by Todd Garbarini

Samurai Cop, director Amir Shervan's 1989 film starring actors Robert Z'Dar, Matt Hannon and Jannis Farley, has been restored in high definition on DVD by Cinema Epoch and is now available for purchase in a special edition for a limited time on Amazon.com prior to the film's June 4th, 2013 DVD street date. Click here to purchase this new pressing (do not be fooled into purchasing the inferior Media Blasters DVD that was released in 2004). This new version is superior.

While going through boxes last year in a California studio vault, both Cinema Epoch President Greg Hatanaka and Cinema Epoch Producer and Director of Acquisition's Douglas Dunning (he's also a cult actor and voice over artist) discovered the original 35mm camera negative to the late Mr. Shervan's film. It is from this source that the new DVD has been transferred.

Samurai Cop will also be screened at midnight on May 31, 2013 at the Landmark's Nuart Theatre in the Westwood section of Los Angeles. Tentatively scheduled to appear in person at this screening on the 31st are actor/stuntman Gerald Okamura, actors Jimmy Williams and Mark Frazer, film composer Alan DerMarderosian, cinematographer Peter Palian, and Ben Shervan (the late director's son). There will also be a limited number of pre-signed DVDs autographed by actor Robert Z'Dar for purchase at this screening only.

Samurai Cop’s Facebook page can be found here.

Upcoming screenings will also be taking place at:

May 10 & 11 at 12:30m – Egyptian Theatre, Seattle, WA

May 31 & June 1 at Midnight – Uptown Theatre, Minneapolis, MN

June 7 at Midnight – River Oaks Theatre, Houston, TX

June 7 at Midnight – E Street Cinema, Washington, DC

June 7 at Midnight – Ritz at the Bourse, Philadelphia, PA

June 14 & 15 at Midnight – Inwood Theatre, Dallas, TX

June 28 & 29 at Midnight – Sunshine Cinemas, New York, NY

June 28 & 29 at Midnight – Esquire Theatre, Denver, CO

By Todd Garbarini

Rarely has distributor exploitation been as blatant as in the case of Simon Wincer’s The Day After Halloween (1980), a ludicrously-named Australian outing originally optioned under the name of Centerfold, then changed to Snapshot after the producers were unable to secure that title, and was eventually released as One More Minute. It appeared on video shelves here in the U.S. on VHS both in 1983 from Catalina Home Video under the title of The Day After Halloween and in 1985 as The Night After Halloween on Magnum Home Entertainment. The film came on the heels of the John Carpenter-scripted Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) which was set against the milieu of the fashion industry. Filmed in 1978 and released in Australia the following year, The Day After Halloween has absolutely nothing to do with John Carpenter’s seminal holiday suspense yarn, and isn’t even a slasher film. It isn’t even a thriller. At best, it can be considered a mystery that concerns a young woman named Angela (Sigrid Thornton) who lives with her wretched, belittling mother and is trying to fend off the unwanted affections of her obsessed and emotionally unstable ex-boyfriend Daryl (Vincent Gil) who drives an ice cream truck (think Phantasm!). She’s late for work which earns her the condemnation of her hairstylist boss but garners the affections of Madeline (Chantal Contouri), a sophisticate who dresses like Joan Collins who encourages Angela to parlay her natural good looks into a modeling career which lands her topless in Cleo, the Australian equivalent of Cosmopolitan Magazine, in an ad for Bermuda Cool cologne. The ad proves lucrative but also draws the unsolicited attention of lots of tongue-wagging men twice her age in an effort to score with her. A photographer sets up a meeting with her and uses an innocent photo session as a ruse to get her drunk and undressed, but she bails, which leads to a frightening confrontation later on.

Given the cookie-cutter nature of films from this era, it isn’t difficult to realize who really idolizes Angela and wants her the most. The Bermuda Cool photographing sequence goes on much longer than it should (remember that long, wordless sequence in Play Misty for Me set to a Roberta Flack song? That was shorter!). Lacking a cinematic style, the film for the most part is shot in masters and throws lots of red herrings at the audience, but it makes for an entertaining film. The acting is impressive for this sort of story. The score is by the late Australian composer Brian May whose music to George Miller’s The Road Warrior (1981) is one of the best action film scores ever. Prior to this, Mr. May scored Patrick (1978) which was produced by Anthony Ginnane who also acts as producer on this film as well (if you have seen the Italian cut of Patrick, Mr. May’s score was replaced by Goblin’s). Director Wincer has gone on to director more notable and successful films: Phar Lap (1983), D.A.R.Y.L. (1985), Quigley Down Under (1990), Free Willy (1993), and The Phantom (1996).

The film has been released on Scorpion Releasing’s Katarina's Nightmare Theater line, hosted by Katarina Leigh Waters. Ms. Waters proves to be a charming and knowledgeable emcee and provides an amusing introduction to the film. She points out that this is the first time the film is being presented on home video in its original 2.35:1 anamorphic Panavision aspect ratio. The film is transferred from a theatrical print, but it is free of dirt and scratches. The sound is in mono and is passable.

The DVD contains the entire, uncut version of the film with Snapshot on the title card, however there is an extra that contains a portion of the opening credits with The Day After Halloween as the title (the fuzziness of the image and overall lack of quality appears to be sourced from VHS). There is also an extremely informative running commentary with producer Anthony Ginnane moderated by Ms. Waters. A veteran of over fifty films, Mr. Ginnane is a fountain of knowledge and remembers quite a bit about the making of this film which had a very tight production schedule on the order of three weeks shooting time. The DVD cover replicates the original American one-sheet which is a nicely-designed image but is completely misleading – it is simply the wrong cover for this movie.

Click here to order from Amazon 

On his web blog Sixties Cinema, Cinema Retro columnist Tom Lisanti pays tribute to schlock producer Bert Gordon's 1965 teenbopper exploitation flick Village of the Giants, featuring such cult stars as Tisha Sterling, Joy Harmon, Vicki London and Tony Basil. Click here for the story behind the film as well as original TV ads.

By Todd Garbarini

On Saturday, April 23, 1988, I attended the Official Starlog Festival at the then-Penta Hotel in midtown Manhattan on Seventh Avenue. It was my first time meeting makeup artist Tom Savini and several cast members of Star Trek were also on hand. Film producer Frank Marshall, whom cineastes will know from The Warriors (1979), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Poltergeist (1982), Back to the Future (1985), and most recently The Borne Legacy (2012), also showed up for a few hours to debut footage that director Robert Zemeckis shot for a new upcoming film entitled Who Framed Roger Rabbit? which was based upon the 1981 novel by Gary K. Wolf, Who Censored Roger Rabbit? The footage that we saw consisted of Bob Hoskins interacting with Roger and other animated characters and it looked pretty seemless. When the film opened two months later, I was delighted to see my favorite cartoon characters appear in one film.

The premise is fairly straight forward and owes a huge debt to the film noirs of the Thirties and Forties and there is more than a passing wink at Roman Polanski’s Chinatown (1974) as Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) is hired by R.K. Maroon (the head of Maroon Cartoons) to investigate allegations that Jessica Rabbit, the wife of cartoon star Roger Rabbit (both of whom live in Toontown with other cartoon characters who act in movies for real people producers and directors), is having an affair. Eddie hates toons because his brother, Teddy, was killed by one some years earlier. Eddie shows Roger pictures that he took of Roger’s wife, Jessica, playing patty-cake with Marvin Acme. Roger interprets this as his wife cheating on him, and when Acme is killed the next day by a fallen piano, Roger moves to the head of the suspect list. Since toons are pretty much indestructible (they have to be in order for them to be “killed” in their cartoons!), an evil man named Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd), who presides over Toontown, knows that the only way to kill a toon should one of them step out of line is to submerge them into a vat of acid he calls “The Dip”. His minions are sent out to find Roger and bring him back for the murder of Marvin Acme. This leads to a series of action-packed misadventures that are executed in the tradition of most of the beloved Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies cartoons.

This is the film’s first foray on to Blu-ray, and its third go-round on DVD. It comes in a 2-disc set with one Blu-ray and one DVD. The Blu-ray contains the following extras:

Filmmaker’s running commentary (runs in tandem with the film)

The Roger Rabbit Shorts: Tummy Trouble, Roller Coaster Rabbit & Trail Mix-Up

Who Made Roger Rabbit (10:55)

Deleted Scene: The Pig Head Sequence (5:30)

Before and After (3:07)

Toon Stand-Ins (3:14)

Behind the Ears documentary (36:37)

On Set! behind-the-scenes (4:50)

The DVD contains these additional extras:

Valiant Files

Toontown Confidential, a feature that can be enabled while watching the film which has facts and trivia

What is missing, and this is something I have never seen on any home video release of the film be it VHS, laserdisc (does anyone remember the controversy surrounding this release?), or previous editions DVDs, is the CBS-TV special Roger Rabbit & the Secrets of Toon Town which aired on Tuesday, September 13, 1988. Its exclusion might be attributed to a rights issue. Fortunately, it can be seen here on Youtube. The quality is not stellar, however it is better than not having access to it at all.

All in all, this Blu-ray is a worthy upgrade to a fun film that has earned its place in movie history.

Click here to order from Amazon

By Todd Garbarini

Pasha Roberts is the director of the new film Silver Circle.  He obtained his masters in financial engineering, which he describes as “hedge fund math,” roughly ten years ago.  His interest was in financial digitalization and how to apply modern computer graphics to high finance. His thesis subject consisted of applying a game-like graphics engine to doing equity trading in finance so that a reasonably intelligent 13-year-old gamer could use it to learn this type of trading.  Upon doing this, he realized that what was missing from financial communications was a way of describing complicated concepts from a Ph.D level and bringing it down to a Masters level, essentially reducing the complexity and making it accessible; he did this by working with banks, corporations and think tanks.

Beginning around 2006, he began moving towards more economic-type concepts, and felt that it was important to describe things on more of an economic level rather than a financial level. When the housing and financial crash occurred in 2008, he decided that Silver Circle should really be about a crash and the intrigue around that crash.

Todd Garbarini: Your animation company, Two Lanterns Media, produced a series entitled Save Sonny which concerns a young adult entering the workforce who becomes perturbed to find that some of his paycheck is being deducted by a mysterious entity known as FICA (laughs). Does Sonny personify the average young American in your mind?

Pasha Roberts: At that point, we kind of did that, yeah. That was kind of a South Park-level of humor, there are some farts jokes in there as well. The goal at the time was to take the subject and make it interesting and acceptable for somebody who, when they get their first job, suddenly realizes that they don't get all of their money. They want to know where it goes to, specifically FICA, and why. That was a whole, completely different other style and was not as serious as (our new film) Silver Circle, but kind of tongue-in-cheek and somewhat educational.

TG: The series reminds me of Schoolhouse Rock which endeavored to educate children on science, economics, history, etc. Do you see yourself as an educator for social change and personal financial responsibility through animation?

PR: Yeah, you could say it that way. We were focusing on the story first and therefore tried to make it fun and interesting without trying to be too pedantic about it. That's why Silver Circle isn't full of speeches, although it has one or two that are kind of mixed in. We were interested in working with people who wanted to make a movie with a backbone and a spine and ideas in it. The audience can certainly enjoy it on an intellectual level in that regard, but otherwise they can also enjoy themselves from the movie perspective as we do have some action sequences and a car chase.

TG: Silver Circle posits the financial collapse of the United States economic system roughly six years from now. It is animated in the style of a contemporary video game. Was this your decision from the get-go?

PR: We were actually looking at A Scanner Darkly, actually we did use Maya, we didn't really use cel shading for this but we did look a lot at that. We really wanted to make the characters look less realistic and keep them from looking kind of spooky, and even so I think we could have done more with that. It's kind of a crossover thing, you don't see a lot of animated movies that are not comedies or fantasies, so people aren’t used to seeing this type of animation with something serious.

TG: How long did the process of making the film take, from conception to final product?

PR: Four years. We basically started brainstorming about it the day after Lehman Brothers went down because it was such a big dramatic moment, and I thought this could be a real interesting theme. The screenwriting itself took about a year as there was a completely different concept at first and it took a little while to burn through a couple of screenwriters until we finally settled on Stephen (Schwartz). Then we spent three years on production. The overall budget was roughly $2M. One of the really interesting things about the movie is that the end credits contain the names of about ten core people who really worked on it, compared to an army of animators.

TG: In the film, the Federal Reserve has been tasked with stabilizing the economy, but all attempts have failed and the Rebels illegally mint silver coins hoping to stabilize the financial health of the country. How do you feel this mirrors the current economic situation in the U.S. today?

PR: I think that we are currently heading in the direction that is depicted in the film, although I don't think that it will be as bad. There were a couple of things that are in the movie and were even in the script but hadn't happened yet but actually came true as we progressed through making the movie. For example, there is a guy by the name of Bernard von Nothaus who is currently in prison for making money out of silver, and that’s his crime. His sentencing judge basically called him a domestic terrorist for trying to make money out of silver. So, that was not going on. Then, the Federal Reserve was actually talking about taking over neighborhoods and basically calling them “land banks,” which is of course essential part of Silver Circle’s plot. So, there are angles going on in that direction already and I do believe that marijuana is on its way to being legalized, and this also occurs in the movie. I hope that the movie obviously isn't prescient in terms of being completely true. We looked at a lot of the history of Argentina and Zimbabwe and what happens when a currency begins to die and how people behave as a result of that.

TG: What do you hope audiences will take away from the film?

PR: First off, I hope that they enjoy the story. Obviously, I want them to have a great time. I want it to be a fun, good story for the audience. After that, I hope that people are not only entertained, and but there are also a lot of embedded things in the movie for the so-called armchair economists and conspiracy theorists. I really do hope that it gets people to start to think about money and know that there is this thing out there called the Federal Reserve that is very real and they are not murderous bastards (laughs). I want the audience to not take the concepts of money for granted. Most other countries understand that and the changing of European currency and so on and so forth - things abroad do not appear to be as well-established or as stable as things appear to be here. So, hopefully the audience will think about that. The angle that we're taking is that we really can make an animated movie with a spine of ideas that people will actually appreciate instead of just offering up a whitewashed movie.

Silver Circle Theater Schedule:

4/05 Laemmle’s NoHo – Los Angeles, CA (Buy your tickets here)

4/11 Pollack Tempe Cinema – Tempe, AZ (Buy your tickets here)

4/12 Regal Cinema – Ballston – Arlington, VA (Tickets on sale soon)

4/18 Flix Brewhouse – Round Rock, TX (Buy your tickets here)

Silver Circle’s official website is here.

Click here to read Todd Garbarini's review of Silver Circle 

By Todd Garbarini 

Room 237 is the title of the excellent new documentary by director Rodney Ascher that takes the points of view of five off-screen individuals who do their best to unmask the purported hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick’s initially disappointing yet subsequently revered 1980 film version of Stephen King’s The Shining. In doing so, they are keeping in line with a motif derived straight from the novel in a sequence wherein Horace Derwent, a former owner of the Overlook Hotel, urges his costumed party-goers to unmask at a lavish celebration, thereby revealing their identities. The human face as a mask is also a common theme throughout all of Mr. Kubrick’s filmography, so it is only fitting that Room 237 takes the approach of removing layers to reveal what might be hidden beneath the surface in order to get at The Shining’s essence.

As a fan of Mr. Kubrick’s film for the past thirty years, I can honestly say that even though I have seen it easily more than fifty times I never noticed the props, visual references or subtexts that these five narrators diligently point out (granted this was difficult to do on archaic home video systems such as CED or VHS due to their significantly reduced image quality, to say nothing of the substandard televisions they were played back on, although the technically superior Blu-ray is a much better medium due to its high definition quality and lends itself ideal for this examination). Nor did I see the various continuity errors, judged as deliberate by Mr. Kubrick from the narrators’ perspectives, such as the carpet that changes direction in the hallway or the chair against the wall disappearing during Jack Torrance’s (Jack Nicholson) emotional outburst after his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) interrupts his writing. An argument can be made that Room 237 is less about the hidden meanings in The Shining than it is an explanation of five different people’s interpretations and experiences of seeing The Shining. There were times wherein the person speaking discussed in great length the strange layout of the Overlook Hotel and I must admit I could not see what they were getting at, however this is just one point that is made and there are numerous theories to go around on other subtexts of the film: the purported significance of the number 42; the architectural impossibility of the window in Mr. Ullman’s office; the ludicrous sexual reference in Mr. Ullman’s first handshake with Jack (this is a bit of a stretch – no pun intended, of course!); the Minotaur motif; the strange layout itself of the Overlook Hotel; the references to the genocide of Native Americans and even the Holocaust, the subject of which Mr. Kubrick later attempted to make a film about but eventually abandoned as he felt he could not do justice to the horror of this bleak period in history.

Director Ascher makes the interesting choice of not showing the faces of the narrators, and this maneuver works to the film’s advantage since so much of it is about pointing out what the narrators see. Cross-cutting between the narrators and the points they want to make would have either reduced the film’s running time (102 minutes, roughly the same as The French Connection (1970), my favorite film) or would have left most of the cogent points on the cutting room floor. I can only hope that the forthcoming DVD will offer up some nice extras in the way of deleted scenes. I am certain that there must have been some discussion about the significance of Jack telling Mr. Ullman that Wendy is a “confirmed ghost story and horror film addict,” yet her artistic escapes consist of reading The Catcher in the Rye and watching Summer of ’42 (there’s that number again!), two classics about the coming-of-age of a young male.

I especially liked Room 237’s framing device of using Lamberto Bava’s Demons (1985) and Demons 2: The Nightmare Continues (1986) as footage of an audience viewing The Shining in a theater and on television, respectively, to make certain points. Ideally, The Shining should be viewed in a movie theater, although realistically that is unfortunately not an option for most of us. The home video revolution saved many a film from inevitable obscurity and this is where the majority of Shining enthusiasts (myself included) had the opportunity to see it and thrill to it to our heart’s content.

