We just received Imprint's eagerly-awaited limited edition of director Michael Mann's "The Keep", a film that under-performed when first released but which has developed an appreciative following in the ensuing years. It's quite simply the most elaborate and impressive video packaging in recent memory and is superbly designed and constructed. It's going to take quite a while to get through it (there are four commentary tracks) but we wanted to post the news that the set is now shipping, as it is a limited edition. Here is the official press release:
There are few cult horrors as
legendary as The Keep. Directed by the great Michael Mann, adapted from
F. Paul Wilson’s bestselling novel, the stories behind the gargantuan
production have gripped horror enthusiasts for over forty years.
Alongside the 96-minute Theatrical Cut
coming to 4K UHD in Dolby Vision, Imprint Films is proud to present a deep dive
into the making of The Keep, taking you behind the scenes into its fascinating
and tumultuous creation with brand NEW and archival Special Features.
This strictly Limited Edition
packaging features a replica Cross, as seen in the 108 crosses on the
walls of The Keep, meticulously reproduced from an original cross taken from
the set of the film. Cast in zinc alloy and weighing 600g, the removable cross
is nestled in the front cover of a premium Hardbox, coated in spot gloss
crosses and featuring foil stamping.
This is a heavy, bespoke collector’s
item, measuring 24 x 33cm, weighing in at 3kg, and comes replete with
comprehensive physical extras:
a full-colour matte laminated 27 x 40 folded
print of the original poster;
a reprint of the official five-issue comic
series by F. Paul Wilson and Matthew Smith;
a reproduction of the original 1983 Press Kit;
a reproduction of the original 1983 Lobby Cards;
a hardcover booklet, featuring 80 pages of
photographs, original production material, brand NEW essays, and a
reprint of a 1984 Fangoria article;
a reprint of the First Draft Script;
a 3D Lenticular Hardcase housing all four
discs;
a custom-made transparent PVC display case
with anti-scratch film lamination.
We are also proud to present the
worldwide debut of feature documentary A World War II Fairy Tale: The
Making Of Michael Mann’s The Keep, a definitive companion piece that
combines over one hundred interviews across the globe, and a treasure trove of
extremely rare material.
The entrancing soundtrack to the film
from pioneering electronic group Tangerine Dream is included on CD, a haunting
fusion of synth and shadow.
Starring Scott Glenn, Jürgen Prochnow,
Robert Prosky, and Ian McKellen, The Keep is a cinematic experience like
no other, and the story behind the film is amongst the wildest in the history
of Hollywood.
We are only pressing this very special
Limited Edition set once, available now for pre-order.
Shout!TV provides you with this opportunity to watch the 1978 disaster movie "Avalanche" starring Rock Hudson and Mia Farrow. (To view it on full screen, click "Watch on YouTube.)
Eggar in the 1967 musical "Doctor Doolittle". (Photo: Fox/Cinema Retro Archive)
By Lee Pfeiffer
Actress Samantha Eggar has passed away at age 86 following a long, undefined illness according to her daughter, actress Jenna Stern. She was born in Hampstead, England in 1939 as Samantha Marie Elizabeth Theresa Eggar, a name that seemed to imply she would grow to be a woman of accomplishments. Like many actors, she honed her craft in live theater before finding her niche in the motion picture industry, making her big screen debut in Young and Willing, a 1962 tale about reckless youths who pay a price for their wild ways. Her breakthrough role came in director William Wyler's disturbing drama The Collector opposite another star-in-the-making, Terence Stamp who played a disturbed young man who kidnaps Eggar because of a sexual obsession with her. Eggar was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar and won in that category in the Golden Globes and at Cannes. She next appeared in director J. Lee Thompson's riveting Holocaust-themed crime drama Return to the Ashes. This was followed by her performance in the romantic comedy, Walk, Don't Run in which she played the girlfriend of Jim Hutton in what turned out to be Cary Grant's final film before his self-imposed retirement. Eggar, ever diversified as an actress, was the leading lady in Fox's big budget 1967 musical, Doctor Doolittle opposite Rex Harrison. The film proved to be a high profile, over-budget money loser despite getting some enthusiastic reviews. Eggar, who was an accomplished singer, was dubbed in the musical numbers. Her next film proved to be another boxoffice disappointment, The Molly Maguires, a compelling story about Irish coal miners in Pennsylvania who revolt against their oppressive employers. Although the movie wasn't a hit, it gave Eggar the opportunity to be directed by the acclaimed Martin Ritt and co-star with Sean Connery and Richard Harris.
in the ensuing years, Eggar worked regularly in motion pictures and as a guest star on such popular television programs as "Hawaii Five-0", "Columbo", "Baretta", "Fantasy Island", "The Love Boat", "Starsky and Hutch", "Magnum P.I.", "Murder, She Wrote", "Matlock" and "Star Trek: The Next Generation". She simultaneously was seen on the big screen in David Cronenberg's 1979 horror hit The Brood and director Richard Ciupka's cult classic Curtains. She also engaged in voice-over work, most prominently as Hera in Disney's 1997 animated hit Hercules. Variety reports that she had been married to actor Tom Stern between 1964-1971 and leaves behind her daughter Jenna Stern and her son Nicolas Stern, who is an Executive Producer of the popular Creed films.
In
keeping with the run of excellent British comedies released in the late 1950s
and early 1960s that featured rising star Peter Sellers, Cliff Owens’ early 1963 farce, The Wrong Arm of the Law,
brings us the actor just on the brink of international stardom (The Pink
Panther would be released later in the same year).
Besides
Sellers, the picture co-stars a host of British character actors known for
their comic turns, and some of them give Sellers a run for his money. Lionel
Jeffries, known for playing characters who believe they’re better than anyone
else but are actually incompetent fools, practically steals the movie. Bernard
Cribbins also exhibits a delightfully eccentric turn with his over-the-top mannerisms.
Still others—and you know you know their faces if you don’t exactly know their
names—Bill Kerr, John Le Mesurier, Graham Stark (who would also appear with
Sellers in the Panther flicks), John Junkin, and several others are a
delight. Dennis Price and Dick Emery both have uncredited cameos, and if you
don’t blink at the right time, you might see Michael Caine as a copper extra
right before he catapulted to stardom.
The
picture boasts several writers. There are “story by” credits, “screenplay by”
credits, and “written by” credits, but mostly the honors go to John Antrobus,
Ray Galton, and Alan Simpson, the latter two especially known for their work in
British comedy.
The
criminal underworld of London is split into factions of gangs who all, more or
less, respect each other’s territories. Sellers is “Pearly” Gates, a mastermind
of one group of thieves, but he also impersonates a French fashion designer as
a front (shades of the upcoming Clouseau!). When Gates’ men are robbed of their
takings by policemen, they realize something odd is afoot. In fact, a
trio of Australian baddies are impersonating cops and just happen to show up at
the right time to catch thieves red-handed and take their goods (but curiously
don’t arrest them). This is happening to other gangs, too, such as the one led
by “Nervous” O’Toole (Cribbins). How are the fake policemen learning of the
planned heists? Through their woman on the inside, Valerie (Nanette Newman),
who is Pearly’s girlfriend! When the real police learn of the impersonators,
Inspector “Nosy” Parker (Jeffries) is ordered to team up with Pearly so that
they can set a trap for the Australians. Of course, Parker is constantly
jumping at the wrong conclusions before fully thinking things through.
Eventually, all the London gangs and the police must join forces to catch the
trio of copper-thieves once and for all.
Yes,
the picture is funny. There are some good Keystone Cops-style chase scenes,
some hilarious moments at a fun fair, some witty and clever dialogue, and
instances of absurdity that are well-staged. But it is the ensemble of actors
in the piece that elevates it above mere silly antics. Watching Sellers,
Jeffries, Cribbins, Stark, and Le Mesurier mug for the camera and blow their
tops in frustration at the goings-on is truly something to see.
Kino
Lorber Studio Classics has presented a new digital restoration from StudioCanal
in glorious black and white that looks marvelous. It comes with an audio
commentary by film journalist Laurence Lerman that educates us on the history
of the film, its actors, and other contextual goodies. Besides numerous Kino
Lorber trailers of similar British comedies, there is also a supplemental
interview with co-screenwriter John Antrobus, who mostly talks about how he almost
accidentally found himself in the movie business.
The
Wrong Arm of the Law is
for fans of early 1960s British comedy, Peter Sellers, and the numerous
character actors that populate the film.
Note:
The Criterion Collection has released two editions of this title. One consists
of a two-disc package with a 4K UHD version of the film on one disc and a
Blu-ray version (plus supplements) on the second and the other edition contains
only a Blu-ray edition (with supplements) on one disc only. The Blu-ray edition
was reviewed by Cinema Retro.
This
reviewer can recall that back in 1980, when Altered States was released,
audiences either loved it or hated it. There seemed to be no middle ground. It
was an almost over-the-top science fiction tale with a ridiculous premise—or it
was an envelope-pushing visionary presentation that blew one’s mind.
The
movie was the brainchild of the acclaimed Oscar-winning writer, Paddy
Chayefsky. He had conceived the story in the mid-1970s while goofing around
with the likes of Bob Fosse and Herb Gardner. The more he thought about it, the
more Chayefsky considered it to be a viable project. He was advised to turn his
screen treatment into a novel first, so he did (it was published in 1978).
After that, Columbia bought the film rights and Chayefsky wrote the full
screenplay.
Chayefsky
was one of those rare screenwriters who enjoyed complete artistic control over
his projects. This one, however, turned out not to be the case. Arthur Penn was
the original director of the picture, but due to clashes between the pair, Penn
left. Ken Russell was hired to helm it after several other filmmakers
(including Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick) turned it down.
Both
Chayefsky and Russell were two difficult geniuses who often clashed with
collaborators. During the production of Altered States, the director and
writer were at each other’s throats. Ultimately, Chayefsky left his own
project, stripping his name from the credits (he used a pseudonym, Sidney
Aaron, actually Chayefsky’s real first and second names), and leaving Russell
to his own devices. Ironically, Chayefsky’s very wordy and dialogue-heavy script
was (mostly) faithfully filmed. Apparently the disagreements were over the way
Russell tended to direct his actors to perform in a, well, heightened level
of intensity.
William
Hurt made his film debut as Dr. Eddie Jessup, a psychopathologist and teacher
at Columbia University in 1967. He is studying the effects of sensory
deprivation in a flotation tank with the help of his friend, Arthur Rosenberg
(Bob Balaban). Eddie meets Emily (Blair Brown), an anthropologist and teacher,
and they begin a love affair. Ten years later, they are married with kids, both
tenured at Harvard but on the brink of divorce. Eddie is still experimenting
with an isolation tank but now with hallucinatory drugs. During a trip to
Mexico, he ingests a powerful hallucinogen that convinces him that he can tap
into his primal roots, the genetic information that he believes exists and that
are memories of prehistoric beings. As Eddie continues to experiment with the
drugs and the isolation tank, he begins to experience physical transformations
to an earlier version of man. To reveal more would spoil the fun!
In
many ways, Altered States is a variation of the werewolf myth, or
perhaps it’s better suited to be placed in the “mad scientist” genre along with
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Eddie is playing with forces of nature that unlock
those forbidden vaults of the brain we aren’t meant to access. Yes, the third
act takes the tale into fantastic-land that is almost laughable in its
audacity… but Russell presents it with utmost seriousness, and the actors,
especially Hurt, are so convincing in making us, the audience, believe in what
the characters are doing—that it all works.
The
visual effects by Bran Ferren are especially trippy and might remind one of the
Star Gate sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey. An ad campaign for that
film declared it to be “the ultimate trip,” but Altered States might give 2001 a run for its money in the trippy department. There are also
brilliant body-horror makeup effects by Dick Smith. The director’s depictions
of the psychedelic sequences are pure Ken Russell extravaganzas, keeping on
brand as excessive and outlandish—but they’re all beautifully and excitingly executed.
Hurt
and Brown, though, are the components that hold the film together with screen
chemistry that can’t be beat. They are both extremely attractive actors, and
there are several scenes in which they appear in the nude. That said, their
back and forth rapid dialogue exchanges are dynamic and riveting. If action can
be gleaned in the subtext of words, then this is a pretty good example of that
concept. It’s also a testament to Chayefsky’s script.
The
Criterion Collection’s release features a new 4K digital restoration that is
crystal clear, colorful, and gorgeous. The film can be viewed with either a 2.0
or 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. A new audio commentary by film
historian Samm Deighan is well informed and provides much context to the
proceedings. Supplements include archival interviews with Ken Russell and
William Hurt, and a new interview with FX designer Bran Ferren. The trailer and
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing round out the package. The
enclosed booklet contains an essay by film critic Jessica Kiang.
Altered
States is
a wild ride, recommended for fans of visually striking speculative sci-fi, Ken
Russell, Paddy Chayefsky, William Hurt, and Blair Brown.
It's hard to believe that "Network" is almost 50 years old because it remains more relevant than ever. The comedic masterpiece, the creation of writer Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Sidney Lumet, was universally acclaimed. Chayefsky's cynically satirical script foresaw how the major T.V. networks would be gobbled up by huge corporations and how the news divisions would be compromised by the corporations' special interests. It also predicted the dumbing-down of the general public as it demanded more entertaining versions of how they received their news. Mind you, this was in an era before cable television or the internet; an era in which we now look back on as a golden age of news reporting. Newspapers were still widely read as an alternative to the direction the news media was taking. However, even Chayefsky could not imagine the current state of the news, an era in which many people form their opinions about politics and the world at large through viewing soundbites, propaganda postings and the opinions of Tik Tok posts, happily resistant to accepting any facts that might gore their sacred political beliefs.
If you've never seen "Network" or haven't seen it in many years, it's time to view this true cinematic classic which boasts brilliant performances from a terrific cast: William Holden, Faye Dunaway (Oscar winner for the film), Peter Finch (posthumous Oscar winner for the film), Robert Duvall, Ned Beatty (Oscar nominated) and Beatrice Strait (Oscar winner for the film.). Some years ago I attended a screening of the film in New York City hosted by film historian Robert Osborne, who interviewed Sidney Lumet about the movie. Lumet quipped that, in watching the movie for the first time in many years, he found it more frightening than funny. That may be true, but it remains a masterpiece of cinematic satire.
Many
of the films made by producer Emerich Pressburger and director Michael Powell
are generally considered to amongst the best British films ever made. A powerful
creative partnership, they collaborated over a thirty-year period, having been
initially put together in 1938 at Denham Studios by Alexander Korda, who, like
Pressburger was also a Hungarian in exile. That first film was The Spy in
Black (1939), included in this boxset, and one which I’m ashamed to admit I
hadn’t seen before. It is set in Scotland during the First World War and was
shot and released before the advent of the Second World War, but it was eerily
prescient. Watching it now, this story of a U-Boat commander (played by Conrad
Veidt) who has a secret rendezvous with a female German spy (played brilliantly
by Valerie Hobson) masquerading as a schoolteacher on the Orkneys could so
easily have been set in WWII and it must have seemed incredibly current when it
was released in August 1939. It is a thrilling, twisting tale which fits well
with the British thrillers Alfred Hitchcock had made before leaving for
Hollywood.
This
boxset contains six films released during their first eight years, when they
were arguably at the peak of their creativity. Three of these were shot during
the war and each was contributing in some way towards the war effort: 49th
Parallel (1941) was another film about a German U-Boat, this time following
its crew who get stranded in Canada and attempt to escape across America, which
at that time was neutral, but it was hoped that the film might help encourage
the United States to get involved. It was nominated for three Oscars and won
one for best story. The Life & Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) was a
comedy, adapted from a popular newspaper comic strip at the time, and was
satirising the military whilst still maintaining a pro-British stance. It was a
controversial film at the time, with Churchill himself objecting. As a result,
it was cut down and eventually released in a black and white version in the
States and was subsequently cut even further for television. It was not until
the 1980s that the original was restored, and more recently a complete
restoration was undertaken, supervised by Martin Scorsese and Thelma
Schoonmaker, who was not only his editor, but was also married to Michael
Powell, and it is this restoration which can now be enjoyed in this collection.
Almost
as if they wanted to continue to stoke controversy, their next feature film was
A Canterbury Tale (1944), which drew on medieval imagery and the theme
of pilgrimage to tell the story of a British soldier, an American sergeant and
a British ‘Land Girl’ who are all based in Kent during the war. The problematic
element for some audiences was the inclusion of a character known as “The Glue
Man,” a mysterious figure who is going around pouring glue into women’s hair.
The film was not a great success on its initial release and was also edited for
the American release two years later: it was cut down, had narration added plus
additional scenes to bookend it featuring Kim Hunter, who at that time was
shooting A Matter of Life and Death (1946) for Powell and Pressburger.
Thankfully the original film has been restored, but those additional scenes are
included in the bonus features here.
A
Matter of Life and Death (released in the States as Stairway
to Heaven) is my favourite of the Powell and Pressburger collaborations,
which is not really an interesting claim, but there it is. It is often hailed
as one of the greatest British films ever made, so clearly everyone else loves
it, too. It’s a fantastic film, initially designed to improve post-war
relations between the UK and the States, but it does so much more. It’s a
delightful, romantic fantasy with incredible set design and cinematography
(photographed by the legendary Jack Cardiff), and it looks great on this new
release. Squadron Leader Peter Carter (played brilliantly by David Niven, who
was coming back to the big screen having spent the majority of the war in the
British army, including taking part in the invasion of Normandy) is in a plane
which is on fire over the channel. He is not going to make it so bails out in
thick fog without a parachute, but only after having made radio contact with
June (Kim Hunter), an American radio operator based on the English coast. The
next morning he finds himself on a beach where he meets June and they fall
instantly in love. The rub is that he should have died that night, but the
angel sent to collect him missed him in the fog, and the rest of the film
becomes a tug of war between the bureaucrats in Heaven who demand he come with
them, and Peter, June and Doctor Reeves (Roger Livesey) on Earth, who believe
that he should be allowed to live.
