is also one of Pinter’s first
attempts at screenwriting. Pinter had been enjoying some success in the theatre
since the late 1950s but was still not yet a fully established theatrical
superstar at that time (this would occur a couple of years later). His own
adaptation of his play, The Caretaker, was also made in 1963. Pinter
took Maugham’s novella and re-tooled it to emphasize the class warfare that is
going on in the subtext of the story, as well as adding what can only be
described as the Pinter’s Theatre of Menace—a sense of subtle, unnerving threat
that exists in most all of his work.
The
story is about a wealthy international real estate developer, Tony (James Fox,
in a debut role), a bachelor who hires a manservant, Hugo Barrett (Dirk
Bogarde). They get along splendidly at first, although Tony’s girlfriend, Susan
(Wendy Craig), senses something off about Barrett and wants Tony to get rid of
him. Tony refuses. Barrett one day convinces Tony to hire his sister, Vera
(Sarah Miles), to be a maid. Vera seduces Tony one night when Barrett is away.
But then one day Tony and Susan come home to the flat and find Vera and Barrett
in bed together. Turns out they’re not brother and sister at all. And then the
tale takes a sharp left turn into nightmare territory as relationships change
and power dynamics are reversed. To reveal more would spoil the creepiness of
what happens next.
The
Servant is
a powerful, disturbing film. The crowning touch is the superb, unsettling
performance by Bogarde, who won the BAFTA award that year for Best Actor (the
film was nominated for Best Picture). The movie was ignored by the Oscars, but
Pinter did win the award for Best Screenplay by the New York Film Critics
Circle. Today, the movie resides at #22 on the BFI Top 100 British Films of the
20th Century list.
Losey’s
perceptive direction masterfully uses mise-en-scène in a carefully
staged sense of place that is claustrophobic and austere. He treats the
theatre-of-the-absurd goings-on with absolute sincerity and realism… a perfect
approach to Pinter’s exceptional dialogue and the mood established by the piece.
The
Servant is
very much an adult film, something that couldn’t have been made in America in
1963, and it’s a bit surprising that Britain’s censors weren’t all over it. But,
then again, everything lies in the subtext. What you don’t see on screen can’t
be censored, can it? The film is a brilliant display of shocking subject matter
done in an ordinary, matter-of-fact presentation.
The
Criterion Collection’s new Blu-ray release features a new 4K digital
restoration with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack. It shows off the striking
black and white cinematography by Douglas Slocombe, a longtime British DP who later
won three Academy Awards (including one for Raiders of the Lost Ark).
Supplements
include a new, interesting overview of Joseph Losey’s career by film critic
Imogen Sara Smith; a rare audio interview with Losey from 1976; a revealing
1996 interview with Harold Pinter; vintage interviews with actors Dirk Bogarde,
Sarah Miles, James Fox, and Wendy Craig; and the theatrical trailer. The
enclosed booklet contains an essay by author Colm Tóibín.
The Servant is for fans of Joseph Losey, Harold Pinter, and, especially,
Dirk Bogarde, who owns this motion picture. His portrayal of Hugo
Barrett surely upends the old adage that ‘you can’t get good help these days.’
Cinema Retro has received the following notification from Bondstars.com:
In this 70th year of the literary James Bond,
we are celebrating the written legacy of all things 007 at Pinewood Studios
with a very special event on October 29th in association with Ian Fleming
Publications.
The day will kick-off with morning coffee in
the John Barry Theatre and terrace – which faces the new ‘Sean Connery Stage’ –
followed by the first ever UK cinema screening of the original 1954 version of
Casino Royale, plus an exclusive and never-before-seen filmed interview with
Jimmy Bond himself, actor Barry Nelson discussing the production.
We’ll continue in the theatre …
With readings of extracts from books by Bond
actors throughout, as we introduce: Jon Turner to discuss his mentor Richard
Chopping’s designs for Fleming’s James Bond books and archive (which he
curates) as well as Ian Fleming biographer Andrew Lycett will discussing all
things Ian Fleming.
David Lowbridge-Ellis will then host
interviews and discussions with continuity authors Raymond Benson, Charlie
Higson, 00-series author Kim Sherwood, Young Bond author Steve Cole and
(pending filming commitments) Anthony Horowitz.
Lunch will follow and then we’ll move into
the Pinewood Picture Gallery for book signings, mingling, informal chat, some
memorabilia tables and a talk about Pinewood filming locations by author Dave
Worrall on the garden patio, before afternoon tea brings the day to a close.