The prerequisites for enjoying Room 237 include more than a passing interest in The Shining (it certainly helps to be a rabid fan of the film, thus having tremendous familiarity of it), patience, and certainly a sense of humor. Room 237 succeeds in imparting to the audience just how compelling and frightening The Shining can be to a first-time viewer. It is also a testament to the notion that film viewing is a solitary experience as no two people will see any one film with the same set of eyes. Perhaps, as is the case with The Shining, and many other Kubrick films, multiple viewings of Room 237 will clear up and even reveal more of what the narrators say they see. Whether you consider the film to be completely true or complete bollocks, one thing that can be said is that Room 237 is entertaining, thought-provoking, fascinating and enlightening. It’s my choice for Best Documentary at the 2014 Oscars.

Click here for the film’s official site.

By Todd Garbarini

Horror films are a hot commodity.  Some of the most well-known slasher films of the 1980’s have been re-issued on DVD and Blu-ray by companies looking to cash-in on audiences’ seemingly insatiable appetite for murder and mayhem while also introducing them to a whole new generation of fans with disposable income. Two titles that fans want on DVD and Blu-ray in the way of special editions are Paul Lynch’s Prom Night (1980) and Richard Ciupka’s Curtains (1983), both Canadian productions through Simcom, the former having fared far better on home video than the latter.

Prom Night was originally released theatrically by Avco Embassy Pictures in July 1980. It was distributed on VHS by MCA Home Video in 1981 and again by Virgin Vision, Inc. in 1988. MCA also released a laserdisc pan-and-scan version on their laser rot-prone DiscoVision line in 1981 (curiously, the film bypassed the RCA Select-A-Vision Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED) stylus-based format of the early 1980’s, the direct competitor to laserdisc). The film fared better when a widescreen laserdisc sourced from a 35mm interpositive followed in 1997 courtesy of Elite Entertainment. In February 1998, Anchor Bay Entertainment released a widescreen DVD that included the original theatrical trailer (1.85:1 presentation is a must for this title as a boom mike is clearly visible in several shots in the full frame format). After the rights lapsed the film was picked up by Echo Bridge Entertainment and reissued in October 2007, this time dispensing with said trailer. Overall, Prom Night has been released on home video in three different formats no less than six times in the United States alone, not counting the international, non-Region 1 releases around the globe. All of these U.S. versions contain only the film without any additional extras that are practically a requirement to home video now: running commentaries, on-set interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, isolated musical scores, comments from contemporaries, stills galleries, etc.

Curtains, on the other hand, is a thriller that has suffered indignities far too numerous to list. Plagued from the outset by a problematic production, the financing ran out and put the cast and crew on hiatus for over one year. Much of the crew was replaced, and despite having been released theatrically in April 1983 to many respectable movie theaters by the long-defunct Jensen Farley Pictures, Curtains has only appeared on home video twice in the United States: in December 1983 Vestron Video released it on VHS, and in October 2010 Echo Bridge Entertainment released it as part of The Midnight Horror Collection: Bloody Slashers set which also includes Hoboken Hollow (2006), Secrets of the Clown (2007), and Room 33 (2009). In a maneuver regarded as perfunctory by those not in the know, Curtains appears to be lumped in with these three contemporary tales for no better reason than to “round out” the other titles – the original ad slick for Curtains was jettisoned and replaced with an image of a hand parting a curtain.

Curtains was also released in April 2007 on Region 2 DVD in the UK by Black Horse Entertainment. As with the Echo Bridge Entertainment release, the original poster artwork was not used. Again, an uninspired makeshift cover image that fails to represent the film in any way adorns the case. Curtains can be found at horror film conventions on DVD-R sporting its beautiful and atmospheric original one-sheet artwork, but the DVD transfer is sourced from the Vestron VHS cassette and is therefore in dire need of color correction; a 2K/4K high definition upgrade is long overdue.

Prom Night has a creepy score by Paul Zaza and Carl Zittrer (he scored a handful of films for Bob Clark, including the classic 1974 film Black Christmas and was also a musical consultant on “Act II” of Curtains). Mr. Zaza also scored Curtains, which might have been a rejected score for Prom Night as several cues that appear in Prom Night also made their way into Curtains. Director Ciupka’s name was also removed from the credits to Curtains; whether or not this has any bearing on the lack of a DVD release is a mystery.

Fans can ponder why these titles are not available in full-blown special editions, and there are probably many legitimate reasons why the current DVDs turn up in Walmart discount bins. The original 35mm film negatives to each respective film may not be available as the whereabouts may be in question, or they may no longer even exist; management might feel that an insufficient number of fans willing to pay for the films exists and there is a fear of losing money on these titles; both films were made as Canadian tax shelter projects and this may also pose a problem. With the glut of far lesser quality horror thrillers available in beautifully designed special editions, the mind reels as to why these two films in particular have been marginalized and seem to be anathema to the royal treatment.

Echo Bridge Entertainment, a DVD company that uses the slogan “The Entertainment Alternative for What the World Wants to See” (not sure where that came from or what it is based upon), is now being approached by fans on an online petition website respectfully asking them to release the rights for these two films to Scream Factory, the Shout! Factory subsidiary that is making a name for itself with beautiful deluxe versions of genre favorites Terror Train (1980), The Funhouse (1981), Halloween II (1981), Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), and the upcoming Deadly Blessing (1981) to name a few. This company would be an ideal organization to release these films as their work thus far has proven that they will spend the time and provide just the proper amount of TLC that these films deserve.

As of this writing, the petition has 300 signatures and is looking for a total of 1200, which is not an impossible number to reach. Click here to sign the petition on Petition Buzz requesting licensing of Prom Night and Curtains.

AND THEN THERE WAS… BADLANDS

By Raymond Benson

Terrence Malick fans will rejoice for the newly restored (and director approved, I might add—so apparently he’s not as reclusive as he’s been made out to be), marvelous release of the auteur’s first, and very low-budget, feature film. It was originally screened at festivals in 1973, and released to the public in early ’74. No punches pulled here—Badlands is a masterpiece, and its arrival immediately garnered a fan following for the enigmatic director who has made only five films in so many decades. But as producer Edward Pressman says in the exclusive video interview that The Criterion Collection included as one of several good extras, Badlands was not a success on its first release. Reviews were mixed—as would be the case for any Malick film—and the public didn’t go see it. Pressman also had to fight for Malick to have his own artistic vision, despite complaints and pressure from the backers. The film was properly “discovered” when it started playing on cable television some years later. By then, Malick was making Days of Heaven, and these would be the only two pictures he would make before a twenty-year gap in output. Already his mystique had been established.

Badlands is indeed a remarkable film, not only because of the unique point of view Malick brings to the table, but for the performances of young Martin Sheen and young Sissy Spacek. They are both knock-outs, and they were undeservedly ignored when awards season came around. Sheen, especially, gives a chilling performance of psychopath-as-James Dean, more or less, because the character fashions himself after the famous actor. You can’t help but like the guy. He is utterly charming to the girl he’s chosen to run away with him on a killing spree, and the couple’s love for each other is so real and so oddball that we can’t help but be fascinated by them.

It is Malick’s most “accessible” film, perhaps, for it tells a linear, sweeps-you-along story with characters you can follow through a story arc. If you know Malick only from his recent works (The Tree of Life, The Thin Red Line), you’ll know he didn’t always stick to that format. However, Malick displays many of his signature traits even here. A common stylistic and thematic element of the director’s films is the marriage of nature to whatever story is being told, thus there are striking cinematographic images of plains, bugs, birds, flowers, wheat, and sky, all set to some unusual piece of music from an eclectic palate of recorded works. (The unique soundtrack to Badlands has never been compiled and released, and someone should do it!)

Loosely inspired by the real-life Charles Starkweather case of the late 1950s, Badlands is a road movie that is poetry in motion, haunting and unforgettable. The 4K digital transfer is gorgeous. Other extras include an engrossing forty-minute piece on the making of the film, featuring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek today, reminiscing about the extraordinary experience they had with “Terry.” Associate editor Billy Weber also provides an interview, and a highlight is the 1993 episode of TV’s American Justice about Starkweather.

If you’ve never seen Badlands, take a look at this exquisite Criterion release and experience something beautiful and strange.

Click here to order from Amazon

ALSO NEW FROM CRITERION:

Ministry of Fear, 1944, directed by Fritz Lang, and starring Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds, and Dan Duryea, looks fantastic on Blu-ray. It’s one of the best restorations and transfers I’ve seen of a black-and-white film noir of the period. Lang’s German Expressionistic background is classroom-clear in the look of this intriguing spy tale, based on a novel by Graham Greene (The Third Man). The high-contrast light-and-shadow and angled lines are all over the place. Nazi spies in England are the bad guys, and our innocent man on the run (Milland) thinks he knows where a few of them are hiding. The problem is, he’s a former mental asylum patient who served time for mercy-killing his already dying wife. This is a terrific World War II-era paranoia thriller, despite the fact that so many American actors in the picture are supposed to be British, and they make no attempt to sound that way. Still, the story is compelling and the direction is superb. Includes an interview with Lang scholar Joe McElhaney.

Click here to order from Amazon

By Todd Garbarini

James Cameron's The Terminator is a masterpiece of cinematic storytelling, conceived by Mr. Cameron while in Rome with a fever years earlier (the late director Robert Altman had a similar situation that led to the writing of my favorite film of his, Three Women, released in 1977). Shot in early 1984 for roughly $6M (the amount spent solely on the sound mix of the superb $90M sequel seven years later), this futuristic action powerhouse grabs the audience by the throat and takes us on a wild ride. Despite the inexorable pace – much like the titular villain’s nature – the film manages to come up for air and miraculously never feels over-the-top, long-winded or plodding.

The Terminator opened on Friday, October 26, 1984 and yours truly missed out on seeing it, electing to see the horror film greatest hits compilation Terror in the Aisles instead. I had to wait until the end of the school year eight months later to see the film in a classroom on VHS, the small-screen presentation diminishing none of the film’s raw emotional power to my teenage eyes, both of which were glued to the television. The film made Arnold Schwarzenegger a super star and was the surprise sleeper hit of the season, his depiction of a terrifying cyborg with a relentless mission it will stop at nothing to complete solidifying his place as an action icon. Two weeks later Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street was unleashed on unsuspecting moviegoers and cinema hasn't been the same since, introducing a child killer who invades teen-agers’ dreams in his attempts to murder them. The Terminator added “Come with me if you want to live.” and the oft-quoted “I’ll be back.” to the American lexicon and became as familiar as “May the Force be with you.” and “Go ahead. Make my day.” Nightmare, of course, contributed the creepy “One, two, Freddy’s coming for you…” children’s song.

Linda Hamilton shines as Sarah Connor, a 28 year-old diner waitress who unwittingly is targeted for termination by the Terminator after it travels from the future, determined to kill her so that her unborn son cannot rise against the machines. Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn in a terrific and underrated performance) is the human counterpart sent to intercept and destroy the Terminator so that Sarah may live. What makes the film so brilliant is not only the ideas it presents but how it conveys them to the audience. For the first thirty-five minutes, we are just as in the dark as Sarah (not knowing she’s about to be on the run for her life) and Kyle (since the Terminator looks human on the outside, he has to wait until it moves in on Sarah before he can strike) and are only given little bits of information until Kyle and the Terminator meet face to face at the TechNoir dance club (the shootout in this ultra-Eighties club, followed by the escape, are beautifully edited set pieces that set the tone for the rest of the film).

The film may be low-budget, but it honestly does not feel like it. The story is enthralling and completely believable. Mr. Biehn gives a performance just as compelling as Donald Pleasence did in Halloween (1978). Without his history, conviction and attempts to make those around him believe that what he is saying is true, Kyle Reese, the soldier from the future who comes across time to father John Connor with Sarah, would fall under the weight of the film. There is a level of plausibility to the story that is lacking from other films about the future, heightened by Stan Winston’s special effects work. The flashback battle scenes of the war in 2019 recall Mad Max (1979) and Mad Max 2 (1981) (retitled The Road Warrior for its 1982 US release). The Terminator is the boiler plate for future films about, well. The future!

Composer Brad Fiedel has created a magnificently menacing score, robotic and simplistic like the Terminator. Dick Miller provides a great cameo as a gun store clerk (I just noticed the store’s address as 14329 and its similarity to 14239, the address of the first Sarah Connor the Terminator kills from the phonebook listing – and I have seen the film many times over! Oh, the clarity of high definition!).

The Blu-ray, which was released at least twice before (once in a special version containing a hardcover book), comes with the same extras ported over from the previous editions:

· Behind the scenes – runes about 13 minutes

· Terminator: A Retrospective – runs just over 20 minutes and contains interviews from 1986 and 1992

· A collection of deleted scenes

I wish that this time around the disc included a running commentary with the director at the very least. This is a watershed film that rewrote the book on science fiction action films and it is deserving of more extras than the studios have lavished on it thus far. If you have not yet picked up the film on Blu-ray, this edition will do quite nicely.

The film has been remastered and looks as good as it is going to in 1080P.

Click here to order discounted from Amazon

By Todd Garbarini

Most big screen action films feel like video games made for the theatres. The over-the-top, psychotically-edited films of most of Michael Bay’s output of late, specifically the Transformer series, can attest to this fact. While the availability of inexpensive technology that was non-existent twenty years ago has brought tools to those who wish to push the envelope and find new and different ways to tell stories, there is virtually no limit to how filmmakers can realize their vision. We have reached a point in our intake of entertainment wherein movies influence video games and music videos and the lines between these disparate forms of enjoyment are becoming ever less defined.

Video games have experienced a surge in popularity in recent years thanks in part to high definition graphics, powerful home computers and gaming systems, and the ability to play against complete strangers several miles away or across the globe. One of the most profitable series is the Grand Theft Auto game from Rock Star Games, a company that has received flack for their violent and sexual content. The game literally puts the player (or perpetrator, depending upon your point of view) in the driver seat to navigate a dangerous city plagued by vagrants and social undesirables. Your mission is to commit as many crimes as possible as a means to an end. The graphics are high quality and the people are very realistic. It is this style of video game animation that has taken center stage in the terrific new film by Pasha Roberts called Silver Circle.

Set in the vicinity of Washington, D.C. in 2019, the same year as Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982), Silver Circle concerns a world where inflation has run rampant following the financial collapse of the United States. A beer costs $90.00 and a gallon of gas averages $152.00, so $7.00 for a buzz and $3.59 for the precious juice no longer sounds like such a bad deal. But, it’s all relative. Pot has been legal since 2016 (apparently the war on drugs, a roughly $500 billion a year enterprise, is no longer a top priority), the same year that silver and gold was outlawed, and the Federal Reserve, referred to only as The Fed (much like Big Brother) is the country’s third attempt at a centralized banking system and it simply isn’t working. Desperate attempts by the aforementioned entity to stabilize the economy via printing worthless paper money with nothing to back it up except waning public trust is proving disastrous while managing home prices has similar effects.

Jay, an arson investigator, is brought in to determine the party responsible for the destruction of several homes in the Glenwood Homes subdivision which is the property of the Strategic Housing Reserve. He meets the lead realtor at the Cornwall Real Estate office and is intrigued by her assistant, Zoe, who agrees to meet with him later and give him some information off the record. Their meeting proves to be fortuitous as Jay is saved by Zoe when he is ambushed by henchmen looking to throw him off the case. Zoe gives chase in her mini-automobile that would make William Friedkin smile, effectively losing the bad guys. She clearly has some sort of expert training that the average realtor assistant would be oblivious to. It turns out that Zoe is a part of a group that call themselves The Rebels who illegally mint tangible, silver coins (hence the film’s title) in the hopes of stabilizing the financial health of the country.

While it might be easy to dismiss Silver Circle as just a story told through the unorthodox platform of video game animation, the film’s message is very real and serious and most certainly topical. Unlike contemporary action films that hit the audience over the head with cuts so fast that there is little time to process, Silver Circle moves at a much more visually manageable pace. It’s a film that has a message, and it manages to both entertain and inform the audience. The film’s greatest strength lies in getting the audience to think instead of just veg-out.

The film will begin touring the country starting in New York on Friday, March 22^nd. Click here on the film’s official website to see where it is playing and read more about the film, the characters, and the talented animators who brought Silver Circle to life.

Review by Adrian Smith

'Star Trek' has been with us now for almost fifty years. It has spawned five different incarnations on television, ten official movies and soon the sequel to J.J. Abram's successful reboot of the franchise will be in cinemas, titled Star Trek Into Darkness. Gene Roddenberry's vision of an international, interstellar crew aboard a gigantic spacecraft whose mission was simply to explore the universe has touched millions of people and generated some almost alarming levels of devotion and influence. One only has to look at the campaign to build a real Starship Enterprise to see that this show is taken very seriously by many (www.buildtheenterprise.org).

But not everybody is well versed in 'Star Trek' lore. Over the decades of boldly going through the galaxies a massive amount of alien races, mythologies and technology has been devised to keep the shows and movies interesting. Some of these are well known even amongst non-Trekkies, with most people knowing the difference, say, between a Klingon and a Vulcan. What what about the Jem'Hadar? Or the Yridians? Could you name the home planet of the Xindi? Or explain how the Suliban Cabal became genetically enhanced? Thankfully these questions and more can now be answered without needing to trawl back through all those old 'Star Trek' tapes. If you want to be more familiar with the 'Star Trek' universe in time for the new movie, or just want to take a warp speed trip down memory lane, this new book from D.K. guides you through each incarnation of the television series, from the original 'Star Trek' through to 'The Next Generation', 'Voyager', 'Deep Space Nine' and 'Enterprise'. Also included is information from the first ten movies.