The
final film in the box is Black Narcissus (1947), the only film in the
collection not about a war, and one which has also received much acclaim (and
an Oscar for returning cinematographer Jack Cardiff) since its release. A
Technicolour gothic nightmare set in a convent high on a Himalayan Mountain, it
is still an extraordinary film to watch today. Set during the final years of
Empire (Britian withdrew from India in 1947), it is a fantastic depiction of
how a British institution can crumble amidst the tropical heat, powerful
jealousies and erotic temptations. Shot almost entirely at Pinewood Studios,
the film used matte paintings, models and sets to create an almost surreal,
oppressive environment where these nuns slowly descend into madness. It was a
huge hit at the time, and as such annoyed the Catholic church in the States,
where the film had to be cut. Thankfully this release is the fully restored
version.
This
collection of films is a great start if one is unfamiliar with the incredible
work of Powell and Pressburger, and an essential purchase for anyone who is.
Alongside the restorations is a great set of new and archival bonus features
featuring historians and experts, such as Powell and Pressburger scholar Ian Christie
who can be found on each disc sharing his thoughts and knowledge on each
respective title. There is a range of other interviews and video essays, and new
commentary tracks have been recorded for each one, with my personal favourite
on here being the one for The Spy in Black, featuring the British Film
Institute’s Jo Botting and film critic Kim Newman. There is a good range of
commentaries, and Black Narcissus is particularly worth highlighting
given that it has two; a new one from gothic authority Kat Ellinger, and an
archival one featuring Martin Scorsese and Michael Powell himself.
My
only real complaint about this boxset is its size: it is a hardbox housing six
individual full-size Blu Ray cases, yet each case only holds one disc each. The
box is 4 inches wide, which for boxset collectors like me where shelf space is
a premium, seems unnecessary. One only has to look to
companies like Indicator Series, who often produce boxsets with more films in
them than this, which generally also include a book, and are still only half as
wide as this one is. This may seem churlish, but I have to get this off my
chest. The shelf space problem is real.
Anyway,
Powell and Pressburger made a dazzling array of amazing films which have played
a vital role in British culture, and it is great that their work continues to
be celebrated. Last year we had the new Martin Scorsese-fronted documentary Made
in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (David Hinton, 2024), and
we now have the first volume in what will be an important series of releases
from Imprint Films.
As
far as I can tell, this release is region free, and The Cinema of Powell &
Pressburger – Collection One (1939-1947) can be ordered from Imprint by clicking here.
(Prices are in Australian dollars. Use a currency converter for your local currency.)
Here is an original British trade magazine advert for the May, 1969 release of "The Boston Strangler" starring Tony Curtis as the real-life infamous murderer. The film had opened in the United States in October, 1968 and was quite controversial for its frank depiction of a sex abuser and murderer.
During the 1960s and 1970s, European marketing and distribution of English language films is looked back on as an era in which "anything goes" seems to have been the prevailing strategy. This was particularly true in Italy where the movie poster creations were so striking they are now highly collectible as retro pop art. An amusing aspect of these posters is that there was a tendency to promote films as starring contemporary boxoffice favorites...even if the future superstars were seen only in early supporting roles. Film historian and Cinema Retro contributor Howard Hughes, writing for the web site The Film Goer's Guide, takes an amusing and insightful look into how Lee Van Cleef's wordless supporting role in the 1952 Western classic "High Noon" was exploited as a starring role when the film was reissued in the 1960s after he became an international star in Sergio Leone's "For a Few Dollars More" and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". Van Cleef, who had been laboring in minor roles since the early 1950s, suddenly was elevated to major stardom. That was enough incentive for an Italian film distributor to dust off "High Noon" and reissue it with a deceitful ad campaign that made it appear Van Cleef was equal to Gary Cooper (who won the Oscar for his performance) in terms of screen time and importance to the plot. Not mentioned in Howard's article is another fabrication pertaining to the Italian movie poster: it shamelessly cribs artwork from the poster for John Ford's "The Searchers"! One only imagine the reaction of the misled movie goers when they discovered the "Lee Van Cleef" flick only features him in a minor, silent role.
Click here to read Howard Hughes's analysis of the campaign and how even the opening credits of the film were altered to promote Van Cleef.
Oscar winning actress Diane Keaton has passed away at the age of 79. No details regarding cause of death have been released thus far. Keaton was a multi-talented actress and an accomplished director. Her bubbly personality endeared her to friends and the movie-going public. The California native was inspired to enter the acting profession because she was impressed with her mother's ability to win pageants and appear on stage. She gravitated to New York City during the height of the Counter Culture movement and landed a role in the Broadway sensation "Hair". She gravitated to films and was cast by Francis Ford Coppola in "The Godfather", the 1972 blockbuster in which she played Kay, the loving, but increasingly frustrated wife of Al Pacino's Michael Corleone. She earned would play the character again in both sequels. She dated Pacino and later Woody Allen, with who she appeared on screen in numerous well-received comedies highlighted by the 1977 comedy classic "Annie Hall" for which she not only won the Best Actress Oscar but also helped initiate a fashion trend due to her offbeat styles that were seen in the film. The film won the Best Picture Oscar as well and is regarded as one of the best and most enduring of cinematic love stories.
That same year, Keaton demonstrated her diversity as an actress in the big screen adaptation of the sobering novel "Looking for Mr. Goodbar", in which she gave an acclaimed dramatic performance as a young, sexually liberated woman who pays a terrible price when she meets the wrong guy. Although Keaton would go on to win acclaim for other dramatic performances, comedy was her strength and she went on to collaborate with Allen on numerous other films including the 1979 classic "Manhattan". Over the decades she still proved to be a boxoffice draw when teaming with high profile co-stars in films such as "The First Wives Club", "Father of the Bride" "Something's Gotta Give" (which she said was her favorite film) and "Book Club". In addition to being an acclaimed director, she was also a successful producer. Click here for more.
In July of 1980, the now legendary
writer/director team of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker gave us the
insanely funny Airplane! which not
only became an instant classic, but also made a comedy star out of Leslie
Nielsen while providing us all with hilarious quotes we’re still using to this
day. Naturally, a movie that popular would demand a second part and in December
of 1982 Airplane II: The Sequel hit
theaters. Now, almost 43 years later, it’s available on 4K/Blu-ray.
Written and directed by Ken Finkleman and
produced by Howard W. Koch (the original filmmakers wanted nothing to do with a
sequel), Airplane II deals with Mayflower
One; the world’s first lunar shuttle. During its inaugural flight to the moon,
the spacecraft experiences deadly artificial intelligence problems, begins to
overheat, enters an asteroid field while hurtling toward the sun, and, if that
isn’t enough, one of its passengers (played by Sony Bono) is a mad bomber. It’s
up to damaged war hero Ted Stryker (Robert Hayes) to once again save the day
and win back the love of his ex-girl Elaine (Julie Hagerty). But can Ted do it
this time?
So, is Airplane
II as good as the original? Definitely not. Still, I don’t agree with those
who hate this movie. I think it’s pretty funny in spots. Sure it copies the
original film’s structure almost completely and even recycles some of its jokes,
but it also has some really original humorous stuff in it too (There’s a
terrific wordplay scene worthy of Abbott and Costello) and a few memorable
quotes of its own. Plus, William Shatner shows up and he’s absolutely batshit
crazy.
The fun movie is greatly helped along by its
incredible assortment of talented actors. Besides the hysterical Hays, Hagerty
Bono and Shatner, we have comedic turns from the likes of Lloyd Bridges, Peter
Graves, Stephen Stucker (all returning from the original along with Hagerty and
Hays), Chad Everett, Rip Torn, John Dehner, Chuck Connors, Richard Jaeckel,
Kent McCord, Laurene Landon, Raymond Burr, John Vernon, John Larch and Jack
Jones, just to name a few. And we even get the theme from Battlestar Galactica! (?)
Airplane II is presented in its
original 1.85:1 aspect ratio and the beautiful HDR/Dolby Vision master—from a
4K scan of the 35mm original camera negative—boasts sharp images and terrific
sound. Special features include two informative audio commentaries—one by Mike
White of The Projection Booth podcast and the other by television writer/showrunner
Patrick Walsh—as well as the original theatrical trailer. For those who collect
them, this release also comes with a slipcover. Check it out. I promise you
you’ll laugh.
Arrow Films is holding a sale on prominent 4K and Blu-ray releases for their UK distribution site. We assume these are Region 2 releases but if necessary, enquire with Arrow directly through the "Contact" section on their site. . Click here to access.
The Papermill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey received a special Tony Award as one of America's most prestigious and influential regional theaters. To be sure, the Papermill has the distinct advantage of being located a scant 20 miles from Times Square, thus affording their productions the cream of the crop in terms of local talent. Now the Papermill has another winner with a presentation of the 2014 stage musical version of "Bull Durham", the acclaimed and highly popular baseball-themed romantic comedy from 1988 that starred Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon. I have to say that in attending today's matinee performance, I needed a dose of baseball fun, given the fact that last evening I suffered watching my New York Yanks dash any hopes of a World Series pennant by losing to the Toronto Blue Jays. "Bull Durham" provided the antidote for my doldrums. The production is directed by Marc Bruni, who also directed the acclaimed 2023 musical adaptation of "The Great Gatsby", which was so successful that, after its run at The Papermill, opened on Broadway and then the West End. The musical has been adapted by Ron Shelton, who wrote the screenplay for the film version (which was not a musical.) The impressive music and lyrics are by Susan Werner.
The story is a rather simple one. The Durham Bulls are a minor league team that is seemingly inevitably at the bottom of the barrel in terms of rankings. To improve their performance, the team hires Crash Davis (Benny Elledge), a veteran of the minor leagues whose claim to fame is that he once spent 23 days in the major leagues before being bounced. Crash believes he still has another chance to get back into the majors if he can distinguish himself by turning the fortunes of the Bulls around. He sets his sites on a young under-performer, "Nuke" LaLoosh (Will Savarese), who he thinks he can mentor into being an important asset to the team. Intellectually, "Nuke" is a dim bulb but he is a hunk and has attracted the attention of Annie Savoy (Carmen Cusak), who follows an unusual tradition: every season she seduces one member of the team and stays with them until the season ends. She then drops her temporary lover in favor of a new one. As Crash settles in, he is attracted to Annie.Why not? She's sexy, flirtatious and isn't shy about publicly expressing her sexual desires. Annie plays both men against each other and a ménage à trois develops. When "Nuke" finally enjoys a hot streak on the field, Crash convinces the vulnerable young man that he must abstain from sex or risk losing his abilities at bat. There are plenty of laughs along the way and Bruni's direction is spot-on. There are a lot of cast members on stage at any given time and Bruni has to be as much a traffic cop as a musical director. He pulls off both responsibilities admirably. Similarly, Choreographer Joshua Bergasse ensures that the dance numbers are equally impressive. Kudos to Casting Director Eric Woodall for making sure there isn't a weak link in terms of the supporting performances. Werner's score doesn't provide any show-stopping numbers but every one of the songs is good and Cusak does get to solo in the production's most impressive number. As with most Papermill productions, the sets are highly impressive and they are moved rapidly and with great skill to ensure a smooth transition between scenes and locations. I should mention that those who are expecting a Disney-like musical may be offended by some aspects of the show and it's not because of the dancing shirtless hunks. Rather, there are plenty of expletives delivered in the form of locker room humor and a particularly vulgar and very funny quip relating to a sexual allusion to the Bermuda Triangle. (No, I won't give it away.)
The audience at today's matinee awarded the cast and crew with a rousing standing ovation. I will refrain from summing up my opinion of the show by using a baseball analogy. (No "Home Run" puns.) I will say that with the baseball season coming to a close after the Worlds Series, this show will extend a great deal of pleasure to enthusiasts of the sport- especially to my fellow suffering New York Yankees fans.
("Bull Durham" runs through November 2). For tickets and details, click here.
Click here to view the rare original production featurette for MGM's 1966 production of Ivan Tors' "Around the World Under the Sea" starring Lloyd Bridges, Shirley Eaton, David McCallum, Marshall Thompson, Keenan Wynn and Brian Kelly.
Writer/director/producer Judd Apatow is known
for his brilliant comedic work. From films such as Knocked Up, Funny People and
This Is 40 to television shows like
Freaks and Geeks, Funny or Die Presents, and Undeclared, Apatow has proven time and time again his extreme
talent in the comedy genre. Recently, Apatow’s directorial debut, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, was released to
4K Blu-ray, just in time to celebrate the movie’s 20th anniversary.
Expertly co-written by Steve Carell and
Apatow (and based on a sketch Carell created while performing at The Second
City), The 40-Year-Old Virgin deals with
Andy Stitzer (Carell) an extremely likeable, but shy 40-year-old who
inadvertently lets his dimwitted co-workers know that he is still a virgin.
After discovering this, the gang does everything in their power to help their
friend lose his virginity.
Filmed in various parts of California, and
released by Universal Pictures in August of 2005, The 40-Year-Old Virgin is an uproarious and heartfelt film with a
slew of well-drawn and memorable characters.
The incredibly entertaining movie not only
features excellent direction by Apatow, but also a well-known, talented cast
(some of who were just starting to get recognized) who all turn in top-notch work.
It’s no surprise that Carell shines in the leading role, but the fun film also
features wonderful performances from Catherine Keener as Andy’s love interest;
Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Jane Lynch and Romany Malco as Andy’s crazy co-workers;
and Elizabeth Banks and Leslie Mann as two women Andy attempts to sleep with. The gifted cast doesn’t stop there, however.
There are also hilarious appearances from David Koechner, Kat Dennings, Kevin
Hart, Mindy Kaling, Gerry Bednob, Nancy Walls, Mo Collins, and Jonah Hill. Just
to name a few.
The 40-Year-Old
Virgin
is presented in both its theatrical and unrated versions. The highly enjoyable
film looks and sounds excellent. I love this movie and I’ve never seen it look
or sound better. Although the ton of special features are mostly ported over
from previous releases, there’s still two hours of new features including a
terrific 20th anniversary discussion featuring Apatow, Carell,
Catherine Keener, Jane Lynch, Kat Dennings and Gerry Bednob. This edition comes
with a slipcover and a digital code, and there’s also a Steelbook version
available. If you’re a fan, you definitely don’t want to miss this release.
Here is the original 1971 production featurette for George Lucas's first feature film, "THX 1138" starring Robert Duvall and Donald Pleasence. Executive Producer was Francis Ford Coppola. The film wasn't especially well received by critics or at the boxoffice but it did provide an opportunity for Lucas to showcase his talents. His next film, "American Graffiti" would earn him international acclaim and there would be no going back.
This early 1970s episode of "The Dick Cavett Show" illustrates why Charles Bronson rarely gave interviews. He was largely unfiltered in being outspoken, albeit in a low-key manner. Here, joined by his wife Jill Ireland, Bronson gripes about making the film "Someone Behind the Door", a 1971 production. He doesn't name the "Swiss director" he refers to (Nicolas Gessner) but criticizes his direction and in doing so, lobs some insults at the Swiss in general! Good thing this was made in the pre-internet era and most of his Swiss fans would remain unaware of his comments.
The
mystery-thriller anthology show was a staple of American television in the
1950s, perhaps thanks to the terrific impact of shows like Alfred Hitchcock
Presents (1955-1962) and The Twilight Zone (1959-1964), with each
story introduced by a distinct personality. They seemed to spring up on every
network, like Thriller (1960-1962) presented by Boris Karloff, One
Step Beyond (1959-1961) presented by John Newland, and even British writer
Roald Dahl had his own show on CBS, Way Out, in 1961.
Alfred
Hitchcock Presents was particularly successful
and turned the British director into a household name across the country. Over
250 half-hour episodes were produced, with Hitchcock himself personally
introducing each one. He was accompanied by his own theme tune, ‘Funeral March
of a Marionette,’ and he even took on the directing reigns on several of them. In
1962 the show was expanded and renamed The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and
lasted for three series until 1965, with Hitch continuing to introduce the stories
and make interjections during each commercial break, often sarcastically
referencing the show’s sponsor. Each series produced around 30 episodes, and season
one is now available on Blu-ray for the first time, utilising brand new 2K
scans of the original negatives. The picture and sound quality here is
excellent, and we can again be grateful that most American TV series were shot
on film meaning they have lasted decades, unlike a lot of vintage British
television which utilised video technology and frequently wiped tapes after
broadcast.
The
early 1960s was truly a golden age of television production in Hollywood, with
highly skilled technicians, often with decades of experience in the movies,
creating a polished product that has stood the test of time. The credits for
the series are extraordinary, too: in this season alone you will find excellent
performances from such stars as Diana Dors, Gene Barry, Robert Redford, Joan
Fontaine, Peter Graves, Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, Dean Jagger and Vera Miles.
Behind the camera, episodes are directed by, amongst others, Paul Henreid,
Sydney Pollack and Alfred Hitchcock himself, with some highly celebrated
writers contributing including Richard Matheson, Barré Lyndon and Robert Bloch.
Every
episode has something to offer. My own personal favourite, although it’s very
hard to narrow it down, is probably ‘Diagnosis: Danger,’ which was directed by
Sidney Pollack from a screenplay by Roland Kibbee. There were hopes that it
could act as a pilot, and that this story of a young doctor at the County
Health office racing to locate the source of an anthrax outbreak in LA could
become a full-fledged series of its own. That sadly never happened, but it does
mean that the main characters in this story are very-well written, with the
star Michael Parks as Dr. Dana very much in the James Dean mould. It’s a
thrilling story with some wonderful set pieces and stunning cinematography
which borrows liberally from the film noir tropes.
