BY FRED BLOSSER

“The Adventures of Hajji Baba,” a 1954 Walter Wanger production for Allied Artists Pictures and 20th Century Fox, has been issued by Twilight Time in a Blu-ray limited edition of 3,000 units. At the time of its theatrical release, the film was a commercially successful entry in the popular 1950s formula of swashbuckling romances about the legendary Middle East of Sinbad, Ali Baba, and the Arabian Nights. In today’s post-9/11 world, when the American public is more aware of the region’s grim reality, the Arabian Nights genre survives, just barely, in rare efforts like “Disney’s Aladdin” and the “Prince of Persia” video-game franchise.

In the 1954 movie, Hajji Baba (John Derek), a young Persian barber, sets out to make his fortune in the wider world. Meanwhile, across town in the Caliph’s palace, spoiled Princess Fawzia (Elaine Stewart) wants to marry an ambitious neighboring prince, Nur-el-Din (Paul Picerni). Her father objects, having heard about Nur-el-Din’s cruel temper. “Think of all the wives he’s had, and how he’s treated them,” he warns. “No one can hold him.” Undeterred, the headstrong Fawzia disguises herself as a boy and sneaks out to meet the prince’s emissary at a nearby oasis. There, she encounters Hajji, whom she mistakes for the courier. She offers him a valuable emerald ring for help in evading her father’s pursuit.

As the two proceed together across the desert, they’re captured by a gang of lady bandits led by the red-haired Banah (Amanda Blake), and eventually they realize that they’ve fallen in love with each other. Escaping from Banah, the pair fall into the hands of Nur-el-Din, who exercises his prior claim on Fawzia’s affections. Surrounded and outnumbered by the prince’s armed retinue, and believing that it’s Fawzia’s preference anyway, Hajji relinquishes the princess to Nur-el-Din in exchange for the ring that had been promised to him earlier. Irked, Fawzia rides off with the prince, who secretly orders two of his soldiers to ride back, kill Hajji, and retrieve the ring . . .

Critics of the time were inclined to dismiss Arabian Nights escapism of this sort, as modern reviewers do every time a new Dwayne Johnson or Mark Wahlberg action picture debuts. In his New York times review, Bosley Crowther suggested that the movie needed “someone in it like Bob Hope to kid and lampoon the ostentation of its lush Oriental gewgawry.” But most middle-class audiences were less exacting, and looked only for “The Adventures of Hajji Baba” to provide a couple of hours’ relaxation from the grind of work and school. The kids could enjoy the widescreen swordplay and horseback chases, Mom might think tingly thoughts about John Derek, and Pop could ogle Amanda Blake, Elaine Stewart, and the numerous other starlets in the cast in their skimpy harem girl costumes. That was about as racy as Hollywood products got in those days. Compared with the boxy, black-and-white image that moviegoers were used to watching at home on TV, the film’s sumptuous CinemaScope, Color by De Luxe photography was sensational stuff.

The 2.55:1 widescreen aspect and rich color are beautifully transferred on the Twilight Time Blu-ray, a welcome upgrade from the pan-and-scan print of the film that airs now and then on cable’s Fox Movie Channel. Modern viewers may be put off that the Arab and Farsi characters are played by actors whose accents are more Parsippany, New Jersey than Persia, but that was standard practice for the day, and even today’s Millennials will have to admit, if they’re honest, that the old-fashioned romance between Hajji and the willful Fawzia isn’t much more contrived than the plot of the average confection today on the Hallmark Movie Channel, or for that matter the tortuous complications on “reality” TV’s “The Bachelor.” Fans of ‘50s lounge music are likely to be amused by the title tune that wends its way through the soundtrack -- music by Dimitri Tiomkin, lyrics by Ned Washington, arrangement by Nelson Riddle, and vocal by Nat “King” Cole. The music and effects are isolated on an alternate audio track on the Twilight Time disc. Other extras are the original theatrical trailer, SDH subtitles, and an informative insert-booklet by the reliable Julie Kirgo. The Blu-ray is available HERE.

BY ADRIAN SMITH

The first question you are probably asking is “Do we need another book about Hammer films?” Speaking as someone whose Hammer shelf is already groaning with the weight of so many volumes on the company, the answer, as far as Hammer Complete is concerned, is “Absolutely.” This book, coming in at nearly 1000 pages, is a lifetime achievement for journalist Howard Maxford, and one that deserves immense praise. Unlike other books which might focus specifically on the horror films, or the posters, or the ups and downs of the company itself, here Maxford has attempted to provide a complete encyclopedia of everything and everyone connected to Hammer. From Temple Abady (who appeared in Never Look Back in 1952) and The Abominable Snowman (1957) to Murial Zillah (Danger List, 1957) and Marc Zuber (The Satanic Rites of Dracula, 1974), no Hammer stone has been left unturned or contributor ignored.

Unlike many books of this type which are little more than a collection of facts cribbed from Wikipedia and the Internet Movie Database, Maxford has conducted many interviews over the years with Hammer stars including Christopher Lee himself, which means there is plenty of new and insightful material here alongside his primary research and original reviews of the films themselves. The entry on Lee is spread over six pages, where his career is discussed at length including his well-known frustration with the decline in quality of the Dracula films; of Scars of Dracula (1970) he complained, “I was a pantomime villain. Everything was over the top, especially the giant bat whose electrically motored wings flapped with slow deliberation as if it were doing morning exercises.” Likewise, his frequent co-star Peter Cushing gets a similarly lengthy entry, as do many of the other key players such as regular character actor Michael Ripper, director Terence Fisher, producer James Carreras, writer-director Jimmy Sangster and script supervisor Renee Glynne, who first worked for the company in 1947 and was still present when they went to Hong Kong to make The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires and Shatter (both 1974).

Maxford is fair in his assessment of the films themselves, discussing at length those which have become legendary -  the triumvirate of The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) Dracula (1958) and The Mummy (1959) in particular - as well as being fair to those films often derided or ignored, including my personal favourite; Slave Girls (also known as Prehistoric Women, 1968), made primarily to reuse all those fur bikinis left over from One Million Years B.C. (1966).

It may have a high price tag, but Hammer Complete is a huge, well-researched reference book that no Hammer aficionado should be without.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM AMAZON US

CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM AMAZON UK

BY DARREN ALLISON

It’s probably fair to say that a great deal of music that surfaced from the Spaghetti Western genre eventually merged to become something of a cliché. Clearly inspired by the Morricone sound and style, many of the scores came to bear the same signature traits and failed to obtain any real, individual identity. In short, it became an elaborate mixing bowl in which the finished results were served up as individual, but very familiar servings.

In some respects, one could argue the same for Gianni Ferrio’s Un Dollaro Bucato (One Silver Dollar) (1965). Also released as Blood for a Silver Dollar, producer Bruno Turchetto was quick to jump on the whole ‘Dollar’ bandwagon. Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars had only been in the can for a year, so the genre was both fresh and ripe for harvesting.

The film’s soundtrack began life rather quietly; it was first released as a single on the Fonit label in 1965 and featured the song ‘‘A Man... A Story’’ performed by genre regular Fred Bongusto and was coupled with an instrumental version performed by the Ferrio orchestra. The single was re-released in Japan by King Records, where the film was received well. Philips also released it in Japan as part of an EP containing A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More and Django, so the music was certainly keeping good company – and deservedly so.

Despite the obvious influences, there’s certainly no denying, Un Dollaro Bucato remains a terrific score. Ferrio’s music is fluid and doesn’t just root itself firmly within the western genre. In fact, certain cues wouldn’t sound out of place in a spy thriller - another genre that was finding its feet with the emerging Bond franchise. Aside from the more regular, stylistic western cues, there’s plenty of mystery and tension, and Ferrio makes great use of brass horns to build the drama. So yes, Morricone inspired for sure, but there’s also a great deal more.

Silva Screen Records have chosen well. Ferrio’s Un Dollaro Bucato remains a hugely popular title. In more recent times, cues have found their way into Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds (2009), and been featured in the Red Dead Revolver video game series. Silva Screen has created a stunning vinyl package containing 21 beautifully produced tracks. It’s a stand out example, and obvious that a great deal of thought has gone into this project. Not only does the sleeve contain some creative, new artwork, but at the same time it maintains the retro style reflective of the much loved 60s genre. Best of all perhaps is the 12” platter, an eye catching piece pressed in a stylish silver & red coloured vinyl, an element which ties in rather perfectly with the ‘silver’ and ‘blood ‘of the film’s alternative title. It’s a shimmering example of how vinyl can (and should) be produced for the ongoing revival. Long may it continue to shine!

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http://www.silvascreen.com/sillp1579-un-dollaro-bucato/

BY LEE PFEIFFER

The art of still photography has played an important role in the promotion of motion pictures since the inception of the medium. However, most photographers who capture the images on set labor in anonymity. It has only been in the last few decades that studios even identified the photographers of publicity photos by name on the press materials that are so widely distributed. As readers of Cinema Retro know, we have long promoted appreciation of the stills photographers and have showcased their work in our magazine. This is why we are quite excited by a new book, "Through Her Lens" (published by ACC Art Books) by Eva Sereny, who broke through a glass ceiling when she started capturing on set images in the 1960s in what was a male-dominated profession. Sereny had an exotic background: she was born of Hungarian parents in London, moved to Italy and took up photography before returning to London where, on a whim, she submitted some sample photos and ended up being hired by legendary publicist Gordon Arnell as a "Special Photographer" on the set of Mike Nichols' "Catch-22". In this capacity, Sereny differed from the unit stills photographer who was employed by the studio throughout the shoot. Instead, Sereny had independence and freedom to capture only those moments that intrigued her most. Her work revealed an astonishing intimacy whether it was photographing posed subjects or candid moments between takes. As Sereny's reputation grew, she gained greater access to interesting movie productions, though she still often had to contend with tempestuous stars. She initially annoyed Raquel Welch but years later the iconic star befriended her. On the set of "Last Tango in Paris", Marlon Brando forbade her from photographing him but ultimately relented and gave her complete artistic freedom to shoot him even when he was unawares.

Marlon Brando lights up director Bernardo Bertolucci on the set of "Last Tango in Paris".

Kate Capshaw, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Harrison Ford on the set of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade".

On "The Assassination of Trotsky", she had to tread carefully to photograph Elizabeth Taylor, who was visiting Richard Burton on the set. More pleasant was her experiences on the set of three Indiana Jones movies, including taking an iconic publicity photo of Harrison Ford and Sean Connery in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". There are craggy veterans such as John Huston and Richard Harris, hunky guys like Warren Beatty, Robert Redford and Michael Caine and elegant glamour symbols such as Audrey Hepburn, Barbara Bach and Jacqueline Bisset. (Bisset, along with Charlotte Rampling, provides a foreword for the book.)  The volume is divided into chapters each dedicated to a film or a personality with Sereny providing anecdotes about her experience on the production. Other stars such as Clint Eastwood and Paul Newman are photographed in their private lives but no less remarkably than Sereny would have done on a film set. The book's large size, hardback format and superb reproductions of so many remarkable photos make this a "must" for retro movie lovers.

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Last September, Time Life released the ultimate Robin Williams video set. Here is the official press release:

"You know that cartoon, that Tasmanian devil that comes out and just spins --

he was that, but eloquent and hilarious."

-- Billy Crystal

"He was like something waiting to happen...a very powerful anomaly."

-- Steve Martin

"Everybody else prepared, Robin was just a natural...

and he worked on every level." 

-- Jay Leno

LEGENDARY COMEDIAN.

OSCAR®-WINNING ACTOR.

THIS SEPTEMBER, JOIN TIME LIFE FOR THE

DEFINITIVE DVD COLLECTION CELEBRATING

THE COMEDY CAREER OF A BELOVED ICON

ROBIN WILLIAMS: COMIC GENIUS

Across 22 DVDs and 50+ Hours, the Electrifying Comic Lights Up the Room in This Ultimate, One-of-a-Kind Compendium Spanning 40 Years on TV, Including All Five HBO Stand-Up Specials Together for the Very First Time, Never-Before-Released Performances and Backstage Footage, Talk Show and Late Night Appearances, Rare Archival Clips, Brand New Interviews Featuring Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, Jay Leno, Martin Short, Pam Dawber, Lewis Black, and Zak Williams, a Collectible Memory Book Featuring Archival Photos, Robin's Tour Notes, and More!

AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY AT ROBINWILLIAMS.COM

FAIRFAX, VA (September 25, 2018) - Robin Williams was a generational talent, graced with comedic brilliance, rapid-fire improvisation, and a deep well of warmth and compassion that translated to every role he inhabited. From his breakout role in ABC's Mork & Mindy to his Academy Award®-winning performance in Good Will Hunting, the iconic actor displayed an inimitable artistry that made him beloved by millions. This September, join Time Life, in conjunction with the Trustees of the Robin Williams Trust, in celebrating the incomparable career of the singularly innovative actor with ROBIN WILLIAMS: COMIC GENIUS. 