Aside from the introduction by John De Lancie, who played the mysterious extra-dimensional Q in 'Star Trek: The Next Generation', there is no acknowledgement in here that this is all fictional. The book acts as a glossary providing imagery and information as though it was all real. This is fun for fans who may want to check how to distinguish a Type-1 Phaser from a Type-2 Phaser, but a little frustrating if you are more interested in the history and development of the production from its inception. However, there are plenty of other books out there which cover that side of the story. Where Star Trek: The Visual Dictionary stands out is in its wealth of imagery, plenty of which is quite rare, having only just been released from the CBS archives. The book is well laid out and is something you can quite easily dip in and out of. You can marvel at the intricacies of the designs and the imaginations of the show's creators even if you can't find out who any of them were.

Hemlock Books

ISBN: 9780955777479

Paperback

Price: £17.95

295 pages

Review by Adrian Smith

To paraphrase Jonathan Rigby in his book English Gothic, horror is the one genre that Britain can truly claim as its own. And whilst British horror cinema is inextricably connected to gothic-tinged memories of Christopher Lee, cobweb-strewn castles and buxom scream queens, M.J. Simpson points out in this excellently researched tome that the face of British horror today offers far more.

Simpson appears to have taken on the Herculean task of watching every film that could fit the broad definition of being British (not always easy to tell, with funding and production often involving multiple countries), and being horror, again something of a broad church. A lot of the films he describes, giving not only plot synopses but reviews, production information and interview extracts, sound utterly terrible. He seems to have sat through a staggering amount of punishingly bad films so that we, the readers, don't have to. But along the way he has stumbled across a significant number of excellent films, too, many of which have escaped either critical or commercial attention.

Using the term British Horror Revival, Simpson offers a complete breakdown of the twelve years covered, digging up each film and presenting them in the order they received any kind of release. It is fascinating to see just how difficult some filmmakers have getting distribution, often producing a film in the UK but finding it only coming out on DVD in Japan or Australia. Many films manage a few festival screenings before disappearing into obscurity, so Simpson is to be praised for finding them again. Of course, some of them sound so terrible that it does not seem that much of a pity, but others sound like genuine lost gems. If horror is your thing, this book will have you scouring the internet looking for DVD or download copies.

Amongst the filmmakers discussed are genuine talents like Jake West (Evil Aliens, 2006), Shane Meadows (Dead Man's Shoes, 2006), Neil Marshall (The Descent, 2005) and Danny Boyle, whose brilliant and devastating 28 Days Later (2002) did much to raise the profile of the British Horror Revival around the world. Amongst the more obscure entries you can find Beyond the Rave (2008), a cheap teen-themed vampire horror co-produced by the newly revived Hammer Films, which Cinema Retro covered extensively (and even appeared in briefly!) here: http://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php/archives/387-EXCLUSIVE-REPORT-FROM-THE-SET-OF-NEW-HAMMER-HORROR-FILM%21.html

This is an extremely well-researched book, and M.J. Simpson's occasionally sarcastic and exasperated tone is entertaining, even if it does give the impression that he had regrets about this project once he had embarked on it. He has uncovered some gems and revealed that there is a very active, mostly micro-budget British film industry which gets frequently overshadowed by the Bonds, Harry Potters and Richard Curtis rom-coms. It is a pity that aside from a few pages of colour stills the majority of the imagery in the book is black and white. This is a genre that is frequently soaked in the red stuff. The main gripe however has to be the lack of an index or references. It is impossible to search for a specific title unless you know the year it was released, and even then you have to wade through the chapter concerned. The book could have served as a useful reference guide, but instead it appears to have been designed to be read from cover to cover. However, this is only a minor reservation. If you are interested in the horror genre, or want to find out just how active dozens of British filmmakers have are, this is a great read.

(Click here for on-line index of people mentioned in the book)

(Click here for on-line index of titles mentioned in the book)

By Todd Garbarini

Walt Disney Studios graciously provided me with the opportunity recently to discuss Peter Pan with two of the film’s stars: Kathryn Beaumont, who provided the voice of Wendy, and Paul Collins, who provided the voice of John Darling.

KATHRYN BEAUMONT

Todd Garbarini: Thank you for speaking with me about Peter Pan.

Kathryn Beaumont: Thank you, it’s my pleasure!

TG: I am a big fan of the Disney cartoons as I spent the better part of my childhood seeing them.

KB: I'm so glad! They really are special, aren't they? The Disney cartoons really stand the test of time.

TG: These are some of the earliest movies I ever saw in both movie theaters and drive-ins. I really miss the drive-ins. There are so few of them left.

KB: I know! I miss the drive-ins, too!

TG: I understand that you were born and lived in London. How did you come to enter show business?

KG: I was in On An Island with You (1948) and Challenge to Lassie (1949) and at that point MGM was scouting characters for their new ideas for British classic-like stories, and so they put me under contract and I started working for them. I was with MGM for a while, and as you know a lot of those ideas just never come into being and ended up being put on the shelf. They kept me under contract though and at that time that was when Walt Disney was looking for his Alice in Wonderland. The rest, as they say, is sort of history! Just about the time that my contract was due to be changed over for the next six months, that is a six-month option, at that point there was some sort of negotiation and I went over to Disney and started working on Alice in Wonderland.

TG: Were you familiar with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland when you were asked to perform the voice of the titular heroine?

KB: (laughs) It reminds me of when I first met Walt. He greeted me at the door and walked me into the office where everybody was settled because we were going to be signing the contracts. The publicity department was there and all of that. He walked me over to the little table and chairs. He told me that it would be kind of nice for us to go over the original book. He asked if I was familiar with the story. I said, “Oh yes, yes of course, of course!” (laughs) I had had it read to me when I was very young. Everybody in England was familiar with it. Those were the absolute classics. I was familiar with the stories whether I had read them not and by that time I could read them myself. So yes, I was extremely familiar. So, we sat down and he was sort of trying to explain to me what his vision was for the film and how he was trying to bring a little bit of both Through the Looking Glass and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland into this new animated feature. So, it was very informative and we had a lot of fun looking through the books and sharing all the things that we knew about the stories.

TG: Like so many of the classic Disney films, Alice in Wonderland was animated by the Nine Old Men, the famous animators who worked on so many of these classics. I met two of them, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, in November 1987 at a local mall when they were promoting their book The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. They were very nice to speak with. How did you get along with the animators on the set of the film?

KB: Oh, I was just so grateful to them while I was working there. They just made me feel so much at home. They had me involved in the entire process as they would invite me into their offices at the studio where they were working. They showed me the rough drawings that they had been working on. Later on, they allowed me to go into “Ink and Paint” and told me to walk around and see what was going on and how that process worked. It was from one department to another and so on and so forth. As a result, I really felt that I was a big part of this overall process and I really enjoyed it very, very much.

TG: When it came time to doing Peter Pan, did you act as a live action reference for the animators as the character of Wendy?

KB: Oh yes, I did, as I had had a wonderful experience doing this also on Alice in Wonderland. When I was nearly finished with Alice, the studio was really quite ready to move straight into production on Peter Pan. That was their next animated feature. And so I began right away with the scenes that Wendy was involved with, with the live-action recordings. Right after that was the live action. That process usually consisted of a day or two of rehearsal to sort of map things out to see what they were looking for and determine the motion of the characters. As result, we were very prepared for when the camera was there and so we went through the action. This was done of course to help out the artists who were trying to draw the human figures which were the most natural and also the most challenging part of the process.

TG: Peter Pan has a few short musical numbers, among them “Follow the Leader.” Did you provide any additional voices for any of these subordinate characters for the songs or did you stick strictly to Wendy?

KB: No, I wasn't involved with those. They used a lot of boys for those voices, and I was not involved with any of them. The character of Wendy, unlike Alice, was more of a supporting role and that was the only voice that I provided for the film.

TG: What did you like most about your experiences on Peter Pan?

KB: Well, I would say it was similar to my experiences on Alice in Wonderland and that it was just a wonderful time working with very talented people, people whom I admired so much, and people whom I came to know very well, such as Hans Conreid (who provided the voices of Mr. Darling and Captain Hook). Like myself, he was also asked to provide the live-action as well as the voiceover parts. That kind of experience is what, I think, stands out in my memory. It was such a lovely time for me as a youngster playing these important roles and being able to get to know these creative people involved in this wonderful process.

TG: What was your reaction when you heard your voice in these films?

KB: Oh, I suppose that I viewed the movies I thought, “Oh, that's me!” (laughs)

TG: You became a teacher just after your stint in Hollywood. What grade or grades did you teach?

KB: Well, as it goes as a new teacher you're not high up on the totem pole. You end up changing grade levels every year. So, I have a lot of experience in the upper grades as well as the lower grades. I really did enjoy second grade. I took every opportunity to make my desires known that I really liked second grade. So from that point on until the end of my career, I taught second grade.

TG: What do you think is behind the longevity of such classic films as the movies that you worked on?

KB: I believe that it's the timelessness of the stories, and the stories really have something to say to young children. It came down to Disney's expertise in storytelling and his wonderful team that he worked with. They made the characters so realistic in terms that even adults could identify with them and not just the children in the audience.

(Note: This review pertains to the UK Region 2 PAL format release available on www.amazon.co.uk)

By Adrian Smith

Cecil B. DeMille will always be remembered for his lavish historical epics like The Ten Commandments (1923 and again in 1956), Sign of the Cross (1932) and Samson and Delilah (1949). However, with over one hundred and sixty credits as either director or producer, he also worked in plenty of other genres. Following two flops, This Day and Age (1933) and Four Frightened People (1934), Paramount head Adolph Zukor insisted he try to replicate the success of Sign of the Cross with another visual spectacle. DeMille agreed and cast Claudette Colbert in the lead role of Cleopatra (she had already starred in both Sign of the Cross and Four Frightened People and was about to win the Oscar for It Happened one Night (1934)).

The plot focuses on Cleopatra's relationship with Julius Caesar (Warren William), who initially wishes to conquer Egypt, but having been seduced by the Queen of the Nile, he instead pledges Rome's support and protection. This ultimately leads to his downfall and assassination in the Senate, and his right-hand man Marc Anthony (Henry Wilcoxon) takes joint power with Caesar's heir Octavian (Ian Keith). Determined to once again subjugate Egypt, Marc Anthony heads to the Nile and meets with Cleopatra aboard her incredibly extravagant barge. He is in turn seduced and takes Caesar's place as protectorate of Egypt, something which severely displeases Octavian and the Senate back home. This is a piece of history which, thanks to the movies, is very well known. The pleasure here comes not from wondering how it will turn out, but the visual spectacle we are treated to on the journey.

Former United States Postmaster General Will Hays had been tasked with cleaning up the motion picture industry following the great tide of scandal and public outcry over Hollywood decadence during the 1920s. This had in part been prompted by the death of actress Virginia Rappe following her attendance at an orgy with Fatty Arbuckle in 1921. In 1930 Hays published a set of industry rules which became known as the Hays Code or Production Code, and whilst official censorship was not in force, any movie which did not comply would find it extremely difficult to get distribution. The rules particularly clamped down on any form of sexual activity, with the first rule "No picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it," ensuring audiences were to get as little thrills as possible in the movie theatre. Incredibly the studios remained in voluntary subscription to the Hays code until the late 1960s. Fortunately in the early 1930s the code was only just developing its power over Hollywood and some productions did manage to escape, Cleopatra being one of them. DeMille had flirted with erotic imagery before, most notoriously with Claudette Colbert's nude bathing scene in Sign of the Cross. Cleopatra is filled with the kind of steamy, sexually-charged atmosphere that Hollywood would struggle to depict again for many years. Colbert's costumes in particular are eye-popping in every sense.

The sets of the movie also live up to DeMille's reputation, and must have filled every sound stage on the Paramount lot. He had an eye for spectacle and Cleopatra is brimming with it, whether it's the opulent palaces or the climactic sea battle, surprisingly graphic for 1934. The pacing is good, with plenty of story covered in its one hundred minutes. The makers of the Elizabeth Taylor-starring remake in 1963 could have learned a lot from this one. Claudette Colbert's performance is perfect as the sexually alluring queen willing to do whatever it takes to protect Egypt, even if her suitors, Caesar and Marc Anthony, are rather boorish and ham-fisted. This is a film where the cast appear to hail from New York rather than the ancient world, but this does not matter when the gorgeous imagery arrests your senses all the way through.

This new dual format (Blu-ray and DVD) release from Eureka features a tremendous HD transfer authorised by Universal, and some nice documentaries covering DeMille, Claudette Colbert and the background to the Production Code. A commentary by film historian F.X. Feeney and forty page booklet crammed with essays and imagery is also included. This is a highly recommended release.

John Wayne's McLintock! was a major hit at boxoffices- though it's lighthearted tone was contrasted against the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which occurred days after the movie's release.

Author and Cinema Retro columnist Raymond Benson takes a sentimental journey back to the year 1963. A half-century later, we can remember that year as one of tumultuous events, capped off by the assassination of an American president. But Benson also points out the pleasures of that period as well, from classic TV shows to enduring motion pictures- and he combines them with his own personal memories. Click here to read

By Adrian Smith

BFI Flipside Dual Format Edition

(Note: this review pertains to the UK Region 2 release.)

New York underground filmmaker and avante-garde theatre director Andy Milligan is perhaps best known for his sleazy exploitation movies that ran in 42^nd St theatres for years throughout the 1970s. Memorable titles include The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! (1972) and The Ghastly Ones (1968), the latter banned in the UK during the 1980s as a “video nasty.” A meeting in 1968 in New York with Leslie Elliot, a British distributor, lead to several of his films being distributed in the UK. Even better for Milligan was the opportunity to shoot five new films under Elliot's production arm Cinemedia Films. Finding himself a flat in Soho and becoming acquainted with the British by hanging out with male prostitutes on Piccadilly Circus, Milligan developed a study of poverty, sexual frankness and sadomasochism that would have caused quite a stir at the British Board of Film Censors, had the film ever been released. After shooting Nightbirds and it's companion piece, the vampire horror The Body Beneath, Milligan had an irreparable falling out with Leslie Elliot's father and business partner Curtis Elliot, and was forced to sever ties with the family before the films could be distributed. He was allowed to keep the films, and somehow managed to raise the money to shoot a further three films here before returning to New York, where he had varying success in getting the films seen. Nightbirds received a limited screening before disappearing into obscurity.

Unlike the horror films he is better known for, Nightbirds is a small character-driven piece following Dink (Berwick Kaler), a young man recently made homeless in swinging London. He meets Dee (Julie Shaw), an enigmatic, sexually playful blonde who invites him to move into her tawdry attic bedsit. They become obsessed with each other to the point where they begin to fear facing the outside world, preferring the insular, psychologically troubling world they have built for themselves. Dee seems reluctant to share anything about her own past, preferring instead to make Dink do the talking. She flirts with the landlord and slowly cuts Dink off from the only friends he has left. The relationship is difficult at best, and emotionally abusive at worst. Milligan has often been accused of being a misogynist, and his depiction of the female character being as rotten as her flat could feed in to that. The film is more nuanced than that however, and as her motivations as slowly revealed, the audience is left to make up their own minds.

Berwick Kaler went on to star in a further four Milligan films before carving an eclectic career for himself in British film and television, and is now the creative force behind the annual York pantomime. Julie Shaw first appeared in Pete Walker's The Big Switch aka Strip Poker (1968), and after her starring role here virtually disappeared. Nobody knows what happened to her following Nightbirds, which is a pity as she found an interesting, emotionally detached performance in what must have been a rushed, occasionally difficult shoot.

Andy Milligan has an undeserved reputation as one of the worst film directors since Ed Wood. One hopes that the release of Nightbirds will help to restore him to a more favourable level of respectability. It is an interesting and well made film, pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable in the late 1960s, particularly in regards to depictions of and discussions about sex. It compares well with similar films from that period, some of which are also available on the Flipside label, such as Private Road (1971) or Duffer (1971). It also compares favourably to Andy Warhol's Trash (1970) or Flesh (1968), films which also put people on the fringes of society in the full glare of the camera.

As a bonus feature here, alongside trailers, an excellent booklet and a commentary track from Berwick Kaler (the first Flipside release to feature a commentary incidentally), Milligan's other completed Cinemedia film has been restored and included; The Body Beneath. This film was more familiar territory for the director. Vampires, ghouls, a hunchbacked assistant (played by Berwick Kaler) and occasional graphic gore are thrown together in a fairly nonsensical, almost slapdash effort, in an attempt to create something which is halfway between a late Hammer horror and a dreary daytime soap opera. Unlike Nightbirds, The Body Beneath merely reinforces Milligan's Ed Wood comparisons, although it does have moments of interest, particularly a grand meeting between vampires which turns into a tirade of anti-American abuse.

Once again the BFI are to be congratulated for putting a package like this together. With the assistance of award-winning director Nicolas Winding-Refn (Drive, 2011), who had the only surviving film materials, the BFI have proven that film matters, no matter how obscure. Cinema Retro eagerly await the Flipside releases for 2013.