This
new region-free Blu-ray set from Imprint Television comes in hardbox packaging which
also contains, alongside its eight discs, a 130-page hardback book which
reproduces some original publicity material and story synopses, alongside
extracts from The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion, first published
in 2001. New audio commentaries on several episodes are provided by several
historians, including Constantine Nasr, Steve Mitchell, Jonathan Rigby and
Kevin Lyons, with each providing well-researched and presented work which
serves to increase one’s appreciation for the show. I can’t wait for Season
Two!
UNIVERSAL PICTURES
CELEBRATES THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF
ROBERT ZEMECKIS’ OSCAR®-WINNING SCI-FI MASTERPIECE
THE ICONIC TIME TRAVELING ADVENTURE FROM STEVEN SPIELBERG’S AMBLIN
ENTERTAINMENT RETURNS TO THEATERS IN PREMIUM FORMATS INCLUDING DOLBY CINEMA, 4DX
AND D-BOX BEGINNING OCTOBER 31
PLUS, AN ALL-NEW 40TH
ANNIVERSARY LIMITED EDITION 4K TRILOGY GIFT SET AND STEELBOOKS ARRIVE OCTOBER
14 FROM UNIVERSAL PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT, FEATURING OVER 90 MINUTES OF ALL-NEW
BONUS FEATURES AND MORE THAN 9 HOURS OF BONUS FEATURES IN TOTAL
TICKETS TO THE THEATRICAL RE-RELEASE
CAN BE PURCHASED HERE
Universal
City, Calif., August 29, 2025 — Universal Pictures is
proud to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Back to the Future,
the Academy Award®–winning sci-fi adventure from director Robert
Zemeckis and executive producer Steven Spielberg that became a global
phenomenon and redefined the adventure genre. On October 31, the beloved 1985
classic returns to theaters nationwide for a limited engagement in premium
large screen formats, including Dolby Cinema, 4DX and D-Box, among others. This
marks the first time Back to the Future will be presented on the world’s
largest screens, offering fans the opportunity to experience the film’s scope
and spectacle in the most immersive formats yet.
Igniting the 40th
anniversary celebration, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment will debut a
must-have lineup of Back to the Future releases on October 14,
just ahead of Back to the Future Day on October 21. The centerpiece is
the Back to the Future Trilogy – 40th Anniversary Limited
Edition Gift Set, featuring all three films in 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray +
Digital, packaged with a collectible Flux Capacitor SteelBook, an exclusive
Gibson Mini Guitar replica, an OUTATIME metal license plate, a Back to
the Future: A Visual History booklet, and an assortment of replica
items from the Universal archives. Fans can also collect individual Steelbooks
for each film or pick up the Back to the Future 40th Anniversary
Trilogy in 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital, perfect for commemorating four
decades of time-traveling adventure.
Released on July 3, 1985, Back
to the Future introduced audiences to Marty McFly (Emmy and Golden Globe
winner Michael J. Fox), a small-town California teenager who is accidentally
transported back to 1955 in a plutonium-powered DeLorean invented by his
eccentric friend, Doc Brown (Emmy winner Christopher Lloyd). Stranded in the
past, Marty must ensure his teenage parents (Lea Thompson and Crispin Glover)
fall in love or risk erasing his own existence. With time running out, he teams
up with a younger Doc in a last-ditch effort to harness a bolt of lightning and
return to 1985.
The film became the
highest-grossing domestic release of 1985 and one of the most enduring movies
of the decade, earning more than $385 million worldwide. It received four
Academy Award® nominations, including Best Original Screenplay, Best
Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Original Song for Huey Lewis and the
News’ “The Power of Love.” The film won for Best Sound Effects Editing.
Zemeckis would go on to
direct a series of celebrated and technically groundbreaking films, including Who
Framed Roger Rabbit, Death Becomes Her, Forrest Gump (for
which he won the Academy Award® for Best Director) and Cast Away,
yet Back to the Future remains a defining achievement in his career. The
film’s perfect blend of character, comedy and innovation helped launch one of
the most successful trilogies in film history and continues to resonate across
generations.
Back to the Future was
directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Oscar®
nominee Bob Gale. The film was produced by Gale and BAFTA nominee Neil Canton
and executive produced by three-time Academy Award® winner Steven
Spielberg. It features cinematography by Oscar® nominee Dean Cundey,
editing by Oscar® winner Arthur Schmidt and BAFTA nominee Harry
Keramidas, production design by Oscar® nominee Lawrence G. Paull,
and an original score by Academy Award® nominee Alan Silvestri.
“Back to the Future
is one of the most iconic films of the last half-century,” said Jim Orr,
President of Domestic Theatrical Distribution for Universal Pictures. “The
film’s wit, wonder and wildly original storytelling continue to captivate
audiences of all ages. This 40th anniversary celebration gives fans the
chance to experience the film’s timeless magic on the biggest, most immersive
screens available today.”
The new lineup of Back to
the Future 40th Anniversary offerings from Universal Pictures
Home Entertainment features a comprehensive look at the legacy of the
franchise. Fans can enjoy hours of bonus features spanning new and archival
content that dives deep into the Back to the Future franchise. The 4K
release will also be available in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, which will
transport fans into the heart of this beloved story with ultravivid picture and
astonishing multi-dimensional sound.
Among the newly produced
features:
40 Years Later: Reflecting on the Future
– Co-writer/producer Bob Gale reflects on the legacy and cultural impact
of the films.
Back to Hill Valley
– Join Bob Gale along with Donald Fullilove (“Mayor Goldie Wilson”) as
they revisit and discuss some of the most iconic filming locations.
Untold Stories of Back to the Future
– Journey back in time with crew members as they share their personal
stories from the set.
TCM Classic Film Festival Panel –
Bob Gale, cinematographer Dean Cundey, and stunt double Charlie Croughwell
reunite at the 40th anniversary premiere.
A Mystery in History
– Discover the rich history of the Gibson guitar Marty McFly plays at the
Enchantment Under the Sea dance and hear from the cast as they rally fans
to help find the iconic prop that’s been missing for 40 years.
The collection also includes
beloved legacy bonus features, including:
Tales from THE FUTURE: 6-Part Documentary
Deleted Scenes (Commentary by Producer Bob
Gale available)
An Alternate Future: Lost Audition Tapes
The Hollywood Museum Goes BACK TO THE FUTURE
BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL Behind the Scenes
Could You Survive the Movies? BACK TO THE
FUTURE
OUTATIME: Restoring the DeLorean
Looking BACK TO THE FUTURE
The Physics of BACK TO THE FUTURE with Dr.
Michio Kaku
Huey Lewis and the News "The Power of
Love" Music Video
ZZ Top "Doubleback" Music Video
BACK TO THE FUTURE: The Ride
Archival Featurettes
Behind the Scenes
2015 Message from Doc Brown
2015 Commercials
BACK TO THE FUTURE: The Animated Series (2 Episodes)
Michael J. Fox Q&A
FAQs About the Trilogy
Theatrical Trailers
Q&A Commentary with Director Robert Zemeckis
and Producer Bob Gale
Feature Commentary with Producers Bob Gale and
Neil Canton
Theatrical tickets are on
sale now and can be purchased here.
Robert Redford, who passed away on September 16 at age 89, came to stardom in the final days of the film industry's fixation with so-called "matinee idols". With his reddish blonde hair, charismatic personality, broad smile and athletic build, Redford looked like he was manufactured by the mythical Hollywood Dream Factory. But Redford would prove to be far more than a standard hunk. Like most stars of his era, he paid his dues by making guest-starring roles on T.V. programs. He made his feature film debut in the little-remembered 1962 movie "War Hunt".The movie would prove to be beneficial to Redford, however, because he co-starred with Sydney Pollack, who would turn his talents towards directing. He and Redford became lifelong friends and collaborators, making seven major films together. In the mid-1960s, Redford had high profile roles in such major films as "Inside Daisy Clover", "The Chase", "This Property is Condemned" and "Barefoot in the Park" (which he had starred in on Broadway), co-starring with some of the industry's biggest names. His major breakthrough came with director George Roy Hill's 1969 revisionist Western "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" opposite superstar Paul Newman. The easy-going humor between the two helped make the film an international sensation and vaulted Redford to superstardom. He also forged a close friendship with Newman that lasted throughout their lives. In 1973, the trio reunited for "The Sting", which won the Oscar for Best Picture and earned Redford his sole nomination (for Best Actor). Redford initially played unsympathetic, roguish characters on occasion, as in director Michael Ritchie's 1969 film Downhill Racer in which he portrayed a skiing champion who is ruthless in his drive for success. However, audiences preferred to see him as a good guy on screen for most of his career, he played to their wishes. Some critics griped that he never stretched too far out of his comfort zone as an actor, but then again neither did such beloved screen legends as Gary Cooper, John Wayne and Steve McQueen.
Redford's presence loomed large in other ways. He founded the Sundance Film Institute and the related Sundance Film Festival, which became a premiere showcase for the work of aspiring and promising young directors. He also left a major imprint on environmental causes. Politically, Redford was a proud liberal but unlike many actors, he was relatively restrained in his activism. His acclaimed 1972 dark comedy The Candidate presented him as a charismatic contender for the Senate who is manipulated by political strategists. He unexpectedly wins the race only to utter the now famous final line, "What do we do now?" Perhaps his most notable political statement was in bringing All the President's Men to the screen in 1976, a scant two years after President Nixon's resignation due to the Watergate scandal. Redford viewed the film as a warning against the rise of criminal and potentially totalitarian governments if they are left unchecked in democracies. The movie was acclaimed as one of the best political thrillers of all time despite the fact that the audience already knew how it would end. Redford later turned his talents to directing and won the Oscar for Best Director for his searing 1981 drama Ordinary People.
Over the ensuing years, Redford continued to distinguish himself as both actor and director. Among the other major films of his career are The Way We Were, Three Days of the Condor, Brubaker, Sneakers, The Hot Rock, The Horse Whisperer, Indecent Proposal, A River Runs Through It and Sydney Pollack's Best Picture Oscar winner Out of Africa. He gave two highly acclaimed late career performances in the whimsical comedy A Walk in the Woods and All is Lost, both of them boxoffice hits. Redford is survived by his wife, two daughters and seven grandchildren.
The Warner Archive has a 4K/Blu-ray double disc set of director Mike Hodges' 1971 crime classic "Get Carter" starring Michael Caine in one of his signature roles. In fact, by this point, Caine arguably had three roles that could qualify as signature roles if one includes Alfie and Harry Palmer. The film took full advantage of the new screen freedoms in the traditionally staid British film industry and the end result is a movie that probably couldn't be made in today's cinematic climate. Caine's titular character, London gangster Jack Carter, beats up numerous people, abuses women and commits cold-blooded murder- and he's the hero, which gives you a sense of how rough the characters play. In the film, which is based on the source novel "Jack's Return Home" by Ted Lewis, we first see Carter as he arrives in his old hometown of Newcastle. It isn't a sentimental journey. He has been informed that his brother Frank (Reg Nevin) has died in a tragic car accident caused by his drunkeness. Jack isn't buying it. He frequents his old, seedy haunts and finds he isn't a welcome presence among the Newcastle gangsters, who enjoy an amiable relationship with Jack's kingpin bosses in London. Carter employs brutal methods to get to the facts behind his brother's death, and as he suspects, it was no accident. The question then becomes how and why did was his brother killed. Employing a combination of seductive charm and brute force, Carter interrogates several women who were involved with his brother. He also attempts to look after his teenage niece now that her father has been murdered. The trail leads to numerous mobsters who are both high and low on the local food chain of gangsters. Jack takes them on (and out) one-by-one, showing no mercy to anyone who seeks to deceive him.
"Get Carter" didn't make a big splash when it was originally released. In this U.S., in some theatrical engagements as the second feature of a double bill with the less-than-auspicious Frank Sinatra Western spoof "Dirty Dingus Magee". Over time, however, an appreciation for the film came about, especially in England where one can still find posters of Caine as Carter in Piccadilly souvenir shops. In fact, the British Film Institute ranks it among the very best movies the country has produced. Director Mike Hodges, who also wrote the acclaimed screenplay, filmed the movie entirely in Newcastle, then a hardscrabble city in the north of England. The plot can be confusing, given the fact that Carter encounters so many dangerous scoundrels and femme fatales. In fact, the movie bears watching a second time just to clarify some of these characters' relationships with Carter. The film is largely devoid of humor, but some exists, such as when a stark naked Carter escorts to scoundrels out of his rooming house at the point of a gun, much to the shock of a hapless woman who just happens to be bringing a milk bottle delivery next door. I wouldn't attempt to explain the intricacies of the plot. It would take too long and ruin the spontaneous rewards of seeing the film for the first time. Suffice it to say that the movie has been brilliantly cast, with even the supporting actors with limited screen time making an impression. Standouts among the prominent supporting players are Ian Hendry as an assassin and acclaimed counter culture playwright John Osborne as an elite crime kingpin. Britt Ekland was prominently billed but she only makes a short appearance, but it certainly is a memorable one, as she engages in phone sex with Carter while she masturbates. (By all means, don't watch the flick with the kids or granny.) The film benefits greatly from Roy Budd's now iconic electronic main them, which is played throughout the film.
The Warner Archive has released "Get Carter" as a 4K/Blu-ray edition that is region-free. There is an abundance of bonus extras, most ported over from previously released special editions. These include two commentary tracks. The first features Michael Caine, Mike Hodges and cinematographer Wolfgang Suschinsky that was recorded in 2000. The interviews were recorded separately but are expertly blended. The interviews are also very candid and discuss some of the more distasteful aspects of making the film, such as dealing with actor Ian Hendry's alcoholism and his resentment of Caine, who got the role of Carter after Hendry had expected to play it. There is also a 2022 commentary track with British film historians Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw that is as illuminating as it is entertaining. There is also a short 2022 intro from Michael Caine, who expresses his sentiments for the film, an original filmed greeting of Caine apologizing to the premiere audience for not being in attendance because he was shooting "X, Y and Zee" with Elizabeth Taylor, an interview with Tony Klinger, son of the colorful and larger-than-life producer of the film, Michael Klinger, a marvelous music video segment showing Roy Budd playing the main theme from the film, a contemporary interview with actress Petra Markham, who played Carter's troubled and exploited niece in the film and an original theatrical trailer (that inexcusably shows key plot surprises) and a 2022 BFI reissue trailer (below).
The print transfer is the best we've seen on video but you should keep in mind that director Hodges shot this film to look unappealing in every way. As Newman and Forshaw point out, it's an intentionally drab looking film with a subdued color palette because it's supposed to present drab characters in the drab world they inhabit. Consequently, no one is dressed in fashionable, bright colors and the exteriors were shot almost exclusively on days that were visually unappealing.
"Get Carter" is a masterpiece of British cinema and the jam-packed Warner Archive 4K is a fitting tribute to its legacy.
Click here to order from the Cinema Retro Movie Store.
Cinema Retro has received the following press release:
Actor Robert Carradine Coming to Omaha for Special Screening of "The
Cowboys"
OMAHA, Neb. — Film
historian Bruce Crawford returns with another unforgettable salute to a
Hollywood classic. On Friday, October 24, audiences will gather at the Omaha
Community Playhouse to experience The Cowboys (1972), the iconic Western
starring John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Browne, and Bruce Dern. Doors open at 6 p.m.,
and the event begins at 7 p.m.
This special evening
features a guest appearance by actor Robert Carradine, who made his film debut
as Slim Honeycutt in The Cowboys. Carradine went on to a long and varied
career, including his beloved role as Lewis Skolnick in the Revenge of the
Nerds films. Fans will have the opportunity to attend a meet-and-greet with
Carradine as part of the evening’s festivities. Brian Downes of the John Wayne
Birthplace Museum from Winterset Iowa will be joining us as well.
Tickets are $30 general
admission and go on sale Wednesday, October 1 at TheJetAward.com or
call 402 350 8000 with proceeds benefiting the Jet Award Foundation.
John Carradine visits John Wayne and Robert Carradine on the set.
(Photo: Bruce Crawford).
Wayne, who was born in
Winterset, Iowa—less than two hours from Omaha—remains one of the most enduring
figures of Hollywood’s Golden Age. His legacy is celebrated in The Cowboys, a
coming-of-age story that pairs his legendary screen presence with a group of
young actors, including Carradine in his first feature role.
Join Bruce Crawford,
Robert Carradine, and the Omaha community in celebrating this American classic
while supporting an important cause.
Event Details:
The Cowboys – A Tribute to
the classic western
Friday, October 24 | 7 p.m. (Doors open at 6 p.m.)
Omaha Community Playhouse | 6915 Cass Street, Omaha, NE 68132
Tickets: $30 | TheJetAward.com or call 402 350 8000
# # #
MEDIA NOTE: For more information or to arrange interviews, please
contact Bruce Crawford at (402) 393-4884 or c165@radiks.net
About Bruce Crawford’s Film Salutes
Bruce Crawford’s classic film tributes have brought legendary films—and the
stars who made them—to Omaha audiences for over 30 years. His events are known
for creating unforgettable evenings that celebrate the power of cinema and
support meaningful local causes.
About the Jet Award Foundation
Founded by Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Rodgers, the Jet Award Foundation helps
end generational poverty by providing two-year scholarships to students
pursuing career and technical education at Metropolitan Community College in
Omaha. The foundation also annually recognizes the top kickoff and punt return
specialist in college football through the Jet Award, ensuring that this vital
role receives the recognition it deserves.
I’ve just started a new job which involves working from home. I’ve
set up an office space in my youngest son’s bedroom, and I sit here each day
with Teams open trying to find things to do. In doing so I’m having flashbacks to four
years ago when we were all sent home from work and I had to create a home
office in this same bedroom. It’s made me realise how strange it is that I’d
basically forgotten those two weird two years. It seems like collectively we
have all quickly moved on from the pandemic and back to some sort of normal
life, so reminders of that global craziness are now quite jarring. I had this
experience watching Eddington (Ari Aster, 2025) recently, with its
scenes of people queueing outside supermarkets and arguing with each other
about masks. I can’t be the only one to have pushed all that to the back of my
mind.