Available exclusively at RobinWilliams.com beginning September 25th, this definitive collection of Williams' comedy highlights arrives as interest in his life and career increases in the wake of HBO's critically acclaimed documentary, Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind from Emmy® Award-winning director Marina Zenovich and Oscar-winning producer Alex Gibney, and Dave Itzkoff's biography Robin, a New York Times best-seller. Celebrating the actor's memorable 40-year career, from his uproarious turn as loveable alien Mork and his legendary HBO stand-up specials to his numerous appearances on late night, this handsome, 22-disc collection, housed in deluxe packaging includes: 

All five HBO stand-up specials together for the very first time, including Off the Wall (1978), An Evening with Robin Williams (1983), An Evening at the MET (1986), Live on Broadway (2002) and Weapons of Self Destruction (2009)

Never-before-released concert specials, including Robin's full MGM Grand Garden stand-up from 2007 and the Montreal stop on his last tour, a conversation on stage between Williams and comedian David Steinberg

Memorable talk show and late night TV appearances on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Graham Norton Show, Saturday Night Live and more

Rare, never-before-seen clips including early stand-up, raw footage from HBO's promo shoots, a hilarious toast to Richard Pryor by Robin as Mrs. Doubtfire, and more

Brand new interviews with close friends and family including Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, Jay Leno, Eric Idle, David Steinberg, Lewis Black and Zak Williams

11 hilarious episodes of Mork & Mindy, including the two-part pilot!

James Lipton's Emmy® Award-nominated 90-minute interview with Robin on Inside the Actors Studio, plus deleted scenes

A comprehensive collection of Robin's USO shows around the world

Original and newly created bonus features including behind-the-scenes footage, local highlights from tour stops, promos and more. Featurettes include: The Early Years, San Francisco: Where It All Started, Comic Genius, and TV's Best Guest

Critically acclaimed 2018 HBO documentary, Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind from Emmy® Award-winning director Marina Zenovich and Oscar-winning producer Alex Gibney.

"Robin Williams: Uncensored", a collectible 24-page, full-color memory book featuring rare, archival photos from award-winning photographer Arthur Grace, reminiscences from friends and colleagues, Robin's personal tour notes and more. 

Uncensored, electric, intense and unfailingly hilarious, Williams made it his life's work to make people laugh--whether he was holding forth on culture, politics, the human body or drugs--with razor-sharp wit and insight. As his long-time friend Billy Crystal said, "In the 40 odd years he was in front of us, especially on television, he never let you down. He was always funny, he always did something new." And, in unforgettable ways, ROBIN WILLIAMS: COMIC GENIUS reveals and celebrates the wide range of his incredible talents like never before.

The stars arrive in Honolulu to commence filming on the screen adaptation of James Jones' best-selling novel "From Here to Eternity". The resulting film would win Best Picture of 1953 at the Oscars and gain Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress wins for Frank Sinatra (whose career was saved by his role in the movie) and Donna Reed. (Left to right: Frank Sinatra, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Burt Lancaster, James Jones and director Fred Zinnemann.)

BY FRED BLOSSER

“The Adventures of Robin Hood,” which aired on CBS from 1955 to 1959, was an early example of a television series produced in the U.K. and imported by an American network into U.S. living rooms with great success -- a forerunner of numerous hit shows to follow from across the Atlantic, including “The Avengers,” “Secret Agent/ Danger Man”, too many “PBS Masterpiece Theater” favorites to list, and more recently “Downton Abbey.” It was also an early example, replicated as well by “Downton Abbey,” of a popular TV series leveraged into a big-screen theatrical movie. The year after “The Adventures of Robin Hood” ended its U.S. network run, its producer Sidney Cole and star Richard Greene created a feature-film version, “Sword of Sherwood Forest,” in partnership with Hammer Studios, for release here through Columbia Pictures. Although supporting roles were recast, Greene returned as Robin, and some principals from the series’ production crew were reunited as well. Director of Photography Ken Hodges returned, the screenplay was provided by Alan Hackney, who had scripted many of the episodes of the series, and the director was Terence Fisher, already a Hammer veteran, who had directed several series episodes. Media historians tend to characterize the TV and theatrical movie industries in the 1950s and early ‘60s as bitter rivals for viewership, but the two industries in fact often enjoyed a friendlier synergy of mutual convenience. In the case of “Sword of Sherwood Forest,” the popularity of the earlier series provided theaters with a built-in audience for the movie. In turn, the film reminded fans to watch for the syndicated reruns of the TV show, which continued to be broadcast on local stations well into the 1970s.

In the movie, which has been released on Blu-ray from Twilight Time in a limited edition of 3,000 units, a well-dressed, badly wounded man flees into Sherwood Forest, escaping from a posse led by the Sheriff of Nottingham (Peter Cushing). Through Maid Marian (Sarah Branch), the sheriff approaches Robin Hood with the offer of a pardon if he’ll turn over the wounded fugitive, but Robin refuses. He knows, even if Marian has yet to learn, although she quickly does, that the offer of clemency from his old enemy the sheriff “isn’t worth the breath he uses to make the promise.” The fugitive eventually dies from his wound, but not before passing along a brooch stamped with a mysterious emblem, and mentioning the name of a town, Bawtry. Leaving Little John (Nigel Green) to lead the Merry Men in his absence, Robin investigates with the help of Marian and Friar Tuck (Niall McGinnis). Gradually, they uncover a plot involving the charming but secretive Earl of Newark (Richard Pasco), his henchman the sheriff, an attempted land grab, a visit by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and plans to carry out a high-level assassination if the land grab fails.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Kino Lober is releasing a number of value-priced Blu-ray double features with similarly-themed films. Among them is the combo of "Betsy's Wedding" and "Holy Matrimony". The first movie is a 1990 release starring and directed by Alan Alda, who had directed three previous feature films. Anyone who has been involved in planning a wedding knows that the old adage "The more the merrier!" rings hollow. In fact, the logistics of planning a wedding can become increasingly complicated and frustrating in direct correlation with the number of well-meaning people who decide to involve themselves. There's always the risk that the betrothed couple will be overwhelmed by logistics and that the wedding plans are catered to please everyone but them. Such is the case in "Betsy's Wedding". Alda is cast as Eddie Hopper, a successful real estate speculator who invests money in building homes that he hopes to sell for a quick profit. Lately, however, his instincts have been troublesome and his latest venture is proving to be a white elephant that is draining his savings. At the same time, his youngest daughter Betsy (Molly Ringwald) and her boyfriend Jake (Dylan Walsh) announce they intend to get married. Both are left-wing progressives who are also social activists who disdain blatant displays of wealth. They want a low-key civil ceremony with only a handful of guests. However, Eddie and his wife Lola (Madeline Kahn) argue that a much grander, traditional wedding is called for so as not to offend family members. Their resistance worn down, Betsy and Jake reluctant concede, which opens a Pandora's Box of bad luck for all involved. Eddie can't afford to put on the wedding he has lobbied for so he turns to his brother-in-law Oscar (Joe Pesci), a slimy business "tycoon" who, in reality, is also short of cash. Since he can't find the money to lend Eddie for the wedding, he introduces him to a local mob boss, Georgie (Burt Young), who puts up the funds but then integrates himself into Eddie's life and plans for the wedding. A parallel story line centers on Eddie and Lola's other daughter Connie (Ally Sheedy), a New York City police officer who is stuck in a perpetual mode of depression, shying away from people and bruised by the fact that her younger sister will marry before she does. She is elevated from the blues by Georgie's bodyguard Stevie Dee (Anthony Lapaglia), a slick mobster who sounds like Rocky Balboa on steroids but who curiously speaks to everyone with excessive politeness. Has is obsessed with Connie and slowly but surely succeeds in wooing her into coming out of her shell. As the wedding date nears, the pressure mounts on everyone. Eddie's business dealings with George almost get him assassinated in an attempted mob hit, Betsy and Jake are barely on speaking terms and on the wedding day and a torrential rain storm threatens to collapse the large tent structure the reception is being held in. Eddie receives solace from imaginary conversations with his dear, departed father (Joey Bishop). 

"Besty's Wedding" was not well-received by critics or audiences back in the day and proved to be the final feature film to date directed by Alan Alda. Yet, I found it to be consistently funny and Alda excels as both actor and director, milking maximum laughs from an inspired cast. The scene-stealer is Lapaglia, one of the few cast members to receive kudos from reviewers. His sensitive tough guy routine is both amusing and endearing. The film isn't hilarious at any point but it's never less than entertaining, as you might imagine any movie that teams Joe Pesci and Burt Young would be.

"Holy Matrimony" was unceremoniously dumped by Disney into a handful of theaters in 1994 before being relegated to home video. It's total theatrical gross in North America was about $700,000. As with "Betsy's Wedding", it was directed by a popular actor, in this case Leonard Nimoy. Ironically, just as "Betsy's Wedding" represented Alda's last direction (to date) of a feature film, so too did "Holy Matrimony" mark Nimoy's last directorial effort on the big screen. The premise is hardly original, centering on a protagonist who seeks shelter in a religious community to evade pursuers. This plot device dates back to the 1940s with John Wayne in "Angel and the Badman" and its unacknowledged 1984 remake "Witness". Here we find Patricia Arquette as Havana, a sultry young woman from the other side of the tracks who is fed up with being exploited by performing provocative routines at a carnival tent located in a fairgrounds. She is paid a miserly wage by the owner who she comes to resent. She and her equally impoverished boyfriend Peter (Tate Donovan) rob the owner and flee in their car, but not before being identified. With the police searching for them, they cross into Canada and take refuge in an Amish-like religious colony where Peter was raised before leaving for the outside world. They pretend to want to immerse themselves in the rustic lifestyle but Havana's coarse nature and foul mouth make the elders suspicious of their motives. Peter hides the cache of stolen loot but before he can divulge its location to Havana, he is killed in an automobile accident. The colony elders view this as a way to get rid of Havana by informing her that customs dictate that she must marry Peter's brother, in this case twelve year-old Ezekiel (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). However, Havana- who needs to stay until she can locate the stash of hidden money- agrees to the arrangement, much to the shock of all involved- especially young Ezekiel who is appalled at having to be married at such a young age. The film deftly handles the possible distasteful elements of this reverse "Lolita" situation by making it clear that both husband and wife sleep in separate rooms. The one funny sex gag involves Ezekiel trying to impress his friends that he is satisfying his new wife only to have the scenario backfire much to his embarrassment when it is revealed he is actually in the bedroom alone.

Much of what follows is predictable. As with all movie plots in which the male and female protagonists start off hating each other, there is no doubt that Havana and Ezekiel will grow to respect and like each other, with Havana acting more like a big sister than a wife. Once the money is located, Havana is told to accompany Ezekiel back to the States to return the loot to its rightful owner. What follows is a road trip in which the two share plenty of personal thoughts and have to avoid a corrupt FBI agent (John Schuck), who is hot on their trail, determined to steal the money for himself. The story climaxes back at the state fair where Havana originally worked. She's now determined to return the stolen money, all the while trying to evade the police and the FBI guy who are hot on her trail. Director Nimoy capably blends both sentiment and comedy during the course of the film, though the movie's main attributes are the performances by Arquette and especially young Gordon-Levitt who shows star power even at this early stage of his career. There is also a very fine performance by Armin-Mueller Stahl as the elder of the religious community. Refreshingly, the film doesn't mock or humiliate the members of the religious colony. Rather, it is "fish-out-of-water" Havana who bears the brunt of most of the humor. While "Holy Matrimony" is nothing very special, it does seem to have suffered an undeserved fate by being released to only a small number of theaters. It is certainly on par with most mid-range comedies but apparently Disney felt it had very little boxoffice appeal.

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray combo features very fine transfers of both films and includes their original trailers. Recommended.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM AMAZON

BY TODD GARBARINI

Film historian Douglas Dunning has informed Cinema Retro that Laemmle’s Playhouse 7 and Ahrya Fine Arts will be presenting the 50^th anniversary screening of Sam Peckinpah’s influential 1969 film The Wild Bunch and special guests are scheduled to appear at both locations. The film stars William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmund O’Brien, Warren Oates, L.Q. Jones, Jaime Sanchez, Bo Hopkins, Strother Martin, Albert Decker, Emilio Fernandez, and Alfonso Arau and runs 145 minutes.

PLEASE NOTE:

Screening #1 is on February 26^th at the Playhouse 7 at 7:00 pm, and at press time W.K. Stratton, the author of a new book, The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film, will participate in a discussion after the screening. He will also sign copies of his book at the theater.

Screening #2 is at the Ahrya Fine Arts on March 2^nd at 7:30 pm. Mr. Stratton is also scheduled to be on hand. In addition, screenwriter Walon Green is scheduled to appear. He won an Academy Award in 1971 for directing the documentary, The Hellstrom Chronicle. He went on to write such films as Sorcerer and The Brinks Job for director William Friedkin and The Border for Tony Richardson.

Actor L.Q. Jones is on the list, too. He worked on several other Peckinpah movies, beginning with Ride the High Country, along with Major Dundee, The Ballad of Cable Hogue, and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. He co-starred in Hang ‘Em High, Hell Is For Heroes, and Martin Scorsese’s Casino.

Actor Bo Hopkins is also scheduled to appear. He co-starred in Peckinpah’s The Getaway and The Killer Elite, and he also appeared in such films as The Day of the Locust, American Graffiti, Midnight Express, and The Newton Boys.

From the press release:

The Wild Bunch

Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.

THE WILD BUNCH (1969)

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of the iconic and groundbreaking movies of the '60s, Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch. This graphically violent and poetic film exploded the very concept of the traditional Western by focusing on a brutal group of outlaws trying to survive at the dawn of the 20th century. Featuring four Oscar-winning actors—William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Ben Johnson, and Edmond O’Brien—along with a startling supporting cast, the film clearly established Peckinpah as one of the top directors of the era.