For a fascinating in-depth look at how the film was restored for this release click here: http://film.thedigitalfix.com/tag/anatomy%20of%20a%20flipside

By Todd Garbarini

I remember the first time I saw Peter Pan (1953) on the big screen. It was the re-release in the summer of 1976 on a very hot day at the Cort Theatre on East Main St. in Somerville, New Jersey. Unlike The Outsiders’s Pony Boy Curtis, when I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie theatre, I had only one thing on my mind: food. My hunger for beautiful animation was satiated for the moment, but I was very hungry after spending nearly three hours in the theatre. My childhood was sprinkled with double features of Disney cartoons and live-action films. Until I saw the thrilling Superman: The Movie in 1978, Peter Pan really gave the seven-year-old I was the idea that I could actually fly – at least vicariously. The Sir James Matthew Barrie story of a boy who soars through the air and who doesn’t age has captivated the world for well over a century, easily crossing cultures with its love of childhood and its adventures in Neverland. There are several sequences that may raise a few eyebrows in today's politically correct environment, such as those of involving the depictions of Native Americans in a visibly racist fashion, however this film is a product of its time and Disney has wisely chosen not to alter it in any way. On that note, it is interesting that to this day we still cannot get a legitimate video version of 1946’s Song of the South, a film that I enjoyed immensely as a child but appears to be a sore spot with the company in how African-Americans are depicted in that film.

The action in Peter Pan begins in Bloomsbury in London wherein two brothers, John and Michael Darling, are playing pirates, based on stories that their older sister Wendy told them. Their father feels that Wendy should have her own room now and must stop telling silly stories to the young ones who keep the household in chaos. That night, Peter Pan and his little sidekick Tinkerbell show up and take the kids to Neverland, a place where Peter lives and has made the decision to never grow up, remaining instead a child. There are other people in Neverland, including the Lost Boys, a group of six youngsters who are all dressed in pajamas. There are also a group of pirates just off the coast headed by Captain Hook and Mr. Smee (Smee plays Otis to Hook’s Lex Luthor). It turns out that Tinkerbell is jealous of Wendy and aims to get her out of the picture! More adventures ensue, but this is a Disney film, and no great harm ever comes to the characters.

This is the first time that the film has been released on Blu-ray, and as is customary with the previous Disney releases, the film has undergone a major restoration. The results are spectacular. The nuances detailed in the images are sharp and sumptuous. If you haven't seen the film on Blu-ray, you really haven't seen it. I know it's a cliché but it's very true especially when it comes to films of this ilk.

The Blu-ray comes with a standard definition DVD as well as the requisite digital copy. In addition to the film, there is a wealth of extras: I’ve made no bones about the fact that I love audio commentaries, and thankfully one is included with this film. It is provided by Roy Disney, and also included are comments from the animators and some voice actors as well.

Backstage Disney – this extra is shot in standard definition and previously appeared on the original Platinum DVD released in 2007. There are five featurettes in this batch:

You Can Fly: The Making of Peter Pan

In Walt's Words: Why I Made Peter Pan,

The Peter Pan That Almost Was

Tinker Bell: A Fairy's Tale

The Peter Pan Story

Music & More – A collection of songs:

The Pirate Song

Never Land: The Lost Song

The Second Star to the Right

There is an introduction to the movie by Walt’s daughter, Diane Miller-Disney, shot in high definition.

Growing Up with Nine Old Men – this is a nice documentary that runs about forty minutes and is in high definition also. The nine old men in question consist of animators Les Clark, Marc Davis, Ollie Johnston, Milt Kahl, Ward Kimball, Eric Larson, John Lounsbery, Wolfgang Reitherman, and Frank Thomas. Unfortunately, all of these gentlemen have since passed on. However, their children discuss their fathers’ work for Disney.

There is a short section on deleted songs and scenes which consist of storyboards and early artwork. There is also a Peter Pan sing-along which allows children to sing-along songs. This can be enabled by turning on the subtitle option.

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By Todd Garbarini

Richard Klemensen’s Little Shoppe of Horrors is a stellar magazine. If you like Gary Svehla’s Midnight Marquee and similar publications that are well-written and polished, you’ll love the beautiful Little Shoppe of Horrors. In 2012 it entered its 40^th anniversary with the most current issue, number 29. Cinema Retro is a mere youngster by comparison! Subtitled “The Journal of Classic British Horror Films,” Little Shoppe of Horrors is chock full of exclusive images of the glory days of the Hammer horror films. It is obvious that Mr. Klemensen has a true love for these films. In this issue you’ll find a wonderful look back at the life and work of Vincent Price. The front and rear covers of the latest issue feature beautiful images by Jeff Preston and Mark Maddox, respectively, of Vincent Price, and the inside covers feature artwork by Dean Ormston and Paul Watts.

Issue #29 includes:

• · An exclusive interview with film and television director Frank Darabont and film director Tim Burton, whose love of Vincent Price can been seen through much of his work over the past thirty years, going back to the very beginnings of his career with his short film, Vincent, which is about a young boy who wants to be Vincent Price and can be seen here (it’s even narrated by Vincent Price!). Both directors talk specifically about The Abominable Dr. Phibes.

• · Justin Humphreys gives readers an in-depth look at the making of The Abominable Dr. Phibes in a nearly 30-page article (take that, Cinefantastique!) about the making of the film. He also profiles the late Dr. Phibes set designer Brian Eatwell.

• · David Taylor writes about the late model-turned-actress Virginia North who played Vulnavia in the film.

• · Author Denis Meikle provides an inside look on the set of The Abominable Dr. Phibes when he interviewed Vincent Price.

• · Sam Irwin and David Taylor create a chronological history of the treatments and script ideas related to what was to become a Dr. Phibes franchise, in addition to a look at how Dr. Phibes has lived on in novels and comic books.

And much, much more in its 108 pages.

Little Shoppe of Horrors has a beautifully designed and easily navigable website that permits readers to see what’s coming up in the next issue, in addition to ordering copies of back issues.

All in all, this is a beautiful-designed and printed publication, published first and foremost by the only people who should be publishing it – die-hard fans with a true love for the subject matter. A must for horror fans!

As an aside, there is also a wonderful audio interview that was recently conducted with Mr. Klemensen, and you can click here to listen to it. He explains how he was such a fan of these movies and how they differed from other horror films from the time in that they were in color and featured classically-trained actors such as Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing who both starred in innumerable roles for Hammer. He also talks about how he contacted people in the British film industry who were more than willing to talk to him about their work, and how he managed to visit Pinewood Studios in England.

By Todd Garbarini

The Definitive Document of the Dead is the latest incarnation of director Roy Frumkes’s insightful behind-the-scenes look at the making of George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978), a film that has achieved a level of adoration and cult status that is truly amazing given that it was released unrated at a time when such a maneuver was considered box office poison. No doubt increasing in popularity after its release on VHS (this is where Yours Truly first saw it in the summer of 1985), Dawn has become the zombie film by which all others are measured. What this 16mm documentary illustrates brilliantly is the creative process that a director must go through, and it conveys it extremely well to the average moviegoer who may not have the slightest idea as to how a movie is made. It looks at its subject from the standpoint of filmmaking as an art form, and at one point director Romero, with omnipresent cigarette in hand, even compares the process to painting, and how an artist uses watercolors and “accidents” in their final work. Dawn went into production in October 1977 at the Monroeville Mall in Monroeville, Pennsylvania and lasted approximately six months (if you believe the Internet Movie Database) and thankfully Mr. Frumkes actively sought and was given access to the mall set over a weekend in January of 1978 (my guess is that this was the third or fourth week of that month as the archival footage shows the entire exterior of the mall blanketed in snow; the entire Northeast had suffered a snowfall of one to nearly two feet at that time).

Most documentaries that appear on DVD and Blu-ray nowadays are nothing more than self-promotion pieces. The Definitive Document of the Dead, on the other hand, actually takes you behind the scenes of the film and enlightens the viewer on the creative process, specifically the teamwork and the collaborative nature of the people working on the film. Mr. Frumkes talks to Tom Savini, Michael Gornick, John Amplas, Richard Rubenstein, the cast of Dawn, and of course director Romero himself (it’s interesting to note that filming had to be suspended from Thanksgiving until just after Christmas as decorations populated the mall. Of course, nowadays Christmas starts being promoted as early as the end of August, something probably completely unheard of 35 years ago!). The documentary gives us a great look into Mr. Romero's creative methods of filmmaking; he is quite candid about how he makes movies and discusses how he feels about being compared to Alfred Hitchcock with his 1968 film Night of the Living Dead. The comparison probably stems from the fact that the opening scenes look like a throwback to silent cinema storytelling, and that is an area that Night excels at, giving visual information to the audience and pulling us into the movie. There is mention of Howard Hawks’s film version of The Thing, released in 1951, as the movie that introduced Mr. Romero to horror and the idea of confined spaces made him want to make movies. Another pivotal film that is not touched upon in this documentary (but is mentioned on the newly-recorded commentary provided by Mr. Frumkes) is Michael Powell and Emerich Pressburger's The Tales of Hoffmann, also from 1951, a film that was an enormous influence on Mr. Romero and aided in the creation of his own personal visual style. He also talks about how actor Duane Jones, the lead black actor in Night, was chosen simply because he was the best actor who auditioned for the role, squashing rumors that he was making a statement about the black man’s struggles in a white man’s world. Naturally, this draws comparisons to Ken Foree’s role in Dawn. Richard Rubenstein also weighs in and discusses the European style of producing, and how Dario Argento and his brother Claudio co-financed Dawn. Dawn was originally a much darker picture with a very down and bleak ending. As shooting progressed, the film took on a comic bookish feel and there is an obvious lightening up of mood. Whereas Mr. Romero had a crew of about eight people on Martin (1977), Dawn has a cast and crew in the hundreds. The most fascinating part of the documentary has Mr. Romero describing the rhythms created by editing and spatial design. Prior to his foray into feature filmmaking, Mr. Romero honed his editing skills by making many 30-second commercials (like Sir Ridley Scott who made roughly 3000(!) prior to The Duellists (1977) and Alien (1979).

After a discussion about the distribution of the film and leaving it unrated with a running time of just over two hours, the documentary switches gears to the 1989 summer filming of Two Evil Eyes (1991). Mr. Romero discusses how he wants a family atmosphere on the set without any of the political Hollywood nonsense. There is also a follow-up segment on Land of the Dead (2005) which focuses on Mr. Romero's daughter, Tina Romero, who discusses how she got involved in filmmaking. Be warned: there is a trailer for a hard-core sex parody of Night, and I'll let your imagination guess what the title of this film is! While this trailer does not contain any overt sex, there is much nudity.

There is also footage of the Chiller Theatre convention in 2005 which features a reunion of the cast of Day of the Dead, discussions with Greg Nicotero, Bill Lustig, and some of the cast and crew of Dawn. The final segments, all of which are shot on standard definition video, ends with Mr. Frumkes heading to the Toronto set of Diary of the Dead in the fall of 2006. While these last few segments are nowhere near as incisive as the footage shot for Dawn, they still are relevant, fun to watch and make The Definitive Document of the Dead a worthy addition to the libraries of Romero fans.

This documentary has been available on home video several times before. It first made the rounds in 1985, and I first time I saw it was four years later when it was released on VHS. It also appears on Dawn of the Dead: the Ultimate Edition, which was released on DVD in September 2004. Synapse Films then released it on DVD in 1999 with some nice extras, including a commentary with Mr. Frumkes and some cast and crew members. This latest version, The Definitive Document of the Dead, goes further than its previous incarnations. In addition to the extra footage that has been added, it begins with a slightly different beginning than its predecessors: a very humorous introduction by Mr. Romero for the audience at a screening at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX and segues into a little bit of a discussion that he had in 2006 in Huntington, Long Island.

The documentary is available in two flavors: as a single, stand-alone standard definition DVD with a newly-recorded commentary provided by Mr. Frunkes running 102 minutes that covers Dawn up to Diary, and as a limited edition DVD/Blu-ray combo set that includes a standard definition DVD with the aforementioned extras, plus a Blu-ray of Mr. Frumkes’s original, 1978 documentary Document of the Dead, which runs 66 minutes and was scanned in high definition from the 16mm master. If you have a Blu-ray player, it is worth spending the extra cash to get the limited edition, which also contains a fold-out poster of Wes Benscoter’s beautiful new cover art for the DVD and Blu-ray. Have a look at this artist’s website. His work is brilliant.

NOTE: It has come to our attention that the Blu-ray edition of this title sold out immediately. The DVD edition is still available from Amazon. Click here to order

By Herbert Shadrak

SCARLET: THE FILM MAGAZINE is a bi-annual print publication that covers classic film, radio, TV, books and stage plays – especially in the mystery, fantasy and horror genres.

“SCARLET is a scholarly look at classic mystery, horror, science-fiction and fantasy, minus the stuffiness,” explains publisher Kevin G Shinnick. The East Coast publication covers all eras of English-language films (foreign productions are considered in a companion magazine – VAN HELSING’S JOURNAL).

“We and our writers take the films seriously, but we don’t take ourselves seriously,” adds managing editor Harry H Long, who co-authored American Silent Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Feature Films, 1913-1929.

SCARLET has covered a wide range of bizarre and esoteric topics: Christian themes in the Hammer Horrors; Lilian Gish’s horror film The Wind (1928), previously categorized as a drama/romance; Murdered Alive – a look at a play Bela Lugosi performed in the early 1930s, about a man who hopes to achieve success as a sculptor by embalming victims while still alive and turning them to stone; an interview with Beverly Washburn, star of Jack Hill’s cult classic Spider Baby or, The Maddest Story Ever Told (1964); a history of the making of Bride of the Gorilla (1951) starring Barbara Payton, Raymond Burr and Lon Chaney, Jr.; the Creature from the Black Lagoon's tragic inability to be a Babe Magnet; neglected horror titles from Republic Pictures; and the last interview given by the late Robert Quarry, star of Count Yorga, Vampire (1970), Deathmaster (1972) and Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972).

The articles are extremely informative, well-researched and entertaining, written by such noted genre specialists as Frank Della Stritto, author of The Mythology and History of Classic Horror Films; John Soister, author The Films of Conrad Veidt; and Paul Legget, author of Terence Fisher: Horror, Myth and Religion.

SCARLET: THE FILM MAGAZINE is available at newsstands and through sources such as creepyclassics.com. It is sold in Europe via Hemlock Books

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By Todd Garbarini

Frankenweenie (2012) is an animated big-screen expansion of Tim Burton's own 1984 live-action short film of the same name and utilizes the Frankenstein monster tale by Mary Shelley to tell a clever and ultimately moving story about a young boy, Victor Frankenstein, and how he copes with the loss of his beloved dog. This is a universal scenario that every child who grows up with a pet must face at some point. I have only seen a handful of films tackle this subject, and Don Coscarelli’s 1975 outing Kenny and Company is notable for its depiction of a young boy who must take his dog to the vet to be put to sleep.

Victor loves making 16mm movies with his dog, Sparky, in his hometown of New Holland, which is constructed to look like Everytown, USA. Sparky stars as the “Sparkysaurus.” After all, what young boy doesn't love dinosaurs? Mixing footage of Sparky with self-made animation, Victor's movie illustrates an imagination no doubt inspired by The Twilight Zone and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953). Victor, obviously an alter-ego for director Burton, is an awkward child who keeps a low profile from his classmates and his neighbor Mr. Burgermeister (a nice nod to Rankin and Bass) who brandishes a hedge clipper. During a baseball game, Victor hits a home run, but Sparky chases the ball into the street and is killed by a car. Devastated, Victor mopes through school until his science teacher, Mr. Rzykruski, a grotesque caricature of a man, shows the class how to use electricity to move a dead frog’s legs. Experiencing a “Eureka!” moment, Victor is filled with a new sense of purpose, and converts his parent’s attic into a makeshift laboratory. Following his teacher’s instructions, he reanimates Sparky with the help of lightning.

Victor does his best to keep Sparky’s reemergence a secret. A creepy, overzealous kid from the neighborhood, Edgar, wants to know how Victor did it. Word gets out about Sparky, and other children competing for a science project attempt similar experiments until things get out of control: a rat becomes a crazed monster; a turtle is made enormous and stomps among a town square carnival like a mixture of Godzilla and Gamera; sea monkeys run amok through the streets; a cute, next-door poodle who fancies Sparky is made to resemble Elsa Lanchester. (There are some cute inside jokes here: the name "Shelley" appears on a tombstone and Bambi is displayed on a local theatre marquee, perhaps as much a nod to the classic short film Bambi Meets Godzilla as it is an homage to the Disney film.) The climax is a loving homage to James Whale’s 1931 classic that started it all and fueled nightmares for years to come.

Thematically, Frankenweenie shares many similarities to Henry Selick's 1993 film The Nightmare Before Christmas (produced by Burton) in that a protagonist compelled to do a good deed ends up making a mess of things. Most of the characters, particularly the children, have predominantly large eyes, as if they stepped out of a Margaret Keane painting (it’s no wonder that she is the subject of the director’s next film, due for release later this year).

Filmed on Canon EOS 5D Mark II single lens reflux cameras and printed in black and white, Frankenweenie looks lovely and is easily one of the year’s best films. It should win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. It would be nice to see black and white return to the screen as an art form as it truly looks beautiful. Danny Elfman provides yet another memorable score to a Tim Burton film.

There are a few nice extras included on the Blu-ray disc:

• · We get a short film starring Sparky called Captain Sparky vs. the Flying Saucers, the in-movie that appears at the start of the film and runs roughly two and a-half-minutes in length (no relation to Siskel and Ebert’s Sparky the Wonder Dog of PBS’s Sneak Previews from the early 1980s.).

• · Miniatures in Motion: Bringing Frankenweenie to Life is an excellent behind-the-scenes documentary featurette that runs about 23 minutes (I wish it was longer) and takes us to the massive 60,000 foot soundstage in London where the film was shot and contains comments from the many animators who worked on the individual scenes – they all averaged about two minutes per week of screen time! What is truly extraordinary about this piece is seeing the astonishing level of detail and attention that is made to even the smallest of items. You get a new appreciation of the film and all the hard work that went into making it. Absolutely nothing in this movie has been computer-generated. It was all designed, built, and manufactured for the film.

• · The Frankenweenie Touring Exhibit is enough to make one jealous if you don’t live in one of the cities that it comes to.