There’ll also be a 24- page exclusive
commemorative souvenir brochure included.
The cost per ticket will be around £175.00 (excluding
a non-refundable booking fee if you pay by debit \ credit card).
Lee
Marvin is an American soldier suspected of aiding the enemy during the Korean
War in “Sergeant Ryker” released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber. Shortly after the
release of the “The Dirty Dozen” in 1967, Universal saw fit to repackage a two-part
1964 Kraft Suspense Theatre courtroom drama “The Case Against Paul Ryker” and
release it as feature film in theaters. As can be seen from the art reproduced
on the Blu-ray cover, Universal was selling the release as an action-packed
military movie not unlike “The Dirty Dozen” which was a big hit for MGM. Marvin
also won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for 1965’s “Cat Ballou,” and became an in
demand A-list star in a series of popular movies that followed. “The Dirty
Dozen” pushed him into superstar status and one can hardly blame Universal for cashing
in by repurposing the two-part TV episode as a theatrical release.
The
production follows the trial of Sergeant Paul Ryker in 1951 during the Korean
War. Ryker’s just been found guilty of treason and is sentenced to death for
collaborating with the Chinese. He returned to his unit with the fantastic
story of being sent on a secret mission behind enemy lines to gather
information. The problem is the general who allegedly sent him on the mission
died while Ryker was gone and a mysterious letter left by the general was never
found. What follows are attempts by his wife and defense attorney to gather
evidence after being granted a retrial. Most of the “action” is limited to
Ryker’s jail cell in Tokyo and consists mostly of courtroom drama and in a
flashback the one action scene involving his wife and lawyer.
Marvin,
no stranger to portraying military characters, served in the Marine Corps
during WWII and was wounded during the Battle of Saipan in 1944. He’s very good
here as Ryker and there are a couple of scenes when Marvin is about to jump out
of the screen going from calm to crazy and back again in a matter of seconds. Marvin
died way too young at age 63 leaving many memorable classic movies in his list
of credits.
The
production also features top notch performances from Bradford Dillman as
Captain David Young, Ryker’s defense attorney, Peter Graves as Major Frank
Whittaker, the prosecutor, and Vera Miles as Ann Ryker, the estranged wife of
Sergeant Ryker. The cast also features a fine cast of character actors who will
be familiar to anyone who watched broadcast TV and movies in the 60s and 70s
including Lloyd Nolan, Murray Hamilton and Norman Fell to name just a few.
Buzz
Kulik, a veteran television director with a few feature films to his credit,
directed the original “Kraft Suspense Theatre” two-part episodes which was
originally broadcast on October 10th and October 17th of 1964. Kraft Theatre
lasted for two seasons from 1964 to 1966 spanning 59 episodes, filmed at
Universal Studios and broadcast on NBC. Interestingly, a spinoff series
released by ITV titled “Court Martial” featured Dillman and Graves in their
“Ryker” roles as military lawyers and it ran for 26 episodes from 1965 to 1966
with the setting changed from the Korean War to WWII Europe.
The
1968 movie release does not fulfill the promise made on the poster art: “Lee Marvin
Explodes into action as Sergeant Ryker.” We do see plenty of Ryker getting
angry while sitting in his jail cell and in the courtroom. The bulk of the action
consists of his lawyer and his wife riding in a Jeep and attacked by the enemy
in Korea as they search for evidence in Ryker’s case. The movie, which clocks
in at 85 minutes, would be easy to dismiss as a theatrical release, but it plays
rather well on the small screen. The Blu-ray looks and sounds terrific and a nice
surprise for me was the score by John Williams.
Extras
include the trailer for this and other Kino Lorber releases. Also included is a
fascinating audio commentary by film historian and filmmaker Daniel Kremer who
details the history of made-for-television productions which were released
theatrically. The Blu-ray is worth the purchase for the audio commentary alone.
What would have been nice is the option to watch the made for television
version, but I’m happy to see this version on Blu-ray. Highly recommended.
Iconic DC Super Hero Film Being Released as a Multimedia Living
Movie Experience from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Eluvio
Includes 4K UHD Feature Film and Special Features, Interactive
Themed Navigation, Explorable Image Galleries, Discoverable Digital Easter
Eggs, and more!
Burbank, CA, June 5, 2023 – Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, in
partnership with content blockchain pioneer Eluvio,
announced today the next installment of the WB Movieverse with the iconic DC
Super Hero film Superman Web3 Movie Experience, available for
preview at https://web3.wb.com and opening for purchase on June 9.