The director’s classic 1962 Western Ride the High Country had demonstrated his talent, but he ran into conflicts with producers on subsequent projects in the '60s. The Wild Bunch marked his triumphant return to filmmaking. He wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay with Walon Green, from a story by Green and Roy N. Sickner. It is set in 1913, on the eve of World War I and in the midst of the Mexican Revolution. A botched robbery in the opening sequence leads the outlaws to seek refuge in Mexico, where they continue to be pursued by a group of bounty hunters hired by the railroad company they have robbed. Robert Ryan, cast as a former friend of Holden’s character, leads the pursuers.

The supporting cast includes Warren Oates, L.Q. Jones, Jaime Sanchez, Bo Hopkins, Strother Martin, Albert Decker, Emilio Fernandez, and Alfonso Arau. Lucien Ballard provided the rich cinematography, and Jerry Fielding wrote the Oscar-nominated score. But perhaps the most crucial creative collaborator was editor Lou Lombardo, who worked closely with the director to perfect an innovative editing style that incorporated quick, almost subliminal cuts masterfully interspersed with slow motion shots.

The film’s violence was shocking to many viewers at the time, and some critics denounced the film. Others, however, saw the violence as reflecting the disruptions in American society, along with the chaos of the Vietnam War. Life magazine’s Richard Schickel called the film “one of the most important records of the mood of our times and one of the most important American films of the era.” The New York Times’ Vincent Canby hailed the film as “very beautiful and the first truly interesting American-made Westerns in years.” When cuts that had been made shortly after the film’s release were finally restored for a 1995 reissue, critics were even more ecstatic. Writing in The Baltimore Sun, Michael Sragow declared, “What Citizen Kane was to movie lovers in 1941, The Wild Bunch was to cineastes in 1969.” The film was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1999.

The Playhouse 7 is at 673 E Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91101.l The phone number is (310) 478 – 3836.

The Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre is located at 8556 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211. The phone number is (310) 478 – 3836.

Click here for tickets.

The YouTube page "A Word on Entertainment" features host Rob Word's interview with actress Rosemary Forsyth, who recalls filming the under-rated 1965 film "The War Lord" starring Charlton Heston and Richard Boone.

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

By Lee Pfeiffer

Sony has released the 1955 crime drama 5 Against the House as a burn-to-order DVD. The little-remembered film is interesting on a number of levels and boasts an impressive, eclectic cast. The low-budget flick depicts four young ex-G.I.s who fought in Korea who return to the States and enroll in college. Al (Guy Madison) is a straight-as-an-arrow type who is engaged to sultry nightclub singer Kay (Kim Novak). Ronnie (Kerwin Matthews) is a brainy upstart with delusions of grandeur and a superiority complex. Roy (Alvy Moore) is an affable joker who is very much a follower, not a leader. Brick (Brian Keith) is the most troubled of the group. He bares psychological problems from his combat experience and has a hair-trigger temper. The guys' only vices are taking an occasional trip to Reno, Nevada and engaging in some minor gambling and womanizing. However, Ronnie concocts an audacious plan to prove he can outwit the authorities and rob a casino. He suggest that the plan be put into operation with the intention of returning the money to the casino after the fact. Ronnie wants to build his ego, not his bank account. Roy and Brick sign on to the plan, but when Al balks, Brick's anger comes through. He threatens his friends with a gun and forces them to pull off the incredible scheme. The film, deftly directed by Phil Karlson, makes effective use of on location shooting in Reno at a place called Harold's Casino. The movie works best as a character study and the performances are all first-rate, with the exception of Madison, who is a bit of a stiff in the lead role. Novak is her usual sexy self and Keith, long-underrated for his dramatic capabilities, gives a powerful performance. The film is one of the earliest to take a sympathetic look at the emotional toll war takes on returning veterans. 5 Against the House is engaging throughout and although it is unremarkable in the long run, it represents the kind of overlooked gems that  the burn-to-order DVD format is rescuing from complete obscurity. 

An original trailer is included.  

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BY JOHN M. WHALEN

If you’ve ever read one of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan novels, you know that there has always been a big difference between Tarzan as he is in the movies versus Tarzan in the books. For some reason Hollywood has never really been able to get the character exactly right. As much fun as the Johnny Weissmuller and Lex Barker Tarzan movies are, for example, they really didn’t get close to Burroughs’ concept of the ape man. The real Tarzan didn’t speak Pidgin English for one thing. He actually spoke fluent English and French. He was as at home in an English Tea Room as the son of a British Lord, as he was in the prehistoric land of Pal-ul-don. While the movies showed Tarzan as protector of the animals, and friends with cute chimpanzees, in the books Burroughs present a world where death usually came on four feet, although man was often the most treacherous enemy. It was a jungle out there, and it was survival of the fittest, baby.

In 2016, Warner Bros. attempted to restart the Tarzan series with the $180 million “The Legend of Tarzan.” The film made double its budget at the box office worldwide, but it didn’t excite audiences or studio heads enough to continue with a sequel. So it looks like Tarzan will be on sabbatical for a while. Part of the reason for the film’s failure was the script’s presentation of Tarzan. They got the outer dimensions of the character right, but included too many politically correct ideas that weakened the Burroughs concept. For one thing, Tarzan lost too many fights, with both humans and apes. You don’t get to be King of the Jungle by losing fights. But I think it was the total reliance on CGI to create Tarzan’s Africa that was the main reason for the film’s failure. Except for the occasional aerial footage shot over the jungles of Gabon, the entire film was shot on sound stages in England. The movie lacked the reality that a fantasy like Tarzan needs to be believable.

Which brings me to the subject of this review. In the opinion of most true Tarzan fans there has only ever been one Tarzan film that really captures what Tarzan is all about. It’s not perfect, but it’s probably the closest they’ll ever get. In 1959, producer Sy Weintraub took over the Tarzan franchise from Sol Lesser after it was moved to Paramount Pictures. Weintraub injected the series with new energy and new ideas. He wanted to make an “adult” Tarzan flick and he wanted to shoot on location in Kikuyu, Kenya.

He hired a top flight cast of British actors to play the villains in the piece. Anthony Quayle, whose acting experience ranged from potboilers to Shakespeare, was cast as the main villain, Slade, an escaped con and old enemy of Tarzan. Next up, none other than 007 himself, Sean Connery, in an early role as O’Bannion, a tough Irish gunman, who, being too young for the Irish Rebellion, decides there are no causes worth fighting for because “They don’t pay well.” Next is Nial MacGiniss as Kruger, a German diamond expert who doesn’t want to be reminded of the old days of the Third Reich. Al Muloch plays Dino, captain of the boat the gang is riding up river, who has a strange attachment to a locket he wears around his neck. And finally, Italian actress Scilla Gabel as Toni, Slade’s girl. There’s plenty of internal conflict and tension among these five on board a small jungle boat as it makes its way up river to a diamond mine.

The film starts with the theft of explosives from a compound run by a doctor friend of Tarzan’s. The gang needs the gelignite to excavate a diamond mine located upriver, just north of Tarzan’s tree house. It’s interesting to note that the script by Berne Giler is based on a story written by Les Crutchfield, a veteran writer who wrote 81 Gunsmoke radio scripts, and was himself an explosives expert and a mining engineer before he started writing. Explosives figure prominently in the plot.

By Lee Pfeiffer

I have to admit that I hadn't a clue as to what Intruder in the Dust was about until I viewed the DVD released through the Warner Archive. The film is a powerful indictment of the horrors of racism, filmed by MGM during a period when the American Civil Rights Movement was just beginning to heat up. We have a tendency to accuse Hollywood studios of relegating African-American actors to being mere window dressing in films of this era, or worse, casting them as comic relief in often degrading ways. However, this 1949 achievement should be much higher on the radar of retro movie lovers. While most studio productions steered clear of the problem of racism in the American South during the period when segregation was still law, this excellent film addresses the issue head-on. There were some talented people who brought the story to the screen in 1949. Esteemed director Clarence Brown was behind the camera and the screenplay was written by the great Ben Maddow, based on a novel by William Faulkner.

The film was shot on location in Oxford, Mississippi and centers on the murder of a local white businessman who was shot in the back. The prime suspect is Lucas (Juano Hernandez), a middle-aged black farmer who has incurred the wrath of local bigots because he is proud and independent and fails to take on the subserviant persona of the "good Negro". Causing more resentment is the fact that Lucas owns his own farm, a prime piece of land that invokes jealousy from less successful local whites. Lucas maintains his calm demeanor even when he is jailed and is awaiting the inevitable murder at the hands of a mob. His one white friend comes to his aid: a teenager named Chick Mallison (Claude Jarman Jr.). Chick convinces his uncle, lawyer John Stevens (David Brian) to defend him. Stevens agrees because he doesn't want a murder committed, but even he believes Lucas is guilty. He tells the seemingly doomed man that he can't get a fair trial, that he doesn't believe he is innocent and that he should have shown proper deference to the bigots at all times. This attitude is what passed for enlightened thinking during this period. Ultimately, Stevens becomes convinced that his client is being framed and the plot turns to to who-dunnit as an oddball group of progressives fights against time to find the real murderer before Lucas is lynched or burned alive. The only whites in town who will assist Stevens and Chick are an elderly woman (Elizabeth Patterson) and the local sheriff (Will Geer), who has a condescending attitude towards blacks but is courageous enough to stand up to the worst elements of the population.

Click here for the complete list of BAFTA winners for the year 2018.

The first issue of Cinema Retro's 15th season (#43) has now been mailed to subscribers around the globe. Thanks to our loyal readers, the world's most unique film magazine is entering another exciting year with every issue packed with the kind of coverage of classic cinema that you've come to expect. (Issue #44 will ship in April/May and issue #45 ships in September/October.)  Our kickoff issue for the new season features the following:

Tribute to the 50th anniversary of the James Bond classic "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" starring George Lazenby: a five-page photo feature packed with rare images, some never published before.

"Mackenna's Gold"- a look back fifty years on at the much-hyped big budget fiasco that has a fascinating back story.. This major article by Dave Worrall and Lee Pfeiffer is the most comprehensive ever written about the troubled production that starred Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Telly Savalas and an all star cast.

Cai Ross provides an exclusive interview with director Peter Medak, who recalls the little-seen Peter Sellers pirate comedy "Ghost in the Noonday Sun" and relates the maddening experience of working with the volatile comedy genius.

Dawn Dabell covers the 1966 British coming-of-age comedy "The Family Way", which allowed Hayley Mills her first adult role in a scathing comedy about coming of age during the sexual revolution. 

Brian Davdison looks back on the controversial "Assault", which is regarded as Britain's only true giallo.

Nick Anez analyzes director Robert Aldrich's bizarre-but-gripping Depression era crime drama "The Grissom Gang".

Gareth Owen examines the clues in the making of "Sleuth" starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine at Pinewood Studios

Brian Davidson pays tribute to actress Virginia Maskell, whose career and life were tragically short, but very impressive.

John V. Watson takes a nightmarish journey back to 1971 to examine the release of numerous high profile films that were extremely violent. Among them: "A Clockwork Orange", "Get Carter", "Villain", "Dirty Harry", "Straw Dogs" and "The Devils".

Plus Raymond Benson's "Cinema 101" column, Darren Allison's news about the latest soundtrack releases and our extensive reviews of new Blu-ray and DVD releases.

Help keep the dream of celebrating the greatest period in film history alive and in print format by subscribing or renewing today!

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Finney with Audrey Hepburn in Stanley Donen's "Two for the Road".

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Albert Finney, who rose to fame and acclaim as one of Britain's generation of actors known as "Angry Young Men", has died at age 82. A chest infection was cited as cause of death. Finney was among an exciting new generation of British actors who burst upon the scene in the 1950s and 1960s, reaping critical praise for their realistic portrayals often of troubled men who were being constrained by socio-economic conditions that afflicted the lower income class in post-War Britain. His star-making role came in director Karl Reisz's "kitchen sink" classic, the 1960 film "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" which reflected the frustrations of the working class. Finney called upon his real life experiences growing up in Northwest England under somewhat spartan living conditions.

As a newly-minted star, he screen tested for director David Lean for the title role of "Lawrence of Arabia" but Finney didn't want to sign a five picture deal with the film's producer Sam Speigel. Peter O'Toole took the role and became a major name in international cinema. Finney was somewhat opaque compared to other young actors that emerged in the UK in the 1960s. He wasn't the publicity seeker that Richard Burton was, nor was he the hard-drinking, towel snapping joker Richard Harris was. He was thought by some critics to have not achieved his full promise on stage or screen, despite having been nominated for five Oscars and thirteen BAFTAs. (He won two of the latter.) Finney was a remote figure in a publicity-hungry industry. He rarely gave interviews and was often cynical about the shallowness of fame. He refused to attend any of the ceremonies at which he was nominated. Perhaps his best-loved role was in "Tom Jones", the 1963 screen adaptation of Henry Fielding's bawdy comedic novel. Yet, Finney's work on the big screen was spotty. He didn't work very frequently and sometimes chose projects that were not especially successful at the boxoffice. His more prominent films include "Murder on the Orient Express", "Erin Brockovich", "Two for the Road", "The Victors", "Scrooge", "Wolfen", "Shoot the Moon", "Annie", "Traffic", "The Bourne Ultimatum" and "The Bourne Legacy". He was off screen for a number of years while he waged a successful battle against cancer. His final role was a memorable one: as Kincade, the grumpy old farmer and boyhood friend of James Bond in the 2012 blockbuster "Skyfall". For more click here.