• · A music video

• · Tim Burton's original 1984 featurette, Frankenweenie, upon which this film is based. This wonderful live-action film was financed by Disney and the producers were reportedly shocked at how frightening it would be for children, so much so that they fired Burton and shelved the project. It runs 30 minutes and stars Barret Oliver (The Neverending Story) as Victor, the young son of Ben and Susan (Daniel Stern and Shelley Duvall). Sofia Coppola, inexplicably using the name Domino, appears as a friend of Victor’s.

It would have been nice to have a running commentary with Tim Burton or from the animators as I love commentaries and eagerly listen to them whenever they appear as extras. However, this is a minor quibble. The film looks absolutely amazing on Blu-ray and is a worthy addition to your collection.

Click here to order order 4 disc deluxe edition with DVD and digital copies included. 

By Todd Garbarini

It's hard to believe that Pixar Animation Studios’ Finding Nemo, which was released on Friday, May 30, 2003, is now ten years-old. One of the most popular animated films of all time, Finding Nemo is a delightful excursion into the world of undersea life with plenty of colorful characters to go around. Employing the voice talents of some of Hollywood's best-known and most respected performers, Finding Nemo aims to not only entertain us but educate us, as well. It succeeds extraordinarily well in doing both.

Despite the years of science that I've accumulated under my belt by way of elementary, intermediate, and high school, I must plead ignorance and admit to never having heard of a clownfish (scientifically known as Amphiprion ocellaris) prior to Finding Nemo. Director Andrew Stanton reportedly saw these water dwellers in an aquarium in Florida and their vibrant look helped provide inspiration for the film. The aptly-named Marlin and Coral are two such fish, parents just starting a family. Unfortunately, a barracuda attack leaves Marlin alone except for one remaining fish egg out of roughly one hundred which he decides to name Nemo, a name that his wife Coral liked prior to her untimely demise. As a result of this attack, Nemo suffers from a malformed right fin, making him the runt of the litter, so to speak. Due to this perceived limitation, Marlin becomes just a tad overprotective and overbearing and follows Nemo wherever he goes, looking out for him. When Nemo goes off to school to learn the ways of underwater sea life, his father finds it very difficult to let him go off on his own. This frustration leads Nemo to rush off into unchartered waters where he is swooped up by humans, possibly to never see his father again. Marlin sets out to rescue him, and is befriended by Dory, a well-intentioned regal blue tang who suffers from short-term memory loss. They join forces to locate Nemo after a clue that reveals he is in Sydney, Australia. Along the way they encounter some crazy characters, such as a shark who is swearing off eating fish; a group of jellyfish; a group of sea turtles caught up in the East Australian Current; and a pelican who is trying to help Nemo. Added to this mix are a few human characters, specifically a dentist whose fish tank is home to a motley crew of sea life all trying to help Nemo (who is now a prisoner in the tank) get home. One of his patients is his niece, Darla, a pre-prepubescent nightmare sporting metal braces and is the film’s answer to Toy Story’s Sid, the kid down the block who loves to destroy toys.

The film is beautifully animated. Pixar has certainly come a long way from its early days; more money, of course, means better technology and the underwater world of Finding Nemo really comes to life here in a way that 1989’s The Little Mermaid only hinted at. The nuances in the plant life are exquisite, and the banter between the characters is laugh-out-loud funny. The underrated Albert Brooks, whom I liked so much in Taxi Driver (1976), Broadcast News (1987), and Drive (2011), voices Marlin with a fatherly exuberance and concern. Ellen DeGeneres is his equal as Dory, the forgetful fish. Also on hand are Willem Dafoe, Allison Janney, Austin Pendleton, Geoffrey Rush, and Elizabeth Perkins. In the same way that Jaws (1975) made oceanographers and marine biologists out of wide-eyed children in the audience fascinated by the Carcharodon carcharias, Finding Nemo his more than likely inspired more than a few future Jacques Cousteaus.

As to be expected, the Blu-ray is a revelation, and Finding Nemo has never looked better on home video. There is a clarity, sharpness and depth that truly amazing to see. The film comes in two flavors on disc: a three-disc set and a five-disc set (this contains a 3D version of the film). The first Blu-ray disc extras contains the following extras in high definition: a cute, three and-a-half minute short from 1989 called Knick Knack; a five-minute loop called “Aquarium” that allows you to run continuously on the monitor; “CineExplore,” a feature that allows you to view the complete film while hearing comments from the filmmakers with superimposed storyboards on the screen; “Finding Nemo: A Roundtable Discussion” is a seventeen-minute discussion among the filmmakers reminiscing ten years after the film’s release; “Reinventing the Submarine Voyage” at Disneyland, runs roughly fifteen minutes and looks at the underwater sea rides; alternate opening (three minutes); and “A Lesson in Flashbacks” which runs eight minutes wherein the director recalls how the film was originally conceived. The second Blu-ray contains the following extras all ported over from the original 2004 DVD release, which are all in standard definition with the exception of “Aquariums” and “Art Review” (an eight-minute discussion of concept design); “Making Nemo” is a 25-minute documentary on the making of the film; “Exploring the Reef” is exactly what the title entails; “Studio Tour” which takes the audience behind the doors of Pixar for five minutes; several outtakes, deleted scenes, and publicity pieces; and “Mr. Ray’s Enclyclopedia.”

It is interesting to note that Pixar was more focused on The Incredibles (2004) during the making Finding Nemo, believing that the former would be the huge hit and the latter would do minimal business. Universal Pictures did the same thing in 1974 when they were making The Hindenburg and gave the green light to Jaws, thinking that the star-studded disaster film by Robert Wise Allen would be the box office champ while the film about a Great White Shark was their “little picture.”

Finding Nemo is a big picture of the little clownfish that could.

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HITCHCOCK’S BREAKTHROUGH

By Raymond Benson

Finally! After years of sub-par and downright bootleg quality transfers of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1934 British classic, The Man Who Knew Too Much, we now have a very decent-looking presentation. Thanks to The Criterion Collection, the film has undergone a new digital restoration, and it looks great. We can finally see a clear photographic image! Peter Lorre is no longer blurry and in soft-focus. And the sound! Thanks to an uncompressed monaural soundtrack, we can now actually hear the dialogue and understand it, whereas on previous releases everyone sounded like they were speaking from inside a barrel.

The Man Who Knew Too Much was Hitchcock’s first hugely successful talkie. In fact, Man was the number one picture in the UK in 1934, and it more or less introduced America to the Master of Suspense when it was imported across the pond. So, in many ways, The Man Who Knew Too Much was Hitch’s breakthrough to a worldwide audience. And it’s such a good story that he decided to remake it in Hollywood twenty-two years later. Film historians like to argue about which version is better. As the director himself said, the first one was the work of a “talented beginner” and the second version was that of a “professional.” Regardless, the 1934 edition is hugely entertaining and a worthwhile addition to any cinema buff’s collection.

The picture also marks the first English-language appearance by Peter Lorre, who had recently escaped from Nazi Germany. While making Man, he was learning English and legend has it that he recited his lines phonetically without truly understanding their meaning. If that’s truly the case, then his performance is remarkable; he’s one of Hitchcock’s best villains. Leslie Banks and Edna Best are the protagonists, and while they are no Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day, they carry the film along marvelously.

Extras include a terrific hour-long 1972 British TV interview with Hitchcock conducted by Ingrid Bergman’s daughter Pia Lindstrom and film historian William K. Everson. The disk is worth the price for that alone. There’s a new interview/appreciation from Guillermo del Toro, audio excerpts from Francois Truffaut’s classic interview with the master, a new audio commentary by film historian Philip Kemp, and the usual thick booklet full of photos and an essay by Farran Smith Nehme.

A jolly good show indeed.

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(The following review pertains to the Region 2/British DVD release) 

By Adrian Smith

By the end of the 1970s Pete Walker was one of the UK's most successful horror film directors, with titles like House of Whipcord (1974), Frightmare (1974) and The Flesh and Blood Show (1972) securing his reputation for originality and controversy. It was perhaps surprising to many when, in 1983, what turned out to be his last film was a throw-back to the old dark house-style gothic horrors of the 1930s. His producers, Menahem Golen and Yorum Globus, wanted a horror film with Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, not the “aborted foetus on the rampage” film he was trying to raise funding for. Undeterred, and working with long-time script-writing collaborator Michael Armstrong, he devised a film that could cast the old guard and be both an homage to the genre as well as a spoof of its creaky conventions. Thankfully Peter Cushing, Vincent Price, Christopher Lee and John Carradine signed up providing the kind of dream team not seen since the heyday of Amicus or AIP in the 1960s. Sheila Keith, in her fifth film for Pete Walker, was a replacement for Elsa Lanchester, the original bride of Frankenstein, who at that point was too ill to make the journey to the UK. Despite her late casting, Keith's association with Walker's horror films ensured she fitted in perfectly with the rest of the cast.

The story revolves around rich young American author Ken (Desi Arnaz Jr., son of Desi and Lucille Ball) on a book-signing tour of the UK. A bet is made with his publisher (played with relish by Richard Todd, himself no stranger to the horror film) that Ken cannot write a gothic romance novel in twenty-four hours. Taking the bet, he is given the key to a deserted manor house in Wales to provide inspiration, only it soon transpires that the house is anything but. Before he can settle down with his typewriter he has to deal with mysterious caretakers, long-lost relatives, a sexy secretary, cobweb-strewn corridors, a locked room and several grisly murders. The old cast play their parts with obvious glee, these pantheons of terror clearly relishing the chance to play on their horror images. Even Christopher Lee seems to be having a good time! Desi Arnaz Jr. has come in for some criticism in the past for his performance in this film, and whilst he is a little bland, he does provide a useful anchor for the increasing insanity around him.

When released theatrically House of the Long Shadows disappointed at the box office, in part due to the fact that Cannon Films could not decide whether to market the movie as a comedy or a horror, and it has become something of a lost film since. There was a brief VHS release in the mid-1980s and a poor quality burn on demand DVD from the MGM archive, but this release from Final Cut Entertainment represents the first official DVD release, and it is long overdue. Featuring a good quality widescreen print, we finally have an opportunity to appreciate the superb lighting and cinematography by Norman G. Langley, who was working under the difficulties of shooting in a real manor house, not a studio set. The DVD cover is unfortunately cheap and bland, essentially reproducing the original VHS artwork, but do not be fooled. A lot of work has been put into this release, mainly by author, theatre director and super-fan Derek Pykett. He accompanies director Pete Walker on a full commentary track discussing all aspects of the production in great detail. What is more unexpected is the feature length documentary House of the Long Shadows... Revisited, produced and presented by Pykett. It is clearly an amateur production, and somebody needs to teach him how to conduct interviews without constantly giggling in the background, but we should be grateful for his enthusiasm. It is doubtful anyone else would have gone to so much trouble. He reunites Walker and Langley with Julie Peasgood, one of the film's younger stars, at the original location, actually Rotherfield park in Hampshire. He has also secured interviews with several other of the movie's participants from both in front of and behind the camera, the most surprising of all being a fascinating chat with Desi Arnaz. Jr himself. He has fond memories of the film, particularly working with such a terrific cast.

Hopefully this release will allow people the chance to reassess this gleefully playful movie, which is deeply undeserving of the negative reputation it has. Far from the disappointment it was perceived to be at the time, House of the Long Shadows is both a tribute and a swansong to the gothic horror movie, riffing on the clichés and sending up the over the top performances. It is a joy to spend an hour and a half in the company of Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, John Carradine and Sheila Keith doing what they did best, in a lineup the likes of which we will most likely never see again.

TRIPPING WITH GODFREY REGGIO & PHILIP GLASS

By Raymond Benson

When I walked out of the New York cinema in 1983 after viewing Koyaanisqatsi for the first time, I overheard someone say, “That was the trippiest movie since 2001.” I had to agree. I’d never seen anything like it, but it was a feast for the eyes and ears. I’d been mesmerized for 86 minutes, lost in a swirling and exhilarating journey through North American landscapes of deserts, canyons, skies, and big cities. Using slow motion and time lapse photography by Ron Fricke, director Godfrey Reggio presented a feature-length music video that defied categorization. Accompanied by the vibrant score by Philip Glass, the film seemed to be saying that man was screwing up nature and that we’d better watch out. Life was “out of balance,” as the Hopi Indian one-word-title of the movie meant. Koyaanisqatsi was one of the most moving cinematic experiences I’d encountered.

Powaqqatsi (Image courtesy of Criterion.)

Two sequels followed—Powaqqatsi (1988) and Naqoyqatsi (2002)—produced in the same non-verbal style but with successively more challenging thematic content. Powaqqatsi concentrated on the Southern Hemisphere and third world countries, emphasizing how the more “modern” parts of the world fed upon the poorer and harder-working civilizations. Naqoyqatsi went deep into the computer, re-imagining the globe’s landscapes, people, and especially armies into digitally-altered and enhanced imagery that suggested we’ve become an artificial mechanization of our former selves. While powerful in their own right and certainly worthwhile, it is Koyaanisqatsi that will always be the ground-breaking piece of the trilogy, as well as the most effective.

Koyaanisqatsi (Image courtesy of Criterion.)

Given the deluxe Blu-ray treatment by the Criterion Collection, all three films are presented in new restored digital transfers, approved by director Reggio, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks. The results are amazing. Each of the three disks also comes with an abundance of extras—vintage and current interviews with key creative personnel; an early demo of Koyaanisqatsi shot in the 70s with music by Allen Ginsberg; Reggio’s rare 30-minute short Anima Mundi, with music by Glass; a thick booklet of essays, and more.

Wow. Turn out the lights, get comfortable, and trip out. The Qatsi Trilogy will change your life, man.

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GODARD’S NIGHTMARE ROAD TRIP

By Raymond Benson

Jean-Luc Godard was the bad boy of the French New Wave. Whereas his contemporaries such as Francois Truffaut were “safe” and “accessible,” Godard liked to shock people. A lot of his work, especially in the sixties, was also political in nature—this was a man unafraid to scathingly portray French bourgeois society at its worst and trumpet his views on class discrepancy with the ferocity of a bull dog. In other words, he enjoyed pissing off audiences.

Released in 1967 with the opening titles caveat that “children under 18 should not see this film,” we are told at the beginning that Weekend (or Week End or Week-end, depending on what country you’re in) is a film “found on the trash heap.” It is one of the darkest and most vicious black comedies ever made, and naturally, it is one of Godard’s best pictures. It is simultaneously fascinating, repulsive, and hilarious, and not for the faint of heart. But discerning fans of art house cinema should eat it up.

The story, as it were, involves a bickering married couple (Mireille Darc and Jean Yanne, both of whom were major French TV stars at the time the film was made) who have plans to kill each other and run off with their respective lovers. But before that can happen, they have to murder Darc’s father so she will inherit his wealth. They set off across country to her parents’ home and find themselves on a nightmare journey through a landscape of traffic jams, automobile accidents (and fatalities) at nearly every juncture, and violence. The humor comes with the couple acting as if it’s all part of everyday life.

One celebrated sequence is a lengthy tracking shot along a road backed up with vehicles. As our anti-heroes attempt to pass the idling cars and trucks to move to the head of the line, we’re treated with all kinds of sight gags (such as one car that’s facing the opposite direction and wedged between two vehicles going the right way). We laugh and laugh. Then, when we finally reach the front of the traffic jam, we see that the cause was a bad accident, and entire families are lying bloody in the road. The couple drives through the scene as if the holdup was a minor nuisance. Later, when the couple’s car is also in a collision and catches fire, Darc is more upset about her Hermes handbag getting burned than the fact that she and her husband are covered in blood and the car is destroyed. That’s the kind of movie Weekend is.

Criterion’s new digital restoration with uncompressed monaural soundtrack is superb. The cinematography by Raoul Coutard always had a color documentary feel to it, but the Blu-ray brings out a sharpness hitherto unseen in prints. Extras include archival interviews with the stars and assistant director, an archival piece on Godard featuring on-set footage, and more. The thick booklet contains an essay by critic/novelist Gary Indiana, selections from a 1969 interview with Godard, and excerpts from a Godard biography.

Weekend was a comment on French society in 1967, and the irony today is that the film might be even more relevant in our own present world.

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By Adrian Smith

Creepy Images/ Kessler & Benzel GbR ISBN 978-3-00-03941-9

Binding: hardback

Price €39.50

392 pages

size: 210 x 270 mm

Paul Naschy has often been described as the Spanish Lon Chaney due to the variety of different roles he has played within the horror genre. It would perhaps be more accurate to liken him to Lon Chaney Jr. however, given his short stocky build and propensity for playing werewolves, vampires and mummies in often second-rate movies. His real name was Jacinto Molina, and in a career spanning almost sixty years in Spanish cinema he progressed from acting through to writing and eventually directing as well. He also dabbled in euro-crime thrillers and giallo-style murder mysteries, but it was the gothic horror film in which he seemed to feel most at home.

Spanish cinema under the Franco regime was quite strictly controlled, but horror tended to have more freedom, which perhaps explains why it was the only genre at the time to really flourish, with many of the films being shown worldwide. This new book, featuring over 1200 images, all in full colour, helps to chart the distribution history of Naschy films around the world by gathering together posters, lobby cards, front-of-house stills and press kits from over twenty countries. It is an entertaining and fascinating wealth of materials, many of which have not been published before. The films are presented chronologically, focusing primarily on those in which Naschy starred. An additional chapter has been added for non-horror movies, or those where he was more of a supporting player. The author has provided plenty of additional information, printed here in both English and German, which sheds light on the production history as well as details on the availability and collectible nature of some of these advertising materials.