So this new book from Headpress is an interesting, timely reminder
that not only did we experience a global pandemic, but that we have been
fascinated by them throughout history, and this has always played out in our
popular culture – one only has to read Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron,
published in 1353, to see how they dealt with lockdown in the Middle Ages. Richard
Scheib, editor-in-chief of the film review site www.moriareviews.com, noticed an
uptick in searches for films about pandemics in those first few months of
lockdown in 2020, and was thus inspired to put together this guide to films and
shows that deal with some sort of contagion or outbreak (the fact that both of
those things are also film titles just shows how much we’ve been entertained by
this stuff over the years). This is a fascinating and eclectic collection of
essays and reviews dealing with different kinds of outbreaks, from real-world
pandemics like Bird Flu and Ebola, through to more the fantastical vampire and
zombie apocalypse scenarios that began with Richard Matheson’s novel I Am
Legend (1954) and the current mainstream success of shows like The
Walking Dead (2010-2022) and its many spinoffs.
Panic in the Streets (Elia Kazan, 1950)
is one of the earliest examples of a film about a viral epidemic, combining
film noir style with the police procedural as Richard Widmark’s doctor pursues
Jack Palance’s plague-infected gangster through the streets of New Orleans, and
this would be followed by many more, such as the biowarfare thriller The Satan
Bug (John Sturges, 1965), or the brilliantly designed extra-terrestrial
infection film The Andromeda Strain (Robert Wise, 1971). There are many
films in this book that are familiar, but have perhaps not before been grouped
together by type of infection or closely analysed to see how well they handle
basic precautions. In Panic in the Streets, Barbara Bel Geddes character
Nancy, wife of Widmark’s doctor, would probably have stood no chance, given how
careless he is at shielding her from potential infection when he comes home for
a cup of coffee.
Scheib has also watched a lot of more recent films which most people
will never have heard of, or particularly want to see, in order for this book
to be as authoritative as possible, from Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak
on a Plane (Scott Thomas, 2007) to Virus Shark (Mark Polonia, 2021).
We owe the author our thanks and our sympathy. My one criticism of this book is
that despite these more outré films being included, there are a couple of
notable omissions: I would have expected Val Guest’s smallpox outbreak drama 80,000
Suspects (1963) to get a mention, along with The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
episode ‘Diagnosis: Danger’ (also 1963), which is effectively a remake of Panic
in the Streets, replacing New Orleans for LA, and the plague for Anthrax.
A Viewing Guide to the Pandemic: Depictions of Plague and Pandemic
on Film and TVis another left field, entertaining film book from Headpress and is
recommended for anyone who, like me, has just remembered the pandemic and needs
to watch some films to see just how bad things could have been.
A Viewing Guide to the Pandemic can be
ordered from Headpress:
If there was ever a film
director who was born to do yet another adaptation of a Dr. Fu Manchu book, it was
Jess Franco, the Spanish film director who passed away in 2013 at the age of 82.
Adaptations of many of the Sax Rohmer books, that featured the Asian villain, began
with a 1923 British silent film version of The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu,
which was the first of a series of serial films. Many actors have played Fu
Manchu in films, including Boris Karloff and John Carradine. Christopher Lee first
played Fu Manchu in The Face of Fu Manchu in 1965, followed by The
Brides of Fu Manchu in 1966, both directed by Don Sharp. The Vengeance
of Fu Manchu was the third film in the series and was directed by Jeremy
Summers. Lee’s fourth time in the role was in The Blood of Fu Manchu in
1968, Franco’s Fu Manchu directorial debut, followed by The Castle of Fu
Manchu in 1969, both now gloriously reissued as two-disc sets, featuring a
4K Ultra HD disc and a Blu-ray disc, in a slipcase package from Blue
Underground.
Lee, like Karloff and
Carradine, in retrospect carried the baggage of being a white man playing an
Asian role and, to compound the problem, inhabited a character that projected
negative Asian stereotypes, which were unavoidable if the story was to be a faithful
depiction of the Rohmer books, which were written starting in 1913. Thankfully,
Lee brings his chameleon-like ability to play a well-worn villain with a
certain class and dignity, while still being Christopher Lee. Before he played Fu
Manchu, he played the lead role in Terror of the Tongs in 1961, which featured
a character that was a thinly veiled take-off on the Fu Manchu character, in
the guise of Mr. Ming in a film that had some of the Rohmer milieu. While Lee
has always been good at playing evil, Franco helps Lee bring an even more diabolical,
menacing and controlled egomaniacal approach to the material, particularly in The
Blood of Fu Manchu.
In The
Blood of Fu Manchu, the plot centers around Fu Manchu in his Amazon
headquarters, where he is going to use a local poison on the leaders of the
world. The poison will be delivered by the alluring slave girls he has
forcefully enlisted, who are injected with the poison by snake bite. Franco
clearly is at home with the lurid and sleazy scenes where the girls are forced
to do Fu Manchu’s bidding and are imprisoned and shackled either partially nude
or barely clothed, and he plays up both the nudity and the violence.
The movie has a lush,
bright, saturated look, that fortunately doesn’t go too far into becoming a
comic book adaptation. Franco’s frequent zoom cuts intensify the human drama
and there is often a sense of doom and danger. His wide shots that place the
characters almost in miniature bring not so much a widescreen feel as a sense
of how high the obstacles are for the characters to overcome and how below them
lurks a myriad of unknown dangers and pitfalls. While the Fu Manchu of the
books and the earlier Lee and pre-Lee films depict a frightening singular evil
villain, Franco ratchets up the sadistic measures Fu Manchu is willing to implement
to achieve his end goal of world domination and vengeance. Fortunately, Lee
plays it cool, is always in control and leaves the dirty work to his henchmen,
which include his daughter, Lin Tang, played with icy disdain by Tsai Chin in
all five Lee Fu Manchu films, his army of ninja-like dacoits and others he
enlists. While the large cast is welcome, unfortunately we don’t see as much of
Lee as one would hope. Also, Fu Manchu’s main foil, Sir Nayland Smith, a Sherlock
Holmes-like figure played perfectly by Richard Greene, takes time before he even
shows up in the film and then, after being poisoned, is rarely seen, except for
while he is convalescing. We do see a decent amount of his Dr. Watson-like
sidekick Dr. Petrie, played by Howard Marion-Crawford, who is equally well cast.
The character of Carl Jensen, who should have served as a minor character,
receives more than his share of screen time, as the does the bandit leader Sancho
Lopez.
Franco has made a variety of
films over the years, but he thrives as a B-movie exploitation auteur who loves
to push the envelope. The gratuitous violent segments, particularly at Fu Manchu’s
hideout, would be deemed politically incorrect at best these days and almost
cross the line as unnecessary for the plot. The story sometimes gets bogged
down and takes unneeded detours, but it’s never overly confusing. The brief
scenes that include the iconic Shirley Eaton seem tacked on to add her name to
the credits.
Regardless of any of the
problems mentioned above, fans of Lee, Franco, exploitation B-movies and films
of the 60s will love this new reissue of the film. While it may not be quite
everything those filmgoers would want, it is in some ways a minor classic of
the series and of the B-movie exploitation genre of the late 60s. Franco was
such a prolific director (he did nearly 200 films) that some of his films can
have very low rent production values or be a complete mess, but not this film. This
two-disc package includes the unrated European version of the film on a 4K
Ultra DH disc and a regular Blu-ray disc. Some of the extras include audio
commentaries, trailers, interviews with Franco, Lee, Eaton and producer Harry
Alan Towers. There’s also an interview with film historian and author Stephen
Trower about Fu Manchu, a poster, a still gallery and a comedic RiffTrax presentation
of the film.
It's amazing how something
so politically incorrect in many spots and considered an exploitation movie as The
Blood of Fu Manchu has held up all these years later. This is B-movie exploitation
fun and more than worthy of this bespoke reissue.
The
1980s were awash in Cold War fears of nuclear Armageddon. These fears were not
unfounded as the United States and the then-Soviet Union were embroiled in an
arms race which had its genesis in World War II. A proliferation of films was
released during the Eighties, among them: David Lowell Rich’s Enola Gay: The
Men, The Mission, The Atomic Bomb (1980), an NBC made-for-TV movie
dramatizing the B-29 mission that dropped the first atomic bomb, code name
Little Boy, on Hiroshima; Kevin Rafferty, Jayne Loader, and Pierce Rafferty’s The
Atomic Cafe (1982) documentary on nuclear war; Nicholas Meyer’s The Day
After (1983) was an ABC made-for-TV movie that students were instructed not
to watch (at least at my school); John Badham’s War Games (1983), which
put acoustically coupled modems and Matthew Broderick on the map with this
eerily prescient summer film about global thermonuclear war and computer
hacking long before the latter became lucrative and fashionable; Lynne
Littman’s Testament (1983), a quiet, understated film about the after
effects of a nuclear bomb explosion; Fred Barzyk’s Countdown to Looking
Glass (1984), a Canadian made-for-TV movie illustrating nuclear tensions
between the United States, the Soviet Union, Mike Jackson’s Threads (1984), a British
television film depicting the after effects of a nuclear attack on a small town
in the United Kingdom and Roland Joffe’s Fat Man and Little Boy (1989)which starred Paul Newman in the story of the development of the first
atomic bomb.
Then
there is Steve DeJarnett’s Miracle Mile, the off-beat end-of-the-world
flick which opened on Friday, May 19, 1989. It was
a summer of sequels and being that it was a low-budget film it obviously lacked
the advertising dollars behind it that Tim Burton’s Batman, Steven Spielberg’s Indiana
Jones and the Last Crusade, and James Cameron’s The Abyss had, so it sort of needed to find its audience on its
own. I was fortunate enough to have seen the film in a theater at the time, but
its theatrical run was short-lived. The film stars Anthony Edwards of Revenge of the Nerds (1984) and Mare
Winningham of St. Elmo’s Fire (1985)
as a couple who manage to bump into each other and fall in love at first sight
(they married in 2021 in real life). Filmed on the streets of Los Angeles in
1987, it is most definitely an 80s film, and that becomes apparent by the lack
of cell phones, the older looking automobiles and the crazy workout garb worn
by men and women alike near the end of the film.
The story itself
is simple and straightforward as the action takes place one night and into the
following morning in Los Angeles, although there is a lot more going on here
than meets the eye. Harry Washello (Edwards) is a trombone player with no real
plans in life until he meets Julie (Winningham), the woman he feels is his
soulmate. In fact, the playfulness of their relationship is so natural and
comedic that the director lulls the audience into a false sense of security; we
cannot believe that anything awful is going to befall these two characters.
After having overslept due to an electrical outage at his apartment building,
Harry rushes back to Johnie’s Coffee Shop to meet up with Julie hours after the time he said he
would, only to find she is no longer there (from this point on, the movie plays
out in real, onscreen time). Out of frustration he picks up a newspaper and is
distracted by a phone call coming into a public telephone booth (remember
those?). The caller is a panic-stricken employee in a missile silo who
misdialed while attempting to reach his father and tells Harry that nuclear
warheads are heading towards Los Angeles, giving him roughly an hour to get
away from the blast radius. Bewildered by what he has just heard, Harry elects
to share this info with the proprietor, waitress and regular patrons, who all
panic and make a mad dash out of the city. Harry, however, cannot leave Julie
behind, and races to find her before it is too late. He breaks and loses his
glasses in a moment that recalls Burgess Meredith’s fate in the “Time Enough At
Last” episode of The Twilight Zone (I
recall reading at the time of the film’s release that Miracle Mile was once intended as either part of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) or as an
episode of the 1985 revival of the series, and it was to star Gene Hackman and
Anne Archer, both of whom would later appear in Peter Hyams’s remake of The
Narrow Margin in 1990). Once he does, he attempts to keep the news of the
missiles a secret from her for as long as he can so as not to upset her.
The film does an
excellent job of introducing us to these charming characters, then pulling out
the rug from underneath us with sudden, violent scenes of mass hysteria and
panic which range from people looting and fighting in the streets to an
unbelievably prophetic image on a TV in a storefront window of a newsman and
his camera being murdered by a stranger in the street wielding a pistol. On the
surface, it is a film about a nuclear attack, but there is a considerable
amount of subtext going on that makes the film a fascinating subject of repeat
viewing. A lot of “What ifs?” occur, such as what if Harry had not been so
careless in discarding his cigarette, and what if that bird failed to pick it
up and bring it to its nest, only to short circuit the power to Harry’s
apartment building and make him oversleep?What if Harry did not get to the telephone booth later and answer the
prophetic phone call? It is a wake-up call – in a phone booth – of fate and
chance.
One of the things
that makes the film work so well besides director Steve De Jarnatt’s script,
which was written in the 1970’s and shopped around for ten years, and Theo van
de Sande’s colorful cinematography is the stunning and dynamic electronic
musical score by Tangerine Dream, a minimalist New Age Germany-based group
founded in 1967 by the late Edgar Froese. Having released over 100 studio
albums, they somehow managed to find the time to score a good number of motion
pictures (although some of their scores were culled from music released earlier
on their studio albums, as was the case with Paul Brickman’s Risky Business
in 1983). They provided an electronic score to William Friedkin’s 1977 version
of The Wages of Fear called Sorcerer (director De Jarnatt admits in
one of the commentaries that his listened to this score while writing Miracle Mile), Michael Mann’s Thief (1981), Michael Laughlin’s Strange Behavior (1981), and James Glickenhaus’s The Soldier. Their music also greatly
enhanced Michael Mann’s The Keep (1983) and Mark L. Lester’s Firestarter (1984). Of great note in Miracle Mile is the music that plays during the film’s opening
credits when Harry and Julie keep missing each other during the museum tour;
Harry’s unfortunate oversleeping into the wee hours of the morning as Julie
waits for him on Wilshire Boulevard (which is a slightly altered variation of
the “Love on a Real Train” track from Risky
Business); and the escape by the coffee shop owner and patrons to get on
the road as quickly as possible and leave Los Angeles.
All the supporting
actors and actresses in this film provide terrific performances. One of the two
women who appear near the end of the film, brandishing machine guns to escape
via helicopter, is none other than Jenette Goldstein from Aliens (1986), Near Dark
(1987, which Tangerine Dream also scored), and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). It is also a real treat to see
the late John Agar in a small role.
Miracle Mile caught on later through its availability on
home video and screenings on cable TV and has since developed a cult following,
however the look of the film was never effectively reproduced very well. The
HBO Video VHS cassette and the Image Entertainment laserdisc simply did not
possess the technical ability to reproduce the cinematographer’s carefully
constructedcandy-colored palette.
MGM/UA released it on DVD with a ludicrous mock-up cover and a single-layer
transfer.All of that has thankfully
been rectified with this high-definition transfer by Kino Lorber, and the
company has retained the film’s movie poster key art on the reverse cover of
the new two-disc Blu-ray release. The colors are bright and colorful and pop
out off the screen at you. There is some film grain but nothing too
distracting.
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Pierce Brosnan's debut as James Bond 007 in "GoldenEye", the film will be released to select international cinemas on October 3. For more information, click here.
An international all-star cast features in director Rene
Clement’s “Is Paris Burning?”, an epic tale of days leading up to the liberation
of Paris in August 1944 after four years of Nazi occupation. A symbol of
freedom and liberty, Paris is the home of many architectural marvels including the
Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral and the Eiffel Tower. All of which were on the
brink of being destroyed by the Germans as they withdrew as the Allies drew
closer. Members of the French Resistance took bold steps to meet with the Allies
and plead with them to liberate the city before the Germans withdrew and did
the unthinkable.
In some ways, the film is a follow up to Clement’s “The
Day and the Hour” which also depicts the French Resistance and both films share
connective celluloid tissue with “The Longest Day” in which the Resistance is
ever-present during the Normandy invasion. In this film, the Resistance takes
center stage, showcasing their efforts to save the city from potential
destruction as the Nazi withdrawal approaches.
While the movie is epic in scope, it’s also the story of
the people of Paris and their efforts to save individuals including those being
deported ahead of the German retreat and their pleading with the German general
to avoid destruction of the city. The German retreat, Allied approach, the insurgency
by the citizens and the eagerness of the Resistance all coalesce like the
anticipation of an impending World Series or Superbowl victory-except the
stakes are much higher here.
Gert Frobe is the German occupation commander, General
Dietrich von Choltitz, responsible for holding Paris with orders by Hitler to
burn the city if he cannot hold it. His orders also include destroying key
bridges, factories, power plants and historical landmarks. If his men resist
the Allied advance, it could result in the bombardment of Paris and the
destruction of historical landmarks and countless civilian deaths. Von
Cholititz tells Swedish Consul Raoul Nordling (Orson Welles), “Herr Consul, if
I thought that the destruction of Paris could win the war for Germany... I
would set the city on fire myself. But we've lost the war.”
Frobe is excellent, as he was in nearly everything from
comedic parts in “Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies” and “Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang” to German soldiers in countless WWII movies and let’s not
forget his iconic portrayal as the title character in the James Bond classic
“Goldfinger.” Frobe gives a memorable performance here as the German commander.
Orson Welles is the Swedish consul trying to save Françoise
Labé’s (Leslie Caron) husband from being deported to Germany along with
hundreds of other French citizens on the eve of liberation. Nordling’s car crisscrosses
Paris draped in a Swedish flag as he gathers the signatures necessary to
extract Bernard Labé (Tony Taffin) from prison. Their story ends in tragedy after
they find Bernard at the train station. Labe continues to implore General von
Choltitz to make a truce with the French Resistance rather than destroy Paris.