In the Hollywood Reporter, David Weiner interviews director Philip Kaufman about his brilliant, 1978 re-imagined interpretation of Don Siegel's classic 1956 sci-fi film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". Kaufman's version was every bit the equal to the original, although the films are substantially different. Kaufman reflects back on the making of the movie and its sad significance in today's society.  Click here to read.

BY MARK CERULLI

Ian Fleming’s rise from newspaper journalist to worldwide best-selling author was not all jet-setting glamor.  In the early 1960s, with the Bond literary series well underway, Fleming was involved in a grueling legal battle regarding his novel, Thunderball – which later became the record-breaking 1965 EON film. The strain of the trial may well have contributed to Fleming’s death the following year at the relatively young age of 56…



Now the daughter of the original screenwriter, Jack Whittingham, has compiled a unique chronology of the entire episode titled, appropriately enough, "The Thunderball Story".  Sylvan Mason, an accomplished writer and photographer in her own right, has produced a spiral-bound, limited edition booklet of the behind-the-scenes battle that played out in British courts in 1963 and gave producer Kevin McClory the right to remake the story, eventually resulting in 1983’s Never Say Never Again.



Ms. Mason’s book reproduces a number of key documents and photographs, including letters, a UK premiere ticket and headlines from newspapers of the day.  There is also a highly detailed timeline from 1959 to 2003, encompassing all facets of the Thunderball story. All in all, it is a fascinating look at one of the more obscure, but important aspects of the James Bond Phenomenon – and given its limited edition status, once they’re gone, they’re gone!

If you are a Bond collector, you can order a copy here:

https://www.luisabbouplanisi.com/shop/sylvanamazingbook

BY LEE PFEIFFER

In my review of Kino Lorber's Blu-ray release of the 1979 disaster film "Meteor",  I observed that the disaster movie genre had peaked with the release of Irwin Allen's "The Towering Inferno" in 1974. Yet, that didn't stop studios from beating a dead horse in an attempt to squeeze some more juice out of the tried-and-true formula of gathering an all-star cast, then figuring out ways to drown, bury or incinerate the characters portrayed on screen. One of the more obscure attempts to keep the disaster film cycle relevant was "Avalanche", a movie produced by Roger Corman and directed  and scripted by one of his proteges, Corey Allen, who would go on to establish a respectable career as a director of major television shows. When you approach a Corman production, you tend to give some special dispensation for certain cinematic sins that you wouldn't accord more mainstream productions. Corman, who happily embraces his legendary status as a man who made major profits from films with minor budgets, knew how to stretch the soup in the cinematic sense. Rarely armed with ample production funds, Corman cut corners whenever possible but still managed to retain a certain elegance to his productions. In 1978, he jumped on the fading disaster movie bandwagon with "Avalanche".  He hired Rock Hudson as the leading man because Hudson, at this point in his career, realized that he was no longer a hot commodity as a boxoffice draw in feature films (although he did successfully transition to a popular presence on television.) Corman also cast Mia Farrow and respected supporting actor Robert Forster for additional name recognition. He secured permission to film at a major ski resort in Durango, Colorado and out-sourced the special effects work to a company called Excelsior! 

The film follows the general formula of the disaster film genre in that the victims-to-be are gathered for a major social occasion, unaware that nature is working overtime to thwart their fun. Rock Hudson plays David Shelby, an arrogant developer who has invested his life savings to build a vacation paradise in the Rocky Mountains. He has disdain for local environmentalists who have warned him that his destruction of an an abundance of trees on his massive property has removed a natural barrier to the inevitable avalanches that will occur.  Shelby is preoccupied with his grand opening festivities and is simultaneously trying to woo back his ex-wife Caroline (Mia Farrow), who is attending as his guest. He's also busy trying to entertain his sassy, wise-cracking mother,  Florence (Jeanette Nolan), who is being shepherded around the resort by David's major domo Henry McDade (Steve Franken in a rare dramatic role.) Meanwhile, local environmental activist and nature photographer Nick Thorne (Robert Forster) becomes increasingly concerned about the massive buildup of snow on the mountain peaks that are directly in line with the resort. He attempts to alleviate some of the danger by strategically using a snow cannon to set off controlled mini avalanches. Intermingled with all of this are the expected subplots involving minor characters who are set up to be inevitable victims. Barry Primus is a TV sports announcer who is broadcasting from the grand opening and who must contend with the fact that his estranged wife Tina (Cathey Paine) is on premises and rubbing his nose in it by blatantly carrying on an affair with egotistical super star skier Bruce Scott (Rick Moses). Scott, in turn, is rubbing Tina's nose in it by blatantly sleeping with another woman, thus causing Tina to go ballistic and consider suicide. Meanwhile, David Shelby finds time to unwind by spending some quality time in a hot tub with with his naked secretary (thus allowing Roger Corman to slip in a bit of T&A). Although the story seems set up to have the disastrous avalanche occur during the opening night festivities, screenwriter Allen throws the audience a curve ball by avoiding that cliche and saving the action for the following afternoon when, amid a particularly vicious snow mobile race, a small plane piloted by one of Shelby's employees encounters bad weather and slams into a nearby mountain, thus triggering the avalanche. This is where the movie progresses beyond cliches and becomes unexpectedly enjoyable. All of the standard disaster movie shtick is present, as both lovable and loathsome characters meet predictable fates, but the film's limited production resources somehow work in its favor. We're well aware that we're watching a Corman production but somehow the inventiveness that is required to carry it all off is quite admirable. Certain plot points are introduced and inexplicably abandoned including an insinuation that Shelby has bribed local political officials to overlook his clear violation of environmental protection rules in order to build his resort. This was one of Rock Hudson's final films as an "above the title" leading man. He's grayer and a bit paunchier than we'd seen him during his heyday, but he still had star power to spare and made for a dashing leading man, whether its skinny dipping in the hot tub or personally leading rescue parties in acts of derring doo to extricate victims of the tragedy. The film's showpiece sequence is a climactic scene in which Shelby must rescue Caroline, who is dangling from wrecked bridge above a ravine.  It's well-directed and genuinely suspenseful. 

It' easy to pick apart a film like "Avalanche", as it squarely fits into the "guilty pleasure" category. However, the film does a lot with very little as opposed to other misfires in this genre that did very little with a lot (aka "The Swarm"). The Kino Lorber Blu-ray edition features the original trailer and a "making of" featurette in which Roger Corman extols the virtues of the film. He admits the effects were rather shoddy and recalls his outrage when he discovered the SFX company had added "red snow". Corman hit the roof and it was changed to a bluish substance that he admits still looks pretty phony.  Robert Forster recalls that the "snow" was actually little pieces of plastic that were strewn by the hundreds of thousands over the scenic landscape. He remembers his dismay at the realization that none of these bits were biodegradable and many must still be contaminating the landscape of the Durango ski resort where the movie was filmed. Corman makes the claim that the film was actually a major financial success. He says his budget was only $1.7 million and that a TV sale for $2 million netted him an immediate $300,000 profit. The tale sounds a bit fanciful because it seems hard to believe that even in 1978 you could make a movie like this with three relatively big names for only $1.7 million. (Other sources give unsubstantiated estimates of the budget at around $6 million, which seems more plausible.) "Avalanche" is not near the top of the heap of disaster movies but it certainly doesn't rank at the bottom of the pack, either. The Kino Lorber release has an impressive transfer and the inclusion of those bonus extras make this title highly recommended for fans of this genre. 

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This ad appeared in Boxoffice magazine in April 1968 extolling the longevity of Fox's three big roadshow presentations. For the unenlightened, "roadshow" films were big budget productions that played in grand movie palaces in select cities. It could often be many months before these films came to neighborhood theaters nationwide. What is remarkable about this ad is that it illustrates that even after such films went "wide" to hundreds of other theaters, people still paid top dollar to enjoy seeing them in the roadshow presentations. Consider that "The Sound of Music" opened in 1965 and "The Sand Pebbles" and "The Bible" both opened in 1966. Yet, years later, the roadshow venues were still showing these films. Today, even blockbuster movies aren't in theaters very long because so much of the profit comes from a quick turnaround onto video and streaming services. However, in those days when movie theaters provided the only forum in which to see favorite blockbusters, fans would patronize theaters to see them repeatedly. This afforded them the opportunity to see the movies in their original versions, as studios often cut considerable footage when releasing them to local theaters.

Click here to order Cinema Retro's Movie Classics edition devoted to Roadshow movies of the 1960s.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Samuel Fuller's 1959 crime thriller "The Crimson Kimono" has been released as a Twilight Time limited edition (3,000 units) Blu-ray. The film finds Fuller in full "triple threat" mode as director, producer and screenwriter. It's also fits comfortably into Fuller's oeuvre in that it's an off-beat story with quirky, well-defined characters and relationships. Set in Los Angeles, the movie opens with the shocking cold-blooded murder of a popular stripper by an unseen assassin. As with the works of Hitchcock, Fuller dismisses the notion that there is safety in numbers, as the victim is killed while fleeing her pursuer through crowded streets. The killer gets away and the story introduces us to the detectives assigned to the case. They are Det. Sgt. Charlie Bancroft (Glenn Corbett) and his partner Det. Joe Kojaku (James Shigeta), two Korean War veterans who served together in combat and who are now chummy enough to share a fashionable bachelor pad. They discover that a local artist, Chris Downs (Victoria Shaw), had some interaction with the stripper and is aware of a suspicious man she associated with. When Chris's sketch of the suspect ends up on the front pages, she finds herself the target of a failed assassination attempt. Charlie and Joe suggest that she can be safely hidden away in their apartment. Naturally, sparks begin to fly considering the three principal characters are extremely attractive. Charlie finds himself falling hard for Chris, but she is unaware of his feelings. Meanwhile, she expresses her desires for Joe, who clearly wants to reciprocate but is hesitant to humiliate the love-struck Charlie. If all this sounds like a high school romance it must be said that under Fuller' assured direction, it is anything but. The scene in which Chris and Joe slowly and almost reluctantly admit to their mutual attraction is superbly written and enacted by Shaw and Shigeta and brims with sexual tension.

The murder mystery is clearly the MacGuffin here. It's mostly a catalyst to bring this love triangle to life. Fuller places most of the action in L.A.'s Little Tokyo community and the film concentrates on the character's interactions with the Japanese-American population. The most interesting character is Joe, who is Japanese-American. When we first see him he is confident, witty and charismatic, all traits that are shared by Charlie. The Butch and Sundance-like relationship goes into a nosedive after Joe confesses his love for Chris. Although clearly heartbroken, Charlie keeps his reaction restrained, only to have the guilt-ridden Joe accuse him of latent racism. He's wrong but can't be convinced otherwise. A lifetime of battling to be socially accepted in a predominantly white society has brought out his own paranoia and reverse racism. It all leads to a tension-packed conclusion that mingles the strained relationship between the three characters and a chase for the killer through an exotic parade celebrating Japanese culture that plays out in similar style to the Junkanoo sequence in "Thunderball".

There is much to commend about this film, which- like most Fuller productions- was shot on a modest budget in B&W with actual locations favored over studio sets. Perhaps Fuller didn't have the funds to rely heavily on sets and thus filmed on location. In any event, this tactic adds immeasurable grit and realism to his movies. Glenn Corbett is likable and fine in an understated performance, Victoria Shaw is excellent as the woman who innocently becomes the instrument that divides two good friends and James Shigeta, who along with Corbett made his screen debut with this film, shows the skills that would quickly elevate him to international stardom. Anna Lee is outstanding as "Mac", an aging artist with a gruff personality who swizzles hard liquor and smokes stogies while churning out comments like "A man is just a man, but a good cigar is a smoke!"

“EXPRESSIONISTIC RELICS”

By Raymond Benson

F. W. Murnau was one of the leading filmmakers of the German Expressionist movement of the 1920s, most well-known for the first adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula—Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror (1922). He also spent a little time in Hollywood in the late silent era, responsible for one of Tinsel Town’s great silent pictures, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927), which won the only Academy Award ever given for “Unique and Artistic Picture.”

German Expressionism is mostly defined by a stylized visual conceit that distorts reality for an emotional effect. Highly-contrasted light and shadow play large roles in the mode, as well as sharp, angular lines of design. The works of, say, Tim Burton, could be said to be influenced by the school of German Expressionism. Most of the films noir made in Hollywood in the 1940s and 50s also harked back to the movement.

Kino Video has released a double feature Blu-ray containing two lesser-known pictures made by Murnau in Germany—The Haunted Castle from 1921, which is more of a whodunnit melodrama than anything resembling the paranormal or supernatural, and The Finances of the Grand Duke from 1924, a light comedy with some espionage mixed in. The first concerns a revenge tale with some secret identities and guilt-ridden angst. The second contains a plot that might be too complicated for its own good, dealing with a likable dictator who wants to save a tiny country from its creditors.

Neither film is anything to write home about—they are both rather staid, slow, and, frankly, dull.

What is astonishing, though, is Kino Video’s miraculous restoration in 1920x1080p, which presents the movies in such a pristine and gorgeous transfer that it’s difficult to believe these pictures were made nearly a hundred years ago. Unfortunately, there are no supplements or audio commentaries on the disk.