Even if you have not seen a Paul Naschy film before, this is a book filled with brilliant images that you will want to pour over for hours before going on line to seek some of these titles out. How about pairing Shadow of the Werewolf aka The Werewolf vs. Vampire Woman (1971) with The Werewolf and the Yeti (1975) for hairy double-bill? Naschy also scripted and starred in Exorcist-style shocker Exorcismo (1974), worked with Hammer's John Gilling on La Cruz del Diablo (1974) and even went to swinging London in Jack the Ripper in London, aka Seven Murders for Scotland Yard (1971). Whether his films were cashing in on the late 1960s cinematic fixation on witch burning, or if he was playing a hunchback in a morgue, Paul Naschy clearly threw himself fully into his work. The publicity images generally put his monstrous visage to the fore, but still find plenty of room for boobs, blood and screaming women. It comes as something of a surprise to see just how explicit some of these front-of-house stills could be, and is an interesting reminder of how relaxed and liberal some countries were at the time.

The book is huge fun, and clearly represents an impressive personal collection from the author. An introduction from Naschy's son Sergio Molina provides some background information on the beginnings of his father's career, and the author has included a memorabilia glossary which is particularly helpful for collectors. This book is a must-have for horror and Euro-cine fans, potentially introducing Spanish horror cinema to a whole new audience.

To order this book go to www.creepy-images.com.

By Adrian Smith

Jules Verne's Fabulous Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1977)

Directed by Juan Piquer Simón

Region 2, released by Odeon Entertainment (This is the UK DVD release.)

Destined to be picked up by people mistaking it for the 1959 version starring James Mason, this release was directed in Spain and Lanzarote by a man often referred to as the Spanish Ed Wood. Taking his cast on location, shooting in spectacular caves and volcanic wastes, the film has a far greater sense of realism than its Hollywood counterpart. Sadly the budgetary constraints meant that a lot of the cave scenes are so darkly lit we are as much in the dark as the candle-bearing explorers.

Following Verne's novel quite closely, the story concerns Victorian Professor Otto Lindenbrock (Kenneth More) who in the inquisitive spirit of the age decides to prove his “crackpot” theories concerning a hollow earth. Armed with an ancient map and accompanied by his assistant, his daughter and stoic guide Hans, they climb down inside a volcano and discover an ocean, dinosaurs, giant mushrooms, man-eating tortoises and even King Kong. Alright, so it doesn't follow the novel that closely, but the film is all the more fun because of it. There are even some intriguing time-travel and cloning elements thrown in, possibly referencing Verne's closest rival in sci-fi literature, H.G. Wells.

Kenneth More stars as Lindenbrock in what turned out to be one of his last roles. It was a physically demanding role, and More plays it all straight, despite the opportunities for camping it up. He was acting alongside a mostly Spanish cast and filmed in some very difficult locations, particularly the caves where the temperature was a constant 99 degrees humidity. More was a well- respected player in the British film industry, perhaps best remembered for playing World War II fighter pilot Douglas Bader in Reach For the Sky (1956). Sadly he developed Parkinson's Disease in his early sixties, and died just a few years after this film was released.

There is a lot going on in Jules Verne's Fabulous Journey to the Centre of the Earth, which is reflected in the title, where it was sometimes abbreviated to just Journey to the Centre of the Earth, or changed completely to Where Time Began. It was the Juan Piquer Simón's first feature as director. He seemed determined to throw in every possible idea, even those which did not really make sense. Thankfully the pace rarely sags and the film is never boring. Simón went to to have quite an interesting career in Spain, making the best of the low budgets and dubious scripts he was offered.

It is an enchanting, undemanding film that provides genuine entertainment through the strength of the performances, and unintended laughs through the rubber monsters. One puzzling aspect of this release is its inclusion in Odeon Entertainment's Best of British range, as with the exception of More and the American actor Jack Taylor and co-writer John Melson, the entire production is Spanish.The print quality is fine, and the DVD includes the original theatrical trailer, which gives away all the best moments of the film, and a short stills gallery. A detailed booklet which lends some much needed production history and a nice summary of the life and work of Jules Verne is also included.

By Adrian Smith

(This review pertains to the UK DVD release. It has not been released in the USA as of this time) 

The Uninvited (1944) directed by Lewis Allen

One of the most eagerly anticipated DVD releases of recent times, The Uninvited is considered a classic ghost story, listed by both Martin Scorsese and current genre favourite Guillermo Del Toro as one of the scariest films of all times. Bearing some similarities in tone to Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940), the film takes wind-swept coastlines and adds menacing spectral activity to the potentially doomed love affair. The Uninvited was one of the first Hollywood productions to present the idea of ghosts being real, and the special optical effects used remain convincing and chilling to this day.

The film is based on a popular novel by Dorothy Macardle, and the screenplay was written by Dodie Smith, who went on to pen the original novel for 101 Dalmatians several years later. In the film Ray Milland plays Roderick, a composer persuaded by his sister Pamela (Ruth Hussey) to buy a deserted house atop a Cornish cliff. For reasons not explained, other than they both appear to be single, they live together in this spacious abode despite the fact that a woman died in mysterious circumstances twenty years earlier. Her daughter Stella (Gail Russell) is strangely drawn to the house, ignoring the demands of her over-bearing father to stay away. As if this was not enough, the sound of weeping echoing around the house keeps them awake at night. To complicate matters even further, Roderick falls in love with this young ingenue, and with the help of his sister he is determined to get to the bottom of the haunting.

It is nice to see Ray Milland in his younger 'leading man' years, shortly before he won his Oscar for The Lost Weekend (1945), and well before he was wallowing in the exploitation world of films like Frogs and The Thing With Two Heads (both 1972, the latter with the immortal tagline “They share the same body... but hate each other's guts!”) The Uninvited is beautifully shot, using light and shadow to great effect. Presented in the original Academy ratio of 1.33:1, it is crisp and clear image. A Blu-ray release of this film would have been ideal, but this DVD is more than welcome, and is better looking than any previous release bar its original cinematic run.

Considering its importance in the development of horror cinema, The Uninvited has been difficult to see for many years, with only a VHS and laserdisc release to speak of, and the occasional late-night TV airing. Although produced by Paramount, the film is now owned by Universal along with the rest of their pre-1948 library. The film has been licensed to independent distributor Exposure Cinema, who also have three Fritz Lang film noir titles scheduled for release. It is a pity that there are not more in-depth extras here, a commentary track from a film historian for example, but it is still a good package. Both radio adaptations of The Uninvited are included, from 1944 and 1949 respectively, which run for around thirty minutes each and star Milland. They are fun to listen to as they follow the film very closely, but do not manage to achieve the same level of fear in the audience. The most significant additional extra is a substantial booklet featuring essays and biographies. It is very well put together, featuring a lot of original artwork and publicity material. Most of these images are also available in the stills gallery section on the DVD.

By Todd Garbarini

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: From Concept to Classic is a 30^th anniversary paperback reprint of the book that was originally published in hardcover for the film’s 20^th anniversary in 2002 that accompanied the special edition DVD Ultimate Gift Set of Steven Spielberg’s classic story of a young boy, the product of a divorced home, who befriends an extra-terrestrial who is mistakenly left behind by his spaceship following a hasty exit from earth. If you own the 2002 edition, the new book is identical except for the fact that it is paperback and its dimensions measure 9” x 0.4” x 10.8”, a little larger than its predecessor. The introduction to the new printing by Steven Spielberg is also updated and does not retain his introduction to the 2002 edition.

The book is essentially separated into three sections. Section one covers the origins and the overall development of the film from concept (as a story called Night Skies which was originally very malevolent in tone) to the first draft which was penned by Melissa Mathison, whose work on Carroll Ballard’s 1979 film The Black Stallion impressed Mr. Spielberg so much that he hand-picked her to write the script. Mr. Spielberg’s idea for E.T., which originated while on location in the summer of 1980 during the shooting of Raiders of the Lost Ark, came from his thoughts about the alien at the end of his own Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and what it would be like for him if he were to be inadvertently stranded on earth. There are also comments from producer Kathleen Kennedy (now the president of Lucasfilm), E.T. designer and creator Carlo Rambaldi, actor Henry Thomas, actress Drew Barrymore, actor Robert MacNaughton, actor Peter Coyote, actress Dee Wallace-Stone, composer John Williams, cinematographer Allen Daviau, editor Carol Littleton, sound designer Ben Burtt, visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren, and production designer James D. Bissell.

Section two contains the film’s complete screenplay, which was the first draft that Mrs. Mathison wrote and was so good that the director decided to shoot it as-is with very little, if any, changes. The screenplay is complemented by illustrations by Ed Verraux and production notes the give further insight into the original ideas that the crew had in mind but had to be abandoned or altered due to time constraints or logistics. It also includes the sequence with the school principal (played by Harrison Ford) that was cut from the film, in addition to other shots/scenes that were cut.

Section three concerns itself with the film’s post-production (the models of the children on their bikes, E.T.’s spaceship) and its impact on the movie-going public (the E.T. phenomenon and merchandising), and the 2002 restoration.

It is interesting to note that E.T., which was originally entitled A Boy’s Life, was conceived of as a small, personal film. Although the director was by this time a household name due to the success of Jaws and the aforementioned Close Encounters and Raiders, no one could have expected the film to do the sort of business that it ended up doing, easily propelling it to the top spot as the year’s most financially successful film. This book does an excellent job of giving the reader great insight into not only the making of the film but into the thoughts of those involved in its creation. What is most evident is that everyone on the set (cast and crew alike) treated the creature of E.T. with dignity and respect as if he was a real, live creature. Itself the brainchild of designer and creator Carlo Rambaldi, who also created the aliens in Close Encounters, the mechanical head effects of the alien in Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979), and the entacled creature in Andrzej Zulawski’s Possession (1981) to name a few, E.T. rarely looks like an animatronic puppet even in the behind-the-scenes shots. You would really swear that he was a real creature. Mr. Rambaldi passed away in August of this year at the age of 86, and E.T. stands as one of his greatest (and certainly most emotional) achievements.

For fans of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, this book is a must-have.

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By Todd Garbarini

One of the strangest G-rated “family films” that I have ever seen is Al Adamson’s 1982 effort Carnival Magic, released by HD Cinema Classics by way of Film Chest Media Group. As a fan of the best genre efforts that were afforded by what is arguably the last truly great summer for movies in the United States, 1982 gave us Conan the Barbarian, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Poltergeist, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Blade Runner, The Thing, The Beastmaster and The Road Warrior. I must admit that I was stunned to learn of this film as I had not heard of it prior to its 2010 release on home video.

Filmed over three weeks in Gaffney, South Carolina and Shelby, North Carolina, Carnival Magic is, in the words of producer Elvin Feltner, “the story of a magician and a traveling carnival and his pet monkey, who just happens to be a talking monkey.” It is also a film that cannot make up its mind if it wants to be a slapstick comedy or a family film with dramatic adult themes. Starring a cluster of soap opera actors and actresses, producer Feltner does what any good producer does when faced with the rising costs of a film budget. He thinks outside the box and delivers a film that can easily be categorized as a cult favorite.

The carnival’s magician, Markov (played nicely by Don Stewart), can read people’s thoughts and levitate objects. Armed with his talking chimp Alex, they are the top crowd pleaser, easily making the wild animal trainer second banana and very jealous in the process. Hoping to regain his former glory, the trainer attempts to kidnap the chimp and give him to a medical laboratory for experimentation in the hopes of displacing his competition and making a good deal of money. Among this plot are a bevy of carnival beauties who dance, and a young adult romance that blossoms innocently.

I couldn’t help but think of Tobe Hooper’s The Funhouse (1981) while watching this film, as the carnival atmosphere always intrigued me since I saw the “Levitation” episode of Tales from the Darkside in May 1985.

The video transfer of the film is done from a recently unearthed 35mm theatrical print discovered lying in a warehouse (the original negative apparently was not among the finds unfortunately), but HD Cinema, a terrific company in their own right, has done a wonderful job of cleaning up the print with their restoration transfer. I honestly cannot wait to see what this company has up its sleeve in the months to come. If they can get their hands on low-budget, independently made films and do high definition transfers of them for new audiences, their future is surely bright.

There are a host of extras in this collection. A running audio commentary with cult film historian Joel Rubin and producer Feltner reveals a great deal of information regarding the making of the film. Although Carnival Magic was copyrighted in 1982, most people did not see the film until roughly a year later in select screenings, as it was difficult to find theaters willing to book the film. Mr. Feltner makes mention that the film was shot in 1981 in the video interview introduction, however historian Reuben points out that according to lab documents it was filmed in the previous year. When Mr. Feltner mentions that it was shot in 1982 on the audio commentary and become fairly adamant, it leads the audience to wondering why the discussion is up for debate when such information is easily verifiable. The subject is eventually put to bed when the outtakes that appear in the supplementary section clearly reveal the date of July 1980 on the film slate.

The remaining extras consist of twenty minutes of outtakes sans audio and a short “ before” and “after” restoration demo. What is most interesting is the inclusion of both the original television trailer and the theatrical trailer, wherein the former presents the film as a non-stop riot and the latter gives one the impression that they should expect something along the lines of Smokey and the Bandit. Rounding out the extras is an interesting slideshow which consists of newspaper clippings illustrating when the movie came to the respective filming locations, looking for extras to appear in the carnival scenes.

Regardless of one's opinion of the film's narrative, the movie stands as a time capsule of a more innocent era in American life, of small-town folks enjoying the summer with family and friends. The carnival sequences almost serve as a documentary of what life was like in 1980 for these people.

HD Cinema Classics gets it right by releasing this as a DVD and Blu-ray combo package, something that too few companies are doing even now. They are to be commended for offering the film in both formats, though Blu-ray is really the way to go due to the increased sharpness and definition. The colors really pop out in this format.

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By Adrian Smith 

Valentina (Isabelle De Funès) is a marxist fashion photographer in Milan. She is intelligent, talented and sexy, so it's no wonder that the leftist intellectuals all want to sleep with her. On her way home from a totally swinging party, the kind where alcohol and topless chicks are readily available, Valentina is almost run down by a car. Whilst sitting dazed at the side of the road, the driver emerges to check if she is okay. This is none other than the bizarrely-named Baba Yaga (former Hollywood sex symbol Carroll Baker). She tells Valentina that fate has brought them together. Baba Yaga gives her a lift home and explains that they will become firm friends. To ensure this she steals a clip from the top of one of Valentina's stockings and touches it to her lips suggestively. Baba Yaga is a witch, and clearly has sapphic feelings towards her. Valentina, who as far as we know is not a lesbian, does not seem to mind this unwarranted attention. Later that night she dreams about stripping naked in front of Nazi guards. When she visits Baba Yaga's house, Valentina gets horny and touches herself in the spare room. Is she already under the lesbian witch's spell?

Baba Yaga owns an unnervingly realistic doll which is dressed as some sort of bondage queen. Valentina accepts this doll as a gift, with murderous consequences. Luckily Valentina has a boyfriend (played by genre favourite George Eastman, star of the notorious Anthropophagus, 1981). He may not believe that Baba Yaga really is a witch, but he's so desperate to get Valentina in the sack that he'll go along with it.

This is a very weird movie. Everything described here occurs quite early in the film, and it makes less and less sense as it goes on. Based on the black and white Italian erotic fumetti (comics) of Guido Crepax, this Italian/ French co-production is a mixture of pop art, eroticism, dazzling colour, psycho-analysis, dreams and the supernatural. Other fumetti had been successfully adapted into movies previous to this one, including Danger: Diabolik and Barbarella, (both 1968), but in Baba Yaga director Corrada Farina specifically tries to mimic the comic style, using panels and black and white still photography to replicate Crepax's stark line drawings. It is very effective and adds to the “arthouse meets Eurotrash” feel of the movie. This is certainly no Danger: Diabolik though. The pace is slow and ponderous to the point of irritation at times, but you soon forgive it. Valentina likes to do semi-naked photo shoots in her flat, which she somehow hopes will influence the forthcoming left-wing revolution. She also discovers that her unsettling bondage doll comes to life, in the shapely, almost naked form of Ely Galleani, who was an Italian actress and Playboy centrefold. Galleani has no dialogue in this movie but leaves a lasting impression, particularly when wielding a whip in a lesbian S & M torture dungeon.

Carroll Baker was an unusual choice for the movie, and in his interview on the blu ray Farina explains that she was a last minute replacement for his original Baba Yaga, the British actress Anne Heywood. Three days before shooting was to begin Heywood left to star in the Rod Taylor adventure film Trader Horn (1973), a move which lead to her being sued by the studio. Baker was in Italy working on the giallo thriller The Flower With Petals of Steel (1973), and had a name which would look good on the posters. Farina was disappointed that she had a face “like she had been raised on a farm on a diet of popcorn,” rather than the pinched, angular face of Baba Yaga in Crepax's drawings. Carroll was willing to do the film, and with such a tight schedule he was left with no other choice. In the end Farina was very pleased with her performance. Legendarily she appeared completely naked (a moment that was cut by censors and is missing from the restored print on this Blu-ray, but is available in the extras). This was a bold move for a mainstream Hollywood actress in 1973 and Farina insists that it was not in the script but was all her own idea. Incidentally the only other moment of full frontal nudity was courtesy of Isabelle De Funès, a scene that was also cut by the censors but is also available in the extra scenes here.

In some ways Baba Yaga feels like Quentin Tarantino has had a pass at the script. Early in the film various characters discuss the problems of getting political messages into movies, and Valentina remarks that influential French director Jean Luc Godard's last good film was Pierrot le Fou (1965). Another character is an underground comic book artist, and is often talking about the art form and his concerns about becoming commercially successful. Baba Yaga is almost post-modern before the term was invented.