Then there are the French Resistance fighters preparing
for liberation or, possibly, the destruction of Paris. Pierre Vaneck is
outstanding as Major Roger Gallois, who travels unarmed
through German lines in what appears to be an impossible attempt to reach the Allies
and implore them to liberate Paris rather than go around it or worse, confront
the Germans in a battle for Paris. Gallois reaches General Patton (played by
Kirk Douglas) and gains access to the Allied leadership including Brig. General
Edwin L. Sibert played by Robert Stack, General Leclerc played by Claude Rich
and Lt. General Omar N. Bradley played by Glenn Ford. Major Gallois returns to Paris
to advise the various factions of the French Resistance. Also known as the
Maquis, the Resistance may appear to be of one unified front fighting the German
occupation and puppet Vichy regime. However, they were made up of several
factions including academics, aristocrats, students, Catholics, Jews, communists,
anarchists, fascists and others.
Among the members of the Resistance are Bruno Cremer as
Colonel Rol-Tanguy, Alain Delon as Jacques Chaban-Delmas, Charles Boyer as Docteur
Monod, Claude Dauphin as Colonel Lebel, Daniel Gélin as Yves Bayet and too many
others to list here. They have a difficult time keeping the various factions focused,
but when French flags start flying on the tops of building, they and we know
that liberation is at hand.
Among the Free French soldiers are Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean-Pierre
Cassel and Yves Montand in cameos. Simone Signoret has a cameo as a café owner
greeting the French soldiers as they use her phone to call home to Paris in
advance of their arrival. I admit I get choked up while watching these
liberation scenes as French civilians cheer on the Allied troops as they
approach and eventually enter Paris. German resistance continues along the way as
they approach Paris, where they ultimately place explosives throughout the city.
Among the American troops are George Chakiris as a tank
soldier, E.G. Marshall as an intelligence officer and Anthony Perkins as Sergeant
Warren, who is eager to see Paris and the Eiffel Tower and tells a French
fighter he never tasted wine until Normandy. The Germans are defending their
position until the bitter end. General von Choltitz postpones destruction until
it is time for his surrender.
General von Choltitz surrenders to French soldiers and is
brought out to the street and becomes their prisoner. When the Notre Dame bells
start ringing and the people on the street are singing and cheering as they rip
a German flag, one recognizes that General von Choltitz is fighting on the wrong
side, but his legacy is a mixed one, as he defied Hitler’s orders to destroy
the city von Chotitz loved. In the final scene, archival footage of a Paris liberated
fades into modern color footage of The City of Light as seen from above. Even
though we knew the outcome from the start, the film builds tension as we move
toward liberation with anticipation and excitement.
(Original trade magazine advertisement.)
The screenplay was co-written by Gore Vidal and Francis
Ford Coppola based on the book by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. The
black-and-white widescreen cinematography is by Marcel Grignon and looks
beautiful. The editing by Robert Lawrence is also very good, incorporating
stock Resistance and combat footage shot in the approaches to Paris. The score
by Maurice Jarre is magnificent and is both epic and intimate. It’s among his
his best scores.
The movie includes the roadshow overture and intermission
with that terrific score. The film is just under three hours clocking in at 173
minutes. The Kino Lorber Blu-ray looks and sounds terrific in glorious black-and-white.
Paramount, American Zoetrope and Francis Ford Coppola remastered the film from
the original camera negative. The disc includes an audio commentary by Daniel
Kremer and Howard S. Berger which is fact-filled with anecdotes about the cast
and crew. The disc also includes trailers for “Day and the Hour,” “The Train”
and “The Great Escape.” This is a must-see film and I loved every minute of it.
The movie and this Kino Lorber Blu-ray is highly recommended for fans of Rene
Clement and WWII epics.
Whether
one has kept up with filmmaker Wes Anderson’s feature film output or not, one
thing is immediately clear when viewing his 2021 title, The French Dispatch
of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (the full title)—and that is Anderson does
have a unique, singular, and highly personal stylistic vision of how his films
should look. The director’s playful use of color, black and white, different
aspect ratios, symmetrical compositions (or the exact opposite), and captions
or subtitles are inimitably identifiable as his own.
This
is also in league with the way Anderson presents his movies—with wry humor, quirky
dialogue and acting, a “stock company” of regular players, and unconventional
narrative structure. In short, Anderson is one of those film auteurs whose
work easily justifies that label. No other filmmaker today does movies quite like
Anderson.
The
French Dispatch is
an affectionate homage to The New Yorker magazine. Anderson is obviously
a fan. The film’s conceit is that “The French Dispatch” is a news bureau based
in a fictional French town (Ennui-sur-Blasé, called simply
“Ennui”) that is an offshoot of a fictional magazine in America, “The Evening
Star” in fictional Liberty, Kansas. The Dispatch’s similarity to The New
Yorker is entirely intentional. Characters in the film are based on real New
Yorker journalists and editors, and characters in the stories are often
inspired by real personages. The film, then, becomes an anthology of dramatized
Dispatch articles, each written by a different journalist/editor, and starring
a different cast of actors. The stories are held together by the thread of
editor Arthur Howitzer Jr. (Bill Murray) working through the picture until his
untimely demise (dramatized at the opening of the movie and circling back at
the end).
Howitzer’s
will states that the Dispatch will publish a final issue upon his death,
containing four specific stories, and these are the ones presented. The first,
“The Cycling Reporter,” follows Herbsaint Sazerac (Owen Wilson) on a bicycle around
Ennui as he does a travel guide to the town. Next, “The Concrete Masterpiece,”
has J. K. L. Berensen (Tilda Swinton) covering a convict painter, Moses
Rosenthaler (Benicio Del Toro) who paints portraits of his guard (Léa
Seydoux) in the nude and wrestles with art dealer Julien Cadazio (Adrien Brody)
over sales of his work. “Revisions to a Manifesto” features Lucinda Krementz
(Frances McDormand) covering a student revolt led by chess master “Zeffirelli”
(Timothée Chalamet) and the triangle that forms when
Juliette (Lyna Khoudri) objects to the manifesto but also has an infatuation
with Zeffirelli. “The Private Dining Room of the Police Commissioner” follows
journalist Roebuck Wright (Jeffrey Wright), who is invited to dinner with the
police commissioner (Mathew Amalric) because his chef (Stephen Park) is
supposedly a world-class cook—but things go awry when the commissioner’s young
son is kidnapped by a group led by a chauffeur (Edward Norton). The final
epilogue is how the staff of the Dispatch deals with Howitzer’s death.
Of
the presented tales, “The Concrete Masterpiece” is possibly the most engaging
and funniest. “The Private Dining Room of the Police Commissioner” reminds one
of the Akira Kurosawa film High and Low (and the Spike Lee remake Hightest
2 Lowest) in its machinations of the kidnapping, and it is entertaining.
The weakest segment is the middle one, and it’s no fault of the actors—it just
doesn’t quite work.
Besides
the cast already mentioned, others include Jason Schwartzman, Elisabeth Moss,
Bob Balaban, Henry Winkler, Lois Smith, Christoph Waltz, Rupert Friend, Liev
Schreiber, Willem Dafoe, Saoirse Ronan, Fisher Stevens, Griffin Dunne, and
Anjelica Huston as a narrator. Quite a list of dramatis personae.
That
said, The French Dispatch is perhaps a tad too long to completely
provide a coherent cinematic experience that doesn’t become tiresome. There’s
only so much of Anderson’s cute and colorful whimsy one can take without a
fully engaging storyline into which an audience can disappear. This is not to
say that the film lacks many amusing and entertaining moments and segments. The
actors are all wonderful. And the visuals—they are indeed exquisite and, frame
after frame, a display of eye candy. Alexandre Desplat’s musical score is also
delightful..
(Photo: Criterion)
The
main issue is likely that a mass, general audience will not get the jokes. Will
non-readers of The New Yorker truly appreciate what’s going on here?
Will anyone realize that McDormand’s character, Lucinda Krementz, is based on
real New Yorker journalist Mavis Gallant? Will they care that Murray’s
editor, Howitzer, is based on The New Yorker’s co-founder, Harold Ross?
Does it matter?
Well,
for those in the audience who do know The New Yorker and its style, its
content, its cartoons—then they will probably most be in tune with The
French Dispatch. Everyone else might be bemused, but they also may perhaps
be confused or even annoyed. In the end, the picture is an interesting and
honorable entry in Wes Anderson’s canon, but nowhere near his best.
The
Criterion Collection has released a beautiful-looking 4K digital master
supervised and approved by Anderson, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio
soundtrack. There is an enlightening audio commentary featuring Anderson with
Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman (co-writers of the story).
Supplements
abound. A selected-scene “storyboard animatic” presents a few segments in
animation. Behind-the scenes videos, an interview with visual artist Sandro
Kopp (who did Rosenthaler’s work in the film), a music video of “Aline” by
Jarvis Cocker, and segments of several of the actors reading actual New
Yorker articles—all of these are a delight. There’s a visual essay featuring
film scholar David Bordwell’s writing read by Rupert Friend. A segment on the
film’s miniatures, and the creation of Ennui out of the real French town of
Angoulème are also entertaining. Trailers, promo
segments, and English subtitles for the hearing impaired are included. The
booklet contains an essay by critic Richard Brody, a poster by Javi Aznarez,
and other material.
The
French Dispatch is
for fans of Wes Anderson, of the many regular cast members, and of quirky
comedy-dramas with visual flairs.
(CLaudia Cardinale graced the cover of Cinema Retro issue #36 in which the making of "The Professionals" was covered.)
By Lee Pfeiffer
Claudia Cardinale, an icon of international cinema, has passed away at age 87. Although she is thought of as an Italian movie star, Cardinale was born in Tunis to Sicilian parents and according to Variety, did not learn to speak Italian until she entered the film industry. She had obstacles to overcome. As a teenager she became pregnant after being raped. She would later recall that she had to live a lie by pretending her son Patrick was actually her brother, a ruse necessitated to protect her early career in the film industry. With her striking looks and charismatic personality, Cardinale seemed destined for stardom but initially, she wasn't overly enthused about the profession. She won a national beauty contest in Tunisia and her prize was a high-profile trip to the Venice Film Festival. But Cardinale didn't capitalize on the publicity because at the time she didn't aspire to be an actress. Once she entered the film industry, she made an immediate impression in her screen debut in the 1958 crime comedy "Big Deal on Madonna Street". Indeed, she was one of a number of prominent young European actresses who took international cinema by storm in the 1950s and 1960s, including her contemporaries Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida. To use the vernacular of the era, they were referred to as "bombshells" but managed to overcome sexist perceptions by proving they could deliver powerful performances. Indeed, almost from the beginning of her career, Cardinale worked with giants of international cinema: Fellini, Vicsconti, Gance and Leone among them. She was memorably cast in Fellini's avant garde semi-autobiographical classic "8 1/2", playing Marcello Mastroianni's muse and an idealized symbol of his sexual fantasies. She later transcended from being a European star to an internationally acclaimed actress, working in high profile English language films.
She proved to be a popular presence in major Hollywood productions, which afforded her to work with notable American directors. She had a prominent role in director Blake Edwards' 1964 comedy classic "The Pink Panther" with Peter Sellers and David Niven and in Henry Hathaway's Cinerama roadshow production of "Circus World" opposite John Wayne. She played a key character in director Richard Brooks' 1966 classic Western, "The Professionals", holding her own against a macho male cast headed by Burt Lancaster (who she had previously starred with in Visconti's "The Leopard"), Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan and Woody Strode. A couple of years later, she found herself once again in a high profile Western opposite a cast of prominent male stars (Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Jason Robards) in Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West". The film was underrated during its initial release and was butchered when shown in America. However, over the decades it has been restored and acclaimed as one of the great movies of its era. In 1982, she starred in Werner Herzog's quirky classic "Fitzcarraldo". Cardinale remained active throughout her life, making movies until recent years. She earned praise from feminists for never attempting to hide her age and proudly playing the roles of older female characters. She was living in France when she passed away. Her contributions to international cinema will ensure that her achievements will always be appreciated by movie fans.
In the mid to late 1990s, cinema history
repeated itself. Just like John Carpenter’s masterful 1978 classic Halloween started the slasher craze
which saw literally hundreds of fun slasher films produced well into the late
1980s, Wes Craven’s iconic Scream (1996)
spawned its own batch of entertaining imitations the likes of Urban Legend (1998), The Faculty (1998) and Valentine
(2000). However, the first of these Hollywood cash-ins was 1997’s I Know What You Did Last Summer; a
movie which was just given a 4K Blu-ray steelbook release.
Loosely based on Lois Duncan’s 1973 young
adult novel of the same name (which was changed to fit the slasher formula), I Know What You Did Last Summer tells
the story of four friends who, while driving drunk on the 4th of
July, inadvertently run over someone in the middle of the night and then dump
the body into the ocean. One year later, the foursome begin receiving ominous
notes before being stalked by a large figure wearing a fisherman’s slicker and
wielding a huge, sharp hook.
Solidly directed by Jim Gillespie and very
well written by Kevin Williamson (who penned
Scream), I Know What You Did Last
Summer is an engaging, mostly character driven and, in my opinion, somewhat
underrated slasher film which has more in common with the traditional 70s/80s
slashers than with Scream’s more
self-referential style. The slower moving, but atmospheric and suspenseful film
features four terrific young leads with Jennifer Love Hewitt being a standout
as final girl Julie James. The remaining three—Freddie Prinze Jr., Ryan
Phillippe and Sarah Michelle Gellar—turn in excellent performances and are
supported by an equally talented cast which includes Johnny Galecki, Bridgette
Wilson, Anne Heche and Muse Watson.
Lensed in both California and North Carolina, I Know also greatly benefits from moody
cinematography by Denis Crossan, and a memorable music score from John Debney.
Released by Columbia Pictures in October of
1997, I Know What You Did Last Summer
made over $125 million on a budget of only $17 mil. To date, it has spawned
three sequels; the last being a 2025 legacy sequel which features Jennifer Love
Hewitt and Freddie Prinze, Jr. reprising their original roles.
I Know What You Did
Last Summer has
been released by Sony as a 4K/Blu-ray steelbook combo and is presented in its original
2.39:1 aspect ratio. The film looks fantastic and the audio is incredible. (I
believe these are the same 4K/Blu-ray discs from the 2022 release.) Special features
on the 4K disc include Deleted Scenes; My
Own Summer: An interview with director Jim Gillespie, and He Knows What You Did:An Interview with Muse Watson (who
plays the killer fisherman). The Blu-ray contains an audio commentary with Jim
Gillespie and editor Steve Mirkovich; The director’s short film: Joyride (with optional commentary); the
featurette Now I Know What You Did Last
Summer; the music video Hush by
Kula Shaker; and the original theatrical trailer.
The steelbook features the original poster
image on front with a nice image of the fisherman on back. These images also
appear on the discs. The interior of the steelbook is covered by the ominous
handwritten note given to each of the four main characters. For anyone who
doesn’t already have the 2022 release, this is highly recommended.
I
dove into my fair share of men’s magazines after I mustered the courage to
purchase my first issue of Playboy when I was fifteen by convincing the
not-much-older-than-that woman behind the cash register that I was actually
seventeen. I was startled by the sheer number of adult titles available on the
newsstand, none of which I had occasion to have heard of prior. One that stood
out (no pun intended, of course) was Cavalier, a term which describes
someone as dismissive or offhanded about important matters. Stephen King’s
early short stories appeared in some of these publications. One such story is Graveyard
Shift, a tale about a handful of men tasked with clearing out the
subbasement of a Maine-based mill that runs an ancient picker machine in the
textile industry. It appeared in the October 1970 issue of Cavalier and
was later featured in Mr. King’s 1978 short story compilation Night Shift.
Graveyard Shift was adapted into a film by John Esposito. This nearly
90-minute film was shot in the summer of 1990 and released right before
Halloween the same year. Its quick turnaround from the start of principal
photography to final release shows in the end product, and has been universally
reviled among most critics, horror fans and even Mr. King himself as one of the
weakest adaptations of his works.
Unlike
the short story, which only features a handful of characters, the film
increases the number of people to include a few females, one of whom rises to
the occasion. John Hall (David Andrews) is an itinerant who makes his way to a
small town in Maine and is hired by Warwick (Steven Macht of Fred Dekker’s 1987
horror-comedy The Monster Squad), an unnecessarily brutal and conniving
foreman who beds many of the women in town. Hall is there to help clean up the
subbasement of the rat-infested building which houses an old textile machine. The
most pressing question should really be why did the building fall into such a
deplorable state of condition? The townsfolk are comprised of the stereotypical
groups one would expect to see in good old Small Town, USA: the waitresses who fend
off sexual advances from men who still behave like oversexed, high school
bullies; elders who are biding their time; and The New Guy in Town.
Tucker
Cleveland (Brad Dourif, who is an excellent actor and has made some truly
interesting career decisions) is a rat exterminator who meets a grisly end when
he attempts to kill off some of the rats which can be traced to the adjacent
cemetery. His suggestion that the company be shut down due to the rat
infestation more than likely had a hand in his premature demise, as a later
sequence reveals the requisite recommendations from both Cleveland and OSHA
that the mill be closed, and hence the financial fall-out of such an action.
As
the men and one woman go to tackle the basement, a series of events transpires
that lead them to both the realization that there is more going on here than
meets the eye and to some of their deaths. While the idea of running into the
basements to confront these evil creatures can be the stuff of nightmares, much
of the shots of the overall monster behind the terror come off as campy.
Graveyard
Shift was released on Friday,
October 26, 1990, which was the day that I met Mr. King at the long-gone but
then-newly opened Tower Books on Lafayette Street in New York City. He was
appearing there to sign copies of his new book at the time, Four Past
Midnight.
I
applaud the efforts of Kino Lorber and their new special edition of the film,
but I need to ask the question: Do we really need a separate 4K disc of this
movie when the Blu-ray would suffice? I have to respectfully vote nay.