Nevertheless, silent film and Murnau enthusiasts may very well find something here to savor. Studying old movies embodies a little bit of time travel. There are good lessons contained within that inform us of the manners, social sensibilities, and artistic trends of the day. So little of this period’s work survives, and Kino should be applauded for making it available.

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"I, POD". 

When Olive Films released its highly impressive new special Blu-ray edition of the original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", the initial run sold out before we even got around to promoting it. Due to overwhelming demand, however, Olive has made the title available again. Here are the details from Olive Films:

“They’re already here! You’re next!” With these chilling words, Invasion of the Body Snatchers sounded a clarion call to the dangers of conformity, paranoia, and mass hysteria at the heart of 1950s American life. Considered one of the greatest science fiction films ever made, Invasion of the Body Snatchers stars Kevin McCarthy (Academy Award® nominee, Best Supporting Actor, Death of A Salesman – 1952) as Miles Bennell, a doctor in a small California town whose patients are becoming increasingly overwrought, accusing their loved ones of being emotionless imposters. They’re right! Plant-like aliens have invaded Earth, taking possession of humans as they sleep and replicating them in giant seed pods. Convinced that a catastrophic epidemic is imminent, Bennell, in a terrifying race for his life, must warn the world of this deadly invasion of the pod people before it’s too late.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers, directed by the accomplished Don Siegel (Dirty Harry, The Shootist) and co-starring Dana Wynter (Airport), Carolyn Jones (A Hole in the Head), Larry Gates (The Sand Pebbles) and King Donovan (The Enforcer), was photographed by Academy Award nominee Ellsworth Fredericks (Best Cinematography, Sayonara – 1958) with production design by Academy Award winner Ted Haworth (Best Art Direction, Sayonara – 1958).

• New High-Definition digital restoration
• Audio Commentary by film historian Richard Harland Smith
• Audio Commentary by actors Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter, and filmmaker Joe Dante
• "The Stranger in Your Lover's Eyes" – A two-part visual essay with actor and son of director Don Siegel, Kristoffer Tabori, reading from his father's book A Siegel Film
• "The Fear is Real" – Filmmakers Larry Cohen and Joe Dante on the film's cultural significance
• "I No Longer Belong: The Rise and Fall of Walter Wanger" – Film scholar and author Matthew Bernstein discusses the life and career of the film's producer
• "Sleep No More: Invasion of the Body Snatchers Revisited" –  Never-before-seen appreciation of the film featuring actors Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter, along with comments from film directors and fans, John Landis, Mick Garris, and Stuart Gordon
• "The Fear and the Fiction: The Body Snatchers Phenomenon" – Never-before-seen interviews with Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter, along with film directors John Landis, Mick Garris and Stuart Gordon, discussing the making of the film, its place in history, and its meaning
• 1985 archival interview with Kevin McCarthy hosted by Tom Hatten
• “Return to Santa Mira" – An exploration of the film's locations
• "What's In a Name?" – On the film's title
• Gallery of rare documents detailing aspects of the film's production including the never-produced opening narration to have been read by Orson Welles
• Essay by author and film programmer Kier-La Janisse
• Original theatrical trailer

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Here is the original trailer for David Lean's 1957 Oscar-winning masterpiece "The Bridge on the River Kwai" starring William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Alec Guinness and Sessue Hayakawa.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Years before Michael Cimino released his Socialist-themed Western Heaven's Gate, director Stanely Kramer took a less heavy-handed approach with his 1973 film Oklahoma Crude, which has been released on Blu-ray by Twilight Time. Unlike Cimino's dark and message-laden epic, however, Kramer made the political aspects of his film secondary to the lighthearted tone of the story. Faye Dunaway, seen here in the least glamorous role of her career, plays Lena Doyle, a bitter, man-hating independent woman who is determined to make a success of her wildcat oil drilling venture on the plains of Oklahoma during the early 1900s. Beset by the frustration of consistently having her rig dig up dirt instead of oil, she also has to contend with a bigger threat: a major oil company is determined to seize her land by hook or by crook. When she turns down the offer of a buyout from their cut throat representative (Jack Palance), the oil company moves a virtual army on to Lena's land with the intention of taking her rig by force. Although a crack shot, Lena concedes she can use help and reluctantly hires a down-and-out drifter, 'Mase' Mason (George C. Scott) to help her keep her the assailants at bay. The two have an abrasive relationship, with Lena never smiling or showing an interest in anything other than drawing oil from her rig. They are also assisted by Lena's father Cleon Doyle (John Mills), a charismatic Englishman who is trying to win Lena's love and respect after having deserted her many years ago. Lena can barely stand the sight of him, but faced with the thugs are her doorstep, she has to accept his help.The story mostly takes place on the hillside where Lena's cabin is situated. 'Mase' proves to be a courageous and innovative ally, acquiring U.S. Army hand grenades and using them with devastating effect against the heavily armed gangs from the oil company who try repeatedly to take Lena's hilltop rig and cabin by force.

Oklahoma Crude was a late career project for Kramer (he would only make two more films). Dismissed at the time as a routine Western comedy, the film comes across as a sheer delight when viewing it today. The thin story line isn't the main attraction. Rather, it's the combined talents of four Oscar winners- Scott, Dunaway, Mills and Palance- that add so much zest to what could have otherwise have been a routine experience. They are all delightful to watch, with Scott at his best and Mills in a scene-stealing, wonderful performance as a flawed but charming tenderfoot who summons incredible courage when it is needed most. Kramer hired the best of the best for his crew including cinematographer Robert Surtees, who makes every other frame look like an Andrew Wyeth painting. There is also a fine musical score by Henry Mancini which perfectly fits the "never a dull moment" mood of the movie. 

The film is a sheer delight from beginning to its finale, which features a refreshing plot twist.

The Twilight Time Blu-ray release boasts the expected excellent transfer, an informative collector's booklet with liner notes by Julie Kirgo, an isolated score track and a commentary track by this writer and fellow film historian Paul Scrabo. This release is limited to 3,000 units.

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"ALTMAN’S DOWNTON UPSTAIRS ABBEY DOWNSTAIRS”

By Raymond Benson

The magnificent Robert Altman whodunnit (or, as Altman and team called it, “who cares whodunnit?”), Gosford Park, has received a top-class Blu-ray restoration and re-issue from Arrow Academy, and it is a gem.

Originally released in 2001, Gosford Park took its cue from the immensely popular BBC television series, Upstairs, Downstairs—about the dramas that exist in a stately British manor between the “upstairs” folk—the wealthy upper-class family that owns the property, and the “downstairs” people—the servants and staff who run the household. Throw in a dash of Agatha Christie, and a heaping helping of Robert Altman’s ensemble improvisatory magic, and you have the director’s only full-fledged British production. Interestingly, the screenwriter, Julian Fellowes (who won the Oscar for Original Screenplay) went on to create and write the next immensely popular BBC television series, Downton Abbey, which resembles Gosford Park in many ways.

Film historians will certainly recognize the homage Altman makes in his direction of the piece to Jean Renoir’s 1939 masterpiece, The Rules of the Game, a similar masters/servants ensemble work that Altman was known to admire. The tone and broad canvas with many characters and their subtle ribald and clandestine liaisons was surely a blueprint on how to do Gosford.

The work began when actor/writer/producer Bob Balaban suggested a collaboration on a film, and the idea to do an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery became the desired goal (Balaban co-produced the picture and has a prominent role as one of two Americans in the nearly all-British cast). And while the murder mystery is at the core of the film, it’s really not that important. After all, this is an Altman film. It’s more about the characters, the relationships, and the exploration of what the British class system was like in the early 1930s when the U.K. was holding on to centuries-old mores and values that would soon slip away.

The story concerns wealthy businessman Sir William (Michael Gambon), who is married to younger Sylvia (Kristin Scott Thomas), whose sisters are married to men struggling to stay in or begin business with Sir William. One weekend, all the relations and a few guests are invited to have a “hunting party” (much like in The Rules of the Game), so the house if full of people and the servants are very busy. But nobody likes Sir William. After all, he has a history of impregnating servant girls and forcing them to either give up their babies to orphanages or leave their employment. (The picture has an added layer of meaning in today’s #MeToo climate!) So, when he’s found dead—apparently stabbed with a kitchen knife—no one is very surprised. In the last act of the story, we learn the secrets and lies of several characters, and how these all played into the scheme.

The cast is impressive. Maggie Smith (as a wickedly opinionated older relation who depends on an allowance from Sir William) was nominated for Supporting Actress, as was Helen Mirren (who plays the head housekeeper). Also on hand are Alan Bates, Emily Watson, Charles Dance, Clive Owen, Tom Hollander, Ryan Phillippe, Eileen Atkins, Derek Jacobi, Richard E. Grant, and many other familiar faces of British TV and film. Jeremy Northam portrays the real silent-film actor Ivor Novello, and Stephen Fry appears as a bumbling police inspector.

The brilliant cast and wonderful script aside, Gosford Park is assuredly Altman’s film. His style of overlapping dialogue, moving cameras throughout the house and picking up bits of business and dialogue here and there, and presenting a tapestry of words and images in which the viewer must piece together, is in full force. It works beautifully. In fact, Gosford was Altman’s second-highest grossing picture (after M*A*S*H), and it was nominated for the Oscar Best Picture and Director.

Arrow’s brand new 2K restoration from a 4K scan, approved by director of photography Andrew Dunn, looks marvelous. There are three audio commentaries—one with Altman, production designer Stephen Altman, and producer David Levy, and a second one with writer Fellowes. A third one is new to the release, featuring critics Geoff Andrew and David Thompson. Supplements include a new introduction to the film by Geoff Andrew, brand new cast and crew interviews, and port-overs from the previous DVD release: featurettes on the making of the film, deleted scenes with Altman commentary, and more. The package comes with a reversible sleeve containing the original poster art backed with new artwork by Matthew Griffin. In the first pressing of the product only, a collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Sheila O’Malley and an archival interview with Altman is included.

Gosford Park was perhaps Altman’s last great picture, one that stands proudly alongside his other classics like M*A*S*H, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Nashville, The Player, and Short Cuts. Pick it up!

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Writing on the web site syfy.com, Drew Turney relates the remarkable modern David vs. Goliath story of how a British prop maker became unwittingly ensnared in an international legal case when Lucasfilm filed suit against him and demanded $20 million in damages. His "crime"? Having provided helmets he had previously designed for use by the Storm Troopers in the original "Star Wars" then replicating his own designs for sale decades later as collectibles.  Rather than spill the beans in this synopsis, just click here to read the fascinating case that ended up having a happy ending, though not for Lucasfilm.

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

(Note: this interview with conducted to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 2017.)

By Michael Coate

Ray Morton is the author of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The Making of Steven Spielberg’s Classic Film” (Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, 2007). He is a screenwriter, script consultant, and senior writer and columnist for Script magazine. His other books include “King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon from Fay Wray to Peter Jackson” (Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, 2005), “Amadeus: Music on Film” (Limelight, 2011), “A Hard Day’s Night: Music on Film” (Limelight, 2011), “A Quick Guide to Screenwriting” (Limelight, 2013), “A Quick Guide to Television Writing” (Limelight, 2013), and “A Quick Guide to Film Directing” (Limelight, 2014).

Cinema Retro: How would you like “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” to be remembered on its 40th anniversary?

Ray Morton: As a wonderful, entertaining movie.

As the first true Steven Spielberg movie. “Jaws” is a magnificent film, but in a way an atypical film for Spielberg in terms of genre and subject matter. “Close Encounters” is the first of Spielberg’s movies to contain many of the elements that would become closely associated with him in the years that followed: an uplifting sci-fi/fantasy narrative infused with a tremendous sense of wonder; a focus on children; an exploration of life in the American suburbs; broken families; a fascination with World War II; a highly sophisticated use of visual and special effects; the use of a powerful John Williams score to create a powerful emotional response; cinematography that emphasizes backlighting; and Spielberg’s trademarked “push in” close-ups onto the awed faces of his characters. “Jaws” made Spielberg hot, “CE3K” made him a brand name.

As one of the two films that transformed science fiction and fantasy from vaguely disreputable “B” genres into “A” movie material in the eyes of both the public and the film industry. The other was, of course, “Star Wars.”

As the masterwork of Douglas Trumbull, Richard Yuricich, and their great team of visual effects magicians at Future General.

As one of the most intense and honest depictions ever filmed of obsession and of the rewards and costs of pursuing a dream.

As one of the most authentic, non-idealized, and non-stereotypical depictions of American suburban life ever shown on screen.

Cinema Retro: Can you recall your reaction to the first time you saw “Close Encounters”?