The release of Superman Web3 Movie Experience
follows the 2022 first-of-its-kind Web3 entertainment offering The Lord of
the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition) Web3 Movie
Experience.
Superman Web3 Movie Experience is a multimedia NFT
for fans to own and to engage with the 1978 Richard Donner film in an exciting
way. Through dynamic menu options based on iconic locations from the film,
owners can watch the film in 4K UHD on desktop, mobile, tablet or TV, access
special features, view image galleries and artist renderings by notable DC
artists, discover digital easter eggs, as well as sell the experience in a
community marketplace.
The
Superman Web3 Movie Experience will be offered in standard
and premium editions:
Standard edition ($30 for 1 week from
8:00AM ET on June 9 to 7:59AM ET on June 16) includes an interactive
location-based navigation menu, Superman: The Movie Theatrical Version,
previously released special features and an image gallery featuring stills and
behind the scenes galleries.
Premium edition ($100 for 24 hours
from 8:00AM ET on June 9 to 7:59AM ET on June 10) includes 3 different
variations available for purchase separately, Truth, Justice, and Hope, each
featuring an illustration of Christopher Reeves’ Superman from one of three DC
artists - Ivan Reiss, Ben Oliver, or Bill Sienkiewicz. Each variation includes
an interactive and explorable location-based navigation menu and 3 versions of
the feature film – Superman: The Movie Theatrical Version; Superman:
The Movie Expanded Director’s Cut; and Superman: The Movie Extended
TV Edition - along with previously-released special features, and image
galleries featuring costume and detail images from the Warner Bros. Archive and
stills and behind the scenes galleries.
The Superman Web3 Movie
Experience will include a free voucher code for a DC3Super Power Pack: Series
Superman from
the DC NFT
Marketplace,
offering 3 randomly selected Superman comics with rarities from
Common to Legendary. These packs are time-gated, open edition drops, limited to
one per account. There will be new themed packs launching every few weeks, so
stay tuned for updates.
Early
access to all editions of the Superman Web3 Movie Experience will
be available to DC Bat Cowl NFT holders at 8:00AM ET on June 8, to DC3 holders
at 11:00AM ET on June 8, and to The Lord of the Rings Web3 Movie
Experience holders at 2:00PM ET on June 8.
“For fans of this beloved and iconic film, Superman: The
Movie is being released as an exclusive Web3 film and immersive digital
collectible for the first time,” said Michelle Munson, CEO and co-founder of
Eluvio. “As part of the WB Movieverse, consumers can easily watch, collect, and
sell their film Web3 Movie Experiences on the blockchain, in the Movieverse
marketplace. For Warner Bros., and the broader industry, Eluvio is honored to
back this novel digital sell-through experience for 4K films and premium video
assets – all streamed from and backed by secure blockchain access and ownership
on the Eluvio Content Fabric.”
TheSuperman Web3 Movie Experience will drop to the public on June 9,
exclusively at https://web3.wb.com and will be
available for purchase by credit card or crypto currency.
To
participate in this novel experience, fans can create a secure, easy-to-use
media wallet that acts as a digital vault and enables consumers to stream and
purchase content via credit cards or crypto wallets.TheSuperman Web3 Movie Experience is powered by Eluvio,
pioneers of Web3 innovation throughout the media and entertainment industry.
The Eluvio Content Blockchain provides a high-performance, simple-to-use, and
cost-effective Web3 platform built for content. It
enables Web3 native media experiences, allowing publishers and fans to directly
enjoy and monetize shows, films, concerts, digital albums, digital
collectibles, interactive and metaverse experiences, and more. Content
creators, and their communities, benefit from a significantly more
carbon-efficient and high-performance alternative to traditional platforms for
content streaming, distribution, and storage, including 4K streaming,
ticketing, NFT minting, and trading of premium content.Notably, in this experience,
the core digital assets along with derivative NFTs are all on the blockchain,
not just the token (NFT) itself. Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment and
fans enjoy blockchain-backed access control and content rights enforcement,
scalable attestation of ownership, smart contracts that enable distributed
royalties, and content experiences that can even evolve over time.