If your main experience of Italian 1970s movies is the “giallo”, you will enjoy most of what this film has to offer. It does have longueurs, some of which can lead you to look impatiently at your watch, wondering when anything is going to happen again. Stick with it and Baba Yaga is a rewarding viewing experience. The far out and groovy soundtrack is supplied by composer Piero Umilani, who is perhaps best known for creating 'Mah Na Mah Na', the song covered by The Muppets! There is no original soundtrack of Baba Yaga available, but the attention-grabbing theme song is available on his 1971 lounge album 'To-Day's Sound'.

This Blu-ray from Blue Underground features the same extras as their DVD release from 2003. The print, howeve,r is a massive improvement from the earlier release. The most interesting bonus feature is the in-depth interview with the director, where he discusses the problems he had with the producers, who made changes in the edit against his wishes. It is also worth sitting through the deleted scenes, if only to catch a glimpse of Carroll Baker as you have never seen her before. There is also a short documentary in Italian about the artist Guido Crepax. Sadly many of his graphic novels have not yet been translated into English, but after watching this film you will want to try and track them all down.

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By Raymond Benson

"Pray for Rosemary's Baby..."

That tag line for Roman Polanski’s 1968 horror classic is an example of brilliant marketing. Until it was created, Paramount’s head of the studio, Robert Evans, admits not knowing how to sell the picture. Yes, it’s a horror film, but not like anything we’ve seen. Yes, it’s produced by William Castle, the schlock-meister who was famous for B-movie scare flicks utilizing gimmicks such as the selling of insurance policies in the theater lobby for patrons who feared they’d be scared to death. But the film is also an ingenious thriller outside of the horror genre; a crime story, in many ways, about a cult that drugs and rapes a woman for fiendish purposes. The subject is taken seriously, despite an undercurrent of dark humor. It was also very adult and frank for its time, and it had the potential to offend some audiences. Indeed, how does one sell that in the late sixties? The tag line intrigued enough people that it worked, for Rosemary’s Baby was a hit and the picture still resonates today.

It was Polanski’s first American film, and it remains an essential entry in his oeuvre. His early trademark style was doing a Hitchcock but taking it a few steps farther into more bizarre, creepy-crawly, and supernatural territory. That’s on full display in Rosemary’s Baby. We’d had devil movies before, but nothing as realistically-portrayed as this one. It certainly held the reign of Satan movies until The Exorcist came along five years later. In my book, it’s the better of the two. AFI is well justified in naming Rosemary’s Baby in their “Top Thrills” top ten list.

While brilliantly directed and written, a good deal of credit for the success of the film goes to the excellent cast. Mia Farrow has never been better as Rosemary. John Cassavetes is dead-on as the frustrated actor/husband who literally makes a deal with the devil. Ruth Gordon, the multiple award winner for the picture, is a revelation. She brings much of the necessary comic relief to the proceedings, for the film is an exemplary model of tension-building to a near-unbearable level.

As usual, the Criterion Collection does a magnificent job. Polanski approved the new, restored digital transfer, and it looks marvelous. Extras include a new documentary featuring interviews with Polanski, Farrow, and Robert Evans. Original novel author Ira Levin is showcased in a 1997 radio interview and original drawings and other prose in the enclosed booklet. Also of interest is a feature-length documentary about the film’s talented jazz composer, Krzysztof Komeda.

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EPIC GRANDEUR CAPTURED IN BLU-RAY GIFT SET

By Raymond Benson

It’s probably the quintessential motion picture epic. If you’re looking for an intimate story told on a grand scale, an adventure set in an exotic location and against the backdrop of significant historical events, and an engrossing portrait of an important First World War figure… seek no further. Lawrence of Arabia has it all. This 1962 roadshow attraction from arguably Britain’s greatest director, David Lean, Lawrence is simply a magnificent achievement—both technically and artistically. With star power such as Peter O’Toole (in his first major role), Omar Sharif, Anthony Quinn, Alec Guinness, Claude Rains, Jack Hawkins, and Jose Ferrer, and a master cinematographer such as Freddie Young, Lawrence of Arabia is not only gorgeous to look at, it is dramatically compelling.

O’Toole states that on the first day of shooting, Lean told him, “We’re off on a great adventure, Pete!” Indeed. With a director like Lean, an actor had to trust the helmsman and follow him, whether it was to the universe of Charles Dickens, war torn Southeast Asia, Russia at the time of the Revolution, Colonial India, or the deserts of the Middle East. Lean tackled big subjects with equally large productions. In this case the director took on the life of T. E. Lawrence, the famed British army officer who acted as a liaison to the Arabs during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign and the revolt against the Turks during World War I. In O’Toole, Lean found his Lawrence, the role the actor was born to play, and the picture exhibits the man’s greatness as well as his vulnerabilities and enigmas. This is fabulous stuff.

Seeing a David Lean picture was always an event. You knew you were going to step back into another time and place, and learn a little something about the historical events surrounding the story. You knew you would examine in great detail the lives of ordinary and extraordinary people. For three to four hours, you would live in a world only the magic of the movies could reproduce. Columbia/Sony’s new limited collectors Blu-ray gift set replicates the epic grandeur of the film with a lavish, handsomely-packaged treasure trove of material that will enhance your immersion experience.

The film itself, on disc 1, is an all-new 4K restoration, along with an optional picture-in-graphics track, exclusive to the Blu-ray. Two additional Blu-ray discs are loaded with extra features, providing hours of in-depth coverage of the making of the film and retrospective interviews and analyses. The most complete reconstruction of the deleted “balcony scene” between O’Toole and Jack Hawkins, never-before-released, appears on the third disc. A fourth disc, a CD, contains the soundtrack by Maurice Jarre with two unreleased tracks. If that wasn’t enough, a terrific hardbound coffee-table style book, informatively written by Jeremy Arnold and with a Preface by Leonard Maltin, is full of photographs surrounding the production and insight into the challenges the filmmakers faced. Finally, an individually-numbered, mounted 70mm frame of the film completes the enthusiast’s collection.

Just in time for Christmas, this collector’s gift set is a movie buff’s dream.

Note: the following is a press release sent by Sony UK pertaining to this major restoration:

“Lawrence of Arabia is universally considered to be one of the greatest epic films of all time and is certainly the crown jewel in the Columbia Pictures library,” noted David Bishop, President of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. “Finally, the long anticipated and much in-demand release of David Lean’s masterpiece will be available on Blu-ray, which will provide consumers the chance to experience the sheer spectacle and beauty of this movie with the finest image and sound available. Additionally, in honor of Lawrence of Arabia’s
50th Anniversary, we have created a special gift set composed of a coffee table book and soundtrack, which will add further dimension to the enjoyment of this film.”

Never-before-seen bonus content included in both the four-disc Gift Set and the two-disc release include the “Secrets of Arabia: Picture-in-Graphics Track,” which allows the viewer to become immersed in the world of Lawrence of Arabia and learn about the customs and rituals of desert existence. The set also comes with the “Peter O’Toole Revisits Lawrence of Arabia” featurette, as well as the previously released, hour-long behind-the-scenes documentary “The Making of Lawrence of Arabia,” and the featurettes “The Camels are Cast (Maan Jordan),” “In Search of Lawrence,” “Romance of Arabia,” and the 1970 version of “Wind, Sand and Star: The Making of a Classic.” Both sets include newsreel footage of the New York premiere and advertising campaigns. Exclusive to the Gift Set are featurettes including “In Love with the Desert,” “King Hussein Visits Lawrence of Arabia Scene,” the original 1963 35mm version of “Wind, Sand and Star,” and conversations with Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese. Also included is a never-before-released deleted scene complete with an introduction by Lawrence of Arabia’s Oscar^® winning film editor Anne V. Coates, A.C.E.

Bonus Features:

DISC 1:

Feature Film, including overture, intermission, entr’acte and exit music

Newly re-mastered 5.1 English audio

“Secrets of Arabia: A Picture-in-Graphics Track

DISC 2:

§ Featurettes:

• “Peter O’Toole Revisits Lawrence of Arabia” - All-New Interview

• The Making of Lawrence of Arabia” documentary

• “A  Conversation with Steven Spielberg”

• “The Camels Are Cast”

• “In Search of Lawrence”

• “Romance of Arabia”

• “"Wind, Sand and Star: The Making of a Classic” (1970 version)

• Newsreel Footage of the New York Premiere

• Advertising Campaigns

DISC 3 (Gift Set Exclusive Disc):

Never-Before-Released Deleted Scene with Introduction by Anne Coates

“The Lure of the Desert: Martin Scorsese on Lawrence of Arabia” All-New Interview with Martin Scorsese

• "“In Love with the Desert”

• “Lawrence at 50: A Classic Restored”

• King Hussein Visits Lawrence of Arabia Scene”

• “Wind, Sand and Star” (original version, 1963) 

• Archival Interviews with William Friedkin, Sydney Pollack, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg

Trailers/TV Spots:

• Theatrical Trailer

• Teaser Trailer #1

• Teaser Trailer #2

• 70mm Restoration Trailer (1989 Release)

• TV Spot #1

• TV Spot #2

DISC 4 (Gift Set Exclusive Disc):

Exclusive Lawrence of Arabia Soundtrack CD including original score and two previously unreleased tracks

Lawrence of Arabia has a running time of 227 minutes and is rated 12.

Click here to order from Amazon

For an interview with Grover Crisp, the man who spearheaded the restoration for Sony, see forthcoming issue #25 of Cinema Retro.

By Todd Garbarini

The Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass production team are best known to millions of television audiences as Rankin & Bass for their unforgettable holiday-themed, stop-motion animation outings such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964), Santa Claus is Coming to Town (1970), Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971), and The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974). Christmas and Easter would not be the same without a viewing of these specials on either television or home video. Though the bulk of their work is comprised of television movies and specials, they also collaborated on theatrically-released films like The Daydreamer (1966), Mad Monster Party? (1967), Wacky World of Mother Goose (1967), and The Last Unicorn (1982). This prolific producing and directing team assembled a crew of talented sculptors, writers, editors, photographers and musicians to create some of the most memorable family entertainment.

Warner Archive is continuing their extraordinary work in bringing more of the Rankin & Bass catalog to their burn-on-demand library. Thus far they have released a double feature of Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey (1977) & The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1985) and the long-desired, beloved made-for-TV movie The Bermuda Depths (1978). Just prior to the latter, Rankin & Bass made The Last Dinosaur (1977), a low-budget film that was originally intended for theatrical release, but was shortened by eleven minutes to a 95-minute running time and aired on ABC television instead on February 11, 1977, which is good because the film has a TV-movie feel to it. Warner Archive has recently released the full, uncut 106-minute theatrical cut on DVD-R. Written by William Overgard, scored by Maury Laws, and directed by Tsugunobu Kotani (listed in the credits as Tom Kotani) who all repeated their roles for The Bermuda Depths (also released theatrically in Europe), The Last Dinosaur is a fun movie for the twelve year-old set and under, though I am sure that Rankin and Bass completists will find much to enjoy here. Mason Thrust, Jr. (Richard Boone) is a cantankerous and misogynistic safarist who meets the sole survivor of an expedition who witnessed the existence of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Intrigued, Thrust puts together a team that includes the sole survivor, some experts, and, against his wishes, photographer Francesca Banks (Joan Van Ark), just because she’s a woman. They travel to the jungle locale and have a few close encounters with beasts that should have been dead millions of years ago, one of which is the T-Rex who roars a little like Godzilla. Along the way, they run into some Neanderthal dwellers, one of whom resembles Nova from Planet of the Apes (1968) who runs off with Francesca’s purse. It’s a fairly straightforward tale involving the usual Rankin & Bass special effects which, at times, look just like that. The cheesiness is part of the film’s charm, though it is slow-moving by today’s standards. The nighttime scenes are all shot day-for-night, and the film begins and ends with the Nancy Wilson tune “The Last Dinosaur.”

Previous Warner Archive titles featured non-descript DVD covers that were comprised of a publicity shot from a particular film superimposed over a blue background. The company’s subsequent success has allowed Warner Archive to invest in providing a film’s original artwork on the DVD-R cover, and The Last Dinosaur boasts the exciting painting that was originally intended for the film’s theatrical one-sheet; this image also appeared on the French poster when the film was distributed theatrically as Le Derniere Dinosaure.

Click here to order from Warner Archive

By Todd Garbarini

One of the most iconic of all monster movie images is most certainly Universal Pictures’ Creature from the Black Lagoon, as depicted by numerous actors in the film of the same name. Although Universal’s previous monsters – the Frankenstein monster, Dracula, The Wolf Man and The Mummy – all had their genesis in the world of literature, the Gill Man, as the Creature is alternatively known, is largely a cinematic concoction and his story is no doubt patterned after the King himself, Kong. While the similarities between the largest inhabitant of Skull Island and the Gill Man are undeniable, the method of bringing these two nightmare-inducing monsters to the screen is not. While the former was a combination of stop-motion animation and large-scale mechanics, the latter is the cinema’s first depiction of a monster in a beautifully-designed, full-body suit inhabited by an actor, most notably swimmer Ricou Browning in the underwater scenes of not only the original film, but in two sequels.

In 1954, Dragon Books in the United Kingdom published the novelization, or movie “tie-in,” of Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), written by John Russell Fearn under the pseudonym of Vargo Statten. It featured colorful cover art by artist John Richards and is very rare, commanding between $1K and $6K dollars depending upon its condition. Now, DreamHaven Books has reprinted this tie-in here in the United States with a beautiful cover by Bob Eggleton. What you will find in this beautifully designed new book, in addition to the novelization, is an excellent introduction by David J. Schow, himself a Creature historian. He provides not only a valuable look into the making of the film, but also the procedures that were in place at Universal Pictures and the team of artists who were tasked with designing, creating and building a suit that would look like a living, breathing creature, under the supervision of make-up head Bud Westmore. The more that I read about this, the more I wished that Creature had been filmed in color; unfortunately, Universal wouldn’t spend the additional $100K required to do that. This is a shame as the Gill Man is a truly beautiful creation.

Mr. Schow also illustrates the finer points of writing a movie tie-in, and how authors of such materials were generally hired on a contractual, per-project basis, and were based upon drafts of the script that were often changed later on thereby making the novelization radically different than its usually far superior cinematic counterpart. Such books were produced within a quick timeframe, and one can only imagine the possibilities today of utilizing a dictation software package to bang out a few of these books on a laptop in a matter of months, technology only dreamed of fifty years ago.

The novelization of Creature goes a few steps further than the film by not only introducing further dialog into the mix to pad out the story and flesh out the characters, but also brings the reader inside the Gill Man’s head and gets inside his thoughts, especially in his captivation of Kay Lawrence, portrayed in the film by Julie Adams, and his desire to win her over. There are also 57 beautiful behind-the-scenes shots of the making of the film and, as a bonus each, of the book’s nine chapters is prefaced with a publicity still.

The book is rounded out with a terrific afterword about author Fearn, written by Philip Harbottle, chronicling Mr. Fearn’s early life in the cotton business, which he abandoned after two years to pursue writing. It also covers his stint as a motion picture theatre projectionist.

This is a must-have for Creature fans and is highly recommended for horror fans who want to broaden their knowledge of this fascinating progenitor of many subsequent man-in-the-suit horrors, Dan O’Bannon’s titular Alien being the most obvious and arguably the most frightening in the cinema.

Click here to order.

By Todd Garbarini

Poor Pretty Eddie is a bizarre concoction, the sort of movie that they just don't make anymore, and certainly not in the way in which this politically incorrect creation from 1974 was made. Released on DVD in 2006 with a fairly lousy and dark transfer, the film has been issued in a Blu-ray and DVD combo pack by the fine folks at HD Cinema Classics. Remastered in high definition by Film Chest, Inc. from a 35mm theatrical print, Poor Pretty Eddie concerns an African-American singer, Liz Weatherly (Leslie Uggams), who ends up stranded in the woods after her car breaks down and encounters a bizarre group of characters. Where is a cell phone when you need one? Due to the presence of the newly-built interstate (have you ever noticed how all of these characters’ ills are attributed to government highways?), the remote southern town that she stumbles across is on its last legs. It would be impossible to discuss this film without making a mention of John Boorman’s Deliverance made two years prior to it, and all of the backwoods redneck jokes that probably popped into the audiences’ minds while viewing the film.

Weatherly takes a room at an inn that is home to a group of show business wannabes, most notably Bertha (the always reliable nutcase Shelley Winters, fresh from her turns as Mrs. Armstrong, Auntie Roo and Helen Hill), Bertha’s lover Eddie (Michael Christian) who has patterned himself after Elvis and sees Bertha as his ticket to fame, Keno (Ted Cassidy) the handyman, and Sheriff Orville (Slim Pickens). Dub Taylor even shows up! The Charlie Williams Pinecrest Lodge in Athens, GA doubles as the inn (it was closed in early 2004) where 90% of the action was filmed. The film appears to have a look and feel that seems to almost be drug-induced, with a strange array of characters and big colors as part of the set design. It is an unpredictable hodgepodge of weirdness and must be seen to be believed.

Cinematographer David Worth provides a very interesting and entertaining commentary along with cult film historian Joe Rubin. Mr. Worth’s loquacity is matched only by his erudition of the film business, and for a film made nearly 40 years ago he speaks with tremendous flair and great recollection, despite his claims to the contrary. In the early 1970s, aspiring editors and directors generally cut their teeth in what was then known as the porn industry (now called the “adult film industry” – it has become more respectable I suppose!). They rarely had their names appear in the credits of such fair. Poor Pretty Eddie was no stranger to controversy, as it contains a rape scene involving Eddie and Liz; the scene juxtaposes images of dogs mating in slow motion. Make of that what you will!

The transfer is in high definition, although the print is not completely free of lines and scratches, particularly just after the head of the reel changes. This is a minor complaint, however.