Morton: I can absolutely recall the first time I saw “Close Encounters”—it was the most significant movie-going experience of my life. I saw it in December 1977 at the Ridgeway Theater in Stamford, Connecticut—on a school night with my sisters Kathy and Nancy.I loved the movie as a movie—it was intriguing, thrilling, frightening, funny, awe-inspiring, thought-provoking, and ultimately extremely moving. But the effect “Close Encounters” had on me went well beyond the simple enjoyment of a very good film. By the time “CE3K” opened, I had already been a film fan for a few years, but “Close Encounters” is the movie that awakened me to the true power of cinema. Until that night, if you had asked the very young me what the most important ingredients in a movie were, I would have said dialogue and performance. Those things are certainly present in “CE3K,” but they are secondary. The storytelling in “Close Encounters”—especially in its final thirty minutes—is accomplished primarily through the manipulation of the core elements of cinema: imagery, sound effects, and music. Watching the film for the first time, I found myself having a profound emotional response to Spielberg’s masterful orchestration of light and sound—I was filled with feelings of awe, wonder, and joy so intense they were almost spiritual. When the movie ended, I just sat staring at the screen, enraptured and unable to move as I processed the overwhelming intensity of what I had just experienced. I sat there so long that my sisters finally lost patience with me. “Wake up!” my sister Nancy snapped. “The movie’s over!” That brought me back to the world, but I still hadn’t come back to Earth.I realized then and there the powerful effect that movies could have on an audience — that in the right hands they could transcend mere storytelling and impact viewers on a much deeper and more profound level. Driving home that night (in a heavy fog that filtered the headlights of oncoming cars in ways that mimicked much of the imagery in the movie we had just seen), I knew I wanted to do something more than just watch movies—that I wanted to make a life in the cinema as well.

Cinema Retro: Is there any significance to “Close Encounters”?

Morton: Well, it’s one of the best sci-fi movies ever made, both creatively and from a production stand-point. And, as I mentioned earlier, it’s one of the films that made sci-fi into a respectable genre.

Beyond those two points, however, it was the first major sci-fi film to depict first contact as a potentially positive experience—that a meeting between mankind and beings from another world could be a joyous, peaceful, uplifting event—something that could be good for us—rather than an occasion of invasion and horror. In the years following “CE3K” and especially “E.T.” that became a commonplace idea, but in 1977 it was pretty revolutionary.

Cinema Retro: Which edition of “Close Encounters” do you like best?

Morton: I prefer the 1977 theatrical cut, in part because it’s the first version of the movie I saw and the one that made such a strong impression on me. But I also prefer it because it’s the most subtle version of the film. As an example, in the scene in which Roy has his initial close encounter at the railroad crossing, as he drives off in pursuit of the UFO, the 1977 version cuts to a long shot of Roy’s truck driving across the landscape and in the sky above you see a little point of light moving along. Is it a UFO? Or is it just an airplane or a satellite? We’re not 100% sure and that adds some mystery and intrigue to the picture—was what we just saw happen real or did Roy perhaps imagine it? We’re not sure and neither is Roy until the three UFOs come flying around the corner in the Crescendo Summit scene a few minutes later. In the Special Edition and the 1997 Director’s Edition, that shot is replaced by the shadow of an impossibly large UFO zooming across the landscape—all of the ambiguity is gone and the point is hit right on the head that what we saw was real and that UFOs are real before they are revealed to us at Crescendo Summit. It takes a little bit of the magic out of it for me.

As technically wonderful as it is, I feel the Cotapoxi scene has similar problems. The jeeps leaping over the sand dunes in 1-2-3 formation and the helicopters zooming low across the desert feel like they belong in a slightly broader, slightly less real film than the theatrical cut is. One of the things I like so much about “CE3K” is that the fantastic events occur in a very real setting—Roy’s world and Jillian’s world all feel very authentic and real to me—but when people are zooming around like they are in an action movie, some of that reality gets lost for me. And, as cool as seeing the ship in the desert is, the scene is really just a repeat of the opening sequence in which the airplanes are discovered, so it’s a bit repetitious. I do like some of the family strife material that was put back in for the Special Edition and the Director’s Edition and some of the editing in the second act is tighter and less raggedy. But I still prefer the 1977 version. Following that I would choose the 1997 cut and then the Special Edition. (I think going inside the Mothership was always a mistake.)

Cinema Retro: Where do you think “Close Encounters” ranks among Steven Spielberg’s body of work?

Morton: Near the top, along with “Jaws,” “E.T.,” “Raiders,” “Schindler’s List,” and “Empire of the Sun.” It has always struck me as being one of his most personal movies.

BY TODD GARBARINI

The 1970’s were a time of much spookiness and speculation in this country. Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO’s), a publicity-shy Plesiosaur called Nessie steaking out the Scottish Highlands, Sasquatch “sightings”, ghosts, satanic cults, witchcraft, and the threat of nuclear catastrophe highlighted the newspapers when Vietnam, Richard Nixon and Watergate weren’t. Between 1977 and 1982, Leonard Nimoy’s narration provided the basis for nearly 150 speculative and generally outright creepy episodes of In Search Of…Similarly-themed television specials were even categorized by TV Guide as “speculation” in their genre listings. I even recall a scenario in 1979 that was reported in a local newspaper concerning the discovery of ribcages and bowls of blood at a nearby campground. Yikes!

May 1970 saw the release of Hal Lindsey and Carole C. Carlson’s book The Late Great Planet Earth, a grimly-titled caveat in eschatological terms detailing the end of the world and destruction to humankind as we know it (it was followed up in 1972 with Satan Is Alive and Well on Planet Earth and in 1982 with The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon). The genesis of this line of thinking has its roots in the Holy Bible, specifically the Book of Revelation which is the final book of the New Testament. What better way to get the word out than in a major motion picture? The book was optioned for a film in 1976 by Pacific International Enterprises, known as PIE for short, which was both a film production and distribution company founded two years earlier by Arthur R. Debs (it folded in 2001) for the purpose of releasing “family films”. How they came to the subject of Armageddon is anyone’s guess. Between 1976 and 1978, interviews were conducted with renowned thinkers, scientists and religious folks to get their views and interpretations of the Bible and the promise of pestilence.

The film sports the same title as the book and was released in a good number of neighborhood theatres on Wednesday, January 17, 1979. It opens with a sequence involving a group of men chasing a Gandalf wannabe up a mountain (in reality, Vaszquez Rocks in California where Captain James T. Kirk fought the Gorn in the Star Trek episode “Arena” in 1966) and pushing him to his death. These are actors, of course, and they look like they might have tried out to be the apostles in Martin Scorsese’s first attempt to bring The Last Temptation of Christ to the screen via Paramount Pictures on a minimal budget. Orson Welles appears with a skull meant to represent the fallen man from thousands of years earlier and sets the film’s tone by explaining how the ancient Hebrews believed that a prophet was God’s Man and spoke the Words of God, foretelling, many centuries before, of events to come. The prophet was killed because he wasn’t accurate one hundred percent of the time and therefore was deemed a fraud.

The film talks of the Anti-Christ entering the world of politics – shades of Omen III: The Final Conflict (1983)? There are many predictions made using stock footage to enunciate impending doom. However interesting or frightening the claims, the orator’s guessing of the timeline is vague at best. Something that was correctly predicted at the time of the film’s shooting was the estimate of the world population 40 years hence to be roughly 8 billion people. It is closer to 7.5 billion, but not a bad estimate.

Earthquakes, world famine, floods, killer bees (I recall this threat in 1979 and wondered how they came about. The film provides the not-so-surprising explanation) were the stuff of disaster movies in the 1970s. I’m not sure if Planet Earth is a statement of veracity or pure bollocks, but it’s an interesting examination of prophesies, nonetheless.

The film has been recently released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber/Scorpion and the transfer is exceptional. There are two bonus features. The first is a making-of featurette that runs fourteen minutes and is comprised of interviews with nearly ten people behind-the-scenes. Roger Riddell is the film’s producer who discusses how the movie came into being. Alan Belkin, President of American Cinema, a division of American Communications Industries, shares his memories of the film. The rough cut was two hours; the film’s running time is 86 minutes. Composer Dana Kaproff provides an exceptional score that is one of the film’s strongpoints (it deserves a soundtrack album release) and he explains his role as a composer. Tom Doddington, head of Sound and Production, explains how Orson Welles was a consummate professional, going so far as to record his voiceover at his house. Thomas Nicely, one of the actors running in the opening sequence, also weighs in. Lynn McCallon and Anne Goursaud were editors on the film. Jean Higgins, Head of Production for American Cinema, and David Miller, Head of Distribution, discuss the film’s marketing.

Bonus features consist of a selection of trailers: theatrical trailer and TV spot for The Late Great Planet Earth (1979); Go Tell the Spartans (1978) theatrical trailer, Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen TV spot; The Apple (1980) theatrical trailer; and The Salamander (1981) theatrical trailer.

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Michele Legrand, the French composer who won three Academy Awards, has died at age 86. Legrand originally hit the big time as a crooner and pianist with his 1954 album "I Love Paris" which went on to be an international sensation, selling more than 8 million copies. Other hit albums followed and he began to score feature films. With more than 200 films to his credit, Legrand's style of scoring films would is considered "old school" today, employing lush, romantic melodies that have included some of the most memorable film scores of all time. He first gained international attention in film scoring with the 1964 French production "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg", a romance in which literally every word of dialogue was sung. The film earned him three Oscar nominations and the best known song from the film, "I Will Wait for You" became a major hit that was covered by many artists. He would also create the score for the related 1967 film "The Young Girls of Rochefort".

The following year, Legrand won an Oscar for Best Song for "The Windmills of Your Mind", a puzzling but hypnotic piece with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn that perfectly fit the stylish crime caper "The Thomas Crown Affair".  Noel Harrison sung the piece in the film but it was covered by many artists and Dusty Springfield had a Top 40 version of it. Other Oscars followed for his haunting score for "Summer of '42" and "Yentl". For more about his life and career click here.

BY TODD GARBARINI

If you’re one of the many moviegoers who are unfamiliar with the Jacques Lacerte thriller Love Me Deadly, you’re not alone. A product of early 1970s low-budget motion picture production, this film is the sole title directed by Mr. Lacerte who passed away in 1988. Lensed in 1971 and released in San Francisco right around the same time as Gerard Damiano’s wildly popular and controversial couples-flick Deep Throat in June 1972 just before the Watergate burglary, the film played in roughly ten markets, including rained-out drive-ins, before it nearly disappeared from view. However, there are subsequent movie posters for the film that have the audacity to mention William Friedkin’s The Exorcist (1973) and give the impression that spiritual possession is somehow to blame for the unsavory goings-on. It’s not.

Love Me Deadly was originally titled Kiss Me Deadly, however Mickey Spillane had the rights to that title, hence the name change. What is billed as a story of demonic diabolical deeds is rather a heartbreakingly tragic tale of a young woman who cannot seem to connect with men…who are alive. The film never really seems to get a grip on how it wants to play out the subject matter at hand but you get the feeling that the director is attempting to pass the film off as some sort of dissertation on necrophilia which, in my humble opinion, is one of the most incomprehensible, disgusting, and desperate of all sexual proclivities and one that I can only hope is relegated to the cinema. I interpreted the film from a much different perspective, so each viewer might see something differently due to the film’s inability to construct a single tone.

The opening credits play over images of a happy young girl, Lindsay Finch, playing with her father who dotes on her, pushes her on a swing, and comforts her when she falls. As an adult, Lindsay (Mary Charlotte Wilcox) is a looker who tries her best to make friends with attractive men. She leads on Wade Farrow (the late Christopher Stone of 1981’s The Howling and 1983’s Cujo, sans his trademark ‘stache) only to rebuff him when he makes sexual advances. Like Harold and his pal Maude, Lindsay looks through the newspapers and attends afternoon wakes of complete strangers although her reasons for doing so are far more disturbing: she attempts amorous contact with the recently deceased. While about town, she hones in on men who bear a resemblance to her father whom we can safely assume has passed. Meanwhile Fred (Timothy Scott), a funeral director of Morningside Mortuary (the name anticipates 1979’s Phantasm), catches her and persuades her to join him after hours in necrophilic activities with similarly afflicted gonzos who don black mass-like capes in a ritual prior to becoming intimate with corpses, the victims of Fred’s nocturnal cruisings along the Sunset Strip in search of johns and prostitutes.

Lindsay takes a liking to Alex Martin (Lyle Waggoner) whom she sees as a father figure. They court and marry soon afterwards, although their bedroom habits suffer greatly as she’s unable to allow Alex to make love to her. He’s patient and even sleeps in another room yet becomes suspicious of his wife’s behavior when he follows her to the funeral parlor and sees her enter the premises. When he asks her about it later on, she denies going there at all. A brief conversation with the housekeeper who practically raised her leads Alex to the cemetery in the film’s most heartbreaking scene wherein Lindsay is dressed in pigtails, playing around her father’s grave like a child. Anyone who has seen enough horror films knows how the film will end so while it’s not a shocker, it’s actually tragically sad given how her father died and the guilt that Lindsay feels. This is the biggest issue that I have with the film. While the ads promise one thing, what you get is something much different. The biggest evidence of this is in the inclusion of elegiac songs sung by Kit Fuller that play over the kinderscene that opens the film and the romantic silliness between she and Alex. This is, a sequence that seems to have been borrowed from the overlong romantic interlude that plagues Clint Eastwood’s otherwise crackerjack Play Misty for Me (1971), with Roberta Flack crooning on that film’s soundtrack for nearly five minutes. The original movie poster even claims that Lindsay is 18, however she’s clearly in her early to mid-twenties.

"The Man from U.N.C.L.E." was not only a TV phenomenon in the 1960s but the mania also extended to the big screen. MGM produced eight feature-length movies derived from two-part episodes of the series. (Some included extra "bonus" footage that would deemed to be too sexual or violent for network broadcast.) These lazily-compiled efforts were astonishingly profitable, especially in England where some house records were set at theaters. (Only three of the feature films were released theatrically in the USA: "To Trap a Spy", "The Spy with My Face" and "One Spy Too Many". "One of Our Spies is Missing" was planned for American release but we've yet to substantiate that it actually was.) This trailer is suitably hokey, mod, cheesy and fun as we once again watch Robert Vaughn and David McCallum save the world from the threat of Thrush! 