Transferring the film to this superior format does not improve the movie one
iota. I honestly could not tell the difference in picture quality from 1080p
high definition to 4K ultra high definition.
The
two-disc set comes with the movie only on a 4K disc, and a Blu-ray with the
film and extras ported over from a previous release of the film. The most
interesting and informative aspect of this overall package is the running audio
commentary by the always reliable film historian Howard S. Berger who is joined
by his contemporary Mark Edward Heuck. They bring into view a truly
introspective and entertaining dialog that touches on the movies about rats
that were in release during the early 1970s when Mr. King was penning this
short story. They point out the class system that exists in blue collar type
jobs, and how the rats are not even maniacal but end up being labeled that way.
They observe how in this small town, high school never ends as the resident
lifers still fight similar beefs, fail to grow up (lecherously ogling young
women), and continue to rib one another while on the job. Their conversation is
so in-depth that they make me want to rewatch the film for a re-evaluation.
Working
the Night Shift: Ralph Singleton on Graveyard Shift (26:05) – this archival 2020 interview from Shout!
Factory is a substantial look at the director’s history which began as a New
York-based production manager before he migrated to the West Coast and worked
on episodes of Cagney and Lacey, the female-geared police drama. He also
worked as an associate producer and as a producer on both Pet Sematary
(1989) and Pet Sematary II (1992), respectively. He also discusses the
rats in the film, which of course will remind genre fans of Daniel Mann’s Willard
(1971), Phil Karlson’s Ben (1972), and Robert Clouse’s Deadly Eyes
(1982), drive-in favorites of yesteryear. The special effects on the real
picker machine required the movie crew to install a variable speed motor to
slow down the teeth grinding on the cotton so that it was visible onscreen.
We’re
Going to Hell Together: Stephen Macht on Graveyard Shift (13:39) – this archival 2020 interview from Shout!
Factory starts with Mr. Macht’s childhood in Brooklyn Heights and his family’s
move to Mystic, CT. While in college his roommate, fellow actor Michael Moriarty,
wrote a play that he starred in. He discusses his view of horror films as
morality plays. Graveyard Shift gave him the opportunity to play a
character who is despised by the rest of the cast, and therefore as an actor,
he lived in a motel room, off by himself, for the duration of the film shoot,
so that the cast would not know him. He talks about working through all the
dark emotions that he personally has in his life and sublimating them through
the character. He also worked with a dialect coach to sound like he was from
Maine and say the types of things that someone from Maine would say. Like the
shark in Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975), the monster that appears at the
end of the film was problematic from a mechanical standpoint, something that
the actors had to maneuver around. Some of the creepy images of the interior of
the mine shaft were matte paintings by the late, great matte artist Albert
Whitlock.
Back
Off, Man: Kelly Wolf on Graveyard Shift (13:11)
– this archival 2020 interview from Shout! Factory begins with her stint as a ballet
dancer. She then began acting in New York and was eventually cast in this film
and was thrilled to be working with Brad Dourif, whom she had seen in Milos
Forman’s 1981 film Ragtime. She discusses her joy at being a strong
woman in a film that was populated by men at a time when this was not a popular
theme in movies. I thought this was a peculiar comment because Sigourney
Weaver, Linda Hamilton, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio were all directed quite
wonderfully as strong women by James Cameron in the great science fiction films
of the era.
Yes,
Mr. Warwick: Alan Beuth on Graveyard Shift (14:10) – this archival 2020 interview from Shout! Factory features
actor Alan Beuth who appeared in 26 musicals from 1971 to 1977 as part of a
theater company. At age 19, he moved to New York from West Virginia and worked
at the Groundling. This led to his friendship with director Singleton and was the
steppingstone to Graveyard Shift. He expresses his awe at appearing in a
film with Brad Dourif whom he had seen in Milos Forman’s 1975 Oscar-winning
film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The first Stephen King novel he
read was 1987’s Misery and he felt intimidated while Mr. King was on the
set. He also details how the “cute” rats were made up to look maniacal. He also
had a good working relationship with the director.
Rounding
out the special features are trailers for Graveyard Shift (1:37); Cujo
(1:47); Misery (2:22); Needful Things (2:01); Body Parts
(2:34); Death Machine (1:35); Cherry 2000 (2:26); and The
Monster Squad (1:57).
The
set comes with a reversible cover with alternative artwork.
Arrow is releasing a new 4K special edition of "Outland". See details below.
A federal marshal at a mining colony on the Jupiter moon of Io uncovers a
conspiracy. He gets no help when he finds himself marked for murder.
EVEN IN SPACE, THE ULTIMATE ENEMY IS
MAN.
Writer-director Peter Hyams (Capricorn One, 2010, The Relic) takes classic
Western tropes off-world and into the future in sci-fi thriller Outland,
starring Sean Connery as a federal marshall assigned to keep the peace on a
distant moon.
Con-Am 27 is a mining facility on Io, one of Jupiter's largest moons. Six
hundred million miles away, the gravity there is one sixth of what it is on
Earth, and there is no breathable atmosphere. The work is hard, the bonuses big
and productivity is breaking all records. But people are dying. Every so often
they just snap. The secret? A drug that can keep its miners working days on
end, but over time results in burn-out and psychosis. When new Marshall William
O'Niel (Sean Connery) investigates, he uncovers a deadly conspiracy and finds
his life under threat from a company that will stop at nothing to keep him
quiet.
A chillingly prophetic depiction of corporate greed and exploitation with
muscular direction from Hyams, and a stellar performance from Connery, Outland
arrives on 4K UHD in a brand new restoration that is out of this world.
Bonus
Materials
4K ULTRA HD LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
Brand new 4K restoration from the original 35mm
camera negative by Arrow Films
4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray™ presentation in Dolby
Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Original lossless stereo 2.0 and DTS-HD MA 5.1
surround audio options
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard
of hearing
Archive audio commentary by writer-director Peter
Hyams
Brand new audio commentary by film critic Chris
Alexander
A Corridor of Accidents, a newly filmed interview
with writer-director Peter Hyams
Outlandish, a newly filmed interview with director
of photography Stephen Goldblatt
Introvision: William Mesa on Outland, a newly
filmed interview with visual effects artist William Mesa
No Place for Heroes, a brand new appreciation by
film scholar Josh Nelson
Hollywoodland Outland, a brand new visual essay by
film historian Howard S. Berger
Theatrical trailer
Image gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly
commissioned artwork by Pye Parr
Double-sided foldout poster featuring original and
newly commissioned artwork by Pye Parr
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new
writing by film critics Priscilla Page and Brandon Streussnig
There are those who consider the Peter Sellers/Blake Edwards 1968
collaboration "The Party" to be an underrated comedy classic, while
others feel it is a complete misfire. Count me among the latter. I can
appreciate the audacity of making a minimalist comedy that was largely
designed to be improvised- but there lies the rub. Sellers and Edwards
succeeded in their quest to make this experimental film based on a
threadbare script (60 pages) but the movie has a patchwork, almost
desperate feel about how to fill up 99 minutes of screen time with what
amounts to approximately 15 minutes of inspired material. Sellers is in
top form, performance-wise, playing Hrudni V. Bakshi, an almost
surrealistically polite Indian actor who we first see playing the title
role in a big budget remake of "Gunga Din". With millions of dollars on
the line, it's up to Bakshi to carry off his pivotal death scene so that
a massive explosion can be detonated that will destroy an expensive
set. In the film's funniest scenes, Bakshi drives the director crazy by
screwing up even the simplest of tasks and prolonging his death scene
for an absurd period of time. Then, carrying through on the age-old
"Ready when you are, C.B" joke, he inadvertently ends up detonating the
explosives and destroying the set before the cameras are rolling. Bakshi
is immediately fired and his name is added to a studio blacklist so
that he will never be hired again. Through a slight error, however, the
studio boss, Fred Clutterbuck (J. Edward McKinley) mistakenly assigns
his name to the invitation list of a party he is holding at his posh
L.A. home. Thinking he has been forgiven for his costly mishaps, Bakshi
is all too happy to attend the party, where the Hollywood "A" list crowd
will be assembled.
Things start off promisingly as Sellers' ability for clever
improvisation pays off. His initial Maxwell Smart-like bumblings are
low-key enough to be believable. He mingles with the ever-growing crowd
of snobbish party-goers and makes the acquaintance of a beautiful
actress, Michele Monet (Claudine Longet), who is constantly being
sexually harassed by her date, a hyper-mode, chauvinistic studio
executive, C.S. Divot (Gavin MacLeod) who becomes increasingly desperate
to bed her right there in the house where the party is taking place.
For reasons never explained-and which defy credibility- she finds
herself smitten by the innocent Bakshi and the two flirt, much to the
consternation of Divot, who is the executive who fired Bakshi only the
day before. In another strained plot device, he fails to recognize the
same bumbling man he chastised and fired. The film traces Bakshi's
increasingly disastrous mishaps at the party, which become more
surrealistic with every passing minute. Comic actor Steve Franken
appears as a tuxedo-clad waiter who walks about serving champagne on a
tray but who has a nasty habit of taking liberal gulps of the bubbly
himself. Edwards features the character in interminable amounts of
footage, as the waiter becomes increasingly drunk. Although the scenes
are skillfully played by Franken, the one-note joke becomes another
repetitious absurdity. By the end of the film Edwards pulls the plug on
any semblance of sanity and resorts to pure chaos. The midst of
over-flowing toilets, sexual escapades, overbearing kids and their drill
instructor-like nanny (a woefully underutilized Jean Carson), Edwards
centers the action on a large swimming pool where, inexplicably, the
household teenagers arrive with their hippie friends and a baby elephant
(!) in tow, though it is never explained how suburban kids get their
hands on a baby elephant. Then the pool is submerged in a never-ending
sea of soap bubbles as everyone parties with the semi-submerged
elephant. Keep in mind that the film was released at the dawn of the
hippie era and every major studio tried desperately to tap into the youth
market, Blake Edwards included. Devoid of any meaningful concept of how
to end the movie, he obviously decided that if he put in blaring music
and a bunch of drunken or drug-induced party goers, the psychedelic
imagery would mask the lack of genuine comedic content. The epilogue of
the movie finds Bakshi mercifully back in real life, but driving a
vintage 1930s three wheel classic British sports car by the Morgan Motor
Company. (The car's appearance in the film became somewhat iconic.) He
pays a visit to Michele's apartment and it becomes clear the two will
form an unlikely romance. There are some genuine gags and funny bits along the way but as the film progresses, they become fewer.
Sellers and Edwards always had a bizarre relationship. The only thing predictable about it was that it was so unpredictable. Both of them were rightly regaled as truly inspirational figures in the world of movie comedy but privately, they had a love/hate attitude toward each other. As illustrated in author Robert Sellers' book "The Real Pink Panther", at times the men would make each other laugh so much on the set that filming had to be paused. At other times, however, they loathed each other and resented the other guy taking the credit for success of their "Pink Panther" collaborations. Sellers also suffered from insecurities that gave him manic depressive tendencies. He had difficulties maintaining stable relationships and became increasingly unpredictable and reliable to work with. The lure of the "Pink Panther" films and the considerable rewards they afforded Edwards and Sellers lured them to continue to collaborate long after this film but in the end they ended up not being on speaking terms when Sellers passed away at the age of 54. "The Party" was truly over.
(The film is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.)
(The
new release from Kino Lorber Studio Classics is a 2-disc package with one 4K
UHD SDR Master by StudioCanal, from a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera
Negative; and one Blu-ray disc, the same 4K restoration by StudioCanal that was
released by Kino Lorber in 2019. This review culls portions from the Cinema Retro review of that year.)
The
always interesting French director Jean-Pierre Melville was not really what we
would call a “French New Wave” filmmaker. That movement began in 1959 and
exploded in 1960 with some seminal works by François Truffaut and
Jean-Luc Godard. That said, several pictures made in France in the 1950s hint
at the stylistic traits that would be associated with that coming
envelope-pushing trend. Melville was an artist known for his minimalistic style
that influenced many of those younger rebels who initiated the French New Wave.
He has been called the “godfather” of the movement. Both Godard and Truffaut
have acknowledged him as a mentor of sorts, and in fact, Godard cast him in a
small role—as a filmmaker—in his debut picture, Breathless.
Melville’s
Bob le flambeur (Bob, the Gambler) is one of the landmark French
crime movies to come out of the period when Hollywood was making what became
termed as film noir (ironically, a French term coined by French critics
about American films). These critics didn’t consider their own crime dramas film
noir. This was a label specifically meant to describe purely American
low-budget black and white titles that shared certain characteristics that
could be identified and catalogued as such. American filmmakers didn’t know
they were “making” films noir until the French told them that’s what
they were doing! This unconscious movement began during World War II and
continued until the end of the 1950s (after which these crime films became neo
noir).
Is
Bob le flambeur film noir? There were certainly be cinephiles who think
so, and who are we to argue with them? You’ve got a cynical character, Bob
(wonderfully played by Roger Duchesne); striking black and white cinematography
by Henri Decaë that emphasizes the contrasts of light and
shadow; there’s a femme fatale of sorts in Anne (Isabelle Corey) who
isn’t so much an evil woman looking to cause the downfall of a good man, but
rather someone who makes some careless mistakes that then cause the
downfall of, well, several men; there’s a voiceover narrator (Melville
himself); several instances of betrayal and double-crossing; and an overall
tone of ennui and despair. Sounds like film noir to me.
What
it lacks as far as French New Wave traits are unconventional editing (jump cuts),
improvisational storytelling, and a nonlinear narrative, but Bob has
thematic existentialism in spades. Thus, Bob le flambeur is indeed
looking forward to that movement in a big way.
Bob
le flambeur is
mostly a character study about a former thief/bank robber who did time, is out
of jail, and is attempting to lead a life without crime. His neighbors like
him. The shopkeepers treat him well. Bob is even friends with Ledru (Guy
Decomble), the police commissaire.His one vice, however, is
gambling, and he can’t stop. Whenever he has money, he spends it on a dice
game, at the races, at cards, or at the casino. He acknowledges that he has
runs of bad luck… but when he’s feeling lucky, the world is his oyster. He tends
to do kind things for people, such as help out a young woman, Anne, who is one
night away from being a streetwalker, or also showing a young protégé, Paolo
(Daniel Cauchy), the ropes with regard to high stakes and the philosophical
risks of life itself. Then temptation strikes—there’s the possibility of making
a big score by robbing the safe at a casino with the help of a team of
specialists. But when Paolo lets the plans slip to Anne, and Anne lets the
plans slip to a pimp named Marc… things don’t go as well as planned. To reveal
more would spoil the fun.
Bob
le flambeur is
perhaps admired more today than when it was first released because of its
striking style, the melancholic mood it evokes, and the central performance by
Duchesne. It is a standout among the many French noirs being made in the
1950s.
Kino
Lorber presents a beautifully restored 1920x1080p high definition transfer that
looks gorgeous, and it comes with an audio commentary by film critic Nick
Pinkerton. Also included is the approximately half-hour documentary, Diary
of a Villain, about the influence of the picture and its striking style.
The theatrical trailer and other Kino Lorber trailers round out the package.
The 4K UHD image has improved the image even more in native 4K.
Bob
le flambeur is
recommended for any fan of film noir and/or French cinema. You’re sure
to be a winner with this one.
(NOTE:
The Criterion Collection had released High and Low many years ago on DVD
and Blu-ray. A new 4K UHD edition was just released in September 2025 that
contains both the UHD disc of the film and the newer digital restoration Blu-ray
disc of the film plus supplements.)
While
legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa is perhaps most well-known in the
west for his period setting feudal samurai pictures and dramas like Seven
Samurai and Rashomon, there are quite a few titles in his
filmography that deal with contemporary (for the time) urban subjects. Ikiru
(1952), for example, deals with a modern-day “salary-man” who discovers he
has cancer. Several of his early pictures featuring actor Toshiro Mifune are
crime thrillers (Drunken Angel, 1948, and Stray Dog, 1949).
In
1963, Kurosawa unleashed on an unsuspecting audience the tense, crime drama High
and Low, also starring the magnificent Toshiro Mifune in a role in which he
is cast against type—as a wealthy, powerful businessman who lives in splendor
with his family. The movie was based on a novel, King’s Ransom, written
by Ed McBain, a pseudonym for author/screenwriter Evan Hunter (which is also a
pen name for the writer’s real name, Salvatore Albert Lombino). King’s
Ransom was one of McBain’s many “87th Precinct” novels of police
procedurals that take place in New York City. High and Low transports
the story to Yokohama, Japan, but the locale could be any big city in that
country.
Kingo
Gondo (Mifune) is the head of National Shoes, a successful company that makes footwear.
There is a power struggle going on within the organization, as the board is
divided on what might be the company’s future mission in creating affordable
mass-produced shoes versus its traditional sturdy, yet more expensive,
products. Gondo has secretly mortgaged all of his considerable property to set
up a leveraged buyout to gain control. But fate intervenes. His young son, Jun,
is kidnapped and held for ransom. The police are called in and they set up
headquarters in Gondo’s home. But then it turns out that the kidnapper made a
mistake. He accidentally kidnapped Shinichi, Jun’s favorite playmate and the
child of Gondo’s loyal chauffeur (Yutaka Sada). Even though the kidnapper
realizes his error, he still demands the ransom. Thus, Gondo is faced with the
dilemma of paying the ransom for someone else’s child—even though that person
is a close family employee—and losing his dreams of buying out National Shoes.
The story then becomes a riveting police procedural as the authorities work to
find the kidnapper and Gondo deals with creditors threatening to make good on
his loans by seizing his assets.