Eluvio’s
Content Blockchain also provides a breakthrough in carbon-footprint efficiency
in the ways it manages media and uses blockchain technology, and on-chain
content ownership. Through a novel compositional and just-in-time protocol, the
Eluvio Content Blockchain does not make digital file copies and significantly
reduces the network storage and usage requirements as compared to traditional
streaming and content distribution systems. It also uses an eco-friendly
“proof-of-authority” consensus, which avoids the high energy consumption used
in computational “proof-of-work” blockchains.
About Warner Bros. Home
Entertainment
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (WBHE) distributes the
award-winning movies, television, animation, and digital content produced by
Warner Bros. Discovery to the homes and screens of millions through physical
Blu-ray Disc™ and DVD retail sales and digital transactions on major streaming,
video-on-demand cable, satellite, digital, and mobile channels. WBHE
is part of Warner Bros. Discovery Content Sales, one of the world’s
largest distributors of entertainment programming.
About Eluvio, Inc.
Eluvio (https://eluv.io)
is the content blockchain for the creator economy. The Eluvio Content Fabric is
a utility blockchain network for owner-controlled storage, distribution, and
monetization of digital content at scale. It provides live and file-based
content publishing, transcoding, packaging, sequencing, and dynamic and static
distribution, and minting of derivative NFTs for all ranges of content
experiences. Examples of companies and creators whose content blockchain
initiatives have been powered by Eluvio include FOX Entertainment, Globo, MGM
Studios, Microsoft, SONY Pictures, Telstra, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment,
WWE, The Masked Singer, Dolly Parton, Black Eyed Peas, Rita Ora,
independent filmmakers, and many others. Eluvio is led by Emmy
Award-winning technologists, Michelle Munson and Serban Simu,
founders and inventors of Aspera, a pioneer in digital video transport
technology, and a core team of innovators. Based in Berkeley, California,
Eluvio has received numerous industry awards including the prestigious
Engineering Excellence Award by the Hollywood Professional Association and
recognized with 11 US patents. Follow Eluvio at @EluvioInc or on
LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/eluv-io.
CELEBRATE
100 YEARS OF WARNER BROS. WITH TWO CLASSIC FILMS
EAST OF EDEN AND RIO BRAVO
WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 4K RESOLUTION WITH
HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE (HDR)
PURCHASE THEM ON 4K ULTRA HD DISC AND DIGITALLY AUGUST 1
Burbank, Calif., May 30, 2023 – As part of the
year-long centennial celebration for the 100th anniversary of Warner
Bros. Studio, two iconic classics from the Warner Bros. library – East of
EdenandRio Bravo- will be available for
purchase on 4K Ultra HD Disc and Digital August 1.
East of Eden, directed by Academy Award
winner Elia Kazan and starring James Dean, and Rio Bravo, directed
by Honorary Academy Award winner Howard Hawks and starring John Wayne, will be
available to purchase on Ultra HD Blu-ray™Disc from
online and in-store at major retailers and available for purchase Digitally
from Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu and more.
Working in partnership with The Film Foundation, both films were
restored and remastered by Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services:
Motion Picture Imaging and Post Production Sound. Since its launch
by Martin Scorsese in 1990, The Film Foundation has restored more
than 900 movies.
The Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc will include each feature film in 4K
with HDR and a Digital version of the feature film.
Ultra HD Blu-ray showcases 4K resolution with High Dynamic Range
(HDR) and a wider color spectrum, offering consumers brighter, deeper, more
lifelike colors for a home entertainment viewing experience like never before.
For the complete 4K Ultra HD experience with HDR, a 4K Ultra HD TV
with HDR, an Ultra HD Blu-ray player and a high-speed HDMI (category 2) cable
are required.
About the Films:
East of Eden
In the Salinas Valley in and around World War I, Cal Trask feels
he must compete against overwhelming odds with his brother Aron for the love of
their father Adam. Carl is frustrated at every turn, from his reaction to the
war, to how to get ahead in business and in life, to how to relate to his
estranged mother.
The 1955 period drama is directed by Elia Kazan from a
screenplay by Paul Osborn and based on the 1952 John Steinbeck novel of the
same name. The film stars James Dean, Julie Harris, Raymond Massey, Burl
Ives, Richard Davalos, and Jo Van Fleet.
East of Eden was nominated for 3 Academy
Awards with Van Fleet winning for Best Supporting Actress. East of
Eden was named one of the 400 best American films of all time by the American Film
Institute. In 2016, the film was selected
for preservation in the United States National Film
Registry by the Library of
Congress as being "culturally,
historically, or aesthetically significant".
Rio Bravo
A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a
disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail
the brother of the local bad guy.