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

"The Secret Partner" is yet another unheralded gem from the cinematic past that has been made available through the Warner Archive. It's a fairly low budget British film noir that nevertheless is completing engrossing and will have viewers guessing throughout. Stewart Granger is John Brent, a successful executive at a London shipping company who we find in great distress from early in the film. It seems Brent is being routinely blackmailed by his milquetoast dentist, Beldon (Norman Bird). We don't know what he has on Brent until much later in the story, a clever device used by screenwriters David Pursall and Jack Seddon that only increases the interest of the viewer. Brent understandably despises Beldon but is intimidated enough by him that he continues to pay astronomical sums of money to buy his silence. In the interim, Brent can't explain to his wife Nicole (Haya Haraeet) why their money is disappearing almost as fast as he can earn it. She logically suspects that he is seeing another woman and their marriage very publicly goes on the rocks when she moves out. Meanwhile, Beldon himself is subject to the terrors of blackmail when a masked man with a gun demands that he follows explicit instructions to administer a drug to Brent during his next dental visit. While under the influence of sleeping gas, Brent is injected with a truth serum that results in his telling Beldon the combination of his company's safe. Additionally, Beldon follows instructions to remove Brent's office keys and make a clay impression of them. The masked man promises Beldon a payoff of 15,000 pounds if he complies- and death if he doesn't. Beldon pulls off his end of the scheme and Brent appears to be none the wiser. Predictably, the office safe of Brent's employer is rob of 130,000 quid and he is the logical suspect. The case falls into the lap of Det. Superintendent Frank Hanbury (Bernard Lee), a veteran cop who is counting the days until his imminent retirement. He questions Brent but when Brent realizes he is about to be arrested for grand larceny, he flees. Hanbury relentlessly pursues him even as his investigation leads him to believe that Brent might have been set up as a fall guy. Hanbury repeatedly interviews Nicole and discovers that she is apparently having affairs with some of Brent's most trusted friends and co-workers. Meanwhile, Brent is trying to avoid the police while he conducts his own investigation, desperate to prove he is innocent.  

"The Secret Partner" is a prime example of the kind of efficient, low-profile films that used to be turned out regularly decades ago and this one is top notch throughout. It's impressively directed by the ever-capable Basil Dearden, who helmed other gems like "Woman of Straw" and "Khartoum". Granger, who should have been a much bigger star, is dashing and determined as a leading man and he plays well off of the great British character actor Bernard Lee. Lee's slow, unemotional approach to solving the case is a joy to watch, as he patiently absorbs the facts and tries not to jump to conclusions even as he smokes what must be a record number of cigarettes ever consumed by one actor in one film. The film is peppered with fine performances from an impressive supporting cast with Harareet especially enticing as Brent's sexy, estranged wife. Even the smallest roles are well-performed (keep an eye out for Paul Stassino, the ill-fated NATO pilot from "Thunderball" as a pimp!). There is also a funky if somewhat bombastic jazz score by Philip Green and some nice period photography around London. The real pay off is a surprise revelation near the end of the film that I doubt even the most astute viewer will see coming.

"The Secret Partner" is a thoroughly enjoyable film that represents the cliche "They don't make 'em like that any more!" 

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A long time ago in our own galaxy, independent movie theaters prided themselves on creating unique promotional stunts, as evidenced from these photos from a March 1968 issue of Boxoffice magazine. In the parlance of the era, theater owners were "taking it to the streets" in order to drum up awareness of their latest showings. Sometimes models were employed and on other occasions, hapless theater employees were subjected to participating in rather bizarre and comical publicity stunts. These two photos show a model on the streets passing out leaflets to seemingly unimpressed passersby for the Joan Crawford thriller "Berserk!" and a mannequin dressed as Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name for "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." Those were the days!

Here is the official listing of all nominees for the 91st annual Academy Awards. Click here to view.  For Washington Post analysis, click here.

Natalie cools off even as she heats up the audience in Splendor in the Grass.

Kimberly Lindbergs of the Movie Morlocks site presents her "Four Reasons Why I Love Natalie Wood" through analyzing Love With the Proper Stranger, This Property is Condemned, Rebel Without a Cause and Splendor in the Grass. (What? No West Side Story or Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice???)  We concur that Natalie Wood's screen presence just seems to get better with time. Click here to find out why. 

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Those of us of a certain age can recall collecting movie pressbooks (called campaign books in the UK). These were sent by movie studios to theaters and served as a guide to the specific film, loaded with promotional ideas and alerting theater owners to merchandise they could tie into when showing the movie. Pressbooks are now a thing of the distant past, a casualty of the more cost-efficient method of providing publicity materials through on-line sites for which the press is given passwords. It may be more practical but there was great joy for collector's thumbing through these marvelous guides page-by-page. Here are some promotional blocks from the American pressbook for the 1969 comedy crime classic "The Italian Job" starring Michael Caine and Noel Coward. They recall a golden era when you could count on a vinyl soundtrack and paperback novel tie-in to accompany the release of a movie. It may surprise our readers to know that the film wasn't a hit in America but over the decades it has built a very loyal following in the UK where you can still buy a reproduction of the quad movie poster in souvenir stores in Piccadilly. As for the Americanized remake starring Mark Wahlberg, well, the less said the better.

By Todd Garbarini

Following the financial success of John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978) and Sean Cunningham’s Friday the 13^th (1980), movie studios were making slasher films in large quantities. They didn’t necessarily want to, they just knew that there were scores to be made at the box office. Producers and directors alike were trying to come up with the next big franchise to keep pumping out money makers for years to come. The success of Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) directly inspired The Toolbox Murders (1978). Likewise, Maniac (1980), released in New York City on Friday, January 30, 1981 (the same day as David Cronenberg’s Scanners), was the result of a brainstorming conversation between the film’s eventual director Bill Lustig and his friend Frank Pesce (who can be seen as the restaurant manager in James Toback’s 1978 film Fingers and as fugitive Carmine in Martin Brest’s 1988 comedy Midnight Run. His life story was also the subject of the 1991 comedy 29^th Street, directed by George Gallo who, incidentally, penned Midnight Run). The idea was to make a horror film that could be billed as “Jaws on land.” Jaws (1975), of course, changed the cinematic landscape and how movies are distributed and promoted using catchy tag lines, effective advertising campaigns, and rolling out a film in hundreds of movie theaters at once. It also provided the basis for obvious and cheap imitations and rip-offs. Maniac isn’t so obvious to the untrained eye.

Shot back-to-back in the fall and brutal winter of 1979 with much of the same crew from Friday the 13^th, Maniac stars the under-rated, under-utilized and, unfortunately, late Joe Spinell, an actor of considerable range who, despite his intimidating stance and demeanor, was actually a thoughtful and exceedingly nice personality on the set and behind-the-scenes, always eager to help fellow performers. Here he plays Frank Zito, a middle-aged man who lives alone in a New York City apartment amid toys and mannequins who double as his friends and personal company following a childhood ruined at the hands of an overbearing and physically abusive mother whom he lashes out against when he comes into physical contact with women. Following in the footsteps of the slasher films of the time, Maniac’s theme of an outcast with sexual hang-ups has provided more than enough fodder as a theme for disturbed young men who engage in ruthless killing sprees. Frank converses with the mannequins which are adorned with the real scalps and clothing of women who met their end at his hands, thus giving credence to the notion that serial killers keep trophies of their victims, a point spouted by Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs ten years later. Not all his victims are women, however. One night he follows a couple and shoots the man (Tom Savini!) point blank with a double-barreled shotgun before adding his girlfriend to his macabre collection. On another night he spots two nurses at a hospital (one of them is played by former porn actress Sharon Mitchell) and follows one of them into a subway bathroom in the film’s creepiest and most unsettling sequence.

A chance encounter with a photographer named Anna (Caroline Munro, who actually got her start as an actress after someone took her photograph and entered the winning image into a contest) leads him to her apartment. Anna doesn’t appear to be the slightest bit concerned that he obtained her name and address from her camera bag and invites him in! They soon begin a platonic friendship, but one of Anna’s model friends, Rita, catches Frank’s eye at one of her photo shoots and soon meets a terrible end. Anna is oblivious to this fact until she accompanies Frank to his mother’s grave with flowers and all hell breaks loose and heads towards an ending that is inspired until the final shot which is often relegated to the domain of slasher films, most notably Michele Soavi’s 1987 stylish giallo classic Stagefright.

Maniac developed a notorious reputation for its then-shocking violence, angering feminists from coast to coast. While it’s still fairly disturbing even by today’s standards, there is an argument to be made that AMC’s The Walking Dead is infinitely more savage. Shot on 16mm, the film holds up very well and has now been made available on Blu-ray in a three-disc set that includes a transfer mastered from a 4K restoration of the original camera negative.

Cinema Retro mourns the passing of our friend and colleague Nick Redman, film historian and Oscar-nominated documentary maker as well as recognized scholar of the works of Sam Peckinpah. Nick passed away after a long illness we all had hoped he would prevail over. The film industry has lost a major champion of classic cinema. Nick, his wife Julie Kirgo, a fellow film historian, and Brian Jamieson were the founders of Twilight Time, the boutique video label that puts out first rate limited editions of retro movie classics. Nick and Paul Seydor were nominated for documentary Oscars for their 1996 film "The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage". 

The world is a sadder place today.

“A SLAP HEARD AROUND THE WORLD”

By Raymond Benson

The year 1967 was a milestone for actor Sidney Poitier. First, To Sir, with Love garnered sizable box-office for this British picture, and then Hollywood produced In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, two back-to-back revolutionary movies that solidified Poitier’s position not only as Tinsel Town’s only black leading man at the time, but also as an icon of the civil rights movement and the representative—certainly not by choice—of his race in films to the rest of America. Throughout his career, Poitier maintained an intelligence and dignity that was tangible, and this is what made him such a charismatic star.

Both In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner were Oscar nominees for Best Picture. A winner of five awards, Heat took home the gold. Rod Steiger, Poitier’s dynamic co-star, won the Best Actor trophy. Hal Ashby and Stirling Silliphant were honored for, respectively, editing and the adapted screenplay (based on the novel by John Ball). It was a year of tough competition (The Graduate and Bonnie and Clyde were also nominated).

While In the Heat of the Night is still a terrific movie today, one must place it in the context of the year it was released to fully understand its impact. The civil rights movement was at its height. The nation’s television sets were full of images of marches, riots, and violence. It seemed as if we were sitting on a powder keg, and Heat perfectly captured the tension of the moment by telling a story set in the South of a racist police chief and a black detective who unwittingly join forces to solve a murder.

Virgil Tibbs (Poitier) is a homicide detective from Philadelphia who happens to be passing through town on the night a prominent white businessman is found murdered. Arrested at the train station, Tibbs is brought to Chief Gillespie (Steiger) and the truth comes out that they have the wrong man. Before he can leave town, though, Tibbs finds himself embroiled in the investigation—and ends up leading it—while all around him is the threat of danger due to the color of his skin.

And then there’s the infamous scene which many critics and film historians called “the slap heard around the world.” Tibbs and Gillespie go to a cotton plantation to interview the deceased’s primary competitor, Endicott (Larry Gates), who is obviously put off by being questioned by a black man. At one point, he slaps Tibbs—but Tibbs immediately retaliates by slapping the man in return. In 1967, this was positively shocking. It’s the key moment in this powerfully-directed picture.

Warren Oates and Lee Grant also deliver strong performances as a police deputy and the widow of the murder victim, respectively. With the innovative blues score by Quincy Jones (and title theme sung by Ray Charles), Haskell Wexler’s gritty cinematography, and the perfect script by Silliphant, In the Heat of the Night is one of the classic American films.

The Criterion Collection’s new Blu-ray contains a 4K digital restoration with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack. The visual quality is much improved over the MGM Blu-ray of a few years ago (but, unfortunately, does not include the audio commentary by Jewison, Grant, Steiger, and Wexler from the earlier disk). Still, there are some good supplements. Brand new interviews with Norman Jewison and Lee Grant are informative, especially Grant’s treatise on the blacklisting she had undergone. A new interview with Aram Goudsouzian, author of Sidney Pointer: Man, Actor, Icon, presents a capsule portrait of Poitier and his place in Hollywood through the years. A vintage interview of Poitier from a 2006 AFI piece illustrates the making of the picture. Ported over from the previous MGM disk is the 2008 documentary, Turning Up the Heat: Movie-Making in the 60s, which features Jewison, Wexler, and producer Walter Mirisch, plus contemporary filmmakers John Singleton and Reginal Hudlin on the making of the film. Quincy Jones: Breaking New Sound, also from 2008, explores the movie’s soundtrack and features Jones, lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman, and Herbie Hancock. The theatrical trailer is included, and the accompanying booklet features an essay by critic K. Austin Collins.

In the Heat of the Night is a landmark drama that broke new ground on several fronts… but also at its heart is a cracking good murder mystery! A must-see masterpiece.