The
first half of the film is much like a stage play. The action takes place
entirely in Gondo’s one-set living room—shot in wide screen format!—with its
expansive picture window looking out over the city. Kurosawa mounts these
scenes in long takes that are masterfully paced and framed so that the mise-en-scène is never static or dull. The drama becomes palpable as
the various characters, including Gondo’s wife, Reiko (Kyoko
Kagawa), and the chief inspector, Tokura (Tatsuya Nakadai), engage in the gamut
of give-and-take emotional conflicts.
The
second half moves out into the city as Gondo agrees to deliver the ransom money
on a moving train and the police continue to search for the kidnapper, leading
them to a den of dead heroin addicts and a plot twist involving drug
trafficking.
The
title blatantly tells us what the film is ultimately about—the “high” of the
wealthy upper class in modern society, and the “low” of the opposite—and how
one side looks down on or up at the other. Is one truly better than the
counterpart?
Toshiro
Mifune, who always commands the screen whenever he appears, is marvelous in the
role of Gondo. His seething anger and despair, controlled here in front of
family and the police, communicates to the audience the horrible turmoil he is
experiencing. It is a performance worthy of an Academy Award (alas, the film
received no nominations at the Oscars, but it was a Golden Globe nominee). Both
Kagawa and Nakadai deliver striking performances, too, and it’s always good to
see Kurosawa stalwart Takashi Shimura as the overall chief of the investigation
department.
The
Criterion Collection’s UHD presentation is a new 4K digital restoration with
4.0 DTS-HD Master Audio that looks impressively sharp and clean. The Blu-ray
edition is also the 4K digital restoration, so it is an improvement on the
previous release. Both versions come with an audio commentary featuring
Kurosawa scholar Stephen Prince.
The
supplements are a sequence from Toho Masterworks—Akira Kurosawa: It is
Wonderful to Create about the making of the film; vintage interviews with
Mifune (any interview with the actor is considered a rare find!) and Tsutomu
Yamazaki, who plays the head kidnapper; trailers, and a teaser. The package
booklet comes with an essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien and an on-set account by
film scholar Donald Richie.
High
and Low
is a highly recommended Kurosawa masterwork, inspiring even the likes of
American filmmaker Spike Lee (see below). For fans of Kurosawa, Toshiro Mifune,
and Japanese crime dramas.
#
It
is fitting to mention here the brand new Spike Lee “joint”—Highest 2 Lowest,
a remake (or re-imagining) of both the Ed McBain novel and Kurosawa’s High
and Low, now in theaters and streaming on AppleTV. Denzel Washington
portrays “David King,” the head of a big music label that is going through the
same corporate financial shenanigans that were present with the shoe company in
Kurosawa’s film. Jeffrey Wright portrays the chauffeur whose son is mistakenly
kidnapped. Rapper A$AP Rocky portrays the kidnapper and Ilfenesh Hadera is
King’s wife, Pam.
Moving
the story back to New York City in today’s climate and focusing on the Black
music industry business is a bold decision that works like a charm. Washington
delivers the expected superlative performance, but it is Wright who especially
shines here. Lee’s direction is dynamic and always unpredictable (especially
with his choice of an orchestral musical score throughout). The first
two-thirds of the film mimics the plot of High and Low, but the last
third is quite different in that Washington’s King becomes much more of an
action hero in the story than Mifune’s Gondo ever did.
Highest
2 Lowest is
also recommended. As to which is the better film—High and Low or Highest
2 Lowest—we’ll leave that question up to you viewers!
In this TCM segment, film critics analyze director Herbert Ross's classic, all-star murder mystery "The Last of Sheila" starring Raquel Welch, James Coburn, Dyan Cannon, James Mason and Richard Benjamin- with a screenplay by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins!.
Click here to order Blu-ray from the Cinema Retro Movie Store
"Ten Seconds to Hell" is the kind of low-key potboiler that studios
used to churn out by the dozens in the hopes of making a fast profit.
That isn't meant as a knock. Plenty of very worthy films fall into this
category and there is much to recommend about this one even if it never
quite lives up to its potential. The most interesting aspect of "Ten
Seconds to Hell" is the fact that among its creators are any number of
big names who were on the cusp of gaining wider recognition. Director
and co-writer Robert Aldrich was already an established name in the
industry but would find his greatest successes ("Whatever Happened to
Baby Jane?" ,"The Dirty Dozen" among them) in the Sixties. Producer
Michael Carreras, one of the founders of Hammer Films, was just
discovering that that the horror film genre for which Hammer would be
forever associated was far more lucrative than standard thrillers or
crime films which Hammer had originally produced. The cinematographer
Ernest Laszlo would go on to lens such high profile films as "It's a
Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", "Judgment at Nuremberg" and "Fantastic
Voyage". Art director Ken Adam would become perhaps the most legendary
production designer in the history of the business with "Dr.
Strangelove", "Barry Lyndon" and numerous James Bond films to his
credit. Thus, modest productions such as "Ten Seconds to Hell" often
provided fertile training grounds for major talents in the making.
The story is an off-beat one in terms of its protagonists who are six
German soldiers who return to Berlin in the immediate aftermath of
WWII. What they find is an apocalyptic landscape that the local
population and the Allied forces are trying to rebuild into a major
urban center. Aside from the sheer logistics of clearing the debris from
seemingly endless bombing raids there is the problem of bombs
themselves. As in every city that faced bombardment there were countless
"dud" bombs that failed to go off. However they remained a major risk
as they were capable of exploding without warning. It fell to small
teams of incredibly courageous men to try to disarm them- and the
casualty and fatality rates among them were sky high. The six German
ex-soldiers had cleared dud bombs for the army during the war. In fact
they were all deemed to be politically undesirable by the Nazis and were
sentenced to concentration camps. However since there were considered
to be expendable, they could best serve the Reich by disarming bombs. If
they were killed in the process then so be it. The six men formed a
tight-knit group and learned the expertise required to survive the war.
Now upon returning to Berlin, the British solicit their services to
disarm dud bombs that have fallen throughout the city. As an inducement
the men are offered high salaries, comfortable apartments and double
rations- quite an offer for a city that was left in poverty and on the
brink of starvation. The men agree to the plan even though they know
that they will face death every day. The group is dominated by two
strong-willed men: Eric Koertner (Jack Palance), a sullen but honest man
who is nursing psychological wounds from the war that are never
satisfactorily explained and Karl Wirtz (Jeff Chandler), a selfish man
of few morals who puts a good time above everything else. The six men
end up making a pact with a morbid premise: they will each contribute
half of their salaries into a pot over a period of three months. Knowing
there is a good chance at least some of them will die in the course of
their work, the survivors will split the proceeds at the end of the
"game". What starts out as a rather tasteless exercise takes on greater
resonance when, indeed, over the course of several weeks numerous
members of the group are indeed killed in the line of duty. Adding to
the tensions is the deteriorating relationship between Eric and Karl,
who must share the same apartment with Margot Hofer (Martine Carol), a
beautiful young French woman who is persona-non grata in her native
country because her late husband had been a German soldier who was part
of the occupying forces in Paris. These three troubled souls are forced
to inhabit the same living quarters and inevitably sexual tensions
arise. Eric is slowly falling for Margot on an emotional level while
Karl clearly just wants to take physical advantage of her. Predictably
the end of the film finds the two men as the last living members of
their group and who are engaged in working together on a particularly
dangerous disarmament of a bomb from which only one will emerge alive.
"Ten Seconds to Hell" falls short in several key aspects. If there is
a sure-fire way to ensure on-screen suspense it revolves around having
someone desperately having to disarm an explosive device. Yet director
Aldrich fails to wring much suspense out of these premises. Additionally
the characters are not very well-defined. We never really get to know
the reasons behind Eric's moody personality. We learn he was a prominent
architect prior to the war but the script hints at much deeper insights
into the man that never materialize. Additionally, Karl is such a
loathsome, self-centered and untrustworthy man that one wonders why the
group chooses to include him among them in their post-war assignments.
Not helping matters is that this is yet another Tower of Babel-like film
production in which some of the supporting characters have quasi-German
accents while the male leads all talk with varying American accents
that make it hard to accept them as German nationals. Aldrich deserves
kudos for thinking outside the box and presenting the post-war period
from the standpoint of those on the losing side but the distraction of
hearing known American stars such as Palance and Chandler speak as
though they are in a Western proves to be a minor undoing of the film.
Still, "Ten Seconds to Hell" is an efficiently-made thriller and boasts
some memorable aspects such as a sequence in which one of the group is
trapped under a fallen bomb while a dilapidated building threatens to
fall on top of him and his would-be rescuers. At the time the film was
made in 1959 there were still plenty of bombed-out neighborhoods in West
Berlin and Aldrich and art director Ken Adam take full advantage,
providing some eerie backdrops for the film's most pivotal scenes. I
also enjoyed the byplay between Chandler, Palance and Martine Carol who
makes for a sympathetic figure- a woman who could not help but fall in
love with an average German soldier despite the fact that her country
had fallen to the army he represented. In many ways her character is the
most interesting of all the protagonists. Palance gives one of his more
restrained performances and refrains from hamming it up, as he could
frequently do. Chandler is effective playing against type as a
charismatic villain. Recommended. The film is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
This video utilizes interviews from "The Man from U.N.C.L.E Complete Series" DVD set to show a concise history of the series, including interviews with Robert Vaughn, David McCallum and behind the scenes talent. It also provides clarification of Ian Fleming's brief affiliation with conceptualizing the show.
Click here to order the complete series DVD set from Amazon.
Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Paramount.
Legendary
Director Billy Wilder’s Acclaimed and Haunting Portrait of Hollywood
is Newly Restored and Ready for Its Close-Up
ABOUT THE FILM
Originally released on August 10, 1950, SUNSET
BOULEVARD was among the first films selected for preservation in
the National Film Registry and is in the top 20 of the AFI’s Greatest American
Films of All Time. The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards®,
including Best Picture, and won three for Best Art Direction, Best Music and
Best Writing.*
Gloria Swanson and William Holden give riveting performances as
two of the silver screen’s most memorable characters: the aging silent film
queen Norma Desmond and struggling young screenwriter Joe Gillis. The
bizarre and twisted story that unfolds between them is a brilliant combination
of noir, black comedy and character study, as well as a scathing and
pitch-black commentary on Hollywood that continues to resonate in today’s
influencer-driven, true crime-obsessed, and self-reflective culture.
SUNSET BOULEVARD also features masterful,
Oscar®-nominated performances by Erich von Stroheim as Desmond’s
ex-husband/butler and Nancy Olson as the wholesome script reader who falls for
Gillis, along with cameo appearances by director Cecil B. DeMille, gossip columnist
Hedda Hopper, and silent film actor Buster Keaton.
FILM RESTORATION
To mark the film’s diamond anniversary, this cinematic
masterpiece has been meticulously restored in 4K using the highest quality
surviving element—a 35mm duplicate negative—and every step of the restoration
was approached with great care to faithfully honor Billy Wilder’s original
vision. The Library of Congress provided a 35mm print from its archive to
serve as a reference for color accuracy throughout the restoration. This
release also features an exceptional new 5.1 audio mix that was produced by
Deluxe Audio with support from Park Road Post in New Zealand, whose proprietary
technology enabled the isolation of dialogue, music, and effects tracks.
THEATRICAL RE-RELEASE
The newly restored film had its theatrical world premiere at the
Cannes Film Festival in May and fans throughout the U.S. will have the
opportunity to experience the stunning new restoration on the big screen in 4K
when it returns to theatres nationwide on August 3 & 4 from Fathom
Entertainment and Paramount Pictures. Every film in Fathom’s Big Screen
Classics series features an exclusive introduction by cinema critic and
historian Leonard Maltin, offering insight into the landmark film and its
enduring impact and relevance.
ENJOY AT HOME
SUNSET BOULEVARD is available now to buy
or rent in sparkling 4K Ultra HD with more than two hours of legacy bonus
content** exploring the film’s production, stars, and cinematic
significance on select Digital platforms.
BROADWAY SHOW
Underscoring the film’s timeless appeal, Jamie Lloyd’s
extraordinary reimagination of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic musical Sunset
Blvd., which is based on the Paramount Pictures film, won three 2025 Tony
Awards including Best Musical Revival and Best Lead Actress in a Musical for
Nicole Scherzinger’s sizzling portrayal of Norma Desmond. The twice extended
musical will end its Broadway run on Sunday, July 20, 2025. For more
information and tickets to the final performances, visit www.sunsetblvdbroadway.com.
Sunset Blvd: The Album, the chart-topping cast album
of the stunning new production, is available now to stream and on vinyl from
The Other Songs label. Recorded live on the stage at London’s Savoy Theatre,
the album captures the depth and power of Nicole Scherzinger’s Tony and Olivier
Award- winning performance. To discover the album, visit https://bio.to/SunsetBLVDTheAlbum
(Photo: Paramount)
FILM SYNOPSIS
Fame isn’t forever—just ask Norma Desmond. Once a Hollywood
legend, now a forgotten relic, she refuses to fade away. When struggling
screenwriter Joe Gillis stumbles into her decaying mansion, he becomes trapped
in her web of obsession, control, and delusion. What starts as an opportunity
soon spirals into something far more dangerous. Dark, twisted, and eerily
relevant,SUNSET BOULEVARDis a
haunting look at Hollywood’s unrelenting cycle—where youth is currency, talent
is fleeting, and no one stays in the spotlight forever. Are
you ready for your close-up?
SUNSET BOULEVARD is not rated
*Winner: Best Writing, Story and Screenplay; Best Art
Direction-Set Decoration, Black & White; Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic
or Comedy Picture, 1951. Additional nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor
in a Leading Role (William Holden), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Gloria
Swanson), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Erich von Stroheim), Best Actress in
a Supporting Role (Nancy Olson), Best Director (Billy Wilder), Best
Cinematography, Black & White, Best Film Editing.
**Availability of bonus content varies by digital retailer
“ACADEMY AWARD” and “OSCAR” are the registered trademarks and
service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
In honor of what would have been Peter Sellers' 100th birthday, Turner Classic Movies provides this marvelous compilation of highlights from his films. Here is the official description:
"In celebration of what would have been his 100th birthday, we’ve put together some iconic moments from the illustrious career of Peter Sellers. His mastery of both the dramatic and comedic, his collaborations with Stanley Kubrick and standout roles like Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther have cemented his legacy as one of the greatest actors of all time.
Watch Peter Sellers and other greats on TCM.
0:00 - Casino Royale (1967)
1:21 - The Mouse That Roared (1959)
4:52 - Dr. Strangelove (1964)
8:30 - The World of Henry Orient (1964)
12:35 - Lolita (1962)
17:02 - A Carol for Another Christmas (1964)
20:01 - The Pink Panther (1964)
24:07 - What's New, Pussycat? (1965)
27:25 - Being There (1979)"
One hundred of the world’s most luxurious and, in some cases,
quirky auditoria are showcased in author Jane Crowther's lavish hardback volume, which provides background
information on each venue and a trove of photographs. These aren’t just places
to see films; they play an integral role in the experience of seeing a
film.
If you were to use this volume as a bucket list – the publisher
describes it as “part travel guide” – you would have thousands of miles of
touring ahead of you. There are a few well-known venues included that many
Cinema Retro readers will be aware of and indeed may have already visited: the
Quentin Tarantino-owned New Beverly and TLC Chinese Theatre (formerly Grauman’s
Chinese) in Los Angeles, the BFI Southbank and Prince Charles Cinema in London,
the Grand Rex and Cinéma du Panthéon in Paris (the latter having operated
continually for almost 120 years).
Many of the 94 others are wonders to behold. Yet are they not all
kind of the same once the lights go down and the movie starts? Screen size and
acoustics notwithstanding, one supposes they are. But I defy anyone, having
read this book, to claim that they wouldn’t quite like to see a film at the
opulent Busan Cinema Centre in Korea, Santorini’s outdoor Kamari Cinema, or
Arena di Pola in Croatia. And what about the stunning Archipelago Cinema,
floating in a Thai island lagoon? Sadly, it was designed and built specifically
for a 2012 film festival and no longer exists. Just looking at the photos
though, one can’t help but wax lyrical about what an experience that must
have been.
Who fancies sitting in the Dallas Theatre in Texas in the same
spot where Lee Harvey Oswald was sitting when he was arrested by the FBI for
the assassination of President John F. Kennedy? Every 22 November they screen
the same programme that was playing that day in 1963: a double bill of Cry
of Battle (1963) and War Is Hell (1961), followed by a showing of J.F.K.
(1991). A little too ghoulish perhaps? Maybe the bijou Cinema Dei Piccoli
in Rome – which, according to the ‘Guinness Book of Records’, is the smallest
in the world – would be more your cup of tea. The options for something a
little bit special are myriad, as this book stylishly attests.
(This book will be available on September 30 in the U.S.)
Celebrate the 60th Anniversary of one of
the most beloved movie musicals of all time with the newly restored and remastered THE SOUND OF MUSIC
Coming to 4K Ultra HD™ on 27th October
London, UK (8/9/25) One of the most beloved
movie musicals of all time celebrates its 60th anniversary with a dazzling new
4K Ultra HD™ release. Arriving on 27th October, Rodgers &
Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music delivers a breathtaking home
entertainment experience with a brand-new restoration, remastered sound, hours
of bonus features, a sing-along version and collectible artcards. Whether
you’ve sung along a hundred times or are discovering Maria and the von Trapps
for the first time, this is the edition to treasure forever.
Lovingly restored by Disney’s award-winning film restoration team, the 4K
transfer showcases every mountain peak, every twirl, and every soaring note
with stunning clarity and richness. It’s The Sound of Music as
you remember it – more vivid, more moving, and more magical than ever. Film Synopsis:
Experience Rodgers & Hammerstein’s® iconic musical in spectacular 4K Ultra
HD™, meticulously restored and remastered for its 60th anniversary. Julie
Andrews lights up the screen as Maria, a spirited young woman who becomes
governess to the seven unruly children of Captain von Trapp (Christopher
Plummer). Her warmth, charm and songs soon win the hearts of the children—and
their father. Featuring unforgettable treasures like “Edelweiss,” ”My Favourite
Things,” “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” and “Do-Re-Mi,” The Sound of
Music is one of the most beloved movie musicals of all time.