In addition to the feature audio commentary, the package contains the following extras:

• - Theatrical Trailer
• - Production Stills
• - A historical essay
• - A neat postcard featuring the original poster art
• - A restoration demonstration

I personally love HD Cinema Classics. They package their films as a combo pak, which gives the viewer the opportunity to see that Blu-ray is definitely the way to go.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER POOR PRETTY EDDIE FROM AMAZON.COM

 By Todd Garbarini

One of the great joys of going to the movies as a child was seeing Walt Disney films in a movie theater. I saw many of the live-action variety, but there were instances of Disney's classic cartoons being reissued on double bills with other Disney fare. One such film was 1950’s Cinderella, a movie that my mother had seen when she was about ten. I recall, even as a child, having a deep appreciation for the art of animation and, in the early 1990s, a woman who attended one of my classes in college was buying up the Disney films on VHS. I remember thinking how much better the films fared on laserdisc, but I never said anything for fear of sounding like a snob. All of those previous analog technologies, which were passable at the time, pale in comparison to the new Blu-ray of Cinderella. Disney has been doing an extraordinary job with their animated features in terms of high definition, sparing no expense at bringing their classic library one film at a time to home video. If you don’t see Cinderella on Blu-ray, I can honestly say that you really haven’t seen it, nor is it possible to fully appreciate the artistry that went into the making of this classic film. Nuances that were never before seen in analog format (even the high-end laserdisc editions) are now breathtakingly clear, colorful and robust. All of this has been made possible thanks to the folks who have given Cinderella a much-needed digital facelift and overhaul.

By now, the story of Cinderella is so familiar that it would be difficult indeed to find anyone unfamiliar with it. The story of a young girl forced to work as a maid for her evil stepmother and two wicked stepsisters and her turn at the ball have become so much a part of our lexicon and culture that even those who have not read the story or seen the film knows exactly what one is talking about merely through reference. If you’re one of those who have not seen the film yet, there is no better way to get acquainted with the story than with the new Blu-ray.

The extras include:

Tangled Ever After animated short which is a lead-in to the film (also on the DVD)

Never-Before-Seen Alternate Opening Sequence in storybook form

Personalized Digital Storybook: Bibbidi-Bobbidi-You – “Disney Second Screen” technology which permits viewers to experience a virtual storybook addendum to the film on an electronic device such as a computer, an iPod Touch, or an iPad.

Behind the Magic: A New Disney princess Fantasyland (about 8 minutes and also on the DVD)

The Real Fairy Godmother – a 12-minute tribute to Walt Disney’s wife

The film is available in several different flavors:

a 2-disc set which is comprised of one Blu-ray and one DVD

a 3-disc set which is comprised of one Blu-ray and two DVDs

a 6-disc set which includes Cinderella (1950), and the made-for-video productions Cinderella II: Dreams Come True (2002) and Cinderella III: Twist in Time (2007) on Blu-ray, DVD, and a Digital Copy of Cinderella. All six discs reside in a Cinderella Picture Storybook that sits inside a jewelry box.

The sound is also much improved and a far cry from the low-fidelity, hiss-y sound that was so prevalent on the VHS version of the film.

Cinderella has never looked like this before. This Blu-ray is a must-own.

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By Todd Garbarini

The 1970s were an unorthodox time in American cinema. It was an era in which an actress like Jodie Foster could play a 12-year-old prostitute one year and appear in a family comedy about switching bodies with her mother the following year. I can honestly say that's not something you would ever see today.

In early 1978 my parents took me to see Disney's Pete's Dragon (1977). Before the movie started, the trailer for the R-rated Straight Time starring Dustin Hoffman was shown. I distinctly recall the scene of Hoffman doing an embarrassing number on M. Emmet Walsh and stranding him on the highway. Crazy! The experience did not detract from the fact that Pete’s Dragon, a live-action film mixed with animation and the most expensive that Disney made up to that point (roughly $8M, which is about $32M today), is a charming family film that arrives on Blu-ray with a beautiful transfer. The story of a young orphan named Pete (Sean Marshal who has since left acting for other pursuits) and his inarticulate, grunting sidekick Elliott (an animated and sometimes invisible dragon) set in the 1920s features Shelley Winters as Pete’s abusive adoptive mother trying to get him back; Mickey Rooney as Lampie, a drunken lighthouse keeper who sees Elliott and tries to convince his doubters; Helen Reddy as Nora (Lampie’s daughter) who thinks that Elliott is just an imaginary friend; Jim Dale as Doc Terminus, a snake oil salesman and his sidekick Hoagy (Red Buttons); and Jim Backus as the Mayor. The action is punctuated by a good number of musical interludes, and the film was nominated for Best Original Song (“Candle on the Water”) and Best Original Score. It won the Golden Globe for Best Original Score for Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn.

The mixture of animation and live action cannot rival that of today’s computer technology, but it doesn’t detract from the film, either. The performances and the musical numbers are what really propel the story and make it a fun-filled viewing until the end when it gets a tad elegiac as Elliott must move on.

The set design is also fairly spectacular, including a full-blown lighthouse that was built (and subsequently torn down) for the film in San Luis Obispo, CA which doubles as the tongue-twisting Passamaquoddy, Maine.

Disney is really getting it right by releasing combo DVD and Blu-ray sets. I wish that more studios would adopt a similar method of releasing films. Judging by the side-by-side comparison, it is obvious that Blu-ray is the best method to watch the film. The clarity is far better than standard DVD, and the sound is a lot richer than the previous VHS and DVD releases. I am hoping for a Blu-ray of One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing (1975), which I saw at a drive-in when I was seven.

The Blu-ray features the following extras:

Brazzle Dazzle Effects: Behind Disney’s Movie Magic which illustrates the history of Disney’s mix of live-action and animation. Narrated by Sean Marshall (Pete), the featurette runs just over 25 minutes and has a lot of nice behind-the-scenes footage during the film’s production in 1976. It also compares the technology of then to the computers of today.

Deleted Storyboard Sequence: “Terminus & Hoagy Hunt Elliott” which presents a rare, demo dialogue track set to visual storyboard sketches and runs two and-a-half minutes.

Original Song Concept: “Boo Bop Bopbop Bop (I Love You, Too)” which is a first demo recording from 1976, with early story sketches of Pete singing to Elliott and runs two and-a-half minutes (this is included on the DVD).

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By Todd Garbarini

Bye Bye Birdie (1963) is an exuberant, squeaky clean musical comedy from Columbia Pictures that is based upon the 1960 Broadway musical of the same name. It is also extremely dated by today’s standards and flat-out corny at times. Overall, however, it is a fun ride that sports a good number of memorable musical interludes, the title song easily giving the viewer a severe case of earworm. Director George Sidney was no stranger to musicals as he was also responsible for Ziegfeld Follies (1945), The Harvey Girls (1946), Holiday in Mexico (1946), Annie Get Your Gun (1950), Showboat (1951) and Scaramouche (1952). Here, he brings to the screen the story of Kim MacAfee (twenty-two year-old Ann-Margret in her breakout performance) as a high school girl who becomes the envy of her peers when she is given the opportunity to kiss teen rock idol Conrad Birdie on the Ed Sullivan Show in front of the whole nation- a development that leads to a rift with her boyfriend Hugo ( real-life teen idol Bobby Rydell in a passable performance). Inspired by the military drafting of Elvis Presley in December 1957 (he went on to co-star opposite Ann-Margret in 1964’s Viva Las Vegas, also directed by George Sidney), Bye Bye Birdie possesses an infectious energy with its smile-inducing attempts to curtail the ever overflowing zeal of female fans who cannot get enough of the titular singer (Jesse Pearson). That fervor for Elvis would soon be eclipsed by something even more radical: Beatlemania. Why girls would be expected to swoon over the less-than-stellar looks of Birdie is anyone’s guess but in this film fantasy we are also expected to believe Paul Lynde could have fathered Ann-Margret. Lynde is actually very funny in his role (with his quirks and mannerisms that made him literally the center of attention on Hollywood Squares), especially in his rendition of “Kids,” a song about annoying offspring.

The film opens with a tantalizing rendition of the title song by Ann-Margret set against a bright blue screen, and this illustrates that this is primarily a star-making showcase for her. Although she appeared previously in smaller roles in Pocketful of Miracles (1961) and State Fair (1962), the vivacious actress shines in this film. The aforementioned sequence is a powerful and memorable enough showcase to have influenced an entire episode of AMC’s fine series Mad Men and reportedly was shot after filming wrapped specifically to promote her. Ann-Margret’s singing bookends the film as Albert Peterson (Dick Van Dyke, as his usual and likeable self) tries to write a song that Birdie will sing on the TV show. Albert’s girlfriend Rosie DeLeon (Janet Leigh, in a musical performance I would never have expected from her) wants his domineering mother (Maureen Stapleton) to butt out of his business and marry Albert. As a Hollywood musical, everything turns out for the best in the end, but not before the lead characters belt out a few songs of their own.

Bye Bye Birdie was the first movie that I ever rented from West Coast Video in the fall of 1987 on VHS. The Columbia Home Video tape was even produced in the old oversized clamshell box and the picture quality was absolutely horrendous. Twilight Time’s brand-new Blu-ray blows all previous home video incarnations of this film out of the water. Retaining the film's original anamorphic 2.35:1 Panavision aspect ratio, the image is head and shoulders above the Pioneer special widescreen laserdisc edition from the 1990’s and the DVD from 1999. The Blu-ray contains an isolated music and sound effects track and has been pressed in a limited number of 3,000 copies, so click here to pick one up from Screen Archives Entertainment. They also offer the infectious soundtrack album which can be purchased here.

By Todd Garbarini

Mad Monster Party is a relatively obscure stop-motion animated musical treat from 1967 that many non-genre fans are unaware of. Aimed at children, it is the creation of Rankin and Bass, the production team responsible for so many holiday television specials including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, The Little Drummer Boy, and The Year Without a Santa Claus. Unlike these specials, however, Mad Monster Party made the rounds to movie theaters as a feature-length film for Saturday and Sunday matinees. It’s the obvious inspiration for Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), boasting an infectious musical score that sticks in your head long after the movie is over.

Baron Boris von Frankenstein, the lead character who is voiced by Boris Karloff in one of his last roles, decides to hang up his lab coat and hand his castle and duties over to his less-than-capable nephew Felix Flankin (Allen Swift) who can’t seem to do anything right. He plans to make this announcement at a gathering of monsters that includes a dim-witted monster of his own creation, the monster's mate (voiced by Phyllis Diller), his lab assistant Francesca (Gale Garnett), Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Dracula, the Werewolf, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Mummy, a King Kong-like ape, and a creepy-looking Peter Lorre look-alike. Naturally, Felix goofs up everything, which causes the monsters to conspire to eliminate him and find out the secret that Baron Frankenstein his unearthed.

Mad Monster Party was originally released on Embassy Home Entertainment in the mid-1980s and was sourced from a dark 16mm print, much like its rare television airings. The opening credits referred to the availability of a soundtrack album, however one was never released at the time. It took nearly 20 years for a now-defunct record company, Percepto Records, to finally issue the music on compact disc, which is now long out of print but can be found if you look hard enough on eBay. Unfortunately, the film's original camera negative was reportedly water-damaged many years ago, rendering it unusable. Whether or not it still exists is anybody's guess, but fortunately a pristine 35mm print, which possesses a minimal amount of dirt and scratches at the head and tail of each reel, has survived and was used for the new Blu-ray/DVD combo release which is now available from Lionsgate. The Blu-ray is a revelation and the film has never looked this good before. It is framed in the 4 x 3 (1.33:1) ratio, but on widescreen monitors and televisions the image can easily be expanded to 16 x 9 (1.78:1) without looking contorted.

Both the Blu-ray and the DVD have the following extras that have been ported over from the Lionsgate DVD-only release from 2009:

"Mad Monster Party: Making of a Cult Classic" featurette (14:47)

"It's Sheer Animagic! Secrets of Stop-Motion Animation" featurette with Mark Caballero and Seamus Walsh (9:35)

"Groovy Ghouls: The Music of Mad Monster Party" featurette with Maury Laws (3:45)

Two bonus sing-along tracks for kids of all ages: "Our Time to Shine” and "One Step Ahead"

Trailer (1:29)

The new Blu-ray is a worthy step up from the standard DVD and worth the purchase. This will make a great addition to one’s collection, especially for Halloween.

Click here to order from Amazon.com.

BY ADRIAN SMITH 

Retro Screams: Terror in the New Millennium by Christopher T. Koetting

(Hemlock Books, Paperback, £18,95)

392 Pages, ISBN#978-0955777462

When Texas Chainsaw 3D is released early next year it will simply be another film in a long line of remakes, re-imaginings, sequels or prequels that Hollywood appears to be churning out non-stop these days. For many this production line of remakes represents a dearth of originality in the mainstream studios. Hollywood has become a corporate entity afraid of anything but the safest possible bet, turning in on itself and it's back-catalogue of recognisable titles which still have some form of cultural recognition amongst potential audiences today.

In his new book Christopher T. Koetting catalogues many of this recent spate of remakes, comparing their origins and productions to those of the originals. It is somewhat alarming to be be reminded in print form just how many remakes there have been. Retro Screams covers eighteen different films in detail dating back to 2003, when the first Texas Chainsaw Massacre was released, which seemingly opened the remake floodgates. Since then we have had classics like The Fog and Halloween (both 2005) revisited, along with lesser-known slasher titles like Prom Night (2008) and Black Christmas (2006).

Whole chapters are dedicated to John Carpenter, Wes Craven and George A. Romero respectively, whose works have been ruthlessly plundered with varying degrees of success. Koetting documents how little or how much involvement these original directors had this time around (Craven has acted as producer on The Hills Have Eyes (2006) and The Last House on the Left (2009) for example). The author proposes to demonstrate whether these new versions are justified by comparing plot details and development information, along with extensive quotes from writers and directors. Due to a lack of footnotes or references it is difficult to ascertain how many of these were from interviews he conducted himself, or whether they are simply cribbed from articles and press releases. This lack of referencing is one of the book's most serious commissions, as it makes it difficult to judge for oneself how seriously to take some of these quotations.

The book makes interesting reading if you have seen either the originals or the remakes being discussed. However, if you are a fan of these films the chances are that you will already know most of the stories surrounding the productions, particularly as Koetting appears to have mostly gathered this information from sources already easily available. He also appears to sit on the fence regarding the need for remakes, and this lack of a satisfying conclusion leaves the reader wondering just exactly what the point of this book is.

Although the idea of the horror film remake is not a recent phenomenon (let's not forget that the best of the Hammer horrors were all remakes of Universal), Retro Screams reminds us that for better or worse, Hollywood is going to keep plundering titles with any sort of recognition, and it is a minor miracle when ideas with any originality make it into production.

To buy this book CLICK HERE

By Todd Garbarini

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) opened on Friday, June 11, 1982 and was considered to be a small and personal film by director Steven Spielberg. It was also the first movie that I recall being released on multiple screens at the same theater simultaneously and this widespread exhibition of the film, in addition to word-of-mouth, was no doubt partially responsible for making E.T. the top-grossing film of the year.

Filmed under the original title of A Boy’s Life in late 1981, E.T. was written by screenwriter Melissa Matheson of The Black Stallion (1979) fame, and the fact that the title was changed illustrates the switching of focus from Elliott (Henry Thomas) to the little alien creature whose plight captured the world. A beautifully crafted story about childhood, loneliness and growing up was brought to life by perhaps the only filmmaker who could have done it justice. Mr. Spielberg had been fascinated by outer space since the night he and his father looked up at the stars in his backyard. As a teenager, he made an ambitious, 140-minute film called Firelight (1964) about UFOs. Years later, his own Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) acted as a sort of follow-up to it, and E.T. was inspired by the idea of one of the aliens at the end of this film being left behind. The product of divorced parents, Mr. Spielberg has claimed that E.T. is the only script he has read and wanted to make immediately without major changes.

The performances by everyone involved are wonderful. Mr. Spielberg always manages to get authentic reactions from his child actors. Who can forget Barry Guiler’s (Cary Guffey) look of wonder (accomplished by Mr. Spielberg dressing up as a rabbit off-screen) in Close Encounters when aliens raid his mom’s kitchen? Here, the director really shines, especially with Elliott’s little sister Gertie, played by six year old Drew Barrymore.

E.T. has not lost any of its original charm or wonder, nor does the film feel dated in any way. In 2002, the director made significant changes to the original version by adding an additional scene with E.T. in the bathtub by way of computer-generated imagery. He also removed the guns from the hands of the men seen near the film’s end who take over Elliott's house. He replaced the guns with walkie-talkies, thus outraging purists. Fortunately, the Blu-ray is the original 1982 version without these changes.

The film would not have made the impact that it had were it not for John Williams’ wonderful score. He has created a main theme for E.T. that simply makes the onscreen action soar. The special effects team is to be commended as well for their ability to take a rubber and mechanical puppet and turn it into a living, breathing creature with emotions.

If there is a drawback to the Blu-ray set, it is the exclusion of Harrison Ford's role as Elliott's school principal. The director had shot a scene where Elliott is sent to the principal’s office following the frog dissection fiasco sequence, and Elliott’s principal (Ford) asks him why he behaved the way he did. Since E.T. is a film about children and how they see the world, adults (with the exception of Dee Wallace as Elliott’s mother) are seen in synecdoche, their faces obscured. The principal was filmed this way, but the director cut the scene feeling it was extraneous. The only time this footage ever surfaced to my knowledge was in the deluxe CAV laser disc edition that was produced in limited quantities in 1996. As far as I know, no VHS, DVD, or any other video format has ever offered up this footage, but you can see a low resolution transfer of it here on Youtube.

The Blu-ray comes with a standard DVD and a digital copy of the film in addition to these extras:

Steven Spielberg & E.T.