The 1959 American Western film is directed by Howard
Hawks. The screenplay is by Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackett and is based on
the short story “Rio Bravo” by B.H. McCampbell. The film stars John Wayne, Dean
Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, and Ward Bond.
In 2014, Rio Bravo was selected for preservation in
the United States National Film
Registry by the Library of
Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically
significant.”
Ultra HD Blu-ray Elements
East
of EdenUltra HD Blu-ray contains the following previously released
special features:
Commentary by Richard Schickel
Rio BravoUltra HD
Blu-ray contains the following previously released special features:
Anna May Wong has been commemorated with a three-film box set from Kino Lorber. Wong was a popular presence on the silver screen in an era in which most Asian screen characters were played by non-Asians. Here is the breakdown of information about the the Blu-ray set that coincidentally features Anthony Quinn in all three movies.
This collection features three Hollywood classics from
the 1930s starring screen icon Anna May Wong.
DANGEROUS TO KNOW
(1938)
Screen legend Anna
May Wong (Picadilly) reprises her acclaimed Broadway role in this romantic
crime drama from the pen of Edgar Wallace (Chamber of Horrors). Racketeer Steve
Recka (Akim Tamiroff, The General Died at Dawn) rules his town and the sultry,
silk-gowned Madam Lan Ying (Wong) with an iron hand. But when he falls for the
enchanting Margaret Van Kase (Gail Patrick, Death Takes a Holiday), a socialite
not impressed by his power nor his wealth, he makes frantic efforts to win her
and turns his back on the loyal Lan Ying. Dangerous to Know comes elegantly
directed by Robert Florey (The Crooked Way) with the sparkling supporting cast
of Lloyd Nolan (Portrait in Black), Harvey Stephens (The Cheat), Roscoe Karns
(Night After Night), Porter Hall (Murder, He Says), Hedda Hopper (Little Man,
What Now?), Ellen Drew (If I Were King) and Anthony Quinn (The Ghost Breakers).
ISLAND OF LOST MEN
(1939) – Screen legend Anna May Wong (Daughter of Shanghai) clashes with J.
Carrol Naish (Sahara) in this rousing remake of 1933’s Carole Lombard/Charles
Laughton starrer White Woman. Cabaret singer Kim Ling (Wong), the daughter of a
Chinese general who has been accused of absconding with government funds,
arrives in the Straits Settlements. There she meets Gregory Prin (Naish), a
half-caste gunrunner and head of a jungle empire where he treats the Malaysians
ruthlessly. She agrees to accompany him in search of her father, as she has
several reasons to believe Prin is responsible for the general’s disappearance.
Directed by Kurt Neumann (The Secret of the Blue Room, The Fly) and co-starring
Anthony Quinn (Road to Singapore), Eric Blore (Road to Zanzibar), Broderick
Crawford (Seven Sinners) and Ernest Truex (His Girl Friday), Island of Lost Men
is a torrid mix of thrills, mystery and adventure.
KING OF CHINATOWN
(1939) – Screen legend Anna May Wong (Shanghai Express) co-stars with the “czar
of a city of sin,” Akim Tamiroff (Desire), in the ripping crime yarn King of
Chinatown. Violence and death stalk the Chinese faction of a big American city,
but one man, Dr. Chang Ling (Sidney Toler, Shadows Over Chinatown), and his
daughter, Dr. Mary Ling (Wong), defy the gangsters who are responsible, and,
against terrific odds, bring peace to their oppressed neighbors. Wong gives a
powerful and pioneering performance as a respected surgeon faced with a
shocking moral dilemma. Directed by Nick Grinde (Million Dollar Legs), shot by
Leo Tover (The Day the Earth Stood Still) and featuring J. Carrol Naish (Beau
Geste), Philip Ahn (China), Anthony Quinn (The Last Train from Madrid),
Bernadene Hayes (Dick Tracy’s Dilemma) and Roscoe Karns (It Happened One
Night).
Product Extras :
Brand New 4K and 2K Masters
NEW Audio Commentary for DANGEROUS TO KNOW by Film Historian Samm Deighan
NEW Audio Commentary for ISLAND OF LOST MEN by Entertainment Journalist/Author
Bryan Reesman and Max Evry
NEW Audio Commentary for KING OF CHINATOWN by Film Historian David Del Valle
and Archivist/Film Historian Stan Shaffer
King of Chinatown Theatrical Trailer (Nitrate Restoration in 4K)