The Sound of Music 4K
Ultra HD™ Special Features
·Sing-along version
·Audio commentary by Julie Andrews, Christopher
Plummer, Charmian Carr, Dee Dee Wood and Johannes Trapp
·Audio commentary by Robert Wise
·‘Your Favourite Things: An Interactive Celebration’
– Immersive viewing experience with Behind-the-Scenes images, On Screen Lyrics,
Trivia Track and Location Quiz
·Music Machine Sing-Along
·Audio commentaries with Julie Andrews, Christopher
Plummer and Director Robert Wise
In 1991, director Reb Braddock created a
short, black comedy crime film titled Curdled
which starred Angela Jones. Quentin Tarantino saw the short, loved it and
cast Jones in his 1994 masterpiece Pulp
Fiction. Two years later, Tarantino would executive produce a full length
remake of Curdled once again starring
Jones and directed by Braddock. That remake has finally been released to
4K/Blu-ray.
Curdled deals with Gabriella
(Jones), a Colombian immigrant who gets a job at a cleaning service in Miami.
While cleaning up the crime scene of the notorious Blue Blood Killer (William
Baldwin), a madman who kills rich women, Gabriella unearths evidence to the
killer’s identity. However, unbeknownst to Gabriella, the killer is aware of
her discovery and he plans on silencing her for good.
Written (along with John Maass) by director
Braddock and released in September of 1996 by Rolling Thunder Pictures and
Miramax Films, Curdled is a unique,
darkly comedic and engaging indie thriller. Besides Angela Jones and William
Baldwin (who gives an excellent performance here), the film also features
talent such as Lois Chiles, Barry Corbin and Daisy Fuentes. Fans of Robert
Rodriguez’s and Tarantino’s From Dusk
till Dawn will be happy to know that this movie is part of that universe as
George Clooney, Kelly Preston and Tarantino himself appear briefly, reprising
their roles from the vampire classic.
Curdled has been released as
a 4K/Blu-ray combo from the fine folks at Kino Lorber and the transfer looks
and sounds more beautiful than ever. Special features include the theatrical
trailer, television playback pieces, deleted scenes, Danza Macabra rehearsals, Serious Fun: An Interview with Angela Jones
(brand new), Behind the Scenes Special:
Featurette, Curdled: Original Shorts, and three informative audio
commentaries: the first with Angela Jones, Reb Braddock and John Maass; the
second with film historian and author Dwayne Epstein; and the third with Reb Braddock
and John Maass from 2004. (All the special features appear on the Blu-ray, but
only the three commentaries can be found on the 4K disc.) We are also treated
to the fun, original poster image on the Blu-ray slipcover and sleeve. This is
a very well put together collection of a not very well-known, but extremely
interesting and quirky 90’s indie film. Check it out.
By the
early 1970s, the US television landscape had changed. Westerns were out and
crime shows were in as the new drama genre of choice. The field was largely
split between police detectives (Kojak, Baretta, The Streets
of San Francisco, Columbo, et al) and private detectives such as Mannix,
Cannon and Barnaby Jones. Of the latter format, two outstanding
series emerged in September 1974 - The Rockford Files (starring James
Garner as Jim Rockford) and Harry O (starring David Janssen as Harry
Orwell). Whilst The Rockford Files garnered plaudits, a six-season run and
longevity through re-runs, Harry O was cancelled after its second season
and, following a brief syndication run in the early 1980s, slipped off the
radar.
Our
reconnection with the series, having initially watched and appreciated it
through its haphazard UK TV scheduling in the mid-1970s, was via its broadcast
in the early 2000s on the satellite TV channel Granada Plus and the later
Warner Archive DVD releases. Having re-acquainted ourselves with the show, we
could appreciate it on a whole new level. David Janssen’s naturalistic and
increasingly witty performance, the quality of the writing (notably in the
early San Diego-based episodes) and the superb chemistry between Janssen and
Anthony Zerbe (who played Harry’s police contact Lt. K.C. Trench in the later Los
Angeles-based episodes) were the key draws. We are also fans of authors Raymond
Chandler and Ross Macdonald, whose creations Philip Marlowe and Lew Archer became
the template for many subsequent TV private eyes. It can be argued that of all
these, Harry Orwell was the closest in spirit to the Marlowe/Archer prototype.
The series too had more depth of character than its contemporaries, becoming
its key point of distinction.
Steve
had read Ed Robertson’s excellent book Thirty Years of The Rockford Files
and was keen to produce something similar for Harry O, which had very
little output in terms of retrospective study, beyond the occasional magazine
or internet article. He obtained access to series creator Howard Rodman’s
personal papers, held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which gave great
insight into the series’ development.
The
real spur came when we connected via Gary’s Harry O Facebook page in
late 2022. Steve had published some of his initial research into the series’
origins on his website and shared it with Gary. Gary suggested it should be
expanded into a book, thereby aligning our aspirations. Gary had visited
locations in both San Diego and Los Angeles. He owned several scripts from the series,
and had contacts, including actor Les Lannom (who appeared as criminologist
Lester Hodges in several episodes). We therefore decided to pool our resources.
Together
we drew up a plan, which included contacting actors and crew who had been
involved in the show, to help build as complete a history of the series as
possible. The problem with a series that is over 50 years old is that many of
those involved are no longer with us. Creator Howard Rodman, producer Jerry
Thorpe, star David Janssen, co-stars Henry Darrow and Farrah Fawcett, and many
of the guests have since passed away. We therefore researched a vast library of
historic interviews to help flesh out the story. We reached out to series
co-star Anthony Zerbe and some of the surviving guests who appeared on the
show. Les Lannom, was already on board and keen to help. He has a razor-sharp
memory coupled with a dry wit and kindly agreed to write the Foreword to our
book. We also spoke to Adam Rodman, Howard’s son, who provided us with some
fascinating stories relating to his father’s extensive work in films and
television.
(Photo courtesy of Steve Aldous)
(Photo courtesy of Gary Gillies)
We had
great fun in re-watching all 44 episodes and the two pilot films, making notes
and observations on the guest stars, crew and locations as well as analysing
the episodes and selecting our favourites.
We
selected photos and documents to display in the book from our personal archives,
Rodman’s papers and online sources. After 14 months, we were readying the manuscript
for submission to our publisher, McFarland & Co, but we had still not heard
back from Anthony Zerbe following our approach. Then, just a month before our
deadline, Anthony got in touch, and we arranged a telephone interview. He was
in great spirits and had very fond memories of the series, citing it as one of
his best experiences in Hollywood. This was driven by his respect and love for
David Janssen, with whom he established a wonderful working relationship.
Anthony also sent us some of his personal photographs and his annotated script
for the first episode he appeared in. This proved to be the final piece of the
jigsaw. We now had a manuscript good to go.
Then
there was the wait. McFarland deals with numerous ongoing projects across all
walks of life and our book was now in a queue with hundreds of others. Further
edits and indexing took place during this process. In all, it would be another
15 months before the book was finally published in March 2025.
The Harry O Viewing Companion is intended
as a tribute to three talents in particular – Howard Rodman, a resolute writer
of vast experience, whose resilience ensured Harry O made it to a second
pilot and then to series; producer/director Jerry Thorpe, who established a
visually compelling style for the series and ensured the best writers were
hired; and star David Janssen who, along with Rodman and Thorpe, shaped the
role of Harry Orwell into a believably human character. Our hope is that our
book helps raise awareness of a classic TV series that stands alongside the
very best of its genre.
The
1939 Ernst Lubitsch gem, Ninotchka, used the tag line “Garbo Laughs!”
because audiences were used to seeing the famed actress Greta Garbo in serious
roles. Ninotchka was her first foray into all-out comedy.
In
Scoop, Woody Allen’s 2006 comedy, actress Scarlett Johansson, who had mostly
done serious roles in her rising career up to that point, presents herself
as a talented comic performer, and it’s a side of her acting abilities upon
which she has capitalized ever since. For example, she has hosted Saturday
Night Live several times and is indeed quite funny when given the right
material.
Allen
had worked with Johansson in his previous film, 2005’s Match Point, one
of the filmmaker’s best endeavors, but it was a deadly serious tale of betrayal
and murder. In interviews, Allen stated that during the making of that
masterwork, he had noticed Johansson’s “funny side” off-camera and decided to
rework his already-written script of Scoop to fit her personality. Scoop
would mark the second of three movies that Johansson made with the
director.
In
Scoop, Sondra Pransky (Johansson) is a journalism student vacationing in
London. She attends a performance by “The Great Splendini,” (Allen), an
American stage magician whose real name is Sid Waterman. Sondra agrees to be
the audience volunteer for a teleportation illusion. While inside the
“Dematerializer” box, she encounters the ghost of recently deceased British
journalist Joe Strombel (Ian McShane), who tells her he was on the story of the
notorious “Tarot Card Killer,” a serial murderer who placed Tarot cards at the
scenes of the crime. Joe believes wealthy aristocrat, Peter Lyman (Hugh
Jackman), is the culprit, but he died before he could prove it. Shaken but
inspired, Sondra enlists Sid to help her investigate the murders so that she
can make her mark as a journalist with the big story. Sondra poses as “Jade” at
the swimming pool of Peter’s exclusive club and pretends to drown. Peter, of
course, saves her. Before long, they are dating, and Sid must pose as Jade’s
“father.” At first Sid is skeptical of the ruse, but then he becomes more
convinced of Peter’s guilt and Sondra grows less suspicious of him due to her
attraction to the handsome and charming man. Through the course of the
remainder of the story, clues are uncovered, there’s another murder and the
arrest of someone the police believe is the killer, and the threat of danger to
both Sondra and Sid. And there are quite a few laughs along the way until the
true killer is revealed.
Scoop
marks
the first time Woody Allen stepped away from playing the romantic lead in his
comedies (and this was a move that was way overdue). Here he is in a more
appropriate supporting paternal role. After several misfires in the early 2000s
(save for the excellent Match Point), Scoop at the time was
heralded as something of a return to form. Johansson as the protagonist of the
story is indeed quite winning and funny. Allen also gives himself the funniest
lines (“I don’t need to work out; my anxiety acts as aerobics”); interestingly,
it’s the last time he would appear in any of his films until 2012’s To Rome,
With Love. Jackman is solid and charismatic as the romantic interest (or is
he the antagonist?—it’s part of the mystery!). McShane is also terrific as the
ghost of his former self, popping up whenever the plot needs an intervention.
The
production was the second of Allen’s work in the United Kingdom (the first
being Match Point) and he would do another in 2007 (the underrated Cassandra’s
Dream). In the latter half of the 2000s decade, the filmmaker was able to
find friendlier financing across the Atlantic after the disappointing box
office results of his last several American pictures. It seems that the change
of venue was inspirational, for Allen’s overseas features were indeed a step
up.
In
the end, though, Scoop is not terrible, but it’s also not great. It’s a
perfectly fine romantic comedy-meets-mystery whodunit, enjoyable, whimsical,
and with several laughs that may not be of the belly-type but are certainly pleasant
chuckles. In the midst of fifty movies that Allen directed, it probably lies
around the 2/3 mark down from the top. Easily, though, the presence of Scarlett
Johansson makes it worthwhile.
Kino
Lorber Classics’ new Blu-ray release (the first in the USA) looks great, sounds
great, and is a nice addition to Allen on Blu. The only supplement is the
theatrical trailer (Allen has never allowed audio commentaries or special
features as supplements on his home video releases).
Scoop
is
for fans of Woody Allen, Scarlett Johansson, Hugh Jackman, romantic
comedy-mysteries, and the English countryside.
Given the close friendship and working relationship between Humphrey Bogart and director/actor John Huston, it seems hard to believe that no one wrote a book about their collaborations until now. Nat Segaloff's "Bogart and Huston: Their Lives, Their Adventures and the Classic Movies They Made Together" isn't a title that rolls off your tongue but it is an accurate description of what the book depicts. Segaloff begins, sensibly enough, at the beginning by detailing the vastly different upbringings of both men. It may surprise some that Bogart was actually a child of privilege who grew up in a wealthy New York home. In Huston's case, his father Walter was a Vaudevillian and he spent much of his childhood on the road with his parents as they traveled from city to city performing to make ends meet. They divorced in 2013 when John was six years old. Ultimately, his father would become an in-demand and highly respected stage and screen actor. The book traces both men's early careers in show business. Bogart entered the film business and became a valuable asset for Warner Brothers by playing gangsters. When Huston convinced the studio to allow him to make his directorial debut with "The Maltese Falcon" in 1941, he insisted on casting Bogart as detective Sam Spade. Studio boss Jack Warner was nervous that Bogart could be accepted by movie-goers as anything but a gangster. Under Huston's assured direction, Bogart's performance as Sam Spade proved he had the makings of a romantic leading man. He and Huston's status rose as at the studio. They would go on to make five more films together before Bogart's death from cancer in 1957.
Segaloff singles out Huston's 1948 screen adaptation of B. Traven's novel "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" for in-depth coverage not only because it's arguably the best of their collaborations but also because of the seemingly insurmountable challenges in bringing it to the screen, especially shooting under harsh landscapes in Mexico. The film went considerably over budget but Jack Warner was tolerant because he rightly thought the film was masterpiece, even though it wasn't a notable boxoffice success at the time. Segaloff also offers some very interesting insights into the challenges of dealing with the mysterious B. Traven, who would only communicate through letters, an inconvenience that tested everyone's patience especially since Traven was rather obstinate in his demands. Segaloff provides a chapter detailing the differences between the novel and the screen version, though this will primarily interest people with a passion for one or both versions. Obviously, the book spends a good deal of space to the making of "The African Queen", which Huston, ever a real-life adventurer, insisted on shooting on location in Africa. Bogart would win the Best Actor Oscar for his efforts and film would become their most successful collaboration in terms of boxoffice.
I found the most interesting and disturbing section of the book to be that which deals with both Huston and Bogart's behavior during the dreaded days of McCarthyism and the Blacklist. Huston opposed the notorious House UnAmerican Activies Committee's Draconian powers that left witnesses to either "name names" and implicate friends and colleagues of being Red sympathizers or see their own careers destroyed. Bogart and his wife Lauren Bacall initially joined Huston in organizing high profile protests against HUAC, but when faced with being Blacklisted, he and Bacall backed down and apologized for their accusations, saying they had believed misinformation. Huston did not cave and the fact that Bogart did put a temporary strain on their friendship. Nevertheless, they continued to work together. Their last collaboration was the ill-fated "Beat the Devil", which bombed at the time but which would later build a cult following.
Segaloff's books are notable for his presenting his work in an easy-going style that never gets overly bogged down with minutiae. There have been far more detailed volumes written about the lives and careers of Bogart and Huston but this is the only book dedicated to their collaborations. It's informative, sometimes enlightening and surprising, but most importantly, it's a good read.
Movie
trivia books have been with us for decades, but here’s one with a little
different spin.
From
Ivy Press, an imprint of the Quarto Group, The Movie Puzzle Book, by Ian
Smith and Dr. Gareth Moore, presents not just trivia questions related to
cinema history, but visual puzzles—word scrambles, mazes, mathematic
challenges, word-search grids, and other styles of classic pencil/paper
puzzles… all with movie themes.
Smith,
a UK editor, journalist and an editor of International Film Guide, and
Moore, author of over 200 puzzle and brain-training titles for both children
and adults, combined forces to not only provide movie puzzles and trivia, but
also lightly educate the readers/players about the history of cinema and the
various aspects of filmmaking.
For
example, one chapter of puzzles is all about screenwriting. One is all about
the actors. Directors. Production design, costumes, makeup, and visual effects.
Even the marketing of movies. An introductory page to each chapter gives us
background; thus, for the Design chapter the authors tell us how after a movie
is greenlit and the script, director, and actors are all set, then locations
must be found or sets built in a studio. In short, the book takes us on a
journey from concept to production to the marketing of the finished film. All
in puzzles and brain-twisters.
While
serious film buffs will likely know most of the trivia answers, there are
indeed some obscure and more elite areas of questioning. Most trivia books on
the market focus on “popular” films that the average person will know. While
that’s true in The Movie Puzzle Book, too, this publication goes further
and also delves into international films, silent films, movies made in
yesteryear, and art-house directors such as Ingmar Bergman, Francois Truffaut,
Federico Fellini… and this is all very welcome for cinephiles.
That
said, some of these puzzles are quite challenging. The mazes are spectacularly
difficult, and the grid-based puzzles are baffling. For example, to illustrate
“Special Effects,” we’re presented with a “Digital Drawing” puzzle in which we
have to draw a basic outline of a dinosaur for Jurassic Park. To reveal
the image, we have to shade some a run of consecutive squares according to
given clue numbers reading from left to right or top to bottom. We have to
figure out where in the grid one must begin the shading, both up and down and
left to right. It’s hard!
Another
twister is the Ingmar Bergman The Seventh Seal puzzle which is something
of a checkerboard in which you must use digits to fill in rows and columns,
avoiding the knight’s move in chess, so that no digits with a nine-space square
repeat. Yikes!
But
on the other hand, there are plenty of easier word scramble puzzles and
word-search games, as well as straight trivia questions like “Name the film in
which Kevin Costner attempts to save a baby in a pram midway through a shootout
with Chicago mobsters.” In short, there’s enough in the book to please most
every film buff.
Note:
One doesn’t really have to be too much of a cinephile to take on some of the
puzzles, if doing mazes and word-searches are your kind of thing. The “film
theme,” in the end, doesn’t matter much in those cases.
The
Film Puzzle Book is
an interesting and head-scratching diversion for those waiting in the cinema
for the feature film to begin.