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BY BRIAN GREENE

Think of Linda Blair acting in the 1970s, and the ’73 horror classic The Exorcist will likely be the first film that comes to your mind. But while there’s ample reason for that movie to stand out as it does, Blair put on an equally memorable performance – albeit in a completely different type of movie – in 1974’s made-for-TV feature Born Innocent. In that release, which has the feel of an especially harsh ABC Afterschool Special, Blair plays an average, highly likable teenage kid who becomes estranged from her worthless parents and winds up in a rough juvenile detention facility, following some runaway attempts. Born Innocent can be lumped in with the “babes behind bars” exploitation subcategory of films, but there’s nothing campy about the TV movie. It’s downbeat, super realistic, and devastatingly sad.

Around five months after Born Innocent originally aired on NBC, the network showed Blair in a similar type of story, with their broadcast of Sarah T.-Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic, in February of ’75. Shout! Factory has just introduced a new Blu-ray version of the film. Blair, who turned 16 a few weeks before the movie reached households, plays the troubled title character, Sarah Travis. Sarah is a lot like Blair’s character Chris Parker from Born Innocent. She’s a normal, relatable, well-intentioned teenage girl going through some rough times. Sarah’s parents divorced a few years before the outset of the story, when her materialistically ambitious mother got tired of her artistically inclined husband’s (played by Larry Hagman) unreliable ways. The mother (Verna Bloom plays her) remarried a more stable, financially healthy man (William Daniels), and the family - which includes Sarah’s older, married sister – moves from San Francisco to an upscale neighborhood in Southern California.

There are some factors that differentiate Sarah Travis’s life predicaments from Chris Parker’s. While Chris is (was, before being sent to the reform school) being raised by a physically abusive father and an emotionally absent mother, Sarah’s three parents are actually trying to be good to her. Her artsy dad doesn’t have the wherewithal to be a provider to her, and he often leaves her disappointed by not being available enough to her; but at least he loves her and sometimes has fun with her. And while Sarah’s mom is a feminist’s nightmare whose answer to every life problem is “I’ll let my husband decide what to do about that,” she means well in attempting to create a stable home environment for her daughter. Ditto Sarah’s stepfather, who tries his best to connect with the girl and see to her needs, without attempting to completely overtake the role of father in her life. Also, Sarah has a love interest – a bright, sensitive guy who is played by Mark Hamill, a couple years before Hamill’s breakthrough role in Star Wars.

But Sarah’s life is challenging for her, even if it’s not as seemingly hopeless as Chris Parker’s situation. She misses her real dad and feels alienated by how focused her mother is on social status, and how completely her mom defers to her new husband in all matters. She’s had to change high schools, and faces the same social pressures and anxiety any 15-year old would experience in having to make that adjustment at such a psychologically volatile time in life. And while the guy she likes enjoys her company and cares about her, he’s not ready to get emotionally involved with her, the way she would like. All of this leads Sarah to continually turn to alcohol, to “help me feel good.” What starts as an occasional sneaky nip during a stressful moment, becomes a debilitating habit.

The story of Sarah T. was written by the TV writing/producing husband and wife team of Richard and Esther Shapiro, who are best known as the creators of Dynasty and its spin-off series The Colbys. A novel based on the film, which shares its title and plot elements, was written by author Robin S. Wagner and published as a Doubleday paperback original a month after the movie aired on television. The book is not something anyone needs to read if they’ve seen the film, and is most memorable for its lurid cover image, that shows Sarah’s downcast face superimposed over the contents of a pint of whiskey. The Sarah T. film was directed by Richard Donner, whose other directorial efforts from the decade include The Omen (’76) and Superman (’78).

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

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Pacino in an iconic role as Scarface.

Oscar winner Al Pacino is the latest major star to move into the realm of streaming TV series. He will star in Amazon's 10-episode series "The Hunt", a thriller set in 1977 in New York City that centers on the search for murderous ex-Nazis, a premise that seems to call to mind elements of the 1976 classic "Marathon Man". Pacino has won two Emmys for previous work in television but this marks the first time he has committed to starring in a series. The show will be produced by director Jordan Peele. For more click here.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Broadway legend Carol Channing has passed away from natural causes at age 97. To call her inimitable would be a misstatement as Ms. Channing was one of the most impersonated stars of all time. With her shocking white hairdo, expansive smile and gravelly voice, she endeared audiences and inspired careers for countless entertainers on the drag queen circuit. Channing became a Broadway star in 1949 with "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and later became inextricably linked to the title role in the 1964 Broadway smash "Hello, Dolly!", for which she received the Tony Award. She was frustrated however, when she was not cast in the film versions of either musical, losing the roles to Marilyn Monroe and Barbra Streisand respectively. Ms. Channing also starred in her own television variety series in the 1960s. Surprisingly, she appeared in only a handful of feature films. She earned a Golden Globe and a Best Supporting Actress nomination for the 1967 movie musical "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and was among the all star cast in director Otto Preminger's bizarre 1968 comedy flop "Skidoo". Seemingly ageless, Channing performed on stage for decades often in revivals or road productions of "Hello, Dolly!" in which she starred over 4500 times. For more click here.

Variety is reporting that Martin Scorsese is deeply involved in creating a new documentary about Bob Dylan titled "Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese". The Oscar-winning director had previously released "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan" which covered the iconic folk singer's controversial embrace of the electronic sound he adopted in the 1960s. The new film will cover Dylan's acclaimed 1975-76 Rolling Thunder tour, that featured an eclectic group of artists performing in a largely unscripted format. Dylan, who rarely gives interviews, is said to have provided one for Scorsese to use in the new documentary, which is still shrouded in mystery. Netflix will be producing the project. For more click here.

RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST FROM THE CINEMA RETRO ARCHIVES

BY LEE PFEIFFER

It may seem hard to believe in an era in which every personality on screen seems to be wearing a cape and tights but there are some intelligent films still being made for discriminating, mature viewers. The problem is that you often have to search to find them. Case in point: "The Lady in the Van", a 2015 British comedy/drama that found its intended audience but was relegated largely to the art house circuits in big cities. The movie is about as off-beat as you can imagine in terms of the central premise but we are told that it is mostly based on fact. Alex Jennings plays the film's real-life British playwright Alan Bennett, on whose experience the screenplay is based. Jennings was an aspiring playwright in 1974 when he moved to a relatively upscale neighborhood in London's Camden Town section. Bennett was enjoying some success with a show on the West End and was leading a fairly comfortable existence, though - at least in the film- he was frustrated by the fact that he no significant other. As a gay man, his unease was understandable- until 1969 homosexuality was a felony crime in Britain. Coming out of the closet was not something most gay people felt comfortable doing. The film presents Bennett creating his own live-in companion- an imaginary alter-ego with whom he trades barbs and discusses problems ranging from writers block to everyday household chores. His life takes an unexpected turn when a homeless woman arrives on his street driving a barely operable old van. She identifies herself as Mary Shepherd and is about as lovable as a tarantula. Mary becomes the talk of the posh neighborhood, moving her van occasionally to park in front of various houses. Some of the locals are kindly to her while others clearly disdain her, but all of them tolerate her presence and gets used to her. Mary keeps her "alternate side of the street" lifestyle going for several years. The van is her abode and she defends it with pride. She accepts handouts from neighbors but her prickly nature never results in her uttering the words "Thank you". Alan, like most of the locals, regards her with a bit of frustration as well as fascination. When a parking ordinance forces her van off the street, Alan offers his driveway as a place she can park "temporarily". You know how these things go. Before long, Mary has not only established the driveway as a permanent residence but is also making various demands on Alan to allow more privileges. Slowly, the months turn into years and both become accustomed to the bizarre living arrangements.(Mary never enters his home and the resulting effect on her hygiene is played for laughs).  The two have a sometimes uneasy relationship but the gentle, meek Alan begins to care about her more than he will even admit to his alter-ego. He is wracked by guilt because his own aging mother is slowly deteriorating both mentally and physically and he feels guilty about having to have her committed to a nursing home. He uses Mary has her proxy so that an act of kindness towards her might help Alan alleviate some of his guilt about his mother. 

Ultimately Alan's relationship turns to caregiver. Some of Mary's demands are reasonable (jury-rigging wires from his house so she can watch TV in her van) while others are too extravagant to comply with (constructing a tent so she can indulge in more hoarding of useless objects.) He also learns what the viewer has known from the opening, shocking frames: that Mary is hiding a terrible secret and lives in constant fear of being arrested. She, too, is wracked by guilt because she once killed a motorcyclist in an accident and fled the scene. We also learn that she is being blackmailed by an eyewitness (Jim Broadbent) to the event. Gradually, Alan sees her as a source of material for a writing project. He tracks down her only living relative, a brother who is somewhat estranged from her. He relates some remarkable details about her once-promising life and how it all went wrong when she sacrificed a musical career in order to join a convent. (The Catholic Church and religion play key roles in her life.)  Nothing overly dramatic takes place in the leisurely-paced story but there is something remarkable the fact that Alan Bennett allowed this eccentric woman to spend a full 15 years residing in his driveway until her death in 1989.

Bennett published a journal about the experience titled "The Lady in the Van". In 1999, he adapted it into a play starring Maggie Smith. It was a major hit, running over 900 performances on the West End.  The play's director, Nicholas Hynter, is a frequent collaborator of Bennett's, having worked with him on adapting Bennett's plays "The History Boys" and "The Madness of King George" for the screen. In 2015 they finally brought "The Lady in the Van" to the screen as well with Maggie Smith reprising the title role. Smith was now of an age where she could be even more convincing as the elderly eccentric and Bennett  ensured that the movie was shot in the very house in Camden Town where the actual events took place. For all its charming aspects and the fact that the production presents two extraordinary performances by Smith and Alex Jennings, the end result is a mixed bag that you expect to move you in a more emotional way than it actually does. This is largely because Smith's character remains crusty, self-centered and pretty much an ingrate throughout. In the film's final moments, which details her death, Bennett and Hytner do manage to convey a softening of her persona in the final moments of her life but they then attempt to make her more lovable with an ill-advised funeral sequence in which we see the ghost of Miss Shepherd assuring us that she has found happiness in Eternity. The scene smacks of being a well-intentioned gimmick and seems somewhat out of place with the rest of the film.  Jennings, known primarily as a stage actor, gives a marvelous performance as Bennett and manages the considerable achievement of not being overshadowed by the great Dame Maggie. The film starts off rather weakly but becomes more engrossing and satisfying if you stick with it. This is largely due to Bennett slowly unveiling key details about Miss Shepherd's challenges in life and the fact that she missed out on a promising musical career. Although Smith is very amusing in the comedic sequences, she is even more impressive in these dark, dramatic scenes. The end result is a mixed bag. The film is to be commended for presenting that rarest of screen experiences nowadays: an intelligent story aimed at adult audiences who seek fine performances and dialogue rather than mindless explosions. There are uneven and unsatisfying patches throughout but the performances alone merit it for recommended viewing.

Sony has released an impressive special edition Blu-ray of "The Lady in the Van". There are numerous featurettes including extensive interviews with Maggie Smith, Alan Bennett, Alex Jennings and Nicholas Hytner that give some interesting perspectives on the long history of the real life events that inspired the play and film. There is also a director's commentary with Hytner and some deleted scenes, some of which clearly show that Miss Shepherd is actually nt only extremely eccentric but is also  suffering from dementia, as evidenced by her belief that she can be elected Prime Minister.  

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The web site Curbed provides an informative guide to 15 classic movie theaters in Los Angeles, each of which is distinguished not only by its design but also by an eclectic schedule of programming that any retro movie lover will appreciate. Click here to read.

By Lee Pfeiffer

If you think extremist talk radio is a relatively new phenomenon, the release of the 1970 film WUSA on DVD by Olive Films shows just how far back the not-so-grand tradition goes. The notion of reaching out to the fringe elements of society is well-documented here, with Paul Newman as a down-and-out musician with some broadcasting experience who sells his soul by taking a job as a DJ on right wing extremist radio station WUSA in New Orleans. Newman knows he's being used as a pawn for white supremicist tycoon Pat Hingle, but willingly accepts the fame and fortune that he receives when his star begins to rise - despite personally despising the words he reads on the air. In between playing cornporn patriotic ballads, Newman's character, known as Rheinhardt, spouts incendiary rhetoric designed to empower racists who want to combat expansion of the welfare state. Along the way, he hooks up with sexy-as-hell Joanne Woodward, playing an equally down-and-out woman whose fortunes have declined so badly that she is rejected when she applies to be a stripper. If the film seems especially harsh on the right wing fringe, liberals aren't spared, either. Anthony Perkins plays a stereotypical do-gooder, a true believer that LBJ's war on poverty would result in the establishment of his Great Society. What he fails to realize is that he, too, is being used as a dupe by community leaders who are secretly being paid off by WUSA management. Thus, both the forces of right and left collaborate to ensure inertia among opportunities for the impoverished.

Bloom with Clint Eastwood in "High Plains Drifter".

Veteran actress Verna Bloom has died at age 80. Bloom made her screen debut as the female lead in Haskell Wexler's acclaimed 1969 film "Medium Cool". Her performance gained her much traction in the film industry and she went on to star opposite Clint Eastwood in "High Plains Drifter" and "Honkytonk Man". She also memorably appeared in director John Landis's "National Lampoon's Animal House" playing the dean's wife who had a penchant for bedding college students. Her other film credits include "Badge 373", "The Hired Hand", "The Last Temptation of Christ" and the Frank Sinatra TV movie "Pickup on Cherry Street". Click here for more.